All of my fucking friends are dead.

Played with the Yakuza Restored patch.

It's like fine, standard first entry moment. Fighting is fun but that goes away when groups of enemies prop up who can just stack on top of you.

I don't think the story's... great? Like it's serviceable but it feels like things just sort of happen. Especially near the end where I feel who dies and who postpones their death is a bit silly.

I'm so sorry Xenoblade 2 fans. I don't mean it outside of pity, but I'm so sorry.

It's fine. I expected far worse from what looked (and is) mostly fanservice DLC but I enjoyed my time with it and didn't feel like I was sleighed.

More of that Xenoblade 3 goodness (unless you don't like 3, then oops). Though with some gameplay additions I'm mixed about. More Class (Now Ouroboros) Arts, Accessories, and Gems have to be upgraded by finding and obtaining respective kits in the world. Similarly, further upgrading your Arts and Skills also require kits. I kind of wish that wasn't the case, since at some points I found myself trying to prep for what's ahead by forcing myself to explore every cranny. I get it, it's an open world game, but it's the difference between reading what you enjoy and reading for an assignment.

That's not to say ALL the exploration incentives turned me off. The new Affinity Goals are great to help keep track of what's in the world. You can now pin items you need for certain things (but not crafting in the world for some reason), a Good Collectopedia is here, and the X-Radar eases the process. Mostly. Its beeping doesn't seem to concern itself with elevation which sucks as some of that can't be done until plot progresses further. Progression overall kind of stinks.

Plot wise. It exists. I'm no Xenosaga or Xenogears chad, not yet anyways, so I might've missed a lot. It's similar to Torna where I think these beats are kind of rushed because it isn't able to do much in it's now expected 20~ hours. I did have to actually turn to the internet to hopefully explain some of the visuals. I'm not the brightest but I tried. Though don't expect anything to answer a lot. I don't know why you would, you're this many games in and should pick up on hints or just massive shrug.

Character wise, Matthew and A are great. Shulk feels like what would happen if you got the Olds following everything. And then there's everyone else I feel weird about. Glimmer and Nikol often feel like they just exist, more often to help show how Rex and Shulk have grown through the years. They're the greatest victims of being in pivotal scenes and having nothing to add. At least Nikol and Shulk have great interactions being massive NEEEEEEEEEER-

And Rex... Oh Rex... I have no clue who you are. For context, I didn't like Rex before. Not because of his outfit or screaming, but it felt like 2 was telling me he was a good, heroic and inspiring guy when I didn't get that at all. But now this feels like someone else who only occasionally speaks of memories and references the real Rex would know. I know he was like 15 and is probably like ??? in current day but I just don't see how these are the same person. This is legally distinct Auron with legally distinct Fei. Though that's more of a fault with the original character not doing much for me in the first place.

I think it's greatest strength is the way references are done. Had the main game done this, I would've been disappointed. But since this is a paid expansion that you can just ignore and if you pitch in you better be emotionally manip- catered to. A lot of nods to series classics: Unique Monsters, NPCs, music. A lot of music reference. Literally just saying them. Damn Origin really does have EVERYTHING, doesn't it? Oh man and Yesterdale, greatest jumpscare in my life but I respected it. Though what's really shocking is the lack of equal treatment to Xenoblade 2. I don't think it's a good game, no, but you'd think with Rex right there you'd be right in the open about it. But all you get is Tantal (which isn't a very distinctive) and talking about Uraya. Compared to Colony 9 (the real one), Raguel Lake, Prison Island... y'all got NOTHING. And to be fair, kind of hard to do anything considering there wasn't a lot to work with in XC2's ending (to the point where base game has a Torna area instead). But man, lol. Lmao, even.

Music is okaaay. Not the best additions, but I guess the lifting was from all the returning tracks. Fogbeast my beloved. New Battle!!! is great (following Time to Fight! and Battle!!, I see you Monolith) but a mighty ear worm. I think the new "generic" area theme is alright when it isn't starting every few minutes and Black Mountains' OST... exists. It and Prison Island's OST are sinister but I expected to go full mile with the arrangements.

Overall it's like. Fine. I expected far worse hamfisted fanservice but this did a good amount of "if you know you know". More often the callbacks felt like characters reminiscing of years gone by rather than the game looking at me and going "LOOK ITS THE THING".

