KookyFella
1 review liked by KookyFella
Very enjoyable third entry for this series. However, not sure if I like it more than 2 though. I definitely like it more than 1 which is probably a hot take to have 1 at the bottom of the trilogy, but that's just how I feel. I did have a pretty lengthy conversation after finishing it with a friend to try and flesh out my own thoughts, even if we disagreed on some things.
The combat in this entry is pretty streamlined in comparison to previous entries. I remember when screenshots for the game first came out and having 7 party members (6 main characters plus 1 hero that can be swapped out) looked intimidating. In the game itself, it's really not. There's only 3 types of classes: attackers who deal the most damage, healers that heal and can grant stat buffs depending on the class, and defenders who draw in aggro from the enemies. As long as you have 2 of each type in your party set, you're good. There's no element grid or anything like that from 2 (which is something I liked in 2 don't get me wrong, but I get why others might not have liked that). I guess the only other thing to take into consideration with party formation is the Ouroboros forms, aka the giant robots. These will briefly take 2 party members out of the battle and you can't choose what 2 it will be as they're pre-assigned for story reasons. So if your 2 healers transform into their Ouroboros form, you're now short 2 healers.
The biggest downside to this combat is there's really not much depth to it. In this entry, the chain attack gauge is just a gauge that fills up the longer the battle goes. It's not a resource for reviving allies like in previous entries. Instead only healers can revive fallen allies, but as long as one of your healers is alive, they can run around and revive people as many times as they like. There's no limit to it, so when the chain attack gauge is filled, the only reason really to not just pop it is cause the chain attacks can take a while to finish. Even if the enemy is almost dead, the game incentivizes you to do it then cause you get crazy amounts of experience bonuses if the chain attack overkills the enemy. That's how I finished the game several levels above the final boss and how many people I know were at max level by the end of chapter 4. Also you can get some heroes and abilities during the last third of the game that just renders combat pointless as you'll end up insta-killing everyone. While this didn't bug me too much as someone that likes simpler games, I do know it bugs some people so I'm gonna mention it.
The story overall I enjoyed a lot, but it does have some glaring weaknesses. The main villain, known simply as Z, doesn't have much of a presence in this game. He's more of a puppet master which I can imagine a lot of people probably like, but for me I enjoy it more when the villain actually interacts with the heroes instead of just hiding behind the scenes. Like I'm pretty sure the first time Z and the main cast meet face to face is during the final battle. They see each other through other means, but there's never like a face to face meetup where Z gets to intimidate the heroes or show a small glimpse of his power. Another big issue I had was with the character Sena. I don't know who on the writing staff hated this character so much, but I just want you to know I don't like you. Sena was probably my favorite party member, but she gets like nothing in the main story or even in side content. Like without spoiling anything, later in the game every character and hero will unlock special side quests to make them stronger. These are usually short little things that allow you to see a bit more about the character specifically, whether it be their past or just growing to be more mature or whatever. Sena doesn't really get that. Her's is dedicated to a completely different set of 2 characters in a way that I honestly think should have just been part of the main story. Sena doesn't even play a big role between the two. She's just there providing emotional support I guess. A lot of this stuff has basically become a running joke with my friends where the team must have run low on budget and time after chapter 5 cause the game drops hard after that. The game basically speedruns to the final boss if you don't stop and do sidequests at all.
This review probably sounds super negative for a 4 star review, so lets spend time talking about what I really liked about it. The writing I felt was extremely good, especially the banter between characters (ok maybe not the like 5 post battle lines you'll hear constantly throughout the game, but that's Xenoblade). It's cute and it made me happy to get more random discussions you can do at the various campsites that expand a bit on how the world works. As weird as this next one will sound, I liked that corpses were collectibles. Basically you'll find dead soldiers scattered around the world and you can send their "life flame" on. This builds up your relationships with the different colonies and what makes it better is it helps remind me that the two biggest main characters of the group weren't even originally fighters. They were basically muscians that preformed during battles and during ceremonies. Also is nice that I really liked the music that plays when you get these, especially the longer one that plays when you find a big group of fallen soldiers. The music in general is decently good, but the only ones that stand out to me are the one I previously mentioned and the battle music. The sidequests are very fun to do for the most part (not a fan of the ones where you just gotta turn in random items you get from battles). Obviously the best ones being the quests related to the hero characters. A lot of the heroes are very enjoyable to be around even if you don't end up using them a lot after recruiting them. It also just, again, helps to flesh out the world and see how this weird world where people only live for 10 years works.
