Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Receives A Day One Update

If it’s a day 1 update, why isn’t it 1.1.0 instead of 1.1.1?

I’ve decided... I will get this game I think!

@nessisonett

Because numbering conventions are completely arbitrary?

@BabyYoshi65 do it... best decision!! You’ll love it

@nessisonett my guess? This “Definitive Edition” is 1.1 to the 1.0 release for the Wii.

@Dezzy They’re literally not. Semantic versioning goes Major.Minor.Patch, in the sense that Major versions usually change the program to an extent that it’s no longer compatible with previous versions, Minor versions are small enough to be backwards compatible and Patch versions don’t change the API. Therefore unless there was another patch that was unreleased, the game should be version 1.0.1 or 1.1.0 but possibly they lumped a couple of patches together in order to make it 1.1.1

@Averagewriter Every time I see something increment from version 1.0 straight to 1.5, I die a little inside 😂😂

@nessisonett Perhaps they had a version 1 and noticed something before the game shipped.

@nessisonett You sound like a fellow dev, so you should probs realize that not all versions gets a production release. Sometimes issues can come up on release candidates and needs to be pulled back again.

Uh oh you mean the game isn't completely flawless at launch? That's it cancelling my preorder! Lazy Lazy developers! LOL just kidding. That's what all the framerate nuts would say. Perfection and completely glitch free or it ain't worth buying. 😜

@d_omini_c I guess that’s true but I would have expected them to only commit to version 1.0.0 once they go gold. I just found the fact the day 1 patch was an increment of 1.1 instead of 1.0 quite strange, all things considered.

Can they fix the faulty subtitles in Future Connected? No spoilers, but frequently in the opening hours, the subtitle text doesn't match up with what the characters are actually saying.

Moving trees would be appreciated

@StevenH
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is 720p. Nobody said anything. Yoshi's Crafted World runs between 576p and 675p docked and 396-495p handheld.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w95yC7wfdUA

Yet nobody said anything. Kirby Star Allies runs consistently below 900p with a less than stellar frame rate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/7vupsr/kirby_star_allies_runs_at_roughly_900p/

And again. Nobody said anything. Fire Emblem Three Houses is one of the ugliest games on the system yet people adore it for the fun gameplay, story, and characters.

Not to be that guy, but raw graphics numbers aren't everything. Style, aesthetic, and art direction matter more to Nintendo than that. Xenoblade delivers perfectly with its steampunk/sci-fi aesthetic and half-realistic, yet saturated visuals. Nintendo puts fun first, not graphics.

@StevenH
Actually no. Lots of those games you brought up only manage 900p. And even so, there are plenty of first party games that don't hit those specs (like the ones I just mentioned) and people still enjoy. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Kirby Star Allies, Yoshi's Crafted World, Xenoblade 2/Torna/DE, Astral Chain, Pokemon Sword/Shield, Pokemon Let's Go, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Mario+Rabbids, Octopath Traveler, Hyrule Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors, and even the acclaimed Animal Crossing New Horizons. None of these games run at 1080p or even a stable 900p and are all 30fps. You mean to tell me that all these games are "inexcusable" and "bad" just because they don't meet your tech standards?

That's not even mentioning the Link's Awakening remake which also runs at 30fps yet has less value for one's money compared to Xenoblade DE.

Sounds to me like most first party games DON'T hit full 1080p/60fps yet people still love them regardless because you don't buy a Nintendo console for ultra mega graphics, you buy them for great games that are fun.

But hey, if you don't want to have a fun game to play all because of some numbers you read online, then you're well within your rights to do so. It's your money. That's all.

@StevenH "framerate and gameplay matter just as much as gameplay"

If that's the case, we should just stop porting and praising ganes like The Witcher 3 and Doom. And hell, Alien Isolation should be condemned for having dips below 1080p, rather than called better looking than the PS4 version because of better post processing effects.

Looking forward to playing this for the first time after my morning calls.

Related sidenote: Check out the "recent releases" tab on your Switch this morning - its an embarrassment of riches 😍

@ianl579 i wouldnt be surprise they ll increase the res in the next patch.

