Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 3
File:Xenoblade 3.png Icon artwork, featuring the game's protagonists (from left to right: Sena, Lanz, Mio, Noah, Taion and Eunie)
Developer(s)	Monolith Soft
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Koh Kojima Genki Yokota
Producer(s)	Koh Kojima Genki Yokota Katsuya Eguchi Toyokazu Nonaka Tomohiro Hagiwara
Programmer(s)	Toshiaki Yajima
Artist(s)	Eiji Takahashi Masatsugu Saito Koichi Mugitani
Writer(s)	Tetsuya Takahashi Yuichiro Takeda Kazuho Hyodo
Composer(s)	Yasunori Mitsuda ACE Kenji Hiramatsu Manami Kiyota Mariam Abounnasr Yutaka Kunigo
Series	Xenoblade Chronicles
Platforms	Nintendo Switch
Release date(s)	July 29, 2022
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is an installment in the open-world Xenoblade Chronicles series, itself a part of the larger Xeno franchise. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 depicts the futures of the worlds featured in Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017) and concludes the trilogy's narrative.

The development team wanted to develop a story-driven game in the style of the first two entries in the series, while featuring content and combat gameplay from previous Xeno entries. Like the first two entries, the game was localized by Nintendo of Europe. The gameplay combines elements from the first and second entries.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes place in Aionios, where two warring nations, Keves and Agnus, engage in perpetual war with soldiers with ten-year lifespans. The story follows Noah and his two childhood friends, Eunie and Lanz, from Keves, and Mio and her two fellow servicemen, Sena and Taion, from Agnus, who all gain a mysterious power and decide to cooperate to find safety. Through this journey, they uncover the mystery behind this perpetual war and the nature of their world.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was received positively by critics, who praised its story, themes, gameplay, music, characters, and scale, while criticism was focused on its technical and graphical issues at launch. The game had sold 1.86 million copies by March 2023. An expansion taking place before the events of the game, Future Redeemed, was released in April 2023.

Gameplay

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an action role-playing game with a large open world to explore. Unlike previous Xenoblade series entries, the game allows for seven party members to participate in battles at once, including the main party and an additional "Hero" character. Up to 19 Heroes can be recruited to the party by completing story events or sidequests, each possessing different skills and abilities. Party members will also gain the ability to change their character class, granting them access to different abilities; raising a Hero's affinity with the party will unlock their class for use. Under certain conditions, specific pairs of party members—Noah and Mio; Lanz and Sena; and Eunie and Taion—can utilize the Interlink system to temporarily combine into an Ouroboros, a larger form with more powerful moves. Like the previous entries, the game employs an open world design, with a day-and-night time cycle that affects in-game events, such as the availability of quests and items. Similar to Xenoblade Chronicles, the game takes place on a continuous open world, featuring a fast travel option for players to travel more quickly through the largest open world map featured in the series to date. When traversing the map, players can now turn on a quest navigation mode that will mark a line on the ground to follow if they are unsure of how to reach their destination.

File:Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Combat.jpg

Combat in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. The picture above shows the party fighting one of the hostile wildlifes spread throughout the game world.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has an action-based battle system, where the player manually moves the current lead character in real-time, and party members "auto-attack" when enemies enter their attack radius. Unlike past entries, players have the ability to swap between characters in the middle of combat. Party members use abilities called "Arts". Some Arts may deal bonus damage or inflict a status ailment, depending on a character's position in relation to the enemy. Each character has a starting moveset based on a Class. Classes consist of different styles of fighting and abilities, but all fall under one of the three main roles: "Defenders", who draws enemy aggro towards them and tank attacks by blocking or evading them; "Attackers", who deals the most damage and utilize positional Arts to deal increased damage and/or trigger certain effects; and "Healers", who supports the party with heals, buffs and debuffs. There are 25 total classes that can be obtained in the base game. By performing a Role Action (drawing aggro for Defenders, using positional Arts for Attackers, and placing field Arts for Healers), the character's Talent Gauge will fill up, and when it's full, the character can unleash a Talent Art. Talent Arts are special moves unique to a class that amplifies their class' potency, such as dealing massive area-of-effect damage, forcing all enemies to target the user, or fully heals the party. In addition to experience points gained by defeating enemies, characters will also gain Class Points (CP), that will increase their class' mastery level. Reaching certain mastery level will unlock Master Arts that can be used on other classes of opposing factions. The player can then, with a button combination, fuse both Master Arts and Class Arts into Fusion Arts, which combines the properties of both Arts into one.

