dianathus
2001
The term Pikmin originated from Colin Reed, a programmer on the Pikmin team. During development, the team would count the characters with the Japanese word “ippiki”, which means “one small animal.” Reed, however, when hearing the counting, mistook the Japanese word for “piki” instead. “Piki” is a counter word in Japanese meaning “small animal”, which fits the Pikmin prototype since Pikmin are a half-plant, half-animal species. According to Masamichi Abe and Shigeru Miyamoto, “piki” would make a transition to picky, but when they decided on the official name, they decided to go with the iconic moniker, “Pikmin”. To Abe, it sounded like “pick me,” but to Miyamoto it sounded like “vitamin.” Furthermore, Pikmin came into fruition through the eyes of Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary video game developer within Nintendo who has created franchises like Mario and The Legend of Zelda. During the development of Pikmin, Miyamoto started to have an interest in gardening, which contributed to creating the lush environments within the Pikmin world and why Olimar and the Pikmin see the world at a microscopic level.
The story of Pikmin details Olimar, a spaceship captain from the planet Hocotate, crash landing his ship on an unknown planet, nicknamed PNF-404. When you have landed on PNF-404, you are faced with the uncertainty and unknown of a new world you are unfamiliar with. Although both you, the player and Olimar are terrified of the unknown, you begin to see the beauty of it when you start to encounter Pikmin and learn to incorporate them as you explore and search for your ship parts to fix Olimar’s ship. Since this new planet is vast and unknown, there is more incentivization and crunch time. You get a time limit of 30 days to get the priority parts needed to fix Olimar’s ship to escape from PNF-404.
Pikmin is like an ant hill; various Pikmin carry ship parts to Olimar’s ship in the same way ants carry food back to ant hills to support their colony. There are three types of Pikmin on PNF-404 that encompass our adventure for Olimar’s ship parts, just like there are different types of ants within ant hill colonies. There are red Pikmin, which are good for combat and are resistant to fire, yellow Pikmin, which can be thrown at high points and are resistant to electricity, and blue Pikmin, which are resistant to water. These three types of Pikmin are utilized depending on the type of environment the player is presented with. It is up to the player on how to approach the situations of grabbing ship parts, defeating enemies for ship parts, and defeating enemies as a way to gather more Pikmin for a colony. That’s the art of Pikmin: there is a freedom of utilization and choice, which helps the player pave their own, unique experience. You will have to take risks with your Pikmin, which may mean you will have to sacrifice your Pikmin to carry out the goals you have in mind.
Pikmin is an allegory for life; you are thrust into the unknown at many points in your life and it is up to you how you pave your journey. Although death in Pikmin is dark and gritty, it is a part of life. Pikmin can die in a variety of ways, like being crushed by enemies and being burned alive, and although your beloved companions disappear into a ghostly husk, you learn to push on and keep on acquiring a colony of Pikmin and in life, you keep acquiring friends and knowledge on your journey. Pikmin is a story that is about accepting death, even if fictional, and learning to move on and keep pushing. In life, we are going to lose people, whether that is through death or strife, but that doesn’t mean we quit pushing for our purpose in life.
I never expected to appreciate and adore a game like Pikmin as much as I do. Going into various worlds while discovering the different Pikmin, items, and enemies that inhabit these environments made the experience more engaging. Learning along your journey how maps are laid out and what to be careful of is not only satisfying for concurrent replays of the game but shows that you grow with the game of Pikmin. You are getting used to the world the same way Olimar is; you’re going on the same journey Olimar is but in your own way. Playing Pikmin through the first time before I restarted was difficult and frustrating; that’s how it’s meant to be. Failure is okay as long as you get back up and don’t give up. When I restarted a second time, it felt better going through the maps and navigating with my Pikmin to get the necessary ship parts. Although the way I execute my missions with getting my parts may end up in me losing some or the majority of my Pikmin, I didn’t let it hold me back from experiencing the true beauty behind what Pikmin is about. I had a time limit of 30 days, but I had to find ways to improvise and understand the mechanics of the game and where I went wrong. Some of this improvisation, however, would be aggravating at times. This is because the Pikmin AI wouldn't function with the commands you wanted and the prevention of not being able to switch over to the Pikmin you wanted in a seamless manner. They do improve on these issues on future games, but Pikmin is a stellar starting game for what would become one of the main franchise games in Nintendo. I am glad that I got to experience the world of Pikmin and all the wonders of its themes and explore the world around you at a smaller level.
The story of Pikmin details Olimar, a spaceship captain from the planet Hocotate, crash landing his ship on an unknown planet, nicknamed PNF-404. When you have landed on PNF-404, you are faced with the uncertainty and unknown of a new world you are unfamiliar with. Although both you, the player and Olimar are terrified of the unknown, you begin to see the beauty of it when you start to encounter Pikmin and learn to incorporate them as you explore and search for your ship parts to fix Olimar’s ship. Since this new planet is vast and unknown, there is more incentivization and crunch time. You get a time limit of 30 days to get the priority parts needed to fix Olimar’s ship to escape from PNF-404.
Pikmin is like an ant hill; various Pikmin carry ship parts to Olimar’s ship in the same way ants carry food back to ant hills to support their colony. There are three types of Pikmin on PNF-404 that encompass our adventure for Olimar’s ship parts, just like there are different types of ants within ant hill colonies. There are red Pikmin, which are good for combat and are resistant to fire, yellow Pikmin, which can be thrown at high points and are resistant to electricity, and blue Pikmin, which are resistant to water. These three types of Pikmin are utilized depending on the type of environment the player is presented with. It is up to the player on how to approach the situations of grabbing ship parts, defeating enemies for ship parts, and defeating enemies as a way to gather more Pikmin for a colony. That’s the art of Pikmin: there is a freedom of utilization and choice, which helps the player pave their own, unique experience. You will have to take risks with your Pikmin, which may mean you will have to sacrifice your Pikmin to carry out the goals you have in mind.
