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

Which side are you on?

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Crusters said:
I really don't feel like Melia and Nia would ever participate in that.
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I agree, it makes much more sense that it's not actually Melia and Nia. Everything else still stands - who they are is irrelevant to m point

Aion is just a weapon of war made possible by the energy provided by the basically perpetual motion machine that was the conduit.
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A weapon of war that is so powerful and valuable, that once it is no longer powered by the conduit (because it disappeared at the end of 2), this game demonstrates the new way of powering it - using the life force of people

I heavily Suspect we are revisiting/reusing one of the concepts from xenosaga, where lives/souls need to be sacrificed to continue existence as it has been known itself, rather than feed a weapon of war like Aion, and the orobouros are taking the place of the gnosis, with the concept being turned on it's head (those refusing to accept are now the heroes who will save everyone.)
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Very likely, excited to see how this all turns out.
 
I think the character at 3:27 and Noah share the same voice actor. You can hear one right after the other.
 
bellydrum said:
I think Aionios is a simulation, and each character has a "real world" counterpart.

The vats in Aionios containing the soldiers are "avatar" bodies that are inhabited once the "real world" person is "inserted" into it (by choice? Probably not)

Once a soldier dies, its "avatar" body disintegrates, the life force of which is absorbed into the "computer" of Aionios (........Aion), and the soldier "wakes up" in the real world..... maybe?

Or, if they die in Aionios they die in real life, and the "ultimate honor" of living through your 10 Terms and getting personally seen off by Melia / Nia is the way to return back to the real world unharmed.

All this would imply that Noah and Mio's military role of "off-seer" means that they play some part in the "fueling" of Aion using the spent avatars of fallen soldiers
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Yeah, The role of the off seer is DEFINITELY about fueling. It's a very similar vibe to 'returning to the bionis', and as such instantly distrusted to me.

That is technically what's already been happening in Xenoblade 1 and 2, although without vats and stuff.

In order for the reality machine to function, and not just, randomly, blindly, edit reality, like.... A static screen all willy nilly, (like it's first activation) it needs to be calibrated, it needs to be provided an accurate up to date digital representation of what it's working on in the real world, to include every atom, chemical and electrical state of each and every brain of every creature, as well as the environment, and they need to be lined up exactly. Storing cd image rip equivalents of brains is how Shulk was able to exist after death, and how Alvis was able to instantly bring back representations of the party to help persuade Shulk to make a new universe.

The memory space of the machine could absolutely be made to do that. Provided it had power to function.

Not sure how we would provide fuel through a virtual world though. As far as I can figure, fuel would need to be provided from the real world to power the virtual world. Maybe that's what the bodies in vays in the real world are doing when their virtual counterparts are filling the clocks?

Although keeping a baseline of power to the machines memory could be really important. It has data of practically every state if the old world's that could be used to fix everything, provided the machine ever regained access to a power source that could make it functional again.

Although it would need someone who understood how to use it, at a computer operator level. Something I don't think even Shulk understood, comprehended, or really was cognizant of.

But.... Both halves of Zanza/Klaus's brain data would still be in memory, as long as power was never lost. Meyneth too.
 
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watching the direct again, it's mentioned that all the characters were selected for a special mission. methinks the real Nia and Melia are coordinating to root out the illuminati
 
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Interesting that the Affinity Chart is ripped straight out of 1.
Wish we had the equivalent of Driver Affinity Charts for each character... XC2's Affinity Charts were my favorite grind.
 
bellydrum said:
View attachment 507

Interesting that the Affinity Chart is ripped straight out of 1.
Wish we had the equivalent of Driver Affinity Charts for each character... XC2's Affinity Charts were my favorite grind.
Click to expand...

Oh shit. I absolutely adored xb1's affinity chart.

Are we going back to every npc having an actual schedule Majora's mask style, where they start at their house, and actually walk around towns doing their daily tasks until they return to their house? I was really bummed by XbX and xb2 just dissapearing people and having them reappearing at a different location when the hour changed.
 
I've stayed away from all of the clips and info Nintendo had been tweeting about before today so it was very exciting to watch this Direct. I was already sold on the game but wow does it look absolutely amazing! The class system kind of reminds me of Bravely Default in a way. It's interesting that with 6 characters to juggle and so many classes to try, the battle system somehow seems a bit more simpler than it was in XB2. Maybe it's the loss of the elements so it's technically one less thing to worry about when it comes to combos.

