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Should I be playing the Xenoblade Chronicles games in order?

I preordered Xenoblade Chronicles 3 because I had a video game coupon for Target.

Considering cancelling my preorder given that I doubt I'll even be able to beat XBC 1 by the time XBC 3 comes out given the speed at which I'm playing it (game is much more massive than I anticipated)

would it be fine to leap from 1 to 3, or should I take the time to play 2 first? also not sure where XBC X falls into the equation.

Also are there any other Xeno titles that are recommended to play along with these story wise?
 

Nautilus

Banned
Jason Sudeikis Yes GIF by Apple TV+
 

22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Just bought the Switch Remaster of the first. I'm down for xtreme tities but all in good time.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
In my opinion you definitely should play XC1 &2, especially the fact its already confirmed two returning characters and in my they are really fun games.

2 is cringey anime BS, I'd skip it just for the insanely awful art style. 1 is great.
I personally highly disagree, I recently replayed both XC1&2 back to back and as much I enjoyed the original game, I personally had way more fun with XC2, especially when it comes its combat.
 
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Astral Dog

Member
There will be a few things you are going to miss out if you don't play them all in order(think like The Legend of Zelda series)

But overall, there is no problem as all stories are self contained . Just like Zelda, its not a direct continuation.

I would recommend just keep playing Xenoblade 1,then start 3 when it comes out if thats what you want, there is no rush these are massive games and time sinkers, i skipped 2 but probably going to play 3
 

Mister Wolf

Member
There will be a few things you are going to miss out if you don't play them all in order(think like The Legend of Zelda series)

But overall, there is no problem as all stories are self contained . Just like Zelda, its not a direct continuation.

I would recommend just keep playing Xenoblade 1,then start 3 when it comes out if thats what you want, there is no rush these are massive games and time sinkers, i skipped 2 but probably going to play 3

3 literally has a key character from 2 appearing in the first two trailers and lists this in its summary for the first trailer:

"With a brand-new story that ties together the futures of the worlds depicted in Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2".

The gemstones on Mio and Sena's chest ties directly to the story in 2.
 
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Nautilus

Banned
There will be a few things you are going to miss out if you don't play them all in order(think like The Legend of Zelda series)

But overall, there is no problem as all stories are self contained . Just like Zelda, its not a direct continuation.

I would recommend just keep playing Xenoblade 1,then start 3 when it comes out if thats what you want, there is no rush these are massive games and time sinkers, i skipped 2 but probably going to play 3
Yeahhhhh...no.

While the Zelda comparison isn't entirely bad, its misleading. Both games ARE connected, and you WILL not understand one or other part in 2 if you haven't played the first(especially a huge twist at the end) but its not essential.Its not like you wont understand or enjoy the story.You will fully understand it, you just will lose out like 5% of it by the end that, in my opinion, deserves to be fully understood.
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Lawd, they are hundred hour games each, just short of Persona 5 length. You will be massively burned out on the formula by the time 3 arrives.
 
In anticipation for XC3, I marathoned through XC1DE and XC2 in order the past few weeks.

For me, they were both great games with their pros and cons. I liked the customization, the menu UI, and battle system in XC1DE. But I liked the story and characters in XC2.

Jumping straight into XC2 right after DE, it felt like the UI and battle system were a bit clunky but I quickly got used to it.

I've never seen the original XC1 so maybe there were many QoL improvements made to the DE version since it came after.

That said, I'm glad I played in order because it made the whole experience much more impactful with how the nature of the world was revealed.

The games aren't connected chronologically but they are definitely connected in a significant way which may set the stage for the third game.

If story is the main concern, then I recommend playing in order. Which game is better is a matter of personal taste. Dismissing any of them due to senseless biases would be a disservice.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Yeahhhhh...no.

While the Zelda comparison isn't entirely bad, its misleading. Both games ARE connected, and you WILL not understand one or other part in 2 if you haven't played the first(especially a huge twist at the end) but its not essential.Its not like you wont understand or enjoy the story.You will fully understand it, you just will lose out like 5% of it by the end that, in my opinion, deserves to be fully understood.
Yeah thats what i mean you will miss out on things but its not essential to play 1 to understand 2 and so on
 
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Don't skip X. It's awesome.

Tk4nGm2.jpg


As people are saying, order is important because it is clearly connecting XC1+XC2 for certain and possibly more.

Order would be XC1 > XCX > XC2 > TORNA > XC3

Imo it's okay if you skip "future connected" the epilogue story in XCDE. That really felt like nothing was going on to me, just an opinion.
 
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22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
Just bought the Switch Remaster of the first. I'm down for xtreme tities but all in good time.

About to get 2 with DLC

Which is more fun? More bizarre, sexy, crazy, combat system ETC.


