u/Atr-D

https://x.com/FE\_Shadows\_EN/status/2077649437229473877

When Star Fox for Switch 2 was initially revealed, we finally got a detailed map that showcased the orbiting paths for all the locations in Star Fox 64. In that reveal, we learned that Corneria, Solar, and Venom orbit the star Lylat while Macbeth, Katina, Zoness, Aquas, Titania, and Fichina (in that order) orbit the star Solar.

With the game now out, the holoviewer reveals that Venom is actually “the outermost planet in the Lylat System.” That’s significant information because it now puts a cap on how many planets there could potentially be within the system itself. Corneria is still listed as “the fourth planet in the Lylat System,” so unless there’s an additional Solar-like companion star we don’t know about with its own set of planets, the Lylat System seemingly only has room for three more planets.

If the remaining three planets are ones that have appeared in previous games, then that would mean Sauria, Fortuna, and Eladard would be the three. Then again, it’s also possible that the lore will be completely changed to where the three planets before Corneria are completely new. Still, it’s fun to think about us potentially seeing the entire Lylat System, so I’d like to consider the possibility of past planets returning.

Previously Used Planets

Fortuna and Sauria are the planets that have the best chance to return since they have appeared in multiple titles with consistent depictions. Fortuna is usually depicted as a jungle planet with crazy creatures, and Sauria is the Dinosaur Planet. Most fans want Krystal to return in some way, so including Sauria seems like a no-brainer. Even though Krystal the character isn’t from Sauria, the planet of Sauria is so intrinsically connected to Krystal from a meta perspective.

Velan Studios has shown from their lore bits and Easter eggs in the new game that they know the franchise in and out, so they would know everything about Star Fox Adventures and its developmental history as Dinosaur Planet. They almost certainly know how popular Krystal is among the fandom, so I feel like Sauria is the most likely possibility for a returning planet in the Lylat System. On the other hand, it’s possible that they retcon its location to be outside the Lylat System, but either way, I do think Sauria will exist in some form.

Eladard has the least likely chance of returning since it was only seen in Star Fox 2, a game that was cancelled for SNES and only officially released in 2017 for SNES Classic. More importantly, the planets in Star Fox 2 had wildly different depictions that don’t match how they look in the other games (Macbeth being lava-based, Venom being green with planet life, Fortuna being an ocean planet, etc.), so Eladard in a future game could be completely different from the wasteland-type planet we saw in Star Fox 2. Then again, Eladard having such little pre-established history could actually work in its favor since it would give Velan Studios the most creative flexibility to build their own unique planet from scratch.

Using Solar as a Basis

Maybe we could use the planets of Solar as a basis for how the Lylat planets will be arranged. When it comes to planets that directly orbit Lylat, Corneria and Venom are the 4th and 5th planets, respectively. As for planets that orbit Solar, its 4th and 5th planets are Aquas and Titania, respectively. Aquas is said to have a “temperate climate,” which matches how Corneria is described, and Titania is an inhospitable wasteland similar to how Venom is a place no one wants to live in.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd planets of Solar are Macbeth, Katina, and Zoness, respectively. Macbeth is a rock planet, Katina is described as having a “semiarid climate,” and Zoness is a tropical planet that used to be a vacation destination before Andross’s forces polluted it. Essentially, Solar’s first three planets are a rock biome, semiarid biome, and tropical biome.

If we assume that the first three planets of the Lylat System are ones we’ve seen before, then perhaps the three planets in order are Eladard, Sauria, and Fortuna. Sauria’s a bit of a stretch for “semiarid” since we mainly think of the jungles in Star Fox Adventures, but that game had diverse climates, so I think there’s enough wiggle room to fit my theory.

Anyways, what do you all think the Lylat System looks like outside of what we’ve seen in Star Fox (2026)?

Depending on whomever you ask, Chapter 13 of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition either gave meaning to the whole story or murdered your childhood memories. I definitely lean more towards the former as I always thought the original game’s story and lore were pretty boring, so the heavy character focus in Chapter 13 was a breath of fresh air.

I’ve seen this prevailing opinion on the internet (or certain corners of the internet) that Elma got shafted in Chapter 13 or that Al steals her spotlight in the narrative. Of all of the critiques people have about Chapter 13, this is the one that baffles and confuses me the most.

