The 0 class point thing isn't a glitch if the ennemie you bit is lower in level than you you get almost nothing, and nothing nothing if its level is more than 4 level underleveld, I thought it was a bug too :/
9:17 the reason why they weren’t unlocking classes was because of the way too easy overleveling. You don’t earn class points if the enemies are more than 5 levels lower than you, so if you use bonus exp or just fight enough enemies wherever you’ll eventually stop leveling up classes. It might’ve been to encourage players to go after stronger enemies, but the enemies and their level distribution don’t always line up well with the level the party is supposed to be at when you get there. They probably should’ve had all enemies give class points regardless of level but have enemies close/above the party level to give more/bonus class points, and then upped the needed points to unlock a bit to compensate. Spark
OHHHHHHHH my god. i was desperately trying to get yumsmith unlocked for the last 2 who didnt have it for forever and i just gave up 😭😭 was this explained anywhere in game?
Wow, and here I was being completely clueless as to what happened to his game. That's very stupid from Monolith to add, as in no part of the game is this even said. I think the idea is to always battle at your level and not punch down, but EXP and Regular class Points are unaffected...
I know this might sound weird to say, but I didn’t think there were too many mechanics when I played the game. I was able to keep track of everything pretty easily for the most part. I didn’t even know about the too many mechanics critique until I had beaten the game and looked at other peoples’ opinions.
@@jerryborjon except chain attacks I guess, cuz most people don't understand why a lot of stuff is happening. I see a lot of people wondering why healers cap at 99
imo I don’t think complexity’s a bad thing in a JRPG that’s 60-100 hours long. it’s fine to not get a combat mechanic at first and learn it over time, I’m 70 hours in and only just now realized how to make the most of chain attacks lmao. every single new mechanic you get the hang of or improvement you make to your team feels great
It feels like Xenoblade 3 directly addressed almost every issue I had with Xenoblade 2. It genuinely feels like the devs took every single piece of criticism to heart.
Literally I loved the party, I loved the character designs, I loved the world, I got invested in the story because of just how great the characters were, the English voice acting is *chefs kiss*, and most of all THE NOPON ARE ACTUALLY GREAT CHARACTERS ON THIS GAME, like almost all of them, don't think I've been annoyed by any of them so far (Manana is probably my least liked but that is miles above Tatsu or maid robot creator)
@@gemain609 - Completely agreed with everything you said. While I still prefer Riki, I can totally see why some people prefer Riku. He’s a great character.
Exactly my thoughts! Compared to this one, XC2 almost feels like it was designed as a testing ground to try out new ideas for the series. It simply didn't work for most people. Did it do a good job at selling and grabbing people's attention? Sure it did! Waifus sell of course and Pyra/Mythra were obviously made to be marketable waifu characters based on their design alone. However the game itself suffers from alot of issues. I still have a soft spot for that game but it clearly wasn't what the series needed. XC3 however felt a lot more similar to the first game and it even took some of the positives from XC2 and improved on them. XC3 feels like it was made to be the rightful succesor of XC1 and I'm happy with the results we got.
Anyone that has a hard time with this game should take the time to familiarize themselves in the training guides. I loved 2 but this is just so much better. If you still have trouble just make sure mwamba is in your lineup, dude one shots the final boss
@@GamingFreakShow1991 His chain order "It's Mwambin' Time" is so overpowered it deals adds a 10 Mwambillion damage multiplier to the chain attack and gives the entire party the buff "Mwamba Charge", which is like Power Charge but multiplies their damage by Ten Mwambillion.
Lemme explain a few of the mechanics that you seemed to not understand. 1. Character roles on the main 6 characters affect their TP in chain attacks. Attackers will get their TP multiplied by 1.25 if they go first, defenders will guarantee the character with the highest TP is reactivated next round, and healers will call the TP at 99% so you can more easily get a high percentage in the end. Heroes have their own unique orders and bonuses that are shown when you hover over them, and they don't drain the chain attack gauge when you use them, allowing you to use 4 normal orders Instead of only 3 usually. 2. Ouroborus orders in chain attacks are activated when 2 characters who form an ouroborus pair (like Noah and Mio) are both used as orders. Ideally you want the ouroborus order to be the 5th one. 3. The reason the classes didn't unlock was because you were overleveled. You're probably overleveled because you use bonus exp. If you just never use bonus exp you'll probably stay within 5 levels of the enemy which is what you want if you want to unlock classes. Hope that clears things up for anyone who didn't understand those things either
Yeah, to be honest it seems like he didn't pay enough attention, none of this is hard to understand or figure out the reason why something was happening...
I'm kinda sad about the not using bonus exp part.....bonus exp is rewarded to players if they do well. Then in order to unlock more game you need to....not use the rewards?
@@cyncynshop my theory is Monolith was worried about the player needing to grind too much in 3. Never felt like a problem in this series but I could see complaints for that in 2. Honestly, I don’t mind. I stopped using bonus XP early on and it’s nice not having to kill every monster in my way.
Bonus Exp is honestly a trap in this game it's not even funny. Thankfully I never used it outside of the time the game forces you to do it and I've been having a blast leveling up classes as I explore (in chapter 6 now and doing the hero missions that unlock the lvl 20 cap and god damn the versatility when you really start getting these skills is SOOOO nice). As a means of keeping you from over leveling from side quests, it's genius
Just leaving it out there: Hard mode is HARD. I can sometimes beat enemies that are slightly higher levels than me, but really struggle with unique monsters that are the same level. For certain enemies with high damage AOE attacks, it can be extremely difficult to beat them unless they are much lower leveled than I am, since they have a tendency to one- shot all of the healers...
As someone who hasn't played the game yet, what he was describing about being massively overleveled during normal mode for most of the game seems pretty lame. I play most games including Xenoblade games at normal difficulty usually, do you think it is worth playing in hard mode instead for this one?
@@tristanneal9552 Not going to lie, hard mode is incredibly difficult and downright frustrating at times when lower leveled enemies one- shot your entire party, and you will likely face some serious difficulty with many of the boss fights. I have not yet gotten completely stuck, but have had moments when I had to put the game down and take a break because I was struggling so much. That said, I do find it incredibly satisfying to beat the enemies when it is so difficult, and I have not yet used any bonus XP to level up a single time, so it is possible to make it a bit easier on yourself than I am. Don't be surprised if you can't beat a single unique monster at around your own level for the first few dozens of hours however. Hard mode generally forces you to both have a fairly good party setup, memorize more of the different attacks of all the different enemies, have some pretty good reaction time, and to do some more side content to level up your party and get better items, skills and classes. It can definitely be worth it if you like a good challenge, but can also feel a little unfair at times.
@@tristanneal9552 I'll offer a totally different take: hard mode has been a breeze outside of one or two side bosses, and fighting any tyrant that was within five levels of me. Depending on the tyrant, I can take it on >5 levels up, on even levels, or still struggle when up 10+ levels. This is largely because I have gone out of my way to spend as little time on a maxed class, probably less than an hour total. I am constantly switching my party members' classes, and go out of my way to get heroes when I'm running out of classes, then grind a couple over leveled enemies to instantly unlock the class for everyone. This is the secret to unlocking classes hella fast, btw; specifically hunt down a few (yes, really, a few) enemies 3-5 levels over you, and you will have the new class or classes almost immediately, especially if multiple people have them equipped. On hard, I've been able to turn my brain off (and turn auto battle on) for a lot of grinder activities (hunting mats for gems), while still having to pay attention for most bosses. But, I really haven't struggled outside of a small handful of fights, and all of them were side quests or optional, and corresponded with me having terrible team comps (after a certain point, at least for me, I had to abandon ever having a tank, or a healer, because there are few defender heroes and a TON of DPS ones). Even still, some creative problem solving and the new build options item wise they included saw me through. You WILL out level all content story wise, but there will ALWAYS be higher level enemies to kill to unlock your new classes. And killing tyrants is worth it for the accessories they drop. I say all of this, to set up my real point: the difficulty in these games ALWAYS comes post game. There are many ultra high level tyrants that will be very, very difficult to beat even with a sound strategy and a well rounded party. They all require mastery of the games many, many systems, and an optimized party comp. And it feels great when you take one down. If you are really concerned about over leveling on Normal or Hard, my best advice would be to completely forgo any and all use of bonus XP. This is the one thing you can control.
I made the mistake of starting my first playthrough in Hard mode. Because i thought i was good at the game (i was not) I beat all the previous XC games, so how different could it be? (very) I totally wasnt super overconfident (i was) And i totally didnt pay the price as it took me what felt like 5 hours to beat the first two bosses in the game.
@@WH40KHero Definitely would say that my comment still holds true, but I have also somewhat shifted perspective. The first 20-50 hours in the game are definitely *very* hard on hard mode, and I really struggled with many of the battles, especialy against he first fight between the Keves and Agnus members of the main party, the consuls and some of the heroes. This can be a really fun, but also unforgiving challenge for players not proficcient at the game's combat, even if they are really good with the combat in the previous games. After I started unlocking arts cancelling for ouroboros however, exploiting their invincibility and high damage & aggro generation, the game went from being really hard to being only somewhat hard during some of the strongest bosses. The main thing I dislike about the game's difficulty, is that it doesn't allow you to level down until postgame, which means even in hard mode, you are likely to become overleveled and start noticing a significant drop in difficulty at some point (for me this happened once I was past midgame at lvl. 50).
One thing they also DESPERATELY need to change is the accessory inventory screen. You end up having like hundreds of these things by the end of the game and......... you can only display like 5 at a time on a vertical inventory screen with no good indication of the stats of each item till you scroll to them. This has got to be the absolute worst inventory screen in a game for a while. Just give us a grid that displays more items and makes it easier to tell what items are higher tier or lower tier. It makes it such a chore to change up character's classes cause I'm not really trying to scroll through hundreds of accessories just to finally scroll to the one that I want or attempt to try and find a different one that I've already scrolled passed that I want to select now.
I think my issue with the accessory screen in particular is being unable to sort it at all, you’re just stuck with the “order obtained” sorting which sucks if things like the Seven accessories are obtained a distance apart from each other because of unique monster cheese or exploration issues
You can sort the inventory. You have to select what accessory you want to replace first, press -, and it'll allow you to sort it by chronological, category, recommended, or favorites (rarity might also be an option, but I don't feel like grabbing my Switch from the other room to double-check)
XC3’s greatest strength is not its world or story, but it IS it’s worldbuilding, which is stunningly well done. Random characters will tell you things that explain the names or aesthetics of something in the world that needed no explanation. Even the menu and it’s orange colors is based on the in-game irises. It all feels so real and well thought out.
9:32 to answer the question. Your party members don't get the points needed to unlock said class if the enimes your killing are 5 or more levels below you. Also they learn the class at different rates.
The bonus EXP mechanic is specifically designed so you can control the difficulty of your game to how you want it. If you use it, youre going to always be over leveled. If you dont use it, you will generally be around the level you should be unless you excessively grind. Its basically another difficulty slider, and helps eliminate post game grind. The problem is that it actively encourages you to use it the first campfire you get, and you cant level down until post game, so you can easily overlevel yourself if you think its a mechanic you need to use and not one to help you get through an area if youre having trouble.
