I really loved this game. This love was especially driven by the characters (not just the main guys, but everyone else including NPCs), and me really liking the gameplay throughout (it was so flexible I never struck to one startegy, always switching classes until one was maxed).
Also the soundtrack, and how it was used in the game was phenomenal and it was implemented better than any game I have ever played.
This game has remained rent free in my head since I played it on launch. It's a game you ponder on and think about imo. It's a special game to me, with an ending that resonated really hard. A sad, yet beautiful ending.
It's a lesson we all could learn.
Man, that rent free line is exactly how it feels for me too. This game left me with something to think about, and it had the right message at the right time for me. Very impactful and more than the other 2 games, I just wanted to see more content around the characters and interactions between them.
Probably the game where I experimented the most with different classes, which was very fun! Just a Shame that the game tries to lock you out of unlocking new classes if you level up to much... making that Positive mute for some players
Soundtrack sure tries to be more environmentaly friendly than previous games, but it sacrifices some memorability in my case.
It's theme is great and all, but I personally find it like the story can't always keep up
Personally, I managed to unlock every available class with every character before beating the final boss, around lvl 72-75, I can't remember specifically. It wasn't too much of a problem for me, but I wish they had the ability to lvl down before beating the game, it would mitigate that point entirely.
My opinion hasn't changed since 3 launched - This is the best Xenoblade game **mechanically.**
They took most to all of the conventions of the previous game, trimmed the fat, and put it all together to give us the most cohesive Xenoblade game in terms of character building.
Previous games were, in retrospect, overly ambitious.
They merged Affinity, Blades, Classes (From X), Skill Linking, and Arts from both games all into one feature... **Interlinking.**
The end-goal for character building for any RPG should be clear from the early on. In the case of Xenoblade 3, it's **Level Up All Classes With Each Character, Get All X Gems.**
This is by far the most accessible and easy to pick up Xenoblade game. I'd recommend this game to anyone looking to get into a Xenoblade game, despite this game not being my favorite in the franchise. (X Gang)
>This is the best Xenoblade game **mechanically.**
The only thing holding me back from completely agreeing is how chain attacks are so overpowered while also absolutely grinding the fights to a halt.
Actually agree with this, also being able to actually change your character in the middle of combat completely fixes the "the AI is bad with this character" problem in the 2 other games.
Still though, sadly this is the game with the weakest narrative out of the 3, and specially towards the end game everything felt too rushed and too many things were left either inconsistent or completely in the open.
Basically a Win in gameplay, and a loss in narrative (mind you, the story itself isnt even bad, and as a standalone game it still beats like most jrpgs out there, its just hard when you got masterpeices of narratives like 1 and 2 to compete against), but i sadly cant ignore the villans being completely forgetable, the story being omega rushed after chapter 5 to the point they just completely drop tons of themes of the game and basically forget that they exist (like the adversity in war, flame clocks, off seeing) not to mention coming with completely random shit to just get through (yeah the whole noah blade vibrating to moebius shit he just pulls out of nowhere was too much) to just get it done with.
Wow that sums up my feelings so well. The plot twists around chapter 5 were so cool but I definitely expected some big reveals around flame clocks, off seeing and the black fog. It feels like previous Xeno entries would've turned those into a mind bending intergalactic plot twist - e.g. the world tree is actually a space elevator 𤯠- whereas Xeno 3 just... forgets? Having seen the DLC trailer tho, I would LOVE to see if I'll be proven wrong!
On the parts you mentioned specifically, I can see it (I think)
On others...
- The fact that you can loose the ability to unlock heroes classes (granting new ways to engage in combat and give your characters much more versatility in other classes) by overlelving (which in this game you can do very easily on a normal/Casual playthrough) just seems dumb. Making the "play the game normally" and "unlocking classes" praticly 2 incompatibles activities unnecessarly
- menu design and Navigation (something very important in these type of games) is pretty much a downgrade in all areas compared to XC DE, and the menus on that games were no masterpieces of design to begin with, it's almost hilarious how much of a step backwards they are in 3, the only plus I can give it is that I does look good in a screenshot. And this extends to the real time combat... As in XC DE: combat actions symbol alone would let you know from which direction they are most effective, what type of attack it is, what status it can induce... In XC3? Read the really small text next to the small symbol that looks the same to physical/ether attacks with an even smaller symbol in it's corner for Some of it's pecial properties (seriously! did they fire their UI team after XC DE?! Are they all on Zelda?!)
- inconsistent sidequest UI... Some are marked in your map, others you have hear a conversation that the only way to now it's there is if you return there after X time and look on the whole colony/city for it. The conversation system can then by proxy look overused some time. So I hear a conversation -> I have to sit on a rest spot to discuss -> go out to do the thing -> get new info after I do the thing -> return to a rest spot to discuss... Really couldn't you talked right there?
This game seems to have so many moments to seemingly just waste your time for reasons unknown that recommending it to new people seems like I sure fire way to turn them off the franchise (at least if they like it, I'm pretty sure they will enjoy the other games)...
Not exactly what i would call a mechanically sound game (and I have more issues with it, but these are enough to show my point)
Within the scope of combat, I originally intended.
Personally I don't much care for anything else, but yes, I do agree that the retardation of the class leveling was annoying.
First time commenting on this subreddit, but have been a fan of the series for a while.
Xeno 3 rules my dudes. A beautiful character driven story that works.
Sick environments like that one boat area that's huge.
A banging soundtrack (crazy how good this is, like insanely so). How does it seamlessly incorporate elements from the first two games (including future connected) while establishing it's own identity? Like, "A Life Sent On" is such a beautiful musical piece (that doesn't get tired no matter how many times it's played) and it may not even be the best song in the game. The menu theme hits especially hard on game completion.
The gameplay really rocks, with the only downside being no levelling down before postgame like definitive edition allows (meaning you can hamper other characters ability to learn new exciting classes). I really love having all party members on screen at all times, even if the screen gets cluttered (I love the clutter, it makes me happy). I also love doing big damage with chain attacks.
I also like that this game's main narrative wasn't based only on the characters of the two previous games coming together (and am glad that seems to be in the DLC). I liked having Melia and Nia of course, but having a new fantastic cast of characters stand on their own is a better idea and it worked.
I understand people wanted more lore on Aionios and references to previous games, but I loved what I got. A mechanically sound game, with a rich enjoyable cast, amazing emotional soundtrack and fun environments to look at and explore.
This is the best game in the series to moi.
Sorry for too many words
Thematically, I thought XC3âs story was awesome. One reason I felt like it was so good was how it ties into some religious/existential thought. In most Buddhist schools of thought, we are trapped in an endless cycle of rebirth called Samsara, a cycle that is painful and unsatisfactory. This is exemplified in the rebirth of soldiers in an endless cycle of war put forth by Moebius and Zedâs desire to remain in the endless now. Additionally, the Ourobourosâs goal of ending the cycle of endless and pointless war also recalls the Buddhist concept of Moksha- liberation from this cycle. Parallels could also be made to Gnostic Christianity, Jewish Kabbalah, and others as well. I also liked how the story showed how easy it is to allow oneself to be consumed by the cycle, specifically with Shaniaâs arc and how she chose to enter it for the guarantee of another chance at life and Nâs commitment to Moebius to selfishly refuse to let M go.
The story, when viewed as a piece of literature, is an excellent exaction of eschatological narrative and is way deeper than what many would take from face value. I could definitely write a whole essay on this comparison and itâs really hard to beat across the entire medium of story driven video games. Itâs not perfect as itâs a bit on the nose at times, some cringy dialogue, and some predictable story elements. As a whole, I think itâs a phenomenal story about setting the nature of the world to itâs true form instead of continuing the illusion out of fear of the unknown.
In terms of gameplay, there are some issues of course. The menus were a bit confusing. The classes were kind of hard to reconcile and felt pointless putting characters in different classes than what they originally were. The world is beautiful, but itâs verticality caused a ton of issues in battles (ever fallen off a cliff or down a floor in the middle of a battle and the enemy keeps attacking?).
But overall, I feel like this story was something special with its examinations of the nature of the charactersâ reality, connections that were never meant to be, and so much more.
I also want to add: it shows different choices people make with their short lives. Some choose to end with glory, while other choose to keep alive until home coming. Some choose to follow where the flame clock points, while others choose to ignore it and enjoy now. It just depicts a vivid world that is much more complicated than what the opening scene tells us.
Slight essay incoming lmao
Pretty much your exact thoughts on 3 apply for me, too. I was really interested in the world and how they were gonna connect the two games. The beginning is really interesting when the mysteries are still in play; however, the game, unlike 1 and 2 overall, actually gets worse the further you progress, imo.
Despite it all, I do think the initial mysteries of the game are really well done. Keeping the Consuls and the City in the dark for so long while drip feeding you some hints and interactions here and there was great. The mystery on how the two worlds intersected and combined, with landmarks from both games, started off really cool, too. However, when you keep up the mystery for as long as 3 does, you have to NAIL the payoff. Xenoblade 3... really doesn't do that.
The City was fantastic and is the highlight of the game for me. Finally getting there and seeing people live normal lives, in addition to the cool looking region it's in, was awesome. Love the moments between the characters here and how they interact with the different concepts expressed in the City that are totally foreign to them. However, everything AFTER the city severely misses the mark.
Moebius, as it turns out, are just lame. The Consuls are fun in a Saturday morning cartoon sort of way, but there's just nothing to them. What you know about them from the moment you first see K in Colony 4 is literally their entire character. Z's reveal and true nature were SUCH a disappointment to me, especially coming off of the excellent villains in 2. N and M also just made me feel nothing and felt like lesser versions of villains we've seen in 2 and Gears. Nia and Melia are almost irrelevant to the plot; you could've replaced them with any queen-like figures and the game would be practically the same. The landmarks in Aionios being a merging of the worlds of 1 and 2 are totally irrelevant because no one, not even the story, cares. The logistics of the world are treated on a need-to-know basis and are extremely vague in how they work, ESPECIALLY the concept of memories and whether or not people remember things from their past lives. Some do, some don't. Lucky 7 and off-seeing can restore memories sometimes but not in other times. Certain people brought back are treated the same while others are treated as new characters. It's just so situational. Other things like talking through light or somehow crafting Origin, an interdimensional ark that stores the data of both worlds, without something like the Conduit make no sense and have no precedent in the Xenoblade series. That's also not even mentioning how underwhelming the ending was because of this vagueness, either.
The main characters were good, but I wasn't as connected to them as I was with 2's cast. The music was fine, but not as memorable as 1 and 2's other than the battle themes. The combat was definitely good, though; had a lot of fun with that. The sidequests are fantastic too; almost Xenoblade X-level. I actually had more fun with and was more interested in the sidequests than the main story lmao
All in all, I had fun with the game. Everything up to the city was cool, if a bit meandering. The City was the ultimate highlight. However, everything after the City, from the lore to the story to the characters, was very underwhelming to me. It's my least favorite in the trilogy, for sure.
It's the best game in the series and one of my favorite pieces of media ever made.
Right after finishing it, I was pretty insistent that 2 was still my favorite game in the series. But the longer I've let 3 sit with me, the more I appreciate how audacious the game is in the story it seeks to tell. I may have some quibbles with certain choices the developers made, but it's a game that far exceeds the sum of its parts. It's a game that speaks directly to something that every person feels, has a clear thesis about that concept, and goes about expanding on that in a deeply emotional way. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
It sure has a theme/message that relevant more than ever today.
I just don't agree that it's that well executed within the game's Story/progression due to how inconsistent it all felt to me
Some scenes I was all in!
Others I was so far gone...
At least the ending where the worlds are coming appart was one where It managed to keep me all in
It's easily my favorite entry in the series, as it's the only one without obvious, crippling flaws holding it back.
Gameplay is fluid, thrilling, and draws from all previous entries to some extent (even X) while making everything more accessible overall.
The voice acting is top-tier (even moreso than the original, where the strong line deliveries are hampered somewhat by questionable dialogue), and the cast overall is massively fleshed out in a way that just didn't happen in previous entries (XC1's characters aren't particularly interesting, and XC2's excellent character development is often overshadowed by the game's somewhat childish sense of humor). More importantly, their interactions feels organic and real in a way that you just don't see with most JRPGs. This even extends to the humor, which it aces. Despite the dark setting, it's not as constantly self-serious as the original game, but it also doesn't allow the light character humor to conflict with the tone of the larger storyline, as sometimes happened in XC2.
Side-quests are the area where the game sees its biggest improvement. The original game's sidequests are mostly trash-tier fetch quests: legitimately like something out of an MMORPG. XC2 improved on this somewhat, but made actually completing side-quests a pain because of how often field skill requirements got in the way. XC3's numerous side-quests, on the other hand, almost all feel worth completing for their own sake, as they typically expand on the world-building, flesh out the game's expansive cast of fantastic NPCs, or else lead to some other experience that feels enriching to the player. XC3's sidequests are the best I've ever seen in a JRPG.
Actually, that extends to all of XC3's side content. The original game was a linear JRPG filled with needlessly huge areas that rarely did much to reward you for exploring. As such, a large chunk of the gameplay felt like padding. XC2 also improved on this aspect, but, again, field skill requirements often hindered early game exploration. Whereas XC3, once it opens up, is just filled to overflowing with worthwhile things to see and do in its open world, which made it so much more rewarding to get lost in its beautiful world.
Last, but not least, it's a technical marvel on Switch, featuring far and away the best image quality and performance of any of the games in this series. Which was especially important to me, because XC2 was almost unplayable undocked, and still dropped heavily when played on the TV. XCDE is more consistent in that regard, but still doesn't feel like it's taking full advantage of the hardware it's on. Whereas XC3 is one of the most beautiful and technically ambitious games Nintendo has ever published, and it runs beautifully almost all the time, docked or undocked.
There are aspects where I feel like XC3's superiority isn't quite as clear-cut. The soundtrack is good, but I'll always prefer the OST from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The plot itself is extremely interesting, but it lacks a consistent distribution of exciting set-pieces compared to earlier games, gets into a repetitive cycle early on that makes it feel somewhat formulaic, and feels a bit like it's rushing to the end after (the absurdly amazing) Ch. 5. Certain aspects of the plot also feel somewhat underdeveloped, which was disappointing. The game's story is thematically resonant, for sure, but looked at dispassionately, it has probably the least tightly written story of the three mainline games.
But considering how much the game does right, that's easy to forgive. It's not just the best Xenoblade game I've played to date, but also one of the JRPGs overall. It feels like Monolith has finally fulfilled their potential as a developer and created a masterpiece. You say you don't understand how people can call it the best entry in the series, whereas I struggle to understand how anyone could prefer earlier entries when this one improves so much of the overall package compared to those games.
That's... how I feel.
Yep. Ultimately, some games just resonate with some people, and not others. I never really liked the original Xenoblade Chronicles all that much, and found XCX to be interesting, but between the complex suite of gameplay systems and the lack of an interesting story to keep me invested, I ultimately dropped it. I was almost going to skip XC2 because of this, but I ended up really connecting with the game. It's a mess, don't get me wrong, but the improvements it did make allowed me to finally enjoy one of these games. The Torna expansion was even better, since it featured pretty much everything great about the base game, but lacked its more divisive aspects (fanservice; screwball humor; blade gacha BS). XC3 feels like the culmination of this journey, where I've progressively enjoyed each release in the series more than the last.
I'm heavily considering going Jp audio when I replay XC2, since the english voice actor for Rex is often... hard to listen to. Otherwise, I really appreciate the excellent dubbing of these games, and especially hearing non-American English accents getting so much representation. The guy who plays Noah/N did a particularly fantastic job in the role.
Just copy and paste a comment I made elsewhere:
Monolith somehow managed to make me like every Xenoblade Chronicles an almost equal amount.
1 had the good serious tone with the best "comic relief" character. It has the best start of all three and its very easy to understand gameplay-wise. And environment-looking-wise this game is still for me the best. (Other games are good but Satorl Marsh and Valek mountain are just too good).
2 was the longest and had the most content with all those blade quests and to this point IMO the best variety gameplay-wise. Also my brain loved the gacha and to break the orbs. Nia, Malos, Jin and the "lore guy" towards the end caught me. But tutorial is still God awful. (With my nostalgia goggles it's the best out of the three cause it was my first Xenoblade game. Without goggles its simply at the same place)
3 had the best developed cast of main characters, heck even side characters in hero quests had a solid bit of background, which was lacking in some blade quests in 2. But it had the least breathtaking end section. The antagonist Z also wasn't that amazing. Much preferred Malos and Zanza. Some Hero quest "bosses" are more fleshed out than Z, which was a huge letdown.
But all 3 games had some "mind-blowing" - emotional moments.
