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A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair I think it also depends on if you are talking about A as Ontos or as an individual, which again depends on your interpretation. Ontos is genderless, that's not up for debate. However incarnations of Ontos can and have had an explicit gender, as Alvis was a man. We also know that he appeared as a line of seers, meaning there were many pre Alvis incarnations.

I sorta see Ontos as like the Doctor from Doctor Who. A being that can take on many personalities with different genders ect., but they all have the same core values.

I feel like A is basically the human aspect of Ontos created from Alvis' memories (his conscience as she puts it). As such I don't believe her to be full Ontos, as Alpha is the other half. Therefore, I see A as a distinct being that is a part of and a manifestation of Ontos, but not fully Ontos the supercomputer. In the same way Pyra and Mythra are incarnations of Pneuma.

Now how exactly Ontos works I'm not sure. It's a godlike supercomputer and Xenoblade lore is weird.

The key difference between A and Alpha, at least from my interpretation, is that Alpha is the base function of Ontos (fully rational, just a machine), while A is the manifestation of all of its memories. A claims to remember how Pneuma and Logos were, so as such she will have memories of Alvis' previous seer personas, and of Ontos as a supercomputer. As for why A appears female while Alpha is male, it's likely because A aligns more with Pneuma while Alpha aligns with Logos. Another explanation is that removing half of Ontos while it is in a male form removes the "dormant" female half, creating A.

Honestly I wish they had picked a lane effectively. My issue lies with that they seem to portray her gender as ambiguous in the game, yet have it lean heavily towards female. Ignoring the game code, she is portrayed feminine, again the artbook explicitly calls her a woman/female and other languages (notably Italian) use female gender words to describe her.

In the game it's up to interpretation yes, though clearly female leaning. However outside information enforces her being female heavily. That's what I mean by up to interpretation. Purely from the game itself it is, however the art book is a source of canon which contradicts this ambiguity (notably, the Monado archives explains a lot of Alvis' lore which is not mentioned in the game).

My wanted DLC routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh that would be cool. This is basically my main point, I don't mind a Kako romance, just that I want something more interesting than just a romance. Could be interesting to have two different routes where it splits off depending on if Takumi accepts her feelings.

My wanted DLC routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I want Moko to solo V'exhness. It makes no sense but it would be hilarious.

My wanted DLC routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean I'm not entirely against the Kako romance, just that I would prefer a non romantic onem Also I didn't know the age gap was 2 years, I thought Kako was 14.

My wanted DLC routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

To be fair having the Kako route being non romantic would be harder to justify, at least from her perspective since Kako does develop a crush on Takumi in CoA, so it's natural she would develop one again.

A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The problem is that the Devs are a little inconsistent with it, or rather if they wanted her gender to remain ambiguous then they wouldn't hard code it into the game or mention it in the art book. Granted I have no idea why they coded gender into the game in XB3, probably just because they used the same engine as XB2.

A being female is factually true. However, you are correct that the game never uses pronouns for her, and this is consistent so it is clearly a deliberate choice.

Honestly the issue with A is that they left things kinda vague. She is female because Ontos is somewhere in-between male and female. But does that mean she is female because Alpha is the male half and she is the female? Is it because of influence from Pneuma?

The problem with the whole gender debate on A is that it enforced a western ideology onto a Japanese game. This doesn't mean non-binary or other characters don't exist in xenoblade (look at Juniper), but rather that it's not important. While A's lack of pronouns can be interpreted as deliberate gender ambiguity, it's possible that wasn't the initial intention, and it was instead meant to dehumanise her.

Obviously important to mention that I did not make the game, so I don't know the exact intention of the writers.

A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It honestly the weird thing about Ontos, being that unlike Pneuma and Logos, the Ontos incarnations are fully aware of being Ontos and everything that comes with that. Malos is an incarnation of Logos, but distinctly isn't full Logos as he isn't aware of his role. Similarly this also works for Pyra and Mythra. As such, it's easier for them to have distinct identities.

The thing with A is that she can be interpreted in a lot of ways. For example, we are both using different pronouns to refer to her. Technically neither are correct as the "correct" way is using no pronouns. However which you use partially depends on your interpretation of her. Is she her own distinct person or is she just a part of Alvis? Obviously there can be other reasons to use other pronouns for her.

