Chapter 15: Between Friends

Guest Reviewer: You'll have to wait and see. It's not happening for a long while.

Holy shit. That Xenoblade 3 direct was something else. This is fucking crazy. I have no idea what's going on and I'm all for it. Now I really want to write something for 3 as a sequel to this story. That would still be after my original concept though. The issue is I have no idea how I'd frame it. I feel like Brandon's existence would throw a lot of things that set up 3 off course.

The main thing about that is of course how he'd influence Nia. Then again, I guess Rex's influence wasn't enough to make things better in canon and neither was Shulk's on Melia's side.

There's a part of me that's really tempted to write Brandon in as a Blade Eater to have survived all the way to the events of 3. Basically have him act as an independent agent for Agnus, only loyal to himself and Nia, who's not restricted by whoever the consuls and the "real enemy" are. Obviously the big concern with this is that he just turns into a deus ex machina and takes the spotlight, which is not what I want, but it's hard to imagine how exactly I'd write it so that he doesn't end up like that. Maybe turn him into a mentor type character?

That is if I decide to even have him be alive at that point and not just a historical character who has impacts on the way the world runs later on.

Then again, I'd have to play the game to really learn what happens. It's still possible that 3 isn't actually in the same universe as 1 and 2 but is another parallel timeline. It's also possible that we'd have to wait for the DLC to fully release since we know that it has a story expansion like Torna and Future Connected. There are a million different theories circulating rn that, depending on which one is true (or none of them), it means that I'd have to come up with a different version of how Aionios happened within this universe. There's the chance that "Melia" and "Nia" aren't even the originals and are clones or something and this is taking place thousands of years in the future.

…

Nia tapped her foot impatiently. She was normally an early riser, but this was a lot later than early. Brandon was still sleeping now, a little over eighteen hours after he had gone to bed when they had returned back to Garfont village last evening. He didn't even eat dinner first before going to sleep at around six. It was a bit past noon now. She had gotten up at six in the morning herself so she had been waiting around since then for him to wake up. Vandham had taken Rex and Pyra to spar against some of the mercs for some practice and she had joined for a bit as well. But as it turned out, only Vandham was really a match for her and he was focusing on getting Rex into form.

So that ended up giving her little to do other than chat with Dromarch, and that was nice since she hadn't had an opportunity to do that in a few weeks. But they couldn't actually do anything meaningful until Brandon was awake to make a decision with them. Of course it was most likely that he'd simply agree with them to move out to the city, but they had to be sure. Also, they didn't want to carry him.

A part of her worried that he might have suffered even worse damage to his lungs, and she debated checking up on him. Maybe she could use her powers in secret to repair his lungs. But if he woke up while her powers made her hands glow, not much she could do to make an excuse for that.

"You know, my lady," Dromarch said, "it is not a crime to check up on him if you are worried."

"What? On who?"

Dromarch sighed. "You know exactly whom I speak of."

"I'm not worried about him." Nia denied.

"Of course not my lady." Dromarch bowed his head. "It was simply a suggestion."

"Yeah, well why don't you-"

"Good morning," a voice interrupted.

"You're up late," Nia crossed her arms.

Brandon chuckled as he scratched his head sheepishly, "sorry sorry, I was tired."

"I don't even understand how you sleep for that long," Nia said, "my body just wakes me up if I sleep for more than six hours."

"Well isn't that just fantastic for you. I usually get ten hours. Maybe that's just my brain catching up on lost time."

"Lost time?"

"Yeah," he sighed, "school does that to you. I used to pull all nighters all the time. I had so much work. Looking back on it… well I would have regretted it if my skills haven't saved my life multiple times. But there is the tinge of regret. But I shouldn't be feeling that since it's not only my life that's been saved."

"Are you really feelin' guilty over regret?"

Brandon laughed, "well when you phrase it like that, it does sound a bit dumb. Alright, message received, no feeling sorry for myself."

"Mmh. At any rate, what's the plan? We were thinkin' we should head up to Fonsa Myma and meet the bloke Vandham was talkin' about."

"Do you really think there'll be a guy who actually knows the way past that… thing?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot. Better than what we have at the moment, which is obviously nothin'."

"It's a week's journey though." Brandon sighed.

"Heh, think you can make it that far, old man?"

"Oh screw off. I'll be fine as long as we're not going uphill."

"Have you ever been to Uraya before?"

"Only the ports."

