Xenoblade Chronicles 2: A Very Special Post (Part 3)

Well…at least the gameplay is still good.

WE’RE STUCK ON A DIFFERENT SPOILERS!

A LOT MORE THAN WE CAN SPOIL!

BUT WE GOTTA KEEP ON SPOILING!  SPOILING!  SPOILING!

Wait, wrong game.   I’m sorry for wasting your time.

As an apology, please allow me to waste even more of your time.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: A Very Special Post (Part 2)

I don’t normally do this, but in this case I have to come out swinging at the outset: Nia is the “best girl” in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.  No contest.

No.  Listen.  Shut up.  Listen.  It’s not even a contest.  I don’t care what the other characters are like.  I don’t care that there are Blades with less clothes or bigger chests.  None of that shit matters.  Nia is the best girl.  And I guess it’s up to me to explain why.

And I guess that’ll maybe -- just maybe -- help explain why Xenoblade Chronicles 2 let me down in the biggest way possible.  In a way I never even imagined was possible.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIyah.  SPOILERS INCOMING.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2: A Very Special Post (Part 1)

Hey, Xenoblade Chronicles 2.  I have a question for you.  You know that old taunt “Well, if you love it so much, why don’t you marry it?”  Why aren’t you adapting and using that in your game?

Actually…why don’t any games really adapt and use it in their games?  

I don’t know.  That’s probably a question worth pondering from here on out, but it’d expand the scale of this little argument to something the size of a dissertation, so let’s focus on this game for now.  Otherwise, we'll be here for a million billion years -- and since I'm technically still on hiatus, I shouldn't even be bothering with this.  Yet here I am regardless.

Why?  I dunno.  Everyone needs an outlet for their rage.  I guess this is mine.

THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME?  

(And my spoilers.)

DON’T FORGET ME!  

(And these spoilers.)

In Search of Majestic Games

I’ve been thinking about Until Dawn recently, even though -- as of this post -- it’s been more than a month since I finished it.  Part of the blame is on the recently announced VR installment, Rush of Blood.  I don’t know what to make of that, because I haven’t followed VR developments too closely; still, the fact that Until Dawn is seeing more play than a one-off release inspires confidence.  It’s new, it’s different, and even if there are some serious flaws, overall it’s still a good game.  I’m glad it came out, and I hope it gives Supermassive Games the freedom to branch out.

People are going to have different reasons as to why they like Until Dawn (thanks to that pesky thing we call “free will”).  Some wanted horror movie tropes, and got them.  Some wanted an adventure in the vein of a Quantic Dream title -- minus the Quantic Dream -- and got that.  But even if people give different reasons, I have one of my own.  I don’t think anyone’s going to fight me on it, but it might be the reason why the game succeeds overall, on some basic level.  And beyond that, Until Dawn is a good reminder of what a game can be, because its makers remembered what a game could be.

The word of the day -- or close enough to it -- is spirit.

RE: Dragon Age: Inquisition

It’s times like this where I have to wonder: is there something wrong with me?  (You know, besides the obvious?)

I mean, seriously.  Right now it feels like I’m sitting in a confessional -- which is something I feel like I have to do every time the “latest and greatest” is out on those newfangled vidya gaem boxes.  Like -- okay, I didn’t like Destiny.  That’s understandable, right?  And I didn’t like The Last of Us -- not exactly a popular opinion, but I can actually explain why if given the chance (fully functional flamethrower, anyone?). 

But then I get to Dragon Age: Inquisition, a game that’s not only an RPG -- in my wheelhouse more than those shootgaemz -- but also a game that’s delighted plenty of gamers.  Earned solid review scores.  Made several GOTY lists, even if the bar was set within the bowels of the earth for 2014.  I should be able to dive in.

But I can’t.  I’m about a session away from swearing it off for good.  And I guess now I have to explain why.

Let's discuss Xenoblade Chronicles (Part 2).

You know what?  I just thought of some flaws for this game.  And it only took me two months!

--One of my biggest regrets with this game is that I didn’t get all of the “Heart-to-Heart” sequences scattered about…but I wonder if that was my fault, or the devs’ overestimation of the player’s dedication.  Unless I played the game wrong (a real possibility, I admit), in order to get these special sequences you have to find them in specific spots all over the game world -- which, need I remind you, are MASSIVE.  But that’s not enough; the characters have to have a high enough affinity for each other to even start the sequence, and the best way to do that is to have them as your active party…which I didn’t.  And even then you have to answer questions during them that you have no way of knowing the answer to.  It feels like a needlessly complicated system that locks you out of character insights, rather than promoting them.

