akairaiju
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Persona 4 Golden
2020
Now I face out! I hold out! I reach out to the truth!
Persona 4 Golden is a fantastic entry into the Persona Series. Although the game does not have the most striking story or gameplay, what it does best are definitely its main cast of characters. Coming to this game after P5R, I thought I wasn’t going to like it as much as I did, but here we are, with a 5 star rating. I can’t really put my finger on it but there’s just something that this game does that make me love it so much.
Going to try keep this spoiler less, but I will talk about several characters. Now, first, let’s talk about the story. I think it’s really interesting that the game just starts talking about a marriage scandal straight away and you’re just so confused. Honestly, I thought I missed something when that started, but I guess not. The game slowly develops into a sort of murder mystery where the gang and you have to catch the culprit because the Inaba Police Department are incompetent and you don’t want anymore people dying. Honestly, a lot of the story parts just feel like filler, and some of them just don’t need to happen, but it definitely gives the game personality and allows the characters to develop. As expected from a murder mystery story, the game doesn’t really ramp up until the late game. The game is so formulaic that it starts to get a bit boring, but after Heaven, yeah, that’s where the good shit happens. I will say the culprit reveal did feel underwhelming, but it did make sense. I also enjoyed the final dungeon that occurs on the final day, it really highlights how close the protagonist and his friends have truly gotten. Overall, the story is good, but I wouldn’t expect an extremely stellar one.
Quickly, I want to talk about the setting. There’s just something about Inaba that is oddly nostalgic, and maybe that’s just why I love Inaba so much because it reminds me of where I grew up. I think the setting just also works in favour of the theme of the game, and how people in small towns still need to accept themselves for who they are.
Now, characters. There are just so many good characters. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, Adachi, Dojima, Nanako, Yumi,Hanako, etc, there’s a lot. Some personalities can get a bit much at times, like Rise’s horniness or Teddie, but other than those instances, I think the cast is great overall. Yosuke is the bro and I just love his character arc. They should’ve made a gay romance option for him. Chie has superb voice acting and has a very endearing social link. Yukiko is my spirit animal, however unfortunately falls under the spell of Priestess Social Link syndrome, but I also find it endearing nevertheless. Kanji is great and really shows the theme of the game. Rise is a double-edged sword, you either hate her because of her horniness, or like her because of her horniness. Joking, Rise has great moments in her social link as well that make her a great character, not to mention, some of her lines are just hilarious. Naoto is the same as Kanji, and probably one of my favourite social links. Adachi is a goof, and Dojima is essentially your second father figure. Nanako is the sweet sunshine child that must be protected because she’s more mature than the entire cast, and Yumi has one of the strongest social links in the entire series in my opinion. This sounds like a rant, but I just fell in love with the characters in this game.
Now the gameplay. The TV world is meh. I don’t love it but I don’t hate it. I hate how RNG dependant fighting the Reaper is though, no more jump-scares screaming ‘I Sense Death!’ I love shuffle time and how much customisation it has, from ranking up persona skills to increasing persona stats, to giving skill cards, to giving increased money or exp, I just love the system. Almost makes me sad that P5R didn’t have something similar. Fusing doesn’t seem all that different besides no extra velvet room functions, but I don’t mind it. I want to talk about the bosses, because I think each of their gimmicks are just really creative, and the bosses overall are just much more difficult than in P5R, even if they aren’t that difficult. They’re just really fun to take on. One thing I hate about the gameplay though is that you cannot do essentially any of the social links in the rain, it really sucks. Overall, good gameplay and very few complaints from me.
Music! IT SLAPS! Time to Make History, Your Affection, Reach Out To The Truth, Heaven, Specialist, Nevermore, Heartbeat Heartbreak are stellar. I also grew quite fond of the opening, Shadow World. Honestly, the songs in this game are bangers.
Overall, a great game, and I just love it so much. The P4 cast will always hold a special place in my heart. Despite having an above-average story, I believe the best part of this game are the characters and the themes that it brings to the table. I highly recommend playing this game, it’s awesome!
Persona 4 Golden is a fantastic entry into the Persona Series. Although the game does not have the most striking story or gameplay, what it does best are definitely its main cast of characters. Coming to this game after P5R, I thought I wasn’t going to like it as much as I did, but here we are, with a 5 star rating. I can’t really put my finger on it but there’s just something that this game does that make me love it so much.
Going to try keep this spoiler less, but I will talk about several characters. Now, first, let’s talk about the story. I think it’s really interesting that the game just starts talking about a marriage scandal straight away and you’re just so confused. Honestly, I thought I missed something when that started, but I guess not. The game slowly develops into a sort of murder mystery where the gang and you have to catch the culprit because the Inaba Police Department are incompetent and you don’t want anymore people dying. Honestly, a lot of the story parts just feel like filler, and some of them just don’t need to happen, but it definitely gives the game personality and allows the characters to develop. As expected from a murder mystery story, the game doesn’t really ramp up until the late game. The game is so formulaic that it starts to get a bit boring, but after Heaven, yeah, that’s where the good shit happens. I will say the culprit reveal did feel underwhelming, but it did make sense. I also enjoyed the final dungeon that occurs on the final day, it really highlights how close the protagonist and his friends have truly gotten. Overall, the story is good, but I wouldn’t expect an extremely stellar one.
Quickly, I want to talk about the setting. There’s just something about Inaba that is oddly nostalgic, and maybe that’s just why I love Inaba so much because it reminds me of where I grew up. I think the setting just also works in favour of the theme of the game, and how people in small towns still need to accept themselves for who they are.
Now, characters. There are just so many good characters. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, Adachi, Dojima, Nanako, Yumi,
Now the gameplay. The TV world is meh. I don’t love it but I don’t hate it. I hate how RNG dependant fighting the Reaper is though, no more jump-scares screaming ‘I Sense Death!’ I love shuffle time and how much customisation it has, from ranking up persona skills to increasing persona stats, to giving skill cards, to giving increased money or exp, I just love the system. Almost makes me sad that P5R didn’t have something similar. Fusing doesn’t seem all that different besides no extra velvet room functions, but I don’t mind it. I want to talk about the bosses, because I think each of their gimmicks are just really creative, and the bosses overall are just much more difficult than in P5R, even if they aren’t that difficult. They’re just really fun to take on. One thing I hate about the gameplay though is that you cannot do essentially any of the social links in the rain, it really sucks. Overall, good gameplay and very few complaints from me.
Music! IT SLAPS! Time to Make History, Your Affection, Reach Out To The Truth, Heaven, Specialist, Nevermore, Heartbeat Heartbreak are stellar. I also grew quite fond of the opening, Shadow World. Honestly, the songs in this game are bangers.
Overall, a great game, and I just love it so much. The P4 cast will always hold a special place in my heart. Despite having an above-average story, I believe the best part of this game are the characters and the themes that it brings to the table. I highly recommend playing this game, it’s awesome!
Muv-Luv Alternative
2006
This review contains spoilers
There are only spoilers for Muv-Luv Extra, Unlimited and Alternative here. I took care not to mention anything for side content outside of setting.
I don’t even know how to start this. Like I mentioned in my previous, spoiler-free review, Muv-Luv Alternative is my favorite story of all time. This time, I’m making a spoiler review, written soon after my reread. This might not be the most polished essay I’ve written, but even though I do appreciate people seeing this, it is primarily for myself. I’ll try to put every single thought I’ve had about MLA and Muv-Luv as a whole into it, but of course, words aren’t enough, so there will always be more I will want to say. This will be a long one.
For the longest time, I used to not get attached to stories, especially emotionally. It’s why I played multiplayer games primarily. For basically the entirety of the 2000s and 2010s I was mostly into familiar media or adaptations of that media — Marvel, DC and Star Wars. Nothing wrong with enjoying them, of course. When looking forward to new content, I was mostly looking forward to more of the same. It was nice in a way, but lacked novelty after a while. I didn't really get emotional from media either, let alone to the extent of crying. With the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns, I started exploring more due to sheer boredom, and eventually got into anime for real after trying a few shows in 2011-2015 previously. One thing led to another, and after playing Doki Doki Literature Club and watching Steins;Gate I decided to explore more of the SciAdv series, and read Chaos;Child (at the time, Chaos;Head wasn’t on Steam and I was not aware of its existence). I never had the apprehension about the visual novel medium since I was used to reading a lot of books as a child. Experiencing C;C blew away all other narrative media I was into previously, even my beloved Spider-Man adaptations and comics, as well as the dozens/hundreds of anime I’d watched in 2020. After that I moved onto the most popular VN and VN adaptations series — Type-Moon. I read Fate/stay night and Tsukihime, and I was obsessed with it for months. I was convinced that there was barely any point in exploring the medium at that point, with nothing else really catching my eye. However, I decided that I would at least try Muv-Luv, since Alternative was the highest rated VN on VNDB, and in the top three on EGS (Japanese eroge and ADV game website), in addition to the anime adaptation of MLA being announced, and getting told to not rob myself of the experience, hence deciding to read the source trilogy. If I didn’t end up liking it, I would quit the medium.
I was honestly surprised to see the amount of hatred towards Extra online after finishing the trilogy. It might not be a masterpiece, but the humor is something I’ve always found entertaining. It is even more apparent on my reread after experiencing dozens upon dozens of other VNs where the humor is the MC being a pervert or classroom pranks. In Muv-Luv, you have the rich girl heroine trope exaggerated into being able to level the protagonist’s neighborhood and bring in 5-star chefs from around the glove on helicopters to school, as well as turning into chibis and shooting each other into the stratosphere. For some, it may have gotten repetitive, but given how I enjoyed this reread, and prior to that Altered Fable and some other side stories, I still enjoy it. The main two routes of Extra (Sumika and Meiya), the ones that were required to unlock Unlimited in 2003 (and for good reason, as I'll mention later), also have a well-executed romance drama, though I do take some issue with the side routes, which I’ve discussed in my Extra/Unlimited reread review prior to this one.
Unlimited was really crazy from beginning to end. I spent all of Extra anticipating the genre shift which never happened then, only for Takeru to suddenly walk out into a wasteland three minutes into this one. It was the last thing I expected after spending a large portion of Extra theorising that Yuuko would do some kind of experiment and they would get invaded at the end of Extra. And then Takeru gets shoved into what is another genre, as well as literally another world. The “new normal” of Muv-Luv shifts, and Extra already starts to seem like a distant dream. Takeru goes through a training arc and episodic arcs that focus on the girls, building up confidence, but by the end of it things start to feel wrong, and they announce Alternative V, making Takeru fight with the rest of humanity for survival as a fleet that only hosts a small portion of humanity on board, possibly with the heroine, who is also the mother of his child. It is an emotional gut punch due to how abruptly the ending comes — Takeru couldn’t do anything due to lack of information and maturity at the time, yet he’s giving it his all regardless. Isn’t this insane, though? Wasn’t it so long ago that we were choosing between Sumika and Meiya’s lunches? How is this even the same story? At this point we really start to miss the Extraverse and Sumika just like he does. It gets even crazier. It makes me feel bad for people who waited between 2003 and 2006 when Alternative wasn’t even certain to come out.
So, we finally get to Alternative — the true story, so to speak. After an awesome Hive invasion scene that made me shout “ENGLISH?!?!?!?!?”, and the iconic, intriguing “human brains” moment, the story adds yet another layer besides dimensional travel this time with time travel. Takeru loops back to the beginning of Unlimited with his knowledge and training and starts to retrace his steps to use the future knowledge to its fullest. One thing that really stood out about chapters 1-5 of Alternative is how it genuinely feels like a timeloop due to small changes snowballing. Yuuko takes longer to trust Takeru’s story despite Kasumi’s mind-reading due to his trained body and suspicious amount of classified knowledge, Takeru doesn’t hold back the cadet squad, but leads it this time, and Yuuko and Takeru debate which events to intervene in without losing the advantage of future knowledge, while also trying to save as many days and hours before Alternative V is implemented on Christmas Day as possible. It’s really cool seeing this after several stories, especially visual novels, having one small choice leading to another character becoming a psychopathic killer and killing the entire cast, or something. The story being a slow burn really makes it feel immersive.
The first true change is the coup d’etat that did not happen in the Unlimited timeline, due to interfering with the events of episode 9 of Unlimited. I’ll get back to this later, but this arc is one of the most controversial aspects of MLA, and for good reason. For now it will suffice to say that both the reader and Takeru are asking themselves why his first mission is fighting humans instead of the BETA, and why anyone would bother doing this when humanity is facing extinction. It is an attempt to say that nobody is strictly right or wrong (even if it is biased towards the Japanese nationalistic perspective), and humanising American and UN soldiers and not blaming them for their leaders’ choices is cool.
After that ends and the XM3 trials happen, the true turning point of Muv-Luv occurs — the chomp of Jinguuji Marimo. Takeru and I both believe we've seen the worst with Alternative V and the coup, and that the "therapy not included" part of Muv-Luv is hearing soldiers die one by one on the battlefield, but then it turns out that's just the beginning, it affects someone close to Takeru as well, someone he cares for deeply dies, and he loses it. It is a completely unexpected moment, delivered only after the reader and Takeru feel completely secure about thinking that they have already finally reached the "serious part" of the story with Takeru getting into more serious situations than most of Unlimited, yet prevailing regardless like the hero he believes himself to be due to his future knowledge at the start of Alternative, as well as the advantage of retaining his training and body from Unlimited, making him no longer the dead weight that he was for a large portion of Unlimited, only to have something like this happen during a typical “Muv-Luv talk”, and all the allegedly heroic resolve Takeru had goes to waste once this starts to affect the people near him. He has a truly deplorable display in front of Meiya, Kasumi and Yuuko and runs away to his world, until it starts to affect him there. After that we finally get to see the fight against the BETA.
I know it is a bad habit to start summarising the story in a review, but I feel like this way I will assemble the pieces to truly discuss it, as well as provide a refresher. In any case…
The coup arc is controversial due to Sagiri’s resemblance to Yukio Mishima from Japanese history. By essentially saying “your methods were extreme, but your motivation wasn’t, you just went about it the wrong way”, MLA understandably rubs many people the wrong way about this. However, I wouldn’t really call it “nationalism simulator 3000” because of this. Even besides the fact that Total Eclipse and other side material dials down the nationalism aspect (though is it really fair to mention that as a retroactive point when talking about MLA specifically, especially when TE sort of partially exists to ‘fix’ it?), it’s certainly nice to not have an ‘evil foreigner’ angle, which is more than I can say for a few popular VNs, anime and JRPGs, especially with downplaying Japan’s role in World War II, but I digress. Having Takeru have an outsider’s perspective is cool, since he is just a normal Japanese high schooler from a world similar to ours. The line of thinking that ordinary BETAverse citizens have is completely alien to him for a large portion of the story. They still have him be more understanding of the nationalistic view by the end of the arc, which plays into the nationalistic undertones of the arc, as well as despite being a UN operation, having the entire squad be of Japanese descent (even though it plays into the whole “UN soldier duties vs Japanese roots” aspect). I still enjoy the arc despite its issues, especially with the tension and Takeru’s dynamic with Yuuhi, but I can definitely see where people who dislike it are coming from.
To call the XM3 trials’ chomp a turning point is an understatement. The story effectively undergoes a second genre shift through the multiple tragedies of chapter 7. All of what we thought we knew about Muv-Luv undergoes a change, and we realise that nowhere is safe, not even the Extraverse. The distant memory of Extra now comes under attack. There is truly nowhere left to run. I’ve mentioned that I cried to MLA previously, and on my original playthrough, this got the most tears out of me. From seeing Extraverse Marimo to the various tragedies, to Sumika’s memories and "Now, get out there and show them who's boss, Shirogane Takeru!" as JAM Project blasts into my ear, it was probably to date the most emotional I’ve gotten over media. After more than a decade of not crying over fiction, I finally started bawling. And the reason for that is due to the slow burn that MLE, MLU and early MLA were, due to how attached I’ve gotten to these characters, like I truly knew them. The end gave Takeru and me both a determination to see this tale through to the end. The reveal that Sumika is the brain from the brain room and has been under Takeru’s nose all along was shocking, despite being a bit predictable at this point. After experiencing her heavy injuries in Extra, seeing her like this and unlike her usual cheery self is painful for readers, too. By the way, Sumika being in the menu screen and marketing material this isn’t a spoiler on the Steam version’s part, she was marketed to be in this game even with the 00 Unit pink fortified suit even in its original release, such as with the game cover. Just like Muv-Luv being a mecha, this isn’t really a spoiler you should be worrying about, since âge certainly doesn’t consider it one. Pretty much nobody who buys and plays Muv-Luv, any version of it, is unaware that it's a mecha without extremely careful outside control by a friend who's already read it and wants to run this as an experiment of pretending that Muv-Luv is just a cutesy romcom until the player reaches Unlimited.
And so, Takeru finally gets involved in a squad as a commissioned officer, with cast additions such as Isumi Michiru from Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu, Hayase, Akane and Haruka from Kimi Nozomu ga Eien, Kashiwagi from Extra, as well as Kazama and Munakata (who later got added to the KimiIta remake). This must’ve been a real gift for long-time âge fans, seeing alternate versions of the characters they knew in the BETAverse. Like the BETAverse versions of the Extra heroines, the BETAverse versions of these characters are similar, yet adjusted to the setting. Isumi dies without confessing, and Mitsuki and Haruka have lost Takayuki. Seeing even further connections like this is why I’m planning to finish pre-ML âge VNs before my second trilogy reread, this time in Japanese. Back to Muv-Luv itself though, we finally get to truly fight the BETA for the first time. The reason the XM3 surprise attack was so effective was because the BETA’s appearance was hidden behind ambiguity for the story until that point. They were a threat that was always looming over the characters and in-universe populace. They are a truly terrifying force with no morals or hesitation that people might have. They aren’t even villains of the week — they are more akin to insects such as ants or bees that come in thousands or even millions. Seeing the scale increase so drastically from Extra, and even Unlimited, is a sight to behold. Now we have another new normal that is 1000+ vs 1000+ large scale battles that have multiple parties constantly moving with their own objectives, and seeing how the BETA’s response affects the entire battlefield. Following Takeru’s incredible show of determination in his Storm Vanguard moment and the plan going off the rails, Isumi’s sacrifice is an emotional scene despite for how short of a time Takeru has known her, and seeing Kashiwagi be the first person besides Marimo to get killed off from the Extra cast leaves a void in the reader’s heart.
At this point it becomes abundantly clear to never expect peace from Muv-Luv anymore, but the attack on Yokohama Base comes as a surprise regardless. This time around, the base takes major damage, and with Mitsuki’s and Haruka’s deaths, as well as the injuries of the rest of the Valkyries, the only crew that remains in fighting condition is our original gang, armed with Tsukuyomi and company’s Takemikazuchis. They too undergo a suicidal attack against the BETA, and the story wraps up.
It really is insane that this is the same story as lacrosse and various shenanigans from Extra. I constantly had to remind myself of the fact that yes, this is indeed the same story, many times throughout the experience. But the main reason this even works is due to it taking so long to “get good”. The reason the BETA attack during the XM3 trials is such a shock is due to how long it took for the first ‘real fight’, and the reason chapters 7 through 10 are so impactful is due to how long we spent with these characters. The contrast between the worlds and genres plays a part, too. There are some cool connections that are even more apparent while rereading, such as Alternative Takeru throwing the shoe to his Extra self, or Sumika meeting him while going home with groceries, or Sadogashima mentions and Yuuko’s quantum causality theory, but by far the most impressive part of the trilogy is how almost all the parts work as pieces of a greater picture.
The world building plays a part in that. Muv-Luv’s hard sci-fi lore explains almost everything (I mean, we don’t know how exactly they measure the causality potential of 00 Unit candidates, but whatever) and connects it to plot points through strategy, tactics, technology and history, while the soft sci-fi such as multiversal and time travel, as well as causality conducting ties to the themes and characters. It is so nice to see things be properly explained in the main work (where it’s often vague or sometimes just straight up unexplained) and not just side content (where it’s usually actually explained). It is so refreshing to see a story with such a grounded take on mechs that don’t have beam swords and cannot fly into space not be filled with unexplained technobabble like omega particles that never get explained outside of interviews or obscure side material, with the main story mentioning rules but immediately breaking them two minutes later. You actually know what an Arrowhead-2 formation, data link or feedback protector is. It's not just there, they actually use this stuff in the story! The XM3 is invented due to just being a logical thing to do when you have a guy who knows a way to improve TSF software. You get told several versions of a plan so that you know exactly what is happening if something doesn’t go ideally and they have to use a backup, which they told you about ahead of time. The TSFs themselves get a lot of detail in their design philosophies between countries, generations and models. In fact, TSFs being based on real life planes like the F-22 Raptor makes it even more cool. It actually makes sense why they were invented — it’s not just to look cool, you want a machine that can move three-dimensionally without crashing into a wall like a plane, but also something with more agility than a tank. Muv-Luv in general has so many things I wish other mecha had, even small things like neck braces when pilots aren't in something like Evangelion LCL or space, so that maneuvers in those mechs don't case whiplash. It is also nice to see a story where you actually have to undergo training (and we see the cast undergo training) both in Basic and with simulators before you can actually pilot a mech. It just makes sense! It makes sense why the cast don’t get into real action for so long, aside from just political reasons which are revealed later. The political and technological landscape is so developed that it is so immersive, and I can’t get enough of it. I was initially curious if I’d end up liking this, since I wasn’t into mecha for the mecha previously, but it seems I just hadn’t found my own niche at that point. Having such comparatively weak mechs with a focus on agility over durability, since additional armor wouldn’t be much help anyway in such a grounded setting definitely made me find that niche. Exposition and a lot of details to remember is a common complaint about Alternative, but that’s what makes it so compelling to me. You can’t have so much detail in strategy, tech, politics with various parties having their own complex motivations and history make consistent sense without explaining them.
The structure certainly makes this story the greatest “trust me bro, it gets good” of all time, but that’s what makes it worth it. It’s already common for VNs to have a slow, slice of life beginning as the high schooler main character gets thrown into supernatural shenanigans, but having that main character live through what is basically a detailed pre-isekai life (making it stand out among a sea of low-effort isekai novels and anime nowadays, 20+ years later), get thrown into a dystopian mecha alien invasion with humanity at the brink of extinction, witness the end of the world, and get timelooped back and experience trauma after creating another branch (route) in his original, more traditional visual novel world makes it stand out even among other acclaimed visual novels. Like I said, it’s crazy that it’s the same story as lacrosse and picking school lunches, and you think that at many points in the story. But most importantly, it gives you attachment to that old life, you genuinely start to miss Extra. Even people who didn’t like Extra can become major Muv-Luv fans and start to miss it and appreciate it more in Unlimited and Alternative, I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
The visuals are amazing even two decades later. This stuff is still more animated than the overwhelming majority of VNs there, and from the popular ones, rivalled only by the recent 2010s and 2020s Type-Moon visual novels. From moving mouths and eyes, to the crazy amount of CGs and movement, to creative uses of the limitations of the VN medium to be as dynamic as possible, Muv-Luv, especially Alternative and future entries, is extremely dynamic, and while not quite like an anime, makes you forget that it isn’t one sometimes. I even remember watching a friend livestream this and be impressed by having back sprites and seeing warm air when characters spoke and breathed outdoors during autumn and winter. But even that doesn’t compare to how dynamically TSFs and tactical maps adjust and change during fights. Very few visual novels have reached this level of constant animation, I can say that for sure after having around 90 at the time of writing this now. I also don’t really get some of the complaints about the soundtrack. Not only are Asu e no Houkou, Wings and Carry On incredible tracks by JAM Project that (take this with a grain of salt, I don’t have a specific source for this) the author, Kouki, allegedly went into debt to afford, as well as funding a huge part of Alternative out of his own pocket, but you also have banger OSTs like Storm Vanguard, Briefing, War Preparation, Valkyries, For You Who Departs, Ambush Attack, Crash, etc. that have become classics to me. The aforementioned War Preparation was inspired by a track from Gunbuster (not the only case of this happening either!), and you will find many of these kinds of references to mecha, such as Takemikazuchi’s design resembling an Evangelion, Kei Ayamine/Rei Ayanami; Sumika’s, Meiya’s and some other girls’ hair designs resembling Gundam helmets, etc in its distinct hair vents-having art style in Muv-Luv. It is inspired by so many previous works, yet puts its own spin on the genre regardless.
But a love letter to mecha though it may be, Muv-Luv is primarily a love letter to romance visual novels. That is why, despite how exaggerated the tropes are, you have the classic childhood friend, rich girl, class president tsundere, kuudere, as well as others. That is why the fact that the original has routes, and that Takeru creates a new one by interacting with the Extraverse in Alternative, and why you get progressively fewer and fewer impactful choices with each entry in the trilogy. That is why the grand revelation at the end is that Takeru, not simply alternate versions of him, loved them all. That is why the main thing about Muv-Luv is “save in the name of true love”, and why the name comes from the slang mabu-dachi ("true friend") turned into mabu-ravu (Muv-Luv, or "true love"). That is why the closest person to being a human antagonist in the story is the childhood friend who is essentially forcing her own route on the protagonist, making hers the “true route” and not letting the story end until the protagonist chooses her, then finishing the story by undoing her interference on the other routes and giving the other girls an equal playing field. In the 2020s where we have many visual novel "subversions" that actively mock the usual tropes, this treats them with love and care. Extra matters. And after all, who better to showcase the transition between privilege to having real problems than a privileged harem romcom protagonist in a visual novel, and then use his love to persevere regardless even as he is forced to grow up and witness many tragedies? I am in general a fan of “normal guy” main characters who are just ordinary people going through extraordinary circumstances, but the way that connects to the commentary on VNs and the themes is noteworthy.
As a series, Muv-Luv is just relaxing to get into in general. You can basically do anything you want in any order (other than prequels for stuff you’re reading anyway) after Alternative, though you do get some mild references to older works in newer ones. It’s nice to have a series without a strongly enforced reading order, where you can pick and choose what you’re interested in, with little to no amount of what I call “media homework”. You don’t get a cheap copout of having a second Takeru, since none of the other main characters are isekai protagonists. Instead, you get variety with a story that happens in Alaska, which is controlled in part by the UN, in part by the USA, and in part by the USSR, with a Japanese-American protagonist; a gritty struggle for survival in 1980s communist Germany; a post-Alternative V, G-Bombed world with very little of land and population remaining. And those are just the major side-stories, there’s a bunch of shorter ones that you might be into, both with Extra-style humor and Alternative-style serious plot.
To repeat what I said in my MLE/MLU review, and to follow up on talking about S00mika and whether she's a spoiler from earlier, I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
It’s not like I think it’s perfect. The cadet suits were a good idea to phase out as the franchise went on, and I still think that not all the Extra routes are made equal — Tama’s dad’s (who Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited) and Sagiri’s appearances in Unlimited and Alternative, as well as Chizuru’s parental issues (this dad is barely even explored in her Extra route) aren’t really enhanced that much by reading their routes, and I think the doctor willing to throw away everything he has for a high school girl in Kei’s route and the bullying storyline in Chizuru’s don’t really contribute much. Tama’s route is fun but her confidence issues are made apparent without missing content in Unlimited and Alternative even if you don’t do her route. In Extra she has to hit a target with her bow, in Unlimited she has to hit a target with a TSF and a massive sniper rifle. Her dad (who, again, Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited despite Tama's Extra route) is also there. And Mikoto doesn’t even get a proper route in the first place. Unlimited is even worse with this — I cannot expect first time readers to do every almost entirely identical route where the heroine is copy and pasted, with a bunch of unskippable autoread sequences. I will say that experienced VN readers should definitely try reading all the Extra routes, it’s just natural to want to read all the routes of a VN. But for new people or those who have had enough Extra, reading Sumika and maybe also Meiya’s route works as the bare minimum before Unlimited. Other than Sagiri’s one-minute appearance and Takeru going “huh? Anyways, moving on”, you won’t really be confused. In fact, Unlimited and Alternative generally only show flashbacks for stuff you've personally done, for example during the sleepover scene in Unlimited, where if you did the side routes, Takeru will have a flashback, and if you didn't, he won't. And I'll take doing the bare minimum without getting spoiled because you might not have a VN friend who's read Muv-Luv over looking stuff up and getting spoiled, which has a high chance of happening considering how easy it is to get spoiled on this story. Now, don’t get me wrong, I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t add even further to the fact that despite the differing circumstances between universes, the core human nature of the characters is the same, as well as perhaps the main point of Muv-Luv — that being Takeru’s love(s) for the girls — and the payoffs in chapter 10, such as the heroines laying down their lives for the protagonist, but you actually don’t get any new plot-related substance added to chapters 6, for example, by knowing about Extraverse Sagiri’s love for Kei (barely talked about in Alternative) and his story with Kei’s mother in the medical field, when it comes to the coup arc and his relationship with BETAverse Kei, because what matters here is his relationship to her dad’s philosophy, and its effect on Sagiri, Kei and Yuuhi. You don’t really need to know about Tama’s archery in Extra beyond that she does archery for Unlimited and Alternative, and you meet Tama’s dad in Unlimited as if it’s for the first time anyway. We never see Chizuru’s dad on-screen, and he barely gets mentioned in Extra. While it makes the payoffs even greater, it’s not knowledge that will make or break the story for you, even though you could interpret Chizuru’s struggles in her route as foreshadowing for her future leader role, and Tama’s contrast as an archer versus her BETAverse self as a sniper and her dad caring for her, or Kei’s and Chizuru's closed-off nature. Everything plot-related (besides Extraverse Sagiri’s one-minute appearance) that you actually need to know will be told or retold in Unlimited and Alternative. The main point of doing Extra, other than the primary two routes having the necessary information for the central plot and background, is the contrast between Takeru’s original world and what comes later. That being said, like I said in my MLE/MLU review, if you can do them all, by all means, do them — it’ll make you care even more in Alternative, that part is undeniable — you won't just enjoy one of the greatest things you've ever experienced at a 100%, you will do so at 110%, so to speak. The most problematic aspect is probably the “twizzlers” tentacle scene in chapter 9, though, which is arguably disrespectful towards Sumika as a character, even in the all-ages version of the story which I prefer. That scene certainly blindsides you since there is very little sexual content even in the original version of MLA.
One thing I won’t change my mind on is the structure not being to its detriment. Muv-Luv is a work of passion that is so unapologetic about its vision, so dedicated to its niche, so ambitious that I now use "this is the Alternative of X" as a way to explain how big a step up from something is in a sequel, and that to fully enjoy it, you would want to be a fan of both slice-of-life romcoms and hard sci-fi real robot mecha, and have enough patience for the “true story” and action to begin dozens of hours in. Extra gives you no taste of the future TSF vs BETA action to come. For once we have an invasion/war story that doesn’t have the calm before the storm only last the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 (at most), we actually see that peace that is later contrasted to war through the protagonist’s eyes. It is both a slice-of-life romcom and a grounded war story, as well as a love story about that love crossing all boundaries, and prevailing nonetheless. It is a story of a young adult transitioning from adolescence to true adulthood with responsibilities through character development, but does not lose his innate kindness regardless. It wasn’t even a decisive victory against the BETA either, Takeru bought the BETAverse an extra 20 years. But for just a single person, that is an incredible feat. And I don’t think the ending, which is the final most commonly criticised aspect of Muv-Luv, goes against this — the epilogue of Final Extra is the first time we are truly out of sync with Takeru in terms of knowledge and experiences. Regardless of if you think his memories and experiences are still there (at least we know from Altered Fable that the characters act more like their post-Alternative, more developed selves rather than just being their Extra selves from square one), we are shown a second, retroactive, slightly altered look at the beginning of Muv-Luv Extra. Now that we have known what war looks like, now that we have seen Takeru and the Valkyries help peace continue through their own efforts as opposed to being only on the receiving end at the start of the story, will we be able to take that peace we have come to take for granted in Extra the same way? Now that we know the blood and tears, the suffering to create this small miracle that Takeru, Sumika and all the rest went through to create this reality and give Kasumi a peaceful life, will we be able to trivialise the importance of Extra, regardless of how we felt about it at the beginning of the tale? Absolutely not, it wasn’t all for nothing, and that’s why this ending works.
I have never cried over any media before this in general (I got teary-eyed at most, but I didn't go hysterical), and I have never cried over stories this much since. I have cried even more on my reread, noticing foreshadowing and getting emotional over more character and plot moments due to better understanding. It is safe to say that Muv-Luv Alternative will not be surpassed for me as a work of fiction for a while, if ever. There are few works as ambitious and full of passion as this. I feel the same way after having experienced 89 visual novels and much more mecha and other media than my 2021 self that initially read this with around four visual novels’ worth of experience, and far less with other media that makes you appreciate this story more. At the risk of repetition and being cliched, it is also safe to say that my life is divided into pre-MLA and post-MLA. I don’t see myself getting tired of this story and world. I even started learning Japanese and exploring a variety of fiction, not judging things by their cover because of it. It just means that much to me.
I could talk about this for hours, even days. But I do have to put this review to an end somehow. So, to repeat from my spoiler-free review: Thank you, Shirogane Takeru, for your inspiring journey. Thank you, Kagami Sumika, Mitsurugi Meiya, Ayamine Kei, Tamase Miki, Sakaki Chizuru and Yashiro Kasumi, for your stories that showed both the protagonist and reader the many perspectives and lives that exist in the world. Thank you, Kouzuki Yuuko, Jinguuji Marimo and other cast members, for being reliable mentors and saying things that both Takeru and I, a university student at the time who had been lost with as to what to do with life, needed to hear. Thank you for making this story such a joy to read.
Lastly, and most importantly, thank you, âge and Yoshimune Kouki, for creating this beautiful tale of love and courage that I hold dear in my heart to this day.
I don’t even know how to start this. Like I mentioned in my previous, spoiler-free review, Muv-Luv Alternative is my favorite story of all time. This time, I’m making a spoiler review, written soon after my reread. This might not be the most polished essay I’ve written, but even though I do appreciate people seeing this, it is primarily for myself. I’ll try to put every single thought I’ve had about MLA and Muv-Luv as a whole into it, but of course, words aren’t enough, so there will always be more I will want to say. This will be a long one.
For the longest time, I used to not get attached to stories, especially emotionally. It’s why I played multiplayer games primarily. For basically the entirety of the 2000s and 2010s I was mostly into familiar media or adaptations of that media — Marvel, DC and Star Wars. Nothing wrong with enjoying them, of course. When looking forward to new content, I was mostly looking forward to more of the same. It was nice in a way, but lacked novelty after a while. I didn't really get emotional from media either, let alone to the extent of crying. With the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns, I started exploring more due to sheer boredom, and eventually got into anime for real after trying a few shows in 2011-2015 previously. One thing led to another, and after playing Doki Doki Literature Club and watching Steins;Gate I decided to explore more of the SciAdv series, and read Chaos;Child (at the time, Chaos;Head wasn’t on Steam and I was not aware of its existence). I never had the apprehension about the visual novel medium since I was used to reading a lot of books as a child. Experiencing C;C blew away all other narrative media I was into previously, even my beloved Spider-Man adaptations and comics, as well as the dozens/hundreds of anime I’d watched in 2020. After that I moved onto the most popular VN and VN adaptations series — Type-Moon. I read Fate/stay night and Tsukihime, and I was obsessed with it for months. I was convinced that there was barely any point in exploring the medium at that point, with nothing else really catching my eye. However, I decided that I would at least try Muv-Luv, since Alternative was the highest rated VN on VNDB, and in the top three on EGS (Japanese eroge and ADV game website), in addition to the anime adaptation of MLA being announced, and getting told to not rob myself of the experience, hence deciding to read the source trilogy. If I didn’t end up liking it, I would quit the medium.
