Xenoblade Chronicles 3 had potential to be the greatest game of all time.
Quite literally. It was built and designed to be a conclusion to the Xenoblade series, which has been host to some of the best writing in a video game. Some of the beloved characters; most emotional moments of all time, and readily regarded as a masterclass in video game music. Greatness is Xenoblade. I'm not one to set expectations for games, but I anticipated something of similar quality with Xenoblade 3. And then I played it. And what I got was sloppy. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. Sloppy execution all around. Everywhere I looked, I would find design elements that needed further polishing. It felt like the game was never play tested beyond a pure technological level. I could barely believe it. The worst part of it all, is that the potential is so present that it's almost funny if it wasn't so sad. The actual story, what the game tries to say with regards to the value of life, and its potential is genuinely beautiful. However, it's how it goes about spreading its message that ruins it. And even beyond its story, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 seemingly goes out of its way to do everything in the most confusing and obtuse way possible. Disappointment does not begin to cut it.
I'll start with the worst part, the story. The actual story in theory is phenomenal. Two nations being led to continuously fight each other for the benefit of an elite class, Moebius, then rebelling against the said elite class only to find out that the enemies are former friends, lovers and alternative versions of themselves? The twists, turns, revelations and themes are fantastic. As an anticapitalist and socialist, I eat that stuff up! At least, I would if Xenoblade 3 was not dedicated to having some of the worst pacing I have ever experienced in a video game. It's (at best) a 70 hour campaign that could have been told in 40. The game will have you play for 10 hours, freeing colony after colony, exploring massive landscapes and constantly fight battles where nothing plot relevant happens. When you finally reach a destination, you'll get bombarded with a massive 2 hour long exposition dump of a cutscene. And it would be insane shocking revelation after shocking revelation after shocking revelation back to back to back. The sensory overload would be so much that I would need to pause the game just to process it all. Also, to reflect on what just happened cause the game has this weird habit of not explaining itself clearly. After all that, you would think that the gameplay would escalate similarly to the plot, but instead it would be yet another 10 hour drought of collecting special metals and fighting yodeling Estefano; until the next big plot dump. This happens all throughout the game, from the very beginning all the way to the very end. It's annoying, frustrating and drains the enjoyment out of every other aspect of the game. I don't want to fight monsters because I want to get to the plot as soon as possible. I don't want to do the admittedly good side quests because I want to get to the plot as soon as possible. I don't want to get to know all the NPC's in a colony because I don't want to add more time to the plot drought. To make matters even worse, the game does not move beyond its initial premise for like 30 hours. You learn that Agnus and Keves don't actually need to fight each other, and that Moebius is manipulating them both in around the first 2 hours. The plot does not move much beyond that until you hit Keves castle. Then you get the massive plot dump, and the pattern starts proper. Simply put, the pacing ruins the game experience.
Despite all this, I would say the game is good and worth playing. And that is because Xenoblade 3 has some of the best character writing I have ever seen. The main cast of Noah, Mio, Lanz, Sena, Taion, and Eunie are one of the most likeable and well-developed I have ever played with. Everyone is multifaceted and multidimensional. You feel like you know these characters, and then the game throws another side to them. The main campaign dedicates time to every single character and gives them occasions to be fleshed out. Noah with his relationship with Crys, N and M, Mio with her relationship with M and Miyabi, Lanz's relationship with Joren and coming to terms with his trauma, Sena's relationship with Shania and becoming her own person, Taion's relationship with Isurd, and Eunie's relationship with her past. Every character gets the spotlight during the main campaign, and it really solidified them as complete people. Beyond major cutscenes, the game is filled with little moments of character banter that truly elevates my appreciation for them. The little campfire scene of Noah and Mio playing together, or Sena doing all the girl's hair is so cute. Even Riku and Manana are fantastic despite being Nopons, a race that has been characteristically pegged as mostly jokes without much nuance. The scene when the cast finds out about babies, falling in love, and growing old in the City was one of the most powerfully resonant moments I have ever seen in a game. It's so foreign, but also natural to them, as even if they only get to live 10 years in endless war, they are still human. When that scene played, I couldn't help but cry. And now rewatching it on YouTube, the tears were swelling in my eyes again. The fact that I'm sitting here talking about how much a scene made me cry speaks to the strength of the character writing. It also extends past the main cast; the antagonists are fantastic as well. At first, I was a little annoyed by how cartoony and childish Moebius seemed, but it made perfect sense upon reflecting as they are literally children being manipulated by some higher force. N and M also continue the Xenoblade tradition of making incredibly compelling antagonists with completely understandable motivations. I wish the game was more character moments and less exposition dumps.