I can understand if people were thrown off by the different pacing and storytelling style of Chapter 13 compared to the rest of the game. Chapter 13 leans more towards a numbered Xenoblade or Xenosaga style of cinematic storytelling, and the cutscenes in the first 12 chapters are more or less mission briefings where you freely move the camera around during exposition.

If you got whiplash from the shift in pacing and cinematography, that’s understandable; however, to act like Elma’s character got shafted or reduced in Chapter 13 completely glosses over how barebones her character was in the original story.

Elma in the Original Story Had No Growth or Narrative Focus

People always say that Elma is the true protagonist of XCX, but that’s a very misleading statement because Elma as a character does not change internally or shape the world around her. Even if Cross/Ryan didn’t exist in the narrative, Elma wouldn’t suddenly become as narratively engaging as Shulk, Rex, or Noah. She’s only the protagonist in the sense that your avatar is around her the most.

For all intents and purposes, Elma is one part of an ensemble cast in a Hollywood disaster flick. In those types of movies, the characters are often simple archetypes with not much depth. Sure, Elma has a badass design and is visually appealing, but as a character, her main function is being “your boss.” XCX has a reactive story, so your main cast reacts to the plot but doesn’t showcase how they cope. For example, we’re told in Chapter 11 that Irina has been acting reckless and suicidal, but we never see her address or resolve those feelings.

If this were one of the mainline games, we’d have cutscenes of Irina reliving the trauma of losing her brother, Doug having his faith in Lao tested, or Elma feeling insecure about her identity as a xeno. In the original story, we get a scene in Chapter 9 where Elma and Doug argue about Lao possibly being a traitor, but that’s one of the few times in which we see other BLADE members interact with each other without Cross in the room.

Chapter 12 finally starts showcasing more layers to Elma when she reveals the tough decisions made to preserve humanity, and her reveal as an alien is an interesting catalyst to narrative arc, but then the game’s immediately over. If the earlier scenes in the game had focused more on Elma’s feelings towards humanity and fears of being accepted, she’d actually feel like a protagonist instead just feeling like your boss.

When I played Chapter 13 for the first time and saw Elma acting emotionally vulnerable in front of Al, I was texting my friend about the new focus on Elma and Lin as people, and he texted back, “I like how [Chapter 13] made them actual characters.” That was just in Act 1 of Chapter 13, yet I was already more invested in Elma from that one act than I ever was in the original story. Besides the change in writing style, another huge change that boosted my investment in the characters is the improved cinematography.

Cinematography

In the original game, almost every scene is from Cross’s perspective, so very few moments in the game showcase a character self-reflecting. As a result, you don’t get many scenes that focus on how a character is feeling, but what makes the cutscenes in XCX feel even more dry is that the cinematography doesn’t enhance the experience.

In the other Xenoblade games, the cinematography allows us to feel how others are experiencing the world. When Shulk gets his first visions and begins dodging the Mechon, the camera follows his movements to emphasize his surreal experience. When Rex looks at Jin, the camera is zoomed in on Jin’s face to emphasize his depression and emptiness. When Isurd confronts Taion, Taion is shown from a high angle to emphasize how emotionally vulnerable he is.

My issue with the cinematography in XCX is that dialogue scenes are visually and emotionally flat. One of the few scenes I can think of where the cinematography complements the emotion is the low angle of Murderess looking to the sky thinking of her parents during her final Affinity Mission. Other than that, scenes mostly consist of medium or wide shots from an eye-level angle, and the camera is mostly static with very few notable tilts or pans.

In Chapter 13, the camera angles are much more dynamic and make me feel like I’m in the characters’ shoes. When Elma has an emotional talk with Al in front of the Ares, we have multiple close-ups of their faces at different angles depending on the context. Elma’s face is shown at a low angle when reliving her regret (showing how a strong leader can still be vulnerable), and the camera uses over-the-shoulder shots when Elma and Al face each other to showcase how tense but close their relationship is.

When the Ares during the final boss fight releases the souls of the dead, the camera follows the various souls/lights flying around everyone. I love the close-up of Doug smirking and saying, “Yeah… I hear you,” while the camera tilts up. Doug isn’t even that engaging of a character, yet the cinematography alone made me empathize with him. The camera follows the lights as Irina looks back at her brother, Leon, and the camera circles around Gwin as he talks to what is presumably Leon. When Lao speaks to Lin, the camera follows his light looking down at Lin.

