For a good 95% of future X DE players, it's going to be a completely new experience. As a day one fan of Xenoblade, I'm excited to see everyone's reception and reaction to DE, as much as I'm excited to (re)play it myself
That's pretty optimistic to think 95% of the people that will buy this will be players that didn't play it already. 😂 you must be one of the shareholders.
@zeke7634 on the contrary I am pessimistic enough to think a very low number of people from the 840k who bought X on Wii U are still interested today in buying XDE, and there are tons of new young players. If you remove all the people who don't play games anymore or the ones who didn't like the game back then, or casual players, I don't think you have a lot of people left who will buy the game a second time.
@@zeke7634 Wii U had like 9% of the Switch total playerbase, so for a vast majority of players this will be a brand new experience… like me, i have never played Xenoblade X, so the Definitive Edition will be the first time i do so.
This was one of the things that really fascinated me about Xeno X, and I'm not usually a tech nerd when it comes to my games. How they managed to optimize to the point that it looked so good on the bloody WiiU. The characters were super anime, but the areas/monsters were not a simplified art style. If I remember correctly, some of monolithsoft was responsible for helping Nintendo with the wizardry responsible for Breath of the Wild's seamless open world, too. It's insane.
The switch is only marginally better than the wii u power wise. The technology was there, the fact that people didnt like the wiiu doesnt mean it was completely shit in everything it did. People just shit on the wiiu just ti shit on the wiiu smh
@first_8_digits_of_Pi you're right. I loved my WiiU, and I'm speaking as someone who saw it in store and bought it on a whim, thinking it was an overpriced accessory for the Wii. Imagine my surprise when I got a whole other console. 😅🤣 It was a good console that had terrible marketing, and people hadn't been burned enough by AAA games turning out terrible with nice graphics yet, so they fell for the "too under-powered" slander.
@first_8_digits_of_Pi i disagree. I had fun with some games on the wii u, but i hate it. My gamepad's wireless module failed so many times that it was broken more than it worked, i think i sent it back to nintendo for repair 3 times and then fixed it an additional 2 times myself. The hardware itself being flaky and slow is why i hate it. Go back to the menus, even just pressing the home button takes forever and feels awful.
I haven't even left Mira, I pre-ordered the original on Wii U and I've been slowly chipping away at it. I put my save file on CEMU for 4K, 60fps, among other improvements and mods
Yeah, less ugly now, but honestly, they're almost identical except around the hair, eyes, and eyebrows. I did an overlay in Photoshop for a better comparison. Lighting is different too
@@EhurtAfybut so many people comment otherwise. They even said Elma face looks dead even cursed with no expression. It baffles me when I see nothin wrong with new one
Man, that abrupt change to Xenoblade 2 footage surprised me quite a bit. That game is blurry af. Its really noticeable the difference with how crisp Xenoblade X looks even on the original Wii U.
@@CriIp I actually decided to put Xenoblade 2 back on my switch to see if it really was that blurry (I hadn't played it again in years). And you're kinda right, it doesn't look as blurry as in the video (probably bad recording or UA-cam compression), but it still looks extremely blurry compared to almost any other switch game and even compared to Xenoblade X. And not even mentioning portable mode.
The trailer doesn't show the HUD at all so I am sincerely hoping they improve the abysmally small text present in the Wii U game. And the more I think about it, that text certainly wouldn't work in handheld mode.
Playing it on Wii U for 300 hours gave me so much eye strain that it turned into sharp pain. It's what made me get glasses, even though my eyesight wasn't noticeably bad in everyday life.
That's also a matter of the Wii U tending to display desaturated colours in general. It was very noticeable with Virtual Console games and ports like Bayonetta. I think the console used a bad gamma correction setting.
I've always thought Elma was A, just in a complicated explanation as is usually with Xenoblade. Then this came about. I'm glad others are finally starting to see my vision.
I always thought Elma’s designs was based off Chaos from Xenosage, their hair color, clothing color, and eyes are so alike idk if anyone will agree but if you get a chance put their photos sode by side. As for Alvis his hair color and eyes are the same as those 2 i believe
@@keolancer2074 Yeah, Alvis is explicitly meant to be similar to chaos, and Elma has similar vibes to the both of them. Though the late-game reveals she's also a foil to KOS-MOS, narrative-wise.
@@mads_in_zero you know i have not beat X was because i spent most of my time not playing story, im glad you broke it down for me. This tome around imma try to spend more time with the story
4:20 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the shadows depicted in this shot are actually more realistic in the Wii U version. This is because the much less dense air molecules on the Moon would lead to lessened light diffusion, therefore creating harsher edges, more similar to what you see on the Wii U version. Sure, it's not reflective of what you'd see for most of the game, but I do think it's interesting that this shot in particular, the most obvious change of shadow, is actually less realistic
There's actually a fair amount of diffusion on the moon, even in examples of looking at your own shadow, pictures from the moon show diffusion up close, let alone from however many hundreds or thousands of miles out the spacecraft was. That's more to do with the wave properties than anything. One reason for the moon having stark contrast between lit areas and shaded ones is the lack of atmosphere, but it has less to do with the harshness of the edges as it has to do with the contrast between the lit and the dark areas.
Wii U did not run X at raw or constant 720p, it was dynamic 768x619 to 1228x720 so it technically *never* hits a "true" 720p image. This can be verified through the game's lib.ini file which has persisted through all the games since X.
Yes and the switch version isnt gonna be native 1080p either becausr thats just cutscenes all xenoblade cutscenes have been native 720p gameplay is different
@voicemxil if it really does end up being a full 1080p at a stable 30fps, then that would be seriously impressive since it is a large scale open world game. The other Xenoblade games on Switch had dynamic resolutions that struggled to even reach 720p. Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are 900p 30fps and those games certainly have performance issues here and there.
