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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ส.ค. 2024
- Finished Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and looking to hear my thoughts on the game? Well, you've come to the right place! We're going into all things spoilery for this game as well as Xenogears at one point (there's a timestamp warning). This review is a follow-up to my spoiler-free review, which I recommend watching first. Enjoy!
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 Music In-Depth
4:19 The Locations of Aionios
5:31 The Main Cast
8:04 How N Changes the Game
10:24 The Shortcomings of the Villains
15:53 The Calm Before the Storm
16:18 The Rant That Has Opened My Third Eye
18:04 Xenoblade 3 and Xenogears
20:42 A Beautiful, Yet Complicated Ending
25:30 Final Thoughts
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Helsionium (Extra Xenoblade Footage)
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Regis Gaming Story (Consul Y Battle)
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• Xenogears Playthrough
Chuggaaconroy (Kid Icarus: Uprising - Chapter 15)
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#xenobladechronicles3 #review #spoilers - เกม
ok but that Link's Awakening comparison blew my mind
Eunie's favorite thing is a fortune clover, which is like a four leaf clover. Eunie called Taion her fourth best friend which has got to mean something
That's amazing haha
Thanks for giving me hope even if we know the end
7th months late but she also says she likes having someone reliable by her side.
Lol I forgot about that cuz I put down the game for so long
Taion and the baby was literally 6 year me when my brother was born. It's not the best scene in the game, but due to how much I knew how Taion was feeling, it's my favorite scene.
That's absolutely adorable haha. I think it gave us a really light hearted moment within the main narrative that helped with this game's heavier tone. Taion's a lovable goof deep down.
You ever realizes that since Mio is the off-seer and not M, that means M's version of the boss theme with the flute was hinting at that actually be Mio in M's body
Yo holyshit i never thought of that
If that was intentional that's some brilliant foreshadowing.
It’s funny how my mind had 2 and 2, but didn’t put them together. I was like “Huh, we’re getting flutes for this theme”, rather than “Huh? We’re getting flutes for this theme?!” It was most likely me getting caught up in the moment, but my silly brain wouldn’t properly separate Mio and M, thus making the flutes integrated into the Moebius theme, somehow normal
I think why the main reason Takahashi feels like this is the conclusion to the "Klaus experiment saga" is because he is now in the position to be able to move on from the Perfect Works story and make something new. I got the feeling during the final confrontation with N in Origin that Takahashi was weirdly reflecting on the fact that he was reusing elements of Xenogears over and over as his own "endless now", thematically he was saying that it was finally time to move forward even if that idea is scary to him. Concluding the Klaus saga might not have had the denouement that we were all expecting as a narrative, but I think that in a weird way Xenoblade 3 turned into a self-reflective story towards the end about how this story he's been trying to tell for many years has to stop to make way for the future. One line really stuck out to me, when Noah tells N to "try to move forward", it felt more than just a character addressing another and for that reason it stuck out to me.
Does that excuse the weaker/unexplained elements of this game's story? No, and it does feel like in a way it was purposefully designed to be vague to sell us on the DLC story. But in the end I feel like there is a meta-narrative element to these stories that clearly reflect the perspectives of the creators during the story-writing process. You can tell that Takahashi really cares and puts a lot of himself in the games he makes and I think that's why I really enjoyed the symbolic moment when Noah throws his sword away, it is just another way of stating that it is really time to move away from the familiar and venture into the unknown.
(Also, on the note of how an artwork is a reflection of its creator, can we talk about how Takahashi's games always feature a male character that go on a genocidal rampage after losing their female romantic interest? NEVER LET ANYTHING HAPPEN TO HIS WIFE...)
LOL Takahashi harbors a dark side just like Lacan, N, and Shulk deep down. I like what you're thinking with Takahashi's thoughts embodying the characters. That's pretty fun. I still need to play through Xenogears, but I'm really curious to see where Xenoblade will go without following the story archetype he's been trying to tell for so long.
I feel like the DLC will be part 6 of perfect works, and then after that , we will get something new.
I don't we have to worry about his wife, if how Soraya Saga spits fire on Twitter at haters is any indication she can take care of herself lol
I also think this. A meta reason for noah throwing away his sword to me is takahashi also letting go and moving on from those perfect work type stories. Not that he can't take influence anymore but the foundation will be something brand new.
@@Paradox1012 Xenoblade 3 kind of is part 6 though. It has stuff from part 5 like the setting being a computer simulation of sorts, but we actually don't know much about what was planned for part 6, just that it came after the end of part 5. Xenoblade 2 more or less wrapped up part 5 with the Conduit (Zohar) leaving
One thing I would like to mention is how great of a villain Shania was. Her along with N were great additions to the Xenoblade rouges gallery.
Just like N, Shania’s actions are inexcusable but you still feel bad for all that she went through. She’s a prefect foil to Sena as both are searching for a different identity because of their own self doubts and pressure set by their societies. Unlike Sena, Shania didn’t have a positive support group after her father died which drove her to how she is now. Just like Noah with N, Sena could have easily ended up like Shania if she didn’t have Mio, Lanz and the others.
I also think that Shania wanting to start a new fresh life with infinite chances was a believable motif and showed some merit to wanting to live in the endless now.
Lastly her smug attitude in chapter 5 made me love to hate her 😅
Shania was an excellent villain, Sena’s ascension should have been mandatory imo
I thought her Scottish accent was cute
This 110%, so confused why people look over some of the excellently written characters like her and then call the characters or villains bad
@@thepringler5600 based 💀
I’ve finally surpassed you Ghondor! I am going to morb!
Hot take time, but I actually really like Z as the main villain. I like that he doesn't really have any grand goals beyond keeping the cycle going which is why he takes such a backseat role compare to the other consuls, and that he's so reserved in the way he talks. The way he just casually obliterates the past ouroboros in the flashback builds up his threat really well. He's very uniquely intimidating and also a very thought provoking villain imo.
I definitely wish he had more interaction with the main party before they meet him, it's very reminiscent of X's main villain and that isn't a compliment. I don't think he's an incredible villain, but I don't think he's bad at all.
Z may have no narrative pay off, but the chain attack scene in the final battle makes it hard to hate him as a villain for me haha
Since Z is a physical manifestation of the fear of the future, it's hard to make that kind of villain personable because the character really isn't a person. He's a philosophy. I think they did the best they could with that type of villain and I think they represented that philosophy well with his personification. I do think Z's delivery in the story was intentional and well handled, mostly. The only way I see this character being more memorable is if he carried his philosophy in all his few lines that he has. When he says the anguish of others is so because, "it pleases [him]", it shoves him into maniacal villain instead of "protecting the present"/"knows what's best for you" villain. Lots of the other Mobieus have the maniacal villain trope and Z just doesn't fall into that trope to me, or at least shouldn't. He's above everything because he also thinks he knows better than anyone what is right for everyone, therefore impressing his views unto the world. He also has a shade of extreme self preservation, desperately doing anything to ensure he doesn't die. Other Mobieus show that same fear of death. All the other Mobieus are allowed to be shallow cruel villain, but Z really doesn't, so when he treads into that territory, he falls down to being pedestrian every so often. If every single line of dialogue of his were to be edited to keep his very specific philosophy in mind, I think he would be more effective.
This is coming from someone who actually enjoyed Z and the story of X3.
The best way to think of Z is this:
Z IS Moebius, and “Moebius are the world itself”.
Throughout the game, through what we witness of every Moebius antagonist, from the scummy to the tragic, everything that makes them what they are is what Z embodies. The human form in the amphitheater is, as Noah proclaims, just a sham. Z’s presence is felt as Moebius’s presence, and Z is simply the most concentrated and powerful expression of Moebius’s refusal to change.
But even though we have a little Moebius in all of us, we are not Z, and that’s important to understand as well.
One last thing, I suffer from anxiety and have been depressed in the past. Relating it to my own experiences, I think Z isn’t just fear, but the side of depression that embodies hopelessness while still having a refusal to die. We become so deathly afraid to confront our own misery that we look for anything to distract ourselves from it. Distractions, procrastination, fleeting moments of…amusement. I truly believe that Z’s “it amused me” motivation is based around the anxious mind’s tendency to distract itself so it never has to self-reflect.
Hey, everyone! Thanks for checking out the second part to my Xenoblade Chronicles 3 review! A couple things I'd like to add that I didn't get to in this video:
I love the character designs for practically all of the characters and I think what you can gather about the characters from their designs is a lot more subtle this time around (i.e. Taion's scarf protecting a vulnerability or Lanz's sleeveless jacket showcasing his physical prowess). There's a lot to love!
