Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is one of the most anticipated games in the coming months on Nintendo Switch. This remaster of the Wii game brings us the version of the game with improved graphics, but also with more content in the plot and changes in gameplay. We have already known details such as the duration of the playable epilogue, which will certainly bring more chicha to what we already knew about the game. But Takahashi Tetsuya, president of Monolith Soft, brings us a good amount of news from this version of the game.
In an interview with Famitsu, who from Nintendo’s life has been in charge of translating in full, Tetsuya gives us a handful of news about the game. One of the first details Tetsuya reveals is about the start of development for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition:
«I remember that we launched the project in late 2017, immediately after the launch of Xenoblade Chronicles 2. At that time, the development of Torna – The Golden Country was underway, so the production of both projects was simultaneous. A planning document was created while Xenoblade Chronicles DLC 2, which was completed around May 2018 “occurred.
“We officially started development in August 2018, after Torna – The Golden Country development ended. I think in that sense, you could say that both projects had been progressing side by side, but the staff was divided in three ways – staff working on a new title, staff for Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, and staff working on both ».
When asked about the reason for calling it “Definitive Edition”, Tetsuya clarified that there were several options on the table, but that they opted for that after consulting with Nintendo. “The title was decided after consulting with Nintendo. Since the game has been improved in several ways, it was difficult to decide; It is not like a »Deluxe Edition», which gives the impression of having additional content, but we decided on the «Definitive Edition», which is the final version that respects the original », he comments.
Changes in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
Speaking about the important part of this edition, the news, Takahashi explained that they focused on improving the appearance and refining the gameplay since they considered that the content was leftover. First of all, if you look at the gameplay, for example, if you’ve lost a number of times during a particular boss battle, or if you’ve died a certain number of times, the pop-up window ‘Can’t beat the boss »and the strategy to beat the boss will be given through the tutorial. When you return to the game, you will receive a boost through effects such as completely filling the group meter ».
“Next, for convenience, we focus primarily on the user interface. We thoroughly review elements ranging from element display and transitions and take every opportunity to make clear what is displayed and how to maneuver.”
Finally, the appearance. We have mainly focused on improving the graphics of the characters, which was one of our regrets in the original game. Originally, one of the trade-offs we had to make due to hardware limitations was the sharpness of the character graphics. In the final edition, although there are still restrictions such as production cost and time, we decided to break those past limits and improve.“
“In short, this is a theme for producer Yamada Nariwa and director Inaba Michihiko, but overall, we wanted to clearly define what was good and what needed to be improved. We meticulously plan all the specifications for this project. ”
The graphical improvements in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
“It is not surprising that production costs and development time are a limitation. There was no way to recreate everything from scratch. Therefore, first what we would create again and not. In particular, weapons and equipment, enemies, and map models, among other assets, were limited to texture upgrades and there were texture improvements for shaders, faces, and hands of key characters and new equipment and the Monado. We recreate the cinematic scenes and facial animations for the plot scenes, “ says the President of Monolith about the most important graphic changes.
“Although a line was drawn, the staff demonstrated their commitment to the project, and assets such as enemies and map models that were not initially planned to be updated received improvements here and there. Although these updates are not built from scratch, we would be delighted if you could tell the difference.”
“As for the user interface, in addition to being easy to understand, there was an additional concept ” User interface for a perfect experience.” For this, users would not feel inhibited by a large amount of content thrown at them. Naviroute shows you the way to the mission locations. Chance Arts tells you the arts that meet special icon attack conditions, so players can enhance their battle experiences. We have added these elements with the aim of “remastering the content to convey the charm of the original game”, including filters and favorite functions that allow players to choose and classify their equipment, “he adds.
The other changes in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
Finally, Takahashi Tetsuya also commented on other aspects of this remaster that have been modified, such as music. Several songs from the soundtrack have been re-recorded. As I said earlier, there were several restrictions because this is a remaster. The same applies to music, and it was simply not possible to re-record them all with an orchestra. So we prioritized the song list first, and then we recorded the highest-ranking field and battle songs with live recordings with an orchestra. ”
«We also had to take into account the budget and we improved the quality of other songs that could not be recorded live through digital media. We’ve improved the sound quality by relaxing the data compression, in contrast to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. For event songs, changing the tempo or scale of the song takes a lot of work 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 album ».
“I think it is very important not to alter the content of the game like the story and the battles, and as such it remains unchanged from the original. That said, new mechanisms were added. Autosave, casual mode, accumulated EXP bonuses for missions and milestones, advanced level adjustments that allow players to level down at any time, attack at the moment, event room, design team and much more », he says for conclude.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition will arrive on May 29, 2020.
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