The class system has received an overhaul as well, allowing characters to level up and unlock different weapon types and battle roles as they fight together. Heroes, once recruited, unlock their weapon classes for a party member. You also have access to a rotating seventh party member via the “Hero” system, which replaces the Blade Quests from XC2. It’s still a complicated system, but the drip-feed of mechanics is balanced enough to not completely bamboozle newcomers. It would be incredibly overwhelming for new players, but Monolith Soft have finally implemented a decent tutorial system that is accessible from the menu at any time – bittersweet news to anyone who suffered through the (often factually inaccurate) tutorials from XC2. There are so, so many options available in every fight. You can also instantly switch between your six party members at will, initiate a Chain Attack (which has a new points-based system for inflicting massive damage), or fuse two party members into their “Ouroboros” form using the Interlink ability. Keves Arts charge up over time and are mostly adapted from the original Xenoblade Chronicles, while Agnus Arts charge up as you auto-attack and are based on Arts from XC2. However, Arts are now divided between Keves and Agnus variants. Each character has a Talent Art with a unique effect, and Arts can be affected by your position in the field (for example, some arts deal extra damage when attacking an enemy from behind). The flow of combat remains the same: you’ll target an enemy and attack automatically, deploying Arts once they come off of cooldown. From the beginning, combat is engaging, exciting, and incredibly accessible to those familiar with the series. Gone are the early-game hours of slow, grindy battles. Nowhere is this more evident than in Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s combat, which takes mechanics from both of the previous entries and throws them into a gloriously diverse blend. Keen Xeno-fans will have noticed the many callbacks to earlier titles presented in Nintendo’s trailers: the name Aionios gets its root from a late-game boss from XC2, the “queens” bear a more-than-suspicious resemblance to XC’s Melia and XC2’s Nia, and there’s a number of familiar locations and mechanics hinting that Keves and Agnus may be linked to the Bionis/Mechonis and Alrest respectively. My favourite so far is Lanz, who gives so many lad vibes he might as well have been pulled from Skins. The mish-mash of UK and US accents give life and personality to each of the characters. More lines are voiced than in any of the previous games, with absolutely superb voice-acting. Instead of diving into the plot, I’ll touch on the presentation of the narrative thus far. These are, after all, lengthy JRPGs with plot twists and intrigue galore. I’m conscious that the Xenoblade Chronicles community is justly wary of story spoilers. Much of the first few hours resemble the party-centric Torna: The Golden Country than any other title in the series. There is a tonne of time given to establishing the party’s relationships and histories, making the early game feel like a real prologue to the emerging drama. You’ll eventually meet and team up with Mio, a rival Agnus off-seer, and her escorts Taion and Sena. The other party members, Eunie and Lanz, are Noah’s friends and escorts. His role is to attend battlefields and “send off” dead soldiers by playing his flute. Noah, the initial protagonist, is an off-seer for Keves. This life-cycle is a major focus for the main characters of XC3 and the topic of most of their discussions. If they survive to the end of their tenth year, their essence is ceremoniously returned to their nation’s queen. Citizens of Aionios are born close to adulthood and live for only ten years (unless their lives are taken or their colony’s Flame Clock runs dry). Their conflict is fuelled by desperation: the colonies in each nation must constantly take lives in order to fill their Flame Clocks, which are giant energy sources that drain over time. Two warring nations, Keves and Agnus, are engaged in an eternal struggle. The world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Aionios, is fractured with discord.
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