Adorkable: Matthew's something of a cheerful idiot, but many fans find his goofy exuberance and frankness cute and dorky.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: Many non-British players assumed Matthew's battle line about being "full of beans" was either a mishearing or assumed it was a nonsense phrase to showcase that he was a Cloudcuckoolander, not realizing it's real British slang meaning "full of energy". Not that this stopped it from being a meme in the UK as well.
Angst? What Angst?: The party doesn't seem to bat an eyelid at the destruction of the entire Cent-Omnia region. Even if the Colony 9 residents were evacuated, that's still a whole region and its wildlife wiped off the face of Aionios. And given Panacea's implied parentage, she likely grew up there.
Anvilicious: Just as the base game was very firm about the importance of looking forward to the future and not dwelling on the present and forcing things to remain the same, this game is fairly blunt about its message on the importance of valuing the past, both its good and bad aspects, as a means of how to best improve.
The final battle against Alpha is very highly regarded, between the awesome boss theme which is regarded as one of the best in the series, a badass design which appropriately homages Final Form Deus and Omega Metempsychosis, and the fight being considered a satisfying balance of difficult, but fair gameplaywise, especially after the final boss of the base game was seen as excessively gimmicky, challenging, and unfair.
While extremely challenging, the Dual Boss training fight against Shulk and Rex as Nikol and Glimmer is a very cool and memorable moment that shows how powerful two of the series' most iconic protagonists have become, with you facing off against them as their children. It helps that it's the only story boss fight in the entire XC3 suite that uses the popular "You Will Know Our Names — Finale" as its background music, making the battle even more awesome and triumphant. It can be seen as the Xenoblade Chronicles equivalent of Ornstein and Smough.
Character Tiers: While all characters in the game are required to play, some do much more for the team than others. The best one is considered to be Rex, due to being a Critical Hit Class that hits very hard, especially in Chain Attacks, and always being able to land attacks without being blocked. Matthew and Glimmer are considered to be really strong as well, with Matthew having a very quick Break art with low cooldown, strong damage output, and a move that gives Power Charge to the entire party, while Glimmer has the best healing and support in the party. A is considered a mid tier due to being a Jack of All StatsMaster of None, since while A can dish out some decent damage and support the team well, Rex and Matthew just hit way harder, and Glimmer outdoes A in terms of support capabilities. Lastly, Nikol and Shulk are considered to be low-tiers due to their inability to actually get aggro successfully (since Rex is usually going to hog it all) and be a good tank in the first place.
Contested Sequel: The extremely Continuity Porn-heavy nature of Future Redeemed in contrast to the base game of 3, which deliberately left its references to the previous games vague in order to avoid Continuity Lockout for series newcomers, results in opinions on it being somewhat split. Future Redeemed requires detailed knowledge of and directly follows up on the stories of Xenoblade 1 and 2, and is filled with fanservicey references to the old games, meaning it tends to be very well-liked by fans of those games (to the point of many of them considering it the absolute best game in the series), whereas fans who prefer or got into the series through 3 tend to be more critical, believing that Future Redeemed has far too much fanservice and the kind of Continuity Lock-Out they praise the base game for avoiding; ironically, the lack of connection to characters from the base game aside from N, Riku and to a lesser extent Z and M caused XC3-only fans to feel somewhat alienated, echoing one of the issues that some series veterans had with the base game. Another source of conflict is the fact that it was extremely popular to interpret the Bittersweet Ending of 3 as much heavier on the bitter side than the sweet, with the two worlds going their separate ways and mostly forgetting about each other, to promote a message about learning to let go of the past and accepting an uncertain future; Future Redeemed establishes that Ouroboros was conclusively able to bring the two worlds and their inhabitants together for good, and that their reunion may have take place almost immediately after Origin is reset, which many fans praise as a case of Earn Your Happy Ending, but which fans of that interpretation believe is an unnecessarily saccharine betrayal of 3's themes.
Nikol is generally viewed as being on the autism spectrum, like his dad but more severe. He has a slow, methodical way of speaking with a noticeable flat affect that comes off as very awkward to others, has some difficulty distinguishing people's emotions, and other characters point out his communication issues and lack of social awareness that causes him to accidentally offend others despite meaning very well. He also has a deep fascination with machines that resembles a special interest, and it's through this interest that Shulk is best able to bond with him. Likewise, he has a Fictional Disability of not being able to summon a Blade (a basic skill required for survival in Aionios) and is a bullying victim due to how this effects his ability to live up to the expectations of others (mirroring how those with autistic traits can be treated), but playing to his strengths he is able to compensate via alternative methods, which can come off as analogous to the ways neurodivergent people compensate.
Likewise, while it was not uncommon for fans to diagnose Shulk as being on the autism spectrum in the first game, it's become an even more popular interpretation as of Future Redeemed. Autism is known to have a high degree of heredity, as can be seen in his son Nikol, and while Shulk has seemingly learned to handle his Innocently Insensitive issues better with time, it's mentioned on several occasions that his engineering special interest will sometimes cause him to engage in Infodumping or even forgetting to eat, two very common symptoms of autism.
