Anime Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)

[Talby]

Noah feels like a Shulk clone, but Shulk had quirks that made him likeable and interesting, Noah is just a boring wet blanket.

 

[Jenkem]

>I'M GOING TO KILL YOU
>YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO THE EMPEROR AND FIORA
>D-DUNBAN, NO, DON'T KILL THE GUY FOR WHOM WE HAVE BEEN SEEKING REVENGE THIS WHOLE JOURNEY, THE ONE WHO KILLED THE EMPEROR AND FIORA, YOUR SISTER, AND BETRAYED THE ENTIRE COLONY BECAUSE HE'S... LE HOMS!!!!

shulk is cringe

rex chads won.

 

[RunningWolf]

Noah feels like a Shulk clone, but Shulk had quirks that made him likeable and interesting, Noah is just a boring wet blanket.

Shulk was interesting right until he actually found the things he swore revenge against. Immediately after that he degenerated into generic shonen "friendship is power" faggot.

Nobody would read The Count of Monte Cristo 150 years later if he cucked out instead of enacting cathartic revenge. Imo Shulk should've went full: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for Bionis children". And later when he found his robowife had an existential crisis over his hatered for mechons for killing countless people and his desire to believe that his robowife is still a person he once knew.
Instead we got generic shonen faggot who doesn't have any growth or cares about anything except "lets all be friends te-he". And worst of all story props up his retardation by making Mechon be no different to humans in literally ANYTHING.

Hated this fucking shit.

 

[Talby]

Rex is an annoying faggot and one of the worst JRPG protagonists of any game I've played. Xeno2 babies stay coping.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

I know Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had a lot of tutorials. But Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has so many fucking tutorials that force you to do a specific thing. Just leave me the fuck alone, I will go read about it in to tips section of the menu if I need to. Even XBC1 didn't dump so many tutorials on you. Where X went the opposite, a tutorial here and there. But on Wii U it had a really nice built in manual which was very detailed. XBC 3 should just fuck off a let me play. But I guess this is the consequences of having to cater to people that don't play games.

 

[Abu Antar]

Many tutorials is par for the course when it comes to Nintendo games. The series got famous (for a JRPG), which means it gets adapted for the masses. Nintendo assumes that the masses are retarded.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Only just started ep.3 but 2's opening was much better.

the cutscenes are boring and go on way too long compared to every other game in the series it's ridiculous and I already get the sense that they are now going to have to extend them even further so that each cast member gets to say something regardless of how useless it is. everything feels soulless.

So far I have to agree with this, I can enjoy corny with a dash of cringe and laugh with it; This has been mostly cringe with a dash of corny and laughing at it.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Accessories only which is pretty standard for jrpgs in general.

In what fucking universe is this standard for jrpgs?

Octopath- nope
Ys Celceta- nope
Tales of Arise- nope
The Alliance Alive- nope
Legend of Heroes- nope x 13 !!!
Metal Max Xeno- nope
SaGa Frontier- nope
Tales of Vesperia- nope
Star Ocean 4- nope

And those are just the ones I have installed.

 

[somerandomdude]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to call it quits, assuming I'm about mid way through the game. I gave it a fair shot. The combat eventually started to get dull on me. It was cool for a bit once you got the robot and the chain attacks, but every engagement was basically the same strategy. Regular mobs died before you could even come close to filling the chain bar, or get the robot mode to level 2-3, for bosses it's the same thing, but use the robot then chain and it's over. The cutscenes are far too frequent, and lengthy, and mostly uninteresting so I ended up skipping most of them if I didn't find them interesting within the first 10 secs or so. If it even looked like some shit like an early childhood sob story, it was insta-skip.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

People who like the combat in these games, I am honestly confused. What exactly do you like about it? Please be specific.

XC1 was the worst, stand there and trade blows until one of you dies, spam the same moves over and over to win slightly faster. Only the earliest and last few bosses had any semblance of challenge at all, in a 100 hour game that is not acceptable. I didn't even finish most of the side quests and became crazy over leveled. Still one of only 2 JRPGs to put me to sleep, the other being FF12. Go figure. The damage boost on level differences was too overpowering, making all fights cake once you level past the curve. This happens right after the prologue and lasts all the way to endgame. Snore.

