Well...the Switch 2 is coming out soon, which will be compatible with most Switch games, including certainly recent big releases on Switch like Xenoblade Chronicles X.
So you can wait or buy a Switch, but if it's going to be a console for that one game then I suggest buying a used Switch OLED, unless you don't care about the OLED display because you'll be playing on a TV screen, in which case buy a regular Switch (also used). And if you'll be playing mainly in handheld mode then just buy a new or used Switch Lite - it's the cheapest way to get into Switch possession.
The first Xenoblade game is the only actually good one, I love X but it's story is whatever. 2 and 3 are not real games, they are genuinely abysmal in storytelling, writing and characters. I'm sorry, someone had to say it.
Eh, the "women in fridges" trope is such an overdone and sexist thing that it's a breath of fresh air to see it subverted to the game's advantage instead of played straight. The writers made the right call to not go the traditional route on that one.
My problem is more how it kinda contrasts with the actual story and kinda makes the whole first half kinda pointless. The story was basically a "revenge isn't the answer" story that got muddied as soon as the very reason this was happening reappeared in the story. The type of story that would've been fine left as is without a deus ex machina. Also it's just confusing, how did she end up at Valak anyway when she should've been at Colony 9? Did the mechonis take the corpse or...? Though to be fair to that latter point, I haven't played it in years so it is very likely I missed a line of dialogue or something.
I don’t think so, no. It’s not a one game console but it is cheap if you know where to look. I found a grey market switch for 30 dollars. In good condition.
My problem is more how it kinda contrasts with the actual story and kinda makes the whole first half kinda pointless. The story was basically a "revenge isn't the answer" story that got muddied as soon as the very reason this was happening reappeared in the story. The type of story that would've been fine left as is without a deus ex machina. Also it's just confusing, how did she end up at Valak anyway when she should've been at Colony 9? Did the mechonis take the corpse or...? Though to be fair to that latter point, I haven't played it in years so it is very likely I missed a line of dialogue or something.
Metalface takes Fiora with him after he kills her. There's no body left behind, which is why there's no funeral or anything like that. We later learn that Fiora was taken to Meyneth, who wanted her for a vessel to fight Egil in case the heir to the Monado couldn't. (This also foreshadows Shulk being a mere vessel to Zanza. That's two taken out of the fridge.) And when Shulk learns the half of it for the first time, he isn't dissuaded from revenge; he actually gets even angrier.
Later on, Shulk and co fight and defeat Metalface, which already causes Shulk to question his quest for revenge. Shulk didn't know Metalface was a Homs until he revealed his true form, and killing him actually gave Shulk some regret. He was okay with "killing" machines, but not people. This starts off a slow realization that he's been led down the wrong path.
After that they get Fiora to rejoin the team, which does make him less concerned with revenge, but now he has to do something about Egil. And then the meeting with the people of the Mechonis, talking to Meyneth, and being forced to ultimately fight Egil all cause him to doubt the worth of his quest even more.
In fact, he's completely made up his mind that he doesn't want to kill anymore before he fights Egil, which is why Zanza uses the Monado to shoot pain into his arm. And then he tells Egil he isn't going to kill him, causing Zanza's lackies kill him for a second time.
So basically, Fiora still being alive doesn't really change the story. It's just another piece of evidence to Shulk that he's doing the wrong thing in a list of them that starts before she rejoins the party.
Hi, Level 0 noob! You obviously haven't acclimated to this forum yet, so read the rules before you comment, especially the first one, which you've already broke.
Having an opinion you don't agree with is not trolling. Expressing that opinion in a polite manner with others is mere discussion, or possibly debate. Get used to it, because this isn't Twitter.
Metalface takes Fiora with him after he kills her. There's no body left behind, which is why there's no funeral or anything like that. We later learn that Fiora was taken to Meyneth, who wanted her for a vessel to fight Egil in case the heir to the Monado couldn't. (This also foreshadows Shulk being a mere vessel to Zanza. That's two taken out of the fridge.) And when Shulk learns the half of it for the first time, he isn't dissuaded from revenge; he actually gets even angrier.
Later on, Shulk and co fight and defeat Metalface, which already causes Shulk to question his quest for revenge. Shulk didn't know Metalface was a Homs until he revealed his true form, and killing him actually gave Shulk some regret. He was okay with "killing" machines, but not people. This starts off a slow realization that he's been led down the wrong path.
After that they get Fiora to rejoin the team, which does make him less concerned with revenge, but now he has to do something about Egil. And then the meeting with the people of the Mechonis, talking to Meyneth, and being forced to ultimately fight Egil all cause him to doubt the worth of his quest even more.
In fact, he's completely made up his mind that he doesn't want to kill anymore before he fights Egil, which is why Zanza uses the Monado to shoot pain into his arm. And then he tells Egil he isn't going to kill him, causing Zanza's lackies kill him for a second time.