I was honestly surprised to see the amount of hatred towards Extra online after finishing the trilogy. It might not be a masterpiece, but the humor is something I’ve always found entertaining. It is even more apparent on my reread after experiencing dozens upon dozens of other VNs where the humor is the MC being a pervert or classroom pranks. In Muv-Luv, you have the rich girl heroine trope exaggerated into being able to level the protagonist’s neighborhood and bring in 5-star chefs from around the glove on helicopters to school, as well as turning into chibis and shooting each other into the stratosphere. For some, it may have gotten repetitive, but given how I enjoyed this reread, and prior to that Altered Fable and some other side stories, I still enjoy it. The main two routes of Extra (Sumika and Meiya), the ones that were required to unlock Unlimited in 2003 (and for good reason, as I'll mention later), also have a well-executed romance drama, though I do take some issue with the side routes, which I’ve discussed in my Extra/Unlimited reread review prior to this one.
Unlimited was really crazy from beginning to end. I spent all of Extra anticipating the genre shift which never happened then, only for Takeru to suddenly walk out into a wasteland three minutes into this one. It was the last thing I expected after spending a large portion of Extra theorising that Yuuko would do some kind of experiment and they would get invaded at the end of Extra. And then Takeru gets shoved into what is another genre, as well as literally another world. The “new normal” of Muv-Luv shifts, and Extra already starts to seem like a distant dream. Takeru goes through a training arc and episodic arcs that focus on the girls, building up confidence, but by the end of it things start to feel wrong, and they announce Alternative V, making Takeru fight with the rest of humanity for survival as a fleet that only hosts a small portion of humanity on board, possibly with the heroine, who is also the mother of his child. It is an emotional gut punch due to how abruptly the ending comes — Takeru couldn’t do anything due to lack of information and maturity at the time, yet he’s giving it his all regardless. Isn’t this insane, though? Wasn’t it so long ago that we were choosing between Sumika and Meiya’s lunches? How is this even the same story? At this point we really start to miss the Extraverse and Sumika just like he does. It gets even crazier. It makes me feel bad for people who waited between 2003 and 2006 when Alternative wasn’t even certain to come out.
So, we finally get to Alternative — the true story, so to speak. After an awesome Hive invasion scene that made me shout “ENGLISH?!?!?!?!?”, and the iconic, intriguing “human brains” moment, the story adds yet another layer besides dimensional travel this time with time travel. Takeru loops back to the beginning of Unlimited with his knowledge and training and starts to retrace his steps to use the future knowledge to its fullest. One thing that really stood out about chapters 1-5 of Alternative is how it genuinely feels like a timeloop due to small changes snowballing. Yuuko takes longer to trust Takeru’s story despite Kasumi’s mind-reading due to his trained body and suspicious amount of classified knowledge, Takeru doesn’t hold back the cadet squad, but leads it this time, and Yuuko and Takeru debate which events to intervene in without losing the advantage of future knowledge, while also trying to save as many days and hours before Alternative V is implemented on Christmas Day as possible. It’s really cool seeing this after several stories, especially visual novels, having one small choice leading to another character becoming a psychopathic killer and killing the entire cast, or something. The story being a slow burn really makes it feel immersive.
The first true change is the coup d’etat that did not happen in the Unlimited timeline, due to interfering with the events of episode 9 of Unlimited. I’ll get back to this later, but this arc is one of the most controversial aspects of MLA, and for good reason. For now it will suffice to say that both the reader and Takeru are asking themselves why his first mission is fighting humans instead of the BETA, and why anyone would bother doing this when humanity is facing extinction. It is an attempt to say that nobody is strictly right or wrong (even if it is biased towards the Japanese nationalistic perspective), and humanising American and UN soldiers and not blaming them for their leaders’ choices is cool.
After that ends and the XM3 trials happen, the true turning point of Muv-Luv occurs — the chomp of Jinguuji Marimo. Takeru and I both believe we've seen the worst with Alternative V and the coup, and that the "therapy not included" part of Muv-Luv is hearing soldiers die one by one on the battlefield, but then it turns out that's just the beginning, it affects someone close to Takeru as well, someone he cares for deeply dies, and he loses it. It is a completely unexpected moment, delivered only after the reader and Takeru feel completely secure about thinking that they have already finally reached the "serious part" of the story with Takeru getting into more serious situations than most of Unlimited, yet prevailing regardless like the hero he believes himself to be due to his future knowledge at the start of Alternative, as well as the advantage of retaining his training and body from Unlimited, making him no longer the dead weight that he was for a large portion of Unlimited, only to have something like this happen during a typical “Muv-Luv talk”, and all the allegedly heroic resolve Takeru had goes to waste once this starts to affect the people near him. He has a truly deplorable display in front of Meiya, Kasumi and Yuuko and runs away to his world, until it starts to affect him there. After that we finally get to see the fight against the BETA.
I know it is a bad habit to start summarising the story in a review, but I feel like this way I will assemble the pieces to truly discuss it, as well as provide a refresher. In any case…
The coup arc is controversial due to Sagiri’s resemblance to Yukio Mishima from Japanese history. By essentially saying “your methods were extreme, but your motivation wasn’t, you just went about it the wrong way”, MLA understandably rubs many people the wrong way about this. However, I wouldn’t really call it “nationalism simulator 3000” because of this. Even besides the fact that Total Eclipse and other side material dials down the nationalism aspect (though is it really fair to mention that as a retroactive point when talking about MLA specifically, especially when TE sort of partially exists to ‘fix’ it?), it’s certainly nice to not have an ‘evil foreigner’ angle, which is more than I can say for a few popular VNs, anime and JRPGs, especially with downplaying Japan’s role in World War II, but I digress. Having Takeru have an outsider’s perspective is cool, since he is just a normal Japanese high schooler from a world similar to ours. The line of thinking that ordinary BETAverse citizens have is completely alien to him for a large portion of the story. They still have him be more understanding of the nationalistic view by the end of the arc, which plays into the nationalistic undertones of the arc, as well as despite being a UN operation, having the entire squad be of Japanese descent (even though it plays into the whole “UN soldier duties vs Japanese roots” aspect). I still enjoy the arc despite its issues, especially with the tension and Takeru’s dynamic with Yuuhi, but I can definitely see where people who dislike it are coming from.
To call the XM3 trials’ chomp a turning point is an understatement. The story effectively undergoes a second genre shift through the multiple tragedies of chapter 7. All of what we thought we knew about Muv-Luv undergoes a change, and we realise that nowhere is safe, not even the Extraverse. The distant memory of Extra now comes under attack. There is truly nowhere left to run. I’ve mentioned that I cried to MLA previously, and on my original playthrough, this got the most tears out of me. From seeing Extraverse Marimo to the various tragedies, to Sumika’s memories and "Now, get out there and show them who's boss, Shirogane Takeru!" as JAM Project blasts into my ear, it was probably to date the most emotional I’ve gotten over media. After more than a decade of not crying over fiction, I finally started bawling. And the reason for that is due to the slow burn that MLE, MLU and early MLA were, due to how attached I’ve gotten to these characters, like I truly knew them. The end gave Takeru and me both a determination to see this tale through to the end. The reveal that Sumika is the brain from the brain room and has been under Takeru’s nose all along was shocking, despite being a bit predictable at this point. After experiencing her heavy injuries in Extra, seeing her like this and unlike her usual cheery self is painful for readers, too. By the way, Sumika being in the menu screen and marketing material this isn’t a spoiler on the Steam version’s part, she was marketed to be in this game even with the 00 Unit pink fortified suit even in its original release, such as with the game cover. Just like Muv-Luv being a mecha, this isn’t really a spoiler you should be worrying about, since âge certainly doesn’t consider it one. Pretty much nobody who buys and plays Muv-Luv, any version of it, is unaware that it's a mecha without extremely careful outside control by a friend who's already read it and wants to run this as an experiment of pretending that Muv-Luv is just a cutesy romcom until the player reaches Unlimited.
And so, Takeru finally gets involved in a squad as a commissioned officer, with cast additions such as Isumi Michiru from Kimi ga Ita Kisetsu, Hayase, Akane and Haruka from Kimi Nozomu ga Eien, Kashiwagi from Extra, as well as Kazama and Munakata (who later got added to the KimiIta remake). This must’ve been a real gift for long-time âge fans, seeing alternate versions of the characters they knew in the BETAverse. Like the BETAverse versions of the Extra heroines, the BETAverse versions of these characters are similar, yet adjusted to the setting. Isumi dies without confessing, and Mitsuki and Haruka have lost Takayuki. Seeing even further connections like this is why I’m planning to finish pre-ML âge VNs before my second trilogy reread, this time in Japanese. Back to Muv-Luv itself though, we finally get to truly fight the BETA for the first time. The reason the XM3 surprise attack was so effective was because the BETA’s appearance was hidden behind ambiguity for the story until that point. They were a threat that was always looming over the characters and in-universe populace. They are a truly terrifying force with no morals or hesitation that people might have. They aren’t even villains of the week — they are more akin to insects such as ants or bees that come in thousands or even millions. Seeing the scale increase so drastically from Extra, and even Unlimited, is a sight to behold. Now we have another new normal that is 1000+ vs 1000+ large scale battles that have multiple parties constantly moving with their own objectives, and seeing how the BETA’s response affects the entire battlefield. Following Takeru’s incredible show of determination in his Storm Vanguard moment and the plan going off the rails, Isumi’s sacrifice is an emotional scene despite for how short of a time Takeru has known her, and seeing Kashiwagi be the first person besides Marimo to get killed off from the Extra cast leaves a void in the reader’s heart.
At this point it becomes abundantly clear to never expect peace from Muv-Luv anymore, but the attack on Yokohama Base comes as a surprise regardless. This time around, the base takes major damage, and with Mitsuki’s and Haruka’s deaths, as well as the injuries of the rest of the Valkyries, the only crew that remains in fighting condition is our original gang, armed with Tsukuyomi and company’s Takemikazuchis. They too undergo a suicidal attack against the BETA, and the story wraps up.
It really is insane that this is the same story as lacrosse and various shenanigans from Extra. I constantly had to remind myself of the fact that yes, this is indeed the same story, many times throughout the experience. But the main reason this even works is due to it taking so long to “get good”. The reason the BETA attack during the XM3 trials is such a shock is due to how long it took for the first ‘real fight’, and the reason chapters 7 through 10 are so impactful is due to how long we spent with these characters. The contrast between the worlds and genres plays a part, too. There are some cool connections that are even more apparent while rereading, such as Alternative Takeru throwing the shoe to his Extra self, or Sumika meeting him while going home with groceries, or Sadogashima mentions and Yuuko’s quantum causality theory, but by far the most impressive part of the trilogy is how almost all the parts work as pieces of a greater picture.
The world building plays a part in that. Muv-Luv’s hard sci-fi lore explains almost everything (I mean, we don’t know how exactly they measure the causality potential of 00 Unit candidates, but whatever) and connects it to plot points through strategy, tactics, technology and history, while the soft sci-fi such as multiversal and time travel, as well as causality conducting ties to the themes and characters. It is so nice to see things be properly explained in the main work (where it’s often vague or sometimes just straight up unexplained) and not just side content (where it’s usually actually explained). It is so refreshing to see a story with such a grounded take on mechs that don’t have beam swords and cannot fly into space not be filled with unexplained technobabble like omega particles that never get explained outside of interviews or obscure side material, with the main story mentioning rules but immediately breaking them two minutes later. You actually know what an Arrowhead-2 formation, data link or feedback protector is. It's not just there, they actually use this stuff in the story! The XM3 is invented due to just being a logical thing to do when you have a guy who knows a way to improve TSF software. You get told several versions of a plan so that you know exactly what is happening if something doesn’t go ideally and they have to use a backup, which they told you about ahead of time. The TSFs themselves get a lot of detail in their design philosophies between countries, generations and models. In fact, TSFs being based on real life planes like the F-22 Raptor makes it even more cool. It actually makes sense why they were invented — it’s not just to look cool, you want a machine that can move three-dimensionally without crashing into a wall like a plane, but also something with more agility than a tank. Muv-Luv in general has so many things I wish other mecha had, even small things like neck braces when pilots aren't in something like Evangelion LCL or space, so that maneuvers in those mechs don't case whiplash. It is also nice to see a story where you actually have to undergo training (and we see the cast undergo training) both in Basic and with simulators before you can actually pilot a mech. It just makes sense! It makes sense why the cast don’t get into real action for so long, aside from just political reasons which are revealed later. The political and technological landscape is so developed that it is so immersive, and I can’t get enough of it. I was initially curious if I’d end up liking this, since I wasn’t into mecha for the mecha previously, but it seems I just hadn’t found my own niche at that point. Having such comparatively weak mechs with a focus on agility over durability, since additional armor wouldn’t be much help anyway in such a grounded setting definitely made me find that niche. Exposition and a lot of details to remember is a common complaint about Alternative, but that’s what makes it so compelling to me. You can’t have so much detail in strategy, tech, politics with various parties having their own complex motivations and history make consistent sense without explaining them.
The structure certainly makes this story the greatest “trust me bro, it gets good” of all time, but that’s what makes it worth it. It’s already common for VNs to have a slow, slice of life beginning as the high schooler main character gets thrown into supernatural shenanigans, but having that main character live through what is basically a detailed pre-isekai life (making it stand out among a sea of low-effort isekai novels and anime nowadays, 20+ years later), get thrown into a dystopian mecha alien invasion with humanity at the brink of extinction, witness the end of the world, and get timelooped back and experience trauma after creating another branch (route) in his original, more traditional visual novel world makes it stand out even among other acclaimed visual novels. Like I said, it’s crazy that it’s the same story as lacrosse and picking school lunches, and you think that at many points in the story. But most importantly, it gives you attachment to that old life, you genuinely start to miss Extra. Even people who didn’t like Extra can become major Muv-Luv fans and start to miss it and appreciate it more in Unlimited and Alternative, I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
The visuals are amazing even two decades later. This stuff is still more animated than the overwhelming majority of VNs there, and from the popular ones, rivalled only by the recent 2010s and 2020s Type-Moon visual novels. From moving mouths and eyes, to the crazy amount of CGs and movement, to creative uses of the limitations of the VN medium to be as dynamic as possible, Muv-Luv, especially Alternative and future entries, is extremely dynamic, and while not quite like an anime, makes you forget that it isn’t one sometimes. I even remember watching a friend livestream this and be impressed by having back sprites and seeing warm air when characters spoke and breathed outdoors during autumn and winter. But even that doesn’t compare to how dynamically TSFs and tactical maps adjust and change during fights. Very few visual novels have reached this level of constant animation, I can say that for sure after having around 90 at the time of writing this now. I also don’t really get some of the complaints about the soundtrack. Not only are Asu e no Houkou, Wings and Carry On incredible tracks by JAM Project that (take this with a grain of salt, I don’t have a specific source for this) the author, Kouki, allegedly went into debt to afford, as well as funding a huge part of Alternative out of his own pocket, but you also have banger OSTs like Storm Vanguard, Briefing, War Preparation, Valkyries, For You Who Departs, Ambush Attack, Crash, etc. that have become classics to me. The aforementioned War Preparation was inspired by a track from Gunbuster (not the only case of this happening either!), and you will find many of these kinds of references to mecha, such as Takemikazuchi’s design resembling an Evangelion, Kei Ayamine/Rei Ayanami; Sumika’s, Meiya’s and some other girls’ hair designs resembling Gundam helmets, etc in its distinct hair vents-having art style in Muv-Luv. It is inspired by so many previous works, yet puts its own spin on the genre regardless.
But a love letter to mecha though it may be, Muv-Luv is primarily a love letter to romance visual novels. That is why, despite how exaggerated the tropes are, you have the classic childhood friend, rich girl, class president tsundere, kuudere, as well as others. That is why the fact that the original has routes, and that Takeru creates a new one by interacting with the Extraverse in Alternative, and why you get progressively fewer and fewer impactful choices with each entry in the trilogy. That is why the grand revelation at the end is that Takeru, not simply alternate versions of him, loved them all. That is why the main thing about Muv-Luv is “save in the name of true love”, and why the name comes from the slang mabu-dachi ("true friend") turned into mabu-ravu (Muv-Luv, or "true love"). That is why the closest person to being a human antagonist in the story is the childhood friend who is essentially forcing her own route on the protagonist, making hers the “true route” and not letting the story end until the protagonist chooses her, then finishing the story by undoing her interference on the other routes and giving the other girls an equal playing field. In the 2020s where we have many visual novel "subversions" that actively mock the usual tropes, this treats them with love and care. Extra matters. And after all, who better to showcase the transition between privilege to having real problems than a privileged harem romcom protagonist in a visual novel, and then use his love to persevere regardless even as he is forced to grow up and witness many tragedies? I am in general a fan of “normal guy” main characters who are just ordinary people going through extraordinary circumstances, but the way that connects to the commentary on VNs and the themes is noteworthy.
As a series, Muv-Luv is just relaxing to get into in general. You can basically do anything you want in any order (other than prequels for stuff you’re reading anyway) after Alternative, though you do get some mild references to older works in newer ones. It’s nice to have a series without a strongly enforced reading order, where you can pick and choose what you’re interested in, with little to no amount of what I call “media homework”. You don’t get a cheap copout of having a second Takeru, since none of the other main characters are isekai protagonists. Instead, you get variety with a story that happens in Alaska, which is controlled in part by the UN, in part by the USA, and in part by the USSR, with a Japanese-American protagonist; a gritty struggle for survival in 1980s communist Germany; a post-Alternative V, G-Bombed world with very little of land and population remaining. And those are just the major side-stories, there’s a bunch of shorter ones that you might be into, both with Extra-style humor and Alternative-style serious plot.
To repeat what I said in my MLE/MLU review, and to follow up on talking about S00mika and whether she's a spoiler from earlier, I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
It’s not like I think it’s perfect. The cadet suits were a good idea to phase out as the franchise went on, and I still think that not all the Extra routes are made equal — Tama’s dad’s (who Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited) and Sagiri’s appearances in Unlimited and Alternative, as well as Chizuru’s parental issues (this dad is barely even explored in her Extra route) aren’t really enhanced that much by reading their routes, and I think the doctor willing to throw away everything he has for a high school girl in Kei’s route and the bullying storyline in Chizuru’s don’t really contribute much. Tama’s route is fun but her confidence issues are made apparent without missing content in Unlimited and Alternative even if you don’t do her route. In Extra she has to hit a target with her bow, in Unlimited she has to hit a target with a TSF and a massive sniper rifle. Her dad (who, again, Takeru meets "for the first time" in Unlimited despite Tama's Extra route) is also there. And Mikoto doesn’t even get a proper route in the first place. Unlimited is even worse with this — I cannot expect first time readers to do every almost entirely identical route where the heroine is copy and pasted, with a bunch of unskippable autoread sequences. I will say that experienced VN readers should definitely try reading all the Extra routes, it’s just natural to want to read all the routes of a VN. But for new people or those who have had enough Extra, reading Sumika and maybe also Meiya’s route works as the bare minimum before Unlimited. Other than Sagiri’s one-minute appearance and Takeru going “huh? Anyways, moving on”, you won’t really be confused. In fact, Unlimited and Alternative generally only show flashbacks for stuff you've personally done, for example during the sleepover scene in Unlimited, where if you did the side routes, Takeru will have a flashback, and if you didn't, he won't. And I'll take doing the bare minimum without getting spoiled because you might not have a VN friend who's read Muv-Luv over looking stuff up and getting spoiled, which has a high chance of happening considering how easy it is to get spoiled on this story. Now, don’t get me wrong, I won’t lie and say that it doesn’t add even further to the fact that despite the differing circumstances between universes, the core human nature of the characters is the same, as well as perhaps the main point of Muv-Luv — that being Takeru’s love(s) for the girls — and the payoffs in chapter 10, such as the heroines laying down their lives for the protagonist, but you actually don’t get any new plot-related substance added to chapters 6, for example, by knowing about Extraverse Sagiri’s love for Kei (barely talked about in Alternative) and his story with Kei’s mother in the medical field, when it comes to the coup arc and his relationship with BETAverse Kei, because what matters here is his relationship to her dad’s philosophy, and its effect on Sagiri, Kei and Yuuhi. You don’t really need to know about Tama’s archery in Extra beyond that she does archery for Unlimited and Alternative, and you meet Tama’s dad in Unlimited as if it’s for the first time anyway. We never see Chizuru’s dad on-screen, and he barely gets mentioned in Extra. While it makes the payoffs even greater, it’s not knowledge that will make or break the story for you, even though you could interpret Chizuru’s struggles in her route as foreshadowing for her future leader role, and Tama’s contrast as an archer versus her BETAverse self as a sniper and her dad caring for her, or Kei’s and Chizuru's closed-off nature. Everything plot-related (besides Extraverse Sagiri’s one-minute appearance) that you actually need to know will be told or retold in Unlimited and Alternative. The main point of doing Extra, other than the primary two routes having the necessary information for the central plot and background, is the contrast between Takeru’s original world and what comes later. That being said, like I said in my MLE/MLU review, if you can do them all, by all means, do them — it’ll make you care even more in Alternative, that part is undeniable — you won't just enjoy one of the greatest things you've ever experienced at a 100%, you will do so at 110%, so to speak. The most problematic aspect is probably the “twizzlers” tentacle scene in chapter 9, though, which is arguably disrespectful towards Sumika as a character, even in the all-ages version of the story which I prefer. That scene certainly blindsides you since there is very little sexual content even in the original version of MLA.
One thing I won’t change my mind on is the structure not being to its detriment. Muv-Luv is a work of passion that is so unapologetic about its vision, so dedicated to its niche, so ambitious that I now use "this is the Alternative of X" as a way to explain how big a step up from something is in a sequel, and that to fully enjoy it, you would want to be a fan of both slice-of-life romcoms and hard sci-fi real robot mecha, and have enough patience for the “true story” and action to begin dozens of hours in. Extra gives you no taste of the future TSF vs BETA action to come. For once we have an invasion/war story that doesn’t have the calm before the storm only last the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 (at most), we actually see that peace that is later contrasted to war through the protagonist’s eyes. It is both a slice-of-life romcom and a grounded war story, as well as a love story about that love crossing all boundaries, and prevailing nonetheless. It is a story of a young adult transitioning from adolescence to true adulthood with responsibilities through character development, but does not lose his innate kindness regardless. It wasn’t even a decisive victory against the BETA either, Takeru bought the BETAverse an extra 20 years. But for just a single person, that is an incredible feat. And I don’t think the ending, which is the final most commonly criticised aspect of Muv-Luv, goes against this — the epilogue of Final Extra is the first time we are truly out of sync with Takeru in terms of knowledge and experiences. Regardless of if you think his memories and experiences are still there (at least we know from Altered Fable that the characters act more like their post-Alternative, more developed selves rather than just being their Extra selves from square one), we are shown a second, retroactive, slightly altered look at the beginning of Muv-Luv Extra. Now that we have known what war looks like, now that we have seen Takeru and the Valkyries help peace continue through their own efforts as opposed to being only on the receiving end at the start of the story, will we be able to take that peace we have come to take for granted in Extra the same way? Now that we know the blood and tears, the suffering to create this small miracle that Takeru, Sumika and all the rest went through to create this reality and give Kasumi a peaceful life, will we be able to trivialise the importance of Extra, regardless of how we felt about it at the beginning of the tale? Absolutely not, it wasn’t all for nothing, and that’s why this ending works.
I have never cried over any media before this in general (I got teary-eyed at most, but I didn't go hysterical), and I have never cried over stories this much since. I have cried even more on my reread, noticing foreshadowing and getting emotional over more character and plot moments due to better understanding. It is safe to say that Muv-Luv Alternative will not be surpassed for me as a work of fiction for a while, if ever. There are few works as ambitious and full of passion as this. I feel the same way after having experienced 89 visual novels and much more mecha and other media than my 2021 self that initially read this with around four visual novels’ worth of experience, and far less with other media that makes you appreciate this story more. At the risk of repetition and being cliched, it is also safe to say that my life is divided into pre-MLA and post-MLA. I don’t see myself getting tired of this story and world. I even started learning Japanese and exploring a variety of fiction, not judging things by their cover because of it. It just means that much to me.
I could talk about this for hours, even days. But I do have to put this review to an end somehow. So, to repeat from my spoiler-free review: Thank you, Shirogane Takeru, for your inspiring journey. Thank you, Kagami Sumika, Mitsurugi Meiya, Ayamine Kei, Tamase Miki, Sakaki Chizuru and Yashiro Kasumi, for your stories that showed both the protagonist and reader the many perspectives and lives that exist in the world. Thank you, Kouzuki Yuuko, Jinguuji Marimo and other cast members, for being reliable mentors and saying things that both Takeru and I, a university student at the time who had been lost with as to what to do with life, needed to hear. Thank you for making this story such a joy to read.
Lastly, and most importantly, thank you, âge and Yoshimune Kouki, for creating this beautiful tale of love and courage that I hold dear in my heart to this day.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
DISTURBING THE PEACEEEE! LOOK INTO MY EYESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
I can gladly say that Persona 3 Reload is a really really great remake of Persona 3. Everything imo is elevated, which makes the game much more enjoyable. I can honestly say that I had a much more enjoyable time playing Reload than any of the three times I played FES. Going to keep this spoiler-free!
Let's start with the story. Honestly, nothing changes, but really nothing needed to change with the story, it was great as it is. This game probably has the best story out of three main persona games, and I see why people were so high on this game (although it might be my 3rd out of the three major persona games, that doesn't take away my enjoyment of it!).
Mechanically, social links are great. I am glad that they got rid of the Reverse system and the jealousy system because that really annoyed me in FES. I hate how I would be trying to complete every social link and I would accidentally neglect one and then they would reverse, and I would just give up on them entirely. This game does away with that, and it's honestly for the better. Speaking of social links, now that every social link is fully voiced, it makes a world of differences. It elevates each social link and makes me actually care about them (except two of them but I won't specify which because spoilers). Some of the dialogue options in the social links are brutal but I think that's a good quirk for the protagonist to have.
Coming off of social links, I want to talk about link episodes. I still think it's a crime that half of the playable characters do not get a social link. However, link episodes give us a great alternative, and probably the second best option. You get to bond with those party members that you wouldn't usually be able to thanks to the link episodes. The one gripe I had with this system was that there were some personas locked behind the completion of each characters link episodes, and I had only completed one characters link episodes (guess it's a me problem but I wanted to finish every social link so I had my priorities, will definitely do them on a replay). All in all, a great addition to Reload that it needed.
Music. Honestly, I don't really have that much of an opinion on the music in this game because I've barely listened to them except It's Going Down Now, but I love how they kept a lot of the original songs and just remade them. Although I definitely miss the old songs like When the Moon Reaches for the Stars, they do not take away from the new music.
Tartarus, probably the beefiest section. I will make it a fact that I dislike Tartarus with a passion, and having to go through it three times in FES just made me dislike it even more. Like, I honestly hate this more than P4 and P5s versions because of HOW MANY FLOORS there are. What Reload did made me slightly enjoy Tartarus more. Firstly, the inclusion of destructible objects in Tartarus made me so much happier because I wouldn't have to scrounge for chests on each floor to get money. I could just get the Devil Main Arcana card from shuffle time and get 100,000 yen per run of Tartarus. For some of the blocks of Tartarus I believe there was just no way to make them play well, so for those sections I just barely went to Tartarus unless I had to. The inclusion of Monad Doors made breezing through floors not a priority, and to instead take down a Monad Door whenever I saw it. I thoroughly enjoyed them. I also enjoyed that each block of Tartarus had a Monad Corridor (I don't remember the name it's been a hot minute). I enjoyed getting new Main Arcana Cards and challenging fights from these sections of Tartarus that made it also more enjoyable. Ambush was also a good addition to make fights go much more smoother, but I am sad that they removed the choice for the Navigator to change the soundtrack (unless I'm dumb and just couldn't figure out how to do it). The inclusion of twilight fragments was very meh for me, I barely used them at the end because it just wasn't worth it. I liked how on some floors we could pay to heal with twilight fragments instead of consuming SP. Finally, the inclusion of the EXP door (I don't remember what it's called) was great because it allowed me to have two other party members keep up with my main party, and allowed me to switch out party members without being at a disadvantage because they're so low level. Overall, I enjoy Tartarus much more in this game, but I still dislike it for how many floors there are.
Gameplay, hoo boy. I just love Persona and SMT gameplay, so to see it improved makes me so happy. I enjoyed hanging out with each party member in the dorm which gives them characteristics, that just makes some of them unbelievably busted. I enjoyed the addition of Theurgy's and the way that they avoid resistances, and just let you do some insane damage. I also enjoyed how every party member gets more than one theurgy after specific story events, it's great symbolism. The protagonist keeping some of the fusion spells from original P3 is great, and I love the little animations for them between each persona pair. Finally, this game has skill assignment and you don't have to rely on RNG to give you the skills you want (I believe this was a thing in P3P but I will not be going back to P3P after playing this game, it'll be way too weird). The addition of more personas and more skills allowed for more broken builds and thats such a treat. Also gotta talk about my 1 hour fusing sessions in the velvet room, humming to Aria of the Soul, it was great, except when you fusion accident into a Slime. Great gameplay, and would probably replay the game just to make weird builds.
It does suck that The Answer comes as DLC and that we won't be getting FEMC, but this doesn't destroy the game for me, because it was a pleasantly enjoyable 90 hour experience. This was a great game to start the year off with, and I implore anyone reading this if you haven't played this game to please play it, you will not regret it!
Also, the ending was 10/10.
I can gladly say that Persona 3 Reload is a really really great remake of Persona 3. Everything imo is elevated, which makes the game much more enjoyable. I can honestly say that I had a much more enjoyable time playing Reload than any of the three times I played FES. Going to keep this spoiler-free!
Let's start with the story. Honestly, nothing changes, but really nothing needed to change with the story, it was great as it is. This game probably has the best story out of three main persona games, and I see why people were so high on this game (although it might be my 3rd out of the three major persona games, that doesn't take away my enjoyment of it!).
Mechanically, social links are great. I am glad that they got rid of the Reverse system and the jealousy system because that really annoyed me in FES. I hate how I would be trying to complete every social link and I would accidentally neglect one and then they would reverse, and I would just give up on them entirely. This game does away with that, and it's honestly for the better. Speaking of social links, now that every social link is fully voiced, it makes a world of differences. It elevates each social link and makes me actually care about them (except two of them but I won't specify which because spoilers). Some of the dialogue options in the social links are brutal but I think that's a good quirk for the protagonist to have.
Coming off of social links, I want to talk about link episodes. I still think it's a crime that half of the playable characters do not get a social link. However, link episodes give us a great alternative, and probably the second best option. You get to bond with those party members that you wouldn't usually be able to thanks to the link episodes. The one gripe I had with this system was that there were some personas locked behind the completion of each characters link episodes, and I had only completed one characters link episodes (guess it's a me problem but I wanted to finish every social link so I had my priorities, will definitely do them on a replay). All in all, a great addition to Reload that it needed.
Music. Honestly, I don't really have that much of an opinion on the music in this game because I've barely listened to them except It's Going Down Now, but I love how they kept a lot of the original songs and just remade them. Although I definitely miss the old songs like When the Moon Reaches for the Stars, they do not take away from the new music.
Tartarus, probably the beefiest section. I will make it a fact that I dislike Tartarus with a passion, and having to go through it three times in FES just made me dislike it even more. Like, I honestly hate this more than P4 and P5s versions because of HOW MANY FLOORS there are. What Reload did made me slightly enjoy Tartarus more. Firstly, the inclusion of destructible objects in Tartarus made me so much happier because I wouldn't have to scrounge for chests on each floor to get money. I could just get the Devil Main Arcana card from shuffle time and get 100,000 yen per run of Tartarus. For some of the blocks of Tartarus I believe there was just no way to make them play well, so for those sections I just barely went to Tartarus unless I had to. The inclusion of Monad Doors made breezing through floors not a priority, and to instead take down a Monad Door whenever I saw it. I thoroughly enjoyed them. I also enjoyed that each block of Tartarus had a Monad Corridor (I don't remember the name it's been a hot minute). I enjoyed getting new Main Arcana Cards and challenging fights from these sections of Tartarus that made it also more enjoyable. Ambush was also a good addition to make fights go much more smoother, but I am sad that they removed the choice for the Navigator to change the soundtrack (unless I'm dumb and just couldn't figure out how to do it). The inclusion of twilight fragments was very meh for me, I barely used them at the end because it just wasn't worth it. I liked how on some floors we could pay to heal with twilight fragments instead of consuming SP. Finally, the inclusion of the EXP door (I don't remember what it's called) was great because it allowed me to have two other party members keep up with my main party, and allowed me to switch out party members without being at a disadvantage because they're so low level. Overall, I enjoy Tartarus much more in this game, but I still dislike it for how many floors there are.
Gameplay, hoo boy. I just love Persona and SMT gameplay, so to see it improved makes me so happy. I enjoyed hanging out with each party member in the dorm which gives them characteristics, that just makes some of them unbelievably busted. I enjoyed the addition of Theurgy's and the way that they avoid resistances, and just let you do some insane damage. I also enjoyed how every party member gets more than one theurgy after specific story events, it's great symbolism. The protagonist keeping some of the fusion spells from original P3 is great, and I love the little animations for them between each persona pair. Finally, this game has skill assignment and you don't have to rely on RNG to give you the skills you want (I believe this was a thing in P3P but I will not be going back to P3P after playing this game, it'll be way too weird). The addition of more personas and more skills allowed for more broken builds and thats such a treat. Also gotta talk about my 1 hour fusing sessions in the velvet room, humming to Aria of the Soul, it was great, except when you fusion accident into a Slime. Great gameplay, and would probably replay the game just to make weird builds.
It does suck that The Answer comes as DLC and that we won't be getting FEMC, but this doesn't destroy the game for me, because it was a pleasantly enjoyable 90 hour experience. This was a great game to start the year off with, and I implore anyone reading this if you haven't played this game to please play it, you will not regret it!
Also, the ending was 10/10.
This review contains spoilers
More peak Crossbell. Trails to Azure is the sequel to the highly regarded Trails from Zero (I'm the one highly regarding it). More characters, more banger music, more locations, more lore, more enemies, more everything! Although not personally one of my favourites, it probably lies in the middle of Trails games for me, and now let's start with the story.
To put it simply, this game has the highest of highs, but the lowest of lows. Let's start with the highs. I think the raid on Crossbell city just represents how contested and corrupt Crossbell truly is, and the fact that the IBC building gets completely obliterated shows exactly this. The turf war between the Red Constellation and Heiyue is great. I think Azure end-game is really strong, and I love how we had the cavalry dealing with the aions in the Liberl crew, Kevin and Ries, it just was the cherry on top for the Liberl arc. The West Zemuria Trade Conference was also great, showing the brutality of Giliath Osborne in response to terrorists. The first dungeon is cool, having a party of Lloyd, Noel, Dudley, and Arios, and then shortly after gaining Elie and Wazy. It was slightly annoying that two of the fan favourites from Zero were locked till the ends of Chapters 1 and 2, but it made the SSS reunion even more great. However, this game has certain things that really kill the payoff at the end. Ian Grimwood being the surprise 'villain' was okay, it seemed random but I was so sure that it would have a good pay-off. Turns out Lloyd's speech was able to quickly get him to defect.. Are you kidding me? That made no sense and it just really kills the finale for me. They honestly should've just honed in on Mariabelle being the main antagonist of the game, but nope. Honestly, other than that moment, I don't think there were any other misses in Azure that completely come to mind. Maybe KeA being manipulated by Mariabelle, but it makes sense considering she's essentially a child.
