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Pre-Release Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Pre-release Discussion Thread (Spoilers from leaks/early copies NOT allowed)

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sanstea said:
Oof, I was worried by the comments that they just remixed Gormott again for the area theme but listening to it myself luckily that isn't the case.

The game looks and sounds too good, to be honest.

Also, it seems to me they are trying to hide something in the overworld because some of these behind the party shots are uncomfortably close.
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It's the Xeno statue of liberty.

They don't want to give away the scene where Noah collapses and screams "You finally really did it! You maniacs! You blew it up!"
 
I still want in-battle class swaps, but switching control across six characters is going to be huge. I don't know if I'll be able to go back to the other Xenoblades after XC3. Full party control feels like something that they they've wanted to implement since XC1 but couldn't get past the technical and balance issues, and I kind of want to see what XC1 would be like if it were hacked into that game.
 
Yeah seems like the visuals resolution wise look relatively the same as Torna. Also that grass clip has the same exact grass distance issue as every Xeno game. In fact it has the grass unloading before the character even reaches it? Kind of a shame, I was hoping for a little visual bump. It's bizarre that Monolith is known for their iconic grass fields yet can't hold a clean transition of grass, leading to blatant "grass to no grass" lines
 
Procheno said:
Yeah seems like the visuals resolution wise look relatively the same as Torna. Also that grass clip has the same exact grass distance issue as every Xeno game. In fact it has the grass unloading before the character even reaches it? Kind of a shame, I was hoping for a little visual bump. It's bizarre that Monolith is known for their iconic grass fields yet can't hold a clean transition of grass, leading to blatant "grass to no grass" lines
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That isn't the grass unloading beforehand, it's the camera being close to the ground and character resulting in the game intentionally removing vegetation as it could obstruct your view. That has been in every Xenoblade game.

As for draw distance issues, every open world Switch game has that and is just is what it is. Just needs better hardware. Otherwise, there is definitely a visual bump especially noticeable in improved enemy models for example - the improvement is just minor as at the end of the day it is still just the same hardware 2, Torna and DE are on.
 
The game looks great. They are doing everything they can. I’m so excited about the combat. The character switch and mobility options will change the game literally. GAME CHANGER.
 
sanstea said:
That isn't the grass unloading beforehand, it's the camera being close to the ground and character resulting in the game intentionally removing vegetation as it could obstruct your view. That has been in every Xenoblade game.

As for draw distance issues, every open world Switch game has that and is just is what it is. Just needs better hardware. Otherwise, there is definitely a visual bump especially noticeable in improved enemy models for example - the improvement is just minor as at the end of the day it is still just the same hardware 2, Torna and DE are on.
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I understand the unloading via camera distance thing but that's not the case with the other clips. Other clips have foliage much closer to the camera with the camera zoomed in just as much if not closer. They're squeezing as much grass as they can on screen but can't handle as much as they want so they cheat by adjusting the unloading from camera distance up more. Again I understand why they do it, and everything else looks great. Lighting looks good, models look great, animations look superb, framerate is looking beautiful (more than anyone can say for 2). Love the clothing animations, everything looks clean. I'm sure even the resolution holds up as much as it can to a clean 720p too. Just wish they had more horsepower to chip out these minor issues
 
Procheno said:
I understand the unloading via camera distance thing but that's not the case with the other clips. Other clips have foliage much closer to the camera with the camera zoomed in just as much if not closer.
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Again, it is not only about how close the camera is to the character but also how low it is to the ground which is mostly the reason why vegetation would obstruct your view. In the other clips the character isn't running down a slope where the camera is naturally closer to the ground. It works literally the same way in every other Xenoblade game.

No way they would implement unloading of foliage before you step on it anywhere with how far away you can position the camera from your character in Xenoblade games. They would make sacrifices elsewhere (like they do with dynamic resolution in areas that are more demanding in XC2).
 
EtherPenguin said:
Oh my goodness, that gormott remix. Damn, I just said I was hoping to hear some field music and they delivered lol.

Are we getting a blog every week?

Oh and collectables have unique models when you get up close, they aren't just purple orbs.
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It's technically (but importantly) not a Gormott remix, it's a brand new composition that interpolates elements (such as melodic passages, chord progressions) of the previous games' "early-game big open field area"

Gormott's theme took a chord progression from the Guar Plains theme and sort of extrapolated off of that, and it appears this theme is doing the same with Gormott's theme (and likely Guar Plains' theme as well).

I imagine this is a compositional choice done to evoke a sense of familiarity and nostalgia. We're fortunate enough to have composers involved that are able to do this without making it sound like a rehash, too.
 