@@imgomes6425 You can see frame drops in the trailer and every single game since X has had dynamic resolution, so it wouldn’t be unexpected. Either way, a dynamic 1080p is still much better than anything they’ve done before and would be easier considering this game doesn’t use the advanced shading and lighting of the newer games
@voicemxil if you do pixel count on the trailers of Xenoblade 1 definitive edition, do you get what results? The number matches how that game runs on switch?
I love that they kept the "eyelashes override hair" style from XC3 as I absolutely adore that look. This was the first Xenoblade game I played and it is still my favorite after playing all of them. Day one purchase!
From what i remember the opening cutscene was a prerendered video file and to see it's been change with better effects makes me think they might be in engine now!
One thing I’ve noticed thanks to the side-by-side comparison; characters in the original seem to be able to make more detailed facial expressions. You especially see it with Elma, not to mention they’re toning down the more realistic art style (which fans complained about in the past) and altering the characters to look more like anime styled designs. We saw this in Elma’s DLC blade in Xenoblade 2, and in Xenoblade 1’s definitive edition. Not sure how I feel about it for X though. The realistic human designs in that game were very good, and it fit the overall aesthetic and tone of the game better. A more realistic style better fits the tone of a Western-made game, which Xenoblade X was clearly inspired by, especially because you’re literally playing as survivors from New Los Angeles from America. Still not sure if the new style change is going to be a good or bad thing; this is just my observations based on the trailer and what we’ve seen in the past. I’m still super excited to play it though.
It doesnt look that different, just better in terms of anatomy proportions and whatnot. I do notice it in the shading tho. And i agree im tired of this consistent move by Monolith to make their games more anime instead of realistic looking. They did this with the original xenoblade as well and im still not 100 percent well with it.
I am SO happy to see this game again on Switch! Been asking for it for years and had just fully accepted that it wasn’t happening, then boom! Such a cool game with cool vibes!
Music was a huge part of this game. Not every track was a banger but it grew on you and years later I still think of the music which almost never happens for most games I play.
Same. I had just started a 4th replay when this got announced. Putting that on hold. Listening to the soundtrack on UA-cam is what always brings me back for another playthrough. Can't wait for more Lao.
New heads confirmed! Really though, I’ve tried to play this game three or four times and could never get through it. The font size, convoluted UI, and most importantly having to run to your party members’ location to swap them in drives me nuts. I love the Xeno games though and really hope they figure out how to improve the flow of the game with some quality of life tweaks.
Font and UI might change, but i don't imagine they'll change the gameplay flow much. It was always meant to be more sim-like, which includes some of the tedium of real-life waits, and not everything accessible through a menu. I get why some people won't vibe with it, but it's a pretty effective gameplay method for Roleplay overall.
Stencil shadows are realistic on the moon. We only have soft shadows because either the light is huge compared to distance (think desk lamps) or atmospheric scattering. Soft shadows down on Mira are more realistic, but not in that shot of the moon.
The main reason why I wanted a Switch port despite having the Wii U version was because I want to play the game in handheld mode XC2 and XC:DE aren't really known to look good in handheld mode but since XCX:DE seemingly runs at 1080p it makes me more optimistic that it will run at 720p (or close to) in handheld mode
The side by side comparison really set my mind at ease, when I first saw it during the announcement video I wasn't 100% sure it looked better, but seeing this video it most definitely does!
I bought a Wii U back in the day just for this game. It is so nice to see it finally get a remaster on Switch. Everyone has been asking for it for years!
I 100% agree that Xenoblade X deserved screen soace reflections, specially in that area that's quite literally a giant pond The og game had a whole bunch of cube maps and the game would choose one depending on which cube map origin was closer to you, but SSR would've definitely been so much better in that area
2:35 all of them are technical masterpieces in my opinion. But I do wish these could be played on beefier hardware. Imagine how amazing xenoblade could be if we had an official PC version. I wonder if the switch 2 will allow the older xenoblade games to run better. Maybe they'll unlock a better quality option if you're running on the switch 2? Would love to see that become reality. These games always felt like they were meant to look 2-3 times as good, but were held back by the hardware.
If the next switch has BC they could already run better out of the box because the automatic resolution scaling would always be at the high end and shouldn’t really drop
@PropritacusLP right, but its probably set lower than 1080p. Doesn't the switch render at like 720p then upscale to 1080? I may be remembering that wrong, but I'm pretty sure it isn't true 1080p. And since the games are built to expect that render resolution, I'm saying they may need to patch in an option to allow a higher resolution/ frame rate if used on the switch 2.
@@PerkythePro yeah the UI is set to 1080 or 720p but xenoblade3 goes lower to 540p in most scenes and could be rendered at 720p most of the time, or even higher if the limit is increased.
@@PropritacusLPxenoblade 3 resolution is fixed docked at 540p because its using a temporal upscaler up to 720p or 1080p while xenoblade de and 2 are dynamic
My initial thoughts are that I dont like Elma's new face as much, but the player characters face and hair look way better now, also the cat looks better/more realistic in the wii u version in my opinion. All thats left now is to see how the other characters faces/heads and looks have changed.
John, Put up an hour+ long discussion of the game and just talk about whatever. Love your enthusiasm and this game feels endlessly fascinating. Can’t wait for the DE to play in true portable on my Switch!!!
This is probably the most closest comparison to both games they improved in the engine so much since the wii u it looks like Good QOL I hope they do more in the other aspects of the game.
omg we'll finally get more in depth guides and comparison for builds! (I do hope the a-sync online wont require online subscription but i doubt we'll be this lucky) I however hope we'll have a easier time farming for unique builds
It's interesting to see what changes under the hood they are doing. I'm fairly sure XB:DE and XB2 and 3 are using a significantly upgraded version of XBX's Engine. Are they isolating that Wii U engine build and upgrading it, or are they porting the game to XB3's Iteration.. Can't wait to get my hands on it.. Also.. Hopefully Nintendo releases a Collector's Edition since the other three have one... Would like real nice on my Shelf ;)
I actually vastly prefer cube mapped reflections on water like is done here, over screen space reflections. I'd much rather see inaccurate reflections than SSR artifacts.
