Video: Nintendo Shares 'All About Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition' Trailer

This is how you bring a game back to the modern era. Beautiful HD upgrade, remastered music (with the original music too), and an epilogue. Can’t wait to revisit this.

Really glad to see that they're pushing this one a lot in their marketing, it certainly deserves it. Hopefully it hits new sales heights for the series so we can someday see a Xenoblade 3.

My GotY candidate alongside Cyberpunk 2077

Really feeling it. And agree with others, it's nice to not throw Xenoblade in Dec release window. Those games never do good cause majoirty finish shopping before or after Dec.

But still nice to have December games, it's better than nothing.

A borderline spoiler about that Mechon attack there, but at least thankfully no sign of what the fandom has codenamed "Seven", so still more mercy than Smash Bros.😅 Otherwise, feels almost like a micro direct in itself - and there are few games more worthy of the notion.

What else can I say? Preordered yesterday, 87% preloaded as we speak (expected it done overnight, but sleep mode has seemed whimsical about downloads lately). How did that Reggie quotation go, again?😉

This game could not be coming out at a better time! First time I played it, it got me through a rough patch in life. Second time, yet another. Hopefully this third playthrough will help carry me through the current harship we're all experiencing. This is the magic of Xenoblade!

I'm envious of those playing this game for the first time. But it will be great for us who've already played it as well. I'm free from work Friday to Monday the weekend it releases. I will play nonstop!

I'm not watching any of these videos. I want to experience it all again myself, fresh. This game will dominate my life. I'm half hoping that work from home gets extended so I can play it more. XD

@Quarth I honestly feel like I'm gonna be playing it for the first time even though I played it on 3DS. The updated graphics and music plus the epilogue make this seem more like a remake than a remaster.

I'm very happy to see Nintendo putting some real effort to build hype up around this game. Maybe if it does well enough Nintendo will make the series their new Zelda of sorts.

@Giygas_95 Yeah, I agree. It's a shame though that I remember all the great plot twists, but hey, that shows it's a memorable story.

I only got halfway through Xenoblade Chronicles back in the day. I enjoyed it but it's a long game so I decided to take a break just as I was about to enter Mechonis. Never got around to finishing it.

Really liked 2 and made sure to finish that one. I was doing lot of extra stuff so I was afraid I would lose interest before finishing it so I sped through the last 10 hours. Spent around 100 hours in total. Bought Torna last year but haven't finished that one yet. I think I'll go back to it after this one.

As for the Definitive Edition, I ordered the really nice European collector's set. It was quite expensive but I think it's worth it. I didn't know when the preorders went up here so most online stores had already sold out. Some had way better pricing. I still kind of fear that the place I ordered from doesn't have enough of them and send me an email a week before release. Wouldn't be the first time that happened although in case of Samus Returns, it was a different shop.

@mesome713 "really feeling it" Pun intended?

Honestly, the wait for this is unbearable lol.

@Quarth Can't erase your memory, but thankfully the story is no less awesome even if you do remember it.

This has been an excellent year for JRPG fans. We're seeing remakes of either the best or some of the best JRPGs across a variety of console generations: Trials of Mana, FF7R, and (now) Xenoblade Chronicles. Honestly, I can't remember a better year for JRPG fans. After years of subpar releases alongside the occasional banger, seeing this amount of quality releases within the window of one year is an unexpected showing from the modern gaming scene; how I interpret it, at least. It's wild.

@Giygas_95 Yeah, the story, the characters, the setting. Everything is great! I've only played the somewhat inferior 3DS version and can safely say it's one of my all time favorite games and definitely my favorite JRPG (OK, I love FFVI and Chrono Trigger equally as much ).

@jtmnm Agreed! And the Switch has turned out to be a great JRPG console. What a library! XC. XC2 + Torna. FE: Three Houses. Octopath Traveler. DQXI. DQ 123. Trials of Mana. Collection of Mana. Tokyo Mirage Sessions. All the classic early 3D FF games + some of the spinoffs. Bravely Default II. Ys VIII. Tales of Vesperia. Ni No Kuni.

