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

[Brewster123]

I like X's party member variety a lot. It was fun mixing up my party comps so much over the course of the game.

Spoiler: Party Member Spoiler

Plus I love how they handled Mia. It was such a good surprise having this random girl you've helped out over the course the game end up actually being a party member.

 

[Renmazuo]

After "mild sex" and "woman shooting herself", does anyone else feel like having another round of speculation based on rating boards info?

It has been brought to my attention that PEGI has given the "horror" label to Xenoblade 3 (visible on the European eshop), another new one which none of the previous games had.

The PEGI site describes this label as such:

This descriptor may appear as 'Fear' on games with a PEGI 7 if it contains pictures or sounds that may be frightening or scary to young children, or as 'Horror' on higher-rated games that contain moderate (PEGI 12) or intense and sustained (PEGI 16) horror sequences or disturbing images (not necessarily including violent content).

Based on past Xeno games my guess is that this is more about disturbing imagery rather than actual horror sequences. Looks like we might be going a step beyond blade eater Gort.

Of course we won't know for sure until we actually get the game but based on the different rating boards it seems like Monolith might be getting bolder with what they show in these games while trying to keep the T rating.

 

[ILikeFeet]

even Kirby got a fear rating

 

[Deleted member 2181]

tbf kirby's terrifying

 

[Crusters]

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)

This games new weapons type focus is crossing my mental wires with monhun.

Noah get the tail! Sena! Bonk the head!

 

[Harpoon]

2) Seems like overworld items are represented as orbs but as you get closer you can see the type of item you will get (Again, right at the end)

This is one of those bits of footage that really makes you realize how much Lanz towers over the rest of the party, haha.

 

[EtherPenguin]

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 don't think that's an entirely fair assessment. All six are party members because all six somehow become ouroboros and need to go on the run. Even the fact they're childhood friends has a different feel from other games that do this, given that they grew up together as child soldiers, friendships likely grew from being assigned to the same missions. The reason they were together when they encountered Wild Ride is likely because they were assigned the missions together. No one feels like they're just tagging along to me.

But, the similar ages and backgrounds are disappointing. I was hoping Vandham would join as an actual party member, but it looks like he dies at the beginning again. No idea why Monolith have cold feet about letting a Van character be a full-fledged party member (if Nagi could join you, why not Vandham in X?). I was thinking 7th slot members could fill the void. The idea of a 7th member was likely made to offer some more variety and probably give voiced quests to replace X's affinity missions and 2's blades quests. Though if a lot are from the military, they're presumably young too. There has to be some way for soldiers to win more years, Isurd and Cammuvari appear older than 18.

In regards to the talk about party size, I generally like a smaller tight-knit party. Maybe not as low as only Elma and Lin, but 6 is usually a good amount. 2 struggled with a larger cast with all the blades (remember how Roc fell off the face of the earth, but Rex still uses his weapons in Chapter 7). If this is all we're getting for actual members and not 7th slotters, then the thing I'm looking forward to is accepting and completing quests without worrying about rearranging my party for affinity.

 

[Renmazuo]

even Kirby got a fear rating

The sort of content that gets the label varies on the game's age rating as the description I posted explains.

For example PEGI 18 games don't get the label at all as they are considered disturbing by default.

 

[Harpoon]

2 struggled with a larger cast with all the blades (remember how Roc fell off the face of the earth, but Rex still uses his weapons in Chapter 7).

I was pretty disappointed with how Roc just completely disappeared from the story after they got his Core Crystal back. Also on the subject of party members who didn't get a whole lot of focus in 2, something that has me curious about 3 is if Dromarch will still be around since Nia is. Could be an opportunity for him to receive more fleshing out than he previously had if so.

 

[Renmazuo]

There has to be some way for soldiers to win more years, Isurd and Cammuvari appear older than 18.

Are they though? It gives that impression when watching the trailer but then they look very young in their actual character art (partially visible in the last character flowchart Monolith posted).

On closer inspection the real reason they look older is simply because they have an extreme case of eyebags. Furthemore, our playable male characters also seem to have eyebags in both trailers, though nowhere near as pronounced and only visible when the camera is close to them. Don't know if that's just a peculiar stylistic choice for male characters or if there's more to it.

I'm brazing for both of them to be in their early 20s.

