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1. Charles Synyard (charlessynyard@freespeechextremist.com)'s status on Sunday, 30-Apr-2023 01:17:01 JST Charles Synyard
   One long game: recently finished the main story in Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. According to the game, I’d played for all of 138 hours! I don’t think ofmyself as much of a gamer, and it was murder trying to find time to play. Is that fair for getting Shulk and friends to between levels 98 and 96? Now, there is the sequel story to play on the same cartridge which I’ve started and love too.
   Xenoblade Chronicles is fun mainly for battling enemies with no greater challenge than the ’grinding’ time commitment, and for hearing Fiora say, “I can do it, I know I can”, “Sometimes you’ve gotta get wild”, and especially, “One, two, Cross Impact!” in the usual Brittanic-sounding accent. The side quests can be either rewarding or tiring depending on mood, and of course, the plot, as in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, has a Naruto-like quality, with excessive twists leading to a villain ultimate unto remoteness.
   Some of the landscapes really are beautiful, and the music is sometimes transcendingly great—I am thinking of the Satorl Marsh (Night) theme. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=jXs0qruX148 It was as I was meditating on this lovely tune that I had a realization: young people listen to classical music all the time! Surely much more than hectoring baby boomer aesthetes. Fantasy video game music, the prime incarnation of contemporary classical? (The background garbage in movies and streaming shows doesn’t count; for decades, film music and high end television music has been soullessly mercenary, hardly different than commercial jingles. It lacks the relaxing, thoughtful character gaming instrumental music commonly shares with classical music that would be played in a chamber or concert hall).
   Returning to Xenoblade Chronicles. I think all the guys playing love Fiora. I definitely didn’t have everyone adventuring so skimpily: all were heavily suited up to match whatever heavy armor they were wearing.
   I already have Xenoblade Chronicles 3, but should I really begin that next? Waffling as to whether to buy and start Advance Wars 1+2, a long-anticipated game, first, or even order Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna — The Golden Country, to not leave a gap before moving on in the series. #XenobladeChroniclesDefinitiveEdition #XenobladeChronicles #XenobladeChronicles3 #MonolithSoft #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo #fantasy #classicalmusic #music #gaming #videogames #games
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   • Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Sunday, 30-Apr-2023 01:22:15 JST Christi Junior

     in reply to
     @CharlesSynyard >It was as I was meditating on this lovely tune that I had a realization: young people listen to classical music all the time! Surely much more than hectoring baby boomer aesthetes. Fantasy video game music, the prime incarnation of contemporary classical?
     
     I've thought about that myself, the popularity of so much movie and video game music that's essentially classical music shows that this kind of music is a hell of a lot more "accessible" than people make it out to be. Hell, there's sometimes outright crossover between the two as well - Dvořák's 9th symphony has been used to great effect in both One Piece and Asura's Wrath, and I have yet to encounter anyone who didn't consider what they heard amazing.
     
     As for your next game, Torna is brilliant in terms of fleshing out Xenoblade 2 characters like Mythra and Jin, while refining the gameplay and mechanics of the base game. It's also quite short, 15-20 hours to beat, roughly 40 hours to 100%.
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   • Ardainian Hebrew Israelite (ardainianright@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Sunday, 30-Apr-2023 01:25:44 JST Ardainian Hebrew Israelite

     in reply to

     • Christi Junior
     @ChristiJunior @CharlesSynyard JRPGs will often mix classical with other genres. Xenoblade loves classical + electric guitar. But classical isn't inaccessible at all, it's a style that works and has stood the test of time. I guess Neoclassical is more of an architecture term, but I think it works for a lot of modern video game music.
   • Christi Junior (christijunior@detroitriotcity.com)'s status on Sunday, 30-Apr-2023 01:48:37 JST Christi Junior

     in reply to

     • Ardainian Hebrew Israelite
     @ArdainianRight @CharlesSynyard Of course, lately some of the Xenoblade combat themes also lean into jazz, but it's still very much in keeping with the series' established style.
     
     Xenoblade X is Sawano, who is practically a genre of his own.
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