#xenoblade is a series basically

[shyrule]

whats xenoblade?

Xenoblade Chronicles[a] is a series of action role-playing games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. It is a part of the Xeno metaseries created by Tetsuya Takahashi, but was formed after Nintendo's acquisition of Monolith Soft in 2007. The series began with the original Xenoblade Chronicles game, published for the Nintendo Wii in 2010; it was a critical and commercial success, and spawned sequels.

The series has been both critically and commercially successful. Xenoblade Chronicles was well-received for-

[mitsubachiaria]

I love how a good 70% of the Grian fanart I see is just a High Entia drawn by people who have no clue what that is or why I’m happy about it. I don’t care if I’m the only guy in the overlap between Xenoblade and Hermitcraft/Life Series fans, this is for me.

[deus-and-the-machina]

ngl the worst thing about the xenoblade fandom (which I think is the root cause of a lot of other issues) is that it’s mostly on twitter. I have to subject myself to twitter for any real consistent fan talk or content. legit there's always some new stupid topic of argument ive noticed in the past few weeks on there and its all very silly and frustrating and what im saying is everyone should move to Tumblr. please. for me. 

[hauntedtotem]

sharla x therapy

[kadoodles-on-ao3]

So uh... How do you feel about Nikol's existence?

I technically shouldn't know who that is yet but... I do. And. Well. You can probably guess by how you worded this ask hahaha.

Not surprised at all, if you like them as a couple then good for you and hope you're enjoying the DLC, you don't need me on your side because they're canon so that can satisfy you content-wise plus my opinions are silly and don't matter, etc etc, all I've said before applies here.

Honestly, if anything, the only unique thing I have to add here* is how his design really demonstrates how much Shulk and Fiora look like siblings lmao. There's even a (really cool!) fan mod to alter Fiora's hair and skin color to look more like her (actual) brother, so I'm not alone in seeing this haha.

So, Nikol. He sure does exist. Dude looks just like Shulk because his dad and mom both look like Shulk so what else could he look like. That's about all the thoughts I have haha (at least until I actually play more of 3 and see what he's like).

Non-ask-related ramblings under the cut because it's me, of course I rambled haha.

As I really don't like to nor want to rain on anyone's parade, as well as enjoy talking about the ship I like (because of course), I've made an effort to mentally retrack my train of thought (? idk how else to describe it lol) whenever my NOTP comes up by converting it into an opportunity to talk about my OTP instead of complaining. (See also my comment on What If We Kissed In The Weapons Development Lab where I mentioned going back into my fic and adding more details of Shulk being enamored by Melia whenever I came across Shiora while writing it lol.)

So, Shulkelia kids! I'm personally not one for creating OCs, in general or for media I like. Not that I dislike them or even the thought/process of making them! It just doesn't come to me as easily or interest me as much as digging into canon details and playing around with them. But I did come up with a couple rough concepts for what they might look like and how their parents might decide on their names... if they even would want to have kids in the first place, that is, I'm still unsure about that haha. But fanfiction can be whatever you want it to be and that's the fun of it, so maybe sometime I'll try developing those small ideas into something more (especially if it's something people are interested in reading)! If anything I'm most attached to my little blurbs I wrote about how they and their kids would interact with Reyn and Sharla and their kids, lots of cute potential there :)

(*Well, I can add something more, and I originally was going to do it! Not to contradict my whole don't-like-raining-on-anyone's-parade point, but again I want to stress, my intention with this is I just really enjoy analyzing details and understanding why I react to things in the way that I do. But I did mention to a previous ask that I have in-game writing reasons for why I dislike Shiora, it's not just personal experience from my life outside of the fandom or in observing it. In fact on my first playthrough of the game I was all for it and even saved a bunch of fanart of the two together on my phone, I see it when scrolling through my gallery all the time! It really fascinates me how drastically my perspective shifted after just one small moment at the very end of the game, and then on replaying it everything fell apart like a house of cards to me, wild stuff I can't compare the experience to anything else haha. Anyway if anyone's interested in seeing my take on that aspect of their writing, once again, feel free to send me an ask about it!)

[noraechovixon]

This post is literally me just trying to get rid of cringy tags I’d made when I was in highschool on here. (Mostly ended up as rambling in the tags)

[hellohellohello1348]

Very happy to see Pikmin 4 selling 2.6 million in the first quarter it was out :)

Excited to see how the series grows, and honestly think it’ll cross 3 million in a year or less. Supposedly there’s going to be a Mario Wonder + Pikmin 4 bundle in December, which would be fantastic for introducing more people to Pikmin. If you’re interested at all in the game, try the demo out. The tutorials in the first two days are a little much I’ll admit, but the moment you get past those you’re basically free for the rest of the game, and what a game it is.

Aaaaand Xenoblade is doing pretty good too! Both Xenoblade 1 and 3 are close to hitting 2 million lifetime sales, and Xenoblade 3 is close to hitting 3 million! I’m sure it’ll take a good while for these games to cross those milestones seeing as they’ve been out for awhile, but they’ll cross over time. Plus!

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will be going on sale for $40 for Black Friday, so that’ll hopefully give it a boost! If you want to get into the Xenoblade series, the 3rd game is welcoming to new players!

[shinysamurott9]

I finished Xenoblade X again today and... wow.

