Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a Disappointment | Part 1 

So what you are saying is... Car Quest is a good game bc it doesn't have cute anime girls in it?

"Necrophilia" *Shows Fiora* I wheezed so hard, that's fucked up

As a voice actor, THANK YOU for pointing out the acting Vs direction. I never once thought the voice acting in XC2 was actually bad - but the dialogue itself feels awkwardly written and it's CLEAR the actors did not have the context needed to make choices that reflect what is happening on screen.

“This is one of the cringiest cutscenes.” Cancer ad.

I cannot believe I found someone who likes X more than they like 2 I thought I was going to die alone on that hill

The comments are going to be fun to read

So THAT'S why my parents named me Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Xenoblade 1: British Xenoblade 2: Bri’ish

Oh my god. Rex is actually the first character who shows up when you search “bad character design “ LOLOLOL

I can respect you being honest and direct; here are my thoughts as I watch: - Multiple mentor characters, only 1 dies (not even the first one which is typical) - "XC1 establishes tone, setting, and conflict of the game in a good way." XC2 does just as well I'd say, just a much different approach. A calm, dialogue about the mysteries of the world and the looming threat of extinction with a peaceful song and a first look at the nice scenery of the world. A little slower, but still pretty good. - Initial criticisms of combat aren't fair I would say. Stutter-stepping is a mechanic that makes combat feel quicker that isn't hard to infer. Also, obviously the combat will be barebones and simple at first. Arts recharge pouch items as well as understanding Driver/Blade/Fusion combos all makes combat very fun and intricate. - With the Show Don't Tell criticism, the point of what Rex and Gramps are talking about is Elysium and the Architect are shrouded in mystery, no one has records of that time or no their appearances. Why would the devs show either of those things in the first cutscene? One of the things they CAN show, they DO: the dying Titans in the sea. Bad criticism. - Yeah, there's a lot of proper nouns, but the game explains them well. They introduce the most important ones first since they're most likely to stick. - Tutorials are really bad for the most part. I'll definitely agree on that one. - No music because the game's trying to tell you these are important characters, creates a tense atmosphere, which you wouldn't know if music WAS playing. Then you WOULD dismiss these as "casual introductions." Bad criticism - I mean, you can teach someone how to do something without actually doing something yourself.. plus Gramps is centuries old as you soon learn, bad criticism. - Voice acting/direction is bad in some parts in the game (looking at you "JOIN ME!"), but it's really not as bad as you make it sound. Malos, Morag, Zeke, Jin, etc. all have really good VAs in my opinion. Sure the accents can be a little "out there," but the game is a bunch of different countries after all, it makes sense to have a wide array of accents and appearances. - The artstyle is quite different from the other games, sure, but I don't feel like it's inherently weaker or stronger because of that. A colorful pallet helps in happier scenes for example, but I think the background/scenery for serious cutscenes helps accommodate it since they usually occur when it's cloudy, dark, or raining. Good contrast. - If it's a XC2 criticism, I don't know why you rant about Nopon (which are in every game) for like 2 1/2 minutes. Out of place. - Rex outfit isn't the best, but bear in mind it's his salvaging gear, you know, basically work clothes, so it being bulky and such makes sense. Only reason he doesn't change has to be because Gramps rides in the helmet, which probably doesn't detach. I can kinda concede this one though. - You say he's like a "selfish, rich kid." ?????? If you take 2 MINUTES to think about it, he's always doing something to help other people, not himself. Sending money to Fonsett, trying to fight off the bad guys, Gramps dying isn't really his fault (because anyone would naturally think a random job offered would result in criminals fighting you and wound up killing your "gramps" somehow), gives up on the party (which is because he feels like he's not good enough for her, good enough to protect her, not because of any "lol why am I wasting my time" mentality like you make it sound. Does Rex always make the right decision? Obviously not, dude is a literal kid, but that's the point of his character arc. He's young, inexperienced, and thinks he can save everyone. But through learning about events (the hard way sometimes), he adapts, overcomes hardships, while not losing his good character qualities (Charisma, Kindness, Passion, Wits) along the way. He even develops new traits (handling loss better, understanding personal limits, loyalty/devotion, leadership skills, etc.) I don't understand how you think he's a static character when so much changes about him. - Addam judges Rex's character/motivations when they talk, he doesn't know about everything that's happened to Rex. "Rather than finding a solution to the problem on his own," HE LITERALLY meets him while trying to find a solution to the problem, passionately trying to find one at that, venturing into a dangerous area few return from... - "Rex cries a bunch so he gets her back" ah yes, because a man (let alone a teen) isn't supposed to cry when his most important ally and friend is going to die. Makes sense to me. Also, Aegises are told MANY times to have crazy, otherworldly powers (Malos literally survives cancer), and I'm sure combined with the Master Driver there's NO reason they can come back. - "Never fully takes responsibility for the power Pyra/Mythra has," you know, except the SEVERAL cutscenes where Rex doesn't want them to use their full power on someone or spares someone's life. - "Never takes responsibility for his actions," while literally showing a cutscene where he does so on screen. - "Rex doesn't drive the plot" except you know deciding where the group goes and trying to rescue the Aegis and understand the world and its flaws and seek a solution, you know, the whole game. - Compares Rex to Shulk, wow, it's almost like they're 2 different people, from different age groups, with different role models, different motivations, different personalities, etc. - Your design criticisms are fair in some points, but unfair in others. You say Pyra/Mythra have crazy designs which is true until you think of the thematic part of it (Pyra's armor is incomplete due to being created as a shackled version of the creator) and also the fact that MANY alternate costumes exist for many of the main female characters (including the ones you have the most gripes with), and they're usually less revealing than the original. I would say the camera gets a little crazy in some scenes which is a fair criticism, but I would think most players wouldn't call it excessive or overbearing for most instances. - As for blade designs, some of them are excessive like Dahlia, but most aren't. For the "fetish" skit, which is probably more of a joke than I'm giving it credit for, it's because Blades can be a wide array of lifeforms, not just humans. So, it makes sense to have some animals and "more creative" designs since that's the nature of a blade. - You call it "fanservice, no substance," as if the dozens of blade add nothing to gameplay or variety, which they greatly add to both. - I don't know if you've done/watched rare blade quests, they usually add nice background and story to them, probably not given your low opinion on the game, but they contribute a good deal to design and personality of rare blades that normally don't get screentime. I personally enjoy XC1 a little more than XC2, but I feel if someone loves 1 and hates 2, they try to compare it to 1 too much instead of treating it as its own game with different designs, motivations, accents, etc. If anyone read all of this, I'm surprised, and thank you, regardless of your stance. I had more points of contention than I expected, apologies.

