Xenoblade Chronicles Remaster launches tonight

[Julius Seeker]

If you have a Switch, and haven't played this gem of an RPG from the Wii era... or maybe you have and want to re-experience it. Then this is something you should check out. This one features an all new epilogue about 12-20 hours in length.


While it's an old game now, I think it's aged very well. The last time I played through it was on Wii U a few years ago. I'm looking forward to jumping back into it with the enhancements. If I had one complaint, the new character models still leave something to be desired (as I find they fall behind Xenoblade Chronicles X in quality), but they're a BIG boost over the Wii and 3DS versions. And for the most part, the character models weren't a big deal in the original game, and shouldn't be here.

Anyway, the Xeno spiritual franchise (because it's ripped across 4 different series and 3 different companies) is probably my favourite as far as RPGs go. So, of course I am going to talk about this one =)

But here's some more information on the game with a video package and quotes from an interview from Xenogears/Xenosaga/Xenoblade creator Tetsuya Takahashi



Below are quotes from Tetusya Takahashi on the changes:

Regarding the content of the game, in our eyes, there was already a sufficient level of content, so from the beginning, we decided to focus on ease of play, clarity, and appearance.

First, if we look at playability, for example, if you have lost a number of times during a particular boss battle, or if you have died a certain number of times, the “Cannot Beat the Boss” pop-up is displayed and the strategy will be given via tutorial. When you return to gameplay, you will receive relief through effects such as completely filling the Party Gauge.

Next, for clarity, it’s mostly focused on the user interface. We thoroughly reviewed elements ranging from the item display and transitions and took every opportunity to make it clear what is displayed and how to manoeuvre.

In summary, this is a topic for Producer Yamada Nariwa and Director Inaba Michihiko, but generally, we wanted to clearly define what was good and what needed improvement. We meticulously planned all specifications for this project.

I think it’s very important not to alter game content such as the story and battles, and as such, remains unchanged from the original. That said, there were new mechanics added. Autosave, casual mode, quest and landmark stacked EXP bonuses, advanced level settings that allows players to level down at any time, time attack, event theatre, fashion equipment, and more.

Graphics have been enhanced in a variety of ways:

Finally, appearance. This is mostly focused on enhancing the character graphics, which was one of our regrets in the original game. Originally, one of the trade-offs we had to make because of hardware limitations was the crispness of character graphics. In Definitive Edition, while there are still restrictions such as production cost and time, we decided to break those past limits and upgrade.

In particular, weapons and equipment, enemies and map models, among other assets, were limited to texture updates and there were texture upgrades for shaders, the faces and hands of player and key characters, and new equipment and the Monado. We recreated cutscenes and facial animations for scripted scenes.

Although a line was drawn, staff showed their commitment to the project, and assets such as enemies and map models that had not initially been planned to be upgraded received upgrades here and there. Although these updates aren’t built from scratch, it would be nice if you could tell the difference.

UI enhancements

Regarding the UI, in addition to being easy to understand, there was an additional concept “UI for a seamless experience.” To this end, users would not be inhibited by the large amount of content being thrown at them. “Naviroute” shows you the way to the locations of quests. “Chance Arts” tells you the arts that meet special attack conditions with icons, to let players boost their battle experiences. We added these elements with the goal of “remastering the content to convey the charm of the original game,” including filters and favourite functions that allow players to choose and sort their equipment.

Remastered and redone music

We prioritized the song list first, and then recorded the highest-ranked field and battle songs as live recordings using an orchestra. We had to take the budget into consideration as well, and upgraded the quality of other songs that couldn’t be recorded live through digital means. We have improved the sound quality by relaxing the data compression, in contrast to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. For event songs, if you change the tempo or scale of the song, a huge amount of work needs to be done to edit the original scene. The original version remains the same but “Engage the Enemy” is used as-is with virtually no new changes. As it is a very popular song, it became the main theme of the new production record.

Xenoblade is a game that doesn’t show its age, even when compared to work as recent as this year. How could such a game have been made ten years ago? I think it was a combination of the enthusiasm and determination of that time, when I felt we couldn’t be allowed to fail. I’m convinced that such a thought produced a work that doesn’t seem to age, even after these many years. I don’t want to leave an impression that we only succeeded because of past mistakes, but from the perspective of production, it was a great driving force. The sales have been stable, and the brand has been well-established. Of course, we’re in a position to build things on a solid foundation, which leads to pride and self-confidence, but at the risk of falling into false successes or arrogance. We believe that the power to change without fear comes from failure. Xenoblade reminds us of that drive, and we are happy to be able to meet here again, ten years later.

