(Minor) CHAPTER 5 SPOILERS FROM 6:22 TO 6:46 The ranking of the Xenoblade 3 areas is finally finished! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rtqketuSldO7eWg.html Consider subscribing if you enjoyed the video and want to see more!

Funnily enough, the time of day does not change when fast traveling in Future Redeemed unless you choose. However the track starting over problem still exists

My main two ideas to fix this has always been to: 1- replace the chain attack music with the "climax" version of the battle theme if it has one. if there isn't, just put the regular chain attack theme, it's not an issue, even more less when considering the following idea in addition to this. 2- Have a button press to keep current music instead of switching to the menu/area/battle theme, or continue the current battle theme instead of the chain attack music. (and yeah 3- continue the theme where it was when going back to the region after a simple screen or whatever. same of the menu, don't reboot it each time when I open that menu, 10 times in 30 secs, because I always forget what I opened it for, but I guess that's another issue)

One of my common complaints about XC3 that often got dismissed was that the game seemed to force certain tracks upon you too often (primarily chain attack, menu theme, mobius theme) and that I struggled to really recall the melody of a single track that wasn't one of them even after hundreds of hours, which gave me the impression that the music was just not memorable. But thinking about it, I suppose its more how and when the game presents the tracks, not really giving the full area music the time or chance to shine.

To add to the area themes, they have worse volume mixing in this game. Area themes are typically way quieter than battles, so you lower the sound to avoid being blasted by the battles Enemy mobs are also too dense so you'll be hearing Keves battle more often than in xc1 (But I gotta disagree about eagus wilderness, I think it has one of the best intros of any area theme)

Wow, I really didn't notice that skip travelling also reset the time day, and now that I think about it, I can't recall any night theme or even being at night in some areas

I'm so glad you chose Eagus Wilderness Day for your demonstration. It's one of my favorite area songs in the game, possibly the whole series even, and I also remember how it had to grow on me for me to appreciate it. Luckily, going back to earlier areas for side quests can make it much easier to appreciate their background music in-game.

With the Noah and Mio amiibo update, this could be our last chance to pester Monolith for QOL changes we’d like to see implemented for XC3. In other words, it’s now or never for chain attack music toggle… And I don’t just mean bitching on KZfaq, twitter, and Reddit in the hope they’ll listen either. I mean directly contacting them on their website. Remember when people found out Mio’s chain order was bugged? Someone actually directly contacted Monolith on their website and literally the next patch we did get, it was fixed. What pisses me off even more is that monolith seemingly addressed the music issue because in future redeemed, anytime you skip traveled, the music would loop back to whatever time of day you were already in. (Example: skip traveling at night time would still keep the night time setting.)

I'll say that, as someone who frequently will just spend an hour walking around the entire game world as well as owns the soundtrack and listens to it pretty regularly, I'm pretty familiar with all of the songs from the game at this point. I also do make full use of the fact that I can change what the time is set to when fast traveling (I know that Fort O'Virbus is kind of a meme for how absolutely INCREDIBLE the day and night themes are, but in the story you basically leave as soon as the fort is freed in Chapter 7... so many people might only ever hear the first several seconds of the day theme and never hear *any* of the night theme). However, I can definitely see the issues with how Monolith handled the area themes here as you described. I was a little confused with how many people have been so critical of the XC3 area themes because, when comparing them to previous entries, I thought they were right on par with the norm (maybe a bit less full of energy, but previous games also had several lowkey, astmospheric themes). It wasn't until you mentioned how the previous games' themes are heavy and bombastic right from the start until I finally figured it out, and it makes a lot of sense. I've encountered several songs (not video game tracks, just regular music) that I originally didn't care much for until I realized how GOOD they get toward the end. However, I find the much bigger sin being the chain attack music interrupting the battle music because, like you said, many players will chain attack when bosses are at low health and never hear the climax portion. It's easy to still hear the area themes, it's just that most players will do a lot of fast traveling and changing the time today. However, boss theme climaxes are VERY missable imo. Like, I didn't here some of those portions until listening to the OST and being surprised to hear something I didn't recognize. I had the same experience with Moebius M as you had, and the fight against the False Queens is another one that I never heard until later. I think that for boss battles, using a chain attack should instead give you the climax segment of the theme (at least when the boss is below a certain health).