The time it takes to unlock a class seems to be linked to the character's proficiency at that class: A-proficiency characters will unlock it first, D-proficiency characters will unlock it last.
Even though Xenoblade 3 didn't reach the highs of Xenoblade 1 for me, it does fix the problems of 2. It's somewhere in the middle, albeit closer to 1 in quality. As for Chain Attack, going at or above 150% will give you 2 teammates back, while going at or above 200% will give you 3 teammates back. And regarding Fusion Arts, they charge up your Ouroboros level. Also, it'll be interesting to see how the mechanics will carry over to the next Smash game.
I just did chapter 5…this game is amazing 🤯 I don’t really think the game is complicated tho. I play on hard and manage just fine The tutorials did a great job and that’s coming from someone who couldn’t understand xenoblade 2 that well. Overall I’m in love with xenoblade 3 Goty for me thus far
Chapter 5 had me in tears had to take a small break cause god damn was it masterfully handled (also Cadensia was a fantastic zone, less so if you're the type that likes manually filling out the map)
Feels like the character artist went through some sort of personal reckoning between 2 and this game, like wow I feel like there’s nothing to complain about this time
Spark-ing awesome. I really loved it. And also I watched a guide on how chain attacks worked and everything just clicked after that and I loved using them way more.
A lot of people are pointing out how polarizing 3 is compared to 2, and it fixing a lot of their complaints with the game. I couldn't agree more, but honestly that challenge mode needs to come out because this is the best Xenoblade combat AND party customization we've EVER had and we can only really test it out on Unique monsters out in the field
@@skylandersfan6954 as polarizing is different than polarizing between the two, I was saying the jump from 2 to 3 is polarizing because of the complete tonal shift
@@skylandersfan6954 yeah doesn't really match up if only an 8th of your game matches the other two games tonally. Like Xeno 1 and 3 are wrought with depressing tones from start to finish, and I'd argue Torna isn't depressing so much as KH 358 is, we only know it's sad because we know what happens at the end
@@cyurle3940 Its more than an 8th though, the game takes itself seriously when it needs to. The entire point is that the game progressively gets more dark as it goes along, complaining that it doesn't take itself seriously and being edgy 100% of the time is really odd
Hard mode actually does make things harder. The enemies have more hp more debuff resistance, more attack power. Your chain attacks are weaker ouroboros levels charge slower and I think the enemies charge arts faster. You can still be high level comparatively but the boss fights can still be tough if you let them drag on too long
The biggest flaw imo was definitely not being able to level down before the final boss, for most of the game I was 15-20 levels higher than the story bosses, and because of that I was gaining basically 0 CP and was stuck in the same classes for a while. Overall it's a Great game but needs balance
I actually like the battle system in XC3 compared to XC2. Idm controlling multiple characters at once though most of the time i play with Noah and lately Sena. It took awhile to understand the combat system but once you get the hang of it, watch it go skkrrtt as you let loose those sweet sweet damages (case in point everyone's goal now is to break the CA combo and see how much damage you can get off). Edit: oh and the reason why your CP is increasing excruciatingly slowly is because your main party members are too high level and you're battling against low levelled monsters/bosses. And you're not consuming food that boost your CP. General rule of thumb is that you wanna be lower levelled when battling against monsters/bosses. E.g. i just got off yesterday by battling a level 71 superboss while at level 66 with a CP boost. My character class CP shot through the roof and i unlocked further classes for some of my party members.
Spark! Man it feels weird that just now i'm realizing those are a lot of mechanics, idk how but the game felt natural and progressive and i knew what i was doing. I actually switched characters and it made me feel like I was pulling off the whole battle, and they felt even faster than sticking to one player. The story is way more emotional than the other Xenoblade games, which i love (Chapter 5 being the extreme highlight of amazing writing) i'd say overall this is a worthy Xenoblade game. I myself consider it to be on par with Xenoblade 1 or even higher, but that's for personal preference. In the end i love this game and i think this is the true sequel Xenoblade 1 deserved.
I kinda feel like the story is unfinished. It's the least mind blowing xeno plot, and a bunch of questions went unanswered. I also wish the writing stayed as good and as somber as the first 5 chapters, cuz the last 2 chapters were really lacking
@@dugtrioramen I feel like the characters as a group had more development this time around though. In Xenoblade 1 the characters with the most development were Shulk and Melia. Dunban and Sharla aren’t that far behind but Reyn, Riki and Seven really don’t have much to do. In this group, it feels like everyone is equally important as they all drive the story together, meanwhile Reyn could probably be taken out of the story past the Ether Mine in XC1 and you wouldn’t lose too much in the grand scheme of things story wise. Basically, they did good but it’s all of to personal preference, yeah?
My main complaint about the game is how underwhelming the Ourboros forms are. In the cutscenes, they have you just rushing all over the place, flying, etc in your Ourboros form but for the actual gameplay..... the form only works in combat and it's super sluggish feeling. Imagine how cool it could have been to be able to actually explore in these forms like the skells from Xenoblade Chronicles X? It just feels like a massive missed opportunity.
Same tbh, it felt like a massive missed opportunity to not be able to pilot the Ouroboros forms outside of combat especially with how fluid their animation are. Being able to skate around with Mio's Ouroboros would've been amazing. A suggestion I'd give would be to beeline upgrading to art-canceling with Ouroboros forms, its a godsend. Eunie's Ouroboros went from maybe 3 to 4 arts in one transformation to 5 to 6 arts and constant aoe and healing. I wish art canceling wasn't behind an upgrade but it makes their forms much stronger
Level 0 Ouroboros is so useless lol Spoilers for beginning of Chap 6: when the game started the battle with the party in ouroboros against the agnian queen, I was like "ooh" and then it was Level 0 so I was like... okay... I guess I'll cancel...
idk, the forms felt pretty cool to me. I mean yeah they're slow, but so is your normal form and nobody minds that. Level 3 is actually really good and I think the mechanic was handled beautifully. You have to use your fusion arts to actually make it good, because otherwise it's just gonna be another win button (*plot armour blade cough cough*)
"there are so many ways to become disgustingly overlevled" My man, I entered the final boss at level 69 thinking I was at a nice level (no pun intended) and he was LEVEL 75
Gotta say that hard mode does in fact actually make the game hard. Not so hard that you need to grind, but I have yet to encounter a story boss that hasn't wiped or almost wiped my party one or more times. You'd probably enjoy that more if you feel like putting in a bit more effort to learning the mechanics such as in chain attacks.
Honestly I got sick of it in the early game cause you don't have a lot to meaningfully counter the high damage and high evasiveness of the UM's. With where I'm at now in the game (chapter 6) with multiple classes lvl 10 or higher and the ability to use accessories and adapt to UM encounters could see myself enjoying it a lot more.
To be honest this game was much more streamlined and easier to understand than the mess that was XC2. XC2 had a lot of hidden mechanics and side effects of certain skills. Like if Pyra did her level 3, that actually had special effects that the game just never told you or mentioned anywhere. Not to mention a lot of tutorials being tucked away at a merchant and costing money (and most tutorials being a barebones couple lines of text without explaining or demonstrating anything). Also a lot of tutorials are just straight up wrong. XC3 was such a breath of fresh air after feeling like drowning in XC2's gameplay. I love XC2 but it is definitely a game I don't want to replay any time soon.
I really liked xc3, it’s not a game without issues but for me personally I felt like it had a lot more positives to outweigh any of the major issues I had, the gameplay is pretty fun and the characters are probably the best in the series for me personally that being said I feel quite a bit of the overarching plot didn’t resolve neatly or with all questions answered so until the dlc I’m still waiting for answers. Also minor spoilers but I think these villains are as a whole the weakest In the series, d and j are very under-utilised which is disappointing cuz wild ride was a good potential metal face successor until they just barely used them. N was a great villain imo and Is only really held back by his development being so heavily back loaded into the game. The rest of morbius really left little impact unfortunately
I haven’t completely finished the game yet but I have to agree that the characters are amazing. 1’s characters felt somewhat boring to me when I played through it and 2’s characters and character design were amazing but the gameplay wasn’t really fun. Personally, 3 is the perfect mix of an actually fun combat system and has characters that are interesting and work somewhat well together. The story is a lot shorter then other xenoblade games since 1 had 12 chapters and 2 had 10. They probably are going to answer more questions in part 4 of the paid dlc but who knows when that’s going to come out.
This game has a problem of having too many villains and never focusing on any of them other than N, I would have preferred D and J, N, X, Y and Z to be the main antagonists that keep reappearing and having less generic consul fights just to get us to hate them a little more. In the case of X she literally only appears in Eunie's side story which is optional, meaning that you can literally kill her in a very underwhelming fight only for her to show up alive again if you decide to do that side story afterwards.
@@justaguy3983 In my opinion that's the other way around. I really love the first game's characters whilst not being as fond of 2's, but love the second game's combat way more to the first.
Spaceman's moves during the combat explanation were really spicy! I was auto-battling the game while watching this. I've been super hooked to the game for the past 10 days, but controlling one character of 7 really doesn't have a lot of impact as you said.
I don’t think they emphasized swapping party members enough because doing that means you won’t really have to be waiting for arts to recharge and if you do it correctly you control your whole party and damn, it can be satisfying
I’m really enamoured with how much of a turn-around this game is from XBC2, and how this game addressed most of the issues that I had with the prior entry. Taion especially was a standout character from the core cast, and I’m looking forward to the DLC Campaign that’s part of the Expansion Pass.
@@mrbubbles6468 and it’s still much better than a lot of other games in recent years. Just goes to show what a little soul and live for your work can do for a team of creatives.
@@raisylvaine8398 You could say this about any moderately above average game in any time period of gaming ever Every generation has had shovelware and content funneled out without much effort, even from AAA companies including Nintendo on the contrary there's a fucking buttload of good games with soul from 2017+ that makes me feel Joy
The game essentially drip feeds the player all the mechanics over the course of the entire game making it so that the complexity isn’t much of a problem. Especially since you can review tutorials in game at any time and go into a VR simulation to test them out.
i feel that the game was more balanced around hard mode then normal like sometimes some fights on hard mode are stupid (cough cough any massive group fight) but other then that the game is pretty easy with the over leveling
However with over leveling you run the risk of maybe never unlocking classes or leveling them up. Risk vs reward is definitely something they grasped with this game I’d say
@@raisylvaine8398 yes but also once you have a certain thing i can't talk about because spoilers and you just farm over lvled normal enemies you can unlock any classes you are missing in about 1 hour or so with the stupid effect it can do because at that point you can just earn 80-100 cp per enemy even with d ranked classes if you have the accessory equipped
Maybe taking time to understand the combat a little more would help, the player is always able to be smarter than the CPU’s, especially as a healer or DPS since they may hold off on using certain skills even when you NEED them. ~~Fucking Eunie with Group Heal active letting everyone die because I didn’t swap to her~~
@@raisylvaine8398 on the contrary, I put on auto battle once or twice and each time I saw that the AI was doing better at the whole Playing The Game Thing than me lol I even saw mechanics used in ways I didn't know you could >.> In a game like this, it's absolutely able to be played by an AI, it's not honestly that difficult
If you learn how to properly do damage as a character you'll out damage a CPU doing anything by a large amount. CPU won't cancel arts into arts and also pretty rarely cancels autos into arts.