It's an acceptable level of okay. Like there's a good amount of SOUL or good intentions and ideas, but it's not completely polished so there are obvious gaps in some areas. I had fun playing most of it but definitely had some issues. And since this has been rather well received, ideally I want to see it be improved.

On the exploration front, I think it's really solid. But could some refinement. Some of the sandbox platforming breaks its camera and it just doesn't feel right. And I don't really get the point of Challenges limited to night time when (at the point of writing this) there's no real way to better pass time? I found myself standing around a lot just for the same 2 types of challenges. I also don't know why Fast Travel to Portals is tied to doing all Challenges and only the Challenges. I've had at least twice where I beat all Portals and just feels weird to not at least be able to zip around them if I definitely already found them.

I think the game kinda peaks at the 2nd island, and afterwards feels like it starts closing itself more. I couldn't as freely navigate around the islands get the chaos emeralds without following more of the main story, which I feel was either not a problem or less obvious on the first 2.

I'm mixed on Cyberspace. I know people complained a lot about reuse of level design and themes but the level design gave me a funny game of trying to guess where I recognized them. Not fun for everyone, especially for newcomers but they wouldn't care about the design much in the first place. I don't get why there are so few level themes though. Green Hill, Sky Sanctuary, Chemical Plant, and Highway. I'd be fine with the first 3 if they added more of the latter, or at least better correlated with the various stages from Adventure 2 or Unleashed that just get Unleashed slapped on them. They didn't even bother stepping away from borrowing the original/Generations versions of Chemical Plant and Sky Sanctuary and it's just very... weird.

I do think the concept of short-middle length stages with mini challenges is good, just no executed in the most appealing way. I had fun trying to do all challenges in as few runs as possible, restarting and mastering stages to get it all in one sweep.

A major addition is combat which I think is fun but sometimes becomes a mess to deal with. Feel like the input for Sonic's skills just become a mess in my head and I've had some moments near the end where they started executing when I didn't want to. Wanting to Homing Attack on an enemy for a speed Challenge only to end up doing the Homing Shot on all 3. Very cool, thanks. Some skills are also really similar like the Cross Slash and Sonic Boom to where I just defaulted on the former. There are differences but I only care about projectile to make combo go big.

There's a big resource issue where collecting items just sort of stops mattering. I ignored the Auto Combo skill but was well above the price of it and still wouldn't have anything to do with them. Same goes for Memory Tokens, keys, fishing tokens, and gears. You can collect them on and on with the world filled to the brim just in case you don't do Cyberspace but you can't do much else with them. On the last island, I didn't even explore for more Memory Tokens and just used fishing currency to buy a lot to just move the finale along.

Super Sonic boss battles are cool as hell. I'm glad there's still a reason to be concerned about the skills you get and your rings serve the usual purpose as a timer. Though I think a couple fights are just "alright." SUPREME has a big problem of just repeating the same sequence, made worse when the game gives no clue what you're meant to do. Like I get bosses are essentially "repeating the same sequence" but it feels like there's only one way to approach it and if you don't, you get the same annoying cutscene every time.

This is probably the biggest narrative effort since Unleashed and it's just.. alright. Nothing really draws me in as really interesting and even including optional scenes, I gain nothing of note from most of them. I feel like there's a lot the game just assumes I should know and talks like it clearly told me when it very much didn't. Like talk of lore or the Koco just doesn't feel like the game really talked about it? Now I'm open to that I probably missed something or there were subtle hints, not asking for Sonic to look at the screen and tell me every script detail. But feels very weird to just go from one cutscene from the next and Sonic and friends are just fully with helping Koco, getting emeralds from them. A similar thing happens with gameplay, where I only knew of how Memory Tokens "stabilize" everyone because of a loading screen hint. Which doesn't really make sense for Sage earlier one or the final island, but it feels like the game just feels like keeping the formula.

And the "true" final boss just fucking sucks. Very little to gain from doing it besides a really subpar final antagonist while doing a repeat of a minigame, likely after when you just played it to get here already. It's also weirdly not subtitled, so even more pointless if you're using Japanese audio. There's no reason why it's locked behind Hard and I genuinely would just play on Normal just to not put up with that. And still hear Vandalize! Genuinely had I not been told about this, I think I would just leave the game at pleasantly mediocre but now the entire tail end just feels rushed? Weak? Something along those lines.

