Xenoblade 2 Spoilers (mechanics whine): (Show Spoiler)
Aaaand the core crystals are lootbox-y. It has all the same mechanics. It's random so even a "rare" can give just a dud, and it has the same extremely dramatic opening that lootboxes do to appease those who are susceptible to gambling. ...not me really, I mean, my brain is haaardly normal, but you know!
So far I haven't seen a way to buy more core crystals but, which is kind of the most important part of lootboxes, but I don't like that its borrowing from that very bad mechanics set.
Also, I don't like how chains and elements work. In Xenoblade 1, arts had effects, and you chain them together in battle. Like, break to break their stance, then toggle to knock them over. Awesome. That's still there, which is great (though you have much less control over the battle and orchestrating it since you only control one character and can't switch in battle), but now it has a new system of elements assigned to blades, and use us it in the blade combo system for MASSIVE damage. Basically the game wants you to swap blades to get the elements you need for a combo. Bleeeeh. I have zero interest in that entire core crystal and blade swapping mechanic. From how it was introduced (let's force the player to create life!) to how it works (let's swap this interesting character for a boring one to get the type you need! ugh) to the rare system (they have big boobs and revealing outfits, gotta catch em all?
), just, everything about that system is NOPE NOPE NOPE from me! But it's impossible to not use the blade combo system, it's way too much damage to ignore! So I'm just using the same trusty combos over and over and over again. The game punishes that to try to make you mix it up with bosses but, I can just rotate between two combos if I need to, and just ignore the whole blade swapping thing entirely. For now at least. I understand the game will give you rares during the story and prooobably force you to use them,
so um, I guess we'll see how that goes. >_<
Just, gawds, they really, really blew it with the blade swapping mechanic. I get it, they wanted to have swappable weapons, but then they were like, let's make them people too, with personalities! Except all but the story rares are just generic cardboard cutout tropes with boobs. Ugh! I really, really wish they were just weapons. I think this whole "but what if the monado was a PERSON" thing really got away from them!
So far I haven't seen a way to buy more core crystals but, which is kind of the most important part of lootboxes, but I don't like that its borrowing from that very bad mechanics set.
Also, I don't like how chains and elements work. In Xenoblade 1, arts had effects, and you chain them together in battle. Like, break to break their stance, then toggle to knock them over. Awesome. That's still there, which is great (though you have much less control over the battle and orchestrating it since you only control one character and can't switch in battle), but now it has a new system of elements assigned to blades, and use us it in the blade combo system for MASSIVE damage. Basically the game wants you to swap blades to get the elements you need for a combo. Bleeeeh. I have zero interest in that entire core crystal and blade swapping mechanic. From how it was introduced (let's force the player to create life!) to how it works (let's swap this interesting character for a boring one to get the type you need! ugh) to the rare system (they have big boobs and revealing outfits, gotta catch em all?
), just, everything about that system is NOPE NOPE NOPE from me! But it's impossible to not use the blade combo system, it's way too much damage to ignore! So I'm just using the same trusty combos over and over and over again. The game punishes that to try to make you mix it up with bosses but, I can just rotate between two combos if I need to, and just ignore the whole blade swapping thing entirely. For now at least. I understand the game will give you rares during the story and prooobably force you to use them,so um, I guess we'll see how that goes. >_<
Just, gawds, they really, really blew it with the blade swapping mechanic. I get it, they wanted to have swappable weapons, but then they were like, let's make them people too, with personalities! Except all but the story rares are just generic cardboard cutout tropes with boobs. Ugh! I really, really wish they were just weapons. I think this whole "but what if the monado was a PERSON" thing really got away from them!
@mbc07: (Show Spoiler)
I have played bayonetta 1 and 2 very little (45 minutes for bayonetta 1, like 15 for bayonetta 2), they are very much NOT my kind of games, but I have played both of them, and I thought a lot about how it represents its characters. And um, it's complicated. On the one hand, Bayonetta is a lot better than the typical objectified women that are so SO common in media. She isn't some passive object waiting to be consumed then discarded, she is her own person, with her own opinions, thoughts, and goals, and she's extremely confident, powerful, and forceful at that. That is way better for representation and cultural influence than the typical passive object!