Pikmin is an allegory for life; you are thrust into the unknown at many points in your life and it is up to you how you pave your journey. Although death in Pikmin is dark and gritty, it is a part of life. Pikmin can die in a variety of ways, like being crushed by enemies and being burned alive, and although your beloved companions disappear into a ghostly husk, you learn to push on and keep on acquiring a colony of Pikmin and in life, you keep acquiring friends and knowledge on your journey. Pikmin is a story that is about accepting death, even if fictional, and learning to move on and keep pushing. In life, we are going to lose people, whether that is through death or strife, but that doesn’t mean we quit pushing for our purpose in life.
I never expected to appreciate and adore a game like Pikmin as much as I do. Going into various worlds while discovering the different Pikmin, items, and enemies that inhabit these environments made the experience more engaging. Learning along your journey how maps are laid out and what to be careful of is not only satisfying for concurrent replays of the game but shows that you grow with the game of Pikmin. You are getting used to the world the same way Olimar is; you’re going on the same journey Olimar is but in your own way. Playing Pikmin through the first time before I restarted was difficult and frustrating; that’s how it’s meant to be. Failure is okay as long as you get back up and don’t give up. When I restarted a second time, it felt better going through the maps and navigating with my Pikmin to get the necessary ship parts. Although the way I execute my missions with getting my parts may end up in me losing some or the majority of my Pikmin, I didn’t let it hold me back from experiencing the true beauty behind what Pikmin is about. I had a time limit of 30 days, but I had to find ways to improvise and understand the mechanics of the game and where I went wrong. Some of this improvisation, however, would be aggravating at times. This is because the Pikmin AI wouldn't function with the commands you wanted and the prevention of not being able to switch over to the Pikmin you wanted in a seamless manner. They do improve on these issues on future games, but Pikmin is a stellar starting game for what would become one of the main franchise games in Nintendo. I am glad that I got to experience the world of Pikmin and all the wonders of its themes and explore the world around you at a smaller level.
2018
“The way I see it, the Mountain can’t bring out anything that isn’t already in you.”
Celeste was a game that snuck up on me. I bought this game on my Switch a couple of years back at a discount. On my first attempt, I gave up. I tried it for around an hour before dropping it. At the time, I couldn’t quite figure out the mechanics of the game and I thought it was too difficult. I thought that I couldn’t beat the game and that I was not adequate to play it. That is where I messed up. Celeste tricks you into wanting to give up; the mountain is tall and scary and gets difficult the longer you climb. The difference between my first attempt and second attempt, however, is that on my second attempt, I would initially give up, but I would come back and keep pushing myself to get to the top of the mountain.
Celeste is a game that’s daunting on purpose. Madeline, the main character, challenges the mountain as a way to push and motivate herself. Madeline meets people throughout her climb to the top of Celeste Mountain. These people help Madeline look into her mental health and her identity, but nothing personifies that more than Badeline. Badeline is a manifestation of Madeline’s anxiety, depression, loneliness, and more. She breaks out of the mirror in the Celestial Resort and torments Madeline along her journey. Badeline is the embodiment of what Madeline is suffering from. Badeline breaking the mirror is an allegory of the Mountain; Madeline needs to confront her deepest fears and find her identity, even if it makes her uncomfortable, and want to run away and hide from it all. You have to look in the mirror and look into yourself to progress. There’s a reason why the Old Woman continuously warns Madeline of the power of the mountain.
Celeste is about confronting the unknown, even if you’re uncomfortable. To grow as a person, you have to push through the uncomfortable moments in life or you’ll continue to stifle yourself. Madeline keeps persevering and climbing the mountain, no matter how arduous it becomes. Madeline has a panic attack on a gondola with Theo, another character on a journey of his own. Theo helps Madeline calm down from her panic attack by picturing a feather. The feather is there to keep it in balance, to make sure to keep Madeline’s breathing in balance. When this succeeds, Madeline feels better and has a new outlook on life. Madeline wants to confront Badeline as a way to confront her mental illness and shut it out. When she begins to panic again, she knows that she can use the feather method to calm herself down. When she attempts this another time when confronting Badeline, the method is a failure and she begins to be consumed by her suffering. Healing isn’t linear; you’re going to have good days and feel like you have everything under control whereas there will be bad days where you will feel existential dread and can’t shake the pain. Madeline desperately wants to leave Badeline behind and forget about her pain so she can move on, but that is the mistake Madeline makes. To get over your pain, you have to learn to accept what you feel and feel those emotions. You have to learn to accept yourself as a person and find your identity. Accepting Badeline is Madeline learning to love and accept herself.
At first, Madeline has two dashes. You only get two attempts to get across the course. Throughout the game, you begin to get used to these mechanics. Even if it gets hard to make it across, you learn as you go that these jumps aren’t as impossible as you think. The mountain that you are climbing is going to have obstacles and hurdles along the way to test if you can make it over or not. Halfway through your climb on Celeste Mountain, there is strong winds that make it harder to dash and climb the mountain. It may seem impossible at first, but Celeste is testing you on whether or not you can push through this detriment. It's an allegory to show that although things get hard, you cannot give up no matter what. When you reach Chapter 6, Madeline accepts Badeline as a part of herself; she learns to work with the pain and suffering she has instead of continuing to push it away. As a result, Madeline goes from having two jumps to now having three jumps. Madeline has another chance to climb, another chance at life, and a renewed spirit to reach the top. Even if you feel like giving up and life weighs heavy on you, everything will be okay. Madeline personifies that very statement; she kept pushing through her struggles and learned to accept those struggles and herself along her journey. When Madeline reaches the top, she feels on top of the world and is on top of the world. She finally learned to understand herself and her inadequacies. Celeste is simultaneously an allegory for creator Maddy Thorson, who is a transgender woman. Madeline realizes that she is a transgender woman at the end of her journey to Celeste Mountain. Thorson wrote about Celeste and mentioned that she didn’t know that she nor Madeline were transgender. Thorson struggled with mental health issues herself, and Celeste serves as a reflection of herself. What’s beautiful about Celeste is that it is made in a way to be interpreted in your point of view and through your own struggles. Celeste isn’t just about Madeline accepting her transness and her mental health, but also about us, the players, to look into ourselves and learn to accept our identities and issues. The journey that we make through our healing journey are struggles that only we can understand; we all have problems that we have to face and triumph. As someone who has mental health issues, I felt understood by Celeste. Mental health is agonizing and convoluted; it can be hard to wrap my mind around my issues and at times, I just want to run away and find an escape from my issues. Even with my identity, I still feel lost about myself and don’t understand things about myself. I’m a traumatized individual who harnesses a lot of hurt and pain, and it has caused me to create a wall within myself. Celeste understands this and acknowledges that it is okay to have issues and not have a steady footing in life. It encourages you to find yourself and learn to accept yourself, even if you have flaws and don’t understand everything about yourself.
