How Shion Finally Got Fired | Xenosaga II to III A Missing Year Analysis | State of the Arc Podcast

Today, we'll be covering the story of how Shion finally got fired from Vector.
While Jin Uzuki investigates Gnosis Terrorism-a new phenomenon in which Gnosis under a person’s control attack high-population centers-he finds a mysterious young Realian girl being taken care of by the Subcommittee on Close Encounters and Juli Mizrahi. The Subcommittee lab is attacked, and an agent named Doctus, who was sent by an anti-UMN organization called Scientia, kidnaps the Realian girl. Jin and Shion pursue Doctus to a Scientia vessel and are caught. The Captain of the vessel attempts to explain the situation to them, revealing the dangers of the UMN and Vector’s role in funding the research that led to the events on Miltia 14 years ago. As Scientia conducts an analysis on the Realian girl, a power awakens in her, and Shion is rendered unconscious as the Realian disappears from the lab. Jin works with Doctus to conduct an encephalon dive into Ars Nova, a top-secret area of the UMN sealed by Vector. There, Jin confronts Grimoire Verum, the father of Nephilim and the orchestrator behind the recent Gnosis attacks. Grimoire attempts to use the Realian as a vessel for his daughter’s consciousness, but the Realian girl rejects her memories, and the song of Nephilim turns her into a Gnosis. Grimoire’s consciousness is destroyed, but Shion is able to help the Realian regain her memories, calling her by her true name, Almadel. It is revealed that Shion’s father had experimented on Almadel, and Shion had befriended her and tried to comfort her in her distress. This also unlocks repressed memories for Shion. Almadel then realizes that she must sacrifice herself to stop the Song of Nephilim from resonating throughout the universe. Shion has an emotional breakdown in response but is roused and comforted by Jin. As a result of this incident, Shion is demoted within Vector, but due to her conflicted feelings about Vector’s involvement in all of this and their attempted coverup, she leaves Vector without saying goodbye to KOS-MOS and joins Scientia.
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[@mysteriousfigure3808]

The look on Mike's face is particularly piercing this episode. Never noticed before how strikingly his gaze shines through.

[@markhavick7115]

Mike out here intimidating folk with his drip. He ballin so hard he can't controll himself.

[@TJTheEmperor]

So, with regards to the differences in storytelling between Xenogears and Xenoblade - with Xenoblade, Takahashi started working with a number of other directors and writers, so in that series you’re not getting the pure, undiluted Takahashi that you get in Xenosaga (and Xenogears too). I think this is the reason why as much as I love Xenoblade (I’m playing through 3 as we speak), they’ve never left quite as much of an impact on me as Xenosaga and Xenogears has. I’ve joked in the past that Xenosaga and Xenogears are games that seem to have been created specifically for me. I’ve definitely got an otaku style personality, and so does Takahashi - in fact, Takahashi seems to be an otaku for many of the same things that I am (science fiction, psychology, religion, mecha anime). So of course, I’m gonna react more strongly to Xenosaga and Xenogears, but I fully understand that my reasons are entirely personal and idiosyncratic. Xenoblade is by far the more accessible story, and I don’t fault it for that, because they’re great games in their own right. Also, Mike, you were right in thinking that Shion and her cohort were only supposed to be the main characters for the first story arc - had Xenosaga actually became the originally planned six games, each subsequent story arc would’ve taken place in a different time, with different main characters. I actually remember reading an interview with Takahashi where he said the only reoccurring characters would’ve been chaos and KOS-MOS, albeit in very different forms

[@quiddity131]

It's also important to note that Soraya Saga has pretty much no involvement with Blade at all (I think the extent of her contributions is one or two character designs for Xenoblade 2). She provided a ton of content for Xenosaga, basically everything involving Junior, Albedo, the URTVs, Ziggy, Momo, Juli and Joachim Mizrahi, etc... as well as all the Bart, Sigurd, Billy, etc... stuff in Xenogears. I think the lack of her being there as well as Takahashi reducing just how absurdly ambitious he was with his storytelling results in Xenoblade games that while still very strong story-wise compared to the average JRPG don't rise to the level that Gears and Saga did.

