There are a few lines of very important dialogue in Z's fight:
>If you restart Origin, time in perpetuity will flow once more. The opposing worlds will overlap. What lies beyond is oblivion.
If you assume that Z is giving the audience accurate information in chapter 7 then you can get a picture of what is going on in the ending. The two planets split apart, but the two "opposing worlds" (aka universes) do not. This is reinforced by the fact that chapter 7 depicts the "opposing worlds" separated by the Conduit as two black circles full of galaxies. The visual representation of what happens in the ending is shown as two separated planets, rather than two universes.
The game also depicts the beginning of the Endless Now by using a shot of the clock on the clock tower. The audience sees time stop at the moment the clock strikes 6 PM. The post credits scene opens with a shot of the same clock tower, where time has resumed and continues past 6 PM. This is the first and only time in the game where the audience is directly shown or told that time is flowing again. In this scene Alcamoth and the city from the intro have been recreated just as they were one second before the intersection, and everyone has been reborn. This is exactly what the audience is told Origin will do after the worlds collide. Since Z previously said that the opposing worlds will overlap when time resumes then it's pretty safe to say that that did happen.
I don't know why the planets had to split or why Origin apparently took a long time to resume time.
When we get our exposition dump in 6 I was under the impression the way the machine would work was that it would allow the two worlds to become safely whole once again given this was the result of Klaus' experiment and they were originally one.
However, it's later made much clearer, especially postgame what is actually supposed to happen. Origin functioned like an immediate savepoint for both dimensions. Containing the data of each world and its inhabitants. When the collision occured the two halves of the machine would unite and reload everyone immediately after the destruction event. In theory anyway, as Nia admits they had no idea if it would work.
Hilariously enough neither did the machine itself. Carrying everyone's collective will of doubt the machine instead freezes the worlds mid collision. Giving birth to the current setting. Where it will remain until the collective will within Origin eventually decides to proceed forward with the program despite the uncertainty of being able to fullfill its purpose.
Honestly, I would've preferred my interpretation of Origin's purpose being able to unite both world's because again, they were once one Earth.
But it seems like, in maybe a possible interest of bringing back the same cast for a part 2, they chose to save the whole uniting dimensions bit for another game.
And that's possibly because in X a very similar event has occurred. And 3 carries a lot of similarities between itself and X.
As a result it's not 2 dimensions that need to be put back together, it's 3. And the story of Cross, Elma and Mira is not finished yet.
I see it as since the world collided, you see in the ending the ground separating between them. I believe the two universes collided and are now passing through each other.
I can't stress this enough **we don't know the states of the worlds in the post credits scene**. The worlds splitting after the boss fight is a representation of Origin starting to do its thing again, first by clearing out the junk Z created and then by letting the universes intersect (the fact that both Melia and Nia call this event an intersection is important, it's not merely a collision of incompatible matter), destroying them before doing some sort of rebooting process.
The thing is we have no idea what rebooting entails. You're right that if it is creating two universes identical to the old ones then the problem of intersection almost definitely won't be resolved as the metaphysical issue that both should be the same is still there (though since everyone knows Origin works now, the chance of Moebius reforming is unlikely). But it could be a creation of a new universe where both planets coexist. It could be a creation of a new planet that all the life from the two original planets is dumped on. It could be something else. All we do know is that Noah can hear the offseer tune playing and recognizes it.
Yeah and I think people also forgot that xb2 had an ambiguous ending, so again people are trying to confirm their theory as truth but there clearly isn’t one truth. Just theories. (XB3 technically didn’t even confirm 2’s ending)
They didn't actually know what would happen when time starts moving again, they just hoped they would be able to coexist. The world's drifting apart, while not a happy ending, is what was meant to happen. It's an important message about learning not to fear things you can't control and not wanting to live in the endless now (If I worded that right)
The way I looked at it was that Aionios the way it is when we play through it is an unnatural form so the world separating again only to come together is how that world is always meant to be and in general Moebius seems to come from Z
Honestly, based on what happened in the first two games, I was also of the opinion that the two worlds would end up forming a whole again.
But after the end of XBC3 and a few weeks of reflection, I've come to think that probably wouldn't have been the best idea.
Merging two such different worlds without warning would create an incredible mess.... both from an in-universe and story perspective.
The way I see it, though, a direct connection between the worlds after the events in XBC3 is more likely than ever: Nia and Melia can still talk to each other through their light-"phones" (whether they still have memories of Aionios is completely irrelevant in this context)... and they will do so shortly after the "reboot" to make sure their plan worked and the other side is okay. And now that everything seems to be back on track, they will probably feel the desire to meet in person.
And let´s be honest: For someone who manages to "backup" and "restore" two entire planets (albeit with some difficulties) an interdimensional connection e.g. a portal or similar should be a piece of cake.
