Board 8 > Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Rankings and Spoilers Topic *Spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

No spoilers in the first post, just my thoughts. :p Figured I'd make a topic for people to discuss the game now that more are finishing, and to share some of my own opinions. Also I wanted to rank some stuff and maybe see others' rankings.

I'd count myself a fan of the Xenoblade series, though I don't love any of them other than X. All of them have some flaws that hold them back from real greatness. The first game has its terrible side quests, the second game has its lame story and many other issues, and now, XB3 has its bad story and ending. Still, all of them have great things about them too (especially the world design), and XB3 is my favorite of the numbered games, and one of my favorite games of the year. Maybe the best thing about XB3 is that (for the most part) it doesn't have any big screw-ups. The main cast of 6 is incredibly solid with no misses, and Eunie in particular is awesome. None of them live up to the likability and development of the best characters from 1/2, but they have great chemistry together, and having the whole party of 6 with you at all times is a great decision for maximizing their development. 2 and X both had big supporting playable casts, and the Hero system here is probably the best implementation of that. You get to have a 7th party member at all times, and they feel like a bonus character, so it's okay that none of them are super developed or whatever. All of them have two quests, one where they join and one where they get more development, and these quests are the highlight of the game. The quests all include full scripted cutscenes, and generally are a lot of fun.

Side quests in general are a highlight here. XB2's Blade quests were generally great as well, but unlocking them was a grindy mess. Unlocking Hero quests generally just requires doing side quests and progressing the story, so it's basically just playing the game and having fun to get them. The non-Hero quests aren't all of the same quality, but I still enjoyed the vast majority of them. Almost all the quests are tied to the various colonies you go to, so you'll have a dozen quests developing each colony that involve the same characters in the same community. Tying the quests to a location and set of characters like this turns out great. It feels like you're helping people you care about rather than random nobodies, and the NPCs feel like people who matter. I don't think I've played many games that do this good a job with such a huge cast.

Sadly, the cast does have some weaknesses, in the form of the villains. This game's villains suck. Honestly, most XB villains suck, but these ones are probably the worst. Moebius is almost universally bad, with one or two exceptions (T and I) that I cared about. The rest of them basically all feel evil for the sake of being evil, and are totally uninteresting. Their philosophical motivations are stupid too, and are kind of even worse when you find out more about them. The final boss sucks. The Hero quests can sometimes be more interesting in terms of villains, since you're fighting against real characters who you eventually recruit. I was happiest when I was fighting against ordinary people from the Colonies or monsters.

The story as a whole is mostly fine, with some pitfalls. I don't think it was as major a problem with X and XB1, but XB2's cutscenes where very awkwardly directed, with way too many pauses, especially with the English dub, and that issue continues here, though to a lesser extent. I feel like all the dialogue should be delivered like 25% faster. It's better with the Japanese voices, but still not perfect. The cutscenes are pretty good otherwise though - they feel high budget with lots of action, which you don't really see in JRPGs nowadays (Persona, SMT, DQ, etc. are all on a much lower level than this). For most of the game the story's fairly engaging. Playing as a bunch of child soldiers trying to discover why they're being forced to fight is pretty fun, other than dealing with the villains. Unfortunately, XB3 has one of the worst endings of all time, that completely contradicts the themes of the game, so that was a shame. Even made doing some of the post-game content less fun.

Gameplay-wise, this might be the best XB yet? They added a class system, and all the classes feel meaningfully different. Leveling them all up is fun and easy, and swapping between classes once they get maxed means that combat never gets old. Figuring out the optimal setups is great, too. You can also fuse together party members into a mech-like creature in battle, which adds a bit of a fun twist. While the game does kinda devolve into annihilating enemies with one big chain attack, doing so is generally entertaining in its own way. Exploring is great here too, with lots of fun environments. Unfortunately, I think I'd say it has the worst world design in the series, but it's still far above average for games in general. You get some fun traversal upgrades as you go along, and as you do quests in colonies, you get little perks (b

First thing I wanted to rank is the outfits. They're mostly a bit disappointing in that they're not full appearance changes, but some of them look pretty great regardless. Feel free to post your own rankings or disagree/agree.