I've talked about the best and worst part about the game, here's a part that varies wildly, the quest design. I would say that as a whole the quests are quite good, but you really don't know what you'll get upon playing them. Quests come in 2 flavors, standard side quests and hero/ascension quests, which are related to important NPCs. The standard side quests are generally not important and don't add much to the game experience. It's usually some flavor of "this colony needs supplies" or " can you fight this thing for me". I did a fair amount of them but ultimately gave up on them due to them not being very interesting, and the previously aforementioned pacing. Hero/Ascension quests, however, were a different story. These involve an important side character and its usually tied to some aspect of the main cast. Mio's old mentor, Taion's old commander, Lanz's hero figure, stuff like that. These are much better designed and add to the previously mentioned excellent character writing. They're usually voiced cutscenes and by the end of the quests, it feels like the main cast grew and actually learned something about themselves and the world. Some of them are so good that they actually should have been part of the main campaign. Beyond standard and hero quests, there also personal side quests for every character. Again, these add an extra dimension to the cast and provides the spotlight on them. This is another instance of content that you should have been part of the main campaign because it is so essential to the game experience. With the exception of Sena's and Eunie's personal side quests which were fairly lackluster. My biggest complaint about side quests as a whole, is that no matter what the narrative justification is, in gameplay you'll be doing the same thing over and over. It's either collecting items, talking to NPCs or fighting monsters. And since that's all you do in the main campaign as well, the repetitiveness of it all can become really annoying.
Speaking of repetitive, the gameplay. If I were to describe the gameplay it would be "automated". Gameplay generally consists of exploring massive areas, fighting enemies over and over, collecting items, and hearing wacky British banter until you reach a cutscene of some sort. Something I've noticed pretty early on is just how dense the enemy population is in XB3. You will be fighting enemies literally every 3-8 minutes with little breaks. And these fights take a long time as enemies generally are HP bloats. That would be forgiven if the combat was really good, and it is, but unfortunately it is incredibly repetitive. Every monster, boss and important encounter in the game is defeated with the same strategy. Break, topple, daze; break topple, launch; chain attack, and interlink. Every single fight in the game with no exception can be defeated with this strategy. Once you realize that, the game quickly becomes boring. It's a game with 1000 fights that all go about in the same fashion. I was so done with fighting that I turned on auto battle at the 20-hour mark and never looked back. Thankfully auto battle does a reasonable job at clearing the countless random mobs that stand in your way. In fact, the game is so good at playing itself that I did my recertification for ACLS while auto battling. The overpowering nature of the break/topple strategy extends to all the little subsystems in XB3. I'm not going to go into the execution of the arts, accessories, skills, interlinks, and gems because they don't matter. I had the game auto select all of that stuff and didn't affect my experience at all. In fact, I would say that it probably elevated it since I didn't have to waste time pretending that I have agency over the gameplay. I could have equipped and done anything (or nothing) with the subsystems, and I highly doubt it would have affected my engagement. One aspect of the gameplay that did lower my estimation was the class system. I was super excited to explore and experiment with all the different classes and see what kind of crazy shenanigans I can come up with. I'm a huge sucker for class/job systems so I was all in on this new feature. But just like everything else, it was inconsequential. It didn't matter what class you played or what composition your party had; all battles played out the same way. Break, topple, launch and chain attack; repeat until dead. As long as you had access to break/topple/launch/daze, healing, buffs, and aggro management, it is impossible for you to lose.
Lastly some miscellaneous thoughts that I could not fit in the other paragraphs, starting with the world building. Similar to character writing, its excellent. Every colony looks the same and act the same from a distance, but once you get to know its people you understand that each colony has little bits of culture that sets them apart. Some colonies plant flowers for every person that has died, some bury them in the ground, some play songs for their dead. Some colonies are all in on battle, others are more defensive. One colony will thrive on everyone being friends, another thrives on competing over who's the best fighter. All the cat people have the same accent, all the bird people of the same accent different from the cat one. Agnus generally has eastern names, Keves is usually western instead. It's little details like this that really makes the world of XB3 feel lived in. If you've played XB1 and 2, you'll notice that the world of XB3 consists of mangled distorted versions of classic locations from those games, which is a really nice touch for old fans. I just wish there was more visual differences between the different colonies, as I got tired of seeing the same steel and dirt brown imagery all the time. Lastly, the music, it's mid. I know I'm probably in the minority in this, but I simply could not resonate with the music the way I have with previous games. I would say the Moebius battle theme, The Weight of Life, and Lost Days of Warmth are the standout tracks for me. If I have to hear the chain attack theme again, I think I'll go insane.
Now having some time separated from the game, I can't help but reminisce on the game fondly. I love its characters very much and the journey they go through is truly beautiful. There are so many amazing scenes in this game that I can't bring myself to dislike it. But despite all that, the actual experience of playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a test in patience and in frustration. I just wish the characters got a better game.
