CORRECTIONS (HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME): - In the final section where I discuss how Xenoblade rejects Determinism, I don’t believe I used the most accurate word. Predeterminism-the idea that all actions are predestined-is a better representation of what I was discussing. - Another Localization change: Melia’s full name in Japanese is メリアエンシェント, which translates as “Melia Ancient.” Obviously that sounds too awkward in English, so “Melia Antiqua” is more fitting, further demonstrating how great the localization is. - KingK brought up an excellent point in his video about Xenoblade Chronicles, too, with regards to Seven. He said that the character lacked agency, and it's a point I actually agree with. (If you're curious who Seven is, then you probably haven't finished the game. It's a major spoiler, so don't research their identity until after getting the seventh party member.) - In the final part of the video I said that the game resolves in a world without causality. This is, as far as I'm concerned, objectively false. There's even scenes that show characters _causing_ events, so my claim there is untrue. That said, I still believe that the world ends in a reality without pre-determinism, freeing the characters from the shackles that Zanza placed upon them. - I no longer agree with my presumption that Riki _must_ have a character arc in order for him to be a worthwhile inclusion to the story. However, I still think he should have been utilized more frequently as a static character. In spite of that, I still love Riki. What a great Nopon. - In regards to my point at 2:36:13, I completely disagree with what I say verbally, but the text on-screen at the time represents my current thoughts better. I feel like the one prerequisite to exploring a form of race in storytelling is that racism should be portrayed, satirically, genuinely, or otherwise, as immoral. Any points that I make to the contrary throughout this video are ideas I no longer agree with. There won't be time stamps in the pinned comment like I said since I started making the video before the mobile app added the Chapters feature. Instead, I'll just say thank you. Again. For probably the 20th time. Thank you for watching this video and any of my videos!
I think what you're trying to talk about is more commonly known as fatalism, the idea that certain events are pre-ordained to happen due to fate or destiny regardless of input (often linked to religious prophecy, like how the destruction of the high entia happened regardless of all attempts to avoid it, because it was fated). The game is not suggesting that causation doesn't exist in the world Shulk creates, that would literally mean that actions literally have no consequences and objects cease to interact with each other in an understandable way. If the monado affects anything in a proper philosophical understanding of the game's world, it affects the fated future, not the causal future. If it affected causation itself, it would create a grandfather paradox every time: Shulk sees the future and dodges an attack because of it, so there wouldn't be an attack to see, so he wouldn't have a vision, so he would get hit, so he would have a vision... forever.. Edited because I had misunderstood predeterminism, which is essentially a form determinism but controlled by god or higher power. But yeah normal understanding of Determinism is entirely consistent with xenoblade and shulks world in particular, and that includes 'all actions are pre-determined' but not 'pre-destined' in some 'fate' or 'destiny' or by a god. Fatalism is definitely what is being directly rebuked by xenoblade though, not predeterminism, which is only tangentially rebuked by the removal of gods from the equation.
I mean if I'm willing to watch 6 hour video essays trashing Disney Star Wars movies I don't think a 4-hour video essay about my favorite video game is unreasonable.
Rikis character arc isn’t learning to be brave, riki is a static character and along with dunban serves as a parental figure, he’s a character whose arc is already over when we meet him
I think that's a pretty valid take on his character. Frankly, I didn't articulate my points about Riki's character enough in the script. Most of his moments actually fit your interpretation, where he's a parental figure to help other characters 'cause that's what he does for Dunban, Sharla, Reyn, and basically all the other party members. It happens for both the main story and heart-to-hearts, so that seems more fitting than how I interpreted his character. Still love Riki's character, though. He's fantastic at developing others when he's there
I keep thinking about your comment, and I think it's pretty great! I guess a better word I could have used to demonstrate my thoughts was "character development" as opposed to a "character arc." The latter implies that a change _must_ occur while the other only requires that a character be useful and relevant throughout the story. By that metric, I think utilizing Riki in more scenes throughout the narrative as a static character would lend to his character development. Looking at him through the lens of "he must have a character arc" is kinda reductive in retrospect. However, I still wish he had _more_ moments of being a paternal figure if his purpose is truly meant to be a static character.
Yes, most things that we learn about Riki are in heart to heart or sidequests. He is a good father and a character that cares about the others so much that even tried to adopt Shulk as his son if he was feeling lonely. It's hard to notice if you just beat the game though.
One thing I'm puzzled that you didn't mention was in the Prologue when Dickson dove in front of the Mechon to take the hit for Dunban . This was important misdirection that established him as a trustworthy character in contrast to Mumkhar's cowardice and betrayal. In hindsight he was never really in danger thanks to the power he received from Zanza and was in fact acting to protect his master, but at the time it seemed to cement the depth of his friendship and camaraderie with Dunban, and that even if he was snarky and shady at times, you could count on him when the chips are down, and this caused me to overlook a lot of the hints towards his betrayal. I feel like that introduction of the character was really important in how everything else played out.
I had just never thought about it honestly. Still, that’s an amazing observation, and I completely agree. It’s another great moment of misdirection and indirect characterization for Dickson!
I also consider it the first major foreshadowing of his true identity; No normal person could take a hit like that and survive. If they somehow did survive, they would surely be crippled for life. Not only does he survive, but he continues fighting like it was just a minor inconvenience. The only reason it’s easy to overlook that aspect is because we’re playing by anime rules. The only other characters I can remember taking such a brutal beating and surviving are Shulk and Fiora, who both had divine intervention to thank for their survival, and Colonel Squaretache. He really cheated Death more than any other character in the game.
Speaking of anime rules, I thought Homs are built different than irl humans because multiple homs fell from the Bionis, only to appear on the fallen arm with no signs of being crippled. Also, doing more 500 push-ups in a row is said to cause a risk of injury, but Reyn did 1000 push-ups as a punishment 😅 As for Dickson, we couldn’t know he’s a giant, so he contributed to the idea where Homs are built different
"After the memory comes one of the best, most hidden reveals in the game: Dickson's betrayal." Dickson, at the end of Satorl Marsh, completely unprompted: "CAN'T SAY I FEEL SO GOOD ABOUT DECEIVING THESE KIDS..."
I was convinced it was a misdirect and that he's just more knowledgeable about Entia or maybe has Entia background, all sorts of stuff were possible. And then he shoots you. "Oh..."
Unsure if someone's said this already, if they have I haven't found it, but my understanding of how Shulk was gaining the Monado arts at such convenient and pivotal moments was that it was Zanza's attempt to get him to fully rely on the sword's powers instead of his own skills while luring the player into a false sense of security in regards to the story's progression using generic shounen/rpg tropes, only to start pulling the rug out from underneath them around Prison Island. In regards to gaining Shulk's trust, it's a pretty easy feat considering how weak willed and pessimistic Shulk tends to be, in stark contrast to most RPG heroes. With the exception of the optional arts you gain from side quests and the arts the Monado starts with which even Dunban can use iirc, most of the ones Shulk gains are directly tied to visions he receives and either unlock immediately in response to a vision (such as Shield, Speed, and Purge) or are granted to him to ensure the massive visions he has at the start of the game come to fruition (I think this just applies to Cyclone). Before meeting Zanza the Monado is nothing but a benevolent force acting upon the plot, saving Shulk and his friends on multiple occasions and giving Shulk the method and motivation required to enact his revenge. This is built upon in three major story moments, those being 1) when Shulk ignores Melia's distrust or Zanza and attempts to unseal the Monado's true power anyways, 2) when he refuses to stop using the Monado even after receiving the same violent feedback that crippled Dunban's dominant arm presumably permanently, and 3) when the remaining party is nearly overwhelmed by the Telethia attacking colony 6 but manage to hold their own by the skin of their teeth even without Shulk (I think Reyn even says something along the lines of "Maybe we relied too much on that Monado"). This dependence is even drilled into the player's mind, as the visions Shulk receives (which at that point the player assumes are the Monado's doing) are a crucial part of the game play loop and Shulk is an almost mandatory party member for a lot of the early game due to the lack of reliable anti-mechon weapons and access to Arts like Shield and Speed which can prevent party wipes. On a story level, the Monado fulfilling this "mystical sword that can only be wielded by the chosen one" trope immediately familiarizes the player with its *presumed* role in the narrative, leading them to conclude that it must be a force for good in the same way the Master Sword or Excalibur is, and that Shulk is the righteous chosen hero that will use it to save the world due to some ancient prophecy or important bloodlines. It stands to reason that, if this is a generic shounen/rpg story that the hero will at some point conveniently awaken to powers right when the plot demands it of them, usually through the power of friendship or a flashback of their mother crying or something boring and tropey like that. The player will then trust the sword's powers and Shulk's actions intrinsically from that point onwards because they remind them of something familiar. However, once the player reaches Prison Island and they are introduced to the sword's creator and the source of Shulk's powers, they are forced to begin doubting those tropes and any assumptions they had about where the story was going are tossed out the window. The revelation after Dickson's betrayal recontextualizes every prior scene with the Monado, giving the scene's where it's being genuinely helpful and saving people's lives a dark and sinister undertone, causing it to create severe dissonance with the typical "boy with the chosen sword" trope and setting it apart from Link or King Arthur.
Well what do you know? I'm a strange, crazy person willing to sit down for an undesirable amount of time and listen to ANYONE just gush about Xenoblade.
My initial reaction to seeing this video was "how do you talk about Xenoblade 1 for four and a half hours" but then I realized I could probably do the same easily
I feel like dismissing the zanza fight as generic jrpg killing a god is doing the story a disservice, it has some of the hypest moments of the game, and from a narrative standpoint is brilliant as the act of killing a god perfectly sums up some of the major themes of the story, it is unlike other jrpgs (most tales games) where the 11th hour god killing is forced, in xenoblade it’s a necessary part of the story, and most of the dialogue is brilliant at capping off character arcs, and sells zanza well, his motivations are clearly defined, he’s a hypocrite, he’s terrified of death, he wants friends but his fear that the races he creates will become strong enough to kill him causes him to wipe them out in an endless cycle which shulk broke by killing him, zanza’s actions are motivated by fear, deep down he just wants friends but can never act on that because of his fear, alvis and shulk pretty much state as mcuh
Sorry, I guess I hadn't communicated this part when I first mentioned Zanza, but I absolutely agree: his existence and defeat are integral to the story with regards to the message or meaning of the game. Without him, the entire rejection of fate and destiny would lack a lot of teeth when examining the story as a whole
Isn't that just final fantasy 13 and 15 where the characters fight a god to break free from their destiny why do you make it sound so special no no offence.
@@joshuataylor7443 I mean 13 not 15 yes, but context is what makes it entirely different, killing god to take control of your destiny is a very popular trope but it’s use in xenoblade is very different from 13 where it’s lazily slapped on like most other things in 13, and most other jrpgs use of it, it’s built into the story from the very beginning
It's a bit headcannony but another bit of foreshadowing that you missed is that telethia that shulk and alvis face off against are probably melias guards who have reverted because of the strong ether attack from the large telethia, the numbers match up and their bodies aren't found.
Too many people disregard the importance of scene direction in stories when it can tell so much without saying anything at all, It is refreshing to find someone who gives it the proper attention it deserves. This critique is so well done I honestly can't wait to check out your other videos.
I wish he explain some of his points more like with shulk sceaum being the best anime boy sceaum he said but didn't show the cilp it and with the characters analysis he just says same stuff alot, but I am looking forward to his Xenoblade chronicles x & 2 videos thosenk
My problems with Fiora is that once Meyneth dies is that her character revolves completely around Shulk and I think the main problem comes from the love triangle in the game.