"All of Uraya's like that."

"... what?"

"Oh yeah, the bottom level is basically a massive sea with a few islands scattered around, so if you want to make it anywhere, you have to traverse the hills on the higher levels."

"Okay, you're actually going to have to carry me then." Brandon sighed, "ugh, I really don't want to do this."

"You're goin' to have to. You're the one who sent Gramps off and agreed to meet him there." Nia pointed out.

"I know, I know. I'm just, how to phrase it? Complaining for the sake of complaining."

"Yeah well, stop complainin'. You could use the exercise."

"Of course, milady. As you command."

"Yeah, consider it doctor's orders." Nia crossed her arms.

Brandon snorted, "what, are you my personal doctor now?"

"Well since you're not takin' care of yourself, seems someone has to. After all, I didn't get dragged into this quest to watch the person who dragged me into it die." She grinned with her hands on her hips.

"You know, there's still nothing stopping you from leaving."

"Don't insult me with that shite. I know what the stakes are and I'm not such a horrible person I'd just stand aside and watch the world burn."

"Hm, that reminds me. Yesterday, you wanted to say something to Vandham right?"

Nia bit her lip. Want was a strong word. It felt more like a responsibility to tell him about Torna. How deep her involvement with the group went. She had killed for Torna before, not fully understanding their true goals.

She still didn't understand why Jin had never told her how far they were going to go. Maybe he assumed that she already knew. But she had always thought that he was able to read her. Did he think she was too soft? But if that was the case, why bring her on that mission? Maybe it was just a whim, either way she couldn't ask him now.

They did all have a shared hatred of humanity which is what bonded them together, though hers wasn't nearly as pronounced and was already slowly ebbing. Spending this much time with what was essentially the best of them would do that. No matter how she had been treated in the past, these people here now were good. Besides, it was mostly the Praetorium that was the target of her hate. Not innocent folk which is what disillusioned her from the start anyways.

"Nia?"

She shook her head, "it's nothin'. Just somethin' I thought in the spur of the moment."

"Hm. Well, I won't bother you about it. Just let me know if you want to talk about it."

He really did see right through her. Maybe she'd take him up on the offer eventually. Vandham did kind of scare her so it would be nice to have more emotional support than Dromarch.

"At any rate, let's go fetch Rex shall we?" Brandon reached out a hand to help her up from her chair. "I kind of want to get moving, Torna's not going to wait for us."

"You're awake!"

Brandon laughed and ruffled Rex's hair as he ran up to hug him, "yeah, were you worried?"

"Of course I was. But you're the one who said there was no point in sitting around doing nothing and worrying."

"Not sure what kind of lessons you're teaching the kid," Vandham said.

"I mean, logically speaking, it makes the most sense. No point in sitting down idly wondering about something you can't change."

"A coldly logical thought process." Vandham sighed, "I suppose that shouldn't come as a surprise, though I'm not sure what that says about you if I already think that."

Brandon shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe I'm a sociopath."

"Nah kid. With how much you care for your friends here, I doubt that." He shook his head, "no, clearly you've gone through something to make you think that way."

"That something was mostly just childhood."

"Still something you went through, no? Also, you must've been a cynical little kid."

"Maybe I was." He shrugged, "kind of hard not to be where I grew up."

"Well, you're not there anymore."

Brandon raised an eyebrow, "that's true. Never thought of it that way."

"Eh, it's just a mindset thing. Doesn't really make a difference unless you believe it does."

"So you're saying I should focus on my mental?"

"If you want to put it that way, sure. Have you decided on what we're doing now?"

Brandon nodded, "yeah, though it seems like you've already agreed on what to do without me. But either way, we have to get to the capital to meet up with Gramps. Though are you sure the guy you were talking about knows his stuff?"

"Yeah, he's been around for a while. If anyone alive will know, it's him. If he doesn't, then he'll know someone who does."

"Well. That sounds promising."

"Come on kid, have a little faith." Vandham said.

"It's not like I have none," Brandon said, arguing the contrary, "everything's been just dandy so far so I have no reason to doubt you."

"Ha! You using the word dandy doesn't help you sound not sarcastic."

Brandon scratched his head sheepishly, "do I really sound that sarcastic?" He looked to Rex who nodded in confirmation. "Huh. I'd have thought that more applies to Nia."

"I'm sassy, not edgy."

"What? I'm not edgy. Right Rex?"

