Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Ninfan I well made COD game on switch would easily sell over a million. It’s stupid we haven’t gotten one yet.

Highly, highly recommend Dragon Quest Builders 2. The first was good also, but 2 is better in virtually every way. The first was a solid game, the second is one of the best games I’ve played all generation. It’s fantastic. Unless you’ve already played 2 and just want more, I’d say go straight for the second.

Call of Duty is a perfect example of Activision’s attitude toward the Switch. Blizzard brought Overwatch and Diablo 3. Both top rate ports and top rate games. But Activision? Crash and Spyro, that’s basically it. Cartoony games only. And even then they’ll make sure Switch and PC get year-late ports. We’ll get the new Crash game, eventually. That’s about it.

I wouldn’t expect annual Call of Duty titles every year. Not only would they struggle to run, file size would be a disaster, and the resource demand high. But at least ONE classic entry is warranted. Modern Warfare Remastered is the perfect candidate. One CoD for people to play on a handheld. It would be evergreen all generation long. They put a CoD on Vita, for goodness sakes. Granted, it was a disaster and developed in just 6 months, but it was something. That and the Wii U entries, may have contributed to their complacency in status quo.

@NEStalgia
Demo on eShop now for Trails of Cold Steel III. Maybe check it out and then decide where it falls in the playlist pecking order. Just be sure to watch the story summary in the demo to get up to speed before diving in.

Being a JRPG, one whose fanbase has predominantly been on PS for eons and which released on PS without any indication of a future Switch release at the time, and then a Steam release in March where all the previous games have since dropped, it’s predominantly newcomers who are jumping into the Switch version (and the diehard fans who want the game on a hybrid system and will gladly double dip). Would be nice to have more people to chat with about the game while playing through it.

Xenoblade Chronicles is so good though. But you’ve already kinda missed the window of playing with everyone else there. No harm in waiting a bit longer. DQXIS is also great, but for different reasons. It doesn’t have that gripping narrative like Xenoblade or Trails. Still, it’s a stone cold classic. I really like Trials of Mana. But personally I wouldn’t say it’s quite as good as these other games.

@JaxonH I think Crash 4 will be like Spyro where it comes to PC and Switch a year after PS4 and XB1.

Playing Persona 4 Golden on Steam feels exactly like having it on Switch except... no handheld or tabletop (well, there’s the Win 2, but battery life isn’t great playing this game, slightly worse than Zelda on the original Switch, and it’s not quite as nice as just undocking, also feels more delicate and less rugged, but it’s an option so, that’s cool).

Using Switch Pro controller, and it connects instantly over Bluetooth the minute you hit a button, disconnects same way as on Switch.

Then by mapping the screenshot function to the Screenshot button, it takes pics EXACTLY like Switch. Instantly, the very millisecond you press it, and makes a very similar capture sound too. I can hardly even tell the difference. It’s so similar, in fact, I almost felt like I was playing the game on Switch for a second there.

@Grumblevolcano
Yup. Exactly.

We’ve seen this dog and pony show before. Countless times. In fact, it’s basically the norm now. Do not buy if you want to play on Switch or PC, because it most definitely will be releasing there.

I saw on Push Square that Animal Crossing left the UK top 10 so I had a brief look and it seems it's out of stock everywhere.

@JaxonH Sounds like a great setup. Does Persona 4 Golden offer Pro Controller button prompts? Or Dualshock?

@HunterLeon
Xbox.

Interestingly, the Y button seems to do the same thing on Xbox and Switch Pro controllers, even despite being in different locations. After playing with the Xbox controller then switching to Switch Pro, I just had to remember the lower button on Switch Pro (Y) is the menu button and the higher button (X) is the dungeon context menu. On Xbox it was also Y and X, but the button locations were reversed.

So ya it works great with Switch Pro controller. And, you can remap via Steam controller config anyways. The fact it uses YBXA which matches Xbox/Switch button layouts means you'll be golden.

