A New Patch Is In The Works For The Switch Version Of The Outer Worlds

Everytime I see articles like this, it makes me wonder why people defend Nintendo for making their system under-powered. They could have made it just slightly more powerful, to give development teams more flexibility, couldn't they?

I'll buy it when the patch arrives and hopefully a price drop

Too little...too late, Virtuous. Please do a more thorough job with your next contracted Switch port.

Must mean it sold well enough. Remember when the Switch version of Bloodstained outsold all the other versions and they quickly said they're working on a patch?! Hopefully they can get that frame rate closer to a stable 30 without sacrificing the visuals.

@TG16_IS_BAE Yes, cause everyone enjoys an hour of battery life compared to 6 hours.

@TG16_IS_BAE Tbf I don't think even Nintendo thought they were going to get this level of 3rd party support. I've played most of Virtuos games and they all run well. They can do a better job and perhaps were forced to release it earlier then they wanted to.

@TG16_IS_BAE I think Nintendo could have added more RAM even if the CPU/GPU were the same. The insufficient amount of RAM, I believe was cited as one of the main reasons for this game's poor performance from what I remember.

@TG16_IS_BAE I know right?!! why did Nintendo made the switch so underpowered??! wHY dIdn'T tHeY dO a PoRTaBle PSfooourr?!?!
yOu MuST be A haRdwaRe eNgINeer gO sHow TheM How iTs dOnE!!!!11111

/s

@roboshort Yeah, the only reason I can see for the amount of RAM is cost. It’s not like it would affect size or heat. If RAM is seriously a bottleneck this many years on, that’s not a great look for Nintendo if they want to keep the base model going for another few years. Honestly, I’m worried that third party support is going to plummet when the new consoles come out, there’s no way half those games will run on Switch, even with the great work some of these porting companies are doing.

@Magician I think they did a fantastic job with what they did. This game gives modern consoles and pcs problems. To see it running on a switch, and as well as it does? Amazing. It looks pretty bad in plenty of spots, and when things get crazy, the frames dip for sure, but still an achievement to be proud of. I mean dang, it's basically running on a five year old smartphone. Nuts to me. Whether it shouldve been done/released/is worth a purchase are different questions though. I think Virtuous doesnt deserve anything but praise for their port work here tho.

Haha. Wow. Sorry everything doesn’t mold into place perfectly technically the first go-around. Do you think porting games to Switch is easy just cause we are lucky to have a great bunch of ports thus far? The vast majority just like PS4/Xbox standard released games these days are always patched/updated. It goes without saying in 2020. @Magician

I was very disappointed when I saw reviews for this. I really need to spend a 50 dollar voucher in the next week or so, and my money WAS on this until I saw the performance. Looks like I'm getting a game I don't really want but runs properly instead.

@nessisonett Yeah. I also remember hearing rumors that Nintendo initially wanted to put less RAM in the Switch but got talked into increasing the amount of RAM to 4GB by Capcom. And I agree that it's primarily got to be about money.

To answer he question in the article after seeing the performance issues for the game I chose against buying it in the first place. So I can't return to it in the first place. I will however wait and see if a future patch makes it a more appealing purchase. However, like Ark it seems like it is far too much to run on the switch just downscaled it really requires huge optimisation.

@TG16_IS_BAE More power means more cost. I think the price point was right on the edge for a lot of people. Not everyone has 400-500 dollars lying around to spend on toys.

Nothing stopping then from releasing an upgraded version now though, tech has improved and costs have dropped.

The base Xbox One version of the game struggles quite a bit, with many of the issues present in the Switch version (texture loading, frame rate), though obviously to a much lesser degree.

I wouldn't expect patches to improve this game by too much, outside of the super egregious issues like randomly pausing the game to load during the middle of gameplay.

If Nintendo release a Switch 2, it will be less of an investment risk to make it much more powerful. It will sell as well, if not better, than this current Switch.

@Bl4ckb100d Easy, troll.

@Moistnado
My wife got it for me for my birthday and honestly, after a while, you just settle in to the game and enjoy it. I am about 10 hours in and am loving it. Would love to see Nintendo loosen up the power restraints a bit and let the patch take advantage of what is capable. The modding community has been showing what little tweaks could be made.

ACG gave this a 'wait for sale' rating, so I'll do just that. At least Virtuous is fixing it.

@roboshort Right, and RAM is very cheap, so it wouldn't have significantly impacted the cost.

@Spoony_Tech That is a fair take. I'll be honest, after the Wii U, I wasn't sure Nintendo was going to do well but I'm happy they pulled through for the Switch. I just wish it had a smidgen more power so that all these games don't have performance issues. Bloodstained, I'm looking at you!

