As of writing this review, I beat the game 30 minutes ago. I have a lot of thoughts so this one will be pretty long, my apologies.
I have not been active on this site in months because of this game. I've barely played anything else since starting this game. Xenoblade 3 has effectively taken over all of my gaming free time.
The 55-hour romp through Aionios requires your full attention. Its opening chapter is excellent! The characters are lovely and unique, and I love their little moments of banter with one another. The previous games' cast will always hold a special place in my heart, but 3 is definitely the most solid all around.
How nice it is to have a Xenoblade game that's easy to recommend to newcomers! With plenty of quality-of-life updates and non-excessive fanservice, I could see this game being the entry point for a lot of people into this series.
XC:DE is in my top 5 games of all time, and 2, while incredibly flawed, is still one of my favorites. XC3's position as a finale to the trilogy is somewhat achieved, although I wish there was still a bit more of a connection between the 3. I'll discuss the plot a little more later, but tl;dr it was good if you don't think too hard.
This game sucks you in with its delightful soundtrack, engrossing story, and vibrant world. Then it keeps going. And going. And going. By Chapter 5, I was begging for it to end. By Chapter 7, I was struggling to stay awake for the mere hours I had to progress before sleeping. Now that I'm not a baby high schooler like when I played 2 or stuck inside during the pandemic for DE, I'm realizing just how much of a time commitment it is to beat a Xenoblade game. I wanted to see how the story ended so badly, and yet the game kept finding new ways to distract me. Sidequests abound, an absurd amount of plot threads that needed resolving, and bosses that just wouldn't die.
The combat system is extremely polished, and I love the freedom of class selection. However, this also means that each character is less unique as an individual. This becomes especially apparent during late game fights where it feels like I'm designing a team of classes and not characters to maximize my effectiveness in battle.
XC3 really DOES require you to min-max. Late-game fights are full-on HP damage sponges. The final boss took me 1.5 hours to get to its final phase. Then I died. And it sent me right back to the beginning. I nearly wanted to quit and delete the game from my system.
I love how this game is a time sink for those who are truly engrossed in its world, but for me (i.e. someone who plays the game for the story since I have other things to do during the day), it always felt like my time was being disrespected.
I could keep going on and on, but it still doesn't change the fundamental fact that this is a good game, just not one I could fully enjoy. Maybe in a different place or a different time I could've been so invested in this world that it became my favorite game of all time. But in this endless now, I don't think I'll be coming back to it anytime soon.
I have not been active on this site in months because of this game. I've barely played anything else since starting this game. Xenoblade 3 has effectively taken over all of my gaming free time.
The 55-hour romp through Aionios requires your full attention. Its opening chapter is excellent! The characters are lovely and unique, and I love their little moments of banter with one another. The previous games' cast will always hold a special place in my heart, but 3 is definitely the most solid all around.
How nice it is to have a Xenoblade game that's easy to recommend to newcomers! With plenty of quality-of-life updates and non-excessive fanservice, I could see this game being the entry point for a lot of people into this series.
XC:DE is in my top 5 games of all time, and 2, while incredibly flawed, is still one of my favorites. XC3's position as a finale to the trilogy is somewhat achieved, although I wish there was still a bit more of a connection between the 3. I'll discuss the plot a little more later, but tl;dr it was good if you don't think too hard.
This game sucks you in with its delightful soundtrack, engrossing story, and vibrant world. Then it keeps going. And going. And going. By Chapter 5, I was begging for it to end. By Chapter 7, I was struggling to stay awake for the mere hours I had to progress before sleeping. Now that I'm not a baby high schooler like when I played 2 or stuck inside during the pandemic for DE, I'm realizing just how much of a time commitment it is to beat a Xenoblade game. I wanted to see how the story ended so badly, and yet the game kept finding new ways to distract me. Sidequests abound, an absurd amount of plot threads that needed resolving, and bosses that just wouldn't die.
The combat system is extremely polished, and I love the freedom of class selection. However, this also means that each character is less unique as an individual. This becomes especially apparent during late game fights where it feels like I'm designing a team of classes and not characters to maximize my effectiveness in battle.
XC3 really DOES require you to min-max. Late-game fights are full-on HP damage sponges. The final boss took me 1.5 hours to get to its final phase. Then I died. And it sent me right back to the beginning. I nearly wanted to quit and delete the game from my system.
I love how this game is a time sink for those who are truly engrossed in its world, but for me (i.e. someone who plays the game for the story since I have other things to do during the day), it always felt like my time was being disrespected.
I could keep going on and on, but it still doesn't change the fundamental fact that this is a good game, just not one I could fully enjoy. Maybe in a different place or a different time I could've been so invested in this world that it became my favorite game of all time. But in this endless now, I don't think I'll be coming back to it anytime soon.