"... or do people want Pyra's chest in Smash Brothers?" Weeelllll.... yeah, about that...

9:25 "I'll go way more in-depth in the combat system in this video later" _He did not go way more in-depth in the combat system in this video later_

I think Rex's poor delivery makes a lot of his emotional moments feel alot weaker, while I feel his actual ark is quite strong. A young, emotionally weak boy thrust into a war he never wanted to be part of, but sticks to it in order to help those around him and protect those around him. But by tantal, he has failed over and over despite trying his hardest, and just decides he's was never ready for this. However, other characters enlighten him to the sacrices that must be made in war, and the third sword strengthens his mental bond with the aegis, learning their location and preserving their memories. Then his encounters with jin drive home that final message he needs to grow. You can't save everybody. Rex always remains hopeful, but goes from a naive kid riddled with loss and doesn't know how to accept it, to one who can understand that sacrifices must be made in order to move forward. His ability to stay hopeful in the face of loss is what makes him worthy of the aegis, and is what makes him a fitting opposition to torna, and especially jin, people who are clinging to the things they have lost and want to destroy humanity because of it.

I like eating Raisins man. Never played either game, but man I like Raisins.

You have your reasons, but I personally don't find XC2 to be a disappointment. I love the game and understand why people don't.

Capt Astronaut “this isn’t like those hour long videos” (Continues to make an 30 minute long video that’s most likely is gonna be a 2 parter)

I bet that Nintendo is convinced that they did a good Job with Rex’s armor design since they added it in Breath of the wild

You know, I never understood why the blades didn't turn INTO the weapons you used instead of creating them. It would explain their wildly inconsistent designs if they were meant to be the literal personification of weapons. Would explain better why they even need drivers to use them (considering blades can not only use their own weapons just fine but seem to fair better than the drivers in some cases). Hell they're even called BLADES, so having them turn into said blade or gun seems like a no brainer. But hey you can't stare at your waifu slave during combat so I guess that was a deal breaker for the devs

I like Rex’s outfit because it fits his scavenger job. But I have to admit, the more I look at it the more confusing it gets.

imo some of the things XC2 took from the previous games were a downgrade. The mini map is a huge example. It's a pain to use, especially when you have marked objectives. And just as mentioned here, the tutorials are among the worst in jrpgs, period. But luckily there are some good upgrades too.

I haven’t gotten as deeply invested in an rpg since Xeno2

I like watching critiques of things I like because it gives me new perspectives. Despite liking the game, when I recommend it I always mention how slow the beginning is and how long it takes for the combat to feel fun and engaging (until all the combos are enabled... why weren't driver combos implemented from the very beginning like in 1?!)

I just finished Xenoblade 2 recently, but played Xenoblade 1 when it came out on Wii, and I was quite apprehensive about this game for similar reasons. But I actually got really into it after 20-30 hours in, both the story and the side quests, and I think the references to the first game helped me enjoy it. I liked the voice acting too, but maybe it's because I'm from the UK; I thought it was cool that there was a wide range of accents. I do wish there was character customisation, because the over sexualised character designs were a bit too much. Didn't mind Rex's outfit too much though. Overall, I think I still preferred Xenoblade 1 because its story was so good, and it hooked me much earlier on. Xenoblade 2 had some good character moments here and there, and I liked the way the combat, affinity chart, and blade missions came together.

I actually really like the Nopon in Xenoblade 1, but I don’t like them in the other ones.

