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

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I haven't noticed sprinting either. Can you do the crazy X style jumps when sprinting? Those videos sort of look like sped up normal gameplay. I'm still wondering how you do the dash move in combat, maybe you push in on the control stick. The gamexplain guy said he forgot quick move was a thing and never used it and none of the other previews I looked through mentioned it all.

I did see a little bit of the water combat in one of the videos (small pond in Everblight plains). Your upper body is the same as in a normal fight while your legs kick around in the swimming animations. It looks very silly and old school MMO-ish but I love it. I watched and read so much stuff yesterday, I can't remember what video it was in.

edit: Found it! It was in a French preview at 6:50:
 
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Worst case scenario: Quick Step gems are back as the only way to speed up your characters and you only have one gem slot available until level 40
 
poop said:
Worst case scenario: Xenoblade 3 gets the Advance Wars 1+ 2 treatment
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evil-dontyou.gif


ILikeFeet said:
an anime convention
Click to expand...
Around here we call them "Nintendo Directs"
 
BeanKing said:
So someone asked:

"Is this a seamless open world game or just big open areas to explore that are segmented?"

and he answered "segmented."
Click to expand...

I have been seing contradictory answers. Metro preview said that it is seamless. metro specifically said they thought there was a loading because of a cutscene, only for later find out there is actually no loading screens when trying to walk to that place again.

"At first, we thought we had moved between two separate maps in-between cut scenes, but all of that can be explored on foot seamlessly, with no loading screens segmenting them. It’s impressive and feels like it’s setting a precedent for the rest of the game."

metro.co.uk

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 preview – very open world RPG

GameCentral goes hands-on with the opening hours of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and discovers the first secrets about its plot and combat system.
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk

Do we have a definitive answer for that?, or are the reviewers that said there are loading screens saw a cutscene, took it as a loading between maps and did not bother to test if that was really the case?

I am fine either way, but I would like to undestand it better.
 
Wisehunter666 said:
I have been seing contradictory answers. Metro preview said that it is seamless. metro specifically said they thought there was a loading because of a cutscene, only for later find out there is actually no loading screens when trying to walk to that place again.

"At first, we thought we had moved between two separate maps in-between cut scenes, but all of that can be explored on foot seamlessly, with no loading screens segmenting them. It’s impressive and feels like it’s setting a precedent for the rest of the game."

metro.co.uk

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 preview – very open world RPG

GameCentral goes hands-on with the opening hours of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and discovers the first secrets about its plot and combat system.
metro.co.uk metro.co.uk

Do we have a definitive answer for that?, or are the reviewers that said there are loading screens saw a cutscene, took it as a loading between maps and did not bother to test if that was really the case?

I am fine either way, but I would like to undestand it better.
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one preview I read said that the areas are just fucking large. everything we've seen so far in the previews were just the first area. it's possible they're mixing the designs from the numbered games with X
 
Lovecatt said:
I'm almost positive if it was open world, nintendo would have said so already
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It was mentioned as such in one of the store descriptions, which is why people were wondering. Could always be a thing where the game opens up past the halfway mark, but at this point we'll have to play it ourselves to judge.
 
0
Nintendo World Report's preview made it clear it's separate areas with different loading zones but each loading zone contained the equivalent to several areas from 1. So Everblight Plains, Yzana Plains, Colony 9, and Alfeto valley are confirmed to be in a seamless map together. I imagine Millick Meadows, Eagus Wilderness, Rael Bel Tableland, Dannagh Desert, and Uraya are all together in their own zone - probably the biggest zone.

edit: added source: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/60906/xenoblade-chronicles-3-switch-preview
The world is unified but separated into loading zones much like the original Xenoblade. That being said, the size of each zone is comparable to several of the original’s areas combined.
Click to expand...
 
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Lovecatt said:
I'm almost positive if it was open world, nintendo would have said so already
Click to expand...
There was the store description, the Direct had a section named "a boundless world" and there is the vehicle in the trailers that they never disclosed.

