Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
European box art
Developer	Monolith Soft
Publisher	Nintendo
Platform	Nintendo Switch
Released	May 29, 2020

Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition is a remaster of Xenoblade Chronicles on the Nintendo Switch. It features improved graphics, a new time trial mode and a new epilogue story, Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Connected. The additions from Xenoblade Chronicles 3D are missing in this version.

List of changes

While the core game is the same and the story is unchanged, there are many changes both major and minor compared to the original Wii version. Listed here are changes that are not simply minor bug fixes.

Additional content

• Future Connected is a "bonus chapter" that takes place after the main game and reuses most (but not all) gameplay mechanics.
• Time Attack is a set of "defeat the enemies as fast as possible" challenges that provide new outfits as rewards.
• The Event Viewer allows re-watching of any cutscene and Heart-to-Heart, with controllable equipment, time of day, and weather.
• Casual Mode drastically decreases the difficulty of combat for players that wish to enjoy the story with minimal effort.
• Expert Mode allows players to store experience points and control exact party member levels, adding potential for challenge runs and allowing players to do many quests without becoming overlevelled.
• Having a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 save file gives the option to start a new game with an extra 100,000 G on top of the default 3,000 G.
• New Korean and Chinese localizations.

Aesthetics

• All playable characters and major NPCs have new, higher-resolution face models closer to the style used in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Many also have higher-resolution hands, and party members' default outfits have several touch-ups.
• All heavy armour has altered designs, mostly slimming down bulky parts and replacing the helmet with one that does not obscure the character's head as much. The original designs are still available as Time Attack rewards.
• All maps are significantly more detailed.
• Most if not all models have extra material textures, such as improved glow and specularity effects.
• Many pieces of music are remade, with the option to use the "original" or "arranged" versions.
• Chapters are now labelled as "Chapter 1" and similar in save files, rather than being mostly invisible.
• Several cutscenes have altered character expressions and musical timings, while a few have significant animation changes (e.g. the radio soldier in the prologue not turning towards the Mechon behind him).
• The Mechonis' hands are redesigned to better match the appearance of the Fallen Arm.
• Alvis' key necklace is replaced with one that resembles a Core Crystal.
• NPCs that did not previously have voice clips when talked to now do, including party members when used as NPCs.

Battle

• The tag of the targeted enemy is fixed at the top of the screen, rather than above their head. This moves vision tags to the top right corner.
• The damage range glitch is fixed; weapons can now reach any number within their minimum and maximum range.
• Auto-attacks that rebound (from being blocked or hitting a Mechon) do not incur the typical delay before the next auto-attack can be used.
• Arts with a conditional bonus effect are highlighted with a blue "!" during moments when their condition is met (e.g. Back Slash is marked when Shulk is behind the enemy). These are labelled as "Chance Arts".
• The Mechon immunity to damage is factored earlier in the damage formula, so damage multipliers and debuff damage now come afterward (e.g. Back Slash deals 2 damage instead of 1, and bleeding does 0 per tick instead of 1).
• The Arts Seal debuff now appears as purple chains above the victim's head (similar to Bind), rather than a sprite of a crossed-out circle.
• Visions are executed faster.
• When warned of a vision, party members are not immediately interrupted, but instead finish what they are doing before acting on the warning.
• Enemies with spikes now show a purple spiky effect on their name tag while the spike is active.
• Chain attacks are executed faster and do not show the total damage until the end.
• When holding the button for party commands, the most recently-used command is highlighted.
• The player does not have to get as close to enemy spawn points for them to activate, meaning more enemies appear on the map at once, and they are visible from farther away.
• Chests that fall into a pit teleport directly onto the player.
• Post-battle banter continues even if the player opens a chest or enters the menu.

Gem crafting

• Dunban's shooter ability is buffed so his streak starts at 2%, rather than 1%.
• Riki's shooter ability is buffed so his two turns count as one turn, rather than two.
• Crafted gems are entirely random in strength, rather than corresponding to the final heat.

Quality-of-life improvements

• Up to four buffs and debuffs are visible at once, rather than just one.
• The status effects (Break, Topple, Daze, and Sleep) now display a bar showing when they expire.
• There is an option for all menus to show a red dot on new elements (e.g. a recently-learned art or skill).
• There is no longer an inventory limit for collectables and materials. For other items, the limit is increased to 450.
• Party members can equip armour and appearance independently. Possessing a piece of equipment permanently unlocks its appearance as an option for all currently-available characters.
• Gems can be bulk exchanged between pieces of equipment.
• Art books are used automatically when the art screen is opened, rather than having to select and use them manually.
• Gifting is done from the party affinity chart. When an item is gifted, the affinity gained (or lost) is recorded.
• The affinity chart lists each NPC's current list of tradeable items.
• One NPC at a time can be tracked, which draws a magnifying glass on the map at their current location.
• Going to a landmark triggers an auto-save into a fourth save slot.
• A line is drawn on the map leading the player towards the next plot point, rather than there being a compass arrow on the screen. This can be disabled.
• All quests place red "!" marks on the map at their next/nearest objective when the player has the correct map loaded. One quest at a time can be tracked, which either turns its "!" marks blue and gives the option to draw a line on the map towards it, or notifies the player that the target is not currently active.
• New Game Plus automatically carries over all inventory, rather than asking to fill a quota.