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sanstea said:
Again, it is not only about how close the camera is to the character but also how low it is to the ground which is mostly the reason why vegetation would obstruct your view. In the other clips the character isn't running down a slope where the camera is naturally closer to the ground. It works literally the same way in every other Xenoblade game.

No way they would implement unloading of foliage before you step on it anywhere with how far away you can position the camera from your character in Xenoblade games. They would make sacrifices elsewhere (like they do with dynamic resolution in areas that are more demanding in XC2).
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Hmm you may be right. I didn't consider the height of the camera as well. I only considered the distance to character. The other clips also had shorter foliage which technically meant the grass was further away from the camera.

And yes they wouldn't do that lol I was just speculating that when it is that close, the fade distance from grass to camera is highlighted due to its close proximity, not that the grass would disappear in front of the character at any camera distance.

I do wonder: I know Torna introduced 3D grass vs the 2d jpegs from 1, X, and 2, but does the grass in 3 look more voluminous to anyone? Idk if it's the lighting or if the grass tech has evolved even more from Torna/DE, but it looks thicker
 
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Procheno said:
Hmm you may be right. I didn't consider the height of the camera as well. I only considered the distance to character. The other clips also had shorter foliage which technically meant the grass was further away from the camera.

And yes they wouldn't do that lol I was just speculating that when it is that close, the fade distance from grass to camera is highlighted due to its close proximity, not that the grass would disappear in front of the character at any camera distance.

I do wonder: I know Torna introduced 3D grass vs the 2d jpegs from 1, X, and 2, but does the grass in 3 look more voluminous to anyone? Idk if it's the lighting or if the grass tech has evolved even more from Torna/DE, but it looks thicker
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There are more grass compared to DE. It is denser.

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So far the combat looks more like an improved version of 1 compared to that of 2. Not sure quite how I feel about that, since I generally prefer 2's combat by a large margin, but adding stuff like party swapping, a dash, and attack canceling into 1's combat does make it a lot more interesting, imo. So we'll see
 
2 was my least favorite combat system of the previous three games, so I'm pretty happy with the direction they're taking things. I don't know if I'd say it really leans THAT much closer to the first game than 2. Feels like a mostly even split with a lot of stuff added on top that makes it its own thing.

I don't think we're going to be getting the more interesting utility skills 1 and X. Auras won't be a thing, but there were also resource management arts like Battle Soul and Final Flicker or Blood Sacrifice and Essence Exchange in X. I also don't expect things like X's Brainjack + Servant Sacrifice combo to be a thing even though that would've been perfect for tacticians. Arts that combo together don't really make sense with the fusion system. And I liked stuff like Shadow Eye, how it reduced your aggro while also boosting arts damage so there was a choice of how you wanted to use the art. The kind of stuff that doesn't grant status effect but does some interesting non-damaging with a strategical purpose. I've come to accept arts like that just aren't coming back. Maybe in X-2 though.

Of course, they're also doing cool things with arts that haven't really been done much before. Making healing arts have specific AOEs that require the player to care about positioning like Riki's healing art is something I've been begging for.

Really, I just need to see what our equipment options are and how passive skills are set up, then I'm all set. I hope passives are like X where they were sort of treated like arts.
 
Phendrift said:
I need something as satisfying as shattering elemental orbs in 2.

Just building it all up through multiple steps and watching the healthbars utterly melt was such catharsis
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Basically my take on things. I didn't really enjoy the more diverse arts of 1 as much (haven't played X so can't comment there) but the more combo-y elements of 2 never got old
 
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Phendrift said:
I need something as satisfying as shattering elemental orbs in 2.

Just building it all up through multiple steps and watching the healthbars utterly melt was such catharsis
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It was so, so difficult for me to build up enough orbs to break in XB2. I only pulled it off a couple times.

They fixed the hell out of it in Torna, though, to the point where I finally loved doing it. I have faith Monolith is moving in the right direction and is gonna do good stuff here in 3.
 
chocolate_supra said:
It was so, so difficult for me to build up enough orbs to break in XB2. I only pulled it off a couple times.

They fixed the hell out of it in Torna, though, to the point where I finally loved doing it. I have faith Monolith is moving in the right direction and is gonna do good stuff here in 3.
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Common blades with orb master > any rare blade.

I've been replaying 2. When I lost Pyra/Mythra at the end of chapter 6, I loaded up Rex with orb master commons in all three slots and tore through Spirit Crucible Elpys. I even spent an overdrive on a common with orb master. Granted it also helps that I have KOS-MOS in my party. Torna's a lot more fun, but the orb stuff may have been a little too spammy there.

