Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has one of the greatest stories since the original was released on Nintendo Wii. The pacing is great, with not a lot of slowdown time due to goofy antics or excessively dramatic sentimentality. The cast is tighter, with six main characters that are unlockable relatively swiftly.
With Xenoblade Chronicles 3, there are still some logical flaws that must be addressed. None of these issues harmed the game in any significant way, but they are still worth mentioning. There will be spoilers for the first ten hours of the story, as well as some gameplay mechanics.
7 Mech Fusion
There is an overlap between the mech forms used in battle and the ones used in cutscenes. A skill tree similar to an RPG-style skill tree, the Soul Tree, unlocks passive and active abilities for each form. One passive skill reduces the amount of overheating used by these suits in battle.
The cutscenes seem to assume that these skill trees have been completely upgraded, thus allowing the characters to fight at an almost constant level. This is not the only thing that makes no sense between battle scenes and story scenes.
6 Changing Clothes With Classes
Characters, like Shulk from the first game, have occupied classes in the past. However, these characters were set in their combat modes and couldnt be changed, whereas the class system in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is more robust. Characters change their weapons when jumping classes and their clothes as well.
It's a bit strange to see Noah from Mio wearing a more feminine jacket. The clothes should not match on a genetic level. This can later be corrected in the settings to make the clothes match the original designs. However, there may also be an imbalance between classes in battle and classes in cutscenes as well since characters may have different classes throughout the story.
5 Lets Murder Those Majestic Creatures
Noah marvels at the idea that monsters differ from one another earlier in the game. He identifies three different sizes as if to imply an ageing pattern. This is a topic he and the rest of the party are grappling with. Start the story as soon as you see it.
Noah should yell at the party to avoid attacking, according to logic. That would be against the open-ended nature of an open-world RPG though.
4 The Seventh Party Member Says Nothing
One of the games' greatest features is that all six main characters may be in the party at the same time. It's like controlling a mini-mob in an MMO or something. A guest character has a second slot that unlocks about ten hours into the game. These guest characters also unlock new classes.
Their intro stories are good, but even though they always follow the party afterward, they do not really contribute to the main story anymore. What are they doing in the background if not helping out? Riku and Manana are the only exception.
3 No Food, Really?
Around halfway through the game, certain monsters supposedly steal all of the food, forcing the team to go hunt for new items, thus triggering a new set of trials. There is an inconsistency here because players will not lose any of their belongings after this cutscene.
Their party may still be overloaded with cooking supplies. It's another of many things in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 that doesn't mesh well with the gameplay.
2 Fighting Giant Mechs As Humans
Noah and the others should not be able to defeat some of the bosses that they do in Xenoblade Chronicles 3. One of the wildest ones is the Commander Isurds base, which stands about a third of the way through the game. This creature is perfectly acceptable in an experience like Shadow of the Colossus.
The same holds true shortly after this, when the party confronts Ethel and Cammuravi in a mech battle. The players wear their mech suits throughout the entire battle, but this time, they cant do this in a normal battle.
1 Use The Lucky Blade All The Time Noah
Noah is afraid of its deadly power early in Xenoblade Chronicles 3, though it is god-like.
Should they have given it to the queen so that she might entrust it to a better colony? This gadget can cut mechs in half in a single slice. After Noah puts it to the test, he should use this legendary sword every time in battle. It would at least make sense.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is available on Switch on July 29, 2022.