Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

Changed the host. Let me know if that's still not showing up.

I'm glad the music is remastered, although I'd hoped they would have made more significant changes to the OST, which is easily the worst in the series.

Still, the visual changes (finally, a version of the game that isn't painful to look at!), UI changes, and epilogue alone make this a vast improvement over other versions of the games.

Although, looking at the comparison pics @Dezzy posted, I do kind of prefer the much darker tone of the original game's titan fight at the beginning.

I saw Xenoblade back cover from the Wii version, the ESRB mentioned Blood on the back cover.
WTH?!
Mild Blood or Animated Blood are still tolerable for me but Blood on a rated Teen / CERO B / PEGI 12 game ?!
How nasty that content for my strict rules ?
Which part that i will saw that nasty content ?

@Anti-Matter

The use of blood is very minor. It's probably just about 10 seconds in the entire game.

Yeah me too. I think they felt the need to add more light to highlight the new detail on the models. You can see in that first screenshot how the specular reflections really show off some of the new detail.

@Dezzy Thanks for those comparison shots. Is it safe to say this is a remake, not just a remaster?

I have to say, the faces look great so far. They were a nightmare in the original, as the visual style, which edged a bit toward realism, meshed terribly with the PS2 graphics. But the new style really pops in this remake.

@Anti-Matter It's a video game, dude. All of the blood is animated.

If you're THAT paranoid about the difference between "blood" and "animated blood," I'd say don't bother. It's not DOOM. You're not going to see anybody's brain get splattered on the ground. But, yes, it's a JRPG with a serious storyline, so it does feature some violence. People are killed. You're going to have to be able to deal with that.

@Quarth It was always a remake, frankly. Even the environments, while faithful, have clearly been remade. The geometry is different, not just the texture work.

@Ralizah Agreed! It's fantasy blood, not real. It's like some people can't separate it from reality.

Regarding my question, there have been some people trying to imply this is just a remaster. The latest trailer is proof it's more than that. Glad you agree.

@Quarth Oh, those same people will still insist it's a remaster, probably. "Remaster" in this instance is less a technical term and more of a slur meant to disparage the game and the amount of work that presumably went into it. It's clear this was built from the ground up as a new game, though.

Unlike other eminent remakes, this one really does try to stay faithful to the original release. It just looks appropriate for an HD era game. It looks good.

@Ralizah Yeah, you're probably right. To me, this looks like the ultimate remake, visually it looks fantastic! I can't wait to dive deep into this world again. My favorite JRPG and one of my favorite games of all time. I really liked XC2 and Torna, but XC1 is something special.

@Quarth I've tried twice to get into it, without success. I got a lot further on 3DS than I did on Wii (probably 2/3rds of the way through), but I still ended up having too many issues with it.

XC2 and Torna revitalized my interest in the series, though, so I want to give this one more shot. Hopefully there are a lot of QoL improvements with the DE.

@Ralizah Yeah, some things XC2 and especially Torna did better, but the story to XC is, in my opinion, better. I've only played the 3DS version, but couldn't put it down. I was really involved even though it was a downgraded version.

Hope you'll enjoy it more this time!

No-one has ever defined what the real difference is supposed to be between remaster and remake, so it's just a subjective judgement really.

As far as we know this is just a visual overhaul though. We haven't seen anything to suggest they're changing any of the gameplay or story. Except for that new added epilogue. So if someone says it's a "remaster not a remake", that's probably what they mean.

That's fine with me. There's almost nothing about the original gameplay and story I would want them to change. Maybe just some more interesting side-quests and fewer fetch quests. That's about it.

@Anti-Matter if you want to shoot yourself in the foot, that's on you. This game is one of the best JRPGs ever made unquestionably. Skipping it because there's a tiny bit of cartoon blood is like refusing to eat pizza because there was one piece of one topping on it that you don't like. This game is in no way more "offensive" than FFX, a game I know you've put countless hours in. You like JRPGs, don't let such a minor thing turn you off to one of the best games ever made!

I'd easily rank this game above the entire Final Fantasy franchise. No question.

@Heavyarms55 I wouldn't touch a piece of pizza if an anchovi was on it. Even just one. There are some lines I won't cross.

@Dezzy A remaster utilizes code and assets from the original release. There might be altered textures, improved resolution, etc. but, at base, it's the same game. Just prettied up.

Remakes are built from the ground up. New code. New assets. Which obviously doesn't mean absolutely nothing gets re-used, but it's a new product.

That's the way I understand it, anyway. I'm not a programmer.

The degree of changes to the story and gameplay are honestly irrelevant in that regard.

@Quarth I dunno. People say it looks worse, but I still insist the game looks better on New 3DS than the original did on an HDTV. That blown up SD image REALLY didn't help it. But, objectively speaking, the N3DS version is inferior. So I'd say the two versions are a wash in that regard.

The story... it gets better when Prison Island (I think that's the name) comes along, but the first half is extremely slowly paced, and I'm not a huge fan of revenge stories in general, or the 'robot vs organics' set-up. I'm guessing if I do enjoy this one more, it won't be for the story.

I really liked the story and characters in XC2. Unfortunately, that game has a lot of issues that just didn't need to be there, gameplay-wise. The undocked performance, the unnecessary complexity of the battle system (although I did love the Paper Mario-esque timed button prompts), the bizarre map, the gacha mechanics, the irrititating field skill mechanic which blocked progress in a ton of side-quests early on, etc.

But, ultimately, I fell in love with the story, which really powered me through, and the gameplay itself dramatically improves once you have a large set of common blades and field skills at your command. I also really liked how each rare blade had their own quest line.

And, it might seem like a weird nitpick, but I thought heart-to-hearts were unnecessarily restrictive to access in the original. They were improved in XCX, though, and even better in XC2. I'm hoping one of the QoL changes is to that system.

@Dezzy Yeah, that's true. No matter what, we're in for a treat.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, I would also rank this above FF, even my favorite VI.

@Ralizah The 3DS game actually looks pretty good. I love it! For me, it was worth buying the "New" 3DS to play it.

I connected more with the characters in XC, and it had some nice plot twists. But I have to admit that Torna fleshed out some characters more and made their motivations in XC2 stronger.

Speaking of Torna... I enjoyed the battle system much more there than in XC2. The system in XC2 was enjoyable once you figured it out, but the learning curve was too high, at least for me. And I didn't like the system with the crystals and the blades.

@Quarth I know people who appreciate complex combat like the system in XC2 more, but Torna's snappy combat clicked really well with me. It was dynamic and fun.

Actually, other than being forced to do a whole bunch of side-quests, Torna was practically perfect. Great story, none of the weird fanservice from the original XC2, an improved engine that made the game run better undocked (or avoid the worst resolution dips, at least), and none of the field skill blocks that made side-quests an irritation early on. I hope THAT game is their model for the series going forward, because it's the only one I've played that doesn't feel like it has huge, glaring issues.

@Heavyarms55
Um... Okay.
I will check again from Youtube.
Btw, how do i unlock the swimming suits for both Xenoblade 1 and 2 ?

Looks as though I'll be refreshing Amazon UK every hour on the hour.

Just look at this glorious CE.

@Ralizah Yeah, Torna was brilliant. I actually did most of the side quests in it as well, found it more approachable and fun than in XC2. And yes, it also had less of the performance issues in XC2.

@Magician Glad I live in Europe this time around. I'm tempted to get the deluxe edition, it looks awesome!

As usual, the European SE blows the NA one out of the water. That is flat out gorgeous.

Oh well. At least Switch is region free. Any yank who really wants this can suck it up and import the limey edition.

I'll be going digital, as usual.