@StevenH some people like you are quite obsess over graphics/resolution even though this game is mostly an anime type/colorful world game not a full realistic game like witcher 3 and so on seriously the res on this version is slightly better over the wii version but fps is wat counts since it keeps the game run smoothly.

@StevenH But a next gen Switch isn't releasing this year, so we know that the graphical capability of the Nintendo system at least won't be improved.

Also the Switch was underpowered compared to the Xbone and PS4 when it released because of its mobile structure, and the two high end consoles struggle to do 1080p/60fps themselves. If you expected 1080p/60fps from the Switch, even in 2020, I don't know what to tell you.

@Tharsman @nessisonett just some additional information for you guys on the topic:
Out of the box the game has Version 1.0.0
My guess would be, that they already applied patches between production start and sale (maybe already some feedback from testers, who knows?).

@StevenH actually the game runs super smooth and by keeping the look the way it is, you directly feel home (if you played the Wii). Sure it's an upgrade in resolution and if you make a 1to1 comparison it will be clear how much it advanced. But on the other hand, after playing roughly 5 hours, it still feels like the original XC, and that's a good thing! Improvement without killing the original feeling.

What I try to say is, a super polished 1080p or even 4k and 60fps might have killed a little of the soul of the original. Sure, we never will know (until the re-remaster in 10 years )

@mazzel Ahh, that means version 1.0.0 was the version that went gold after all. This has become quite the rabbit hole!

Could it just be that there actually two patches but only the one that has been mentioned in this article has had its contents published?

@BabyYoshi65 so you haven’t actually decided then... 😉

@nessisonett yeah, I feel like on console the devs are not so "open) with patch histories like they are (or were) on PC. Guess we'll never know

P.s.: the v1.0.0 information comes from myself as I received the game yesterday already and always check updates before I start playing

@StevenH the framerate is stable, its a stable 30fps. There are the odd drops but nothing drastic and I would imagine that the odd drops could be patched going by what I've seen. 60fps would probably be nice but I wouldn't exactly say it was necessary for a game like this and it also may have been quite difficult to implement if the original was only ever designed for 30fps gameplay which I would suggest it likely was. Twilight Princess HD still only ran at 30fps on Wii U to offer a comparison. I think there is a reason we haven't seen a lot of wii re-releases/masters and its likely that the porting process just isn't that easy.

Lets not forget as well the games you mention later on were all developed with either the Wii U or Switch in mind and are all fairly arcade like in experience, Donkey Kong is also 2D so won't require the same level of processing power as a 3D 'openworld' rpg.

As for the resolution and draw distance, perhaps they could have been improved with a larger team who knows? They have stated it was a fairly team doing the job and they likely based this on sales of XC2 which were decent but nothing earth shattering.

I think what we are getting is an acceptable port on limited resources which will potentially be updated over time, adding animations back into the trees would be at the top of my list.

@Collette
While 378p is the lowest in can go in handheld mode, it never gets to that in normal circumstances so for all intents and purposes it performs better than the Wii version at all times. And compared to its other handheld counterpart--the 3DS--it's also a direct upgrade.

And that's debatable given that Xenoblade X had loads of muddy textures and took forever to load in its environments while DE is more steamlined and has a much cleaner art style with visuals that pop. X may have a great sense of scale but the art design is largely bland and muted compared to 1/DE. So once more it can be debated that DE performs better than X in that respect. It's all in how you look at it. Let's not put the game down until we play it. The game's visuals are primarily rooted in its steampunk anime aesthetic and is by no means ugly to look at. It's not God of War or Halo, it's Xenoblade.

I hope they have a day 2 patch as well. I've got no voices in any cutscenes just the background music and sound effects. Don't really want to play it until it's fixed.

I'm really downloading it!

So no optimization fix for higher resolutions? They always blatantly ignored this with XC2. Looks like that's gonna repeat itself.

360p it is...

Although this will be the best version I cannot purchase for a third time. Sorry nintendo.

Everyone else please enjoy.

