Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the most recent of the mainline games from the Xenoblade Chronicles series by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo. This is definitely the best in the series and I think I’ve given enough time to make sure it’s not just “newest in the series syndrome” Xenoblade 3 takes almost everything from the first and second, even Torna, and improves upon it. That’s not to say that it’s absolutely perfect and has no problems, it does, most can be fixed but really shouldn’t have to be and one is only a problem for a small while before it becomes manageable. Let’s run through it.
The People
The plot is simple but bundled in all kinds of complications. Whilst the main plot starts simple, in a genius move, as the world opens up to the characters the game starts to become a lot less streamlined and more open, leading to not necessarily a game but an experience. As more and more places open up, of course there are side quests to complete if you like but it’s the nature of these side quests that really hammer things home. It would’ve been so easy for Monolith Soft to simply throw some fetch quests in, just to bulk the game out (not that it needs it) but they don’t. Every side quest is rooted in the changes your small group is making socially to the people who once lived for war and nothing else. It makes you see their stories and feel like you’re making a difference, making the side quests just as important as the main quests, and the hero quests.
The hero quests are simple, they basically have a hero join your team for while and whilst they are there some or all characters can use their “class” this is where the game opens up with it’s combat. It’s limitless with what kind of set up you use, you can have a set up of 3 tanks and 3 healers, sure the battles will be long and difficult but it’s a safe option. Fact is, the game encourages you to spend time with all of it’s characters not just the main six. Just like in real life, they’re complicated people who at the beginning can be hard to love, there will be some you will love but will end up really disliking after a while because they made a decision you don’t morally agree with. Either way, every character is masterfully crafted and the class system takes full advantage of that by having the heroes in your party for as long as humanly possible.
It’s not perfect
I admitted before that this isn’t a perfect game, it’s almost as close as you can get but it’s not perfect. It’s small but annoying negatives hold it back from being as good as it can be. The targeting system for one is annoying, it’s default mode just does not work and has to be switched to classic mode in settings in order for it to be useful, classic mode should be the default but it’s not. Once you switch you notice just how much better it is but for a game like this, it’s an annoying oversight that shouldn’t be there.
The open world is fun but the in game map is less than useful, especially for the few fetch quests there are in the game, looking up the item will tell you which region it’s in but the map is so massive that’s no help at all it’s like telling someone to find a penny you hid and when they ask what area to look you just say “New York.” Cheers, really cleared things up there.
The crowded combat is something I’ve seen complained about a ton and I don’t get it, as long as you’re using each class as it should be used then combat doesn’t feel crowded at all. I’ll admit when I first played the game and experimenting with classes and what they can do, I found it crowded but that was a me issue, I was using tanks and healers to attack. I found that once I thought about it, considered everyone’s roles including my own then it never became an issue anymore.
Final Thoughts
And those are my full thoughts. I’ve always liked the Xenoblade series but it always felt like a series that lacked something. This game has that something in abundance, plus no spoilers but it helps build on the lore of 1 and 2. I was one of the few that actually liked 2 and I’m so happy it gets more than a few nods in this game.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a game that I would 100% recommend to anyone, especially anyone who likes RPGs, it’s a game that requires patience but that patience is easy to give as it’s so addictive. An absolute joy to play.