[@RPGplus14]

I see this myself. Ive only played the first blade and it just didnt do it for me compared to the prior xeno's. At the same time im like i think i get why blade kicked out more into the light, as its easier for ppl to understand. I just havnt been in a rush to see whats after upon playing the 1st blade because overall it was my least fav xeno experience.

[@TJTheEmperor]

@@quiddity131 You're right, and I should've mentioned that in my original comment. Kaori Tanaka is a world-class writer, and her virtual retirement from the games industry leaves a gigantic void that's very difficult to fill.

[@MrMaskedhater]

​@@RPGplus14For context, Xenoblade 1 was not originally conceived as a Xeno game, so it lacks a lot of the classic Xeno DNA. XC2 and XC3 are much more Character-driven games like Saga. Also like Saga, the Xenoblade trilogy comes together to tell a satisfying overarching story that's greater than the sum of its parts. Also if you're a fan of Saga, you will definitely want to play XC3's DLC. I don't want to say anything else about that but let's just say it's a beautiful payoff to not only the numbered Xenoblade trilogy but the Xeno series as a whole.

[@RPGplus14]

@@MrMaskedhater tbh you have intrigued me. maybe i will give it a shot later this year. atm most my of gaming is on ff14s new expansion.

[@kevinstreetgaming]

Mike slightly lifting his goggles to read near the end of the video was hilarious.

[@swallowtail1741]

Mike really practicing what he preached in the nier automata ep

[@fenix0seraph]

Just to clarify, there was actually a game Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga worked on in between Xenosaga and the first Xenoblade. It's an action RPG for the DS called Soma Bringer and while the story isn't anywhere near as deep as the Xeno games you can kind of see some of the similar ideas that bridge Saga and Blade show up in it.

[@BlackHairedTidus]

On that note, what little I played of Baten Kaitos showed me prototype Melia.

[@TJTheEmperor]

@@fenix0seraph Soma Bringer may not be as deep as a Xeno game, but given that it was basically created because Takahashi wanted to make a simple game he could play with his kids, it has way more going on than one would expect. The worldbuilding is so in-depth that I’m genuinely surprised Monolithsoft has never made another game set in that universe

[@ArtificialVik]

Kind of sad to see Mike with his new bionic eyes… another victim of the life recycling act. He should sue!

[@maxstratton4289]

Already! I'm so glad you're doing these back to back to avoid the overload of trying to remember every detail of II if you had done it a year ago.

[@KelfeinX]

Discovering Mike's new.. outfits.. has become the highlight of my week xD

[@ValToadstool]

Correction on the 41% stat, that's the percentage of gnosis attacks through the UMN, not of attacks orchestrated by Grimoire

[@xvct2661]

Ok this is getting ridiculous is no one going to mention Kaison haircut mike seems to be fine though nothing to report on there

[@ValentinRobert]

Dude forget the haircut! If you look **very** carefully at the pixels, you'll be able to tell that Casen is **NOT EVEN IN THE STUDIO**!!! I think he's on a couch elsewhere, though I might be reaching... Same old Mike though, nothing special on that front.

[@miiks...5...3...9...]

Shion's best characterization was in a glorified power point presentation wild

[@Flomen01]

I think she's characterized quite well in Xenosaga DS, especially since much of the changes made in that game were made to help the audience better understand her psyche

[@quiddity131]

Maybe some will throw rocks at me for this take, but I think she is characterized really well in Episode III. That certainly doesn't mean she's likable, and I know she gets a ton of hate for her actions in that game. But her behavior is quite realistic and there's no sugar coating it, something I appreciated a lot. I'm sure we'll get to it in a lot of depth in future episodes here.

