Christi Junior on Nostr: 4/7 I will however defend one aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I regularly see the game ...
4/7
I will however defend one aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I regularly see the game receive heavy criticism for: Its Rogues Gallery. Simply put, the Moebius mudders get a bad rap for being a major case of Quantity over Quality, it often being said that N is suffering from back pains due to Carrying the XB3 villains so hard. Personally, I consider this quite unfair, as I’d say that Xenoblade 3 boasts at least 4 genuinely good major villains: Mr. Wild Ride/Consul D, Consul J, Starving Artist (code name given by me) and course, N.
Now, Wild Ride is obviously a Metal Face Wannabe, but is that really such a bad thing? Metal Face is easily one of the best Xenoblade villains ever, a PERFECT “love to hate him”-type of bad guy. Wild Ride isn’t *quite* as good, not as effective or important of a villain, nor with as strong of a connection to the main party as the Faced Mechon had (Shulk, Dunban and Melia all had extremely good reasons to hate Metal Face, while in XB3, only Eunie truly had unfinished business with the Moebius, due to him killing her in a past life). Still, he’s a lot of fun, being a sadistic asshole with a taste for theatrics, and he makes one hell of an impact in Chapter 1. I’d even argue that he gets a better death than Metal Face, due to Shulk acting like such a retard during their final encounter. Overall, if Metal Face is a 10, Wild Ride is still at least an 8.
While Wild Ride is 100% despicable and without depth (not a criticism, it’s the type of villain he was meant to be), Consul J and Starving Artist are both much more sympathetic, and superficially very similar villains, being two people who betrayed those close to them because their lives sucked, and Moebius offered them power and importance. That said, I find the subtle differences between them are quite interesting: J was just a born loser, whose life as a Kevesi soldier always ended in an early and miserable death, and who could only look up to his much more talented friends, never soar in the sky with them. To him, becoming Moebius was his chance to finally become somebody who mattered, someone who could surpass his old friends. Starving Artist on the other hand actually WAS genuinely talented, but she was never able to realize her true potential, as life got away from her and she was forced to abandon her true calling. For her, becoming Moebius was essentially a do-over at life – and she’s able to rationalize that the Moebius regime isn’t so bad anyway, because the soldiers of Aionios get infinite chances at life, unlike the free people of the City:
“The best world for us...
is a world that at least gives us another go!
We fail, we try again!
We might do even better next time round!”
Both these characters commit genuinely evil, arguably unforgivable acts – but also get the chance do give really heartfelt monologues explaining their plight, and their motives for becoming Moebius. So perhaps it’s unsurprising that they’re extremely divisive villains, with some people having nothing but contempt for them, while others strongly empathize and even identify with them. Whichever side you’re on, they’re villains who tend to provoke a powerful emotional response, which makes them very successful in my book.
Then there’s N, easily Xenoblade 3’s greatest villain, and one of the standouts in the series. Part of the brilliance of this character, and what for me puts him above other Fallen Heroes like Egil and pre-Torna Jin is that due to him actually being Noah, you’re already emotionally invested in the character just from learning who he really is. And similarly, you’re already “sold” on his relationship with M because of your emotional investment in Noah and Mio’s relationship. That said, the character writing for N doesn’t use this as a crutch, and N’s Chapter 6 backstory is incredibly effective at making you empathize with a character who came across as a heartless monster less than an hour earlier. Jin’s Chapter 8 flashback of Lora was cute, but it wasn’t until the Torna DLC prequel that you TRULY understood why this once-kind and gentle man would want to burn the world down because of one woman – with N, it’s almost impossible to not on some level understand his fateful choice, even while recognizing that it was wrong.
N is a genuinely well-written and multi-layered character. Take one example: His relentlessly cruel and sadistic treatment of Noah in Chapter 5. If you’d been paying attention to him prior to that point, you’d have noticed that N actually seemed notably more honorable and moral than other Moebius, who’d gleefully laugh at the sight of Kevesi and Agnian soldiers slaughtering each other. N however openly disapproved of such behavior. So why did he act like he did towards Noah of all people? Because Noah represented a rejection of N's own choices, he was a living refutation of the righteousness of N's Endless Now. If Noah is right, N is wrong. And N *really* can't afford to be wrong, given all he did to achieve his goal. N already lives with tremendous guilt about what he has done, guilt which is dramatically exacerbated by Noah's very existence. Only by ensuring that Noah dies the most ignominious death possible, drowning in despair, can N prove Noah's path wrong, validate his own choice, and (hopefully) find peace.
I might still overall prefer Jin to N, because holy shit, does Torna do wonders for Jin’s character (Jin is arguably the main character of that entire story), while Future Redeemed does a lot less for N overall (though a couple of key scenes definitely add both context and weight to his tragic character arc). But I’d EASILY rank him above Egil, and I’d also argue that N without Future Redeemed is also a vastly better tragic villain than Jin without Torna.