I'm like that with jelly beans. Think you got a cherry, it's a fucking cinnamon!

never played the game. time to base my entire viewpoint of the game on this one video!

Idk dude, it may have just been due to the shit I was going through when I played this game but I really really enjoyed it, more then the first one (I still dearly love both tho)

The bit where he got really pessimistic was a bad look for him, but to be fair, quite a lot of characters tried to snap him out of it and/or encourage him, so it's not like he just had a sudden epiphany out of nowhere.

The thing that bothers me about rex's design is that it actually looks good when he has the full gear on. But he only wears that while salvaging.

Pro tip: you can tap the stick to reset the auto attack animation which makes the combat faster and a lot more fun.

Some of the designs makes feel the need to look away so I don’t get arrested.

I know that a lot of people say that Vandham’s death is predictable, but I want to point out that Gramps, Zeke, and even Morag (kinda) all serve as mentors to Rex, and none of them die. Also I want to point out something, that being how you say that the positives about Xenoblade 2 are carried over from the previous games. I kinda get what you are saying, but keep in mind that usually that kind of criticism is used when a franchise practically copies and pastes features. Xenoblade 2 has similar positives to its predecessors, but its elements are wholly unique. Like, both Xenoblade 1 and 2 have excellent environments, but each one feels distinct, even between games (except maybe Gormott/Bionis Leg. Those are pretty similar).

Came here to hear some opposing opinions.. but my god I had to click off around 26:20. Saying Rex is static... while playing one of his biggest character moments in the background, where he is forced to mature to the point that his decision making is markedly different in the final scenes compared to the first few chapters. Like... did you even pay attention by this point, or had you already written off the character and game? Because your entire Rex section reeks of entirely misunderstanding his character and his journey. In he beginning he's a child with big dreams and, thanks to the Aegis, kind of a power trip. He thinks that with the Aegis he can always save everyone and fix everything (rushes to save Nia in Ch 2, tries to stick around to save Vandham in Ch 3). It's not until Ch 6 when Jin finally crushes his spirits and he realizes that he's not the hero that he thought he was. He was being irresponsible with the Aegis, using the power to recklessly rush towards his goals without thinking how it impacts the people around him, especially Pyra/Mythra. He almost gives up entirely because of this, because he can't accept that he can't do everything. It takes Brighid, Poppi, Nia, etc talking sense into him to make him grow up. And you can see it come to fruition finally in Ch 10 after the final fight. He finally completes his arc by letting Pneuma go, accepting that he can't save her, and respecting her choice to make her sacrifice. Rex's character is a reverse of Shulk's in many ways, as is the overall plot. At it' core Rex's journey is a standard Hero's journey. It's fine if you don't find that a compelling character story. But to say that Rex is a flat character completely misses... well, Rex.

LOL I probably ain’t watching all of this but good luck when XC2 Twitter finds this video 💀

Out of the hours I spent, I think at least 50% of it were being spent to find some NPC or location because the map and navigation system are not helpful at all most of the time

Vasko got this video unlisted because of 5:55

The developers said to the artists to go nuts and do whatever they feel comfortable, so we got anime (not complaining) cause the art team prefer to do anime

I can’t say I disagree with a single point. Which is sad because I actually love this game. After this game I played XB1 DE and definitely enjoyed it more

You brought up some valid points (some needed more research such as Rex's character analysis and character designs) it's definitely not a perfect game. That said, I loved the game but can definitely see it's faults. Heck, all of the xeno games (except gears) are just reimagining of the perfect works universe which is arguably more confusing than the KH timeline. Here's hoping monolithsoft brings out a killer new installment (and possibly that port of X).

I never felt so offended by something I 100% agree with

8:30 The fun part being that they did that "fighting a random crab"-thing in Xenoblade 1 too, except way better. 9:54 Great thing about this is that there actually is a way to speed up the combat, that being to intentionally interrupt the auto attacks to repeat the first hit and thus get rid of a good amount of cooldown(gain depending on the weapon, but almost all benefit). Of course, the game does not mention this despite having a tutorial-avalanche. Monolith are genuinely much better as a co-developer instead of in their own games, there's just no world where changing a working gameplay system(automatic cooldowns) and then not explaining the new one is a good move gamedesign-wise, there is always some silly nonsense like this going on with this developer. 19:22 The Xenoblade 1 dub really is just legendary. The only reasons I'd ever go to the original JP-dub for would be for the final boss and the very diffrent take on Ryan, though the english equivalents for those are still great too, so not really a rush to play with JP-audio track. 25:52 Pushing a note into this comment due to the flash forward here, this is something I find incredibly incompetent. We are supposed to be sad at the death of Pneuma, but like...that's just straight up the one of the three that both Rex and the player have the least amount of emotional connection to(This is even reflected in gameplay, Rex can quite literally not bond with her whatsoever) and it really seems to mean jack all in practice. One could potentially say "Well, Pyra and Mythra also lose their memories, that's bad", even tho Pyra voiced a desire to forget early in the game and Mythra went into depression after the backstory-timeframe(Which is the reason she created Pyra to begin with), so it's actually kind of a good thing that they get to restart. Not like they need the memories of how Vandham kicked the bucket. 31:45 We were actually lucky with Poppi. In the official conceptsketches, it was revealed that they at some point considered the entire line to have QT's maid theme and QTpi's maid outfit is literally just underwear. Normally I wouldn't find it too sketchy as one could do something similar in Xenoblade 1, but like...that was a statinefficiant meme-choice and did not include very obvious thematic overtones. It's good that they decided against that design, but like...that it was seriously considered is kinda horrendous. 34:31 To be entirely fair, can we even count KosMos and Telos? Even if they weren't on the safer side of this(Which they imo are), they are Xenosaga tie-ins, redesigning them to be more modest would have defeated half the point of the crossover.

