Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - pip pip cheerio cor blimey

[FatMebius]

I like how weird dubbing practices like changing characters genders in the English version is coming back into style. It's like bad 90s dubs of Sailor Moon and Tekkaman Blade. Saying Yuzuhira/Juniper is a heckin' cute and valid enby is like saying Levin from Tekkaman Blade is a woman.

I'm a lot more mixed on Xenoblade 3 than I expected to be. I'm overall liking it, but I think the game takes a long wind up to get going. Even moreso than a lot of JRPGs. The combat straight-up sucks until the fight with Ethel and it really feels like mechanics and movement options are just drip fed to you. The very colorful localization isn't helping things. Spark this, snuff that, changed genders, and generally making me think it's probably not super faithful to the original version is bugging me. Even switching to the Japanese audio doesn't match the text that's shown onscreen. I know that's always been an element of Xenoblade, but I replayed 2 earlier in the year and it didn't quite bug me as much as it is here.

At least the voice actors seem like they got some actual direction this time around, I guess.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

I like how weird dubbing practices like changing characters genders in the English version is coming back into style. It's like bad 90s dubs of Sailor Moon and Tekkaman Blade. Saying Yuzuhira/Juniper is a heckin' cute and valid enby is like saying Levin from Tekkaman Blade is a woman.

I'm a lot more mixed on Xenoblade 3 than I expected to be. I'm overall liking it, but I think the game takes a long wind up to get going. Even moreso than a lot of JRPGs. The combat straight-up sucks until the fight with Ethel and it really feels like mechanics and movement options are just drip fed to you. The very colorful localization isn't helping things. Spark this, snuff that, changed genders, and generally making me think it's probably not super faithful to the original version is bugging me. Even switching to the Japanese audio doesn't match the text that's shown onscreen. I know that's always been an element of Xenoblade, but I replayed 2 earlier in the year and it didn't quite bug me as much as it is here.

At least the voice actors seem like they got some actual direction this time around, I guess.

I dunno I think the dubs are about the same in terms of their usage of clearly not the original script, non-binary archers not withstanding obviously, Zeke called Rex "chum" multiple times, Rex and Nia used "arse", and Nia was Welsh and sounded like she was in her mid 20s at least instead of being around Rex's age like I'm pretty sure she's supposed be as her Japanese voice is nothing like her older sounding voice in the EN dub. Morag also almost sounds like a dude in JP, so make of that what you will while her EN is very clearly a woman, which in Morag's case the JP voice I think better conveys Morag's character.

I personally didn't mind these things, I thought Zeke using "chum" was cute if anything, and I don't mind the "snuff"/"spark" stuff either. I'm more confused what "spark" is meant to mean, if anything, while snuff I more or less get what they're saying. It feels like it is trying to replace some harsher swear but I believe Noah says "There's spark in me yet" when he's almost dead so I don't know really. Feels like a weird catch all term and only the Keves crew seems to use it to my recollection.

Early combat wise, I think me playing Zephyr so much made me like the early combat more then I should but there are so real stinker classes that early in the game (Lanz's class sucks fucking ass). 3 is almost slower then 2 in its early combat, but 2's early combat is gimped by blade rng and Tora being stuck with one blade for the first 20+ hours which was when I felt was when XB3 picked itself up once you get Heroes. I'd say 3 is like 2's combat flow around chapter 3-ish, more or less, but without gacha blade bullshit which I didn't hate at the time but I really appreciate the classes just being behind side quests as I play through 3.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

She doesn't have a lisp because her voice actress is a zero effort, non-binary person (so a woman with short hair). There's zero tells (so far at least) that she's "non-binary" except Taion referring to her as "they". So for all I care he just misgendered her and the rest of the party rolled with it even though non-binaries make even less sense in the context of the game than they do in real life. Her hero quest and class suck though, which is probably the most trans thing about her.

Tells a lot that I forgot FtM exist, actually elevates it somewhat since at least she isn't an active sex pest. Still will switch to the queen of tsundere.
Also I dislike all the slang, especially when I played the start of the game in Japanese and there doesn't seem to be any of the slang but just the usual sentences I know from cultural osmosis.

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

Ashera seems like she’d be very good in chain attacks.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Ashera seems like she’d be very good in chain attacks.

Ashera to my knowledge is the best or one of the best chain attack heroes in the game pretty much, especially if you're not very good at them as she makes building good chain attacks super easy with her hero skill and her order gives you so much damage especially when you get the class that can pass buffs to the party so her power charge doesn't fall off your damage dealers.

 

[FatMebius]

Tells a lot that I forgot FtM exist, actually elevates it somewhat since at least she isn't an active sex pest. Still will switch to the queen of tsundere.
Also I dislike all the slang, especially when I played the start of the game in Japanese and there doesn't seem to be any of the slang but just the usual sentences I know from cultural osmosis.

I just got where she joined up. It's kinda funny that the party instantly knows to use they/them pronouns with her, despite her looking feminine and being a bit curvy. Then again, I think the hacks localizers knew they couldn't get away with a scene of her educating the party on proper pronoun usage.

