After finishing Xenoblade 3 an a decent amount of its postgame content, I feel like rating each of these games is a necessity. First off, the original Xenoblade Chronicles, and Definitive Edition...and Future Connected. Let's start off with the story: amazing, is there anything else that needs to be said? The concept of living on titans has and will always be cool and the story's climax is absolutely amazing. I do feel, however, a lot of what leads up to the climax/mini climaxes and what leads up to the finale is a bit underwhelming but there are so many plot points that need to be resolved that the bland points kind of just get nullified from all the action happening. The fact they reused the voice acting from the Wii version for the Definitive Edition is lazy but it's whatever in the long run. However, the game is worse in three other areas that I feel are a necessity for me: combat, postgame, and OST. The easiest to critique, combat, is something pivotal in an RPG. However, waiting half a minute for an art to recharge is boring and one of the main problems I have with the game. Yes, you do get a lot of arts and you can upgrade them so cooldowns are faster, but I feel like it just isn't even a match for 2 or 3's fast-based max-damage single hit combat. In terms of postgame, there isn't much to do except Colony 6, affinity charts, and time attack which is quite sad. Quests in this game are especially dull with the majority of them being something along the lines of: kill this thing. now kill it 5 more times. now kill it 10 more times. Wow how fun. And finally, the soundtrack. The soundtrack is, after all, from a Xenoblade game which means it's good, but it's not nearly as good as 2 or 3's in my opinion. Some songs like Guar Plains, You Will Know Our Names, Mechanical Rhythm, and Engage the Enemy are great but they don't hold a candle to Uncontrollable, Drifting Soul, One Last You, Those Who Stand Against Our Path, You Will Recall Our Names, Incoming!, The Weight of Life, and You Will Know Our Names ~Finale. Now, maybe I am being a bit harsh because it is the first in the series and came out in 2010, but issues are still issues and are ones that make me not want to revisit this game sometimes. Oh and I guess I should talk about Future Connected. Not much else to say but it's fun, good side story, not as good as Torna. Overall, this game is amazing but has several problems with it that cannot be overlooked. Still a game everyone should play if you like RPGs, if only to play the sequels.
