Ranking All Xenoblade 3 Areas

The final part in my series ranking all Xenoblade areas (for now). I ended up talking about almost 30 different areas in this video, so that's why the video is so long and why it took so long to make.
All music used is from the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ost, the music used at the beginning is the Fort O' Virbus night theme
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More of my videos:
Ranking all Xenoblade 2 Areas: • Ranking All Xenoblade ...
The Worst Xenoblade Party Members in every game: • The Worst Party Member...
Top 5 Worst Xenoblade Bosses: • Top 5 Worst Xenoblade ...
Top 5 Hero Characters in Xenoblade 3: • Top 5 Hero Characters ...

[@Fatalordi]

Actually Elayce Highway is mandatory during chapter 7. That's why its music is located at the end of the official soundtrack. ^^

[@MaxMonado]

Damn you're right, I completely blocked out all my memories about the fetch quest in the final chapter 💀

[@YoshiAteTooManyYoshiCookies]

​@@MaxMonadoit took me while to remember... And now I wish I can forget it again.

[@PyrenZero]

It was so long for me between playing Xenoblades 1 and 2, and 3 and Future Redeemed. I hadn't realised just how many landmarks were shared. Was great to see them pointed out. Also glad it wasn't just me that found Future Redeemed to be a real highlight of the series!

[@MaxMonado]

Nice to hear it!

[@krissjames7276]

As good as they are, I do feel the Xenoblade 3 areas are overall a step down from 1 and 2. The greater prevalence of less memorable, more atmospheric themes, seemingly inspired by BotW (a game Xenoblade had NOTHING to learn from in terms of music utilization) was a significant blow for me, and the areas overall being less varied and much less colorful than in past games were a similarly big nerf. That said, there's still tons of great areas that are super fun to explore. If Erythia Sea had been as visually spectacular as either original area it's based on, or if either Elaice Highway or the Great Sword Base had been the size of something like Satorl Marsh, then 3 would have had that one unforgettable Standout area that I've come to expect from the series.

[@MaxMonado]

Agreed with everything you said

[@EvilMike349]

I heard something the other day relating to this point that gave me a new perspective on the whole thing, that the reason a lot of these returning landmarks and areas don't give us the feeling of nostalgia we would expect is because the worlds didn't combine properly and so everything just feels wrong or off. And on top of that, there have been so many annihilation events that destroyed even more of the world that the whole thing is too broken and not quite right for it to feel like we remember those locations feeling in the previous games. I'd like to think the devs did that intentionally because I feel like it makes sense for this world to be so messed up that it makes you feel weird when exploring it because it's familiar but nothing about it is exactly the way it should be.

[@migu6528]

it was more atmospheric but the music was just as memorable for me with my favorite area osts including Alfeto Valley, Eagus Wilderness, Erythia Sea, Sword Valley Base, Raebal Tableland, Captocorn Peak and Milick Meadows are among my favorite in the series. Overall XC3 does have my favorite area themes in the series.

[@emblemblade9245]

I disagree on the area music being inspired by BotW. They’re atmospheric melodies, not silence broken up by instrumental cues

[@kaetce]

Massive step up from 1. Equal to 2 imo

[@linkalot7415]

BRO WTF ALFETO VALLEY AND MEYNETHS SHOULDER ARE PEAK THE RED COLOUR SCHEME IS GORGEOUS and those aweosme huge red root things on the way up to gamma! And the bizzare trees that look like they’re made of paper too! Both of them are genuinely in my top 5 areas, how do you not appreciate how cool the aesthetic is 😢 and the daytime music is AMAZING!

[@MaxMonado]

Sorry dude, just didn't leave a big impression on me since it's a linear early-game area. It does look pretty I can admit that much.

[@dugtrioramen]

Yeah this pair of areas was one of my favorites in the game. Especially how one of them arches over the other. I just wish you could jump down from the shoulder to the valley

[@aylinilya.]

yea i was surprised to see them so low

[@linkalot7415]

@@aylinilya.you’re both based. It’s insane how underrated those two are

[@aylinilya.]

rae-bel tableland might actually be one of my favorite areas in the series, mostly thanks to the aesthetics. the dead uraya looming over to the south, the breathtaking view of fornis, aetia, and agnus castle, the saffronia, and the battleground with eunie’s husk give a sense of unease which is perfectly represented with the gorgeous yet uneasy music. woefully underrated.

[@MaxMonado]

I also came to appreciate it more overtime, I can see why you like it so much

[@Zanolith]

While probably my least favorite aesthetically Aionios was my favorite place to explore. I actually had no clue about that lake in captacorn and I’m about to go find it right now. It’s just so big and so fun to explore. My favorite areas are for sure millick meadows, Elaice highway and erythia sea. With colony 9 being my favorite FR area.

