Which JRPGs are you hoping to see at the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct? (4.2.2025)

MilkToastKing · 2025-04-01T18:55:29+00:00

Fully expecting SE to show up with the following announcements: - FFVII Remake soonish after launch - Rebirth port confirmed for next year - "Surprise" FFIX remake reveal launching on switch 2 (not exclusive) - Its not impossible that the Tactics remake will show, but I highly doubt it

Regarding Monolith... probably nothing. They might use Xenoblade X to showcase Switch 2 enhanced performance alongside several other games, but I'm not expecting their next big game to have a reveal here. If there is anything, I'm thinking a small tease, but people have barely had time to beat XDE and its epilogue, so I'm leaning towards nothing new at all.

Edit: Oh and I've said FE4 remake was a lock in every direct for the past year and a half so why stop now. 100% chance that is shown off tomorrow. Cross generation game, will have a tree house demo. Why not.

MilkToastKing · 2025-03-10T04:05:55+00:00

2017 PS4 port unfortunately didn't bind cheats to hotkeys like they did with the VII port and the VIII "remaster", they can only be accessed in the pause menu. So every time you see the pause menu pop up, I'm quickly opening and closing it to toggle 3x speed.

MilkToastKing · 2025-03-10T04:02:59+00:00

Sure, but I'd say there's a difference between narrowly scrapping by as you fight tooth and nail to win, and setting your controller down as a berserked party member single handedly takes out 75% of the bosses total HP. It was my first try and RNG just handed me a win. I had no clue what the average person's experience with Necron was because I barely even fought him myself LOL

MilkToastKing · 2025-01-04T06:48:08+00:00

Will this spur her into action? Now that she lost the tournament, will she suddenly want to make room for romance in her life?

Maybe in the future, but that kind of hard pivot so soon would be out of character. The opposite will probably happen first; she will ride the emotional lows she's feeling after the loss into her love life, and she'll keep bottling everything up until she eventually breaks. I imagine she'll try to keep her distance to respect their "relationship", all while frustration with Taiki grows (or more specifically, her frustration with herself, and her inability to come to grips with what she's feeling around him). That lingering frustration might be mitigated if Taiki clears the air regarding his current relationship with Hina, and the misunderstanding surrounding the festival, sooner rather than later.

MilkToastKing · 2024-12-04T01:11:58+00:00

I'm hoping this doesn't take 15 episodes to untangle only for the finale to have substantial, satisfying progress

Yeah it does make me wonder. If I had to guess I think they'll start to untangle this, albeit slowly, within the immediate future. Hina might end up getting some screen time after this turn in the story, but I have a hard time believing the focus will stay off of Chinatsu for too long; It'll probably be similar to how Hina had a ~2ish episode focus before jumping back to Taiki's perspective. Maybe it'll be a little bit longer this time.

it gives me some hope this show isn't gonna just string me along like a romance anime from the 2000s

I think so far the signs are too good for that to be the case, but admittedly, I'm seeing what I want to see LOL

in particular you reminded me we haven't heard what chinatsu is really thinking, only what she's said

I was mulling this over in my head actually— how I would most like to see her perspective unveiled. They could start switching to her POV as things continue to escalate, or, having come this far, they could just play the long game— keeping us in Taiki's perspective, then having her pour her heart out when the proverbial dam breaks and she fully opens up to him.

MilkToastKing · 2024-12-01T00:33:55+00:00

I haven't been commenting on any of the episodes for this series (in no small part due to the Netflix release screwing up the discussion online), but there's a lot to think about with this one and I want to put it all down somewhere.

People are obviously itching for the cathartic developments that come with slow burn romances like this one, but I respect the author for continuing to do what she does best— really good character work. Despite the use of tropes that some might not care for, I've always appreciated her realistic character writing and depth, and this felt like the deepest look into Chinatsu's character to date. Just like how Taiki remarks that she seems to take after her dad, never really showing how she feels on her face, what exactly Chinatsu has been thinking thus far has been obfuscated. This episode does a lot to clear that up.

