As a voice actor, THANK YOU for pointing out the acting Vs direction. I never once thought the voice acting in XC2 was actually bad - but the dialogue itself feels awkwardly written and it's CLEAR the actors did not have the context needed to make choices that reflect what is happening on screen.
@@CaptainAstronaut Xenoblade 1 was originally going to have a more anime look but the hardware limitations of the wii forced the developers to use a slightly more realistic look. With the Switch there was nothing holding them back at all and it shows!!!!!!!!!
@@lightbrand_ That doesn't matter. There's something shocking, because of Breath of the Wild (Monolith Soft) was so under staffed so they outsourced the character designs to outside artists. For Pyra and Mythra, they were designed by a hentai artist😳😳. The good news is that the villains were designed by the Kingdom Hearts director. Maybe Xenoblade 2 is meant for the Japanese fans????
@@orangeslash1667 completely ignoring my comment to give me trivia completely and utterly irrelevant to the conversation, and then making the assumption that "it's for the japanese" based on literally no evidence at all... this tells me you're full of shit
@@CaptainAstronaut FYI (I don't know if you cover this later in the video or in the part 2) but most of the gripes people have about the combat system come from the lack of explanations of the core mechanics.... just like X. Once stuff makes sense I actually liked the combo.
@@drakenstarcross1347 I think the combat system in X is underexplained, but the combat system in 2 is somehow both overexplained and still explained badly. Like Captain said, the tutorials in 2 didn't really show you the new mechanics, they just went "here's a paragraph, have fun!" I honestly don't think I got the hang of blade combos until 3/4 of the way through because they were explained badly the first time and then I just forgot about them all together for a while.
@@nichole4933 Same. Took forever to learn the combat system so all the fights felt pretty slowly paced, but pretty far into it I learned about orbs (or rather relearned probably, think I forgot early on) and quickly went from struggling to farming vast amounts of cores and killing superbosses. The game definitely should have introduced mechanics and their intricacies more incrementally.
I can respect you being honest and direct; here are my thoughts as I watch: - Multiple mentor characters, only 1 dies (not even the first one which is typical) - "XC1 establishes tone, setting, and conflict of the game in a good way." XC2 does just as well I'd say, just a much different approach. A calm, dialogue about the mysteries of the world and the looming threat of extinction with a peaceful song and a first look at the nice scenery of the world. A little slower, but still pretty good. - Initial criticisms of combat aren't fair I would say. Stutter-stepping is a mechanic that makes combat feel quicker that isn't hard to infer. Also, obviously the combat will be barebones and simple at first. Arts recharge pouch items as well as understanding Driver/Blade/Fusion combos all makes combat very fun and intricate. - With the Show Don't Tell criticism, the point of what Rex and Gramps are talking about is Elysium and the Architect are shrouded in mystery, no one has records of that time or no their appearances. Why would the devs show either of those things in the first cutscene? One of the things they CAN show, they DO: the dying Titans in the sea. Bad criticism. - Yeah, there's a lot of proper nouns, but the game explains them well. They introduce the most important ones first since they're most likely to stick. - Tutorials are really bad for the most part. I'll definitely agree on that one. - No music because the game's trying to tell you these are important characters, creates a tense atmosphere, which you wouldn't know if music WAS playing. Then you WOULD dismiss these as "casual introductions." Bad criticism - I mean, you can teach someone how to do something without actually doing something yourself.. plus Gramps is centuries old as you soon learn, bad criticism. - Voice acting/direction is bad in some parts in the game (looking at you "JOIN ME!"), but it's really not as bad as you make it sound. Malos, Morag, Zeke, Jin, etc. all have really good VAs in my opinion. Sure the accents can be a little "out there," but the game is a bunch of different countries after all, it makes sense to have a wide array of accents and appearances. - The artstyle is quite different from the other games, sure, but I don't feel like it's inherently weaker or stronger because of that. A colorful pallet helps in happier scenes for example, but I think the background/scenery for serious cutscenes helps accommodate it since they usually occur when it's cloudy, dark, or raining. Good contrast. - If it's a XC2 criticism, I don't know why you rant about Nopon (which are in every game) for like 2 1/2 minutes. Out of place. - Rex outfit isn't the best, but bear in mind it's his salvaging gear, you know, basically work clothes, so it being bulky and such makes sense. Only reason he doesn't change has to be because Gramps rides in the helmet, which probably doesn't detach. I can kinda concede this one though. - You say he's like a "selfish, rich kid." ?????? If you take 2 MINUTES to think about it, he's always doing something to help other people, not himself. Sending money to Fonsett, trying to fight off the bad guys, Gramps dying isn't really his fault (because anyone would naturally think a random job offered would result in criminals fighting you and wound up killing your "gramps" somehow), gives up on the party (which is because he feels like he's not good enough for her, good enough to protect her, not because of any "lol why am I wasting my time" mentality like you make it sound. Does Rex always make the right decision? Obviously not, dude is a literal kid, but that's the point of his character arc. He's young, inexperienced, and thinks he can save everyone. But through learning about events (the hard way sometimes), he adapts, overcomes hardships, while not losing his good character qualities (Charisma, Kindness, Passion, Wits) along the way. He even develops new traits (handling loss better, understanding personal limits, loyalty/devotion, leadership skills, etc.) I don't understand how you think he's a static character when so much changes about him. - Addam judges Rex's character/motivations when they talk, he doesn't know about everything that's happened to Rex. "Rather than finding a solution to the problem on his own," HE LITERALLY meets him while trying to find a solution to the problem, passionately trying to find one at that, venturing into a dangerous area few return from... - "Rex cries a bunch so he gets her back" ah yes, because a man (let alone a teen) isn't supposed to cry when his most important ally and friend is going to die. Makes sense to me. Also, Aegises are told MANY times to have crazy, otherworldly powers (Malos literally survives cancer), and I'm sure combined with the Master Driver there's NO reason they can come back. - "Never fully takes responsibility for the power Pyra/Mythra has," you know, except the SEVERAL cutscenes where Rex doesn't want them to use their full power on someone or spares someone's life. - "Never takes responsibility for his actions," while literally showing a cutscene where he does so on screen. - "Rex doesn't drive the plot" except you know deciding where the group goes and trying to rescue the Aegis and understand the world and its flaws and seek a solution, you know, the whole game. - Compares Rex to Shulk, wow, it's almost like they're 2 different people, from different age groups, with different role models, different motivations, different personalities, etc. - Your design criticisms are fair in some points, but unfair in others. You say Pyra/Mythra have crazy designs which is true until you think of the thematic part of it (Pyra's armor is incomplete due to being created as a shackled version of the creator) and also the fact that MANY alternate costumes exist for many of the main female characters (including the ones you have the most gripes with), and they're usually less revealing than the original. I would say the camera gets a little crazy in some scenes which is a fair criticism, but I would think most players wouldn't call it excessive or overbearing for most instances. - As for blade designs, some of them are excessive like Dahlia, but most aren't. For the "fetish" skit, which is probably more of a joke than I'm giving it credit for, it's because Blades can be a wide array of lifeforms, not just humans. So, it makes sense to have some animals and "more creative" designs since that's the nature of a blade. - You call it "fanservice, no substance," as if the dozens of blade add nothing to gameplay or variety, which they greatly add to both. - I don't know if you've done/watched rare blade quests, they usually add nice background and story to them, probably not given your low opinion on the game, but they contribute a good deal to design and personality of rare blades that normally don't get screentime. I personally enjoy XC1 a little more than XC2, but I feel if someone loves 1 and hates 2, they try to compare it to 1 too much instead of treating it as its own game with different designs, motivations, accents, etc. If anyone read all of this, I'm surprised, and thank you, regardless of your stance. I had more points of contention than I expected, apologies.
You are one of the people that actually give me hope for this fan base, I didn’t watch his whole video because I saw the cliff notes of the video around the 1:10 mark and just assumed me and Astro played different games. Some of his points are valid (tutorials being a major one) but the rest are out there and look like he was trying to find more points to put against this game (especially since he doesn’t say Xenoblade 1 has ludonarrative dissonance and 2 does, despite you being able to do about 10 hours of side quest, most of which have nothing to do with the situation regarding Zanza and the Telethia, before fighting the final 3 bosses after Shulk is revived and the world is on the brink of destruction by Zanza. that one really got me heated when I saw it). You made amazing counter arguments to his points.
You gave me hope bro I felt the same way and I like 2 more than 1. 1 has a lot of flaws and feels like a generic complete Shonen from revenge to kill god but the journey and stuff is what makes it fun and interesting. I always get attacked for liking 2 being called weeb or horny online or something when i have a whole girl who loves the game too. When you sit down with both games xc2 really makes you think about humanity and shit.
The Selfish rich kid comment blew my mind, even before meeting Pyra he shows concern over the state of the world and how it would be great if people could all live in Elysium without anymore fighting. Even if Pyra wasn't a hot(badumdish) chick, Rex had his own incentive to go and find Elysium now that he is given the chance.
@@Nerwrax15 honestly the xc1 elitist is what really ruins the fanbase. Like people can't even like the game when the story is just as good as 1. It's ok to like 1 more because it feels more mature maybe buy after chapter 7 xc2 feels like hxh chimera ant arc lol
You're not alone on that hill. I think many people like XC1 way better than XCX which is why it seems that XCX was pretty unpopular. But then many of the people who are not a big fan on XCX also don't like XC2 but were probably never asked which they liked better of the two, only that they prefer the first game. At least that's what I assume lol
Both games might have British spelling and British accents, but some of the words are American, like the daft word 'gotten', so no, it's not true British in any sense of the word. Having a Brit say the word 'gotten' is just cringeworthy.
@@deaj8450 It's old fashioned and out of date, having been out of use from the 16th century. The British use just 'got' for both past and present tense although 'gotten' is creeping back into UK and around the world due to American TV. It's more widespread than it was in the 90s. Unfortunately even Prince Harry used that crappy word in one of his speeches before he left Blighty. You would of thought he would know how to speak the Queen's English. Obviously not. It's probably what happens when you're married to a septic.
I know right, EVEN google knows hes a bad character design lol. the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
@@HienPham-ow5ky Pyra's design was perfectly fine too though. She looks like a princess warrior out of a sci fi world, which fits how she is an angel created with sci-fi technology on a Space Elevator
I think Rex's poor delivery makes a lot of his emotional moments feel alot weaker, while I feel his actual ark is quite strong. A young, emotionally weak boy thrust into a war he never wanted to be part of, but sticks to it in order to help those around him and protect those around him. But by tantal, he has failed over and over despite trying his hardest, and just decides he's was never ready for this. However, other characters enlighten him to the sacrices that must be made in war, and the third sword strengthens his mental bond with the aegis, learning their location and preserving their memories. Then his encounters with jin drive home that final message he needs to grow. You can't save everybody. Rex always remains hopeful, but goes from a naive kid riddled with loss and doesn't know how to accept it, to one who can understand that sacrifices must be made in order to move forward. His ability to stay hopeful in the face of loss is what makes him worthy of the aegis, and is what makes him a fitting opposition to torna, and especially jin, people who are clinging to the things they have lost and want to destroy humanity because of it.
@@fernando98322 ngl the first few hours I had a problem with it but by the end of the game I got used to it and now I actually like it and see the flaws as just part of him
Dude it’s not a disappointment. In everything gameplay wise was a step up from the first game. This guy literally made a almost 40 min video to say it was a disappointment. You don’t need that much time.
@@mrlaguna0808 Did... did you even watch the video? You're literally undermining the whole video because he "Spent 40 Minutes to say it's dissapointing". Seriously...
imo some of the things XC2 took from the previous games were a downgrade. The mini map is a huge example. It's a pain to use, especially when you have marked objectives. And just as mentioned here, the tutorials are among the worst in jrpgs, period. But luckily there are some good upgrades too.
@@deefeeeeefeeeeeeeeee I’m not defending xeno 2, I’m more so defending the fact xc1 had good tutorials. Also I don’t remember how the markers worked since I haven’t played in a while 🗿
@@someonethatisntfunny1622 probably. Wouldn’t say it’s far fetched that someone out there eats pizza with raisins. For goodness sakes pineapple pizza exists.
I never had a problem with it in the first few hours of the game. But I expected him to change into something else once they got to Gormott. Why would someone wear a diving suit when they are not diving?
I really don’t see why this guy complains so much about Rex’s design. Also he doesn’t just fuck up and bitch and moan the whole game. He makes mistakes and dies because he literally couldn’t do anything
@@robertbektas1810 he complains só much because it's horrible, it contradicts everything that is supposed to make a good character design, it communicates nothing about his personality, it isn't simple or clean, it doesn't have a theme, good color pallete, teaches you about the lore, about the world, about the story, anything, and that goes for Pyra too
@@psicopato2460 I think Pyra/Mythra got some of the best designs in the game. And I also love Rex design. And what is "good character design" to you doesn't really mean anything when its all subjective in the end. I guess I just love non-traditional and unique designs.
You know, I never understood why the blades didn't turn INTO the weapons you used instead of creating them. It would explain their wildly inconsistent designs if they were meant to be the literal personification of weapons. Would explain better why they even need drivers to use them (considering blades can not only use their own weapons just fine but seem to fair better than the drivers in some cases). Hell they're even called BLADES, so having them turn into said blade or gun seems like a no brainer. But hey you can't stare at your waifu slave during combat so I guess that was a deal breaker for the devs
Could’ve also made it that flesheaters can’t turn into their weapon form anymore but instead grow their weapon halfway out of their body and then use it to fight, to sell the “unnatural fusion of organic and blade material”
Blades are sentient beings. Before the base game they would fight independently of their drivers. But it was discovered that both blade and driver fighting together is more powerful so that's why the current system exists. Blades are not solely meant to be weapons but rather sentient AI that's supposed to gather data on humans and evolve with them.
8:30 The fun part being that they did that "fighting a random crab"-thing in Xenoblade 1 too, except way better. 9:54 Great thing about this is that there actually is a way to speed up the combat, that being to intentionally interrupt the auto attacks to repeat the first hit and thus get rid of a good amount of cooldown(gain depending on the weapon, but almost all benefit). Of course, the game does not mention this despite having a tutorial-avalanche. Monolith are genuinely much better as a co-developer instead of in their own games, there's just no world where changing a working gameplay system(automatic cooldowns) and then not explaining the new one is a good move gamedesign-wise, there is always some silly nonsense like this going on with this developer. 19:22 The Xenoblade 1 dub really is just legendary. The only reasons I'd ever go to the original JP-dub for would be for the final boss and the very diffrent take on Ryan, though the english equivalents for those are still great too, so not really a rush to play with JP-audio track. 25:52 Pushing a note into this comment due to the flash forward here, this is something I find incredibly incompetent. We are supposed to be sad at the death of Pneuma, but like...that's just straight up the one of the three that both Rex and the player have the least amount of emotional connection to(This is even reflected in gameplay, Rex can quite literally not bond with her whatsoever) and it really seems to mean jack all in practice. One could potentially say "Well, Pyra and Mythra also lose their memories, that's bad", even tho Pyra voiced a desire to forget early in the game and Mythra went into depression after the backstory-timeframe(Which is the reason she created Pyra to begin with), so it's actually kind of a good thing that they get to restart. Not like they need the memories of how Vandham kicked the bucket. 31:45 We were actually lucky with Poppi. In the official conceptsketches, it was revealed that they at some point considered the entire line to have QT's maid theme and QTpi's maid outfit is literally just underwear. Normally I wouldn't find it too sketchy as one could do something similar in Xenoblade 1, but like...that was a statinefficiant meme-choice and did not include very obvious thematic overtones. It's good that they decided against that design, but like...that it was seriously considered is kinda horrendous. 34:31 To be entirely fair, can we even count KosMos and Telos? Even if they weren't on the safer side of this(Which they imo are), they are Xenosaga tie-ins, redesigning them to be more modest would have defeated half the point of the crossover.
I like watching critiques of things I like because it gives me new perspectives. Despite liking the game, when I recommend it I always mention how slow the beginning is and how long it takes for the combat to feel fun and engaging (until all the combos are enabled... why weren't driver combos implemented from the very beginning like in 1?!)
I didn't even really understand how orbs worked until I was 80 hours in (I did a lot of quests and liked just wandering around). I think if they gave it to you all in the beginning, it would be too much to take in. It's still too much to take in, even at the pace they give it to you, and you often just don't get it or ignore it. So I get why they were slow to introduce elements. But I think you're also right -- the tutorials were terrible and confusing. I like games where you have to figure things out on your own, but when the game gives you no tools to figure things out on your own, it can be frustrating. Once I got over that, I ended up absolutely loving the game. But it's not for everyone. For future titles, I hope that they maintain the complexity while still maintaining the mystery, challenge, and aspects of exploring on your own (not just the map, but how things work). It is a very fucking ambitious game, so I get it. But Monolith seems to be getting better, and they're now on the heels of their best seller of all time. Sales equal more resources which hopefully will mean more polished games!
I know that a lot of people say that Vandham’s death is predictable, but I want to point out that Gramps, Zeke, and even Morag (kinda) all serve as mentors to Rex, and none of them die. Also I want to point out something, that being how you say that the positives about Xenoblade 2 are carried over from the previous games. I kinda get what you are saying, but keep in mind that usually that kind of criticism is used when a franchise practically copies and pastes features. Xenoblade 2 has similar positives to its predecessors, but its elements are wholly unique. Like, both Xenoblade 1 and 2 have excellent environments, but each one feels distinct, even between games (except maybe Gormott/Bionis Leg. Those are pretty similar).
I just finished Xenoblade 2 recently, but played Xenoblade 1 when it came out on Wii, and I was quite apprehensive about this game for similar reasons. But I actually got really into it after 20-30 hours in, both the story and the side quests, and I think the references to the first game helped me enjoy it. I liked the voice acting too, but maybe it's because I'm from the UK; I thought it was cool that there was a wide range of accents. I do wish there was character customisation, because the over sexualised character designs were a bit too much. Didn't mind Rex's outfit too much though. Overall, I think I still preferred Xenoblade 1 because its story was so good, and it hooked me much earlier on. Xenoblade 2 had some good character moments here and there, and I liked the way the combat, affinity chart, and blade missions came together.
" But I actually got really into it after 20-30 hours in" it shouldn't take that long for you to get into a game, at that point you don't like it you've just lost so many brain cells from playing it that you think its good.
@@brya9681 Ah yes, because a tv show can't be good if the first few episodes are bad, definitely how that works. Also, nothing can improve its quality over time according to you, no sir ee
@@brya9681The RPG I played after Xenoblade 2 was Bravely Default, and I give up of playing it at almost 20 hours of game because it didnt seen to have any interesting thing about the story that would make me want to keep playing While with Xenoblade 2, the first chapter already made me crazy about the world and story. Of couse, Xenoblade 1 does a better job at the begging, but then after chapter 4 it gets really good when the game start to reveal a lot of details about the characters, the events from Torna, the world and etc. But I enjoyed chapter 2, I loved chapter 3, chapter 4 could be a side quest 😅
@@CaptainAstronaut I get what you mean, but on replays they're honestly not as bad as I'd remembered. I do hope they don't veer any further away from XC1 nopon than this, though, and in fact veer back towards how they were in XC1.
Every consecutive game only seems to want to make them greedier and greedier jerks. And then Xenoblade 2 also dropped the ball by making the key ones huge perverts.
I can’t say I disagree with a single point. Which is sad because I actually love this game. After this game I played XB1 DE and definitely enjoyed it more
The developers said to the artists to go nuts and do whatever they feel comfortable, so we got anime (not complaining) cause the art team prefer to do anime
And that was clearly a bad idea. The guy who did the big titty military blade almost exclusively draws military girl fetish art. Like you had to know what would happened letting him off the leash.
You can draw anime designs for characters without making them fetishy hentai designs. If it was just anime designs I'd be fine with it, but the oversexualization really bothers me.
@@NightNinja Yeah it's such a shame because most of the Blades have cool concepts that are ruined by the fetishy fanservice. Most of the designs are basically "Cool concept + Sexy Waifu". It's like they couldn't help themselves.
@@Fermin-hw5pd Right? Newt was one of my favorite Blades but her outfit doesn't fit her at all. Like you can tell that she's meant to have a military uniform which would bring her design together perfectly but it's like they just HAD to show off her skin to the point that 80% of that uniform is gone. It's just the hat, sleeves and collar. She ends up looking like a military themed stripper than what she actually is.
Idk dude, it may have just been due to the shit I was going through when I played this game but I really really enjoyed it, more then the first one (I still dearly love both tho)
@@veteran0121 he's not crazy. Add an abundance of shonen anime tropes to any game and a lot of people will automatically hate it. It helped the game get attention, but don't expect most people to like it. People who are used to anime can overlook it and enjoy the good parts, but most westerners will only pay attention to that and emphasize the bad parts.
@@dugtrioramen Yes and those people are "automatically" crazy. And what are these "bad parts" that you speak of? I enjoyed the entire experience. Even the cheesy parts with Nia and I haven't even tried the Torna DLC yet after 800 hours in this game. No the reviewer is trash with trash taste. Xenoblade 2 improves on the first Xenoblade in practically every way. He tries to make it sound like the worst sequel ever when that couldn't be further from the truth.
As a woman I feel uncomfortable playing this game. I don't get why they needed to throw in so many big boobed bimbos. I've got nothing against "good" sexualization like Bayonetta or even Brighid in this game because it fits them.
Shite designs like those is why I don't take women serious in any media. And I blame the creators for doing shite like that. Reason why I stopped watching anime a long time ago or played jrpgs with stupid designs like that.
I agree 100%, I love watching bayo gameplay but watching some of the female blades in this game just move around makes me feel icky. I also love brighid’s design, I’d argue that Kora’s is also appropriate for her character, but the vast majority are sexualized for what feels like no reason (watching Perun’s blade awakening cutscene with the like,,, poledancer routine using her spear?? why would she do that???)
remember when they gave mythra leggings as a way to censor her bare legs and literally everyone agreed that it felt like they finally completed her outfit?
The bit where he got really pessimistic was a bad look for him, but to be fair, quite a lot of characters tried to snap him out of it and/or encourage him, so it's not like he just had a sudden epiphany out of nowhere.
Out of the hours I spent, I think at least 50% of it were being spent to find some NPC or location because the map and navigation system are not helpful at all most of the time
You brought up some valid points (some needed more research such as Rex's character analysis and character designs) it's definitely not a perfect game. That said, I loved the game but can definitely see it's faults. Heck, all of the xeno games (except gears) are just reimagining of the perfect works universe which is arguably more confusing than the KH timeline. Here's hoping monolithsoft brings out a killer new installment (and possibly that port of X).
Came here to hear some opposing opinions.. but my god I had to click off around 26:20. Saying Rex is static... while playing one of his biggest character moments in the background, where he is forced to mature to the point that his decision making is markedly different in the final scenes compared to the first few chapters. Like... did you even pay attention by this point, or had you already written off the character and game? Because your entire Rex section reeks of entirely misunderstanding his character and his journey. In he beginning he's a child with big dreams and, thanks to the Aegis, kind of a power trip. He thinks that with the Aegis he can always save everyone and fix everything (rushes to save Nia in Ch 2, tries to stick around to save Vandham in Ch 3). It's not until Ch 6 when Jin finally crushes his spirits and he realizes that he's not the hero that he thought he was. He was being irresponsible with the Aegis, using the power to recklessly rush towards his goals without thinking how it impacts the people around him, especially Pyra/Mythra. He almost gives up entirely because of this, because he can't accept that he can't do everything. It takes Brighid, Poppi, Nia, etc talking sense into him to make him grow up. And you can see it come to fruition finally in Ch 10 after the final fight. He finally completes his arc by letting Pneuma go, accepting that he can't save her, and respecting her choice to make her sacrifice. Rex's character is a reverse of Shulk's in many ways, as is the overall plot. At it' core Rex's journey is a standard Hero's journey. It's fine if you don't find that a compelling character story. But to say that Rex is a flat character completely misses... well, Rex.
Flat isn't the same as static, and I don't even see how he's flat? Like at least give some reasoning or something, else you won't be convincing anyone of anything.
@@Riddler208 Ah yes the amazing character arc of child allows his wife slave to have agency (he wasn't given a choice) and then being immediately rewarded with 2 wife slaves (3 total) for additional baby rearing potential. Truly a classic tale for the ages.
