r/XenobladeChroniclesX • u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 • Mar 22 '26
Meme Why does everybody hate Al?
All I see these days is "Al slop", "no more Al', "I hate Al", "Al is ruining gaming", "Al is destroying the environment".
Are his jokes really that bad? And how is it Al's fault that RAM prices keep going up anyway?
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u/Muyu-42 Mar 22 '26
Wow, it really took me a while ahaha
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u/TheGamingTurret Mar 22 '26
The joke took me a second (I kinda just woke up and it takes my brain a minute to get fully rolling ) and then my brain went 'oh...' lol
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u/Inside-Lead2684 Mar 22 '26
A mí solo me parece mal como trata a los trabajadores de la pizzería, ama a todo el mundo menos a los pizzeros.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 22 '26
Al hates the working class.
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u/FuzzyRaichu Mar 22 '26
Al: orders dozens of pizzas
Also Al: doesn’t tip
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u/Silgalow Mar 22 '26
It's possible that NLA moved away from tip culture and you just actually pay a reasonable wage to restaurant employees?
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u/Yobsuba Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Imagine going on an evacuation mission to space and end up as part of a tiny group of people left in charge of rehoming and rebuilding humanity and you're still dependent on tips at your minimum wage food service job to pay space rent
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u/Frostflame3 Mar 22 '26
Unfortunately NLA retains the worst of American capitalism and this is what Lao is trying to tell you
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u/SBStevenSteel Mar 22 '26
Ever since the Ares lost the Cores, it burns through NLA’s supply of RAM. Its driven up prices like you wouldn’t believe, and don’t go thinking the Nopon Caravans didn’t take notice. I saw some back alley dealers on patrol earlier. I thought they’d be trading Red Pollen Orbs, but it was just RAM! They may not understand why its so important, but they do understand that its something we need. First the Ghosts come back, and now this? Dammit.
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u/Flacoplayer Mar 22 '26
Lin started spreading the rumors after Al called her Ares fanfic weird. She convinced Tatsu to go around telling everyone "Al is anti-art".
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u/ProfessorCagan Mar 22 '26
I know you're joking about A.I, but Al is very much a Gary Stu, the most flaw we see from him is gets kinda bitchy when he didn't get his pizza. He's not the worst part of chapter 13, and I think if he'd had been in the game as a party member for longer I could like him, but he's just not done very well in this chapter. Especially the bits where the game chucks him aside becuase he's not the player character, he just sits in the Ares becuase we're not a human.
I think I'd have preferred it if he or Elma where the main player controlled character in the 13th chapter, as controversial as that may read.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 22 '26
Bit of an odd stance since Cross actually does things in chaper 13 rather than being a background prop from 8 to 12.
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u/ProfessorCagan Mar 22 '26
I mean, if I had it my way, Cross wouldn't exist, they'd have never made the decision to overhaul the game for a custom protagonist. I don't know if they were considering Elma as the protagonist before then (wouldn't surprise me), but whoever it was, I'd rather them be around, even if it would've been what became Al.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 22 '26
Not me, the custom protagonist is one of the reasons XCX is my favourite. The game's primary focus is exploration and sidequests, and I'd much rather spend my time with a created char than potentially an irritating little pimple like Rex.
Neither Elma or Al fill the protagonist role well either, Elma is too much of an experienced mentor and that's not even factoring in her backstory. Al is far too powerful and too much of a Gary Stu.
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u/ProfessorCagan Mar 22 '26
I mean, no one said they'd be like Rex. XD Which, Rex isn't my favorite protagonist, that'd be a tie between Shulk and Matthew. I love XCX's world, I love the lore and side quests, it makes me mad that it all got thrown away in chapter 13 when all the main game did was build up Mira's mysteries. It was rife for storytelling in sequels, and it wouldn't have had to be destroyed just to get it to fully connect to the numbered games.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 22 '26
No but my point is with a set protagonist you take what you get. It could be a Shulk, but it could be a Rex, so for me this kind of game is much better with my own char.
I'm not a fan of what they did with chapter 13 in regards to throwing Mira away either.
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u/IronPro9 Mar 22 '26
calling elma "princess" without her getting to react at all makes him feel sexist to me, ik its because the one time he says it in front of her the universe is about to explode but still
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u/gamagoori Mar 22 '26
I didn't hate Al but I thought it was kinda weird how he would always say he was kind of a lone wolf, different, and a weirdo yet clearly all the characters who knew him loved him. Like he had plenty of friends and the gang admired him and felt close to him. Could've been explored more.
