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I've seen a lot of praise for the story and characters. Quite frankly, this confuses me. What story? What characters? The cast in this game is likable yes, but largely irrelevant. Take out everyone save Mio and Noah and nothing is really lost. Most of the cast has no real importance. They have character arcs I guess, but they are the most thinly written and so whatever that it's nothing to talk about. Also, they aren't woven through the narrative well, to the point I wonder if they exist. If they do exists they can probably be summed up as "character learns to be less..." insert negative trait". Glasses dude in accordance to his "I'm the stand-offish glasses dude" character design I guess warms up, and becomes less stand offish. The big dude who is rough becomes less rough and warms up. None of this is compelling, it's all very one note. It's not done interestingly. It's not interwoven into the plot. When I think Tales games integrate the characters into the actual story better, you've fucked up. And they do. When the traitor character has a change of heart, it's usually tied to the plot, and their character development impacts or is impacted by the plot. Here I'm not even sure the characters did anything beyond spouting the same nonsense about "the world needs to change or whatever". Senna had some "this is all a façade" development that quickly fell by the wayside and felt more like the game stopped at a gas station for a second, before quickly carrying on. These characters are personable, but there's no real character here and nothing to really latch on to and feel like anything happen. That's what all the "character stories" feel like. They all feel like the game stops for a second for the character to pontificate before moving on. Like it pauses and the story stops for a second, but then again what story?
At no point for me did this premise feel earned. What I mean is at no point did it make any sense. The story feels like a loose connection of crazy ideas that offer no synergy or anything.
So our characters are involved in some forever war that quite honestly makes no sense. If the story is about not being afraid of change and life must go on, then the war is so poorly woven into that theme. It's not like you get a real feel for the mundane as honestly, this part doesn't last long. I would figure a story that wants to use this premise in its theme would focus initially on how mundane and routine it all is. You'd also have the characters further represent that mundane routine. Sadly, it also comes off as pretty silly. None of the characters feel like soldiers or talk like them. Making it hard to connect from the get-go. They are anime teens and not even written convincingly to help sell the reality of the story. The world doesn't feel stagnant and I never feel like it conveys anything like this, beyond the war giving the impression it's one of manipulation. But even dramas like even the recent anime 86, do things outside in the world building to make it creepy, to sell the feeling. Here I guess you have dumb-looking villains come in and say lame evil dialogue. It's not engaging.
Then the teens are given a call to adventure and that's fine. I love the first battle theme. It feels like this youthful adventure for answers. You're on a journey to the city. It feels like a YA novel, but YA novels have trials and tribulations between the characters. That doesn't happen. Honestly, this is a rather painless journey. A good jrpg would have had little "morality plays" or "character episodes" for the cast to have some trails and chances for growth along the way. I guess the side quests are supposed to fill that whole, but rarely did I feel they offered anything of substance.
Then a friend that was dead come back and taunts you with "oh you don't understand hahahah". There's some talk of despair or whatever. It's all lame shit, we've all seen before. The story has no energy or pace with it.
Then Not Noah shows up and is hammy and lame in his villainy. There's a dumb cutscene between two elite characters I don't care about and why should I care about any of this? I didn't feel like there's a story that is building to things and using actual storytelling to do anything here. We find the Queens are fake(surprise not really as we already know this whole thing is wrong) and that everyone are clones. I guess the clones are an interesting aspect If the story hammered the themes of an older generation wanting to manipulate the younger. Then I can connect to the themes and what the plot is putting out. See where some of these story mechanics fit. As the villains( the consuls) are always presented as being older and watching from afar almost as if the war is entertainment. The whole flame clock thing reminded me of points in a multiplayer game. So I could see the story being somewhat meta. This clone war is just mindless fun for these frankly lame villains. The young people are shit out and put through the wringer by the people in charge. Ok that's something. But thats not really what the story leans into. Instead, it becomes this typical don't be afraid of change. Yes, that subtext is still kind of there., but the story wants to focus on something else that to me makes no sense with the premise it started with.
What the fuck does a forever war powered by teen clones connect to let's keep the status quo? If someone could create a world they could change why would it be something like this?
In the Matrix the reveal and function of the world are believable. It makes sense they would create a 90s world for humanity. It works with the themes of control and the nature of reality the movie is about.
In FFX the reveal of the truth is built into the narrative and themes. Death and its inevitability of it are woven into all aspects of the story. From Yuna's character to how cities are built.
What is the battle world's function in the story beyond the flame clock aspect and that Mobius feeds off the lifeforce? What does the forever war do for the themes of the story? And how does the battle world connect to THESE PEOPLE WANT THE WORLD TO STAY THE SAME.
In the Matrix the fake world connects to themes of control. We created a world you would find believable in order to make you submit and since it's a world you'd actually want you do even when knowing the truth.
In FFX, this is the cycle. This is just how our world works and it's comforting in some way, but also maybe the establishment also feels the situation is hopeless and likes that status quo.
in Xb3 we created a forever war to feed off you and I guess the consuls get off on it? Compelling. Like I just don't see how this connects to the overarching plot. Again it just seems like a bunch of ieas just strung together with no crafting of an actual story. Like a writer looking for cool concepts, but not really thinking how they fit in the story they want to tell.
Mostly because to me the story just feels like a hodgepodge of whatever. N and M are revealed to be older versions that have tried to constantly change things before giving up. It's a Madoka twist that doesn't work because I don't care about N and it's so obvious he is wrong and has no point. In the end, he just comes off as whiny and melodramatic.
The whole game feels like it just wants to hit you over the head with emotional drama, but again at no point does it feel earned. Few of these characters and plot points have had anything that builds to these emotional moments. Just playing constant sad music does nothing when none of this is earned. Oh boy N and M had a kid. Ok and? Whats N;
I don't care about Z because he's a lame villain. Fine, he wants the world to stay the same? Why? What's great about this world? It's just battle world and why in any wisdom would someone create this world? "the everlasting now is what makind wants' or whatever the line is falls flat when you've created an unbelievable premise of a world.
Because then it's also that these are two worlds from the previous games merged and I'm like where did this stupid forever war come from? When you read these plots it doesn't sound like a story with a point. How do these all gel together to create a cohesive story and world? What does this reveal do for the story?
I sure don't understand why Melia and Nia are here. Just shallow fan service? A shallow connection. How do these worlds work? What does any of this really mean? What is this story?
If Z is the manifestation of people's desires to stay the same powered by EA Origin, how did that happen and why? To what ends did he create a nonsense world other than I guess to feed on their teen clone army they make. Who came up with this system and why? If you have the memories of XB1 I guess that's the connection, but why not just a mythic forever war built on hate racism as the deception. Not something kind of outlandish that comes off as "epic" for the sake of it.