Topic: Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

Does anyone know whether loading a save file after beating the game sends you back to before the final boss as if you hadn't beaten the game like in XC2 and Torna or does it put you back to the start of the game like Wind Waker?

I got jumped and was grossly outmatched by a boss of one of those lizard dudes when trying to beat up one of those giant birds. Things were going pretty well before that point. I was playing as Reyn at the time and was having trouble keeping aggro even though I tried hitting any and all offending parties.

Satorl Marsh itself is brilliant. It's pretty meh-looking during the day, but at night...wow. I really like the music that plays then, too. I'm listening to all original tracks for now and will go back to other areas later to listen to the remastered segments.

@NintendoByNature Yep, explored a lot of Satorl Marsh in my 2+ hour session earlier. I was also hoping to play this evening but joined up with a group for some late raiding in Pokemon Go. Then I got sucked into the internet black hole. XD My whole party is comfortably sitting at level 30.

I've been drafted into the "Mom needs help shopping for Grandma" corps tomorrow since my sister started her summer job, so I don't think I'll be able to play very much. At least lunch somewhere is on the table lol.

@Heavyarms55 I haven't met up with Riki yet, but I sense that it won't be too long before I do. I'm definitely closer in age to Dunban; IIRC, I think you and I are the same age, or at least very close lol. I made a mental note to check the other party members' ages when they come along. I'm guessing Melia is older than she appears in the trailers. XD

I did actually manage to complete that quest I was complaining about. I fast traveled back to the leg just to clean up a couple more quests and lucked out on the thunderstorm lasting long enough for me to find the creature I was looking for. Before, I wasn't able to get to the spawning area in time before the storm faded out. Needless to say I was annoyed.

@Tyranexx were neck and neck then. I am however heading back to bionis leg for a satorl marsh side quest requirement..then i think I'll start back in colony 9 and work my way back to see what i missed. I'm at 30 as well.

@NintendoByNature I THINK I've covered nearly all the quests in the leg at this point, but I do need to hit up Colony 9 again to see what I've missed there.

Hoping to break into the fortress for a quest during my next session. At least I've found the key!

@Tyranexx Glad you managed it. And yes, I get the impression were around the same age too. As for Melia, you'll see. Err, well you'll see if you remember to check. I don't think they ever mention it directly in among the characters.

So far in terms of how much the areas have been improved from the original I think Satorl Marsh, Alcamoth, Eryth Sea, Ether Mine, Prison Island and Bionis Leg all look massively improved.

I think Colony 9, Colony 6, Makna Forest, Frontier Village and Tephra Cave look moderately improved.

I think Valak Mountain and Sword Valley look like they've had no improvements at all.

Between this and Tales of Xillia (as a negative example, see my opinions in the Tales of thread), I think I've become a graphics man. The characters are so much more likable when I can actually SEE their facial expressions. The environments are easier to navigate when everything isn't super blurry.

It feels like I'm playing the game as it was intended to be played. Highly recommend turning off the dotted line, because it completely trivializes some of the exploration elements.

@iKhan
I think we’re all graphics men, in some capacity, whether we admit it or not. Some more than others, obviously, but still.

Graphics always help elevate a game to be more enjoyable. I’ve never disputed that fact. I just think some people put too much stock into it to the point that’s all they care about, more so than how fun the game is as a whole, with graphics just being one aspect factoring in. That’s not to say graphics can’t be the straw that breaks the camels back in some instances- I never really got into this game because it looked so bad on 3DS. I still played it and by no means was on a high horse about it, but I didn’t stick with it. Same for the Wii version.

I think just not being super low res makes a huge difference. Like, I can play games with very dated graphics by relative comparison to what modern games can look like. Just so long as there are at least 720p on the tv (as a bare minimum baseline) or 540p on handheld (again, bare minimum baseline), graphics importance starts dropping pretty significantly. As resolution and graphics improves from there it does add to the experience, but at ever diminishing returns.

Even this game is, in general, on the low end of both graphics and resolution. Even being remastered. The image is soft on my TV. But it at least hits a bare minimum threshold that has huge bang for buck. It would be even better in 4k and 100% redone textures and models, but the fact I’ve put more time into this game than some of the most graphically impressive AAA showpieces my PC can run (and at 13.4 teraflops it’s at 30% more raw compute performance than PS5) is a testament to the fact that graphics aren’t everything.

And I think that’s what a lot of people mean to say, but that gets twisted into a “graphics don’t matter at all” mindset. Because it’s a lot harder to communicate “graphics matter but only so much, and up to a point they matter a lot more but beyond that point they matter less and less” than it is catchy one liner slogans.