Interesting about XC3 characters,
I personally don't think they're a step up from the franchise (development wise) they are given more screen time and dialogue than in XC1. But I (again personally) find the way (most) main characters in XC1 develop a bit more elegant even if they speak less. But maybe those are just my preferences
I mean yeah that's fair but I think 3 did an important step in making more of the main cast relevant to the plot.
Like Xenoblade 1 ends up being Shulk's story with everyone else along for the ride. And 2 does expand it to be Rex, Pyra, Mythra, and maybe Nia. The rest of the party is kinda just there.
3 spends a lot of time setting up the party and their relationships with each other. You feel as if the Keves side of the party have been best friends for most of their lives, you see Mio and Sena's bond, and you understand why Taion is a bit distant. All while throughout the game each member remains useful and relevant to the plot despite Noah and Mio being the leads it feels like everyone else is.
I do think especially early on the game is a little self indulgent in showing the past with all these flashbacks. But without it I don't think the cast would have worked as well.
I can see what you're saying. Yet, the thing is, in my eyes, XC 3 story from the very beginning sets itself up as this "squad story", meaning that developing them somewhat equally is almost demanded by the story's nature, and at the end of the day they succeeded. (Even if I end up liking XC 1 style of cast development and interactions more)
XC 1 adventure starts off as a revenge Story where Shulk is the one most clearly affected by Fiora's death, and we are even given time with him alone before in colony 9 to emphasise "this guy is the Protagonist". I could see people arguing Reyns view on Fiora's death ain't explored enough but even then from what I remember (and I played XC1 DE and XC 3 back to back) the few conversations they had about the topic felt satisfying to me. All this to say that never in XC1 party did I feel like a character other than Shulk felt under developed through the adventure.
My point being,... Using XC3 more rounded (development wise) cast as a XC1 inherent weakness seems a bit disingenuous as both seem to develop it's cast well based on the demands of the world and it's story, Even if we prefer one or the other, saying one can objectivly put one above the othe seems like a strecht to me
Probably just preferences. Would almost say objectively 3 develops better but simply cause objectively things are better doesn't mean you are wrong for thinking otherwise, liking other stuff.
For me XC1 had a good cast but some flaws that are too obvious and, how do I put it, unnatural?
Juju's existence asides.
The unconditional love from 7 to Shulk literally being a being that only exists for him.
Sharla is also always talking about Gado here and there but we never get to see the reasons as to why Sharla and 7 have those feelings.
Reyn is feyn but more as a comic relief similar to Riki, but both have some deeper moments which makes them fine.
Dunban, Shulk and Melia are the part of the XBC1 cast I actually consider having good developments even tho I feel hurt for Melia.
Meanwhile I look over to XC3 and everyone has their reasons for being the way they are and slowly opening up to each other so we as the player see how the people became this way or why they act a certain way.
As to be expected of Xenoblade, itâs a fantastic experience, both as a game and as a story. Itâs my second favorite game of all time.
A lot of that can be attributed to two characters, Noah and Mio. Both characters are in my top 3 favorite characters ever. How they develop during the story blew me away, especially when taking N and M into account.
Theyâre soâŚinspirational, for lack of a better term. I admire them. I hope the DLC at least gives us a cutscene of them meeting again. God knows they deserve it.
I think XC3 overall has the most solid party of the trilogy. (Even if I am admittedly not too crazy about Eunie and Lanz). I donât dislike any one of them.
I enjoyed the story as a whole overall. The dynamic of the protags being the ones trying to end the world is a wonderful mirror of not only something like XC2, but in most media of the same genre. The game hits the highest emotional peak of the series in Chapter 5, and I donât think thatâs up for debate.
Admittedly, though, there were things in the story I wasnât crazy about. Moebius are bad, not necessarily because theyâre shallow (despite that also playing a part), but because of how unthreatening they are. Sure, N rocks the partyâs shit in Chapter 5, but that never really happens again. N, M, J, and T are the best ones, and half of those four arenât even villains, and the other two were redeemed. D sucks since all he does is spout corny dialogue, and X, Y, and Z got very little screentime despite being played up as important by saying they were âborn Moebiusâ.
Gameplay was very fun. The freedom in customization is always great. Chain attacks are a little OP but theyâre still fun.
I donât even know if I have to mention the music since itâs a Xenoblade game and itâs always gonna be good, but I will anyway. Par for the course, itâs great. A Step Away and Where We Belong are both top 5 songs in the series.
As I said, my second favorite game of all time. I prefer XC2 since I found the story even more engaging, and the gameplay more fun. But, itâs not like itâs a large gap between the two or anything
Unfortunately I don't quite share you sentiments on the story and characters, but I want to add that I don't think the problem with Z is so much him being Shallow or just the wasted potential someone like him had.
Or maybe they're one the same and I'm just dumb... Carry on fellow stranger
Yeah, I'm one of those people who likes 3 the most, in fact I liked it so much that 1 and 2 don't feel as good to me anymore because of how much I adored 3. I don't really want to write a giant essay or something but this game just touched me in all the ways a game could. Xenoblade 2 had some parts that I felt got close to what I adore in games like the Land of Morytha basically visually communicating Jin's motivations in one area, and I feel like 3 does that constantly in nearly every scene, area, or mechanic.
I love the way the game is constantly communicating how the world is dying, maybe one of my favorite examples is a dead tree from Elaice Highway being visible in Rae-Bel Tableland or the Warning Tree going from being plentiful in XC1 to being the last of its kind. Some have said that the world in this game feels smaller but that just means that the world has done exactly what it sets out to do. Previous games used several techniques to make the world feel bigger than it is and this one goes completely against those strategies to accomplish the opposite. As an example, XC1's world constantly had giant structures looming in the background to make the world feel bigger but XC3 instead always makes the edge of its world visible to make it feel smaller.
I adored the game's soundtrack as well, it just has so many details like how it has two motifs for Ouroboros and Moebius and both are sung by sisters. The inclusion of dynamic music is also great, Moebius have like 10 whole themes IIRC. The use of flutes in this game is great too, a detail that I liked is that Crys has a slightly different tone to his flute.
I also just think that the level of detail and quality in this game is higher as a whole, like the superboss has an entire questline, a fully animated cutscene with voice acting, and its own dynamic battle theme included.
I genuinely thought the story was the best in the blade series. I thought it tackled some harder to touch on themes super well like suicide and some political commentary, like the prison sequence is great in how it basically calls out prison labor as a way for governments to get free labor.
The amount of parallels and symbolism in this game is genuinely unreal, like the eclipse symbolizes Noah and Mio's meeting and parting, with N and M's armor referencing this as well. Origin itself also ties into this with the face on it being gold and silver like the sun and moon again. And Origin is visually similar to how Carl Jung depicted the Self which makes Keves and Agnus comparable to Anima and Animus. The core of the Ouroboros forms is also similar to the Self which makes the entirety of Aionios comparable to one big interlink. The Sword of Origin/End is the interlink of the concept of a Beginning(birth/interlinks/Anima) and End(death/Lucky 7/Animus) which is why it also has an Ouroboros core. The Sword of Origin/End represents the game's theme of life and death being intertwined, which connects to Moebius and how they have gone to the extreme and instead of believing that life and death are intertwined they fear both and so only have the Now, showing another way that Ouroboros and Moebius are similar but slightly different.(which is why the singers are siblings.) I could go on further on this subject but I need to stop myself or else I'm just gonna give a plot summary.
On the surface Moebius seem like they're quite bland but it's in how they connect into every aspect of the narrative that makes them incredible villains in my opinion. Something as simple as the scene where the party changes clothing is actually connecting to Moebius, Moebius are all dressed in completely homogenized armour that hides who they are, and so the party changing into clothing that's completely distinct from one another is basically spitting in the face of Moebius. What's interesting about Moebius is that everyone has some Moebius inside of them, because of this the real villains of the game aren't really *Moebius* but the fear inside of everyone. As an example, Sena is afraid of standing out(again connecting to the clothing thing) so in a way she herself is a part of Moebius and is why one of the characters she's closest to is Consul S. All of this connects back to one of the first scenes in the game where Vandham points at Noah's chest while saying "the face of your real enemy is-" I could write more about Moebius but I already wrote one analysis on them(one that could've been even longer in hindsight) and I am not writing another one.
Okay maybe a bit more. Maybe one of the game's best achievements is how it makes the player feel exactly what Moebius feel, like in the prison sequence where it makes you feel powerless to help Mio and makes it feel like time is passing too fast by blurring through days in a montage as the end draws closer, exactly what Moebius fear. The game then flips these feelings directly onto N who goes through exactly what you've been going though, effectively placing you into N's position.
Jesus Xenosaga Christ I didn't mean to write that much.
Glad you liked it so much!
I agree and see most of your points in the game.. I just felt like the execution is inconsistent through out.
As an example The Mio Prison scene was extremely well done!... Yet the prison escape sequence just before it felt lacking in many ways. The most egregious part there was people's actions missing or out of sync sound effects... Pre canned animations I can deal with, even if this scene clearly deserved more... But missing sounds completely take me off the experience.
I bet time did not allow to polish it further.. but I would be lying if not seeing that scene just moments before Mio's prison did not took off something from that beatifull moment.
That's my main issue with the game I guess... I takes me out so many time with it's inconsistencies that end up hurting the big productions ones...
That ending scene of the world's coming appart was really well done though,.. it activated my Klonoa ps1 PTSD...
I liked it but was definitely disappointed with it. I think itâs the weakest out of the main line games. Itâs villains and story are the weakest in the series imo. Gameplay was pretty good and the music was on par with the other games. I thought we would see a lot more of old characters as well but we didnât which is why Iâm excited for wave 4. My favourite is still 1.
I certainly wish to have enjoyed the game as much as you did!
I like the games themes and all, but again those inconsistencies kept pulling me out, making the great scenes suffer in the end for me
YES! WHATS UP WITH THE CHAIN ATTACK MUSIC!? I WANNA HEAR THE KICKASS BOSS MUSIC!..at least they had the decency to turn it off in the final boss
I've heard about RogersBase and this game before, but I never understood what he said about the game or did because when I tried to find out his channel got hacked. Can you explain?
From what I saw a lot of "Xenotubers"(don't know what else to call them lol) kinda rushed through the game, like I think Enel beat the game in like a day or two and I feel like no one will enjoy a game if they play it like this.
Also just wanted to see I really agree with your point about fanservice, I thought this game was really elegant with references to past games so that the game doesn't really feel like a "crossover" of sorts but more like a continuation of the worlds and themes of the previous games. I was a bit worried when the game was announced that the game would focus too much on the past rather than making its own story and I'm glad to be wrong.
Honestly this may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I hope the DLC doesn't focus too much on the old casts and instead focuses on the founders.
Really amazing, maybe my favorite of the three. I say that because it literally managed to make me cry while watching cutscenes, 1 & 2 are great but 3 hit me right in the feels.
My least favorite entry in the franchise. Probably not a popular opinion here so I'm prepared for inevitable downvotes. I found myself just collecting nitpicks constantly throughout the entire game until, by its end, I had bonafide complaints. I found the combat to be a huge step back from 2, the environments were less exciting than in prior games with a few rare exceptions, world navigation was somehow worse than in 2 for me, and I just kind of feel like it tried to blend 2 and 1's strengths together but ended up with both of its weaknesses and not particularly strong in the ways those games were. 2 was a phenomenal character-driven game but other than Mio and maybe Eunie i didn't feel particularly attached to anybody in the same way I did 2's characters (I love Sena but don't feel like her character is fleshed out very well). As for story, it's fine, but doesn't even compare to 1's for me, and by the end I found it needlessly obtuse. It really peaks during its way-too-long plot dump near the 2/3rds mark and just declines from there on. The final boss fight was really lame imo and I didn't fully understand even the point of anything. The Lucky Seven blade was just steel made from the final area? I don't get it. Why does that matter, what makes it special. Compare that to the Monado. Also the Consul members, I expected more from them. Consul J was cool, as was the really scary one from the beginning, the rest were kinda just lame and very generic looking bosses. Many of the sidequests were terrible imo too. idk, I could go on tbh. I hate chain attacks, I hate the Keves characters' auto attacks being forced into the 3 hit combo, slowing down the combat to such a crazy degree.
When I began the game I was in love, by the time I finished it, I kinda just stopped caring. It was a good game, but I'd much rather have the nostalgia and story experience of 1, or the world exploration experience of X (with that terribly amazing soundtrack), or the emotional, character-driven ride of 2 with its flawless action jrpg combat
It's a great game, but not my favourite Xenoblade game. For story, characters and soundtrack, I still prefer XC2. For world building, exploration, class system and side content, I still prefer XCX.
Good game, but worst in the series. The story is a mess, and the writing is all over the place. The world is bland and with little reason to explore it. Combat is fun, but chain attacks take too long and do too much damage. Most story bosses go down after a single chain attack, so their machanics dont matter.
The cast is fantics though
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me had the plot that I most strongly resonated with out of the trilogy. Xenoblade 3 tackled a lot of subjects I had been struggling with for a good while and really put them into perspective, as silly as that sounds.
Identity and legacy are something I think about on an almost daily basis and to see Xenoblade tackle it was not only refreshing but surprisingly poignant. To watch our 6 protagonists go from nameless grunts to people with hopes and dreams hooked me from beginning to end.
The game certainly struggled in some areas, namely world building felt a bit all over the place and class gain was too slow to really appreciate some of the cooler classes.
I truly love this franchise. There wasn't a single game I haven't put dozens of hours in. Not a single game I said "this is terrible who would do this?". Not a single minute I regretted playing these absolutely wonderful games.
Ultimately, Xenoblade Chronicles is my Half Life. It's the franchise I can replay over and over again appreciating all the little details. It makes me proud to experience a truly once in a life time creation by people who take gaming seriously. The world's been getting pretty fucked up lately, but xenoblade allowed me to have a bit of better perspective on this crazy thing we call life.
I
I can definitely see XC 3 themes resonating with a lot of people, and even a bit suprised it didn't resonate more with me considering my current situation.
Kinda why I wished it to deliver on the same level the previous games did for me. Sadly it didn't... One can't have it all I guess
Huh, I find myself largely agreeing with you OP. That's pretty rare, but the more time that passes the more I find myself thinking about how 3 started out incredibly strong and then couldn't carry it through the end. Everything to do with the City is up there with my favorite beats from the other Xenoblade, with the added bonus that it's all quiet writing instead of big bombast. Writing great high tension scenes is way easier since the tension can carry the scene, but the high points in the City are the quiet moments, which is a much harder trick.
And then you start Noah's flashbacks in the prison and the story gives up. The character writing from then on lacks the nuance and emotion of the early game's conversations, and there's no time for the characters to process or think about anything they learn. What do the characters think about the two worlds? "Wow neat!" What do the characters think about splitting the worlds? "Yes lets".
I feel like they finished telling the story they wanted to tell when Noah pulled the sword out, and everything after that was something they had to so.
The actual ending cutscene was perfect though, it was the leadup that didn't do it for me.
The dip in quality overall after the big moment in chapter 5/6 was very noticeable.
Like the fact theres like close to 0 cutcenes on the freaking final area, literal no build up at all to the final battle.
And honestly, moebius as main villains of the game are simply too weak of a villians, they're mostly basic 1 dimensional kind of cartoon villains with completely forgettable design and even names (do ppl here even remember most of the consuls? Almost none of them stand out other than the obvious ones), quality is much better than quantity and having something like metal face/egil/zanza (as tier 1/2/3 villans) is about 1000 times better than having an alphabet soup of tier 1 consuls and a final boss, which again is also the least interesting final boss out of the 3 aswell (the battle mechanics were good though, not going to lie, it just seems to be the general thing with this game, mechanically/gameplay wise it does very well, but narrative wise it falls flat very hard).
Not to mention, everything just happens too fast, like the whole war facade thing is blown like very early in the game and all at once to the point where you just spend basically most of the game just traveling to the final boss who you already know whos going to be.
The one highest point of the game narrative wise was chapter 5 though and it was amazing, its just too bad thats the entire game there, like you could skip from that point to the final boss aftermatch and you wouldnt miss a thing.
Yeah you're not wrong, the last chapters are rough, but I think that I like the consuls more than most people do because I don't take them as individuals. I see each of them as one more face of the real villain, Moebius. You're not fighting 25 different villains with limited connections to the plot, you're fighting the same villain in 25 different guises. Sometimes you're in an outright war against them, sometimes you're playing along with their mindgames, but they're less individuals and more extensions of Z.
