When I first booted up the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, something almost immediately felt very wrong.
The visuals, while certainly crisp, were upscaled in a way that meant almost all textures had this sort of blurry, smeary effect, especially environmental details, but also within character faces at certain distances. The issue was greatly exacerbated during movement which, as you’d imagine, happens the vast majority of the time.
When I checked online to make sure I wasn’t going mad, it seemed that opinions on the visuals varied greatly, which is no surprise. A lot of folks are perfectly content with how X looks on Switch 2 (including NL staff), but it was borderline unplayable for me, and I’m not normally a graphics snob. It just looked so weird.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition — the revamped version of the Wii original — has received the same Switch 2 Edition treatment, and I’m delighted to say that the visuals look a lot cleaner this time around. It’s not perfect, as there are some instances where you can see some clear aliasing or slightly blurry effects on distant assets, but you have to really squint to make these out.
Overall, it’s a massive improvement for me, and I really hope Monolith Soft can find the time in its busy schedule to go back and fix X – this new Switch 2 Edition demonstrates that it can be done right.
And of course, you’re also looking at silky-smooth 60fps performance for the vast majority of the time. There are a few drops here and there, but nothing that’s going to significantly impact your enjoyment.
Elsewhere, a new method of traversal has been introduced called the Ether Jet, which you can grab by completing the ‘world-changing whatchamajig’ side-quest from Chapter 4 onwards. Essentially, this allows you to travel across vast landscapes at a much greater speed, and it’s an absolute joy. It’s easy to forget just how big some of the environments are in Xenoblade, and truth be told, it can sometimes get a bit tedious having to run in the same direction for ages.
The Ether Jet makes everything much more manageable, and this alone probably makes the $9.99 / £7.99 upgrade worth it for existing owners. The Ether Jet also unlocks a new mode called Nopon GP, and it quite literally turns Xenoblade into a racer. Accessed via the in-game pause menu, you can choose between ‘Score Attack’ and ‘Battle Race’, and it’s mostly a case of collecting crystals called Ether Ore as you work your way through checkpoints dotted around each track.
Multiple characters are available as playable racers, but this isn’t like Mario Kart World or Kirby Air Riders, where specific characters boast certain stats or abilities; it’s pretty much just an aesthetic choice. Controls are also kept pleasingly simple, with ‘B’ used to accelerate and ‘A’ to boost. ‘ZL’ also lets you brake and reverse if you find yourself in a bit of a pickle, but that’s really it.
It’s shallow stuff, but Nintendo could have just released Xenoblade with improved visuals and performance and called it a day; the Ether Jet and Nopon GP additions are truly excellent bonuses, even if they do nothing to enhance or change the main story.
It’s worth noting that when you’re zooming around on the Ether Jet, pop-in and frame rate drops may become a bit more noticeable, but again, it’s nothing that’s going to cause any headaches.
Overall, I think Xenoblade Chronicles on Switch 2 is a much more enticing experience than X. The latter continues to suffer from pretty awful visual issues to this day, and it doesn’t offer any new content beyond what was already added for the Switch. Monolith Soft has done a great job this time around, and I think it bodes well for when the second and third entries follow later this year.
Have you picked up the Switch 2 Edition of Xenoblade Chronicles yet? What are your thoughts so far? Let us know with a comment.
