Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

@Vortexeo
Completely forgot about the affinity rewards! Another one of the things I definitely liked because it felt like affinity levels had an immediate benefit to them that was missing in previous games. That memory locket thingie also sounds like it would’ve been super useful for my playthrough, since it usually came down to AOE’s destroying my healers with not many ways of preventing them from kicking the bucket sometimes. Very good to know for if I ever go back and do more side-quests, since I really liked those.

Now that I know how to spoiler,
Z was quite easily the worst final boss I could’ve imagined. He seems to speak in metaphors the whole game but at the end of it all, there was no ‘foreshadowing’ or deep motivation, he was just a concept made incarnate for… some reason. I still remember how Noah would stress how they will find out ‘why’ things are the way they are, but the answer couldn’t have been more of a letdown. Nia giving exposition about colliding worlds and Z just being a concept. The side stories felt like they had the most potential but got rushed the hardest too. Mio’s en Noah’s side stories revolve around the people heavily linked to them being off-seers, which is like a big part of their identity, but when it comes to fleshing those people out, they drop the ball completely. Miyabi gets like two cutscenes, gets freed and is then immediately dropped from the main plot. I didn’t do her side quest because I was already rather disillusioned with the game but she deserved something more substantial if she keeps being such a big driving force for Mio. Same with Crys. He appears, is for some reason obsessed with Noah’s ‘melody’, fights them for what feels like no reason except for maybe ‘testing their conviction’ and bam, gone. Did he just become moebius and steal life force for ***** and giggles until that point? N felt like an antagonist that could have actually worked… if they fleshed him out past ‘I’m a giant edgelord obsessed with my girlfriend to the point of making her immortal against her will.’ The scene at the end where Noah and Mio shout after N and M that ‘they don’t have to do this’, I wondered what prompted them to even react that strongly to characters that they didn’t bond with at all. I feel like that’s a big issue with both Noah and Mio as characters. They’re more introverted than the rest of the cast but they’ll have these sudden outbursts of emotion that just feel rather empty because of how out-of-nowhere they are, how preachy they sound (once they kept going on about nothing but free choice and the future without even… thinking about what that’d mean for them as people with any nuance, what they’d aim to do after before the ending cutscene hits, the mature feel they were going for kind of vanished for me) and how they’re tackled by the rest of the cast. Take for example Noah’s absolute desperation when it came to Mio’s death… once he finds out that it’s actually M who died, they just fight N, they don’t get a heart-to-heart about what that experience did to him, they just… discuss it and he’s back to the old him. He doesn’t change or take anything from this experience it seems, he just keeps doing ‘the right thing’. Sena gets less of a focus but her little perfectionism arc felt like it had more impact on her character than anything Noah went through. The romance between Mio and Noah felt rather empty too, they only really had romantic chemistry in the very final cutscene and it made me wish that their interactions felt as natural in the whole game as they did there. The appeal of these characters in one single cutscene is that ending cutscene to me, and it made me sad that level of care for the interactions didn’t pull through the entire game, especially for Noah and Mio

That felt like a tiny story rant, haha, but glad I had a place to get that off my chest. I’m just sad that this franchise so dear to my heart has me so negative when I really wished I’d value it as much as the past games. I still saw it through to the end, just wish I could look back on the journey more fondly.

@Mioaionios yeah whatever. Like when? Im in Chapter 3 already got Alexandria , Teach, Grey, Valdi and that Zeon fella

@XandertheWise More parts unlock as you reach new chapters in the main quest. That sidequest isn't intended to be fully completed until much later in the game. There are other quests too that only appear in past colonies when reaching later chapters in the main story or completing quests from other colonies.

Been playing through the start of Chapter 4 all night last night even up to 4 in the morning earlier this morning. Didnt get much sleep lol.

dang game with its long main story dialogues etc. Does Borealis ever get to join the team or not? Would be cool though

My 2 cents... I wish I could turn off the menu music, it gives me a headache (only music that does) and I wish combat post dialogue had more. But it's not too bad.

Hear that Noah? GunBladeBalinik wants somefin a little meatier

Today is sidequest day.

I'm in Chapter 6, and just did Lanz's side story (so I've done 3 of the side stories now- Lanz, Taion and Eunie), and now have about 8-10 side quests to knock out before continuing on with the main story quest. Got a whole heaping pile of them recently and don't want to let them get too out of control.

I tied up a few side quests and one main story quest last night in Ch. 3. I saw the big twist, and surely thought that would've been the end of the chapter, but it looks as though there's a little more to go.

Since I got to the new location after exiting in the waterway, it looks like this geography resembles XC1 bionis area( maybe?). I saved it pretty much after the twist, so I'll dig a little further later tonight.

I’m on chapter 4 and it doesn’t feel like it’ll ever end. Not in a bad way, but is each chapter longer than the last?

Im at the castle area in Chapter 3. Had to do alot of sidequests backtracking. Jeez lol.

Rewatching some cutscenes… the opening cutscene for Chapter 6 in particular… teared up instantly… I rewatched the part when Noah dies in front of his kid three times and every time I teared up… what is it with this game?