I definitely really enjoyed my time with this game. While I enjoyed a lot of stuff in 2 more than this, I can't say I was disappointed. It's an incredibly enjoyable game and I can't wait for the DLC which releases in a couple days at the time of writing this.
The combat in this entry is pretty streamlined in comparison to previous entries. I remember when screenshots for the game first came out and having 7 party members (6 main characters plus 1 hero that can be swapped out) looked intimidating. In the game itself, it's really not. There's only 3 types of classes: attackers who deal the most damage, healers that heal and can grant stat buffs depending on the class, and defenders who draw in aggro from the enemies. As long as you have 2 of each type in your party set, you're good. There's no element grid or anything like that from 2 (which is something I liked in 2 don't get me wrong, but I get why others might not have liked that). I guess the only other thing to take into consideration with party formation is the Ouroboros forms, aka the giant robots. These will briefly take 2 party members out of the battle and you can't choose what 2 it will be as they're pre-assigned for story reasons. So if your 2 healers transform into their Ouroboros form, you're now short 2 healers.
The biggest downside to this combat is there's really not much depth to it. In this entry, the chain attack gauge is just a gauge that fills up the longer the battle goes. It's not a resource for reviving allies like in previous entries. Instead only healers can revive fallen allies, but as long as one of your healers is alive, they can run around and revive people as many times as they like. There's no limit to it, so when the chain attack gauge is filled, the only reason really to not just pop it is cause the chain attacks can take a while to finish. Even if the enemy is almost dead, the game incentivizes you to do it then cause you get crazy amounts of experience bonuses if the chain attack overkills the enemy. That's how I finished the game several levels above the final boss and how many people I know were at max level by the end of chapter 4. Also you can get some heroes and abilities during the last third of the game that just renders combat pointless as you'll end up insta-killing everyone. While this didn't bug me too much as someone that likes simpler games, I do know it bugs some people so I'm gonna mention it.
The story overall I enjoyed a lot, but it does have some glaring weaknesses. The main villain, known simply as Z, doesn't have much of a presence in this game. He's more of a puppet master which I can imagine a lot of people probably like, but for me I enjoy it more when the villain actually interacts with the heroes instead of just hiding behind the scenes. Like I'm pretty sure the first time Z and the main cast meet face to face is during the final battle. They see each other through other means, but there's never like a face to face meetup where Z gets to intimidate the heroes or show a small glimpse of his power. Another big issue I had was with the character Sena. I don't know who on the writing staff hated this character so much, but I just want you to know I don't like you. Sena was probably my favorite party member, but she gets like nothing in the main story or even in side content. Like without spoiling anything, later in the game every character and hero will unlock special side quests to make them stronger. These are usually short little things that allow you to see a bit more about the character specifically, whether it be their past or just growing to be more mature or whatever. Sena doesn't really get that. Her's is dedicated to a completely different set of 2 characters in a way that I honestly think should have just been part of the main story. Sena doesn't even play a big role between the two. She's just there providing emotional support I guess. A lot of this stuff has basically become a running joke with my friends where the team must have run low on budget and time after chapter 5 cause the game drops hard after that. The game basically speedruns to the final boss if you don't stop and do sidequests at all.
This review probably sounds super negative for a 4 star review, so lets spend time talking about what I really liked about it. The writing I felt was extremely good, especially the banter between characters (ok maybe not the like 5 post battle lines you'll hear constantly throughout the game, but that's Xenoblade). It's cute and it made me happy to get more random discussions you can do at the various campsites that expand a bit on how the world works. As weird as this next one will sound, I liked that corpses were collectibles. Basically you'll find dead soldiers scattered around the world and you can send their "life flame" on. This builds up your relationships with the different colonies and what makes it better is it helps remind me that the two biggest main characters of the group weren't even originally fighters. They were basically muscians that preformed during battles and during ceremonies. Also is nice that I really liked the music that plays when you get these, especially the longer one that plays when you find a big group of fallen soldiers. The music in general is decently good, but the only ones that stand out to me are the one I previously mentioned and the battle music. The sidequests are very fun to do for the most part (not a fan of the ones where you just gotta turn in random items you get from battles). Obviously the best ones being the quests related to the hero characters. A lot of the heroes are very enjoyable to be around even if you don't end up using them a lot after recruiting them. It also just, again, helps to flesh out the world and see how this weird world where people only live for 10 years works.
I definitely really enjoyed my time with this game. While I enjoyed a lot of stuff in 2 more than this, I can't say I was disappointed. It's an incredibly enjoyable game and I can't wait for the DLC which releases in a couple days at the time of writing this.