StarTopic Xenoblade 3 |ST| Σ Become One

[Toad King]

I've looked for a general Xenoblade ST but it doesn't exist, so I'll just ask here.

I'm about to start Xenoblade 1 in a few minutes, it will be my first time ever playing anything in the franchise. Something I should before diving in?

Don't try to do every sidequest, you will burn out.

 

[Leo]

Thanks for the tips, everyone!

I started the game and am enjoying it quite a bit so far. It feels a lot like a PS2 JRPG which is a genre I didn't know I missed so much.

In addition to what @TheMoon mentioned, we also have a thread for the "Xeno-" series as a whole:

Xeno Series Community |ST|

Thanks to Reki for helping with the ST and Procheno for the above gif! Welcome to the Xeno Community Startopic! Since the arrival of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Monolithsoft has massively expanded and their games have become increasingly popular. This, combined with the hints and leaks surrounding...

famiboards.com

Nice, I'll use that one then! I didn't find it in the search cause I looked for "Xenoblade". Thanks!

 

[Multiverse]

This is by far the best Xenoblade game and it’s not even close. I’ve never had this much fun exploring the world and doing side activites. Previous game‘s “world” often feel more like set dressing rather than something you actively engaged in. This is the first Monolith game that is genuinely fun to play rather than you waiting for the reward “cutscene” after just mainlining the story. This is undoubtedly one of the best switch games if not THE best.

• Filling the world with heroes is like the best thing they could have done. I knew that it was going to be good even before the game was out. It didn’t disappoint. I like the writing and the stories. The heroes are so good. Repurposing field skills to them is a fantastic idea because not only that you‘re encouraged to explore, but it rewards you their stories (which enrich the world even more), extra combat options and even more ways to explore. That’s a great incentive tied the overall system that impact exploration very positively unlike the field systems in XC2. You‘re basically unlocking more ways to explore the world through exploring the world. Genius. No more crappy field skills tied to RNG blocking your paths.
• Combat is never boring. All thanks to the classes and oroborus. I don’t really enjoy XC1 combat to be honest. XC2 combat has a nice flow that peaked too late in the game. XC3 is just right and the customization outclass the other games in every way. One thing I miss though is the QTEs. Bring them back! Watching animation plays over and over again isn’t exactly exciting.
• Making tangible collectibles is another genius thing they did. Having them look like actual things is great. Orbs in XC1 were ok. It wasn‘t very exciting. It‘s literally just orbs. Collectible in XC2 was a crime that should never be done again. Having to sit down and sometimes wait for those field skills to pop up was very bad. They clearly knew that. Thank the lord. The ether and husks are all neat. I do like that. I think the next step is make more integrated environmental collectables. I want fruits on tree and see them disappear when you pick them. Although, I don’t know. Xenoblade collectibles is weird in that it functions more like a platformer collectibles (Mario coins). I love how the collectibles actually lead you to certain places. I love that. This is the most gamy part of Xenoblade compared to other open world games. Having to press A or a button to pick or perform an action might disrupt the flow of the game. Hmmm.
• Never make disconnected world ever again Monolith. XC3 world in my opinion is…magnificent. It’s very well designed mechanically and artistically. Metroidvania like in 3D. They have learned a lot from BOTW. Making beautiful clear horizon line and vistas. Extremely important artistically. XC2 often feels like cute little ornate decorations than an actual world. (I notice this mistake often in Western open world games as well. Horizon Zero West being the worst one. The game feels cramped and small despite it being open world). The lack of clear horizon line and no point of interest contribute to that feeling. The world tree seen a far from the titans were the right idea. That’s actually good but it needed way more than that. Other titans silhouettes would have made it better. The cloud sea should have been a different color to create hard separation line between the sky and sea even if it’s just clouds. Having them meshed like that actually makes the world feels more closed in than expansive. XC3 world corrected all of these problems by having visible landmarks basically everywhere you look. XC1 world is actually better than XC2 but I think 3 has them both beat.
• Music is definitely on the ambient side which I prefer. Exploring the world is actually way more enjoyable because of that. XC2 area themes are good as a standalone. It’s actually loud and annoying within the game after playing long hours.
• Story. I love it. I love it. I love it. By far the most emotional, impactful story Nintendo has ever made. Period. Period. Could the Zelda team? No? Mario? Splatoon? Nintendo EPD? absolutely not. They do not have capacity to do something like this it’s tru it’s tru. There are scenes in this game that are mind blowing imo. The theme its exploring and the way it’s presented is very unique. There‘s a particular scene that would have been “funny”, “awkward”, or “weird” in any other game but not here. They did that so well. It’s warm and extremely sad when you think about it, but it also makes you feel grateful to be alive and to be what you are. All sorts of emotion wow. You will NOT find those scenes in any other rpgs or even games. The premise of this game and the themes it’s exploring made those scenes possible. And I can’t remember the last time I cried at a game. I cried several times at different points in this game. I’ve never cried this much at a game. I think Telltale Walking Dead season 1 made me cry, but I wasn’t sobbing like this game. I didn’t cry at any other Xenoblade games if you’re asking. I got really misty eyed tho. I played 2 in Japanese after hearing Rex’s scream. That was the best decision I’ve made I think because all the emotional moments hit but I wasn’t out right crying. I did watch the game again in English. I would have been laughing chile if I played that in English first.
• UI and Map is night and day compared to the old games esp XC2. That was a nightmare. The menu was slow and fade to black before appearing. Like what were they thinking. XC3 having a quick transparent overlay like that is really a huge improvement.

I find the story, the characters, music, the world to be absolutely phenomenal. This is a game for me.

XC3 feels like a complete polish well made package. That I would absolutely recommend to anyone new or interested in the series to play FIRST. It’s XC3 > XC2 > XC1 > Torna > Future Connected.
I couldn’t even finish XC1. I watched it. Same with future connected. I watched all of FC didn‘t even touch it . I played Torna also didn‘t finish. The forced side quests .

