Hype:
The Xeno series is one of my favorite series ever. I started with Blade 2 and played everything. This is the 1st time s entirely new game in the series came out for me and I couldn't possibly be more excited. The trailers gave me a lot of Gears vibes and the concept of worlds fusing is such a cool idea so I had high expectations from the start.
Gameplay / Combat:
The combat and gameplay are easily my favorite in the series. The new mechanics are fun and it fixes problems previous games had. No more needing to lure enemies to shore. You can just fight them in water! No more bad tutorials! Field skills aren't annoying anymore! It just feels amazing! I loved exploring the world and doing as many side quests as possible. The UI is effective and less cloged than before. Being able to teleport to monster tombstones is really good as take it easier to rematch them and gives incentive to beat them so you can get to places faster. Most of my complaints are minor like I think the chain attacks (which are amazing now BTW) should be a little less RNG (like heroes only have a chance of showing up). My biggest complaint is the lack of playable mecha like what Gears, Saga, and X have but I understand why it lacks this.
Story:
I had to describe this game I'd say: "Imagine if the worlds of 1 and 2 fused together to make a pseudo Gears remake with some Saga elements and borrowed ideas from Final Fantasy 10, NieR Replicant, and other games." 2 universes colliding with a plotline that people from each world need to kill each other is such a amazing unique concept that I love. The story gets right to the point quickly and I can't think of a single point where I became uninterest. That being said I think it failed to meet some of my expectations. Xenogears is my favorite story ever and the similarities made me kinda hope it'd be on the same level. I love how they did chapter 6 of this game. It's very similar although I think the way the twist happened in Gears was better and Blade 3 honestly overall feels like a very watered down Gears. That doesn't mean bad. It just means it's not my absolute fav story ever. Also as Blade 3 I expected it to expand upon 1 and 2 a lot. 2 added more that makes you look at parts of 1 in need ways. 3 doesn't really do that. It's story feels moreso self contained rather than really building off of and connecting to the other games as much as it could have. Not many past characters show up, new major twist that changes how you look at previous games, etc. Something Xeno is absolutely known for is plot twists and lore. Gears has insane lore, Saga is literally like 5 religions of lore stuffed together, and both Blade 1 and 2 have very interested lore dumps in the later parts of the story. It's just kinda weird that this title doesn't add much on top of what already existed and overall I think there's less "OMG WHAT!?" moments as the other games. There were a few moments that cought me completely off guard but it was fewer than the average Xeno game. Shock value doesn't necessarily mean better but it's definitely something to note. Something that makes a story good is not having loose ends. Blade 1 ends with basically no significant questions left unanswered. Blade 2's ending is a little more open ended but still almost everything is answered. Meanwhile 3 leaves multiple plot holes and has a bit too many coincidence that go unexplained which I can only hope get answered in DLC. There's quite a bit of ways it could've been better but again these don't mean I dislike it. In fact I loved this game's story deposited it's flaws. It's potentially my 3rd favorite Xeno story behind only Gears and Saga 3.
Characters (Main Party):
The party of this game was definitely amazing! Probably my 2nd fav only behind Saga's cast. Each character felt really important to the story. There was no one who felt "just there" like Sharla did. Even the least important still felt more important than half of Blade 1's party. I was worried Lanz would just be Reyn 2.0 and was worried about a few other characters too but they all stood out in their own way. Noah is my 2nd fav protag behind only Fei. Mio is basically a mix of Elly and Nia who are 2 of my fav characters. I'm not sure how I'd rank them tho. Taion is a lot better than the characters he's based on (HB and Akhos). I liked him a lot. Sena is my fav of them. I really liked how her story was about being the one in others shadows, being a loner who wanted to fit in, etc. The whole party felt realistic but her especially so to me. Riku and Manana are nice traveling companions. They're my favorite Nopon in the series this far.
