Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (2022)

It really pulls me out of the atmosphere the possibility of fast travelling to an area you have no physical way to be there due to how the story develops. After raiding Keves castle, the only way for an underleveled character such as myself to go back to the first regions is to raid the castle again after fighting a lvl64 unique monster. As I was not able to beat that, I just decided to explore my way back and, after unsuccessfully trying to find a road back for 10 hours, decided to just go on with the story and leaving a few quests unfinished until I reached the city and a few quests asked me to go back to the beginning. At that point I was just "ok, fuck it, they have planes and they are lending me one so I'll just go" because not even the ship has a direct access across the sea to the first couple of regions - or any before the first castle for that matter.

Ranting aside, I'm 80 hours in and what a game. I'm still amazed on the amount of actual movies they manage to put in these games, probably around 10% of my gameplay are cutscenes, and I haven't skipped a single one.

Hi, everybody. I am 45 hours in and I don't think I am that far. Have anyone else feels the same side-quest addiction as I am? I can't helped but go back to each liberated camp, search for I yellow globes, discuss, make the quest, look for any question marks, find a way to reach them...

Let me know.

By the way, I clocked 220 hours on XB2, so...

Bought this game on release because my Switch has been collecting dust on my shelf. Personally, I dont have strong feelings toward XC series. DE is kinda too boring for me. XC2 is a bit too much anime-y for my taste. However, XC3 really sticks with me. After around 60+ hours I finally beat the game. Not 100% tho because I'm too busy with my new job. I might go back to finish all side stuffs once DLC dropped.

I really love the story and the characters in this one. The theme of the game is about embracing changes and it I really relate to that because for the first time in my life, I moved out of my parents house a couple of weeks before the game got realeased and moved to another state for a job. I cannot stress enough how much I dont want to move to another place, leaving behind family and friends. I always fear changes, never really knew how to cope with the fear of unknowns and all that.

I'm glad I played this one. I think it gave me just the push I need to keep going.

Just crossed the 50 hour mark and I'm still having a total blast. Just wow, they really outdid themselves with this game and fixed almost every major problem I had with Xenoblade 2.

Buuut jeeeeeez I really wish we could skip the chain attack animations. They are really cool the first few times you go through them, but at this point I'm so exhausted at how long they take to complete. It interrupts the flow of boss battles so harshly and makes me not want to use them at all. This is probably my biggest problem with the game so far.

I just hit 44:30 hours and I'm still in Chapter 3. I've been in this chapter for like 24 hours.

There's so much backtracking to clear sections of the map, access places you couldn't before you get to certain points in chapter 3, quests, etc. Yet I still haven't fully cleared either of the two regions that I have access to because there are a few things I can't do yet or monsters above my level (38). The sheer size of these areas is insane.

I progressed a bit yesterday and should be toward the end of the chapter I think, and I'm definitely over-leveled, but I'm having such a blast.

The map is still absolute garbage, though.

Reach Credits on Normal

• Recruited all heroes, including postgame Melia / Nia
• Turned to easy when questing / grinding

My thoughts:

Excellent entry with many tearful moments. Combat is a great hybrid from XC1 and XC2, with so much class customization. Best overall cast to me by far.

I'm still not fully invested in Moebius, and I feel the story feels too rushed for the final chapter. Combat and cutscene music is incredible, but I find the area music more somber and less memorable (fits the game's tone well at least).

Chapter 5 is definitely the highest point of this game too, and potentially across the entire franchise.