Spoiler

I have a few minor nitpicks. The writing specifically some of the cutscenes dialogue. I don’t know what happened here. I’m not sure if it is the localization‘s fault or something else. The story is fantastic and the theme it tackles is just wonderful, but I sometimes find the dialogue cold and strange. There are times that I feel like I’m being preach to by the writer rather than what character genuinely feels in that moment of conversation. It’s like they’re regurgitating lines from a book. Character at times sounds like philosophy 101 mouthpieces not a real person. I feel like the writer is saying those words to me rather than what the characters are actually saying. Oddly enough, conversations in XC2 feels more natural and flow better despite the off sync lips and tone of what’s happening on screen. XC2 weakness is mainly Rex’s screams and some off tone moments. General dialogue is actually great. When charcters start philosophizing in XC2, it feels like the characters themselves are realizing and discovering the world or whatever unlike XC3 which at times feels more like the writers are saying it. I literally went back and watched the cutscenes in those games just to make sure. It just reaffirmed my thoughts. XC3 conversations feel muted both in delivery and in writing. Eunie had her moments but most of the cast dialogue is flat. After writing this down and watching a few more cutscenes, I suddenly know why. In XC2, every single party member talks differently. They literally have a different speech pattern? Dialect? Zeke saying chum, Rex with the Savalger code, Dromach ”my lady”, Poppi robotic pattern and “masterpon”, Nia swearing very heavy welsh, etc. In XC3, every party member has the exact same dialogue pattern except for Eunie and maybe Sena with the valley girl accent and some interesting lines like “MEGA suspicious”. I wish they added more of that honestly. It can be cringed, but it adds a flair to the dialogue. The fact is, they all have different accents just like XC2, but the words itself doesn’t reflect their personality enough. Almost every dialogue lines in three could be said by any of the cast. Lanz could be saying Mio lines and it wouldn’t make a difference. It lacks a distinct flavor in the actual writing. The performances are great imo but the lines are often generic with no personality attached to them. This becomes very apparent at the end of the game when they give their little speeches. It sounds like one person saying it despite there being six people . This is why I find N and M performance better than Mio and Noah.Their performances are just *chef kiss. The writing there gives them more of a bite. With that said, the heroes are actually so good and the writing is full of personality. Ashera, Ghondor, Juniper, Zeon, Ethel, Teach, Alexanderia, etc are all so distinct. So I don’t know what’s going on there?

Ok, so my feelings have changed a lot since I posted this lmao. I kinda want to delete this but you know what I’m going suck it up and show that things can change. The honeymoon phase took over me mefears.

Even now reading this, you can sense that there were things that I like better in XC2. The combat is much better in 2. Monolith Soft should never do the 8 players thing again. There are just way too many characters on screen and to customize. I feel like the combat (and the clutter) is the worst aspect of XC3 unfortunately. (Edit: I can’t believe I’m saying this but the lack of QTEs also hurt the combat. Having to watch the long animation plays out every time is like… They should’ve made the animation much shorter or put the QTEs back in.)

Also, XC3 story is better than 2 overall but the main characters are not charming as XC2. I still prefer the dialogue writing and the performances in XC2. I like XC3 story better than 2 but I don’t like the moment to moment dialogue. It was very dry and not natural and some parts are just awkward. It’s weird to me because there are cringey lines in XC2, but it came off better. It’s funny in a way. I like the tone of 2 better. In XC3, it’s more serious so some lines came off very teen sounding idk how to explain it. “Even Stevens” Like why are you shouting that while battling . “Mega suspicious”.

And the second tier cutscenes are more awkward in XC3 I have noticed. That might have contributed to the characters in 3 feeling little stilted. It was the one thing that many people (including me) thought that it was going to be improved in XC3 but the animation was about even compared to XC2 and the voice acting was more awkward. The only thing that was better is the lip sync but somehow it still felt more awkward than 2. There’s a dryness and almost too many pauses between sentences and dialogue between characters. I actually like the text bubble dialogue better than the second tier voiced scenes in XC3. With that said, there are very high points in the story that deserves its 10s. The quest writing is really good too. The side characters and their stories are what really shines in 3. It was better written than the blades quests in 2. In short, I prefer the main cast in XC2 over XC3 but the overall story and side characters in 3 over 2.

The music is about even depending on your taste.

I think XC3 did really good with the quests (the writing in particular), side characters, quality of life stuff, the map, and the exploration. These are much better than XC2 imo.

Overall, Monolith took the ultimate maximalist mindset while making XC3. There’s no doubt about it. That’s a great thing but also have some draw backs. XC2 and XC3 are both flawed in different ways. I wouldn’t call one truly better than another tbh (Edit: Before I was writing it out, I thought this and kind of low key preferred XC2 but now that I’m thinking and typing it out, XC3 did a lot of things better than 2 lol. It’s just that XC3 flaws are the most important parts of the game (combat and the main cast), so it sticks out more). I feel the main cast of 2 carry that game a lot. XC3 is better as a complete game, but the battle system and the clutter are huge minuses. And the main cast isn’t as good as XC2 imo.

Oh, I forgot to mention about the fan service. I guess depending your preference and tolerance. You might prefer one game over another based on that alone.

 

[TheMoon]

Even now reading this, you can sense that there were things that I like better in XC2. The combat is much better in 2. Monolith Soft should never do the 8 players thing again. There are just way too many characters on screen and to customize. I feel like the combat (and the clutter) is the worst aspect of XC3 unfortunately.

disagree sooo extremely hard on this. FINALLY an RPG that did it right.

 

[SammyJ9]

Ok, so my feelings have changed a lot since I posted this lmao. I kinda want to delete this but you know what I’m going suck it up and show that things can change. The honeymoon phase took over me mefears.

Even now reading this, you can sense that there were things that I like better in XC2. The combat is much better in 2. Monolith Soft should never do the 8 players thing again. There are just way too many characters on screen and to customize. I feel like the combat (and the clutter) is the worst aspect of XC3 unfortunately.

This is how I feel, too. The Blades and customization plus the Orb buildup to Orb breaking combat flow is just so good in XC2 that XC3 just can't quite measure up. The class system is cool, but not as flexible or breakable as it first appears (and as I hoped), plus the whole chain attack situation really hurts XC3. And I really didn't care for Ouroboros mode at all, either.

I'm really hoping that Monolith does another combat system that's heavily synergistic and where everything works together to build towards big damage more like in XC2 for their next game, rather than having something more like the totally disconnected "chain attack" gauge from XC3.

 

[chocolate_supra]

I think the battle systems in 2 and 3 are too cluttered and confusing and I sincerely prefer the system from 1.

*runs away and hides*

 

[Thunder84]

Also, XC3 story is better than 2 overall but the main characters are not charming as XC2.

Hard disagree on this, XC3’s cast blows XC2’s out of the water in my opinion. Sena and Manana are the only “weak” links, but Sena is still great and Manana is harmless. Both of them run laps around Tora and offer way more than Dromarch ever does.