Definitely agree with you. I quickly replayed every Xenoblade game and expansion before 3 came out so I could catch up my partner to the story and gameplay. She saw all of Xenoblade 3, and the songs (aside from battles and story beats) we could not seem to remember in its entirety. It wasn't until taking a really long roadtrip and listening to the sound track that we realized we barely heard night themes or climax themes. I was playing on Hard, avoided grinding, and avoided using camp fires to level up to compensate, but still was overleveled. Chain Attacks are just so good and fun to do, that I didn't notice what I missed out on. Definitely would be a nice quality of life feature to toggle some settings.

I don't share the thought, if anyone starts to do a little back tracking, to do some of the mission or collect items, you can hear most of the music. And since forever xeno has had day and night music, so most xeno players know how to change what we are listening. Me, I enjoyed more night music cause it is more relaxing. But yep, battle themes could have been a little well planned in some battles.

I remember once while I was visiting my parents for a few days, I decided to connect my Switch to their big TV in the lounge and play some XB3. I didn't want to do any story missions so I was just exploring and doing side quests. But while I was playing, my mom decided to come sit on one of the other couches to read. I asked her if I should put the volume down so it wouldn't disturb her, and she said I could put it louder because she was enjoying the music so much. I was so dumbfounded that my mom really liked the BGM of XB3! She even said she was so impressed that a game could have such good music and even called it atmospheric XD

Thank you for talking about this! Fortunately I realised they put you to day time by default so I made an effort to change it when fast travelling. I had an instance where I had one character alive and the unique monster was at 5% health. After *several minutes* the boss is finally dead and I didn't want to hear the climax version ever again lmao

I picked up the Xenoblade 3 OST a couple months ago when I was in Japan, and there were some really nice area tracks I didn't remember hearing much of. Your video did a great job of explaining why.

Damn geat video really interesting topic! I was also one of those people who thought xenoblade 3 music wasn't that memorable because it was well... boring. Never even thought about how a lot of the times the music just doesn't get to end/play out, definitely should listen to the OST again. Also it is a crime that they only played weight of life TWICE like wtffff it is sooo good.

Love the chain attack theme. It's one of my favorite tracks in the entire game. Just turn it off in boss battles.

THANK YOU, I even ended up hating the Erythia Sea theme because it would start over everytime I fast traveled, which is mind boggling considering area themes didn’t work like that in the other games

I'm glad you're talking about this issue because it seriously is. For example, I only discovered the night version of the Kevesi colony around the Kevesi castle *last week on a KZfaq playlist* three months after finishing the game 😭 Btw, I don't like the hate toward "chain attack music". I get that people don't like the music being interrupted but as I played Xc1 on Wii, I always considered the interrupted combat music being part of the Xenoblade experience 😆 And I don't understand why this theme has hate but NOT the menu theme 😂😂 because this one really iterate me!! Unlike the chain attack, you can't avoid using the menu and you always have to change class so you always hear it! Also, the chain attack music is the music that convinced me to buy the game AND was the music that started me enjoying the game ! (I was at a point where I only played xc1 on Wii and wasn't interested in the other games because of the graphics change but hearing this music in the trailer reminded me of the first game. )

In Xenoblade 2 you can turn off Elma's music in the settings.

This is great! I'm glad someone talked about it, the problem with the area themes has been bothering me since launch, much more than the chain attacks. They kinda fixed it in FR but there are way less songs there compared to the main game. Still, I wish the sound design was done differently.

I had this issue so much with my playthrough. I literally had to force myself not use the chain attack many occasions just so I can hear the amazing musics to the fullest. Same goes for exploring, I had to force myself to dodge all encounters and not use main menus to listen to the amazing soundtracks while exploring. It's the main complaint I had during my playthrough. Like the 1 hr cutscene was so amazing (for those who already reached there should know what I mean), then they just had to destroy the atmosphere with the chain attack song.... I almost threw my switch across the room because of it.