--I’m not going to take back what I said about the battle system (i.e. I think it’s awesome), but I don’t think the terrain is used as effectively as it could be.  It’s true that you can blow enemies off high ledges to win your fights, but outside of that there really isn’t too much done with it in the middle of a fight.  If it was, then a late-game boss wouldn’t have been as much of a pain in the ass as it was; because of its size, the small paths you can fight on, and the acid surrounding you, it’s more than common for you to get blown -- or even brushed -- into pools of the stuff so you can watch your party melt before your eyes.  Why that stipulation to battle would be added in the game’s later skirmishes is a mystery best left for the ages.

…And I think that’s it for now.  At least, those are the big ones.  So with that out of the way, let’s get to the game’s strength: it’s story.

WARNING: OH MY GOD THERE ARE SO MANY SPOILERS IN THIS POST.  DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU WANT TO HAVE EVERYTHING RUINED.  DON’T.  DON’T.  DON’T.

…All right, time to ruin the game for you.

Let's discuss Xenoblade Chronicles (Part 1).

There’s only one wrong way to play Xenoblade Chronicles...and I found it.  

I’ll be upfront with you.  If for some reason you have a Wii, but never gave this game a shot, you owe it to yourself to track it down now.  And if you do, DON’T do what I did and pick away at it over the course of a year.  I know it’s a long game -- very long -- but the faster you beat it, the more likely you are to be able to digest its particulars in one fell swoop.  The gameplay, the story, all of it; if you have the willpower, I’d recommend an all-guns-blazing marathon run.  Don’t play any other games but Xenoblade until you finish it.  Got it?  That way, when you decide to sit down and write a post about it, you’ll be able to remember and type everything you need to in order to prove that you haven’t lost your touch.

…Though I could be reaching a bit.

Warning: There are some minor spoilers up ahead, so unless you want to subject yourself to the horrors within, I’d recommend avoiding this post.  Nothing deal-breaking, but there is stuff in there that’ll sour an experience if you’re not careful.

So let’s do this thing, and celebrate the one game that justifies the Wii’s existence.  You know, unless you count Skyward Sword, Punch-Out!!, Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Trauma Team, NBA Jam, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, No More Heroes, No More Heroes 2, MadWorld, Sonic Colors, Super Paper Mario, Metroid Prime 3, Monster Hunter Tri, Mario Kart Wii, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and about twenty other games on this list.

…Why do people give the Wii so much crap, exactly?

Feel my POWER! Housekeeping BLASTER!

Or…something significantly less hammy.

Whatever.  Let’s chat a bit about the blog, yes?  There are a few things worth discussing.  Don’t worry, there’ll be music.  You just bring the snacks.

Two games enter, one game leaves…

Well.  This is a unique situation.

I honestly can’t remember the last time something like this happened, if at all.  I’ve managed to finish two games -- two GREAT games, I might add -- within about a day of each other.  Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Xenoblade Chronicles are both notches on my belt now, and it’s only natural that I give them both proper Let’s Discuss posts.  Problem is, I don’t know which one to tackle first.

On the one hand, I’ve been putting Xenoblade off for months now (for reasons I still can’t explain (besides laziness)), and having finished it I feel like I need to go over bits and pieces of it.  On the other hand, Revengeance is so damn good that even if it is on the short side, I’m already thinking of playing through it again…and since finishing it, the game’s been on my mind for an almost-unhealthy amount of time.  Either way, both games are much-needed respites from schlock like Final Fantasy 13-2 and DmC, and have helped give my palate a full scrub-down.  And it’s quite possible that these games -- one or even BOTH -- are good enough to make it into my personal and currently hypothetical Top Ten.  The only way to know for sure is to get these things written up and posted here on Cross-Up.

But which one gets the first swing?  Well, I think I’ll leave that up to you all.

Here’s what we’re going to do.  Whoever comments first on this post gets to decide which game will get a Let’s Discuss post first.  What will it be?  One of the greatest JRPGs of this generation?  Or the action game primed to become one of 2013’s best?  It’s all in your hands, readers -- so make it count!

Decide the destiny!  FIGHT!

Let’s discuss some more video games.

Because…hey, why not?  (And that mentality’s never brought harm to anyone before.)

Once again, I find myself in a position where there are a handful of games I want to talk about, but don’t feel like going into any of them in the extreme depth I would with Skyward Sword or Kingdom Hearts.  But in the interest of keeping the content flowing -- and keeping the blog from becoming wall-to-wall posts of I Hraet You (which you should probably read if you love wrestling southern belles, bug-obsessed misanthropes, and improbably buxom schoolgirl commandoes) -- I’m going to do a bit more talking about some of the games that have been on my mind recently.  I’m pretty sure there’s no more than an 83% chance of injury for potential readers.  So sayeth Barney Stinson.  And if you can’t trust a man who’s willing to stage elaborate hoaxes just to get a friend to watch a YouTube video of a dog pooping on a baby, who can you trust?

Click on the jump, and let’s discuss some games.  It’s going to be -- wait for it…a decidedly pleasant experience.