I didn't mention Shania because... I honestly forgot until I was finalizing the video and didn't see a good place to slot in a discussion of her. I really don't think she's as bad as everyone says she is and her motives/goals are going to make sense to some and not so much to others. I do think it's hilarious how 70+ people are just watching her and Sena shout at each across for 5 minutes without doing anything. She's on the higher half of this game's villains; however, I wouldn't rate her up there with the lads.
Anyways, thanks for all the support!
I just love that Monolith really just threw in that picture of Rex and his trio of baby mommas at the end of the game to sit with you for the entirety of the credits. It's on screen for like, what, 2 seconds? You see it, and you're like WHAT THE FUCK???? And then the ending just keeps going. I really hope the writing team at Monolith saw how much people were dogging on Rex and just decided to make him the literal visual representation of sex appeal in Xenoblade's world.
Over the past few years XC2 got some long-overdue vindication, but I’m really glad Monolith went the extra mile in making Rex look good, since some people indeed still dogged on him more than he deserved.
15:36 This is a great review but I have to refute this point. I was reading through the Bible for summer homework while playing this game, and I can tell you they did not hold back on the religious symbolism. You mentioned Noah, but this entire game is basically a Noah’s arc story. Both worlds were to be annihilated because of humanity’s (klaus’s) sins, but the animals (people) were put onto a ship (origin) so they could be saved. It’s actually pretty on the nose.
That’s not even mentioning the fact that both Keves and Agnus translate roughly to lamb in both Hebrew and Latin respectively. Lambs are one of the most common sacrifices to God in the Bible, and both nations were sacrificial lambs to Moebius.
I could spend all day talking about this, there are so many tiny allusions as well like the gold flame clocks being a lie mirror the gold cow being a false god, origin being in the sea and needing to part it to free the slaves of the world (cough cough exodus), N and M sacrificing themself to protect them from their mistakes being a Jesus parallel, the shit ton of biblical names, etc, etc.
Am I looking too deep into this because I was analyzing the Bible anyways? Yes, and some of these points probably weren’t intentional, but the point is the religion subtext is incredibly strong, just more hidden.
Tell us more, these revelations are great
The thing with Rex may be goofy, but it's also completely on-brand for his character. He's the kind of guy that just wants to make people happy, and their happiness is his happiness. Coming from a guy like that, him going the harem route and marrying every girl who has grown to love him and he them doesn't feel goofy in a bad way, but incredibly sweet despite it's goofiness. Also, that marriage arrangement gave us Mio, so I see it as an absolute win.
I fully believe they're all married(not Pyra and Mythra of course) to each other mutually
@@kana_emiya That's my hope as well!
as a polyamorous person, this was foreshadowed heavily in xc2, and while some people will see a bad relationship, no one is unhappy in it. hell, nia shows an intense attraction to pyra throughout xc2, even achieving level 5 blade specials with her.
People think Rex marries all the of them but instead all three of them marries him.
@@neku2741
I mean, who wouldn’t want to marry him? He started as the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet and grew up into the ultimate dreamboat.
Personally this is my favorite game in the entire series.
As much as I love the gang from xenoblade 1 these guys are just way better imo.
The game basically starts with them already as a team, so they have the entire 80 hours or so to flesh out their relationships.
And it payed off so well. I love how they all interact with each other, and how wholesome those interactions can be.
I love these characters so much, and honestly they are a huge reason why I rank this game up so high.
Plus, I think Noah and Mio and 100% better as a couple then Fiora and Shulk.
It's weird for me because I think the main cast in this is written better objectively as a collective whole, but XC1's cast is still my favorite because they just hit all the right spots for me. Great stuff from both games, though.
This cast has a better floor with me caring about everyone in a way I didn't for at least one character in the previous games (fiora and tora). But it also doesn't have the consistent highs that shulk and rex always gave. Just my take though.
@@KayJulers Yeah I 100% get what you mean
The X1 cast has a special place for me too.
Melia being in X3 made me so happy. She is one of my favorite characters from the original crew
XC2 cast are just as amazing tbh
@@kyleco9149 I think XC2 cast suffers for me because of how coupled the characters are. My favorite interactions from the game are when Brighid talks to Pyra/Mythra or when Zeke talks to rex (Nia is not that coupled with Dromarch so all her scenes are perfect). I think the best scene in xbc3, character writing-wise is the scene where Noah and Mio exchange flutes. Lanz-Taion and Sena-Noah interacting felt so sweet. I also love Eunie's interactions with the girls. Ofc these characters are also paired, but it never felt that intrusive
My favorite thing about the picture is this: there’s been speculation since the reveal that Mio was directly connected to Nia due to sharing her species, core crystal, weapons…and I am happy to count that picture as confirmation that it’s a mother-daughter relationship, which also means Mio has a couple of half siblings out there, and it makes me so emotional to think about what they got up to on Aionios - especially if either of them made it to homecoming so she’s been going through lives without them. It also gives Nia’s trust in M more depth, and on top of that, I feel like their interaction in the statue room has big I Wish I Could Tell You I’m Your Mother vibes
that thought about the statue room interaction is _exactly_ what i was thinking when I went through that scene
This may just be me, but I feel like Chapt 6 and 7 had a subplot about how offseeing impacts the world that was just...cut. Early one we get hints that not only is the offseeing process not what it seems to be, but that Noah himself is suspecting it. This is most prominent when Noah sends off J's putteps in Lambda, when he remarks that they gave of motes even though they weren't fully alive. But once the group leaves for Maktha the plot is just...dropped. They only other metions of it are in side quests or from Maybi in Mio's side story, but thats just relating how you do it and how Y is twisting it.
Also I feel like off-seeing actually does nothing. People are reborn either way.
But then why the wierd foreshadowing with no payoff? I’m not saying I’m confused on what the game is saying, I’m saying it’s like it was SUPPOSED to say something more, but just didn’t.
It’s like if Xenoblade 1 completely ignored that Metal Face was Mumbkar after Satorl Marsh, but kept all of Dunban’s lines about recognizing the claws
I never did the quest, but I heard Ashera's ascension quest talks about off seeing.
Not really, it’s more so about what Homecoming used to be.
@@captianblitz IMO , it's a similar visual to how blades die in 2, which makes me think that everyone has been recorded on core Crystal's. It would also make sense cause miabyi says that if you touch the motes, you can see and feel memories which is what is being stored in origin. (Also all data of life is recorded on orgin I guess)
I do kind of have a problem in that regard with this game, those things that are unexplained are probably puzzle pieces from the previous games because they make sense when you look at it from such a context.
The problem then is: because the game wants to be standalone like the other 2, it avoids these conclusions and revelations because it would contradict such Sentiment of wanting to be standalone. That's kind of why I think that stuff might be revealed in DLC .
Just find it really weird that they wantd to adhere to that sort of new player friendly thing again.
I feel like the absence of a twist is intentional, the side content and hero quests really shine and add a ton of depth for those who want it. But if every xenoblade game had a “third act twist” it would be expected and stale. So allowing for further exploration in dlc and other means, while breaking this unspoken tradition helps other stories impact as well. And it also expands on this story’s ending of resisting complacency and comfort, allowing for growth or change. Since the end can happen so quick if you don’t perform the side content in chapters 6-7 (which I did cause Mio dying made me feel selfish to not plow through the plot) it adds to this sense of uncertainty. Conquering the Mobius within us all. To carry on, and mix up the formula all at once.
The sidequests are an absolute must to save the pacing of the last stretch of the game, and I mean that in a good way. It’s just like Xenoblade X, the sidequests inform so much about the character of the world, and show off plenty of developments for the protagonists you don’t see by only playing the main story. The greatest proof of their relevance is that you see a shot of every hero in the ending, even the ones you didn’t recruit (I guess it was CG so they couldn’t cut out the ones you never got lol)
My one and true complaint is that we didn't get a picture of the XC1 cast too :(
Though I guess Melia's quest remedies it a bit.
Despite some of the issues in terms of the over all series lore and plot wise, I believe this is my favorite Xenoblade out of all of them. For me it had higher highs than XC1, and no lower lows like XC2. Can't wait to replay it.
if it was as bad as the one for 2, it was a blessing.
@@fieldkaiju yeah I'm honestly not sure how to feel about the picture with the XC2 characters. I'm happy people didn't start tearing into each other because he got with all of them, but It rubs me the wrong way.
@@keeysOST Takahashi wanted mio to be the way she is physically and personality wise. So this is the logical conclusion that needed to happen. It's an excuse for more cool chracter connections, so I really think of it as a positive narratively from the chracter development side of things.