@JaxonH That's a shame, but no biggie. Xbox is my least favourite of the controllers but generally my preferred controller for PC simply because of button prompts. Although I should know instinctively which buttons to press, any mismatch just irks me somehow - I think Xbox and Switch having the same face button names just makes it all the worse. Otherwise I'd go for the Pro Controller (1st choice) or Dualshock 4 (2nd choice).

That is indeed bizarre. You'd maybe expect that for A and B (considering that, despite different locations, these buttons generally perform the same function in Nintendo vs. Xbox games).

@HunterLeon
Maybe I didn't explain well. It does seem to map to Switch Pro. Doesnt matter if its Xbox or Switch Pro, Y is always Y, and X is always X, and A is always A, and B is always B. Doesnt matter where the button is on the controller, it maps to the button, wherever it may happen to be.

Which is good because otherwise the game would be telling you to hit X, but in reality youd need to hit Y. And that gets confusing. But that can also be easily remedied via the Steam Controller config, just swapping whatever buttons you want.

Dude...

@JaxonH Thanks! I'll have to give the demo a shot. I still don't know about jumping in. Some games are best played while everyone else is playing it, but RPGs never fell into that category for me, I usually get to them late to the part. I 'm curious...but....many I have such a list of RPGs to still get into. Good to know about Mana, that might elevate DQXI above it....and XC...I've actually played before but only on 3DS, so it's going to feel like a new game anyway. And I've been waiting to play DQXI forever. Bought it release day on PS4...never played it. Bought it release day on Switch. Haven't played it. Eventually I ought to get to it

I have P5R waiting on PS4 now too. That'll be the winter game, I think. Bought TYH Edition on PS4 release day, got BotW and never touched it....was going to do it last year, and @Ralizah had to go and tell me P5R was going to be a thing...so I figured I'd wait and bought on the E3 sale last week. (I still call it E3 sale....that's what it is!)

And now I've gone and bought Saint's Row 3 and Duke 3D at half price on Switch. Was going to finally play into SR 4 too, but the extra 10% doesn't seem to kick in over the 33% sale, and I already own it on X1, so that's not enough of a steal.

But that's sort of the "I have a few spare moments" kinda thing....not my "meat and potatoes" games.

At least I'm going to pay off the Nookie for the tent today. Months late my ACNH gown will finally...you know....exist?

@JaxonH Also, nice Joker Amiibo. Should I prepay $2500 to some eBay account now, or wait?

@NEStalgia
Not with me at your side! I'll post in here when they go live.

Saint's Row 3 and 4 on Switch have gyro. That's the must-have feature there.

@JaxonH I never end up fast enough on those limited edition purchases, even with help here!

Ooohh, I didn't even realize it had gyro! I knew Duke 3D did (which is a steal at $5, ends tomorrow!). That is indeed very cool. Still not sure about rebuying 4 on Switch. Only 33% off vs 50% on 3. I thought I'd get another 10% due to having bought 3, but the price doesn't update, so I assume that offer doesn't stack with the 33% offer. Plus I bought Ori, Darksiders 1 (triple dipping ), Runner 3 (ok, it was $2 and I was curious), and Dragon's Dogma (been wanting to play that forever on other platforms and never got to it beyond the first "town.") Most of those are my "B" list games to play as filler without really immersing m myself in them when I have brief spare time. (Pfft...as if...)

@JaxonH I don't think Activision is mistreating Switch (as surprising as that is to say). Out of the games they've released in the last decade that don't have rights issues to prevent further ports, you have CoD, Crash, Spyro, and White Night. Every other IP has rights issues that they've lost.

Crash, Spyro and White Night all have every entry on Switch, even if they've all come a year late. Sekiro is the only other plausible one would certainly be a cutting edge port, and may not be possible to get running up to acceptable standards. And FromSoftware self-published it in Japan, they're the IP owners not Activision, so even if it gets ported there's no saying Activision would be involved.

