SpudzSDA
When I declared Xenoblade Chronicles 3 my favorite game of all time last year, I had so many people tell me it was all due to "recency bias" and "the honeymoon phase" that would all wear off with time.
13 months, three playthroughs, and an incredible story DLC later, I not only still hold this as my favorite game of all time, but I love it even more than I did after my first playthrough. All the unresolved questions have been answered, all my previous nitpicks I've come to terms with... and I can still confidently say Xenoblade 3 is the greatest, most profound work of fiction I have ever experienced.
I could never possibly praise Xenoblade 3 enough. It's perfect. Peak fiction. Changed my life forever, and I'm still feeling its effects on me every day
13 months, three playthroughs, and an incredible story DLC later, I not only still hold this as my favorite game of all time, but I love it even more than I did after my first playthrough. All the unresolved questions have been answered, all my previous nitpicks I've come to terms with... and I can still confidently say Xenoblade 3 is the greatest, most profound work of fiction I have ever experienced.
I could never possibly praise Xenoblade 3 enough. It's perfect. Peak fiction. Changed my life forever, and I'm still feeling its effects on me every day
Relinquishing my soul to the Xenoblade autistic hivemind.
May the light of the Monado guide me.
May the light of the Monado guide me.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is probably the most polarizing game I have ever played when it comes to fan opinions.
Me, I fucking love it. All the characters, all the Blades, all the over-the-top anime moments, the obtuse yet superbly satisfying combat, the gorgeous art direction, the absolutely PEAK soundtrack--I LOVE every bit of it.
Though admittedly it took me a little while to come to this opinion. My first playthrough back in 2017 was a little wonky; I didn't really understand how the battle system worked and I didn't become super invested in the story and characters until halfway through. Even by the end, I was not completely sold on some of the characters until Torna: The Golden Country released and gave several of the more underdeveloped character backstories much-needed context.
So yeah, I get it. I understand the reservations people have with this game. It is a difficult game to recommend to newcomers. But the many hundreds of hours of enjoyment I have gotten out of all my playthroughs make all of the reservations, all the criticisms, irrelevant.
...
Also this is probably the only game on Backloggd that has more 5-star ratings than any other rating AND has an average rating less than 4.0. Shows you how polarizing opinions on this game are.
Me, I fucking love it. All the characters, all the Blades, all the over-the-top anime moments, the obtuse yet superbly satisfying combat, the gorgeous art direction, the absolutely PEAK soundtrack--I LOVE every bit of it.
Though admittedly it took me a little while to come to this opinion. My first playthrough back in 2017 was a little wonky; I didn't really understand how the battle system worked and I didn't become super invested in the story and characters until halfway through. Even by the end, I was not completely sold on some of the characters until Torna: The Golden Country released and gave several of the more underdeveloped character backstories much-needed context.
So yeah, I get it. I understand the reservations people have with this game. It is a difficult game to recommend to newcomers. But the many hundreds of hours of enjoyment I have gotten out of all my playthroughs make all of the reservations, all the criticisms, irrelevant.
...
Also this is probably the only game on Backloggd that has more 5-star ratings than any other rating AND has an average rating less than 4.0. Shows you how polarizing opinions on this game are.
Sci-fi setting + philosophical references and undertones + robots = peak
Very simple formula, works on me every time
Very simple formula, works on me every time
It has come to the end of this niche little PS2 trilogy lost to its creator's wild ambition. It was a long journey to get here, one full of ups and downs and many hours of external research, but we have finally reached the climax.
...
And DAMN was it worth the journey.
Xenosaga Episode III is quite simply unbelievable. From the very first episode, all the necessary pieces were there for Xenosaga to be something truly amazing, and Episode III finally capitalized on them in extraordinary fashion, and with hardly a change in staff from Episode II! The story delivers on all the setups that had been planted across the first two games and Missing Year in an emotional rollercoaster of twists and turns that had me gasping for breath by the end. The characters are some of my favorite in all of fiction, with particular mention going to Shion, whom I absolutely fell head-over-heels for after seeing all the payoff from her mental health journey over the course of the series. The gameplay is vastly improved from Episode II, with the battle system now lightning-fast and much streamlined and the overall game experience far smoother overall. And all is punctuated with awe-inspiring cinematic cutscences and a mindblowing soundtrack that ranks easily in the top 3 video game OSTs of all time.
