This series has sure come a long way since Nintendo didn't even plan to release it outside of Japan over 10 years ago. What was an incredibly ambitious game for the Wii now has a nice sheen over it with some quality of life updates and an extra epilogue. Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my favourite video games of all time and I still absolutely adore it.
Exploration is the star of the show here. The game takes place on two gods paused in battle which is an instantly fascinating setting for a game. You run across these gorgeous environments and there's quite a lot of variety to them. Although there's certainly some pop-in with NPC's, the world itself has a really impressive draw distance as well as always trying to frame you where you are in the world itself, i.e. what part of the titan you're currently on, which keeps you grounded in the world Monolith Soft have crafted. There's tons of nooks and crannies to poke around in and there's always another great sight to see. Some of the areas have a very different feel between night and day which is enhanced by the field music having a version for a night and day theme for every major area. The music is sublime across the board and I never get tired of hearing the tracks no matter how long I'ven been playing. The side quests that you populate the game aren't great by any stretch but they serve the purpose of getting you to explore this wonderful world.
The combat is similar to an MMO where it is real-time where you select abilities on a bar which have a cooldown. You can build up a meter for a unique ability using auto-attacks and positioning is important. This is not going to be for everyone but I really enjoy it. I love the character progression where even though it's fairly clear what each character is good at, working towards a build to focus on their strengths is really fun. People don't like the gem crafting but I find it really satisfying to work on gems to enhance the characters' strengths even more. You eventually get seven characters of which you can have three active at a time in combat. Figuring out what characters grouping compliment each other well is very enjoyable to me. You can link skills between other character based on building up affinity between them which is another aspect where I find it really fun to enhance a certain character's strength even more. There really is a lot of mechanics in the game and I feel they all work.
The story certainly has some anime nonsense so your tolerance levels towards that can certainly affect your appreciation of it. I do like the story. The setting is just so interesting to me. The characters, although not as well drawn as some of those seen in the Xenoblade sequels, are a loveable bunch and it's easy to get behind them. Melia and Dunban are the clear standouts to me though. They all have their quirks though and the performances are generally pretty good with the British accents certainly adding to their memorability. Even if it is definitely some anime nonsense, I really like the final hour twist and how it recontextualizes the world you've spent the last tens of hours exploring. There's a decent number of twists throughout the generous runtime but the final one stands out to me.
In terms of what this Definitive Edition adds, there isn't a whole lot. It certainly looks between than the Wii version, and the 3DS version for that matter, but it is not a massive jump in visuals. The resolution isn't particularly high and there's some frame drops which may just be the Switch being underpowered in this day and age. The quality of life additions are nice which make questing a lot easier. Leveling down is nice since it's very easy to get overleveled in this game. It adds a new epilogue to the game which is good albeit nothing special but it's certainly more than most remasters add to a game. To me, it's one of the best games ever made and this gives a better way to play it on a modern console so it's very much worth it.
Exploration is the star of the show here. The game takes place on two gods paused in battle which is an instantly fascinating setting for a game. You run across these gorgeous environments and there's quite a lot of variety to them. Although there's certainly some pop-in with NPC's, the world itself has a really impressive draw distance as well as always trying to frame you where you are in the world itself, i.e. what part of the titan you're currently on, which keeps you grounded in the world Monolith Soft have crafted. There's tons of nooks and crannies to poke around in and there's always another great sight to see. Some of the areas have a very different feel between night and day which is enhanced by the field music having a version for a night and day theme for every major area. The music is sublime across the board and I never get tired of hearing the tracks no matter how long I'ven been playing. The side quests that you populate the game aren't great by any stretch but they serve the purpose of getting you to explore this wonderful world.
The combat is similar to an MMO where it is real-time where you select abilities on a bar which have a cooldown. You can build up a meter for a unique ability using auto-attacks and positioning is important. This is not going to be for everyone but I really enjoy it. I love the character progression where even though it's fairly clear what each character is good at, working towards a build to focus on their strengths is really fun. People don't like the gem crafting but I find it really satisfying to work on gems to enhance the characters' strengths even more. You eventually get seven characters of which you can have three active at a time in combat. Figuring out what characters grouping compliment each other well is very enjoyable to me. You can link skills between other character based on building up affinity between them which is another aspect where I find it really fun to enhance a certain character's strength even more. There really is a lot of mechanics in the game and I feel they all work.
The story certainly has some anime nonsense so your tolerance levels towards that can certainly affect your appreciation of it. I do like the story. The setting is just so interesting to me. The characters, although not as well drawn as some of those seen in the Xenoblade sequels, are a loveable bunch and it's easy to get behind them. Melia and Dunban are the clear standouts to me though. They all have their quirks though and the performances are generally pretty good with the British accents certainly adding to their memorability. Even if it is definitely some anime nonsense, I really like the final hour twist and how it recontextualizes the world you've spent the last tens of hours exploring. There's a decent number of twists throughout the generous runtime but the final one stands out to me.
In terms of what this Definitive Edition adds, there isn't a whole lot. It certainly looks between than the Wii version, and the 3DS version for that matter, but it is not a massive jump in visuals. The resolution isn't particularly high and there's some frame drops which may just be the Switch being underpowered in this day and age. The quality of life additions are nice which make questing a lot easier. Leveling down is nice since it's very easy to get overleveled in this game. It adds a new epilogue to the game which is good albeit nothing special but it's certainly more than most remasters add to a game. To me, it's one of the best games ever made and this gives a better way to play it on a modern console so it's very much worth it.