XC2 has a great cast too, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of them don’t really contribute a whole lot. Whereas everyone but Manana in XC3 plays a big role. And when they’re all as well written as they are, that adds a ton to an otherwise fairly minimalist story through the first 4 chapters.

 

[TheMoon]

Yea I don't even wanna get into the whole 3 cast not as charming as 2 thing. Holy hell

 

[Seven]

Yea I don't even wanna get into the whole 3 cast not as charming as 2 thing. Holy hell

Or you could be like me and enjoy the casts from all three main Xenoblade games.

 

[Elementary]

Hard disagree on this, XC3’s cast blows XC2’s out of the water in my opinion. Sena and Manana are the only “weak” links, but Sena is still great and Manana is harmless. Both of them run laps around Tora and offer way more than Dromarch ever does.

XC2 has a great cast too, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of them don’t really contribute a whole lot. Whereas everyone but Manana in XC3 plays a big role. And when they’re all as well written as they are, that adds a ton to an otherwise fairly minimalist story through the first 4 chapters.

Slight disagreement. The standouts of the Xenoblade 3 main cast are Eunie and Taion, whose interactions and dialogue are a step beyond the other four. Lanz and Sena both have the problem of not doing much, having their big moment, failing, and disappearing from the plot again. As for the main duo, Mio should have been the game's overall MC. The story revolves around her, since her desire to do something before her term is up is what drives the plot. Meanwhile we spend a lot of time in Noah's head and there's just not a lot going on there. If Mio's the main protagonist then it doesn't matter that Noah's just sort of along for the ride for most of the game; he can be her mysterious and dreamy crush while Mio stays the emotional core of the story. This is how Xenoblade 2 worked; Rex might be a moron but he's the emotional core of the game, even though Mythra is ultimately driving the plot.

Now this doesn't fix the game faltering hard after the prison but many many words have been put to page about that so I won't here.

Also, I gotta say that the class system really hurt the game. Characters feel VERY same-y since the stat differences are so minimal. There's no reason not to constantly play as your favorite class as you rank everyone up through the different classes. What they should have done is take a page from Lost Odyssey. As Heroes rank up you unlock new skills and arts + other benefits for the main party. So Lanz stays a tank but he picks up a dodge skill from Ethel, an offense art from Cammuravi, and a self-heal passive from Fiona. Meanwhile Sena would get an offense art from Ethel, an aggro mitigation art from Fiona and a stat buff from Cammuravi. That sort of thing.

 

[JR436]

Or you could be like me and enjoy the casts from all three main Xenoblade games.

"Is it possible to learn this power?"

- The Xenoblade fandom, maybe.

 

[SammyJ9]

Yea I don't even wanna get into the whole 3 cast not as charming as 2 thing. Holy hell

Theyhatedhimforspeakingthetruth.jpg

I like both casts a lot, but IMO 2 is indeed better - I think ‘charming’ is a great way to put it. Three’s cast has a lot of excellent moments and interactions but they just did not resonate with me emotionally the way that 2’s cast did.

 

[Multiverse]

This is how I feel, too. The Blades and customization plus the Orb buildup to Orb breaking combat flow is just so good in XC2 that XC3 just can't quite measure up. The class system is cool, but not as flexible or breakable as it first appears (and as I hoped), plus the whole chain attack situation really hurts XC3. And I really didn't care for Ouroboros mode at all, either.

I'm really hoping that Monolith does another combat system that's heavily synergistic and where everything works together to build towards big damage more like in XC2 for their next game, rather than having something more like the totally disconnected "chain attack" gauge from XC3.

Yes, and I can’t believe I’m saying this but the lack of QTEs also hurt the combat. Having to watch the long animation plays out every time is like…

They should’ve made the animation much shorter or put the QTEs back in.

 

[TheMoon]

Or you could be like me and enjoy the casts from all three main Xenoblade games.

I mean, that was basically the point. (All four main Xenoblade games. As there are no non-main Xenoblade games)

 

[chocolate_supra]

I mean, that was basically the point. (All four main Xenoblade games. As there are no non-main Xenoblade games)

Yeah but only three of them have good casts

*runs away again*

seriously though XBX is one of my favorite games of all time

 

[Jersh]

Don't try to do every sidequest, you will burn out.

Doing every side quest when DE came out was a pretty fun experience thanks to expert mode, but it was also my third or fourth playthrough of the game and I knew what I was getting into lol

I think the battle systems in 2 and 3 are too cluttered and confusing and I sincerely prefer the system from 1.

*runs away and hides*

I agree, though not necessarily due to the clutter. None of the chain attack systems replicated the rush I got from the original, and I loved how varied their utility was (which is a lot easier to do when they're not overly strong).

This is how I feel, too. The Blades and customization plus the Orb buildup to Orb breaking combat flow is just so good in XC2 that XC3 just can't quite measure up. The class system is cool, but not as flexible or breakable as it first appears (and as I hoped), plus the whole chain attack situation really hurts XC3. And I really didn't care for Ouroboros mode at all, either.

I'm really hoping that Monolith does another combat system that's heavily synergistic and where everything works together to build towards big damage more like in XC2 for their next game, rather than having something more like the totally disconnected "chain attack" gauge from XC3.

It's amusing how we can use similar words to mean entirely different things lol. I know exactly what you mean when you say these things, but XC2's chain attacks feel the most disconnected from the combat to me; it feels like none of the actual arts you're picking in a chain attack matter, it's all just the type game. I understand you're referring to the way the entire stack of mechanics feeds into the orb system, but once you get there, the actual chain attack itself just lacks depth for me. I only really started getting the hang of it in Chapter 8, and yet by Chapter 10 I was already finding the process of achieving a full burst to be a bit stale.

The party gauge in 1/2 (and to an extent, TP in X) was a stroke of genius though. The shared meters for chain attacks and reviving (and warning in XC1) was a great balance. I do appreciate how reviving works in XC3 in its own right, but chain attacks suffered for it.

 

[joveroy]

Someone got the artbook early and post the full interview.

Sina Visitor System

Spoiler

Some titbits from the interview: Fiora is in Lucky 7, Pneuma is in Mathew's glove and malos is in N's Sword.
Due to Shulk and Rex's connection with the Conduit, they have admin level power within Aionis, that's why they were still alive in Future's Redeem

 

[Zeal543]

Someone got the artbook early and post the full interview.