 

[EtherPenguin]

Are they though? It gives that impression when watching the trailer but then they look very young in their actual character art (partially visible in the last character flowchart Monolith posted).

On closer inspection the real reason they look older is simply because they have an extreme case of eyebags. Furthemore, our playable male characters also seem to have eyebags in both trailers, though nowhere near as pronounced and only visible when the camera is close to them. Don't know if that's just a peculiar stylistic choice for male characters or if there's more to it.

I'm brazing for both of them to be in their early 20s.

Damn, you might be right. I noticed Noah having some darkness under his eyes and saw speculation elsewhere that with a limited amount of time to live, he tries to spend as much of it as possible awake. I guess that would apply to the others as well.

I'm still waiting to see some characters and towns that aren't connected to the military. It'd be weird if they make a big deal out of Vandham being the first person the party's ever seen above 20.

 

[sanstea]

Isn't one point of the story that essentially everyone is part of the military?

And yeah, as I see it there is no good or logical reason for conventional towns to exist by the story description. The only reason of existence is to kill each other. The worlds collided, became ruins and everything else that was newly built afterwards exists solely for the purpose of the military.

There could be a town of outcasts that built something hidden underground or something who would rather just enjoy their short lifespans? That I could see.

 

[Crusters]

Damn, you might be right. I noticed Noah having some darkness under his eyes and saw speculation elsewhere that with a limited amount of time to live, he tries to spend as much of it as possible awake. I guess that would apply to the others as well.

I'm still waiting to see some characters and towns that aren't connected to the military. It'd be weird if they make a big deal out of Vandham being the first person the party's ever seen above 20.

Look everyone! It's an old!

 

[Zeal543]

I don't think that's an entirely fair assessment. All six are party members because all six somehow become ouroboros and need to go on the run. Even the fact they're childhood friends has a different feel from other games that do this, given that they grew up together as child soldiers, friendships likely grew from being assigned to the same missions. The reason they were together when they encountered Wild Ride is likely because they were assigned the missions together. No one feels like they're just tagging along to me.

But, the similar ages and backgrounds are disappointing. I was hoping Vandham would join as an actual party member, but it looks like he dies at the beginning again. No idea why Monolith have cold feet about letting a Van character be a full-fledged party member (if Nagi could join you, why not Vandham in X?). I was thinking 7th slot members could fill the void. The idea of a 7th member was likely made to offer some more variety and probably give voiced quests to replace X's affinity missions and 2's blades quests. Though if a lot are from the military, they're presumably young too. There has to be some way for soldiers to win more years, Isurd and Cammuvari appear older than 18.

In regards to the talk about party size, I generally like a smaller tight-knit party. Maybe not as low as only Elma and Lin, but 6 is usually a good amount. 2 struggled with a larger cast with all the blades (remember how Roc fell off the face of the earth, but Rex still uses his weapons in Chapter 7). If this is all we're getting for actual members and not 7th slotters, then the thing I'm looking forward to is accepting and completing quests without worrying about rearranging my party for affinity.

IIRC based on the japanese art book, roc had his story cut short either due to budget/time limits or they didn't feel it fit

 

[Renmazuo]

I mean if Vandham was the first truly old person the party met that would certainly be a good reason to believe he isn't just bullshitting

 

[Deleted member 2181]

There is a clip that shows some kind of non-Colony settlement. Reminds me of the military section of Colony 9 crossed with Vandham's village in 2. I can't remember the original source, but it's at around 1h:19m in Luxin's analysis


Dunno if you could call this a "town", but I'd assume there's much more to it than what we're seeing here.

 

[EtherPenguin]

IIRC based on the japanese art book, roc had his story cut short either due to budget/time limits or they didn't feel it fit

That's really interesting! This is in Alrest Records? I haven't seen translations of its contents, but I never really bothered to search. Roc really got a raw deal. The game is jam packed with content and he couldn't even get a blade quest. Dahlia was considered less expendable than him lol. I don't get why he couldn't just show up in the Elpys scene even if he didn't have lines. The presence of his weapons instead of using the junk sword like chapter 10 does or any common weapon makes his absence weirder like they're reminding you how long you haven't seen him.

 

[Neoleo]

Are they though? It gives that impression when watching the trailer but then they look very young in their actual character art (partially visible in the last character flowchart Monolith posted).

