Was kinda shitposting when my original review was just "Objectively better than the first game". Especially when I put it on here after not having played it for years. But coming back to it nearly 5 years later and 2 years after DE's launch I've only doubled down on that take.
Xenoblade 2 is not perfect, it's got jank, it's ugly as fuck sometimes texture wise (especially when they don't load in), there's some gameplay elements that can be frustrating and annoying (the gacha system which is still better than others anyways since it's 100% free as opposed to having to spend real ass money and there's ways to cheese it anyways), the unfortunate rushed development cause Monolith Soft was stuck shackled to Breath of the Wild can show at times and yet it's easily one of my favorite experiences with any game ever.
From the soundtrack to the characters and writing Xenoblade 2 is one of the best JRPGs of the past decade. A truly personal story of redemption, vengeance and acceptance. There are so many games that attempt the cycle of violence/revenge type deal and yet none of them have ever left an impact on me the way the last 3 chapters of this game have. Everything from chapter 7 onward blows the first Xenoblade out of the water emotionally, spectacle wise and writing wise. It is just constant escalation after escalation to an emotional and cathartic climax, and that's the key thing for me with this game. When you reach the ending and that final cutscene after the credits catharsis is the feeling that overwhelms you. Few films have hit me with that and even fewer games can stand to having done it to me but Xenoblade 2 did it and that alone will always make it special to me.
So it kills me when people just reduce it to nothing more than horny anime garbage. "The game with the two skanks that ruined Smash" and "the generic anime boy protag" and "that one weeb game with bad English dub". Last point funny as fuck to me cause it is genuinely no worse than the average English dub. Maybe compared to Xenoblade 1 but on this playthrough I genuinely found it fine. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome but aside from the early chapter weirdness after a certain point it's all fine and is legit better than the usual Square Enix dubs that fill in every grunt the Japenese dub has with awkward English grunts of their own lmfao. The horny anime shit take sucks too and it's always from people who have never played this game or coomers that only know any of the characters from porn. So for a really quick tangent for the other side of that last point I think media should be allowed to be as horny as it wants. If the writer/artist doesn't want it to be horny that's fine but if a writer/artist wants it to be horny what right do you have to tell them no? It's a bit of a double edged sword situation I guess since while it keeps people from wanting to play it it also gatekeeps itself from the exact people I would never want to talk to about this game. Only the worthy may pass yadda yadda it kinda rules tbh.
Goddamn tho that insane rambling aside going from DE which made me realize just how much the original Xenoblade has aged combat wise (especially when X was the same thing but faster and better) and going back to this with the sicko mode blade and driver combos PLUS how good it feels to switch out to a blade and immediately follow that up with an attack? UGH god it feels so good to kill shit in this game and Xenoblade 3 seemingly taking this but with extra abilities that were in 1 WITH X's speed is enough to make me shit and cum and piss.
So what don't I like? Well, field skills suck lmfao and the fact they can softblock process in chapter 7 if you don't upgrade certain blades enough fucking sucks ass. Really miss that sprint from X too and the gacha system can be mad annoying but that's what the Relentless Arduran and New Game Plus mode are for. And I guess the fact that you pretty much have to get the season pass for Torna and a lot of the post launch blades, but I think that's it lol and for the price you pay you get a shitton of stuff. Honestly it's shocking to me to this day that for a game that had such a rushed development that it turned out as good as it did when other games that were delayed and delayed and delayed couldn't even release without being broken messes.
Xenoblade 2 as mentioned at the start isn't perfect but it's one the most delightful and emotionally powerful experience with video games that I've gone through my whole life. I haven't even gone into the themes of immigration, persecution, regret, mental illness, idealism, self reflection, and religion the game is chock full of behind the scenes of what on the surface is quite simply a story about a boy meeting a girl. And if what I've read about Tetsuya Takahashi is anything to go by he is a splendid man and all of the Xeno games from Gears to most definitely soon Xenoblade 3 are some of most personal pieces of media ever made, and that to me will always be commendable and brave no matter what janky elements there may be along the way.
Anyways Mythra is my wife who I will DEFINITELY impregnate, Tora is my son and Rex is a good boy that does not deserve the shit he gets for his silly little costume and voice. Bring on Xenoblade 3.
