Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

Xenoblade DE just got an age rating in Korea. That usually means it's nearly done:

https://nintendoeverything.com/xenoblade-chronicles-definitiv...

Definitely sounds like the Direct is quite soon. It could end up being their next big game. April/May perhaps?
Unless of course they let you get the age rating by just saying "it's exactly the same as the original, just go and rate that". In which case it doesn't mean anything.

@Dezzy welp guess it's reyn time

@Dezzy We know there's an entire brand new story area, any rating board should have at least requested information from that. I'm still on board with the idea that it's the big May release, with a surprise new game in June.

@link3710

We don't know for sure it's a new story area. They could be using it as a kind of end-game unlock where the new area just features a series of superbosses to fight. Or something like that.

I do hope it's integrated into the story though. In the original game they used that annoying teleport to skip the Shoulder area. It would feel more continuous if they insert it back into that place.

Direct on Saturday perhaps😉😉😉😉😉

I'm so excited to see how good the environments look. That's the absolute highlight of Xenoblade Chronicles, and from the limited amount we saw in the original trailer, it looks like they have been massively upgraded.

From what we saw, they've redone all the textures in higher resolution (which you'd pretty much assume for an HD remaster), but they've also remade the actual geometry with a higher polycount (see the Bionis Arm area in the trailer for an obvious example), added more detail (see the extra plants on the Arm), and also added new material shaders (see the reflective metal on Metal Face)

As mentioned earlier, they'd still have to scrutinize any new content. So I think this is a pretty good indicator that the game will show up before long. I'm banking/hoping for May or June.

I haven't played this game, but I've heard so much about it! I'm now glad I wasn't able to get a hold of the N3DS version and also didn't cave for the Wii U eShop download.

Does anyone remember Pikmin?

@Dezzy I'm just glad the character models aren't hideous in XC1 now. Also hoping they tinkered with the game design a bit and ditched the arts palette. It's so much nicer in XC2 just clicking a button and activating a skill.

My eshop credit is dwindling every day 😥. And here I was, hoping to enough for some shadow drop during a game type of game. Oh well.

@Octane I'm actually genuinely convinced we'll get something Pikmin related this summer.

@Dezzy I still laugh every time someone says this is just a port. Like, if you can't tell that pretty much every aspect of the game has been touched up visually I don't know what to tell you.

I'm really hoping this extends to the mechanics as well. Streamline sidequests, improve the combat without losing what makes it unique in XC1, etc.

@link3710

Well the first trailer was quite short, and they've stayed very faithful to the original, so I can understand that someone who isn't a super-fan might have taken a quick look and thought it was just an HD port with some minor graphical tweaks. Kinda like the Wind Waker on Wii U.

But nope, they seem to have remade pretty much everything. It'll probably end up being a bit like the Ocarina remaster on 3DS where it feels like the exact same thing, but you have to go back and compare to really see how much better it is.

I ended up double dipping on the Spyro Trilogy. I have it on PS4, but I am significantly more likely to actually finish it on Switch. Even then I haven't been making much progress on games as of late due to how much I'm working.

Given all the Nintendo info in January/February via single game Directs and other means, I think it's at a point where Sony revealing the PS5 is more desperately needed than Nintendo having a general Direct at this point.

@Grumblevolcano I half expect Sony to just release it to stores with no further information to consumers beyond price point and design.

@Rexenokid It might or it might not. The game could support it, there's so much that you'd only touch on the basics even in a dedicated direct.

Yeah I'd quite like it if they treated it as if it were a completely new game and went back to explain everything to a new audience (after all, there are about 1 million people who bought XC2 but didn't play the original)

I'm guessing they probably don't. But it could certainly benefit the game in emphasizing that it's one of the year's biggest releases (which I assume it is). There's also a lot you can go into about the game, from the locations, characters, story and game mechanics. You could easily do a 25 min Direct.

@link3710 I'm wondering if it'll be delayed to 2021, coronavirus has already lead to 2 event cancellations by Sony (PAX East and GDC) which makes sense given safety first.

@Dezzy I think at most, Xenoblade will get around the same attention from Nintendo as last year's Link's Awakening remake (of course without the E3 presence if it comes before E3). Nintendo doesn't seem to spend much time on old games unless they're old games from a Sony or Microsoft console.

@Rexenokid

The only way it's really smaller than XC2 is in terms of its leveling and management systems. In terms of story, cast of characters, world size, it's pretty much the exact same size as XC2.

@Grumblevolcano We know more about the PS5 currently than we did about the PS4 in February 2013. And the PS4 turned out fine as well. I don't think we need info, at least not until TLOU2 is out.

I won't be buying and XBSX or PS5 first year either way. Especially the PS5, they always release slim models that are less likely to break after a couple years.