What’s in a name? Specifically, what’s in the name 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xenoblade Chronicles? Is this video game series about a sword or some other sort of blade? Are Xenoblade games related to the broader Xeno uni෴verse created by Tetsuya Takahashi? As the word 'chronicle' implies, does each new e🥃ntry in the series chronologically follow the last, with temporal progression being the prevailing through-line rather than recurring characters or settings?

The answer to all of these questions is basically yes, although you don’t need t🦋o know anything about the others to enjoy any given entry in the series. While Xenoblade is often confusing, one thing is not: these games are good. But which one is the be𒐪st? Let’s find out if some are a little bit meatier than the rest.

Updated on March 30, 2025 by Quinton O'Connor: With the arrival of its Definitive Edition for the Switch, Xenoblade Chronicles X can finally break out of its little-played, Wii-U-blamed, shell to find the wider audience of Xenoblade enthusiasts. We're celebrating with an update to this list!

4 𓃲 Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 caught a break coming out when it did in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch. The hybrܫid console was less than a year old, and there was a dearth of JRPGs at the time. But you know what Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is — a JRPG, and an especially big and ambitious one at that.

While the game did well at the time both critically and commercially, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 can occasionally get in its own way. The combat system is an improvement over its numbered predecessor, but its complexity can often be cumbersome and overwhelming. Field Ski♑lls and the gacha-esque Blade acquisition sys🃏tem are both highly polarizing, and for some players, the cutscenes are all just a touch over-the-top.

That said, Xenoblade Chronꦗicles 2 is by no means a bad game. In fact, it's a darn good one, with fantastic antagonists and arguably the best climactic act in the series. It just happens to be - as far as we're con✱cerned - the weakest link in a terrific chain.

Torna — The Golden Country

For many, Torna — The Golden Country was a vast improvement on wh🦹at the base game of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 offered. Taking place almost 500 years before the events of the base game, it follows Lora and her Blade, Jin, who you'll recognise as an antagonist from the main scenario.

Alongside a new story expanding on the mysteries of Jin's past and how he became꧙ the despondent figure seen during Rex's time, the DLC also had lots of gameplay enhancements that addressed many of the issues seen in the base game. Not only was the side quest system overhauled into a more digestible Community system, but there were other small changes that made a big difference to the overall experience.

3 💎 Xeno💧blade Chronicles X

There are three major things that set Xenoblade Chronicles X apart from the rest of the series. First, there are way more mecꦛhs. Differentiating itself from its numbered compatriots, Xenoblade Chronicles X leans heavilꦿy on the sci-fi genre and is all the better for it. Mechs are awesome, and they bolster the combat system well. They do, however, take nearly half the game to unlock.

Second, Xenoblade Chronicles X, quite obviously, doesn't have a number in its title. While this is a s🍬uperficial difference, it does seem to go hand-in-hand with the game’s focus on gameplay. It's also set in a separate universe from the other titles, which gradually develop some surprising connections. And third, with🔯 a soundtrack fully crafted by legendary anime composer Hiroyuki Sawano, the atmosphere in X is not at all akin to the more orchestral scores of other entries.

Unlike the rest of the series, Xenoblade Chronicles X is not as narratively driven. It's sparse on higher-budget cutscenes, and heftier on massively-scaled exploration than even its brethren. Indeed, in a franchise known for vast landscapes, there's nothing like X's alien world of Mira. Xenoblade Chronicles X is complex, multifaceted, and it can easily overwhelm players; thankfully, some of these rougher edges have b൩een sanded off with Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive 🔥Edition, a recent enhanced remaster for Nintendo Switch.

Definiti♉ve Edition a🐬lso does something that fans from the game's Wii U origin days will greatly appreciate: Loose plot threads are finally resolved!

2 Xenoblaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤𒈔ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚde Chronicles

For many, it will always be impossible to top the original Xenoblade Chronicles. Originally launched in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii, Xenoblade Chronicles was the first new Xeno game since developer Monolith Soft was bought by Nintendo. Like all the games to come, it was ambitious and in many ways unique from o💦ther JRPGs. It was an expensive game to make, and a big risk, but Monolith Soft knocked it out of the pa🐽rk.