Are you playing on Hard Mode? You can notice the differences you're making in combat much more easily there. Normal Mode can kinda just be mashed through.
I really liked this game too. I think it had a bunch of little issues that eventually detract from the experience, but they're nothing that ever made me want to stop playing. Actually, the game is so good that a lot of the problems stuck out because of how they compare to the rest (like how it takes ages for them to do something with Sena or how most of the villains don't get enough of a relationship with the party before they get taken out of the story). Then again, part of me wonders if I was just so relieved that it was so different from Xenoblade 2 that I rated it higher than might after more time has passed.
I would say its the hardest campaign by far if you play on hard mode. Early game balance is kind of eh because you dont have as many things you can change when you lose and unique monsters had too much health prior to chain attacks. Overall though I liked it made every unique monster a struggle and the story quite difficult too. The damage you take is quite high, but it makes it so you actually to understand what's imbalanced about your party. If youre losing aggro you dont have enough defenders, if your defenders are dying you dont have enough healing, or maybe your healers need to be able to clear debuffs etc. The only big problem is the final boss his aoe attacks are fucking brutal, its not uncommon for all your healers die suddenly if you only have two. Any wipe takes you back to the start and now you have sit through what felt like decade long animations, that quite simply not as cool the 5th time. Not to mention that there are multiple sections where mechanics are locked away from you or the random part where your party is split in half, and the game just says "hope you have healer and tank on both your keves and agnus characters otherwise fuck you"
Oh spark you're one of the only people not talking about the sunffin' frequency and reuse of after battle quotes. LANZ WANTS SOMETHING A BIT MEATIER!!!
fantastic review, the part at 12:37 made me laugh out loud. oh man I would love a Tales of Symphonia 2 review. and a FE Fates review for that matter. spark
I'm currently on the final dungeon and I know what you mean about being over leveled, personally I found that if you avoid using the bonus exp at campfires I stayed at a reasonable level, keeping in mind I did all the hero quests
Easiest game my ass I died 10-50 times against almost every major boss on hard mode. In all seriousness it’s as hard as you make it and if you want an actual challenge go hard mode. (It’s actually fucking hard especially during chapter 1)
Honestly considering the story falls flat on its face at the end and is basically equivalent to a "it was all a dream" scenario left a somewhat sour opinion, I think 1 and 2 feel like much more complete games in that their ends didn't feel rushed, so I like them better.
The weird thing about the ending is that it looks a lot like an ‘it was all a dream’ ending, but it also isn’t? Since everything that goes down in the game did really happen, but from the perspective of the worlds that existed before and after Aionios, it feels like only a second has passed. It’s actually kinda like the JRPG version of Link’s Awakening. The ultimate goal is to break out of the static world because it’s a crapsack shithole of a place to live that’s also a gross perversion of the natural order, but doing so also wipes away all of the growth one’s experiences in said world have catalyzed within themselves. Of course, I’d think this game’s interpretation of that kind of plot also comes with a better outcome than that of Link’s Awakening because there is the distinct implication that the actions taken within Aionios have left behind distinct impressions that will stick with the characters as they experience the lives they were meant to lead, if the game doesn’t outright hint that the party members will all reunite someday. One can only wonder exactly what events the DLC story will cover, considering there is just as much valid material for a prequel as there is an epilogue…
In my opinion the ending was fine, we already knew that the two worlds had combined and that Aionios is the consequence for trying to stop things from changing out of the fear of it going wrong. It's not a dream at all as everything happening within the world is real, but time is simply just allowed to move forward again
Spark. I've been playing it for over 70h on hard mode and it definitely feels like the intended difficulty. I'm the type of player to collect and battle as much as possible and I have almost 10 bonus levels waiting to be claimed in chapter 5.
The slow start got me at the beginning. It was a bit weird at first, but after a few hours or so it had its hooks in me, and some time later it got me completely by the unmentionables. Awesome game, 10/10 would play again. Should play again...i need to finish the postgame still...i should do that, seriously! Also the handholding at the beginning of the game is excessive! I mean, seriously, this didnt feel like handholding, it felt like my mom pulling me through the store with the force of tenthousand horsepower!
SPARK (it all) Great review! Despite not including spoilers, I feel similar thoughts on many of your points. It's a fun game with a lot of charm but the gameplay does tend to be a lot to digest as you continue and unlock more stuff. Great for those that love it but as a more casual player nowadays, I'm not picking up on everything lmao I also did not learn about being able to choose which characters to use during a Chain Attack until chapter 7 cuz I watched a playthrough and someone did exactly that. Still had a good time regardless! Solid game all around even if most of my gripes revolved around the story, mostly towards the second half of the game. And yes, I hope it's what you're talking about, but that one song post game is VERY good. Really tells me it's time to fight 🙂 I also appreciate not being alone in refusing to believe THAT one scene is real and not just fanfiction oh my god
Played this game on launch day but didn’t continue the first chapter for a few weeks before I truly has the time to start it… oh boy, spent most of the next two months playing this one, single, game, only getting myself to the final boss after 170 hours of playtime, and doing almost all of the side quests, only missing one that I did right away in the post game. I truly made the right choice to switch to hard mode right in the beginning, right before the end of the first chapter, before I was specifically afraid of being overleveled if I strayed too much from the main path. I thought hard mode would reduce the exp gain (it didn’t), but choosing not to use any bonus exp made it have the *perfect* difficulty for me. It was tough, tough at nails at times, almost softlocking me during a side story that didn’t let me leave until I beat its boss. Spent most of the game being 5 to 10 levels higher than the main story, but every fight was a struggle, one I thoroughly remember, but appreciate. I really liked the Xenoblade series before this game, 2, my first one, was pretty cool to me, X, while I still haven’t finished it because I don’t particularly enjoy its type of gameplay structure as much, is still a great game to boot from time to time, and 1, that I experienced through DE was also a great experience. I was already a good fan of the story, the characters, the content, but it wasn’t until 3 that I truly got to appreciate this series to the fullest, even making the games before it better to me. I replayed through 2 recently, which made me appreciate it that much more, and I’m planning to replay 1 soon. Either I’m still in my honeymoon phase 8 to 10 months after finishing this game, or either it truly was one of my fondest gaming experiences I ever gotten, that I’ll truly cherish as one of my favorite games of all time.
i think the game was really strong overall exept for chapter 7 where i feel the writing was much less interesting. maybe becuase i was expected 10 chapters and a xenoblade 1 like twist, but the game lost lots of interest for me. the ending was still sparkin' good tho
The number of chapters doesn't have anything to do with this, as the actual game duration is globally the same as the previous ones. It was even longer in my case. And like Xenoblade 2, the final chapter began with a cutscene revealing many plot points, even if we didn't have any twists, I liked the chapter for all the reveals it made.
About what you said about unlocking classes, you nees to be fighting enemies that are 5 levels below you at minimum to gain cp/unlock classes, it also seems like unlocking classes works like exp where overkill will help you unlock it faster, using more characters with the class will help you unlock it faster, like using 1 hero will unlock classes slower than 1 hero 1 character with the class. There is also rankings with them S-A-B-C-D rank which will effect the rate of unlocking classes and ranking up with them.
Spark. I'm sorry for the series, but XCX was my first experience with the series. It was a game of dwindelling hope, big mechs, exploration, and micro management, and I loved it so much, I expected the series to go that way, again. I'm only here to say that I really really miss XCX, but I love your editing and sound design for your videos. I wish you a fantastic day, Mr. Spaceguy
Yea Xenoblade x was my first as well tho I do enjoy xeno 1 for it's story,characters and music. However xeno 2 was a massive downgrade to xeno 1 and felt like they wanted to make xeno 2 a harem anime which I absolutely hate.
12:40 The player is actually monumentally stronger than the AI since you can make full use of art cancelling. The AI won't cancel arts into arts and is pretty inconsistent on cancelling autos into arts. When you make use of stuff like In cursor's 3 recharge skill and Martial Artist's level 15 master skill which recharges arts on crit. You almost just turret arts for a long time. As a dps you will rip aggro like this. Not to mention how much more efficient the player is at the healers than the AI is. Seriously for people struggling with hard mode, play the healers it make a world of difference.
While I do consider the overleveling problem to be the game's biggest flaw (and it's especially baffling since it hasn't been this bad since Xenoblade on the Wii), there is some fault to be found with the player if they use bonus EXP while already being on par or overleveled. Still, not allowing us to delevel before postgame sucks, especially since I find the side content to be essential to get the most complete picture of the story, particularly with regard to certain plot threads and character arcs. I actually didn't have too many issues with this up until the end of chapter 4, but I also skipped over a fair amount of sidequests. All heroes were recruited and I ascended 12 of the classes, so close to half. But chapter 5 is where the level curve gets way too flat for the amount of side content that becomes available to you. I am of the opinion that the level curve should have been balanced around some bonus EXP use or side questing - those who just want to rush the story can just play on easy mode, it literally says it's for people who want to focus on story. As for hard mode, I think it's quite good. Outside of some early game frustrations that mostly stemmed from not having access to mechanics to shift fights in your favor, I think it does a good job of making the player understand and properly utilize game mechanics both in and outside of battle in order to succeed. People will often say it "just makes battles take longer" but for one I don't think longer battles are a bad thing if that means more potential time for things to go wrong for you, and secondly you can defeat enemies relatively quickly with good setups even on hard mode. also I will never sparking understand why some think so highly of Riki
Picked the game up at launch, and am almost at 80 hours. I play the game so often that I have to stop because the Switch nearly runs out of battery 😅. I don’t know what it is about this game over XC1 and 2, but I feel much more inclined in 3 to do everything I can in the game, such as getting every class on every character, and doing all side quests. This is my first Xenoblade game I bought Day 1, though, so perhaps that’s why - I’m experiencing things that other players are experiencing at about the same time 😁. So all in all, I’m really liking the game, and it may become my favorite. Also, I just wanna throw this tip out there: in battles, if you click the right stick, you do a small dash. This is great if you’re using a character who has an art that targets a specific area of the enemy (front, side, or back) so you can get to that area quicker, and it can make running away from enemies a bit easier.
also I popped on hard mode very early on and died A LOT, (Spark!) and had to start really usin' ye olde brain to get through some of the big setpiece boss fights. was super fun!
Putting Tatsu on the same level of Tora is an insult to Tatsu. Tatsu doesn't make me lose hope in humanity every time I see him. He's at least *only* lame, not downright offensive.
I was 12-15 levels over from chapter 4 onward. Until the home stretch of chapter 7……when I was only 10 levels over. He’s not kidding at all about how brain dead it is to be ridiculously overpowered at ANY given point.
