Genre:RPG.
Developer/publisher: Monolith Soft.
Platform: Switch.
Official Site: N/A
Release date: 2022-07-29.
Okay since this is turning into an rpg blog anyway, i've just decided to carry on
and write a post about it, straight of the bat I will say here that I like this series
mostly for its characters, story and exploration... I have never been a fan of the combat
and i'm not here for it, sure its cool but i'm a story enjoyer that still tries to play on normal.
Pro's
- Great cast, I liked the story surrounding Noah and Mio.
- Exploring is fun, plenty of quests/optional content.
- Great OST.
- English/british dub is good, has a stellar seiyuu cast as well.
Con's
- Story while interesting, it might seem a bit farfetched to how it ties itself to its prequels
part of me even wondered what was the point and that it felt kind of forced.
- PLOT is also full of cheeseHOLES and story elements either are underdeveloped or unused.
- Using side stories or subquests to advance the main story no longer makes it optional.
- Class system is chaotic, and makes everyone seem samey.
- Too many bosses are sponges, the final boss itself was a tad too long plus WhErE
iS mY cHeCkPoInT?! if you die(funny cuz every other boss'll wait for u).
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TL;DR its a well-rounded rpg with a great cast and the story that on its own is seemingly fine.
I won't spoil anything about the story which is interesting to say the least but I think
in how it connects to the first two games feels a bit off and/or far fetched
that at the end of the day seems to amount to nothing thus making it all
seem like some fan fiction of trying to merge the worlds/aspects of xenoblade 1 and 2???
I did however really like the story surrounding Noah and Mio! by the time of the ending
I was actually shipping Lanz/Sena and Taion/Eunie as well.😄
The battle system is okay, class system can be weird and chaotic but as long as you
do quests and fight blue enemies its easy to gain the upperhand and stay ahead of the curve.
If you don't do that then it could get a bit more challenging but I absolutely recommend to not
miss out on the hero quests as they're great supplement to the story. Sadly I wish everyone
could revive like in past games and not just the healers cuz if they die for whatever reason
then you are fucked and this happened more than once. The combat is actually pretty simple
and straight-forward but they just expect players to just get it. I didn't even know till I beat
the damn game that you could do a dash move to quickly move around while in combat! also
if it was in a tutorial then I must've forgotten? I don't remember it being told to you.
I have my gripes but its a good game, fans of the series will probably not be disappointed!
So if you're looking for a 60+ hour adventure which could be even longer if you try
everything it has to offer including postgame stuff. But after beating the game I was too tired
for any of it except unlocking the extra heroes... so yea even after beating the game
there could be plenty left to do if you're up for it. Sadly idk what it is but this game
left me so drained by the end of it? in comparison to Arise which left me satisfied/fulfilled.
Oh well, i'm just gonna say that Xenoblade 3 had a strong start, a very good middle(ch5)
but it ended up being a little bit confusing and/or lacklustre in the way they ended it.
Even for a TL;DR this was pretty long... well the game was long it took me a good 70 hours!
Now for the big question should you play the other two games first?
hmm probably better you do! but its not completely necessary. I did wonder why
the Queen's of each nation looked like certain characters from both games
but other than that this game just takes place after the first and second games.
For the most part there's not much that directly references anything except two characters
but if you played the other games you'd probably have several questions why things
are like the way they are in xenoblade 3, it takes a long time before you even get
a good explanation and even then, I thought huh why did that even happen?
Its all up to you really, when it comes to numbered games and knowing they all
take place after the other, i'm more willing to say start with 1 than at 3. Honestly though
I think both 1 and 2 were fine as stand alones. Anyway that's my opinion and I say it
later down the post as well, i'm not a gatekeeper you're free to do whatever you want.
If you like lengthy rpg's with a battle system that has you do epic attacks then this game
might be for you, if you can get past the same-ish combat flow and system that is actually
quite simple but never really properly explained which at this point I consider a series staple.
7,4/10
I was gonna give this an 8,5/10 but the final boss was just such a slog and I found out
that if you die in the fight, doesn't matter where you're forced to restart from scratch.
And it was like an hour long LMAO... wtf even xenoblade 1 had checkpoints in its final fight.
Also what was up with lucky seven? the whole thing was underdeveloped, we got to use it once
there was even a tutorial and then it was just forgotten. Riku also was kinda SUS if you ask me.
After chapter 5 the story and all did take a little nosedive and it never regained its momentum
and we get boring fetch quest and a rushed/lacklustre conclusion to it all.
I'm gonna say it this game was released ahead of its initial release in september
SOMETHING HAPPENED and we don't know what. Either it was budget or
they decided it was good enough, no one really knows.
Sad, I know! I really want to like this game more but this all ain't helping....
The rest of this post is just more rambles/more detail on my experience of the game
if you don't like/agree then just close the tab in your browser, its just my own opinion
which could differ from yours. There are no plot spoilers but there are a few screenshots so beware!
