xenoblade for people who play games with porn mods

i dont think the issue with xenoblade 2 is that its "too anime" because xenoblade 1 and 3 take just as much from anime, they just take it from shonen whereas 2 draws a lot more from ecchi/harem anime tropes which are absolutely some of my least favorite types of media. that mixed with an awful dub, insufferable characters, and forced comedy that doesn't land even once makes it completely not worth it to slog through 60 hours for the game to finally get "good," because at that point you couldve played multiple games that were infinitely better than a game this bad with a final stretch where the only interesting part of it is a tie in to the first game. easily one of my least favorite games of all time

One of the best RPG ever made! I spent years with this game on my backlog and I finally played it when I didn't have many choises. You don't know how I regret.

First, I have to say one thing: YOU DON'T NEED TO PLAY XENOBLADE 1 TO UNDERSTAND THE STORY. That's why I delayed this game so many years but in the end, it wasn't necessay.

The story of this game is fantastic! The caracthers ara amazing. The voice acting is really good (besides the protagonist).

Please, give it a chace, especally if tou pretend to play Xenoblade 3 this year!

This games reception is probably one of the worst of all time and it affects a lot of people’s perception of when they do hop on this game and it takes away all their own opinions to formulate themselves and automatically prepares them to expect the bad and never any good. That being said, this game is a huge test to whether you are able to filter out the bad opinions and listen to your own opinions because honestly this is one of the greatest JRPG adventures continuing off from an already amazing game which is Xenoblade 1.

Getting this out the way as fast as possible, my only complaint was the checks on having certain field skills at certain points in the game and this is more towards the end of the game, this really hits the pacing and it feels just disconnected if you aren’t hitting those field skills correctly and I didn’t have any problems personally but I could see why people are complaining and this is because of the gacha system they implemented for blades. That’s basically my complaint and it’s not that huge, not even contributing to the overall combat and narrative.

This game is the definition if you have a lick of common sense, not for everyone but certainly for me. People who review this game as a hentai game is doing this entry in the series a big disservice. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is one of the most misunderstood games ever and it’s just unfortunately gonna stay that way. Following public opinion and sticking with it just makes you look goofy as hell, for the people who dislike this game, they can keep disliking cause it’s obvious that they are just birds Inna flock with no common sense at all.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is one of the best sequels to a series ever, this cast is one of my favorites excluding one character who contributes jack shit but yeah. I could see why people get turned away by the first four chapters cause it’s definitely slow and it has a lot to build on but what JRPG doesn’t have this same problem to let them cook. The antagonist group with Jin and Malos are really just one of my favorite pair of antagonists ever. Getting into the main cast and Rex, Mythra/Pyra, Nia are just my absolute favorites and just hit very hard especially alongside with the other cast members (again sayin excluding one). Xenoblade 2 cast is just beautifully created and how their characters feel so real on talking about how life is and their own ideals and what matters to them. Zeke also being one of my favorite cast members ever in a party group, the way he was introduced and handled throughout the game was just so good. Rex and Jin being foils to each other, mutuals characters dealing with their own inner strife such as Nia on hiding herself for most of the game until she finally is able to come out and be happy alongside Rex who was able to find his reasons to keep going which includes her, Pyra/Mythra and the party, just so much amazing things going on for the characters that’s just beautiful

The finale stretch is amazing as always for a Xenoblade game and reveals huge things especially more information about what exactly happens and also showing a bit of action in what happened before in XC1s plot that’s connected to the current plot. This story being connected with themes of healing your own wounds, getting up from despair, deciding for yourself whether you should keep going or stop on road, caring for others, carrying on for the next generation of people to take over. It definitely means something to me, something about not just adding into making sure we make our own choices for our future continuing on from xc1, but to make sure we rely on the people around us, to stick true to our own selves especially. The world will always get its way and it will fail the people, it will fail us and shit will happen and it could be tough to recover from it, but there’s always the hope and our own will to keep on going, to keep the people around you and to provide each other with comfort, and when that day comes when said person is to pass or it’s you that passes, we pass on ourselves and our important memories to provide for the future and to keep personally to ourselves to remind us. This world is not a pretty one and there’s always gonna be conflict and sadness, but there’s also the good times when we are happy, it’s as simple as Rex says it.

Thank You Xenoblade 2

Within the game's gorgeous open zones, windows of interaction with different manners of moving through the maps (using a stream of wind to get up a platform, using a fire skill to burn down vines, etc.) are often gatekept by a varied set of abilities acquired by leveling up certain attributes in favour of specific openings in the game's Affinity trees (which are unique for each Blade) --- the so called field skills are only but one of the many variables that rule how Blades you bond with will interact with traversal, combat and overall progression through the game. There is a notable contrast between the sprawling, natural and detailed zones of the setting and the slippery, awkward character movimentation through these same panoramas filled with markers and cluttering UI identifiers; an incongruity between the maximalist, megalomaniac numerical obsession of the matters in which players connect and interact with that virtual world, and the often terrain-based combat/navigation that constantly demands that you look around and look for gaps between the pixelated topography, to check if there's an unrelated enemy around who could aggro you and interrupt your chain of orbs, to topple a flying enemy and make it fall down after you make it to higher ground, to use rails, rocks or other common environment assets to cheese your way through battles by gaining distance from the enemy's aggroing and auto-attacking with a bitball or a cannon while their path is blocked by said asset, to make use of the game's many position-based Arts: these strategies are not exceptions, but constant thoughts and visualizations I had through the game's many, many encounters.

