Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

@Jhena Swordfighter class weapon skins for Noah. Shulk amiibo gives the Monado, Pyra amiibo gives Pyra's sword and Mythra amiibo gives Mythra's sword.

@Grumblevolcano
Thanks again. Sounds nice to have.

@Grumblevolcano Woah wait, really? We’ll be able to get the weapon skins without having the amiibo? That’s great to hear, just not into paying up for them smol figurines.

They already made the Shulk's Monado thing free, right?

@TeaCatherine Pretty sure you unlock the Monado skin when you beat XC3's story. I guess you can use the amiibo to obtain it beforehand, though.

@Ralizah Yeah, just checking that was the condition for it.

I'm not that far in, only level 21, but I agree with the post earlier that said this DLC wraps up XC3 nicely. I think it does a much better job tying into the other games in the trilogy. Whereas before, it felt like XC1 and XC2 were a duology and XC3 was it's own thing, even if it did technically tie in. It's feeling more like a cohesive trilogy with this expansion.

I feel like Xenoblade has ruined most other JRPGs for me... most, not all. The 3 mainline XC games feel like the greatest JRPG trilogy of all time. I felt that way after beating XC3, but this DLC is the cherry on top it needed. The final thread that ties it all together. We seriously need Xenoblade Chronicles X on the Switch. Or Switch 2 as launch year title. Oh, and Switch 2 might fix the resolution of the first two games in handheld mode. Then they really would be perfected.

I'm excited for what the future will bring from Monolith Soft. I bet we get a big, new entry in late 2024 or early 2025 for Switch 2. The next entry in the Xeno series. Be that something like Xenoblade Legends, or a new spiritual successor like Xenowar, or a brand new title that goes in a different direction. Whatever it is, this story is finished.

Enjoy Future Redeemed. It's the end of an era.

Going a bit off topic but yeah, I could totally see them launching an X port in 2025 on whatever the new hardware ends up being (handled by the smaller team that handled XCDE on Switch), with the main team releasing their next big project in 2027 (could be a sequel to X or something completely new).

Maybe the smaller team could then round out the gen in 2029-30 with a XC2 remaster? It'd be the next in line to get touched up after the first (& X), and there's a lot they could tinker with mechanically to make it better (maybe do away with the gacha system altogether, or have it only provide common Blades, while all rare Blades could be tied to a new series of side quests. Maybe add new rare Blades as well). Only thing that would worry me is if they use the opportunity to censor the more fan service-y character design (fan service has been undergoing a lot of scrutiny in the west in recent years, heck just look at any existing discussion about XC2, and I highly doubt the discourse is somehow going to reverse over the next decade).

When you finish the DLC and maybe watch a few youtube videos about it, there is a lot of interesting stuff pointing to maybe a revival of another earlier monolith soft game instead of X

Finally got around to the final bit of Future Redeemed and I. Am. F L O O R E D

Holy, flying cow.

That was absolute peak fiction to me lol
And it's the kind of thing that absolutely hingescon you having beaten all three numbered games and X

Not played. Beaten

As someone who was fortunate enough to have played and followed the series since damn near the start of it coming over to Europe everything in that final hour blew my mind.

Perfect bloody way to cap off the story of Klaus.

Finally finished up Future Redeemed last night. Don't want too say too much because the whole thing is kinda spoilery, but it was pretty great. Kinda like Torna, I kinda liked that it was a tighter, more concise adventure. That said I kinda wish it were a bit longer, but that's just because it was so good (without getting too spoilery, I would have loved it if that "memory" was fleshed out into an entire region).

I think the only thing I have left to do is clear out the last 4-5 unique monsters, but I think I'm going to leave them alone because there's no way to organically grow stronger to fight them (the only way I could see is to constantly grind the one closest to you in level until you're strong enough for the next one). TBH, I'm almost level 70 & I can't beat that level 60 T-Rex thing (don't know how I'd begin to take on the level 70, 80, 90, & 100 unique monsters).

Would love to start on Kirby or Zelda, but it's been a few months since the last time I touched my gaming laptop (since Prime Remastered released, I think), so I should probably play through something in my Steam library in order to put it through it's paces.

