Digital Foundry published a new analysis for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 today. The resolution and frame rate were both examined in-depth along with improvements from Xenoblade Chronicles X.
One thing to discuss out of the gate is Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s resolution. Ultimately, the game runs at 720p when docked. Some have thought that a dynamic resolution could be employed, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Digital Foundry believes the confusion lies in a heavy use of anti-aliasing, which can make image quality blurry.
In portal mode, that’s where an adaptive resolution is in place. Digital Foundry encountered resolutions of 552p, 342p, and even 368p. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come close to 720p, and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has a strong sharpening filter that can make things messier. Digital Foundry says the game has the worst portable image quality of any Switch game they’ve seen to date.
While the resolution may be disappointing, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 makes several improvements over its predecessor, Xenoblade Chronicles X. Digital Foundry praises the per-object motion blur, cloud simulation, as well as improvements to water reflections and lighting, and more. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 does have similar shadows as Xenoblade Chronicles X since they’re static.
Collision detection has been much improved over Xenoblade Chronicles X. In the Wii U game, you could run straight through objects like cars. You can move through smaller things like some trees in Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but most objects have a proper collision mesh.
Another notable point to touch on is performance. When docked, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 mostly runs at 30 frames per second. However, the game can dip at certain points which Digital Foundry believes could be attributed to a streaming or memory issue. The frame rate also looks to be operating similarly in portable mode.
You can watch the full analysis from Digital Foundry below.