This friction between the 'artificial' and the 'pulsing', the 'constant' and the 'drifting', is what builds this game's main dialectics: in this made-up world of flamboyant designs destined to be made fun of or utilized for their visual and questionable appeal, of series of integers and technical rigidness bounding the player to a progression based on variables and array-based requirements, how do we achieve genuine connection between constructs that seem to attract inherent unseriousness and confusion? How do we break down the walls of 'artifices' between the player and the game? The answer could only be one: Rex, and his Salvager Code.

The panache and naivete of juvenile optimism, the shonen-esque confidence in all that exists and the resolve to make people smile. Within the bounds of its own artificiality and the signifiers used to construct its experience, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 somehow manages to weave a convincing force of sincerity through a world that is conducted by the forces of constants, arrays, dipping frames and uncertain dynamic resolution --- all of that which cannot be organically touched or interacted with, ends up crossing the walls of mechanicality unexplainably by the end of it all, finding expression and meaning in the most unexpected places. A boy and a girl make a promise to reach Paradise; the boy complies without knowing why, not even because of the fact she saved his life right beforehand --- for giving his life for a stranger is simply his spirit. A girl who fears her own power, shutting herself off for unspecified milennia; a boy who finds treasures in junk for a living, salvaging meaning and memories out of seamless clouds. In the friendship between Rex and Pneuma lies the game's final and most important dichotomy, the impossibility between eternity and remembrance, the way in which our selves are tied to our egos which are formed by the promises we make to each other, how one would rather die than be forgotten by the one they love and keep on going for infinity. Theirs is a relationship of light: uncertainness about oneself's purpose breed spontaneity and trust in that which shines the way forward. Shin had Metsu, Hana had Hikari; within the endless streams of lights we project when we break down the walls of artifices between us, we find identity and purpose.

In each of the game's varied landscapes, one sight tends to repeat itself: the view of Alrest's enormous World Tree, the promised spot that gives access to Paradise and God, peering at his creations above the sea of white. To find that these organic leaves sprouting from its head and that the wooden exterior of its large shell house a high-tech facility full of elevators and robot guards only intensifies the images that Alrest creates through gameplay: an ocean hiding before humanity's ruins in Morytha, the vistas of the clouds forming different shapes and patterns within the perspectives of each character, numerical catharsis and exploitation of the artifices as a means of visualizing the act of bonding and the struggle of moving forward by your own means. Connecting Arts and auto-attacks indefinitely, building up elemental spheres and breaking them with the collective power of strategized synchrony; the endless QTEs building up in the screen demanding timing and linking in this fascinating real-time turn-based system.

"I love this world because you're in it."

We're only a few weeks away from Xenoblade Chronicles 3. I originally reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition to celebrate its announcement. Now I shall review Xenoblade Chronicles 2 to celebrate the close release of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has such an underrated story. Many people will tell you it's filled with anime tropes, and generally has weak themes watered down by the stronger focus on the anime aesthetic and shenanigans, but make no mistake, the story is a masterpiece almost on par with the original Xenoblade chronicles. The story follows a sheltered boy named Rex, who has innocent ambitions to find Elysium, a land so broad and beautiful, no one would no longer need to worry or wage war over the remaining spaces they have left to inhabit. Rex is often challenged of this belief early on, but he becomes fortunate enough to encounter and become the Driver of the Aegis. Drivers are warriors who are able to resonate and use beings known as "Blades" who bond to their resonator and serve them as companions and allies in battles. The Aegis in this case, is a particularly powerful and exalted blade, and her name is Pyra. Becoming the wielder of the Aegis, Rex is personally asked by Pyra to take her to Elysium, which aligns very well with Rex's dream to find Elysium, so of course he accepts.

