• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

Spoiler The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Postgame & Spoiler Discussion Thread

So if we look at the character menu, we can see that Ino has square arts, including Starry Beat, and her chain order is Agnus. We can also see that she has an art that recharges by autoattacks in this image from the JP Twitter. However, in the menu for Inoswap, Starry Beat is shown to have a cooldown of 8 seconds, although the text says Auto-Attack Recharge in English.

B86QFg5.png

hmNXP5M.png

FciybD8acAEgujL

u7ov5tl.png

RDs2WBB.png

I wonder if this has anything to do with half of her skill tree being locked.
I figured it saying 8s was just a goof and would be fixed by release. The Japanese website still has that screenshot where the Zephyr arts are circles and Infinity Blade has a break effect after all.

It is interesting that the Inoswap menu looks different in the middle screenshot. I wonder what's up with that. I figured the second half would unlock when you do her ascension quest. The lock in the middle screenshot has a yellow diamond behind it that looks like the hero/ascension quest marker.
 
It's weird how it's called Inoswap but doesn't seem that customisable. Inoswap looks more like a blade affinity chart than it does Poppiswap.
Although I guess we already have Soul Hacker.

I imagine the use case might be to have a Hero actually be useful beyond their chain orders.
 
0
I figured it saying 8s was just a goof and would be fixed by release. The Japanese website still has that screenshot where the Zephyr arts are circles and Infinity Blade has a break effect after all.

It is interesting that the Inoswap menu looks different in the middle screenshot. I wonder what's up with that. I figured the second half would unlock when you do her ascension quest. The lock in the middle screenshot has a yellow diamond behind it that looks like the hero/ascension quest marker.
I got excited seeing 8s cooldown and thought you'd be able to churn those out for break attempts, which was why the damage was so low. If it's 8 autoattacks I'd rather run positional breaks on attackers for the talent refill.

I wonder if the other Inoswap screenshot is just from a different point in development. The JP footage didn't have anything new in the menu, so maybe one of those screens is a beta thing.
 
I got excited seeing 8s cooldown and thought you'd be able to churn those out for break attempts, which was why the damage was so low. If it's 8 autoattacks I'd rather run positional breaks on attackers for the talent refill.

I wonder if the other Inoswap screenshot is just from a different point in development. The JP footage didn't have anything new in the menu, so maybe one of those screens is a beta thing.
What'd be really fun is a multi-hit break like Speedy Sword. But that's what I'm starting to think too about the Inoswap screens. The twitter one with the circuit board background is probably the final look.

Something else of note, in the Japanese version of the trailer, the icon for Ino's weapon next to the class name looks different. In the English trailer, it looks like a gun and in the Japanese trailer, it looks like a scimitar.
 
Something else of note, in the Japanese version of the trailer, the icon for Ino's weapon next to the class name looks different. In the English trailer, it looks like a gun and in the Japanese trailer, it looks like a scimitar.
I believe the one in the English trailer is the Sharpshooter icon but with Ino written on it in Japanese
 
I believe that's the one you need Triton in your party for.

And yea, hopefully the gogol fruits will all be fixed next month with the DLC patch.

Thanks.

I think I’ll be shelving this game til DLC Wave 2 release and try starting a new game in my backlog (either Danganronpa Decadence or AI Somnium Nirvana Initiative).
 
I really enjoyed XC2's Land of Challenge, so I hope and expect to have a lot of fun with this. The rewards and challenges themselves in DE were a bit limp, so I hope there's some cool stuff up for grabs.

And who knows, we might get some extra bits and bobs we don't expect.
 