At this point, I wouldn't assume either way.

It could even be both: a segmented world while you're on foot, then you get a vehicle which can go anywhere, similar to old school FF and the airship.

Quite honestly, I wish they had hidden flying skells, it would have been an amazing moment to find that out while playing. I imagine a lot of people rushed main story because of it too.
 
I know people wanted the whole thing to be seamless but I don't see much reason to disregard people who have actually played the game. Even the metro article seems to only be talking about the opening if you read the whole paragraph that quote comes from:
However, we were not expecting how big the game’s opening area would be, with a war-torn battlefield, a home colony, an open rocky terrain, and dense woodland. At first, we thought we had moved between two separate maps in-between cut scenes, but all of that can be explored on foot seamlessly, with no loading screens segmenting them. It’s impressive and feels like it’s setting a precedent for the rest of the game.
Click to expand...

They specifically say opening area then go on to describe what sounds like environments we've seen in the opening area and that NWR confirms are seamless. I think when metro thought cutscenes moved them to a different zone they were talking about going from Everblight to Yzana. So it's unlikely NWR was mistaken. Though if they were, that means they could be mistaken about sprinting as well.

Being able to get multiple Xenoblade 1 sized areas in the same loading zone is still pretty impressive and these areas are still going to be massive - if anything it could mean the overall world is bigger than X's. I don't think a load screen here and there is going to bother me too much and I bet they'll find clever ways of making the transitions feel natural. The choice to make the world a floating landmass was probably to have more control over the shape of the zones and their boundaries. I am thinking the boat is probably locked to Erythia - of course, there's nothing to say a boat can't go through a load screen.
 
EtherPenguin said:
I know people wanted the whole thing to be seamless but I don't see much reason to disregard people who have actually played the game. Even the metro article seems to only be talking about the opening if you read the whole paragraph that quote comes from:


They specifically say opening area then go on to describe what sounds like environments we've seen in the opening area and that NWR confirms are seamless. I think when metro thought cutscenes moved them to a different zone they were talking about going from Everblight to Yzana. So it's unlikely NWR was mistaken. Though if they were, that means they could be mistaken about sprinting as well.

Being able to get multiple Xenoblade 1 sized areas in the same loading zone is still pretty impressive and these areas are still going to be massive - if anything it could mean the overall world is bigger than X's. I don't think a load screen here and there is going to bother me too much and I bet they'll find clever ways of making the transitions feel natural. The choice to make the world a floating landmass was probably to have more control over the shape of the zones and their boundaries. I am thinking the boat is probably locked to Erythia - of course, there's nothing to say a boat can't go through a load screen.
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Personally I like "really really big areas, but still segmented" even more than completely open world. It gives most of the same feel and exploration joy and such of being open world, but also lets you control the pacing and story a bit more. And control when things are shown and revealed much, much better.
 
EtherPenguin said:
Nintendo World Report's preview made it clear it's separate areas with different loading zones but each loading zone contained the equivalent to several areas from 1. So Everblight Plains, Yzana Plains, Colony 9, and Alfeto valley are confirmed to be in a seamless map together. I imagine Millick Meadows, Eagus Wilderness, Rael Bel Tableland, Dannagh Desert, and Uraya are all together in their own zone - probably the biggest zone.

edit: added source: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/60906/xenoblade-chronicles-3-switch-preview
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So if I had to guess Regions probably serve as the zones then? Since Areas don't seem to be the distinguishing factor now, like they were in the previous game
 
NabiscoFelt said:
So if I had to guess Regions probably serve as the zones then? Since Areas don't seem to be the distinguishing factor now, like they were in the previous game
Click to expand...
That's probably right, everything in the opening area is in the Aetia Region. I'm also starting to think Millick Meadows might be there as well, is seamless with the opening stuff, and the grasslands that Eagus leads into is a completely separate grassland called Ribbi Flats. You can see Gormott's tail and a fin from Yzana but neither Gormott's features nor the Guar Plains overhangs are visible from the distant fingertip looking toward the grasslands.