More importantly, Chapter 13 heavily cuts down on the “free camera” scenes in the original game. The cutscenes have actual direction and aren’t just dialogue with no care for visuals. While some parts still have the free camera (like when activating the spears in Volitaris), they’re usually mixed with fixed-camera cutscenes so that the whole interaction doesn’t feel irrelevant.

Elma Becomes an Emotional Focus

None of this to say that Elma suddenly has the same amount of writing depth as Shulk, Rex, or Noah, but Elma at the very least feels like someone we can empathize with. We get dedicated cutscenes where Elma feels sad or regretful about her past actions. The cinematography even focuses on her to emphasize her emotions.

My favorite scene of hers is in Act 3 of Chapter 13 when she gives a big speech to BLADE before they head to Volitaris. If Al supposedly stole Elma’s spotlight as much as people claim, then he would’ve been the one making this speech as the “lone hero,” but just before the speech, Al himself gives Elma words of encouragement and acknowledges that it’s not his place to speak:

Al: “My bad, Princess. They're making you do what probably should've been my job. Still, you made BLADE what it is today. That's a fact. They answer to you now. It's your voice they gotta hear.”

To me, Elma’s speech cemented her as the emotional center of the narrative (and definitely of Chapter 13’s narrative). I won’t post the whole speech as it’s very long, but the beginning of the speech gets my point across:

Elma: (to everyone) “I am not originally a creature of Earth. I'm just a refugee. Someone who washed up there, after losing my home. And yet... your Earth accepted me with all the compassion of a place your people rightly call their mother. That compassion... It lives on in the hearts of everyone here, who owe their lives to Earth. It is... the love that saved me.”

The only way I can possibly see Al “hijacking” Elma’s story is if you just hate Al in general and think every line of his is real estate taken from Elma. Honestly, that mindset is very narrow-minded and is no different from Nintendo fans who hate Xenoblade and Fire Emblem because they supposedly “take resources away” from other games (which isn’t true at all).

Brief “Gary Stu” Debunking

I don’t want to turn this into an Al post, so I’ll briefly address this critique: Anyone who calls Al a Mary Sue or Gary Stu doesn’t know what that term means. Al is in no way infallible, and he doesn’t become the primary focus of the narrative. He’s an ace pilot, but he’s fairly reckless and arrogant—which is why he not only went missing the first time around but also gets his ass kicked by Void multiple times. His relevance to the plot is mostly biological since he’s the only human with a flesh body.

His role as a character is to emotionally support Elma, Lin, and Cross. He’s essentially the XCX version of Addam from Torna. If he’s such a Gary Stu that can do no wrong, why does he become a damsel that must be saved in the end? If he “steals” Elma’s narrative presence, why is Elma the one who gives the rallying speech about humanity?

Conclusion

In the original game, I never felt like this was “Elma’s story,” but Chapter 13 made me feel like this was Elma and Lin’s story. Hell, despite Cross having fewer dialogue choices in Chapter 13, Cross felt more important to the narrative in this chapter as they were the most devastated about Mira’s destruction. Chapter 13 followed what other Xenoblade games did by making the characters the focus.

Chapter 13 of XCX:DE made me care about Elma because the game allowed us to empathize with her. She has feelings, goals, insecurities, etc., and the cinematography complements and enhances her emotions.

I hope there are others out there who recognize that Elma was in no way “shafted” by Chapter 13. Chapter 13 gave her way more focus than in the original game, and it made me like her much more.

I guess you can say I’m “an Elma person” now.

I’m just finished Chapter 4 of Lost Judgment, and I’m loving the game; however, I’ve noticed some pretty glaring technical and visual errors that I’m shocked haven’t been fixed in a patch. I’m not talking about frame rate or weird Dragon Engine physics. I’m talking about blatant mistakes that include coding errors, visual inconsistencies, and incorrect text.

Haruko Cocktail Talk Error

The first picture is from the Girls’ Bar School Story. When doing the Cocktail Talk with Haruko, the one topic about skateboarding clearly intends for the answer to be, “I do skate all over town when I’m in a hurry.” The problem is that the game says this is incorrect. For some reason, the correct answer is, “I do skate all over people when I’m in a hurry.”

