Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Hands On Impressions

Release Date: July 29, 2022

Mode: Single-Player

Developer: Monolith Soft

Genres: Action Japanese Role-playing Adventure Game

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Publishers: Nintendo, Nintendo of America Inc.

I finally been able to play up into Chapter 3 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 chronicling a few hours of it’s gameplay. I decided to write down some early impressions of Monolith Soft’s big JRPG franchise. Recently I been playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 where I written about my thoughts in regards to that game. My experience with this franchise started on the Nintendo Wii with Xenoblade Chronicles X I believe it’s called. See, I barely remember it’s name. Anyways, I played X and more recently Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

I am going to take a huge leap here considering I never completed any Xenoblade Chronicle title but have put hours into multiple games. I am going to write about how much better Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is to it’s predecessors in regards to tutorial layout and it’s pacing. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 farts on X and 2 when it comes to getting you up in running understanding the gameplay mechanics.

I am on Chapter 3 currently and feel like I know everything so far in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The other two games and especially Xenoblade 2 I was confused as fuck most of the game. So a big bright spot already is Xenoblade Chronicle 3’s pacing of it’s tutorials. It’s no secret this is a huge JRPG that can last longer than Persona 5 from what I understand. I sure as hell don’t want to be confused while playing it. You can lose time in these type of games by not understanding them early on.

The story up into Chapter 3 is starting to get me hook. Aionios is a planet that has two warring factions Keves and Agnus that’s been fighting for eternity. Two Queens rule each faction of children soldiers who have shortened lifespans hoping to ascend into the great unknown. The protagonists of Keves and Agnus are Noah and Mio who leads their respective platoons. Through circumstance of searching for a mysterious signal the two teams meet and fight it out before transforming into a Ouroboros.

Guernica Vandham, a man much older than any Keve or Agnus explains to young Noah and Mio that they are not the real enemy of one another. Soon after the Consuls are introduced who I don’t know shit about other than they are named by single letter prefixes like K, P, Z etc.

The Consul is like the Illuminati behind the scenes pulling the strings of governments. They also want Noah and Mio captured and killed. I can write much more about the story but it’s crazy early. I would only be wasting my words at this point. I know so much will unfold over the next few dozens of hours.

Visually Xenoblade Chronicles 3 looks much better graphically. Not only that I love the art work much more compared to Xenoblade 2. I just didn’t like that kid Rex and his big eyes for some reason. However, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 EVERYBODY looks better design wise in my opinion.

Noah, Mio, Lanz, Taion, Sena, Eunie, every creature so far, Silvercoat, the Consul etc. The world of Aionios as a whole looks better than it’s predecessors. Having six player combat sequences seamlessly in an open world Switch game is impressive.

The music, voice acting and overall sound design is some of the best I heard on the Nintendo Switch. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is high quality in regards to sound and music design. Even the menu music at pause is good. Yes I am listening to the game with English voice acting. It’s fine with me.

I’ve been writing bits and pieces of this articles over the last few days. I now find myself into Chapter 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 keeps improving in the gameplay department. Interlinking is when characters transform into a mech-like machine with very powerful attacks. I also unlocked chain attacks today which add a layer of choice within high level combat situations. Progress the story to unlocked mechanics. Again, tutorials and pacing of all tutorials are paced well in Chapter 3.

Cutscenes are very extravagant. Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s cutscenes wipes the floor with Xenoblade Chronicle 2’s so far. Visuals, voice acting, cinematography within practically every cutscene I watchedso far has depth and weight to them. Like they mean something.

There are stakes here. Most times I laugh at JRPG cutscenes because they are corny as hell to me. The last serious cutscene I saw was in Final Fantasy 15 (the boys bonfire). Xenoblade Chronicle 3’s direction is serious, smart, funny at times but not over the top humor or happy-ish which I like.

Overall so far so good people. I am loving the story, tutorial pacing, cutscenes, gameplay. Something about stacking 4 or 5 different combat elements into a loop when fighting a boss and with the music playing it’s great. I will be back for a final review for Xenoblade Chronicles 3 no time soon. This game is going to be long. Thank you for reading – Jason