The game is fine. It could be better but isn't the end of Sonic, or the worst of Sonic, or proof of whatever hysteria people like to feed on. But I wouldn't say "Sonic's back" (he kinda never stays dead) or whatever about a "vision," cause some of that vision is very bad.

And other complaints that don't really go anywhere:
- Feels like at random some objects can't be homing attacked like springs. I thought this would've been tied to whether its a Classic or Modern screen but no they just turn it off at random

- Similarly, can't light dash some row of rings? Or could be due to light dash being on the left stick so it's kind of hard to register in the first place. Light dash kind of sucks because near the end you lose all speed.

- Upgrading yourself with Kocos doesn't provide a clear way of knowing how many you have before you just can't upgrade. Like there's no counter on screen. And you have to do them all one by one. There's no doing multiple levels at a time or something.

- Sonic's collision is kind of weird. There's a thing he does on high slopes where he just stops to slide down or when he bumps into a wall (I think?) he bounces back and this also applies to Cyberspace.

I liked this game. I think 2 should've aimed at being more like this in tone and approach, actually advancing the systems and concepts of the series, rather than poorly introduce its own with mediocre results. Especially with how it approaches literally merging aspects from both games with its countries and systems. Agnus has Auto-Attack Recharge and is themed more... Japanese for lack of a better word while Keves has Time Recharge and its aesthetic is more of that of the Mechon and industrial. It's cool as fuck. World feels put together and (for the most part) doesn't entirely rely on everything from the previous games.

I went into this game as blind as possible, and was pleasantly surprised with its approach to blending mechanics from 1 and 2. The idea of a class system is back from 2 but more traditional. But alongside Arts different among them, they also have different recharge methods based on either time (like 1) or auto attacks (like 2). Made all the better with the Master Arts system where you can add effects from other Arts to your class's. Also returns telling your position relative to your enemy from X, something deeply lacking from 2 (made more noticeable when DE added just telling you when you were in the right position). Gems also return but you don't have to craft them all individually for each character. 3 as a genuine sequel is really good at taking ideas from 1 and actually advancing them for player convenience and still offering so much customization.

The areas in this game are a marvel as always. Personal favorite is High Maktha Wildwood with its forest and ruined buildings, can't get enough of that. Many stand to have their own identity or mix ideas from previous entries, but don't entirely rely on what remains. There may be a large Mechonis Hand, but to everyone in the world its just another large landmark you can name off.

Though, I think this has the weakest area BGM. I think this is due in part of a focus more in being atmospheric and quiet. Which excels in giving the game its proper tone, but doesn't make a lot of BGM memorable. Of what areas I do remember, it's due to actually being melodies from Xenoblade 1. Happens with the previously mentioned Mechonis Hand or Greatsword. I don't think they would mean much to anyone who hasn't played or reached that far in Xenoblade.

Battle BGM is a different story entirely. I think Future Connected beats out the OST due to Fogbeasts alone, this game goes so hard and presents a lot of variety as you travel. A good battle ost is when I purposely pick fights just to jam to music. Elite Monsters? Bring back that absurd piano from FC/Torna. Unique Monsters? Absolutely got destroyed but it was worth it for a few seconds. Not to mention it seems a lot of music seems to change what parts of the song it plays based on your progress in the battle, which is a cool ass detail. And every time you finish a Unique or Elite monster, you get a cool jingle that finishes off the song. That's not even getting into giving Chain Attacks their own BGM, which is an absolute ear worm.

But it's not a Xenoblade game without some weird battle BGM quirk. 1 had Vision Reacts, X with Wir fligen. Chain Attack BGM overrides all battle music up until the final boss. And even then, it suddenly regains control for its final phase. While I like the song, it ends up ruining many moments where there may be a more melancholy song for the fight. I would've liked either these songs take priority or just the option to turn it off sometimes.

As mention before, this game is really great with its tone which is saying a lot coming after 2. It feels like they felt like actually addressing the conflict and issues in a world of constant war, and quite often the party is face to face with the consequences of sudden change or someone who views differently. Though I think Consuls are very weak but they are a small piece compared to the actual Colonies and characters impacted. The story doesn't exactly revolve around the previous worlds or characters, nor do they have direct constant engagement with how events play out.

