41:30 Words never reached you was also used in Segiri's hero quest when you have to fight her by the end of her quest.

God give it up for Harry McEntire he put his whole soul into this game

One thing I love about the eclipse scene is the fact that when Riku says that Noah has lucky 7 as a last bastion of hope for him to lean on, it makes the player have a hopeful feeling that maybe they can break out of this situation, when in reality, it’s just a sharp sword, there’s not a lot they can do. By making note of the sword it puts the players in the same position as the characters, holding onto anything to avoid what is coming, kinda like moebius in a way. Noah’s conviction to accept Mios death and walk in her stead is what triggers his monad awakening, the sword of origin. It’s by accepting and moving on that allows for Noah to use lucky 7, not the other way around. To me that’s what lucky 7 represents, conviction in moving forward, which is why he awakens the sword of origin after Mios death. One thing about N’s character I really love is how many layers there are to every scene he’s in. After further contextualization from Future Redeemed and the revelation that he never intended on killing his son, it makes the line, “all I did… I did for you” hit that much harder because it’s the pent up anguish and regret overflowing once he realizes everything he did and tries to ignore is coming to surface.

Spoilers for Future Redeemed: One of the best things that I think came out of the DLC was some of the added context they gave to N, which in my opinion really add so much weight to his breakdown during the Two Paths cutscene. When he says "All I did, I did for you...", I feel like you can tell his actions as Moebius really affected him, like having killed his own son and bear that on him. I feel like at some level, his actions really did wear him down slowly over the years and came to regret it all but gave himself the excuse that none of that mattered as long as Mio was by his side. If the anomalous existence of the protagonist Noah and Mio do in fact come from the regrets and hopes of N and M, you can also see how much of N really repressed. By personifying Noah as this pensive, pacifist who values the lives of people, this means that N does regret harvesting lives in the cycle but cannot treat them as valuable by the very nature of the world. I feel like N is such a deeply flawed character that has so many subtle characterization details which make a fascinating case study.

XC1 & 2 already had some really strong emotional moments, and surpassing them wasn't easy, but the extent to which Monolith Soft outdid themselves here is beyond words. The music, the structure, how (especially) Harry McEntire played his role, ... it was simply indescribable. This entire sequence, for me, is the absolute pinnacle I've ever experienced in a video game. (It's truly a shame that Harry McEntire wasn't nominated at The Game Awards.)

Really enjoyed the Palpatine - Anakin parallels you pointed out, Palpatine, his rise to power and his corruption of Anakin are some of my favorite aspects of the Prequel Trilogy.

I highly recommend watching Harry's playthrough of the game. Dude is pretty funny. He forgot how to do his Noah "voice" for a second.

I love it when the protagonist's fight their good/evil verison of themelves. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself a villain, especially reincarnation.

This entire cutscene from the encounter outside the prison with M/N to the battle against N after the revelation is just incredible. I've never cried at a video game before, but the feeling of hopelessness I felt for Mio in the jail cell completely broke me. A year on and this whole sequence still remains my favourite moment in all of Xenoblade.

There is an aspect of the music that drives me nuts upon replays/rewatches. The music that plays during “Mio’s” Homecoming, instead of just using instruments, includes a lone female vocalist right as “Mio” fades away. This gets sad when you listen to “Noah and N (Phase 2)” which contains the same female vocalist, clearly representing M and her wish for N to move on. The music is so brilliantly constructed, it establishes a leitmotif (or musical idea) for M, without the player even knowing it, because when one first hears it, they think their Mio is dying.

The way N walks forward, stumbling and broken feels too real

I love how all N fights have a completely different tempo compared to other fights. He barely auto attacks, he spends most of the fight spamming Chimera and Bloodmoon. He fights like another playable character

One thing that never gets credit in the game is the cinematography... the camera work combined with the music sets the stage wonderfully.