@TheJGG
I love the Event Theater. It also helps you realize just how many cutscenes there are in this game. Imagine the amount of work that had to go into all those, on top of the typical work involved designing the game world, characters, enemies, bosses, writing the story and dialog... Monolith Soft is a beast. They've churned out THREE of these bad boys on Switch in 5 years! All of them with massive expansions too!

@JoeDiddley I don't think so. I think the last two chapters are actually relatively shorter compared to most of the others.

I need to get to chapter 4 soon lol. I get way too side tracked and I picked AC:NH again sooo not many games are getting played at the moment lol.

Just beat Mio's sidequest. 2 more to go.

I'm kind of surprised the game just now introduces the Break>Topple>Daze>Burst combo after 80 hrs in, and one chapter left after this one. I'd done the combo before but only a few times by accident. Not sure what character had Burst but someone did. Typically though they just Daze and stop there. Now that I understand the benefits of a Burst, and how the Rage Meter works, I'm inclined to use it over Launch>Smash for boss fights.

Atm I only have one Hero character with a Burst art though, while my core team of 6 has several Breaks, Topples, Launches and Smashes. Some, I have Launch and Smash assigned side by side as the same Fusion Art, with the Launch activating first so it does both essentially at the same time in one fell swoop.

I love this game so much. And it's not even recency bias. I'm sure some of that is in play, but this game is so far beyond any other JRPG I've played- already I can say it's my favorite JRPG of all time. Without a doubt. Even if the ending is borked (which I highly doubt) the journey has been so incredible it still wouldn't enough to pull it down below other JRPGs I've played.

Xenoblade Chronicles has always been amazing. Ever since my brother told me about the series 10 years ago, about this game on the Wii that involved ppl living on the backs of giant titans, I've been intrigued. Xenoblade X instantly shot up to be one of my favorite JRPGs. And XC1, and XC2. But there were always others that I felt were just as good. The Sakaguchi classics in particular, like Final Fantasy X, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story, also Persona 4 Golden.

But this.... this is on another level entirely. It's reached a plane of existence other JRPGs can only dream of reaching. This game is going to stick with me long after I finish it. The XC games always do. But this one especially.

I think it goes well past just being my favorite JRPG. I think this is now one of my favorite games, full stop. I mean, I'd also put Xenoblade X on that list by virtue of exploration and skell combat alone. But then I remember all the other insanely good games I've played of various genres- from Portal 2 to DKC Tropical Freeze, Zelda Breath of the Wild and Metroid Prime 2, Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak and Super Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem Awakening and Three Houses, Splatoon 2...

The Switch generation has drastically altered my GOAT list. The majority of my faves have typically been Nintendo exclusives, but only by a thin margin, as games like Final Fantasy X, Persona 4 Golden, Shadow of the Colossus, Portal 2, Monster Hunter World, etc were not on Nintendo platforms. But now, most of those games are on Switch or have sequels on Switch that are even better, while others simply aren't good enough to make the list anymore, as so many better games have released in the last 5 years.

One of these days I need to seriously sit down and figure out my top 10-20 games of all time. Will probably wait for Nier Automata, Persona 5 Royal, Bayonetta 3, and Harvestella to release first though, as I suspect several of them may make the list (I never played more than a few hours of Nier and maybe 15 hrs of P5R, so want to give them an earnest shot again on Switch).

anyone know where Wraith's Void is in the Aetia region?

Im doing the For Colony 9 sidequest to try to find Kite

I am very close to the finish line now and I cannot find anymore sidequests but I still miss a hero quest (to max at 20) and I only have 5stars in 5 or so colonies (and have the ermu farm thingy that as was mentioned before it kind of sucks)

P.s: the number of sidequests is kind of crazy as I completed 170+ so far...

@JoeDiddley @Vortexeo
Chapter 6 is on the shorter side, but I thought chapter 7 was quite long.

@TheJGG @JaxonH
I agree, Monolith Soft outdid themselves when it comes to story and cinematics in XC3.
It's probably the most powerful game, emotionally speaking, I've ever experienced. Even 'The Last of Us' doesn't come close besides its opening moments.

@JaxonH
That burst mechanic surprised me as well. Believe me, you'll want to use it when you go up against Aionios' Strongest. 😬
Xenoblade 3 truly is the best JRPG in my opinion and I've played a ton of them. Everything from the story and characters to the gameplay and world building... it all flows together seamlessly.

@XandertheWise
If I remember correctly, it's the tunnels above the Hillside Ferronis Hulk.
But why don't you activate the quest and turn on quest route? You might need to have Zeon in your party for this quest though.

@Balta666
Which Hero Ascension Quest are you missing?

As for the Armu Ranch, you can follow this:

Use the following pairs in order
Greedy and Indulgent
Dainty and Adamant
Naughty and Considerate
Gourmet and Excitable
Naughty and Brawny

Best foods to use, based on availability
1st stage: Pulpgrass, available in Colony Tau
2nd stage: Cracker Nut, available in Colony 9
3rd stage: Dish Philodendron, available in Castle Agnus and Frangible Yam, available in Castle Keves

Yes, I needed a guide for this as well. Thankfully, this is the only quest I couldn't figure out on my own.

Edit: tried using spoiler tags but couldn't get them to work for some reason. Never had this problem before.