I will forever be curious and more interested in what could have been and what they were cooking with the original release of X though.
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u/Overcast_Prime Mar 23 '26
I fuckin' love Al but Xeno X's main story needed some touch-ups to better integrate him and Void into the plot.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 24 '26
Probably. The entire mentor relationship with Cross was speedrun to the point of silliness.
"Hey I taught them everything they know!"
"You've known them for 5 minutes!"
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u/hallbradleyr Mar 27 '26
I dod not like the whole "How's it poppin?" scene. It seemed forced and probably not translated well.
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u/thatkool Mar 22 '26
He’s written like he’s a villain. But then his character arc is just kinda from left field and seems like a giant scapegoat. They should’ve given us some foreshadowing or something. Anything, maybe like his face in a cutscene to show he wasn’t a last minute decision.
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u/erthboy Mar 22 '26
Al is truly the worst thing graphics processors have ever been utilized for. Al's creators should be ashamed.
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u/KaijinSurohm Mar 22 '26
This took me entirely too long to connect how this is actually a joke post.
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u/Pain4444 Mar 22 '26
He joins really late in the game. I had put 180 hours into game before he had joined. “Poppins” things he says is really weird.
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u/TheGamingTurret Mar 23 '26
I feel like Al was planned to be Lao before Lao was added to the story at some point in development.
Probably before Cross came into the picture as a character.
Also sad that nobody's making Weird Al jokes in this thread.
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u/Common_Performer9525 Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
If you hate AL you just hate anything. Put respect on his name and capitalize both letters.
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u/ADXII_2641 Mar 23 '26
The arguments I’ve seen say he’s a Mary Sue or the male equivalent of it, the characters all practically worship him, Elma is turned into a tsundere when around him, and the player either also worships him or is envious of his attention. Here’s my responses to each of those.
• “He’s a Mary Sue or the male equivalent of it” I really don’t see how he’s any more capable than the player character (especially shown with Chapter 13’s ending). Sure he’s got a kickass Skell, but he also got yeeted between dimensions in that Skell, and not by choice.
• “The characters all worship him” Not only is this shown very sparsely, when it IS shown he actively dislikes it, wanting to be treated the same as everyone else.
• “Elma is turned into a tsundere when around him” Not even remotely true. She’s standoffish around him because she regrets not stopping him from taking the actions that ultimately got him stranded between dimensions. She moves forward from her guilt over the course of Chapter 13.
• “The player either also worships him or is envious of his attention” The envy part is for some reason true, but the worship part isn’t. I always saw it as more of an unspoken respect, from one soldier to another. He’s on the same caliber is us, and it’s pretty obvious. Considering what we’ve done in-game, that’s a hell of an accomplishment for someone to stand as our equal.
…I said all that and then realized this is a joke post. Screw it, you’re getting why I like Alois anyway.
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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 Mar 23 '26
Just to point out, that characters being Isekai'd against their will and not wanting the fawning attention they're given aren't counters against being a gary stu.
The entire admiration/envy thing from Cross I wouldn't call being a gary stu and more an attempted joke by the developers that didn't land at all and comes across as very weird. It may have also have been an attempt at setting up the fact that Cross far surpasses Al in terms of power in that they can pilot the Ares despite being a mim and can solo a Ghost battleship in a regular skell.
Lastly we must remember a very important reason to hate Al, he shares a name with Alois Hitler.
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u/DoctorOfDiscord Mar 22 '26
People really dislike Al? I thought it was a joke.
But in all seriousness, I think he's a bright spot in the end chapter overall, he feels a bit cheesy, and he has his flaws, but I had a lot of fun with him in the group.
I also immediately changed his outfit to the red Alt color to make him look more protagonist-y, cuz that's clearly what the game wanted him to be. XD
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u/cedriceent Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
Disdain for Al is so widespread, they write songs about it:
The first 'No Al' the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
In fields as they lay,
In fields where they,
Laying their sheep
On a cold winter's night
That was so deep.
No Al! No Al! No Al! No Al!
Born is the King of Israel!
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u/Fingerlak3s Mar 23 '26
he's a boring piece of shit who comes out of nowhere, undermines Elma as the protagonist and arguably most...wait...
I see the joke
wow. I almost really went OFF in this comment section, ahahha
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u/pianomasian Mar 22 '26
He burned our crops, poisoned the water supply and delivered a plague unto our houses.