The Xenoblade thread (aka the Thread of the Monado)

Well hey, if the Xenoblade 1 remake is anything to go by they'll probably have some streamlining and additions to maybe help you like it more!

And besides, Xenoblade is like pizza, even the worse ones (subjectively or otherwise) are better than a large part of their category

I've only ever completed the first one, but it left a very good impression on me. I'm not like the biggest JPRG fan ever, I'm more into the more popular ones. But if I take the latest FF 7 remakes and put it together against Xenoblade. I'm taking Xenoblade all day.

Because it had been so long since I played it and tve ussues with storage space for the texture packs I couldn't remember it well enough to notice if it was different. It does seem odd for them not to use the highees packs though as the Switch shpuld he able to handle those (docked at the very least)

You've not gotten around to XC3? oh man you're missing out. As I got older I sort of grew out of the typical JRPG melodrama but XC1 was a masterpiece so I reluctantly bought XC3 to pass the time when the wife was away for the weekend. For an hour or 3 I wasn't sure I was having fun. It's got a great world like Xenoblade always does and the trademark sense of scale which was cool. As ever the music was awesome too. Anyhow, I just wasn't pulled in like like 13 year old me was with FF7. Or even how 26 year old me was with XC1. That is until I started to see how smartly designed it all was. Special monsters are dotted around everywhere and are a treat to stumble across. There's the "gotta kill them all pull" complete with checklist. (There's actually quite a few things you feel compelled to tick off and I'm not a list kind of guy.) XC3 made checklists compelling! Its miraculous! Nothing revelatory so far for most I'm sure, until you realise once you defeat one of these awesome spectacles they create a fast travel point to an area of repeated interest. It's more valuable than you think and such a smart, simple idea I've not seen before. How about Menial side quests like collect x amount of this? Normally a turnoff, a snooze fest, but those are started organically, often automatically. Once achieved they are completed in a menu meaning even mindless wandering or grinding is achieving something at all times as you battle this or collect that. Just go about your business and you will be progressing something with worthwhile reward at the end. Even getting lost is achieving something. it's so slick and lean. Why didn't someone think of it before? Madness! That's not all though. All quests big or small level up your affinity to the various colony's you find and higher affinity unlocks proper side story quests that flesh out secondary characters and the world around in genuinely interesting ways. It all adds meaning and richness to the typical save the world spectacle. Even if you're barely trying, the world, it's characters and their stories unfold in surprising ways. This creates real pull and presents you with a place that feels interesting and lived in.

What about combat? It's Xenoblade but even battling or grinding feels more meaningful. Characters level up EXP as usual but you can also level up their "job" doing so let's you switch jobs or tailor existing ones. Which gives you tons of options to build your party and experiment to your liking. By letting you level everyone in all of the job classes you find yourself wanting to battle, you want to progress classes to experiment and tinker with your skills and party composition. Ok, none of this last point is super original, but what it does do better than any other JRPG is make random encounters a worthwhile endeavor because there's so much more to battle for than standard EXP. Heck if you still don't like battling you can use bonus exp at camp sites to over level and get on with whatever you do like.

On top of all that there's secret gear to find, secret areas and more. I could go on but I'll finish with this...

As someone who doesn't consider themselves a JRPG fan these days I was amazed when I 100% finished it at a whopping 250 hours. I've never played one game for that long. I played nothing else for 3 months and I didn't want to. I've never done that either. Yet, Even after all that time I was sad it was over.

Plot, characters, graphics and such I could understand some people might disagree with my glowing assessment. We're all different people after all. But from a design perspective it's a masterpiece. It takes every mundane, often bemoaned element of the genre and makes it not just good, but super compelling. I've not seen another game in the genre do it. It's a 100 hour adventure with gameplay systems on a 30 second loop like a roguelike or FPS. Its genius if you're willing to see it. Man I wish I could wipe it from my head and do it again.

XC3 I think is the only game that has ever made me cry. The way it tells its story is outstanding. Gets a little silly like all Jrpgs/video games do in the last little bit but it’s a bit of a triumph.

Similarity to Steify, I was quite a big JRPG fan in my teenage years but fell of the wagon and didn’t really play any for a good number of years other than Final Fantasy which too be honest has been fairly inconsistent and struggled to define it self post X really (although I quite like 15). I think as I got older I prefer gaming on a handheld, it’s far more comfortable and with the Switch it enables me to play high quality (and long) games in a more relaxed environment.

I started with XC2 and it showed me what modern jrpgs could be, and really what FF could be if it wanted too. XC3 builds on that and it really delivers on the high budget epic fantasy Jrpg front. It’s great! Still yet to play Torna and the XC3 dlc, should get round to that.

Played Persona 5 earlier this year and loved that so I should really go back and play the previous persona games and check out some older Jrpgs too.

Are you my clone? 😁 The other JRPG that doesn't waste your time and really got me interested again was Persona 5. I'm playing 4 here and there right now. ☺️ It shows it's age a bit but the beats are very similar to 5. Would highly recommend

Is the third game massively different to the second? Because that game had some serious issues- like the really stupid loot box system for getting new summons. The generics were pointless beyond facilitating that mechanic and it meant you couldn't build your characters in any meaningful way. This is just terrible design

I know you supposedly get an item that lets you transfer them but it's rare and shouldn't be needed in the first place

Field skills requiring you to not only have the relevant summon but actually have them active in your party to use them is another terrible decision

The way you improved your summons abilities was a massive chore, was too involved, and I just couldn't be fucked. I'm pretty sure some of them required field skills that you needed other summons for or finding and defeating very particular enemies

All the footage I've seen of 3, and any of the XC games really, show your party running around massive empty environments. No wasting the players time is definitely not how I'd describe the design of these games

Also, if side quests activate automatically, are completed in due course, and are automatically turned in, what is the point of them

Let me second everything Steify said. XC3 is my favourite JRPG of all time (and quite possibly my favourite game of all time). I absolutely loved everything about it and wanted it to never end.

And then the DLC story is the icing on the cake.

If you haven't played it, do it!

Aunty Treats JuniorFE beat me to it. I'd say the XC3 systems are more like an evolution of XC1.

That's how I felt after I finished it and I never thought deeply jaded me would be considering putting a game from 2020's in my all time top 5. Let alone a JRPG. I'm just surprised it's design wasn't highlighted more on release. Every JRPG should be looking to borrow from it in the same way that Dark/Demon souls influenced designers for years.

How do the others compare for you?

XC1 is my favourite JRPG of all time and is one of my favourite games of all time (easily top five). 

XCX was wild. I was really enjoying it but got it at the tail end of the Wii U's life and only put around 30 hours in before moving to the Switch.

XC2 had some great ideas and probably my favourite battle system of the series but the other systems (blades) and the story didn't really grab me. Dropped it after around 40 hours.

XC3 is a real return to form. Probably the best story and great systems throughout. My only complaints are that it's a little too easy (especially if you try and do everything like I do) and the bloody garish purple menus.

I know what you mean - sometimes I'd been that busy doing other stuff in XC3 I completely lost the story thread.

Another thing I missed in XC3 was its own version of Colony 6 - I love this stuff in JRPGs!

From Colony 6 in XC1 to Pirate's Isle in Skies of Arcadia, I've always got time for this stuff.

Ha! If I leave a game more than 3 months I tend to start over. I remember being a complete idiot when they first introduce you to toppling and had it in my head it was a random effect.