I am excited to see what they can do. Depth of field blur during conversations and resolution tweaking is what they need. This is definitely one of those games that have the "smeared patroleum jelly" look.

@nessisonett The Switch's third party support will be fine. The primary problem games will be AAA titles, and 99% of those skip the system anyway.

@mesome713 I'm not sure if you saw what I wrote, but I said "slightly more power," which I highly doubt is all of a sudden going to drop the battery life by 5 hours. A game like Bloodstained, for example, shouldn't be stuck in this years long development hell for the sake of improving framerate.

@nessisonett Yeah, the next console generation is going to have a pretty wide divide between what runs on all consoles and what runs on Switch or PS5/Xbox, respectively. It could mean that the bigger consoles will get more exclusives while also being able to run anything the Switch can handle. It will depend on console sales, I suppose! Not gonna lie though, if Demon's Souls is a launch title, I'll be snagging a PS5, that's for certain!

@TG16_IS_BAE And that's ok, after PS5 and Xbox, Nintendo will make another device that kills the sales. Nothing can stop Njntendo, they will always be the best.

@TG16_IS_BAE

I totally agree. I’d also prefer a slightly more powerful device (to guarantee a stable 720p/30 fps), even if it means 3 hours of battery life than 6. I hope, an upgraded version of the Switch will be out in 2021.

Even though I like the Switch, I can’t really defend such sh*tty ports by saying “bUt It Is P0rTaBle”.

This is only going to get worse in 6 months.

@nessisonett
I don't know about that. It should be good till they'll release then, because for the next few years there'll be quite a few cross gen titles, and those will have to support the base xbox one. Whatever runs on that, can run on Switch 😂

@WhiteTrashGuy I own a ps4 and it is both cheaper and runs properly on that. Just need one decent AAA game that doesn't involve building little houses for animals.

Wish there was a Switch pro model

Already bought this, but I'm still waiting for the patch to give it a try.

@Bl4ckb100d That comment gave me a genuine chuckle!

Stopped playing due to the muddy texture's in handheld mode. I will come back if it's a great patch if not will sell off my physical copy and stick to my Ps4 copy.

It's Bloodstained all over again, at least with this one it's understandable as Virtuos really do want the game to run well on Switch.

Laughable. Just do the job right in the first place

@mesome713 Ehhh, I think each console has things that they do well. There's room for all of them, I'm not gonna get into this chest thumping about which one is best lmao. That's like when people get competitive about which sports team they like best. No thanks mate!

@Lando_ Lando! My man!!! lol

Glad to hear a patch is coming as I purchased the game via a pre order before any reviews came out based on expectation created from previous Virtuos excellent ports.
Right now having read the reviews it’s stated unwrapped on my side with the intention to return it to Game.co.uk.
However I may now just hold on to it in anticipation that it may be greatly improved.

I'm actually having a blast with this game. It's a ton of fun, it plays great in both docked and handheld, the writing is fantastic and it's a great mix of action, exploration and adventure. The criticism it got was way over the top. Yes, you get a graphics/FPS downgrade from PS4 and Xbox, what game doesn't have that?

@Moistnado
I own a PS4, but the portability is invaluable to me for several reasons. I purposely held off on this game when I heard the Switch version was releasing.

@graysoncharles On PC, Outer Worlds is about 40 GB and Witcher 3 is about 50GB. Not much of a difference

I know this is kind of off-topic, but how about some news about any kind of DLC? They announced it 6 months ago and the Twitter account hasn't made another post about it since besides a reply from May saying that it wasn't canceled.

@TG16_IS_BAE I'd much prefer all console makers ease off the power chasing. The PS3 and Xbone already pushed what was acceptable sizes for consoles, and the new ones are even larger.

I'd take underpowered and more efficient over doesnt-fit-in-my-tv-unit anyday.

@TG16_IS_BAE I honestly don't know - could they?

@TG16_IS_BAE or they should have optimised the game more and done a better job

@nessisonett My fear also, I think we need to make the most of the ports we have now.
Half of me thinks the issue is with Unreal Engine 4 and how much resources that requires alone as there have been other rough UE4 games on switch, so when UE5 releases I think Switch would really struggle

I waited to play this game until the switch version came out, it is horrible! So disappointed! The game story and visuals are fun but it is completely unplayable. I have played for over an hour but can't get past the beginning intro because the game lags SOOOOOOO BAD that I get killed at every turn. I sneak and hide with no luck. Every single thing I can do I have but the lag keeps getting me killed. I aim my weapon and by the time the jerking stops the person in my sights has already killed me. I aim and the game freezes and then I die. Repeat, rinse, repeat again...

