Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Yea, it'll probably be down to $30 by the end of February. But the way I see it, who knows what Feb, march, and April bring. Right now, January is kind of slow, so I'd rather play the game now while there's time than try and cram it in a month or two down the road. We still haven't had a 2024 direct that could set up the next 4 months for us all the way up until summer. They really did a great job based on all the reviews, so that's good enough for me to buy on day 1. No real patches needed from what I'm seeing. As bad as it sounds, I like to reward quality launches with day 1 buys.

EDIT
I started Dragon AGE Origins on Deck, not Dragon Quest lol. Wth do I always write Dragon Quest when talking about Dragon Age.

No doubt it'll be discounted soon as Ubisoft is known for this.

But I don't care. Absolutely stellar gems like this from Ubisoft that come to Switch day and date without severe compromise are rare, and I want my money to be a vote for "more of this, please". If I don't support devs when they make Switch games this good, then when exactly should I support them? Irrespective of whether or not it gets discounted, the game is worth every penny right now.

Now. With games not coming to Switch, those I can wait on. Though I'll still likely buy some of them sooner for Steamdeck OLED. I remember not long ago when all these games were trapped on Playstation. I look at Persona 3 Reload, Granblue Fantasy, Dragon's Dogma 2, even Final Fantasy VII Rebirth as that will be on Steam in a couple months... and I feel SOOOO GREATFUL that's not the case anymore.

Atlus can continue to skip Switch with half their releases, despite the Persona 5 Royal port smoking all other re-released versions, despite Persona 5 Tactics on Switch leading the pack, despite other Atlus games such as Unicorn Overlord clearly outperforming on Switch... as expected

We know P3 Remake could run on Switch just like Persona 5 Royal. I suspect it wasn't an issue of not running, but rather, why bother with the hassle when the successor is coming later this year? Then again, Switch 2 could release and Atlus just forgets all about the game. That would certainly be in character for them.

But come what may, I'm still not gonna buy a single game on PS/Xbox. It's either Switch or Steamdeck, and if they continue to ignore Switch, I'll continue contributing to the piracy platform they hate so much. Ohhhh yes. Mods, cracks, uploading cutscene videos... all that good stuff they like to rant about.

Truthfully I know I won't even play it, as I still haven't finished P4G or P5R. But it's the principle of the matter, Smokey. That and it's nice having in the library for when the day comes you do want to play.

We'll see how much changes when Switch 2 releases. We'll see how many games from this year's release schedule were being worked on behind the scenes for Switch 2. I'd like to see Dragon's Dogma 2 as a launch title and I'd like to see Monster Hunter Wilds announced day and date for Switch.

On the one hand, I hear Capcom say, "We'll share more details this summer" and I think hmmm, perhaps after Switch 2 is revealed so they can talk about all platforms? With Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak, a game designed ground up for Switch, getting ported to other platforms after the fact, I can't help but wonder if it's because they made the decision to, from now on, release both lines of games on all platforms. So Rise + Sunbreak gets ported, Wilds gets announced for Switch 2, and the next "handheld" game is designed for all platforms day 1, though I imagine it'll still have that portable design philosophy

On the other hand... maybe they're like nope, we'll continue separating releases. Which would kinda suck tbh. Technology will have advanced far enough there's no longer a need for bespoke handheld versions. With Switch there was, but Switch 2 will be the first time since GameCube they can pretty much develop multiplat across the board.

@FishyS
You can change the parry window in settings btw

Hm... I don't think my play activity is updating. I think it's because I'm using my Nintendo account on my Switch OLED without doing a system transfer, but I couldn't do it because I don't have a microSD card yet. I might get one for my birthday. Should I just do a system transfer when I get a microSD card to rectify that issue?

@JaxonH Maybe this year, maybe next year but I think it's a safe guess that Switch 2 will get its "Switch 2018" moment at some point. I bring up 2018 because that was the year when PS exclusive Crash and Final Fantasy were announced for Switch so at that point the floodgates were opened in terms of potential 3rd party releases.

@Grumblevolcano
Ya. With Switch there was also a delay due to lack of confidence from Wii U. That first year involved a lot of sitting back and watching, with a, "Let's wait and see" approach.

Switch 2 will have the benefit of developer confidence out the gate.

Just look at the excellent development work going into Switch as it is, and this version is outselling all others on retailers like Amazon.

It's not hard to imagine how good Switch 2 games will look and run. After all the effort needed to optimize on Switch, developing for Switch 2 should be easy breezy

And a side effect of Switch 2 will be better Steamdeck ports. I know that sounds a little counterintuitive but let me explain.

As it stands, Steamdeck only has some 3 million players, so optimizing for the system doesn't really pay. Some devs might cobble together low settings and slap a "Steamdeck settings" label on it but no real work is going into optimizing for the system right now. It's just benefitting from the scalability of PC.

With Switch 2 expected to be around the same power level, a lot of ports are going to be optimized specifically for Switch 2, and that optimization can transfer to PC settings for Steamdeck. Likewise, PC settings for Steamdeck are incentivized by the fact they can be largely transferred over to Switch 2. It'll be a mutually beneficial relationship.

So as games get bigger and more difficult to scale down to Steamdeck out of the box, Switch 2 will help ensure there's always a demand for scalability down to 8th gen power level, which can help ensure games continue to get settings appropriate for running on the Deck. Whereas without Switch 2, they may very well leave it in the dust, requiring a Deck 2 release to keep up. But with 100 million+ Switch 2 expected over the coming years, abandoning that power profile might prove unwise.