100% agree. Never had the thought until after I basically finished the video, so unfortunately, I never talked about that. Still, it's a bothersome plot point after noticing, and I've put it in my pinned comment about corrections!
Love triangle agreed. However, as someone who has been in love at 18 (the age of these) characters this is how you actually act at that age. My fiancé and I were all we thought about and we only want to be useful or helpful to the other person.
Fiora was just revived to be character development for Shulk so he can drop the revenge mentality and being a vessel for Mayneth. The only thing interesting about her being alive was she living with a mechon body but the story just said lol no problem solved. Melia's character is so developed that you don't really need Shulk being with her but it was interesting because Gadolt died so Fiora's destiny could be the same. I also don't like when they "revive" dead characters when their death was so "good".
The love triangle is barely there though. Even with Melia crushing on Shulk from the sidelines, there’s never any real competition. Remember, Melia is the only person Fiora confided in about her deteriorating condition prior to Dickson spilling the beans, and Melia expressed nothing but concern. Sure she then says “I’m nothing compared to her”, but that’s pretty much the only evidence of friction between them on Melia’s part. Not to mention, during the similarly-framed Outlook Park scene in the epilogue, Melia seems to have put that all behind her.
It really warms my heart to see how far this fandom has come. I remember playing Xenoblade way back when Project Rainfall was still a thing, and I remember being so disappointed looking for content about it online and realizing that almost nobody knew what the game even was. In more recent years, especially with Chuggaa's LP, the representation in Smash, and vids like this, the game is finally getting the recognition I always knew it deserved.
I'm glad the original game was so good that its fans are all diehards and it got a fantastic numbered sequel in the first year of the Switch's lifespan. I may never have joined the Cult of Klaus if not for XC2.
I have to disagree about Shulk in Future Connected. How could he not become a optimist after the end of the original game? They defeated Zanza and the Fog King is nothing compared to that.
I think Shulk becoming an optimist being an issue is the biggest disagreement I have with the whole video. Obviously, to each their own, the video itself is pretty amazing and I can only hope to make something similar to its quality. To me, Shulk became an optimist when he talks to Alvis after killing Zanza. I don’t think Shulk would have come to the conclusion he does if he was pessimistic in that finale. He needs to believe that the world he creates without Gods will create the future he wants, one not dictated by a God. If he were pessimistic, I feel like he’d want to continue as the God of that world so he could ensure everything goes as he wants it to. But that’s not what his growth is about. Where he was fueled by anger and hatred (pessimism) in the beginning, he’s fueled by hope and confidence (optimism) in the ending. Therefore, I think his portrayal in Future Connected makes perfect sense. Still though, for a 4 and 1/2 hour long video for me to only really have one notable disagreement I think speaks volumes to how well made the video is.
@@Tronk_ on top of this, shulk meets way more good people throughout his adventure than evil. The only truly evil people he meets are mumkhar, dickson, lorithia, and zanza. While he meets a ton of really great people who are willing to sacrifice their lives to help others, khalian, egil, meyneth, gadolt, the entire party, etc. I think this might really make him optimistic about how good and kind most people in general are.
Yeah, like, Shulk has already killed God and almost everyone in the world loves him and his party. What else could there be for him to be insecure about? Lmao
I think Shulk being an optimist in FC is a good change He literally destroyed a god, became one and made a better world After going through that, of course his confidence would be boosted as the Fog King is nothing as threatening as Zanza
39:24 My interpretation of toppling faced Mechon mechanic is that the reason the monado can't cut through the armor is due to the blood of the homs inside being pumped through the armor. My theory is that when a faced Mechon is toppled, the blood flow is cut off and the party is able to cut into the armor, no longer blocked by the homs blood inside. I could be totally wrong here, but that's how I interpreted it and I think it's super cool!
@@capnfluff2428 yeah ik but im saying why does someone need to be inside the faced mechon if all that is required is homs blood to be pumped around the robot. Its not like it draws blood from the homs piloting it.
I would like to point out another aspect about the game, regarding it's Italian localization (Yes I'm italian so please forgive any grammatical error I will make) The translation team made an effort that I would love to see in other games as well, as they used such a diverse language as Italian to its fullest. My biggest praise goes to how High Entia were translated: their speech is so old and complex to the point I often had to look up for words I didn't know the meaning of. This helped to convey their being ancient and noble creatures like no media I've experienced was ever able to do. The same level of quality can be found in every other part of the game, ranging from Reyn speaking slang ish, to the ether furnace man speaking pure dialect, to even the collectibles' names and descriptions. I get the feeling that the translation team didn't stop at just translating, they used language to enhance the immersion while not altering it and I wished the same amount of love and dedication went into XC2 as well (which unfortunately didn't in my opinion)
How's Xenoblade 2 in Italian? You can answer me in Italian if you want to. I generally play everything in English because games localisation in our language can be poor, I'm glad to hear Xenoblade 1 is an exception
@@Qwerty10254 Xc2 got a decent translation. But there's a problem: Xc2 has characters speaking in very different accents, something that I'm afraid wasn't properly taken into consideration. Overall Xc2 was just translated, not adapted. Also, I don't know why but they changed some of the key terms to make them sound more Latin-ish which confused me a lot at the beginning (driver to ductor, blade to gladius)
The fact that this has so few views for all the hard work and effort you've clearly put into it is insane, I've no interest in playing Xenoblade and don't like JRPGs in general but I think I might end up watching this whole thing lol (over the course of a few days, that is)
Thank you so much for watching the video still (after future you has done that of course). I’ve known you weren’t too much into JRPGs from your Twitter and Q&A video so I can’t thank you enough for still watching! I think you kinda brought up a good point in that same Q&A where you thought that maybe Xenoblade botched some JRPG conventions. You’ll probably see in the video, but that isn’t always the case. I still love the game but there are definitely some strange quirks in both storytelling and gameplay
I appreciated the sidequest design from a completionist perspective. Being able to smoothly pick up every quest and then easily pick up or kill everything I needed to on my way to the next story destination was very satisfying. Xeno 2 was too complicated and I ended up doing very few side quests in comparison.
Cheers to that. Questing and the presentation of quests is a lot better in 1. The animation for obtaining a quest in 2 always irked me for how long it was too
@@CinnacalThat too. Also, from a completionist perspective as well, I missed the afinigram a lot I XB2. Completing side quests was much more fun trying to see who knew who and how everyone was connected in the world.
@@egilsama It's why I'm glad Torna introduced the community system. Having a way of tracking how your actions helped the people around you brought back a lot of charm tied to completing them that was present in XB1 and absent in vanilla XB2. It also helps that the sidequests in Torna were in general really well-done.
I find it interesting how split the community are on the side quests in 1 vs 2. For me it's quite the opposite, I found the quests in 1 to be fun and I appreciate the community angle but ultimately a massive bloat on the game and at worst grindy, it doesn't help that levelling is so slow in 1 that I got to the finale still feeling under-leveled even after doing everything I could up to that point, I honestly could not name or remember more then 1 questline sans the Tyrea one from that game, the dialogue for the community just wasn't interesting to me at all. In comparison I feel like 2 balances it way better, there's some grindy questlines(Ursula's is actually a sin), but I found the vast majority of quests to have far more story payoff and personality to them, especially the blade questlines which integrated actual cutscenes, something only 1 questline in xenoblade 1 did. Also upon recently beating the game with a friend who didn't want to do basically any side-quest, I was surprised at how well balanced the games main story is for a straight shot to the ending playthrough, bosses tended to be around the same level at all times, only having to go and grind for about 20 minutes for some affinities on the second to last boss. I'm actually dreading playing 1 with him to an extent because I know we are not gonna get far without grinding out those side-quests(made worse by how xenoblade 1 is far more reliant on levelling then 2 is imo). If there is one thing I do think 1 does better though on this front and this is really just a compliment to definitive edition, it's that side quests, whether active or not are always marked, if I run past an enemy for a quest in 1, even if it's not active I know it's there and that makes filling them out so much easier then in 2, especially the affinity charts on blades which take up the vast majority of grinding(unless you put them on a ton of merc missions anyway.). It's so bad there that I legit believe they should update 2 to add that functionality to it.
@@Cinnacal can we all agree xc3 quests trump all previous titles? I found myself doing every qyest first time around. I only did that in xc1 once I beat it, and then 100% it. Xc2 I need the fucking blades and affinity charts, and the quests don't feel as fleshed as xc3
I understand the complaints of Fiora’s ‘I wish things could stay like this forever’, but I think it’s used more to show her fear of change. I always took her character to be afraid to change things. She wanted peace forever, and when she became mechon, she still displayed these things. She didn’t seem to like the idea of staying, almost already accepting things like dying or not being able to go to bionis because she viewed herself to be too different. The scene also has one of my favorite lines from her, ‘the breeze feels so good’. Each use is so radically different. First, used to the same idea as above, enjoying how peaceful things are. The second is the exact scene in a flashback, where shulk remembers her saying it while sitting in the same spot, but alone in grief of her death. And lastly is the final cutscene, just a cherry on top of a perfect ending. I LOVE the reuse of lines in different contexts, ‘create a world with no need for gods’ or ‘your blade; it did not cut deep enough’ are so impactful and masterful, it blows my mind this was done in 2010.
I watched Chugga’s LP back when it released, actively joined the fandom once it concluded, and then played for myself for the first time with DE, and you still taught me several new things about the story and characters in this game throughout this video. I’m incredibly impressed with this video, and I’ll definitely be rewatching in the future once the urge arises, which I’m sure it will. You’ve earned a sub out of me :)
I'm really glad I was able to teach new things! That's really what I wanted to accomplish with the video, and it seems that other people have shared that sentiment too. Thank you for the sub too. I really appreciate it!
the aftermath of the ether mines has got to be one of the most devastating ways in which a game telegraphed to you how long it really is. All that effort, hours of grinding and leveling, not to mention the hours just traveling down that fucking mine dear god, only for the main villain to roll up with an army of Xord lookalikes and go "congratulations, you got ONE."
Finally, someone who appreciates Sharla as a character. Melia will always be my favorite, but people don’t give Sharla enough credit, and it makes me sad
Sharla to me is like the common folk. She may just be a regular medic, but she provides input whenever she could, she is also quite motherly and even allows reyn to grow as well.
Honestly most of the ire I've seen directed at Sharla is a result of toxic shipping culture imo as they blame her for Shulk and Fiora when it's pretty obvious that they're going to end up together lmao, and she frankly doesn't deserve it. She's a great character.
@@eclecticmuso underrated. Not every character needs to be plot relevant. She and reyn are more so character relevant. Probably why I like them so much.
I want to say Seven's body horror is there, just alot more subtle. if you look, you can see the bolts connecting the skin in all of seven's armor. it's all fake skin besides maybe her face. it's fitting really that she shows the most skin in her gear because she wants to feel and look like a homs again desperately.
It's subtle but when you notice it you start to understand why she feels the way she does about her body in the beginning. Imagine trying to pretend to be human again by wearing fake skin over a mechanical body. imagine how terrifying and sad that would be. No wonder she saw herself an abomination in that conversation.
My read on the subtext on that scene is that she's concerned either that Shulk won't love her in her new body, or that she won't be able to make a family with Shulk even if he does. Its a bit of a stretch maybe, and i think the game didnt make it more explicit because of its age rating, but i think its reasonable that that's what she's worried about because she'd just recently been woken up by a kiss from the boy she'd dreamed of marrying since she was a little girl, and then realized that they'd probably never get to have a normal life together. It makes the ending more sweet too, in that sense, because she gets her wish after all.
