Why I Love Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Despite It All
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is not a perfect sequel, but it does speak to me in many of the same ways as the original. Despite everything it screws up, I can't help but love and admire it all the same.
0:00 Intro
6:37 Chapter One: A Dodgy Start
21:00 Chapter Two: The Thrill of the Fight
35:14 Chapter Three: A Beautiful, Ugly World
53:43 Final Chapter: Why I Love Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Despite It All
Ludiscere vid: • Xenoblade Chronicles 2...
Chuggaaconroy vid: • Everything I wish I kn...
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#KingK #xenoblade - Hry
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Hey King I want you to know that I played Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive after listening to your video on it twice. I went on to play XC2 and the Golden Country not long after. Patiently waiting with hype for XC3 now. Big ups KingK!
Don't use keeps. I tried it and I stopped feeling my orgasms.
I'm about 10 years too late for any hope of retaining my hair haha
Bruh
I must say i quite agree on most of the stuff you say in this video. It was very well made. Only thing i personally disagree with is the sexualisation bad part, mostly because i personally dont care, and i actually liked pyra and mythras design. The fact that they were sexualised did not detract from my enjoyment of the game, and in fact enhanced it in some ways, as i now see it as a big middle finger to woke culture. It was a game heavily influenced by japanese culture and their not give a damn attitude and i love every minute of it.
"XC2 created a schism in the fanbase that never really healed."
Can we appreciate the balls of monolith to make XC3's plot about the war between XC1 fans and XC2 fans?
Hahaha, Never saw it in that light
HA! I am suddenly more compelled to play it! Was already interested because JRPG with big world but THAT interpretation? Oh I'm curious now!
That and I watched some streams and I love Eunie's character.
I just saw it as the natural course of things. The big bang was the creation of the two worlds. When the expansion stops, the compression begins. The two worlds of XC1 and XC2 are combining or due to the war, a clash.
But you're interpretation is spot on. The creator basically did the meme
"Let them fight"
Lol, reminds me of how the villain of The Origami King is the embodiment of the TTYD fans' perspective on the later entries
@@JoeDan54 I'm interested please explain more why. Please
Right when the “talking about a anime game on the internet” line was said, a war game add started playing that was just straight gunfire and explosion sound effects. It was perfect
It was niggalicious!
Perhaps my favorite thing about Poppi is the fact that she sounds more human the longer the game goes on. Probably one of my favorite examples of a robot developing emotions in media.
Same thing was with Aigis in persona 3
“I love Xenoblade Chronicles 2, despite it all” is the best way to describe this game. Out of my all time favorite games, Xeno2 is easily the game I have the most problems with. Yet, despite it all, I cannot call it anything less than a masterpiece.
Great video btw, you keep on making fantastic content.
Something that has incredible failings by definition is not a masterpiece.
@@Arcessitor disagree. A game can have massive flaws. But if its you favourite thing. Its definetly a masterpiece over other games. Just a matter of perspective
@@Arcessitor Perfection will never exist.
Masterpieces have huge flaws.
Any masterpiece.
The only masterpieces that have no flaws at all, are the ones which never got made, and remained in the perfect world of ideas.
@@themasterladisaster4336 That's not how that works. A Masterwork is something that shows great artistry, the highest tier of skill. If it's just your favorite thing, that does make it a masterwork - I'm sure you know many games that are better made.
Some of Xenoblade's most notable flaws are explicitly because their most experienced staff were busy with a different game.
@@AusSP but the concept of a masterpiece/masterwork is subjective. It is all in the perspective of the person that views that piece of artwork. For example botw to me is a masterpiece, while many find its flaws to be to much and that makes the game unbearable. and I find red death to to he a massive piece of shit while many other find it to be a masterpiece. Are you going to tell me that that im wrong or right base on my subjective views of those piece of art? Heck even the concept of how people view score, what a masterpiece is, what a bad game is, what a bad narrative is still fall into a certain level of subjectivity. And whilenthey are objective thing within an analysis, for example good graphics, good animation, most of it fall into subjective personal preferences.
The way they tied 1 and 2 together blew my mind when I first played it.
It's so fucking cool man, easily one of the coolest and most interesting ways you can tie together two seemingly unrelated games from the same series lmao
Xenoblade chronicles 3 sucked balls when they explained that shit between 1 and 2. Most boring Xenoblade game I ever played. I felt nothing for the characters, storyline was boring and political, and weird as shit lol
@@deusvlad2.083Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was great and felt like an emotional journey. I have no idea where you saw politics though....
@@someguy3263 The battle mechanics was fun, the storyline not so much the gameplay overall felt like a boring game, I had to push myself to finish it and level up all the class system because of my no drop rule.
Xenoblade 3 did not sell so well compared to 2, so you know that it went downhill. The politics btw was from the idiology of the villians, and the leaders of the world. How can you not see it lol
I love how both sides of Klaus, The Architect and Zanza, both cause mass destruction in their respective worlds, despite one being a remorseful loner who wanted to rebuild what he destroyed, and the other being a psychopathic megalomaniac god. It's such a fascinating dichotomy, a man who's humanity is split into two separate beings.
They are like split personalities. In the flashback in XC2, Klaus demonstrates both sides of himself: his arrogance and his empathy. But in each game's individual universe, he only has one or the other. And both universes were created as a result of that particular character trait of his: Morytha is a symbol of Klaus's regret, while Bionis is a monument to Zanza's ego. It makes me wonder if Meyneth ever had a XC2 counterpart, or if Galea's character was pure enough to not split between universes, and so was sent to the universe that needed her most. If she does have a counterpart, perhaps we'll meet her in XC3?
@@jacobmonks3722 Man, I forgot how good Xenoblade's lore and story is lol.
@@jacobmonks3722 From what one can glean from it, her counterpart or other half might have also stayed in XC2, like Klaus. Just that, she ended up as the "not so fortunate ones", as we see around Chapter 8, which is explained at Chapter 10. Remember that card Rex picks up?
Wonder what half we'll get in XC3
@@meinkraft501 from just the early half I’m thinking it’s his rage, nihilism, and bitterness towards humanity’s sins. While 1’s world is trapped in a cycle of rebirth, 2’s is a dying world built on denial of the sins of the past, 3’s is a endless cycle of pointless conflict with death being the only reward.
Playing this game, I absolutely loved Rex’s character. I’m a huge sucker for Optimist characters in pessimistic worlds. Rex is such a inspiring character to always push forwards, even when you may not know why to do so at the moment.
I don't understand this take. It's been years since the game came out and I still don't see how "Rex is optimistic in a world of pessimism" is a valid take. Rex isn't optimistic, he's naive at best and ignorant at worst. He stumbles into a shady job because he's effectively a nobody, yet stumbles into the most powerful blade in existence and due to circumstances beyond her control, she has to merge with him to keep herself out of the hands of Malos and Jin. And then there's 20-30 hours of Rex constantly being shown kindness, forgiveness, and guidance by several other characters as they bring him up to speed on what it means to be a blade driver. Hell, Vandam sacrifices himself to buy Rex an escape window which.....Rex ignores completely. He instead chooses to foolishly stay and fight and is saved by Mythra who, up until that very moment, Rex and the audience didn't know existed.