Sina Visitor System

Spoiler

Some titbits from the interview: Fiora is in Lucky 7, Pneuma is in Mathew's glove and malos is in N's Sword.
Due to Shulk and Rex's connection with the Conduit, they have admin level power within Aionis, that's why they were still alive in Future's Redeem

Spoiler

what about riku?

 

[Thunder84]

Spoiler

what about riku?

Spoiler: Answer

Common variety Nopon

 

[Elementary]

Someone got the artbook early and post the full interview.

Sina Visitor System

Spoiler

Some titbits from the interview: Fiora is in Lucky 7, Pneuma is in Mathew's glove and malos is in N's Sword.
Due to Shulk and Rex's connection with the Conduit, they have admin level power within Aionis, that's why they were still alive in Future's Redeem

? What about the other Liberators, like Panacea?

 

[Jbone916]

Spoiler

Lucky SEVEN being related to Fiora (aka “Seven”) is one of those “it was right in front of us the whole time!!” moments.

 

[joveroy]

Takahashi:
I know a lot of people want to see the story post-XC3, so please be patient, and about the administrator of the origin, I can only say that now is not the time to answer, if we proceed with the production, then we can answer everyone.
We've wrote many settings regarding the cause and origin of Aionis. However, now is not the time to answer, for now, please imagine Aionis as something like a fake world for the time being is correct.

 

[Elementary]

Spoiler

Lucky SEVEN being related to Fiora (aka “Seven”) is one of those “it was right in front of us the whole time!!” moments.

People were joking about that at launch. Since Future Redeemed dropped the suspicion was that it was the whole XB1 party, minus Shulk Melia and plus the Nopons from Future Connected.

Takahashi:
I know a lot of people want to see the story post-XC3, so please be patient, and about the administrator of the origin, I can only say that now is not the time to answer, if we proceed with the production, then we can answer everyone.
We've wrote many settings regarding the cause and origin of Aionis. However, now is not the time to answer, for now, please imagine Aionis as something like a fake world for the time being is correct.

Guess that answers what Monolithsoft's next game is.

 

[Semi Lazy Gamer]

fixing

 

[Momo]

Spoiler

what about riku?

Spoiler

Riku is Riki’s son

 

[Semi Lazy Gamer]

Spoiler: artbook spoilers from redit

 

[Neverx]

I'm honestly wondering

Spoiler: Artbook Spoilers

If they'll do a future connected side story for XC2 (maybe upgraded trilogy bundle for Switch 2) with a young Mythra Kid as the protagonist and showcasing them building Origin and Malos stuff while fighting the fogbeasts, especially with the unused Mio kid art

 

[joveroy]

 

[Neverx]

Super cute way of doing the cover.

 

[Semi Lazy Gamer]

Not sure about NSFW pictures, but there's art of Mio in just her bra, panties, and leggings taking off her main outfit, I guess to show how she does so.

 

[Brawlz]

Spoiler

Lucky SEVEN being related to Fiora (aka “Seven”) is one of those “it was right in front of us the whole time!!” moments.

I love this franchise so much

 

[D36]

I want off of Tetsuya Takahashi's Wild Ride (a.k.a. The Passage of Fate)!

 

[Thunder84]

Spoiler: Ending

Noah’s sword being Fiora, Pyra, and Mythra reincarnated into Aionios is really neat.

It also means that Noah arm punted all three of them into the ocean, which is goddamn hilarious.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Spoiler: Ending

Noah’s sword being Fiora, Pyra, and Mythra reincarnated into Aionios is really neat.

It also means that Noah arm punted all three of them into the ocean, which is goddamn hilarious.

Spoiler

 

[pachamelon]

In this link it is well translated and clear

Aionios Moments Key Points Translation

Pages from Aionios Moments, the artbook for Xenoblade 3, have begun to appear online. I will break down some of the main points of what’s been leaked here, but please note that this will not …

xenomira.wordpress.com

 

[Phendrift]

In this link it is well translated and clear

Aionios Moments Key Points Translation

Pages from Aionios Moments, the artbook for Xenoblade 3, have begun to appear online. I will break down some of the main points of what’s been leaked here, but please note that this will not …

xenomira.wordpress.com

Oh wow, there was a poster here who absolutely nailed Moebius. Like exactly how Takahashi described them:

[*]For the villains of Xenoblade 3, Takahashi says (skipping over some parts): I wanted to change a bit how the villains were portrayed. For example, in Xenoblade and Xenoblade 2, the villains had their own pride or their own principles; it could be a philosophy or even faith, but the villains had their own [sense of] justice… But for Xenoblade 3, I had a bit of, “what if I brought the enemies closer to reality?” In terms of, “What is reality?” let’s say for example, those in positions of power. Saying people in positions of power are villains is, well, a bit of a dangerous way to put it, but let’s just say as an example. In real-life society, they are the “system,” as Z says; they can decide on a system, and they can run it. Even for those people in positions of power, I’m sure they have a life story, social ties and such, but what we can see at the surface, what we can feel is their roots, most of that is, how should I say this, a desire; a desire for control, money, fame, and maybe very rarely, lust? That’s where it tends to be rooted in, and occasionally some unsavory people show themselves. What if those people were the villains? So, the villains this time around are the Moebius, and for them, I wanted to make them villains you couldn’t sympathize with, by exaggerating the unsavoriness and patheticness that real-life humans have… Towards the end of the story, I believe there’s a scene where Z says, “It’s because it amuses me,” but that [line], it could be, “It’s because three-star restaurants taste delectable,” or “It’s because I love to make money;” The line can be whatever. We placed the Moebius in that position as a representation of that unsavory aspect of reality.

[Jesus, I spent like 2 hours writing this and I have so many final exams to prepare for. For anyone who’s willing to read, thank you, and please let me know what you think or call me out on bullshit/leaps of logic. I love how this story played out, not that I don’t have a few issues with it, and I’m so keen for more good discussion.]

---

I’ve been kinda sad seeing so many Xeno die-hards end up disappointed in XC3 on this forum and elsewhere. I definitely agree that it does things quite differently to the rest of the trilogy, but I ended up with a really different impression.

I was sceptical when the game was announced, since I felt that 1 and 2 had very complete narratives and that a direct sequel could end up feeling cheap or contrived, rather than making something wholly new. But, I was pleasantly surprised: I think it was a brilliant response to the themes and questions left by the other games, and I am incredibly impressed by how contemporary it is, how overtly political it is, and how sincerely it seeks to have a relevant message for the times we live it.

