Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

@JaxonH Thanks for the info, I didn't know that about Silksong. I was a bit surprised to learn that it will only be 30 fps, since Hollow Knight was 60 fps on the Switch, and based on the trailers Silksong doesn't look that much more demanding. I wonder if there'll be a 60 fps version for the Switch 2? In most cases 30 fps is perfectly fine for me as long as there's no significant drops and the frame pacing is steady, but with game like these that require a lot of precise timing in your movements, 60 fps would be ideal.

@OmnitronVariant Disapointing? It is? I usually can’t tell the difference so long as a game hovers around 30fps. Usually not even on my list of why I buy a game.

I am so curious as to what frame-rate sensitive people see when they game. I suppose I am lucky though. My lack of perception means I can play most games with no issues. The only games I worry about are fighting games and so long as I have a good training mode with hit boxes and timers I am fine (as I still can’t tell the difference physically.) Music games can be off but usually just requires a tv or in-game tweak (and I suspect I have to lower the fps to see it).

@Azileron
Oh, I absolutely agree, it's just (unfortunately) how most people seem to judge "value" of video games.

@OmnitronVariant
And yet, the irony of your statements is that “looks good” tends to be a pretty subjective thing.

@Polvasti
??

Silksong is 120fps

I must have got confused or something. Because I wasn't referring to Silksong.

Cronos and Star Wars run at 30fps. But Silksong is 60fps on Switch and 120fps on NSW2.

Star Wars Outlaws is only 20 GB on Switch 2. And it has extensive gyro aiming options in the settings.

I'm... dang near speechless. A quality current gen AAA game with good resolution both docked and handheld, with a very smooth and stable framerate, and a small file size and with gyro aiming. Oh, and it has raytracing too, for what its worth.

It's basically a perfect port. Its everything you'd want a Switch 2 game to be. We've seen a number of quality games get quality ports but usually they have insanely large file sizes or they don't offer gyro aiming or the performance is a little wonky or whatever.

This is the last game I'd have expected to nail the bullseye across the board like this. Just the fact it looks great visually and runs great is impressive in itself. But wrapping it all up in a 20 GB file size with an entire menu devoted to various gyro aiming options elevates it from a recommendation to a must-buy imo.

Keep cranking out games of this caliber with gyro and/or mouse integration and tiny file size (it's only a couple GB larger than Kirby for goodness sakes) and I'll gobble em all up, one after another.

@JaxonH it gives me a lot of hope for more current gen ports (BG3, Death Stranding 2, FF7 Rebirth).

It's a portable console, I'm not sure what you were expecting for a game with RT lighting. Frankly I do agree that the game doesn't look great but the distracting thing for me is the noise. Which is also present on PS5. But on a small screen I'm sure it'd be fine. Stable 30fps with the image that I saw? That's pretty decent on this kind of device

Also.....
https://steamdeckhq.com/game-reviews/star-wars-outlaws/

Unfortunately, Star Wars Outlaws runs poorly on the Steam Deck, likely due to enforced Ray-Tracing. Although you can get the game to boot and "play", the performance is just unacceptable, often in the mid-20s and occasionally dropping below 20 FPS even with no action on the screen. Star Wars Outlaws is a game you'll have to skip playing on the Steam Deck

@OmnitronVariant
I'm not defending the game or Ubisoft's approach here. As I said the game has a fairly noisy image even on PS5 and personally I'm not a fan of it. Also I'm not picking it up because I still haven't gone through Jedi Survivor

But given the decisions they made and given how this game performs on other platforms I would say the results are perfectly reasonable for a portable gaming device. The image is alright for a screen that small and a stable 30fps (plus VRR to assist) is fine. It's not perfect, it's not fantastic, but it's certainly serviceable

To call it disappointing given the cards delt is, frankly, a naive and unrealistic take

@OmnitronVariant
TBH I feel like you're arguing with someone other than me here. I'm not defending the game, I'm not buying the game. I'm just saying that calling the results here "disappointing" is unnecessarily negative

If someone wants to play this game and wants a portable experience? I think the end result here is serviceable and, frankly, is a better result than I was expecting

Took a few screenshots in Star Wars Outlaws. This game is really impressive visually for a trybrid console.

Seems Elden Ring has already improved since the last demo, too. As expected. By release it should be a nice finished product.

@JaxonH Wait is that ingame?! Ok yeah getting this. Do you have to know/understand/care about star wars to enjoy?

@JaxonH
Yeah, despite the complaints from the usual suspects I think it's hard to argue that this isn't a good result. And I would say it bodes well for third party support on the platform going forward. On the Switch the "impossible ports" did come but there was a ceiling to what was possible and they often came with huge development efforts involving heavy and bespoke Switch specific optimisations

But with Switch 2 studios are just porting their games as is and doing comparatively minor optimisations. If a game like Star Wars Outlaws looks and performs as decent while also being not only true to the original version but kinda just outright the original version? I think we can expect a lot of day-and-date ports for Switch 2 over this generation. Something we haven't seen on Nintendo hardware since probably the Gamecube

You don't have to like or want this game to understand what this means

@Ryu_Niiyama
I think it says something that IGN posted up a video comparing the Switch 2 version to the PC version running at maxed out settings. An incredibly one-sided comparison that, obviously, it doesn't win. But the fact that there's even somewhat of a comparison to make here and that the comments under it, an IGN video, are super positive about how the Switch 2 compares says something I think

Started up Wild Hearts S and it had an update to download. Idk what it did but I think this game got grossly overlooked and overcriticized. DF saying it had "Big big cutbacks" but it looks great to me. And it runs great, which was the biggest concern given the disastrous performance when it launched on other platforms. So even if it does show cutbacks compared to other versions, I'm okay with that if it means it actually runs stable.

