Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Catch all

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Nintendo Switch - Digital Foundry Tech Review

farley3k wrote:

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - Nintendo Switch - Digital Foundry Tech Review

Digital Foundry: "Cutscene duration and frequency also seems to be increased compared to previous games."

Me: "Uh, have you played Xenogears or Xenosaga? :P"

Funny enough, despite Blade 1 and 2 being VERY story heavy (X to some extent, but less so) I did always feel like maybe Nintendo were encouraging them to reign things in a bit in that respect compared to their previous games. So, I'm like 75% excited, 25% terrified if maybe those limiters have come off given their strong output with the Blade series so far.

Because yeah, even though Gears and Saga are among my favorite JRPGs ever, they're definitely lower in the rankings in terms of being overall good games in no small part because they lacked the combination of restraint and polish that very clearly Nintendo's influence has brought the Blade games -- including in terms of not having Kojima-esque overindulgence in absurd, overwrought story presentation.

Even still, though, I'm giddy at the prospect of pretty much everything I'm hearing about Blade 3 so far.

EDIT: Of course, as with every Xenoblade game I find myself pondering what could have been if Nintendo actually made hardware capable of realizing the grand scope and vision of these worlds. Bit of a monkey's paw wish result, right? The creators of some of the most cool and captivating JPRGs ever are finally blessed with the resources and support to make their wildest ambitions come true with Nintendo grade fit and finish... except we'll only ever get to see them realized on what is (charitably) the equivalent of decade old technology.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 REVIEW - The BEST in the Series (Switch)

I am counting the hours for this!!!

Wow it's here. I really should finish the second one.

Stele wrote:

Wow it's here. I really should finish the secondfirst one. ;)

Fixed that for me

Or rather,

Stele wrote:

Wow it's here. I really should finish the first and second one. ;)

I started a new game of XC1 about a month ago, then got roped into Returnal and now Multiversus

Stele wrote:

Wow it's here. I really should finish the second one. ;)

Same. I'm just hoping it goes on sale at some point. (I'm pretty sure it was once in the past.)

CptDomano wrote:
Stele wrote:

Wow it's here. I really should finish the secondfirst one. ;)

Fixed that for me

Or rather,

Stele wrote:

Wow it's here. I really should finish the first and second one. ;)

I started a new game of XC1 about a month ago, then got roped into Returnal and now Multiversus :)

No don't. XC1 is so teeeeedious. XC2 is miles and miles better and more playable. Unless "Kill 10 rats" is something you enjoy in a single player game.

maverickz wrote:

No don't. XC1 is so teeeeedious. XC2 is miles and miles better and more playable. Unless "Kill 10 rats" is something you enjoy in a single player game.

I've enjoyed XC1 since it was on the Wii, kill 10 rats or collect 10 flowers and all. The Switch version speeds everything up immensely.

CptDomano wrote:
maverickz wrote:

No don't. XC1 is so teeeeedious. XC2 is miles and miles better and more playable. Unless "Kill 10 rats" is something you enjoy in a single player game.

I've enjoyed XC1 since it was on the Wii, kill 10 rats or collect 10 flowers and all. The Switch version speeds everything up immensely.

More power to you then! I own that game on... 3DS? I think. I stopped about 10 or 15 hours in.

Started the first a couple of nights ago for the 3rd time. This time on the Switch. Still have 2 and Torna in the queue hehehe.

I started the first game on Wii and 3DS but never finished it. I loved the second game but didn’t play the Torna DLC. There were connections between the first two games but I just looked them up online after finishing the second game. To me, I didn’t feel like I missed out by not playing much of the first game.

I preordered 3 from a smaller store and it looks like it will be mailed today. Should’ve probably known I wouldn’t get it on release day. Now I’m tempted to buy it locally and sell the extra copy.

brokenclavicle wrote:

Started the first a couple of nights ago for the 3rd time. This time on the Switch. Still have 2 and Torna in the queue hehehe.

Going through old files, I found my Dolphin save game for the first game, and I've been tempted to see if I can import it in a new version of Dolphin and do a New Game +.

There are only the loosest of deep lore/meta universe connections between the games. But it's the sort of thing where if you REALLY care that much about that level of red-string-on-cork-board dot connecting, you're also going to want to know about the story of Xenogears and Xenosaga. But really, watching a few videos on Youtube will mostly suffice for everything that matters in that department.

Other than that, it's like the Final Fantasy games -- there are big, obvious connections in terms of theme and design, but otherwise they are self contained games where there's no reason to worry about playing one before the other.

2 hours in.... game seems complex but I am hooked so far.

Yea 3 1/2 hours in it starts with a long story oriented tutorial, lots of tips, letting you in the shallow end. I prefer the light hearted and art of two but I am adjusting and I think as more systems open up I am having more fun being involved. Need more time to tell, but it feels to me like the darker start of 2.

Agreed... I can tell they tried to improve of off the mechanics of 2. I LOVED 2's mechanics btw. I am 4 hours in!
really liking the game

It’s not perfect but I think I will keep playing. I think there will be more developing after 6 hours I can guess where it may be headed gameplay wise.

I’m about 12 hours in, and I’m absolutely loving everything about this game aside from it being technologically hobbled by the platform it runs on.

I do have one apprehension though: if whenever I finally unlock the clothing system I can’t get my full team wearing that sick as f*ck Agnian drip I’m going to be very upset.

Can you elaborate on the technical hobbles? I’m about two hours in and have been really impressed with the visuals, especially for Switch. I’m not an expert on performance or visual fidelity but to my eyes it looks as good as the most recent Tales game did.

Oh, it’s great for the Switch, yeah. I’m just a snob and I wish it could be great for a modern game instead of great for the equivalent of decade old hardware.