So basically, Fiora still being alive doesn't really change the story. It's just another piece of evidence to Shulk that he's doing the wrong thing in a list of them that starts before she rejoins the party.
Hi, Level 0 noob! You obviously haven't acclimated to this forum yet, so read the rules before you comment, especially the first one, which you've already broke.
Having an opinion you don't agree with is not trolling. Expressing that opinion in a polite manner with others is mere discussion, or possibly debate. Get used to it, because this isn't Twitter.
If you see comments like this again, do use the report button, as it is extremely helpful to us since it will instantly notify us and has helped get rid of spammers.
If you see comments like this again, do use the report button, as it is extremely helpful to us since it will instantly notify us and has helped get rid of spammers.
Metalface takes Fiora with him after he kills her. There's no body left behind, which is why there's no funeral or anything like that. We later learn that Fiora was taken to Meyneth, who wanted her for a vessel to fight Egil in case the heir to the Monado couldn't. (This also foreshadows Shulk being a mere vessel to Zanza. That's two taken out of the fridge.) And when Shulk learns the half of it for the first time, he isn't dissuaded from revenge; he actually gets even angrier.
Later on, Shulk and co fight and defeat Metalface, which already causes Shulk to question his quest for revenge. Shulk didn't know Metalface was a Homs until he revealed his true form, and killing him actually gave Shulk some regret. He was okay with "killing" machines, but not people. This starts off a slow realization that he's been led down the wrong path.
After that they get Fiora to rejoin the team, which does make him less concerned with revenge, but now he has to do something about Egil. And then the meeting with the people of the Mechonis, talking to Meyneth, and being forced to ultimately fight Egil all cause him to doubt the worth of his quest even more.
In fact, he's completely made up his mind that he doesn't want to kill anymore before he fights Egil, which is why Zanza uses the Monado to shoot pain into his arm. And then he tells Egil he isn't going to kill him, causing Zanza's lackies kill him for a second time.
So basically, Fiora still being alive doesn't really change the story. It's just another piece of evidence to Shulk that he's doing the wrong thing in a list of them that starts before she rejoins the party.
In retrospect, I noticed I made one little mistake, as I forgot to add one important detail.
Meyneth wanted to use Fiora as a vessel not just to fight Egil if Shulk couldn't, but also to fight Zanza if he completely took over Shulk. This is why Fiora/Meyneth is hostile towards Shulk when they first meet after Meyneth takes her over. Meyneth agrees with Egil that Zanza can't be allowed to live, and thus she is working with him to take Zanza down. However, she thinks Egil's methods are too extreme, as his plan is to "starve" Zanza to death by killing all life on Bionis. All this is why we get Meyneth going full God Mode after Zanza returns in corporal form, as she is the only one other than Shulk who can use a Monado against Zanza. (Granted, Albis technically can too, but he's just the computer that runs the program for the Monados, and can't fully rebel against Zanza without another user overriding Zanza's admin priveleges.)
For me, if a game has an absolutely awfully written story I won't sit through the gameplay. If I'm not having fun why the hell am I playing a single player story game? Again, different opinions and standards for different people.
A game being "real" is just a way of saying for me if it's actually worth your time, which XC2 in my opinion isn't. XC3 I guess, sure, like I said the worst thing about that game is that it feels pretty average.
The only case where I'll sit through a game with a bad story but good gameplay is if the story is so bad it's funny. Unfortunately, XC2 is so bad it's just bad.
To really appreciate Xenoblade 2, you really should play the DLC first - Torna: The Golden Country. I mean yeah, that will remove some of the mystique from the base games' story, but it helps to explain SO MUCH of what's going on and why we should care about certain characters. Now, a few people like to decry how silly or "anime" (what does that even mean?) the game is, when in truth the story is some severely dark shit. And I mean more than
the pope being evil.
I mean
depression, suicide/desiring death, mass murder, cannibalism, what defines life, being left behind/forgotten, what defines self, extreme nihilism, repercussions of war, starvation, poverty...
the list goes on for pages.
If anything, the writers added so many silly moments to blunt the trauma the rest of the game would otherwise cause. Now, the RNG of getting the Rare Blades was utter ass, but there are easy ways to get Legendary Core Crystals to mass spam for them so it's just time consuming rather than difficult. And the battle system, when it clicks, makes the game ridiculously easy. To the point of taking on a Level 100 superboss at level 65 and winning... albeit after a good 30-minutes of "why the fook ain't I dead yet?!" combat. Not to mention that with later updates you can just let the game play itself, or make it more punishing than a Souls title. Or was that the third game that happened? Hmm...
My first play through it took a bit for Xenoblade 2 to really click for me, so I really get that from others. I think it was around Chapter 5 (of 10, mind) when I realized that, while I was playing the game right, I was experiencing the game wrong. We learn early-on that when the awakener of a Blade dies, so too will their Blade... only the Blade will simply revert to their base Core Crystal and, when re-awakened, will do so with no memory of their previous self (like a PC being reformatted). We also learn that the blade will take on certain personality flavorings of their Awakener, but I digress.
