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Topic: What do you prefer Monolith to be working on??

Posts 21 to 38 of 38

SKTTR

Xenoblade Chronicles X2 is my top pick, followed by Xenoblade Chronicles 3 and a Xenoblade Chronicles X port. Yeah, I know my top 3 is all about Xenoblade, even though I have Baten Kaitos and Disaster: Day of Crisis as well, but they just aren't as good as any Xenoblade game. They're good but not as good. With Xenoblade I feel I'm always on the safe side getting my money's worth.

Baten Kaitos comes in fourth place and a re-release would be interesting. I'd go back to it when it's in shiny HD, but the fact that Baten Kaitos Origins (the second game) never made it to Europe dragged down the whole experience for me. So, if it's Baten Kaitos start with porting over Origins first or even better, put both games into one HD collection.

Tied with Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins to the 4th place are the Xenogears and Xenosaga games. I never played them, but I only hear great things. I wanted to play them for a long time now and make sure to pick up any future remaster if there is one coming.

Anyway, Xenoblade Chronicles X is so good (for me the best game Monolithsoft ever made and one of the best RPGs of all-time) I have it digital and physical (limited edition) but I'd love to play it again on Switch, even if that means paying premium to fit it on a 32GB cartridge. Due to the lack of Wii U's popularity that game sadly didn't get the recognition it deserves and due to its size (25GB) it wouldn't fit on a regular 16GB cartridge like BotW and Skyrim managed to do. It needs an expensive 32GB cart like The Witcher III - Complete Edition. I think file size is an important factor in porting over Wii U games. That's probably also the reason we got Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on Wii U but not on Switch.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

VoidofLight

@Snaplocket You know that’s never going to happen, right? Gamefreak will never just hand over the rights to another studio, and sit back, doing nothing.

"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."

Soyafire

What I would love to see is for monolith/nintendo to strike a deal with Squeenix about copyrights and reboot Xenogears.

Edited on by Soyafire

Soyafire

VoidofLight

@Soyafire Honestly, I wish they could buy the xenogears and Xenosaga ip’s, so that they could re-release them. However, I’m pretty sure it’ll never happen, given that Xenoblade was a reboot of gears and saga.

"It is fate. Many have tried, yet none have ever managed to escape it's flow."

TheFrenchiestFry

I hope it's a new IP. They've gone years doing nothing but Xenoblade

Obviously the dream for me is a Xenogears/Xenosaga remake since I love those games but I'd be down for something new from them

TheFrenchiestFry

Switch Friend Code: SW-4512-3820-2140 | My Nintendo: French Fry

GrailUK

@DomGC The artwork they posted along with a job advert looked gorgeous. I'm sure whatever they are working on will be amazing, (But wouldn't be disappointed if their next game isn't that lol)

I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.

Switch FC: SW-0287-5760-4611

Dogorilla

Xenoblade is great (I've only played the first one so far though) but I'd like to see something new from Monolith as well.

@SKTTR Yeah, I'm not convinced we'll see Xenoblade X on Switch bearing in mind the file size, especially because the Wii U version has those downloadable data packs to reduce load times. As the Switch isn't a great deal more powerful than the Wii U, Nintendo might prefer to wait until the next generation when they have a more powerful console that would be able to run the game more easily without the need for those data packs. (Correct me if it doesn't work that way, I don't know much about tech.) I'm intending to get the game on Wii U at some point so personally I'll be a little annoyed if they release an enhanced port on Switch just after I've done that, but at least I'll have the Gamepad functionality.

Edited on by Dogorilla

"Remember, Funky's the Monkey!"

Funky Kong

kkslider5552000

TheFrenchiestFry wrote:

I hope it's a new IP. They've gone years doing nothing but Xenoblade

That's not actually true. Even ignoring the work they've done on other Nintendo series, they also developed the Project X Zone games.

...no Wikipedia, don't tell me Project X Zone 2 is already 6 years old! Stop it! > : (

Edited on by kkslider5552000

Non-binary, demiguy, making LPs, still alive

Megaman Legends 2 Let's Play!:
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SKTTR

Dogorilla wrote:

@SKTTR Yeah, I'm not convinced we'll see Xenoblade X on Switch bearing in mind the file size, especially because the Wii U version has those downloadable data packs to reduce load times. As the Switch isn't a great deal more powerful than the Wii U, Nintendo might prefer to wait until the next generation when they have a more powerful console that would be able to run the game more easily without the need for those data packs. (Correct me if it doesn't work that way, I don't know much about tech.) I'm intending to get the game on Wii U at some point so personally I'll be a little annoyed if they release an enhanced port on Switch just after I've done that, but at least I'll have the Gamepad functionality.