I think I've done every quest, but how to be sure?
A list of quests by recommended level to check against would be helpful but the one on the Xenoblade wiki is incomplete.
 
whatever the DLC story ends up being, I would love to see the Agnus side of the worlds colliding and coming back
 
I think I've done every quest, but how to be sure?
A list of quests by recommended level to check against would be helpful but the one on the Xenoblade wiki is incomplete.
I think I've done everything. If it helps, I can write out a list of all quests sorted by recommended level you can check against (or let me know if I'm missing something):
Lv 3 - Preparing for Battle
Lv 4 - Supplies in the Wind
Lv 5 - Farewell Melody
Lv 5 - Friendly Support
Lv 10 - Hillside Hulk
Lv 12 - Riku and Manana
Lv 13 - Collapsed Traderpon
Lv 17 - Helping Out
Lv 18 - Charity and Hypocrisy
Lv 19 - Dorin and Bambam
Lv 20 - Melody of Mourning
Lv 21 - Serene Melody
Lv 22 - The Tableland Hulk
Lv 23 - Exhausted Supplies
Lv 23 - The Missing Squad
Lv 24 - Wish Upon a Clover
Lv 25 - Fear of the Unknown
Lv 25 - An Off-Seer's Anguish
Lv 25 - The Thrill of the Hunt!
Lv 26 - Big Friendly Friend
Lv 26 - Harvest Day
Lv 27 - Lambda's Problem
Lv 27 - Live Combat Training
Lv 27 - Lean Times in Colony 9
Lv 28 - Forgotten Supplies
Lv 28 - Theoretical Knowledge
Lv 29 - Yorde's Request
Lv 29 - Tactical Eradication
Lv 29 - Fla'ran's Request
Lv 29 - Jeremy's Request
Lv 29 - The Lost Off-Seer
Lv 30 - A Lesson in Off-Seeing
Lv 30 - The Cascade Hulk
Lv 30 - Shared Secret
Lv 30 - Missing Parts
Lv 31 - Restart
Lv 32 - The True Culprit?
Lv 32 - Imminent Illusion
Lv 33 - Off-Seeing Customs
Lv 33 - Stolen Provisions
Lv 33 - A Difficult Transition
Lv 34 - The Harvest
Lv 35 - The Desert Hulk
Lv 35 - A More Balanced Recipe
Lv 36 - Severed Connection
Lv 37 - The Hunter
Lv 38 - A Warrior's Pride
Lv 39 - Research Procedures
Lv 40 - Rousing Bolearis
Lv 40 - Finite Time
Lv 40 - There's No Ether!!
Lv 41 - Enemies and Allies
Lv 41 - Tau-Tirkin Alliance
Lv 42 - Unsolved Riddle
Lv 42 - Castle Access
Lv 42 - Securing Supplies
Lv 42 - For Colony 9
Lv 43 - A Burning Curiosity
Lv 42 - Counterpoint
Lv 44 - The Scavenger Force
Lv 44 - Lost Friend
Lv 44 - Surplus Supply
Lv 44 - The Castle Beckons
Lv 44 - The Ouroboros Experiment
Lv 44 - Rules of the Hunt
Lv 45 - Missing Luggage
Lv 45 - Romero and Joulietta
Lv 46 - Cultural Exchange
Lv 46 - The Atoll Hulk
Lv 46 - Bugs
Lv 46 - Unease
Lv 46 - The Mysterious White Fog
Lv 47 - Lovebirds
Lv 47 - First Day of Prison
Lv 47 - Second Day of Prison
Lv 47 - Lost Stones
Lv 48 - Third Day of Prison
Lv 48 - Beyond Mercy and Revenge
Lv 48 - Writer's Block
Lv 48 - A Young Noble's Request
Lv 48 - Extracurricular Lesson
Lv 48 - Distress Signal
Lv 48 - To Face Forward
Lv 48 - The Clifftop Hulk
Lv 49 - Korresia Finds Her Calling
Lv 49 - Indomitable
Lv 49 - Scant Supplies
Lv 50 - The Wildwood Life
Lv 50 - Life in the City
Lv 50 - Going Home
Lv 51 - A Burning Curiosity, Part 2
Lv 51 - Joulietta and Romero
Lv 51 - New Developments
Lv 52 - Alexandria's Birthday
Lv 52 - Water of Rhonnar
Lv 52 - Dorrick is Online!
Lv 52 - Crusader for Spuds
Lv 52 - Seeker's True Intent
Lv 53 - The Big, Unseen Monster
Lv 53 - Shock to the System
Lv 53 - Three Ravens of War
Lv 53 - Duty
Lv 54 - Choices
Lv 54 - Learning from Lambda
Lv 54 - In Search of a Home
Lv 55 - Prison Refurbishment
Lv 55 - Nopon Register
Lv 55 - The Three Friends
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Tohma
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Xera
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Jhodor
Lv 55 - Merciless Pursuit
Lv 56 - Prison Spring Clean
Lv 56 - The Illusion Returns
Lv 56 - Unspeakable Being
Lv 56 - So Much More to See
Lv 57 - Shut-In
Lv 57 - Colony 15 Soldiers Missing
Lv 57 - The Future I Want to Spin
Lv 57 - Teach's Teachers
Lv 58 - The Battlescar Hulk
Lv 58 - Contrary Emotions
Lv 58 - The Hunt of Plenty
Lv 58 - The Ultimate Vessel
Lv 59 - Colony Mu's Resolve
Lv 60 - Past and Present
Lv 60 - Why so Busy?
Lv 60 - A Chance Encounter
Lv 60 - An Artist
Lv 61 - Missing in Action
Lv 61 - Special Instructions
Lv 61 - Leaders in Training
Lv 62 - The Sandbar Hulk
Lv 62 - Acknowledging Feelings
Lv 62 - The New Inspector
Lv 62 - The Kid's Aspirations
Lv 63 - Treasured Memory
Lv 63 - A Dark Cloud
Lv 64 - Uniting the Seven Nopon
Lv 64 - The Castle Guard
Lv 65 - Festival of War
Lv 66 - New Names
Lv 66 - Bearing Fruit
Lv 67 - Future Trajectory
Lv 68 - Fate
Lv 68 - The Key to a New Home
Lv 68 - The Final Cog
Lv 70 - The Path I Forge
Lv 70 - The True Inspector
Lv 74 - Friendship
Lv 80 - The City Pep Talk
Lv 80 - Friction with Agnus
Lv 80 - Colony 9's Backup