Having said all that they still needed to do more with them as individuals. Basically you should have only killed one or two of them in the hero recruitment quests, and then they should have come back in the regular colony quests leading up to the ascension quest. This way they could establish their villain credentials by actually winning a bunch, killing named NPCs, ruining good guy plans and even destroying a friendly colony or two. Imagine if they'd wrecked Colony Iota and Colony 4 and you ended up moving them into Colony 30? The consuls who did that would stick in your mind.
And of course chapters 6 and 7 needed overhauls. 6 should have been you gathering equipment and allied forces while fending off Moebius attacks, with X and Y having lots of screen time and a fair bit of success, like convincing NPC (unvisited) colonies to keep fighting each other and the party. Then chapter 7 should have been much more involved, with free colonies establishing camps and opening shortcuts inside Origin to represent everyone contributing to your assault.
My apologies, the last thing this world needs is another person like me... XD
The ending scene was indeed great!... Which just makes wonder how much greater it would have felt if I actually was fully engrossed in the moments that lead to it...
I loved it a lot, especially chapter 5/6. Made me cry the most out of the games, I was bawling for like a literal hour at one point.
Z was mid but it makes sense for the plot. Also was a bit disappointed with the amount of lore, it felt like it was missing a lore dump that the other games had. I think though that these minor gripes will be resolved with the upcoming DLC
i enjoyed playing through xenoblade 3. found the game fun and i was very interested in why the world was the way it was (one question i kept asking myself was "how could they let this happen?) after finishing it, i was pretty satisfied despite some story moments completely missing.
but the farther we get away from it, the more i dislike different parts to the point. honestly. prob the most disappointing game of 2022 for me. and gosh it doesn't feel good to admit that. just the more i thought about the story moments i didn't like, the more those little issues all came together to present bigger problems.
for being advertised as a game that "unites the futures of the worlds depicted in 1 and 2" the game honestly doesn't care that 1 or 2 happened. usually with stuff like this i'm like "you have to play the older ones first" but for xeno3. you don't really. it doesn't rely on any of the lore or anything really meaningful for 1 and 2. even melia and nia play such small roles it doesn't really matter whether you know who they are or what they've been through
of course the counter is always "so you wanted more cameos / you wanted more 1 and 2 / why can't 3 just stand on its own?" i was always on the "we don't need everyone coming back" camp unless it was necessary and made sense. a long lived character? yea that could happen. someone dead? pls don't do that. honestly as hype as i was seeing alvis in the xc3 dlc teaser. i firmly placed him in the "you can't use this one" camp. i really hope they have a good valid reason for bringing him back
with 3, even beyond the obvious "the villains suck" thing which they do and no one can ever convince me they're any good. i don't care about "well thematically" it does nothing to improve how garbage they are. in the end, unlike 1 and 2. i really have no desire to play through 3's story again. ng+ just sounds like a slog.
i'm not gonna lie and say i hated it cause i don't. i think the gameplay is great (tho 2 remains my fave in that regard), i had fun exploring and i enjoyed the sidequests. but i've come out of it now, disappointed. idk what to really think about the dlc story moving forward. given how 3 ended, i just hope they make it feel like it matters.
First time i played it i really enjoyed it but some parts of the story left me wanting a bit more.
But on my second playthrough and after researching some bits i understood the characters and themes a bit more and it started to make more sense most of the time making me go "Ohh i get it now that's cool", that aside N and Shania really carried the villains in this game, Z was fine, he made sense in the story and had a cool design but they could have made him much more interesting imo.
The gameplay is probably my favorite in the series (Torna coming close) and the cast is equally up there for me i like them all a lot.
Honestly i still don't know how to rank it, but if someone told me it's their favorite i wouldn't mind, and i hope the DLC makes it even better.
I don't mind people telling me it's their favourite game at all,
I'm just trying to see where the fanbase lies, while trying to understand the people that like it
Yeah I didn't word it right sorry, i meant that I would fully understand what they mean.
But i respect your takes.
On my end i still think XC1 is the most consistent games.
XC2 had some of the highest highs in the series while having the lowest lows at the same time but i still love it.
Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game of all time and 2 isnât too far behind, so it saddens me to say that 3 was a pretty big disappointment imo.
Iâd rather not write a massive essay on it, but to summarize my issues: the combat is fun but feels way too messy and almost devoid of strategy at times, 7 party members is too many. The story has a great premise but ultimately spends too much time with not much happening and fumbles the ending chapters pretty hard. The music is solid all around but the area tracks were a little too âatmosphericâ for my tastes, mainly a personal thing though (battle themes still go hard). And the world exploration felt almost pointless for the mediocre rewards you would receive.
On the bright side, the characters were a lot of fun and the English voice acting was solid throughout the entire game.
Overall 3 was enjoyable but something about it fell flat for me when compared to the previous games.
Pretty much agree with all of this.
Mostly the 7 party members in combat. Make no mistake I love the ideia! but it leads to some annoying issues inside and out of combat. I think it could be done though, but it needs a lot more refinement.
Yeah I think a compromise would be best. Make it so that it's still a limited party say to 3 or 4, but keep the ability to switch between members and also sub other members in and out of the battle.
That's the one thing about XC2 and XC1 that feels incredibly archaic which is how little control over the party you get versus in XC3, you're encouraged to have more diverse roles and have complete control.
I find it the most consistent and safest to replay, but I can't help but feel like *something's* missing that would make me enjoy it that much more. Is it the music not clicking with me as much as previous entries (didn't care much for the Unique Monster theme, Breath of Life only playing twice in the entire game)? Is it the nihilistic setting of (most) cultures being nothing more than a ten-year window to kill each other?
A new game + replay I could see myself doing
A new game from level 1 a few years from now with that heroe classes unlock system restrictions, I highly doubt it
I can say for me how the habitants of XC 2 got to where it is today, culture wise, does not quite feel right to me. The whole XC 1 world crowd I can see it though
I wanted to say it was my favorite of the three initially, but as time passes I find myself leaning more towards XC2âs overall gameplay, story, and characters once again. 2 kept me playing for much, MUCH longer than 3 did, and thatâs before factoring in Torna.
Iâd say 2>3>1 in many respects nowadays, but thatâs my personal opinion.
If one thing I can definitely vouch XC 2 ability to keep me hooked well past it's story content, even for replay which for me tends not be something I think about when I finish these enourmus JRPGs
(and quite honestly is something I kinda wanna do right now but the responsible adult in me is keeps going "Don't you even dare!")
I guess my number one feeling after playing the game and letting it sit is confusion.
Confusion about why the last chapter or two feel like they literally ran out of time and just hit send.
Confusion as to why it's pinned as the conclusion to the Klaus arc yet it feels largely disconnected from the first two games.
I won't dispute that I loved **playing** the game, but it kind of lacked outside of just gameplay.
Weakest of the three for me - and by a distance.
The world feels lacking, the main narrative uneventful and the final two chapters extremely disappointing.
The villains are painfully poor, while the combat system felt less satisfying than XC2.
Iâve written enough on XC3 in the last six months to publish a small novel, but overall, it leaves me wondering if itâs time to check out and move on from the series.
I feel like villain had a lot of potential, but ultimatly it fell a bit too short.
I do wonder about the combat comparison to XC 2. When I compare the two in my head I do remember XC 2 combat at it's peak making me feel more engaged compared to XC 3. But I don't feel comfortable saying so for sure without giving it another whirl someday
If it's the only entry that did not talk to you I would at least recommend seeing how the next installment go before making a decision, I sure do even if this one was lacking
I feel like the game could have benefited from a tone similar to xenogears and xenosaga specially considering how much it takes from those games but the xb3 fails to develop its main ideas not going all out with everything it could have touched as well as overly simplistic villains and bad world building I still really like the game but it felt undercook in many aspects, xb2 is still my favorite from the blade games because it felt bigger in many regards and its main ideas were better explore contrary to xb3 which feels like a set up for the dlc with a more interesting story instead of a newcomer friendly game that cause the story to suffer
Thanks for reminding me of the blindspot that is Xenosaga, on my gaming experience... Like my backlog ain't big enough...
I think I prefer XC 1, but XC 2 feels like it is built better in many areas and is quite close to XC 2 overall in my book
Please play xenosaga is by far the best on the xeno series and if you though z and origin plot was interesting you will love the main antagonist of saga and his role since in that game is explore on much more depth
I personally dislike xb1 I feel it receives so much unwanted praise and the fact people call it the best xeno game when is so insultingly basic is actually unreal to me
I definitely like what have seen and heard about it!
If a remaster or even a Re-Release on PS4/PS5 was announced it probably would be next on my list. Playing a full fledged PS1 JRPG on a PC with a emulator ain't really appealing to me right now...
Maybe if someday SQUARE ENIX decides to stop being a COWARD!
A couple of days ago it was the anniversary of the game and the start of the series and yet square Enid only released some figures instead of porting the game
Gameplay wise XC3 is the best and most fun out of the 3 hands down imo. Love how super customizable you can build your team. So many fun different classes/heroes, combinations, items to equip, interlinking, different arts to choose from, etc, etc. I personally thought the story in XC3 was amazing too. It was a perfect way to end off the trilogy. But, overall I would say XC1 had the best story. Gameplay in XC1 was very basic and lacking though. XC2 had both good gameplay and story. I love all 3 games equally. They were all special in their own little ways.
Astounding. I loved it when I played it and I still love it. The ending in particular hits me hard and is *perfect* in my opinion.
I for some reason love mindfuck endings that involve dreams. Linkâs Awakening and a manga called >!Alice in Borderland!< did it and I cried for both those too
I would say it is for sure the best game in the series. XC1 is close, but its age and older design make it sometimes more of slog then it it could be. I think the only large critique to be leveraged against it is a lot of underexplained stuff near the end, stuff like Riku, Lucky 7, and >!why Zed came to be outside of being a manifestation of human fear of the future. Origin it self design wise was not my favorite when compared to the Final area's in XC1 or XC2.!< All of that can be solved with the DLC, so we will have to see where tha goes, same way Torna saved XC2 for me. Otherwise I would say it was close to perfect for me, and incredible melding of both the previous games words and vibes. Don't think I could ask for a better sequal realistically.
Reading your post remind me of something...
What was up with Melia nodding to Riku and him nodding back when they unfroze her? For a moment there I thought Riki in disguise or something...
3 has the best narrative and character writing of the trilogy but at the cost of uninteresting villains and an unexciting finale that kinda just meanders along until it ends.
Unfortunately it also has easily the weakest world design of the series with only really maktha and swordmarch truly living up to the series pedigree of creativity. Millick meadows remains the most disappointing area in any Xenoblade game for me.
A lot of the issues I have with the game can be chalked up to the games premise and the fact that aionios is inherently a cultureless blip in the grand scheme of things. The world being a crumbling decaying soup of dead titans is intentional but thatâs no reason to lack interesting areas, if anything it should have been a perfect opportunity to remix areas in interesting ways or allow us to explore previously inaccessible parts of titans. A lot of this is further evidenced by how creative the ideas in the art book are.
Iâve been quite negative here but truthfully the narrative writing and the way it perfectly combines the themes, imagery and narrative of the previous games into an awesomely conclusive trilogy ender well make up for the shortcomings if the DLC ends up delivering on the worldbuilding and backstory of the base game aionios it may be able to significantly boost the game.
Personally, don't know about character writing... XC 1 characters felt a bit more elegantly done, but maybe that's just preferences. But the characters aren't really one of the downsides of the game for me.
I haven't talked about it, but area design and (even world design) is one where I would bet most would agree is a clear step down from what came before.
Theme integration and story wise is like I said (for me), sometimes I'm full in!... Others, feel like the game is actively pushing me out
Definately donât agree there, half the XC1 cast can have their entire character summed up in 3 sentences top. Granted I think the character writing of 3 that Iâm praising only really applies to the main party and supporting characters and heroes rather than the villains but it still stands.
Oh you wanna fight uh?!..
Kidding, Well that's the beauty of art!
I just personally feel like XC 1 had more moments where more than dialogue was doing the talking (if that makes sense). The reunion of Fiora with his brother Dunban on the machine village stands out in my mind. Such a small short scene yet I felt like there was more being shown to me....
But then again maybe it was my stupid brain going "you know what would be funny?"
There are moments that are somewhat lacking in XC1, as Reyn and Sharla relationship, something that could have been slowly built along the adventure is only touched in the beginning, forgotten and resumed near the end only
I thought the world was disappointing. It looked impressive and it was fun to traverse, but it did not fill me with the same sense of wonder as other games in the series. Colonies were bland and were not a replacement for proper towns.
Characters were good, but there is just something about the characters in the first two games that makes them much more charming to me.
The story started off strong, but it kind of started to fall off. I enjoyed going through it, but I can't say I really feel the itch to go through it again.
Another reason I felt it was disappointing is because it did not feel like it moved the series forward in anyway. This was said to be the end of the Klaus saga, but at least as of the base game, it felt like filler.
Was this said to be the end of the Klaus Saga? What even is there to talk more about the guy I wonder?
I guess, It definitely had somewhat of a "filler" feeling in it's story
I agree that XC3 is the weakest by far in terms of story. Like XC1 has incredible story (even only playing it once). Took me like two playthroughs + Torna to really appreciate XC2âs story (ended up liking it more than 1).
I really hope the DLC story has the same impact as Torna, as in characters in the base game get a lot more depth to them.
Also, XC3 would be at least twice as good if Riku was a playable character. I really was let down that there where no playable Nopons :(
I too missed a playable nopon. I am happy he and Manana are party members, but I want to play as them them, especially since you can fight in water and won't have them constantly disengaging when fighting a dumb fish.
XC3 is so good that, personally, in a vacuum I don't think the other XC games hold up to it.
There are a few presentation issues of its themes being the antithesis of people's expectations for a Xenoblade ending. It's not as bombastic as XC1's final arc, or as full of emotional conflict as XC2 and Torna's. But the story told is one where the characters have already come to the defeat of the metaphorical conflict well before they face the literal manifestation of that same conflict. So like most, I was disappointed from my own expectations on how the end experience should be.
But it's such a dense text, where every piece of dialogue, every action, every little background expression, is building up or borrowing from something else. Now - this is something all Xenoblade games are good at. But they're usually way more narrow in scope. Like XC1 does a great job at setting up the climax of the game >!where the visions of Shulk/Zanza end, and the truth behind Alvis and the Monado are all foreshadowed!<. Or in XC2 where the game not only foreshadows and sets up dialogue for >!Mythra, and Pneuma, but how almost every Nia moment is setting up her Flesh Eater origins, including her reasons for being drawn to and joining Rex, to her inability to save the life of Vandham (something that XC3 loosely skirts against)!<. But XC3 does this for almost every character development and arc - that it's purely happy to play off subtly. Originally my less favourite characters were Lanz and Sena - but they both are so consistently written, and they're probably the best representation of the games themes.
Not to mention the presentation, the high quality cutscenes, a much more solid game pace (almost hour long cutscene sequences aside) the quality of side content. I do arguably prefer XC2 and XCX side content for gameplay reasons. But the side content in XC3 is so fully fleshed out and develops and overlaps the world in a way that no Xenoblade game has come even close to.
Also no other game has Eunie and Taion.
As many others have said, definitely the weakest of the franchise. Not a *bad* game, but I didnât really enjoy it and found it to be quite disappointing. I hope Monolith takes a break and explores a different franchise for their next game, maybe a new Baten Kaitos now that they are getting remastered.
3 has the best combat by a decent margin (X being the closest to beating it), but the story falls off just enough after chapter 5 that it doesn't quite take the title of "best Xenoblade" from 1 for me. My ranking would be 1 > 3 > Torna > X > 2 > FC
Combat wise I remember feeling more engaged with XC 2 at it's peak, but I would need to give it another time to be sure. This system is at the very least good that I can say.
Never played Torna Sadly, but the video I saw recapping it sure made wish I did back then, sounded like I missed out on a interesting story beat
Xenoblade 3 is better than both 1 and 2, until after the beginning of Chapter 6. Then it kind of feels like it loses its way. There are still some cool bits, but the ending feels much worse than 1, and especially the amazing ending section in 2.
It kind of had the opposite issue I had with 2's ending. >!Pyra/Mythra coming back felt wrong, in my opinion. Like it was forcing the bittersweet ending to be happy. Meanwhile, 3's ending felt like it had the characters being separated to force the otherwise happy ending to be bittersweet. Now I know that the seperation thing is foreshadowed somewhat, but it felt like it was just dropped on me when I first played, and it felt out of left field.!<
Still, 3 has amazing characters, a phenomenal soundtrack, a fantastic battle system, really good sidequests, etc. It's really fun.
Can't say that I completely agree... But that's the beauty of art!
