Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Verdict On Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

having previously played through on 3DS, anything easier on the eyes is much appreciated!

I agreed with DF's verdict. It's a shame a Wii game can't run higher than 720p at 30fps on the Switch with slight graphic improvement. Will still play it though

Having previously played it on both Wii and 3DS, it's lacking the incentive for another purchase.

I basically have bought all the aca neo Geo games, the street fighter collection, beat em up collection. I do favour gameplay over graphics. That said I do have some standards in modern games. Happily this isn't a game I was interested in anyways but I hope these types of things encourage Nintendo sooner than later to consider a pro model.

I'm a little disappointed about the static trees' foliage, just a minor complaint.

Otherwise I'm fine as long as the resolution doesn't reach those terrible lows like XC2. But it doesn't seem the case here, do it?

For me this definitive edition should have been better. pop in and dynamic resolution on a 10 year old Wii game is, for me, a bit disappointing.XCX seems to be the best they've made Xenoblade look on the WiiU. I love the art direction,but why are the trees static for example? Love the world's monolith soft create but can't help feel they don't know how to get the best out of the switch. I will pick this up once I've finished XC2 & Torna though

Yeesh. I was excited for this, but not sure I want play a game on Switch Lite with sub-PS Vita resolution. I get why Witcher's lower res - it's a port of a game made for more powerful hardware. I don't get why a high-profile Switch exclusive can't do better than 540/30fps. Something else should have been dialed back.

This is the Monado’s pow-...oh

@SuperCharlie78 it drops as low as XC2

I got my game in today (yay early shipping) and in dock it looks like XC2 resulution wise, in portable it can get as fuzzy XC2 could, however from the 2 hours I have played it seems to happen less often.

Big shame they messed up this so much, I will enjoy the game anyhow just like the OG one (and I enjoyed XC2 too), but the Switch can do much better with a Wii port than 540p~720p 30fps in dock...

The Switch has Wii U ports than can do better just to name 1 thing.

I'm looking forward to playing this again. I must be one of the only ones to think that this looks great. The new character models are a real boon for me.

I think NL and a lot of other people thought the same when they saw the XC Switch trailer for the first time and couldn't see the difference.

It is a pity that there isn't more of an improvement. I am still looking forward to playing and finally finishing this game. I just hope they bring Xenoblade Chronicles X to the Switch at some point as I did enjoy that (although I didn't like the ending; in general, story felt like it took a back seat).

I find it difficult to understand why you'd remake a Wii game and have it dropping to 378p in handheld mode. I would personally much rather cuts were made to other graphical effects to keep a nice sharp image on screen at all times. I generally tend to favour good resolution and frame rate over other graphics effects, so may struggle with this one.

Will be my first time playing this, so don't have experience of playing previous versions to compare it to. Despite remarks that visual fidelity hasn't seen the bump most wanted, all seem to agree with DF that the Definitive Edition is still the best the game has ever looked. Looking forward to experiencing what all the rave reviews are about tomorrow

I have had it on Wii and 3DS and never finished it on either. I still think the hardware is not letting this game shine to its full potential. I think they should have waited until the next generation of hardware for this "definitive" edition.

@teamdoa
It'll be funny someday when the PS6 comes out and by then people will be saying how ugly and outdated PS5 games look. For fugs sake how pretty do you expect it to be?

@Zeldafan79 1080p 30 FPS or 900p 60FPS in 2020

@Iulis84 I play games for the game, not the graphics. Clearly most reviewers felt the graphics were good enough for an inmersive and enjoyable experience. I play games, not specs, and still look forward to picking this up after I'm finished with Trials of mana.

@Zeldafan79

In, 2020, I would expect at least 30fps, 1080p. Next generation, I would expect 4k 60fps with completely redone textures, especially for the money they are charging.
I do not think that is too much to ask.

@sixrings
So in 2030 it'll be 2090p 190 FPS? Don't people still enjoy games that look like pixely crap anymore? I was just playing my snes a while ago and it didn't look any more ugly to me. It actually made me feel all warm and toasty and nostalgic!

@NotoriousWhiz Games can give a lot more immersive experience if they run better and look better and actually improve the gameplay.

If you have PC then another option is buying a used copy of the Wii original (price has dropped significantly thanks to this remake). Playable on Dolphin emulator, HD texture pack and 60fps patch.

This really bothers me. I don't know if I want to spend another 100+ hours in some muddy, dated looking overworld.