Crazy to think if project rainfall hadn't happen we wouldn't have Pyra/Mythra in Smash, Xenoblade being a JRPG Nintendo franchise, Shulk being in Smash and possibly Monolithsoft doing something else entirely
Yeah. That video by Cvit wasn't all that great honestly. Especially after watching MangaKamen made a series of videos talking about it, it's very poorly done...
@@StarForce99 Style Over Substance is basically a guy trying really hard to find the most little flaws in the game, the literal embodiment of "nitpicking". Believe me, I've watched the whole 5 hours video...
Watched the entire thing (Aside from the Xenoblade 2 spoilers because I’m not finished with that yet) over the past few days. The amount of dedication, love, thought, and passion that went into this video is truly inspiring. Xenoblade Chronicles is, without doubt, a one-of-a-kind experience that all of us who’ve played it will never forget. Thank you for giving it a tribute as great as this one. :)
Great video! Always happy to hear people gush about Xenoblade. I will say though (in part because I'm listening to this at work and not able to look at your visuals) you spend a lot of time during your plot analysis simply stating THAT a scene does this or that, instead of using pieces of the scene to explain WHY it does this or that. It makes your video kinda hard to follow and I think would help the structure of your arguments greatly. I'm much more excited to hear the mechanics of how a scene works in context, than to hear just that it does work and that it is awesome for working. Still you clearly put a lot of work and effort into this and deserve praise for making such a great video
Wow. Just wow. This was an incredible video! I'm very glad to see a huge fan of the series break down the game down to every scene, every camera shot, and every line of dialogue to express their interpretation of the story and characters! You've genuinely shed a new light for me on some things I've dismissed as pointless or forgetful, and for that I have to say great job my dude!
One of the details I noticed on an additional playthrough that really foreshadows things to come is when Shulk unlocks the Monado 2. If you notice that when Zanza "dies" he emits this green substance that on the first playthrough you would probably think its going towards the Monado as its right before Shulk gets the Monado 2. But if you look closer after you complete the game you notice that its actually going into Shulk instead. Its such a little detail but it really how much Zanza is at play here.
I’m a year late, but I’m defence of fiora saying “I wish everyday could be like this always” is actually a great line because of how generic and cliche it is. It makes fiora seem innocent through by giving her a cliche line that can be called back on to pull on the heart strings. The whole scene wouldn’t have that same heart string pull and effect if she said something complex and Insightful as it does if she says something cliche, innocent, and overly optimistic that makes you sympathize with the loss of a character whose innocence you wish you could have protected, and who didn’t get the wish she wanted no matter how cliche and naive it is
This is one of the best video essays EVER! Four Hours well spent, this was a well researched topic and as a huge Xenoblade fan I’m glad you did the game justice. Definitely one of the most amazing JRPGs ever made, great work on this!
I’m very appreciative of your down to earth criticisms of the main nopon characters because I, admittedly, am blind to their flaws because I love every nopon in every game so much. Every scene with a nopon immediately makes me smile.
The mondado couldn't cut through Metal Face's face just cuz it can cut through faces. It was because the part was blown up and the blood wasn't able to circulate through it anymore
So I'm autistic. And the hyperfixation that people say that I'm the most into is Xenoblade. While I haven't watched the video yet. I am really looking forward to hearing someone gush about my favourite game for 4 and a half hours.
The Plotpoint that the Tank needs ether cylinders was brought up if you walked to the living quarters and talked to a soldier inspecting said machine before going over to the military camp. There the colonel yells at the two soldiers for not having the means to refuel the tank which prompts the protagonists group to go get some ether cylinders from alcamoths derelict transport vessel which I find is one of if not the best Progression of events in any JRPG openings ever. So mundane and so forgettable yet so important to the overall happenings. I really like your way of presenting though and the effort you put into it Please do a similar video for XBC 2 and Torna 👍🏽
That "I know enough Japanese to write a kanji and look it up" bit is heavily relatable... Especially looking up a Kanji only to have that "Duh, I already know this one" moment.
I was watching this with a friend of mine who knows the story of the game, but hasn’t played much of it (yeah, I know) and during the introduction of the Satorl Marsh when the camera was panning around with the night theme playing, I told him that this was the best area in the game (I meant best-looking). And then you immediately came back in saying “This is the worst section of the story” and we spent so long laughing that we had to rewind the video and watch the Satorl Marsh all over again. Great video though. 🙂👍
Dont really get the huge distaste for the Satorl Marsh chapter, it just provides an oppurtunity for pretty world design and some slice of life-ish interactions. This is really something I wish the game actually did more of.
Spoilers: I think the line "Your blade, it did not cut deep enough" might have a double meaning. It could also mean that shulk was not able to achieve his goal of settling the conflict with words, as he wasn't able to persuade Egil.
I don't think it has a double meaning at all. I believe Egil was completely straightforward in saying that Shulk wasn't strong enough to exact his will. Egil and Shulk are such perfect mirrors of each other that I find it incredibly fascinating to compare them to each other. Egil was alive before Bionis attacked Mechonis. He has memory of everything that has happened, while Shulk has the ability to see into the future. I firmly believe that if Egil never existed, Shulk would have become just like him. Which is why I think Egil was always very open with Shulk. He knew that they were alike. It just took Shulk sparing him before Dickson's betrayal to know just how similar they are
I don´t think there is a necessity to adress "spoilers" within the discussion under a four hour analysis of a 12 year old game. People are supposed to discuss media in a free way at some point. The responsibility to view such a video and read the comments is with every single persons who clicks and reads ;) The ones who don´t want to be spoiled have to take responsibility for themselves, not the majority who did play the game for them by taking care what they say or write. It´s not like the thumbnail or title spoils people who bump them by accident while scrolling youtube ;) To topic: I agree with Darkstar and also think there is no double meaning behind this line but nice interpretation though, I appreciate people who try to dive deep into little things and nuances like that. Aerith dies btw.
Man this critique is extensive. Over 4 hours goodness... I love it :D! Seeing my favourite game getting this amount of attention to detail is something I have longed to see. I even downloaded your video to listen to while working. ^^ Thanks for the work on this!
Just a comment on what you said at 49:00 about the nopon camp in Satorl marsh. What you said is correct, but only for a person who is experienced with video games. Without the cutscene introducing the Nopon camp, any person who knows how games work most likely would have found it themself. However, for a new player, say xenoblade is their first game, they may walk right past it, leading to them going into Makna forest with weak gear. To add to this, I found in my playthrough I was constantly under leveled because grinding sucks, so the addition of the side quests I could pick up gave me a reason to fight random enemies, allowing me to stay on top of the levels up until the fight against metal face at prison island. Just something to think about, and I may be completely wrong, but when creating a video game, the developers have to keep newer gamers in mind.
I've never actually watched this video before, but I've listened to it start to finish four times while at work. It's clear that you've poured countless hours into both the game and this retrospective, and the love and care you have for both are clearly on display. I'm sure I'll probably give this behemoth another handful of listens going forward, so thank you very much for making this.
How'd you even find Mechonis Field "boring"?? Tf, is one of the most AMAZING zones in the game, with an amazing ambientation and pff, that soundtrack music? Is beyond good. Imo, Mechonis Field is easily my top 3 favorite zone, just behind Bionis Leg and Colony 9
Man what a mad lad you are. Dunno why this popped up in my feed but I've watched the entire thing, and really enjoyed it too. Hope you make more stuff like this.
I actually really liked the trope "I hope every day can be like this" because it made me feel like the game was going to be more trope based. The main trope I expected was the mentor character dying and passing on advice to the hero before death, which would have been dunban dying and shulk getting the monado. The subversion of this with fiora's death just made it hit harder because I was expecting a way more generic story.
as someone who hasn't played the original xenoblade, I gotta say if they didn't outright show you where every objective was I'd cry. These quests are SO TEDIOUS
Massive props for you to make such a large video going into detail every area of the game. I could tell there was a lot of passion and time invested into the production of this well crafted video. I’ve only watched a small part of it so I’ll give my thoughts about it over time
One thing I appreciated about Dickson's 'hints' is that there is a subtle menace to them but not in a way that makes you think he's a *bad guy*. That scene at the end of Satorl Marsh on the first play through makes it clear he's hiding a dark secret from the party, but leaves you expecting a twist where he has the best interests of either the party or the people of the Bionid at heart but had to deceive them for the greater good. It made his mysterious nature seem more like a benevolent protector, a 'Jesus was my copilot' kind of thing that JRPGs are fond of. Instead... well... 😅
Played it for the first time this last summer, and I think it is legitimately one of the best games I've ever played. It's up there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI as some truly iconic and timeless RPGs.
The weirdest part in the game was sharla and gaddot. They're relationship never felt natural or fleshed out. He seems like a father figure to both sharla and juju but also he and sharla are in a relationship and it just comes across as weird everytime sharla is being all lovey with him in the flash backs. Came across as an unnecessary friction between sharla and reyn's budding relationship. You can make him her dad and keep most of it the same.
Both Gadolt and Sharla feel very... The best I could put it is utilitarian. It kinda makes sense when you look at it like that. She warms up and softens after traveling with the party. By the time Sharla and Reyn become a thing she's a different person. Sure she has feelings for Gadolt but if she met him for the very first time after her character growth? I don't think they'd have hit it off.
What a great video! This is the first time someone talked about Xenoblade without missing out on anything important. Just goes to show how complex this game is and how much effort it needs to fully explain it. I will definitely recommend this to my friends since this is the best video for story overview and explanation.
I’d watch a 4-hour rant on why Xenoblade rules any day. Just a few minor points I wanted to add, I hope you read them! The locked door in Tephra cave may actually NOT be a bit of gameplay and narrative dissonance, rather, you can learn from a nearby quest that there was a recent cave in, causing rocks and tunnels to shift, and by looking around you can actually see points where the early section may have once connected to the later sections. Some of the tunnels even shift and clear after the events at Mechonis Core! Just thought that was cool. I’ve always thought that the heavy-handed way the game foreshadowed things like Fiora’s death, the presence of Homs inside face Mechon, and the survival of Mumkhar was very deliberate. I personally find them to be red herrings, made in such a way that the player will predict the twists before they occur, and feel clever, or even that they’ve gotten one over on the game’s story. This then allows the game to completely pull the rug out from under you with it’s even grander twists, like the fact that the Bionis is the real evil of the two titans, or Dickson’s betrayal. These twists are still foreshadowed quite well, but it’s easy to let that foreshadowing pass you by as you focus on the more obvious stuff. And man, you sure like the word “elucidate” over the likes of “clarify” or “show off” huh?
Hadn't noticed though, so thank you for pointing it out! The dialogue sounds like it might have been in one of the generic quests given by the defense force soldiers as you enter Tephra Cave. I may be mistaken, but if that's the case, it all makes sense now. Your point here is something I think I agree with, though I never found the right words when writing the script. Heavy-handed, obvious foreshadowing is very much a deliberate tool. Sometimes it creates some great dramatic irony, and other times it establishes a subversion. The scenario with Otharon in the Ether Mine is one in which the team utilized really obvious foreshadowing to subvert and create a new outcome. I'm sure there are other examples, but you made an excellent point nonetheless! Yeah, I kinda went overboard with Elucidate in the script... 😬
It took me 3 days to watch this lived critique or love letter to Xenoblade Chronicles in all its heights and lows. I wanna thank you for making a video that is on par with the efforts the developers went through for this game. You dont see it that often, that such a monumental JRPG gets a dedicated critique that hits off every check mark for all sections and most characters of it.