You guys weren't kidding about that lizard dude in the Satorl Marsh fortress. I successfully lured away all his cronies and took care of them first. The fight with him was going well until he unleashed an attack that REALLY messed with my party's HP. It was all downhill after that. They were all at level 32 as well.

Eh, at least I successfully beat a trio of arachnids in an ambush later on.

@Heavyarms55 Darn, you mean there's no awkward trope here where a party member asks Melia for her age and she blushes? XD

I’m level 40, and am heading into a tomb (let the reader understand).

I keep expecting the story to drop off, thinking there’s no way it stays this good all the way through. But I keep on truckin and the story keeps on delivering. And, maybe I’m not giving Xenoblade Chronicles 2 enough credit. The story did get pretty anime at times, with a pervy walking pineapple that keeps a secret robo waifu hidden in his home, but it embraced that silliness and admittedly, was pretty hilarious when it tried to be. I really did love that game but the storyline just wasn’t that good overall. It got really good in the latter half of the game, but I never did like Malos too much, and I think they copped out by letting certain characters live that should have died, adding weight and gravity and emotional pull. That said, it was still very enjoyable. But that, coupled with a battle system that wasn’t as good as the traditional XC and XCX approach, shows a stark contrast with this game. I do think it was better in other respects (Tora was an amazing character, as was Poppi, and the voice actors were excellent), but it falls just shy of the previous two games, I think (still one of the best JRPGs I’ve ever played though).

But this game... it really does have it all.

@Tyranexx Well, I haven't played the new stuff yet so... I can't say for sure. But the game generally isn't that trope-y. lol

And yes, that jerk in the fortress is a tough one. Always a stand out fight for me. Did he do his instant death move on you?

@JaxonH I don't know that I've ever said graphics don't matter at all. But I do very much rank them very low in how I judge a game. For me to dislike/denounce a game based on graphical reasons, it has to have some massive problems. I'm talking like, broken or missing textures, glitched models, or visuals so distorted and blurry that it becomes difficult to tell what they are.

And I really get sick of all the importance people put on resolution numbers and the specs of various machines. When people say things like "Wow, this game is 4K 60FPS!" I just shrug. That doesn't excite me hardly at all. But if you tell me about a new ability in Pokemon, or where to find a secret in Xenoblade, or how to unlock a hidden chapter in Fire Emblem, that kind of thing is what I enjoy in video games. If you tell me about how PS4 will add VR support to a home console, or how Switch seamlessly supports going from TV to portable mode. That kind of thing is so cool!

But "PS5 runs this game in 4K with dynamic resolution 60FPS" and it just does a whole lot of nothing for me!

On another note, I loved XC2 a whole ton. I do consider it as having come close to XC1 in terms of story, but 1 does still beat it. But maybe I rank XC2 higher than you because I do like anime a whole bunch, I like it a LOT more than western media in the vast majority of cases.

I rank X the lowest of the the 3 because I'm not a fan of self-insert silent protagonists. Though I really enjoyed the game either way. Just not as much as 1 or 2.

@Heavyarms55 Yeah, must've been his instant death move. Most of my group was in pretty good health at that point, too. Reyn was the only one who made it (higher health), but as Shulk was down for a count the game pulled a reload.

What was really irritating is that the fortress is quite a trek from the closest landmark.

@Tyranexx It is a walk, I completely agree. But if Reyn lived, you got lucky, he didn't use it. He actually has a move that straight up says instant death and kills you regardless of health. I believe it's a talent art, so Shulk can block it if he's got the needed skill.

It might only work if you're a lower level than him though - now that I think about it, I can't remember him using it when I fought him at a higher level.

Played for a solid 4.5-5 hours throughout today. All side quests and visiting old areas while gaining access to new locations. Slayed some monsters, gained a ton of experience, and leveled up like crazy. I think I was at level 30 going into today. I turned off the game at 36. I haven't even touched the main quest at all today. So first thing tomorrow, that'll be my goal. I should be well oiled by now and about to head into the makna forest where I saved the game..

@Heavyarms55
runs this game in 4K with dynamic resolution 60FPS" and it just does a whole lot of nothing for me!

I won’t say it does “nothing” for me, but I will say it does little for me. Again, it’s all relative. In comparison to what?

The jump from 720p to 1080p, at least on a decent sized TV, is pretty noticeable. 720p doesn’t look bad but it does look a bit soft, whereas 1080p looks crisp. 1440p I can notice a little more crispness, but it’s hard to tell the difference from 1080p in a lot of cases. I remember testing Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein New Order and Assassins Creed Odyssey, and half the time couldn’t tell if I had it on 1080p or 1440p. As for 4K, I genuinely struggle to tell the difference from 1440p. If I get out of my seat and look close at the TV I can kinda tell because 4K just has that extra bit of pop from pixel density, but it’s basically a coin toss to my visual perception. Which is why I will be perfectly fine running games 1440p 60fps Ultra does the road whenever my [currently best consumer-grade gaming GPU] starts aging.

