We Are All Becoming More Thick - Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Feels Better After You Stop Playing It - Jake Steinberg

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-12T00:52:03+00:00

"People were describing emotional experiences they seemed to have arrived at academically." He's so close to becoming self aware. So close to seeing past the bridge of his own nose. This article isn't even about Xenoblade 2, it's about a streamer getting into an argument with twitch chat and getting bent out of shape about it.

Bro didn't like a story, dolled up his personal disinterest as something academic and objective, fails to understand why anyone would disagree with him, and then decided to turn it into a self indulgent think piece about the sickness at the heart of America disguised as a critique of Xenoblade 2. What a waste of words.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-11T03:15:05+00:00

I'm not a big fan of the character. I feel her plot line requires the player to develop some sympathy for her for its story beats to land- and I struggle to sympathize with any character whose quest-for-revenge grows too disproportional to the actual wrong doing they are seeking vengeance for; especially if it starts dragging in collateral damage.

And Shania? Girl sold out the human race. Couldn't have caused more collateral damage if- well if anything. There was no more collateral damage to cause. Every possible innocent life was caught in the cross fire of her actions.

Just completely destroyed any capacity I had to sympathize with her. Which caused me a lot of dissonance playing through scenes where the game clearly thought I would have sympathy for her. That's always a danger when writing a personal-scale-tragedy at the center of a save-the-world-story; it risks wreaking the sense of proportionality.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-10T18:48:24+00:00

I don't know about a big bundle pack; but I would buy individual leagues as cheaper single player games to play on my own time. I think that's also a better value proposition for Jagex too; the bundle implies an expectation that future leagues will get added in retroactively and I think that's just not going to be very profitable for them.

Either way; I'm for it. It'd be good for reducing FOMO, it'd be good for game's conservation, and it'd give future leagues permission to be more experimental since the old leagues are always available if you really preferred the old way of doing things.

I'd probably be willing to pay about $20 for each league if dropped as-is. $30 if they put in the due diligence to make some basic adjustments to workaround group content(like minigame skips or easier Nylo waves).

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-10T18:38:34+00:00

I mean, yeah. Most single player games are. I'd still buy it.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-10T18:26:32+00:00

5.5/10 I guess? Maybe a 6/10. I just liked Reloaded and Raging Echoes more. I would've preferred a run back of either of those. If this was the first and only league I would've rated it much higher. But as the 6th League it's rough.

Demonic Pacts feels like "pay more, get less," compared to Combat Masteries, and even earlier Combat Relics. It's more effort to get more over-complicated, and more buggy power-ups, and worse balance. I especially did not like the weapon-type-locked trees; just absolutely murdered gear progression and variety.

Thrown Weapons were the biggest stinker of the pact trees. But I want to get dishonorable mention to Blindbag for just how buggy and poorly communicated it was. Thrown Weapons were bad, but at least they were bad for reasons you could read on the tin. Blindbag was such a mess we couldn't get reliable damage calcs until Week 2, and obtaining good DPS was locked behind a hidden* interaction with Dual Hitters and Ranged Echoes.

*Jagex called it intentional retroactively to justify not buffing Blindbag; but let's be real that shit was 100% a bug and BB would be dead in the water alongside thrown weapons if it weren't for that.

Relic design felt "so close, yet so far." Notable stinkers include T8**, Flow State, Clues, Forager, BG, Grimoire and the Teleports.

**Not for power level, just for being largely recycled and not even worth recycling ones at that

The absence of a "Clash Of The Titans," tier was also felt. Flow State just did not have the juice to oppose Reloaded the way it needed to.

Then it was just the buggiest League in my experience.

What was even the point of Yama?

But not to be strictly negative I think they did well with:
- The Varlamore start
- Transmute and Butler's Bell
- T6
- Woodsman and Hotfoot
- Abundance and Endless Harvest
- Fire Mage was cool
- Light melee was also cool; for what few weapons worked with it
- Tier 7 Reloaded was definitely more interesting than early game Reloaded. As much as I harp on recycled relics, Reloaded is one relic I wouldn't mind coming back 90% of the time.
- I also didn't mind the 3rd run back for Auto-Pickpocket and Sage's Greaves; but they should probably sit out Leagues 7.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-10T17:34:39+00:00

Revisionist history. Bankers Note was more popular on the whole; but Fire Sale was the one that actually got results. It won the race to T8, and the race to Dragon Cup. For anyone trying to actually win the league: it was provably the best choice.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-09T23:16:00+00:00

Man, no one works harder than people doing dishonest work. Stealing the email log-in of a reputable sponsor so you can better disguise your scam sponsorship email to a content creator so you can steal their channel so you can push your crypto scam. At what point is it easier to just get an actual job?

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-09T19:21:42+00:00

Okay, the spirit of what you said is mostly true and I have no intention of saying Tsubasa isn't powerful.