Don’t worry, my response is not going to be ‘but the characters are really good’, since most of us already agree on that. I think there is much more to the plot that makes it a fitting conclusion.

I think in addressing how it serves as a conclusion to the trilogy we have to ask:

‘What questions did 1 and 2 address, and what questions are left to ask?’​

XC1 and XC2 both had pretty conclusive endings. 1 is set in a world where everything is metaphysically predetermined and concludes in the creation of a world “with no gods.” 2 is optimism vs nihilism in the face of human cruelty. Klaus and Amalthus both give up on the world, and Malos manifests (through the same metaphysical power in 1) as the logical conclusion that it therefore should be destroyed, and Rex is the counterpoint who fights for forgiveness and for humans to have the chance to keep on trying.

Against predetermined fate or denial of a right to exist, 1 and 2 basically ask the same question: ‘do we deserve to choose our own future?’ Shulk’s defiance and Rex’s optimism prove the answer ‘yes’. Question answered.

There’s no point in asking that question again. Instead, XC3 deals with the aftermath: the question, ‘what does it mean to be able to choose your own future, to grapple with those possibilities?’ 3 takes the stance that this is a terrifying question. There is no higher power accountable for the future after 1 and 2: no gods, no Conduit; only humans themselves. For the main characters who have fought for that right, it is a great success. However, it is humanity as a whole who now bears this responsibility.

I think this is a brilliant, even crucial question to address in a successor to 1 and 2, and that’s why I really can’t agree that “this is not what the series had built up.”

Now I want to talk about the assertion that:

XC3 doesn’t engage with its themes, that it just ‘rattles them off like a philosophy class syllabus’, and that in regards to Xeno’s “philosophical legacy it’s a failure.”​

I’d love to know which themes people think it doesn’t engage with, or which aspects of the legacy it fails, so I hope to hear about that in more discussion, but for now I’ll talk about how I believe this isn’t the case.

So Origin is built to avert the mutual destruction of the universes, and to do that it has to contain all living consciousnesses inside it. An unknown future is arriving, and people are terrified of it—a natural response is simply to freeze, to pray that the moment won’t come. Thanks to the workings of Origin, that wish manifests Z, who stops the process. I think the following bit of dialogue from chapter 7 sums this up excellently.



It’s banal, even naïve. The fact that Z and Moebius do not have a grand ambition or mission to accomplish is what makes them such effective villains to me. They simply want to keep comfortable and do the same thing forever. Another line that I think encapsulates what Z thinks is the appeal of his world is this from the end of chapter 3.



I understand how this might seem to be a less compelling antagonistic force than 1 and 2, and certainly Z does less in the plot. However, I think this quote of Takahashi’s candidly communicates what he was going for this time.



Jin and Malos are extraordinary antagonists, and each makes the other more compelling (and actually, in isolation they wouldn’t have been nearly as good), but they are definitely this classic kind of ambiguous villain. I think XC3 works explicitly as a story about life and society in a modern sense, and the villains in real life aren’t those tragic ambiguous figures—they’re billionaires and corporations, systems of power in glorious global hegemonic capitalist liberalism, occasionally with a veneer of democracy.

Now, I know that statement suggests something of a strong left-wing attitude in this writing, and that’s true, but I’m also not just using these as buzzwords. The people who maintain these cycles of exploitation aren’t doing so out of a sadistic desire for destruction—they’re doing it to maintain their own comfort, to continue having more than anybody else. In essence, to keep everything exactly the same. So XC3 is not a story about war. It’s a story about life.

The brilliant metaphor of the flame clocks is what links the war setting to the capitalist analogy—a constant, artificial struggle to survive. The only way to live is to exploit others, who must exploit you in order to live. If you’re better at killing, you get better food and bedding and ascend a gamified hierarchy. But it’s an illusion; the efforts of both sides only exist to maintain the privileged, unchanging lifestyle of the Consuls. The contradiction ‘fighting in order to live and living to fight’ almost exactly mirrors Umberto Eco’s ninth feature of fascism:



This theme is pervasive throughout the main story and side quests, the latter of which I’ll discuss briefly now.

Whenever a colony flame clock is broken it’s like a micro-version of the endings of XC1 and XC2—suddenly, the endless need to fight goes away, and people are left to face their own future, wondering ‘so what now?’ Some people have ideas, some are aimless, some resist. But these side quest chains do go to show in diverse ways how people can learn to live outside an exploitative system. Zeon’s drive to establish subsistence farming is a slog, but I think it’s appropriate: it is not easy to live outside a system that is all you’ve ever known and which has existed for centuries. In all of them, the journey is made easier by learning to work together: Colony Iota is a great example in adapting the tools they used for warfare and exploitation into tools for mutual aid, which is cited directly in the games text. (And for the record in one of the Iota quests Eunie literally quotes Karl Marx).

Some critique of the side quests is that colony soldiers accept the lack of the flame clock way too quickly, and it’s true that they don’t show a lot of resistance. But I think it’s natural—these people do not know that life can exist outside these bounds, and Moebius takes the task of keeping them in the dark extremely seriously. They do this because fundamentally, Moebius has a weak case—they were born out of panic and anxiety; they need absolutism because their philosophy doesn’t hold up to critique. This is also why pacifism is immediately punished, why Noah and the party are attacked as soon as they return to Colony 9—if even the idea got out that not fighting was an option, it’s a major risk.

I have one last point to make.

Regarding ‘the sci-fi twist that upends your understanding of the story’​

Those moments in past Xeno games where the façade gets stripped away, where the high-concept sci-fi-onto-philosophical truth behind existence and origin of the world gets revealed and blows your mind, are undoubtedly some of the highlights and definitely what made me become a fan when I was younger. And I think it’s fair to say that XC3 does not have a twist like this, whether at the middle or at the end.

However, I think there is an equivalent moment in the arrival to the city. All of those mind-blowing moments from before are mind-blowing both to the player and to the characters. The revelations at the city—childbirth, ageing, the concepts of ancestry, history, culture—are obvious to us, but absolutely foreign and assuredly mind-blowing to the characters. Yes, we don’t get blown away by an elaborate, creative sci-fi concept. Yes, it’s another example of a classic Xeno twist replaced by an emotionally resonate moment. Nevertheless, this section is paramount for the thematic through-line of the game. In order to face the future, there must be acknowledgement and awareness of the past.

