Christi Junior on Nostr: 4/8 The nerf to the Fanservice is the aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I find the least ...
4/8
The nerf to the Fanservice is the aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I find the least defensible, especially given the success of Xenoblade 2. Now, the problem isn’t the canon outfits of the female party members being modest – this fits with the overall darker, more serious tone of this game, and the outfits themselves are hardly burkas – Sena shows some serious tummy, while Eunie’s tight pants hug her butt beautifully. No, the issue is that while Xenoblade 1 and X let us extensively customize our characters’ outfits, INCLUDING letting us strip female characters down to their underwear, XB3’s clothing customization options are FAR more restrictive. Sure, Xenoblade 2 also had almost no non-DLC outfit customization options, but there the likes of Pyra, Mythra and Brighid already came in canon fanservice outfits, as well as boasting phenomenal, boobalicious bodies. And let’s not even get into the jiggle physics of Rare Blades like Vale and Perun.
So essentially, Xenoblade 3 is the worst of both worlds – combining the lack of fanservice story outfits in 1 and X with Xenoblade 2’s crappy outfit customization options (the outfit-changing options are a lot better than in non-DLC XB2, but still way worse than in XB1 or X). None of the female party members are even all that busty, which definitely seems like Monolith Soft and Saito getting spooked by the retarded SJW whining about Pyra. And of course, despite various fags and leftists praising this change in direction and insisting that it would help Xenoblade achieve far greater mainstream popularity (“now I can finally play Xenoblade in public!” was a typical soy-drenched cuck talking point), Xenoblade 3 predictably didn’t even come close to selling as much as its predecessor, whose big-titty Best Girl had supposedly scared off countless potential buyers. Monolith Soft and Nintendo were fucking stupid and cowardly falling for obvious lies and propaganda like this.
In fairness, Xenoblade 3 certainly isn’t completely devoid of fanservice – in terms of cute girls it’s comparable to Xenoblade 1, and better than X (Eunie is a Top 5 Xenoblade female character design to me). Hell, plenty of random female NPCs are way cuter than pretty much any girl you’ll see in a modern Western AAA game. Also, while none of the main party girls are stacked, Ethel puts even Pyra to shame when it comes to cup size – and interestingly, Lolibros are eating surprisingly well: Not only are there are actual Loli Heroes like Fiona and Segiri (the former being considered the best Hero in the whole game!), but major characters like Ghondor, Shania and of course Sena are REMARKABLY petite. Hilariously, these girls are also all *exactly* 18 years old, definitely to conform to those pesky Global Standards, but in this case I see nothing wrong with that – indeed, knowing that they’ll probably never grow any taller just means that there will never come a time where you can no longer go all IMAGINE with them. It doesn’t hurt that at least one of the aforementioned girls really deserves some rough treatment (but not Sena, she is a sweetie).
…on second thought, maybe the petite platoon all being legal-age wasn’t a Global Standards thing after all, because during one Hero Quest this game also randomly drops the bomb that this one extremely breedable female character is only the equivalent of 15 years old, which everyone finds shocking. Not that it should matter since she’s fictional (and generally quite mature, not just physically), but still, I doubt that kind of Jailbait Propaganda gives you a lot of DIE points.
Overall though, Xenoblade 3 is a massive downgrade for the Xenoblade series in terms of fanservice, going from being one of the best mainstream JRPGs in this regard to arguably one of the weaker ones: it definitely compares unfavorably to something like Persona 5, and barely beats out Dragon Quest XI. The DLC was especially disappointing – Eunie’s bikini bottom coming with a cloth that covers her ass is CRIMINAL, as is the butchery of the Brighid DLC outfit so that it now shows WAY less skin, which really sums up how much Xenoblade 3 has Regressed from the glory days of Xenoblade 2.
There are other issues too – the sheer number of Strong Female Leaders, some of them with markedly diffident male lieutenants, is notable, though ultimately I didn’t really find it overbearing or distracting – I don’t recall any Persona 5-style feminist preaching, and there are plenty of strong and admirable male characters too. Additionally, one of the game’s most notable POSITIVE aspects makes it hard for me to really fault its handling of female characters. There have also on Fedi been various objections to different localization changes and instances of “Reddit Speak” (including various Aionios-specific euphemisms and PG swear swords), but I honestly found the writing less distracting, and certainly less objectionable, than the overwhelmingly anachronistic language in modern Fire Emblem games. Moderate forms of fagspeak, like frequently using the word “partner” over husband or wife, are however quite common, and the overuse of singular they is pretty bad (though not quite as bad as in modern Fire Emblem).
This all being said, I feel that I’ve by now given an unironically fair and balanced assessment of Xenoblade 3’s Based Morality negatives, and why I feel they warrant a -2 score.
