Despair and Hope: Existentialism in Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- For clarification, at around 4:00 I should've chosen my words a bit more carefully. Amalthus still believes in a God, but he doesn't believe he will bring salvation unless something is done. That's why he takes it upon himself to cleanse the world and make himself worthy of salvation. It's like Friedrich Nietzsche's description of how religion causes a nihilistic view of the world.
EDIT: Wow! I never thought this video would get 1000 views, especially not 100 likes. Thanks, you guys rock!
EDIT 2: Huge thanks for 2000 views.
Xenoblade and Xenoblade 2 are property of Nintendo and Monolithsoft.
Xenosaga is property of Bandai-Namco.
All rights go to them.
really interesting in relationship to xc3 (as a continuation and a reflection of these ideas)
e.g. essense/purpose for the xc3 soldiers, who are born with a purpose (of fighting, taking each other's lives) and finding their 'essence', their "true selves" as quoted by Nia, and what happens when that essence is vehemently denied (moebius j, moebius s). interesting about the absurdism too, as the whole villain shtick being 'your lives are meaningless fuel, none of this is intentional and 'you're nothing but a grunt'', and that one of the ways to rebel against that in small ways is to assign meaning to things (offseeing tune being the most obvious one) as a way to find your place in the world. and that's why finding out in eunie's side story what's really going on behind one of the things that has "meaning" to the colonies is shown as an extreme violation. i'm a little incoherent cuz I'm rambling off ideas, but really interesting dive into the philosophical (which isn't my strong point).
a little annoyed at the comments saying "learn to criticize things it's not perfect", the point of an analysis is just to analyze what's there and make meaning. if he wanted to criticize things it would be a critique. pay attention in english class and learn something about how analysis works lmfao. xc2 is my least favourite of the trilogy and i think there are a fair bit of weaknesses in the story, but this analysis clearly isn't about looking for those things, and neither is it saying that the game's perfect either. analysis just is. you can absolutely hate a piece of a work and still analyze it without talking about how much you think it's flawed or how much you hate it unless that's the main point of your piece.
I just realized, different from Jin and Malos, Amalthus was the only one that did not find an answer of any kind. Kinda sad really, right 'till the end he was still asking 'why' (Awesome video btw XD)
@Xenomaniac he was too busy looking up at God for answers; everyone was. He failed to realize that if they actually looked elsewhere instead of fight each other, the answer was right there if he really listened. He was too busy wanting someone from on high to notice his suffering, to care, but he is too angry at the unfairness of the life he lives, unable to recognize his unwillingness to change created a self fulfilling prophesy.
F Amalthus lol
Xenoblade 2 video essays, lets fucking go
Even as someone who already finds new things to love about the Xeno series, this added something I never fully thought of. What an absolute banger. It makes Rex and Amalthus's parallels feel even stronger than they already are
I know I'm a year late to this video, but this video is perfect. Absolutely perfect. It summarizes exactly why I love Xenoblade 2. Beyond the surface level of anime characters with big swords is an incredible exploration of purpose and what it means to be human. I wish more people could see the game for its true meaning. Fantastic video!
Put into this context, it sheds a bit of light, and meaning, on the name of the final boss theme; "After Despair and Hope".
12:03 I relate with Morag on this one. Though I think regardless if purpose was given clear or not in the beginning, I think striving for finding and being content with it or just even in the effort to reach it in the end are what really matters. Or at least what I think is the message the game is trying to convey.
Anyways amazing well thought out essay which captures the theme of this lovely game.
Bro I thought i was the only one who think about the existentialism in that game, I really like your video !
Really damn good analysis. This is what I love about xenoblade: just how thought provoking it is. I honestly can excuse the cheesiness of certain scenes because the overall story/narrative of the game is just too damn good to pass up on. I was immediately immersed into the game within the first cutscene just because of how many questions sprung into my mind. Stories that make you question things on a deeper level are always just so much more memorable.
Malos is quite strong though. He was born to hate humanity and even then he still managed to turn that into a love of blades
This was a pretty good analysis man, I feel like I actually learned new things about this story and its meaning.
something ive always found really beautiful is that after everything that Amalthus has been through (basically just a crazy series of extremely unfortunate events leading him to believe he should destroy the world), the Architect does seem to finally feel pity towards him & sends the spirit of his mother down in his last moments
Very nice video with excelent analyses!