It's crucial that, aside from the city, Aionios has no history and barely any culture. The remnants of Alrest and Bionis/Mechonis are completely unrecognised, and diverse races of people don’t even realise that they’re different beyond the manufactured nationalism indoctrinated in them by Moebius. It’s unsatisfying for us, who do understand the significance of these details—that’s what’s so tragic! This is the ‘endless now’: no need for past, no need for future.

The condition of Z’s existence is that he believes he is absolutely right. Anyone who stands against him dies or gives up. I often see “because it amuse me” woefully misinterpreted—Z didn’t create Aionios, rebirth, endless war and such because its amusing. All of those things are the case because they enable an endless stasis—because they should be the case. The thing that amuses Z is when people attempt to deny it. Crys decides he’s satisfied with his life and chooses to die. Joran finds contentment rather than regret when he saves Lanz. Z is amused because when he offers eternity to those people who had made peace with the finitude of life, they accept. They always accept—and that is what’s amusing.

Most significant in this regard are Noah and Mio, who fight Z over and over again across multiple lives. Eventually they abandon that goal, have a child, and die ‘natural’ deaths. Noah, who was Z’s greatest threat, accepts eternity as well. It crushes him but affirms Z’s belief. Anyone will choose this in the end.

However, we infer (I can’t remember if it's explicit) that N’s and M’s child, or a descendant, goes on to found house Vandham. Centuries pass, and eventually one of Noah and Mio’s own descendants is the one who saves them in chapter 1 and sets them on the path to free the world. Even as N succumbs to Z, he and M set that process in motion.

In a similar way, off-seeing is the one way soldiers of Aionios maintain a connection to the past and hope for a future—a practice which is started by Crys with M’s support and is eventually passed down to Noah.

The Ouroboros we control only succeed because of actions set in motion over a thousand years before, a slowly-building rebellion against Moebius’s eternity of control. And this passing-down is symbolised in the music of the protagonists and the history of the city. In the final boss fight when Z, having abandoned his smooth rhetoric, says “the self is all that exists”, he has already been proven wrong.

Then the ending, where Aionios with its tenuous, fleeting history is annihilated and the worlds reverted to the instant before their collision. The condition of the world is exploitation and stasis—the story seems to tell us that the flow of slaughter and reincarnation is what allows Origin to keep time slowed. The city and the liberation of the colonies has created a lot of goodness in Aionios too, but unfortunately the fusion of the universes is conditional on the flow of life, on the cycle of reincarnation. We can say “why does it have to be that way?” but we might also say “why can’t we have iphones without slave labour”, or, broadly, “why can’t we fix things without losing anything?”

XC3 asks you to confront this question in a way that a lot of current media doesn’t. It isn’t willing to provide an easy way out. But with the same breath, it is constantly, profoundly hopeful. Plenty of games handle ‘mature themes’, but so often nihilism is the result. Xeno-games have always adamantly rejected nihilism, which is a quality I didn’t appreciate as much as I should have in the past.

This is how it completes the ‘Klaus saga’, in my view. Human fallibility caused the violent split of these universes. In each, the people fought for the right to choose their future. Eventually they became free. The reunification and mutual annihilation of the worlds is the unavoidable consequence of the past, and Moebius gives the easy answer of shutting your eyes, pretending the past didn’t happen, pretending the future isn’t coming. Which achieves nothing but a slow, drawn-out demise. The progression is symbolic in N/M and Noah/Mio’s Irises.

• The Moebius strip: a surface on which you keep moving infinitely, fast or slow as you like; you’ll always be in the same place.
• Ouroboros: still cyclical, but there is an undeniable point of change between the head and the tail. This isn’t a solution, but it is proof of the fundamental contradiction in Moebius, the proof of finitude (within the infinity of time).
• When Noah and Mio reconnect with their other selves, the merged symbols become a yin/yang, a symbolic of naïve dialecticism. It gives an answer to the contradiction of eternity: to embrace impermanence, and accept that change will happen, endlessly.

I think that, in the end, XC3 wants to ask: ‘Could you abandon things you love in order to face the future? Would you think that’s the right thing to do? Even if the future is uncertain, even if you might not exist anymore? Could you do it?’

It’s a question that, when I really get into it, I struggle to answer. But I think it is a question of utmost importance for the times in which we live.

(This post is probably still my favorite post on Xenoblade 3)

 

[Síriocaz]

That drawing alone cements this artbook as the best there's ever been in the history of artbooks.

 

[Phendrift]

Omg

 

[chocolate_supra]

Omg

Hey wasn't part of the blade lifecycle to turn into titans? That's actually somewhat in-line in a way

 

[Thunder84]

[Jesus, I spent like 2 hours writing this and I have so many final exams to prepare for. For anyone who’s willing to read, thank you, and please let me know what you think or call me out on bullshit/leaps of logic. I love how this story played out, not that I don’t have a few issues with it, and I’m so keen for more good discussion.]

---

I’ve been kinda sad seeing so many Xeno die-hards end up disappointed in XC3 on this forum and elsewhere. I definitely agree that it does things quite differently to the rest of the trilogy, but I ended up with a really different impression.

I was sceptical when the game was announced, since I felt that 1 and 2 had very complete narratives and that a direct sequel could end up feeling cheap or contrived, rather than making something wholly new. But, I was pleasantly surprised: I think it was a brilliant response to the themes and questions left by the other games, and I am incredibly impressed by how contemporary it is, how overtly political it is, and how sincerely it seeks to have a relevant message for the times we live it.

Don’t worry, my response is not going to be ‘but the characters are really good’, since most of us already agree on that. I think there is much more to the plot that makes it a fitting conclusion.

I think in addressing how it serves as a conclusion to the trilogy we have to ask:

‘What questions did 1 and 2 address, and what questions are left to ask?’​

XC1 and XC2 both had pretty conclusive endings. 1 is set in a world where everything is metaphysically predetermined and concludes in the creation of a world “with no gods.” 2 is optimism vs nihilism in the face of human cruelty. Klaus and Amalthus both give up on the world, and Malos manifests (through the same metaphysical power in 1) as the logical conclusion that it therefore should be destroyed, and Rex is the counterpoint who fights for forgiveness and for humans to have the chance to keep on trying.

Against predetermined fate or denial of a right to exist, 1 and 2 basically ask the same question: ‘do we deserve to choose our own future?’ Shulk’s defiance and Rex’s optimism prove the answer ‘yes’. Question answered.

