Board 8 > B8 Xenopinons: Best Xenoblade Chronicles Character

(+) Yeah! (+)

*assume spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 1 (including Future Connected)*

Having recently beaten Xenoblade Chronicles I do not want to stop talking about it, so here is a topic. Took this idea from the Hadespinion topics, this might not go anywhere but I do have some ideas for future polls if there's interest. Could go to XCX or XC2 too but someone else would have to do those as I haven't played them. I just really liked Xenoblade!

Ideas:

• Best Character (Gameplay)
• Best Antagonist
• Best Location (Maybe split into interior/exterior/populated)
• Best Boss Fight
• Best Unique Monster
• Best Music (Split into battle music/ambient or something)
• Best Battle Quote (Or best quote from each character)
• Best Plot Twist
• Best NPC
• Bestest Nopon

Open to other suggestions too!

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Dunban always won me over because he starts off looking like a washed-up mentor type who'll get ditched after the opening act, but then he ends up battling shoulder-to-shoulder with your throughout the journey.

Strangely enough I loved Citan Uzuki's character a lot in Xenogears as well. Something special about the Xeno games and mentor types, I guess.

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Riki can win by himself.

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Shulk is the perfect JRPG protagonist and has 10/10 voice acting

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Dunban > Melia > Shulk > Reyn > Fiora > Riki > Sharla

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KamikazePotato posted...

Shulk is the perfect JRPG protagonist and has 10/10 voice acting

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KamikazePotato posted...

Shulk is the perfect JRPG protagonist and has 10/10 voice acting

Yep this about sums it up for me too. Though I do love the whole cast (sorry FFX but this is my new fav JRPG party) and 2nd-8th would be really difficult for me to rank.

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I guess Shulk is "perfect" in the sense that if I were to try to describe to a non-JRPG player what the average protagonist is like, I'd probably describe something similar to Shulk

Or Lloyd Irving

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LeonhartFour posted...

I guess Shulk is "perfect" in the sense that if I were to try to describe to a non-JRPG player what the average protagonist is like, I'd probably describe something similar to Shulk

I wouldn't actually, most JRPG protagonists aren't nearly as mature or intelligent as Shulk. Which is why he's the perfect JRPG protagonist in my eyes - he manages to hit the sweet spot between 'young and going on a coming of age journey' and 'mature enough that you don't roll your eyes at his internal struggles'. He's a character that works both for the target audience of teenagers and an older audience.

I wouldn't say Lloyd is quite the average either, actually, although he's not a bad choice. He's several degrees dumber than the average. The Average would be like...Rex from XBC2, actually. Or Sorey from Tales of Zestiria.

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Dunban > Riki > Melia > Shulk > Reyn > Fiora > Sharla > the FC Nopons

Easy first - Dunban was both my favorite to use in battle and as a character. Dude even climbs everything with just his left arm, what a boss

somehow despite not being in Future Connected I think Riki benefitted from it more than Melia or Shulk just because dealing with Kino and Nene made me appreciate him more

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Melia > Dunban > Shulk > Riki > Fiora > Reyn > Sharla

Kinda a noticeable gap between Dunban and Shulk. I actually don't think this cast gels all that well but that's a minority opinion I'm sure! Though I also think that's largely a problem brought on by cascading plot decisions in the second half that just snowball.

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KamikazePotato posted...

I wouldn't actually, most JRPG protagonists aren't nearly as mature or intelligent as Shulk. Which is why he's the perfect JRPG protagonist in my eyes - he manages to hit the sweet spot between 'young and going on a coming of age journey' and 'mature enough that you don't roll your eyes at his internal struggles'. He's a character that works both for the target audience of teenagers and an older audience.

Eh, he still manages to hit a lot of the JRPG protagonist tropes. He doesn't hit a lot of the hotblooded shounen hero tropes though, which often intersect with JRPG protagonist tropes.

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Voted Kino since I figured the main cast would get most of the attention anyway, and he's too adorable to leave with no votes

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xp1337 posted...

I actually don't think this cast gels all that well but that's a minority opinion I'm sure!

I think I kinda agree with you. The heart-to-hearts give you the opportunity to see the characters interact with each other individually, but it doesn't feel like they interact a ton collectively. That's what sets something like FFX apart from Xenoblade.

(I also don't really care about anyone beyond Dunban, Melia, and Shulk, but yeah)

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I wouldn't say FFX is a particularly notable example of character interacting with each other individually. Yuna and Tidus do, but they have to. Auron, Rikku, Wakka, Kimahri, and Lulu generally only interact with Tidus/Yuna (excepting Wakka and Lulu interacting each other other).

