Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a heavy action RPG, with an extremely complex combat system. It’s a long-term adventure, and if you have to hang on during the first hours to tame the game, it ends up seducing us.
(Image credit: Monolith Soft)
Long background
In the world of Xenoblade, two factions fight an eternal war; Keves and Agnusé. Their entire population is trained to fight through the ten periods of their life span. And they have no choice, since they must harvest the life energy of their adversaries to continue their own existence.
Noah, the main protagonist, is a ferryman of souls (that is to say, he plays the flute to carry the souls of the dead to their destination) who does not like to fight, even if he is part of the special forces with his companions, Lanz and Eunie.
The first hours of play are devoted to putting this world and our characters into context, with long cutscenes interspersed with short game segments. Above all, we learn to know Keves’ faction first, before discovering the protagonists of the other camp.
The action really begins when our trio meets three Agnusiens and are irremediably linked to them. Indeed, the whole world becomes their enemy, and they have no choice but to team up to try to restore the situation.
The story isn’t particularly original, but it’s well told. And fortunately, because we still spend a very large part of the first ten hours of play watching rather than playing, and trying to assimilate contextual information in addition to the many game mechanics.
The characters are more interesting than the universe in which they evolve, and generally avoid too big clichés. Little by little, we get to know them through their adventure and flashbacks.
A complex combat system
In terms of combat, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 offers us an innovative and very complex system, which is shown to us little by little throughout the first ten hours of play. The result is mixed; while we first approach the whole thing as a simple real-time combat, we quickly have the impression of having to manage an MMORPG raid team on our own, before finally the last mechanics are presented to us and everything takes its meaning.
Teaching players such a system is a tall order, which Xenoblade more or less succeeds. The explanations are both too numerous and sometimes too brief; a missed detail can be expensive later, and you have to go back to the menu to redo certain tutorials. But above all, the mechanics taken separately do not make much sense, and we spend most of the first hours of play swimming in confusion.
During fights, one can switch between characters, although this is not absolutely necessary to perform well; the AI effectively takes care of playing the other characters, and it is possible to give them tactics to adopt. So we play a character, we choose a target, and the auto-attacks are done without our needing to interfere. We just have to position our hero well and activate his skills when they are recharged.
But beware; our characters also benefit from a special power, that of merging with one of their comrades to become briefly more powerful. And finally, during long fights, we can load a gauge that allows us to enter the chaining mode, where the fighters chain very high level attacks… So you will understand that there are a lot of elements to take into account, as evidenced by the overloaded combat interface.
You have to hang on
Through the many cinematics and combat mechanics thrown at us, the first ten hours are very heavy. Sometimes a cutscene is followed by a fight, then another cutscene and another fight, etc., and it’s impossible to save or close the game for more than an hour.
For me, the trigger was made when I acquired the possibility of changing the class of the different characters so that they learn more skills. Suddenly, the possibilities opened up before me, and the value of learning the skills of different classes to specialize each character inspired me greatly.
The world map also opens up more following this step, and one can embark on different adventures without constantly being interrupted by long cutscenes or mysterious new mechanics. This is where the game takes off and, following the time already invested, we are motivated to continue!
A living open world
The open world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is not one of exploration; it remains relatively linear, and icons on the map show us the location of settlements, rare items, and other reference points. So there are no surprises to discover while strolling; in fact, on the contrary, we sometimes waste time trying to reach an icon which will in fact only be accessible much later.
However, one appreciates the very lively world. Colonies dot it, and these can be freed, thus influencing their development. The NPCs that inhabit them have dialogues that change over time. Places and rest and many landmarks also make it more relevant.
Conclusion
Despite the pitfalls of the first part of the game which will discourage less passionate players, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a solid and quality production that will appeal to lovers of long RPGs. The combat system is very addictive once you understand the workings, and the quests are all well scripted and interesting, whether main or secondary.
