By Yannis
The Xenoblade Chronicles 3 Direct came and went, leaving behind it an avalanche of information to fuel our impatience for launch day on July 29th.
Nintendo’s broadcast contained a ton of insight that elaborated on things we already knew about the game but also a fair few nuggets that were hot off the press.
Naturally, with so much information there are bound to be finer points that flew completely under most people’s radar or were intentionally and skillfully obscured.
In today’s video, I want to dive into five things that you may have missed from the Direct.
1. Master Arts and Class Changes
One of the big “wow” moments of the Direct was the combat system, which is looking incredibly flexible. A key point that seemed to have gone by quickly, though, was Master Arts. These skills seem to be obtained as a result of class changing.
By changing a character’s class, you can level up arts and gain access to them as Master Arts to use with other classes. The example we see in the Direct is Mio acting as a Defender but also has an ability that heals her party.
This is a huge deal when it comes to setting up your party.
I see this working as a way to balance out the skills, functions, and mechanics your overall party has. For example, you may want to have extra access to Launch or other combo pieces to guarantee big damage at the end of every rotation.
This could possibly also lead to some incredibly broken party setups, which is always a fun thing to experiment with.
2. Hidden Heroes
When the Direct touched on Heroes, it was pretty obvious that Nintendo wanted to keep us guessing when they purposely pixelated out one of the portraits in the hero selection screen. My initial theory is that the character may be tied to some heavy spoilers.
Maybe an antagonist who had a change of heart? Someone key to the story? It’s anyone’s guess at this point.
It’s doubtful that this hero would be from past Xenoblade games, though. I feel Nintendo is more likely to want to include such heroes in their DLC expansions.
But this wasn’t the only hidden hero. If you look closely at the class selection screen in the Direct, there are three characters that are silhouetted, two of which are not entirely clear who they are.
The one on the bottom left corner is likely to be Cammuravi, a character who has been shown off a few times already. It’s quite obvious that the silhouette is sporting this character’s hairstyle as well as the flames jutting up from his armor.
3. Who Is the Real Antagonist?
Right off the bat, the Direct has showcased a group of characters in distinct red armor, referred to as the Consuls. These initially appear to be running the show somehow, with soldiers reporting to them after battles and them holding clandestine meetings with each other.
However, there may be more to them than meets the eye. We’ve seen them transform into Ouroboros and have a glowing infinity symbol in their eyes. What this all suggest is that they’re not fighting on behalf of Keves or Agnus.
Rather, it’s all starting to point towards them having a much grander scheme in play. The infinity symbol suggests that they may be immortal which could end up being a sort of taboo within the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 3, given that other characters can only live for 10 years.
And that leads me to the next thing.
4. Bodies in Capsules Theories
The scene with bodies in capsules alludes to something much more sinister happening in the shadows surrounding the game’s narrative. Are these dead soldiers? Or are they clones? How are they connected to the Consuls?
The fact that the bodies appear to have intact skin suggests they aren’t dead because soldiers who die are left in a decomposed state. However, they may be somehow recycled in these capsules and churned out to do battle again.
Whatever the case may be, it’s clear that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 will have a much darker story than past installments in the series.
5. Possible Return of Alcamoth
Eagle-eyed fans may have already noticed this but it’s worth pointing it out again. There’s a scene from the Direct where the main characters are looking towards a city in the distance. From the structures, it would seem this city is Alcamoth, the capital of the Entia from the first game.
The main pillar in the middle clearly looks altered so this may be a red herring. However, it’s already been revealed that Melia, who would be the ruler of Alcamoth, will be returning in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
So, it’s looking quite likely we will be visiting the city of the High Entia empire once more.