There should be 153 quests there
 
Despite being excited for the upcoming additions, I feel like I’m waiting for the main course.

Whatever you think of XC3 or it’s ending, prequel or epilogue, the DLC looks like it’ll reunite us with some old friends in some capacity.

I think, given my conflicting feelings about XC3 in places, the wait for that extra story is tough.

It could bridge the gap for me in an interesting way. I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see something from it.

The other games gave a stronger sense of closure, so it was easier to mop up all the side stuff while feeling content.

Prequel or epilogue, I think the DLC could and hopefully will give some sense of closure to the trilogy… which is where I found XC3 quite lacking.

Sadly, we’ve probably got a few more months to wait and a second hero DLC reveal to get through yet.
 
Despite being excited for the upcoming additions, I feel like I’m waiting for the main course.

Whatever you think of XC3 or it’s ending, prequel or epilogue, the DLC looks like it’ll reunite us with some old friends in some capacity.

I think, given my conflicting feelings about XC3 in places, the wait for that extra story is tough.

It could bridge the gap for me in an interesting way. I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see something from it.

The other games gave a stronger sense of closure, so it was easier to mop up all the side stuff while feeling content.

Prequel or epilogue, I think the DLC could and hopefully will give some sense of closure to the trilogy… which is where I found XC3 quite lacking.

Sadly, we’ve probably got a few more months to wait and a second hero DLC reveal to get through yet.
Yeah we'll probably have to wait for the E3 Direct (if there's one) for story DLC to be revealed, it's going to be so long lol
 
This whole time I had no idea Juniper was non-binary, I must've missed the pronouns in the dialogue. Is that a first for the series?
 
hot take: I'm glade nia was way more important to the plot then Melia was

Melia is too much of a standard royalty to be as interesting as Nia for the plot.

Also Nia is definitely more popular than Melia so it's not really an hot take. Just have a look at the views on YouTube for the OST or hero quests of both. Nia on average has 2x the views of Melia.
 
