Nintendo Shows Off Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Expansion Pass DLC

I really don't like day 1 DLC.

Nintendo wins either way though. As I'm sill gonna be the clown who buys it day one.

Those costumes are little more than color swaps but the Wave 2 DLC looks much more promising.
I was half expecting Shulk and Rex to be the 2 extra heroes but I'm glad that's not the case.

@Piyo Not defending them but we have no way of knowing if the DLC (except vol 1) was being developed alongside the main game or after the main game went gold. I do remember Nintendo mentioning that if they do DLC they still make sure the main game is complete despite having pre-launch expansion passes like with BotW and XC2. So we can't assume they just removed finished content and selling them later, therefore construed that the main game in unfinished. Games like Splatoon 2 and ACNH are different stories since they deliberately went for staggered content releases.

Even SSBU the main game is finished but the development was ongoing for the DLC up to Sora. Personally for that game, I thought the main game was quite polished at launch. I felt the same for BotW and XC2 since even if I didn't buy the DLC it felt they were complete games. I only bought the DLCs a year later.

So IMHO as far as Nintendo games are concerned, you don't need to buy their expansion passes and won't be missing out on anything.

I'll wait until it's all released, and maybe even get added to the Expansion Pak for NSO.

And if it isn't, I'll just be able to see everything that's on offer before I commit the purchase. I'm sure the base game will give me plenty of content to enjoy, anyway.

The game's not even out yet and here we are talking about DLC for it, haha. 😝

I mean, its just a bunch of costumes. And we are all buying the DLC for the extra story, which won’t be done until later in 2023. So, I’d rather they give me these extra costumes and modes now than throw everything at the same time with the story DLC.

In this case I approve the Day 1 DLC

I need to pick a time, to get at least two or one, and play through those two and get three, but only when I’m done with all the games I’m playing, because I don’t want any other games distracting me.

Guys, hope all is good. Need some advice. I am about to play my first epic JRPG in about 25 years. Used to love Super Play magazine and had a Magicom with many, many UK and US JPRGs on SNES back in the day.

Q. Shall I wait 2 weeks for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (and the DLC above or bag and play one of the below until Jul 29th:

Xeno 1
SMTV
Triangle Strategy
Disagea 5
DQ11s
Xis 9
Octopath
Bravely Default 2

I add in the 25 years as I want to blown away by my first revisit.

I had shelved video games for about 10 years previously and my first game back was Last of Us Remastered. Looking for something as refreshing.

Cheers all!

Hope that last wave of dlc had a physical release like torna did...

@a_brave_new_geek
If I were returning to play JRPGs after that long, I would pick Dragon Quest XI S. It’s the recommendation I would give to new players also because it’s a fun and also forgiving experience.

@Piyo a shadow can be just an illustration. It’s one of the earliest steps of anything in video games.

Doesn’t mean that the model, animations, voice acting, or coding exist yet for that character.

@Piyo That's no question. Though it's still possible that they're either in POC stages or it was decided that they're separate from the get go. Either way the point that the main game could still be content complete still stands. Although I get the criticism.

@CaptainCluck Thanks chief, that is good advice. It looks like its full of old skool tropes, cool graphics and a classic experience in 2022.

Xeno 3 looks soooo flipping good though. Need a break from complex/difficult Roguelikes.

I prefer my RPG people to either have one unique look they always have (PS1 era RPGs) or have what gear you equip change your look. This is neither. I really didn't like the cosmetic crap in Xenoblade Chronicles but that could be because most of them looked really bad.

The Expansion Pack for XB2 was fantastic with lot's of new quests, new playable characters with their own voiced questline not to mention Torna:the Golden Country - a complete stand-alone prequel that was about 30 hours long.
If they aim to do the the same this time I think that's 100% worth it!

It's only worth the money if it ends up being as big as Torna. Meaning, no point in buying until next year

@a_brave_new_geek since it hasn't come out yet and I wasn't sent a review copy, I can only speculate about Xeno3. By all accounts, it sounds like it will be an unforgettable experience, and it should stand on its own feet, but you may get more from the story by playing at least one of the previous games on the series first. If you're going to get Xeno3, and I think you should, I'd recommend you spend the next couple weeks playing Xeno1 or 2, or both.

The other games you listed are all excellent in their own ways, but without having more information about your tastes, it's difficult to recommend just one of them.

SMTV is a story-light dungeon grind that focuses on building up your MC and your party with a wide variety of options. It's great to dig your teeth into if you like turn-based combat and don't care as much about plot.

Triangle Strategy is a completely different beast, with isometric tactical combat and a very involved plot that changes based on the decisions you make.

