Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Open World Is A Great Blueprint For JRPGs

screenrant.com:

Monolith Soft has created an innovative open world map in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 that other JRPGs should take inspiration from. Following the release of the Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition remaster in 2020, many fans were curious about what the third entry of the Chronicles saga would look like. After years of waiting, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is finally here, and it features an ambitious open-world design that is the blueprint for future JRPG titles.

When the Chronicles saga first made its debut on the Nintendo Wii in 2010, the open-world game was critically praised for its emotional storytelling. The series would return in 2017 with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 which featured an even more epic campaign as well as an overhauled combat system. The game's biggest feature though was the ambitious Blades system, which allowed players to change their team's playstyle on the fly. ForXenoblade Chronicles 3 Monolith Soft put a heavier emphasis on updating the franchise's open-world design to make it more engaging than it's ever been.

Related: How To Do Art Combos in Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Throughout the game's 100-hour journey, Xenoblade Chronicles 3's playable characters globe-trot across a wide variety of exotic biomes. While the series has always been known for its beautiful art direction, the world of Aionios is brought to life with the series' most polished graphics to date. However, there are several important design changes that make Xenoblade Chronicles 3's open world map outshine previous entries, as well as most modern JRPGs.

Compared to previous entries, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 feels like a deeply connected world to the characters that inhabit it. Although small towns and cities are common in any JRPG, in XBC3 players