Project X Zone 3: The Azure Eclipse

Project X Zone III: The Azure Eclipse (プロジェクト クロスゾーンIII：紺碧の日食 Purojekuto Kurosu Zōn San: Konpeki no Nisshoku), or simply Project X Zone 3 outside of Japan, is a strategy role-playing game developed by Monolith Soft and B.B. Studio, and later published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. In addition to being the third Project X Zone game, this is the first entry in the series to be released on the Nintendo Switch.

Even though this game continues the dream crossover between Capcom, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Sega, this game once again features guest characters from Nintendo's Fire Emblem series, as well as introducing characters from Activision's Crash Bandicoot franchise.

Main Plot/Opening Monologue
For every generation, a mysterious object blocks the sun. Usually lasting about a week, this causes a blue glow to illuminate the entire world. Scientists have stated that the moon is nowhere near the sun during these strange eclipses, but they could never identify the object blocking the sun itself.

This phenomenon is infamously known as the Azure Eclipse.

While the Azure Eclipse gained publicity over the years, tons of incidents occur in its more recent appearances. Reports tell about roaming angelic creatures of unknown origin when the blue light is present. That’s how the Azure Eclipse got the attention of several hidden services, including Union 10.

Union 10. A secret organization within Canada that's dedicated to upholding peace against threats from the supernatural, paranormal, extraterrestrial and multidimensional. They have been lurking in the shadows since Canada's earliest years, fighting a silent war with no conclusion. Many of their battles don’t last long, but that doesn’t mean the long ones are nonexistent.

During the last Azure Eclipse, Union 10 and a young man named Leos Risket collaborated with their Japanese counterpart, Shinra, and fought through a brutal conflict. Apparently, the phenomenon can create dimensional rifts between other worlds that are unrelated to these heavenly entities. The alliance also discovered a crazed girl who appears to have connections to the Azure Eclipse. This brought up some questions during the eclipse’s aftermath.

Who was that girl? What was her reason for coming here? Is she following the orders of some superior leader? Does the Azure Eclipse act as some gateway to an undiscovered world?

20XX, Present Day.

After being absent for two and a half decades, the Azure Eclipse has returned to shake a whole new generation… and quite literally. During those past years, Leos has changed from a free wandering spirit to a family man. He is now the father of Glas, a gifted young woman who ended up becoming a respected member of Union 10.

When news of the mystical blue light's return reaches Union 10's intel, Glas is stationed in Maplepoint Gardens with her girlfriend while Leos provides assistance to Shinra once more for monitoring purposes. Little do they know that this little operation will lead them on a journey that will test all their limits, but also reveal the meaning behind the Azure Eclipse.

Basics
Project X Zone 3 keeps the core gameplay mechanics like its predecessors. The player moves multiple playable units across a map to engage in combat with enemy units. Multiple attacks can be linked together with other close pair units and a selected solo unit to build extensive combos.

Unit Stats
These are the stats carried by all units on the map. Players can increase the stats on their units by either leveling them up or equipping them with gear and accessories.

Status Effects
Status effects are abilities that both allies and enemies have in a few of their attacks. Most of the time, these usually last for about two to three turns. Playable units that have a status effect can be cured with the right item.

Skills & Auto-Skills
Skills are a way for players to temporarily enhance abilities for playable units. Normal skills can be activated by individual units with the cost of their SP. Returning from the second game, auto-skills are equipable  enhancements that trigger when certain conditions are met.

Intermissions
Intermissions happen in between chapters, giving players a break from battle scenarios. During intermissions, players can save their progress, modify a unit’s skills and abilities, buy and sell equipment from the shop, practice combos in training mode, and alter the game's basic options to their liking.

New Features
Just like the previous instalment, this game introduces some new mechanics to the series.

Being on new hardware, the game's visuals have received a graphical upgrade compared to the previous installments, both of which were released on the Nintendo 3DS. However, character sprites can be given the classic pixelated look from the 3DS games by switching the represented to Retro Mode in the options menu.

The most notable addition is the moveset customization feature. From here, players have the ability to select and arrange the input to a unit’s moveset. With all possible moves unlocked, players can select five out of seven normal attacks for each pair unit (plus one out of two support attacks) and one out of two for solo units.