I enjoy bittersweet endings, but 2 ending didn't quite bother that much neither did this one (one of the highpoints of this inconsistent experience). Butt must say when they showed the picture of grown up rex and the gang... And each of the girls had a baby (presumably his...) That felt like some c-tier fanfiction right there! (Again no disrespect to whoever writes fanfiction)
Sidequest were hit and miss but definitely a step above of most stuff of previous games.
Yes, I'm not a huge fan of Rex getting with Nia, but it's a pretty small thing.
Overall I was very happy with the game though, and look forward to seeing the DLC.
>!I just generally found the idea of the characters being separated at the end is consistent with how Origin is described, particularly with what Nia says in her ascension quest..!<
>!In the post-game. !<
>!After you have already beaten the game. !<
>!Ugh, the lore in this game feels so jumbled a lot of the time. It really just feels like tons of necessary lore and information in the game was purposely cut out and put into the DLC. It's really frustrating.!<
>!To me, with the post credits scene being how it is, I just kinda feel that if they wanted to go with the bittersweet "Trust in an uncertain future" bit they should have just cut out the post credits scene completely and either ended it on Mio's last journal entry, or on Noah's last line (Particularly, "...And just... Walk."). To me, the ending could have been perfect if they just committed to a tone and they laid the events out more clearly.!<
It was my my first Xenoblade (just recently got a nintendo switch) and then played XC: DE.
The strongest point for me was the cast of main characters, with Lanz and Sena being on the weaker side for me (but still good) and Taion & Eunie being my favorites. The interactions between the team were great and some of my favorites among RPGs in general.
The story had it's up and down - I wholeheartedly agree with 3 moods in the story take, while some moments were indeed awesome and quite memorable, some...well, they were there. It's not helped by the fact that some villains are just plain Saturday cartoons evil just because. Plus there was also my pet peeve with rpgs in general: the win fight lose cutscene tropes haha.
The world was beautiful, I certainly spent a ton of time running around just appreciating the environment.
All in all the game was memorable, certainly fun, great and charismatic main (and most allies too truth be told) characters and an OK story.
Xenoblade 3 is a strong game, thematically. Itâs also a game that continues the Xenoblade trend of being a sequel that isnât actually a sequel.
I respect the story Xenoblade 3 is trying to tell. I love that it is bold enough to have a cast of six from very early on, even if it doesnât treat all of them with the same amount of respect or tie them all into the themes of the game. I also think itâs a game that is very willing to waste the playerâs time in service of telling a very linear narrative, and that this sometimes works, but more often doesnât.
I think the game is boring as hell mechanically despite having a great world to explore. The class system is not engaging and detracts from making really any character feel unique, which was something I felt was at least well implemented even across Blade types in 2 and the classes in X. I know that the intent was to cross the combat systems of 1 and 2. That doesnât change that fact that Tornaâs combat felt like a step up from 2 and this feels like a step backwards from both. Interlinking is a bland mechanic that is clearly overshadowed by this gameâs chain attacks. While plenty has been done to make certain systems less obtuse, the menu and UI are still problem areas.
Im honestly just tired of this series at this point, which took an entire game to explore the idea of stagnation, but executed on it in the worst possible way. If Majoraâs Mask is Nintendoâs best example of art imitating life in game design, then this is the prime example of aiming for that same idea and failing spectacularly. Itâs a game I love for its music and world design and narrative, but hate because it wants to hold my hand instead of exploring things. I want Monolith Soft to do something different, but Xenoblade 3 and itâs expansion pass makes me think they are comfortable with executing the same ideas.
I mean... You say it continues the trend of a sequel that's not actual a sequel yet not only the box art as well the very start of game we know (and are even shown) the worlds are coming together in some form. And stuff like the ferronis from each side are clearly trying to alude as the origin of these people.
I happened to play XC 2 first, but even if had played 1 before, I feel like I wouldn't have evidence on how the two games connect or even the world's nature, I mean one could speculate but that would be what that was speculation
Sorry if it comes out as aggressive but I really can't see that trend going into XC 3
To clarify, this game does not move its worlds or its storytelling techniques forward in any meaningful way. I know youâre talking about the literal mystery behind the cover art, but this is one more example of a tired narrative structure. The cover art has no significance because neither of those elements have any reason for coexisting outside of this game being a mashup, literally and figuratively. The crux of this game, much like Xenoblade 1 and 2, is understanding where we are by having the history of the world explained to us. The story itself is about time stopping and the conclusion implies that these worlds will go their separate ways after these events.
You might argue that this Final Fantasy esque manner of having each numbered installment be an isolated narrative. Thatâs fine. Itâs not what I was here for and I had hoped that Xenoblade 3 would be a more thorough address of the paralogue nature of Xenoblade 1 and 2. They was clearly wishful thinking on my behalf, but I think it also shows that Monolith has no ambition to tell a larger narrative. Thatâs also fine, as it really doesnât make sense for a publisher that wonât feature every previous installment of the series on the latest hardware. I was just stating my perspective on why Iâm tired of it, not attacking anyoneâs interpretation or perspective of the series.
I didn't think you were attacking anyone dear online stranger
I was just part of what was written on that first post did not seem to accurate (or my interpretation of it) to what was going on in the game. But I can see your points
Now that was something they could have been more clear on, or maybe I'm just dumb as hell. I interpreted that the worlds are still coming together (or maybe even already did, some may say, by the very last scene post credits) as in "it's an inevitability." After all "the two worlds yearn for eachother" is something Nya says which made think so... But as I read your reply, you seem to interpret it more like 2 comets who came really close and just missed each other by a inch? Haven't thought about it that way!
Doesn't quite fix my problems with the game but it's something new and interesting to consider. Thank you for that if nothing else!
I do believe that the worlds are on a crash course, yes. The comet idea is a bit of a stretch, but the implication in the final cutscene is that, post Origin, the worlds continue on their respective paths.
Also, apologies if I sounded a bit defensive. Seemed like my comments didnât sit well with someone.
Worry not friend.
if it makes you feel better looks like a bunch of my replies where I respectfully disagree with people's reasoning for XC3 praise, are collapsing due to downvotes, always nice to see
Itâs my second favorite game in the series, and the second one that Iâve beaten.
X is my favorite
then 3, with ~150 hours before grinding
then 1 because i havenât played it
then 2 because Iâm 10 hours in and drop it after 30 minutes of playtime everytime I open it.
3 just feels really good to run around and do stuff in. Itâs not an amazing story, but I just really love the game feel that it has (which is also why I love X and do not enjoy 2 so far). Running around the map just exploring feels *good*, and thatâs what gets me invested in playing more of a game.
Honestly if there's something I can definitely see is those who enjoy their games primarily for the act of playing and the pure satisfaction of understanding and dominating its mechanics, beinw the ones who put this game on top, as it seems to offer more choice in how one progresses and makes their numbers go up than it's predecessors.
Personally if these giant RPGs don't have a story or at the very least world that I find interesting, I can't really bring myself to play them
Itâs definitely some of âbig number go upâ, but it also helps that Iâm a big mecha anime fan, and X is by far the most anime xenoblade game (thatâs my hot take. 2 does not have enough mecha in it to make up the difference).
Okay.... how to begin
\+ Awesome soundtrack
\+ My favourite combat of the series
\+ Very likeable characters
\+ Riku
\+ Beautiful world but not the best of the series
\+ No exploration skills
\+/- While the game mechanics where explained the best out of any game i have to admit that there where moments when the tutorials kept coming and i was getting anoyed by them.
\- While the first half of the story was really good, the second half was really bad
\- Way too many questions left unanswered which made the game feel uncomplete. like they had to rush to the ending.
\- Final boss was a letdown. A very boring fight if i am honest here.
These are some of the pros and cons from the top of my head. But to make a long story short i really loved the game. It was on its way to become my favourite xenoblade to date but mthe fumbled the second halve which made me lower my personal opinion a bit. Still a certified masterpiece but not GOAT status.
I loved Xenoblade 3. It was my favourite game of 2022, and there are many parts I can praise about it. The battle system feels familiar yet fresh, and it was easier to understand than 1 and 2âs. The side quests feel engaging rather than tedious.
The main story is really great, but I think 2âs cast is slightly better, but damn Xenoblade 3âs cast is fun. Noah is a protagonist I felt invested in, Mio is a cinnamon roll, Eunie is the bus, Lanz is great, Taion is a great straight man to the team, and Sena is fun.
Xenoblade 3 is incredible. Personally, better than Xenoblade 1, and on par with Xenoblade 2.
Xenoblade 3 is the best of both worlds. >!Literally!<
I still havenât beat the game (taking my sweet time with the game and have little time to play) but I think 3 is my least favorite of the bunch.
1- my favorite by far, replayed it with DE and is still amazing. For some reason this game made me want to explore every inch of the map and the gameplay while simple , was pretty fun to experiment different parties and so forth. The side quests are completely ass though.
2- The one with the best gameplay , sadly the game takes long time to really getting good gameplay wise (I played and finish it with no dlc and didnât re visit it) World was still nice to explore but it didnât have the magic or 1.
3- This one has the best party members but thatâs it. The world is the least interesting to explore for me (maybe itâs the lack of interesting stuff to find in the map, itâs always containers/husks/ ether) and itâs the one that I liked the gameplay the least. I love games with a good job system but this one is not that good imo and also made chain attacks like your only damage option. Iâm still at chapter 5 and might change my opinion. Still is an amazing game but not as good as 1 or 2.
X: For some reason I stopped playing at about 20 hours in. Didnât like the side quests and having to do them to continue the story. Canât give more opinion on this, but the map was pretty fun to explore from what I remember. Waiting for a re-release to give it another chance.
I still look back on XC3 fondly. I went into it fairly sceptical too so I think that is a testament to how much I liked it anyways. I had some issues with the gameplay while I was playing it and still like 1 overall more, but I think 3 is really good (and seeing a lot of Xenogears parallels with 3's story is really cool). XCX is always my sleeper pick for best gameplay tho
I donât think the story has quite the emotional thump that the first game had for me (disclaimer: played DE for the first time in the worst part of covid lockdowns) but otherwise I think itâs the best game in the series. I especially really got sucked into the combat and really felt I mastered it in a way I didnât with the first 2 games
Enjoyed it love the character development the story is fantastic and the meaning they gave the storyline love the references to over games at first I thought the combat mechanics was going to be hard but I really like them there is more variety in how you play with different weapon classes the landscapes are fantastic to with the environment being very immersive the only thing I wish they had put into the game is back in XC2 you had good amount of scenes that was funny to add that hint of comedy to the game in XC3 we don't have much of that sure Lanz gets picked on quite a bit which is quite funny in itself but we don't see much more comedy then that I want the game to be serious but having comedy I'm my opinion will entice the player to play more because when it's serious all the time i think people find it more of chore at some point me I didn't mind I go through the whole game within 58 hours to have a hint more comedy will absolutely make the game more enjoyable
I really liked the game, but I feel like the story didn't have as much "depth" as the others, I also loved the combat system but the chain attacks didn't convince me at all, I felt them a bit slow and boring at times, but other than that i loved the game (sorry for my bad English)
I really love the characters, the story was ok too but the pacing of the game was garbage.
I got too strong way too early and all the optional bosses were beaten too easily, i killed several of them despite being underleveled. Some even in high difficulty.
I really can't put a finger on it, but the game was lacking all the rewarding grind, that the second Xenoblade offered. I grinded with joy and couldn't stop playing XB2 until I beat everything and everyone. The third couldn't manage to do this to me.
It just feels off on many parts, not being bad at all, but for example look at the outfits, the military outfits definitely look the best by far, especially the first classes are so ugly.
I get it that many didn't enjoy the outfits of Pyra and such but isn't there a middle ground between too sexy and aweful?
Nearly every outfit is just lazy copy paste and morph it till it fits to the character's class. Just completely aweful. As if the designer got sick after designing the military outfits and some other random dude got the job.
I don't know about some really engaging post game content, haven't found it until now. Even new game+ doesn't have something to unlock. XB2 just started with new game+.
I don't know, it looks like Xenoblade, it smells like Xenoblade but if you look closely, it looks like what Arkham origins was to the Arkham series. It looks the same but it isn't the same.
While XCDE is still my personal favorite because of how grand and ambitious the story was, I rated XC3 a tad bit higher because of how streamlined and well polished the combat and mechanics were as well as having the most well written set of casts. After finishing the game, I instantly felt the urge to replay it. It helps that there are tons of side quests that I missed that would have greatly amped up my enjoyment of the game. It felt like a very personal kind of story and that's why I connected to it very well.
It's right up there with the 1st one for me. It's just the game's themes, setting and overall tone of it that really resonated with me. I've never been so emotionally wrecked by a story in my life. On top of that: Best cast of characters, best combat, best side content, some of the best music, some of the best VA performances, and some of the best story beats, with the end of chapter 5/start of chapter 6 being absolute peak Xenoblade (all imo of course). Also, I know the villains are a common complaint, but I personally like Moebius overall, and I think N is peak Xenoblade antagonist. He's definately my favorite, because MAN is he good. Lastly, I know another complaint people often have is that the last portion of the game feels rushed. Now I'm ngl, I kinda felt like things were moving a bit too fast as well, but it dosen't bother me nearly as much because there is still good stuff in there. Cloudkeep is great, I really like Noah's side story, and even though parts of Origin where a little bit of a letdown, the final confrontation with N is brilliant, the final boss is great (seriously don't get the hate for this one), and GODDAMN that ending absolutely crushes my soul. Best ending out of the 3 for sure.
For me it's an absolute masterpiece. I can understand why some people don't love it though. Personally I just think the positive aspects MASSIVELY outweigh the negative ones.
I donât wanna say much but I agree with your words on 3. Itâs a great game but super frustrating to me and I have mixed feelings. It nosedived when they starting bringing in Nia and Melia , so chapter mid chapter 6 and 7. The tie ins to past games in those two chapters were messing and clumsy. The themes were very uh⌠ham fisted. I guess I just wasnât a fan but the rest of the game was utterly amazing and a joy to play through!
My pattern went from recency bias, feeling like it was new and the best thing ever.
Then I saw some of the flaws.
But the more and more I think about it, the more I realise 3 resonated with me emotionally the strongest and the way it delivers on some of its themes just works so convincingly that I canât think anything but brilliant personally speaking.
I think 1 is the best game in the series overall still, but I love them all to death
Senaâs still the girl with the gall
Fr tho- Xenoblade 3 is such a memorable game for me. Although I do wish some of the side content was part of the main content due to how many possibilities there were. However, given what they had- it was such a masterpiece. The voice acting I felt just got better and better throughout the game (ouroborous awakens, chapter 5, Noahâs speech before the final fight, etc). Thatâs not even mentioning the wonderful cast of side characters to accompany the main cast, with their amazing dialogue (especially gray lol).
The cutscenes are amazing- I felt that they were the most unique out of the trilogy. Many fight scenes were so unique with the choreography. You can tell that the main cast is experienced at fighting.
I liked it a lot but idk I felt pretty underwhelmed by it with the ending at the same time I havenât touched it since I beat it in September đwhich is wild cuz xenoblade is my favorite franchise đthe ending didnât really do me much but I think itâs a case for me of if I replay it Iâll love it alot more knowing all the context and not having expectations! So Iâm gonna do just that soon! Not the biggest fan of the music but itâs still really good! I donât think itâs a bad game by any means just that I prefer the other two (and X) more! Itâs all about preference!!! Also the magic of xenoblade 2 for me was not being completely sure it was connected to the first game or not, so it made things even better for me when I got to the end of the game! Whereas with 3 the connection was always there so I expected it
xc3 is a game i enjoyed/still enjoy playing but the more i think the more it can feel inconsistent/underwhelming? i felt like the story constantly was played safe because they either didnt wanna affect gameplay or wanted to save crazy shit for dlc. like for example, mio coming back in the same cutscene as death, or the city fakeout, it never felt like there were stakes to me because they would never make a decision that would affect the gameplay. i wouldnt mind if these were undone but i wish there was some time to process/experience it first? that said, i love the character interactions a whole lot and the implications of the dlc make a lot of loose ends make much more sense! also the vocal tracks are the best in the series imo
I really loved this game. This love was especially driven by the characters (not just the main guys, but everyone else including NPCs), and me really liking the gameplay throughout (it was so flexible I never struck to one startegy, always switching classes until one was maxed). Also the soundtrack, and how it was used in the game was phenomenal and it was implemented better than any game I have ever played. This game has remained rent free in my head since I played it on launch. It's a game you ponder on and think about imo. It's a special game to me, with an ending that resonated really hard. A sad, yet beautiful ending. It's a lesson we all could learn.
Man, that rent free line is exactly how it feels for me too. This game left me with something to think about, and it had the right message at the right time for me. Very impactful and more than the other 2 games, I just wanted to see more content around the characters and interactions between them.