[@MaxMonado]

Nice to hear it, I also agree that Aionios was really fun to explore, especially in Future Redeemed

[@hplwonder4054]

Warning: Extremely long interpretation bit of some areas incoming, this is a nerd's rant about how much he loves every aspect of his favorite game, thank you I think the weirdest thing about Xenoblade 3 is how I slowly started to appreciate them more over Xenoblade 1 and 2's Sure maybe on first sight those are infinitely cooler, more interesting and better overall... But Xenoblade 3 does the impossible... There's like 7-8 grassy locations 3 desolate wastelands 2 snowy areas And the rest is a majority of pentalas and cadensia Why this is so impressive is that it made me appreciate the smaller stuff All the grassy lands have some form of water Yzana uses it under a large natutal construction, with that leaking into the edge of the land Alfeto valley uses it very sparingly, every now and then, and also contains a very orange, Autumn coated environment (same with melnath's shoulder) Millick meadows is a river, the riverside guiding you to the very bottom of the aetia region, I also love how the very top seems like the end of the upper region, but you can find a whole other location after unlocking the climb skill, and get to see how that river connects to the body of water in Yzana Ribbi Flats is built into the side of a mountain (that was probably cracked open due to annihilation events), and the water comes directly from the region next to it, leaking into a little pool of water hidden right under the climb inside of the mountain side Rae-Bel Tableland has a wide spot too but the water doesn't seems to come from anywhere else, it's separated from the other regions in majority, and since most soldiers probably can't access the tableland from ribbi flats (due to vine climbing), it almost speaks to how secluded it is, also keeping the animals away, the animals of which being the hunters and the hunted, the arduns and volffs, linking humans to them, the soldiers of Aionios are no better than these animals, they just never really got to see it directly to understand it properly, or at least if they did, it was because of war and they didn't reflect on it (hell, the main party reflects on how the animals age, clearly creating a link between humans and animals) Urayan trail is probably the worst one in my opinion but at least it's small and optional The Sword's base is nice and colorful, with nice music, almost signalling how the party is pretty much at their initial destination, with the water here being used as a way to reflect the fluorescent lights of the plants in the water's reflection The same goes for the deserts, Elaice highway might be desolate but at least the life can be felt in the lights hanging from the trees and the ost makes it sound like it's also generally just floating in the air Dannagh desert is a depressing, leftover of a leftover, almost as if this piece of land really never got the chance to recover, torna turned morytha, morytha turned completely desolate wasteland with absolutely no sign of life... And finding the desert hulk at the end... A group of people clearly had to live here at some point, similar to how ethel got dropped in eagus wilderness after she spared Cammuravi, showing again just how ruthless moebius is And eagus wilderness being in between these 2 is such a cool idea. Elaice is a wasteland full of life, dannagh is completely devoid of it, and eagus wilderness is stuck in the middle, with colony 4 in there, clearly the smallest sign of life. What better environmental storytelling could you want The snowy areas are both kinda crap so I'll just move on lmao Overall, Xenoblade 3, a game clearly about appreciating life, about looking deeper into stuff, and about questioning reality to be able to move on from the current, often extremely flawed reality you live in, has some exceptionally well done environmental storytelling, super subtle, since the characters barely discuss it, leaving it up to the player to interpret, and I think that's a sign of Xenoblade 3's trust in the player, trusting that the player will be willing to look into the meaning behind everything. Also the fact that the game criticizes "eternity", uses areas comprised of previous ideas from previous games, but shows them all in a state of decay, showing how something that might've once been beautiful and unique and interesting, eventually becomes stagnant. Cinnical made a video discussing his interpretation of Xenoblade 3. He basically explains how he believes Xenoblade 3 is a critique of sequelization, and honestly, this makes the fact that these areas are stagnant versions of previous games' areas even more amazing, seriously, *this* is how you do meta-narratives

[@MaxMonado]

I really like this way of looking at it, it's indeed a great way to show how stagnant the world became and how the beauty of these areas faded overtime. Appreciate the long comment, even if I don't have much to say to it in response

[@corrinflakes9659]

(At Syra Hovering Reefs) Finally somebody who hates to hurt Capybara/Kapiba as well. 😭

[@MaxMonado]

Good to hear I'm not alone 🥲

[@arminarlelt7471]

And those otter like Monsters. I only killed the lv31 unique monster because I had to to 100% the game.