I cried like a baby in the cutscene when Mio said my Noah and I feel Ns pain when M died might do the same thing like Noah

One of the things I hear nobody talking about is how N was the one who was ultimately responsible for M's death. It was his choice to lock her up and smugly watch her time run out, and he never considered what he was doing until it was far too late

Of course Xenoblade 3’s best cutscene had to get its own analysis video. This was definitely the biggest highlight of the game for me, and it’s nice to see that everyone agrees! The Mio/M plot twist, N’s descent into madness, and the newfound resolve for the cast make it a standout moment. Excellent job on dissecting what makes this scene so good!

one great detail about two paths is how the choice N makes parallels the choice made by Noah in chapter 2 during the cutscene titled which route to take. where the party after reaching the Fornis region discuss if they should take the west route which faster but more dangerous or the east route that is slower but safer just like how the crossroads for N shows a left and right path the map design of the area gives the same effect of a left and right path to take and in both cases the right path is the one with an option for "the sake of Mio" and the left path being the one Mio/M truly wants being the path that doesn't put herself above others with N he ends up choosing the right path convincing himself he's doing it for M, while Noah in chapter 2 understands Mio and accepts want she wants by choosing the left path for them to take showing that Noah was on a different path then N from the very beginning

Probably my favourite bit of musical storytelling in the game (possibly the whole series) is the juxtaposition between Keves Homecoming, Agnus Homecoming, and Feelings Risen to the Sky. There's a moment in both Keves and Agnus Homecoming where the strings swell to a crescendo, then there's a brief moment of silence before the flutes come in with the respective offseeing melodies. In the Keves homecoming, it's a moment to just breathe and take in the triumph and splendour of the whole ceremony, recognizing that everyone's excited to get to the important bit and delaying it a bit for extra dramatic effect. In the Agnus version, though, the build up and pause are completely identical (and in a vacuum, one might not even really notice a difference), but because of the context it ends up coming across as taunting the player, dangling that one last scrap of hope in front of us that the flutes *might* not come in and Mio *might* not die. As a result, it feels like an eternity despite being no longer than the Keves version (I may or may not have actually timed them >.>), thanks to the sense of dreadful anticipation. Feelings Risen to the Sky, however, changes things up. It features the same orchestral swell to build anticipation for the offseeing tune, but there's no pause whatsoever. The flutes come in immediately, and on top of that, it's the only place in the soundtrack where the third flute lick that shows up in isolated performances gets played as part of a larger piece. In every other instance of the Agnian offseeing tune (and there are a lot of them), the third lick gets dropped because only having two fits better into the meter of the piece. The result of this is that it conveys this sense of unbridled elation: You're not dicking around with dramatic pauses to manipulate the audience, you don't care about fitting into a time signature, you're just really happy and you want to celebrate that with no pretense or reservation. The contrast to the abject despair of the Homecoming that so closely preceded it is absolutely massive, and contributes so much to the emotional rollercoaster you outlined here. It's really quite brilliant.

This is a strange video to realize it, but when hearing Ns breakdown for probably the 100th time now, it kinda sounded like Matthews accent. I didn't expect I'd ever laugh at that scene, but imagining Matthew screaming like N is funny.

That Taion/M line isn't the only instance where M uses 2nd person while the one controlled uses 1st while talking. Every time M is speaking at the same time as the one she's controlling, M says "he/she," while the other says, "I." For example when M is controlling Mio and taunting Noah you can hear 2 versions of Mio's VA saying the lines, one in M's tone and the other in Mio's and it's hard to make it out until they say different words like when Mio says "you need only take *my* life" you can hear M say "you need only take *her* life."

I don't think Noah and Mio resisted X from will alone, I still think it's a result of Noah accepting Lucky Seven and having a power born of both Queens combined. That's why its the sword of origin

Xenoblade 1 has the best beginning, Xenoblade 3 has the best climax and Xenoblade 2 has the best ending.

21:38 there is a quite convincing explanation for this that's only apparent after future redeemed. Spoilers: It's explained that A was born by the intersection of ouroboros and moebius power from ghondor and N respectively, allowing the memories of alphas past, or in other words alvis' time with shulk, to turn into its own person. The same thing happens at the climax of the story with N and Matthew intersecting their powers specifically through N's sword, which is made of origin metal that contains the souls of those that matter most to him, which would of course be only himself and mio. The theory is that channelling both moebius and ouroboros power through Ns sword directly into origin allowed the past memories of the noah and mio who still held hope to be born back into the cycle.

