(I'm going to assume the readers of this post already know who the final party member is. Definitive Edition's marketing isn't making any effort to hide it anyway.)
Background informationThe Xenoblade Chronicles series is something that's not really under my consideration. It's a series from MONOLITHSOFT, who aren't really a team I have any attachment to. If anything, their previous affiliation with SQUARE SOFT made me uninterested, since they are a publisher who I associate with word salad titles and unnecessarily complicated story. Xenoblade's publisher, Nintendo, is also not seen by me favourably in the context of RPGs.
Subsequent entries got more of my attention, but didn't quite at the level of making me want to actually buy them. It doesn't help that some people call the series long (90+ hours per game, and given my usual slow pace that'd convert to 150+ hours), at a time when my backlog is filled with other RPGs.
A coworker of mine has all 3 main games on Nintendo Switch, although he has only played Xenoblade 1. Around the time when Xenoblade 3 came out, he showed me his copy of Xenoblade 1 and asked if I was interested to try it, and that's that. (He got the other two as downloads.)
Early impressionThe title screen music isn't what I expected. Also I couldn't believe I haven't listened to this game's title screen theme in all 12 years of its existence.
The file select screen is a minor disappointment, as there are only 3 save slots. I expect 20+ for a game like this. This has always been a weak part in Nintendo-published games, with the newer Paper Mario games being the worst at 1 save slot. (On the other end, Super Smash Bros. Brawl has 50, for some reason.)
The player gets to experience in-game action very early on, which is rather unexpected for an RPG. It took me a long while before I understood the combat system though. Most non-interactive tutorials aren't very effective at conveying the game systems, and players are better off just experimenting.
Overall impressionThe simplest way to describe this game is that the main story is very well-made, while quests and other side endeavours drag things down.
The main story has fully-voiced dialogues, and the fully-animated cutscenes are really well-made, to the point they make me wonder if this really is originally a Wii game. One cutscene I really like is when Sharla is trying to resonate with an enemy, and behind her Dunban is getting ready to fight while Reyn gestures him to stop, all without dialogues and without the camera putting too much focus on them. This scene showed the characters' dynamics all without telling out loud what's going on.
Outside of the main story, things go rather slowly in both the sidequests and general gameplay. Most quests involve gathering items and fighting enemies in large amounts, and they often involve the same NPCs stationed at the same long distance from the nearest landmarks. And it's not helped by the fact that the characters move very slowly on the field. Giving them Quick Step VI (25%) and linking Riki and Fiora's skills help a bit, but I wish they'd get a car, at least in Bionis' Leg and Satorl Marsh (Valak Mountain too, but they probably can't climb while carrying a car). Juju has a broken buggy. Can't they fix that and use it?
StoryThe story feels somewhat predictable at first. While I didn't pay much attention to fan discussions of this game prior (popular depictions are about as accurate as Roy in Super Smash Bros.; Reyn is more serious, for example), several plot points like Fiora's fate and Metal Face's identity are pre-spoiled to me. That aside, it really did feel like a pretty normal "home gets destroyed, heroes set to destroy villain for revenge and to prevent further losses" plot.
Things did start to get interesting once the party headed to upper Bionis. The Alcamoth plot started to show flaws in Shulk and the Monado, and it's also at this point Shulk's (somewhat misguided) resolve is really felt. It's also at this point when the truth behind of the story started to take place, as a major villain's actions started to feel suspicious (from the player's perspective; Shulk didn't notice anything at this point).
The most shocking part is when
The High Entia were turned into Telethia. That includes a lot of the NPCs the player has interacted with before. It's really sad to see them gone with no chance of recovery, and just to make sure the player feels the impact, the affinity chart is updated to dim out all of the affected characters.
A particularly bad case is an NPC named Lunara, a pure-blooded High Entia aged 26 (so about 5 by Homs standard) whose father is implied to be killed in a prior battle, and is only linked to a stepbrother in the chart. Getting herself involuntarily transformed before she could even get closure on her father's missing status or any chance to bond with anyone else. This plot detail hits
hard. There's also Lesunia, who finally got over her racism only to meet her fate soon after.
And these Telethia are said to have lost their selves, but linger around their original spots and tried to protect their half-blooded friends. An NPC named Teelan tried to find a way to turn them back, but other NPCs would ask Shulk to mercy kill them. That's really, really messed up.
This is not the first time I see mass deaths among interactive NPCs; Golden Sun: Dark Dawn had that honour. I'd say that was sadder and scarier, given the random encounters and the creepy and sad Grave Eclipse BGM. But that game doesn't explicitly depict the mass deaths of young children.
