By: Cameron Tyo
September, 9, 2022
‘Xenoblade Chronicles 3,‘ the third entry of the Xenoblade Saga and the 12th in the overall Xeno metaseries, was released on July 29th, 2022. Fans were hyped for its announcement during the June 22nd Nintendo Direct at the end of spring, myself included. Now, for you asking, what is Xenoblade? It is a JRPG (Japanese role-playing game) launched from a fan campaign known as “Operation Rainfall” in an attempt to have games released only in Japan to the western audience. This event is the reason this title might sound obscure to some Nintendo fans. I have played most of the other Xenoblade Chronicles games being ‘Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition‘ and ‘Xenoblade Chronicles 2‘ and knew from those experiences that Monolith Soft, the publishers of the Xenoblade series, could put together an excellent game with amazing storytelling and a soundtrack woven around the gameplay. With that said, how did I think ‘Xenonalde 3’ fares to these other titles?
I bought this game the day before classes, which I dreaded, and started and played it for most, if not all, of the week because Xenoblade games are long. As I said before, I almost played this game non-stop over the weeks for around 20 days, and I just beat it. My playtime shows 113 hours when I write this article, and I haven’t completed the post-game yet. I can tell you without hesitation that this game is a real treat. Not only is it the best Xenoblade game, but it is also arguably one of the best modern-crafted games in the world. Why? Well, let me show you, and maybe I can convince you to buy this game.
Story and Environment:
The story takes place in Aionios, where factions Keves and Agnus are involved in a neverending war, they fight only to kill, giving them ether, the source of their colony’s flame clock and source of life. Eventually, six of the members of each faction meet in some unforeseeable scenario, and from there learn, they must work together to learn the truth about their lives. From there, you’ll be tasked to explore the world of Aionios, encountering many other colonies with their problems, rocky mountain terrain, lush forest, snowy peaks, and mechanicalized fortresses and castles in search of the truth. ‘Xenoblade 3’ is one of the more graphically appealing games on the Switch, much like ‘Breath of the Wild,’ which makes all these environments not only fun to explore but visually appealing to look at. There aren’t any that look to be thrown together assets like there are in games like ‘Pokemon Legends: Arceus.’ While exploring the environments, you’ll learn more about the individual party members you get to play as. In this game, every character is a central character who develops a lot. Even the characters you meet in quests briefly.
Much like the others in the series, the story can get super dark and emotionally packed, making you feel sad, and I mean, some tragic events will make you devastated for two hours until something is said or perks you up again. The story is told in many video cutscenes with voice acting, making it super easy to feel the characters’ emotions on the screen and follow along with the story. Most of the essential cutscenes in the text are voiced as well. Learning the history of why Keves and Agnus fight is such a complicated but fun story. Not only do the cutscenes and voice acting help to convey the story, but they include fluid gameplay and a fantastic soundtrack to go along with it.
Characters:
The characters in this game are animated super expressively in some moments, which I like. The characters, as mentioned earlier, deal with their problems and have reasons for wanting to find out the truth about their life. Most of the demons each playable character deals with intertwine with someone, usually one of the antagonists, during the game. The main characters interact well with each other, and the game effectively makes them feel like real people as they interact with more minor characters that still have importance in the story, whether they are a commander of a colony, a villain with a grudge, a queen, a random NPC soldier, etc. Everyone in the story, including the NPC, all have unique personalities and a place in the story that Xenoblade has always been proficient at.
Gameplay and Soundtrack:
The gameplay of the ‘Xenoblade’ series has always been unique but similar to every game in the series. ‘Xenoblade 3’ combines the gameplay of the first two games to give us a combat system that is not only complicated but easy to learn and one of the most fun systems in any game I’ve played in recent years. Like recent games, combat starts when you encounter an enemy. Your characters can be of many different roles that serve different useful purposes in battle. For example, your character might be in an offensive role as a swordfighter; one might be helpful for defense, another might be good for healing and buffing the other party members, etc. You get an art chart to fill every time you attack an enemy. Once you fill it out, you can use an art attack, a stronger attack, a defense move, a healing move, etc., that creates different debuffs for the enemy. There are two other new inclusions to the combat system, but they are pretty spoil-hefty, and I would be grateful if you could explore some of the charms of Xenoblade’s combat system on your own.
Lastly, I want to talk about the excellent soundtrack created by Yasunori Mitsuda, Manami Kiyota, ACE, Kenji Hiramatsu, and Mariam Abounnasr. You can tell a lot of work was put into the soundtrack. From the blood-pumping rock music of the battle themes to the sorrowful flute notes and tunes of characters’ remembrance of their past or when something tragic happens, you can tell a lot of love and respect for the game was inserted into the musicality of this video game. The music fits well with what is happening. An adventurous song might play when adventuring around the map, suspenseful music might play during a plot twist, or a slow song for romance and tragedy. All styles of music are included in this game.
The Bad Unfortunately:
While every game can be good, it is common knowledge there is going to be a problem with it. In this case, I encountered a few glitches in the game. When I was doing a quest, in the middle of it, my game froze and turned off, saying an error had occurred. It was luckily no big deal as the game auto- saved a lot. It would’ve been a problem if it didn’t, as I would’ve lost about four hours of doing quests. Now, I was playing on the cartridge so I could chalk it up from my cartridge. My guess is, however, that because this game has only been out for a month and a half, there are a few bugs that even a big company like Monolith Soft missed while testing their video game that might be fixed in a further patch update. To find materials, you must scroll up and down a menu. There is no way to filter your items which I think is a horrendous game design because you get so many things in this game, and scrolling through the item screen each time just to find the one you’re looking for is a hassle. I hope they implement a search system, possibly for an item you’re looking for, but I’m guessing that is unlikely to happen. For some people, the amount you have to grind might turn people off.
The bottom line, I think this game is fabulous. The soundtrack and story, in my opinion, will stay one of the best in Nintendo’s history for a while now. I admit I was nervous about how the game would turn out as the game was shown to be released a month after it was revealed during the direct. I was blown away; however, the game exceeded my expectations in many ways. Emotional story beats, graphically beautiful environments, a creative and enjoyable combat system, and a soundtrack make up a video game masterpiece, which is what Monolith Soft and its team did. I feel it will stay a modern masterpiece of video game history if not for the story alone, and I advise you if you are a gamer who is bored and has money to spend, give ‘Xenoblade 3’ a chance. I know you won’t be disappointed. Out of 10, I’d give this a 9.6.
Sources: Nintendo, Breath of the wild, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Xenoblade Chronicles
Featured Image: Xenoblade Chronicles 3