How to return to Colony 9 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 takes the hugely popular JRPG franchise and escalates it to an even bigger open-world environment. One of the biggest titles for Nintendo Switch players has longtime fans and newcomers running to the world of Aionios to experience a fun new adventure.

As an extension of the extremely long-running Xeno series, Monolith Soft's newest game features an enormous runtime. Players will discover after the first chapter that they can't go back to where they started. It may take quite some time, but players can make their way back into the starting area to pick up everything they missed.

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Getting back to Colony 9 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3

As expected, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 players will have quite a few tasks to take on as the game goes on and every opportunity to level up is of great importance. That's why moving through Colony 9 without slaying all the Elite Monsters there will make a dedicated fan rather antsy.

The first chapter of the game will lead the player through Colony 9 and the surrounding area. At the end of that series of quests, players will find themselves locked out of Colony 9.

To get back into the Colony, players will have to play through the entirety of chapter two and part of chapter three. Players will have to take on Valdi's hero quest to gain the necessary information.

This will allow players to return to Colony 9, but it's going to be a very tough fight before players can enter it again. Valdi's hero quest ends with an extremely difficult boss fight that players may have to take a few tries to defeat. This obviously means that getting back into Colony 9 may take some amount of grinding.

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Why would players want to return to Colony 9 in Xenoblade Chronicles 3?

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 players will spend a fair amount of time in Colony 9 in chapter one. This means that they will have plenty of time to look around, but there's many things they cannot get while they're there.

Players will get to see multiple elite foes and Unique Monsters living in Colony 9 and the surrounding area. Unique Monsters and elite enemies are among the most important sources of experience points in the game. In fact, the following Unique Monsters are present in the area:

• Verdant Bluchal
• Itinerant Dorothea
• Evil Rhangrot
• Lake Magdalena
• Speedy Ramshyde
• Enchanting Grune
• Dark Murakmor
• Gentle Mother Armu
• Impenetrable Redrob
• Roguish Frengel
• Gentle Rodriguez
• Shadeless Matrix
• Flailing Bracken

Interestingly, the area also includes a few bosses. Two Ancient Machines are present at the location and a titanic metallic beast named Metal Face can be fought. While these bosses are far too strong to be defeated in the first chapter, returning to them later will allow the player to conquer them and gain valuable experience.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 features constantly escalating threats, which makes backtracking a strange diversion. Players can get a substantial experience boost by heading back to Colony 9 long after the first chapter ends. Players just have to make it into Chapter 3 and take on Valdi's hero quest to return to the starting area.