The nerf to the Fanservice is the aspect of Xenoblade 3 that I find the least defensible, especially given the success of Xenoblade 2. Now, the problem isn’t the canon outfits of the female party members being modest – this fits with the overall darker, more serious tone of this game, and the outfits themselves are hardly burkas – Sena shows some serious tummy, while Eunie’s tight pants hug her butt beautifully. No, the issue is that while Xenoblade 1 and X let us extensively customize our characters’ outfits, INCLUDING letting us strip female characters down to their underwear, XB3’s clothing customization options are FAR more restrictive. Sure, Xenoblade 2 also had almost no non-DLC outfit customization options, but there the likes of Pyra, Mythra and Brighid already came in canon fanservice outfits, as well as boasting phenomenal, boobalicious bodies. And let’s not even get into the jiggle physics of Rare Blades like Vale and Perun.
So essentially, Xenoblade 3 is the worst of both worlds – combining the lack of fanservice story outfits in 1 and X with Xenoblade 2’s crappy outfit customization options (the outfit-changing options are a lot better than in non-DLC XB2, but still way worse than in XB1 or X). None of the female party members are even all that busty, which definitely seems like Monolith Soft and Saito getting spooked by the retarded SJW whining about Pyra. And of course, despite various fags and leftists praising this change in direction and insisting that it would help Xenoblade achieve far greater mainstream popularity (“now I can finally play Xenoblade in public!” was a typical soy-drenched cuck talking point), Xenoblade 3 predictably didn’t even come close to selling as much as its predecessor, whose big-titty Best Girl had supposedly scared off countless potential buyers. Monolith Soft and Nintendo were fucking stupid and cowardly falling for obvious lies and propaganda like this.
In fairness, Xenoblade 3 certainly isn’t completely devoid of fanservice – in terms of cute girls it’s comparable to Xenoblade 1, and better than X (Eunie is a Top 5 Xenoblade female character design to me). Hell, plenty of random female NPCs are way cuter than pretty much any girl you’ll see in a modern Western AAA game. Also, while none of the main party girls are stacked, Ethel puts even Pyra to shame when it comes to cup size – and interestingly, Lolibros are eating surprisingly well: Not only are there are actual Loli Heroes like Fiona and Segiri (the former being considered the best Hero in the whole game!), but major characters like Ghondor, Shania and of course Sena are REMARKABLY petite. Hilariously, these girls are also all *exactly* 18 years old, definitely to conform to those pesky Global Standards, but in this case I see nothing wrong with that – indeed, knowing that they’ll probably never grow any taller just means that there will never come a time where you can no longer go all IMAGINE with them. It doesn’t hurt that at least one of the aforementioned girls really deserves some rough treatment (but not Sena, she is a sweetie).
…on second thought, maybe the petite platoon all being legal-age wasn’t a Global Standards thing after all, because during one Hero Quest this game also randomly drops the bomb that this one extremely breedable female character is only the equivalent of 15 years old, which everyone finds shocking. Not that it should matter since she’s fictional (and generally quite mature, not just physically), but still, I doubt that kind of Jailbait Propaganda gives you a lot of DIE points.
Overall though, Xenoblade 3 is a massive downgrade for the Xenoblade series in terms of fanservice, going from being one of the best mainstream JRPGs in this regard to arguably one of the weaker ones: it definitely compares unfavorably to something like Persona 5, and barely beats out Dragon Quest XI. The DLC was especially disappointing – Eunie’s bikini bottom coming with a cloth that covers her ass is CRIMINAL, as is the butchery of the Brighid DLC outfit so that it now shows WAY less skin, which really sums up how much Xenoblade 3 has Regressed from the glory days of Xenoblade 2.
There are other issues too – the sheer number of Strong Female Leaders, some of them with markedly diffident male lieutenants, is notable, though ultimately I didn’t really find it overbearing or distracting – I don’t recall any Persona 5-style feminist preaching, and there are plenty of strong and admirable male characters too. Additionally, one of the game’s most notable POSITIVE aspects makes it hard for me to really fault its handling of female characters. There have also on Fedi been various objections to different localization changes and instances of “Reddit Speak” (including various Aionios-specific euphemisms and PG swear swords), but I honestly found the writing less distracting, and certainly less objectionable, than the overwhelmingly anachronistic language in modern Fire Emblem games. Moderate forms of fagspeak, like frequently using the word “partner” over husband or wife, are however quite common, and the overuse of singular they is pretty bad (though not quite as bad as in modern Fire Emblem).
This all being said, I feel that I’ve by now given an unironically fair and balanced assessment of Xenoblade 3’s Based Morality negatives, and why I feel they warrant a -2 score.