Rex's ignorance is so bad, it gets other people killed for no reason. Pyra offering herself up as sacrifice sends home how seriously he should;ve been taking this journey the entire time and he nearly leaves because of it. Granted, the stakes are quite high and it's never going to be an easy realization to have, but his little tantrum comes off more as childish whining than "Oh, the optimist isn't optimistic! This is saaaaad :(" but he has gotten oodles upon oodles of gifts form the story/characters - he has the best blades, he has great mentorship, he has literal royalty from multiple nations, and all of them agree to help him through his rough start to being a driver...
The world isn't actually pessimistic, the main character is just too dumb to recognize how much help he's gotten.
@@themanwithsauce Rex _is_ ignorant, but also optimistic. you're missing half the picture. And yes, I stand Alrest _is_ a pessimistic world, where most people only look for themselves and their profits, or simply are too glum to look at things. They accept the world as it is and simply move on, and while Rex does too to an extent, he inspires others. If he hadn't he'd be jaded as Jin, or Nia, or even Zeke and Mórag, or for people closest to his heart, Pyra and Mythra, as well as both his antithesis, Malos and Amalthus. The whole reason Nia and the others gave him their peptalks is because Rex inspired them in the first place. He helped a bunch of people without expecting anything in return, and they helped him back when his time of need came.
Does Rex pull tantrums? Is Rex a bullheaded fool that jumps into things without thinking? Of course, and he gets beaten down multiple times, but as he tells the Architect, he also hopes for a better world. Hell, he's willing to forgive Jin for killing him, and even holds pity for Amalthus. The thing about Alrest is that most people there live their lives among the lines of "Shit sucks, but eh", and while Rex also does ignore some stuff per his ignorance, he also tries to change what he can, otherwise he'd have given up long ago.
@@themanwithsauceI think thats kind of the point of his character. And thats why at the end
XC2 SPOILERS
He had learned to finally accept pneuma's decision, even if he struggled to
You nailed it, Sr.
@@themanwithsauceRex "believed" in Elysium even if the others judged him about this, I remember in the second chapter I started to like him because of It, and this made me wonder if Elysium was real or dont
Shulk's level 4 special is one of my favorite little details about him, especially since I played Xenoblade 2 first, then played Xenoblade Definitive, then XC2 again, and now I recognize that Shulk's level 4 just has him use Slit Edge, Stream Edge, Air Slash, and then Back Slash all in sequence
I love in a dying world without hope and full of suffering, Rex’s act of teenage rebellion is to just be fucking NICE. Great protagonist.
Born in a world of strife!
Against the odds!
I choose to nice!
@@somekid2500 WHOLESOME DANCE!
10 out of 10
Rex pretty much boils down to "if there is no example, then I'll BE the example." He deserves more credit then just being written off as a "generic Shonen protagonist"
He is pretty generic i'm ngl
I can sum up his situation with he's the MC so the story doesn't fucks him for being a naive optimus like everyone else in the story so ofc he will spelt hero lines.
I saw this make fun of the underdog till he becomes the strongest in the universe through willpower
been to death mean while everyone keeps reminding you that he's a kid running the trope of "can't judge a book by its cover"
I like Rex he does his job as protagonist don't have a problem with him like everyone else.
He's nothing groundbreaking or treading newground like the shills make him out to be when ik protagonist like Velvet Crowe or Nier exist.
Rex is just Good
enough to care about him & feel sometimes that's all you need.
That’s what I’m saying. Everyone that loves this game knows it’s HEAVILY flawed, but the fact that we love it anyway goes to show how much heart it has. Truly one of my favorite games ever, just no more gatcha again… please…
Maybe it's the loud minority, but most of the XC2 fans I've seen and interracted with act like the game is flawless. Even going as far as saying it's better than XC1 in every possible way.
So I don't know if "everyone" is the right word. But like I said, might just be the loud minority.
I think they should update the game where the gatcha cost real money, then rename xc2 to genshin impact 2. Then it will be just as good as 1 :)
@@halosaft Probably a loud minority. Most people either only see it’s flaws or see it’s flaws and what it does right.
Wait what?????
So do u hate the gacha mechanic themselves or u dont like the blades from them? Tbh i really loved all the special blades we got from them. I seriously wanted something like that in the sequel… Sigh
@@klamity2514 You are getting something like that in XC3. It's called the Hero system. It's just a better version because the gacha mechanic is no more~
I can complain about XC2 for hours, but I can gush about it for days.
The true fan’s dilemma right there. It’s a game that has low points for sure, but comes out as something substantially greater than the sum of its parts.
One little addition I would make, which makes Tora's antics a little easier to stomach, for me at least, is that he himself is still a young teen. He is younger than Rex, and looks up to him, and Rex is still just fifteen himself. Obviously, that won't help anyone who is outright turned away by the scenes he is in, which an entirely fair stance to have, but for me at least, it makes his actions reasonable.
Tora is an Otaku in a game made to resemble an anime. Once I understood that during my first playthrough, he never really bothered me anymore and I constantly had him in my party just to hear poppi verbally assault him in the best ways
I only really have an issue with Tora in the same way I have an issue with pretty much all nopon
He also doesn't exactly have the best of influencers like his own family that basically "passed" on those habits. Also left alone until he saw Rex. I'm sure the party can influence him better things.
@@Shinigami13133 the Nopon are significantly better in XC3. Riku and Manana are the best Nopon characters in the series, no question.
In one moment, Tora makes me proud regarding how he handles varying situations via Poppi and often makes him MVP.
On the other hand, he falls back to the "meh" zone when I listen to a heart to heart and witness Poppi QT Pi literally barking💀
(That wasn't particulary his fault, but just knowing someone in the family tree implemented that into Poppi just has me thinking he's still partially to blame💀)
As usual, excellent plunge into a game that’s near and dear to me. Alrest is so brilliantly realized that I haven’t ever gotten tired of exploring it, through the story or gameplay. I hope 3 will manage to get people to appreciate parts of 2 that maybe they didn’t get to due to the game’s shortcomings during the beginning. Thanks for the stunning, insightful, and entertaining video(s).
Both your and King Ks reviews are equally beautiful
Xenoblade forever
As someone who got through the beginning with little issue and hated the late game story and found the combat to only get more annoying as the AI wouldn't complete driver combos and more unique monsters began to really require chain attacks to defeat from higher and higher percentages or pouch items, or both. And I'm not a fan of that type of game design at all, at least not the way it was implemented in 2
I remember when I saw your vid I thought of kingk immediately I hope you both can keep growing.
2 is so much messier than 1 in a lot of areas but I think it is also cause of that I enjoyed 2 more despite its many flaws. That said, I'm also just not as critical of fanservice or really anime-esque tropes in general so think my primary issues were mostly the weak tutorials and some early game pacing issues. And even then considering that the game was rushed and that the devs were pretty short-handed due to BOTW I think the UI issues and some choices like merc missions, while still annoying, are a bit more understandable. Also, to be honest, I think outside of Shulk and Melia, I think 2 just uses its cast a lot better than 1's.
Same, although i very much enjoy the fanservice , the tutorials could have been better and i didn't care for how getting new blades was a gamble
Yeah nigga, I dont know what you're talking about, but you're gay!
@@michaelclifton9498 it is not really gambling though thankfully because you will get them eventually. You are not wasting actual money to get them, just time. The game also heavily stacks the odds in the player's side to get pity blades. It also just makes each playthrough very unique. You could be insanely lucky and get kosmos at the beginning or be stuck with electra and godfrey until you pull a good rare blade. I am not a fan of modern gatcha but the system itself is not awful if there is no shady psychological money gain involved.
