Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition Update Tackles Load Times and Framerate on Switch

Glad to see it be supported after release. As soon as this one gets a sale I'll buy it.

I was still meaning on getting this but you know Mario got in the way and I have it on Wii u...so....

I just want Armikrog.

@yeayeanaynay What is the sound issue?

@yeayeanaynay I think the main "issue" is the fact that its both on cartridge and called "definitive edition" wile having the longest load times and the worst performance (a.e. minimal and rare frame rate issues, but still)

Overall though, i fully agree. They may be longer, but they are still perfectly fine. At least they are no where near Lego City

Now, if they could drastically cut the load times of Lego City Undercover.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Unpopular opinion here, but the load times in that game never bothered me with how rare the screens were in the first place.

Goody

@evilnatt That's a pretty unpopular opinion.

It will be the definitive edition

Eventually

Still, gonna buy it soon thanks to this

@yeayeanaynay That's bad. Thanks for the information.

Will buy at $20 eventually.

@Oscarzxn yeah.. I know, and it sucks cause I donated $200 bucks to get the WiiU version, but sadly it stopped working only 2 weeks before the game was released.

@JHDK I appreciate that they are fixing it, and that in this case it wasn't too bad, but if it's specifically caused by the reasons stated in this article (using a smaller cartridge than what they really should), then it is unnacceptable, similarly as per prime examples Rockstars LA Noire / 2K. People may reply 'but they need to keep the costs down'.... well, they are saving their profit margin at the expense of delivering a product that people assume is correct and complete but in fact is a product where they have cut corners. Like I said, more so with LA Noire where the intent is blatantly obvious.

Personally I'm well and truly sick of devs treating our amazing 'download,/internet' technology like a way to get games out quicker or cheaper, without having to worry about bugs, or without consideration for the physical purchaser, when they deem that they can get away without it effecting sales. It completely dilutes the 'feeling of buying a solid product' and further ruins the collectability aspect of physical purchases.. I understand why they do this and it doesn't change the fact that this is clearly bad practice - 'they feel that it might not reduce profits or even will increase profits, so they just go ahead and do it'.

In addition, I'd say most likely if the issues are related to decompression time for certain assets, the patch might simply contain a few common large files so that they don't need to be extracted from the cartridge at load time - thus making your physical game more of a digital download.

So, has anyone actually tested the update and compared it to performance/loading at launch?

@FTL If the patch is small, the issue is probably not caused by the decompression time.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE @Einherjar

Guys they have improved Lego load times a lot over WiiU. I have the Switch and had on WiiU and to me it was a great but unplayable game one WiiU because of load times. On the Switch cart the initial load is still long but 20sec less than WiiU but all the other loads are trimmed by a better % and make the game playable. Now if you go digital and put the game on internal flash then it gets the same performance as PS4. Honestly other than that launch load time the in game times are pretty close across all new versions and are not terrible but I will admit are still a big weakness in an otherwise neat game.

@QuickSilver88 Did they patch it ?
Because what ive gathered is, that they are actually not all that different from the WiiU version.

@FTL The frame rate and loading screen issues were already better than the Wii U version in my opinion ever since the 4.0 version of the Switch OS came out. This patch has just sped it up even further, though it's barely noticable compared to the OS fix. My guess is the OS now supports hardware decoding of whatever file type was used for compression, likely something that was already available on the dev kits they were using.

Well, I’ll be buying it now. Good thing they fixed THAT. (I had no idea)...

@link3710 Isn't the frame rate of the Wii U version stable?

I recently played through this on Switch and I didn’t notice any frame rate issues. The load times being cut down will be nice, though. Why card-based games take so long to load is beyond me.

@NinNin Pretty much, I only remember one area with almost unnoticeable slowdown in the whole game (during the cake level) and that doesn't seem to be the case here, though I haven't played through everything post-patch either. Regardless, both have amazingly stable framerates.

@QuickSilver88

Interesting how much better games loads, when it is placed on the internal storage, compared to SD card or cartridge.

And wired, that you can't transfer games from SD to internal storage and back, when there er these performance benefits to gain.

I have to remember to take my SD card out, before downloading the game, and then it is stuck there on the internal storage. And I have to delete it first, and then redownload it again to SD, if I want to transfer it. So cumbersome!

