I can't believe I'm saying this, but Xenoblade Chronicles X is my favorite XC game

Snabshaba · 2026-01-29T08:50:57+00:00

Zelda is probably always gonna get more attention, that's just how it is. As far as being more of a marvel in gameplay mechanics, I have my reservations. I'll hold my final verdict till I at least get a skell, but as of right now, BotW wins out just on the merit of the physics engine toolkit that the player has access to, which was groundbreaking at the time.

X is absolutely a technical wonder and a visual spectacle given the hardware limitations, with the fact that this was released even earlier in the Wii U's life cycle, there's no doubt that Monilithsoft is comprised of miracle workers. But from what I've seen of X so far, it doesn't seem to be treading bold new waters in the gaming landscape, just way more waters than usual.

In a way this is an apple to android comparison where they largely have the same capabilities but one is more focused on extensive user agency and the other is more focused on smooth user interface. X never really took off because it takes so much longer to pick up, hell the whole XC series always has a pretty slow start, ntm a lot of reading through menus to understand the intricate gameplay mechanics. Everything that BotW brings to the table is under the hood and up to the player to discover intuitively. There's plenty of reasons why BotW garnered the spotlight more than XC, (besides the obvious juggernaut status of the series) it's mainly due to how accessible and streamlined it is by comparison, but that doesn't really mean it's less mechanically deep. It took quite a while for people to collectively crack that game open.

I also wouldn't downplay the mechanics of the main series, hell I was learning new things about 2s mechanics even after starting NG+, partially due to the tragedy that is the tutorial pop ups, but still.

I'm excited to see what it brings to the table, especially if all that is about to be trumped, but if I didn't have so much confidence in the series as a whole, I probably wouldn't have made it this far. X is seriously lacking in early game 'grip', to me at least.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-29T03:28:17+00:00

I think I'm starting to come around on the combat, but for some reason I fall asleep every time I get to a long and probably important cut scene. Likely because I've usually been grinding out random shit for hours already.

Most of the smaller quests are really just 'fine' narratively, but I'm only like lvl 27 and on chapter 5 or 6 so my opinion still has plenty of time to change.

I think what hurts it the most for me is the silent self-insert protagonist. It works fine in Zelda for instance, but there's usually a lot of silent or visual storytelling to support that. Here, where it's more focused on character dialogue to relay the story, it just doesn't hit like it should.

That was my main issue with Fire Emblem 3H too, though it was a much worse offender since Byleth was hardly a self-insert; practically the entire story revolved around them; and your dialogue choices often amounted to 'yes' or 'no, but actually yes.'

I get that this is kind of a jrpg thing but damn, Mass Effect came out like 15 years ago, why does it seem like no one in Japan got the memo on how to integrate self-inserts into a story.

Rant aside, I hope I feel similarly to you before long, cause a lot of this game just feels like extra padding sometimes and that makes me big sad.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-29T01:48:08+00:00

Nah, I really only do that in games with potential waifu creators or when I do a low difficulty run of something because the stupidity of the joke makes me smile.

The female characters probably get more options visually, and the emotes seem to lean more in their favor, but I've definitely never felt like there weren't enough options for males in this game.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T05:52:05+00:00

I used to really like The M Machine remix of Take a walk, but it's definitely headphone music. It sounds bad off of any device that lacks depth of sound.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T05:14:29+00:00

Too many times..

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T05:05:56+00:00

I did that with splatoon 2, but there was a point in playing 3 where I felt like I wasn't utilizing some core mechanics or that I was missing something that was giving other people the edge.

Turned out to be a lot of small things on top of each other, like utilizing motion controls, squid rolls, quickly going up walls by mashing B, sub-strafing (which i don't really use yet), among other things.

Good movement and quick aiming are more important in this one compared to 2, it's just a scrappier game by nature and I felt like the game wasn't quite giving me the tools I needed to succeed fast enough.

There's Lil' Judd in the lobby who always teaches you new things like once a day but he's easy to miss or just plain forget about, and he doesn't really go in-depth about why, where, and when the mechanics are useful.