Sadly, my copy hasn't arrived in the post, but to be expected given the circumstances. I'm tempted to get it digitally & shelve the collector's edition when it arrives ^_^

@JR150 I bought a Nintendo console for great games but don't believe this idea that great games and good graphics are mutually exclusive. Mario Kart and Smash look great and play great on my Nintendo and I would prefer if the rest of my Nintendo Library looked the same.

@status-204 Nope, after restarting the game a few times I've found I can get it to work, but it's a bit inconsistent. Will just have to restart when it happens for now I guess.

People on here defending these graphics are like your friend who introduces you to someone they think is a perfect match for you. But when you see them you are totally unattracted to them and then your friend says BUT They have such a great personality. Thanks but no thanks I'd prefer to have both.

There should be no frame rate drops in a game so old that could run 576i (with component cable) on Wii, a console that was basically a beefed up Gamecube.

A great game is a great game And if it has great graphics that’s even better but for Nintendo generally gameplay first. It’s like a great tune is a great tune regardless of the production values - listen to a Beatles album now - my granny and an iPhone could produce better than that now but that’s not the point - the tunes are timeless. Graphics are just frosting, gameplay is the cake.

Remember everyone: Gameplay > Graphics.

@Yydeckarc Yeah, no. The only Beatles album with questionable production is Let it Be and even that was Phil Spector. The Beatles were the band that changed music production forever, there’s a reason Abbey Road masters are so valued. It’s a huge disservice to George Martin’s work to compare it to an iPhone. I understand the point you’re trying to make but the production on The Beatles’ albums still holds up possibly better than albums released in the last couple of years.

Shame they can’t patch it to run in actual HD.

The resolution on this is shocking. The 3DS version had a more consistent resolution. Makes me really sad that this isn’t even a smooth 720 when DOCKED.

8 hours in, my game card got an error and closed the game. Hasn't happened in 2 hours since, but hopefully, whatever caused it gets patched

The game seems much more stable in terms of its handheld resolution scaling so far, which is a massive relief.

Anyway, XCDE can only handle 720p when docked, and the PS4 version of Fallout 4 had to remove all of the fog from the game's Far Harbor DLC to get it running at more than 20fps, lol. Every piece of hardware has its limitations. If you're not playing non-exclusives on PC, then you're not experiencing most of your games at their full potential. In 2020, dammit! In 2020!!

@JaxonH I'm starting to see what you mean about a subcultural obsession with performance analyses leading to people fixating on arbitrary stats and numbers over the end user experience. Even as someone who was pretty harsh on MS for the way Xenoblade 2 performed when undocked, I'm getting a bit tired of people crying over what they heard in a digital foundry video.

@Dezzy exactly I've made programs before and you basically choose what your update numbers are going to be unless you have an automated system to do it for you.

@DrLockdown That doesn't mean they're faulty. Subtitles and dubs are usually different translations. Dubs are more natural and understandable, as well as needing to be more actable and meet technical requirements like matching flaps, while subtitles are more literal.

@JR150 "Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is 720p. Nobody said anything. Yoshi's Crafted World runs between 576p and 675p docked and 396-495p handheld. (...) Kirby Star Allies runs consistently below 900p with a less than stellar frame rate. (...) And again. Nobody said anything."

Perhaps that's just because no one cared about those games, Yoshi's Crafted World in particular.

My Collector's Edition arrived today.

I'm really feeling it.

Also, to the people saying other Switch titles don't hit 1080p at 60fps either: there's a pretty stark difference between running at 900p, 30fps, and running at 540p, 30fps - especially when it's simply a remaster of a game released two console generations ago. The Witcher 3 was and is lauded for being an extremely good looking game. It was developed for the strongest possible hardware at the time, and its Switch port runs at a higher resolution than Xenoblade, which was developed for the weakest possible hardware at the time.

Xenoblade ran near-perfectly on the 3DS. Why can't it run near-perfectly on the Switch?

@JimmySpades That's fine and dandy for DVD releases, but for video games where subtitles are the default? Not really.

That's a lot of fixes for those 2 updates, obviously they were too lazy to test play the game

I FEEL VINDICATED

I feel bad for some people here. I'm playing this game and having blast, meanwhile they are on here arguing about resolution numbers.

@nessisonett You called it, man!

