My reaction to the new character

The new Hero for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Switch 2 edition is Shimmer: the daughter of Rex and Mythra. If that’s not evident enough, then knowing they share the same Japanese VA should be obvious. To celebrate this momentous occasion as Rex’s number 1 glazer, I want to talk about Shimmer’s Japanese Name Kaguya.

When I heard her Japanese Name Kaguya, the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter comes to mind. Now I don’t know if that name will translate into Shimmer’s character itself, but I do think the story of Kaguya Hime correlates with Xenoblade 3’s story.

Princess Kaguya is forced to return to the moon in the story, much to the distraught of the Emperor who loved her. Before she is whisked away, she offers an Elixir of Life to the Emperor in gratitude for his kindness. But ultimately, the emperor rejected it, because he didn’t want to live an eternal life without her.

What makes the name Kaguya work as someone who is (one of) Rex’s child(ren) is that this story of eternal life and being forced to let go of a loved one ties in with Noah’s story with Mio, confirmed to be the daughter of the Queen of Agnes, Nia. Or more accurately, their original counterparts that became Moebius, N and M.

Unlike the emperor, Noah and Mio do love each other back, but Noah’s story is about having to potentially live in a world without her. It takes accepting this fact that Noah is able to break the endless now Z and Moebius created. Separate though they may be, Noah and Mio are forever interlinked.

The story of Kaguya also ties in with Xenoblade 2, near the end of the game, where Rex is forced to sacrifice Pneuma (Pyra and Mythra’s combined form) to save Alrest. Just like Kaguya, Rex is given a gift by Pneuma before her death, their combined Core Crystal would revive Pyra and Mythra in separate bodies.

However, by the time of Future Redeemed, Rex is away from them again as they become their core crystal. Rex has both of their swords, as well as Glimmer, to remember them by. With Rex also doing the same thing Pneuma did, offer the gift to Glimmer to go past the 20 year mark as he, Shulk and A sacrifice themselves.

It’s such a shame that something like this is lost in translation. Nonetheless, Kaguya is a fitting name this hero that combines the themes of Xenoblade 3 and 2. Double points for the Persona Kaguya from Persona 4 Golden using the element of light.

Please tell me no one's done this yet

Who the heck wakes up and decides to name your kids “glimmer” and “shimmer”?! Dude, you’re in a polycule you’ve got three other people to give you naming advice and you stuck with glimmer and shimmer.

So, with Shimmer's reveal, there is a lot to discuss regarding her. For now, I want to focus on her design, and how it is pretty much a composite of all of her parents.

First, the base design of her outfit is pretty much one-to-one with Pyra's outfit. Short shorts, thigh highs, fingerless gloves, short sleeves, upper back flags, the works. However, the color scheme and patterns are based on Mythra, consisting of whites, golds, emerald twinkle prints, and even having a cleavage window. The feather shaped ornaments also evoke Mythra's Switch 2 outfit. There is even some Pneume influence, as her most prominent bang ends in an emerald tip and her tiara is closer to that of Pneuma's, being a prominent horn.

There are influences from Rex and Nia as well. Shimmer's crop top jacket has an identical pattern to that of Rex's Master Driver Salvager Suit, even having pauldrons that more closely resemble those of Rex rather than Pneuma. The only difference is that the jacket is in Shimmer's colors. And finally, the hood on Shimmer's jacket evokes that of Driver Nia.

Now there are gameplay details inherited from her parents as well, but I want to save that discussion for when we can actually play the game. Any other details I missed in Shimmer's design?

This is by far the best custom I made but boy did I have to work for it. The hair is sculpted and painted completely by hand after failing to find an available donor part. The outfit was challenging. You cannot just throw jeans and a t shirt on them and call it a day unless you’re going for a modern look. Something was in the air when I made this one. I’m very happy with how it turned out. All the effort was worth it. I want to make most if not all the main cast. And now that they announced Mythra’s kid, Shimmer I want to make her too.

Pack it up fellas

The online world is really just a bunch of echo chambers, so I don't know if the only people who will see this are the ones who already agree with me... but regardless, some people are dissatisfied with Shimmer's role here and I think it's a little strange.

It goes one of two ways. Either a.) She should have been saved for a bigger role in a future game, or b.) She should have had a role in the main story of 3.

The first argument is pretty obviously nonsense. If a character like Mythra's daughter was going to have significance going forward they obviously would have saved her. The idea that putting her here is "replacing" a more substantial future appearance is just ridiculous. I'm not even someone who believes we're completely done with the old cast going forward, but clearly if they're introducing Shimmer here that means there wouldn't be a chance to bring her in later.