Disc reading times are (a few seconds) slower than having data packs installed. Faster loading is the only noticable difference during gameplay.

On Switch loading times are already reduced because of the cartridge format (physical contacts on cartridges read data instantly while a disc drive is a mechanical reader that needs more time).
A Switch version of Xenoblade Chronicles X wouldn't need a version with optional data packs as the loading times would be almost equal.

The Switch is a lot more powerful than the Wii U and it can have more storage (32GB on a Switch cartridge compared to Wii U's 25GB discs.) The problem is 32GB carts cost way more than a 25GB disc, and so Triple AAA Switch games tend to come heavily compressed on 16GB or 8GB carts while on Wii U every developer had 25GB from the get go (for half the price of the smallest 1GB Switch cart). In theory a Wii U game could ship on 2 discs (like back on the Gamecube) and if you were a developer you'd get 50GB disc space for the price of the smallest 1GB Switch cartridge.

It's unfortunate that most Switch developers go as cheap as they can, and that's why Wii U games above 16GB don't get ported. Some devs even try to compress their 8GB games into 4GB cartridges with noticable reductions, all for the moneys. Here's hope that at least 32GB will be the next standard, even though at least 64GB should be aimed at for next gen ports to make sense.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

Varkster

@SKTTR To be fair the higher price seems to be a very temporary issue, the only reason discs are so cheap is because they're a type of technology which was standardized for mass consumption for ages thanks to movies and games. The cartridges aren't new technology, but they're much more advanced and the demand for them to be the new norm is clearly high. They're much faster, more compact and much more durable than discs are.

SD cards have already seemingly halved in price since 2017, I remember it being difficult to find a 512GB SD card for $500 before and since the release of the Switch they were lowered to $200, which is an insane drop in price.

The growing requirements for space of software is luckily outpaced by the development of chip technology so my prediction is in a few years (likely by the time Switch's successor rolls around) I think we will see no issue with third parties having to afford this technology to make physical copies.

One thing for sure is I don't really wish to ever go back to discs. They're such an outdated and unreliable technology. Most laptops don't have a mandatory disc driver installed anymore and Nintendo moved on. Seems to me that Sony and Microsoft are starting to move on as well with their digital only console editions (which is a solution I prefer much less than Nintendo's cartridges).

As for how this affects Xenoblade X, it doesn't. They can easily release half of the game on a cheaper cartridge and put the rest onto the network as an update. There really isn't that much of a problem with the actual technicalities of the game files. I think the much harder part of the porting process will be trying to fix the various issues of the actual game and fixing the ending to make the experience complete. I would assume that would take a lot more manpower than we think.

Edited on by Varkster

Varkster

Dogorilla

@SKTTR Ah ok, thanks for explaining. It's certainly possible we'll see a Xenoblade X port this generation then. I still kind of hope it's next generation so I can have time to play the Wii U version first; I know that's somewhat irrational and I should wait for the inevitable enhanced port but I just really like the Wii U

"Remember, Funky's the Monkey!"

Funky Kong

SKTTR

@Varkster Putting half game on cart and the rest for download is ridiculous. It would be a new low especially for a 1st/2nd party Nintendo game. If 3rd parties like Dragon Quest Heroes and Witcher III can come on 32GB then so can Xenoblade Chronicles X.
Also, I never had any issues with XCX and I don't see anything wrong with the ending. For me it had the best ending out of the three main games.
Cartridges are great, they just need to be cheaper in production so that any dev can afford a 32GB this generation and a 64GB next gen.

