i truly love x7 for what it was meant to be regardless of what it ended up actually being, and the fact it attempted to be something more. i wonder sometimes if this game could've been fully realized had it not come at such an awkward time, especially for the series' first 3d entry. i guess in other words i love the idea of x7. despite its many many faults, it was attempting to do something the series sorely needed - change. axl represents this in a way, in both a meta and in-universe sense. he's a breath of fresh air, meant to breathe new life into the world in the form of renewed purpose and into the series in the form of taking things a different direction. if nothing else, x7 was a learning experience for future games, and, y'know, eggs and omelettes and all.

also i think x7 explores some interesting concepts within the world itself. red alert being vigilantes presents an interesting contrast to the maverick hunters and posits some new ideas about the world's society. axl has to essentially mercy kill his only allies/found family, even, due to the virus that has plagued the series from the beginning. i think it's an interesting idea that i'm surprised wasn't addressed at such length earlier on in the series, but i wish both the game itself and fans would touch on it more; or touch on the game in general (i think what it represents from a broader, meta standpoint is interesting) rather than repeatedly kick the infinitely obvious dead horse of a fact that this game is not, from a functional standpoint, good. there's so much that could be said about it that it feels like no one really does. i'm not really eloquent or knowledgable enough to lay it all out, but man, i still think it could've been so much more, and this is an interesting game to dissect, if you spend some time with the guts of it. there's so much that's almost there, almost gets it...

it's never getting reworked though so whatever. axl is cute