Characters (Villains):
I'm mixed on the villains. In concept the Consuls are very similar to Saga's Testaments which are super cool but they aren't as intimidating. The side quest consuls are mostly mid but at least I remember they exist I guess. I remember Consul U quite well actually. For main story D was interesting to a extent but it took too long for his story to be explained and I think there could've been more to him. D looked a lot like Grahf so I was expecting him to be similar but he kinda turned out to be Mumkhar which is still a fine villain but not as much. I really like J and N. N turned out to be the Grahf I was looking for. I think he's not as good as Grahf but again that doesn't mean bad. Still a wonderful villain. J was really unique and I actually did not expect his ch 3 plot twist until soon before it happened so that was nice. Z is interesting in concept although his personality was boring and he didn't actually do much besides watch from the shadows for most of the story. Main villains like Albedo and Malos with interesting personalities and take action a lot throughout the story are much more interesting. X, Y, and other consuls honestly didn't need to exist and don't add much to the game besides being filler villains. There is 1 non consul villain in ch 6 and side quests that I won't name because spoilers but I did really like their perspective. Their writing felt 'real'.
Characters (Heroes / Classes):
The heroes are amazing. They're
each very unique and add so much to the game's world building and gameplay. Their side quests are some of the best in the series and most of the classes are really fun to use. My fav heroes in terms of story was probably Ethel, the Nopon, Isurd, Juniper (based nonbinary representation), and of course the post game heroes which I will not name here. Some heroes have really broken arts and chain attack abilities which are really fun to mess around with such as Fiona giving U a extra chain order.
World:
The map is HUGE and filled with references to locations from 1 and 2. I loved exploring it a lot. Seeing a certain area inside Uraya even made me open up 2 again to compare it. I could see arguments for X's world being better but Aionios is my fav. My favorite area is the Maktha Woods. Mixing the land of Morytha with Makna Forest is a insane idea and I love it. In general seeing previous game locations thrown in so casually is just really cool. I haven't felt this way since finding older Zelda game locations in BOTW. One thing about the map that I think could be better is the colonies don't look as appealing as towns from previous games but that's not a big deal for me. A slightly bigger complaint is I feel a few areas could've been more interesting but weren't really. Specifically I think Mechonis Sword and Agnus Castle should've been larger (in terms of explorable area) and also I feel the snow area is the weakest in mainline Xenoblade. It's really small and honestly I don't even really get either Valak or Tantal vibes from it. Was kind shopping for a super janky ice slide TBH. Still tho the map is amazing. One of my favs in any video game.
Blade 3 VS Gears:
As stated already I think Gears has a much better story, execution, and villains but Blade 3 definitely has much better gameplay and the unique takes on Gears's ideas were nice to see. I'd consider Blade 3 a better game despite thinking Gears's story is much better. If you're a fan of either you'd probably love the other because of their similarities.
Blade 3 VS Saga:
Saga by far has the most complex lore and I think the characters are better. I love turn based combat and I think Saga 3 is one of the best in that regard although I would probably replayed Blade 3 more because I love Blade combat as well and this game in particular is fire (plus a Switch game will obviously have way more QoL than a PS2 game). Saga 3 and Blade 3 are each amazing conclusions to their trilogies. It's hard to say which I think is a better conclusion. Blade 3 is definitely much better than Saga 1 and 2.
Blade 3 VS Blade 1:
I struggle to find much I like about 1 more than 3. I'd say 1's world concept is more interesting (the entire game takes place on 2 massive humanoid titans) but I love 3's gameplay, characters, story, and emotional impact a LOT more. I found 1's gameplay to be my least fav even behind the PS1 and PS2 games. Half it's cast does nothing in the party which holds 1 back a lot. 3 fixes all those things. That being said I think it'd be better to play 1 1st because they're connected. This is another example of if you like either you'd like the other.
Blade 3 VS Blade X:
X has a amazing world and was the 1st game in the series to have a class system. Although they're not connected: it is clear that they took ideas from X. I personally enjoyed exploring in 3 more because the world includes locations from previous games but I can definitely see a argument for X's world being better. Story and character wise X is the least interesting to me so 3 is definitely better for my tastes but if the exploration aspect is what you're looking for then these are both peak.
