Drama CDS + Read Fleeting Memories First Might Help?

[mdesaleah]

Haven’t seen 3’s story since I’m waiting for the release next week.

But there’s a lot of stuff in the drama CD’s and Fleeting Memories that goes over some things that the games never touch.

Might be a coincidence but they do mention things like how other nations respond to Adepts, where Septima came from (Lifewave stages), and general neat backgrounds on characters and how certain events happened (Zonda infiltrating Sumeragi’s nation to start her Eden plan, Nova almost being able to use lightning, Copen’s dad...)

Generally could help things like new organizations in 3 make more sense as something that already existed in the background of other things

[mdesaleah]

I also don’t see how they could fit all that info in the games themselves, so having them be in outside sources makes sense, unless the games suddenly gained a good hour or two of dialogue

[Big Damn Hero]

Reading any extra material or even just playing the previous games will only lead to more disappointment about this game's plot. There is a reason why the people that reeee'd the hardest about this game were the ones deep into the rabbit hole and not the ones that skipped cutscenes and didn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the "anime trash plot".

[mdesaleah]

Originally posted by Big Damn Hero:

Reading any extra material or even just playing the previous games will only lead to more disappointment about this game's plot. There is a reason why the people that reeee'd the hardest about this game were the ones deep into the rabbit hole and not the ones that skipped cutscenes and didn't give a ♥♥♥♥ about the "anime trash plot".

I’ll make a note here once I see all of it.

Definitely won’t beat out iX2 as the worst story in the series I assumed. That one is a spinoff in a side series

[Big Damn Hero]

Actually there's not a small number of people that say GV3's is worse by mere virtue of being offensively bad instead of a nothing key fetch quest plot. Ffs some were advocating for the game to be retconned prior to the epilogue's announcement (those now are waiting for that to see if they throw the story under the bus fully or not).

[JusticeMagnum]

I think the difference between iX2 & GV3's stories is that with the iX series, they've gone out of their way to say story doesn't matter in iX. The iX games are just action games (whereas mainline is labeled as light-novel 2D action) and what story is there is just an excuse to get Copen to beat up 7 more bad guys, so iX2's story being rather minimal is not that big of a deal imo (there's transparency here, so I know what to expect), especially since iX1 didn't really leave anything for sequel to work with narratively.

However, in GV3's case, when Inti goes out of their way to talk about how story is a staple of mainline, it's so important, they wanna avoid spoilers at all costs because they wan't people to enjoy the story... and then said story is totally wack and doesn't even live up to the most minuscule of expectations then... yeah it does sting way more and feels immensely more disappointing/awful. Tbh it's probably not the worst thing ever but to echo what many have said online, one of GV3's biggest issues is simply that it's called Gunvolt 3 when it really feels like a spin-off (in some ways more so than iX) due to how it basically has nothing to do with what came before.

Honestly, I still think about iX2's story quite a bit since there's a lot of interesting implications and ideas in it (assuming you're deep in the trenches of Gunvolt lore). I can't say the same about GV3, I'm already forgetting about it's story/character's (and it's only been a little over 2 months) and I'm not hype about the epilogue story wise since I really couldn't care less about Zed and his merry band of goobers since they left such a lame impression in the game proper.

[Lancer]

TBH the game seems almost engineered to piss off longtime fans. The less you know or care about the story prior to 3 the less bad 3's story is.

Of course the game ends with GV and Kirin thinking and acting like Sumeragi are the good guys so

[mdesaleah]

So far with what I’ve played. I can understand why a lot are disappointed but I’m also open.

Primal Dragons are a good addition, and it especially helps if you read the start of Fleeting Memories where they explain how people have evolved multiple times before. So adepts going from phase 7 to something greater does feel like a natural step eventually. They also say that they don’t know the source of this evolution from the start, and 3 may hint at one maybe.

I think the main issue people have is that the Copen storyline and the Xiao teaser seem to have been pushed to the side. I predicted Copen would not be a main focus this time, but that he would still get character development at some point. And unless Xiao’s actions connect to 3 by the end, then they also ignored that.


On GVs side, I’m fine with him moving on from Joule since that’s how 2 ended bittersweet for him, but 3 would benefit from explaining what happened to characters like Quinn.

[Big Damn Hero]

You're still on the part where things haven't completely devolved into complete buffoonery, that comes later.

[William Shakesman]

Originally posted by JusticeMagnum:

I think the difference between iX2 & GV3's stories is that with the iX series, they've gone out of their way to say story doesn't matter in iX. The iX games are just action games (whereas mainline is labeled as light-novel 2D action) and what story is there is just an excuse to get Copen to beat up 7 more bad guys, so iX2's story being rather minimal is not that big of a deal imo (there's transparency here, so I know what to expect), especially since iX1 didn't really leave anything for sequel to work with narratively.

