I do not know a single person who didn't cry at the end of this game. You're a fucking bitch, I'm a fucking bitch. Let's tug on this thread of emotional repression and bawl like infants.

What is Mother 3? I genuinely don't know. A journey in processing grief and trauma? How the world and everything you know changes under malevolent force? That we are all fated to die, so make the little moments count? Cowboy ninjas are an evergreen combination? Maybe the game is trying to tell us frogs in little red cars are peak pixel art. Like I said, I don't fucking know what I was supposed to take away from the game. I am just genuinely happy I experienced it.

This game is not as good as Earthbound, but it has better combat and it's themes definitely stand on it's own. It's much darker, but it gives more pop when something silly/absurd happens.

My question is what's up with the manly fairies. Are they trans? Are they an exaggeration of drag queens? I don't know what's going on with them, but I don't know why one had to do something very, VERY fucked that caused this game to never be officially translated or ported and it NEVER WILL BE. Itoi absolutely lost his mind and did something very brave and I can't say that it landed. You know what I'm talking about. They went to a place NO OTHER GAME went to and I don't know why they used the fairies to do it. Seems subtextually and overtly disrespectful to the LGBT community. If that's what it takes to get psychic powers I'll hop in that hot spring but like are we SURE like I couldn't watch a Youtube tutorial or take a community college course?

Can you imagine Iwata or Miyamoto playing a review copy of this game because they famously didn't give a shit as it was in development for like 10 years -- and their eyeballs shooting out of their sockets at that scene? Straight up, people high up did not see that scene before it released, because after it released -- this game was put in jail. I can't say I blame them. It seems really difficult to edit that scene out to because there's a good 10-15 minute sequence that's important to the plot that if was cut out would make things fall apart.

Lucas being a crybaby bitch makes people resent him, but his tears are warranted. You have to take step back and realize what this kid has gone through and is still willing to kill turbo Donald Trump for the remaining good left in his world. He is the best of us.

It's a beautiful, messy journey that will have you caring about your own life and the impact you have in it. That's Mother 3' gift. It's other gift to you is making you cry like a motherfucker; 3-4 times at least. If you're reading this and you DIDN'T cry at all then you're a Porky ass bitch. Go to therapy.

Wherever you landed on how you feel about the game, you can agree that we don't get real shit like this all that often. I invite anyone who read all this to tell me what the game meant to you. Even if you identify with being a Porky ass bitch. This game changes people. I will always be curious by the impact highly emotional media has on others.

It has a character named Kino...

Future Connected takes place one year after the events of Xenoblade Chronicles and takes Shulk and Melia to an unexplored region of the Bionis, where they stumble upon two stowaways who help them against the seemingly untouchable Fog King terrorizing the local people. Yes, this premise is pretty basic, but it's more of an expansion to round off Melia's character arc than an actual story expansion.

The highlight and key aspect of Future Connected is the exploration of Bionis' Shoulder, a previously unreleased area that has been planned ever since the original release of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, but never made the cut. Now it has been repurposed as the central setpiece of the epilogue and I'm quite glad for this decision, as it's easily one of my favorite areas in the game now and I had a lot of fun exploring it. There are many great views and it looks particularly cool during thunderstorms (even better when there's a cutscene playing). Fairly early on you're introduced to the Ponspectors, a group of archaeologist Nopon, who have lost their boss and now are scattered all across the Shoulder, where you can pick them up (most of the times you need to do a short quest beforehand) and add them to your own personal Nopon army. This literal army of furball companions not only deals passive damage during combat, but also replaces the chain attacks with some QTE combos, which can be upgraded by adding more Ponspectors to your squad. They're also masters of taking a toll on the framerate, as things can get seriously laggy when there's a dozen Nopon hammering away on a bunch of enemies during a thunderstorm while several other flashy animations are playing. Despite this, I thought the Ponspectors were a fun change of pace in terms of combat usage, but there was something else I disliked instead in terms of combat, and that's the removal of vision attacks. This sounds insane at first, considering vision attacks only make your life harder, but the thing is that they're still in the game, you're just not informed when the enemy will hit you with them anymore. Always a pleasure to see a boss hit you with "Attack VIII" without warning just to survive with a mere sliver of health, so the existence of the Shield and Impulse Monado Art hardly justify themselves in Future Connected, as they are practically useless - you're better off using the Armor Art instead.

I don't think the story present here is that bad, just considerably weaker than the main narrative, which is to be expected from a free expansion that released 10 years after the source material. For me the main issues are the underwhelming villains (the fate of one major villain here is literally revealed in a sidequest) and the lack of any real stakes here, so the true highlight are the character interactions instead. The heart-to-heart mechanic from the main game has been rebranded to "quiet moments" and is now available anytime after certain points in the story have been passed, as long as the time is right and the party members you need for the support are in your current party setup. They're also fully voiced and do not require any previous affinity building between characters, which is something that would be very cool to see in future Xenoblade games (or atleast Xenoblade 3, considering 2 released before Future Connected), as voice acting alone in these moments can make them a lot more impactful and memorable already. While Kino's and Nene's supports help characterize Riki further, Melia's are particularly interesting as she as a person had to undergo significant changes after the events of the main storyline. Shulk takes the backseat here and is more of a mentor for the Nopon kids, which is sweet in its own way.

To wrap it up, it's a nice little bonus campaign after the grand scope of Xenoblade's main story and I'd recommend it to anyone who just wants more of the same. As far as I know, Future Connected is ultimately skippable, but there's no harm in giving it a try atleast - else you're missing out on some fantastic tracks like the Bionis Shoulder battle theme or the Fogbeasts encounter theme.

out of all the games ive been weirdly and significantly obsessed to the point of where i had dreams about THE FUCKING BETA OF KILLER7, i can forgive myself for being so. suda himself said out of all the games hes made this is the one hes the most proud of making and i gotta say id be damn proud too if i made this my life would be complete. incredibly ambitious, striking visuals and sound that smacks you across the face, and anxiety inducing cutscenes this is one game a true gamer must experience

this game that was developed in the land of the rising sun is so immersed in its politics it doesnt have japanese voice acting, english voice actors only and subtitles for japan i cant think of another game that does that