I really appreciate when your analysis videos explore the meaning/intentionality behind the cinematography. While I am familiar with some techniques, I'm certainly no expert, and it's great having someone point out how the framing of each moment really elevates the whole experience, making the emotional moments hit harder even if subconsciously

27:05 their is always one joke that gets me in every video you make and this one just floored me

As always, excellent job breaking down such a hefty scene and consistently keeping the analysis entertaining! Made me appreciate even more about this jam-packed section of this wild game. So many details I hadn’t picked up on until seeing this. Always great to see more of your stuff, and never apologize for taking your time crafting videos this excellent.

I've never cried more in a video game than in XC3. Been a Xeno fan from the beginning and always touched by Fei and Elly's connection through the ages and through multiple incarnations. XC3 takes this im the form of Noah and Mio and perfectly encapsulates the simultaneous sorrow, despair and hope of these characters. N's character is so multifaceted and that scene in Chapter 5 was beyond beautiful. It brought out such a range of emotion in myself as i experienced N's shift from confident nihilism to utter despair. And to see how he got to this place from the man he used to be was so powerful. Tetsuya Takahashi is incredible at making real, human stories and XC3 is a shining example of this. He does not shy away from the more complicated human emotions and I've learned so much about myself through his work.

I love emotional breakdowns like these for Xenoblade, there's always something new to discover thematically and discuss about, I live for this stuff. Amazing video, KayJulers ❤️

The thing in XB3 about dreams and hopes being a way of getting overpowered it also come from Xenogears and Xenosaga, in those games human will and consiousness can be made tangible in some ways, and it has its own limitations too, it's not really explained in XB3 but if you played this games you will understand the grasp of what is happening in many XB3 moments. Cool details from Takahashi!

Wow. Just beautiful. Thank you. Truly

Your Xenoblade videos are just a blast to watch. Keep the great content cooming!!❤😊

FYI The same thing with "He lied" vs "I lied" happens again when M takes over Mio and says "Cut me down" you can hear "Cut her down" behind it.

Awesome video! I would mention the title under sells it. ngl I have seen this pop up in my feed before and I passed it. I wasn't expecting to hear about less noticeable details and filing techniques used to set it's delivery

I subscribed to this channel because of your Xenoblade 1 video essays, so I'm overjoyed to see a Xenoblade 3 video like this.. it's one of my favourite scenes in the series too (surprise surprise), it and the surrounding scenes destroyed me when I first played the game and I have an even deeper appreciation for the amazing cinematography and narrative work after seeing this discussion of it. Lovely video, thank you for making it!

this is a superb analysis with so much that i hadn't thought about with immaculate editing too

Amazing video Like good points and discussion fun editing choices and really put into words what I love about the scene

I always love these videos. You take cutscene that I already love and you make me love them even more. Getting to know technical cinematography stuff used and hidden meanings in names adds a lot of depths in the cutscene

Truly one of the best sequences in the history of gaming. It shows a beautiful story of sadness and despair that’s so well done. I can’t get enough of it.

I always enjoy your Xenoblade work! You make some very astute observations that make the game as a whole better!

This is a fantastic analysis. I loved the deep dive into camera angles and framing - I would have never known that kind of thing, so it's fascinating to see!

This is great man, loved every bit of it. It is crazy and gives a warm feeling, knowing that so many people around the world felt the same despair in this scene, how can you not feel the shared humanity we all have if we felt the same. Makes you wonder...

The video overall was fantastic. I'll be the first to admit I personally wasn't as grabbed by this cutscene as many others were and I always felt wrong for no "getting it". This video on the other hand I think I finally get it I feel like I can truly appreciate everything they put into making it now Thank you. Also wanna special mention I loved you talking about the parallel between Xenoblade 3 and Revenge of the sith because me and my friends would always talk about how similar they were shot and their purpose in the story so I was really happy to see you touch on that. You did amazing for this video you always do great. You have yourself a good one 💚

Fantastic breakdown from narrative, cinematic, and musical standpoints! That’s a sub from me, dawg!