I’ve been enjoying XC2 more than XC tbh… I don’t get why people dislike it so much, the only thing i really don’t like about XC2 is the map and navigation. I’m looking forward to finish it so I can try Torna and then XC3 which looks fantastic
@@characterchampion830Lmao are you kidding? Beatemups literally just said he didn't like it without saying it was objectively bad at ANY point and this guy's video about XC2 made alot of pretty valid points as to why he thinks the game is bad. In reality, I would say that the majority of the bad reputation that the game has (besides obviously its questionable quality in several aspects) are several fans of the game who are so insecure about their own opinion not been "objectively right" that they take any criticism of the game so personally that they end up hating and insulting anyone who does not share their same opinion.
Nah not too many, as someone who has 1000+ hours in this franchise, been playing the past 10 years. Even 13 year old me would understand this. This is just xenoblade and this game did what it did well with mechanics
What I love about Xenoblade as a series is that they have SO MANY mechanics but never make you feel like you HAVE to know them all. You can learn them as you go. To be honest, I didn't know how Chain Attacks or Orb Stacking worked in XC2 until I was all the way at the World Tree when all the Titans converged. It made boss fights WAAAY easier, but at no point innthe game did I ever feel like it was mandatory. In fact, in XC3 I still had fights where I just chose not to Chain Attack because it would have felt too short and unearned if I had 😅 And the series is full of things you can ignore and learn later when you actually need a new advantage or something you're doing feels lacking for too long. The game feels overwhelming if you try to cram it all into your brain at once but you can stretch the learning experience across the entire game and the more you learn the stronger, more experienced, and more skilled you feel. It immerses you into the world even more because YOU get to improve alongside your party 😊
Spark. I found the combat system to be less confusing than XB2. Especially the Chain attack system; it's like the Gem crafting system from XB1 but repurposed into an offensive strategy
I gonna be the odd man out here... I didn't really like XC3. I don't outright hate it or anything, but... I was just unsatisfied the more I played. Full disclosure, I have not beaten it, but I have put it down after about 50 hours (level 48 in chapter 4). Maybe it's just the chaos of having 7 party members with constantly changing class loadouts, but I felt the classes were rather samey within their roles and the arts you could master to use in another class were the most boring options so as not to outshine a class' core arts. Very rarely did I run into a situation where I felt I had to change up my classes in order to progress, which just led to them feeling pointless. The characters were... fine? None of them annoyed me, but none of them really engaged me. Taion and Eunie were the closest, thanks to their no-nonsense bluntness. I still don't know why Noah is our protagonist when Mio is right there; having an actual personal crisis with ever-increasing stakes as the game goes on. Noah's just... meh. 50 hours and the protagonist has affected jack-all for the plot beyond being in the right place at the right time. The tutorials can f*** right off, though. I don't need a game hand holding me through the act of class changing, forcing me to make specific choices for all 6 party members, then immediately LOCKING THE OPTION AWAY! Granted, it was only for a few minutes, but that was just insulting. Like... This isn't my first rpg, guys. I understand what a job system entails. Now let ME make the choices, thank you. If I make the "wrong" choice? Then I can fiddle around with it some more after I'm teleported a 30 second walk away. Character building is my favorite part of rpgs! It's the main draw of the whole genre! I want to find MY play style when I tinker, not what the devs want me to use. Again, all of this is just me. I know I'm the minority. I'm just old enough to stop caring :p Anyway, I hope people continue to enjoy whatever it is about this game they enjoy.
I am at the same point as you, and honestly, I need breaks from the game here and there. I don't the see the Samey part, but it seems like you are bottle necking yourself by staying at chapter 4 still by that level. You should probably advance the story more since in chapter 5 you can unlock Lvl 20 for a ton of classes and That's when the stat/role differentials really hit. I think the tutorials were very annoying too and I just wished there would stick to the drills instead of shoving it down my face on how to do something as simple as class Changing.
My beginner tip for new player at #2 1: For someone who played all Xenoblade i can safely say that XC2 felt more complicated not that i had difficulty with it, personally when there is this much mechanics it just feels way more satisfying to play it right. 2: On the other hand my only complain is i wish I could delevel as i was 30+ lvl over the main story since chapter 4, if i could pass it to someone else i recommend new players to not use the training feature in camps and just focus on the sidequests, don't try too much on fighting monster way above you you will lvl too much. Semi spoiler. 3: don't worry too much on which class to play as every class can be good, have fun experimenting with other classes and find your favorite.
I did think Xenoblade 2 had too many mechanics. And I'm not talking about combat: upgrading arts (for each weapon for every character!) barely matters; upgrading blade affinity, blade affinity charts, driver affinity and accessories matters a bit; and upgrading chips matters a lot. I don't even think that the amount is that much of a problem. My problem with them is that most of them barely matter; the only thing you really need to upgrade is your chips. Even your level barely matters compared to upgrading chips.
To answer the thing about earning classes, the best way is to defeat and overkilling elite monsters, they give 2.5x exp and 2x CP (which are class points) in addition to giving more exp and cp than a normal monster. All this plus the fact that as they don't have as much hp or defense as unique monsters, means that you can get a higher exp bonus which means you'll be earning bonkers amounts of exp and cp, since a 600% exp bonus and, if you play your cards very well, even a 700+% exp bonus plus the 2x exp and cp bonus will mean that you get 14x the exp and cp you would normally, this is one of the fastest ways I found for leveling up your characters and classes, as elite monsters are way faster to kill than unique monsters and if you get a good exp bonus you will get close to the same exp as defeating and overkilling a unique monster, this results in me, late game, leveling up a class all the way from level 1 to level 8 with a single elite monster Have fun grinding guys
You unlock classes slower if you're overleveled. This is of course a huge issue because it is way too easy to overlevel if you do sidequests, but of course you want to do sidequests because those are how you unlock new heroes and unlock the higher levels of classes so unless you blitz the story with a gimped set of party options you WILL be overleveled. Xenoblade 1's original release also had the issue of doing sidequests causing you to out-level the main story, and they fixed it by allowing you to level-down in definitive edition. For some incomprehensible reason they locked the ability to do that until postgame in 3. Bravo takahashi.
Just found out your channel through the Splatoon 3 weapons video and I love it, I thought it was funny as hell and "omg someone who actually played the game they talked about but like genuinely engaged with its content instead of pasting narratives on it". Then I checked your other videos and one recommended to Fire Emblem. I was like ok let's check this out, FE was(RIP) one of my favorite franchise. And boy oh boy between my friends who are either hardcore trash anime lovers, those who only care about fucking characters and gamers who see anime and go "Yeah no", I was so happy to see content of someone who had exactly the same type of nuanced RPG lover thoughts on the franchise. So tl;dr I fukin adore your content, liked and subscribed, I'm going to pick up Xenoblade 1 now on my Switch
Spark! I loved this game and it's my favorite snuffin Xenoblade. They took all the good stuff from XC1 where they could go further and deeper and then scavenged the real good bits of XB2 from the immense amount of bloated loud mess it was covered with. 10 Mwambas out of 10
Good review. I will now wait until the first patch is out and they've hopefully ironed out some of the issues you and others have mentioned-then I'll buy it. Edit: Spark
This is the only review I’ve watched that manages to actually criticize the issues with this game so kudos. Everyone seems so excessively hyped on every pixel of this game, but you actually pointed out the legitimate flaws accurately while still giving credit to its strengths. Others have pointed out that unlocking the new hero classes for characters other than the inheritor requires that you fight similarly leveled mobs, which would be totally fine if the game doesn’t do literally everything it can to over level you so this isn’t possible. The bonus experience system is so unnecessary and I actually ignored it for the second half just to unlock new character classes. The combat takes WAY too long once you unlock the chain attacks, so again you have the option to ignore them or finish the fight after a 5 minute slightly interactive cutscene. The chain attacks take so long that I actually forget what I was fighting by the time they end. And you can basically use them in every battle. It just doesn’t seem very well thought out and the emphasis seems to be on making it seem cool rather than making it work.
This started as a first impressions video...and then I beat the game...
So I guess this is a full impressions video haha
I was just looking for a review of xenoblade3 to decide if I wanted to bug it then you uploaded
Welp..you did reveal some kind of spoiler - about how many chapters are there >.>
Now I'm sad I'm only a chapter away :'(
The 0 class point thing isn't a glitch if the ennemie you bit is lower in level than you you get almost nothing, and nothing nothing if its level is more than 4 level underleveld, I thought it was a bug too :/
Thank you for being such a lightning-fast Captain; Proz has my other string, so swing with that regardless of how perfect it may already look please
9:17 the reason why they weren’t unlocking classes was because of the way too easy overleveling. You don’t earn class points if the enemies are more than 5 levels lower than you, so if you use bonus exp or just fight enough enemies wherever you’ll eventually stop leveling up classes. It might’ve been to encourage players to go after stronger enemies, but the enemies and their level distribution don’t always line up well with the level the party is supposed to be at when you get there. They probably should’ve had all enemies give class points regardless of level but have enemies close/above the party level to give more/bonus class points, and then upped the needed points to unlock a bit to compensate. Spark
Holy cow thank you so much, this explains everything
OHHHHHHHH my god. i was desperately trying to get yumsmith unlocked for the last 2 who didnt have it for forever and i just gave up 😭😭 was this explained anywhere in game?
MY GOOD GOSH THANK YOU AAAAAAAAAAA
Wow, and here I was being completely clueless as to what happened to his game. That's very stupid from Monolith to add, as in no part of the game is this even said. I think the idea is to always battle at your level and not punch down, but EXP and Regular class Points are unaffected...
The ability to level down definitely should have been something that they had in base game and not locked away until post game like in DE.
I know this might sound weird to say, but I didn’t think there were too many mechanics when I played the game. I was able to keep track of everything pretty easily for the most part. I didn’t even know about the too many mechanics critique until I had beaten the game and looked at other peoples’ opinions.
Completely agreed. It has a lot of them, but it introduces them pretty well.
@@jerryborjon except chain attacks I guess, cuz most people don't understand why a lot of stuff is happening.
I see a lot of people wondering why healers cap at 99
imo I don’t think complexity’s a bad thing in a JRPG that’s 60-100 hours long. it’s fine to not get a combat mechanic at first and learn it over time, I’m 70 hours in and only just now realized how to make the most of chain attacks lmao. every single new mechanic you get the hang of or improvement you make to your team feels great
I thought there was a decently large amount of mechanics but the combat itself is enjoyable to me. I definetly prefer it over 2’s whole combat system.
@@dugtrioramen that's on them then. Since there is a tutorial for it and it is quite self explanatory.
It feels like Xenoblade 3 directly addressed almost every issue I had with Xenoblade 2. It genuinely feels like the devs took every single piece of criticism to heart.
When I was playing the game, I was thinking the devs saw Captain Astronaut’s vid and took all his criticisms lol
Well that's what happens when xc2 leaves u on a sour note.
Literally I loved the party, I loved the character designs, I loved the world, I got invested in the story because of just how great the characters were, the English voice acting is *chefs kiss*, and most of all THE NOPON ARE ACTUALLY GREAT CHARACTERS ON THIS GAME, like almost all of them, don't think I've been annoyed by any of them so far (Manana is probably my least liked but that is miles above Tatsu or maid robot creator)
@@gemain609 - Completely agreed with everything you said. While I still prefer Riki, I can totally see why some people prefer Riku. He’s a great character.