Arts that can cause "Break, Topple, Daze, Burst, Launch, and Smash" can combo into each other. In order to successfully perform an Art combo, a Break status must be initially triggered on an enemy, followed by a Topple. After this, the combo route can either go to Launch then Smash to deal massive damage to the target, or Daze then Burst in order to temporarily purge an enemy of their rage status and cause them to drop items.

The defining battle feature added in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the Interlink system. In the early parts of the game, specific pairs of characters—Noah and Mio; Eunie and Taion; and Lanz and Sena—gained the ability to fuse into Ouroboros, a large, monster-like creatures that is invincible and have stronger Arts than usual. Ouroboros forms are limited by the Heat gauge, which fills up as they keep their form. When the gauge is full, the Interlink will be canceled, and the pair cannot Interlink again until the Heat gauge is empty. To reduce Heat gauge consumption, the pair must constantly use Fusion Arts before Interlinking to increase their Interlink Level, up to 3 levels. Certain Arts only have their effects active when the Interlink Level is at 3, thus encouraging the player to hold off Interlinking until then.

Similar to previous Xenoblade Chronicles games, this game features the "Chain Attack" mechanic. A gauge slowly fills as party members hit their opponents (which increases further with the use of Master Arts), and filling it allows the player to chain multiple attacks together, for extra damage. This allows a player to select a "Chain Order" on a menu with three options. Each character's Chain Order applies a specific buff upon its completion. After a player has selected one of the options, the Chain Attack turn begins. The goal of each turn is to get over 99 TP (Tactical Points). TP is rewarded on each move during the turn. The player is able to select a move from each character, where the game rewards the player by adding TP to the gauge for the current turn in the attack. TP is rewarded based on the current Class the character has equipped, the amount of times the character has been used during the chain attack, and various other conditions. By achieving over 99 TP during the turn, the attack ends for that turn, which applies the selected Chain Order's effects. There are three different ratings you can get after crossing 99 TP. These include "Amazing" (getting over 200 TP), "Bravo" (getting over 150 TP), and "Cool" (getting over 99 TP). The ratings determine how many selected characters are "reactivated," allowing them to be used in the next round, as well as increasing the damage multiplier. The attack goes on for as long as the party gauge is not empty.

Every tutorial the player receives is archived under the Tips section in the options menu. The Training Drills feature allows people to redo any combat tutorial to ensure they understand a specific mechanic. This tutorial system is greatly improved from all previous installments in the series, guiding the player in the correct direction from the beginning of the game.

Plot

Setting and characters

Further information: Fictional chronology of Xenoblade Chronicles

Set after the events of Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017), Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes place in the Aionios, a world made up of merged locations from Bionis, the world of Xenoblade Chronicles, and Alrest, the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where the nations of Keves and Agnus are at constant war with one another. The world is divided into colonies, each with their own giant metal mech called a Ferronis, which trap the life force of fallen enemy soldiers in a Flame Clock. The wars are fought by engineered soldiers with artificially limited lifespans of ten years, as they draw energy from the flame clock and fight to survive to the end of their tenth term in hopes of receiving a Homecoming ceremony. Among both forces are "off-seers", soldiers who play special flutes in rituals to send off the dead, functioning as a short funeral. The game features six main characters who are imbued with the mystical power of Ouroboros, including two protagonists: Noah, a Kevesi off-seer accompanied by his childhood friends, Lanz and Eunie; and Mio, an Agnian off-seer accompanied by her fellow servicemen, Taion and Sena. The two groups are joined by their Nopon support members: Kevesi mechanic Riku and Agnian chef Manana. Other major characters include the Vandhams, a family who lead the Lost Numbers freedom fighters, consisting of Guernica, his daughter Monica, and granddaughter Ghondor; Melia Antiqua from Xenoblade Chronicles and Nia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the respective queens of Keves and Agnus; and Moebius, an organization that controls the war between Keves and Agnus, made up of powerful beings of the same name that act as Consuls. The Consuls are each identified only by a single letter, and are led by a Moebius named Z.