33:33 "The default is how the game is meant to be played" I feel this sentence is a little dangerous when applied to other games(cough Splatoon 2 Splatershot Jr.). Maybe it would sounded better if it was "The default is how most people will play the game, and base their first impressions on the characters/game". I played this game and I enjoyed to bits, but i also need to give credit where credit is due. I can't dislike your video because you have valid points overall. In conclusion, have a like
In the words of the character designer, "Pyra's clothes are asymmetric and have a bunch of holes to represent that she isn't the "true aegis", contrasting Mythra who's got more control over her power, and thus a more balanced design." Or something like that. But like there are a ton of ways to represent that idea while having her wear something other than cyberpunk lingerie.
As someone who loves this game: yeah the guy is an actual hentai artist too lmaooooooo This video is awful though, the story and characters are all really deep but he looked at it at base level and said "ok I dont like anime so this is objectively bad" and if you ignore a bit of cringe in the early chapters and look up a good gameplay guide this game is straight up an 8/10 at worst
@@jarrav8186 you do realize a lot of artist for games and shit either use to do hentai or still do it. The artist behind valkyria Chronicles is a hentai artist for example.
J Veennema I mean if the characters have awful designs it doesn't matter how deep they are if you can't take them seriously. Which is going to be even harder if you're not enjoying anything else either
Ok I keep seeing people say this, and I feel like I’m going crazy because I remember growing to HATE Stutter Step a few hours after I found out about it. Like idk, but after the fun of it started to wear off all I felt was that it made combat feel way more linear and tedious. But who knows, maybe I just didn’t fully grasp the combat systems which made an otherwise great mechanic feel terrible to use, idk, and I don’t own the game anymore to check.
@@WaxxyVanderquail I can see it being repetitive during the first half of the game. But on the second half you can charge your arts quicker with items and even unlock the ability to cancel arts into arts. It gets pretty intense imo
The early game heavily depends on the auto atk cancel but once you get access to 3 blades, you can switch to a different blade to charge your specials since their arts are available upon switch. Plan ahead which elem combo to use so you can switch and charge blades effectively Once this becomes the premise per combat, I felt more engaged compared to just charging specials to spam them Now I have to build full combos for chain attacks
I mean you say there is no such thing as an objective review, but you have a lot of objective value in your arguments. Your discussion on character design was probably the best part of the video. I will definitely be back for the second part.
I thought I was the only one who thought this but I swear, you had the same exact list of issues as I did with this game. XC2 is the definition of a game that "died by a thousand cuts" for me. I too came into it on release day really hyped because I was enamored by the other Xenoblade games, but with its awful tutorials, convoluted gameplay, a laundry list of anime tropes, terrible voice direction/director, and its oversexualization of a vast majority of the characters, I couldn't take this game seriously by the end. It just felt like a really bad anime. I tried to like this game, I really did. I even forced myself to beat the game to see if anything up to the very end could possibly change my mind, but nothing did. I love the memes that came out of this though.
@@luizy6701 The saddest part is that you go around looking for this minority to belittle their opinions. Can't handle a minority of people not being in love with a video game that you like?
@@halosaft Opinions that actively look to ban these types of games, and opinions that label the ones that like these types of games as misogynists, p£d0flles and much more. Do you agree with them?
@@luizy6701 I have been in the Xeno community for more than 10 years, and I have been critical of Xeno 2 since I first played it. I can't say that I've seen anyone call people that like Xeno 2 mysoginists or p£dos. I mean, I still like parts of Xeno 2 and I finished it, beating all the super bosses. Nor have I seen anyone call for Xeno 2 to be banned. Like at all... Are you sure it's not just you that are those things and are rightfully being called that? Maybe you defend Poppi being sexualized even though she's like a kid? Could it be that?
Regardless of any one person's opinion on the game, I still recommend people play this game and form their own opinions. I went into this game thinking I wasn't gonna like it and now it's a top 5 game for me. And Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game of all time. I do think the voice direction sucked tho.
This. I had the same experience with Xenoblade X where people told me it sucked compared to the first one, and that it was really bad. I put it off for a year until I finally played it and wondered what the fuck people were talking about because I came out loving Xenoblade X. Videos like these are good but shouldn't form an opinion for you.
@@skylandersfan6954dawg have you SEEN delilah??? Ignoring her, 90% of the women and 30% of the men in this game are fighting near naked, and those who aren't are fighting in incredibly impractical costumes designed to look cool, which is OK.
I feel like a lot of the critiques here are relatively surface-level, some being all they need (ex. oversexualization) but others being very incomplete pictures (ex. Rex). I will say though, even though I disagree with a decent amount of this video, you got some pretty good laughs out of me. The entire "every blade is a fetish" section had me bursting out laughing, and all my homies hate Tatsu as well. Respect to the writing of this video while the critiques are hit or miss.
I would love to talk about the oversexualization in xbc2 but I'm kinda scared to someone think that I'm pissing off about a character design, but this game really has too much female sexualization . I saw a good video explaining this, don't exactly remember the channel but it's a 1 or 2 hours video Edit: I found it :) ua-cam.com/video/pRNkWXwyjdk/v-deo.html
As much as I love this vid and the fact that someone else has the same mindset about Xeno 2 as I do, a lot of the points you made about Rex being bad were wrong and either didn't make sense, or put a lot of unplaced blame on him. You said something similar in your last vid about Xeno 2 and I kind hoped someone else would correct you, but whatever I'll just do it I guess. This'll be a big post so TLDR; if any of the other characters tried as hard as Rex did, Xeno 2 would've ended 2 hours in. From 24:57 onwards, I'm not really sure why you're blaming Rex for this. He died because he got literally stabbed in the back, from a character that can move at lightspeed, and the consequence of being revived was now he had to be responsible for ending a war that has lasted CENTURIES. Pyra didn't give him a choice, it was an ultimatum. "Stay dead or help me win a war between literal gods." Not really sure if you can call this getting revived scot free. Also, not sure why Gramps getting injured and "dying" was Rex's fault. He actually saved Nia from falling into the cloud sea in the prior scene and the gramps probably would have gotten shot by the cannons regardless of what Rex did. Your next point is also not great and was actually from one of the worse cut scenes in the game imo. Vandham barely bought the party a few seconds before Malos killed him and the idea that they had the chance to run away before Malos and Akhos could catch up to them, while they were all severely injured, is insane. Rex had NO CHOICE but to fight to try and buy the others time. It was either that or just have everyone slowly be killed off. Ffs, Vandham literally just came to the same conclusion after realizing how dire the situation was too. Plus, the only reason they were in this situation to begin with was because Pyra walked into an obvious trap ALONE with NO PLAN on how to fight off Malos. Hell, for all she knew the entirety of Torna could have been there and she would have been killed easily, losing the Aegis war. Rex was the first one to question Nia about Pyra not being with the group after they noticed the girl was kidnapped and deduced that she must have gone to stop Malos herself, alone. He actually leads the charge and bails Pyra out. Did Mythra have to bail him out in the end, sure, but honestly Pyra should have woken her up from the get go if this was her plan, instead of trying to fight Malos and Akhos in a weakened form by herself. And let's not forget that Nia was holding back this ENTIRE time and could have easily beaten Malos and Akhos if she went her blade form. So to put all the blame on Rex, whose only mistake was not being strong enough to beat Malos, is crazy to me. Once again, if 2 other characters (Pyra and Nia) had given it their all like he did, the game would have ended here. Your next point is from THE worst cutscene from the game, but you were also wrong on some of your recollection of the events of what happened, and that lead to you vastly misinterprete Rex's character struggle in this scene. After Pyra sacrifices herself to Torna, Rex didn't cry for 2 days, he was UNCONSCIOUS, cause he got his ass BEAT by Jin (Dromarch even says that his wounds were so severe that his body needed time to rest and heal). In the footage you showed, Rex is literally laying on a bed knocked tf out, and when he wakes up he slowly comes to grips with what happened. Rex giving up wasn't him being a coward, it was honestly the most mature decision he had made in the game and the only reasonable plan anyone in the party had presented up until now. When they had the legendary Aegis sword and her damn Gundam in the sky, they still lost. HORRIBLY. Jin defeated the entire party in seconds, and the only reason everyone didn't die a horrible death that day was because Pyra used her life as leverage, since they needed to take her alive. Now the plan is to go and fight them, WITHOUT that leverage? What, is the power of friendship stronger now? Why is everyone suddenly super confident that they can defeat blade form Jin plus the rest of Torna? Rex may do a shit job at expressing it, but his plan actually makes a lot of sense and shows a lot of growth of him as a character. He's the only one in the party that recognizes how ABSURD Jin's power actually is (ffs, they needed a character that could REWRITE REALITY to be ON PAR with him.) He wants nothing more than to rush in and save Pyra. You can tell because every time he talks about giving up the camera pans and shows him clenching his fist because he hates what he's saying. But he knows that if he leads the charge on this, he'll be leading all of his friends to an early grave. Every single on of them would die this time. And if he dies, Pyra dies as well. That's the only thing that he can take solace in in this situation. He knows Pyra isn't dead because he's still alive. They share pain remember? That's why he says she'll be better off without him because if he fought Torna again, he, and therefore Pyra, would probably both die gruesomely. So the only conclusion that makes sense for Rex here, is to recognize when you've been outclassed and accept the L. Living out his life without the one he cares most about by his side, but knowing that at the very least she's alive. Honestly this scene is probably one of Rex's best character moments, if not THE best one, and I could write a whole book on how this scene ruined almost every other character in the main cast, or at least showed how bad the writing is in this game (Nia yelling at Rex to try harder is fucking RICH seeing as she didn't reveal her blade form which could have easily turned the tides in their favor against Jin. Brighid gaslights the shit out of Rex, blaming him for not knowing about a conversation that he wasn't there for, and that Brighid only knew about because she was eavesdropping. She also doesn't address the reason WHY Rex is giving up. Zeke, being the only one that also shares a core crystal with his blade, should be the only one that understands how torn Rex feels, but he doesn't get to say a word because Morag stops him. etc.) So once again, what was Rex supposed to do in this scene? Run into battle and die horribly? The only reason they are able to fight Jin and Malos later with an actual chance of victory was because Gramps causally mentions that there's a 3rd Aegis sword and Nia revealed her blade form, giving the party a person with power on par to Monado Malos. Two things that Rex didn't, and COULDN'T, have known about when he wanted to give up. So once again, placing all the blame for this on him, when the only faults he had were not being being strong enough and wanting his friends to NOT die horribly, seems crazy to me. For your next example, I'm going to spare you all from my novel about how bad Xeno 2's ending was. But I don't think any of it was Rex's fault per se, more of just bad writing as a whole. Him crying because Pyra was about to sacrifice herself...again, made sense. Getting her back was the whole point of coming there after all, so to hear after all of that she was just going to die anyway would be emotionally taxing. But whatever, that entire ending was garbage anyway and I really don't want to get into it. (Why tf did anyone think Pneuma was going to die when she gave Rex her core crystal? What part was going to die? Her hologram? And why tf did Pyra AND Mythra have separate bodies now? Y'all could've done this the whole fucking time!? What changed after that explosion!?) Anyways, I just wanted to clear up Rex's character because he's honestly like, one of the 3 (kinda) well written characters in this game, and this was the second vid that you made where you grossly misinterpreted his character imo. But overall great vid. I'm always happy to dunk on Xeno 2. Thanks for anyone that took to time to read all of this headass and I appreciate you coming to my TED Talk. Refreshments are in the back. Don't play Xeno 2. Xeno 2 game bad. P.S I love your Splatoon vids.
Even though it's not short, this is a great comment and I hope most comments that disagree are more like this and not what I THINK they'll probably be like haha As for Azurda's death at the start, I think it's (indirectly) Rex's fault because before he goes on the job to help Torna, Azurda (and even Bana to an extent) are like, "you should research this job before you take it, not just immediately say yes when someone offers you a lot of money." Rex ignores him and takes the job anyway, which leads to Azurda having to come save him, which leads to his death. I'm totally okay with a character making a mistake at the start of the story as long as they grow from it, but then Azurda's death & resurrection is played for laughs and the weight of the situation is ignored (I talk about this more in the next part, which I'm currently working on) And for the Pyra sacrifice scene in the middle, part of it was me being fed up with the meandering plot and Rex at this point, and it is a powerful scene when the party rallies around him. I do think it shows a lot of growth when Rex admits that he's "not cut out for this," but it sucks that he completely gives up, especially considering what Torna do to Pyra. It'd be one thing to say, "I bad at this and don't know what to do next," but he also says, "I'm going to give up and leave" and abandon Pyra to die, which Brighid reminds has to remind him of.
@@CaptainAstronaut I see what you mean and I appreciate you reading such a big post haha I guess my thoughts on things overall is the problem being less of Rex being a bad character, and more the writing is this game is total garbage. Multiple characters could have done things that would have easily solved the issues in the world throughout the game, but kinda just don't, with Nia, Jin, and Mythra being the main examples. But in scenes where Rex thinks that Azurda dies, Rex is genuinely hurt and thinks that he's lost one of the only family members he had. But because of bad writing, Azurda magically comes back as a baby tamagotchi lmao I just don't think it's too fair to blame Rex for a lot of the things wrong with this game when, at the very least, he's actively trying his best lol Man, I never thought I'd see the day when I was defending something from Xeno 2 😂
Interesting thoughts! I agree with you on the tutorials and you have given good examples on how to improve the tutorials. A good take on the sexualisation of female characters, sometimes a touchy subject, unfortunately. You could have made a better point on the voice acting. The example you gave for Rex wasn't cringy at all, sounds like a geordie chap having a normal conversation. You could have chosen worse and more talked about scenes featuring Rex, for example, a lot of people do dislike Rex's screams. Those screams can be jarring when pointed out to me. You did mention that the voice doesn't match the art style of the characters. Does that mean Xenoblade Chronicles Definite Edition is a downgrade because the Definite Edition does look more anime-like, thus now doesn't match the voice? A lot of Western media have bug-eyed humanoids such as The Powerpuff Girls or Elsa from Frozen so the abnormal eye-face ratio isn't unheard of. There's more to it than if the voice matches the art style and I don't think the voice acting/direction is THAT bad. BUT, this is coming from a guy who is not well exposed to Japanese anime or games! It does look like a lot of Japanese characters are overplayed (getting into massive fights, wielding fantasy weapons and magic, scream into battles, ...etc). To me, it's fine but I do have a feeling when compared to other Japanese media, this game could look out of place.
I don't know why this game clicked with me so much, played through it multiple times and on third playthrough I am still finding new aspects and still have not unlocked all the blades(I don't mind, it keeps me grinding..300hrs later) Games a masterpiece in my eyes.
I never thought I’d like this game but it was on my shelf for like a year. Mostly cause after seeing gameplay I thought I’d hate the battle system. Eventually I finally played it AND I LOVED IT!! I never played a switch game as much as I did this. The art( not just the anime girls but the environments, I love Tantal) were gorgeous. Music was wonderful and I still occasionally listen to them. The battle system grew on me and I actually eventually liked it. The only demerit was Rex. Nothing special and easily forgettable but I loved Tora and the rest of the cast had their moments too. Funny enough the villains had better development in my opinion but that’s part of the game too so no complaints. All the side quests with the rare blades were great for additional content. Some were funny and some even got you a bit emotional. They were all worth checking out. This game was a solid 9/10 for me.
I really like the combat, it's a bit meh at the beginning (which, to be honest, I don't think so xd) but it gets better later, in harder fights, you will need to do a lot of Blade Combos to, literally destroy enemies with Chain Attacks...and you need to think which Blade to use, and also need to hurry And, is amazing when you kill an enemy using a single Art, feels as good as using Back Slash and provoking one shots
I'll address the narrative and presentation issues only in the order as presented in the video, discussing gameplay mechanics isn't really my thing. The beginning - you establish what is a good way of starting a story, grudgingly admit that XC2 does it. You find it boring, but don't explain why, jumping to gameplay. It establishes the setting, and the conflict which instead of a battle against a tangible enemy, is a battle against decline. It also effectively establishes the background 'mood' of the narrative which will resonate in several crucial characters and their motivations later on. On that front the beginning of both XC1 and especially X are actually more shallow in hindsight. Show, don't tell - a good thing for sure, and a thing that the game sometimes uses too little, and sometimes too much - some flashbacks, where added subtlety, ie., showing or telling nothing, would have been even better. Yet you use an example where the principle is specifically NOT to be used. Azurda and Rex are not talking about history, they are talking about legend. They are unreliable narrators, the visual focus is on the storyteller not the supposed event, the important part is that that's what those characters believe not what actually happened, the music underlines that too. And BECAUSE we are not given glimpses of Elysium, we are clued in that this is probably not how things went. Proper nouns - a problem with a lot of stories heavy with worldbuilding. I don't have a lot to say about this, it depends a lot on how we process information. You don't actually have to memorize all the things they say, most of what is really important at the moment gets more focus. But I certainly understand when people tune out when assaulted with a lot of new words. The dub - I use JP dub whenever I can, both because the original voice actors usually have more context to work with during the development, and because translations almost always lose some meaning in the process. I absolutely agree that some voices don't match, I think Nia is the worst case here. Rex's guy can't scream, although otherwise I think he's fine, I don't get what cognitive dissonance you're getting. Agreed, that animation was clumsy in many dialogue scenes. Rex - others I see have answered about him better than I could, so I won't bother. He's not static, he follows relatively standard hero's journey steps, the main difference being that he has a more practical mindset than most 'heroes'. But, you know what, the English voice acting at least sets him apart from other jrpg/shonen protags. Outfits - I'm used to anime designs, I like Pyra's, and obviously it's meant to appeal to lower brain, so whatever. Does that diminish her character for me? Not at all. Talking about sexualization of women would eat every other argument, so I'm not going into it. I'll just mention that many armor sets for Sharla and Fiora are just as skeevy, just less apparent in the overall presentation of the characters. I played XC:DE and XC2 one after the other relatively recently, and while XC has a better story structure overall, and better narrative flow up until around Ch. 5 of XC2, and I liked many combat elements better in 1, overall, XC2 just blew it out of the water because of thematic depth (on the nose sometimes and familiar, but well executed), the vibrancy of the setting, the writing of crucial characters, especially the main trio of villains and how they define the main themes of the narrative, use of music to enhance the story, use of animation to enhance the more tense moments. It uses anime techniques to both its detriment and advantage, but at least for me, the advantages win.
Something I see many people complain is that they forgot that this game is made in Japan and well......it had many roots with anime. That and people just for the life of them don't want to listen to the Japanese dub. I'm lucky that I can actually understand some Japanese so that a lot of things don't fall out of context but damn, this review was on the cusps of greatness!
I pretty much agree with everything except for the dislike of Nia's voice-acting. Her's is one of the best performances in the game, as well as one of the best characters.
@@hyliastone286 personally speaking, I don’t dislike Nia’s English VA due to the performance, I dislike it due to the voice not fitting the character AT ALL. Like maybe it’s just me but I see Nia and her personality and I expect something WAY different from a middle aged house wife that’s fed up with her kids shit.
@@WaxxyVanderquail I understand her voice style being unexpected, but for me that’s a huge part of the appeal. Japan has done cutesy high pitched cat girl tropes to death and beyond, so her unexpectedly mature welsh voice was a lot of fun once I got over my initial surprise. It might be different from what’s intended by the Japanese dub, but I think this version of her character is just as valid.
I didn't like much but about 20 hours in it clicked I love the technical combat system the story ends up being great it definitely takes too long to get going though
I can't believe how you perfectly summed up how I feel about this game. It was this game that put me off the Xenoblade series but I might give the first one a try now since you state this game is nothing like it.
Please, play the Xenoblade 1. It's a great game in all aspects and I've spent the happiest hours of mine playing it. Everything is does it does wholly and maturely, unlike it's sequel. You're not gonna be disappointed, I promise.
Oh yes, definitely. Please play XC1, there are literally worlds between XC2 and it predecessor. Honestly the fandom is pretty much split between those two games. Fans of the first often dislike the second, fans of the second usually find something to complain about in the first lol Xenoblade X fittingly falls somewhere between the two.
I love Rex as a character so much. He's just naive/optimistic enough without being stupid to inspire the people around him and that's why the he works so well for the story. He is everyone's "Drive"r. Rex's design is entirely water themed. He uses an old-fashioned diving suit for salvaging that folds away to to show he's wearing a wetsuit and his big boots evoke fishing waders. Plus, he was intentionally designed to have bigger legs to emphasize his youth and how big the world is. So it all comes together really nicely. Also, it's so funny/odd/interesting how so many people who have problems with XC2's female character designs obsess/criticize/degrade them and see them less as characters than the game itself actually does.......Yeah, there's boobs and butts, but you never see the characters in the game actually treating the female characters as lesser than any male character.
The literal scene poppy is introduced you see that tora has plans to put poppi in maid outfits to literally objectify her. This take is stupid as fuck jfc like why do people just decide to ignore random shit about XBC2s Genuinely fucking awful writing holy shit.
None of the characters treating the female characters as lesser because of their designs is exactly why it's such a problem. There is minimal cohesion between the character's designs and their personalities/story. Top it off with constant boob/ass shots and it's hard to take them seriously.
I love the game as it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out with a definitive edition just like the first game. If it does, I hope they rewrite tutorials and allow you to view them in the menu, revoice some of the lines, redesign a few characters, and replace the gacha with actual blade quests to obtain the blades (like Praxis and Theory for example).
Honestly, the more time passes the more I agree with this, as much as I dearly wish to move on to the many new adventures that the Xenoblade series likely has in store for us. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is great in many ways, but there's a lot that could be polished up. However, some of the criticisms people make, especially many of those in this video, are straight-up wrong and I will fight people over it.
+Hylia Stone I think the complaint of being too anime is pretty stupid, since some people actually like that aspect. If it comes down to taste, then it can’t objectively be considered a flaw. However, if it’s something like how they poorly handled the tutorials in this game, then that’s objectively a flaw. The Xenoblade series definitely has a great future. With Xenoblade 1, X, 2, Torna, and the eventual release of 3 and X2, Xenoblade will hopefully get the attention it deserves.
I agree with you about the blade quest thing, but I don’t think the gacha should be removed entirely. There are only a few tweaks that need to be made to fix it. First, field skill checks are removed from the main story path, and the game should find your optimized team composition to pass so you aren’t constantly switching out your party. Second, keep most of the rare blades on the gacha system to keep different playthroughs diverse, but after the final boss is defeated, open up a guaranteed way to get them all. For example, a high level quest where you bust a gang and they have every remaining rare blade core crystal.
XC1 and XCX were awesome games. When XC2 came out I avoided any gameplay, trailer videos to go into it blind because I was looking forward to surprise epic moments like the initial Mechon attack on Colony 9. I hated XC2 very quickly after and tried to go see if there was anyone having that opinion. At the time I could only find good reviews singing praise for the game. So I never looked back. Then this video pops up in my suggested videos today for the first time. Don't know why it took so long, but it is nice to see these points put into videos.
That was my experience too. I had so much fun with the other Xenoblades, and the little I saw of the sequel just made me think "well, it's a bit more anime, but I'm sure it will still be good". Definitely the most disappointed I've been in a game, not the worst game ever, but such a let-down compared to what came before.
@@skylandersfan6954 what do you mean baltantly wrong. The dude played the whole game and gave complete explanations. Give me your list of reasons against every point he made then.
@@YaBoiDoi He says Rex doesnt develop when he literally does, not only does Rex actually state his development out loud for people who do not understand subtext (which btw, this guy literally admitted he doesnt pick up on subtext in his Xenoblade 3 video so thats comical) and he still didnt pick up on it yet he also acts like Rex unlocking the 3rd sword is some unexplained mystery despite being explained through the development and themes of the story He says Pyra's outfit doesnt have a reason to look the way it does when both the designer commented on it and its proved with the character of Pneuma. He also acts like this is the first Xeno character to be skimpy, yet he clearly lacks any knowledge of Xenosaga like most 1 elitists do and I know this because he acts like Kos Mos was a character designed for this game and tries to use her to further the sexualisation point He also tries to defend 1 and X's fanservice because its optional as to why its ok yet he complains about Poppi's final form and all the other non main story blades despite them also being optional Shall I go on?