Exactly my thoughts! Compared to this one, XC2 almost feels like it was designed as a testing ground to try out new ideas for the series. It simply didn't work for most people. Did it do a good job at selling and grabbing people's attention? Sure it did! Waifus sell of course and Pyra/Mythra were obviously made to be marketable waifu characters based on their design alone. However the game itself suffers from alot of issues. I still have a soft spot for that game but it clearly wasn't what the series needed. XC3 however felt a lot more similar to the first game and it even took some of the positives from XC2 and improved on them. XC3 feels like it was made to be the rightful succesor of XC1 and I'm happy with the results we got.
Can’t wait to get the expansion pack just so I can drive the Xenobike around the map
i personally want the breath of the wild costume but valid
Does it come with seven seats?!
I'm a simple man. I see a Captain Astro video and I click immediately.
Me too
Anyone that has a hard time with this game should take the time to familiarize themselves in the training guides. I loved 2 but this is just so much better. If you still have trouble just make sure mwamba is in your lineup, dude one shots the final boss
Mwamba one shot all the superbosses for me.
10/10 would recommend.
Mwamba best Hero in the game, no cap
@@GamingFreakShow1991 His chain order "It's Mwambin' Time" is so overpowered it deals adds a 10 Mwambillion damage multiplier to the chain attack and gives the entire party the buff "Mwamba Charge", which is like Power Charge but multiplies their damage by Ten Mwambillion.
@@asprinjuice425 if you edit a save make him playable he actually has a chain attack orderz but it has no name and the animation is half done
Lemme explain a few of the mechanics that you seemed to not understand.
1. Character roles on the main 6 characters affect their TP in chain attacks. Attackers will get their TP multiplied by 1.25 if they go first, defenders will guarantee the character with the highest TP is reactivated next round, and healers will call the TP at 99% so you can more easily get a high percentage in the end.
Heroes have their own unique orders and bonuses that are shown when you hover over them, and they don't drain the chain attack gauge when you use them, allowing you to use 4 normal orders Instead of only 3 usually.
2. Ouroborus orders in chain attacks are activated when 2 characters who form an ouroborus pair (like Noah and Mio) are both used as orders. Ideally you want the ouroborus order to be the 5th one.
3. The reason the classes didn't unlock was because you were overleveled. You're probably overleveled because you use bonus exp. If you just never use bonus exp you'll probably stay within 5 levels of the enemy which is what you want if you want to unlock classes.
Hope that clears things up for anyone who didn't understand those things either
Yeah, to be honest it seems like he didn't pay enough attention, none of this is hard to understand or figure out the reason why something was happening...
I'm kinda sad about the not using bonus exp part.....bonus exp is rewarded to players if they do well. Then in order to unlock more game you need to....not use the rewards?
@@cyncynshop bonus exp exists so you can do sidequests without getting too overleveled. It isn't a reward for doing well per say.
@@cyncynshop my theory is Monolith was worried about the player needing to grind too much in 3. Never felt like a problem in this series but I could see complaints for that in 2.
Honestly, I don’t mind. I stopped using bonus XP early on and it’s nice not having to kill every monster in my way.
Bonus Exp is honestly a trap in this game it's not even funny. Thankfully I never used it outside of the time the game forces you to do it and I've been having a blast leveling up classes as I explore (in chapter 6 now and doing the hero missions that unlock the lvl 20 cap and god damn the versatility when you really start getting these skills is SOOOO nice).
As a means of keeping you from over leveling from side quests, it's genius
Just leaving it out there:
Hard mode is HARD. I can sometimes beat enemies that are slightly higher levels than me, but really struggle with unique monsters that are the same level. For certain enemies with high damage AOE attacks, it can be extremely difficult to beat them unless they are much lower leveled than I am, since they have a tendency to one- shot all of the healers...
As someone who hasn't played the game yet, what he was describing about being massively overleveled during normal mode for most of the game seems pretty lame. I play most games including Xenoblade games at normal difficulty usually, do you think it is worth playing in hard mode instead for this one?
@@tristanneal9552 Not going to lie, hard mode is incredibly difficult and downright frustrating at times when lower leveled enemies one- shot your entire party, and you will likely face some serious difficulty with many of the boss fights. I have not yet gotten completely stuck, but have had moments when I had to put the game down and take a break because I was struggling so much.
That said, I do find it incredibly satisfying to beat the enemies when it is so difficult, and I have not yet used any bonus XP to level up a single time, so it is possible to make it a bit easier on yourself than I am. Don't be surprised if you can't beat a single unique monster at around your own level for the first few dozens of hours however.
Hard mode generally forces you to both have a fairly good party setup, memorize more of the different attacks of all the different enemies, have some pretty good reaction time, and to do some more side content to level up your party and get better items, skills and classes. It can definitely be worth it if you like a good challenge, but can also feel a little unfair at times.
@@tristanneal9552 I'll offer a totally different take: hard mode has been a breeze outside of one or two side bosses, and fighting any tyrant that was within five levels of me. Depending on the tyrant, I can take it on >5 levels up, on even levels, or still struggle when up 10+ levels. This is largely because I have gone out of my way to spend as little time on a maxed class, probably less than an hour total.
I am constantly switching my party members' classes, and go out of my way to get heroes when I'm running out of classes, then grind a couple over leveled enemies to instantly unlock the class for everyone. This is the secret to unlocking classes hella fast, btw; specifically hunt down a few (yes, really, a few) enemies 3-5 levels over you, and you will have the new class or classes almost immediately, especially if multiple people have them equipped.
On hard, I've been able to turn my brain off (and turn auto battle on) for a lot of grinder activities (hunting mats for gems), while still having to pay attention for most bosses. But, I really haven't struggled outside of a small handful of fights, and all of them were side quests or optional, and corresponded with me having terrible team comps (after a certain point, at least for me, I had to abandon ever having a tank, or a healer, because there are few defender heroes and a TON of DPS ones). Even still, some creative problem solving and the new build options item wise they included saw me through. You WILL out level all content story wise, but there will ALWAYS be higher level enemies to kill to unlock your new classes. And killing tyrants is worth it for the accessories they drop.
I say all of this, to set up my real point: the difficulty in these games ALWAYS comes post game. There are many ultra high level tyrants that will be very, very difficult to beat even with a sound strategy and a well rounded party. They all require mastery of the games many, many systems, and an optimized party comp. And it feels great when you take one down.
If you are really concerned about over leveling on Normal or Hard, my best advice would be to completely forgo any and all use of bonus XP. This is the one thing you can control.
I made the mistake of starting my first playthrough in Hard mode.
Because i thought i was good at the game (i was not)
I beat all the previous XC games, so how different could it be? (very)
I totally wasnt super overconfident (i was)
And i totally didnt pay the price as it took me what felt like 5 hours to beat the first two bosses in the game.
@@WH40KHero Definitely would say that my comment still holds true, but I have also somewhat shifted perspective. The first 20-50 hours in the game are definitely *very* hard on hard mode, and I really struggled with many of the battles, especialy against he first fight between the Keves and Agnus members of the main party, the consuls and some of the heroes.
This can be a really fun, but also unforgiving challenge for players not proficcient at the game's combat, even if they are really good with the combat in the previous games. After I started unlocking arts cancelling for ouroboros however, exploiting their invincibility and high damage & aggro generation, the game went from being really hard to being only somewhat hard during some of the strongest bosses.
The main thing I dislike about the game's difficulty, is that it doesn't allow you to level down until postgame, which means even in hard mode, you are likely to become overleveled and start noticing a significant drop in difficulty at some point (for me this happened once I was past midgame at lvl. 50).
One thing they also DESPERATELY need to change is the accessory inventory screen. You end up having like hundreds of these things by the end of the game and......... you can only display like 5 at a time on a vertical inventory screen with no good indication of the stats of each item till you scroll to them. This has got to be the absolute worst inventory screen in a game for a while. Just give us a grid that displays more items and makes it easier to tell what items are higher tier or lower tier. It makes it such a chore to change up character's classes cause I'm not really trying to scroll through hundreds of accessories just to finally scroll to the one that I want or attempt to try and find a different one that I've already scrolled passed that I want to select now.
I think my issue with the accessory screen in particular is being unable to sort it at all, you’re just stuck with the “order obtained” sorting which sucks if things like the Seven accessories are obtained a distance apart from each other because of unique monster cheese or exploration issues
They had a great accessory-sorter system in Xenoblade 2, not sure why they forgot about it in Xenoblade 3.
You can sort the inventory. You have to select what accessory you want to replace first, press -, and it'll allow you to sort it by chronological, category, recommended, or favorites (rarity might also be an option, but I don't feel like grabbing my Switch from the other room to double-check)
XC3’s greatest strength is not its world or story, but it IS it’s worldbuilding, which is stunningly well done. Random characters will tell you things that explain the names or aesthetics of something in the world that needed no explanation. Even the menu and it’s orange colors is based on the in-game irises. It all feels so real and well thought out.
9:32 to answer the question. Your party members don't get the points needed to unlock said class if the enimes your killing are 5 or more levels below you. Also they learn the class at different rates.
What an entertaining review, I'm actually crying
on a side note, Enel's chain attack vid definitely helped me figure it all out
For the next game just hire Enel to do the tutorials
The bonus EXP mechanic is specifically designed so you can control the difficulty of your game to how you want it. If you use it, youre going to always be over leveled. If you dont use it, you will generally be around the level you should be unless you excessively grind.
Its basically another difficulty slider, and helps eliminate post game grind.
The problem is that it actively encourages you to use it the first campfire you get, and you cant level down until post game, so you can easily overlevel yourself if you think its a mechanic you need to use and not one to help you get through an area if youre having trouble.
The time it takes to unlock a class seems to be linked to the character's proficiency at that class: A-proficiency characters will unlock it first, D-proficiency characters will unlock it last.
Ah, fellow Riki Enjoyer I see.
You like X too?
I like ya Mr.Spaceman
Even though Xenoblade 3 didn't reach the highs of Xenoblade 1 for me, it does fix the problems of 2. It's somewhere in the middle, albeit closer to 1 in quality. As for Chain Attack, going at or above 150% will give you 2 teammates back, while going at or above 200% will give you 3 teammates back. And regarding Fusion Arts, they charge up your Ouroboros level.
Also, it'll be interesting to see how the mechanics will carry over to the next Smash game.
We ain’t ever gonna get Elma now 😭
@@flameheadshero I feel your pain. At least we have Taion.
@@flameheadshero I also share that pain she would be really cool with her play style.
Xenoblade 1 is ass
I love how I finally found someone that was hurt as much as me by Fire Emblem Fates
I just did chapter 5…this game is amazing 🤯
I don’t really think the game is complicated tho.
I play on hard and manage just fine
The tutorials did a great job and that’s coming from someone who couldn’t understand xenoblade 2 that well.