But overall all the orb setting and bursting did nothing for me, I'd rather just have a bunch of interesting abilities. I will say that 2 has a better sense of combat momentum than 1 though. A lot of the passive skills in 1 give you a buff at the beginning of battle and then decay in thirty-ish seconds. The passive skills on Blades in 2 tend to ramp up as combat goes on like granting buffs at max affinity or gradually gaining a cumulative bonus every time some condition is triggered like Crosette getting potions. That was good stuff. Monolith will hopefully be looking at the blade skills in 2 in addition to X's skills for designing 3's passives.
 
So much to be excited about regarding this game.

The new battle system looks great. The story premise is exciting as hell. The environments will be stunning as hell. It’s a given the music is gonna be great, but mitsuda calling it his magnum opus. Can’t wait to hear the vocal themes too.

It’s rare to be excited for ALL aspects of a game like I am for this
 
Phendrift said:
So much to be excited about regarding this game.

The new battle system looks great. The story premise is exciting as hell. The environments will be stunning as hell. It’s a given the music is gonna be great, but mitsuda calling it his magnum opus. Can’t wait to hear the vocal themes too.

It’s rare to be excited for ALL aspects of a game like I am for this
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Same here. And in addition to all the things you pointed out, I also already prefer this cast to XB2's. I'm excited about every thing in this game.
 
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Phendrift said:
So much to be excited about regarding this game.

The new battle system looks great. The story premise is exciting as hell. The environments will be stunning as hell. It’s a given the music is gonna be great, but mitsuda calling it his magnum opus. Can’t wait to hear the vocal themes too.

It’s rare to be excited for ALL aspects of a game like I am for this
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Yep. Ultimately it's all about execution and it's hard to say anything with certainty yet since we only know snippets, but all the pieces are there.
 
Phendrift said:
So much to be excited about regarding this game.

The new battle system looks great. The story premise is exciting as hell. The environments will be stunning as hell. It’s a given the music is gonna be great, but mitsuda calling it his magnum opus. Can’t wait to hear the vocal themes too.

It’s rare to be excited for ALL aspects of a game like I am for this
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It really does look incredibly promising. I'm basically on the verge of preemptively awarding it my GoTY
 
I don’t know if I prefer this cast to the other games. That’s actually the one thing I’m not too keen about is that they’re all teenagers. There better be some hidden older PERMANENT party members somewhere that we don’t know about or I’m going to be disappointed. I mean Zeke, Morag, Lora, Jin, Addam, Hugo, Haze, Brighid (basically all the Torna cast rofl)…like >>>>>

They ate.

And idc what anyone says Pyra/Mythra is iconic and they’re technically “500 years old”. You know actually writing this down I’ve come to notice most of the party members of XC2 aren’t young/teens.

I remember when 3 first trailer drop, It looks so off to me and I couldn’t figure out why. It looks pedestrian lol…“Tales of” like (sorry Tales fans). I’ve realized it was definitely a combination of their causal design/outfit and the fact that all of the cast are basically the same age. I’m not a huge fan of Persona for this exact reason. Well, thankfully we’re not in high school so that’s good at least 😬.
 
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Multiverse said:
I don’t know if I prefer this cast to the other games. That’s actually the one thing I’m not too keen about is that they’re all teenagers. There better be some hidden older PERMANENT party members somewhere that we don’t know about or I’m going to be disappointed. I mean Zeke, Morag, Lora, Jin, Addam, Hugo, Haze, Brighid (basically all the Torna cast rofl)…like >>>>>

They ate.

And idc what anyone says Pyra/Mythra is iconic and they’re technically “500 years old”. You know actually writing this down I’ve come to notice that most of the party members of XC2 aren’t young/teens.

I remember when 3 first trailer drop, It looks so off to me and I couldn’t figure out why. It looks pedestrian lol…“Tales of” like (sorry Tales fans). I’ve realized it was definitely a combination of their causal design/outfit and the fact that all of the cast are basically the same age. I’m not a huge fan of Persona for this exact reason.
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Hah. It's funny how different people interpret the same thing. Your point of comparison in the age shift comes from falling in line with genre tropes you feel are oversaturated. (I am aware of them, and those series, but I haven't played them, or not an a long time)

My first thought to seeing the obvious shift in age nature of the cast (the 'olds' are gone) and the premise is : 'Do I get my four years back?'
 
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For anyone interested, I put together an image compiling all the status effects I've noticed across the gameplay clips (including the Japanese trailer). It looks like a decent number from the first game are returning, possibly even a version of Monado Armor.