In the words of the character designer, "Pyra's clothes are asymmetric and have a bunch of holes to represent that she isn't the "true aegis", contrasting Mythra who's got more control over her power, and thus a more balanced design." Or something like that. But like there are a ton of ways to represent that idea while having her wear something other than cyberpunk lingerie.

I started this game when Pyra was announced for smash. I thought she was going to be a very upbeat, happy sweet girl but instead she mostly had a blank face the entire game and spoke in a monotone voice, being completely different from her Smash trailer.

10:20 What font is this? It looks so sick! Also, if u know, plz send the link to the generator

I'll address the narrative and presentation issues only in the order as presented in the video, discussing gameplay mechanics isn't really my thing. The beginning - you establish what is a good way of starting a story, grudgingly admit that XC2 does it. You find it boring, but don't explain why, jumping to gameplay. It establishes the setting, and the conflict which instead of a battle against a tangible enemy, is a battle against decline. It also effectively establishes the background 'mood' of the narrative which will resonate in several crucial characters and their motivations later on. On that front the beginning of both XC1 and especially X are actually more shallow in hindsight. Show, don't tell - a good thing for sure, and a thing that the game sometimes uses too little, and sometimes too much - some flashbacks, where added subtlety, ie., showing or telling nothing, would have been even better. Yet you use an example where the principle is specifically NOT to be used. Azurda and Rex are not talking about history, they are talking about legend. They are unreliable narrators, the visual focus is on the storyteller not the supposed event, the important part is that that's what those characters believe not what actually happened, the music underlines that too. And BECAUSE we are not given glimpses of Elysium, we are clued in that this is probably not how things went. Proper nouns - a problem with a lot of stories heavy with worldbuilding. I don't have a lot to say about this, it depends a lot on how we process information. You don't actually have to memorize all the things they say, most of what is really important at the moment gets more focus. But I certainly understand when people tune out when assaulted with a lot of new words. The dub - I use JP dub whenever I can, both because the original voice actors usually have more context to work with during the development, and because translations almost always lose some meaning in the process. I absolutely agree that some voices don't match, I think Nia is the worst case here. Rex's guy can't scream, although otherwise I think he's fine, I don't get what cognitive dissonance you're getting. Agreed, that animation was clumsy in many dialogue scenes. Rex - others I see have answered about him better than I could, so I won't bother. He's not static, he follows relatively standard hero's journey steps, the main difference being that he has a more practical mindset than most 'heroes'. But, you know what, the English voice acting at least sets him apart from other jrpg/shonen protags. Outfits - I'm used to anime designs, I like Pyra's, and obviously it's meant to appeal to lower brain, so whatever. Does that diminish her character for me? Not at all. Talking about sexualization of women would eat every other argument, so I'm not going into it. I'll just mention that many armor sets for Sharla and Fiora are just as skeevy, just less apparent in the overall presentation of the characters. I played XC:DE and XC2 one after the other relatively recently, and while XC has a better story structure overall, and better narrative flow up until around Ch. 5 of XC2, and I liked many combat elements better in 1, overall, XC2 just blew it out of the water because of thematic depth (on the nose sometimes and familiar, but well executed), the vibrancy of the setting, the writing of crucial characters, especially the main trio of villains and how they define the main themes of the narrative, use of music to enhance the story, use of animation to enhance the more tense moments. It uses anime techniques to both its detriment and advantage, but at least for me, the advantages win.

I really wish they would bring X to switch. That game was amazing and had sooooo much content.

I mean you say there is no such thing as an objective review, but you have a lot of objective value in your arguments. Your discussion on character design was probably the best part of the video. I will definitely be back for the second part.

I actually finished my first playthrough of xc2 yesterday (68 hrs playtime), my first xenoblade game, and although I enjoyed it, i had problems with it from start to end. I took it with me to get me through my 2 week quarantine and played on version 1.0 cause I didnt have any wifi or data to update the game. I didnt even understand the sealing mechanism until chapter 7 even though I remember there being a tutorial for it early on. And the female character design... I have to laugh. Even some of the female NPCs are just chillin half naked while most of the men were covered up. I often found myself busting out laughing at serious points during cutscenes because of the voice acting. I didnt connect with the characters at all, so when someone died I was just like 🤷🏻‍♀️. My experience with the final boss fight got ruined due to bugs. And while I liked the ending I was still confused on some things regarding the lore

I thought I was the only one who thought this but I swear, you had the same exact list of issues as I did with this game. XC2 is the definition of a game that "died by a thousand cuts" for me. I too came into it on release day really hyped because I was enamored by the other Xenoblade games, but with its awful tutorials, convoluted gameplay, a laundry list of anime tropes, terrible voice direction/director, and its oversexualization of a vast majority of the characters, I couldn't take this game seriously by the end. It just felt like a really bad anime. I tried to like this game, I really did. I even forced myself to beat the game to see if anything up to the very end could possibly change my mind, but nothing did. I love the memes that came out of this though.

