This review contains spoilers
In all my earlier reviews on this site I have avoided using the spoiler tag, typically I would like to explain why someone should consider playing or avoiding a game with my words.
I want to give my feelings but much like any aggregator I want to be able to give my friends a temperature of a title.
I cannot, however, and I am sure it is completely understandable, do that with some DLC for a story-based game.
If you want a TLDR that isn’t going to spoil anything; get this if you’ve played the others, don’t get this if you haven’t but please go grab Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and start your own journey.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a “trilogy” is one of if not the game series that I love the most.
I use quotations because although I’m still yet to play one of the games with “Xenoblade Chronicles” in its title (X), it’s hard to look at the rest as a trilogy when much like Future Redeemed does, the other DLCs and extra content feel like games in their own right.
Future Redeemed has a tough job, a lot of responsibility in being the final piece of this more than a decade long saga.
It has a job that honestly is impossible; answering questions, tying up loose ends and giving a satisfying conclusion.
It is something that, for all I might not have found it perfect, it succeeds in doing and in about 20 hours.
The choice of telling the story of the city founders which in the main game we only really saw as statues that had some very interesting similarities to characters in the game and earlier ones, was equal parts obvious and a stroke of genius.
Having the game introduce us to the single lettered Consul we never met, A, and to tie them all the way back to Xenoblade 1 was also extremely smart.
Whilst I was left a little unsatisfied because I wanted the impossibility of knowing what everyone from the previous games had done, were doing etc. the ones it did give either directly in the case of the protagonists Shulk and Rex or via not-always-explicit-but-quite-obviously descendants in party members Nikol and Glimmer or even NPCs such as Linka and Panacea was fantastic.
This made side quests worth playing alone, the chase for just that slither of extra information, a line of dialogue or just more of a look because we’ve got this far, and we need to know.
I would never have played this and ignored the side quests but one small criticism I do have to make while I’m here is I don’t think tying character progression (in mechanics not story) to side quests so directly is the best design choice.
Torna was, for how amazing that DLC is too, even worse for this with gating you off from the main story until you’d done so many but I could see this DLC for someone who does want the primary narrative but that’s it, have a rough time without being able to give characters accessories, gems or even abilities because they’ve not adventured outside the story.
As far as a complaint I do realise it’s moot, as like myself I can assume that most people will be doing most if not all the extra content they can in this game, especially the side quests.
Speaking a little more on the characters, I don’t have the time or want to go through what I felt about every single one, but I would like to mention some key points which are mostly good but include a little bad.
The main six characters:
As far as a new protagonist goes Matthew is class, mechanically he’s interesting, he’s a great hang, has heart, brings comedy and brings together many interesting loose ends from the core game.
Glimmer and Nikol, I like. They reflect their parents in interesting ways, have really cool weapons and are a good extra bite of the Keves vs Agnus plot from the main game.
I never truly fell in love with them, design wise for sure, but character wise they are unfortunately shafted by being in a much shorter story that already has so many key characters the player wants to give attention to.
Speaking of which; Shulk and Rex especially are absolutely amazing in this.
Both have grown and become more badass and reflect not parents but parental or heroic figures in their lives from the 2 and 3.
While Shulk is still my favourite lead, Rex raises the bar for himself so much and in game is a total badass with the best introduction I think the entirety of Future Redeemed has, a proper fist pumping moment.
For me the weakest part of the characters were the antagonists.
I would never go as far to say any were terrible, I can even see how some have actually improved via context such as N but overall, to me this is the bit I felt was most “under baked”.
Na’el, a protagonist turned antagonist due to Alpha, has a direction that is understandable but although different feels too much of an echo of many characters from XC3 wanting an “endless now”.
Alpha wants to create a new world, not stay in the now or go back to the way things were but other than that statement of intent the feeling is always that they’re just there.
That they are more an objective, a place to go and to me it felt fairly hollow.
Na’el because they are so intrinsically tied with Alpha felt quite similar and much like Nikol and Glimmer are admittedly shafted by limited time.
We know they’re good with kids, they play piano, and they want a peaceful world but it’s all either hollow, vague or just comes across as a repeat.
I’ve had a good amount of time to think about these characters and their motives, how it ties in with the overall narrative and although I see it’s place and do respect it all more than I did when I was watching the credits roll I have not fully shaken the feeling that these characters were just a little too weak for me.
