‘Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review: A Unmissable, Emotional Adventure
I love a good JRPG. I have always been fascinated by their fantastic stories, quirky characters, and stunning worlds. , the first Xenoblade Chronicles title, is my favorite. It has been a favorite game for me since the beginning, and I still love it. So Xenoblade Chronicles3 was my goal. It exceeded all my expectations, and I am beyond thrilled.
Monolith Soft’s most recent takes us to Aionios. This land is divided by constant war between the two nations, Agnus and Knives. Each human is born as an adult soldier, with a 10-year lifespan. To survive, every human must take the lives of their enemies to replenish their colony’s Flame Clock. Cheery!
My preview explains that our main cast is the same – Noah (from Knives), Lanz and Eunie (from Knives), and Mio (from Agnus) meet as warring soldiers determined to take out each other. The trio is forced to join forces when faced with a greater threat. They accidentally discover the power and potential of Ouroboros, which is basically, fusion. They unite to end the greater threat and make the world a better place before their limited lives run out.
Although I have to apologize for being so vague, I promise it is the best. Without spoilers, I can’t give the plot justice in this review. You’ll be able to enjoy the story of the game’s other stories.
However, I cannot reveal much about the story’s execution. As fans might guess, it is complex, emotional, and, frankly, quite convoluted. Although this is not a new series, it is something I struggled with. There were times when some confusing dialogue made me wonder if I had missed a cutscene. I had to go back to the Events Theatre several times to review some of the cuts to ensure I didn’t miss any.
Similar to the previous point, I must admit that I was not able to fully explore a few plot points as the credits ended. These loose ends don’t affect the experience. However, I can’t imagine how they would have been too difficult to tie up. After all, you already put so much time into the game. Keep in mind that a DLC expansion for the game is planned, so these may be revisited with that – Xenoblade Chronicles2’s expansion, Turna -The Golden Country was great, so we can expect great results for it.
Although I have some minor issues with the story, overall it was a great time. I lost track of the number of times I cried, and I don’t mean just a few tears. While I realize that it isn’t the end-all and be-all of a great plot, this one will tug at your heartstrings just right.
It is also important to note that you don’t have to have played any of the previous games to fully understand the story in this game. These nods to other games are nice, but they almost serve more as fan service than anything ‘important. XC3 would you like XC3 better if you loved the other titles? Yeah, probably. If this installment interests you, but you don’t want to complete two very long JRPGs first (which you might), you can still have a great time. I would encourage you to start with this installment first, as it will introduce you to this amazing series.
Let’s now talk about combat. There’s a lot of it. The battle system in XC3 is streamlined and spiced up from previous games. This makes it feel faster and more rewarding than ever. It uses a real-time battle system, just like the previous entries. Your character and the AI-controlled party members will auto-attack any enemies within range. You can also choose from many Arts (moves) that have a variety of effects. These effects include healing, buffs, status effects, and more powerful attacks.
The most significant change in gameplay is simply the fact that there are six (or seven, depending on how you look at it) playable characters available on your screen at any given time. Although there were three Blade and Driver pairs in XC2 we felt this was a distinct experience. You can switch between them at will. The series’ AI-controlled party members are quite good at what they do (except XC1’s Melia), but XC3 allows you to take full control of everything if you wish. It’s fun to swap around your combat whenever you like.
