PoryKid575's Gaming Journal

PoryKid575 · Nov 24, 2024

Finally getting around to starting a gaming journal! I figured I'd make one of these to document my thoughts on games I've been working through.

Xenoblade Chronicles (SPOILERS, reveal text at your own risk): This is the game I've been playing most recently, I started it in January 2024 and currently have 71 hours of playtime; which shows how much I've enjoyed it! The story's been extremely gripping, and despite accidentally seeing a handful of spoilers while searching for where to find this or that enemy / item for Monster Quest 8037; I'm really excited to see how things play out.
I'm currently at the part where Fiora is being treated and I need to get a component to fix her up, I know that the name of the main villain is "Zanath", and that alongside the recent revelation that the Bionis was trying to eliminate all life on Mechonis, and the ominous cutscene he had with the High Entian seer after the events of Prison Island makes me think Zanza has some major ulterior motives (and tbh he gave off massive villain vibes when I first saw him). My theory is that Zanza purposefully let the Monoado get into Shulk's hands so he would "finish the job" of genociding the residents of Mechonis; and that he'll become the ultimate villain once his plot is uncovered and the party turns against him.

There also seems to be some timeline shenanigans going on, I've been watching the Let's Play of Xenoblade from Chuggaaconroy and got recommended EP ~70 or so with the title "Recovered Memories", and I saw a Xenoblade Chronicles explained video with text on the thumbnail saying "trust nobody, not even yourself"; which makes me wonder if the cutscenes are a reliable source of what's really happening. I feel like I'm roughly 80-90% through the main story by now, with plot reveals happening left, right and center recently. So I've been taking the past week or so to catch up on all my side quests, rebuild Colony 6 and really prepare for the final stretch. I'm really excited to finally have the answers to things I've been wondering since the beginning of the game like why the Homs settlements are called "colonies" (was there a Homs kingdom at some point?), why the Nopon speak like babies, and generally what the deal is with the 2 titans.

PoryKid575 · Jan 7, 2025

It's been a while since my last update, since November, I finally got around to finishing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door which I'd been playing since the remake came out in May. I really enjoyed it! The difficulty struck a great balance between being challenging / involved without getting frustrating, and the story was excellent for a Mario game (I especially liked hearing about Luigi's misadventures in-between chapters; and how he goes from basically a fraud to an actual hero). Overall, it definitely lived up to the hype for me, I can see why people were clamoring for a remake so much. 9/10

Outside that, I took like 2-3 hours to clear through my quest-log in Xenoblade Chronicles and equip the characters the best I could. I didn't make much story progress overall since I got somewhat burned out after all those quests and took a break; but I'm currently at the portion where I'm going from the Fallen Arm to the Mechonis proper, and climbing "Mechonis Field" to get there. After Fiora got patched up, there was a cutscene where one of the faced mechon had their memories of Sharla erased; which I assume is Gadot since Orion is still safe at Colony 6 as far as I'm aware. I also found out that Dickson is Shulk's uncle, which I suppose isn't too surprising considering the aggressively blonde hair; but I figured he was just his mentor or something along those lines. In general, the story seems to be taking a back-seat for the moment to give us time to process the recent bombastic reveals. The party is apparently heading towards the Mechon capital, and I'm excited to see what a proper Mechonis city looks like, since the only other city I've seen to this point is Alcamoth.

I also got XC2 for Christmas, I've only been playing for about an hour; but it hasn't gotten off to the best start in my opinion. I'll give it points for very much being its own game, Rex doesn't try to be a discount Shulk, and Alrest doesn't seem like a discount Bionis either. It's also nice to have character models that don't just look like flat textures pasted over a Mii. My main problem so far is that the side characters strike me as profoundly unlikable, I'm at the portion where I'm about to board the ship for that 100K G job the Chairman gave Rex; and the partners come off as incredibly insufferable and arrogant. In XC1, the party feels like a group of close friends, while XC2's feels like a viper's nest of mercenaries who'd cut each other's throats for a few thousand G. I'm still at the beginning though, so there's still plenty of room for character development I suppose. We'll just have to see how things pan out

PoryKid575 · May 5, 2025

Looks like it's time for my bi-annual update. Most of my gaming time in recent months has been spent on Xenoblade Chronicles, and I'm like 90% sure I've finally reached the last area(the Bionis Interior). I had a SUPER hard time beating Gadolt in Agniratha and put down the game for a few months until I grinded to LV70 and searched online to find an art that made it far more managable. The grind was worth it though, because the story has been amazing. All the plot threads I've been wondering about for over a year are finally starting to be revealed, and I'm really glad I was able to experience it almost entirely blind. Dickson being revealed as evil in particular had me literally gasping at my TV, he was acting a little fishy in the prior cutscenes, but I couldn't believe that such an integral character would betray Shulk like that. Turns out my prediction about Zanza was pretty much dead-on, though with the added twist that Shulk was only alive for the express purpose of carrying out his vision. It really recontextualizes the whole story to know that the path the gang took was essentially pre-ordained from the start, and it explains why Shulk got visions and could handle the Monado so well. Tbh I feel bad for him, carrying such a burden by being able to see the future, only to find out his sole purpose was to further the ends of a complete megalomanic like Zanza. I think these payoffs are also enhanced by just how long Xenoblade is. I've spent dozens upon dozens of hours exploring every inch of the world and seeing the characters interact, which makes it feel a lot more impactful when they're threatened. I'm probably going to have to grind since I'm only at LV71 and the boss I'm currently at is LV75, but I really hope the game can stick the landing and wrap up this incredible journey in a satisfying way.