@@skylandersfan6954 The only point you got is Rex. Everything else is terrible. What do you mean by the "designer commented on it?" What did they say?? Furthermore, this can easily be disproven from just Malos' existence. You could literally just say they were made for sexiness sake bro. Why doesn't Malos look anywhere near like Pneuma or the other versions of herself? That sounds kinda bs. His point still stands when it comes to him defending the options. Your point doesn't make sense and the comparison is terrible. You're comparing costume swapping to quests that you probably wouldn't even have knowledge about until you unlock a certain part of the game. I don't know what other blades got to do with this because it's not like they get less skimpier. Even if you had knowledge about Poppi (which by the way, is the best character in the game,) and made sure that you kept distant from the quest, you still have all of the other skimpy characters that you receive by default. Something you can't really change much unless you get very specific items or go through challenge modes. Which is a list of either more sexualized clothes or just very lame ones.
I absolutely love XC1, but I had to force myself to play XC2. This review hits all the reasons why I didn’t like it either. I would say the story was the one thing that made me finish it, it’s not the best but it did get me somewhat engaged. The gacha is probably what ruined the game most for me (gachas suck and you’ll never change my mind) as well as the over-sexualization.
It's fucking insane and disappointing to me that we seem to be in somewhat the minority these days. I won't say the game doesn't have good aspects to it but the amount of praise this game gets is fucking mind bending to me.
@@miraihibino1277 I honestly think on many levels having this sequel be equal parts 1 and 2 (in their best aspects) would be really clever; I don't necessarily need it to be a whole lot more like 1. Honestly I just wish people would take Xenoblade more seriously. I feel like outside of the direct fanbase, 2 made people see Xenoblade in a lesser light but that might just be my experience. But really above all I just hope 3 feels like a really culmination of building up this series and does well to make this a worthy successor to what has come before. Just want a good game really.
@@twincherries6698 Same bro. This game doesn't get enough flack. I actually ponder how so many people are dickriding this game. Xenoblade 3 looks good though so I'm excited
I started this game when Pyra was announced for smash. I thought she was going to be a very upbeat, happy sweet girl but instead she mostly had a blank face the entire game and spoke in a monotone voice, being completely different from her Smash trailer.
As someone who had played the first two chapters of XB2, seeing Pyra's reveal trailer almost felt like they had decided to add onto her character just so that she'd feel more like one. The fact that it took until smash for Pyra to actually feel like she was properly written is just sad.
@@yaboiyeets3721 Yup, and 30 hours with cookie cutter waifu was more than enough for me once I realized that not a single thing about her personality existed for any other reason than "well, all the other popular anime girls are like this!"
ya know, the section after the point where she admits she wants to literally kill herself? i mean, i guess all other popular anime girls have to live with the fact that they are viewed as nothing but a weapon and menace to the world and are suicidal because of it.
I actually finished my first playthrough of xc2 yesterday (68 hrs playtime), my first xenoblade game, and although I enjoyed it, i had problems with it from start to end. I took it with me to get me through my 2 week quarantine and played on version 1.0 cause I didnt have any wifi or data to update the game. I didnt even understand the sealing mechanism until chapter 7 even though I remember there being a tutorial for it early on. And the female character design... I have to laugh. Even some of the female NPCs are just chillin half naked while most of the men were covered up. I often found myself busting out laughing at serious points during cutscenes because of the voice acting. I didnt connect with the characters at all, so when someone died I was just like 🤷🏻♀️. My experience with the final boss fight got ruined due to bugs. And while I liked the ending I was still confused on some things regarding the lore
I agree on most of the things you talked about, but not really on the voice over aspect, tbh. I found most of the english voices pretty fitting of their characters, in some cases even more so than the japanese voices (Nia and Vess come to mind), and the accents are a really cool touch to differentiate the people of each titan. However, I can definetly aggree that Rex's delivery is a major weakpoint there. Also, regarding the nopon, I dont find them thaaat annoying? At least their characters/ speech mannersisms, for the most part, are ok. However, an that's a trend that came back from 2 with Future Connected, the HUGE oversuse of the 'meh-meh-meh-meh' affectation is, entirely, too much, and it makes me clench my teeth hard out of sheer hatred whenever I hear it. Enough meh
Am I the only one who finds the "meh-mehs" to be charming? I mean, I suppose it couldn't hurt to switch things up a little more, but I feel a deep pang of sadness and loneliness whenever people talk about how "their teeth clench with sheer rage" every time they hear a nopon say "meh." Like, please chill with the hatred; they aren't the end of the world.
The main problem with xenoblade 2 voice is not the acting itself. The direction is the main problem. It’s clear that the cast only had 1 take. As the game goes on you can hear Rex screams getting better. Look at smash. Rex in smash shows what Rex could have been like if they gave Al more than 1 attempt.
Really great and well-made video, I felt like I was the only one with all of these problems. Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game, and the shortcomings of its sequel should really be addressed more. Xenoblade 3 following in 2's footsteps is my worst nightmare
Well given how popular Xenoblade 2 is in Japan and how popular Pyra/Mythra are in general you might want to get ready lol. Hell XC2 got people in Japan to actually care about the series.
Yeah same, I honestly don't see what everyone loves about this game. In my opinion xeno1 did everything xeno2 did but better. (Actually I take that back. Xeno2 did humour better than 1.) But then again xeno1 has always sort of resonated with me so I might be a bit biased. I think it comes down to how "Anime" xeno2 is. It honestly seems like the two games were made for drastically different audiences.
Speaking as someone whose favorite game of all time is XC2, I will be the first to admit that it has genuine problems and it’s absolutely not for everyone. The main problem I’d say is that it has a really, REALLY slow start bogged down by bad and incessant tutorials and storytelling that is just genuinely, objectively bad at points…unless you have later context (first viewing of bath scene: cringe second viewing of bath scene: wait I was supposed to know about THAT back then? damn no scene without purpose I guess) However, I will argue that the world building is the strongest in the series (huge claim that I will still make confidently), has a great cast of characters that is still my personal favorite, and a really, REALLY deep combat system that is (again) still my favorite. Also Zeke von Genbu: Bringer of Chaos is only in this game, which is a definite plus in its favor
@@skylandersfan6954 Basically every Persona game in the new trilogy, yeah. I love Persona too, though, don’t get me wrong. I think that you have a great point on that matter about the problem of double standards though…the same people who will complain that Pyra and Mythra wear clothing that is too revealing or that there are cringey scenes in the game will turn around and praise NieR as if they hadn’t been forced to look at 2Bs exposed backside the entire time (Goes without saying but I love NieR too lmao). It’s a bit frustrating, but you just gotta tune most of it out if the person complaining is not being consistent; you know they just want to hate on things. Also a lot of the time these complaints are made from a completely Western perspective without taking into account that these things are totally normal/expected in Japanese culture. It’s essentially like saying, “How dare they put Japanese culture in my Japanese product meant for Japanese audiences?!”
@@dachking6657 I feel like its because weirdly enough, the game has a much bigger presence online because of how niche it is. P5 has a lot of the same issues as Xenoblade 2, arguably worse in some cases, but because of how its praised by multiple big youtubers who played it, out of context scenes don't get as much flack. Xenoblade 2's audience is comparatively smaller despite most people enjoying it so its easy to see a scene like that and call the game bad because of its smaller following. Idk if that makes any sense
@@skylandersfan6954 That’s definitely a factor, too. I’ve found that most people don’t really take the time to form their own opinions on things and would rather just take the most popular one/what their favorite influencer says as Gospel. Thus, a few people with a large enough following saying that P5 is peak caused it to have a good reputation, whilst the same thing for XC2 being called terrible resulted in its current reputation.
I must’ve had the best luck in the game, because I never experienced any of the complaints when pulling blades. Somehow I got KOS-MOS in chapt 2 from a common core, no boosters or luck accessories. After that, I only bonded with core crystals when I needed to get rid of boosters and kept getting rare blades back to back with Nia. Extremely rewarding and made me love the game even more.
Good on you dude. To be real, 90% of nintendo fans today are unbareable and think everything thats on the switch only, is masterpieces and if you criticize any of those things they swarm like drones. So good on you dude, we need more people that can admit problems
@@jonathansoko1085 as a diehard Nintendo fan myself who really only plays switch games, no fan base makes me eye roll more than the Nintendo meat riders. They’ll defend Nintendo for ANYTHING. Mario party jamboree just came out. I love the game but once again it’s a Mario party game with essentially zero rules customization and everyone is (rightfully) criticizing Nintendo for it. Then the weirdos who religiously defend Nintendo come out and say things like “yOu caNt aDd rUleS cUsTimiZaTiOn bEcAuSe iT leTs pEopLe rUin tHe gAmE” and I’m like bruh your perfect Mario party isn’t necessarily my perfect Mario party so lemme change it so I can enjoy it.
@dpackerman4203 yep it's nice to see someone who is rational about this as well. I love Nintendo just as much as anyone but I can't stand any rabid fan base no matter what it is. If Sony or Microsoft do something bad I will criticize them there too. I would never defend any of these corporations blindly at the same time I will celebrate anything good that they do as well.
@ everyone in pain over the thick British accents: Now you know how us Spanish speakers feel when every single videogame dub is done in Spanish from Spain. FEEL OUR PAIN AND DESPAIR!
I didn't really dislike Rex *so* much for a while, and I really tried my best to see his positive traits (earns money for his village, drive to save humanity, reflectiveness on the relationship between drivers and blades), but his foolish optimism made it hard for me to feel beyond neutral towards him. But then the scene where Pyra gets taken away and Rex gives up really made me flat out *hate* him. He was so much talk, and then when the going got rough he abandoned the girl he loved while everyone else was determined to go rescue her without him. Not only that, as Pyra's driver, by giving up he basically just submitted to allowing Malos to destroy everything. Like, seriously?? Compare him to Shulk, who watched the girl he loved get straight up speared, igniting a fire in him that served as one of the main drivers of the plot for half the game. Brighid smacking Rex and talking shit was so fucking satisfying.
I realize Ιm 3 weeks too late but my dumb brain isnt letting me forget about this, so here we go: You are completely allowed to dislike Rex, hordes of people have made the reasons quite apparent on any platform you can think of (Reddit, UA-cam, Twitter, the list goes on). Major props to you for not completely writing him off because "Haha Rex desing/VA so bad lol". However, the fact that you hate him because of the chapter 7 scene leaves me entirely confused. First of all, do try and take this with a grain of salt. I admit I am extremely biased in favor of Rex. I love him to bits. My opinion isnt fact and im not trying to change your mind. As for the scene. It bothers me to no end when people say that Rex is being a selfish prick or anything resembling that in this specific context, because, (and I cant stress this enough) HE IS IN THE RIGHT. His whole (underapreciated imo) character arc is him evolving from nothing to something, it makes sense that when the catalyst for this development (aka Pyra/Mythra) is taken from him while he is poweless leads to him breaking down. He is a kid for christs sake. Anyways, moving on. I mean no offense by this, but your comparisson to Shulk makes absolutely no sense. Yes, Shulk's desire for revenge is a testament to how much Fiora ment to him, but (again I can't stress this enough) you do know that it serves as his drive because it is physically possible for him to get revenge, right? He has the monado, the only weapon capable of destoying mechon, it is feaseable for him to take revenge. You may say "But the monado couldn't damage faced mechon at that point." And you would be 100% right, expect when a couple of hours earlier, it is clearly mentioned that the monado has many hidden functions, that could (at least theoretecly at this point of the story) massively help him on his journey. Compare him to Rex. The Aegis? Taken. The Aegis sword? In shambles. The enemies he's facing? One is another Aegis and the other is so fast he ignores foresight, both of them have no glaring weaknesses. He watched Mòrag and Zeke, the most powerful drivers of their respecting countries, with the help of the strongest blades AND with years of experience under their belt, get absolutely dunked on by Jin alone. Zeke himself mere centimeters from dying on the spot. Rex has no weakness he can exploit. He has no ally he can rely on to beat them. He physically cant do anything. He realises that trying to fight them again would result in a massacre. So what is he to do? Lead the team to destruction? No matter what Brighid says abouy him giving up so easily, he is in the right. Because he can't realisticly do something. No one in the team can do anything. I would find it stupid as all hell if he was all gung-ho about saving Pyra, because he would lead everyone to their untimely deaths. Finaly, a fire does ignite in Rex. It flares up when the conditions for it have been met. That being when he learns about the existance of the third sword. From that point on its full steam ahead to Spirit Crucible Elpys. (which is not so subtly named after the ancient greek word "ἐλπίς" meaning hope, pretty on the nose symbolism). After that, it's cliffs of Morytha, monado Malos (which was hype af) and JOOOOOOIN MEEEEE (i like his VA, but christ that was shoddy at best), where Pneuma is awakend and my boy finaly gets some drip. Kudos to whoever got to the end of this absolute unit of an essay. I doubt my defense of some blue salvaging boi is all that entertaining, but I geniuenly think Rex's characterisation is incredible in chapter 7. TL;DR Rex is in the right in that chapter 7 cutscene. He gives up unlike shulk bc he has no chance of achieving anything at that point. He becomes like Shulk when we learns about the third sword. Cheers.
There is a reason he wanted to leave Pyra and the rest of the group. The entire scene is meant to develop his character, so how are you going to be mad about it? Especially when it doesn't end with him leaving the group.
With this comment I'd add (but not going into specifics) the ending. It's not objectively bad or anything but jesus christ the ending was just so cheesy and hamfisted at a point in the game where I was FINALLY starting to be more invested in the story at the level I was with XB1. If you love the ending that's your prerogative but I got the exact opposite reaction from the ending of what I think it wanted me to have. With how little I ended up caring about this cast ultimately it honestly would have had more impact if things didn't end in the best way, even if that's been done a lot. But by the ending I just felt a sense of disbelief and disappointment and I really found it difficult to think highly of this games story in any capacity, having seen it to the end. At least there were some fleeting good moments.
29:50 It's the 7th Xeno game. 34:10 This is literally T-elos! 34:32 Please just play Xenosaga Still hilarious review and many good point. I just think this isn't a big deal. Also Takahashi let the artists do whatever they want for the blade designs and a lot of those artists are women.
@@reyzephlyn105 Yeah, it took me a while to understand the battle system and what all you could do with it. Didnt know pressing the button at the right time build your arts that way. No idea why they removed the pictures and stuff. Thank god for player tips on youtube.
i disagree with even that, 1 tells you what the story is over and over again whereas 2 has genuine twists and it feels like the characters you meet are much more complex in their motivations and wants, it just has regrettably horny costumes which distract from that.
@@reyzephlyn105 it reminds me of naruto a lot and other earlier anime, so shulk asks himself for the sake of letting the audience know "do i have the power to see into the future?" shulk sees metalface killing someone before it happens, shulk sees many things before it happens, and i who had not knowledge of the plot got spoiled every damn time they did it. also after something hapens, the characters try to have a "natural party discussion" about whatever event just happened. but there is seldom any real character nuance to how the individuals respond to a situation, so its just a bunch of, "thing happened with that faced mechon, i wonder if we will see that faced mechon again" "without the minado we can barely fight these faced mechon" or wow the manado didn't work on this faced mechon, it must be different somehow" and these would get repeated like 3 to 8 times. conversely, I had no idea what the world tree was, the seen where rex asks pyra to meet his parents is Full metal alchemist brotherhood quality writing and there is a unique response from most of the many blades for many many many situations, also each blade had sidequests with more characterization than the main cast got in their heart to hearts in xeno 1. don't get me wrong i think that xenoblade 1 is a good jrpg but it makes the nino kuni 1/ persona 4 mistake of telling a clever audience whats going to happen like an over excited DM and then telling it's audience what just happened after it happened again like an over excited DM. Xeno blade 2s art is immature and it's western voice over is sometimes poorly directed, but it is a no breaks adventure with like 44 unique personalities as adventure buddies, and the best part is they are random, so on replays you have no idea who is going to be the big guns of your early campaign.
@@colossalweeb Yeah, what gave you that impression? Was it stuff in Xenoblade 3 where he is not a protagonist anymore, was not setup in Xenoblade 2's story and the only setup for it in 2 is a NG+ title screen showing its a polycule?
@@skylandersfan6954 Harem has a couple of definitions, but most of the time in anime it's refering to a single person (usualy a man) srounded by a single group of multiple romantic/sexual partners (usualy women). So by that definition, Rex has a harem.
Awesome video! Xenoblade 2 is one of my favorite games so it was refreshing to hear this take and see what others think. I didn't have a problem with the tutorials, but thinking back I definitely had difficulty in a couple boss fights when a new mechanic was introduced via text only and I had to use it on the fly to beat the boss (failing a few times). I agree with the dub, too. I played with Japanese voices because I can understand most Japanese and had no idea how it was until I saw memes and heard it following my playthrough. For me, it made the Nopon less annoying too. The character designs are very distracting, to put it in a PG way, but I thought it wasn't too out of place because of the kind of anime vibe the game had (I know that's not saying they aren't bad, but it didn't bother me personally). I like your presentation and thoughts! I really liked the game because of how complex the combat system was and all the possibilities with using different blades on different characters. You can choose blades you like and optimize your party around them, thinking about how their abilities and combos interact with other blades, which driver fits them given their arts, which items to put on the blades and in the pouch, fighting superbosses, etc. And getting to know all the blades during their blade quests was fun. That was really the highlight of the game for me. I remember seeing little XC2 jokes in the Splatoon vids so I'm happy to finally hear what you had to say.
Thanks!! I do like how the game gives you a ton of options during combat, but (and I'll talk about this more in a future episode I'm currently working on), it's held back by most of those options being given to you randomly. And most of my friends who liked the game way more than me played with the Japanese audio, so that probably has a lot to do with it
For me playing xenoblade 1 before 2 i was like it i don't like the battle system and so slow i even not finish the game because it s annoying im still in the beginning and i buy persona 4 golden and i having more fun than xenoblade 2
@@french-rasulyusof1315 Ah see, that’s because you didn’t know that Narcipear Jelly’s existed and they speed the game up immensely. There are other tricks, such as stutter stepping, that speed up the flow of battle. Everyone went through this at one point, since the tutorials suck or straight up don’t exist
it is explained properly people just didn't read it. I can't blame them its just too many tutorial. I learn the battle system just by reading the in game tutorials because a friend said I need to pay attention or I won't enjoy it. Not a big deal I love reading.
@@SoulofFinality yeah that’s exactly why. never understood the damn tutorial. let’s just say the second play through was much more fun gameplay wise haha
Really controversial video for something where you say directly in the beginning of the video "Hey this is just MY opinion on why I don't like this game but if I title it that I'm not going to get clicks lol, it's fine if you like it and I wish I could"
i think the cognitive dissonance comes more from the body language then it does the art style. If youve seen any anime you have some idea of what the body is saying. like Rex pounding the ground, but then the voice acting just sounds mildly annoyed. Or how Nia will make cat like gestures while having a voice acctress that sounds like shed rather be dead then going all nyan and stuff. totally agree with how this is the directors fault.
This is why I feel like the style in definitive edition doesn’t deserve the same criticism. The models have been updated and definitely look more stylized, but all the character animations are still pretty grounded, even in the brand-new cutscenes in future connected. The only characters that pull anime faces are nopon, and they already have caricature traits between their non-humanoid bodies and their voices, so it doesn’t feel so out of place.
After having seen a lot of debates on this topic, I've recently come to the same conclusion. The art style isn't the absolute best or anything but I think it could work. But being coupled with really jarring and kinda lifeless animation / awkward body language is what ruins it for me, and I assume many other people.
Saw the title and was heartbroken but I watched it through and laughed all the way through. Very accurate and fair comments (thanks for the lols hahaha). Especially on the over-sexualization of the female characters and *most* female blades. (Lol thankfully my favourite character doesn't fall within that category) I still like this game very much though, but I understand where the frustration stems from. The tutorials were horrible (had to google the battle system to actually understand and enjoy it) waaaay too much waifus and unnecessary sexualizations. But at the end of it all, the story was still good imo :P
The common criticism about anime designs is never something I can really get behind. Art style gripes are one of those things you like or you don't I don't really consider them legitimate criticisms to levy on a work unless the art itself is of poor technical quality. Some people enjoy anime and it's style (like me obviously) others don't which is perfectly fair but I don't think it's a worse game objectively because of that.
But it is a completely fair criticism to make though. Just because it's subjective and doesn't bother everyone doesn't mean it's illegitimate criticism. Almost every piece of criticism someone makes about a game can be summed up with "one of those things you like or you don't". For example The character designs of the game really ruined my enjoyment of it because personally I can't get invested in serious moments when I have Pyra's arse shoved in my face.
@@NightNinja I already went over why I disagree with this. Sure it may be a turn off for some and I think that's completely fair. However I do not think the game can be objectively worse because of how a character looks. What you're talking about is fanservice ruining the gravitas of a situation in which case I can agree it can objectively ruin crucial plot points. My only thing with that is xenoblade 2 doesn't inject the levity fanservice brings into a serious situation. I still can understand fanservice being a turn off though it isn't for everyone.
@@Eudaimonia7564 I've never really used perun, however no it doesn't for me. I can recognize when something is meant to be taken seriously and something isn't. This isn't the type of game where it's supposed to be dead serious all the time but when you are supposed to take the plot seriously the characters behave that way. Mythra is a great character for example and her having a little fanservicey hot spring scene or accidentally waking up with rex doesn't negate the finale torna scene to give references.
@@blues4509 perun’s entire character is that she’s super serious. Her randomly dancing around a pole in the middle of fights is super weird. Maybe you should use her more.
11:16 while I will admit the game throws a lot of names and ideas at you in the first hour I'd like to mention that of course it sounds like a bunch of jargen with the context cutout, also are you going to ignore the visual context? "Blades, and Drivers?" As the camera pans over 4 characters followed in a few scenes by "this boy has made himself the Aegis's Driver," which tells you that Drivers are the people and blades are the helpers and that the Aegis is a blade. Do the same thing for Xenoblade 1. Bionis, Mechonis, Bionis, Mechon, M78 Mechon, Dunban, Colony 6, Monado, Monado, Dickson, Dunban, Homs and thats without even ending the like 30 minute prolog
Not to mention taht he mentions Titans in the cutscene while showing Gramps. This game is allmost allways show dont tell. Allmost everything is shown either directly or with a visual that symbolises it.
At first a bought the game, went for about 20 hours and sold the game. I couldn’t stand the long battles, generic anime tropes in the beginning etc. but I recently went back bought it back because I felt I was missing something. I got back to where I was and I still had the same problems, but going a little further, it clicked. The battle system finally felt fully fleshed out, the story started being good, and I loved it. It happened when you get to a town with the mentor character. I have the game up a bit before that and sort of regret not just playing a little longer. But to be real. It shouldn’t take 20 hours for it to get “good”
My issue with all 3 of these games is that the fans of it tend to ignore all the problems and even hail those problems as features. IVe seen people crap on other games that do similar things but defend it in this game. Same goes for modern zelda games.
I resonate with this so much. I love XC1 and XCX, but no matter how many times I try to get into it, I just don't enjoy XC2 for a lot of the reasons you listed.
@@skylandersfan6954How? Also, you may think so but others don't because its subjective and for me you just can't beat xenoblade 1's beautiful grit with genshin big titty anime girls
@@edenswhateverchannel I love how Xenoblade 1 elitists dont understand the point and messages of either game, they just boil it down to being edgy and titties because they have no media literacy like you're doing right now. If your entire selling point for the game is "Oh its gritty" then Im not going to be inclined to agree with you because gritty =/= well written, thats not a defence
@@skylandersfan6954 I love how you call me a "elitist" when I literally said that it's subjective and that I personally don't like the genshin booty shorts art style compared to the more realistic gritter art style of Xenoblade 1. I also prefer the ost of the first game and the story. If you like xb2 more go ahead but I disagree and don't like it. You act more like a "elitist" by refusing to accept that your favorite game doesn't appeal to everyone and not everyone likes it over the first game and that hurts your feefees so you have to take everything as a personal attack. I don't like xb2 over xb1, and if you disagree fine.