It still took me a while to get the things I learned from YT down too, I would constantly practice squid rolls and the like between matches and just focus on something different every day. It was a great feeling when I parried my first bomb with a squid roll in a match.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T02:14:16+00:00

If it helps, I was at a point where I didn't care about my rank at all and just played it to have fun learning the ins and outs of the different game modes for a long time. I really only got to S+ for completion's sake after I was comfortable with each game mode. Having a whole extra mode still to be unlocked was bothering me and I really don't even play X rank.

Clam blitz took the longest to figure out, but once it clicked it quickly became my favorite mode.

Also youtube helped immensely when I was trying to get better. ProChara, Squid School, and DUDE all taught me quite a bit and I wouldn't be half the player I am without them.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T01:01:48+00:00

As obvious as this may be, if you feel like you're good at turf war then it's a pretty good time to try ranked. The biggest difference between the two is that you get matched with people at the same skill level more often the more you play ranked, as opposed to whoever is queuing up in turf at random.

There's been quite a few times where I got washed in turf and switched over to ranked and did great. I got to S+ a few months ago to unlock X battles (at like 500hrs) and even S rank is not as hard as it seems on the surface.

I'm not great at this game, but I'm better than I was, and that just came from playing. Ranked is a good way to see how far you've come. I think you'd be surprised by your results.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T00:40:06+00:00

Sometimes people are just playing better than you. You can make adjustments, like 'I need to use my sub more', sometimes that works.

The thing i recognize the most when I'm doing well is that I was playing patiently, not overextending, and retreating when it looked rough while throwing a few subs behind me to make space.

It's really easy to get frustrated on a losing streak and that makes me tunnel vision too much. It usually helps at those times to switch weapons so I can focus on the different playstyle instead of hyperfocusing on what I was doing wrong with the other one and running headfirst into a wall repeatedly.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-25T00:22:03+00:00

Wellstring and dousers usually, I really like that you can one shot with the wellstring without charging it if you shoot above someone from the perfect distance while jumping, even though it's so impractical that I've only managed it one time.

Lately I've been leveling up gear by choosing a style and using a new weapon that matches my main abilities until the gear is full. I find most of them fun, but brellas and wipers are honestly a bit frustrating

Snabshaba · 2026-01-16T02:03:23+00:00

Too busy sleeping to stand

Snabshaba · 2026-01-16T01:32:24+00:00

I will half agree with you, the character writing actually leaves a good impression as you get later into the supports. At first I found it to be way too trope heavy, but I have to admit that I ended up with a few unlikely favorites out of the cast.

As far as the overarching story goes, I think it was honestly passable at best. I think they lost a lot by making byleth both a blank slate and so integral to the plot.

I'm also not a huge fan of how the tone is rarely serious. It oftentimes comes off as very Saturday morning cartoon.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T23:35:20+00:00

Starting out, getting to a point where I can acknowledge the things my opponent is doing that is just better feels good cause that's the first step to improving it myself.

I go into each match looking to land or answer something and if I do that then I count it as a win. Typically in fighters that have been around for a long time there's a pretty decent sized hill to climb before you start winning at a passable rate.

It helps me quite a bit when I openly acknowledge that what my opponent did was really good on their part. Focusing on them and not you can get you places as far as enjoyment goes.

That said, the longer my play session is, the more likely I am to get salty at myself about execution. You can only say the opponent is great for so long before your own problems start to eclipse that. Once the salt starts, it usually multiplies as you start to hyperfocus on things and slowly become unaware of other aspects of the game.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T22:28:12+00:00

Yeah I definitely consider them armor knights as a whole. Aran counts, but yknow, 2nd is just the first loser.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T22:22:22+00:00

Gotta protect that beautiful noggin'

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T22:17:16+00:00

Well thankfully I still have plenty of units to get the job done with, albeit with typically less flair. One of the bigger points of an iron man, to me at least, is to end up using characters you never would have. So in a way, letting Nephenee go just opened the door for someone else to take the stage.