One thing I like about Fiora saying the generic line is that it helps set the player's expectations so the game can shatter them a little later down the line. By starting the game in the campy kinda cliche way it does, you feel it's gonna be just another in the same style as many games in the genre. So when the twists start to come and recontextualize everything, they truly do hit you out of nowhere because the game trained you not to expect it. After the first big change, they just keep raising the stakes and making each following twist hit even harder. In a purely story sense, I think the cliche being changed would improve the overall narrative, but when you add gameplay and expectations into the works, I think it helps set the groundwork for a better overall experience!
this video looks wonderful, only 10 minutes in and I'm so incredibly excited. I've never seen your channel before and I"m so glad I stumbled across this. Have a new subscriber
@@Cinnacal finished it after work and man, I thought this was an awesome analysis of everything really. I did have to skip Xenoblade 2 spoilers (I still need to get around to that game) so I can’t comment on that, but I like how in depth you got with everything you explained, some of what you said I never realized when playing the game for myseld
Not only have I begun doing a second playthrough, I somehow stumbled upon your four hour video. Already downloaded it so I can listen to it at work I've already enjoyed the first 14 minutes. Looking forward to the rest of this.
You mention how there’s a lack of customization in the combat (specifically in the characters), but I don’t consider that an inherent flaw. The customization doesn’t necessarily come in the characters but in the party builds. With 7 characters, you have 35 possible party combinations using a party of 3. If you count the fact that you can pick any of the 3 characters in each combination to play as, that makes 105 setups, and if you double that by changing the order of your 2nd & 3rd party members, that’s 210 total permutations. Each character has a fairly defined role, so the customization comes in deciding how to utilize your party’s skillsets cohesively. Compare this to the _Final Fantasy_ games where you can customize anyone to pretty much be everything outside of their Limit Breaks. Sure, you can make everyone on the team your healer if you want to, but one downside of that much customization is that everyone sort of feels the same. I like FFVII, but there’s isn’t much incentive to switch out party members since Materia really dictates their roles more than their inherent traits. In XC1, no two units feel the same, which gives each party combination a distinct set of strengths and weaknesses. For different enemies, I can switch my party setup, and that unit selection is part of the joy and strategy in determining how to take down high-level monsters. In most JRPGs, you can’t switch out the main character, but in the Xenoblade games, you have the power to play as anyone, which allows each player to play how they like while still making each character feel unique.
This is very true and I do rather miss the “character makes the build” style of combat the other Xenoblade games don’t have. Buuuut it does have pitfalls. Like, what if a character I like in story isn’t fun to use in battle? Or what if a character is fairly ineffective in battle and not worth using over others, cutting the number of realistic party combos? I do love how there’s dialogue crafted for every party combination though, no matter how wacky
I can see why you chose not to further elaborate on Klaus/Zanza with the info learned in Xenoblade 2 since this is solely about Xenoblade 1 and Monolith Soft chose not to include the retcon cutscene. But it still would’ve added a bit more understanding and depth to Zanza as a whole since he views his experiment as a success and how the success further feeds into his pride. Also worth noting is that Klaus on the whole, whether it be Zanza or The Arcitect, seems to be obsessed with fate and becomes reliant on it.
Dunban and Mumcar is a really interesting relationship. They were brothers in arms, mumcar died in battle. Dunban mourned him, he loved him. And to find that Mumcar is alive and has betrayed the Homs. That’s a huge mental blow to take.
I LOVED xenoblade 2, but for now I don't have time to play the first one. Maybe I will, in the future, because I plan to play every game that has a charachter in smash (I'm silly, I know). For now, I will watch until I want this masterpiece of a video. (just to let you know, Fudj sent me here)
I replayed this on the Switch after playing it on the Wii back in 2010, and I fell in love with it all over again. I forgot how massive the Mechonis was.
I think Dickson's betrayal was a good plot point, although I think if they made it less subtle it would've been better, like he literally says he "hates deceiving these kids" in Satorl. I think if they just kept it at him pushing Shulk to seek revenge, it would've been less obvious.
I have never played this game, yet still watched this full length, I'd say that speaks volumes of your talent of talking about something you're passionate about, it was a great watch!
I was having a rough day yesterday, but being able to just sit and soak in 4 and a half hours of Xenoblade content helped a lot. I picked up XC 2 on a whim almost four years ago and loved it, and I just got around to playing XC 1 in preparation for XC 3 coming out in two months. I've been wanting to watch more about the story and what it all means, and I'm glad your video pulled up so quickly. Thank you :)
I personally don't believe Melia's arc felt incomplete, as I think the resolve and self-confidence she gains by succeeding through strife and by hearing his brother's final words made me have faith that she would develop into the ruler of the high entia. Also sidenote, I predicted that Future Connected would be about Shulk and Melia searching for Melia's birth mother, and I thought it would be that uptill i played it myself
I've always wanted to make a video like this. Where I'm able to fully discuss why I love this game so much in this same level of detail. Just like this video. Well done this is quite the achievement. 👍
Hey, not sure if you read these comments anymore as this video is a bit older, but I figured I'd leave a message. Loved the video, actually watched the whole thing and found it fun, enjoyable, and, in my opinion, generally correct. I really just wanted to write this comment on I think the single thing you missed, yet fairly interesting, was the idea of environmental contrast, a point I started actively recognizing after seeing Chuggaa's lets play of the game. At some point when he reached Gaur Plain, he stated something along the lines of, "It's really amazing how you go from a small, linear area into something super open and inviting," which I further noticed throughout the entirety of your time on Bionis. From Tephra to Gaur, you go from a claustrophobic, linear path to a massive, broad, and open area. The Ether Mine to Satorl Marsh goes from a bleak and bland palette of colors to vibrant, glowing trees with radiating fog (at night). Makna Forest to Eryth Sea goes from a congested, hard-to-see-through forest to an ocean where you can see everything in the entire area. To me, I find that this is one of the reasons in my time playing that makes the difference between simply watching a critique or cutscene movie, and actually EXPERIENCING the game for what it offers.
4 and half hours dedicated to one of my favourite games? Sign me up. I enjoyed my time with Xenoblade when I first played it but then Chugga's Let's Play came along and showed me how much I missed. Now I've gone and 100%'ed it twice, Ice Cabbages and Black Liver Beans and all. Riki is my favourite to play as but Melia remains my favourite character of the story, with Shulk not far behind. I was really hoping Definitive would add a couple more things though. One of them was a few more landmarks in places like Alcamoth which was always a pain to walk to the outer ring and Agora Shore in Colony 9. I also think I had so much fun just running around Bionis Shoulder that I overlooked a bunch of FC's story problems. Though I will say exploring Alcamoth in FC was actually one of my standout moments. That atmosphere man. It couldn't have been easy to cram everything the game has to offer into one video so some major kudos are in order. All in all, fantastic video.
"It was released an entire year in Europe after it's debut in Japan" Yeah that...wasn't exactly uncommon back then. Fortunately now things have a more simultaneous release.
i've never played xenoblade chronicles but i'm still dropping by to leave a comment and show support for the effort you put into this video. keep up the good work my dude :)
I’ve played through Xenoblade 4 or 5 times, I’m really not sure, I saw Chugga’s let’s play right when it ended in my last year of middle school, so my memories of my first playthrough are pretty vague at this point. However even with all that time spent with the game, I haven’t played it since my playthrough of DE when it came out. I watched the whole video and particularly enjoyed your story/area summary section. While I did notice the foreshadowing a lot on my subsequent playthroughs, I only noticed maybe a third of the examples you brought up. It was great and I’m glad to have an even better appreciation for a game I love so much. Also I feel like you got a bit too heated on the Melia’s race reveal part. It really wasn’t that bad, chill out.
Yeah her race reveal wasn’t that big of deal. I just wanted to be fair ‘cause I was so positive with the rest of the game, and I wanted to add some criticism to balance it out. The point is really minor in retrospect but I guess it came off as too aggressive. Apologies for that Thank you for watching the video though! I’m glad you got something information and helpful out of it
I always found it interesting that they first showed the mechon as being flesh eaters it really made the invasion on colony 9 and 6 more impactful and more gritty
CORRECTIONS (HUGE SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE GAME):
- In the final section where I discuss how Xenoblade rejects Determinism, I don’t believe I used the most accurate word. Predeterminism-the idea that all actions are predestined-is a better representation of what I was discussing.
- Another Localization change: Melia’s full name in Japanese is メリアエンシェント, which translates as “Melia Ancient.” Obviously that sounds too awkward in English, so “Melia Antiqua” is more fitting, further demonstrating how great the localization is.
- KingK brought up an excellent point in his video about Xenoblade Chronicles, too, with regards to Seven. He said that the character lacked agency, and it's a point I actually agree with. (If you're curious who Seven is, then you probably haven't finished the game. It's a major spoiler, so don't research their identity until after getting the seventh party member.)
- In the final part of the video I said that the game resolves in a world without causality. This is, as far as I'm concerned, objectively false. There's even scenes that show characters _causing_ events, so my claim there is untrue. That said, I still believe that the world ends in a reality without pre-determinism, freeing the characters from the shackles that Zanza placed upon them.
- I no longer agree with my presumption that Riki _must_ have a character arc in order for him to be a worthwhile inclusion to the story. However, I still think he should have been utilized more frequently as a static character. In spite of that, I still love Riki. What a great Nopon.
- In regards to my point at 2:36:13, I completely disagree with what I say verbally, but the text on-screen at the time represents my current thoughts better. I feel like the one prerequisite to exploring a form of race in storytelling is that racism should be portrayed, satirically, genuinely, or otherwise, as immoral. Any points that I make to the contrary throughout this video are ideas I no longer agree with.
There won't be time stamps in the pinned comment like I said since I started making the video before the mobile app added the Chapters feature. Instead, I'll just say thank you. Again. For probably the 20th time. Thank you for watching this video and any of my videos!
Trty
Ty t td
D
I think what you're trying to talk about is more commonly known as fatalism, the idea that certain events are pre-ordained to happen due to fate or destiny regardless of input (often linked to religious prophecy, like how the destruction of the high entia happened regardless of all attempts to avoid it, because it was fated). The game is not suggesting that causation doesn't exist in the world Shulk creates, that would literally mean that actions literally have no consequences and objects cease to interact with each other in an understandable way. If the monado affects anything in a proper philosophical understanding of the game's world, it affects the fated future, not the causal future. If it affected causation itself, it would create a grandfather paradox every time: Shulk sees the future and dodges an attack because of it, so there wouldn't be an attack to see, so he wouldn't have a vision, so he would get hit, so he would have a vision... forever..
Edited because I had misunderstood predeterminism, which is essentially a form determinism but controlled by god or higher power. But yeah normal understanding of Determinism is entirely consistent with xenoblade and shulks world in particular, and that includes 'all actions are pre-determined' but not 'pre-destined' in some 'fate' or 'destiny' or by a god. Fatalism is definitely what is being directly rebuked by xenoblade though, not predeterminism, which is only tangentially rebuked by the removal of gods from the equation.
Seven feeling that her body is repugnant, makes more sense in the context of this world, since homs hate the mechon and see them as monsters.
“Only a crazy person would listen to all of this”
Me: He’s talking about me!