What issues did it have with the overall series plot or lore? One of the things that makes this series so exceptional is the fact that it's all so tight and avoids any real plotholes
@@DavidHosey1 wow, you missed quite of bit of Xenoblade 2 to say that didn’t you ?
Although I liked the game overall, I think one of my biggest issues with the story is that it feels like its only half the length it should be. You mentioned how the Mio swap felt like a prison island moment and that's exactly how I felt. I expected the game to have 10 chapters like XC2 so I was excited to see where the story went next. but then i found out online that there are only 7 chapters. That moment was the emotional climax of the story, even though it only felt like the halfway point. Everything after that felt superfluous, like we're only doing this because we have to beat the game now. Nothing in the late game felt as impactful to me because Noah's character arc had been resolved before the rematch with N in Origin- No, it was resolved before he even meets Consul Crys.
Also in reference to the lack of religious symbolism, I'm a little embarrassed that it took me so long to realize that Origin is a reference to Noah's Ark with how it's meant to repopulate the world after a massive annihilation event.
I absolutely adored your Zelda connection! Had a great laugh there. Honestly, I agree with a lot of points made here. In a weird way, I feel like 2 ended the Klaus saga more than 3 did pre-dlc. It even handled the "is its own story, but not really," approach better.
I really feel the same way. 2's surprise connection to 1 enhanced the stories of both games, while 3 asks questions that weren't really there before it and leaving more of them unanswered than answered.
It seems like a lot of people weren’t disappointed by the story to say, but rather confused I guess. It’s definitely apparent Takahashi took a different approach with writing this game, and some of the things just didn’t hit as well for a lot of fans. Personally for me I loved the story, in fact I loved in more than 2’s. I love all three narratives for completely different reasons. One is just an incredibly told narrative with amazing characters, plot twists and emotions. 2 I can say roughly the same for but with the inclusion of some amazing world building and expansion on the overall lore. While 3 is for sure the game that is the most open ended, I just feel more engaged with it. I think the characters, tone and setting engaged me more than any entry in the series, and despite being disappointed in some aspects the lesser things really didn’t matter to me cause I loved everything I played. Z is brilliant in my opinion, and honestly I enjoyed the end of the game just as much as I did what came before. 3 gave me a story I think I’ve wanted for a long time, and that’s what made it best xeno 2 for me. Again this is just my opinion and things can easily change once the DLC has released. But 3’s character, themes, emotions and overall narrative engaged me far more than xenoblade 2 did. I liked the different writing style as it made it feel more unique and standout.
I can agree with almost everything except the Z part. They could have done so much more with that guy.
@@Echo2602 Oh for sure, Z as a character leaves a lot to be desired. I meant that when I looked at Z in the context of just 3’s story I thought thematically it worked really well. But everyone’s opinion is different.
Meh Z is generic as you can get
I don't care what he "stand for" when better story's can do both i don't care for the 1000th god monologue that don't mean anything
I think Z will grow on people over time, I really do. Once they get over the shock of how different he was from the prior villains
There's lots of stuff in the video I don't agree with, but I think your comments in the other video of how you didn't notice much of the soundtrack until you went and looked for it pretty much sums up my feelings on most aspects of the game. The very obvious character work is great, but going back through the game a second time makes you notice more and more subtle details that help build up the characters even further. Like how Mio, who always goes out of her way to help befriend people who seem lonely, makes the effort to connect with Noah whenever he distances himself from the party. Many times where you can catch Noah or Mio smiling as they look at the other in cutscenes. Even how Mio becomes more and more in sync with Noah's off-seeing to the point where they naturally do it at the exact same time later in the game.
Almost every aspect I've had problems with regarding the story gets stronger whenever I revisit it. That's the quality of the writing. XC2 is criticized for being goofy anime trash by people who miss all the depth beneath the surface, and similarly I'd say XC3 is a bit empty until you start really digging into it. I just think most people aren't there yet, while we've had five years of people making more discoveries and realizations about XC2 down to even the subtle details like Pandoria's glasses with what meaning they might hold.
To be honest, the only criticism I have for something that actually detracts from the story it's how Mio's side story undermines most of the meaningful character deaths throughout the game. I like being able to use Ethel, Cammuravi, and Miyabi, but it seems so bizarre that a story largely about moving on lets every single non-moebius death except Guernica's be undone one way or another.
XC3 has a huge amount of subtext and understated developments. People will learn, like you said about XC2. Just gonna have to give it time
Chapter 5 is the chapter, the best hero is Fiona, and I love this game.
Edit: I’m also glad Melia and Nia didn’t turn evil.
*teach
Well, personally I don't like the "They were robots all this time lol" plot twist.
@@elpoppliogameralons0839 Hence, another Melia.
@@TheJaredPunch this melly smell different
Hey Kay.... Nia explicitly said during one of her exposition dumps in ch 7 that she made the Ouroboros stones from her core crystal and Origin.
Actually I think several of the things you say aren't explained are either explained, sufficiently explained that you can fill in the gaps, or are clearly intended to be expanded on in DLC.
I just rewatched the cutscene and it does explain the creation of the stones, but it doesn't outline what exactly Ouroboros as an entity is and that's my primary issue. We can infer it's something to do with Blade DNA and Origin's special metal, but that just feels rather convenient to me. Nia also mentions that the party are still influenced by or even partly Moebius, which to me imply that there's a pure Ouroboros state and it's just these vague outlines that I take issue with. I'm really hoping the DLC dives into these two entities more.
@@KayJulers okay so I may have misinterpreted this line but on the founder statue for house vandham I remember it saying something along the lines of "in his fight with n he unlocked the full power ouroporus here to limited" so it's very possible there actually IS a true pure ouroborus state.
Something for the dlc maybe?
@@KayJulers That's fair, most of what you say here is reasonable.
I forget if you mentioned it in this video, but Luxin did in his vid yesterday go over what Nia meant in saying the party is also Moebius. If you haven't had time to see that one yet it might fill that gap in for you, but it doesn't have anything to do with there being a "pure Ouroboros state".
@@KayJulers They do explicitly say a bit more tho. Basically Origin is one big blade, able to be resonated with and changed through the overall intentions and progressions of both the individual as well as the collective whole. Nia states that the Ouroboros stones are a byproduct of her core's energy and Origin, in a similar way to how she describes the Sword of the End being a byproduct of resonance between Melia's heart and Origin. We also know that Z was created from the collective fears and uncertainty around Origin, and that Ouroboros are able to resist or fight against him through exercising their willpower against him. It's basically a new form of blade resonance on a different scale, which is even more easily seen when realizing that Origin is meant to act as a form of man-made Conduit to preserve both universes
TLDR: The stones are Nia's resonance with Origin, the Sword of the End Melia's resonance, Z the general world's resonance, etc.
@@DavidHosey1 I can get behind this explanation more. There are still elements I'm not too keen on like the process of using light to communicate and reconstruct the world's data in Origin, but I think this helps establish some elements of the connected nature of it all.
I've was waiting for this and M version of the mobeius theme is genius when you find out who she actually is.
Not only is it a certified banger, but it serves the storytelling and that's my favorite kind of song.
Yes ! I was waiting for your spoiler review. The non spoiler one was already really interesting !
I love how you dedicated a part of the video to just talking about the music, few people address it and I've never seen anyone actually show multiple themes and go so in depth. Music is probably my favorite thing when it comes to media and these games especially have an outstanding soundtrack, so thank you for emphasizing on it!
Nicely done review mate! I'm gonna need a couple more playthroughs and the DLC to have my final verdict, but I think it has definitely been a wild ride!
The thing about Noah, is that the character has a "flat character arc". Unlike Shulk and Rex that have a typical "Hero's Journey" structure of a character arc.
This means that Noah, is not going to change as a character, the world around him won't make him change like what happened Shulk or Rex. But is Noah trying to change the world to his vision. Yes, the world pushes back and ask Noah if he would still believe if his vision is correct, and here's where the tension comes in, N is a great antithesis for his character.
A flat character arc needs an outstanding supporting cast, because these are the characters that change thanks to Noah. This is where the rest of the team and the hero's comes to help tell this story. Although not all hero's are changed thanks to only Noah of course.
A lot of characters in media that have "flat character arcs" tend to receive criticism of being to well, flat or one noted characters. Goirno from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Luffy from One Piece and many more. I think this is because we are accustomed more to the "hero's journey" type of story and everything that doesn't follows it is "bad". Or these type of stories with flat arcs are not that well told.
i cant wait for future discussion videos on this game, im excited to hear more thoughts of yours.