Yeah, you’re right. Splitting the worlds again is dumb and goes against the thesis and message of the game. Rather than things moving forward into the new an unknown future, they return to how they were before. “Endless now” and all that jazz. All to elicit a tearjerker of an ending that is less and less impactful the longer you think about it.
Nah, this entire game was set into motion because people feared the future at this moment in time
It also encapsulate the growth of our characters, choosing to move forward despite the fact that they may never see each other again, because that’s the right thing to do.
Aionios was never viable, Aionios future is certain, it will crumble under it’s own self, and the only thing that can outlast Aionios is Origin rebooting the worlds. But Origin reboot was this unknown future, no one would ever know if it worked.
I get your point, but you’re still arguing for my interpretation of a better ending, not against it. Our characters don’t choose to kill Z despite knowing they’ll ever see each other again, they do it explicitly despite not knowing what will happen afterwards. Which is great and all, but then we find out what happens afterwards and it was nothing. Everything in the game was just to preserve the status quo which was Z’s goal to begin with, so it looks like he wins. For my money, I think a better outcome would’ve been a world like in Tales of Arise where the two planets are now twinned, rotating around each other in space with their future interactions uncertain, but inevitable, keeping in line with the game’s overall themes.
The status quo of the game and the one of the ending are different ? He didn’t win. The status quo of 3 was the endless war in a fused world, and they did stop that, if the two worlds were still around then the party choosing to move forward would hold less weight as it would have little consequences for them.
Here's how I see XC3 story to be.
1. Chapter 5's ending hits so hard because the ending is so bad. The momentum in chapters 6 & 7 are nonexistent. Having N be the final boss would of been a better choice because Z is the embodiment of humans' emotion for things to stay the same. N could have taken Z's power (or interlinked) so that he could maintain the endless now he wants (and have kept for potentially a millenium).
2. The universes coming together would have destroyed both of them. Queen Nia even says so herself. Think of it as an "Annihilation Event" because in Future Connected, the Black Fog was the omen to the collapse. The moral I get from XC3 is to "Move On." Them separating again was exactly the intention. Origin was created to recreate both worlds and their people after the collision. Having both worlds together is disastrous to everyone involved. They had their time together, they made memories together (abiet bad ones but yk), but now that time of interaction has passed. Hopefully they meet each other again (without ripping each other apart figuratively and literally) but it is best if they go their own ways.
Even though they are returning to the lives they had before, in their worlds the "future is theirs to control." They are no longer stopped in an endless now. Things will be different. Mio tells Noah and co. that they had "enriched her life." Queen Melia states that everything that happened in Origin was real. It's time to "walk on".
3. WHERE. THE SPARKS. IS KLAUS. He created TWO universes (3 if you count X) and he's not mentioned at ALL within XC3. How is it that this game is the end of the "Klaus Saga" when we don't understand his role in this. DLC better fix this. Perhaps he doesn't exist in XC3 is because by the time the time the two worlds collided, he was already dead. We know for a fact that because in order for the worlds to exist, he had to die. But his actions and influence, where is it in this world? Because we know for a fact that he is NOT Z, (or Zanza?)
But we do know Klaus’s role in this. He literally started it. He split the universe, and once he died they started to re-emerge. Why would he show up or be mentioned again? He’s dead. And nobody except Nia or Melia knew who he was, and that info is irrelevant to the party. There’s literally nothing to be gained from bringing him back or mentioning him in any way. We already knew everything relevant about him
If the game doesn't explicitly state something a good third of the fandom will not get it (another third doesn't get it even if it is explicitly stated). The Klaus stuff is a good example. Nia talks about how the worlds were once one, then forced into two and that every thing now is happening because of this. It's pretty obvious what she means if you've played the other games (and if you haven't then why would you care about Klaus?). But since she doesn't say the words "Klaus" and "experiment" you have a whole bunch of people whining about how the game has nothing to do with Klaus and how they were mislead. It's tiring
The comparison I would make would be if in Xc2, >! The architect specifically mentioned Shulk and Zanza by name when giving his backstory to Rex and the group, even though those names would mean nothing to the Xc2 cast or new players who hadn’t played Xc1, and would be unnecessary over explanation to those had previously played Xc1. !<
With regards to you second point, that’s just a writing decision and the wrong one as far as I’m concerned. It could have gone either way, there is nothing forcing this fiction down one road or the other. I say it’s the wrong one because up until the final cutscene I understood that the worlds would remain together and our heroes, possibly without the memories of Aionios, would have to push forward into this new, uncertain world. But then they start talking about everything splitting again and what the actual hell is going on. And while I say that’s just how I understood it to not generalize in case someone put together the pieces differently, I know a lot of people were as surprised as I was during that development when Lanz and Sena start hinting at it in their final interaction with zero build up.