@@edenswhateverchannel Xenoblade 1's art style is still anime, wtf are you talking about? The only realistic thing in the game is the environments, which also applies to Xenoblade 2 so moot point. Stuff like this this is exactly what I mean when I say elitist, you have to be disengious in order to gas up the game you like so much which is the problem
Dude, I feel so validated listening to your Rex commentary. I can't tell you how many people have argued with me that he has all the same tropes as Shulk and grows "SO much" during the story. I'm like "bitch, he fucking cries every time something goes wrong down to the last cutscene and that is the only time he has to accept he can't get his way throughout the entire story, and then he gets both Pyra and Mythra back as soon as they land, so he never once had any real consequence and literally got what he wanted evey time he cried and complained about things not going his way, and his solution, verbatim, was "for Pyra" every single time he had a moral conflict, and even when his friends confronted him about that in the Architects test, all he could do was say "but Pyra" and run away crying, literally being saved by Pyra begging her dad to stop the test. Then the crybaby has the nerve to act all confident in passing the architect's test. Bull fucking shit. He cried and ran away and had his girlfriend beg for mercy, and that's all" and they're like "nah, you're wrong, he chose to not fight his friends and those weren't even his real friends, if was made up by the architect." I'm like "dude, that was really Pyra, so how the fuck are you claiming it wasn't actually his other friends, they literally rejoin you after you "confront" each of them. It's their innermost darkest thoughts and bro fucking ran away". But the Rex stans will defend him to no end and forever suck his cock. It's absurd and I am so glad to hear a decent sized youtuber share my same issues with the character that is Rex
Yeah, I also feel Rex didn't earned the right to be called "the Master Driver", he's not even a decent main lead. As much as I like XC2, it feels as if the game doesn't want to take risks with its protagonist and just wants to bail him off from whatever unpleasant situation at any cost and at the same time, wants to reward him for so little. This is best exemplified with Azurda's "death". There are no meaningful consequences for his bad decisions and poor judgement, it is also a wasted opportunity for character growth and at the same time undermines drama and stakes.
@@ferru-two99 Thank you. Believe it or not, you are the first XC2 lover who has ever commented in agreement with me about Rex. He has so many stans, and just cause negative responses online died down they think they "won" and that nobody thinks he's bad anymore. It's like, no dude, people just moved on to games with better protagonists and writing. I respect your opinion. True fans acknowledge things that could be better about the games they love. XCX is my favorite game of all time and it has loads of issues
@@Chronoflation You're welcome and I'm not surprised at all. I really like XC2 but it has many, many flaws and its main character is probably my biggest issue with the game.
Astro's section on Rex is blatantly wrong though, like he blatantly just shows he doesn't understand the story at all. "Why is Rex the master driver" gee maybe the scene right before he becomes the Master Driver and the scene where he talks to Addam as well as the name of the chapter exemplifies why that is
@@skylandersfan6954 Well, let's agree to disagree.That cutscene seems more as plain character shilling anyway and still feels unearned. If you like Rex that's fair, I don't, those are the true feelings I decided on and not because of Astro's section. I still love the game regardless of it's issues but I wish we'd got a much better main lead.
"i did not like the gacha system that ruins every other system it interacts with" one simple sentence of what at the core ruins the game design, ruins the execution on field skills, turning them into grindy roadblocks, ruins combat, making it's already limited and clunky (and badly taught) execution all the more irritating to expand on and work with, and nukes basic progression and pacing so hard there's not even any dust left.
Field skills and gacha are often criticized in this game. Between my multiple playthroughs, I've found that they're only a problem if you rush the main story. If you take the time to do side quests and affinity charts, you will almost never find your progress blocked by field skills. It's actually the same as a complaint of Torna ~ The Golden Country where the game forces you to do side quests because you're not supposed to rush through the main story as many players do.
@@angeldude101 I think the problem with that comes from the fact that, in Xenoblade 1, you could take the game a your own pace, do as many or as few side quests as you pleased, and you could still progress with the main story however you wanted, as all it really demanded of you was to keep about level with the game and learn the battle mechanics. XC2's Field Skills instead hard punish you if you don't stop to grind, to go and do the specific tasks to level them up, and roadblocks the story, the exploration, and even sidequests/affinity missions themselves, which can lead to cycles of grinding within grinding. This is where you end up grinding core crystals, to grind for Blades with the field skills you need, to help you also level up other field skills you also need, when in XC1, you just didn't have to do layered grinding, only the occasional bit of level grinding if you fell behind. Xenoblade X introduced field skills, and you could level them as they went, and the main story and side quests never required the use of any beyond the base Level 1 checks. They served solely as rewards you chose to help you access treasure and probes (which is why Mechanical was broken lol) and they never roadblocked your progress, only helped you get treasure, resources, and fast travel spots. It wasn't wholly balanced, but it wasn't tied to RNG bullshit either.
@@MugenCannon97 I never had to grind on my first playthrough. I simply did the game at my own pace doing side quests and opening cores at my leisure and never got blocked by field skills. I only ever had to grind when trying for 100% in the post-game, or when rushing through the story on subsequent runs. It's clear that stopping to smell the roses is exactly what the game wanted you to do when the prequel cuts the field skills and just directly roadblocks the story until you do enough side quests. This is a case where I do genuinely think that issues with field skills come from playing the game wrong rather than the game itself being bad. The game is punishing you for ignoring most of the game.
@@angeldude101 I'd argue that "playing the game wrong" is an insulting take at worst. I had a very opposite experience to you, where on my first run, I focused mostly on experiencing the story and exploring the environments that made up each level. In that regard, I found field skills to be a raw obstruction: they got in the way of exploration, and held back my story progression. They're never really referenced by the story itself as being of great importance, yet in truth of the gameplay, I learned the hard way that they were some of the most important things in the game if I wanted to enjoy it. In the case of playing right or wrong, the only way to really play "wrong" would be if you didn't level up, and used all the wrong arts and wrong blades at the wrong time, which itself is quite subjective depending on how specific you get. I'd use XC1 as a great example of how you can't really play it wrong, you can go for the story, explore the environments as much as possible, or dive into the sidequests, and you are never massively punished for any of these options the same way field skills punish you for not stopping and either grinding or going through the sidequests, and even those punish you if your field skills aren't leveled either, so you're being smacked in the face, and told to go back and grind specific stuff, rather than progressing naturally with anything. That's the problem with it. XCX is a sidequest heavy game, and incentivises it naturally. XC2 is a field skill grind heavy game, and does not communicate it naturally, nor do they level naturally, nor are they accessed naturally, the whole thing too reliant on the RNG of gacha. I'll leave you with a good example of how field skills managed to ruin one aspect of the game for me. Mikhail's sacrifice. Right after that? High level Electrical Blade field skill check. Had to go back and pull some more electric blades and grind em up. Story showed me a brave sacrificed and urged me to rush forward during a sequence that clearly emphasises the time sensitivity of it all, and I had to leave and grind because I didn't feel like begging daddy rnjesus for some electric blades. Any immersion was absolutely nuked off the face of the earth. Like it or not, but field skills just aren't a good system when paired with grinding and gacha, the mortal enemies of fun.
@@MugenCannon97 the thing is that there are plenty of non rng blades that you can obtain and if you have the dlc there are even more and the game tells you that you need to level up field skills to access certain places and complete certain quests so why is it a huge problem when this actually happens because if all you’re doing is story content it shouldn’t be a huge issue because there isn’t a single field skill check required for the main story that you can’t complete with story blades and if you actually can’t, there is always another way and it shouldn’t be a grind either you SHOULD be trying to fill out those charts as you progress through the game if you choose to ignore them you can’t be too upset at the game because of it They can be accessed very naturally I’ve already gone over that there are plenty of non rng blades and even if you do use rng there is a pity system in place that ensures you get certain rare blade guaranteed after you tried enough times and I feel like I also need to point out it’s not like common blades are the “loser” prize either because they also have fields skills as well as other attributes that make them very useful This is like ignoring to upgrade your character’s gear and skills and getting upset at the game because they are underperforming, are field skills the best and most fun system there is, most definitely not lol but it isn’t particularly punishing or unfair unless you just completely ignore it
It’s a pretty 50/50 chance of which one people will like better. I’ve seen both games dominate multiple “favorite Xenoblade game” polls. Xenoblade X, I’ve hardly ever seen get any love. Never played it so I can’t give my opinion on it.
Dude. That was beautiful. As someone who has Xeno 1 as his favorite game, i pretty much has the same problems with Xeno 2. Glad to see that other people get it too.
@@skylandersfan6954 I think you're confusing his personal taste and opinions with bad faith. If he was arguing without having an open mind to the merits of what he's criticizing or obtusely exaggerating flaws to make them seem worse than they are, then that'd be bad-faith argument. Honestly he seems really reasonable.
@@ShirakoriMio But, he is exaggerating the flaws. Wether it be the entire Rex section or him acting like every single character in the game is for a specific fetish despite some of the ones he listed not being sexualised and some being invented for games long before Xenoblade 2 as well, his entire video is like this. He also demeans people for liking the game, saying the only thing they like in the game is boobs and thats the only reason people wanted a Xenoblade 2 rep in Smash as well
@@skylandersfan6954 Honestly to an extent, yeah, but he still has valid criticism in the context of the rest of Xenoblade as he goes. The second game is in fact the only hyper-sexualized one of the bunch and it's distracting. Comparing it to Bayonetta is good since it calls the themes into question. Rex is a mopey poorly written poorly designed character, especially standing next to Shulk and the rest of the cast. His voice direction is easily the second worst voice direction in the series, second only to the nopons. That's a valid and logical criticism. The gacha mechanics are really bad. The tutorials last hours and communication is terrible. The degree of his disdain isn't to my taste, but he also isn't saying "if you like this, then you're an idiot." He's just saying "I don't like this because [opinion]" and that's fine. He has a point and he still acknowledges parts of the game he likes. I think Xenoblade 2 just had a massive fanbase that thinks the game has minimal flaws and will mass-dislike people who share harsh opinions.
So hilarious that one month after the release of this video, Pyra/Mythra was confirmed for smash. Had to look it up after hearing those smash bros comments.
I remember when I played through this game, a friend who played it before me said "Its a little slow to start, but once you hit a certain part in the story, it really picks up and you'll be hooked!" I got 40 hours into the game and still was waiting for "the part" to kick in, and when I asked them what story point they meant, I already passed it 20 hours ago... Thats when I just dropped the game. Watched all the cutscenes online and I feel like I didn't miss much by not finishing. I saved 30 hours of my life from this game that way haha
Out of curiosity, what point was that? I’m of the opinion that the story stops being trash when they reach Rex’ hometown. Like I said, just my curiosity, I’m not gonna try to convince you to like the game or anything.
@@the_door_opener2622 That was actually the part that was mentioned funny enough! Rex just didnt grow on me like he did some other people. It was a bit hard for me to enjoy a game when I dont really enjoy the main character. Again, just my experience with it though!
@@LCHKNG1 Tbh I found Rex really annoying and that he was sort of a Gary Stu as he never gets challenged on a lot of his flaws(him giving up for 5 minutes then turning back to normal does not constitute as him giving up).
Ummm, He has a complaint about the game not explaining to the Architect at the beginning of the game, when the on-screen text shows Rex explaining that he is the divine father, or God if want to see him that way, that lives in a beautiful land over the World Tree (tree that, once again, is shown in all its splendor while Rex narrates the basics of the world), The Elysium, place that he complains that the game doesn't show it, but in fact they do it almost at the end of the same chapter, a few hours later. Easily to how Rex describes everything, it is sensed that the Elysium is what for Christianity Heaven. In addition, the identity of the architect is an important point for the plot that cannot be revealed at the beginning or would not make sense. Or Alrest, Which you can sense is what they call the land inhabited by, you know, titans. Also, why does he includes names of people at that point? I don't see much sense in it. I just don't exactly agree with that point
You put a lot of work into this and therefore deserve a like. A negative video shouldn't give you a bad like/dislike ratio sad to see that. I love all xenoblade games including 2. I won't argue designs, tutorials, VA, because I think those are all valid points. Too many Proper nouns and Rex being a bad character I will argue against though. First with the proper nouns. I agree it can be a bit over bearing, but the beginning of the game with all the proper nouns gives great context as to what is happening in the world that Rex lives in and makes it feel alive independently of the main character. The tell dont show is almost a non issue for the mere fact that they show you almost every thing mentioned. You visit Mor Ardain, Uraya, the leftherian Archipelago, you see the architect, and a flourishing Elysium (Pyra's memories). In the original chronicles you talk about colony 6 as early as 9. You talk about prison island as early as colony 6. It's a lot more linear information so it is easier to take in and albeit they show you these places not that far from once they mention it doing it this way makes the world of XC feel more segregated than XC2. Now on to Rex. I dont even know where to start. Rex is a extremely well fleshed out character imo. He is a child with a go get em attitude. He didn't listen to Vandam leaving, but I think his actions make sense with his character. He's not the type of person to abandon someone. You dog on him for not facing repercussions, just crying and getting his way but he knew he was being dumb when it came to the vandam loss. He tries to get stronger just toface another loss in tantal and the happy Rex we know is gone. iirc he says that he hasn't changed or that nothing has changed just completely in self loathing and he's only able to get out because of the friends around him, and one of the best parts about this is that either zeke or Morag mention to one another to stay out of it to let Rex, Nia, poppi the people with younger mindsets to let out how they are feeling. Rex isn't supposed to be emotionally invincible he's a kid and is being supported by the older people around him making sure he doesn't lose his way. His actions fit his character for his age, he makes complete sense to me and is a great character. I don't fault you for liking shulk more though lol.
"The tell dont show is almost a non issue for the mere fact that they show you almost every thing mentioned. You visit Mor Ardain, Uraya, the leftherian Archipelago, you see the architect, and a flourishing Elysium (Pyra's memories). In the original chronicles you talk about colony 6 as early as 9. You talk about prison island as early as colony 6. It's a lot more linear information so it is easier to take in and albeit they show you these places not that far from once they mention it doing it this way makes the world of XC feel more segregated than XC2." Except you see the things they talk about really late and without any link to what they talked about, yes you go to uraya and mor ardain, but that doesn't matter because you didn't do it because of what the npc talked about in the opening of the game, you did it for a whole other reason, which make the frist dialogue where you talk about it completly useless. XC1 told you about a place, and you went to it, because you had to, and for prison island, you litterally see it in a fucking vision, and the characters don't know that much about the bionis and the mechonis, so you discover thoses places with the cast, XC2 had a cast that know too much, so they had to tell you about all that shit so that you know about as much as the characters, which isn't good in the slightest. Plus there is plenty of way to make the world feel lived in, for example, giving npc a unique aesthetic based on where they are from, different shape and colors for different titans for example, you don't need the fucking characters telling you, yes I live in this world that you know nothing about, let me tell you how much you know nothing about.
Ok, watched the whole thing. I can respect your opinions and stance on the game. After all, it's hardly an uncommon one. It's good to have a level headed discussion. --- In particular, I will agree on the following: - Combat does a bad job of being explained and being exciting until much later, that is, if you stick with the game - Tutorials are wholly inferior to the great tutorials of the first game - Cutscenes can definitely be jarring, as the voice direction was noticeably weak for English since the developers chose to match the animations to the Japanese voices - Artwork/design can vary wildly against the actual personality. Matters more if the kind of designs present are not usually the kind of thing that you're into - Field skills and gacha are dumb, no question --- For me though, Xenoblade 2 is my 2nd favorite game of all time, behind Metroid Prime. And I loved the original game. And I loved XCX (deserves a proper followup). I'll be honest - I straight up was not a fan of anime aesthetic before this game. When I saw the artwork and visuals for the first time, I frowned at what I was seeing. There really was and is no good reason for things to be as sexualized as they are beyond well, just being sexy. However, because I had loved the previous 2 games so dearly, I decided to give Monolith a chance. And I'm glad I did. I poured 645 hours into this game and completely fell in love with it. When I look back at it, my memories of 2 are the most fond because I just enjoyed how much more of a 'video game' 2 is. The things I enjoyed the most: --- - Absolutely the best combat system of the three games. It takes a while to get there, but if you manage to understand how the game wants you to play, it is an absolute blast. - Characters and even yes, voice acting. I'm a fan of the accents in the game. I love Mòrag's Scottish and grew to really like Nia's Welsh. And to me, the constant battle chatter is part of the game's charm. I can't imagine not playing with all the overlapping voices. That's Xenoblade for me. - Artwork. I grew to like this too. Even if there isn't necessarily a solid reason for everybody to be looking the way they do, I didn't mind it after a while. I ended up really liking some of the designs. - Content and support. Monolith, even if they were short staffed and on time constraints, did a stellar job supporting the game post-release. Even if some things really should have been better on release, they made adjustments to cover that and really went above and beyond with the updates for the next year. They kept making QoL updates and adding things for players to enjoy. Mind you, this is still a rather niche, single player JRPG. How many developers do you see dealing out the kind of post-release that this game had, for this kind of game? It was truly a labor of love, it was evident. They even went as far as to acknowledge some of the community memes in the DLC. They were paying attention to fans. - Xenoblade 2's soundtrack is the one I've most enjoyed in 30 years of playing games. It's musically diverse, dynamic, and thematically cohesive from start to finish. --- While I can definitely understand why people dislike it, I loooooooved Xenoblade 2. It's far from perfect, and it's not for everybody, but I had the time of my life playing it.
As a voice actor, THANK YOU for pointing out the acting Vs direction. I never once thought the voice acting in XC2 was actually bad - but the dialogue itself feels awkwardly written and it's CLEAR the actors did not have the context needed to make choices that reflect what is happening on screen.
Its trash and cringe
@@Gdg195You're trash and cringe
@@Gdg195 I think the actors themselves admitted that the dub was rushed???
"Necrophilia"
*Shows Fiora*
I wheezed so hard, that's fucked up
Yeah it is. I was so happy to see her again though, complete with Kos-Mos moves and even a Weltall-Id set.
Mechrophilia
“This is one of the cringiest cutscenes.”
Cancer ad.
oh no. OH NO
@@CaptainAstronaut Xenoblade 1 was originally going to have a more anime look but the hardware limitations of the wii forced the developers to use a slightly more realistic look. With the Switch there was nothing holding them back at all and it shows!!!!!!!!!
@@orangeslash1667 hey chief, just looking at the character artworks of the original proves you wrong
@@lightbrand_ That doesn't matter. There's something shocking, because of Breath of the Wild (Monolith Soft) was so under staffed so they outsourced the character designs to outside artists. For Pyra and Mythra, they were designed by a hentai artist😳😳. The good news is that the villains were designed by the Kingdom Hearts director. Maybe Xenoblade 2 is meant for the Japanese fans????
@@orangeslash1667 completely ignoring my comment to give me trivia completely and utterly irrelevant to the conversation, and then making the assumption that "it's for the japanese" based on literally no evidence at all... this tells me you're full of shit
9:25 "I'll go way more in-depth in the combat system in this video later"
_He did not go way more in-depth in the combat system in this video later_
Part Two Baybee!!
@@CaptainAstronaut FYI (I don't know if you cover this later in the video or in the part 2) but most of the gripes people have about the combat system come from the lack of explanations of the core mechanics.... just like X. Once stuff makes sense I actually liked the combo.
@@drakenstarcross1347 I think the combat system in X is underexplained, but the combat system in 2 is somehow both overexplained and still explained badly. Like Captain said, the tutorials in 2 didn't really show you the new mechanics, they just went "here's a paragraph, have fun!" I honestly don't think I got the hang of blade combos until 3/4 of the way through because they were explained badly the first time and then I just forgot about them all together for a while.
@@nichole4933 Same. Took forever to learn the combat system so all the fights felt pretty slowly paced, but pretty far into it I learned about orbs (or rather relearned probably, think I forgot early on) and quickly went from struggling to farming vast amounts of cores and killing superbosses. The game definitely should have introduced mechanics and their intricacies more incrementally.
@@CaptainAstronaut In Part 2 will you also be going over your two cents on the villains and other characters in depth?
I can respect you being honest and direct; here are my thoughts as I watch:
- Multiple mentor characters, only 1 dies (not even the first one which is typical)
- "XC1 establishes tone, setting, and conflict of the game in a good way." XC2 does just as well I'd say, just a much different approach. A calm, dialogue about the mysteries of the world and the looming threat of extinction with a peaceful song and a first look at the nice scenery of the world. A little slower, but still pretty good.
- Initial criticisms of combat aren't fair I would say. Stutter-stepping is a mechanic that makes combat feel quicker that isn't hard to infer. Also, obviously the combat will be barebones and simple at first. Arts recharge pouch items as well as understanding Driver/Blade/Fusion combos all makes combat very fun and intricate.
- With the Show Don't Tell criticism, the point of what Rex and Gramps are talking about is Elysium and the Architect are shrouded in mystery, no one has records of that time or no their appearances. Why would the devs show either of those things in the first cutscene? One of the things they CAN show, they DO: the dying Titans in the sea. Bad criticism.
- Yeah, there's a lot of proper nouns, but the game explains them well. They introduce the most important ones first since they're most likely to stick.
- Tutorials are really bad for the most part. I'll definitely agree on that one.
- No music because the game's trying to tell you these are important characters, creates a tense atmosphere, which you wouldn't know if music WAS playing. Then you WOULD dismiss these as "casual introductions." Bad criticism
- I mean, you can teach someone how to do something without actually doing something yourself.. plus Gramps is centuries old as you soon learn, bad criticism.
- Voice acting/direction is bad in some parts in the game (looking at you "JOIN ME!"), but it's really not as bad as you make it sound. Malos, Morag, Zeke, Jin, etc. all have really good VAs in my opinion. Sure the accents can be a little "out there," but the game is a bunch of different countries after all, it makes sense to have a wide array of accents and appearances.
- The artstyle is quite different from the other games, sure, but I don't feel like it's inherently weaker or stronger because of that. A colorful pallet helps in happier scenes for example, but I think the background/scenery for serious cutscenes helps accommodate it since they usually occur when it's cloudy, dark, or raining. Good contrast.
- If it's a XC2 criticism, I don't know why you rant about Nopon (which are in every game) for like 2 1/2 minutes. Out of place.
- Rex outfit isn't the best, but bear in mind it's his salvaging gear, you know, basically work clothes, so it being bulky and such makes sense. Only reason he doesn't change has to be because Gramps rides in the helmet, which probably doesn't detach. I can kinda concede this one though.
- You say he's like a "selfish, rich kid." ?????? If you take 2 MINUTES to think about it, he's always doing something to help other people, not himself. Sending money to Fonsett, trying to fight off the bad guys, Gramps dying isn't really his fault (because anyone would naturally think a random job offered would result in criminals fighting you and wound up killing your "gramps" somehow), gives up on the party (which is because he feels like he's not good enough for her, good enough to protect her, not because of any "lol why am I wasting my time" mentality like you make it sound. Does Rex always make the right decision? Obviously not, dude is a literal kid, but that's the point of his character arc. He's young, inexperienced, and thinks he can save everyone. But through learning about events (the hard way sometimes), he adapts, overcomes hardships, while not losing his good character qualities (Charisma, Kindness, Passion, Wits) along the way. He even develops new traits (handling loss better, understanding personal limits, loyalty/devotion, leadership skills, etc.) I don't understand how you think he's a static character when so much changes about him.
- Addam judges Rex's character/motivations when they talk, he doesn't know about everything that's happened to Rex. "Rather than finding a solution to the problem on his own," HE LITERALLY meets him while trying to find a solution to the problem, passionately trying to find one at that, venturing into a dangerous area few return from...
- "Rex cries a bunch so he gets her back" ah yes, because a man (let alone a teen) isn't supposed to cry when his most important ally and friend is going to die. Makes sense to me. Also, Aegises are told MANY times to have crazy, otherworldly powers (Malos literally survives cancer), and I'm sure combined with the Master Driver there's NO reason they can come back.
- "Never fully takes responsibility for the power Pyra/Mythra has," you know, except the SEVERAL cutscenes where Rex doesn't want them to use their full power on someone or spares someone's life.
- "Never takes responsibility for his actions," while literally showing a cutscene where he does so on screen.
- "Rex doesn't drive the plot" except you know deciding where the group goes and trying to rescue the Aegis and understand the world and its flaws and seek a solution, you know, the whole game.
- Compares Rex to Shulk, wow, it's almost like they're 2 different people, from different age groups, with different role models, different motivations, different personalities, etc.