I always loved the game, the artstyle, the flying with the skells, but I never got into the fighting mechanics, how to do combos or something. It always boiled down to pressing abilities randomly. Eventually I couldn't get past some boss. Idk if I wanna give this game another shot.
Combat requires learning how to make combos flow and where to strike. The dual swords prefer striking from behind/sides, and if you read the descriptions, you'll see which attack works well and when to use it. Some skills require a different stat (potential) to raise their damage, but they are the most powerful damage skills/healing in battle since they require tp. The game doesnt hold your hand and it expected you to read the manual to understand how the stats work.
@@-lord1754 I didn't wonder why I got stuck, I knew I was bad at combat. The combat system is just too complicated, if you ask me. However, its been ~10 years when I played that, maybe I wouldn't say that today, if I played it again.
The game has a great combat system just, in true Monolith Soft fashion (They've been doing this since the XenoSaga games) they are utterly shit on teaching you how the game works. I really hope the remaster adds better tutorials. Since genuinely I find X's Overdrive system to be the most fun combat in the series.
@Gereon_ coming back to a game after a length of time can make a difference. Maybe you were in a bad spot mentally/financially and that weight held you back from seeing combos easily. It happened to me with games like elden ring. But i do remember i had to read the manual to learn what potential did (my original thought was it was critical hits but my attacks never seemed to do anything resemblance of a crit), so they really do need something in game that you can use to learn stats and/or have a combat testing grounds.
I've loved all 4 of the Xenoblades, but X is still my favourite. I certainly hope they expand on the story, instead of leaving us on that cliffhanger 😅
I played it on the wii u a few years ago after i bought it randomly in a second-hand store I never played a xenoblade game before so i was kind of lost but i still managed to finish it Now i'm ready to play it again
I have a question, if you did the same analysis on the Xenoblade 1 Definitive Edition trailer and first screenshots, would you find the same resolution as the game ended up having when running on switch after release? Putting another way, can we trust that this 1080p you found is how the game is running and not simply Nintendo putting high quality images on their website?
This is a really great question. It's hard to get an accurate count on Xenoblade DE because of the temporal upscaling they're using but a quick glance at the reveal trailer looks about right compared to the final game. Obviously anything in a trailer is subject to change, but there are a couple reasons why I don't think things are likely to change here. We have really only seen Nintendo show possibly off-hardware renders when a game is still very early in development. For example the first couple Tears of the Kingdom trailers appeared to show a much higher internal resolution and great image treatment. They started showing it on what seems like real Switch hardware in the second half of its dev cycle. Since Xenoblade X is only a few months out and is an existing game I see no reason why they would need to fake anything here. With Xenoblade X specifically this was already a locked 720p game on Wii U. So a 1080p update on Switch is not particularly hard to believe. I'll also note that the image treatment isn't unrealistically good. If they wanted to make this look cleaner using a PC build they very easily could but they didn't. So is it possible? Of course. But do I think it's likely? No not at all. :)
I don't care for the newer xenoblade games cartoonish looking models. Reminds me of tales of arise or something. Preferred the more realistic look of og x. I don't like that they changed Elma's face but maybe will grow on me.
A few minor gripes with the visual changes. Firstly, while I don't hate the new anime faces, if you compare elma making expressions side-by-side, her new face is actually less expressive than her old face, and in a game that was already filled with relatively stiff cutscenes, that's a pretty big loss. Secondly, I really actually kinda despise the new ring lighting effect on clothes. They look plasticky and cheap, while the original clothing looked realistic (and at times the lighting engine was downright unique on the clothes in a way I really liked). Thirdly, there's one or two small stutters in the switch one that are actually new (biggest one is visible when the camera pans from the protagonist and elma over to NLA) which is a bit concerning, considering the switch is more powerful than the wii U. And finally, the cat looks worse than it did in the original. All those mopes aside, I'm deeply excited for this, and if I end up not liking the changes when I actually play, I can always just go back to my wii U.
Its a universal thing at this point that new faces in any remasters are less expressive. Not much can be done about it within time constraints and low budget. I actually thought cat looks better, its less blocky and whiskers are much more natural but its lit up too much.
@@АртурАхметзянов-у1ж It's a shame about the facial expressions. And yes, the tail on the cat is also more detailed with more polygons, I think the lighting is just a little overtuned in that scene, as you said. Overall, I think I'm going to enjoy the remake, I just hope that the gear looks good.
great video!! looking forward to buy it in physical version of the game, love the xenoblade series, in the past I had read that the company monolith didnt want to make a switch version of the game but now happy to hear that they change their minds I imagine that also helped the announcement that Nintendo after the new switch release will continue making games for the primary switch!!! anyway great video keep the good work!!!
I'm hyped! Only was able to play the first opening moments on a Wii U. On a side note, what is the music being played in the background at the beginning?
@@TheLifeoflink Hope you'll enjoy it, Xenoblade X is my favourite game sitting at over 1,000 hours of play time. I do recommend looking up a combat guide though, the in-game tutorials are terrible.
I had the misfortune of having the Spore Cloud weather phenomena in Sylvalum spawn on me in the middle of a cutscene when i first played. Hopefully the Switch version doesn't just completely blind you with it.
ngl, I was hoping that they were saving this remaster for the eventual switch 2. I think we could get much better graphics improvement and we really hoping for even higher resolutions than just 1080p
Xeno 1 and X are both my faves. Much preferred them to 2 and 3. So excited for this. Really hope it manages 60fps on switch 2 :D Yet again this is looking like sheer techinical wizardry from monolith though. If they manage to render this whole game in 1080p docked with these visual enhancements AND maintain a consistant 30fps I gotta just tip my hat. This is one demanding game.