0
I think I've done everything. If it helps, I can write out a list of all quests sorted by recommended level you can check against (or let me know if I'm missing something):
Lv 3 - Preparing for Battle
Lv 4 - Supplies in the Wind
Lv 5 - Farewell Melody
Lv 5 - Friendly Support
Lv 10 - Hillside Hulk
Lv 12 - Riku and Manana
Lv 13 - Collapsed Traderpon
Lv 17 - Helping Out
Lv 18 - Charity and Hypocrisy
Lv 19 - Dorin and Bambam
Lv 20 - Melody of Mourning
Lv 21 - Serene Melody
Lv 22 - The Tableland Hulk
Lv 23 - Exhausted Supplies
Lv 23 - The Missing Squad
Lv 24 - Wish Upon a Clover
Lv 25 - Fear of the Unknown
Lv 25 - An Off-Seer's Anguish
Lv 25 - The Thrill of the Hunt!
Lv 26 - Big Friendly Friend
Lv 26 - Harvest Day
Lv 27 - Lambda's Problem
Lv 27 - Live Combat Training
Lv 27 - Lean Times in Colony 9
Lv 28 - Forgotten Supplies
Lv 28 - Theoretical Knowledge
Lv 29 - Yorde's Request
Lv 29 - Tactical Eradication
Lv 29 - Fla'ran's Request
Lv 29 - Jeremy's Request
Lv 29 - The Lost Off-Seer
Lv 30 - A Lesson in Off-Seeing
Lv 30 - The Cascade Hulk
Lv 30 - Shared Secret
Lv 30 - Missing Parts
Lv 31 - Restart
Lv 32 - The True Culprit?
Lv 32 - Imminent Illusion
Lv 33 - Off-Seeing Customs
Lv 33 - Stolen Provisions
Lv 33 - A Difficult Transition
Lv 34 - The Harvest
Lv 35 - The Desert Hulk
Lv 35 - A More Balanced Recipe
Lv 36 - Severed Connection
Lv 37 - The Hunter
Lv 38 - A Warrior's Pride
Lv 39 - Research Procedures
Lv 40 - Rousing Bolearis
Lv 40 - Finite Time
Lv 40 - There's No Ether!!
Lv 41 - Enemies and Allies
Lv 41 - Tau-Tirkin Alliance
Lv 42 - Unsolved Riddle
Lv 42 - Castle Access
Lv 42 - Securing Supplies
Lv 42 - For Colony 9
Lv 43 - A Burning Curiosity
Lv 42 - Counterpoint
Lv 44 - The Scavenger Force
Lv 44 - Lost Friend
Lv 44 - Surplus Supply
Lv 44 - The Castle Beckons
Lv 44 - The Ouroboros Experiment
Lv 44 - Rules of the Hunt
Lv 45 - Missing Luggage
Lv 45 - Romero and Joulietta
Lv 46 - Cultural Exchange
Lv 46 - The Atoll Hulk
Lv 46 - Bugs
Lv 46 - Unease
Lv 46 - The Mysterious White Fog
Lv 47 - Lovebirds
Lv 47 - First Day of Prison
Lv 47 - Second Day of Prison
Lv 47 - Lost Stones
Lv 48 - Third Day of Prison
Lv 48 - Beyond Mercy and Revenge
Lv 48 - Writer's Block
Lv 48 - A Young Noble's Request
Lv 48 - Extracurricular Lesson
Lv 48 - Distress Signal
Lv 48 - To Face Forward
Lv 48 - The Clifftop Hulk
Lv 49 - Korresia Finds Her Calling
Lv 49 - Indomitable
Lv 49 - Scant Supplies
Lv 50 - The Wildwood Life
Lv 50 - Life in the City
Lv 50 - Going Home
Lv 51 - A Burning Curiosity, Part 2
Lv 51 - Joulietta and Romero
Lv 51 - New Developments
Lv 52 - Alexandria's Birthday
Lv 52 - Water of Rhonnar
Lv 52 - Dorrick is Online!
Lv 52 - Crusader for Spuds
Lv 52 - Seeker's True Intent
Lv 53 - The Big, Unseen Monster
Lv 53 - Shock to the System
Lv 53 - Three Ravens of War
Lv 53 - Duty
Lv 54 - Choices
Lv 54 - Learning from Lambda
Lv 54 - In Search of a Home
Lv 55 - Prison Refurbishment
Lv 55 - Nopon Register
Lv 55 - The Three Friends
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Tohma
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Xera
Lv 55 - Three Friends: Jhodor
Lv 55 - Merciless Pursuit
Lv 56 - Prison Spring Clean
Lv 56 - The Illusion Returns
Lv 56 - Unspeakable Being
Lv 56 - So Much More to See
Lv 57 - Shut-In
Lv 57 - Colony 15 Soldiers Missing
Lv 57 - The Future I Want to Spin
Lv 57 - Teach's Teachers
Lv 58 - The Battlescar Hulk
Lv 58 - Contrary Emotions
Lv 58 - The Hunt of Plenty
Lv 58 - The Ultimate Vessel
Lv 59 - Colony Mu's Resolve
Lv 60 - Past and Present
Lv 60 - Why so Busy?
Lv 60 - A Chance Encounter
Lv 60 - An Artist
Lv 61 - Missing in Action
Lv 61 - Special Instructions
Lv 61 - Leaders in Training
Lv 62 - The Sandbar Hulk
Lv 62 - Acknowledging Feelings
Lv 62 - The New Inspector
Lv 62 - The Kid's Aspirations
Lv 63 - Treasured Memory
Lv 63 - A Dark Cloud
Lv 64 - Uniting the Seven Nopon
Lv 64 - The Castle Guard
Lv 65 - Festival of War
Lv 66 - New Names
Lv 66 - Bearing Fruit
Lv 67 - Future Trajectory
Lv 68 - Fate
Lv 68 - The Key to a New Home
Lv 68 - The Final Cog
Lv 70 - The Path I Forge
Lv 70 - The True Inspector
Lv 74 - Friendship
Lv 80 - The City Pep Talk
Lv 80 - Friction with Agnus
Lv 80 - Colony 9's Backup

