Monolith Soft is Recruiting for a New Project

[Nuvendil]

curl-6 said:

Nuvendil said:

Actually, shadow draw distance was a curiosity because some shadows drew way out in the distance and others didn't, namely the gigantic landmass shadows.  Grass is probably because this is the first time they're using meshes for grass vs billboards.  So I imagine all of these are things they are tinkering with.  They probably did err on the side of caution to ensure no frame drops though.  They are probably contemplating the usual tradeoffs: grass density vs draw distance, shadow quality vs draw distance.  They're current attitude seems to point towards having it in tiers so that some shadows draw farther than others, farther ones off are lower quality, grass will fade in at one density in the distance and get more dense when you get close.  That last one was originally a thing in Xenoblade Chronicles X's first trailer but they dropped it.  But with meshes taking more resources up, they may go with that approach for maximum graphical quality overall.  

What will be interesting is to see whether they employ dynamic environment shadows that shift with time of day, something XCX sacrificed but Breath of the Wild had.

That will be interesting.  The fact they don't draw out literally endlessly is indicative of some extra drain on resources.