For the most part, this game is rather indirect when it comes to calling back for most of the time. A lot of it is the good "this wouldn't be significant to any of the characters" and is treated as such. Reminiscent of Malos's Blade in 2, where none of the party brings mention to it and the game isn't constantly showing it off. But "if you know, you know" as they say. The Hero with Arts similar to Dunban ends up saying "we live in a world of strife" and it's cute as hell. The game does fumble this at its end where it feels completely forced for no good reason. Supposed to be a pay off for dialogue earlier but it just ends up being inconsistent with most of the game. It's the only reason I can say this game is only 95% good.

I like this party. They feel like a good set of friends who play off each other and like actually care about each other. And instead of constantly motivated by one character, they all have a shared objective that brings them together. While in ganeplay there are specific pairs for Ouroboros, the game is plentiful with cutscenes mixing and matching and having other people interact. Even better is the return of camp sites which now include topic discussions. There are a few random scenes of different characters interacting, including the guest Hero characters. And just having more casual conversations separated from the main story about this world is really nice. Comfy ass game.

And Heroes are just a cool idea period. Having guest characters of people you've met along the way who may be limited but can pull their own weight. And then the benefit of getting their classes onto other characters for even more options!

I think this is a great step up from Xenoblade 2. It actually feels like a sequel advancing ideas from Xenoblade 1 and then some. Makes 2 stand out as being kind of weird with what it does, like the Blade gacha or how it treats its characters and subjects. It's far from perfect but I had fun playing this for a whole week straight, would even do it again.

If something was to make me kind of lose it's the ending scene, specifically where it focuses on Nia and Melia. That photo is ass and weird (cool trophy wives) but just weirdly forced key jingling to people who played 2 and FC. The game is usually really good for how it doesn't make it incredibly obvious what's a reference until that scene and for no reason. This means nothing to people who haven't played those entries and to me is just completely unneeded. Could be cut from the game and I wouldn't hesitate to call this one of my favorite games. It's made worse when you track they try to foreshadow this scene when you meet Nia, and it feels extremely forced there. Talking about a "certain Nopon" does not add anything nor mean anything to these characters. Leave that for a scene where people get curious about Cloudkeep. Showing the sword from this one epilogue means nothing, like most people playing don't already know of the Monado. Plenty of people with less than positive feelings towards 2 will see that and be left in a bad state, which could shape how they feel about 3 and I wouldn't fucking blame them.

This isn't the worst game but it's not exactly good either, along with not being Fire Emblem Awakening or Wind Waker. Those comparisons seem out of nowhere but I assure you I'll get into why later.

I played this back on release, finished it in two weeks and while I thought I felt positive but I might've mistaken apathy for something good. Of course that goes without saying that the past 5 years (Jesus Christ) being filled with discourse and really awful discussion about it doesn't raise any hope. But I replayed it for about a month, though with some cheating.

I bought the Expansion Pass from when Torna came out as well as used a save editor to get Challenge Battle Blades much earlier and immediately. Due to how Shulk, Fiora, and Elma work, I did cheat their Affinity Charts. Outside of that the gameplay is mostly as designed following the multitude of patches. Comparisons to the first game cannot be helped.

The story sure does exist. It feels more like the final chapter was thought first and then written to reach that point. At least, the emphasis on "boy meets girl" feels this way. While they do establish that the Architect is the end goal, the journey never feels cohesive and feels like constant A-to-B to the next event. As a game, yeah that's exactly what it's supposed to be. But for a story, you want more nuance or intrigue so I can actually remember the point of some of these locations in the greater scheme. Yeah sure, Mor Ardain might have the factory and foreshadow the Artificial Blade later, but in the moment it feels like a weird Nopon chapter where they make me fight a robot maid and remove my tank for a bit. And then you don't really have to go back besides a short visit to go to a completely different Titan. And a lot of core events are just tied to events 500 years ago which is all kinds of lame. I don't even think this game really properly uses this leap in time. As much as I do want to know the past, it is really lame to constantly tie people and relationships to this one event and not rethink how they go about it.

