A recap of...
Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Set after the events of Xenoblade Chronicles (2010) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (2017), Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes place in Aionios, a world made up of merged locations from the Bionis, the world of Xenoblade Chronicles, and Alrest, the world of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, where the nations of Keves and Agnus are at constant war. The world is divided into Colonies, each with their own giant mecha called a Ferronis, fueled by the life force of fallen enemy soldiers trapped in a Flame Clock. Each Colony is home to engineered soldiers with artificially limited lifespans of ten years, referred to as Terms. They fight to fuel their Colony's Flame Clock and survive to the end of their tenth Term in hopes of receiving a Homecoming ceremony. Among both forces are "off-seers", soldiers who play flutes in rituals to send off the dead. The game features six main characters who have the power of Ouroboros, including two protagonists: Noah, a Kevesi off-seer accompanied by his childhood friends Lanz and Eunie; and Mio, an Agnian off-seer accompanied by her fellow soldiers Taion and Sena. The two groups are joined by their Nopon support members: Kevesi mechanic Riku and Agnian chef Manana. Other major characters include the Vandham family, who lead a faction called the Lost Numbers that consists of Guernica, his daughter Monica, and granddaughter Ghondor; Melia Antiqua from Xenoblade Chronicles and Nia from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, who are the queens of Keves and Agnus; and Moebius, an organization led by Z that manipulates the war between Keves and Agnus and is made up of powerful beings called Moebius that oversee the colonies.
The downloadable story expansion Future Redeemed is set centuries before the main game's story and takes place in the Cent-Omnia region, an area of Aionios not explored in the main game. It follows a previous group of Ouroboros that was formed after Consul N destroyed the original City. Like the main game, Future Redeemed features six party members: Matthew Vandham, who is from the City and is traveling with a mysterious being named A to search for his sister Na'el; Shulk and Rex, the respective protagonists of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 who now lead the Liberators to oppose Moebius; and Nikol and Glimmer, Shulk and Rex's respective children who are unaware of their parentage and fight for Keves and Agnus respectively. Other major characters include Panacea and Linka, Shulk's and Rex's respective protégés; and Alpha, a being born from Alvis from Xenoblade Chronicles.
Kevesi soldiers Noah, Lanz, and Eunie, as well as the Nopon Riku, are tasked with intercepting a mysterious airship and destroying its cargo. Upon reaching the target area, they encounter an Agnian squad consisting of Mio, Sena, Taion, and the Nopon Manana. A fight breaks out between the two groups, but then Guernica Vandham, the airship's sole survivor, intervenes to stop the fighting and claims he knows their "real enemy". However, when Consul D attacks him and the two groups, it forces him to activate the Ouroboros Stone he was smuggling and imbue Noah and Mio's teams with its power. D is forced to retreat, and a mortally wounded Guernica instructs the teams to head for the City at Swordmarch to find answers.
With the Consuls having ordered Keves and Agnus to hunt them down, Noah and Mio's teams band together to reach Swordmarch, liberating Colonies along the way by destroying their Flame Clocks. The Queen of Keves attacks the party with a weapon of mass destruction called the Annihilator and threatens to destroy the liberated Colonies with it. This forces the party to detour to Keves Castle, where they destroy the Annihilator and discover that the soldiers of Keves and Agnus are clones created to fight each other. They are then confronted by the Queen and Consul N, a man physically identical to Noah. The party defeats the Queen, who is revealed to be a robotic imposter.
After escaping, the party encounters the Lost Numbers, a group led by Guernica's daughter Monica. She leads them to the City, whose population consists of humans with regular lifespans who also oppose Moebius. Monica explains that Moebius orchestrated the war to harvest life energy in an endless cycle, and that the true Queens created the power of Ouroboros to oppose them before going into hiding. Monica tasks the party with infiltrating the prison underneath Agnus Castle to rescue her daughter Ghondor, who knows the Queens' location. The group stages a prison break, but is betrayed by Shania of the Lost Numbers and ambushed by N and his partner Consul M, a woman physically identical to Mio. The party is captured and taken to Agnus Castle for execution, and only Ghondor escapes. There, Noah lives through N's memories and learns that N and M lived countless lives trying and failing to stop Moebius. When his Mio died, it led N to accept a Faustian bargain with Moebius' leader Z to revive M and spend eternity with her in exchange for both of them becoming Moebius; in the process, he killed the people of the previous City. Noah and Mio are reincarnations of N and M, who split off from them and embody their hope.
On the day of the execution, it is revealed that M used her psychic powers to switch bodies with Mio and die in her place. The party drives off N, destroys the false Queen of Agnus, and awakens the true Queen of Agnus, Nia. D ambushes them and wounds Nia, but the party kills him in battle. Nia explains that in the past, the world was split into the parallel worlds of Bionis and Alrest, which would inevitably merge back together in an event called the Intersection and destroy all life in the process. Melia, Nia, and the inhabitants of both worlds established communication and collaborated to create Origin: an ark to store both worlds' data and memories and their inhabitants' souls and reboot them once they merged. However, Z captured Melia and hijacked Origin for his own ends, creating Aionios. The party storms Origin, defeating N and freeing Melia. They confront Z, who is a manifestation of humanity's fear of the future and desire to stay in the 'endless now'. N and M, whose spirits remained inside Noah and Mio, sacrifice themselves to permanently destroy Z.
