SMASH BROS THREAD

[Patrick]

Yeah, Pyra is just not for me.

I was pretty happy with the first fighter pass, although I felt like Byleth was an unexciting character to end on (I do think they are one of the better FE characters though). I’ve been holding off on getting the second pass until I saw a character I was excited about. I feel like Min Min and Sephiroth are good picks in general, but they aren’t from games that I care about. And I’m less excited about the other two. At this point I’m hoping that at least one of the last two characters is a character from a game I’ve played. I’ll probably pick up a few characters on their own instead of getting the whole pass.

To be fair, I’ve been spoiled by Smash Bros announcements for 22 years now. They have an insane number of characters and there aren’t any obvious gaps. I feel like Banjo-Kazooie was kind of the cap for me, as a character who feels like they should have been in the game from the beginning. One last surprise would be nice, but I’m more than happy with what we have.

 

[BEAT]

Well, @BEAT guessed Rex and Pyra, and @Seven guessed Rex with backup from Pyra and Mythra, but nobody guessed Pyra and Mythra.

I'M COUNTING IT AS A WIN THO.

 

[BEAT]

Pyra looks cool and i don't hate her as much as i hate everything else, so I'm good.

 

[WildcatJF]

I don't really like the look of XBC2's designs, but Pyra and Mythra being a tag team of women with less sexy costuming and more XBC music is a win in my book.

 

[BEAT]

"Less" sexy bro they're still both horny AF let's not fucking kid ourselves here.

 

[Bongo]

I've never played Xenoblade 2 and I probably never will, so would somebody please care to explain Pyra's deal in as serious and detailed a manner as you please?

 

[RT-55J]

You see, in Xenosaga series KOS-MOS was the reincarnation of Mary Magdalene. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 follows a similar path by having Pyra be the Holy Grail.

 

[BEAT]

I've never played Xenoblade 2 and I probably never will, so would somebody please care to explain Pyra's deal in as serious and detailed a manner as you please?

The war slave lady is actually 2 war slave ladies who mostly get along except when it would be funny for them not to get along.

 

[BEAT]

Also I THINK the blonde one stayed a secret until a third of the way through the game, and right after she stopped being secret she sleptwalked into Rex's bed for "hilarious" anime misunderstandings.

 

[BEAT]

They're totally slaves btw.

I don't think they were SUPPOSED to be slaves, but the way the game's mechanics, and worldbuilding ended up, they're definitely slaves. Born to serve their masters until they die with no say in the matter.

 

[BEAT]

I didn't finish XBC2 so I don't know if the game ended with them inspiring a Blade Rebellion.

(Blades are what they call the magic war slaves.)

 

[Pajaro Pete]

I've never played Xenoblade 2 and I probably never will, so would somebody please care to explain Pyra's deal in as serious and detailed a manner as you please?

Pyra is a Blade (A Persona from Persona, a Stand from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, or a partner Pokemon like Pikachu from Pokemon, depending on which of these references resonate with you), an artificial life form that shares a special connection with their Driver, the person who summons them. Pyra is also the Aegis, an exceptionally powerful, exceptionally ancient Blade that came straight from Paradise at the top of the Yggdrasil (Xenoblade 2 takes place in a world where people live on giant titans that are constantly circling the Yggdrasil).

Pyra is also an alternate personality constructed by the actual Aegis, Mythra, to cope with a traumatic event.

The Aegis's super power is basically two things: They can pilot giant robots, and the ability of Foresight, which is to see the immediate future and react accordingly.

the tl;dr of it is: Pythra is a JRPG heroine who has a mysterious, unique powers and needs to be escorted to a place, while various antagonists try to kidnap/kill her because of those unique powers.

They're slaves btw.

I don't think they were SUPPOSED to be slaves but the way the game mechanics worked out they ended up as slaves.

no the game is very clear that people will sell core crystals of hot blade women to creeps, specifically for sex purposes

 

[Pajaro Pete]

no the game is very clear that people will sell core crystals of hot blade women to creeps, specifically for sex purposes

tora's blade was explicitly designed for fetish purposes and the game treats the fact that he's a sex pest whose blade is a sex doll as an "oooh you rascal" thing

 

[BEAT]

no the game is very clear that people will sell core crystals of hot blade women to creeps, specifically for sex purposes

Well fucking hell I'm glad I missed that detail what the shit.

