Don’t know anything about Xenoblade Chronicles 3? Start here!

If you’ve never played a Xenoblade Chronicles™ game before, you may be thinking 'Hey, so what the heck is going on in the next game?'

Likewise, if you’ve played every previous Xenoblade Chronicles game, you may be thinking, 'Hey, so what the heck is going on in the next game?'

Well, we can help with that! In this article, we’ll breeze through some of the basics to give you a better idea of what the Xenoblade Chronicles™ 3 game is all about (especially since it comes out on 29th July).

Do I need to play the previous games in the series?

This is a super common question for good reason: JRPGs are long games and diving into the middle of a series can be intimidating! Luckily, you don’t need to play any of the previous games to enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Basically, each story in this series is self-contained—each with their own complex lore, characters, and gameplay ideas. With that said, there are some connections between all the games that long-time fans may pick up on.

Spoiler warning for Xenoblade Chronicles & Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Without getting too into it, many of the events of the series were set into motion by a single act: when a human from Earth named Klaus activated a mysterious, monolithic energy source called the Conduit. Among other things, the Conduit can warp reality itself…and things escalated quickly. What followed were intertwining tales of parallel dimensions, vast histories and mythologies, and heroes who do their best to break the cycles of violence and suffering. The stories take place across centuries, and one of the common themes is about defying fate itself.

If you want to explore the series, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna - The Golden Country, and (very soon!) Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are available for the Nintendo Switch™ system.

What’s the premise of Xenoblade Chronicles 3?

In this game, two great nations are at war: Keves and Agnus. In this world, people have a lifespan of 10 years, which is mainly spent fighting as highly trained soldiers. The game follows six of these soldiers (three from Keves and three from Agnus) who need to put aside their hatred for each other to uncover a much larger threat. You will control this core party of six characters, explore the massive world of Aionios, and fight all sorts of imposing anime-style baddies.

How do you fight?

In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, you freely move any of the six main characters around in battle, and can take control of any of them at any time. Your characters will start attacking automatically, and special moves called 'Arts' are assigned to each face button on the controller: simply press a button to perform the assigned Art. Some characters specialise in attacking, defending, or healing, so check their Arts to see what they can do!

Those are the basics, but there are many other ways to customise your playstyle. For example, you can:

• String together certain Arts to affect your enemy’s status.

• Change your characters’ classes to tweak your attacks. (And get fancy outfits in the process.)

• Use Chain Attacks to link multiple party member’s attacks together.

• Combine certain Arts together to get a more powerful ability.

• Add a Hero Character as a swappable seventh party member to give some more variety to your team.

This may sound a bit confusing now, but it’s really just another way of saying that this battle system is very, very flexible. These different elements will be gradually introduced to you as you play so as to not overwhelm you.

What the heck is an Ouroboros?

Well, in human history, the ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail. In Xenoblade Chronicles 3, it’s a bit different.

You see, certain pairs of your characters can fuse together in a fiercely powerful form known as an Ouroboros. There’s a set time limit of how long you can stay in this form, so make it count. And, of course, you can also upgrade an Ouroboros form to make it even more powerful.

Anything else?

We can’t leave without saying that every Xenoblade Chronicles game has a roly-poly race of fluffballs called Nopon. They can pick up stuff with their ears and use interesting grammar. You’ll know them when you see them.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 comes out on 29th July, and you can pre-order from our website, on Nintendo eShop or My Nintendo Store. You can also expand the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 with the paid Expansion Pass!