For complaints I might as well speak on the game mechanically and in the simplest terms, why I’m not rating this as high as I did Torna.
As if I need to say it again, this game is great. I enjoy the new version of the collectopedia, whilst I don’t like how progression is tied to side activities. I do like its version of leveling characters, especially considering the DLC’s length.
Also I actually think there’s an argument to say the whole Unity Skills and Combos part is better than the equivalent in the base game.
The element I miss the most however is the class systems and the amount of customisation and experimentation that could bring which Future Redeemed is lacking.
I say this though with an understanding that again, due to time constraints it would be wild to try and fit new versions of all that in and really would make Shulk and Rex - characters fans have already played as - feel less defined.
Overall, yes, my complaint amounts to “I prefer the base game’s mechanics” knowing it’s too much to ask from a 20 hour version of a 100 odd hour game.
However, Torna showed us that even with changing things due to restraints you can actually be better. I understand really, I’ve just elaborated on something which is at best critical opinion but more likely pointless feelings but that is where I land with this.
In the end I’m comparing something that is great to pure greatness.
Over time, like the winds, my opinions may change, and my personal rankings may slip and slide but so far this series they have stayed pretty locked in place.
Future Redeemed biggest weakness, if you can even call it that, is that it doesn’t succeed in the impossible.
It can’t be perfect, but it was satisfying, it was fun, it did answer many questions and recontextualise so many things (and I’m not even going to talk about the Xenosaga implications).
I have seen and can understand some people preferring this to the base game. I am not one of them, but I think I am with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
If there is ever a review that I will go back to edit or do again it will probably be this. Just to further the stream of consciousness that is my feelings on a series I love.
I will end here though after typing well over a thousand words with what I would like from the future of this series.
I have already seen people over the internet clambering for X and/or ‘saga remakes.
I’m not opposed to that idea, but I want to see something new, more often than not it’s actually preferable for stories to have an ending.
They can be vague, open for interpretation and keep your imagination going but fresh starts, new stories and a lack of baggage of needing to be connected and make sense to dozens of the previous stories is superior.
I’d rather imagine not what is next for this universe but what Monolithsoft and Takahashi can do with a brand new one.
I want to give my feelings but much like any aggregator I want to be able to give my friends a temperature of a title.
I cannot, however, and I am sure it is completely understandable, do that with some DLC for a story-based game.
If you want a TLDR that isn’t going to spoil anything; get this if you’ve played the others, don’t get this if you haven’t but please go grab Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and start your own journey.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a “trilogy” is one of if not the game series that I love the most.
I use quotations because although I’m still yet to play one of the games with “Xenoblade Chronicles” in its title (X), it’s hard to look at the rest as a trilogy when much like Future Redeemed does, the other DLCs and extra content feel like games in their own right.
Future Redeemed has a tough job, a lot of responsibility in being the final piece of this more than a decade long saga.
It has a job that honestly is impossible; answering questions, tying up loose ends and giving a satisfying conclusion.
It is something that, for all I might not have found it perfect, it succeeds in doing and in about 20 hours.
The choice of telling the story of the city founders which in the main game we only really saw as statues that had some very interesting similarities to characters in the game and earlier ones, was equal parts obvious and a stroke of genius.
Having the game introduce us to the single lettered Consul we never met, A, and to tie them all the way back to Xenoblade 1 was also extremely smart.
Whilst I was left a little unsatisfied because I wanted the impossibility of knowing what everyone from the previous games had done, were doing etc. the ones it did give either directly in the case of the protagonists Shulk and Rex or via not-always-explicit-but-quite-obviously descendants in party members Nikol and Glimmer or even NPCs such as Linka and Panacea was fantastic.
This made side quests worth playing alone, the chase for just that slither of extra information, a line of dialogue or just more of a look because we’ve got this far, and we need to know.
I would never have played this and ignored the side quests but one small criticism I do have to make while I’m here is I don’t think tying character progression (in mechanics not story) to side quests so directly is the best design choice.
Torna was, for how amazing that DLC is too, even worse for this with gating you off from the main story until you’d done so many but I could see this DLC for someone who does want the primary narrative but that’s it, have a rough time without being able to give characters accessories, gems or even abilities because they’ve not adventured outside the story.