[@Flomen01]

​@@quiddity131 nah that's facts

[@jordanetherington1922]

Funniest thing to me about the story is that Zohar research was done on Toronto so there's a good chance Grimoire was...*gulp* Canadian.

[@michs7451]

Thank you for this episode of Xenosaga II to III: A Missing Year! I personally found the flash video format grating, so this podcast analysis video has helped to really increase my appreciation of this chunk of the Xenosaga story. Loved the title of the video too. Y'all have been killing it. I’m also interested in responding to the change in story and game direction between Xenosaga III and Xenoblade Chronicles. It’ll be definitely a topic to be revisited upon the eventual XBC1 podcast, but I thought Takahashi has very illuminating things to say about his experience with Xenosaga. And how his design philosophy in Xenoblade was a direct response to his experience with Xenosaga. In the Iwata Asks: Xenoblade Chronicles 3D interview: Takahashi: But after that - and this is my own failing as well - I felt like...more and more, the y-axis of the story started to overtake the x-axis of the gameplay... Takahashi: Right. So the first thing I did when I was making Xenoblade Chronicles was to use my experiences to decide what a good balance was for the x-axis and y-axis, and structure it that way. Takahashi: That's right. We released three games in the Xenosaga series, but they weren't very well received. It was really mortifying. All of the young team members felt that way, not just the leaders. So we all decided, "Next time we need to make a game that players will enjoy." So that made the atmosphere during the Xenoblade Chronicles development very different compared to other games. Takahashi: Yes. It really confirmed the fact that with these team members, we could make something with a balanced x-axis and y-axis.

[@quiddity131]

Yeah, it's kinda obvious with Xenoblade that Takahashi recognized he went too far with Xenosaga and that something more gameplay focused was needed, with him toning down the story stuff, which while still good, doesn't really come close to Gears/Saga level storytelling. Personally I think the balance is at its worst in Xenosaga I which a lot of people proclaim is basically just watching cut scenes most of the time, although II and III do balance things a lot better (granted Takahashi is no longer the director at that point which surely played a part).

[@cloudkitt]

while that's probably the objectively correct lesson for them to take, it does personally make me sad because I adore Xenosaga...much moreso even than Xenoblade.

[@Zeal543]

The concepts brought up in this episode and the XSII discussion round table got me excited over when you guys eventually reach xenoblade 3

[@YouTubdotCub]

Really glad you guys did Pied Piper and Missing Year, it wouldn't have felt complete without it given the types of things you focus on with this podcast, and both episodes were top notch. Looking forward to Episode III getting covered!

[@TheBeird]

Love that conversation about the Monad. Thats what I find so appealing about that Gnostic thought. If anything, it's a perfect metaphor for our relationship to Divinity. We get a sample of that good sh't, and we muck it up. Or sometimes . . . not.

[@jacobmonks3722]

While I am Catholic and see the cosmological ideas of Gnosticism as heresy, I do appreciate their emphasis on detaching from a material world to transcend to a greater wisdom. It's a sentiment that is desperately needed in the world today, as materialism and consumerism continues to take over society.

[@charliebee5154]

Guys, I'm so happy that you are going straight to Xenosaga 3! I GARANTEE that you will love it!

[@VncentValntine]

As stoked as I am to see your conversation of Xenosaga III, I'm super excited for the future xenoblade content!