@@goldmemberpb i was just the refering to the fact that it's chance based
@@goldmemberpb Just to clarify (I haven't play XC2. It's on my list. Maybe once I've done a route of Three Hopes I'll finish my BL route of Three Houses, then vow to finally finish XC1 and play thought XC2 + Torna.), I assume this gatcha system doesn't give you duplicate blades? So, while the rng is annoying, you will get all the blades eventually?
Let's go! Your Xenoblade 1 video was fantastic so I'm happy to see you make one for Xenoblade 2. This is my favorite game of all time. It's not a perfect game by any means, but I still love it. It's highs much out weigh it's lows for me personally and I love the game for what it is.
1:08:20 I’m so glad you talked about this. Rex gets so much shit just because of how different he is to shulk but I think a lot of that comes from xeno1 fans wanting him to be the same. He lives in a world where everything is hopeless, the world is slowly dying and with all the terrible things happening, he has this bright light of hope. He doesn’t care about how screwed up the world is, he doesn’t give a shit. He sees life as inherently meaningful and people as inherently good; no matter how bad things are he chooses to believe that if he lives life the way it should be then no amount of external factors can change what he does to his life, the lives around him and the world.
Jin and Rex kind of remind me of darth Vader vs Luke skywalker. Both are kindhearted souls in a world constantly at war, but where anakin sees the world for what it is eventually, a dark and cold place in constant war, as does Jin, Luke sees it for what it could be, like Rex does.
Rex gets shat on not because the scary bad Xeno 1 fans want him to be like Shulk, they want him to be a proper fucking character like Shulk. Instead, he's a naive stupid baby boy protagonist number 371825 from your generic anime
Do you think that I’ll like XC1? cause I LOVE XC3, combat and story, and I LOVE XC2 as well, though 3 I slightly like more 2.
cause I don’t know a ton about 1 or shulk , only seen a random boss in XC1 and a couple cutscenes to.! but for some reason. I got this impression that shulk was dull, but from what I hear that’s not the case? So idk where I even got that from
@@limitbreak2966 he‘s a pretty likable character but he doesn‘t go trough a lot of growth like Rex. He‘s not really flawed. So I can see why some people say he‘s not that deep.
Also a lot of Xenoblade 1 Fans overhype the Game a bit too much. It‘s a fine Game but it also has it‘s flaws like every other Game
@@limitbreak2966 Hey! Glad to hear you loved the other two so much!
I think you’ll enjoy XC1 quite a bit. Shulk is a really great character in the large majority’s opinion, and the supporting cast aren’t exactly weak either. The story is really awesome, the music is incredible (goes without saying), and some of the areas in the game are the definition of jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
I’ll admit that the exploration itself may be a bit slow comparatively to the other games, that the side quests are a lot more basic with random diamonds in the rough every once in a while, and that the combat is absolutely the least complex and most repetitive in the series. None of these aspects of the game are bad, don’t get me wrong; they’re just not as good as 2 or 3’s take on them in my opinion. Regardless, if you like 2 and 3, you’ll at least enjoy 1 enough to see it through to the end. Have fun!
@@dachking6657 thanks man ! I just finished 3s main story and maybe like 65-70% of side quests , and man what a stellar game , especially the story , honestly I really hope they do a fourth game that somehow includes Noah & mio, or continue on Noah and Mios story cause I loved their characters so much, and I’m a huge fan of how 3 took a far more serious tone, and I related so much to the characters, especially N, as I am filled with regret, and honestly some type of “endless now” but from my childhood would be exactly what I wanted, and a huge fear of death once they explained the whole “we all have a bit of moebius in us” really related to me even moreso due to my extreme fear of death, and even if there’s hope, that fear usually ends up winning:
But yea I loved it so much, and I’ll for sure be trying xc 1 after I finish 2 ! Cause yea this series just really hits different than other JRPGs for me. Thanks again man !
The "World Tree" theme is so excellent. I spent far too much time just panning the camera in circles around the party, while I jammed out to that sweet, sweet guitar. Wonderful video as always KingK. I've always had a soft spot for Xenoblade 2 (specifically the soundtrack and combat in the later hours.) Here's to hoping Xenoblade 3 keeps up the great quality, and ends the trilogy on a high note.
Man when i first heard that guitar kick in I was taken aback lol
There's like no bad environment themes in this game, except maybe the Old Factory theme
The soundtrack is eldergod tier. Yhvh sweats when He hears it
I really appreciated your perspective on who Rex is in this game. It's almost poetic that his analysis was placed at the very end of the video.
Great video analysis! I love this game to death, even more than the original in most ways. It has its flaws, and it still isn't my favorite game from 2017 (that goes to Breath of the Wild), but if you can accept the good with the bad, I think this game has so much to offer.
Here's to an amazing game, an amazing series, and to the last 8 days we have to wait before Xenoblade Chronicles 3!
I love this video so much. Definitely one of the ones I come back to every once in a while.
1 note though. Nia isn't a Blade Eater but rather a Flesh Eater. She was a Blade that considered her Driver as a sister, the one she "ate."
Yeah I tend to get those two concepts confused since they're almost the same thing
I'd consider my driver as a sister so I can ate her if you know what I mean
Xenoblade 2 has the best act 3 of any game I've played. When I finished, I debated between whether I liked Xenoblade 1 or 2 more, but I liked the pacing of the first game and Melia was my favorite character. After Torna the Golden Country, however, my opinion switched to preferring Xenoblade 2 over Xenoblade 1, but they're both my top 2 games. As a whole, Xenoblade 2 did a lot for the series. Despite some of the pacing issues early on, I ended up liking the character focused writing of 2 over the plot driven writing of 1. I actually think Future Connected has better character writing than Xenoblade 1 did, so it's a sign of improvement over time. Xenoblade 3 seems to be the culmination of all of the best aspects of the games they've made so far, and I hope to god it doesn't have some stupid controversy that takes over all discourse about the game on a surface level, making it impossible to actually discuss the deeper elements of the game.
Oof you need to play more games then my dude
@@omensoffate You don't know how many games I've played. Don't give me that shit.
As for the OP's comment - I, too, love that XC2 is more character driven. [Warning: this ended up being a much longer post than I anticipated, but carrying on]: I think that while the overarching plot and placing in XC1 is superior to its sequel, the characters often feel very flat. They have certain quirks, but there's not usually a whole lot to them. There are brief cut scenes once every hour or two where the characters say maybe 4 lines total and that's it. Don't get me wrong, I love the characters in XC1, but the way that they're presented is, for better or worse, extremely minimalist. By extension, its side quests are almost entirely disposable and have very little impact in any way aside from getting a small reward for your endless fetch questing and backtracking. The game makes up for this by presenting a world of unimaginable scope and breadth of imagination. It shocks you with its immensity.
By contrast, XC2's plot and pacing lag behind what's on display in XC1, but its characters are all around so much better and feel more complete. There are strong elements of character development throughout the game. Each character has deeper motives but the way in which they all seem to weave together is rather striking. The side quests likewise feel so much more impactful. In this game, they went for quality over quantity and it pays off in dividends. On the flip side, the world is much smaller and less breathtaking / awe inspiring as the immense worlds of Bionis and Mechonis. The early chapters feel comparatively listless and, at times, a bit of a slog. It's not really until the middle to the end of the game that the story begins to really take off. It almost reaches the same crescendo as XC1, but I think - narratively speaking - it falls just short of its predecessor. That said, I felt that XC2's ending had a much deeper emotional impact, mostly due to the more fleshed out characters that one really begins to care about.
