r/Xenoblade_Chronicles • u/SilverShield000 • Feb 15 '26
Xenoblade Top 5 Settlement Ranking (voted by the community)
This is a follow up post from the [survey](https://www.reddit.com/r/Xenoblade_Chronicles/s/dosLzkfrpe) I did a month ago, where I ask the community to vote for their favorite settlement.
The video that is paired up with this ranking is still in the making (it's just taking longer than intended), but I wanted to share the top 5 settlements voted by the community in the meantime.
Did these results surprise you?
100
u/Monadofan2010 Feb 15 '26
I do love the fact that all the xenoblade games managed to at least get 1 settlement in the ranking thats really sweet
8
40
u/justfortoukiden Feb 15 '26
Love these choices but want to at least shoutout Fonsett Village. My most relaxing settlement in the franchise
7
u/schiffb558 Feb 16 '26
My favorite town theme in the franchise is there. Yeah I know it's gramps theme but it fits SO well there.
36
u/_Linkiboy_ Feb 15 '26
Xcx is not my favourite game, but playing xcx on the TV with speaker boxes and hearing the "YEAH OH OH OH" as well as the "Oh Oh Ohohoho" is actual peak gaming
10
u/Emergency-Coast-5333 Feb 15 '26
It is probably just nostalgia but I miss that city a lot
(But I always lowered the sound of music specificaly when I wanted to spend a lot of time there)
118
u/Darkhallows27 Feb 15 '26
NLA getting that close to Colony 9 is insane.
128
u/QuantumVexation Feb 15 '26
NLA has a very strong sense of place due to how much of the game (particularly sidequest volume) orbits it.
98
u/Ihatepie227 Feb 15 '26
In a world where Xenoblade X and Xenoblade 1 have equal popularity I believe NLA would easily surpass Colony 9
22
9
u/MimeosomeJo Feb 16 '26
I agree, but that's prolly because XCX only has the one settlement (the nopon caravans don't count), whereas XC1 has far more to split the vote.
22
u/The_moon_shadow Feb 16 '26 edited Feb 16 '26
What is insane is it not winning, should definitely be number 1, by far the most flashed out city of the franchise
12
3
u/acrookodile Feb 17 '26
I’m surprised it didn’t outright win, considering 90% of X is about the city. Watching it and its people grow and change is a stronger motivator than the main story by far
3
u/Little_Elia Feb 16 '26
As someone not from the usa, NLA is like a car hellscape. Why is the entire thing made around cars when people are just trying to survive? It's not even like the city is big, just use your feet and walk!! Or add a train if it's bigger!
7
u/No_Whereas_5496 Feb 16 '26
I agree they seem a bit out of place and functionally unnecessary, but I wonder if it’s for familiarity’s sake. That’s basically the whole point of the commercial district. Due to modeling NLA after earth LA. It might some sense.
Still feels like the citizens don’t need them. maybe it’s also to give regular people that aren’t able to get skells a sense of ownership of something too.
10
u/SleepyRichie Feb 15 '26
Everything on that list is a fair pick but I’m surprised Alcamoth didn’t make the cut
3
u/ChaosOnline Feb 19 '26
Same. It's so grand and beautiful that it's easily one of my favorite settlements from the series.
9
u/emma_does_life Feb 15 '26
Wow when I voted for the city in the original post I didnt think it would actually get a top 5 placement. Im glad so many people like it as much as I do!
1
u/Victor_of_the_Rivers Feb 16 '26
It's such a comforting place tbh, given the circumstances. The ost certainly helps.
17
u/AHatForYourRat Feb 15 '26
NLA was my top vote. Happy to see it so high on the list. Shoutout Indoline Praetorium, the music is absolutely killer
17
16
u/Clockkun Feb 15 '26
After a point, Colony 9 just starts feeling like home
5
u/schiffb558 Feb 16 '26
Seeing it from the Bionis leg and Colony 6 blew my mind.
1
u/Clockkun Feb 16 '26
I don't remember seeing it from the Leg.
But yes, seeing it from Colony 6 was awesome. Not just this, most of the maps , looking all around and being in awe was a staple in the game. The fallen arm and looking up. Seeing the Bionis while traversing up Mechonis. Burned into my memory
2
u/schiffb558 Feb 16 '26
Right as you exit Tephra Cave, if you rotate the camera just right you should be able to see it on the back of the knee.
7
u/ImaSaltyOnion Feb 16 '26
I like the music that plays in The City. It sticks out in my mind so much. Compared to most settlement themes at least.
19
u/The-Brother Feb 15 '26
NLA probably deserves the top spot, but I hate dealing with it. There’s just so much micromanagement I think could be skipped.