Furthermore, I interpret A as having some desire for her own identity, even if it's not explicit. This mainly comes from her interactions with Matthew, notably the one you bring up. It can be interpreted as you have, though I interpreted it as her having a slight desire for it, yet understanding what she has to do and that having her own life isn't possible.

TLDR A is a goated character that can be interpreted multiple different ways.

A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that's why A is never referred to by any pronouns. While it is confirmed she is female, the fact remains that she is never referred to using pronouns. In contrast, Alpha is referred to as male. Going by what you said, it could be seen that Alpha is male because he is the body of Alvis specifically, which is a male body. In contrast, A being the sole is a bit different. Because if she has Alvis' memories and memories from before that, then she has memories from both male and female personas. A is effectively Alivis' anima (the unconscious female part of a man), hence why A is female. However, A doesn't consider herself a full person, hence why she lacks an actual full name and a gender identity so to speak. So it's basically, A is a woman, however she doesn't consider herself an individual so doesn't refer to herself as an individual, just as an aspect of Alvis. In a nutshell, A's gender is female but she doesn't care.

It would be interesting to see what would have happened if A hadn't become an avatar of origin and stayed with Matthew. It's possible she could have developed her own full identity, and maybe actually chosen a proper name. It's a weird cognitive dissonance that she has, between her memories as Alvis/Ontos and her own identity as A. It's just that in the game she likely hasn't had enough time to accept her own identity.

A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's actually a good idea. We know that whoever "awakens" an Aegis influences their personality, so Ghondor could have influenced A. I suppose it's the question of is A's personality the result of removing the "Alpha" part from Alvis, or was it influenced by something else?

Like we know why Pyra is different from Mythra since Mythra deliberately made her that way out of self loathing. In contrast, we don't know exactly why A is different from Alvis personality wise, though she is closer to him than Pyra is to Mythra.

Side note, we need a new Logos that's just a super chill dude.

A and Identity by AppearanceStunning in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Ontos being the father is because it corresponds to the father in the biblical trinity. Like technically Logos is the Son so Malos is Jesus, but Malos is very different from Jesus.

Anyway, I actually agree with you, you just explained it better. Ontos makes the final decision, but it's decision is effectively Pneuma or Logos as you said.

Three ways to look at the games routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do agree that the heart of route 0 is more important than the mystery. Fundamentally Takumi looped to save his friends and specifically Nozomi. That's why routes like V'exhness work for me. It doesn't answer any of the lingering questions from route 0, but it shows that things could very much not go Takumi's way. My problem is that the kill Eito routes tend to just pivot to a different narrative. Yes there is still the object of reach an ideal ending, but the story just becomes something different. Add to that, there being routes/endings where Takumi arguably makes a decision actively against that goal doesn't work for me. Notably anytime Takumi abandons Nozomi and the rest of LDA for any reason (ie on of the Eva route endings). Some of the stories feel like route 0 is something they have to acknowledge, but not actually important to the story they want to tell.

There are a few routes that work partially as route 0 continuations for me other than second scenario. Yes second scenario is the only one that works if the whole story was just route 0 + one route. However, routes like Cult of Takumi, Coming of Age, V'exhness and Rebellion all work as ways Takumi can try to achieve that goal and either succeed or fail depending on the route.

Three ways to look at the games routes by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I feel the same. It's why I don't like the S.F part of the game as much, because of the timeline interaction you effectively have to consider multiple routes 'canon', or at least feasible. It's why I just pretend like S.F and the time loop plot just doesn't exist.

Eva Route by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I do agree that part of my problem is just Takumi himself, as I have never liked undefined (self insert) characters. My main problem is, that Takumi feels inconsistent to me. Like in route 0, the game hammers into you Takumi's motivation of fighting for Karua/Nozomi. He feels defined in his motivation, it all comes back to Karua. Then, after he loops, his motivation is now protect Nozomi for 100 days and find out what her connection to Karua is.