All in all, I'd say both games excel greatly in different things and achieve amazing results for different reasons. XC1 is far more cerebral and esoteric with a massive world to explore and awes you with its vast, sweeping, gorgeous vistas. It's strength is ion the macro. XC2 has more heart, with characters that we get to know for more deeply - even the random NPC feels somehow far more important than the vast majority of XC1's (largely disposable) cast of normie denizens. XC2 excells at intimacy. It sacrifices an awe inspiring world in favor of a smaller details. It works on the micro level, favoring quality over quantity. XC1 shows you the Forest, while XC2 shows you the trees.
Both games are excellent and I really hope XC3 fully realizes and integrates the best elements of both.
@@ShallBePurified you tell him! Make that swine squeal. Hurt him! HURT HIM YES!
Xenoblade 2 made the “mistake” of trying to be its own thing and have its own identity. It still hits all the notes of the xenoblade formula, and even reunites it with the xenogears and xenosaga formulas. But where I think xenoblade 2 especially gets that right is that it’s a fictional “real world” so to speak. A place that feels like it comes with all the grim, horrible bells and whistles of reality, yet paints it all in a way that there is still hope somewhere deep within it. Despite literally taking place drifting in the clouds, it’s… grounded. Not to mention it absolutely nails what makes the combat flow of the previous two games so good, despite doing it a totally different way.
In a way, I think what makes xenoblade 2 beautiful is that it is a story of defiance, but in a world where our worst enemy is not some alien/mechanical menace. It’s a world where our worst enemy, and the thing dooming us all, is ourselves.
Really happy you directed people towards Enel. His in-depth blade videos broke the game open for me. It's insane just how much depth the game *really* has.
I'm still 99% sure that a Xenoblade-based convo between Chugga and Enel would destroy the laws of our universe as we know it
@@samt3412 Chugga was there for commentary when Enel did a speedrun of Torna at GDQ a couple weeks ago
@@samt3412 Chugga has stated that Enel (among a few others) helped out with some info for his Xenoblade 2 let's play. He even cameoed in one of Enel's guides.
@@samt3412 I'd love for them to collaborate on a more main game tier list because some blades like Boreas have strengths that are really only useful in the main game and not the post-game, which is what Enel's tier list is focused on
@@munchrai6396 I do think a lot of Enel's tips feel too tipped towards the extremely late game for them to be useful sometimes
I actually started with XC2, and I loved it a lot right away, despite flaws it may have. It also made me appreciate Xenoblade 1 a lot, and added more depth when I spotted each connection between them. I have a bias towards XC2, but I can't really say one is better than the other, and I believe they compliment each other more than trying to pick apart which one is better. Also yeah Tora's chapter drags but I still like him more than Rikki. Not that Rikki is bad, Tora just does more in the plot, especially with the addition of Poppi. I never had a problem with fanservice or the artstyle, especially because I never felt like it was intruding on the plot, especially as you go deeper into the story. One major flaw I will levy against it is that the tutorials are absolute garbage and teach you nothing about combat, but once you do learn it, It's really fulfilling to build a big chain attack, or spam driver combos. Also a gacha system you can't whale on, besides a one time DLC purchase, is a novel idea.
The tutorials were ridiculous but yes I ended up loving the combat
@@FlameHricane Yeah, there's more stuff going on with Tora. Especially in the story department, where he is still involved even in the later chapters beyond 4. Such as chapter 6, and chapter 9. Since part of the things wouldn't happen, if not for him, and him being the reason Poppi is there.
Beautiful video about a beautiful game. There’s a certain sense of “peace” in this video that’s hard to pin down but feels very fitting for Xenoblade 2. For a game so massive, it’s amazing how seemingly effortlessly you managed to articulate this in just over an hour. This should be required watching for all Xeno fans.
The chemistry between the characters really did it for me and the music and battle system
"Wake up, babe. A new KingK video is up."
Was just rewatching the black and white 2 video. Lol
ITS A NEW DAY EVERYONE
movie*
Lol tfw no gf lol
Could you remove the babe part, it triggers
I’m… as someone who played Xenoblade 2 when it first came out as a teenager, I’m so happy you talked about just what this game says about life. Rex’s whole character is this pure, explosive declaration that there is ALWAYS hope; that we have a DUTY to never lose sight of that hope.
Thank you for making this video. Thank you, for this gift of light.
Wow Rex sounds like every anime/jrpg protagonist. Very unique.
@@yahhah3027 Surely it matters more if it is well done than if it is unique?
@@MrTTnTT you're right, don't mind the wannabe edgelord
@@yahhah3027 If Rex is getting praises more than the every other anime/jrpg protagonist. Then this game is doing something right.
@@yahhah3027 It‘s called a Trope. Xenoblade is Full of Tropes which isn‘t a bad thing because most of them are well implemented
16:39 I know this sort of ignores the legitimate question about design choices (and I strongly doubt that this was the motive behind it), but I just realized that from a lore perspective, it actually makes a hilarious amount of sense why most members of the *_artificial_* humanoid species would end up looking like this
I’ve come across a number of perspectives on why Rex is a better protagonist than people give him credit for, but this is the first one that I found really compelling
This game is incredibly dear to me, so thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have so much respect for how balanced and thoughtful your critiques are
My reason is pretty simple. Rex is someone everyone should have in their lives. Someone who's optimistic and brightens your day up. Doesn't have to be a 15 year old boy. Just anyone that can remind you of the good in the world. If everyone had a Rex, maybe this world would be a better place. I try to be that person to the people I'm with. Try to be the optimistic light in someone's world to make them feel like the world isn't hopeless.
@@ShallBePurified I'm with you, but Rex's character is too flat and uninteresting still. Take for example of Gon from Hunter Hunter. He have unique perspectives on situations most ppl wouldn't have. His character is interesting and he always surprises you. He's written very well. The fact that Rex can fight is the only thing interesting about him through the entire game. Sure he's a scavenger and sends money to his home, but that's it. Unfortunately, Rex does not have good interactions with others.
@@tokenetta8070 Never watched Hunter X Hunter, but I can't agree with you saying Rex doesn't have good interactions with the other characters. He has a lot of good interactions with other characters.
@@ShallBePurified Well, interactions that doesn't compliment his character. Poppi had good interactions that compliment her character far better than him. I feel like more should've happen to him. He doesn't really develop as a character compared to Shulk.
@@tokenetta8070 I guess it depends on how you look at it. A lot of his interactions is not about other characters influencing him, but how he influences other characters. A character that does influence Rex was Vandham, as his perspective of war changed when Vandham explained his perspective to Rex.
I'm not even gonna lie I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the game nearly as much as I did if not for Chuggaconroy and Enel. Each of thier tutorials just did so much to elevate the experience of this game for me
Wth? Were they dlcs? I don't think so cos I got all the Dlcs and figured out the mechanics of the game through playing it. I guess it's cos I don't have ADHD and I'm not certified slow minded. OH WAIT, I AM! and I still managed to play and enjoy the game without fellatioing e celebs. Good day. Oh I'm bipolar too
@@meinkraft501 What?