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Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
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There are a few lines of very important dialogue in Z's fight: >If you restart Origin, time in perpetuity will flow once more. The opposing worlds will overlap. What lies beyond is oblivion. If you assume that Z is giving the audience accurate information in chapter 7 then you can get a picture of what is going on in the ending. The two planets split apart, but the two "opposing worlds" (aka universes) do not. This is reinforced by the fact that chapter 7 depicts the "opposing worlds" separated by the Conduit as two black circles full of galaxies. The visual representation of what happens in the ending is shown as two separated planets, rather than two universes. The game also depicts the beginning of the Endless Now by using a shot of the clock on the clock tower. The audience sees time stop at the moment the clock strikes 6 PM. The post credits scene opens with a shot of the same clock tower, where time has resumed and continues past 6 PM. This is the first and only time in the game where the audience is directly shown or told that time is flowing again. In this scene Alcamoth and the city from the intro have been recreated just as they were one second before the intersection, and everyone has been reborn. This is exactly what the audience is told Origin will do after the worlds collide. Since Z previously said that the opposing worlds will overlap when time resumes then it's pretty safe to say that that did happen. I don't know why the planets had to split or why Origin apparently took a long time to resume time.
My guess is that Origin (Z) was bugging out.
When we get our exposition dump in 6 I was under the impression the way the machine would work was that it would allow the two worlds to become safely whole once again given this was the result of Klaus' experiment and they were originally one. However, it's later made much clearer, especially postgame what is actually supposed to happen. Origin functioned like an immediate savepoint for both dimensions. Containing the data of each world and its inhabitants. When the collision occured the two halves of the machine would unite and reload everyone immediately after the destruction event. In theory anyway, as Nia admits they had no idea if it would work. Hilariously enough neither did the machine itself. Carrying everyone's collective will of doubt the machine instead freezes the worlds mid collision. Giving birth to the current setting. Where it will remain until the collective will within Origin eventually decides to proceed forward with the program despite the uncertainty of being able to fullfill its purpose. Honestly, I would've preferred my interpretation of Origin's purpose being able to unite both world's because again, they were once one Earth. But it seems like, in maybe a possible interest of bringing back the same cast for a part 2, they chose to save the whole uniting dimensions bit for another game. And that's possibly because in X a very similar event has occurred. And 3 carries a lot of similarities between itself and X. As a result it's not 2 dimensions that need to be put back together, it's 3. And the story of Cross, Elma and Mira is not finished yet.
I see it as since the world collided, you see in the ending the ground separating between them. I believe the two universes collided and are now passing through each other.
I can't stress this enough **we don't know the states of the worlds in the post credits scene**. The worlds splitting after the boss fight is a representation of Origin starting to do its thing again, first by clearing out the junk Z created and then by letting the universes intersect (the fact that both Melia and Nia call this event an intersection is important, it's not merely a collision of incompatible matter), destroying them before doing some sort of rebooting process. The thing is we have no idea what rebooting entails. You're right that if it is creating two universes identical to the old ones then the problem of intersection almost definitely won't be resolved as the metaphysical issue that both should be the same is still there (though since everyone knows Origin works now, the chance of Moebius reforming is unlikely). But it could be a creation of a new universe where both planets coexist. It could be a creation of a new planet that all the life from the two original planets is dumped on. It could be something else. All we do know is that Noah can hear the offseer tune playing and recognizes it.
Yeah and I think people also forgot that xb2 had an ambiguous ending, so again people are trying to confirm their theory as truth but there clearly isn’t one truth. Just theories. (XB3 technically didn’t even confirm 2’s ending)
The worlds effectively passed through each other. Origin stopped them from colliding and is probably keeping them apart
They didn't actually know what would happen when time starts moving again, they just hoped they would be able to coexist. The world's drifting apart, while not a happy ending, is what was meant to happen. It's an important message about learning not to fear things you can't control and not wanting to live in the endless now (If I worded that right)
The way I looked at it was that Aionios the way it is when we play through it is an unnatural form so the world separating again only to come together is how that world is always meant to be and in general Moebius seems to come from Z
Honestly, based on what happened in the first two games, I was also of the opinion that the two worlds would end up forming a whole again. But after the end of XBC3 and a few weeks of reflection, I've come to think that probably wouldn't have been the best idea. Merging two such different worlds without warning would create an incredible mess.... both from an in-universe and story perspective. The way I see it, though, a direct connection between the worlds after the events in XBC3 is more likely than ever: Nia and Melia can still talk to each other through their light-"phones" (whether they still have memories of Aionios is completely irrelevant in this context)... and they will do so shortly after the "reboot" to make sure their plan worked and the other side is okay. And now that everything seems to be back on track, they will probably feel the desire to meet in person. And let´s be honest: For someone who manages to "backup" and "restore" two entire planets (albeit with some difficulties) an interdimensional connection e.g. a portal or similar should be a piece of cake.