I also found a few non-English previews with some screenshots that reveal a little more about skills and classes. I thought it might be best to spoiler tag them for people trying to avoid preview stuff and they seem to be from after chapter 1:

Here's a picture of the character stat screen after the six characters meet up:
1657187500_874691_1657187988_sumario_grande.jpg

source: https://as.com/meristation/2022/07/07/avances/1657198849_696864.html

What's exciting about this is that Noah has a whopping seven passive skills! X gave you five at most if you returned to the Drifter class. Looks like the first four are your current class skills and these are the ones that you always have while you're in that class as we saw in the other footage. The new three slots are for mastered skills from other classes. Noah has changed to a Zephyr so his first four are the Zephyr skills and his swordfighter skill Cypher Blade is carried over (mastered at rank 5) and slotted into the first of the new slots.

All skills have the same shape meaning it probably doesn't matter which nation your mastered skills come from like with arts. If true, that gives you a minimum of 44 skills to select from for those three slots (22 known classes excluding your current + 2 master skills per class).

Unfortunately, this menu still doesn't contain any hint of gems. The gamexplain guy said he still didn't have access to gems though he made it as far as class changing so I guess that makes sense they aren't in this shot if you still have more to go before they're introduced. I could see gems fitting in the space above accessories and below the party member portraits.

And a French site contained a screen of the class select menu when you first have access to it:
Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-Screenshots-Previews-4.jpg

source: https://www.nintendo-difference.com...it-de-you-will-know-our-names-finale-et-plus/

The classes available only show the characters you currently have access to. This means it is possible for there to be more than 17 heroes and they won't all be spoiled at the beginning. Which makes it even worse that they spoiled Cammuvari in the direct.

I like that this particular shot shows us the difference in stats between our two main healer classes.
 
EtherPenguin said:
That's probably right, everything in the opening area is in the Aetia Region. I'm also starting to think Millick Meadows might be there as well, is seamless with the opening stuff, and the grasslands that Eagus leads into is a completely separate grassland called Ribbi Flats. You can see Gormott's tail and a fin from Yzana but neither Gormott's features nor the Guar Plains overhangs are visible from the distant fingertip looking toward the grasslands.

I also found a few non-English previews with some screenshots that reveal a little more about skills and classes. I thought it might be best to spoiler tag them for people trying to avoid preview stuff and they seem to be from after chapter 1:

Here's a picture of the character stat screen after the six characters meet up:
1657187500_874691_1657187988_sumario_grande.jpg

source: https://as.com/meristation/2022/07/07/avances/1657198849_696864.html

What's exciting about this is that Noah has a whopping seven passive skills! X gave you five at most if you returned to the Drifter class. Looks like the first four are your current class skills and these are the ones that you always have while you're in that class as we saw in the other footage. The new three slots are for mastered skills from other classes. Noah has changed to a Zephyr so his first four are the Zephyr skills and his swordfighter skill Cypher Blade is carried over (mastered at rank 5) and slotted into the first of the new slots.

All skills have the same shape meaning it probably doesn't matter which nation your mastered skills come from like with arts. If true, that gives you a minimum of 44 skills to select from for those three slots (22 known classes excluding your current + 2 master skills per class).

Unfortunately, this menu still doesn't contain any hint of gems. The gamexplain guy said he still didn't have access to gems though he made it as far as class changing so I guess that makes sense they aren't in this shot if you still have more to go before they're introduced. I could see gems fitting in the space above accessories and below the party member portraits.

