Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Don't open the wardrobe!)

[Consignia]

I want to be clear when I'm talking about bad graphics, I'm talking about on a purely technical level. Like when the dynamic resolution drops and it becomes a blurry mess. I actually like the art and world design, as bland as it can come across. I am also being a bit unfair here too; it's clear they've done every technical trick in the book to get it running on the Switch, and it's really impressive that you can see things in distance and gradually move near almost seamless. And load times are graciously minimal.

[Consignia]

Good to read your thoughts, both @Kelvin and @oggyraiding. I think it generally chimes that the feeling it's generally OK. I don't regret my time with it all, BTW. I like getting my teeth into a long ass JRPG every now and then. But is it one for the ages? Probably not.

[oggyraiding]

Dunkey has done a fun video on XC3. I think he's generally not a JRPG fan, and XC3 is peak JRPG, so he didn't seem to like it very much.

[Kelvin]

I haven't watched the whole video yet as he's very liberal with spoilers, but Dunkey hates modern JRPG's and their stories/dialogue. He regularly cites Xenoblade 2 as an example of terrible dialogue in games. The title of this thread was actually a reference to his video for XC2:

I thought of that video often while playing XC3.

[Consignia]

Said I was done. But I'm going for the super bosses now. Already taken out two. Going to struggle with the level 100+ ones, so might give up, but still finding it fun to keep going.

[Consignia]

Fuck yeah! All other superbosses defeated! Seraphic Ceratinia, I'm coming for ya!

[Consignia]

Triple post werido, sorry but defeated the strongest boss in the game:



Just chuffed because I don't usually even touch optional bosses in games. Just found an optimal party set up that allowed me to power through. I know I can turn the difficultly/super boss level up, but I think I'll leave it at that.

And now, I'm done with the game :)

[Kelvin]

Good stuff, Consignia. I've also ended up doing far more side stuff than I intended to, even if I'm skipping any dialogue that isn't voiced.

[Thursday]

I'd put this down for a while and picked it back up, a couple of hours into chapter 6 after the main fights/revelas there

Spoiler alert

Sort of torn because I'm happy where things are currently but it took some horrendously long cut-scenes even for this game's standards to get there.  Also it really likes to do the thing of having you beat a big boss, but then suddenly they're invincible in cut-scenes.

Obviously the N/M twist was incredibly obvious could barely even call it a twist, but I did appreciate the M/Mio switching, that was good and well done, but then it just makes the hours leading up to that even more pointless because you could do all this in a fraction of the time and it would be even more impactful.

Oh and Shania was weird, no idea why she's acting self-righteous like she's the one that's been wronged. Absolutely no ground to stand on there. Reminded me of the bizarre turn in Persona 5 where they suddenly try to make Akechi sympathetic.

God bless the localizers of this game. I doubt I'd be carrying on if it wasn't for them.

[close]

[Consignia]

In regards to the weirdness within the spoiler; at least attempt the non-essential team member ascension quests (Noah and Mio's are part of the story and essential), as they tie up plot points the main story otherwise leave hanging. Most hero ascension quests are worth doing too, TBF. Not all are too good, though.

[Kelvin]

Holy Christ, there's nearly two hours of cutscenes after the prison break in chapter 5.

[Thursday]

At the start of chapter 6 too.

[Kelvin]

At the start of chapter 6 too.

That's the stretch I meant really. Everything from

Spoiler alert

facing off against M and N

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at the end of Chapter 5, through the scenes

Spoiler alert

with them trying to escape the cell, the execution, Noah's lost memories, and up to (and effectively including) the rematch with N, then the Queen in Chapter 6.

[close]

You barely control the characters for five minutes.

[brat-sampson]

I'm in chapter 5 now, and based on the area I've just arrived in, I might be here for a while. Looking forward to a movie after all the exploration! It's starting to fall into a jrpg trap that some do for me where, by being so large and so long, some of the background character threads just get totally lost because the real-world time between them coming up runs into literal weeks. For example, there was a recent scene with Mio feeling bad about someone from her past, but despite the fact I know I've watched her explain the context for these feelings for probably a good 10-20m before, that 10-20m spread over about 40+ hours of game time and across 2 months of real time... I'm still enjoying the game though and will keep plugging away at it. Levelling the different classes and going back for side quests is pretty engaging, and I find it satisfying to fully explore the maps despite it basically boiling down to running around clearing the map and tapping on chests and corpses.

One thing I think it really needs is some way to search for specific items. There are hundreds of types of crap to collect from the overworld, monsters etc, and missions, gems, meals etc, always need a random selection of them without giving any real guidance as to where they might be. I basically just check in on the gems menu every couple of hours, make what I can then move on.

Final nitpick: on the

Spoiler alert

soul link

[close]

levelling screen, is it just me or is it impossible to tell between Available / Purchased skills? It's an instance of bad graphical design that stands out because most of the game is so much better, and because it's been shown clearly in literally thousands of other games. Like, how do you fuck up a skill tree?

[Timothy]

Bought the game a few weeks ago. t's still in seal because I wanted to finished AI Somnium Nirvana first (great). But after reading the comments here and elsewhere I'm contemplating just returning it and buying it for less money at a later date.

I enjoyed the first one, disliked the second one. What would you advise me to do?

[Kelvin]

Bought the game a few weeks ago. t's still in seal because I wanted to finished AI Somnium Nirvana first (great). But after reading the comments here and elsewhere I'm contemplating just returning it and buying it for less money at a later date.

I enjoyed the first one, disliked the second one. What would you advise me to do?

Its definitely my least favourite in the series. They've refined some of the UI, grinding has been completely removed, side-quests are better, its a more streamlined experience than the others.