Daemon X Machina is pretty good too. Wish it had gyro for the bow but aside from that it's solid. Imported save from demo too which is nice.

But Trails In The Sky 1st remake demo is still the main course on my plate. It looks great on Switch 2 for being a NSW1 game. And the fact it's getting a NSW2 upgrade for $1 is even better. Means it'll for sure jump to 60fps and get a resolution upgrade.

@Ryu_Niiyama
I don't think you do. It's more like a Han Solo or Andor type experience (no jedi and lightsabers and force focus). More of a story just set in the universe. Kay is a criminal who performs heists and has a "pet" (partner?) called Nix, this cute little lizard-Stitch hybrid looking creature you can direct to steal things, attack and enemy then you run up and attack the other while they're distracted by a giant eared rodent mammal thingy attacking their buddy

Some stealth involved, some cool platforming like Tomb Raider climbing ledges and some Indiana Jones style swinging across gaps with a grapple device. I like that the gun has unlimited ammo and simply uses a cool down, as well as the stun device.

So ya, it looks incredible, runs as stable as they come and it's actually way more fun than I was expecting.

@JaxonH
Yea I have 5 hours in the Trails demo so far and loving it. The combat system is super fun and dynamic.

I’m just gonna get the physical and play it on my Switch 2. Honestly it looks and runs great without any kind of update patch. Which is maybe why it only costs a buck lol

@skywake @JaxonH Nice, thanks for the feedback. Switch/2 are the only systems I have live right now (just moved so now I gotta unpack all this mess) so I will focus on smaller games and sales but Outlaws sounds like a nice sci-fi romp and that is good enough for me. Sims 4 announced another expansion so I expect to get sucked back into that and then hate myself for it lol. But since I have to run shelving in most of my rooms (to hold all the funko and action figures) it will be a while before I get the TVs set back up (using a computer monitor currently). Trying not to game much though as I am on a cert run for the next six months. (If I sound loopy later, that is the burnout talking.)

@Ryu_Niiyama
That's where Switch 2 really shines. No TV needed. I had my 4k OLED all scratched up and for a while just played handheld. I use it now even though I can see the scratch marks during play.

Switch 2 is finally getting competent AAA ports that dont feel like a massive downgrade. We got used to that with Switch. But on Switch 2 you're getting PS4 quality at minimum for portable play. Even higher quality when docked. Playing Star Wars Outlaws and Cyberpunk 2077 and Wild Hearts S and Street Fighter 6, remembering what Witcher 3 and Immortals Fenyx Rising and The Outer Worlds and Mortal Kombat 1 looked and ran on NSW1... it's really impressive.

I was conditioned for nearly a decade to just expect AAA games to be low resolution with consistent framerate issues. It's so nice buying games that actually look visually appealing with 1080p handheld as the new floor (thanks to DLSS- what a gamechanger that's proven to be) and offer solid performance.

@skywake
Star Wars Outlaws is extremely impressive visually. It feels like it's on the same level as those end-of-generation PS4 games running on a PS4 Pro.

There's so many great games on PS/Xbox/PC that I'll simply never play so long as they're TV-tethered. I don't pay them any attention. But offer them on a trybrid console with visuals that aren't all that different than current gen (diminishing returns finally paying dividends) and suddenly they appeal to me. Hogwarts Legacy is a good example- I love HP, have all the movies on 4k Bluray, wanted to play the game but the NSW1 version just wasn't up to scratch. Overclocked it looked similar to Steamdeck until you got to open areas, and it was still partitioned off. But the NSW2 release looks identical to PS/Xbox all while being a console and handheld version. With gyro and mouse aiming. Suddenly it becomes one of my favorite games on the system.

Speaking of which, I can't stress enough that everyone should go on Amazon and drop $10 on an 8" x 10" (200mm x 250mm) firm mouse pad so they can enjoy the mouse integration in Switch 2 games that offer it. Being able to just instantly go into mouse mode in Rune Factory or Hogwarts Legacy as needed/desired is... well, it's a gamechanger too. It's hard to convey just how awesome it is until you've experienced it. But most people aren't experiencing how wonderful mouse mode is because they don't have that portable sized firm mousepad allowing them to utilize it.

@rallydefault
I'm so used to NSW1 versions being rough that I was shocked when I saw Trails In The Sky 1st remake. Character models are sharp and crisp, resolution isn't muddy and everything feels like it was developed ground up with NSW1 in mind. Which makes playing on NSW2 all the more impressive, nevermind the actual NSW2 version upgrade.

Kicks feet up...

Ahhh. What a spread

Been loving the switch 2. Missed the vast majority of the switch generation so honestly finding the massively backlog I want to play a bit overwhelming at times.

Not to mention the 30+ games on sale at the moment on my wish list, it’s an exciting problem to have. Also never thought I’d ever consider going digital but starting to see the temptation, particularly with some of the games on sale paying 20-30 pounds more for a physical is not something I’m willing to do.

Am I right i thinking once the game is downloaded you can basically play it forever if it’s not deleted regardless of what happens with the servers? I know I’ve heard licences could be removed mentioned but that’s a bit beyond me what that means…

@JamesS2612
Yea, that’s a good question. I would think as long as you have a working version of the game downloaded and it’s not a game that needs an internet check or anything, you should be good as long as the internal drive or sd card doesn’t fail.

I’m not sure if a company could actually revoke permission to play a digital game if it’s not an online title or something.