And that only leaves CoD which... quite frankly... they've burned that IP with Nintendo players. After every release of the series has been gimped, releasing a CoD title on Switch would be very high risk even if it was feature complete. And quite frankly, it's also a series where old games don't sell, it's also about the latest and greatest. I'm pretty sure a Switch CoD would be a loss for them.

@NEStalgia
I'm surprised you're not more of a PC gamer, NES. I remember how I used to feel about PC, but now that I made the Switch I cant believe I didnt do it years ago.

You'd never, EVER, have to play a game without gyro aiming again (barring a few select PS exclusives). You'd never have to pay for online again. Youd never have to worry about BC or FC from generation to generation again. You'd be able to play every GameCube, Wii, PSP and PS2 game in HD widescreen (and older games if that's your thing). Youd be able to play unreleased JP games with English fan translations. Youd have infinite controller options with the ability to reconfigure buttons on a level that actually changes the prompts in game. And youd have access to much larger SSD storage for way less money. I can tell you now, 825gb SSD, with modern game sizes, isnt gonna cut it. Not unless you barely buy any games. On PC you can buy 4-8 TB SSDs. And while they are still rather pricey they're less per dollar than what PS/Xbox will be charging for their proprietary and approved formats.

I was reading one of your old posts from 2018 asking about PC and it just hit me, ya, you really should. With new cards coming out soon, prices on the current cards will plummet. You'd then be able to buy a nice pre-built mid ranger for $1000 that can come within swinging distance of the new consoles (which are around a 2080 Super, give or take). Or go for broke, do the full $2k (which, knock off $1000 if you skip a new console, accessories and 7 years online, making it way more reasonable) with a 6 month payment plan ($330/mo) and get a beast with a 2080 ti (once prices drop from new cards, obviously) and several TB of SSD space.

More expensive but, the experience, at least to me, is so worth it. Gyro across the board and 10TB of SSD space (I paid alot for that storage space but most people just get a smaller SSD, and store games they dont play often on a larger normal HDD) with free online and cloud saves. You get what you pay for. And with the diminishing returns (look at a game from 15 years ago, such as Bioshock, that still looks great, but in 2005 if you looked at a game from 1990... yikes), you'll be able to go longer than ever without needing to upgrade. I bet my 2080 ti is still pumping games out, not in 4k maybe but in 1440p, 10 years from now.

Hopefully my sales pitch was on point 😁

Even if I end up paying more when I build a new PC than for a PS5/Xbone, it'll still be worth it insofar as I can customize the end experience for my purposes. Gyro aside, I'm VERY resistant to the idea of paying a premium for a 4K/30 box when framerate is important to me and I have no desire to upgrade my current TV.

Also, once Sony realizes how much it stands to gain from putting its games on PC when Horizon on Steam makes bank, PC will be the ultimate next-gen platform anyway.

@JaxonH Oh I was a PC gamer for a long, long time. I jumped from SNES to PC, skipped PS1 & N64 onward until Wii+PS3. Actually back in my critic days we were PC-only.

A lot of what happened then was a tainted mixture of bad luck, and just the era. But I remember I'd spend more time troubleshooting bizarre problems than I actually spent playing the games. Systems that would scramble the screen and BSOD, or just scramble and blast sound noise at max volume. This was before Steam and the like (I bailed out right around when Steam was becoming mainstream, partially BECAUSE of the push to digital everything while I was stuck with dialup, and consoles offered relief.) But we're talking 1996 through 2009 or so. The constant changing standards of GPUs (PCI, PCI with VRAM!, AGP, AGP-Pro, AGP-2, AGP3, PCIe, PCIex16) Each new set of games needing a new format needing a new mobo. I had hardware failures constantly (burned out probably a dozen $400+ video cards over the decade +), a mobo with a main power connector that went dodgy, (and I bought high end mobos specifically to avoid such failures!) PSU failures, HDD failures, windows corruption (back in the win9x gaming days largely that dominated a lot of that time. One time I spent 2 weeks reformatting and reinstalling the whole system over and over again....it would just start BSODing on boot. Eventually I figured out it was a logitech joystick driver of all things causing it!) Then there was the disc security....StarForce the worst of them. Scouring the internet "does game X have StarForce that can break your drive? Oh, darn, I wanted that game, too....") And then at the same time the major publishers shifted hard from PC focus to console focus after the OG XBox launched. It was a perfect storm that when I realized consoles had largely caught up and can give me 90% of the experience for 20% of the cost and effort, I bailed fast.