- Your design criticisms are fair in some points, but unfair in others. You say Pyra/Mythra have crazy designs which is true until you think of the thematic part of it (Pyra's armor is incomplete due to being created as a shackled version of the creator) and also the fact that MANY alternate costumes exist for many of the main female characters (including the ones you have the most gripes with), and they're usually less revealing than the original. I would say the camera gets a little crazy in some scenes which is a fair criticism, but I would think most players wouldn't call it excessive or overbearing for most instances.
- As for blade designs, some of them are excessive like Dahlia, but most aren't. For the "fetish" skit, which is probably more of a joke than I'm giving it credit for, it's because Blades can be a wide array of lifeforms, not just humans. So, it makes sense to have some animals and "more creative" designs since that's the nature of a blade.
- You call it "fanservice, no substance," as if the dozens of blade add nothing to gameplay or variety, which they greatly add to both.
- I don't know if you've done/watched rare blade quests, they usually add nice background and story to them, probably not given your low opinion on the game, but they contribute a good deal to design and personality of rare blades that normally don't get screentime.
I personally enjoy XC1 a little more than XC2, but I feel if someone loves 1 and hates 2, they try to compare it to 1 too much instead of treating it as its own game with different designs, motivations, accents, etc. If anyone read all of this, I'm surprised, and thank you, regardless of your stance. I had more points of contention than I expected, apologies.
You are one of the people that actually give me hope for this fan base, I didn’t watch his whole video because I saw the cliff notes of the video around the 1:10 mark and just assumed me and Astro played different games. Some of his points are valid (tutorials being a major one) but the rest are out there and look like he was trying to find more points to put against this game (especially since he doesn’t say Xenoblade 1 has ludonarrative dissonance and 2 does, despite you being able to do about 10 hours of side quest, most of which have nothing to do with the situation regarding Zanza and the Telethia, before fighting the final 3 bosses after Shulk is revived and the world is on the brink of destruction by Zanza. that one really got me heated when I saw it). You made amazing counter arguments to his points.
I think many people want some big bang opening of the game when you start the game, like war or destruction, like on every opening in Xeno series
You gave me hope bro I felt the same way and I like 2 more than 1. 1 has a lot of flaws and feels like a generic complete Shonen from revenge to kill god but the journey and stuff is what makes it fun and interesting. I always get attacked for liking 2 being called weeb or horny online or something when i have a whole girl who loves the game too. When you sit down with both games xc2 really makes you think about humanity and shit.
The Selfish rich kid comment blew my mind, even before meeting Pyra he shows concern over the state of the world and how it would be great if people could all live in Elysium without anymore fighting.
Even if Pyra wasn't a hot(badumdish) chick, Rex had his own incentive to go and find Elysium now that he is given the chance.
@@Nerwrax15 honestly the xc1 elitist is what really ruins the fanbase. Like people can't even like the game when the story is just as good as 1. It's ok to like 1 more because it feels more mature maybe buy after chapter 7 xc2 feels like hxh chimera ant arc lol
I cannot believe I found someone who likes X more than they like 2 I thought I was going to die alone on that hill
...? That's literally the most common take my guy.
@@Cyb3rN3t1x no it sadly isn't
@@Cyb3rN3t1x there’s no way that’s the common take when generally a lot more people played 2 than X
You're not alone on that hill. I think many people like XC1 way better than XCX which is why it seems that XCX was pretty unpopular. But then many of the people who are not a big fan on XCX also don't like XC2 but were probably never asked which they liked better of the two, only that they prefer the first game.
At least that's what I assume lol
we all stand together brother, X fuckin rules
So what you are saying is... Car Quest is a good game bc it doesn't have cute anime girls in it?
I... cannot argue with this logic, but I feel like I should
I think what people mean when they say that is that they’re pretty basic archetypes. Neither are they used very well.
so what you are saying is… xenoblade 2 is good because it has strippers in it?
So THAT'S why my parents named me Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
If your parents named you Xenoblade Chronicles 2, that probably means they love you dearly.
@@ametrine7462 You can still love something you're disappointed in.
That sounds like something Scott would say
My parent named me Fortnite. Be thankful.
@@keeysOST Fortnite bad, Minecraft good, Wholesome 100 Big Chungus Chonker Keanu Reddit good, Instagram bad. We did it, Reddit!
Edit: Thanks for the gold, kind stranger!
Xenoblade 1: British
Xenoblade 2: Bri’ish
Both games might have British spelling and British accents, but some of the words are American, like the daft word 'gotten', so no, it's not true British in any sense of the word.
Having a Brit say the word 'gotten' is just cringeworthy.
@@yggdrasil7942 What's so bad about the word gotten? Does it just sound weird to you?
@@deaj8450 It's old fashioned and out of date, having been out of use from the 16th century. The British use just 'got' for both past and present tense although 'gotten' is creeping back into UK and around the world due to American TV. It's more widespread than it was in the 90s.
Unfortunately even Prince Harry used that crappy word in one of his speeches before he left Blighty. You would of thought he would know how to speak the Queen's English.
Obviously not. It's probably what happens when you're married to a septic.
@@yggdrasil7942 Thanks for the explaining, I never would have gotten it otherwise.
I want a bo''le of wa'er
Oh my god. Rex is actually the first character who shows up when you search “bad character design “ LOLOLOL
I know right, EVEN google knows hes a bad character design lol. the oversexualization of female characters in xc2 is so obnoxious to me. Maybe thats why my favorite character is Morag simply because of her design, and personality of course. Thank god xc3 is somewhat of an improvement in terms of female character designs
Rex's design isn't even bad. He's a diver and his design reflects that.
Lol
@@HienPham-ow5ky Pyra's design was perfectly fine too though. She looks like a princess warrior out of a sci fi world, which fits how she is an angel created with sci-fi technology on a Space Elevator
Lmao you're right
I think Rex's poor delivery makes a lot of his emotional moments feel alot weaker, while I feel his actual ark is quite strong. A young, emotionally weak boy thrust into a war he never wanted to be part of, but sticks to it in order to help those around him and protect those around him. But by tantal, he has failed over and over despite trying his hardest, and just decides he's was never ready for this. However, other characters enlighten him to the sacrices that must be made in war, and the third sword strengthens his mental bond with the aegis, learning their location and preserving their memories. Then his encounters with jin drive home that final message he needs to grow. You can't save everybody. Rex always remains hopeful, but goes from a naive kid riddled with loss and doesn't know how to accept it, to one who can understand that sacrifices must be made in order to move forward. His ability to stay hopeful in the face of loss is what makes him worthy of the aegis, and is what makes him a fitting opposition to torna, and especially jin, people who are clinging to the things they have lost and want to destroy humanity because of it.
okay, the first part ending at around him reminds me of shirou emiya from fate stay night
I wanna like Rex, but got please shut up Rex lol. Crazy how A VOICE can break a character.
@@fernando98322 i will admit he does peeve me off with how much he talks. BUT the race car fighing noise he makes tho
play the japanese sub it's waaaaay better
@@fernando98322 ngl the first few hours I had a problem with it but by the end of the game I got used to it and now I actually like it and see the flaws as just part of him
The comments are going to be fun to read
man people are really really aggressive about which rpg they like huh
@@internetguy7319 welcome to the internet
@@internetguy7319 Yes we are.
Capt Astronaut “this isn’t like those hour long videos”
(Continues to make an 30 minute long video that’s most likely is gonna be a 2 parter)
It damn well better be a two parter
You have your reasons, but I personally don't find XC2 to be a disappointment. I love the game and understand why people don't.
Dude it’s not a disappointment. In everything gameplay wise was a step up from the first game. This guy literally made a almost 40 min video to say it was a disappointment. You don’t need that much time.
@@mrlaguna0808 Did... did you even watch the video? You're literally undermining the whole video because he "Spent 40 Minutes to say it's dissapointing".
Seriously...
@@eclipse9727 the video itself undermines certain elements of XB2, it's just fair lol.
It’s my favorite game ever
I put like 35 hours into it on the first week
imo some of the things XC2 took from the previous games were a downgrade.
The mini map is a huge example. It's a pain to use, especially when you have marked objectives.
And just as mentioned here, the tutorials are among the worst in jrpgs, period.
But luckily there are some good upgrades too.
But… but the bad tutorials weren’t taken from the previous games…
@@brycecartwright2403 the new way to mark objectives sucks so much
@@deefeeeeefeeeeeeeeee I’m not defending xeno 2, I’m more so defending the fact xc1 had good tutorials. Also I don’t remember how the markers worked since I haven’t played in a while 🗿
I love pressing L3 four fucking times to reset it
I like eating Raisins man. Never played either game, but man I like Raisins.
Do you like it on a pizza ?
@@curvydiamond2537 wait they put raisins on pizza?
Raisins are just grapes. And I just love grapes. Seedless grapes that is. I can't stand pips.
M&Ms being in a trail mix makes no fucking sense
@@someonethatisntfunny1622 probably. Wouldn’t say it’s far fetched that someone out there eats pizza with raisins. For goodness sakes pineapple pizza exists.
I like Rex’s outfit because it fits his scavenger job. But I have to admit, the more I look at it the more confusing it gets.
I never had a problem with it in the first few hours of the game. But I expected him to change into something else once they got to Gormott. Why would someone wear a diving suit when they are not diving?
The big goofy helmet sticking 2 feet off his back is so ridiculously impractical its baffling ti look at
I bet that Nintendo is convinced that they did a good Job with Rex’s armor design since they added it in Breath of the wild
They added that armor to BOTW because Monolith helped work on the game and to promote Xenoblade 2.
@@Technoblast649 good point, I forgot about it
I really don’t see why this guy complains so much about Rex’s design. Also he doesn’t just fuck up and bitch and moan the whole game. He makes mistakes and dies because he literally couldn’t do anything
@@robertbektas1810 he complains só much because it's horrible, it contradicts everything that is supposed to make a good character design, it communicates nothing about his personality, it isn't simple or clean, it doesn't have a theme, good color pallete, teaches you about the lore, about the world, about the story, anything, and that goes for Pyra too
@@psicopato2460 I think Pyra/Mythra got some of the best designs in the game. And I also love Rex design. And what is "good character design" to you doesn't really mean anything when its all subjective in the end. I guess I just love non-traditional and unique designs.
You know, I never understood why the blades didn't turn INTO the weapons you used instead of creating them. It would explain their wildly inconsistent designs if they were meant to be the literal personification of weapons. Would explain better why they even need drivers to use them (considering blades can not only use their own weapons just fine but seem to fair better than the drivers in some cases). Hell they're even called BLADES, so having them turn into said blade or gun seems like a no brainer. But hey you can't stare at your waifu slave during combat so I guess that was a deal breaker for the devs
Could’ve also made it that flesheaters can’t turn into their weapon form anymore but instead grow their weapon halfway out of their body and then use it to fight, to sell the “unnatural fusion of organic and blade material”
Blades aren’t supposed to just be weapons. They’re supposed to assist the life in alrest as a whole new kind of life.
Yeah i thought itd be a soul eater situation and uh. Nope.
Souleater copyright
Blades are sentient beings. Before the base game they would fight independently of their drivers. But it was discovered that both blade and driver fighting together is more powerful so that's why the current system exists. Blades are not solely meant to be weapons but rather sentient AI that's supposed to gather data on humans and evolve with them.
8:30 The fun part being that they did that "fighting a random crab"-thing in Xenoblade 1 too, except way better.
9:54 Great thing about this is that there actually is a way to speed up the combat, that being to intentionally interrupt the auto attacks to repeat the first hit and thus get rid of a good amount of cooldown(gain depending on the weapon, but almost all benefit). Of course, the game does not mention this despite having a tutorial-avalanche. Monolith are genuinely much better as a co-developer instead of in their own games, there's just no world where changing a working gameplay system(automatic cooldowns) and then not explaining the new one is a good move gamedesign-wise, there is always some silly nonsense like this going on with this developer.
19:22 The Xenoblade 1 dub really is just legendary. The only reasons I'd ever go to the original JP-dub for would be for the final boss and the very diffrent take on Ryan, though the english equivalents for those are still great too, so not really a rush to play with JP-audio track.
25:52 Pushing a note into this comment due to the flash forward here, this is something I find incredibly incompetent. We are supposed to be sad at the death of Pneuma, but like...that's just straight up the one of the three that both Rex and the player have the least amount of emotional connection to(This is even reflected in gameplay, Rex can quite literally not bond with her whatsoever) and it really seems to mean jack all in practice. One could potentially say "Well, Pyra and Mythra also lose their memories, that's bad", even tho Pyra voiced a desire to forget early in the game and Mythra went into depression after the backstory-timeframe(Which is the reason she created Pyra to begin with), so it's actually kind of a good thing that they get to restart. Not like they need the memories of how Vandham kicked the bucket.
31:45 We were actually lucky with Poppi. In the official conceptsketches, it was revealed that they at some point considered the entire line to have QT's maid theme and QTpi's maid outfit is literally just underwear. Normally I wouldn't find it too sketchy as one could do something similar in Xenoblade 1, but like...that was a statinefficiant meme-choice and did not include very obvious thematic overtones. It's good that they decided against that design, but like...that it was seriously considered is kinda horrendous.
34:31 To be entirely fair, can we even count KosMos and Telos? Even if they weren't on the safer side of this(Which they imo are), they are Xenosaga tie-ins, redesigning them to be more modest would have defeated half the point of the crossover.
I like watching critiques of things I like because it gives me new perspectives.
Despite liking the game, when I recommend it I always mention how slow the beginning is and how long it takes for the combat to feel fun and engaging (until all the combos are enabled... why weren't driver combos implemented from the very beginning like in 1?!)
I didn't even really understand how orbs worked until I was 80 hours in (I did a lot of quests and liked just wandering around). I think if they gave it to you all in the beginning, it would be too much to take in. It's still too much to take in, even at the pace they give it to you, and you often just don't get it or ignore it. So I get why they were slow to introduce elements. But I think you're also right -- the tutorials were terrible and confusing. I like games where you have to figure things out on your own, but when the game gives you no tools to figure things out on your own, it can be frustrating. Once I got over that, I ended up absolutely loving the game. But it's not for everyone. For future titles, I hope that they maintain the complexity while still maintaining the mystery, challenge, and aspects of exploring on your own (not just the map, but how things work). It is a very fucking ambitious game, so I get it. But Monolith seems to be getting better, and they're now on the heels of their best seller of all time. Sales equal more resources which hopefully will mean more polished games!
I haven’t gotten as deeply invested in an rpg since Xeno2
why are you everywhere I go
why
help
Same. Xenoblade 1 and 2 are still my two fave RPGS. I gotta get X at some point.
@Sonic 2013 I don’t like them as much. Simple.
Haven’t emulated before so I doubt I’ll start.
Persona 5 Royal got close for me
I know that a lot of people say that Vandham’s death is predictable, but I want to point out that Gramps, Zeke, and even Morag (kinda) all serve as mentors to Rex, and none of them die. Also I want to point out something, that being how you say that the positives about Xenoblade 2 are carried over from the previous games. I kinda get what you are saying, but keep in mind that usually that kind of criticism is used when a franchise practically copies and pastes features. Xenoblade 2 has similar positives to its predecessors, but its elements are wholly unique. Like, both Xenoblade 1 and 2 have excellent environments, but each one feels distinct, even between games (except maybe Gormott/Bionis Leg. Those are pretty similar).
I just finished Xenoblade 2 recently, but played Xenoblade 1 when it came out on Wii, and I was quite apprehensive about this game for similar reasons. But I actually got really into it after 20-30 hours in, both the story and the side quests, and I think the references to the first game helped me enjoy it.
I liked the voice acting too, but maybe it's because I'm from the UK; I thought it was cool that there was a wide range of accents. I do wish there was character customisation, because the over sexualised character designs were a bit too much. Didn't mind Rex's outfit too much though.
Overall, I think I still preferred Xenoblade 1 because its story was so good, and it hooked me much earlier on. Xenoblade 2 had some good character moments here and there, and I liked the way the combat, affinity chart, and blade missions came together.
I know it’s kinda late but you can change the outfits
" But I actually got really into it after 20-30 hours in"
it shouldn't take that long for you to get into a game, at that point you don't like it you've just lost so many brain cells from playing it that you think its good.
Based
@@brya9681 Ah yes, because a tv show can't be good if the first few episodes are bad, definitely how that works. Also, nothing can improve its quality over time according to you, no sir ee
@@brya9681The RPG I played after Xenoblade 2 was Bravely Default, and I give up of playing it at almost 20 hours of game because it didnt seen to have any interesting thing about the story that would make me want to keep playing
While with Xenoblade 2, the first chapter already made me crazy about the world and story. Of couse, Xenoblade 1 does a better job at the begging, but then after chapter 4 it gets really good when the game start to reveal a lot of details about the characters, the events from Torna, the world and etc. But I enjoyed chapter 2, I loved chapter 3, chapter 4 could be a side quest 😅
I'm like that with jelly beans. Think you got a cherry, it's a fucking cinnamon!
I actually really like the Nopon in Xenoblade 1, but I don’t like them in the other ones.
Yeah they're pretty in Xenoblade 1. Riki was awesome. After that they just got worse and worse
@@CaptainAstronaut I get what you mean, but on replays they're honestly not as bad as I'd remembered. I do hope they don't veer any further away from XC1 nopon than this, though, and in fact veer back towards how they were in XC1.
Every consecutive game only seems to want to make them greedier and greedier jerks.
And then Xenoblade 2 also dropped the ball by making the key ones huge perverts.
I can’t say I disagree with a single point. Which is sad because I actually love this game. After this game I played XB1 DE and definitely enjoyed it more
The developers said to the artists to go nuts and do whatever they feel comfortable, so we got anime (not complaining) cause the art team prefer to do anime
And that was clearly a bad idea. The guy who did the big titty military blade almost exclusively draws military girl fetish art. Like you had to know what would happened letting him off the leash.
@@flameheadshero I like Newt and her character, but REALLY wish her outfit was an actual uniform, that, you know... covered her body
You can draw anime designs for characters without making them fetishy hentai designs. If it was just anime designs I'd be fine with it, but the oversexualization really bothers me.
@@NightNinja Yeah it's such a shame because most of the Blades have cool concepts that are ruined by the fetishy fanservice. Most of the designs are basically "Cool concept + Sexy Waifu". It's like they couldn't help themselves.
@@Fermin-hw5pd Right? Newt was one of my favorite Blades but her outfit doesn't fit her at all. Like you can tell that she's meant to have a military uniform which would bring her design together perfectly but it's like they just HAD to show off her skin to the point that 80% of that uniform is gone. It's just the hat, sleeves and collar. She ends up looking like a military themed stripper than what she actually is.
Idk dude, it may have just been due to the shit I was going through when I played this game but I really really enjoyed it, more then the first one (I still dearly love both tho)
Same here
Same here too
That's because the 2nd game is better. This guy is crazy.
@@veteran0121 he's not crazy. Add an abundance of shonen anime tropes to any game and a lot of people will automatically hate it. It helped the game get attention, but don't expect most people to like it. People who are used to anime can overlook it and enjoy the good parts, but most westerners will only pay attention to that and emphasize the bad parts.
@@dugtrioramen Yes and those people are "automatically" crazy. And what are these "bad parts" that you speak of? I enjoyed the entire experience. Even the cheesy parts with Nia and I haven't even tried the Torna DLC yet after 800 hours in this game. No the reviewer is trash with trash taste. Xenoblade 2 improves on the first Xenoblade in practically every way. He tries to make it sound like the worst sequel ever when that couldn't be further from the truth.
As a woman I feel uncomfortable playing this game. I don't get why they needed to throw in so many big boobed bimbos. I've got nothing against "good" sexualization like Bayonetta or even Brighid in this game because it fits them.
Shite designs like those is why I don't take women serious in any media. And I blame the creators for doing shite like that. Reason why I stopped watching anime a long time ago or played jrpgs with stupid designs like that.
@@rockdesu I agree.
I agree with this 💯👍
I agree 100%, I love watching bayo gameplay but watching some of the female blades in this game just move around makes me feel icky. I also love brighid’s design, I’d argue that Kora’s is also appropriate for her character, but the vast majority are sexualized for what feels like no reason (watching Perun’s blade awakening cutscene with the like,,, poledancer routine using her spear?? why would she do that???)
remember when they gave mythra leggings as a way to censor her bare legs and literally everyone agreed that it felt like they finally completed her outfit?
The bit where he got really pessimistic was a bad look for him, but to be fair, quite a lot of characters tried to snap him out of it and/or encourage him, so it's not like he just had a sudden epiphany out of nowhere.
@Julio Paulino Rex
Out of the hours I spent, I think at least 50% of it were being spent to find some NPC or location because the map and navigation system are not helpful at all most of the time
You brought up some valid points (some needed more research such as Rex's character analysis and character designs) it's definitely not a perfect game. That said, I loved the game but can definitely see it's faults. Heck, all of the xeno games (except gears) are just reimagining of the perfect works universe which is arguably more confusing than the KH timeline. Here's hoping monolithsoft brings out a killer new installment (and possibly that port of X).
Some of the designs makes feel the need to look away so I don’t get arrested.
Sounds like you have personal issues
Came here to hear some opposing opinions.. but my god I had to click off around 26:20. Saying Rex is static... while playing one of his biggest character moments in the background, where he is forced to mature to the point that his decision making is markedly different in the final scenes compared to the first few chapters. Like... did you even pay attention by this point, or had you already written off the character and game? Because your entire Rex section reeks of entirely misunderstanding his character and his journey.
In he beginning he's a child with big dreams and, thanks to the Aegis, kind of a power trip. He thinks that with the Aegis he can always save everyone and fix everything (rushes to save Nia in Ch 2, tries to stick around to save Vandham in Ch 3).
It's not until Ch 6 when Jin finally crushes his spirits and he realizes that he's not the hero that he thought he was. He was being irresponsible with the Aegis, using the power to recklessly rush towards his goals without thinking how it impacts the people around him, especially Pyra/Mythra. He almost gives up entirely because of this, because he can't accept that he can't do everything. It takes Brighid, Poppi, Nia, etc talking sense into him to make him grow up.
And you can see it come to fruition finally in Ch 10 after the final fight. He finally completes his arc by letting Pneuma go, accepting that he can't save her, and respecting her choice to make her sacrifice.
Rex's character is a reverse of Shulk's in many ways, as is the overall plot. At it' core Rex's journey is a standard Hero's journey. It's fine if you don't find that a compelling character story. But to say that Rex is a flat character completely misses... well, Rex.
Flat isn't the same as static, and I don't even see how he's flat? Like at least give some reasoning or something, else you won't be convincing anyone of anything.
@@Riddler208 He's a skinny underaged boy; his chest is flat :^)
This is a lot of words to say "I like waifus"
@@danielprocaccino4408 And yet you used very few to say "I'm illiterate"
@@Riddler208 Ah yes the amazing character arc of child allows his wife slave to have agency (he wasn't given a choice) and then being immediately rewarded with 2 wife slaves (3 total) for additional baby rearing potential. Truly a classic tale for the ages.
When I saw he made the document in MLA format 2:19, you know this shit will be good
33:33 "The default is how the game is meant to be played" I feel this sentence is a little dangerous when applied to other games(cough Splatoon 2 Splatershot Jr.). Maybe it would sounded better if it was "The default is how most people will play the game, and base their first impressions on the characters/game". I played this game and I enjoyed to bits, but i also need to give credit where credit is due. I can't dislike your video because you have valid points overall. In conclusion, have a like
In the words of the character designer, "Pyra's clothes are asymmetric and have a bunch of holes to represent that she isn't the "true aegis", contrasting Mythra who's got more control over her power, and thus a more balanced design." Or something like that. But like there are a ton of ways to represent that idea while having her wear something other than cyberpunk lingerie.
As someone who loves this game: yeah the guy is an actual hentai artist too lmaooooooo
This video is awful though, the story and characters are all really deep but he looked at it at base level and said "ok I dont like anime so this is objectively bad" and if you ignore a bit of cringe in the early chapters and look up a good gameplay guide this game is straight up an 8/10 at worst
@@jarrav8186 you do realize a lot of artist for games and shit either use to do hentai or still do it. The artist behind valkyria Chronicles is a hentai artist for example.