Since the visual difference, while better, isn't nearly as big as XC1 DE was, I wonder what QOL changes and new features will be added, since that was a big reason why the other remaster was called "Definitive Edition".
Love this game and so excited for it, but I do worry about the frame rate. Just about every game I have ever played on switch has horrible frame issues, and I can see this remake lagging and frame tearing in its trailer. Very easy to spot it at the 1:26 mark. The wii u is smooth but the switch is very choppy.
A reputable leaker (Midori) at the start of September said that XCX would be coming to Switch and Switch 2 next year. Also I’m sure Monolith wouldn’t want to waste their opportunity to push XCX to its absolute limits on Switch 2.
@@Subremedy I agree bc the game is introducing the player to the world and mechanics beforehand. But the trailer had me gassed up for instant Gundam-like adventures on my Wii U 😂
It looks very sharp on the switch which makes me wonder if its actually going to have switch 2 upgrades.... i hope so if its going to be a cross generation late release.
I doubt im unique here, but this is the first time ill be playing X as i never had a wii u and i didnt want to have to mess around with an emulator so im looking forward to going into this fresh. Ill be real, im just here for the mechs
I really dislike that they're changing the artstyle, but I'm too happy about finally getting the port I've been begging for that I won't let it bother me. beggars can't be choosers after all.
From what I’ve seen over the years, people who played the game got used to the models. But in my perspective, someone who’s never played the game, they look bad.
Makes me wonder what changes will be made to the game, if any. Maybe a better HUD (I hope), or better font? Hope there's something and not just making it look a little better.
Nice to know this game will be released 1080p with improvements. After so many Xenoblade titles with poor resolution and problems, like the terrible remaster of the Wii title, I wasn't sure Monolith would give us a decent port of the WiiU game.
4:36 In space shadows are harsher without atmosphere interference. Not a good look imho. And the Wii U cat has better resolution on its fur. Switch version only up rezzes the wall.
Okay so, maybe I'm in a vast minority here, but I think those "rim lights" or "edge glare" -things (whatever they're called) look MUCH worse. Everything else looks better, but it looks really stupid to have light on shaded surfaces like that. It makes it looks so much more "gamey" than the original.
For a good 95% of future X DE players, it's going to be a completely new experience. As a day one fan of Xenoblade, I'm excited to see everyone's reception and reaction to DE, as much as I'm excited to (re)play it myself
That's pretty optimistic to think 95% of the people that will buy this will be players that didn't play it already. 😂 you must be one of the shareholders.
I played the original Wii U version a couple years back, and I'm hypes to do it all again, and then some.
@zeke7634 on the contrary I am pessimistic enough to think a very low number of people from the 840k who bought X on Wii U are still interested today in buying XDE, and there are tons of new young players. If you remove all the people who don't play games anymore or the ones who didn't like the game back then, or casual players, I don't think you have a lot of people left who will buy the game a second time.
@@zeke7634 Wii U had like 9% of the Switch total playerbase, so for a vast majority of players this will be a brand new experience… like me, i have never played Xenoblade X, so the Definitive Edition will be the first time i do so.
You guys are in for a treat.
This is my personal favorite open world map ever created. "Mira" as a planet is a work of art.
This was one of the things that really fascinated me about Xeno X, and I'm not usually a tech nerd when it comes to my games. How they managed to optimize to the point that it looked so good on the bloody WiiU. The characters were super anime, but the areas/monsters were not a simplified art style.
If I remember correctly, some of monolithsoft was responsible for helping Nintendo with the wizardry responsible for Breath of the Wild's seamless open world, too. It's insane.
The switch is only marginally better than the wii u power wise. The technology was there, the fact that people didnt like the wiiu doesnt mean it was completely shit in everything it did. People just shit on the wiiu just ti shit on the wiiu smh
@first_8_digits_of_Pi you're right. I loved my WiiU, and I'm speaking as someone who saw it in store and bought it on a whim, thinking it was an overpriced accessory for the Wii. Imagine my surprise when I got a whole other console. 😅🤣 It was a good console that had terrible marketing, and people hadn't been burned enough by AAA games turning out terrible with nice graphics yet, so they fell for the "too under-powered" slander.
It was BECAUSE of their work on XCX that Monolith Soft were hired for BOTW.
@luischeco3009 yeah, that was my point? XBX came out well before BotW, I thought the context was obvious.
@first_8_digits_of_Pi i disagree. I had fun with some games on the wii u, but i hate it. My gamepad's wireless module failed so many times that it was broken more than it worked, i think i sent it back to nintendo for repair 3 times and then fixed it an additional 2 times myself. The hardware itself being flaky and slow is why i hate it. Go back to the menus, even just pressing the home button takes forever and feels awful.
I just cannot wait to see this game on an OLED switch..the lighting in Noctilum at night or Sylvalum will be something to behold.
good heavens... 1080p XcX with better draw-distance. we're living in the correct timeline
Get the Japanese release dubbed and you get an even better one.
It's so easy to emulate it at 4k 60fps though so it's hard for me to give that up, but the added story helps
@@dansmith1661 'Get the japanese dub' i know your room smells like shit
Mira... 10 years later I'm coming back again :)))
I'm ready to fall in love with goddess Elma again! 😍💓
@@Human_01 Ah, I see you are an Elma person of culture as well.
It's this planet. It's something about this planet!
