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[Chuck Berry]

It takes a lot for me to get excited for a good JRPG these days, but this series has pretty much always delivered despite them being such huge time sinks to take on.

The long needed update to XC2X is dropping in less than a month and I'm excited to dive in again as I haven't played it since it's initial release in 2015. Ten years

Out of all four games, which one stuck with you the most? Which holds the crown?

For me it was the original. I specifically softmodded my Wii with Homebrew and Gecko so I could import it. Seems like 5-6 months later it was announced it was coming to America lol.

No regrets. It was the first game in well over a decade that kept me up until sunrise on several worknights because I caught the "just one more sidequest" bug real fuckin bad.

And Mechonis Field is in my top 5 JRPG music tracks of all time. Hardcore mid-late 90s Square vibes, especially with the bass.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Xenoblade 2. Best playable cast, best story, best villains.

 

[Punished Miku]

2 is currently my favorite by a large margin. Haven't played 3 yet, though I did buy it.

They should make a new series.

 

[od-chan]

XBC1 was great and everything, but honestly

this is kinda hard to top. And yeah, I'm being serious, in a 60hour game that is mostly about the characters, the characters are the main selling point. Haven't played X though yet.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

2 just felt like more of a true adventure than the others. Awesome game.

 

[MagiusNecros]

XCX because the World building is amazing and reminds me of what I always wanted from Phantasy Star Online.

 

[Merkades]

I have only played the first and X. I liked both but of those two, the first one. I dislike silent protags. Also I felt the world was more intereting.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I loved me some 2 but they are all great.

 

[mèx]

Xenoblade 2 for me: it's a grand adventure from start to finish. It has everything that makes JRPGs great: a strong sense of adventure, a great cast with excellent chemistry, villains with actual depth, compelling character development, beautiful environments, interesting lore, incredible soundtrack, and a killer finale that ramps up and never stops.

It has its shortcomings obviously: there is too much menu-ing, the best quests are locked behind Blade affinities, the performance on Switch is pretty bad (it's a joke on portable mode), bad tutorials, the UI could be MUCH better, and other stuff.

Regardless, it's a must play.

Torna is great too!

 

[Pasta la Vista]

1st game has my favorite story, 2nd has my favorite battles. Never played more than about 20 hours of X, so I didn't get the full scope of the battles. Will maybe give it another shot with the remaster.

 

[Kacho]

X is the most interesting to me out of the bunch. 3 is the only one I haven’t played.

 

[darth.shrimp]

Xenoblade 1 has Dunban.
Xenoblade 2 has Nia... but a combat system too deep for its own good, and too much RNG during diving minigames and the Blades gatcha. Shitty localization too.
Xenoblade 3 and X I haven't played yet.

 

[kunonabi]

Xenoblade X. 100%ed the Japanese version and loved every minute of it. Honestly, don't like the rest of the series much at all. That said, I'm not liking a lot of the changes for the switch version.

 

[mèx]

Xenoblade 2 has Nia

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

X > 1 > 2=3 for me. Although I love all of them and also have plenty of criticism for all of them.

 

[cireza]

Xeno X is the only one that caught my interest.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[iHaunter]

Chronicles X is the only Chronicles game that isn't animu cringy trash.

 

[Mozzarella]

The first one is the only good one and its not that good either.
Didn't play X

 

[Fbh]

Haven't played X (will probably finally play it on Switch).

Out of the other 3 I'd say 2 is easily my favorite:

While there are a few things about it that I don't like (mainly the character design, infuriating gacha mechanics and the annoying progression of Blades), I still think it's the best balanced one of the 3, with a combat system that was actually fun and much improved over the original, and a story that kept me engaged all the way through with memorable characters and some great cutscenes.

XBC1 has a slightly more interesting world, and the story is just as enjoyable as the one in 2, but I always found the combat to be awfully boring.
XBC3 has great side content and a fun combat system (though I still like 2 better in this regard), but it has the least interesting world and story. The story is solid at first but it basically peaks like two thirds into the game, then goes on a steep decline all the way to an underwhelming ending (still had fun with it though)

 

[gradient]

XBC2

Great cast. Story had some great turns and developments. Villains in particular had some real depth to them and their motivations and how that fed into the overarching story just really nailed it.

 

[OuterLimits]

Playing Xenoblade Definitive Edition right now. Just arrived at Satori Marsh and the nighttime look/music make it one of my favorite areas in any JRPG I have played. So it may be difficult for Xeno 2 or 3 to top this game but I look forward to playing them.

I have actually played 40-50 hours of Xeno X but the small text and other aspects drove me insane. Looks like the made this version much less annoying so will likely buy it down the road

 

[JORMBO]

 

[Mitsurux]

Hard to choose... but for me 3 just edges out 1 for the top spot. Looking forward to revisting X

 

[Chuck Berry]

Was not expecting so much love for 2. I have it, but have barely touched it.

Should remedy that

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Was not expecting so much love for 2. I have it, but have barely touched it.

Should remedy that

I regret playing it at launch before they added all the updates and QoL improvements. Never had such a love/hate relationship before. I think Monolith should send me a check to reimburse me for getting Kos-MOS and powering up Poppi the hard way.

 

[digital_ghost]

2 is my favorite and my first xenoblade game. I was in tears at the ending music.

I later went on to play 1 and 3.

Loved the characters, music, menus, story, etc. I've spent like 1000 hours across multiple playthroughs in XBC 2. Grinding monsters for the correct parts was fun. I also loved the fish mini game.