There’s no point in asking that question again. Instead, XC3 deals with the aftermath: the question, ‘what does it mean to be able to choose your own future, to grapple with those possibilities?’ 3 takes the stance that this is a terrifying question. There is no higher power accountable for the future after 1 and 2: no gods, no Conduit; only humans themselves. For the main characters who have fought for that right, it is a great success. However, it is humanity as a whole who now bears this responsibility.

I think this is a brilliant, even crucial question to address in a successor to 1 and 2, and that’s why I really can’t agree that “this is not what the series had built up.”

Now I want to talk about the assertion that:

XC3 doesn’t engage with its themes, that it just ‘rattles them off like a philosophy class syllabus’, and that in regards to Xeno’s “philosophical legacy it’s a failure.”​

I’d love to know which themes people think it doesn’t engage with, or which aspects of the legacy it fails, so I hope to hear about that in more discussion, but for now I’ll talk about how I believe this isn’t the case.

So Origin is built to avert the mutual destruction of the universes, and to do that it has to contain all living consciousnesses inside it. An unknown future is arriving, and people are terrified of it—a natural response is simply to freeze, to pray that the moment won’t come. Thanks to the workings of Origin, that wish manifests Z, who stops the process. I think the following bit of dialogue from chapter 7 sums this up excellently.



It’s banal, even naïve. The fact that Z and Moebius do not have a grand ambition or mission to accomplish is what makes them such effective villains to me. They simply want to keep comfortable and do the same thing forever. Another line that I think encapsulates what Z thinks is the appeal of his world is this from the end of chapter 3.



I understand how this might seem to be a less compelling antagonistic force than 1 and 2, and certainly Z does less in the plot. However, I think this quote of Takahashi’s candidly communicates what he was going for this time.



Jin and Malos are extraordinary antagonists, and each makes the other more compelling (and actually, in isolation they wouldn’t have been nearly as good), but they are definitely this classic kind of ambiguous villain. I think XC3 works explicitly as a story about life and society in a modern sense, and the villains in real life aren’t those tragic ambiguous figures—they’re billionaires and corporations, systems of power in glorious global hegemonic capitalist liberalism, occasionally with a veneer of democracy.

Now, I know that statement suggests something of a strong left-wing attitude in this writing, and that’s true, but I’m also not just using these as buzzwords. The people who maintain these cycles of exploitation aren’t doing so out of a sadistic desire for destruction—they’re doing it to maintain their own comfort, to continue having more than anybody else. In essence, to keep everything exactly the same. So XC3 is not a story about war. It’s a story about life.

The brilliant metaphor of the flame clocks is what links the war setting to the capitalist analogy—a constant, artificial struggle to survive. The only way to live is to exploit others, who must exploit you in order to live. If you’re better at killing, you get better food and bedding and ascend a gamified hierarchy. But it’s an illusion; the efforts of both sides only exist to maintain the privileged, unchanging lifestyle of the Consuls. The contradiction ‘fighting in order to live and living to fight’ almost exactly mirrors Umberto Eco’s ninth feature of fascism:



This theme is pervasive throughout the main story and side quests, the latter of which I’ll discuss briefly now.

Whenever a colony flame clock is broken it’s like a micro-version of the endings of XC1 and XC2—suddenly, the endless need to fight goes away, and people are left to face their own future, wondering ‘so what now?’ Some people have ideas, some are aimless, some resist. But these side quest chains do go to show in diverse ways how people can learn to live outside an exploitative system. Zeon’s drive to establish subsistence farming is a slog, but I think it’s appropriate: it is not easy to live outside a system that is all you’ve ever known and which has existed for centuries. In all of them, the journey is made easier by learning to work together: Colony Iota is a great example in adapting the tools they used for warfare and exploitation into tools for mutual aid, which is cited directly in the games text. (And for the record in one of the Iota quests Eunie literally quotes Karl Marx).

Some critique of the side quests is that colony soldiers accept the lack of the flame clock way too quickly, and it’s true that they don’t show a lot of resistance. But I think it’s natural—these people do not know that life can exist outside these bounds, and Moebius takes the task of keeping them in the dark extremely seriously. They do this because fundamentally, Moebius has a weak case—they were born out of panic and anxiety; they need absolutism because their philosophy doesn’t hold up to critique. This is also why pacifism is immediately punished, why Noah and the party are attacked as soon as they return to Colony 9—if even the idea got out that not fighting was an option, it’s a major risk.

I have one last point to make.

Regarding ‘the sci-fi twist that upends your understanding of the story’​

Those moments in past Xeno games where the façade gets stripped away, where the high-concept sci-fi-onto-philosophical truth behind existence and origin of the world gets revealed and blows your mind, are undoubtedly some of the highlights and definitely what made me become a fan when I was younger. And I think it’s fair to say that XC3 does not have a twist like this, whether at the middle or at the end.

However, I think there is an equivalent moment in the arrival to the city. All of those mind-blowing moments from before are mind-blowing both to the player and to the characters. The revelations at the city—childbirth, ageing, the concepts of ancestry, history, culture—are obvious to us, but absolutely foreign and assuredly mind-blowing to the characters. Yes, we don’t get blown away by an elaborate, creative sci-fi concept. Yes, it’s another example of a classic Xeno twist replaced by an emotionally resonate moment. Nevertheless, this section is paramount for the thematic through-line of the game. In order to face the future, there must be acknowledgement and awareness of the past.

It's crucial that, aside from the city, Aionios has no history and barely any culture. The remnants of Alrest and Bionis/Mechonis are completely unrecognised, and diverse races of people don’t even realise that they’re different beyond the manufactured nationalism indoctrinated in them by Moebius. It’s unsatisfying for us, who do understand the significance of these details—that’s what’s so tragic! This is the ‘endless now’: no need for past, no need for future.

The condition of Z’s existence is that he believes he is absolutely right. Anyone who stands against him dies or gives up. I often see “because it amuse me” woefully misinterpreted—Z didn’t create Aionios, rebirth, endless war and such because its amusing. All of those things are the case because they enable an endless stasis—because they should be the case. The thing that amuses Z is when people attempt to deny it. Crys decides he’s satisfied with his life and chooses to die. Joran finds contentment rather than regret when he saves Lanz. Z is amused because when he offers eternity to those people who had made peace with the finitude of life, they accept. They always accept—and that is what’s amusing.

Most significant in this regard are Noah and Mio, who fight Z over and over again across multiple lives. Eventually they abandon that goal, have a child, and die ‘natural’ deaths. Noah, who was Z’s greatest threat, accepts eternity as well. It crushes him but affirms Z’s belief. Anyone will choose this in the end.