That's not to go into some of it's subjects and themes that it doesn't handle with grace. There's the lack of resources with Mor Ardain and how they're making an effort in Gormott, painting Mor Ardain as some sterotypical super militaristic nation. This does tie into Rex's personal motivation of seeking what is at the top of the World Tree, but the actual topic itself is scarcely mentioned handled by the main story until the ending. But there's no further discussion of like practical approaches before then. Or discussion about refugees who protest Indol's distribution of Blades and Zeke whiles about "manners cost nothing" and now how these people were displaced and very reasonably would like to stop the spread of one of the strongest weapons out there. And then Nia fucking chimes in by saying "people who harp on about justice with no solutions, I'm betting on Rex" like I'm sorry? What the hell? And this is just not brought up again. None of the ethics of this fucking line of thought while the party stares at the tents in the distance. Or no one really resolves Jin's issue with Blades being designed to forget and how much pain that brought to him. Blades are to watch over people but no one really addresses Jin's actual issues Then there's the main theme of how people influence on another, seen through the relationships between humans and Blades. (Some) humans can awaken Blades and in one line suggest that people's thoughts can influence what Blade comes out. It's what shapes antagonist Malos to see his role as nothing more than to destroy it all. But like. It doesn't really work? The game sure does try to push how alike Amalthus and Malos are due to being Driver and Blade but even in cutscenes Amalthus is at first in awe of Malos's sudden leaving and does his own thing for whatever reason. It's certainly not seen with many other Driver and Blade pairings. Rex wasn't even Mythra/Pyra's first Driver yet they think "I love this world because you're in it". Morag and Brighid don't feel like much of an influence, especially cause Brighid is also the same as she was before. I think at best Zeke and Pandoria show this off, sharing animations and bits, but still feels more like straight up affection rather than just an influence. I don't think Poppi counts when she was literally created by Tora.

And it sucks because the game seems convinced that it's made a great party of friends when these all feel like static strangers as teams. Sure, there are Affinity Quests and Heart-to-Hearts but I don't think it should rely on those, especially if someone ends up not being interest to bother with those anyways. Like you should probably make these people interesting to start even considering seeing more of them. The original game, at least to me, didn't need to rely on this. There were plenty of moments where the team in Xenoblade 1 interacted and showcased their dynamics with one another. Not to mention the game was designed around letting you vary your party and dialogue between them all. They were all united better toward a common enemy and motivation against the Mechon. They butt heads and comforted each other, all in the main story. Meanwhile I don't feel like there's any real or sincere comradery. Rex is out for Elysium and wants to take Pyra there, Nia is lonely and thinks it would be interesting, Tora looks up to Rex, Morag is here on business, Zeke is a weirdo also on business. Even with their proper Drivers, Blade's don't really feel like the partners and buddies the game definitely thinks they are. Game tries to say they're all moved by Rex's drive but that doesn't work when all I see is a kid with a cool, powerful sword just swinging. He says himself that people are going to chase after Pyra, and being that's what is keeping him alive, it's not like he has any other choice but to go forward. It's trying to tell me he's driven while not really showing me it. Really weird to try and set him up with (one of) your 500 year old heroines too.

And on top of it all this game tries to tackle romance too! Trying to make Rex out to be this driven motivation to others as well as a genuine love interest that I think is meant to be improved as the game goes on but. He's just a dude. A child. I don't know what about him makes you love the world so much, or really change the Architect's perception on humanity. Likely just the fact he pushed this far but still. It goes the other way too, as Rex's love for Pyra feels like nothing more than just when a kid sees a cute girl in his class. He may sympathize with her and wish her well, but I don't think there's anything more to it than that. Ending is also ass for trying to make them all end Happily Ever After, which not only doesn't make sense but also feels completely unearned. They were even close to making it even a little bittersweet, and knowing it was changed last minute makes it all the more worthy of an eye-roll.

Juggling all of this, Xenoblade 2 manages to drop the ball in tone too. It's trying to tackle subjects like hatred and war but very casually throws in more anime-esque events that don't really belong. Following the intense end of Chapter 1 is Rex waking up to a shot of Pyra's underboob, some joke about being too heavy, later chapters having a dedicated hot springs scene, Mythra's behavior, and whatever is going on with Nopon. Not to mention how cartoonish some of the villains are despite the state of the world. It doesn't really blend together. And not helping is the discourse surrounding the use of the term "anime". Yes, it's vague and unhelpful but it doesn't take an expert to understand what it's use is in this context. Hot spring (singular), tsunderes, a cutscene insert song, all paired with the concepts of The Church, kingdoms and their fantasy politics, and another bad attempt at fantasy racism.