Xenoblade 2 is not perfect, it's got jank, it's ugly as fuck sometimes texture wise (especially when they don't load in), there's some gameplay elements that can be frustrating and annoying (the gacha system which is still better than others anyways since it's 100% free as opposed to having to spend real ass money and there's ways to cheese it anyways), the unfortunate rushed development cause Monolith Soft was stuck shackled to Breath of the Wild can show at times and yet it's easily one of my favorite experiences with any game ever.
From the soundtrack to the characters and writing Xenoblade 2 is one of the best JRPGs of the past decade. A truly personal story of redemption, vengeance and acceptance. There are so many games that attempt the cycle of violence/revenge type deal and yet none of them have ever left an impact on me the way the last 3 chapters of this game have. Everything from chapter 7 onward blows the first Xenoblade out of the water emotionally, spectacle wise and writing wise. It is just constant escalation after escalation to an emotional and cathartic climax, and that's the key thing for me with this game. When you reach the ending and that final cutscene after the credits catharsis is the feeling that overwhelms you. Few films have hit me with that and even fewer games can stand to having done it to me but Xenoblade 2 did it and that alone will always make it special to me.
So it kills me when people just reduce it to nothing more than horny anime garbage. "The game with the two skanks that ruined Smash" and "the generic anime boy protag" and "that one weeb game with bad English dub". Last point funny as fuck to me cause it is genuinely no worse than the average English dub. Maybe compared to Xenoblade 1 but on this playthrough I genuinely found it fine. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome but aside from the early chapter weirdness after a certain point it's all fine and is legit better than the usual Square Enix dubs that fill in every grunt the Japenese dub has with awkward English grunts of their own lmfao. The horny anime shit take sucks too and it's always from people who have never played this game or coomers that only know any of the characters from porn. So for a really quick tangent for the other side of that last point I think media should be allowed to be as horny as it wants. If the writer/artist doesn't want it to be horny that's fine but if a writer/artist wants it to be horny what right do you have to tell them no? It's a bit of a double edged sword situation I guess since while it keeps people from wanting to play it it also gatekeeps itself from the exact people I would never want to talk to about this game. Only the worthy may pass yadda yadda it kinda rules tbh.
Goddamn tho that insane rambling aside going from DE which made me realize just how much the original Xenoblade has aged combat wise (especially when X was the same thing but faster and better) and going back to this with the sicko mode blade and driver combos PLUS how good it feels to switch out to a blade and immediately follow that up with an attack? UGH god it feels so good to kill shit in this game and Xenoblade 3 seemingly taking this but with extra abilities that were in 1 WITH X's speed is enough to make me shit and cum and piss.
So what don't I like? Well, field skills suck lmfao and the fact they can softblock process in chapter 7 if you don't upgrade certain blades enough fucking sucks ass. Really miss that sprint from X too and the gacha system can be mad annoying but that's what the Relentless Arduran and New Game Plus mode are for. And I guess the fact that you pretty much have to get the season pass for Torna and a lot of the post launch blades, but I think that's it lol and for the price you pay you get a shitton of stuff. Honestly it's shocking to me to this day that for a game that had such a rushed development that it turned out as good as it did when other games that were delayed and delayed and delayed couldn't even release without being broken messes.
Xenoblade 2 as mentioned at the start isn't perfect but it's one the most delightful and emotionally powerful experience with video games that I've gone through my whole life. I haven't even gone into the themes of immigration, persecution, regret, mental illness, idealism, self reflection, and religion the game is chock full of behind the scenes of what on the surface is quite simply a story about a boy meeting a girl. And if what I've read about Tetsuya Takahashi is anything to go by he is a splendid man and all of the Xeno games from Gears to most definitely soon Xenoblade 3 are some of most personal pieces of media ever made, and that to me will always be commendable and brave no matter what janky elements there may be along the way.
Anyways Mythra is my wife who I will DEFINITELY impregnate, Tora is my son and Rex is a good boy that does not deserve the shit he gets for his silly little costume and voice. Bring on Xenoblade 3.
4 Comments
I kneel
Honestly? Based!
based
NOWITSREYNTIME17
2 years ago