When I saw he made the document in MLA format 2:19, you know this shit will be good

3 complaints i have about this game : 1. Bullet sponge enemies 2. The fetching side quests 3. The rng on blades bonding oh my god.

I love the game as it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out with a definitive edition just like the first game. If it does, I hope they rewrite tutorials and allow you to view them in the menu, revoice some of the lines, redesign a few characters, and replace the gacha with actual blade quests to obtain the blades (like Praxis and Theory for example).

I didn't like much but about 20 hours in it clicked I love the technical combat system the story ends up being great it definitely takes too long to get going though

Regardless of any one person's opinion on the game, I still recommend people play this game and form their own opinions. I went into this game thinking I wasn't gonna like it and now it's a top 5 game for me. And Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game of all time. I do think the voice direction sucked tho.

I can't believe how you perfectly summed up how I feel about this game. It was this game that put me off the Xenoblade series but I might give the first one a try now since you state this game is nothing like it.

I don't know why this game clicked with me so much, played through it multiple times and on third playthrough I am still finding new aspects and still have not unlocked all the blades(I don't mind, it keeps me grinding..300hrs later) Games a masterpiece in my eyes.

To be honest when I first played the game i quit on it within the first few hours a few weeks later i came back to it and loved it

I never thought I’d like this game but it was on my shelf for like a year. Mostly cause after seeing gameplay I thought I’d hate the battle system. Eventually I finally played it AND I LOVED IT!! I never played a switch game as much as I did this. The art( not just the anime girls but the environments, I love Tantal) were gorgeous. Music was wonderful and I still occasionally listen to them. The battle system grew on me and I actually eventually liked it. The only demerit was Rex. Nothing special and easily forgettable but I loved Tora and the rest of the cast had their moments too. Funny enough the villains had better development in my opinion but that’s part of the game too so no complaints. All the side quests with the rare blades were great for additional content. Some were funny and some even got you a bit emotional. They were all worth checking out. This game was a solid 9/10 for me.

To be fair, Fiora also lost clothes when powering up.

I wanted to dig in to an extensive game with deep story so this was really good to know. I had an idea of what I didn't like about it, but I couldn't say for sure that I disliked it until now. Since you think Chrono Trigger is a mastapeece, what do you like about it? Do you prefer automatic combat or turn based combat?

The Captain releasing another Xeno 2 Vid? "37:50" *grabs snacks*

Rex is a harem protagonist who ended up iseki'd in the wrong game and genre.

I feel like a lot of the critiques here are relatively surface-level, some being all they need (ex. oversexualization) but others being very incomplete pictures (ex. Rex). I will say though, even though I disagree with a decent amount of this video, you got some pretty good laughs out of me. The entire "every blade is a fetish" section had me bursting out laughing, and all my homies hate Tatsu as well. Respect to the writing of this video while the critiques are hit or miss.

funny enough i didn’t know how to do a blade combo until the final boss. i still love this game and it’s one of my favorite jrpgs of all time

kinda miss the dog icon ngl ;'(

I didn't really dislike Rex *so* much for a while, and I really tried my best to see his positive traits (earns money for his village, drive to save humanity, reflectiveness on the relationship between drivers and blades), but his foolish optimism made it hard for me to feel beyond neutral towards him. But then the scene where Pyra gets taken away and Rex gives up really made me flat out *hate* him. He was so much talk, and then when the going got rough he abandoned the girl he loved while everyone else was determined to go rescue her without him. Not only that, as Pyra's driver, by giving up he basically just submitted to allowing Malos to destroy everything. Like, seriously?? Compare him to Shulk, who watched the girl he loved get straight up speared, igniting a fire in him that served as one of the main drivers of the plot for half the game. Brighid smacking Rex and talking shit was so fucking satisfying.

Interesting thoughts! I agree with you on the tutorials and you have given good examples on how to improve the tutorials. A good take on the sexualisation of female characters, sometimes a touchy subject, unfortunately. You could have made a better point on the voice acting. The example you gave for Rex wasn't cringy at all, sounds like a geordie chap having a normal conversation. You could have chosen worse and more talked about scenes featuring Rex, for example, a lot of people do dislike Rex's screams. Those screams can be jarring when pointed out to me. You did mention that the voice doesn't match the art style of the characters. Does that mean Xenoblade Chronicles Definite Edition is a downgrade because the Definite Edition does look more anime-like, thus now doesn't match the voice? A lot of Western media have bug-eyed humanoids such as The Powerpuff Girls or Elsa from Frozen so the abnormal eye-face ratio isn't unheard of. There's more to it than if the voice matches the art style and I don't think the voice acting/direction is THAT bad. BUT, this is coming from a guy who is not well exposed to Japanese anime or games! It does look like a lot of Japanese characters are overplayed (getting into massive fights, wielding fantasy weapons and magic, scream into battles, ...etc). To me, it's fine but I do have a feeling when compared to other Japanese media, this game could look out of place.