[@quiddity131]

I played Episodes II and III back to back right when Episode III originally came out (got it for a mere $30, today it tends to go for 10 times that) and played them without having played Pied Piper or A Missing Year. So yeah, definitely a lot more confusing without that context. Episode III's database helps but still can't compare to actually experiencing them. Regarding the overall plan for the Xenosaga series, it was to be six episodes, with three two episode arcs. As you speculated, the first arc was to focus on Shion with presumably the other two focusing on other characters. This got totally derailed when Episode I failed to cover as much content was originally intended. It essentially took Episode I, Episode II and Pied Piper just to cover what was supposed to be in the original first episode, with A Missing Year and Episode III to be in what was to be in the original second episode. Plus a lot of content getting cut too (there is a post out there from Soraya Saga with some of the details). Whatever was supposed to be in the original episodes III - VI we never got that far. Which segways good into the Xenoblade vs. Xenosaga conversation from the start of the podcast. It seems kinda obvious to me that after Xenosaga concluded Takahashi accepted that he was being far too ambitious with his games and his storytelling and went in a totally different direction. Xenoblade is much more of a gameplay/world exploration type game; it does have a pretty decent story but one that is nowhere on the level of Gears/Saga. It wasn't even supposed to be called Xenoblade, but rather Monado. Xenoblade 2 and 3 at which point they were always designed as "Xeno" games have a more in depth story than the original Xenoblade and even throw in a good amount of Gears/Saga references or themes but still aren't anywhere as close to the depth as Gears/Saga. I for one still enjoy the games a ton but there are old school Gears/Saga fans who hate that "Xeno" games aren't at the same level as Gears and Saga was. Personally I'd say a game like Nier Automata finds that perfect balance that Takahashi was unable to find with Gears and Saga; a game that does have a lot of in depth philosophical and other elements to it while also being really good on a gameplay level and has mass appeal.

[@aidanuzuki3449]

The fandom infighting is really annoying for me since all of the games and their respective series still end up being wonderful works of art. Xenosaga isn't going to have mass appeal to everyone compared to some of the other Xeno games it just isn't set up in the same kind of way. It's so difficult to recommend. Honestly even getting to episode 3 you have to be engaged and interested enough to get there in the first place. It rewards people who engage with its story and world and characters more than it rewards people who bounce off. One of my favorite things about Saga 3 is the characterization of each character and how they have a lot of agency in their own stories and you can point to their actions and conversations all the characters have and you can point and reference why a character would say or do the things they do. I don't think anyone in that game does anything so weird and strange that it would happen only in a vacuum and I feel like it ties in so well with the themes of that game and the series so much that in the end you get some of the most realized characters in all of Xeno the good aspects of them and the bad. For me that's why Saga ends up being so special. Xenoblade 1 is amazing as well. It has an amazing world and incredible cutscene direction and storyboarding. I don't think I am able to tell you that much about Sharla or Reyn in regards to the structure of the story though.

[@jl_510]

I’m excited for more xeno in the future you guys are awesome 🙏

[@jet_j9964]

Just so happened to be on youtube in perfect timing for the release of this video and, though I can't watch it (see my previous comment under the first Episode II analysis video), I'm so happy you're finally getting through to the monument that is Episode III that'll especially reward you and your efforts so much. Really hope you enjoy yourselves.

[@mr79843]

I think the Database is a necessity in Xenosaga 3. It really fills out the world.

[@Flomen01]

Especially with regards to the Miltian Conflict. It provides a lot of backstory that isn't mentioned in the game, namely in regards to how the Conflict broke out.

[@xKayges]

I never got to see this part of the available Xenosaga media, so thank you for being so thorough in experiencing and discussing all things Xenosaga for this series! It does nothing but increase my appreciation for a game series I already loved.

[@IronCodyAlan]

im glad Mike was able to get some more comfortable glasses this week lol great episode guys

[@Shanmania]

Mike might have given Hawaii another chance with that TAN

[@AceBadguy]

Thank you gentlemen for another great podcast.

[@andreiulyanov9241]

Oh, by the way, I think this novel is the only way to learn who Nephilim is.

[@nessless5]

Yep, xenosaga 3 starts and its just casually dropped that Shion isnt at vector and youre like....WHAT???

[@quiddity131]

Also Doctus, who has a fairly big role early on in Xenosaga III just totally comes out of nowhere if you haven't seen A Missing Year first. Which was the case for me back around 2006 or so when I first played it!

