9.2/10 – 65 hours
Review as written on 1/24/2023
YUSSS EUNIE’S DA BUSS
WHOAAA GOT A RARE DOODAD RIGHT ERE
NEW FOUND POWER NEW FOUND POWER NEW FOUND POWER NEW FOUND POWER
Oh, my heart.
A wonderful journey through a world with elements of the first two Xenoblade games spliced in. Xenoblade 3 is a beautiful love letter to fans of the franchise, and a great conclusion to the arc that started with the first game. There is so much refinement compared to earlier entries, and it brings its own charm and identity alongside these improvements. Though I only played the first game, there were more than enough moments that provided me with “Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen” moments. This is my GOTY 2022; Elden Ring might be objectively better, but this game got to my heart.
I’m too lazy to properly format my thoughts (and there are a lot), so I am dumping them here, separated by good and bad:
The good:
- Hoards of QOL with shortcuts, quest directing, etc. no more menu scrolling, battles are more engaging and snappy with the addition of art canceling and dodging
- Gorgeous areas
- Fantastic overworld themes, cutscene themes, moebius battle is insane, THE WEIGHT OF LIFE! The Off Seer melody is an absolute tear jerker too.
- Main cast and N are stellar, they feel like real people with real struggles in the crazy events that unfold throughout the story. I was so sad to see the main cast part at the end, I wanted more time with them. The whole game is teeming with cute cutscenes and introspective conversations between the cast that fleshes them out incredibly
- A little more to find in the world than before, shortcuts rest points, clusters of items etc
- Chapter 5 ending is incredible, as well as the final cutscene before the credits. Additionally, Xenoblade 1&2 cameos are sick
- Insane amount of build customization, class switching lets you be super flexible and always gives you something to strive towards, makes getting heroes fun to experiment with too. Using this, all your party members can gather a stacked amount of passive skills
- Fusion skills are awesome, letting your moves have more punch, add more diversity to your kit, and keep your favorite moves from your favorite classes.
- Chain attacks are lots of fun, building up good, well timed combos and unleashing an Ouroboros finale feels super satisfying
- Loads of charm in every scene, especially the campfire scenes
- Absolutely ZERO grinding, thank god. The first game has a steep level curve right at the end, but you won’t find that here. Simply exploring gets you enough XP to keep going, and bonus XP will get you right on par with most major enemies.
Now for some of the downsides:
- World still feels barren of things to find, only occasional ferronis, barrels, ether channels. It’s not boring, but after a while it gets predictable. Some more caves, dungeons, or colonies would be more welcome.
- Ouroboros felt underwhelming, never really that fun to use. Sometimes packs a good punch but most of the time felt eh
- Movement in general feels restricted, only one area lets you traverse faster than auto walking. Jumping is still largely useless. I just wish there was a better way to travel, as that is the single best driving force for exploration.
- All other villains are stupid and cringe, some side quests are real corny
- So many resources, not enough ways to spend them. The resources I need are always out of reach or in some random place so I usually don’t feel too satisfied with gathering/winning things. Ether and silver nopon coins are so plentiful, yet are so scarcely needed
- Combat can take a while to get accustomed to, can be overwhelming
- Sound mixing is still off, just like 1 and 2. Many impactful cutscenes are whisper quiet, which seriously dampens the mood. Voice direction is better, but sometimes misses the mark.
- Z’s final boss fight is pretty lame. He’s a damage sponge with 5 phases, unskippable cutscenes, and death means you have to do the whole fight over
Leave a Reply