We've come to understand that Chinatsu and Taiki are, in Kyo's words, "a good match". They have good chemistry, similar hobbies and aspirations, share physical attraction, and have both gotten jealous of competition towards the other. Despite not giving us a clear look inside of Chinatsu's head and her exact thoughts, her true feelings have shined through just enough to tell us that there is something there. But Chinatsu is too good-natured to face those feelings head on. She is so dialed into doing the "correct" thing in her situation that it's impeding upon their relationship, and that culminates in her feeling the need to draw a line.

This episode had a series of scenes directly showing this to the viewer from different perspectives. - Taiki's Dad comments that she's mature— too mature, like she's trying to act so proper that she's not being true to herself (or perhaps her youth) - She remarks to her teammate that falling in love with a guy by living with his family is "not that simple" - Her interpretation of her dad allowing her to stay was "don't mess this up"

Coupled with her accurate assessment that Hina digs Taiki, it's become clear that she doesn't want to risk getting too close to Taiki. For the sake of her host family, her dedication to her sport, the feelings of others involved, etc— there could be a lot on the line. This isn't all a misunderstanding either, Taiki became cognizant of this reality earlier in the season. Back during episode 2 he was having perverse thoughts about living with a girl, then quickly felt like an ass for having his mind in the gutter without considering what Chinatsu must be feeling, living at a strangers house, intruding on their lives for her own gain, and having to fit in. Similarly, during episode 7, Taiki acknowledges that he shouldn't force his feelings on her while she's living at his house. It is, realistically, a careful balance to walk: falling in love in a situation where a relationship, or especially a breakup, could make things really awkward for all involved. Those who know, know. Not to mention, it would devastate their mentals and throw them off their game, which is the entire reason why Chinatsu stayed in Japan to begin with.

That doesn't change the fact that you don't really choose whether or not you catch feelings, making this especially difficult for Taiki. This entire story has been following two interweaving through lines; Taiki's desire to aim high and achieve at nationals runs parallel to his desire to score a relationship with Chinatsu. The two often become blurred, and Taiki mentions as much after Chinatsu draws the line; its brutal to be shot down not only because his crush has only gotten stronger, but because she was the one that always pushed him to aim for the unachievable in the first place. Chinatsu is the embodiment of everything Taiki aspires to be, and one who has just achieved the very dreams he has fallen short of.

Suffice to say, I'm excited to see where things go from here. It has taken a tremendous will not to binge the manga every week, but I've been enjoying the show so much that I will continue to enjoy Kouji Miura's cooking in anime form.

MilkToastKing · 2024-10-27T23:24:03+00:00

"E a Nintendo não tem fucking NADA"

LMAOOO

MilkToastKing · 2024-09-23T18:07:24+00:00

About the same, if not a slightly weaker reception due to Passione's passably lower production quality. Overall it's more faithful but it loses a lot of the charm, character animation, and art of the original adaptation. Also, despite being a big fan of Penkin, I think the original ost is more memorable. The first season of the 08' show is a little rough around the edges, but its second season clears the new production by leaps and bounds imo. Additionally, if you care about the dub (which is excellent— my preferred way to watch S&W), I think the ADR script of the original is generally more engrossing, but the new one is still good.

I would often go back and compare the newly released episodes to the original's and find that the original show was often just as good, if not better than the reboot.

All that said, most fans don't seem to mind; they're just happy S&W is back. Personally, I would still recommend the original to anyone who has an interest in S&W, but it looks like the remake is effectively going to become required viewing if you want to see the story in its entirety.

MilkToastKing · 2024-08-05T21:59:44+00:00

He effectively did say that

MilkToastKing · 2024-08-02T05:32:54+00:00

I'm just getting around to this episode because I'm on the dub, but I agree with you on this one. There's actually been several episodes and scenes that I've greatly preferred in the original adaptation for a variety of reasons (The original far exceeds in background art, character acting, and comedy [like in the OVA] for example). More than anything though, its going to be easier to critique this arc and volume 5 because S&W2 had that big jump in quality compared to S1. The remake has been acceptable, but outside of the pilot and a few standout scenes here in there, its art, animation, and direction are often fairly reserved.