Now the characters, I loved the development Randy got during the raid on Mainz, probably sky-rocketed to one of my favourites. Finding Olivier in the Downtown District during the West Zemuria Trade Conference was great, and I loved how Kloe, Olivier, and the SSS got to talk aboard the Arseille, it reminded me of SC. Noel and Wazy were great additions to the SSS, and Lloyd telling Noel that she's his was probably peak Lloyd banter and being blissfully unaware of what was coming out of his mouth. Probably unpopular opinion, but I probably love Lloyd as much as I love Estelle, maybe even a little more? I can't exactly put my finger on it but I think he's exactly the leader that the SSS needs, calm-headed but also tough when he needs to be. Elie still seems pretty meh to me, I wish they explored her relationship with Mariabell more and her turn-coating on them. Shizuku and KeA must be protected at all costs, they're too precious. However, while there are a lot of characters I love, there are probably two that are complete misses in my book. Wald and Shirley. Wald just makes no sense to me, he wants to be strong enough to beat Wazy, sure I see why he became a monster because Wazy has been holding back this entire time. I just don't understand why he attacks his gang members and just randomly trauma dumps on us? Maybe I'm biased because my favourite character in the game is Wazy but idk, I just don't get him. I don't know about others but Shirley sexually and physically assaulting everyone was just a huge red flag, do people actually like her? Now, I want to talk about Wazy. It was interesting that he joined the SSS. Being a member of the Gralsritter was definitely a surprise, but now that I think about it, his gang was literally called 'The Testaments,' clearly I'm blind to the obvious. I love hiw witty banter with Randy and Lloyd. Doesn't help that he was a beast in combat for me. Overall, loved the characters in this game.
Gameplay wise, I love the inclusion of Master Quartz, made building people even better. I was finally able to make Wazy the ATS Nuke that he was always meant to be. Other than combo crafts between the new members of the SSS, there really wasn't much of a change. I do want to say however that the fight with the Silver Maiden is probably the most dope thing ever, solely because of the fact that her helmet had it's own HP bar. The fact I had to drag her into a corner with Lloyd's craft and spam arts against her on Nightmare really speaks to her strength.
Music, it's peak. I say this everytime, but it's true. The big standout for me is definitely the Thaumaturgical Sector theme, it's just such a bop. Others are great, but that was probably the one that stood out to me the most.
Final thoughts: Don't let people hyping a game up get to your head, it probably sours your experience if you don't agree. Personally, it's middle of the road for me, but it definitely has a strong case going for it as a fan favourite.
Alas, it has Wazy Hemisphere, so I feel that I'm obligated to give this game 5 stars anyways. Who's kidding, it's a trails game, so it's automatically getting 5 stars.
To put it simply, this game has the highest of highs, but the lowest of lows. Let's start with the highs. I think the raid on Crossbell city just represents how contested and corrupt Crossbell truly is, and the fact that the IBC building gets completely obliterated shows exactly this. The turf war between the Red Constellation and Heiyue is great. I think Azure end-game is really strong, and I love how we had the cavalry dealing with the aions in the Liberl crew, Kevin and Ries, it just was the cherry on top for the Liberl arc. The West Zemuria Trade Conference was also great, showing the brutality of Giliath Osborne in response to terrorists. The first dungeon is cool, having a party of Lloyd, Noel, Dudley, and Arios, and then shortly after gaining Elie and Wazy. It was slightly annoying that two of the fan favourites from Zero were locked till the ends of Chapters 1 and 2, but it made the SSS reunion even more great. However, this game has certain things that really kill the payoff at the end. Ian Grimwood being the surprise 'villain' was okay, it seemed random but I was so sure that it would have a good pay-off. Turns out Lloyd's speech was able to quickly get him to defect.. Are you kidding me? That made no sense and it just really kills the finale for me. They honestly should've just honed in on Mariabelle being the main antagonist of the game, but nope. Honestly, other than that moment, I don't think there were any other misses in Azure that completely come to mind. Maybe KeA being manipulated by Mariabelle, but it makes sense considering she's essentially a child.
Now the characters, I loved the development Randy got during the raid on Mainz, probably sky-rocketed to one of my favourites. Finding Olivier in the Downtown District during the West Zemuria Trade Conference was great, and I loved how Kloe, Olivier, and the SSS got to talk aboard the Arseille, it reminded me of SC. Noel and Wazy were great additions to the SSS, and Lloyd telling Noel that she's his was probably peak Lloyd banter and being blissfully unaware of what was coming out of his mouth. Probably unpopular opinion, but I probably love Lloyd as much as I love Estelle, maybe even a little more? I can't exactly put my finger on it but I think he's exactly the leader that the SSS needs, calm-headed but also tough when he needs to be. Elie still seems pretty meh to me, I wish they explored her relationship with Mariabell more and her turn-coating on them. Shizuku and KeA must be protected at all costs, they're too precious. However, while there are a lot of characters I love, there are probably two that are complete misses in my book. Wald and Shirley. Wald just makes no sense to me, he wants to be strong enough to beat Wazy, sure I see why he became a monster because Wazy has been holding back this entire time. I just don't understand why he attacks his gang members and just randomly trauma dumps on us? Maybe I'm biased because my favourite character in the game is Wazy but idk, I just don't get him. I don't know about others but Shirley sexually and physically assaulting everyone was just a huge red flag, do people actually like her? Now, I want to talk about Wazy. It was interesting that he joined the SSS. Being a member of the Gralsritter was definitely a surprise, but now that I think about it, his gang was literally called 'The Testaments,' clearly I'm blind to the obvious. I love hiw witty banter with Randy and Lloyd. Doesn't help that he was a beast in combat for me. Overall, loved the characters in this game.
Gameplay wise, I love the inclusion of Master Quartz, made building people even better. I was finally able to make Wazy the ATS Nuke that he was always meant to be. Other than combo crafts between the new members of the SSS, there really wasn't much of a change. I do want to say however that the fight with the Silver Maiden is probably the most dope thing ever, solely because of the fact that her helmet had it's own HP bar. The fact I had to drag her into a corner with Lloyd's craft and spam arts against her on Nightmare really speaks to her strength.
Music, it's peak. I say this everytime, but it's true. The big standout for me is definitely the Thaumaturgical Sector theme, it's just such a bop. Others are great, but that was probably the one that stood out to me the most.
Final thoughts: Don't let people hyping a game up get to your head, it probably sours your experience if you don't agree. Personally, it's middle of the road for me, but it definitely has a strong case going for it as a fan favourite.
Alas, it has Wazy Hemisphere, so I feel that I'm obligated to give this game 5 stars anyways. Who's kidding, it's a trails game, so it's automatically getting 5 stars.
Honestly, I understand why people say Crossbell is peak because this duology probably has the best two games overall in the series.
I just love everything about Crossbell. I initially played this game wih the horrid translation, but still enjoyed my time with it. It wasn't until last year where I actually got to play it with a real translation in my Trails marathon, and my opinions on it definitely changed for the better.
Honestly, I think I prefer Crossbell as a setting much more to Liberl, not to say that Liberl is bad per se. Crossbell is just that good. I just love talking to each NPC in each Crossbell District after every story interaction and seeing how their dialogue changes. I also love walking along the highways (or taking the bus) and visiting the more remote locations of Crossbell like Mainz and Armorica. Crossbell is just the perfect setting for this game, especially when they explore the dark sides of Crossbell, like the Mafia. I just found it interesting how after Liberl, we were sent not to Erebonia, but to Crossbell of all places. A highly contested autonomous state between two major superpowers in Erebonia and Calvard. Crossbell is definitely my favourite country worldbuilding wise because of how much it has to even further paint the world of Zemuria. If you couldn't tell already I think Trails is the only game series ever to actually get me interested in its political structure and world.
Now let's actually start this review. From a story standpoint alone, I think this is the best game that the series has to offer (so far). I say that because, yeah, the game does start extremely slow, but I think that's valid because the Special Support Section are a new section of the Crossbell Police Department, and haven't earned the trust of locals, like the Bracer Guild has. The group has only been functioning for a little while and they're already trying to deal with Mafioso's and threat letters to celebrities. The Arc en Ciel part of Chapter 2 got me hooked into the story, exposing Mayor MacDowell's secretary and apprehending him. Chapter 3 was probably the most hype I've ever been. You got the anniversary festival with high highs with Estelle, Joshua, Wald, Wazy, and Randy. You also got the auction where you get more interested in Wazy, Mariebelle, and Lechter as characters. This chapter introduces you to KeA, who's just the ray of sunshine that the SSS needed to feel complete. The boss for Chapter 3 after stealing one of their prized posessions from the auction is probably the highlight for me. It's just so badass. I love the little intermission that gives us a little glimpse into the life of the SSS with KeA being added to their numbers. Also, storming a mafia base is just badass, and mkaes me love Chapter 4 as well.
I think the finale deserves it's own little section. Everything just hits the roof. The army and mafia have been drugged with Gnosis, and we find out one of the doctors at the hospital is the leader of a cult. The raid on the SSS and the IBC was great, but I hate how side characters like Grace and Cao were just commenting on us fighting hordes of enemies, like bro, help us? Anyways, I love the badass driving scene with Sergei and Noel, and we get to use Joshua and Estelle in the final dungeon. The final dungeon was creepy, stupid D:G cult. Honestly, the final dungeon felt rather underwhelming till the Garcia boss, and then the final boss, Joachim. Dude just downed a bunch of pills and became a demon. If not for Renne, it would of been curtains for everyone. The final boss dies, and the Brights finally adopt Renne which made me shed a tear not going to lie, it's been a three game journey for them. Overall, a very epic story, and personally one of my favourites.
Character wise, there's a bunch that stick out to me: Randy, Tio, Wazy, Fran, Jona, etc. Randy is interesting because on the surface he's all silly, but he's actually very serious. I just love and adore Tio and Fran. Jona just makes me laugh with his silly shenanigans, and Wazy is probably my favourite because he's just so mysterious and intrigues me and makes me want to know more. I actually thought Lloyd improved over time, and is a great protagonist. I know people don't really like Lloyd, but I just like how he's supportive of the entire group, and you can really tell that he cares for the entirety of the SSS, even in the little time that they spent together. Elie, I'm a bit iffy on, because I don't know what exactly she brings to the story, but maybe that's just me. Overall, this game has really good characters.
Battling, there's not much that's different from Sky, besides new Arts. At least they kept the orbment system, which I adore. I also enjoyed the addition of Evasion. Evasion Builds are just so fun in any game. Yeah, not much to say with battling, it is mostly the same.
The music. slaps. so. hard. The crossbell main theme, the highway themes, the Mainz theme, the Revache theme, the Stargazer Tower theme, the Ancient Battlefield theme, it's all just such a bop. I actually think I might prefer the Zero battle theme to Sophisticated Fight from Sky, idk it just hits differently. But yeah, the music slaps.
Some extremely minor gripes. I hate how the translators treat Lloyd like a playboy and oblivious, idk it just grates me for some reason. Also, I do not understand Wald as a character at all, he actually might be my least favourite in the series so far. That's about it for the gripes.
Overall, the game is extremely enjoyable, and I would honestly love to redo it all and experience it all again. It was that enjoyable.
I just love everything about Crossbell. I initially played this game wih the horrid translation, but still enjoyed my time with it. It wasn't until last year where I actually got to play it with a real translation in my Trails marathon, and my opinions on it definitely changed for the better.
Honestly, I think I prefer Crossbell as a setting much more to Liberl, not to say that Liberl is bad per se. Crossbell is just that good. I just love talking to each NPC in each Crossbell District after every story interaction and seeing how their dialogue changes. I also love walking along the highways (or taking the bus) and visiting the more remote locations of Crossbell like Mainz and Armorica. Crossbell is just the perfect setting for this game, especially when they explore the dark sides of Crossbell, like the Mafia. I just found it interesting how after Liberl, we were sent not to Erebonia, but to Crossbell of all places. A highly contested autonomous state between two major superpowers in Erebonia and Calvard. Crossbell is definitely my favourite country worldbuilding wise because of how much it has to even further paint the world of Zemuria. If you couldn't tell already I think Trails is the only game series ever to actually get me interested in its political structure and world.
Now let's actually start this review. From a story standpoint alone, I think this is the best game that the series has to offer (so far). I say that because, yeah, the game does start extremely slow, but I think that's valid because the Special Support Section are a new section of the Crossbell Police Department, and haven't earned the trust of locals, like the Bracer Guild has. The group has only been functioning for a little while and they're already trying to deal with Mafioso's and threat letters to celebrities. The Arc en Ciel part of Chapter 2 got me hooked into the story, exposing Mayor MacDowell's secretary and apprehending him. Chapter 3 was probably the most hype I've ever been. You got the anniversary festival with high highs with Estelle, Joshua, Wald, Wazy, and Randy. You also got the auction where you get more interested in Wazy, Mariebelle, and Lechter as characters. This chapter introduces you to KeA, who's just the ray of sunshine that the SSS needed to feel complete. The boss for Chapter 3 after stealing one of their prized posessions from the auction is probably the highlight for me. It's just so badass. I love the little intermission that gives us a little glimpse into the life of the SSS with KeA being added to their numbers. Also, storming a mafia base is just badass, and mkaes me love Chapter 4 as well.
I think the finale deserves it's own little section. Everything just hits the roof. The army and mafia have been drugged with Gnosis, and we find out one of the doctors at the hospital is the leader of a cult. The raid on the SSS and the IBC was great, but I hate how side characters like Grace and Cao were just commenting on us fighting hordes of enemies, like bro, help us? Anyways, I love the badass driving scene with Sergei and Noel, and we get to use Joshua and Estelle in the final dungeon. The final dungeon was creepy, stupid D:G cult. Honestly, the final dungeon felt rather underwhelming till the Garcia boss, and then the final boss, Joachim. Dude just downed a bunch of pills and became a demon. If not for Renne, it would of been curtains for everyone. The final boss dies, and the Brights finally adopt Renne which made me shed a tear not going to lie, it's been a three game journey for them. Overall, a very epic story, and personally one of my favourites.
Character wise, there's a bunch that stick out to me: Randy, Tio, Wazy, Fran, Jona, etc. Randy is interesting because on the surface he's all silly, but he's actually very serious. I just love and adore Tio and Fran. Jona just makes me laugh with his silly shenanigans, and Wazy is probably my favourite because he's just so mysterious and intrigues me and makes me want to know more. I actually thought Lloyd improved over time, and is a great protagonist. I know people don't really like Lloyd, but I just like how he's supportive of the entire group, and you can really tell that he cares for the entirety of the SSS, even in the little time that they spent together. Elie, I'm a bit iffy on, because I don't know what exactly she brings to the story, but maybe that's just me. Overall, this game has really good characters.
Battling, there's not much that's different from Sky, besides new Arts. At least they kept the orbment system, which I adore. I also enjoyed the addition of Evasion. Evasion Builds are just so fun in any game. Yeah, not much to say with battling, it is mostly the same.
The music. slaps. so. hard. The crossbell main theme, the highway themes, the Mainz theme, the Revache theme, the Stargazer Tower theme, the Ancient Battlefield theme, it's all just such a bop. I actually think I might prefer the Zero battle theme to Sophisticated Fight from Sky, idk it just hits differently. But yeah, the music slaps.
Some extremely minor gripes. I hate how the translators treat Lloyd like a playboy and oblivious, idk it just grates me for some reason. Also, I do not understand Wald as a character at all, he actually might be my least favourite in the series so far. That's about it for the gripes.
Overall, the game is extremely enjoyable, and I would honestly love to redo it all and experience it all again. It was that enjoyable.
Muv-Luv
2003
This review contains spoilers
Full spoilers for Muv-Luv Extra and Unlimited, but none for Alternative.
Recently I've decided to do a reread of the trilogy. This likely won't be the only time, since I plan to reread this in Japanese a few years from now after reading older âge content, too. Additionally, a while ago I wrote a spoiler-free review on MLA, in which I called Alt my favorite story of all time. So, while my feelings on that haven't changed (and if anything, they got enhanced even further), this time I am reviewing what is essentially just the prologue to my favorite story of all time.
To get it out of the way, the Muv-Luv trilogy is impressive in its audiovisual aspects, as well as ambition. The music is good, and despite being a VN, doesn't feel static at all. It is crazy that this is a 2003 VN with how much animation there is, and it only gets more impressive in Alternative. It's genuinely insane that this is an early 2000s VN, especially compared to other VNs that came out at around the same time. It's basically an anime with how dynamic and lively it is. It's also ambitious with how unapologetic it is about its premise and structure. I genuinely am fascinated with how this even came into existence, to this day, three years after my initial read. Even after reading almost 90 VNs I am still as fascinated with Muv-Luv as I was after I read four VNs.
It's because of the fact that Unlimited is basically the prologue to the real meat of the story (making Extra the prologue to the prologue..?) that I feel like a lot of people, my past self included, see it as something to go through solely because they are interested in seeing what the fuss is about with Alternative. Some consider Extra, or even Unlimited a chore. And I think that's a pity, because this is already a well-put together story already.
Extra isn't really the romdrama slog that many expected it to be, at least for the most part. Most of Extra is overly exaggerated shitpost humour with chibi versions of characters shooting each other into the stratosphere with a single punch, or stuff like Meiya (the rich girl heroine trope but heavily exaggerated) leveling Takeru's entire neighborhood overnight or calling in choppers with world-class chefs for a school lunch. That part of Extra is fun for me. Humor is subjective so I can't speak for others on this, but I genuinely found it funny both in my original read and reread. I also now appreciate the references to Gundam with Meiya's and some other characters' hairstyles and things like the Evangelion reference through "Kei Ayamine", as well as other things due to my increased experience with media.
The other part of Extra is the romdrama aspect, which varies greatly in quality. On one hand, the rivalry of Sumika and Meiya is a fun drama that involves themes of inevitable partings and the sacrifices you have to make when making a decision, and how those around you won't stay in a status quo forever, same as yourself, really. Tama's route is also mostly lighthearted and focuses on Tama's fears and her overcoming them. However, on the other hand, you have the Kei and Chizuru routes. The Kei route involves a very frustrating drama involving Kei and a doctor who is ready to throw away his wife, family and job for a high school girl. The Chizuru route is not only the least relevant route for Unlimited and Alternative, but probably the furthest away in terms of what the rest of Extra is going for. It suddenly starts a bullying storyline with what feels like pretty forced commentary on bullying and society or whatever. Overall, though, Extra is something I don't really understand the hatred people have for.
Unlimited is kind of where you can start to see the true Muv-Luv, so to speak. Our boy Takeru gets isekai'd in a very abrupt fashion as minutes into the game he steps out of his house to find that it has become a wasteland. One very notable thing here for me is how impactful this moment was for me when I first read it. Before I was theorising how the hell this would become a mecha, and then it just up and happens. Another is how even 20+ years later, in a weeb fiction landscape full of isekai, you have a story that dedicated a noticeable chunk of its runtime to showcase the protagonist's old world, rather than vague or rare references without knowing anything more than superficial about the people in their old life or the life they led. Additionally, this also really works well of showing the calm before the storm. In a lot of media, you have basically the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 of a show of showing the town that's about to get attacked, and then suddenly you are excepted to be shocked or emotional once they do. While I get what they're going for, it rarely works on me because I don't feel like I've connected with the characters there. This kind of structure leads to slow pacing, but it's what makes Muv-Luv Muv-Luv. The idea of "hey, let's give a harem/romcom MC who doesn't know how good he has it REAL PROBLEMS!" is just incredible. It's not "subversion" for the sake of "subversion" either, you actually get to appreciate Extra more.
I REALLY like the setting of the BETAverse. Before Muv-Luv I wasn't really too into mecha or sci-fi, but I think I just hadn't found my niche yet. The hard sci-fi real robot setting where they explain strategy and technology and history in a grounded, believable way that also is constantly actually used in the narrative is amazing. TSFs are vastly underpowered compared to a lot of mecha, but that's what makes the situations they get into more compelling. They don't have beam swords or easy space travel. And it makes sense why they were invented, too — tanks are too slow and bulky, and planes don't have easy access to three-dimensional movement without crashing. Hence, humanoid mechs with a focus on agility over durability. It's great. You get to see all sorts of in-depth world building on tech, strategy and world history that is tied to directly in the story and inspired a several hundred page textbook called the CODEX based on VN info alone (and it's outdated by 10 years! That's not even everything!) in such a believable setting. Even the fortified suits (despite the silly cadet ones, thank god they use better ones in Alternative) are so cool to me that now when I try another mecha I'm wondering where the neck braces and other commonly used Muv-Luv tech are to keep the pilots safe when they don't have Evangelion LCL or aren't in space. I also frequently miss Muv-Luv's detail in regard to tactics and strategy with a lot of other media. I can't help it, really — in ML you get given the main plan and three backup plans in case it fails, and you know what various terms like "Arrowhead-2 formation" mean. It doesn't feel like technobabble just for the sake of sounding cool. You get plenty of explanation for differing design philosophies for specific TSFs and countries and organizations. Even in Unlimited, which only has training fights and cutting a rock or shooting a sniper shot in terms of action, it's still really cool to me.
I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy, as well as an opinion on the play order. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
Second, the Extra and Unlimited routes (if you can even call the highly similar endings for Unlimited "routes"). For a while and to this day, in both the English-speaking and Japanese communities for Muv-Luv, it's been a commonly accepted fact that you should at a minimum read the Sumika and/or Meiya Extra routes (more so the Sumika one than the Meiya one, so you could just do both just to be safe) before unlocking Unlimited. This consensus is heavily influenced by the fact that in the original release (no longer the case in the Steam one), to unlock Unlimited, you needed to do those two routes. They also happen to be the routes you need to understand Unlimited and Alternative (except for a one-minute direct reference to the Kei route of Extra, after which Takeru dismisses it and the story moves on). You won't really be lost with this if you only did the Sumika and Meiya routes, you'll just go "huh? Okay, whatever" like Takeru does and just move on. That character hardly focuses on the same stuff that their Extraverse self did. In the English-speaking community, the fan translators not liking Extra also influences this, so many readers wanted to get it over with ASAP. In reality, Sumika and Meiya are nearly an identical route and give you the same actual information. So at the very least you would want to read Sumika's route and/or Meiya's as well before Unlimited. Despite Miki's and Kei's routes having reappearing characters that later appear in Unl and Alt, when he meets them there, Takeru still acts like he's met them for the first time, like with Miki's dad. In fact, in my view, in Unlimited, the main benefit of these routes comes from the contrast — in the Extraverse Miki is an archer, in the BETAverse she's a sniper, and they both have confidence issues. Her dad appears in both the Extra route and Unlimited and has a similar dynamic with her in both. It's not really something you would be clueless about if you hadn't read the side routes before Unlimited with, though, as you've likely interacted with Tama in her dojo in Extra anyway and they reiterate Tama's confidence issues and the Kei/Chizuru conflict in Unlimited, but it's nice to know. It's kind of similar for Kei in regard to Alternative, though much harder to use as an argument for Chizuru in Alternative, who probably has the Extra route with the least relevance for the overall story. Even the parallels to her arc in Alternative are much more vague than the contrast between the Extraverse route arcs and BETAverse arcs for the other girls. It certainly is beneficial to do all of them, since that would increase the impact of Alternative even further than the impact it already has. It depends on the reader, really — it's not like you HAVE to rush while minmaxxing with only the essential content to get to the good stuff or that you HAVE to 100% both Extra and Unlimited, but I think experienced VN readers should certainly try to read all of them, though not at the cost of dropping Muv-Luv or Googling and getting spoiled if they don't already have a friend who's read the trilogy to give them this information (my first read was without anyone else I knew who'd read Muv-Luv or VNs in general, so I had to make some decisions for myself without Googling and risking getting spoiled, which would be the worst possible outcome). While I wouldn't downplay it and say that doing everything and not just the completely essential routes, as well as one or a couple Unlimited heroine endings is content that only marginally improves your experience of the trilogy and especially Alternative (in fact, there is definitely a benefit and increased payoff that you get by doing everything, given that it is the grand finale that wraps up the entire trilogy), it truly does depend on the reader. It's not like Alt will not be impactful if you did the minimum required content, but if you can and/or want to do everything, by all means, do it. It becomes more complicated and questionable over whether it's even worth doing with Unlimited where every heroine except Yuuko gets the same pair of endings, and the amount of skipping and unskippable cutscenes is pretty insane, it takes more than two hours. It's essentially the same route with mildly differing variations of the Game Guy addiction arc, playing with cat's cradle, juggling or marbles, and some other interactions. So while you do get some callbacks to these in Alternative, I would say do at least one Unlimited heroine's pair of endings, and then see how it goes before Alternative. Maybe you'll be able to 100% it.
Muv-Luv is a somewhat rare case where you cannot judge how you might feel about the later parts at the beginning. Extra has no direct showcase of what's about to come in Unlimited and Alternative. Ideally, you would enjoy all three parts of the trilogy, but I've seen cases where massive Muv-Luv fans hate Extra. For example, I even know a person who rated MLE a 1/10 (???) but rated Unlimited and Alternative rather highly. And even the biggest Extra haters that I've seen end up appreciating it and what it represents after the genre shift. You can't truly show the contrast between peace and war without showcasing what peace is like, I guess.
Overall I am very satisfied with this reread, it's made me increase my score for MLE/MLU from an overall 7/10 to an overall 8/10. Even those are ahead of what most VNs aim for on a technical and ambition level. It made me appreciate Extra and Unlimited even more, not solely for foreshadowing, but just in general. Unlimited especially strikes a comfy balance of the dread of the BETAverse and slice of life comedy during training. I am really looking forward to my Alternative reread. My review for it will be spoiler-tagged unlike my existing spoiler-free one, so I will be able to talk about anything in it freely.
Recently I've decided to do a reread of the trilogy. This likely won't be the only time, since I plan to reread this in Japanese a few years from now after reading older âge content, too. Additionally, a while ago I wrote a spoiler-free review on MLA, in which I called Alt my favorite story of all time. So, while my feelings on that haven't changed (and if anything, they got enhanced even further), this time I am reviewing what is essentially just the prologue to my favorite story of all time.
To get it out of the way, the Muv-Luv trilogy is impressive in its audiovisual aspects, as well as ambition. The music is good, and despite being a VN, doesn't feel static at all. It is crazy that this is a 2003 VN with how much animation there is, and it only gets more impressive in Alternative. It's genuinely insane that this is an early 2000s VN, especially compared to other VNs that came out at around the same time. It's basically an anime with how dynamic and lively it is. It's also ambitious with how unapologetic it is about its premise and structure. I genuinely am fascinated with how this even came into existence, to this day, three years after my initial read. Even after reading almost 90 VNs I am still as fascinated with Muv-Luv as I was after I read four VNs.
It's because of the fact that Unlimited is basically the prologue to the real meat of the story (making Extra the prologue to the prologue..?) that I feel like a lot of people, my past self included, see it as something to go through solely because they are interested in seeing what the fuss is about with Alternative. Some consider Extra, or even Unlimited a chore. And I think that's a pity, because this is already a well-put together story already.
Extra isn't really the romdrama slog that many expected it to be, at least for the most part. Most of Extra is overly exaggerated shitpost humour with chibi versions of characters shooting each other into the stratosphere with a single punch, or stuff like Meiya (the rich girl heroine trope but heavily exaggerated) leveling Takeru's entire neighborhood overnight or calling in choppers with world-class chefs for a school lunch. That part of Extra is fun for me. Humor is subjective so I can't speak for others on this, but I genuinely found it funny both in my original read and reread. I also now appreciate the references to Gundam with Meiya's and some other characters' hairstyles and things like the Evangelion reference through "Kei Ayamine", as well as other things due to my increased experience with media.
The other part of Extra is the romdrama aspect, which varies greatly in quality. On one hand, the rivalry of Sumika and Meiya is a fun drama that involves themes of inevitable partings and the sacrifices you have to make when making a decision, and how those around you won't stay in a status quo forever, same as yourself, really. Tama's route is also mostly lighthearted and focuses on Tama's fears and her overcoming them. However, on the other hand, you have the Kei and Chizuru routes. The Kei route involves a very frustrating drama involving Kei and a doctor who is ready to throw away his wife, family and job for a high school girl. The Chizuru route is not only the least relevant route for Unlimited and Alternative, but probably the furthest away in terms of what the rest of Extra is going for. It suddenly starts a bullying storyline with what feels like pretty forced commentary on bullying and society or whatever. Overall, though, Extra is something I don't really understand the hatred people have for.
Unlimited is kind of where you can start to see the true Muv-Luv, so to speak. Our boy Takeru gets isekai'd in a very abrupt fashion as minutes into the game he steps out of his house to find that it has become a wasteland. One very notable thing here for me is how impactful this moment was for me when I first read it. Before I was theorising how the hell this would become a mecha, and then it just up and happens. Another is how even 20+ years later, in a weeb fiction landscape full of isekai, you have a story that dedicated a noticeable chunk of its runtime to showcase the protagonist's old world, rather than vague or rare references without knowing anything more than superficial about the people in their old life or the life they led. Additionally, this also really works well of showing the calm before the storm. In a lot of media, you have basically the equivalent of the first half of episode 1 of a show of showing the town that's about to get attacked, and then suddenly you are excepted to be shocked or emotional once they do. While I get what they're going for, it rarely works on me because I don't feel like I've connected with the characters there. This kind of structure leads to slow pacing, but it's what makes Muv-Luv Muv-Luv. The idea of "hey, let's give a harem/romcom MC who doesn't know how good he has it REAL PROBLEMS!" is just incredible. It's not "subversion" for the sake of "subversion" either, you actually get to appreciate Extra more.
I REALLY like the setting of the BETAverse. Before Muv-Luv I wasn't really too into mecha or sci-fi, but I think I just hadn't found my niche yet. The hard sci-fi real robot setting where they explain strategy and technology and history in a grounded, believable way that also is constantly actually used in the narrative is amazing. TSFs are vastly underpowered compared to a lot of mecha, but that's what makes the situations they get into more compelling. They don't have beam swords or easy space travel. And it makes sense why they were invented, too — tanks are too slow and bulky, and planes don't have easy access to three-dimensional movement without crashing. Hence, humanoid mechs with a focus on agility over durability. It's great. You get to see all sorts of in-depth world building on tech, strategy and world history that is tied to directly in the story and inspired a several hundred page textbook called the CODEX based on VN info alone (and it's outdated by 10 years! That's not even everything!) in such a believable setting. Even the fortified suits (despite the silly cadet ones, thank god they use better ones in Alternative) are so cool to me that now when I try another mecha I'm wondering where the neck braces and other commonly used Muv-Luv tech are to keep the pilots safe when they don't have Evangelion LCL or aren't in space. I also frequently miss Muv-Luv's detail in regard to tactics and strategy with a lot of other media. I can't help it, really — in ML you get given the main plan and three backup plans in case it fails, and you know what various terms like "Arrowhead-2 formation" mean. It doesn't feel like technobabble just for the sake of sounding cool. You get plenty of explanation for differing design philosophies for specific TSFs and countries and organizations. Even in Unlimited, which only has training fights and cutting a rock or shooting a sniper shot in terms of action, it's still really cool to me.
I would like to dedicate this section to comment on one misconception that people often have about the trilogy, as well as an opinion on the play order. So, actually, despite what some say, I don't think it is a spoiler to call ML a mecha, because it was advertised heavily in 2001 and 2002 (since before its release: example 1, example 2), on the original 2003 game box (including a quote about Takeru wanting "out of this f'ed up world" (paraphrased), as well as this, though I still think people should spoiler tag the isekai thing to make it more surprising for new people, as it isn't as well known of a plot point), and in the menu screen of the 2003 release (with the Extra menu screen having this in the background, and then changing to this when you unlocked Unlimited. So really you aren't spoiling anyone by calling it a mecha, and it never was a "spoiler that got well-known" — âge were never hiding it in the first place!).
Second, the Extra and Unlimited routes (if you can even call the highly similar endings for Unlimited "routes"). For a while and to this day, in both the English-speaking and Japanese communities for Muv-Luv, it's been a commonly accepted fact that you should at a minimum read the Sumika and/or Meiya Extra routes (more so the Sumika one than the Meiya one, so you could just do both just to be safe) before unlocking Unlimited. This consensus is heavily influenced by the fact that in the original release (no longer the case in the Steam one), to unlock Unlimited, you needed to do those two routes. They also happen to be the routes you need to understand Unlimited and Alternative (except for a one-minute direct reference to the Kei route of Extra, after which Takeru dismisses it and the story moves on). You won't really be lost with this if you only did the Sumika and Meiya routes, you'll just go "huh? Okay, whatever" like Takeru does and just move on. That character hardly focuses on the same stuff that their Extraverse self did. In the English-speaking community, the fan translators not liking Extra also influences this, so many readers wanted to get it over with ASAP. In reality, Sumika and Meiya are nearly an identical route and give you the same actual information. So at the very least you would want to read Sumika's route and/or Meiya's as well before Unlimited. Despite Miki's and Kei's routes having reappearing characters that later appear in Unl and Alt, when he meets them there, Takeru still acts like he's met them for the first time, like with Miki's dad. In fact, in my view, in Unlimited, the main benefit of these routes comes from the contrast — in the Extraverse Miki is an archer, in the BETAverse she's a sniper, and they both have confidence issues. Her dad appears in both the Extra route and Unlimited and has a similar dynamic with her in both. It's not really something you would be clueless about if you hadn't read the side routes before Unlimited with, though, as you've likely interacted with Tama in her dojo in Extra anyway and they reiterate Tama's confidence issues and the Kei/Chizuru conflict in Unlimited, but it's nice to know. It's kind of similar for Kei in regard to Alternative, though much harder to use as an argument for Chizuru in Alternative, who probably has the Extra route with the least relevance for the overall story. Even the parallels to her arc in Alternative are much more vague than the contrast between the Extraverse route arcs and BETAverse arcs for the other girls. It certainly is beneficial to do all of them, since that would increase the impact of Alternative even further than the impact it already has. It depends on the reader, really — it's not like you HAVE to rush while minmaxxing with only the essential content to get to the good stuff or that you HAVE to 100% both Extra and Unlimited, but I think experienced VN readers should certainly try to read all of them, though not at the cost of dropping Muv-Luv or Googling and getting spoiled if they don't already have a friend who's read the trilogy to give them this information (my first read was without anyone else I knew who'd read Muv-Luv or VNs in general, so I had to make some decisions for myself without Googling and risking getting spoiled, which would be the worst possible outcome). While I wouldn't downplay it and say that doing everything and not just the completely essential routes, as well as one or a couple Unlimited heroine endings is content that only marginally improves your experience of the trilogy and especially Alternative (in fact, there is definitely a benefit and increased payoff that you get by doing everything, given that it is the grand finale that wraps up the entire trilogy), it truly does depend on the reader. It's not like Alt will not be impactful if you did the minimum required content, but if you can and/or want to do everything, by all means, do it. It becomes more complicated and questionable over whether it's even worth doing with Unlimited where every heroine except Yuuko gets the same pair of endings, and the amount of skipping and unskippable cutscenes is pretty insane, it takes more than two hours. It's essentially the same route with mildly differing variations of the Game Guy addiction arc, playing with cat's cradle, juggling or marbles, and some other interactions. So while you do get some callbacks to these in Alternative, I would say do at least one Unlimited heroine's pair of endings, and then see how it goes before Alternative. Maybe you'll be able to 100% it.
Muv-Luv is a somewhat rare case where you cannot judge how you might feel about the later parts at the beginning. Extra has no direct showcase of what's about to come in Unlimited and Alternative. Ideally, you would enjoy all three parts of the trilogy, but I've seen cases where massive Muv-Luv fans hate Extra. For example, I even know a person who rated MLE a 1/10 (???) but rated Unlimited and Alternative rather highly. And even the biggest Extra haters that I've seen end up appreciating it and what it represents after the genre shift. You can't truly show the contrast between peace and war without showcasing what peace is like, I guess.
Overall I am very satisfied with this reread, it's made me increase my score for MLE/MLU from an overall 7/10 to an overall 8/10. Even those are ahead of what most VNs aim for on a technical and ambition level. It made me appreciate Extra and Unlimited even more, not solely for foreshadowing, but just in general. Unlimited especially strikes a comfy balance of the dread of the BETAverse and slice of life comedy during training. I am really looking forward to my Alternative reread. My review for it will be spoiler-tagged unlike my existing spoiler-free one, so I will be able to talk about anything in it freely.
if u dislike this game the series aint for u
2 years of waiting to this and i'm so glad the wait paid off so hard to me. Kuro 2 is another 50/50 games in terms that you either like it or completly hate it.