I mean if I'm willing to watch 6 hour video essays trashing Disney Star Wars movies I don't think a 4-hour video essay about my favorite video game is unreasonable.
@@heavylobster4339 Have I found a fellow Mauler/EFAP fan? :D
Author: a 4 hour video on one subject
Me, a fucking autist: !!!!
Same lol. I'm even rewatching it from time to time
Let us appreciate that this guy made a 4 and a half hour critique with pretty good effort and only has 718 subs
863 now
1000 now!
Yeah but his 4 hours is riddled with so much complaining I could barely handle it
1.51k now
That’s love and passion for this game. It shows how impactful Xenoblade was for him. And maybe other people certainly!
Rikis character arc isn’t learning to be brave, riki is a static character and along with dunban serves as a parental figure, he’s a character whose arc is already over when we meet him
I think that's a pretty valid take on his character. Frankly, I didn't articulate my points about Riki's character enough in the script. Most of his moments actually fit your interpretation, where he's a parental figure to help other characters 'cause that's what he does for Dunban, Sharla, Reyn, and basically all the other party members. It happens for both the main story and heart-to-hearts, so that seems more fitting than how I interpreted his character. Still love Riki's character, though. He's fantastic at developing others when he's there
I keep thinking about your comment, and I think it's pretty great! I guess a better word I could have used to demonstrate my thoughts was "character development" as opposed to a "character arc." The latter implies that a change _must_ occur while the other only requires that a character be useful and relevant throughout the story. By that metric, I think utilizing Riki in more scenes throughout the narrative as a static character would lend to his character development. Looking at him through the lens of "he must have a character arc" is kinda reductive in retrospect. However, I still wish he had _more_ moments of being a paternal figure if his purpose is truly meant to be a static character.
That why I prefer Tora in 2
@@famillesabot5719 I can agree
Yes, most things that we learn about Riki are in heart to heart or sidequests. He is a good father and a character that cares about the others so much that even tried to adopt Shulk as his son if he was feeling lonely. It's hard to notice if you just beat the game though.
One thing I'm puzzled that you didn't mention was in the Prologue when Dickson dove in front of the Mechon to take the hit for Dunban . This was important misdirection that established him as a trustworthy character in contrast to Mumkhar's cowardice and betrayal. In hindsight he was never really in danger thanks to the power he received from Zanza and was in fact acting to protect his master, but at the time it seemed to cement the depth of his friendship and camaraderie with Dunban, and that even if he was snarky and shady at times, you could count on him when the chips are down, and this caused me to overlook a lot of the hints towards his betrayal. I feel like that introduction of the character was really important in how everything else played out.
I had just never thought about it honestly. Still, that’s an amazing observation, and I completely agree. It’s another great moment of misdirection and indirect characterization for Dickson!
I also consider it the first major foreshadowing of his true identity; No normal person could take a hit like that and survive. If they somehow did survive, they would surely be crippled for life.
Not only does he survive, but he continues fighting like it was just a minor inconvenience. The only reason it’s easy to overlook that aspect is because we’re playing by anime rules. The only other characters I can remember taking such a brutal beating and surviving are Shulk and Fiora, who both had divine intervention to thank for their survival, and Colonel Squaretache. He really cheated Death more than any other character in the game.
I think Dickson could have been an amazing character if he actually betrayed Zanza even if certain he would have died.
@@Dash123456789Brawl True, now that I think about. Dickson really takes it as "man, this hurts" rather than "man, I'm injured and need to recover".
Speaking of anime rules, I thought Homs are built different than irl humans because multiple homs fell from the Bionis, only to appear on the fallen arm with no signs of being crippled. Also, doing more 500 push-ups in a row is said to cause a risk of injury, but Reyn did 1000 push-ups as a punishment 😅 As for Dickson, we couldn’t know he’s a giant, so he contributed to the idea where Homs are built different
I don't think any other main title theme hits as hard as this one
What about Dragon's Dogma and NieR song's
Metroid Prime
@@bongodrongo7865 also gravity rush.
prime is a strong contender
@@daeamiralis far point.
"After the memory comes one of the best, most hidden reveals in the game: Dickson's betrayal."
Dickson, at the end of Satorl Marsh, completely unprompted: "CAN'T SAY I FEEL SO GOOD ABOUT DECEIVING THESE KIDS..."
I was convinced it was a misdirect and that he's just more knowledgeable about Entia or maybe has Entia background, all sorts of stuff were possible. And then he shoots you. "Oh..."
Unsure if someone's said this already, if they have I haven't found it, but my understanding of how Shulk was gaining the Monado arts at such convenient and pivotal moments was that it was Zanza's attempt to get him to fully rely on the sword's powers instead of his own skills while luring the player into a false sense of security in regards to the story's progression using generic shounen/rpg tropes, only to start pulling the rug out from underneath them around Prison Island.
In regards to gaining Shulk's trust, it's a pretty easy feat considering how weak willed and pessimistic Shulk tends to be, in stark contrast to most RPG heroes. With the exception of the optional arts you gain from side quests and the arts the Monado starts with which even Dunban can use iirc, most of the ones Shulk gains are directly tied to visions he receives and either unlock immediately in response to a vision (such as Shield, Speed, and Purge) or are granted to him to ensure the massive visions he has at the start of the game come to fruition (I think this just applies to Cyclone). Before meeting Zanza the Monado is nothing but a benevolent force acting upon the plot, saving Shulk and his friends on multiple occasions and giving Shulk the method and motivation required to enact his revenge. This is built upon in three major story moments, those being 1) when Shulk ignores Melia's distrust or Zanza and attempts to unseal the Monado's true power anyways, 2) when he refuses to stop using the Monado even after receiving the same violent feedback that crippled Dunban's dominant arm presumably permanently, and 3) when the remaining party is nearly overwhelmed by the Telethia attacking colony 6 but manage to hold their own by the skin of their teeth even without Shulk (I think Reyn even says something along the lines of "Maybe we relied too much on that Monado"). This dependence is even drilled into the player's mind, as the visions Shulk receives (which at that point the player assumes are the Monado's doing) are a crucial part of the game play loop and Shulk is an almost mandatory party member for a lot of the early game due to the lack of reliable anti-mechon weapons and access to Arts like Shield and Speed which can prevent party wipes.
On a story level, the Monado fulfilling this "mystical sword that can only be wielded by the chosen one" trope immediately familiarizes the player with its *presumed* role in the narrative, leading them to conclude that it must be a force for good in the same way the Master Sword or Excalibur is, and that Shulk is the righteous chosen hero that will use it to save the world due to some ancient prophecy or important bloodlines. It stands to reason that, if this is a generic shounen/rpg story that the hero will at some point conveniently awaken to powers right when the plot demands it of them, usually through the power of friendship or a flashback of their mother crying or something boring and tropey like that. The player will then trust the sword's powers and Shulk's actions intrinsically from that point onwards because they remind them of something familiar. However, once the player reaches Prison Island and they are introduced to the sword's creator and the source of Shulk's powers, they are forced to begin doubting those tropes and any assumptions they had about where the story was going are tossed out the window. The revelation after Dickson's betrayal recontextualizes every prior scene with the Monado, giving the scene's where it's being genuinely helpful and saving people's lives a dark and sinister undertone, causing it to create severe dissonance with the typical "boy with the chosen sword" trope and setting it apart from Link or King Arthur.
SPOILERS":
I love how zanza(god form) just said that he happened to be their and he just needed a body.
You put an apostrophe on “scene’s”. That’s not supposed to be there.
@@227someguy this is really the comment you wanted to make versus what he wrote? Really?
@@TimothyGod Yes. I regret nothing.
Well what do you know? I'm a strange, crazy person willing to sit down for an undesirable amount of time and listen to ANYONE just gush about Xenoblade.
This.
I just love talking to anyone about this game, and it makes me happy to find people that appreciate it just as much!
lol i watched a 6:30 hour stream from the start to end without breaks
bruh I get self conscious about gushing about this game to ppl like my mom but I can't help it
My initial reaction to seeing this video was "how do you talk about Xenoblade 1 for four and a half hours" but then I realized I could probably do the same easily
Honestly ‘How did you talk about Xenoblade 1 for _only_ four and a half hours?’ is a more reasonable thought
@@tylercoon1791 This! I could talk about it way more lol!
Explaining the whole afinity chart would take anyone like 20 hours XD
I feel like dismissing the zanza fight as generic jrpg killing a god is doing the story a disservice, it has some of the hypest moments of the game, and from a narrative standpoint is brilliant as the act of killing a god perfectly sums up some of the major themes of the story, it is unlike other jrpgs (most tales games) where the 11th hour god killing is forced, in xenoblade it’s a necessary part of the story, and most of the dialogue is brilliant at capping off character arcs, and sells zanza well, his motivations are clearly defined, he’s a hypocrite, he’s terrified of death, he wants friends but his fear that the races he creates will become strong enough to kill him causes him to wipe them out in an endless cycle which shulk broke by killing him, zanza’s actions are motivated by fear, deep down he just wants friends but can never act on that because of his fear, alvis and shulk pretty much state as mcuh
Sorry, I guess I hadn't communicated this part when I first mentioned Zanza, but I absolutely agree: his existence and defeat are integral to the story with regards to the message or meaning of the game. Without him, the entire rejection of fate and destiny would lack a lot of teeth when examining the story as a whole
Isn't that just final fantasy 13 and 15 where the characters fight a god to break free from their destiny why do you make it sound so special no no offence.
@@joshuataylor7443 I mean 13 not 15 yes, but context is what makes it entirely different, killing god to take control of your destiny is a very popular trope but it’s use in xenoblade is very different from 13 where it’s lazily slapped on like most other things in 13, and most other jrpgs use of it, it’s built into the story from the very beginning
@@perrydunetz882 But the fal'cie is something that was establish in the beginning of the game how is that slapped on?
@@joshuataylor7443 A. Whole story was lazily slapped together in 13 and B I was referring to orphan specifically
It's a bit headcannony but another bit of foreshadowing that you missed is that telethia that shulk and alvis face off against are probably melias guards who have reverted because of the strong ether attack from the large telethia, the numbers match up and their bodies aren't found.
If memory serves she only had 2 guards but there are 3 telethia.
@@Sapient_Pearwood she says their names in a cutscene and there were definitely more than 3 guards
Too many people disregard the importance of scene direction in stories when it can tell so much without saying anything at all, It is refreshing to find someone who gives it the proper attention it deserves. This critique is so well done I honestly can't wait to check out your other videos.
I wish he explain some of his points more like with shulk sceaum being the best anime boy sceaum he said but didn't show the cilp it and with the characters analysis he just says same stuff alot, but I am looking forward to his Xenoblade chronicles x & 2 videos thosenk
My problems with Fiora is that once Meyneth dies is that her character revolves completely around Shulk and I think the main problem comes from the love triangle in the game.
100% agree. Never had the thought until after I basically finished the video, so unfortunately, I never talked about that. Still, it's a bothersome plot point after noticing, and I've put it in my pinned comment about corrections!
Love triangle as if Melia even has a chance once Fiora comes back lmao
Love triangle agreed. However, as someone who has been in love at 18 (the age of these) characters this is how you actually act at that age. My fiancé and I were all we thought about and we only want to be useful or helpful to the other person.
Fiora was just revived to be character development for Shulk so he can drop the revenge mentality and being a vessel for Mayneth. The only thing interesting about her being alive was she living with a mechon body but the story just said lol no problem solved. Melia's character is so developed that you don't really need Shulk being with her but it was interesting because Gadolt died so Fiora's destiny could be the same. I also don't like when they "revive" dead characters when their death was so "good".