 

[Napoleon Bonerfart]

Spoiler

Whoever made the mechanics for that boat deserves to have an envelope filled with anthrax mailed to his house

 

[DuckSucker]

Im still early on and Im kinda bad at the combat (Im still not sure if Im actually cancelling the art, Im activating it right at the end of an autoattack, so when you switch Noah over to the zephyr class for instance, he has a one-two attack and Im doing it right after his second attack, trying to kind of time it to be ON the second attack)--but one of the little touches I like is the characters having small incidental observational one off lines responding to whatever youre doing or where youre going through. I know XB1 had some of this but it was mostly going in and out of battles, in this, something about the kind of somber, Skyrim esque music it just makes it feel like these are kids going on this journey and just having to deal with shit, thrown together by chance and trying to keep each others spirits up.

 

[IDanceonTrannyGraves]

Spoiler

Whoever made the mechanics for that boat deserves to have an envelope filled with anthrax mailed to his house

I just got there.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Im still early on and Im kinda bad at the combat (Im still not sure if Im actually cancelling the art, Im activating it right at the end of an autoattack, so when you switch Noah over to the zephyr class for instance, he has a one-two attack and Im doing it right after his second attack, trying to kind of time it to be ON the second attack)

You cancel successfully if you see a little white colored circle pop up in the middle of your character. For Zephyr you sound like you're doing it right. Also do note that fusion arts can cancel into anything, so you can go auto attack > standard art > fusion art > standard > talent art in a perfectly canceled sequence.

 

[BananaSplit]

Im still early on and Im kinda bad at the combat (Im still not sure if Im actually cancelling the art, Im activating it right at the end of an autoattack, so when you switch Noah over to the zephyr class for instance, he has a one-two attack and Im doing it right after his second attack, trying to kind of time it to be ON the second attack)--

You cancel successfully if you see a little white colored circle pop up in the middle of your character. For Zephyr you sound like you're doing it right. Also do note that fusion arts can cancel into anything, so you can go auto attack > standard art > fusion art > standard > talent art in a perfectly canceled sequence.

To illustrate in videos, I cancel successfully by pressing the art input in the middle of the auto-attack animation

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Still didn't switch to hard but the combat feels like it follows Doom Eternal's problem of mistaking giving the player tons of options as giving combat depth. Like there are gems, skills,arts, fusion arts, heroes, interlink but it doesn't really matter when every tough combat encounter is summed as getting the chain attack going and then wiping out the enemy in a single stroke (or at least taking massive chunk and refilling everyone's health and buffs).

I also feel like the characters never feel like they are in the situation of being 9 year old child soldier who only know war. Making the philosophising fall flat. I think only Mio's really works with her impending death.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Still didn't switch to hard but the combat feels like it follows Doom Eternal's problem of mistaking giving the player tons of options as giving combat depth. Like there are gems, skills,arts, fusion arts, heroes, interlink but it doesn't really matter when every tough combat encounter is summed as getting the chain attack going and then wiping out the enemy in a single stroke (or at least taking massive chunk and refilling everyone's health and buffs).

I also feel like the characters never feel like they are in the situation of being 9 year old child soldier who only know war. Making the philosophising fall flat. I think only Mio's really works with her impending death.

Normal mode is absolutely nothing to me after playing hard the couple of times I've played it, I do it for farming or to make the overworld fights take less time, but hard mode gimps you a lot and makes the enemies so bulky (The biggest is your damage modifier goes up much slower in chain attacks in hard mode). Chain Attacks do so much damage outside of hard mode that I need to know what the hell all those mechanics do to have a fun time, and even then it can be a mess if I don't micro the tanks or healers, I have pretty much not played a dps in about 80% of my playtime because I need to micro at least one of the other roles to make fights smooth and tanks can explode super fast sometimes. Consul J was a ruthless bitch with that.

Hard mode enemies don't get killed by one chain attack until much later into the game where you have more things you can abuse (Soul Hacker, Signifer bullshit where you pass buffs forever, Ashera hero skill, and a thing I know you get very late into the game in chapter 7 iirc), and even then you need to get to the other half of their hp bar because enrages are pretty ruthless in this game's hard mode that your best option is to chain attack past them or prey you can get burst off. It takes me at least 2 to kill bosses in hard mode (though I just got FMJ which I can see is insane so we'll see), sometimes even 3-4 depending on the enemy. Sometimes chain attacks don't move the bar enough, especially if you miss the hero order and only get 3-4 rounds instead of 4-5.

In hard mode chain attack almost functions as a fight reset and you're just struggling to get to the next one (and sometimes 3 people are just dead so you can't start one), as 2 healers feel like they cannot keep up attrition wise without a bunch of micro and they need the chain attack's pause to help them out and having three healers can be awkward for chain attacks and damage as a whole until you get enough reactions to try and just stall them.

