CWs for Xenoblade Chronicles 3: body horror, mind control
A very beautiful and patient young people's road trip RPG via the absolute sobriety of FFX which is unfortunately and devastatingly ruined by a botched retreading of Xenogear's big twist late in the game along with a generally shallow back third. The ways in which this game decides to be a Franchise Sequel at the last moment completely guts a placelessness and emptiness of the world that really flavored the meandering coming of age journey that most of the game is. This shift makes the unremarkable geology of the world instead feel like poor design rather than a meaningful choice, where clear environmental callbacks are discarded for indiscernible house-style melange.
The character work done in the first two thirds of this game is easily the best Monolith has ever done and then it gets spat on and torn apart for every hour the game continues after about chapter six. Literally everyone's character arcs have been resolved in totality, yet everyone is dragged around as they must bumble through resolving the equally incomprehensible nightmare of Xenoblade 2's ending. Entire factual details are left out or hidden at the margins while the combat goes completely unchanged for thirty grueling and needless hours. I cannot reiterate how much I loved this game and how severely I soured on it as it developed. Begging the powers that be to free Monolith from making Time-on-machine farms and have them make weirdo shit again.
A very beautiful and patient young people's road trip RPG via the absolute sobriety of FFX which is unfortunately and devastatingly ruined by a botched retreading of Xenogear's big twist late in the game along with a generally shallow back third. The ways in which this game decides to be a Franchise Sequel at the last moment completely guts a placelessness and emptiness of the world that really flavored the meandering coming of age journey that most of the game is. This shift makes the unremarkable geology of the world instead feel like poor design rather than a meaningful choice, where clear environmental callbacks are discarded for indiscernible house-style melange.
The character work done in the first two thirds of this game is easily the best Monolith has ever done and then it gets spat on and torn apart for every hour the game continues after about chapter six. Literally everyone's character arcs have been resolved in totality, yet everyone is dragged around as they must bumble through resolving the equally incomprehensible nightmare of Xenoblade 2's ending. Entire factual details are left out or hidden at the margins while the combat goes completely unchanged for thirty grueling and needless hours. I cannot reiterate how much I loved this game and how severely I soured on it as it developed. Begging the powers that be to free Monolith from making Time-on-machine farms and have them make weirdo shit again.