Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ok, very rarely does a game I've never even heard of actually impress me to the point I feel compelled to ask about it.

I just watched some Switch gameplay, and I'm taken aback. It looks incredible. But, what kind of game is it? Are there temple puzzles like Zelda or... ?

edit
Oh snap, this is from the devs who made Journey?

Excuse me while I visit the eShop.

edit 2
Wait...

"Free"...

"$29.99 Starter Pack"...

"Internet Connection"...

"Social experiment"...

Oh no. They couldn't bring Flower. They couldn't bring Journey. But they bring a F2P online only game... wth.

Not saying the game doesn't look good. But... this type of game just isn't my jam.

@JaxonH I'm pretty sure the Abaddon in that first screenshot is wandering around the overworld. Either already pursuing the player, or the player has just drawn aggro. I think the angle of the demon would be different if it was following the player like Amanozako.

Harder to tell with the avian demon in the third screenshot, but that 'scene' is actually briefly showcased in the gameplay trailer.

It's only a second or two long, but it looks like the demon is initiating an attack animation against the player, which makes me think it's also an overworld enemy. Especially considering the next brief clip shows another demon trying to attack the player in the overworld.

edit: This game is unbelievably good looking at times for a game by Atlus. Look at the shading on Aogami here:

@Ralizah
Ah, ok.

The game does look pretty unbelievably good. Atlus isn’t exactly known to be skilled making graphical showpieces, especially on their first try with a system as meager as the Switch. Yet here we are. I think it speaks to the SMTV team’s skill, and it to the fact we’re finally deep enough into the generation we’re seeing ground up exclusives squeeze everything they can from the system.

Heard a few people mocking SMTV as having PS2 graphics. Immediately thought yup, that’s the same thing people said when they saw Monster Hunter Rise, too. The better the game looks, the farther back the comparisons seem to go. So the game must look incredible if it’s making people feel insecure enough to bust out the ol’ PS2 digs again (which, it’s kinda silly because Nocturne literally was a PS2 game, and even after being remastered can’t compare to this- same for MH Rise… MHGU was a 3DS game, and even the HD Switch version cant compare to Rise- it would be one thing if they made a somewhat borderline comparison like PS3, then they could at least hide their salt behind plausibility, but saying things that ridiculous and demonstrably and provably false just exposes true motives). It both irritates me and gives me comfort at the same time. Irritating because I grow weary of seeing quality games irresponsibly dunked on. Comforting because I know only the highest quality games elicit that kind of irrational response.

@Ralizah I don’t believe it, Atlus have usually made games that have lacking graphics (they prioritise character portraits talking instead of the actual models, NPVs are cel shaded, main character models are very jagged with rough edges) that are compensated by style. This is a very welcome departure seeing as how even on Switch the game looks utterly amazing, and probably runs well too, at least compared to Persona 5 Strikers…. Can’t wait.

@JaxonH Some of that is definitely trolling, but a lot of it is just people parroting comments they've read online. On the SMT front, for example, I've heard a lot about how SMT: Nocturne HD on Switch has really bad load times and terrible performance. Get it on PS4 or PC, they say, because the Switch version just can't cut it. Which may or may not have been true before patches, but at release worldwide, the game runs at a stable 30fps 95% of the time, and while load times aren't lightning fast, they're still pretty darn quick. And whenever I confront someone who says that, the response is always: "Oh, well, that's not what I'd heard, but OK."

Anyway, looking at the trailer I posted again, I noticed that the footage shows both a Pyro Jack (or Jack O'Lantern these days, but he'll always be Pyro Jack to me) and a Decarabia following the player at various points, so either there's going to be a diverse assortment of important demons, or you really can choose to have one of the demons in your party follow you around.

The game still seems to be selling pretty well preorder-wise. I've noticed both it and Metroid Dread seem to be staying in the top five bestselling games for the system on Amazon, which is amazing. SMT V is even in the top five when you factor in games across all systems on the website.