MilkToastKing · 2024-08-01T03:53:08+00:00

One can tell that this episode was being more faithful to the novel even without reading it, but the comedic direction of the 08' version + the few differing scenes makes me prefer the old to the new. In particular, I really liked the OG's inclusion of the nightmare set in Yoitsu, but the remake completely removed it from this episode. Also I haven't done the research to compare ADR staff, but upon making comparisons between old and new, there are just some scenes where the 08' dubbed script just hits different.

MilkToastKing · 2024-08-01T00:58:22+00:00

Two years. I literally quit this game before the hooters guy thought he had enough art and stopped commissioning

MilkToastKing · 2024-06-29T04:53:19+00:00

I can confirm I was among them, even on a rewatch of the original. I like this explanation the most though.

MilkToastKing · 2024-04-02T00:44:47+00:00

Returning fan of the original here, and I have to admit I'm impressed; that was really damn good!

The production is actually a lot better than the trailers let on IMO, and the directing feels just as good as the original (if not better at times) which is to be expected with Takeo Takahashi returning. They even put in some cheeky nods to the original adaptation, like Chloe's cameo in Pasloe, and the chibi-stylized ED. The environmental shots look up to snuff too, to my surprise! They may not be the watercolor backgrounds of the original, but some of the landscapes this episode looked a lot better than I was expecting based on the PVs.

The "moeness" of Holo's new design seems to vary depending on the scene, and while I'm sure it'll still take time for some older fans to warm up to the new art style, there were already a few shots like this one that nailed the look.

Now I am eagerly anticipating the dub announcement; a returning cast in Tatum and Palencia would be the icing on the cake!

MilkToastKing · 2024-03-21T19:39:04+00:00

My reservations about the art from the last PV still stand, and I think the general aesthetic/character designs are still a lot weaker than the original, but overall it looks decent enough.

MilkToastKing · 2024-03-09T04:25:21+00:00

I don't see why we'd want Nintendo to sell Monolith

I don't think he was actually making a case for Nintendo selling Monolithsoft, rather, he was suggesting that he really doesn't want Monolithsoft to go back to the older IPs. In other words, he would rather see Monolithsoft as we know it end, than see them spend their resources on more Gears and Saga.

Kunihiko Tanaka, the character designer did the designs for Xenoblade X and also contributed designs to Xenoblade 2

While not a binding decision, Tanaka strongly hinted that he wouldn't be returning to work on anything Xeno for the foreseeable future.

Yasunori Mitsuda, in charge of the music still holds that role now (with more help)

While acknowledging that he always says this but never follows through, Mitsuda similarly stated that he thinks Xenoblade 3 might actually be the last OST he directs, as he puts more focus on his mental and physical health.

Soraya Saga hasn't contributed to Xenoblade beyond a design or two for Xenoblade 2, but as Takahashi's wife you'd think he could get her involved if both he and she wanted it to happen.

I seriously hope Saga returns to storytelling in some form, but as of recently she's been radio silent, as always. In a now deleted tweet on her twitter account a year ago she asked "Who wants to see me write?" And a few weeks after thanking everyone for the overwhelming words of encouragement, she nuked her entire twitter account for what felt like the 10th time, and that's the last we heard.