I dont care for story THAT much. And don't mind playing out of order unless it's like Rocky 1 and 2

Also I prefer more fast pacing. Combat, areas. Cutscenes
 
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22•22

NO PAIN TRANCE CONTINUE
About to get 2 with DLC

Which is more fun? More bizarre, sexy, crazy, combat system ETC.


I dont care for story THAT much. And don't mind playing out of order unless it's like Rocky 1 and 2

Also I prefer more fast pacing. Combat, areas. Cutscenes

Dude tried to set me up. Feel like stabbing him. With.his whole demeanor. Long story but while having info he decided to play dumb and act as an asshole when confronted

Remaster it is!!!
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
2 is cringey anime BS, I'd skip it just for the insanely awful art style. 1 is great.
Nah, I think 1 is better but 2 is NAISU~! Even better in Japanese (actually, the only way I play anime games, that or skip).

OT: Just enjoy it, avoid rushing in order to "get ready"... I decided to probably get the game but not sure if I'm playing it as soon as it's out because I'm yet to play Future Connected and Torna... Having said that, does anyone recommend me leaving Torta for after I play 3? It's just a prequel isn't it?
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
Yeahhhhh...no.

While the Zelda comparison isn't entirely bad, its misleading. Both games ARE connected, and you WILL not understand one or other part in 2 if you haven't played the first(especially a huge twist at the end) but its not essential.Its not like you wont understand or enjoy the story.You will fully understand it, you just will lose out like 5% of it by the end that, in my opinion, deserves to be fully understood.
And that 5% is like 95% mindblow of the story lmao. Well, it was for me at least...🤔
 

Jennings

Member
Both games ARE connected, and you WILL not understand one or other part in 2 if you haven't played the first(especially a huge twist at the end) but its not essential.Its not like you wont understand or enjoy the story.You will fully understand it, you just will lose out like 5% of it by the end that, in my opinion, deserves to be fully understood.

And that 5% is like 95% mindblow of the story lmao. Well, it was for me at least...🤔
Yeah.Its an incredibly satisfying revelation
Without spoiling anything, I had something spoiled by someone else and I'm wondering if the mindblowing revelation is as follows.

The idea that Titans in the Xenoblade universe are actually ascended characters called "Blades". I don't actually know what these Blades are yet besides being Xenoblade 2 content, as I'm on chapter 11 of Xenoblade DE at the moment. Is the final 5% of Xenoblade 2 the big reveal that the Titans are these Blade characters? No need to elaborate, a simple yes or no will do fine.

I will be starting Xenoblade 2 in a few days and would be disappointed if I already knew the ending.
 

Nautilus

Banned
Without spoiling anything, I had something spoiled by someone else and I'm wondering if the mindblowing revelation is as follows.

The idea that Titans in the Xenoblade universe are actually ascended characters called "Blades". I don't actually know what these Blades are yet besides being Xenoblade 2 content, as I'm on chapter 11 of Xenoblade DE at the moment. Is the final 5% of Xenoblade 2 the big reveal that the Titans are these Blade characters? No need to elaborate, a simple yes or no will do fine.

I will be starting Xenoblade 2 in a few days and would be disappointed if I already knew the ending.
No.I mean, its part of the explanation of that twist, but its not the WTF moment.
 

FingerBang

Member
I finished XC2 and thought that game became good only after 40 hours. I pushed through and finished it but god, it really made me want to avoid the series.

3 looks a bit less cringey so I might give it a shot in the future, but don't think I have time to play 1. Could you briefly explain to me what in 2 is important for 3? I don't really remember much of the story.
 

Nautilus

Banned
I finished XC2 and thought that game became good only after 40 hours. I pushed through and finished it but god, it really made me want to avoid the series.

3 looks a bit less cringey so I might give it a shot in the future, but don't think I have time to play 1. Could you briefly explain to me what in 2 is important for 3? I don't really remember much of the story.
No one knows. 3 isn't out yet.

We assume the story is connected bevause there are carachters and stuff from 1 and 2 appearing on 3.
 
I just finished XCDE this weekend (70+ hrs) after having finished XB2 a couple years ago (120+ hrs) along with Torna DLC. I’m glad I played 2 before 1 for minor reasons, really, but useful for me. I loved XB2 - loved it - and liked XCDE. I don’t think play order really matters, however I’d wager that may change a bit with XB3.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
Without spoiling anything, I had something spoiled by someone else and I'm wondering if the mindblowing revelation is as follows.

The idea that Titans in the Xenoblade universe are actually ascended characters called "Blades". I don't actually know what these Blades are yet besides being Xenoblade 2 content, as I'm on chapter 11 of Xenoblade DE at the moment. Is the final 5% of Xenoblade 2 the big reveal that the Titans are these Blade characters? No need to elaborate, a simple yes or no will do fine.