"You're not edgy," Rex agreed, "you're more brooding."

"That's the same thing!" Brandon complained.

"Well, no." Rex said, "edgy means that you're being broody on purpose to look cool."

"Since when does brooding look cool?"

"Exactly, that's why you're brooding and not edgy."

"... Faultless logic." Brandon gave a slow clap. "Also, you suck. I'm a pillar of positivity."

Nia burst out laughing. "You and positivity go hand in hand about as well as this," she said as she put her hands together but intentionally let some of her fingers bounce off each other.

"I hate all of you."

Vandham sighed, "you kids." He shook his head. "I'll go with Roc to make preparations. Feel free to join us when you're done with your… conversation."

"This is more like everyone teaming up against me than a conversation," Brandon complained. "It's like I'm a punching bag all of a sudden."

"You were always a punchin' bag," Nia teased, "your conversational skills never held a candle to my own."

"You what? I'll have you know…"

The group had been walking for a few uneventful hours. She had passed the time chatting with everyone else but they had mostly fallen into silence by this point.

Nia bit her lip nervously. They had gotten the supplies to head towards the capital and that was all well and good. But it felt too quiet. Akhos surely would know of their whereabouts by now and the next time they face off, he probably wouldn't come alone.

Brandon on the other hand, was relatively unconcerned. His logic being that no one else would enter Uraya through the mouth like they had which meant that Torna would have to find a way to meet them in the middle. And unlike Gormott, the closest town wasn't the capital city. Which meant that they would have to try to predict a town they're going to in order to find them.

While it wasn't faultless logic, it had some merit to it. Though it was an uncharacteristically optimistic prediction from Brandon. It sounded a lot more akin to something Rex would say.

It was actually Rex who was more on edge at the moment. Though that may be because he had to run the last few times they had fought Torna. Maybe meeting Vandham had put Brandon more at ease. For how cynical he came off at times, he seemed quick to trust. First with her, now with Vandham. Maybe that was because they had proven themselves in his mind.

He did seem to work off of merits. A lot of his thought processes seemed to just revolve around logic and little else. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing of course, it was what made him trust her after all.

It also made it easy to follow his thought processes. Which was why it was confusing that he was being optimistic now. Maybe he had taken Vandham's words to heart.

Huh, maybe-

"So the rumors were true!" A voice echoed out, interrupting Nia's thoughts.

"The Aegis has awakened once again."

"Who's there?" Rex demanded. Brandon activated his gauntlets, the familiar crackle of electricity hopefully enough to at least scare their mystery person.

A cloaked figure dropped down from above and landed on a knee with a fist on the ground. A Blade daintily dropped down beside him. The man stood up and struck a pose.

"Is he Torna?" Brandon whispered.

"No," Nia hissed back, "I have no idea who he is." His gray cloak covering most of his body didn't help identify him either.

"What?" He said, somehow hearing her from a distance, "everyone knows who I am!"

"Is this guy for real?" Brandon muttered, then more loudly responded, "sorry man, not a clue."

"Hah!" He exclaimed as he threw his cloak off.

Nia nearly facepalmed. He was tall and muscular, she'd give him that. But everything else was weird. He wore an eyepatch, though that was hardly the weirdest thing. He wore a long coat, but with nothing under it, showing off his bare chest, but not his abs oddly enough since they were covered by about a billion belts. His footwear was also odd, they seemed the end in metal spikes that went up to his knees.

"Uh, any idea who he is?"

"Still nothin'."

He seemed to take offense to that. "My name is Zeke Von Genbu! You might also know me as the Bringer of Chaos, or the Zekenator, or just Zeke."

Brandon shrugged.

"Ugh… whatever. Now, play nice and hand the Aegis over and no one gets hurt."

"So you're just another greedy asshole," Brandon sighed, "look dude, you're outnumbered seven to two. There's not a chance in hell you can take Pyra."

"Oh yeah? Do you think you can take us? With our mascot cheering us on?"

"Mascot?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, get a load of this," he said dramatically as he slowly reached into his coat and pulled out what looked like a turtle. "Behold! Turturs, our beloved mascot!"

"Okay, this guy's a joke. Do we move on?"

"Yeah, I don't pick on idiots." Nia waved a hand dismissively as she walked by. Everyone else followed suit.

"What? If you call me an idiot, then why do you pick on me?"

