Is there anything better than losing yourself and hours of your life, than playing an epic and over the top JRPG? From their epic and winding tales to their often satisfying combat systems, they are the perfect way to while away a few hundred hours or so. And they don’t come much bigger or epic than the Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
The series has always been a bit of a jewel in Nintendo’s crown when it comes to system exclusives. Fans of Xenoblade Chronicles series are always hungry for the next chapter in its long running tale.
A Darker Chronicle
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 hits Nintendo Switch as a bit of a bridging title, between the first and second game.
Read more: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition review
Xenoblade Chronicles 3‘s tale is a fair bit darker than the past instalments it’s fair to say, wasting no time to cover subjects like war, revenge and death right off the bat, which in past titles would have been built up to over time.
This also means that the game hits the ground running and easily has the strongest start of the series, as it jumps right into the deep end.
It forces two groups of enemies together and they quickly find themselves questioning the core of why they are fighting each other and if the war itself is ultimately meaningless. And it helps to establish the core group of six characters quite quickly.
But most of the tale will be told around Noah and Mio, though that’s not to say that the other members of the team don’t get their moment to shine, it’s just the core of the tale sits safely with the main duo.
A Choppy Chronicle
In itself, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 can feel a bit disjointed at times, as the game feels like it wants you to main line the core story beats, but given you can explore and do side-quests.
This disjointedness is apparent when you take time to explore side-content the game which interactions generally seem to disregard. Characters related to the main quest just pick up where they left off, ignoring all other happenings.
This can also result in a bit of deja-vu. Characters who are there to instruct you on the next course of action end up repeating themselves often.
And given the new focus on how side-quests are linked more to the party and their own tales, you’ll most likely find yourself doing the side-quest stuff more than the core story for the first few hours.
Though they are totally optional, which brings up an odd situation where the game has to act like you may not have learned chunks of story when things unfold in the main quest line.
Side Tales
To its credit, of the hundreds of side-quests only a few feel like filler. More of the side content feels worthwhile and the more traditional fetch-quest filler ones are easier to spot.
The tale takes place in the world of Aionios. The gameworld is a HUGE with a mix of interesting and often bizarre locations divided into regions. Many of these feature a range different bio-domes within each.
And dare we say it. It may all be a bit TOO big for its own good in some ways. Returning fans will also spot that without the hulking titans, the game’s world has lost a bit of magic.
Xenoblade Combat
Combat builds on the core systems of the past, but with a heavy dose of refinement and improvement making it all flow a lot better and curbing the feeling of repetition that was an issue after a time.
You still use auto-attacks, super powerful arts and combos. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also features a refreshing number of options. These range from swapping between party members, to the return of chain attacks that see you having to play mini-games. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 lets you swap skill sets heat of battle, a core new addition to the gameplay.
It must be pointed out that with so many skill sets to use, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 features many tutorials.
Combat falls a little on the boss battle front, which sees you having to battle through the same ones once too often, with them not mixing things up very much between fights.
Ambitious Presentation Pushes the Switch
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 pushes the Switch hardware to its limits when both docked and in hand-held mode. This is understandable given the game’s scale and the developer’s ambition. However, this ambition baked in a few technical issues, from pop-up to texture mapping.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 tries hard to stick the landing, but ends up a bit muddy and blurry at times.
Sound is well handled for the most part. Voice acting is ‘interesting’ with its choice of accents. Dialogue will likely start to grate a little by the 126th hour. This isn’t helped by the fact that some voice lines are overused during battle.
The soundtrack is, however, outstanding and features some fittingly epic and memorable tracks.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a 150 to 200 hour epic that takes what fans love, refines and polishes it, then adds some new features.
It’s over the top and pushes the Switch to the limits, but the world of Aionios is well worth the visit if you’re a fan. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is also a great jumping on point if you have a spare few hundred or so hours.
Review code provided by publisher