Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition

If there's one thing that's particularly impressive about Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, it's the fact that this Tetsuya Takahashi is still alive, still unique, and surprising after twenty years. Metaverse Xeno has been around since 1998, when the controversial Xenogears was released. Since then he has managed to entertain players with a huge sci-fi world filled with fantasy elements, as well as full of religious and psychological motives.

Xenogears, then still under the PlayStation umbrella, was originally a screenplay for Final Fantasy VII (not surprising given how dark the style of the game was; however, due to the legal issues Xenogears faced in Europe over the depiction of religious elements, Squaresoft felt the move was too risky. ). Likewise with Xenoblade Chronicles which is an attempt to restore the JRPG glory from the golden era of FINal Fantasy, a popularity that seems to make Takahashi envious, even though it doesn't really need to.

Now, almost ten years from the game's first release, we can once again marvel at the beauty of the script, which, despite being almost a decade old, is not at all out of date. In fact, it's hard to find a game that has a story that is as sensitive as anime but also has weight in terms of elevating human existence. Plus the presentation is amazing.

Most of you are probably familiar with this franchise thanks to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Not surprising, because the popularity of the game is very far compared to other games in the Xeno series. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is an updated edition of the 2010 game, which intends to give it a second life; corrected the biggest mistakes of the original version while still maintaining its artistic style. 

This new version replaces the entire character model, completely redesigns the menu and interface, sharpens textures, increases resolution, creates new arrangements of existing songs, and more. It's still the same game, but with the level of change it's gotten, it might be a bit difficult to classify this new version of Xenoblade Chronicles. 

Does it count as a remaster or remake? The answer, of course, is remastering. Monolith Soft itself never called this game in other words. In terms of gameplay, in terms of animations, or in terms of combat systems - nothing has changed. What has changed is in terms of presentation: interface, color palette, fonts, and maybe some character designs.

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

In terms of gameplay, Xenoblade Chronicles is essentially a one-player MMO. Here you have to explore large beautiful lands (with a different experience between day and night), collect a number of items, perform hundreds of quests - which are sometimes too common and become a major drawback of this game. 

While the game is still great in many aspects, the original version's interface is terrible: it violates the basic laws that every artist learns early in their careers, fills more than half of the screen with unnecessary information, hurts the eye with multiple fonts of different shadows and sizes. . Bad design doesn't mean bad gameplay, but why can't we get both?

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition proves that you can. The developers have delivered what they promised: fixed all the flaws of the original version and made the new menus cleaner, transparent, and more intuitive than any Nintendo game. 

This is very important because Xenoblade is a colossal product, which will take at least fifty hours to complete. Of course, you will spend a lot of time in the menu: fiddling with the skills of the characters, choosing the right armor and appearance (as in Diablo, each weapon or armor can be given different cosmetics), looking through a myriad of side missions or developing Affinity Chart.

That way, Nintendo managed to turn a very good game into almost perfect. While you'll have to get used to the MMO structure of Xenoblade mentioned earlier, it's enough to leave the first location to see how beautiful the visuals are. 

Over the course of the game, we trace the story of a teenage Shulk wielding a mysterious Monado sword, which allows the boy to predict the future - and attempts to change it, trying to change the course of the battle against mechanical creatures. 

Even players who have already played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 should give this first a try and see for themselves how much it connects with its successor, despite its contradictory appearances. Then after exploring the world with the updated soundtrack, you can reach an additional section entitled "

The story of Future Connected takes place a year after the end of the original's main story and is supposed to serve as a bridge between the first game and its sequels. Everything happens in one location, cut from the original Xenoblade Chronicles for optimization. Unfortunately, contrary to what was promised, it didn't add anything to the story or create a connection between the two games. 

It's a fun addition to the game, but feels just filler. What's even more worrying is that after completing a great adventure in the base game, players will have to continue with this extra game and end up with a bland ending instead.

Despite the disappointment of the extra portion at the end, we feel Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a top game for the Nintendo Switch and has made it through the cruelty of time.

For fans of Japanese-style games, lovers of interesting plots, and anyone who values ​​originality in the industry, this is a must-have game.

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