Xenoblade Challenge: A Perspective from the Past

At the beggining of the month, a fan from Twitter share that countdown, with things to share each days. Since it take time to do that kind of things, I've decided to wait until now and share my own experience with the franchise at once.

Day 1: What got you to try Xenoblade Chronicles or why are you going to try it?

Let's go back in 2015. At that time, I was about to finish high school in a few months and the only franchise I play games were Mario, Kirby and Animal Crossing. Ho, I discovered Pokémon a few months ago (I didn't grow with the franchise in my life). But things were dirty, and for good reasons: people were judging me for playing childish games, I was still playing mostly platformers (not that was bad, but I was clearly lacking variety) and more. I wanted to prove to people Nintendo isn't just for kids, and I wanted to discover and play new things. With the near release of the New 3DS, I heared about Xenoblade Chronicles 3D that was going to be exclusive to those versions of the console. I realized it was "that guy from Smash", Shulk, but I wanted to know more about his game. After discovering it was rated T and seems to be more mature than most Nintendo games, I took the opportunity. But dear gods this is not what I expected and never guessed it would become among my favorite videogames of all-time! Voiced-acted, massive areas, unique gameplay for this JRPG and more! I was also surprised by how the game run on the handheld! I first wanted to play it "because it was more mature for a Nintendo game", but end up with a philosophical story with strong characters and open me to the great world of RPGs (which also lead me to Fire Emblem, some months after).

Day 2: What was your first Xenoblade Chronicles game, or is Xenoblade DE your first?

I started with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, some weeks after its release, for the reasons in the previous questions. I bought the original Wii version 12 months later for the double price (it was really rare, before beeing restock before the release of XC2), but didn't played as much as the New 3DS version. I found the Special Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X at a convention, in summer 2016, and started playing it at Christmas 2016, when I got a Wii U. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was the first game of the serie I got on launch, and the reason I bought a Switch. Even thought I bought the Expansion Pass, I bought the physical version of Torna, since I'm also a collector of physical games and EVERYTHING Xenoblade!

Day 3: What is some advice you have for people playing Xenoblade DE as their first Xenoblade game?

Be patient. I got stuck at the boss Xord for 1 month. Fortunately, the game as such massive area you can still do many things while grinding. Fortunately, unlike me, the game seems to have more tutorials, which could help you for things I had to figure out myself!

Day 4: What is your favorite daytime location in Xenoblade?

Bionis Leg, Makna Forest, Eryth Sea, Agniritha, Uraya, Leftheria, Tantal, Spirit Crucible Elpys, World Tree.

Day 5: What is your favorite male Xenoblade character?

Shulk and Rex.

Honnorable mention to Addam Origo.

Day 6: What is your favorite Xenoblade battle theme?

Mechanical Rythm, Battle!, Still Move Forward!, Battle! (Torna ver.).

Day 7: Who is your favorite female Xenoblade voice actress? What character did they play?

Usually, when it comes to japanese game, I'm usually play with japanese voice only. Xenoblade, strange enought, is the total opposite: I always go with english voice-acting! British/Australian/European voice-actor seems to put much efforts in emotions characters really feels, unlike Americans, from my perspective and in my opinion and the fact it's not the same clique make it more enjoyable. However, I don't know about the role of this people outside Xenoblade. The first one is, without a doubt, Jenna Coleman, who did an amazing performance as Melia. Her voice show perfectly the emotions Melia feels throught her hard obstacles. Kirsty Mitchell is another who made a great impression on me. I just love her accent and it feels perfect on Mòrag! As someone who doesn't have english as a first langage, I thought at first her accent was italian, please appologies! Catrin-Mai Huw really surprised me too. While many didn't like the accent, I did and I felt like it made Nia a more unique character than other catgirls in japanese medias.

That doesn't mean I leave aside my Seiyuu knowledge aside! On my 6 playthrought of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I played the game once in japanese and one of my 3 playthrought of Torna! In japanese, Lora and Haze share the same voice actor, Saori Hayami, who did characters like Caeda (Fire Emblem), Maria Campbell (My Next Life as A Vilainess) and Shinoa (Seraph of the End). Sakura Ayane, my favorite Seiyuu, did Praxis too, but I didn't hear much to say something. Something both English and Japanese voice cast share in common, in the whole franchise, is the fact they didn't play to much role in game and shows, IN GENERAL. It's nice seeing Nintendo and Monolith Soft searching new promising talents for big games like this one!

Day 8: What is your favorite Xenoblade male costume?

Costume from the main story seems more easy, because it would take too much time to search ALL costume. Shulk is clearly the most iconic one, but I also love Dunban with his cape and the second costume Rex receive later in the game.

