I travelled in Africa for some time with an XR650R rider. The bike had hard luggage and a huge 40-something litre fuel tank. I think there's a picture of it in one of Chris Scott's books.
Personally, I fall into the soft luggage camp. IMHO, I can only echo what Rich is saying: if you want to go far where there's little opportunity for replenishing fuel and water, you need to concentrate your carrying capacity on fuel and water, and not worry too much about things like an extra change of clothes.
On my last big trip I kitted the bike with fuel and water tanks and my luggage was just a pair of Ortlieb throwovers and a Camelbak HAWG. Yet I still had a range of over 700km and enough water for 3 days plus reserve.
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