The love triangle is barely there though. Even with Melia crushing on Shulk from the sidelines, there’s never any real competition. Remember, Melia is the only person Fiora confided in about her deteriorating condition prior to Dickson spilling the beans, and Melia expressed nothing but concern. Sure she then says “I’m nothing compared to her”, but that’s pretty much the only evidence of friction between them on Melia’s part. Not to mention, during the similarly-framed Outlook Park scene in the epilogue, Melia seems to have put that all behind her.
It really warms my heart to see how far this fandom has come. I remember playing Xenoblade way back when Project Rainfall was still a thing, and I remember being so disappointed looking for content about it online and realizing that almost nobody knew what the game even was. In more recent years, especially with Chuggaa's LP, the representation in Smash, and vids like this, the game is finally getting the recognition I always knew it deserved.
I'm glad the original game was so good that its fans are all diehards and it got a fantastic numbered sequel in the first year of the Switch's lifespan. I may never have joined the Cult of Klaus if not for XC2.
I have to disagree about Shulk in Future Connected. How could he not become a optimist after the end of the original game? They defeated Zanza and the Fog King is nothing compared to that.
But this time Riki the true hero is not around to pull him trough!
I think Shulk becoming an optimist being an issue is the biggest disagreement I have with the whole video. Obviously, to each their own, the video itself is pretty amazing and I can only hope to make something similar to its quality.
To me, Shulk became an optimist when he talks to Alvis after killing Zanza. I don’t think Shulk would have come to the conclusion he does if he was pessimistic in that finale. He needs to believe that the world he creates without Gods will create the future he wants, one not dictated by a God. If he were pessimistic, I feel like he’d want to continue as the God of that world so he could ensure everything goes as he wants it to. But that’s not what his growth is about. Where he was fueled by anger and hatred (pessimism) in the beginning, he’s fueled by hope and confidence (optimism) in the ending. Therefore, I think his portrayal in Future Connected makes perfect sense.
Still though, for a 4 and 1/2 hour long video for me to only really have one notable disagreement I think speaks volumes to how well made the video is.
@@Tronk_ on top of this, shulk meets way more good people throughout his adventure than evil. The only truly evil people he meets are mumkhar, dickson, lorithia, and zanza. While he meets a ton of really great people who are willing to sacrifice their lives to help others, khalian, egil, meyneth, gadolt, the entire party, etc. I think this might really make him optimistic about how good and kind most people in general are.
Yeah, like, Shulk has already killed God and almost everyone in the world loves him and his party. What else could there be for him to be insecure about? Lmao
This
I think Shulk being an optimist in FC is a good change
He literally destroyed a god, became one and made a better world
After going through that, of course his confidence would be boosted as the Fog King is nothing as threatening as Zanza
39:24 My interpretation of toppling faced Mechon mechanic is that the reason the monado can't cut through the armor is due to the blood of the homs inside being pumped through the armor. My theory is that when a faced Mechon is toppled, the blood flow is cut off and the party is able to cut into the armor, no longer blocked by the homs blood inside. I could be totally wrong here, but that's how I interpreted it and I think it's super cool!
My theory is that it just allows to more precisly attack the parts in which homs blood doesn't flow
@@oqo3310 yeah that actually makes more sense than whatever I said lmao
i never understood the homs blood thing, whats the need for a homs inside if the blood is being pumped around mechon
@@Ayeato the blood needs to be from a homs
@@capnfluff2428 yeah ik but im saying why does someone need to be inside the faced mechon if all that is required is homs blood to be pumped around the robot. Its not like it draws blood from the homs piloting it.
I would like to point out another aspect about the game, regarding it's Italian localization (Yes I'm italian so please forgive any grammatical error I will make)
The translation team made an effort that I would love to see in other games as well, as they used such a diverse language as Italian to its fullest.
My biggest praise goes to how High Entia were translated: their speech is so old and complex to the point I often had to look up for words I didn't know the meaning of. This helped to convey their being ancient and noble creatures like no media I've experienced was ever able to do.
The same level of quality can be found in every other part of the game, ranging from Reyn speaking slang ish, to the ether furnace man speaking pure dialect, to even the collectibles' names and descriptions.
I get the feeling that the translation team didn't stop at just translating, they used language to enhance the immersion while not altering it and I wished the same amount of love and dedication went into XC2 as well (which unfortunately didn't in my opinion)
How's Xenoblade 2 in Italian? You can answer me in Italian if you want to. I generally play everything in English because games localisation in our language can be poor, I'm glad to hear Xenoblade 1 is an exception
@@Qwerty10254 Xc2 got a decent translation. But there's a problem: Xc2 has characters speaking in very different accents, something that I'm afraid wasn't properly taken into consideration. Overall Xc2 was just translated, not adapted. Also, I don't know why but they changed some of the key terms to make them sound more Latin-ish which confused me a lot at the beginning (driver to ductor, blade to gladius)
this is absolutely incredible - i can't believe this doesn't have more views
Ahhhhh, thank you!!! I appreciate _you_ for watching the video, though!
The fact that this has so few views for all the hard work and effort you've clearly put into it is insane, I've no interest in playing Xenoblade and don't like JRPGs in general but I think I might end up watching this whole thing lol (over the course of a few days, that is)
Thank you so much for watching the video still (after future you has done that of course). I’ve known you weren’t too much into JRPGs from your Twitter and Q&A video so I can’t thank you enough for still watching! I think you kinda brought up a good point in that same Q&A where you thought that maybe Xenoblade botched some JRPG conventions. You’ll probably see in the video, but that isn’t always the case. I still love the game but there are definitely some strange quirks in both storytelling and gameplay
I appreciated the sidequest design from a completionist perspective. Being able to smoothly pick up every quest and then easily pick up or kill everything I needed to on my way to the next story destination was very satisfying. Xeno 2 was too complicated and I ended up doing very few side quests in comparison.
Cheers to that. Questing and the presentation of quests is a lot better in 1. The animation for obtaining a quest in 2 always irked me for how long it was too
@@CinnacalThat too. Also, from a completionist perspective as well, I missed the afinigram a lot I XB2. Completing side quests was much more fun trying to see who knew who and how everyone was connected in the world.
@@egilsama It's why I'm glad Torna introduced the community system. Having a way of tracking how your actions helped the people around you brought back a lot of charm tied to completing them that was present in XB1 and absent in vanilla XB2. It also helps that the sidequests in Torna were in general really well-done.
I find it interesting how split the community are on the side quests in 1 vs 2.
For me it's quite the opposite, I found the quests in 1 to be fun and I appreciate the community angle but ultimately a massive bloat on the game and at worst grindy, it doesn't help that levelling is so slow in 1 that I got to the finale still feeling under-leveled even after doing everything I could up to that point, I honestly could not name or remember more then 1 questline sans the Tyrea one from that game, the dialogue for the community just wasn't interesting to me at all.
In comparison I feel like 2 balances it way better, there's some grindy questlines(Ursula's is actually a sin), but I found the vast majority of quests to have far more story payoff and personality to them, especially the blade questlines which integrated actual cutscenes, something only 1 questline in xenoblade 1 did.
Also upon recently beating the game with a friend who didn't want to do basically any side-quest, I was surprised at how well balanced the games main story is for a straight shot to the ending playthrough, bosses tended to be around the same level at all times, only having to go and grind for about 20 minutes for some affinities on the second to last boss.
I'm actually dreading playing 1 with him to an extent because I know we are not gonna get far without grinding out those side-quests(made worse by how xenoblade 1 is far more reliant on levelling then 2 is imo).
If there is one thing I do think 1 does better though on this front and this is really just a compliment to definitive edition, it's that side quests, whether active or not are always marked, if I run past an enemy for a quest in 1, even if it's not active I know it's there and that makes filling them out so much easier then in 2, especially the affinity charts on blades which take up the vast majority of grinding(unless you put them on a ton of merc missions anyway.). It's so bad there that I legit believe they should update 2 to add that functionality to it.
@@Cinnacal can we all agree xc3 quests trump all previous titles? I found myself doing every qyest first time around. I only did that in xc1 once I beat it, and then 100% it. Xc2 I need the fucking blades and affinity charts, and the quests don't feel as fleshed as xc3
I understand the complaints of Fiora’s ‘I wish things could stay like this forever’, but I think it’s used more to show her fear of change. I always took her character to be afraid to change things. She wanted peace forever, and when she became mechon, she still displayed these things. She didn’t seem to like the idea of staying, almost already accepting things like dying or not being able to go to bionis because she viewed herself to be too different. The scene also has one of my favorite lines from her, ‘the breeze feels so good’. Each use is so radically different. First, used to the same idea as above, enjoying how peaceful things are. The second is the exact scene in a flashback, where shulk remembers her saying it while sitting in the same spot, but alone in grief of her death. And lastly is the final cutscene, just a cherry on top of a perfect ending. I LOVE the reuse of lines in different contexts, ‘create a world with no need for gods’ or ‘your blade; it did not cut deep enough’ are so impactful and masterful, it blows my mind this was done in 2010.
I watched Chugga’s LP back when it released, actively joined the fandom once it concluded, and then played for myself for the first time with DE, and you still taught me several new things about the story and characters in this game throughout this video. I’m incredibly impressed with this video, and I’ll definitely be rewatching in the future once the urge arises, which I’m sure it will. You’ve earned a sub out of me :)
I'm really glad I was able to teach new things! That's really what I wanted to accomplish with the video, and it seems that other people have shared that sentiment too. Thank you for the sub too. I really appreciate it!
Oh my god, four hours of listening to Cinnacal talk about a game? That's four hours of heaven. What an incredible effort!
Aaaaaaa you’re too kind ;-; ❤️
the aftermath of the ether mines has got to be one of the most devastating ways in which a game telegraphed to you how long it really is. All that effort, hours of grinding and leveling, not to mention the hours just traveling down that fucking mine dear god, only for the main villain to roll up with an army of Xord lookalikes and go "congratulations, you got ONE."
Finally, someone who appreciates Sharla as a character. Melia will always be my favorite, but people don’t give Sharla enough credit, and it makes me sad
Sharla to me is like the common folk.
She may just be a regular medic, but she provides input whenever she could, she is also quite motherly and even allows reyn to grow as well.
Honestly most of the ire I've seen directed at Sharla is a result of toxic shipping culture imo as they blame her for Shulk and Fiora when it's pretty obvious that they're going to end up together lmao, and she frankly doesn't deserve it. She's a great character.
@@eclecticmuso underrated.
Not every character needs to be plot relevant. She and reyn are more so character relevant. Probably why I like them so much.
but but but she sucks at battle :(
This was a 4.5-hour critique, and I feel like there was still so much to go over.... This game just has so much to it.
I want to say Seven's body horror is there, just alot more subtle. if you look, you can see the bolts connecting the skin in all of seven's armor. it's all fake skin besides maybe her face. it's fitting really that she shows the most skin in her gear because she wants to feel and look like a homs again desperately.
It's subtle but when you notice it you start to understand why she feels the way she does about her body in the beginning. Imagine trying to pretend to be human again by wearing fake skin over a mechanical body. imagine how terrifying and sad that would be. No wonder she saw herself an abomination in that conversation.
