#but these odd bits where a goldberg machine to make the lategame plot Blow Up

[felikatze]

xbc3. is. so good. i'm nowhere near done (30h in lmao) and i just finished chapter 3 and i wanna talk abt it anyway!!!!!

the mystery is SO GOOD!! WHAT'S HAPPENING!!! why is the world like this indeed noah!!! i dont know!! cuz like. *somebody* has to have done this. what was the ouroboros egg?! what the fuck are the moebius gang? why is any of this? why are we all killing each other?

also like. i have played xbc1 and love it a lot and respectfully ignored xbc2 but the callbacks to both r insane. not just how the factions mirror the games ON A COMBAT LEVEL TOO (INSANE) but also how it just takes actual locations from both games

i cant recognize the xbc2 ones obvs but the xbc1 locations. colony 9 is literally just colony 9!!! IT'S THE SAME FUCKING VALLEY!! THE EXACT SAME VALLEY!!!!

and when i got to colony lambda i had to say out loud "FUCK OFF THAT'S MAKNA FALLS" like yeah. okay.

and it just adds to the mystery!!! cuz ykno, xbc1 ends with the creation of a new world, so is this the new world? did the two worlds get fused after both games?

also like!!! CONSUL N IS JUST NOAH WHAT IS THIS. is this a shulk-zanza situation or what. i mean eunie did find a corpse with her own name and everyone's a test tube baby so noah is probably this guy's clone right. right.

speaking of its kinda. mind boggling to grasp on how short of a timescale these characters operate. cuz they'll talk abt their legendary heroes who've done so much and these legendary figures r literally the same age as mio. and two years older max than the rest of the group. THAT'S RIDICULOUS, RIGHT? TWO YEARS? ethel and mio are the same fucking age! and yet these are the respected seniors! that's like me calling my sister an old crone! wack! vandham's right!!!! this isn't how the world is supposed to be!!

the character writingg is. excellent also. i love how every configuration of characters gets bonding moments, not just ouroboros pairs. like the tail end of chapter 3 is vry taion centric yeah (i love taion)

so we get this scene after eunie discovers her own corpse and unlocks ptsd and she's sitting by the fire and her hands are shaking. taion hands her a cup of tea and she makes fun of him out loud but we cut to her hands and see they've stopped shaking

that's such a good moment the fuck man. like, taion recognizes eunie's distress, but doesnt press her to talk about it, and eunie pokes fun at taion, but she's geniuenly grateful for his company. considering what a dickweed (affectionate) eunie is that's amazing.

and after that is a moment where taion admits to lanz that he's jealous of lanz's self confidence, but lanz admits he's not self confident at all. he just cant stand still and allow himself to think, or else the doubt starts setting in. he has to keep moving or else. he cant doubt himself once cuz then he'll doubt himself forever.

and when it happens, this is still kind of in the taion centric stretch with his colony lambda backstory, but this moment sets up how lanz starts doubting himself and feeling guilty after joran shows up as a consul. AND in the moment lanz tells taion how noah will always tell him to look forward WHICH NOAH THEN DOES AFTER JORAN!

it's just good okay!!!!! and i'm still reeling from "consul n is just noah lmao" except my joycons' battery ran out and i want to play on the big screen

i'm now fondly recalling my joke reading of zanza and meyneth as "your divorced parents arguing about how to raise their kids" and now i'm giggling about it cuz i'm still kind of right i think

xbc3 launches straight in into "war is hell" whereas xbc1 started as a more straightforward revenge plot only to pull zhe rug out from under you but both r vry good in their own way.

even with all the callbacks, xbc3 still has its own story and themes and even the fused environment feels new amd fresh to explore thanks to the changed lanscape and beautiful music.

good game!!! yeah!!!!