@@someguy3263 I've seen that User spout incoherent nonsense in a few threads, I'm gonna assume they're just trolling is all
Honestly, the biggest problem I have with the game is that it doesn’t really tell you just how important the blade affinity chart is, let alone things like the pouch items.
I should have known that this video would make me cry. The way you transitioned to Jin at 1:00:55 made me choke as the hurt of playing Torna:TGC came back all at once. Man, Jin really had it rough, truly a splendid soul.
1:11:15 Okay, now I’m a mess. This video is more than just about Xenoblade 2 and I know that this wasn’t just a coincidence. Not when you perfectly time the end of your script as the impactful lyrics of A Moment Of Eternity plays to literally continue the point you were making. This is probably one of the best, if not the best, review (if I may still call it that) I have ever watched. Thank you for this, really.
Damn. This game is just so fricking relatable. I found myself crying when you replayed the Morag line from the endgame because it just hits super hard at the moment. The way you tie that emotion all in with our own world and with the game’s themes is truly remarkable. The King of video essays returns with another absolute masterpiece!!
“Comparatively light-hearted story” lol. XC2 hits hard in the story department
Yes, after the first 20ish hours it does start picking up. But the problem is largely that by the time you get there, the ones who would have loved the darker parts have already dropped it. It is just another flaw in the gem
Ive waited for this video for multiple years. Im so excited
The geometry dash legend himself. I cannot believe I found you here.
o7
Despite all the problems of 2, the story just feels so much more than 1. Rex and the Architect are better than Shulk and Zanza. The themes of the hopefulness of dreams vs the harshness of reality in 2 is more interesting to me than the simpler "fate vs will" in 1
Xenoblade 2 means so much to me, it's simply a beautiful, uplifting game. I'm glad you love it, too, and a lot of people have given it a second chance when XC3 was announced.
Wow this is probably the best video I've watched about this game, it's highs and lows, and ultimately why it's so darn good! I may prefer XC1 overall, but playing XC2 and Torna for the first time back in March really makes me genuinely excited to see what XC3 has to offer.
Xenoblade 2 is very flawed but what it does right is so ridiculously good that is heavily outweighs the bad and elevates it to the same level as XC1, IMO.
KingK: "Sure, it can suck if you get Finch"
Me getting finch as my first gacha blade that isn't shit: "She's adorable!"
Finch is my second favorite rare blade right next to Kassandra. I love these adorable shield hammer users with really warped views of reality
Finch is one of the funniest characters in the whole game, and I love her so much. "Albatrojans, don't let 'em in! Wait-- no, no, DO!"
I thought you were being a little cynical/critical towards the beginning, but then I remembered, WAIT, I had all of these same exact issues on my first playthrough! Things like field skill checks and my lack of understanding for the combat system caused me to put the game down several times; although, I did beat it sometime in 2018. It wasn’t until about two years later that I would pick it up again after watching tons of combat related videos by Enel and when Chuggaaconroy started his let’s play. That’s when I truly began to appreciate the game.
Pre-Watch Comment: Back when XC2 came out, I couldnt appreciate what it was nor what it set out to do. I was mad it wasn't like my darling XC1. The strange focus on revealing clothing, the common anime-esque troupes, the gacha system, all of it made me put the game down after about 15 hours. Now, years later, there are few RPGs I appreciate more in its approach to story-telling. It is not XC1, but I think nowadays Im really thankful it didnt attempt to be. The story it told, I feel really couldnt have been approached in any other way without risking hurting the end message. still not the biggst fan of other aspects of the game but still, like this video title suggests, despite it all, Xenoblade 2 is a game I love and its an experience I feel only it can give me.
Imagine being offended by sexy waifus and anime tropes in a JAPANESE game
@@rng-mos2314 imagine thinking every Japanese game has cringey shit like that
@Captain Ren there's a classic youtuber that introduced xc1 to a lot of people even before xcx came out (and it got announced during his lets play) and he did a xc2 lp with a full spoiler-free guide that explains every mechanic way better than the game does (also xc3 got announced during his lets play of xc2, he just somehow makes monolith release new games)
@Captain Ren Take it slow, pay attention to the tutorial for the combat. Its very very different from XC1, as bad as it sounds, looking up YT guides about the combat can help too. The game is known for having laughably bad tutorials.
@Captain Ren um you do know that the designs are even worse in xenogears and xenosaga when it comes to that thing and xenoblade 2's designs are in fact tame compared to anime, even yoko litner is more revealing. that wasn't a ratio, that was just acting like you're smarter than someone with a kosmos profile picture that for all you know understands the xeno franchise better than you and played xenogears and xenosaga whereas you're new to xenoblade 2. not only that, you do know that alot of these designs are made by women right? making you and others' arguments about the designs even more ridiculous and meaning japan doesn't have a problem with this stuff like you all do and it really is a cultural difference here?
Not gonna lie KingK you made me wanna play xenoblade chronicles and because of your xenoblade chronicles video I was like “I gotta try the game” and after spending 80 plus hours I went out of my way to find xenoblade 2 and it’s all because of you. So when I saw you post this video up I was excited to see what you had to say about it and I hope you do the same with xenoblade 3! So thank you for making me go after a game I would have never thought I’d like!
This is such a fanastic retrospective on the game like others have mentioned your run-down of what the games characters and themes mean at the end of the day and the portion on rex in particular was right on the money when it comes to how he encapsulates the entire message that the game pushes.
Whenever I feel down, I always come back to here. This video has been my safe place, returning every time I need to hear words I never get from the people around me. This video is therapeutic.
Never? Now that's not right... I hope you can find more empathic people in your life.
Every time someone talks about this game seriously, from beginning to end, I can't help but cry. And this time, in this video, it was when you discussed the thematic elements that made it so special. The fact that this game is about loss, losing hope. The way that loss can shatter a person and turn them into someone in stark contrast to their past selves. It's part of why I'm glad I got the game when I did. I was coping with my own loss. My own trauma threatening to destroy who I was. Rex, as many criticisms as he gets, is like you said, perfect for this kind of story. There needs to be an optimist. There needs to be someone who sees the bad, processes it, and still chooses good. I wonder if part of why so many people don't like Rex or the abundance of optimism he has, is because of their jealousy in that they struggle to find that within themselves. Yes, Rex has his faults, and Al Weaver was certainly restrained in his performance of Rex. That being said, he still put his heart into his performances; especially in the vulnerable moments. The moment Pyra is taken, the moments in Chapter 10 when he's alone and fighting against the party, we do see that optimist break. We see him reflect. He gets his reality check twice and still persists through it. In the end, good has to win. It has to be rewarded.
While this game is flawed in numerous ways, its a beautiful story. One that deeply resonates with me. It came into my life at the perfect time, brought me to love a whole franchise, brought me into a community I love, and found me some of my favorite creators on the platform. I love this game, and I'm thrilled that it still gets love despite its flaws
My only problem with discussion of the character desgins in xenoblade is people trying to make objective issues out of subjective opinions.
It boils down to “do you like sexy anime characters”, if you do then you’ll most likely like the character desgins, if you don’t then you won’t.
