Having a complete, 6 part game series with an interconnected story is pretty cool, I gotta say. I wish I cared more about Xenoblade as a whole to appreciate it fully.
To me, Xenoblade 1 is kinda boring with a story that doesn't have much going on until the end, and even then, it's only so impressive. Xenoblade 2 would fare a lot better if it didn't feel busted in so many ways. And then there's 3 which feels like a whole league of its own with how its story and writing works. So when this DLC is meant to the tying together of everything, I can only care so much. I can appreciate to a degree how these characters have progressed and the special moments they have, but it isn't like I'm now seeing the conclusion of this character that I've liked for years now. I can mostly just like it from how it relates to the larger series or 3, not for the sake of Xenoblade 1 or 2. That said, the story is fine, it's a nice thematic and story point to place before 3.
With the gameplay of this, it's up there as what I've liked the best in the whole series. Having a system that makes every bit of combat, exploration, collecting, and quests lead back into the same reward makes it feel encouraging to do just that much more. If you've already gotten 2/3 enemies, why not get that third and upgrade a skill for one of your party members? The party members themselves have also been cut down to being more of a regular RPG party without much customization. While this might be bad for some people that liked building teams and all, I only felt choice paralysis with 1 & 2's systems. I also feel like this was the first time all the systems present clicked with me and I used everything instead of just slamming whatever accessory or class or gem into whatever had the biggest stats.
Xenoblade 3 and FR together as one package is the best the series has ever been. As such, I'm going to be the fan who says that the Xenoblade Chronicles series was not good until 3.
To me, Xenoblade 1 is kinda boring with a story that doesn't have much going on until the end, and even then, it's only so impressive. Xenoblade 2 would fare a lot better if it didn't feel busted in so many ways. And then there's 3 which feels like a whole league of its own with how its story and writing works. So when this DLC is meant to the tying together of everything, I can only care so much. I can appreciate to a degree how these characters have progressed and the special moments they have, but it isn't like I'm now seeing the conclusion of this character that I've liked for years now. I can mostly just like it from how it relates to the larger series or 3, not for the sake of Xenoblade 1 or 2. That said, the story is fine, it's a nice thematic and story point to place before 3.
With the gameplay of this, it's up there as what I've liked the best in the whole series. Having a system that makes every bit of combat, exploration, collecting, and quests lead back into the same reward makes it feel encouraging to do just that much more. If you've already gotten 2/3 enemies, why not get that third and upgrade a skill for one of your party members? The party members themselves have also been cut down to being more of a regular RPG party without much customization. While this might be bad for some people that liked building teams and all, I only felt choice paralysis with 1 & 2's systems. I also feel like this was the first time all the systems present clicked with me and I used everything instead of just slamming whatever accessory or class or gem into whatever had the biggest stats.
Xenoblade 3 and FR together as one package is the best the series has ever been. As such, I'm going to be the fan who says that the Xenoblade Chronicles series was not good until 3.