Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

@Dezzy

10/10 GOAT!!!

@Dezzy That would go well with my wish for Mario Kart 9 to be more along the lines of Super Smash Bros Kart. Expanding the game to have characters and tracks from a bunch of popular Nintendo related franchises. A Xenoblade themed track would be right at the top of my list!

@Heavyarms55

Didn't they already do that with the MK8 DLC?

I've always loved the idea of taking areas and levels in games and putting them into like Mario Kart courses. And not like courses using the theme and like general visuals, but like a recreation of the area. I always disappointed that there are multiple "Dry Dry" Mario Kart courses that don't really reflect the Paper Mario chapter outside of being a Mario desert.

@EvilLucario

Thanks, that's the creepiest thing I've seen all day. And I browsed Tumblr for 10 minutes earlier today.

@Dezzy They did a little, but that was like dipping you foot in the water and I want them to dive in!

@StephanDLW I agree that dropping the name "Mario Kart" would be unlikely, and that's fine. I just want to play as Shulk driving a Zelda themed go-kart and throw a blue shell at Cloud while racing on an Animal Crossing track listening to Donkey Kong music! Is that so much to ask?! XD

If they can make a Switch that doesn't switch, I think they can make a Mario Kart that isn't focused on Mario.

Mario Kart Ultimate, put all the retro tracks in and have most of the new tracks based on other franchises. Not much has happened with the Mario and DK franchises since 2014 anyway.

It'll probably have a New Donk City track. So many people loved that level.

@Dezzy Yeah, they're just german terms and titles associated with Nietzsche. The subtitle in episode one translates to: "The Will to Power," which is probably the most famous (and commonly misunderstood) Nietzschean concept. The second is a reference to his work "Beyond Good and Evil" and, yes, the third one refers to his work "Thus Spake Zarathustra."

I'm guessing they used those references in their titles as pure window-dressing.

Although I don't think "Xenoblade Chronicles" is any more sensible a title than "Xenogears."

Not inherently. But when you combine it with the front cover for the game, I think it does a better job of pitching its concept:

You can pretty much infer from this alone that it's a fantasy game about a magical sword of some kind.

Whereas with Xenogears, the front cover is just a picture of Fei. You have no idea what "gears" means, and it uses an anime style, which already narrows its potential audience.

@Dezzy Eh. Disagree. The cover shows a weird looking sword sticking out of the ground and a robot-looking dude in the background. If I hadn't already known the concept, I wouldn't think "magic sword."

Xenogears actually works better for me. The word "gear" evokes an association with machinery, and then you have the robot standing behind Fei on the cover, which tells you there's probably a pretty heavy sci-fi influence. Also, the title is less unwieldy.

Neither title makes much sense, though, so the back of the box matters more. And, when you flip it over, it has a large, clear image of Weltall on the back, combined with text talking about giant combat robots.

Also, keeping in mind how old this game is, there's the promise of: "detailed, fully-rotatable polygonal environments." That detail doesn't really pertain to the conversation; I just found it kind of charming.

@Ralizah

Can you think of any other time a sword has been the focus of a fantasy/sci-fi story and it HASNT been magic in some way? Especially if it looks so unusual.

Excalibur: magic. The Master Sword: magic. Can't think of many more.

@Rexenokid Honestly, there are so many things that could stand to be improved in Xenoblade Chronicles. I don't think they'll alter the types of quests (imagine how much work that'd be!), but I could see them instituting a bunch of QoL improvements to put Xenoblade 1 on par with Xenoblade 2 and Torna.

I REALLY hope they were willing to tinker with the design of the game a bit.

@Ralizah Sounds like wishful thinking to me. I haven't followed this topic at all so could well have missed something, but if you go back to the start of this thread and look at the comparison video that was posted, it looks like a pretty underwhelming treatment to me. Sure, the Switch version looks a bit cleaner, but aside from a slight tweak to the character designs, this game just looks like a sharper version of the original. If they were going to make any significant changes to the mechanics and UI I would have thought they'd do a bit more with the graphics too.

Ideally they'd improve the character movement animations, as they seem pretty dated, but I'm not expecting it.

@gcunit The character designs weren't slightly tweaked, they're completely remade. They look like they're from an entirely different type of game. The environments don't look quite as dramatically different, but then, stunning environments are the one thing the original game consistently did right. They just look like they were remade in Xenoblade 2's engine. And the remake clearly adds lush foliage to barren looking environments and much nicer looking textures all around.

Not really sure what more you could ask for visually.

I think we've got crossed-wires here, because to me that comparison image you posted shows two very similar character designs. They're obviously a bit different from each other, but generally very similar, to me. Remade or not, if they look pretty unmistakably the same character, then I'm happy to stick with my 'tweaked' interpretation

@gcunit To add onto what Ralizah said, take a look at the backgrounds. Not only are they better textured, but the poly count of the environment has been improved as well. They just kept the same design while making it look less blocky because well, the environments are gorgeous to begin with. But if you take a closer look in the comparisons people have put up, you'll notice smaller things like the bridge having been remodeled despite keeping a similar design. Plus, they've 100% overhauled how lighting in the game works to look far more natural.

Everything about this game suggests we're getting some deeper changes. Some QOL things seem near certain (like asterisks for unread chats), while others could go either way.

EDIT: Since the posts crossed, what I was trying to say is that if they're going in and making QoL changes at that level for graphics, the chances of them not doing QoL changes for the game itself are slim.

@gcunit I do think we misunderstood each-other. I thought you were saying the new models looked like slightly tweaked versions of what we got in the Wii games graphically, which couldn't be further from the truth.

But yeah, it's clearly the same basic character design, just with a dramatically improved character model (and more anime-esque aesthetics).