Despite not being playable, Panacea and Linka have earned themselves a number of fans due to them being Founders Reid and Cassini respectively, but more importantly they're implied to be the children of characters from the previous two games (Reyn and Sharla for Panacea, and Zeke and Pandora for Linka).
The original Consul W also gained a fair few fans due to his surprisingly difficult boss fight, his hamminess, and for fusing two Ferronises together during the second part of his fight — all of which make him more memorable than not only 3's Consul W, but a good amount of the Consuls seen in 3 proper.
After the disappointment over replacing the traditional Territorial Rotbart with Jingoistic Gigantus in the base game, Bombastic Rotbart Jr. became a huge hit with fans despite being a very early, optional and low-leveled Unique Monster, mostly for its silly name that implied that it was a descendant of the original Rotbart.
Tying into speculation that the base game of 3 would be connected to Xenoblade Chronicles X somehow, which ended up only half-truenote the theory that Aionios was literally a past/future form of Mira and that X is in direct continuity with the numbered games does not seem to be the case, but 3 is a Creator-Driven Successor of sorts to X, with Aionios and Origin being Expies of Mira and the Lifehold respectively, some fans speculated that A would be an Expy of Elma due to their visual similarities. Some even speculate that A is literally the real Elma herself, who managed to travel between dimensions with help from the Conduit and Mira's mysterious powers. As it turns out, some version of the Earthlife Colonization Project/Project Exodus of which the White Whale was a part existed before Klaus went and redid the universe, though its impetus — the incoming alien armadas and their destructive battle — appears to be absent.
Post-release, the confirmation of at least some elements from Xenosaga and Xenoblade Chronicles X existing in the multiverse of the "Klaus saga" has led to mass speculation on how connected on the level of connection shared and how they fit into the timeline of the mainline Xenoblade Chronicles series. Of particular note is a blue light seen floating towards the merged world in The Stinger, heavily speculated by fans to be another perspective of Xenosaga III's own ending in which KOS-MOS is seen floating towards what appeared to be Earth/Lost Jerusalem, given that the worlds of the Bionis and Alrest used to be Earth. Not to mention that days after Future Redeemed was released, fans spotted Xenosaga in the list of copyright notices for the game, which neither 2 nor 3 had in their own notices section, despite KOS-MOS being a playable character there.
Relatedly, while the universes of Xenosaga and Xenogears are mutually incompatible, the visible Creator-Driven Successor at play as well as the amount of overlap between the events of Saga and the backstory of Gears has resulted in many believing that the latter is still canon to the former in Broad Strokes fashion despite the various copyright and timeline differences, and led to many attempts over the years to figure out how to reconcile Gears to Saga with the minimum number of changes necessary. While nods to the latter have existed since Xenoblade Chronicles 2(Spoilers)For example, supplemental materials for the Siren action figure model kit refer to the Conduit/Zohar with certain terms found only in Xenogears Perfect Works; likewise, the Trinity Processors are described in the same terms as Kadomony, with the implication that the two may be connected, Future Redeemed doubling down on them has now led to attempts to triangulate those efforts and come up with a grand unified timeline for the whole Xeno franchise, barring possibly X.
The reveal that Xenosaga and Xenoblade are connected in some fashion and that the Saviorites/Salvatorsnote A political organization who by the time of Xenosaga were ostensibly focused on advocating for the rights of Designer Babies and Vector Industriesnote A MegaCorp known for mass-producing Artificial Humans called Realians both exist in the Xenoblade universe has led to theories that Galea's original Japanese name of Galatea is a Meaningful Name and that she was a Realian, Designer Baby, or Transhuman of some kind, and that this is the reason Meyneth took the form of a machine deity in contrast to the unmodified natural human Klaus's organic Bionis, as well as the reason she was implied to become a Guldo in 2note Guldos are the mutated bodies of humans who infused themselves with Core Crystal technology, which is stated to have initially been developed for the purpose of replacing deteriorated brain cells, making them a form of Transhuman Abomination. The Infernal Guldo fought in 2 is found carrying Galea's ID card, but due to the franchise's tendency for asset reuse there was a good amount of debate whether it was her body specifically or if the intent was just to show that it Was Once a Man until Word of God confirmed that it was a random scientist.
Similar to theories for the base game, many speculate that Saomi, one of Linka's childhood friends, may be the daughter of the Rare Blade Kora due to her similar appearance and speaking batterns, although it's never indicated if it's a case of literal or merely spiritual inheritance.
Even Better Sequel: Like with Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country, some fans praise Future Redeemed as an even better experience than its base game for a few reasons, and like that game it's often considered a contender for the best game in the series despite its short length. Points of praise include its stronger ties to the previous games in the trilogy, a more engaging antagonist with a more spectacular boss fight, more dynamic area maps with lots of vertical exploration, and the Affinity Goals providing for a very satisfying gameplay loop and a better implementation of the Community system than in Torna.
