Christi Junior on Nostr: Xenoblade 3 Writeup Prologue: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjOZdaQg6QbRd1EXtg ...
Xenoblade 3 Writeup
Prologue: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjOZdaQg6QbRd1EXtg
Chapter 1: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjQTcjhzuEOUi2SwO8
Chapter 2: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjSiYohTIDnuf0jEzA
Chapter 3: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjUd1czlgC4vLbYsoi
Chapter 4: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjWnoeNNeXJsPU1bNY
Chapter 5: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjYrfVPSPPsq7xoLYm
Chapter 6: Peaking Early
1/7
Personally, I find that after a story has already shaken you to your core, true greatness can be achieved by *not* slowing down and giving you the chance to breathe, but instead hitting you with yet more surprises, mysteries and emotional gut punches. When the soul is already wounded, that’s your chance to permanently sear a story into it. Danganronpa 2 did this to great effect after a major character death in, what a coincidence, Chapter 5, and so too does Xenoblade 3 – though in this case, there wasn’t really any opportunity for a breather anyway, after what just happened.
At the beginning of Chapter 6, Noah suddenly finds himself in strange, dreamlike place, where a hooded, childlike figure asks him whether he’s happy with how his choice turned out. Is this some sort of afterlife perhaps? It seems like it could be – because now Noah is seeing, not his life flash before his eyes, but scenes from his *past lives*; we see Past Noah, full of hope, ready to liberate the world from Moebius, only for the same outcome to cruelly repeat: Noah and all his friends being slaughtered, not by N, but by Z, the Moebius leader chiding Noah for thinking he could ever “stem the tide”, and making it clear that this very same showdown has already happened many times before, always with the same outcome. Worst of all, the last thing Noah always sees is Mio dying, before he himself is killed.
Over and over we see this cycle of failure repeat, until finally, there turns out to have been light at the end of the tunnel: We see a life where Noah and Mio are actually able to settle down in the City, and even have a son. The little family is the picture of domestic bliss – but only for a fleeting moment. Mio and Noah are still cursed with a 10-year lifespan, and before the child is even old enough to truly comprehend what is going on, Mio is ripped away from her husband and son, leaving behind a devastated Noah. A little over a year later, it’s Noah’s time to say goodbye to his son, in maybe the single most beautiful and heartbreaking scene of this entire sequence. Noah’s parting words will remain with his son to his dying day, but Noah himself can to longer stay with him, and dies filled with sadness and regret.
That very regret ends up being the source of Noah’s downfall. The next thing we see isn’t another life cycle, but Noah in the presence of Z, who offers him his heart’s deepest desire: An eternity together with Mio. It only now becomes obvious that all of this wasn’t Noah’s backstory at all, it was N’s past, the events that led him to become Moebius. After countless defeats and heartbreaks, the man who used to be the greatest hope for Aionios gave up, and chose the “Endless Now” with his wife over creating a better future. And later on, we learn that this Faustian Bargain required N to commit some truly terrible atrocities.
But what about Our Noah? Is he doomed to turn out the same way? He has after all suffered terribly, just like N, and is faced with a reality he can’t accept. This is the question that the hooded person now wants answered. And Noah, despite having just been dealt a blow as devastating as anything N went through, proves his strength of character by choosing a different path from N: He wants to honor and repay all the loved ones he has lost, by changing this cruel world that took away their freedom and doomed them to an early grave. Noah feels that he owes it to the fallen, like Joran, his off-seer mentor Crys, and yes, Mio, to stick to this path, and keep walking it even if he’s forced to walk it alone.
…but he won’t have to walk it alone – suddenly the hooded child is gone, and before him stands Mio, reaching out her hand to Noah – and then Noah is back at Angus Castle, as N’s killing blow is stopped just in time by Consul M interfering. With everyone at the scene deeply puzzle by this turn of events, M walks up to Noah, and apologizes for her hair having gotten long, before asking Noah whether he still wants to walk alongside her. As N sees that “M” possesses both Moebius powers AND the powers of Ouroboros, the realization sets in: Mio and M switched bodies!
For Noah, this revelation brings back light and joy to the world; for N, it renders his entire existence a sick joke: this man sacrificed EVERYTHING, turned his back on all he had ever fought for and believed in, just to be reunited with Mio – and now it’s all gone. He can’t even process what Our Mio tells him: that M had never wanted to become Moebius, that as short as her time with N was, she had been content with that fleeting moment of happiness. And sick with guilt over being a Moebius, of the evil she was indirectly responsible for, she had upon meeting Mio and first hijacking her body, shared all her knowledge with her and laid the groundworks for a plan that would allow Mio to survive, and M to escape the prison that was her cursed life as Moebius.
It’s a phenomenal twist, so many moving parts and seemingly throwaway aspects of M’s powers making it possible, and yet at its core it’s so simple and easy to grasp. Rewatching the scenes, there was just so much beautiful, subtle foreshadowing, the kind that Takahashi is so good at, and which makes every Xenoblade game worth at least one additional playthrough.