As someone who REALLY likes the Nopon in XB1 (Riki is my favorite character and Frontier Village is one of my favorite areas), it absolutely kills me how they slaughtered the Nopon as a species in 2 and even in FC (haven’t played X yet so idk about that). While Riki and the Nopon had their speech quirks, they had an actual DIALECT because their speech quirks weren’t restricted to a single verbal tic at the end of every sentence (I think Riki says “meh” all of like twice in the entire first game). Whether or not the Nopon were appealing is subjective, but their speech patterns made sense. XB2 took what WAS a complex speech pattern and turned it into something repetitive and extremely obnoxious. Future Connected unfortunately followed in 2’s footsteps with the return of the butchered dialect, and Riki’s kids’ designs were WAY too over designed with too many details and garish colors. I pretty well enjoyed FC, but that was a huge letdown for me. I’m just thankful Riki didn’t have a cameo so they didn’t murder my favorite character. :/

Lol still one of my favorite games

Also rex reminds me of everything I hate about a shonen protagonist. Shulk will always be the chad.

I absolutely love XC1, but I had to force myself to play XC2. This review hits all the reasons why I didn’t like it either. I would say the story was the one thing that made me finish it, it’s not the best but it did get me somewhat engaged. The gacha is probably what ruined the game most for me (gachas suck and you’ll never change my mind) as well as the over-sexualization.

I dunno, the game was still really fun, beat it twice and played Torna, becoming a fan of the series. But Chronicles 1 had a better story.

i think the cognitive dissonance comes more from the body language then it does the art style. If youve seen any anime you have some idea of what the body is saying. like Rex pounding the ground, but then the voice acting just sounds mildly annoyed. Or how Nia will make cat like gestures while having a voice acctress that sounds like shed rather be dead then going all nyan and stuff. totally agree with how this is the directors fault.

Ok tales of Symphonia Dawn of the new world wasnt near the greatness of the first game, but it was not the worst sequel for a rpg lol Edit: and just a follow up question, if you were gonna use Lloyd to compare to Rex, then why did you use a clip of Dirk saying the dwarven vow instead?

I agree on most of the things you talked about, but not really on the voice over aspect, tbh. I found most of the english voices pretty fitting of their characters, in some cases even more so than the japanese voices (Nia and Vess come to mind), and the accents are a really cool touch to differentiate the people of each titan. However, I can definetly aggree that Rex's delivery is a major weakpoint there. Also, regarding the nopon, I dont find them thaaat annoying? At least their characters/ speech mannersisms, for the most part, are ok. However, an that's a trend that came back from 2 with Future Connected, the HUGE oversuse of the 'meh-meh-meh-meh' affectation is, entirely, too much, and it makes me clench my teeth hard out of sheer hatred whenever I hear it. Enough meh

I'd like to hear what you think about xenoblade 3. I watched some reviews of 2 after hearing that xenoblade was one of the greatest wii games, but wasn't impressed by what saw. Subsequently I've seen some funny clips from xenoblade 3 and I'm wondering if it's a good place to dip my toes in the series