While the reaction was better described as confusion than actual dislike, fans were surprised by the reveal that Lucky Seven was the transformed body of Fiora, as the popular assumption was that Lucky Seven was forged from Origin metal shards containing all of the playable party members from 1 outside of Shulk and Melia, due to Riku mentioning that the sword metaphorically carried the wills of of Shulk and Melia's companions from 1. Part of the cause for confusion is that Japanese nouns do not always mark for singular/plural; as a result Riku's previous line that a person/people dear to Melia resides inside the sword was translated in the English localization as plural out of an assumption that Riku's line about "everyone" being present was meant literally, since the number of party members conveniently happened to be seven; conversely, Japanese fans were confused by what turned out to be a Continuity Nod referencing Fiora's old popular Fan Nickname; since this nickname was largely limited to the West, it was a region-specific Punny Name that ended up being Lost in Translation for most of those fans.
An interview with Tetsuya Takahashi in Aionios Moments that the Liberators are not The Ageless but mortals with finite lifespans who were brought into Aionios shortly before Alpha appeared has led to mixed-to-negative reactions due to creating a great deal of confusion over the timeline of events leading into the game, since it contradicts in-game dialogue and information as well as other portions of the same guidebook about them fighting Moebius for much longer than would have been possible if that were true, as well as raising more questions than it answers. To resolve the potential Continuity Snarl, some fans have settled on a compromise option wherein the Liberators appeared on Aionios some point after the first City's founding but long before the events of Future Redeemed, and are still capable of eventually growing up and dying from old age, but at a slower rate than usual.
Shulk and Rex have become known as the "Blowjob Brothers", including to people outside the Xenoblade fandom, due to an extremely popular meme edit of their Union Combo image.
Prior to being officially named as "Redeem the Future", the Final Boss theme was referred to as "Alpha, the Divine Beginning and End".
Fans noticed that Nia's implied child Mio acts like Pyra, while Pyra's implied child Glimmer acts like Mythra. With Mythra's child still a mystery, people began to semi-jokingly theorize that her child would be similar to Nia (being snarky, short-tempered, and having a foul mouth).
It's never explained where the various House got their names from, but fans typically assume that the names Doyle, Rhodes, Reid, and Cassini came from their founders' spouses, even though the base game implies that the people of the City do not follow the common real-world practice of surnames defaulting to the father's (Monica Vandham's husband and daughter took her name, for instance).
Conversely, that leaves the question of where Nikol got the Ortiz name from. While it is possible that he got it from his future spouse or chose it on a whim in line with the above fanon, it's more commonly assumed that he inherited it from Shulk directly by way of information provided by Panacea that went unstated in the first game, and moreover that Shulk got that name from marrying into Fiora's family rather than the other way around, in line with the popular interpretation of the Ambiguously Brown Dunban as a Dashing Hispanic.
It's never explained where Matthew got the Vandham name from since his ancestors Mio and Noah did not have memories of their lives in the old world, but it's usually believed to be the result of it being either an already-esteemed name within the City (since some of its inhabitants are people who remembered the old world) or the result of learning it from a story told by Rex.
Despite Nikol and Glimmer's relationship never being shown to go further than friendship, many fans ship them with each other due to their personality contrasts and how the former often helps to comfort and ease the latter. It doesn't hurt that while they're implied to marry different people (since they both found their own Houses), we never meet anyone even teased as their future spouses.
Likewise, Linka and Panacea are shipped together quite often, even though presumably they got married to other people. They can often be seen in the background standing next to each other, and their relationships with their mentors give them a common link.
Fountain of Memes: As a series first, Matthew, the main character, is seen as this game's iteration of the Reyn/Zeke "goofy himbo meme character" archetype, thanks to his memorable East London Roadman accent and his many meme-able quotes (with his "I'm feeling full of beans!" easily being the most popular meme to come out of Future Redeemed).
Game-Breaker: Rex is the overall best character in Future Redeemed due to being a Critical Hit Class just like he was when equipped with Mythra or Fiora in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. His "Heroic Spirit" skill helps negate his initial Glass Cannon status, and the rest of his skills combined with his propensity for multi-hit attacks boost his already-insane crit damage even higher as well as allow him to bypass enemy defense. As a result, Double Spinning Edge is incredibly powerful Spam Attack due to recharging after every Critical Hit, not to mention he is the only character with access to the full Driver combo, as he has Break, Topple, and Launch and can finish off the combo with any Union Strike. It's telling that his main weakness is being too strong, since his high damage will rapidly draw aggro away from others and onto him, leaving him liable to be overwhelmed — in which case the player can merely switch to A or Glimmer, revive Rex, and buff him before switching control back and continuing the onslaught.
Genius Bonus: Ontos' nonbinary gender identity is rooted in longstanding Kabbalistic thought. One of the major figures from Xenogears that Alvis is based off of (and may even literally be a prototype of in-universe, according to some All There in the Manual hints) was Kadomony, the biological supercomputer responsible for lDeus' power and the creation of all life on its planet. Kadomony's name is a mistranslation of the Kabbalistic figure of Adam ha-Kadmoni or Adam Kadmon, aka "primordial or conceptual man". According to Midrashic tradition, Adam Kadmon is a nonbinary androgyne containing aspects of both male and female. As Ontos is based off of Adam Kadmon, it holds that Ontos would be the same way genderwise.