OK so, I played Xenoblade X for the first time last year in a marathon of Xenoblade 1, X, and 2, and honestly, compared to 1 & 2, I didn't enjoy it as much. It was the only one I didn't really know much about going in. I felt like it had a lot of good parts, but I hadn't any idea what I was doing because the game has literally no tutorials and I ended up stumbling through the game when I wasn't able to use my Skell, so I just didn't have as much fun with it compared to the trilogy.

However, after finishing Xenogears and the Xenosaga Trilogy, I thought it would be a good idea to give X another shot as a nice way to bookend playing the Xeno series, specifically after watching some guides and learning how the combat actually works (Thanks Enel)

And, holy shit. Out of every game I've ever played, this and DMC 3 are the ones I'm most glad I gave a second chance. I genuinely could not stop thinking about this game after I started playing again. Before I stopped pretty much as soon as I beat the final boss, this time I went literally all the way and completed the entire Mira Survey. I'm just gonna take this chance to go in and incoherently go off about about all the stuff I have in my head about this beautiful mess of a game.

Ok so the combat. Overdrive, is a completely balanced mechanic that doesn't allow you to completely take the main game’s difficulty and snap it over your knee like a fucking twig. Except it is. Like, it is honestly comical just how trivial almost everything becomes with the right arts on your build. And if you throw really busted arts like Ghostwalker/Ghost Factory or Blossom Dance into the mix, literally nothing can stand up to you bar the literal endgame superbosses, and a big part of that is just because a lot of them, Telethia in particular, are in positions where you literally can't fight them on foot and realistically survive without a highly specialised build. But with that proper build, that probably takes a lot of grinding, you can still beat them fairly quickly, save for Levael The Terminus, because it's literally in the middle of the ocean. All because of this funny counter gear.

Going along with Overdrive, is the amount of customisation this game offers you. Almost every weapon type offers you at least a couple arts that work really well alongside Overdrive. The build I ended up with at the end was a Knife, Dual Gun combination, mainly because Smooth Recovery, is an amazing art for Overdrive, and Black Butterfly and Full Specs are great compliments for an Ether Build with Executioner as the main Damage Art. Yeah sure I ended up using Ghostwalker/Factory like most Endgame builds, but hey that shit is comically busted, and I absolutely love abusing stuff like that, intentional or otherwise. Plus I do enjoy the idea of my Cross, Coraline, using the arts of Irina and Elma, her immediate superior officers in BLADE. Which actually brings me to,

I was honestly surprised at how much thought I ended up putting into my Cross this time around, but it was fun. Not just deciding on a good look both when creating her and finding what gear she'd wear, but also thinking about how her character woukd respond to the situations and dialogue options presented throughout the game. It's to the point that Coraline's basically become my first OC, depending on how you count Milton the Mythrakid I guess, since he's an interpretation of a character we know exists but we haven't seen or heard about. Either way I definitelywant to do more with Coraline. Probably gonna draw her some more as time goes on to get a better feel for the design as well as drawing her skell too just because.

That actually brings me around to the story. I'll be the first to admit that overall X's story falls short compared to the trilogy andveven Gears and Saga but it still has a lot of solid stuff that really git me thinking, in addition to stuff I only picked up the second time around, something Xeno stories have been fantastic with since the beginning with Gears. Obviously spoilers ahead as I talk some notable stuff in the plot

This moment really stuck out for me after simmering on it for a while. Because this idea that memories and the continuation of a person's consciousness are what make them who they are would continue as a prominent thematic plot point in the following games. Xenoblade 2 emphasises it the most heavily with Blades losing their memories with each reawakening, thus they lose their "contuity of consciousness". It's quite literally the central source of conflict for Blades and is everywhere in the main story and side content with characters like Praxis, Theory and Vess. Xenoblade 3 has this too, albeit as a more subtle background element with the Agnian and Kevesi Soldiers effectively being reset upon death as they are reborn, however there are still cases where things slip through the cracks, most notably with Eunie and Ashera. Yet despite that, Monica asserts to Eunie that whatever her past life was, it wasn't her and she didn't make it, all because soldiers simply don't have that continuity of consciousness.

Thinking about it now X has plenty of thematic ideas that 2 & 3 would go on to pull from. Things like a cycle of death and rebirth, something that Blade and NLA are trying to achieve with finding the Lifehold Core. As Lao puts it, they're the lucky ones who can come back as many times as they want. Lao's arc is particularly well done all things considered. A moment early on that stuck out to me was when they were discussing how Lin got her spot on the Whale as a way to repay her parents who were crucial in getting the ship going in the first place. Lao, whether he shows it or not, would have some misgivings about that, and Elma seemingly picks up on that and is quick to point out Lin's own skill were crucial in her getting her spot and that it wasn't just pure nepotism. It's really interesting to see Elma pick up on Lao's misgivings so early. If we do ever get an X sequel, which I do think and hope we will sooner or later, I'll be very curious to see where Lao's character goes from here. Speaking of characters who I really want to learn more about,

Elma is a really interesting character honestly despite the many unanswered questions surrounding her, it just has me more intrigued to learn more about her. The question of what her species and planet are like is one i really want to see explored someday. Funnily enough, 2 actually gave us a breadcrumb of that. Elma has a line when receiving a Seafood pouch item, one of her favourite categories, where she expresses fascination with the concept. "Making meals out of marine lifeforms, fascinating" which I've always taken as her species just straight up not having a concept of seafood. Idk why, it's such a minor inconsequential detail that isn't even from X but I always found that super interesting. Her designs are also two of my favourites in the Xeno series, especially dince they double as subtle references to Kos-Mos and T-Elos. I think I lean a little more towards Alien Elma though, something about the crystal hair is really cool to me.