I'd disagree with the character assessment though, because these characters are fucking educationally stupid on some really basic ideas that we take for granted and are so gung ho about their homecoming. The Off-Seer role is effectively just one big cope too as far as I've seen at the start of chapter 4. These people don't even know what a farm or a city is because they're clearly indoctrinated and forced to do as the head of command says to survive. It is this constant fight to climb the rank so you can get by as you're called literally dirt according to the ranking system. I think my biggest problem is the colony leaders kind of bend a little too fast to what the party wants to do, only one has really tried to argue with the party (Teach) so it is a mixed bag.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Got to Eunie's hero quest (holy shit that boss in the end was tough even on Normal), which makes me wonder how do I remove the level cap for the hero classes? Do I need to wait for the hero quest to appear or just do regular colony quests and that's the reward?

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

Just Unlocked Class Changing.

Why does it change their clothing to the clothing the original class holder just put on?

 

[Dodongo]

Is Hard mode worth sticking with?
I was only one level below Moebius B during the colony 9 liberation mission but it took ages to kill him. Honestly the parts where he used the grab attack on my defenders was like a brief respite from his constant other bullshit. It felt like the healer gameplan had to be perfect to deal with him. I had to mash out of the healer stun move as Eunie, then switch to Taion and mash out with him because I otherwise couldn't keep up. It was a fun challenge but he just had so much HP, it was a slog of a fight.
This isn't like 1 or 2 where you can be a few levels below a unique monster or boss and still win with good tactics. Would switching to normal make the length of battles more bearable or does it just turn the game into a snoozefest?

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

Just Unlocked Class Changing.

Why does it change their clothing to the clothing the original class holder just put on?

This was how they added outfits in this game. Eventually you can even put on their original outfits from the very start of the game or anything else you'd like from any other class once it is level 10. I believe you get to do this when chapter 3 starts.

Is Hard mode worth sticking with?
I was only one level below Moebius B during the colony 9 liberation mission but it took ages to kill him. Honestly the parts where he used the grab attack on my defenders was like a brief respite from his constant other bullshit. It felt like the healer gameplan had to be perfect to deal with him. I had to mash out of the healer stun move as Eunie, then switch to Taion and mash out with him because I otherwise couldn't keep up. It was a fun challenge but he just had so much HP, it was a slog of a fight.
This isn't like 1 or 2 where you can be a few levels below a unique monster or boss and still win with good tactics. Would switching to normal make the length of battles more bearable or does it just turn the game into a snoozefest?

Hard mode is scuffed at the start and Moebius B is kind of a stand out case for how rough the start of hard mode is, it gets more bearable the longer you go because you get better at chain attacks, more tools, etc to make it suck less such as reactions on master arts. Also Zeon sucks fucking ass in chain attacks which is partly why that fight sucks so bad because Zeon barely does anything. Your damage dealers are also a little on the weak side relative to the rest of the game, but once you get Full Metal Jaguar you'll have plenty of damage if you spec them toward dexterity so they don't miss often as they get a stupidly powerful damage passive as long as they don't miss. You can get FMJ after getting Valdi and then go back to the big field with the monkey in it and look for the ? mark.

As someone who's played hard mode for all the story fights, by late chapter 3 to chapter 4, Hard mode isn't even that rough once I learned how to abuse chain attacks better via consistent launches unless I'm playing some scuffed classes with bad synergy. The moment I use Ogre now most of hard mode folds, because Ogre is really stupid with master arts that cause Break/Topple/etc work with its passive skill that increases your chance to inflict reactions. So you can Break most enemies once every 11 seconds every time, so with enough Topple and Daze/Launch you just smoke enemies if you don't miss. Also the best chain attack hero is available end of chapter 4. You can abuse this by late Chapter 3 as that is when you get the Break master art, and Zeon's class gives Topple. Makes combat much smoother.

tl;dr: If the length grinds your gears go to normal till chapter 4, then switch back would be the best compromise. Hard mode is the only way I can see people struggle in this game if you learn the combat and even then it is getting somewhat easier and I haven't even unlocked the best class yet.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

Hard mode is scuffed at the start

Difficulty in gaming in general tbh, I've noticed so many games in the past decade where on hard the Early Game is hellish but you snowball so hard that the endgame is still pretty faceroll

This was how they added outfits in this game.

It is still a really weird thing to bring up as an actual storyline beat.

 

[Zeke Von Genbu]

It is still a really weird thing to bring up as an actual storyline beat.

It is just a basic acknowledgement because the player will likely ask questions for why classes unlock outfits, but they never really talk about this ever again up to where I'm at so I don't think about it. Class changing and melding via master arts/skills is just one of many ways Ouroboros are stronger than the average person, as it symbolizes their freedom from the system while everyone else is stuck to their assigned role.

Their might be some weird religious/mythological/esoteric symbolism in this mechanic, as it is a Xeno game, but don't over think the clothes. What really matters in-lore is that Ouroboros can change classes.

 

[Dodongo]

Yeah in hindsight difficulty seems to be front loaded on Hard, with the Agnus trio fight and the first Moebius being stand outs. The fight with Consul J wasn't as bad as B for instance, just knock the chubby little shit down while cure bullets stop his bleed.
If I made it this far on hard I may as well continue, don't want to lose that Real Gamer Cred™