Aliensword Records
*major spoiler segments separated by chapters*
Back to reviewing every game in a series. Turns out Xenoblade Chronicles is pretty good, actually. But at what cost? I hit a patron goal months back and I’ve been playing these games since September. Half a year of this series. I am severely unwell, but taking at least 1 day off, so. That’s basically a vacation.
You’ll find if you play them, and give them the time of day, they’re crafted pretty meticulously – more than the average game, anyway. Monolithsoft loves detail work, character relationships, the grandeur of nature, and tears, so if you play, you’ll hit some kind of payoff eventually. Don’t listen to anyone calling ’em “too anime,” that’s just code for “I’m weak and I’m letting everyone know.”
Playing through each entry, from the original, to X, to 2, Torna, and eventually 3, I’ve gained a lot more appreciation than I thought I ever could’ve heading in. At the KBash Show we like to get at least a little curious about the things we play. So if any of these games seem too daunting, just play Torna, the second game’s standalone DLC for a clean entry to the concept with some incredible design. The others are incredible too, but it might take some digging to find the good, at times. Either way, they’re quality.
If you stick around this year, I’ll be covering Xenosaga and Xenogears eventually.
If you’d like to support the show, you can find me on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/kbash – the next goal is monster hunter!
Credits:
@HeavyEyed – for help with audio!
@GCVazquez – voiceover #1
@ZacFrazier – voiceover #2
@culIen- voiceover #3
@TheKingOfKingK – voiceover #4
I seriously can’t thank these people enough – please check them out if you get the chance, they’re fantastic human beings, hard vouch.
**also thanks to Casey for advice/guidance/opinions about Xenoblade alongside many others. Legitimately couldn’t have come together half as well without so many people T_T
Quote #1: https://www.frontlinejp.net/2020/05/25/xenoblade-takahashi-interview-development-on-definitive-edition-learning-from-failure-and-the-future/
Quote #2: https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/xenoblade-chronicles-x/0/0/
Quote #3: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/09/feature_xenoblade_chronicles_2_team_talk_torna_female_blades_and_the_ending_that_never_made_it
Quote #4: https://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-2-director-on-development-inspiration-for-the-world-and-setting-upcoming-dlc-more/
0:00 Xeno
2:14 the 1st chronicle
27:02 —XBC1 spoilers—
41:01 X
1:03:28 —X spoilers—
1:11:43 the 2nd chronicle
1:32:26 —XBC2 spoilers—
1:45:01 Torna
1:53:27 —Torna spoilers—
1:58:22 the 3rd chronicle
2:14:53 —XBC3 spoilers—
2:27:04 moving on
#xenoblade #xenobladechronicles #kbash #retrospective #review
source
After hearing Kbash talk so much about WoW, I kinda want a video of his opinions on other MMOs, specifically ESO and FF14.
Few people do the full 4 games? I'm not few people then, I started with definitive, then immediately did the rest of the games in order.
Wish I could experience it all again.
Awesome. Subbed!!
I'm playing through the first Xenoblade Chronicles right now and plan on playing them all. Very topical video!
Have these. Never played them. I did however beat the ever loving shit out of Xenogears and xenosaga. I know these are essentially monolith softs true to their vision titles that they wanted to do when they started xenogears, and tell the story they've been trying to tell ever since then. The one thing that turns me off of them is part two and three not being connected to one, also the voice acting. When I first heard two voice acting immediately I thought of borderlands The Pre-Sequel where they did everything in house at their Australian gearbox studio. Nothing against Australians just the accent throws my American ears for a loop and it's hard to get into the story.
I have enjoyed this video very much.
Great job
"xero explanation given, does a miracle, refuses to elaborate, leaves" is literally the best way to sum up alvis
"…You just happen to stand upright and pay taxes. Good going, dumbass." This might be the single best description of humanity I've ever heard.
Also, I would like to inform everyone that it's Reyn Time. Regardless of where you are. Past of future. It's always Reyn Time.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was the first game I ever hated, and it's still the only one tbh, but I can't wait to see what KBash has to say. I doubt my opinion will change, but if anyone can make a case for a game I hate, it's this guy
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is my least favorite of the franchise. Still a phenomenal game, don't get me wrong, but the writing in some places as well as fanservice scenes and Gacha mechanics really do a number on the quality of the product compared to the rest of the franchise. That being said, it's also the game I remember most clearly and fondly. It has a phenomenal cast of characters and my mind can't help to wander back to XC2, it's story, and it's OST more than any other game in the franchise. Xenoblade 2 may have it's issues, but it's 100% a quality, memorable experience.
It's actually incredibly fitting how much this video goes into discussing how JRPG story design clashes with the cynical Western attitudes around media criticism, seeing as this video was published around the same time as Twitter discussing the historical impact of the term "JRPG" in the first place, rediscovering the horrifically racist X-Play reviews of JRPG's from the mid- to late-2000's, and then witnessing Adam Sessler's subsequent Twitter meltdown over it all, lol.
2:05 PRINTING MEMES
Still not as good as dark souls tho
I think your final takeaway was on point and something most JRPG's do not try to address. The Xeno series has always tackled rough subjects and I hope they always will.
They say Mythra's name about 500 times across both of those games so I don't understand why you are mispronouncing it except that you're doing it on purpose for some reason.
Also, why did you completely gloss over the connection between the first two games?