And this is where a weird poor understanding of Fire Emblem Awakening comes in. Both have criticism for using anime tropes, leading people to think anime comments about Xenoblade 2 like they share the same weight. Awakening uses anime tropes for its characters but it's all mostly about mixing these traits together and how they interact. It also doesn't do anything as much as an emphasis on boobs or as many revealing designs and not bothering to say anything about politics or people. It has a hot springs and swimsuit event, but those are DLC and completely optional. While Xenoblade 2's hot springs is used for foreshadowing, it's other use of tropes are really just straightforward and weird. What's with the maid artificial blades, what's with the scene with Mythra being in the wrong bed and slapping Rex (which is a thing also done in Torna, it wasn't funny either time), what is all of this for. It's not adding to any of the messages or scenes, and if attempted levity, it only ends up as weird. And people would reasonably be taken aback for how often the game tries to mix it's sincere scenes with stuff like this. I'm not going to lie and say the original wasn't anime as hell, but it didn't do this. It's anime ass was bound by having large robots and titans duke it out and it was sick as hell. While this game gets sort of close to that, it's all background.

Stuff are just as messy when it comes to being an actual game too. The battles that take up the main gameplay loop is just fine. Some say they consider it more engaging or better than 1's but I think it really ends up the same. Once you find a reliable pattern as early as like Chapter 4, you don't need to vary anything up. You are heavily reliant on your AI to aid with Blade Combos but you're both relying on them to reach a certain Special level AND keep the right element on too. More often than not, I have Nia switch right as my Blade Combo dies out and there's no way of telling them to stay on that. They seem to have removed tactics entirely, leaving only a button to focus your allies onto one enemy. Which isn't exactly the most useful, can't prioritize blade combos or even tell them when to stop attacking. Maybe not a lot of people used this but it's something you want to have when you already have to leave on the CPU. Even Torna felt the need to bring it back.

Not to mention the tone dissonance of the game having characters be upset at the treatment of Blades while the game blatantly asks you which Aegis is your favorite for a few cutscene differences. Jesus Christ man. Already after when Rex says that's kind of weird, make up your mind.

Battles are often determined on what Blades you bring and how you shape your party around them. It sounds like there's meant to be a lot of customization but they add a lot of stupid limits. Blade Combos have to be progressed with specific elements, and random combos add nothing. Blades when first rolled on a stupid gacha system are locked to a character unless you have a specific item that is rare or have DLC that just gives it out. Your assortment of Blades/Weapons not only shape your Arts but also how your stats are impacted based on how many Attackers, Healers, and Defender Blades you have on a character. Sometimes the Arts actually fit with how a character is designed, sometimes not. And when you get a new Blade they are likely far behind when you still bother rolling, they start from scratch in their Affinity Chart making it feel more like a hassle. Customization dies a bit when Rex gets his upgrade that just make you win and pick any element for a Special. Limited buff for once in a fight but I'm pretty sure it's just expected of you. The CPU doesn't seem to use it, why let it go to waste?

Not to mention many of the actual systems and menus are just pretty poor. While you get abilities from the Afinity Chart, you are expected to open it constantly every time or else you do not unlock that node. Aux Cores for Blades usually have to be made at stores and I don't see the point of not just making them usable right when I get them? Then there's the skip travel menu which always seemed to delay a bit when it came to letting me use other inputs like the B button. Likely due to the hardware limitations from portable mode but no other game I've played hampers menus like this. And to think on launch it didn't even lead you to your current area. The Blade menu is the worst of it. Rolling for blades where originally uou couldn't even skip the cutscene. And they resolved it with a patch only adding "Yes (Skip)" which feels so half-assed. The "auto-run" option also shares a button with the quest details button or having the map cycle through hiding itself every time is all kinds of stupid. None of it feels super smooth and just makes the game feel more jank than it should really be for a Nintendo game. Both 1 and X did much better in its menus, what happened here? Definitely a strained development, but that only explains so much.

Strained development really shows in its presentation. Just technically this game really doesn't look great, in it's models or animations outside of battle. Majority of cutscenes end up using a lot of generic animations, sometimes looking very confusing. Not to mention it's actual art styles, or various styles. There are styles reserved for the main characters and their Blades, antagonists Torna have theirs done by Tatsuya Nomura, and many of the rare Blades have guest artists. Anyone else is just left up in the air to a generic style that is definitely humanoid. I'm fine with Rare Blades having their own styles, they are meant to be the xenos here. But All of these styles just end up clashing and none of it meshes well. This doesn't feel like one whole world like this. The world itself isn't much better. While the main party has their exaggerated anime stylings, the world just feels kind of stale. I'm gonna sound weird (yes, now is where I sound weird) but everyone manages to stick out despite being the main way how I'm to be experiencing this world. Designs aren't great, and this game chose to ditch having real-time armor models so you're ultimately stuck with them unless you do Challenge Battles.