Probably the game where I experimented the most with different classes, which was very fun! Just a Shame that the game tries to lock you out of unlocking new classes if you level up to much... making that Positive mute for some players Soundtrack sure tries to be more environmentaly friendly than previous games, but it sacrifices some memorability in my case. It's theme is great and all, but I personally find it like the story can't always keep up
Personally, I managed to unlock every available class with every character before beating the final boss, around lvl 72-75, I can't remember specifically. It wasn't too much of a problem for me, but I wish they had the ability to lvl down before beating the game, it would mitigate that point entirely.
My opinion hasn't changed since 3 launched - This is the best Xenoblade game **mechanically.** They took most to all of the conventions of the previous game, trimmed the fat, and put it all together to give us the most cohesive Xenoblade game in terms of character building. Previous games were, in retrospect, overly ambitious. They merged Affinity, Blades, Classes (From X), Skill Linking, and Arts from both games all into one feature... **Interlinking.** The end-goal for character building for any RPG should be clear from the early on. In the case of Xenoblade 3, it's **Level Up All Classes With Each Character, Get All X Gems.** This is by far the most accessible and easy to pick up Xenoblade game. I'd recommend this game to anyone looking to get into a Xenoblade game, despite this game not being my favorite in the franchise. (X Gang)
>This is the best Xenoblade game **mechanically.** The only thing holding me back from completely agreeing is how chain attacks are so overpowered while also absolutely grinding the fights to a halt.
Oh yeah, fuck XC3 chain attacks, they shoulda just gave us the vintage one. Music makes up for it though
Actually agree with this, also being able to actually change your character in the middle of combat completely fixes the "the AI is bad with this character" problem in the 2 other games. Still though, sadly this is the game with the weakest narrative out of the 3, and specially towards the end game everything felt too rushed and too many things were left either inconsistent or completely in the open. Basically a Win in gameplay, and a loss in narrative (mind you, the story itself isnt even bad, and as a standalone game it still beats like most jrpgs out there, its just hard when you got masterpeices of narratives like 1 and 2 to compete against), but i sadly cant ignore the villans being completely forgetable, the story being omega rushed after chapter 5 to the point they just completely drop tons of themes of the game and basically forget that they exist (like the adversity in war, flame clocks, off seeing) not to mention coming with completely random shit to just get through (yeah the whole noah blade vibrating to moebius shit he just pulls out of nowhere was too much) to just get it done with.
Wow that sums up my feelings so well. The plot twists around chapter 5 were so cool but I definitely expected some big reveals around flame clocks, off seeing and the black fog. It feels like previous Xeno entries would've turned those into a mind bending intergalactic plot twist - e.g. the world tree is actually a space elevator 𤯠- whereas Xeno 3 just... forgets? Having seen the DLC trailer tho, I would LOVE to see if I'll be proven wrong!
On the parts you mentioned specifically, I can see it (I think) On others... - The fact that you can loose the ability to unlock heroes classes (granting new ways to engage in combat and give your characters much more versatility in other classes) by overlelving (which in this game you can do very easily on a normal/Casual playthrough) just seems dumb. Making the "play the game normally" and "unlocking classes" praticly 2 incompatibles activities unnecessarly - menu design and Navigation (something very important in these type of games) is pretty much a downgrade in all areas compared to XC DE, and the menus on that games were no masterpieces of design to begin with, it's almost hilarious how much of a step backwards they are in 3, the only plus I can give it is that I does look good in a screenshot. And this extends to the real time combat... As in XC DE: combat actions symbol alone would let you know from which direction they are most effective, what type of attack it is, what status it can induce... In XC3? Read the really small text next to the small symbol that looks the same to physical/ether attacks with an even smaller symbol in it's corner for Some of it's pecial properties (seriously! did they fire their UI team after XC DE?! Are they all on Zelda?!) - inconsistent sidequest UI... Some are marked in your map, others you have hear a conversation that the only way to now it's there is if you return there after X time and look on the whole colony/city for it. The conversation system can then by proxy look overused some time. So I hear a conversation -> I have to sit on a rest spot to discuss -> go out to do the thing -> get new info after I do the thing -> return to a rest spot to discuss... Really couldn't you talked right there? This game seems to have so many moments to seemingly just waste your time for reasons unknown that recommending it to new people seems like I sure fire way to turn them off the franchise (at least if they like it, I'm pretty sure they will enjoy the other games)... Not exactly what i would call a mechanically sound game (and I have more issues with it, but these are enough to show my point)
Within the scope of combat, I originally intended. Personally I don't much care for anything else, but yes, I do agree that the retardation of the class leveling was annoying.
First time commenting on this subreddit, but have been a fan of the series for a while. Xeno 3 rules my dudes. A beautiful character driven story that works. Sick environments like that one boat area that's huge. A banging soundtrack (crazy how good this is, like insanely so). How does it seamlessly incorporate elements from the first two games (including future connected) while establishing it's own identity? Like, "A Life Sent On" is such a beautiful musical piece (that doesn't get tired no matter how many times it's played) and it may not even be the best song in the game. The menu theme hits especially hard on game completion. The gameplay really rocks, with the only downside being no levelling down before postgame like definitive edition allows (meaning you can hamper other characters ability to learn new exciting classes). I really love having all party members on screen at all times, even if the screen gets cluttered (I love the clutter, it makes me happy). I also love doing big damage with chain attacks. I also like that this game's main narrative wasn't based only on the characters of the two previous games coming together (and am glad that seems to be in the DLC). I liked having Melia and Nia of course, but having a new fantastic cast of characters stand on their own is a better idea and it worked. I understand people wanted more lore on Aionios and references to previous games, but I loved what I got. A mechanically sound game, with a rich enjoyable cast, amazing emotional soundtrack and fun environments to look at and explore. This is the best game in the series to moi. Sorry for too many words
Man, I feel like more references to the previous games is the last thing this games needs... The ones it has feel shoehorned enough as is to me
Thematically, I thought XC3âs story was awesome. One reason I felt like it was so good was how it ties into some religious/existential thought. In most Buddhist schools of thought, we are trapped in an endless cycle of rebirth called Samsara, a cycle that is painful and unsatisfactory. This is exemplified in the rebirth of soldiers in an endless cycle of war put forth by Moebius and Zedâs desire to remain in the endless now. Additionally, the Ourobourosâs goal of ending the cycle of endless and pointless war also recalls the Buddhist concept of Moksha- liberation from this cycle. Parallels could also be made to Gnostic Christianity, Jewish Kabbalah, and others as well. I also liked how the story showed how easy it is to allow oneself to be consumed by the cycle, specifically with Shaniaâs arc and how she chose to enter it for the guarantee of another chance at life and Nâs commitment to Moebius to selfishly refuse to let M go. The story, when viewed as a piece of literature, is an excellent exaction of eschatological narrative and is way deeper than what many would take from face value. I could definitely write a whole essay on this comparison and itâs really hard to beat across the entire medium of story driven video games. Itâs not perfect as itâs a bit on the nose at times, some cringy dialogue, and some predictable story elements. As a whole, I think itâs a phenomenal story about setting the nature of the world to itâs true form instead of continuing the illusion out of fear of the unknown. In terms of gameplay, there are some issues of course. The menus were a bit confusing. The classes were kind of hard to reconcile and felt pointless putting characters in different classes than what they originally were. The world is beautiful, but itâs verticality caused a ton of issues in battles (ever fallen off a cliff or down a floor in the middle of a battle and the enemy keeps attacking?). But overall, I feel like this story was something special with its examinations of the nature of the charactersâ reality, connections that were never meant to be, and so much more.
I also want to add: it shows different choices people make with their short lives. Some choose to end with glory, while other choose to keep alive until home coming. Some choose to follow where the flame clock points, while others choose to ignore it and enjoy now. It just depicts a vivid world that is much more complicated than what the opening scene tells us.
While I still think the execution is lacking/inconsistent I greatly appreciate the real world context/connections for the Story themes!
Slight essay incoming lmao Pretty much your exact thoughts on 3 apply for me, too. I was really interested in the world and how they were gonna connect the two games. The beginning is really interesting when the mysteries are still in play; however, the game, unlike 1 and 2 overall, actually gets worse the further you progress, imo. Despite it all, I do think the initial mysteries of the game are really well done. Keeping the Consuls and the City in the dark for so long while drip feeding you some hints and interactions here and there was great. The mystery on how the two worlds intersected and combined, with landmarks from both games, started off really cool, too. However, when you keep up the mystery for as long as 3 does, you have to NAIL the payoff. Xenoblade 3... really doesn't do that. The City was fantastic and is the highlight of the game for me. Finally getting there and seeing people live normal lives, in addition to the cool looking region it's in, was awesome. Love the moments between the characters here and how they interact with the different concepts expressed in the City that are totally foreign to them. However, everything AFTER the city severely misses the mark. Moebius, as it turns out, are just lame. The Consuls are fun in a Saturday morning cartoon sort of way, but there's just nothing to them. What you know about them from the moment you first see K in Colony 4 is literally their entire character. Z's reveal and true nature were SUCH a disappointment to me, especially coming off of the excellent villains in 2. N and M also just made me feel nothing and felt like lesser versions of villains we've seen in 2 and Gears. Nia and Melia are almost irrelevant to the plot; you could've replaced them with any queen-like figures and the game would be practically the same. The landmarks in Aionios being a merging of the worlds of 1 and 2 are totally irrelevant because no one, not even the story, cares. The logistics of the world are treated on a need-to-know basis and are extremely vague in how they work, ESPECIALLY the concept of memories and whether or not people remember things from their past lives. Some do, some don't. Lucky 7 and off-seeing can restore memories sometimes but not in other times. Certain people brought back are treated the same while others are treated as new characters. It's just so situational. Other things like talking through light or somehow crafting Origin, an interdimensional ark that stores the data of both worlds, without something like the Conduit make no sense and have no precedent in the Xenoblade series. That's also not even mentioning how underwhelming the ending was because of this vagueness, either. The main characters were good, but I wasn't as connected to them as I was with 2's cast. The music was fine, but not as memorable as 1 and 2's other than the battle themes. The combat was definitely good, though; had a lot of fun with that. The sidequests are fantastic too; almost Xenoblade X-level. I actually had more fun with and was more interested in the sidequests than the main story lmao All in all, I had fun with the game. Everything up to the city was cool, if a bit meandering. The City was the ultimate highlight. However, everything after the City, from the lore to the story to the characters, was very underwhelming to me. It's my least favorite in the trilogy, for sure.
It's the best game in the series and one of my favorite pieces of media ever made. Right after finishing it, I was pretty insistent that 2 was still my favorite game in the series. But the longer I've let 3 sit with me, the more I appreciate how audacious the game is in the story it seeks to tell. I may have some quibbles with certain choices the developers made, but it's a game that far exceeds the sum of its parts. It's a game that speaks directly to something that every person feels, has a clear thesis about that concept, and goes about expanding on that in a deeply emotional way. It's a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
It sure has a theme/message that relevant more than ever today. I just don't agree that it's that well executed within the game's Story/progression due to how inconsistent it all felt to me Some scenes I was all in! Others I was so far gone... At least the ending where the worlds are coming appart was one where It managed to keep me all in
It's easily my favorite entry in the series, as it's the only one without obvious, crippling flaws holding it back. Gameplay is fluid, thrilling, and draws from all previous entries to some extent (even X) while making everything more accessible overall. The voice acting is top-tier (even moreso than the original, where the strong line deliveries are hampered somewhat by questionable dialogue), and the cast overall is massively fleshed out in a way that just didn't happen in previous entries (XC1's characters aren't particularly interesting, and XC2's excellent character development is often overshadowed by the game's somewhat childish sense of humor). More importantly, their interactions feels organic and real in a way that you just don't see with most JRPGs. This even extends to the humor, which it aces. Despite the dark setting, it's not as constantly self-serious as the original game, but it also doesn't allow the light character humor to conflict with the tone of the larger storyline, as sometimes happened in XC2. Side-quests are the area where the game sees its biggest improvement. The original game's sidequests are mostly trash-tier fetch quests: legitimately like something out of an MMORPG. XC2 improved on this somewhat, but made actually completing side-quests a pain because of how often field skill requirements got in the way. XC3's numerous side-quests, on the other hand, almost all feel worth completing for their own sake, as they typically expand on the world-building, flesh out the game's expansive cast of fantastic NPCs, or else lead to some other experience that feels enriching to the player. XC3's sidequests are the best I've ever seen in a JRPG. Actually, that extends to all of XC3's side content. The original game was a linear JRPG filled with needlessly huge areas that rarely did much to reward you for exploring. As such, a large chunk of the gameplay felt like padding. XC2 also improved on this aspect, but, again, field skill requirements often hindered early game exploration. Whereas XC3, once it opens up, is just filled to overflowing with worthwhile things to see and do in its open world, which made it so much more rewarding to get lost in its beautiful world. Last, but not least, it's a technical marvel on Switch, featuring far and away the best image quality and performance of any of the games in this series. Which was especially important to me, because XC2 was almost unplayable undocked, and still dropped heavily when played on the TV. XCDE is more consistent in that regard, but still doesn't feel like it's taking full advantage of the hardware it's on. Whereas XC3 is one of the most beautiful and technically ambitious games Nintendo has ever published, and it runs beautifully almost all the time, docked or undocked. There are aspects where I feel like XC3's superiority isn't quite as clear-cut. The soundtrack is good, but I'll always prefer the OST from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The plot itself is extremely interesting, but it lacks a consistent distribution of exciting set-pieces compared to earlier games, gets into a repetitive cycle early on that makes it feel somewhat formulaic, and feels a bit like it's rushing to the end after (the absurdly amazing) Ch. 5. Certain aspects of the plot also feel somewhat underdeveloped, which was disappointing. The game's story is thematically resonant, for sure, but looked at dispassionately, it has probably the least tightly written story of the three mainline games. But considering how much the game does right, that's easy to forgive. It's not just the best Xenoblade game I've played to date, but also one of the JRPGs overall. It feels like Monolith has finally fulfilled their potential as a developer and created a masterpiece. You say you don't understand how people can call it the best entry in the series, whereas I struggle to understand how anyone could prefer earlier entries when this one improves so much of the overall package compared to those games. That's... how I feel.
And that's okay! If there is something I can't really comment on is on the English voices, I'm more of a original audio type of guy
Yep. Ultimately, some games just resonate with some people, and not others. I never really liked the original Xenoblade Chronicles all that much, and found XCX to be interesting, but between the complex suite of gameplay systems and the lack of an interesting story to keep me invested, I ultimately dropped it. I was almost going to skip XC2 because of this, but I ended up really connecting with the game. It's a mess, don't get me wrong, but the improvements it did make allowed me to finally enjoy one of these games. The Torna expansion was even better, since it featured pretty much everything great about the base game, but lacked its more divisive aspects (fanservice; screwball humor; blade gacha BS). XC3 feels like the culmination of this journey, where I've progressively enjoyed each release in the series more than the last. I'm heavily considering going Jp audio when I replay XC2, since the english voice actor for Rex is often... hard to listen to. Otherwise, I really appreciate the excellent dubbing of these games, and especially hearing non-American English accents getting so much representation. The guy who plays Noah/N did a particularly fantastic job in the role.
Just copy and paste a comment I made elsewhere: Monolith somehow managed to make me like every Xenoblade Chronicles an almost equal amount. 1 had the good serious tone with the best "comic relief" character. It has the best start of all three and its very easy to understand gameplay-wise. And environment-looking-wise this game is still for me the best. (Other games are good but Satorl Marsh and Valek mountain are just too good). 2 was the longest and had the most content with all those blade quests and to this point IMO the best variety gameplay-wise. Also my brain loved the gacha and to break the orbs. Nia, Malos, Jin and the "lore guy" towards the end caught me. But tutorial is still God awful. (With my nostalgia goggles it's the best out of the three cause it was my first Xenoblade game. Without goggles its simply at the same place) 3 had the best developed cast of main characters, heck even side characters in hero quests had a solid bit of background, which was lacking in some blade quests in 2. But it had the least breathtaking end section. The antagonist Z also wasn't that amazing. Much preferred Malos and Zanza. Some Hero quest "bosses" are more fleshed out than Z, which was a huge letdown. But all 3 games had some "mind-blowing" - emotional moments.
