Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Review

 “If The World Holds Our Lives Back, I'll End It. It's As Simple As That.”

Console: Nintendo Switch

Here we are at long last. I've been taking my time with this big title instead of rushing it and hurting my own enjoyment for the potential clicks. This blog is still a hobby, you know.

Back to the matter at hand. We learned of the existence of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, the 5th instalment in Nintendo's steadily growing series of JRPGs, last year when voice actress Jenna Coleman mentioned it in an interview. This prompted industry insiders to share more details, like that it would merge the two worlds of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 and would close out the trilogy. As a fan of the series, this was all very exciting, and I eagerly awaited an official announcement.

That announcement came during the February 2022 Direct and the game itself released only 5 months later in July; 2 months earlier than originally announced. We can thank Splatoon 3 for needing a little more time for that one.

Since this review is already dropping later than, well, all the other reviews, let's dive into what is most likely the conclusion of the Xenoblade Chronicles (XC) trilogy and see if this chapter of the series concludes on a high note.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is set in the world of Aionis where two factions, Keves and Agnus, are fighting a never-ending war. Life on Aionis isn't like it is here: each human is 'born' from a pod at their Queen's behest and only lives for 10 years before 'expiring'. These soldiers live in Colonies and fight every day to fill their Colony's 'flame clock', a device that siphons all the energy that pours out when a soldier dies. When a clock runs out of energy, all soldiers tied to that clock will die. In both armies are 'off-seers', soldiers who play flutes in rituals to send off the dead in a funeral ritual.

When both armies are try to intercept a mysterious energy signal by the army's leaders, the consuls, 6 soldiers, the Kevesi off-seer Noah and his two lifelong friends Lanz and Eunie and the Agnian off-seer Mio and her companions Sena and Taion, come across a mysterious man alongside a monster that kills these soldiers, Keves and Agnians alike. The mysterious man is killed by the monster, who identifies itself as 'Moebius' but not before activating a device that gives our heroes the ability to merge into gestalts called 'Ouroboros' and asking them to go the 'City at the Great Sword'.

Unable to return to their colonies since they are now branded traitors, the 6 form an unlikely alliance to journey to this 'City' for answers.

Our Heroes. From left to rigth: Eunie (she's the boss), Lanz (he'll punch your light out), Sena (the girl with the gall), Noah (upon his sword, he places his strength), Taion (he's got a strategy for this) and Mio (your fate was sealed the moment you rose against her).

The Xenoblade games are known for three things. Their JRPG nature, aka their gameplay, their world and their narrative. As usual for me, let´s that tackle the story first. And, as is usual for the Xenoblade series, the story is excellent. It´s a high-concept, thought-provoking narrative that knows it´s the characters that make it all work. It´s just as well written as the other two games, with plenty of big action pieces, emotional moments both large and small, detours that give both levity and flesh out the world. All with lots of fun and memorable characters.

The main crew is a solid group. Not my favourite of the Xenoblade games, but the competition for that is stiff. Each character is well-defined, stands out, and have personal arcs they go through throughout the game. Their voice actors, once again deliciously British, bring these characters to in a memorable way. The side characters are solid as well; varied in designs, personality and well voice acted as well.

The story is good, but not without flaws. The pacing is where the game falters. It has trouble spreading out the big and small events. Sometimes you get locked into hours of plot with no breathing room. Other times it seems like you´ve been doing B and C-plot stuff for ages without really moving along. With how long the narrative can go on, depending on how much side-questing you do, it is easy to forget about parts of the story and start feeling lost. If this affects you, is up to you. Up to your habits and how much you side-quest before finishing the main story. In a JRPG, where doing lots of side-content is the norm though it's a valid complaint I feel regardless of people's playstyles.

It also loves to raise questions but not answer them. There are quite a few mysteries and developments that just pop up without explanation or proper resolution. This game is getting an expansion, presumably in a similar format as Torna: The Golden Country, that will no doubt dive into these unanswered questions and mysteries. Even so, not answering here sacrifices some closure.

A final nitpick in this department: I found the end of Ch. 5 and the beginning of Ch.6 a much more interesting, emotional and rewarding, 'ending' than the actual final. Not really something I'd call a criticism; just wanted to mention that.

The world itself has always been an integral part of the Xenoblade series and not just because exploring the world is a big part of the genre. Two titans frozen in battle upon which people live is the very start of the series. Aionis is still as good looking, as well designed, as Alrest and the Bionis & Mechonis, but the lack of any real Titans means some of that magic is not here. The world is just as intricate with its multiple paths, elevation and hidden areas and has beautiful locations that take your breath away. However, it's also not as unique now. There have been many post-apocalyptic, war-torn worlds in video games with ruins of the old world. Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, just to name two. I played. This year. Not even the many, many neat call-backs from the other 2 games you can find bring that magic back.

