War and the Limits of Knowledge: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Part 1
For some unfortunate people, war is a continuous daily struggle to survive, not just for the soldiers but for people who are bystanders as well. Conflict is inevitable when it comes to sharing of resources and the needs of particular peoples. However, inevitable conflict does not necessitate the inevitability of war. There are peaceful ways to resolve conflict but often those options are not presented as a possibility to the average person because war is more beneficial for powerful people. In the beginning of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you are thrust into a battle with a rival colony. It is this early stage where I want to begin our reflection.
After a raging battle with mechs and soldiers, you have absorbed the flame clocks of your enemies and gained the life force you need to support your colony. The flame clocks are what you give you and your friends life. If your flame clock runs out, you die, and you can see your flame clock in real time. Killing others is the only way to keep your flame clock filled for yourself and for your colony. After commemorating the fallen through song, you have to walk home to your colony. You share memories with your friends and talk about your dreams of making the homecoming, a special ceremony where you get to return to the queen after ten years of service in the army. Every young soldier's dream is to make it to their homecoming, which is difficult in a world at constant war. Little do you know that this world is worse than it seems which you'll find all too soon…
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an action jrpg where two rival factions: Agnes and Keves are fighting in a world at constant war. Each colony is ruled by a consul who oversees the distribution of supplies and plans military tactics. Your consul is one of many Mobius, who each run their own colonies and award ratings to colonies who do well in the war with more supplies. Upon returning to your colony after your victory, you meet with the commander and get sent out on your next assignment to check on some energy fluctuations in the area. This is the rhythm of life in the colony, war, debrief, brief rest, and more missions. Everything to keep your flame clock alive, make it to your Homecoming, and build up your colony’s flame clock to get better rations.
However, everything changes when your team is sent on a mission to stabilize an energy source. Keves and Agnes are fighting to control territory near the energy fluctuation until an older man, much older than ten terms, breaks open an Ouroboros box which releases a flood of energy surrounding yours and the enemy team. The leader, Noah, starts merging memories with Mio from the enemy side, Agnes. You are extremely confused as to what is happening because so much has happened (aging, seeing the full form of a consul truly be a horrific monster, and connecting with the enemy side whom you have been fighting for generations.) and try to go home. On your way home, you are targeted on site and have to flee, becoming a refugee. Something has changed, but you have to run to find a safe place eventually running into your enemies who are also fleeing their home colony because of being targeted on site.
This beginning narrative is vital for understanding the limits of our perspective and what happens when you get exposed to new knowledge, willingly or unwillingly, and what that means for our own place in a society. It is easy to have a set of feelings and emotions based on world circumstances. It is much more difficult to evaluate those feelings for where you might be wrong or missing information, especially as you learn from others outside of your main circle. The characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 live in small colonies trained to fight against their enemies from other colonies. The constant busy schedule does not leave much room for reflection for the people of the colonies and why they are fighting in the first place. People have been driven to live by their instinct of keeping their flame clock functioning and there is little room for anything else in the lives of people in the colony.
Propaganda functions in a similar context in our world. Propaganda is designed to limit our worldview and focus us on a narrow set of particular fears. This is often accompanied by limiting the free time of people through increasing work schedules and macro-economic factors to keep people contained. Propaganda limits our encounters, stifles the growth of our consciences, and is designed to keep people angry while a few certain people benefit from the way things are. War profiteering benefits a few rich CEO’s and shareholders through dividends but leaves many people around the world suffering as many conflicts have to be artificially manufactured and people have to suffer at the hands of the weapons made by the war profiteers, because weapons aren’t profitable unless they are used to kill or injure others.
At home, conflicts between groups of people have to be manufactured in order to obscure what is actually happening because of rich and powerful people. This obscuring and propaganda development is deliberate, because everyone would be upset if it was clear as day that 3 people own as much wealth and influence as the bottom 30+% of Americans. But if we can limit people’s vision on how much they hate people of other races and get them to focus on what they don’t deserve, then it is easier for rich and powerful people to take and take. Many gamers are low-income people and it is sad how gaming has become a source for extending racist, xenophobic, and hateful content because rich people are manipulating media to amplify people’s fears and hates and give those fears and hates fertile ground in which to grow. What we see in our narrow view as our focal points, if we are not careful, can become obsessions with minor details while people in charge are taking advantage of your position. In our world, it looks like people taking advantage of loan forgiveness, tax breaks, and loopholes for investment income. In the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it is a system which we will learn is about harvesting energy created by people all to favor the life of the Mobius. The hows are particularly interesting and I loved the mechanism of storytelling in this game.
Our next Xenoblade Chronicles Article will focus upon reconciliation and how a team builds good cohesion when being former enemies. Like the Horizon series from my patreon blog, the Xenoblade Chronicles Articles will be every other post to give some variety.
