the xenoblade franchise has ALWAYS been held back by the nintendo hardware, I wish they could release official PC versions.
Xenoblade 2 shows why specs may not sell consoles, but hardware still matters
Shigeru Miyamoto recently said that customers are no longer just looking at hardware specifications when choosing a console. I think he is largely right. Most people are not comparing teraflops before buying a Nintendo system. They are buying it because they want Nintendo’s games and the kinds of experiences its hardware provides. (gamesradar.com)
But playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on the Switch 2 is also a strong reminder that hardware still matters.
Going back to the game has been eye-opening. On the original Switch, the dynamic resolution could become so aggressive, especially in handheld mode, that the image sometimes looked closer to 360p. At that resolution, smaller environmental details, textures, character features, and distant scenery became difficult to make out.
On Switch 2, I am seeing details that I genuinely never noticed before. The environments are easier to read, the scale of the world comes through more clearly, and Monolith Soft’s art direction is no longer being buried beneath an extremely soft image. It can feel surprisingly close to playing a remaster, even though it is still fundamentally the same game.
The entire Xenoblade series on Switch has dealt with some version of this problem. The art direction was always strong, but the original hardware often struggled to present those worlds with enough clarity and consistency.
That is why I think there is an important distinction here. Raw specifications may no longer be the primary reason people choose one console over another, but hardware still has a direct effect on the games themselves. It determines how clearly the artwork is presented, how stable the performance can be, how dense environments can become, and how closely the final experience matches the developers’ intended vision.
Creative games matter more than numbers on a specification sheet. But better hardware gives those creative ideas more room to come through.
For me, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on Switch 2 is one of the clearest examples of that.
the xenoblade franchise has ALWAYS been held back by the nintendo hardware, I wish they could release official PC versions.
I think people may be taking his words almost too literally. Obviously Nintendo thinks hardware specs are important or they wouldn’t have improved it much
Some people miss the part where he said people don’t “only” care about specs. Obviously everyone cares to a degree
Is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 worth playing?
One of the best JPRGs of all time, in my humble opinion. Best of the Xenoblade games too.
Gooner game with a gacha tier story.
It was the first JRPG I ever played (excluding Pokémon) and having played all the xenoblade games, it remains my favourite. The combat system is just unbeatable once you get the hang of it.
It's the most love-it-or-hate it of all of the Xenoblade games. The people who enjoy it REALLY love it, but it has some very serious shortcomings. I would personally recommend Xenoblade 1 or 3 over it.
It's one of my favorite JRPG's but it is not very inviting to those new to the genre
Absolutely and the expansion is also great.
It’s good but it’s a grind. Xenoblade fans are awfully optimistic about how accessible it is.
3>1>2 imo. 2 gets too anime tropey for me, sometimes. Still very good, 2 got me into the series.
It's up there with some of the best of all time, including FFVII and FFVI It's fucking fantastic. And the music is by the same guy who did Chrono Trigger, and boy oh boy, does he still have "it". *Fonsett theme intensifies*
As far as the story goes it's my least favourite of the franchise, but the gameplay was good fun.
The only one of the three I actually liked. Wish more games did faux gacha. The system was really neat and allowed for replayability. Hope it gets expanded on.
Yes, but I think you have to be into anime-style stories to vibe with it, or else you’ll walk away.
What’s so anime about it?
If any of that stuff makes you go “What the hell” or offends you, then there might be enough in there that you don’t want to stick around for it.
Behind it all there’s a gigantic rich world with wonderful world building, tons of interesting side characters, lots of interesting game systems, tons and tons of stuff to do, and a story that in the end despite the themes above is quite engaging and interesting.
Its a really slow burner that goes very high
“No longer just looking at hardware specifications” = hardware does not matter?
People have been misreading Miyamoto's words for *decades*.
That statement is just marketing. Lots of people value ambitious games like Rebirth that could never run on an underpowered console and still deliver the same level of immersion. Nintendo knows they’ve cornered themselves in the less ambitious game space so now they’re making statements like “customers don’t care about hardware guys trust me”
Guess you missed the part where Rebirth is coming to the Switch 2.
While I look forward to playing this higher res, it looked great on switch for me. None of those visual issues took away from the experience for me. Stil a 10/10 experience, hence why im excited to blow another 300 hours on it.
It looked great on switch for you? Lmao Ok buddy
The graphical design was top, but the Grafik was Ass. Have you ever tried playing on handheld xD? When I played it as a kid I thought it looked very pretty though, but that was because they somewhat were able to mask the ass grafics, by having a very good artstyle
just makes me want xenoblade and fire emblem games developed for a console with insane power like the ps5 pro and experience these worlds with no setbacks, even on switch 2 games like xenoblade X are rough
Agreed. I keep trying to imagine what a Zelda game on PC or PS5 Pro would look like.
