Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

Xenoblade 3 is now July 29th. Maybe Splatoon was delayed by a few months? Or, even better, we're getting a new date for Advance Wars soon?

Combat system looks wild. Characters are combining into mecha forms. They look like something out of Astral Chain. Also weirdly kind of reminded of the transformation system in Digital Devil Saga.

Needless to say, all of my plans are different now.

Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my all-time favourite RPGs but I've still never played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 because I saw the character designs and then everyone I knew who'd played it told me not to. I'm kinda excited for 3 but I don't know if I should be or even if I should be playing it without playing 2. I should probably just play 2.

@johncalmc You'll probably miss some references, but I doubt they'll design it in such a way that you'll be completely lost if you haven't played the second game. Every previous game has worked as a standalone experience.

Which isn't to say you shouldn't play XC2. I loved it. WAY more than the first game.

But XC3 will probably stand just find on its own.

@Ralizah Is 2 related to the first game in any way?

@johncalmc ...yes. The ending of XC2 directly connects it to the first game. Also, XC1 characters Shulk and Fiora can be unlocked in the second game if you buy the expansion, although I doubt this is canon story stuff.

And this game is going to be a cross between the worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2, and integrates elements and characters from both. Although the main cast seems to be unique to this entry.

@Ralizah Hmm. I suppose I should bite the bullet and just play it then. I'll get it ordered when I've made more of a dent in my backlog. Why not?

SE: "Here Nintendo, we're giving you an exclusive Chocobo Racing reboot"!

Nintendo: "Cool, let's just slot that in right next to our Mario Kart 8 DLC".

SE: "Umm... Anyway, here's an exclusive Live a Live remake as well"!

Nintendo: "Oh great... yeah, it can have a month to itself, wait hold on a sec. Uh huh, really, earlier than expected? Good news SE, it can be bunk mates with Xenoblade Chronicles 3! No sales cannibalization, we promise"!

SE: "Are you... are you trying to tell us something? At least we had Triangle Strategy by itself..."

Nintendo: "...Cone Kirby..."

SE: -_-

My current prediction/theory is that we'll be getting a Zelda 35th Anniversary collection in the Fall.

Either that or them finally porting over some older Metroid games.

The fact that that XC3 article (on NL) has nearly 250 comments is mind boggling.

Yeah, XC2 leaned more heavily on the fan service than the first game, but overall it's not all that more unusual than your typical JRPG or Japanese action game (like Bayonetta or Ninja Gaiden). By no means am I saying that you have to like/enjoy fan service, I just don't see what makes XC2 in particular so special that has made it the center of the debate rather than any number of other Japanese games, especially in a world where stuff like Senran Kagura exists that is much more extreme with such content.

The only theory I have is that that there are a number of people who buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games (of which their number would be amplified on a Nintendo fan site such as this), and otherwise don't play a bunch of Japanese games. They're much more used to stuff like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, Kirby, and the like, bought XC2 as it was a big release during the console's first year & were in for a bit of a culture shock of sorts, kinda mythicising the level of lewd in the game. Granted, this is just a theory.

@RR529 Because it’s entirely unnecessary to the game. Something like Senran Kagura needs the fanservice to not be a largely mediocre beat-em-up. Xenoblade has a largely interesting story but gets bogged down by anime tropes, laughable voice acting and bizarre panning over characters’ chests. Doesn’t help that in Xenoblade X, half the characters were explicitly underage in the Japanese version. Or the fact they get around kiddie porn rules by saying that oh no, actually this character is like 400 years old, they just look like a child for totally not pedophilic reasons in the slightest.

@RR529 It's Nintendo Life's version of PvP. In this case, prudes vs perverts.

I dunno if you were around when the Senran Kagura series was still primarily associated with the 3DS, but articles about those games would attract hundreds of comments.

If nothing else, NL's writers has been doing better about not sermonizing about the evils of cartoon boobs, which I appreciate.

And yes, the degree to which people act like XC2 is some sort of softcore porn game still baffles me a little. People act like slightly risque character designs haven't been a part of video games and anime culture for decades now.

Of course, the thing to remember is that probably 90% of people who play this game aren't losing their minds over an anime character having large breasts.

@nessisonett, did you reply to me? I have an email that says you did, however I'm not seeing your comment. This page says it should contain comments 6,361 (I'm assuming yours) & 6,362 (@Ralizah's), but only theirs is appearing. I checked & I don't have you accidentally blocked or anything.