And a French site contained a screen of the class select menu when you first have access to it:
Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-Screenshots-Previews-4.jpg

source: https://www.nintendo-difference.com...it-de-you-will-know-our-names-finale-et-plus/

The classes available only show the characters you currently have access to. This means it is possible for there to be more than 17 heroes and they won't all be spoiled at the beginning. Which makes it even worse that they spoiled Cammuvari in the direct.

I like that this particular shot shows us the difference in stats between our two main healer classes.
Click to expand...
Hm, interesting

Do we know that the first 4 skill slots are fixed to the current class? I know that's what we've seen so far, but it does take away some of the flexibility, imo, but it makes sense that at least some of the skills would be fixed since otherwise main classes would lose a lot of their purpose.

Also, do we have descriptions of any of the Skills yet?
 
NabiscoFelt said:
Hm, interesting

Do we know that the first 4 skill slots are fixed to the current class? I know that's what we've seen so far, but it does take away some of the flexibility, imo, but it makes sense that at least some of the skills would be fixed since otherwise main classes would lose a lot of their purpose.

Also, do we have descriptions of any of the Skills yet?
Click to expand...
I guess we don't know for sure, but when the player was in the skill menu there was no button prompt for selecting a skill with A, only B to exit the submenu. Ideally, I would've liked more skills per class than what can be equipped like arts to have some more choice. But if gems work like a second set of accessories though (which is what I'm thinking), we'd essentially have nine slots to put special effects in between three master skill slots, three accessories, and hopefully at least three gems. That would be a pretty nice amount of options to mess with for each character.

And yes, we have descriptions for each Swordfighter skill. A French video hovered over each of them. I would need some time to find the video again so you can see it for yourself, but I did jot them down. They're in my updated arts and skills list along with a Zephyr and Ogre art seen in an Italian video:
My Art and Skill List

In general, I've been trying to keep updating this post every time I see something new.

edit: Found it, it was in a French video at 7:36. The skill menu is opened and the player hovers over each one.
 
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EtherPenguin said:
Nintendo World Report's preview made it clear it's separate areas with different loading zones but each loading zone contained the equivalent to several areas from 1. So Everblight Plains, Yzana Plains, Colony 9, and Alfeto valley are confirmed to be in a seamless map together. I imagine Millick Meadows, Eagus Wilderness, Rael Bel Tableland, Dannagh Desert, and Uraya are all together in their own zone - probably the biggest zone.

edit: added source: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/60906/xenoblade-chronicles-3-switch-preview
Click to expand...
Sounds about what I expected, a halfway between 1/2 and X
 
0
so it's basically like witcher 3? Open World but with different huge maps that you can only access with quick traveling?
 
EtherPenguin said:
That's probably right, everything in the opening area is in the Aetia Region. I'm also starting to think Millick Meadows might be there as well, is seamless with the opening stuff, and the grasslands that Eagus leads into is a completely separate grassland called Ribbi Flats. You can see Gormott's tail and a fin from Yzana but neither Gormott's features nor the Guar Plains overhangs are visible from the distant fingertip looking toward the grasslands.

I also found a few non-English previews with some screenshots that reveal a little more about skills and classes. I thought it might be best to spoiler tag them for people trying to avoid preview stuff and they seem to be from after chapter 1:

Here's a picture of the character stat screen after the six characters meet up:
1657187500_874691_1657187988_sumario_grande.jpg

source: https://as.com/meristation/2022/07/07/avances/1657198849_696864.html

What's exciting about this is that Noah has a whopping seven passive skills! X gave you five at most if you returned to the Drifter class. Looks like the first four are your current class skills and these are the ones that you always have while you're in that class as we saw in the other footage. The new three slots are for mastered skills from other classes. Noah has changed to a Zephyr so his first four are the Zephyr skills and his swordfighter skill Cypher Blade is carried over (mastered at rank 5) and slotted into the first of the new slots.

All skills have the same shape meaning it probably doesn't matter which nation your mastered skills come from like with arts. If true, that gives you a minimum of 44 skills to select from for those three slots (22 known classes excluding your current + 2 master skills per class).