The story setup is simple, the world is creatively rich from top to bottom, and the mechanics aren't hard to understand. It's all of the subtle characterization, character interactions, and their perspectives of their world that's the most interesting. Rex as the Aegis' Wielder, now holds a large responsibility, many will look at him as unworthy of the Aegis, others would conspire to steal the Aegis from Rex for their own means. Rex is no longer safe, he always has a target on his back, and everyone traveling with him also knows this, which really shows how loyal they are to Rex. Rex also holds a high standard for himself to make Pyra's wish come true, and to protect and take care of her, and we always see him beat himself up, also believing he might not always be worthy of Pyra. For someone young like himself, this really hits home incredibly well, as he's still very innocent and doesn't know anything or the sheer weight of himself, or his actions by becoming the Aegis' Driver. Rex is a phenomenal character, he can be grating sometimes, and many criticize his English voice actor, but I found his performance serviceable, certainly not in emotional situations or during battles, but everywhere else the voice work sticks the landing mostly. Rex will gain many companions over the course of the game, and while I'd love to go into them and how each of them not only shape Rex throughout the game, but also offer very diverse perspectives on the world of Alrest, this review is already going to be very long. So I'll shorten it down to say I loved every character in this game, excluding one, and I'm sure everyone can guess who it is. Nia in particular gets an honorable mention for me, easily my favorite character in the entire game, and gets the most development and background besides Rex, none of which I'll spoil.

Gameplay is rich, and very in-depth. So many menus to comb through, so many things to do, let's break it down. Outside of battles, you'll usually be gathering collectibles for crafting and cooking, obtaining new Blades, exploring the vast and amazing world that has been crafted with incredible detail and diligence. And finding some treasures and loot for your characters and blades as well. I shall address Tiger Tiger as well, being the part of the game I disliked the most, grinding Tiger Tiger is excruciating, good thing it's optional or else a lot more people would probably drop this game. Now, it is optional, but a necessity for a particular character to upgrade them so they can scale later in the game, if you have the DLC for Xenoblade chronicles 2, they thankfully added vendors in New Game+ where you'll be able to buy these Tiger Tiger exclusive items. Besides Tiger tiger, the gacha system for blades can be a pain, especially since Blades have abilities called "field skills" that are required to progress in the game, as well as access a lot in the world, such as treasure, hidden areas, and especially side quests. Otherwise, the gacha system doesn't bother me too much, and the game does try to give you some freebies in the main story, and some side quests.

Combat is getting its own section. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has my all-time favorite combat system in a video game. So much depth, so much variety, a tad limited on strategies in the end-game to post-game, but there's no limit on the customization of building a team in this game. Condensed MMO style, you initiate combat by targeting a monster, unsheathing your weapon, running up, and your character will auto-attack for you. The strategy comes in with you moving around and using "Driver Arts" or skills. These are on a cooldown system and are your main damage dealers, and have a long list of different effects. The game takes it very slow with introducing new elements to the combat, and having tutorials every time it occurs. Unfortunately the tutorials aren't the best at explaining everything, and I've see many people start to struggle after the first area because of it. Another issue is the tutorials cannot be viewed again after the first viewing, which is a glaring flaw especially. Just take your time, learn a mechanic one at a time, even if the game shoves more in your face, just try and learn one at a time, and you'll get the hang of it in no time. Obviously there's much more to the combat, such as Blades, each one having different specific abilities in battle, Blade Specials, and the Blade combo systems, which are integral to the game as well. I found it easy to isolate what drivers can do vs. what blades can do to understand the combat a lot easier, and I recommend this method if you didn't want any outside help. If you can wrap your head around it all, you have the most engaging combat system I've ever seen, always something happening on screen, all these large numbers popping up. The most important part to me is I feel in control the entire time in this game despite the fast pace and very busy HUD, any time I want something to happen, I can make it happen, and that's perfect. You will have to deal with two A.I controlled party members with their own respective blades to deal with, but I promise they're competent enough, and you can influence and make the really important decisions for them, once again making you feel in control of what's happening. I feel the combat does slog for awhile, and really starts to pick up about halfway through, so be patient with it, and enjoy the learning experience, it's worth it!

Level design is nearly flawless here. I've mentioned the field skills being rather restrictive, but overall the design is great. Huge, open spaces to run around and explore in, breathtaking backgrounds and sights to see, and an amazing sense of scale and scope that really makes the world feel huge, realized, and exciting. Environments are so creatively charged and stimulating, beautiful lighting, diverse color palettes, even more diverse tones as well. Many areas feel open and bright, others are much more claustrophobic, almost ominous at times, and being able to capture such a range of emotions is masterful, exactly what I'm looking for in any JRPG. While I won't go into any later areas of the game, I got to say, I was so enthralled, so immersed for the last few sessions I had, and it was really special, I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.

Graphics are as stunning as you can expect, especially for the Switch, which has stunning games like Breath of The Wild. A much more anime oriented art style for the characters this time, which I didn't mind. The environments are all perfect as mentioned for coloring, lighting, and tone. Colors just pop out so vividly especially on character models, it's honestly a joy to look at, though it could be distracting for some. which I can agree with. Battle animations are spectacular, and very cinematic, designs of the different elements and effects are spot-on. Nothing out of place here, although again it can be overwhelming at first having so much happen on screen at once, which the game tries to ease you into. Overall, a beautiful game to look at, and will age well I believe in the years to come.