[@finn5873]

Good video! This made me want to replay the game, especially future redeemed with its amazing gameplay loop. I think it's pretty sad that the Li Garte Prison camp is so low cause I think the post game of it is very fun! The quest of making Prison Camp a home for Segiri and her companions was very fun and unique. I also really liked the sidequests there and the music is very calming. But I understand that from a base game perspective it can be pretty lacking.

[@MaxMonado]

I'll reconsider my opinion on that area

[@rigistroni]

I'm glad there's a fellow Ghondor hater out there somewhere

[@MaxWelton]

8:27 the biggest draw of this area is the canteen food, which is the best CP boost in the game

[@TheJaredPunch]

It’s amazing how I find all of Aionios to be so “lifeless” compared to Xenoblade 1 and 2, and yet still looks beautiful. In an ironic twist of fate, my favorite area Xenoblade 3 just happens to be Origin. I know we may not be here for long, but this is the home of the very place that made the worlds I have come to love in ANY JRPG lifeless. I was ready to beat Moebius and the music really sets the tone for the final battle against Z. And the return of Prison Island in FR made everything come full circle.

[@MaxMonado]

That's a really cool way to look at Origin, it and especially Prison Island were amazing final areas

[@catalyst539]

Now there’s only one thing left- rank all the final areas (Prison Island, Yggdrasil the World Tree, Origin, Tornan Titan’s Interior, and the Black Mountains) (also i watched the original upload)

[@MaxMonado]

That's a great idea for a video actually! I'll write it down my list, though I have a lot of other videos I want to make first

[@arminarlelt7471]

In my opinion it would be Torna, Origin, Prison Island, black mountains, and the world tree. The 3 last chapters of Xenoblade 2 are the best Xenoblade has to offer in my opinion, the only reason I prefer the 3rd is because the rest of XC2 is okay, but not great.

[@arminarlelt7471]

Nothing beats the first time hearing Erythia sea (day). It's so beautifully perfect. When I heard the "drop" for the first time I stopped playing, and just moved the camera around me to look at the scenery. Only thing that did this to me was reaching the Word tree and Elysium. But it wasn't for the music, it was the whole meaning behind it, basically the moment you understand everything.

[@syg0us]

ive been waiting for this final installation since i watched the first one over a year ago, glad to see someone really appreciate areas in the franchise as its one of my favourite parts

[@MaxMonado]

Thanks for waiting all this time, happy to hear it!

[@JustJulyo]

Future Redeemed is the absolute best Xenoblade content ever! They're top 10 everything!

[@MaxMonado]

Very true

[@themegatonmenace1224]

I love the Prison Camp because of the vibe and music. I'd put it at the top with The City, Cloud keep, and Alcamoth.

[@MaxMonado]

Interesting, nice to hear you liked the area

[@Fatalordi]

Oh wait you mean Alfeto Valley and Melnath Shoulder are two different areas ?!

[@MaxMonado]

I wouldn't have known either if I didn't make this video lol

[@ben_sisko2149]

You should do a ranking of all the running animations. Sena's gotta have the cutest 🥰

[@roykooper902]

Great Cotte Falls was actually so relaxing I fell asleep to the music there. It was an incredible feeling hearing music so nice that it put me to sleep mid-game

[@MaxMonado]

That's what I'm saying, the music there is so good!

[@michaelclifton9498]

Xenoblade 2's location had more of an impact on me then 3's. Although 2 is my favorite and 1st xenoblade game so i'm probably just very bias towards it😅

[@MaxMonado]

Nah I get it I also have my Xenoblade 1 bias since I played it first

[@alexiere]

Agree 100% with your opinions of the world. It was ok.

[@MaxMonado]

Nice to hear we can agree!

[@marcush1438]

i clicked off when you said you dont like ghondor. no seriously, this is quite a good list. most areas are just kinda bland in comparison to 1 and 2. not saying they are bad in any way. i guess xc3 is really more about it's themes than it's world, other than let's say xc2.

[@MaxWelton]

17:18 YAR DUNN!!

[@EpicGlopster]

Ayyy its back!

[@MaxMonado]

Only real ones saw the original upload

[@michaelsartori1881]

I love Xenoblade 3 to death, but this is my one and only major complaint with the game. It felt like I was just exploring a vanilla jrpg world. The fact that almost every single area mentioned in this video is more boring than the majority of Xenoblade 1 and 2 areas really bums me out. Not to mention you were exploring titans in the first two games, and now it's just a normal continent.

[@belot217]

It's a shame the Ferronises don't dominate the landscape the way they did in the concept art. A simple world filled with man-made Titans is an awesome idea.

