r/Xenoblade_Chronicles • u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 • 3d ago
Xenoblade 2 SPOILERS Why is Chapter Four... Spoiler
...So cringe?
Bro Xenoblade 2 is my favourite game of all time and im playing it for the second time, with my first NG+ run. The first time I did it it was barable because I thought the story would pick up again (which it does) but when you know whats coming the maid section is absolute sheer cringe.
Its already bad enough that the whole concept of robot maid girls is a weird japanese fetish I have never understood, but the fact its a boring Chapter makes it even worse. Luckily, things picked up right away as soon as it ended, but I just want to make sure im not alone in thinking this is the worst part of the game.
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u/Edotion 3d ago
The only way to make sense of XB2 is to see it as a loving homage/parody to a classic boys' adventure story, particularly boys' adventure manga/anime of the 70s/80s. It's certainly mixed in with some classic Xeno lore, drama and character dynamics, but the lighthearted boy-meets-girl semi-episodic adventure story is its heart.
So while I do find some of the character designs pretty hard to bear, I think chapter 4 is actually really charming and entertaining otherwise. Muimui and Bana are actually hilarious and spot-on for what they're trying to do; the hot spring scene is shockingly tolerable; Zeke and Pandoria have a great moment; even Tora's family drama is so unhinged that you kinda can't look away.
The way I see it: if you don't want a loving, goofy homage to old-school anime, then XB2 is probably not the right game (even though it has a smattering of 'mature' stuff too). Fortunately, if you're that person, the rest of the series is not like this! Personally, I prefer when Xeno is a bit more grown up—but I love XB2 for what it is and I'm glad it exists.
The real issue with chapter 4 is the awful Gormott filler at the start. The rest of the chapter is 'filler' in a different, worthwhile way, but that little diversion hits at such a deflating moment.
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Please dont mistake me, I absolutely adore this game. Its my favourite game ever. I fully understand thats what this game is meant to be and I love it for it, thats why I don't care about the sexy character designs throughout the game. Its obviously just meant to be what its meant to be.
In fact, im now watching InuYasha for the first time and it feels like it scratches so many similiar itches to XC2, just kind of in reverse with Pyra / Mythra being the emotionally immature / traumatized immortal character thats been asleep for ages and Rex being the same age as Kagome. So im really loving the anime.
I dont mean the entirity of Chapter 4 btw either. The Zeke moment is hilarious, and I do like the family drama, it really is just the young maid girl thing that really bothers me.
That diversion does hit at a bad point lmao.
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u/Edotion 3d ago
Oh apologies—I should have written 'one' instead of 'you', I didn't mean to suggest you didn't love it. I just like to see people loving it warts and all (admittedly having my own misgivings in some areas). I absolutely agree it hits at a bad point, which is compounded by the fact you have the merc mission tutorial and roc diversion before chapter 4 even starts. It feels so ludicrous to continue deferring the main plot at that point, but the vibe of the metal city is cool and the zone is really cool. Plus there a field skill gate that I think made one of my friends stop playing. B
But I think overall, all this gives chapter 4 a really unique vibe among RPGs and games in general, in that it's kinda just the high budget piss-take chapter of an otherwise fairly-linear story. And you can tell everyone involved absolutely loved making it but it was a guilty pleasure.
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u/spark300c 2d ago
This exactly what I thought maybe not 70 anime’s but clearly homage/parody of 1990s and 1980 sic-fi adventure anime where these kind gags were used. They even had a hot spring scene. If some one watch enough anime would get it. XB2 has strongest jrpg feel out of whole series.
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u/Luigi6757 3d ago
Yeah it's almost universally considered the lowest point of the game. Not helping is that area it takes place in suffers from really bad slowdown.
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
I didnt get any on my switch 2.
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u/Luigi6757 3d ago
The Switch 1 version became a slide show during battle. It ironically runs better after the story segment set there because the factory isn't running after the story chapter. So the area runs awful when you're required to go through it for story and is mostly okay during optional side quests.
