I know he doesn't have his god powers anymore, but the point I was trying to make was he's still a driverless Blade (and therefore doesn't age), and the only person with any experience with what Origin tried to do, so he could have had a hand in its' creation. That being said, now that I think about it, it would go against his arc.
Interlink needs to reach at least level 2 to do anything really useful besides be a damage sponge or be a panic heal with Eunie's interlink form. It does have the useful function where you are effectively invincible though, which can save you sometimes, it also gives you spammable AOE which also its uses in mob fights. Once you unlock art cancel and reach interlink level 3, Interlinks are powerful. Lanz's for example is really is stupid because his talent art gives you the entire launch combo for free.
You are while in it, but there is this weird thing where every time the AI uses it when they exit they have like zero HP.
Oh I am, now that I got class changing unlocked I went back to check every little corner of the world so far.
AI panic uses it to avoid dying very often, which can lead to your tank switching, dragging your healer with them and it just makes the problem even worse. It is not a thing because of Interlink. Due to spoiler reasons they don't let you let control if the AI uses interlink whenever they want till the end of chapter 3 when they update the mechanic one more time.
Directly connected? No, their are two cameo appearances in 2 but they are not relevant at all really. You don't need to know anything about Xenosaga to understand Xenoblade in anyway, and you can play pretty much any Xenoblade first and not miss too much. I'd recommend starting with 1 as it is the easiest to understand mechanically and has the fastest story start, as 2 (especially 2) and 3 have some dragging points in the plot or gameplay early on for some people even though all three have good plots, characters, and characters in their own right. 1 is just a really solid start that doesn't waste a bunch of time, but I think it is the most simple of the three games. It is still fun, it just the most simple as 2 and 3 have a lot going on.
Dunkey takes a lot of things out of context or to make quick jabs for comedy. While I can understand not liking XB3 because XB3 has its issues and might just be too rambling at times for its own good, using Dunkey's video is not a good way to get an understanding of what's going on at all. I watched it and their are some clear things edited around or obfuscated to make a joke or a comedic jab at the script. Most of the things Dunkey picks on narratively make more sense in context if you just read between the lines and not just take random splices of text you take very literally. Such as:
That's the one thing I really liked. They explored how these basic changes to fundimental human nature means that entire nations are clueless to a basic fact of life. Relationships just don't make sense to them, they've only got a short time to live. Why form an attachment that would be broken so quickly? And it's not like they can have a baby and leave a legacy. Most of the stuff we accept as basic truths just don't apply to them.
This is by far my favorite part in XB3's plot and setting, I have some issues with things here and there and some of the Heroes are kind of weak or very same-y characters (plus I feel they bend to the protagonist's will too easily), but I really love exploring twists, removals, and alterations to just basic living concepts in fiction and fantasy to talk about life. Not so much the usual "What is life?" or "Who am I?" kind of philosophical ramblings that tends to involve discussions and dissections of life, but the outright removal or change in fundamental concepts that most people just know and accept. I suppose I like "What if?" questions as opposed to "What is?" type of questions. I liked that in XC2 too as Blades having no memory of their past lives while being effectively immortal and aware of this reincarnation-like cycle felt interesting to me. To me 3 is like that idea in 2, just on a much bigger scale as pretty much the entire world is influenced by this alteration in life's fundamental truths.
I'm not sure why Dunkey gets a pass for these reviews a lot of the time, I get it, he's supposed to be an internet funny man but you can't use that as your persona, make a review filled with what you believe are legitimate criticisms and then shrug off any criticism of your serious criticisms as "just a joke."
Dunkey talks with a lot of sarcasm to imply he is joking, until he doesn't do that. Sometimes he was being serious about his point and just shit talking and snarking about his very real feelings with sarcasm. Sometimes Dunkey has just very well made commentary because he was both funny and insightful so it is both a joke and genuine statement, and sometimes he talks normally and is still joking and the plain delivery is the joke the whole time. Dunkey has been pretty much this image since his whole game critics era these past handful of years when it comes to his hot takes. I think the only exception was TLOU2, as he still defends that game.
Man I just wanted to play Funny Red Blade Game 2 without having people say "Hey, did you know that Tora is a creepy nopon perv", "Did you know Dahlia has disproportionately large badonkers" and "did you know Rex's voice actor can't yell" every two seconds. I can't say influencers ruined the game for me, I still loved it and will continue to say it's an amazing game (albeit with the most visible flaws), but I've never had another game where I felt like I had to justify my enjoyment of the game over and over again because the single-celled organisms called "Redditors" cannot comprehend you can enjoy something for the good parts, dislike the bad parts, and still say you enjoy the overall experience.