I will be starting Xenoblade 2 in a few days and would be disappointed if I already knew the ending.
Regarding the spoiler marked text... Nah, that wasn't actually shocking to me, at least
 

Type_Raver

Member
Theres 2 ideas in play; story and the gameplay mechanics.

That said, I think playing them in numerical order is likely the best option: XCDE > XC2 > Torna > XC3.
In my experience, the gameplay battle systems improve from title to title as well.
While Torna (battle system) isnt quite like for like, its somewhat more streamlined and refined.

XC3 looks a little intimidating with all the characters going off at once, but Monolith did take our feedback and apparently improve the tutorials, etc...
 

kubricks

Member
I have the same question and could someone help me understand XCDE?
I am not shitting on the game I promise, I genuinely want to get into the series since I love Xenogears, find the Xeno-universe very interesting and that the upcoming XC3 looks gorgeous. I have tried twice on XCDE and gave up after 25hours in my latest attempt due to;
1. The combat consist of walking to back or side of enemy, use the skill then wait for cool down. Not enjoying this a lot.
2. The exploration is not very well done? The map is huge and yet it's not very rewarding to explore. There are no interesting side quests you can find (like Witcher 3 for example), dead ends are often just dead ends. And do they seriously wants me to memorize all the HtH location and come back later?
3. The side quests are mostly about collect x items or kill x enemies. Can I just skip them all?
4. I got the break topple daze party going, but it still isn't very engaging. I have no means of controlling the party, chain attack is often the only way to get the combo going and yet it felt a bit random still.

At this point, should I just slap on casual mode and run through the game for the story? Or am I playing it wrong missing some integral part of the combat system?
Did the sequel improve on the combat?
 

Rykan

Member
I have the same question and could someone help me understand XCDE?
I am not shitting on the game I promise, I genuinely want to get into the series since I love Xenogears, find the Xeno-universe very interesting and that the upcoming XC3 looks gorgeous. I have tried twice on XCDE and gave up after 25hours in my latest attempt due to;
1. The combat consist of walking to back or side of enemy, use the skill then wait for cool down. Not enjoying this a lot.
2. The exploration is not very well done? The map is huge and yet it's not very rewarding to explore. There are no interesting side quests you can find (like Witcher 3 for example), dead ends are often just dead ends. And do they seriously wants me to memorize all the HtH location and come back later?
3. The side quests are mostly about collect x items or kill x enemies. Can I just skip them all?
4. I got the break topple daze party going, but it still isn't very engaging. I have no means of controlling the party, chain attack is often the only way to get the combo going and yet it felt a bit random still.

At this point, should I just slap on casual mode and run through the game for the story? Or am I playing it wrong missing some integral part of the combat system?
Did the sequel improve on the combat?
Let me try to help you out.

1. I can understand that. While the waiting for skill cool down is just is what it is, if hitting positionals becomes annoying, then change your party leader to another character. I understand that playing someone besides the “main character” can feel weird, but every character in XBC has its own unique play style and mechanics. Try changing to a tank or a caster.
2. While XBCDE is the best version of the game, it is still a polished up Wii game that probably didn't have the largest budget to begin with. You're right, exploration isn't very well done.
3. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: kinda, yeah. There are nearly 500 sidequest in this game and all of them are super simple. It's not worth doing all of them nor is it required. A common tactic is to simply go into town, pick up all the sidequest and then just follow the main story quest and just kill/pick quest items or enemies come on your path. Don't bother reading the text or give it too much thought: There's nothing interesting there. I've read that there are plenty of people who didn't finish any sidequests and still finished the main game. Just make sure you don't get too far underleveled.
4: The AI is basically programmed to follow up on break and topples automatically. It doesn't always work from my experience. You're not missing and integral part of the combat system: It just comes across as more complex than it really is. To me, it kinda feels like FF12's combat system but without the gambit system.

I can't really answer if the sequel improves as I'm finishing up XBCDE myself. Should you slap on casual mode? It depends. If you're simply not enjoying the game and you want to get to the sequel (Which probably feels more modern, considering it came out years later on better hardware) then by all means do so. But I'd first recommend just switching to another party leader and see if the combat clicks for you.
 
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NanaMiku

Member
For OP, Both Xenoblade 1 and 2 have self-contained story. They only connect the overall story of the series. If you play Xenogears and Xenosaga, you'll see it. Still not sure how they ties it to Xenoblade 3. For now, they only says the world is a merge of Xenoblade 1 and 2. The main cast is all new

I finished XC2 and thought that game became good only after 40 hours. I pushed through and finished it but god, it really made me want to avoid the series.