Music is a big one for Xenoblade. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 also has my favorite soundtrack overall in a video game, besides a few other games like Persona 5. It is so distinct, the sort of style Xenoblade music goes for, Xenoblade 2 knocks it out of the park. Amazing soundtrack to coincide with an JRPG. Hypnotizing town and city music that washes relaxation over you, or enhances the grand scale and importance of wherever you are. Energetic and uplifting music for each area that also gives them all a unique feel. Intense battle music, with a larger emphasis on orchestral tracks infused with rock, they hit the balance perfectly, neither take the spotlight or drown out the other, it's sublime. I can keep talking about the music especially, but you get the idea, it's a masterpiece, please listen to it even if you don't like the game, don't let this soundtrack go unheard, it's truly special and invokes so much emotion, especially in me.

I love Xenoblade Chronicles 2 with all of my heart. I know it has so many glaring issues, and it'll always live in the shadow of the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Which, I do agree with in some aspects, such as the story, even though I adore 2's story, it doesn't stack up to the original's. Give this game a chance though, if the voice acting turns you off, you can play it in Japanese, you just need to download it on the eshop. Yes, it's riddled with tropes, yes some of the anime aesthetics can turn a lot of people off, and most definitely has some... questionable designs for some characters. Despite all of this, I will throw my hat in the ring and say this game is a masterpiece and will never regret the amount of time I've put into it for so many years. You can get Xenoblade chronicles 2 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. Physical copies are harder to get now I believe, so get it digitally for now. This game also has DLC which I wouldn't recommend unless you're really going to put time into this game. I do wholeheartedly recommend it alone for Torna: The Golden Country though, which is another amazing game.

Reasons Why Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Sucks:

- A slow start that takes way too long to pick up
- An overabundance of tutorials that don't even do a good job of explaining the game's mechanics
- Navigation is often confusing due to lack of proper elevation markers
- Gacha mechanics in a $60 single player game???
- Menus are too clunky and slow for the amount of Blade management and customization that you'll be doing
- Story progression is sometimes tied to an annoying skill upgrade system
- Rex won't shut up about the power of friendship
- Tora is a creep-ass pervert who is a poor replacement for the superior Heropon Riki
- Zeke didn't get enough screen time
- Melia is not in the game
- Pyra's chest is too big

Reasons Why Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Doesn't Actually Suck:

- Combat is a major upgrade from the first Xenoblade game (once it clicks, at least)
- Side quests have been greatly improved as well
- The world is expansive and beautiful (Switch limitations aside)
- The music, bro...
- I cried
- Stockholm syndrome, I guess
- I would die for almost anyone in the main cast
- Definitely Stockholm syndrome

How does one of the greatest and most well thought games of it's time get THIS as a direct sequel? I don't consider myself overly critical of media, but this is one of only a few video games I downright despise. I feel the need to mention the few good things it does, however. Some of the worlds feel cool to explore such as Gormott and the lefterian archipelago, even if their status as smaller titans leaves them feeling disconnected instead of pieces of a larger whole like the first game. I also liked Morag and Zeke. That's basically it.
None of the initial characters are likable. Rex is an annoying character who feels like he comes from a crappy anime from a decade ago, with Pyra serving as generic Waifubait (guys she can cook and has giant boobs isn't that cool?) Nia's just kind of a bitch and not in an interesting 'there's more to her here' kind of way like Yukari in Persona 3 (there is more to her but it's not super interesting) and Dromarch who's just kinda there. Then there's Tora, a character who builds an underage looking girl it's implied several times he wants to fuck, and nobody pays any attention to this other than 'that's a bit weird.'
While the first game didn't have the best combat, it's dragged down in 2 dramatically by two things. 1: enemies having a shit load of health and 2: the blade system. Instead of getting new abilities with some crazy method like progressing through the damn game, enemies will drop core crystals that can spawn a new blade, which are like Stands from JoJo's if you removed literally anything cool about them. Most of the time you'll get absolutely useless blades, occasionally getting something decent (which will probably look like an anime girl catering to a weird-ass fetish) getting abilities that are actually good is almost completely RNG dependant, like a shitty free mobile game instead of something you paid 60 euro on. Every blade also has field skills, which are needed to access certain areas of the map. These take a long time to fill, as it individually cycles through every blade in your party that has the field skill needed, only speeding up after multiple failed attempts.
The story is also bland and predictable. I didn't enjoy many story beats revolving around the main 6 characters from the start (even if Zeke and Morag are actually good characters) The start of the game is also unbearable due to the sheer amount of tutorials, which are useless and you will skip, which leads to you skipping the 5% which are actually needed.
Overall, don't play this game. It isn't worth your time.

