{"id":1743,"date":"2023-06-22T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2023-06-22T15:27:35","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T19:27:35","slug":"game-ramblings-160-1-xenoblade-chronicles-3-future-redeemed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=1743","title":{"rendered":"Game Ramblings #160.1 &#8211; Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/store\/products\/xenoblade-chronicles-3-switch\/\">More Info from Nintendo<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Genre<\/strong>: JRPG<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Platform<\/strong>: Switch<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=1615\">Original Ramblings<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1744\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Colony9.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This expansion is by all definitions <em>for the fans<\/em>.  It&#8217;s got returning important story characters from past entries in Rex and Shulk.  It&#8217;s got import returning locations like Colony 9 from the original <em>Xenoblade Chronicles<\/em>.  It&#8217;s got the ancestors of some of <em>Chronicles 3&#8217;s<\/em> cast.  Basically, it&#8217;s there to be a trip specifically for fans of the series, but in that way it feels like the perfect way to cap the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"720\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1280 \/ 720;\" width=\"1280\" controls src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Combat.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This is every bit an extension of the gameplay from XC3, with a few things that feel really tailored towards an expansion experience.  The obvious thing is that you power level like crazy to the point that I finished the game around level 60 and maybe had about 20 hours of gameplay.  This is all taking place within a single connected world with a single map that you can get through pretty quickly.  There&#8217;s some environmental things that allow you to basically zipline through the regions, and by the end of the game you&#8217;ll have unlocked so many of them that you can get end to end through the entire world in a matter of a couple of minutes without fast travel.  I&#8217;d actually like to see this explored more in a future Xeno title, as being able to get around between regions quickly without a map feels way more engaging and connected to the world than a typical fast travel system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides that stuff, the big thing added was an affinity system where you earn points for doing normal things (exploring, collecting, etc) to get points to purchase upgrades.  There&#8217;s been variations on this in the past, but it all feels very directly do thing -> get cool stuff that powers you up.  <em>XC3<\/em> was already a game that was light on gearing as a power curve, and this feels like it leans further into simplifying away from <em>XC2&#8217;s<\/em> mess of stats as it combines stats, ability purchasing, and ability upgrading into a single source of selection.  It obviously benefits the speed of power curve for an expansion experience, but it also feels like it would benefit a larger game as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/XC3FR_Bird.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 543px, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, there&#8217;s also a bit of an ending thing that gets into the potential future of the series, and that&#8217;s where I&#8217;m going to hide behind spoiler tags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"sp-wrap sp-wrap-blue\">\n<div class=\"sp-head\" title=\"Expand\">\nSpoiler\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"sp-body folded\">\n<\/p>\n<p>The core plot of <em>XC3<\/em> within the overarching series was that Earth had previously been split in two, becoming the worlds of <em>XC1<\/em> and <em>XC2<\/em>.  By the time of <em>XC3<\/em>, the worlds had drifted back towards each other in an attempt to recombine.  The plot of XC3 then ends with the worlds re-separating.  The end boss sequence and post credits scene shows this process, but it adds a few additional things that seem to imply the <em>Chronicles<\/em> series is more tied to the rest of the <em>Xeno<\/em> games than we&#8217;ve been led to believe.  <\/p>\n<p>One of the first things that catches your attention is a series of radio broadcasts while the cast is being led through a virtual Earth.  The radio broadcasts mention a few things of note.  One is humans being sent to Sagittarius, where <em>Xenogears<\/em> ends up taking place.  One is Project Exodus &#8211; the process of sending humans away to other planets.  This is directly the same name as a project from <em>Xenoblade Chronicles X<\/em>, as well as a similar project from <em>Xenosaga<\/em>.  During these broadcasts Dmitri Yuriev is also name dropped, and he is directly one of the antagonists in the <em>Xenosaga<\/em> series.  <\/p>\n<p>The final set of things comes during the post credits scene.  During this scene, you see the two earths recombining.  However, they <em>also<\/em> are seen coming out of some sort of cloaking.  I assume this was hinting at the plot of <em>Xenosaga<\/em>, where Earth is lost due to cloaking.  This is then followed up by a blue object of some sort crashing towards Earth, which again to me seems to imply it&#8217;s KOS-MOS from the end of <em>Xenosaga<\/em> <em>III<\/em> falling to Earth.<\/p>\n<p>All that is to say that this expansion really is for the fans.  It adds more context to the <em>Xenoblade<\/em> series, but also seems to imply ties to the rest of the overarching <em>Xeno<\/em> series, even if Nintendo doesn&#8217;t own those IPs.  It also puts us in a place where they&#8217;ve given a number of jumping off points for whatever comes next, whether that&#8217;s an <em>XC4<\/em> or an entirely new branch of the <em>Xeno<\/em> games.<\/p>\n<p>\n<div class=\"spdiv\">[collapse]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>If you at all enjoyed <em>Xenoblade Chronicles 3<\/em>, this expansion probably isn&#8217;t going to change that opinion.  It&#8217;s still the same great core gameplay.  As something that is simply <em>more<\/em> of a good thing, it&#8217;s enough to be worthwhile.  As something for fans of the series, it&#8217;s even better.  It clearly is there to both be a thanks to fans, as well as a nod towards what might come next and really puts an end cap on what I assume is the end of this set of <em>Xeno<\/em> titles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More Info from Nintendo Original Ramblings This expansion is by all definitions for the fans. It&#8217;s got returning important story characters from past entries in Rex and Shulk. It&#8217;s got import returning locations like Colony 9 from the original Xenoblade Chronicles. It&#8217;s got the ancestors of some of Chronicles 3&#8217;s cast. Basically, it&#8217;s there to &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/?p=1743\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Game Ramblings #160.1 &#8211; Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Future Redeemed&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,83],"tags":[5,140,86,84,139],"class_list":["post-1743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jrpg","category-switch","tag-jrpg","tag-monolith","tag-nintendo","tag-switch","tag-xenoblade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1748,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions\/1748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog.dwgames.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}