Welcome to the cKotch.Com blog. I’m Christopher Kotcher, and this is my third post for cKotch.Com’s special Videogame Month, all about games which have inspired my writing. This is a game that really knows how to build its world.
Storytelling Giants
Nintendo’s grandest epics in recent years have come from developer Monolith Soft’s new series Xenoblade Chronicles.
The first game was a fight for the universe waged on the bodies of dueling titans.
Then Xenoblade Chronicles X brought in giant robots and a mysterious alien planet.
Today though, I would like to focus on the third game, Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
(Trust me. The name makes sense. This game links more to the first game’s plot, gameplay, and ideas than X did.)
One key strength of XC2 is how it builds its world, Alrest.
This is the series’ best world building. Honestly, it is some of the best world building I have ever seen in any game.
The storytelling methods are impressive. They show confidence in the world being created and players’ ability to understand that world.
Key here is how XC2 develops the world alongside the story being told. The story does not stop to explain the world. The world is not broken for the story’s sake. They complement each other at a perfect pace.
Diving Deeper
The game’s first chapter is a good example of what sets its world building apart. This will be a long example though. So, be prepared. I actually have to add sub headings for this part of the post.
Home of a Skydiver
The story begins in a stormy sky. The camera moves through the raging clouds, and you expect it to eventually move down to some sort of dismal scene.
Then the camera moves up. A world is revealed between the clouds and the clear blue sky.
In the clouds, you see a strange rock formation with a grassy field on its back.
The camera moves back below the clouds to show a diver salvaging wreckage.
When the diver surfaces, he starts talking to someone. A voice responds and calls the diver Rex. You now expect someone to walk out of the small house shown in the background.
Then the rock formation turns its head. It is alive. Not only is it alive, Rex calls it Gramps. They seem to have some sort of connection. After all, Rex lives on Gramps’ back.
Rex opens a salvaged chest, and a large crab pops out. The fight with it serves as the game’s combat tutorial.
Once the crab’s beaten, Rex cooks it up to eat it.
During his meal, a creature like Gramps is seen dying in the distance. From Rex and Gramps’ conversation, you learn these beings are called Titans. All of Alrest’s people live on them.
Unfortunately, the Titans are fading one by one.
The world’s only hope of future seems to be legendary land called Elysium. A land said to sit at the top of the massive World Tree at Alrest’s center.
The tree is so tall it can be seen all across the Cloud Sea. Rex can always see his goal.
What’s With All the Salvaging?
The chapter progresses. Gramps takes Rex to a trading post. It is the first area of the game you can freely explore.
Here you discover Rex salvages so he can send money to support his and Gramps’ hometown near Titans far away.
But salvaging and send back money does not quite pay the bills.
So, Rex accepts a special job from the head of the trading post. He will be helping a mysterious group called Torna excavate an ancient ship.
Two of the group’s members are special warriors called Drivers. They are bonded to creatures called Blades.
The Blades seems to be a diverse species. The imposing bruiser Malos has a bipedal lizard Blade named Sever. The cat-eared girl Nia has the white lion Blade Dromarch.
At this time, you do not fully understand the connection between Drivers and Blades. So far, all you know is that the Blades give Drivers special magic weapons. Sever gives Malos a sword, and Dromarch gives Nia bladed rings.
Strangely, Torna’s leader Jin is the only one without a blade. He is merely a masked swordsman.
Quite the First Dungeon
Exploring the ship with Torna teaches you some more gameplay mechanics. You learn how to use elemental Blade combo attacks and coordinate with computer-controlled teammates.
You even get to taken down a shark creature together.
Then chaos breaks loose.
Rex discovers a strange red-haired Blade and feels called to her. He reaches out to her, accidentally becomes her Driver, and is stabbed through the heart by Jin.
Rex then awakens in a green field revealed to be Elysium. He meets his new blade Pyra and discovers she is a special Blade called the Aegis. She has the power to destroy the world.
Pyra asks Rex to take her to Elysium if she heals his mortal wound. Rex agrees, and Pyra gives him half of her life force, planting a green crystal in his chest.
Rex and Pyra escape the ship and fight off Malos to secure their freedom. Nia defects from Torna, disgusted at their actions toward Rex and the rest of their salvaging party.
Gramps even arrives to blast fire at the bad guys and help everyone escape.
Continuing Over Time
Told you that would be a long example. Still, I felt it was needed to get my point across.
Think of all the details that naturally came through in the action of the story.
From Rex and Gramps, you learn the state of Alrest in a natural conversation. These facts are believable because you already see Rex living on Gramps.
From the trading post, you meet Blade and Drivers. You see how unique they are when their first appearance is treated as a big deal. Combat on the ship further shows the nature of their bond.
Lesser stories would have just dumped long expositions, explaining everything in chunks of excessive detail. This story trusts its audience to follow trails of smaller details. There is a refreshing process of discovery here.
And this world building does not stop at Chapter 1.
Best example is the Blades.
Chapter 2 reveals Blades come from gems called core crystals. These crystals respond only to people with a strange quality called “Aptitude.”
You learn Blades return to their cores when their Drivers pass. In the process, Blades loses their memories as they await new Drivers.
Chapter 4 teaches you core crystals come from the bodies of deceased Titans. You wonder how this could be. How could Blades connect to those big creatures everyone lives on?
The truth is revealed over time, but I would not want to spoil too much more here.
Though I will say the Aegis has a more complicated role beyond simply destroying the world.
It was a true marvel to see how things would unfold.
All the reveals, obvious and subversive alike, came at the perfect time to masterfully build the world of Alrest.
The game does have a few lengthy exposition dumps near the end, but they prove satisfying. At that point, you want to get your last few puzzle pieces. You want to fully understand the world you are working to save.
Ready to Build
Not all of the world building techniques in XC2 can be applied to my work.
Books cannot really feature camera tricks, and hiding sources of voices can prove awkward.
Still, the game provides plenty of lessons any creative can apply.
Opening crawls may work well enough for Star Wars, but most worlds are better built as their stories happen.
Exposition should be earned. These moments should come after more natural world building grabs the audience’s interest.
Many of my lengthier paragraphs explaining stories’ worlds have given way to new events and character moments. These new additions already contain all the needed world building at any given time. They are also more engaging and interesting to readers.
Kotcher’s Call to Action
If you like my content and wish to see more, then you have a few options.
You could check out my book Five Strange Stories on Amazon. Five Strange Stories is enrolled in the Kindle Matchbook program, so anyone who buys the paperback can also get the eBook for free.
You can also check my Essential Posts page for links to some of my greatest posts to the cKotch.Com blog.
Finally, be sure to like my Facebook page and share it with your friends. I post a link there whenever a new blog post goes live each Friday at 5:00 PM EST.