[@Zoeila]

It's explained in the datalogs

[@nessless5]

​@@Zoeila Well yeah, that's where I went "WHAT?"

[@yxnilI]

Very cool video!

[@EvilCronos13]

My reaction to their predictions of the future of this series from someone who has played them all and knows the story relatively well is pretty much the same whether they get it right or wrong. Either way, all I can do is grin and say, "just you wait and see!"

[@cloudkitt]

Very excited to see you guys experience III. Easily the best "game" of the three even though I personally have the stongest attachment to I. But I think you'll be taken aback by the step-up in production values from II especially. When you covered Ep 1 it triggered a replay of the whole trilogy for me, and I'm struggling with not doing it again, haha. But suffice to say thanks again for these.

[@LS1Highwind]

Appearances aside, I'm really enjoying you guys doing these side stories, I don't know if I'd ever have heard of the otherwise. I'm just shaking with excitement for episode 3 👌

[@disturbedrebirth]

I kind of remember these events and I've never watched this. Maybe they touch upon them on Xenosaga 3.

[@quiddity131]

Xenosaga 3 has a very quick recap from Shion and they give you details on these events in the database so you may be remembering that.

[@joshuahelmeke]

Did Mike lose a bet or something???

[@Xenobears]

Jin Uzuki: when the crazy conspiracy theorist is actually (mostly) right.

[@SHMeira]

Great video as always. I just hope you guys notice the connections with Xenogears. There are a lot of characters and machines that appear in Xenosaga that exist in Xenogears. Specially in Episode 3.

[@itsasecrettoeverybody]

Eu acho que alguém tá levando a sério de mais a história de não se levar a sério. Um abração Mike. Esperando por mais Xenoblade. ❤

[@DashXero]

Is Mike wearing various goggles to see how long it will take before someone asks why he's wearing the goggles? Also, where can I find goggles like the ones from the previous episode?

[@joepeezy4sheezy]

Trying to invoke a Yokotaro vibe maybe?

[@EdreesesPieces]

I thought it was a screen to see the faces of the other participants of the xenoblade 2 podcast Episode, but he did it now again so im confused too

[@cheshireimp493]

I believe Ars Nova was used to designate the change in composition or style of music in the Kingdom of France during the Middle Ages. After a very quick search, it seems it was during the 14-century that Ars Nova was used in regard to music. Within the context of Xenosaga, all that comes to my mind is the song of Nephilim if we take the name at face value. If I wanted to make a few more interpretations stretching the relation of arts, Almadel could be considered an artifice that is intended to mimic a human being and Grimoire desired to have her be the new incarnation of his daughter. Can't Wait for Mike to reveal that the eyewear is all a commentary on how building a mystery without context creates confusion and the longer it continues the larger the risk of leading to a disappointing conclusion.

[@v.m.a.d.l.e.6972]

I always thought the whole Xenosaga story should have been written in a series of novels. Sadly because of Soraya Saga being bullied by fans and pissed off there is no chance for this to ever happen.

[@Izzak_Beck]

Probably the best PowerPoint I've ever seen.

[@andrewmiroshnik7883]

Oh, i almost forgot how interesting and deep that episode was ~ Almadel...

[@Omnicloudx13]

I really appreciate these videos, I never got to play pied piper or watch missing year and I love all the xeno games. Thank you for covering these games!

[@opkij86]

I knew you would but still so happy to see Missing year covered! You did a better job summarizing it than themselves or Episode III will, haha. Now you only have the three drama CDs, the Anime, the DS game and all the books left to cover, hehe. Maybe a bit disappointing Nephilim wasn't a "higher being" but she sure became one after the events 4000+ years ago not 2000+ (minor correction). I don't remember when the flash videos got taken down from the official site but I did watch them before Episode III and as expected didn't understand much back then but still enough to get some more context. Also, the day Yuki Kajiura finally released the full ending theme of Missing year in uncompressed quality is one of the happiest in my life, I love that song so much!

