Ok, first for the reason I cried/thoughts on the ending: It was not Mio and Noah. Hell, never them. I understand that this kind of romance is beautiful to most people, but I was sitting here like... how boring and in your face can it get?
That last scene between the pairs just illustrated perfectly why I preferred the Lance/Sena and Taion/Eunie pairings. While Noah and Mio stay very abstract and just ... talk with no substance beyond "I really like you", which... idk maybe some people have romantic relationships like that. But for me it's always been the characters that SHOW their bonds, not tell. Lanz and Sena and Taion and Eunie don't have to say anything direct or kiss each other in front of a sunrise in order for me to understand they really care about each other. That's good writing in my book, not something that slaps me in the face like the Noah/Mio romance.
On a side note, I also cried again when Poppi showed up and the pic of the Xenoblade 2 crew. Nia said "I'll see you soon", so I suppose not that much time has passed in their respective original worlds between this whole time stopping event and now. Probably why Tora sent Poppi along with Nia because he knew she would be able to live all that time similar to Nia. Leaves one question tho...if not much time has passed, how did Nia, who was really not a big shot person in Xenoblade 2, become queen so quickly lol. Anyways, now I am also feeling conflicted because our new party is getting ripped apart but our old parties get to reunite. So it's bittersweet.
That being said, here are some general pro and cons for the game:
PROS
- the world is pretty man
- I love the whole concept of the 10 year cycle etc, it's very creative
- THE MUSIC
- I love all the party members (save one, but i will get to that)
- the side content is really good, especially fhe hero quests
- CHAPTER FRIGGIN 5
- Combat is imo the best in the series
- Nia and Melia being here was a highlight for sure
CONS (more than I'd like there to be tbh)
- the world was a tiny bit too large for its own good
- the chain attack music needs to go
- Noah. Why was everyone praising him as such a well written character? I had expectations but none of them were met. None. I'll get into that more below.
- Why did the story need to fall off a cliff in Chapter 7? Listen, I don't mind vague, as long as you make the vague make sense in the end, which both other Xenoblade games did, but this ending explained nothing to a satisfactory level. More on that below.
- Too many open plot threads (& yes I did all the side content and am still left with QUESTIONS), more on that also below
Regarding Noah:
How is he the most boring protagonist of the series and yet he gers praise for being well written? Listen I prefer Rex over this guy. At least Rex had a personality. What is Noah's personality made of? Let's reflect: Does not like to fight, loves Mio, likes being an off-seer, loves Mio, is kind of arrogant at times, loves Mio......... did I mention he loves Mio? I don't know, he feels very self-insert to me, and even like he knows he is the protagonist in a JRPG. More than once he has been called arrogant directly or indirectly by other characters and everytime I found myself agreeing.
Two instances come to mind.... when he told Lanz to move on from the Joran thing and that he thinks the reason all of this is happening is because of them (Ourobouros)... Lanz told him maybe he just wants it to be about him. And I was like "Yes bitch tell him". Because yes ofc Noah was right in the end, because he IS the protagonist of a JRPG, but he doesn't KNOW that, and who runs around being like "All of this must be happening because of ME." The other instance was when N called him arrogant because Noah labeled himself "hope". Mio's argument in that instance was that because M called them hope, it must be true. But Listen... there is a difference between her saying that and the protagonist saying it himself. The small difference is... one is praise, the other is lacking humility.
You realize.. I really don't vibe with this guy man. N, now he is a well-written, tragic character. Protagonist Noah...not so much.
About the vagueness of it all:
Listen.... am I right in assuming Z was never an individual but a concept born of the will of the people to not cease being when the two worlds collide? It is very unclear. Which is part of what bugs me. The other part is that if that is the case... what a cop out man. It is very JRPG, don't get me wrong. But I expected better from a Xenoblade game, especially after the excellently written villains of Xenoblade 2 (and even Zanzah was a lot better than this). So... basically that killed the whole story for me.
As for ope plot threads, here is what comes to mind:
- WHO THE HELL IS RIKU? When you free Melia, him and Melia have a small moment, which made me assume Melia somehow knew him. But that never got addressed (not in the main game at least, maybe in the post game). Is he related to Riki? Because of the name? Who knows...not me. We never found out who that mysterious masterpon is who gave Riku the sword in the first place...
- So...uh...why are the two worlds drifting apart again? Someone care to explain? Please?
- I just won't ask about the flute playing in the post credits scene. I'll just chunk it up to fanservice, like the post credit scene of Xenoblade 2, which rationally speaking also didn't make any sense.
- M: "you should never have existed". Game: Proceeds to never explain why they exist anyways.
Anyways this is random thoughts. I will check out the spoiler thread soon and maybe some people have explanations for all this shebang and I am just too stupid to understand. We will see.