On closer inspection the real reason they look older is simply because they have an extreme case of eyebags. Furthemore, our playable male characters also seem to have eyebags in both trailers, though nowhere near as pronounced and only visible when the camera is close to them. Don't know if that's just a peculiar stylistic choice for male characters or if there's more to it.

I'm brazing for both of them to be in their early 20s.

I'm expecting it to be extremely rare because of the 10-year time limit to the life of a soldier. The main cast here is purposefully young.

As for towns, not all the "titans"/colonies are military only. Some are resource or agriculture or focused on manufacturing. So there's probably some variety. It is strange how little we've seen of regular NPCs though.

 

[Apopheniac]

There is a clip that shows some kind of non-Colony settlement. Reminds me of the military section of Colony 9 crossed with Vandham's village in 2. I can't remember the original source, but it's at around 1h:19m in Luxin's analysis


Dunno if you could call this a "town", but I'd assume there's much more to it than what we're seeing here.

There's also this area from the first trailer, which looks like part of a Keves city:

 

[EtherPenguin]

I'm expecting it to be extremely rare because of the 10-year time limit to the life of a soldier. The main cast here is purposefully young.

As for towns, not all the "titans"/colonies are military only. Some are resource or agriculture or focused on manufacturing. So there's probably some variety. It is strange how little we've seen of regular NPCs though.

Well, not all colonies are combat-focused, but I think all are still contributing to the military and an extension of it. Like the manufacturing was specifically said to be weapon manufacturing in the original tweet about the colonies. I think the settlement Catonkatonk pointed out where they fight a face unit with Valdi is probably a mining colony for Keves. The city Sena's running through is very likely to be a Colony as well considering those mechon-esque machines all around it. Based on the skybox, it seems to be the floating machine city we saw in the background of the shot with Mio grinding on rails in the reveal trailer. Seemingly a giant flying colony.

The non-combat colonies are interesting to consider. If people in this world need to fight to live and fill up their clocks, what does that mean for people working in manufacturing or mining? Are they soldiers with clocks too and shift back and forth between combat and weapon building? Vandham, even if he's rare and surprises the party with his age, still shows it's possible for people to exist outside the clock system. He can't be the only one. Maybe there's more who live without clocks at wherever it is in Swordmarch Vandham wants the party to go. The idea of a whole planet of 18-year-olds is unappealing.

 

[Momo]

This post is pure speculation regarding vocalists for Mitsuda’s work on OST recording. To avoid pointless rumors from spreading around, I want to make it clear that this can apply to any project (games or otherwise!)—it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for Xenoblade 3. Just wanted to put that out there!

I believe Sara Weeda (Anuna) and/or Lauren and Ashlyn McGlynn (pretty sure it’s Aisling for the latter sister) will potentially participate in the OST. Aisling already did 2 songs for Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers. However to my knowledge, Sara and Lauren McGlynn haven’t released any works attached to Mitsuda. This leads me to think one or the other (or both/all three of them) recorded the ending theme. Just a gut feeling, which I will explain a bit later on. I’m leaning towards Sara because she’s the main topic in the second blog post.

In the second blog post, Mitsuda made an interesting comment on the vibe of the song. If my speculation on Sara singing the ending theme is correct, then I think we have a vague idea of how Xenoblade 3’s story will wrap up. Spoiler tagging just in case! Nothing spoiler heavy—it’s just Mitsuda describing the general feel of the song(s) mixed with my (nonsensical) speculation.

As an addendum, several blog posts from days/weeks prior to these two days vocal recordings indicate that Mitsuda was wrapping up his work on one or more projects (Chrono Cross and Xenoblade 3 probably). Both ending themes for Xenoblade 1 & 2 were recorded at the tail end of recording—I’m making the assumption that the same happened for Xenoblade 3. Again, I’m likely grasping at straws here.

Spoiler: Blog posts

1st Day Remote Recording

Today we have Ireland and remote recording. This time we will be working with Sara Weeda of ANÚNA and Michael's daughters, Lauren and Ashlyn. It was the first time for the sisters to work together on a project, and the idea came to me when I listened to their demo. The meaning of singing together as sisters is clear, and it fits the work very well. I hope you are looking forward to it. In fact, I really thought that I would like to make an original work with these two. I am looking forward to their future when they are still in their teens and can sing so well.

