Project X Zone 3: Fate Of The Universe

Project X Zone III: Fate Of The Universe (プロジェクト クロスゾーンIII：宇宙の運命 Purojekuto Kurosu Zōn San: Uchū no Unmei), 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 Hyrule Warriors and The Legend Of Zelda series.

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.

Ryūnosuke Sarutobi
Ryūnosuke Sarutobi(猿飛•龍之介 Sarutobi Ryūnosuke) is a member of Union Xi and one of the game’s main protagonists. He is known for being a laid-back genius who's quite unpredictable, especially when it come to video games. However, an encounter that he had with a vampire-infested street gang has left him with the habit of rescuing innocent people from any potential life-threatening situations that surround him. This is likely his oath to the lives he has failed to save that day, but his acts of selflessness are a flaw in his intelligence since this way of thinking can place him in danger.

In battle, Ryūnosuke fights using various forms of iaijutsu, combining them into a fighting style he calls the "Sarutobi Technique." This led to the development of the Sage Blade, which is a katana that can harness all sorts of elemental abilities.

Okitsu Harugami
Okitsu Harugami (沖津•春神 Ōkitsu Harugami) is a member of Union Xi and one of the game’s main protagonists. She is a dedicated musician and the lead guitarist of Temporalia Academy, a band that fused the music genres of Rock, City Pop, 80’s, 90's, Ska, Techno and R&B into an interesting hotchpotch. Compared to her partner, Okitsu is a lot more childish and optimistic out of the two. However, this limited sense of judgment has made her develop a bad habit of trusting several bad crowds. Thankfully, Ryūnosuke has always saved her from those vile situations.

Her combat weapon is the Rhythm Buster, an electric keytar that can summon various spirits to her aide, blast plasma energy balls, heal wounded allies and perform all sorts of crazy things when the right tunes are played.

Annuit
Annuit ( アヌイット Anuitto) is a non-playable character and the lion-headed guardian of Ryūnosuke & Okitsu. Twenty-five years prior to the events of this game, he was a member of Union Xi’s field division who’d witnessed the Nibiru for himself. Now he’s in charge of the organization and behaves a mentor figure towards his two pupils. His personality is best described by Ryūnosuke & Okitsu as a “ stereotypical bishonen manga/anime protagonist in the real world.”

Pio Salieri
Pio Salieri (ピオ・サリエリ Pio Sarieri) is a demon of Nibiru, the one responsible for the now-fused universe and the central antagonist of the game. His primary goal is to merge and destroy the worlds that once held him "prisoner”, and make a new universe in his image.

Pio himself comes from a race of annunaki demons who’re believed to be the harbringers of Chaos and the enemies of 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, Pio will later recall on the events of a war that almost led to the extinction of existence. His side had overthrown the rebellions by sealing their leader inside a colossal Portalstone, but Pio believes that he might possibly be the last of his kind to survive the war. Since the aftermath, he’s taken the responsibility of preventing these malevolent souls from escaping their Portalstones. Throughout several points in the game, the motivation behind his new twisted objective is hinted to have a connection to that war in some way.

Even though his appearance resembles a silver-haired man in his early thirties, Pio has actually been alive for millenniums. He's mostly a man who understands the factors of being a leader, even knowing that his beliefs and actions can leave dire consequences in the near future. The demon doesn't let emotions cloud his judgment, but being confronted by Ryūnosuke and Okitsu gives him an uncontrollable sense of hatred and regret.

Pio’s primary way of fighting is by using a wand that resembles a musical conductor’s baton, but he can easily morph it into any ancient weapon of his choosing (sword, bow, etc). Being a demon, he can also summon wraithlike beings from the Netherverse. Unlike Oros Phlox who require the aid of the Portalstone, he can actually accomplish this ability at will.

Mezzonata
Mezzonata (半分 Mezonatta) is a loyal servant to Pio Salieri and one of the game's major antagonists. Centuries prior to the events of this game, War broke out amongst the gods and the demons, Pio discovered her unconscious body in the aftermath. She was taken in by the demon and eventually became his servant.

This little devil is known for being an unpredictable sadist, but the demon of Nibiru will step in and intervene if her twisted actions go too far. Even though she's cruel by nature, Mezzonata can be an aggressive mess when facing those she has a grudge against, especially Annuit. During the previous apocalypse, her existence was discovered between the alliance of Shirlan, Union 10 and Union Xi. She waged war against the three secret organizations, but she was forced to retreat when Annuit overpowered her in combat.

Mezzonata highly relies on her Pyrokinetic, Cryokinetic, Electrokinetic, Umbrakinetic & Necrokinetic abilities whenever she's in a fight. She can lift a whole iceberg with no struggle, cause mini wildfires and even swim through dry ice like it was water. She can even summon the dead to aide her.

Playable Characters
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.

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.

 Downloadable Content These characters appear exclusively in bonus chapters that can only be purchased through the Nintendo eShop. Placing these units in the main campaign will leave no effect on the story.    

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.

 

Downloadable Content  These characters appear exclusively in bonus chapters that can only be purchased through the Nintendo eShop. Placing these units in the main campaign will leave no effect on the story.

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.

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

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.

Enemy Units
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.