@Ralizah, was definitely around when Senran Kagura first popped up, but I guess I don't remember the comment sections too much. I first really started to notice the arguments once first party Nintendo games started having some of this content featured (or "censored") like the Fire Emblem games & TMS, and the whole Xenoblade drama seems to be an extension of that.

@RR529 I’m gonna assume it’s due to the fact I referenced Japan’s questionable attitudes towards characters under 18 and it triggered some blocked word list. Bit weird it doesn’t just censor it. The gist is that hypersexualisation can work in certain contexts where it makes sense due to the plot but can be rather tacky in practice. Exactly the same as any other form of media, and the same as the way violence, drug taking etc is treated. Plus, more female perspectives are needed in these studios. If you’re going to have boobs, at least make sure they follow the rules of physics.

@RR529 Nintendo was going nuts with the "localization" of their games for a while. The removal of an entire gameplay feature in FE Fates still boggles my mind, considering it wasn't even sexualized. But they left in the imouto character you could hook up with and the Fire Emblem equivalent of Jessica Rabbit, lol.

The Xenoblade thing will calm down when people play the new one and realize there aren't any nopons with maid fetishes or short-skirted tsundere waifus in this entry.

@nessisonett, @Herculean, just to play devil's advocate.

1. Is having a tacky amount of sexualization inherently a bad thing? Sure, it might make a number of people roll their eyes and limit a product's reach to a specific audience, but if that's how a developer wants to make their game than so what.

2. Why is it important that (video game) boobs behave realistically (same for armor designs)? Again, sure there might be a great many people that think it's tacky/gross, but where do we draw the line and say it's okay for certain aspects of reality to be broken for the sake of fiction, but not others?

3. How are the character designs in Xenoblade not "innocent"? I think it's a pretty steep hill to climb to claim that they have any sort of real world consequences (much less actually induce any real world harm). At most maybe they could affect the general populaces' perception of gaming/gamers, but as Xenoblade is such a niche title (and since the biggest games with the attention of the mass market are more & more inclusive) I hardly think it moves the needle in the grand scheme of things.

@RR529 Well to put it another way, nobody’s stopping them making these games, far from it. That does open them up to criticism however. There’s a really weird trend going about on all sides where people are confusing criticism with an attempt to ‘cancel’ something or stop it from being made. Whenever you put anything out there into the aether, whether that’s a joke, a song, a game, a movie, whatever, there’s a certain level of scrutiny that you’re opening yourself up to.

In terms of the harm Xenoblade does specifically, it’s more a symptom of a wider problem. My uni course being in software engineering means that it’s about 90% male nerds. Seeing first hand the dreadful, horrible way that almost all of them talk about women both generally and specifically about the few women on the course, it clearly comes from somewhere. The way that female characters are frequently oversexualised in traditional ‘nerdy’ media creates a culture in which women are objectified and reduced to their base sexual components. While yes, some women do encourage this and own their sexuality which is absolutely their right, that’s a conscious decision on their part. Women being objectified without any consent is still a major problem in society and the way that some video game characters are basically being designed by men as sex dolls only serves to reinforce that. So it’s more of a problem with the entire wider community and culture, which these games contribute to.

For what it's worth I hate the character designs in Xenoblade 2 and presumably 3 from the only image I've seen of it. The first Xenoblade is one of my favourite ever games - like legit top twenty - but as soon as I saw the characters from 2 I was like oh no, not like this. I don't know if that's why I've never bothered playing it even though I love love love the first one. Probably not. Although I do judge the game for turning into boobland after the relatively normal first game. Straight away I think less of it, and take it less seriously.

I am going to play 2 though at some point because I really did love the first one. Maybe the anime hijinks won't be as cringe as it looks.

Love the character designs in XBC2. Yeah lots of them have comedy cans but I didn’t think it was a big deal until I started seeing all the commentary online. Fortunately I know it’s a fantasy world. Happy if they tone them down too. Basically I just don’t mind either way. XBC2 was great!

The only Xnoeblade game I've enjoyed was X. Tried Definitive, just don't have the time, tried 2, the gameplay and absolutely mind boggling slow start put me off. 10 hours and you're still not going anywhere? No thanks.

Fair to say I'm a bit of an outlier for this series. Favourite one is the game that has nothing to do with anything.

Just put in an order for Mario Golf: Super Rush.

I'm not yet done with Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal on PC (so I guess you can definitely tell my stance on the whole XC debate, lol), but I just couldn't get how good a time I had with Kirby out of my mind and so I'm still in a Nintendo mood, so hopefully Mario Golf can keep the good times rolling.