[@jedfactor7093]

Cmon guys it's really not that hard to follow the terminology in Xenosaga.

[@ViridianMaridian]

I haven't been keeping up with this series, why is Mike Cyclops in the thumbnail?

[@BlackHairedTidus]

His mutant-genes have now activated

[@SoloRogueStudios]

I was going to comment on the last video how between the goggles and preaching about connection and anti-ego stuff that sounds a lot like instrumentality, that Mike was seeming a lot like Keel from Evangelion; and now in this video, Mike just looks like Keel from Evangelion. I was also going to tell the life extension guy, since he brought up nanomachines, to not let the nanomachines end up in a 13 Sentinels situation; and that's all I'm going to say on that matter because I don't want to spoil anyone on that game. Speaking of which: As much of a pain as it might be to set up due how non-linear it is, would you guys consider doing a podcast on 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim in the future? It is an absolutely insane sci-fi story, one of the best I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It pays homage to all of the classic sci-fi stories, in particular the ones of the 80s, while managing to masterfully tie them all together in an original story with one jaw-dropping plot twist after another. It is a masterclass in non-linear storytelling, and I'd really like to see you guys break down the plot and storytelling techniques used in the game, for two reasons in particular. 1. There are seriously not enough videos out there analyzing this very niche and relatively unknown game. 2. Much like with Xenogears, you only get to experience this game's mind-screwy rollercoaster of a plot for the first time once, then all you can do is enjoy watching other people experience it for the first time. Again, might be a bit of a pain to plan out because of how non-linear it is, but I think this game truly deserves the State of the Arc treatment.

[@lukathart]

Love me some more Xeno greatness

[@cedericdrachenreign7637]

Maybe its just that I'm currently watching Altered Carbon but I'm seeing a lot of similarities in the world. I'm not super familiar with future sci-fi so maybe the comparisons are just common things, but also including the previous conversation about the concept of death especially and life extension has huge shared themes with the show.

[@jedfactor7093]

A crime really that this section of the story was reduced to a flash animation, The whole series really needs a remake incorporating this and Pied Piper back into the main games.

[@AngelCanseco1]

Yoooooooooo!!!! I only knew of the story csuse of the xenobible in xenosaga3

[@phillosmaster393]

a missing year feels like a band aid. That said, I'm glad you can watch it and pied piper on youtube now because if the only way you could get those stories was through the database entries in xenosaga 3 then it's a much more daunting task to get into the story of 3 IMO. XS3 starts you cold by dumping you into the status quo after missing year. It really is too bad that they ended up shortening the series. If some of this supplemental stuff actually made it into the main games I think the whole series would be stronger and feel less cryptic to a casual player/observer.

[@BlackHairedTidus]

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 A Missing Off-Seer

[@Realag666]

Now only Secretcyberagents are going to be able to stop Mike.

[@CielBlanche]

