Topic: Is Nintendo resting on its laurels?

@Yorumi

Wow, I have to tell you something crazy but I can't keep that for myself...

You sound like a friend that I have who work in a company pretty similar to yours. That's insane how what you explain fits perfectly with his company. Dunno if you heard something about a company called ANKAMA but everything you said match what my friend already said to me...

Insane ^^

omg I just noticed this mistake. MAIN QUEST. Tremendous.

I forgot the rest of question, and put main quest.

As I said, I don't think anyone has any issue at all with people saying they don't like the Switch for subjective reasons. Maybe not so much on a fan forum like this where that sort of stuff comes across as trolling. But in general, saying you don't like one kind of art vs another? I don't see what the issue is. It's when you started saying stuff that was provably incorrect that people are going to call you out on it.

Which people have obviously turned into a discussion about the game library. I don't know what else you expected people to discuss given that it's literally a device for playing games. The amount and quality of games is the thing to talk about. And this is why I'm confused about this idea that Nintendo are dropping the ball. Because, objectively, it has a pretty strong library already.

It came out about a year later but I don't think that really counts against it either. The only time any of this matters to people is when people are choosing between console A or console B based on the games. And in any case I singled it out as a game pretty much because it was the PS4/XBOne equivalent of BotW. A game that had universal critical acclaim, was also on their previous console and sold fantastically well regardless.

But in the REAL real world, as opposed to Cobalt's Personal Fantasy World, portability is flippin' awesome. I play Dragon Quest Builders on long car rides. I'm playing Skyrim on the train. My kid can play SMO when she comes to work with me. Thanks to the portable aspect of the Switch, I've put more hours on it than any other device except for the 3DS, and despite the slight downgrade in graphics and how "unacceptable" you find XC2's hamdheld performance, I'm playing games on the go that are full-blown console RPGs and action games instead of playing simplified games on the 3DS's postage stamp-sized screen window simulator.

Knock it all you want, your comments ALWAYS boil down to your personal opinion-based vendetta against the Switch and have nothing to do with facts. The actual facts are that nearly 20,000,000 people enjoy gaming on the go with the Switch at least occasionally, as opposed to one Cobalt who finds the handheld performance unacceptable.

@JasmineDragon
It's pretty amazing when it all comes together like that with the Switch isn't it. I recently went on a holiday and was sitting in a cabin near a beach as a storm rolled in playing Bayonetta. A couple of years ago it would've either been something far smaller or I would've had to have brought my laptop along. Both of which I have done before, the Switch is a breath of fresh air in that regard.

There's a lot of wilful ignorance going around about the appeal of the Switch. For me it's super obvious what the benefits are. It really does blur the boundaries between portable and home console play. When I am home? Obviously there are higher spec options available to me. But they all come with a tether to the wall and a specific location in the house I have to sit. The Switch gets enough of the high spec without the bulk or tether. But when I'm not at home? Nothing comes close.

Yeah I may be able to beast any game on my PC at 60-144fps at 1080p or higher, but that means nothing when I'm outside of the house, which is pretty much over half of the day, so that pretty much beats almost everything else on the market.

@JasmineDragon

I think living in a PR World is worse than a fantasy one.

Anyone honest who try to play outside during sunny days will have problems to see what happend on the screen. I experienced it, the friends that I have experienced it, and that you don't want hear because the almighty Switch is so perfect blablabla... I'm sorry like I already said, I love my Switch, I love the qualitity of the screen but the antireflection is purely absent. I can watch my phone during sunny days without any problem but I'm not gonna lie I can't with my Switch. If I put the two screens side by side, oh my, incomparable !

Now, Xenoblade 2 ! Again PR talk !
You talk about a slight downgrade in graphics and that all.
I recommand you to play more than 5 hours then because saying what you say is simply not true.
There are bigger graphics problems in terms of textures, resolution drops, pop ups, framerate going down in several places in the game etc...

Maybe you have a special PR Xeno-cartridge or a boosted version of the Switch ?

But "in the real world" not in the Jasminedragon one, honest people who just talk facts and not dreams, they note that yeah, the screen is like it is.
Quality in term of render(really good calibration and around 6500 kelvins) but unplayable if you don't have shadow spots to play.
And still in the real world, Xenoblade 2 is a good game but have several issues, really bad for some of them and it's just a fact. I'm not a PR, I'm not a hater, I'm just talking factual things that normal people in the real world can check themselves.

I'm pretty sure that every portable console I have ever owned has had a fairly reflective screen. I've never had this issue. I also find it interesting that you're bringing this up only now after multiple pages of coming up with all sorts of BS all of which has been shut down. This is your strategy. Throw mud at everything, some of it will stick.

I don't know what you're getting out of this. It's almost masochistic given how good everyone seems to be at shutting down your BS. Find a new hobby.

