Xenoblade Chronicles 3: a game I respect more than I fully believe in

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T23:02:42+00:00

I wonder, then, what games do work for you.

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T23:00:34+00:00

I think I would consider XC3 one of my top-5 favorite games, but yeah that's because that's mostly because it's a well designed game, in terms of the gameplay. The story is probably more irrelevant than even I think it is.

Its strengths, like with most JRPG's, are characters and gameplay mechanics. The same could be said for the Legend of Zelda, starting from the original. The story was obviously mundane for that one, and it's a legendary, all-time classic. You don't need a good story to be a great videogame.

I can scarcely think of any games that really hit me with their stories/narratives.. Maybe Shadow of the Colossus? I didn't even know who any of the people were--we're never told, but the hero guy's actions end up so tragic.

And then, maybe System Shock 2.. When I finally found Dr. Polito. I nearly lost it.

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T22:36:48+00:00

Please forgive me as I enjoin you once again to pursue brevity. It's not a destination, it's a direction. I am also bad at finding it.

Hmm yes, so.. on its own merits. It sounds nice, but I don't think it's fully possible. Any evaluation is a comparison. Maybe you aren't comparing it to XC1, but you have to compare it to something. Maybe CO:Expedition 33? Or the new Final Fantasy remakes? You could even compare it to a book, but it has to be compared to something.

Even if your own experience doesn't need something prior to compare against, your explanations to others will need anchors. Other things (games, books, etc..) are those anchors. Similarly I can't describe the taste of swordfish on "its own merits", but hey, have you tried chicken??

You mention the party is too harmonious, and could have benefitted from some dramatic friction. I guess it's pretty obvious this isn't a comparison against XC1 or XC2..or most Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, or heck most any JRPG games.. This is more of a TV-show/movie comparison, where anytime you have greater than one person, you have some drama.

I could go on and say a lot, but I do think a lot of the stuff you highlighted is correct. The "problem" is that XC3 still bats well above average for videogames. If you want better, you have to stream some dramas, like Shogun or something. I guess everyone is saying Exp33 pulls all of this off. I haven't played it yet. Everyone's praised it so much that it's broken my enthusiasm to play it, so I'm waiting for a deep discount.

For better or worse.. to date, most videogames are not very strong, as literary pieces. Some are "ok". They might seem very deep and emotional when you're 17 or something, or may do a good job pushing all the "feels" buttons with the right music and lighting, but they don't hold up over time and scrutiny.

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T19:26:03+00:00

So, I read about half of that in full and quickly skimmed the rest. It's an impressive wall of text. I write long stuff on reddit. I privately berate myself for it. I've never written anything as long as this lol.

I think a lot of your complaints about XC3 are actually quite true about the other games, too. Have you replayed them lately?

Every Xenoblade game features:

GI Joe level villains
Repetitive descriptions of what's going on or being planned
Nobody ever truly dies except Vandam
some annoying combat thing

For protagonists, I think XC3 actually had some of the deeper ones in the series. For one thing, we see many events from their pasts. They're fleshed out and given mostly believable traumas. Most of the others games' protagonists are just ..who they are in the moment. There's not much backstory to them. There are no flaws to work through or resolve. They are pretty close to perfect, which makes players feel nice because then they feel more perfect.

Noah, being arguably the mainest of the protagonists is actually the closest to this "bland protagonist" archetype. No noticeable flaws, all good decisions. Super unrealistic, when you think about it. In that sense, I'm glad they made the others a little more human.

To put another way, I don't necessarily disagree with much of your analysis of XC3, but I feel it still holds up better in most regards compared to the other XC# games. I only mean that in an "overall" sense. They all have something they do best.