I think another example would be Klauss, and not only at the moment he destroy the world because think it should be different, but also as Zanza in XC1 where he needs to control everything. This is the oppositive view of Meineth, who accepted the world despite recognizing its problems in the same line as Rex in XC2
Here's a thing about Amalthus I like thats relevant in a semi-relevant existentialist topic. Sartre wrote about existentialism and its belief that "man is the sum of their choices". The nihilistic side, amalthus, has no hope for mankind with those choices. Amalthus believes that a man is still defined by their choices, but man will always make the worst most abhorrent choices as it is innate to man. We see how this was cemented into him at the cutscene that leads to chapter 9: ua-cam.com/video/K_36MHhGii4/v-deo.html (hell I think that you could do a whole mini essay analyzing this cutscene alone, how it uses music, what it represents thematically, how it shows amalthus, etc)
He helps heal a wounded man and gives them a new chance at life. However, all he sees him do is become a thief, murder a family and almost a child. This cements the view that mans choices will always be corrupt. He gave someone the opportunity for good choices but all they did was squander them as man is inherently morally bad. And the scene after that, with the child. It's obvious that he murdered that child by either smothering it/dropping it into the cloud sea. This mirrors how his mom attempted to do the same thing when he was a child while thinking that amatlhus living in this cruel world without her was... unimaginable. He sees the baby and believes that it should not live in the state of the world, mans choices always lead to suffering and cruelty. He has had a tragic awful life that only slowly drove his view of humanity into him further and further, until it was fully cemented.
The ending line "oh architect, is this the world that you intended" fits even better after chapter 10. We know that this is not the world e intended, he intended for people like Amalthus not to exist with what he set up.... but it didn't work. and Amalthus only sees a world that goes directly against what Klaus intended.
Amalthus is also a perfect mirror to Rex like you talked about. People always talk about shulk/egil because its very obvious but not amalthus/rex enough. Amalthus has lost complete faith in the world and sees that noone can change, everyone is inherently like that. People cannot change, this world is inherently awful and so are those living in it. Rex, although some would call him naive, has faith in everyone in this world, he believes even the worst of people can change! And they do this through their choices and can be forgiven. Amalthus believes that humanity's choices will always lead down a dark path and they cannot be forgiven inherently.
IDK If you'll even see this but I wanted to say that this is literally like one of my favorite video essays on this whole damn site. Clear thesis for what it will cover and you explain complex philosophical topics quickly and succinctly. Going from philosophical topic->how that topic is shown in 2 flows very well. Each topic and its relevance is given enough meaning while not wasting any time. Its covering a topic that isnt very well appreciated in the fandom/not just saying why something is "the best" or "a masterpiece". Not enough xeno fans know the super well written and executed existentialist themes in 2 and you cover it perfectly! Rex is an extremely underappreciated protagonist, especially for his thematic relevance, and you discuss that really well. Malos is also one of my fav villains in all of fiction and you describe his beliefs and how he is used as a device thematically in a great way too! Amalthus is also often overlooked as "the REAL big bad" but he has serious depth and is still tragic. The way you present Rex and Amalthus as existential foils for eachother is PERFECT!
I make sure to show this vid to any of my friends who have played xenoblade 2. You really deserve so many more views!! I would love to see more videos like this about other philosophical topics in 2/xeno too.
I've been looking for this video forever. This is one of the best analysis videos on the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 characters.
This is some of the best xeno content on the internet I can’t wait to see you dissect the meaning of 3
I know it isn’t his role in the game, but I personally really wish Malos had more moments showing him just _talking_ to the other Torna members, or even to Pyra/Mythra. I wanted to see what he was like freshly awakened, and if his corruption by Amalthus was completely instantaneous or whether Amalthus had discussions with him that kind of imprinted that worldview on Malos through their link.
Fantastic video, I had no idea of the existentialism that was present in xenoblade 2, I've definitely gotta replay it for sure
absolute banger video. I know I am a year late but this definitly deserves more views.
Really good video!