I've noodled with the cost of the new consoles with the idea of going back. I know everyone says it's now so much better (but based on past luck I suspect my luck would verify otherwise.) A lot of the XBox library would just move right over which is nice. But.....then there's the idea of things you just can't do without a keyboard and mouse and I can't imagine sitting at a desk to play video games again....I just want to sit back on the couch. Before I got my X1X I thought of doing PC. I bought Steam Controllers.....but then read on about how it doesn't always work as expected and you have to spend time configuring it per game, etc...and I thought, nope nope nope, I am not going back to that! I just want to turn it on and play! I've done my hard time.

Ironically, back in the era I'm talking about, BC rarely existed. Many times after a new version of Windows the old games didn't work anymore and the old games wouldn't work without a new version of Windows, or a new hardware upgrade of some sort.

I know, I keep hearing PC is different now...and yet I can't imagine it being fully different to not make me regret jumping back in. Plus one thing the consoles (so far?) have going for them is "game sharing" which Steam doesn't really do, and lets me cut my game costs in half, which is nice

I wholly agree on the SSD thing though. Honestly the biggest boon for PC would be jsut getting spinning platter drives to archive on, though I hear XSeX allows that too. SSDs are still to expensive on PC too. I use them. Big-ish ones....but I can only justify that kind of storage money for work purposes, not play. It's been a year since I last bought an SSD, but even then the cost was pretty high just for a 1.5TB. Then again for that I generally only buy industrial drives, namely Intel enterprise grade because I simply can't afford any failure there. And those cost a lot more than consumer drives, so I may be out of touch on pricing there.

Now's definitely the right time to try to sell me again though! With the new consoles coming out, that will be entering my pricing mix. But....my luck with gaming rigs has never been so good. Even at the time I had friends that thought I was nuts with all my problems. I'd buy top end stuff, and it'd fail constantly. They'd buy dumpster dive junk and it was fine forever. I'll never quite understand Last rig was over $3k, top of the line everything. Server grade board. It fried 2 video cards in 3 years, lost 2 HDDs, and a high end Corsair PSU which probably killed the rest of the stuff quietly first. That machine replaced the one with a dodgy mobo power connector (machine randomly lost power.) I might have had 2 like that. The only system I ever had that didn't give me tons of trouble was the 1999 Pentium II-233. The old STB video card, a TNT2 I think? would overheat and I stuck a 585 fan on a slot bracket pointed at it and it was fine. That's the only machine that ran and ran until it was just too slow!

And yes, I even had the window cases with the cathode tubes. 1337 , I know.... Plus, cathode tubes is really dating myself.....the kids are into the leds and whatnot nowaydays.....

@NEStalgia I should use my Steam controller more. It's such a weird pad. Almost Nintendo-like at the time, with its support for gyroscopic aiming (years before it was normalized on Switch, and also quite a while before Steam allowed the gyroscope to be used in other controllers) and its gimmicky, unique design.

So EA's remaining lineup for Switch this year according to a new Venturebeat rumor is:
– Velan Studios game
– Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
– Plants vs. Zombies Battle for Neighborville

Assuming this is all true, PVZ is a very good choice I think that'll go down well with the Switch audience. We know almost nothing about the Velan Studios game other than its a team based action title. A second racing/driving game this year I don't think is the best choice.

I think it would've been better choice to port Dragon Age or ME collections or one of the Sims games and have a bit more variety (and I think either one would excite Switch owners more than NFS).