2nd Day Remote Recording

Today was another day of remote recording with Ireland. Everyone took the music seriously, and Sara Weeda sang all the songs beautifully, even though they were the most difficult vocal songs she had written so far (the choruses were so fast-paced, the lyrics were difficult to follow, and the expressions were extremely difficult). On the first day, I was probably not able to give my best performance due to the fatigue of traveling to Japan, nervousness, working in Japan for the first time, etc. But on the second day, I was able to give a different performance during the recording session. But on the second day, she was like a different person. In one night, she completely understood the song itself, and I felt like she was pursuing her own style. I could hear it in her voice. I have experienced many recordings in my life, but I have never seen someone who could change so much in one night. It is too wonderful. I am so glad I had her sing for me. Thank you Sara. And I would like to thank all the staff for their commitment to making the work as good as possible. I can't get over the feeling that everyone's efforts took us to a realm that we couldn't have reached just by writing the songs. It's great! I tried to make this song such that everyone can move forward in a positive way. I would be happy if, when you finish listening to the song, you are filled with a sense of happiness, even if you don't know what it is.

 

[sanstea]

If MS do the story set-up justice then small age differences should be much more significant here. 18 year olds in this universe should be way, way more emotionally and psychologically mature than any usual 18 year old as they are put into military training or adjacent military duties as soon as possible it seems like. They will have to experience the reality of their world and the death of countless people already by the time they are 12 or so. And in this world our main party characters are essentially veterans and would have to act more like leaders as well as role models out of necessity just like real world veterans in their 50s have to in actual time of a large-scale war.

Honestly, thinking more and more about this game it sounds so much more darker and cruel than the other XC games. I wonder if they really pull through with the implications of the story and the traumatising effects it should have on every character growing up in such a world. I kind of doubt it.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

If MS do the story set-up justice then small age differences should be much more significant here. 18 year olds in this universe should be way, way more emotionally and psychologically mature than any usual 18 year old as they are put into military training or adjacent military duties as soon as possible it seems like. They will have to experience the reality of their world and the death of countless people already by the time they are 12 or so. And in this world our main party characters are essentially veterans and would have to act more like leaders as well as role models out of necessity just like real world veterans in their 50s have to in actual time of a large-scale war.

Honestly, thinking more and more about this game it sounds so much more darker and cruel than the other XC games. I wonder if they really pull through with the implications of the story and the traumatising effects it should have on every character growing up in such a world. I kind of doubt it.

Monolith did a fairly decent job imo with a similarly dark setting in XC2, I don't have too many fears about XC3 delivering at least somewhat on its setting. Probably to around the same degree

 

[Almadel]

After "mild sex" and "woman shooting herself", does anyone else feel like having another round of speculation based on rating boards info?

It has been brought to my attention that PEGI has given the "horror" label to Xenoblade 3 (visible on the European eshop), another new one which none of the previous games had.

The PEGI site describes this label as such:

Based on past Xeno games my guess is that this is more about disturbing imagery rather than actual horror sequences. Looks like we might be going a step beyond blade eater Gort.

Of course we won't know for sure until we actually get the game but based on the different rating boards it seems like Monolith might be getting bolder with what they show in these games while trying to keep the T rating.

Nintendo probably isn't going to ever want a "Mature" Xenoblade game, so I wouldn't be surprised if Takahashi is pushing the Teen rating as far as he can. Which I excitedly welcome. I do miss the tone of Xenogears and Xenosaga, and hope he can there again some day. That's what my hope for XC3 is at least.

It's hard to say what's considered "horror". Going by some the images in everyone's Ouroboros awakening sequence, it seems like some pretty traumatic stuff happens to them as children.

I can't tell if it's blood running down (Lanz's?) face or just the chromatic aberration effect.

Spoiler

This is one of my favorite scenes from Xenosaga Episode I, and I would consider this "horror". I never get tired of the cinematography of this scene



If we get something as cool as this I'll be happy.

'll be happy.This post is pure speculation regarding vocalists for Mitsuda’s work on OST recording. To avoid pointless rumors from spreading around, I want to make it clear that this can apply to any project (games or otherwise!)—it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s for Xenoblade 3. Just wanted to put that out there!