Day 9: What is your favorite ennemy/monster in Xenoblade?

There's so much good ennemy and monsters it's hard to choose, but Metal Face (last battle) and Jin & Malhos are the most memorable for me (doesn't mean necessary more enjoyable thought).

Day 10: What is your favorite nightime music in Xenoblade?

Satorl Marsh, Makna Forest, Tantal, Leftheria, Orbital Ring.

Day 11: Who is your least favorite female Xenoblade character?

Playable: Sharla. But she looks way better in DE, so I'll give her another chance.

NPC: Lorithia. If you know, you know.

Day 12: What are some of your favorite Xenoblade memes?

While Reyn Time is a classic, here some from my personnal collection!

Day 13: What is your favorite Xenoblade boss theme?

The Power of Jin is the most breathtaking, with its chorus, but An Obstacle in Our Path is one of my favorite too. Incoming!, You Will Recall Our Names and You Will Know Our Names are unforgettable too!

Day 14: Who is your favorite non-human Xenoblade character?

Tora, L and Riki

Day 15: What is your favorite Xenoblade wallpaper?

I have this one on my lock screen since Fall 2017

Day 16: What is your favorite Xenoblade fanart? (Make sure to credit the artist!)

They are so much I don't know which one choose. Go check on Twitter and support the many Xenoblade fanart artists there! ^^

Day 17: Who is your favorite male Xenoblade voice actor? What character did they play?

*Apply here what I said in the female VA counterpart*

Adam Howdens. Probably even my favorite voice actor. I hope one day, like Charles Martinet, I will meet him and have his autograph (#noimnotfanboying). There's a reason why he is so respectable: he listen the line of the japanese VA of Shulk, to faithfully reproduce the emotions. As a result, Shulk have an english VA full of emotions and, in my opinion, is way better in english than japanese. David Menkin is right behind: he know exaclty how to voice a vilan like Malos and have way more energy than his japanese counterpart. Hot take, I also liked the Rex VA, Al Weaver. He perfectly represent the emotions of a young man who went throught a lot. It's so sad people trash on his voice...

As for the Seiyuu side, I recently discover Jouji Nakata (aka my favorite male Seiyuu), who did Kirei Kotominei (Fate series) and Keith (Atelier Ayesha and Atelier Shallie) also voiced Sorean. While I didn't play the first game in japanese, on my 4 playthrought, I'll definitively give it a try! As I said the english voice actor of Malos is way better, that doesn't mean I didn't like the acting of the legendary Yuichi Nakamura who voiced character like Tomoya (Clannad) and Barry Goodman (Tokyo Mirage Sessions). While I also prefer (like any characters from Xenoblade at this point) the english VA of Zeke, his japanese VA Kenjiro Tsuda is candy for the hears with his previous performance as Giraffe (Revue Starlight) and Masaki Kobayashi (Domestic na Kanojo).

Day 18: Who is your favorite female Xenoblade character?

Melia Antiqua and Mòrag Ladair.

Honnorable mention to Lora.

Day 19: What is a Xenoblade location you would like to live in?

Fonsett Village. In an heart-to-heart convo between Mòrag and Zeke, they also speak about how peaceful this place is and should remain away from the corruption of the world. Just relaxing all day in that place would be a blast.

Day 20: What is your favorite nightime location in Xenoblade?

Satorl Marsh. I always saved my data here in Xenoblade Chronicles 3D!

Day 21: What is your favorite Xenoblade female costume?

Mòrag uniform is so cool! Melia princess costume is also beautiful! Pneuma one is hot!

Day 22: Who is your least favorite male Xenoblade character?

Tatsu.

Day 23: What is your favorite daytime music in Xenoblade?

Colony 9, Gaur Plains, Makna Forest, Eryth Sea, Mechonis Field, Agniritha, Uraya, Leftheria, Tantal, Spirit Crucible Elpys, World Tree, Auresco.

Day 24: Who is your least favorite non-human Xenoblade character?

Tatsu. Muimui give me Vietnam Flashback of him, urgh!

Day 25: Who is your favorite Xenoblade boss character?

Disciple D and Jin.

Day 26: What is your favorite quote said in Xenoblade?

There's so many (and I play the games with french subtitles, so I don't know all localizations of sentences), but "I'll kill youuuuuuu!" from Shulk represent his anger of the loss he had.

Day 27: What is your favorite thing about Xenoblade? Why do you enjoy it?

Their's so many thing enjoyable about this serie. The reason I enjoy it is the feeling of freedom those massive land give. The characters are the best I've seen in videogame history and the Monado is the best sword I ever seen: seriously, there's not a better one!