I feel similarly about Klaus not being referenced in the game. I was certain that Chapters 6 or 7 (I expected ten total because of how many hours each chapter took, relative to Xenoblade 2) would have a flashback to the experiment, where we saw that Moebius was the original villain plaguing Earth. Showing what caused Klaus to resort to the Conduit in order to save Earth could have provided that closure without altering the main plot too much.
Buried in the subtext of the game is that the reason that klaus did the experiment was because of the moebius in him. He was split in two with his moebius being zanza and his other self the architect being his repentance and hope.
@@Deebus And this is literally N too
Noah is his Hope and Consul N is his Moebius(same for M and Mio)
In the end, everything was -Morbius- Moebius since the very beggining in Xenoblade lol
@@Deebus why are you everywhere lol
@@geraldthegoose1685 idk 😂 where else was I?
@@Deebus the person who just has the worst Xenoblade hot takes and how he was going off that epilogue would be bad
I don't really agree with the villains part. I actually like that we don't know why the moebius became moebius and decided to defend the 'now'. In the end, the things they wanted to protect or their reasons doesn't matter. What they represent collectively is the fear of change that anyone can feel (even the party members). In the end, they all are interchangeable and the fact that most of them are underdeveloped story wise reinforce that point. It also show the players that it doesn't matter how many we kill, they will be swiftly replaced (just like in the end fight in the theater). I personnaly think that the did their job pretty well. I thought also the reveal near the end of the game that Z (and X and Y) is not a person but a concept quite cool!
I think the concept of that is great and it does make sense. However the only enemies that get expanded on are enemies that have a relation to the main cast. For instance Dirk got more of a backstory, which hardly mattered, more than Y who literally invented the flame clocks. We should have learned about the time of the first flame clock. From a narrative perspective its not good to have the last 3 bosses in the game to be enemies you don't care about fighting. Though the concept does let them get away with it it's kinda me. But still cool
Thank you for putting in the "Backing up" from Spongebob. When I got the boat stuck a few times I was just thinking of Shanghaied when they went behind the rocks and Eunie just is going "KEEP GOING< YOUR GOOD YOUR GOOD"
I think I am lucky in the way that I appreciate a story with loose ends. It may be my faith in monolith to answer all these questions or just being too emotionally driven to let contrivances change my mind on a story. All I know is that XBC3 made me cry more than I ever cried in my entire life, and that alone makes it my favorite gaming experience ever
Xenoblade 3 is one of those games that needs to linger and analyze.
Cause so much of the story, even the antagonists makes sense. But. Hell even the choice of "make the antagonist unreasonable" that Takahashi chooses makes sense...once you realize 1-2 things.
It requires it to linger and think through before it does.
Thank you so much for addressing that everything in the story doesn't need a full explanation.
I saw a lot of people complain that 3 is incomplete game and have a plot hole just because the story doesn't spell out everything like Riku identity, original of Lucky Seven, etc.
This game is totally 6 person story. Everything doesn't need to complete telling. Unresolved plotpoint doesn't mean plot hole.
We can enjoy completed Dragonball saga without knowing who is actual biological parent of Goku.
Glad you brought up that there was no twist near the end of the game. I remember when I entered Origin and was psyching myself up for the big reveals from Z, but it was just a marvelous set piece of a boss fight and the ending. Nothing wrong with that of course, I loved it, but it felt like something was missing from the final hours. I guess they really did sprinkle in the big reveals earlier on instead and that's fine too.
For me, I liked X3 much more than X1 & X2. 1) I think it's theme of pushing for a better future for what you have control of despite the fear of the unknown was played out in a very relatable fashion. It felt tangible. 2) The characterization in this game made me feel deeply for every character, including the other Heroes you meet and get classes from. 3) I love how much is shown instead of said with regards to character emotions, and it makes the whole package stand high and the narrative feel mature. There are problems with some of it's narrative, but like anything, it's not perfect so you just have to weigh the positives and negatives and decide if the highlights outshine your reservations of the whole package. 4) I just thoroughly loved playing it. Side quests, the job system, the combat, just running around and looking at things. It's a great space to explore in every facet, to me. I've heard that the job system was too surface level for them, but I enjoyed that the system wasn't too complicated, as there were enough menus to sift through in this game as it is.
For me, I found Xenoblade 1 to be unbearable to play. I started liking the story and gameplay, but I felt like I optimized my method of playing way before you got your last character. When that last character came in, I also didn't understand how to fit her in to play the game in an interesting fashion. The type of gameplay the last character optimizes just seemed boring to me. Then, once I found my favorite set ups for the characters to beat monsters and bosses about halfway through a 150+ hr game, the gameplay became incredibly repetitive. I was to a point that I couldn't wait to see the next cutscene so I wouldn't have to play the game anymore. Once I resented the gameplay enough, I wound up souring on the story as well, and just dreaded the whole experience. I grew to hate the equipment and skill tree menus, and everything about collecting world objects. Everything got to on my nerves but I pushed to finish the game because I already invested 100 hours or more, might as well finish it. I was so infuriated by the game that I can barely remember the later story beats, and twists in the later part just felt like an excuse to make this endless game even longer.
Xenoblade 2, however, had such great gameplay, and the unique blade character models were always a fun discovery, that I truly enjoyed just playing the game. I also enjoyed the sidequests, especially those pertaining to the specific blades, and it made the weapons more than just weapons that speak. The chain attack system was not explained, but discovering how it works with the orbs was such a joy. It was really neat feeling like you're discovering something truly on your own. Every monster was a time to experiment with the system to see if something worked a certain way or not. My gripe with the game was the story. This is a matter of taste, but I felt like Rex's demeanor and vision didn't fit the tone of the story. He really felt like a child amongst adults and not in a good way. I understand all the character arcs, and I don't mind the arcs of characters like Pyra and Mythra on paper, but how they got there with this hopeful child was cheesy. However, my bias comes from really disliking characters that get their way because they just feel so passionate about it that they get to their places in the story by brute force or pure emotion. I prefer characters that at least try to figure things out with their brains, and Rex just doesn't have a brain. At least with X3, Noah is a pretty righteous person, and others around him sometimes have to keep him in check if his prerogative at the time is reasonable or ignorant. Besides Rex, I think the rest of the narrative and characters are lovely. I also loved the gameplay and I couldn't stop playing with the battle system and all the blades, so it made the game a very positive experience.
Therefore, anyone weighing the good or bad of a piece of work, there really is no right answer on what parts of a piece of media weigh something down or lift something up enough to make it objectively better or worse than anything else. I found the positives of X3 to outweigh it's negatives by a wide margin, and I got a lot out of the game and it's themes. I also think having a narrative where it's a system of older beings clinging to keeping things the same in the now and not letting the future come is incredibly relevant to what we are suffering from with our corporations and politicians, meanwhile newer generations are suffering for it. For me, X1 was unbearable. The gameplay got me so tired and bored that the enjoying the rest of the game suffered for it. However, everyone else finds X1 to be a masterpiece; obviously, what I found grating and insufferable was very fun for others. As for X2, I enjoyed the game quite a bit, but there are swathes of the fanbase that really don't like X2. There's enough there in the game where people experienced the same thing and got very different feelings and conclusions from it.
Anyways, all I meant to say was, there's not point trying to find the best Xenoblade game. There's just ways all of them could improve. No piece of art is objectively best. Much love!
Honestly, xenoblade 3 is by far my favorite of the series! I honestly love thus stiry more than the first two, the combat in genuinely perfect, the exploration has it's issues certainly but still great, music is god tier, characters are just perfect!
I know I'm in the minority here but honestly zedd is fucking horrifying! His quiet disconnected mannerisms, his body language, his design but most of all his actions! He doesn't interact with hardly anyone bc he literally doesn't care! Everyone is a toy to him, a plaything, entertainment which explains why he never feels anything when he loses a consul and he's done thus so many times that he feels completely invincible and otherworldly! Him being seldomly used honestly for me works bc he just enjoys watching ppl struggle so it wouldn't make sense for him to have a bigger pressence.
As fir the other consuls, i love them all! Some had such stupid long over the top monologs that i couldn't wait to kill them, some like S were heartbreaking, Triton is the best hero consul ever, the one for taions side story that was just an idiot was simply too funny to not enjoy, joran definitely could've been used more as well as D but still enjoyed them and M and N are just fucking perfection!!!
I'm trying to make my way through xenoblade 1 and it's definitely not my favorite. The UI for combat just isn't great and the pacing is all over the place. Idk maybe I'll love it later on but 25 hours in and I just don't feel this desire to sink every hour into it like i did eith 2 and 3 but that's me
Consul V was absolutely hilarious, such a lovable moron. I also really like Ashera’s Consul (R I think?). The way Ashera just smugly shuts her down was too good
I agree with mostly everything. My biggest gripe really comes with the very underutilized bad guys. Chapter 6 and 7 definitely needed to be a bit meatier especially after the huge and peak chapter 5. Them expanding on the bad guys would have helped a lot.