The downloadable story expansion Future Redeemed is set centuries before the main game in the Cent-Omnia region, an area of Aionios not explored in the main game, and follows a previous Ouroboros group formed after Consul N's destruction of the original City. Like the main game, Future Redeemed features six party members: Matthew Vandham and A, two City survivors searching for Matthew's sister Na'el; Shulk and Rex, the respective protagonists of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 and 2 who now lead the anti-Moebius group The Liberators; and Nikol and Glimmer, Shulk and Rex's respective children who are unaware of their parentage and fight for Keves and Agnus. Other major characters include Panacea and Linka, Shulk's and Rex's respective protégés; and Alpha, a being created from Shulk's former ally Alvis from Xenoblade Chronicles.

Story

Kevesi soldiers Noah, Lanz, Eunie, and Riku are given a special mission to intercept a mysterious airship. When they reach the target area, they encounter an Agnian squad consisting of Mio, Sena, Taion, and Manana. As they battle, the airship's sole survivor, Guernica Vandham, intervenes and stops the fighting, claiming he knows their "true enemy." However, he is shot by Consul D, who attacks Noah and Mio's teams, forcing Guernica to activate the Ouroboros Stone he was smuggling and imbuing Noah and Mio's teams with its power. D is forced to retreat, and a mortally wounded Guernica instructs the teams to head for the "City" at Swordmarch, where they can find answers.

Realizing the Consuls have ordered both Keves and Agnus to hunt them down, Noah and Mio's teams are forced to band together and make their way to Swordmarch, liberating colonies along the way by destroying their Flame Clocks. The Kevesi Queen attacks the party with the Annihilator, a weapon of mass destruction, and threatens to destroy the liberated colonies with it, forcing the party to detour to Keves Castle. There, the group destroys the Annihilator and discovers that the soldiers of both Keves and Agnus are actually clones forced to fight each other. They are then confronted by the Queen and Consul N, a man physically identical to Noah. The party defeats the Queen, who is revealed to be a robotic imposter.

After escaping, the party encounters the Lost Numbers, led by Guernica's daughter Monica. Monica leads them to the City, which is populated by humans with regular lifespans who also oppose Moebius. Monica explains that Moebius orchestrated the war so they can harvest the life energy from the bloodshed to continue living, replacing the losses with clones to repeat the cycle. The real Queens created the power of Ouroboros to oppose Moebius before going into hiding. Monica tasks the party with infiltrating the prison underneath Agnus Castle and rescuing her daughter Ghondor, who knows the Queens' location. The group stages a prison break, but are ambushed by N and his partner Consul M, a woman physically identical to Mio. Ghondor escapes, but the party is captured and taken to Agnus Castle for execution. There, Noah lives through N's memories and learns that N and M lived countless lives failing to stop Moebius, leading N to accept a Faustian bargain with Moebius' leader Z to revive M and spend eternity with her; Noah and Mio are reincarnations of N and M.

