i want to know the al hate
he's just a character who shows up at the end of xenoblade X in the new epilogue. im about to go off memory so if im wrong im wrong. whatever.
spoilers, sort of. but i don't think im meaningfully spoiling any plot.
he's not really mentioned before in the base game unless you count a vague unnamed reference. on a writing level, he feels like he doesnt belong in the story. he shows up in a special mech and was stuck in a rift in the universe where he saw the events of xenoblade 1, 2, and 3 play out. they use this to justify the Xenoblade Cinematic Universe Connecting All The Games. Pure fanservice and no value otherwise.
the game tries to sell you on elma's connection to him on an emotional level. and the rest of the party. but it makes no sense because nobody ever mentioned him in the base game. no "man i really miss Al right about now" or "man i really miss Al's stupid jokes" etc. because he's not even supposed to be the game. they just made his ass up 5 minutes ago.
on a comedic level he is just grating. this is his "joke".
in all fairness this is the repeatedly unfunny "eating tatsu" jokes game. where part of the humor is that its not funny and has overstayed its welcome. i know what an "anti-joke" is but this still annoyed me. ive had people endlessly explain "anti-joke" to me as if this is well executed. sometimes a joke is so bad that its just bad.
i dont think the way this video is cut really shows it. but i found the timing of the joke felt off. humor is subjective, so idk how to argue this point. i just think he's unfunny. the series has done comedic timing correctly before.
i also cannot become endeared to his anti-joke because of his role in the story. the plot development of X's epilogue is completely nutty. characters drift from location to location at random just to have elma and Al loredump to the player. to me, he is a "loredump" guy. he's not really a person. he's a device that deposits lore into my ears. he has no serious connection to the other characters or real roots or stake in the story because they made it all up for the epilogue.
Every moment Al is on my screen is a waste of my time. he pisses me the fuck off. everything about his presence exudes sloppy low effort hack writing. its like theyre throwing dirt in my face and telling me to eat up. eat your fucking slop piggy. eat your yucky xeno slop you stupid fucking pig.
i have a bunch of other small things i could hate on him for. but its really not serious. my hatred for him is more because i see him as a symbol of the series's declining writing quality.