Personally for me I love the character designs in 2 and I view them as plus for the game. I have no issues with people not liking them but I’m tired of being made to feel bad for liking them. I think throwing out terms like sexualization and objectification just muddies the discussion. They’re fictional characters that the creators have full creative freedom to design how they wish for people to like or dislike with no inherent issues with either. The video you recommended I have watched multiple times and still I don’t think there’s a single argument in that video I agree with, it feels like it’s trying to make an objective stance on a subjective topic as I mentioned before, and fails to really say much of actual substance outside of reiterating that they personally do not like the designs.
You did bring up the discussion about malos being designed differently than mythra and brought up a potential counter point of them having different character designers but tried to negate that point by saying all the female blades are desgined similarly. I feel the orignal point about character designers does have merit as most blades were designed by guest artist and most were given complete creative freedom towards their design, so it was that different creators chose to desgin characters differently that lead to malos and mythra looking different. Especially when you have characters like Ursula and Dahlia who could not have more different design philosophies being designed by the same female artist.
Overall fantastic video, I’m glad you’re able to bring up a lot of stuff that made me fall in love with xenoblade 2 and I really do enjoy your content. It’s just the discussion of Xenoblade 2’s character designs and the attitude surrounding it like it’s an objectively bad thing has just put a bad taste in my mouth over the years.
I, too, love the character design. And I would also like to point out that there are plenty of males in the game who are also "unreasonably" attractive, shredded, and scantily clad. And that's great! It's okay to have sexy characters! When it's a problem is when it turns into one sex being objectified and not being taken seriously due to their sex. If it's spread around, it's just fine.
Maybe the game is "sexy Pokemon", but I'm fine with that. If people want to call it that, then I love sexy Pokemon.
@@iluomopeloso Actually, you're... absolutely right. A lot of the male characters in this game are designed in a way that is precisely as horny as the female designs. Despite that, the characters are actually designed more tastefully than most gacha game characters, with actual thought put toward creative outfits that convey distinctive personalities. On top of that, no one seems to be written as mere shallow fanservice, from what I've seen (haven't played it, but I have read about the characters and plot). The actual meaning of objectification is the removal of agency or depth for the sake of other people's gratification, and by that standard, I don't see any of the major characters falling into that.
I think a lot of the discourse around this kind of thing is painfully misguided by puritanical attitudes toward sexuality as a concept, for no real benefit to anyone. It's just a weird, prudish attitude people have for several cultural and historical reasons.
This video may be my new favorite from you. You nail every thing on what this game's about from the themes, the characters and the story. I'll definitely be rewatching this in the future.
Also that ending got me in the feels, awesome job man 😭
Dude, soooo excited for your xenosaga playthrough and subsequent videos! Truly a masterpiece series!
2 was my first Xenoblade game so without it i would have never got into the franchise so it forever holds a special place in my heart.
One thing that I feel like is just such a shame with this game is just how people I feel just really miss the overall purpose of lighthearted first act of the game in the full narrative, and just how tragic it is that how Monolith handles the lighthearted tone of the first act combined with the awful pacing of unlocking of gameplay mechanics and systems ends up filtering so many people from sticking with the game to see it through to its conclusion.
A core part of the overall narrative is the story of how Rex matures and tackles the challenges to his world-view to where he can be emotionally mature enough to fully understand the burdens and struggles of the people around him and the dark reality of that while still being able to keep his positive and hopeful attitude in spite of that. I feel like the general tone of the first 4 chapters is there to reflect Rex's toxicly positive attitude, too optimistic to even really notice things like the deep depression Pyra/Mythra suffer from despite being quite literally the closest people he has in his life. With act 2 (chapters 5-7) having the cast begin to challenge Rex on his immaturity on failing to understand and empathize with the pain Mythra is struggling with before finally getting the understanding and resolve to help ease that burden with act 3 showing Rex's growth as a person; finally understanding Mythra to unlock her true power as Penuma, understand Jin and the rest of Torna's pain, and Malos' confusion. While he still keeps his more optimistic attitude, Rex once he becomes the Master Driver is still a much more mature and developed person than he was at the start of the game. While he hasn't gave in to the hopelessness the rest of the world has been spiraling towards he has more of the emotional maturity to understand how people can come to feel that way, and the ability to help those people struggling emotionally climb out of their pits of despair.
Yes the tone of act 1 can be really bad at time, leaning way too much into generic anime tropes to try to build up the lighthearted facade the game wanted to develop before pulling the rug out from under the player to force them to confront the heavier tone the game develops into in it's later acts and that is a shame. But I will always defend its existence because without it, the emotional rollarcoaster the rest of the game takes you on wouldn't be nearly as powerful without that juxtaposition and subversion. At the same time, I can understand if it can be too much for people to stomach through, pretty much telling someone to play like 25 hours of something they aren't enjoying on the promise that it gets better is simply too much to ask from a game, I only wish it wasn't so polarizing so less people could had been filtered by it to see the truly beautiful message the game leaves you with when you finally see the credits roll.
I'm literally fighting back tears going through this video 😭 Amazing essay as usual. I'll have to go through your Xenoblade retrospective when I finally finish Definitive Edition soon
This video did a really good job of talking about and encapsulating Xenoblade 2 in such a good way. It goes into its flaws but also explains why you and me and so many other people love this game so much
KingK dropping the Xenoblade 2 video a week before Xenoblade 3 comes out makes me wish I had the time to replay Xenoblade 2 just because I love this game so much.
Tedious as times but ultimately worth the journey; I adore this game.
I swear why do the endings of so many of your videos make me want to cry. Thanks for all your work, keep it up!
I really like how the thumbnail for the “Why I love Xenoblade 2” chapter of the video is just Zeke
TLDR: I played the Xenoblade trilogy in order 1, x, and then 2, and 2 has always been my favorite in memory. It simply stuck with me more than any other title in recent memory despite all of its flaws. If it wasn't so defective, it could contest my favorite game of all time, but that's neither here nor there. You did a phenomenal job covering it.
I'm glad you hammered the game as you did; XC2 deserves to be analyzed and reprimanded for the next game to be even sounder, but more critical is acknowledging its successes, which you did famously. I'd even argue that hating on a game is one of the best ways to show love and care for it and its series, especially when complemented with such personal and honest dialogue, praising it. This composition is by far my favorite work of yours. You already had my heart, but your analysis of XC2 has a piece of my soul. This video is the quality work and scripting I expect of Joseph Anderson or Noah Caldwell-Gervais' best work, who represent my favorite CZcams essayist. I cannot wait to see what comes next, and I hope XC3 promotes just as much, if not more, emotion for you friend!
When XC2 first came out, I waited for a few months before getting it. Despite my love for the first one, the change in art style was so off putting and the voice acting wasn't good. Once I heard from a friend how much he loved 2, I picked it up and I loved it too. Not as good as 1, but the world, combat, and story were really great. Especially in the last few chapters of the game. I really enjoyed the Torna expansion as well
It's the change in artstyle the reason I was super attracted to 2, funny how that works, I just love the look of it, much more than 1.
The voice acting is honestly pretty good tbh. Imo the main cast generally has a similar level of quality in the performances and even Rex is pretty decent besides most of his yells (near the end he gets better at them). It’s not as good as 1’s where everyone was great, but most of the characters are at least good.
the torna expansion was the best part of xc2 for me lol
Why don't any of you plebs use the Japanese voices? Even king k who's usually a snobby purist who's only a kid really, he was playing the game with the awful dub
@@meinkraft501 because the voice acting itself is generally solid-good.
the voice direction is bad-okay until about mid way.
plus XB with dub is just infinitely more flavorful considering the amount of varied and distinctive accents. Or to put it in simpler terms, I prefer gruff welsh cat girl > generic loli cat girl
XB1s dub is better pretty much across the board though outside of select instances.
thank you for all of the work this video was, and for the beautiful message at the end. im excited to find that hope again, and it is because of you!