Blade 3 VS Blade 2:
2 is a game close to my heart because it's what got me into the series and Nia is one of my favorite games ever. 2 does do a few things better like I like the idea of the world mostly being giant animals and more skill based chain attacks. That being said it's undeniable that this game has better tutorials and fixes other things that were complained about in 2. 3 also gets to the point of it's story much much faster. From a game design standpoint I would definitely consider 3 better. For personal reasons I think I prefer 2 tho (it helped me more emotionally). Similar to 1: I would definitely recommend playing 2 before 3 since they're connected and things will hit different when playing them all in order.
Conclusion:
This is yet another Monolithsoft master piece. It's not perfect: there are things other games do better but there are also things it's the best at not only in the series but in the genre as a whole. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I've been so excited and had so much incredible fun playing through this. I was gasping, happy crying, and just having the best of times playing this. It's definitely in the top 4 in the series for me (which I'm still unsure how I'd rank because I love Gears, Saga 3, Blade 2, and this for all entirely different reasons). I would highly recommend this game (and series)! Even my least fav in the series is good to me and the best are the best! You absolutely will not be disappointed if you like RPGs. This game is amazing standalone and the more of the previous games you play: the more you'll love and appreciate it.
DLC Wave 1:
Nopon coins and color alt costumes is a decent day 1 DLC. It's nothing I really care about but this wave is moreso a "thanks for buying in advance" wave rather than the main course so it's fine.
Update After 1 Month:
I feel this didn't quite leave a long lasting emotional impact on me like a few past games did. I still love it but it's hard to say I do to the same extent as the others. I already stopped actively playing the game. I hope DLC answers some important plot holes and adds enough to get me invested again.
My review of the special edition:
https://www.backloggd.com/games/xenoblade-chronicles-3-special-edition/
I reviewed the DLC separately as well.
The Xeno series is one of my favorite series ever. I started with Blade 2 and played everything. This is the 1st time s entirely new game in the series came out for me and I couldn't possibly be more excited. The trailers gave me a lot of Gears vibes and the concept of worlds fusing is such a cool idea so I had high expectations from the start.
Gameplay / Combat:
The combat and gameplay are easily my favorite in the series. The new mechanics are fun and it fixes problems previous games had. No more needing to lure enemies to shore. You can just fight them in water! No more bad tutorials! Field skills aren't annoying anymore! It just feels amazing! I loved exploring the world and doing as many side quests as possible. The UI is effective and less cloged than before. Being able to teleport to monster tombstones is really good as take it easier to rematch them and gives incentive to beat them so you can get to places faster. Most of my complaints are minor like I think the chain attacks (which are amazing now BTW) should be a little less RNG (like heroes only have a chance of showing up). My biggest complaint is the lack of playable mecha like what Gears, Saga, and X have but I understand why it lacks this.
