Around 2/3rds of the way through Xenoblade 3, there's a big old cutscene. It's about an hour long, and it is absolute peak JRPG. A ridiculously emotionally charged rollercoaster of a sequence that is simultaneously emotional enough to get me to cry a bit whilst being mired in enough fake lore for me to be unable to explain exactly why to a concerned person entering the room. It's bombastic and cathartic and absolutely incredible.

And yeah, of course. Xenoblade was going to get that right. Even in 2, a game that does not take itself seriously at all, nails it's huge moments and has some proper emotional gut punches. Add on top Monolithsoft's gargantuan worlds, vistas, fondness for mecha and soundtracks that go insanely hard - and these games just poke at the part of my brain that obsessed with JRPGs as a kid, like very little else (In recent years, basically Ys VIII).

Xenoblade 3's real strength though, is in it's quieter, and character focused stuff. It could not be overstated how much more fun, relatable, and nuanced this game's cast is compared to the previous games. I legitimately love every member of the core cast and I'm pretty partial to most of the heroes as well. Of all things, main lad Noah might come off worst of the lot because so much time is spent hanging out with these goofs. The dub pulls a tonne of weight here, taking the bits that worked from Xenoblade 2's (the great regional accents and the very naturalistic dialogue delivery, with a bit of scrappiness coming through), whilst being far less grating and feeling even more spontaneous. Eunie in particular is an absolute joy, the foul mouthed snarky cockney bird lady stealing the show. The delivery and the casualness of a lot of the dialogue really sells these guys and their relationships, its fantastic. I also appreciate the truly large amount of both fake and real swearing, to the point im surprised the game is rated 12.

Its also worth noting the core cast is together in about 2 hours, and the game uses the oppurtunity to explore the relationships between them build subtly change as the game progresses. Its very good stuff. Honestly though, even the side heroes you get are far more fleshed out and have better questlines than any of the non-shulks of Xenoblade 1 at least.

And the benefit of this character work (as well as just being great itself) is that when that incredible, hour long cutscene hits, dear god does it hit, because I care way more about these goofs than basically any other JRPG characters.

Aside from that enormous step forward, it's Xenoblade, really. For some fucking reason i somewhat doubted Monolithsoft could pull off another one seemingly out of nowhere whilst simultaneously being laboured with keeping all of Nintendo's first party projects afloat, but turns out they knew what they were doing and Xenoblade 3 just iterates and improves on the previous game's cores. Combat is a particular improvement - whilst it's not as good as Torna's, which makes sense for an RPG that's far less restrictive - it's a big leap over 1 and 2 in playability whilst also giving far more freedom to the player in terms of build, and the increased party size works wonders.

Whilst the core plot probably isnt the strongest of the series, not really able to one up Xenoblade 2's truly bonkers final act and much stronger antagonists in the moment, thematically it's far improved, with the focus on the world is a fuck of Aionis and the actual conflicting beliefs at play being big steps forward.

I would be remiss not to mention the music, which again, is great. It's a lot more subdued and melancholic than previous entries, with even the game's equivelent of Engage the Enemy/Counterattack, The Weight of Life, being a bit more minor key and featuring the haunting wooden flutes that pervade the soundtrack. I'd need a few more listens before calling it against Xenoblade 2's ost which just goes ridiculously hard all the time, but it's very very good, even if less bombastic.

Of course, it's Xenoblade - by sheer scale alone the game has more problems than most games have content. Whilst sidequest design and narrative is massively improved in the hero quests, standard sidequests remain quite weak, and even getting to those hero quests can be a bit of a faff. UX is a bit of a mess with an accessories menu that should be shot into the sun, class balance is all over the place (Signifier my beloved) and Xenoblade's traditional conflict of smelling the roses and doing side stuff whilst a conflict that determines the fate of the world hangs in the background, this time with a ticking clock - remains.

But it's all so minor in the grand scheme of things. Xenoblade 3 is such an absolute joy to just be in, hang out, and go through another wonderful Monosoft world, and it's the best main Xenoblade, probably by a fair bit. I think I still prefer the fast pace and incredible combat of Torna - but its super close. It fills me with the same joy I had playing JRPGs as a child, but with the nuance and character driven stuff I crave now.

Monolithsoft are an absolute treasure and easily one of the best developers in the industry right now. Turns out that with fostering a positive work environment, providing benefits to workers and avoiding crunch, they maintain a prolific, exceptional output. Long may it continue.