Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the latest JRPG project from developer Monolith Soft, best known for the two previous components of the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy. Even though Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is loosely connected enough to ensure that newcomers get a proper, full narrative full of twists, still tries to blend the beats from the first two games into a bold new vision of the series’ consistent themes. The result was a dizzying achievement of scale and content, successfully combining the tactical combat and planning of Xenoblade Chronicles with the diversity and fascination of the open world of the sequel.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 follows Noah and Mio, two visionaries from different countries of the Aionios world. Seers are soldiers who play tunes for the deceased on the battlefield, a profession that is in constant demand as the two factions of Kevesh and Agnus fight to gather vital energy from each other in an endless war. A chance encounter between Noah, Mio, and several other members of both armies leads to their rebirth as Ouroboros, humans capable of joining together to form otherworldly, robot-like creatures. In a typical manner for Japanese role-playing games, this encounter and awakening begin a long story about betrayal, tricks and the discovery of the hidden truths of Aionios, culminating in a battle against the “true evil” that dominates the world.
However, as standard as some of these plot moves may sound, the story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 does its job perfectly, focusing on the six core members of the group and their struggle to accept each other. Although at times it threatens to become too tropic or mechanical, the story always manages to return to the realm of persuasiveness, and the genuine friendship and romance that color the world of Aionios instantly make it a little less far-fetched. The player will also have to discover a lot of stories, whether they are secret hilltops that miss a hint of previous conflicts, or side quests that pull the loose threads of an additional plot. How much Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will captivate the player depends on him, but even a simplified approach without workarounds will lead to an excellent JRPG story with fantastic emotional scenes.
Fortunately, in the long breaks between the main plot points, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has two main advantages to remain as interesting: open world exploration and combat. The world of Aionios is magnificent, full of life and secrets that can be revealed just by wandering through it. As has become the norm in Xenoblade Chronicles, even in beginner areas there are enticing views of what’s to come, with direct connections to much higher-level areas or a wandering greater evil that is 70 levels higher than Noah first encounters it. It will take dozens of hours and several different biomes before the game opens up even more with marine exploration and a magnificent island archipelago, which is a demonstration of the depth that Monolith Soft has invested in Aionios.
The research is also full of battles that are just as exciting as in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Perhaps one of the riskiest decisions in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was the use of random squad building elements, which sometimes blocked players from perfect compositions for a long time. parts of the game. This is no longer the case in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, which now provides tremendous flexibility to its class system, allowing each member of the group to master any class he wants. Further classes are opened during the course of the plot or with the help of side quests, and the addition of Heroes — an additional member of the group from the relevant parts of the story — adds even more tactical advantages to minimax players.
The class system is intuitive and easy to use, with three different roles — attacker, defender and healer — broadly classifying some more specific subclasses. They are also graded by the difficulty of the game, so those looking for a challenge can study the difficulty classes of the S-class game, and those looking for an easier time can choose the simpler ones. The availability of this system really cannot be underestimated, as well as its pleasure — the roles of the healer are as interesting as the DPS, and the combinations of Ouroboros open up even more exciting combat scenarios.
The difficulty in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 seems to have changed just right. When testing the simplest, most normal, and most complex settings, each one seemed balanced differently enough to provide a unique experience, but never so much that the game became trivial or impossible. Tactical battles are difficult, and, again continuing the tradition of Xenoblade Chronicles, enemies are fleshy sponges for dealing damage, resulting in even random open-world fights taking more than a minute.