...but, this is a video game. That sexuality may be true to her personality, so she's a genuine character but... her body and personality were built by men for men, apparently men who want to be dominated by a dominatrix. The camera and her posing shows that. She is coooonstantly being posed and the camera posing with her in extremely suggestive, totally nonsensical spine-crunching positions that make absolutely no sense for a fighter to do in combat. Not to mention the mechanic of the game where her clothes are her hair, and her hair is her weapon, so she's literally striping, all while she and the camera pose in seriously suggestive ways, in just basic attacks. The game is very, VERY clearly aiming for the male gaze. So even though she is not a passive character... she was still made for male consumption, and being presented for male consumption, which in a way still makes her an object.
Also, I don't really believe there's anything in the games for women. For one thing, it very, very much aims at the male gaze with its camera work and posing, and women can spot that *instantly*. We know how this works, we've seen it a million times, and we know to stay away. So immediately, its pushing women like me away from the game. But ignoring that, some have said that Bayonetta is a sexual power fantasy of sorts for women, but, I don't agree with that at all. If it was a female power fantasy, it wouldn't be about her, it would be the player doing things through her. She would not be the focus, and the game would try to everything it could to shift away from her toward what she (and thus the player) are doing in the world. You can see this to the fullest extent with first person games, where the character you play as is literally invisible so it is entirely focused on what the player is doing for maximum immersion. But this is also common in third person action games, where the camera is pushing the character out of the frame as much as possible (like say, gears of war) to focus on the action. Bayonetta, on the other hand, absolutely does not get her out of the way! The game demands the player to look *at* Bayonetta, not through her. With that camera, and the suggestive poses, and how the game deliberately highlights them... it is definitely not a female power fantasy. She exists for the male consumption, just a different type than the usual. She is a person and has personality, so it's a little better but, still not great.
Aaanyway, those are my thoughts! To be fair, I didn't play them much, I couldn't really stomach it for long... but I imagine most other girls would respond similarly!
...but, this is a video game. That sexuality may be true to her personality, so she's a genuine character but... her body and personality were built by men for men, apparently men who want to be dominated by a dominatrix. The camera and her posing shows that. She is coooonstantly being posed and the camera posing with her in extremely suggestive, totally nonsensical spine-crunching positions that make absolutely no sense for a fighter to do in combat. Not to mention the mechanic of the game where her clothes are her hair, and her hair is her weapon, so she's literally striping, all while she and the camera pose in seriously suggestive ways, in just basic attacks. The game is very, VERY clearly aiming for the male gaze. So even though she is not a passive character... she was still made for male consumption, and being presented for male consumption, which in a way still makes her an object.
Also, I don't really believe there's anything in the games for women. For one thing, it very, very much aims at the male gaze with its camera work and posing, and women can spot that *instantly*. We know how this works, we've seen it a million times, and we know to stay away. So immediately, its pushing women like me away from the game. But ignoring that, some have said that Bayonetta is a sexual power fantasy of sorts for women, but, I don't agree with that at all. If it was a female power fantasy, it wouldn't be about her, it would be the player doing things through her. She would not be the focus, and the game would try to everything it could to shift away from her toward what she (and thus the player) are doing in the world. You can see this to the fullest extent with first person games, where the character you play as is literally invisible so it is entirely focused on what the player is doing for maximum immersion. But this is also common in third person action games, where the camera is pushing the character out of the frame as much as possible (like say, gears of war) to focus on the action. Bayonetta, on the other hand, absolutely does not get her out of the way! The game demands the player to look *at* Bayonetta, not through her. With that camera, and the suggestive poses, and how the game deliberately highlights them... it is definitely not a female power fantasy. She exists for the male consumption, just a different type than the usual. She is a person and has personality, so it's a little better but, still not great.
Aaanyway, those are my thoughts! To be fair, I didn't play them much, I couldn't really stomach it for long... but I imagine most other girls would respond similarly!
![[Image: RPvlSEt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/RPvlSEt.png)
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