As far as a complaint I do realise it’s moot, as like myself I can assume that most people will be doing most if not all the extra content they can in this game, especially the side quests.
Speaking a little more on the characters, I don’t have the time or want to go through what I felt about every single one, but I would like to mention some key points which are mostly good but include a little bad.
The main six characters:
As far as a new protagonist goes Matthew is class, mechanically he’s interesting, he’s a great hang, has heart, brings comedy and brings together many interesting loose ends from the core game.
Glimmer and Nikol, I like. They reflect their parents in interesting ways, have really cool weapons and are a good extra bite of the Keves vs Agnus plot from the main game.
I never truly fell in love with them, design wise for sure, but character wise they are unfortunately shafted by being in a much shorter story that already has so many key characters the player wants to give attention to.
Speaking of which; Shulk and Rex especially are absolutely amazing in this.
Both have grown and become more badass and reflect not parents but parental or heroic figures in their lives from the 2 and 3.
While Shulk is still my favourite lead, Rex raises the bar for himself so much and in game is a total badass with the best introduction I think the entirety of Future Redeemed has, a proper fist pumping moment.
For me the weakest part of the characters were the antagonists.
I would never go as far to say any were terrible, I can even see how some have actually improved via context such as N but overall, to me this is the bit I felt was most “under baked”.
Na’el, a protagonist turned antagonist due to Alpha, has a direction that is understandable but although different feels too much of an echo of many characters from XC3 wanting an “endless now”.
Alpha wants to create a new world, not stay in the now or go back to the way things were but other than that statement of intent the feeling is always that they’re just there.
That they are more an objective, a place to go and to me it felt fairly hollow.
Na’el because they are so intrinsically tied with Alpha felt quite similar and much like Nikol and Glimmer are admittedly shafted by limited time.
We know they’re good with kids, they play piano, and they want a peaceful world but it’s all either hollow, vague or just comes across as a repeat.
I’ve had a good amount of time to think about these characters and their motives, how it ties in with the overall narrative and although I see it’s place and do respect it all more than I did when I was watching the credits roll I have not fully shaken the feeling that these characters were just a little too weak for me.
For complaints I might as well speak on the game mechanically and in the simplest terms, why I’m not rating this as high as I did Torna.
As if I need to say it again, this game is great. I enjoy the new version of the collectopedia, whilst I don’t like how progression is tied to side activities. I do like its version of leveling characters, especially considering the DLC’s length.
Also I actually think there’s an argument to say the whole Unity Skills and Combos part is better than the equivalent in the base game.
The element I miss the most however is the class systems and the amount of customisation and experimentation that could bring which Future Redeemed is lacking.
I say this though with an understanding that again, due to time constraints it would be wild to try and fit new versions of all that in and really would make Shulk and Rex - characters fans have already played as - feel less defined.
Overall, yes, my complaint amounts to “I prefer the base game’s mechanics” knowing it’s too much to ask from a 20 hour version of a 100 odd hour game.
However, Torna showed us that even with changing things due to restraints you can actually be better. I understand really, I’ve just elaborated on something which is at best critical opinion but more likely pointless feelings but that is where I land with this.
In the end I’m comparing something that is great to pure greatness.
Over time, like the winds, my opinions may change, and my personal rankings may slip and slide but so far this series they have stayed pretty locked in place.
Future Redeemed biggest weakness, if you can even call it that, is that it doesn’t succeed in the impossible.
It can’t be perfect, but it was satisfying, it was fun, it did answer many questions and recontextualise so many things (and I’m not even going to talk about the Xenosaga implications).
I have seen and can understand some people preferring this to the base game. I am not one of them, but I think I am with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
If there is ever a review that I will go back to edit or do again it will probably be this. Just to further the stream of consciousness that is my feelings on a series I love.
I will end here though after typing well over a thousand words with what I would like from the future of this series.
I have already seen people over the internet clambering for X and/or ‘saga remakes.
I’m not opposed to that idea, but I want to see something new, more often than not it’s actually preferable for stories to have an ending.
They can be vague, open for interpretation and keep your imagination going but fresh starts, new stories and a lack of baggage of needing to be connected and make sense to dozens of the previous stories is superior.
I’d rather imagine not what is next for this universe but what Monolithsoft and Takahashi can do with a brand new one.