"That's-"

"H-hey! Don't ignore me!" Zeke cried as he rushed over to stand in the group's way again. "You barbarians!"

"Barbarians?" Nia raised an eyebrow. "How is that a relevant insult?"

"It…" He frowned.

"Yeah. What an idiot." Nia sighed, putting a hand on her hip and waved the other one in disgust, "I'm tired of him already."

"Whatever, the Aegis will be mine by the end of today. If you don't like that, come and do something about it!" He said, drawing his massive sword from his back, "my Purple Lightning Dream Smasher will crush all of you!"

"Okay, is it just me, or does this guy just want a fight?"

"I… think you're right," Nia said as she drew her twin rings, powering them up. She noticed that Vandham didn't even bother drawing his own weapons while Rex drew his own, the blue whispers of an Ether line connecting him to Pyra.

Zeke charged, his sword sparking with electricity. Rex met him halfway, blocking the strike against his Aegis sword. Rex quickly disengaged to let Brandon and Nia attack at the same time, Nia's twin rings slicing at the air where Zeke had just been as he was hard backpedaling to escape the weapons, but that allowed Brandon to chase and Zeke was forced to hastily intercept Brandon's gauntlets with his sword.

"You're a lot tougher than I thought you'd be!" Zeke exclaimed as he deflected a few more blows then turned his sword over, "but you won't get the best of me! Overload thunderbeam!"

"Shite," Nia dove to the side, barely getting out of the way of a beam of electricity that left her hair standing on end. She pushed herself back to her feet and dragged Brandon, who had been clipped by the blast, out of the way as Rex reengaged.

"Are you stupid?" Nia cursed as she healed the burns across Brandon's arm from the electricity, "you know he's an electric elemental."

He smiled sheepishly, "thanks." He flexed his arm, which was still twitching slightly.

"Don't just get up in his face like that."

"What else am I supposed to do? I'm not exactly as strong as you Drivers. I have to push advantages when I have them."

"No you don't, you don't have to- duck!"

"I wh-"

He was cut off as Nia shoved him down to the ground and tossed herself on top of him, sheltering his body from the electric blast with her own. She growled in frustration as she forced herself to her feet and yanked Brandon up along with her.

"Just be careful," she shoved Brandon's chest and turned around to heal Rex, who's arms had been slightly cut.

Brandon moved in again, taking a slower approach to Nia's relief. He was actually sneaking up pretty well, and managed to land a hit onto Zeke's side with an electrically charged gauntlet.

"Argh!" Zeke stumbled back and planted his sword into the ground to recover. "Not bad, not bad. As expected of the Aegis and her companions. But can you handle my ultimate attack?" He smirked as he spun his sword around.

"I think we can handle your ultimate whatever." Nia taunted.

"Oh really? Then prepare yourselves!" Lightning shot out of the top of his sword, extending it to a comical length. "Ultimate lightning fury slash! Max!" He leaped several meters into the air then slammed his sword into the ground with maximum force, sending electricity arcing out and leaving a glowing symbol on the ground.

"Uh," Nia glanced around to see that no damage had been done to anything other than to the grass which had been fried. "Was that really it?"

"Huh? I-" A massive crack boomed from the ground beneath him, cutting him off. Cracks formed beneath him as the ground crumbled away, creating a landslide.

"AAAH!" He screamed as both he and his Blade were sent hurtling down off the cliff.

"Oh shit," Brandon ran over to peer over the edge as he deactivated his gauntlets, "is he alright?"

"I'm sure he'll survive," Nia waved a hand, "it's not our problem. What our problem is though," she spun to face Vandham, "why didn't you help us?"

"His goal wasn't the Aegis, clearly. If it was, he'd have jumped into the middle and taken her while he had the element of surprise. He was just itching for a fight and thought it made a good excuse. He also had no real intention of killing you. Too many flashy moves and flamboyance. And since that was the case, it made for good practice."

"Practice huh? What about Brandon? He nearly got charbroiled."

"Admittedly that's my bad. I should have had Roc protect him."

"I don't need protection," Brandon crossed his arms with a scowl, "I'm hardly a helpless child."

"Yeah, that fight sure proved that," Nia said sarcastically.

"What are you trying to say?" Brandon said, his voice slowly rising in volume, "should I not be fighting?"

"That's not what I'm tryin' to say. But there's a reason why you got your armor fixed up to fight Torna. You're just not as strong or as resilient as a Driver and so you need to be more careful."