Also I feel like this game treats deaths like DBZ where the stakes are kinda gone after chapter 5. Miyabis return really didn't need to happen in such a way and also Ethels ascension kinda made the game feel like anything can happen at any time.
I really liked Z even after knowing that he is a concept but they could still have given him a better story arc. Also his line about doing this all because of his amusement ruined his character even more. The idea of him being the fear of people moving on made sense so him being neither good or evil would have been great but they made him evil just for us to have a reason to kill him.
Hear that Noah? SuperSavajin wants something a bit meatier
Idk man, 7 was longer than 5 and 6 has some of the peaks of the game easily. Many Moebius are meh, but most aren't meant to be important or deep, with the only real character ones being N, M, C, D, J, I, maybe F, X, Y, Z
Also HUGE disagree about the DBZ stuff. Sure Miyabi didn't have to come back, but bringing back a character who had no character beforehand is completely fine if it makes sense lore-wise. The Ethel stuff basically highlighted how it isn't the same Ethel that we're working with at all, emphasizing how she died yet her legacy lives on. And what Z says at the end is outright said to likely be theatrics and lies by the party later, as he is shown to have both fear, rage, and hope to keep things together and working like they have been rather than risking their destruction through Origin
I agree that I think the game peaked slightly after the halfway point and couldn't hit the highs that XC1 and 2 did in its final stretch, which left me wanting more. So... Xenoblade 3 peaked in high school lol?
It makes sense to me that he's evil since he's essentially the culmination of countless people's negative emotions and the series has tackled what that does to people previously; however, if they just made Z present more often beyond just chilling in his theater the whole time, his character status would be higher for me.
Z’s amusement line is either him being full of shit to mask his real reasons, or it’s an embodiment of how people who don’t like change will seek pleasure and distractions to avoid having to confront themselves. Either works for me.
@@DavidHosey1 Chapter 6 only peaked at the beginning (it made me cry like a bitch), after that nothing that interesting or mindblowing happens, the end is also so sudden, like i literally was like "That's it?" After i finished it because i couldn't believe how short it was.
Well said. I don't think holding it up to the same standard as Xenogears was unwarranted. 1 and 2 borrow a lot from Gears and Saga, but they end up having their own unique spins on them. 3 just takes so, so much from the Xenogears foundation that they already built to where you'd hope or expect them to do more with the premise like a Xenoblade 3 version of a finished Disc 2 of Xenogears. Instead we got Xenogears but worse and somehow feeling even more rushed toward the end.
I think ironically the biggest subversion of expectations was how the game just ends on chapter 7. It felt so goddamn weird, maybe due to the inconsistent pacing. It's pretty nuts how long chapter 4 goes on for. The part with Ethel and Cammuravi fighting in chapter 4 should have ended after that battle and boss fight, then begin a chapter 5. It's insane how it kept going on like that going through the entire Keves castle sequence. Makes me feel like they wanted to arbitrarily end the game with 7 chapters for whatever reason. Lucky Seven symbolism?
My cope is that the DLC expansion will be our chapters 8 - 10 which would put it at Torna length. Not sure if Nintendo would want to market it as chapters 8 - 10 though as it would make it look like they sold us an unfinished game. At the same time, the length of the base game is definitely worthy of being fully shipped title. It's just split weirdly into 7 chapters. There is precedent for the DLC to end up being part of the late game chapters though: Takahashi said on Nintendo's Japanese website during Torna's launch that initially, the events of the Torna expansion were to take place between chapters 7 and 8 of the main game, but the amount of resources it would have taken would have detracted too much from Xenoblade 2's base story. So they shelved it and made the scenario its own independent quest, scaling things up for an expansion.
I'm expecting an epilogue instead of a prequel with the founders because with Xenoblade 2's base game so much of the story, characters, and world is intrinsically tied into the Aegis war of 500 years ago to where we get entire flashback cutscenes that were remade or expanded upon in Torna. Takahashi even said that Torna was one of the original prototype's for the main game - or “one of the potential story candidates”. He straight up said Torna "slept on my computer’s hard drive, but when we decided to include a new scenario with the Expansion Pass, I knew that we had to revive Torna - The Golden Country and tell that story."
So with that said, unless the same exact thing happened again and he had a scenario with founders created that had to be shelved and revived when they had time -- I don't think it's necessarily a given that the DLC story will be a prequel again. Torna's prequel story felt necessary but also happened by circumstance.
My review is that Xenoblade 1 2, and 3 all rock. 10 out 10 for all of them all around.
Eagus Wilderness Day is my new fav area theme in the series
Honestly I think the DLC next year might be some kind of epilogue where worlds merge properly and we see the casts of all three games working together. That sounds more like a way to close out the Klaus saga rather than another prequel story like we got with Torna.
Given the clues we were given so far it will most likley something after XC3 where we will see old faces again.
@@MrDeflador Hopefully that's the case. We'll just have to wait and see.
Can't wait for more Xenoblade from the professor himself!
Absolutely nailed this review Kay!
Love the video as always!
Ive wanted to watch this video for a long time, but due to my lack of completion of the game, i hadnt gotten around to watching it. Having finally beaten the game on Wednesday [4/26/23]... I finally understand.
This game means so much to me. Thank you, and all others who continue to make content like this. It really helps the community feel so full of great people.
HERE IT IS! I'll be watching this in a while, once I've got through a pile of work!
And here it is!
Yeah, you put to words a lot of what I was thinking about the ending. After the opening to chapter 6, most of my hype and excitement was coming from ... past games' knowledge, not a lot on what was happening in THIS game. The no big revelation, taking the wind out of several things we thought was important, leaving a lot of things left dangling. It doesnt feel like an "ending" to a series of linked stories, really.
The execution of the ending cutscene ITSELF was incredibly, but as an ending to everything they set up in the plot, or the overARCHING thread of all 3 games, it left me feeling kinda. Empty. Extra melancholic on top of what they were trying to portray.
Glad to see you put out another great vid and EXTRA happy to hear that you really loved the Xenogears plot. That:s a game I have only watched one playthrough of, and I'd love to experience for myself some day. Once I am fluent enough in Japanese to read it that way, because I've heard Xenogears' translation was still in the early days when not as much care was put into it.
Ain’t it funny how Z is just another malos? Both were corrupted by the will and desire of others. Amalthus desire for humanity’s destruction effecting Malos Core, Humanity’s desire to stay in the now and fearing the unknown future effecting origin ability to activate and manifesting Z.
And of course Z and Zanza both do the whole “feed off and reset the world as much as they want” thing
Not really
Something I simply have to say about the writing of the villains this time around, is that they aren’t the true antagonists of the story. The Moebius ultimately are just people in this world, and I think that’s because the story is meant to be a character vs environment setting. There are many moments where this is implied and even addressed. I’m only at the 11 minute mark, and you may well bring this up as the video continues however.
Before I continue watching though to affirm what the video has to say about it, I want to put my opinion out about Z and the moebius specifically. While I absolutely agree that they aren’t the most compelling by their characterizations, the revelation the game is trying to push, is ultimately that they aren’t the true antagonists of the setting. But that the setting itself is the antagonist. Z is motivated by his hatred of the idea that life leads to death. He is a culmination of every single denizen of the respective original worlds and their existential dread. For the purpose of the narrative, I do think that such is a powerful message, and that the lack of characterization most of the villains have is intentional for that reason. The player is supposed to see them as obstacles. Things. The machinations of the status quo. Especially Z.
I understand well why a lot of people feel the villains aren’t well written regardless however, but the few we do get that have a real role in the story sell home the idea. I think the less characterized Moebius are supposed to be left to interpretation on purpose. Especially because I think they are meant to be a criticism of the real world. They all became what they are because of the way they lived. They are part of the establishment that benefits from the suffering of the younger generation that would see them replaced or dethroned. Nameless, faceless entities that need not be known because the more obfuscation to who they are, the less vulnerable they will be. The reality is that… this is the way the world tends to really be. We don’t really know who these people are or why they do what they do. But we can all understand it comes from a dark, fearful place. And I think that on its own is powerful. Anyway, back to watching the video with me!
You literally put words on my thoughts.
Nothing much to say except for I agree. Moebius felt unbelievably real, so many times I was just like “is this game selling an anti-corporate message because these guys just feel like evil CEOs” and it was really relatable. Them not being charismatic is a hard pill to swallow for the fanbase, but I really think that across the whole story and sidequests the scope and power of their threat was abundantly noticeable and Z honestly felt like the strongest Xenoblade final boss despite not having Conduit powers, just because of his sheer tenacity.