Story:
I had to describe this game I'd say: "Imagine if the worlds of 1 and 2 fused together to make a pseudo Gears remake with some Saga elements and borrowed ideas from Final Fantasy 10, NieR Replicant, and other games." 2 universes colliding with a plotline that people from each world need to kill each other is such a amazing unique concept that I love. The story gets right to the point quickly and I can't think of a single point where I became uninterest. That being said I think it failed to meet some of my expectations. Xenogears is my favorite story ever and the similarities made me kinda hope it'd be on the same level. I love how they did chapter 6 of this game. It's very similar although I think the way the twist happened in Gears was better and Blade 3 honestly overall feels like a very watered down Gears. That doesn't mean bad. It just means it's not my absolute fav story ever. Also as Blade 3 I expected it to expand upon 1 and 2 a lot. 2 added more that makes you look at parts of 1 in need ways. 3 doesn't really do that. It's story feels moreso self contained rather than really building off of and connecting to the other games as much as it could have. Not many past characters show up, new major twist that changes how you look at previous games, etc. Something Xeno is absolutely known for is plot twists and lore. Gears has insane lore, Saga is literally like 5 religions of lore stuffed together, and both Blade 1 and 2 have very interested lore dumps in the later parts of the story. It's just kinda weird that this title doesn't add much on top of what already existed and overall I think there's less "OMG WHAT!?" moments as the other games. There were a few moments that cought me completely off guard but it was fewer than the average Xeno game. Shock value doesn't necessarily mean better but it's definitely something to note. Something that makes a story good is not having loose ends. Blade 1 ends with basically no significant questions left unanswered. Blade 2's ending is a little more open ended but still almost everything is answered. Meanwhile 3 leaves multiple plot holes and has a bit too many coincidence that go unexplained which I can only hope get answered in DLC. There's quite a bit of ways it could've been better but again these don't mean I dislike it. In fact I loved this game's story deposited it's flaws. It's potentially my 3rd favorite Xeno story behind only Gears and Saga 3.
Characters (Main Party):
The party of this game was definitely amazing! Probably my 2nd fav only behind Saga's cast. Each character felt really important to the story. There was no one who felt "just there" like Sharla did. Even the least important still felt more important than half of Blade 1's party. I was worried Lanz would just be Reyn 2.0 and was worried about a few other characters too but they all stood out in their own way. Noah is my 2nd fav protag behind only Fei. Mio is basically a mix of Elly and Nia who are 2 of my fav characters. I'm not sure how I'd rank them tho. Taion is a lot better than the characters he's based on (HB and Akhos). I liked him a lot. Sena is my fav of them. I really liked how her story was about being the one in others shadows, being a loner who wanted to fit in, etc. The whole party felt realistic but her especially so to me. Riku and Manana are nice traveling companions. They're my favorite Nopon in the series this far.
Characters (Villains):
I'm mixed on the villains. In concept the Consuls are very similar to Saga's Testaments which are super cool but they aren't as intimidating. The side quest consuls are mostly mid but at least I remember they exist I guess. I remember Consul U quite well actually. For main story D was interesting to a extent but it took too long for his story to be explained and I think there could've been more to him. D looked a lot like Grahf so I was expecting him to be similar but he kinda turned out to be Mumkhar which is still a fine villain but not as much. I really like J and N. N turned out to be the Grahf I was looking for. I think he's not as good as Grahf but again that doesn't mean bad. Still a wonderful villain. J was really unique and I actually did not expect his ch 3 plot twist until soon before it happened so that was nice. Z is interesting in concept although his personality was boring and he didn't actually do much besides watch from the shadows for most of the story. Main villains like Albedo and Malos with interesting personalities and take action a lot throughout the story are much more interesting. X, Y, and other consuls honestly didn't need to exist and don't add much to the game besides being filler villains. There is 1 non consul villain in ch 6 and side quests that I won't name because spoilers but I did really like their perspective. Their writing felt 'real'.
Characters (Heroes / Classes):
The heroes are amazing. They're
each very unique and add so much to the game's world building and gameplay. Their side quests are some of the best in the series and most of the classes are really fun to use. My fav heroes in terms of story was probably Ethel, the Nopon, Isurd, Juniper (based nonbinary representation), and of course the post game heroes which I will not name here. Some heroes have really broken arts and chain attack abilities which are really fun to mess around with such as Fiona giving U a extra chain order.
World:
The map is HUGE and filled with references to locations from 1 and 2. I loved exploring it a lot. Seeing a certain area inside Uraya even made me open up 2 again to compare it. I could see arguments for X's world being better but Aionios is my fav. My favorite area is the Maktha Woods. Mixing the land of Morytha with Makna Forest is a insane idea and I love it. In general seeing previous game locations thrown in so casually is just really cool. I haven't felt this way since finding older Zelda game locations in BOTW. One thing about the map that I think could be better is the colonies don't look as appealing as towns from previous games but that's not a big deal for me. A slightly bigger complaint is I feel a few areas could've been more interesting but weren't really. Specifically I think Mechonis Sword and Agnus Castle should've been larger (in terms of explorable area) and also I feel the snow area is the weakest in mainline Xenoblade. It's really small and honestly I don't even really get either Valak or Tantal vibes from it. Was kind shopping for a super janky ice slide TBH. Still tho the map is amazing. One of my favs in any video game.