I haven't even left Mira, I pre-ordered the original on Wii U and I've been slowly chipping away at it. I put my save file on CEMU for 4K, 60fps, among other improvements and mods
@@EhurtAfy oh I would love to put my save from my wii u into my pc too, no idea how to do it tho
The player character got such a huge improvement
Yeah, less ugly now, but honestly, they're almost identical except around the hair, eyes, and eyebrows. I did an overlay in Photoshop for a better comparison. Lighting is different too
@@EhurtAfybut so many people comment otherwise. They even said Elma face looks dead even cursed with no expression. It baffles me when I see nothin wrong with new one
Man, that abrupt change to Xenoblade 2 footage surprised me quite a bit. That game is blurry af. Its really noticeable the difference with how crisp Xenoblade X looks even on the original Wii U.
That xenoblade 2 footage isn't recorded the best, its not blurry when you play it, but yes Xenoblade X looks really good on Wii U
@@CriIpit kinda is. Xbc2 looks like dookie sadly even on my oled
I adore xeno 2 (just as much as the others) but im pretty sure it is that blurry
@@sharebear421how does xenoblade 3 look?
@@CriIp I actually decided to put Xenoblade 2 back on my switch to see if it really was that blurry (I hadn't played it again in years). And you're kinda right, it doesn't look as blurry as in the video (probably bad recording or UA-cam compression), but it still looks extremely blurry compared to almost any other switch game and even compared to Xenoblade X. And not even mentioning portable mode.
The trailer doesn't show the HUD at all so I am sincerely hoping they improve the abysmally small text present in the Wii U game.
And the more I think about it, that text certainly wouldn't work in handheld mode.
Playing it on Wii U for 300 hours gave me so much eye strain that it turned into sharp pain. It's what made me get glasses, even though my eyesight wasn't noticeably bad in everyday life.
I used to play on the Wii U gamepad cause the text was so small playing on TV and it wasn't that hard to see on a smaller screen.
Another thing to mention is Switch has more saturated colours, the world and characters look so much more vibrant
Amen to this. And on the OLED too it's gonna look amazing!
That's also a matter of the Wii U tending to display desaturated colours in general. It was very noticeable with Virtual Console games and ports like Bayonetta. I think the console used a bad gamma correction setting.
They don't!
I can't be the only one thinking the redraw of Elma looks suspiciously close to A and Alvis am I?
I've always thought Elma was A, just in a complicated explanation as is usually with Xenoblade. Then this came about.
I'm glad others are finally starting to see my vision.
I think you’re on to something
I always thought Elma’s designs was based off Chaos from Xenosage, their hair color, clothing color, and eyes are so alike idk if anyone will agree but if you get a chance put their photos sode by side. As for Alvis his hair color and eyes are the same as those 2 i believe
@@keolancer2074 Yeah, Alvis is explicitly meant to be similar to chaos, and Elma has similar vibes to the both of them. Though the late-game reveals she's also a foil to KOS-MOS, narrative-wise.
@@mads_in_zero you know i have not beat X was because i spent most of my time not playing story, im glad you broke it down for me. This tome around imma try to spend more time with the story
4:20 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the shadows depicted in this shot are actually more realistic in the Wii U version. This is because the much less dense air molecules on the Moon would lead to lessened light diffusion, therefore creating harsher edges, more similar to what you see on the Wii U version. Sure, it's not reflective of what you'd see for most of the game, but I do think it's interesting that this shot in particular, the most obvious change of shadow, is actually less realistic
There's actually a fair amount of diffusion on the moon, even in examples of looking at your own shadow, pictures from the moon show diffusion up close, let alone from however many hundreds or thousands of miles out the spacecraft was. That's more to do with the wave properties than anything. One reason for the moon having stark contrast between lit areas and shaded ones is the lack of atmosphere, but it has less to do with the harshness of the edges as it has to do with the contrast between the lit and the dark areas.
@@kenton6804 Right. Thank you
Wii U did not run X at raw or constant 720p, it was dynamic 768x619 to 1228x720 so it technically *never* hits a "true" 720p image. This can be verified through the game's lib.ini file which has persisted through all the games since X.
Yes and the switch version isnt gonna be native 1080p either becausr thats just cutscenes all xenoblade cutscenes have been native 720p gameplay is different
@ Feel free to pixel count the gameplay scenes, everything appears to be 1080p
@voicemxil if it really does end up being a full 1080p at a stable 30fps, then that would be seriously impressive since it is a large scale open world game. The other Xenoblade games on Switch had dynamic resolutions that struggled to even reach 720p. Zelda Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are 900p 30fps and those games certainly have performance issues here and there.
@@imgomes6425 You can see frame drops in the trailer and every single game since X has had dynamic resolution, so it wouldn’t be unexpected. Either way, a dynamic 1080p is still much better than anything they’ve done before and would be easier considering this game doesn’t use the advanced shading and lighting of the newer games
@voicemxil if you do pixel count on the trailers of Xenoblade 1 definitive edition, do you get what results? The number matches how that game runs on switch?
Kitty has hero lighting now
It was a concession they had to make for him to return after starring in Stray 😉
I love that they kept the "eyelashes override hair" style from XC3 as I absolutely adore that look. This was the first Xenoblade game I played and it is still my favorite after playing all of them. Day one purchase!
From what i remember the opening cutscene was a prerendered video file and to see it's been change with better effects makes me think they might be in engine now!
I don't think it was since your customized character is in it and you could still see a lot of pop-in happening. I might be wrong
@@ChemyNoSurfea i mean the cut scenes with the space battles and earth being destroyed
Best visual comparison/analysis video so far. Great job, John. Thank you.
One thing I’ve noticed thanks to the side-by-side comparison; characters in the original seem to be able to make more detailed facial expressions. You especially see it with Elma, not to mention they’re toning down the more realistic art style (which fans complained about in the past) and altering the characters to look more like anime styled designs. We saw this in Elma’s DLC blade in Xenoblade 2, and in Xenoblade 1’s definitive edition. Not sure how I feel about it for X though. The realistic human designs in that game were very good, and it fit the overall aesthetic and tone of the game better.