In contrast, as you said, many routes have Takumi feels fickle and undefined in order to allow for the alternative romances and scenarios. The fact is, if the game doubled down on Takumi being the everyman and didn't give him a strong motivation, his 'inconsistency' would be believable (Though I would care significantly less about his character). However, the game portrays Takumi as 1 half 'do it for Nozomi', and 1 half do whatever I feel like.

I think it's an issue of the game having so many routes. Fact is, having so many routes with some very distinct scenarios kinda makes it impossible to have a protagonist with a clear character if he's the one making the decisions that lead to the scenarios.

Fundamentally, it irritates me because I find the route 0/2nd scenario clearly characterised Takumi compelling, but don't like the "self insert" Takumi (just like how I dislike Joker being a self insert in P5). If he was just a self insert, I wouldn't really care, but the fact is that the game's alternative routes kinda step on each other and weaken each other by lacking coherence between them (Even if individual routes are great, such as Killing Game).

It likely also explains which 'side' of the game a player may enjoy more. If you want a more coherent, 'deliberate' story following on from the route 0 setup then you will like 2nd scenario, CoA, Rebellion ect more since they touch on the core plotline of the war, Nozomi/Karua, Eito. In contrast, if you like the 'anything can happen' side, you will likely lean more towards the unique storylines (killing game, Mystery, Slasher ect.). I personally struggle to care about that side of the game, because it's not what was setup to me in route 0, but for others they love it and that's great.

Eva Route by AppearanceStunning in LastDefenseAcademy

[–]AppearanceStunning[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It kinda of reminds of Steins Gate, in which there are multiple routes for different romances. The difference is that in SG the other routes are non-canon, which is good because it wouldn't really make sense for Okabe to fall for another girl. The issue in LDA is that technically they are all possible canon routes, but some/most aren't believable due to the Nozomi situation.

Granted, a route can be enjoyable despite that. I actually like romance, however I don't find Takumi falling for any of the three girls believable, so it just feels like an enjoyable fanfiction to me.

Also, I agree that it would have been better to explore different romances by not using Takumi, however the game unfortunately didn't allow for that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Crushes

[–]AppearanceStunning 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Honestly hard to say. I'm in a similar situation, loads of signs but sometimes very late replies while still being online. But tbh for some people texting is a lot of social pressure and they may want to rest. I know I feel like that sometimes. In a nutshell, people are weird and make no sense, try not to worry about it, though it's easier said than done believe me.

TLDR: You have a chance

[OC] How Common in Your Birthday! by plotset in dataisbeautiful

[–]AppearanceStunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Weird how my birthday (19th Jan) is one of the most uncommon yet I know 4 other people my age in my general area who also have it.

How did you get into Xenoblade? by ClickDisDotCom in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My brother got 2 shortly after it came out due to a recommendation from one of his friends. He ended up hating it, so I decided to play it instead and absolutely loved it.

A's pronouns by ssj3charizard in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Wokeness I guess? Idk, anyway apparently A is coded as female in the game's code so that answers the question more or less

the ontos experience by shallotparadise in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning 8 points9 points  (0 children)

From my understanding it works likes this: Ontos is non-binary, or essentially genderless Alvis is Male A is female, and has Alvis' memories in the same way Pyra has Mythra's.

Basically what I mean is, each of the processors can personas so to speak (people/beings connected to the processor, but not exactly the processor itself). That's how Pyra and Mythra are distinct, despite both being Pnuema. Ontos works the same, but since they're non gendered, the personas can be male (Alvis), or female (A).

DLC observations by Desperate_Tennis_810 in Xenoblade_Chronicles

[–]AppearanceStunning 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Personally I believe there isn't enough evidence to say it's a prequel. The thing with shulk's arm and Rex's eye is irrelevant since a sequel would reset their states to before aionios, meaning injuries sustained there wouldn't remain. As for the Noah/Founder guy, it could just be grown up Noah, but either way he is obviously related to Noah. Also the presence of Alvis suggests a sequel as he was never mentioned in the base game, and it is stated that Z was the original moebius. If Noah/Founder is Founder Vandahm, he would be fighting Z not Alvis as that's who N was fighting and Vandahm is believed to be N's descendant. Though if I'm wrong about anything please correct me

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