I will however defend one aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I regularly see the game receive heavy criticism for: Its Rogues Gallery. Simply put, the Moebius mudders get a bad rap for being a major case of Quantity over Quality, it often being said that N is suffering from back pains due to Carrying the XB3 villains so hard. Personally, I consider this quite unfair, as I’d say that Xenoblade 3 boasts at least 4 genuinely good major villains: Mr. Wild Ride/Consul D, Consul J, Starving Artist (code name given by me) and course, N.
Now, Wild Ride is obviously a Metal Face Wannabe, but is that really such a bad thing? Metal Face is easily one of the best Xenoblade villains ever, a PERFECT “love to hate him”-type of bad guy. Wild Ride isn’t *quite* as good, not as effective or important of a villain, nor with as strong of a connection to the main party as the Faced Mechon had (Shulk, Dunban and Melia all had extremely good reasons to hate Metal Face, while in XB3, only Eunie truly had unfinished business with the Moebius, due to him killing her in a past life). Still, he’s a lot of fun, being a sadistic asshole with a taste for theatrics, and he makes one hell of an impact in Chapter 1. I’d even argue that he gets a better death than Metal Face, due to Shulk acting like such a retard during their final encounter. Overall, if Metal Face is a 10, Wild Ride is still at least an 8.
While Wild Ride is 100% despicable and without depth (not a criticism, it’s the type of villain he was meant to be), Consul J and Starving Artist are both much more sympathetic, and superficially very similar villains, being two people who betrayed those close to them because their lives sucked, and Moebius offered them power and importance. That said, I find the subtle differences between them are quite interesting: J was just a born loser, whose life as a Kevesi soldier always ended in an early and miserable death, and who could only look up to his much more talented friends, never soar in the sky with them. To him, becoming Moebius was his chance to finally become somebody who mattered, someone who could surpass his old friends. Starving Artist on the other hand actually WAS genuinely talented, but she was never able to realize her true potential, as life got away from her and she was forced to abandon her true calling. For her, becoming Moebius was essentially a do-over at life – and she’s able to rationalize that the Moebius regime isn’t so bad anyway, because the soldiers of Aionios get infinite chances at life, unlike the free people of the City:
“The best world for us...
is a world that at least gives us another go!
We fail, we try again!
We might do even better next time round!”
Both these characters commit genuinely evil, arguably unforgivable acts – but also get the chance do give really heartfelt monologues explaining their plight, and their motives for becoming Moebius. So perhaps it’s unsurprising that they’re extremely divisive villains, with some people having nothing but contempt for them, while others strongly empathize and even identify with them. Whichever side you’re on, they’re villains who tend to provoke a powerful emotional response, which makes them very successful in my book.
Then there’s N, easily Xenoblade 3’s greatest villain, and one of the standouts in the series. Part of the brilliance of this character, and what for me puts him above other Fallen Heroes like Egil and pre-Torna Jin is that due to him actually being Noah, you’re already emotionally invested in the character just from learning who he really is. And similarly, you’re already “sold” on his relationship with M because of your emotional investment in Noah and Mio’s relationship. That said, the character writing for N doesn’t use this as a crutch, and N’s Chapter 6 backstory is incredibly effective at making you empathize with a character who came across as a heartless monster less than an hour earlier. Jin’s Chapter 8 flashback of Lora was cute, but it wasn’t until the Torna DLC prequel that you TRULY understood why this once-kind and gentle man would want to burn the world down because of one woman – with N, it’s almost impossible to not on some level understand his fateful choice, even while recognizing that it was wrong.
N is a genuinely well-written and multi-layered character. Take one example: His relentlessly cruel and sadistic treatment of Noah in Chapter 5. If you’d been paying attention to him prior to that point, you’d have noticed that N actually seemed notably more honorable and moral than other Moebius, who’d gleefully laugh at the sight of Kevesi and Agnian soldiers slaughtering each other. N however openly disapproved of such behavior. So why did he act like he did towards Noah of all people? Because Noah represented a rejection of N's own choices, he was a living refutation of the righteousness of N's Endless Now. If Noah is right, N is wrong. And N *really* can't afford to be wrong, given all he did to achieve his goal. N already lives with tremendous guilt about what he has done, guilt which is dramatically exacerbated by Noah's very existence. Only by ensuring that Noah dies the most ignominious death possible, drowning in despair, can N prove Noah's path wrong, validate his own choice, and (hopefully) find peace.
I might still overall prefer Jin to N, because holy shit, does Torna do wonders for Jin’s character (Jin is arguably the main character of that entire story), while Future Redeemed does a lot less for N overall (though a couple of key scenes definitely add both context and weight to his tragic character arc). But I’d EASILY rank him above Egil, and I’d also argue that N without Future Redeemed is also a vastly better tragic villain than Jin without Torna.