However, we infer (I can’t remember if it's explicit) that N’s and M’s child, or a descendant, goes on to found house Vandham. Centuries pass, and eventually one of Noah and Mio’s own descendants is the one who saves them in chapter 1 and sets them on the path to free the world. Even as N succumbs to Z, he and M set that process in motion.

In a similar way, off-seeing is the one way soldiers of Aionios maintain a connection to the past and hope for a future—a practice which is started by Crys with M’s support and is eventually passed down to Noah.

The Ouroboros we control only succeed because of actions set in motion over a thousand years before, a slowly-building rebellion against Moebius’s eternity of control. And this passing-down is symbolised in the music of the protagonists and the history of the city. In the final boss fight when Z, having abandoned his smooth rhetoric, says “the self is all that exists”, he has already been proven wrong.

Then the ending, where Aionios with its tenuous, fleeting history is annihilated and the worlds reverted to the instant before their collision. The condition of the world is exploitation and stasis—the story seems to tell us that the flow of slaughter and reincarnation is what allows Origin to keep time slowed. The city and the liberation of the colonies has created a lot of goodness in Aionios too, but unfortunately the fusion of the universes is conditional on the flow of life, on the cycle of reincarnation. We can say “why does it have to be that way?” but we might also say “why can’t we have iphones without slave labour”, or, broadly, “why can’t we fix things without losing anything?”

XC3 asks you to confront this question in a way that a lot of current media doesn’t. It isn’t willing to provide an easy way out. But with the same breath, it is constantly, profoundly hopeful. Plenty of games handle ‘mature themes’, but so often nihilism is the result. Xeno-games have always adamantly rejected nihilism, which is a quality I didn’t appreciate as much as I should have in the past.

This is how it completes the ‘Klaus saga’, in my view. Human fallibility caused the violent split of these universes. In each, the people fought for the right to choose their future. Eventually they became free. The reunification and mutual annihilation of the worlds is the unavoidable consequence of the past, and Moebius gives the easy answer of shutting your eyes, pretending the past didn’t happen, pretending the future isn’t coming. Which achieves nothing but a slow, drawn-out demise. The progression is symbolic in N/M and Noah/Mio’s Irises.

• The Moebius strip: a surface on which you keep moving infinitely, fast or slow as you like; you’ll always be in the same place.
• Ouroboros: still cyclical, but there is an undeniable point of change between the head and the tail. This isn’t a solution, but it is proof of the fundamental contradiction in Moebius, the proof of finitude (within the infinity of time).
• When Noah and Mio reconnect with their other selves, the merged symbols become a yin/yang, a symbolic of naïve dialecticism. It gives an answer to the contradiction of eternity: to embrace impermanence, and accept that change will happen, endlessly.

I think that, in the end, XC3 wants to ask: ‘Could you abandon things you love in order to face the future? Would you think that’s the right thing to do? Even if the future is uncertain, even if you might not exist anymore? Could you do it?’

It’s a question that, when I really get into it, I struggle to answer. But I think it is a question of utmost importance for the times in which we live.

Omg

The whiplash between these two things is a perfect encapsulation of why I love Xenoblade lol

 

[Brawlz]

Spoiler: Ending

Noah’s sword being Fiora, Pyra, and Mythra reincarnated into Aionios is really neat.

It also means that Noah arm punted all three of them into the ocean, which is goddamn hilarious.

Spoiler: Xeno 3 ending spoilers

I thought so too, but if you look at some screen grabs of the base game, the core crystal that were in Mathew's gauntlets are not with Noah.

 

[chocolate_supra]

Spoiler: Xeno 3 ending spoilers

I thought so too, but if you look at some screen grabs of the base game, the core crystal that were in Mathew's gauntlets are not with Noah.

So you think maybe

Spoiler

Pneuma and/or her power created the gauntlets but at some point her core was removed and now is somewhere else?

 

[chocolate_supra]

If only we could ask Takahashi follow-up questions

 

[Aostia82]

man, this game/series really has a level of details simply stunning
both in terms of screenplay but also cut scenes

 

[Shadow]

The only thing that I see after all this has come to light, is Takahashi sitting like this behind his desk moments before he started writing:

Because good lord, this stuff is some utter insanity...

 

[SoldierDelta]

The only thing that I see after all this has come to light, is Takahashi sitting like this behind his desk moments before he started writing:

Because good lord, this stuff is some utter insanity...

The reality is that Xenoblade is a giant fever dream of themes and Gnostic intepretations that have driven people insane for 26 years and counting.

Takahashi isn't a cook, dude's a Michelin Star chef.

 

[Brawlz]

So you think maybe

Spoiler

Pneuma and/or her power created the gauntlets but at some point her core was removed and now is somewhere else?

Most likely yes. Who knows when and why though.

 

[Thunder84]

Spoiler: Xeno 3 ending spoilers

I thought so too, but if you look at some screen grabs of the base game, the core crystal that were in Mathew's gauntlets are not with Noah.

I’m willing to bet good money that’s just an oversight.

EDIT: It's also worth noting that we don't ever see the "underside" of the gauntlets like we do in Future Redeemed, which is where the core crystal seems to reside. We only ever see the top of the gauntlets, where it's covered up.

 

[Seven]

Spoiler: Xeno 3 ending spoilers

I thought so too, but if you look at some screen grabs of the base game, the core crystal that were in Mathew's gauntlets are not with Noah.

Spoiler

Or it could simply be that the developers thought fans would understand the connection Noah's sheathe would have with Pyra/Mythra through the green light similarly to how fans initially theorized that N's sword was connected with Malos (Logos) by its purple aura which was confirmed by Takahashi.

The only reason we see it clearly in FR was because the DLC was chock full of references and callbacks to the previous two games.[/SPOILERS]

 

[Brawlz]

Spoiler

Or it could simply be that the developers thought fans would understand the connection Noah's sheathe would have with Pyra/Mythra through the green light similarly to how fans initially theorized that N's sword was connected with Malos (Logos) by its purple aura which was confirmed by Takahashi.

The only reason we see it clearly in FR was because the DLC was chock full of references and callbacks to the previous two games.[/SPOILERS]

Spoiler: XB3 spoilers

I want this to be true. Something akin to them knowing about this the whole time, but needed to hide it because they had future redeemed cooking in the back room.

Ultimately though, if it did disappear, we'll know why in the next game as that is something they'd want to expand upon....I hope