Hope Nintendo will address this issue in a future update.

The best thing about the game is still missing.

Until the Murphy co-op is in the Switch version, the Definite version is the Wii U version.

It would be possible to play the touchscreen part on one Switch and have the platforming players play on the TV with another Switch.

Maybe it’s becoming definitive with a few more updates.

How’s everybody stance around cartridges? Still positive?
Switch is becoming really fast a digital only experience for me.

So is anyone who owns the game able to ballpark a percentage improvement on the load times? Like, 5%, 50%, 80%?

I haven't noticed any change, but I don't mind because the game performed very good since the beginning imho. It happened to me only once that a stage took really too long to load but one single time is not something to really worry about expecially since I really played this game a lot so I loaded stages a lot of times and had no problems other than that single one time

@koekiemonster digital only for me too. Having all my games wherever I am is a huge plus.

Just pre-loaded Skyrim...

Interesting to see if this happens with lots of other games as well; they release a heavily compressed version on cart to avoid physical costs then 'patch' it with a download to rectify the compression issues. Doesn't seem like a terrible way around it all things considered, though it would suck for anyone without reliable internet.

I'll wait for a price drop.

Love this game but damn it's old now. Where's the new Rayman Ubi?

@koekiemonster
Well I'm definitely seeing some downsides to cartridges I never saw before (because the file sizes never needed to be so big) but it's still the best option for physical games. It works great when they use the appropriate cart size. I don't think there's a game on Switch that couldn't completely fit on a cart if they used the right size.

But I am also rapidly realizing the convenience of digital, particularly on a portable console. Thing is, my 400gb micro SD will only last so long if I go digital, plus I have to have my physical for collectibility.

I really want to also buy digital for all the top games... I'm just afraid I'll run out of space. It's bad enough as is buying physical whenever possible. Between the NeoGeo games, indies, updates, DLC and mandatory downloads for retail cartridges... my internal storage is already full and my 400gb card is down to 310gb usable space. Granted it wasn't a full 400 of usable space to begin with but still...

This may have improved highlighted issues, but for me the WiiU version still remains definitive.

Rayman Legends was a double dib for me. The Wii U version is still the best because Murphy levels were awesome. On the other consoles they don't work as well. However the rest of the game is SOOOOOOO excellent, that it is perfect for quick 5-10 minute levels. Switch console rocks because it makes gaming actually convenient for modern adult life!

@JaxonH Going digital makes sense with mid tier and indie games. Ppl have to be careful doing that with AAA titles or that use up a lot of dpace.

IMO, going retail is the way to go with AAA games or any game that takes too much space. Your pretty much paying the same amount of money regardless which version you get (retail/digital) so might as well use it wisely by having that game already on its very own card.

Otherwise you'll end up eventually having to "clean up the fridge". Taking out games from your collection to make up space.

How much do game cards cost publishers anyway? What is the cost that is making developers so reluctant to use larger sized ones?

Do we honestly need yet another version of this game? Just make a new on already Ubisoft.

@Discostew I can confirm, level load time have been drastically reduced a very nice patch indeed.

@JaxonH I saw the pop in for you playing this last night. Then a few minutes later for Sina playing Spaltoon 2. It's funny b/c every time it happens I think I'm earning some type of trophy b/c the pop in box looks like the trophy box on PS4.

Oh, I finally played a little portable mode in my car least night while waiting for my kid in sword fighting class. I didn't try to do too much, just shop and site see, but the screen does look nice. What I was really doing though is checking out the car USB port. I played plugged in for 20 minutes and while it said it was charging it dropped from 67% - 59%. My quick unofficial math gets me to 4 hours plugged in - 8% used in 20 minutes - which means that USB port is doing nothing at all. Maybe if the car were running. Or the Switch not on. Next I need to buy some fuses for my 2 cigarette lighter ports, both blew out last trip on cheap 3DS chargers. Maybe those ports will work faster. Fortunately we have the 5 hour drive for Thanksgiving before the 12 hour drive for Christmas to figure out if we need to buy a battery. We probably do.

@rjejr
That's why I say it's better to just spend the money in quality charger/battery the first time and be done with it.

Unfortunately Aukey Amp Duo is now sold out and discontinued in favor of a higher priced model.