I believe Sara Weeda (Anuna) and/or Lauren and Ashlyn McGlynn (pretty sure it’s Aisling for the latter sister) will potentially participate in the OST. Aisling already did 2 songs for Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers. However to my knowledge, Sara and Lauren McGlynn haven’t released any works attached to Mitsuda. This leads me to think one or the other (or both/all three of them) recorded the ending theme. Just a gut feeling, which I will explain a bit later on. I’m leaning towards Sara because she’s the main topic in the second blog post.

In the second blog post, Mitsuda made an interesting comment on the vibe of the song. If my speculation on Sara singing the ending theme is correct, then I think we have a vague idea of how Xenoblade 3’s story will wrap up. Spoiler tagging just in case! Nothing spoiler heavy—it’s just Mitsuda describing the general feel of the song(s) mixed with my (nonsensical) speculation.

As an addendum, several blog posts from days/weeks prior to these two days vocal recordings indicate that Mitsuda was wrapping up his work on one or more projects (Chrono Cross and Xenoblade 3 probably). Both ending themes for Xenoblade 1 & 2 were recorded at the tail end of recording—I’m making the assumption that the same happened for Xenoblade 3. Again, I’m likely grasping at straws here.

Spoiler: Blog posts

1st Day Remote Recording


2nd Day Remote Recording

I think Sara singing the main ending theme is a safe bet based on what he's said, while the others could be singing for another song that plays somewhere else in the game like Drifting Souls, Pain, or Stars of Tears. I just wish we had some more music samples by now.

If MS do the story set-up justice then small age differences should be much more significant here. 18 year olds in this universe should be way, way more emotionally and psychologically mature than any usual 18 year old as they are put into military training or adjacent military duties as soon as possible it seems like. They will have to experience the reality of their world and the death of countless people already by the time they are 12 or so. And in this world our main party characters are essentially veterans and would have to act more like leaders as well as role models out of necessity just like real world veterans in their 50s have to in actual time of a large-scale war.

Honestly, thinking more and more about this game it sounds so much more darker and cruel than the other XC games. I wonder if they really pull through with the implications of the story and the traumatising effects it should have on every character growing up in such a world. I kind of doubt it.

This is definitely looking to be the grittiest Xenoblade, but I don't think there's anything to worry about.

Going by Monolithsofts history it'll probably be territory they've covered before.

 

[EtherPenguin]

A thought I had regarding the talk earlier about whether the whole world is teenage soldiers or not. The nopon don't appear to have the tattoos that everyone else does. They're the only characters we haven't been able to spot them on. Soldiers are able to summon their weapons from thin air, but the nopon haven't been shown to do this and carry their weapons on their backs. They're not even really blades, Manana's weapon is her cookware and I'm pretty sure Riku uses his mechanic tools. Nopon presumably aren't soldiers in this world, and possibly the only race that hasn't been integrated into the clock system so they can live normal full lives.

If there are any normal towns like Torigoth, it could be a nopon village.

 

[snikdasnek]

A thought I had regarding the talk earlier about whether the whole world is teenage soldiers or not. The nopon don't appear to have the tattoos that everyone else does. They're the only characters we haven't been able to spot them on. Soldiers are able to summon their weapons from thin air, but the nopon haven't been shown to do this and carry their weapons on their backs. They're not even really blades, Manana's weapon is her cookware and I'm pretty sure Riku uses his mechanic tools. Nopon presumably aren't soldiers in this world, and possibly the only race that hasn't been integrated into the clock system so they can live normal full lives.

If there are any normal towns like Torigoth, it could be a nopon village.

I think that the time limit for soldiers probably starts when you enlist(hence characters like Ethel and Cammuravi seeming to be older than the party)

 

[EtherPenguin]

I think that the time limit for soldiers probably starts when you enlist(hence characters like Ethel and Cammuravi seeming to be older than the party)

That's what I had thought as well, but in the discussion above it was pointed out Cammuravi only appears older because of the lines under his eyes and could otherwise be taken for 20. And another poster mentioned it's a point of the story for everyone to be military seemingly all joining at age 10 since you need to fight to live. Combined with Vandham being the only older-looking character we've seen, it does seem like the whole world is teenage soldiers who expire at 20. If it only started after you enlist, wouldn't everyone wait until whatever age they have to do it by?