This was one of th most interesting videos I've ever seen.
Really outdid yourself on this one.
Not letting the song peak at 9:23 was one of the biggest "cocktease" moments I've experienced in a while, great video otherwise ofc.
cool Video man! Definitely gave me a new perspective on the game. I often found myself aimless in my life and really wished for some kind of greater purpose that guided me, but you showed me that maybe it is better this way…
This sounds waaay to dramatic hahah but really great video!
Thank you
*nuts in frog*
So true!!!!
Fuckin excellent video man. Subbed and rang the bell for ya.
This was recommended on my fyp I like it and sub !!!
Thanks for the video! ^^
Fantastic! Great work
Awesome video!
Bravo
SHEEEEEESH
Music used in this video?
It's funny seeing people trying to give depth to characters who are part of the cliche JP trope-fest that revolves around sad backstories and cringe motivational tools such as the power of friendship. The game is filled with generic, childish and non-sensical elements yet when a character at some point decides to randomly throw a quote about the meaning of life, all the pseudo-intellectual weebs are pointing at it in an attempt to validate how deep their anime game is.
friendship and having a positive outlook on life is a theme in western entertainment too, no matter how you cry about it being cringe.
@@mpo48 No it's not, stop coping weeb
@@geryon8814 I'm not coping there's nothing to cope about.
It's pretty sad that this is the first and only actually critical comment on this video so far. These analysis videos always seem to turn into echo chambers for fans who just want to keep telling each other how great and deep their game is.
Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree with the idea that this game has some very vague philosophical aspects to it, I just wish these videos would also critically analyze how well they are actually portrayed in the game and -why- Xenoblade 2 was chosen as an example here (because there are countless stories of both Western and Japanese origin which these existential concepts could be applied to), i.e. whether it really makes Xenoblade 2 as special as it's implied here.
@@DDevilized an echo chamber is better than constantly being forced to discuss things with people who want to make you feel bad for liking something, i see it in every single fandom, people who don't actually like the games come in and insult ridicule and bully others since they feel they are somehow better, im tired of being critical myself just let me enjoy things without constantly trying to force me to stop enjoying things.
Too bad these themes are used in a very surface level way. They're not really challenged by the world state or other characters, they aren't expanded upon in a mature way. Rex's especially seems like it was just a happy coincidence. It's painfully surface level. Sure, the themes are there, but they're not treated with any of the depth or respect you'd find in artistic works that dive into these things.
And thats a good thing, constantly hitting people in the head with the themes would end up with the whole thing feeling pretentious
thats false. They don't go super in-depth but there is a lot there. Instead of trying to be as deep as possible, the game expands on the concepts and implements them in various ways. Xenoblade 2's strength comes from its connections whether relationships or parallels. If you want a lecture go read the original works then lmao.
Great video. One thing I noticed is that Klaus seems to be the greatest nihilist of them all, to the point of triggering the most absurd event the world had ever seen in a desperate attempt to discard or fix the world he lives in. As he comes to realise what he has done, he doesn’t intervene or appear in order to test his remaining faith in humanity given the measures he just went to to rebuild it. He becomes a human god, with many of his human questions remaining unanswered, willing to let the world he made be destroyed if that truly is the way his kind is meant to be even with a new kind in the mix (Blades).
On the other hand, Galea seems completely different, not willing to take the risks of the Conduit because she likely sees value in the world (evidenced by Meyneth’s desire for friendship with the beings she created). The guldos are referred to as “those who clung to life”, likely what Galea had the strongest impulse to do as she was right there trying to desperately stop Klaus, transforming her into the greatest guldo of them all. Poetically, Klaus plays God activating the conduit as a human, and plays human as a god in choosing to not intervene and feeling tremendous guilt; whereas Galea embodies the brighter aspects of humanity as a human and then turns into the most animalistic, destructive, grotesque creature you encounter.
It would be awesome if you made more of these I really liked this.
Very true. I didn't include Klaus' hoplessness because I thought the video was going on long enough. And thank you for pointing out Galea, since the contrast between the divine and the primal had never occurred to me before.
Will Xenoblade 3 end up being a redemption for humanity past faults ? We'll see.