Other highlights include the discovery of Mechonis life (some of whom really deserve credit for Shulk's party's eventual success), the existence of Nopon criminals (looks can be deceiving), and in a typical first-entry RPG manner, major reveals that only happen after the point of no return. I would say the ending is perhaps a bit too surreal, but this is the first entry in the plot thread, and I assume it will be elaborated upon in later entries. One interesting aspect of the ending is that
unlike the other stories I've seen that involve world recreation, Xenoblade's ending doesn't involve resetting the inhabitants' memories. The people who relocated to Colony 9 seem to be fully aware what has happened and why are they there.
I usually use a party of Melia, Sharla and either Shulk, Fiora or Riki. I use Melia because there is one part of the game where she has to be alone (which serves as a tutorial on using her), and I like her spellcaster-style gameplay. In Sharla's case, it's really a case of being forced to use her healing abilities. Having Sharla in the party makes battles much more survivable. Shulk is another defensive character (for blocking enemies' Arts); Fiora and Riki are easier to use than Dunban and Reyn.
I'm at a loss on how to use Dunban well. As a result, he's my least used character, even though I like him story-wise.
Shulk is a bit too clouded by his desire to take revenge, I'd say. At several points he's seen making dubious decisions against others' advice; some worked out while others didn't. This game seems to like to depict everyone as being flawed at various points, and I'm glad they're travelling in a group.
Reyn is, surprisingly, the most rational in the group. At multiple occasions he's seen stopping Shulk, Sharla and even Dunban from acting too rashly. He's also dependable as a fighter in the story, early-game actions aside. I also like his dynamic with Riki.
Sharla is… well, I think she lets her emotion get in the way a bit too much, even though that's understandable. Also not a fan of how she wants to see Melia winning Shulk's affection. Like, what's the reason Shulk started his quest in the first place? Stay away from other people's private matters, can you? Doesn't help that I do need to depend on her in gameplay terms.
Dunban gets my approval for his action as a mentor to the group. He stands up for the group whenever he feels the need to, and is seen giving Shulk pep talks at a few points. He also readily follows Shulk and sometimes Reyn's lead despite his seniority. Seems more prone to losing his cool than Shulk, though.
Melia gets the short stick in so many ways. She's a very sympathetic character, having undergone all kinds of events in such a short period (especially considering her race's long lifespan). I like her in all of story, design and gameplay terms.
Riki mainly serves two purposes, as a comic relief and something of Melia's emotional crutch, but is otherwise not of much story importance. He is able to sense the presence of spirits, and I think it's a missed opportunity that this isn't elaborated upon.
Fiora has this too-good-for-this-world feel, being perhaps too accepting of her fate. Good to see things eventually turning out well for her, at least at the time of the ending. In gameplay, I find her somewhat easy to use, although I don't know if it's because the player's levels became high enough to make everything easy.
Battle systemCan't say I like the battle system that much. Besides the awkward controls, I also find the statuses to be rather annoying in early game on both sides. Statuses inflicted to the player break the pacing, and are in some cases fatal. Bleeding is annoying early on. Some enemies (like Mechon) require to be toppled first, and before getting Melia I didn't have an easy way to do that on demand. Waiting for non-player-controlled allies to perform specific moves isn't that reliable.
I also find Chain Attack, which is supposed to be the signature move in this game, to be overrated. Since Chain Attacks use up the whole Party Gauge, I find it more practical to just avoid using them. I'd rather save it for revivals. And speaking of that, there's also no way to back out of Chain Attack if I trigger it by mistake.
The camera during battles is pretty bad. Sneaking at an enemy and landing the first strike would make the camera face the enemy, but it's not automatically locked on. And auto lock-on doesn't work well anyway, especially with airborne enemies. The camera should not go below the enemy, since that makes keeping track of the player character very difficult.
Other game systemsI'm glad trading is a thing, as it makes Collectopaedia completion possible even after certain areas become inaccessible. It also makes parts of Colony 6 restoration easier.
Changing equipment would also alter the characters' appearance. Sometimes they end up looking a bit silly. I thought about limiting them to their default outfits, but this is actually quite entertaining, so I just left them on.
Gem Crafting is… serviceable, but this game isn't about making items. The UI doesn't offer easy ways to search for specific properties, and the process itself is rather luck-dependent. That said, it's pretty satisfying to make double rank VI gems from getting to Mega Heat.
Raising Arts levels also requires quite some luck, since they depends on book drops. I know this is Definitive Edition and Nopon Sage is a thing, but I haven't tried that out.
Closing thoughtsThat's pretty much most of what I could say about this game. It's a bit short, decent in idea and excels in execution, with a lot of minor nitpicks but nothing really deal-breaking to me. The story is entertaining especially towards the end, even though it's not to my taste. It's mostly the battle system that I want to see improvements on, and I am aware that the sequels are better received (and also have stories not as predictable).
I'm a bit interested to move onto other entries, but I'll have to play Future Connected first.