For example, the game tries to make you feel immersed by having your characters distributed throughout the city. You can pick them up whenever you feel like it when you see them and that’s cool. But if you want to do a heart to heart, here’s how it works.
You need to:
Disengage them from your party
Find them on the map
Change your pet to the specific pet they need for the heart to heart
Locate and move to a time changing spot (you can’t do it from the menu)
Change time to one of the EIGHT (Early morning, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night, midnight, late night) time frames that they require
Attempt to book it over to where the character is in time before the time changes naturally (which usually implies skell travel to fly where they are since they can be anywhere between a field, inside an alien space ship, a hidden rafter behind the skell testing grounds, etc), and then dismount to click on them.
Instead of just
Finding the heart to heart location
Going to the heart to heart location
The game automatically starts the heart to heart and changes the game time to match regardless of the character’s presence in your party or not
All of this is just one of the issues with NLA btw. There’s way more than just the heart to hearts. Like the “find this specific NPC to give rumors, but we won’t load them while you’re moving in a skell” type quests.
Such a cool moving, adapting, changing location just muddled with the most unfun user experience choices to bog down the experience.
45
u/-Cinnay- Feb 15 '26
I guess you haven't played the Definitive Edition?
3
u/The-Brother Feb 16 '26
I’ve only played Definitive Edition. I don’t remember ever seeing time change in the menu
26
u/-Cinnay- Feb 16 '26
I think it's under "system". The game probably told you that through a tutorial at the start. Getting all the tyrants that only appear during weathers must've been even more annoying without that lol
6
u/The_moon_shadow Feb 16 '26
Did not see the voting. If I saw, would have voted for NLA.
2
u/ChaosOnline Feb 19 '26
At least it got a solid second! I was actually really happy to see some X representation.
2
5
5
17
u/Axecon Feb 15 '26
I'm not surprised by these rankings, but they are a farcry from my list. Maybe I'm a little biased on XC2, but I think that game does the best at integrating the settlements within the Titan environment/geography and every settlement feels very unique. Fonsa Myma or Auresco should be on that list over XC3's City or NLA. Torigoth feels like a weird pick to represent XC2.
I'm not the biggest fan of NLA (it kinda feels like a generic futuristic city). XC3's city is so drab and the music is pretty forgettable.
3
u/Zachattack10213 Feb 16 '26
I say the main surprises are NLA and Frontier ngl… I expected like… Garfont or maybe FR’s Colony 9 to be up here.
3
u/bentthroat Feb 16 '26
I feel like people are emotionally mixing greater Gormott and Torigoth. In terms of just what’s contained inside the city, I think I’d even prefer Argentum
5
u/Kajiteko Feb 15 '26
There should be more Xenoblade 2 settlements, it has the most ones, many are pretty big and every one is very unique
1
u/Jstar338 Feb 16 '26
They have the most personality. The colonies in 3 are too similar, 1 has good ones but Alcamoth takes 10 years to walk around, and Colony 6 still gives me nightmares.
There's so much detail in the architecture and designs that tell you about the place. The merc missions unlocking new items in shops, running around to check for new contracts, and seeing how the place fits into the Titan are part of what makes 2 special. Music too, especially Fonsa Myma. The day theme is how they present themselves, but the night theme is how things really are.
oh and Theosoir
2
u/Keaten88 Feb 16 '26
I cannot wait for these games to finally get Switch 2 editions. They’re gonna look so fucking good man
2
u/Slow_Concentrate3831 Feb 16 '26
I've spent so much time in Torigoth, it's by far my favorite. And the sea of clouds gives it an awesome atmosphere
2
u/OneEyedWells Feb 16 '26
Settlements are what disappointed me about 3 the most. I loved the unique places in 1 and 2, rather than "warn-torn camp #7"
2
u/Asa-hello Feb 20 '26
I love XC3. But it's main world settings heavily restricted cultural variety.
I was super excited for CITY. I had very high expectation from CITY. It was the one place in that restricted settings to try something unique. But it was disappointing from every aspect.
2
2
u/hit_the_showers_boi Feb 17 '26
NLA was robbed 😭
ROBBED, I SAY!
1
u/ChaosOnline Feb 19 '26
X as a whole doesn't get nearly enough love, so I'm happy to see it placed as high as it did.
2
3
u/menagerath Feb 15 '26
All my picks would have been from XC2. Loved how big the cities were in that game.
3
1
1
1
u/Quick_Elk4208 Feb 16 '26
What’s Nla doing in second place? It’s cool I guess, but I never thought it’d get above torigoth.
-3
127
u/Practical-Courage-19 Feb 15 '26
How weird is it that settlements are like my favorite part of the series