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Counterpoint: I played 2 on Switch 1 and it was a completely enjoyable and worthwhile experience. So much so, that the switch 2 is not needed to enjoy the game. Is the switch 2 version better? Probably. Is it necessary to enjoy the game? Not at all.
It really comes down to personal experience and preference. I primarily play on PC, while my Switch is mostly for Nintendo exclusives, so lower frame rates and resolutions stand out to me more. Someone who uses the Switch as their main gaming platform is probably more accustomed to those compromises and may be much more forgiving of them.
I would more say that smart use of hardware is more important then raw power. Sw2 Xenoblade upgrades run internally at 720 and dlls is upscalling it to 4k and i looks very well. There are some shimmer if you look for it but otherwise its very impressive.
If I'd ever looked at hardware specs in console gaming, I wouldn't have bought a single Nintendo system except the GameCube. This spec obsession never made sense to me. Sure I can buy a Ferrari or Lamborghini but at the end of the day, I just have to do my groceries. I have my work workstation if I want the absolute best of the best and maxed out settings but honestly, why? I had fun playing PAL OoT at 15fps on my 10" CRT and I still have fun playing games on 30fps at 1080p on a 65"4k TV today. Unless you are doing a living based in competitive games, why bother chasing every FPS possible. Heck, I even had fun playing XC2 handheld. Of course it was rough but seriously, we had way worse and the game was and still is fun, so whatever.
I think it's fair to view enhanced resolution, framerate, and fidelity as just that: an enhancement, not a requirement. A good game is a good game at any resolution and framerate. But to me, that doesn't preclude the quality of life upgrade that comes with going above and beyond what's strictly necessary to deliver the creative vision of the game. I would gladly play my favorite games at 360p 30 fps in a hot and humid room, sitting on a straight-backed metal chair, with a lawnmower running outside of my window. But all else being equal, I'd certainly prefer playing in a well-air-conditioned, quiet room, on a comfortable couch. I don't think that necessarily means I don't truly love those games or am being overly superficial or anything like that.
Yeah, the classic ‘read the statement too literally’ and make an argument out of nothing. It’s common sense that hardware is important, otherwise, why update the hardware at all? It’s just not the most priority was what he said.
He jugado xenoblade 2 en mi switch 1 mas de cuarto o cinco veces y he disfrutado el juego todss las veces. Estas cosas no me importan. Y muchas personas piensan la misma. El juego es bueno en la s1
It was funny with the developer interviews for some of the early Switch 2 games like Mario Kart World, because they were basically starting to admit that a lot of Nintendo’s teams were kind of frustrated with the Switch 1’s lack of power.
Something to keep in mind is that the team didn't want to release it on switch 1 because it didn't meet their quality standards, they wanted the game to be 60fps in single player with no frame drops ever, but they only managed to go up to 40~ish which they found unacceptable for mario kart. And let me tell you, being able to run a game like mkw on switch 1 even at 30fps is insane and borderline impossible for most studios, which speaks to the amount of care and polish the big teams handling main franchises at Nintendo put into the games.
This is another case of basic communication skills not existing. When miyamoto said "hardware specs don't matter", what do you think he meant? Because it is very clear to me that he means as long as the game runs well and is good, it doesn't matter if it's using ray tracing or DLSS or has 240fps. He isn't talking about having technical limitations having to effects on the games, he is saying a console having a stronger cpu won't matter if it doesn't get good games (which is shown several times as Nintendo consoles, most recently the switch, sold basically 3 times the amount ps5 did despite being way weaker purely due to the games)
You are correct.
4K anime tiddies here I come
Rex’s duck butt has never looked so plump. But also, why does the Switch 2 edition of XBC2 look so much better than XBC1’s Switch 2 edition? Is it the stylization of the characters?
I mean cmon, XB1 is 15-16 years old. Was a Wii game and then got a 3DS remaster. If you compare the original to the switch 2 versions visuals it’s bonkers.
I played a bunch of switch titles using emulators because of the performance. Imo Xenoblade 2 was easily the best looking game on the system when it's allowed to shine.
I’ve spent way too much time with S1 edition. I don’t recognize this game 😭. It’s an upgrade but I miss my potato quality game.
Why do so many people use AI to write their posts nowadays? It all reads like a bot posted this for engagement
...is it really a good example of that, though? The original release sold millions of copies, even with the weaker hardware. People will still play the game if it's a good game, blurry low resolution rendering and all.
The ONLY selling point of the Switch 2 is better specs. Miyamoto says stupid stuff all the time.
Even if you remove graphics, frame rate, optimization, loading, etc. are things to factor in. Xenoblade’s design means you’re working with wide open spaces and NPCs within them, but it can get really stressful test the devices they are on.