Celeste Mountain brings out what is harnessed within Madeline but also within the player itself. “This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb” is a powerful line that still resonates with me even after finishing this game. It validates the power of transgender people by acknowledging those who have continued to push through the transphobia and invalidation of their identity while simultaneously validating those who have struggled with mental health issues. At the peak of the mountain, it feels good to be validated and have a renewed sense of hope about life. The peak of Celeste Mountain serves as the beginning of our acceptance and healing; we still have a long way to go. We conquered one peak, but there are still other mountains to conquer. Even though that seems intimidating, we can’t turn our backs on the progress we’ve made and we have to keep pushing ourselves. One step at a time, one mountain at a time, we become closer to finding ourselves and finding peace. Celeste shows that the climb is worth it and that to never give up no matter what stands in your way.
Celeste is one of the greatest games I have ever come across, and it helped me look into myself in ways I haven’t before. Maddy Thorson’s ode to transgender identity and learning to pave a path for yourself through the obstacles you navigate is inspiring. I may not understand the obstacles of transness as I am not trans myself, but Thorson writes about her experiences and journey in accepting her transgender identity. I feel it is an important read to amplify not only her voice and experience as a transgender person but to amplify other transgender voices as well. Celeste has helped me understand myself more as a person and allowed me to look into myself more, and I thank Maddy Thorson for creating a charming, introspective game where we can craft our narratives and learn how to navigate our journeys through life.
Celeste was a game that snuck up on me. I bought this game on my Switch a couple of years back at a discount. On my first attempt, I gave up. I tried it for around an hour before dropping it. At the time, I couldn’t quite figure out the mechanics of the game and I thought it was too difficult. I thought that I couldn’t beat the game and that I was not adequate to play it. That is where I messed up. Celeste tricks you into wanting to give up; the mountain is tall and scary and gets difficult the longer you climb. The difference between my first attempt and second attempt, however, is that on my second attempt, I would initially give up, but I would come back and keep pushing myself to get to the top of the mountain.
Celeste is a game that’s daunting on purpose. Madeline, the main character, challenges the mountain as a way to push and motivate herself. Madeline meets people throughout her climb to the top of Celeste Mountain. These people help Madeline look into her mental health and her identity, but nothing personifies that more than Badeline. Badeline is a manifestation of Madeline’s anxiety, depression, loneliness, and more. She breaks out of the mirror in the Celestial Resort and torments Madeline along her journey. Badeline is the embodiment of what Madeline is suffering from. Badeline breaking the mirror is an allegory of the Mountain; Madeline needs to confront her deepest fears and find her identity, even if it makes her uncomfortable, and want to run away and hide from it all. You have to look in the mirror and look into yourself to progress. There’s a reason why the Old Woman continuously warns Madeline of the power of the mountain.
Celeste is about confronting the unknown, even if you’re uncomfortable. To grow as a person, you have to push through the uncomfortable moments in life or you’ll continue to stifle yourself. Madeline keeps persevering and climbing the mountain, no matter how arduous it becomes. Madeline has a panic attack on a gondola with Theo, another character on a journey of his own. Theo helps Madeline calm down from her panic attack by picturing a feather. The feather is there to keep it in balance, to make sure to keep Madeline’s breathing in balance. When this succeeds, Madeline feels better and has a new outlook on life. Madeline wants to confront Badeline as a way to confront her mental illness and shut it out. When she begins to panic again, she knows that she can use the feather method to calm herself down. When she attempts this another time when confronting Badeline, the method is a failure and she begins to be consumed by her suffering. Healing isn’t linear; you’re going to have good days and feel like you have everything under control whereas there will be bad days where you will feel existential dread and can’t shake the pain. Madeline desperately wants to leave Badeline behind and forget about her pain so she can move on, but that is the mistake Madeline makes. To get over your pain, you have to learn to accept what you feel and feel those emotions. You have to learn to accept yourself as a person and find your identity. Accepting Badeline is Madeline learning to love and accept herself.
At first, Madeline has two dashes. You only get two attempts to get across the course. Throughout the game, you begin to get used to these mechanics. Even if it gets hard to make it across, you learn as you go that these jumps aren’t as impossible as you think. The mountain that you are climbing is going to have obstacles and hurdles along the way to test if you can make it over or not. Halfway through your climb on Celeste Mountain, there is strong winds that make it harder to dash and climb the mountain. It may seem impossible at first, but Celeste is testing you on whether or not you can push through this detriment. It's an allegory to show that although things get hard, you cannot give up no matter what. When you reach Chapter 6, Madeline accepts Badeline as a part of herself; she learns to work with the pain and suffering she has instead of continuing to push it away. As a result, Madeline goes from having two jumps to now having three jumps. Madeline has another chance to climb, another chance at life, and a renewed spirit to reach the top. Even if you feel like giving up and life weighs heavy on you, everything will be okay. Madeline personifies that very statement; she kept pushing through her struggles and learned to accept those struggles and herself along her journey. When Madeline reaches the top, she feels on top of the world and is on top of the world. She finally learned to understand herself and her inadequacies. Celeste is simultaneously an allegory for creator Maddy Thorson, who is a transgender woman. Madeline realizes that she is a transgender woman at the end of her journey to Celeste Mountain. Thorson wrote about Celeste and mentioned that she didn’t know that she nor Madeline were transgender. Thorson struggled with mental health issues herself, and Celeste serves as a reflection of herself. What’s beautiful about Celeste is that it is made in a way to be interpreted in your point of view and through your own struggles. Celeste isn’t just about Madeline accepting her transness and her mental health, but also about us, the players, to look into ourselves and learn to accept our identities and issues. The journey that we make through our healing journey are struggles that only we can understand; we all have problems that we have to face and triumph. As someone who has mental health issues, I felt understood by Celeste. Mental health is agonizing and convoluted; it can be hard to wrap my mind around my issues and at times, I just want to run away and find an escape from my issues. Even with my identity, I still feel lost about myself and don’t understand things about myself. I’m a traumatized individual who harnesses a lot of hurt and pain, and it has caused me to create a wall within myself. Celeste understands this and acknowledges that it is okay to have issues and not have a steady footing in life. It encourages you to find yourself and learn to accept yourself, even if you have flaws and don’t understand everything about yourself.