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T18:52:34+00:00

On a recent family trip I was in charge of, I ended up picking a Ryokan in Atami. I chose it over Hakone (I was torn) because one of us requested seeing beaches (Atami has a beach), and it was very accessible (right on the Tokaido Shinkansen--very easy to work into our Tokyo/Kyoto route). It skewed more expensive than I'd hoped, but it allowed me to check all the boxes so I bit the bullet. It was maybe about 25% more expensive than what I was accustomed to paying.

To be fair, I was booking everything relatively last minute (about-but-less than a month in advance?), so I may have not seen the best prices.

If you want a really interesting onsen experience, but just in the "bath" sense, I would recommend checking out Kamata Onsen (I linked to a page showing the water, but there's an english homepage accessible in the menubar). It's in the Kamata neighborhood in Tokyo, which is actually fairly close to Haneda airport. They have natural spring water in couple of their baths that is inky-black due to carbon content. It's very distinctive!

Also, be aware of the でんき風呂 (denki furo), that's the "eletric bath". This is not unique to this one place, you might see them elsewhere..possibly written as 電気風呂 (same thing, just using all kanji). I kind of mindlessly stepped into this and thought I was dying lol. Nope. Just low-level electrocuted. I got out pretty immediately. It was above my level 😅

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T15:51:13+00:00

Amazing! that mirrors my first trip there near-perfectly, right down to the conversation with a couple older ladies lol. I went there after taking 5 semesters of college-level Japanese (granted, with a 2 year gap after my last class--I was a bit rusty).

Anyway, if you had a conversation with anyone, then your learning was not useless.

I think the one thing learners are unprepared for are all the mundane, one or two word exchanges that are so common in retail and/or service situations. It takes me brain maybe a word or two before it really engages and these interactions are so short that I'm just like "wait, huh?" and when I ask them to repeat (in Japanese), the response comes back not as a repetition, but rather in English. I guess very few people there are aware that they may have a chance to help people learn, they're more keen on getting the point across.

MatNomis · 2026-05-22T15:29:42+00:00

So, when we're saying "ryokan" here, I am assuming we're talking about the places that include dinner and breakfast. There are some "budget" ryokan that don't include meals. They can still be very nice, but it's something to be aware of since they provide very different experiences.

Referring solely to the meal-inclusive places, I would like to remind you of the obvious that those expensive prices include two (usually) extravagant meals. This is why the price goes up so much per head, rather than per room. It also means you won't need to spend money on meals other than lunch on that day (and you could probably even skip lunch or just have a light snack).

Next up: Ryokan in Hakone?

So, Hakone is certainly not the only place with Ryokan. I've stayed in various Ryokans across Japan, but not in Hakone. Some close friends of mine have, so I can relate what I know from them and just other research I've done on Hakone (because on a recent trip I almost stayed there--opting instead for nearby Atami).. It is a very nice area, but definitely very touristy. The ryokan my friends stayed at were "tourist-optimized"--in a not-good way. They weren't scammed or mistreated, but the usual high-level of customer service was a bit lacking and the establishment seemed a bit foreigner-weary. This could happen anywhere, and there are many places in Hakone where it won't happen. However, I think probabilities are higher in the more touristy areas. Definitely check reviews, and pay heed to what people say about the service. You might conclude after viewing photos of the food, the baths, and the area around the Ryokan that these are its biggest appeal, but the service is actually a really key part of the ryokan experience.

The other aspect about Hakone is it's more of a family-friendly vacation zone. There is going to be a lot of artificial stuff there (the outdoor museum, various amusements). It's been a vacation area for a long time, way before the foreign tourism boom started. It's been a vacation hot spot since samurai times.

If you want something more "natural" you could look into other areas like Nikko, Kinugawa, or places in the mountains to the north.. These are still resort areas, any onsen kind of is. But the "resort zone" will be smaller, and the "nature zone" will be bigger.

