Xenoblade Chronicles 3 preview: A promising JRPG with much-needed refinement

Announced on 19 April, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is now being released a full two months ahead of schedule on 29 July 2022, much to the joy of Nintendo Switch fans. And now we’ve been given a chance to try an early portion of the game ourselves.

Each game in the series is loosely connected, but Nintendo has confirmed that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will bridge the gap between the previous two mainline titles.

InXenoblade Chronicles 3, two warring countries are locked in a constant battle with soldiers that have a fixed lifespan of ten years. While it retains the look and feel of previous titles, it has been made a more accessible title for newcomers while still engaging with the mechanical complexity of previous games.

As well as this, Monolith Soft has refined its previous formula to bring its explorable open worlds into a more meaningful exploration experience.

For our full first impressions of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, read the rest of the article below.

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‘Xenoblade Chronicles 3’ preview

At Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s introduction, we learn that soldiers fighting in an endless battle on two opposing sides, Keves and Agnus, have a fixed lifespan of ten years, or “terms”.

They’re born, they fight and if they survive those ten years, they’re seen off in a special ceremony. What also compels soldiers to fight each other in a ceaseless war are “flame clocks”, which are topped up with the lives of fallen soldiers. If they refuse to fight, they’re lifespan decreases significantly. So far, it’s all very anime.

It’s when two sides of the conflict come together to embark on a grander mission that the early stages of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 begins, with six playable characters, three from each side of the ongoing conflict.

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As with previous titles in the series, a large open world inhabited by creatures and machines can be freely explored to fight, uncover items and discover side quests. But what has been vastly improved is the game’s navigational settings.

Many of the complaints of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was the ease of which players could get lost in these open worlds. With no clear path towards an objective, this could often lead to ledge-hopping, dead-ends and Skyrim-style mountain-jumping.

So, a simple – yet critical – addition to this formula is a waypath that players can follow. It can be turned off with ease, but, it makes for a far more enjoyable experience venturing out into the world of Aionios knowing you won’t ever feeling disoriented or lost. It also helps that Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s new setting matches the scale and breadth that previous games had also enjoyed, with the body of another large titan looming over the fields.

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Early combat also follows a similar automated approach to previous entries with timed special attacks activated using the face buttons. With six characters to swap between, switching between them to perform combos comes naturally.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 also introduces “Ouroboros form” which sees two characters combine into one entity for a limited time to perform highly charged attacks and gain temporary invincibility. Timing these attacks can be critical for keeping characters alive, as these are quick to deplete but can be a worthy boon against tougher opponents.

Characters can also swap classes between offensive, defensive and support classes based on their affinities and strengths. Offensive classes tend to have high attack power at the expense of lower health, while defensive classes act as tanks to draw attention of enemies to soak up most of the damage. Support classes, on the other hand, can perform heals, area-of-effect buffs and debuffs as well as long-ranged damage attacks too.

Having a careful balance between these three requires players to think about class composition, as there’s no use in having a team of sword-wielding heroes that can be wiped in just a few hits.

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But as you might expect with six playable characters in large-scale conflicts, it can be easy to get lost in the action. Numbers appear as enemy health is slowly chipped away and the busy interface can lead to some overwhelming sensory overload.

It’s a fairly Marmite system that fans of previous entries will find as a natural extension of the combat they’re familiar with, but for outsiders it may seem cumbersome.

Based on our early experiences with the game, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is shaping up to be another strong contender from Monolith Soft, with engaging characters and world-spanning story. Keep an eye out for our full review of the game when it releases on 29 July 2022.

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