I say get a battery. You won't get the charge you need from the car. Get a USB-C PD battery that can last you 24 hours of straight play time and can charge 0-100% while playing the most demanding AAA games in less than 3 hours. #worthit

Btw I was checking out the load times in Rayman Legends, which have definitely been improved.

I 100%'d this game and never experienced a single frame rate drop, sound bug, or found the load times to be much different than the Wii U version. Just lucky I guess?

One thing the new update did do though was wipe out my past daily/weekly challenge rankings -_______-

@JaxonH "That's why I say it's better to just spend the money in quality charger/battery the first time and be done with it."

Yeah, my wife agrees w/ you too now. I'm pretty sure we'll have a real battery by Christmas. I can ignore your advice, but it's her money.

I timed the loading of a level before I patched the game, and it’s roughly 50% faster after the patch. So from 12 sec to 6.8 secs.

@PtM Just do the Namco Museum route, where one Switch is portable to use Murphy while another docked for four other players

@FTL You do realize that people complain about patches and other types of necessary downloads for games on both ps4 and xbox. I do see your argument and the publisher is passing on the cost so to speak to the consumer however, the majority of people who intend on buying these games are probably going to have a pretty big SD card. Considering what you get for the Switch at $299 is an amazing deal imho. So an extra $60 or so you can get a 200GB sd card.

@GC-161 You are paying WAAAY more for digital. You pay full retail plus you pay for space you require on an sd card eventually. I have gotten retail games on pre-order for as little as $38 including taxes!! Best buy GCU with some VISA $25 off $100.. I went bonkers with it and I'm glad I did!!!!!!!!!

@Smug43 Yeah, at the end of the day if you can buy a retail version of a game, buy THAT version (when possible).

I only go digital with indie and VC retro games.

@FTL

i can agree on some of what you say but the cartridge issue is N and N's alone.

they should GIVE away 32 gb carts to get big money games on the system.

@FTL That's the most obvious reason and it's bad. Developers can release the "basic" version in a 4 GB cartridge and then you need to download a patch that includes multiplayer or even uncompressed assets from the main game like in this case. I think that Nintendo is partly to blame because apparently the propietary cartridges are just overpriced slow SD cards so developers can't afford to buy the bigger capacity models that are even more expensive.

@Smug43 I don’t mind the game size, and I have a large SD card - and I agree the Ps4 and Xbox are exactly the same in regards to the patching issue. The issue is that the game, when released as a physical copy, is not actually the complete game, making it almost pointless to even buy the physical copy instead of the digital. In addition, the games are released early and unfinished in many many cases - the DLC/patch download ability should be about additional content or the occassional bug - but not half the game when you already purchased a cartridge, and not bug fixes that could clearly be known about prior to release if proper testing was done on the final build.

In regards to releasing unfinished games, Nintendo themselves (first party games) are probably the only lot of games that do it right in most cases, so that’s a positive... They don’t really release massive patches and the games are basically complete and relatively well tested before release. Most patches are for content or issues that weren’t obvious until millions started playing.... it’s generally the third party games that have this issue.

@sword_9mm I totally agree that the cartridge cost is mostly to blame (for the download sizes but not in regards to stupid day one patches and fixes)
BUT
specifically take note of who has been reported to be (seemingly) using the smaller cartidges here - 2 or 3 of the biggest names in the gaming industry .... many other devs have used the correct cartridge for their games - so it seems some massive/bigger companys are choosing to go the cheap route, not neccessarily because they have to, but often companys will try to get away with as much profit as possible until people start voting with their wallets. Why raise the price more when they can just leave half the game out / off the cart and hope the majority of paying players wont notice/care. It’s wrong, but profitable none the less.

@BlueOcean I think if they have to do it - Bethesda has done it right with Doom. The complete single player game on the cartridge, and multiplayer as a download - If you are going to play multiplayer, you need to be online connected to the servers anyway, so it doesn’t really affect the collectibility of the cartridge and the complete offline experience is on the cartridge.

EXCEPT if there is a day one patch to fix a bunch of bugs that should have already been fixed before release (who am I kidding, Im sure there will be).......

Is it jurst me, or does it seem like there’s less compression in some of the game’s graphics and UI elements after applying the 1.2 patch?