Blade 3 VS Gears:
As stated already I think Gears has a much better story, execution, and villains but Blade 3 definitely has much better gameplay and the unique takes on Gears's ideas were nice to see. I'd consider Blade 3 a better game despite thinking Gears's story is much better. If you're a fan of either you'd probably love the other because of their similarities.
Blade 3 VS Saga:
Saga by far has the most complex lore and I think the characters are better. I love turn based combat and I think Saga 3 is one of the best in that regard although I would probably replayed Blade 3 more because I love Blade combat as well and this game in particular is fire (plus a Switch game will obviously have way more QoL than a PS2 game). Saga 3 and Blade 3 are each amazing conclusions to their trilogies. It's hard to say which I think is a better conclusion. Blade 3 is definitely much better than Saga 1 and 2.
Blade 3 VS Blade 1:
I struggle to find much I like about 1 more than 3. I'd say 1's world concept is more interesting (the entire game takes place on 2 massive humanoid titans) but I love 3's gameplay, characters, story, and emotional impact a LOT more. I found 1's gameplay to be my least fav even behind the PS1 and PS2 games. Half it's cast does nothing in the party which holds 1 back a lot. 3 fixes all those things. That being said I think it'd be better to play 1 1st because they're connected. This is another example of if you like either you'd like the other.
Blade 3 VS Blade X:
X has a amazing world and was the 1st game in the series to have a class system. Although they're not connected: it is clear that they took ideas from X. I personally enjoyed exploring in 3 more because the world includes locations from previous games but I can definitely see a argument for X's world being better. Story and character wise X is the least interesting to me so 3 is definitely better for my tastes but if the exploration aspect is what you're looking for then these are both peak.
Blade 3 VS Blade 2:
2 is a game close to my heart because it's what got me into the series and Nia is one of my favorite games ever. 2 does do a few things better like I like the idea of the world mostly being giant animals and more skill based chain attacks. That being said it's undeniable that this game has better tutorials and fixes other things that were complained about in 2. 3 also gets to the point of it's story much much faster. From a game design standpoint I would definitely consider 3 better. For personal reasons I think I prefer 2 tho (it helped me more emotionally). Similar to 1: I would definitely recommend playing 2 before 3 since they're connected and things will hit different when playing them all in order.
Conclusion:
This is yet another Monolithsoft master piece. It's not perfect: there are things other games do better but there are also things it's the best at not only in the series but in the genre as a whole. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I've been so excited and had so much incredible fun playing through this. I was gasping, happy crying, and just having the best of times playing this. It's definitely in the top 4 in the series for me (which I'm still unsure how I'd rank because I love Gears, Saga 3, Blade 2, and this for all entirely different reasons). I would highly recommend this game (and series)! Even my least fav in the series is good to me and the best are the best! You absolutely will not be disappointed if you like RPGs. This game is amazing standalone and the more of the previous games you play: the more you'll love and appreciate it.
DLC Wave 1:
Nopon coins and color alt costumes is a decent day 1 DLC. It's nothing I really care about but this wave is moreso a "thanks for buying in advance" wave rather than the main course so it's fine.
Update After 1 Month:
I feel this didn't quite leave a long lasting emotional impact on me like a few past games did. I still love it but it's hard to say I do to the same extent as the others. I already stopped actively playing the game. I hope DLC answers some important plot holes and adds enough to get me invested again.
My review of the special edition:
https://www.backloggd.com/games/xenoblade-chronicles-3-special-edition/
I reviewed the DLC separately as well.