Celeste Mountain brings out what is harnessed within Madeline but also within the player itself. “This memorial dedicated to those who perished on the climb” is a powerful line that still resonates with me even after finishing this game. It validates the power of transgender people by acknowledging those who have continued to push through the transphobia and invalidation of their identity while simultaneously validating those who have struggled with mental health issues. At the peak of the mountain, it feels good to be validated and have a renewed sense of hope about life. The peak of Celeste Mountain serves as the beginning of our acceptance and healing; we still have a long way to go. We conquered one peak, but there are still other mountains to conquer. Even though that seems intimidating, we can’t turn our backs on the progress we’ve made and we have to keep pushing ourselves. One step at a time, one mountain at a time, we become closer to finding ourselves and finding peace. Celeste shows that the climb is worth it and that to never give up no matter what stands in your way.
Celeste is one of the greatest games I have ever come across, and it helped me look into myself in ways I haven’t before. Maddy Thorson’s ode to transgender identity and learning to pave a path for yourself through the obstacles you navigate is inspiring. I may not understand the obstacles of transness as I am not trans myself, but Thorson writes about her experiences and journey in accepting her transgender identity. I feel it is an important read to amplify not only her voice and experience as a transgender person but to amplify other transgender voices as well. Celeste has helped me understand myself more as a person and allowed me to look into myself more, and I thank Maddy Thorson for creating a charming, introspective game where we can craft our narratives and learn how to navigate our journeys through life.
2001
I’m currently playing through all the mainline Animal Crossing games and thought it would be best to start with the first entry in the franchise: the original Animal Crossing for the Gamecube.
Having played New Horizons religiously at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and playing bits and pieces of City Folk and New Leaf, Animal Crossing is where the roots start to enrich and implant themselves, the nutrients and progressions that have allowed the series to bear fruit through testing out new activities. Examples include taking away holidays in Wild World and becoming the mayor, the focal piece of the narrative in New Leaf. Furthermore, that goes without saying that Animal Crossing is the least developed and polished game of the mainline franchise, and it makes sense since it is the first game and it serves as a testing ground on whether the game would sell well with the activities provided for us.
Animal Crossing oozes with personality; villagers are a lot more brute and honest yet distinct from the other entries. Many people cite that they miss that Animal Crossing villagers had personalities akin to their personalities in the original Animal Crossing. Yet, these personalities felt organic and interesting to invest yourself into. You’re a new person coming into town, and some villagers will frown on you while others are very kind. Although the dialogues starts to become more repetitive over time, I still wish that the villagers' personalities in the original Animal Crossing were carried over to its successors.
The bug and fish collection in this game is rather small, with only 40 fish and insects to catch in the game. There are only five ocean fish in the entirety of the game, making ocean fishing pretty fruitless and cumbersome. Once you catch the bugs and fish that are in season (which is not very many), it becomes tedious over time. With the museum, instead of having Blathers assess your fossils, Blathers has you send off your fossils to a museum and research facility. After you send your fossils, it takes one day for the facility to return your fossil in its analyzed form. This can be cumbersome since it takes time for you to find out what fossils you find, especially if you only need a few more fossils.
Yet with the lack of variety and activities that Animal Crossing provides, it somehow feels comforting. It feels like a game that I can turn on after work for 30-45 minutes and feel fulfilled by the end. It feels as though I don’t have to overwork myself to achieve my goals. Animal Crossing, to me, encourages you to go at your own pace. Go at your own pace with collecting your bugs and fish, paying off your home loan, upgrading Nooks Cranny, etc. That is a feeling that continues to permeate future Animal Crossing games, but somehow it still resonates with me with Animal Crossing, although it is not as fleshed out as its future successors.
Having played New Horizons religiously at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and playing bits and pieces of City Folk and New Leaf, Animal Crossing is where the roots start to enrich and implant themselves, the nutrients and progressions that have allowed the series to bear fruit through testing out new activities. Examples include taking away holidays in Wild World and becoming the mayor, the focal piece of the narrative in New Leaf. Furthermore, that goes without saying that Animal Crossing is the least developed and polished game of the mainline franchise, and it makes sense since it is the first game and it serves as a testing ground on whether the game would sell well with the activities provided for us.
Animal Crossing oozes with personality; villagers are a lot more brute and honest yet distinct from the other entries. Many people cite that they miss that Animal Crossing villagers had personalities akin to their personalities in the original Animal Crossing. Yet, these personalities felt organic and interesting to invest yourself into. You’re a new person coming into town, and some villagers will frown on you while others are very kind. Although the dialogues starts to become more repetitive over time, I still wish that the villagers' personalities in the original Animal Crossing were carried over to its successors.
The bug and fish collection in this game is rather small, with only 40 fish and insects to catch in the game. There are only five ocean fish in the entirety of the game, making ocean fishing pretty fruitless and cumbersome. Once you catch the bugs and fish that are in season (which is not very many), it becomes tedious over time. With the museum, instead of having Blathers assess your fossils, Blathers has you send off your fossils to a museum and research facility. After you send your fossils, it takes one day for the facility to return your fossil in its analyzed form. This can be cumbersome since it takes time for you to find out what fossils you find, especially if you only need a few more fossils.