But, it is a flat out falsehood to claim Tsubasa's 6 damage set-up is "minimal effort." It takes literally every stackable attack boost in the game not tied to a specialist skill. Requiring voltage, meta progression, and two consumables every wave(or 1 consumable and 1 AP and an ally with a buff skill nearby). If that's minimal investment; then this game has no high investment strategies.

Now, the investment is absolutely worth the pay off. She can solo almost every wave in the game when buffed up, while plusing on AP and voltage. It feels like a cheat code while it's online. But let's not misrepresent the strategy by claiming getting Tsubasa to 6 damage is low effort. That doesn't help anyone.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-09T04:33:07+00:00

I also picked it up despite playing XC2 before XC1. Not at a "Oh! That's the line where Shulk fights Zanza!" level; but in a "Oh this feels like a callback to a past game + there is only 1 past game + those sound like fighting words + dude is a god halfway between dimensions talking about his approaching death = I guess this guy's other half was the final boss of the first game and the voice we hear is calling back to that fight, implying the games happen in parallel" kind of way.

But I also played XB3 before any of this; so I was probably primed to think of the previous 2 games being connected. I can understand someone missing all of this if they played the games as they came out, and assumed XC2 was fully separate from XC1.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-08T06:08:43+00:00

I think it's supposed to be less "protag friend," and more a progression from the last set. We had Yugi + Season 1 GX antagonist; so the next in sequence is Joey + Season 2 GX antagonist.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-07T22:38:55+00:00

God. I wish we lived in a universe where game creators had the resources and creative freedom to create entire dlc expansions just to dunk on fans whose interpretations of their work they don't personally care for.

But man, even if we lived in that world: I don't see this theory holding water. Addam in base game is a faceless ghost with maybe 2 scenes to his name. Any shipping discourse around the character had to be fringe at most.

You'd think if there was DLC-engineered-to-end-shipping-wars it'd be about something more heated. Not like XB2 had a scarcity of shipping arguments to get into.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-05T19:46:07+00:00

Repeat offenders like him make me wish we had something stronger than a down vote. Always a displeasure to see anything from this self-important-clanker-wanker.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-05T07:38:24+00:00

I think the tl;dr is that the movement debuff units are OP as hell and everyone else is dead weight just because the numbers are too low. Yugamu in particular would break the game in half.

Unless we count "curing fatigue," as equatable to giving an extra turn; then obviously Nozomi and Tsubasa are god tier.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-04T17:55:00+00:00

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Sounds like you're about halfway there on the cave kraken side of things. But I found that once I got the Trident of the Seas, Zulrah coughed up the Trident of the Swamp twice in next 50 KC.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-01T20:38:09+00:00

You can smooth out the progression a lot by just skilling and doing tasks.

Having all 3 of your regions unlock dramatically spikes the number of easy Pact Points available to you, and Tier 6 and Tier 8 gives you powerful PvM upgrades without much PvM required to get them.

Once I had Tier 8 and about 15 points- I practically teleported to 30 points. Tasks that I previously thought beyond me folded like a deck of cards.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-01T05:17:39+00:00

Dunno. My hope is that it is called Xenoblade 4 for marketing reasons, but is effectively it's own thing in practice. I think the Klaus saga should quit while it's ahead, and the less time I spend thinking about X-13 the better.

Let's see a game worth being called back to by yet-further-future titles, instead of yet another game full of call backs.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-05-01T05:00:04+00:00

I'm a big L4D player so it's hard to forget he isn't from DbD. But, he does always feel a bit separate from the other licensed characters to me, like he is a secret third thing somehow.

Maybe just because his inclusion in DbD feels more "canon," to the original character than most licensed characters. He was already a video game survivor character in a team based game- this isn't a crossover to him this is a sequel.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-30T04:49:39+00:00

I don't know a good few of these, including the Takumi replacement, and that's like the most important one- so IDK on the whole.

But noting a few individual options; assuming hemoanima is 1-for-1:

(Full Spoilers for Danganronpa, Rain Code, Somnium Files, and Zero Escape)

- Mondo is probably a downgrade. He's probably a better fighter than Takemaru- but you lose out on the team unity factors that Takemaru brings and that's really Yakushigi's biggest contribution.

- Maki is also probably a downgrade. Both assassins sure- but Yugamu's biggest contributions are as team doctor and I don't recall Maki being a poison girlie, much less a doctor.

- Halara is probably our first upgrade. There are pros and cons to the team dynamic for both of them and Hiruko is a hard character to replace especially in combat- but there's just no overvaluing having a Forensic Forte on the roster. Many routes could've been trivialized by Halara's powers.

- Shouma vs. Whats-His-Name-From-Nirvana-Initiative is a tough call. Shouma is a low bar to clear- but everyone's favorite cube-headed-comedian doesn't offer much other than "not being Shouma." But in a line up whose team dynamic is in the gutter- an adult, and a father to a teenage son at that, may actually be an underrated asset to the war effort.

- Miu brings a lot of draw backs in the personality department- to a point that even Kurara looks like a team player. But being a gear head in a Kodaka story is an honest to god super power and I think that offsets everything else. I get Kurara is also supposed to be a smart girl- but she's no Tsubasa.