Xenoblade Chronicles features a beautiful and huge world to explore, as well as a plethora of engaging characters. Despite evidence to the contrary, Shulk has a lot more to say than simply that he’s “really feeling it!” and the narrative amounts to something genuinely worth paying attention to. Compared to some of the more juvenile aspects of its numbered sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles tells a moving story that is significantly bolstered by hours of absolute bangers on the soundtrack. Story aside, the setting alone — the game taking place on the oss𒈔ified bodies of giants — was compelling and original in its time.

But even without the nostalgia factor, the game still holds up today. 2020’s Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, which was lau꧟nched on the Nintendo Switch, proves it. The game’s combat system might still be the wonkiest of the series, but that doesn’t detract from what the game does so well or from its historical i🐭mportance for JRPGs.

Future Connected

Alongside the launch of the Definitive Edition for the Ninten🙈do Switch came the DLC epilogue, Future Connected. Around a year after the final events of the main story, Shulk and Melia head out to investigate the Bionis' shoulder, but their ship crashes, and they discover two stowaways — Kino and Nene, children of Riki — who join them as they explore the area and 🔥take on the Fog King.

While no major changes were made to the gameplay, as was♌ the case with Torna — The Golden Country, contin🍌uing where the narrative left off is enough reason to play through the story scenario. You get to traverse a previously unexplored area of the Bionis, and the environments are just as breathtaking as in the main game.

If you're a fan of Melia's character, it's also exciting to see her take on a larger rol🤪e as the group learns more about the Fog King and offers aid to the High Entia. You even get to witness Melia to reconcile with Tyrea, who was her adversary in the main story.

1 🦄 Xenoblade Chronicles 3

It cannot be understated how exceptional 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is. The game pushes its hardware, yet Monolith Soft’s technical mastery is on full display in their third numbered entry in the series. Artistically, the game is a sight to behold, and it improves on the Xenoblade formula in nearly every way. The combat, borrowing the best aspects from previous entries, is as complex as ever, but it’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:explained clearly (for once) and doled out at a pace that🎉 is much♉ more player-friendly.

Xenoblade has always had stories that mix ambition and originality with tropes, but here, more than in any of the previous titles, the right balance is struck. There’s an urgency to the narrative fro✨m the get-go, with a well-paced adventure that still manages to make space for character exploration and development. While the dialogue (at least in its English language localization) can sometimes be unnecessarily repetitive, the main characters are all both interesting and chaܫrming.

Perhaps most remarkably, the game explores important themes that have recurred throughout the series — identity, responsibility, ethics, morality, mortality, and obviously xenophobia, too — and it does so with maturity and nuance. Sure, it still has Nopon — it is still Xenoblade Chroni🤪cles — but even if you didn’t love any of the previous games in the series, you might still find something quite special in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Future Redeemed

Xenoblade Chronicles 3's fourth wave of DLC brought a separate story scenario titled Future Redeemed, which takes place a number of years before 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Noah, Mio, and the rest of the party begin 🌼their journey across Aionios. You begin the journey as Matthew, a City survivo🦂r looking for his missing sister Na'el, as he travels alongside A.

Featuring older versions of both Shulk and Rex, Future Redeemed could easily have been an extra piece of fan service made to please existing fans of the series, but it does a whole lot more than that. Somehow, it manages to bring together the three numbered titles in a wa🦩y that's understandable and not convoluted, though it may take a little while for it all to sink in.

Shulk and Rex are, of course, highlights of the DLC, and seeing how they've grown and matured as characters is a pleasure, but the entire party's dynamic is on par with that of the main game. It works well as a standalone narrative too, as you finally get to see 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:how the City was founded, and the events that lead up to it. Future Redeemed is the final piece of the Xen🐎oblade Chronicles puzzle, and it slots right in perfectly.