Post by Primulus on Dec 15, 2015 5:01:25 GMT -5
Now that I've had some days to get my thoughts together, I feel like it needs to be said that Xenoblade Chronicles X is really the video game version of Lost, the TV show that ran on ABC between 2004 and 2010. There are some amazing parallels, and I'm not sure if it's just a coincidence, or if Lost actually had some influence. Between the two, there is a crashlanding on a mysterious location with beautiful vistas, a seemingly massive expanse, and soon after they arrive they realize they are not alone - there are others. Some of these others, along the way, join the survivors of the crash. Some of them remain hostile until the end. And there's a powerful monster that appears to be the guardian of this mysterious location. The mysterious location itself doesn't seem to have any set coordinates in time and space either, as people from vast distances have ended up stranded there. One thing is certain, though: this mysterious location has an important influence on the rest of the setting, reaching out to all life.
But one other stepping point really seals the deal. Lost plays with the notion of the afterlife, or purgatory, but doesn't seem to do anything significant with it. The final season fails greatly as a result when it turns out the entire afterlife/purgatory sequences had no bearing on the plot or what was actually happening that mattered, what had extended off the previous five seasons. A lot of time was wasted on this, and things were inadequately explained. It was ambitious, still, though, in a way Takahashi usually is.
And I can't help but notice that humanity on Mira appears caught in a metaphorical purgatory. When the Earth was destroyed, so too were all their bodies. When the White Whale crashed on Mira, the Lifehold Core's databanks storing everyone as data was destroyed. There is no logical reason, no way the human mimeosomes on Mira should still be alive. Yet they are, despite losing everything. All they have left is their robotic bodies, which seem to have potentially inherited their original wills, their minds, their memories and all that come with it. In this state, humans seem to be, in reality, stuck in between life and death - between heaven and hell.
It seems interesting when I look at the people chosen to crew the White Whale. Because it doesn't seem to reflect a military group once you scratch the surface. Serial killers (as in Murderess's story line) made it on board, thieves and traitors. Through side-questing in this game, I noticed two specific patterns emerging. As humanity brought all the other wayward and lost races of the Ma-non, the Nopon, the Orphe, the Wrothians and many others together, it struggled with itself, seeming to buckle at the seams under the weight of the responsibility. Numerous incidents of back-stabbings and violence between humans and aliens, but also humans attempting to do terrible things due to greed, like the poisoning of the Ma-non by the cult at the Cathedral, or Hope's friend who shot herself. The group of humans who ended up on Mira run the gamut between the worst mankind has to offer... and the best, when one looks at someone like Hope.
It is at this point, as I notice mankind is in this literal state between life and death, that I notice L'cirufe. I don't need to explain Lucifer to any of you, but I'd like to observe the interesting coincidence that there is a character whose name references Lucifer at all in a story in which mankind appears to be stuck in between being neither truly dead nor alive. More importantly, it almost seems that on this strange and mystical land known as Mira, the actions of mankind are being watched closely, perhaps by L, who has immersed himself among humans in fascination with them. L is certainly a mysterious figure, and even at the end of the game I know so little about him, that the best theory I can find is that he exists to observe mankind, and possibly judge them in these critical hours as mankind struggles to adapt to a universe teeming with life. The presence of L is what solidifies this theory to me, though, without a doubt.
But if I might ramble and muse a little longer, I'd like to observe the ruins in Cauldros and Oblivia. The Ganglion clearly didn't build the structures in Cauldros, they appropriated them to make their base. Mira is a place where countless other civilizations have been brought to the planet and tried to make their stand, but for whatever reason, fell and their works on Mira became ruins for others who come to see. Where did they ever end upgoing, those previous civilizations?
In any case, my theory about this game's plot, which if you've been hanging onto every word, should be clear now. Metaphorically speaking, mankind is in purgatory. Mira is purgatory. The ruins of the other civilizations across Mira are those who were brought to this purgatory before and judged unworthy, it would seem. Cauldros is scarred by ancient battlefields, and the builders of its structures are long gone. Oblivia shows scars of a great disaster, with the rings telling a tale of something great once being built there, but that civilization too is gone. Were they judged? Is that perhaps what L is doing now - assessing mankind and judging their works as they attempt to struggle to survive on Mira?
But one other stepping point really seals the deal. Lost plays with the notion of the afterlife, or purgatory, but doesn't seem to do anything significant with it. The final season fails greatly as a result when it turns out the entire afterlife/purgatory sequences had no bearing on the plot or what was actually happening that mattered, what had extended off the previous five seasons. A lot of time was wasted on this, and things were inadequately explained. It was ambitious, still, though, in a way Takahashi usually is.
And I can't help but notice that humanity on Mira appears caught in a metaphorical purgatory. When the Earth was destroyed, so too were all their bodies. When the White Whale crashed on Mira, the Lifehold Core's databanks storing everyone as data was destroyed. There is no logical reason, no way the human mimeosomes on Mira should still be alive. Yet they are, despite losing everything. All they have left is their robotic bodies, which seem to have potentially inherited their original wills, their minds, their memories and all that come with it. In this state, humans seem to be, in reality, stuck in between life and death - between heaven and hell.
It seems interesting when I look at the people chosen to crew the White Whale. Because it doesn't seem to reflect a military group once you scratch the surface. Serial killers (as in Murderess's story line) made it on board, thieves and traitors. Through side-questing in this game, I noticed two specific patterns emerging. As humanity brought all the other wayward and lost races of the Ma-non, the Nopon, the Orphe, the Wrothians and many others together, it struggled with itself, seeming to buckle at the seams under the weight of the responsibility. Numerous incidents of back-stabbings and violence between humans and aliens, but also humans attempting to do terrible things due to greed, like the poisoning of the Ma-non by the cult at the Cathedral, or Hope's friend who shot herself. The group of humans who ended up on Mira run the gamut between the worst mankind has to offer... and the best, when one looks at someone like Hope.
It is at this point, as I notice mankind is in this literal state between life and death, that I notice L'cirufe. I don't need to explain Lucifer to any of you, but I'd like to observe the interesting coincidence that there is a character whose name references Lucifer at all in a story in which mankind appears to be stuck in between being neither truly dead nor alive. More importantly, it almost seems that on this strange and mystical land known as Mira, the actions of mankind are being watched closely, perhaps by L, who has immersed himself among humans in fascination with them. L is certainly a mysterious figure, and even at the end of the game I know so little about him, that the best theory I can find is that he exists to observe mankind, and possibly judge them in these critical hours as mankind struggles to adapt to a universe teeming with life. The presence of L is what solidifies this theory to me, though, without a doubt.
But if I might ramble and muse a little longer, I'd like to observe the ruins in Cauldros and Oblivia. The Ganglion clearly didn't build the structures in Cauldros, they appropriated them to make their base. Mira is a place where countless other civilizations have been brought to the planet and tried to make their stand, but for whatever reason, fell and their works on Mira became ruins for others who come to see. Where did they ever end upgoing, those previous civilizations?
In any case, my theory about this game's plot, which if you've been hanging onto every word, should be clear now. Metaphorically speaking, mankind is in purgatory. Mira is purgatory. The ruins of the other civilizations across Mira are those who were brought to this purgatory before and judged unworthy, it would seem. Cauldros is scarred by ancient battlefields, and the builders of its structures are long gone. Oblivia shows scars of a great disaster, with the rings telling a tale of something great once being built there, but that civilization too is gone. Were they judged? Is that perhaps what L is doing now - assessing mankind and judging their works as they attempt to struggle to survive on Mira?