I do have one apprehension though: if whenever I finally unlock the clothing system I can’t get my full team wearing that sick as f*ck Agnian drip I’m going to be very upset.

I’m sad to report that each character only gets access to their own military uniform — no mix and match there like I was hoping. Suppose I’ll just have to hope for an Agnian hero or two with sweet threads I can unlock eventually.

zeroKFE wrote:

Oh, it’s great for the Switch, yeah. I’m just a snob and I wish it could be great for a modern game instead of great for the equivalent of decade old hardware.

LOL what I find funny about this is over in the Steam Deck thread there are tons of comments on how to get emulators and old games running.

So when people have new cutting edge hardware they want to play old games and when they have modern games they want new hardware.

Gamers are a finicky lot!

Playing today the controller has gone to sleep twice because the cut scenes were so long!

Got my copy today. Only played a little over an hour but the combat feels familiar. I like the premise so far and am excited to play more. Like zero said, the resolution is not great at times but it seems to be better than 2 was.

6 hours in!!! I am getting hooked. I hope it keeps going this way.

I’m not sure if I’ll get used to the wing heads. Right now the wings look silly to me and I kind of wish they weren’t there on most characters.

I am sooo glad they dropped the blade gacha from 2.

And I’m off. I just started, so I only have gotten past the tutorial battles and the long cutscene, and how I’m in the open world trying to get back home.

And in terms of excitement, I won’t say I’m super hyped up since I don’t really do that anymore (been burned a few times) but XC3 is probably my presumptive GOTY at this point, assuming it’s as good as prior Xenoblade games and doesn’t have as much anime fanservice as XC2 did. I dropped Elden Ring, and Starfield and BOTW2 got delayed to next year, so there’s nothing else coming out in that is expected to be in that tier for me. Could always be surprises, of course, but I’m happy to have this one in my hands.

And I’m wondering what the ‘theme’ of this game will be. Light spoilers for the other games and my guess on this one, but I’ll throw it in spoilers to be safe.

Spoiler:

If XC1 was about revenge (but not really), and XC2 was a coming of age story (but not really), this will probably seem like one thing then become something else later. It seems from the beginning plus what little I saw of the promotional system they will oppose this ‘fight to live, live to fight’ system they are in so maybe rebellion, but will become something else as well.

One early opportunity for fanservice was surprisingly not taken so that bodes well.

Spoiler:

Coed bathing

I had a lazy three day weekend at home so I managed to put in nearly 30 hours and get to the early stages of chapter 3, and so far everything I've seen and experienced has lined up with what the pre-release coverage indicated -- in just about every way possible this game is Monolith firing on all cylinders and making the best possible version of the kind of game they've been making since their relationship with Nintendo started.

Of course, in terms of story I'm still early days -- I'm a heavy explorer and completionist, so in terms of the main story one could probably get as far as I have in half or even a third of the time. However, every time the game opened up the limiters a bit I ran off to every possible corner and did every side quest possible. But so far I have few complaints.

The basic premise and setting are unique and interesting while fitting with the overarching themes of the series, the main cast of characters is compelling and (mostly) likable, and doesn't lean TOO hard on the usual tropes, and early direction of the narrative has me engaged. Tonally it's been a bit better fit for my sensibilities than the previous games, especially XC2, where the heavy lean into more adolescent shounen style story telling wasn't particularly effective for me. I mean, the Xenoblade series is always that to some degree, and it's still definitely here to a degree (goofy over the top villains say hi), but this one is striking a much better balance for me, and I appreciate the more thoughtful, measured flavor so far this time around.

Oh, and

steinkrug wrote:

One early opportunity for fanservice was surprisingly not taken so that bodes well.

Spoiler:

Coed bathing

Yeah, so far at least, much better on that front. For example, beyond the bath scene, there is a major character in chapter 2 who definitely has body proportions that are very "anime," but thankfully her design doesn't hit you over the head with it, with clothing/armor that's functional (at least in terms relative to what often is the case) and focuses on communicating her power and competence rather than her big boobs.

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xc3_ethel.png)

And in terms of mechanics and gameplay, I'm even more impressed. Just as with previous entries in the series there is a very extended rollout of mechanics, but the pacing of that roll feels a lot better, the tutorialization more efficient and effective, and most importantly things get genuinely fun to play a LOT earlier than I recall being the case in previous games. And maybe that's simply to do with the fact that the final thing being built to is just a lot better? I don't really know for sure yet (Xenoblade X got really cool at the end), because even though in mid chapter 3 I think I've got the majority of mechanics, I'm pretty sure there will be at least one or two more major additions, and I've only just barely started to scratch the surface of the class system, having unlocked just three hero classes so far.

Sundown wrote:

And I’m wondering what the ‘theme’ of this game will be. Light spoilers for the other games and my guess on this one, but I’ll throw it in spoilers to be safe.

Spoiler:

If XC1 was about revenge (but not really), and XC2 was a coming of age story (but not really), this will probably seem like one thing then become something else later. It seems from the beginning plus what little I saw of the promotional system they will oppose this ‘fight to live, live to fight’ system they are in so maybe rebellion, but will become something else as well.

At least early on, the core thematic conceit seems to be around

Spoiler:

the importance and value of believing/seeking/encouraging the best in the people around you, especially those who you are (or think you are) in conflict with, and rebelling (as you anticipated) against the systems of oppression and control that trap you in a position of doing the opposite.

Which is another reason why it's working so well for me so far -- those are ideas that really resonate with the times we're living in, and even early on the ways it's approaching it are surprisingly effective and sophisticated for the medium.

Oh, and also, even cooler still is that those themes are embedded in the game right down to the core mechanics of combat and character building, in a way that might even seem slightly ham fisted if those mechanics weren't working so well (at least so far).