So it’s not that it does nothing for me, it just does very little on the whole. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate it, cause I definitely do. But I could play games in 1080p for the rest of my life and be perfectly content. Now, the 60fps has the potential to matter more, but again it’s all relative. If a game is buttery smooth at 30, I really don’t mind. Bioshock, Borderlands, Xenoblade... all of these games would be marginally better at 60, but they’re fine as is. Still, the jump from 30 to 60 is more appreciated than the jump from 1080p to 4K.

My core focus is more on seeing a game meet the bare minimum criteria for looking and running well enough. Beyond that it’s all icing on the cake, not the cake itself. I do think hybrid games should strive to hit 1080p on the TV and 720p handheld though. Solid 30fps I can live with all day. And I’ll tolerate 720p tv or 540p handheld. But if we could just get to a point where the baseline is 1080p docked / 720p handheld as the minimum, graphics would never even come up in conversation for me. And I know we’re not quite there yet. But I’m hoping next gen, Switch 2, roughly on par with an Xbox One S or PS4 with 1080p docked / 720p handheld and solid 30fps as the minimum... I’d be perfectly content and wishing for more would never even cross my mind at that point.

I’m also not necessarily a fan of the silent protagonist but, Xenoblade X was so good regardless. Exploring Mira was an experience I’ll never forget. And what story it had was pretty good. But yeah I do hope they stick with the scripted protagonist going forward.

@JaxonH Maybe I worded that poorly. I can see the difference of course, it's just not something that gets me excited. It's a major case of diminished returns, I remember going from an old CRT to a 720p HDTV for the first time and that was an impressive improvement! And going to 1080p was again impressive... but less. Going from 1080p 4K sounds on paper like it should be a massive upgrade and... it's just not. I can see a difference, sure, but it's a smaller improvement relative to previous upgrades.

I can read on paper all of what the deal FPS is just fine, I understand the concept. But 30 or 60 isn't really a concern of mine. What do notice however is consistency. If the frame rate is jumping all over the place then I will have issues with it. But even if its in the 20s but consistent then it doesn't tend to be an issue for me. Less than that and even I will take issue though.

And also, I don't mean to imply disliking Xenoblade X, not at all! I very much enjoyed the game and consider it the main reason to own a Wii U at this point! (and if it comes to Switch, I will probably either hack my Wii U or box it up) I just rank it at the bottom of the three Xenoblade titles. But it's still Xenoblade!

@JaxonH

The thing is that before this, I genuinely didn't understand that poor graphics could hurt a game THAT much. I remember seeing IGN's Tales of Xillia review that listed graphics as the only flaw of the game, but giving it an 8/10. I just dismissed it as "oh IGN being IGN", but when I started playing it a few months ago I realized that they were spot on. Tales of Xillia's visuals are so bad that it actively detracts from the experience.

Now with this, I'm again seeing that if graphics are bad enough, they can hinder gameplay

Also, I'm surprised you prefer XC's combat to XC2. I know XC2's combat is really complex, but I feel like once you figure it out a little, it's a lot more fast paced, with a lot more to manage.

Graphics and visuals are weird. In some contexts it feels like they make a huge difference, in others it's just a superfluous waste of time.

If it's a question of whether you can see individual hairs moving on a character's head, or see a bead of sweat running down their cheek, I don't really care.

But if it's whether you can see clear and realistic facial expressions, or whether you can see the fine details in an environment from a great distance, it can add a huge amount to the sense of immersion.

I kinda got both from replaying Beyond Good and Evil a few years ago. There are a couple of scenes in that game that at some point completely fail at emotion because the character expressions did practically nothing in a scene. One in particular should end on a character being very emotional at what they've just heard, but instead their expression is...nothing, which ruins what its going for. But there are also scenes that are just the right type of somber that no amount of improvements in graphics would've actually improved those scenes much (and they are much better than most emotional scenes in games anyway).

I finished off everything I wanted to in Satorl Marsh and made it to Makna Forest today. Funnily enough I spent well over an hour just exploring the lower reaches/lake area of the forest. Please tell me there's a faster way to travel on water in this game....

I'll play again in a little while and should properly make it to the Nopon village then. Most of my team is in the level 34-35 range. I got some mad XP from finding a couple of secret areas.

@Heavyarms55 I don't recall what the move was exactly, but it hit the entire group. Maybe I am mis-remembering and it WAS an insta-death for everyone. I've slept a couple of times since then.