Goddamned Boss: The Slow 'n' Steadies duo of Levnis superbosses (Stronghammer Dorga and Peacebringer Divalo) are infamous for being among the most grueling and frustrating superbosses in the series, especially in Hard Mode — and this is largely due to Fake Difficulty. It's a Puzzle Boss of sorts where the player needs to take down both Levnises at the same time, with Dorga being weak to ether attacks and Divalo being weak to physical attacks. While the fight has some intentional challenging elements,note namely, they're immune to Break and can heal themselves, and if one dies before the other then the remaining boss will use a Total Party Kill move, there are also some sources of unintended difficulty that will make you want to pull your hair out. First of all, Divalo is far easier to take out in practice than Dorga, because Rex and Matthew (the party's Attackers) both use physical Arts, turning Dorga into a Stone WallDamage-Sponge Boss; the party's main ether Attacker, Na'el, joins in the postgame and can't be player controlled or participate in a Unity Combo so isn't nearly as effective. Secondly, the terrain causes issues during the battle, with the Levnises pushing each other around and forcing you to chase them down, which also causes pathfinding problems for the AI. But the most infamous aspect is your allies' Artificial Stupidity; Dorga has one of the most devastating AOE field attacks in the game, yet even if you use the "group up" command, any AI-controlled Healers will prioritize reviving allies who died to the field damage (thus putting themselves in danger) rather than staying outside the field. All these aspects can potentially turn an interestingly designed challenge into an unfun and tedious nightmare.
Rex's pre-battle quote before engaging with an enemy has him going "wipe 'em off the face of Aionios!". After the events of the campaign, Origin crashes into the Cent Omnia region. They really do get wiped off the face of Aionios.
A being an incarnation of the advanced supercomputer Ontos due to being Alvis's memories and conscience is a lot funnier after Japanese researchers built a quantum supercomputer in real life which they also named "A" for symbolic reasons tied to its position as the first letter of the Latin alphabet, not entirely dissimilar from A's own explanation for the chosen nickname. In addition, the kanji chosen for it means "wise", and A's other name, Alvis, means "all wise".
Shulk and Rex in this game are a pair of older single fathers raising a bunch of children and young adults together for what has been implied to be a very long time, without any of their canon love interests around. They're shown to be very close with one another and their banter is enough Like an Old Married Couple that a lot of fans view their Platonic Co-Parenting arrangement as decidedly not-so-platonic. That the two are set up as default Unity partners when the base game treated the mechanic as an ambiguous metaphor for romance, and when the other two default Unity couples are also popularly interpreted as ambiguously romantic, adds further subtext. It helps that both are shown to be accepting towards LGBTQ identities and that Rex is already very heavily implied to be in a polyamorous relationship with partners who are themselves bisexual.
A complicated sort when it comes to A and Shulk. Alvis and Shulk already had a decent amount of Ho Yay in 1, while Blade/Driver relationships in 2 were frequently analogized to romantic ones and in many cases literally were, so naturally that subtext bleeds into their intimate relationship in this game, given that Alvis was essentially Shulk's Blade. Despite A's female appearance, Shulk makes it clear on multiple occasions that his strong affection for A is the result of his fondness for Alvis, a being he once perceived as male. There's also the fact that A is functionally half-Shulk, given that their Arts list combines several of Alvis and Shulk's unique moves from 1, and their appearance is a hybrid of traits from both, such as their skintone, eye color, hairstyle, and cape. A attributes their very existence to happy memories of the time Alvis spent with Shulk, so depending on whether one interprets A as functionally the same Alvis or a brand new existence based off him, the romantic subtext either comes off as Alvis having loved Shulk enough to regain personhood via the feelings he developed for him and that Shulk's own love for A is the result of lingering feelings for Alvis, or that A is Shulk and Alvis's metaphorical child together and that Shulk loves A for Someone to Remember Him By reasons.
Alvis was a common point of speculation for the DLC, with many guessing that he would make some sort of appearance in it - something confirmed by the initial teaser.
Many speculated that Alvis' Bishounen appearance was a hint that Ontos was meant to have an intermediate gender in contrast with the female Pneuma and the more exaggeratedly masculine Logos. Rex confirms this to be the case.
Since the initial reveal of the Trinity Processor in 2, Ontos' identity was speculated to be Alvis by many and was more or less accepted as fact by the time Definitive Edition added a red Aegis crystal to his model where there was once an ordinary key, but Future Redeemed finally offers explicit verbal confirmation that Alvis was Ontos.
Riku's mysterious nature in Xenoblade Chronicles 3 made many people guess that he would show up in a hypothetical DLC Prequel, something that was confirmed for Future Redeemed. Likewise, the identity of his often-mentioned Masterpon was unstated in 3, but is confirmed to indeed be Melia, just as many speculated.