I was so focused on the silliness of the game that I was overlooking the fact that the point of the journey was
for Pyra/Mythra, the Aegis and thereby an Immortal Blade, to ask The Architect to kill her so she could finally forget her life as only he had the power to return her to her base Core Crystal state allowing her to forget everyone she lost and all the people she accidentally murdered.
While she had fallen in love with Rex, she also refused to admit this as
she was using him as a means to an end - helping her find a way to Elysium where The Architect waited.
tl;dr: If you're going to play Xenoblade 2, play Torna: The Golden Country first. It'll put you in the proper mindset to appreciate the full game, and provides you the proper background to understand why the entire game is really
Tetsuya Takahashi repeatedly kicking and stomping on your balls.
If you DO opt to play Xenoblade 2... make sure you play Xenoblade Definitive Edition first. There is one monolithically important story detail that's changed between the Wii/3DS version and the Switch release that, without knowing this plot detail, will make a monolithically important plot detail not make sense.
Oh, and you know that part where I said that a Blade being reduced to their Core Crystal due to the death of their awakener will cause a full reset of their memories? One of the "Heart-to-Heart" scenes with KOS-MOS serves as a neat little foreshadowing/inside-reference moment. IYKYK.
To really appreciate Xenoblade 2, you really should play the DLC first - Torna: The Golden Country. I mean yeah, that will remove some of the mystique from the base games' story, but it helps to explain SO MUCH of what's going on and why we should care about certain characters. Now, a few people like to decry how silly or "anime" (what does that even mean?) the game is, when in truth the story is some severely dark shit. And I mean more than
the pope being evil.
I mean
depression, suicide/desiring death, mass murder, cannibalism, what defines life, being left behind/forgotten, what defines self, extreme nihilism, repercussions of war, starvation, poverty...
If anything, the writers added so many silly moments to blunt the trauma the rest of the game would otherwise cause. Now, the RNG of getting the Rare Blades was utter ass, but there are easy ways to get Legendary Core Crystals to mass spam for them so it's just time consuming rather than difficult. And the battle system, when it clicks, makes the game ridiculously easy. To the point of taking on a Level 100 superboss at level 65 and winning... albeit after a good 30-minutes of "why the fook ain't I dead yet?!" combat. Not to mention that with later updates you can just let the game play itself, or make it more punishing than a Souls title. Or was that the third game that happened? Hmm...
My first play through it took a bit for Xenoblade 2 to really click for me, so I really get that from others. I think it was around Chapter 5 (of 10, mind) when I realized that, while I was playing the game right, I was experiencing the game wrong. We learn early-on that when the awakener of a Blade dies, so too will their Blade... only the Blade will simply revert to their base Core Crystal and, when re-awakened, will do so with no memory of their previous self (like a PC being reformatted). We also learn that the blade will take on certain personality flavorings of their Awakener, but I digress.
I was so focused on the silliness of the game that I was overlooking the fact that the point of the journey was
for Pyra/Mythra, the Aegis and thereby an Immortal Blade, to ask The Architect to kill her so she could finally forget her life as only he had the power to return her to her base Core Crystal state allowing her to forget everyone she lost and all the people she accidentally murdered.
While she had fallen in love with Rex, she also refused to admit this as
she was using him as a means to an end - helping her find a way to Elysium where The Architect waited.
tl;dr: If you're going to play Xenoblade 2, play Torna: The Golden Country first. It'll put you in the proper mindset to appreciate the full game, and provides you the proper background to understand why the entire game is really
Tetsuya Takahashi repeatedly kicking and stomping on your balls.
If you DO opt to play Xenoblade 2... make sure you play Xenoblade Definitive Edition first. There is one monolithically important story detail that's changed between the Wii/3DS version and the Switch release that, without knowing this plot detail, will make a monolithically important plot detail not make sense.
Oh, and you know that part where I said that a Blade being reduced to their Core Crystal due to the death of their awakener will cause a full reset of their memories? One of the "Heart-to-Heart" scenes with KOS-MOS serves as a neat little foreshadowing/inside-reference moment. IYKYK.
None of this excuses the pedophilia, sexism, Nazis, transphobia, or classism.
Fans keep on falsely claiming that detractors are complaining that it's "too anime" when in reality, the complaint is that game leans so hard into otaku culture that it even includes the dark side of it — and makes no serious attempt to condemn that, but instead treats it like a joke to revel in (or just hand-waves away the problem entirely).
Look, there's nothing wrong with aspects of anime being in it; the series has been very anime since Xenogears. And otaku culture is not that big of a problem (though a bit odd to have within this fantasy world). But having the most despicable parts of it treated as perfectly fine makes the game unlikable.
And I should note, I actually really loved XC1, and enjoyed XCX despite the bad writing and shit dialogue. But XC2 went over the line and the series has never made a serious attempt to repair what they damaged.
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