A few other Miscellaneous things I can think of:

The sidequests are fantastic. While many are a little tedious, they do a really good job of building the world and fleshing out the natures and cultures of the different alien species that come to inhabit NLA.

The Affinity Missions go hand in hand with this, they do a great job of fleshing out all the different party members all the while giving you an avenue to learn their unique abilities. Most of those party members are also really well developed abd mostly compelling characters. Even the most if the ones who seem like assholes at first, like Boze or HB, do get better as their affinity missions progress. They clearly knew it was a great concept as it came back in 2 & 3 with the Blade Quests and Hero + Ascension Quests.

The ost is fucking incredible, I've been adding X music to my personal playlist over the course of my playthrough because there's so much good stuff in it. It's honestly criminal how much you end up missing because the Overdrive and Flight themes override 90% of them.

Skells are incredibly cool and a brilliant way to bring in the concept of mech combat systems from the previous Xeno games.

Phew, I think that's everything I've had to say. I've called out many of this game's flaws in other places and most of that I do still stand by. The game is in desperate need of an actual tutorial and QoL improvements. The game's draw distance can be quite frustrating at times trying to find specific things or characters and getting certain materials can be a really annoying grind, (Neinail Materials), but if you can put up with that there is a hell of a game there. I don't know if I'd consider it better than the trilogy, just because it has more complete stories, but it's quite close.

Overall I'm so happy I gave X a second shot and now I'll definitely be there waiting for a port or sequel. It's easily the most underrated game I've ever played. I'm confident it'll happen at some point but either way I'l likely have more Xeno stuff to play in the meantime if whatever's next is Xenoblade 4.

My reaction to this game.

[zephyr-paladyn]

scattered and messy thoughts i have about xenoblade series and its future

(spoilers ahead)

Origin/Aionios is gonna be a key point in future Xenoblade games for sure. Just like the integral nature of the Trinity Processor, Origin will be extremely important as well. There's still a lot of mysteries about Origin, like how Takahashi won't elaborate on its true nature, and likens it to a "virtual world," say an alternate reality.

Xenoblade 3 tied 1 and 2 together but also sets up the stage for the future, all of it is about learning to let go of the past and face the future with uncertainty.

Aionios is a new manifestation of everyone who lived in the old worlds. We learn that some people manifest as themselves, while others manifest as items. These manifestations are different aspects of their will -- how can they change the world? That's what Takahashi says, anyways.

So to break it down we have:

Logos/Malos in N's sword, who later becomes one with Noah. It's interesting because N is all about "protecting the present" while Malos was all about "destroying the world/status quo." Actually, Noah in the first place has a similar role to Malos and Torna, so I like to think Malos still has that "rebellion" in him even though he's aligned with N -- remember in FR where N's help was absolutely needed to take down Alpha. I think Malos was with N even before he became N, so at some point Malos' ideals aligned with N and he lent him strength -- but N fell from what made him Noah.

Pyra and Mythra as Matthew's gauntlets and Noah's sword sheath. These two have known their entire lives as being a "weapon," and I think they serve to contrast Malos' role in some ways, but also there's parallels. There's one thing about being born as a weapon and not wanting to cause destruction, but this time Pyra and Mythra choose to be weapons for a specific cause -- for their own volition. They would be willing to fight for a better world, and being the weapon of Matthew and Noah is how they choose that. I also think it's cute they choose to be the weapons of their (indirect) descendants; like they're looking out for family. And also especially since Malos was taken by N to the side that neither Malos nor Pyra/Mythra would want to fight on, I like to think it's their Sibling Duty™️ to fight against Malos again for a good cause.

Fiora (and potentially other Xenoblade 1 party members) as Lucky Seven. It's just personal conjecture, but I don't believe it's just Fiora in that weapon. I know Riku often lies, but watching that scene again I don't think he has any reason to lie in front of Shulk specifically when he says "everyone is right here." (Or maybe they also became Monado REX?) Either way, Lucky Seven being the will from Xenoblade 1 party and being the strongest weapon in the game makes me think to 1's ending again -- how everyone has a little bit of the "power of creation" in them, everyone has a little bit of "defining the future" in them. Noah wielding that as his weapon, and Lucky Seven basically being THE defining weapon that destroys Flame Clocks and liberates Aionios and has so much to it symbolically... Noah being all about facing the future and going into the future... It's just very fitting.

In the case it's only (or mainly) Fiora, she also parallels Pyra/Mythra/Malos since she also has a Monado & connection to a god.

Noah wielding both Pyra/Mythra and Fiora/XB1 cast is a unique coming-together of both worlds, in a way that they want to fight for the future. When Noah conquers N, he also gains Malos' will as well, and in the end Malos gets to fight for what he's always wanted to after being held down by N for thousands of years.

A as a manifestation of Alvis' emotional side. I feel like this is more self-explanatory since this was very much touched upon in FR, but A's existence lends more to this whole "manifestation of wills" in Aionios. This is also another thing about how the same person might be able to manifest in multiple ways.