Not quite complete, but shows most of the characters in every outfit: https://samurai-gamers.com/xenoblade-chronicles-3/all-outfits-list-2/

25. Lost Vanguard
Looks awful on the girls, though it sort of fits, and looks abysmal on the guys.

24. War Medic
It's nice that it's a full uniform change, but it doesn't look good on anyone.

23. Ogre
Basically nothing on everyone other than Sena.

22. Yumsmith
The Agnians pull it off much better, but it looks kinda hilarious on everyone.

21. Machine Assassin
They don't even try with the guys, even though the Colony 0 guys wear it. Okay on the girls.

20. Tactician
One of the weaker jackets.

19. Guardian Commander
Barebones jacket.

18. Zephyr
An okay jacket.

17. Lone Exile
Looks cool on the guys and okay on the girls. Kinda barebones.

16. Martial Artist
Having just the bottoms change is neat, and those bottoms are good, but tops are more interesting than bottoms.

15. Lifesage
Pretty good on the girls, but awful on the guys.

14. Soulhacker
This should be amazing, but it suffers hard from only being the top half. Full body would've been high tier. Cape is great tho.

13. Stalker
The white and orange color scheme is lame, but I like the armor and cape.

12. Troubadour
Consistently okay on everyone. Mio pulls it off best.

11. Flash Fencer
Trench coats rule. I don't think it works as well with the girls though.

10. Heavy Guard
Starting from here I like them all. Long coat that looks great on everyone.

9. Medic Gunner
Black and green jacket color scheme is awesome.

8. Royal Summoner
I like that it's basically a full body outfit on the girls. Everyone looks good in it, like it was designed for them. Great colors.

7. Signifer
Kind of like a friendly military uniform? Everyone pulls it off well.

6. Full Metal Jaguar
Hell yeah cape. Basically the coolest outfit.

5. Seraph
Awesome armor + cape combo. The guys look especially great in it.

4. Incursor
Something about it just works, especially on the girls. White and green is an excellent color scheme, and the coat-like lower part looks great.

3. Swordfighter
The best jacket in the game. I love the X, I love the red and black, and I love how it works on every character.

2. Thaumaturge
Has a cool traditional Japanese style look to it, while also being modern and badass.

1. Strategos
Huge coat, awesome white and black color scheme, great armor. I could put every single character (except maybe Sena) in Strategos and be happy.

MacArrowny posted...

the second game has its lame story and many other issues

I'm still only working my way through the 2nd game so don't expect me to stay in this topic. This is interesting to me though because so far it feels like the story and characters for XB2 have been great whereas the game has been held back by lots of tedious things and silly decisions surrounding the gameplay and exploration elements.

Of course, there's still plenty of time for the story to trainwreck in the second half of the game, which honestly would be a pretty typical trajectory for story quality in JRPG's. So we'll see I guess.

pyresword posted...

I'm still only working my way through the 2nd game so don't expect me to stay in this topic. This is interesting to me though because so far it feels like the story and characters for XB2 have been great whereas the game has been held back by lots of tedious things and silly decisions surrounding the gameplay and exploration elements.

Of course, there's still plenty of time for the story to trainwreck in the second half of the game, which honestly would be a pretty typical trajectory for story quality in JRPG's. So we'll see I guess.

'lame story' is probably a poor descriptor, but I don't really like Rex, and a lot of the direction is sorta juvenile feeling. Lots of people like the story more than me though!

Well, since you've seen my thoughts as I played I'm sure you're not surprised I disagree with you on the story/ending. Keeping spoilers out of this post as well.

I thought the ending was completely in keeping with the themes of the game and was beautifully done and it impacted me more than perhaps any game ever has. The cast is far and away the best of the Xenoblade games and their group dynamic is incredible. Mio and Eunie are the standouts IMO and Taion is a great straight man. Team Agnus brought it while Eunie is carrying Team Keves. Many of the Heroes are great too even if there a few duds among them. Definitely agree that villains are a major weak point. N is great and I agree with you that (Moebius) I was one of the few standouts among them but this is definitely an area that could have been improved on a lot.

Gameplay was super fun and probably the most fun I've had with any of the Xenoblade games, especially once you gain access to all of it. Exploration doesn't meet the highs of X but X might be the peak of exploration in all of gaming so no shame there.