 

[BEAT]

tora's blade was explicitly designed for fetish purposes and the game treats the fact that he's a sex pest whose blade is a sex doll as an "oooh you rascal" thing

Yeah but it was also a robot made out of tin cans and twisted coat hangers? Not saying he WASN'T a sex pest doing sex pest shit, but a weird detail of his sex pesting is the thing he wants to fuck is a tin can robot at least a third of the time.

Like.

I honestly have no fucking idea what to make of XBC2. I keep meaning to replay it and actually finish it but I haven't and I probably won't because of that kinda shit.

 

[WildcatJF]

Never said they weren't horny on main still; at least both are a little LESS sexualized. Whatever victory I can get lol

 

[Pajaro Pete]

it's very strange, because for the most part the game wants to be a shounen fighting anime, right down to having characters constantly explain how their special powers work in the middle of battles, but then it'll drop "oh yeah blades get sold in sex slavery" in a scene for no reason and then it never comes up again.

 

[Fyonn]

Exactly one person on the dev team extrapolated the setting to its logical conclusion and either hated it or worse, loved it.

 

[Torzelbaum]

no the game is very clear that people will sell core crystals of hot blade women to creeps, specifically for sex purposes

The fuck!?

 

[RT-55J]

Pyra is also the Aegis

Note that the term Aegis is a product of the localization, and that in the original Japanese the term used is 天の聖杯, which literally means Heavenly Holy Grail.

 

[David Cartoon]

Man, I cannot stand Xenoblade 2's character design.

 

[Ludendorkk]

"Less" sexy bro they're still both horny AF let's not fucking kid ourselves here.

I think this is meant as in the Smash versions are less pervy than the actual Xenoblade versions

 

[Becksworth]

Looking back, Xenoblade 2 was one of those “subversive critiques that ended up leaning too much onto the tropes of the thing it is trying to critique” deals, in this case for mobile gacha games and your collecting of magical war slave waifus/husbandos. The idea that blades were actually slaves was a pretty explicit later on, and there was even a chapter with a on the nose “Master & Slave” title, so some of the discomfort at blade/driver dynamics is purposeful. At the same time there is atonal wacky anime hijinks and sexualized 5 star blade pulls.

 

[Octopus Prime]

I think this is meant as in the Smash versions are less pervy than the actual Xenoblade versions

It’s incredible what the simple act of giving someone pants can do.

I do like Pyras design in general, though.

 

[gogglebob]

Looking back, Xenoblade 2 was one of those “subversive critiques that ended up leaning too much onto the tropes of the thing it is trying to critique” deals, in this case for mobile gacha games and your collecting of magical war slave waifus/husbandos. The idea that blades were actually slaves was a pretty explicit later on, and there was even a chapter with a on the nose “Master & Slave” title, so some of the discomfort at blade/driver dynamics is purposeful. At the same time there is atonal wacky anime hijinks and sexualized 5 star blade pulls.

Great. Now I'm actually interested in playing this game. Dammit.

(Also, yes, this is the Xeno representation I was expecting, and I'm just happy to see a Zohar in Smash.)

 

[Pajaro Pete]

Looking back, Xenoblade 2 was one of those “subversive critiques that ended up leaning too much onto the tropes of the thing it is trying to critique” deals, in this case for mobile gacha games and your collecting of magical war slave waifus/husbandos. The idea that blades were actually slaves was a pretty explicit later on, and there was even a chapter with a on the nose “Master & Slave” title, so some of the discomfort at blade/driver dynamics is purposeful. At the same time there is atonal wacky anime hijinks and sexualized 5 star blade pulls.

I'm honestly not sure it was trying to critique much since it's really only the genocidal villains who are like "hey this system is kind of bad, actually" while the main characters are all super fine with it. So like at best it'd end up as a story where a bunch of Slave Owners and their Loyal Happy Dutiful Slaves fight together.

 

[Zef]

I've never touched either game, but is Xenoblade 2 a narrative sequel to the original, or is it a Final Fantasy-style sequel?

 

[Octopus Prime]

Final Fantasy

Particularly if you remember that technically Gilgamesh is the same guy in every game so there is JUST THAT ONE LITTLE BIT of connection

 

[Juno]

There is technically a narrative connection between the two, shown at the climax of XC2, but it’s tenuous and ultimately unimportant to the game’s plot. They are closer related than any two FF games are, but the connection ultimately feels like it exists for the sake of existing.

Xenoblade X, meanwhile, has absolutely no connection at all to the other games.

 

[Becksworth]

Spoiler: Narrative thread connecting XC1&2

If the Architect is supposed to be Klaus’s good half as opposed to Zanza, then Klaus must have been a real piece of shit.