Which is completely understandable considering the situations behind on this game both story/circustances of releasing
Kuro 2 is the most rewarding game for an player that has been through the beginning of the series and pays off so much for going through especially in Intermission/Finale
Nothing to me gives me more joy than seeing the old party members from Haji and seeing the interactions with the new cast.
Trails series has always been part of my life for the past 3-4 years and i've been always glad to keep continue playing/reading these games, it always keeps giving me a joy to keep going through in the moments in my life.
Kuro 3 waiting room
Which is completely understandable considering the situations behind on this game both story/circustances of releasing
Kuro 2 is the most rewarding game for an player that has been through the beginning of the series and pays off so much for going through especially in Intermission/Finale
Nothing to me gives me more joy than seeing the old party members from Haji and seeing the interactions with the new cast.
Trails series has always been part of my life for the past 3-4 years and i've been always glad to keep continue playing/reading these games, it always keeps giving me a joy to keep going through in the moments in my life.
Kuro 3 waiting room
Crimson Sin Review - tldr any kingrecon video
A year has gone since kuro no kiseki released and won both veterans fans that grew wary of Cold steel and others such as myself who wanted to see something fresh but still in line with what the series is about.
Of course, questions were left in the air with certain characters and plot threads which a lot of the fandom grew intrigue and started anticipating for the next game. Anticipation was through the roof and people thought Crimson Sin would answer everything.
Why am I saying this at all? Because I think it's best to talk about how I anticipated kuro 2 compared to my peers or other people in the fandom. Going in with barely any expectations I felt gave me more to enjoy and appreciate. I dodged a lot of the promotional material as I wasn't finished with the first game which may have been a life saver somewhat.
This game wasn't gonna solve everything nor is it even "filler." A lot of the complaints originally felt hollow and just meaningless as majority of the reviews came a day after release with half baked summaries from chinaman stream.
These comments feel as if they detract heavily from what kuro 2 was meant to be about from day 1 and how much it feels like an achievement for Falcom in my eyes atleast. It's the most interesting game to me just from how it's structured and took from the best game in the series with a route structure.
The game focuses on the eight genesis after all, a plot line brought forth by the first game and left a mystery since the ending after collecting the 7th genesis. Development to characters such as quatre, risette, swin, renne, feri and so forth and with some of the best moments in the arc thus far that feel integral to the arc as a whole are brought up. Hajimari is consistently brought up and this game feels like a continuation of a lot of the ideas, character stuff and more.
My vision of what Crimson Sin was going to be felt more in line with what was given to me with way more twists and turns that I had thought. It felt nice to play a trails game without knowing spoilers and twists. Intermission was an example of this, what a fucking chapter.
Was I satisfied? Hell yeah even would go out to say this is in my top 2 games in the series because of how much I think I love from the gimmick of this game, the mystery, antagonist roster, side quests so on and so forth.
Though, my biggest praise to this game is the main gimmick, god that was so much fucking fun. Yeah, there maybe some actual funny usages of it but a lot of the time I really loved it.
As I said earlier, it's character moments are so well done and emotionally hit me in the feels, with it also being the point where I feel the Arkride Solutions group grew on me so much and the overall Calvard cast might be my personal favourite as of right now.
Would I say its perfect? Damn near outside of a bit of act 3 which I feel has may have been given too much flack and has been exaggerated in terms of criticism I feel. Of course, I understand some complaints but people saying it ruins the game for them feels funny to me. I'm not gonna sit here and say "I know its flawed blah blah blah" fuck off. I don't care. I really loved the act after all.
LGC points matter less here because of the emphasis on the main gimmick which I understand but really want them to be used next game as how kuro 1 was.
Theres also the music, which I enjoyed a lot but some may also feel inclined to say it doesn't work well. There's a few used tracks from kuro 1 but this is so normal for falcom so it's become a really whatever comment as I loved that soundtrack. (Yeah Kill me I love singa!!! Woooo singa yeah!!!)
Cutscenes have probably jumped up in quality for me, some of the best usage of them thus far in the arc. One especially went crazy and caught me off guard.
Final boss... yeah that shit probably the best one no doubt. It uses EVERYTHING at it resources and doesn't fail to make you blind sided at moments.
Though I think I haven't been as vocal on how much I love this arc, feeling as my thoughts may feel a bit more regurgitated, this game turned it up a notch. Falcom is trying their hardest to put a lot of new ideas into these games which works so well. I want to see what they do next.
Side note, I can't wait to replay this. Probably more to praise whenever I do get to it.
Update : Some really interesting stuff was shown and left off really nicely,
"To be continued... KURO NO KISEKI FINAL CHAPTER."
A year has gone since kuro no kiseki released and won both veterans fans that grew wary of Cold steel and others such as myself who wanted to see something fresh but still in line with what the series is about.
Of course, questions were left in the air with certain characters and plot threads which a lot of the fandom grew intrigue and started anticipating for the next game. Anticipation was through the roof and people thought Crimson Sin would answer everything.
Why am I saying this at all? Because I think it's best to talk about how I anticipated kuro 2 compared to my peers or other people in the fandom. Going in with barely any expectations I felt gave me more to enjoy and appreciate. I dodged a lot of the promotional material as I wasn't finished with the first game which may have been a life saver somewhat.
This game wasn't gonna solve everything nor is it even "filler." A lot of the complaints originally felt hollow and just meaningless as majority of the reviews came a day after release with half baked summaries from chinaman stream.
These comments feel as if they detract heavily from what kuro 2 was meant to be about from day 1 and how much it feels like an achievement for Falcom in my eyes atleast. It's the most interesting game to me just from how it's structured and took from the best game in the series with a route structure.
The game focuses on the eight genesis after all, a plot line brought forth by the first game and left a mystery since the ending after collecting the 7th genesis. Development to characters such as quatre, risette, swin, renne, feri and so forth and with some of the best moments in the arc thus far that feel integral to the arc as a whole are brought up. Hajimari is consistently brought up and this game feels like a continuation of a lot of the ideas, character stuff and more.
My vision of what Crimson Sin was going to be felt more in line with what was given to me with way more twists and turns that I had thought. It felt nice to play a trails game without knowing spoilers and twists. Intermission was an example of this, what a fucking chapter.
Was I satisfied? Hell yeah even would go out to say this is in my top 2 games in the series because of how much I think I love from the gimmick of this game, the mystery, antagonist roster, side quests so on and so forth.
Though, my biggest praise to this game is the main gimmick, god that was so much fucking fun. Yeah, there maybe some actual funny usages of it but a lot of the time I really loved it.
As I said earlier, it's character moments are so well done and emotionally hit me in the feels, with it also being the point where I feel the Arkride Solutions group grew on me so much and the overall Calvard cast might be my personal favourite as of right now.
Would I say its perfect? Damn near outside of a bit of act 3 which I feel has may have been given too much flack and has been exaggerated in terms of criticism I feel. Of course, I understand some complaints but people saying it ruins the game for them feels funny to me. I'm not gonna sit here and say "I know its flawed blah blah blah" fuck off. I don't care. I really loved the act after all.
LGC points matter less here because of the emphasis on the main gimmick which I understand but really want them to be used next game as how kuro 1 was.
Theres also the music, which I enjoyed a lot but some may also feel inclined to say it doesn't work well. There's a few used tracks from kuro 1 but this is so normal for falcom so it's become a really whatever comment as I loved that soundtrack. (Yeah Kill me I love singa!!! Woooo singa yeah!!!)
Cutscenes have probably jumped up in quality for me, some of the best usage of them thus far in the arc. One especially went crazy and caught me off guard.
Final boss... yeah that shit probably the best one no doubt. It uses EVERYTHING at it resources and doesn't fail to make you blind sided at moments.
Though I think I haven't been as vocal on how much I love this arc, feeling as my thoughts may feel a bit more regurgitated, this game turned it up a notch. Falcom is trying their hardest to put a lot of new ideas into these games which works so well. I want to see what they do next.
Side note, I can't wait to replay this. Probably more to praise whenever I do get to it.
Update : Some really interesting stuff was shown and left off really nicely,
"To be continued... KURO NO KISEKI FINAL CHAPTER."
One of the many amazing games in this series once again. The complaints about this game being filler and utterly not progressing the story forward is just stupid as it focuses on the inner plot of the story that started when the beginning of the Calvard arc started and it would be stupid to not assume it helps progress the story forward especially when you finish Kuro 2 Finale and the Post Game Chapter. It's a simple answer to people saying this game does nothing which is that it focuses on the eight genesis and the problems that come with it. This game does a lot of character development which is a lot for the only second game in this arc and lays out Calvard and helps us see us almost every location on how this place thrives and the culture around it. Having played this game fully now, this is definitely one of the best games in the series, including the finale which is one of the best in the series. And to talk about that post game content of that scene, exciting stuff coming forward for us.
"To be continued... KURO NO KISEKI FINAL CHAPTER."
"To be continued... KURO NO KISEKI FINAL CHAPTER."
This review contains spoilers
All I have to say is that this game is PEAK PEAK PEAK.
Anyways second Trails game review. I didn't know what I was getting myself into after the cliffhanger of the first game but I definitely needed to play this game for some closure.
I'll actually talk about the gameplay first. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I actually decided to use the food we cook in recipes for this game! Especially the food where you can use it to damage enemies in battle. Also, I'm glad that they finally incorporated actual attack arts for space, I was really annoyed that the first game didn't have any. Most of the gameplay remains the same, but they incorporated Chain Crafts (I think that's what they were called, it's been a while since I played this game). Now coming from someone who completed this game on Nightmare, I didn't really use them (maybe I should've, might've made this game way more forgiving on the hardest difficulty), just never really saw the need to when most of my characters had no CP to use anyways. But EP will always be king in these games.
Like I said in my last review, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, and only continues to get better in this game. The grave importance of the Non-Aggression Pact between Liberl, Erebonia and Calvard made the situation all the more tense. On top of all of that, you had Ouroboros being snakes around the entirety of Liberl and trying to cause chaos, and they're just really weird. And Hamel, that stuff got my blood boiling when I found out about it. I think if a game is truly able to get my blood boiling for fictional content, I may as well just resign myself to the entire series, it's seriously that great.
I love love love the story in this game. Estelle goes on a double mission, to gather intel on Ouroboros, and to find Joshua. Dammit Joshua, why'd you have to leave, you carried me in the previous game. Anyways, I enjoyed going back to each city in different order, as well as being able to use the old squad, but also new characters like Anelace and Kevin. I enjoyed getting to discover the different Enforcers of Ouroboros, with many having relationships with other party members. Ouroboros in a whole is just mysterious, but I think it's better that way, as we aren't really meant to know how they operate. Oh yeah, did I ever mention how much I hate Weissman? Well, I hate him, he sucks. The one part of the game that I disliked was where you had to climb the four Tetracyclic Towers, it felt so repetitive, but I enjoyed each of the boss fights (even if I had to restart on each of them a bunch of times until I figured out a strategy). Now, the endgame was truly when this game became peak. Olivier being royalty, yeah sort of saw that coming, but the Liber Ark and how they essentially just eliminated our orbments for part of the final chapter. Brilliant incorporation of the story into the gameplay, even if it was annoying to deal with. The Liber Ark felt like a true boss rush, fighting some of the strongest members of Ouroboros to stop their Gospel plan. The Joshua and Loewe scene kind of got me near the end there. The final boss, honestly not that memorable, all I remember is Weissman summoning a bunch of ads that just kept deleting my Earth Wall.
Kevin killing Weissman was the cherry on top, and really got me interested in Kevin's character and backstory. I felt that Estelle and Joshua's arc was handled great, and I just love a lot of things about this game. That last part of the game where Joshua and Estelle are about to 'die' didn't have as much of an emotional impact on me, as I knew they would survive due to there being another game after this one, but nonetheless, it still did hit me. And of course, Cassius had to ride in on his dragon and rescue us.
A great game, and a great game to end Estelle and Joshua's story, but only beginning their adventures as senior bracers.
BLORF.
Anyways second Trails game review. I didn't know what I was getting myself into after the cliffhanger of the first game but I definitely needed to play this game for some closure.
I'll actually talk about the gameplay first. Maybe I'm just an idiot but I actually decided to use the food we cook in recipes for this game! Especially the food where you can use it to damage enemies in battle. Also, I'm glad that they finally incorporated actual attack arts for space, I was really annoyed that the first game didn't have any. Most of the gameplay remains the same, but they incorporated Chain Crafts (I think that's what they were called, it's been a while since I played this game). Now coming from someone who completed this game on Nightmare, I didn't really use them (maybe I should've, might've made this game way more forgiving on the hardest difficulty), just never really saw the need to when most of my characters had no CP to use anyways. But EP will always be king in these games.
Like I said in my last review, the worldbuilding is phenomenal, and only continues to get better in this game. The grave importance of the Non-Aggression Pact between Liberl, Erebonia and Calvard made the situation all the more tense. On top of all of that, you had Ouroboros being snakes around the entirety of Liberl and trying to cause chaos, and they're just really weird. And Hamel, that stuff got my blood boiling when I found out about it. I think if a game is truly able to get my blood boiling for fictional content, I may as well just resign myself to the entire series, it's seriously that great.
I love love love the story in this game. Estelle goes on a double mission, to gather intel on Ouroboros, and to find Joshua. Dammit Joshua, why'd you have to leave, you carried me in the previous game. Anyways, I enjoyed going back to each city in different order, as well as being able to use the old squad, but also new characters like Anelace and Kevin. I enjoyed getting to discover the different Enforcers of Ouroboros, with many having relationships with other party members. Ouroboros in a whole is just mysterious, but I think it's better that way, as we aren't really meant to know how they operate. Oh yeah, did I ever mention how much I hate Weissman? Well, I hate him, he sucks. The one part of the game that I disliked was where you had to climb the four Tetracyclic Towers, it felt so repetitive, but I enjoyed each of the boss fights (even if I had to restart on each of them a bunch of times until I figured out a strategy). Now, the endgame was truly when this game became peak. Olivier being royalty, yeah sort of saw that coming, but the Liber Ark and how they essentially just eliminated our orbments for part of the final chapter. Brilliant incorporation of the story into the gameplay, even if it was annoying to deal with. The Liber Ark felt like a true boss rush, fighting some of the strongest members of Ouroboros to stop their Gospel plan. The Joshua and Loewe scene kind of got me near the end there. The final boss, honestly not that memorable, all I remember is Weissman summoning a bunch of ads that just kept deleting my Earth Wall.
Kevin killing Weissman was the cherry on top, and really got me interested in Kevin's character and backstory. I felt that Estelle and Joshua's arc was handled great, and I just love a lot of things about this game. That last part of the game where Joshua and Estelle are about to 'die' didn't have as much of an emotional impact on me, as I knew they would survive due to there being another game after this one, but nonetheless, it still did hit me. And of course, Cassius had to ride in on his dragon and rescue us.
A great game, and a great game to end Estelle and Joshua's story, but only beginning their adventures as senior bracers.
BLORF.
This review contains spoilers
It was the summer of 2020, it was in the middle of the pandemic, and I see a game on sale on the steam store titled 'The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III'. Yeah, not what you were expecting me to say, but let me tell you, when I first saw the gameplay and trailer for that game, I think that's when I became a trails degenerate and decided to go to the beginning of the series, with Trails in the Sky.
Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. The main thing that got me hooked into the series was the wordbuilding of Zemuria, I just thought of it as being so sick and cool and I needed more.
The beginning of the game was pretty slow and chill, sure, but I loved it. I'm also used to these types of games so that didn't really kill it for me. Estelle and Joshua bounce off of each other so well that I started to fall in love with them as a duo, Joshua especially. I could tell they were going to plot something with Joshua, just wasn't sure what it was going to evolve into. The rest of the cast is also pretty cool, with the main highlight in my opinion being Olivier. You can't top Olivier in terms of personality I'm afraid. As far as I'm concerned, HE'S PEAK!
The battle system also drew me in and probably became one of my most favourite battle systems ever. Idk there's just something that hits different about being able to interrupt the turn order and steal bonuses, guess it's just a rush. I love the orbment system and the different types of arts you could cast with the different quartz setups.
Regarding the plot, it felt like we were going on an adventure around Liberl (well that's what it was literally so I guess they hit another bullseye). I enjoyed how after every chapter we would rotate characters and be introduced to new ones. The chemistry between some of the party members was amazing. You got Estelle and Scherazard, Estelle and Agate, Estelle and Joshua, Estelle and Tita, honestly Estelle just bounces off of everyone really well. The party dynamics and chemistry was amazing and it just made the game that much more enjoyable. Honestly kind of lit how a pair of two teenagers had to put a stop to a coup that could've potentially toppled the entire kingdom. Overall, I was satisfied with the entire plot, and the Joshua plot reveal was probably the best part of the game imo. It definitely got me interested in Ouroboros as an organization, and judging by the fact that this is only the first game in like a twelve, soon to be thirteen, game series, I am beyond excited for how they expand on them.
Great game, would recommend, will be replaying it. Just play it please and give it a chance, you'll love it, unless you don't, then that's also an opinion!
Honestly, I don't even know where to begin. The main thing that got me hooked into the series was the wordbuilding of Zemuria, I just thought of it as being so sick and cool and I needed more.
The beginning of the game was pretty slow and chill, sure, but I loved it. I'm also used to these types of games so that didn't really kill it for me. Estelle and Joshua bounce off of each other so well that I started to fall in love with them as a duo, Joshua especially. I could tell they were going to plot something with Joshua, just wasn't sure what it was going to evolve into. The rest of the cast is also pretty cool, with the main highlight in my opinion being Olivier. You can't top Olivier in terms of personality I'm afraid. As far as I'm concerned, HE'S PEAK!
The battle system also drew me in and probably became one of my most favourite battle systems ever. Idk there's just something that hits different about being able to interrupt the turn order and steal bonuses, guess it's just a rush. I love the orbment system and the different types of arts you could cast with the different quartz setups.
Regarding the plot, it felt like we were going on an adventure around Liberl (well that's what it was literally so I guess they hit another bullseye). I enjoyed how after every chapter we would rotate characters and be introduced to new ones. The chemistry between some of the party members was amazing. You got Estelle and Scherazard, Estelle and Agate, Estelle and Joshua, Estelle and Tita, honestly Estelle just bounces off of everyone really well. The party dynamics and chemistry was amazing and it just made the game that much more enjoyable. Honestly kind of lit how a pair of two teenagers had to put a stop to a coup that could've potentially toppled the entire kingdom. Overall, I was satisfied with the entire plot, and the Joshua plot reveal was probably the best part of the game imo. It definitely got me interested in Ouroboros as an organization, and judging by the fact that this is only the first game in like a twelve, soon to be thirteen, game series, I am beyond excited for how they expand on them.
Great game, would recommend, will be replaying it. Just play it please and give it a chance, you'll love it, unless you don't, then that's also an opinion!
Lotta fans will tell you this the "worst" of the series, or an uninspired end...do NOT listen to them crybabies dude. Like most games it does stretch the game out a bit more than it should in the middle, but also there's just so much side content that if you're doing a completionist route it slows the narrative even more. Rean Schwarzer, I do this for you. Juna Crawford, you are the second coming. I got Erebonia on my back man. Crazy send off for class 7 and boy did they pull out everybody for their goodbye party.
This was the longest game to date, but only in favor to the biggest piece of worldbuilding seen to date with the enourmous land of Erebonia. The nation is by far the most interesting and developed with all kinds of traditions and names to familiarize. It's neat seeing how many familiar faces populate the school and even country, and the story while slow, built everything up incredibly well. It's a lot like FC, with an ending that hits equally as hard. I'm left just absorbing it all. I'm in love with this series man.
Length Warning. No, seriously. This is one of the longest reviews on Backloggd, if not THE longest. With that said, I’ve organized my thoughts and analysis between 36 titled chapters, so feel free to skip around and read whichever ones grab your interest. Spoilers for the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy.
THE ORIGIN OF TOMORROW: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3
Aionios (Greek: aionioß) · without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be · "Without end, never ceasing, eternal". [you know, sort of like this review]
From the outset of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, director Tetsuya Takahashi, and more broadly the entire Monolith Soft team, set out with the express intent of merging the "Best of Both Worlds" of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Funnily enough, though, in their attempt to assimilate the strengths of these two titles, which are similarly beloved but in very different ways, they veer in an entirely new direction which ends up forgoing much of the appeal from both of those games. An appeal, might I add, which is sure to fall short for certain sections of the Xenoblade fanbase, if not inherently because of its nature as an "artistic compromise". This is particularly true for the fans who are diehards of ONE specific Xenoblade title rather than both, regardless of if it’s for XC1 or XC2.
So, while XC3 can certainly be defined as a “union” of these two past games, it might be more useful to instead contextualize this union through one of a few distinct analogies. Think of XC3 as a chemical reaction of sorts. XC1 and XC2 are like chemical compounds, each with their own makeup which determine their unique appeal and merit. But through the Merge, the in-game union and catalyst which led to the creation of the world setting and subsequent narrative of XC3, those starting compounds were rearranged beyond recognition.
Second, it may be helpful to liken the union of these two games to conception. XC1 and XC2 are like the parents, which joined together to birth the child that is XC3. This offspring might be entirely composed of the genetic material of its parents. However, the rearrangement of their properties, not to mention the inherently unique circumstances of their existence, instead birthed something completely new; a game which carved out an entirely distinct niche in practicality.
Third, to relate this union to in-game terminology, you can even liken the existence of XC3 to an Interlink between XC1 and XC2. Two worlds being drawn ever closer together by their opposing attraction and narrative longing. In combat terms, this is represented by two members of Ouroboros combining to fill an entirely new role than either the Kevesi or Agnian member held prior.
Well, regardless of how you choose to look at this Merge, either literally or symbolically, the same truth remains. The end product may bear external resemblance to its predecessors, but the end result is different enough in practicality to have a predominantly unique appeal. Alongside this uniquely emerging appeal, however, has come a slew of issues, both major and minor. Many consider XC3’s villains who uphold their newfound status quo to be dull, underwritten, and sometimes even outright bad. Hell, you can even justifiably debate whether the main antagonist is a character or not to begin with. Even as someone who has massive respect for what they tried to do with Z as a villain (and succeeded in doing, I should clarify), I’m not gonna sit here and pretend Z has the same level of sauce as the likes of Egil and Malos.
Another predominant issue which arose from this Merge is that there is an ungodly amount of shit going on in XC3. And unfortunately, no matter how you look at it, the vast majority of that content and the ideas it presents feel undercooked. There are two games worth (hell, even THREE games worth if we’re counting the potential for expansion through a prequel) of ideas here. Two or three games worth of shit all “Merged” into one conglomerate. Even after a 250 hour playthrough, extensive research, and discussion with friends about the deeper lore, I’ve come out of XC3 with more questions than I came in with.
There is little point arguing that XC3 falls well short of what it could have achieved, particularly with its worldbuilding. Not just as a unique piece of art on its own merits, but as an idealized union of its predecessors. Hell, I don't even like XC1 or XC2 that much anyway. So what does this say about the “missed opportunities incarnate” that is XC3? This can't possibly bode well for a game that exists as an artistically homogenized conglomerate of two games I don't even like that much to begin with?
Well, you saw the rating. I’ll drop the facade: Against all odds, this is one of my absolute favorite games ever.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is one of the most ambitious, emotionally poignant, and thematically layered pieces of art I have ever experienced. Those criticisms I just called attention to were not hyperbole for the sake of misdirection. I won’t deny any of them, nor can you even really dispute them at all, for the most part. But despite the thousand different ways this game can be considered a majestic fuckup, it still manages to be pure magic from beginning to end. It single-handedly revitalized (and exponentially grew) my enthusiasm for a franchise that I’ve desperately tried to love for nearly ten years but never remotely have. Never, until now.
Also, interestingly enough, this game is... kind of ass. Like, more so than the previous two. But, if anything, that only further serves to make how strong my feelings are about what this game set out to do, and ended up achieving, all the more impressive.
As we approach the beginning of the analysis itself, I’d like to repeat my warning one more time. XC3 surprised me in ways I didn’t think possible. I really would recommend giving it a try for yourself before continuing. But if you’d rather just let me try to sell you on it, that’s cool too, I guess: So, one last time: Spoiler warning. Length warning. Really, I’m not stressing this again for nothing. This introduction might SEEM like overkill, but comparatively, it’s nothing. We haven’t even gotten started yet. If you intend on reading further, I’d recommend searching up one of the 10,000 generic “Relaxing Xenoblade Music” compilations or whatever on YouTube. They're all exactly the same. There is so much to say that I have no choice but to gush and rant about this game--for what will probably take hours to read. Whether I want it to be or not, communicating my feelings about this game is a utterly massive undertaking. And, considering how important it is to me as a piece of art, its MANY flaws and all, I can’t in good faith make any major compromises.
I’m completely aware that a text review of THIS scope inherently limits the audience of people interested in hearing me out to like… two people?? That said, I’d be appreciative of any Xenoblade fans or, again, people who just don’t give a shit about having the game spoiled for them to come along for the ride. This goes double for those who were let down by XC3, because I intend to explore ways in which this game can be seen as both a resounding, and yet gloriously human, failure. I know it’s a hell of a lot to ask, so again, feel free to skip around to whatever chapter’s material catches your eye the most.
Lastly, please do keep in mind that my intentions with the more analytical and worldbuilding-centric chapters were never to unearth mind-shattering revelations about the lore that have never been brought up before now. I’m far from a seasoned theorycrafter, and my limited knowledge on the Xeno games outside the trilogy doesn’t help. But at the very least, I hope to contribute to the conversation with my own perspective, perhaps sharing some manner of unique insight for you to consider along the way.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 means the world to me, and I never for a second saw it coming. Hopefully, by the end of this review, I can convince you to feel the same.
CHAPTER 0: ORIGIN (mine, not the big black robot egg thing)
(Preface, My History and Experience with Xenoblade Chronicles)
I guess I’ll begin with a quick rundown of my history with the franchise, since I do think this context from which my thoughts are coming from is important. But if you really couldn’t care less and just want the analysis, go ahead and skip to Chapter 1.
Anyway, I have not played Xenogears nor the Xenosaga trilogy (though I did manage to snag episode 3 on eBay recently, so… soon™). However, I have played the directly relevant Xenoblade Chronicles titles. So, XC1, 2, and now 3 (not X yet either sadly, though it does look insanely rad. That Hiroyuki Sawano OST tho). This is important since, from what I’ve gathered, XC3 does harken back to imagery and builds on concepts explored as far back as Xenogears. As such, I won’t be commenting on those much, if at all, here. This essay will be almost entirely focused on XC3 and XC3 alone. Even continuity stuff will be primarily glossed over.
As for my history with XC1/2, I’ll keep my thoughts on them to just this one section. Frankly, I don’t think my thoughts on either game are unique enough to merit talking about at length. Long story short: I’ve always considered Xenoblade to be pretty decent, but have never considered myself to give any sort of shit about the franchise in a serious way. Well, certainly not to the extent everyone else has always seemed to for either XC1 or XC2. I do distinctly remember XC1 grabbing me early on, and overall continued to far more than XC2 did for the majority of its runtime. Between its diverse world setting and legendary soundtrack, you’d be hard-pressed to argue how impressive or important of a game the original Xenoblade Chronicles was.
But in terms of its narrative? I genuinely feel like the coolest thing about the “narrative” of XC1 (if you can even call it that) was the story of Operation Rainfall. That shit rules. In terms of the REAL story, the character writing and design (for everyone not named Melia), its combat/gameplay loop, and my simple absence of emotional investment... I was pretty bummed to realize that XC1 didn’t quite do it for me. At least not the way it seems to for most other players. It’s the sort of game I had the most fun with when I was just wandering around, exploring its massive environments and getting lost in the field music. Like, rather than actually playing the game.
XC2 moved even further away from the sort of thing I vibe with. It did have the same aforementioned strengths as XC1, hell I’d even consider 2’s soundtrack more dynamic and consistent than 1’s, probably. But again, I noticed my long term enthusiasm for the series slowly diminishing through just about every other aspect of XC2; from major issues like its impressively lethargic combat/questing/gameplay loop, to countless minor issues. Just to name the first of my basic bitch complaints which come to mind: Rex’s salvager outfit having been carefully crafted by a team of elite scientists in order to create bitchlessness incarnate. No, the irony of assessing Rex this way is not lost on me after having finished XC3. Yes, we will talk about it a bit later.
Leading up to the release of XC3, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to bother buying it to begin with. I had trouble justifying such a huge time commitment for yet another entry in a series I’ve never been particularly fond of. My interest in Xenoblade had only continued to wane over time, to the point where I completely passed up on XC2’s various DLC updates, the XC2 Torna the Golden Country expansion game, as well as XC1 Definitive Edition’s new “Future Connected” epilogue game. However, after playing XC3, my view of the franchise has completely flipped on its head. The Xeno Series has, seemingly out of nowhere, established itself among those whose futures I find myself most enthusiastic about.
Well, in a roundabout way, I guess. It’s clear this is the swan song for Takahashi’s vision and the current saga’s ongoing narrative. So ironically, it only really succeeded at hyping me up for Takashi’s previous works, namely Xenogears and Xenosaga. I’ll 100% be playing both of these in the near future. But the ACTUAL future of the franchise is now entirely left up in the air once again. But, well, if you’ve played XC3, you’ve probably immediately realized why this is so incredibly fitting. An endless unknown, a future you largely cannot control or even predict; this is what XC3 says is worth fighting for.
Fighting to live- rather than to stagnate. Living to fight- rather than submitting to fearful contentment.
With that out of the way, let’s start talking about that one funni British anime shōnen game I actually DO give a fuck about.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
CHAPTER 1 - THE ENDLESS NOW: FIGHT TO LIVE, LIVE TO FIGHT
(Initial thoughts, Opening Cinematic, and Preliminary Themes)
“Fighting in order to live. And living to fight. That's the way of our world, Aionios. Cruel irony that it should mean "eternity". Because slowly but surely, our world is now dying. Even though we have yet to realize that fact." -Noah, Chapter 1
SUBSECTION 1: QUALITY OF LIFE
I know this review has already had a TON of framing, already, but we’re getting there, trust me. Anyway, let me just get my absolute first impressions out of the way before getting to the meat of the game itself. From the first moments I booted up Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I was repeatedly hit with pangs of hope to believe that this game might resonate with me the way I always hoped prior entries would. This actually started before I even began the game through its various quality of life options available in the menu. Yes, starting the first chapter by reviewing the options is thrilling, I know. It’ll be quick, just humor me. A hard difficulty setting was available right out of the gates, unlike in the original releases of XC1 and XC2. It gives you the option to review tutorials on literally any of the game’s hundreds of mechanics / systems, even going so far as to provide drills for the most important ones (i.e. combos, interlinking, chain attacks etc.) to ensure a thorough understanding of how they function. It might sound trivial, but if you played XC2 completely blind like I did, you know damn well just how stark a contrast this is.
But perhaps most importantly, to me at least, it gives you the ability to turn off the minimap and various HUD elements out the door. For a huge, modern JRPG release, this is a surprisingly rare consideration. Considering how big and open Xenoblade games are, this feature alone was an easy way to win me over before even starting a new game. When I play a game that emphasizes scope and exploration, I prefer to use my eyes to do so, rather than having them glued to the corner of my screen as I stare unblinkingly at a smol yellow arrow. I’m not sure why this is even remotely debatable, but for those who do enjoy that sort of thing, more power to ya, really. At least you’ll be able to play Dragon Quest XI without the burning urge to tape a circular piece of cardboard to the bottom-left corner of your TV. Anyway, once I booted up the game proper, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 grabbed me by the balls and seldom let go for the next 250 or so hours I spent within the world of Aionios.
SUBSECTION 2: THE OPENING CINEMATIC OF XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3
Let’s start from the very beginning: Despite having zero context or explicit knowledge about the greater significance of this game’s opening cutscene, the abrupt time-stop and aggressively cryptic merge sequence that followed had my stomach-churning from the intensity of its visual presentation and sound design alone. Likewise, it had my mind churning in a desperate attempt to make any semblance of sense out of it. What was I watching? What did it mean? At that moment, just as Noah was, I was utterly helpless; incapable of anything beyond paralyzed, yet conscious, bewilderment.
The battle between Colony 9 and Colony Sigma immediately follows. This sequence only pressed harder on the gas, intriguing me further about the nature and machinations of Aionios (yes, the word choice reflecting XC1’s titans here was deliberate. No, there isn’t any huge meaning behind it, I just thought it was cute). The parallels to XC1’s iconic opening battle were effective at initially grabbing your attention, to be sure. However, what really kept me intrigued here was the incessantly bleak tone which leaked from every orifice of XC3’s opening cinematic. The battle takes place on Torchlight Hill, a commonplace battleground found on the Aetia Region’s Everblight Plain. A sprawling, yet decidedly lifeless, landscape. Nothing but brown, rocky terrain as far as the eye can see. The only thing lining its surface which resembled life was a sea of Kevesi and Agnian husks- corpses. Hundreds of soldiers, belonging to the diametrically opposed forces of Keves and Agnus, both of which run across the length of this barren land, paved with bodies, to clash at the battlefield’s center. Fighting to live. Living to fight. From the moment you hear this phrase, you as the player are indoctrinated into the conspiracy which is the Endless Now. A phrase which loops back onto itself evermore, like a Moebius strip. No beginning, no end, just continually looping for eternity. From the first time you hear this phrase, you are keyed in to what constitutes the entire thematic crux of XC3’s 250-hour journey: The Endless Now.
SUBSECTION 3: FERRONIS, STEEL GOD OF THE BATTLEFIELD
Of perhaps greater significance than the soldiers themselves, in hindsight, was the overwhelming presence of the two colonies’ respective Ferronises. A Ferronis is a mobile assault weapon which doubles as a shelter for each colony. Just as fallen soldier husks lay below the feet of their surviving comrades, those same surviving soldiers lay at the feet of the warring colonies’ Ferronises. These two giant hulking steel masses were, on the surface, the ultimate prize for the opposing colony, as the Ferronis is what holds the Flame Clock, along with all the opposing colonies’ life force housed within it. Thematically, though, the Ferronises serve to sow yet another seed within the player. They depict how, in the grand scheme of the Moebius conspiracy, these soldiers’ capabilities and contributions are explicitly predetermined and more importantly, utterly superfluous to the greater conflict. They don’t shy away from this fact, either. It’s made apparent from the start, as we see the Ferronises make their way across the battlefield, crushing countless bodies beneath their feet. Like a two-ton truck driving over a patch of earthworms.
Their presence, both literally and symbolically, completely tramples the individual soldier’s personal resolve and abilities. Whether they’re driven by motivation from the military ambition upon which they were raised and trained to uphold. Their brainwashed bigotry from Moebius-orchestrated propaganda. Or even their burning desire to avenge their fallen comrades. An individual soldier’s capacity for impacting the war is inherently dwarfed by that of a single Ferronis. Dwarfed to the point where their efforts might as well not exist to begin with. Each soldier is likely no bigger than a single bolt on these steel monstrosities. Not even the entirety of their most elite squadrons could hope to match the sheer firepower of a single blast from one of the Ferronis’ various weapon installations. And yet, both sides were unwavering in their pursuit of bloodshed- all to feed the ever-draining Flame Clock.
The name Ferronis (Japanese: 鉄巨神, Tetsu Kyoshin, lit. Iron Giant God) reflects both that of the Bionis (Japanese: 巨神, Kyoshin, lit. Giant God) and the Titans of Alrest (Japanese: 巨神獣, Kyoshin-jū, lit. Giant Divine Beasts). It’s clear that Moebius’ propaganda even bleeds into their naming conventions- at least in the original script. There is even evidence to back up the literal intent behind these names, given the nature of Origin as an archive of the two World’s pre-Merge data. This further emphasizes the machines’ overpowering significance, by comparing them to Gods. Gods which control the battlefield which happens to be occupied by the soldiers, who are naught but superfluous pawns in comparison.