True to its JRPG genre, as already mentioned, the game has a ton of side-quest for you to tackle. Well over 100, ranging from heavy story side-quests that dive into stories of betrayal, heartbreak, love and growth to shorter, more to the point, ones like 'kill this monster real quick'. These are a ton of fun, some of the best in the series, and worth your while.

All right, let's finally tackle the gameplay. Xenoblade Chronicle 3 merges elements of XC 1 & 2 while also providing the most accessible combat system in the series. The basics are the same. Your party auto attacks and you control their positioning and their specials, called arts. Arts range from highly damaging moves to status inducers to arts that are a part of a combo. For Keves, arts refill over time like in XC1 while for Agnus, they refill a bit with each standard attack.

A look at the combat. Yes, there are lots of elements. You get used to it but it is undeniably a lot.

There are two 4-stage combos you can go for: Smash and Burst. Smash is for the damage. Burst is for when you are OK with trading in some damage for a higher payout of items. Whichever you choose, the combos are the way to deal good damage to high levelled enemies and bosses.

They are also the best way to fill up your special meter. Performing combos and doing class-specific actions, think a healer healing the party, the gauge fills up. Once full, you can launch a chain attack.

The chain attack is where you do the most damage. You get to attack the enemy uninterrupted and the goal is to not only damage the enemy but fill up another bar (TP) to over 99. That's when the character you chose will do a special attack for damage and status effects, like lowering defence. The higher the TP, the more characters reactivate the next turn. If you manage to have two characters who can interlink do their special, the chain attack will end with a powerful Ouroboros attack.

What is Ouroboros? Just like the worlds fused for this game, the characters can as well. By merging together with their partner, for a limited time, they will become large gestalts with extra power and special arts. Basically, another way to attack and lash out high(er) damage and induce status effects.

Aside from the 6 main characters you have direct control over and, for the first time, can switch between during battle, you also have a 7th party member dubbed a 'Hero'. These Heroes act akin to blades from XC2. The computer controls them and you can't customize them but have the same capabilities as your main characters. Almost 20 Heroes can be recruited throughout the game through both the main story and side quests, each possessing different skills, abilities and special in chain attacks.

Any recruited Hero also passes their class on to your main party. You can mix and match classes with characters, inheriting their role (attacker, healer, defender) as well as their skills, arts and specials. Once levelled up to the max, certain skills and arts become equipable in every class of the opposite side. The more heroes you recruit and the more you equip their classes, the more options you get for building your team.

I can understand that many see this explanation and think to themselves how daunting it all seems. It is a lot and those are only even the parts of the gameplay, of the combat, I found needed to be discussed. I kept stuff out. To this game's credit, it explains everything well. The tutorials are plentiful, easy to follow and can be viewed whenever through the menu. The features are introduced step by step and the intricacies of all the systems are peeled back layer by layers. JRPGs are daunting for newcomers so it's nice that XC3 does its best to be opening and welcoming to newcomers like this. There are a lot of UI elements and the screen can get easily cluttered with them, I will admit to that though.

We're on the final leg of the journey: the graphics, performance and soundtrack. XC3 looks good and runs well. It's not perfect, the game can look pixelated at times and there is some slowdown, pop in anc clutter from all the effects but it's nothing to really worry over. What is an achievement is that XC3 runs well in both docked and handheld mode: that's a new one for this series!

Docked vs Handheld graphics. I recommend opening the image in another tab to get the best comparison.

The music is excellent. One of the best aspects of the title. As is tradition, the score is composed by multiple composers in different styles and later arranged to fit together better. It results in a varied soundtrack and sound design that has some absolute epic bangers alongside some very emotional pieces and nostalgic remixes. The game not winning 'Best Score' at the 2022 Game Awards is an absolute shame.

Conclusion

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an excellent JRPG. It's the best game in the series, though admittedly not my personal favourite, thanks to its accessible and refined gameplay, great story and an awesome soundtrack. It's a fitting conclusion to the trilogy or rather, with how the Xenoblade name has been growing, the chapter of the Xenoblade series. JRPGs can be daunting and not very welcoming to newcomers, but if you've never played a JRPG or Xenoblade game before but are interested then this is not a bad place to start.

Bring on that expansion!