Yet with the lack of variety and activities that Animal Crossing provides, it somehow feels comforting. It feels like a game that I can turn on after work for 30-45 minutes and feel fulfilled by the end. It feels as though I don’t have to overwork myself to achieve my goals. Animal Crossing, to me, encourages you to go at your own pace. Go at your own pace with collecting your bugs and fish, paying off your home loan, upgrading Nooks Cranny, etc. That is a feeling that continues to permeate future Animal Crossing games, but somehow it still resonates with me with Animal Crossing, although it is not as fleshed out as its future successors.
This review contains spoilers
“So look up, face forward, towards your chosen horizon, and just... walk on.”
Xenoblade Chronicles is a series that I have become very fond of. I was enamored by the story of the first Xenoblade Chronicles game and adored the colorful cast of characters. On the contrary, I detested Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I disliked how the story was aiming to execute multiple half-baked ideas at once, just for it to fall flat. The day Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced, I was on cloud nine. I had only finished the first Xenoblade Chronicles game at the time, but this announcement and my friend raving to me about the game is what convinced me to push through and finally play Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a very compelling story on its hands. The world of Aionios, which is the combination of Bionis and Alrest, has two nations. One nation is Keves, which serves as the connection to Xenoblade Chronicles, and the other is Agnus, which serves as the connection to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. These can be reflected when using classes in combat. When using a Keves class, the arts recharge over time as they did in Xenoblade Chronicles but when using an Agnus class, the arts recharge from auto-attacks as they did in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. All these two nations know is combat and their lives under the Flame Clock, which is tied to how much killing said colony does and to the survival of the colony people. Because of the Flame Clocks, there is no sense of choice or freedom, which is ironic knowing that the reason behind why this “world” was created, is the slow realization that we, the audience come to recognize alongside Noah, Eunie, and Lanz, three characters from the Keves Colony 9, and Mio, Sena, and Taion, three characters from the Agnus Colony Gamma.
To give some introspection into our factions, both “Keves” and “Agnus” (an abbreviation for Agnus Dei) mean lamb in Latin and Hebrew respectively. Aionios means “eternal life” in Greek, which is the “endless now” that Z was aiming for when freezing the world. In a religious setting, lambs are a metaphorical reference for being sacrificed to God as a way to obtain forgiveness for sin. This shows that in the world of Aionios under Z, Keves and Agnus are seen as sinful. This is why they “sacrifice” themselves through battle and the Flame Clocks: so the “lambs” (the people) that are sacrificed can create the “eternal life” that Z desires. This allegory that frames the story is fascinating due to its connections to religion and the overarching theme of the story.
The cast of characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is my favorite cast of characters in the Xenoblade Chronicles series. The characters are brimming with personality and bounce off one another so naturally. I love that we have our main six characters in the cast from start to finish. The characters’ development feels more natural and organic this way. At first, there was bitterness and hostility between the characters since all they knew was fighting each other and the propaganda they were fed from their textbooks and Consuls. Over the course of the story, the dynamics develop and the characters become comfortable and realize they can depend on one another. Noah and Mio bond over being overseers, the team leaders of the group, and realize that they will always find their way back to one another. Lanz and Sena are the ultimate muscle heads, bonding over working out and lifting weights while also having introspective discussions about the insecurity of not being up to par as Noah and Mio and their self-esteem. Eunie and Taion have polar opposite personalities, but slowly come to understand one another and begin to grow closer as the story moves along, with Eunie teasing Taion constantly and saying at the end of the game that Taion is her “fourth best friend.” This saying may be a reference to the “Fourtune Clovers,” which are special to Eunie, showing that Taion is special and that the bond that they created is important to her. Although I love this cast, I have to say the side stories were underwhelming. Sena’s side quest was the biggest letdown for me. Although I see that they were trying to connect Shania and Sena through their similar situations, with Shania becoming tormented by the thought of not being as good as Ghondor while Sena grew to understand her worth and realizes that her worth shouldn’t be tied to Mio, I think it is ironic that Sena is insignificant and forgotten in her own side quest when it was supposed to give more perspective into her character. I feel a similar way about Noah, Eunie, and Mio’s story quests. I feel as though Noah and Mio’s side quests shouldn’t have been integrated into the main story and should have just naturally played out through the story. Noah and Mio should’ve received different quests that fleshed out their characters in better detail. Eunie’s side quest just feels like they tacked her into the side quest just to say that she was there. Her arc was dropped suddenly in the main story, and I don’t think a side story should be what finishes her arc. Lanz’s side quest was about realizing his newfound freedom from the world of fighting that he was used to, and I feel that his arc is solid for representing how far Lanz has come; this side quest is one of my favorites because I feel it utilized Lanz’s arc in such an important way and it shows how much he’s grown throughout the story. Taion’s side quest is my favorite because it felt like an actual side story and felt it was used for what side quests should’ve been intended for.
The world building in this game is one of my favorite aspects of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Although I feel as though the environments aren’t as imaginative as their predecessors, the side quests give an incentive to develop the environments and the colonies that you free from the flame clock. This is the first game where I have felt as though side quests aren’t a chore and I enjoyed going through them. My favorite region in this game was Cadensia due to how vast Erythia Sea is and it has my favorite environments in the game. The regions of this game have so many callbacks to different areas of previous games, and it's noticeable through the familiarity of some environments and the easter eggs scattered throughout. This game encourages you to explore as the map fills its gaps as you walk across the region. In previous games, the region template was laid out in full for you. I like that you can fill up the region maps yourselves because you can discover new areas organically that you didn’t think to explore previously. I like that the colonies in this game have more significance, like helping Valdi collect parts for his robot, Dorrick, creating a field of Spongy Spuds in Colony 9 with Zeon, developing the Li Garte Prison Camp as a place for inhabitants Segiri and the rest of Colony 0, the Armu and Ardun farm in Colony Mu, and much more. It feels like you’re building more community in these games and you get to know the colony and the area pretty well by connecting with everyone and doing the side quests.