Very nice job, I realized a lot with this video despite thinking I had it all at first!

As far as the existence of Noah and Mio not making any sense, I've seen this brought up as a theory a few times: the energy released during Noah's attack on the city split Alpha and Alvis into 2 seperate beings, bringing out those old memories and desires for friendship held by Alvis that were suppressed until that point. Whos the say that a similar thing couldn't have happened to N? I am not entirely sure if M was also present but in hiding, or if there was perhaps such a link between Noah and Mio that the split of one would have caused the other, but it serves as a very real reason for the rebirth of Noah.

Another reason I really love this moment in the game is because of what the off-seeing ceremony was to us the olayer all game long, a ritual used by both kevesi and agnian people, one of the commonalities between the two groups, later we learn that it was introduced by M, so that both factions could at least see their friends off, it was the goal for all soldiers to survive their 10 years so that they can die in peace, it was framed as a gift and a beautiful one at that So it's masterful how when N weaponizes this gift, it backfires on him, karma at its finest, he wanted to torment Noah and he succeeded at that, but in the end it is him that has to live with the torture of having killed his loved one, all he wanted was to destroy Noah so that he could continue living in the endless now undisturbed with his Mio, but in the end, his actions ended up not only killing M, but indirectly ending his endless now, due to Mio surviving, Noah was able to continue and awaken his true ability to wield the sword of the end that has the ability to defeat Mobius I love xenoblade 3, all xenoblade games are amazing, but 3 has a special spot in my heart, for all that it stands for. This scene was one of many that made me absolutely fall in love with it and solidify its place as number one, everytime I see it I just find more and more reasons to love it Long live Xenoblade and bless Takahashi for bringing it to us

It is a Consul's legend. Darth N The Cuck was a Consul so powerful he can destroy an entire city of Ouroboros by himself. He had such knowledge, that he could keep his loved one from dying. The path of Moebius is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be... unnatural. He became so powerful... the only thing he was afraid of, is losing his loved one. Unfortunately, he was confronted, and eventually, killed by his own hands. Ironic. He could save others from death, but not himself

Haryy McEntire absolutely killed it

Thank you for all this great Xenoblade content! Keep it up!

Idk if anyone else here has said it but the quality of this video in every aspect is amazing, good job man. This must have taken a minute but it really paid off! Really loved the Star Wars comparison btw, that was so cool. An easy sub from me, keep up the amazing work 🙏

I feel like 'Homecoming' also pairs with 'Shining Asperation ~ Inherited Melody'. In both scenes a Homecoming is shown in a big event but 'SA~IM' uses the Kevesi Off-Seeing melody and depicts a "happy" event while 'Homecoming' uses the Agnian Off-Seeing melody and depicts a sad event. And to add on to the M take over lines. When 'M' has a hold of 'Mio' Mio says "Cut me down" and "You need only take my life" while M says "Cut her down" and "You need only take her life". That is a neat detail imo.

Ok another banger KayJulers video to spoil me. You are so kind.

Lol this is a great thumbnail. Honestly I could just just listen to you talk about Xeno all day.

Great video man! Xenoblade 3 definitely has the most emotional moments, which is a hard thing to do based on its predecessors. Also have you been playing xenosaga yet? I love the first game and I think you’d enjoy it.

This deserves so much more attention is such an underrated gem

If I had a nickel every time there was a Deep Complex Layered Character named N on a Nintendo Device, I would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but strange that it happened twice.

17:57 I loved this detail when I realized it in my own playthrough.