The funny thing is that the twist needed to add urgency to Ch 6-7 was right there: That defeating Moebius meant the erasure of Aionios and anyone born in the City. I was sort of blown away that Z didn't try to use this fact to instill doubt in the protagonists. The fact that Annihilation events don't play any tangible role in the events of the game, leading to a lot of players (including me) forgetting the whole idea that Aionios is rapidly falling apart at the seams and unsustainable as a world, doesn't help either. Compound with the beginning of Ch 6, despite being an amazing sequence, eliminating Mio's lifespan as an immediate visceral motivator and it's no wonder that the last two chapters feel weirdly languid.
This is a great review, both this and your non spoiler one. I agree with pretty much most of the things you said. The story is a bit of a slow burn at first, before peaking between chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 6, and then declines sharply afterwards.
The last two chapters feels rushed and don't spend enough time fleshing things out or giving some things time to breathe. The villians and world building are also a step down compared to 1 and 2 I find. Even N, who I think is pretty good, suffers from the same issues a lot of the villians in this game does where he doesn't have enough screen time and his dynamic with the cast, Noah especially, isn't as fleshed out is could be.
It's still a great game, and I think in a lot of individual components it is easily the best in the series, but as a whole I don't think it sticks the landing as well as it could have.
About the photo, I don't mind it really, but it's placement feels really out of place during the ending sequence. While it makes for some funny reactions, it would've been better if it was revealed in a side quest so it wouldn't distact people or take them out of the ending. I'd definitely like to see your raw full reaction to the image though since it looks hilarious.
I would’ve loved if there where only 6 or so Konsuls that all tie into the main story but also influence Hero stories. You could make the side mission: Hero stories into quests like Zeon where you just focus on the rebuilding aspect and maybe a fanatical member of the war system be the boss in some of the quests. That way we can focus on the Mobius themselves more and even give each a more detailed flashback sequence on how they became Mobius. Also having multiple Mumkhar like Rivals that you never really beat but desperately try to would make for a more engaging story in both writing and gameplay. Obviously tying in the Mobius with a party member would also be interesting (Joran with Taion and Lanz, K with Eunie and Sena, Y with Mio). With the flashbacks we could also get more scenes with Z and explore his character more. I’m not saying make them more complex, but explore their nature and how you could have sympathy with them.
From Luxin's video (in relation to the section about the end of the game here) he talks about Melia's 5 word response to Taion's question of whether or not Aionios is real
"Anything that exists is reality"
And normally the "it was fake" twist makes me angry but in this case since they tell you that I don't feel angry about it because it can still be "real" using Melia's logic
Best to think of everything that happened on Aionios as a +1000 year blip condensed into the span of an imperceptible split second, that people remember subconsciously but not literally
I love it
been waiting for this!
I agree with every point you've made for the most part. While the ending was great. I remember at the time being kind of held back by several things. Because Z didn't really work for me, I just wanted to get through the fight. While I think it goes for an epic scope and resolves a lot of character arcs, I was ready to push on.
The other thing that caught me off guard was the worlds splitting. Perhaps I missed something, but my assumption was that time moving forward didn't equal the worlds splitting, but rather being remade. This is also a nitpick, but how could Taion decipher things from Eunie's world? It's a sweet gesture, but nobody from Aionios should really know aside from Moebius, Nia and Melia. So in the moment, I felt the game ended on a fizzle, rather than a bang and I do think my own expectations tied with the marketing of "the culmination" definitely set myself up for being let down.
I think the idea of Moebius being made up of the people's fears is a good idea on paper, but to have Z be a concept just feels so lackluster. I think all that had to be done was show some people working on Origin tamper with it during its creation and thus showing that Moebius was made as a fail safe and it could have played off a lot like Klaus making the Xenoblade 1 universe at the end of that game.
This game does a good job growing on you. I still have my issues with it, but the repeated listens of the OST, discussing with others in the community and then watching others experience the game as they finish it have made me appreciate the story a lot more than when I originally finished it. I watched a streamer recently get to the ending and this time and I was an emotional wreck. Knowing what to expect, the splitting of the worlds hits hard, especially as the party chases after each other.
Gameplay wise, this is my favorite of the series. I'm excited for the story DLC and hope for an epilogue more than a Founders prequel, but that makes too much sense given the dangling carrot presented at the City and it works gameplay wise. Excellent review! I'd love to hear some more detailed thoughts on the OST sometime!
BANGER editing as always!
Thank you!
Having only played this and the first game, I honestly agree with a fair amount of the criticisms towards this game's story, but for one reason or another, it never detracted from the overall package from me. As much as I adore the first game, this is honestly my favorite of the two, for both story and characters overall. I DO feel like the first game is executed better, to near perfection in fact, but the themes that this game's story represents and the moments that came from it just made me feel so strongly about it from start to finish. Overall, I'm head over heels for this series now and I can't wait to see what Monolith Soft does next.
On another note, to me, the end of chapter five and beginning of chapter six felt more like the Mechonis Core of the game than Prison Island. I feel like Prison Island's equivalent was Keves Castle; it's what the whole game had been leading up to at that point in the story, and completely changes the journey going forward. Then, like Mechonis Core, the chapter five finale/chapter six introduction does the same, in a manner that leads directly into the final act. But that's just my two cents.
I spent 150 hours beating the game. I've spent just as much time so far doing all the side quests and I LOVE THEM! So many of them feel like episodes of a TV series that I really want to watch, especially the hero and ascension quests. They're so emotional, they make me laugh, they make me cry, they make me love the characters even more, so much more than I loved characters in prior Xenoblades. Even Nia and Melia I love more in 3 than in other games. I just finished the ascension quest for Isurd and on the surface that was just taking him to a natural spa but it made me feel so many things, I freaking love Isurd and his dynamic with Taion.
I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH!!
The hero quests are phenomenal. Possibly even better than XCX’s sidequests
Ammusingly, the end of Chapter 5/beginning of Chapter 6 was also my favourite part, but for a completely different character(s). I had no doubt that Mio was going to survive somehow since it felt too early, and the game wouldn't just keep going without one of the main party members. _How_ she survived however is what impressed me instantly making Mio* my favourite character. M**'s awesome battle theme and interesting gimmick certainly didn't hurt.
* And by "Mio" I actually mean "M." I basically spent the next several hours of gameplay avoiding the main story just to keep Mio in her Moebius armor.
** And here I actually mean "Mio" since the switch happens before the fight so you're technically fighting Mio the entire time with M as a guest party member that you can directly control. Mio deserves a freaking Oscar for her flawless acting in the role of the villain.
I'm curious if we'll get to see another video like the one about Xenoblade 2's leitmotifs, since Xenoblade 3 appears to use A Life Sent On in a similar manner. Speaking of music, hearing Xenoblade 2 music around Nia made my heart warm, but that _battle theme..._ Drifting Soul is a slow and melancholic vocal track. How. The _spark._ Did they turn it into a _battle theme‽_ It still has some darker undertones as well as instrumentation shared with Battle Agnus, but it's such a hopeful reprise that it honestly becomes as tearful as the original despite the completely different tone.
I also want to mention the LGBT+ reaction to this game, which beyond just getting a 100% canonical nyanbianary character (yes, that's a term), it seems to have gotten the aromantic and asexual communities very excited because, somehow, these child soldiers with no concept of romance or sex managed to get seen as actual representation. You can kind of imagine how many of these people decided to just pretend the heteronormative explanation of relationships from Monica didn't happen, as well as how many decide to ship the entire group of 6 as one big platonic family.
Finally, well... the baby scene hit pretty hard and not even because of anything else in the game. For a little context, I may or may not have become an uncle only a few days after this game came out. The moment I saw that scene, I knew that, despite not wanting to push my sister to play Xenoblade 2 beyond trying it out, I would not be satisfied unless she manages to reach that scene. One minor snag is that, while she did get Xenoblade 3 on her own and played it for a few days, she hasn't been able to play much since then due to... more pressing concerns.
I totally didn't know about the LGBT+ reaction to the game but I feel a little bad for them... The game is about life and thus reproduction (and death), so obviously relationship would be heteronormative and the aromantic/asexual ones "rejected" (with " " since it isn't the relationship that is rejected, the game doesn't care, but the lies/unsaid of the Endless Now).
At least they got Juniper.