Many believed that Shulk and Rex would die at some point due to this being a prequel. Sure enough, the two make a Heroic Sacrifice alongside A in the ending.
Fans commonly theorized that the base game of 3 would find a way to tie itself to Xenoblade Chronicles X somehow, just as 2 did with 1. Future Redeemed includes a reference to the Exodus project, but frames it as an ongoing colonization effort, rather than a last-ditch escape from an exploding planet.
Although Juniper was praised as a fairly well-done example of a nonbinary character in the base game, their gender identity was often subject to much debate due to the game not bringing a lot of attention to it despite it being fairly explicit. Meanwhile, the handling of A's gender issues, while also inherently more complex due to the complicated circumstances of A's existence in general, is generally considered to be a good step up due to A being a more plot-prominent character whose gender is explicitly discussed in the main story itself, as if to dispel any potential doubt about the character being genderqueer this time.
Rex's physical design is considered to be a step up from his initial appearance in 2. While some of his design in 2 is understandable (such as the scuba gear), it's also considered to be generally uneven and inconsistent at points, especially given his small stature and skinny frame. Future Redeemed beefs him up in terms of physical composition while giving him simpler clothing that still don't feel too far off from his design in 2, in addition to him now Dual Wielding replicas of the Aegis swords. Likewise, one of the more common criticisms of his characterization in 2 was that, even though he was likeable enough, he was something of a Vanilla Protagonist who the story gave too much focus on at the expense of more interesting characters. This time, he's a supporting character to the more bombastic Matthew, with former detractors praising his screentime as a lot better balanced with the rest of the party, and also that his scenes do a more concise job of conveying his positive traits to help him stand out in a good way, while also incorporating traits of the well-received Addam from Torna. The result is that many prefer Rex's design in Future Redeemed to his design in 2, and widely consider it to be an improvement over how he looked in his original appearance.
A fair number of players have come to view Nikol as an improved take on 2's Tora. In the latter's case, his sympathetic qualities* like his social awkwardness, troubled family past, and having the shameful Fictional Disability of being unable to summon a Blade, which he overcomes by being resourceful with his Gadgeteer Genius abilities were largely overshadowed by his more unsympathetic ones* like his perversion and at-times creepy treatment of Poppi. Nikol is a Stone Wall who fights with Nopon-themed weaponry, evoking Tora, and shares most of his struggles, but his shyness, Fictional Disability, and complicated relationship with his father are taken more seriously, and he's a mild-mannered Nice Guy who lacks any of Tora's more controversial qualities. This causes him to be a lot less disliked by most players.
As with the other two Trinity Processors, Ontos/Alvis has always had a fairly sizeable LGBT following due to his somewhat flamboyant and Ambiguously Gay mannerisms and lore implications of being nonbinary, coupled with the immense power and respect he held as the first game's stand-in for the God of the Bible. That fandom got even bigger with the confirmation that Alvis is genderqueer due to Ontos having a nonbinary gender in-between male and female, and A being treated as nonbinary despite having a female body because A is the same Alvis of the original game. A is also praised for averting the most common pitfalls of the Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous trope, as A's humanity and kindness is the defining trait that distinguishes A from Alpha, who is referred to with binary-gendered terms, but has none of Alvis's warmth or conscience.
Shulk and especially Rex have become embraced somewhat memetically but also earnestly as allies of the trans/nonbinary community because of the very sympathetic reaction they have to A's circumstances. Shulk gives A an Old Friend, New Gender speech where he reaffirms his friendship and support for A regardless of how A presents, and while he is at first unsure of why A has a new appearance, Rex conveniently comes in to explain the concept of nonbinary gender, but the way he looks into the camera as he says it frames it as not just for Shulk's convenience but a direct message to the audience as well, almost as if done so to cut off arguments over A having a queer gender identity at the head. It helps that Shulk and Rex's older designs are considered very appealing by gay and bisexual men and that their close friendship with each other, as well as Shulk's relationship with Alvis and A who are revealed to be for all intents and purposes the same person can be read through a queer lens.
Bizarrely,note given that he was one of the best party members both in his own game and as a Guest Fighter in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Shulk, for essentially the same reason as Zeon's Guardian Commander class in the base game. While he does have extremely high survivability when the game actually lets him tank, it's not as useful as it should be due to his only means of drawing aggro being a rather unreliable single-target Lock-On Art, especially since he's forced to compete with Nikol for what little aggro is left after Rex hogs it all, when 3's gameplay meta favors a single tank for optimal results. It doesn't help that while Shulk's base Arts and skills are overall better than Zeon's, they suffer from the same issue of getting the Awakening buff to proc, which requires a lot of setup unless you use a certain Unity Combo, further limiting his ability to draw aggro.
Nikol is considered to be even worse than his father. While Shulk is at least decent at offense and benefits from his high agility, Nikol suffers from the usual problems of Xenoblade Chronicles face tanks, dealing too little damage to meaningfully draw aggro and generally being too passive to be of much benefit to the party during battles. When optimized, Nikol is mainly used as a Memory Locket reviver rather than his intended use, due to the fact that he's at least very hard to kill.