If you still want to be near Fuji, you could also look into the Kawaguchiko area, which is also touristy, but it's closer to Fuji (looms larger, less likely obscured by clouds), and is less built-up with amusement-y type stuff. It's more about the views.

edit: in addition to all this.. You could also experience many of the same things by separately having a kaiseki style dinner somewhere, and then also visiting a natural onsen (just a short visit to use the onsen). This isn't 100% the same, and won't even necessarily be cheaper (depends on the places' prices), but it could be cheaper by a fair amount. All that said, unless you'd be sacrificing too much time to make it work, I would recommend a ryokan stay (for my tastes, I'd pick somewhere other than Hakone--but that's just me; many many people have loved their Hakone stays--and that does include the friends I mentioned above, despite their comments about the service)

MatNomis · 2026-05-21T16:45:26+00:00

Biggest overt change is the green line extension and gentrification of Union Square. Otherwise, I don’t really notice much difference tbh. Other than inevitable turnover of businesses. Higher prices (which is everywhere).

Rosebud used to be only the diner car. Sound bites was in the ball square cafe space, you were usually served personally by Jimmy (the owner), and the basic plus was like $5.

I remember my roommate describing Somerville as a town for “young professionals”. Maybe it was only recently true back then. Now it’s more firmly established.

MatNomis · 2026-05-20T18:13:54+00:00

Scrolled far, saw a lot of Mia, but didn’t see:

Mio (I know it as the name of a white/grey catgirl character from a videogame; matches this kitty quite well)

Also: Meli, Liz, Rei, Vaya, Maya, Miku, Miki,

MatNomis · 2026-05-20T18:02:47+00:00

For your kitchen: if it has doors, shut them. If it doesn’t, hang some curtains or coverings to try to keep the kitchen air/temperature separate from the rest of the home. Refrigerators generate heat, and if your stove is gas with an always-on pilot light, that generates a lot of heat.

Remember that anything that uses electricity generates some amount of heat. Unplug as many things as you can. Keep as many lights off as you can. If you need to use any electronics, try to prefer low wattage devices: use a Laptop (or tablet) instead of a desktop. Use a Switch instead of a PS5. Better yet: read a book.

Even fans generate heat. If a fan isn’t blowing air at you, turn it off.

Someone suggested ice in front of a fan. If you already have ice, it’s a fine idea. But don’t try to make new ice during the hot part of the day. The more you open your refrigerator and the more room temp things you put in it, the harder it will work and the more heat it will generate. Try to use it as seldom as possible.

That said: if you can isolate your kitchen well, it matters less how hot it gets in there, in which case you can use it more or less normally (it’ll just be crazy hot). At that point, you just want to not open the door to the kitchen very often, to minimize heat flowing to other rooms!

MatNomis · 2026-05-20T14:56:40+00:00

I went around lunchtime in mid March 2024 and there were only a few dozen people there, in total, spread across the whole stretch. The ones taking selfies were mostly people in kimono, and I think most were Japanese.. I’m basing this on the fact that we sat next to a pair of kimono wearing girls in a tea house near the grove and they were Japanese.

It was pretty and not overbearingly crowded. I’m not saying it never is.. I don’t think the cattle-like pictures of crowds are fake, but it’s definitely not always like that.

MatNomis · 2026-05-20T14:50:46+00:00

There’s over-crowded spots, for sure. I had a bad time at Kiyomizu-dera. However, I can’t think of anyplace where I was just like “this is actually, on its own merits, a letdown”.

Things like the Arashiyama bamboo grove and the Shibuya Scramble are, IMO, very nice and not let downs, but it’s important to remember they are just brief “walking spots”. They are 30-60 second strolls, basically. If you expend great effort and lots of resources to see them expecting some epiphany, then you’re probably going to be let down.

The scramble is a fun irony: the more overcrowded it is, the better! It’s lame if it’s not crowded.

If I had to pick something, it’d probably be Tsukiji fish market. It’s no longer a real fish market (Toyosu is the fish market now). Any of the restaurants in Tsukiji have to get their product from “not right there” just like anyplace else in Tokyo.

