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Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

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For our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review, we play a game that is a heartfelt RPG with adventure and intrigue awaits in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Join Noah, Mio, and their friends as they traverse epic landscapes, battle ferocious creatures, and fight to break the never-ending cycle of violence that binds their homelands.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review Pros:

  • Gorgeous Anime style graphics.
  • 13.8GB download size.
  • English and Japanese voice options.
  • Action RPG gameplay.
  • Open world.
  • Amiibo support.
  • 3 difficulties – Easy, normal, and hard.
  • Camera settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, zoom speed, gradient correction, interlink, and battle camera.
  • Setup what notifications you can get in-game.
  • Game settings – Auto accept activities, auto-battle, targeting controls, overkill, display quest objectives, and vibration.
  • Interactive tutorial pop-ups as you need them.
  • Supply drops can spawn in the world with a red smoke signal showing their intended location.
  • Full team management from class type to arts to equipment.
  • A background image of the main menu can be selected.
  • Earn EXP and level up to increase stats and unlock new arts, abilities, and slots.
  • Big massive boss fights.
  • Enemies roam the land some are hostile and some have to be provoked.
  • Unlock fast travel points.
  • Map uncovers as you play.
  • Play how you want.
  • Enemies have their level (difficulty) above them and you can get different sorts from behemoths to lucky ones with rare drops to harder versions and normal variations.
  • Items can be found and look like what they are. (In previous games it was always just an orb)
  • Save when you want although it does have a generous autosave.
  • In-game cutscenes.
  • Can skip or fast forward cutscenes.
  • Fully Voiced characters.
  • Feels like an MMO.
  • Containers are the game’s loot chests.
  • Ether points can be mined and are used to operate ancient technologies that you find.
  • Main story along with optional side quests.
  • Easier to interact with the menu system.
  • Day/night cycle along with the ability to change it yourself.
  • Campfires are found and allow you to level up with bonus exp, cook food, craft and discuss.
  • Rumors and info can be obtained from listening in and discussing these findings can open up new story options or cool rewards.
  • Your party makeup is ever-changing as you can swap character classes in and out.
  • Skirmishes can break out between the enemies and you can join and pick a side. You see the rewards, enemy count, and enemy levels before deciding.
  • Items in the world are constantly spawning back.
  • Merchants will auto-buy all sell-only items and allow you to buy and sell items/gear.
  • Heroes are strong characters that will fight by your side and are usually temporary.
  • Full 3D camera control.
  • The camera angle can be adjusted whenever.
  • You heal out of battle.
  • The map will show clear icons, objectives, and your own markers.
  • Soldier husks are dead bodies of fallen comrades, finding these sites and playing the song will bring affinity to the colony.
  • Lure a single enemy away from a pact to make it easier to beat them.
  • The Tips menu is a collection of all learned controls, mechanics, and anything else. Ouroboros is a being you turn into when you synch with a character. They have their own moves, skill points, and skill tree to customize.
  • Auto build options are in the menus to help you and save time.
  • Complete hero quests to unlock that hero permanently and their class type.
  • New classes can be unlocked with new heroes and will open that class up to certain characters.
  • Clothing allows you to customize the look of your characters.
  • Feels like a living breathing world.
  • The game does a good job of helping you learn everything and there is a lot!
  • Food or meals will give a time-limited buff.
  • Party members will chat amongst themselves and also blurt out helpful information on your current quests etc.
  • Affinity levels can be increased by doing jobs for people or just chatting with them. You unlock new rewards for leveling up.
  • Landmarks will give exp rewards and hidden ones are secret areas.
  • Respawn at the last landmark you visited.
  • Unique monsters (clearly marked) are tough fights and once beaten will leave a tombstone that allows you to replay fighting them.
  • Liberate colonies to get new fragments and missions/rewards. Taking a colony will elevate the warning level making future colonies harder.
  • All items and gear have a rarity level attached to them.
  • Training drills are self-contained practice drills.
  • As you progress the combos and chain attacks become more extravagant and involved.
  • Chain attacks are charged up and once triggered, unleash massive damage attacks. You pick the order and who joins in.
  • Press LR and Y to scan the area and show a line that directs you to the next objective.
  • The combat is one that looks complicated but it’s really not and very accessible.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Review Cons:

  • No touchscreen.
  • Slow starter.
  • A lot to take in.
  • Combat has a slight learning curve to it.
  • Fall damage is harsh.
  • Difficulty spikes happen a lot as stronger enemies can wander into battle.
  • Pacing can be a bit up and down.
  • The story is good but the layout of the missions is very similar in every area.
  • Fights can go on for a long time.
  • Your party members will repeat themselves constantly.
  • Cheesy one-liners.
  • Some of the characters grate on you.

Related Post: Aluna Sentinel Of The Shards Review (PlayStation 4)

Xenoblade Chronicles 3:

Official website.

Developer: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Store Links – 

Nintendo

  • 9/10
    Graphics - 9/10
  • 8/10
    Sound - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 10/10
    Fun Factor - 10/10
8.8/10

Summary

Xenoblade chronicles 3 is an event, it’s a game that is an MMO but single player, it’s huge in scope and delivers 100s of hours gameplay. I am late to the Xenoblade series with X being my favourite but 3 came so close to nabbing it. In Xenoblade chronicles 3 they maintain the gameplay they have the overly complicated looking yet so easy to use combat system, massive jaw dropping locations and huge enemies and monsters roaming the world. Then after all that you can spawn fucking mechs near enough on command! Link with another character and call forward your Mech for a limited time, depending on the combination of characters depends what Mech you get and what attacks/abilities that Mech has, it’s just another layer in a tall cake of awesome. Haven’t even touched on the chain attacks, this is again dependent on who you pick and in what order but chain attacks deal massive damage, they look like an insane Dragonball Z cutscene, its just mental to admire. The World as said is huge, you are not forced to follow the story religiously, in fact you are encouraged to explore as you find new party members and new classes. It’s a world that has a ton of exploration but you do need to progress the story to get more ways to traverse the world so there is an element of restraint. Classes change how they our player acts so you have classes like Defenders, attackers and healers, then almost like a subclass you can get like attacking healers. Each class has ten levels to unlock that increase the class attacks and stats, once levelled up you can then change class, sounds annoying but it honestly entices you to try new ways of playing. Arts is a fancy way of saying moves or attacks and these can be unlocked and picked by yourself. Basically Xenoblade takes customisation to the next level and then some. Even after 20 odd hours I have still not fully finished the story. For me I get lost II the world, I go off collecting items, or hunt enemies and of course take on the many skirmish battles. Skirmishes is where two sets of enemies engage in a faigjy and you can rock up and join a side. This lady bit of the review is a perfect example of Xenoblade, just when you think you have seen it all, another layer gets added or another location gets unlocked and it just keeps going and going. But I have never got bored of it, I never felt like it dragged on even when trying to mainline the story, it’s addictive, you want to see the next thing. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the new benchmark for the series.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!