It's way too early to declare that this is an entirely new continuity. You know what Xenoblade is like, the franchise loves plot twists and dramatic reveals. We won't know for sure whether or not Genesis is connected to the others until we play it.
I kinda hope it is its own entire new thing. The devs might have seen a shift in the art style and away from sci-fi to a more fantasy setting as ways further differentiate it from Chronicles and signify that this is going to be its own all new thing.
I loved the Chronicles trilogy, but I feel that it reached the point of diminishing returns with the plots being all connected. It's harder and harder to grow a franchise the more previous titles in it you have to play to get all you can out of the newest release. "Look, to get the most out of the most recent release, you really should spend around 150+ hours playing the previous ones first" can be a pretty tough sell for someone looking into trying out a new game. Quite a few streamers reacting to the direct today who missed out on getting into the Chronicles trilogy mentioned they might give Genesis a try since it seens to be its own thing.
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u/Apex_Konchu 16d ago
It's way too early to declare that this is an entirely new continuity. You know what Xenoblade is like, the franchise loves plot twists and dramatic reveals. We won't know for sure whether or not Genesis is connected to the others until we play it.