This also serves to tie the Ferronises under that banner of “a product which embodies the best of both worlds”. Keep in mind that both Agnian and Kevesi Ferronises are later revealed to be constructed in the exact same facilities within Origin. Origin, of course, is a facility whose inception crossed multiple dimensions; an arc that quite literally sought to preserve the best both worlds had to offer. With the Queen of Keves Melia falling captive to Z, the progenitor of Moebius, the mechanical prowise and wisdom of both worlds has fallen entirely into their hands.
SUBSECTION 4: FERRONIS, LENS AND PROXY OF MOEBIUS
Because of this, it’s easy to extrapolate these Ferronises as the concept of Moebius themselves, carrying out their will on the front lines of battle. Because the soldiers’ efforts are largely individualized, it’s important that they’re dwarfed in comparison by something Moebius can maintain direct control over. In this sense, think of the Ferronis as the “Great Equalizer”, ensuring the Endless Now remains in perfect balance on the front lines. There are other means through which Moebius makes sure this is accomplished, like the intermediary of Colony 0, but more on that later.
Anyway, the Ferronises are Gods towering over the pawns which comprise both Keves and Agnus, watching them struggle in vain as they continue to propagate Moebius’ very own Endless Now. It’s an impressive personification of two of XC3’s most prominent themes. Not only does it reflect the individual soldier’s bleak powerlessness in this opening cutscene, but Moebius adds insult to injury in doing so through the “slice of godhood” known as Ferronises. They stand as an aggregate product of Origin, both of which are later discovered to be Ouroboros’ single beacon of hope (by proxy of Flame Clock liberation, and later, reclaiming and resetting the interdimensional ark). But during this opening cutscene, these Ferronises are the very embodiment of overpowering hopelessness. What was intended as the Queen’s own beacon of hope is now being used against them. To trivialize their individual efforts and keep them in check as they unknowingly play into the hand of Moebius’ continued prosperity.
They act as enslaved chess pieces subject to the whims of intelligent and tyrannical superiors (seen thru Consuls literally playing chess while sippin life juice). Keves and Agnus soldiers alike carried out the one and only act they’ve ever known. The act they were born to carry out. Were indoctrinated in through textbook propaganda to carry out. Were trained in the art of war to carry out. And eventually, were encoded to instinctually carry out- by what they falsely presumed to be their own free will: Fight to live, live to fight.
SUBSECTION 5: A POINT IN TIME, A THEMATIC MICROCOSM
In all honesty, this battle between Keves and Agnus can be viewed as a microcosm for the entirety of the conspiratorial conflict as orchestrated by Moebius. It even fits as such beyond this illusion of free will and trivial value depicted through the individual soldier. This battle is portrayed by the soldiers as an intense, high-stakes fight to protect the lives of themselves and their loved ones. And while this might be true on the surface, after looking back on this scene in hindsight, XC3 makes it abundantly clear that their struggle was utterly meaningless.
Each and every life lost in this battle would just be reborn to continue carrying out the cycle. Perhaps more importantly, this entire battle, despite resulting in the demise of ENTIRE colony through Colony Sigma, it was just one of the countless battles that took place on this exact strip of land. Not to mention, the one example of prior Everblight Plain battle records we’re explicitly given details how Shido, then known as All-Slayer Oleg, led Colony Chi single-handedly in the brutal onslaught of an entire Kevesi colony before the events of the game. Considering the long-term ramifications of this battle, even beyond the destruction of an entire colony, it’s clear that the battle between Colony 9 and Colony Sigma wasn’t even among the most important battles in this ONE specific battlefield. This fact only further drives home the futility radiating from every shot and line from this opening sequence. None of it meant a thing. Ironically, this is what made it so meaningful- through its thematic poignancy alone.
This bleak tone even doubles back onto that very first scene, which portrays the Merge through the eyes of Noah. Time quite literally stopped around him, a fact he was cognizant of given that he managed to resist the time-freeze for a few seconds beyond everything else. There was no one to ask for help, no one to explain to him what was happening. There was no means by which the young Noah could interfere personally. He was an ordinary child, standing there helplessly as he witnessed the literal apocalypse. Not just the destruction of his World of Bionis, but both Worlds. It goes without saying that, in a situation like this, ignorance is bliss. In this sense, it could even be viewed as an uncharitable argument IN FAVOR of the Endless Now. After all, freezing time indefinitely was the only was to avoid the horror and destruction that would arise from the impact of the Merge.
Anyway, Noah’s persisting sentience only served to further instill him with utter helplessness. The explicit meaning or ramifications of this scene aren’t made apparent to Noah nor the player until right near the end of the game. However, this does explain why these two scenes work so well in tandem in and of itself. It’s no wonder they were so effective in eliciting an intense response of discomfort even upon my first viewing, even if it was entirely instinctual or subconscious.
SUBSECTION 6: A TRIUMPH IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Even outside the overflowing thematic importance which this opening scene establishes, it’s just phenomenally well put together in every regard (well, aside from the combat tutorial which babies you into submission as you wait 20 seconds for each of Noah’s arts to recharge). The way these scenes flow into one another symbolically (but also literally, through the interspersed bits of gameplay) is just… incredible. The way it illustrates that oppressively bleak tone in a way that completely overpowers the surface level action and intensity of war felt reminiscent of the opening to Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. Just, yknow, without the cheesy Matrix bullshit (I say this as endearingly as possible btw, that shit rules).
But yeah, I’ll probably say it five more times over the course of this review, but this game is unbelievably cinematic from beginning to end. It was pretty early into the game that I first made the claim that this is the single most cinematic JRPG ever created. By the time you get to Chapter 5’s 1-2 straight hours of cutscenes, which bring you all the way from the abyss of despair to the soaring heights of triumphant catharsis, there’s little debating it in my mind.
The sheer awe generated from these cutscenes isn’t a remotely uncommon experience, either. Every single chapter’s big cinematic moments had me enthralled in some way or another. The directing, the voice performances (both EN and JP), the action choreography, the weight, the expressiveness, the tension and intrigue of its most cryptic mysteries, the countless pieces of accompanying music… It’s the best of the best, no question. I could list specific moments, but I’m sure they’ve already popped into your head by this point anyway. XC3’s main story is aggressively memorable. And this opening cinematic is only the tip of the iceberg in that regard. I know that generally, the characters do a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard. But it’s accomplished in no small part due to phenomenal cutscene direction and cinematic atmosphere, both of which help it live up to the lofty ambition of its premise and themes.
CHAPTER 2 - The Triumphant Return of Dresspheres, Tokusatsu-tinged Bullshit, and Gloriously Overstimulating Chaos
(Combat, Job System, Customization, and Role Definition)
The combat in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is bafflingly awesome. Who knew all it’d take for Xenoblade to have actual fun gameplay would be to rip off Final Fantasy X-2’s fashion-dictated class system and to ditch the Skells in favor of Interlink, an amalgamation of Digital Devil Saga transformation, pseudosexual fusion dance, and Tokusatsu? Much like XC1/2, the game still LARPs as both an MMO (main combat) and a turn-based game (chain attacks). Yet, in a complete turnaround from those two whose combat actively annoyed me, I’d be hard-pressed to find another non-turn-based JRPG combat system that I fuck with this hard.
I’m definitely of the opinion that prior Xenoblade games have had hugely underwhelming combat, but was never able (or just couldn’t be bothered trying) to articulate why. XC3’s aggressive polish and iteration on the past games’ combat made it blindingly obvious why that is in hindsight. It makes a bunch of changes and improvements, both major and minor. But if I had to boil it down, it comes down to three changes at its core: Character building, role-influenced customization, and in-battle control.
SUBSECTION 1: CHARACTER BUILDING
I’ll start with character building, since this is where the pre-battle strategizing comes into play. Let’s talk Job Systems. Everyone loves a good Job System, and for good reason. However, as someone who loves both job systems and defined character roles in JRPG combat, I often find myself at odds with the seemingly inherent tradeoff these systems present. Job systems let you go ham with customizing each character into exactly what you want them to be. But defined character roles also let the personality behind the character shine through by restricting them to a certain archetype. XC3 basically looked at the inherent conflict of this tradeoff and said, “you dumbasses realize you can just do both, right?” Like, it's actually insane how effortlessly this game dismantles the conflict while maintaining the unique strengths and personality found in both styles of character building.
Customization. Twenty-fucking-five classes. 25 classes to unlock. To learn the inner-workings and individual strengths of. To experiment within.To grind and train. To utilize in conjunction with other classes’ master arts through fusion art combinations, as well as synergizing with your plethora of other skills/accessories/gems/etc. Each with their own entirely unique take on the surface level attack-tank-healer designation. Five unique arts, one talent art, and four skills which grow stronger as you increase your class level. Two of those arts and two of those skills then go on to transfer outside the class in the form of master arts/skills, with the talent art being a fifth once you max out a given class. Any of which can be used alongside another class of opposing Agnian / Kevesi designation.
Oh (x1), and the hero which coincides with the class they unlock has several of their own completely unique arts on top of that, meaning you’ll further deliberate whether to use a certain hero or equip their respective dress-class on an Ouroboros depending on the circumstances. Oh (x2), this doesn’t even include the Soul Tree which is used to customize each of your Ouroboros Interlinks with various upgradable arts, stat bonuses, etc. Oh (x3), AND the Soul Hacker class works completely independently of these rules, serving as a blue mage who gains skills upon the defeat of unique monsters. At full power, this class boasts SIXTY-FUCKING-FIVE unique and completely upgradable arts, as opposed to the typical five arts. Additionally, there are SEVENTY-FUCKING-NINE skills spanning all three role archetypes from which you can mix and match. What the actual shit, dude. No, seriously, how did this game even get finished, let alone reverse-delayed? Anyway, whoever greenlit this class, I love them almost as much as I love Triton himself. Oh (x4), AND the upcoming DLC hero Ino also seems to work separately from every other hero, running on ether cylinders to guide her own unique method of customization. Idk, it looks like some Poppi shit, so I’m immediately sold, necc aside. Tiger Tiger sequel when.
SUBSECTION 2: ROLE DEFINITION
Role definition. Despite the absurd level of character build customization, XC3 maintains a surprisingly rigid sense of character role definition. This is achieved through a bunch of different means, such as: The Keves/Agnus split, role definition through individual job affinities/inheritors, master arts and talent arts, master skills, and the rigid role definition/consideration present in interlinking by trading off whatever two roles the pairing might possess in lieu of the rigid role of their respective Ouroboros interlink.
Once chain attacks come into the mix, the game doubles down on this role rigidity even further. Each character (including heroes) is given their own distinct baseline TP distribution, Chain Order, and Ouroboros order. Speaking of heroes, they too get their very own hero chain bonus on top of their likewise distinct Chain Order. These hero chain bonuses range from providing bonuses to the damage ratio, boosting individual TP, boosting party TP (even specific character boosts i.e. MIyabi to Mio), monster-specific bonuses, reviving inactive members, buffing/debuffing, healing, and so on. It’s genuinely nuts how much distinctiveness and role definition is maintained in each character’s combat capabilities (both Ouroboros and heroes) despite the former having just been described to have such insanely unrestrained customization options.
I’m not sure if Monolith INTENDED to have such ludonarrative cohesion in this double-sided customization system, or they just thought it’d be cool and it ended up working out that way. But man, the whole "Best of Both Worlds" motif (while most of the time refers to the game taking what worked from XC1 and XC2 and using them harmoniously) seems to permeate EVERY facet of XC3. To the point where it has the best of both worlds of a job system and rigid role definition- something that I quite literally did not think was possible until playing this game. Oh, and you can’t forget to respect the drip. Yumsmith Sena sweeps.
SUBSECTION 3: COMBAT ANALYSIS AND PLAYER CONTROL
Moving on from customization and into the actual meat of the combat itself, it’s fun. Like, REALLY fun. The setup again inherits this "Best of Both Worlds" motif, as it reflects both the six character setup from XC2 (drivers and active blades included), while otherwise reverting to XC1’s initial setup of everyone being a direct and controllable contributor. Considering there are now twice as many party members acting concurrently, I cannot stress this enough: This is absolute fucking chaos. Like, it’s chaotic to the point where if someone were to casually walk by a XC3 battle without any prior knowledge, the only plausible response would be, “what the fuck am I looking at?” Six characters (plus a hero) painting a monster in countless numbers. FF12 lookin ass lines connecting you to each monster depicting the current status of their aggro and the subsequent relationship/priority. The most fucked up looking Venn diagrams you’ve ever seen in your life in the form of field buffs scattered beneath your feet. Ten of the like fifty different symbols for buffs, debuffs, awakening, shackles, combos, ailments, etc cycling in and out next to each character and the monster you’re fighting. Your characters suddenly transform into fucking fusion robots and all that information is replaced with an entirely new set of skills and an overheat bar. Oh, and then time stops and the entire combat system changes as you initiate a chain attack.
So yeah, someone walking by has every right in the world to wonder what the fuck you’re doing if they’re unfamiliar with XC3’s combat. That said, considering the way this game paces out each of its multifaceted mechanics in such a gradual and easily understandable way, it is extremely rare that you’ll be playing and not know EXACTLY what is going on at all times. Seriously, I can’t stress enough how impressive it is that they manage to actually make this combat make sense, and yet they knocked it out of the park.
Trying to take in so much information at once while it’s constantly changing is already more than engaging enough to stay interesting for a game as long as this. But now, tack onto all of that the fact you can now change between characters at ANY MOMENT. Without a cooldown or any other sort of restriction. This alone takes XC3’s combat from what would already be a rather engaging system to unfathomably stimulating and hectic. In the more intense/challenging boss battles, it quickly becomes adrenaline incarnate. Apparently, Torna took the first step in this direction by allowing you to swap between your three party members on a cooldown, but here, you can swap between any of the SIX party members as quickly and frequently as you want.
It might not sound like a huge deal, since you still aren’t controlling all six of them at once, and thus a majority of the combat at any given moment is controlled by AI. That may still be true, but it’s a complete and utter game-changer when it comes to the player’s engagement and their potential for strategic influence. In past games, you control one party member, and once their arts are depleted, you’re stuck doing fuck all but using auto-attack. So you’re stuck there slapping at the enemy for 50 damage every few seconds until you can fight properly again. In XC3 though, the second a character’s arts are depleted, you switch to the next one and can start thinking on-the-fly to quickly make use of whatever tools they have available in the most efficient way possible. This might not make a monumental difference in how the battle goes about playing out, but thankfully the AI is stupid enough to actually merit shuffling around your active party member and doing as much on your own as possible. But above all else, you’re no longer stuck waiting for a shitty cooldown and constantly have your hands full of different ways to influence the fight. Put aside the customization and job system for a moment- THIS alone is an absolute goddamn game-changer.
SUBSECTION 4: MORE SINGLE-FIGHT GIMMICKS WOULD’VE BEEN NICE THO
To sneak in a small area of disappointment, I definitely would’ve liked to see more unique gimmicks or “puzzle” elements to bosses. If not in gameplay, then even just in the action cinematics would’ve been nice. There are definitely rumblings of this in the early game cinematics, specifically up through Chapter 4. Then, with the joint boss fight sequence between Consul N and Consul M, it finally comes to a head. Consul M has a completely unique Moebius power that takes the party a bit to figure out a solution for- and the solution itself was very clever and satisfying.
Even if we aren’t given the super nitty-gritty specifics of how it works, it’s clear that the Mondo was able to track M’s movements due to her and its ether properties as a Blade. Whether this is through ether displacement, propensity for tracking ether sensitivity, or ether absorption, it’s not clear. However, this is supported by the group’s first battle at Gura Flava. Eunie is able to disable Taion’s Mondo tag by filling it with enough ether to overload/overheat it. As an Agnian, M fights through ether properties as well. As such, it makes perfect sense that the Mondo, which can either sense, absorb, or disrupt that flow of ether, would be a perfect counter to the Moebius ability. This even shows tactical development on the part of Taion, who was only able to figure out this solution because of the way Eunie countered him earlier in the game.
To tie this back into that complaint I alluded to… This is basically the first and last time you’ll see anything like this in-game. Z has something similar sorta kinda, given that it’s another multiphase fight which sees your party splitting up and being supported by the various heroes. But it’s never a “puzzle” for you to figure out. It’s not something that will make you fundamentally reassess your game plan and fight under a completely different strategic pretense. I definitely expected more of this sort of thing from the end-game bosses. For example, the fight against D and Joran was a phenomenal opportunity for this that was totally squandered.
I’m not exactly sure HOW they’d go about doing it, since the combat is strictly set up so that attacking the enemy is basically your only means of interacting with them. But the conflicting nature of the fight could’ve done so well to set up a scenario where, for example: Joran is focusing his Interlink overheat, and thus you have to fend off fodder and protect him in the process. Then, D regains control, and you quickly shift to beating the shit out of him as much as possible. Stuff like that would’ve done a lot to make the more important boss fights feel mechanically distinct, which they simply don’t. That’s not to say they’re boring or anything, since again, XC3’s combat is more than capable of utterly carrying. But it still would’ve been better to see more of this sort of thing.
SUBSECTION 5: CHAIN ATTACKS, MISC. THOUGHTS,. AND CONCLUSION
Lastly, I’d like to talk a bit more about chain attacks. XC3’s chain attacks also manage to capture the "Best of Both Worlds" motif that nearly everything else in the game also seems to. They’re both cathartic in terms of their strategic depth to execute, while also being cathartic in the most mindless monke brain “victory lap” way I can possibly think of. That second one especially, the way it eggs you on with the instantly iconic chain attack music to the point you cannot feel anything other than utter conviction and triumph as it unfolds.
Even if you activate it with your entire party’s HP in the red and the boss still has 8.9 trillion remaining HP out of 9 trillion total (which is usually the case!), you can’t help but feel pure catharsis and hope during the duration of that chain attack. Well, that only lasts until you pick the wrong art and then the shit RNG gives you a healer on your random pick cuz you had to finish with an attacker… motherfucker. Anyway, the fact that it somehow manages to be both strategically cathartic and viscerally mindless in such a careful balance is yet another example of this game defying the odds to capture the "Best of Both Worlds" in one fell swoop.
Beyond chain attacks, there are plenty of smaller points to praise about the combat. For example, I love how combos can be built up with either offensive or defensive intentions/planning in mind. Launch-Smash combos provide extra damage at the cost of accelerating an enemies’ enrage status, whereas Daze-Burst combos provide an incapacitation window for your party to stabilize while also quelling rage for a short period of time. Another point worth mentioning goes back to customization; I love the sheer quantity of possibilities when it comes to fusion art combinations. You can do anything from double-advancing a combo (break w/ topple master art, launch w/ smash master art, etc), enhancing your smash effect by pairing it with a high damage ratio master art, pairing aggro reduction with a powerful heal to stay hidden, pairing aggro increase with a long form block art for efficient tanking, and so on. The fusion art system is incredibly simple, but could not be more elegantly incorporated. It boasts an absurd level of customization for those who really want to sink their teeth into making Agnian and Kevesi arts synergize in creative ways. I know I’m a broken record at this point, but again, taking the "Best of Both Worlds" and getting something new (and better) out of them.
For the sake of time, plus the fact that the rest of XC3’s combat depth is mostly similar to how it was in past games, I’ll wrap it up here. But yeah, considering how ambivalent I’ve been to prior Xenoblade games’ combat, the improvements made here and the way they salvaged the ongoing foundation of Xenoblade combat into something this good is nothing short of miraculous. I tend to be a fan of turn-based combat first and everything else second. But in the level of engagement, strategy, and customization found in XC3’s combat system, you’d be hard-pressed arguing against it being truly second to none.
CHAPTER 3 - The Methodically Unmethodical World Design of Aionios
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 1: How XC3’s World, Map Design, and Aesthetics are Physically and Symbolically Informed by the Merge)
So clearly the combat benefits from the literal and symbolic Merge of XC1 and XC2 as much as anything. What about the World? Well… no, not at all. I should probably come right out and say that, across the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy, XC3’s world is far and away the least impressive from a purely aesthetic standpoint… at least in terms of surface-level allure. The game has huge, sprawling vistas filled with secrets just like the prior games, but something about the world setting doesn’t feel nearly as aesthetically dynamic or even as methodical compared to the likes of Bionis or Alrest.
This was actually a huge point of criticism I held through the early hours of the game, which I worried might keep me from truly loving it overall. Like I’ve mentioned already, exploring huge imaginative environments while listening to the various field themes was what appealed to me most about the series prior to XC3. But compared to the likes of XC1’s Gaur Plains, Eryth Sea/Alcamoth, and Satori Marsh? XC2’s Uraya or the World Tree? I simply did not find any of the biggest zones in XC3 were anywhere near this aesthetically stimulating or inspired. Well, until the Cadensia Region, which was phenomenal, albeit a serious outlier. Point being, the likes of Millick Meadows and Eagus Wilderness simply did not do it for me.
Are they pretty? Yes. Were they “Xenoblade pretty”? No. At least, not in the way a longtime fan would come to expect. Thankfully, what I’ve come to realize about the world design of Aionios over the course of my playthrough is… I’m pretty sure this was intentional. Or maybe I’m coping. Probably both tbh. This is the main meat and potatoes of my thoughts on Aionios, so I’ll leave it for the end of this chapter. Before then, let’s talk about why I found (and still do to some extent, tbh) the major zones so initially disappointing.
SUBSECTION 1: SHORTCOMINGS OF AIONIOS
Don’t get me wrong, even the more aesthetically “”boring”” zones do still look nice. Each one is filled with varying amounts of distinguishing quirks or landmarks, and overall serve their purpose well. My favorite zone from the early game would have to be the southern Fornis Region. Each part of the region on its own isn't anything too noteworthy. Well, aside from the Dannagh Desert, which looks fantastic on its own. But the way they coalesce while maintaining distinct and rigidly segmented areas make it far stronger aesthetically than the sum of its parts. The rigidity of its visual theming alone makes it super memorable. I can’t really think of another Xenoblade environment that puts as much emphasis on aesthetic segmentation as this one does. It also boasts a surprising amount of verticality (albeit mostly gradual “sloped” verticality). This actually speaks to another major point of criticism I have about the bulk of XC3’s massive open zones: They’re more than sizable enough, but they’re mostly flat and lacking in both the verticality and interconnectivity needed to compromise their lengthy traversal time.
The flatness of XC3’s zones certainly bodes well for making them LOOK big and sprawling, but it only serves to inevitably sap the enthusiasm you have for exploring these lands thoroughly. I’m the type of player who avoids minimaps and fast travel like the Plague. Familiarizing myself with an area and learning its map is something I find extremely fun and satisfying. In XC3, though, I pretty quickly caved in and started fast traveling for the back-and-forth quests, especially fetch quests. Not because I don’t ENJOY traversal in this game, but because it’s blindingly apparent that it needed so much more to not make this a total pain in the ass.
The game probably could’ve gotten away without having sprinting if the maps were as tall as they were wide, but they just… aren’t. It takes way too long to get anywhere. Oh, and those little ladder shortcuts it sneaks in are, more often than not, completely futile at providing any sort of respite to the tedium of traversal. Hell, they even fail to simply compliment the map design in any sort of clever or helpful way.
This is the crux of my complaint: XC3 does not have significant enough traversal upgrades to match the size and layout of its maps. It’s lacking here, plain and simple. Sprinting, high jumping, gliding, flying, soft landings from high grounds, rentable Levnises, Interlink on the field for a quick vertical boost… This game is in desperate need of ANY single one of these. I haven’t played XCX, but knowing you get giant fucking Skells to fly around in makes this even more readily apparent. Not to mention… that knowledge kinda takes away from the coolness of getting a boat later on in this game. I like the boat, but… It’s not a giant robot, that’s for sure. Can’t say I wouldn’t have preferred to get even just a fleet of rentable Levnises or some shit instead. The autorun keeps it from being a SERIOUS problem, but that doesn’t change the fact it could’ve been much better.
XC3’s world design does still have its fair share of strengths. Admittedly, they mostly tie into worldbuilding which I’ll focus more on later, but the physicality and map design also play a part in these strengths. The Dannagh Desert’s flying whales and pink-gem palm trees felt refreshingly oddball compared to the theming of prior areas. The previously mentioned rigid segmentation of Southern Fornis was another highlight- in no small part because of the aesthetic contrast it provided with the adjacent and verdant Ribbi Flats.
SUBSECTION 2: ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING
Perhaps the biggest draw in terms of XC3’s world design relates to its interconnectivity; namely, the inherent mystique generated by the Merge as you encounter more and more areas which resemble the likes of Bionis, Mechonis, and Alrest- especially seeing them after having been reduced to ruin. It does give you a bit too obvious of a push at recognizing this early on. Hell, the box art literally having Uraya and the Mechonis Sword was uh, not exactly subtle. Not to say it was MEANT to be subtle, but hey, still. Additionally, many of the names/titles are retained from prior games.
But aside from that, it’s accomplished entirely through exploration and environmental storytelling. I absolutely loved this approach. Despite the obvious brilliance of past Xenoblade game’s worlds, I can’t recall any point where environmental storytelling was used to prod you with hints at the still unknown lore, mysteries, and ongoing narrative. Hell, the prodding even worms its way into the game’s soundtrack (through field themes, mostly). The near constant use of callbacks and leitmotif of XC1/2 areas never once got old and always kept me on guard looking for more audio-centric hints.
There are examples of environmental storytelling across the entirety of Aionios, so I won’t bother listing a dozen examples. I will say, though, the delayed realization that I could LITERALLY CLIMB up the destroyed Mechonis’ arm up to its fingertip and cannonball back down into the lake below was one of the most memorable moments of exploration in any Xenoblade game.
SUBSECTION 3: SPECIFIC REGION CRITIQUE (AKA THE ROAST OF MILLICK MEADOWS)
There are definitely some great individual regions, such as the Cadensia Region like I mentioned earlier. This region is basically just a Wind Waker sequel built straight into an already incredible game. Cuz why the fuck not. Like, Queen’s BEANS man. It feels like half my playtime was spent exploring that one region alone. And you better believe that Yasunori Mitsuda field theme certainly contributed to that… Probably my favorite song in the entire game ngl. On the opposite end of the open zone spectrum, though, we have Milick Meadows.
Milick Meadows was an extremely rare example during XC3 where there wasn’t much sugarcoating it- I felt abject disappointment without much of a silver lining to counteract it whatsoever. Let’s start with the- er, single positive. The field theme is phenomenal. But tbh, that just made how underwhelming this area was in reality hurt even more. Let’s frame the moments leading up to you discovering it. You’ve just finished the intensely cryptic Gura Flava sequence. You’re finally ready to begin your journey after having assembled your party. You have more questions about the game’s events up to this point than you know what to do with. Then, you’re immediately set free out into the game’s next big zone: Millick Meadows.
This was all the motivation I needed to start exploring to find out as much about this world and the events that transpired as possible. Unfortunately, the near (but not quite) Gaur Plains tier field theme is where the positives begin and end with Milick Meadows. Basically, you descend the hill, go across the river, and head out into the next area. That’s it. Oh, and you activate a Ferronis husk and can go get killed by overpowered bats in the nearby cave if you want… Seriously? You can’t tease me with what looks to be Gaur Plains 2.0 and have it only be a 30-minute linear ass excursion. This place should’ve been like… ten times bigger at the BARE minimum. I know that sounds like overkill, but just look at the Cadensia Region. There was nothing stopping them from making Milick Meadows truly reflect the freedom that Ouroboros was just granted following Guernica’s sacrifice. The disappointment even gets doubled down upon later when you realize the ability gating opened up an entire new section of the map to explore… Wow, maybe this was a misdirection? Maybe they wanted a delayed reaction sort of approach to its scope? Nah. It’s still tiny as fuck with barely anything cool to do or see. But enough roasting the poor little Meadows. Let’s move to the biggest point I want to make about Aionios as a world setting.
SUBSECTION 4: JUSTIFYING THE SHORTCOMINGS OF AIONIOS THROUGH THE THEMATIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE MERGE
Anyway, back to the biggest takeaway for this chapter. The thing about XC3’s world setting I took the biggest issue with (even above some of the areas not being themed interestingly) was this: The environments felt paradoxically visually cluttered and messy, while also having very little in the way of aesthetic inspiration. In contrast to prior examples, the "Best of Both Worlds" motif here feels a lot more like the “Worst of Both Worlds”.
However, come the end of the game, it becomes abundantly clear that this was intentional. It’s only natural that the violent Merge, which essentially equated to apocalypse for both worlds, would leave Aionios as a primarily tattered wasteland with some rather fucked up geometry (further emphasized by the Annihilation Event). On top of that though, it almost seems like the more standard theming of most areas was intentional as well, though I’m… not sure why, exactly? The biggest zones which house the main story content are often relegated to aesthetically standard renditions of fields, desert, sea, mountains, etc. Now, these areas are still impressive and beautiful due to their huge scale. But it’s clearly a far different approach from XC1/XC2. Like I said before, they’re pretty, just not “Xenoblade pretty”.
On the contrary, it’s in XC3’s secret areas tucked away from the external outside world where that trademark Xenoblade inventiveness shines through into the world setting. Lost Colony, Cotte Fountainhead, and Malevolent Hollow are easily among the most aesthetically distinctive locales in any Xenoblade title. This design philosophy is applied way too consistently across the whole game to just be a coincidence, at least in my mind. Areas to the effect of the three I just listed are almost exclusively found in secret caves far off the path from the main zones. So… what’s the deal with this approach? I mean, it literally might’ve been just to make stumbling onto a secret area feel more special. But with this game, the answer is rarely that simple. Especially since, yknow, I can’t really see them making a sacrifice to the giant zones which take up 90% of the map just for an occasional pleasant surprise. That said, I do have something of a guess to justify- or at least explain the logic behind their approach.
Aionios having such a strange design quirk gives off the impression that these secret areas were sheltered from the proverbial “impact” of the Merge. As such, they retained their luster- and therefore, their sense of aesthetic identity. This does beg the question, though; why would the two Worlds merging be detrimental to the broad visual inventiveness of Aionios’ world design? Honestly, this is where I’m sort of at a loss on the matter. Especially since it seems to be at odds with the game’s design philosophy in nearly every other regard: Merging the "Best of Both Worlds" in order to create something new and greater.
Maybe they first tried to approach the world in this way by designing even more chaotic and messy environments, but decided the messiness needed to be dialed back in? I’m not really sure, and would love to get some outside input on this because I’m stumped as hell tbh. Personally, I would’ve loved to see them go full on clusterpunk by mashing together multiple different themes and color palettes (possibly derived straight from 1 and 2’s areas) into one new environment. Maybe even just in a few specific areas rather than every area in the game. If not just for the sake of avoiding this approach becoming paradoxically more homogenized in the sense that it would apply to everywhere.
Quite honestly, even as someone who places huge importance on a game’s aesthetic sensibilities (hell, I consider XC1 at LEAST a strong 7/10 based almost entirely on its setting and music alone), I do still like this game’s unconventional approach to world design. Despite the originality of this subversion, though, one still needs to consider if this falls under the “just because a subversion is intentional doesn’t make it good” umbrella of consideration. I WANT to deny this notion outright, but even after learning all the narrative context behind the intent, I’m still finding myself hesitant.
Would I have preferred the entire setting to be more oddball with its theming and color palette similar to, like, Xenoblade X or something? …Honestly, yeah. Probably. Especially when you consider that this game repeatedly capitalizes on its "Best of Both Worlds" motif in so many other facets. That said, I can't say I've ever seen a game with such a bold and narratively-resonant subversion through its aesthetic and world design alone. Even if the sacrifice to its visual inventiveness was a bit beyond what I would’ve liked, it is worth praising the effort and paradoxical inventiveness anyway.
CHAPTER 4 - HOW TO CREATE A DYNAMIC AND THEMATICALLY INTEGROUS WORLD SETTING THROUGH… FORMULAIC MILITARY CAMPS (NO, REALLY, IT WORKS. TRUST ME).
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 2: Introduction and Analysis of the Colony System)
Even within the context of individual nation’s provinces, every single colony in XC3 is shockingly memorable and distinct. I think the reason the colony variety impresses me so much is due to the surface-level rigidity of XC3’s structure and gameplay loop. Put simply: you explore, discover (insert colony name here), talk to its people and commander, fight the commander, fight the Consul, liberate the colony, help them survive without the Consul, Rinse and repeat. Clearly, the repetition of this cycle is dangerously primed for monotony. Especially since there’s, what, over 25 named colonies in total? Not to say you explore every single one, but it should be apparent that this game had the cards stacked against it in this regard.
Yet, every last colony is shockingly distinct and memorable. Depending on the colony’s adjacent environments and geography, there are so many different roles and jobs that prop up across Aionios. For example, the farmers in Colony 9 and Tau. Specialty mechanics and Levnis transporters from Colony 30. Collectopedia managers and resource transport from Colony Iota. The conspiratorial war intermediaries of Colony 0. Pirates and Fishermen of Colony 15. Plus the different variations of florists, farmers, and saffronia harvesters found in Colony Mu and the Lost Colony. And so on. Aionios’ dynamic geography plays such a crucial role in the jobs and specializations of each colony. In turn, this plays a huge part in why the world setting feels like a vast, living, breathing world- in a way no other Xenoblade game has ever accomplished prior.
It would’ve been SO easy for Monolith Soft to fall back on the phenomenal combat and job customization, merely having the World serve as a more undercooked or understated backdrop to your exploration of Aionios. Countless games take this easy route as a tradeoff for being a “huge 100+ hour experience” at the cost of none of its locales being developed, memorable, or, well… Interesting. Yet, much like it does in countless other aspects, XC3 manages to provide “the Best of Both Worlds” in this respect. The game is unfathomably long, and yet, each and every colony manages to be deeply memorable and distinct.
They’re not just memorable and distinct in terms of the characters present or the aesthetic backdrop, either. Every single facet of the World Setting feeds into each respective colony in a way that makes the world of Aionios feel distinctly and unmistakably… alive. Each and every colony has their own side quests, geography, culture, history, import needs, export specialization, intercolony relationships, politics, military strengths, technological capabilities, internal and external priorities, and so on.
This isn’t even getting into the fact that each Colony has its own Consul, along with an entirely unique set of character relationships with said Consul, the Consul’s relationship with the Colony itself, different roles, different levels of presence, different motivations- different means to which they propagate the Endless Now… All of which culminate in an entirely memorable and distinct story arc within every single Colony you come across.
Naturally, the story arcs which define these colonies all play out in VASTLY different ways for the most part. Even if a majority of them end with the final story beat of Noah smashing the Flame Clock and bringing liberation. Besides, this sort of HAD to be the case anyway. Not just for hugely important thematic purposes (revolving around the implications of intercolony unification, Ouroboros’ journey to self-discovery and purpose, etc). But also for the sake of gameplay logistics as well. After all, you wouldn’t be able to get much done in terms of exploring characters or worldbuilding within a Colony that still actively hates you and is still indoctrinated in Moebius propaganda.
Speaking of which, the Moebius-enforced “ranking” system also does a fantastic job at framing these various distinguishing factors. It often serves as a literal determinant, for example, the lower-rank colonies being undersupplied, which can cause a ton of different problems. But even in a subsurface sense, this ranking system fuels their conspiratorial edge beneath the surface via the illustrious but ultimately disingenuous Gold rank. It is through Moebius’ colony ranking system that their homogenization and depersonalization efforts are carried out. This is done to offset the perceived individuality, and thus humanity, of enemy colonies.
After all, it’s easier to buy into destroying another group for personal gain when it’s either you or them, right? That goes doubly so when, to you, the enemy is defined by just two things: A resource through which you can provide for your friends and comrades, and as a generic slate of soldiers which are defined by their Rank and the propaganda you’ve been fed on their faction. This ranking system alone effectively throws a veil of depersonalization over the enemy, and as such, plays a crucial role in maintaining soldier morale in the ongoing war.
