A short review of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 — PLAY this game! (⭐️ 9/10)

docmars

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I just got through playing Xenoblade Chronicles 3 for Nintendo Switch yesterday and posted my first ever review on Metacritic for it because it was that good. Aside from Trials of Mana, this is probably first true JRPG I've ever played or had the patience for. I can't recommend it enough for JRPG fans, or at the very least, watch the cutscene compilation of ~19 hours if you want an amazing anime TV show with a few important gameplay moments mixed in.

If you're looking for an epic orchestral soundtrack to play while you work, you won't be disappointed either. This game should get GOTY in a music category in the very least. And yes, there are day and night variants to many of the areas' songs! 🙌

Music - Millick Meadows (Day)
Prepare yourself for absolute epic:

(Full Playlist)

My review below:
Absolutely insane how incredible this game's story is. It has no right to be this great. And the combat is fun and engaging too. Scenery and level design are humongous and feel just about as epic as Elden Ring's various areas.

I have never had a game make me tear up or outright sob as much as this one has, and I think it may be the most memorable story second to Witcher 3 for me in recent memory.

RPG makers: you have Xenoblade 3 to beat in the coming years. Hire good writers, because you will struggle to come even close to what this has to offer; and after years and years of mediocre story after another, this one was refreshing, emotional, unique, and fun.

My only critiques for the game are: get off Nintendo's platforms and give this game the visuals and performance it deserves. It was distracting and almost heartbreaking to deal with the Switch's 5-year-old hardware struggling to drive this game, with the visual fidelity of a PS3 game at best, but not in the tailored way you might think. Outside of cutscenes, exploring the world and running around felt like a sloppy backport from PC where the lowest settings could barely make it on this system. That's honestly kind of pathetic and sad.

Nintendo is overdue for releasing an updated console with more capable hardware, and Monolith should seriously consider branching out and offering their titles on better systems. The poor visuals did the story and gameplay an injustice.

I'll end on a good note -- despite those gripes, PLAY THIS GAME. You will remember the music and heartfelt moments forever.
 
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I no longer own a Switch, yet if this game or series ever comes to the computer folk via GoG or Steam, I'll likely nab it immediately. I've just heard and read so much about the series, as well as remembering the first one which I played some years ago and had a blast with.
 
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Just download a switch emulator and ROM for the PC Carnifex. It's easy.
 
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That depends on his system specs. A lot of emulators have surprisingly high system requirements to get decent frame rates.
 
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I played the last two games no problem on an emulator but yeah sometimes the requirements are high. Still my system is barely above average and had no problems.

Personally though I hate the PC controls to emulate a controller.
 
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Not for the Switch, it isn't.
Yes it is I can link you to a torrent All-in-one installation. ^^

Though that's against the TOS rules to publicly share the link. Now I will admit the switch emulator does have a few glitches that still need to be ironed out. Like all early emulators.

Hint it's called Yuzu and gets patches to make games run more optimized.

 
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I knew which emulator you were talking about, but have you actually looked at the installation guide, much less followed it? I'm not sure you can even do all this wihout an actual Switch and a copy of the game cartridge you want to play, and regardless, it sure ain't easy.

 
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There's also the issue of motion controls which a lot of Switch games use. It can be emulated, but it's not going to feel the same as using the Switch controllers.
 
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Also worth noting that if you're dumping your own ROMs from a Switch, Nintendo has patched their newer models to prevent this. IIRC, it only works with models released within the first year or so, but don't quote me on that; so if you have a release model, you should be good to go.

There are other ways to obtain ROMs, but as was said earlier, not sharable here. A little Googling and YouTube searching would suffice if that interests anyone.
 
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Also worth noting that if you're dumping your own ROMs from a Switch, Nintendo has patched their newer models to prevent this. IIRC, it only works with models released within the first year or so, but don't quote me on that; so if you have a release model, you should be good to go.

There are other ways to obtain ROMs, but as was said earlier, not sharable here. A little Googling and YouTube searching would suffice if that interests anyone.
It’s really quite easy. I’ve run a number of the most popular switch games on Yuzu. Unfortunately my setup doesn’t provide much of an improvement lol (gtx 1080) so I don’t use Yuzu too much.
 
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