Why didn't they release F-ZERO AX, It is 20 years old, so I'm sure it would work on switch, it has characters and courses not in F-ZERO GX, I think !

@Ninfan That's not exactly true, the only thing AX has that GX doesn't is the arcade style gameplay where you have a timer counting down and completing a lap increases the timer. All the AX characters, courses and vehicle parts are unlockable in GX though it is extremely difficult to unlock them all given requirements like winning GPs in Master difficulty and completing Story Mode on Very Hard.

what if Switch sucessor UI is similar of this concept

@Giancarlothomaz Besides the virtual console and web browser which definitely won't happen on Switch 2, what was the point of that seperate app area? They seemed to all fit in the lower bar without expanding it. The buttons they have at the bottom of Switch now seem fine and there is room for a few more if needed.

Last played and play time would certainly be nice.

If instead of 'popular with friends' you could put your own folders or favorites in the second row that might be useful. Although just one row you could customize/sort in more ways would be equally good.

@Giancarlothomaz
A good UI reduces the number of steps required for an action while simultaneously minimising the number of things a single item does. I feel like that design is a step backwards on both counts. As @FishyS said, no idea why there's a need for an app drawer there and the popular with friends bit just gets in the way I feel

I think the Switch's OS design more generally is fine but with probably two significant weaknesses. And not the ones people usually complain about. I think some common destinations should load instantly as alternative tabs in the main UI. The eShop should be something you can just navigate to and through as easily as you browse your main games. We've come a long way since the Wii but loading the eShop still has a barrier and also using the eShop is a bit of a chore. Potentially you could also throw demos under this tab

I also feel like all of the NSO games should be given a similar treatment as a stand-alone tab. I think they also need to have the OS check your subscription when you go online and then also periodically a reasonable period before an expiry. By the time I'm loading the app that's too late, the console should already know. Also if all the NSO games are bundled together in their own tab it would make it easier to add stuff like Wii/GC games

I think those are my main wishes

I think the Switch UI is already pretty amazing, but the NSO app is slow. Just speed that puppy up, allow for 3DS-style customizations, keep it snappy and simple and focused on the games, and there ya go.

I was on the fence about Unicorn Overlord such that I'd want to check out a demo before purchase but the state of physical recently is pushing me more towards day 1 purchase. If I buy, I want the physical version but if I don't get it soon after launch at latest there may not even be a physical version anymore.

The UI issue that comes to mind most often for me (aside from the woefully underbaked activity tracker) is the lack of the ability to sort lists of software by size. Data management is a frequent issue, and if I need to free up space for a new download, the first thing I want to do is browse a list of games by descending size to help me decide which one/s get the chop. Almost 7 years in and you still can't do it.

@gcunit I mean... I don't necessarily disagree but 'sort by size' is literally the default in the data management/ manage software (and quick archive) screens... with sizes conveniently listed. So it's not like it doesn't currently exist and it's a pretty convenient place to look at the big games and archive multiple at once. Although it would be nice if you could optionally see already-archived software in the same list to compare sizes. They technically are at the bottom of that same sorted list but they are all marked as 0 mb which is not super useful.

A similar thing which annoys me is not being able to search my games in a normal way — the ability exists because you can do it when adding software to a folder, but it's a little dumb you can't do it without going into a folder operation.

@FishyS You know, you're right, if you go to the Software page, and I never realised that - thanks. My only defence is that usually I'm trying to delete something from the Archive screen that the system throws at me when I don't have enough space to download a game, and that isn't sorted by size and you can't make it. Considering this is the page the system seems to want us to use for making space, it seems a glaring omission.

@gcunit I don't think I've ever seen the archive screen you're talking about. 🤔 For a simple UI, there are surprisingly many different ways to do the same thing. I've just always used the data management area.

is Nintendo Switch sucessor having PS4 specs, a bad idea?

@Giancarlothomaz
Not going to sit through an entire GameXplain talk fest so just replying to the title of it there. I mean the thing is we're looking at something that's going to sit somewhere between the PS4 and PS4 Pro in terms of raw compute. In some respects it'll be weaker (CPU, memory bandwidth) but in other respects it'll be more advanced (more RAM, storage speed, newer architecture, various tricks including DLSS). Blow for blow it'll outclass the PS4 in most scenarios

The key difference though is that it'll be portable. Of course when docked it'll basically be Nintendo being 10 years late to the party with the only real reason to buy into it being Nintendo's fantastic IP. Which I'm personally more than happy with. But in portable mode? On a <10" screen? At a scale where 720p is pretty good and anything above 1080p is overkill? PS4 tier performance at that scale is pretty damn good. In terms of price to performance and performance for battery life for a portable device it's going to be without equal. Best in class. I don't see how you could describe that as underpowered within that frame of reference

I don't necessarily disagree with 'most people', but I think a fairly large minority do care.

You have 2 camps:

1. Third party may not be the main money makers for Nintendo, but plenty of people play them on Switch. There are definitely people who would like to be able to play games like Baldur's Gate or Final Fantasy 7 remake on a portable or without having to buy a PS4/PS5.

2. A lot of Cartoon-y Nintendo games like Animal Crossing or Mario Wonder look and run great so I agree people playing those won't even think about specs. However you also have games like Zelda TotK — it runs well but not perfectly; it looks good but it is very easy to picture it looking better. Although the game is an impressive graphical showpiece for old hardware it is also obviously limited by old hardware.