Widespread consensus is that the worst party member isn't Shulk or Nikol, but rather Na'el, mostly stemming from the fact that she can't be player-controlled and, unlike many of the Heroes from the base game, doesn't provide any inherent benefits to the party. Being a strong Ether attacker, being able to control Na'el would be very helpful for some of the Superboss fights, particularly Stronghammer Dorga, which is especially egregious as the player controls her in a short flashback segment. But her biggest flaw is that she can easily screw up Chain Attacks and prevent the player from completing a Unity pairing before the meter runs out, and while this can be remedied by giving her a manual that fills the Chain Attack gauge similar to Fiona, it's still considered pretty inconsistent.
Memetic Badass: Following from his cameo appearance at the end of the base game, Rex is treated by many fans as a "gigachad" thanks to his new, older design and voice and extreme combat prowess. This is often used to contrast his appearance as a scrawny kid in his own game, with many of his former fans feeling validated and some of his former haters re-evaluating their opinions of him.
Memetic Loser: With that being said, it's not uncommon for Rex to also draw in a lot of mockery for one specific reason: The drawback to his Game-Breaker status is that he will inevitably Draw Aggro beyond the point he can withstand, constantly. There is a very good reason why Double-Spinning Edge is frequently associated with Rex dying.
Moe: Nikol's diminutive appearance, shy and awkward demeanor, and kindhearted nature, along with his natural helplessness from being unable to summon a Blade which he is nevertheless able to make up for with his own ingenuity, causes many players want to hug and protect him, or depict the characters around him doing so.
For being given items by quests or cutscenes, you get the jingle for completing a Collectopedia category from 1.
Getting an Upgrade Kit nets you the "Salvage Result" jingle from 2.
Opening a Relic chest, as well as unlocking new features, such as the Gem Furnace, Georgie's Kitchen, etc., nets you the Secret Area jingle from 1. Since Relic chests usually contain Upgrade Kits, it plays before this one.
One-Scene Wonder: Consul W only appears at the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3, but makes a hell of an impression for his hammy nature and for fusing two Ferronises together for the second phase of his fight, which ends up being surprisingly challenging.
Between the end of 3 implying Rex entered a polyamorous relationship with Pyra, Mythra, and Nia, and the comfortable domesticity that he and Shulk seem to have settled into by the time of the game, it's become popular to add Shulk as a fifth member of their polycule.
Likewise, A is occasionally added to the mix as well (or at least shipped as part of an OT3 with Shulk and his canonical wife Fiora) to mirror Rex's own relationship with his Blades and because of the dynamic between Shulk and A resembling the Ho Yay between him and Alvis due to A having the memories and personhood of Alvis in a new body.
Thirdly, it's become popular to ship Shulk/Rex/A as an OT3within the confines of Future Redeemed due to the romantic subtext Shulk shares with both of the other two over the events of the DLC, and the fact that they seemingly Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence with only each other as company for around a thousand years.
A's nature as a Benevolent A.I. and one half of Alvis, albeit the half that embodies Alvis's mind and human side compared to the physical computer half embodied by Empty Shell Alpha, and is treated by the story as essentially Alvis where it matters, makes it ambiguous whether A qualifies as literally transgender, but nonetheless A's backstory, which is ostensibly more about cold AI evolving beyond its original programming, is commonly interpreted as a direct metaphor for gender transition. More specifically, it's stated that A, who has a feminine body and no explicitly stated gender identity (or at least no pronouns whatsoever) that is indicated to be more in line with Ontos' natural androgyny, formed as a result of Alvis's positive memories of the time spent with Shulk and the cast of 1, and it's also heavily implied that Alvis's male appearance and pronouns are the result of Klaus/Zanza's emotional baggage, despite coming from a nonbinary Core Crystal. Taken together, their backstory is commonly read as a metaphor for a closeted transgender person who was steered into adopting a certain gender presentation by a controlling parental figure (Zanza), before being welcomed by a kinder and more accepting friend (Shulk) who gave them the room to self-actualize in a way that better reflected their true gender identity.
If one interprets A as transfeminine, Alpha's status as A's former masculine identity who has now become actively harmful can be seen as an analogy for how trans people's former identities become detached from their present ones and how they now only serve to bring trauma and negativity and to haunt said trans people.
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: While not universally hated, Rex had many detractors in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, finding him to be too generic and his voice acting less than stellar, especially compared to Shulk. The developers seem to take note of this, as Rex in Future Redeemedis a completely different beast. His personality is regarded as more distinct and well-rounded in combining his most appealing qualities from 2 with the more universally liked Addam, while having him mature out of some of his less well-received beliefs by having him fight as a revolutionary overthrowing the status quo to push the world forward, not to restore traditional values. His new design and outfit was met with high praise, his voice dub is a major improvement, his Character Focus is regarded as better-balanced with the rest of the cast, and he is considered the strongest party member in the DLC. A lot of this has caused many who had disliked him in the past to re-evaluate their stances.
