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The long-awaited Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is out on Friday and JRPG fans have been chomping at the bit to play it. Our review of the game was published today and we gave it a solid 9/10 praising the story, characters, gameplay, and also the technical improvements over Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Today, the video game tech-focussed channel Digital Foundry has published their impressions and they are impressed with the temporal super-resolution solution that Monolith Soft have used to bump up the resolution. Here’s some choice quotes from Digital Foundry’s tech-focussed piece:
“Monolith has both improved the overall visual quality while greatly boosting image quality, achieving this via what looks like a temporal super-resolution solution, taking those lower pixel counts up to a passable rendition of 1080p when docked and 720p in portable play.”
“Performance is mostly fine, but far from flawless. By default, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 aims to deliver a frame-rate capped at 30 frames per second, much like prior entries. It features correct frame pacing and appears smooth when operating at its peak. That said, while playing the game I found that performance varies based on the complexity of the environment and the size of encounters. Typically, simple environments stick to the target performance level, even when returning with a larger party from later in the game.”
“However, as I made progress, certain areas seemed to incur a greater hit to performance which becomes most evident during combat. This may be due to the large number of visible party members participating in the battle combined with the environmental complexity but either way, the impact to fluidity is palpable. Whether this is an issue for you will depend on your tolerance for performance hiccups – this has minimal impact on the actual gameplay given the nature of its menu and shortcut driven design, but it can be distracting for many users.”
On the audio side, I’m impressed with Monolith Soft’s efforts. Sounds is always hit or miss on the Switch with many games offering nothing more than 2.0 stereo output when docked but I’m happy to report that Xenoblade 3 does, in fact, support full 5.1 surround sound. The rear channels receive plenty of use and the game’s soundscape is fantastic. It also includes both English and Japanese language options to suit different preferences, but it’s the musical score that really seals the deal. Featuring a selection of musicians including the always delightful Yasunori Mitsuda, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 boasts a wide selection of tracks that really pull you into the game.