Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released just over a month ago, on July 29, 2022. Just like its predecessors, it is an action RPG developed by Monolithsoft. And also, just like the games that came before, it is a damn good video game.
Just to summarize my feeling about the previous entries, I'll say that the series consistently gets better with every entry. The first Xenoblade is a game I had never heard of until its protagonist Shulk came to Super Smash Bros. This piqued my curiosity enough to pick up the game when it came out on New Nintendo 3DS. Long story short, I had fun with it. However, towards the end of the game, I began to get really frustrated with the combat system. The difficulty seemed to spike with every optional area gatekept by a super boss. This annoyed me because it felt as if I could not fight beyond the number of my characters' stats. The combat felt very automated, and I thought it had little in the ways of player/skill influence. Looking back now, I am willing to admit I probably just didn't understand some of the nuances of the system. Combining this with what I thought was a mediocre story and a bland protagonist, I would always take long breaks between playing the game. This came to a head when I reached what I could only assume was very close to the end of the game. Some new side quests had become available to customize Shulk's sword, but the materials were all held by different super bosses. Being a completionist, I refused to continue the story before clearing these quests, but the amount of grinding I would have had to do to stand a chance against those enemies was more than I wanted to endure. Therefore, to this day, I have not finished the game. This is not to say I will never go back, though, as the quality of life improvements in the Switch remake look appealing; however, I am not willing to pay full price for it, and the reason for that is a little ironic.