The photo at the end of 3 that shows the second installment's cast drew criticism from some players, as the previous game suggested that Rex and his three love interests all entered an egalitarian bisexualPolyamory relationship together, and while some fans felt it was a nice send-off that confirmed those implications, many took issue with the framing of the photo making Rex appear dominant and his partners submissive, something that's considered out of character for all four, on top of seemingly backpedaling from the bisexual implications in favor of a Rex-centric harem. While the polycule is never addressed during Future Redeemed, minus some references and hints of Rex missing his wives dearly, Rex is shown to have childcare skills and cooking abilities matching close to Pyra, hinting at a more equal partnership dynamic back in Alrest. Rex is also shown to be openly supportive of nonbinary gender identities, winning back many queer fans who felt the picture came off as heterosexist.
While the main story of 3 is hardly considered bad, a non-insignificant number of fans wished that it was more connected to the overall Myth Arc of the "Klaus saga", given that 3 was billed as being the Grand Finale of that particular arc, and found Z and the Moebius as a whole to be underwhelming as villains, with the exceptions of C, N, M, S, T, I, D, and J. Future Redeemed satisfied those complaints by connecting back heavily to the first two games, not just by bringing back their main characters as party members, but also by bringing back a fan-favorite and lore-important character from the first game as an antagonist, and whose actions in Future Redeemed are shown to have set the stage for what would happen in 3, thus tying the game back to the Myth Arc of the series more directly.
Consul N was a reasonably Base-Breaking Character in the main game of 3, but for people who found him too cartoonishly evil and were unable to buy that he and Noah were anywhere near as alike as the game stated him to be, he is shown here prior to Good Counterpart Noah's complete separation from his body, and thus shows a more complete range and depth of emotions in Future Redeemed, along with some context added to make his actions more morally gray than they initially seemed.
A is Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous due to being an incarnation of Ontos (stated by Rex to be between the male Logos and the female Pneuma) and never being referred to by any pronouns at all, to the extent that other characters consciously go out of their way to avoid the use of any kinds of gendered terms regardless of language to indicate that A is perceived as androgynous in-universe. However, while A's appearance is more feminine looking than Alpha or Alvis, some fans choose to treat A in fanart as a strictly binary woman, giving A more exaggerated hips and rear along with depicting A's flat chest as a case of Hidden Buxom (though usually not to the extent of A's sister Pneuma, AKA Pyra and Mythra).
While Na'el is curvaceous as is, her design has been subject to a lot of lewd fan art, typically giving her a bigger Cleavage Window and making her leather blouse and stockings more form-fitting.
Consul W can be a surprisingly difficult boss for those who don't realize what his gimmick is at first, since he's largely invincible until the two Ferronises surrounding him are defeated, opening him up to proper damage. The biggest difficulty comes from the fact that it's not immediately evident that he's a Flunky Boss so expect a lot of players to spend much of the boss fight slowly chipping away him to no avail before they either realize they can switch targets, accidentally destroy his Ferronises through doing enough AOE damage, or are killed in the attempt.
The fight against Na'el at the start of Chapter 4 can easily be mistaken for a Hopeless Boss Fight, when it's actually a challenging required battle. Na'el has a TON of HP and many dangerous AoE attacks. Additionally, it coming at the very start of a chapter, after a save prompt, gives you little prep time unless you die.
The Dual Boss against Shulk and Rex in Chapter 4 is a contender for one of the hardest fights in the DLC, primarily because of how the fight is structured. Since you have to use Nikol and Glimmer, the player has to primarily balance the two's damage and healing, but not only is Rex able to do huge amounts of damage, making it possible he can just kill Glimmer almost right away, but both Shulk and Rex can use the Break, Topple, and Launch combo, a core part of the game that Nikol and Glimmer can't use at all. Shulk also loves using Monado Rage to inflict Target Lock on one of the characters, preventing you from simply focusing on Rex. Unless the player really heavily focuses on making sure Nikol and Glimmer are as powerful as can be (which would come at the cost of your other characters) or switches their target back to Rex as soon as Monado Rage wears off every time, the fight is a huge roadblock, not helped by the fact you have to fight another boss beforehand, which makes coming back to it harder.
N is much much stronger than he was in the main game. Even if your party is several levels above him, he deals ridiculous damage and can even one shot Shulk and Nikol with minimal effort. All of this is exasperated by his Awakening: if you let him enter awakening, you might as well give up on the spot, as his already high damage absolutely skyrockets. He is also notably hard to Break, especially in Awakening, meaning that if you don't break him directly before he's in Awakening and then Burst him in a Chain Attack, you have no chance of getting rid of the effect.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: When the game released, Rex having a Time-Shifted Actor in English received some of this, as he's now voiced by Fergus O'Donnell instead of Al Weaver. While O'Donnell by no means did a bad job (and has been praised for retaining Rex's spirit), some fans were disappointed at the recast. While Rex significantly aging compared to his initial appearance in 2 and the English voice directorstating they wanted an older actor rather than bring Weaver back are essentially why, how Hiro Shimono was able to return in Japanese (to where people were also unsure if it was still him before he was confirmed to return) raises the question if Weaver could have also been able to do an older version of Rex, let alone how they could have tried to bring him back before going for an older actor. Not helping this a tad is some fans feel that O'Donnell's Rex doesn't feel the same in certain instances; some even find it jarring to hear a near-unfamiliar voice alongside Shulk, who is naturally still voiced by Adam Howden (and then there's how this decision essentially onceagain snubbed Weaver of a chance to extensively play Rex with better voice direction).