I didn't even think about this, but this is lowkey a HUGE problem!! I really hope that Monolithsoft fixes this issue in the upcoming final update. And we also REAALLLY need to have a chain attack music toggle... 😓

That’s why buying the physical soundtrack or off iTunes is the best; plus the sound quality is better. IMO. I was one of the few who got the trilogy OST which was 20 CD 💿

I never knew that you could change the time of day during skip travel until after i beat the bass game a year ago. I barely heard most of the night themes and because I was fighting anything in my way the area theme definitely got interrupted too many times for it to ever play in full. This is probably why i don't remember them as fondly as i do with the other games. I heard these themes more from videos than in the game 😅 I haven't replayed this game yet but once I do I'll definitely make a more conscious effort to hear ever theme more.

While I don't want to trash a great game, I wanted more people to be complaining about the music implementation. I can agree Takahashi (yes, he did music QC) is infallible but I just can't resonate personally with these decisions. I eventually downloaded the Moebius battle themes so that I could do Chain Attacks on them when I was stuck, and gradually got used to playing with audio off while listening to the area themes from my computer.

I didn't know about the changing the time of day thing with skip traveling which makes sense because I remember distinctly never hearing the night version of the city theme until like 160 hours into the game I didn't even know there was a night version of the theme

However, alot of the area theme interruptions go away once you're too high leveled to get aggro but you need to backtrack for stuff. That's when the music in this game started to really grow on me. Suddenly backtracking and exploring unseen areas in safety didn't feel like as much of a chore because the music blossoms in ways it just didn't before when I was fighting just to get to the other side. It's almost like I was being rewarded in a subtle way for getting stronger and returning to old areas. Thinking back on it, it made the item farming quests less annoying because I was vibing so hard the whole time, plus the best parts of the song didn't get old since I didn't hear them a bajillion times early on in the game. It actually felt new despite being the same old track. I think it's only a problem if you actually think about it too much. If you just roll with it, it clkeeps things fresh in ways you don't even notice but definately feel. 😊

I remember being shocked the Elite Monster theme - "A Formidable Enemy" was as long as it was when I did that one Time Trial in the Land of Challenges. There's a moment where the piano gets a major focus, than the guitar and violins. Most Elite Monster battles are over in about a minute so generally you'll never hear it. UNLESS an Elite Monster joins a regular enemy battle already in progress, then "A Formidable Enemy" will start about 2-3 minutes in.

This video sums up my problems with XC3's music perfectly. Xenoblade 3 is a perfect example that it's not just the size and quality of your OST that matters, but also how you use it. It sucks that minor problems like this drags what is otherwise an amazing soundtrack down for so many people, and they might not even realize it. Like, even outside the dynamic phases from some tracks, nothing is quite as jarring as having music like "The False Queens" or "Words That Never Reached You" replaced by "YIPPEE" in musical form. It just destroys the mood of those battles entirely. For most people, XC3 field tracks will be remembered just as the first few notes of those songs and it saddens me how easily it could have been prevented with just a few simple extra audio options.

i have a modded switch there’s a non pause music, chain attack and camp music mod and it’s pretty good. and just gotta remember to press L to change to night every so often when warping otherwise hearing those themes can be unlikely since it always defaults to day on the menu. also the mod makes it when you skip travel the pause doesn’t interrupt itand it continues playing (atleast from memory? it atleast continues during the loading screen where vanilla plays the pause music during the loading) it’s pretty good i recommend installing it. edit:ok i tested it and yeah the mod does make it so warping within the same area doesn’t make the area music start over. but if it’s night obviously it’ll still default to day and that’ll make it reset but changing it to night for warping when it’s currently night makes the night there continue playing as you would hope.

Can you make a tier list ranking all the Xenoblade 3 classes?

I'm now realizing it's a lot more issued that comes with it, not just the chain attack and menu themes. Let's hope the next patch that adds the amiibo fixes those things too.

I spent a lot of time taking in the environment and walking around, so I heard the entirety of most area songs

Dude it's funny but this is exactly what I have been thinking the entire time. Especially when the Chain Attack song kicks in. Yeah yeah, it's banging, but by the time you get to the end of the game you have heard it enough AND especially the final fights in the game have the most unique songs that are easily ruined by the Chain Attack music.