@mariomaster96 When is Cyberpunk 2077 out? I am a sucker for cyber-punk. Defo need to play it.

I can’t wait to experience this game for the first time. I absolutely loved XBC2, and from what I hear, the first game is much better. I will find out soon enough.

@GrailUK September 17th (If it doesn't get delayed again)

So hyped for this. Best RPG ever!

The european voice acting will be in this edition? I never had the game but I heard a little some specific parts of the old one and liked a lot the voice acting

@mariomaster96 Thank you

I hope this is played by more people than the original release was. Truly was something special, a breath of fresh air when it came out compared to alot of the other games at the time. I won't be buying it for a 4th time (not yet) but it does look a worthy spruce up.

Got this preordered just in case I want to give it a shot.. it would be my first go at the game.

@Quarth how is the combat compared to Xenoblade Chronicles 2? I loved the story, characters and music of that game, but could not stand the combat.

@PuppyToucher the combat is pretty similar

I loved Xenoblade Chronicles X and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Never played the first one, have the Collector's Edition with that beautiful vinyl preordered!

Can't wait for this to be one of the best games of the decade for a second time

@PuppyToucher The combat is better, in my opinion. Not for everyone, but easier to get into than in XC2. Overall, XC is a better game than XC2, again IMO.

This is a nice trailer! I might have to try this game, I am apart of the first timers.

There are too many good JRPGs on Switch, and tyranny of choice has generally left me paralized and unable to opt for any of them, but this one stands out to me.

Never played Xenoblade before, it feels like I'm the audience for this remaster.

@PuppyToucher the base combat is very similar but there aren’t elemental breaks and such to juggle and it doesn’t have any of that annoying gating e.g. build up enormous trust to unlock this entire tier of abilities or Tiger Tiger farming.

It is finally time to get rid of my Wii version that I never finished, but I won’t get rid of my 3ds copy.

@SwitchVogel hopefully a success for this remaster will also mean a port for XCX!

@Giygas_95 @Quarth there are actually a number of studies which show people enjoy movies more when they know the ending, so you never know... you might find yourself enjoying the game even more than before 😉

@Late You should really try to pull through this time. I also took roughly anyone year break for the Wii version due to going abroad for studying. In the end I regret not spending more time and play it in one playthrough. The story is just awesome and mind-blowing

I also ordered the collectors edition. It was 89.90€ in Germany... Couldn't resist that vinyl!

@Otoemetry That's true! Maybe I'll catch some details I might have missed last time.

.... Triple dipping. Never finished on wii or 3ds because life got in the way. But recently did complete Xenoblade 2, so I GOT A GOOD FEELING ABOUT THIS.

@MoonKnight7 @Giygas_95 Only parts of the graphics are an upgrade over the Wii original in my opinion, and since they so generously let you play the epilogue at any time, I'm just going to eventually borrow it from the library just to play the epilogue. If I ever want to play the main game again, I'd rather just start a New Game+ with the Wii version.

Can't wait for this to come out. Honestly, one of my favorite games of all time, and it's really only narrowly edged out by BotW and XCX (the latter of which I'm dying for on Switch!)
XC1 has way better combat than XC2, IMHO. Everything from having more arts and that classic Xenoblade arts palette, to your characters continuing to auto-attack as you reposition them, unlike XC2 where when you move in combat around an enemy they stop auto-attacking(to be better positioned for location-specific arts, like Back Slash from XC1).
Also, I always thought the story of XC1 was more epic and enjoyable than 2. The obviously hyper-sexualized blades in XC2 didn't do that game any favors.
Anyway, can't wait for Xenoblade!

@BulbasaurusRex

I disagree — It looks like everything got an upgrade, some places more than others, but an upgrade nonetheless. Originally, the textures most likely looked a lot better in development but get fuzzy due to the Wii being a SD console. It still looked great for the system it was running on, but this game was begging for a spruce up. The art direction is too great to ignore.