Now, is it something of a copout – and does it take away from the power of “Mio”s confession of love the night before Homecoming? In my opinion, No, and No – the twist was set up and earned, and the emotions expressed in the confession scene were real enough – the context just becomes vastly different, once you realize that it’s effectively Consul M reminiscing about her time with “her Noah”, and through Mio’s memories essentially experiencing a Moebius-free life with him one last time.
And boy, for all the 100% justified shit we give English-language voice actors, Noah and N’s voice actor Harry McEntire absolutely KILLS it during N’s reaction to finding out that it was M, not Mio that died. Normally, it would be next to impossible to truly do justice to what a character like N would have felt as his entire world came crashing down, but between the sensational voice work and the game’s brilliant facial expressions, all of N’s despair, heartbreak and insanity comes through with incredible force. And the song Words That Never Reached You – I gotta say, I love song names like that, completely Spoiler-free, yet still perfectly summing up the scene during which it plays.
Because of course, N can NOT accept the loss of M, and the sight of his despised “shadow” now together with HIS woman drives him mad with grief, anger and jealousy. But this mentally broken madman is no longer the invincible Godslayer that was singlehandedly stomping Team Ouroboros during their last fight – and not only has Mio become far more powerful after combining her Ouroboros powers with M’s Moebius abilities (she can now effortlessly override Consul X’s transformation suppression and allow the other Ouroboros pairs to fuse once more), Noah’s own painful journey of self-discovery has left him with a new ability – he can now in his Ouroboros form draw a new version of Lucky Seven, which N identifies as The Sword of Origin, capable of not only ending Moebius, but the world itself. N is defeated, but still alive – though no more receptive to Noah and Mio’s words than before.
This rollercoaster ride isn’t over yet – now our party has to fight the Fake Nia, riding a massive mech. And once she is defeated, the Moebius reveal their final Trump card: a second Annihilator Cannon, pointed directly at the City, the location of which was helpfully provided by the traitor. Before the party can stop the cannon, it fires, and erases the entire City from the face of Aionios….except not really. THIS was why that mysterious figure (who turns out to out to have been Moebius-powered Mio) teleported into the City and met with Monica and Ghondor, to warn them that this was going to happen. And not only were all the people of the City evacuated in time, the City *itself* was removed from harm’s way. Turns out the whole thing is a Ferronis, capable of flying around Aionios and relocating to wherever is safest. And to prove this point, a bunch of Lost Numbers now show up, including Ghondor. The traitor pulls a 41% out of shame, and the remaining Moebius flee, surrendering Agnus Castle and all their prisoners. And finally, we can catch our breath.
#Xenoblade3Writeup
Prologue: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjOZdaQg6QbRd1EXtg
Chapter 1: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjQTcjhzuEOUi2SwO8
Chapter 2: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjSiYohTIDnuf0jEzA
Chapter 3: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjUd1czlgC4vLbYsoi
Chapter 4: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjWnoeNNeXJsPU1bNY
Chapter 5: https://detroitriotcity.com/notice/AjYrfVPSPPsq7xoLYm
Chapter 6: Peaking Early
1/7
Personally, I find that after a story has already shaken you to your core, true greatness can be achieved by *not* slowing down and giving you the chance to breathe, but instead hitting you with yet more surprises, mysteries and emotional gut punches. When the soul is already wounded, that’s your chance to permanently sear a story into it. Danganronpa 2 did this to great effect after a major character death in, what a coincidence, Chapter 5, and so too does Xenoblade 3 – though in this case, there wasn’t really any opportunity for a breather anyway, after what just happened.
At the beginning of Chapter 6, Noah suddenly finds himself in strange, dreamlike place, where a hooded, childlike figure asks him whether he’s happy with how his choice turned out. Is this some sort of afterlife perhaps? It seems like it could be – because now Noah is seeing, not his life flash before his eyes, but scenes from his *past lives*; we see Past Noah, full of hope, ready to liberate the world from Moebius, only for the same outcome to cruelly repeat: Noah and all his friends being slaughtered, not by N, but by Z, the Moebius leader chiding Noah for thinking he could ever “stem the tide”, and making it clear that this very same showdown has already happened many times before, always with the same outcome. Worst of all, the last thing Noah always sees is Mio dying, before he himself is killed.
Over and over we see this cycle of failure repeat, until finally, there turns out to have been light at the end of the tunnel: We see a life where Noah and Mio are actually able to settle down in the City, and even have a son. The little family is the picture of domestic bliss – but only for a fleeting moment. Mio and Noah are still cursed with a 10-year lifespan, and before the child is even old enough to truly comprehend what is going on, Mio is ripped away from her husband and son, leaving behind a devastated Noah. A little over a year later, it’s Noah’s time to say goodbye to his son, in maybe the single most beautiful and heartbreaking scene of this entire sequence. Noah’s parting words will remain with his son to his dying day, but Noah himself can to longer stay with him, and dies filled with sadness and regret.
