The first thing I’ll say is that I’m in no way ready to put this game down, which is obviously a compliment.
I think it’s kind of universally agreed that this is not a flawless game. As expected, many of the character designs (especially the women) are ridiculous, grotesque fan service. I’m personally able to overlook that but it’s frankly an embarrassing game to play next to a stranger on a plane (not to mention my wife).
The game play is… an acquired taste, I guess? The screen is absurdly busy-looking during battle, with far too (useful!) information thrown at the player. As expected, the battle system itself is very complex, to the point that it only “clicks” toward the last third of the game (case in point: when I got to Spirit Crucible Elpys and my specials were not charging, I thought for quite some time that I was the one doing something wrong).
What is truly great here? Exploration and soundtrack. The world of Alrest is super pretty and the maps contain a fun level of complexity. I know many people complain about the maps being somewhat unclear but I personally did not find them detrimental to my enjoyment of the game; I love that I’m still finds new nooks and crannies to explore. The soundtrack is full of memorable tunes, which is important when l you’re spending so much time exploring such a massive world.
The story is effective and kept me motivated to move forward. My favorite part—the moment that gave me chills—was starting Chapter 8. Something about seeing a pedestrian crossing lane and torn-down buildings and traffic lights… Memorable stuff. Overall I think I enjoyed everything a bit more because I also played the first XC. I’m interested to see if/how XC3 ties everything together.
Now the nerdier, more specific stuff…
Characters (renewed spoiler alert): I ended up controlling Rex most of the game. I used Zeke for a stretch but don’t love his design either. I wanted to like Morag more but I don’t like tanking. I love Nia but prefer not to act as a healer all the time. My favorite set up was toward endgame when I could use Nia as a blade for sporadic healing, but still primarily focus on Rex’s damage dealing. I made Morag into an agility tank with her two story blades plus Theory, and am still tinkering with Zeke to decide which blades suit him best (besides Pandoria I’ve given him Vale, Sheba, Herald, Praxis, plus a bunch of tanks that I never use: Newt, Perceval, Electra, etc.). I drew Zenobia with Nia and am still undecided about who I should move her to, Rex or Zeke.
As for Tora: I don’t mind Nopon NPCs but don’t enjoy having one as a party member. And then there is Poppi… that was one game mechanic too many. It took me a long time to figure out how to develop my blades, and to have a completely different system (and silly Atari-like game) for her was a poor choice IMO. I know she’s supposedly the strongest blade in the game but I’d rather not go through the grind. I basically put Tora/Poppi away as soon as I had the chance and only dusted them off for that tough Chapter 7 stretch where Poppi is the only useful blade. I don’t even have her third form.
Speaking of blades, the gacha system for drawing them is annoying, but not the end of the world. The storyline gives each character 1-2 strong blades after all. I do wish it was easier to move blades around. I ended up not using some potentially useful blades because I drew them with the “wrong” party member and I’m too afraid to use all my protocols before I have all or almost all the rare blades (I’m still missing 6: KOS-MOS, Agate, Dagas, Ursula, Adenine, and Floren). So yeah, gacha was a bad choice but not a crippling one.
The field skills system is also clunky, because it forces the player to constantly sub blades in and out. As for developing the blades’ charts… look, that was another step too far for me. I get the idea, and I suppose I could tackle those charts as additional mini-quests, but I just didn’t have the mental bandwidth to keep track of it, so instead I ignored the charts and just keep playing the game. Some of my blades did what they had to do and ended up more powerful. Others (especially those drawn in late game) are comparatively weak. I can see how a more patient player could have fun with this system, but it was just too “busy” for me.
The best thing I can say about this game is that I don’t want to put it down. I beat the main story at around 105 hours and am already up to 120+ because there’s so much else to do. There is just a lot to sink your teeth into, and it’s the kind of game that rewards putting in the time. I haven’t fully committed to a New Game Plus campaign yet, but that’s in part because I want to spend more time running around doing quests and working on endgame stuff (like with XC, I don’t think I will bother with super bosses except for one lvl 100 guy… no patience to min-max for the higher level ones). It’s a lovely game for JRPG fans who don’t mind 100-hour time sinks, with positive features that outweigh the negatives.
More importantly, by now it’s fair to say that Xenoblade games have their own character/flavor. When you play any Final Fantasy title you know what chocobos are and what Phoenix Down is for. Xenoblade has the high-leveled mobs all over the place, and to the point that I’m less excited about beating the game than I am about getting powerful enough to KO Territorial Robart or Immovable Gonzalez. The Xenoblade franchise is still the closest to what I experienced back in the early days of FFXI (the MMO) almost 20 years ago. I’m not sure what to expect from XC3 but my hopes are quite high!