"I am being careful."

"Oh, so is that what you call bein' careful? Runnin' in like that?" Nia scoffed.

"Yeah it is. What the hell else am I supposed to do? All of you Drivers have a form of ranged elemental attack. The only thing I can do is keep them on the defensive. It's the only way I've been able to handle fighting Torna. That's basic strategy or there'd be no point in me participating."

"You're not invincible and Drivers and Blades are physically stronger. You screw up once like that, you die. I can't stop that if you're just rushin' in."

Brandon threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do? Pack up and go home? If it weren't for me, you'd be dead."

"If it weren't for- oh for cryin' out loud, is this about your ego? Do you have to be involved at the front or your fragile ego gets hurt?"

"Is that what you got out of that? After all that time we've fought side by side, you think I'd be egotistical? I'm here to protect Rex and only to protect Rex, if you think you can do that better than me, be my guest."

"I…"

"Um… guys…?" Rex took a hesitant step forward.

He took a deep breath. "I'm done here. Let's go." He turned and stalked off. Rex jogged to catch up. Pyra looked at her awkwardly before following.

Nia sighed. What a mess.

"Trouble in paradise?"

Nia scowled at Vandham as she slowly trudged along, a hand on Dromarch's head to try to calm herself, "not risin' to that."

He shrugged, "worth a shot. At any rate, I can't pretend to understand what's going on with that. But I take it that you're upset that he's not taking care of his own health."

"... Yeah." She said hesitantly. It was so frustrating, dealing with someone who didn't care about his own safety.

"Working in the mercenary business, you meet all kinds of folk. Some of 'em are like that but they're rare. Better than the selfish ones mind you, but bad in a different sort of way. They tend to be self destructive because they simply don't have much reason to live other than for others and oftentimes don't realize how much their deaths can affect others. It just doesn't register in their minds that their life is worth something."

"Do you… have any advice?"

"The obvious? Just keep on being yourself. You're with them now, and clearly you care for them. Don't let him self-destruct and slowly make him understand what he's doing wrong." He pointed to the group up ahead where Rex seemed to be badgering Brandon, "seems Rex is already doing that."

"Yeah, he's a good kid." She put a hand over her heart.

"Hey, you're a good kid too. You all just seem like you're in a bit over your heads."

"Maybe we are."

"Honestly, had things turned out differently, my lady would have been continuing her studies right now."

"Hah! Hard to imagine for someone like you."

Nia blushed an angry red, "I hate that I can't dispute that."

"Indeed." Dromarch chuckled.

"Oi, who's side are you on?" She glared down.

"Hey!" Vandham called. Rex looked back. "Let's set up camp in a bit."

Rex shot back a thumbs up.

Brandon was still mostly avoiding Nia when they finished setting up camp a few hours later. She was doing the same with him and they only exchanged terse words when needed. She had left the campsite to sit with Dromarch a fair distance away after dinner.

He was really trying not to let the fight get to him. It shouldn't be important, but for the first time in a long while, he was feeling fairly angry. He wasn't sure why Nia's comments had gotten to him so badly.

Rex had let him rant for a little while on their walk, but he had clearly grown tired of that by now and had chosen to escape to Vandham. Pyra sat by him awkwardly, unsure of what to do exactly between calming Brandon down or joining Rex.

He sighed, "you don't have to just sit there you know."

"I… well… I don't want to see such a close friendship broken up because of the situation I put us in."

"Well, I wouldn't say that this is a situation you've put us in." He chuckled. "Honestly, I should thank you. Only reason why I know her is because we were both on the same job to find you. Feels like I've known her for forever now even though it's really only been like a week."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed. You seem like you've been friends for years."

He shrugged, "sure feels that way with how much we get on each other's nerves. It's not like friends don't have fights, right? Plus we've pretty much been in each other's presence constantly without a break. It only makes sense that it would happen sooner or later."

"You haven't fought with Rex." Pyra pointed out.

"That you've seen," he shrugged. "We get into fights all the time. Though they never last long and they happen a lot less frequently now to be fair. Rex, you just buy him something that he wants and he's over it. Not sure how to deal with Nia though."

"You know she's just worried about you, right?" Pyra said.

"Yeah I know that. I don't see why though. I've been perfectly fine so far and the way I fight is meant to ensure I can get through every battle with the highest likelihood of everyone's survival."