I've always help the view that besides the sword coming out and N being nerfed, the party had the oh-so-common 'mental amp'. When they fought the first time they were not only tired but mentally scattered from a fight that pitted them against each other. Mio also wasnt herself and had a different plan. Whereas, in the final battle, they are up against the wall but have witnessed essentially a miracle. There friend was "dead" but came back to them. Not counting on another miracle, they went all out with clear purpose. Also, Mio has a Moebius body which I feel like should help her more than it does in gameplay :P

a year out and that *one* voice line still makes me absolutely cry. something about it is just... ah... what a game

I absolutely loved this part of the game and it hit so heavily. I just wish I knew it was coming because I picked up the game around 11pm and hit the start of Two Paths about 12:30am... I couldn't stop and just had to keep going. I can't imagine how intense my reaction would have been to this if I were more awake for it and seeing it on the TV instead of in handheld mode on my bed ahaha This analysis was fantastic and the music stuff specifically got to me. The soundtrack always gives me chills and I really need to listen to it more on its own.

27:41 A minor note to further show Taion being the weakest. Both Riku and Manana had an easier time dropping their captives compared to him.

Awesome video!

8:47 but that shot on the left is from above, showing him looking up at the figure looming in the alcove above. Then he looks back down at Z, below the camera. 8:54 but he's only taller there because of the camera angle in how close it is to Z, while 8:59 is both that *and* the fact that N is in a row or two of seats above Z, in a theater that has descending rows toward the stage.

25:05 and 26:00 are excellent edits

21:52 No, Xeno didn't tackle that concept there at all. That was just a coincidence that the animators chose to make the daughter figure look so much like Elly when told to animate him looking at a photo of his wife and daughter. There's concept art for the wife and daughter, but they don't look much like they do in the cutscene. Its just a big coincidence that it looks so much like Elly. Pretty sure the fact that it was a coincidence was specifically mentioned in an interview. And nothing says that his daughter was on the Eldridge and died, or that the Captain's wishes somehow influenced the Wave Existence's and Abel's -Will-, as if she was reincarnated somehow through the biological supercomputer Kadomony as a 'glitch in the system'. Doesn't make any sense given everything surrounding the Wave Existence in that situation and all around wouldn't make any sense based on how the Antitype came into being. Not to mention, the first Elhaym was created during the experiments on the Zohar before the Zohar and Deus was even put on the Eldridge, before the ship was even requisitioned, so just with that one fact alone it immediately throws off any theories. And anime being anime, following the art style it isnt that far off that you could make a basic girl design and it come pretty close to Elly's design in that style when both of their hair colors are close to a basic medium brown. But also, the hair style is different from Elly's, and in anime that's significant. They didn't even change the hairstyle of the final Miang, specifically so that they could still keep it looking just like our Elly, they mention that fact in Perfect Works, so yeah having a different hairstyle is significant in more ways than one.

This video further supports my claim that N is just Xeno Anakin Skywalker

27:36 Well it was kind of foreshadowed that Moebius could do that earlier when N did the same exact thing before throwing down the flute. Otherwise this was a great analysis, and this cutscene is definitely my favorite in the series.

Xenoblade series is really the best like the Final Fantasy series and ended with a bang like all series reach a end one day. I love the Xenoblade Chronicles three has Final Fantasy like similarities like Type Zero where Noah and everyone dies and gets reborn losing their memories of their past life similar to Ace and his classmates went through. Dissidia Final Fantasy series where Noah and the gang find out there are trapped in a endless cycle and fight a endless war by the ones behind it like the Final Fantasy series protagonist's went through and manage to break it for good. Final Fantasy XIII trilogy where like Lighting and her friends, Noah and everyone went against their creators to end the suffering caused by them working together and restart the worlds with no need to for gods anymore except for the dead that need a god for the rebirth of the past lives in the new worlds.

37:25 Not sure what brass instrument you hear, but I hear something that sounds like an oboe or clarinet. It's a very woodwind sound.

I bawled my eyes out at this part

Xenoblade 3 was such an awesome experience as a whole; I always wanted to play Xenoblade 2 but when that game was new I was still playing Breath of the Wild so Xenoblade drifted out of the focus. Then Xenoblade 3 was released I just bought it to further my "work" related curiosity to get into JRPGs as a member of the japanese science field. After only the beginning I immediatly was sold and bought every Xenoblade Game on the Switch and I still have to play Xenoblade 2. God dammit, these games are awesome.

