A game about finding your place in the world. Many characters in this struggle with the reason they exist and seeing them develop over the course of the game and finding their reasons is very beautiful. One character in particular I feel I relate to a lot and seeing them go from hating themself to loving themself is most definitely one of my favorite video game moments ever. I feel this game has definitely changed my life in ways no other game really has. It's not a perfect game but any problems it has gets vastly overshadowed by the feelings it's made me have.

90% of this game shares similar pros and cons to the first part of the Remake trilogy. The story is extremely dragged out via a much larger map, an entire chapter of filler, and unnecessary changes. For what it's worth though they did make some good changes like making Yuffie and Vincent main story characters instead of optional like they used to be. Unfortunately though Vincent and Cid are both not playable. They really should have been. The dev time was all put into developing unnecessarily long roads, mountains, and caves, along with filler beach scenes, instead of fleshing out the combat with characters that walk by your side and were playable in the original. I still wish they just made a real remake of FF7 with just minor changes at most like the previously mentioned inclusion of Yuffie and Vincent in the main narrative, but instead they decided to shove brand new timeline shenanigans into the plot. The worst part is it's usually just for shock value. Characters dying or not dying often leads to nothing significant in the long run. Why are multiple timelines being included out of nowhere? It genuinely comes off as pure shock value without any substance at times. There are some hype moments to be had via these and I am intrigued by some. Heck I do actually think one character's timeline shenanigans is actually modestly used well (compared to the others at least), but a lot of these additions do nothing for me. At the end of the day though this is still Final Fantasy 7 for the most part. It's filled with moments I love like Barret's backstory, Red XIII's backstory, and more. I loved seeing iconic moments like Sephiroth walking through fire in HD, but I wish they actually kept all the iconic moments instead of replacing them with what can only be described as completely nonsensical narratives. Now we have to wait years to know what any of these scenes even mean.

Mildly fun for a bit but gets repetitive too quickly due to how little content their is. PS+ giving this for free is the only reason to play cause it's so filled to the brim with overpriced microtransactions. This is a good example of potential lost to greed. This game could turn into something great with the right direction but ultimately I'm expecting it to stay the same until eventually it gets shut down cause no one is going to buy a $40 skin in a game that's already pay to play and has minimalistic content.

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.

Despite its lack of real party members I can't really find anything about this game I dislike. It has a insane amount of customization giving it tons of replay value, I love the final villain, it's easy to get into, 100s of hours of optional content, monsters in the overworld, it's not the best looking DS game but it's certainly up there, optional multiplayer, and much more. On top of all that this game single handedly inspired the 3DS street pass feature which is great. I mean how many games can say they inspired a entire system feature?

This is easily my favorite Sega game and one of the best games to release in the past few years.

The story was a little slow at parts and required a lot of grinding in late game but the gameplay was fun, the story was serious yet funny in a charming way, it has a nice class system, nice mini games, and hits the emotions hard. It's truly a legendary adventure that is both similar to and different from everything it's based on.

I really loved all the references to other games. As someone who's favorite series is Dragon Quest it was very exciting to see it referenced a lot. Pokémon and other turn based RPGs got referenced in cool ways too. The references never felt out of place or wall breaking. It feels like they blend into this game's world well.

This is my first Yakuza game so I can't really judge it comparatively to the rest of the series but I know it was a beat em up before so this change is very drastic. I can definitely understand why some older fans would be upset. Personally this game style is perfect for me and I encourage anyone who likes turn based RPGs to try this. I really hope to see a direct sequel that not only continues but improved upon what this game established.

A very solid rhythm action platformer with nice combat and an art style that transitions into cutscenes well. I enjoyed how EVERYTHING moved to the best of the music, the Xenogears reference, and the brief section where you play as a certain other character. My only big complaint is I wish the writing was more interesting because there wasn't really anything that stuck out to me. I don't feel attached to the characters and the story was mostly a straightforward adventure. I think a sequel has a lot of potential to add even more mechanics and hopefully have a more enticing storyline.

This incredibly laggy, somewhat poor visually, and overall glitchy game is excellent proof of the lack of quality newer games in the Pokémon series has. It feels super rushed and really needs patch updates. I'm also disappointed by the lack of many Legends Arceus features like Conditional Turn Based combat.

That being said it's some of the most fun I've had in the series. Movement options are even better than what Legends Arceus had since now one mount does everything rather than needing to switch between multiple. Ridable legendaries is such a wonderful concept. Having different storylines like gyms, evil team, and titans is wonderful. It's such a great step up from SWSH which was just gyms and literally nothing else at all. SV's story direction is my favorite behind only gen 5 and 7. The final stretch is so cool! I love sci-fi aesthetics so much and it has my favorite final boss in the series. The characters are consistently more interesting than the past few games although I still think gen 7 has the best. The glitches are honestly kinda funny and very few actually hurt the game for me.

The best thing about this game that I absolutely makes it one of the best in the series is the multiplayer. I've wanted a new non-MMO multiplayer RPG for so long and this game finally did so. I loved playing the story alongside my boyfriend so much! I want the series to continue improving multiplayer even further in he future.

Gameplay:
On the surface it's very much like past 2D Metroid games with a new coat of paint and several quality of life changes. Some bosses get reused but there's definitely a lot more variety than Samus Returns. Avoiding EMMIs is really dreadful.

Story:
It has a summary of past games (or at least what you need to know to understand this one) and picks up quick. The game is definitely more gameplay heavy than story heavy but when the story is there is nice. I'm really happy with how it builds off of Fusion and the Chozo memories from Samus Returns. Two ending reveals blew my mind.

Overall my new favorite Metroid. My only complaints are it's fairly short and it was a little hard figuring out where I needed to go a few times.

The actual game:
Very generic 30 minute long horror game that isn't that scary.

The developers / development:
Was made by very greedy devs who lied about the prices of chapters (they doubled the following chapter's price), they support NFTs, and overall they just come off as very money hungry for a less than half baked product. Also they went out of their way to bully a random kid.