I also agree with you that the music didn't feel quite up to par with the other Xeno games but I think it's more a matter that the area and colony themes are lacking. The Elite Monster theme is good and I agree with you that the Moebius Battle Themes are absolute standouts. Weirdly, a few of the last colony areas have some great music but you're basically done by then so you don't get to enjoy them much.

Strategos outfit is indeed A+ and Thaumaturge is up there too. Tactician criminally low however, that scarf is incredible.

Main Party: Mio >= Eunie > Taion > Sena > Noah > Lanz

Because of how the game affected me I basically had no choice but to elevate it to my favorite game. I need that story DLC like nothing else.

Thorn posted...

I thought the ending was completely in keeping with the themes of the game and was beautifully done and it impacted me more than perhaps any game ever has.

Thematically, the problem I had with it is that it's a reset rather than a step forward. The game's all about accepting change and getting rid of the status quo, and while XB3's status quo is technically gone, that's only AFTER we already tore down the old system for the colonies, and we end up going back to the old XB1/XB2 status quo anyway. It feels like a step backward rather than a step forward to me. I would've loved an ending where everyone has to figure out how to get along with the newly awakened peoples of XB1/XB2's worlds after spending their lives fighting. Feels like it would've been an appropriate next step for the people of Aionios.

i don't have the energy in me to talk about how much of a disappointment this game was again

I read the theme more as overcoming the fear of uncertainty/doubt (represented chiefly by Moebius) and loss (as reflected in a more personal level by N).

The entire twisted situation the game's setting is was born out of the collective fear and uncertainty people had with regards to the Intersection and Origin. It led to Moebius freezing time and preventing them from coming to pass even if such a "solution" was doomed to end in failure (Annihilation Events accumulating over time until nothing is left) or how fucked up the world became in its place (10 year terms, an endless war, Flame Clocks, etc.)

On a more personal level, we see N succumb to the temptation to give up on fighting for a chance of something better when Z reveals to him the countless failures his reincarnations have had and then confronts him with losing Mio again right in front of him while he's reeling from it. Mio's test for Noah when showing him all this in the dreamscape explicitly asks him if he can keep moving forward even if it would mean losing Mio to determine if this Noah won't make the same mistake.

And in the end the party has to make the decision to let Origin restart and the Intersection proceed even though they don't know what will happen, if they'll ever see one another again, and despite the fact that it clearly pains them all to make that choice given the bonds they've formed. That's why I think it works thematically. And as much as I personally want to know that there's a reunion for them I can get why Takahashi won't give us that (at least in the game proper - DLC please, I think it still works although I get why it might undercut it too.)

As for the ending being a reset. I mean, yeah, technically I see where you're coming from but I think that's approaching it from the wrong angle. The status quo the party was seeking to (and did) overcome was the twisted joke that Aionios was. Moebius essentially hit the pause button on the worlds many cycles before and the party was looking to hit the unpause button. It just comes off a bit weird because off-screen that paused world morphed from the city we see Noah/Eunie/Lanz/Joran in in the intro cutscene into Aionios so correcting the distortion ends up feeling like going back. Like I think it's obviously not a "it was all just a dream" thing but I think it's easier to think of it in those kind of terms for this specifically. Aionios was a twisted nightmare and the party's goal was to "wake up" so they could move forward.

Also, a Hero ranking. Heroes are good stuff. I skipped Nia and Melia since they're kinda in a separate category. Riku and Manana don't really have to be together, but I put them together anyway :p

17. Isurd
I don't dislike any of the Heroes, but Isurd is certainly one of them. He doesn't stand out too much in any way.

16. Teach
Teach's teacher gimmick doesn't really do it for me. His dark backstory is kinda interesting, especially in Ashera's Ascension Quest, but it doesn't make the current him that much more exciting.

15. Miyabi
More of a motivating backstory detail than a character. Just fine.

14. Monica
Obviously the most important Hero, but she doesn't really do it for me. Not a fan of her design and her personality isn't amazing.

13. Ghondor
So at first she's a huge asshole to the party... which makes zero sense after we learn more about her? Very strange. She can be entertaining at least.