Unfortunately, this menu still doesn't contain any hint of gems. The gamexplain guy said he still didn't have access to gems though he made it as far as class changing so I guess that makes sense they aren't in this shot if you still have more to go before they're introduced. I could see gems fitting in the space above accessories and below the party member portraits.

And a French site contained a screen of the class select menu when you first have access to it:
Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-Screenshots-Previews-4.jpg

source: https://www.nintendo-difference.com...it-de-you-will-know-our-names-finale-et-plus/

The classes available only show the characters you currently have access to. This means it is possible for there to be more than 17 heroes and they won't all be spoiled at the beginning. Which makes it even worse that they spoiled Cammuvari in the direct.

I like that this particular shot shows us the difference in stats between our two main healer classes.
Click to expand...
They're pulling a lot from Xenoblade X
 
Huge segmented areas is what I expected, but I'm gonna be sad if that means I probably can't climb up to the Urayan titan corpse and enter it through the crack, or ascend the Mechonis sword from its exterior
 
Really don't get why they don't let you level down. It's such a simple but effective way for players to modulate the challenge. Hopefully they patch this in.
 
AranPrime said:
Really don't get why they don't let you level down. It's such a simple but effective way for players to modulate the challenge. Hopefully they patch this in.
Click to expand...
Probably to avoid exploits, like bonus effects/exp against higher level monsters (you can keep yourself always exactly 1 level below bosses).

Even so, I am one to advocate for letting players exploit things if they want in a single-player...
 
I just want to play this game already. I haven't watched much of the footage from the previews and not really because I'm on blackout or anything, but just because I don't need to see more to be sold. 20 more days!

I will say that from the RPGSite preview where they mention that there's a bathing scene where Noah, Eunie, and Lanz are nude together and there's zero embarrassment/modesty kind of scratches at the back of my brain as what if it's not them being "mature" but them being ignorant instead. I haven't been following discussion of this game so maybe this has been clarified or even theorized further in depth, but what if they simply don't know about lust? Like what if this is some garden of eden-like mentality where there is no concept of it? That's fine and all, but coupled with ouroboros forms, them being a pair of one male and one female character (so far that we know of of course), and those possibly being a metaphor for sex too, this is giving me Darling in the Franxx vibes. Which, if you've ever seen it, is a disaster of a show. I just hope whatever the deal is, it's carried out with more tact and less heteronormativity and homophobia. Obviously I'm making a huge speculatory leap and just rambling off thoughts I had from what little I have seen from previews thus far. I'm not actually worried because despite the previous games and some stuff they tackled poorly, it was never that dire, and I have a decent tolerance for Anime Bullshit anyway.
 
penguindrum said:
I just want to play this game already. I haven't watched much of the footage from the previews and not really because I'm on blackout or anything, but just because I don't need to see more to be sold. 20 more days!

I will say that from the RPGSite preview where they mention that there's a bathing scene where Noah, Eunie, and Lanz are nude together and there's zero embarrassment/modesty kind of scratches at the back of my brain as what if it's not them being "mature" but them being ignorant instead. I haven't been following discussion of this game so maybe this has been clarified or even theorized further in depth, but what if they simply don't know about lust? Like what if this is some garden of eden-like mentality where there is no concept of it? That's fine and all, but coupled with ouroboros forms, them being a pair of one male and one female character (so far that we know of of course), and those possibly being a metaphor for sex too, this is giving me Darling in the Franxx vibes. Which, if you've ever seen it, is a disaster of a show. I just hope whatever the deal is, it's carried out with more tact and less heteronormativity and homophobia. Obviously I'm making a huge speculatory leap and just rambling off thoughts I had from what little I have seen from previews thus far. I'm not actually worried because despite the previous games and some stuff they tackled poorly, it was never that dire, and I have a decent tolerance for Anime Bullshit anyway.
Click to expand...
you named yourself Penguin Drum. you have to have a high tolerance for anime bullshit
 
EtherPenguin said:
That's probably right, everything in the opening area is in the Aetia Region. I'm also starting to think Millick Meadows might be there as well, is seamless with the opening stuff, and the grasslands that Eagus leads into is a completely separate grassland called Ribbi Flats. You can see Gormott's tail and a fin from Yzana but neither Gormott's features nor the Guar Plains overhangs are visible from the distant fingertip looking toward the grasslands.