Utterly incredible experience. Xenosaga is the best space opera ever created.
...
And DAMN was it worth the journey.
Xenosaga Episode III is quite simply unbelievable. From the very first episode, all the necessary pieces were there for Xenosaga to be something truly amazing, and Episode III finally capitalized on them in extraordinary fashion, and with hardly a change in staff from Episode II! The story delivers on all the setups that had been planted across the first two games and Missing Year in an emotional rollercoaster of twists and turns that had me gasping for breath by the end. The characters are some of my favorite in all of fiction, with particular mention going to Shion, whom I absolutely fell head-over-heels for after seeing all the payoff from her mental health journey over the course of the series. The gameplay is vastly improved from Episode II, with the battle system now lightning-fast and much streamlined and the overall game experience far smoother overall. And all is punctuated with awe-inspiring cinematic cutscences and a mindblowing soundtrack that ranks easily in the top 3 video game OSTs of all time.
Utterly incredible experience. Xenosaga is the best space opera ever created.
Xenosaga Episode II is one of the most frustrating RPGs I've ever played. The battle system has interesting ideas with ATROCIOUS execution, encounters are painfully slow, the dungeon design is god-awful, and the visual style and character models from Episode I were completely botched.
...
But it has Albedo, so it's a 7/10.
...
But it has Albedo, so it's a 7/10.
The gameplay has not aged the best, and the story is a bit of a slow burn, but Xenosaga Episode I is still a blast. I loved all the characters by the end, the story and worldbuilding are fascinating, and Mitsuda's OST is fantastic. This is a great start to an incredible trilogy!
1998
Brilliant. Enlightening. Lovably Flawed.
Xenogears is one of the most tedious video games I have ever played, and yet it tells one of the greatest and most transcendent stories in fiction--a story that resonates with the very core of what makes us human.
Xenogears is one of the most tedious video games I have ever played, and yet it tells one of the greatest and most transcendent stories in fiction--a story that resonates with the very core of what makes us human.
I don't think it's very fair for me to rate or talk about any of the Xenoblade games in a fair, objective way. The Xenoblade games are literally my top 3 favorite games of all time, and my experiences with them are very personal. So I am not going to attempt to provide an objective evaluation of all the game's strengths and weaknesses; though my opinion is certainly biased and behind rose-tinted glasses, I will admit that Xenoblade 3 is a flawed game in some respects. But playing this game was an enlightening experience that transcended any sort of nitpicky gripe I could have. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts for me. So instead of providing a thorough and meticulous judgment of every little part of the game, I will simply try to tell my experience:
I basically grew up alongside the Xenoblade trilogy. I played Xenoblade 1 for the first time in the summer before my first year of middle school in 2015, and it blew my mind, showing me the full extent of what a video game story could be. Xenoblade 2 came out in my eighth grade year, and I associate that game with my high school years, obsessing over builds and Challenge Mode and putting hundreds of hours into its battle system.
Now here I am, starting my journey into the new chapter of my life in college. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released after I graduated high school and before my freshman year of college. The end of this trilogy coincided with the final step in my adolescence, the ultimate stage of my maturity.
My senior year of high school was amazing, like a fever dream. I was traveling the country (United States) for quiz bowl tournaments, and for the first time in my life I finally gained a reliable friend group, my support system through it all. As the end of the year drew near and the enormous impending leap into college became ever more realized, I wanted nothing more than to remain in the comfort of the present--to remain in my hometown, with all my friends and family, staying in those blissful senior year highs for all eternity, and to stave off facing the uncertain future for as long as possible.
I wanted the endless now.
But what kind of life is that?
Always living the same life; going through the same experiences, emotions, and sensations; always avoiding moving forward if it meant staying in bliss and comfort. Much as Nietzsche wanted to argue, "amor fati" is not a productive or useful outlook on the world, attractive though it may seem. Living and accepting the eternal recurrence removes all meaning from one's life, as meaning can only be found through new experiences.
So, intimidating as it was, embracing the uncertainty and leaving the life I had grown so comfortable in for so long was necessary. Coming to this conclusion, I feel, is the final and most important step in one's maturity.