With all the other unit stats, the SPD (Speed) stat returns from the first game. The stat now has different function instead of determining the order of the units, giving those in the player's party a chance to dodge enemy attacks with the new Evade command. A higher SPD stat increases the possibility of a successful dodge.

Glas Risket
Main Article: Glas Risket

Gladys Risket (グラディス・リスク Guradisu Risuku), or simply known by her nickname Glas (ガラス Garasu), is a member of Union 10 and the game’s main protagonist. She is usually known for being a relaxed and laid-back genius who's quite unpredictable. Outside of Union 10, she’s locally renowned for her work in video game console mods given her college degree in electrical engineering. Video games have always been a major part of her life and she’ll often reference them in her common speech. When she learned about Union 10’s existence seven years prior, she also discovered that she was born from an orb Leos touched. And the trauma of witnessing a vampire-commuted genocide that took her best friend’s life influenced her to join the organization.

In battle, Glas fights using various forms of martial arts she's mastered over the years, combining them into a unique fighting style. This led to her developing the Sage Gauntlets which are gloves that can emulate all sorts of extraordinary human abilities.

Glas is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in Japanese and by Marisha Ray in English.

Titania Gold
Titania Gold (チタニア・ゴールド Chitania Gōrudo) is a member of Union 10, a dedicated musician, Glas's girlfriend and the game’s deuteragonist. The two initially met during their freshman year in high school, but they were simply classmates until Glas intervened during a violent breakup with her ex-boyfriend. Titania’s highly optimistic and is usually referred as the “light of the party” which rehabilitated Glas out of her depression, but she usually doesn’t think twice before she takes action. Her family history is deeply embedded in Canadian politics and was sent to Oakshire Academy to help strengthen her chances of continuing that legacy. However, a summer vacation with Glas prior to her senior year provided Titania with revelations of her love for music and romantic feelings towards her best friend. Plus after discovering the tragic and bizarre fate of a roll model student, she found out about Union 10 and decided to join the organization along side Glas.

Her combat weapon is the Dream Caster, an electric guitar that can create constructs, heal wounded allies and perform all sorts of crazy things when the right tunes are played.

Titania is voiced by Shizuka Itō in Japanese and by Kira Buckland in English.

Amber Brooks
Amber Brooks (アンバー・ブルックス Anbā Burukkusu) a member of Union 10 and the game’s tritagonist. While looking human in appearance, she and her mother are actually the descendants of a dragonkin tribe originating from the British Isles. According to what’s been remembered about the family tree, her great-great-grandfather immigrated to Canada after his village was supposedly raided by mercenaries. The dragonkin heritage carries the formation of scales along Amber’s back, which made her pretty quiet and afraid of being judged among the humans around her. This is the primary reason she never reveals any portion of her back in the public eye. She met Glas Risket during her freshman year at Oakshire Academy, and they instantly got along considering Glas’s similar situation of depression after losing her best friend. Once Glas introduced Titania Gold into their little friend circle, this helped her find the courage to stand up for herself and be proud of who she is. Amber would eventually reveal her true heritage to them, which prompted Glas to help her join Union 10 much later on.

The dragonkin race Amber descended from seems to have mastered the use of cryokinesis as she’s capable of an icy breath. Oddly enough, its overall strength relies on the amount of ice or cold water she’s consumed and stored within her body. Glas developed a pair of gloves and boots to help Amber expand her abilities, emulating what she believed her ancestors were capable of. They can absorb the cold moisture within her and can then be released from the accessories in any way to her bidding.

Amber is voiced by Seiko Yoshida in Japanese and by Morgan Berry in English.

Leos Risket
Leos Risket (レオス・リスク Reosu Risuku) is a major supporting character and the father of Glas. Twenty-five years prior to the events of this game, he was a member of Union 10’s field division who’d witnessed the Azure Eclipse for himself. Now he’s in charge of the organization and is well respected among its members. Leos has a laid-back nature which has passed down to his daughter, but his time in the Canadian military and shady teenage years helped made him wiser and less careless. But this side of him will temporally resurface when he gets excited sometimes.

