That Which is Left Behind

Disclaimer: this review contains some minor story spoilers for up to the end of chapter 1.

Having played and thoroughly enjoyed all of the Xenoblade releases thus far, it has quickly become one of my favorite JRPGs series and considering the sheer amount of them I play in any given year, that is high praise indeed.

When Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was first announced, it quickly climbed to the top of my most wanted games list and everything they showed after the initial announcement trailer only served to only increase my expectations to nearly unrealistic levels. Despite this, after having completed the game in full, I can confidently state that not only did it meet my expectations, it managed to exceed them in more ways than one.

The cast of Xenoblade 3 is nuanced and deep- it’s a pleasure to see them grow throughout the adventure.

MSRP: $59.99
Platform: Switch
Length: 80-100~ hours
Played: 120~ hours

With a lifespan of only ten short years, the soldiers of Keves and Agnus battle to the death for the most valuable resource in the world, life itself. Living under the tyranny of the flame clock that displays just how much time is left before their life force runs out, the soldiers wage war to claim the lives of others so that they may keep on living. Noah, troubled after having lived in a world of nothing but strife, begins questioning the way of the world until a chance encounter with another team of soldiers led by an Agnian offseerer flips everything he took for granted on its head. Having gained new powers through this chance encounter, Noah and his allies strike out to learn the truth of the world before their time runs out.

As a premise, I immediately found it to be fascinating due to the difference in perspective as those that live only ten years, having to fight to survive constantly, have very different priorities compared to what we would consider normal. Their desires and what they want for themselves for the future are also quite limited and as the cast discovers another way to live, seeing them come to terms with their newfound desires was both interesting and heartbreaking, knowing the limited time they had.

There were many themes explored, my favorite of the bunch was the idea of, “Is it better to have loved and lost than not loved at all?” To live in blissful ignorance or to love and enjoy that short time only to be crippled with the realization of how quickly it will all come falling down. Without going into any specifics, I feel most of the themes touched upon during the course of the journey were handled with grace and I was on the edge of my seat to see the next story developments.

An interesting premise by itself wouldn’t be enough to keep me engaged for 100+ hours unless I was invested in the characters and I can safely say that I believe this to be the strongest overall cast of all the Xenoblade games thus far. Eunie, the Keves sharpshooter and healer was a clear favorite of mine with her take no nonsense attitude and even characters like Taion who came across as a snobby know-it-all grew on me pretty quickly as his tactical, cold attitude was betrayed by his deep care and considerations towards his allies. It also helps that all six of the main cast join together early on in the game and stick together through the whole adventure, allowing them ample time to grow together as a team.

Even though a great premise and a likable cast of characters is a winning enough combination, Xenoblade 3 has some of the most exciting and heart wrenching scenes I’ve ever seen in an RPG. The direction and animation work during the cinematic action set piece are top-class and the emotional damage I took during a particular scene in the latter parts of the game was enough to bring me to tears. It speaks volumes to just how invested I was in the story and characters and despite feeling there are some elements of the story that I wish was a bit better explained, it’s a fantastic tale that I would encourage everyone to experience.

The world is absolutely huge and has tons of secrets to uncover.

Xenoblade is well known for its big open worlds to explore and the latest entry does not disappoint on that front, having the largest world of the series so far, packed to the brim with secrets, treasures and dangerous foes to discover.

One of the main complaints that I had with XB 2 was its need for “Field Skills” to do certain actions like being able to jump with the wind or power up electronic devices. Luckily, that is no longer the case and while there are some field actions that are required to do things like ride rails or climb vines, they are naturally unlocked through the course of the game.

Exploration felt rewarding not just because of all the neat treasures and unique monsters I would discover but due to the fact that many of the locations were recognizable to areas from the previous games. Seeing what the ravages of time did to those familiar areas and seeing how the two worlds were meshed together was a treat and I found myself taking frequent screenshots when discovering something I recognized.

On the note of correcting past complaints, my main issue with XC 1 was that the sidequests felt throwaway and uninspired but here, they are much more interesting, often leading to changes in dynamics between NPCs. Doing side quests also increased the affinity for the party at a certain encampment which was rewarded with passive buffs like faster move speed and how far away items can be collected. There were also more elaborate “Hero Quests” which not only unlocked an NPC that would join the fray as the seventh member but also served as a new class of skills that could be learned by the party.