I really hoped for this nonsense to be gone by now. But they just had to give a Wii game the same crap performance. All these remade models and textures never coming to fruition because of blurry old resolutions even the N64 could put out. What a waste.
Especially handheld. Just disgusting. And 540p docked — I mean seriously???

Either these people suck at optimizing, or they should have improved the graphics slightly less to warrant a higher resolution, which would ironically have resulted in a better looking image overall.

After having seen FAST RMX run at 1080p and 60fps with 4 players simultaneously, I'm thinking it's the former though.

Sad and pathetic. So disappointed.

@rjc-32

Nice, is there a catch? I do have the original disc, but I remember when I tried it a few years ago you needed a specific CD/DVD drive to get it to work.

@Zeldafan79 it's funny how the gameplay first people make it seem like people who want decent graphics are graphic snobs. While when someone who wants decent graphics reads a post like yours senses a whole bunch of superiority in your tone. But don't ask what people expect if you're not going to be ok with their answer. And by 2030 I would expect 4k even from a Nintendo console.

@teamdoa You're better off using a modded Wii/Wii U to rip the disc to a USB drive, then extract it to PC. Only some older DVD drives work in PC, but if you search for models etc I'm sure you could find one if you prefer that route. I guess the only other catch, if you can call it one, is that you will need to configure the game/emulator in order to set everything up. But I wouldn't call that a catch, read tutorials etc and you can learn about it while setting up. It's a fun project and the end results are excellent looking and performing Wii/GC games.

I prefer the movie-like looks of the original Wii version.
I wonder if they could've achieved better results if they'd just used that look and upped the resolution.

I mean, the Wii could do 480p, so a 384p (but even the 580p) can hardly be called an HD remake...

@NotoriousWhiz I'm guessing you save a lot of monies not buying HD remakes of Zelda games and have no intention of buying HD galaxy if that is a thing. Everything I wrote assumes you have played and own those games. I shouldn't have made assumptions but the point is that generally people like prettier graphics which is how the industry has been getting away with selling remake after remake after remake.

I don’t really notice this kind of thing to be honest. Let’s see if I do this time as I get a lot more time to play in handheld than docked.

A little disappointing that Monolithsoft aren't pushing the Switch in the same way that they pushed the Wii and Wii U previously. I wonder if they are spread too thin between multiple projects and supporting BotW/BotW2

@StevenH Don't forget that those are the maximum values, and the resolution in particular is almost constantly far below that.

@Zeldafan79 Games on older consoles are almost all 2D. 2D holds up over time, 3D doesn't, which is why (virtually) all of the games getting remade are 3D games. I'm also pretty sure there aren't many SNES games that drop back to 80p (not a typo) because they were very poorly optimised for the system. I use a 720p TV to play games, so to me personally it doesn't even matter whether a game is a mere 720p or a full 1080p (or higher), but if they're going this drastically below 720p where even I can tell the difference, I can't imagine how absolutely disgusting it must look to people with more modern TVs. It must be like watching analog TV on a 4k screen, truly horrifying.

@Grot Nice strawman.

@geox30 that's my stance too. I bought Xenoblade 3 times (Wii, 3DS and Wii U digital), so cannot bring myself to buy this just now. Perhaps In the future though.

@sixrings I never said that there is anything wrong with better graphics. Better anything will make a game better. But the absence of high quality graphics, doesn't make a good game into a bad one.

But since you brought up my personal spending, I buy a lot of games for the Switch, and that's solely because it's portable. I had a Wii U and I might have bought < 10 games for it. On the Switch, I've got at least 30 mid to large budget titles. (We're not gonna talk about how many lower budget / roguelike indie games I've bought).

Considering that I played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for 200 hours (as a mix of handheld and docked) and LOVED it, this doesn’t bother me one bit. I’m far more interested in story and gameplay than graphics (not to say that a stable framerate and HD visuals don’t make a great game even better; it just isn’t a deal-breaker for me), and from what I know of this game, I already know I’m going to very much enjoy it.

As for the people expecting it to run at 720p handheld and 1080p docked, with a stable 30fps...you do realise that the Switch is mostly used as a handheld and is not even close to the power levels of the PS4/XB1, right? The devs probably decided to use lower graphical specs to make sure that the game did not drain the battery from a full charge in less than two hours (especially with so many Switch Lites in the wild). If you don’t like it, don’t buy it, but don’t whine about the devs being lazy or the Switch being underpowered ‘for 2020’.