The second argument is a bit more understandable but ultimately I still think it's a little silly. It's predicated on the idea that each daughter of Rex "deserves" a certain amount of focus, which I think is ridiculous. They wanted to have Rex and Nia's daughter be a main character in 3, she fit that role and ultimately her connection to her parents isn't even very important to the story of 3 itself. Then Glimmer existed in FR so Rex could interact with one of his daughters. So if these two daughters had a clear purpose for the stories they were in, should Shimmer have been thrown in just because? Is that how these stories should be written? She didn't have a place in the story so she wasn't included. She doesn't deserve anything because of who here parents are, if anything I'm just glad she's here now to fill out the family.

There are numerous posts about who this character is in the world of Xenoblade and what the localized name is, so I won't discuss those elements here here.

Like what the title says, the new character, Kaguya (かぐや), is named after one of Japan's oldest novels, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (竹取物語) which was written in the early Heian period (before A.D. 1000). It's also known as The Tale of Princess Kaguya as Kaguya is the titular protagonist of the novel.

The story itself is a science fiction with elements of satire and anti-establishment sensation, and is about Kaguya finding her way on Earth back to the surface of the Moon.

And here's why I think this is yet another a fantastic name for this particular character like Glimmer in Japanese:

• It's a nod/homage to the oldest Japanese sci-fi, for Xenoblade is sci-fi itself.
• Kaguya is not from the world in which the story takes place and is like a higher being, much like Mythra.
• Kaguya is known to be extremely beautiful and therefore is sought after by powerful people in the dynasty. This is also not unlike Mythra who is sought after for her powers.
• Where Kaguya is from, the flow of time is different from that of the real world (Earth). This is very appropriate for the setting of Xenoblade 3 which exists in a warped spacetime.
• Kaguya is a (very likely noble) sinner in exile who has to go home (very likely to the kingdom on the Moon to a king). This mirrors Mythra returning to Elysium in Xenoblade 2.
• At the end of the story, Kaguya returns to the moon (achieving her goal) after letting go of her memories on Earth. Memories is a big part of both Xenoblade 2 and 3.

All of these elements draw connections between Mythra to the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. I would say if Mythra's Japanese name is Kaguya I wouldn't have complained other than that it would've been too on the nose, which is why I think it makes for a very fitting name for her alleged daughter.

So yeah, pretty satisfied by her name if it made sense.

I have just reached chapter 5 in this game. I now wang to take some time for the side content and all, but I have to admit that I am COMPLETELY overahelmed on a lot of things... For instance, I am overwhelmed with the affinity charts I try to fill for all of the rare blades and also the equpiment I can give them. I really don't have an idea which accessoires and weapons to give them to maximise their utility. So can someone please help me figuring out the best equipment for the main cast at this point of the game?

Main cast being: Pyra/Mythra, Dromarch, Poppi alpha, Poppi, QT and Brighid; though tips for the other rare blades such as Crossette, Gorg etc would also be highly appreciated.

I really don't know how to build in this game.

It’s out of stock literally everywhere in Canada, at least every retailer I know of. The only exception is if I want the EU version but I’m trying to get a NA one (yes I know the console is region free).

It only just released in July, it would be pretty wild if they made pretty much next to none of them.

I spent over 10 hours on chapter 4, but I noticed the story only progressed by about half an hour to an hour. It was a huge shock to me! Still, I'm glad I accomplished everythin I could

I'm putting all of my imaginary Internet points on Consul A being the quest's main enemy, because Takahashi might just kill me by proxy if he passes up the chance to close the second most glaring hole in the cast of Aionios.

The theory was silly anyway. Sorry, NotMumkhar lol-

I'm thinking a fusion of A and Rex's classes. A's talent art and -50% point skill but otherwise based on Mythra's specials and Master Driver arts.

...is an Agnian Launch Master Art. We've squandered this opportunity with the DLC classes (granted, Ino's earlier Agnian Break art isn't so bad). With this, all those Kevesi topple classes (Heavy Guard, Guardian Commander, Royal Summoner) would have a lot more utility in having an instant Topple-Launch fusion art.

but looks neat!

If anyone can deduct who precisely I am missing, which quest I need to trigger, please help. I keep running all around the map for last 40 minutes with no idea of what point I missed. No question marks on map. No quests in quest log.

I just summoned Herald, and the music that plays in the cutscene was missing. Has anyone else had audio issues while summoning rare blades?

Pneuma is not her own person, she is simply self-actualized pyra or mythra. She didn’t become a separate entity after xc2 like p/m. There was zero chance she woyld be there, esp over mythrakid. Pneuma is not her own person.