1: I love your voice it's so smooth and relaxing.
2: FINALLY somebody remembered chaotic bringer of chaos, such an underappreciated gag
I've just started Xenoblade 2 this week , i'm about 20 hours into it and have really been enjoying the story, Pyra and Mythra are great characters. I feel I got absorbed into Xenoblade 1s world and characters a bit more though, the first game just had something 'special' about it that I feel the second somewhat lacks but I can't exactly put my finger on what.
I will come back and watch the rest of this video once I have finished the game because I don't want to see any potential spoilers haha :)
I played 2 before 1 (the DE) and I felt the same except for 2 over 1 ! That said 1 won me over and I think it might be a more solid game only because 2 takes sooooo long to get going but... Actually they're both Incredible and I refuse to pick one over the other ! (Here's hoping 3 knocks it out of the park, I have no doubts it will!)
agreed
I thought 2 was better than 1 when i was halfway thru 2. Came out feeling 1 was better in the end
Almost halfway through 3, loving it. I love the group and their dynamics so far
What I love most about this game is it's sense of size. You get lost in it. The higher level enemies that you can't beat yet, the unknown blades that lay ahead and you may or may not find, the huge weirdly structured zones that feel a bit chaotic in a sense. Additionally I find it fixes many common issues with Jrpgs like unimaginative combat, predicatable story, random encounters etc. Finally I find it has a sense of humor, is aesthetically pleasing and is very 'Japanese' with it's tropes and fanservice which I love.
It's kind of hard to describe and I'm very happy that Xenoblade 3 manages to recapture much of that feeling so far, although with a very different story and art direction.
So you mean xenoblade x
I usually don't comment on videos but I didn't even realise this video was over an hour long, this was amazingly constructed, thanks for uploading and for that beautiful ending. Please keep it up man
I feel ya about the being a lurker thing. Video essays and podcasts are some of my favorite ways to spend free time. And after i watch something i think is cool, i look up what others thought about it and if they noticed things i didn't. I've been called strange for it but i love these things all the same. Keep being awesome king k
"Oh architect is this really the world you intended?"
I really like Amalthus as a character. And Malos as well. Amalthus's character and motivations are very understandable. I think if I were in his shoes I'd probably come to the same conclusion as him.
That line is the coldest lines in the entire series, so chilling
God I love this stream of Xenoblade 2 content from smaller creators in the week before 3, it's incredible seeing how many people love this game, the true sequel of a game Nintendo of America didn't even give a chance, fully expecting to it fail
Damn.. I couldn’t click away from this one right to the end.
Very inspirational piece of work man. You brought so many thoughts and emotions out of me, ones I already held about the game, but also ones that I’d never had before.
Hoping for another wild ride with Xenoblade 3 !
Happy to see this amazing video finally come out. A lot of great points for a game that many of us still love and enjoy
really reframed the context of the whole story really well… making me want to give it a replay and check out torna before xbc3 comes out
Xenoblade chronicles 2 was my first one and it is my top 3 games. I’ve beat it 4 times, I simply loved the story and it took me four games to finally get KOS MOS
I felt the same way you did about your feelings towards XC2 upon its release. I loved XC2 from the moment I bought it to the moment credits rolled and beyond. Hell, it was the reason I even bought a Switch in the first place. And I didn’t realize the “backlash” against the game until I went online and viewed discussion on the game. But, despite it all, it’s my favorite game of all time now.
Bro I loved XC2 the moment I started playing and as the credits rolled I had the same smile I had when I started. Not quite as a stellar of a masterpiece of XC1 but damn close for me! I have no idea what people are complaining about :D It is still to this day my favourite switch exclusive. Also XC3 was a disappointment for me BIG TIME. A great game for sure just a bad Xenoblade trilogy finale. The story, villians and the pacing didnt meet my expectations.
Beautiful tribute to this incredible story. The conclusion brought me to tears♥️
I didn't expect to start tearin up, what you said at the end hit me so hard cause I have been just goin through it, the 5th was my birthday, all but one person in my family and close friends said happy birthday, the only present I got for my bday was Covid, I've been stuck in my house since then, not able to see anyone, work or anything, I genuinely felt depressed, like a crushing weight of sadness and no way to feel better, I feel like a mean so little to people that when I die, no one will care and that if I did right now, no one notice. Hearing that at the end felt like a big ass gut punch, like "You're not alone, even if you think it", like I didn't expect you to switch from talking about one of my favourite games to saying something so relevant to how I am feeling right now, it helped and I truly hope some day soon I can feel better. Until then, thank you, I know I'm just some random joe shmoe on the internet but I promise I'll do my best to find that light again.
perfect coincidence. i just finished replaying 2 and i had such a good time. 3 seems to be the culmination of all the favored aspects of these games both mechanic and storywise. most likely gonna be my GOTY
This video is a masterpiece! I hope you are proud of your work, because you absolutely should be.
This was my introduction to the series. I picked up the first one remastered and loved it too. I agree with all your points.
Hey KingK. I listen to your videos a lot and I love the combination of peaceful vibes and clear affection for gaming you have on your channel. I’ve had a particularly exhausting week, and this video dropped at the perfect time for me. Thanks for all that you do, it’s so very much appreciated.
The ending bit legit almost brought me to tears and makes me wish I had time to play through this entire game all over again before Xenoblade 3 comes out, this is probably my favorite video of yours yet. Xenoblade 2 is my favorite game in the entire Xeno series. the twists and turns, the characters, the hope it inspires, Nia helped me realize I was trans and I cry anytime I watch those scenes with her now this game means so much to me and you did an amazing job doing it justice.
Keep writing and keep doing what you love, your content helps make this world a better place for a lot of people including me.
I'd like to add that your chapter about Rex impressed me. He's one of my favorite lead characters, ironically, because he IS the (now increasingly rare) "generic" hero archetype. Despite being an apparent trope, there are actually relatively few examples of such a character in modern RPGs.
95% of MCs these days are cynical, jaded, grizzled, morally grey anti-heroes with a quasi-emo, self-loathing, put-upon persona. Like, I can honestly not think of very many other characters in any recent series or genre who match Rex's refreshingly unbridled, optimistic, enthusiastic, hopeful and naively selfless disposition - or at least not in very many games released within the last 10+ years. He is, in fact, the embodiment of what a hero *used* to be - and I think that's a good thing.
As for the "annoying traits" that Rex's detractors constantly admonish him for, I think some are failing to fully take his real world life experiences (or lackthereof) into account. As someone who's exceptionally young for a MC of his stature - and yet who, despite being burdened with an unimaginably heavy, world-changing responsibility, somehow presses onward - I think his naivety and idealism in the face of these challenges are literally just a reflection of his age, and it's honestly one of the best thing about him. It's really impressive just how realistic that is.
That Monolith was able to convey Rex's youthfulness so convincingly is a testament to their ability to weave powerful character driven narratives into their already incredible world building prowess.
As such, it annoys me when people just write off Rex like he's just some kind of generic simpleton because he's so much more than that. Rex stays strong even in the face of virtually impossible odds and it's inspiring to see.