A more realistic style better fits the tone of a Western-made game, which Xenoblade X was clearly inspired by, especially because you’re literally playing as survivors from New Los Angeles from America. Still not sure if the new style change is going to be a good or bad thing; this is just my observations based on the trailer and what we’ve seen in the past. I’m still super excited to play it though.
It doesnt look that different, just better in terms of anatomy proportions and whatnot. I do notice it in the shading tho. And i agree im tired of this consistent move by Monolith to make their games more anime instead of realistic looking. They did this with the original xenoblade as well and im still not 100 percent well with it.
Exactly. I liked the more realistic characters vs cartoonish ones in the newer games.
The anime style looks better and ages better, the Wii and 3DS version of the first game look disgusting.
I am SO happy to see this game again on Switch! Been asking for it for years and had just fully accepted that it wasn’t happening, then boom! Such a cool game with cool vibes!
I'm so hyped :D
WE ARE SO HYPED
Best game of all time for me. And especially the music by the Attack on titan music producer
Music was a huge part of this game. Not every track was a banger but it grew on you and years later I still think of the music which almost never happens for most games I play.
Same. I had just started a 4th replay when this got announced. Putting that on hold. Listening to the soundtrack on UA-cam is what always brings me back for another playthrough. Can't wait for more Lao.
New heads confirmed!
Really though, I’ve tried to play this game three or four times and could never get through it.
The font size, convoluted UI, and most importantly having to run to your party members’ location to swap them in drives me nuts.
I love the Xeno games though and really hope they figure out how to improve the flow of the game with some quality of life tweaks.
Font and UI might change, but i don't imagine they'll change the gameplay flow much. It was always meant to be more sim-like, which includes some of the tedium of real-life waits, and not everything accessible through a menu. I get why some people won't vibe with it, but it's a pretty effective gameplay method for Roleplay overall.
Stencil shadows are realistic on the moon. We only have soft shadows because either the light is huge compared to distance (think desk lamps) or atmospheric scattering. Soft shadows down on Mira are more realistic, but not in that shot of the moon.
Also the cat has a higher vert count, as can be seen if you look at the tip of the tail, its much rounder now.
The thing im curious about is if we can stand on moving cars or if we'll phase through them
My guess is that we still phase through them
The main reason why I wanted a Switch port despite having the Wii U version was because I want to play the game in handheld mode
XC2 and XC:DE aren't really known to look good in handheld mode but since XCX:DE seemingly runs at 1080p it makes me more optimistic that it will run at 720p (or close to) in handheld mode
The side by side comparison really set my mind at ease, when I first saw it during the announcement video I wasn't 100% sure it looked better, but seeing this video it most definitely does!
I bought a Wii U back in the day just for this game. It is so nice to see it finally get a remaster on Switch. Everyone has been asking for it for years!
It's what also made the Wii U a must buy for me. Have also been clamoring for a Switch port. Had finally given up hope.
1:57 that's because for some reason Monolith kept using the X2 engine for the X1 remake and X3 which doesn't run great on the Switch
X3 runs great on Switch, X2 tho... Not so much
This is the best news we have gotten in years
I 100% agree that Xenoblade X deserved screen soace reflections, specially in that area that's quite literally a giant pond
The og game had a whole bunch of cube maps and the game would choose one depending on which cube map origin was closer to you, but SSR would've definitely been so much better in that area
2:35 all of them are technical masterpieces in my opinion. But I do wish these could be played on beefier hardware. Imagine how amazing xenoblade could be if we had an official PC version. I wonder if the switch 2 will allow the older xenoblade games to run better. Maybe they'll unlock a better quality option if you're running on the switch 2? Would love to see that become reality. These games always felt like they were meant to look 2-3 times as good, but were held back by the hardware.
If the next switch has BC they could already run better out of the box because the automatic resolution scaling would always be at the high end and shouldn’t really drop
@PropritacusLP right, but its probably set lower than 1080p. Doesn't the switch render at like 720p then upscale to 1080? I may be remembering that wrong, but I'm pretty sure it isn't true 1080p. And since the games are built to expect that render resolution, I'm saying they may need to patch in an option to allow a higher resolution/ frame rate if used on the switch 2.
@@PerkythePro yeah the UI is set to 1080 or 720p but xenoblade3 goes lower to 540p in most scenes and could be rendered at 720p most of the time, or even higher if the limit is increased.
@@PropritacusLPxenoblade 3 resolution is fixed docked at 540p because its using a temporal upscaler up to 720p or 1080p while xenoblade de and 2 are dynamic
My initial thoughts are that I dont like Elma's new face as much, but the player characters face and hair look way better now, also the cat looks better/more realistic in the wii u version in my opinion. All thats left now is to see how the other characters faces/heads and looks have changed.
Day 1, thanks for the video ❤
John,
Put up an hour+ long discussion of the game and just talk about whatever. Love your enthusiasm and this game feels endlessly fascinating. Can’t wait for the DE to play in true portable on my Switch!!!
This music bringing me back to good times
high resolution cat, good ^__^
with less texture detail
This is probably the most closest comparison to both games
they improved in the engine so much since the wii u it looks like Good QOL I hope they do more in the other aspects of the game.
Big jump in resolution, happy surprised with that
omg we'll finally get more in depth guides and comparison for builds! (I do hope the a-sync online wont require online subscription but i doubt we'll be this lucky) I however hope we'll have a easier time farming for unique builds
Ill explode if this game runs at native res in handheld.