There should be 153 quests there
Wow, thanks so much for this. Truly appreciated.
I have the exact same quests so I guess that really is everything.
 
0
I liked Melia's Ascension Quest where she gets to go around doing queenly stuff. Nia got more lore stuff but I'm a sucker for the political bureaucracy angle
 
Finally beat it after straight up dropping it for a couple of weeks.

It's sad that for how insanely good the localization was (just ridiculously good dialogue and voice acting for the most part) and how wonderful the main party was, that by end I was so disengaged with the story that halfway through the ending cutscenes I just picked up my phone and looked up when something was happening. I even missed Poppi, lol. But when a story loses me completely, it's hard to win me back, and this game couldn't manage it. When I compare that to the way I was riveted by XC2 to the end, that's a shame. This was far more like XCX - a desire to see the world and enjoy the gameplay pulled me to the end.

I blame the story structure. Having the characters move from colony to colony and bounce off the "hero" characters just made for a predictable, dull time. An adventure that should have been all about urgency (Mio's going to die, guys), felt more like a leisurely hike between the world's dreariest campgrounds. I kept waiting for the game to move past that structure, and into the "here we go, plot revelation after plot revelation time" mode that previous XC games hit. And the end of chapter 5 threatened to go there.

But when you're right at the very end of this massive, 100 hour game, and the initial structure is still being so rigidly followed that they're STILL introducing new characters like Crys and giving them the whole backstory flashback treatment that they've overused all game long - right when the whole plot should be wrapping up and it's long past time to be caring about side characters - that's when I feel like the problem is structural. But I could go on for days about all the problems the story had - the terrible villains, the fact that the game is about death but does everything at every turn to minimize the impact of death (to absolutely humorous extents by the end with Camuravi and Ethel) to the way the whole Shania sub-plot was totally butchered.

The good moments - like Mio's mini-breakdown to Noah, the initial assault on the Keves castle or the party's first experience of a normal human civilization - are great, and only serve to show how much more could have been done with the base ideas here had the hero-based game structure not dictated otherwise.

Ultimately the gameplay, exploration, and enjoyment of the party dynamics pulled me through, I guess. Eunie and Mio were two of my favourite JRPG characters ever by the end. But what a disappointment. Reading through the threads on here I see I'm not alone. There's obviously a wide spread of opinions on this one.
 