Disgaea 5 is similar to Triangle Strategy in form and substance, but the story leans into humor and the stat numbers venture into absurd ranges. Both games satisfy a similar itch, so it's a matter of how seriously you want the game to take itself.

DQ11 is very traditional - it's practically an homage to 40 years of fantasy JRPG tropes, but as familiar as it feels, it rarely gets stale. An excellent game to jump back in with, but it's not very representative of modern games.

Not sure what Xis 9 is...

Octopath is a neat blend of self-contained stories with modern innovations to classic JRPG combat. I really love Octopath - there's a lot of stuff to do and ways to customize characters, but it respects your time, being purposely designed around hour-long chunks.

Bravely Default 2 is quite similar to Octopath in terms of its systems, since Octopath borrowed its core combat mechanics from Bravely Default! BD2 has a more focused, but not necessarily stronger, narrative, and it also allows for a wide range of character customization.

Not present on your list, but they'll be making their way to Switch later this year, I recommend both Nier Automata and Persona 5 Royal as well.

Everything that doesn't add more gameplay or story is a waste.

Showing off content I'm NOT getting with my purchase right before launch? Okay. :-/

@SteamEngenius dude, it seems you played another game completely. First you said the the grinding was unbearable, which XC1 had NO grinding needed at all.
Then you say you like watching what you equip. XC1 is one of the few RPGs that does exactly that!

I wonder what game did you played or if you even played Xenoblade 1 at all.

Let me pre-order Nintendo! The game is almost out! Stop showing music, combat or DLC. Just let me buy your game already.

The story content that comes out next year will be worth it alone. Nice to see some added bonuses.

@a_brave_new_geek I would also recommend Dragon Quest XI S. After the first couple hours, I loved the game so much. Definitely one of the best JRPGs I have ever played; but with modern gameplay. But for some reason those first couple hours (basically the prologue) didn’t grab me until I pushed through.

Also amazing soundtrack and beautiful visuals (I played it on Series X so no idea about Switch).

DLC 2 to 4 sound interesting and I am sucker for this kinda thing on games I love. Like the XC series for instance (not so much XC2, though that was "good")

They can keep their crappy deluxe edition and their DLC. Nintendo is worse than Ubisoft

Well its Monolith so I know what to expect already. The 30 dollar dlc pass will be overflown with content and story. Most likely the story they add the end of the year will have more content than another 60 dollar game so I'm not complaining. And if you don't like it well don't buy it, the base game itself has so much content you don't even need the dlc to begin with.

@Piyo
and I'm still very disappointed in Nintendo for doing that for BotW. They really didn't need to lock Master Mode and the Trial of the Sword behind a pay wall, and the same can be said with other games.

I'll wait and hope for a physical edition at the end like Torna got. Hopefully whatever the new story scenario may be, it's as good as that was.

@Piyo They are two console generations behind? Do you want them to start having loot boxes or extremely expensive macrotransactions like in Gran Turismo 7? Or is a $30 expansion that offers twice as much content as half of all AAA games releasing nowadays maybe better?

@GutayS5 pffft, day one. I have it preordered alongside the game itself!😎😆

Haven't really seen any trailers apart from the reveal so I'm going in completely blind but the Hero character on Vol.2 looks like either an android or some kind of Mechon so I'm excited about the expansion pass. Also by going from what we've gotten in the expansion pass in XC2 I'm 100% confident this is about to be some fire content.

I am just wondering if they release the season pass as a physical release later on like they did with XC2. If so then I would defo buy it that way.

I’m going to wait for the physical edition that includes all dlc. I won’t play it months after finishing the main game.

@a_brave_new_geek I've absolutely adored my time with Xenoblade 1 right now with 2 chapters of the game to go, its an incredibly long game (I'm about 46 hours in right now with that being only the base game) but it's been great fun. The environments, characters, music and story specifically in the 2nd half is incredible and the all British voice cast is a nice change of pace and adds to the charm of it all imo.

Will wait for the whole thing to release. Hopefully it gets a boxed version like Torna did.

@a_brave_new_geek going through that list, i think xeno1 might be the most accessible. there are a few on the list i havent touched being Disagea 5 and Xis 9. I out of the others for me Xeno One switch was the most accessible. I think thats a good place to start, especially if you are looking to go to xeno 3 soon.

@a_brave_new_geek I wouldn't suggest jumping straight into XC3 if you haven't played the first two...I don't think you'd miss an awful lot in terms of lore and story, but it's always a good idea to go back and play the first game(s) in the series first instead of jumping in head first into the most recent game in the series blindly.

Whatever you choose - enjoy!

@Piyo 'I hate it. Nintendo is always two console generations behind.'

How so? The Switch is a phenomenal piece of kit. The software available is absolutely insane. It's selling like hot cakes, and has been cleaning up the hardware market since it launched over 5 years ago. Considering they're 'so behind', it's hardly cause for panic. Or are you one of those who thinks technical power of a console is the primary factor on whether or not it is worthy?

