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[CambriaRising]

Would have much preferred a wii u remaster. This looks terrible on 3ds.

 

[Muskieratboi]

Textures and lighting took a bit of a hit, but fuck, it's one of the biggest games on the wii ported to the 3ds. I say they did a damn fine job, especially if they keep the framerate stable.

 

[matrix-cat]

I really hope the Wii version comes to Wii U in whatever their new Wii VC program thing is called. Playing on the Gamepad (without needing a Wiimote and an expensive Ebay disc purchase) seems ideal.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Not much difference at all in those cut scenes. How does the actual game compare?

 

[Solid SOAP]

They did a great job working with the limitation of the 3DS, the game framerate was hold back not because of the studio was doing a poor job but because they were limited by the plataform.

Will buy again when getting a N3DS myself, played the original and loved it to death and the tought of a JRPG of this scale on the go... *shudders*

What do you think the chances are of an update happening where you can play it in 60fps on n3DS?

 

[Ridley327]

Feels like Monster Games is Nintendo's Nixxes.

They're about 20+ guys. Their last in-house project was Pilotwings Resort, and that still had to rely on EAD providing assets for them.

 

[Prophane33]

Sweet. April 2nd can't come soon. Might double dip on an US copy to play on my US New 3DSXL later on though.

 

[MisterHero]

People keep ragging on XB's geometry/texture limitations but the in-game cutscenes are still impressive. Seeing them in 3D will be so awesome!

I'll try hard to get this and a Wii U remaster. plzplzplz

 

[komorebi]

What do you think the chances are of an update happening where you can play it in 60fps on n3DS?

Precisely zero percents.

 

[alvis.exe]

By your logic this move is actually dumb since the N3DS has a way smaller installbase than the Wii U. Remember, this game is a N3DS exclusive.

Eh. If you look at the latest numbers in Japan, the n3DS is at around 1.5 million LTD compared to the Wii U's 2.2 mil.

Going by the fact that the Wii U is routinely doing sub 10k numbers per week with the n3DS doing 4+ times that amount per week, I think it's a given that the N3DS userbase will eclipse the Wii U userbase in Japan by the end of the year.

No idea what the numbers will look like in EU/NA, but as I mentioned in that post, you have to look at it from another POV as well. Wii U owners already have Xenoblade X and I highly doubt that there would be a substantial amount of people who would be looking forward to a hypothetical Xenoblade HD but NOT Xenoblade X. In other words, Xenoblade HD would do nothing to expand the series' fanbase because Xenoblade X is already doing that job of hopefully attracting the attention of every RPG fan with the system.

On the other hand, putting Xenoblade on the N3DS would net them a significantly larger gain in terms of exposing users to the franchise's name by pure virtue of the fact that it will be the only Xenoblade game on the system. It doesn't matter how small the N3DS userbase ends up being by April because no matter what, there are sure to be N3DS-only users picking up the game either out of curiosity due to the game being the only N3DS only game or thanks to good word of mouth. And if they end up loving the game enough, they might even purchase a Wii U just to play Xenoblade X alone.

Hell, you could even argue the opposite and point out that Xenoblade HD wouldn't do much that Xenoblade X couldn't do in terms of getting people to buy a Wii U, but Xenoblade 3D might convince people to upgrade to a N3DS.

So yeah. I think my logic still works out to it being a good move from Nintendo, no matter how much better a Xenoblade HD would look.

 

[Nerokis]

Oh, wow. The downgrade is obvious, but much less jarring than I imagined.

 

[Tanston]

I started playing this on dolphin a month ago and my computer doesn't emulate this very well. It's playable but slows down in big battles and the sound is choppy. I think i'm gonna go for this n3ds version even though it will sting to lose my progress and start over. I hope the small screen isn't too jarring of a difference.

 

[The Elite]

I started playing this on dolphin a month ago and my computer doesn't emulate this very well. It's playable but slows down in big battles and the sound is choppy. I think i'm gonna go for this n3ds version even though it will sting to lose my progress and start over. I hope the small screen isn't too jarring of a difference.

I had the same problems. Just going to roll with the N3DS version.

 

[NeOak]

So uh...

*looks at Wii copy*

Should I play this on the Wii U (with the "glorious" upscaling) or wait for the NN3DS version?

Xenosaga had pretty awful character models too. It worked best when they were going for the full anime look with doll faces, but the moment they shifted the art direction towards a more realistic look, it went into the toilet. I think Monolithsoft's 3D artists in general seem pretty poor at making good facial models. Disaster Day of Crisis is probably the best work they've done, and women still looked pretty bad.

A friend of mine lost all hype for XCX when he saw the faces.

 

[Reveirg]

Play it on the Wii for better graphics, sound, and immersion.

Unless you really want to play it on the go. It's a very lengthy game so some people might want to take advantage of the 3DS' version portability.

 

[NeOak]

Play it on the Wii for better graphics, sound, and immersion.

Unless you really want to play it on the go. It's a very lengthy game so some people might want to take advantage of the 3DS' version portability.

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration.

How about the UI? Some people seem to complain about the UI using too much screen space.

 

[Reveirg]

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration.

How about the UI? Some people seem to complain about the UI using too much screen space.

That was already a problem in the Wii version.

We would've thought they'd take advantage of the 3DS' 2nd screen lighten up the UI a bit on the main screen. They did by removing the map and character status. But they left too much stuff up there and they should've shrunk the enemy windows...

So yeah, missed opportunity. It's a problem on both versions, maybe a bit accentuated on the 3DS due to the small screen.

I'd really recommend the Wii version over the 3DS just to enjoy the gorgeous environments on a bigger screen.

 

[Ysiadmihi]

Nothing can prepare you for how ugly Xenoblade is upscaled. If you're going to play the Wii version, do it through Dolphin. Otherwise, I'd wait for the New 3DS version.

 

[Danneee]

Thanks, I'll take that into consideration.

How about the UI? Some people seem to complain about the UI using too much screen space.

Maybe it's customizable. Personally I'd put the battle commands on the lower screen, easier access and less clutter.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

They weren't super attractive but they were still fairly detailed. They didn't rely so much on low-res textures to create facial detail. It's really the super low quality texture work that is to blame.

Which can be a perfectly attractive artistic styling when used well. The bigger disconnect to me is the fairly realistic stylings of the environments, by which I mean more than competent asset detail, very consistent style throughout, and the faces. Not only is it a bad usage of the form, but it's also kind of incoherent with the rest of the asset standard in the game.

Something had to give, but to chose character faces? It could just be the product of an art style that the modelers can't actually achieve in 3D. And definitely couldn't under the constraints of the Wii.

Impartial assessment by me. I don't really have a stake in the game.

Under certain camera angles you can see the intent, but that's one of the problems working with low res texture maps.