Overall I’m in love with xenoblade 3
Goty for me thus far
Chapter 5 had me in tears had to take a small break cause god damn was it masterfully handled (also Cadensia was a fantastic zone, less so if you're the type that likes manually filling out the map)
Xeno 2s tutorials were trash lol so dw about it the game was ugly garbagely trash at explaining its mechanics lmao. 😂
Feels like the character artist went through some sort of personal reckoning between 2 and this game, like wow I feel like there’s nothing to complain about this time
Or he made designs that fit the tone of the story?
@@skylandersfan6954 they didn't let Tetsuya Nomura touch anything this time.
Spark-ing awesome. I really loved it. And also I watched a guide on how chain attacks worked and everything just clicked after that and I loved using them way more.
I love everything about chain attacks beside the fact they override any music playing. I really wish they had a toggle feature for that
A lot of people are pointing out how polarizing 3 is compared to 2, and it fixing a lot of their complaints with the game.
I couldn't agree more, but honestly that challenge mode needs to come out because this is the best Xenoblade combat AND party customization we've EVER had and we can only really test it out on Unique monsters out in the field
Is 3 as polarizing as 2 though?
@@skylandersfan6954 as polarizing is different than polarizing between the two, I was saying the jump from 2 to 3 is polarizing because of the complete tonal shift
@@cyurle3940 Not really, late game Xenoblade 2 and Torna are very in line with 3's depressing tone especially the endings of both chapter 9 & 10
@@skylandersfan6954 yeah doesn't really match up if only an 8th of your game matches the other two games tonally. Like Xeno 1 and 3 are wrought with depressing tones from start to finish, and I'd argue Torna isn't depressing so much as KH 358 is, we only know it's sad because we know what happens at the end
@@cyurle3940 Its more than an 8th though, the game takes itself seriously when it needs to. The entire point is that the game progressively gets more dark as it goes along, complaining that it doesn't take itself seriously and being edgy 100% of the time is really odd
I was eagerly waiting your XC3 video
Hard mode actually does make things harder. The enemies have more hp more debuff resistance, more attack power. Your chain attacks are weaker ouroboros levels charge slower and I think the enemies charge arts faster. You can still be high level comparatively but the boss fights can still be tough if you let them drag on too long
The biggest flaw imo was definitely not being able to level down before the final boss, for most of the game I was 15-20 levels higher than the story bosses, and because of that I was gaining basically 0 CP and was stuck in the same classes for a while. Overall it's a Great game but needs balance
I actually like the battle system in XC3 compared to XC2. Idm controlling multiple characters at once though most of the time i play with Noah and lately Sena. It took awhile to understand the combat system but once you get the hang of it, watch it go skkrrtt as you let loose those sweet sweet damages (case in point everyone's goal now is to break the CA combo and see how much damage you can get off).
Edit: oh and the reason why your CP is increasing excruciatingly slowly is because your main party members are too high level and you're battling against low levelled monsters/bosses. And you're not consuming food that boost your CP. General rule of thumb is that you wanna be lower levelled when battling against monsters/bosses.
E.g. i just got off yesterday by battling a level 71 superboss while at level 66 with a CP boost. My character class CP shot through the roof and i unlocked further classes for some of my party members.
You deserve way more attention,especially considering how
Likable and engaging you are.
Keep doing what you love and I appreciate you.
Spark!
Man it feels weird that just now i'm realizing those are a lot of mechanics, idk how but the game felt natural and progressive and i knew what i was doing.
I actually switched characters and it made me feel like I was pulling off the whole battle, and they felt even faster than sticking to one player.
The story is way more emotional than the other Xenoblade games, which i love (Chapter 5 being the extreme highlight of amazing writing) i'd say overall this is a worthy Xenoblade game.
I myself consider it to be on par with Xenoblade 1 or even higher, but that's for personal preference.
In the end i love this game and i think this is the true sequel Xenoblade 1 deserved.
I kinda feel like the story is unfinished. It's the least mind blowing xeno plot, and a bunch of questions went unanswered. I also wish the writing stayed as good and as somber as the first 5 chapters, cuz the last 2 chapters were really lacking
@@dugtrioramen I feel like the characters as a group had more development this time around though. In Xenoblade 1 the characters with the most development were Shulk and Melia. Dunban and Sharla aren’t that far behind but Reyn, Riki and Seven really don’t have much to do. In this group, it feels like everyone is equally important as they all drive the story together, meanwhile Reyn could probably be taken out of the story past the Ether Mine in XC1 and you wouldn’t lose too much in the grand scheme of things story wise.
Basically, they did good but it’s all of to personal preference, yeah?
My main complaint about the game is how underwhelming the Ourboros forms are. In the cutscenes, they have you just rushing all over the place, flying, etc in your Ourboros form but for the actual gameplay..... the form only works in combat and it's super sluggish feeling. Imagine how cool it could have been to be able to actually explore in these forms like the skells from Xenoblade Chronicles X? It just feels like a massive missed opportunity.
Same tbh, it felt like a massive missed opportunity to not be able to pilot the Ouroboros forms outside of combat especially with how fluid their animation are. Being able to skate around with Mio's Ouroboros would've been amazing.
A suggestion I'd give would be to beeline upgrading to art-canceling with Ouroboros forms, its a godsend. Eunie's Ouroboros went from maybe 3 to 4 arts in one transformation to 5 to 6 arts and constant aoe and healing. I wish art canceling wasn't behind an upgrade but it makes their forms much stronger
Level 0 Ouroboros is so useless lol
Spoilers for beginning of Chap 6:
when the game started the battle with the party in ouroboros against the agnian queen, I was like "ooh" and then it was Level 0 so I was like...
okay... I guess I'll cancel...
idk, the forms felt pretty cool to me. I mean yeah they're slow, but so is your normal form and nobody minds that. Level 3 is actually really good and I think the mechanic was handled beautifully. You have to use your fusion arts to actually make it good, because otherwise it's just gonna be another win button (*plot armour blade cough cough*)
Thanks for the review! I'm excited to play!
You are welcome Koramora, glad I could help 🙏🏿
"there are so many ways to become disgustingly overlevled"
My man, I entered the final boss at level 69 thinking I was at a nice level (no pun intended) and he was LEVEL 75
Gotta say that hard mode does in fact actually make the game hard. Not so hard that you need to grind, but I have yet to encounter a story boss that hasn't wiped or almost wiped my party one or more times. You'd probably enjoy that more if you feel like putting in a bit more effort to learning the mechanics such as in chain attacks.
Honestly I got sick of it in the early game cause you don't have a lot to meaningfully counter the high damage and high evasiveness of the UM's. With where I'm at now in the game (chapter 6) with multiple classes lvl 10 or higher and the ability to use accessories and adapt to UM encounters could see myself enjoying it a lot more.
To be honest this game was much more streamlined and easier to understand than the mess that was XC2. XC2 had a lot of hidden mechanics and side effects of certain skills. Like if Pyra did her level 3, that actually had special effects that the game just never told you or mentioned anywhere. Not to mention a lot of tutorials being tucked away at a merchant and costing money (and most tutorials being a barebones couple lines of text without explaining or demonstrating anything). Also a lot of tutorials are just straight up wrong.
XC3 was such a breath of fresh air after feeling like drowning in XC2's gameplay. I love XC2 but it is definitely a game I don't want to replay any time soon.
I really liked xc3, it’s not a game without issues but for me personally I felt like it had a lot more positives to outweigh any of the major issues I had, the gameplay is pretty fun and the characters are probably the best in the series for me personally that being said I feel quite a bit of the overarching plot didn’t resolve neatly or with all questions answered so until the dlc I’m still waiting for answers. Also minor spoilers but I think these villains are as a whole the weakest In the series, d and j are very under-utilised which is disappointing cuz wild ride was a good potential metal face successor until they just barely used them. N was a great villain imo and Is only really held back by his development being so heavily back loaded into the game. The rest of morbius really left little impact unfortunately
I haven’t completely finished the game yet but I have to agree that the characters are amazing. 1’s characters felt somewhat boring to me when I played through it and 2’s characters and character design were amazing but the gameplay wasn’t really fun. Personally, 3 is the perfect mix of an actually fun combat system and has characters that are interesting and work somewhat well together. The story is a lot shorter then other xenoblade games since 1 had 12 chapters and 2 had 10. They probably are going to answer more questions in part 4 of the paid dlc but who knows when that’s going to come out.
This game has a problem of having too many villains and never focusing on any of them other than N, I would have preferred D and J, N, X, Y and Z to be the main antagonists that keep reappearing and having less generic consul fights just to get us to hate them a little more. In the case of X she literally only appears in Eunie's side story which is optional, meaning that you can literally kill her in a very underwhelming fight only for her to show up alive again if you decide to do that side story afterwards.
@@justaguy3983 In my opinion that's the other way around. I really love the first game's characters whilst not being as fond of 2's, but love the second game's combat way more to the first.
Spaceman's moves during the combat explanation were really spicy!
I was auto-battling the game while watching this. I've been super hooked to the game for the past 10 days, but controlling one character of 7 really doesn't have a lot of impact as you said.
I don’t think they emphasized swapping party members enough because doing that means you won’t really have to be waiting for arts to recharge and if you do it correctly you control your whole party and damn, it can be satisfying
I’m really enamoured with how much of a turn-around this game is from XBC2, and how this game addressed most of the issues that I had with the prior entry.
Taion especially was a standout character from the core cast, and I’m looking forward to the DLC Campaign that’s part of the Expansion Pass.
I mean it was going to be a way better than XC2. It’s widely known barely anyone worked on XC2.
@@mrbubbles6468 and it’s still much better than a lot of other games in recent years. Just goes to show what a little soul and live for your work can do for a team of creatives.
@@raisylvaine8398 You could say this about any moderately above average game in any time period of gaming ever
Every generation has had shovelware and content funneled out without much effort, even from AAA companies including Nintendo
on the contrary there's a fucking buttload of good games with soul from 2017+ that makes me feel Joy
@@internetguy7319 thank you for affirming the point
The game essentially drip feeds the player all the mechanics over the course of the entire game making it so that the complexity isn’t much of a problem.
Especially since you can review tutorials in game at any time and go into a VR simulation to test them out.
i feel that the game was more balanced around hard mode then normal like sometimes some fights on hard mode are stupid (cough cough any massive group fight)
but other then that the game is pretty easy with the over leveling
However with over leveling you run the risk of maybe never unlocking classes or leveling them up. Risk vs reward is definitely something they grasped with this game I’d say
@@raisylvaine8398 yes but also once you have a certain thing i can't talk about because spoilers and you just farm over lvled normal enemies you can unlock any classes you are missing in about 1 hour or so with the stupid effect it can do because at that point you can just earn 80-100 cp per enemy even with d ranked classes if you have the accessory equipped
I really suffered from the "are my actions as a player really making a difference?" problem. The CPU's just do so sparkin' much!
Maybe taking time to understand the combat a little more would help, the player is always able to be smarter than the CPU’s, especially as a healer or DPS since they may hold off on using certain skills even when you NEED them.