As such, it becomes far easier for Moebius to morph the truth of what defines that colony (the laundry list of distinguishing factors which make them unique that we just went over) into whatever supports their propaganda. The way Moebius oversees soldier manipulation through propagandized “motivation” can even be roughly likened to propagandist justification of genocide in order to garner domestic support and pride. Nurturing and capitalizing on bigotry through propaganda, miscategorization of the enemy, and “slaughter as self-defense”. The methodology isn’t identical, and I’m definitely not an expert on the subject by any means. But it brought enough similarities in mind that I felt it worth mentioning.
As a final point about Moebius to end the chapter, the colony format perfectly supports their conspiracy in a pragmatic sense as well. The entire World of Aionios and all of its inhabitants (save for the nation-ambivalent City) are overseen by Moebius from within Origin. They specifically seek to lock the two factions in a war which neither could hope to win, in order to propagate the Endless Now. Therefore, it would only make sense for Moebius to provide “homogenized” colonies (in structure but also in perception through propaganda). On the surface, these colonies all serve the same purpose. They’re all manipulated into conflict through the same means. And they all receive the highly-motivating Castle aid (food, weapons, tools, ether, etc) in correspondence to their colony rank.
CHAPTER 5 - SO MANY COLONIES AAAAAAAAAA
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 3: Analysis of Colonies in XC3)
As for the specifics as broken down by colony, it’d probably be easiest to just go down the line. There is quite a lot to each colony and their respective Heroes, so getting to all of them would just be overkill. But I’ll try to hit on SOME of the colonies along with their most important and distinguishing characteristics:
Colony 9: Otherwise known as Aionios 2022 Farming Simulator. Led by Commander Zeon. This is the first colony you’ll visit properly in XC3. It’s a compact garrison surrounded by the vast Yzana Plain on all sides. Following the inexplicable disappearance of Noah, Lanz, and Eunie, the previous commander steps down, resulting in a leadership crisis. The people turn to Zeon as the most suitable candidate, but much like Bolearis of Colony 4, he and a few vocal dissenters remain hesitant in his capabilities. No, I’m not going to name any names. Cough. Cough cough.
Bolearis’ lack of confidence stems from his inability to replace his legendary predecessor Silvercoat Ethel. Especially after having been abruptly swept into the role in response to her death. Zeon of Colony 9’s lack of confidence, however, is derived from the guilt he harbors in having authorized the destruction of Colony 9’s Flame Clock. Despite the colonies’ dwindling capacity for self-subsistence being out of his control, he still takes responsibility for the outcome they’ve found themselves stuck with. His people are starving from limited rations, they lack leadership and direction, and the cliques are beginning to lean further and further towards desertion.
As such, the outset of Colony 9’s narrative is rather bleak- as most things in XC3 tend to be initially before eventually morphing into hopefully optimism. Following their collaboration with Colony Tau, Colony 9 ends up having one of the most drastic turnarounds of any colony. To the point where its later quests and community dialogue become surprisingly lighthearted and optimistic. Thanks to the insight of Yuzuriha, commander of Colony Tau, Zeon leads the effort to incorporate their growth patterns of the spongy spud, a crop native to Tau’s Maktha Highlands.
Due to the Spongy Spud’s short germination window and high yield, it completely turns Colony 9’s food shortage on its head. Along with the fact that its people actually have something to do (tending the fields), this greatly increases morale and stability. It’s a pretty simple story, but the way it encapsulates XC3’s theme of societal unification, especially since it features Kevesi/Agnian collaboration, is extremely effective. Plus, like, these two are just really fucking cute, okay? Gimme spud buds DLC right now, please and ty.
Colony Gamma: Led by Commander Shido. As the other active (living) colony within the lower Aetia Region, Colony Gamma is rather close in proximity to Colony 9. Otherwise, it’s completely different. This extends beyond the Keves/Agnus dichotomy, and is most notably distinguished by its geography and layout. Where Colony 9 is deep in the canyon of the Yzana Plains, Gamma is high in the floating autumn mountains. Despite being spread horizontally similar to 9, Gamma is far less dense, featuring a large lake and dedicated training ground for soldiers and Levnises alike. Lastly, its amber-laden trees extend far into the sky, a backdrop which is completely unlike any other Colonies’. The way Ouroboros interacts with the colony is also quite different to Colony 9. Instead of doing the work yourself, you simply instruct them on how to better protect themselves. With Colony 9, you help connect Zeon with Colony Tau, gather the farming materials, and protect the fields from monsters firsthand. In Colony Gamma, you simply help Shido in training the Gamma soldiers to better prepare them in fending for themselves.
Colony 4: Led by Commander Ethel, later Acting Commander Bolearis. It’s larger, giving off the impression that it’s more like a residential outpost than the previous two colonies. It’s smack dab in the middle of the sprawling hot Eagus Wilderness in both directions (from Millick Meadows to Ribbi Plains). As such, the colony feels far more like an intermediary or proxy zone born out of geographical necessity. This “proxy” status is further emphasized by its status smack-dab between the Agnian Colony Iota and Kevesi Colony 30, both of whom Colony 4 cooperates with as a proxy, given that Iota resents 30 from their defeat in a prior battle.
Colony 4 also marks your first exposure to the colony ranking system, as they are demoted harshly from Silver Rank (second highest, 2nd tier) to Dirt Rank (lowest, 7th tier). This demotion was a message- a response to Ethel’s refusal to kill Cammunabi in their first encounter. It’s rather admirable to see how some of the colony continues to back their commander, despite the toll her decisions have taken on their quality of life. The demotion alone forced its people to expand their hunting route into dangerous and uncomfortably distant territory, alongside stricter rationing. Their Consul support and Castle aid is scaled back considerably as a result.
Not to mention, regarding those supplies from Keves Castle (which were already far more limited in both quantity and quality), Consul K used both emotional and iris manipulation to force them into attacking Ouroboros in order to earn the supplies. And after this fails, Moebius takes this threat to its furthest extreme by involving the lives of everyone within Colony 4 via the Kevesi Annihilator. Ethel’s aforementioned “free” actions are also quite effective at priming the player for one of the game’s broader themes- the importance of free-will.
This action then comes to a head during Ethel’s dramatic final clash with Cammunabi in the Maktha Wildwood. A bit of an unrelated thought, but: The way this battle clearly parallels the battle between Bionis and Mechonis feels very pointed, if not a bit on the nose. I really dig the implications in hindsight that their “death by design” achieved through resisting Moebius is a glimpse into true causality. Naturally, the battle between Bionis and Mechonis exists within the natural flow of causality. So for this spirit to be made manifest as they craft a truly meaningful “death by design”, not to mention happening right between both Ouroboros and Moebius is fantastic. It basically serves as the “Crys Death” equivalent for Ouroboros as a whole, rather than just Noah. It strengths their resolve, prodding them to ask questions about the path they must take and the sacrifice it may require.
As one last disjointed thought: Ironically, Ethel actually saved the lives of everyone in Colony 4 by choosing to spare Cammunabi in their first bout. We learn in Eunie’s Side Story that she had a friendly rivalry (camaraderie may be more accurate, I suppose) with Colony 5’s late Commander Orsoyla. Their respective colony accolades mirrored one another to the point where their individual Rank promotions came one after the other. Considering Orsolya’s recent promotion to Gold Rank (and, well, we know what that entails) and Ethel’s demotion as a result of her refusal to kill Cammunabi, it’s safe to assume their fate would’ve soon followed. It’s a rather understated truth, but one that I really appreciated. Particularly because of how it falls comfortably in line with the game’s encouragement of defiance in the pursuit of free-will.
Colony 30: Led by Commander Yuz- uh, I mean Rudi. A haven for Levnis engineering and mechanics in general. And uh, Nopon I guess. It’s relatively compact like Colony 9, but instead of residing within green plains, Colony 30 appropriately rests atop steel girders high above a lake reservoir within a mountain range. My favorite thing about Colony 30 lies in its specification. This mechanical specification is immediately apparent from the second you step foot inside for the first time. Levnises surround the front gates and line the inner perimeter, serving as both security and commissions for adjacent colonies. That’s right, in much the same way Colony 4 serves as something of a proxy zone due to the practicality of its location, Colony 30 is a proxy due to its production and quick delivery of Levnis commissions and repairs. As such, it serves as a mobile hub which mirrors a small-scale production of the sort of thing you see later on in the Keves Castle factory.
CHAPTER 6 - THERE’S STILL HOW MANY MORE COLONIES??
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 4: Miscellaneous Colony Analysis)
So uhhhh bit of a confession here. I did plan on going into detail on ALL colonies, since they do all deserve substantial credit and a moment in the spotlight. But… I’ll be real with you, the Xenoblade wiki is kinda just straight up hot ass. It barely has anything written about XC3 whatsoever, let alone XC1/2. Not throwing shade at the contributors or anything, but there definitely isn’t enough there to serve as a jumping off point for the purposes of analysis. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the Kiseki Wiki. But still, there’s something to say about the fact that the Kiseki wiki has more written about the validity of a random Liberlian journalist's birthdate than the Xenoblade Wiki does on entire main characters. Well, anyway. Because of that, I think I’ll just quickly throw a few more miscellaneous defining factors of these colonies from memory and leave it there.
AGNIAN COLONIES: Colony Tau operated largely through self-subsistence, having adapted their own entirely distinct subculture. After liberation, its citizens migrate across the map to various other colonies in order to expand their horizons and seek out their own unique place in the world. Colony Mu’s Consul doesn’t even make them fight, and holds an incredibly unique dynamic with its people through her past life as Ichika. Similarly, the Lost Colony doesn’t fight AND is built on top of the ruins of an old Castle. Plus Nami stuff, but we’ll get to it in the Taion chapter.
KEVESI COLONIES: Colony 5 isn’t as fleshed out, other than Commander Orsoyla and Ethel being longtime friends and competitors. However, it still provided the stage for the massively important revelation of the Gold Rank conspiracy. Colony 11 has the unique honor of being a direct subsidiary of Keves Castle, as it is stationed directly next door. The accompanying unique circumstances play directly into the party’s proceeding raid on the Castle. Colony 15’s Consul T doesn’t give a flying fuck, as he’s just a demensia-ridden DILF pirate fisherman who betrays Moebius to free himself and his crew- letting them go do their thing while he goes adventuring with the party. Also, his father-daughter relationship with Fiona is the cutest shit ever conceived by humanity. No, I’m not exaggerating for the 500th time, I would never.
In short, the way these colonies are distinguished from one another is phenomenally impressive. It is admittedly true that you deal with the majority of colonies you come across in the same surface level manner. They’re often faced with similar struggles; for example, lacking resources, unsent comrades, ideological uncertainty resulting from their sudden and newfound freedom, etc. But the devil is in the details when it comes to colonies in XC3. These similarities rarely extend below the surface.
Even just aesthetically, the similarities are always just surface level. Yes, they’re all tiny military outposts built under a giant mech. Though, I’d argue that in and of itself is plenty cool and unique. But as I've just illustrated in extensive detail, each and every colony is unique in every facet. From its presentation, to its structure, to its storytelling. The game makes fantastic use of Aionios’ dynamic natural geography, situating these colonies within the varied landscapes in ways that actually make sense.
But their visual and aesthetic individuality is only ever the tip of the iceberg. Each colony tells an appropriately personal story within the confines of its walls. Some of these stories are more obvious than others, and like, Colony 30’s story for example, would have largely been possible to tell through its setting alone, though the added exposition never hurts. Through varying ratios of environmental storytelling, NPC dialogue, corresponding hero quests, and the bevy of expositorily-illuminating side quests, every single colony in XC3 has a narrative identity strong enough to coincide with its aesthetic identity. They are an absolutely perfect foundation for keeping XC3’s 200+ hour gameplay loop feeling fresh. It strikes a near-flawless balance of familiarity and structure, while also maintaining a more than satisfactory sense of individuality and mystique.
Is the phrase "Best of Both Worlds" starting to get annoying yet? Well, don’t get mad at me, but it DOES just so happen to apply here too. Not my fault that this game is so thematically consistent.
CHAPTER 7 - “WANO SYNDROME”: AIONIOS AND THE LORE DENSITY PARADOX
[Wano Syndrome, The Value of “Idea Density” vs “Idea Meticulousness”]
A bit of a warning is probably necessary for this next chapter. Compared to my other points, this is far more abstract and honestly, leans more into being a thought experiment than it does focusing solely on XC3. My thoughts on XC3 are definitely still relevant here though, but I do feel a bit of priming is necessary regardless, since this does get a bit weird. K thanks.
Next, I’d like to talk about XC3’s narrative thoroughness in conjunction with a phenomenon which I like to call “Wano Syndrome”. It’s a term I’ve coined in reference to the most recent story arc of the One Piece manga, but is surprisingly applicable to a ton of different works with similar properties. To define it as best I can:
Wano Syndrome: a phenomenon which afflicts a piece of media, causing it to be paradoxically way too fucking long and/or dense, while also somehow managing to be substantially rushed and/or underdeveloped.
[Disclaimer: I make vague mention of things from various games in this next paragraph, though nothing is explicitly mentioned by means of spoilers. But in case you’re someone who wants to be 100% blind going into a specific game, skip ahead if you see a game title this pertains to.]
To give a few more examples outside these two works, to help better illustrate what exactly qualifies as “Wano Syndrome”: I’d be willing to apply it to the following works:
-Trails of Cold Steel IV (lacking background/narrative focus on the Ironbloods, the War of The Lions, the children of Valius Reise Arnor V, Ishmelga’s origins, etc.)
-Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk (underdeveloped settings aside from Refrain itself, lacking buildup and characterization of the new endgame cast members)
-Fire Emblem: Three Houses (idk gimme more political shit)
-La Pucelle Tactics (worldbuilding, church history, more flashbacks)
-Ys Origin (Kingdom of Ys detail, Priests, Fact Family/Clan of Darkness)
-Märchen Forest (more background on the Castle / outside the Forest, more slice of life outside the prologue)
-Live a Live (finale party interaction and unique skill utilization, generally lacking depth outside the immediately pertinent and bare-bones main plot- even if its brevity was probably intentional)
-Shin Megami Tensei V (lacking detail and background on Tokyo’s ruin, characterization of the Bethel branch leaders).
So yeah, it’s clearly not one specific thing which defines Wano Syndrome, so hopefully these examples better illustrate what I’m referring to here. I’m not even saying all of these points can be inherently considered “flaws” to begin with, rather, things I enjoyed enough to wish there were more of. But for the sake of the argument and for brevity (Queen knows this review needs more of it), let’s just call them shortcomings for now. Nearly all of these issues are relatively major shortcomings for examples of media which place great emphasis on painting dense and well-developed worlds. And yet, what I find fascinating about “Wano Syndrome” is that it seems to be present ONLY in media I have considerable narrative investment within despite these shortcomings. In other words, while “Wano Syndrome” is at its core a wholly negative affliction, I’ve only found examples of it exclusively within games I don’t just enjoy, but LOVE.
By now, I do think I’ve done a decent job explaining what sort of media I’d consider worthy of the “Wano Syndrome” moniker, but here’s one more analogy that takes media out of the equation entirely. Think of this comparison in terms of paintings. Just uh, keep in mind I don’t know shit about paintings. Anyway, Painting A is a photorealistic landscape painting- hell, if this is too generic, let’s use the Mona Lisa. All the theoretical detail is right there for you to see, it’s mechanically sound, and technically speaking, it’s highly impressive to the point of perhaps even being “flawless” to some. Personally, outside its mysterious history of theft, I find it boring as shit.
Painting B, on the other hand, is a surrealist landscape- let’s use the Persistence of Time if you’d prefer a real example (I know, two of the most normcore paintings of all time. I warned yall). It’s obviously rather abstract, to the point whereupon one’s initial viewing, its thematic depth might be too ambiguous to be immediately communicable. But given the proper engagement, there’s a lot more density and value one can glean from observing it, no matter if you ever “truly understand” the entire breadth of the painting’s meaning or intent in the end. Now, “Wano Syndrome” applies more to a work’s density of ideas and the meticulousness by which they’re explored, but there’s a comparable sentiment to be considered here.
Compared to the painting example, the ambiguity of these game examples are a bit more of an objective shortcoming, as the depth that IS there simply isn’t as thorough as it could’ve been. But the biggest takeaway I’d like you to absorb from this explanation is this: XC3 made me realize that the “objective” shortcoming of this aforementioned ambiguity might not be a bad thing whatsoever.
I know this chapter probably feels a bit abstract even now, but please, bear with me a bit longer as I break down its significance. By now, you’re probably asking: why is this important? Well, as I just alluded to, XC3 was THE single game which I feel helped me better understand the implications of “Wano Syndrome”- more so than any other piece of media I’ve ever experienced. It single-handedly provided me with a revelation that this shortcoming has virtually no negative bearing on how much I will end up enjoying or resonating with a fictional world as a whole.
In a vacuum, XC3’s worldbuilding proved thoroughly lackluster through its absence of meticulously detailed / organized concepts, character backgrounds, and so on. Admittedly, the ambiguity in character writing is where this shortcoming is felt most negatively. But even in spite of this, I can probably count on one hand the number of fictional worlds I’ve found myself more overall enthralled and invested in than XC3’s Aionios: Its fascinatingly unique world concepts, weird approach to continuity and interconnectivity, the sheer quantity and density of its countless compelling plot threads, the worldbuilding which spans more than two dozen unique settlements under two diametrically opposed banners, a mysterious organization of conceptually vague antagonists, the direct political intrigue of Swordmarch City via the Six Houses and their respective Founders, the indirect political intrigue found in the composition of Keves and Agnus’ castle/colony structure, the interlaced threads of narrative and theming found in every seam of the game’s design… I could keep going, but you get the point. It’s irrefutable that just about every aspect of XC3’s world and narrative are criminally undercooked or left out of the spotlight entirely. Yet, in spite of each facet of XC3’s construction falling short of what it theoretically could’ve been, it still manages to be unrelentingly compelling and enthralling from the strength and density of its ideas alone.
Naturally, the first takeaway from exploring this idea of “Wano Syndrome'' would be that narratives which are large in scope and meticulously detailed resonate deeply with ME specifically. Well, yeah, that much is obvious and not particularly helpful in a more broad sense. I’ll often still resonate with art which prioritizes these goals. Even when it definitively fails in living up to the level of thoroughness which it could theoretically have achieved. More importantly, though, I don’t think this is just a result of my own personal taste- rather, it’s more of a baseline truth than one might expect.
Put simply, this shortcoming might not be an inherent negative. Consider the nature of mystique and the ongoing narrative examination which stems from this form of ambiguity. One could reasonably conclude that, by taking “Wano Syndrome” to its logical extreme, an afflicted work’s own shortcoming can paradoxically work in its own favor through this ambiguity rather than against it.
…Still with me? I know that was hella weird and probably the closest I’ll come to incomprehensible rambling. Don’t worry, none of the other chapters are like this. I think.
CHAPTER 8 - HOLDIN OUT FOR A HERO (QUEST)
[Heroes, Ascension Quests, Side Quests]
Although XC3’s major story beats do hit the mark near universally, there are several points where things felt decidedly rushed. Aside from the brevity of Chapters 6 and 7, the one area I felt this most clearly was in the Hero characters’ “Main Story” involvement. The early game especially was the biggest culprit of this. I would’ve been hugely appreciative of Ouroboros getting more time to spend with Ethel. But immediately after her Hero Quest, she fucks off to the Castle and later dies before getting a chance to rejoin. This really minimized her potential for relationship building (especially among the three Agnians, who only knew of her prior through battle rumors). The Kevesi party’s attachment to her did provide some emotional weight to her death scene. But given that most of our time interacting with Ethel is as an antagonist under the influence of Consul K’s iris manipulation, there wasn’t enough time to develop a true emotional attachment to her character in the way our party, particularly Noah, had.
Isurugi’s early game stuff flew by way too quickly as well, and for similar reasons. The iris manipulation poised him as an antagonist for most of his involvement in the “main story”. He is then immediately punted to the sidelines once Consul J reveals himself to be Joran. Not only did this lack of screentime and focus harm Isurugi’s character, but Taion’s by proxy. I do feel Taion’s character eventually got the satisfaction it needed through his Side Story. However, because of Isurugi’s guilt for the role he played in supporting Nami’s dream to see the world, an act which led to her eventual death, he keeps himself out of her new life in the Lost Colony. This does feel appropriate in terms of his character and their history. Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t do him any favors in terms of providing him with the screen time he desperately needed (and deserved, frankly).
This probably would’ve been less egregious if Isurugi’s own ascension quest was more character driven, but it just wasn’t. Well, at least for him specifically, anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I love this quest. It not only does a great job at providing much-needed levity before the bombastic climax against Z, but it highlights the growth of Ouroboros’ quite brilliantly.
Think back to the “clothes changing scene” at Gura Flava when the group first came together as Ouroboros. They feel shame over their newfound knowledge, but do not understand why (this will be more important and expounded upon later on). But in this scene, after having traveled together and in some cases fallen in love (not to mention learning what sex is), they are entirely cognizant of why stripping down would lead them to becoming flustered around one another. On the surface, one could brush this off as tropey fanservice. But as the game bluntly hits you over the face with during the initial bathhouse scene in Chapter 1, that is never the case. This scene, without any dialogue to directly suggest as much, illustrates their growth as a family, their growing romantic bonds, and most importantly, their growing humanity; all of which come full circle in this scene despite its unassuming simplicity.
I know Monolith Soft was probably hesitant to make any more of the side content mandatory, given the fact that the game is already so incredibly long. But I really do wish that heroes were made Mandatory. It might sound like a rather arbitrary thing to suggest, but it would only serve to benefit their corresponding relationships, scenes, and interactions. By not having to account for the players who might not yet have a specific hero in their arsenal, more pre rendered cutscenes and main-story dialogue could’ve incorporated various heroes in order to provide them with more screentime and interactions amongst each other. Think of Rudi’s partnership with Isurugi and Nina, Zeon and Yuzuriha’s (absolutely blessed) bond, Monica and Gray’s mutual trust and respect, Miyabi’s apprenticeship under Manana, and the budding camaraderie between Triton and (his adopted daughter idc) Fiona. These are great, but I would’ve loved to see more relationships in this vein.
Similarly to both Ethel and Isurugi, the sheer number of supporting characters and their respective plot threads lead to quite a few major plot beats getting shafted. Joran is another strong example of this, though I didn’t feel his character was impacted as substantially as the former two. I was invested in Joran’s character arc from the moment of the initial reveal, especially since it formed a compelling and surprisingly sensitive foundation for Lanz’ character arc. But by the time his emotional payoff came to fruition at the Cloudkeep in Chapter 6 (despite being a phenomenal scene in hindsight) it didn’t quite hit as hard since, well… I hadn't seen Joran more than once or twice in the past 75 hours.
Beyond these three, I’d say this applies to Cammunabi (alright he and Ethel kinda get a pass for having literally been dead), Monica, Ghondor, and Ashera to name a few. I'm not saying ALL of these characters needed more, as I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. But more scenes of just about any sort- be they dramatic or casual party interactions, anything would’ve been welcome. Hell, I'd even take the Chrono Cross approach of “your chosen party member will say the same sort of generic thing regardless of who it is during cutscenes” cheap shot. Plus, it’s not like they couldn’t throw some flavor text in their given how many fewer party members this game has compared to Chrono Cross. Anyway, the point is that seeing Ethel stand around in the background while the entire game goes on like she isn’t there just… doesn’t sit well with me.
To speak generally about the sidequests in this game for a bit: They’re incomparably better and more interesting than the side quests of prior Xenoblade games. Like holy shit. Here's a completely random example of a XC3 quest premise I've pulled straight out of my ass: Some Swordmarch City Lost Numbers rando wants to propose to his rich gf with a literal rock from a distant island because it's shiny or whatever. So he’s training to swim 10 straight days to reach it. He then asked the resident furby for advice on endurance training, who recommended repeatedly jumping off a 3rd story balcony. Sounds like a hell of an outlier, right? Well, not really, actually. This is one of the most irrelevant and straightforward fetch quests in the whole game. Yet, even something THIS pointless still gets some weirdo shit thrown on top of it to make it genuinely fun and worth your time.
Perhaps my single biggest disappointment in terms of character writing was the lack of proper ascension quests for the dead duo. Er, the dynamic.. defiant… dead… fuck it, Ethel and Cammunabi. To be fair, Cammunabi KINDA got something resembling a substantial conclusion, I guess? But Ethel really didn’t get anything other than a quick cutscene or two. Her revival and maturation should’ve been a HUGE deal, when in reality, it ended up feeling more like a gameplay bonus than a proper story beat.
While it’s certainly a very welcome gameplay bonus, I was a bit let down that her job rank immediately shot to 20 without getting any sort of quest upon rejoining the party. Even if it was just something basic or lighthearted to make up for lost time and catch her up to speed with everything that transpired in her absence. Though, I definitely do concede that looking back and telling her EVERYTHING would be thematically counterproductive. The game constantly pushes a core principle of “never looking back”- a fact which is very consistently upheld through these revivals.
For example, Taion never explains everything to Nami, nor does Isurugi ever come to visit and talk to her for his own satisfaction and resolution. Garvel and his crew DO go back to the original colony eventually, but it’s never strictly to return to their old lives. Miyabi, despite her partial understanding of past events, moves on with her new life by taking on responsibilities as a Lost Number and general member of society within Swordmarch City. Mwamba and Hackt are uh… there, I guess? Kinda, but not really? Can’t say it isn’t in-character for them…
Likewise, Ethel and Cammunabi are committed to using their new lives to look straight ahead to the future. Ethel’s conviction with this goal is particularly compelling. She actively chose to shorten her own lifespan and sacrifice a potentially safe and peaceful life within the City just so she could contribute to the party and look after herself- rather than shackling someone else to do so on her behalf. Again, this conclusion to her arc was INSANELY brief to the point where it’s basically just a footnote. Still though, the substance behind this abrupt conclusion to her character is more than adequate in terms of thematic and emotional weight.
And with that, we can finally move on to the main cast of XC3- Ouroboros. I don’t want to drag this much further, but I will preemptively say that this is easily one of my favorite casts of main characters in any piece of fiction, period. The diversity, the interactions, the growth, Ouroboros has all of it in spades. A huge contributing factor of this is the change in approach to party assembly. Whereas in prior Xenoblade games, you’d slowly assemble a party over the course of most of the main quest, your main party in XC3 is complete about 1% into the game. It might seem anticlimactic, but this massively beneficial towards your growing attachment to them as a set group, it gives each of them time to breathe and be given individual focus, and more.
Not to mention, on the flip side, all six of their character arcs persist throughout the entirety of the game. No more “you got your time to shine, now chill in the back of every cutscene for the last 60 hours” garbage. Each one of them sees gradual growth from beginning to end, never once losing their personal stake in the ongoing narrative. Plus, while getting the entire party at once might appear to have its own set of drawbacks, the Hero system covers its weaknesses beautifully. It allows the party to still “grow” in numbers, and aside from the fact you can’t control them, it does a wonderful job of substituting in for the standard sense of party progression that would have been otherwise lost entirely.
If I had to provide one gripe as to the main cast, it would be their lack of upbringing diversity. I mean, this was inevitable considering the careful deliberation of the world through Moebius’ conspiratorial colony system. The homogenization IS definitely intentional. That said, in comparison to XC2 especially, where characters like Vandham, Morag, and Zeke provided such a dynamic range of experience, maturity, and backgrounds, it’s only natural that this approach would feel a bit flat by comparison. Though the heroes provide a ton of variety, thankfully. Aside from that… I literally have nothing else but the highest praise for Ouroboros. They’re excellent, plain and simple. With that said, let’s tackle them one at a time and get to the heart of why this group is so goddamn special.
(continued in comments lmao)
THE ORIGIN OF TOMORROW: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3
Aionios (Greek: aionioß) · without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be · "Without end, never ceasing, eternal". [you know, sort of like this review]
From the outset of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, director Tetsuya Takahashi, and more broadly the entire Monolith Soft team, set out with the express intent of merging the "Best of Both Worlds" of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Funnily enough, though, in their attempt to assimilate the strengths of these two titles, which are similarly beloved but in very different ways, they veer in an entirely new direction which ends up forgoing much of the appeal from both of those games. An appeal, might I add, which is sure to fall short for certain sections of the Xenoblade fanbase, if not inherently because of its nature as an "artistic compromise". This is particularly true for the fans who are diehards of ONE specific Xenoblade title rather than both, regardless of if it’s for XC1 or XC2.
So, while XC3 can certainly be defined as a “union” of these two past games, it might be more useful to instead contextualize this union through one of a few distinct analogies. Think of XC3 as a chemical reaction of sorts. XC1 and XC2 are like chemical compounds, each with their own makeup which determine their unique appeal and merit. But through the Merge, the in-game union and catalyst which led to the creation of the world setting and subsequent narrative of XC3, those starting compounds were rearranged beyond recognition.
Second, it may be helpful to liken the union of these two games to conception. XC1 and XC2 are like the parents, which joined together to birth the child that is XC3. This offspring might be entirely composed of the genetic material of its parents. However, the rearrangement of their properties, not to mention the inherently unique circumstances of their existence, instead birthed something completely new; a game which carved out an entirely distinct niche in practicality.
Third, to relate this union to in-game terminology, you can even liken the existence of XC3 to an Interlink between XC1 and XC2. Two worlds being drawn ever closer together by their opposing attraction and narrative longing. In combat terms, this is represented by two members of Ouroboros combining to fill an entirely new role than either the Kevesi or Agnian member held prior.
Well, regardless of how you choose to look at this Merge, either literally or symbolically, the same truth remains. The end product may bear external resemblance to its predecessors, but the end result is different enough in practicality to have a predominantly unique appeal. Alongside this uniquely emerging appeal, however, has come a slew of issues, both major and minor. Many consider XC3’s villains who uphold their newfound status quo to be dull, underwritten, and sometimes even outright bad. Hell, you can even justifiably debate whether the main antagonist is a character or not to begin with. Even as someone who has massive respect for what they tried to do with Z as a villain (and succeeded in doing, I should clarify), I’m not gonna sit here and pretend Z has the same level of sauce as the likes of Egil and Malos.
Another predominant issue which arose from this Merge is that there is an ungodly amount of shit going on in XC3. And unfortunately, no matter how you look at it, the vast majority of that content and the ideas it presents feel undercooked. There are two games worth (hell, even THREE games worth if we’re counting the potential for expansion through a prequel) of ideas here. Two or three games worth of shit all “Merged” into one conglomerate. Even after a 250 hour playthrough, extensive research, and discussion with friends about the deeper lore, I’ve come out of XC3 with more questions than I came in with.
There is little point arguing that XC3 falls well short of what it could have achieved, particularly with its worldbuilding. Not just as a unique piece of art on its own merits, but as an idealized union of its predecessors. Hell, I don't even like XC1 or XC2 that much anyway. So what does this say about the “missed opportunities incarnate” that is XC3? This can't possibly bode well for a game that exists as an artistically homogenized conglomerate of two games I don't even like that much to begin with?
Well, you saw the rating. I’ll drop the facade: Against all odds, this is one of my absolute favorite games ever.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is one of the most ambitious, emotionally poignant, and thematically layered pieces of art I have ever experienced. Those criticisms I just called attention to were not hyperbole for the sake of misdirection. I won’t deny any of them, nor can you even really dispute them at all, for the most part. But despite the thousand different ways this game can be considered a majestic fuckup, it still manages to be pure magic from beginning to end. It single-handedly revitalized (and exponentially grew) my enthusiasm for a franchise that I’ve desperately tried to love for nearly ten years but never remotely have. Never, until now.
Also, interestingly enough, this game is... kind of ass. Like, more so than the previous two. But, if anything, that only further serves to make how strong my feelings are about what this game set out to do, and ended up achieving, all the more impressive.
As we approach the beginning of the analysis itself, I’d like to repeat my warning one more time. XC3 surprised me in ways I didn’t think possible. I really would recommend giving it a try for yourself before continuing. But if you’d rather just let me try to sell you on it, that’s cool too, I guess: So, one last time: Spoiler warning. Length warning. Really, I’m not stressing this again for nothing. This introduction might SEEM like overkill, but comparatively, it’s nothing. We haven’t even gotten started yet. If you intend on reading further, I’d recommend searching up one of the 10,000 generic “Relaxing Xenoblade Music” compilations or whatever on YouTube. They're all exactly the same. There is so much to say that I have no choice but to gush and rant about this game--for what will probably take hours to read. Whether I want it to be or not, communicating my feelings about this game is a utterly massive undertaking. And, considering how important it is to me as a piece of art, its MANY flaws and all, I can’t in good faith make any major compromises.
I’m completely aware that a text review of THIS scope inherently limits the audience of people interested in hearing me out to like… two people?? That said, I’d be appreciative of any Xenoblade fans or, again, people who just don’t give a shit about having the game spoiled for them to come along for the ride. This goes double for those who were let down by XC3, because I intend to explore ways in which this game can be seen as both a resounding, and yet gloriously human, failure. I know it’s a hell of a lot to ask, so again, feel free to skip around to whatever chapter’s material catches your eye the most.
Lastly, please do keep in mind that my intentions with the more analytical and worldbuilding-centric chapters were never to unearth mind-shattering revelations about the lore that have never been brought up before now. I’m far from a seasoned theorycrafter, and my limited knowledge on the Xeno games outside the trilogy doesn’t help. But at the very least, I hope to contribute to the conversation with my own perspective, perhaps sharing some manner of unique insight for you to consider along the way.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 means the world to me, and I never for a second saw it coming. Hopefully, by the end of this review, I can convince you to feel the same.
CHAPTER 0: ORIGIN (mine, not the big black robot egg thing)
(Preface, My History and Experience with Xenoblade Chronicles)
I guess I’ll begin with a quick rundown of my history with the franchise, since I do think this context from which my thoughts are coming from is important. But if you really couldn’t care less and just want the analysis, go ahead and skip to Chapter 1.
Anyway, I have not played Xenogears nor the Xenosaga trilogy (though I did manage to snag episode 3 on eBay recently, so… soon™). However, I have played the directly relevant Xenoblade Chronicles titles. So, XC1, 2, and now 3 (not X yet either sadly, though it does look insanely rad. That Hiroyuki Sawano OST tho). This is important since, from what I’ve gathered, XC3 does harken back to imagery and builds on concepts explored as far back as Xenogears. As such, I won’t be commenting on those much, if at all, here. This essay will be almost entirely focused on XC3 and XC3 alone. Even continuity stuff will be primarily glossed over.
As for my history with XC1/2, I’ll keep my thoughts on them to just this one section. Frankly, I don’t think my thoughts on either game are unique enough to merit talking about at length. Long story short: I’ve always considered Xenoblade to be pretty decent, but have never considered myself to give any sort of shit about the franchise in a serious way. Well, certainly not to the extent everyone else has always seemed to for either XC1 or XC2. I do distinctly remember XC1 grabbing me early on, and overall continued to far more than XC2 did for the majority of its runtime. Between its diverse world setting and legendary soundtrack, you’d be hard-pressed to argue how impressive or important of a game the original Xenoblade Chronicles was.
But in terms of its narrative? I genuinely feel like the coolest thing about the “narrative” of XC1 (if you can even call it that) was the story of Operation Rainfall. That shit rules. In terms of the REAL story, the character writing and design (for everyone not named Melia), its combat/gameplay loop, and my simple absence of emotional investment... I was pretty bummed to realize that XC1 didn’t quite do it for me. At least not the way it seems to for most other players. It’s the sort of game I had the most fun with when I was just wandering around, exploring its massive environments and getting lost in the field music. Like, rather than actually playing the game.