@RR529 Each of the unique monsters definetely have their own tough challenges. From what I remember the level 60 monster has incredibly high physical def. Critical hits actually ignore def so I'd definitely recommend using Rex if you do want to try beating it. I actually only fought the level 70 unique monster one time because he seals chain attacks so you can't get an overkill bonus on him. I pretty much grinded the level 60 monster up until about level 78 and then fought the level 80 😅

In case you guys didn't know already there are new XC3 icons for Nintendo switch online. It says the icons will feature characters from XC1, XC2, and XC3 up until June 29th. Idk if this means we're actually going to get icons for all the games or if it's strictly for the DLC alone.

I just wanted to say people should really do the sidequests in Xenoblade 3. The bare minimum would be doing at least all hero quests and their following ascension quests, and all the side stories for the main party.

First time playing I rushed through the game and missed about 50% of the MAIN story because I skipped the quests. I thought the game was great but not a masterpiece.

In my second playthrough I did almost all the sidequests and damn, the game jumped from being merely great to the top of my "best rpgs of all time" list. It's really an unparalleled masterpiece.

Just for clarification, I'm talking about the main game, not the story DLC. I haven't played that one yet but I doubt I'd like it more than the main game. I know Shulk and Rex are in the game but I'm not scoring games based on fanservice. Still looking for it, though, and I'm pretty sure I enjoy it nevertheless.

@Cia Ehh, I generally don't like fanservice. Thought the two returning characters in base 3 felt sort of forced into the narrative a bit, but I really loved FR and the added context to the main game. Worth giving it a play.

@Cia Yep. I feel like a lot of the people who complain about XC3 probably mainly focused on the main quest and didn't experience the side content as fully as they could have. Perhaps because the side content was broadly worth ignoring in the first two games. Whereas it's pretty much integral to fleshing out the characters and world in the third entry.

Xenoblade had always been in this weird place where they gave you these vast worlds to explore, and then centered all of the meaningful content in the main plot line, reducing those worlds to mere space designed to break up the flow of content. With XC3, Monolith finally designed one of these games in such a way as to fully reward exploration of the world.

It's just one reason why it's a top three video game for me now, and my favorite exclusive on Switch by a mile.

Future Redeemed is... alright. There's some cool mechanical changes that make the game a lot of fun to fully complete. Narratively, though, it feels like a comic book crossover event or something, leaning heavily on XC1 nostalgia for its emotional impact. A bit disappointing after how restrained XC3 was with the fanservice. Worth playing, but the meaningful existentialistic themes from the main game are replaced with the same sort of empty prattling about metaphysics that I hated in XC1.

Also, while it's a nitpick, there's forced walking in FR, and it annoyed the hell out of me.

Torna's reign as the best Nintendo DLC ever continues.

Cool! It's nice to see people who've actually played XB 3 thoroughly agreeing with me. The main game is definitely the best in the series. I also agree with you about XB1. The sidequests in that game are worst in the series despite the solid main story.

I haven't played Torna yet because XB 2- while not being a bad game- was definitely my least favorite entry in the series. It felt too much like generic, borderline hentai anime. So, I may skip Torna unless I have nothing more interesting to buy.

@RR529
I really don't think XB2 needs a remaster. The reason they remastered XB1 was so they could up the resolution and character models to HD age.

@Ralizah As someone who really dislikes XB3 in gameplay but mostly story aspects but didn’t touch much of the sidequests, I do wonder if going back and doing those might change my mind. Then again, I already gave the game plenty of my time and it squandered its own potential quite a lot in my eyes in the main story, so I have my doubts that the sidequests could really help with that. Definitely might have to give it a go just to find out, I suppose.

@Cia I think XC3's profile will only improve over the years. I hesitate to call anything a masterpiece, but it's easily the best game Monolith Soft has made to date. It's a technical marvel that runs well in both modes, despite how massive and gorgeous it is; it draws inspiration from the themes and aesthetics of older Xeno titles (particularly Xenogears); and it fixes nearly every issue with the older games. Combine this with probably the best voice acting I've heard in a game, and it's... chef's kiss

One of my favorite games of all time.

Despite its issues, I love XC2, but Torna benefitted from adopting a far more mature attitude that ditched the fanservice and slapstick elements almost entirely. Being a DLC, it also streamlines the mechanical systems to be more intuitive. The climax itself is compelling and tragic in a way that Monolith refused to allow the main game to be. I'd definitely suggest giving it a shot at some point.

@Takoda If you dislike the main story, it's not like the side content will make you like it more. It does heavily flesh out both the characters as well as the world of Aionios overall, though.

What aspects of the gameplay did you dislike?