engineered to make me wince but wanted a JRPG in the Switch's first year real bad and gave it a shot. has a feel adjacent to a crusty comedy seasonal anime about a 13yr old with fucked up teeth who can't stop kissing her older brother in an isekai world. i like a lot of its ideas but its tone and script are frustrating. i like starting as a diver-miner worker dude but i hate the guy who is that. he should be chill and real as fuck but he's this lame dork and not in an endearing sense. there are multiple scenes where the little boy accidentally touches tits and they go all "stupid baka pervert!" and i just don't care for it. i've seen this all too many times before, i simply cannot get down with these anime babes. i hear it gets better but it shoulda been good when it had the chance to hook me!!! aside from Nia, i didn't connect with any of the characters. Pyra and Mythra especially bored me to tears (i just don't like those sorts of tropes) and i wanted to throw Rex into an evil boiling cauldron. this game is stuffed with lame anime gfs who call u 'master.' the battle system has a gacha mechanic just to spite me and a UI so overstuffed it invokes violent urges in me like a caged, tortured gorilla. the environments and character models look really great for switch although this game's character design is mostly (Morag is pretty cool the game should be about her) some of the lamest, goofiest, and horniest (in a bad way) i've ever seen in a wide-release game of its pedigree. horny in the most boring way, in a vanilla ecchi way where it's too cowardly to get weird with it. the voice acting is silly (positive) and kicks ass tho. and Nia, she's pretty good.


why did they put this in Smash instead of my boy Travis Touchdown smh. i want the bad anime enjoyer, not the bad anime

How funny it is that despite all my efforts to beat it sooner, I would complete Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on Friday the 13th, as my 4th completion for 2023. With the date being considered unlucky here in the West, and the number 4 being considered unlucky in the East.. It’s almost poetic that even the finale wasn’t safe from my misfortune.

To those who may not know, the majority of this game was played at my mother’s house, where I lived for about half of December due to a fault at my own home that left me without central heating. Simultaneously making for a pretty bad situation, that resulted in me being almost forced to play a game that I’d been really wanting to, but struggling to put on when at home. On the contrary, as I played out the finale late last night, beating the final boss and bringing this epic journey to an end, I received an urgent call from my brother… For those of you that know why they consider the number 4 to be unlucky in Japan, well.. It was a long time coming, we’re all okay, but it made for a pretty significant weight to be added as I paused the closing cinematic 5 minutes before the end, only finishing it hours later.

As you can imagine, these things alone have solidified that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 will forever live in my memory as a game of great conflict, but through it all I honestly find this to be appropriate. The highs are immense, in some parts even towering over those of its predecessor, but the lows are so, so low, that at times I genuinely considered skipping to the third entry, and even gave the game a placeholder score of 3/5

For the first 40 or so hours, I noted down some of my thoughts in order to remember them for this review, but by the time I’d gotten properly into the game, I sort of did away with this and just enjoyed it instead. Therefore, the following will be a series of my notes as I wrote them, and where necessary they’ll be responded to with my current thoughts to see what’s changed. All I’ll say upfront is that I love this game, but I also really fucking hate it lol. (for fun, I’ll put my bullet points in [ ] indicators so you can see what exactly I wrote down lol)

Please enjoy the rambles of a madman fighting with his heart as he falls victim to yet another flawed JRPG 🙂

The first thing I’d like to talk about is the world, more specifically the map. The world designs are pretty great, they’re all grand and diverse like in the first game, maybe even more so to be honest, but my god do they not want you to traverse it. The [map is dogshit]. The player icon on the minimap uses the pointy end to indicate the way you're facing, but the main map always has the pointy end at the bottom, so everytime I check to see which way I need to go I think I'm facing south. It's also really bad at indicating paths to higher/lower levels, honestly just awful to navigate in general. You’re given nothing but a waypoint and a compass but if the way there requires going through a building to the West or an underground cave or even up over a tree, good luck finding that without looking it up online :) This is significantly worse in 2 or 3 areas with most of them being bad but not completely awful, but when I cross a bridge and the compass says “go straight” and there are stairs directly in front of me, I don’t expect to have to go around the stairs to an unmarked path.

The second thing is interesting because I’ve done such a 180 on it. In my notes I wrote down [combat is a step down from the first game] - At the time I didn't understand it very well and was just pushing the prompts when they lit up, even saying that it “feels like I'm player 2 or something, I can't strategize at all bc I don't even know why I'm winning”-- This is partly on me, but I can’t forgive the game for doing such an abysmal job with the tutorials. It’ll teach you how to do something once, and then you may not even be able to set up the execution again for hours, and there’s no way to check how exactly the combat works. The closest thing to a reminder is a control scheme which doesn’t explain how to use the combat effectively. However, after looking up a tutorial online on how to use blade combos and chain attacks, the combat in XC2, for me, now surpasses that of the first. There’s a lot to it, but once you get your head around it you really can win just about any fight by tweaking your team a little, making grinding much less necessary than previously. It’s great fun, it’s flashy, I love it.