Z appears in the first cutscene, confronting Alpha with Shulk and Rex and referring to him as "his God". Later on, Shulk states that the Liberators have negotiated a ceasefire with Z in order to focus on stopping Alpha. Besides that, however, all Z does is sic N on Alpha and the Liberators (and even then, N's continued involvement is entirely his choice), satisfied with lounging around his theater, and does not appear again or receive more explanation. While Z does explain that Alpha taking control of Origin has severely restricted his own powers and thus made him unable to take further action, Future Redeemed does not expand much on Z or any Moebius figure other than N as characters.
Panacea and Linka are two of the City Founders, and were directly mentored by Shulk and Rex. They're also most likely the children of Sharla/Reyn and Zeke/Pandoria, and are outright from the old world like Shulk and Rex are. But despite all of this, they have the smallest role of any of the Founders, not even being party members. Their contribution to the main story is very minimal in spite of all of this, and they act more as sidequest characters than you would expect from two of the Founders.
Consul M appears briefly in the game as basically a cameo, and has no impact on the story compared to N. This sticks out because the story deals with things that should impact her just as much as N, but she doesn't have any involvement, nor any new lines. Since the story never gives an explanation for why she isn't around to at least justify her lack of role in it, her lack of involvement has been cited by some as a missed opportunity, and makes her brief appearance feel like it was unnecessary.
Trans Audience Interpretation: A's gender identity is never explicitly stated, but it's heavily implied that A is nonbinary as a result of originating from Ontos, whom Rex explicitly describes as nonbinary in gender, and that this fact is the reason for A's feminine appearance. As a result, though that would make A cis with respect to Ontos, A is commonly interpreted as transgender with respect to A's previous identity as Alvis, who had a masculine appearance and he/him pronouns, with the new context on Ontos also causing Alvis himself to also be interpreted as a trans man.
Unexpected Character: The ending of Chapter 4 shows the party a glimpse of old Earth, more specifically the Rhadamanthus orbital elevator colony shortly before Klaus' experiment. One of the objects that can be seen is a radio with the Vector Industries logo on it. Furthermore, a newscaster mentions the Earthlife Colonization Project and Project Exodus, Philadelphia-class motherships, and Xenosaga's Dmitri Yuriev is mentioned as an important Earth politician belonging to the Saviorite Factionnote Something of a Dub Induced Plothole; the group referred to as the Saviorite Rebels in the English version of 2 were directly referred to as the Salvator faction in the original Japanese, aka the same group that Yuriev led in Xenosaga. This line confirms that the group are one and the same, and moreover more than a one-off Mythology Gag, all in a game that was billed as a Story Arc finale of the first three numbered Xenoblade titles. Needless to say, players were quite surprised the game had such callbacks.
Nikol and Glimmer. The former is a Kevesi soldier who cannot summon a Blade, forcing him to build his own weapon that he can activate and use manually for defense, and is first introduced hiding in the midst of a vicious battle between his Colony and Glimmer's. Meanwhile, Glimmer is an Agnian soldier who reacts badly to being freed from the cycle of Aionios primarily because she knows no other way of life — yet her desire to reach her Homecoming after all her friends have died demonstrate that she suffers immensely from Survivor Guilt, and her referring to her Homecoming as "going Home" indicates that on a subconscious level, she just wants to return home to her family from the pre-Aionios world.
Shulk and Rex themselves count as well. While the two of them are leading the Liberators against the Moebius, both have been disfigured (Shulk via losing his arm and Rex via losing an eye) and it's also shown that they're the only ones left out of their respective parties from the previous games (save for the true Queens of Keves and Agnus, who are both out of the picture for the time being), with only the children of their best friends serving as a connection to the previous worlds. Shulk is forced at the beginning to seemingly watch his old friend Alvis (actually Alpha) return only to declare an end to all of Aionios and everyone in it, while Rex expresses at multiple points how he wishes his wives Pyra and Mythra were there with him, as does Shulk with his wife Fiora and his mentor Dunban. More than any of that, however, both Shulk and Rex are reunited with their children who they discover have been subject to Aionios' eternal war as led by the Moebius, having to suffer through who knows what, and upon reuniting with their children after many years, end up having a difficult time being parents to them as they were previously — especially when Nikol and Glimmer have no idea of their relation to Shulk and Rex respectively, let alone know what a parent even is.
meaning "full of energy". Not that this stopped it from being a meme in the UK as well