My read on the subtext on that scene is that she's concerned either that Shulk won't love her in her new body, or that she won't be able to make a family with Shulk even if he does. Its a bit of a stretch maybe, and i think the game didnt make it more explicit because of its age rating, but i think its reasonable that that's what she's worried about because she'd just recently been woken up by a kiss from the boy she'd dreamed of marrying since she was a little girl, and then realized that they'd probably never get to have a normal life together. It makes the ending more sweet too, in that sense, because she gets her wish after all.
Crazy to think if project rainfall hadn't happen we wouldn't have Pyra/Mythra in Smash, Xenoblade being a JRPG Nintendo franchise, Shulk being in Smash and possibly Monolithsoft doing something else entirely
Praise Project Rainfall
This feels like the opposite of the TH-cam video called “Persona 5 - Style Over Substance” and I appreciate that.
Yeah. That video by Cvit wasn't all that great honestly. Especially after watching MangaKamen made a series of videos talking about it, it's very poorly done...
@@StarForce99 Style Over Substance is basically a guy trying really hard to find the most little flaws in the game, the literal embodiment of "nitpicking".
Believe me, I've watched the whole 5 hours video...
@@shade4404 Same here. And ik what you're talking about lol
That's usually how it goes, if you agree with a video it's well made, if you disagree with it it's trash.
Watched the entire thing (Aside from the Xenoblade 2 spoilers because I’m not finished with that yet) over the past few days. The amount of dedication, love, thought, and passion that went into this video is truly inspiring. Xenoblade Chronicles is, without doubt, a one-of-a-kind experience that all of us who’ve played it will never forget. Thank you for giving it a tribute as great as this one. :)
I will definitely give this a full watch later. 4 and a half hours of One of my favourite pieces of art??? Definitely will watch it!
Great video! Always happy to hear people gush about Xenoblade.
I will say though (in part because I'm listening to this at work and not able to look at your visuals) you spend a lot of time during your plot analysis simply stating THAT a scene does this or that, instead of using pieces of the scene to explain WHY it does this or that. It makes your video kinda hard to follow and I think would help the structure of your arguments greatly. I'm much more excited to hear the mechanics of how a scene works in context, than to hear just that it does work and that it is awesome for working.
Still you clearly put a lot of work and effort into this and deserve praise for making such a great video
Wow.
Just wow.
This was an incredible video!
I'm very glad to see a huge fan of the series break down the game down to every scene, every camera shot, and every line of dialogue to express their interpretation of the story and characters! You've genuinely shed a new light for me on some things I've dismissed as pointless or forgetful, and for that I have to say great job my dude!
This is why i love this game, somebody can make a 4 hour critique and people will watch the whole thing.
One of the details I noticed on an additional playthrough that really foreshadows things to come is when Shulk unlocks the Monado 2. If you notice that when Zanza "dies" he emits this green substance that on the first playthrough you would probably think its going towards the Monado as its right before Shulk gets the Monado 2. But if you look closer after you complete the game you notice that its actually going into Shulk instead. Its such a little detail but it really how much Zanza is at play here.
I don’t think I could listen to someone talk for this long about any other game. Great analysis and a really well made video 👍
Thank youuu!! I’m glad you enjoyed the video too. Xenoblade is such an amazing game and I hope I was able to portray that in the video too
I’m a year late, but I’m defence of fiora saying “I wish everyday could be like this always” is actually a great line because of how generic and cliche it is. It makes fiora seem innocent through by giving her a cliche line that can be called back on to pull on the heart strings. The whole scene wouldn’t have that same heart string pull and effect if she said something complex and Insightful as it does if she says something cliche, innocent, and overly optimistic that makes you sympathize with the loss of a character whose innocence you wish you could have protected, and who didn’t get the wish she wanted no matter how cliche and naive it is
This is one of the best video essays EVER! Four Hours well spent, this was a well researched topic and as a huge Xenoblade fan I’m glad you did the game justice. Definitely one of the most amazing JRPGs ever made, great work on this!
I’m very appreciative of your down to earth criticisms of the main nopon characters because I, admittedly, am blind to their flaws because I love every nopon in every game so much. Every scene with a nopon immediately makes me smile.
The mondado couldn't cut through Metal Face's face just cuz it can cut through faces. It was because the part was blown up and the blood wasn't able to circulate through it anymore
So I'm autistic. And the hyperfixation that people say that I'm the most into is Xenoblade. While I haven't watched the video yet. I am really looking forward to hearing someone gush about my favourite game for 4 and a half hours.
I understand your fixation.
This guy has the crispest T's and P's ive ever heard in my life
The Plotpoint that the Tank needs ether cylinders was brought up if you walked to the living quarters and talked to a soldier inspecting said machine before going over to the military camp. There the colonel yells at the two soldiers for not having the means to refuel the tank which prompts the protagonists group to go get some ether cylinders from alcamoths derelict transport vessel which I find is one of if not the best Progression of events in any JRPG openings ever. So mundane and so forgettable yet so important to the overall happenings.
I really like your way of presenting though and the effort you put into it
Please do a similar video for XBC 2 and Torna 👍🏽
That "I know enough Japanese to write a kanji and look it up" bit is heavily relatable... Especially looking up a Kanji only to have that "Duh, I already know this one" moment.
I just realized: Future Connected would have been a great spot to add a fully fleshed-out base-Fiora moveset
I really wanted Tyrea to be a party member tbh, being a physical dps in contrast to Melia's ether summoning.
I was watching this with a friend of mine who knows the story of the game, but hasn’t played much of it (yeah, I know) and during the introduction of the Satorl Marsh when the camera was panning around with the night theme playing, I told him that this was the best area in the game (I meant best-looking). And then you immediately came back in saying “This is the worst section of the story” and we spent so long laughing that we had to rewind the video and watch the Satorl Marsh all over again. Great video though. 🙂👍
Dont really get the huge distaste for the Satorl Marsh chapter, it just provides an oppurtunity for pretty world design and some slice of life-ish interactions. This is really something I wish the game actually did more of.
I love the atmosphere in the marsh, especiallh at night. Its the only "swamp level" in a game I can think of that I really enjoyed!
This randomly popped into my recommendations and I don't have time to watch it right now, but you get my like for the sheer length of this video.
Spoilers:
I think the line "Your blade, it did not cut deep enough" might have a double meaning. It could also mean that shulk was not able to achieve his goal of settling the conflict with words, as he wasn't able to persuade Egil.
I don't think it has a double meaning at all. I believe Egil was completely straightforward in saying that Shulk wasn't strong enough to exact his will. Egil and Shulk are such perfect mirrors of each other that I find it incredibly fascinating to compare them to each other. Egil was alive before Bionis attacked Mechonis. He has memory of everything that has happened, while Shulk has the ability to see into the future. I firmly believe that if Egil never existed, Shulk would have become just like him. Which is why I think Egil was always very open with Shulk. He knew that they were alike. It just took Shulk sparing him before Dickson's betrayal to know just how similar they are
I don´t think there is a necessity to adress "spoilers" within the discussion under a four hour analysis of a 12 year old game. People are supposed to discuss media in a free way at some point. The responsibility to view such a video and read the comments is with every single persons who clicks and reads ;) The ones who don´t want to be spoiled have to take responsibility for themselves, not the majority who did play the game for them by taking care what they say or write. It´s not like the thumbnail or title spoils people who bump them by accident while scrolling youtube ;)
To topic: I agree with Darkstar and also think there is no double meaning behind this line but nice interpretation though, I appreciate people who try to dive deep into little things and nuances like that.
Aerith dies btw.
@@FelixS. bro i’m only 15 seconds into ff7 why would you do this
Just finished the video. Loved your insights. It made me want to go back and play XB1 again even thought I still need to play XB2 and 3
Man this critique is extensive. Over 4 hours goodness...
I love it :D!
Seeing my favourite game getting this amount of attention to detail is something I have longed to see. I even downloaded your video to listen to while working. ^^
Thanks for the work on this!
Just a comment on what you said at 49:00 about the nopon camp in Satorl marsh. What you said is correct, but only for a person who is experienced with video games. Without the cutscene introducing the Nopon camp, any person who knows how games work most likely would have found it themself. However, for a new player, say xenoblade is their first game, they may walk right past it, leading to them going into Makna forest with weak gear. To add to this, I found in my playthrough I was constantly under leveled because grinding sucks, so the addition of the side quests I could pick up gave me a reason to fight random enemies, allowing me to stay on top of the levels up until the fight against metal face at prison island. Just something to think about, and I may be completely wrong, but when creating a video game, the developers have to keep newer gamers in mind.
I've never actually watched this video before, but I've listened to it start to finish four times while at work. It's clear that you've poured countless hours into both the game and this retrospective, and the love and care you have for both are clearly on display. I'm sure I'll probably give this behemoth another handful of listens going forward, so thank you very much for making this.
How'd you even find Mechonis Field "boring"?? Tf, is one of the most AMAZING zones in the game, with an amazing ambientation and pff, that soundtrack music? Is beyond good. Imo, Mechonis Field is easily my top 3 favorite zone, just behind Bionis Leg and Colony 9
Man what a mad lad you are. Dunno why this popped up in my feed but I've watched the entire thing, and really enjoyed it too. Hope you make more stuff like this.
I actually really liked the trope "I hope every day can be like this" because it made me feel like the game was going to be more trope based. The main trope I expected was the mentor character dying and passing on advice to the hero before death, which would have been dunban dying and shulk getting the monado. The subversion of this with fiora's death just made it hit harder because I was expecting a way more generic story.
That's... a good point.
as someone who hasn't played the original xenoblade, I gotta say if they didn't outright show you where every objective was I'd cry. These quests are SO TEDIOUS
It's really difficult to put all that i have to say into one comment so I'm just gonna say this: FANTASTIC VIDEO!
Massive props for you to make such a large video going into detail every area of the game. I could tell there was a lot of passion and time invested into the production of this well crafted video. I’ve only watched a small part of it so I’ll give my thoughts about it over time
One thing I appreciated about Dickson's 'hints' is that there is a subtle menace to them but not in a way that makes you think he's a *bad guy*. That scene at the end of Satorl Marsh on the first play through makes it clear he's hiding a dark secret from the party, but leaves you expecting a twist where he has the best interests of either the party or the people of the Bionid at heart but had to deceive them for the greater good. It made his mysterious nature seem more like a benevolent protector, a 'Jesus was my copilot' kind of thing that JRPGs are fond of. Instead... well... 😅
Played it for the first time this last summer, and I think it is legitimately one of the best games I've ever played. It's up there with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI as some truly iconic and timeless RPGs.
The weirdest part in the game was sharla and gaddot. They're relationship never felt natural or fleshed out. He seems like a father figure to both sharla and juju but also he and sharla are in a relationship and it just comes across as weird everytime sharla is being all lovey with him in the flash backs. Came across as an unnecessary friction between sharla and reyn's budding relationship. You can make him her dad and keep most of it the same.
Both Gadolt and Sharla feel very...
The best I could put it is utilitarian. It kinda makes sense when you look at it like that. She warms up and softens after traveling with the party. By the time Sharla and Reyn become a thing she's a different person. Sure she has feelings for Gadolt but if she met him for the very first time after her character growth? I don't think they'd have hit it off.
What a great video! This is the first time someone talked about Xenoblade without missing out on anything important. Just goes to show how complex this game is and how much effort it needs to fully explain it. I will definitely recommend this to my friends since this is the best video for story overview and explanation.
You should've mentionned how future connected developps Riki (by showing his influence on his kids) as well as Melia. It was by far my favorite part.
I’d watch a 4-hour rant on why Xenoblade rules any day. Just a few minor points I wanted to add, I hope you read them!