Quite literally. It was built and designed to be a conclusion to the Xenoblade series, which has been host to some of the best writing in a video game. Some of the beloved characters; most emotional moments of all time, and readily regarded as a masterclass in video game music. Greatness is Xenoblade. I'm not one to set expectations for games, but I anticipated something of similar quality with Xenoblade 3. And then I played it. And what I got was sloppy. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. Sloppy execution all around. Everywhere I looked, I would find design elements that needed further polishing. It felt like the game was never play tested beyond a pure technological level. I could barely believe it. The worst part of it all, is that the potential is so present that it's almost funny if it wasn't so sad. The actual story, what the game tries to say with regards to the value of life, and its potential is genuinely beautiful. However, it's how it goes about spreading its message that ruins it. And even beyond its story, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 seemingly goes out of its way to do everything in the most confusing and obtuse way possible. Disappointment does not begin to cut it.
I'll start with the worst part, the story. The actual story in theory is phenomenal. Two nations being led to continuously fight each other for the benefit of an elite class, Moebius, then rebelling against the said elite class only to find out that the enemies are former friends, lovers and alternative versions of themselves? The twists, turns, revelations and themes are fantastic. As an anticapitalist and socialist, I eat that stuff up! At least, I would if Xenoblade 3 was not dedicated to having some of the worst pacing I have ever experienced in a video game. It's (at best) a 70 hour campaign that could have been told in 40. The game will have you play for 10 hours, freeing colony after colony, exploring massive landscapes and constantly fight battles where nothing plot relevant happens. When you finally reach a destination, you'll get bombarded with a massive 2 hour long exposition dump of a cutscene. And it would be insane shocking revelation after shocking revelation after shocking revelation back to back to back. The sensory overload would be so much that I would need to pause the game just to process it all. Also, to reflect on what just happened cause the game has this weird habit of not explaining itself clearly. After all that, you would think that the gameplay would escalate similarly to the plot, but instead it would be yet another 10 hour drought of collecting special metals and fighting yodeling Estefano; until the next big plot dump. This happens all throughout the game, from the very beginning all the way to the very end. It's annoying, frustrating and drains the enjoyment out of every other aspect of the game. I don't want to fight monsters because I want to get to the plot as soon as possible. I don't want to do the admittedly good side quests because I want to get to the plot as soon as possible. I don't want to get to know all the NPC's in a colony because I don't want to add more time to the plot drought. To make matters even worse, the game does not move beyond its initial premise for like 30 hours. You learn that Agnus and Keves don't actually need to fight each other, and that Moebius is manipulating them both in around the first 2 hours. The plot does not move much beyond that until you hit Keves castle. Then you get the massive plot dump, and the pattern starts proper. Simply put, the pacing ruins the game experience.
Despite all this, I would say the game is good and worth playing. And that is because Xenoblade 3 has some of the best character writing I have ever seen. The main cast of Noah, Mio, Lanz, Sena, Taion, and Eunie are one of the most likeable and well-developed I have ever played with. Everyone is multifaceted and multidimensional. You feel like you know these characters, and then the game throws another side to them. The main campaign dedicates time to every single character and gives them occasions to be fleshed out. Noah with his relationship with Crys, N and M, Mio with her relationship with M and Miyabi, Lanz's relationship with Joren and coming to terms with his trauma, Sena's relationship with Shania and becoming her own person, Taion's relationship with Isurd, and Eunie's relationship with her past. Every character gets the spotlight during the main campaign, and it really solidified them as complete people. Beyond major cutscenes, the game is filled with little moments of character banter that truly elevates my appreciation for them. The little campfire scene of Noah and Mio playing together, or Sena doing all the girl's hair is so cute. Even Riku and Manana are fantastic despite being Nopons, a race that has been characteristically pegged as mostly jokes without much nuance. The scene when the cast finds out about babies, falling in love, and growing old in the City was one of the most powerfully resonant moments I have ever seen in a game. It's so foreign, but also natural to them, as even if they only get to live 10 years in endless war, they are still human. When that scene played, I couldn't help but cry. And now rewatching it on YouTube, the tears were swelling in my eyes again. The fact that I'm sitting here talking about how much a scene made me cry speaks to the strength of the character writing. It also extends past the main cast; the antagonists are fantastic as well. At first, I was a little annoyed by how cartoony and childish Moebius seemed, but it made perfect sense upon reflecting as they are literally children being manipulated by some higher force. N and M also continue the Xenoblade tradition of making incredibly compelling antagonists with completely understandable motivations. I wish the game was more character moments and less exposition dumps.
