Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

@XandertheWise Never played Persona 5 have you? You're definitely going to love that game's final boss.

Just beat the game - the ending got me even more emotional than 2/torna did and I didn't even think that was possible.

I enjoyed the game through and through and it only got better as time went on.
I loved the combat and music of XC2 more and it had better worldbuilding (but for this part I'll give it a pass since that was one of the main themes of XC3) and the characters meanwhile XC3 has great characters, good combat in its own way and music.
It was really hard for me to decide what was the better game between XC2 and XC3, overall XC3 to me is a better game but I still have some bias towards XC2 it has higher peaks than XC3 but lower lows imo.

For the series I would rank the xenoblade games as:

XC3 ≥ XC2 > XC1

(haven't played XCX it doesn't exist)

@iLikeUrAttitude My feelings are a little more lopsided in favor of XC3 due to the immensely better side-quests, but otherwise I feel like our opinions are fairly close here. I do tend to prefer the music and environments in XC2. And while XC3's final moments are better, I feel like XC2's final chapters are better overall.

@Ralizah Agree that XC3 also had better sidequests - it honestly took a lot of inspiration for Torna and that's a good thing.
As for the ending chapters I still prefer XC2's as in I still think it's peaks are still significantly better than 3's but overall as a game it's just more consistent.

I thought the side quests would change my mind, but I just have too many issues with the narrative and some characters. I’ll probably play some more here and there since the gameplay is just fine, but I’m far less inclined to see it through since the exploration felt pretty empty. Swimming in money with nothing to use it on, swimming in ether, just containers with more items that don’t have much use… say what you want about the gacha system but finding core crystals at least gave it a nice gameplay loop, even if those blade skills were still a pain to deal with. There’s a lack of immersion for me and a lack of reason to explore too, and since the combat isn’t anything amazing either I just don’t feel much reason to stick around. With how many games there are in my backlog and still releasing, I guess it’s a blessing in disguise, haha. To everyone else who has had or is having a blast with this game, more power to you and have fun. This one just ain’t for me, even if I wish it were with how I enjoyed the other two games.

Finished the last of the Hero Quests and am now well into the final stretch of the last chapter.

@JaxonH How long are most of them?

@Kermit1
Maybe 20-30 minutes depending.

The real time sink is unlocking them. Most require a series of requisite quests in a chain to be completed first. If you're doing most sidequests anyways you'll naturally unlock quite a few. But if you're not, be prepared for 3-5 standard Quests in a chain before unlocking a Hero Quest. You'll have to Google which ones, but typically they're the Quests with that Hero required in the party or related to their home colony.

Most of the hero and ascension quests are triggered just by hanging around their colonies, talking to people, raising affinity and doing whatever quests pop up. However, some have unusual triggers in different locations.

In particular, it took me the longest time to unlock Juniper's ascension quest. You need to talk to an NPC who is only present during the evening to unlock one of the prerequisites, and I managed to play the game for 80-odd hours without that ever having happened.

@Matt_Barber I think a lot of people overlook this (it's pretty easy to miss) but if you go into system and then click "hero roster" it actually tells you what you need to complete to unlock a heros ascension quest. I've been following that ever since I found it 😅

I just finished Chapter 2, and I feel like it’s going to open up a bit more. I’ve only received like, three side quests up until this point, so hopefully there are more from here on out.

@Mrkittyhead After a certain point, you're effectively drowning in side-quests for the rest of the game. There's SO many, and they're almost all pretty good.

Yes, that's very useful and worth mentioning. I would have struggled to get a couple of ascension quests started without the info there.

Unfortunately, it won't always tell you how to start the prerequisite quests and some of the late game heroes just get ???? instead of a proper hint. They're usually ones that aren't too hard to figure out though.

@Ralizah that’s great to hear.

@Matt_Barber Oh yeah I forgot that does happen! Correct me if I'm wrong but I think the question marks go away after getting the heroes class to level 10?

Also, it looks like there is a Nintendo Direct for tomorrow! I wonder if we'll see the next wave for the expansion pass. If I recall correctly, the second wave contains a new hero with new quests, the challenge battle mode, and new outfits.

@Vortexeo
Yup, I expect the Wave 2 DLC to be revealed as well, hopefully with a release date.

Wooohoo! Nintendo Direct time. Can't wait to see what happens, especially if they show some XC3 DLC content. Should be lots of fun. They always are.

I think it makes perfect sense for Xenoblade 3 DLC to be featured in the next 3 Directs.
Wave 2 in September, Wave 3 in February and Wave 4 (story DLC) in the June E3 Direct.