XC2 moved even further away from the sort of thing I vibe with. It did have the same aforementioned strengths as XC1, hell I’d even consider 2’s soundtrack more dynamic and consistent than 1’s, probably. But again, I noticed my long term enthusiasm for the series slowly diminishing through just about every other aspect of XC2; from major issues like its impressively lethargic combat/questing/gameplay loop, to countless minor issues. Just to name the first of my basic bitch complaints which come to mind: Rex’s salvager outfit having been carefully crafted by a team of elite scientists in order to create bitchlessness incarnate. No, the irony of assessing Rex this way is not lost on me after having finished XC3. Yes, we will talk about it a bit later.
Leading up to the release of XC3, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to bother buying it to begin with. I had trouble justifying such a huge time commitment for yet another entry in a series I’ve never been particularly fond of. My interest in Xenoblade had only continued to wane over time, to the point where I completely passed up on XC2’s various DLC updates, the XC2 Torna the Golden Country expansion game, as well as XC1 Definitive Edition’s new “Future Connected” epilogue game. However, after playing XC3, my view of the franchise has completely flipped on its head. The Xeno Series has, seemingly out of nowhere, established itself among those whose futures I find myself most enthusiastic about.
Well, in a roundabout way, I guess. It’s clear this is the swan song for Takahashi’s vision and the current saga’s ongoing narrative. So ironically, it only really succeeded at hyping me up for Takashi’s previous works, namely Xenogears and Xenosaga. I’ll 100% be playing both of these in the near future. But the ACTUAL future of the franchise is now entirely left up in the air once again. But, well, if you’ve played XC3, you’ve probably immediately realized why this is so incredibly fitting. An endless unknown, a future you largely cannot control or even predict; this is what XC3 says is worth fighting for.
Fighting to live- rather than to stagnate. Living to fight- rather than submitting to fearful contentment.
With that out of the way, let’s start talking about that one funni British anime shōnen game I actually DO give a fuck about.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
CHAPTER 1 - THE ENDLESS NOW: FIGHT TO LIVE, LIVE TO FIGHT
(Initial thoughts, Opening Cinematic, and Preliminary Themes)
“Fighting in order to live. And living to fight. That's the way of our world, Aionios. Cruel irony that it should mean "eternity". Because slowly but surely, our world is now dying. Even though we have yet to realize that fact." -Noah, Chapter 1
SUBSECTION 1: QUALITY OF LIFE
I know this review has already had a TON of framing, already, but we’re getting there, trust me. Anyway, let me just get my absolute first impressions out of the way before getting to the meat of the game itself. From the first moments I booted up Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I was repeatedly hit with pangs of hope to believe that this game might resonate with me the way I always hoped prior entries would. This actually started before I even began the game through its various quality of life options available in the menu. Yes, starting the first chapter by reviewing the options is thrilling, I know. It’ll be quick, just humor me. A hard difficulty setting was available right out of the gates, unlike in the original releases of XC1 and XC2. It gives you the option to review tutorials on literally any of the game’s hundreds of mechanics / systems, even going so far as to provide drills for the most important ones (i.e. combos, interlinking, chain attacks etc.) to ensure a thorough understanding of how they function. It might sound trivial, but if you played XC2 completely blind like I did, you know damn well just how stark a contrast this is.
But perhaps most importantly, to me at least, it gives you the ability to turn off the minimap and various HUD elements out the door. For a huge, modern JRPG release, this is a surprisingly rare consideration. Considering how big and open Xenoblade games are, this feature alone was an easy way to win me over before even starting a new game. When I play a game that emphasizes scope and exploration, I prefer to use my eyes to do so, rather than having them glued to the corner of my screen as I stare unblinkingly at a smol yellow arrow. I’m not sure why this is even remotely debatable, but for those who do enjoy that sort of thing, more power to ya, really. At least you’ll be able to play Dragon Quest XI without the burning urge to tape a circular piece of cardboard to the bottom-left corner of your TV. Anyway, once I booted up the game proper, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 grabbed me by the balls and seldom let go for the next 250 or so hours I spent within the world of Aionios.
SUBSECTION 2: THE OPENING CINEMATIC OF XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 3
Let’s start from the very beginning: Despite having zero context or explicit knowledge about the greater significance of this game’s opening cutscene, the abrupt time-stop and aggressively cryptic merge sequence that followed had my stomach-churning from the intensity of its visual presentation and sound design alone. Likewise, it had my mind churning in a desperate attempt to make any semblance of sense out of it. What was I watching? What did it mean? At that moment, just as Noah was, I was utterly helpless; incapable of anything beyond paralyzed, yet conscious, bewilderment.
The battle between Colony 9 and Colony Sigma immediately follows. This sequence only pressed harder on the gas, intriguing me further about the nature and machinations of Aionios (yes, the word choice reflecting XC1’s titans here was deliberate. No, there isn’t any huge meaning behind it, I just thought it was cute). The parallels to XC1’s iconic opening battle were effective at initially grabbing your attention, to be sure. However, what really kept me intrigued here was the incessantly bleak tone which leaked from every orifice of XC3’s opening cinematic. The battle takes place on Torchlight Hill, a commonplace battleground found on the Aetia Region’s Everblight Plain. A sprawling, yet decidedly lifeless, landscape. Nothing but brown, rocky terrain as far as the eye can see. The only thing lining its surface which resembled life was a sea of Kevesi and Agnian husks- corpses. Hundreds of soldiers, belonging to the diametrically opposed forces of Keves and Agnus, both of which run across the length of this barren land, paved with bodies, to clash at the battlefield’s center. Fighting to live. Living to fight. From the moment you hear this phrase, you as the player are indoctrinated into the conspiracy which is the Endless Now. A phrase which loops back onto itself evermore, like a Moebius strip. No beginning, no end, just continually looping for eternity. From the first time you hear this phrase, you are keyed in to what constitutes the entire thematic crux of XC3’s 250-hour journey: The Endless Now.
SUBSECTION 3: FERRONIS, STEEL GOD OF THE BATTLEFIELD
Of perhaps greater significance than the soldiers themselves, in hindsight, was the overwhelming presence of the two colonies’ respective Ferronises. A Ferronis is a mobile assault weapon which doubles as a shelter for each colony. Just as fallen soldier husks lay below the feet of their surviving comrades, those same surviving soldiers lay at the feet of the warring colonies’ Ferronises. These two giant hulking steel masses were, on the surface, the ultimate prize for the opposing colony, as the Ferronis is what holds the Flame Clock, along with all the opposing colonies’ life force housed within it. Thematically, though, the Ferronises serve to sow yet another seed within the player. They depict how, in the grand scheme of the Moebius conspiracy, these soldiers’ capabilities and contributions are explicitly predetermined and more importantly, utterly superfluous to the greater conflict. They don’t shy away from this fact, either. It’s made apparent from the start, as we see the Ferronises make their way across the battlefield, crushing countless bodies beneath their feet. Like a two-ton truck driving over a patch of earthworms.
Their presence, both literally and symbolically, completely tramples the individual soldier’s personal resolve and abilities. Whether they’re driven by motivation from the military ambition upon which they were raised and trained to uphold. Their brainwashed bigotry from Moebius-orchestrated propaganda. Or even their burning desire to avenge their fallen comrades. An individual soldier’s capacity for impacting the war is inherently dwarfed by that of a single Ferronis. Dwarfed to the point where their efforts might as well not exist to begin with. Each soldier is likely no bigger than a single bolt on these steel monstrosities. Not even the entirety of their most elite squadrons could hope to match the sheer firepower of a single blast from one of the Ferronis’ various weapon installations. And yet, both sides were unwavering in their pursuit of bloodshed- all to feed the ever-draining Flame Clock.
The name Ferronis (Japanese: 鉄巨神, Tetsu Kyoshin, lit. Iron Giant God) reflects both that of the Bionis (Japanese: 巨神, Kyoshin, lit. Giant God) and the Titans of Alrest (Japanese: 巨神獣, Kyoshin-jū, lit. Giant Divine Beasts). It’s clear that Moebius’ propaganda even bleeds into their naming conventions- at least in the original script. There is even evidence to back up the literal intent behind these names, given the nature of Origin as an archive of the two World’s pre-Merge data. This further emphasizes the machines’ overpowering significance, by comparing them to Gods. Gods which control the battlefield which happens to be occupied by the soldiers, who are naught but superfluous pawns in comparison.
This also serves to tie the Ferronises under that banner of “a product which embodies the best of both worlds”. Keep in mind that both Agnian and Kevesi Ferronises are later revealed to be constructed in the exact same facilities within Origin. Origin, of course, is a facility whose inception crossed multiple dimensions; an arc that quite literally sought to preserve the best both worlds had to offer. With the Queen of Keves Melia falling captive to Z, the progenitor of Moebius, the mechanical prowise and wisdom of both worlds has fallen entirely into their hands.
SUBSECTION 4: FERRONIS, LENS AND PROXY OF MOEBIUS
Because of this, it’s easy to extrapolate these Ferronises as the concept of Moebius themselves, carrying out their will on the front lines of battle. Because the soldiers’ efforts are largely individualized, it’s important that they’re dwarfed in comparison by something Moebius can maintain direct control over. In this sense, think of the Ferronis as the “Great Equalizer”, ensuring the Endless Now remains in perfect balance on the front lines. There are other means through which Moebius makes sure this is accomplished, like the intermediary of Colony 0, but more on that later.
Anyway, the Ferronises are Gods towering over the pawns which comprise both Keves and Agnus, watching them struggle in vain as they continue to propagate Moebius’ very own Endless Now. It’s an impressive personification of two of XC3’s most prominent themes. Not only does it reflect the individual soldier’s bleak powerlessness in this opening cutscene, but Moebius adds insult to injury in doing so through the “slice of godhood” known as Ferronises. They stand as an aggregate product of Origin, both of which are later discovered to be Ouroboros’ single beacon of hope (by proxy of Flame Clock liberation, and later, reclaiming and resetting the interdimensional ark). But during this opening cutscene, these Ferronises are the very embodiment of overpowering hopelessness. What was intended as the Queen’s own beacon of hope is now being used against them. To trivialize their individual efforts and keep them in check as they unknowingly play into the hand of Moebius’ continued prosperity.
They act as enslaved chess pieces subject to the whims of intelligent and tyrannical superiors (seen thru Consuls literally playing chess while sippin life juice). Keves and Agnus soldiers alike carried out the one and only act they’ve ever known. The act they were born to carry out. Were indoctrinated in through textbook propaganda to carry out. Were trained in the art of war to carry out. And eventually, were encoded to instinctually carry out- by what they falsely presumed to be their own free will: Fight to live, live to fight.
SUBSECTION 5: A POINT IN TIME, A THEMATIC MICROCOSM
In all honesty, this battle between Keves and Agnus can be viewed as a microcosm for the entirety of the conspiratorial conflict as orchestrated by Moebius. It even fits as such beyond this illusion of free will and trivial value depicted through the individual soldier. This battle is portrayed by the soldiers as an intense, high-stakes fight to protect the lives of themselves and their loved ones. And while this might be true on the surface, after looking back on this scene in hindsight, XC3 makes it abundantly clear that their struggle was utterly meaningless.
Each and every life lost in this battle would just be reborn to continue carrying out the cycle. Perhaps more importantly, this entire battle, despite resulting in the demise of ENTIRE colony through Colony Sigma, it was just one of the countless battles that took place on this exact strip of land. Not to mention, the one example of prior Everblight Plain battle records we’re explicitly given details how Shido, then known as All-Slayer Oleg, led Colony Chi single-handedly in the brutal onslaught of an entire Kevesi colony before the events of the game. Considering the long-term ramifications of this battle, even beyond the destruction of an entire colony, it’s clear that the battle between Colony 9 and Colony Sigma wasn’t even among the most important battles in this ONE specific battlefield. This fact only further drives home the futility radiating from every shot and line from this opening sequence. None of it meant a thing. Ironically, this is what made it so meaningful- through its thematic poignancy alone.
This bleak tone even doubles back onto that very first scene, which portrays the Merge through the eyes of Noah. Time quite literally stopped around him, a fact he was cognizant of given that he managed to resist the time-freeze for a few seconds beyond everything else. There was no one to ask for help, no one to explain to him what was happening. There was no means by which the young Noah could interfere personally. He was an ordinary child, standing there helplessly as he witnessed the literal apocalypse. Not just the destruction of his World of Bionis, but both Worlds. It goes without saying that, in a situation like this, ignorance is bliss. In this sense, it could even be viewed as an uncharitable argument IN FAVOR of the Endless Now. After all, freezing time indefinitely was the only was to avoid the horror and destruction that would arise from the impact of the Merge.
Anyway, Noah’s persisting sentience only served to further instill him with utter helplessness. The explicit meaning or ramifications of this scene aren’t made apparent to Noah nor the player until right near the end of the game. However, this does explain why these two scenes work so well in tandem in and of itself. It’s no wonder they were so effective in eliciting an intense response of discomfort even upon my first viewing, even if it was entirely instinctual or subconscious.
SUBSECTION 6: A TRIUMPH IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Even outside the overflowing thematic importance which this opening scene establishes, it’s just phenomenally well put together in every regard (well, aside from the combat tutorial which babies you into submission as you wait 20 seconds for each of Noah’s arts to recharge). The way these scenes flow into one another symbolically (but also literally, through the interspersed bits of gameplay) is just… incredible. The way it illustrates that oppressively bleak tone in a way that completely overpowers the surface level action and intensity of war felt reminiscent of the opening to Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga. Just, yknow, without the cheesy Matrix bullshit (I say this as endearingly as possible btw, that shit rules).
But yeah, I’ll probably say it five more times over the course of this review, but this game is unbelievably cinematic from beginning to end. It was pretty early into the game that I first made the claim that this is the single most cinematic JRPG ever created. By the time you get to Chapter 5’s 1-2 straight hours of cutscenes, which bring you all the way from the abyss of despair to the soaring heights of triumphant catharsis, there’s little debating it in my mind.
The sheer awe generated from these cutscenes isn’t a remotely uncommon experience, either. Every single chapter’s big cinematic moments had me enthralled in some way or another. The directing, the voice performances (both EN and JP), the action choreography, the weight, the expressiveness, the tension and intrigue of its most cryptic mysteries, the countless pieces of accompanying music… It’s the best of the best, no question. I could list specific moments, but I’m sure they’ve already popped into your head by this point anyway. XC3’s main story is aggressively memorable. And this opening cinematic is only the tip of the iceberg in that regard. I know that generally, the characters do a lot of the heavy lifting in that regard. But it’s accomplished in no small part due to phenomenal cutscene direction and cinematic atmosphere, both of which help it live up to the lofty ambition of its premise and themes.
CHAPTER 2 - The Triumphant Return of Dresspheres, Tokusatsu-tinged Bullshit, and Gloriously Overstimulating Chaos
(Combat, Job System, Customization, and Role Definition)
The combat in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is bafflingly awesome. Who knew all it’d take for Xenoblade to have actual fun gameplay would be to rip off Final Fantasy X-2’s fashion-dictated class system and to ditch the Skells in favor of Interlink, an amalgamation of Digital Devil Saga transformation, pseudosexual fusion dance, and Tokusatsu? Much like XC1/2, the game still LARPs as both an MMO (main combat) and a turn-based game (chain attacks). Yet, in a complete turnaround from those two whose combat actively annoyed me, I’d be hard-pressed to find another non-turn-based JRPG combat system that I fuck with this hard.
I’m definitely of the opinion that prior Xenoblade games have had hugely underwhelming combat, but was never able (or just couldn’t be bothered trying) to articulate why. XC3’s aggressive polish and iteration on the past games’ combat made it blindingly obvious why that is in hindsight. It makes a bunch of changes and improvements, both major and minor. But if I had to boil it down, it comes down to three changes at its core: Character building, role-influenced customization, and in-battle control.
SUBSECTION 1: CHARACTER BUILDING
I’ll start with character building, since this is where the pre-battle strategizing comes into play. Let’s talk Job Systems. Everyone loves a good Job System, and for good reason. However, as someone who loves both job systems and defined character roles in JRPG combat, I often find myself at odds with the seemingly inherent tradeoff these systems present. Job systems let you go ham with customizing each character into exactly what you want them to be. But defined character roles also let the personality behind the character shine through by restricting them to a certain archetype. XC3 basically looked at the inherent conflict of this tradeoff and said, “you dumbasses realize you can just do both, right?” Like, it's actually insane how effortlessly this game dismantles the conflict while maintaining the unique strengths and personality found in both styles of character building.
Customization. Twenty-fucking-five classes. 25 classes to unlock. To learn the inner-workings and individual strengths of. To experiment within.To grind and train. To utilize in conjunction with other classes’ master arts through fusion art combinations, as well as synergizing with your plethora of other skills/accessories/gems/etc. Each with their own entirely unique take on the surface level attack-tank-healer designation. Five unique arts, one talent art, and four skills which grow stronger as you increase your class level. Two of those arts and two of those skills then go on to transfer outside the class in the form of master arts/skills, with the talent art being a fifth once you max out a given class. Any of which can be used alongside another class of opposing Agnian / Kevesi designation.
Oh (x1), and the hero which coincides with the class they unlock has several of their own completely unique arts on top of that, meaning you’ll further deliberate whether to use a certain hero or equip their respective dress-class on an Ouroboros depending on the circumstances. Oh (x2), this doesn’t even include the Soul Tree which is used to customize each of your Ouroboros Interlinks with various upgradable arts, stat bonuses, etc. Oh (x3), AND the Soul Hacker class works completely independently of these rules, serving as a blue mage who gains skills upon the defeat of unique monsters. At full power, this class boasts SIXTY-FUCKING-FIVE unique and completely upgradable arts, as opposed to the typical five arts. Additionally, there are SEVENTY-FUCKING-NINE skills spanning all three role archetypes from which you can mix and match. What the actual shit, dude. No, seriously, how did this game even get finished, let alone reverse-delayed? Anyway, whoever greenlit this class, I love them almost as much as I love Triton himself. Oh (x4), AND the upcoming DLC hero Ino also seems to work separately from every other hero, running on ether cylinders to guide her own unique method of customization. Idk, it looks like some Poppi shit, so I’m immediately sold, necc aside. Tiger Tiger sequel when.
SUBSECTION 2: ROLE DEFINITION
Role definition. Despite the absurd level of character build customization, XC3 maintains a surprisingly rigid sense of character role definition. This is achieved through a bunch of different means, such as: The Keves/Agnus split, role definition through individual job affinities/inheritors, master arts and talent arts, master skills, and the rigid role definition/consideration present in interlinking by trading off whatever two roles the pairing might possess in lieu of the rigid role of their respective Ouroboros interlink.
Once chain attacks come into the mix, the game doubles down on this role rigidity even further. Each character (including heroes) is given their own distinct baseline TP distribution, Chain Order, and Ouroboros order. Speaking of heroes, they too get their very own hero chain bonus on top of their likewise distinct Chain Order. These hero chain bonuses range from providing bonuses to the damage ratio, boosting individual TP, boosting party TP (even specific character boosts i.e. MIyabi to Mio), monster-specific bonuses, reviving inactive members, buffing/debuffing, healing, and so on. It’s genuinely nuts how much distinctiveness and role definition is maintained in each character’s combat capabilities (both Ouroboros and heroes) despite the former having just been described to have such insanely unrestrained customization options.
I’m not sure if Monolith INTENDED to have such ludonarrative cohesion in this double-sided customization system, or they just thought it’d be cool and it ended up working out that way. But man, the whole "Best of Both Worlds" motif (while most of the time refers to the game taking what worked from XC1 and XC2 and using them harmoniously) seems to permeate EVERY facet of XC3. To the point where it has the best of both worlds of a job system and rigid role definition- something that I quite literally did not think was possible until playing this game. Oh, and you can’t forget to respect the drip. Yumsmith Sena sweeps.
SUBSECTION 3: COMBAT ANALYSIS AND PLAYER CONTROL
Moving on from customization and into the actual meat of the combat itself, it’s fun. Like, REALLY fun. The setup again inherits this "Best of Both Worlds" motif, as it reflects both the six character setup from XC2 (drivers and active blades included), while otherwise reverting to XC1’s initial setup of everyone being a direct and controllable contributor. Considering there are now twice as many party members acting concurrently, I cannot stress this enough: This is absolute fucking chaos. Like, it’s chaotic to the point where if someone were to casually walk by a XC3 battle without any prior knowledge, the only plausible response would be, “what the fuck am I looking at?” Six characters (plus a hero) painting a monster in countless numbers. FF12 lookin ass lines connecting you to each monster depicting the current status of their aggro and the subsequent relationship/priority. The most fucked up looking Venn diagrams you’ve ever seen in your life in the form of field buffs scattered beneath your feet. Ten of the like fifty different symbols for buffs, debuffs, awakening, shackles, combos, ailments, etc cycling in and out next to each character and the monster you’re fighting. Your characters suddenly transform into fucking fusion robots and all that information is replaced with an entirely new set of skills and an overheat bar. Oh, and then time stops and the entire combat system changes as you initiate a chain attack.
So yeah, someone walking by has every right in the world to wonder what the fuck you’re doing if they’re unfamiliar with XC3’s combat. That said, considering the way this game paces out each of its multifaceted mechanics in such a gradual and easily understandable way, it is extremely rare that you’ll be playing and not know EXACTLY what is going on at all times. Seriously, I can’t stress enough how impressive it is that they manage to actually make this combat make sense, and yet they knocked it out of the park.
Trying to take in so much information at once while it’s constantly changing is already more than engaging enough to stay interesting for a game as long as this. But now, tack onto all of that the fact you can now change between characters at ANY MOMENT. Without a cooldown or any other sort of restriction. This alone takes XC3’s combat from what would already be a rather engaging system to unfathomably stimulating and hectic. In the more intense/challenging boss battles, it quickly becomes adrenaline incarnate. Apparently, Torna took the first step in this direction by allowing you to swap between your three party members on a cooldown, but here, you can swap between any of the SIX party members as quickly and frequently as you want.
It might not sound like a huge deal, since you still aren’t controlling all six of them at once, and thus a majority of the combat at any given moment is controlled by AI. That may still be true, but it’s a complete and utter game-changer when it comes to the player’s engagement and their potential for strategic influence. In past games, you control one party member, and once their arts are depleted, you’re stuck doing fuck all but using auto-attack. So you’re stuck there slapping at the enemy for 50 damage every few seconds until you can fight properly again. In XC3 though, the second a character’s arts are depleted, you switch to the next one and can start thinking on-the-fly to quickly make use of whatever tools they have available in the most efficient way possible. This might not make a monumental difference in how the battle goes about playing out, but thankfully the AI is stupid enough to actually merit shuffling around your active party member and doing as much on your own as possible. But above all else, you’re no longer stuck waiting for a shitty cooldown and constantly have your hands full of different ways to influence the fight. Put aside the customization and job system for a moment- THIS alone is an absolute goddamn game-changer.
SUBSECTION 4: MORE SINGLE-FIGHT GIMMICKS WOULD’VE BEEN NICE THO
To sneak in a small area of disappointment, I definitely would’ve liked to see more unique gimmicks or “puzzle” elements to bosses. If not in gameplay, then even just in the action cinematics would’ve been nice. There are definitely rumblings of this in the early game cinematics, specifically up through Chapter 4. Then, with the joint boss fight sequence between Consul N and Consul M, it finally comes to a head. Consul M has a completely unique Moebius power that takes the party a bit to figure out a solution for- and the solution itself was very clever and satisfying.
Even if we aren’t given the super nitty-gritty specifics of how it works, it’s clear that the Mondo was able to track M’s movements due to her and its ether properties as a Blade. Whether this is through ether displacement, propensity for tracking ether sensitivity, or ether absorption, it’s not clear. However, this is supported by the group’s first battle at Gura Flava. Eunie is able to disable Taion’s Mondo tag by filling it with enough ether to overload/overheat it. As an Agnian, M fights through ether properties as well. As such, it makes perfect sense that the Mondo, which can either sense, absorb, or disrupt that flow of ether, would be a perfect counter to the Moebius ability. This even shows tactical development on the part of Taion, who was only able to figure out this solution because of the way Eunie countered him earlier in the game.
To tie this back into that complaint I alluded to… This is basically the first and last time you’ll see anything like this in-game. Z has something similar sorta kinda, given that it’s another multiphase fight which sees your party splitting up and being supported by the various heroes. But it’s never a “puzzle” for you to figure out. It’s not something that will make you fundamentally reassess your game plan and fight under a completely different strategic pretense. I definitely expected more of this sort of thing from the end-game bosses. For example, the fight against D and Joran was a phenomenal opportunity for this that was totally squandered.
I’m not exactly sure HOW they’d go about doing it, since the combat is strictly set up so that attacking the enemy is basically your only means of interacting with them. But the conflicting nature of the fight could’ve done so well to set up a scenario where, for example: Joran is focusing his Interlink overheat, and thus you have to fend off fodder and protect him in the process. Then, D regains control, and you quickly shift to beating the shit out of him as much as possible. Stuff like that would’ve done a lot to make the more important boss fights feel mechanically distinct, which they simply don’t. That’s not to say they’re boring or anything, since again, XC3’s combat is more than capable of utterly carrying. But it still would’ve been better to see more of this sort of thing.
SUBSECTION 5: CHAIN ATTACKS, MISC. THOUGHTS,. AND CONCLUSION
Lastly, I’d like to talk a bit more about chain attacks. XC3’s chain attacks also manage to capture the "Best of Both Worlds" motif that nearly everything else in the game also seems to. They’re both cathartic in terms of their strategic depth to execute, while also being cathartic in the most mindless monke brain “victory lap” way I can possibly think of. That second one especially, the way it eggs you on with the instantly iconic chain attack music to the point you cannot feel anything other than utter conviction and triumph as it unfolds.
Even if you activate it with your entire party’s HP in the red and the boss still has 8.9 trillion remaining HP out of 9 trillion total (which is usually the case!), you can’t help but feel pure catharsis and hope during the duration of that chain attack. Well, that only lasts until you pick the wrong art and then the shit RNG gives you a healer on your random pick cuz you had to finish with an attacker… motherfucker. Anyway, the fact that it somehow manages to be both strategically cathartic and viscerally mindless in such a careful balance is yet another example of this game defying the odds to capture the "Best of Both Worlds" in one fell swoop.
Beyond chain attacks, there are plenty of smaller points to praise about the combat. For example, I love how combos can be built up with either offensive or defensive intentions/planning in mind. Launch-Smash combos provide extra damage at the cost of accelerating an enemies’ enrage status, whereas Daze-Burst combos provide an incapacitation window for your party to stabilize while also quelling rage for a short period of time. Another point worth mentioning goes back to customization; I love the sheer quantity of possibilities when it comes to fusion art combinations. You can do anything from double-advancing a combo (break w/ topple master art, launch w/ smash master art, etc), enhancing your smash effect by pairing it with a high damage ratio master art, pairing aggro reduction with a powerful heal to stay hidden, pairing aggro increase with a long form block art for efficient tanking, and so on. The fusion art system is incredibly simple, but could not be more elegantly incorporated. It boasts an absurd level of customization for those who really want to sink their teeth into making Agnian and Kevesi arts synergize in creative ways. I know I’m a broken record at this point, but again, taking the "Best of Both Worlds" and getting something new (and better) out of them.
For the sake of time, plus the fact that the rest of XC3’s combat depth is mostly similar to how it was in past games, I’ll wrap it up here. But yeah, considering how ambivalent I’ve been to prior Xenoblade games’ combat, the improvements made here and the way they salvaged the ongoing foundation of Xenoblade combat into something this good is nothing short of miraculous. I tend to be a fan of turn-based combat first and everything else second. But in the level of engagement, strategy, and customization found in XC3’s combat system, you’d be hard-pressed arguing against it being truly second to none.
CHAPTER 3 - The Methodically Unmethodical World Design of Aionios
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 1: How XC3’s World, Map Design, and Aesthetics are Physically and Symbolically Informed by the Merge)
So clearly the combat benefits from the literal and symbolic Merge of XC1 and XC2 as much as anything. What about the World? Well… no, not at all. I should probably come right out and say that, across the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy, XC3’s world is far and away the least impressive from a purely aesthetic standpoint… at least in terms of surface-level allure. The game has huge, sprawling vistas filled with secrets just like the prior games, but something about the world setting doesn’t feel nearly as aesthetically dynamic or even as methodical compared to the likes of Bionis or Alrest.
This was actually a huge point of criticism I held through the early hours of the game, which I worried might keep me from truly loving it overall. Like I’ve mentioned already, exploring huge imaginative environments while listening to the various field themes was what appealed to me most about the series prior to XC3. But compared to the likes of XC1’s Gaur Plains, Eryth Sea/Alcamoth, and Satori Marsh? XC2’s Uraya or the World Tree? I simply did not find any of the biggest zones in XC3 were anywhere near this aesthetically stimulating or inspired. Well, until the Cadensia Region, which was phenomenal, albeit a serious outlier. Point being, the likes of Millick Meadows and Eagus Wilderness simply did not do it for me.
Are they pretty? Yes. Were they “Xenoblade pretty”? No. At least, not in the way a longtime fan would come to expect. Thankfully, what I’ve come to realize about the world design of Aionios over the course of my playthrough is… I’m pretty sure this was intentional. Or maybe I’m coping. Probably both tbh. This is the main meat and potatoes of my thoughts on Aionios, so I’ll leave it for the end of this chapter. Before then, let’s talk about why I found (and still do to some extent, tbh) the major zones so initially disappointing.
SUBSECTION 1: SHORTCOMINGS OF AIONIOS
Don’t get me wrong, even the more aesthetically “”boring”” zones do still look nice. Each one is filled with varying amounts of distinguishing quirks or landmarks, and overall serve their purpose well. My favorite zone from the early game would have to be the southern Fornis Region. Each part of the region on its own isn't anything too noteworthy. Well, aside from the Dannagh Desert, which looks fantastic on its own. But the way they coalesce while maintaining distinct and rigidly segmented areas make it far stronger aesthetically than the sum of its parts. The rigidity of its visual theming alone makes it super memorable. I can’t really think of another Xenoblade environment that puts as much emphasis on aesthetic segmentation as this one does. It also boasts a surprising amount of verticality (albeit mostly gradual “sloped” verticality). This actually speaks to another major point of criticism I have about the bulk of XC3’s massive open zones: They’re more than sizable enough, but they’re mostly flat and lacking in both the verticality and interconnectivity needed to compromise their lengthy traversal time.
The flatness of XC3’s zones certainly bodes well for making them LOOK big and sprawling, but it only serves to inevitably sap the enthusiasm you have for exploring these lands thoroughly. I’m the type of player who avoids minimaps and fast travel like the Plague. Familiarizing myself with an area and learning its map is something I find extremely fun and satisfying. In XC3, though, I pretty quickly caved in and started fast traveling for the back-and-forth quests, especially fetch quests. Not because I don’t ENJOY traversal in this game, but because it’s blindingly apparent that it needed so much more to not make this a total pain in the ass.
The game probably could’ve gotten away without having sprinting if the maps were as tall as they were wide, but they just… aren’t. It takes way too long to get anywhere. Oh, and those little ladder shortcuts it sneaks in are, more often than not, completely futile at providing any sort of respite to the tedium of traversal. Hell, they even fail to simply compliment the map design in any sort of clever or helpful way.
This is the crux of my complaint: XC3 does not have significant enough traversal upgrades to match the size and layout of its maps. It’s lacking here, plain and simple. Sprinting, high jumping, gliding, flying, soft landings from high grounds, rentable Levnises, Interlink on the field for a quick vertical boost… This game is in desperate need of ANY single one of these. I haven’t played XCX, but knowing you get giant fucking Skells to fly around in makes this even more readily apparent. Not to mention… that knowledge kinda takes away from the coolness of getting a boat later on in this game. I like the boat, but… It’s not a giant robot, that’s for sure. Can’t say I wouldn’t have preferred to get even just a fleet of rentable Levnises or some shit instead. The autorun keeps it from being a SERIOUS problem, but that doesn’t change the fact it could’ve been much better.
XC3’s world design does still have its fair share of strengths. Admittedly, they mostly tie into worldbuilding which I’ll focus more on later, but the physicality and map design also play a part in these strengths. The Dannagh Desert’s flying whales and pink-gem palm trees felt refreshingly oddball compared to the theming of prior areas. The previously mentioned rigid segmentation of Southern Fornis was another highlight- in no small part because of the aesthetic contrast it provided with the adjacent and verdant Ribbi Flats.
SUBSECTION 2: ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING
Perhaps the biggest draw in terms of XC3’s world design relates to its interconnectivity; namely, the inherent mystique generated by the Merge as you encounter more and more areas which resemble the likes of Bionis, Mechonis, and Alrest- especially seeing them after having been reduced to ruin. It does give you a bit too obvious of a push at recognizing this early on. Hell, the box art literally having Uraya and the Mechonis Sword was uh, not exactly subtle. Not to say it was MEANT to be subtle, but hey, still. Additionally, many of the names/titles are retained from prior games.
But aside from that, it’s accomplished entirely through exploration and environmental storytelling. I absolutely loved this approach. Despite the obvious brilliance of past Xenoblade game’s worlds, I can’t recall any point where environmental storytelling was used to prod you with hints at the still unknown lore, mysteries, and ongoing narrative. Hell, the prodding even worms its way into the game’s soundtrack (through field themes, mostly). The near constant use of callbacks and leitmotif of XC1/2 areas never once got old and always kept me on guard looking for more audio-centric hints.
There are examples of environmental storytelling across the entirety of Aionios, so I won’t bother listing a dozen examples. I will say, though, the delayed realization that I could LITERALLY CLIMB up the destroyed Mechonis’ arm up to its fingertip and cannonball back down into the lake below was one of the most memorable moments of exploration in any Xenoblade game.
SUBSECTION 3: SPECIFIC REGION CRITIQUE (AKA THE ROAST OF MILLICK MEADOWS)
There are definitely some great individual regions, such as the Cadensia Region like I mentioned earlier. This region is basically just a Wind Waker sequel built straight into an already incredible game. Cuz why the fuck not. Like, Queen’s BEANS man. It feels like half my playtime was spent exploring that one region alone. And you better believe that Yasunori Mitsuda field theme certainly contributed to that… Probably my favorite song in the entire game ngl. On the opposite end of the open zone spectrum, though, we have Milick Meadows.
Milick Meadows was an extremely rare example during XC3 where there wasn’t much sugarcoating it- I felt abject disappointment without much of a silver lining to counteract it whatsoever. Let’s start with the- er, single positive. The field theme is phenomenal. But tbh, that just made how underwhelming this area was in reality hurt even more. Let’s frame the moments leading up to you discovering it. You’ve just finished the intensely cryptic Gura Flava sequence. You’re finally ready to begin your journey after having assembled your party. You have more questions about the game’s events up to this point than you know what to do with. Then, you’re immediately set free out into the game’s next big zone: Millick Meadows.
This was all the motivation I needed to start exploring to find out as much about this world and the events that transpired as possible. Unfortunately, the near (but not quite) Gaur Plains tier field theme is where the positives begin and end with Milick Meadows. Basically, you descend the hill, go across the river, and head out into the next area. That’s it. Oh, and you activate a Ferronis husk and can go get killed by overpowered bats in the nearby cave if you want… Seriously? You can’t tease me with what looks to be Gaur Plains 2.0 and have it only be a 30-minute linear ass excursion. This place should’ve been like… ten times bigger at the BARE minimum. I know that sounds like overkill, but just look at the Cadensia Region. There was nothing stopping them from making Milick Meadows truly reflect the freedom that Ouroboros was just granted following Guernica’s sacrifice. The disappointment even gets doubled down upon later when you realize the ability gating opened up an entire new section of the map to explore… Wow, maybe this was a misdirection? Maybe they wanted a delayed reaction sort of approach to its scope? Nah. It’s still tiny as fuck with barely anything cool to do or see. But enough roasting the poor little Meadows. Let’s move to the biggest point I want to make about Aionios as a world setting.