XCX was better in that they made the level difference modifier less overwhelming, added multiple classes and weapons, and of course the mechs, but it's still the same weaksauce MMO inspired coma-fest from the first. It doesn't even look cool, probably the most generic animations possible for a melee game. Even FF15 managed to make your dude look good while auto attacking for 100 hours.

Now I'm trying both XC2 and XC3 on emulator. I see they cleaned up some things from the first game and incorporated more weapon types and class builds from XCX. Good. But otherwise its still pretty much the same concept. Auto attack + same three moves over and over. Enemies just stand there while you wail on them, making no attempt to stop you from backstabbing or toppling them. Yet they feel HP spongy because most battles are you ganging up on a single monster.

It just seems to be the design of fields of fauna you hack through with little thought or care as to why, it all blends together and becomes a monotonous blur. It's fun in the sense it makes you stronger and lets you boost all these delicious XP and skill bars, but the actual mechanics of fighting are almost perfunctory.

(For the record my gold standard for JRPG combat was always Dragon's Dogma, now only holding a close second to FF7 remake. With it's chunky, satisfying game feel, varied move set, stiff challenge at all levels, solid enemy variety, ability to seamlessly control all party members, flexible materia system, and an unbelievable sound track, it's so much better than XC2/3 it feels like going from the NFL to flag football.)

 

[Talby]

Accessories only which is pretty standard for jrpgs in general.

In what fucking universe is this standard for jrpgs?

Octopath- nope
Ys Celceta- nope
Tales of Arise- nope
The Alliance Alive- nope
Legend of Heroes- nope x 13 !!!
Metal Max Xeno- nope
SaGa Frontier- nope
Tales of Vesperia- nope
Star Ocean 4- nope

And those are just the ones I have installed.

Not to mention the first two friggin' games in the series, Xeno 1 and X. X even went further with the Skells, which have tons of non-combat utility besides, but also full weapon, armor and frame customization, with sockets.

 

[somerandomdude]

People who like the combat in these games, I am honestly confused. What exactly do you like about it? Please be specific.

There's stuff like positioning and timing (choosing which attacks to land and when), then you have combos, like break => topple => daze, and you also have chain attacks and ouroboros forums (these 2 are used against bosses/unique mobs primarily). Many attacks get positioning bonuses, from the front/side/back, so you want to be working these positioning bonuses in, sometimes it's status effects, like side break, or simply extra damage or crit multiplier. Some attacks have iframes(evasion) through the entire animation of the move, so you can time that through a big AOE, and not get hit. You also got aggro management, like instead of unloading your max dps combos always, you might want to sand bag a little and wait on the daze to unload or you might pull aggro with a squishy DPS and get OHKO'd. Also, with chains, there's also knowing which attacks to use with which characters at a specified time. You ideally want to get that chain % up to at least 150% (whatever gets you Bravo!), so you can more effectively chain on the next round. And then there's the ouroboros chains, you might want to hold that chain off until you can get level 3, and then do some combos into the finisher, and then activate your chain for some ouroboros chains, which do a whole lot of damage. By the time a boss/unique is around 1/2 HP is usually the time when I've got level 3 ouroboros, switch, then unload, and then chain to finish for bonus exp (which can be a lot of exp). You sand bag a little and manage aggro, don't get too greedy, because most of the damage you do in a longer fight is gonna be with ouroboros and chains. I guess that's the best summary I can give about the combat. But that's more than can be said for most JRPG combat systems. The problem I got is with pretty much the entire rest of the game, but others might like the stuff I dislike about the game and also like the combat, and the game is for them, not me.

 

[SumDrunkGuy]

I did not buy a switch for animu gay crap.

 

[Talby]

Playing a bit further and the story is starting to pick up a bit more. I want to unlock new classes. Anyone know if the additional characters you recruit can be swapped out with your regular guys, or are the six main characters always in your party?