I got a physical copy yesterday. It really does look great. Plays very smooth as well.

I do hope they patch in the amiibo support the 3ds had, or another functionality. Then it's truly definitive imo.

@Anri02 Very Serious Gamers™️. They garner no joy from a game until the pixel count is public. 😂

@geni53yr7 Are you... Serious? Like, yeah, there's a half dozen final fixes in the day 1 patch, but none of them are remotely game breaking or likely to show up in a majority of playthroughs. Some last minute fixes doesn't mean the devs were lazy.

@nessisonett I was considering tagging you too lol

Second update has yet to go up here, maybe later at night.

And JFC, the comments. That moment when even Nintendo's audience starts judging what resolutions are "excusable" or not. You guys are officially a generation conditioned by television marketing industry, congrats on that. ¯\(ツ)/¯

They need to finish making this game lol can't wait for my updates on Monday! 🤜🏻🤜🏻🔥

When there is a "turn the grass off" option let me know.

Glad I took part in Operation Rainfall to bring the original game over to Wii in the first place, this way everyone could bicker about patch numbers..

@nessisonett I think you answered your own question. This is a patch as it is just bug fixes. The version released to the public was apparently 1.1.0

Anyway, it’s just a useful convention and there is no law of software engineering that lays this stuff out. A software development team can use whatever convention they want.

@StevenH I am curious. Why is framerate so important for XC? The resolution issues and static trees, those are deflating, though.

@Parrot had the same problem my switch had its sound settings in automatic, changed it to surround still no voice. It fixed itself when I changed it to stereo. Hope that helps!

@JR150
Amen to that!

@StevenH
What you are saying does not make a lot of sense.
Even PS5 and Series X might have games running at low resolution and framerate (Unless Sony/Microsoft just won't let those games on the market.).
Even though, it would have been totally possible to have Xenoblade Chronicles run at 1080/60 on the Switch? The thing is that they ->decided<- against it. They upgraded the graphics until it was not easily possible anymore to run the game with greater resolution on Switch. This is a kind of decision any developer has to make, regardless of how powerfull a console is.
Sure game XY could have 1080/60 on a PS5, but we could use this hardware for a higher poly count and better lighting instead. Something like that.

In case of Xenoblade, I think that was the right call at least.
The game looks so much better than the original and you are basically saying that they should have sacrificed that to get the numbers up. Well, looking at the game, thank god they didn't.

If you think that a game, looking like it does now, should still have higher numbers, you are talking about the wrong console. That the Switch has some limitations compared to even PS4 and XONE should be obvious.

@StevenH
I just wanted to explain to you, why the way you are thinking just doesn't work regardless of the console.

But yeah I get it, i am just a stupid Nintendo fanboy even though my main system I game on is a PC. I am really tired of that argument, you can not reason with anything, since the moment you say anything defending a Nintendo game, no matter how justified that is, you are just disregarded as a fanboy.

Have you even considered that others here, arguing against you, might have a point?

Well doesn't matter, I am fed up with this as well.
I guess in that sense we feel similar. We are both asking ourselfs why we even tried to argue.

Man, what a bunch of jokers on this thread!

@Kirgo Except what @StevenH is completely right. A game packaged as a "definitive release" shouldn't be running at lower frame rates and resolutions than the original.

And saying PS5 and Nextbox "might" have games running at lower resolutions is not a defense of Nintendo currently having games that don't even hitting basic levels of industry acceptability in 2020. But let's be honest, PS5 and Nextbox are not going to have games running even close to the levels that Switch does because those systems aren't going to be using antiquated technology like the Switch. Yeah, yeahs, I know, it's a handheld not a console. Blah, blah, blah, framerate snob.

The Switch is consistently putting out games with framerate and resolution issues and people constantly defend the practice "because Nintendo" and then attack people who refuse to see the Switch through the same pair of rose colored glasses. You say the people arguing against @StevenH might have a point. Their point is basically, I can look past the technical issues and still enjoy the game. That's fine, but it isn't doesn't change the fact that this "definitive" game doesn't even reach the standards set by the original release.