SUBSECTION 4: JUSTIFYING THE SHORTCOMINGS OF AIONIOS THROUGH THE THEMATIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE MERGE
Anyway, back to the biggest takeaway for this chapter. The thing about XC3’s world setting I took the biggest issue with (even above some of the areas not being themed interestingly) was this: The environments felt paradoxically visually cluttered and messy, while also having very little in the way of aesthetic inspiration. In contrast to prior examples, the "Best of Both Worlds" motif here feels a lot more like the “Worst of Both Worlds”.
However, come the end of the game, it becomes abundantly clear that this was intentional. It’s only natural that the violent Merge, which essentially equated to apocalypse for both worlds, would leave Aionios as a primarily tattered wasteland with some rather fucked up geometry (further emphasized by the Annihilation Event). On top of that though, it almost seems like the more standard theming of most areas was intentional as well, though I’m… not sure why, exactly? The biggest zones which house the main story content are often relegated to aesthetically standard renditions of fields, desert, sea, mountains, etc. Now, these areas are still impressive and beautiful due to their huge scale. But it’s clearly a far different approach from XC1/XC2. Like I said before, they’re pretty, just not “Xenoblade pretty”.
On the contrary, it’s in XC3’s secret areas tucked away from the external outside world where that trademark Xenoblade inventiveness shines through into the world setting. Lost Colony, Cotte Fountainhead, and Malevolent Hollow are easily among the most aesthetically distinctive locales in any Xenoblade title. This design philosophy is applied way too consistently across the whole game to just be a coincidence, at least in my mind. Areas to the effect of the three I just listed are almost exclusively found in secret caves far off the path from the main zones. So… what’s the deal with this approach? I mean, it literally might’ve been just to make stumbling onto a secret area feel more special. But with this game, the answer is rarely that simple. Especially since, yknow, I can’t really see them making a sacrifice to the giant zones which take up 90% of the map just for an occasional pleasant surprise. That said, I do have something of a guess to justify- or at least explain the logic behind their approach.
Aionios having such a strange design quirk gives off the impression that these secret areas were sheltered from the proverbial “impact” of the Merge. As such, they retained their luster- and therefore, their sense of aesthetic identity. This does beg the question, though; why would the two Worlds merging be detrimental to the broad visual inventiveness of Aionios’ world design? Honestly, this is where I’m sort of at a loss on the matter. Especially since it seems to be at odds with the game’s design philosophy in nearly every other regard: Merging the "Best of Both Worlds" in order to create something new and greater.
Maybe they first tried to approach the world in this way by designing even more chaotic and messy environments, but decided the messiness needed to be dialed back in? I’m not really sure, and would love to get some outside input on this because I’m stumped as hell tbh. Personally, I would’ve loved to see them go full on clusterpunk by mashing together multiple different themes and color palettes (possibly derived straight from 1 and 2’s areas) into one new environment. Maybe even just in a few specific areas rather than every area in the game. If not just for the sake of avoiding this approach becoming paradoxically more homogenized in the sense that it would apply to everywhere.
Quite honestly, even as someone who places huge importance on a game’s aesthetic sensibilities (hell, I consider XC1 at LEAST a strong 7/10 based almost entirely on its setting and music alone), I do still like this game’s unconventional approach to world design. Despite the originality of this subversion, though, one still needs to consider if this falls under the “just because a subversion is intentional doesn’t make it good” umbrella of consideration. I WANT to deny this notion outright, but even after learning all the narrative context behind the intent, I’m still finding myself hesitant.
Would I have preferred the entire setting to be more oddball with its theming and color palette similar to, like, Xenoblade X or something? …Honestly, yeah. Probably. Especially when you consider that this game repeatedly capitalizes on its "Best of Both Worlds" motif in so many other facets. That said, I can't say I've ever seen a game with such a bold and narratively-resonant subversion through its aesthetic and world design alone. Even if the sacrifice to its visual inventiveness was a bit beyond what I would’ve liked, it is worth praising the effort and paradoxical inventiveness anyway.
CHAPTER 4 - HOW TO CREATE A DYNAMIC AND THEMATICALLY INTEGROUS WORLD SETTING THROUGH… FORMULAIC MILITARY CAMPS (NO, REALLY, IT WORKS. TRUST ME).
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 2: Introduction and Analysis of the Colony System)
Even within the context of individual nation’s provinces, every single colony in XC3 is shockingly memorable and distinct. I think the reason the colony variety impresses me so much is due to the surface-level rigidity of XC3’s structure and gameplay loop. Put simply: you explore, discover (insert colony name here), talk to its people and commander, fight the commander, fight the Consul, liberate the colony, help them survive without the Consul, Rinse and repeat. Clearly, the repetition of this cycle is dangerously primed for monotony. Especially since there’s, what, over 25 named colonies in total? Not to say you explore every single one, but it should be apparent that this game had the cards stacked against it in this regard.
Yet, every last colony is shockingly distinct and memorable. Depending on the colony’s adjacent environments and geography, there are so many different roles and jobs that prop up across Aionios. For example, the farmers in Colony 9 and Tau. Specialty mechanics and Levnis transporters from Colony 30. Collectopedia managers and resource transport from Colony Iota. The conspiratorial war intermediaries of Colony 0. Pirates and Fishermen of Colony 15. Plus the different variations of florists, farmers, and saffronia harvesters found in Colony Mu and the Lost Colony. And so on. Aionios’ dynamic geography plays such a crucial role in the jobs and specializations of each colony. In turn, this plays a huge part in why the world setting feels like a vast, living, breathing world- in a way no other Xenoblade game has ever accomplished prior.
It would’ve been SO easy for Monolith Soft to fall back on the phenomenal combat and job customization, merely having the World serve as a more undercooked or understated backdrop to your exploration of Aionios. Countless games take this easy route as a tradeoff for being a “huge 100+ hour experience” at the cost of none of its locales being developed, memorable, or, well… Interesting. Yet, much like it does in countless other aspects, XC3 manages to provide “the Best of Both Worlds” in this respect. The game is unfathomably long, and yet, each and every colony manages to be deeply memorable and distinct.
They’re not just memorable and distinct in terms of the characters present or the aesthetic backdrop, either. Every single facet of the World Setting feeds into each respective colony in a way that makes the world of Aionios feel distinctly and unmistakably… alive. Each and every colony has their own side quests, geography, culture, history, import needs, export specialization, intercolony relationships, politics, military strengths, technological capabilities, internal and external priorities, and so on.
This isn’t even getting into the fact that each Colony has its own Consul, along with an entirely unique set of character relationships with said Consul, the Consul’s relationship with the Colony itself, different roles, different levels of presence, different motivations- different means to which they propagate the Endless Now… All of which culminate in an entirely memorable and distinct story arc within every single Colony you come across.
Naturally, the story arcs which define these colonies all play out in VASTLY different ways for the most part. Even if a majority of them end with the final story beat of Noah smashing the Flame Clock and bringing liberation. Besides, this sort of HAD to be the case anyway. Not just for hugely important thematic purposes (revolving around the implications of intercolony unification, Ouroboros’ journey to self-discovery and purpose, etc). But also for the sake of gameplay logistics as well. After all, you wouldn’t be able to get much done in terms of exploring characters or worldbuilding within a Colony that still actively hates you and is still indoctrinated in Moebius propaganda.
Speaking of which, the Moebius-enforced “ranking” system also does a fantastic job at framing these various distinguishing factors. It often serves as a literal determinant, for example, the lower-rank colonies being undersupplied, which can cause a ton of different problems. But even in a subsurface sense, this ranking system fuels their conspiratorial edge beneath the surface via the illustrious but ultimately disingenuous Gold rank. It is through Moebius’ colony ranking system that their homogenization and depersonalization efforts are carried out. This is done to offset the perceived individuality, and thus humanity, of enemy colonies.
After all, it’s easier to buy into destroying another group for personal gain when it’s either you or them, right? That goes doubly so when, to you, the enemy is defined by just two things: A resource through which you can provide for your friends and comrades, and as a generic slate of soldiers which are defined by their Rank and the propaganda you’ve been fed on their faction. This ranking system alone effectively throws a veil of depersonalization over the enemy, and as such, plays a crucial role in maintaining soldier morale in the ongoing war.
As such, it becomes far easier for Moebius to morph the truth of what defines that colony (the laundry list of distinguishing factors which make them unique that we just went over) into whatever supports their propaganda. The way Moebius oversees soldier manipulation through propagandized “motivation” can even be roughly likened to propagandist justification of genocide in order to garner domestic support and pride. Nurturing and capitalizing on bigotry through propaganda, miscategorization of the enemy, and “slaughter as self-defense”. The methodology isn’t identical, and I’m definitely not an expert on the subject by any means. But it brought enough similarities in mind that I felt it worth mentioning.
As a final point about Moebius to end the chapter, the colony format perfectly supports their conspiracy in a pragmatic sense as well. The entire World of Aionios and all of its inhabitants (save for the nation-ambivalent City) are overseen by Moebius from within Origin. They specifically seek to lock the two factions in a war which neither could hope to win, in order to propagate the Endless Now. Therefore, it would only make sense for Moebius to provide “homogenized” colonies (in structure but also in perception through propaganda). On the surface, these colonies all serve the same purpose. They’re all manipulated into conflict through the same means. And they all receive the highly-motivating Castle aid (food, weapons, tools, ether, etc) in correspondence to their colony rank.
CHAPTER 5 - SO MANY COLONIES AAAAAAAAAA
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 3: Analysis of Colonies in XC3)
As for the specifics as broken down by colony, it’d probably be easiest to just go down the line. There is quite a lot to each colony and their respective Heroes, so getting to all of them would just be overkill. But I’ll try to hit on SOME of the colonies along with their most important and distinguishing characteristics:
Colony 9: Otherwise known as Aionios 2022 Farming Simulator. Led by Commander Zeon. This is the first colony you’ll visit properly in XC3. It’s a compact garrison surrounded by the vast Yzana Plain on all sides. Following the inexplicable disappearance of Noah, Lanz, and Eunie, the previous commander steps down, resulting in a leadership crisis. The people turn to Zeon as the most suitable candidate, but much like Bolearis of Colony 4, he and a few vocal dissenters remain hesitant in his capabilities. No, I’m not going to name any names. Cough. Cough cough.
Bolearis’ lack of confidence stems from his inability to replace his legendary predecessor Silvercoat Ethel. Especially after having been abruptly swept into the role in response to her death. Zeon of Colony 9’s lack of confidence, however, is derived from the guilt he harbors in having authorized the destruction of Colony 9’s Flame Clock. Despite the colonies’ dwindling capacity for self-subsistence being out of his control, he still takes responsibility for the outcome they’ve found themselves stuck with. His people are starving from limited rations, they lack leadership and direction, and the cliques are beginning to lean further and further towards desertion.
As such, the outset of Colony 9’s narrative is rather bleak- as most things in XC3 tend to be initially before eventually morphing into hopefully optimism. Following their collaboration with Colony Tau, Colony 9 ends up having one of the most drastic turnarounds of any colony. To the point where its later quests and community dialogue become surprisingly lighthearted and optimistic. Thanks to the insight of Yuzuriha, commander of Colony Tau, Zeon leads the effort to incorporate their growth patterns of the spongy spud, a crop native to Tau’s Maktha Highlands.
Due to the Spongy Spud’s short germination window and high yield, it completely turns Colony 9’s food shortage on its head. Along with the fact that its people actually have something to do (tending the fields), this greatly increases morale and stability. It’s a pretty simple story, but the way it encapsulates XC3’s theme of societal unification, especially since it features Kevesi/Agnian collaboration, is extremely effective. Plus, like, these two are just really fucking cute, okay? Gimme spud buds DLC right now, please and ty.
Colony Gamma: Led by Commander Shido. As the other active (living) colony within the lower Aetia Region, Colony Gamma is rather close in proximity to Colony 9. Otherwise, it’s completely different. This extends beyond the Keves/Agnus dichotomy, and is most notably distinguished by its geography and layout. Where Colony 9 is deep in the canyon of the Yzana Plains, Gamma is high in the floating autumn mountains. Despite being spread horizontally similar to 9, Gamma is far less dense, featuring a large lake and dedicated training ground for soldiers and Levnises alike. Lastly, its amber-laden trees extend far into the sky, a backdrop which is completely unlike any other Colonies’. The way Ouroboros interacts with the colony is also quite different to Colony 9. Instead of doing the work yourself, you simply instruct them on how to better protect themselves. With Colony 9, you help connect Zeon with Colony Tau, gather the farming materials, and protect the fields from monsters firsthand. In Colony Gamma, you simply help Shido in training the Gamma soldiers to better prepare them in fending for themselves.
Colony 4: Led by Commander Ethel, later Acting Commander Bolearis. It’s larger, giving off the impression that it’s more like a residential outpost than the previous two colonies. It’s smack dab in the middle of the sprawling hot Eagus Wilderness in both directions (from Millick Meadows to Ribbi Plains). As such, the colony feels far more like an intermediary or proxy zone born out of geographical necessity. This “proxy” status is further emphasized by its status smack-dab between the Agnian Colony Iota and Kevesi Colony 30, both of whom Colony 4 cooperates with as a proxy, given that Iota resents 30 from their defeat in a prior battle.
Colony 4 also marks your first exposure to the colony ranking system, as they are demoted harshly from Silver Rank (second highest, 2nd tier) to Dirt Rank (lowest, 7th tier). This demotion was a message- a response to Ethel’s refusal to kill Cammunabi in their first encounter. It’s rather admirable to see how some of the colony continues to back their commander, despite the toll her decisions have taken on their quality of life. The demotion alone forced its people to expand their hunting route into dangerous and uncomfortably distant territory, alongside stricter rationing. Their Consul support and Castle aid is scaled back considerably as a result.
Not to mention, regarding those supplies from Keves Castle (which were already far more limited in both quantity and quality), Consul K used both emotional and iris manipulation to force them into attacking Ouroboros in order to earn the supplies. And after this fails, Moebius takes this threat to its furthest extreme by involving the lives of everyone within Colony 4 via the Kevesi Annihilator. Ethel’s aforementioned “free” actions are also quite effective at priming the player for one of the game’s broader themes- the importance of free-will.
This action then comes to a head during Ethel’s dramatic final clash with Cammunabi in the Maktha Wildwood. A bit of an unrelated thought, but: The way this battle clearly parallels the battle between Bionis and Mechonis feels very pointed, if not a bit on the nose. I really dig the implications in hindsight that their “death by design” achieved through resisting Moebius is a glimpse into true causality. Naturally, the battle between Bionis and Mechonis exists within the natural flow of causality. So for this spirit to be made manifest as they craft a truly meaningful “death by design”, not to mention happening right between both Ouroboros and Moebius is fantastic. It basically serves as the “Crys Death” equivalent for Ouroboros as a whole, rather than just Noah. It strengths their resolve, prodding them to ask questions about the path they must take and the sacrifice it may require.
As one last disjointed thought: Ironically, Ethel actually saved the lives of everyone in Colony 4 by choosing to spare Cammunabi in their first bout. We learn in Eunie’s Side Story that she had a friendly rivalry (camaraderie may be more accurate, I suppose) with Colony 5’s late Commander Orsoyla. Their respective colony accolades mirrored one another to the point where their individual Rank promotions came one after the other. Considering Orsolya’s recent promotion to Gold Rank (and, well, we know what that entails) and Ethel’s demotion as a result of her refusal to kill Cammunabi, it’s safe to assume their fate would’ve soon followed. It’s a rather understated truth, but one that I really appreciated. Particularly because of how it falls comfortably in line with the game’s encouragement of defiance in the pursuit of free-will.
Colony 30: Led by Commander Yuz- uh, I mean Rudi. A haven for Levnis engineering and mechanics in general. And uh, Nopon I guess. It’s relatively compact like Colony 9, but instead of residing within green plains, Colony 30 appropriately rests atop steel girders high above a lake reservoir within a mountain range. My favorite thing about Colony 30 lies in its specification. This mechanical specification is immediately apparent from the second you step foot inside for the first time. Levnises surround the front gates and line the inner perimeter, serving as both security and commissions for adjacent colonies. That’s right, in much the same way Colony 4 serves as something of a proxy zone due to the practicality of its location, Colony 30 is a proxy due to its production and quick delivery of Levnis commissions and repairs. As such, it serves as a mobile hub which mirrors a small-scale production of the sort of thing you see later on in the Keves Castle factory.
CHAPTER 6 - THERE’S STILL HOW MANY MORE COLONIES??
(WORLD SETTING, SECTION 4: Miscellaneous Colony Analysis)
So uhhhh bit of a confession here. I did plan on going into detail on ALL colonies, since they do all deserve substantial credit and a moment in the spotlight. But… I’ll be real with you, the Xenoblade wiki is kinda just straight up hot ass. It barely has anything written about XC3 whatsoever, let alone XC1/2. Not throwing shade at the contributors or anything, but there definitely isn’t enough there to serve as a jumping off point for the purposes of analysis. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the Kiseki Wiki. But still, there’s something to say about the fact that the Kiseki wiki has more written about the validity of a random Liberlian journalist's birthdate than the Xenoblade Wiki does on entire main characters. Well, anyway. Because of that, I think I’ll just quickly throw a few more miscellaneous defining factors of these colonies from memory and leave it there.
AGNIAN COLONIES: Colony Tau operated largely through self-subsistence, having adapted their own entirely distinct subculture. After liberation, its citizens migrate across the map to various other colonies in order to expand their horizons and seek out their own unique place in the world. Colony Mu’s Consul doesn’t even make them fight, and holds an incredibly unique dynamic with its people through her past life as Ichika. Similarly, the Lost Colony doesn’t fight AND is built on top of the ruins of an old Castle. Plus Nami stuff, but we’ll get to it in the Taion chapter.
KEVESI COLONIES: Colony 5 isn’t as fleshed out, other than Commander Orsoyla and Ethel being longtime friends and competitors. However, it still provided the stage for the massively important revelation of the Gold Rank conspiracy. Colony 11 has the unique honor of being a direct subsidiary of Keves Castle, as it is stationed directly next door. The accompanying unique circumstances play directly into the party’s proceeding raid on the Castle. Colony 15’s Consul T doesn’t give a flying fuck, as he’s just a demensia-ridden DILF pirate fisherman who betrays Moebius to free himself and his crew- letting them go do their thing while he goes adventuring with the party. Also, his father-daughter relationship with Fiona is the cutest shit ever conceived by humanity. No, I’m not exaggerating for the 500th time, I would never.
In short, the way these colonies are distinguished from one another is phenomenally impressive. It is admittedly true that you deal with the majority of colonies you come across in the same surface level manner. They’re often faced with similar struggles; for example, lacking resources, unsent comrades, ideological uncertainty resulting from their sudden and newfound freedom, etc. But the devil is in the details when it comes to colonies in XC3. These similarities rarely extend below the surface.
Even just aesthetically, the similarities are always just surface level. Yes, they’re all tiny military outposts built under a giant mech. Though, I’d argue that in and of itself is plenty cool and unique. But as I've just illustrated in extensive detail, each and every colony is unique in every facet. From its presentation, to its structure, to its storytelling. The game makes fantastic use of Aionios’ dynamic natural geography, situating these colonies within the varied landscapes in ways that actually make sense.
But their visual and aesthetic individuality is only ever the tip of the iceberg. Each colony tells an appropriately personal story within the confines of its walls. Some of these stories are more obvious than others, and like, Colony 30’s story for example, would have largely been possible to tell through its setting alone, though the added exposition never hurts. Through varying ratios of environmental storytelling, NPC dialogue, corresponding hero quests, and the bevy of expositorily-illuminating side quests, every single colony in XC3 has a narrative identity strong enough to coincide with its aesthetic identity. They are an absolutely perfect foundation for keeping XC3’s 200+ hour gameplay loop feeling fresh. It strikes a near-flawless balance of familiarity and structure, while also maintaining a more than satisfactory sense of individuality and mystique.
Is the phrase "Best of Both Worlds" starting to get annoying yet? Well, don’t get mad at me, but it DOES just so happen to apply here too. Not my fault that this game is so thematically consistent.
CHAPTER 7 - “WANO SYNDROME”: AIONIOS AND THE LORE DENSITY PARADOX
[Wano Syndrome, The Value of “Idea Density” vs “Idea Meticulousness”]
A bit of a warning is probably necessary for this next chapter. Compared to my other points, this is far more abstract and honestly, leans more into being a thought experiment than it does focusing solely on XC3. My thoughts on XC3 are definitely still relevant here though, but I do feel a bit of priming is necessary regardless, since this does get a bit weird. K thanks.
Next, I’d like to talk about XC3’s narrative thoroughness in conjunction with a phenomenon which I like to call “Wano Syndrome”. It’s a term I’ve coined in reference to the most recent story arc of the One Piece manga, but is surprisingly applicable to a ton of different works with similar properties. To define it as best I can:
Wano Syndrome: a phenomenon which afflicts a piece of media, causing it to be paradoxically way too fucking long and/or dense, while also somehow managing to be substantially rushed and/or underdeveloped.
[Disclaimer: I make vague mention of things from various games in this next paragraph, though nothing is explicitly mentioned by means of spoilers. But in case you’re someone who wants to be 100% blind going into a specific game, skip ahead if you see a game title this pertains to.]
To give a few more examples outside these two works, to help better illustrate what exactly qualifies as “Wano Syndrome”: I’d be willing to apply it to the following works:
-Trails of Cold Steel IV (lacking background/narrative focus on the Ironbloods, the War of The Lions, the children of Valius Reise Arnor V, Ishmelga’s origins, etc.)
-Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk (underdeveloped settings aside from Refrain itself, lacking buildup and characterization of the new endgame cast members)
-Fire Emblem: Three Houses (idk gimme more political shit)
-La Pucelle Tactics (worldbuilding, church history, more flashbacks)
-Ys Origin (Kingdom of Ys detail, Priests, Fact Family/Clan of Darkness)
-Märchen Forest (more background on the Castle / outside the Forest, more slice of life outside the prologue)
-Live a Live (finale party interaction and unique skill utilization, generally lacking depth outside the immediately pertinent and bare-bones main plot- even if its brevity was probably intentional)
-Shin Megami Tensei V (lacking detail and background on Tokyo’s ruin, characterization of the Bethel branch leaders).
So yeah, it’s clearly not one specific thing which defines Wano Syndrome, so hopefully these examples better illustrate what I’m referring to here. I’m not even saying all of these points can be inherently considered “flaws” to begin with, rather, things I enjoyed enough to wish there were more of. But for the sake of the argument and for brevity (Queen knows this review needs more of it), let’s just call them shortcomings for now. Nearly all of these issues are relatively major shortcomings for examples of media which place great emphasis on painting dense and well-developed worlds. And yet, what I find fascinating about “Wano Syndrome” is that it seems to be present ONLY in media I have considerable narrative investment within despite these shortcomings. In other words, while “Wano Syndrome” is at its core a wholly negative affliction, I’ve only found examples of it exclusively within games I don’t just enjoy, but LOVE.
By now, I do think I’ve done a decent job explaining what sort of media I’d consider worthy of the “Wano Syndrome” moniker, but here’s one more analogy that takes media out of the equation entirely. Think of this comparison in terms of paintings. Just uh, keep in mind I don’t know shit about paintings. Anyway, Painting A is a photorealistic landscape painting- hell, if this is too generic, let’s use the Mona Lisa. All the theoretical detail is right there for you to see, it’s mechanically sound, and technically speaking, it’s highly impressive to the point of perhaps even being “flawless” to some. Personally, outside its mysterious history of theft, I find it boring as shit.
Painting B, on the other hand, is a surrealist landscape- let’s use the Persistence of Time if you’d prefer a real example (I know, two of the most normcore paintings of all time. I warned yall). It’s obviously rather abstract, to the point whereupon one’s initial viewing, its thematic depth might be too ambiguous to be immediately communicable. But given the proper engagement, there’s a lot more density and value one can glean from observing it, no matter if you ever “truly understand” the entire breadth of the painting’s meaning or intent in the end. Now, “Wano Syndrome” applies more to a work’s density of ideas and the meticulousness by which they’re explored, but there’s a comparable sentiment to be considered here.
Compared to the painting example, the ambiguity of these game examples are a bit more of an objective shortcoming, as the depth that IS there simply isn’t as thorough as it could’ve been. But the biggest takeaway I’d like you to absorb from this explanation is this: XC3 made me realize that the “objective” shortcoming of this aforementioned ambiguity might not be a bad thing whatsoever.
I know this chapter probably feels a bit abstract even now, but please, bear with me a bit longer as I break down its significance. By now, you’re probably asking: why is this important? Well, as I just alluded to, XC3 was THE single game which I feel helped me better understand the implications of “Wano Syndrome”- more so than any other piece of media I’ve ever experienced. It single-handedly provided me with a revelation that this shortcoming has virtually no negative bearing on how much I will end up enjoying or resonating with a fictional world as a whole.
In a vacuum, XC3’s worldbuilding proved thoroughly lackluster through its absence of meticulously detailed / organized concepts, character backgrounds, and so on. Admittedly, the ambiguity in character writing is where this shortcoming is felt most negatively. But even in spite of this, I can probably count on one hand the number of fictional worlds I’ve found myself more overall enthralled and invested in than XC3’s Aionios: Its fascinatingly unique world concepts, weird approach to continuity and interconnectivity, the sheer quantity and density of its countless compelling plot threads, the worldbuilding which spans more than two dozen unique settlements under two diametrically opposed banners, a mysterious organization of conceptually vague antagonists, the direct political intrigue of Swordmarch City via the Six Houses and their respective Founders, the indirect political intrigue found in the composition of Keves and Agnus’ castle/colony structure, the interlaced threads of narrative and theming found in every seam of the game’s design… I could keep going, but you get the point. It’s irrefutable that just about every aspect of XC3’s world and narrative are criminally undercooked or left out of the spotlight entirely. Yet, in spite of each facet of XC3’s construction falling short of what it theoretically could’ve been, it still manages to be unrelentingly compelling and enthralling from the strength and density of its ideas alone.
Naturally, the first takeaway from exploring this idea of “Wano Syndrome'' would be that narratives which are large in scope and meticulously detailed resonate deeply with ME specifically. Well, yeah, that much is obvious and not particularly helpful in a more broad sense. I’ll often still resonate with art which prioritizes these goals. Even when it definitively fails in living up to the level of thoroughness which it could theoretically have achieved. More importantly, though, I don’t think this is just a result of my own personal taste- rather, it’s more of a baseline truth than one might expect.
Put simply, this shortcoming might not be an inherent negative. Consider the nature of mystique and the ongoing narrative examination which stems from this form of ambiguity. One could reasonably conclude that, by taking “Wano Syndrome” to its logical extreme, an afflicted work’s own shortcoming can paradoxically work in its own favor through this ambiguity rather than against it.
…Still with me? I know that was hella weird and probably the closest I’ll come to incomprehensible rambling. Don’t worry, none of the other chapters are like this. I think.
CHAPTER 8 - HOLDIN OUT FOR A HERO (QUEST)
[Heroes, Ascension Quests, Side Quests]
Although XC3’s major story beats do hit the mark near universally, there are several points where things felt decidedly rushed. Aside from the brevity of Chapters 6 and 7, the one area I felt this most clearly was in the Hero characters’ “Main Story” involvement. The early game especially was the biggest culprit of this. I would’ve been hugely appreciative of Ouroboros getting more time to spend with Ethel. But immediately after her Hero Quest, she fucks off to the Castle and later dies before getting a chance to rejoin. This really minimized her potential for relationship building (especially among the three Agnians, who only knew of her prior through battle rumors). The Kevesi party’s attachment to her did provide some emotional weight to her death scene. But given that most of our time interacting with Ethel is as an antagonist under the influence of Consul K’s iris manipulation, there wasn’t enough time to develop a true emotional attachment to her character in the way our party, particularly Noah, had.
Isurugi’s early game stuff flew by way too quickly as well, and for similar reasons. The iris manipulation poised him as an antagonist for most of his involvement in the “main story”. He is then immediately punted to the sidelines once Consul J reveals himself to be Joran. Not only did this lack of screentime and focus harm Isurugi’s character, but Taion’s by proxy. I do feel Taion’s character eventually got the satisfaction it needed through his Side Story. However, because of Isurugi’s guilt for the role he played in supporting Nami’s dream to see the world, an act which led to her eventual death, he keeps himself out of her new life in the Lost Colony. This does feel appropriate in terms of his character and their history. Unfortunately, though, this doesn’t do him any favors in terms of providing him with the screen time he desperately needed (and deserved, frankly).
This probably would’ve been less egregious if Isurugi’s own ascension quest was more character driven, but it just wasn’t. Well, at least for him specifically, anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I love this quest. It not only does a great job at providing much-needed levity before the bombastic climax against Z, but it highlights the growth of Ouroboros’ quite brilliantly.
Think back to the “clothes changing scene” at Gura Flava when the group first came together as Ouroboros. They feel shame over their newfound knowledge, but do not understand why (this will be more important and expounded upon later on). But in this scene, after having traveled together and in some cases fallen in love (not to mention learning what sex is), they are entirely cognizant of why stripping down would lead them to becoming flustered around one another. On the surface, one could brush this off as tropey fanservice. But as the game bluntly hits you over the face with during the initial bathhouse scene in Chapter 1, that is never the case. This scene, without any dialogue to directly suggest as much, illustrates their growth as a family, their growing romantic bonds, and most importantly, their growing humanity; all of which come full circle in this scene despite its unassuming simplicity.
I know Monolith Soft was probably hesitant to make any more of the side content mandatory, given the fact that the game is already so incredibly long. But I really do wish that heroes were made Mandatory. It might sound like a rather arbitrary thing to suggest, but it would only serve to benefit their corresponding relationships, scenes, and interactions. By not having to account for the players who might not yet have a specific hero in their arsenal, more pre rendered cutscenes and main-story dialogue could’ve incorporated various heroes in order to provide them with more screentime and interactions amongst each other. Think of Rudi’s partnership with Isurugi and Nina, Zeon and Yuzuriha’s (absolutely blessed) bond, Monica and Gray’s mutual trust and respect, Miyabi’s apprenticeship under Manana, and the budding camaraderie between Triton and (his adopted daughter idc) Fiona. These are great, but I would’ve loved to see more relationships in this vein.
Similarly to both Ethel and Isurugi, the sheer number of supporting characters and their respective plot threads lead to quite a few major plot beats getting shafted. Joran is another strong example of this, though I didn’t feel his character was impacted as substantially as the former two. I was invested in Joran’s character arc from the moment of the initial reveal, especially since it formed a compelling and surprisingly sensitive foundation for Lanz’ character arc. But by the time his emotional payoff came to fruition at the Cloudkeep in Chapter 6 (despite being a phenomenal scene in hindsight) it didn’t quite hit as hard since, well… I hadn't seen Joran more than once or twice in the past 75 hours.
Beyond these three, I’d say this applies to Cammunabi (alright he and Ethel kinda get a pass for having literally been dead), Monica, Ghondor, and Ashera to name a few. I'm not saying ALL of these characters needed more, as I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. But more scenes of just about any sort- be they dramatic or casual party interactions, anything would’ve been welcome. Hell, I'd even take the Chrono Cross approach of “your chosen party member will say the same sort of generic thing regardless of who it is during cutscenes” cheap shot. Plus, it’s not like they couldn’t throw some flavor text in their given how many fewer party members this game has compared to Chrono Cross. Anyway, the point is that seeing Ethel stand around in the background while the entire game goes on like she isn’t there just… doesn’t sit well with me.
To speak generally about the sidequests in this game for a bit: They’re incomparably better and more interesting than the side quests of prior Xenoblade games. Like holy shit. Here's a completely random example of a XC3 quest premise I've pulled straight out of my ass: Some Swordmarch City Lost Numbers rando wants to propose to his rich gf with a literal rock from a distant island because it's shiny or whatever. So he’s training to swim 10 straight days to reach it. He then asked the resident furby for advice on endurance training, who recommended repeatedly jumping off a 3rd story balcony. Sounds like a hell of an outlier, right? Well, not really, actually. This is one of the most irrelevant and straightforward fetch quests in the whole game. Yet, even something THIS pointless still gets some weirdo shit thrown on top of it to make it genuinely fun and worth your time.
Perhaps my single biggest disappointment in terms of character writing was the lack of proper ascension quests for the dead duo. Er, the dynamic.. defiant… dead… fuck it, Ethel and Cammunabi. To be fair, Cammunabi KINDA got something resembling a substantial conclusion, I guess? But Ethel really didn’t get anything other than a quick cutscene or two. Her revival and maturation should’ve been a HUGE deal, when in reality, it ended up feeling more like a gameplay bonus than a proper story beat.
While it’s certainly a very welcome gameplay bonus, I was a bit let down that her job rank immediately shot to 20 without getting any sort of quest upon rejoining the party. Even if it was just something basic or lighthearted to make up for lost time and catch her up to speed with everything that transpired in her absence. Though, I definitely do concede that looking back and telling her EVERYTHING would be thematically counterproductive. The game constantly pushes a core principle of “never looking back”- a fact which is very consistently upheld through these revivals.
For example, Taion never explains everything to Nami, nor does Isurugi ever come to visit and talk to her for his own satisfaction and resolution. Garvel and his crew DO go back to the original colony eventually, but it’s never strictly to return to their old lives. Miyabi, despite her partial understanding of past events, moves on with her new life by taking on responsibilities as a Lost Number and general member of society within Swordmarch City. Mwamba and Hackt are uh… there, I guess? Kinda, but not really? Can’t say it isn’t in-character for them…
Likewise, Ethel and Cammunabi are committed to using their new lives to look straight ahead to the future. Ethel’s conviction with this goal is particularly compelling. She actively chose to shorten her own lifespan and sacrifice a potentially safe and peaceful life within the City just so she could contribute to the party and look after herself- rather than shackling someone else to do so on her behalf. Again, this conclusion to her arc was INSANELY brief to the point where it’s basically just a footnote. Still though, the substance behind this abrupt conclusion to her character is more than adequate in terms of thematic and emotional weight.
And with that, we can finally move on to the main cast of XC3- Ouroboros. I don’t want to drag this much further, but I will preemptively say that this is easily one of my favorite casts of main characters in any piece of fiction, period. The diversity, the interactions, the growth, Ouroboros has all of it in spades. A huge contributing factor of this is the change in approach to party assembly. Whereas in prior Xenoblade games, you’d slowly assemble a party over the course of most of the main quest, your main party in XC3 is complete about 1% into the game. It might seem anticlimactic, but this massively beneficial towards your growing attachment to them as a set group, it gives each of them time to breathe and be given individual focus, and more.
Not to mention, on the flip side, all six of their character arcs persist throughout the entirety of the game. No more “you got your time to shine, now chill in the back of every cutscene for the last 60 hours” garbage. Each one of them sees gradual growth from beginning to end, never once losing their personal stake in the ongoing narrative. Plus, while getting the entire party at once might appear to have its own set of drawbacks, the Hero system covers its weaknesses beautifully. It allows the party to still “grow” in numbers, and aside from the fact you can’t control them, it does a wonderful job of substituting in for the standard sense of party progression that would have been otherwise lost entirely.
If I had to provide one gripe as to the main cast, it would be their lack of upbringing diversity. I mean, this was inevitable considering the careful deliberation of the world through Moebius’ conspiratorial colony system. The homogenization IS definitely intentional. That said, in comparison to XC2 especially, where characters like Vandham, Morag, and Zeke provided such a dynamic range of experience, maturity, and backgrounds, it’s only natural that this approach would feel a bit flat by comparison. Though the heroes provide a ton of variety, thankfully. Aside from that… I literally have nothing else but the highest praise for Ouroboros. They’re excellent, plain and simple. With that said, let’s tackle them one at a time and get to the heart of why this group is so goddamn special.
(continued in comments lmao)