The combat and music are both my favorite of the Xenoblade series. The class system is so refreshing from what we were used to in the previous two games. I had a blast experimenting with different builds across different characters, maxing out different classes, and trying out attackers, defenders, and healers. Fusion attacks are also a neat addition to attacks and spice up the combinations of attacks, buffs, debuffs, and combo moves that you can use. With the addition of various classes, I never felt the need to level up my characters except at the end for the final boss. There was so much room to level up classes and it is such an improvement over Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where I felt like I had to level up constantly since I felt like there wasn’t much I could do. The only thing I hated was that it was hard to unlock classes at times due to needing to fight enemies at a higher level than you, which meant I didn’t have access to certain attacks on certain characters that I wanted.
As for the soundtrack, it is such an earworm. I remember going back to Erythia Sea constantly so I could hear the music from the area. It is such a calm and serene track that encapsulates the setting of the environment so well. I feel that the music in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 captures the setting of battles and environments perfectly and Yasunori Mitsuda, as always, excelled at doing this.
Heroes in this game are a unique addition to the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Doing hero quests and getting to know the heroes we recruited was something I always looked forward to. Some of the hero quests are amazing for not only developing the colony itself but also the commanders of each colony. Ashera has to be my favorite hero in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 due to her personality and her subsequent hero and ascension quests. Her backstory was one of the most compelling out of the hero quests and her resolution at the end of the hero quest of doing things on her terms was a satisfying solution to her arc. The downside to hero and ascension quests is that some of the quests given feel pointless and give no more substance to the character than when we met them in the initial quest. I understand that these are side characters that join your party as heroes to help you along your journey, but it isn’t an excuse to make some of these characters have development that is paper thin and nonexistent when other hero and ascension quests exist to exemplify other characters.
As for the villains, Z should’ve been fleshed out a lot more. We get drip-feeding of Z through clips of him throughout the story, but we never truly know about him until Chapter 7. Z is the manifestation of mankind’s fear of the future and the desire to stay in the present. This is represented through his first phase where Z’s physical body disappears and reveals his true form, which looks as if he’s a part of the framework for a computer. Z’s true form is an allegory that he is the framework of the current Aionios, which is frozen in time to prevent the potential catastrophe of Bionis and Alrest combining, which is why the “endless now” was created. As Melia said, Z is a concept and not a person, he is the amalgamation of Moebius's energy. Z’s battle was a very cinematic battle, but I also felt as though the multiple cutscenes broke the immersion of the boss battle. Z’s way of changing elements shouldn’t have been done through cutscenes but through the battle itself. Z’s final boss battle also felt like it bogged on for too long as it had 5 different phases and long cutscenes that lengthened the battle in ways that weren’t necessary. Although the approach of having a cinematic final boss is appealing, I think the way it was executed in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, in my opinion, was good in some parts but felt too drawn out and exhausted its purpose by the end of the sequence.
Speaking of Moebius, they aren’t necessarily a bad set of villains. The concept of Moebius is that they are identified with a single letter. The single letter signifies their loss of humanity, which ironically shows their insignificance since Z is using them as a means to obtain his goal of the endless now. Nothing embodies this more than M and N. M and N are the representation of Mio and Noah’s previous incarnations. The reason N became a Moebius is so he could stay with M for eternity. Through this action, both M and N lose their sense of humanity due to wanting to latch on to the past instead of accepting the present for what it is. The actions of M and N are a natural feeling and innate desire that we all have, and that personally resonated with me. There are many things that I regret that I wish I could go back in time and undo, but I can’t dwell on it or I will become consumed. M and N are the representation of being consumed and not accepting what was done should be left in the past. I feel that Moebius is a great representation of the overall plot because the overarching story is ultimately about learning to accept that you can’t change the past and that you need to move on.
Although I was just singing my praises about Moebius, I do think they became oversaturated at one point. I feel as though that since they introduced so many Moebius to the story and in subsequent side stories, they become forgettable and muddled. M and N feel underdeveloped and when developed, their development felt very rushed and unnatural. The Consuls feel like a monster of the week, one or two get introduced to counter the party and when they’re done, another set comes in to counter them. What I would’ve loved to see is the pressures of being Moebius and more chemistry between Z and the rest of Moebius. The only Moebius I feel that was properly developed was Joran, and that was because he had connections with Noah, Eunie, and Lanz, and even then, I feel as though there should’ve been more Moebius developed like Joran and less Moebius who suffered from being underdeveloped, thrown away, and sidelined.
Overall, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a solid game that has a good overarching story, but I feel that it falls short in its execution. It has a lot of the right ideas in mind, but it lacks the proper execution to properly frame what Monolith Soft was going for. The pacing of some parts of the story, including Chapter 7 was rushed. I was surprised at how good Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was, and I don’t regret immersing myself for a month across 115 hours of playtime to get the full experience. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game I feel like was made to fully experience through exploring the regions, doing the side quests, doing the hero quests, trying out different classes, and much more. I highly recommend playing this game, whether you are returning or are a new fan of the series. This game made me feel so many emotions, especially with the jail scene in Chapter 5 (one of the best and most touching scenes in the series for me) and after finishing this game, I need time to process what I just experienced and the adventure I went on. I have a hard time currently deciding if 1 or 3 are my favorite in the series, but undoubtedly Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reinvigorated my passion for the series in a way that I didn’t know was possible and I don’t regret playing the first Xenoblade Chronicles game two years ago.
