noraAorSomething
I know. Controversial to give this game a five stars, and admittedly most of it is personal bias, but this is my favorite game of all time.
I think this game has flaws, many games do, but generally my ranking is based on how much those flaws impact my enjoyment of the series, and all of the flaws here work for me.
An example is the Monastery. The Monastery gets boring, absolutely. There's only so much you can do, and given that you will have to play this game a wopping FOUR times to get the full experience, I could fully understand someone just giving up on it midway through. But I personally believe White Clouds is always interesting as you get to learn more about characters you didn't get to meet on prior runs. On a run of Black Eagles, I discovered one of my favorite support chains in the game (Ferdinand/Hubert) which is fully inaccessible on any other route. I do think you are rewarded for playing this game and engaging with it on it's own level.
The plot is phenomenal, the characters are great, the soundtrack is revolutionary, and the gameplay is fun and plays on a traditional Fire Emblem game in an inventive way. There is nothing about this game that would make me give it any less than five stars, this is a modern masterpiece to me.
I think this game has flaws, many games do, but generally my ranking is based on how much those flaws impact my enjoyment of the series, and all of the flaws here work for me.
An example is the Monastery. The Monastery gets boring, absolutely. There's only so much you can do, and given that you will have to play this game a wopping FOUR times to get the full experience, I could fully understand someone just giving up on it midway through. But I personally believe White Clouds is always interesting as you get to learn more about characters you didn't get to meet on prior runs. On a run of Black Eagles, I discovered one of my favorite support chains in the game (Ferdinand/Hubert) which is fully inaccessible on any other route. I do think you are rewarded for playing this game and engaging with it on it's own level.
The plot is phenomenal, the characters are great, the soundtrack is revolutionary, and the gameplay is fun and plays on a traditional Fire Emblem game in an inventive way. There is nothing about this game that would make me give it any less than five stars, this is a modern masterpiece to me.
It's good! I think that in general it is weaker than the first two games, but hey. There's no shame in being beaten by the best, I suppose.
Generally, I find the combat in this game to be oddly better than XC2 or especially XC1, but I mainly play games for the plot, so I might as well talk about that as well.
...yeah this plot is pretty damn weak. I don't think it's too much of a hot take to say that this is the weakest of the plots for the three games, and even weaker than something like Torna which is supposed to be a side game. I think some of the characters are done quite well though! I think this might be the second strongest group of characters in the series? I don't think anything rises to the level of one, but I genuinely enjoy most of the interactions among the core six and they do feel like both friends and rivals simultaneously.
Noah and Mio have a bit of a fast relationship, which I don't really mind and there is some plot behind it, but as the game progresses I find their dynamic just gets better and better. Noah might be my favorite of the three protagonists, specifically because he has some darkness and complexity someone like Shulk or Rex truly lack. But regardless, I do enjoy his and Mio's relationship.
This game was solid! I enjoyed it front to back, and as with all Xenoblade games, this is a truly masterful experience that has to be played for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the JRPG genre.
Generally, I find the combat in this game to be oddly better than XC2 or especially XC1, but I mainly play games for the plot, so I might as well talk about that as well.
...yeah this plot is pretty damn weak. I don't think it's too much of a hot take to say that this is the weakest of the plots for the three games, and even weaker than something like Torna which is supposed to be a side game. I think some of the characters are done quite well though! I think this might be the second strongest group of characters in the series? I don't think anything rises to the level of one, but I genuinely enjoy most of the interactions among the core six and they do feel like both friends and rivals simultaneously.
Noah and Mio have a bit of a fast relationship, which I don't really mind and there is some plot behind it, but as the game progresses I find their dynamic just gets better and better. Noah might be my favorite of the three protagonists, specifically because he has some darkness and complexity someone like Shulk or Rex truly lack. But regardless, I do enjoy his and Mio's relationship.
This game was solid! I enjoyed it front to back, and as with all Xenoblade games, this is a truly masterful experience that has to be played for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the JRPG genre.