Episode 115 - Optimal Mastication - Xenoblade Chronicles

This is the strongest podcast ever built! Welcome back to the
podcast! Today, we’re going to be talking about another expansive
JRPG in the form of Xenoblade Chronicles. A series that debuted on
the Wii, and took off, like several before it, due to its
protagonist being included in Super Smash Bros., Xenoblade is an
RPG with a subgenre that is really tricky to pin down. The
overarching game, with its characters and story, feels like a
traditional epic JRPG in the same way that a Final Fantasy game
does, but its mechanics between combat and its quest system feel
ripped straight out of a more Western MMO. With an emphasis on
cooldown management and positioning based attacks, there isn’t much
like it in the single-player realm of the genre, though the staple
classes of Tank/DPS/Healer are all present here. That isn’t to say
there isn’t room for experimentation, and the depth present in the
game’s systems are arguably one of the most engaging parts of
playing this. And if you aren’t here for the mechanical depth and
number crunching, the game makes a pretty significant impression
aesthetically as well. With an emphasis on huge vistas (which also
translate into a large overall world map) and a soundtrack that
kicks way more ass than you would expect, it doesn’t really pull
its punches in this area either. Obviously the game has its flaws,
and it’s been polarizing if public opinion can be believed, but
it’s definitely worth checking out if only for the couple of things
it does absolutely incredibly well. We’re going to be talking about
the mechanical interactions the game almost hides away behind a
probably-too-strong protagonist character, how the game’s emphasis
on character plays into it both narratively and mechanically in an
extremely satisfying way, and we pitch the movie that the expansion
should have been and cast the really underutilized Composite Jason
Alexander. Thank you for listening this week! We have been (read:
Chad has been) putting off playing this game for a while due to
just how long it is, but it was surprisingly easy to sink into the
game once it started. What side of the “love it or hate it”
spectrum do you fall on? Did Sharla’s incredibly stupid costume
design and weird posture make you quit playing this game the second
she appeared on screen? Let us know over in our Discord or in the
comments! Next time, prepare to have your dark soul filled with
light, because we’re going to be playing Devil May Cry (the first
one), so we hope you’ll join us for that!