It's finally out! Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has been available for a few dozen hours on Nintendo Switch and we hope that your first hours in Aionios are going well. In this guide, we will see the traditional beginner's tricks in order to get the most out of Monolith Soft's J-RPG . So we're going to talk about exploration, combat, but also a few little things to know that might have gone under your radar.
The perpetual tutorial
XC3 has a lot to tell you and even if it makes every effort in the world to spread out the tutorial sessions, the gameplay is so dense that the learning phase will stretch over the first dozen hours of the game . We tell you this because it can be a concern at the start of the game: not much to do during combat, or even during exploration. But don't panic, the interface is filling up little by little and the possibilities offered by the confrontations, to such an extent that we recommend that you ask yourself from time to time to go back through the menus and get to know the interface well, some information is not mentioned by the tutorials.
Shortcuts to know
The game is so loaded with information all the time that it's very easy to miss out on a few life-changing hotkey options. While in the character customization menu, you can press Y to have all gear automatically configured according to the equipped class. During exploration, ZL is used to display 4 shortcuts in order to simply access the map, the list of quests , or even the display of a breadcrumb trail leading to the objective of your quest by Classes. Finally at campfires, you can use all exploration experience for all characters at once with + .
arts and manners
XC3 combines the gameplay of XC1 (represented by the nation of Keves) and XC2 (nation of Agnus), with a formula that revamps it all in an interesting way. When you play a class of Keves, active skills will charge over time, while with a class of Agnus it will be done with self-attacks. The subtlety in there is that you can quickly equip 3 arts of Keves and 3 arts of Agnus, already doubling your options, but that's not all! The goal will ultimately be to wait until two aligned arts are loaded at the same time to link them and apply their two special effects at the same time. Each action has specific bonuses to be triggered in several ways (positioning for example) and these are of paramount importance: it is by finding the ideal 2x3 skill arts combos for each character that you will make a big difference on the battlefield , but still it will be necessary to unlock the classes which give access to new blows.
Mastery of combos
The combos are sequences of effects that you will inflict on the enemy in order to make him fall and knock him out or throw him, for colossal damage if you manage to complete them. While holding ZR, you can instruct your team to focus on one of two available combination forms: Concussion or Explosion. For the first, you will have to unbalance, knock down, daze, throw, and then cause a concussion using your team's attack arts . In the other configuration, it will be necessary to trigger explosion after knocking it out, but this option only comes very late in the gameplay. This is another of the crucial elements that you must take care of when you configure the arts of each of the 6 characters, it is absolutely necessary that they each have a combo skill and various skills. Finally, please note that the number of arts with placement-related effects is limited.
Chain Attack: How does it work?
Very quickly, you will be able to trigger the famous attacks that freeze time, available from XC1. Only the system has changed a lot and this new episode offers a new way to cause monstrous damage . First of all, you will have to choose one of the 3 directives proposed corresponding to the final attack, once the score of 100% is reached. To complete the chosen directive, you will have to choose the characters according to the score it represents, the goal of the game will be to find the right combinations of so that the percentage reaches 150% or even 200% in a single sequence. The safest way to do this is to get very close to 100% and then use a support class which will necessarily lock the score at 99%, then slam the character with the highest score at that moment , to get as far away from 100% as possible. We hope that's clear enough, it's not a mechanic very well explained by the game, but with a little practice you should get used to it. Each order completed increases a damage multiplier considerably, accompanied by an experience multiplier if you manage to eliminate the threat before the end of the chain attack.
Ouroboros form
This ultimate form for character duos will put them together to form an invincible creature for a short amount of time . During this period, you will have to chain the arts to increase the most powerful skill of the Ouroboros, assigned to the A key. These transformations capable of reversing the course of a battle also come with some small inconveniences, since it means that you will deprive your group of two roles at once, which can be very disabling. Let's imagine that Mio is a support class, but you go to Ouroboros with Noah, well the other 4 characters will have to do without a support during the transformation. It will therefore be necessary to use it with a minimum of judgment during the most tense fights and to wait until the fusion level reaches level 3. During the adventure, the ouroboros will also be integrated into chain attacks, for even more more smoke special attacks! Finally, don't forget to regularly pass on each Ouroboros improvement table to spend your SP.
Heroes and new classes
Hero quests are very important since they are the ones that will unlock other roles for your group to take on. By completing a hero quest thread, one of the team members inherits their combat skills, which they will then pass on to the rest of the troop. The vast majority of heroes to encounter are very simply done during the main quest, but some of the more interesting ones will require venturing off the beaten path. Increasing the role of all classes on all characters will allow you to make ever more advanced combinations of arts thanks to an increased choice of options.
Infinity Encyclopedia
Mass Gathering Components are back, but this time you'll need to complete Request Cards for the inhabitants of the settlements you visit. The big advantage of this additional content is that you will be able to repeat it at will and get a little extra experience level by chaining the cards, even if they have already been completed before. As in the first two, the search for materials must be considered in a "logical" way: the fruits are near the trees, the pieces of metal near the carcasses of ferronis, etc.
Return to old regions
Many quests and new opportunities accumulate in the old regions you have visited as you progress. Do not hesitate to turn back as soon as you have the opportunity, just to visit the old acquaintances of the colonies scattered in Aionios. The more you increase the level of affinity with the colonies, the more you will receive valuable rewards and unlock passive bonuses that will greatly improve the comfort of exploring the surroundings . For those who intend to complete the game at 100%, you will really have to quickly take an interest in this colony and reputation system. We will have the opportunity to come back to this in a dedicated article.
Experience Management
It has always been quite special in Xenoblades: much too generous in experience, it is often said that it is better to avoid doing too many side quests so as not to spoil the challenge brought by the boss fights. This is no longer really the case since XC2, since Monolith Soft has had the intelligence to offer what they call "bonus experience" distributed during exploration and the completion of certain quests. All of these points are stored at the campfire and can be used to level up characters at your convenience. It should serve you especially at the end of the game, since the game will not spare you the succession of very hot bosses in terms of hit points.
We were able to get an opinion on all the difficulties of the game during our first run through the main story of XC3 and we tell you which one to choose according to your desires, thanks to a small summary for each mode available.
