My (Brief) Thoughts on the Gaming Community Today and the Nintendo Censorship Debacle

            The gaming community has grown massively since 1980’s and 1990’s. It still continues to grow today, and many people of all ages and ethnicities play video games. Despite that… I believe this community isn’t as welcoming or friendly to others as it COULD be. Far too many people these days seem to prefer to argue over which consoles or games are “good”, and many online communities can be quite vitriolic. It seems that people seem to have forgotten the most important thing: games are meant to be FUN. Every game does things differently; it doesn’t matter if you’re enjoying something as simple as a Mario game or exploring the grand narrative of the Mass Effect games as long as you’re having fun. People seem to have forgotten about all of that in favor of arguing among themselves over petty things or putting others down due to their gender, ethnicity, or even taste in games.

            That brings me to my next point. Nintendo’s been… a little overzealous in keeping a “family friendly name”. And it makes absolutely no sense for them to do so at all in this day and age. Games like Xenoblade Chronicles X, Fire Emblem Awakening, and the upcoming Fire Emblem Fates and Bravely Second have all been censored to some degree. This is all in spite of games like Bayonetta 2, No More Heroes, and MadWorld existing (2 of those are EXCLUSIVE to Nintendo consoles as well). It’s baffling that they choose to do this, as the things that are being censored are perfectly acceptable for the rating that the ESRB has given the games in question. I agree that this needs to stop, but people are overreacting to all of this (some are boycotting those games until the censorship stops). None of the changes in any of those games really harms the overall experience, and they’re all still great games. You’d be doing yourselves a disservice to skip out on all of those amazing games simply because of localization changes.

            Fire Emblem Fates is scheduled for a February 19^th release, while Bravely Second will be coming to the U.S in April. Xenoblade Chronicles X has been out for a while, and you can see my review of it here.

Xenoblade Chronicles X Review (Wii U)

            Despite how amazing the original Xenoblade Chronicles was, the thought of a sequel or successor being created never crossed my mind since the game was so niche. Prior to Operation Rainfall’s attempts to get Xenoblade Chronicles localized in America and Europe, I had never even heard of Tetsuya Takahashi or his previous titles while working under Squaresoft or Namco. But in January of 2013, Monolith Soft revealed Xenoblade Chronicles X in that month’s Nintendo Direct, where it was only known as “X”. It’s been nearly three years since that initial reveal, but the long wait for the game’s release was well worth it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X: My First Impressions

            To start, I’m about 20 hours into the game, and I still have yet to unlock the Skells. I haven’t gotten very far into the story either, having done a lot of sidequesting and exploring. But so far, I firmly believe that Xenoblade Chronicles X is the best game to have come out this year.

Genei Ibun Roku #FE Impressions (Wii U)

Back in 2013, Atlus and Nintendo delivered shocking news: Shin Megami Tensei would receive a crossover with Fire Emblem for the Wii U. But after two years of no information, a Nintendo Direct in April finally showcased more of the game... and immediately made it one of the most controversial entries in both series.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review (3DS)

In 2013, Nintendo unexpectedly announced and released a new Zelda game that used the classic top-down perspective. Not only that, but it was made as a distant sequel to A Link to the Past, set in the same version of Hyrule several generations later. And thanks to the innovations and mechanics this title introduced, it's the best Zelda game so far.

My Impressions on Shulk in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U

            As expected of a Xenoblade fan like me, I immediately tried out Shulk as soon as I booted up Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. And I love what I’ve played; he’s one of my mains alongside Lucario and Megaman. Shulk is slow, but his attacks have good range. It’s best to play him somewhat defensively; stay at a mid-range and focus on using his excellent aerial attacks.

Xenoblade Chronicles Review (Wii)

            Warning: There will be spoilers for the first few hours of the game. Oh boy, where do I begin? Well, let’s have some backstory first. Xenoblade Chronicles was an RPG for the Wii released in Japan on June 10, 2010. Though it has no story relation to previous Xeno titles like Xenogears or Xenosaga, it’s very clear that there are influences from both games in Xenoblade. The game was originally called Monado: Beginning of the World, but was renamed to Xenoblade to honor Tetsuya Takahashi, who had worked on the other Xeno titles. Xenogears was a Square Enix game, and its team had also worked on Chrono Cross. Afterwards, however, they left to form their own company, Monolith Soft. Namco Bandai ended up picking them up, and they worked on Xenosaga. Xenosaga was meant to have a massive story spread across 6 games. However, poor reception of Xenosaga Episode 2 forced them to wrap things up in the third game. Around 2007, Nintendo bought Monolith Soft; it’s probably because of Monolith being Nintendo’s first-party developer that Xenoblade even had a chance at being represented in the newest Super Smash Bros.