@@MrToonlink53 I donteven dislike her design its just funny hes a hentai artist
@@jarrav8186 understandable have a nice day
J Veennema I mean if the characters have awful designs it doesn't matter how deep they are if you can't take them seriously. Which is going to be even harder if you're not enjoying anything else either
Pro tip: you can tap the stick to reset the auto attack animation which makes the combat faster and a lot more fun.
Ok I keep seeing people say this, and I feel like I’m going crazy because I remember growing to HATE Stutter Step a few hours after I found out about it.
Like idk, but after the fun of it started to wear off all I felt was that it made combat feel way more linear and tedious.
But who knows, maybe I just didn’t fully grasp the combat systems which made an otherwise great mechanic feel terrible to use, idk, and I don’t own the game anymore to check.
@@WaxxyVanderquail I can see it being repetitive during the first half of the game. But on the second half you can charge your arts quicker with items and even unlock the ability to cancel arts into arts. It gets pretty intense imo
The early game heavily depends on the auto atk cancel but once you get access to 3 blades, you can switch to a different blade to charge your specials since their arts are available upon switch. Plan ahead which elem combo to use so you can switch and charge blades effectively
Once this becomes the premise per combat, I felt more engaged compared to just charging specials to spam them
Now I have to build full combos for chain attacks
LOL I probably ain’t watching all of this but good luck when XC2 Twitter finds this video 💀
I hate XC2 twitter
@@wildfiresnap I hate twitter
@@wildfiresnap ... what's an XC2 twitter?
@@wildfiresnap agreed but some of these criticisms were kinda dumb that he applied to this game but said nothing about during xc1.
I mean you say there is no such thing as an objective review, but you have a lot of objective value in your arguments. Your discussion on character design was probably the best part of the video. I will definitely be back for the second part.
I thought I was the only one who thought this but I swear, you had the same exact list of issues as I did with this game. XC2 is the definition of a game that "died by a thousand cuts" for me. I too came into it on release day really hyped because I was enamored by the other Xenoblade games, but with its awful tutorials, convoluted gameplay, a laundry list of anime tropes, terrible voice direction/director, and its oversexualization of a vast majority of the characters, I couldn't take this game seriously by the end. It just felt like a really bad anime. I tried to like this game, I really did. I even forced myself to beat the game to see if anything up to the very end could possibly change my mind, but nothing did.
I love the memes that came out of this though.
I feel ya dude coming after Xenoblade 1 and x this feels like a massive downgrade from those 2 games.
It's funny because you guys are in the minority and you only disliked the game because of your ideology
@@luizy6701 The saddest part is that you go around looking for this minority to belittle their opinions. Can't handle a minority of people not being in love with a video game that you like?
@@halosaft Opinions that actively look to ban these types of games, and opinions that label the ones that like these types of games as misogynists, p£d0flles and much more.
Do you agree with them?
@@luizy6701 I have been in the Xeno community for more than 10 years, and I have been critical of Xeno 2 since I first played it. I can't say that I've seen anyone call people that like Xeno 2 mysoginists or p£dos. I mean, I still like parts of Xeno 2 and I finished it, beating all the super bosses. Nor have I seen anyone call for Xeno 2 to be banned. Like at all...
Are you sure it's not just you that are those things and are rightfully being called that?
Maybe you defend Poppi being sexualized even though she's like a kid? Could it be that?
Regardless of any one person's opinion on the game, I still recommend people play this game and form their own opinions. I went into this game thinking I wasn't gonna like it and now it's a top 5 game for me. And Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game of all time.
I do think the voice direction sucked tho.
This.
I had the same experience with Xenoblade X where people told me it sucked compared to the first one, and that it was really bad.
I put it off for a year until I finally played it and wondered what the fuck people were talking about because I came out loving Xenoblade X.
Videos like these are good but shouldn't form an opinion for you.
Ardainian Soldier: think you can take me, don't forget me.
Rest in piece
We never forget you Ardainian Soldier.
Well, I asked for a Switch just to play this game xd
@@keeysOST Criticisms are fine but a lot of the criticisms in this video were awful
@@fluffystagbeetle4526 yeah
The thing that bothers me about rex's design is that it actually looks good when he has the full gear on. But he only wears that while salvaging.
I don't even want to imagine how hot Rex would get if he was constantly wearing the full diver outfit...
@@Nachtflut granted but I feel if you are applying realism to Xenoblade 2 designs then something has gone wrong.
@@fictionarch Wdym by that?
@@skylandersfan6954dawg have you SEEN delilah???
Ignoring her, 90% of the women and 30% of the men in this game are fighting near naked, and those who aren't are fighting in incredibly impractical costumes designed to look cool, which is OK.
@@realname4430 Uh??? What? We were talking about Rex
I feel like a lot of the critiques here are relatively surface-level, some being all they need (ex. oversexualization) but others being very incomplete pictures (ex. Rex). I will say though, even though I disagree with a decent amount of this video, you got some pretty good laughs out of me. The entire "every blade is a fetish" section had me bursting out laughing, and all my homies hate Tatsu as well. Respect to the writing of this video while the critiques are hit or miss.
I would love to talk about the oversexualization in xbc2 but I'm kinda scared to someone think that I'm pissing off about a character design, but this game really has too much female sexualization . I saw a good video explaining this, don't exactly remember the channel but it's a 1 or 2 hours video
Edit: I found it :)
ua-cam.com/video/pRNkWXwyjdk/v-deo.html
Wasn't pyra's designer or artist originally in pornographic doujins?
Thats not direct evidence but clearly shows how they had that in mind.
@@Kevin-yp7yk thE WHAT?
@@yaboyrenkuji5342 yeah, he was now that I looked it up.
His name is saitou masatsugu.
Designed both pyra and mythra
@@Kevin-yp7yk strange changing the beautiful artstyle from the first to calling a hentai artist to draw for them
The Captain releasing another Xeno 2 Vid?
"37:50"
*grabs snacks*
As much as I love this vid and the fact that someone else has the same mindset about Xeno 2 as I do, a lot of the points you made about Rex being bad were wrong and either didn't make sense, or put a lot of unplaced blame on him. You said something similar in your last vid about Xeno 2 and I kind hoped someone else would correct you, but whatever I'll just do it I guess. This'll be a big post so TLDR; if any of the other characters tried as hard as Rex did, Xeno 2 would've ended 2 hours in.
From 24:57 onwards, I'm not really sure why you're blaming Rex for this. He died because he got literally stabbed in the back, from a character that can move at lightspeed, and the consequence of being revived was now he had to be responsible for ending a war that has lasted CENTURIES. Pyra didn't give him a choice, it was an ultimatum. "Stay dead or help me win a war between literal gods." Not really sure if you can call this getting revived scot free.
Also, not sure why Gramps getting injured and "dying" was Rex's fault. He actually saved Nia from falling into the cloud sea in the prior scene and the gramps probably would have gotten shot by the cannons regardless of what Rex did.
Your next point is also not great and was actually from one of the worse cut scenes in the game imo. Vandham barely bought the party a few seconds before Malos killed him and the idea that they had the chance to run away before Malos and Akhos could catch up to them, while they were all severely injured, is insane. Rex had NO CHOICE but to fight to try and buy the others time. It was either that or just have everyone slowly be killed off. Ffs, Vandham literally just came to the same conclusion after realizing how dire the situation was too. Plus, the only reason they were in this situation to begin with was because Pyra walked into an obvious trap ALONE with NO PLAN on how to fight off Malos. Hell, for all she knew the entirety of Torna could have been there and she would have been killed easily, losing the Aegis war. Rex was the first one to question Nia about Pyra not being with the group after they noticed the girl was kidnapped and deduced that she must have gone to stop Malos herself, alone. He actually leads the charge and bails Pyra out. Did Mythra have to bail him out in the end, sure, but honestly Pyra should have woken her up from the get go if this was her plan, instead of trying to fight Malos and Akhos in a weakened form by herself. And let's not forget that Nia was holding back this ENTIRE time and could have easily beaten Malos and Akhos if she went her blade form. So to put all the blame on Rex, whose only mistake was not being strong enough to beat Malos, is crazy to me. Once again, if 2 other characters (Pyra and Nia) had given it their all like he did, the game would have ended here.
Your next point is from THE worst cutscene from the game, but you were also wrong on some of your recollection of the events of what happened, and that lead to you vastly misinterprete Rex's character struggle in this scene. After Pyra sacrifices herself to Torna, Rex didn't cry for 2 days, he was UNCONSCIOUS, cause he got his ass BEAT by Jin (Dromarch even says that his wounds were so severe that his body needed time to rest and heal). In the footage you showed, Rex is literally laying on a bed knocked tf out, and when he wakes up he slowly comes to grips with what happened. Rex giving up wasn't him being a coward, it was honestly the most mature decision he had made in the game and the only reasonable plan anyone in the party had presented up until now. When they had the legendary Aegis sword and her damn Gundam in the sky, they still lost. HORRIBLY. Jin defeated the entire party in seconds, and the only reason everyone didn't die a horrible death that day was because Pyra used her life as leverage, since they needed to take her alive. Now the plan is to go and fight them, WITHOUT that leverage? What, is the power of friendship stronger now? Why is everyone suddenly super confident that they can defeat blade form Jin plus the rest of Torna? Rex may do a shit job at expressing it, but his plan actually makes a lot of sense and shows a lot of growth of him as a character. He's the only one in the party that recognizes how ABSURD Jin's power actually is (ffs, they needed a character that could REWRITE REALITY to be ON PAR with him.) He wants nothing more than to rush in and save Pyra. You can tell because every time he talks about giving up the camera pans and shows him clenching his fist because he hates what he's saying. But he knows that if he leads the charge on this, he'll be leading all of his friends to an early grave. Every single on of them would die this time. And if he dies, Pyra dies as well. That's the only thing that he can take solace in in this situation. He knows Pyra isn't dead because he's still alive. They share pain remember? That's why he says she'll be better off without him because if he fought Torna again, he, and therefore Pyra, would probably both die gruesomely. So the only conclusion that makes sense for Rex here, is to recognize when you've been outclassed and accept the L. Living out his life without the one he cares most about by his side, but knowing that at the very least she's alive.
Honestly this scene is probably one of Rex's best character moments, if not THE best one, and I could write a whole book on how this scene ruined almost every other character in the main cast, or at least showed how bad the writing is in this game (Nia yelling at Rex to try harder is fucking RICH seeing as she didn't reveal her blade form which could have easily turned the tides in their favor against Jin. Brighid gaslights the shit out of Rex, blaming him for not knowing about a conversation that he wasn't there for, and that Brighid only knew about because she was eavesdropping. She also doesn't address the reason WHY Rex is giving up. Zeke, being the only one that also shares a core crystal with his blade, should be the only one that understands how torn Rex feels, but he doesn't get to say a word because Morag stops him. etc.) So once again, what was Rex supposed to do in this scene? Run into battle and die horribly? The only reason they are able to fight Jin and Malos later with an actual chance of victory was because Gramps causally mentions that there's a 3rd Aegis sword and Nia revealed her blade form, giving the party a person with power on par to Monado Malos. Two things that Rex didn't, and COULDN'T, have known about when he wanted to give up. So once again, placing all the blame for this on him, when the only faults he had were not being being strong enough and wanting his friends to NOT die horribly, seems crazy to me.
For your next example, I'm going to spare you all from my novel about how bad Xeno 2's ending was. But I don't think any of it was Rex's fault per se, more of just bad writing as a whole. Him crying because Pyra was about to sacrifice herself...again, made sense. Getting her back was the whole point of coming there after all, so to hear after all of that she was just going to die anyway would be emotionally taxing. But whatever, that entire ending was garbage anyway and I really don't want to get into it. (Why tf did anyone think Pneuma was going to die when she gave Rex her core crystal? What part was going to die? Her hologram? And why tf did Pyra AND Mythra have separate bodies now? Y'all could've done this the whole fucking time!? What changed after that explosion!?)
Anyways, I just wanted to clear up Rex's character because he's honestly like, one of the 3 (kinda) well written characters in this game, and this was the second vid that you made where you grossly misinterpreted his character imo. But overall great vid. I'm always happy to dunk on Xeno 2.
Thanks for anyone that took to time to read all of this headass and I appreciate you coming to my TED Talk. Refreshments are in the back. Don't play Xeno 2. Xeno 2 game bad.
P.S I love your Splatoon vids.
Even though it's not short, this is a great comment and I hope most comments that disagree are more like this and not what I THINK they'll probably be like haha
As for Azurda's death at the start, I think it's (indirectly) Rex's fault because before he goes on the job to help Torna, Azurda (and even Bana to an extent) are like, "you should research this job before you take it, not just immediately say yes when someone offers you a lot of money." Rex ignores him and takes the job anyway, which leads to Azurda having to come save him, which leads to his death.
I'm totally okay with a character making a mistake at the start of the story as long as they grow from it, but then Azurda's death & resurrection is played for laughs and the weight of the situation is ignored (I talk about this more in the next part, which I'm currently working on)
And for the Pyra sacrifice scene in the middle, part of it was me being fed up with the meandering plot and Rex at this point, and it is a powerful scene when the party rallies around him. I do think it shows a lot of growth when Rex admits that he's "not cut out for this," but it sucks that he completely gives up, especially considering what Torna do to Pyra. It'd be one thing to say, "I bad at this and don't know what to do next," but he also says, "I'm going to give up and leave" and abandon Pyra to die, which Brighid reminds has to remind him of.
@@CaptainAstronaut I see what you mean and I appreciate you reading such a big post haha I guess my thoughts on things overall is the problem being less of Rex being a bad character, and more the writing is this game is total garbage. Multiple characters could have done things that would have easily solved the issues in the world throughout the game, but kinda just don't, with Nia, Jin, and Mythra being the main examples. But in scenes where Rex thinks that Azurda dies, Rex is genuinely hurt and thinks that he's lost one of the only family members he had. But because of bad writing, Azurda magically comes back as a baby tamagotchi lmao I just don't think it's too fair to blame Rex for a lot of the things wrong with this game when, at the very least, he's actively trying his best lol
Man, I never thought I'd see the day when I was defending something from Xeno 2 😂
Interesting thoughts! I agree with you on the tutorials and you have given good examples on how to improve the tutorials. A good take on the sexualisation of female characters, sometimes a touchy subject, unfortunately.
You could have made a better point on the voice acting. The example you gave for Rex wasn't cringy at all, sounds like a geordie chap having a normal conversation. You could have chosen worse and more talked about scenes featuring Rex, for example, a lot of people do dislike Rex's screams. Those screams can be jarring when pointed out to me.
You did mention that the voice doesn't match the art style of the characters. Does that mean Xenoblade Chronicles Definite Edition is a downgrade because the Definite Edition does look more anime-like, thus now doesn't match the voice? A lot of Western media have bug-eyed humanoids such as The Powerpuff Girls or Elsa from Frozen so the abnormal eye-face ratio isn't unheard of. There's more to it than if the voice matches the art style and I don't think the voice acting/direction is THAT bad.
BUT, this is coming from a guy who is not well exposed to Japanese anime or games! It does look like a lot of Japanese characters are overplayed (getting into massive fights, wielding fantasy weapons and magic, scream into battles, ...etc). To me, it's fine but I do have a feeling when compared to other Japanese media, this game could look out of place.
Thanks for that essay
I don't know why this game clicked with me so much, played through it multiple times and on third playthrough I am still finding new aspects and still have not unlocked all the blades(I don't mind, it keeps me grinding..300hrs later)
Games a masterpiece in my eyes.
You are a Shin Megami Tensei fan. Most of us have great taste
Masterpiece is a bit of a stretch
@@jojonta2119 I would actually say the same with Xenoblade 1
@@boredgoddesstori6635 Not far off though
I never thought I’d like this game but it was on my shelf for like a year. Mostly cause after seeing gameplay I thought I’d hate the battle system. Eventually I finally played it AND I LOVED IT!! I never played a switch game as much as I did this. The art( not just the anime girls but the environments, I love Tantal) were gorgeous. Music was wonderful and I still occasionally listen to them. The battle system grew on me and I actually eventually liked it. The only demerit was Rex. Nothing special and easily forgettable but I loved Tora and the rest of the cast had their moments too. Funny enough the villains had better development in my opinion but that’s part of the game too so no complaints. All the side quests with the rare blades were great for additional content. Some were funny and some even got you a bit emotional. They were all worth checking out. This game was a solid 9/10 for me.
I really like the combat, it's a bit meh at the beginning (which, to be honest, I don't think so xd) but it gets better later, in harder fights, you will need to do a lot of Blade Combos to, literally destroy enemies with Chain Attacks...and you need to think which Blade to use, and also need to hurry
And, is amazing when you kill an enemy using a single Art, feels as good as using Back Slash and provoking one shots
Play the original
@@Ashe_Forester There´s one version of 2
@@Fermin-hw5pd Play xenoblade Chronicles one definitive edition
@@Ashe_Forester I have already, but don´t say "original", just say 1 xd
Vasko got this video unlisted because of 5:55
>:D
"H0W Dair U DiSrEsPeCT CAr quesT!?!?!?" lol
I'll address the narrative and presentation issues only in the order as presented in the video, discussing gameplay mechanics isn't really my thing.
The beginning - you establish what is a good way of starting a story, grudgingly admit that XC2 does it. You find it boring, but don't explain why, jumping to gameplay. It establishes the setting, and the conflict which instead of a battle against a tangible enemy, is a battle against decline. It also effectively establishes the background 'mood' of the narrative which will resonate in several crucial characters and their motivations later on. On that front the beginning of both XC1 and especially X are actually more shallow in hindsight.
Show, don't tell - a good thing for sure, and a thing that the game sometimes uses too little, and sometimes too much - some flashbacks, where added subtlety, ie., showing or telling nothing, would have been even better. Yet you use an example where the principle is specifically NOT to be used. Azurda and Rex are not talking about history, they are talking about legend. They are unreliable narrators, the visual focus is on the storyteller not the supposed event, the important part is that that's what those characters believe not what actually happened, the music underlines that too. And BECAUSE we are not given glimpses of Elysium, we are clued in that this is probably not how things went.
Proper nouns - a problem with a lot of stories heavy with worldbuilding. I don't have a lot to say about this, it depends a lot on how we process information. You don't actually have to memorize all the things they say, most of what is really important at the moment gets more focus. But I certainly understand when people tune out when assaulted with a lot of new words.
The dub - I use JP dub whenever I can, both because the original voice actors usually have more context to work with during the development, and because translations almost always lose some meaning in the process. I absolutely agree that some voices don't match, I think Nia is the worst case here. Rex's guy can't scream, although otherwise I think he's fine, I don't get what cognitive dissonance you're getting. Agreed, that animation was clumsy in many dialogue scenes.
Rex - others I see have answered about him better than I could, so I won't bother. He's not static, he follows relatively standard hero's journey steps, the main difference being that he has a more practical mindset than most 'heroes'. But, you know what, the English voice acting at least sets him apart from other jrpg/shonen protags.
Outfits - I'm used to anime designs, I like Pyra's, and obviously it's meant to appeal to lower brain, so whatever. Does that diminish her character for me? Not at all. Talking about sexualization of women would eat every other argument, so I'm not going into it. I'll just mention that many armor sets for Sharla and Fiora are just as skeevy, just less apparent in the overall presentation of the characters.
I played XC:DE and XC2 one after the other relatively recently, and while XC has a better story structure overall, and better narrative flow up until around Ch. 5 of XC2, and I liked many combat elements better in 1, overall, XC2 just blew it out of the water because of thematic depth (on the nose sometimes and familiar, but well executed), the vibrancy of the setting, the writing of crucial characters, especially the main trio of villains and how they define the main themes of the narrative, use of music to enhance the story, use of animation to enhance the more tense moments. It uses anime techniques to both its detriment and advantage, but at least for me, the advantages win.
Something I see many people complain is that they forgot that this game is made in Japan and well......it had many roots with anime. That and people just for the life of them don't want to listen to the Japanese dub. I'm lucky that I can actually understand some Japanese so that a lot of things don't fall out of context but damn, this review was on the cusps of greatness!
I pretty much agree with everything except for the dislike of Nia's voice-acting. Her's is one of the best performances in the game, as well as one of the best characters.
@@hyliastone286 personally speaking, I don’t dislike Nia’s English VA due to the performance, I dislike it due to the voice not fitting the character AT ALL.
Like maybe it’s just me but I see Nia and her personality and I expect something WAY different from a middle aged house wife that’s fed up with her kids shit.
@@WaxxyVanderquail I understand her voice style being unexpected, but for me that’s a huge part of the appeal. Japan has done cutesy high pitched cat girl tropes to death and beyond, so her unexpectedly mature welsh voice was a lot of fun once I got over my initial surprise.
It might be different from what’s intended by the Japanese dub, but I think this version of her character is just as valid.
@@WaxxyVanderquail What DashabunchofnumbersBrawl said.
I didn't like much but about 20 hours in it clicked I love the technical combat system the story ends up being great it definitely takes too long to get going though
I can't believe how you perfectly summed up how I feel about this game. It was this game that put me off the Xenoblade series but I might give the first one a try now since you state this game is nothing like it.
Yeah pretty much everyone who plays the first game ends up liking it. It's not at all similar to its sequel, which is much more divisive.
Please, play the Xenoblade 1. It's a great game in all aspects and I've spent the happiest hours of mine playing it. Everything is does it does wholly and maturely, unlike it's sequel. You're not gonna be disappointed, I promise.
Oh yes, definitely. Please play XC1, there are literally worlds between XC2 and it predecessor. Honestly the fandom is pretty much split between those two games. Fans of the first often dislike the second, fans of the second usually find something to complain about in the first lol
Xenoblade X fittingly falls somewhere between the two.
@@JJKMagic Meanwhile I'm here calling both masterpieces lmao
Do yourself a favor a play Xenogears instead.
I love Rex as a character so much. He's just naive/optimistic enough without being stupid to inspire the people around him and that's why the he works so well for the story. He is everyone's "Drive"r.
Rex's design is entirely water themed. He uses an old-fashioned diving suit for salvaging that folds away to to show he's wearing a wetsuit and his big boots evoke fishing waders. Plus, he was intentionally designed to have bigger legs to emphasize his youth and how big the world is. So it all comes together really nicely.
Also, it's so funny/odd/interesting how so many people who have problems with XC2's female character designs obsess/criticize/degrade them and see them less as characters than the game itself actually does.......Yeah, there's boobs and butts, but you never see the characters in the game actually treating the female characters as lesser than any male character.
XC1 = old school anime template
XC2 = modern anime template
@@Dzombic_ How is that?
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is pure old-school, with maybe a few modern touches. I can even give you the examples.
@Tam873 I think the director himself said he wanted Xenoblade 2 to feel like an older anime.
The literal scene poppy is introduced you see that tora has plans to put poppi in maid outfits to literally objectify her. This take is stupid as fuck
jfc like why do people just decide to ignore random shit about XBC2s Genuinely fucking awful writing holy shit.
None of the characters treating the female characters as lesser because of their designs is exactly why it's such a problem. There is minimal cohesion between the character's designs and their personalities/story. Top it off with constant boob/ass shots and it's hard to take them seriously.
I love the game as it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out with a definitive edition just like the first game. If it does, I hope they rewrite tutorials and allow you to view them in the menu, revoice some of the lines, redesign a few characters, and replace the gacha with actual blade quests to obtain the blades (like Praxis and Theory for example).
Honestly, the more time passes the more I agree with this, as much as I dearly wish to move on to the many new adventures that the Xenoblade series likely has in store for us. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is great in many ways, but there's a lot that could be polished up.
However, some of the criticisms people make, especially many of those in this video, are straight-up wrong and I will fight people over it.
+Hylia Stone
I think the complaint of being too anime is pretty stupid, since some people actually like that aspect. If it comes down to taste, then it can’t objectively be considered a flaw. However, if it’s something like how they poorly handled the tutorials in this game, then that’s objectively a flaw.
The Xenoblade series definitely has a great future. With Xenoblade 1, X, 2, Torna, and the eventual release of 3 and X2, Xenoblade will hopefully get the attention it deserves.
@@ametrine7462 Agreed.
I agree with you about the blade quest thing, but I don’t think the gacha should be removed entirely. There are only a few tweaks that need to be made to fix it. First, field skill checks are removed from the main story path, and the game should find your optimized team composition to pass so you aren’t constantly switching out your party. Second, keep most of the rare blades on the gacha system to keep different playthroughs diverse, but after the final boss is defeated, open up a guaranteed way to get them all. For example, a high level quest where you bust a gang and they have every remaining rare blade core crystal.