As a lover of Xenoblade 2 it's probably my favorite in the series, I really enjoyed your coverage, also that pateron part at the end had my laughing cause I was just imagining you doing attacks well saying the names.
1:38:24 Apologize for that joke.
I've been waiting for this for a very long time
I(Spoilers for Xenoblade 3 far below) don't remember why I picked it up, but I do remember picking up Xenoblade 2 and enjoying it enough to pick up 1 when DE dropped and liking it too. And then 3 came in and becoming a favorite of mine not only for it's gameplay, but for being the first ever game to actually get me to cry (Spaces for spoilers).
The whole hour+ long cutscene that followed the end of the battle in the pirson was something I'll never forget with how it makes you feel the parties absolute desperation to escape as they know every day that passes means they loom closer to Mio's death, seeing them slowly get ground down and eventually give up not only mirrors just what goes into Z creating mobius, but acts a sadist act of cruelty that really cements N as a unapologetic villan. And while I knew the game wasn't over, something about seeing the party lined up execution style, the music usually used as something beautiful and the passing of ones soul turned into an emotional gut punch as we see Mio "die" and Noah scream out in agony, it got me good. And the whole section of scenes is probably some of my favorite things in gaming.
god i love your sense of humour
Can't watch because I don't wanna spoil myself, but I'll comment for the algorithm, bby
Why did you spoil part.of XC2: Torna's ending in the XC1 non-spoiler section?
20:17 Made me die laughing 🤣
1:23:16 The joke is that “one eyed monster” means someone’s private parts in the original Japanese translation
This was beautiful. KBash, please don't ever worry about whether what you are doing is good enough. You capture the beauty of game storytelling and the power of ludonarrative harmony better than pretty much any other game commentator I've ever seen in my 30+ years of gaming. What you are doing is powerful, important, and of exceptionally high quality. Congratulations and thank you.
(never seen Xenoblade before)
21:20 ayo spike that shit
21:30 WAIT WAIT I WASNT SERIOUS
"anime girl in basically Eden"
In the original Japanese it was literally called Eden, and the aegis was called seihei, or holy grail
They replaced the christian references with Greek ones in the localization (and aegis isn't even a good name for a sword)
I probably said this every time someone talks about the plot of XC1, but the foreshadowing with Zanza is there since Shulk and Reyn start their journey.
In their conversation before they go Shulk tells Reyn, that there are two voices in his head. One reasonable voice and the other one just screaming to kill them all. Reyn jokes about this being his voice in Shulks head, but guess whose voice this really was. Who manipulated Shulk from the very beginning.
I found this mind blowing in my second playthrough
Ok now Octopath 1 and 2 right?
Thank you for examining all sides of the Xenoblade 2 debate. Because it IS more than it appears to be, and that seems to be a running theme in the story. But unfortunately, on the other side of that coin, Xenoblade 2 goes so hard into the "appearing to be solely weeby shounen trash", that that's the only way outsiders see it, and the game, for all it's wins, HAS irreversibly damaged the perception of the Xeno series. I know because I was one of those who would instantly decry Xenoblade 2 any time it came up, and while it absolutely has flaws, it doesn't deserve to be reviled as it is.
Also I will never not be floored by the shaders used on the hair in Xenoblade 3 IT LOOKS LIKE HAND-PAINTED WATERCOLOR HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT ON A CUSTOM PHONE SoC FROM LIKE 2013
I have to say, though my experience is playing all three games and Torna were separated by years and thus growth in maturity which may effect this somewhat, 3 was the only game where I really engaged with all the sidequests. They’re all important, little slices of story
It can be hard to find sincere, balanced, good-faith critique of this series that I love so much, especially 2. Videos like this one, alongside those by people like KingK and Ludiscere, mean the world to me. Thank you, K
Newly subscribed, loved this deep dive. Also I just need more people to talk a lit Xenoblade X haha
I was someone who was really, really looking forward to Xenoblade 2. It was the reason I got a switch. And once it finally came out, it was a months long process of parsing the fact that I didn't enjoy it. It felt like the game didn't want me to enjoy it. The "stutter step" method (along with pouch items) that make the combat tolerable at minimum was outright discouraged by tutorials and gameplay previews from Treehouse. The VA not only failed to live up to the original (to be fair few games can) but was, in my opinion, an outright weakness of XB2. And as a sequel to a game with famously good voice acting, that's a massive disappointment. The story felt like FFX but with a weaker through line. The myriad of complex systems that require a 3 credit hour college course to comprehend didn't match with the more intuitive customization of 1 and X. And by the time Torna came out, I was just so drained that I didn't even bother.
But after watching this video, particularly the segments about 1 and X and basically lining up exactly with why I love them, I was really curious to see how you'd approach 2. Because Interacting with XB2 fans feels like I'm being gaslit sometimes, criticisms being met with "no, thats not true." And I think after hearing these more grounded takes is where I just have to concede that the game isn't for me. But I am much more interested in trying Torna now.
Good video, dropping a sub, glad to know I have a large backlog of video essays to burn through for the next few weeks.
good video ❤❤❤
Awesome
XenoX has the most CRACKED OST out of them all. "Black Tar" is musical masterpiece.
I never realized that mythra could sexually identify as an attack helicopter…
I love these games I first learned of these games watching a certain person let's play the first game on the wii
Godlike review K. Genuine and fair through and through, without mentioning fun and entertaining.