I was wondering if this was a translation error, but it clearly isn’t because this question has one unique quirk. When Yagami is at a drunkenness of 6 or above, the answers you’re given slightly change due to Yagami’s slurred speech, but now the answer to the question is correctly “all over town” instead of “all over people.” This is the only instance in the game where there’s a change in answer because none of the other girls (according to CyricZ’s guide) have this quirk.

Yagami Not Wearing Ninja Outfit

The next notable error involves the Side Case “Dueling Dojos,” which is the only case request in Kamurocho. In it, Yagami is supposed to be wearing a ninja outfit as a disguise in a rival dojo. You do have to manually put on the outfit as a disguise, but after you enter the dojo, Yagami is suddenly wearing his default outfit (like in the second picture). That alone is already weird, but when you switch back to gameplay (like the chase mission and the darts mission), Yagami is back in the ninja outfit, and then he’s back in his normal clothes for substory dialogue.

Incorrect Text

Another error I’ve noticed is the description for the Flashing Palm skill for Tiger Style. The skill mentions how you can break through enemy defenses with a Charge Attack while your health is full, but the button instructions say, “Hold [Square] after a [Triangle] attack,” even though it should be the other way around. I was wondering for so long why I couldn’t get this skill to work until I looked online and realized it was incorrect.

Another text error I remember happened during the Skaters School Story. During a conversation with Amasawa’s former advisor named Iemori, Yagami at one point calls her “Iemura,” which was clearly a typo and not intentional. So far, that’s the only notable misspelling I remember off the top of my head, but it also fits into the same category of incorrect text as the botched skill description.

Case File Details Spoiling Events

One consistent thing I’ve noticed is that the Case File in your pause menu consistently spoils events that haven’t happened yet, most prominently in Side Case summaries. It seems to often be one event ahead of the player.

For example, during the Side Case “Trying the Patience of a Saint” (the one with the teacher Ebisu-sensei that has a wild temper), Amasawa asked me to meet with her so that she could tell me more about him. I went to the Side Cases menu to check on other cases, but when I skimmed through this case, the Details section spoiled me on how Ebisu is a former wrestler with a bad temper despite Amasawa not telling me this yet.

Why This Game?

Of course, all games have typos or errors if you really look hard for them, but I’ve seen more obvious mistakes in this game than I saw in the previous Yakuza games. Even Yakuza: Like a Dragon (the game before Lost Judgment) is more consistent in giving characters the correct outfit despite their outfits constantly changing for battles due to the job system (and Ichiban’s wild imagination).

I understand that RGG Studio pumps out these games on an annual basis nowadays, which is very unsustainable and came to a head with Yakuza Kiwami 3. Even so, I wonder how mistakes as obvious as the ones I mentioned never got fixed despite fans noticing them back in 2021.

Is this a case of RGG and Sega having worse quality assurance over time? Is it merely a PS5 issue? Do the later games have similar errors to Lost Judgment?

To be clear, this doesn’t ruin the game for me. I’m just confused as to how these weren’t caught by RGG.

Hi, Star Fox community. I just finished playing the original Star Fox through SNES Classics on my Switch. Since I don’t have the NSO Expansion Pack, I can’t play Star Fox 64, so I thought I’d try out the groundbreaking first game on SNES.

With the new Switch 2 game coming out in June, I decided to finally dabble in this series by playing one of the classic entries. It took about 5 runs over 3.5 hours to beat Level 1, but I had a good time with this game.

My Curiosity

Normally, I’m an RPG guy since my favorite Nintendo series are Xenoblade Chronicles and Fire Emblem, but Star Fox is something I always kept my eye on for years due to its weird yet fascinating development history. Plus, I watch plenty of content creators who like Star Fox.

Despite Star Fox 64 selling 4 million units—which is more than the highest-selling Metroid, Pikmin, or Xenoblade game—the series never found any consistent success after that one game. Usually, people talk about Star Fox among “dead” franchises like F-Zero or Kid Icarus, but none of those series had a game as commercially successful as Star Fox 64.

A joke I’ve seen is that Star Fox is the video game equivalent of “peaked in high school.” The series peaked in 1997 with 4 million units sold only to fail to recapture that glory in the ensuing decades.