Another complete 180 I pulled: [Characters are great, not quite XC1 level] – I can only assume that at this point in the game I was spending 90% of my time lost, and 10% of my time watching the party talk about something I’d forgotten we were doing. By the end of the game I can safely say that I fucking love the cast of XC2. I loved XC1’s group as well, but 2’s party all feel a bit more genuine and memorable to me. I have fond memories of almost every member for their own reasons and they all shine and grow in different ways. Comparatively, when I think of XC1, I remember Shulk, Reyn and Sharla fondly, but everyone else is a blur. I think this is largely due to the Heart-to-Heart scenes not being locked behind ridiculous requirements. A much needed change that makes 2 feel a lot more like a journey with friends than a journey with a couple friends and then people that tag along. (That’s a bit harsh/extreme but you get my point lol)

One thing that I have surprisingly little to say about, is the story. The characters and the world
‘Got’ me so much that even though I followed and enjoyed the story a lot I can’t really find anything to say about it. It’s a story of people and existence, tackles some really big questions about why different species exist, what purpose they serve, and most importantly it’s about perspective. What happens when an open question can have wildly conflicting answers? How could you ever know who is doing the right thing? If you are doing the right thing… This game has such a strong optimism through Rex that all people have the potential to be good, and even those who are doing wrong are simply misguided, and idk it’s not exactly a new concept but it’s executed so well that the entire game is brimming with hope, and that’s pretty amazing.
(For consistency, my note said [story good so far] lol)

I’ll try to wrap it up because I’ve hit the major beats by now, the rest of my notes were petty nitpicks or things that annoyed me to great length at that one time lol. To quickfire a few positives I’d like to say that the Blade system is really cool and I love how many rare blades have their own designs and even characters/side quests – it’s just a shame how unlucky I got with pulling them, at least 10 legendary cores gave me common blades and about 20 rare ones did the same :(
Furthermore, Nia’s voice is my favourite, maybe ever. (In contrast, Rex’s outfit is literally the ugliest thing I’ve ever laid eyes upon). The side quests are still not really worth doing imo, and the only one I made a point of doing was for a Poppi upgrade which I really wanted.. Man this quest nearly broke me. I had to go to 3 areas that I’d never been to before and bc the map is so ass I needed to follow videos for them all, and run past level 86 enemies that killed me instantly. All so I could run up to a glowing spot, press A to pick up a stick, fast travel back and do it again… What a boring fucking quest to do something so important. Sending mercs on a 30 minute mission and going to pick up dirt while I wait for them to get back. That quest took me like 2 hours and I fought 1 enemy during it, I was so pissed lol.
One final gripe, the characters and blades all talk soooo much during combat, and normally this doesn’t bother me at all (especially when Nia😌) but at some points a boss will speak to you about plot stuff during combat and you can’t fkn hear them over your party going “We can get them if we fight as one!” and shit lmao

Alright, I’m done. If you can’t tell by now, my relationship with this game has been hot and cold, but I can confidently say that I am truly grateful I stuck with it and in spite of it all will retain the good a lot stronger than the bad. Sure some of it is a huge slog, and it doesn’t explain anything very well, you will probably need youtube guides just to find where you’re going. But once you get there? Man. This game is fantastic.
It has a reputation of being horny and silly, and it definitely is at times, but there is so much more to it than that it’s almost a shame that it’s reputation almost encourages people to skip it. If you liked XC1, or even if you’ve played XC3 already, please give XC2 a chance.

This has run on far, far too long at this point but, well you knew what you were getting into lol.
Thanks for sticking it out this far guys, I hope you’re all having a great January. You’ll be glad to know my next JRPG completion won’t be for a good while, so only shorter reviews until then :p

Until next time :)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the worst AAA game I have ever experienced.

Xenoblade Chronicles X for the Wii U is my definition of “a flawed masterpiece.” It had all the pieces there to make a near perfect game, but didn’t quite connect them. Still, There’s a special place in my heart for it. The first Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the best JRPG's of all time.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is not that. If you are not familiar with the game, it takes place in another world where all civilizations rest on the backs of titans in the sky, endlessly swimming around the World Tree. Besides that you have pretty typical JRPG fare, like unexplained magic, talking animals, and girls with cat ears. It has a some good points to it, but at the end of the day, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is just a bad game.

Look, I love anime. I’ve seen quite a lot of it. Too much, even, my friends tell me. But there is a line, and maybe I’m the one who’s got to draw it. Pyra’s boobs are literally larger than her head. If you watch a video of Pyra, you’ll see quickly how ridiculous her character is. The proportions of her figure are completely inhuman in any way, shape, or form. JRPGs can get pretty bad with this stuff, but look at this shit. This is the most egregiously over-sexualized depiction of a woman I’ve ever seen. And not just the breasts, but the whole costume ensemble. She’s wearing half a pair of short shorts with a metal bikini top. This character is meant to be the awakened persona of an ancient, powerful weapon, the Aegis. I spent 30 hours trying to take her or this game seriously and was never able to do it. Japan does some fucked up stuff, but when your female characters are this unrealistic I’m unable to suspend my disbelief any further. Any character development done for Pyra is thrown to the wayside as I’m trying to figure out how her back isn’t broken. It’s a damn shame too, because Pyra’s voice actor is excellent and probably the only competent actor in the entire cast. The fact that anyone fetishizes human women to this degree is kind of revolting. This is the horniest game I’ve ever played, and I played Danganronpa.