Now this is really getting tiresome and repetitive.
Let's just leave him alone. He only repeats himself. And we do too.

@RunGMhx
I agree 100%. I would say even more so than you have said. I’m giving them just a little slack because this is the first iteration of Switch. I also just really believe Nintendo didn’t expect the success it is having. They wanted to put their best foot forward but didn’t know exactly how it would turn out. Now Switch 2 or pro better be on point from every aspect. Right now their online sounds like nothing I want a part of, voice chat solution is horrible, no dpad on joy cons, analog triggers, and hard drive storage. They have work to do.

@Cobalt Well I played through XC2 99% on Portable and I don't have much problem

Yeah I know it got occasional hits on res and fps (fps is much rarer though), and the res problem highest place is at Mor Ardain... but other than that? I thought it looks amazing and it was one of my favorite because of how beautiful the world is.

In the end the graphics problem probably is what you are used to (I get used to playing games on Low-30fps on laptop, and playing on 3DS/Vita if on portable...)

@darkfenrir

Don't tell me that you experience problems only at Mor Ardain ? Because if it's the case my Switch has to be damage then...
I give an example in the 1st hours of the game when you reach Torigoth, do you experience massive framerate drops or not ?
I ask you that because the 1st time I was wandering in the Gormott plains and then reach the entrance of the village, OH MYYYY, it was like framerate around 15/20 fps, textures pop up, resolution drop etc... and the worst thing was that it was like that even when I was exploring the village...

So maybe, it's my Switch that could have a technical issue and if you confirm that it's not the case on your Switch, jeezz I have to exchange my Switch with another one... o_O

And yes, I'm used to 60fps minimum so it's probably even more visible for me all those issues... :/

Thanx darkfenrir.

@Cobalt My most glaring problem is Mor Ardain yes, I don't remember Gormott having huge problems though... Like there... might be resolution drops? But I don't remember fps drops at all (and if it happens, it's probably minute enough that I don't realise it).

Textures is indeed slow when you were fast traveling everywhere though, that one is truth. Not a big problem for me since I end up just listening to the music for a bit but sometimes it can be annoying.

Gormott Village has light resolution drop, but once again, I don't remember any fps drops...

Might just be my eyes though, so yeah, it might just be that because our eyes are used to different things.

@darkfenrir

You know what ? I'm gonna ask a friend to bring his own Switch to try this week end because I'm doubting now if my complains are justified or if it's a hardware problem that makes my point of view distorded... :/

Thank you for your reply man.

@Cobalt Yeah, hopefully it's just hardware problem. The other side is probably I'm very not bothered by the resolutions or I have problems in my eyes.

o.ob

There's low resolution in Gormott and Mor Ardain (especially with weather effects), but not much else. Framerate is still fine enough though, it beats Xenoblade X's technicals at times due to actually needing to render enemies and having a half-respectable draw distance. And Xenoblade 1 tanks when you're fighting waves of enemies. The Arachno Queen in particular is the worst with it, along with a lot of others like the waves of Mechon you fight across the game. 2 does as well, but only if you hit a bajillion things with Specials compared to just insane innate slowdown in 1.

And let's be real here, 2 beats Xenoblade 1 on 3DS and Xenoblade X on the GamePad any day of the week. It's not ideal, but it's fine.

@Cobalt So let me offer my two cents based on the month I've been using my Switch:

• Handheld resolution: Games look very nice on handheld, but there is definitely a downgrade compared to playing on the TV usually. I don't have Xenoblade Chronicles 2, but that game is notorious for looking terrible on handheld based on what I've read online. Try looking at Digital Foundry's analysis of the game at 13:10 of this video: https://youtu.be/FpGQznGKXdM?t=790 (in this video they compare playing games in the Switch's portable mode vs in TV mode. Some games compare favorably, few do not).

Other games, like Zelda: Breath of the Wild, look really nice on handheld. BUT there is a definite downgrade from TV, the graphics look noticeably better on TV and there isn't a weird outlining effect on the TV. So there definitely is a resolution drop in handheld for most games, but ALSO in most games the drop is so minimal that you can enjoy playing the game. I still love playing Breath of the Wild in handheld mode when I feel like playing handheld around the house. Xenoblade Chronicles 2's performance in handheld is definitely an outlier, most Switch games do well in handheld mode.

• In terms of your complaints of games: this is obviously all subjective. But I understand where you're coming from @Cobalt ; the Switch's library has a noticeable number of Wii U ports and ports from other systems. Many of its best games are indeed Wii U ports/games from Wii U, like Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 1 & 2, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. And if you're not too into indie games, there may not be a whole lot out there for someone who has already played most games on Wii U.

