I’m a bit underwhelmed by Xenoblade Chronicles 3. What’s shaping up to be the culmination of a trilogy that began so spectacularly with the 2010 original – and following the stuttering start to creator Tetsuya Takahashi’s infamously stunted Xenosaga series – this JRPG epic has a terrible slow start in itself. The dozen hour mark creeps up quickly and the training wheels stay firmly in place, while perhaps more frustratingly the embargo restrictions mean I can’t tell you much about the really interesting stuff.
However, I can tell you some of the important things. If you’re a returning fan, know this: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes the best parts of the previous games, folding into a fascinating evolution of Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s sprawling and brilliant combat, the more defined fantasy of the original (and discarding some of the more awkward anime excesses) and some of the more open-ended elements of Xenoblade Chronicles X (though unfortunately I can’t go into detail about those yet).
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Monolift Soft
- Platform: Played on Switch
- Availability: Releases July 29 on Switch
Perhaps most importantly, it’s technically far more impressive than the obviously compromised Xenoblade Chronicles 2. It was the title of the Switch’s launch year in late 2017, of course, and you can feel the five years in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 progress and familiarity that Monolith Soft have built with the hardware – it just looks great when playing handheld or docked, with the impossible vistas of the world of Aionios stretching into the distance (bodes well for Breath of the Wild 2 too, with the epic Monolith Soft topography so key to the success of Zelda’s open-world forays). This is really impressive stuff, and Digital Foundry will dive deeper into the details closer to launch.
For newcomers to the series, it’s also worth noting that this is effectively another stand-alone entry, and if the various strands of Xenoblade Chronicles’ storylines do come together, it’s likely to be much later in the game, as it’s more a big win for those who stuck around, from a basic beat. You don’t need any prior knowledge or experience of the series; indeed, the way the opening chapters are structured seems to lean towards enveloping players who have never encountered a Xenoblade Chronicles game before.
The more open-ended sections are where Xenoblade Chronicles 3 really excels – the world is so beautiful that you’re constantly pausing to catch your breath and take it all in.
Which can make those working hours a bit difficult if you’ve ever played a Xenoblade Chronicles game before. Or if you’ve ever played an RPG before, for that matter – I’m not sure I needed an in-depth tutorial on how to equip an item, but then again, I’ve been playing games like this for far too long and should stop whining and appreciate the need from accessibility. However, it can sap some of the momentum of the opening, with familiar systems slowly trickling in for the first half-dozen hours.
There are also some gorgeous worlds, mind you, and the foundations on which Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is built are beautifully melancholic. It’s a world at constant war, the two sides of Keves and Agnus populated by soldiers with a short, set life cycle of about 10 years. There are returning themes from past games of cruel gods exploiting those in their care for their own gain, and points sadly all too relevant to our times. Amidst all this is a cast of six likable leads on both sides, led by the seer Noah – a soldier whose job it is to guide the fallen on the battlefield to their final resting place via a plaintive line on his flute.
The writing is well grounded and balanced so far, skillfully juggling the six main characters and their interactions. There are probably too many bathing scenes already.
The expanded cast justifies the expanded combat system, and once they’ve gone through the more familiar elements, these tutorials come in handy when it comes to juggling them all together. Like previous Xenoblade games, there’s an element of unruly chaos to combat that’s only heightened when you have a team of six in play – joined at times by characters that fill out your squad even more – but there’s also joy in finding the right rhythm, popping fusion arts and formation together to combine into Ouroboros, an all-powerful form that can briefly spam special attacks that are otherwise on time counters.
It’s basically a lot, and while the time it takes to appreciate Xenoblade Chronicle 3’s combat system when it’s fully unleashed can be a bit long, I’m also grateful for the ability to auto-battle when facing standard enemies, so yeah you can familiarize yourself with the right rhythms. (When facing bosses, the auto-battle option will be removed, although it’s also useful when you just want to run through one of Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s wide-open landscapes and advance a level or two).
What excites me most about my time with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 so far is the little flashes of influence from X – a personal favorite of the series so far and one I’d very much like to see on the Switch.
There’s quite a bit for newcomers to Xenoblade Chronicles 3, such as a raceline that can choose the path of least resistance to whatever mission objective you set (useful, although I’ve done without it as much as possible – like Breath of the Wild, in which Monolith Soft played a role, much of the pleasure of roaming is in picking a line through its achingly gorgeous landscapes).
Now that I’m starting to shake off the tutorials, at around 10 hours and two chapters in, I’m starting to see that there’s plenty for Xenoblade Chronicles veterans as well, with a combat system that’s wider, better defined and more flexible than those that have gone before, and a world that seems richer, more connected, and somehow even grander than that of Xenoblades past. It’s been going pretty well so far, but now it’s turning into something that could be great – and for the slight disappointment of the slow runtime, I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be the best Xenoblade Chronicles yet.
Add Comment