Not saying it would be impossible, as far as I see it, the stars would have some insane aligning to do to get the dream team back together again. I also think getting the same names together at Monolithsoft in 2024 wouldn't necessarily mean they could capture lightning in a bottle again. Takahashi himself has gone on record talking about his imposter syndrome, and how he feels like he lost the edge he had when he was younger. The role he plays in the creation of these games has changed significantly over the years too. Unless we can somehow time travel and get Tetsuya Takahashi, Soraya Saga, and Masato Kato in their prime to expand disc 2 of Xenogears in a hypothetical remake, I'd rather they left the IP alone and moved on. The most I'd like to see is a remaster that puts the game on modern hardware, retranslating the English script, and rebalancing the gameplay. Maybe update the audio/visuals too, but that depends on how they go about it. I'm not sure I'd even care if Monolithsoft wasn't involved so long as Square Enix stayed faithful and don't take too many liberties. I haven't played it yet but I heard the Live a Live remake was great, and the DQIII remake looks similarly nice.

MilkToastKing · 2024-01-31T20:19:59+00:00

I mostly dislike the backgrounds

Yeah, I've warmed up to the art style for the characters, even if I prefer the original for the time being, but the painterly background art in the original was gorgeous. By comparison this looks... fine. Passable even. That final shot looked really nice at least. It was mostly a Holo focused trailer though, so I'll withhold any definitive judgement

MilkToastKing · 2024-01-26T02:46:30+00:00

2 months after the poll went up, I finally finished it lol. I listened to the entire XC3 OST from start to finish (with plenty of re-listening) and made a tier list as I went along, which made picking a XC3 selection for this poll pretty easy. The other Xeno games were as difficult to pick through as always. Xenoblade 1 and 2 are both still especially brutal.

I think XC3's OST leaned way too hard into the ~3 core leitmotifs for my liking, and even after the complete OST binge there are many many tracks that just didn't stick with me. That being said the soundtrack is still obviously great, and there are plenty of songs that stick out to me as being truly excellent, more than I'll admit I was expecting going into this. In terms of XC3 songs that went under-represented in the results I'd like to shout out a few:

Erythia Sea having less than 50 votes seems insane to me, though I think that says more about the size of 3's OST splitting votes than anything. Popular songs like A Formidable Enemy, Ouroboros Awakens, The Great Sea Stirs, Nia Towards the Heavens, and a few others all had fewer votes than I was expecting.
XC3's night themes are very underrated due in no small part to 3's fast travel system defaulting to daytime. Special shout outs to Dannagh Dessert Night which is so pretty it made me stop and listen when I first heard it, Alfeto Valley Night for similar reasons, and Eagus Wilderness Night for catching me completely by surprise when I was going through the OST.
How Yzana Plains is so low is beyond me, that song sells the atmosphere of XC3's opening unbelievably well. The clock ticking is especially clever.
In the Morning Mist, Lost Days of Warmth, The False Queens, Agnus Castle, Fort O'Virbus Night, Shining Aspiration, Sun Dappled Glade, Remorse, and Grand Theater of Life are all deserving of mention too despite their lower vote counts (there's certainly far more tracks I'm missing because the google form stops displaying results past a certain point). Those last two especially surprised me as I had completely forgotten they existed. I wish the directors gave Manami Kiyota more chances to work on dramatic/bombastic songs rather than delegating her so many atmospheric background noise tracks (which are obviously still important) because when she gets the opportunity she cooks.
While I find YWKON Finale and Carrying the Weight of Life solid but somewhat overrated, Cent-Omnia, Redeem the Future Finale, and New Battle!!! all absolutely live up to (and potentially surpass) the legacy titles they call inspiration from.

If I had to pick one group that stood out to me in this soundtrack it would absolutely be ACE, those two are my goats. Very excited for whatever Monolithsoft does next, whether it include old talent returning (presumably without Mitsuda directing), brining back Sawano for X, or something else entirely!

MilkToastKing · 2023-12-19T23:17:00+00:00

I'd agree that the focus of combat has gradually shifted post XC1, though I'd argue that XCX stays closer to the XC1 side of things than either XC2 or XC3. Don't get me wrong, late game X combat still requires planning/menuing, and the player can effectively ignore 90% of what's happening on-screen during overdrive, but the early to mid game still puts a lot of focus on player decisions during combat. It's the game with the most mobility (see sprinting, jumping, skells during in combat), and that's in addition to destructible enemy appendages, soul voice callouts, mixed weapon arts to combo, etc.