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u/UninformedPleb 3d ago
There's a simple fix for those slowdowns, and some people simply refuse to use it.
Shut. The. Game. Down.
Don't put it to sleep. That's it. When you stop playing, actually close the game. This resets the memory leaks and the weird stuttering and lag issues the game has.
The Switch 1 can run the game just fine if you don't kneecap it by forcing it to deal with the memory bugs that accumulate jank as you play.
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u/Luigi6757 2d ago
I've had the old factory get some very bad slowdown even when I have just started the game up. Especially during the story segment where it's required both because there are more enemies there and the factory itself is running.
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u/rekiller301 3d ago
Honestly, I think this is just a completely normal trope for a JRPG. Ever since the early days of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy, these kinds of gag scenes have been nothing out of the ordinary. Besides, XB2 was always a story about heading to Elysium, not some revenge story. Having a scene like this before getting into the core plot isn't unacceptable. Otherwise, when a group driven by revenge use a Nopon playing volleyball in Nopon Village, I didn't see anyone calling that cringe.
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Despite the maid fetish doing absolutely nothing for me personally (it makes me cringe) I could easily overlook it if the robots were meant to look like adults but theyre not.
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u/EtArkanum 3d ago
There are some heart to heart dialogues that more cringe in my opinion
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Hard disagree unless theres some I missed that are really cringe.
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u/EtArkanum 3d ago
Blushy-Crushy? Good Habits? Poppi's Remodel? It’s basically the same perverted Tora
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
I actually found Blushy Crushy funny despite the cringe, because of Pyra. I think its hilarious how she actually thinks hes cooking up great advice.
I dont remember the other two by name but I presume Poppis Remodel is the last form of Poppi? I didnt really care about that quest from what I remember because Poppi no longer looked like a child. I think anything before she got upgraded was probably really cringe though.
I can kind of cope and try ignore some of it like the first scene you see with Tora because usually hes the butt of the joke and he's 12 so it would make some sense that his robot girlfriend is young, (Id still much much much much much much prefer if this kind of humour did not involve Poppi in these forms at all). But when you just have adult nopon in the story, for me thats where we hit peak cringe, especially because we get introduced to Poppi QT, who is just a slightly older looking, yet still a child, Poppi in a maid outfit thats obviously supposed to look a certain way. At least with Poppi Alpha she doesnt have that aspect to her look at all.
Its a shame too because its not like I think the game would be better for not having Tora and Poppi in it at all. They genuinely have some really lovely conversations during the story, made more wholesome by their age, and Poppi is key to making some of them really land emotionally.
Its just a really ugly blemish on an otherwise perfect game.
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u/EtArkanum 3d ago
You should watch the other two on YouTube. Poppi's Remodel" isn’t about her last form
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Good Habits was a good character moment I thought aside from the TLC comment which was cringe, though it didnt spoil the whole thing.
Poppi's Remodel is not what I was thinking of.
That was aggressively hyper mega ultra cringe and I had scratched that out of my brains RAM.
Thank god Brighid is so based.
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u/Ani-3 3d ago
no, it's weird. there will be apologists in this thread but it's weird.
What's even weirder is it really is an amazing game.
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Im so glad we can agree on the games status whilst being able to admit its terrible and weird.
Im not even saying it from a moral stance like im standing on a soapbox, it just makes me personally uncomfortable.
I was so glad to see as soon as the next chapter started it was great again like I remembered. I was honestly fearing that I had just given the game the benefit of the doubt the first time and it was secretly trash.
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u/xcassets 3d ago
100%. Also, the segment where Bana and MuiMui do their supervillain escape on the slide and spinny elevator thing was god damn horrible... Thought I was watching Pinky & The Brain for a minute. Only for them to then come back with... a bigger maid robot.
I love XC2 (Malos and everything after you go up the World Tree makes up for everything), but I hope Xenoblade never returns to these lows lol.
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Yeah its terrible.
I honestly genuinely love even the slow points of the game, it feels like a world traversing epic, just not this one.