The introduction of the 10-year life cycle and the clones is interesting, and definitely calls into question if "Nia" and "Melia" are actually them, and if not, are they still alive anyway in some fashion. The tease of Shulk and Rex/Pyra/Mythra in the expansion pass makes me wonder if they'll already be playing a part in the story. There are still so many questions and I'm thankful they've held their cards close to their chest. Can't bear to wait a month for this!
 
bellydrum said:
View attachment 507

Interesting that the Affinity Chart is ripped straight out of 1.
Wish we had the equivalent of Driver Affinity Charts for each character... XC2's Affinity Charts were my favorite grind.
Click to expand...
We technically don't know they aren't back. Besides references to Skills in the Class and Ouroboros menus we don't know how passive character progression really works yet. Or much else about character building, since we haven't seen equipment either.

Edit: Like the addition of the Affinity Chart, even though XC1's sidequests were weaker in general imo the Affinity Chart helped them seem more meaningful. The Community system was a good addition to Torna as well
 
The direct was pretty good, I haven't seen much about the game until now and it looks great.

I'm happy they have more content coming out afterwards, but the "season pass" model is lame. I don't like giving money without knowing what I'm getting.
 
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Despite being called an Affinity Chart, 2's Driver Affinity Charts were really just skill trees - the equivalent to 1's skill trees, not 1's affinity chart. They really had nothing to do with affinity. Based on the class menu though I assume passive skills are going to work the same as X.

Speaking of the affinity chart, another screenshot on the Japanese website shows what appears to be the star affinity rating for colonies similar to area affinity in 1 (or I guess dev level in 2). This is the page by the way that shows that, fashion gear, and combat while swimming: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/az3ha/world/index.html
 
bellydrum said:
I think Aionios is a simulation, and each character has a "real world" counterpart.

The vats in Aionios containing the soldiers are "avatar" bodies that are inhabited once the "real world" person is "inserted" into it (by choice? Probably not)

Once a soldier dies, its "avatar" body disintegrates, the life force of which is absorbed into the "computer" of Aionios (........Aion), and the soldier "wakes up" in the real world..... maybe?

Or, if they die in Aionios they die in real life, and the "ultimate honor" of living through your 10 Terms and getting personally seen off by Melia / Nia is the way to return back to the real world unharmed.

All this would imply that Noah and Mio's military role of "off-seer" means that they play some part in the "fueling" of Aion using the spent avatars of fallen soldiers
Click to expand...
Yeah, this seems to be where this is going, with emphasis on the fuel part; specially with how The Council is seemingly looking upon the events of Aionios from the outside. They are serving as an artificial Zohar to keep the Trinity Processor going for time infinite. The avatars or... mimeosomes if you want to make that connection to X, are formed out of ether, they fight, die and become ether once again as a new batch of avatars are "borned" into Aionios. It keeps the cycle going for eternity and the Trinity Processor too, while permitting 50% of the ether to power the processor as 50% is left in "reserve"/Aionios. Henceforth, the infinity logo in their Ouroboros form.

That is why the cast looking for peace is considered a problem, why "The Ouroboros abhors this world.
 
bellydrum said:
I think the character at 3:27 and Noah share the same voice actor. You can hear one right after the other.
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They are clearly the "same" person. Hair, eyes, voice and weapon are a dead giveaway. The actual workings behind that... who knows
 
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bellydrum said:
I agree, it makes much more sense that it's not actually Melia and Nia. Everything else still stands - who they are is irrelevant to m point.
Click to expand...

My hunch is on misunderstood motives. They have to make the brutally hard choice for the greater good, and have to be convinced taking a risk is worth it and could plan out.
bellydrum said:
A weapon of war that is so powerful and valuable, that once it is no longer powered by the conduit (because it disappeared at the end of 2), this game demonstrates the new way of powering it - using the life force of people
Click to expand...
Not sure how much value Aion has as a weapon of war, assuming it's true bad targets would be invading fog beasts, which are out of phase and can act with impunity to conventional weapons of war like artifices.

We do know that the conduit sent energy to every artifice, including Aion. It can be rigged to reverse the flow of energy.

That means if you sent power to the Aion, you can have it sent it back to where the conduit once was.... Which would go to the reality machine.

bellydrum said:
Very likely, excited to see how this all turns out.
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Definitely excited.
 
Also, on the subject of exactly how many Moebius characters we saw in the new footage, there's this handy-dandy visual guide. There was actually quite a lot shown in here!

idLwd1V.png
 
My only issue with the simulation theory is that it doesn't really explain why both sides are at war. Why not let both sides live in relative harmony and send off everyone that's 20 years old together? What's the purpose of the fighting? There's clearly some sort of incentive to monopolize power and destroy the other nation. I can't imagine that the Moebius would be able to dictate the war for as long as they have by simply telling each side to kill each other with no context.