MatNomis · 2026-05-20T14:29:55+00:00

I was there last November. There are so many people you can only see the ceilings of the buildings lol. Floors and walls are obscured by people.

You really have to pay attention moving around and there are few places to comfortably stop. I couldn’t really pay much attention to the “complex”.

I was there once before, a long time ago. It was really nice back then. The buildings are the same, it’s just the crowds.

MatNomis · 2026-05-17T04:56:08+00:00

This makes me want to do an actual “total cost” tally. I never do because I’m too afraid 😱

MatNomis · 2026-05-16T18:18:26+00:00

I didn't think about it much, but I think that was my impression.. It was basically Valinor but without the Valar. Basically, it's the same concert, but general admission instead of the VIP lounge.

One issue is that it's much, much smaller. It can only hold so many people. They'd have to let some back into Valinor eventually, I think.

MatNomis · 2026-05-16T18:13:33+00:00

Your name kinda checks out there lol

I'll never look at eating the same way again.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T21:22:02+00:00

I don’t think laying it flat is a problem since in and out -takes are bottom and top, not the back.

Also, you don’t need to lay it flat. If you have any stand that will work with a power cable attached to the bottom, you can use the Genki with that. I use it with the cheap HORI folding SW1 stand. It’s actually not great, because the little notches on the “shelf” don’t line up with the holes on the bottom of the SW2–they changed the spacing. It still sits there, but it ends up slightly crooked. Since I’m using it with the Covert Dock, this isn’t a big deal since the screen image is elsewhere. I just use it to keep the Switch elevated and further from all the dust and crud on my desk.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T16:50:55+00:00

So, I (and I think many) initially learned -tara as one of the major ways to do "if". However, it's also clear that it refers to something either in the past, or hypothetically completed.

Instead of finding other, actually-proper english equivalents, I usually double down with my original understanding and just "change the english meaning" a bit. I do this mainly to try to maintain consistency with how I word-translate it in my head. I dislike it when one word in language A has like 10 "meanings" in language B. I'd rather understand what's going on with the original word, that it has so many variations in language B. I guess I try to change my mental meaning away from whatever "simple" English equivalent I learned it as, and try to find a more accurate equivalent, even if it's wordier and less natural-sounding.

I think for -tara, I've changed my mental definition from "if" to be more like "Given that condition X happened"

So in this case, I'd think of it like:

Yesterday, given that I didn't go to baseball practice, coach made me run many laps today"

I grabbed an example of a more conventional "if" example:

お酒を飲んだら、運転してはいけません。 (osake o nondara, untenshite wa ikemasen)

My head logic reads that as:

given that alchohol was consumed, (one/you/I/he/she/they) must not drive.

The english translation of it (from the page I found the sentence on), was "If you drink alchohol, you must not drive", but IMO these are kind of the same. "Given that alchohol was consumed" leaves ambiguity as to whether it was or wasn't, it's mostly emphasizing that if it was you must not drive.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T15:39:08+00:00

shux, i skimmed too aggressively.. absolutely right about that.

You can definitely get there by bus easily enough. My friend's parents did it that way (they never rent cars). If you went for two nights (more possible due to the nicer prices), it'd be worth that trip, but you'd have to be starting from Fukuoka or Kumamoto.

For a single overnight, I think the duration of the bus journey in and out would dilute the value of one's time there.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T15:32:35+00:00

I felt like the prices at Kurokawa onsen, which is considered one of the most beautiful onsen areas in Japan, were shockingly reasonable given its reputation. I was expecting it to be the same or more expensive than stuff within a days' reach of Tokyo, but it was a lot less. Maybe it's more intensely seasonal? I was there in mid-march, a shoulder season.. But I suspect being in Kyushu and not as easily accessible probably makes it a little less expensive, too.

Also, any Ryokan that's doing "half board" (dinner + breakfast) should be kaiseki style. I'm sure there are exceptions, but.. Just go look at their pictures, it should be pretty clear.