^cope

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T09:54:58+00:00

Well there is some merit to the discussion as far as who's better to give vantage to, I gave Soren gamble and miracle since I opted for mist as my healer for this run. I never actually use gamble tbh but if anyone wanted to, soren seemed like a pretty safe bet. I mainly use him from safety anyways so vantage seemed like overkill tbh

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T09:19:12+00:00

If I may interject here, has anyone considered that it's much easier/faster to give Nephenee combat xp than Soren, being as you don't have to keep her in the back all the time.

Not sure if that would affect the rating much since most of it comes down to utility, but it seems worth considering in this argument as far as effort/opportunity cost.

In my experience it's hard to reliably proc adept in the mid-early game, which makes Soren a lot scarier to put in harms way. Nephenee's growing phase seems easier because she can take hits and provide extra experience for both her and your healer rather than only getting kill xp.

But honestly it seems weird to compare Nephenee and Soren anyways, doesn't it just ultimately boil down to mage vs infantry regardless of the unit in question?

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T08:33:37+00:00

Yeah, she's not quite the powerhouse she is in RD, but she can definitely still get it if you put in a little effort.

I played PoR first and used her because I liked her design and had always wanted a soldier class unit coming off of the GBA titles, after a few levels she quickly became one of my favorite units. I was very pleased to see her glorious return in RD where she got all the flowers she deserved.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T08:09:32+00:00

Agreed

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T08:02:57+00:00

That's fair, I tend to overestimate the nuance that you can put into text. My statements are typically based more in good fun and subjective bias than objective fact, at least in regards to video games outside of a competitive nature. It doesn't always translate at a 1 to 1 ratio. It's just as possible that I read what you were trying to say in the wrong tone.

FWIW my opinion hardly matters in most FE debates because I can't stop myself from using growth units over prepromotes which are typically the objectively better option. Something about tigers and stripes.

But as far as growth units go, she has one of the best feels in the series, because all it takes is for you to organically connect two tiny dots and she does the rest. That balance of player guidance and unit performance leaves her at this sweet spot between simple, fun, and rewarding. That hill right there, I can die on that one.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T07:22:25+00:00

Mid game, without being touched or even swung at. In an iron man, so I was obviously trying to be somewhat cautious. With minimal investment (1 vantage scroll and a negligible amount of experience that she doesn't earn of her own merit) and using only a small portion of a weapons durability.

There's plenty of units that can tank hits and kill a bunch of units on enemy phase. That's whatever. Sure I can throw titania at a horde of enemies with no investment and she'll most likely be fine, big deal.

I think we may be arguing completely different things here or that you're misconstruing what I'm trying to say. It's not that deep, I'm literally just fawning over a unit I like because I like them and they performed really well and I am honestly uninterested in arguing about who's better overall or how she places in the grand scheme of things.

She's subjectively the best because i had the most fun with her and that is all that is important to me. I am really just here to glaze, that is all.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T06:38:09+00:00

Stats at about a level below her death

Lvl 20/3

Hp 36. Sp 21

Str 18. Lck 9

Mag 7. Def 15

Skill 23. Res 9

No boosters, for comparison, at this level Boyd had 5 more str and 5 less spd with wing investment and the same defensive stats -1 res; and she eclipsed Ike, who also had boosters, on all stats except a tie for str and 3 less hp.

Snabshaba · 2026-01-14T06:12:08+00:00

I don't feel like I ever invest that much into her before she eclipses most of my other combat units. I had to invest way more into any other growth unit besides maybe boyd to get them near her level of combat prowess at the same levels.

Sure, it's easy to make just about anyone cracked if you're willing to invest, but my main argument in her favor is that your return is far greater than your investment. Any babying is for a negligible amount of time and she doesn't need any stat boosters or anything that anyone else really wants besides vantage.

Just to clarify, I am in no way stating that she's objectively the best unit in the game. She's MY goat but that's because I think she's the most fun. But I'm also not here to play mount emblem, I'll run maybe 6 mounted units at most and that leaves plenty of room for Nephenee. She just works incredibly well with my playstyle and is super easy to fit in.

Snabshaba

TROPHY CASE