@@evanpereira3555 Juniper is honestly kind of funny since cats and catpeople were already popular in trans communities (Ferris from Re:Zero often comes up) and enbys wanted their own equivalent, so they came up with the term "nyan-binary." Come 4 years later from what I can tell and Xenoblade 3 has an enby character with explicitly they/them pronouns. So course they just _had_ to be Gormotti to earn the title of "nyan-binary."
Oh god of course that's a term. I did appreciate how the game strayed away from a lot of other Jrpgs by not having the same cringe sexual fanservice jokes that stopped being funny in the 70's and handled relationships in a more mature way that was really interesting in context and also didn't make me roll my eyes.
While i'm heartbroken by the ending it works butifully with N's and M's story and game's theme
I’m probably being overcritical because my expectations got subverted, but XC3 does not feel like an end to a trilogy. Although I understand that XC 1 and 2 could be played as standalone games, the ending of 2 bridged a connection between them, which I hoped would be elaborated more in XC3.
Yes, we have the two worlds colliding; and yes, we have some cameos and references, but XC3 doesn’t feel too much like an ending to Klaus’s arc, even though that’s what the developers were intending. Blades are gone and Telethia are nowhere to be seen. The Aegises have no contribution to the plot whatsoever, much less any mention about the Trinity Processor or Klaus’s original world. Nia is shoehorned into a queenly role as a plot device and her character is sadly used more so for comic relief than anything, which feels like a waste.
Aionios’s main antagonistic group is comprised of a species that has little to no relation to XC 1 or 2’s overarching plot. A majority of the antagonists are either not too bright or evil for the sake of being evil, which is disappointing because the antagonists for 1 and 2 were written so well.
I think aside from the two worlds merging, XC3 didn’t really build upon the first two games at all. The game is amazing as a standalone game (until the end of chapter 6 at least), but it doesn’t feel like a proper end to the trilogy. Some people are hopeful that DLC will provide the connection I’m looking for, but I feel like the connection should’ve been present in the base game to begin with. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am about to hit the 200 hour mark (might even start new game plus once I complete the sparkin’ Cadensia map); I just wish the game felt more like a third game.
I don't actually think this series is supposed to be a trilogy anyway. We only think that because of that one early article saying how Xenoblade 3 will be the end of the trilogy, before it was revealed, and Takahashi saying this is the end of the Klaus experiment saga. I actually think the story will continue forward, but the story won't be related to the Klaus experiment and the separation of the worlds. I believe the two worlds will unite as one and will continue as a new story with new themes.
@@ShallBePurified well we just gotta wait and see how the expansion will move us forward
The first two games set the worlds to return to one another. This game takes what was granted, and dares us to ask if we’re truly ready for it no matter the cost. It’s the final, or perhaps first test of the new worlds to reach their potential, and in a way that makes it Klaus’s final repentance.
There, that’s your conclusion.
I for one really DO NOT want the DLC to be a prequel about the original Ouroboros. I don't think how they came to be is relevant. What mattered is what they represented, and what would truly make this game feel like it properly closed the Klaus saga up is if the DLC is an epilogue story of sorts where the party reconnects in a properly bridged world, or perhaps some other version of Aionios that is made when the queens are made privy to or remember themselves the connection between their worlds. Remember, they can still communicate; the worlds are still close enough to do so, or at least there is no indication that this would not be the case. They have time to work on something. There is now a yearning within the memories of the peoples of the two worlds of longing to see each other again. That, thematically, must be explored. Plus... I really just want to see Noah and Mio meet again in a non-what-if way.
I just beat the game about an hour or two ago and I was excited that I could finally watch this review. I liked it overall, but I do wish Klaus made an appearance either physically or referenced. One thing in the game that I thought was going to be part of a big revelation or something was Noah's and Mio's kid. I thought that Noah and Mio would die and be reborn, but what happened to their kid? I thought he would come back to be a major character in the third act or something. Your review was really good and gave me new things to think about this game. Also, the Link's Awakening part of the video was great lol.
Klaus is super dead
Mio and Noah’s kid either became the first Vandahm or an ancestor of the City’s. But really his existence is more to show what Noah understands was lost, and what N has to rediscover. N and M’s final monologue is proof of that
For me personally, no other xeno game aside from gears itself ever made me feel the same as XC3 did, it's my favorite of the xeno games and I think a big part of it is just how much more invested I was in Noah and Mio than I ever was with Rex and the aegis or shulk himself.
I found Z to be really good as well and loved every single scene he was in, I enjoyed him more than Amalthus at least, though Malos is still my favorite (close second is N, love that crazy mudder)
The ending was my absolute favorite of the xeno series and I adore it.
At the end of the day, I'm pretty sure Elly and Fei/Noah and Mio are the main reason Gears and XC3 are my favorite of the xeno series and 2 of my favorite games of all time.
When it comes to Dirk's comparison to Mumkhar, I do like to think that both him and Joran make 2 halves of Mumkhar's character ark. I mean Joran literally did a Mumkhar-esque face reveal like at Valak Mountain but at Colony Lambda, he's a character everyone knew from the beginning who went rogue, and also did the necessary action to annihilating himself with Dirk. That's how I see it.
I feel like this game had the same problem with chapters as 2 did, but for different reasons. 2 really wanted to have 10 chapters, so a lot of them, especially the later ones, felt really weird length wise. Meanwhile 3 really wanted to have only 7 chapters, so they cut off a bunch of stuff
Ngl you kinda blew my mind with the comparison to Link's Awakening, I have no clue how I didn't notice that
I was talking about it with SiG and the rabbit hole kept getting deeper after the initial comparison LOL
After 7 months and 205 hours, I’ve FINALLY finished the main story and am READY for this review
Unfortunately I can’t watch this as of yet (trying to hold of XC3 until o finish DE, wanna be filled in all the way, but I’m so lazy .-.) Just wanted to comment to help boost the video and the like, even if it may not help. Keep it up Kay, love it always and I can’t wait to return once I’m done with 3!
i kinda like that X and Y didn't get Death Cutscenes? it was nice for the writers to not try and contrive them more impactful scenes than their characters could really pull off, and letting them die in gameplay was a weird little change of pace - i know I stayed and waited for X to disappear for a long time
Yeah, I love how they got no ceremonious or impactful death, because they meant so little to the heroes by that point. Just an obstacle to get past.
A very tough obstacle at that though!
1:32 in the night version of this song, there are bits of Small Two Pieces, the ending theme of Xenogears
He better mention the City theme. It's so good and makes me not skip travel in there since I would rather hear the theme
It has to be something like how orobouros form: you need two people, one from each side, to have strong similar feelings (after exposure to the stones) to interlink. So if the immense fear on both worlds merged as the two worlds approached each other, that could be what forms Z. The game does hammer on the power of feelings a lot.
The picture of Rex at the end did have me cringe a little bit
In terms of the numbered Xenoblade games, my order from most to least liked is 1>3>2 (though all of them are amazing).
I like the main party in 3 more, but the villains in 1 are a lot better. I also think the story in 1 is more consistent compared to the other 2 games.
I laughed so hard when he was talking about how he thought the rex photo wasn't real and thought it was just a shitpost or something because I did the exact same thing and couldn't focus on the ending because of it
Awesome review. Glad I'm not the only one who felt those negatives. Best one so far imo.
Gotta love the Link's Awakening paralelism and the end with Chuck😂
I feel as though I missed something in the large plot drops we were given, as I had gotten this idea from SOMEWHERE that Origin's purpose was to help the worlds merge together, and that would somehow wipe everything out and reset everything. So I was very confused at the end of the game when suddenly everyone was like "Yeah we wont see eachother again the worlds are gonna separate" Like, I liked the end but. I feel like it wasn't conveyed well, or maybe I just mis-interpreted something that was said.
Your interlink with zelda almost killed me xD
This game has a lot in common with FFX as well imo
Mio and Noah have very similar character arcs to Tidus and Yuna, they have similar dynamics, and the most obvious connection you can make is the sending the dead thing and the similar roles Mio and Yuna take up for the story
With some of the stuff about the villains i agree on the most part but i did rlly enjoy Z a lot. While I feel he's lacking from a depth perspective I love the design (and the theatre as well), as well as their demeanour and presence. Z and N's dynamic is great and Z is all the more intimidating for how he so easily corrupted N. The soft spoken voice adds to that, as well as the mocking about the parties 'revolution' in the final battle rlly elevated phase 1 of it for me. Just my personal thoughts great video though, and yeah I agree he doesn't hold a candle to Malos, Jin, Amalthus, and Egil imo.