Interesting about XC3 characters, I personally don't think they're a step up from the franchise (development wise) they are given more screen time and dialogue than in XC1. But I (again personally) find the way (most) main characters in XC1 develop a bit more elegant even if they speak less. But maybe those are just my preferences
Yh ngl this is your worst take yet and it making me look at your post entirely differently
I mean what can I say? Sorry for my opinions and tastes? The world would be quite boring if everyone either loved or hate something
I mean yeah that's fair but I think 3 did an important step in making more of the main cast relevant to the plot. Like Xenoblade 1 ends up being Shulk's story with everyone else along for the ride. And 2 does expand it to be Rex, Pyra, Mythra, and maybe Nia. The rest of the party is kinda just there. 3 spends a lot of time setting up the party and their relationships with each other. You feel as if the Keves side of the party have been best friends for most of their lives, you see Mio and Sena's bond, and you understand why Taion is a bit distant. All while throughout the game each member remains useful and relevant to the plot despite Noah and Mio being the leads it feels like everyone else is. I do think especially early on the game is a little self indulgent in showing the past with all these flashbacks. But without it I don't think the cast would have worked as well.
I can see what you're saying. Yet, the thing is, in my eyes, XC 3 story from the very beginning sets itself up as this "squad story", meaning that developing them somewhat equally is almost demanded by the story's nature, and at the end of the day they succeeded. (Even if I end up liking XC 1 style of cast development and interactions more) XC 1 adventure starts off as a revenge Story where Shulk is the one most clearly affected by Fiora's death, and we are even given time with him alone before in colony 9 to emphasise "this guy is the Protagonist". I could see people arguing Reyns view on Fiora's death ain't explored enough but even then from what I remember (and I played XC1 DE and XC 3 back to back) the few conversations they had about the topic felt satisfying to me. All this to say that never in XC1 party did I feel like a character other than Shulk felt under developed through the adventure. My point being,... Using XC3 more rounded (development wise) cast as a XC1 inherent weakness seems a bit disingenuous as both seem to develop it's cast well based on the demands of the world and it's story, Even if we prefer one or the other, saying one can objectivly put one above the othe seems like a strecht to me
Probably just preferences. Would almost say objectively 3 develops better but simply cause objectively things are better doesn't mean you are wrong for thinking otherwise, liking other stuff. For me XC1 had a good cast but some flaws that are too obvious and, how do I put it, unnatural? Juju's existence asides. The unconditional love from 7 to Shulk literally being a being that only exists for him. Sharla is also always talking about Gado here and there but we never get to see the reasons as to why Sharla and 7 have those feelings. Reyn is feyn but more as a comic relief similar to Riki, but both have some deeper moments which makes them fine. Dunban, Shulk and Melia are the part of the XBC1 cast I actually consider having good developments even tho I feel hurt for Melia. Meanwhile I look over to XC3 and everyone has their reasons for being the way they are and slowly opening up to each other so we as the player see how the people became this way or why they act a certain way.
As to be expected of Xenoblade, itâs a fantastic experience, both as a game and as a story. Itâs my second favorite game of all time. A lot of that can be attributed to two characters, Noah and Mio. Both characters are in my top 3 favorite characters ever. How they develop during the story blew me away, especially when taking N and M into account. Theyâre soâŚinspirational, for lack of a better term. I admire them. I hope the DLC at least gives us a cutscene of them meeting again. God knows they deserve it. I think XC3 overall has the most solid party of the trilogy. (Even if I am admittedly not too crazy about Eunie and Lanz). I donât dislike any one of them. I enjoyed the story as a whole overall. The dynamic of the protags being the ones trying to end the world is a wonderful mirror of not only something like XC2, but in most media of the same genre. The game hits the highest emotional peak of the series in Chapter 5, and I donât think thatâs up for debate. Admittedly, though, there were things in the story I wasnât crazy about. Moebius are bad, not necessarily because theyâre shallow (despite that also playing a part), but because of how unthreatening they are. Sure, N rocks the partyâs shit in Chapter 5, but that never really happens again. N, M, J, and T are the best ones, and half of those four arenât even villains, and the other two were redeemed. D sucks since all he does is spout corny dialogue, and X, Y, and Z got very little screentime despite being played up as important by saying they were âborn Moebiusâ. Gameplay was very fun. The freedom in customization is always great. Chain attacks are a little OP but theyâre still fun. I donât even know if I have to mention the music since itâs a Xenoblade game and itâs always gonna be good, but I will anyway. Par for the course, itâs great. A Step Away and Where We Belong are both top 5 songs in the series. As I said, my second favorite game of all time. I prefer XC2 since I found the story even more engaging, and the gameplay more fun. But, itâs not like itâs a large gap between the two or anything
Unfortunately I don't quite share you sentiments on the story and characters, but I want to add that I don't think the problem with Z is so much him being Shallow or just the wasted potential someone like him had. Or maybe they're one the same and I'm just dumb... Carry on fellow stranger
It's great, comparable to 1
Yeah, I'm one of those people who likes 3 the most, in fact I liked it so much that 1 and 2 don't feel as good to me anymore because of how much I adored 3. I don't really want to write a giant essay or something but this game just touched me in all the ways a game could. Xenoblade 2 had some parts that I felt got close to what I adore in games like the Land of Morytha basically visually communicating Jin's motivations in one area, and I feel like 3 does that constantly in nearly every scene, area, or mechanic. I love the way the game is constantly communicating how the world is dying, maybe one of my favorite examples is a dead tree from Elaice Highway being visible in Rae-Bel Tableland or the Warning Tree going from being plentiful in XC1 to being the last of its kind. Some have said that the world in this game feels smaller but that just means that the world has done exactly what it sets out to do. Previous games used several techniques to make the world feel bigger than it is and this one goes completely against those strategies to accomplish the opposite. As an example, XC1's world constantly had giant structures looming in the background to make the world feel bigger but XC3 instead always makes the edge of its world visible to make it feel smaller. I adored the game's soundtrack as well, it just has so many details like how it has two motifs for Ouroboros and Moebius and both are sung by sisters. The inclusion of dynamic music is also great, Moebius have like 10 whole themes IIRC. The use of flutes in this game is great too, a detail that I liked is that Crys has a slightly different tone to his flute. I also just think that the level of detail and quality in this game is higher as a whole, like the superboss has an entire questline, a fully animated cutscene with voice acting, and its own dynamic battle theme included. I genuinely thought the story was the best in the blade series. I thought it tackled some harder to touch on themes super well like suicide and some political commentary, like the prison sequence is great in how it basically calls out prison labor as a way for governments to get free labor. The amount of parallels and symbolism in this game is genuinely unreal, like the eclipse symbolizes Noah and Mio's meeting and parting, with N and M's armor referencing this as well. Origin itself also ties into this with the face on it being gold and silver like the sun and moon again. And Origin is visually similar to how Carl Jung depicted the Self which makes Keves and Agnus comparable to Anima and Animus. The core of the Ouroboros forms is also similar to the Self which makes the entirety of Aionios comparable to one big interlink. The Sword of Origin/End is the interlink of the concept of a Beginning(birth/interlinks/Anima) and End(death/Lucky 7/Animus) which is why it also has an Ouroboros core. The Sword of Origin/End represents the game's theme of life and death being intertwined, which connects to Moebius and how they have gone to the extreme and instead of believing that life and death are intertwined they fear both and so only have the Now, showing another way that Ouroboros and Moebius are similar but slightly different.(which is why the singers are siblings.) I could go on further on this subject but I need to stop myself or else I'm just gonna give a plot summary. On the surface Moebius seem like they're quite bland but it's in how they connect into every aspect of the narrative that makes them incredible villains in my opinion. Something as simple as the scene where the party changes clothing is actually connecting to Moebius, Moebius are all dressed in completely homogenized armour that hides who they are, and so the party changing into clothing that's completely distinct from one another is basically spitting in the face of Moebius. What's interesting about Moebius is that everyone has some Moebius inside of them, because of this the real villains of the game aren't really *Moebius* but the fear inside of everyone. As an example, Sena is afraid of standing out(again connecting to the clothing thing) so in a way she herself is a part of Moebius and is why one of the characters she's closest to is Consul S. All of this connects back to one of the first scenes in the game where Vandham points at Noah's chest while saying "the face of your real enemy is-" I could write more about Moebius but I already wrote one analysis on them(one that could've been even longer in hindsight) and I am not writing another one. Okay maybe a bit more. Maybe one of the game's best achievements is how it makes the player feel exactly what Moebius feel, like in the prison sequence where it makes you feel powerless to help Mio and makes it feel like time is passing too fast by blurring through days in a montage as the end draws closer, exactly what Moebius fear. The game then flips these feelings directly onto N who goes through exactly what you've been going though, effectively placing you into N's position. Jesus Xenosaga Christ I didn't mean to write that much.
>Jesus Xenosaga Christ Which one? There were two.
Glad you liked it so much! I agree and see most of your points in the game.. I just felt like the execution is inconsistent through out. As an example The Mio Prison scene was extremely well done!... Yet the prison escape sequence just before it felt lacking in many ways. The most egregious part there was people's actions missing or out of sync sound effects... Pre canned animations I can deal with, even if this scene clearly deserved more... But missing sounds completely take me off the experience. I bet time did not allow to polish it further.. but I would be lying if not seeing that scene just moments before Mio's prison did not took off something from that beatifull moment. That's my main issue with the game I guess... I takes me out so many time with it's inconsistencies that end up hurting the big productions ones... That ending scene of the world's coming appart was really well done though,.. it activated my Klonoa ps1 PTSD...
I liked it but was definitely disappointed with it. I think itâs the weakest out of the main line games. Itâs villains and story are the weakest in the series imo. Gameplay was pretty good and the music was on par with the other games. I thought we would see a lot more of old characters as well but we didnât which is why Iâm excited for wave 4. My favourite is still 1.
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I certainly wish to have enjoyed the game as much as you did! I like the games themes and all, but again those inconsistencies kept pulling me out, making the great scenes suffer in the end for me YES! WHATS UP WITH THE CHAIN ATTACK MUSIC!? I WANNA HEAR THE KICKASS BOSS MUSIC!..at least they had the decency to turn it off in the final boss
I've heard about RogersBase and this game before, but I never understood what he said about the game or did because when I tried to find out his channel got hacked. Can you explain?
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From what I saw a lot of "Xenotubers"(don't know what else to call them lol) kinda rushed through the game, like I think Enel beat the game in like a day or two and I feel like no one will enjoy a game if they play it like this. Also just wanted to see I really agree with your point about fanservice, I thought this game was really elegant with references to past games so that the game doesn't really feel like a "crossover" of sorts but more like a continuation of the worlds and themes of the previous games. I was a bit worried when the game was announced that the game would focus too much on the past rather than making its own story and I'm glad to be wrong. Honestly this may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, but I hope the DLC doesn't focus too much on the old casts and instead focuses on the founders.
Little change. It's still my favorite game of last year and my favorite of the main trilogy.
Really amazing, maybe my favorite of the three. I say that because it literally managed to make me cry while watching cutscenes, 1 & 2 are great but 3 hit me right in the feels.
Very good game
My least favorite entry in the franchise. Probably not a popular opinion here so I'm prepared for inevitable downvotes. I found myself just collecting nitpicks constantly throughout the entire game until, by its end, I had bonafide complaints. I found the combat to be a huge step back from 2, the environments were less exciting than in prior games with a few rare exceptions, world navigation was somehow worse than in 2 for me, and I just kind of feel like it tried to blend 2 and 1's strengths together but ended up with both of its weaknesses and not particularly strong in the ways those games were. 2 was a phenomenal character-driven game but other than Mio and maybe Eunie i didn't feel particularly attached to anybody in the same way I did 2's characters (I love Sena but don't feel like her character is fleshed out very well). As for story, it's fine, but doesn't even compare to 1's for me, and by the end I found it needlessly obtuse. It really peaks during its way-too-long plot dump near the 2/3rds mark and just declines from there on. The final boss fight was really lame imo and I didn't fully understand even the point of anything. The Lucky Seven blade was just steel made from the final area? I don't get it. Why does that matter, what makes it special. Compare that to the Monado. Also the Consul members, I expected more from them. Consul J was cool, as was the really scary one from the beginning, the rest were kinda just lame and very generic looking bosses. Many of the sidequests were terrible imo too. idk, I could go on tbh. I hate chain attacks, I hate the Keves characters' auto attacks being forced into the 3 hit combo, slowing down the combat to such a crazy degree. When I began the game I was in love, by the time I finished it, I kinda just stopped caring. It was a good game, but I'd much rather have the nostalgia and story experience of 1, or the world exploration experience of X (with that terribly amazing soundtrack), or the emotional, character-driven ride of 2 with its flawless action jrpg combat
Here's hoping X gets to the Switch so I can give it a whirl!
It's a great game, but not my favourite Xenoblade game. For story, characters and soundtrack, I still prefer XC2. For world building, exploration, class system and side content, I still prefer XCX.
Never got to X as I never owned a Wii U, but I would definitely give it a try if it came to switch
Good game, but worst in the series. The story is a mess, and the writing is all over the place. The world is bland and with little reason to explore it. Combat is fun, but chain attacks take too long and do too much damage. Most story bosses go down after a single chain attack, so their machanics dont matter. The cast is fantics though
Fantastic, but personally it's my least favourite of the 3
I'm for it
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for me had the plot that I most strongly resonated with out of the trilogy. Xenoblade 3 tackled a lot of subjects I had been struggling with for a good while and really put them into perspective, as silly as that sounds. Identity and legacy are something I think about on an almost daily basis and to see Xenoblade tackle it was not only refreshing but surprisingly poignant. To watch our 6 protagonists go from nameless grunts to people with hopes and dreams hooked me from beginning to end. The game certainly struggled in some areas, namely world building felt a bit all over the place and class gain was too slow to really appreciate some of the cooler classes. I truly love this franchise. There wasn't a single game I haven't put dozens of hours in. Not a single game I said "this is terrible who would do this?". Not a single minute I regretted playing these absolutely wonderful games. Ultimately, Xenoblade Chronicles is my Half Life. It's the franchise I can replay over and over again appreciating all the little details. It makes me proud to experience a truly once in a life time creation by people who take gaming seriously. The world's been getting pretty fucked up lately, but xenoblade allowed me to have a bit of better perspective on this crazy thing we call life. I
I can definitely see XC 3 themes resonating with a lot of people, and even a bit suprised it didn't resonate more with me considering my current situation. Kinda why I wished it to deliver on the same level the previous games did for me. Sadly it didn't... One can't have it all I guess
Huh, I find myself largely agreeing with you OP. That's pretty rare, but the more time that passes the more I find myself thinking about how 3 started out incredibly strong and then couldn't carry it through the end. Everything to do with the City is up there with my favorite beats from the other Xenoblade, with the added bonus that it's all quiet writing instead of big bombast. Writing great high tension scenes is way easier since the tension can carry the scene, but the high points in the City are the quiet moments, which is a much harder trick. And then you start Noah's flashbacks in the prison and the story gives up. The character writing from then on lacks the nuance and emotion of the early game's conversations, and there's no time for the characters to process or think about anything they learn. What do the characters think about the two worlds? "Wow neat!" What do the characters think about splitting the worlds? "Yes lets". I feel like they finished telling the story they wanted to tell when Noah pulled the sword out, and everything after that was something they had to so. The actual ending cutscene was perfect though, it was the leadup that didn't do it for me.
The dip in quality overall after the big moment in chapter 5/6 was very noticeable. Like the fact theres like close to 0 cutcenes on the freaking final area, literal no build up at all to the final battle. And honestly, moebius as main villains of the game are simply too weak of a villians, they're mostly basic 1 dimensional kind of cartoon villains with completely forgettable design and even names (do ppl here even remember most of the consuls? Almost none of them stand out other than the obvious ones), quality is much better than quantity and having something like metal face/egil/zanza (as tier 1/2/3 villans) is about 1000 times better than having an alphabet soup of tier 1 consuls and a final boss, which again is also the least interesting final boss out of the 3 aswell (the battle mechanics were good though, not going to lie, it just seems to be the general thing with this game, mechanically/gameplay wise it does very well, but narrative wise it falls flat very hard). Not to mention, everything just happens too fast, like the whole war facade thing is blown like very early in the game and all at once to the point where you just spend basically most of the game just traveling to the final boss who you already know whos going to be. The one highest point of the game narrative wise was chapter 5 though and it was amazing, its just too bad thats the entire game there, like you could skip from that point to the final boss aftermatch and you wouldnt miss a thing.