It is revealed that M used her psychic powers to switch bodies with Mio, saving her at the cost of her own life. The party drives off N, destroys the false Agnian Queen, and awakens the true Queen, Nia. D ambushes them and wounds Nia, but the party kills him in battle. Nia explains that in the past, the world was split into two parallel worlds, Bionis and Alrest, but would inevitably merge back together, destroying all life in the process. To avoid this, Nia and Melia collaborated to create Origin, an ark to store all the data and memories of both worlds, so they could be restored once the worlds merged. However, Z captured Melia and hijacked Origin for his own ends, creating the current world of endless warfare. With Nia's knowledge, the party storms Origin, defeating N and freeing Melia. They confront Z, who is a manifestation of Origin's digitized souls' fear of the future and desire to stay in the 'endless now'. N and M, whose spirits remain inside Noah and Mio, sacrifice themselves to permanently destroy Z.

With Origin reactivated, the reconstruction process for both worlds proceeds. However, this requires the people of Keves and Agnus to be separated and returned to their respective worlds. The party members say their farewells, and Mio and Noah share a kiss with each other before the worlds separate, promising to reunite one day. Everyone is restored in the new world at the moment Bionis and Alrest merged, with no memories of their experiences. As he heads for a fireworks show, Noah hears the sound of Mio's flute playing and decides to follow the music.

Future Redeemed

Centuries before Noah and his comrades' defeat of Moebius, the first City is destroyed by N. A young City resident named Matthew Vandham, who received the power of Ouroboros from his grandfather, escapes the City and encounters a mysterious stranger named A. The two of them team up to search for City survivors, and kill several Consuls before finding two soldiers, Nikol and Glimmer, as the sole survivors of their respective armies. Matthew intervenes in their battle, granting Nikol and Glimmer the power of Ouroboros and convincing them to cease hostilities against each other. Later, they encounter Shulk and Rex, the leaders of a resistance group called the Liberators who are sheltering City survivors and others who seek to escape from Moebius' rule, along with their students Panacea and Linka and their mechanic Riku.

Rex and Shulk explain that they have currently formed a truce with Moebius to fight a common foe, Alpha. Alpha is an artificial intelligence derived from Alvis that is controlling Origin. However, when Moebius rose to power and created Aionios, Alpha came to the conclusion that Moebius, Keves, Agnus, and all traces of the original worlds should be exterminated, planning to create an entirely new world using the City survivors as its foundation. The Liberators and Moebius had previously clashed with Alpha, leaving both sides heavily weakened, and Alpha subsequently chose Matthew's sister Na'el as its vessel to regain its strength. Alpha clashes with Matthew and his comrades, attempting to convince Matthew to join its side when N intervenes. Alpha retreats, but challenges Matthew to come to Origin to settle their differences. Matthew learns that N is his great-grandfather, whose destruction of the city was an unintended consequence of his attempt to kill Alpha, and that A is Alpha's "conscience", having split off as a separate entity who bears Alvis' memories of aiding Shulk in his journey.

Matthew and his comrades then journey to Origin to confront Alpha. N attempts to stop them, reasoning that Alpha has a reason for luring Matthew to Origin, but he is defeated and allows Matthew to continue. Inside Origin, Matthew finds Na'el inside a reconstruction of Earth before it was split by Klaus's experiment. Na'el explains Alpha promised her a world with no violence, but Matthew counters that since Alpha has no understanding of human emotion, any world it tries to build is doomed to failure. Alpha challenges Matthew and his party once again; the group works together with N to call upon the power of Ouroboros to defeat Alpha. Afterwards, A, Shulk, and Rex enter Origin's core to replace Alpha and keep Origin operational. Before they leave, Shulk and Rex use their newfound authority to extend Nikol and Glimmer's lifespans, and tell the party that they are confident Moebius will eventually be defeated. Origin is hidden away once again, destroying the Cent-Omnia region in the process.

In the aftermath, Matthew, Na'el, Nikol, Glimmer, Panacea, Linka and Riku become the future Founders of the new City, leading the City survivors and Liberators to rebuild it as well as upgrade the Ouroboros Stone. Matthew decides to leave on a journey to recruit more members to join the City. Centuries later, after Origin is reactivated by Noah and his friends, the two worlds of Bionis and Alrest are merged back into one world, as a single bright light approaches it from space.