@@kyurei4478 Good question! ^^
On top of what you said about Klaus deciding to no longer intervene, it's also the antithesis of how Zanza keeps wanting to reset the world until he's satisfied.
There is also the fact Drifting Soul also explores these themes in its own lines, it's why it's the most played song in the game's story
i think a pretty undervalued aspect of this idea is that it's not just that rex is a person who can show others the good in the world and inspire them to rebel, but every party member also in fact embodies individual splinters of this true rebel ideology in pretty meaningful ways.
tora is one of the overt ones, being that he spent a lot of his life idolizing drivers, wishing to be one, and living in close contact with his dad and grandad who also shared this dream, only to again be denied by seemingly the will of destiny itself when he could not awaken a blade. tora, in response, literally gives that destiny the finger and BUILDS HIS OWN BLADE, which first of all is just badass as hell i mean come on. but more seriously, his central character arc revolves around this concept of artificiality and idolization, which is a result of the absurd nature of the world which is at ends with its own self, forcing not only a young innocent nopon lad, but also forcing an even innocent-er artificial blade to have to ask why she cant be "real", if the vision rex sees of them from the architect is anything to go by.
honestly i dont really know if i fully understand what aspect of absurdist rebellion morag is supposed to embody, she kinda just serves the purpose of a cool grounding character which the game respects well enough and doesnt unload too much angst onto her. brighid though i can definitely go into detail about, like the interactions she has with jin about her diary being a good example. blades are creatures of the world that are forced through no will of their own to contend with the fact that their past lives could have been ANYTHING, and they would tread the streets unaware of the potential evil they may represent, a la percival or praxis & theory's side quests. they had no hand in contributing to the pain they caused in a past life, but it comes back to haunt them even still, and not every blade even gets that amount of closure, much less the privledge brighid is afforded with her diary, and even still she does not trust her own writing to be without bias.
even party members who are non permanent fufill this role, such as vandham. vandham, the hulking, frightening, angry mercenary whos had his fair share of loss at the hands of war, and who rocks a scary pompadour to boot, who is actually a big softie that sought to raise a sleepy little village in the middle of nowhere to help orphaned kids grow up to be WHATEVER they please. even his advice to rex is pretty thoroughly doused with this ideology. for that matter, even gramps has a bit of relevance to this topic, again if the visions from the architect are anything to go by with gramps being able to rebel against his quote unquote role in the world through rex by becoming a lil baby and traveling the world together as equals, rather than being stuck forever to be an immortal country, having to watch his only aquaintences come and go with their limited lives and limited thoughts.
nia is another pretty blatant case, one that works at multiple levels even. nia's rebellion against the nature of the world is probably two fold, on the first level being that she would continue life in the first place after all the trauma from the dad and the sister and the flesh eating and being chased alive, culminating in a life lead as a life lead as a rouge alongside jin and torna being the only lot that accepted her kind. however, she would come to have a rebellion against even that, finding a second, more complete companionship with rex's team, even going as far as to bear her true form, but more importantly becoming willing to lay her crush for rex out on the table in spite of the high likely hood of the bittersweet rejection, because in the end being afraid is a worse fate than heartbreak.
and then there's-
oh good fucking god.
then there's zeke. ...where do i even start with this guy? "absurd" is definitely the right word. he's a pretty silly man, being someone who no doubt spends weeks on end thinking up dumb titles and fake edgy anime backstories where he proclaims to have a demon sealed inside him or whatnot, and he puts a lot of stock into whether his opponents, typically people hes literally never met, think it sounds cool or not. THATS where he gets his sense of self image from, but then when the time comes to reveal the ACTUAL edgy anime protagonist backstory where he has half of a blade surgically implanted in his lung, eh. he just kind of tells you, "oh i didnt think it was worth mentioning, but this is a thing." as if its the same as revealing that you're left handed. this man is insane. he grew up in isolationist society, but yearned to travel the world for all it's got. if you watch the hard Life heart to heart with rex, zeke recounts the time's hed tried to go and solve all the problems of every nation, and that he ended up failing spectacularly, but rex finds it incredibly admirable, pointing out how broadly zeke can manage to worry for people and how rare of a trait that is, and i agree. just about every notion of this guy's life is an act of rebellion, as if every single time life told him that this is the way something is, that zeke talked right back at life itself and said "you SURE?" before jumping head first into a wall just to find out if it would hurt. circling back to what i said before about how hes literally a freak for caring more about the fake anime origin stories than his real one, thats not JUST him being a goofball, that's him being a REAL one. to him, the fact that he got into a scrap and is now a blade eater due to ancient technological science magic, that doesnt matter. if people are impressed by that thats good for them, but he could care less. what REALLY matters to him, is if you think he's funny. i LOVE that about him. thats something that HE and ONLY HE has control over. that SHOULD be what you care about in this dog eat dog world. really, its almost like zeke was 99% destined to be the main protagonist, and just managed to nail that 1% dingus chance exactly on the head like he always does and this is what becomes of him, it's truly inspiring.