You ain't lying, this moment is the one I specifically love watching people's first time reaction too.

At this point 27:30 Mio still has the use of M's Mobius powers. It's stated later in the game when the gang meet the Agnus Queen that Mio has lost the ability to use these powers since the events in the castle. I imagine the shackles they use here are of similar nature to how Noah and crew need authorization to use the collectipedia cards when sending resources from colony Iota. At least that's my theory. It's the same as when N unshackles Noah just before he drops his flute.

It’s good to keep a record!

This scene made me love Xenoblade 3 so much more than I already did. The mad lads at Monolith literally said “Hey, let’s do the Kevin Winnicot freak out again, but crank it to eleven and rip off the dial.”

This was an absolutely fantastic analysis of one of the best scenes in the entire Xenoblade series! I got goosebumps and even emotional, just from the short snippets and the music. Seeing how good scenes like these are, also makes me really sad again, because in the end I was dissapointed by the game and the dlc and was left unsatisfied. Still you did a fantastic job with this.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will gown down in history as one of the greatest game narratives of all time.

Good job kay

27:33 moebius/consul powers probably. They look like ether likes so maybe it could be controlled some other way

I am 20-30 hours through the game, i will be coming back to this video once i conplete it

Here is kayjulers bringing back my depression with mios death

And this all happened because some guy said: "Let's begin the experiment"

You know, when you say the original was replaced by the copy reminds me so much of Luke and Asch in Tales of the Abyss.

Peak Fiction.

Ah yeah, that sequence when you fight like 3-5 boss battles in a row with no breaks/time to prepare for the next one and like an hour mins of cinematics culminating in Agnus castle. That is the climax imo. (y).

The hooded figure in the part where Noah sees all of his past lives is actually him as a child (so like a 1st termer) and this sort of makes sense because in that moment if he hadn’t chose the right choice he would have been reborn and put back into the cycle whereas he didn’t and chose to end the world and break the cycle.

Very late but for Moebius M’s theme I think like the theory suggests it’s supposed to make you think and reveal M is Mio, especially when immediately after Ns battle is just the normal Moebius theme. On another note, I feel like it’s Mio trying to imitate the evils of Moebius, the flute starts out trying to copy the rhythm best it can like the person is imitating the rhythm and then the second part it’s near perfect with the rhythm except for the laughing section. When it gets to that point the flute stops, like the user doesn’t want to laugh at the suffering Moebius causes. There’s also an second flute that pops in as well which you can interpret as N, as the second flute goes with the flow immediately, knows the rhythm, it’s like Flute 1 is trying its best to hide amongst the Moebius while flute 2 has accepted being an Moebius

Is there a video on just the musical ensemble alone? I would like to show the melodies to my family.

I think xenoblade 3's chapter 5 ending and chapter 6 beginning are the best parts of any xenoblade game storywise

I thought it was awesome listening to M’s theme and realizing that M was never an offseer, so, where would the flute come from? ;)

I always interpreted "Shred the Strawman" as relating to strawman arguments - a distortion of the original question or statement used to twist a conversation or debate, a non-argument once realized. Most directly, he sees Noah as a distortion or perversion of himself, a literal strawman. Alternatively, it's intended to reference his mindset of denial, seeing any argument against him as a strawman, ultimately highlighting his own hypocrisy.

best game ever fr

6:40 i made that EXACT SAME JOKE in my play through 💀

When Alvis was hit by Ghondor in Future Redeemed, A and Alpha were spilt from it. Who’s to say and Matthew’s interaction with N later on didn’t do the same through Noah?

I can finally allow myself the pleasure of watching this, having almost reached the end of the game now.

32:39 I was JUST watching this clip from iCarly yesterday lmao

I still believe the answer to why Noah and Mio were added back into the cycle, lies in the dlc. There are a couple moments that it could be though.

Our Noah is Noah no 7

love xenoblade

What is the name of the song playing at 2:04 I’ve been trying to figure it out since I first played the game