Xenoblade 3 Post Game Content & New Game Plus: What unlocks after the credits roll
Despite being absolutely enormous, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 isn't strictly over when the credits roll. There's quite a lot to do at that point, in fact, thanks to Post Game Content unlocks and a fully-fledged New Game Plus mode.
Between them, you'll be able to take on tricky post game challenges, or start over with some sweet benefits. Once credits roll, you'll have the option of loading up your save and continuing to mop up Xenoblade 3's content with the some new unlocks, or starting over with some bonus content. Here's how it works after you beat the main story:
How New Game Plus works, and what carries over
New Game Plus in Xenoblade 3 takes on pretty much the exact form you'd imagine - it lets you restart the game again all the way from the beginning, but it lets you retain several aspects of the completed save file you're leaving behind.
Here's what you need to know about what carries over in New Game+:
- Your character growth and the broad strokes of character progression will carry over to NG+ - though of course you won't be able to use characters in NG+ until they're unlocked by the story. This includes:
- Character Levels
- Unlocked Heroes
- Classes, Ranks, and Class Ascension status
- Affinity Level and associated Bonuses
- Your Item Inventory largely carries over - but there are a few exceptions.
- Carrying over: Money, Crafted Gems, Silver and Gold Nopon Coins, Ether Cylinders, Accessories, Unlocked Clothing, and similar.
- What doesn't carry over: Key Items and Quest Items, Maps, Landmarks, and Rest Spots.
- Certain mechanics such as Chain Attacks, Interlinking, and Traversal Skills have to be unlocked again, as they're opened by story events that you'll have to work up to once again.
- All Heroes are retained, but you'll need to unlock the ability to switch Heroes, which happens early in Chapter 1.
- Any of the super powerful Unique Monsters that you've defeated will be revived. Your records from your first play-through are retained, but to see the records of a given monster you'll need to beat the monster again.
- Any Soulhacker Arts and abilities unlocked via Unique Monsters are retained, however.
And that's it! You'll find that the New Game+ option gets added to the main menu, where you can press it and choose cleared save file you want to use. The save file you choose will determine where your gear and such comes from.
Once you hit New Game Plus, you'll restart the Xenoblade 3 story over... but you'll have a leg up thanks to everything that carries over. It'll still take you a while to beat it again, though. Hopefully you've got a spare 100 hours!
Post-Game Content in Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Beyond starting over the game again, Xenoblade 3 has a range of post game content that doesn't require you to restart in order to enjoy. This is great for if you plan to head back out into the world to mop up some of the many side quests or other content that you didn't complete before the credits rolled.
This post-game content is largely designed to allow you to enjoy some of the late game content with some extra features. The post game features are as follows:
Two New Heroes & Classes - Lifesage (Nia) and Royal Summoner (Melia)
Once the game has been completed, you can load back up your main save and head to specific locations to unlock two final character classes. There's more on our Class Unlock guide, but the basics are:
The Lifesage is a healer class, and can be unlocked by heading to Cloudkeep, where you can unlock Nia as a hero, and in turn unlock the class the traditional way.
The Royal Summoner is an attacker class, and is unlocked by going to Keves Castle's first floor where you can unlock Melia as a hero, followed by the class.
Lowering your Level at Rest Spots
This new mechanic is simple - it lets you change your character level at any of XC3's many rest spots. This lets you level yourself down to create more of a challenge - and you'll in turn be rewarded bonus EXP for each level you give up.
This can also make it useful if you're struggling to unlock any remaining classes because you've overleveled. A lowered level is a great way to farm CP.
Changing & Equipping Hero Accessories
By heading to the Accessories section of the Characters menu, you can change the Accessories of your the Hero characters that can join your party in battle. In addition, you can also equip the accessories your heroes have to other party members.
The ability to equip Special Weapons
These skins that change the appearance of the weapons of certain classes can be selected in the 'Attachments' option of the Clothing menu - and as part of this, you unlock the ability to equip the Swordfighter class with the Monado. Players can access this early by scanning a specific amiibo.