I cant wait for tomorrow!

Boomerangrentals.co.uk sent my copy out today, can't wait to dive back in

@playstation_king Is that like a UK version of gamefly?

I do like great graphics and i know they can make a game more enjoyable. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is these graphic nuts act like all modern games have to be as sharp and crisp as possible. Like somehow pixels aren't allowed or wanted anymore in todays world. As if all games made before the HD era are now outdated prehistoric garbage that should be swept under the rug and forgotten.

I don't care how old and ugly a videogame is. If i liked it back in the day i will still like it now. No matter if it's 1080p 100 FPS or not.

I still look at some gameboy games and think wow that looks really neat! I guess you had to have been there when this stuff was new to really appreciate it.

Personally, those static trees are a major turn-off. I like animation/liveliness over raw graphics and other technical fidelity.

@turntSNACO

It seems that XC2 engine just doesnt work very well with the Switch. I mean, CD Project Red's Witcher 3 game engine seems to work better with Switch than this engine does, so one cant argue that Switch cannot handle advanced games. I think it would probably been better if they ported the old Wii engine and just reworked some of the textures, reworked the lightning and shadows plus bumped resolution to a full 1080p

@Anri02 yeah, for £30 a month I get 4 games at a time and priority to new games, apart from a couple of games I've had all new releases straight away over the last 4 years

It will be a great experience nontheless.

Really looking forward to the game, never played them, but researched it for the past week and ordered it hopefully delivery all good tomorrow.

I have a feeling the definitive edition is going to play how I remembered the Wii version. Same thing happened with the Last of Us Remastered. Playing it, i didn't see any difference until I went back and looked at the old game again.

It's fine so long as the dynamic resolution doesn't plunge into the depths of hell this time like it did in Xenoblade 2 whenever you set foot in a large, open setting.

540p when undocked seems to be the sweet spot for most of the "big" games on the system, and Xenoblade 2/Xenoblade X both looked great on the TV running at 720p.

OMG! This hardware can not even handle a HD port of a Wii game! 378p (the original Wii version was 480p!)? Give me a break! and also look at the price! I will pass!

@NotoriousWhiz I agree poor graphics won't ruin a good game with great gameplay. That said in 2020 we should have options that provide both.

Just another overpriced rehash port on Switch - with the same convenient excuses. They trying to hide lazy optimizations with the dynamic Resolution

Keep my $60 for Paper Mario. Looks amazing, I bet it will run great and it is 100% NEW!

@Zeldafan79 I was playing Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Sunday, at a glorious 384x224. It was brilliant.

The Wii original is the best-looking game I have ever played, before or since. It’s a real triumph of the power of art direction over “graphics”.

But if they’re going to make a “definitive edition” they should be bringing it up to state-of-the-art performance, not better-than-Wii performance.

I guess they know fanboys like me will buy it anyway.

@Agramonte "They trying to hide lazy optimizations with the dynamic Resolution"
What?

@WiltonRoots And I guess it was the standard resolution back in the day (I am sure if at that time the game had NES graphics many people also complained about that)! If you are willing to pay 60$ for sub-standard graphics in 2020, it is your right to do so. But it is also reasonable for other people to complain.

How old is Monolith's engine and tools?

All they make is Switch games...

@Zeldafan79 I completely agree. I sort of feel bad for people who are so hung-up on graphics and framerate - they must miss out on so many great games (especially on ‘vintage’ consoles)!

It makes me wonder, though: could these complaints stem from the fact that BotW set a ridiculously high bar for games of this type on the console? It runs at 1080p docked and 720p handheld, and is pretty much locked at 30fps in most areas (infamous Korok forest aside), which is really impressive for an open-world game on what is essentially a handheld console running a mobile chip. I feel like people now expect that to be the standard for this genre, while ignoring the fact that BotW is a first-party game with a huge budget and that, while it looks AMAZING, it has very little happening on the screen at any one time compared to things like Xenoblade.

@rjc-32

Ok, yeah, I need to read up on it a bit, thanks.

@Axlroselm I dunno it looks fine to me...it does seem like the people doing the most complaining in here weren't even going to buy it in the first place. I am curious to see how fans of the series feel when they get their hands on it.

@Anri02 What do you think Dynamic resolution is for?... When the game engine is about to tank in a hardware it kicks in to try and save performance. It is an emergency valve.

They barely got it to run at 520p - and just tossed in an auto Dynamic Resolution range down to an insane 378p for any bog down after that. It is not even starting at base Switch specs.