Unfortunately, for many reasons other than Pyra’s chest size, this game can only be described as an anime garbage cringe fest. This game is everything that the general public thinks anime is: perverted, badly dubbed, full of screaming fights and big explosions, all style and no substance. The over-dramatic reactions to every small line of dialogue, the nonsensical gobbledygook language the characters use when describing ancient wars or distant gods that have no bearing on the present situation, the constant reduction of female characters to sex objects. This is the stuff that people who don’t engage with the medium see when they look at anime, even though it only pertains to a small portion of shows/manga. If you’re not an actual weeaboo in possession of a waifu body pillow and you managed to stomach all this, then I applaud you for your patience. I am a lesser man.

There are gacha mechanics, and your rewards are women. Wow. Don't know how much more on the nose you can be with "women are objects", but there are legitimately loot boxes with big-breasted, bouncing anime girls that are often teenagers or younger. I am not lying.

If you have the stomach for this kind of stuff, congrats! Let’s talk about the game. You’ll take control of Rex, a recently resurrected scavenger with a horrible English voice actor, who sets out to return the aforementioned Pyra to Elysium, which is heaven, I guess. Rex is a “Driver,” which is what we call people that can harness the power of Blades. Blades are humanoid people, of which a disproportionate amount are hot teenage girls with big ole anime tiddies. Pyra is a Blade, and is sort of a manifestation of the power of the Aegis, Rex’s big red sword. So long as Rex holds that sword, he is inexorably linked with Pyra.

Pyra wishes to return to the top of the World Tree, so they join up with a cat girl who is riding a talking tiger and a perverted raccoon with a sex robot. I apologize for the bitterness that is so clearly seeping into my review.

The above scene, while only 5 minutes, kind of sums of the vibe of the whole game nicely. This broke me. I think from this point on I was destined to hate the game, and there probably was no going back. I had to call my mom after this, just to tell her I love her. Poppi is indeed a sex-maid robot built in the image of a 10 year old girl that Tora, the raccoon idiot, built to refer to him as Master. What the fuck, MonolithSoft. I will not sit here and let this be normalized.

The game is composed of several small open worlds that are disconnected, and as you progress through the game more of them open up. You can fast travel between worlds to jump between them, but on each one you’ll find plenty of stuff to do. Some are tiny and others large, but the actual design of the landscapes relative to the mobility of your character is great design. MonolithSoft built the map for Breath of the Wild, so it’s not surprising that the map in their own game is so impressive. Even in the first world, you see rolling hills, arching mountains, bottomless lakes, and vividly colored plant life of all kinds. The art direction of the settings is one of the best parts of the game.

The monsters are, as always, amazing. They are carried over mostly from the previous games, and Xenoblade has always had a knack for making believable looking fauna in the right environments. This is the high point of the game. If you want amazing fantasy animals from a distant planet, there is no better place to find them. Seeing new creatures was the only thing that carried me through 30 hours of this game. The music is solid as well, but honestly I really thought it was a downgrade from XCX.

That was the last good thing I’ve got to say. Combat in this game is convoluted beyond belief. There is no way you could understand anything that’s going on without reading about it online, because there are so many systems layered on top of each other that everything you do during a fight loses all meaning. Despite the fact that there are 5 hours of tutorials at the beginning, you’re not adequately taught how to configure your party to achieve the most powerful combos. With accessories, equipment, party callouts, elemental combinations, skill trees, auto-attack cycles, status effects, weapon types, combat arts, art levels, weapon upgrades, and Blade attachments all working in the background together, it takes more than a few hours of mashing buttons in the dark before you have any sense of what Rex is actually doing. I know it seems like a very simple thing, but there’s a huge disconnect between the player and game when your character doesn’t seem to be responding to the inputs you hit. And it’s not because the game doesn’t work, it’s just such an insane explosion of color, badly dubbed screaming, and ugly UI that you don’t actually feel like you’re doing anything.

The UI for menus needs to be mentioned. It moves really slowly for some reason. It’s ugly, it’s hard to navigate, and totally unintuitive.