I'd argue Gears and Saga actually aren't confusing in an alienating way, and that they wield their stranger elements in an effectively intriguing manner. The reason for that is because they didn't rely on unknown terminology to carry a good story or even a good mystery -- they focus on pretty grounded human drama with the loftier and more impenetrable concepts unfolding at a measured pace in parallel or in the background. Saga starts with an enigmatic object causing people to disappear. Okay, good, a mystery. A force of alien ghosts attack. A robotics engineer is working on a powerful and dangerous android designed to stop the hostile space ghosts. Her co-worker is in love with her but he's a dweeb. She's facing pressure from the military leadership. There's artificial people that serve society, and she has an affinity for them. She meets a soldier who is racist against the artificial people. Her experimental robot wakes up at a critical moment and casually shoots the soldier, and then threatens to murder an innocent crew of salvagers, causing her to question her robot's callous efficiency. This is all universally relatable drama that can work for any audience broadly interested in sci-fi. Since it's done the work to get you interested in the characters, world, and drama, you should be developing both a curiosity about the more arcane elements, and a willingness to meet the story halfway. If it didn't get me interested on a human level, I wouldn't have any inclination to care about what 'U-DO' or 'URTV' mean... but it has, so I am! Even so, you don't really have to worry about most terminology to get the main point, you'll never be lost as to what is happening in the main drama -- the important thing is that baby Albedo doesn't want to be left alone. On the other hand, Final Fantasy 13 is an example of when a story fails so badly on a fundamental dramatic level that its attempts to interest me in its broader concepts are fruitless. Twin Peaks: The Return is a piece of fiction that's genuinely incoherent to anyone but those most willing to play on its terms. Admittedly, I love that series specifically because it's so far away from conventional storytelling and it's an antidote to the pervasive boredom of derivative, played-out media. But that's on the extreme end -- the original two Xeno series aren't anywhere close to being as esoteric. By comparison, Blade is so straightforward, has so little to say, and demands so little of its audience, that I find it tragically boring, and kind of beneath the Xeno name. It's really a shame that Tanaka and Takahashi have so completely given up on story in games. There was nothing else like it.

[@jacobmonks3722]

It seems a bit dismissive to say they just "gave up" on story. I think a more generous and accurate way to describe Xenoblade is "what if Monolithsoft showed restraint, and didn't indulge on their previous ambitions, and were actually able to make concessions and effective compromises when managing a project?" Xenoblade isn't overly simple, it's just approachable. It still incorporates a lot of those philosophical concepts, but they are re-contextualized to be more understandable as a part of the world. Xenoblade 1 is very heavily inspired by Gnostic ideas in the same way Gears was, but it is focused squarely on that and doesn't feel the need to shove psychological and philosophical terms at the player every 10 seconds like Gears and Saga often does. But it still has a type of demiurge, there's still an emphasis on the human strength of will, there's still a lot of room for mystery and intrigue in the plot, and it still does human drama exceptionally well.

[@jamesgomez9151]

Hey Mike, I hope your pink eye clears up soon, don't pick at it and you'll get better.

[@TheMilhouseExperience]

While still only halfway through Xenoblade 2 myself, I’m feeling pretty confident in saying that Xenoblade 1 is the black sheep of all the Xenogames. That being said, 1 was fantastic and is the best game that is the least like the others in a series (So long as we don’t include X.)

[@quiddity131]

X is the black sheep for me, it is the one Xeno game that while having an interesting premise has an extremely substandard story, that doesn't even get completed and a blank/self insert avatar playable character. It also came out on the mostly neglected Wii U. From a gameplay standpoint it's great and it has the best world of the Xeno games, I've logged hundreds of hours into it. But it is the clear outlier versus all the others. If one is excluding X, then yeah, Xenoblade 1 seems to be the black sheep which makes sense in that it is the one game that was never conceived to actually be a Xeno game but rather renamed into one and somewhat retconned after Xenoblade 2 came out.

[@jacobmonks3722]

Probably because Xenoblade 1 was designed intentionally to be self-contained and more approachable than previous titles, and originally it wasn't going to connect to the Xeno series. Shulk was conceptualized as a reaction to a lot of the negative reception to Shion, and the world was going to be its own thing, a fresh restart for the company now that they were owned by Nintendo after experiencing several enormous and mismanaged projects. Monolithsoft has ambition, but they also show a capability to adapt and restrain themselves when necessary, which is key to what makes them such a good game studio.

[@user-pe7kz1jg9s]

wait did you skip the outer file drama cd's for the first game

[@tyaustin6114]

Does anyone know where we should play up to in XS3 before watching the first episode of that series?

[@Real2KRosters]

1:12:30 Realians are made out of biological material. Which is how Virgil was able to eat Realians. Realians often get referred to like machines but this is more an indication of how society treats them. It's not dissimilar from how we treat our labor class.