Dromarch potentially being the Cloudkeep. Staying by Nia's side and protecting her. Very Dromarch of him 👍

The scene about Taion's pocket watch being passed down from Nimue to himself, and how the watch is representative of memories and time. This new lore info makes you think who the watch represents. If I had to take a guess, I want to say Brighid -- that's her whole thing after all, she records memories in her diary between her reincarnations/resets. Maybe it isn't Brighid, but it's nice to think about and it lines up nicely.

Another important thing, the flutes. Building more upon "two worlds coming together" and "items hold a person's will and memory," its exchange becomes more important. We already know the wills of Crys and Miyabi are within those flutes, but what about potential people from "the old world?" The flutes are meant to send off the dead (and liberate people from the cycle in the process.) My current gut feeling is Lora & Haze, I couldn't tell you why though. As for people from the Bionis-Mechonis side, similarly I'd have to think Dunban... or maybe Tyrea? Tyrea makes a lot of sense to me... On that note, alternatively, this "means to liberate people & retain sentiment and important feelings within soldiers" maybe from the Alrest side it's Jin? He was always a more peaceful person in the first place, and the color contrast between Jin and Tyrea makes more sense to me... IDK where I'm going with this. Someone with better thoughts than me should talk about this. Need to brush up on my Tyrea lore too...

Origin is interesting as a virtual world, in how its administrator can do whatever it wants. Alpha saw Origin as a means to create new life and leave the old world behind, while Z sees Origin as a plaything to keep the aspects of the old world in his hands. And yet, despite administrators, despite control -- the people of Aionios still prevail to move towards the future.

I think it's interesting the gold motes are confirmed to "ascend" a person's soul -- free them from the cycle Z set up.

Aionios overall is still a mysterious world; things work in ways we're not entirely sure of. Things make sense and yet they don't at the same time. Things that Takahashi would prefer to elaborate in an actual game setting in the future than a simple interview. What is Aionios in relation to the future and past of Alrest and Bionis-Mechonis?

At the core of all things, Origin still probably propels the new Bionis-Mechonis and Alrest. Also, Matthew and other City people will eventually be born into the post-Aionios world.

I think things that happened in Aionios will eventually have a counterpart in the new worlds, or strongly influence it. We already see a hint at the ending that Noah found Mio again.

I think what's going to happen is that we'll get to see the two worlds, as their "separate" selves, interact like that. How those worlds will interact with each other given their shared running on Origin and the events of Aionios, is yet to be seen.

My guess is we're gonna see more Fog being a major antagonistic force. And our protagonists have a motive to connect to the "other world" despite the risks; despite the Fog. Something to do with "completion" of the self, or "completion" of memories. Some integral parts of yourself might lie in the other world. For example, Noah and Mio are very important examples.

I think it'd be immensely cool if we had a system where we switch between Bionis-Mechonis and Alrest at certain checkpoints. Seeing a more "developed" and changed world for those two; especially since post-game Alrest is likely so different from the Alrest locales we're used to, there'd be so much more interesting things to explore.

Although the worlds are "separate" again, they have been interlinked and interwoven together in many ways... Who knows what Takahashi is cooking!

[semi-sketchy]

#i do hope this arc doesn't go with whisper apologizing and tangle being justified if she really was trying to “honor the old team” #i'd rather it went into a “i don't hate you i'm just upset with you” angle #let whisper be angry and upset #let tangle know why #please don't push whisper to say she was wrong for being upset #i say that because i don't actually trust it not to go that way

Welp.

Aight issue 58 leaked and I'm actually gonna take a swing at this comic now because I genuinely did not think it could get to this level of bad. Like not even just the senseless Tangle and Whisper drama, the whole arc so far is just flat out bad and I wanna unpack it.

1. Tangle and Whisper drama

Let's get the elephant out of the way first.

This was dumb and had absolutely no point whatsoever.

All this leads to is Whisper apologizing for...not helping everyone and being a bad teammate?

Because yes, throughout this arc she has totally been uncooperative and not helping the team at all!

Oops.

Even in the context of the previous issues, she went off on her own to hunt Mimic again, fearful he'd hurt her friends to get to her even though she already went through that whole shtick and then she fought Surge to try and protect a town.

Please, tell me more about how she was being selfish and "not helping anyone."

This is not an empowering moment. This is an embarrassment, both to Whisper and Tangle. This has fully turned me off from Tangle.

Her side of the apology basically boils down to "I'm upset that you're upset at me, I did what I did to help us" complete with waterworks, leading to Whisper being like "no, no, you were right, I'm sorry for being triggered, I need to get over my trauma" and that is just manipulative. Top it off with Tangle NEEDING to be told what was wrong when she had a VISUAL REACTION upon seeing how affected Whisper was, and that just makes Tangle a bad friend.

You can have messy apologies in writing, it's more realistic and interesting for characters to have faults, but this whole thing was written around Whisper being in the wrong when she really didn't do anything. Seriously she gets about three pages dedicated to her apologetic speech while Tangle gets two panels.

And again, that's all that comes of this. It only serves as a do-over on Whisper's growth from their mini series. It has no effect on anything else. This was pointless to include and just wastes time.

2. The city expanding is solved way too quickly, for the convenience of the reader and not for the plot

This is actually the exact same problem I had in Frontiers. All concepts of mystery and suspense are thrown out the window just to feed exposition to the reader/player.