As much as I love this vid and the fact that someone else has the same mindset about Xeno 2 as I do, a lot of the points you made about Rex being bad were wrong and either didn't make sense, or put a lot of unplaced blame on him. You said something similar in your last vid about Xeno 2 and I kind hoped someone else would correct you, but whatever I'll just do it I guess. This'll be a big post so TLDR; if any of the other characters tried as hard as Rex did, Xeno 2 would've ended 2 hours in. From 24:57 onwards, I'm not really sure why you're blaming Rex for this. He died because he got literally stabbed in the back, from a character that can move at lightspeed, and the consequence of being revived was now he had to be responsible for ending a war that has lasted CENTURIES. Pyra didn't give him a choice, it was an ultimatum. "Stay dead or help me win a war between literal gods." Not really sure if you can call this getting revived scot free. Also, not sure why Gramps getting injured and "dying" was Rex's fault. He actually saved Nia from falling into the cloud sea in the prior scene and the gramps probably would have gotten shot by the cannons regardless of what Rex did. Your next point is also not great and was actually from one of the worse cut scenes in the game imo. Vandham barely bought the party a few seconds before Malos killed him and the idea that they had the chance to run away before Malos and Akhos could catch up to them, while they were all severely injured, is insane. Rex had NO CHOICE but to fight to try and buy the others time. It was either that or just have everyone slowly be killed off. Ffs, Vandham literally just came to the same conclusion after realizing how dire the situation was too. Plus, the only reason they were in this situation to begin with was because Pyra walked into an obvious trap ALONE with NO PLAN on how to fight off Malos. Hell, for all she knew the entirety of Torna could have been there and she would have been killed easily, losing the Aegis war. Rex was the first one to question Nia about Pyra not being with the group after they noticed the girl was kidnapped and deduced that she must have gone to stop Malos herself, alone. He actually leads the charge and bails Pyra out. Did Mythra have to bail him out in the end, sure, but honestly Pyra should have woken her up from the get go if this was her plan, instead of trying to fight Malos and Akhos in a weakened form by herself. And let's not forget that Nia was holding back this ENTIRE time and could have easily beaten Malos and Akhos if she went her blade form. So to put all the blame on Rex, whose only mistake was not being strong enough to beat Malos, is crazy to me. Once again, if 2 other characters (Pyra and Nia) had given it their all like he did, the game would have ended here. Your next point is from THE worst cutscene from the game, but you were also wrong on some of your recollection of the events of what happened, and that lead to you vastly misinterprete Rex's character struggle in this scene. After Pyra sacrifices herself to Torna, Rex didn't cry for 2 days, he was UNCONSCIOUS, cause he got his ass BEAT by Jin (Dromarch even says that his wounds were so severe that his body needed time to rest and heal). In the footage you showed, Rex is literally laying on a bed knocked tf out, and when he wakes up he slowly comes to grips with what happened. Rex giving up wasn't him being a coward, it was honestly the most mature decision he had made in the game and the only reasonable plan anyone in the party had presented up until now. When they had the legendary Aegis sword and her damn Gundam in the sky, they still lost. HORRIBLY. Jin defeated the entire party in seconds, and the only reason everyone didn't die a horrible death that day was because Pyra used her life as leverage, since they needed to take her alive. Now the plan is to go and fight them, WITHOUT that leverage? What, is the power of friendship stronger now? Why is everyone suddenly super confident that they can defeat blade form Jin plus the rest of Torna? Rex may do a shit job at expressing it, but his plan actually makes a lot of sense and shows a lot of growth of him as a character. He's the only one in the party that recognizes how ABSURD Jin's power actually is (ffs, they needed a character that could REWRITE REALITY to be ON PAR with him.) He wants nothing more than to rush in and save Pyra. You can tell because every time he talks about giving up the camera pans and shows him clenching his fist because he hates what he's saying. But he knows that if he leads the charge on this, he'll be leading all of his friends to an early grave. Every single on of them would die this time. And if he dies, Pyra dies as well. That's the only thing that he can take solace in in this situation. He knows Pyra isn't dead because he's still alive. They share pain remember? That's why he says she'll be better off without him because if he fought Torna again, he, and therefore Pyra, would probably both die gruesomely. So the only conclusion that makes sense for Rex here, is to recognize when you've been outclassed and accept the L. Living out his life without the one he cares most about by his side, but knowing that at the very least she's alive. Honestly this scene is probably one of Rex's best character moments, if not THE best one, and I could write a whole book on how this scene ruined almost every other character in the main cast, or at least showed how bad the writing is in this game (Nia yelling at Rex to try harder is fucking RICH seeing as she didn't reveal her blade form which could have easily turned the tides in their favor against Jin. Brighid gaslights the shit out of Rex, blaming him for not knowing about a conversation that he wasn't there for, and that Brighid only knew about because she was eavesdropping. She also doesn't address the reason WHY Rex is giving up. Zeke, being the only one that also shares a core crystal with his blade, should be the only one that understands how torn Rex feels, but he doesn't get to say a word because Morag stops him. etc.) So once again, what was Rex supposed to do in this scene? Run into battle and die horribly? The only reason they are able to fight Jin and Malos later with an actual chance of victory was because Gramps causally mentions that there's a 3rd Aegis sword and Nia revealed her blade form, giving the party a person with power on par to Monado Malos. Two things that Rex didn't, and COULDN'T, have known about when he wanted to give up. So once again, placing all the blame for this on him, when the only faults he had were not being being strong enough and wanting his friends to NOT die horribly, seems crazy to me. For your next example, I'm going to spare you all from my novel about how bad Xeno 2's ending was. But I don't think any of it was Rex's fault per se, more of just bad writing as a whole. Him crying because Pyra was about to sacrifice herself...again, made sense. Getting her back was the whole point of coming there after all, so to hear after all of that she was just going to die anyway would be emotionally taxing. But whatever, that entire ending was garbage anyway and I really don't want to get into it. (Why tf did anyone think Pneuma was going to die when she gave Rex her core crystal? What part was going to die? Her hologram? And why tf did Pyra AND Mythra have separate bodies now? Y'all could've done this the whole fucking time!? What changed after that explosion!?) Anyways, I just wanted to clear up Rex's character because he's honestly like, one of the 3 (kinda) well written characters in this game, and this was the second vid that you made where you grossly misinterpreted his character imo. But overall great vid. I'm always happy to dunk on Xeno 2. Thanks for anyone that took to time to read all of this headass and I appreciate you coming to my TED Talk. Refreshments are in the back. Don't play Xeno 2. Xeno 2 game bad. P.S I love your Splatoon vids.