As a former soldier, Leos is well skilled in fire-arms. It’s his preferred way of combat as he carries a pistol and semi-automatic machine gun whenever he’s out on the field. Alternatively, he’s got basic hand-to-hand combat skills and a pocket knife ready if he has to fight at close range.

Leos is voiced by Takashi Nagasako in Japanese and by Patrick Seitz in English.

Zaffre Vigil
Zaffre Vigil (ザフレ・ビギル Zafure Bagiru) is a goddess of creation, the one responsible for the Azure Eclipse and the central antagonist of the game. Her primary goal is to destroy the worlds that hold her "prisoners", all while salvaging the innocent mortals to let them inhabit a new world that she created.

Zaffre herself comes from a race of gods who’re believed to be the creators of the Portalstone from the first Project X Zone and to an extent, reality itself. The original purpose of these enchanted stones is to seal in the spiritual energy of those who attempt to rob the gods of their powers. But in extremely rare cases proven by Oros Phlox, it’s possible for these prisoners to escape and even harness their stone’s energy. To prevent these disasters, the gods open dimensional rifts from their own world to further strengthen the seals on the Portalstones.

However, Zaffre will later recall on the events of a civil war that almost led to the extinction of existence. Her side had overthrown the rebellions by sealing their leader inside a colossal Portalstone, but Zaffre believes that she might be the last of her kind to survive the war. Since the aftermath, she’s taken the responsibility of preventing these malevolent souls from escaping their Portalstones. Throughout several points in the game, the motivation behind her new twisted objective is hinted to have a connection to that war in some way.

Even though her appearance resembles a woman in her early thirties, Zaffre has actually been alive for millenniums. She's mostly a polite woman who understands the factors of being a leader, even knowing that her beliefs and actions can leave dire consequences in the near future. The goddess doesn't let emotions cloud her judgment, but being confronted by Glas and Emerald gives her an uncontrollable sense of guilt and regret.

Zaffre's primary way of fighting is by using a simple staff, but she can easily morph it into any ancient weapon of her choosing (sword, bow, etc). Being a creation goddess, she can also summon angelic beings from her thoughts. Unlike Oros Phlox who require the aid of the Portalstone, she can actually accomplish this ability at will.

Mezzanotte
Mezzanotte (メザノッテ Mezanotte) is a loyal servant to Zaffre Vigil and one of the game's major antagonists. Centuries prior to the events of this game, civil war broke out amongst the gods and Zaffre discovered her unconscious body in the aftermath. She was taken in by the goddess and eventually became her servant.

This little devil is known for being an unpredictable sadist, but the creation goddess will intervene if her twisted actions go too far. Even though she's cruel by nature, Mezzanotte can be an aggressive mess when facing those she has a grudge against, especially Leos Risket. During the previous Azure Eclipse, her existence was discovered between the alliance of Shinra and Union 10. She waged war against the two secret organizations, but she was forced to retreat when Leos overpowered her in combat.

Mezzanotte highly relies on her Geokinetic abilities whenever she's in a fight. She can lift chunks of earth with no struggle, cause mini earthquakes and even swim through solid ground like water.

Pair Units
A pair unit consists of two characters; a leader who is the one represented on the map and during boss unit attacks, and a partner who assists the leader during the player’s attacks. Pair units are navigated across a map to collect items and trigger battles with enemy units. With 100 XP, either a Special Attack can be activated during combat, or the player can attack multiple enemies at once from the map. Pair units can also activate skills that can effect units in the player’s party. These type of units can gain experience points, level up, and eventually gain new skills.

Characters marked with a (*) symbol are temporarily fought as an enemy unit.

Characters marked with a plus (+) symbol appear as DLC content.

Characters and game franchises highlighted in Italic Bold are new to the series.

  

Solo Units
A solo unit is a character that can be linked to any pair unit in the player’s party. These characters are meant to be summoned by the player during combat phases to further extend combo attacks. Solo units cannot be leveled up, but they do provide some unique skills to their linked pair unit.

Characters marked with a (*) symbol are temporarily fought as an enemy unit.

Characters marked with a plus (+) symbol appear as DLC content.

Characters and game franchises highlighted in Italic Bold are new to the series.