It's interesting to see what changes under the hood they are doing. I'm fairly sure XB:DE and XB2 and 3 are using a significantly upgraded version of XBX's Engine. Are they isolating that Wii U engine build and upgrading it, or are they porting the game to XB3's Iteration.. Can't wait to get my hands on it.. Also.. Hopefully Nintendo releases a Collector's Edition since the other three have one... Would like real nice on my Shelf ;)
I actually vastly prefer cube mapped reflections on water like is done here, over screen space reflections. I'd much rather see inaccurate reflections than SSR artifacts.
I always loved the game, the artstyle, the flying with the skells, but I never got into the fighting mechanics, how to do combos or something. It always boiled down to pressing abilities randomly. Eventually I couldn't get past some boss. Idk if I wanna give this game another shot.
Combat requires learning how to make combos flow and where to strike. The dual swords prefer striking from behind/sides, and if you read the descriptions, you'll see which attack works well and when to use it. Some skills require a different stat (potential) to raise their damage, but they are the most powerful damage skills/healing in battle since they require tp. The game doesnt hold your hand and it expected you to read the manual to understand how the stats work.
>pressing abilities randomly
>Wonders why got stuck
@@-lord1754 I didn't wonder why I got stuck, I knew I was bad at combat. The combat system is just too complicated, if you ask me. However, its been ~10 years when I played that, maybe I wouldn't say that today, if I played it again.
The game has a great combat system just, in true Monolith Soft fashion (They've been doing this since the XenoSaga games) they are utterly shit on teaching you how the game works. I really hope the remaster adds better tutorials. Since genuinely I find X's Overdrive system to be the most fun combat in the series.
@Gereon_ coming back to a game after a length of time can make a difference. Maybe you were in a bad spot mentally/financially and that weight held you back from seeing combos easily. It happened to me with games like elden ring. But i do remember i had to read the manual to learn what potential did (my original thought was it was critical hits but my attacks never seemed to do anything resemblance of a crit), so they really do need something in game that you can use to learn stats and/or have a combat testing grounds.
thanks for the deeper look!
I just hope the text on the screen is easier to read
This one video alleviated all my fears good job
There was a shot in the trailer, where the lines on the road just pop out of existence.
I nearly cried at work when this was announced. This is a day 1 buy for me and im so excited
It’s been 10 years, Xenoblade X.
I've loved all 4 of the Xenoblades, but X is still my favourite. I certainly hope they expand on the story, instead of leaving us on that cliffhanger 😅
I put over 300 hours into XCX on Wii U and I'm ready to do it all over again haha. I wonder if they'll expand multiplayer functionality at all
I played it on the wii u a few years ago after i bought it randomly in a second-hand store
I never played a xenoblade game before so i was kind of lost but i still managed to finish it
Now i'm ready to play it again
XC3 is 1080p upscaled from 540p tho???
which is much worse
It looks better than xcde and 2 surprisingly though you can see a lot of upscaling artifacts sometimes
Imagine there's a Switch 2 version of the game coming out in the same day and it uses Switch 2 dual screen features (if it has).
IT'S COMING!? OMG YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One thing I miss is Elma’s moving hair but I love the new look.
I've never played WiiU version, but i think it looks better than switch version honestly. Still i love this Series and I'm getting this game day one.
I have a question, if you did the same analysis on the Xenoblade 1 Definitive Edition trailer and first screenshots, would you find the same resolution as the game ended up having when running on switch after release?
Putting another way, can we trust that this 1080p you found is how the game is running and not simply Nintendo putting high quality images on their website?
This is a really great question. It's hard to get an accurate count on Xenoblade DE because of the temporal upscaling they're using but a quick glance at the reveal trailer looks about right compared to the final game.
Obviously anything in a trailer is subject to change, but there are a couple reasons why I don't think things are likely to change here. We have really only seen Nintendo show possibly off-hardware renders when a game is still very early in development. For example the first couple Tears of the Kingdom trailers appeared to show a much higher internal resolution and great image treatment. They started showing it on what seems like real Switch hardware in the second half of its dev cycle. Since Xenoblade X is only a few months out and is an existing game I see no reason why they would need to fake anything here.
With Xenoblade X specifically this was already a locked 720p game on Wii U. So a 1080p update on Switch is not particularly hard to believe. I'll also note that the image treatment isn't unrealistically good. If they wanted to make this look cleaner using a PC build they very easily could but they didn't. So is it possible? Of course. But do I think it's likely? No not at all. :)
Can you combo the Wii u ver with mclassic & 4kgamepro then do a comparing against the Switch ver?
going to look stunning in handheld mode
I don't care for the newer xenoblade games cartoonish looking models. Reminds me of tales of arise or something. Preferred the more realistic look of og x. I don't like that they changed Elma's face but maybe will grow on me.
As someone who’s never played X but has seen gameplay of it, the faces are rough looking.
The faces are more in line with xenosaga still anime ish though
A few minor gripes with the visual changes. Firstly, while I don't hate the new anime faces, if you compare elma making expressions side-by-side, her new face is actually less expressive than her old face, and in a game that was already filled with relatively stiff cutscenes, that's a pretty big loss. Secondly, I really actually kinda despise the new ring lighting effect on clothes. They look plasticky and cheap, while the original clothing looked realistic (and at times the lighting engine was downright unique on the clothes in a way I really liked). Thirdly, there's one or two small stutters in the switch one that are actually new (biggest one is visible when the camera pans from the protagonist and elma over to NLA) which is a bit concerning, considering the switch is more powerful than the wii U. And finally, the cat looks worse than it did in the original. All those mopes aside, I'm deeply excited for this, and if I end up not liking the changes when I actually play, I can always just go back to my wii U.
Its a universal thing at this point that new faces in any remasters are less expressive. Not much can be done about it within time constraints and low budget. I actually thought cat looks better, its less blocky and whiskers are much more natural but its lit up too much.