This is it. They come to a conclusion as out there as "the city is alive" with clues as shaky as it's bigger and the damage from weeks ago has been fixed. No build up. No evidence. They don't have to work for the information. That wild idea is just accepted.

I take pot shots at Xenoblade 3 for lacking build up, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I have to give that game a bit of credit because at least there everyone needed some form of confirmation before accepting a concept as weird as there being two Noahs.

This type of writing does not serve the plot or characters. It's just a quick and frankly lazy way to give the reader context. If you can't make the reveal/realization of the information your plotline revolves around even feel earned, you've failed your job as a writer.

3. Sonic has to be taught the power of friendship and teamwork.

Sonic T. Hedgehog actually learns it's good to work with others. Something he's literally been doing this entire comic. Like please name a single time he hasn't been working with at least some part of his ensemble to complete a goal.

I suppose it's trying to be a response to this line from the previous issue, however Sonic never suggested going at it alone. He literally said they should work as a team and get the job done together.

This isn't even a case of "play the games" because it doesn't bother being consistent with itself.

4. Why is Sonic deferring to Lanolin

Does everyone forget this is a part of Sonic's character?

But it's because she's the next Sally stand-in. That's why he's tolerating her scolding and following her orders. Forget the fact that she's the least experienced one on this team and knows it herself, this mission was her idea so clearly she's in charge!

I don't dislike Lanolin and frankly I don't really care that Flynn is trying to find someone to make the new de facto Sally, better Lanolin than Amy in my books. However, this bossy bitch attitude is pretty far removed from when we last saw her. She was more easily startled, a bit submissive yet still kind and courteous.

Really not the type of person I'd expect to be saying things like this.

And therein lies the problem. By trying to make different characters into Sally, it erases what personality they had before that was arguably more interesting. If they want to say Lanolin just changed and grew into this, then they should've given us some indication.

I said before what makes a new character compelling is seeing how Sonic inspires them, but we don't get to see that journey with Lanolin because it's glossed over in a small summary.

Well, maybe her character arc is just kicking off, she is still jumpy and breaks down after they fell in the portal, after all. Maybe the whole boss-man routine is just a facade and Sonic will offer her encouragement and teach her it's better to be true to yourself, giving her the confidence to lead her own way– oh, nope. That's Tangle.

Where the hell does Sonic fit into this universe if none of these OCs really need him for anything?

5. The great OC debate

I've already said my peace about why I'm not fond of the huge focus on OCs in IDW, so I won't repeat myself here.

Part of me gets it, there's less restrictions on entirely new characters than there are on the pre-established game cast. Of course, those restrictions –or "mandates" as they've been coined– exist for a reason and should really only be a constant hurdle if you refuse to learn, both from your own mistakes and other official media.

If you are frequently getting notes about your portrayal of a character that is not yours, the fault lies with you and not the person giving you the notes.

Creating a bunch of characters as a way to get around that process does nothing to address the actual issue.

Of course, I've seen it said with this arc, "stop complaining about all the OCs, a bunch of the game cast is coming in soon, so just wait!" Oddly enough, that's another issue I'm having with this arc and the comic in general.

I am frankly fatigued by the amount of times they mash tons of characters together for a big ol' Avengers-style gig. Is it too much to ask that some of the extended cast that aren't named Tails get used in smaller, more personal ways rather than giant team ups?

We've gotten some of those, don't get me wrong. It's been a bit since the last huge cast clash, but it's just not something I'm itching to see again, especially after the story has revolved around OCs like Belle and Surge for awhile. I want more small-group adventures with the game cast so they can truly be utilized in a meaningful way.

6. There's too many big subjects fighting for space on the page

The Diamond Cutters fiasco played no role in anything, partly because there just didn't appear to be time to show it actually causing any tension. Lanolin's introduction and self-doubt as a leader comes and goes very quickly without any build up or foreshadowing. The expanding city, while being the main focus, is figured out way too fast on loose clues. They try to teach Sonic a "lesson" but it never actually bothers to show him having issues with that subject.

Everything is rushed and not getting enough time to fully cook, causing pacing problems. There's already this many things competing for focus and they're just gonna throw more characters at it. That's not gonna solve the issue. All of these points should be significant to the story, yet they are condensed to hell and no part of this plot is actively being played up in the slightest.

I'll be honest, I don't know if I even want to bother with this comic anymore. I liked Scrapnik Island, but I am just growing tired of the mainline stuff. I didn't even bother reading #57 until the leaks happened, my dash blew up and I went "SURELY there's some context in #57" only to find there was none. We're only two issues in and this arc is already suffering with pacing problems and has shown no redeeming qualities.

If this is the quality they've settled for so far, then I'm scared what they're gonna do with Team Dark.