I also found a few non-English previews with some screenshots that reveal a little more about skills and classes. I thought it might be best to spoiler tag them for people trying to avoid preview stuff and they seem to be from after chapter 1:

Here's a picture of the character stat screen after the six characters meet up:
1657187500_874691_1657187988_sumario_grande.jpg

source: https://as.com/meristation/2022/07/07/avances/1657198849_696864.html

What's exciting about this is that Noah has a whopping seven passive skills! X gave you five at most if you returned to the Drifter class. Looks like the first four are your current class skills and these are the ones that you always have while you're in that class as we saw in the other footage. The new three slots are for mastered skills from other classes. Noah has changed to a Zephyr so his first four are the Zephyr skills and his swordfighter skill Cypher Blade is carried over (mastered at rank 5) and slotted into the first of the new slots.

All skills have the same shape meaning it probably doesn't matter which nation your mastered skills come from like with arts. If true, that gives you a minimum of 44 skills to select from for those three slots (22 known classes excluding your current + 2 master skills per class).

Unfortunately, this menu still doesn't contain any hint of gems. The gamexplain guy said he still didn't have access to gems though he made it as far as class changing so I guess that makes sense they aren't in this shot if you still have more to go before they're introduced. I could see gems fitting in the space above accessories and below the party member portraits.

And a French site contained a screen of the class select menu when you first have access to it:
Xenoblade-Chronicles-3-Screenshots-Previews-4.jpg

source: https://www.nintendo-difference.com...it-de-you-will-know-our-names-finale-et-plus/

The classes available only show the characters you currently have access to. This means it is possible for there to be more than 17 heroes and they won't all be spoiled at the beginning. Which makes it even worse that they spoiled Cammuvari in the direct.

I like that this particular shot shows us the difference in stats between our two main healer classes.
Click to expand...

I see, thanks for all the info.

And yeah, I am totally fine with zoned areas, I asked just out of curiosity, really.
 
Sorry for the slight OT but I‘m not sure where to ask. What was the problem with Xenoblade 2 undocked again ? Resolution or fps ?
I’m in the middle of a Xenoblade 1 playthrough and at the point when I would like to know what awaits me in the sequel. Was docked good ?
 
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Multiverse said:
Isn’t odd that not a single previewer use the new dash mechanic in combat💀? You would think that’s one of the first new things they would want to show off but nope.
Click to expand...
Makes me wonder if you have to unlock it. The first chapter seems to heavily restrict what you have access to. Apparently, you can't even manually switch your controlled character until after all 6 join together.
 
Tentacle-tropes said:
I’m saying that calling the AW treatment the “worst case” is being generous to how bad that case scenario is.
Click to expand...
You're saying it's worse than the worst possible case? That doesn't make sense. Unless that's on purpose and you were making a joke, in which case, oh.
 
EtherPenguin said:
Makes me wonder if you have to unlock it. The first chapter seems to heavily restrict what you have access to. Apparently, you can't even manually switch your controlled character until after all 6 join together.
Click to expand...
Just watched the gamexplain video and he forgot it was a thing. Then he remembered and found it useful
 
0
Multiverse said:
Isn’t odd that not a single previewer use the new dash mechanic in combat💀? You would think that’s one of the first new things they would want to show off but nope.
Click to expand...
I saw that targeting is in fact on L and R by default so maybe the dash is on L3, which would make it kinda awkward to use
 
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