I also think the tubes are how the children are "grown". Noah and the party are 18-19 years old, but they describe themselves as having 10-year lifespans. Would make a lot of sense if they spent those first 10 years being created, and the following 10 at war. Would also explain the lack of parents and families, because there's no way for the citizens of Aionios to reproduce fast enough to maintain the demands that the war entails.
 
Thunder84 said:
My only issue with the simulation theory is that it doesn't really explain why both sides are at war. Why not let both sides live in relative harmony and send off everyone that's 20 years old together? What's the purpose of the fighting? There's clearly some sort of incentive to monopolize power and destroy the other nation. I can't imagine that the Moebius would be able to dictate the war for as long as they have by simply telling each side to kill each other with no context.

I also think the tubes are how the children are "grown". Noah and the party are 18-19 years old, but they describe themselves as having 10-year lifespans. Would make a lot of sense if they spent those first 10 years being created, and the following 10 at war. Would also explain the lack of parents and families, because there's no way for the citizens of Aionios to reproduce fast enough to maintain the demands that the war entails.
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The war seems to be a way of providing power to some device for some purpose. Whether in a virtual world or not, although the theory is supportable by established canon, as the machine literally needed a virtual counterpart in it's memory, for an entire planet/titans in an alternate dimension, in order to function properly, and move the correct atoms to the correct places etc. It can support literally fully populated planet level virtual simulations.

The conduit, which used to power the reality machine, that actively subverted real world physics, to make the world of xb1 and 2 possible to exist, disappeared when Alvis decided to answer shulks command for 'A world with no need for Gods' by removing the power source to the machine that made the phony 'gods' possible, and sending it who knows where.

This appears to be the driving force behind the macabre push for generating energy.
 
Crusters said:
The war seems to be a way of providing power to some device for some purpose. Whether in a virtual world or not, although the theory is supportable by established canon, as the machine literally needed a virtual counterpart in it's memory, for an entire planet/titans in an alternate dimension, in order to function properly, and move the correct atoms to the correct places etc. It can support literally fully populated planet level virtual simulations.

The conduit, which used to power the reality machine, that actively subverted real world physics, to make the world of xb1 and 2 possible to exist, disappeared when Alvis decided to answer shulks command for 'A world with no need for Gods' by removing the power source to the machine that made the phony 'gods' possible, and sending it who knows where.

This appears to be the driving force behind the macabre push for generating energy.
Click to expand...
That still doesn't explain why both sides are at war though. If Aionios was controlled by some sort of singular energy that was fueled by its citizens, then both sides would simply need to send off their residents once they reach a certain age. There's no need for the additional suffering that war causes, because in both scenarios the same number of people ultimately die.

The only purpose for the war is if there's some sort of tangible benefit for Keves/Agnus to fuel their Flame Clocks faster, as well as some unseen benefit that the Moebius receive for causing both sides to kill each other. The universal simulation theory doesn't explain either of those things.
 
Thunder84 said:
That still doesn't explain why both sides are at war though. If Aionios was controlled by some sort of singular energy that was fueled by its citizens, then both sides would simply need to send off their residents once they reach a certain age. There's no need for the additional suffering that war causes, because in both scenarios the same number of people ultimately die.

The only purpose for the war is if there's some sort of tangible benefit for Keves/Agnus to fuel their Flame Clocks faster, as well as some unseen benefit that the Moebius receive for causing both sides to kill each other. The universal simulation theory doesn't explain either of those things.
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The war horror aspect of it definitely seems to be what generates more energy.

If there is one thing you can be sure of with most xenogames, the original insinuated premise/scenario presented is always a bullshit red herring.
 
The simulated universe idea doesn't work too well in the context of the game being a sequel to XCs 1 and 2 and having characters and locations from those games, unless you really want to undermine the whole saga by saying that those games were simulations too.
 
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Crusters said:
The war horror aspect of it definitely seems to be what generates more energy.

If there is one thing you can be sure of with most xenogames, the original insinuated premise/scenario presented is always a bullshit red herring.
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Does it? The only difference I saw between the war casualties and the survivors being sent off is that the war casualties fill up the Flame Clocks, which again circles back to my original point. There's clearly some sort of purpose for filling up more Flame Clocks than the other nation. A single, universal simulation doesn't account for that, because there'd be no purpose to subjecting the citizens of Aionios to war. They could accomplish the same thing by just killing off everyone that reaches 20 years of age, letting them live their 10 years in peace.

