Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Japan Expo presentation; more footage and details (enemies fighting each others, Reactivation (Chain Attacks), tombstones, more)
Earlier today, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was showcased during a (roughly) 30 minutes-long presentation at Japan Expo in Paris, France. No big reveal or announcement was made, but we did get to see some more live and unedited footage of the game. along with some additional details!
If you missed the presentation, you can check the full thing with the following recording:
NB: sound is completely cut at several points, due a technical issue on Nintendo’s side (nothing wrong on your end). Also, no need to worry about story spoilers: the MC made sure to stress out that the presentation would feature no such spoilers!
First, a precision about the story: it was confirmed that the story of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is stand-alone. In other words, you don’t need to play Xenoblade Chronicles and/or Xenoblade Chronicles 2 before playing this game. Obviously, fans who have played both will get the most out of all the references, call-backs, etc., but you will be able to fully enjoy the story and gameplay even without any knowledge of the prior games.
Next, a minor tidbit about Rest Spots: one of the options available there is called Clean Clothes, where you get to clean all your equipment. Unfortunately, no explanation was given as to what that option does (or rather, what cleaning your equipment does!).
The area showcased during the presentation is a snowy area called Ladras Way, found in the Captocorn Peak. Various enemies can be found there, including some Scape Ellooks.
While exploring the world, you will occasionally come across enemies that are fighting each others (you can see a big, red clashing swords icon above them). If you want, you can go and take part in the battle, but you won’t have to fight both monsters at once: you can actually choose a side! The presentation showed a clash between two Scape Anloods.
Just before the battle, a select screen is displayed, giving you some information about the enemies taking part in the battle. But more importantly, this screen tells you which rewards (Nopon Coins, EXP, Gold, etc.) you will get depending on which enemy you choose to support.
After that, the presentation moved on to a battle against a Unique Monster: Timbercorn Cthinos. We got to see another new element introduced in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: the ability to switch characters during battles (and not just while exploring the world). This was first mentioned in a Xenoblade Note blog post, a few weeks ago.
In order to take out the Unique Monster, Filippo from Nintendo of Europe launched a Chain Attack, showcasing something called “Reactivation” in the process. Once a successful Chain Order has been carried out (after getting at least 100TP during a Chain Attack), you get the opportunity to keep the Chain Attack going, allowing you to dish out even more damage.
Also, in order to get an Ouroboros Chain Order during a Chain Attack, you first need to raise the Interlink Level (which is done by using Fusion Arts). In other word, it pays off to wait a little bit before triggering a Chain Attack instead of going all out the moment the Chain Attack Gauge is full. By raising the Interlink Level to 3 before the Chain Attack, you will get access to the most powerful Chain Art for that Ouroboros.
Finally, the presentation confirmed that a feature first introduced in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is back in Xenoblade Chronicles 3: tombstones. Once you’ve defeated a Unique Monster, a tombstone will appear at the spot where you felled it. If you go and visit it, you can press F to pay your respects inspect the tombstone in order to challenge the Unique Monster again.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch) comes out on July 29th worldwide.