[every-character-ever-poll]

ELMA - Xenoblade Chronicles X

PROPAGANDA (BELOW THE CUT)

so X is definitely the forgotten middle child of the xenoblade series, and say want you want about the story and customizable MC, Elma is an amazing character. for starters, she is incredibly badass. unlike the other protags of the series, she’s already pretty distinguished and doesn’t have too much character growth, but i don’t care. because she’s already got so much going for her. not only is she an amazing fighter, using dual guns or swords, but she’s a really good diplomat. she basically talked her way out of a hostage situation and convinced her captors to join her side. not to mention she can do both the tough love (she has a reputation as an intense “drill sergeant” from back in her military days) and soft and caring approach depending on who she’s with. she’s really people smart. and while it seems like she’s a pretty flawless character, she still is haunted by all the people she couldn’t save. nearly 10 billion people died on earth, and i’m sure she blames herself for only being able to save a handful and having to give in the corruption of people only letting the rich and connected have a chance at survival. not to mention all her comrades that she lost in battles because she wasn’t strong enough and they prioritised her life over there’s. i just know she feels like so much of the continued survival of humanity is on her shoulders alone and she lost some of the few people she felt she could share it with. (not to mention there’s tons of people in-game who have a massive crush on her) the series has definitely had issues with the ridiculous outfits it sticks female characters in, but Elma’s outfit is so good. she is obviously an attractive character with a good figure, and i love love love how her outfit looks practical for someone going out fighting and adventuring and still makes her look good. she has armour on her arms and legs, proper support for her large chest, and the optional head gear for her set just adds the perfect spacey futuristic touch. not to mention dark skin and white hair? one of the peaks of character design, i love my poc queen. [ENDGAME SPOILERS FOR XENOBLADE X BELOW] now her true form does have the big clear front with the inner boob window, but i can excuse it because it’s space armour and she’s so pretty. her new hair is so cool, it’s all sparkly and falls in these crystal-y shapes. also it’s very long and i’m a sucker for both long-hair and inhuman design elements. and i’m pretty sure when you unlock the option to play with her true form in the post game you can still use the different armour sets so she can wear her normal outfit

[dumbass-duo-showdown]

DDS mod here with an update!!!!

So I was planning on doing a most submitted post. BUT I MADE THE LASAGNA SCALE! And here are the stats!

HERE IS THE FORM! TRIOS ARE OFFICIALLY ALLOWED BUT THEY NEED AT MINIMUM 6 SUBMISSIONS

LASAGNA STATS

Basically if you would trust your duo on making lasagna

With 33,1% of the submissions. 1/3 of the characters are probably banned from the kitchen. WITH A SIMPLE 0

After that with 17% of the votes. Comes duos with a 2 on the scale with 52 submissions.

Now our least voted options are 6,7,8,9 and 10 on the scale. Let’s reveal those characters

Now I won’t reveal how many submissions each got. Some got 4, some 3, some are just solo submissions

6 on the scale

We have

The Dr & Donna from Dr Who

Porsche and Pete from Kinnporsche: The Series

Henchman 21 & Henchman 24 from The Venture Bros

Yor & Loid Forger from Spy x Family

Elder Price and Elder Cunningham from Book of Mormon

@gregorygerwitz & @kitthekazoo (yes I allowed real people and people submitted themselves)

Bill Preston & Ted Logan from Bill & Teds excellent adventure (this was the second highest score they got)

Walter White & Jessie Pinkman from breaking bad

Pete Wentz and Gabe Saporta from Bandom

Calvin & Hobbes from uhh… the comic of the same name

Now for our 7, where 11 duos landed

We have

Bill Preston & Ted Logan, again!

Jack O'Neill & Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1

Mayday & Zuke aka Bunk bed junction from no straight roads

Laura Hollis & Carmilla Karnstein from Carmilla

Allison & Paige. I still need your URLs please DM me

Kotetsu T. Kaburagi & Barnaby Brooks Jr from Tiger and Bunny

Alec Hardison & Elliot Spencer from Leverage

Rean Schwarzer & Crow Armbrust from Trails/Kiseki series

Madoka Kaname & Sayaka Miki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mayday & Zuke, again

Eustass "Captain" Kid, Trafalgar D. Water Law, Monkey D. Luffy from one piece (oh yeah about uhh Luffy is in another duo with like an equal amount of submissions and I won’t allow him to go in twice. Hes stupid but not a cheater)

7 duos have gotten an 8 on the save

We have!

Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took from lord of the rings

Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter from Agents of SHIELD

Jessie & James from Pokémon

Lup & Taako from the adventure zone (credit to @arojovela for the fanart!)

Nathan and Jacob from drawfree

Shadow/cid kagenou & beta from the eminence in shadow

Monkey D Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Sanji from one piece

Time for the 9s!

We have 6 characters here!

Romana(dvoratrelundar) & Leela from Gallifrey (Doctor Who expanded universe)

The Bros from the bro duet

Mary Quinn & Sarah McCool from Derry Girls

Dana Scully & Fox Mulder from the X-files

Sokka & Zuko from Avatar: the last airbender

Someone’s mom and dad (they said I could draw stick figures)

Now for the 10s, let see who we can trust in the kitchen

Here. They. ARE!

TK Strand and Evan "Buck" Buckley from 911/911 lone star (I know I make jokes about being followed by OP fans but buck has followed me more. I CANT escape him)

Lanz and Sena from Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (credit to Illius on pixiv for the fanart)

Spongebob & Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants (they also got a 0)

Nozaki Umetarou & Mikoto Mikoshiba from Monthly Girls' Nozaki Kun

Billie and Thea from Bill & Ted Face the music

@mb-blue-roses & @sungsyc-amore

Rin Okumura & Kuro from Blue exorcist

kirika akatsuki & shirabe tsukuyomi from senki zesshou symphogear

Mario & Luigi

TK Strand and Evan 'Buck' Buckley, again

(Btw sup @tournamentdirectory)

[burneeho]

oh mein gott zis place ist full of autismen

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hi hi, my name's burnhilde! but you can also call me burny, mina or Literally Anything Else, idc much abt what you call me.

i'm 18, white (sorry), romanian (sorry) and autistic + ocd haver.

