Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Forgive the brain dump and any potential typos. I'm trying to get all this down while it's still mostly fresh.

I finally finished Future Redeemed yesterday and am still chewing over some of what I played and witnessed. I quite enjoyed the DLC and think it answered many hanging threads regarding the series, but not all. There was enough to run with here that I think they could have made it a bit longer and done a shorter/separate retail release like with Torna: The Golden Country.

Overall I liked the plot, but I agree with some of the consensus above that parts of it did feel a bit rushed. Most of the main party was fleshed out nicely, but Nikol and Glimmer definitely could have used more development. We also had some great development with both N and Na'el (Would've liked a bit more screen time with her though).,

There are still some things I'm confused about though:

• Are Shulk, Rex, and A essentially Aionios's avatars now, replacing Alpha/Ontos after his demise?
• Something I noticed was Pneuma's Core Crystal was present on Matthew's fist Blade that he received from Ghondor. Did I miss or overlook how its presence is explained? Same with Logos being present on N's Sword of the End (I missed this one; the internet informed me).
• Okay, we knew before now that Melia and Nia, both of whom are from long-lived races, are OLD. AND we know Aionios has been playing through its "endless now" for some time since N is Matthew's great-granddad and had multiple cycles as Noah before that point. Do folks (going off an off-convo with Linka) originally from Bionis/Alrest not hardly age at all in Aionios since they weren't assimilated by Origin and technically don't adhere to the same flow of time and rules? If this is the case, how did Panacea and Linka supposedly die off later? (Though I'll admit this is never confirmed)
• In that same vein, Riku is totally the seventh City founder. How old is this guy? Nopon are likewise long-lived, but...
• At one point, Riku explained to Matthew about Lucky Seven being forged from a piece of Origin. And that this means the sword can store souls and memories. I saw this above I think, but when did the game say that Fiora was explicitly inside?

Outside of the plot and characters:

• I absolutely love the Affinity System, which is why it took me ~30 hours to reach the end since I wanted to do about everything. I just left off some of the battle challenges (90% completion) and didn't fully finish the bestiary piece since that involved superbosses that I don't wanna grind for (I did attempt one; HOOOOO boy was that guy armored). But quests, exploration, Community, collectibles, upgrades? All done minus maxing out some of the gems. I'm a sucker for exploration and world building in games like this. If I'm enjoying myself, my playtime really ramps up.
• I liked some of the gameplay tweaks compared to the base game - mostly fusion Arts and the Chain Attack manuals that made characters very customizable - but I will admit I missed the proper Ouroboros powers. Mainly because they look cool and are OP.
• Phenomenal OST, a mix of nostalgic tunes (I was THRILLED when the Colony 9 theme started playing!) and new tracks (Black Mountain, anyone? Especially that melancholic night theme) that will definitely get added to my work listening.

I did play some of the DLC present in the main game as well - mostly the stuff involving the two new Heroes and their quests. I didn't really bother with the challenge mode though. I also went back and did some post-game stuff and quest cleanup from my initial playthrough. I pretty much dropped the game after finally rolling the credits almost two years ago since I'd put in roughly 135 hours by that point and needed a break.

I'm expecting some mentions and answers, so I'll get back to any responses when I can (Which isn't every day I'll admit; depends on how busy I am).

@Tyranexx Basically from my understanding those who are outside the flow of Aionios aren't immortal or long-lived compared to those who were born into the world- but rather the reason for Shulk, Rex, and Riku to have longer lifespans is due to them having some sort of role to play within the flow of the passage of fate. It's the only way I can actually make sense of it, given that the two founders ended up dying natural deaths- or implied to have died natural deaths. As for Fiora, that was confirmed in the artbook, but alluded to by Riku talking to Shulk. The Pneuma core wasn't actually in Matthew's weapon, but rather the soul of pneuma was embedded in the weapon. Most likely the same case for Logos, but we don't actually know because Takahashi is being coy with it and saying he can't answer that yet.

See, I was planning on just reading other people's thoughts and not getting involved, but this was just too good to ignore. You get up in arms when I say that things don't make sense, telling me that everything makes perfect sense if you just see the subtle clues. But then you flat out admit that the only way to make things make sense is to make things up in your own head that don't appear in the game. Either that, or the answers are found in the artbook rather than in the game (or purposefully holding it back for the DLC as you claimed earlier). Again, this is either terrible game design or approaching EA-levels of greed and scuminess. "We have the answers to the questions you are asking, but we are requiring you to purchase more stuff to get them." Look, I understand you said this is the only Nintendo series you still like so you feel the need to justify it all, but it's allowed to have flaws, which it clearly does.

@Xyphon22 Are you conflating the plot/story with background lore? The plots of the games are completely resolved without any DLC, artbooks, or external sources. It all wraps up nicely. There's more background lore to reveal and separate plots if you play the expansion scenarios for the various games.

@RygelXVIII All I said was that there are things about the game that do not make sense, and I was attacked for it. Because of course everything makes perfect sense if you just create scenarios in your head to explain all the inconsistencies away!

And you really think the fact that nobody has been able to do anything about Moebius or the Flame Clocks for millenia and now all of a sudden some random Nopon pulls out some magical sword that we have no idea where it came from or how it was made or anything but has the power to destroy the Flame Clocks has nothing to do with the plot/story?