I do think you're correct that the hype games are the ones that get targeted. Which is why there was so much whining about 7+ million selling third party exclusive Monster Hunter Rise. And why there are so many troll comments about Metroid Dread. Or why people keep trying to downplay SMT V. Or why the salty tears keep flowing, 4+ years later, about Breath of the Wild.

If SMTV looks like a PS2 game I want to buy their PS2 please and thank you.

@TheJGG SMT V feels like the first HD game they've developed that really couldn't have been done on weaker hardware. Persona 5 is terrific, of course, but it's very much a conservative evolution of the game design in their PS2 Persona games. Atlus, like Nintendo, is very good at successfully iterating on what they've done before. But there's really no precedent for a game with such open level design like this from Atlus. Or for a game where to-scale demons literally stomp around the environments.

Atlus is my favorite JRPG developer, but oftentimes it seems like they're merely satisfied with crafting excellent experiences that remain firmly in their comfort zone. And, you know, that's fine. If SMT V was just an HD elaboration on SMT IV/IV: Apocalypse, I'd definitely still love it. But it's nice to see them taking chances with this entry.

Dread Report 2 is out (in Japan, anyways). But it came with a bit of new footage for the game.

@JaxonH I have said before that Nocturne actually looks worse than most PSOne JRPGs and kind of agree this overworld does not look better than PS2 ones apart from the playable character. Monster Hunter in not even comparable

@Balta666
Looks at Nocturne

Looks at FF VII, Chrono Cross, Xenogears

What the heck are you talking about? PS1 RPGs had horribly poly counts, basically no lighting, and often used fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds.

Nocturne may be nowhere near the best looking PS2 RPG, but it's leagues beyond the PS1.

If you're being serious, I think your memory is playing tricks on you.

@link3710 you went for very early PSOne games, FF VIII is way better looking for example

@Balta666 To be fair, that was a list of every PS1 RPGs I've actually played.

But I did lookup FF VIII since you brought it up. It definitely looks really freaking good for a PS1 game... But it still relies on the same tricks, just better disguised. FMV sequences aside, the characters are still low poly (albeit significantly higher than FF VII), there's still no lighting. Still dealing with really rough textures and a lot of pre-rendered backgrounds. The overworld looks incredibly basic, and most natural things (trees, dirt, etc) look very off.

Definitely a contender for best looking PS1 game, especially since they worked so hard to hide the limitations.

Is FF VIII a better game stylistically? I'd say yes. The same could be said for say... Banjo-Kazooie vs a good chunk of the mud brown PS3 games. But in terms of raw graphical fidelity, Nocturne still blows it out of the water. No one would think that game could run on a PS1.

@link3710 are we really talking about the same overworld? It is nearly a dot on a 2d plane with muddy visuals...

@Balta666 Compare to FF VIII's overworld consisting of like, three low poly models and textures (at least at the beginning of the game), that's an improvement. And that's nitpicking really, we both know the overworld is the worst looking part of both games.

@Balta666 Nocturne doesn't look as amazing as some other PS2 RPGs like FFX or Kingdom Hearts but in no way does it look worse next to other PS1 era RPGs. At least it actually has things going on in its overworld and environments unlike stuff like FFVII and VIII, Chrono Cross and Legend of Legaia

Hell Nocturne's dungeons look more visually interesting compared to even Persona 3 and 4 to me

My vote for Chrono Cross, as well. But I love that game in every way so I'm biased lol

check out the analysis of Metroid Dread

@Snaplocket
Same here, actually. And I really did want to play Trigger, but I was young when it first came out and my parents wouldn't buy it for me. Pretty sure I saw articles on it in Nintendo Power and kept begging for it, but alas, it didn't happen.

So yea, a few years later I was a bit older and had some allowance money from time to time. Chrono Cross was definitely a game with a good time return for the money lol

I do have to actually recommend the vid Giancarlo posted. It's a solid analysis.

Yo… I suspect I’m not the only one happy about this. Perhaps a certain someone whose name starts with R and ends with alizah.