12. Zeon
Him being obsessed with farming is pretty great. His drama with the rest of the Colony is meh.

11. Juniper
Juniper's Colony is one of the more interesting ones, but that alone doesn't make a super awesome character. Kite x Juniper shipping was probably the highlight, along with cat ears and dat Rie Kugimiya voice.

10. Cammuravi
Not a fan of the combat obsession. None of the pre-reincarnation stuff does it for me. Party member Cammuravi is a lot more fun though. His obsession with Ethel is super wholesome, and his fear of heights is adorable.

9. Gray
Generic badass characters often hit for me, and while his stoic silence is fun, I've seen the archetype done better in other games. His wife's role is fun.

8. Riku & Manana
Among the better nopons of the series. Riku's secret backstory amounting to nothing special was weird though. Manana's travails were more interesting as a whole, I think. The permanent star eyes are great.

7. Valdi
Hell yeah machine obsession. I love Valdi's interactions with other colonies, since none of them know how to handle him. Mechafriend is also the best. Great voice in both languages too.

6. Ethel
Young Ethel is probably the most adorable version, so it's a shame we didn't get to re-recruit her instead. I wasn't huge on her death scene, but she's pretty entertaining other than that, with her intelligence and combat obsession. The returned version was fun too.

5. Fiona
Just plain great. The cutest of the heroes, with a great outfit and an awesome relationship with her Colony. I love what good friends they are. I was by far the best of the regular Moebius, and their scenes got me pretty emotional.

4. Segiri
Excellent design, tragic backstory, and a great colony. Having the two modes (in mech and outside) is fun too. Her development is great, and more restrained than other characters of her type - she doesn't become a regular emotional human, but she makes progress. Too bad about her class...

3. Alexandria
The highlight of the early game, Heroes-wise. She looks awesome, is intimidating, and has a neat initial quest, with having to defeat her lieutenants. The reveals with the her being responsible for the collectopedia and using it for surveillance are awesome. Her backstory about killing her old commander is great too. Not sure why they changed her name in English though (it's Nina in Japanese).

2. Triton
Do I even have to say anything about him? His quests and him are both hilarious, but he still has a sadness to him that gives him depth. He's by far the best member of Moebius (only I compares), and I only wish we saw even more of him, because every scene with him is gold.

1. Ashera
The best. Her Hero Quest is my favorite one, since her interactions with Eunie are so good (Eunie x Ashera for life), and fighting through everyone feels great. She's got this dazzling insanity to her. And then her Ascension Quest is even better, giving her a backstory that explains everything and making her sympathetic as well as badass.

"Yas, Eunie's the bahws"

Ashera really is the best.

Fiona > Irma > Nico > Hildemarie > Tussore > Lotus > Nandun > Tallow > Shu > Ayase > Kanata > Mikaela > Googoo

We'll make it! Together!

Nico's gimmick is incredible.

I love Nico.

Colony Mu is definitely one of the better colonies as a group, IMO. Probably them and Colony 4 feel the most lived in/developed/together?

I would say Colony 0 is the one that most feels like a group. There aren't than many of them so everyone knows everyone.

Colony 0 is all about getting to know each person for their individual traits, and as a result yeah I do still remember them all quite distinctly, unlike that list of Mus.

although it is also a small group

Is there a list anywhere of which quests get extra dialogue for bringing a specific Hero? The only one I noticed was bringing Alexandria along to meet Pulipuli in The True Culprit.

TeamRocketElite posted...

Is there a list anywhere of which quests get extra dialogue for bringing a specific Hero? The only one I noticed was bringing Alexandria along to meet Pulipuli in The True Culprit.

I know bringing Ghondor on the quest at Agnus Castle where the City team is bringing back supplies but the boat gets ambushed and one dies has extra Ghondor scenes, including one with her reacting and grieving the death. Even an affinity link update but maybe that happens even without that.

She seemed to have a lot of incidental chatter on the Agnus Castle line quests even where she wasn't required. Like chewing out her bodyguards when they were screwing up their tasks in one quest (maybe even the same one?)

Monica had (voiced) party chatter for the City Homecoming quest as you went around doing its objectives.

I think I got that Ghondor scene but I don't recall if she was in my team at the time or not. I missed the Monica lines, though.

Lanz was the MVP but it looks like no one else is thinkin it.

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