Once again, I thought it was a good game. I enjoyed it. I'm glad I played it. But there are flaws that everyone seems to try to explain away just because...I don't even know why. But that's enough of that. Back to other games now.

I haven't seen people attack you. People have argued with you. Arguments are not attacks, they're the result of discussing differences of opinion or experience.

The aspects of Lucky Seven that are important to the main game's story are explained by Melia in the main game, from what I remember. The artbook expands on it with some specifics but you don't need that to understand where it came from. It was forged by Melia. It was a part of the design of the stasis machine (I forget the name now) that keeps the world alive after the two universes collide, and a countermeasure against corruption, designed alongside the Ouroborous Stones. Fairly sure all this was explained in the game because I don't even have the artbook for 3.

@Xyphon22 Never once did anyone attack you though. They disagreed with you, but they never attacked you or your character.

Also to call it scummy is disingenuous when these lore details don't even make much of a difference in terms of the actual story. Like what @RygelXVIII said, you don't need to know that Lucky 7 is Fiora or that N's sword is Logos in order to understand the core messages or ideas of the original game's story. All that was important to know is that Lucky 7 is implied to be a Monado, and that it's a symbol of Noah- and by extent the people locked in Origin's hope for a better future.

On top of this, the game still alludes to Logos being in N's sword. Future Redeemed pointed to both Matthew and N's weaponry when Rex mentions how if those two were there, it would be different to A. We know that Matthew's gauntlet draws from Pneuma's power somehow given that her core crystal is seen within the weapon, so the scene alludes to it without even needing to state plainly "Oh, he's in N's sword."

As for Riku not giving just anyone Lucky 7, that's mostly because it's clear he was waiting for a very specific person to come along and wield the weapon. It's a sword of immense power, and if handed to the wrong person- it could very well spell disaster. I always figured he gave Noah Lucky 7 because Noah detested fighting from an early age. He wasn't like the other Kevesi soldiers, who didn't mind fighting, but only fought because he had to do so. It's why he ended up changing professions to becoming an Off-seer. It also probably had to do with how Riku was familiar with N, and thought that Noah being around had to have been for some reason or another.

I do admit it's possible I missed or forgot a connection or three between XC3's base game and Future Redeemed; by my own earlier admission, it's been some time since I finished the main game. Though I did re-watch a plethora of cutscenes before starting FR that I thought would be important. Mainly related to the City and M/N. I must say, the movie ending cutscenes of Chapter 5 in XC3 definitely hit different when one goes in with the knowledge that comes later.

@RygelXVIII Good point; I think a lot of my confusion stems from the lore. Not really the plot of Future Redeemed or some of its connecting elements. I did get a kick out of the references that I recognized from the previous Xenoblade titles and 3.

@VoidofLight I'll admit your interpretation for Shulk, Rex, Riku, etc. does make some sense, but I'm admittedly not satisfied with it. If a Reddit thread I found from a year or so ago is any indication, we're firmly in hypothesis territory when it comes to the lifespans of those from outside of Aionios. I'm not under the impression they're immortal/can't die; it just seems odd to me when their lifespans seem insanely long in direct contrast of the others. Ignoring those in the Agnus/Kevesi cycle of course, since their lifespans are limited by Moebius to ten years/terms. In the grand scheme of the games though, I suppose this detail doesn't ultimately matter. I'm just one who likes knowing the "why?" of something if I'm genuinely interested in how its gears turn, so to speak.

Fair point, Fiora's soul being in Lucky Seven was alluded to in Riku's conversation with Shulk, though not mentioned outright. I might have mentally merged that conversation into Riku's exchange with Matthew. As for Pneuma's soul, to me her core crystal being present is essentially the same thing. I did find the Logos theories after my previous post, but as you say it doesn't seem to be confirmed.

As you mentioned, that DOES seem to be what Rex was alluding to there. I completely misinterpreted that part; I thought he was referring to Pyra/Mythra. It seemed odd that he'd refer to Logos/Malos in that way, but then I remembered that Logos, at his core (pun not intended), isn't a bad guy; his incarnation of Malos was warped by Amalthus's influence and how he perceived Alrest.

The bread and butter for any JRPG is interpretation and unsubtly hinting at things but not going as far as saying anything outright. It's one of my pet peeves with the genre. It's probably more down to localisation efforts than anything, and things get way too smoothed over when translating into English, but it doesnt make it any better.

I remember reading a direct translation of Ganon's lines in BOTW; in English Zelda says that "He has given up on reincarnation and assumed his pure, enraged form" but in Japanese it's the complete opposite: "This form was born from his obsessive refusal to give up on revival…". Things can get lost in translation very easily and even twisted.

@jedgamesguy Honestly for me, JRPGs tend to over-explain things in a plain fashion. Go into detail and spell everything out to the player. Xenoblade 3 was sort of a breath of fresh air in that regard, since it actually took a more subtle approach to that. It hinted at a lot but confirmed little- and the characters didn't say how they felt, but rather showed it with their own actions. The one thing I loved in 3 is Eunie and the Dog tag. How she looks at the dog tag in the prison cell, retreating back into the thoughts of a past life. it's such a small detail, but it gives a ton of depth to her character.

I did catch that part with Eunie and the dog tag after rewatching some of XC3's cutscenes in preparation for FR. That PTSD bit about Eunie's background was handled pretty well IMO.