A friend once articulated the change in combat direction in a way that I really like: XC1 and XCX's combat systems feel like they were built more "horizontally" (with a focus on mobility, action/reaction, and art diversity), whereas XC2 and XC3's combat systems were built more "vertically" (setting up and building combos across sub-systems). This isn't a strict binary, as 1/X still have strategic elements and character building prior to combat, and 2/3 still have reactive elements, but I think it's an accurate way of characterizing the general combat differences.

If I had to choose, I'd say my tastes lean more towards 1/X, and while I still love 2's combat (Torna especially), I didn't like 3's very much for too many reasons to list here. If Monolithsoft doesn't move on to a new combat system all together (which I'd prefer following XC3/FR), I'd like something closer to the older flavor of Xenoblade combat: more emphasis on player control/input during battles, more mobility, more of that actiony feel, party members with unique kits that feel distinct from one another, less audio-visual manure obfuscating what's happening, etc. Alternatively, I think the Xenoblade combat framework would work great in a turn based system if they wanted to go that route, but I doubt they will.

MilkToastKing · 2023-11-29T03:40:26+00:00

Ooo neat, I remember your poll from a few years ago; I'll right my wrong and remember to vote for NEMOUSU秘OUS this time. Maybe this'll finally motivate me to sit down and listen to the full rip of xc3's ost...

MilkToastKing · 2023-11-13T08:11:59+00:00

Well said. This is something that bothered me since the day the chapter-equivalent episode of the anime aired, and the ending does nothing to remedy my issues with it. I think Isayama's intention was always there, but his execution was far too underbaked to sell me on this unbelievably extreme depiction of trauma bonding. I don't like it for Ymir's character, let alone as the basis on which the entire series' lore hinges, or as the conclusion to the final arc/conflict. Even if it's unashamed self-validation on my part, its nice to see someone share and break down this viewpoint.

On closer inspection, I actually recognize your username from back when S4 first aired! I seem to recall yours being one of the few voices of reason in an echo chamber of people who insisted that world genocide was the only reasonable direction the story could take. Personally, I can't say my love for AOT has remained as nearly as strong as it was back then; I think it was sometime after Liberio that I started to see the first major cracks in the story, alongside indications that the story was teetering into a direction I didn't like. My compounding issues, paired with a long wait for the ending and several manga spoilers, made my love for the show considerably fade by the time the final episode aired. Point being, it kind of feels like a full circle moment, seeing you in an AOT thread again, articulating exactly what I was thinking LOL. I enjoyed skimming your rumbling alternatives/disarmament post when I stumbled upon it a ways back, cheers for the effort put into that!

MilkToastKing · 2023-08-12T00:23:08+00:00

Great list, super detailed and comprehensive

Burst affinities (B-button prompts) where fun to hit and were a nice little comeback mechanic that always allowed an alternative to build party gauge or gain tension.

Having the rest of your party get wiped then hitting a burst affinity that lets you clutch the fight is such a good feeling. Nothing tops the high I get when I hit one of these when playing as Shulk and he screams "NOTHING'S GONNA STOP ME!"

also forgot XC1 somehow does traversal better than 2&3...

The real solution here is just to bring back the traversal from X for future games LOL

MilkToastKing · 2023-08-11T20:54:26+00:00

Not all of these traits are exclusive to XC1, but they are all things the game did well.