This game needs a tune up so bad it’s just messy
I really wish they would bring X to switch. That game was amazing and had sooooo much content.
Hi, I’m from 2024, and am here to tell you that your wish will be granted :)
XC1 and XCX were awesome games. When XC2 came out I avoided any gameplay, trailer videos to go into it blind because I was looking forward to surprise epic moments like the initial Mechon attack on Colony 9. I hated XC2 very quickly after and tried to go see if there was anyone having that opinion. At the time I could only find good reviews singing praise for the game. So I never looked back. Then this video pops up in my suggested videos today for the first time. Don't know why it took so long, but it is nice to see these points put into videos.
Did you finish it?
That was my experience too. I had so much fun with the other Xenoblades, and the little I saw of the sequel just made me think "well, it's a bit more anime, but I'm sure it will still be good". Definitely the most disappointed I've been in a game, not the worst game ever, but such a let-down compared to what came before.
@@skylandersfan6954 lmfao
@@freezeframeplease What?
@@user-xsn5ozskwg All the Xeno games are hella anime
Xenoblade 2 fans try not to shut down criticism (10000% impossible challenge) (GONE WRONG)
Its not criticism when its blatantly wrong doe
@@skylandersfan6954 what do you mean baltantly wrong. The dude played the whole game and gave complete explanations. Give me your list of reasons against every point he made then.
@@YaBoiDoi He says Rex doesnt develop when he literally does, not only does Rex actually state his development out loud for people who do not understand subtext (which btw, this guy literally admitted he doesnt pick up on subtext in his Xenoblade 3 video so thats comical) and he still didnt pick up on it yet he also acts like Rex unlocking the 3rd sword is some unexplained mystery despite being explained through the development and themes of the story
He says Pyra's outfit doesnt have a reason to look the way it does when both the designer commented on it and its proved with the character of Pneuma. He also acts like this is the first Xeno character to be skimpy, yet he clearly lacks any knowledge of Xenosaga like most 1 elitists do and I know this because he acts like Kos Mos was a character designed for this game and tries to use her to further the sexualisation point
He also tries to defend 1 and X's fanservice because its optional as to why its ok yet he complains about Poppi's final form and all the other non main story blades despite them also being optional
Shall I go on?
@sonic 1995 How so? The reasonings I provided are purely based on fact
@@skylandersfan6954 The only point you got is Rex. Everything else is terrible. What do you mean by the "designer commented on it?" What did they say?? Furthermore, this can easily be disproven from just Malos' existence. You could literally just say they were made for sexiness sake bro. Why doesn't Malos look anywhere near like Pneuma or the other versions of herself? That sounds kinda bs.
His point still stands when it comes to him defending the options. Your point doesn't make sense and the comparison is terrible. You're comparing costume swapping to quests that you probably wouldn't even have knowledge about until you unlock a certain part of the game. I don't know what other blades got to do with this because it's not like they get less skimpier. Even if you had knowledge about Poppi (which by the way, is the best character in the game,) and made sure that you kept distant from the quest, you still have all of the other skimpy characters that you receive by default. Something you can't really change much unless you get very specific items or go through challenge modes. Which is a list of either more sexualized clothes or just very lame ones.
0:39
Ah yes, my favorite RPGs: two Mario Kart games. But y’know, if they are supposed to be “RPGs,” they’re a hell of a lot better than Xenoblade 2
Your pfp is literally from a game where you can commit pedophillia, I dont think you have the right to call Xenoblade 2 bad
I absolutely love XC1, but I had to force myself to play XC2. This review hits all the reasons why I didn’t like it either. I would say the story was the one thing that made me finish it, it’s not the best but it did get me somewhat engaged. The gacha is probably what ruined the game most for me (gachas suck and you’ll never change my mind) as well as the over-sexualization.
It's fucking insane and disappointing to me that we seem to be in somewhat the minority these days. I won't say the game doesn't have good aspects to it but the amount of praise this game gets is fucking mind bending to me.
@@twincherries6698 Hopefully XC3 will be more like XC1, I’m quite hopeful based on what we’ve seen so far🙏
@@miraihibino1277 I honestly think on many levels having this sequel be equal parts 1 and 2 (in their best aspects) would be really clever; I don't necessarily need it to be a whole lot more like 1. Honestly I just wish people would take Xenoblade more seriously. I feel like outside of the direct fanbase, 2 made people see Xenoblade in a lesser light but that might just be my experience. But really above all I just hope 3 feels like a really culmination of building up this series and does well to make this a worthy successor to what has come before. Just want a good game really.
@@twincherries6698 Same bro. This game doesn't get enough flack. I actually ponder how so many people are dickriding this game. Xenoblade 3 looks good though so I'm excited
@@Zephhi >Id pfp
>mentioning xb3
Heh...
I started this game when Pyra was announced for smash.
I thought she was going to be a very upbeat, happy sweet girl but instead she mostly had a blank face the entire game and spoke in a monotone voice, being completely different from her Smash trailer.
As someone who had played the first two chapters of XB2, seeing Pyra's reveal trailer almost felt like they had decided to add onto her character just so that she'd feel more like one.
The fact that it took until smash for Pyra to actually feel like she was properly written is just sad.
@@geekygamer7199 did you... play the game?
@@yaboiyeets3721 Yup, and 30 hours with cookie cutter waifu was more than enough for me once I realized that not a single thing about her personality existed for any other reason than "well, all the other popular anime girls are like this!"
@@geekygamer7199 i mean did you get to at least chapter 8?
ya know, the section after the point where she admits she wants to literally kill herself? i mean, i guess all other popular anime girls have to live with the fact that they are viewed as nothing but a weapon and menace to the world and are suicidal because of it.
I actually finished my first playthrough of xc2 yesterday (68 hrs playtime), my first xenoblade game, and although I enjoyed it, i had problems with it from start to end. I took it with me to get me through my 2 week quarantine and played on version 1.0 cause I didnt have any wifi or data to update the game. I didnt even understand the sealing mechanism until chapter 7 even though I remember there being a tutorial for it early on. And the female character design... I have to laugh. Even some of the female NPCs are just chillin half naked while most of the men were covered up. I often found myself busting out laughing at serious points during cutscenes because of the voice acting. I didnt connect with the characters at all, so when someone died I was just like 🤷🏻♀️. My experience with the final boss fight got ruined due to bugs. And while I liked the ending I was still confused on some things regarding the lore
the sealing mechanic is largely insignificant except for maybe shackle driver on malos/akhos fights
I agree on most of the things you talked about, but not really on the voice over aspect, tbh. I found most of the english voices pretty fitting of their characters, in some cases even more so than the japanese voices (Nia and Vess come to mind), and the accents are a really cool touch to differentiate the people of each titan. However, I can definetly aggree that Rex's delivery is a major weakpoint there. Also, regarding the nopon, I dont find them thaaat annoying? At least their characters/ speech mannersisms, for the most part, are ok. However, an that's a trend that came back from 2 with Future Connected, the HUGE oversuse of the 'meh-meh-meh-meh' affectation is, entirely, too much, and it makes me clench my teeth hard out of sheer hatred whenever I hear it. Enough meh
Am I the only one who finds the "meh-mehs" to be charming? I mean, I suppose it couldn't hurt to switch things up a little more, but I feel a deep pang of sadness and loneliness whenever people talk about how "their teeth clench with sheer rage" every time they hear a nopon say "meh." Like, please chill with the hatred; they aren't the end of the world.
Yeah same. Nia's voice was my favorite. How the fuck can you not love the Welsh accent.
@@keeysOST that's as tupidq estion
The main problem with xenoblade 2 voice is not the acting itself. The direction is the main problem. It’s clear that the cast only had 1 take. As the game goes on you can hear Rex screams getting better.
Look at smash. Rex in smash shows what Rex could have been like if they gave Al more than 1 attempt.
Really great and well-made video, I felt like I was the only one with all of these problems. Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game, and the shortcomings of its sequel should really be addressed more. Xenoblade 3 following in 2's footsteps is my worst nightmare
also spot-on analogy with the trail mix raisins god damn I felt like I was hearing from my inner self
Well given how popular Xenoblade 2 is in Japan and how popular Pyra/Mythra are in general you might want to get ready lol. Hell XC2 got people in Japan to actually care about the series.
Yeah same, I honestly don't see what everyone loves about this game. In my opinion xeno1 did everything xeno2 did but better. (Actually I take that back. Xeno2 did humour better than 1.) But then again xeno1 has always sort of resonated with me so I might be a bit biased. I think it comes down to how "Anime" xeno2 is. It honestly seems like the two games were made for drastically different audiences.
Seems XB3 is in more the style of 1
@@xS1D3SW1P3x How would you even be able to tell at this point?
Speaking as someone whose favorite game of all time is XC2, I will be the first to admit that it has genuine problems and it’s absolutely not for everyone. The main problem I’d say is that it has a really, REALLY slow start bogged down by bad and incessant tutorials and storytelling that is just genuinely, objectively bad at points…unless you have later context
(first viewing of bath scene: cringe
second viewing of bath scene: wait I was supposed to know about THAT back then? damn no scene without purpose I guess)
However, I will argue that the world building is the strongest in the series (huge claim that I will still make confidently), has a great cast of characters that is still my personal favorite, and a really, REALLY deep combat system that is (again) still my favorite. Also Zeke von Genbu: Bringer of Chaos is only in this game, which is a definite plus in its favor
The bath tub scene is fairly tame though, compared to shit like the ones in Persona 5 its far from cringe
@@skylandersfan6954 Basically every Persona game in the new trilogy, yeah. I love Persona too, though, don’t get me wrong.
I think that you have a great point on that matter about the problem of double standards though…the same people who will complain that Pyra and Mythra wear clothing that is too revealing or that there are cringey scenes in the game will turn around and praise NieR as if they hadn’t been forced to look at 2Bs exposed backside the entire time (Goes without saying but I love NieR too lmao). It’s a bit frustrating, but you just gotta tune most of it out if the person complaining is not being consistent; you know they just want to hate on things.
Also a lot of the time these complaints are made from a completely Western perspective without taking into account that these things are totally normal/expected in Japanese culture. It’s essentially like saying, “How dare they put Japanese culture in my Japanese product meant for Japanese audiences?!”
@@dachking6657 I feel like its because weirdly enough, the game has a much bigger presence online because of how niche it is. P5 has a lot of the same issues as Xenoblade 2, arguably worse in some cases, but because of how its praised by multiple big youtubers who played it, out of context scenes don't get as much flack. Xenoblade 2's audience is comparatively smaller despite most people enjoying it so its easy to see a scene like that and call the game bad because of its smaller following. Idk if that makes any sense
@@skylandersfan6954 That’s definitely a factor, too. I’ve found that most people don’t really take the time to form their own opinions on things and would rather just take the most popular one/what their favorite influencer says as Gospel. Thus, a few people with a large enough following saying that P5 is peak caused it to have a good reputation, whilst the same thing for XC2 being called terrible resulted in its current reputation.
To be honest when I first played the game i quit on it within the first few hours a few weeks later i came back to it and loved it
Same actually
I played the first XC and stopped after 5 and never went back. I will never try XC2.
@@rockdesu cringe
@@rockdesu 15 hours in, pretty trash so far. But Pyra is a dream to look at and I love the huge open world.
@@toooydoeur it’s just their opinion???
3 complaints i have about this game :
1. Bullet sponge enemies
2. The fetching side quests
3. The rng on blades bonding oh my god.
I must’ve had the best luck in the game, because I never experienced any of the complaints when pulling blades. Somehow I got KOS-MOS in chapt 2 from a common core, no boosters or luck accessories.
After that, I only bonded with core crystals when I needed to get rid of boosters and kept getting rare blades back to back with Nia. Extremely rewarding and made me love the game even more.
I never felt so offended by something I 100% agree with
Good on you dude. To be real, 90% of nintendo fans today are unbareable and think everything thats on the switch only, is masterpieces and if you criticize any of those things they swarm like drones. So good on you dude, we need more people that can admit problems
@@jonathansoko1085 as a diehard Nintendo fan myself who really only plays switch games, no fan base makes me eye roll more than the Nintendo meat riders. They’ll defend Nintendo for ANYTHING.
Mario party jamboree just came out. I love the game but once again it’s a Mario party game with essentially zero rules customization and everyone is (rightfully) criticizing Nintendo for it. Then the weirdos who religiously defend Nintendo come out and say things like “yOu caNt aDd rUleS cUsTimiZaTiOn bEcAuSe iT leTs pEopLe rUin tHe gAmE” and I’m like bruh your perfect Mario party isn’t necessarily my perfect Mario party so lemme change it so I can enjoy it.
@dpackerman4203 yep it's nice to see someone who is rational about this as well. I love Nintendo just as much as anyone but I can't stand any rabid fan base no matter what it is. If Sony or Microsoft do something bad I will criticize them there too. I would never defend any of these corporations blindly at the same time I will celebrate anything good that they do as well.
@ everyone in pain over the thick British accents: Now you know how us Spanish speakers feel when every single videogame dub is done in Spanish from Spain. FEEL OUR PAIN AND DESPAIR!
I didn't really dislike Rex *so* much for a while, and I really tried my best to see his positive traits (earns money for his village, drive to save humanity, reflectiveness on the relationship between drivers and blades), but his foolish optimism made it hard for me to feel beyond neutral towards him. But then the scene where Pyra gets taken away and Rex gives up really made me flat out *hate* him. He was so much talk, and then when the going got rough he abandoned the girl he loved while everyone else was determined to go rescue her without him. Not only that, as Pyra's driver, by giving up he basically just submitted to allowing Malos to destroy everything. Like, seriously?? Compare him to Shulk, who watched the girl he loved get straight up speared, igniting a fire in him that served as one of the main drivers of the plot for half the game.
Brighid smacking Rex and talking shit was so fucking satisfying.
I realize Ιm 3 weeks too late but my dumb brain isnt letting me forget about this, so here we go:
You are completely allowed to dislike Rex, hordes of people have made the reasons quite apparent on any platform you can think of (Reddit, UA-cam, Twitter, the list goes on). Major props to you for not completely writing him off because "Haha Rex desing/VA so bad lol". However, the fact that you hate him because of the chapter 7 scene leaves me entirely confused.
First of all, do try and take this with a grain of salt. I admit I am extremely biased in favor of Rex. I love him to bits. My opinion isnt fact and im not trying to change your mind.
As for the scene. It bothers me to no end when people say that Rex is being a selfish prick or anything resembling that in this specific context, because, (and I cant stress this enough) HE IS IN THE RIGHT. His whole (underapreciated imo) character arc is him evolving from nothing to something, it makes sense that when the catalyst for this development (aka Pyra/Mythra) is taken from him while he is poweless leads to him breaking down. He is a kid for christs sake.
Anyways, moving on. I mean no offense by this, but your comparisson to Shulk makes absolutely no sense. Yes, Shulk's desire for revenge is a testament to how much Fiora ment to him, but (again I can't stress this enough) you do know that it serves as his drive because it is physically possible for him to get revenge, right? He has the monado, the only weapon capable of destoying mechon, it is feaseable for him to take revenge. You may say "But the monado couldn't damage faced mechon at that point." And you would be 100% right, expect when a couple of hours earlier, it is clearly mentioned that the monado has many hidden functions, that could (at least theoretecly at this point of the story) massively help him on his journey.
Compare him to Rex. The Aegis? Taken. The Aegis sword? In shambles. The enemies he's facing? One is another Aegis and the other is so fast he ignores foresight, both of them have no glaring weaknesses. He watched Mòrag and Zeke, the most powerful drivers of their respecting countries, with the help of the strongest blades AND with years of experience under their belt, get absolutely dunked on by Jin alone. Zeke himself mere centimeters from dying on the spot. Rex has no weakness he can exploit. He has no ally he can rely on to beat them. He physically cant do anything. He realises that trying to fight them again would result in a massacre. So what is he to do? Lead the team to destruction? No matter what Brighid says abouy him giving up so easily, he is in the right. Because he can't realisticly do something. No one in the team can do anything. I would find it stupid as all hell if he was all gung-ho about saving Pyra, because he would lead everyone to their untimely deaths.
Finaly, a fire does ignite in Rex. It flares up when the conditions for it have been met. That being when he learns about the existance of the third sword. From that point on its full steam ahead to Spirit Crucible Elpys. (which is not so subtly named after the ancient greek word "ἐλπίς" meaning hope, pretty on the nose symbolism). After that, it's cliffs of Morytha, monado Malos (which was hype af) and JOOOOOOIN MEEEEE (i like his VA, but christ that was shoddy at best), where Pneuma is awakend and my boy finaly gets some drip.
Kudos to whoever got to the end of this absolute unit of an essay. I doubt my defense of some blue salvaging boi is all that entertaining, but I geniuenly think Rex's characterisation is incredible in chapter 7.
TL;DR
Rex is in the right in that chapter 7 cutscene. He gives up unlike shulk bc he has no chance of achieving anything at that point. He becomes like Shulk when we learns about the third sword.
Cheers.
There is a reason he wanted to leave Pyra and the rest of the group. The entire scene is meant to develop his character, so how are you going to be mad about it? Especially when it doesn't end with him leaving the group.
@@orestispasxos7433 I agree
A simple response: he his a kid, what more did you expect
With this comment I'd add (but not going into specifics) the ending. It's not objectively bad or anything but jesus christ the ending was just so cheesy and hamfisted at a point in the game where I was FINALLY starting to be more invested in the story at the level I was with XB1. If you love the ending that's your prerogative but I got the exact opposite reaction from the ending of what I think it wanted me to have. With how little I ended up caring about this cast ultimately it honestly would have had more impact if things didn't end in the best way, even if that's been done a lot. But by the ending I just felt a sense of disbelief and disappointment and I really found it difficult to think highly of this games story in any capacity, having seen it to the end. At least there were some fleeting good moments.
29:50 It's the 7th Xeno game.
34:10 This is literally T-elos!
34:32 Please just play Xenosaga
Still hilarious review and many good point. I just think this isn't a big deal. Also Takahashi let the artists do whatever they want for the blade designs and a lot of those artists are women.
I dunno, the game was still really fun, beat it twice and played Torna, becoming a fan of the series. But Chronicles 1 had a better story.
Plus I feel like it takes longer to get into it. Like I was 50+ hours in and still got a tutorial and I don't understand combos still
@@reyzephlyn105
Yeah, it took me a while to understand the battle system and what all you could do with it. Didnt know pressing the button at the right time build your arts that way.
No idea why they removed the pictures and stuff. Thank god for player tips on youtube.
i disagree with even that, 1 tells you what the story is over and over again whereas 2 has genuine twists and it feels like the characters you meet are much more complex in their motivations and wants, it just has regrettably horny costumes which distract from that.
@@tadhgmcgrath1409 How does 1 tell you the story over and over?
@@reyzephlyn105 it reminds me of naruto a lot and other earlier anime, so shulk asks himself for the sake of letting the audience know "do i have the power to see into the future?" shulk sees metalface killing someone before it happens, shulk sees many things before it happens, and i who had not knowledge of the plot got spoiled every damn time they did it. also after something hapens, the characters try to have a "natural party discussion" about whatever event just happened. but there is seldom any real character nuance to how the individuals respond to a situation, so its just a bunch of, "thing happened with that faced mechon, i wonder if we will see that faced mechon again" "without the minado we can barely fight these faced mechon" or wow the manado didn't work on this faced mechon, it must be different somehow" and these would get repeated like 3 to 8 times. conversely, I had no idea what the world tree was, the seen where rex asks pyra to meet his parents is Full metal alchemist brotherhood quality writing and there is a unique response from most of the many blades for many many many situations, also each blade had sidequests with more characterization than the main cast got in their heart to hearts in xeno 1. don't get me wrong i think that xenoblade 1 is a good jrpg but it makes the nino kuni 1/ persona 4 mistake of telling a clever audience whats going to happen like an over excited DM and then telling it's audience what just happened after it happened again like an over excited DM. Xeno blade 2s art is immature and it's western voice over is sometimes poorly directed, but it is a no breaks adventure with like 44 unique personalities as adventure buddies, and the best part is they are random, so on replays you have no idea who is going to be the big guns of your early campaign.
Rex is a harem protagonist who ended up iseki'd in the wrong game and genre.
Rex is not a harem protagonist lmao
@@skylandersfan6954 my brother in Christ.... are you sure about that?
@@colossalweeb Yeah, what gave you that impression? Was it stuff in Xenoblade 3 where he is not a protagonist anymore, was not setup in Xenoblade 2's story and the only setup for it in 2 is a NG+ title screen showing its a polycule?
@@skylandersfan6954 Harem has a couple of definitions, but most of the time in anime it's refering to a single person (usualy a man) srounded by a single group of multiple romantic/sexual partners (usualy women). So by that definition, Rex has a harem.
@@LoreSolver4 A harem is not a polycule though, like you do realise how these differ right?
Awesome video! Xenoblade 2 is one of my favorite games so it was refreshing to hear this take and see what others think. I didn't have a problem with the tutorials, but thinking back I definitely had difficulty in a couple boss fights when a new mechanic was introduced via text only and I had to use it on the fly to beat the boss (failing a few times). I agree with the dub, too. I played with Japanese voices because I can understand most Japanese and had no idea how it was until I saw memes and heard it following my playthrough. For me, it made the Nopon less annoying too. The character designs are very distracting, to put it in a PG way, but I thought it wasn't too out of place because of the kind of anime vibe the game had (I know that's not saying they aren't bad, but it didn't bother me personally). I like your presentation and thoughts!
I really liked the game because of how complex the combat system was and all the possibilities with using different blades on different characters. You can choose blades you like and optimize your party around them, thinking about how their abilities and combos interact with other blades, which driver fits them given their arts, which items to put on the blades and in the pouch, fighting superbosses, etc. And getting to know all the blades during their blade quests was fun. That was really the highlight of the game for me. I remember seeing little XC2 jokes in the Splatoon vids so I'm happy to finally hear what you had to say.
Thanks!! I do like how the game gives you a ton of options during combat, but (and I'll talk about this more in a future episode I'm currently working on), it's held back by most of those options being given to you randomly. And most of my friends who liked the game way more than me played with the Japanese audio, so that probably has a lot to do with it
A comment that is perfectly balanced
For me playing xenoblade 1 before 2 i was like it i don't like the battle system and so slow i even not finish the game because it s annoying im still in the beginning and i buy persona 4 golden and i having more fun than xenoblade 2
@@french-rasulyusof1315 Ah see, that’s because you didn’t know that Narcipear Jelly’s existed and they speed the game up immensely. There are other tricks, such as stutter stepping, that speed up the flow of battle. Everyone went through this at one point, since the tutorials suck or straight up don’t exist
@@rokechikan4481 ty for tips i will look for it
Xenoblade 2 has a better battle system than 1. It just isn't explained properly.
ironic, given the excessive tutorials-
@@squibbles_ something can be explained alot but not get across to the person being explained to
it is explained properly people just didn't read it. I can't blame them its just too many tutorial. I learn the battle system just by reading the in game tutorials because a friend said I need to pay attention or I won't enjoy it. Not a big deal I love reading.
@@neku2741 No the tutorials are actually garbage. It leaves out a lot of information.
I disagree, but X had the best combat of all of them.
I wish Poppi actually STAYED in her later forms rather than reverting back to base Poppi.
funny enough i didn’t know how to do a blade combo until the final boss. i still love this game and it’s one of my favorite jrpgs of all time
HOW THE FUCK
@@SoulofFinality THE TUTORIALS ARE HOT GARBAGE
@@SoulofFinality yeah that’s exactly why. never understood the damn tutorial. let’s just say the second play through was much more fun gameplay wise haha
Really controversial video for something where you say directly in the beginning of the video "Hey this is just MY opinion on why I don't like this game but if I title it that I'm not going to get clicks lol, it's fine if you like it and I wish I could"
2:13
i think the cognitive dissonance comes more from the body language then it does the art style. If youve seen any anime you have some idea of what the body is saying. like Rex pounding the ground, but then the voice acting just sounds mildly annoyed. Or how Nia will make cat like gestures while having a voice acctress that sounds like shed rather be dead then going all nyan and stuff. totally agree with how this is the directors fault.