Downloadable content

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 featured an "Expansion Pass" available for purchase at the game's launch, which provides access to four volumes of downloadable content that were released over the following year. The first volume released alongside the game on July 29th, 2022, and includes several consumables, accessories, and alternate outfit colors. The second volume released on October 13th, 2022, and includes a new challenge mode, as well as a hero quest to unlock a new hero, Ino. The third volume was released on February 15, 2023, and includes new challenge mode battles, new character outfits, and a hero quest to unlock the hero Masha. The fourth and final volume was released on April 26, 2023, and includes a new story scenario, Future Redeemed, that takes place centuries before the events of the main game and follows a new cast. Completing Future Redeemed unlocks an additional challenge battle, through which the player can earn Shulk and Rex as heroes in the main game.

Development

The first ideas for the plot of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 came during the development of the second entry of the three games, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. According to Tetsuya Takahashi, creator of the Xenoblade Chronicles series, the Mechonis sword featured on the cover of Xenoblade Chronicles and the Titan of Uraya featured on the cover of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is what sparked the idea of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Bringing the two worlds together, the broken sword of the Mechonis going through the wounded Titan of Uraya is the visual key of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, indicating war between the two worlds, thus the starting idea for this game. In May 2018, Takahashi pitched Xenoblade Chronicles 3 as a new game concept to Nintendo. The first production group of Monolith Soft, known for their work on the Xenoblade Chronicles series, started development on the game in August 2018 after Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna – The Golden Country went gold.

Music

File:Yasunori Mitsuda (2019).jpg

Composition of the game's soundtrack was led by Yasunori Mitsuda.

As with previous numbered games in the series, the game's soundtrack was written by Yasunori Mitsuda, Manami Kiyota, ACE (Tomori Kudo and Hiroyo "CHiCO" Yamanaka), and Kenji Hiramatsu. They were joined by Mariam Abounnasr, who arranged tracks for Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Yutaka Kunigo. In order to create a sound that had not been heard before, Monolith Soft had custom flutes created in different sizes and tuned to different scales resembling flutes from the game. The first track Mitsuda worked on for the game was "A Life Sent On", its main theme. Takahashi told Mitsuda in advance to interweave the two melodies of Noah and Mio into a single piece of music, and Mitsuda seemed to have thought that creating the flutes would enable him to express himself easier. As with Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the Irish choral ensemble Anúna assisted in recording vocals for the game. Members Aisling and Lauren McGlynn provided vocals for tracks themed around Ouroboros and Moebius respectively, while Sara Weeda sung "A Step Away" and the ending theme, "Where We Belong". The Future Redeemed expansion features a new ending theme, "Future Awaits", sung by Joanne Hogg, who previously sang the ending themes of Xenogears and Xenosaga Episode I.

An original soundtrack is scheduled to be released on August 2, 2023. It was revealed alongside the soundtrack to Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and the Xenoblade Chronicles Original Soundtrack Trinity Box, a limited edition package featuring the soundtracks for all three mainline games in the series. The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Original Soundtrack was announced to be available in a regular edition and a limited edition containing 1/3 scale replicas of the flutes used by Noah and Mio throughout the game's story, as well as a 80-page deluxe booklet with liner notes and interviews with the composers. The limited edition was also revealed to be releasing sooner than the regular edition on July 29, 2023, exactly one year after the game's original release. Both editions also contain the music for Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed.

Release

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced in February 2022, and was initially set for release in September. It was later shifted to an earlier release date of July 29. The game is described as featuring a narrative that will depict the respective futures for the worlds of the previous two entries. Following the announcement, a blog post on the official Nintendo website revealed preliminary details about the game's development. Takahashi was confirmed to be working on the game in an executive director position, while various other returning staff members from previous Xenoblade Chronicles games were revealed to be reprising their duties, including the composing team behind the first two entries and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 lead character designer Masatsugu Saito, returning to work on the game's art alongside Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles artist Koichi Mugitani.