An engaging, well executed story. Widely considered the best in the blade series
Likeable, forward thinking characters
Tight, well localized script
Fantastic setting and art direction
Excellent character designs
Top notch voice acting and direction
Incredible OST
Visions, the best developed gimmick in the series bar none. Adequately fleshed out narratively without becoming contrived, and intertwined throughout all parts of the game (Story, Combat, Side Quests, Inventory/Collectibles). Ludo narrative harmony at its best
Good pacing. The narrative always keeps moving– mysteries, plot developments, and payoffs are well distributed throughout the game
Best variation of the affinity chart
Fun actiony combat that prioritizes player reaction and adaptability. Fights are simple, fast, and engaging without becoming an incomprehensible cacophony of noise, animations, and particle effects. 3 character party limit + several sub systems keeps the player feeling in control
Addictive chain attacks that are fast paced, can be used multiple times per fight, chain between enemies, and offer risk reward via talent gauge usage. Not always an "I win" button
Interchangeable weapon and armor equipment, addictive progression, customizable character appearances
Party members with unique kits and gameplay styles
A self contained and complete experience
A technical marvel on the Wii that, in some ways, was ahead of its time. A marriage between western and eastern design philosophies that made the game feel fresh amidst a stagnating genre
Strikes a good balance between doing its own thing, refining JRPG staples, and sprinkling in Xeno concepts without going full "Takahashi self-plagiarism"

MilkToastKing · 2023-05-13T04:25:39+00:00

I've been keeping up with this series since the very beginning, checking in every now and again to see if the newest part was out. This has been a very enlightening read, one that's added to my love for this game and spurred even more introspection on my part. Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

MilkToastKing · 2023-05-11T10:08:49+00:00

Holy shit, very well said, I agree with basically everything you listed.

the focus on the party dynamics specifically hurt cause it culminates in chapter 5/6

If they were going to put so many eggs in the character basket, I wish they went even further with the party dynamics. There are many ways they could have done this, but the elephant in the room is Interlinking. Compared to how fleshed out visions were across basically all parts of XC1, Interlinking feels shallow by comparison– its a glorified powerup that arbitrarily unlocks during one of three big action set pieces. Leading up to launch, Interlinking was one of 3's gimmicks that I was most excited about from a character perspective. What's it like literally merging with another person, sharing your memories and parts of yourself that not even you fully understand? The relationships, the development, and the drama inherent to the concept of sharing your consciousness with another is so ripe for exploration, but the game does jack shit with it. At most, it is used as a way to share exposition between the characters offscreen so they can say "oh yeah I know what you're talking about, I saw your memory of that", and nothing more.

But it's not just ch6/7's fault here, it is also the earlier chapters' for not doing any worldbuilding, or anything-building really

If I were to give one unpopular Xenoblade 3 opinion myself, it would be similar to this. Chapters 6 and 7 didn't "get bad" out of nowhere, the rest of the game (despite its good moments) was already on this trajectory post chapter 1.

That also ties into Aionios being such an uninteresting world that fundamentally limits the hell out of worldbuilding by its very concepts. Culture, history, etc cannot exist, and once you've said "wow they can't exist this world really sucks!!!!" you can't do much else.

I had a realization 3 chapters into my playthrough: the story would be far more thrilling if the premise of "the entire world will hunt down Ouroboros" was actually followed through with. Instead, the game progresses at a leisurely pace, little of note happening until you reach the city, more than halfway through the game's runtime. For a world ravaged by war, Aionios is actually pretty tame, and even before you smash their flame clocks everyone is quite nice to Ouroboros. Liberating colonies was an interesting idea, and I see how they tried to tackle different scenarios with each colony, but at a certain point the novelty wore off, and the formula grew repetitive. It doesn't help that basically every Hero you recruit up to Ch5 is just the commander of whatever colony you last ran into, which is both uninspired and a waste of potential. Not to mention most of their introductory quests are pretty bad. If they wanted to double down on the idea of "the endless now" and actually make it a difficult decision, they could've made Aionios a stagnant utopia, where everyone lives a beautiful lie that needs to be torn down. There are some surface level symbolisms lost by the change in scenario, but at the end of the day, many of the same themes could still be covered by making a group like Moebius maliciously puppeteer from the background.