That very regret ends up being the source of Noah’s downfall. The next thing we see isn’t another life cycle, but Noah in the presence of Z, who offers him his heart’s deepest desire: An eternity together with Mio. It only now becomes obvious that all of this wasn’t Noah’s backstory at all, it was N’s past, the events that led him to become Moebius. After countless defeats and heartbreaks, the man who used to be the greatest hope for Aionios gave up, and chose the “Endless Now” with his wife over creating a better future. And later on, we learn that this Faustian Bargain required N to commit some truly terrible atrocities.
But what about Our Noah? Is he doomed to turn out the same way? He has after all suffered terribly, just like N, and is faced with a reality he can’t accept. This is the question that the hooded person now wants answered. And Noah, despite having just been dealt a blow as devastating as anything N went through, proves his strength of character by choosing a different path from N: He wants to honor and repay all the loved ones he has lost, by changing this cruel world that took away their freedom and doomed them to an early grave. Noah feels that he owes it to the fallen, like Joran, his off-seer mentor Crys, and yes, Mio, to stick to this path, and keep walking it even if he’s forced to walk it alone.
…but he won’t have to walk it alone – suddenly the hooded child is gone, and before him stands Mio, reaching out her hand to Noah – and then Noah is back at Angus Castle, as N’s killing blow is stopped just in time by Consul M interfering. With everyone at the scene deeply puzzle by this turn of events, M walks up to Noah, and apologizes for her hair having gotten long, before asking Noah whether he still wants to walk alongside her. As N sees that “M” possesses both Moebius powers AND the powers of Ouroboros, the realization sets in: Mio and M switched bodies!
For Noah, this revelation brings back light and joy to the world; for N, it renders his entire existence a sick joke: this man sacrificed EVERYTHING, turned his back on all he had ever fought for and believed in, just to be reunited with Mio – and now it’s all gone. He can’t even process what Our Mio tells him: that M had never wanted to become Moebius, that as short as her time with N was, she had been content with that fleeting moment of happiness. And sick with guilt over being a Moebius, of the evil she was indirectly responsible for, she had upon meeting Mio and first hijacking her body, shared all her knowledge with her and laid the groundworks for a plan that would allow Mio to survive, and M to escape the prison that was her cursed life as Moebius.
It’s a phenomenal twist, so many moving parts and seemingly throwaway aspects of M’s powers making it possible, and yet at its core it’s so simple and easy to grasp. Rewatching the scenes, there was just so much beautiful, subtle foreshadowing, the kind that Takahashi is so good at, and which makes every Xenoblade game worth at least one additional playthrough.
Now, is it something of a copout – and does it take away from the power of “Mio”s confession of love the night before Homecoming? In my opinion, No, and No – the twist was set up and earned, and the emotions expressed in the confession scene were real enough – the context just becomes vastly different, once you realize that it’s effectively Consul M reminiscing about her time with “her Noah”, and through Mio’s memories essentially experiencing a Moebius-free life with him one last time.
And boy, for all the 100% justified shit we give English-language voice actors, Noah and N’s voice actor Harry McEntire absolutely KILLS it during N’s reaction to finding out that it was M, not Mio that died. Normally, it would be next to impossible to truly do justice to what a character like N would have felt as his entire world came crashing down, but between the sensational voice work and the game’s brilliant facial expressions, all of N’s despair, heartbreak and insanity comes through with incredible force. And the song Words That Never Reached You – I gotta say, I love song names like that, completely Spoiler-free, yet still perfectly summing up the scene during which it plays.
Because of course, N can NOT accept the loss of M, and the sight of his despised “shadow” now together with HIS woman drives him mad with grief, anger and jealousy. But this mentally broken madman is no longer the invincible Godslayer that was singlehandedly stomping Team Ouroboros during their last fight – and not only has Mio become far more powerful after combining her Ouroboros powers with M’s Moebius abilities (she can now effortlessly override Consul X’s transformation suppression and allow the other Ouroboros pairs to fuse once more), Noah’s own painful journey of self-discovery has left him with a new ability – he can now in his Ouroboros form draw a new version of Lucky Seven, which N identifies as The Sword of Origin, capable of not only ending Moebius, but the world itself. N is defeated, but still alive – though no more receptive to Noah and Mio’s words than before.
This rollercoaster ride isn’t over yet – now our party has to fight the Fake Nia, riding a massive mech. And once she is defeated, the Moebius reveal their final Trump card: a second Annihilator Cannon, pointed directly at the City, the location of which was helpfully provided by the traitor. Before the party can stop the cannon, it fires, and erases the entire City from the face of Aionios….except not really. THIS was why that mysterious figure (who turns out to out to have been Moebius-powered Mio) teleported into the City and met with Monica and Ghondor, to warn them that this was going to happen. And not only were all the people of the City evacuated in time, the City *itself* was removed from harm’s way. Turns out the whole thing is a Ferronis, capable of flying around Aionios and relocating to wherever is safest. And to prove this point, a bunch of Lost Numbers now show up, including Ghondor. The traitor pulls a 41% out of shame, and the remaining Moebius flee, surrendering Agnus Castle and all their prisoners. And finally, we can catch our breath.
#Xenoblade3Writeup