Nopon seem to exist outside this but still aid the military in utility roles, or may at least choose to.

Actually, a reason put forth above as to why conventional towns don't make sense is because everything was in ruins after the world merger, and everything built after was to aid the military. But towns and cities being ruined wouldn't phase Xenoblade 1's nopon since they always built stuff from the forest, and Makna looks to be in great condition here. I'm thinking a cozy nopon town is a real possibility.

 

[Renmazuo]

That's what I had thought as well, but in the discussion above it was pointed out Cammuravi only appears older because of the lines under his eyes and could otherwise be taken for 20. And another poster mentioned it's a point of the story for everyone to be military seemingly all joining at age 10 since you need to fight to live. Combined with Vandham being the only older-looking character we've seen, it does seem like the whole world is teenage soldiers who expire at 20. If it only started after you enlist, wouldn't everyone wait until whatever age they have to do it by?

Nopon seem to exist outside this but still aid the military in utility roles, or may at least choose to.

Actually, a reason put forth above as to why conventional towns don't make sense is because everything was in ruins after the world merger, and everything built after was to aid the military. But towns and cities being ruined wouldn't phase Xenoblade 1's nopon since they always built stuff from the forest, and Makna looks to be in great condition here. I'm thinking a cozy nopon town is a real possibility.

I'm not sure if it's been confirmed everyone joins at 10 years of age, just that after becoming a soldier you have 10 years to live, so 20 years isn't necessarily a hard limit for everyone.

I think Cammuravi and Isurd are older than the party, just not as much as their very tired faces in the trailer would suggest (Isurd in particular looks almost like a different person in his art, poor guy). I expect all three military commanders (Ethel, Cam and Isurd) to be around the same age.

 

[Deleted member 2181]

A thought I had regarding the talk earlier about whether the whole world is teenage soldiers or not. The nopon don't appear to have the tattoos that everyone else does. They're the only characters we haven't been able to spot them on. Soldiers are able to summon their weapons from thin air, but the nopon haven't been shown to do this and carry their weapons on their backs. They're not even really blades, Manana's weapon is her cookware and I'm pretty sure Riku uses his mechanic tools. Nopon presumably aren't soldiers in this world, and possibly the only race that hasn't been integrated into the clock system so they can live normal full lives.

If there are any normal towns like Torigoth, it could be a nopon village.

I already assumed Nopon wouldn't be involved in the war except to profit from it.

To be honest, I think we're getting towns whether or not they make sense for the narrative. This is a JRPG. And we already know from Vandham that people exist outside of the two country system. I don't believe the war has consumed the whole world, and I think the party members are headed somewhere that few in their countries have ever been. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Solaris-esque metropolis of plenty running the show.

 

[Crusters]

I already assumed Nopon wouldn't be involved in the war except to profit from it.

To be honest, I think we're getting towns whether or not they make sense for the narrative. This is a JRPG. And we already know from Vandham that people exist outside of the two country system. I don't believe the war has consumed the whole world, and I think the party members are headed somewhere that few in their countries have ever been. Wouldn't surprise me to see a Solaris-esque metropolis of plenty running the show.

I'm really hoping we get a colony 6 on steroids build your own town from scratch thing.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I'm really hoping we get a colony 6 on steroids build your own town from scratch thing.

forget Colony 6

let's go full-ass Dark Cloud

 

[Crusters]

forget Colony 6

let's go full-ass Dark Cloud

When you're right, you're right.

But also on steroids, I'm hell bent on juicing here!

 

[SammyJ9]

forget Colony 6

let's go full-ass Dark Cloud

Hell yes. Maybe some kind of “plan and build your own hidden village where people of both worlds can live in peace” kind of thing. Recruitable characters from all over both worlds, tons of upgrades and aesthetic options you can find/unlock from exploring and fighting unique monsters, etc. And have it give lots of good meaningful exploration and combat-related rewards and side quests too to make it really tie in with the main game.

 

[EtherPenguin]

I'm not sure if it's been confirmed everyone joins at 10 years of age, just that after becoming a soldier you have 10 years to live, so 20 years isn't necessarily a hard limit for everyone.

