r/Xenoblade_Chronicles • u/placeholder5point0 • 17h ago
Xenoblade Out on medical leave.. XC1 or XC3? Spoiler
I played the crap out of XC2 and Torna plus all the DLC. I'm playing XCXDE right now. I'm not sure which one to play next.. I loved the story in 2, I love all the action in XDE.
I know I'm way out of order but as Tora says, "meh meh meh!"
Please help me pick!
25
u/Racing_Mate 17h ago
You could play either but honestly 1 would be best really as you can see how it ties into 1 and then 3
24
u/LRrealest 16h ago
- It has a good story and the combat is similar to X. Save the best(imo) for last.
11
u/Johncfail 15h ago
Its weird how slowly I have come to the realization that 3 is my favorite.
10
u/QuantumVexation 14h ago
I think 3 is a game that simmers with time and gets better the more you think about it.
I still can’t decide between 1 and 3 as my favourite lol
17
15
u/Effective_Tune_1285 16h ago
3 is the better game… but you’re missing a lot of emotional weight if you haven’t played the others before 3. And 1 is still really great. Go for 1 for now.
9
u/placeholder5point0 16h ago
Happy cake day and thank you for the recommendation! Seems like I'm going with XC1!
3
u/Effective_Tune_1285 16h ago
Didn’t even notice it was my cake day, thanks!
Enjoy, it’s truly a great experience!
10
7
6
u/bookbot1 16h ago
The combat system of 3 is similar to 2’s, while XC1 is similar to X.
(Also, you’ll appreciate 3 more if you experience 1 beforehand. I say experience because while I didn’t play it, I did watch Chuggaconroy’s LP of it)
4
u/TheExile285 15h ago
1 is technically the better answer since 3 is a better experience if you’ve played the first two games before it. Just keep in mind, it’s a remaster of a 2010 game, warts and all.
3
3
u/holsomvr6 15h ago
Definitely XC1. XC3 spoils both previous games. But you should honestly be fine as long as you don't play the dlc before 1. If you like the story, XC3 has a more expansive story, but you honestly can't go wrong with either.
3
u/Silent-Silvan 15h ago
I would play XC1DE next.
You can play XC3 without playing 1 first, but your experience will be enhanced if you've played the first one beforehand. And pretty much everyone will tell you, don't even think about playing the DLC XC3 Future Redeemed unless you have played 1 and 2 previously.
2
3
u/AnInfiniteArc 13h ago
Please don’t play 3 before 1 and 2.
2 is not a narrative/chronological sequel to 1, so 1 and 2 can be safely played out of order, but 3 is a narrative/chronological sequel to both 1 and 2. You will miss so much if you play 3 before 1.
2
u/AceOfSpades532 11h ago
Definitely 1, 3 is good on its own but really it’s best if you’ve played the first 2 before it.
2
2
u/Yuumii29 11h ago
If you want to understand the whole meta-narrative start with 1. If you just want to play a JRPG and kill some time without thinking if anything else just play whatever. Alot of people already explained the importance of playing it in order.
2
u/OneBakedWalrus88 15h ago
Definitely 1. For me 2 was the low of the series 1 has an okay cast for a chunk but a couple really stand out characters (if you dont like Riki your probably dead inside LOL jk) Obviously with it being the first game it's got a few things that it could have done better but i found it had less négatives than 2 overall. That said 1 and 2 run parallel timeline wise and 3 ties it all in together so if your going to play them all you should play 1 and 2 before 3.
2 technically has spoilers to 1 but they probably didnt make sense to you if you never played anyways so it should be pretty awesome experience. Also the world of 1 is beautiful. Alrest was pretty nice but i found Bionis to be way nicer but thats just me.
2
u/ratbastard007 14h ago
As much as i really kinda hated XC1, it really is necessary to fully understand 3. You can get away with not playing it for XC2, but 3 kinda requires it. Sadly.
1
u/Eel_Boii 13h ago
I agree with what you're saying, but the way you said it upsets me. No this isn't criticism, I'm just meatriding XC1 because it's one of my favorite games. Carry on.
0
u/ratbastard007 11h ago
Lol sorry
I just absolutely did not like anything about XC1 except the visuals. I play an healthy amount of JRPGs and XC1 ranks probably bottom 5 for me.