Either way, all versions still suffer from the same old bugs regarding the daily/weekly challenges which are basically Rayman Legend’s endgame. You may still get stuck at a certain point during distance challenges, you can still use the ‘Murfy reset’ glitch to reach endless kilometers in the pit distance challenge, and tying for a diamond cup in a challenge’s leaderboard (top 1%) still screws up the position of everyone below that tie.

Also, the VIP Status for dedicated challenge contenders that was in the XBone and PS4 versions doesn’t seem to be present in the Switch version.

And lastly, clearing the game including the 14 additional Murfy’s Touch levels will leave you with 14 extra Lucky Tickets that you can’t scratch as they were lazy enough to not add 14 more rewards for them.

@FTL Yes, I'm okay with having to download an update for the multiplayer feature. The main point of owning game cards/discs is that you will always be able to play the games even when the servers are inaccessible someday.

As for the game card size, Square Enix uses a 32 GB game card for Dragon Quest Heroes I & II for Nintendo Switch, so other big companies can use 32 GB game cards.

I'm honestly kinda surprised this sold well. Not only was it on other consoles first, one of those consoles was the Wii U. I guess Nintendo fans like buying a game more than once? ...Meh, it's the best portable way to play the game, so I'll give ya that. But still...

@FTL
Bethesda might have done it right with Doom, nah. They have put the single player game on a cartridge which sounds great but also Bethesda have stated it won't be a straight port, basically it will be heavily compromised compared to ps4 version. Resolution, fps, texture etc will take a hit, dumbdowned version basically. I for one would rather buy games that were not dumbdowned, had my fill of that on vita with ps3 ports, switch is no different trying to play ps4/xone games. For me the switch's strength will be Ninty developed games and indie steam/mobile with a good helping of Japanese games. Big 3rd party western games on ps4/xone will all be compromised on switch creating a ripple effect of low sales to a point where big western devs might even abandon switch regardless of switch units sold.

@EDF I don’t know whether you are right or not - it looked pretty decent to me but you might be right - but my comment was in reference to the games being only partly on the cartridge and the rest being downloaded.

@FTL I agree with you. I also think this kind of behavior depletes trust in a game dev’s brand. Trust and consistency are key pillars of a strong brand. Given the increasing choice we as gamers have between devs and platforms, brand recognition and trust will become ever more important.

In other words, this behavior will eventually bite them on the a$$.

@Varoennauraa I’ve always hated the Murphy levels!

@FTL

no doubt.

i still think N needs to eat the cost. i agree with carts for the switch (we all remember those terribad psp discs) but they need to make the cost to the devs/publishers no more than a bluray disc.

@FTL
Yep, it was a statement by Bethesda themselves. It should have the full game on cartridge but it is what it is and probably still a good port aswell. I am busy playing original Doom 1&2 at the moment plus Quake 2 on my JXD S7800B device

@CheddarSword What is the sales number? Most people don't have a Wii U, by the way. Also, the Wii U version sold less than 700K copies.

It's good that they are fixing it. But these issues shouldn't have been there in the first place.

@NinNin You say that like it's not many... considering the fact that the Wii U was a commercial flop, i'd say 700K is quite a bit.

That being said, most of the people who would buy this game again on the switch either had it already on the Wii U or probably played it on their other console. The only bonus here is portability. I mean sure, the Vita had it too, but that was a bigger flop than the Wii U I think.

The Rayman games are usually released on as many consoles as possible, even decades after release. Well, the good ones are anyway. So it is something to be expected. I mean, if it wasn't a working business strategy, they wouldn't do it. And if the games weren't good, it likely wouldn't work.

@CheddarSword Less than 700K for a AAA game isn't many. It's okay at best. Mario Kart 8 sold 8.38 million copies. So you don't have the sales number of the Switch version? According to VGChartz, the global sales of the Switch version as of September 16th, 2017 is about 30,000 copies. I haven't heard anyone say that the Switch version sells well.

Why do you think most people who bought the Switch version had another version?

@Einherjar yeah i agree about lego city lol them load times were the exact reason i stopped playing after the first day

@NinNin Because people do that kind of thing a lot. I've done it in the past myself. Ditch a game on an old console just for the convenience of playing it on my new console. Of course, it was a fighting game, so i lost no real save data by switching.

@Malcrash so how is rayman legends now on Switch so far?

Is it worth it?