Question of the Month – February

It’s still February folks, which means that there’s still time to answer February’s Question of the Month! For those of you who are not familiar with it, Question of the Month is a community event organized by Later Levels. It is a big deal. It seeks to address fundamental questions in video games and life that have been inexplicably overlooked. These holes in our knowledge, these vacuums of information need to be filled. But what on earth is the question to be answered this month?

In an ingenious twist to the Question of the Month format, Kim from Later Levels now invites other talented bloggers to set the questions and judge the answers, and February’s has been submitted by Kevin from The Mental Attic. Make sure you check out his blog!

Kevin asks:

You ate everything during Christmas so now have to diet and work it all off; which video game character do you recruit as your personal trainer to get you back into shape?

…and my first ever answer to a Question of the Month question is:

Elma (Xenoblade Chronicles X)

Ok, so I don’t go to a gym. I’ve never had a gym membership. When I walk past my work’s gym I reel in horror at the terror that lurks inside, and nip into the coffee shop that’s next door instead. You see, I think that personal trainers are scary. They shout at you, they take your confidence and stomp it into tiny pieces, they demean you in front of OTHER PEOPLE. No, no, no. That isn’t going to work for me, so I’ve picked someone with a lighter touch.

For those of you that don’t know, Elma is pretty much the leading character in Xenoblade X. She is a Colonel within the newly set up military organization BLADE, who were created in order to ensure the survival of mankind on their new home planet, Mira. Yeah, she’s a top colonel in a crack military squad and she can kick your ass!

Whilst she is extremely disciplined, and drilled in military combat and procedures, Elma is also nice. She finds new recruits and guides them without too much hand holding. She teaches you not only how to survive on Mira (which involves A LOT of running away from things, which makes for great exercise), but also how to thrive within your chosen BLADE team. She herself operates within the Reclaimers division of BLADE, but she’ll be happy to help you no matter what division you’re in as long as you work hard. If you don’t she might not be angry as such, but she’ll be something much worse…she’ll be DISAPPOINTED. No one wants to see Elma disappointed. No one. So there is your motivation right there.

Elma has all the right attributes to make this work. But how would this translate in practice? Well actually, there is already proof of her skills as a personal trainer which reassures me that she is up to the task. Just ask formerly out-of-shape Interceptor Gwin Evans. Elma sorted him out in no time – took him through the basics, kitted him out with the right gear, and took him out time after time to beat up critters until he made the grade!

I’m very much looking forward to Elma doing the same for me. For such a respected and worthy trainer I’d be willing to go to (almost) any lengths, and I’ll be in shape in no time. Although, I may also find myself stuck on a strange planet where not everything is necessarily as it seems…

Ok! So, think you’ve got a better idea? Well head on over to the post on the Later Levels site to submit your own and check out who else has been suggested!

Thanks for reading,

Pix1001 x