Last edited:



The in-game hero designs had been so good. I don’t know how I feel about this one. Her design might need to grow on me. Ironcially, it’s another “guest” artist (giving Xenoblade 2 flash back here). I think Monolith Soft should just stick with their in-house designers. They did a wonderful job on the game. I don’t think we need more “guest” artists.

What bothers me the most about these guest artists is that the work that got in the game look worse than their portfolio. Their own work tends to look better than what got into the game. This happened to XC2 quite a bit. Not every artists obviously. Some artists really did the best they could and are comparable or even better their portfolio but most of them?… Look worse.

I mean you can just take a look at this PALOW person and they could’ve picked any of those designs from their twitter page, but nope we got this weird moe red skeletal green PlayStation triangle chicken lady. It’s weird to me because shouldn’t you be putting your best foot forward to a product that could potentially reach MILLIONS of people and be immortalize in culture? idgi.

15724_2-1.jpg

15724_1.jpg

118786558_3601072793288912_1747444443587838970_n.jpg


I mean I understand that some artists do keep their best work to themselves and also they can get hired because of their portfolio but at the same time you can get hired by your work on another product esp if it’s known/well regarded. Like your art can still be appreciated on another person’s work.

It left a sour taste in my mouth because I got an impression that some of these artists simply don’t care about Xenoblade that’s why designs are questionable at times. They did it because it’s just another job. Monolith should really just stick with their in-house artists simply because they are more passionate. Although, PALOW said he’s “a fan of the series” and that he was “deeply moved” he could design a character but like it’s not showing up on paper I’m sorry. I don’t know what to believe because I don’t think anyone would say anything negative about a client esp when you have your work in it. Same reason I don’t expect the voice actors to come out and say the game sucks.

Their in-house artist is more than good enough. Strictly speaking about artistic skill level alone not “design”. You can just look at the heroes art. They are technically better drawn than Saito’s work even. On a technical level, the shading, color, perspective, pose dynamism, anatomy are top notch. Saito‘s character portraits are actually a bit flat and stiff. He’s gotten better with gestures on XC3 for sure, but it still doesn’t look as well as Monolith’s own artists. A curious thing about Saito tho is that his BEST work/design is definitely with Xenoblade. He took it very seriously. I can see through his work. That’s very good. That’s what we like to see. Monolith managed to snag a free lance artist and somehow got his best work on the game. It doesn’t always go this way as I’ve elaborated. It probably put more pressure on him since he’s the main designer so he kind of has to do his best, but still I’ve seen other artists that are “main character designer” and it was not their best work lol so..yeah.

I say this as an outsider looking in. Art is subjective (for the most part). A passionate work can still end up being bad. Although, I would say rarely so but it can happen. I guess it tis..fate.
 
Last edited:
On slightly topic. I think the general consensus from the Xenoblade fans was that Pyra and Mythra would be in 3.
Those two, the queens, and Poppy were my expectations based off the leak. I’m fine how it shook out, but I still would have liked to see them in some capacity outside of that photo.
 
Those two, the queens, and Poppy were my expectations based off the leak. I’m fine how it shook out, but I still would have liked to see them in some capacity outside of that photo.
I 100% expected poppi. She’s the one I felt “well she’s probably immortal or most logical to survive anything”. I was right but not in the way I expected. I actually wanted her as a more prevalent character in the main story lol. I like Poppi
 
I’d like to see our old heroes free of the cycle and seeking to achieve something that sets in motion the chain of events that finally frees the people of Aionios.

I’d actually like them to be aware of the ‘fake world’ they’re in - perhaps through some kind of connection to the conduit…

While the conduit is gone, I don’t think that means it’s impossible.

I don’t really want to see our old protagonists trapped in a cycle of death and unaware they’re in a world that doesn’t truly exist. Basically, don’t turn them into jobbers.
 
I blame the story structure. Having the characters move from colony to colony and bounce off the "hero" characters just made for a predictable, dull time. An adventure that should have been all about urgency (Mio's going to die, guys), felt more like a leisurely hike between the world's dreariest campgrounds

Totally agree with this. It's hard to keep engaged with a game repeating its structure for over 100 hours. The discover colony - meet hero - kill consul - free colony is the biggest sin of the game. It doesn't leave room for much surprises which is something that goest against what Xenoblade is. The sense of wonder from the other games, exploring not knowing what you will find next is totally lost in this one, and that's something really hard to overcome no matter how good other parts are. I think that only the city could capture that wonder somehow.
 