 

[Abu Antar]

Playing a bit further and the story is starting to pick up a bit more. I want to unlock new classes. Anyone know if the additional characters you recruit can be swapped out with your regular guys, or are the six main characters always in your party?

Six mains, swap the seventh character.

 

[Carpincho Pampeano]

I want to lick Sena's armpits after she works out. Aaaaaaaaaaaaahh.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

For the record my gold standard for JRPG combat was always Dragon's Dogma

 

[Talby]

Taion is the dumbest motherfucker. The game treats him like he's the brains of the team, but all he does is state the obvious, and seems to struggle to understand what's going on half the time.

 

[Nirvash]

Well, started xblade 1.

Ch 2 done, looking at the the memes i guessed this was some lolmoe thing like modern tales/dq, but is pretty dark.

I played xenogears ages ago, i see the dev did not lost it, very nice.

 

[Nelka]

Well, started xblade 1.

Ch 2 done, looking at the the memes i guessed this was some lolmoe thing like modern tales/dq, but is pretty dark.

I played xenogears ages ago, i see the dev did not lost it, very nice.

Memes are lie (but still funny)


Enjoy the ride

 

[Raghar]

As you clearly see, this stuff became even more weird.

 

[GreyViper]

I have been watching XC3 on the side and the dialogue sometimes makes no sense, its like they are spoutng essentially nothing. I hear words but they make no sense, its almost so bad its funny, but not quite.
Regarding the story, I honestly feel an old game like Grandia 2 had a better story and pacing than this game.
So far only thing going for it are cat girls, but that novelty is fading.

 

[Talby]

It reminds me of FF13 in how often the party stops to spout boring drivel while nothing happens. It doesn't help that the cast is generally unlikeable.

 

[rashiakas]

Yeah seems like XBC2 was a fluke and remains the only good game in the series.

 

[Ventidius]

Finally finished it. Some observations with (probably) spoilers:

-Should probably start with the worst part to get it out of the way: the story elements are definitely the weakest link, both in the sense of being the least interesting aspect of the experience and in comparison to XBCX and XBC2. I know what some people will say: XBCX had a bad story. But note that I'm not just referring to the main narrative, but also other things like the setting and the characters. I'll treat those three things (main arc, setting, characters) separately briefly, but suffice to say, I think Aionios is less interesting than Alrest and Mira, and that brings the game down quite a bit for me, because the settings were a big part of what made X and 2 engaging for me story-wise.

The thing with Aionios is, there is a quite a bit of interesting worldbuilding potential here, especially with the two factions and the particular rules and quirks of the world. The problem is, we get to see very little of the way the world actually works in normal circumstances since we spend the whole game trying to bring it down. Take the Flame Clocks for example. So this was one aspect of living in Aionios that made it different, and at the beginning you even seem to get a mechanic for it and everything. But guess what? Pretty much at the beginning of the game the main cast frees itself from the Clock and from then on just smash the Flame Clocks wherever they go. Something that had the potential to be interesting quickly becomes nothing but a target to be destroyed. This is emblematic of the wider problem of having the world as something primarily to be torn down rather than something to be fleshed out. The worst part of the issue is the way the the factional peculiarities of the two nations - each based on different systems (one focused on mechanical tech, the other on ether) - ultimately don't really get a chance to shine because the whole point of interacting with the colonies and their commanders is to free them from said nations. The ending is the cherry on top when it comes to undermining Aionios within the grand scheme of the Xenoblade universe. Those who have seen it know what I'm talking about.

That is not to say that it's a bad setting overall, and it has some interesting concepts going for it. It seems to be going in a more dystopian direction than 2 and X, and I don't really have a problem with that. In fact, that's one of the things that prevents the disconnect between the cast and the world from ruining the whole thing on this level, as it means that there are many components of the story that synergize with that. Probably the most obvious one would be Moebius. While none of the Moebius characters has the charisma of say, Jin or Malos, the organization itself and the associated aesthetic does a good job of embodying the perturbing and inhuman nature of the status quo. In particular, I liked the notion that the individuals that were picked to be part of it were those that actually wished to perpetuate the state of the world and that much of what drove their actions as Consuls was a plain desire to have fun at the expense of those still trapped. Considering that this game is giving off major Matrix vibes, making the Consuls the opposite of cold machines and their agents was a nice touch. They are by far the most interesting faction.