~~Fucking Eunie with Group Heal active letting everyone die because I didn’t swap to her~~
@@raisylvaine8398 on the contrary, I put on auto battle once or twice and each time I saw that the AI was doing better at the whole Playing The Game Thing than me lol
I even saw mechanics used in ways I didn't know you could >.>
In a game like this, it's absolutely able to be played by an AI, it's not honestly that difficult
If you learn how to properly do damage as a character you'll out damage a CPU doing anything by a large amount. CPU won't cancel arts into arts and also pretty rarely cancels autos into arts.
Are you playing on Hard Mode? You can notice the differences you're making in combat much more easily there. Normal Mode can kinda just be mashed through.
I really liked this game too. I think it had a bunch of little issues that eventually detract from the experience, but they're nothing that ever made me want to stop playing. Actually, the game is so good that a lot of the problems stuck out because of how they compare to the rest (like how it takes ages for them to do something with Sena or how most of the villains don't get enough of a relationship with the party before they get taken out of the story). Then again, part of me wonders if I was just so relieved that it was so different from Xenoblade 2 that I rated it higher than might after more time has passed.
I would say its the hardest campaign by far if you play on hard mode. Early game balance is kind of eh because you dont have as many things you can change when you lose and unique monsters had too much health prior to chain attacks. Overall though I liked it made every unique monster a struggle and the story quite difficult too. The damage you take is quite high, but it makes it so you actually to understand what's imbalanced about your party. If youre losing aggro you dont have enough defenders, if your defenders are dying you dont have enough healing, or maybe your healers need to be able to clear debuffs etc. The only big problem is the final boss his aoe attacks are fucking brutal, its not uncommon for all your healers die suddenly if you only have two. Any wipe takes you back to the start and now you have sit through what felt like decade long animations, that quite simply not as cool the 5th time. Not to mention that there are multiple sections where mechanics are locked away from you or the random part where your party is split in half, and the game just says "hope you have healer and tank on both your keves and agnus characters otherwise fuck you"
Oh spark you're one of the only people not talking about the sunffin' frequency and reuse of after battle quotes. LANZ WANTS SOMETHING A BIT MEATIER!!!
i started playing this game a couple days ago after not getting it for weeks, and it almost feels like an apology letter to xc1 fans for xc2 existing
Yea I know what u mean wth is Xenoblade answer a stupid harem anime.
Really? Because it honestly feels more similar to 2 than it does to 1, just with less fanservice
fantastic review, the part at 12:37 made me laugh out loud.
oh man I would love a Tales of Symphonia 2 review. and a FE Fates review for that matter.
spark
I'm currently on the final dungeon and I know what you mean about being over leveled, personally I found that if you avoid using the bonus exp at campfires I stayed at a reasonable level, keeping in mind I did all the hero quests
Easiest game my ass I died 10-50 times against almost every major boss on hard mode.
In all seriousness it’s as hard as you make it and if you want an actual challenge go hard mode.
(It’s actually fucking hard especially during chapter 1)
Honestly considering the story falls flat on its face at the end and is basically equivalent to a "it was all a dream" scenario left a somewhat sour opinion, I think 1 and 2 feel like much more complete games in that their ends didn't feel rushed, so I like them better.
The weird thing about the ending is that it looks a lot like an ‘it was all a dream’ ending, but it also isn’t? Since everything that goes down in the game did really happen, but from the perspective of the worlds that existed before and after Aionios, it feels like only a second has passed.
It’s actually kinda like the JRPG version of Link’s Awakening. The ultimate goal is to break out of the static world because it’s a crapsack shithole of a place to live that’s also a gross perversion of the natural order, but doing so also wipes away all of the growth one’s experiences in said world have catalyzed within themselves. Of course, I’d think this game’s interpretation of that kind of plot also comes with a better outcome than that of Link’s Awakening because there is the distinct implication that the actions taken within Aionios have left behind distinct impressions that will stick with the characters as they experience the lives they were meant to lead, if the game doesn’t outright hint that the party members will all reunite someday.
One can only wonder exactly what events the DLC story will cover, considering there is just as much valid material for a prequel as there is an epilogue…
In my opinion the ending was fine, we already knew that the two worlds had combined and that Aionios is the consequence for trying to stop things from changing out of the fear of it going wrong. It's not a dream at all as everything happening within the world is real, but time is simply just allowed to move forward again
6:30 lmao you described that moment quite well. That part really does feel like a fanfiction
Why does it?
Spark. I've been playing it for over 70h on hard mode and it definitely feels like the intended difficulty. I'm the type of player to collect and battle as much as possible and I have almost 10 bonus levels waiting to be claimed in chapter 5.
I NEVER KNEW ABOUT SELECTING CHARACTERS IN CHAIN ATTACKS WITH THE CONTROL PAD THAT WOULD HAVE MADE IT SO MUCH BETTER FOR ME
Are you fucking kidding right now
How the hell
I just realized this game’s battle system is recognizing venn diagrams on the ground. That just hit my funny bone.
xenoblade fans when you get one mechanic wrong and express that you got it wrong in video form: "*I'm going to cancel you!*"
The slow start got me at the beginning. It was a bit weird at first, but after a few hours or so it had its hooks in me, and some time later it got me completely by the unmentionables.
Awesome game, 10/10 would play again. Should play again...i need to finish the postgame still...i should do that, seriously!
Also the handholding at the beginning of the game is excessive! I mean, seriously, this didnt feel like handholding, it felt like my mom pulling me through the store with the force of tenthousand horsepower!
SPARK (it all)
Great review! Despite not including spoilers, I feel similar thoughts on many of your points. It's a fun game with a lot of charm but the gameplay does tend to be a lot to digest as you continue and unlock more stuff. Great for those that love it but as a more casual player nowadays, I'm not picking up on everything lmao I also did not learn about being able to choose which characters to use during a Chain Attack until chapter 7 cuz I watched a playthrough and someone did exactly that. Still had a good time regardless! Solid game all around even if most of my gripes revolved around the story, mostly towards the second half of the game. And yes, I hope it's what you're talking about, but that one song post game is VERY good. Really tells me it's time to fight 🙂
I also appreciate not being alone in refusing to believe THAT one scene is real and not just fanfiction oh my god
Played this game on launch day but didn’t continue the first chapter for a few weeks before I truly has the time to start it… oh boy, spent most of the next two months playing this one, single, game, only getting myself to the final boss after 170 hours of playtime, and doing almost all of the side quests, only missing one that I did right away in the post game.
I truly made the right choice to switch to hard mode right in the beginning, right before the end of the first chapter, before I was specifically afraid of being overleveled if I strayed too much from the main path. I thought hard mode would reduce the exp gain (it didn’t), but choosing not to use any bonus exp made it have the *perfect* difficulty for me. It was tough, tough at nails at times, almost softlocking me during a side story that didn’t let me leave until I beat its boss. Spent most of the game being 5 to 10 levels higher than the main story, but every fight was a struggle, one I thoroughly remember, but appreciate.
I really liked the Xenoblade series before this game, 2, my first one, was pretty cool to me, X, while I still haven’t finished it because I don’t particularly enjoy its type of gameplay structure as much, is still a great game to boot from time to time, and 1, that I experienced through DE was also a great experience. I was already a good fan of the story, the characters, the content, but it wasn’t until 3 that I truly got to appreciate this series to the fullest, even making the games before it better to me. I replayed through 2 recently, which made me appreciate it that much more, and I’m planning to replay 1 soon.
Either I’m still in my honeymoon phase 8 to 10 months after finishing this game, or either it truly was one of my fondest gaming experiences I ever gotten, that I’ll truly cherish as one of my favorite games of all time.
i think the game was really strong overall exept for chapter 7 where i feel the writing was much less interesting. maybe becuase i was expected 10 chapters and a xenoblade 1 like twist, but the game lost lots of interest for me. the ending was still sparkin' good tho
The number of chapters doesn't have anything to do with this, as the actual game duration is globally the same as the previous ones. It was even longer in my case.
And like Xenoblade 2, the final chapter began with a cutscene revealing many plot points, even if we didn't have any twists, I liked the chapter for all the reveals it made.
About what you said about unlocking classes, you nees to be fighting enemies that are 5 levels below you at minimum to gain cp/unlock classes, it also seems like unlocking classes works like exp where overkill will help you unlock it faster, using more characters with the class will help you unlock it faster, like using 1 hero will unlock classes slower than 1 hero 1 character with the class. There is also rankings with them S-A-B-C-D rank which will effect the rate of unlocking classes and ranking up with them.
Spark. I'm sorry for the series, but XCX was my first experience with the series. It was a game of dwindelling hope, big mechs, exploration, and micro management, and I loved it so much, I expected the series to go that way, again.
I'm only here to say that I really really miss XCX, but I love your editing and sound design for your videos. I wish you a fantastic day, Mr. Spaceguy
Yea Xenoblade x was my first as well tho I do enjoy xeno 1 for it's story,characters and music. However xeno 2 was a massive downgrade to xeno 1 and felt like they wanted to make xeno 2 a harem anime which I absolutely hate.
12:40 The player is actually monumentally stronger than the AI since you can make full use of art cancelling. The AI won't cancel arts into arts and is pretty inconsistent on cancelling autos into arts. When you make use of stuff like In cursor's 3 recharge skill and Martial Artist's level 15 master skill which recharges arts on crit. You almost just turret arts for a long time. As a dps you will rip aggro like this.
Not to mention how much more efficient the player is at the healers than the AI is. Seriously for people struggling with hard mode, play the healers it make a world of difference.
I like the AI so far, but the healers can be real dumbshits sometimes
Glad to see a new video from Mr. Spaceman!
I was waiting so impatiently for this review
I still await for that part III review. Those were the videos I discovered your channel.
Soon! But not too soon lol
@@CaptainAstronaut good enough for me :3, love your commentary.
I'm on the fence about Splatoon 3, I hope to hear about your opinions on that one.
Thank u spaceman I was literally waiting for your review before I bought it
While I do consider the overleveling problem to be the game's biggest flaw (and it's especially baffling since it hasn't been this bad since Xenoblade on the Wii), there is some fault to be found with the player if they use bonus EXP while already being on par or overleveled. Still, not allowing us to delevel before postgame sucks, especially since I find the side content to be essential to get the most complete picture of the story, particularly with regard to certain plot threads and character arcs. I actually didn't have too many issues with this up until the end of chapter 4, but I also skipped over a fair amount of sidequests. All heroes were recruited and I ascended 12 of the classes, so close to half. But chapter 5 is where the level curve gets way too flat for the amount of side content that becomes available to you.
I am of the opinion that the level curve should have been balanced around some bonus EXP use or side questing - those who just want to rush the story can just play on easy mode, it literally says it's for people who want to focus on story.
As for hard mode, I think it's quite good. Outside of some early game frustrations that mostly stemmed from not having access to mechanics to shift fights in your favor, I think it does a good job of making the player understand and properly utilize game mechanics both in and outside of battle in order to succeed. People will often say it "just makes battles take longer" but for one I don't think longer battles are a bad thing if that means more potential time for things to go wrong for you, and secondly you can defeat enemies relatively quickly with good setups even on hard mode.
also I will never sparking understand why some think so highly of Riki
It's because of his heart-to-hearts. Riki has some of the best heart-to-hearts
Picked the game up at launch, and am almost at 80 hours. I play the game so often that I have to stop because the Switch nearly runs out of battery 😅. I don’t know what it is about this game over XC1 and 2, but I feel much more inclined in 3 to do everything I can in the game, such as getting every class on every character, and doing all side quests. This is my first Xenoblade game I bought Day 1, though, so perhaps that’s why - I’m experiencing things that other players are experiencing at about the same time 😁. So all in all, I’m really liking the game, and it may become my favorite.