@@АртурАхметзянов-у1ж It's a shame about the facial expressions. And yes, the tail on the cat is also more detailed with more polygons, I think the lighting is just a little overtuned in that scene, as you said. Overall, I think I'm going to enjoy the remake, I just hope that the gear looks good.
great video!! looking forward to buy it in physical version of the game, love the xenoblade series, in the past I had read that the company monolith didnt want to make a switch version of the game but now happy to hear that they change their minds I imagine that also helped the announcement that Nintendo after the new switch release will continue making games for the primary switch!!! anyway great video keep the good work!!!
Can't wait to play this!
I'm hyped! Only was able to play the first opening moments on a Wii U.
On a side note, what is the music being played in the background at the beginning?
The song at the very start is a part of the Xenoblade X OST titled "So nah, so fern"
@annabunni64 It's a very pretty song. Can't wait to dig into this game even more!
@@TheLifeoflink Hope you'll enjoy it, Xenoblade X is my favourite game sitting at over 1,000 hours of play time. I do recommend looking up a combat guide though, the in-game tutorials are terrible.
@@annabunni64 Will do! Had to do that a little for Xenoblade 2 back in the day.
I had the misfortune of having the Spore Cloud weather phenomena in Sylvalum spawn on me in the middle of a cutscene when i first played. Hopefully the Switch version doesn't just completely blind you with it.
ngl, I was hoping that they were saving this remaster for the eventual switch 2. I think we could get much better graphics improvement and we really hoping for even higher resolutions than just 1080p
backwards compatibility
m just glad they finally fixed the character faces
Xeno 1 and X are both my faves. Much preferred them to 2 and 3. So excited for this. Really hope it manages 60fps on switch 2 :D Yet again this is looking like sheer techinical wizardry from monolith though. If they manage to render this whole game in 1080p docked with these visual enhancements AND maintain a consistant 30fps I gotta just tip my hat. This is one demanding game.
my question is why does elma look more like alvis than A does
Im EXTREAMLY exited to have this on Switch finally, but... will DE have other songs other than Wir Fliegen?
Since the visual difference, while better, isn't nearly as big as XC1 DE was, I wonder what QOL changes and new features will be added, since that was a big reason why the other remaster was called "Definitive Edition".
It looks pretty similar to xcde even better with the character models and runs a lot better
Love this game and so excited for it, but I do worry about the frame rate. Just about every game I have ever played on switch has horrible frame issues, and I can see this remake lagging and frame tearing in its trailer. Very easy to spot it at the 1:26 mark. The wii u is smooth but the switch is very choppy.
Great analysis, thanks 🙏
Would’ve loved to see a 4K remaster on Switch 2 though
I hope so
A reputable leaker (Midori) at the start of September said that XCX would be coming to Switch and Switch 2 next year. Also I’m sure Monolith wouldn’t want to waste their opportunity to push XCX to its absolute limits on Switch 2.
Yup, i'm hyped as hell
I am so excited to play XCX on the Switch, but I hope that the time to obtain my license is reduced lol.
I think its a good time frame. Half the game is encouraged to be done by foot, so it makes the skell that much more satisfying
@@Subremedy I agree bc the game is introducing the player to the world and mechanics beforehand. But the trailer had me gassed up for instant Gundam-like adventures on my Wii U 😂
Somehow the "Visuals not final" text is in every trailer, except the American one.
It looks very sharp on the switch which makes me wonder if its actually going to have switch 2 upgrades.... i hope so if its going to be a cross generation late release.
What is the theme from X at the start of the vid
It's called "X BT3"
The vocal version is called "so nah so fern"
I hope it has proper co-op mode vs just arena mode.
Everyone got a haircut ! Looks good all is sharper and we can see textures on mountains and all the metal grain all around New L.A.
what happen here 1:53 ??
that entire shot looks different, perhaps a retcon?
@metroidcypher i thought that it was a down grade or something lol
How does monolith soft does it????
This gem deserves much better. They should have waited for Switch 2.
Do you really think switch 2 wont be backward compatible?
I doubt im unique here, but this is the first time ill be playing X as i never had a wii u and i didnt want to have to mess around with an emulator so im looking forward to going into this fresh. Ill be real, im just here for the mechs
I would trade all these improvements for 60fps, hopefully it can hit that on Switch 2
Emulation 😎
A reputable leaker (Midori) said in early September that XCX would be coming out next year with both a Switch and Switch 2 version.
I want an uncensored version myself.
My favorite game HYPE
Hoping they add a bit more story content after the kind of non ending that X had. Maybe a bit more focus on Elma’s Origin
Yeah, we're stuck on a whole different planet!
It really looks almost the same. It’s still cool it’s re released though .
I hope this can be 60fps on switch 2
I really dislike that they're changing the artstyle, but I'm too happy about finally getting the port I've been begging for that I won't let it bother me.
beggars can't be choosers after all.
From what I’ve seen over the years, people who played the game got used to the models. But in my perspective, someone who’s never played the game, they look bad.
Makes me wonder what changes will be made to the game, if any. Maybe a better HUD (I hope), or better font? Hope there's something and not just making it look a little better.
Nice to know this game will be released 1080p with improvements.
After so many Xenoblade titles with poor resolution and problems, like the terrible remaster of the Wii title, I wasn't sure Monolith would give us a decent port of the WiiU game.
cat in the shadow on the wii u version looks better
Saw this on the eshop and I was so excited. Then I saw the release date of March 2025.
4:36 In space shadows are harsher without atmosphere interference. Not a good look imho. And the Wii U cat has better resolution on its fur. Switch version only up rezzes the wall.
They need to bring them to the PC.
Okay so, maybe I'm in a vast minority here, but I think those "rim lights" or "edge glare" -things (whatever they're called) look MUCH worse. Everything else looks better, but it looks really stupid to have light on shaded surfaces like that. It makes it looks so much more "gamey" than the original.