u/Slaveblade

Back in 2017, when this game came out, I hated it. It looked so off-putting, it looked so much of a step backwards, it looked... so bad to me. After Xenoblade 1, this felt like a HUGE setback to me.

The seeming reliance of 'conventionally attractive characters', the much more anime style humor, it all felt so off to me that I just left this game and assumed the worst of it.

Come 2022, when Xenoblade 3 comes out, I loved the designs of that game and thought, "Oh, they're going back to what was good!" and so I really wanted to like that game. I played that before 2, and I DID like it at first but before too long, I started to just get bored of it, finishing it out of obligation. It felt hollow, uninteresting to me (Though to be sure, this isn't me saying it's objectively bad, I just didn't like it). So out of I guess spite, and just to make sure, I decided to go and watch all the cutscenes from Xenoblade 2.

And it genuinely surprised me, you know? There it was, the stuff I disliked, front and center because it's what I expected. I was ready for it. What I didn't expect was genuine respect for the writing that came after those parts. I watched more, liking the characters more and more and more, it was kind of surreal, hating and hating the game before only to grow fond of it suddenly.

It wasn't until I, on a whim with an amazon gift card this year, bought the game, brand new sealed copy. I started my file on June 12th of 2026, and just finished it on July 4th of 2026, clocked in 133 hours total played as of the ending. I loved it.

I loved virtually every second of it. I don't love every single attempt at humor but there were amazing characters. Rex was good, Pyra and Mythra are beloved to me now. Tora started bad for me but even he became decent by just adding in a few twists to the character that weren't reliant on "Haha he's a pervert for robo maid Poppi!" And POPPI was excellent, such a well delivered character. Zeke was a wonderfully fleshed out man, Morag was just such a grounded character. The villains/antagonists themselves had actual points to their stances, even if a bit melodramatic and exaggerated at times.

But that ending. I am still... upset over it. In a fantastically good way. It's up to interpretation, to be sure, but I feel so god damn strongly of what was said. I have firmly fallen in love with the game, the journey, the characters.

It actually almost feels like me hating it for 9 years was on brand, given some of the games themes. Holding onto bad memories, giving into hatred excessively, but somehow finding a way to break through. And I'm so glad I did. So many sleepless nights, so many tears shed playing this game, the way it expresses such complex and profound emotional deliveries has struck so many chords with me, and I'm so grateful.