This review contains spoilers
I think, in theory, an rpg about wanting to live in a perpetual present because the future is scary, is a good idea. As an isolated pitch, I'm not against the ending. I'm just confused why they didn't make the first seventy five percent of the game about that too.
The themes of the early game are so raw and powerful: Kids forced into an endless cycle of pointless violence. A class of elites that literally feed off their suffering to sustain a life of absolute privilege and luxury. The entire unjust hierarchy propped up by a culture of de-education and nationalism to prevent the development of class consciousness and pit the most vulnerable against each other.
To put it mildly: Relatable.
It's so rare that a game lets you save the world by saving its people. You spend most the game going from settlement to settlement, breaking the systems of oppression, AND, most importantly, helping to build the systems that will foster peace. You help people learn to farm, you help colonies demilitarize, you build relationships between former enemies. There is a map that shows these colony relationships, and it none of them ever get worse. XC3 is revolutionary and optimistic.
And then a magic queen tells you that actually it's about alternate universes converging and time magic.
Of all the very stupid XC endings, why does this one deny its characters a happy ending? Why is this world - the only world that was measurably improved by the actions of the protagonists - wiped out? Why do the main characters talk about moebius' fear of the future as if its a flaw they also share? These kids are the victims of moebius, and saying that both groups deserve the same punishment is... bad.
These disconnected themes really hurt the pacing of the final acts. In typical rpg fashion, you're flooded with a zillion side quests you can use to delay heading to the final dungeon, but why bother? Why continue working to better this soon-to-be-deleted world? I've seen people hoping for a dlc epilogue where everyone reestablishes contact across the dimensions. But undoing the consequences of the ending wouldn't make it good, just completely pointless.
also lmao they accidentally made a kingdom hearts game
The themes of the early game are so raw and powerful: Kids forced into an endless cycle of pointless violence. A class of elites that literally feed off their suffering to sustain a life of absolute privilege and luxury. The entire unjust hierarchy propped up by a culture of de-education and nationalism to prevent the development of class consciousness and pit the most vulnerable against each other.
To put it mildly: Relatable.
It's so rare that a game lets you save the world by saving its people. You spend most the game going from settlement to settlement, breaking the systems of oppression, AND, most importantly, helping to build the systems that will foster peace. You help people learn to farm, you help colonies demilitarize, you build relationships between former enemies. There is a map that shows these colony relationships, and it none of them ever get worse. XC3 is revolutionary and optimistic.
And then a magic queen tells you that actually it's about alternate universes converging and time magic.
Of all the very stupid XC endings, why does this one deny its characters a happy ending? Why is this world - the only world that was measurably improved by the actions of the protagonists - wiped out? Why do the main characters talk about moebius' fear of the future as if its a flaw they also share? These kids are the victims of moebius, and saying that both groups deserve the same punishment is... bad.
These disconnected themes really hurt the pacing of the final acts. In typical rpg fashion, you're flooded with a zillion side quests you can use to delay heading to the final dungeon, but why bother? Why continue working to better this soon-to-be-deleted world? I've seen people hoping for a dlc epilogue where everyone reestablishes contact across the dimensions. But undoing the consequences of the ending wouldn't make it good, just completely pointless.
also lmao they accidentally made a kingdom hearts game