Some notes:
  • Despite having an electric icon, the kanji for the field effect seems to be referring to fire and it's the same kanji used for blaze in X (and assumedly 1).
  • I believe Target Lock is just Lock-On from the first game.
  • Field effects are always shown as up arrows with a ring under them next to the character portraits rather than the buff's actual icon, but those buffs do exist as non-field versions at least for enemies, as you can see with attack up.
  • The ??? icon. The closest thing it looks like is the icon for Auras. What's weird is that it's shaped differently. Buff icons are flat on the bottom and pointed on the top, this icon is pointed on both ends implying it's something different than a normal buff. It's even a slightly different shade of blue. Lanz and Taion are both seen with this and they're both defenders, Lanz is specifically a zephyr. I can't see Taion when he has it. Lanz has some energy swirling around him in the Japanese trailer when he has this status. Possibly the return of auras?

If you have better guesses as to what some of these are, let me know.
 
I really wonder how fusion arts will interact with all these effects. That system alone seems insanely cool with taking different moves and applying them in different ways, plus the potential hints at how it interacts with the class system. The game looks like it's the xenoblade game with the most amount of available options and approaches to a fight period. Probably the most promising jrpg combat system on the horizon.
 
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Neoleo said:
I really wonder how fusion arts will interact with all these effects. That system alone seems insanely cool with taking different moves and applying them in different ways, plus the potential hints at how it interacts with the class system.
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I'm really liking the idea of putting up Fields of status effects though fusion arts, though I suppose it depends on how those'll be implemented
 
Also I can't help but notice in the clip with the crustip, but there were fairly large groups of bigger enemies together, which didn't really happen that often in 2 I felt. In general, it feels like there are a lot more enemies on screen.

This is probably to counterbalance having a much larger party. You fight larger groups of foes.
 
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how will Riku and Mananna work? Riku has a gun while Mananna looks to have a shield. In the trailer they have a attacker icon, but what if the class depends on who is the main fighter and if you can switch them? Like when Riku is the main fighter they are attackers while when Mananna is the main they become a defender.
 
EtherPenguin said:
The ??? icon. The closest thing it looks like is the icon for Auras. What's weird is that it's shaped differently. Buff icons are flat on the bottom and pointed on the top, this icon is pointed on both ends implying it's something different than a normal buff.
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Thanks for the analysis. To add on the icon shape, it makes sense for Auras too, since they often have some negative effects (can't move, defense down, attack down, losing all aggro, etc) besides the positive ones.
 
Warlord said:
how will Riku and Mananna work? Riku has a gun while Mananna looks to have a shield. In the trailer they have a attacker icon, but what if the class depends on who is the main fighter and if you can switch them? Like when Riku is the main fighter they are attackers while when Mananna is the main they become a defender.
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Mananna technically has a pot

That would be a fairly interesting idea, but I'm not sure we'll get that much control over 7th party members
 
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They basically uploaded some of the material from the last blog to Twitter. That new direct feed screen looks cool though.
 
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Multiverse said:
I don’t know if I prefer this cast to the other games. That’s actually the one thing I’m not too keen about is that they’re all teenagers. There better be some hidden older PERMANENT party members somewhere that we don’t know about or I’m going to be disappointed. I mean Zeke, Morag, Lora, Jin, Addam, Hugo, Haze, Brighid (basically all the Torna cast rofl)…like >>>>>

They ate.

And idc what anyone says Pyra/Mythra is iconic and they’re technically “500 years old”. You know actually writing this down I’ve come to notice most of the party members of XC2 aren’t young/teens.

I remember when 3 first trailer drop, It looks so off to me and I couldn’t figure out why. It looks pedestrian lol…“Tales of” like (sorry Tales fans). I’ve realized it was definitely a combination of their causal design/outfit and the fact that all of the cast are basically the same age. I’m not a huge fan of Persona for this exact reason. Well, thankfully we’re not in high school so that’s good at least 😬.
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I have to agree unfortunately.

This is the one area where I'm really feeling down on Xenoblade 3. Not really looking forward to playing 6 jacket wearing teenagers and nothing else. And they are all soldiers and from the same 2 nations as well.

No Xeno game before has ever had a cast as uniform as this, most party members were of different ages, from different places, from different paths of life, they mostly didn't know each other beforehand, etc.

I also tend to dislike pary members who are only there because they just so happen to be childhood friends of the protagonist. In this game apparently two thirds of your party are just that, and the remaining third are the protagonists themselves lol

I guess this is why I was looking forward to extra party members.
 
I prefer games with fewer party members. at least the characters here are justified to be in the party. members tagging along just because were always a waste of time to me
 
Phendrift said:
I need something as satisfying as shattering elemental orbs in 2.

Just building it all up through multiple steps and watching the healthbars utterly melt was such catharsis
Click to expand...

I don't think we ever will unfortunately
 
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The most exciting part of the new footage is seeing how damn fast Sena swings that hammer, she does it faster that Noah does his sword! (I know it's probably an art but still)
 
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