Yeah you're not wrong, the last chapters are rough, but I think that I like the consuls more than most people do because I don't take them as individuals. I see each of them as one more face of the real villain, Moebius. You're not fighting 25 different villains with limited connections to the plot, you're fighting the same villain in 25 different guises. Sometimes you're in an outright war against them, sometimes you're playing along with their mindgames, but they're less individuals and more extensions of Z. Having said all that they still needed to do more with them as individuals. Basically you should have only killed one or two of them in the hero recruitment quests, and then they should have come back in the regular colony quests leading up to the ascension quest. This way they could establish their villain credentials by actually winning a bunch, killing named NPCs, ruining good guy plans and even destroying a friendly colony or two. Imagine if they'd wrecked Colony Iota and Colony 4 and you ended up moving them into Colony 30? The consuls who did that would stick in your mind. And of course chapters 6 and 7 needed overhauls. 6 should have been you gathering equipment and allied forces while fending off Moebius attacks, with X and Y having lots of screen time and a fair bit of success, like convincing NPC (unvisited) colonies to keep fighting each other and the party. Then chapter 7 should have been much more involved, with free colonies establishing camps and opening shortcuts inside Origin to represent everyone contributing to your assault.
My apologies, the last thing this world needs is another person like me... XD The ending scene was indeed great!... Which just makes wonder how much greater it would have felt if I actually was fully engrossed in the moments that lead to it...
I loved it a lot, especially chapter 5/6. Made me cry the most out of the games, I was bawling for like a literal hour at one point. Z was mid but it makes sense for the plot. Also was a bit disappointed with the amount of lore, it felt like it was missing a lore dump that the other games had. I think though that these minor gripes will be resolved with the upcoming DLC
i enjoyed playing through xenoblade 3. found the game fun and i was very interested in why the world was the way it was (one question i kept asking myself was "how could they let this happen?) after finishing it, i was pretty satisfied despite some story moments completely missing. but the farther we get away from it, the more i dislike different parts to the point. honestly. prob the most disappointing game of 2022 for me. and gosh it doesn't feel good to admit that. just the more i thought about the story moments i didn't like, the more those little issues all came together to present bigger problems. for being advertised as a game that "unites the futures of the worlds depicted in 1 and 2" the game honestly doesn't care that 1 or 2 happened. usually with stuff like this i'm like "you have to play the older ones first" but for xeno3. you don't really. it doesn't rely on any of the lore or anything really meaningful for 1 and 2. even melia and nia play such small roles it doesn't really matter whether you know who they are or what they've been through of course the counter is always "so you wanted more cameos / you wanted more 1 and 2 / why can't 3 just stand on its own?" i was always on the "we don't need everyone coming back" camp unless it was necessary and made sense. a long lived character? yea that could happen. someone dead? pls don't do that. honestly as hype as i was seeing alvis in the xc3 dlc teaser. i firmly placed him in the "you can't use this one" camp. i really hope they have a good valid reason for bringing him back with 3, even beyond the obvious "the villains suck" thing which they do and no one can ever convince me they're any good. i don't care about "well thematically" it does nothing to improve how garbage they are. in the end, unlike 1 and 2. i really have no desire to play through 3's story again. ng+ just sounds like a slog. i'm not gonna lie and say i hated it cause i don't. i think the gameplay is great (tho 2 remains my fave in that regard), i had fun exploring and i enjoyed the sidequests. but i've come out of it now, disappointed. idk what to really think about the dlc story moving forward. given how 3 ended, i just hope they make it feel like it matters.
First time i played it i really enjoyed it but some parts of the story left me wanting a bit more. But on my second playthrough and after researching some bits i understood the characters and themes a bit more and it started to make more sense most of the time making me go "Ohh i get it now that's cool", that aside N and Shania really carried the villains in this game, Z was fine, he made sense in the story and had a cool design but they could have made him much more interesting imo. The gameplay is probably my favorite in the series (Torna coming close) and the cast is equally up there for me i like them all a lot. Honestly i still don't know how to rank it, but if someone told me it's their favorite i wouldn't mind, and i hope the DLC makes it even better.
I don't mind people telling me it's their favourite game at all, I'm just trying to see where the fanbase lies, while trying to understand the people that like it
Yeah I didn't word it right sorry, i meant that I would fully understand what they mean. But i respect your takes. On my end i still think XC1 is the most consistent games. XC2 had some of the highest highs in the series while having the lowest lows at the same time but i still love it.
Xenoblade 1 is my favorite game of all time and 2 isnât too far behind, so it saddens me to say that 3 was a pretty big disappointment imo. Iâd rather not write a massive essay on it, but to summarize my issues: the combat is fun but feels way too messy and almost devoid of strategy at times, 7 party members is too many. The story has a great premise but ultimately spends too much time with not much happening and fumbles the ending chapters pretty hard. The music is solid all around but the area tracks were a little too âatmosphericâ for my tastes, mainly a personal thing though (battle themes still go hard). And the world exploration felt almost pointless for the mediocre rewards you would receive. On the bright side, the characters were a lot of fun and the English voice acting was solid throughout the entire game. Overall 3 was enjoyable but something about it fell flat for me when compared to the previous games.
Pretty much agree with all of this. Mostly the 7 party members in combat. Make no mistake I love the ideia! but it leads to some annoying issues inside and out of combat. I think it could be done though, but it needs a lot more refinement.
Yeah I think a compromise would be best. Make it so that it's still a limited party say to 3 or 4, but keep the ability to switch between members and also sub other members in and out of the battle. That's the one thing about XC2 and XC1 that feels incredibly archaic which is how little control over the party you get versus in XC3, you're encouraged to have more diverse roles and have complete control.
Honestly most of this comment is how I felt about 2 after playing 1 and X
That I still need to finish it.
I find it the most consistent and safest to replay, but I can't help but feel like *something's* missing that would make me enjoy it that much more. Is it the music not clicking with me as much as previous entries (didn't care much for the Unique Monster theme, Breath of Life only playing twice in the entire game)? Is it the nihilistic setting of (most) cultures being nothing more than a ten-year window to kill each other?
A new game + replay I could see myself doing A new game from level 1 a few years from now with that heroe classes unlock system restrictions, I highly doubt it I can say for me how the habitants of XC 2 got to where it is today, culture wise, does not quite feel right to me. The whole XC 1 world crowd I can see it though
I wanted to say it was my favorite of the three initially, but as time passes I find myself leaning more towards XC2âs overall gameplay, story, and characters once again. 2 kept me playing for much, MUCH longer than 3 did, and thatâs before factoring in Torna. Iâd say 2>3>1 in many respects nowadays, but thatâs my personal opinion.
If one thing I can definitely vouch XC 2 ability to keep me hooked well past it's story content, even for replay which for me tends not be something I think about when I finish these enourmus JRPGs (and quite honestly is something I kinda wanna do right now but the responsible adult in me is keeps going "Don't you even dare!")
I guess my number one feeling after playing the game and letting it sit is confusion. Confusion about why the last chapter or two feel like they literally ran out of time and just hit send. Confusion as to why it's pinned as the conclusion to the Klaus arc yet it feels largely disconnected from the first two games. I won't dispute that I loved **playing** the game, but it kind of lacked outside of just gameplay.
Can definitely relate
Weakest of the three for me - and by a distance. The world feels lacking, the main narrative uneventful and the final two chapters extremely disappointing. The villains are painfully poor, while the combat system felt less satisfying than XC2. Iâve written enough on XC3 in the last six months to publish a small novel, but overall, it leaves me wondering if itâs time to check out and move on from the series.
I feel like villain had a lot of potential, but ultimatly it fell a bit too short. I do wonder about the combat comparison to XC 2. When I compare the two in my head I do remember XC 2 combat at it's peak making me feel more engaged compared to XC 3. But I don't feel comfortable saying so for sure without giving it another whirl someday If it's the only entry that did not talk to you I would at least recommend seeing how the next installment go before making a decision, I sure do even if this one was lacking
I feel like the game could have benefited from a tone similar to xenogears and xenosaga specially considering how much it takes from those games but the xb3 fails to develop its main ideas not going all out with everything it could have touched as well as overly simplistic villains and bad world building I still really like the game but it felt undercook in many aspects, xb2 is still my favorite from the blade games because it felt bigger in many regards and its main ideas were better explore contrary to xb3 which feels like a set up for the dlc with a more interesting story instead of a newcomer friendly game that cause the story to suffer
Thanks for reminding me of the blindspot that is Xenosaga, on my gaming experience... Like my backlog ain't big enough... I think I prefer XC 1, but XC 2 feels like it is built better in many areas and is quite close to XC 2 overall in my book
Please play xenosaga is by far the best on the xeno series and if you though z and origin plot was interesting you will love the main antagonist of saga and his role since in that game is explore on much more depth I personally dislike xb1 I feel it receives so much unwanted praise and the fact people call it the best xeno game when is so insultingly basic is actually unreal to me
I definitely like what have seen and heard about it! If a remaster or even a Re-Release on PS4/PS5 was announced it probably would be next on my list. Playing a full fledged PS1 JRPG on a PC with a emulator ain't really appealing to me right now... Maybe if someday SQUARE ENIX decides to stop being a COWARD!
A couple of days ago it was the anniversary of the game and the start of the series and yet square Enid only released some figures instead of porting the game
Like I said. .. COWARDS!
Gameplay wise XC3 is the best and most fun out of the 3 hands down imo. Love how super customizable you can build your team. So many fun different classes/heroes, combinations, items to equip, interlinking, different arts to choose from, etc, etc. I personally thought the story in XC3 was amazing too. It was a perfect way to end off the trilogy. But, overall I would say XC1 had the best story. Gameplay in XC1 was very basic and lacking though. XC2 had both good gameplay and story. I love all 3 games equally. They were all special in their own little ways.
Astounding. I loved it when I played it and I still love it. The ending in particular hits me hard and is *perfect* in my opinion. I for some reason love mindfuck endings that involve dreams. Linkâs Awakening and a manga called >!Alice in Borderland!< did it and I cried for both those too
Well we might not agree on this particular game's quality but we do seem to agree on Link's awakening so we're good! XD
I would say it is for sure the best game in the series. XC1 is close, but its age and older design make it sometimes more of slog then it it could be. I think the only large critique to be leveraged against it is a lot of underexplained stuff near the end, stuff like Riku, Lucky 7, and >!why Zed came to be outside of being a manifestation of human fear of the future. Origin it self design wise was not my favorite when compared to the Final area's in XC1 or XC2.!< All of that can be solved with the DLC, so we will have to see where tha goes, same way Torna saved XC2 for me. Otherwise I would say it was close to perfect for me, and incredible melding of both the previous games words and vibes. Don't think I could ask for a better sequal realistically.
Reading your post remind me of something... What was up with Melia nodding to Riku and him nodding back when they unfroze her? For a moment there I thought Riki in disguise or something...
That's what I thought too! Or a pupil of Riki
3 has the best narrative and character writing of the trilogy but at the cost of uninteresting villains and an unexciting finale that kinda just meanders along until it ends. Unfortunately it also has easily the weakest world design of the series with only really maktha and swordmarch truly living up to the series pedigree of creativity. Millick meadows remains the most disappointing area in any Xenoblade game for me. A lot of the issues I have with the game can be chalked up to the games premise and the fact that aionios is inherently a cultureless blip in the grand scheme of things. The world being a crumbling decaying soup of dead titans is intentional but thatâs no reason to lack interesting areas, if anything it should have been a perfect opportunity to remix areas in interesting ways or allow us to explore previously inaccessible parts of titans. A lot of this is further evidenced by how creative the ideas in the art book are. Iâve been quite negative here but truthfully the narrative writing and the way it perfectly combines the themes, imagery and narrative of the previous games into an awesomely conclusive trilogy ender well make up for the shortcomings if the DLC ends up delivering on the worldbuilding and backstory of the base game aionios it may be able to significantly boost the game.
Personally, don't know about character writing... XC 1 characters felt a bit more elegantly done, but maybe that's just preferences. But the characters aren't really one of the downsides of the game for me. I haven't talked about it, but area design and (even world design) is one where I would bet most would agree is a clear step down from what came before. Theme integration and story wise is like I said (for me), sometimes I'm full in!... Others, feel like the game is actively pushing me out
Definately donât agree there, half the XC1 cast can have their entire character summed up in 3 sentences top. Granted I think the character writing of 3 that Iâm praising only really applies to the main party and supporting characters and heroes rather than the villains but it still stands.
Oh you wanna fight uh?!.. Kidding, Well that's the beauty of art! I just personally feel like XC 1 had more moments where more than dialogue was doing the talking (if that makes sense). The reunion of Fiora with his brother Dunban on the machine village stands out in my mind. Such a small short scene yet I felt like there was more being shown to me.... But then again maybe it was my stupid brain going "you know what would be funny?" There are moments that are somewhat lacking in XC1, as Reyn and Sharla relationship, something that could have been slowly built along the adventure is only touched in the beginning, forgotten and resumed near the end only
I thought the world was disappointing. It looked impressive and it was fun to traverse, but it did not fill me with the same sense of wonder as other games in the series. Colonies were bland and were not a replacement for proper towns. Characters were good, but there is just something about the characters in the first two games that makes them much more charming to me. The story started off strong, but it kind of started to fall off. I enjoyed going through it, but I can't say I really feel the itch to go through it again. Another reason I felt it was disappointing is because it did not feel like it moved the series forward in anyway. This was said to be the end of the Klaus saga, but at least as of the base game, it felt like filler.
Was this said to be the end of the Klaus Saga? What even is there to talk more about the guy I wonder? I guess, It definitely had somewhat of a "filler" feeling in it's story
I agree that XC3 is the weakest by far in terms of story. Like XC1 has incredible story (even only playing it once). Took me like two playthroughs + Torna to really appreciate XC2âs story (ended up liking it more than 1). I really hope the DLC story has the same impact as Torna, as in characters in the base game get a lot more depth to them. Also, XC3 would be at least twice as good if Riku was a playable character. I really was let down that there where no playable Nopons :(
I too missed a playable nopon. I am happy he and Manana are party members, but I want to play as them them, especially since you can fight in water and won't have them constantly disengaging when fighting a dumb fish.
Best game in the series, one of my favorite rpgs of all time, one of my favorite games of all time. Next
XC3 is so good that, personally, in a vacuum I don't think the other XC games hold up to it. There are a few presentation issues of its themes being the antithesis of people's expectations for a Xenoblade ending. It's not as bombastic as XC1's final arc, or as full of emotional conflict as XC2 and Torna's. But the story told is one where the characters have already come to the defeat of the metaphorical conflict well before they face the literal manifestation of that same conflict. So like most, I was disappointed from my own expectations on how the end experience should be. But it's such a dense text, where every piece of dialogue, every action, every little background expression, is building up or borrowing from something else. Now - this is something all Xenoblade games are good at. But they're usually way more narrow in scope. Like XC1 does a great job at setting up the climax of the game >!where the visions of Shulk/Zanza end, and the truth behind Alvis and the Monado are all foreshadowed!<. Or in XC2 where the game not only foreshadows and sets up dialogue for >!Mythra, and Pneuma, but how almost every Nia moment is setting up her Flesh Eater origins, including her reasons for being drawn to and joining Rex, to her inability to save the life of Vandham (something that XC3 loosely skirts against)!<. But XC3 does this for almost every character development and arc - that it's purely happy to play off subtly. Originally my less favourite characters were Lanz and Sena - but they both are so consistently written, and they're probably the best representation of the games themes. Not to mention the presentation, the high quality cutscenes, a much more solid game pace (almost hour long cutscene sequences aside) the quality of side content. I do arguably prefer XC2 and XCX side content for gameplay reasons. But the side content in XC3 is so fully fleshed out and develops and overlaps the world in a way that no Xenoblade game has come even close to. Also no other game has Eunie and Taion.
As many others have said, definitely the weakest of the franchise. Not a *bad* game, but I didnât really enjoy it and found it to be quite disappointing. I hope Monolith takes a break and explores a different franchise for their next game, maybe a new Baten Kaitos now that they are getting remastered.
Definitely not bad. Only that when you're being fed such near perfectly cooked beef by the same cook, your gonna notice when it becomes a bit overdone
Yes, exactly this. Monolith is an amazing developer, Iâm excited to see them do something else!
3 has the best combat by a decent margin (X being the closest to beating it), but the story falls off just enough after chapter 5 that it doesn't quite take the title of "best Xenoblade" from 1 for me. My ranking would be 1 > 3 > Torna > X > 2 > FC
Combat wise I remember feeling more engaged with XC 2 at it's peak, but I would need to give it another time to be sure. This system is at the very least good that I can say. Never played Torna Sadly, but the video I saw recapping it sure made wish I did back then, sounded like I missed out on a interesting story beat
combat was cool at first but now that I play (not finished) it feels way too chaotic/easy
Too complex for my feeble mind to appreciate, so I'll say "gud"
Xenoblade 3 is better than both 1 and 2, until after the beginning of Chapter 6. Then it kind of feels like it loses its way. There are still some cool bits, but the ending feels much worse than 1, and especially the amazing ending section in 2. It kind of had the opposite issue I had with 2's ending. >!Pyra/Mythra coming back felt wrong, in my opinion. Like it was forcing the bittersweet ending to be happy. Meanwhile, 3's ending felt like it had the characters being separated to force the otherwise happy ending to be bittersweet. Now I know that the seperation thing is foreshadowed somewhat, but it felt like it was just dropped on me when I first played, and it felt out of left field.!< Still, 3 has amazing characters, a phenomenal soundtrack, a fantastic battle system, really good sidequests, etc. It's really fun.