I think Cammuravi and Isurd are older than the party, just not as much as their very tired faces in the trailer would suggest (Isurd in particular looks almost like a different person in his art, poor guy). I expect all three military commanders (Ethel, Cam and Isurd) to be around the same age.

You're right, it hasn't been confirmed. I was just thinking it doesn't make sense for anyone to join at 10 if they have to option to wait a couple more years and maximize their lifespan. Especially if the whole fighting to live and fill up your clock by killing others is the encouragement for everyone being soldiers, then it would make sense that joining gives you the maximum lifespan. That's why I'm thinking the clocks aren't connected to being soldiers, rather joining the military is a response to naturally having the clocks to get a full 20 years by killing others.

Changing the subject, I'd love it if they do a bigger version of the Colony 6 questline.

 

[Apopheniac]

I'm expecting the beginning of the game to set up the Keves and Agnus sides of the party separately, so I would imagine the beginning of the game will have medium-sized settlements for their nations that they set out from. At some point I think we'll also visit "capitals" for each nation, where Melia and Nia respectively rule.

Between those and whatever's past Swordmarch and/or controlled by other factions, I think XC3 will get a decent number of towns. The colonies seem to be more outposts than any real settlements, so the number of towns will probably depend more on how the story breaks. XC1 had five towns and XC2 had nine, so I think XC3 will end up with somewhere between six and ten.

 

[Neoleo]

It seems like the two sides won't join together until around level 10 or so which suggests some short prologue following each side before they clash together.

 

[Brewster123]

Yeah I expect we'll get a short prologue with each group, with the two groups fighting at first, but then joining up due to Wild Ride attacking them.

 

[Neoleo]

Yeah I expect we'll get a short prologue with each group, with the two groups fighting at first, but then joining up due to Wild Ride attacking them.

It's unbelievably hilarious that we're calling that thing "wild ride".

 

[Deleted member 2181]

That's my favourite character so far.
He seems to be really enjoying the passage of fate.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I'm not enjoying the writing in the trailers so far

 

[NabiscoFelt]

That's my favourite character so far.
He seems to be really enjoying the passage of fate.

Well it is a wild ride, this passage of fate

 

[Deleted member 2]

I'm not enjoying the writing in the trailers so far

What, like the dialogue?

 

[EtherPenguin]

I don't have much issue with the dialogue. It sounds like how these games usually sound. It's not Ivalice game writing, but what else is?

There is one line that disappointed me only because I initially misheard it as something more interesting. The vid posted on the NoA channel doesn't have subtitles. I thought Vandham's last line of the trailer was "The only thing that can change all this is the will of Ouroboros, you kids, and your love" And I thought that was an interesting choice to put an emotion at the foreground like that. On one hand, it's arguable a flowery thing to say, but the fact that you would normally avoid writing something like that, and the fact that there's no other flowery writing made it feel like a bold choice. It also gave some insight into Vandham's character and made him seem sensitive.

Then I watched the UK version with subtitles and saw it was actually the vastly more generic "you kids and you alone!" which sounds like every shonen ever.

And I know I derailed this topic a little with my rantings about towns, but if I can say one more thing on the matter. It doesn't really matter if there are stationary towns in addition to the mech colonies because they probably still look the same with the cold mechanical aesthetic like everything else in this world that isn't wilderness. I just loved 2's variety of towns and cities but I think 2 will remain the one with the best towns. I really love what we see from the gameplay side of things. This could end up having my favorite combat system and exploration in the series. But I probably need to just accept that the tone and setting side of the game just isn't going to be my cup of tea rather than wishing for it to be something it's not. And plenty of people seem to prefer the grittier direction so I shouldn't complain.

 

[Deleted member 2]

I don't have much issue with the dialogue. It sounds like how these games usually sound. It's not Ivalice game writing, but what else is?

There is one line that disappointed me only because I initially misheard it as something more interesting. The vid posted on the NoA channel doesn't have subtitles. I thought Vandham's last line of the trailer was "The only thing that can change all this is the will of Ouroboros, you kids, and your love" And I thought that was an interesting choice to put an emotion at the foreground like that. On one hand, it's arguable a flowery thing to say, but the fact that you would normally avoid writing something like that, and the fact that there's no other flowery writing made it feel like a bold choice. It also gave some insight into Vandham's character and made him seem sensitive.