The locked door in Tephra cave may actually NOT be a bit of gameplay and narrative dissonance, rather, you can learn from a nearby quest that there was a recent cave in, causing rocks and tunnels to shift, and by looking around you can actually see points where the early section may have once connected to the later sections. Some of the tunnels even shift and clear after the events at Mechonis Core! Just thought that was cool.
I’ve always thought that the heavy-handed way the game foreshadowed things like Fiora’s death, the presence of Homs inside face Mechon, and the survival of Mumkhar was very deliberate. I personally find them to be red herrings, made in such a way that the player will predict the twists before they occur, and feel clever, or even that they’ve gotten one over on the game’s story. This then allows the game to completely pull the rug out from under you with it’s even grander twists, like the fact that the Bionis is the real evil of the two titans, or Dickson’s betrayal. These twists are still foreshadowed quite well, but it’s easy to let that foreshadowing pass you by as you focus on the more obvious stuff.
And man, you sure like the word “elucidate” over the likes of “clarify” or “show off” huh?
Hadn't noticed though, so thank you for pointing it out! The dialogue sounds like it might have been in one of the generic quests given by the defense force soldiers as you enter Tephra Cave. I may be mistaken, but if that's the case, it all makes sense now.
Your point here is something I think I agree with, though I never found the right words when writing the script. Heavy-handed, obvious foreshadowing is very much a deliberate tool. Sometimes it creates some great dramatic irony, and other times it establishes a subversion. The scenario with Otharon in the Ether Mine is one in which the team utilized really obvious foreshadowing to subvert and create a new outcome. I'm sure there are other examples, but you made an excellent point nonetheless!
Yeah, I kinda went overboard with Elucidate in the script... 😬
It took me 3 days to watch this lived critique or love letter to Xenoblade Chronicles in all its heights and lows. I wanna thank you for making a video that is on par with the efforts the developers went through for this game. You dont see it that often, that such a monumental JRPG gets a dedicated critique that hits off every check mark for all sections and most characters of it.
Time to put this on in the background while playing said video game again lol
One thing I like about Fiora saying the generic line is that it helps set the player's expectations so the game can shatter them a little later down the line. By starting the game in the campy kinda cliche way it does, you feel it's gonna be just another in the same style as many games in the genre. So when the twists start to come and recontextualize everything, they truly do hit you out of nowhere because the game trained you not to expect it. After the first big change, they just keep raising the stakes and making each following twist hit even harder.
In a purely story sense, I think the cliche being changed would improve the overall narrative, but when you add gameplay and expectations into the works, I think it helps set the groundwork for a better overall experience!
this video looks wonderful, only 10 minutes in and I'm so incredibly excited. I've never seen your channel before and I"m so glad I stumbled across this. Have a new subscriber
Thank you!! Let me know what you think after seeing more of the video too!
@@Cinnacal finished it after work and man, I thought this was an awesome analysis of everything really. I did have to skip Xenoblade 2 spoilers (I still need to get around to that game) so I can’t comment on that, but I like how in depth you got with everything you explained, some of what you said I never realized when playing the game for myseld
Not only have I begun doing a second playthrough, I somehow stumbled upon your four hour video. Already downloaded it so I can listen to it at work I've already enjoyed the first 14 minutes. Looking forward to the rest of this.
You mention how there’s a lack of customization in the combat (specifically in the characters), but I don’t consider that an inherent flaw. The customization doesn’t necessarily come in the characters but in the party builds.
With 7 characters, you have 35 possible party combinations using a party of 3. If you count the fact that you can pick any of the 3 characters in each combination to play as, that makes 105 setups, and if you double that by changing the order of your 2nd & 3rd party members, that’s 210 total permutations.
Each character has a fairly defined role, so the customization comes in deciding how to utilize your party’s skillsets cohesively. Compare this to the _Final Fantasy_ games where you can customize anyone to pretty much be everything outside of their Limit Breaks. Sure, you can make everyone on the team your healer if you want to, but one downside of that much customization is that everyone sort of feels the same. I like FFVII, but there’s isn’t much incentive to switch out party members since Materia really dictates their roles more than their inherent traits.
In XC1, no two units feel the same, which gives each party combination a distinct set of strengths and weaknesses. For different enemies, I can switch my party setup, and that unit selection is part of the joy and strategy in determining how to take down high-level monsters. In most JRPGs, you can’t switch out the main character, but in the Xenoblade games, you have the power to play as anyone, which allows each player to play how they like while still making each character feel unique.
This is very true and I do rather miss the “character makes the build” style of combat the other Xenoblade games don’t have.
Buuuut it does have pitfalls. Like, what if a character I like in story isn’t fun to use in battle? Or what if a character is fairly ineffective in battle and not worth using over others, cutting the number of realistic party combos?
I do love how there’s dialogue crafted for every party combination though, no matter how wacky
I can see why you chose not to further elaborate on Klaus/Zanza with the info learned in Xenoblade 2 since this is solely about Xenoblade 1 and Monolith Soft chose not to include the retcon cutscene. But it still would’ve added a bit more understanding and depth to Zanza as a whole since he views his experiment as a success and how the success further feeds into his pride. Also worth noting is that Klaus on the whole, whether it be Zanza or The Arcitect, seems to be obsessed with fate and becomes reliant on it.
I love long winded videos like this. I watch during work
I’m glad they help with work! Good luck with the job btw
Dunban and Mumcar is a really interesting relationship. They were brothers in arms, mumcar died in battle. Dunban mourned him, he loved him. And to find that Mumcar is alive and has betrayed the Homs. That’s a huge mental blow to take.
Honestly Kino is only there to make Nene or Riki a better character
Watch me rewatch this 4 hour video for 7th time this week. Just try and stop me!
I LOVED xenoblade 2, but for now I don't have time to play the first one. Maybe I will, in the future, because I plan to play every game that has a charachter in smash (I'm silly, I know). For now, I will watch until I want this masterpiece of a video. (just to let you know, Fudj sent me here)
I replayed this on the Switch after playing it on the Wii back in 2010, and I fell in love with it all over again. I forgot how massive the Mechonis was.
I think Dickson's betrayal was a good plot point, although I think if they made it less subtle it would've been better, like he literally says he "hates deceiving these kids" in Satorl. I think if they just kept it at him pushing Shulk to seek revenge, it would've been less obvious.
I have never played this game, yet still watched this full length, I'd say that speaks volumes of your talent of talking about something you're passionate about, it was a great watch!
Xenoblade 1 and 2 are without a doubt my top 2 favourite games of all time, I can’t wait for September to see what happens in Xenoblade 3.
I swear, during the discussion of the leitmotifs, I could hear music from Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventure of Mana! It’s the track called Requiem
Also, I just found this channel, and sucks to see there’s only ~4.800 subs, and no activity in a year… What happened the Metroid Dread critique?
I saw 4h and wasnt sure I will be able to watch it, but you have very pleasant voice, and sound quality is really good, so I give it a shoot
Riki not only sounds similar to, but speaks similarly to a character from the land before time, and that scares me
In short "That's pretty neat"
No but really, well done and worth the FULL listen/watch.
I was having a rough day yesterday, but being able to just sit and soak in 4 and a half hours of Xenoblade content helped a lot. I picked up XC 2 on a whim almost four years ago and loved it, and I just got around to playing XC 1 in preparation for XC 3 coming out in two months. I've been wanting to watch more about the story and what it all means, and I'm glad your video pulled up so quickly. Thank you :)
I personally don't believe Melia's arc felt incomplete, as I think the resolve and self-confidence she gains by succeeding through strife and by hearing his brother's final words made me have faith that she would develop into the ruler of the high entia.
Also sidenote, I predicted that Future Connected would be about Shulk and Melia searching for Melia's birth mother, and I thought it would be that uptill i played it myself
I've always wanted to make a video like this. Where I'm able to fully discuss why I love this game so much in this same level of detail. Just like this video. Well done this is quite the achievement. 👍
Hey, not sure if you read these comments anymore as this video is a bit older, but I figured I'd leave a message. Loved the video, actually watched the whole thing and found it fun, enjoyable, and, in my opinion, generally correct. I really just wanted to write this comment on I think the single thing you missed, yet fairly interesting, was the idea of environmental contrast, a point I started actively recognizing after seeing Chuggaa's lets play of the game.
At some point when he reached Gaur Plain, he stated something along the lines of, "It's really amazing how you go from a small, linear area into something super open and inviting," which I further noticed throughout the entirety of your time on Bionis. From Tephra to Gaur, you go from a claustrophobic, linear path to a massive, broad, and open area. The Ether Mine to Satorl Marsh goes from a bleak and bland palette of colors to vibrant, glowing trees with radiating fog (at night). Makna Forest to Eryth Sea goes from a congested, hard-to-see-through forest to an ocean where you can see everything in the entire area.
To me, I find that this is one of the reasons in my time playing that makes the difference between simply watching a critique or cutscene movie, and actually EXPERIENCING the game for what it offers.
4 and half hours dedicated to one of my favourite games? Sign me up.
I enjoyed my time with Xenoblade when I first played it but then Chugga's Let's Play came along and showed me how much I missed. Now I've gone and 100%'ed it twice, Ice Cabbages and Black Liver Beans and all. Riki is my favourite to play as but Melia remains my favourite character of the story, with Shulk not far behind.
I was really hoping Definitive would add a couple more things though. One of them was a few more landmarks in places like Alcamoth which was always a pain to walk to the outer ring and Agora Shore in Colony 9. I also think I had so much fun just running around Bionis Shoulder that I overlooked a bunch of FC's story problems. Though I will say exploring Alcamoth in FC was actually one of my standout moments. That atmosphere man.
It couldn't have been easy to cram everything the game has to offer into one video so some major kudos are in order. All in all, fantastic video.
"It was released an entire year in Europe after it's debut in Japan"
Yeah that...wasn't exactly uncommon back then. Fortunately now things have a more simultaneous release.
Took me 3 days, but im finally done with all 4+ hours of this video. Thank you, for making this video
i've never played xenoblade chronicles but i'm still dropping by to leave a comment and show support for the effort you put into this video. keep up the good work my dude :)
Thank you so much for that! I appreciate all the support--especially for never playing the game!
I’ve watched all of this now and I thank you for noticing the outstanding qualities in this game and the immense effort you went through to make this
thank you for being relatively nice to juju he's a pretty cool kid
Dude I have never been this excited for a video from a stranger. I just got finished with your video's 4 minute introduction, I'm hype
I’ve played through Xenoblade 4 or 5 times, I’m really not sure, I saw Chugga’s let’s play right when it ended in my last year of middle school, so my memories of my first playthrough are pretty vague at this point. However even with all that time spent with the game, I haven’t played it since my playthrough of DE when it came out.
I watched the whole video and particularly enjoyed your story/area summary section. While I did notice the foreshadowing a lot on my subsequent playthroughs, I only noticed maybe a third of the examples you brought up. It was great and I’m glad to have an even better appreciation for a game I love so much.
Also I feel like you got a bit too heated on the Melia’s race reveal part. It really wasn’t that bad, chill out.
Yeah her race reveal wasn’t that big of deal. I just wanted to be fair ‘cause I was so positive with the rest of the game, and I wanted to add some criticism to balance it out. The point is really minor in retrospect but I guess it came off as too aggressive. Apologies for that
Thank you for watching the video though! I’m glad you got something information and helpful out of it
I always found it interesting that they first showed the mechon as being flesh eaters it really made the invasion on colony 9 and 6 more impactful and more gritty