Are you trying to say Nintendo need a 4K, top tier machine? If so, what are your reasons?

I'm pretty sure the lineup available on the console would contradict the necessity of Nintendo needing to be leading the way, or at least on par, technically with the other two.

Not to mention, the form factor of the Switch would render it nigh on impossible to have a handheld device running specs comparable to the PS5 and Series S/X.

@BTB20 The guy needs to look at all the amazing exclusives available for the Switch, how well they've been received by critics and the public, and then try coming back with a straight face and tell us all that Nintendo are still leagues behind Sony and Microsoft.

I appreciate how beautiful current gen games are, but Nintendo have found their area of the market and absolutely cleaning up.

@tameshiyaku Agree and disagree. Cosmetic DLC can be nice to have - new customisation, new outfits...All fun to look at. But obviously the DLC adds on story as well..

@dr-gorgo except, they're really not. If the DLC is on par with Torna The Golden Country DLC from XC2 it will be completely worth the added price.

If you don't like it, don't buy it. But the aforementioned DLC is completely worth the money.

So... if I wait a couple years, I can get the "Definitive" edition that has everything in it I bet.

@PharoneTheGnome won't count on it. They didn't do it with Xenoblade 2 either

Just curious, does anyone else think they can see the horn of the Bionis in the background of the two pictures in this article? I thought I saw that in one of the gameplay trailers too. It's a really nice detail if true.

Everyone complaining about DLC being announced for XC3 obviously have no freaking clue how XC2 set the absolute gold standard for how DLC should be done. They promised a release schedule with 3-4 simple bullet points, but then delivered about 100 different items over the year following its launch, including an ENTIRELY NEW GAME to close out the DLC.

Y'all really have no idea what you're talking about if you think this is in any way a bad bit of news. I will ABSOLUTELY be paying for all of this DLC from day one.

@Galby Wow, thanks for the in depth answer! So helpful.

Sorry, by Xis, I meant Y's IX (I actually played the much earlier ones years ago IV and V).

Back in the day used to LOVE Breath of Fire, Ogre Battle, Lufia, FFVI, Earthbound and Secret of the Mana.

My recent tastes have been Hades, Slay the Spire, Soulslike games, Witcher 3, Returnal.

Will try demos of DQ11 and Triangle Strategy.

Overall, looking for something from modern age so perhaps Bravely Default and Octopath are later games to play.

Thanks everyone else for recs.

I just watched a 25 min video on events of pre Xeno 3.

For those that have played the other Xenoblade games, is there much plot continuation between 1/ future connected, 2/tourna and X?

So tempted to jump into 1 though finding the physical in Mexico is difficult atm. Have been assured a copy of 3 at launch!

A road map like this for an RPG isn't ideal. I'll play the game then move onto my next. Not returning to it 2023 as I'll have lost interest by then.

@Piyo Better that Nintendo pull the relatively tame money grubbing tricks of two generations ago than they commit wholeheartedly to the avaricious cons of more recent years.

Looks pretty similar to how XB2 handled it. Minor day 1 stuff, adding more heroes [blades] and challenge/arena stuff, and a new story scenario that could be Torna level

No idea why people have a problem with this unless you hate dlc in general which at this point of the game industry I don’t know what to tell you when it’s the norm.

XB2 was exactly like this and the base game was a “complete game” already while adding more stuff that will likely cover the value easily just like with XB2

@a_brave_new_geek Ive tried putting my response to this together a couple times. The best way to put it is

XC1 and Future Connected are connected through plot. (these two are continually connected)

XC1 and XC2 are loosely connected. (playing both games is the best option)

Torna and XC2 are connected through plot. (these two dont required to both be played but they do compliment each other in some aspects throughout the story.)

XCX is plot doesnt compliment these games. (standalone)
Thats my personal thoughts on these games.

@a_brave_new_geek if you haven't played Ys VIII, i found it a lot more fun than IX (which is still pretty good). i am on my second playthrough as i bide my time waiting for xenoblade 3 and still really enjoying it

Cheers all. First few posts here.

Going to bag Xeno 3 day one, maybe DLC though probs later.

Meantime will check out a load of JRPG demos from eshop.

A bit of delayed gratification for Xeno 3.

Enjoy all! Hope Xeno 3 flys over its hype train. From what I have seen, they are preparing the magnetic slingshots.

I'll absolutely be getting this downloaded along with whatever day 1 update we need, I'm a sucker for outfit swaps and am happy to play around with them until we get the more substantial bits. And I'm more than happy to do a general playthrough the first time around and go back through it again once the story/character waves come out

@mom1fan I was thinking the same, though it seems like there's enough distinction for it to go either way.