Update history

Ver. 1.1.0 (released May 28, 2020)

General Issues

• Fixed lockups that sometimes occurred on skip-travel and event-scene transition screens.
• Fixed an issue with the quest Finding Happiness where the incorrect speaker name was being displayed.
• Fixed an issue that prevented Status and Item details from displaying when the cursor was moved quickly between Cosmetic Equipment and Equipment on the Change Equipment screen.
• The buff icon now updates with the physical and ether defense buffs received and lost when the Monado Art “Armour” is activated and expires.
• Fixed the following issues with the enemy party of Leg Volffs when Napping Volffen moved toward the waterfall by the Volff Lair:
  • Leg Volffs would continually move around and respawn in a small area, with an additional Leg Volff suddenly appearing.
  • The Leg Volffs would stop at the watering hole instead of moving with Napping Volffen when it appeared.
  • Battling any remaining Leg Volffs would cause the battle to end abruptly, and battles would start and stop as soon as you entered their line of sight.
• Fixed an issue where sound effects would continue into the subsequent scene when event skip was used during a scene where the future is shown.
• Fixed an issue where continuing to use the debuff skill “Lock-on” on an enemy would cause it to target only the first user of the skill.
• Fixed a lockup that occurred in the Central Pit when boarding the elevator with your controlled character at a certain time during its descent.

Ver. 1.1.1 (released May 28, 2020)

General Issues

• Fixed an issue that prevented the Arts Palette from closing when no selectable arts were available during a Chain Attack.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Arts Palette from closing when no selectable arts were available during a Chain Attack and the Junk Sword was equipped.

Ver. 1.1.2 (released July 8, 2020)

Feature Changes

• Changing the Tutorial notifications in Notification Settings to Don’t Notify will now cause recommendations to try Casual Mode to not appear.
  • This can be set through Options → Notification Settings and setting Tutorials to Don’t Notify.
• Some of the “!” icons appearing on the area map and in the field while using Travel Guidance can now be disabled. Disabling them will remove them from enemies and collectibles concerning the quest, however they will still appear above the quest-giving NPC as usual.
  • This can be set through Options → Display Settings and setting Travel Guidance to Hide.

Spec Adjustments

• Starting a New Game Plus after lowering character levels in the New Game Plus Settings could cause the number of Affinity Coins held to decrease. If this has occurred, loading save data will apply the correct amount.
• Starting a New Game Plus after lowering character levels in the New Game + Settings would result in more Skill Links being active than Affinity Coins available for them. If this has occurred, removing Skill Links so that they are lower than the number of Affinity Coins will cause them to function as usual. Additionally, Skill Links can be removed with the + Button.
• Fixed the attack-interval value during battle for some characters (Shulk, Reyn, and Nene are unaffected). The attack intervals while affected by Slow will slow down and quicken while affected by Haste—making it easier to sense when affected by Haste/Slow.
• Fixed an issue after a boss fight in Chapter 16 where three-slot weapons would become two-slot weapons.

(Updated 7/14/2020) We initially wrote that we fixed the issue of all equipped gems being removed, but unfortunately we had not fixed the issue in the case that equipped gems were removed when the maximum number of items was being carried. Our apologies for the correction.

• Fixed an issue where switching the BGM between Arranged and Original in the options during certain event scenes wouldn’t affect the song “Engage the Enemy.”
  • "Engage the Enemy" can be changed with Toggle Field BGM in the Options.

Lockups

• Fixed a lockup that occurred when closing the quest-clear dialogue during the quest Clearing Obstructions after Reyn’s level rose to 16 after beating three Zealous Arachnos.
• Fixed a lockup that sometimes occurred when battling Nero Andos.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to become uncontrollable when attempting to trade with an NPC who disappeared due to the passage of time.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to become uncontrollable when falling off a ledge just before seeing a vision from a collectible.
• Fixed an issue that caused the player to become uncontrollable after finishing a battle while unconscious.
• Fixed a lockup that occurred when changing gems or the time on the main menu during the interval in the last battle.
• Fixed a lockup that occurred when bringing up information dialogue while pressing the – Button to call up Help at the same time.
• Fixed an issue that caused characters to be in the topple status when an event scene and a vision prompted by a collectible item would occur at the same time.

Other Fixes

• Fixed an issue that caused the quest to become unacceptable when changing to a different event or changing the time while talking to a quest-giving NPC.
• Fixed an issue where if the controlled character were cheered up and HP were restored at the same time they lost consciousness, they would lose consciousness with that amount of HP remaining.
• Fixed an issue where Travel Guidance wouldn’t display correctly during the quest Monado Replica 5.
• Fixed an issue where selecting Arts simultaneously with being dazed would cause the character to be stuck in the fainting motion.
• Fixed an issue where accepting a quest with the Weapon Development Lab as its destination would cause the Travel Guidance route not to appear.
• Fixed an issue where loading an autosave file after hearing a quest-acceptance conversation would cause quest progress already seen to return to that before having heard the conversation.
• Fixed an issue that caused battles with Gentle Mother Armu, Baby Armus, and Deluded Ignas to be disengaged too easily.
• Fixed an issue where changing the controlled character while climbing a wall would cause the character to fall through the wall.
• Fixed an issue where the BGM wouldn’t play during certain event scenes.
• Fixed an issue where in Chapter Nine, while the Mechon soldiers do battle with the Laias on * Prison Island, viewing Prison Island from Eryth Sea would show the battle effects, but they weren’t visible from Imperial Capitol Alcamoth.
• Fixed an issue that caused leveling up after defeating an enemy with a Chain Attack to cause the numeric display of the level to appear strange.
• Although the added damage would function properly, fixed an issue that caused the damage displayed on screen to appear 256 points lower than the actual value when the additional damage value of added attack gems would surpass 256.

Unlisted Fixes

• Fixed Sharla's Metal Blast and Heat Bullet playing the wrong voice lines in English.
• Fixed Fiora's Power Smash and Double Wind playing the wrong voice lines in English.
• Several English subtitles are fixed to match the English voice clips used within the game.

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