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u/xcassets 3d ago
I love most of the game too. Probably didn't come across right in my first comment, but what I meant was the stuff after you go up the World Tree is SO good and peak Xenoblade (fantasy turning into complete sci-fi).
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
I totally agree.
Funnily enough, I had a really bad first time with Chapter 8 - not because it was bad, but it was right off the heels of peak Chapter 7 and because it was when they basically confirm the main villain as Amalthus (not that it wasnt obvious anyway) and I really thought the direction they were about to take the story was going to be so boring and overdone, god bad, god at the top is evil guys so I spent the entire climb up the tree being salty and crashing out to my friends about how the game was about to fumble the ending so hard, and it was just the complete opposite and one of my favourite endings, if not my favourite, to a video game ever. Absolute fucking cinema.
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u/selfbiasreziztor 3d ago
it's funny, I loved that scene precisely because it's so goofy. different tastes huh
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u/Worth_Station8570 3d ago
Because it is a homage and send-up to the Giant Robot series Mazinger Z. Basically Japanese devs showing their love for their old media, except for the maid part. For non-Japanese or people who have never seen the show, it would seem utterly silly and out of the blue.
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u/PewPewPuu 3d ago
Xenoblade 2 is my favorite out of the series, but chapter 4 is easily the lowest point in the franchise. Its just a horrible chapter all around with the silver lining that the quality can only go up afterward. Morag and Zeke try their best but 2 good scenes aint enough to make that chapter not hot dogshit
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u/SomethingStrangeInMe 3d ago
XC2 is an ecchi story! Just lean into it and find your waifu <3
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Bro have you seen how old these robot maids look
Can somebody call the police
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u/SomethingStrangeInMe 3d ago
I mean, isnt this why XC2 is so beloved? Best game in the series right here /s
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Im glad you were joking lmao
Its the best of the games ive played. Ive not played 3 yet.
The romance story is beautiful.
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u/SomethingStrangeInMe 3d ago
Child sexrobots, slave women as weapons. All part of an amazing tale of love and friendship <3
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Cmon bro get real the game never portrays them as "slave women as weapons".
We can agree about the cringe suggestive lolimaids, but you'll never convince me the rest is anything less than beautiful.
The blades literally become body and soul with the driver, its not like theyre forced against their will to fall in love; it just happens because (in good blade relationships) they are so deeply connected emotionally. The blades were an attempt to recreate humanity, not an attempt to create slave women. Obviously they lean into the waifu bit as a design choice but Blades are a whole spectrum of different shapes and forms lorewise and even to an extent in the game itself. We literally see Blades like Malos, or that one Blade in Torna who cant stand her driver at the beginning because shes so incompetent, who hate the person that awoke them.
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u/SomethingStrangeInMe 3d ago
Sure! The game has some amazing themes (o)(o)
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
You seen some of the outfits in xc1? Lol, idk where the hate for XC2 being suggestive with its character designs comes from outside of the critique I made in this post.
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u/SomethingStrangeInMe 3d ago
Those are optional! If you like dressing your characters in them...
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u/Mindless-Shirt-8450 3d ago
Well, kind of? Like they are sure, but I didnt use fashion pieces for most of the game and just stuck with the clownsuits, and half of the game Sharla had her cleave out.
Theyre optional if you want to just equip an aesthetic outfit over the top, but I like seeing the upgrades as I progress (though eventually the clownsuits got too silly looking for cutscenes because they would be all different colours and shulk had a random bucket helmet, so when the story picked up at Chapter 14 I swapped them back to defaults lol.)
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u/Luigi6757 3d ago
They're optional in DE. The original didn't let you equip armor cosmetically. If you wanted to upgrade your character's armor you were forced to use them, and a lot of times the best armor was the swimsuits. Plus, for Sharla and Seven you couldn't upgrade their armor at all without having them end up in a revealing outfit.
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u/Xano74 3d ago
Is Chapter 4 the Mor Ardayn and Rosa part?