 

[Ceadeus]

People don't talk much about its multiplayer components and it's actually a sick function. It's simple yet it makes the world feel alive, also with it's upbeat soundtrack it's difficult not to feel good when playing XCX.

 

[Synless]

XC2 was easily my favorite cast. Best OST, best over world.

XC1 had the best plot.

XC3 was good but not great. Gets second place OST, worst cast minus Noah and Mio.

 

[BossLackey]

This is a series I'm having a hard time getting deep into despite really wanting to.

My best friend is a rabid fan of the series, so I played through XBC DE when it released on Switch and really liked it.

However, XBC2 has some huge pain points for me. The biggest being traversal. The map is just......SO BAD.

Every way a map could be useful, it is not. Navigating the menus and the map itself is a nightmare. I've put it down over and over and this is the only reason why.

Side quests are a fucking nightmare because the verticality makes the maps freak the fuck out half the time.

Simply put, I don't know where to fucking go most of the time. It's downright infuriating.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Simply put, I don't know where to fucking go most of the time. It's downright infuriating.

Mira is a Uncharted World. It's up to us to figure out where to go. And I love the sense of self discovery. I think the QoL of follow the magic glowing ball will be most helpful this go around.

 

[delishcaek]

It's a toss up between 2 and X for me. If I go by play time it's X as I spent a solid 400 hours on that game whereas 2 was "only" 180 hours (never got around a NG+ run, I will play it again if it gets a Switch 2 upgrade or I really have to start emulating). Torna was also an amazing DLC/stand alone game.

3 was a massive let down, so much so that I started to rush it and didn't do any endgame grind/content. I never touched Future Connected either. Mio is cute, but is just a worse Nia. Locking her M outfit behind an Amiibo was bs. Seeing Chad Rex at the end was great, though. lmao

1 was weird for me as well, I was never able to get into it. I tried playing it on WiiU, quit after 5 hours, bought it again for Switch and lasted 35ish hours before I put it aside. I don't like 1.

So if I had to rank them it's X and 2, Torna, 3 and 1.

 

[Isa]

2 by far for me, loved it so much it got me back into Jrpgs. Though to be fair I'd been still buying an collecting them despite not playing them for a few years. But it has a great OST, a good cast with funny moments and cool cutscenes with a neat buildup to the end that was moving. Plus it has some cool side mechanics like upgrading Poppi was super cool and also that little diving minigame which matches Rex's theme and world situation. Combat was really enjoyable too, and the world was fun to explore. My only complaint is the gotcha-gacha mechanics for getting other characters.

Really looking forward to diving into X, makes for a fitting swan song of my time with the Switch as I played 2 at launch into 2018.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

XC2 was easily my favorite cast. Best OST, best over world.

XC1 had the best plot.

XC3 was good but not great. Gets second place OST, worst cast minus Noah and Mio.

Yeah that was my big problem with XC3, I found the cast so bland, both the party members and villains. And I swear there are at least 5 villain arcs that end like this:

[20 minute segment where everyone stands with weapons drawn and gives monologues, maybe a flashback or 3]

[kick villain’s ass]

Villain: “you want to know why I tried to commit genocide? Because I’m jealous of you guys. Everybody loves you. Nobody loves me. You guys are good at everything. I suck at everything. I’m just a no good loser who fucks up everything”

Party: “no, that’s not true, we like you! Please don’t die! NOOOOOOOOOOOO”

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is still my favorite

 

[Danjin44]

I dont care what anybody says, I personally LOVE the casts in Xenoblade 3.

I especially love the romance between Mio and Noah and in my opinion it has best romance in entire Xenoblade series.

 

[Kacho]

Is it true XC3 is a spiritual reimagining of Xenogears?

 

[The Lunch Legend]

 

[MagiusNecros]

Is it true XC3 is a spiritual reimagining of Xenogears?

Future Redeemed Protag looks like Fei and uses Martial Arts.

 

[StereoVsn]

I couldn’t stand 2. It was a terrible game with terrible characters, terrible performance and terrible map/navigation. That 360p resolution in handheld mode was cherry on top.

I cannot fathom how so many people like it.

 

[Danjin44]

Is it true XC3 is a spiritual reimagining of Xenogears?

 

[Danjin44]

I cannot fathom how so many people like it.

My only issue I have with XC2 was gacha mechanic and some of the lack of QoL features but other than that the characters, story and combat system was great in my opinion.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I cannot fathom how so many people like it.

Zeke and Poppi

KOS-MOS and T-ELOS DLC is another reason.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

I couldn’t stand 2. It was a terrible game with terrible characters, terrible performance and terrible map/navigation. That 360p resolution in handheld mode was cherry on top.

I cannot fathom how so many people like it.

Tora and Poppi
The rest of the cast was equally as memorable
The story was fantastic and made me cry at times
The villain was actually good
Love the WAIFU BAIT Female Character Designs
Etc etc etc

Yes the game has it's issue in the graphics and even the gameplay department but it still has lot of heart put into it

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Is it true XC3 is a spiritual reimagining of Xenogears?

Nah definitely not. Xenoblade series has a few little nods to Xenogears here and there but nothing beyond that.

 

[tkscz]

 

[MagiusNecros]

If you see it you can go there!

 

[Mister Wolf]

What do you think Monolith Soft will show April 2nd?

 

[Mister Wolf]

Is it true XC3 is a spiritual reimagining of Xenogears?

There are similar concepts. Never thought about it but in a way I would say yes.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

What do you think Monolith Soft will show April 2nd?

I'm hoping for two games, another Xenoblade game and a new JRPG IP