Also, I just wanna throw this tip out there: in battles, if you click the right stick, you do a small dash. This is great if you’re using a character who has an art that targets a specific area of the enemy (front, side, or back) so you can get to that area quicker, and it can make running away from enemies a bit easier.
I love love love love love love love love this game. but yes, mechanics festival. Love ya videos as always!
also I popped on hard mode very early on and died A LOT, (Spark!) and had to start really usin' ye olde brain to get through some of the big setpiece boss fights. was super fun!
Ah Spark. I love the Xenoblade series and this was a great addition. Amazing game.
"That's Dunban over there!" 😂 Cool video!
I still feel that putting Tora on the same level as Tatsu is an insult to Tora. Tatsu should be completely off the bottom of the scale.
Putting Tatsu on the same level of Tora is an insult to Tatsu.
Tatsu doesn't make me lose hope in humanity every time I see him. He's at least *only* lame, not downright offensive.
Your style of reviews is amazing.
I was 12-15 levels over from chapter 4 onward. Until the home stretch of chapter 7……when I was only 10 levels over. He’s not kidding at all about how brain dead it is to be ridiculously overpowered at ANY given point.
I’ve been enjoying XC2 more than XC tbh… I don’t get why people dislike it so much, the only thing i really don’t like about XC2 is the map and navigation. I’m looking forward to finish it so I can try Torna and then XC3 which looks fantastic
yeah 2 is extremely overhated, most of it is caused by this guy and another youtuber called beatemups
I feel like XC2 was done wrong, it could have been done a lot better
@@characterchampion830Lmao are you kidding? Beatemups literally just said he didn't like it without saying it was objectively bad at ANY point and this guy's video about XC2 made alot of pretty valid points as to why he thinks the game is bad.
In reality, I would say that the majority of the bad reputation that the game has (besides obviously its questionable quality in several aspects) are several fans of the game who are so insecure about their own opinion not been "objectively right" that they take any criticism of the game so personally that they end up hating and insulting anyone who does not share their same opinion.
Nah not too many, as someone who has 1000+ hours in this franchise, been playing the past 10 years. Even 13 year old me would understand this. This is just xenoblade and this game did what it did well with mechanics
X is my favorite game of all time and I thought 2 was just ok, so I'm worried this game might be too British for me.
Legitimately one of if not my favorite game of all time
What I love about Xenoblade as a series is that they have SO MANY mechanics but never make you feel like you HAVE to know them all. You can learn them as you go.
To be honest, I didn't know how Chain Attacks or Orb Stacking worked in XC2 until I was all the way at the World Tree when all the Titans converged. It made boss fights WAAAY easier, but at no point innthe game did I ever feel like it was mandatory. In fact, in XC3 I still had fights where I just chose not to Chain Attack because it would have felt too short and unearned if I had 😅
And the series is full of things you can ignore and learn later when you actually need a new advantage or something you're doing feels lacking for too long. The game feels overwhelming if you try to cram it all into your brain at once but you can stretch the learning experience across the entire game and the more you learn the stronger, more experienced, and more skilled you feel. It immerses you into the world even more because YOU get to improve alongside your party 😊
personally i think xenoblade 1 is still the best but this game was absolutely incredible and was super close to a perfect score for me.
Riku is clearly S-Tier purely for the savage lines against Kite and Lanz.
I love your fair reviews. Rare to find tbh.
Spoilers for chapter 5 ending
You think you’re safe when you’re overleveled until M takes your gunner character and makes you regret life decisions
Sparking Loved this review..
Spark that was a sparking good video mate
Spark. I found the combat system to be less confusing than XB2. Especially the Chain attack system; it's like the Gem crafting system from XB1 but repurposed into an offensive strategy
Id say understanding Xenoblade 3's combat better than 2's is moreso a boon to the tutorials rather than the combat
I gonna be the odd man out here... I didn't really like XC3. I don't outright hate it or anything, but... I was just unsatisfied the more I played. Full disclosure, I have not beaten it, but I have put it down after about 50 hours (level 48 in chapter 4). Maybe it's just the chaos of having 7 party members with constantly changing class loadouts, but I felt the classes were rather samey within their roles and the arts you could master to use in another class were the most boring options so as not to outshine a class' core arts. Very rarely did I run into a situation where I felt I had to change up my classes in order to progress, which just led to them feeling pointless.
The characters were... fine? None of them annoyed me, but none of them really engaged me. Taion and Eunie were the closest, thanks to their no-nonsense bluntness. I still don't know why Noah is our protagonist when Mio is right there; having an actual personal crisis with ever-increasing stakes as the game goes on. Noah's just... meh. 50 hours and the protagonist has affected jack-all for the plot beyond being in the right place at the right time.
The tutorials can f*** right off, though. I don't need a game hand holding me through the act of class changing, forcing me to make specific choices for all 6 party members, then immediately LOCKING THE OPTION AWAY! Granted, it was only for a few minutes, but that was just insulting. Like... This isn't my first rpg, guys. I understand what a job system entails. Now let ME make the choices, thank you. If I make the "wrong" choice? Then I can fiddle around with it some more after I'm teleported a 30 second walk away. Character building is my favorite part of rpgs! It's the main draw of the whole genre! I want to find MY play style when I tinker, not what the devs want me to use.
Again, all of this is just me. I know I'm the minority. I'm just old enough to stop caring :p
Anyway, I hope people continue to enjoy whatever it is about this game they enjoy.
I am at the same point as you, and honestly, I need breaks from the game here and there. I don't the see the Samey part, but it seems like you are bottle necking yourself by staying at chapter 4 still by that level. You should probably advance the story more since in chapter 5 you can unlock Lvl 20 for a ton of classes and That's when the stat/role differentials really hit.
I think the tutorials were very annoying too and I just wished there would stick to the drills instead of shoving it down my face on how to do something as simple as class Changing.
Spark, someone enjoying Tales of Symphonia. I see you're a man of culture.
Xenoblade 1: * is one of his favorite games *
Him: * subtext is for cowards *
Sparkin good video, mate
Sparking spark what a video!
My beginner tip for new player at #2
1: For someone who played all Xenoblade i can safely say that XC2 felt more complicated not that i had difficulty with it, personally when there is this much mechanics it just feels way more satisfying to play it right.
2: On the other hand my only complain is i wish I could delevel as i was 30+ lvl over the main story since chapter 4, if i could pass it to someone else i recommend new players to not use the training feature in camps and just focus on the sidequests, don't try too much on fighting monster way above you you will lvl too much.
Semi spoiler.
3: don't worry too much on which class to play as every class can be good, have fun experimenting with other classes and find your favorite.
I did think Xenoblade 2 had too many mechanics. And I'm not talking about combat: upgrading arts (for each weapon for every character!) barely matters; upgrading blade affinity, blade affinity charts, driver affinity and accessories matters a bit; and upgrading chips matters a lot. I don't even think that the amount is that much of a problem. My problem with them is that most of them barely matter; the only thing you really need to upgrade is your chips.
Even your level barely matters compared to upgrading chips.
To answer the thing about earning classes, the best way is to defeat and overkilling elite monsters, they give 2.5x exp and 2x CP (which are class points) in addition to giving more exp and cp than a normal monster. All this plus the fact that as they don't have as much hp or defense as unique monsters, means that you can get a higher exp bonus which means you'll be earning bonkers amounts of exp and cp, since a 600% exp bonus and, if you play your cards very well, even a 700+% exp bonus plus the 2x exp and cp bonus will mean that you get 14x the exp and cp you would normally, this is one of the fastest ways I found for leveling up your characters and classes, as elite monsters are way faster to kill than unique monsters and if you get a good exp bonus you will get close to the same exp as defeating and overkilling a unique monster, this results in me, late game, leveling up a class all the way from level 1 to level 8 with a single elite monster
Have fun grinding guys
12:37 made me laugh out loud. You made a very good point there too.
Best mio cosplayer
Spark! I liked this game and I liked your review, well done 👍
I subscribed the moment I saw Tales of Symphonia & Chrono Trigger on the scale. A man of taste👍😁
You unlock classes slower if you're overleveled.
This is of course a huge issue because it is way too easy to overlevel if you do sidequests, but of course you want to do sidequests because those are how you unlock new heroes and unlock the higher levels of classes so unless you blitz the story with a gimped set of party options you WILL be overleveled.
Xenoblade 1's original release also had the issue of doing sidequests causing you to out-level the main story, and they fixed it by allowing you to level-down in definitive edition.
For some incomprehensible reason they locked the ability to do that until postgame in 3.
Bravo takahashi.
Just found out your channel through the Splatoon 3 weapons video and I love it, I thought it was funny as hell and "omg someone who actually played the game they talked about but like genuinely engaged with its content instead of pasting narratives on it". Then I checked your other videos and one recommended to Fire Emblem. I was like ok let's check this out, FE was(RIP) one of my favorite franchise. And boy oh boy between my friends who are either hardcore trash anime lovers, those who only care about fucking characters and gamers who see anime and go "Yeah no", I was so happy to see content of someone who had exactly the same type of nuanced RPG lover thoughts on the franchise.
So tl;dr I fukin adore your content, liked and subscribed, I'm going to pick up Xenoblade 1 now on my Switch
Spark! I loved this game and it's my favorite snuffin Xenoblade. They took all the good stuff from XC1 where they could go further and deeper and then scavenged the real good bits of XB2 from the immense amount of bloated loud mess it was covered with. 10 Mwambas out of 10
What was bloated about 2?
@@skylandersfan6954 mostly the chest area
@@Jjydvfgcmsr I do not remember a chest area in Xenoblade 2
Good review. I will now wait until the first patch is out and they've hopefully ironed out some of the issues you and others have mentioned-then I'll buy it.
Edit: Spark
This is the only review I’ve watched that manages to actually criticize the issues with this game so kudos. Everyone seems so excessively hyped on every pixel of this game, but you actually pointed out the legitimate flaws accurately while still giving credit to its strengths. Others have pointed out that unlocking the new hero classes for characters other than the inheritor requires that you fight similarly leveled mobs, which would be totally fine if the game doesn’t do literally everything it can to over level you so this isn’t possible. The bonus experience system is so unnecessary and I actually ignored it for the second half just to unlock new character classes. The combat takes WAY too long once you unlock the chain attacks, so again you have the option to ignore them or finish the fight after a 5 minute slightly interactive cutscene. The chain attacks take so long that I actually forget what I was fighting by the time they end. And you can basically use them in every battle. It just doesn’t seem very well thought out and the emphasis seems to be on making it seem cool rather than making it work.
At the very least I know where to go in the game, unlike Xenoblade Chronicles 2