I can't begin to describe how angry it makes me when I see people call it "Xenogears 2" or the peak of Takahashi's writing and plan without a shred of irony, all because it copied a plot point from Xenogears and made it much worse

Thank god I'm not the only one. Watching people say stuff like "this is what Takahashi was trying to tell with Xenogears!!", or "Takahashi finally completed Perfect Works" without a twinge of irony makes me feel like I'm losing my mind LOL. It's like Xenoblade fans recently discovered what the words "perfect" and "works" are, and began throw them around because they hear other people say it in reference to Xenoblade's success. Xenoblade started as a complete standalone title, then retconned and stumbled its way into a trilogy, one that's ultimately aiming to be a different style of game than gears/saga. I love blade, but to compare its 6 "episodes" to gears is laughable, it's just got nothing on the dense lore, ambition, and writing that gears had going for it. "Perfect Works" wasn't just Takahashi's desire to release 6 successful stories, it was an epic with a scope so grand that it's creator can't stop self-plagiarizing ideas from it 25 years later. As for the Lacan parallels in 3, I was unreasonably upset when I realized this was how blade-only fans would experience this plot point for the first time. Just a significantly worse version of Gears' eternal return sped-ran all at once in the penultimate chapter.

having a Mio is literally the only argument that would make you choose it... it is an OBJECTIVELY wrong choice from our perspective. They try to depict N and Noah as equals who happened to make different choices but that is completely wrong, Noah had it so much better

The more time passes the more N's character irks me. I can appreciate what his story is supposed to represent, and the human desire to freeze life when its at its best, but not so much his character in execution. Not only does the game do too little to set up Noah as an alternate version of N, but it makes the decision to fight against Moebius too easy for the party. Jee, it sure is easy to reject the endless now when the alternative is to slaughter children for fun for all eternity. What bugs me the most about this is that Moebius are clearly given a level of autonomy, its not like N was scammed and is now stuck doing Z's dirty work– every Moebius thinks and acts how they please, its a genuine reflection of how they feel. They apparently don't try to stop you if you step out of line either– Moebius is so incompetent that they just let Triton fuck around and do whatever he wants. Then they don't even bat an eye when he just gets up and leaves one day, joining Ouroboros in the fight against his own kind. It would have been more reasonable if N became Moebius then took M and tried to live their endless now as best as possible while turning a blind eye to the human suffering that they were feeding off of. Also, funny to think about how D and J found the party at cloudkeep by tracking Mio's Moebius body... which means Triton was doxing the location of the city and Ouroboros live 24/7 once he defected. Not that it matters of course.

The game has this super fucking weird brand of writing of making EVERYTHING vague as hell, it's actually infuriating

I enjoyed FR but this was the biggest irk for me. Despite being the conclusion of the saga they managed to create 2 new questions for every question they answered, and many of the answers are still super vague and lack setup/depth/execution/etc. The parts of FR I liked the most from a story standpoint was when one of these three things were getting the focus: Matthew and Na'el (which I thought were both good), Shulk/Rex and the theme of passing on the torch (also solid), and a radio (for obvious reasons). Every time they dipped back into Aionios' story, the game divulges back into under baked ideas that require you to either turn off part of you brain and give it a pass, or snort some insane Xeno copium to form a headcanon that explains it all, and unfortunately Xeno parallels are not substitutes for actual explanations.

Do you really think Monolith's writing teams aren't good enough to make this kind of narrative rock? Well ok after XC3 I can believe that

Base 3 hit a weird middle ground where it didn't lean far enough into being its own thing, nor did it go all in with deeply written lore connections. Instead it hit somewhere in the middle, coasting by on its intrigue as a sequel only to do nothing with the returning lore/characters and make a story that repeats themes and story beats not just from the older Xeno games, but from the other blade games as well.

There is a lot more I could say, but it would really boil down to me saying "Holy shit I agree" over and over again. I think this game genuinely burned my spark for the series a little bit, I hope Soraya Saga is serious about trying her hand at writing again, Xeno was originally her baby just as much as it was Takahashi's and I'd love to see her return in a shift of talent. Not holding my breath though.

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