One thing we can agree on is that people who want to play games at the industry standards of 2020 definitely shouldn't be gaming on the Switch. It just isn't powerful enough and most games require the player to overlook issues that wouldn't exist on other consoles.

The fact that I worry over hitting the "reply" key because my comment might get deleted or my account get banned for "trolling" should tell you all that you need to know about the ability to have a rational conversation on this site. @StevenH was right in giving up the argument.

@Ambassador_Kong
Oh, come on now...
All I was arguing is, that if you want to have a higher resolution or framerate, you have to sacrifice something else.
If you think that the game would look over all better with a higher resolution even if that means, for example, lower texture resolution, than that is your opinion, but it is nothing more than that: An opinion.

They enhanced other parts of the game. If they didn't do that you could have 1080/60, easily. The game would, overall, not look that much better than the original though, just an upscaled version with some enhancements here and there.

This has nothing much to do with any "basic levels of industry acceptability". If you want to go with that, than it was, to me, already completely unacceptable that a PS4 wasn't outputting every game in at least native 1080p. PCs have already been able to do that for ages at that point.
So what are those basic levels?
Anyone will have his own opinion on that.
And saying that the Switch is weak compared to other home consoles is something we don't have to discuss, it is obvious and we have had this discussion a million times already.
Doesn't change that this game wouldn't necessarily have looked better over all with higher resolution if they made sacrifices somewhere else though.
And no one is arguing that PS5 and Nextbox won't be technically a lot better than the Switch. They would be able to output this version of this game in 4k, I am sure. It's just not something I am arguing, at all.
The thing is: If this game were on PS5, they could sacrifice that resolution again for even more details. Just think what absolutely amazing textures and poly counts the game would have if it was running on an PS5 with, say, 720p resolution and 30fps (whether it would still be worth it at that point, is another topic).
We could argue about industry standards again then, even though the game might look absolutely incredible in such a case.

And yes, I know how annoying fanboys can be, defending everything.
But people here were mostly just normaly arguing against what @StevenH was writing. You know, things you do in a comment section.

I absolutely hate the removal of the dislike button. It just makes an echo chamber of the Nintendo Defenders.

@Kirgo I honestly wish you had a clue what you are talking about. But clearly, whether you want to argue or not, you don't. Sorry, but saying they would have to sacrifice things in order to make the game run at a higher resolution/higher framerate is somewhat true, but comparing the device to Next Gen machines is bonkers.

The framerate at 30 would be acceptable if this game running on architecture designed in 1999, was running at 1080p, with some significant improvements to effects, shading and poly count. However. Whilst the game has seen a shader overhaul and upped poly counts on the characters, the overall image during gameplay is by and large, not improved at all.

I love the new character models, how the fingers are actually fingers now, and the facial structures are more dynamic, but that cost, should not be tanking the resolution on this game. Bioshock Remastered and Borderlands 2, games both far more demanding than Xenoblade Chronicles manage to hold 30 FPS, and a locked resolution.

Team size or not, they could have released the wii version upscaled, with new character models, the new UI and no other graphical changes and easily locked 30fps 1080p, and it would be far more pleasant to look at, than this fuzzy mess.

@sixrings What’s it matter? We couldn’t even see the dislikes on our own comments.

Glorious, isn't it? We didn't have this nonsense on the Wii!

@sixrings I really don't know why you expected anything else in here to be honest, in fact the last thing I'd expect in a site called Nintendolife (a site dedicated to fans of all things Nintendo) is to sign up hoping it's going to be full of people slagging off Nintendo. It'd be like me signing up to Britmums and then complaining about there being too many British mums in there.

I mean sure, we have a fair few obnoxious crybabies with virtually no life experience and a Sony brown noser here or there, but generally it's people who love Nintendo. Hence the name. Nintendolife.

If you have genuine gripes you could actually try contacting Nintendo directly. They must have customer feedback areas on their site.

@WiltonRoots There's one of those I mentioned in the other thread.

@JR150 I complained about all those things and didn't buy Yoshi because of it. Ppl didn't make a huge stink out of Tokyo Mirage because not a lot of ppl cred about it being released. Ppl did complain about Kirby being 30 fps, but the game looked good.