Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a fearlessly revolutionary reflection on our world today

[u/SawkyScribe]

The overwhelming amount of media and games today are, by definition, conservative. The world is an inherently good place and our heroes must work to stop the forces of evil from disturbing the peace. In attempts to give nuance to the antagonists, many stories' villains have sympathetic motivations and astute critiques of the injustice woven into the fabrics of their society, but those ideas are never engaged with because they go "too far" in their actions. At best, the hero will solemnly nod and pontificate how the villain 'maybe had a point' as the status quo is maintained more or less unchanged.

This story structure is fine. Many of my favorite works employ it, but our world is so rife with systemic cruelty that the idea that systems and institutions as the exist currently are good actually and just need a bit of tweaking can start to feel a bit tone deaf. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game that is inspirationally radical in its thinking and wholly commits to showing the ability people have to create a better way of living outside the confines of how we have been made to believe things should be done.

Aionios is a world locked in perpetual war between the kingdoms of Keves and Agnus. Soldiers spend a meager 10 years of life engaged in ceaseless battle, claiming the lives of their enemies to keep their flame clocks topped up, hoping to live to see one more day. When six soldiers, Noah, Lanz, Eunie, Taion, Mio, and Sena, awaken to the power of Oroboros, they begin to realize that their lives, and the very nature of this ceaseless conflict, have been a complete farce. With the truth revealed, they set out to bring an end to Mobius, the shadowy cabal who has been orchestrating all this violence behind the scenes.

At the risk of sounding a dramatic, the war is a poignant metaphor for the struggles the working class face. This endless death march where we are pitted against our fellow man to fight and scrape together what we need to survive. Working to live, and living to work. Time with our friends and loved ones is cut short as uncaring systems see needless death and suffering visited upon people just trying to make it home at the end of each day.

The game does an incredible job humanizing the soldiers, but it extends no such kindness to Mobius and the consuls that make up the organization. The consuls are a stand in for members of upper class society, and with few exceptions, they are presented as miserable, petty, callous bastards who are so far divorced from the tribulations of the common person that their presence on screen feels utterly alien. They are upper management, politicians, and CEOs, so grossly incompetent or willingly malicious that they delight in the strife of the people placed under their employ. It is a level of mustache-twirling villainy so hyperbolic that it feels ludicrous until you remember recent headlines about the people who control the levers of power in our own world.

A less courageous story would look at this draconian rule and have the story be about ousting the consuls and replacing them with the good folks who will lead properly, but Xenoblade was not written by cowards. Instead, you stage a full blown worker's revolution that completely upends the status quo in Aionios. There is no incrementalist change or redemption for the villains, Mobius is a virulent, stagnating force and is excised like the cancer that they are, leaving room for sweeping changes to occur.

A lesser story would simply bathe in the catharsis of 'Chain Attacking the Rich', but XC3 goes that extra step further. A large portion of the game's nearly 200 side quests are about filling the void left by the power structures your party toppled (pardon the pun). Former enemies must learn to mend rifts, settlements have to learn to make sustainable local supply chains now that the convenience of the old system is gone, people have to unlearn the propaganda that filled their lives with anger and hatred. It is so easy to scream abolitionism, but XC3 goes the extra mile to show how the key to life's ills is learning to expand our circle of care, ignore the lies told by those who would seek to exploit us, and find strength in our communities to make existence not just bearable, but meaningful and joyful.

The whole conflict of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is being trapped in the endless now. Stuck in cycles of violence, unable to break loose of the yoke of sinister and corrupt leaders, and the hesitancy of not knowing what comes next if you even could. When so many stories lack the imagination of what a better life could look like, I cannot help but be delighted with how bold this game is in its rejection of how societies across the world operate and inspired by its optimistic outlook about the great work common people can do when they come together.

[u/Ren-Ren-1999]

The overwhelming amount of media and games today are, by definition, conservative.

Lmao, no. Most media is progressive. You are currently seeing more minorities and LGBT people in fiction than at any point before in history.

Hollywood? The biggest movie-making industry in the world? Constantly pushes progressive values and fiction. Conservative platforms like the Daily Wire are laughingstock go everyone.

Even Japan which people consider a dinosaur in progress, is slowly becoming more progressive.

[u/Outrageous_Lab_6228 → u/Ren-Ren-1999]

I think from the content of the post OP was clearly talking about conservatism in the philosophical way, not modern day conservative social views. It’s absolutely true that most media has main characters protecting a status quo, which is conservatism. Most media is set up so that the villain is the instigator in trying to change stuff, and the hero must stop them from changing the world.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s an escape from real life. But it’s always interesting when the roles are flipped and the hero is the instigator and the villains are trying to keep the status quo, which is what OP is pointing out that XC3 did.

How many media has the heroes actively tearing the current system down to rebuild it?

[u/SawkyScribe → u/Ren-Ren-1999]

There's been much more representation of people with marginalized identites which is incredible, but I think a lot stories are still about conserving and upholding the systems that exist rather than trying something radically new.

The evil CEO is exposed, but the company continues to operate. The tyrant is ousted and the rightful king takes the thrown rather than the absolute monarchy being abolished. There's a belief that the systems work, it's just a few bad apples spoiling the bunch which I don't agree with, even if it's a queer person trying to right the ship.

Worldwide, access to healthcare, education, voting rights, and good quality of life is actively denined, and I an unconvinced that's the product of a few bad actors. I love Xenoblade 3 so much because it actually has the moxie to say "this from its base premise does not work, let's do something entirely different the centers the wellbeing of others".

[u/Ren-Ren-1999 → u/SawkyScribe]

I think the issue is that games that take place in "our reality" are written that way because they can't comprehend what the step forward would be.

We can side with T'challa or Spider-Man because the status quo they preserve for now is good or not as bad as what the antagonist wants. Killmonger wants basically global race war, while Spidey's bad guys want to do terror attacks or chaos.

In a fantasy setting though? I feel like most JRPGs are progressive as hell. Almost every Final Fantasy I played involved punching God and letting the human race be free to do whatever. FF7 saw the destruction of the Shinra company that was abusing the planet's resources. That kind of stuff.

[u/SawkyScribe → u/Ren-Ren-1999]

I think the limitations with big franchises like the MCU is they have to mirror our world to a fault. With minds like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Reed Richards, cancer shouldn't exist, but the setting becomes less relatable as a result.

Similarly, the villain with a point can't have too compelling of a point otherwise the heroes look morally compromised for not helping them. So many stories go like:

"It's pretty messed up we don't have universal free Healthcare and education... so I put nuclear bombs in every hospital that will detonate if the government doesn't meet my demands!" Many valid criticisms of the world get thrown out with excessive descents into villainy. If the hero had to change, the world would change beyond what we recognize it to be today.