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STUFF I REALLY LIKE:

- DoL (whitney is my favourite little guy ever i wish he was real)

- Megaten (SPECIL INTEREST! i know pretty much everything there is to know abt the franchise. Trust Me. My fav games are nocturne, smt 5, soul hackers 2, p2 duology, p3p, kmt, digital devil saga duology and majin 1)(i am also Totally Normal™️ about megaten composers, especially ryota kozuka)(i also like other atlus titles like maken x/shao and legend of kartia)

- Splatoon (second specil interest)

- Revue Starlight

- Magicami (the online servers shut down but that won't stop me from talking about the queer undertones of the main story)

- Yakuza series but i'm kinda sorta new to it

- Jet Set Radio

- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

- Xenoblade

- Fnaf............

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

- GYARU FASHION!!

- VISUAL KEI!!! i'm still kinda new to it though. still studying all the substyles. anyways i absolutely love malice mizer (i looooove the gackt and klaha eras, but the tetsu era songs have a special place in my heart :3 his style of singing is just so cool, his voice literally gives me shivers) i also really like buck tick but don't know any of the members besides atsushi yet

DO NOT FUCKING INTERACT IF:

you fit basic dni criteria, loli/shotacon and/or you're a minor (i may post nsfw sometimes and i don't want any MINERS! seeing that stuff) That's It for the dni tbh

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BEFORE YOU SELL YOUR SOUL TO ME interact.

I would want to point out the fact that i am an OCD HAVER! and my ocd affects the way i talk to people. So PLEASE don't get mad at me if i ever randomly delete messages. I'm not trying to hide anything from you, i promise, it's just a silly little ritual i do Sometimes.

I'm also generally ok with proshippers interacting but please keep in mind that i Can't Fucking Stand anything related to incest. It makes me nauseous. So erm yeah please don't directly talk to me abt it. Otherwise we're cool brah we're chillin brah

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CONGRATS FOR READING MY LONG ASS INTRO POST!

Now that you're basically an expert in burnyology, i hope you decide to stick around :3 if you don't that's ok, but if you do just know that i Will bite you (affectionately) through the screen the moment you press the follow button.

"FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, YOU AND I ARE HEE HOMEBOYS..."

:3

[calamitaswrath]

While Xenoblade Chronicles as a series has plenty of stuff about it that could make you describe the games as "the most game ever", I think even so X still stands out from the others. I mean it's like

The whole premise of the game is that Earth got blown up in a war between two alien factions. One of those factions is the main antagonistic force for the game. You literally never learn anything about the other faction in the game. We only know like super basic information about them from artbooks or whatever, and even their name, Ghost, is not even guaranteed to be their official English name cuz the other faction is named Growth in Japanese, but Ganglion in English. The game has 19 playable characters. It's the only Xenoblade game with a player-created avatar. You can give yourself green skin and no one cares. You can re-customize your avatar after you start the game and change your gender without anyone acknowledging it. Three of the playable characters are aliens. Over the course of the game you invite like half a dozen alien species into the city that is humanity's base of operations, and not a single one of the playable aliens is from any of those species. Every single playable alien character is the sole representative of their species in the whole entire game world. You only learn the name of the species of one of them, and it's that of the space Melia furry elf girl. One of the other playable aliens is implied by more artbook stuff to be a personification of one of the game's continents. He is a blue goat man who constantly says stuff like "Cry me a table". The planet the game is set on has some kinda universal translation field that for whatever reason doesn't apply to blue goat man, and he just learned English by binging WikiPedia from human databases. And as a matter of fact the planet the game is set on is lowkey implied to be a kind of cosmic horror thing. Multiple sentient alien species get dragged onto it, and even though the vast majority of them have technology that's far more advanced than that of humanity, and one of them even has an outright functioning spaceship, none of them can leave for vague reasons. There is a human man who's from like a million years in the future, and he doesn't know anything about the planet, and can't leave, either. Everything that anyone says is automatically translated. There are countless enormous and impressive ruins all over the planet, and you have no idea what civilization left them behind. The only species that's truly native to the planet are the Nopon, those fat furry orbs that are in every Xenoblade game and they don't tell you anything and it's unclear if they even know who left the ruins behind.