what
ok back to the main point, hell even MALOS ends up having a small bit of true rebellion at the very bleak end, or at least thats what i see. when he says "there was only one driver for me", its as if malos is taking back the cuplability for his actions that he easily could have waved off as influence from someone else. it would have been easy to die assuming that every bad deed you commited was because you were manipulated, but it also might feel hollow in the process. malos, in one final act of rebellion against his position, claimed a part of that responsibility, announcing that on some level malos felt like he would have still done some bad things even with a different driver, or that another driver would have felt wrong to him, scratching for one final freedom if it meant he could escape the hollow nature of the position he found himself in where all blame was casted away from his personage.
it is through all of these notions that rex arrives at his final answer. its not JUST that rex is a super cool guy who has the sole power to inherit the true absurdist rebel philosophy, in fact, anyone can. amalthus easily could have, its just that amalthus didnt end up doing that. rex is not some kind of destined one true chosen hero or anything, he's just _not an asshole,_ an apparent rarity. rex is someone who can meet all these people both good and bad, and not only have a positive effect on them, but allow their positives to effect HIM in return. whether this is a trait rex possesses due to his upbringing in a quiet sleepy village like leftheria, a whim of his own, or just plain dumb luck, i dont quite know, but i do know anyone could have been it. someone WAS it. rex is someone.
i feel that this is why the architect reacted the way he did when he met rex and crew face to face. he did not see the one true absurdist rebellion hero, he saw one man who had managed to take the same lived experience that everyone else is subjected to, including amalthus, and yes, including klaus, and turned something different of it. the architect saw in rex all of the potential outs rex could have taken but ended up not seeing through, because of the bond he shared with the rest of the world. and in those other potential versions of rex in which he gave up early, the architect saw klaus. thus, he wonders that maybe he will be able to face galea after all, if it all is true.
Banger comment
Great comment addressing the themes of this game!
To add on, I think Morag is supposed to represent the absurdist themes in both militarization and tradition. I mean, think about her position. She was basically going to be the emperor of Mor Ardain, just for Niall to be born and claim the throne by default due to the patriarchal royal lineages. Niall even brings this up, as he knows he only got the throne because the former emperor finally had a male heir. Morag also constantly finds herself at odds with her own military to some degree, whether it's Lindwurm, Brionac, or the sects of the Ardainian Empire that dug up the Judicium titan weapon after being told to put the project on hold. The Empire invests so much in its military only for it to constantly act against the Empire's best wishes, destroying natural landscapes like Gormott and provoking other nations like Uraya in the process. It also practically drains its titan dry for energy, but can't move anywhere else because they're often antagonistic to any other place they might've been able to go to. Hell, Gormott is their territory, but nobody there likes them and it's obvious from the pollution from their base that they would run Gormott dry just like they did to Mor Ardain.
Morag has come to realize that putting your country first often means you end up blind to the suffering of others, and you often end up harming yourself in the long run. In a world like Alrest where it seems like it's a free-for-all in terms of survival, sticking together like Rex wanted to (as he practically composes a party built up of races from each titan in some shape or form) is the best and safest path forward. Morag, traveling with Rex and friends, realizes that everything she's done up until that point has been in service to someone else. She serves the Empire, she serves Niall, but she never really stopped to think if what she was doing was truly right. It's how she and the Empire have always done it, so it has to be correct. Why try another way if this way works well enough? It's actually parallel to Tantal in a way, but where Mor Ardain takes an expansionist, militaristic approach, Tantal takes an isolationist one. Both ideologies lead to tradition and keeping up appearances almost destroying them.