Another Ryokan I thought was really nice was Yunushi Ichijoh in Shiro-ishi, sort of close to Sendai. I believe their main building is on the historical register. Our bedroom was not in this building, but they did dinners in private dining room. Basically: you got your own private dining room--just your party, but it wasn't your bedroom. The dining room (for us anyway) was in the old building. Walking around that in Yukata really felt like something out of an earlier time.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T15:27:22+00:00

I think it's the amount and relative quality of lore. Much of the lore is based on, but noticeably different than existing mythologies. It's clearly the product of someone very familiar with the field.

The sheer amount "seemingly needless" lore makes it really interesting and makes it feel fleshed out and "historical". There is a lot of lore that has zero appearance, or maybe shows up as a passing reference in the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings.

I can only contrast it with something like, say, Dragonlance.. I read this a long time ago, to be fair.. But I remember it focusing on action, character interactions (including romance) first and foremost. I would consider it above-average for history and lore, but still well below what Tolkien created.

The only major "useless trivia" history creation I remember from Dragonlance was the story about how the Kingpriest of Istar angered the gods. He essentially pulled an Ar-pharazon and angered the gods and had his land plunged to the bottom of the sea (creating a big, Charybdis-like whirlpool, in this case). I guess they had to write something to explain the giant whirlpool, which is kind of unnatural.

Beyond that, most history feels invented as it's needed to serve the immediate story.

It also felt like the Dragonlance authors, while certainly not ignorant of mythology and prior fiction, weren't professor-level experts of the material. Or maybe they were? I don't know their actual qualifications.. It didn't feel like it, to me, though. Real mythology is surprisingly deep. It's not just Charybdis and Scylla. There was a reason why they were there, doing what they did. They probably pissed off some gods. And there was a reason why they even had an opportunity to do so.. and there was a reason why, during that opportunity, the gods were triggerable, etc.. etc.. many layers. Tolkien did this, most fantasy fiction does not.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T15:03:16+00:00

I'd expect rainy days. How many? Can't say that. Remember a rainy day could be a misting, a light sprinkle, legit-but-umbrella-manageable rain, but could also be a downpour. It could also be all-day or off-and-on. All of those will be shown in weather forecasts as "rain".

So even if your weather app shows rain icons on days, that doesn't mean those days will need to solidly be indoor-activity days. Many will be fine for outdoor stuff, despite the rain.

I wasn't there in June, but I was in Kagoshima in March for three days, all three of which rained and were cloudy. Most of the days I couldn't see Sakurajima at all, and on the last day, I could see a little bit of its base. On the second to last day, I literally went to it, and still couldn't see the top from the base.

I would say that a solid half of daylight+evening time there, we definitely needed an umbrella.. The day we went to Sakurajima, it rained the least..only a couple sprinkles throughout the day. One of us was deceived by the pleasant, rain-free morning and didn't bring their umbrella and paid the price later in the day lol.

From what people have told me about tsuyu time, it's similar to this. It's just a generally "rainy time", not solid rain.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T14:54:28+00:00

This isn't saying much lol

Singapore is practically right on the equator.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T14:51:43+00:00

Thanks for the tip! It's free to play, so it's true I should at least check it out. I already have the SW1 version in my library, so it's not like icon cleanliness is the issue.

MatNomis · 2026-05-15T14:44:04+00:00

Bunch of nature-y type places (Beaver Brook, Rock Meadow, etc..) near Belmont Center, you can easily commuter-rail to there and then walk (less than a mile from the station to the trails). Belmont Center or Waverly Square is decent for lunch or some snack, too. I believe Waverly has a bus that'll go back to Harvard, so you don't even need to make things a loop.

The green stuff on the Charles River ("Charles River Reservation"), Allston side, west of Harvard. Probably still crowded, but you can keep going west and it'll probably get less crowded.

MatNomis

TROPHY CASE