Xenoblade Chronicles is a series that I have become very fond of. I was enamored by the story of the first Xenoblade Chronicles game and adored the colorful cast of characters. On the contrary, I detested Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I disliked how the story was aiming to execute multiple half-baked ideas at once, just for it to fall flat. The day Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced, I was on cloud nine. I had only finished the first Xenoblade Chronicles game at the time, but this announcement and my friend raving to me about the game is what convinced me to push through and finally play Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has a very compelling story on its hands. The world of Aionios, which is the combination of Bionis and Alrest, has two nations. One nation is Keves, which serves as the connection to Xenoblade Chronicles, and the other is Agnus, which serves as the connection to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. These can be reflected when using classes in combat. When using a Keves class, the arts recharge over time as they did in Xenoblade Chronicles but when using an Agnus class, the arts recharge from auto-attacks as they did in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. All these two nations know is combat and their lives under the Flame Clock, which is tied to how much killing said colony does and to the survival of the colony people. Because of the Flame Clocks, there is no sense of choice or freedom, which is ironic knowing that the reason behind why this “world” was created, is the slow realization that we, the audience come to recognize alongside Noah, Eunie, and Lanz, three characters from the Keves Colony 9, and Mio, Sena, and Taion, three characters from the Agnus Colony Gamma.
To give some introspection into our factions, both “Keves” and “Agnus” (an abbreviation for Agnus Dei) mean lamb in Latin and Hebrew respectively. Aionios means “eternal life” in Greek, which is the “endless now” that Z was aiming for when freezing the world. In a religious setting, lambs are a metaphorical reference for being sacrificed to God as a way to obtain forgiveness for sin. This shows that in the world of Aionios under Z, Keves and Agnus are seen as sinful. This is why they “sacrifice” themselves through battle and the Flame Clocks: so the “lambs” (the people) that are sacrificed can create the “eternal life” that Z desires. This allegory that frames the story is fascinating due to its connections to religion and the overarching theme of the story.
The cast of characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is my favorite cast of characters in the Xenoblade Chronicles series. The characters are brimming with personality and bounce off one another so naturally. I love that we have our main six characters in the cast from start to finish. The characters’ development feels more natural and organic this way. At first, there was bitterness and hostility between the characters since all they knew was fighting each other and the propaganda they were fed from their textbooks and Consuls. Over the course of the story, the dynamics develop and the characters become comfortable and realize they can depend on one another. Noah and Mio bond over being overseers, the team leaders of the group, and realize that they will always find their way back to one another. Lanz and Sena are the ultimate muscle heads, bonding over working out and lifting weights while also having introspective discussions about the insecurity of not being up to par as Noah and Mio and their self-esteem. Eunie and Taion have polar opposite personalities, but slowly come to understand one another and begin to grow closer as the story moves along, with Eunie teasing Taion constantly and saying at the end of the game that Taion is her “fourth best friend.” This saying may be a reference to the “Fourtune Clovers,” which are special to Eunie, showing that Taion is special and that the bond that they created is important to her. Although I love this cast, I have to say the side stories were underwhelming. Sena’s side quest was the biggest letdown for me. Although I see that they were trying to connect Shania and Sena through their similar situations, with Shania becoming tormented by the thought of not being as good as Ghondor while Sena grew to understand her worth and realizes that her worth shouldn’t be tied to Mio, I think it is ironic that Sena is insignificant and forgotten in her own side quest when it was supposed to give more perspective into her character. I feel a similar way about Noah, Eunie, and Mio’s story quests. I feel as though Noah and Mio’s side quests shouldn’t have been integrated into the main story and should have just naturally played out through the story. Noah and Mio should’ve received different quests that fleshed out their characters in better detail. Eunie’s side quest just feels like they tacked her into the side quest just to say that she was there. Her arc was dropped suddenly in the main story, and I don’t think a side story should be what finishes her arc. Lanz’s side quest was about realizing his newfound freedom from the world of fighting that he was used to, and I feel that his arc is solid for representing how far Lanz has come; this side quest is one of my favorites because I feel it utilized Lanz’s arc in such an important way and it shows how much he’s grown throughout the story. Taion’s side quest is my favorite because it felt like an actual side story and felt it was used for what side quests should’ve been intended for.
The world building in this game is one of my favorite aspects of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Although I feel as though the environments aren’t as imaginative as their predecessors, the side quests give an incentive to develop the environments and the colonies that you free from the flame clock. This is the first game where I have felt as though side quests aren’t a chore and I enjoyed going through them. My favorite region in this game was Cadensia due to how vast Erythia Sea is and it has my favorite environments in the game. The regions of this game have so many callbacks to different areas of previous games, and it's noticeable through the familiarity of some environments and the easter eggs scattered throughout. This game encourages you to explore as the map fills its gaps as you walk across the region. In previous games, the region template was laid out in full for you. I like that you can fill up the region maps yourselves because you can discover new areas organically that you didn’t think to explore previously. I like that the colonies in this game have more significance, like helping Valdi collect parts for his robot, Dorrick, creating a field of Spongy Spuds in Colony 9 with Zeon, developing the Li Garte Prison Camp as a place for inhabitants Segiri and the rest of Colony 0, the Armu and Ardun farm in Colony Mu, and much more. It feels like you’re building more community in these games and you get to know the colony and the area pretty well by connecting with everyone and doing the side quests.
The combat and music are both my favorite of the Xenoblade series. The class system is so refreshing from what we were used to in the previous two games. I had a blast experimenting with different builds across different characters, maxing out different classes, and trying out attackers, defenders, and healers. Fusion attacks are also a neat addition to attacks and spice up the combinations of attacks, buffs, debuffs, and combo moves that you can use. With the addition of various classes, I never felt the need to level up my characters except at the end for the final boss. There was so much room to level up classes and it is such an improvement over Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where I felt like I had to level up constantly since I felt like there wasn’t much I could do. The only thing I hated was that it was hard to unlock classes at times due to needing to fight enemies at a higher level than you, which meant I didn’t have access to certain attacks on certain characters that I wanted.
As for the soundtrack, it is such an earworm. I remember going back to Erythia Sea constantly so I could hear the music from the area. It is such a calm and serene track that encapsulates the setting of the environment so well. I feel that the music in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 captures the setting of battles and environments perfectly and Yasunori Mitsuda, as always, excelled at doing this.