Special edition

A collector's edition was announced on April 19, 2022 to be sold exclusively on My Nintendo Store, following the announcement of the July 29th release date. The collector's edition contains an art book, a steelbook case, and an outer collectible packaging. Preorders opened on June 7, but due to unforeseen logistical circumstances, the My Nintendo Store crashed on that day, logging various users out, leaving many unable to preorder the game. Furthermore, as a result of the release date being moved up in the year, production for the collector's edition ended up being hindered, causing certain Nintendo stores to sell the contents of the collector's edition, minus the game, as a separate item in the UK, while the extra contents of the North American special edition were delayed to ship in Fall 2022.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic 89/100 Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 9.5/10 Eurogamer Essential Famitsu 36/40 Game Informer 7.25/10 GameSpot 8/10 IGN 8/10 Nintendo Life 10/10 Nintendo World Report 9/10 Digital Trends TechRadar Trusted Reviews

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 received "generally favorable reviews" according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Nintendo Life enjoyed the changes to the combat system, specifically praising the new ability to combine character abilities, "Interlinking is a slick addition to the action here, it adds real drama and excitement to battles and is, most importantly, easy to get your head around." Destructoid liked the visuals, saying they were impressive despite the Switch's constraints, "Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is impressive looking by any standard. I took a ton of screenshots of this gorgeous world for fun." While feeling the ending didn't adequately resolve the story, Nintendo World Report wrote the game had the best balanced combat in the series, "It is challenging yet excellently paced. I rarely found myself over or underleveled." IGN criticized the pacing of the game, saying the included filler was unnecessary with the 150-hour runtime, "one section that has you go undercover to perform menial tasks, or another that has you trotting across the world to collect pieces of metal, and I often felt like my time wasn't being respected." GameSpot praised the new Master Arts for continuously evolving the combat system, "I am well over 120 hours in now and I am still unlocking new Master Arts, leveling up different classes, and uncovering powerful new tactics." Game Informer felt the world didn't have enough to do, and all of the biomes seemed to blend into each other at a certain point, "Beyond challenging monsters, collecting respawnable drops, and recruiting heroes at Keves or Agnus settlements, there's not much to do or see."

PCMag wrote that the Switch seemed unable to keep up with the game's large vistas and combat, "here are noticeable resolution drops and object pop-in abounds. The frame rate isn't particularly steady, either, and the game can chug at times." Eurogamer praised the game for capturing the sense of freedom found in older JRPGs, "the sensation of running through endless fields of long grass with your companions, facing impossible odds with a spring in your step." Polygon liked the new optional content, feeling it was some of the series' best, "There are well over 100 side quests, and though their objectives could be rote, each told me something about how one lives in this world. It made me care about Aionios as an amalgamation of the land and its peoples."

Sales

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was the bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 112,728 physical copies being sold. It was also the bestselling physical game during its first week of release in the UK, where it had the biggest launch for the entire Xeno franchise in terms of copies sold. As of March 2023, it has sold 1.86 million copies.

Accolades

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 received multiple end-of-year accolades, including "Game of the Year" nominations at the New York Game Awards, Golden Joystick Awards, and The Game Awards. At IGN's "Best of 2022" awards, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 won the category of "Best RPG".

Awards and nominations for Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2022	Golden Joystick Awards	Ultimate Game of the Year	Nominated
		Best Audio	Nominated
		Best Nintendo Game	Nominated
	The Game Awards 2022	Game of the Year	Nominated
		Best Score/Music	Nominated
		Best Role Playing Game	Nominated
2023	New York Game Awards	Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year	Nominated
	D.I.C.E. Awards	Role-Playing Game of the Year	Nominated
	Famitsu/Dengeki Game Awards 2022	Best RPG	Won
		Best Scenario	Nominated
		Best Music	Nominated

External links

• Official website