I'm not necessarily writing off the idea of a simulation entirely, but it can't just be a matter of citizens fueling Aionios. There has to be some sort of advantage for Keves and Agnus to win the war, as well as an underlying reason for the Moebius to be driving the war in the first place.
 
Gray's got to be my favourite Hero so far, his "ninja cowboy" schtick is giving me major Minoth vibes. Also interesting that, unlike weapons from either Keves or Agnus, his guns use orange ether and seem to have no clock on them... hmm.

All of the other Heroes are looking really great too:



FV3wj-XXkAE_gIH
 
bellydrum said:
View attachment 490

View attachment 491


Immediately thought of Aion when I saw this in the trailer. It's shown during the voice over line that goes something like "how many more of you must we make an example of?" so I'm guessing this is some sort of "punishment", or, to assume less, some sort of negative outcome for the individual floating above the object in the second picture.

If I can put on my reaching hat - I do see some general similarities to Aion. Maybe since the Conduit left our plane at the end of Xenoblade 2, Aion is no longer powered, and is surviving off the "life forces" of Aionios? If @Joseki's position that this is an isekai holds some weight... and the similarities to The Matrix are not unfounded... could Aionios be a sort of "digital simulation" where people are grown for their life energy just to fuel Aion? Could the "end" of the game take place outside of Aionios, in the "real world"?
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That's a Siren, not Aion. Aion was destroyed. The second image is Evil Noah looking at a video or projection of someone running away.

bellydrum said:
View attachment 492


why they fightin?
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My first thought was that they're training, but they seem to be surrounded by soldiers and Lanz/Sena aren't around. Maybe they're being forced to fight each other because Lanz/Sena are held hostage?
 
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Selarmor said:
That's a Siren, not Aion. Aion was destroyed. The second image is Evil Noah looking at a video or projection of someone running away.


My first thought was that they're training, but they seem to be surrounded by soldiers and Lanz/Sena aren't around. Maybe they're being forced to fight each other because Lanz/Sena are held hostage?
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Aion was definitely destroyed..... (By a pneuma who really didn't even seem to be trying hard if you ask me)

But the name of the world very clearly invokes it, and I would not be surprised at all to find it's remnants repurposed towards this world in some way.

Thunder84 said:
Does it? The only difference I saw between the war casualties and the survivors being sent off is that the war casualties fill up the Flame Clocks, which again circles back to my original point. There's clearly some sort of purpose for filling up more Flame Clocks than the other nation. A single, universal simulation doesn't account for that, because there'd be no purpose to subjecting the citizens of Aionios to war. They could accomplish the same thing by just killing off everyone that reaches 20 years of age, letting them live their 10 years in peace.

I'm not necessarily writing off the idea of a simulation entirely, but it can't just be a matter of citizens fueling Aionios. There has to be some sort of advantage for Keves and Agnus to win the war, as well as an underlying reason for the Moebius to be driving the war in the first place.
Click to expand...
Filling up the flame clocks would appear to generate the energy in this scenario.

If the war between Keeves and agnus takes place in the memory space, as this theory implies, there is no real war, and no real advantage for either side, it's just a ploy to make the poors fight each other to extract more energy for those privileged enough to live in the 'real world'. Which may rely on that energy, to sustain reality.

It's a repurposing of a concept from xenosaga, where people's souls/the collective unconscious has to be used as energy to keep reality from ending, and those who ended up having a problem and resisting, became monsters the party fought. There was a company that made products that tapped into and abused this power source that was needed to sustain reality, they had an interstellar network that was called UMN. It's logo was an oroboros.

Keep in mind, someone is almost always lying and providing false narratives to the players somewhere in Xeno games.
 
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So I've rewatched the direct (via watching some reactions to it) a few times now, and am developing a theory.

The people in the theater talk about fate and the "flow", and the dialogue seems to indicate they are curious what will happen to "them" "this time". So I think there's a cycle of reincarnation going on, and the off-seer/queen sacrificial ritual is what allows the souls of the people to be reincarnated. So it's possible the main characters have had prior incarnations that were of interest to the shady group. I also think Melia and Nia are in on this, and the only reason they are willing to perpetuate some endless death battle world is because the cycle of reincarnation is what is keeping the souls of their respective peoples preserved in some form, and a break to this cycle threatens to end everything. This is why they fear the Ouroboros, as the villainous group is using it and likely trying to disrupt the cycle for some reason. The shady theater guys seem to be the same as the evil Ouroboros, so they're doing a bit of playing both sides, perhaps to stall for time until a certain thing happens.
 