"I believe that's the problem." Pyra said, "how little you seem to really care about yourself. Nia is… well I can't say that I know anything about her past but she seems to be one who's lost a lot of people."

"She… well that's her story to tell."

Pyra nodded, "it's not too hard to see though. Not everyone thinks the way you do so I imagine it's a little frustrating for her to see you act in a way that she sees as reckless."

"I… do you see me as reckless?"

"Well…"

Brandon gave her a deadpan stare, "just spit it out."

"Yes. Rex also thinks so."

"But what I'm doing is the safest option." Brandon said, bewildered, "it's the most optimal way to fight against opponents who are stronger than you. Put them on the defensive with an aggressive and unconventional fighting style so they can't leverage their strength in a standard battle."

"But it's risky. If you mess up-"

He waved a hand, "I'll die in pretty much one hit either way. It's better I force them into an unfamiliar situation."

"You've had experience with this."

"Yeah."

"But she hasn't. You have to try to understand what she's thinking every time you rush in."

"I don't… understand."

"Try talking to her. I'm sure she'll understand."

"Will she listen to me?"

Pyra smiled, "try leading with an apology. I'm sure she'll talk to you after that."

Brandon took a deep breath, "alright."

Nia's ears flicked in Brandon's direction as he approached the area she was lounging. "The fuck do you want?" She felt some satisfaction in hearing his footsteps falter for a moment.

"How did you know it was me?"

"Only you'd be stupid enough to come near me right now. So like I said: what do you want?"

"But like, what if it was Pyra?"

She sighed and pinched her nose as she stood up and turned around, "you also all walk differently, different pace length and weight and all that. You're also avoidin' the question. What could I possibly have to offer you that you'd listen to."

He winced, "look, Nia. I'm sorry."

"About what, exactly?"

"Not listening. Not trying to talk things out."

"You've been thinkin' about this huh."

"A bit, yeah."

She snorted, "good. Or I'd have turned you back around."

"Look. The thing is, the way I fight is still just the best option for me."

"But it just isn't," Nia argued, "you're not fightin' on your own anymore."

"I never fought alone."

Nia rolled her eyes, "you know what I mean. You fight as if you're alone. You say that if you aren't in their face, they can take you down, yeah? But that's why we're here." She pushed a finger into his chest. "Yeah? You get me?"

"Yeah. I think I understand."

"Good. I'd hate to think that brain of yours is wasted space." She poked his forehead.

"Ouch." He said both to the physical and emotional damage as he rubbed his head. "So, are we cool?"

"I'm cool. You're room temperature at best." Nia smirked as she sashayed back to camp.

"It appears my lady is content with that apology."

"Gee thanks Dromarch."

"Any time, master Brandon."

…

So the intention isn't to make Brandon a sociopath, but more like a human with a Vulcan's thought process. Still has emotions and such but taking pragmatism to the extreme.

Okay, so my other thoughts on the Direct that's not related to fanfiction. First off holy shit that's a lot of heroes and a lot of classes. Can't say anything on them yet obviously since we don't know enough, but the combat and customization looks like a ton of fun.

A lot of the combat and customization is stuff those of us who've been following the Xenoblade JP Twitter already know tho. The only new things we learned were the Agnus Ouroboros, which are badass, but not too hard to have predicted.

No clue as to who tf the true enemy is with all the consuls and not Noah and whoever that Fire Emblem looking ass villain is at the start. I've just given up on analyzing story details since there's so much to unpack and honestly I don't want to get spoilers by looking up analysis of the trailers since there's going to be people who've played Xenogears and probably know the basics. Already this game seems like it's going to be longer than 2, which is fucking crazy since there are almost 14 hours of cutscenes in that game.

I'm also probably going crazy since I'm currently malding that 2 fictional JRPG nations aren't using proper tactics. It's weird that they use effectively none, but I guess it can make sense since it's pretty clear that the main objective is to have as many soldiers killed as possible. But it still sucks that we don't see any tactics at all. Just throw soldiers at each other until one side gives out.

I'm just a bit frustrated I can't play this at launch since that just so happens to be about the time I'm moving so I won't have the time to play. Plus I want an American copy of the game so when the inevitable physical copy of the DLC comes out I can actually use the code on the game.

It's great that the Switch is region free, but idk why they made game codes not region free. I didn't even know about that until I tried to input the code for a game I bought in Korea with my NA account. You could probably input the codes if you make separate region accounts but I'm not going to risk it.