Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Reviews
Monolithsoft has culminated in an ending that they’ve had their sights on for over a decade, and it shows in the level of detail and quality of life improvements that they’ve made emanating from that ten-plus years’ worth of experience. It’s a robust conclusion to the JRPG franchise and spans well over a hundred hours of gameplay, leading up to a finale that long-time fans will thoroughly enjoy without leaving newer players wanting. Although the true potential of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels held back by the limitations of the Switch’s hardware, developer Monolithsoft has clearly taken all of the lessons and experiences that they’ve accumulated over the years and crafted a gem that even Riku the Nopon would consider priceless.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 continues the series' tradition of massive maps and intuitive combat, but this time offers a story that elevates the experience to new heights.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is filled with interesting areas to explore, heartfelt character interactions, and an engaging narrative. While having knowledge of the previous games is handy in some respects, this is by and large its own world with its own characters and self-contained narrative, so you'll be absolutely fine jumping in here. Despite its faults, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 gave me hours upon hours of entertainment that made me fall for the beautiful world of Aionios, and the soldiers that I came to know within it.
You’d think that the bigger an enemy is, the harder it would fall, but because the only determining factor of difficulty is the gap between your level and theirs, there’s no sense of scale to combat. The only tactic you need is that of attrition: The longer a battle drags on, the more meters you’ll fill, and the flashier the attacks that you’ll be able to unleash, like interlinking with allies to briefly enter a more powerful form, or executing a chain attack that laboriously unleashes a series of uninterruptible commands. Your sword-sponge enemies have millions of hit points not because it makes for interesting combat, but because it stretches things out long enough to make players feel as if they’re more than cogs in the system. These flashy combos are a good way to illustrate the importance of teamwork to the plot, but in terms of gameplay, they only continue to demonstrate how overly engineered every inch of the conflict is.
Between an exceptionally well-written cast, a deeply satisfying combat system, and an amazing adventure that remarkably earns its very long run time, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a JRPG masterpiece.
My time with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was overwhelmingly positive. I’ve clocked a hundred hours at this stage, with the main story completed and PLENTY of side content still to go. If you want a big, meaty RPG to dedicate plenty of time, this game’s the one. But remember, soldiers only have ten years on the battlefield – and you might need that whole decade to see everything Aionios has to offer.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is another great entry in the long-running series. Combat is complex, but well enough explained to readily understand and feels fantastic to play with. It has interesting characters, an intriguing world and an engrossing storyline that had me always wondering what was going to happen next. Whether you're new to the series or a veteran, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is stylish, intriguing, super fun, and well worth checking out for RPG fans.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes the best elements from its predecessors and combines them into a uniquely compelling gameplay experience, all while telling a nuanced and captivating narrative of its own. Its beautiful and stylistic art direction lends a rare maturity to its visual presentation, while its heartfelt, melancholic story comes together in an epic, personal conclusion in spite of a couple of odd pacing decisions. Through a complex and refined reimagining of the Xenoblade combat system and top-notch worldbuilding, Monolith Soft have once again cemented their position at the forefront of the JRPG genre. Series veterans and newcomers alike are in for a deep, immersive narrative adventure with dozens of hours of engaging combat and satisfying exploration.
What Monolith Soft has done here is nothing short of remarkable. They've taken everything that worked in previous games, thrown out the things that didn't, and gave us one of the best RPGs ever.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a near masterpiece of an RPG, and arguably is one in terms of its story alone. Add that to a great gameplay loop and vibrant world to explore, and you'll see just how great this title is almost every moment you play it.
Monolith has come a long way since Xenogears and Squaresoft, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is evidence they're still going to have places to go without needing to find a new developmental process or bosses, too. Whether it's the "best" Xenoblade or not doesn't matter as much as the fact that it fits in wonderfully with what already existed, and ensures that we should be looking forward to whatever those next steps for the series end up being, too.
I had an incredible amount of fun when playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3. This game is worth being mentioned next to the biggest and best titles in the genre and is one of the best exclusive Switch games ever.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is an exemplary JRPG on the Nintendo Switch, improving on the already great titles that came out before it while still welcoming newcomers.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the pinnacle of more than twenty years making extraordinary JRPGS from Monolith Soft. Not even Switch hardware limitations could restrain tetsuya Takahashi's vision. Long live this way of making games, long live Monolith Soft.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Like any ongoing series, it's enhanced if you're well versed in all of the verses, but as a first-time Xeno Chron, I say… jump on in.
It's not perfect, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a confident sequel that's best-in-class in the ways that matter most. Your favourite bits of the first two games are here, cherry-picked and placed into a narrative with a tasteful balance of earnest ideas and anime bullshit.
Even though Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is so long that it could take hundreds of hours to explore every part of the world, it still has a magic that allows people to settle down and take their time to listen to the story it tells. It can say that the excellent world design and complex but fun combat together shaped Xenoblade Chronicles 3 to be the most unique sort of experience in JRPG.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
All in all, despite some of its flaws, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a highly unique, incredibly entertaining JRPG that provides players with hours of enjoyable content, from its engaging story and endearing characters to its fun, in-depth gameplay mechanics.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a culmination of everything that is good about this series. The excellent cast of characters, the boundlessly imaginative and grandiose world, the captivating and ambitious narrative, the dense and deeply engaging combat, progression, and exploration- this is a game that shines bright in almost every area that matters. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is not just the best game in its series and by its developer, but also arguably among the greatest games on its system and in its genre.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has incredible presentation values and a rewarding combat system, but the story leaves much to be desired.