Then I watched the UK version with subtitles and saw it was actually the vastly more generic "you kids and you alone!" which sounds like every shonen ever.

And I know I derailed this topic a little with my rantings about towns, but if I can say one more thing on the matter. It doesn't really matter if there are stationary towns in addition to the mech colonies because they probably still look the same with the cold mechanical aesthetic like everything else in this world that isn't wilderness. I just loved 2's variety of towns and cities but I think 2 will remain the one with the best towns. I really love what we see from the gameplay side of things. This could end up having my favorite combat system and exploration in the series. But I probably need to just accept that the tone and setting side of the game just isn't going to be my cup of tea rather than wishing for it to be something it's not. And plenty of people seem to prefer the grittier direction so I shouldn't complain.

I wanted to say that I had this exact experience with Vandham's line and was slightly disappointed it wasn't how I initially heard it

 

[ILikeFeet]

The vid posted on the NoA channel doesn't have subtitles.

it does. they were the ones that originally had the queen listed as Melia

 

[EtherPenguin]

it does. they were the ones that originally had the queen listed as Melia

Oh, I know, there's closed captioning. They were added a couple days after though. I was just talking about my immediate feelings when I first saw the trailer. The UK version isn't closed captioning, it looks like the actual in-game subtitles and they're a part of the video itself so they were there when it first went up.

I didn't mean to mislead anyone if sounded like I was saying there still weren't subtitles. I should've been more clear.

 

[Momo]

I don’t think I’ve seen a couple of the scenes before.

 

[Toad King]

I don’t think I’ve seen a couple of the scenes before.

That was circulating a while back. it looks like extended versions of the battle shown in the second trailer and some soft confirmation that the battle in the first and second trailer are the same, only once Wild Ride arrives the two sides team up.

 

[EtherPenguin]

This is the sort of crackpot theory that only comes from watching the trailer too many times. I went back to check something else in the trailer and then noticed this. I think I may have discovered a seventh class or at least something of note going on with costume/weapon/role relations.

During the brief shot of Lanz and Sena in ouroboros form fighting a ropl, you can see a party member in the distance fighting two scorpox.

Spoiler: New Class?

Going through this bit frame by frame, you'll see Mio and Eunie are to the left of the ouroboros, and Taion is on its right side. By process of elimination, the distant character must be Noah. According to the HUD, he's in an attacker class. He's not wearing the red jacket and the red sword is nowhere to be seen, I can't make out a hammer either. Instead, he's wearing a black outfit with a big yellow band in the middle. I guess the closest thing it looks like is Eunie's outfit. There's blue damage numbers above both scorpox meaning he just used an AOE art. The stance he's in, the end of the art's animation, has his arms spread out and his body leaning forward. It looks like the animation typical of dual-wielding weapons (reminds me of Seven's Double Wind animation), but the HUD shows the attacker icon by his portrait when twin rings are a defender role weapon. I know it's small and blurry, but it looks like there's a short gray weapon in at least his right hand. There isn't a seventh party member according to the HUD either so it would have to be Noah.

Here are four ideas of what we're looking at:

• It's a class beyond the six we know. A dual-wielding attacker class, probably dual swords. Or maybe Zeon's sword and shield class.
• You actually do switch to the appropriate weapon when using left palette arts, and you can also wear any outfit. Noah's in the swordfighter class, but he's wearing the medic gunner jacket, and he has a twin ring art on the left palette which he just used, so it swapped his sword with the rings for the art's animation to work correctly.
• That's not Noah. It's like FF12 where random NPCs appear in the world and will fight monsters on their own. Noah's probably behind the ouroboros.
• He's just in the crusher class, the jacket looks weird on him, and the hammer is too blurry and small to see. If the outfit is shiny, the yellow could be something else just reflecting on it. The arms spread apart are what the hammer's AOE art looks like or he used a twin rings art with the hammer and it uses the same animation even if it looks weird with different weapons.

 

[Dunban]

I think he's wearing Eunie's outfit and using Mio's weapon. If he is it'd at least confirm we can mix and match any of the unlocked outfits and weapons as we please.

Also after all the analysis on this trailer pretty much revealing Manana and Riku don't seem to have blades as weapons, I don't think we'll be getting any weapons/classes from them.