[@deleth]

Did you guys noticed Shion design in this is more closer to episode1? and she is using glasses again. I wonder if this was made before episode2

[@thesilenthills6801]

Xenoblade started out much more simplified and straight forward with "Monado: Beginning of the World", but each new Xenoblade game after that just get's more and more "Xeno". Especially with 3. And I feel Soma Bringer should be brought up in these discussions since it's proto-Xenoblade. Gameplay, and all of the story, have pretty much been recycled into all current Xenoblade games. In any case, I'm really enjoying these discussions.

[@BlackHairedTidus]

Honestly I have a feeling there's way more to discuss with X since it's a more speculative project.

[@thesilenthills6801]

@@BlackHairedTidus They're all part of the bigger picture, so they should all be discussed.

[@pelgervampireduck]

I wonder if we'll ever find out what's the idea with the goggles. Is it a social experiment? an inside joke?.

[@joepeezy4sheezy]

Ok what’s the deal with the goggles?

[@jansonhensen7804]

So aree they doing xenoblade immediately after Xenosaga 3?

[@quiddity131]

I have to assume no since they like to mix things up a bit. I think there was more than a one year gap between them covering Xenosaga 1 vs. 2 and 3. But good to know that we will eventually get Xenoblade. I recall a video from Mike years ago about hating the redesigns in Xenoblade Definitive Edition and I wondered if the podcast would never actually cover Xenoblade.

[@RokkouA1]

I think they're doing Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 next. I believe they will eventually cover Xenoblade 1, 2 and 3, but I don't know about X.

[@violetsky22]

Ok Cyclops

[@EdreesesPieces]

Sure , Xenoblade doesnt use confusing and awkward dialogue, being purposely being obtuse and preventing players from understanding even the most basic concept of whats going on, but Xenoblade games use Nopons. It comes out even.

[@jedfactor7093]

Shion is much better ginger.

[@Zoeila]

Xenoblade is a poor mans xenosaga ive never liked it

[@alenezi989a3]

The "xenotypical" part of Xenosaga is what makes the saga fun for me. It's not a straight forward fantasy jrpg. Tje setting, the characters and story are all unique. Xenoblade is very typical jrpg and the atrocious combat just stopped me from going past like 10% of the game.

[@michaelcoraybrown]

Xenoblade's setting is anything but typical. Without a doubt, it is one of the most unique RPG worlds ever created.

[@alenezi989a3]

@michaelcoraybrown well I only played like a few hours so maybe it gets better, but it seemed very much stereotypical anime characters going on an adventure to save the world. The MMO style combat just stopped me from continuing to play the game. Xenosaga for me was very unique, from the start the story gripped me. It felt like there are many complexities going around, I like it when the story follows more than one group of people and Xenosaga ep1 did that, there were so many characters, factions and groups, like you start with Shion and KosMos, then we move to Ziggy and MOMO, then to Jr and his crew. Plus all the world politics the second Miltia government, the U-Tic, Vector...etc and they all seem to be planning something big, I don't know it was very interesting to me.

[@jacobmonks3722]

​@alenezi989a3 If you played Gears, you might realize how derivative Saga is, and I don't mean that as a negative necessarily. Any game that takes inspiration from Xenogears is doing something right, but in many ways it's not so much inspiration as it is a second attempt at the same idea. Xenoblade, on the other hand, is a very creative blend of elements from MMO style gameplay, traditional story-driven JRPGs, anime tropes, and fantasy worldbuilding, while incorporating some theological and philosophical concepts, re-conteztualized to not be so esoteric as Gears or Saga. Even if those elements alone are generic or standard, Xenoblade is one of the few games that manages to combine them so seamlessly, and, to paraphrase Echo Six (good channel you should watch), it is a perfect example of something being greater than the sum of its parts.

[@BlackHairedTidus]

Typical Xeno elitism