I wrote a pretty long comment elsewhere regarding Xenoblade 3, which is pretty much my favourite game of all time in 30+ years of gaming. I guess it would be a cool idea for others to do the same - but don’t just give a list, sell your favourite title to us!
So, Xenoblade 3 (Switch, although I now play it on my PC via Yuzu in 4k) is the final part of the RPG trilogy developed by Monolithsoft (Nintendo owned second party, responsible for the overworld tech in Zelda BOTW/TOTK). The director of the series is Tetsuya Takahashi, who is also the creator of Xenogears and Xenosaga (there are links to Blade, I won’t spoil). It shows what happens to the individual worlds of Xenoblade 1 and 2 once they collide. However the series is structured in such a way that you can arguably play them in any order and not miss out. There are of course twists and callbacks throughout to reward those who play them in order. The one absolute rule is for the two massive DLC expansions. Xenoblade 1 (Future Connected, play after 1), Xenoblade 2 (Torna - to be played after 2) and Xenoblade 3 (Future Redeemed - to be played only after playing EVERYTHING else as it wraps up the trilogy).
Xenoblade 2 put off a lot of people with it’s anime-ness and big tidday girls (not me, but eh). Xenoblade 3…doesn’t have that.
It’s serious and is set in the midst of an eternal war between two nations. Each inhabitant of this world is born at age 10, trained as a soldier to fight, and then either die on the battlefield or live long enough to die at age 20 by force. Both nations rely on the life force of the other side to live - hence the war.
The story concerns two groups (three from either side) from opposing sides who join together with the aim to live longer than their artificially reduced lifespans - of the two main protagonists, one (Mio) has only three months remaining. This is the crux of the story, really.
best bet to see if you’d like it are these two videos I took. The first is the first 15 minutes of the game - it introduces the world, scenario, characters, and also introduces the gameplay part-by-part. NO SPOILERS in any of these, I promise.
The battle system is gradually introduced throughout, at a pretty good pace (eg. chain attacks, transformations, combos, class changing). It ends up sometimes chaotic, but always fun. You can stay as a healer with a rifle, swap to a martial arts class and attack with your fists, or change to a tank class for each characters, for example. You also recruit computer playable heroes throughout the game who offer new classes and weapons.
Chain attacks are an entirely other thing, relying on measured logic and number skills. The other main draw is the story - this game takes some pretty dark turns. Your mileage may vary though, depending on your tolerance for cutscenes. There’s still 100+ hours of actual gameplay easily and the sidequests and community supports are all actually well thought out.
and this is a short video showing the scale of the world (one of 9 massive regions - there’s another desert, a canyon and a forest halfway up a mountain trail in this one. The sword in the distance holds a city at its peak. There’s also an ocean that has a rocket powered boat to traverse, or you could just swim it), plus a short battle with 7 team members:
lastly I guess, if you’re a dr who fan (who knows?), it may interest you that Jenna Coleman voices the Kevesi Queen.
anyhow the game is cool imo. I got the first Xenoblade a week before the UK launch date in August 2011 as I ran a Blockbuster at the time (Xenoblade was localised by Nintendo UK and came out here, Europe and Australia a mere year after Japan. NOA refused to launch it in America, until a petition forced their hand another year later). It blew me away, and the remastered Definitive Version is a classic. The fact that Nintendo UK localised it is why it has its unique UK focused VA throughout. The regions in the games are Welsh, Scottish, etc. It adds a huge amount of character that American voiced games lack imo.
Worth giving a shout out to Xenoblade X (outside of the trilogy’s storyline), which still has the largest world of any game I’ve ever known, eternally stuck on the Wii U. That’s a fucking mental game and I don’t even know where to start with it. If you like Xenoblade, mech battles/flights and Attack on Titan’s soundtrack (sawano), then it’s the game for you.
anyhow back to Xenoblade 3, you may hate it who knows but… hopefully this does sell a few people on it.
Your turn
Quick game: Journey! You are a beeing in some kind of migration Journey through multiple landscapes (desert, sea and snow). You have to pick up special símbols that are hidden so that your scarf becames longer and you can fly, also it works as some kind of HP bar.
The cinematics is just beautifull, you float and slide as the sun sets it is more art than a game, just to enjoy and relax.
One of the feafures is that another player, like you, will be there. As a 1st time player they will guide you through the secrets of each level/place. You dont talk each of you just emit a kind of musical sound and, without any Word, it is increadible how both players can talk. It is really beautifull. On some other games you will be the guide, you dont know, you have yo try to comunicate and figure out your place in Journey.
I confess I cried the first time I finished the game.
Longer game: The Last guardian From the same team that made shadow of the colossus, you will notice by the landscape.
You are a little boy in some kind of Maya/Inca Village that is kidnaped by a beeing that is mix of a giant mouse with horns and wings, called Trico.
It takes you to it s nest (huge and complex, like an ants), but both have an accident and get stuck somewhere. Trico lost it s wings so cannot fly.
Step by step you start to make friends with Trico to escape the huge nest, you can go on it s back, climb the hills, solve puzzles with it.
You also find why you are kidnapped (not going to give spoilers). You find other Tricos but they are very agressive, like they are under some kind of spell. Also the nest has strange beeings roaming around that try to suck your energy (the first encounter I had I got a huge gut feeling of strangeness and danger, increadible how the game can give you such a dread feeling and, no, I am not also telling how they are :) it is part of that first impact) and, remember, you are a little kid so you better run and trust that your Trico will help you.
(The game has a lot of detail. At some point my ps4 started to make a strange noise as an airplane taking off).
Have fun! Edit: removed the word “curiosity” to not confuso anyone, did not know it was a game as well.
Journey is such a special game. And the other player is such a key element to the experience. I’ve played it a few times and each time felt so different based on who I was playing with. First time I actually just wanted to do it alone (I’m usually really not a fan of multiplayer), but after spending most of the journey with another player I finally understood why it was important. The second time I played from start to finish with the same veteran player, who guided me to all the secrets I didn’t even have a clue existed, and we were constantly chiming to each other (that musical sound you mentioned). They were much more patient than the first player and by the end it was amazing how much emotion I felt having to part ways with someone I didn’t even know. And I’ll confess too, I cried on that second run.
Third time I must’ve had some connection problems because the other player would only be there for a little while then disappear, replaced by another later that would also disappear. When I finished the game by myself, it truly felt like a lonely experience. A beautiful, but sad lonely experience. But even after that time I would still 100% recommend it.
I haven’t played Last Guardian or Curiosity, but Last Guardian I’ve definitely been meaning to try, and Curiosity I haven’t heard of but I’m always a fan of games that put beauty before hardware longevity.
Agree the Journey is really special and can be very emotional dependendo on the bond both players make.
As for “Curiosity” notice now the way I wrote it was missleading, so sorry, I edited my comment now.
Oh lol, to be fair I might’ve just had a case of stupid brain