Reflections on Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles has been one of the broadly popular JRPG series as of late, particularly within my own social circles. I have heard mostly good things about the games, and some vocal criticisms about the second game in particular. After finally picking up a Switch last year, I have now made my way through most of the series.

Before trying Xenoblade myself, I had a mixed history with Xeno series creator Tetsuya Takahashi. He’s had quite a career, having worked on games in the Ys, Final Fantasy, SaGa, Mana, and Chrono series. Xenogears was his first project as a director, and I knew next to nothing about the game when I picked it up at release in 1998. It surprised me in a lot of ways, being my first real dip into the mecha genre, accompanied by a truly massive and thought-provoking script (both big changes from the SNES’s smaller scripts and censorship). My continuing experience with Xeno was less successful. Xenosaga’s move to a more cinematic style gave it a plodding pace, packed with jargon and word salad. I also didn’t connect with most of the trilogy’s characters, I found most of the gameplay boring, and I’d somehow missed the memo that Xenosaga was a reboot and not directly connected to Xenogears, souring me on the experience in general.

I didn’t have a lot of success with Xenoblade Chronicles for a while. I came to the first game late in 2017, spurred by positive word-of-mouth that had resurfaced after the announcement of XC2. While I got along with the characters better than I did in Xenosaga and enjoyed the excellent setting, I ultimately had to make an effort to avoid the game’s numerous sidequests. Being an MMO player, they would have felt dated to me even back at the game’s release in 2010, and their supporting elements in the UI were extremely basic. The game’s saving grace for me would be the gameplay, a fun romp with a squad that I enjoyed tinkering with.

My experience with Xeno changed with XC2. I had a rough start at first when I picked the game up last year, not really sure what to make of the main character and light-hearted tone of the game, a huge departure from the previous games in the series. But when the conversations with Pyra started, a deep hook set in. I immediately connected with this character, someone that seemed eminently competent but had a pensive demeanor, hinting at a darkness within. After I learned more about this character as her whole story unfolded in both XC2 and its DLC Torna, Pyra became my favorite character in the series. For the first time in 25 years, Xeno was finally starting to hit some of those same emotional notes it did for me in Xenogears. Hitting on that nostalgia also led to me thinking about interesting similarities between Fei from Xenogears and Pyra and Mythra.

In hindsight, making those connections across the series seems to be half the fun. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and Future Redeemed are packed with little (and not-so-little) nods to much of past Xeno. I had a good time with this aspect of XC3, and in some ways it picked up where XC2 left off with getting me to be interested in this cast and world. I also really enjoyed the gameplay, seeing the results of refinements to the UI in particular that were sorely needed, culminating in my being thrilled at controlling A and seeing her flip around the battlefield in the DLC. An impressive achievement, considering I almost always hate playing healers in this type of gameplay!

I know fans of Xenoblade Chronicles have strong opinions about their favorites, but there were things that I loved (the setting in XC1, the cast in 2, the gameplay and Xeno callbacks in 3), and there were things that drove me nuts in each of the games. I’ve given up on the stories getting some much-needed pruning (every Xeno game and DLC I’ve played has padding or spots that just don’t work), so I can roll with that. I also don’t know if I’ll ever get to XCX or Future Connected. Xeno isn’t exactly my top ongoing series at the moment, but I’m still interested in what Takahashi is cooking up next.

Any thoughts on Xenoblade Chronicles? Or the Xeno series at large?

verycoolusername,

Happy to hear that Torna is a good game, Xenoblade 2 is my favorite. I think the best part of the Xenoblade games are the Titans. The environments are incredible because there is always a reminder that people are living their lives on a huge flying colossus

Ashtear,

Well… I have my issues with Torna. If you’re someone that likes sidequesting, you’ll probably like it. I personally don’t (I think sidequest quality is a failing of JRPGs at large), so I was really frustrated with how many I was forced to do. However, I did enjoy the story and I wish I’d had more time with the characters.

And yeah, the settings for Xenoblade are phenomenal. It’s kind of a simple idea but it works out so well.

Fubarberry,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

Xenoblade 1 has the most interesting setting and best large scale story, but I feel like it falls short of the other games everywhere else. I really feel like default movement speed is too slow, or that the world desperately needs more in it. The world feels huge, and your people feel slow, and it just feels bad to go places. Combat is also slow and generally the worst of the series, but I really like the inclusion of the monado and its abilities.