3 looks a bit less cringey so I might give it a shot in the future, but don't think I have time to play 1. Could you briefly explain to me what in 2 is important for 3? I don't really remember much of the story.
There are 2 countries in Xenoblade 3: Keves is the Xenoblade 1 country and Agnus is Xenoblade 2 country. Several characters from Agnus have core crystal on their chest, just like Blade in Xenoblade 2. You can also see the Urayan titan on the cover.

I have the same question and could someone help me understand XCDE?
I am not shitting on the game I promise, I genuinely want to get into the series since I love Xenogears, find the Xeno-universe very interesting and that the upcoming XC3 looks gorgeous. I have tried twice on XCDE and gave up after 25hours in my latest attempt due to;
1. The combat consist of walking to back or side of enemy, use the skill then wait for cool down. Not enjoying this a lot.
2. The exploration is not very well done? The map is huge and yet it's not very rewarding to explore. There are no interesting side quests you can find (like Witcher 3 for example), dead ends are often just dead ends. And do they seriously wants me to memorize all the HtH location and come back later?
3. The side quests are mostly about collect x items or kill x enemies. Can I just skip them all?
4. I got the break topple daze party going, but it still isn't very engaging. I have no means of controlling the party, chain attack is often the only way to get the combo going and yet it felt a bit random still.

At this point, should I just slap on casual mode and run through the game for the story? Or am I playing it wrong missing some integral part of the combat system?
Did the sequel improve on the combat?
The combat in Xenoblade 1 is kinda simple, and later on they improve it in Xenoblade X and 2. Every party member plays differently, but the core system is still waiting to use arts. Still, try other party member, maybe you'll like someone.
The heart to heart/affinity system in Xenoblade 1 is a hassle. Basically everything in Xenoblade 1 ties to the party affinity system. You want to make better gem, you need to increase the affinity, you want chain attack to be longer, you need to increase the affinity.

There are almost 500 side quests in Xenoblade 1, and most of them are fetch quest. There are several interesting one, but still only text so probably not too engaging for you. The one that are interesting usually a side quest chain.
 

kubricks

Member
Let me try to help you out.

1. I can understand that. While the waiting for skill cool down is just is what it is, if hitting positionals becomes annoying, then change your party leader to another character. I understand that playing someone besides the “main character” can feel weird, but every character in XBC has its own unique play style and mechanics. Try changing to a tank or a caster.
2. While XBCDE is the best version of the game, it is still a polished up Wii game that probably didn't have the largest budget to begin with. You're right, exploration isn't very well done.
3. Short answer: Yes. Long answer: kinda, yeah. There are nearly 500 sidequest in this game and all of them are super simple. It's not worth doing all of them nor is it required. A common tactic is to simply go into town, pick up all the sidequest and then just follow the main story quest and just kill/pick quest items or enemies come on your path. Don't bother reading the text or give it too much thought: There's nothing interesting there. I've read that there are plenty of people who didn't finish any sidequests and still finished the main game. Just make sure you don't get too far underleveled.
4: The AI is basically programmed to follow up on break and topples automatically. It doesn't always work from my experience. You're not missing and integral part of the combat system: It just comes across as more complex than it really is. To me, it kinda feels like FF12's combat system but without the gambit system.

I can't really answer if the sequel improves as I'm finishing up XBCDE myself. Should you slap on casual mode? It depends. If you're simply not enjoying the game and you want to get to the sequel (Which probably feels more modern, considering it came out years later on better hardware) then by all means do so. But I'd first recommend just switching to another party leader and see if the combat clicks for you.

Thanks!
Yes you are right, I always use Shulk because I thought having Monado arts are essential to the party's survival. Guess I can use Dunban and try things out, I like his design.
If it didn't work out, casual mode that is.
 

Shifty1897

Member
I got the same answer OP. I just hit chapter 15 in Xenoblade Chronicles, then I move on to XC2. Maybe I'll make it to XC3 by Christmas.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
By the time I had bought Xenosaga 3 I had no idea what had happened in Xenosaga 2. I had the first game, but it wasn’t in my top 10 or anything. I don’t think a fan of Xenogears is going to always curl up next to anything Xeno and be happy. Considering they’re all different games. I for one had a hard time getting beyond the 20 hour mark with Chronicles X. They’re not for everyone, but jumping into 3 sounds like a good deal. I bet a lot of the story builds from a new beginning and people generally don’t have to go in order to get the most out of the game.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 looks to be the better game (probably). I doubt everyone who gets it will have the first two games memorized from and back. It almost never works that way.

I personally haven’t found a better cast than Xenogears. Sure there’s that Euro cuteness thing and generally campy characters. It all sorta vanished after a while, so playing the latest installment is like a clean slate.
 
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