Last edited:
You know the challenge battle 2 key art has zeon and juniper; possible to have multiple heroes on the team in a future update?
 
0
Ended it today after 170 hours.

Best Xenoblade of all 4, both gameplay and story.

Ending was beatiful, storywise it's more si.ple but has the best writing of all 4 games by a mile, Xeno 1 and 2 were a clusterfuck to understand, Xeno X story was forgetable.

Loved the mix from 1 and 2 worlds.

Instant classic imho.
 
Last edited:
Totally agree with this. It's hard to keep engaged with a game repeating its structure for over 100 hours. The discover colony - meet hero - kill consul - free colony is the biggest sin of the game. It doesn't leave room for much surprises which is something that goest against what Xenoblade is. The sense of wonder from the other games, exploring not knowing what you will find next is totally lost in this one, and that's something really hard to overcome no matter how good other parts are. I think that only the city could capture that wonder somehow.
About half of the colonies follow this rule of thumb to the letter, and I really don't mind the idea per se, but most of these encounters are just very boring. Corny and uninteresting setups, inconsistent pacing, awful dialogues; those are the real problems to me. Best examples I can come up with is Colony 11's first entire show. You arrive, find a crazy woman, the characters start talking in circles a bit, go to 11, defeat three waves of enemies (of course), arrive to this giant ring where the Consul and the cast start a very long and kind of embarrassing exchange. Oh, and Consul R is a Power Rangers-level villain, most Moebius are but R truly takes the Zord.
 
I never really viewed the story structure like that, (not that I find anything wrong with that structure. I love the Dragon Quest games after all, which basically popularised it) because I simply saw the "main" story sections of each colony the opening act and the "side" quests then fleshed out each colony. If anything I felt this game gave you a reason to keep returning to places you'd already been to because each colony evolved as you played through the game and eventually you even had stories that intertwine the plots of each colony. Much like X, this is a Xenoblade that expects you to play the side quests and failing to do so pretty much means missing most of the story. If anything we need a new term for them to highlight that they are just as important as the main story thread as side quest has the air of being totally optional - maybe something like parallel quests.
 
I never really viewed the story structure like that, (not that I find anything wrong with that structure. I love the Dragon Quest games after all, which basically popularised it) because I simply saw the "main" story sections of each colony the opening act and the "side" quests then fleshed out each colony. If anything I felt this game gave you a reason to keep returning to places you'd already been to because each colony evolved as you played through the game and eventually you even had stories that intertwine the plots of each colony. Much like X, this is a Xenoblade that expects you to play the side quests and failing to do so pretty much means missing most of the story. If anything we need a new term for them to highlight that they are just as important as the main story thread as side quest has the air of being totally optional - maybe something like parallel quests.
I wouldn't say that's a fair comparison. Dragon Quests's town to town vignettes have a lot more variety than the "defeat the consul, liberate the colony, win over the commander in the process" formula.
 
I feel like the formula even loses its plot justification in the latter parts of the game as the commanders already know about the destruction of the flame clock and actively want you to do it. But fight you anyway. Triton was the worst example of this.

I think it speaks to a larger problem - all you can do in these games is talk, collect items, and fight. So quest design is necessarily limited. I can see why they thought giving us two unique fights for each colony would be good from a gameplay perspective, but, as discussed, it rarely matters what you're fighting in these games.

It's compounded by a lack of minigames too. Why they took the gem crafting minigame and infected the otherwise flawless combat system with it, I don't know.
The game has a boat, but no races, or timed challenges, or obstacle courses. Considering how it controls maybe some people see that as a positive tho.

Even the combat though, is very...
Like for example, during Teach's ascension quest, you go to Everblight and are told that there are three containers and the colony members are going to split into three to retrieve them and we have to stop them. I was psyched. I thought they'd go for the containers in real time and we'd have to quickly take them all out before any of them made it.
Nope.
Stationary battle points, as usual.
 
