The Xenoblade thread (aka the Thread of the Monado)

As for the actual game, after Aetia Region slightly railroaded you as to where you could go (although I still can't fast travel to where Mio's group was at the start and there's also at least one part of the region that's inaccessible until you can climb), Fornis is very open and really lets you go basically wherever as long as you can traverse it! Between leaving Colony 4 and the next story objective I must have doubled my playtime just going places, and I'm pretty sure I haven't explored like half the region still

Unique Monsters still hand my party their collective arses if I'm not careful though. I do have a slight problem with just how much health they have, their movesets and damage are otherwise very challenging but fair (so far) but they feel just a bit too spongy. Then again I am at the cusp of unlocking a second accessory slot so that should help a lot considering some of the buffs they can give.

Overall though a bit of sponginess is not nearly enough to tarnish the rest of the game. Very excited to see what opens up after I can use the various crossable ropes and climbable walls that are all over the place, too.

I finished this the other day, twas good.

Gameplay wise probably the weakest of the 3, the combat never felt like I needed to anything other than just use my arts when they were available for most classes. I wonder how much of that is by design because by extension I was a bit frustrated that I never really had a consistent party composition due to all the class sharing and swapping. There was no point ever figuring out a "lets build my party this way" because for the game's entire duration I was just swapping shit around to share stuff.

The combat just felt wildly unstrategic, never really mattering much more than your relative level compared to the enemy for the most part. Sometimes I had to chuck an extra healer in, but that was like <5 times. In the late game I had to think about how to make my controlled attacker character pull aggro less. But that was it, really. Fought every enemy, boss etc the exact same way.

Ultimately each of the series has its own strengths. I think 1 had the most likeable characters and interesting world to me. 2 had a patchy tone and was a bit cringey at places, but the overall narrative and pacing was phenomenal throughout. 3 nails the tone and story but the combat left me cold and the pacing fell apart after chapter 5 due to a pull to do a lot of ascension quests.

As you can see from this thread I adored this game but I do understand the point about the combat. I didn't mind it so much as it allowed me to concentrate on the compelling task of mopping up every bit of content which was for the most part extremely fun and rewarding. Only during the super bosses did I have to think a little. The game definitely needed more of those to give you opportunity post game to use all of the class abilities you learned from all of the swapping. I am still class swapping after 170 hours and it would be nice to have something to test different builds against. I know you can "level up" the super bosses but it's not as compelling after you have already bested them.

The ending was worth it for the photo.

I was so overleveled for it that I didn't even really need the extra support they give you. But yeah, it would suck having to start over, it's a pretty long fight!

I'm still in chapter 5. Level 52, because I keep getting sidetracked by all the other quests. But hey, when the side quests are this good! 48 hours into the game now and still loving every second of it 😁
Even thought the battle system is not as good as 1 or 2, it's still great fun especially when you kick off a chain attack.

I feel the same way, I'm dying to buy myself a new game (lots of good releases lately) but I darentvfor fear it will feel a let down after XC3

For anyone wondering, the DLC Hero (in terms of mechanics) is basically

That aside I'm still savoring the game in general. Learned how to climb now so even Aetia opened up a good bit, now I'm just hoovering up Heroes and sidequests. I did stop using the bonus Exp. at camps to avoid being overlevelled because I could see it happening eventually, but it gives me a good backup if I run into a wall.

And of course soundtrack, areas and such still phenomenal. I could probably copy/paste this under every post I make about this game and it would hold true

Well, there is the Expansion Pass to consider... Although it might be a while before we get to the really meaty, Torna-style stuff.

Otherwise the other Xenoblades are definitely something I'd recommend, although I do have a bias

Just finished and wow, what an ending, the pay off to 1 and 2 was *chefs kiss*

Took me 85 hours in the end, that's doing a few of the ascension hero quests and a lot of side quests but of course, so much I haven't done. To be honest I think I'll leave it there as 85 hours is quite intensive, realised I put more hours into that than any Trails game!

In the lead up to the story dlc comeing out I'll go back to it for sure to do the extra hero (did the one they've already released) and probably do more ascension quests.

Think I'll need a break from starting anything else for a bit as will struggle to get into something straight away I think after that epic.

I wouldn't worry about "going to an older game" with Xeno 1, it's a good bit simpler in terms of gameplay but I don't think it's worse for it (in fact, in some cases you might find it better). Plus it'll be fun to see if you can retroactively spot the references 3 made to the rest

And Dragon Quest 11 is also a favourite of mine, especially if you'd prefer a slower, turn-based battle system after the Xeno action.

Also Octopath Traveler, if you haven't played it (can't remember if you have off the top of my head).

Another shout for Dragon Quest XI. There's a pretty lengthy demo on the eshop. Save carries over. Easily one of my favourite JRPGs.

Dragon quest 11 and Persona 5 are both great shouts. DQ I have played through twice (probably close to 100 hours each time) and I am 60 hours into P5 on the series x after platinum runs on P5 on ps4 (100 hours) and P5R on PS4 (130 hours).

Amazing games.

You should play XC2, so you can better appreciate how much of a fucking Chad Rex is.