I've talked about the best and worst part about the game, here's a part that varies wildly, the quest design. I would say that as a whole the quests are quite good, but you really don't know what you'll get upon playing them. Quests come in 2 flavors, standard side quests and hero/ascension quests, which are related to important NPCs. The standard side quests are generally not important and don't add much to the game experience. It's usually some flavor of "this colony needs supplies" or " can you fight this thing for me". I did a fair amount of them but ultimately gave up on them due to them not being very interesting, and the previously aforementioned pacing. Hero/Ascension quests, however, were a different story. These involve an important side character and its usually tied to some aspect of the main cast. Mio's old mentor, Taion's old commander, Lanz's hero figure, stuff like that. These are much better designed and add to the previously mentioned excellent character writing. They're usually voiced cutscenes and by the end of the quests, it feels like the main cast grew and actually learned something about themselves and the world. Some of them are so good that they actually should have been part of the main campaign. Beyond standard and hero quests, there also personal side quests for every character. Again, these add an extra dimension to the cast and provides the spotlight on them. This is another instance of content that you should have been part of the main campaign because it is so essential to the game experience. With the exception of Sena's and Eunie's personal side quests which were fairly lackluster. My biggest complaint about side quests as a whole, is that no matter what the narrative justification is, in gameplay you'll be doing the same thing over and over. It's either collecting items, talking to NPCs or fighting monsters. And since that's all you do in the main campaign as well, the repetitiveness of it all can become really annoying.
Speaking of repetitive, the gameplay. If I were to describe the gameplay it would be "automated". Gameplay generally consists of exploring massive areas, fighting enemies over and over, collecting items, and hearing wacky British banter until you reach a cutscene of some sort. Something I've noticed pretty early on is just how dense the enemy population is in XB3. You will be fighting enemies literally every 3-8 minutes with little breaks. And these fights take a long time as enemies generally are HP bloats. That would be forgiven if the combat was really good, and it is, but unfortunately it is incredibly repetitive. Every monster, boss and important encounter in the game is defeated with the same strategy. Break, topple, daze; break topple, launch; chain attack, and interlink. Every single fight in the game with no exception can be defeated with this strategy. Once you realize that, the game quickly becomes boring. It's a game with 1000 fights that all go about in the same fashion. I was so done with fighting that I turned on auto battle at the 20-hour mark and never looked back. Thankfully auto battle does a reasonable job at clearing the countless random mobs that stand in your way. In fact, the game is so good at playing itself that I did my recertification for ACLS while auto battling. The overpowering nature of the break/topple strategy extends to all the little subsystems in XB3. I'm not going to go into the execution of the arts, accessories, skills, interlinks, and gems because they don't matter. I had the game auto select all of that stuff and didn't affect my experience at all. In fact, I would say that it probably elevated it since I didn't have to waste time pretending that I have agency over the gameplay. I could have equipped and done anything (or nothing) with the subsystems, and I highly doubt it would have affected my engagement. One aspect of the gameplay that did lower my estimation was the class system. I was super excited to explore and experiment with all the different classes and see what kind of crazy shenanigans I can come up with. I'm a huge sucker for class/job systems so I was all in on this new feature. But just like everything else, it was inconsequential. It didn't matter what class you played or what composition your party had; all battles played out the same way. Break, topple, launch and chain attack; repeat until dead. As long as you had access to break/topple/launch/daze, healing, buffs, and aggro management, it is impossible for you to lose.
Lastly some miscellaneous thoughts that I could not fit in the other paragraphs, starting with the world building. Similar to character writing, its excellent. Every colony looks the same and act the same from a distance, but once you get to know its people you understand that each colony has little bits of culture that sets them apart. Some colonies plant flowers for every person that has died, some bury them in the ground, some play songs for their dead. Some colonies are all in on battle, others are more defensive. One colony will thrive on everyone being friends, another thrives on competing over who's the best fighter. All the cat people have the same accent, all the bird people of the same accent different from the cat one. Agnus generally has eastern names, Keves is usually western instead. It's little details like this that really makes the world of XB3 feel lived in. If you've played XB1 and 2, you'll notice that the world of XB3 consists of mangled distorted versions of classic locations from those games, which is a really nice touch for old fans. I just wish there was more visual differences between the different colonies, as I got tired of seeing the same steel and dirt brown imagery all the time. Lastly, the music, it's mid. I know I'm probably in the minority in this, but I simply could not resonate with the music the way I have with previous games. I would say the Moebius battle theme, The Weight of Life, and Lost Days of Warmth are the standout tracks for me. If I have to hear the chain attack theme again, I think I'll go insane.
Now having some time separated from the game, I can't help but reminisce on the game fondly. I love its characters very much and the journey they go through is truly beautiful. There are so many amazing scenes in this game that I can't bring myself to dislike it. But despite all that, the actual experience of playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a test in patience and in frustration. I just wish the characters got a better game.