WestEgg said:
So I've rewatched the direct (via watching some reactions to it) a few times now, and am developing a theory.

The people in the theater talk about fate and the "flow", and the dialogue seems to indicate they are curious what will happen to "them" "this time". So I think there's a cycle of reincarnation going on, and the off-seer/queen sacrificial ritual is what allows the souls of the people to be reincarnated. So it's possible the main characters have had prior incarnations that were of interest to the shady group. I also think Melia and Nia are in on this, and the only reason they are willing to perpetuate some endless death battle world is because the cycle of reincarnation is what is keeping the souls of their respective peoples preserved in some form, and a break to this cycle threatens to end everything. This is why they fear the Ouroboros, as the villainous group is using it and likely trying to disrupt the cycle for some reason. The shady theater guys seem to be the same as the evil Ouroboros, so they're doing a bit of playing both sides, perhaps to stall for time until a certain thing happens.
Click to expand...

Yup sure seems like it's something along those lines. At least until the first reveal lol.

Personally I think the recloning/reincarnation
is simply a callous matter of convenience and efficiency for a power source. A 'wonderful' new Soylent system of sorts..... And will be what leads to it's undoing.
 
topics.nintendo.co.jp

【ゼノブレイド ノート vol. 6】「ゼノブレイド3 Direct 2022.6.22」が公開。追加コンテンツ「ゼノブレイド3 エキスパンション・パス」も予約開始。 | トピックス | Nintendo

7月29日に発売するNintendo Switch『ゼノブレイド3』についてご紹介する「ゼノブレイド ノート」。第6回となる今回の「ゼノブレイド ノート」では、昨晩公開された「ゼノ
topics.nintendo.co.jp topics.nintendo.co.jp

The Consuls are the human forms and Moebius are their transformations. Also, it looks like you can unlock the Monado skin for swordfighters after finishing the game without a Shulk amiibo.
 
Harpoon said:
Gray's got to be my favourite Hero so far, his "ninja cowboy" schtick is giving me major Minoth vibes. Also interesting that, unlike weapons from either Keves or Agnus, his guns use orange ether and seem to have no clock on them... hmm.

All of the other Heroes are looking really great too:



FV3wj-XXkAE_gIH
Click to expand...

There’s a distinct lack of Chadapon Riku in this photo
 
Thunder84 said:
There’s a distinct lack of Chadapon Riku in this photo
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disapproves in a weirdly deep voice

Most of the reactions I've seen just have no idea what to do with Riku's voice. It's just so surprising. Personally though, I'm a fan, it's a nice subversion of Nopon tropes
 
Apopheniac said:
topics.nintendo.co.jp

【ゼノブレイド ノート vol. 6】「ゼノブレイド3 Direct 2022.6.22」が公開。追加コンテンツ「ゼノブレイド3 エキスパンション・パス」も予約開始。 | トピックス | Nintendo

7月29日に発売するNintendo Switch『ゼノブレイド3』についてご紹介する「ゼノブレイド ノート」。第6回となる今回の「ゼノブレイド ノート」では、昨晩公開された「ゼノ
topics.nintendo.co.jp topics.nintendo.co.jp

The Consuls are the human forms and Moebius are their transformations. Also, it looks like you can unlock the Monado skin for swordfighters after finishing the game without a Shulk amiibo.
Click to expand...

From what I understand, it also says in here that if a colony's flame clock ever runs out, everyone from that colony dies. That's certainly grim.
 
Harpoon said:
From what I understand, it also says in here that if a colony's flame clock ever runs out, everyone from that colony dies. That's certainly grim.
Click to expand...
...Wait a minute, so when Mio's saying that the flame clock has got to go in the second trailer, is she basically advocating eradicating an entire colony?

'Course, everyone there could be dead already through Consul shenanigans
 
imagine Lin's reaction if she met Riku. Tatsu is already afraid he'd get replaced as it is

Harpoon said:
From what I understand, it also says in here that if a colony's flame clock ever runs out, everyone from that colony dies. That's certainly grim.
Click to expand...
Xenoblade X walked so XC3 can run
 
NabiscoFelt said:
...Wait a minute, so when Mio's saying that the flame clock has got to go in the second trailer, is she basically advocating eradicating an entire colony?

'Course, everyone there could be dead already through Consul shenanigans
Click to expand...

They also destroy one in the trailer, so I'm assuming they have a way to shut them down without killing everyone. They've talked about the party liberating colonies, and I imagine getting rid of the flame clocks would be a major part of that.
 
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