There are other things that I liked about the world and I do think it's best part about the game's story. Overall, however, it's a step down from something like Alrest with its explorable Titans amid a sea of clouds or Mira and the sense of discovery and organic worldbuilding that it had.

As for characters. I have to say the main cast is brought down by some rather weak dialogue that makes it hard to find their motivations convincing (despite the fact that this is served in a silver platter due to the dystopian-esque setting). They were clearly going for something more grounded than XBC2, and I would have been cool with that, had the execution been better. As it stands, the characters feel a bit bland at times. They do have their distinctive traits, and I don't think they have to be as over-the-top as those of 2 to be good at all, but I just feel that they don't really have that much going for them, ultimately. The two exceptions may well be Noah and Mio, as they do rise above their tepid start eventually (especially thanks to the N and M arcs, but also some other side plots). I should also note that, in terms of characters, the highlight ends up being not the main cast but the recruitable heroes, which are both numerous and varied. Not to mention a lot of them have plenty of associated quests that flesh them out. I liked most of those, with Triton, Cammuravi, and Ethel probably being the highlights if I had to pick just a few. Even some of the more one-note characters were frankly fun to drag around, as they had some good designs (better than those of the main cast, for some reason).

The main plot itself starts on the boring side, but gets better as the game progresses, especially from the end of Chapter 4 onward. Despite that, it is consistently plagued by bad dialogue, overlong and poorly paced cutscenes, and a somewhat lackluster main villain, among other things. I'd still say it's mostly an okay story, by videogame standards, but clearly weaker than that of 2.

-Unlike the story, the gameplay of XBC3 is very well-rounded and has very few points that are outright weak. There is some wasted potential here and some things could have been better, but overall, if you are a gameplay-focused player and can enjoy a good game despite the story, there is plenty to sink one's teeth into.

I'll start with the character and party building, as that is the best part of the game. The game grants you a six-member party plus a seventh slot for heroes. That in itself is massive incline as far as I'm concerned, as when it comes to RPGs, my view is that the bigger the party the better. But that's not all, unlike in XBCX you can also change the classes of each of your main party members. Each party member (minus the hero) is, in fact, fully customizable. The fact that this game has a big, fully customizable party is by itself a big draw for me, as party building is a big part of what RPGs are about as far as I'm concerned.

There are around 25 classes to choose from, all falling within the three classic archetypes, but also offering a lot of variety within those archetypes. Characters get to keep skills and Arts from unlocked and mastered classes which allows for a very rewarding and layered sense of progression, and the amount of versatility the system offers is quite impressive. There are technically no limits to what your characters can multiclass to, apart from how fast they can unlock it (which depends on their compatibility with that class), but I like that there are still some classes some characters are better at (thanks to their stat spread, if nothing else), since this makes the party feel less uniform and also rewards prioritizing which classes to rank up in. It's also worth mentioning that the support classes (especially the healers) have gotten some love in terms of making them more fun to play.

While this game has some of the best party-building of any jRPG that I have played (it's up there with XBCX), I do have a couple of nitpicks on that front. First, the way the classes are inherited and unlocked is kinda borked. The inheritors sometimes seem to make no sense gameplay-wise, probably because they are determined by the story. But sometimes even the compatibility seems wrong, like Lanz being slower to get Lost Vanguard (one of his best classes) than Noah. The fact that you unlock and rank up classes at a slower rate if you are overleveled is something I also have mixed feelings about. On the other hand, it's not a bad way of tuning things so that they don't become too easy, but on the other it seems a bit too punitive, especially since it seems to be rather easy to become overleveled, even if you don't use the extra levels (there are after all, a lot of unique and optional bosses to do, not to mention side content). I guess this is something I'll make my mind on in future plays.