@ everyone in pain over the thick British accents: Now you know how us Spanish speakers feel when every single videogame dub is done in Spanish from Spain. FEEL OUR PAIN AND DESPAIR!

was the intro a Mr Plinkett (RedLetterMedia) Star Wars Phantom Menace reference? ;)

33:33 "The default is how the game is meant to be played" I feel this sentence is a little dangerous when applied to other games(cough Splatoon 2 Splatershot Jr.). Maybe it would sounded better if it was "The default is how most people will play the game, and base their first impressions on the characters/game". I played this game and I enjoyed to bits, but i also need to give credit where credit is due. I can't dislike your video because you have valid points overall. In conclusion, have a like

XC1 and XCX were awesome games. When XC2 came out I avoided any gameplay, trailer videos to go into it blind because I was looking forward to surprise epic moments like the initial Mechon attack on Colony 9. I hated XC2 very quickly after and tried to go see if there was anyone having that opinion. At the time I could only find good reviews singing praise for the game. So I never looked back. Then this video pops up in my suggested videos today for the first time. Don't know why it took so long, but it is nice to see these points put into videos.

@Captain Astronaut playing the bass, that's coo... wait 5 strings bass. That's heresy!

huh, why did this go unlisted

Good god I thought my headphones were gonna melt because of all of the roasting you were doing in this vid. That's a good thing btw.

Xenoblade 2 has a better battle system than 1. It just isn't explained properly.

I have never felt so much pain in my life Jk I respect your opinion although some points you made are true like the voice acting and character designs but for the rest of the things you said I personally don't agree with, have a great day👍

I would love to play Chrono Trigger, but the only time it was officially released in Europe was the DS version, which is now really rare. So that's wonderful.

Dude. That was beautiful. As someone who has Xeno 1 as his favorite game, i pretty much has the same problems with Xeno 2. Glad to see that other people get it too.

Just because you dont agree with his opinion dose not make it a bad video

30:45 I too wonder if the Smash Fandom meant Pyra/Mythra instead of Rex for Smash

At first a bought the game, went for about 20 hours and sold the game. I couldn’t stand the long battles, generic anime tropes in the beginning etc. but I recently went back bought it back because I felt I was missing something. I got back to where I was and I still had the same problems, but going a little further, it clicked. The battle system finally felt fully fleshed out, the story started being good, and I loved it. It happened when you get to a town with the mentor character. I have the game up a bit before that and sort of regret not just playing a little longer. But to be real. It shouldn’t take 20 hours for it to get “good”

I’m actually watching Chuggaconroy’s lp on this and I completely understand your criticism. I haven’t played through it, but Chuggaconroy is on either chapter 6 or 7 and I still don’t understand any of the game’s core mechanics. I feel like I’m being force fed so many things at once with this game. I also agree that the English va is pretty terrible (especially Patroka’s).

Really great and well-made video, I felt like I was the only one with all of these problems. Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game, and the shortcomings of its sequel should really be addressed more. Xenoblade 3 following in 2's footsteps is my worst nightmare

I like raisins. Almonds suck ass though, so the comparison still stands.

I legit didn’t know what blade combos were until a solid 20 hours in the game

Awesome video! Xenoblade 2 is one of my favorite games so it was refreshing to hear this take and see what others think. I didn't have a problem with the tutorials, but thinking back I definitely had difficulty in a couple boss fights when a new mechanic was introduced via text only and I had to use it on the fly to beat the boss (failing a few times). I agree with the dub, too. I played with Japanese voices because I can understand most Japanese and had no idea how it was until I saw memes and heard it following my playthrough. For me, it made the Nopon less annoying too. The character designs are very distracting, to put it in a PG way, but I thought it wasn't too out of place because of the kind of anime vibe the game had (I know that's not saying they aren't bad, but it didn't bother me personally). I like your presentation and thoughts! I really liked the game because of how complex the combat system was and all the possibilities with using different blades on different characters. You can choose blades you like and optimize your party around them, thinking about how their abilities and combos interact with other blades, which driver fits them given their arts, which items to put on the blades and in the pouch, fighting superbosses, etc. And getting to know all the blades during their blade quests was fun. That was really the highlight of the game for me. I remember seeing little XC2 jokes in the Splatoon vids so I'm happy to finally hear what you had to say.

Speaking as someone whose favorite game of all time is XC2, I will be the first to admit that it has genuine problems and it’s absolutely not for everyone. The main problem I’d say is that it has a really, REALLY slow start bogged down by bad and incessant tutorials and storytelling that is just genuinely, objectively bad at points…unless you have later context (first viewing of bath scene: cringe second viewing of bath scene: wait I was supposed to know about THAT back then? damn no scene without purpose I guess) However, I will argue that the world building is the strongest in the series (huge claim that I will still make confidently), has a great cast of characters that is still my personal favorite, and a really, REALLY deep combat system that is (again) still my favorite. Also Zeke von Genbu: Bringer of Chaos is only in this game, which is a definite plus in its favor

this comment section is pretty mature.

now we gotta fight nobody disrespects symphonia

I respect that these are your opinions, but it is respectfully in my opinion that your opinions are trash. Have a wonderful day sir.