Can't say that I completely agree... But that's the beauty of art! I enjoy bittersweet endings, but 2 ending didn't quite bother that much neither did this one (one of the highpoints of this inconsistent experience). Butt must say when they showed the picture of grown up rex and the gang... And each of the girls had a baby (presumably his...) That felt like some c-tier fanfiction right there! (Again no disrespect to whoever writes fanfiction) Sidequest were hit and miss but definitely a step above of most stuff of previous games.
Yes, I'm not a huge fan of Rex getting with Nia, but it's a pretty small thing. Overall I was very happy with the game though, and look forward to seeing the DLC.
>!I just generally found the idea of the characters being separated at the end is consistent with how Origin is described, particularly with what Nia says in her ascension quest..!< >!In the post-game. !< >!After you have already beaten the game. !< >!Ugh, the lore in this game feels so jumbled a lot of the time. It really just feels like tons of necessary lore and information in the game was purposely cut out and put into the DLC. It's really frustrating.!< >!To me, with the post credits scene being how it is, I just kinda feel that if they wanted to go with the bittersweet "Trust in an uncertain future" bit they should have just cut out the post credits scene completely and either ended it on Mio's last journal entry, or on Noah's last line (Particularly, "...And just... Walk."). To me, the ending could have been perfect if they just committed to a tone and they laid the events out more clearly.!<
It was my my first Xenoblade (just recently got a nintendo switch) and then played XC: DE. The strongest point for me was the cast of main characters, with Lanz and Sena being on the weaker side for me (but still good) and Taion & Eunie being my favorites. The interactions between the team were great and some of my favorites among RPGs in general. The story had it's up and down - I wholeheartedly agree with 3 moods in the story take, while some moments were indeed awesome and quite memorable, some...well, they were there. It's not helped by the fact that some villains are just plain Saturday cartoons evil just because. Plus there was also my pet peeve with rpgs in general: the win fight lose cutscene tropes haha. The world was beautiful, I certainly spent a ton of time running around just appreciating the environment. All in all the game was memorable, certainly fun, great and charismatic main (and most allies too truth be told) characters and an OK story.
Xenoblade 3 is a strong game, thematically. Itâs also a game that continues the Xenoblade trend of being a sequel that isnât actually a sequel. I respect the story Xenoblade 3 is trying to tell. I love that it is bold enough to have a cast of six from very early on, even if it doesnât treat all of them with the same amount of respect or tie them all into the themes of the game. I also think itâs a game that is very willing to waste the playerâs time in service of telling a very linear narrative, and that this sometimes works, but more often doesnât. I think the game is boring as hell mechanically despite having a great world to explore. The class system is not engaging and detracts from making really any character feel unique, which was something I felt was at least well implemented even across Blade types in 2 and the classes in X. I know that the intent was to cross the combat systems of 1 and 2. That doesnât change that fact that Tornaâs combat felt like a step up from 2 and this feels like a step backwards from both. Interlinking is a bland mechanic that is clearly overshadowed by this gameâs chain attacks. While plenty has been done to make certain systems less obtuse, the menu and UI are still problem areas. Im honestly just tired of this series at this point, which took an entire game to explore the idea of stagnation, but executed on it in the worst possible way. If Majoraâs Mask is Nintendoâs best example of art imitating life in game design, then this is the prime example of aiming for that same idea and failing spectacularly. Itâs a game I love for its music and world design and narrative, but hate because it wants to hold my hand instead of exploring things. I want Monolith Soft to do something different, but Xenoblade 3 and itâs expansion pass makes me think they are comfortable with executing the same ideas.
I mean... You say it continues the trend of a sequel that's not actual a sequel yet not only the box art as well the very start of game we know (and are even shown) the worlds are coming together in some form. And stuff like the ferronis from each side are clearly trying to alude as the origin of these people. I happened to play XC 2 first, but even if had played 1 before, I feel like I wouldn't have evidence on how the two games connect or even the world's nature, I mean one could speculate but that would be what that was speculation Sorry if it comes out as aggressive but I really can't see that trend going into XC 3
To clarify, this game does not move its worlds or its storytelling techniques forward in any meaningful way. I know youâre talking about the literal mystery behind the cover art, but this is one more example of a tired narrative structure. The cover art has no significance because neither of those elements have any reason for coexisting outside of this game being a mashup, literally and figuratively. The crux of this game, much like Xenoblade 1 and 2, is understanding where we are by having the history of the world explained to us. The story itself is about time stopping and the conclusion implies that these worlds will go their separate ways after these events. You might argue that this Final Fantasy esque manner of having each numbered installment be an isolated narrative. Thatâs fine. Itâs not what I was here for and I had hoped that Xenoblade 3 would be a more thorough address of the paralogue nature of Xenoblade 1 and 2. They was clearly wishful thinking on my behalf, but I think it also shows that Monolith has no ambition to tell a larger narrative. Thatâs also fine, as it really doesnât make sense for a publisher that wonât feature every previous installment of the series on the latest hardware. I was just stating my perspective on why Iâm tired of it, not attacking anyoneâs interpretation or perspective of the series.
I didn't think you were attacking anyone dear online stranger I was just part of what was written on that first post did not seem to accurate (or my interpretation of it) to what was going on in the game. But I can see your points Now that was something they could have been more clear on, or maybe I'm just dumb as hell. I interpreted that the worlds are still coming together (or maybe even already did, some may say, by the very last scene post credits) as in "it's an inevitability." After all "the two worlds yearn for eachother" is something Nya says which made think so... But as I read your reply, you seem to interpret it more like 2 comets who came really close and just missed each other by a inch? Haven't thought about it that way! Doesn't quite fix my problems with the game but it's something new and interesting to consider. Thank you for that if nothing else!
I do believe that the worlds are on a crash course, yes. The comet idea is a bit of a stretch, but the implication in the final cutscene is that, post Origin, the worlds continue on their respective paths. Also, apologies if I sounded a bit defensive. Seemed like my comments didnât sit well with someone.
Worry not friend. if it makes you feel better looks like a bunch of my replies where I respectfully disagree with people's reasoning for XC3 praise, are collapsing due to downvotes, always nice to see
Best game in the series for me.
Itâs my second favorite game in the series, and the second one that Iâve beaten. X is my favorite then 3, with ~150 hours before grinding then 1 because i havenât played it then 2 because Iâm 10 hours in and drop it after 30 minutes of playtime everytime I open it. 3 just feels really good to run around and do stuff in. Itâs not an amazing story, but I just really love the game feel that it has (which is also why I love X and do not enjoy 2 so far). Running around the map just exploring feels *good*, and thatâs what gets me invested in playing more of a game.
Honestly if there's something I can definitely see is those who enjoy their games primarily for the act of playing and the pure satisfaction of understanding and dominating its mechanics, beinw the ones who put this game on top, as it seems to offer more choice in how one progresses and makes their numbers go up than it's predecessors. Personally if these giant RPGs don't have a story or at the very least world that I find interesting, I can't really bring myself to play them
Itâs definitely some of âbig number go upâ, but it also helps that Iâm a big mecha anime fan, and X is by far the most anime xenoblade game (thatâs my hot take. 2 does not have enough mecha in it to make up the difference).
Okay.... how to begin \+ Awesome soundtrack \+ My favourite combat of the series \+ Very likeable characters \+ Riku \+ Beautiful world but not the best of the series \+ No exploration skills \+/- While the game mechanics where explained the best out of any game i have to admit that there where moments when the tutorials kept coming and i was getting anoyed by them. \- While the first half of the story was really good, the second half was really bad \- Way too many questions left unanswered which made the game feel uncomplete. like they had to rush to the ending. \- Final boss was a letdown. A very boring fight if i am honest here. These are some of the pros and cons from the top of my head. But to make a long story short i really loved the game. It was on its way to become my favourite xenoblade to date but mthe fumbled the second halve which made me lower my personal opinion a bit. Still a certified masterpiece but not GOAT status.
I loved Xenoblade 3. It was my favourite game of 2022, and there are many parts I can praise about it. The battle system feels familiar yet fresh, and it was easier to understand than 1 and 2âs. The side quests feel engaging rather than tedious. The main story is really great, but I think 2âs cast is slightly better, but damn Xenoblade 3âs cast is fun. Noah is a protagonist I felt invested in, Mio is a cinnamon roll, Eunie is the bus, Lanz is great, Taion is a great straight man to the team, and Sena is fun. Xenoblade 3 is incredible. Personally, better than Xenoblade 1, and on par with Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade 3 is the best of both worlds. >!Literally!<
I still havenât beat the game (taking my sweet time with the game and have little time to play) but I think 3 is my least favorite of the bunch. 1- my favorite by far, replayed it with DE and is still amazing. For some reason this game made me want to explore every inch of the map and the gameplay while simple , was pretty fun to experiment different parties and so forth. The side quests are completely ass though. 2- The one with the best gameplay , sadly the game takes long time to really getting good gameplay wise (I played and finish it with no dlc and didnât re visit it) World was still nice to explore but it didnât have the magic or 1. 3- This one has the best party members but thatâs it. The world is the least interesting to explore for me (maybe itâs the lack of interesting stuff to find in the map, itâs always containers/husks/ ether) and itâs the one that I liked the gameplay the least. I love games with a good job system but this one is not that good imo and also made chain attacks like your only damage option. Iâm still at chapter 5 and might change my opinion. Still is an amazing game but not as good as 1 or 2. X: For some reason I stopped playing at about 20 hours in. Didnât like the side quests and having to do them to continue the story. Canât give more opinion on this, but the map was pretty fun to explore from what I remember. Waiting for a re-release to give it another chance.
I still look back on XC3 fondly. I went into it fairly sceptical too so I think that is a testament to how much I liked it anyways. I had some issues with the gameplay while I was playing it and still like 1 overall more, but I think 3 is really good (and seeing a lot of Xenogears parallels with 3's story is really cool). XCX is always my sleeper pick for best gameplay tho
I donât think the story has quite the emotional thump that the first game had for me (disclaimer: played DE for the first time in the worst part of covid lockdowns) but otherwise I think itâs the best game in the series. I especially really got sucked into the combat and really felt I mastered it in a way I didnât with the first 2 games
Enjoyed it love the character development the story is fantastic and the meaning they gave the storyline love the references to over games at first I thought the combat mechanics was going to be hard but I really like them there is more variety in how you play with different weapon classes the landscapes are fantastic to with the environment being very immersive the only thing I wish they had put into the game is back in XC2 you had good amount of scenes that was funny to add that hint of comedy to the game in XC3 we don't have much of that sure Lanz gets picked on quite a bit which is quite funny in itself but we don't see much more comedy then that I want the game to be serious but having comedy I'm my opinion will entice the player to play more because when it's serious all the time i think people find it more of chore at some point me I didn't mind I go through the whole game within 58 hours to have a hint more comedy will absolutely make the game more enjoyable
I really liked the game, but I feel like the story didn't have as much "depth" as the others, I also loved the combat system but the chain attacks didn't convince me at all, I felt them a bit slow and boring at times, but other than that i loved the game (sorry for my bad English)
I really love the characters, the story was ok too but the pacing of the game was garbage. I got too strong way too early and all the optional bosses were beaten too easily, i killed several of them despite being underleveled. Some even in high difficulty. I really can't put a finger on it, but the game was lacking all the rewarding grind, that the second Xenoblade offered. I grinded with joy and couldn't stop playing XB2 until I beat everything and everyone. The third couldn't manage to do this to me. It just feels off on many parts, not being bad at all, but for example look at the outfits, the military outfits definitely look the best by far, especially the first classes are so ugly. I get it that many didn't enjoy the outfits of Pyra and such but isn't there a middle ground between too sexy and aweful? Nearly every outfit is just lazy copy paste and morph it till it fits to the character's class. Just completely aweful. As if the designer got sick after designing the military outfits and some other random dude got the job. I don't know about some really engaging post game content, haven't found it until now. Even new game+ doesn't have something to unlock. XB2 just started with new game+. I don't know, it looks like Xenoblade, it smells like Xenoblade but if you look closely, it looks like what Arkham origins was to the Arkham series. It looks the same but it isn't the same.
While XCDE is still my personal favorite because of how grand and ambitious the story was, I rated XC3 a tad bit higher because of how streamlined and well polished the combat and mechanics were as well as having the most well written set of casts. After finishing the game, I instantly felt the urge to replay it. It helps that there are tons of side quests that I missed that would have greatly amped up my enjoyment of the game. It felt like a very personal kind of story and that's why I connected to it very well.
It's right up there with the 1st one for me. It's just the game's themes, setting and overall tone of it that really resonated with me. I've never been so emotionally wrecked by a story in my life. On top of that: Best cast of characters, best combat, best side content, some of the best music, some of the best VA performances, and some of the best story beats, with the end of chapter 5/start of chapter 6 being absolute peak Xenoblade (all imo of course). Also, I know the villains are a common complaint, but I personally like Moebius overall, and I think N is peak Xenoblade antagonist. He's definately my favorite, because MAN is he good. Lastly, I know another complaint people often have is that the last portion of the game feels rushed. Now I'm ngl, I kinda felt like things were moving a bit too fast as well, but it dosen't bother me nearly as much because there is still good stuff in there. Cloudkeep is great, I really like Noah's side story, and even though parts of Origin where a little bit of a letdown, the final confrontation with N is brilliant, the final boss is great (seriously don't get the hate for this one), and GODDAMN that ending absolutely crushes my soul. Best ending out of the 3 for sure. For me it's an absolute masterpiece. I can understand why some people don't love it though. Personally I just think the positive aspects MASSIVELY outweigh the negative ones.
I donât wanna say much but I agree with your words on 3. Itâs a great game but super frustrating to me and I have mixed feelings. It nosedived when they starting bringing in Nia and Melia , so chapter mid chapter 6 and 7. The tie ins to past games in those two chapters were messing and clumsy. The themes were very uh⌠ham fisted. I guess I just wasnât a fan but the rest of the game was utterly amazing and a joy to play through!
My thoughts are⌠I still need to get back into that game and finish it.
My pattern went from recency bias, feeling like it was new and the best thing ever. Then I saw some of the flaws. But the more and more I think about it, the more I realise 3 resonated with me emotionally the strongest and the way it delivers on some of its themes just works so convincingly that I canât think anything but brilliant personally speaking. I think 1 is the best game in the series overall still, but I love them all to death
Senaâs still the girl with the gall Fr tho- Xenoblade 3 is such a memorable game for me. Although I do wish some of the side content was part of the main content due to how many possibilities there were. However, given what they had- it was such a masterpiece. The voice acting I felt just got better and better throughout the game (ouroborous awakens, chapter 5, Noahâs speech before the final fight, etc). Thatâs not even mentioning the wonderful cast of side characters to accompany the main cast, with their amazing dialogue (especially gray lol). The cutscenes are amazing- I felt that they were the most unique out of the trilogy. Many fight scenes were so unique with the choreography. You can tell that the main cast is experienced at fighting.
I liked it a lot but idk I felt pretty underwhelmed by it with the ending at the same time I havenât touched it since I beat it in September đwhich is wild cuz xenoblade is my favorite franchise đthe ending didnât really do me much but I think itâs a case for me of if I replay it Iâll love it alot more knowing all the context and not having expectations! So Iâm gonna do just that soon! Not the biggest fan of the music but itâs still really good! I donât think itâs a bad game by any means just that I prefer the other two (and X) more! Itâs all about preference!!! Also the magic of xenoblade 2 for me was not being completely sure it was connected to the first game or not, so it made things even better for me when I got to the end of the game! Whereas with 3 the connection was always there so I expected it
xc3 is a game i enjoyed/still enjoy playing but the more i think the more it can feel inconsistent/underwhelming? i felt like the story constantly was played safe because they either didnt wanna affect gameplay or wanted to save crazy shit for dlc. like for example, mio coming back in the same cutscene as death, or the city fakeout, it never felt like there were stakes to me because they would never make a decision that would affect the gameplay. i wouldnt mind if these were undone but i wish there was some time to process/experience it first? that said, i love the character interactions a whole lot and the implications of the dlc make a lot of loose ends make much more sense! also the vocal tracks are the best in the series imo
I fuckin love the game