Most of these are fair and I agree with stuff like the chain attack, but I couldn't disagree more about 3:10. In fact, it's always baffled me people complained about day being the default for fast traveling when the UI for day/night switching is in your face and is incredibly obvious why it's there, that any complaints about it always came off to me like people are (respectfully) too stupid to notice, and utilize it.

i hate that its probably the end of the line for xc3 and they still havent fixed this or added a patch for it

what difficulty were you playing at to kill bosses on your first attempt at 80% cuz on Hard mode... that wasn't a thing

I didn't even think about all those specifics and only thought that the menu theme and battle theme ruined the area themes, but yeah there's so many other reasons holy shit And XC3 has much higher enemy density than other xenoblades too so enjoy getting blasted by Keves Battle

Let's hope they add final quality of life changes when the Mio and Noah amiibos are released. Mainly the option to turn off the menu music, and the chain attack music. And if we're lucky, a third option "Turn off chain attack music against special bosses that have unique songs".

I love how the entire Xenoblade series is so good that we have to nitpick about not consistently getting to listen to the best parts of the area themes

Wish there was an option to have the menu music not play at all in the menu. After a while, I started wanting to open the menu as few times as possible because I just didn't like this theme and it interrupted the area theme. At least in battle you could pause to enjoy the music.

Elaice Highway has one of the most beautiful area themes in all of the Xenoblade series, and brings back nostalgia from XC1.

The menu theme bugged me for exactly that reason, it interrupted the area music and reseted it each time i had to go there

Huh, I can definitely agree about the battle music, but I never had the area music problem after the earlygame. Idk, maybe it's just me but there's so much content in each area to explore before you can skip travel everywhere and so much content that will bring you back to every area that I never barely heard an area track, let alone not hearing it at all. Don't get me wrong there are definite improvements that can be made, such as skip travel defaulting to the time you're in and not resetting the music, but I feel like you just have to be rushing the story and ignoring exploration and side content if you completely don't hear some area tracks in the game.

I actually did a playthrough where I didn't use chain attacks at all. Not only were fights more enjoyable, but I got to hear more music. Not that chain attack music is bad.

The area theme music is such a non problem because you will hear the music once you’re high enough level, which will happen once you accomplish things through the game long enough. I never thought the music was mediocre, just different compared to the high energy and bombastic feel of 1 and 2 tracks. The only valid complaints in this whole video are the skip travel music reset and not defaulting to the time you’re already on. Area music implementation is fine, chain attack music is fine, menu music is fine. Maybe stop trying to compare it to the old games. It’s been over a year since the game came out, I would’ve thought people understood that 3 was a different kind of game compared to 1 and 2 at this point.

The chain attack theme was honestly very silly.

Totally wanted to watch this video, but then partway through KZfaq redirects to "Chain Attack - Xenoblade Chronicles 3 OST" that it forced me to listen to, how weird

There’s this theme that only plays like 2-3 times in the game during a cut scene. I think it theme was there in the scene where they took down their first Mobius. I really liked that music but they barely used it.

>Music needs 3 minutes to get going and it resets all the time. Christ, it will be time to never hear these themes when I finally play 3. 3:21 Wasn't that changed in Future Redeemed to instead always take current time as the default? I swear I don't recall that issue when I played it.(Yes, I also played Torna before 2 and FC before DE, it's a weird tradition of mine at this point. I usually get fullspoiled on the important bits before playing Xenoblade anyways.) If yes, then I will never understand why they didn't just push the same fix into this game. "Project over, can't update it anymore"?

This game has the most forgettable OST to me for all the reasons you said. I remember I realized late into my playthough that I'd never heard a night theme. I genuinely just sat there mouth agape when I realized fast travel changes it to morning. All they had to do was keep the music playing, and make it so the time doesn't change by default. All the options could've still been on the map. At first I thought they were oversights because the game got released early, but they never addressed it in the updates so I guess not.

Indeed.

yeah i was very disappointed that we never got a way to turn off the chain attack theme. cause that theme ruisn all the best songs man.

What you are describing is why you need to keep your music short sweet and to the point. This is always what should be done with games and cartoons.

