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Xeno and Star Ocean series.. 2 of the biggest space themed jrpgs lack "aliens" (where them aliens at)
- Thread starter hwarang
- Start date
If humanoid aliens don't count, isn't that the case for essentially all space JRPGs? I'm trying to think of JRPGs with non-humanoid aliens as party members, and I can't think of any.
I'm totally cool with that though. I prefer party members to be human like. They can go crazy with enemy designs.
I'm totally cool with that though. I prefer party members to be human like. They can go crazy with enemy designs.
Pretty sure alien species were never intended to be a priority with Xenosaga.
There is literally one game in that entire series that makes good on the promise of being a space opera (SO4), and no one would recommend playing that for story or character writing.
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There is literally one game in that entire series that makes good on the promise of being a space opera (SO4), and no one would recommend playing that for story or character writing.
You clearly haven't played Xenoblade Chronicles X.
X is a game all about meeting a ton of different aliens. There are almost a dozen species of alien in Xenoblade X is you include some of the enemy-only ones. Half the sidequests in the game involve dealing with alien culture, too.
Also, Star Ocean is packed to the gills with aliens. They just all look similar to humans because Star Ocean is more like Star Trek than Star Wars. The main protagonist of Star Ocean 1 is an alien, while Claude is the only human in Star Ocean 2.
X is a game all about meeting a ton of different aliens. There are almost a dozen species of alien in Xenoblade X is you include some of the enemy-only ones. Half the sidequests in the game involve dealing with alien culture, too.
Also, Star Ocean is packed to the gills with aliens. They just all look similar to humans because Star Ocean is more like Star Trek than Star Wars. The main protagonist of Star Ocean 1 is an alien, while Claude is the only human in Star Ocean 2.
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i don't count aliens that look like humans as aliens. that's just lazy imo
The Xeno games have the Nopons and Chus, which is something at least. I do agree on the overall point though. Very few space-themed games fully utilise that aspect. It becomes even more dire if you're looking for ones that don't look head-swapped humans. Indie JRPG Cosmic Star Heroine did deliver on that front though. You had multiple alien party members, and even a cool gross ant-like thing.
The first hour of Star Ocean 4 tries to sell it. You end up facing off against actual aliens while exploring, and your guns can't get through their shields (the standard 'the shield is built to repel fast projectiles and energy weapons, only slow medieval-style weapons can get through'), so end up resorting to swords and bows etc. There's some horrible-looking alien molluscs as bosses. Sadly, after that it becomes the usual tropey bullshit and a party of cliches on medieval worlds, as the shitty anime stuff like annoying kid characters and 'humanoid with wings/cat ears/pointy ears' crap takes over. Which is a real shame as the opening setup had so much promise.
Xenogears also has Dominia and Seraphita, the former having elvish features and the latter being a literal bunny girl.
I mean, feels like you're just moving goal posts. In most popular fiction that contains aliens, most species of aliens are humanoid. The Xeno series are filled with aliens of all sorts. And there have definitely been party members that fit the bill:
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Yes Xenoblade Chronicles X is the best game. How it deals with humanity having to live together with different alien species on a new planet is also one of the most interesting parts of the game.
Are they "really" aliens though? Not to mention you don't have any interaction with them other than them being random enemies.
For star ocean they're technically aliens just not your typical sci-if aliens of games like Mass effect. For star ocean 5 it takes place one 1 planet for like 98% of the story(same with 1&2) with one or two people being from another planet.
Star Ocean should probably have more non humanoid alien creatures in it somewhere but "Xeno series" (which is a terrible description for multiple series of vastly different styles, one of which isn't even meant to be space-faring beyond the purposes of humans in the first place) has pretty much zero need with that and they wouldn't have any place considering what the story's actually about in Gears and Saga.
Xenoblade X has all the aliens any of them need.
Your Star Ocean aliens are cat and bird people and also some bugs.
Xenoblade X has all the aliens any of them need.
Your Star Ocean aliens are cat and bird people and also some bugs.
The main cast of Cosmic Star Heroine features a giant sentient insect, a purple blob thing with a fish tank helmet, and a green reptilian(?) with nine eyes.
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Oops, meant towards Star ocean series.
Yeah XCX i haven't played so ill take an L on that.
/threadMore awesome Xenoblade aliens to prove this thread way wrong:
Xenoblade X has a great variety of alien races. And how they're part of the gameplay, lore and world building is something I haven't seen in any other JRPG.
Can't speak to those games, but I'm tired of these bipedal human-looking aliens we see in most games that have "non human" characters.
Like everyone said Xenoblade X has tons of them, and you could say Xenogears too
so it's weird to use Xeno as an example when 2/7 has aliens, 2/5 when you count only those who have some space element in their lore
in both games humanity is stuck on a whooooole different planet (kinda)
The gnosis are ghosts. They reject the collective unconscious so they wander around lost.
Exactly. That's the point of the story.
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X is clearly an outlier though in terms of alien aliens compared to the others and even then are there playable alien aliens in your party?
Isn't there a popular theory in sci fi where most intelligent beings are humanoid because of some convergent evolution and how humanoids are the most efficient things in terms of energy consumption/survivability/intelligence ?
Yes
Having played X this question is very funny.
Gears has Chu Chu. And if Nopons are aliens in XC1 and 2 then there are also alien party members in those games.
Is Xenoblade Chronicles really about space though? Especially when compared to Star Ocean. X, sure, which features a ton of alien races, but 1 and 2 less so, although they have fairly heavy sci-fi elements.
Science fiction doesn't have to have aliens to be considered science fiction. That's like saying a fantasy game has to always have a mythical creatures or be set in a medieval world to be considered fantasy.
If this is now also general thread about "cool playable Alien looking Aliens" I'm here to preach the joy of Sword of the Stars: The Pit.
It also features some more humanoid looking playable Aliens and of course several human characters.
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The main cast of Cosmic Star Heroine features a giant sentient insect, a purple blob thing with a fish tank helmet, and a green reptilian(?) with nine eyes.
That's what I'm talking about. Ant and cape dude looks 👌 and that odd robot. Gonna have to try this out.
There are plenty of aliens that aren't intelligent beyond the predator/hostile monster types. Often the regular mobs you fight are technically aliens.
That depends on what you consider space. Do you consider trans-dimensional to be space? XC1 takes place entirely on an alien world like Gears does. Regardless, alien just means foreign, which encompasses trans-dimensional beings.
The important thing with the Xeno series is that humanity is exiled from Earth and are aliens in another world, which is the case in every game... though XC2 subverts that a bit.
I'mma keep i real with you chief: If humans achieve space travel and meet other sapient species, 99.9% of the time they're going to be bipedal humaniods maybe with some extra features here or there depending on what they evolved from and their environment. This form is the optical way of existing with a big thinky brain without being a giant brain in a vat.
Also it's easier to just edit the basis humanoid model.