Second, the accessory system means that we don't get classes like those of XBCX that had classes that used multiple weapons. Full Metal Jaguar is a lot of fun in this game, but I kinda miss the old FMJ from XBCX that allowed you to switch from dual pistols to dual swords. A FMJ in Xenoblade 3 still should have access to Arts from other classes to add some variety, but it's not quite the same. Don't get me wrong, in some ways it's still better than in X due to the improved combat mechanics (many of which came from 2), but when it comes to the fun of using a particular class, 3 sometimes feels more like a sidegrade than the upgrade it should be, in relation to X. On the plus side, you can now change your party members' classes, so that's a clear improvement over X. Then again, X had the better itemization and equipment system. X is definitely the main competitor to 3 on the character building front generally, and I expected this game to be similar but inferior to it in that regard when I came into it. However, I think now that they are both roughly similar in terms of charbuilding, 3 is a step forward in some ways and a step back in others. Personally, I'm a big fan of big party sizes and full customization, so I'm a bit partial to 3 when it comes to this aspect. That said, I do miss Samurai Gunner, and this game really needs X-style Assault Rifles. And no, the War Medic's weapon won't cut it.

-The combat is also a highlight of the game. I feel the system itself has a step back from 2 in terms of complexity thanks to the elimination of the elemental orb/burst mechanic, but it's great that they've kept the Art and auto-attack canceling mechanics. The combo system got reworked a bit and now you can choose, after toppling, whether to do a Smash combo (Launch and Smash) or a Burst combo (Daze and Burst). I kinda like this, as it gives you the choice between more damage and utility. As I said above, the fact that the support classes are more fun to play also helps, since the new system seems to have replaced the systemic complexity of 2 with party management during combat. You can switch freely between characters during combat, and when the game is at its hardest it feels very rewarding to switch around and take actions with different characters in a tactical way. I will say though, that the actual switching controls are kinda clunky. I'm not a big fan of radial menus, but even that would be an improvement to cycling through the characters the way you gotta do it now. I hope this gets addressed eventually (though I'm not too optimistic).

It's debatable whether the combat is better than 2's, as that one could reach quite a bit of complexity with its Blade setups and elemental orb system, but you could probably argue that the combat here is better than X's in most respects. The one exception may be the mech combat, as that was more spectacular back in X, though I will say that in 3 it at least feels better integrated with the normal combat, which can also be considered a point against it, I suppose, as most fights in 3 assume you are using Ouroboros after a certain point.

-I won't say too much about the exploration not because it isn't good, but because this post is already long enough, heh. I think the most important takeaway here is that this is probably the one gameplay area where I think 3 is noticeably worse than 2 and X. 2 could cause some frustration due to the way field skills were handled, but I feel that its areas were more involved in terms of design, with more interesting nooks and crannies, optional paths and whatnot. X, meanwhile, had pretty much the best exploration of these three, and I don't really think 3 touches it here. Ultimately though, the areas are fine, just not up to par with previous games. There is plenty of biome variety, from a sunny archipelago to snowy mountains to a desert to ruined settlements reclaimed by the forest. And the areas are dotted with plenty of interesting optional encounters (some very hard) along with that rewards that are worthwhile to your progression.

-The music is definitely a high point of the game. Lots of different bangers for diverse combat situations and some atmospheric tracks during exploration.

There has been a lot of hype surrounding this game and a lot of people have been proclaiming it the best in the series. I don't think this game stands head and shoulders above 2 and X at all. All of these games have their pros and their cons. It's interesting how the games in this series can be so different from each other to almost feel incommensurable while at the same time having obvious throughlines uniting them. I'd say all of them are at about a similar level of quality, it just depends on which aspect the player enjoys most. As a fan of RPGs that emphasize large fully-customizable parties, multiclassing systems and combat with greater emphasis on role-synergies, I can't help but to have a soft spot for XBC3, even if I wouldn't go as far as calling it the best. Regardless of where one ranks this game in its series though, it's definitely a great JRPG.