Xenoblade could have used some more of the cast interacting with each other individually, but most games could do with some improvement on that front. I think it's still in the upper tier thanks to Hearts to Hearts and the post-battle lines.

For all its numerous writing faults, I think this is one thing the Tales series nails in every game.

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KamikazePotato posted...

I wouldn't say FFX is a particularly notable example of character interacting with each other individually. Yuna and Tidus do, but they have to. Auron, Rikku, Wakka, Kimahri, and Lulu generally only interact with Tidus/Yuna (excepting Wakka and Lulu interacting each other other).

Well, I was talking about the cast chemistry of FFX as a whole. You have several notable group scenes where the entire cast (sometimes even Kimahri!) contributes. You never really feel like any of the cast is completely irrelevant (unlike, say, FFIX).

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Shulk is very similar to Tidus in a good way

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LeonhartFour posted...

Well, I was talking about the cast chemistry of FFX as a whole. You have several notable group scenes where the entire cast (sometimes even Kimahri!) contributes. You never really feel like any of the cast is completely irrelevant (unlike, say, FFIX).

While true, I think there are better examples even within its own series. I'm surprised you of all people didn't bring up FF8 as I think despite being a very Squall-centric game, its cast interacts with each other nicely when the game actually gives them screentime. Half of FF9's cast being irrelevant is a big problem, yeah.

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Oh, FFVIII is built on its collective cast chemistry more than individual interactions, for sure. I only brought up FFX because it was mentioned earlier.

I also think it's legit impressive that FFX managed to make Kimahri feel like part of the team despite how little he speaks.

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foolm0r0n posted...

Shulk is very similar to Tidus in a good way

Shulk's voice acting alone makes him nothing like Tidus.
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imagine not liking Riki

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Mac Arrowny posted...

Shulk's voice acting alone makes him nothing like Tidus.

I thought his VA was really good, so I think it's fair to compare him to one of the best RPG VAs of all time. Especially since both characters have a similar range of misery and anger (in addition to the typical JRPG heroic dialogue).

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LeonhartFour posted...

I also think it's legit impressive that FFX managed to make Kimahri feel like part of the team despite how little he speaks.

It's pretty simple - include him in the damn plot. RPGs always have so much trouble with that with the minor characters. Kimahri's plot was almost entirely off-screen too, but it was enough to make him inseparable from Yuna.

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Janus5k posted...

somehow despite not being in Future Connected I think Riki benefitted from it more than Melia or Shulk just because dealing with Kino and Nene made me appreciate him more

Agreed! I noted this in my playthrough but the biggest surprise of FC for me was how kind it was to Riki.

hombad46 posted...

Voted Kino since I figured the main cast would get most of the attention anyway, and he's too adorable to leave with no votes

I appreciate this!

foolm0r0n posted...

Shulk is very similar to Tidus in a good way

Agreed! Shulk might actually surpass Tidus, which is saying a lot for me.

Honestly I think the cast gels even better than FFX's (and I love that game's cast). The heart to hearts help for sure, giving people dynamics with each other and not just Shulk. It helps that 4 of them know each other very well already I guess. As for the three outsiders, I think the game just does a really good job of making everybody feel like part of the team even when they're sidelined (except probably Melia on Mechonis, but in general she's supposed to be the outsider so it works).

It might seem silly but the constant battle chatter and post-battle banter helps in binding them together too, and they're just... all really fun playing off of each other! The characters are all so empathetic that they never treat each other like they're less than true friends, and the game's so long that I think every duo has a distinct relationship by the end of their world voyage, or pretty much.

Take Sharla, she's probably the one that'd be most obvious to lift out, but I was surprised at how often they kept her relevant in cutscenes, and she has a specific separate dynamic with Shulk, Fiora and Riki (best post-battle banter in the game) as well as her obvious one with Reyn.


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I think FFX did battle chatter better because it...actually changes over the course of the game.

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let's not lose our heads tho

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-AEXaBiP2Q

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Melia > Dunban > Shulk > Fiora > Reyn > Riki > Sharla

Not that Sharla is bad or anything.

Hooray everybody has a vote!

Not sure if I'll have this run another day or just let it get to 24 hours, 56 votes is probably about as high as this'll get I think. Already higher than I expected!

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let's press on and ON AND ON

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