With Origin reactivated, the reconstruction process for both worlds proceeds, requiring the people of Keves and Agnus to be separated and returned to their respective worlds. The party members part ways and Noah and Mio share a kiss before the worlds separate, promising to reunite one day. Everyone is restored in the new world at the moment Bionis and Alrest merged, with no memories of their experiences within Aionios. As he heads for a fireworks show, Noah hears the sound of Mio's flute playing and decides to follow the music.
The downloadable story expansion Future Redeemed is set centuries before the main game's story and takes place in the Cent-Omnia region, an area of Aionios not explored in the main game. It follows a previous group of Ouroboros that was formed after Consul N destroyed the original City. Like the main game, Future Redeemed features six party members: Matthew Vandham, who is from the City and is traveling with a mysterious being named A to search for his sister Na'el; Shulk and Rex, the respective protagonists of Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 who now lead the Liberators to oppose Moebius; and Nikol and Glimmer, Shulk and Rex's respective children who are unaware of their parentage and fight for Keves and Agnus respectively. Other major characters include Panacea and Linka, Shulk's and Rex's respective protégés; and Alpha, a being born from Alvis from Xenoblade Chronicles.
Kevesi soldiers Noah, Lanz, and Eunie, as well as the Nopon Riku, are tasked with intercepting a mysterious airship and destroying its cargo. Upon reaching the target area, they encounter an Agnian squad consisting of Mio, Sena, Taion, and the Nopon Manana. A fight breaks out between the two groups, but then Guernica Vandham, the airship's sole survivor, intervenes to stop the fighting and claims he knows their "real enemy". However, when Consul D attacks him and the two groups, it forces him to activate the Ouroboros Stone he was smuggling and imbue Noah and Mio's teams with its power. D is forced to retreat, and a mortally wounded Guernica instructs the teams to head for the City at Swordmarch to find answers.
With the Consuls having ordered Keves and Agnus to hunt them down, Noah and Mio's teams band together to reach Swordmarch, liberating Colonies along the way by destroying their Flame Clocks. The Queen of Keves attacks the party with a weapon of mass destruction called the Annihilator and threatens to destroy the liberated Colonies with it. This forces the party to detour to Keves Castle, where they destroy the Annihilator and discover that the soldiers of Keves and Agnus are clones created to fight each other. They are then confronted by the Queen and Consul N, a man physically identical to Noah. The party defeats the Queen, who is revealed to be a robotic imposter.
After escaping, the party encounters the Lost Numbers, a group led by Guernica's daughter Monica. She leads them to the City, whose population consists of humans with regular lifespans who also oppose Moebius. Monica explains that Moebius orchestrated the war to harvest life energy in an endless cycle, and that the true Queens created the power of Ouroboros to oppose them before going into hiding. Monica tasks the party with infiltrating the prison underneath Agnus Castle to rescue her daughter Ghondor, who knows the Queens' location. The group stages a prison break, but is betrayed by Shania of the Lost Numbers and ambushed by N and his partner Consul M, a woman physically identical to Mio. The party is captured and taken to Agnus Castle for execution, and only Ghondor escapes. There, Noah lives through N's memories and learns that N and M lived countless lives trying and failing to stop Moebius. When his Mio died, it led N to accept a Faustian bargain with Moebius' leader Z to revive M and spend eternity with her in exchange for both of them becoming Moebius; in the process, he killed the people of the previous City. Noah and Mio are reincarnations of N and M, who split off from them and embody their hope.
On the day of the execution, it is revealed that M used her psychic powers to switch bodies with Mio and die in her place. The party drives off N, destroys the false Queen of Agnus, and awakens the true Queen of Agnus, Nia. D ambushes them and wounds Nia, but the party kills him in battle. Nia explains that in the past, the world was split into the parallel worlds of Bionis and Alrest, which would inevitably merge back together in an event called the Intersection and destroy all life in the process. Melia, Nia, and the inhabitants of both worlds established communication and collaborated to create Origin: an ark to store both worlds' data and memories and their inhabitants' souls and reboot them once they merged. However, Z captured Melia and hijacked Origin for his own ends, creating Aionios. The party storms Origin, defeating N and freeing Melia. They confront Z, who is a manifestation of humanity's fear of the future and desire to stay in the 'endless now'. N and M, whose spirits remained inside Noah and Mio, sacrifice themselves to permanently destroy Z.
With Origin reactivated, the reconstruction process for both worlds proceeds, requiring the people of Keves and Agnus to be separated and returned to their respective worlds. The party members part ways and Noah and Mio share a kiss before the worlds separate, promising to reunite one day. Everyone is restored in the new world at the moment Bionis and Alrest merged, with no memories of their experiences within Aionios. As he heads for a fireworks show, Noah hears the sound of Mio's flute playing and decides to follow the music.
