LogFAQs > #969358992

JigsawTDCII posted...

I loved almost everything about XC2, except the randomized aspect of getting some of the named cores. I did everything possible in the game minus getting a couple named blades and doing their associated quests. It just became way too tedious to keep trying for them and wasnt fun. What was a real bummer for me was that one of the named cores I didnt get was KOS-MOS and I really wanted that one.

Having replayed it recently (NG+ ahead of 3's launch, along with doing Torna for the first time), the blade summoning is much, much better now than it was at launch, when you couldn't even skip the summoning animation. I was able to get all of the base game blades pretty easily by farming up a stack of legendary crystals before the animation was patched, but the NG+ blades took another couple stacks to get. It was definitely tedious (especially where they don't give you a keep/release option when you summon them, so you periodically have to leave the menu to go release a bunch) and I don't think the system as implemented was a good way to achieve what they were going for (to make successive playthroughs different), but it was definitely better than it used to be.

What bugs me most is how bad the pacing is, both in gameplay and story. It takes far too long for the game to evolve past "you have three arts, sit here and wait for them to recharge," and even when it does, so many of the mechanics that actually make the combat go smoothly (double art recharge pouch items, reliable breaking, cancelling between arts...) still don't show up until pretty late (and with horrible tutorials that basically mean you need to consult outside sources to understand how all the mechanics work). Eventually, it gets there and it's really fun, but it's a real slog to get there.

Meanwhile, there barely even is a story before the last third of the game. It takes way, way too long to get past "bad guys are trying to destroy the world, let's stop them!" and actually explore why that's happening. The last third is then really interesting because those bad guys get meaningfully developed and the game starts exploring the themes that actually make it good, but there's so much nothing to wade through beforehand. Even then, with the exception of Nia and Pyra/Mythra, the party is extremely one-dimensional and doesn't develop at all, which is a real let-down after Xenoblade 1 focused so heavily on Shulk's development as a really interesting protagonist. Arguably, Rex being so static is why Nia, Pyra/Mythra, and the villain cast were able to develop, since their development was largely driven by his influence, but I still would very much have preferred to see something a little more dynamic.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

rex just gave up as if that was even an option. Like, if you give up at that point, you die, you realize that right?

That's kind of the point. He was so disheartened that he didn't care how things panned out anymore and was okay with leaving his fate up to the slim chance that somebody else figured out how to save the world. It was a pretty flimsy attempt at developing his character that didn't actually change anything about him (he want from being "I like everyone so I'll save the world" to "oh no I lost now I'm sad" to "never mind I still like everyone so I'll save the world"), but there wasn't anything wrong with the story beat itself.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

the very end where they try to shoehorn in a reason to sacrifice important characters

The circumstances of that sacrifice are pretty clearly foreshadowed beforehand and pretty much just boils down to "that's how physics works." The whole thing was rendered quite silly and pointless by bringing them back three minutes later before anyone even really had a chance to respond to the sacrifice, but it certainly wasn't shoehorned in.

YoukaiSlayer posted...

I don't know why xenoblade story wants me to be punished for beating the game

It seems a little melodramatic to characterize anything less than a perfectly happy ending as "punishing you for beating the game," but you do you.

*Xenoblade 1*
That said, 1 was pretty unambiguously a happy ending. Sure, some people were lost along the way and it's not the ending you might have expected from the game's outset (that is, beating the evil robots and everyone living happily ever after with no more evil robots), but it's clearly a good outcome in pretty much every way.

*Xenoblade 2*
2's is also mostly a happy ending, especially with Pyra's sacrifice being immediately negated. There are some bittersweet elements in that all of the villains that were just defeated turned out to be sympathetic, pitiable people and it's sad that they were so far gone in their despair that reconciliation was impossible, but the world is saved, pretty much every protagonist other than Vandham is still alive, and the whole issue of titans dying is resolved by finding the new land the Architect was able to create. Again, clearly a good outcome.

*Xenoblade X*
X won't have an ending until it gets a sequel. It doesn't count.

*Xenoblade 3*
3 is the only one that's actually bittersweet, given that it entails saying goodbye to all of Aionios. Even then, as much as that's sad, the end result is overwhelmingly a positive outcome: The original worlds continue to exist and move forward instead of rotting in stasis forever, and while the future is left uncertain because that's a critical theme of the game, it's very obviously hopeful. There's every reason to expect that, based on the lingering memories of Aionios everyone will have, the worlds will end up seeking to connect and that Noah and Mio will be reunited.