***BUT, you have to understand that we are only 1.5 years into the Switch's lifespan. It may be frustrating to hear people praise the Switch's library when you aren't getting as much satisfaction from it, but you have to keep in mind that it is JUST 1.5 years into its lifespan. Compare the PS4 and Xbox One in mid-2015 — they had WAY fewer exclusive games worth getting, and many third party games were still releasing on PS3 and Xbox 360. IMHO it took 3 years for the PS4 to find its footing and start releasing an impressive stream of excellent games.

So honestly, it is understandable that you are disappointed, especially since you aren't a fan of some of the Switch's exclusives like Odyssey and Xenoblade 2. BUT you should understand that systems these days take much longer to get a really diverse library — you should wait till March 2020 (the three-year mark) before expecting the Switch's library to shine to a Wii U owner, since I think it took about the same amount of time for the PS4's library to shine to a PS3 owner. And even now there are plenty of exclusives on Switch you could check out, like Arms, Mario + Rabbids, Octopath Traveler, etc, and try out some indies. If nothing suits you, it's understandable, but you have to accept that it's just 1.5 years into the Switch's lifespan and that you really can't judge it until March 2020 arrives.

@shadow-wolf

Thank you for the huge message dude.
I have to bring a little addition to what you just wrote tho. I LIKE Xenoblade 2 ^^
I think the 1st one and X are better but I like it, it's not a bad game at all.
My complains about it was more about the technical issues that are, from my perspective, unacceptable for a MonolithSoft/Nintendo game. Especially when you have already experienced the Wii game and Xenoblade X before this one.
Another thing, the Switch is the most "powerful" compare to the Wii and WiiU. So, is it abnormal to expect something, at least, as good as the two other episodes ? I don't think so.

About Odyssey, it's not a bad game in itself, there are plenty of nice stuffs in the game. But when I saw the reviews, the opinions on the web going crazy " Best Game evaaa" "10/10" " I give 20/10 to that game" etc...etc... I was like, well I have to play that game instantly because it seems that it's incredibly awesome.
What I got ? I got a game that goes against its own DNA. I mean, in a 3D Mario you have to be involved, you have to handle a curve of progression, you have to be "smart" to find secrets etc...
What is Mario Odyssey ? Simple, the opposite. Even the costumes, goshh I was so happy to see all those new outfits, I thought wow we're gonna get plenty of new abilities because of them. The reality, the costumes are just skins with no purpose at all except sometimes to open a scelled door (the door of beach is closed, ow let's put the beach oufit to unlock the door... o_O, seriously...)

So yeah, huge dissapointment for me with Odyssey that I qualify(and it's my opinion only) as the worst 3D Mario ever.

Otherwise, you're right when you say that I already played all the Wii U games ported to the Switch and it's a big problem for somebody like me. I expected from Nintendo new games like new iterations of IPs for example but not that massive load of WiiU games.

I was confident because even with the Wii U, it wasn't like that. Like I got Wii U games not Wii ports games(and even if they had to port Wii games at least those games would have a benefit because of SD/HD so... ^^) but yeah on the Switch you get basically the games like they were.

To conclude, you're right with the 1 year 1/2 but gosh, Kingdom Battle, Xenoblade 2, Octopath Traveler, three games that I really liked in 17 months...
I like my Switch but objectively, my Wii U did better in terms of games, in terms of comfort in hands and in terms of extra possibilities(Netflix, Virtual Console, Eshop...).

I'm gonna be patient ( I am already ) and hope that something great will come.

Thanx for your post full of goodsense and nice explanations.

Xenoblade 2 is pretty much the only game I own that actively disappointed me with how it performed undocked. And, heck, even that still benefited from the portability: I still got through it way faster than I would have if it was a PS4 game, as I would grind affinity charts, run merc missions, and complete side-quests when it wasn't hooked up to the TV.

Portability is awesome, full stop. One game's implementation of it was less than perfect, but it was still better than it would have been otherwise.

I don't know why this is even a discussion TBH. What, we're now entertaining the idea that the Switch is somehow underwhelming as a portable because in one specific game it drops frames in portable mode? A little bit of perspective please.

Before the Switch launched your only options for "portable gaming" were the Wii U in off-TV mode, 3DS, Vita or iOS/Android. Now games on iOS and Android are, Fortnite aside, rarely pushing the hardware to the limit. The 3DS and Vita while decent consoles we're also not even close to HD and, in terms of spec, are closer to the PS2 era than the PS4 era. Which leaves the Wii U which while capable of HD-era graphics "portable mode" was at 480p on a 5Ghz WiFi tether. Even non-portable the Wii U was less capable than the Switch is when portable.

In addition to all of the above? The Switch already has an objectively bigger library of well reviewed games than 3DS, Vita and Wii U. In terms of "console games" it has significantly more than iOS and Android. For portable gaming there's no discussion to be had here. The Switch is a class above anything else on the market for portable gaming. Period.