As for Xenogears vs Xenoblade 3, there was a tradeoff that happened in this game where more focus was given to the other party members while Xenogears pretty much dropped half the party from relevancy after they were introduced. And that's fine for the story that Xenogears wanted to tell, because the dirty secret behind Xeno games is that they don't necessarily need a full cast of amazing playable characters as long as the themes, plot, and antagonists make up for it. This game definitely had the best playable party overall since Xenosaga though and it deserves kudos for that. I think my problem with XB3 is that Noah is just too perfect of a main character while Fei had to struggle with his literal inner demons for most of the story, and when you're lifting character beats straight out of Xenogears then the struggle that Noah goes through rings a little hollow when his character flaws are pretty much introduced and concluded with the span of an hour. I don't know exactly how to fix it, but you don't necessarily need to make Noah a near-incompetent like Rex was for the first half of XB2, perhaps they could have leaned into his character flaws throughout the story and when he realizes that he's similar to N in that aspect, it would be more impactful when he wrenches himself away from that path
I love the M version of the Moebius theme so much to the point that, whenever I listen to the normal Moebius theme, my head just inserts the flute into it automatically
Yeah, I honestly have difficulties going back and listening to the original after hearing the full M suite.
2:01 after you said that this is like a Zelda soundtrack, all I hear here now is the choir from the Fire Temple theme in Ocarina of Time
2:57 The current name we have for this theme is 'Battle Vs. Sorrow' and it also plays during the Colony Mu quest.
I really like how the party dynamic between the Orouborous was built up during the story instead of leaving those conversations to the Heart To Hearts of previous games.
All in all, I think this game has the best party dynamic and story pacing with pretty good world design and great side content (though I think that the third act could have used a bit more screen time), Xenoblade 1 has the strongest narrative, Xenoblade 2 still has my favorite characters and Xenoblade X still has the best world design and exploration.
Ive also seen it be titled the weight of life hope
Hot take: the ending theme is amazing, but it’s not as great as any of Mitsuda’s other ending themes.
I think Beyond the Sky is still my favorite, maybe A Moment of Eternity, but Where We Belong is up there for me.
I never cared about the other Xenoblade endings, but Where We Belong is the only one that vibed with me, so it is the best one
One last you for me is the. Most beautiful song I've ever heard
I love your videos 🙂🙂
A good critical reveiw of a game I love always makes me feel a bit disagreeable, but if anything I think that's a sign to both your ability as a reveiwer, and the game's quality. I've still not deicded if I like 2 or 3 more, and I think hearing your thoughts help me evaluate my own. There's a few points I disagree with (mainly in that I actually like Z), but there's also some points that I totally align with (mainly wanting a "big reveal"). I look forward to the next video, and thanks for your work!
Sidenote: A topic I've seen going around a lot is what people want for dlc. If you don't already plan on making a video, what are your thoughts?
if you liked 2, you most definitely liked Z : ^)
I appreciate it! That's not a bad idea for a video topic, but I would say I'd like to see the original Ouroboros founders. I know that's kind of the typical response, but I think you could get some really interesting material. Shulk acting as a mentor, the various houses forming, some of the XC1 cast dealing with Melia being taken for Origin, etc. It would also help make clear some elements of the plot in the later game.
I feel like this game's story peaked too early and everything after that peak felt weak in comparison. I wish they kept riding the high of Chapter 5/6 but it kinda started dipping downward at the end. I felt like there needed to be more with Origin too, as there was barely any dialogue in there. It's almost like they ran out of time and rushed Origin. Overall, I definitely like this game more than 2. While 3 isn't perfect and has some issues, its issues didn't frustrate me as much as 2's did. 1 has a special place in my heart it I knew 3 wouldn't shake it, but man did 3 have some incredible highs. I sincerely enjoyed my time with the game and I'm doing some extra Hero Ascension quests with the ones that I liked the most and then I might beat up some strong UMs like I usually do.
Also I SCREAMED when I saw Poppi. I was already crying but seeing Poppi made me cry tears of joy. This game made me cry more than any Xenoblade title though what the heck.
Nah honestly while 5 is great, the main story portion of it is only high at the city and its end, most of the rest is a lot more monotonous. Meanwhile, 6 has some of the highest highs, and 7 is exemplary for its ending and final stretch. Only thing that should definitely have been improved were the X and Y fights, especially Y who doesn't even get final words
Yeah, chapter 5 is definitely the peak of the story. After that, it is just clean up. There's no xc2 chapter 10 moment where your mind is blown.
@@goldmemberpb but that only happens due to XC1 context, and if you don’t have it then there’s no real twists basically the whole game other than Morytha and the final cutscene. Plus there absolutely are moments like that which maintain the peak set by 5, especially the beginnings and endings of both 6 and 7
I finished the game a few days ago and overall enjoyed the game A LOT.
I found myself playing the game just to listen to the music, keep battling strong enemies so I could listen to the Chain Attack song and try to break my personal records of total dmg.
I do agree that that games connection with the other 2 is pretty weak.
Sure the 2 queens are directly from those games which even if not state is pretty clear for most who played those other 2. I do think because they never stated the names upfront there was always that little voice in my head saying "are they ore are they not those exact characters? or are they just easter eggs?"
I totally agree that the way Ouroboros is presented is really cool but lacks the depth for a many of the mobius.
Also the lack of depth on the origin (no pun intended.... or do I?) is something I hope is resolved a bit later with dlc though I don't think something that big will be added to.
Overal the moment you reach the city and learn about the people who broke free from mobius, THAT was my most highly rated part of the game as well.
The ending was good but not great, and would have liked it to be a bit longer or more hopeful? that they characters might meet again.
But I also have to say that even though the pacing of the game in the first 6 hours or so is pretty slow, and after getting the mechanics of chain attacks and interlinking, the pacing ramps up a bit.
They game does however suffer from one thing I usually, and this time is no different, dislike a lot.
The final dungeon........
The same architecture, the same enemies, the same hallways.
They just keep going and every time I thought I was almost there.... more hallways.
The inside of Origin felt bigger then it should at some point until I reached the final door.
But all in all it is definitely the best game I played this year, one of my favorite JRPG's and one I WILL be returning to when the dlc comes out.
Ow and btw, the character DLC of Ino was such a big refference to the xenoblad 2 which I found really really fun to see unfoled.
And the class you get from here is pretty ... well , its not OP but it really is REALLY strong if you use the correct gems and items. Holy crap that class can take dmg like its nothing.
Anyway that is it for me.
Great review !
My favorite location theme is the prison. My favorite battle theme is N phase 2. When it comes to villains in the game that are good I would also include Mobius S.
I've never played or seen xenogears so I feel no hang ups on whether this game is just a rehash if that story.
Personally I feel that this game is tied with Xenoblade chronicles 2 as the best story with 1 below them but with none I'd say is less then an 8/10.
Each story had its strengths, with the world building in 1 imo, the villains in 2 and torna and the main characters and themes of 3
Great video! Even though there are some criticisms I disagree with it’s good to her opposing opinions
The vocals on City theme are closer to Astral Chain than Nier imo. I get that less people have played AC so I get it
Sena is my favorite character, but also one that is the least developed. Her lack of confidence is so relatable, but I really don't think she get's to deal with it as much as I wanted. Her own side story was so much more about Gondor and Shania. She had more growth in the Segiri quests. I think she could have been more, and I hope there's something in the DLC that expands her a bit more.
2:30 I am so glad I wasn't the only one who got immediate PTSD from hearing that track
This is not particularly related, but I would like to see an xc3 skribblio vid with all the consuls on the list
Also I share your opinion on the Erythia Sea music, it’s so emotional for an area theme
Yeah, still getting goosebumps
I think the reason D doesn't show up very much in the story is because of the criticism of 2 "Win in the battle, lose in the cutscene" Monolith did a fantastic job of writing around it, however it affects characters like D because he obviously can't lose otherwise he'd be dead and can't reappear. I think this is one of the reasons the villains aren't as impactful
To be completley honest I think they corrected it to a point where I'm pretty confident in saying the main cast has plot armor.
Because the gameplay demands that everyone has someone to pair up with and on a narrative level I'd be hard to justify replacing them the plot can't really kill anyone or have have team ouroborus loose much without creating problems
Yup everyone was just glued to each other that's why we didn't have a Mio rescue ark where you even feel the lost in game play.
Like "Spoilers" for tales of a arise
Where they have to save shionne you lose a few things a important healer especially how healing work in arise & you can't just chug gels cause they are so expensive so you are stuck with Dohalim to circumvent this but not that good at healing.
2nd: You lose the MC Alphen Blazing Sword & character gimmick in gameplay
3rd: You lose a playable character.
Everyone mentions they not use to fighting without her & at camp fire's they are down bad no Chit Chat their heads are down worrying about shionne
You feel it.
NGL Xenoblade 3 ch.5 was strong all together