I've seen someone try to argue this is just how people talked about Wind Waker, and this comparison is also poor. While Wind Waker suffered due to people wanting a less cartoony Zelda, it at least was consistent in both its characters and world. There's universal cell shading and styles between all characters and races. It was also still a Zelda game at its core in its structure and story elements. People warmed up to Wind Waker because outside of those 2002 expectations, it's pretty tight on its own. Xenoblade 2 feels like the duct tape is about to rip at any second, making this entire world fall apart and takes me out of it..

Areas by themselves are a little better. Uraya, of course, is pretty as hell. The World Tree is cool. But otherwise the areas feel kind of bland and lifeless. Tantal sure is a titan filled with snow and isn't fun to navigate. Mor Ardain has a lot of sand and industrial areas and is also a pain. Idol sure is a church. There's nothing really of interest in the area design. And I think this is because of how much this game is trying to be it's own thing as well as focusing on being familiar to Xenoblade.

Gormott is like Bionis' Leg. Uraya much like Satorl Marsh. Mor Ardain is reminiscent of Mechonis and Sword Valley. Tantal, Valak Mountain. All these areas and the concept of living on breathing titans, but it doesn't feel like its grasped its own identity. All while exploring feels really aimless and stale.

Xenoblade 2 doesn't really try to follow up anything from 1 or X (DLC aside, if that even counts). Exploration is as basic as it was in Xenoblade, nothing was advanced further. All they did was add really annoying Blade Skills to make it feel like you're exploring and digging through the world, when really you probably came back when the affinity chart got filled. These add nothing besides ruining my ultra thin immersion already. What they didn't change or add, they outright removed for any usefulness. The collectopedia is gone so hunting for items just gives me the Titan, remove knowing your position relative to the enemy for some reason, remove the actual Affinity Chart so I can see how people and NPCs interact, remove aiding your allies when toppled or dazed, and not even try when it comes to narrative losses like the original, making me question what's even the point if the story says I lose anyways. All very good things and just amounts to a worse experience. X ended up feeling like more of a proper sequel in actually advancing ideas from the original. And let you control a sick mech!

And it's a shame too because sometimes the game does actually good references. Malos's Blade weapon having no real focus is really cool! Of course no one is going to react to it, they don't know the signifigance of the Monado, but they don't make a big stink with camera shots and zoom ins. He has his own Arts and variations. Points off for not calling it Monado Armour though.

Xenoblade 2 tries to do a lot and drops a lot because it can't seem to focus or actually work towards its goals. It doesn't succeed on its own in its themes or customization, and drops the ball when it feels like attempting to follow its predecessors. I understand I didn't do a lot of side content and holding it up to a standard of a game that probably had more time in the oven, but it was given the name Xenoblade 2 and failed to live up to it. The original is in no means perfect but I could at least say it felt like a complete product. I'm aware Torna was meant to be in-between chapters, but it shipped like this. Even Torna feels like it's making up for some short comings but is still ultimately weighed down by its shortcomings. It's not even a game I can be mad at. It's just mediocre at much of what it does, and that's arguably worse. To finish it twice and just feel apathetic and confused why people would be so passionate about a game so... nothing.

Off the bat I'm going to say that I think this game and Fire Emblem Awakening are in the same boat. That boat being, while entirely fine in a vacuum, their perception to most is entirely out of its control and for things that came entirely after it. Be it talk of anime, "waifus," or "wow this isn't special" while entirely removed from the context or the fact they're not really claiming to be. And they're both unbearable to talk about online due to annoying people of their respective series, no matter how long of a fan they are or if it's positive or negative. None of it seems entirely in good faith.

All this to say, despite all that, the game is fun. Again, like Awakening, not perfect or stellar, but I can usually count on a pretty solid time whenever I picked it up.

First is to tackle this game's status as a re-release, calling itself the "Definitive Edition" after all. The game has leaned into the anime art style of 2 but choosing to keep reasonable proportions and tone down on exaggerated features. Areas are now pretty and vibrant, with lots of colors going around. Textures and dithering could be better, but it's not the worst in all honesty. The effects are also really nice and cool to look at, especially when Endgame likes to focus on them a lot. It isn't perfect, with in Handheld Mode, textures seem to pretty low quality even when the camera or character get pretty close. Not the worst but still could be optimized better.