 

Boss Units
These are the enemies that will be fought throughout the entire game. Bosses are obviously much stronger than the regular grunts, even having access to both special & multi-attacks with 100 EP.

Characters marked with a (*) symbol have multiple forms.

Characters and game  franchises highlighted in  Italic Bold  are new to the series.

Alternative Boss Forms
As the main story progresses, certain boss units can go through an enhanced transformation or two. Their attacks will mostly be different, but sometimes they might even receive new auto-skills with their evolution.

Sub-Boss Units
This is another type of boss unit that will be encountered throughout the game. Even though they cannot use special or multi attacks, these enemies can be quite a handful with their auto-skills.

Characters and game  franchises highlighted in  Italic Bold  are new to the series.

Ally Units
A new type of NPC character that debuts in this entry of the series. They share the exact same behavior as boss units, but they obviously fight on behalf of the player.

Characters marked with a (*) symbol are temporarily fought as an enemy unit.

Characters and game franchises highlighted in Italic Bold are new to the series.

Event Characters
These characters don’t appear as enemies, but they’re not playable, either. Most of these characters appear exclusively in cut-scenes while some act as shopkeepers.

Characters marked with a (*) symbol are shopkeepers.

Characters and game  franchises  highlighted in  Italic Bold  are new to the series.

Enemies
These are the basic grunts that players will face off against. Usually most of them can be defeated in one combat phase, but enemies with high stats and  certain  auto-skills won't be a pushover.

Cameo Appearances
While many franchises from the three companies are featured in this game, a select few can only be spotted through a cameo appearance. This can range from a character/object being present in a unit’s attack or having an entire map be based on a certain game.

Soundtrack
One month after the international release of Project X Zone 3, the game's official soundtrack made its worldwide debut. All songs and jingles from the game are present on the soundtrack which came out on digital download stores, CD, and even a three-part vinyl record set.

Opening Theme:
 * Ignite These Blue Flames
 * Artist: Glas Risket (CV: Miyuki Sawashiro) & Titania Gold (CV: Shizuka Itō)
 * Composition: Yuzo Koshiro
 * Arrangement: Noriyuki Kamikura

Final Battle Theme:
 * I'm With You Now
 * Artist: Miyuki Sawashiro
 * Composition: Yuzo Koshiro
 * Arrangement: Noriyuki Kamikura

Reception
Just like the previous two instalments, critics gave Project X Zone 3 a mixture between mixed and positive reviews. Most praise from the game comes from its selection of gaming all-stars, unique story and balanced difficulty, which improved from the critiques of Project X Zone 2 being a bit easy. Even though the game was criticized for having short bursts of repetitive gameplay at some points, the new original characters and unit customization features made up for the hiccups. Some even consider Zaffre Vigil to be one of the most interesting, sentient and mysterious villains in the entire series. Overall, the game was best described as a nostalgic television show that only gets more clever through an adult's perspective.

General

 * This is the first game in the Namco Cross series to contain an English dub for its international release.
 * Unlike the original Japanese release, some extra voice grunts were recorded for the game's dialogue-focused moments.
 * A huge majority of the game's original songs were inspired by City Pop, a Japanese music genre originating from the late 1970's to early 1980's.
 * Aside from their appearance in the New Game+ epilogue, this is the first game in the Namco Cross series to not include any involvement with Ouma.

Unused Concepts
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 * A scraped idea for the game involved a new villain (who would later become Zaffre Vigil) kidnaping heroes from across the multiverse and creating an army of mindless clones from them. Project X Zone 3’s original concept had the surviving protagonists go out and rescue the captured heroes from this new threat.
 * Open world map exploration would have been introduced to the series as it involved the idea of capturing enemy clone units. Any playable unit would use this new card technology to capture Illusion Units (the name for these characters), summoning them to either fight on the battle map or to be used like a solo unit. However, this concept went unused because it was very similar to the lore of the Pokémon games. The only thing to remain from this premise is the playable character lineup.
 * During the earliest stages of development, the game was originally planned to be released for the Nintendo 3DS in late 2018.

Character Facts

 * This marks the first game in the series to have two of its main characters be in a lesbian relationship.