Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

I personally think both are high points of gameplay for their genres tbh. Zelda's gameplay has more going on and if I had a gun to my head I'd agree, but Xenoblade does a fantastic job with its battle system.

I love Xenoblade, but Breath of the Wild is unequivocally a better game. Monolith soft actually made the world design of BOTW, so a lot of the same principles of exploration apply to BOTW, but within a genre that is completely designed around idea of exploration. I also find that the entire Xenoblade series suffers in it's lack of puzzle-based dungeons, because frankly that type of thing helps break up the exploration.

The main reasons to go for Xenoblade over BOTW are:
1. Xenoblade's story is one of the best in the genre. Very interesting experience
2. You are craving RPG character building mechanics
3. You are looking for a slower, less action oriented combat system.

Ok so I've got up to the Ether Mine part.

My massive positive so far is the cutscenes all look incredible. Really, some of the best looking stuff I've ever seen on the Switch. The brilliantly animated and choreographed original cutscenes combine with new character models, the new materials, the motion blur, it all combines to just look incredible.

My massive negative so far is that the undocked resolution in some parts is completely abysmal. On the Bionis Leg, I swear it drops to like 300p when undocked.
Genuinely insane that this is the same console that manages Breath of the Wild at 720p undocked. Really wish Monolith would care more about this.

Oh man, this is IT.

THIS is the game I’ve been needing. How did I ever not play this more than I did? I’m taken aback at how good this game is. It’s been a long time since a JRPG has sucked me in like this. And frankly I don’t think any of the other JRPG’s I’ve played are on this level. I get it now. Why this is regarded as JRPG GOAT contender. I mean, I always loved Xenoblade. But this one here... it’s a step up from XCX and XC2 (although, XCX still had arguably the most fun gameplay, exploring Pandora Mira was something I’ve never experienced equal to.

"Brilliantly animated"? That's stretching it. It's in the stiff and awkward animations where this port really shows it age. It would have been cool if the developers had reanimated the cutscenes to make them more fluid and lifelike. It's a bit incongruous to see shiny new textures and character models paired with old school animations.

But this is a minor complaint.

@Mountain_Man To be fair, the character animations in XC2 were pretty stiff to, like marionettes. And I think the facial animations are really good and expressive here, especially compared to the original game.

But yeah, there's definitely room for improvement in a lot of ways graphically. There are, for example, some pretty ugly textures here and there. On the other hand, it doesn't make the game unplayable or take the enjoyment out of it, at least not for me.

Looking closely, the game isn't perfect in the visual department. But this is a huge game, often you play it with the camera zoomed out, which hides the blemishes and makes the world look really beautiful. Before entering the Ether Mine, I was standing at the cliffs, looking out over the water waaaay down below and the glittering effects from the surface of the ocean looked marvelous.

But there are so many aspects that makes this game great. I like the characters a lot, especially compared to XC2 (though Torna helped to strenghten some of them), the music is awesome, the world is well designed and varied, the monster fauna is (as in all XC games) exceptional. The battle system is fantastic (easy to grasp, well explained compared to XC2 and engaging). And then we have the story... it's really gripping and emotional.

I agree a lot with @Heavyarms55 and @JaxonH. This game has always been great, but this DE makes it even better.

Its awesome to read how much everybody is having fun with this game.
Its one of the best in its genre.

Hey everyone! Been loving this shiny new version of xenoblade chronicles! How bout you? Any first timers playing the game?

Anyway i do have one thing I'm not quite loving. Is there a way to turn off those gigantic subtitles during conversations? Not the cutscenes i mean just when the characters are chatting with eachother. I don't know why that bothers me but i noticed the letters on screen are even bigger than they were on the original. I never leave subtitles on in any game if you have the option to turn them off.

I have a Switch v2 but I mostly play on handheld mode and hearing that Xenoblade DE runs at a disappointing 300p in handheld mode (just like Xenoblade 2) is straight up disgusting. The developers are either lazy as hell or they clearly don't know what they're doing. It should be a crime to release a game with such low resolution in 2020. I mean, how come an older game like BOTW looks and runs amazing and yet this game they slapped "dEfiNiTivE eDiTiOn" in its name, looks like straight up dog puke. Embarassing.

I think the government is planning to address that after the virus has gone.

Wotchuonbout. The major cutscenes have brilliant animation. It's only the more minor stuff where they're standing around talking that looks a bit weird, like they put almost no budget into those parts.
I don't see any stiff or awkward stuff at all.
All I see is that some of it is a bit cartoony and over-the-top. But that fits with the style just fine.

Well I certainly can't wait to play this abomination. Shipment moved up 1 day to tomorrow! 😀

Ah, you're referring to the pre-rendered cinematics. Yeah, those aren't too bad. It's the in-game stuff that's a bit clunky looking.

Ok I'm sad to say that I've switched to the original soundtrack. There are just 2 or 3 new tracks that I don't like as much as the original, so given that the original is already brilliant, I figure I'd just go with that.

@Mountain_Man

There are no "pre-rendered" cinematics in this game. I'm not sure what you're thinking of.

Everything looks great to me. Cutscenes especially.

I mean, this is a Wii game with new models and textures after all. Which is hard to believe, actually, given how good it looks. Nothing about the cutscenes has struck me as off. If nothing else, theyve actually impressed me with how good they look. Everything about this game has impressed me. They're getting a ton of mileage from a Wii game with the smart changes and improvements they've implemented. Most of the time, it feels no different than when I was playing Xenoblade 2. Only here and there does something stick out that reminds me this game is not quite at parity with modern games designed ground up for Switch.

The views from the upper end of the Bionis Leg are so incredible in this version.

Bionis Leg is probably my favourite location in any videogame. Like how do you think to design something that looks like this?

@Dezzy The first time I entered Bionis Leg (and have in mind this is the 3DS version I'm talking about), I was amazed. Being able to revisit it in grander scale on the Switch is a dream come true. I agree with you, it's my favorite location in XC.

And as I said earlier in the thread, it's the location of my archenemy Terriotorial Rotbart.

@JaxonH They did say they redid all the cutscene animations for this (as I kept suggesting had happened), and even just from the previews it looks like it worked.

Still dying for my copy to arrive.

I don't think that's true. They look pretty much identical to the original animations. I think they said they redid the lip-syncing, but that's it.

Oh, the decisions... Who to have in my party? Reyn is fun, but Dunban is so cool.* Sharla is good for healing purposes, so her I'll keep for now.

*But Dickson is the coolest of them all. Gotta love his biker style.

Trying to figure who to have in the party is annoyingly hard in this game. It feels like it should be 4 party members not 3.