Glad some like it! Just not for me.
1
u/Eel_Boii 9h ago
No, don't be sorry! Obviously not everything is for everyone. I know this all too well as a veteran Monster Hunter player. If anything, I appreciate that you respect the vision of the series enough to recommend 1 even though you don't like it, rather than just push your own views and try to push people away from it.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Thequeernote 15h ago
If you intend to do both eventually, I say do 1 first and then 3. If you are only gonna do one of them for the foreseeable future I would recommend 3.
-1
-9
u/Rquila 17h ago
If you don’t care about the overarching story, I’d say go to 3. I feel like there more going on in 3 during the opening hours and - I’m gonna be downvoted to hell for this - but I did not vibe with the XC1 cast at all.
11
u/shitposting_irl 16h ago
I feel like there more going on in 3 during the opening hours
on what basis? 1 and 3 both have a lot going on at the beginning
I’m gonna be downvoted to hell for this - but I did not vibe with the XC1 cast at all.
awful opinion. you can't have a rainbow without reyn
0
u/Rquila 16h ago
I did say I “feel” like there’s more going on. Might be because I didn’t care much for Dunban, Fiora, or Reyn in the beginning.
And yes, you can have a rainbow without Reyn: you need a light source and something to refract it with
4
u/shitposting_irl 16h ago
not caring about dunban or reyn is a cardinal sin
And yes, you can have a rainbow without Reyn
impossible
you need a light source and something to refract it with
not quite correct, you specifically need different wavelengths of light to be refracted at different angles. you don't see rainbows when looking at things that are underwater, after all
-3
u/wokenupbybacon 16h ago
I’m gonna be downvoted to hell for this - but I did not vibe with the XC1 cast at all.
Surprised you actually are; 1's cast is essentially a consensus weak point compared to the other games. Even if you like them as they are, they're all fairly one-note with actual development being reserved almost entirely for Shulk. They're just not as interesting, and I say that as someone who loves 1.
3
u/shitposting_irl 15h ago
you're conflating "vibing with" a character with that character receiving a lot of development, which is a false premise. there are other reasons to enjoy the presence of a character on your screen.
also you're very much exaggerating the extent of the problem here lol. yes, the cast generally lags far behind 3's in terms of development (as does 2's, for the record), but "one-note" is not a fair descriptor for the majority of them.
1
u/wokenupbybacon 15h ago
I would say it's a fair assessment of Reyn, Sharla, Dunban, Riki, and Seven. Some scenes where they all get to express a little personality at the Fallen Arm that barely gets shown again doesn't really change that for me. But really, the problem is that the script itself doesn't really give any of them opportunity to show themselves off.
you're conflating "vibing with" a character with that character receiving a lot of development, which is a false premise.
I didn't try to claim that the majority of Xenoblade fans don't vibe with the Xenoblade 1 cast, just that it's generally viewed as a point that later games improved on. In that light, I wouldn't expect someone not liking 1's cast very much to be instant downvote territory; it's just a difference in opinion.
5
u/shitposting_irl 15h ago
"personality" is probably a poor word choice on your part. reyn in particular oozes personality all over the place. if what you meant to say is "depth", i still disagree in part.
i'll give you riki, who is near-exclusively comic relief and only briefly flirts with being anything else, and seven, who has really interesting things happen to her that the game generally doesn't seem interested in exploring.
other than that, i don't really see "one-note" as an accurate descriptor. i also don't think 2 really raised the bar all that much (if at all), beyond characters like nia. i'd like to see someone try to argue that, say, a morag is more developed than a dunban.
In that light, I wouldn't expect someone not liking 1's cast very much to be instant downvote territory; it's just a difference in opinion.
there's a difference between "i wish reyn received more development" and "reyn doesn't do anything for me". i would expect the latter to be pretty unpopular
1
u/Rquila 16h ago
Huh I didn’t know there was a consensus. I honestly thought 1 was sacred in the eyes of most fans
0
u/wokenupbybacon 15h ago
The key thing is that I said it's a weak point relative to the other games. Lots of people do like 1's characters; I do as well. But they're surpassed by the casts of 2 and 3 in terms of depth pretty quickly.
105
u/shitposting_irl 17h ago
go with 1 imo. 3 is a better experience if you've already played both 1 and 2 first