A monster from the first Xenoblade game with some very specific lore background inexplicably appears as the strongest superboss and guardian of the planet. It's a gigantic dragon-dino-bird thing, the likes of which the party fought in the first game with a magic laser swords that has a god in it, regular swords and magic. In this game it's the size of a city block and you fight it with guns or in a mech that was build by Americans. The entire human cast in the game is American. The city is New Los Angeles in space. The playable cast has one two Asian characters and a black woman, who is one of the aforementioned aliens in disguise. The game makes it explicitly clear that rich assholes bought their spots on the ark ships that were used to evacuate Earth, and only brought essential workers with them, which comprise the playable cast, tearing apart families and everything. The game is fully aware of the questionable nature of colonizing an alien planet with its own ecosystem and native wildlive, and it's only brought up in one conversation that you can easily miss. Everyone in the city is a robot body with a human conscious and they are trying to get their bodies back. The story only really ramps up in the last two chapters, but when it does, it does incredibly so with cutscenes and story beats that are still better than a good chunk of what you'll see in the other games. The final boss looks like something right out of Resident Evil. The game has like two different cliffhangers that it only opens up in two last cutscenes after the credits. After the cutscenes there's a bit of text that says "This story never truly ends...". Since X came out Nintendo/Monolith Soft have released Xenoblade 2, Xenoblade 2's story DLC that was also released as a standalone game, a remake of the first Xenoblade game complete with a short epilogue story mode, Xenoblade 3 now, and Xenoblade 3's own story DLC which is set to release next year. There's not even any rumors of a sequel to X being in the works. One of X' main characters and arguable main protagonist, Elma, appeared in Xenoblade 2's DLC, and was the only crossover character there to have a bit of story content to them. In that story content she acted kinda out of character, and the scenes involving her hinted at stuff that was barely even acknowledged in X itself. X had a whole character that likely would have been the protagonist, but then they rewrote the story to make room for the player avatar, and now the character who probably would have been the protagonist died before it even began. Elma talks about this guy more in 2's DLC than anyone ever does during X itself. The end of Elma's story content in 2 again hints that there's gonna be a follow up. This was in 2018.

Whenever somebody talks about X, there's like a 90% chance that they're saying something that's just blatantly wrong, but because the game's stuck on Wii U, nobody ever gets corrected. The game has several online components that even most people who actually played it don't understand. The game is so ambitious from a technical standpoint that its physical version needs for datapacks that you can download for free and that install part of the game on your hardrive so that it can load certain assets faster. The Wii U eShop shuts down next year which'll make those permanently inaccessible for anyone buying the game in the future. The fanbase collectively decided that the game's story is bad, when the vast majority of them just rush through the main story missions and miss that there's a shit ton of stuff in the side content. Most people don't care for this because the story isn't like a melodramatic shonen anime. Nintendo seems to pretend the game doesn't exist. There's like barely any Wii U games left to port to Switch, and this one's the most notable. Again, there are not even rumors of it getting ported anytime soon.

In conclusion, it's one of the most games ever and it needs to come back like yesterday.

[fyrofv]

Top 15 Favorite Media of 2023

On my Twitter, I do a thing where I give a list of my favorite things I watched or played or whatever over the year, and I'm gonna try to move that onto here and maybe onto elsewhere.

My basic rules are as follows -Don't care what year it came out, I just have to complete it for it to count -Replayed stuff can count, but only if it's been so long I barely remember my time with it -For the top 15 specifically, want to try and keep it to 1 per series unless I got a good reason to break this rule.

Starting with Honorable Mentions, stuff I either didn't finish, or couldn't fit into the main list, here's a list I could think up.

-Kirby Planet Robobot (Replay) -Donkey Kong 94' (Didn't Finish) -Arthur Christmas (Rewatch) -Vernal Edge (Finished) -Gintama Rumble (Finished) -Like a Dragon: Ishin! (Finished) -Gravity Rush 2 (Finished) -Skul: The Hero Slayer (Didn't Finish) -Fire Emblem: Engage (Didn't FInish) -Furi (Finished) -Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons (Finished) -Toree 2 (Finished) -Gintama: The Very Final (Really Love, Watched) -Tekken 7 (Played) -Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe: Magolor Epilogue: The Interdimensional Traveler (Finished)

And finally is the main list

15 - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 14 - Celeste Chapter 9 13 - Bomb Rush Cyberfunk 12 - Street Fighter 6 11 - Insomniac Spider-Man 2 10 - Your Only Move is Hustle 9 - Puss in Boots: The Last Wish 8 - Resident Evil 2 Remake 7 - Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling 6 - Final Fantasy 16 5 - Pikmin 3 Deluxe 4 - Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed 3 - Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations 2 - Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name 1 - Gintama S7 (Frozen Time Arc - Farewell Shinsengumi Arc)

I spent a lot more time playing games this year, so it's really funny Gintama takes the top spot. But hey, I guess i did play a Gintama game so it works I suppose.

I am really excited for the new year, and especially for some of the games I plan to play over it, especially in January. Like a Dragon 8: Infinite Wealth is probably gonna be the Top of next year's list, but we'll see.

Happy New Years, everyone!

[substantial-gains]

[Who are your top 3 favorite Xenoblade series characters, Nyx?]

I don't think I can give you a list like that Just, because frankly, every character is basically A to S tier for me except for the aptly named Z. That would be a full blown tier-list and I don't think I have the energy for that..

I will however, state the characters that had the most impact on me-

Morag. Her mature demeanor and professional attitude, as well as that smooth Scottish accent, are the reasons I got into the series into the series in first place. That, and pretty lady with black hair~ She carried me through the entirety of Xenoblade 2 once I got my hands on her!

Noah/Mio. They are a package deal. Their style is on point; their story heart wrenching. They radiate young parent energy doing their best in a world that fundamentally wants to wear them down to their very core and I respect that.

Rex. I like his attitude, snuff said. His connections with others (especially the villains) wanting to do what he could in order to make a world a better place, his snarky moments, his empathy... That, and his glow-up in Future Redeemed 'cause woof-