If there is one thing certain about the Xenoblade Chronicles saga is that the games are huge JRPGs that demand the player’s attention and time. In terms of scope, Monolith Soft’s recent epic Xenoblade Chronicles 3 may be one of the biggest JRPGs of all time. Rightly so, the epic franchise carries on with the same quality in writing, character development, and world-building found in its spiritual predecessors with Xenogears and the Xenosaga Trilogy.
Arguably, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is the most approachable entry in the series. It even works well as a good entry point for newcomers despite how it ties together the events of the first two games. However, just like its predecessors, it's huge adventure with a lot of content to work through. Furthermore, Xenoblade 3 is very plot and cutscene heavy, so this will add additional time for players on their first playthrough.
How Long Does It Take Beat Xenoblade Chronicles 3?
At the time of writing, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is still a very new title. However, those who managed to get hold of a copy early have already reported that they are finishing the main campaign in around 70-80 hours.
When one considers that Xenoblade 3 doesn’t open up until around 10 hours, that should give players an idea of just how massive this title is. The side quests are more meaningful than before, with several quests having more interesting storylines to play along with.
In addition to NPC side quests, there are also Hero Quests. As with its predecessors, many of Xenoblade 3’s NPC side quests can be completed during the party’s travels in the main story. However, the Hero Quests require a bit more legwork from the party as the rewards will unlock new classes like the Flash Fencer found in Chapter 3. As a result, for those looking to complete Xenoblade Chronicles' most significant side quests, the game should take more than 100 hours.
Again, pure completionists that want to see everything that the game has to offer may need to strap themselves in for around 200 hours worth of adventuring. According to howlongtobeat.com, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 players have reported that to find everything, one has to commit to 254 hours. That is an enormous amount of content, and amazing since Xenoblade Chronicles 3's world is five times larger than Xenoblade 2.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has major DLC set to be released in stages by the end of 2023. The developers at Monolith Soft have already stated that the expanded content for the game is going to be bigger than Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna the Golden Country, which was over 30 hours long. The final game with all the fully released expanded content and DLC will extend the play time even further.
Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is available now for the Nintendo Switch.