#they're not out there serving legendary evil for fun

[crystalelemental]

Now for the other half: story stuff. Now that I've gotten all the venom of today's failure to find Tyrants out of my system, I can talk about the good stuff.

Nexomon Extinction has a legitimately good story. This was really strong. I left off last time after the Drake Isles, but we're now through the full story. I kinda backed out of talking spoilers the first time, but this time it's completely unavoidable.

Omnicron's Tomb is probably the best segment in the game. That whole segment is so funny, it's incredible. The introduction of your character actually using your elemental powers is also a nice bit, especially with the surprised "No one told me you could do that." It's gold. But there's also a lot of setup as far as what's going on there, too.

The real fun is right after. The entire plot has been about how the Nexomon are at war to find a new king, and that several Tyrants are vying for power. A while back, humans created dragons to fight Tyrants and protect humanity, and created an artificial Tyrant to serve as the king of monsters that the dragons would obey. That was Euros. Fifteen years ago, everything went berserk, and the catalyst to this was, it turns out, your birth. Your player character is the last descendant of Omnicron, and child of Nara. Turns out, Deena's been putting a whole plan in motion to set you up as the new Sovereign of Monsters, getting her siblings to help develop your powers so you're ready to ascend the throne as the Tyrant of Light. The whole setup of machinations is really good, but what we particularly love is that this means all of the other children of Omnicron are your aunts and uncles. And there is just something about the concept of wine aunt Nadine that tickles me. We were joking about the babysitting priority order, and we're pretty confident Luxa's at the bottom.

One complaint I did develop, and still hold, for this game, is that the Tyrant War is kinda just background noise. Like...we don't know anything about the Tyrants in play. We know their masters, but Mulcimer doesn't speak until you revive him, and says very little. Even the one that does give the most hints of personality, Tikala, has to have Deena fill in that no, he did care about becoming king, he just hid to try and wait out the war part. Comparatively, they lack for depth, and having reached the postgame where I can acquire all these legendary creatures, I find myself wondering...why would I run anyone but the children of Omnicron? Like no, really. I don't particularly like Luxa, but I at least know about him as a character. If they all were non-entities, I could run with what looks cool or functions well. But in what world am I going to swap out Ventra for Euros? There isn't one. It would never happen. Partially because I can't fucking find him, postgame Tyrant hunting sucks ass, but mostly because Ventra is super cool and has a lot of relevance and Euros is just kinda there.

Vados is the exception. Vados does start speaking, and is a fairly noble and pragmatic creature. When aiming to destroy the desert Tyrant, the Laterians refuse to not fight, and when Amelie talks about how they chose their course, Vados is the one to admonish "I won't hurt humans, Amelie." Vados and Amelie are both pretty interesting, believing that their course is correct. I do think the ultimate aim is a bit...well, extreme. As pointed out by your mentor, Vados cannot be the king of monsters, because it's not a Nexomon, therefore more Tyrants will be born and more will attempt to ascend. It will fight until the literal end of the world, caused by its own hand. Vados, and by extension, Amelie, seem to work on the same moral framework as Xanders: Nexomon are intrinsically evil, and if they're going to keep rising up, then yes, the solution is genocide. We will take them all out for humanity's sake.

The story is still overall very comedic, but I still feel like at times I wish they'd cut the fourth-wall-breaking jokes. This may be more personal preference than anything they're strictly doing wrong, but I do think I don't love it. It does have some absolutely immaculate jokes, though. I think on the whole this game is funnier than the first. While small, one of my favorite bits is Nadine, having use the last of her powers to throw Xanders off a cliff, saying she used all her powers and won't get to see your rise to glory...only to stop, then call to Atlas saying she can't hurt him and to come close, implying reconciliation. Then smacks his ass to the ground and starts to call him a little shit, fading before she can curse at him. That's great. I love Nadine. Though the absolute funniest is still the Yellow Ranger guy trying to jump you from on high, landing wrong and just screaming "MY BONES!" then vanishing. Absolutely hilarious.

As a whole experience, I liked this game a lot more than the first. Which is saying something considering the general vibe I have on being salty about postgame legend hunting. The story is just a lot stronger, reminiscent more of the underworld segment but sustained throughout. The new cast is generally excellent, though I do wish the Tyrants got a little more development. It's just a really good game. With a really unfortunate approach to the postgame legends. No, I will not shut up about this, I'm so mad.

#nexomon extinction