@@GenesisJames goes hard
Comment almost made me cry wtf
*damn*
For once I LOVE the algorithm. It’s been giving me A LOT of these deeper Xenoblade/Xenoseries analyses. 🥰
Had to edit this with a response to your video. So you basically explain why I LOVE the Xenoseries - the deep philosophical sense of the narrative. I legit studied Judaism thanks to Xenosaga.
Can’t believe this got recommended to me 10 months later. Great analysis
Glad you enjoyed. And yeah, the YT algorithm really likes suggesting this video all of a sudden.
@@Gigathyn Can’t wait to see what Takahashi and his team have cooked up for Xenoblade 3
I'm actually a philosophy student and Xenoblade series introduced me to philosophy. I must say I'm impressed by your analysis, and I'll gladly use it to prove video games can be very meaningful. Also about Amalthus climbing the world tree, he discovered not only the Architect is not here, but also the paradise where he lives is a desert. Seeing the absurdity of the world not only in god's absence but also in the chaos of his house have led his insanity to go further, just like his thought of being the new architect.
Also, Malhos name, Logos, is very interesting, because of his paradoxal existence. Logos means speech in greek, refering to his ideal aspect. Malhos is stuck between his original purpose, and morals he discovered with his allies of Torna which can be a sign that he too, clearly see world's beauty in a sense. That us why he says he doesn't know where he is, because it's somehow a true contradiction : a world needing to be destroyed but also a beautiful world worth the existence. He decides despite that to destroy, because to me it will allow him to not think about it by simply erasing it from existence and enjoy himself by doing the only thing he knew he was good at. Logos is a tragic character, theatral in his behavior and even in his look, he only pretends to be but never assumed his essence, and never lived by his name.
It was so good seeing that Malos cared about Jin and now he wasn't doing all that to destroy the World but to help Jin with his will of meeting the architet to change how the blades are so that they won't forget their Drivers (at least it is what I think it was his goal, feel free to correct me)
He, different of Amalthus, Malos got people by his side, Amalthus became just an asshole to the rest of his life
Very good video! The representations of different ideologies is really what makes the characters in Xenoblade 2 so interesting to me.
So basically it’s a concept with a concept, supported with other concepts.
Conceptually speaking, in concept, that's the concept.
THIS is what I was missing! For the longest time, I felt as if I was missing a big part of the game's themes, and it was existentialism all along!
Now I feel like I enjoy this game much more, everything fully makes sense now.
Also, the "not knowing your purpose is more fun" part tying in with the ending of XC1 was genius. I would've never noticed it.
I don’t think he’s being controlled by Amalthus’s influence. He sticks to his previous goals because that’s all he has. If he abandoned that he’d have nothing.
I was thinking about amalthus and malos in particular but I didn't know what sort of philosophical idea to contribute their arcs to, so I never wrote an essay or anything. Then I found this video! Embodied basically everything I wanted to say but didn't know how to say it. Great video!
This video made me love Malos character more
It's a crime this video doesn't have more views.
Why is this only now recommended to me, I love Xenoblade. These games are so deep and explore so many philosophical and religious themes like the very essence of being.
Thank you for explaining this I always found the villains in this game. A little confusing to understand but it makes sense now
This was so well made.
This was such a nice video. You explained these concepts in a really nice way that does service to their depth while still being good for people newly looking in to the subject. I also appreciate it cause I didn't realize this game dealt with existentialist themes-the marketing, at least what I had seen, didn't forefront it the way something like Nier Automata or Xenoblade Chronicles 3 do. Im really interested in playing now!
💛🙏🏽👍🏽☺️
As a big fan of philosophical discussion, I really hope you do more videos that deal with it. I like the way you talk about the subject, and would watch them regardless of the game or piece of media you choose to look at.
This is one of the best Malos character analysis I've seen online. Great video.
Fuckin excellent video dude, very well done
Amazing video, loved the detail!!
Great video!
Criminally underrated vid