Heroes in this game are a unique addition to the Xenoblade Chronicles series. Doing hero quests and getting to know the heroes we recruited was something I always looked forward to. Some of the hero quests are amazing for not only developing the colony itself but also the commanders of each colony. Ashera has to be my favorite hero in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 due to her personality and her subsequent hero and ascension quests. Her backstory was one of the most compelling out of the hero quests and her resolution at the end of the hero quest of doing things on her terms was a satisfying solution to her arc. The downside to hero and ascension quests is that some of the quests given feel pointless and give no more substance to the character than when we met them in the initial quest. I understand that these are side characters that join your party as heroes to help you along your journey, but it isn’t an excuse to make some of these characters have development that is paper thin and nonexistent when other hero and ascension quests exist to exemplify other characters.
As for the villains, Z should’ve been fleshed out a lot more. We get drip-feeding of Z through clips of him throughout the story, but we never truly know about him until Chapter 7. Z is the manifestation of mankind’s fear of the future and the desire to stay in the present. This is represented through his first phase where Z’s physical body disappears and reveals his true form, which looks as if he’s a part of the framework for a computer. Z’s true form is an allegory that he is the framework of the current Aionios, which is frozen in time to prevent the potential catastrophe of Bionis and Alrest combining, which is why the “endless now” was created. As Melia said, Z is a concept and not a person, he is the amalgamation of Moebius's energy. Z’s battle was a very cinematic battle, but I also felt as though the multiple cutscenes broke the immersion of the boss battle. Z’s way of changing elements shouldn’t have been done through cutscenes but through the battle itself. Z’s final boss battle also felt like it bogged on for too long as it had 5 different phases and long cutscenes that lengthened the battle in ways that weren’t necessary. Although the approach of having a cinematic final boss is appealing, I think the way it was executed in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, in my opinion, was good in some parts but felt too drawn out and exhausted its purpose by the end of the sequence.
Speaking of Moebius, they aren’t necessarily a bad set of villains. The concept of Moebius is that they are identified with a single letter. The single letter signifies their loss of humanity, which ironically shows their insignificance since Z is using them as a means to obtain his goal of the endless now. Nothing embodies this more than M and N. M and N are the representation of Mio and Noah’s previous incarnations. The reason N became a Moebius is so he could stay with M for eternity. Through this action, both M and N lose their sense of humanity due to wanting to latch on to the past instead of accepting the present for what it is. The actions of M and N are a natural feeling and innate desire that we all have, and that personally resonated with me. There are many things that I regret that I wish I could go back in time and undo, but I can’t dwell on it or I will become consumed. M and N are the representation of being consumed and not accepting what was done should be left in the past. I feel that Moebius is a great representation of the overall plot because the overarching story is ultimately about learning to accept that you can’t change the past and that you need to move on.
Although I was just singing my praises about Moebius, I do think they became oversaturated at one point. I feel as though that since they introduced so many Moebius to the story and in subsequent side stories, they become forgettable and muddled. M and N feel underdeveloped and when developed, their development felt very rushed and unnatural. The Consuls feel like a monster of the week, one or two get introduced to counter the party and when they’re done, another set comes in to counter them. What I would’ve loved to see is the pressures of being Moebius and more chemistry between Z and the rest of Moebius. The only Moebius I feel that was properly developed was Joran, and that was because he had connections with Noah, Eunie, and Lanz, and even then, I feel as though there should’ve been more Moebius developed like Joran and less Moebius who suffered from being underdeveloped, thrown away, and sidelined.
Overall, I think Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a solid game that has a good overarching story, but I feel that it falls short in its execution. It has a lot of the right ideas in mind, but it lacks the proper execution to properly frame what Monolith Soft was going for. The pacing of some parts of the story, including Chapter 7 was rushed. I was surprised at how good Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was, and I don’t regret immersing myself for a month across 115 hours of playtime to get the full experience. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game I feel like was made to fully experience through exploring the regions, doing the side quests, doing the hero quests, trying out different classes, and much more. I highly recommend playing this game, whether you are returning or are a new fan of the series. This game made me feel so many emotions, especially with the jail scene in Chapter 5 (one of the best and most touching scenes in the series for me) and after finishing this game, I need time to process what I just experienced and the adventure I went on. I have a hard time currently deciding if 1 or 3 are my favorite in the series, but undoubtedly Xenoblade Chronicles 3 reinvigorated my passion for the series in a way that I didn’t know was possible and I don’t regret playing the first Xenoblade Chronicles game two years ago.
2001
Super Monkey Ball is a game I have been putting on the back burner for as long as I can remember. I remember watching my friend play Super Monkey Ball on a stream and becoming intrigued by the gameplay mechanics. Rolling a ball down a multitude of courses, collecting bananas, and reaching the goal before the time limit is up is so simple, yet satisfying.
Super Monkey Ball is full of charm, fun, and simplicity. It is an arcade game that was ported to the GameCube after all. As you progress further into each difficulty, it becomes more and more tedious to tilt your ball due to the precision. Some of the levels in this game are easy to digest or understand while other levels felt as though they were designed by a sadist. Super Monkey Ball has its fair share of grievances as well, like the gimmicks of the camera and levels and environments feeling repetitive, making the game have little variety.
For an arcade game, it was surprising to me how extreme some of the levels were set up. It felt fulfilling to get through the levels and learn the mechanics through repetition to master each level. All in all, Super Monkey Ball is monkeys rolling through courses and collecting bananas to reach the goal, how innocent and sweet is that?
Super Monkey Ball is full of charm, fun, and simplicity. It is an arcade game that was ported to the GameCube after all. As you progress further into each difficulty, it becomes more and more tedious to tilt your ball due to the precision. Some of the levels in this game are easy to digest or understand while other levels felt as though they were designed by a sadist. Super Monkey Ball has its fair share of grievances as well, like the gimmicks of the camera and levels and environments feeling repetitive, making the game have little variety.
For an arcade game, it was surprising to me how extreme some of the levels were set up. It felt fulfilling to get through the levels and learn the mechanics through repetition to master each level. All in all, Super Monkey Ball is monkeys rolling through courses and collecting bananas to reach the goal, how innocent and sweet is that?