Ganeplay wise, the game is mostly unchanged with minor enhancements. You can now have characters where a specific piece of armor regardless of what is actually equipped, getting around armor you don't like or looking like a fashion disaster. The game can now guide you towards specific items or routes for side quests or main quests. You can now auto run and the entire game has been made for a mostly normal controller layout. Menus have also been changed, as in the original the Main Menu wouldn't stop your active ganeplay, and you would be able to navigate while moving around. Now they are like proper menus that pause the game. All over the world are some battle gates, with the chance to get more gear and whatnot. I didn't do them, I feel like I knew enough to get by without them. Everything else for ganeplay is the same, for better or worse. This unfortunately includes that your battle music will be interrupted by Vision Reacts, which is a damn shame.

The rest of the game remains true to the Wii original.

I don't mind the story, I think it even pops off sometimes. I like it when narratives have contrast and have a moment of characters rethink their motivations and all that. But not everything surrounds that is done very well. For instance, every female party member's motivation ends up surrounding a man in their life and that's just sort of. Weird. One of them would be fine, almost having been married sure. But the game starts playing around with this "love triangle" that's more like a love line and an unrelated dot that's just made to be sad. They go full on this all while making the singular dot feel bad. And it's not like the actual love interest is done much better. While she does have her own interesting traits, they're not given as much attention as her love, down to where even if she dies she will cry out her name. Love in of itself isn't bad, but I think you should do more with a character to where I can't summarize their actions as entirely for someone else. I think everyone else is mostly fine. The best bud, the dorky hero, everyone's dad. Riki, the other dad. The game has heart to hearts all over the place to learn more about characters and interactions, but I don't really care to go out of my way, nor do I think a game should rely on those to flesh them out. Make them interesting enough for me to learn more about them, maybe.

Side content as a whole is weird. Heart-to-hearts are definitely optional, but the game is basically asking you to do side quests and kill unique monsters. Which would be fine but they're not particularly interesting. Some of them reference lore that's only slightly brought up in the main story, which is nice. But most are just about personal issues and "go kill this thing." There are plenty of generic quests which can be easily done along the way, and you don't have to return to anyone to turn them in. But when you do, it's a bit annoying. The world's are big, and you can't sprint and have to rely on some Landmarks not always in the most convenient places, so returning back and forth is awful. Side quests are also tied to the Affinity Chart where you have to raise a level with a community to gain more side quests. Nothing new but certain Arts are tied to this, and a pretty important one. So you end up grinding quests just to unlock one Art just to not die way later.

The game often, especially near the end, asks you to step back from the main story and go grind side quests. Not directly but with many obvious breaks and mechanics in place. Before you move on to another area, the game gives you a minute to breathe to build up those Affinity Charts or else be faced with the game's Danger Level system the instant you're 3 levels or below an area's enemies.

The Danger Level system cuts or buffs your stats against battles depending if you're 3+ level below or above an enemy (with your main character). This is on top of your already existing lacking stats, making it a dreadful experience should you accidently run into an enemy with a slightly different colored title. You can definitely brute force your way around, with the game giving enough leeway with the sheer fact that just one level makes all the difference. It's still a really questionable mechanic that I hope gets worked out for the sequ- oh X and 2 still have it? Okay. Why?

The game is fine. It was one of my favorites but I'm not going to be ignorant to its blemishes. And as much as I enjoy it, I can't help but be annoyed with the discourse presented by this and it's sequel. Yes the original was 10 years ago and a Wii game, that's probably where people first played it and probably their first rpg. And? So what? It doesn't make it any less special to them or any lamer. And this point only ever seems to be brought up spirefully, which does no one any good. Visions are cool, the music is cool, and I STILL have fun playing it. This doesn't matter nor address the actual game itself.

This remaster cannot replicate the initial feeling or expectations of its Wii original, nor is it really trying to. To PLAY the game, I think it's a perfectly fine, some would say a definitive, way to go through it. But I'm probably not going to have to do that.

Because I've confirmed what I wanted: I still like this game.

As a side note, I played this with its Japanese audio rather than its famous English audio. It's whatever. The English audio is way better.