And last but not least, Rex's, unconditional love and concern for Pyra/Mythra is just so pure and wholesome - just as it should be for someone his age. Once again, they effectively captured the essence of being a kid - back when puppy love was still a thing and sex wasn't even a thought, back when Pattie Mayonnaise would walk by and invisible hearts would flutter above your head.
Although, now that I think of it, Rex's pure heart is even more impressive when you consider the fact that he's literally surrounded from all sides by some of the most blatantly sexualized, scantily clad and salaciously vixen anime-type females of any game in recent memory - it really only further underscores just how amazingly pure and innocent that his heart really is.
(You know, it almost makes me wonder now if the developers may have actually considered adding so many sexy blades as, among other things, a way of creating contrast - that with the amplified sex appeal of the supporting cast of blades being there, it would subliminally underscore just how innocent Rex really is. I mean, obviously, I'm sure that in reality, the decision to present the female blades in this way was done - more so than anything else - to pander to a certain demographic - but, it also wouldn't surprise me if Monolith legitimately took that contrast into meaningful consideration and that it actually did come up during the development process.)
Either way, I love Rex, questionable screams and all. Just as I love this entire game and series. I can't wait for XC3. And thank you for posting such a thoughtful and insightful video into the crux of everything that makes this game great - as well as some of the things that it botches.
Considering the flashback conversation between Zeke and Amalthus, the sexualized characters are a well-integrated part of the world. It gets a bit darker when you realize 1) blades get their shape from the minds of the person who awakens them and 2) there is heavy implication that sexy ones are being sold into sex-slavery by bandits. That is both an in-universe explanation of why it is and a way in which it makes a lot of sense that some would take advantage of that.
Loving the Rex love! The generic criticism can jump of a bridge with a concert block and drown. Sometimes you need unrestrained optimism from your protagonist. And Rex was just a darling
I can think of significantly more MCs who aren't "Cynical, jaded, grizzled, morally grey anti-heroes with a quasi-emo, self-loathing, put-upon persona" than ones that are.
So I am very curious as to where you pulled this insane 95% figure from.
@@TyetheMonadoBoy The 95% figure was obvious anecdotal hyperbole used for effect 🤣 Why so serious?
@@MrTTnTT I somehow missed or glossed over that scene with Zeke talking about the how common it was becoming that blades were essentially becoming used for sex trafficking. I was kinda shocked when I saw it in this video, but you're right - it really does add an entirely different and more poignant layer to the concept. Darker indeed.
What an unbelievably incredible video. You hit the nail on the head, and for its flaws it will always be cherished as one of my favorites.
This video helped me a lot with my conflicting thoughts about the game and showed some story aspects/themes that I wasn't fully aware of. One of your best!!
I think there is a lot of good about Field Skills.
To me they feel kind of like a treasure chest, in the sense that you never know what you are gonna get, you could get some items, get to a new location, find a heart-to-heart, a new quest, a treasure chest, etc.
Fail to to meet the requirements, and you'll find yourself working on blade affinity charts, which are basically a set of challenges. You work towards an objective, and they give you more game to play, or at least a reason to go and tackle those objectives, which is fun because the game is fun!
Field Skills also give you a good reason to keep common blades around or roll for new ones, I think it synergizes really well with the whole gacha system.
I feel exploration in Xenoblade 2 is extremely rewarding, and part of that is thanks to Field Skills.
It's a shame that a lot of people see them as obstacles instead of as challenges.
It DOES get annoying having to rearrange your party every time, and I don't see why they made it so you have to do it again even for the ones you already cleared. Yes, they could have been implemented better, but still, I think it's a small price to pay for all the good they bring.
Thanks for reading.
And thanks for the video, it was great I loved it!
Your last few words in this video made me bawl my eyes out like a baby. This is such incredible work. I hope you realize how talented you are. I love this game to death, and after watching this video, I love it even more. Thank you!
The characters are absolutely amazing. It’s such a compelling game. Thank you for such a beautiful video. You’ve put why I love this game into the words I couldn’t come up with
This was an excellent video overall! Really enjoyed
This is the perfect send off to 2 as 3 comes out, tho it’s hard to call it a send off knowing I’ll still come back to this game for so many reasons
Xenoblade 2 is the second xeno game I ever finished (technically the third one I played after saga 1 and 2, but I shelved xenosaga 2 pretty early into it and never bothered finishing it until I had played gears and blade 1+x), so I didn't really go into blade 2 with any expectations. To say nothing on the fact that by the time I picked up the game, all the dlc and updates for the game had been out for a year or so already so I dodged most of those version 1.0 pains.
I also earnestly believe that xenoblade 2 has what is probably the best story in the xeno series, having now played all the entries from gears to blade 3, and its tied with blade 3 for best combat system. If 2 had party member switching I'd outright call it the best combat, and thats coming from someone who loves job systems so me liking it more than 3's combat says something.
Impeccable timing, I just beat XC2 for a second time shortly after XC3 was released and now that XC3 is a week away I've been craving as much Xenoblade content as possible.
Thank you for this!! Can't wait to dig into it during work
Your scripts are always so well written. This really illuminates the problems I had with the game, but also clarifies the story which at times confused me.
1:08:10 agree, i think nowadays with all the shit going on with the world, a lot of people (including myself) have become so sour and sometimes nihilistic that they start idolizing more grey or nihilistic characters and start to hate the more uplifting ones, they like characters that are hurt because maybe they can feel good about themselves, etc but then i look at Rex, Lloyd, Vyse, characters that no mother how tough, no matter how Many hardships they have to endure, they never lose their way, because they have such a strong conviction, and damn we need more joy in life, enjoy life, family friends, are those experiences that make life worthwhile, because life's too short, we need more characters like Rex.
I personally never enjoyed this game but i definitely appreciate what it went for and the few things it succeeds at for me (The World, OST etc). I'm happy xenoblade continues to thrive and can't wait for 3 next week
I hope it disappoints you :)
@@meinkraft501 Happy to share i loved the game
Hot damn, you really left me speechless with this one! Just wanted to say that your videos are beautiful, King. I don't even particularly fancy myself a Xenoblade fan, but every one of your uploads instills this sense of wonder and discovery to me.
Thanks for making this video. :) You ended on a message I think everyone should hear in this scary day and age. It's all too easy to lose hope, but all we can really do is move forward and fight for a better future. As cheesy as that sounds, I'll certainly die on that hill.
Great video. The end of it was particularly beautifully done, thanks for speaking up about a game that while is flawed in some areas is truly an amazing experience like no other.
Watching this I'm just being reminded that I still haven't played Torna yet lol. I'll play it eventually, I accidentally burnt myself out a bit on my first playthrough via what can only be described as a marathon playthrough
32:07 I’ve played and beaten this game 3 times and I thought I had it 100% the last time, but I had no clue you could grind on a wire like that. That’s why I love Xenoblade so much is that you can keep on finding stuff years after beating them.
This is very well done, the scenery tour was masterful, managed to make me relive the surprises of this game.
This video brought me to tears man, thank you
Look at this guy, bragging about having pulled Kos-mos!
Definitely has its issues, doesn't hold its greatness back all that much tho. One of my favorite jpg's of all time.
Didnt expect this to tear me up but there you go. Good video thank you!
god why are you cutting so many onions i am tearing up so much over your exposition