Unfortunately, the combat is a lot more boring now; overly-complicated in certain ways, but much easier to rely on the same moves and techniques over and over.

My biggest problem is the story. The games have always had terrible dialogue, but this is the first game in the series where I've been bored by the plot for long stretches, and even now, half way through the last chapter, I remain unimpressed by most of the bigger revelations.

Ultimately, it's not a game I'd really recommend unless you were already a fan of the series or had found something to enjoy about the previous games. It's not a bad game by any stretch, it still has a goofy charm, but it's not gripped me by the throat like the earlier games did.     

[Timothy]

Thanks for the reply! Going to return it later today.

[Thursday]

I finally finished this after being paused on chapter 7 for months lol...

Spoiler alert

I really like the main protagonists, the localization and dialogue, but the story just wasn't very compelling, I'm sure if I'd played the other games, the additional context would have helped a bit, but not by much.

I think the main problem is the antagonists, and what  it is you're fighting against.

There's some interestingly similar themes to the new ending content in Persona 5 Royal not to go into that here (I guess all JRPG's are about a group of kids finding the resolve to determine their own destiny) but I find it works so much better there because it's rooted in a coherent world with understandable motivations.

Whereas Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as I understand it is... some guys called Moebius have made it so the world is an endless cycle of child soldiers fighting a pointless war, where they'll live for 10 years before dying and getting recycled but they'll have no memory of their past lives when this happens. Because of "Flame Clocks" this means Moebius get to live forever and lord it over everyone with their powers and laugh at everyone else from a big cinema. They get very angry and confused when some of these child soldiers find out the truth of this and decide that they'd much rather have a normal world and life. Even at the very end Z is like "Why? Why are you trying to stop this?! What if the alternative is bad?!

And they play this off as "Ahhh but we're all afraid of losing someone! We don't want to die, wouldn't you do the same?!" And it's just like well no... not at all, even being a Moebius isn't a very appealing prospect really. They keep trying to make this conflict with Joran and Shania for instance but it just doesn't work at all.

[close]

[Kelvin]

I also dropped the game near the end, half way through the final chapter in fact. I think you've nailed the problem in your post, Thursday; the villains aren't threatening, seem positively idiotic, and lack any compelling motivation or philosophy. The main characters are all perfectly likeable, but the plot, pacing, and (lack of) threat just suck all the energy out of everything.

I know I'll finish it this year, probably after I complete the Splatoon 3 story. But it's not a particularly appealing prospect; I just want to get it finished, which is a desperately sad state of affairs after enjoying the other entries so much.

[Consignia]

Although I enjoyed the game, I can totally get the dissatisfaction with it, especially the story. It doesn't help that there's 26 generic villians and most of them don't have any character and of those you don't

Spoiler alert

even get to see their faces

[close]

.

I'm leaning towards getting the DLC, because I did enjoy the game mechanically, so a bit more time I think I'd enjoy. But I'm not on edge for more narrative exploration of the world.

[oggyraiding]

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1648494201750061058

XC3 story DLC out next week. If it's anything like the XC2 story DLC, should be at least 20 hours of content.

[Thursday]

Just link me to the supercut of all the funny things Eunie says in the new DLC and that's all I'll need.

[Kelvin]

I was extremely disappointed by 3, my least favourite in the series by far. But I'll probably *checks notes* watch the new cutscenes on Youtube.

[oggyraiding]

The footage of the battles has put me off - 5 million different HUD elements clogging the screen. This is the same for all the XC games, but after a break from them I realise how overly complex and tedious their combat systems are.

[Consignia]

I'm still interested in the DLC.

[Consignia]

Playing the DLC right now. It's good fun, I forgot how I liked actually playing the game. And there's tons to explore and do here. In fact, I'm trying to stray from the critical path as much as possible. Story's utter fanwank though. Xenoblade babies, they make our dreams come true.

The footage of the battles has put me off - 5 million different HUD elements clogging the screen. This is the same for all the XC games, but after a break from them I realise how overly complex and tedious their combat systems are.

I actually disagree with this. There's way too many tutorials and statuses and what not. But when you really get a perfect setup, the combat can flow really well. I forgot how chain linked worked since playing the original, but re-discovering it and making it work here, I can easily pick fights above my weight.

[Consignia]

Ok. Finished this now.

The promise of Xenoblade 3 tying up all the series story together wasn't really fulfilled in the main game. But it has been in the DLC scenario. I still stand by it's largely fan wank, but it comes through a bit in places. The last act is more climactic than the main game at least.

Gameplay, I think this is XC3 refined and concentrated. By reducing the huge number of classes and customisation, it gets the core of the experience quicker. It also puts far greater emphasis on exploration of the world, with some side improvements to help smooth it. I just found it was a joy to spend more time in the side quests, just like the main game.

I've been tempted to 100% it, but the slog of grinding for the superbosses doesn't spark joy (I'm level 61 now, and most of the bosses are around 80-90). You could probably get through this in ~7-8 hours but I hit 26 by the end of the game.

I liked the main game, frustations and all, but this was definitely a worthy addition.

[Kelvin]

I'm kind of irrationally annoyed that the DLC is focussed on tying up the three games, as that's what I really wanted out of 3 - and that game became such a chore that I really can't get excited about playing through the DLC now.

[Kelvin]

How long is the DLC, would you say, Consignia? Are we talking 10-20 hours, or another 50?

I'd probably just mainline the story and not bother with the side quests this time.

[Consignia]

You can easily clear it in between 8-10 hours. Perhaps quicker. It's got none of the bullshit gating than XC2 dlc had.