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Friday, July 29, 2022

Content-packed epic Xenoblade Chronicles 3 available now

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - The Xenoblade fan is busy playing for 10 hours or more in the span of one day to write this, so you get me.

I asked Heavy Lobster earlier this week if it would like to write something to be published today for Xenoblade Chronicles 3, since it published a puff piece article for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. Heavy Lobster said it wasn't opposed, but that it'd rather be playing the game than writing about it. And that's why I asked earlier... you know, to pre-write. It didn't happen, and as of my Nintendo Switch friend list's Trending tab, Heavy Lobster has played 10 or more hours of the game even though it's only been out for 22 hours or so. At least it recharged its batteries? But I haven't seen it around.

I did get Heavy Lobster to tell me that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is potentially the “Greatest Game of All Time” and that it's going to correct any issues it could have had with the first two Xenoblade Chronicles games. Heavy Lobster is into the “darker and grittier feel” that's reminiscent of Xenogears, and the darker tone should set up nicely for “maximum emotional impact.” At least Heavy Lobster is no longer shocked into silence as it was back in the February 2022 Nintendo Direct when Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was announced.

I asked a totally unrelated person who I haven't talked to since 2018 about Xenoblade Chronicles 3, since they are on my friends list, and they basically said the same thing regarding the darker tone being like MONOLITHSOFT's older games and that the gameplay is complex but incredible. I think Xenoblade Chronicles fans, at least the ones I've interacted with, have a kind of hivemind-ish thought process that also makes them out to feel like a persecuted victim class. In a “Nintendo doesn't love us!” sense. But I guess the games they love really are that great? Here's an overview trailer:




I purposefully didn't watch this overview trailer launched last week until now, but it's pretty much just an edited (shorter) version of the dedicated Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct from last month. Three soldiers of Keves and three soldiers of Agnus, which normally have been nations that have fought each other for a long time, have gone through an event to realise they should work together to deal with the real threat by interacting with a complex battle system.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Noah Monado not some toys you can just play with
It's funny because right after this line is said, the video advertises amiibo compatibility.
...And amiibo, of course, ARE toys you can just play with.


There is also a three-part Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Ask the Developer series on Nintendo.com, with this being part 1. MONOLITHSOTH and Nintendo portray the game as having a massive world with interesting real-time combat, with the third game being a culmination of the trilogy that thematically ties the first two games together—though at every opportunity, they continue to market the game as not requiring having to play the first two games to understand the story or how to play it.

They also have this whole discussion in part 2 about how the flute is the central instrument of the game, and how Yasunori Mitsuda actually had MONOLITHSOFT create two shinobue flutes (instead of use an existing one), one representing Noah's and one for Mio's, and they got them created by a craftsman and decorated by a “Japanese urushi lacquer craftsman”, whatever that means. And in part 3, they talk about how MONOLITHSOFT has story-first philosophies, meaning they make the story first and then come up with gameplay to incorporate the story elements into a playable form. I like that. And with such a grandiose story, the game is absolutely packed with a large, abundant volume of content. They said the game has “five times” “the total walkable area” compared to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Does that mean a lot of empty pretty space, or are there really that many interesting things to do? They do say if you take detours, you'll be pleasantly rewarded, including whole temporary party members and towns. And yet with all of this content, it's actually amazing that the release date was accelerated, as opposed to delayed.


Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Nintendo Switch News available now Live a Live edit
A Xenoblade fan is probably gonna jump me in an alleyway for doing this to the news release.
But LIVE A LIVE is still higher up on my interest list. Sorry.
It's a gameplay-style bias!



If you're actually playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 now, you'll probably be too busy and immersed in that to actually ever read this article. And by the time you're done, this article will be long in the past and probably won't get any page views anyway. So maybe Ludwig will be safe from being jumped on or slashed by the Monado or whatever. (Though Ludwig isn't a robot and shouldn't be harmed by that, unlike Heavy Lobster. Ironic?)


Heavy Lobster wrote a review of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 here.

8 comments :

  1. Game journalists are the pillars of societal integrity.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wot'd they do?

      The Nintendo press release at the end? I don't think press releases by companies count as game journalists!

      Delete
    2. I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I had to lay down the hard truth. I’m not big on Xenoblade.

      Delete
    3. Clearly, neither am I.

      Yesterday Heavy Lobster told me, "Finished Xenoblade 3 and it exceeded my expectations even after me going in expecting it to be one of the greatest games of all time."

      Delete
    4. Maybe he’s got a short circuit. Those are the words of a pathological liar. Of course I’m biased against Xenoblade, the characters are kinda uncanny valley.

      Delete
    5. This was me Captain Stitch, by the way. When I try to use my Google account I get this message.

      “Unable to sign in to comment. Please check your browser configurations to allow sign-in. Learn more. You can still comment anonymously, or with name and URL”.

      Another day another dollar, something to look forward to after vacation I suppose.

      Delete
    6. Fixed it! Had to turn off “prevent cross site tracking” I think that was the issue last time too, but I’ve no idea how it got turned on again.

      Delete

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