But it’s likely that’s they improved them even further for this release. I’d look for the digital foundry video when this comes out to see what they changed exactly.

But hey, if you’d rather replay it on Wii, to each their own. No wrong way to play it.

@MoonKnight7 No, the characters' faces and the general color schemes of the characters and foreground objects have been made worse. Sure, they're in HD now, but the art style isn't as good, they don't use enough color blending or shading anymore, and just the general color of things like the hair on certain characters is slightly off from what it was before. Also, the opening scene of the Bionis/Mechonis battle is too foggy compared to the original version.

@BulbasaurusRex

So if it’s clearer, more detailed, and brighter colored, it’s somehow worse?

There’s still shading going on, it’s just better placed and isn’t as blotchy. Shulk’s eyes don’t look like they’re sinking into his skull, lol. Brighter, more vibrant artstyle is a good thing! Now granted, you don’t want them to stick out like a sore thumb, true, but brighter, more vibrant colors makes it easier to track the characters and see the animations better (especially for cutscenes). I understand your point, but I’m ok with the balance they struck here, especially when you consider that some will play this in handheld mode. Brighter colors is necessary for a smaller screen.

The battle is dark and foggy for dynamic effect. That was something the Wii couldn’t do well, which is why it’s likely absent. I don’t mind either one, personally.

I’m not knocking the Wii version here, but they fixed the worst part of the game — the character models themselves. They were bad, no way around it. Even by Wii standards they were bad. Disagreeing how they slightly changed their hair, is, I’m sorry, but nitpicking beyond belief.

But hey, if you don’t like it, then you don’t like it — boot up that Wii and go for it. I just, respectfully disagree. It looks lovely.

@MoonKnight7 It is clearer, but no it's NOT more detailed at all, and yes the brighter colors are a bad thing when it loses most of the proper shading in the process. Shulk is supposed to be a more natural dirty blond, not an unnatural looking bright blond! The colors on the clothes and items like the Monado are also too bright and overly simplistic. (Although, I'm only talking about the characters and foreground objects here. The landscapes and such look fantastic and are much improved.)

That's even before mentioning that the original art style for the faces is so much better. The new anime style isn't bad, but the more realistic original style has it beat hands down. Eyes are supposed to sink into a person's skull, and the effect looks just fine. No, the original character models were great aside from being in SD, but then they went and overall made them worse despite the resolution bump!

Who cares about dynamic effect when you can't properly make out what's actually happening compared to the original version of the scene?! Actual visibility is more important!

@BulbasaurusRex

Maybe a tad more blonde than smash, some screenshots look more yellow than others, but you’ve gotta get over the hair thing. So it’s a stylized yellow now, who cares?

I’ve literally never had a conversation with someone who has so adamantly defended the original character models. They’re not great, you can’t sway me, or most people, otherwise. My wife absolutely loves the game, in fact she got me into the series, but she’d be the first to say, “the game is fantastic, but the characters just don’t look good.” She’s right, sorry to say, probably cause they were going for that realism at the time. Fine at the time of course, but it really hasn’t aged well over the years. The shading is so extreme by Shulk’s eyes, it looks like he hasn’t slept a day in his life.

I already wrote a whole paragraph about the reason for brighter colors, so I’m not gonna go through it again. You think it’s worse — noted. But half the audience is gonna play this as a handheld.

“Who cares about dynamic effect when you can't properly make out what's actually happening compared to the original version of the scene?! Actual visibility is more important!”

No idea what you’re talking about — seriously. I just rewatched the clip to maybe see what you’re not making out. Looked like a battle to me. With some fog. With some dynamic lighting, cause you know, it’s a battle. You’re just trying to find things to criticize at this point.

And pull back on the “!“

No need to constantly exclaim at me. You like the original better — I get it.