It's the best the game has ever looked, by far. It has a solid frame rate. I'm in.

Honestly, if the resolution and fps numbers weren't revealed, I wouldn't have even realized how low they are. People are talking a lot about how XC2 had really low resolution and fps at times too, and I never noticed that either. I don't really care about the numbers at all, it still looks beautiful, and it's evident either way that Monolith Soft put a ton of effort into this game.

@Agramonte I think it’s to try and keep the frame rate as stable as possible by changing the resolution when needed? Doesn’t sound anywhere near as nefarious as you’re trying to frame it.

@Sculptor 100% its the former.

There are many examples of much more demanding games running at better resolution and frame rate than what this can do on the Switch. Made by other developers.

So yeah... Definitely the former.

@Anri02 Yes, and "it is needed" because something is bogging down the hardware and can't hit the target FPS.

This is a port made exclusively for 1 hardware on an engine also made for 1 hardware. But not only are you starting at 520p to hit 30fps. You also need dynamic resolution to keep it there.

Either the hardware is weak and cant deal with the game they made, or it needs more time being optimized. Seeing how you have other games on the Switch that can hit 30fps at higher resolution easily - I doubt it is the hardware.

540-378p in handheld mode and Switch Lite reminds me of other ports like Doom and Wolfenstein II. Xenoblade Chronicles is a Wii game though. I see that they have improved some things but the Wii game doesn't look bad and has higher resolution. Something is wrong or too dated about the GPU of Switch.

Won’t be getting my copy until the second, sadly. With everything going on Amazon is running behind.

@Agramonte So you're agreeing that they weren't doing anything nefarious like your first comment implied?

@RPGamer sorry but my standards are higher than FINE. The games graphics won't change kids starving in Africa and it is completely irrelevant.

What is relevant is that unlike 3DS, DS, Gameboy Advance, gameboy games Nintendo Switch sells their games at the same price as the other home consoles. There is no discount for buying portable so people should be critical if they feel the games are not up to industry standards especially during these times where money isn't exactly growing on trees.

@Anri02

You are the one who thinks that is "nefarious"... I call it for what it is.

"They trying to hide lazy optimizations with the dynamic Resolution"

And chances are they will do the same thing as every publisher that release badly optimized games on Day 1. Collect the initial cash and then use the money and extra time to patch it to where they know performance should be.

I'm getting it anyway, but yeah that's some horrible performance.

I hate videos like this. Nearly everything they point out I'm willing to bet a majority of people wouldn't even have noticed. Some of you would have, sure, but now the minor graphical stuff people like to nit pic and judge entire games over has been pointed out. Uses a dynamic resolution? Oh no, the worst game ever!

@graysoncharles well they did "try"... I thought the 1st (or 2nd) patch tried to deal with it XC2.

"I believe that they need to change the engine to something more tried and true on the Switch like UE4 or massively optimize their own"

100%. If they can't make it work without taking down the Switch. it is time to move on or spend a Year just optimizing the engine. Same thing EA needs to do with Frostbite on Windows.

@Iulis84 I just played it for 5 hours and I can tell you, it's beautiful. Why do you care about the numbers before you actually saw the game or played it by yourself? Do it, then judge!

@mazzel how exactly do you want someone to try it before they judge without buying it. There's no more rental services. No demo. If I bought this game for 79.99 Canadian and was disappointed what would I do then. Actually then I'd really judge the crap out of this. How about you release a game that doesn't drop to 504p docked and us graphics snobs will do our best to be gentle.

Ouch, that's bad. Though what's more annoying is that I can't get the collector's edition for a decent price in my country.

Though, I wonder if it's the same situation as with XC2, where Nintendo cannibalised Monolith Soft's staff for BotW, maybe now they did the same for the sequel, again resulting in subpar performance.

Cya
Raziel-chan

@RPGamer How low does the resolution have to go save all those starving African children?

@Jooles_95
Exactly my point! If the prettiest game in the world plays horribly with awkward or confusing controls and gameplay looks aren't going to matter. Sure nice graphics are wonderful but the game needs to be fun above all else!

@sixrings I thought you were earning good money? What's $80 to someone who buys 4 copies of games? And besides the point I thought you weren't going to buy this game anyway, so why are you crying about a game you weren't going to buy?

@BenRK Most find these videos are an interesting technical insight into hardware limits and how a game developer has designed their engine.