Combat is deep and rewarding, and once I figured out how to maximize the use of chain attacks, I could start tackling enemies at a much higher level.

When I first saw the screenshots of the combat with six party members on the battlefield at once, I thought it might be too hectic and unwieldy but in practice, it’s actually quite manageable. There are still the tried and true combat statuses- break, topple, launch, along with daze which has returned since being missing in XB2. As well as positioning arts that required that I be facing the enemy a certain way for additional benefits. Talent arts return as well which unlock as more classes are mastered.

I could switch between all six of my party members at any time to directly control them or I could give out generic orders to stop fighting and follow me or to opt for specific combos like going for launch instead of daze if my goal is to go for max damage or daze if I was looking for some additional drops from the monster. It flows really well and the various new mechanics unlocks are paced out in a way that I had ample time to master the previously introduced elements before adding another to my repertoire.

The newly added class system deserves mention as well as it adds a layer of customizability of the party to the point that levels don’t mean nearly as much as the class/skills that the party is using. I would often challenge unique monsters and get annihilated and after seeing what was lacking, I could change my strategy to add additional healers or focus on a particular type of combo to bring down a foe that absolutely wiped the floor with me a few minutes ago.

I would also create builds specifically aimed towards burst damage to clear out large quantities of enemies as fast as possible, opting for zero tanks and healers, intending to finish the fight within the first 5 seconds after engaging.

There’s a lot of room for experimentation and adding accessories and gems to the mix further compounded all the options available to me and I was eager to spend hours leveling up classes and putting together new builds.

New combat mechanics are rolled out at a steady pace and despite the hundreds of battle encounters, I was never bored.

The only downfall of the combat actually had nothing to do with the combat itself but rather, due to the fact that I ended up overleveling by exploring the world and doing sidequests. Being 5-8 levels higher than the story encounters/bosses removed most of the challenge from what ought to have been an epic fight. I was able to mitigate some of this issue by increasing the difficulty but I would have much rather been able to level my characters down in the camps for a more balanced challenge but unfortunately that’s a mechanic that only unlocks after completing the game.

There’s also the matter of the voice acting which I think is a striking improvement compared to the efforts in XB2 but the frequency of the voice lines both during and after the combat felt excessive. In fact, I can recite from memory a handful of lines like-

“Did you hear that Noah? Lanz wants something a bit meatier.”

“And I’m the MVP. What? You were all thinking it!”

“I’m the girl with the gall!”

It might seem like a minor complaint but across hundreds of battles over the course of a 120+ hour playthrough, it became quite grating. A granular control on how frequently the characters spoke in combat would have been a nice touch and I hope that’s something they’ll add to the next game.

Lastly, while I believe that it’s nothing short of technical wizardry that XB3 looks as good as it does while running fairly stable on the Switch, there are still frequent dips in the performance which was distracting and impacted the enjoyment of the combat due to how important canceling arts is to maximizing DPS. When things are chugging, it can make hitting those precise cancels more difficult than it needs to be and I couldn’t help but wonder what the experience could have been like running at a higher resolution without a 30 frame cap on a different platform.

I played through the game with English VA and felt that the performances were great, we just need to work on maybe recording a few dozen more lines for the same situation.

Despite a few issues, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a remarkable achievement that evolves the series formula in exciting ways, all the while weaving an emotionally charged story that is sure to be remembered for a long time to come. It makes a strong case not just as one of the best games of the year but as one of the best of all time.

Fun Tidbit: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the absolutely incredible soundtrack where somehow every track is a banger.

The evolution of the series staple theme “You will know our names” throughout the course of the series has been wonderful and I’m eager to listen to the next iteration.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Stellar soundtrack
  • Great cast of likable characters
  • Deeply customizable and engaging combat
  • Huge world to explore with tons of surprises
  • Emotionally charged story with thrilling set piece moments
Bad
  • No ability to level down until post game
  • Obnoxiously frequent repeated voice lines
  • Performance issues due to switch limitation
9.5
Excellent
Written by
Jae has been a gamer ever since he got a Nintendo when he was just a child. He has a passion for games and enjoys writing. While he worries about the direction gaming as a medium might be headed, he's too busy playing games to do anything about it.