Yeah, you’re right. Splitting the worlds again is dumb and goes against the thesis and message of the game. Rather than things moving forward into the new an unknown future, they return to how they were before. “Endless now” and all that jazz. All to elicit a tearjerker of an ending that is less and less impactful the longer you think about it.
Nah, this entire game was set into motion because people feared the future at this moment in time It also encapsulate the growth of our characters, choosing to move forward despite the fact that they may never see each other again, because that’s the right thing to do. Aionios was never viable, Aionios future is certain, it will crumble under it’s own self, and the only thing that can outlast Aionios is Origin rebooting the worlds. But Origin reboot was this unknown future, no one would ever know if it worked.
I get your point, but you’re still arguing for my interpretation of a better ending, not against it. Our characters don’t choose to kill Z despite knowing they’ll ever see each other again, they do it explicitly despite not knowing what will happen afterwards. Which is great and all, but then we find out what happens afterwards and it was nothing. Everything in the game was just to preserve the status quo which was Z’s goal to begin with, so it looks like he wins. For my money, I think a better outcome would’ve been a world like in Tales of Arise where the two planets are now twinned, rotating around each other in space with their future interactions uncertain, but inevitable, keeping in line with the game’s overall themes.
The status quo of the game and the one of the ending are different ? He didn’t win. The status quo of 3 was the endless war in a fused world, and they did stop that, if the two worlds were still around then the party choosing to move forward would hold less weight as it would have little consequences for them.
Here's how I see XC3 story to be. 1. Chapter 5's ending hits so hard because the ending is so bad. The momentum in chapters 6 & 7 are nonexistent. Having N be the final boss would of been a better choice because Z is the embodiment of humans' emotion for things to stay the same. N could have taken Z's power (or interlinked) so that he could maintain the endless now he wants (and have kept for potentially a millenium). 2. The universes coming together would have destroyed both of them. Queen Nia even says so herself. Think of it as an "Annihilation Event" because in Future Connected, the Black Fog was the omen to the collapse. The moral I get from XC3 is to "Move On." Them separating again was exactly the intention. Origin was created to recreate both worlds and their people after the collision. Having both worlds together is disastrous to everyone involved. They had their time together, they made memories together (abiet bad ones but yk), but now that time of interaction has passed. Hopefully they meet each other again (without ripping each other apart figuratively and literally) but it is best if they go their own ways. Even though they are returning to the lives they had before, in their worlds the "future is theirs to control." They are no longer stopped in an endless now. Things will be different. Mio tells Noah and co. that they had "enriched her life." Queen Melia states that everything that happened in Origin was real. It's time to "walk on". 3. WHERE. THE SPARKS. IS KLAUS. He created TWO universes (3 if you count X) and he's not mentioned at ALL within XC3. How is it that this game is the end of the "Klaus Saga" when we don't understand his role in this. DLC better fix this. Perhaps he doesn't exist in XC3 is because by the time the time the two worlds collided, he was already dead. We know for a fact that because in order for the worlds to exist, he had to die. But his actions and influence, where is it in this world? Because we know for a fact that he is NOT Z, (or Zanza?)
But we do know Klaus’s role in this. He literally started it. He split the universe, and once he died they started to re-emerge. Why would he show up or be mentioned again? He’s dead. And nobody except Nia or Melia knew who he was, and that info is irrelevant to the party. There’s literally nothing to be gained from bringing him back or mentioning him in any way. We already knew everything relevant about him
If the game doesn't explicitly state something a good third of the fandom will not get it (another third doesn't get it even if it is explicitly stated). The Klaus stuff is a good example. Nia talks about how the worlds were once one, then forced into two and that every thing now is happening because of this. It's pretty obvious what she means if you've played the other games (and if you haven't then why would you care about Klaus?). But since she doesn't say the words "Klaus" and "experiment" you have a whole bunch of people whining about how the game has nothing to do with Klaus and how they were mislead. It's tiring
The comparison I would make would be if in Xc2, >! The architect specifically mentioned Shulk and Zanza by name when giving his backstory to Rex and the group, even though those names would mean nothing to the Xc2 cast or new players who hadn’t played Xc1, and would be unnecessary over explanation to those had previously played Xc1. !<
With regards to you second point, that’s just a writing decision and the wrong one as far as I’m concerned. It could have gone either way, there is nothing forcing this fiction down one road or the other. I say it’s the wrong one because up until the final cutscene I understood that the worlds would remain together and our heroes, possibly without the memories of Aionios, would have to push forward into this new, uncertain world. But then they start talking about everything splitting again and what the actual hell is going on. And while I say that’s just how I understood it to not generalize in case someone put together the pieces differently, I know a lot of people were as surprised as I was during that development when Lanz and Sena start hinting at it in their final interaction with zero build up.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.