Xenoblade was the starting point of new growth for Monolith Soft. This work is the culmination of the staff’s determination and hope at the time and those same feelings of the staff today. It shows the future of Monolith Soft. We hope old fans will feel the effort of our staff while new players will get a sense of our future.

The game drops tonight at midnight Pacific time (4 am where I am, but I'm usually awake then).

[Eric]

Mine coming in the mail tomorrow(hopefully).

Edit: So it didn't come in the mail, I ended up cancelling and just downloading it heh.

[Julius Seeker]

First impressions.

So, the UI is vastly improved from previous games,
* Badging the moves on the UI when your player is positioned correctly is super helpful, but at the same time, I find I look at the UI now more than the battle visuals, so I kind of wish it was on the UI and had some other indicator (like a rumble in the joy con).
* Menu badging makes it easy to figure out what's new. So, when you get new skills and such, you always know about it, and it's not something that you might find out you had 12 hours later. The game has a lot of stuff in it, so this is useful.
* Questing has item locations shown on the map; in the past, you collected a bunch of quests, wandered around randomly and just hoped you'd come across an item - or you'd haul out a big FAQ to find it all. Now the game can show it all for you. It's not only much faster, but it feels like you can actually work on each quest one at a time, instead of just having them randomly complete while you do other things.

Loading is much faster, too. Fast travel is painless, so I use it a lot more... gotta travel 50 meters? I'll just fast travel to that checkpoint that's about 15 meters away from it... while in the original game it would be faster and less painful to walk 200 meters than to fast travel it.

Otherwise, the game feels very much like the original, but with all the wrinkles ironed out. As I suspect, the character art doesn't bother me at all when playing the game. In fact, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as it did in the stills. It's an improvement over XC2's character art, IMO; at least Rex's.

The environments were always beautiful, they're more detailed now, and pop-in is less apparent, although I'll hold off on that until Makna Forest, a beautiful location, but pop-in was super apparent, while in other locations you'd rarely ever notice unless you looked for it. Personally speaking, the graphical enhancements are, while the most apparent from a marketing experience, are probably the least important from a gaming perspective.


My contrast against the original version of the game actually involves two fairly recent playthroughs of the Wii to Wii U port of the game, the second of which from about 2 years ago (Spring and Summer 2018). My memory of it is fresh, and I also attempted a 100% playthrough.

Anyway, the last time I played XC1 was the first time I actually tried to 100% a game that massive (and maybe the first time I tried to 100% any game since Dragon Quarter on the PS2). I didn't succeed because I got sick of having to look the locations of quest and affinity stuff up on Gamefaqs. With Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition it's actually going to be possible to do without even looking at Gamefaqs once because the UI directs you nicely. I'm not a guy who 100%s games, and don't think games like Witcher 3, Breath of the Wild, or Xenoblade Chronicles X should be 100%ed - I think it genuinely sabotages the flow of those games and the experience as a whole. Xenoblade Chronicles, IMO, represents an example of the biggest and most open type of game that CAN be 100%ed without spoiling the experience. I don't know if I'll succeed, but with this UI I have a strong feeling I will. In fact, I think it might be an easier task to 100% the game than the effort I put into my last attempt (which took me to maybe 65-75% of the side content).

[Eric]

This is a click baity video, but it's a valid improvement to the game imo

[M'k'n'zy]

My collectors edition has arrived, I am going to start it fairly soon I think, I'll probably stream it. Just need to finish streaming my playthrough of Mario + Rabbids first.

[Oracle]

So I think I'm done with XBC DE for now.

138/150 achievements (the ones left are mostly the "kill an insane amount of enemies" or other battle-based achievements where you have to perform a stupid amount of them to get the achievement - I'm not too inclined to chase those down). I'm also at 49/50 achievement.. quests? I dunno, can't remember the term. I just have to do the one where you get affinity for "pretty much everyone". Think I need 200 affinity links... not sure how I'm not there yet, I've spoken to everyone and done all the quests.

Taken down the super bosses, farmed all the gems I'm interested in farming, and I'm bored with arts-book farming in the Nopon Sage area - I have the skills I use 95% of the time maxed.

Did anyone take this game to NG+? Is there anything better in NG+ in DE vs. the original? I remember NG+ being underwhelming - just a run through of the game with your powered up characters.

[Julius Seeker]

I'm not done with it yet, but I am on a break. I've finished Xenoblade multiple times, but each and every time I take like a 3-8 month break in the middle, and I think it's always been right after Fallen Arm.