Watched the credits rolling yesterday, 190h, never used any bonus exp but reached lvl 94.
I then found out that there are 2 additional heroes to recruit in the finished save file.. omg.
Next target is to max out all the gems and classes, and then try to beat the super bosses!
In addition im thinking to make a crazy soul hacker party and get all the skills n arts for those... haha way to go!
 
After watching a few theory videos, like this one:


I am warming up to the idea of the DLC story being a prequel. There's so much potential to expand upon the hints in the story and clarify so much of it.

Also, when I think about it, XC2 left a lot unexplained. The Torna expansion enhanced the characterization of Mythra, Jin, Malos, Haze, etc., making XC2's story feel more satisfying. So, I'm hoping for the same effect in XC3's DLC.
 
After watching a few theory videos, like this one:


I am warming up to the idea of the DLC story being a prequel. There's so much potential to expand upon the hints in the story and clarify so much of it.

Also, when I think about it, XC2 left a lot unexplained. The Torna expansion enhanced the characterization of Mythra, Jin, Malos, Haze, etc., making XC2's story feel more satisfying. So, I'm hoping for the same effect in XC3's DLC.

Prequel seems like a way better idea to me than a direct epilogue, personally for me the best thing would be something not tied to the main story elements of the game (regardless of if it takes place at the same time, prequel or sequel)
 
Welp, 180 on and every ascension and normal quest completed (i guess), affinity chart at 5 stars in every colony, level 99 in every character and defeated every unique monster.

Only left is completing level 10 gems and upgrading every class to 20, but i refuse myself to finish those because it's too grindy and i need to jump to other games.
 
0
I feel like the formula even loses its plot justification in the latter parts of the game as the commanders already know about the destruction of the flame clock and actively want you to do it. But fight you anyway. Triton was the worst example of this.

I think it speaks to a larger problem - all you can do in these games is talk, collect items, and fight. So quest design is necessarily limited. I can see why they thought giving us two unique fights for each colony would be good from a gameplay perspective, but, as discussed, it rarely matters what you're fighting in these games.

It's compounded by a lack of minigames too. Why they took the gem crafting minigame and infected the otherwise flawless combat system with it, I don't know.
The game has a boat, but no races, or timed challenges, or obstacle courses. Considering how it controls maybe some people see that as a positive tho.

Even the combat though, is very...
Like for example, during Teach's ascension quest, you go to Everblight and are told that there are three containers and the colony members are going to split into three to retrieve them and we have to stop them. I was psyched. I thought they'd go for the containers in real time and we'd have to quickly take them all out before any of them made it.
Nope.
Stationary battle points, as usual.
When you say "these games"... you mean you're new to Xenoblade?
 
Prequel seems like a way better idea to me than a direct epilogue, personally for me the best thing would be something not tied to the main story elements of the game (regardless of if it takes place at the same time, prequel or sequel)

Prequel is great for one reason:

Playable Himbo Rex.
 
Okay, I’m in postgame and struggling a bit to find a few things. Without giving direct answers, some help/advice would be welcome!

- the 7 Nopons quest. For the camp discussion it seems I only need to find 5, and I’m currently at 4/5. I guess the discussion will allow me to find the 6th and complete the quest?
But I went to a lot of places including lower Maktha forest and still couldn’t find the 5th.

- Triggering Melia’s ascension quest. I got that she wants to explore the world with us, and noticed she has things to say when going to Keves’ colonies with her. That’s what I did but it didn’t seem to trigger anything, and she doesn’t seem to comment on anything in Agnus’ colonies.
I also noticed she’s curious about the food, but that’s for every colony.

Do I really have to eat at every colony table with her? Or simply visiting colonies is fine and I missed something?

- finding the discussions about the Aionios’ strongests. I found only one by chance but still no other after many hours.
I guess those discussion spots are spread all over the world, not necessarily colonies? At this rate it seems I’ll never find them lol
Are they required to trigger the super bosses by the way? Or me can I find them without this discussing this topic/quest at a camp?
 
Please read the threadmarked staff post before posting.
Last edited by a moderator:


Back
Top Bottom