I'm gonna be very honest, while I obviously believe that the game should give you the option to turn off menu and chain attack music whenever, I also believe that it adds something fascinating to the game. You have to actively avoid skipping around the map to hear a theme in full You have to actively avoid insta-killing your opponent with a chain attack to hear the climax in full You have to actively wait and stop fighting during some battles to hear the nearly 9 minutes of music If I believe anything at all, it's that this is some kind of ludo narrative connection, to stop and wait is to see something beautiful that you wouldn't see on the surface by just skipping around, a theme Xenoblade 2 heaaaaavily discusses with the blade system and the story overall. Some stuff is just meh on the surface but is extremely beautiful in truth, and you won't get the beauty you seek unless if you actively wait and try to experience it It feels like it's done often enough and properly enough to be intentional, sure it's veeeery frustrating but I feel like if you want to fully engage with this game you gotta be willing to play to its tune sometimes, to not skip travel, to sneak around enemies, to not chain attack enemies before they reach the absolute minimum, etc etc. Sometimes in life, skipping through stuff means you don't get to appreciate it properly and sure it's a shame to miss out on some but man is it such a powerful message, even if unintentional and probably not much more than just an interpretation of a potential mistake

That's cool and all but... * CHAIN ATTACK MUSIC *

I didn't use chain attack against the final boss so I wouldn't interrupt the music

While this isn't a video about chain attacks, I'm also baffled by how the chain attack has several distinct steps, building in intensity, yet the chain attack theme is just the same song the whole way through. Why are there not layers added to it for each order completed, reaching a climax with the Oroborus order?

Damn when I was playing it I was whining about it to a friend, and he told me it was just details. What an extremely silly idea to have a menu OST.

am rly disappointed in 3's music, aside from the menu song i cant remember any of the tracks that i liked, contrast this with literally all other xc games where i finished the game with anywhere from 5 to 10 tracks that am excited to download and listen to regularly aside from the stuff i remember and enjoy after going through the whole ost outside of the game

You’re not supposed to stealth past enemies 5 times your level while listening to a banger all the way through

I'm surprised they only use Weight of Life like 2 times only!

This is a good point! Honestly, more than the chain attack theme, the one that really bothered me was the menu music. I would dread having to open the menu for anything because I knew I was going to be hit with same piano notes every fucking time, and then the start of the area theme for 20 seconds before getting interrupted by the battle theme because some suicidal rhogul thought it was as good a time as any to kamikaze into my overleveled party. Such a waste of a good soundtrack.

At least the menu theme is a banger

It's the closest we'll get to X being anywhere other than the Wii U. A ton of great music, but heavily undercut by how little of it gets used for the majority of gameplay time. Damn shame, because in 3 it's entirely due to weird sound design decisions that simply didn't exist at any point before 3. I guess Unfinished Battle in 1 set an unfortunate precedent.

I wouldn't say area music is mediocre But is just not living the the absolute bangers that came before At least the dlc fixed this with aurora shelf

I think the worst moment with a chain attack was when you're fighting n after he gets m killed (the song: words that never reached you) Despite being an enemy, you can feel his pain and sorrow in the song... But yiu have to win so suddenly happy empowering chain attack music.. terrible

I don't mind the menu theme or battle themes but the song should NEVER start over when resting or skip travelling in the same area, it sucks

People complain about Chain Attacks interrupting music, but the real problem is the menu music. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm sick of hearing a track from Xenoblade.

Yeah the chain attack song pisses me off from XenoBlade 3. Also from the chain attack... What pisses me off are the animations. You have BADASS animations. But in the end your character is doing 3 dmg. That's stupid. (I understand the chain attack mechanic don't worry, but still... You have a lot of effects, moves, and voice lines... But it's kinda weak. The exact same problem during cutscenes, the whole team is givin their max but... You feel no impact, no rage, nothing...) Xenoblade 1 was the same about that for the chain attack (minus the music that changes) but at least the animations were just the same as usual. Xenoblade1 chain attack purpose was to topple enemies, nothing more; Xenoblade 2 was perfect about this. With awesome cutscenes (story cutscenes are great too), voicelines, hits impact, no music change and decent damages. The lvl 4 arts from NG+, each lvl 3 arts from non-canon blades. (Perun my beloved) And the bubble things mechanic. But Xeno 3... Yikes. They seriously failed about this. The xeno 3 chain attack cutscenes are so bad they remind me the old xbox game, Sudeki... They're completely bland and "dead inside". For the rest well, it's only about being patient x) Xenoblade is not a licence you can rush anyway. PS:wtf we have the wir fliegen theme playing with Elma on Xenoblade 2? I was never able to unlock that despicable batch as her multiple clones always nuke me. 🤣 I will have to take my revenge on her.

If you're playing these games to listen to the music, you're not playing the game lol