[@mysteriouscolours1532]

If they did that people would be complaining that everything is a ferronis

[@nesmontou2393]

I don't like XC3 level design much but I agree with most things here yeah. I appreciate the Caprocorn mid defense it has some cool stuff in it, and the music is indeed really great. I don't think what Dannagh goes for does anything to really save it though, there really isn't anything going on in that area it's a flat plane with a shitty puzzle cave with the Nopon sage as the only standout thing I definitely think Maktha is the best area in the base game though, it just feels tight and going into the high level cave when I really wasn't supposed to AND being rewarded with the Riki callback was great I would be a lot harsher towards Erythia, I just feel like the islands are not very interesting on their own, Malevolent Hollow and the one with rails that goes to that one Agnus base (which is the only time it really does anything with linking islands together) are the only ones that I think really stand out. Even the lost colony I didn't like, there's just nothing there it's a big orange square with nothing to do. Also I got REALLY sick of the music, it loops all the time so you always end up hearing the starting part. The music problems you mentioned in that other video come full force and really make me like these areas much less than previous games" I really think that this game doesn't have the standout area that'll be fondly remembered in the future the likes of Satorl, Uraya or Tantal. At least FR level design was really, REALLY good, it's what I actually expect from Xenoblade, so hope for the future I guess?

[@MaxMonado]

Yeah I can get where you're coming from with all of this, I think FR shows that Monolith still has it in them to make goated areas, hopefully we will see that in the next new xenoblade

[@sonickhable]

Ngl was expecting the snow area at the bottom, not top ten lol

[@MaxMonado]

I'll always be a Captocorn mid defender

[@catalyst539]

@@MaxMonado The only saving grace is that it’s where Nia is That’s it (also Moebius Y i guess because his speech before he fights you is cool)

[@anubion42]

Same. I love the area, But i cant not compare it to Tantal or valak mountains from 2&1. Those game just had a better snow area, and im a sucker for snow areas. Captocorn had some big shoes to fill and I dont think it did. Black mountains on the otherhand, Is the tantal and mountains (ironic) from 1&2 and absolutely makes up for what captocorn could of been. It is XBC3's snow area imo.

[@PyReexx]

W xenoblade video

[@MaxMonado]

Thank you!

[@asprinjuice8877]

Where would you have placed Forte O'Virbus if it counted for this list?

[@MaxMonado]

Hard to say but probably just not in the top 10, it's great but also pretty small

[@Sonic5100]

Why don't you like Ghondor :(

[@MaxMonado]

Her insulting everyone got old real quick, one of the first things she does is mock Mio for being near the end of her lifespan, I didn't like the way she treated Shania and her voice acting was just annoying to me

[@Sonic5100]

@@MaxMonado ok that's all actually pretty valid lol, I still liked her later on cuz of the Sena side story and some other scenes

[@chanc1867]

Bro dislikes Gondor -> I Like you then A man of culture

[@foggy8298]

Imagine not liking Ghondor smh

[@MaxMonado]

I could write a whole essay to explain why I don't like her but it mostly comes down her insults getting old real quick and her being a terrible friend to Shania, and I say that as someone who doesn't even like Shania that much

[@kaetce]

Millick Meadows > Gaur Plain

[@oxin8753]

Xenoblade 3s areas imo didn't live up to the ones in 1, 2 or even X. It was a LOT of grass... and yes, I do know that there's grass in other games as well but come on almost every big area had some green grass in it... while 1 and 2 had so many beautiful sceneries that just looked so fantastic and I mean that literally. I'm in love with glowing trees in specific (Hi Uraya) so I was disappointed to see that Uraya was just some random mine. I'm also the oblu person that didn't love Erythia sea. It was just too much water for me... IGN GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE NOOOO STOP. It also doesn't help that it triggered my perfectionist meaning I opened up the whole map... yes... the WHOLE map. And when you count the landmass, it's only a bit bigger than Fornis. I liked Pentelas the most because it had the most variety of themes. I was also very disappointed that we didn't get much XC2 fanservice in Future redeemed except Tantal... I would’ve really liked if maybe Argentum would’ve been flying abive colony 9 or Fonsett was in the water of colony 9 or heck give me Torigoth or SOMETHING PLEASE. I just wanna feel that XC2 nostalgia I BEG OF YOU. ... Ahem... that was my little rant on the areas and how I Don't really find them memorable...

[@xtradany5398]

4/10. Fantastic game but not nearly enough cat girls. All girls should be cat girls.

[@catalyst539]

but then we wouldn’t have eunie

[@Zek3nator]

@@catalyst539we can have one pigeon girl then.