@seaboyluca If you were paying attention at the end of the Xeno direct you'd have seen that it was already mentioned that the first set of costumes would be simple recolors.

Considering the timing of the announcement and the way this DLC is structured I'm guessing the more "interesting" kinds of costume designs that some people are upset they haven't seen are indeed tucked away in the DLC as some speculate. Still would prefer there be some of that in the main game. Personally I blame China more than anyone else.

@ryuuryuunonoroi
Well... there have to be unlockable swimsuits, right?
I mean, it's a Xenoblade game after all.

DLC for the sake of DLC. I'm gonna pass all of it and get the base game only.

Reminds me of the dlc story content Future Connected for XB def. It was completely unnecessary. I feel the developers wasted their time by adding such a boring and meaningless story on top of the great main story.

For the price SE buyers they should get the DLC season 1 for buying and going to the disaster of SE PreOrder in NA.

@Zyph the Nintendo games are usually huge & long enough that even if they did develop it alongside the main game, we get our money's worth, regardless. It especially bothers me when you get much less content, & could tell content was cut to sell later, but this hasn't been the case with Nintendo published games that I've played so far, thankfully.

@BreathingMiit ...they could be pushing NFT's, lol.

@Craigsouthern I'm the same way. I have bought so much DLC that I've never came back to. Therefore, i will stop buying it until the exact time I'd want to play it. I always convinced myself i could already have it downloaded, or tons of other excuses to biy these things, none of which matter these days. The good thing is these games are usually meaty enough, people like us can enjoy the boxed product, ignore the DLC, & still never feel upset that we're missing something (like if it were cut from the game).

the question is will the story DLC get a physical copy like Torna did? If so I wanna wait to buy the season pass...

@twztid13 yep. Waiting a year is a bit to long to be holding out, by that time we'll be playing some other game on the switch 2

Ehh… I’ll wait and see how good the side story is before I buy it. I do love my customization, but I’m still salty from the FE3H and XC2 side stories.

@a_brave_new_geek
As Gaby and AndyMK84 said, I wouldn't recommend playing XC3 without at least playing XC1 DE (along with Future Connected in the game) and XC2 (Torna is good but can be skipped if needed, but still play it!). Please play them in order. Otherwise your opinion on the characters in XC3 may shift your opinion of them in their base games.

Yes there is plot continuation. The sword and the dead titan you see on the box art are from the prior games. To not know their history first will make exploring those locales less impactful.

Also while XCX is excellent too...it's not connected story-wise (as far as we know) so play it later on.

I hope that helps! Also a tip. For XC2 watch Chuggaconroy's "Everything I wish I knew about Xenoblade Chronicles 2" video. XC2 does a very bad job at explaining its mechanics and the tutorials lie a little bit to you as well. XC1's tutorials do a great job and there is more info hidden away in the tutorial menu, so please read them in XC1 DE! For that matter, XCX also does a bad job at explaining its mechanics, but the electronic manual for XCX (right next to the launch button) does a good job at explaining most of it.

Lastly, I would recommend seeing most of XC1 DE's Heart to Hearts. Most are locked behind affinity requirements between characters and story points, so it's easy to forget about them. Some give resolution to story points. But if you don't have the affinity, then you can always read them on the Fandom Wiki...but that will be less impactful outside the game I'd imagine. Also switch up the party! I've seen people play as just Shulk and that can be a bit boring.

Good luck in what you choose!

@a_brave_new_geek Ditto Dragon Quest 11 and Xenoblade Chronicles SE. I would also suggest Undertale based on your liking Earthbound.

@Piyo I agree that the eShop experience isn’t the best, but is it really THAT big an issue? I mean, if there is a product I want, I can find it easily. It’s the games that go under the radar that are missing out most.

I still feel Nintendo makes the most enjoyable games out of the big three. Sure, games like Horzon Forbidden West look great but for me gameplay > story and cinematics all day long. I buy games to play them, not watch them.

And that’s where Nintendo differentiates. If you look at Sony and Microsofts presentations last month, all the trailers focused on the cinematic aspects over showing the gameplay.

So for that reason alone, I’m GLAD Nintendo are (as you put it) so ‘behind’.

@Deliesh Thanks for the tip. I played Undertale on the PS4! Was fantastic.

@FlameRunnerFast What a fantastic response and has urged me to play the first Xenos before 3. From what I have read, the plotlines are deep and if playing in sequence provides a better experience for 3 then I shall wait.

I was excited to jump on the train on day one as I thought that would be fun in itself.

@a_brave_new_geek Your welcome! I'm sure playing it day 1 would still be enjoyable of course, but yeah do whatever you think is best!