Having six characters on screen introduces other challenges, though, some of which Monolith Soft is better at addressing than others. While numbers, aggro lines, and AoE effects can clutter the screen, the Switch itself is up to the task. Monolith Soft has clearly figured out how to optimize its engine for not just frame rate, but for graphic fidelity as well. There’s evidently still adaptive resolution at play (and I’m not entirely sure what the pixel count is while the console is docked), but characters and UI elements possess a level of graphic fidelity only reserved for cinematics in past games. The same is true even in handheld mode. While resolution is clearly reduced, the compromises in image quality between character models, backgrounds, and particle effects are juggled successfully, creating a more balanced viewing experience. Moreover, the game almost always holds at 30 frames per second in combat — while docked or in handheld. We’ll have to see how the Switch holds up when, say, fighting in larger settings with more ambient particle effects against multiple foes while Interlinking. But the point is that, for perhaps the first time, it feels as if Monolith Soft’s scope and ambition aren’t constrained. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 doesn’t look like it’s straddling its hardware’s — or its developer’s — limits.