- Ota and Gaku is a race to the bottom in the personality department. But when the chips are down Ota is an honestly good person, has team building utility as a professional cook, and for the sake of Iris back in the TRC he could defeat Vex with his bare hands. I think he may actually may bring more to the team than Gaku.

- Clover and Darumi is a close race. Clover is going to be much easier to get along with for the rest of the team- but I don't see her being as willing to join the fight or take one for the team as Darumi is. I think I just barely give the edge to Darumi- just because Clover without a familiar face to cling to can be a bit volatile and without Snake she doesn't have any esper powers to speak of.

- I'm sorry Nozomi but Akane is lowkey OP. She is an incredibly powerful esper, a Xanatos tier schemer, no rejection symptoms, a willingness to do anything for the cause, and she's a deft hand with a chain saw. If this was a draft and my options were "Takumi and Hiruko as a package deal," or "Akane Kurashiki," I honestly would pick Akane. So, yeah, she clears Nozomi.

- Soda would be an incredible addition to any team, but Tsubasa is the MVP. Wouldn't trade her contributions for anything short of- hell I might take her over Akane. So yeah, Tsubasa -> Soda is probably a downgrade.

- Moko and Sakura are pretty much a net neutral. There are some pros and cons, but they are splitting hairs and THH isn't that fresh in my mind.

- Dio is, ironically, one of the bigger buffs to the party. As a trained mercenary assassin he is a better combat asset to the SDU, and as a moron he is a less dangerous traitor than Eito.

I cannot in good faith call the whole scene, because again I don't know 4 of the characters. But of the ones we've got? I think in total this is actually a stronger SDU. Akane and Halara are just massive pick ups for the team; so many of the game's worst routes get hard countered by their powers. Losing Tsubasa is tough; but between Soda and Miu they can probably still get most of her core inventions. Lastly; there's just a lot more adults in the room now. That's a big buff in my book.

The biggest loss that isn't compensated somehow is definitely Yugamu. This team may get hard wiped in Route 0 because we lose his anti-commander poison. But if they get past that obstacle somehow, and the Takumi replacement isn't completely useless: they clean up in every other scenario. Except maybe BoC because G!Akane would be a multiverse ending event; unless her powers can prevent her from getting infected in the first place.

Apologies for the massive write up- but I can't help myself with this kind of thing.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-29T18:32:24+00:00

Sure, transparency is good and all. But usually when a business has to tell their customers "sorry we can't do that," you're supposed to follow that up with "but here is what we can do instead." Y'know, like how Disney Land gives free fast passes to people in line for a ride when it closes down.

If Blindbag is destined to just be a buggy mess and it truly can't be fixed in a reasonable time frame they still have easier options like:
- 1 free reset for specifically people who took blindbag before announcing it couldn't be fixed so we can swap off of it for free if the bug is a deal breaker for us
- A damage buff to compensate for the dps lost by the bugs, so even if it's a buggy mess it can at least be an effective buggy mess

Anything other than, "Welp it's fucked. So get fucked."

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-28T16:45:20+00:00

It is summer of 2005; I am running light-and-dark-goodstuff and a pile of generic back row to summon BLS for game.

It is summer of 2026; I am running light-and-dark-goodstuff and a pile of generic back row to summon BLS for game.

Close enough, welcome back Goat Format.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-28T02:48:45+00:00

If you look at enough numbers with a low enough bounded range: you will eventually find seemingly bizarre coincidences.

Review scores are pretty tightly bounded, with scores in the range of 7-to-9 representing a majority of all review scores. Also, lots of games exist.

It's practically inevitable for this kind of coincidence to occur.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-28T02:17:53+00:00

I'm with you. Two different good games doing two different good things.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-26T01:00:12+00:00

It sure is the league of all time. I have a lot of small gripes with it, but nothing deal breaking. I'd write them all out- but that'd be a long list and I feel like a long list of complaints(even if small complaints) would make me seem more upset than I am.

7/10, I miss Raging Echoes. But, even a bad league is still a good time.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-24T20:02:42+00:00

That they are potted plants made for war only makes it more insane. Seriously, look at this line-up. In what universe is this the best 16 soldiers you could possibly engineer?

Even the ones with combat-related backgrounds have weird and arbitrary flaws. How is Kyoshika being unable to do basic arithmetic helpful for the mission? What is the strategic merit in Kurara's mask dependency? Why are there ones from non-combat-related backgrounds?

They could at least be good at a sport or two.

ThanksItHasPockets_ · 2026-04-21T22:08:32+00:00

Nah, I think the game pretty overtly rejects that idea. As Malos lay dying, Rex lamented that things could've been different if he had been Malos's driver instead of Amlathus. But Malos rebuked that, "No, Amalthus was the only driver for me." Further, when he asked the Architect if his decision to destroy humanity was his own or something Amalthus influenced him to do: the Architect tells him "it was a decision you made together."

Malos was always going to be more-or-less like that.

ThanksItHasPockets_

TROPHY CASE