The original Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite RPG of all time, so I had high expectations for this remaster. Luckily, the right creative decisions have been made 9 times out of 10 to bring this incredible game up to more modern standards. The biggest overhaul, the visuals, is very successful given the limited budget available to the dev team. Character and enemy models look expressive and detailed, and textures on the game's beautiful environments have been greatly improved. The game runs at a stable 30 fps now, and overall I'd say it looks very nearly as good as Xenoblade 2 on the Switch. Menus, load times, and management of inventory and quests are also much more convenient than they were in the Wii version. Font sizes are much bigger and more readable, especially for handheld mode. This is without question the definitive version of the game. My sole complaint is that the remastered music is a bit of a half-measure. Many of the original game's orchestral/rock songs were perfect already, and have been fiddled with in this remaster to include bad synthesizers and inferior new vocals. Luckily, the original soundtrack is still available and can be chosen from the menu at any time. The collector's edition, at least in North America, comes with a hardback, 250-page artbook. As video game artbooks go, this one is just okay. It features a one-page interview with the director, existing artwork from the original, and a small amount newly created for the remaster...but many pages are taken up with just in-game renders of the characters' many outfits. It's a nice touch but I'm not sure I'd spend the extra $20 if I had a do-over. I highly recommend this game to fans of JRPGs with long, detailed stories; fans of open-world exploration; and people who appreciate good music and voice acting.