It's kind of crazy that a video game was the key factor in helping me realize this. It speaks above all to the power of Xenoblade 3's story to move people. Its core theme, emphasizing embracing the uncertainty of life and discovering/appreciating what it means to live, is extraordinarily powerful, and it is conveyed with a level of poignance and nuance that is unrivaled by perhaps any other story I have ever experienced.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 genuinely made me love life and savor all the little things that make life amazing, and it made me more confident to face my future no matter how overwhelming it seemed. That transcends mere video game storytelling.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is far and away my favorite video game of all time, and one of the greatest pieces of art I have ever experienced.
...And if you really want to know all my thoughts on all the little parts of the game, biased and rose-tinted as they may be, here they are:
-Best combat system and character customization in the series, alongside Xenoblade 2
-Best main cast of characters of any game I have ever played, plus lots of memorable Heroes
-Some of the best and most fascinating world-building in video games (the usual for the Xenoblade series)
-Gorgeous sprawling areas, with lots of exploration options that are a direct improvement on 2's Field Skills
-Best side quests and overall feeling of world cohesion, alongside or better than Xenoblade X
-Fantastic soundtrack with a great flute motif
-Amazing story, with an incredible unifying theme, even if the final chapter feels a bit rushed in execution and significant questions are left unanswered
-An effective cast of villains that are conceptually interesting by the end, even if writing-wise they are very mediocre and often cartoonish
-Lots of little nitpicks (though many are personal to me, given how much I obsess over all the tiny details in this series)
I basically grew up alongside the Xenoblade trilogy. I played Xenoblade 1 for the first time in the summer before my first year of middle school in 2015, and it blew my mind, showing me the full extent of what a video game story could be. Xenoblade 2 came out in my eighth grade year, and I associate that game with my high school years, obsessing over builds and Challenge Mode and putting hundreds of hours into its battle system.
Now here I am, starting my journey into the new chapter of my life in college. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released after I graduated high school and before my freshman year of college. The end of this trilogy coincided with the final step in my adolescence, the ultimate stage of my maturity.
My senior year of high school was amazing, like a fever dream. I was traveling the country (United States) for quiz bowl tournaments, and for the first time in my life I finally gained a reliable friend group, my support system through it all. As the end of the year drew near and the enormous impending leap into college became ever more realized, I wanted nothing more than to remain in the comfort of the present--to remain in my hometown, with all my friends and family, staying in those blissful senior year highs for all eternity, and to stave off facing the uncertain future for as long as possible.
I wanted the endless now.
But what kind of life is that?
Always living the same life; going through the same experiences, emotions, and sensations; always avoiding moving forward if it meant staying in bliss and comfort. Much as Nietzsche wanted to argue, "amor fati" is not a productive or useful outlook on the world, attractive though it may seem. Living and accepting the eternal recurrence removes all meaning from one's life, as meaning can only be found through new experiences.
So, intimidating as it was, embracing the uncertainty and leaving the life I had grown so comfortable in for so long was necessary. Coming to this conclusion, I feel, is the final and most important step in one's maturity.
It's kind of crazy that a video game was the key factor in helping me realize this. It speaks above all to the power of Xenoblade 3's story to move people. Its core theme, emphasizing embracing the uncertainty of life and discovering/appreciating what it means to live, is extraordinarily powerful, and it is conveyed with a level of poignance and nuance that is unrivaled by perhaps any other story I have ever experienced.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 genuinely made me love life and savor all the little things that make life amazing, and it made me more confident to face my future no matter how overwhelming it seemed. That transcends mere video game storytelling.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is far and away my favorite video game of all time, and one of the greatest pieces of art I have ever experienced.
...And if you really want to know all my thoughts on all the little parts of the game, biased and rose-tinted as they may be, here they are:
-Best combat system and character customization in the series, alongside Xenoblade 2
-Best main cast of characters of any game I have ever played, plus lots of memorable Heroes
-Some of the best and most fascinating world-building in video games (the usual for the Xenoblade series)
-Gorgeous sprawling areas, with lots of exploration options that are a direct improvement on 2's Field Skills
-Best side quests and overall feeling of world cohesion, alongside or better than Xenoblade X
-Fantastic soundtrack with a great flute motif
-Amazing story, with an incredible unifying theme, even if the final chapter feels a bit rushed in execution and significant questions are left unanswered
-An effective cast of villains that are conceptually interesting by the end, even if writing-wise they are very mediocre and often cartoonish
-Lots of little nitpicks (though many are personal to me, given how much I obsess over all the tiny details in this series)