Monolith Soft
Xenoblade Chronicles stands tall as one of the most beloved JRPGs of the last decade, and the Nintendo Switch seems like the perfect way to bring out the best edition of the classic.
That’s what developer Monolith Soft strives for with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, a souped-up rerelease of the game that originally appeared on the Nintendo Wii in 2010 and again on the New 3DS in 2015.
This Switch offering takes the well-reviewed classic (originally a 92 on Metacritic) and modernizes gameplay elements, graphics and more while tacking on “Future Connected,” an epilogue scenario with impactful happenings for the universe.
Given past successes and the ideas above, there’s a clear recipe for Xenoblade Chronicles to once again corner the JRPG market, if not become one of the best titles in the genre on the Switch.
Graphics and Gameplay
Context is important when discussing Definitive Edition’s visuals.
Players who poured hours into the prior games are going to come away flabbergasted with the graphics. Gone are the blurry and pixelated blobs that were characters in the past. The Switch has some horsepower and happily flexes it here, bringing these anime-style characters to life in vibrant ways.
But players who don’t have that past experience might find it easier to lean into the flaws. Not everything has been overhauled—characters still move in robotic fashion, other NPCs in the world straight up disappear when talking to one, and environments suffer from pop-up and blurriness.
But this isn’t a remaster: It’s more of a rerelease with some new finishing touches. The characters look droves better, and it plays a part in getting invested in the story. The world is still beautiful for what it is—a diverse, colorful realm that perfectly matches the goofy, grand story.
Understandable graphical hiccups from a decade ago aside, what was already a stellar soundtrack is upgraded and just as good at helping to set the mood.
As in the past, the battle HUD is ridiculously—almost comically—busy. A plethora of menus, wild fonts, pauses for time traveling, systems atop systems during live-action gameplay and the general chaos of battle make for a brutal learning curve.
Speaking specifically to the power backing the Switch version, whether the locked framerate (30FPS) and visuals are a setback will vary by the player. On one hand, the performance is a little disappointing, on another, this isn’t a combo-intensive game that requires key timing to do well in battle.
The carryover and improvements balance happens throughout the gameplay experience, too.
A battle system that was difficult to master a decade ago remains the same. It’s live-action with the player character and accompanying A.I. auto-attacking. Players control positioning and Arts in a very deep system that feels quite a bit like an MMO. Timing, positioning, status effects and sequencing of attacks and Arts convolute the battle process.
Arts span the typical RPG moveset. They build over time as a character auto-attacks and are (quietly explained) color-coded, with red being a physical attack, for example. Others cause status effects or knockdowns and others heal, while the traditional three-party group comprises of a …….