It's never going to show off Switch as a strong system, but remember it is a handheld and when you hold it in that regard it is rather impressive.

@teamdoa @rjc-32 just use a vpn and download it. Problem solved.

You already own the license for the game so you have a right to access a backup.

It's shame. I was waiting this game. I hoped, that this game will looks better, then XC 2, but all my hopes ruined now. Resolution drops to 378p in handheld mode? Even Wii can run a original game in 480p! Do Monolith want to make us all blind? It's visual terrorism! Does "Nintendo Seal of Quality" means nothing?

And this video makes me want The Last Story and Pandora's Tower ports on Switch. It will be ok, if it be just a usual ports in 720p in handheld mode. Just don't make it like a Monolith did.

@liveswired I wasn't very clear earlier. I was meaning that people use videos like this as ammunition to hate on things, that's the issue I have. You can see it all over this comment thread. Even got a couple people bashing me just because I wish people actually did treat this as you say.

Anything that fixes the hideous faces of the original is ok in my book. Fiora looked like a drowned mouse, Reyn looked like he needed a fiber enema at all times, and Mumkhar looked like a cross between a rat and a DOOM Imp rather than a human, which made it really hard to think of him in any sympathetic light at all.

Handheld mode resolution drop makes sense. It's an effort to balance battery life and performance with the fact that the processing power is essentially cut in half.

I think it's a bit odd that it drops in docked mode though. Maybe the engine they use isn't the best for mobile hardware optimization?

Whatever the case may be, the same issues were present in XC2 and despite some framerate dips, my enjoyment of the game wasn't really diminished. It remains one of my favorite RPGs.

I temper my expectations with the Switch (as someone who also owns a PS4 and a decent gaming PC). I understand that concessions have to be made in order to prioritize certain aspects (namely handheld mode's battery life).

I'm not willing to shell out $60 for the game at the moment, but none of this is deal breaking.

Dang, some folks care way too much about games they aren't going to buy. Like, I don't care about TLOU2, but I'm also not trolling on PushSquare about it.

@teamdoa "You don't think it's too much to ask"? Ok. You do it, then. Remake this 10 year old game in a new engine, and make it stick to your arbitrary requirements on this hardware, and do it with a reasonable budget.

We're waiting with bated breath.

@RavenFellBlade The hacking community is hard at work making this happen. Your bated breath might not have to wait for too long.

@Zeldafan79 Games on older consoles are almost all 2D. 2D holds up over time, 3D doesn't, which is why (virtually) all of the games getting remade are 3D games. I'm also pretty sure there aren't many SNES games that drop back to 80p (not a typo) because they were very poorly optimised for the system. I use a 720p TV to play games, so to me personally it doesn't even matter whether a game is a mere 720p or a full 1080p (or higher), but if they're going this drastically below 720p where even I can tell the difference, I can't imagine how absolutely disgusting it must look to people with more modern TVs. It must be like watching analog TV on a 4k screen, truly horrifying.

@RPGamer One has to wonder how much you actually care about starving children in Africa, when the only reason you mention them is to appear superior to others when you have nothing of value to say.
Did the bus not arrive on time? What are you complaining about, there are children starving in Africa!
Did your wallet get stolen? What are you complaining about, there are children starving in Africa!
Did someone break into your house? What are you complaining about, there are children starving in Africa!
Did your family get kidnapped? What are you complaining about, there are children starving in Africa!
Are you a starving child in Africa? What are you complaining about, here's another reason why I am the superior adult and you are all pathetic children complaining over nothing!

@RPGamer "you guys are complaining because the graphics were slightly lower than what you thought they would be"

'Slightly lower' is a bit of an understatement, considering 540p is a quarter of 1080p. If the game were letterboxed instead of blown up, you'd have to squint to see anything. See this diagram:

https://cdn.write.corbpie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/YouTubeVideoSizes.png

@RPGamer "But you DON’T HAVE TO BUY THE GAME. And even worse, YOU DON’T HAVE TO ACCUSE PEOPLE OF WANTING TO BUY THE GAME."

You don't have to shout, but who here is accusing others of wanting to buy the game? You can do whatever you want, it's your money. It's just an incredible shame that the game doesn't look that good, considering one of the main reasons people buy remasters in the first place is because they want a better looking version of an older game. Especially when something is called 'definitive edition', you'd expect it to be pretty excellent in every regard. People voice their complaints because they care.

(Of course, there's always some bad apples who will nitpick everything because that makes them feel good.)