However, in GV3's case, when Inti goes out of their way to talk about how story is a staple of mainline, it's so important, they wanna avoid spoilers at all costs because they wan't people to enjoy the story... and then said story is totally wack and doesn't even live up to the most minuscule of expectations then... yeah it does sting way more and feels immensely more disappointing/awful. Tbh it's probably not the worst thing ever but to echo what many have said online, one of GV3's biggest issues is simply that it's called Gunvolt 3 when it really feels like a spin-off (in some ways more so than iX) due to how it basically has nothing to do with what came before.

Honestly, I still think about iX2's story quite a bit since there's a lot of interesting implications and ideas in it (assuming you're deep in the trenches of Gunvolt lore). I can't say the same about GV3, I'm already forgetting about it's story/character's (and it's only been a little over 2 months) and I'm not hype about the epilogue story wise since I really couldn't care less about Zed and his merry band of goobers since they left such a lame impression in the game proper.

In the absolute least charitable interpretation of iX2's story, it's a fanfic filler episode but at least the finale circles back to being something important for the heroes

[mdesaleah]

Beat Part 2 of the palace with the rematches.

Maybe I can see how some don’t like how gv is said to have regrets and doubts over who to join during the last two games, but so far that still seems in character. Choosing a side has been a thing since Asimov questioned him at the end of 1, and after years of killing Adepts (even Elise who was literally kidnapped and not actually evil) with nothing to actually solve the conflict to show for it, I think it makes sense he would have doubts. It was something like “you can try to not pick a side, but it will catch up to you eventually”.

Overall, I think it’s fine so far, even if it feels more like Gunvolt 4 than 3 since they could easily fit a game in between 2 and this one that clears up Copen’s arc that never properly finished, and the whole xiao thing, ending with GV going berserk

Unless something really big happens at the end that ruins everything,, but I’ll avoid here again until I get there

[socially ept outcel]

Do you guys realise you're playing a cartoon video game with a barely stitched together story lol seeing people desperately trying to grasp for meaning in this is sad. If anything GV3 is Inti doing you people a favour, by being so obviously stupid it's telling you that you're playing a video game with a perfunctory story and nothing more... the last two games were dumb too, but not dumb enough for people to get the message, so they had to make this one REALLY stupid

[Big Damn Hero]

I just wanna read the reaction to the ayy lmao looking dragon fetus thing.

[socially ept outcel]

Originally posted by Big Damn Hero:

I just wanna read the reaction to the ayy lmao looking dragon fetus thing.

Am I the only one who was hoping the "child of hope" was Copen because I missed my bro

it's insanely stupid though that the big boss is some random dragon baby. who cares.

[William Shakesman]

Originally posted by アレックス:

Do you guys realise you're playing a cartoon video game with a barely stitched together story lol seeing people desperately trying to grasp for meaning in this is sad. If anything GV3 is Inti doing you people a favour, by being so obviously stupid it's telling you that you're playing a video game with a perfunctory story and nothing more... the last two games were dumb too, but not dumb enough for people to get the message, so they had to make this one REALLY stupid

I just want to say there is absolutely nothing in the game that suggests that Prince Zed would be anything but an excellent, just, and righteous king of all reality and all GV and Kirin could say in the face of him stealing a super bioweapon to become king of all reality is "Wait no what if your son isn't as cool as you? Monarchy is just bad period forever corporate rule by Sumeragi is ideal!"

Like you could make a dozen arguments here about what he's doing about stealing the power of a creature and the hubris of stepping above his place to think he can master it or whatever, you could write any story you want here, but they can't have Kirin and GV rightly point out that this plan of dragon babby magicks is stupid so the guys who haven't seen a monarchy in 700 years have opinions on it.

[mdesaleah]

Done with true ending and while gv just yeeting himself out is probably whats causing the divide with 3's ending since they never actually show why GV would go berserk in the future. Could be due to what happens if you somehow die while being in Anthem. Yes, can die in Anthem if you just let it happen and its a cool little "bad end". The whole Mobius existing I'm fine with though.

We already knew that gv attained a power above Septima's with Primal Dragons, so having someone born with that ability isn't that much of a stretch. They do leave it very open with how they even found him though, and its power to see the future is a bit of a sudden pull but we've also already had the power to revive the dead so its not too much of a stretch.

Series starts with a random adept being born in South America and the origin of septima adepts, so it continuing with an even further evolution being born isnt much of a step.

My real question comes with Layla and why she just happens to have a Djinn muse. Hopefully the ATEMS epilogue can address this.

I'm also ok with Sumeragi in 3 cause they make it VERY clear that they are still not good guys, but Kirin plans on monitoring and fixing them from the inside. From the way some were saying, I was expecting Sumeragi to have been the sudden heroes, but they arent.

My one big issue is still just that Copen's story arc never got a conclusion and that this feels like GV4. But maybe a game in between this and 2 could alleviate that issue. Just end it with gv going berserk to set up this game. My more positive conclusion is probably due to not having the expectation that this would solve all of 2's loose ends though, so I understand why many were disappointed.

Apparently the Switch version didn't have an extra scene for the ending that was added later, so that probably helped a lot.