This is why I feel like the style in definitive edition doesn’t deserve the same criticism. The models have been updated and definitely look more stylized, but all the character animations are still pretty grounded, even in the brand-new cutscenes in future connected. The only characters that pull anime faces are nopon, and they already have caricature traits between their non-humanoid bodies and their voices, so it doesn’t feel so out of place.
Really? I think Nia's voice fits her perfectly
After having seen a lot of debates on this topic, I've recently come to the same conclusion. The art style isn't the absolute best or anything but I think it could work. But being coupled with really jarring and kinda lifeless animation / awkward body language is what ruins it for me, and I assume many other people.
" Nia will make cat like gestures while having a voice acctress that sounds like shed rather be dead"
Nia and her va slander is unwelcomed frick you
Or scenes where Rex's mouth is moving like he's yelling at the top of his lungs but he's just talking at a normal volume.
Saw the title and was heartbroken but I watched it through and laughed all the way through. Very accurate and fair comments (thanks for the lols hahaha). Especially on the over-sexualization of the female characters and *most* female blades. (Lol thankfully my favourite character doesn't fall within that category) I still like this game very much though, but I understand where the frustration stems from. The tutorials were horrible (had to google the battle system to actually understand and enjoy it) waaaay too much waifus and unnecessary sexualizations. But at the end of it all, the story was still good imo :P
The common criticism about anime designs is never something I can really get behind. Art style gripes are one of those things you like or you don't I don't really consider them legitimate criticisms to levy on a work unless the art itself is of poor technical quality. Some people enjoy anime and it's style (like me obviously) others don't which is perfectly fair but I don't think it's a worse game objectively because of that.
But it is a completely fair criticism to make though. Just because it's subjective and doesn't bother everyone doesn't mean it's illegitimate criticism. Almost every piece of criticism someone makes about a game can be summed up with "one of those things you like or you don't". For example The character designs of the game really ruined my enjoyment of it because personally I can't get invested in serious moments when I have Pyra's arse shoved in my face.
@@NightNinja I already went over why I disagree with this. Sure it may be a turn off for some and I think that's completely fair. However I do not think the game can be objectively worse because of how a character looks. What you're talking about is fanservice ruining the gravitas of a situation in which case I can agree it can objectively ruin crucial plot points. My only thing with that is xenoblade 2 doesn't inject the levity fanservice brings into a serious situation. I still can understand fanservice being a turn off though it isn't for everyone.
@@blues4509 you can’t tell me Perun using her lance as a stripper pole doesn’t make you take her less seriously lol. Come on now.
@@Eudaimonia7564 I've never really used perun, however no it doesn't for me. I can recognize when something is meant to be taken seriously and something isn't. This isn't the type of game where it's supposed to be dead serious all the time but when you are supposed to take the plot seriously the characters behave that way. Mythra is a great character for example and her having a little fanservicey hot spring scene or accidentally waking up with rex doesn't negate the finale torna scene to give references.
@@blues4509 perun’s entire character is that she’s super serious. Her randomly dancing around a pole in the middle of fights is super weird. Maybe you should use her more.
I respect that these are your opinions, but it is respectfully in my opinion that your opinions are trash.
Have a wonderful day sir.
Hey, as long as you respect my trash opinions, that's all I ask for
Manners do people, we must remember it
And we respect your ooinions too.
11:16 while I will admit the game throws a lot of names and ideas at you in the first hour I'd like to mention that of course it sounds like a bunch of jargen with the context cutout, also are you going to ignore the visual context? "Blades, and Drivers?" As the camera pans over 4 characters followed in a few scenes by "this boy has made himself the Aegis's Driver," which tells you that Drivers are the people and blades are the helpers and that the Aegis is a blade. Do the same thing for Xenoblade 1.
Bionis, Mechonis, Bionis, Mechon, M78 Mechon, Dunban, Colony 6, Monado, Monado, Dickson, Dunban, Homs and thats without even ending the like 30 minute prolog
Not to mention taht he mentions Titans in the cutscene while showing Gramps. This game is allmost allways show dont tell. Allmost everything is shown either directly or with a visual that symbolises it.
At first a bought the game, went for about 20 hours and sold the game. I couldn’t stand the long battles, generic anime tropes in the beginning etc. but I recently went back bought it back because I felt I was missing something. I got back to where I was and I still had the same problems, but going a little further, it clicked. The battle system finally felt fully fleshed out, the story started being good, and I loved it. It happened when you get to a town with the mentor character. I have the game up a bit before that and sort of regret not just playing a little longer. But to be real. It shouldn’t take 20 hours for it to get “good”
My issue with all 3 of these games is that the fans of it tend to ignore all the problems and even hail those problems as features. IVe seen people crap on other games that do similar things but defend it in this game. Same goes for modern zelda games.
I resonate with this so much. I love XC1 and XCX, but no matter how many times I try to get into it, I just don't enjoy XC2 for a lot of the reasons you listed.
XB1 gets outclassed on nearly every front by 2 lol
@@skylandersfan6954How? Also, you may think so but others don't because its subjective and for me you just can't beat xenoblade 1's beautiful grit with genshin big titty anime girls
@@edenswhateverchannel I love how Xenoblade 1 elitists dont understand the point and messages of either game, they just boil it down to being edgy and titties because they have no media literacy like you're doing right now. If your entire selling point for the game is "Oh its gritty" then Im not going to be inclined to agree with you because gritty =/= well written, thats not a defence
@@skylandersfan6954 I love how you call me a "elitist" when I literally said that it's subjective and that I personally don't like the genshin booty shorts art style compared to the more realistic gritter art style of Xenoblade 1. I also prefer the ost of the first game and the story. If you like xb2 more go ahead but I disagree and don't like it. You act more like a "elitist" by refusing to accept that your favorite game doesn't appeal to everyone and not everyone likes it over the first game and that hurts your feefees so you have to take everything as a personal attack. I don't like xb2 over xb1, and if you disagree fine.
@@edenswhateverchannel Xenoblade 1's art style is still anime, wtf are you talking about? The only realistic thing in the game is the environments, which also applies to Xenoblade 2 so moot point. Stuff like this this is exactly what I mean when I say elitist, you have to be disengious in order to gas up the game you like so much which is the problem
Dude, I feel so validated listening to your Rex commentary. I can't tell you how many people have argued with me that he has all the same tropes as Shulk and grows "SO much" during the story. I'm like "bitch, he fucking cries every time something goes wrong down to the last cutscene and that is the only time he has to accept he can't get his way throughout the entire story, and then he gets both Pyra and Mythra back as soon as they land, so he never once had any real consequence and literally got what he wanted evey time he cried and complained about things not going his way, and his solution, verbatim, was "for Pyra" every single time he had a moral conflict, and even when his friends confronted him about that in the Architects test, all he could do was say "but Pyra" and run away crying, literally being saved by Pyra begging her dad to stop the test. Then the crybaby has the nerve to act all confident in passing the architect's test. Bull fucking shit. He cried and ran away and had his girlfriend beg for mercy, and that's all" and they're like "nah, you're wrong, he chose to not fight his friends and those weren't even his real friends, if was made up by the architect." I'm like "dude, that was really Pyra, so how the fuck are you claiming it wasn't actually his other friends, they literally rejoin you after you "confront" each of them. It's their innermost darkest thoughts and bro fucking ran away". But the Rex stans will defend him to no end and forever suck his cock. It's absurd and I am so glad to hear a decent sized youtuber share my same issues with the character that is Rex
Yeah, I also feel Rex didn't earned the right to be called "the Master Driver", he's not even a decent main lead. As much as I like XC2, it feels as if the game doesn't want to take risks with its protagonist and just wants to bail him off from whatever unpleasant situation at any cost and at the same time, wants to reward him for so little. This is best exemplified with Azurda's "death". There are no meaningful consequences for his bad decisions and poor judgement, it is also a wasted opportunity for character growth and at the same time undermines drama and stakes.
@@ferru-two99 Thank you. Believe it or not, you are the first XC2 lover who has ever commented in agreement with me about Rex. He has so many stans, and just cause negative responses online died down they think they "won" and that nobody thinks he's bad anymore. It's like, no dude, people just moved on to games with better protagonists and writing. I respect your opinion. True fans acknowledge things that could be better about the games they love. XCX is my favorite game of all time and it has loads of issues
@@Chronoflation You're welcome and I'm not surprised at all. I really like XC2 but it has many, many flaws and its main character is probably my biggest issue with the game.
Astro's section on Rex is blatantly wrong though, like he blatantly just shows he doesn't understand the story at all. "Why is Rex the master driver" gee maybe the scene right before he becomes the Master Driver and the scene where he talks to Addam as well as the name of the chapter exemplifies why that is
@@skylandersfan6954 Well, let's agree to disagree.That cutscene seems more as plain character shilling anyway and still feels unearned. If you like Rex that's fair, I don't, those are the true feelings I decided on and not because of Astro's section. I still love the game regardless of it's issues but I wish we'd got a much better main lead.
"i did not like the gacha system that ruins every other system it interacts with" one simple sentence of what at the core ruins the game design, ruins the execution on field skills, turning them into grindy roadblocks, ruins combat, making it's already limited and clunky (and badly taught) execution all the more irritating to expand on and work with, and nukes basic progression and pacing so hard there's not even any dust left.
Field skills and gacha are often criticized in this game. Between my multiple playthroughs, I've found that they're only a problem if you rush the main story. If you take the time to do side quests and affinity charts, you will almost never find your progress blocked by field skills.
It's actually the same as a complaint of Torna ~ The Golden Country where the game forces you to do side quests because you're not supposed to rush through the main story as many players do.
@@angeldude101 I think the problem with that comes from the fact that, in Xenoblade 1, you could take the game a your own pace, do as many or as few side quests as you pleased, and you could still progress with the main story however you wanted, as all it really demanded of you was to keep about level with the game and learn the battle mechanics.
XC2's Field Skills instead hard punish you if you don't stop to grind, to go and do the specific tasks to level them up, and roadblocks the story, the exploration, and even sidequests/affinity missions themselves, which can lead to cycles of grinding within grinding. This is where you end up grinding core crystals, to grind for Blades with the field skills you need, to help you also level up other field skills you also need, when in XC1, you just didn't have to do layered grinding, only the occasional bit of level grinding if you fell behind.
Xenoblade X introduced field skills, and you could level them as they went, and the main story and side quests never required the use of any beyond the base Level 1 checks. They served solely as rewards you chose to help you access treasure and probes (which is why Mechanical was broken lol) and they never roadblocked your progress, only helped you get treasure, resources, and fast travel spots. It wasn't wholly balanced, but it wasn't tied to RNG bullshit either.
@@MugenCannon97 I never had to grind on my first playthrough. I simply did the game at my own pace doing side quests and opening cores at my leisure and never got blocked by field skills.
I only ever had to grind when trying for 100% in the post-game, or when rushing through the story on subsequent runs. It's clear that stopping to smell the roses is exactly what the game wanted you to do when the prequel cuts the field skills and just directly roadblocks the story until you do enough side quests.
This is a case where I do genuinely think that issues with field skills come from playing the game wrong rather than the game itself being bad. The game is punishing you for ignoring most of the game.
@@angeldude101 I'd argue that "playing the game wrong" is an insulting take at worst. I had a very opposite experience to you, where on my first run, I focused mostly on experiencing the story and exploring the environments that made up each level. In that regard, I found field skills to be a raw obstruction: they got in the way of exploration, and held back my story progression. They're never really referenced by the story itself as being of great importance, yet in truth of the gameplay, I learned the hard way that they were some of the most important things in the game if I wanted to enjoy it.
In the case of playing right or wrong, the only way to really play "wrong" would be if you didn't level up, and used all the wrong arts and wrong blades at the wrong time, which itself is quite subjective depending on how specific you get. I'd use XC1 as a great example of how you can't really play it wrong, you can go for the story, explore the environments as much as possible, or dive into the sidequests, and you are never massively punished for any of these options the same way field skills punish you for not stopping and either grinding or going through the sidequests, and even those punish you if your field skills aren't leveled either, so you're being smacked in the face, and told to go back and grind specific stuff, rather than progressing naturally with anything. That's the problem with it. XCX is a sidequest heavy game, and incentivises it naturally. XC2 is a field skill grind heavy game, and does not communicate it naturally, nor do they level naturally, nor are they accessed naturally, the whole thing too reliant on the RNG of gacha.
I'll leave you with a good example of how field skills managed to ruin one aspect of the game for me. Mikhail's sacrifice. Right after that? High level Electrical Blade field skill check. Had to go back and pull some more electric blades and grind em up. Story showed me a brave sacrificed and urged me to rush forward during a sequence that clearly emphasises the time sensitivity of it all, and I had to leave and grind because I didn't feel like begging daddy rnjesus for some electric blades. Any immersion was absolutely nuked off the face of the earth. Like it or not, but field skills just aren't a good system when paired with grinding and gacha, the mortal enemies of fun.
@@MugenCannon97 the thing is that there are plenty of non rng blades that you can obtain and if you have the dlc there are even more and the game tells you that you need to level up field skills to access certain places and complete certain quests so why is it a huge problem when this actually happens because if all you’re doing is story content it shouldn’t be a huge issue because there isn’t a single field skill check required for the main story that you can’t complete with story blades and if you actually can’t, there is always another way and it shouldn’t be a grind either you SHOULD be trying to fill out those charts as you progress through the game if you choose to ignore them you can’t be too upset at the game because of it
They can be accessed very naturally I’ve already gone over that there are plenty of non rng blades and even if you do use rng there is a pity system in place that ensures you get certain rare blade guaranteed after you tried enough times and I feel like I also need to point out it’s not like common blades are the “loser” prize either because they also have fields skills as well as other attributes that make them very useful
This is like ignoring to upgrade your character’s gear and skills and getting upset at the game because they are underperforming, are field skills the best and most fun system there is, most definitely not lol but it isn’t particularly punishing or unfair unless you just completely ignore it
Aw. I'm in the minority but...
I liked Xeno2 more than Definitive Edition.
😅
I forget that I played it
Which is a real shame, it is probably because I played 2 first
That’s hardly an unpopular opinion
In the minority? Pfft, don’t make me laugh!
It’s a pretty 50/50 chance of which one people will like better. I’ve seen both games dominate multiple “favorite Xenoblade game” polls. Xenoblade X, I’ve hardly ever seen get any love. Never played it so I can’t give my opinion on it.
Good god I thought my headphones were gonna melt because of all of the roasting you were doing in this vid. That's a good thing btw.
Dude. That was beautiful.
As someone who has Xeno 1 as his favorite game, i pretty much has the same problems with Xeno 2. Glad to see that other people get it too.
You don't deserve that many dislikes, you're honestly very spot on.
No he is not lol, lots of bad faith arguments
I don't agree with the videos thesis but the video was very well-made and therefore it deserves a lot of likes and got a like from me.
@@skylandersfan6954 I think you're confusing his personal taste and opinions with bad faith.
If he was arguing without having an open mind to the merits of what he's criticizing or obtusely exaggerating flaws to make them seem worse than they are, then that'd be bad-faith argument. Honestly he seems really reasonable.
@@ShirakoriMio But, he is exaggerating the flaws. Wether it be the entire Rex section or him acting like every single character in the game is for a specific fetish despite some of the ones he listed not being sexualised and some being invented for games long before Xenoblade 2 as well, his entire video is like this. He also demeans people for liking the game, saying the only thing they like in the game is boobs and thats the only reason people wanted a Xenoblade 2 rep in Smash as well
@@skylandersfan6954 Honestly to an extent, yeah, but he still has valid criticism in the context of the rest of Xenoblade as he goes. The second game is in fact the only hyper-sexualized one of the bunch and it's distracting. Comparing it to Bayonetta is good since it calls the themes into question. Rex is a mopey poorly written poorly designed character, especially standing next to Shulk and the rest of the cast. His voice direction is easily the second worst voice direction in the series, second only to the nopons. That's a valid and logical criticism. The gacha mechanics are really bad. The tutorials last hours and communication is terrible.
The degree of his disdain isn't to my taste, but he also isn't saying "if you like this, then you're an idiot." He's just saying "I don't like this because [opinion]" and that's fine. He has a point and he still acknowledges parts of the game he likes. I think Xenoblade 2 just had a massive fanbase that thinks the game has minimal flaws and will mass-dislike people who share harsh opinions.
Also rex reminds me of everything I hate about a shonen protagonist.
Shulk will always be the chad.
Shulk is super chad
Unlike Rex, he really felt it.
Which is?
So hilarious that one month after the release of this video, Pyra/Mythra was confirmed for smash. Had to look it up after hearing those smash bros comments.
I remember when I played through this game, a friend who played it before me said "Its a little slow to start, but once you hit a certain part in the story, it really picks up and you'll be hooked!" I got 40 hours into the game and still was waiting for "the part" to kick in, and when I asked them what story point they meant, I already passed it 20 hours ago... Thats when I just dropped the game. Watched all the cutscenes online and I feel like I didn't miss much by not finishing. I saved 30 hours of my life from this game that way haha
Out of curiosity, what point was that? I’m of the opinion that the story stops being trash when they reach Rex’ hometown. Like I said, just my curiosity, I’m not gonna try to convince you to like the game or anything.
@@the_door_opener2622 That was actually the part that was mentioned funny enough! Rex just didnt grow on me like he did some other people. It was a bit hard for me to enjoy a game when I dont really enjoy the main character. Again, just my experience with it though!
@@LCHKNG1 Tbh I found Rex really annoying and that he was sort of a Gary Stu as he never gets challenged on a lot of his flaws(him giving up for 5 minutes then turning back to normal does not constitute as him giving up).
Ummm, He has a complaint about the game not explaining to the Architect at the beginning of the game, when the on-screen text shows Rex explaining that he is the divine father, or God if want to see him that way, that lives in a beautiful land over the World Tree (tree that, once again, is shown in all its splendor while Rex narrates the basics of the world), The Elysium, place that he complains that the game doesn't show it, but in fact they do it almost at the end of the same chapter, a few hours later. Easily to how Rex describes everything, it is sensed that the Elysium is what for Christianity Heaven.
In addition, the identity of the architect is an important point for the plot that cannot be revealed at the beginning or would not make sense. Or Alrest, Which you can sense is what they call the land inhabited by, you know, titans.
Also, why does he includes names of people at that point? I don't see much sense in it. I just don't exactly agree with that point
Me watching this video after 10+ times playing it and most of the time almost 100% playing it… yeah… no… I might not really agree with most here…😅
You put a lot of work into this and therefore deserve a like. A negative video shouldn't give you a bad like/dislike ratio sad to see that. I love all xenoblade games including 2.
I won't argue designs, tutorials, VA, because I think those are all valid points.
Too many Proper nouns and Rex being a bad character I will argue against though.
First with the proper nouns. I agree it can be a bit over bearing, but the beginning of the game with all the proper nouns gives great context as to what is happening in the world that Rex lives in and makes it feel alive independently of the main character.
The tell dont show is almost a non issue for the mere fact that they show you almost every thing mentioned. You visit Mor Ardain, Uraya, the leftherian Archipelago, you see the architect, and a flourishing Elysium (Pyra's memories). In the original chronicles you talk about colony 6 as early as 9. You talk about prison island as early as colony 6. It's a lot more linear information so it is easier to take in and albeit they show you these places not that far from once they mention it doing it this way makes the world of XC feel more segregated than XC2.
Now on to Rex. I dont even know where to start. Rex is a extremely well fleshed out character imo. He is a child with a go get em attitude. He didn't listen to Vandam leaving, but I think his actions make sense with his character. He's not the type of person to abandon someone. You dog on him for not facing repercussions, just crying and getting his way but he knew he was being dumb when it came to the vandam loss. He tries to get stronger just toface another loss in tantal and the happy Rex we know is gone. iirc he says that he hasn't changed or that nothing has changed just completely in self loathing and he's only able to get out because of the friends around him, and one of the best parts about this is that either zeke or Morag mention to one another to stay out of it to let Rex, Nia, poppi the people with younger mindsets to let out how they are feeling. Rex isn't supposed to be emotionally invincible he's a kid and is being supported by the older people around him making sure he doesn't lose his way. His actions fit his character for his age, he makes complete sense to me and is a great character. I don't fault you for liking shulk more though lol.
"The tell dont show is almost a non issue for the mere fact that they show you almost every thing mentioned. You visit Mor Ardain, Uraya, the leftherian Archipelago, you see the architect, and a flourishing Elysium (Pyra's memories). In the original chronicles you talk about colony 6 as early as 9. You talk about prison island as early as colony 6. It's a lot more linear information so it is easier to take in and albeit they show you these places not that far from once they mention it doing it this way makes the world of XC feel more segregated than XC2."
Except you see the things they talk about really late and without any link to what they talked about, yes you go to uraya and mor ardain, but that doesn't matter because you didn't do it because of what the npc talked about in the opening of the game, you did it for a whole other reason, which make the frist dialogue where you talk about it completly useless. XC1 told you about a place, and you went to it, because you had to, and for prison island, you litterally see it in a fucking vision, and the characters don't know that much about the bionis and the mechonis, so you discover thoses places with the cast, XC2 had a cast that know too much, so they had to tell you about all that shit so that you know about as much as the characters, which isn't good in the slightest. Plus there is plenty of way to make the world feel lived in, for example, giving npc a unique aesthetic based on where they are from, different shape and colors for different titans for example, you don't need the fucking characters telling you, yes I live in this world that you know nothing about, let me tell you how much you know nothing about.
@@fieldkaiju In XC2 you also are told about a place and go there because you have to
Ok, watched the whole thing. I can respect your opinions and stance on the game. After all, it's hardly an uncommon one. It's good to have a level headed discussion.
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In particular, I will agree on the following:
- Combat does a bad job of being explained and being exciting until much later, that is, if you stick with the game
- Tutorials are wholly inferior to the great tutorials of the first game
- Cutscenes can definitely be jarring, as the voice direction was noticeably weak for English since the developers chose to match the animations to the Japanese voices
- Artwork/design can vary wildly against the actual personality. Matters more if the kind of designs present are not usually the kind of thing that you're into
- Field skills and gacha are dumb, no question
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For me though, Xenoblade 2 is my 2nd favorite game of all time, behind Metroid Prime. And I loved the original game. And I loved XCX (deserves a proper followup). I'll be honest - I straight up was not a fan of anime aesthetic before this game. When I saw the artwork and visuals for the first time, I frowned at what I was seeing. There really was and is no good reason for things to be as sexualized as they are beyond well, just being sexy. However, because I had loved the previous 2 games so dearly, I decided to give Monolith a chance. And I'm glad I did. I poured 645 hours into this game and completely fell in love with it. When I look back at it, my memories of 2 are the most fond because I just enjoyed how much more of a 'video game' 2 is. The things I enjoyed the most:
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- Absolutely the best combat system of the three games. It takes a while to get there, but if you manage to understand how the game wants you to play, it is an absolute blast.
- Characters and even yes, voice acting. I'm a fan of the accents in the game. I love Mòrag's Scottish and grew to really like Nia's Welsh. And to me, the constant battle chatter is part of the game's charm. I can't imagine not playing with all the overlapping voices. That's Xenoblade for me.
- Artwork. I grew to like this too. Even if there isn't necessarily a solid reason for everybody to be looking the way they do, I didn't mind it after a while. I ended up really liking some of the designs.
- Content and support. Monolith, even if they were short staffed and on time constraints, did a stellar job supporting the game post-release. Even if some things really should have been better on release, they made adjustments to cover that and really went above and beyond with the updates for the next year. They kept making QoL updates and adding things for players to enjoy. Mind you, this is still a rather niche, single player JRPG. How many developers do you see dealing out the kind of post-release that this game had, for this kind of game? It was truly a labor of love, it was evident. They even went as far as to acknowledge some of the community memes in the DLC. They were paying attention to fans.
- Xenoblade 2's soundtrack is the one I've most enjoyed in 30 years of playing games. It's musically diverse, dynamic, and thematically cohesive from start to finish.
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While I can definitely understand why people dislike it, I loooooooved Xenoblade 2. It's far from perfect, and it's not for everybody, but I had the time of my life playing it.
Just because you dont agree with his opinion dose not make it a bad video