1’s DLC was better, but I’d still rank it below the other games.

2 is rough around the edges with controversial character design, but I loved the characters, story, and end game combat. The combat started very poor, and took most of the game to get good, but somewhere near the end it finally clicked and became my absolute favorite combat system of any game. I found myself wanting enemies to have as much HP as possible for fights to last as long as possible. I wasn’t personally bothered by the “waifus”, and I actually kinda enjoyed the gacha system since it was separate from any microtransactions and cores are easy to get.

2’s DLC Torna was really fun. The combat is much better starting out than 2’s combat, although it doesn’t quite reach the same heights either. Overall very fun though.

3 is the most polished by far, but while it’s overall combat is more polished than 2’s, it doesn’t quite reach the same levels of or fun as two’s late game combat does. I enjoyed the story most of the way through (especially chapter 5) but I thought the ending was maybe weaker than it should have been.

3’s DLC was super fun, the way that everything I did turned into skill points was super engaging. It was also great to play as Rex again after bonding with him in 2.

XCX was the first game I played in the series. The larger story has some significant issues, but the side stories are often really good. The combat is an improved version of XC1’s, and I found it much more tolerable. The world is amazing, one of my favorite open worlds. The mechs are awesome. The game has insane power scaling, you’ll go from dealing 6 damage with an attack to millions with a late game build, and it feels amazing. You get a real sense that you’re growing exponentially, and it feels good. Movement is the best of any of the xeno games, it just feels good to run around. It makes me kinda confused why movement in the other games is so slow when they can make it feel this good. Overall a great game, just very different from the others.

TheChurn,

Got the second years ago when it launched because I was looking for a new rpg to play. Bounced off it immediately because the gameplay was far too passive -- I didn't feel like I was doing anything -- and the fucking quote spam POPPY WILL PROTECT MASTERPON is branded on my soul.

caut_R,

I have a big problem getting into the combat of XBC3. I just feel like all I‘m doing is standing there waiting for cooldowns to come back. Which also gives me the feeling that I‘m „playing the game wrong.“ I tried finding a guide on how to „properly“ play the game and to make combat more involved - to also make it more fun for myself - but couldn‘t find anything good.

subignition,
@subignition@fedia.io avatar

Nah that's about right. Positioning and choosing the right sequence to use skills in is 90% of combat

Fubarberry,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

The combat does speed up some the farther you progress, and there are some classes, characters, and items that will speed it up more. Agnus characters (who are based on the XC2 characters) are much faster (and in my opinion) far more fun to play as.

Phen,

I was pretty much the opposite lol. Really loved the quest system on the first one and strongly disliked the cast of the second. The third is generally my favorite.

I got xenogears as a kid who didn’t even speak English after returning a non-functional Medievel 2 and picking xenogears as a replacement simply because it was more expensive and I realized the salesman at the store wouldn’t check the price as long as I was trading one game by another. I didn’t understand most of the game but I still fell in love with it back then. To this day it is still the first game I think of when someone ask me what my favorite is.

ISOmorph,

Good writeup. I’m a huge fan of Xenogears and actually have a playthrough going that I pick up when I feel nostalgic (that and legend of the dragoon). I tried the Xenoblade games but they couldn’t live up to that quality IMO. A big reason for this is the combat system. Nothing beats turn based combat and I’ll die on that hill.

Ashtear,

I finished a replay of Xenogears last year myself. Really surprised myself with how much more I liked the trimmed-down disc 2 this time around. That first scene in the chair is so touching. Love the romance in that game. And as much as I dislike early 3D, some of the scene composition is timeless.

I hear that a lot about Xenoblade’s combat. I think a lot of my enjoyment (or tolerance, in the second game’s case) of it comes from my MMO background.

Fubarberry,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

I’m a huge fan of turn based combat, but I do really enjoy combat in XB2 and XB3. The issue is that the combat isn’t very fun at the beginning, but gets progressively better as you progress through the game and unlock more combat systems. 2 is especially guilty of this, it takes most of the game to become good, but then becomes literally my favorite combat system of any game. It’s one of those combat systems where I want the enemies to have as much HP as possible so that I can fight them for as long as possible.

The DLC’s for 2 & 3 have a modified combat system that comes online much quicker, and is almost immediately fun. XB2 Torna is a good choice IMO as a title that can be played out of sequence, while offering good combat that gets going much faster than the other games.

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