The game also runs at 480p undocked, leaving all the tiny onscreen text literally unreadable. Are we meant to scan through three different onscreen menus during fights without being able to even read the text? The game also runs at 30 FPS maximum but is bugged with constant frame rate drops. I don’t think I made it more than 20 minutes in handheld without a single digit frame rate drop. Maybe that’s been fixed by now, you can correct me if it has.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is both a technical and narrative failure. This game absolutely fails its predecessors and has cheapened the brand. While the worlds and monsters are imaginative and beautiful, the cringey anime garbage stuff is enough to turn off most people. If you overlook that, the actual gameplay creates a huge disconnect between the player and Rex. Combat relies on over a dozen different bloated systems and feels like button mashing, even when you do it strategically. The characters are impossible to relate to or care about, even setting aside the unacceptable designs of the female characters. The English voice acting and dubbing is the worst I have seen in a decade. If I have to watch Poppi, the robot sex-slave maid modeled to look like a 10 year old girl, call that alien raccoon “Master” one more time, I will throw up. Do not buy this game.

i wish i had something snarky to say about this but i'm honestly tired of this occupying any corner of my brain. i wanted to give this a chance because i do think the first game has its merits but i think i just cannot mesh with this game at any level at both a narrative and gameplay standpoint. i got halfway through this apparently just like i did with fallout 4 but personally, this is unmatched in personal apathy. maybe in a few years, i'll give it another shot but i think i'll just play xbc3 instead if i really wanna continue with this series.

it has ethel at least.

Reflecting on my experience with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, which I first started in June of 2021, is beyond difficult. Despite everything that's changed in my life since then, Xenoblade has remained one of the few constants, even through periods of inactivity and (sometimes lengthy) breaks.

I think about the first time I witnessed the Kingdom of Uraya in its full glory, swept away by the incredible score, lighting effects, and sheer wonder. I think about the futile attempts at explaining the combat system to family members, and why every piece of the cluttered UI is integral to all of the intricacies at play. I think about the constant attempts at "Tiger! Tiger!", surprised by how much time I could sink into a relatively small mini game, still entertained and eager to earn crystals for Poppi. I think about the late nights in handheld, plugging away at random affinity charts, as I kill yet another Perplexed Stoyan in Leftheria so I can earn a trivial boost in power to Mythra's Specials.

Throughout all of my individual memories, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 constantly left me in awe by its incredibly grand scale, seen in every aspect of the game. Every new Titan was a visual treat, and a gateway to a plethora of new exploration options for me to tackle, all while slowly picking away at an endless amount of microtasks and fighting as many unique monsters as I could find. This loop was only so effective because of the masterful combat system at its center (something that only experience can properly do justice), with the central blade mechanic forcing me to constantly adapt and improve my technique. While the story itself is far from perfect, I grew to feel connected to the cast and the Aegis' journey to Elysium, with the elusive locale propelling the philosophical pondering on what it means to live past your physical presence in such a cruel but realistic world (which truly shines in the very end).

Once I came upon the last few chapters of the game, I quickly scurried to re-explore all of the Titans that needed more of my attention, and began grinding out affinity charts I deemed important. After a certain point though, I came to a scary realization that, even though I didn't quite complete as much as I had hoped, I was contempt with the progress I had made and began to shift my focus entirely on the last few story missions. Rolling credits, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, left with nothing but appreciation for the magical experience that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (which happened to be my 200th game completed, woo-hoo) was for me.

deranged psychopath game where you get to bear witness to the apex of media obsessed brainrot and enter a world where slavery turns out to be cool and pretty women should become items in your inventory. a BIZARRE compilation of ANY AND ALL the trite or gross tropes you've ever heard having to do with 'accepted anime storytelling'... It's pretty wild a time.

the kind of 'SOCIETAL CASE STUDY'-esque experience I get out of running through these unapologetic love and madness fueled psycho projects now and again is sorta WHY I play video games. rex being a gigachad carried some too, but that goes without saying

I don't think I have ever had my opinion of a game change so drastically while playing it. After finishing the first Xenoblade with middling opinions, the technical and gameplay improvements in the second were refreshing and fun. For the first 25-30 hours of this, I did genuinely love it.

Once I reached a certain point (probably around chapter 6 or 7), everything really started to fall apart for me. The repercussions of so many glaring design flaws really started to shine through (field skills nearly saw me quitting the game at least 4 times) and I realized the story wasn't going in any direction that I really cared for. The tone and pacing of the first Xenoblade was dark, serious, and thoughtful. The second devolved into a sort of low-quality immature anime that used its half-baked plot purely to prop up flashy action sequences and tit shots.

Speaking of tits... the level of fan service in this game is borderline pathetic. Male characters and blades are given cool, sometimes monstrous designs, and yet nearly every single female character is reduced to cleavage and scraps of fabric concealing maybe a half-inch of their skin, as if all of their designs were thought of by a 13 year old hentai addict. Coupled with the fact that some of these characters look like genuine children, it's unsettling to say the least. My favorite character "truly finds herself" or whatever later in the game and that entails... a magical girl transformation which pumps her boobs like 2 sizes and leaves her in fancy panties.

Such a massive disappointment, going from a game that I genuinely loved in the beginning to a game I absolutely hate. I initially planned to play the entire trilogy, but as of now this entry has really soured my attitude on the entire franchise.