@Dogorilla Yeah, don't wait for it. The Switch can't reproduce the atmosphere of XCX anyway. On Wii U you have the RPG on tv and the building/strategy part on the GamePad running both in realtime. Yeah, there are always ways to work around these things, but the Switch can never beat the practicality and ease of use of the Wii U GamePad. Since you already have the game on Wii U you're automatically better off playing it there instead of waiting for a lesser, more expensive version.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

SKTTR

@iskim You played Xenoblade Chronicles X in off-TV-mode voluntarily?
You played the graphically best game on the console in 480p instead of 1080p and without the second screen?
Well, you missed out man, on the graphics and the tandem gameplay.
Didn't you have a full-HD-TV at the time?
Playing a game like this with the worst settings possible doesn't do the game justice, and not getting people's different opinion is a logical result.

Also, there is no unnecessary duplicate data on the disc. You mixed that up. They duplicated stuff that was on the disc and made it a free download so that people with the disc and people with the download had equal loading times.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

Dogorilla

@SKTTR Good to hear the GamePad adds a lot to the game. I don't actually have the game yet but I can easily buy it for around half of what a Switch version would likely cost, so I think I will get it on Wii U. I still need to play Future Connected in Xenoblade Definitive Edition but maybe I'll buy X after I've done that.

"Remember, Funky's the Monkey!"

Funky Kong

Duboiss

Artwork doesn’t mean anything though ? Remember the tree artwork for 3ds and turns out all they did was the project x zone games

Duboiss

SKTTR

iskim wrote:

@SKTTR Voluntarily is not right word because at the time the choices I had was to play off tv or only a few hours a month. As a result when i could play on an tv I found the gamepad to be useful but unessary.

I do know about the data packs, and i was bringing up something I heard years ago beacuse it was somewhat relavent to the porting discusion. Now there is a reason that the file size is so close to the disc size, and why X can work without the data packs while Botw can not dispite X having nearly twice the file size, and that reason may be dupe data, or maybe not we don't know.

Ah, I see. Well, in that case you had no other option.
BotW has data packs?
My guess is, XCX received data packs because the game is online. And if you play with others online you don't want to have a disadvantage because of slower loading times.

DomGC wrote:

@SKTTR Anyway, all that is just a really roundabout way of me saying that the second screen really was super unnecessary for the game itself and on switch it'd only be a better handheld experience due to looking better on the small screen.

I haven't played XCX on GamePad. I tried it once but the text was way too small to read and I don't remember how the map part was integrated to it. I loved managing my resources on the fly on the GamePad and not having this available at all times instantly is where the difference lies. The game just has a lot more going on (feels more lively) with both screens in action. I think it's because you have the beautiful graphics on the tv screen while the resources for the entire vast open world are calculated and changeable in realtime and available at one glance on the GamePad simultaneously.

Even though in reality it might be just a small thing running in the background, it made the game feel more powerful and technologically advanced than other games.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

SKTTR

@iskim The 10GB in the data packs are mostly graphics for the open world. For example, if you fast-travel in the disc version with data packs it's equal to the loading times of the download version, same for loading in character models and textures. The other 15GB is for stuff that loads only once: tons of lengthy cinematics and cutscenes with voice-overs, the intro, the ending, hours of music that you only hear once in a playthrough, and that makes up a good chunk of the game. It definately is much better not just for the player but for the disc drive as well as the game only needs to load from disc in those unique situations.

So, in case of BotW for Wii U, they wanted it to load as fast as the Switch version, again for equality.

Edit: Also, I feel to correct this. XCX is 21GB, not 25GB.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

SKTTR

@iskim Obviously many games have strings of code that are copypasted. But these are just code, the smallest part of any file, since it's just text. Not comparabale to the behemoth of data that videos, graphics, and sound eat up.

Copypasting graphics and sound is only needed when a game runs on multiple discs, like what Final Fantasy VII did back then. So, to remove the need to permanently swap discs as you backtrack to older locations, they copied the older necessary assets to the other discs as well in order for you to run the game without ever reverting back to disc 1 once you progressed to disc 2, but this is a completely different case.

Usually when graphics are copypasted it's because of lazy/stupid programming or just to fill up disc space.

Also, many of the cutscenes in XCX use assets (graphics, music, sound) that are nowhere else to be found in the game. Not saying that there's absolutely no copypaste of graphic assets. There most definately is. But removing all of the doubles just to fit a 16GB cartridge would be too much work for just a port, and heaven knows if there are even enough duplicates to make this possible.

Edited on by SKTTR

Switch fc: 6705-1518-0990

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