Of the 4 games to sell at least 1 million units—Star Fox 64 (4 mil), Star Fox (SNES) (2.99 mil), Star Fox Adventures (1.82 mil), & Star Fox 64 3D (1.07 mil)—3 of the 4 are some version of the Lylat Wars, and Adventures sold 1.82 million because it came directly after Star Fox 64. It’s crazy how much *64* overshadows everything.

My Experience

Star Fox on SNES is such a technical marvel for attempting early 3D graphics. It does run into frame rate issues on Venom, but it’s more than understandable since it was a revolutionary attempt at 3D on 2D hardware. It’s funny how the basic polygons are what gave the Arwing its iconic design that has stuck for 30+ years.

While it took several runs to get to the end, I can see the arcade appeal of the series—playing through levels multiple times to become more efficient. I normally dislike shooters (both first-person and third-person), but rail shooters are very different from typical shooters since I don’t have to worry about 3D movement or any precise aiming inputs you’d normally see in a Call of Duty.

My only experience with rail shooters has been through minigames in the Yakuza series: the spearfishing minigame in Yakuza 6, Space Harrier at the in-game SEGA arcades, and the House of the Dead parody arcade game called Kamuro of the Dead.

As a complete newbie to rail shooters that aren’t minigames in Yakuza, I played Level 1. In my 1st run, I died at Stage 2 (Asteroid). In my 2nd run, I died at Stage 4 (Meteor). I was so close to defeating Andross on my 3rd run until I got a Game Over after using up my 2 credits (continues).

To my shame, I didn’t realize until the 4th run that you had to tap the shoulder buttons twice to do the iconic barrel roll, which lets you survive enemy lasers. When I simply pressed L or R in earlier runs, it only let me do sharp turns, so that was how I thought the game wanted me to dodge attacks. Basically, I got to Andross on the 8th life (out of 9) by pure dodging with no barrel rolls. Honestly, I’m proud of myself for making it that far considering the circumstances.

Unfortunately, I did worse in my 4th run and died to the boss before Andross, but my 5th run was the god run where I only died twice. That 5th run was also when I finally learned about 1-Ups. After accidentally getting an extra life without knowing how, I looked online for the game’s manual and learned about the 3 floating triangular objects you need to shoot to spawn a 1-Up.

I’m glad the game is as short as it needs to be since it’s pretty hard for newcomers. Considering the new game will have cutscenes between stages, I’m extremely glad it will have unlimited continues in Normal. Accessibility options are always a good thing to reach a wider audience.

Finally, I want to praise the music by Hajime Hirasawa. It’s unfortunate he never composed another game after this one, but his Corneria theme is amazing. I love the synth-driven aesthetic of this OST as it gives the game a futuristic action atmosphere.

My Hopes

While I may not have played Star Fox 64 quite yet, I can tell just through Star Fox (SNES) that this series has a neat appeal. Furry sci-fi is a cool aesthetic, and there’s so much potential for these games to have a gripping narrative in addition to the rail shooter gameplay.

While Star Fox 64 may get all the attention, Star Fox (SNES) is still incredibly influential to this day. The new game on Switch 2 not only uses a similar logo to the SNES game but also redesigned the characters to resemble the puppets from the SNES cover art. As a Fire Emblem fan, I do hope the new *Star Fox* on Switch 2 becomes the breakout game for your franchise like how Awakening was for mine.

No Fire Emblem game ever sold a million units until Awakening sold 2.37 million, which not only saved the franchise from death but also increased its popularity to much higher levels than previously possible. Now, the best-selling game is Three Houses at 4.12 million units as of December 2022 (so probably much more now), and it has a mobile gacha game in Heroes that has earned over 1 billion USD in revenue.

With Fox appearing in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and having a new game coming out, I’m rooting for you all to see your beloved franchise enjoy the success that should’ve come 20 to 30 years ago. If the first movie was the launching pad for a Donkey Kong revival, then perhaps the second movie will be the launching pad for a Star Fox revival.

I love that the new game will have cinematic cutscenes. I’m used to that in Xenoblade and Fire Emblem, so it’s about time Star Fox got that treatment. Plus, we need a sequel to see Krystal in 4K.