I'm SOOOOOO p!ssed that Nintendo didn't make a MUCH stronger showing of internals. The switch is unique and fun to take along but- This system is completely hobbled by its crappy processor and ram. Way to go nintendo... 💩😡😫

@WhiteTrashGuy Yeah, I held off on getting it until the Switch release, I wanted it on Switch, but cannot buy a game with massive performance issues like this. So I got it on PS4 after seeing the terrible pop-in in reviews. It was significantly cheaper too. I'd rather play old games, or games made by Nintendo for the hardware, if that's all the Switch can handle.

@Richnj Me too, Can't get a Ps5 until they release the slim version. At least the switch is small.

@TG16_IS_BAE it would be nice but that would increase costs(and therefore price), battery life would be poorer(or a bigger battery and bigger unit). There’s always a trade off if you want to hit a certain price point. And it’s not that it’s not possible when you look at what has been achieved with Doom and Witcher 3.

@Entrr_username I know this is kind of off-topic but have you noticed that dogs breathe much faster than people? I'm not sure about cats, but dogs really pant.

@Laxeybobby That sucks, this is the reason I can't preorder. Hope you can return it. If you bought it online (physical copy off the internet), you have more rights to return the item, at least in the UK. I think it is 7 days without having to give a reason.

@TG16_IS_BAE I get what you're saying, but let's say they made it indeed more powerful. It would never be enough, because people will still say that it should be more powerful. I would be all for a more powerful Switch, but I just don't think you can please everyone.

But Nintendo life said the game was fine .........

@TG16_IS_BAE Whatever they did, it works for them. While I understand it’s the cost, performance, battery life balance, and I’m not going to pretend that I know better and would have done better 3-4 years ago, but all I know that today, I’d buy a Switch Pro in a heartbeat. I just hope that nVidia can deliver.

I'm enjoying it. Worth it for me because without the portability, I would never play for too long. Halfway through FF7 Remake on PS4 and I'm no longer playing it, even though I was enjoying it. Same with Persona 5. Great game, but without the ability to pick up and play anywhere seamlessly, I just can't. Sitting down for hours and staring at a big screen takes a toll on me and sometimes I would like to lay in bed or sit outside and game. Also being able to pause the game at anytime going back to it instantly is great.

The game is playable and it's fine. Worth it for me because I know I will get many hours of entertainment from it due to its portability. If I got it on PS4, I would likely quit after 2 hours.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, haven't pulled the trigger yet was kind of on the fence after the reviews so was waiting for a price drop. Will see how the improvements go and then look at it again.

Good to hear update coming as I want to try it, but holding off after reading a wide-cast of the review-net, obviously enjoy this site but it’s not my only source of “how good is it.”
Agree that Nintendo I think did not foresee such aftermarket ports of games circa within past 4 years, and from business model this should be monetary motivation to improve hardware to be more incentivizing to 3rd parties and consumers.

Price drop + a good patch and I'll buy it.

@Moistnado I know this is kind of off-topic, but did you notice that my comment was still related to The Outer Worlds, so your sarcasm was pointless? Sheesh.

@PhilKenSebben agree and when you start playing it you still get sucked in. still looking forward to the patch to see what it can do.

@elpardo1984 I would want those trade offs, because I don’t think Doom or Witcher are achievements. They downgraded the quality of the experience to fit on portable.

@dewokkel So because people will always want more (human nature) just give up and not try to improve? Lol

@Richnj Great, that’s you. In my original post I said I want “slightly more power,” and everyone thinks I want a portable PS8. People can’t see the middle ground, too black and white lmao

No, that’s not what I’m saying. They need to carefully balance between power and performance. At times of release it was pretty much on point. They’re obviously working on a next switch device which will be probably more powerful. Furthermore, you don’t want to split the player base, so you just can’t go and release a new device every year or 2. We’ll get a new switch eventually.

@TG16_IS_BAE Slightly more powerful hardware means more per watt drain on the battery. You may be too young for this one, but the Game Gear comes to mind. Compared to my Game Boy, it was lightyears ahead of it and was all around more powerful.

However, when it came to traveling, I left it at home since I didn't want to buy batteries for it since it sucked them dry and barely got half the life of the Game Boy.

Nintendo grabbed a stock Tegra X1, made some adjustments and put a product out to market that people could play at home and on the go. The battery life of the Switch is on par with most tablets and mobile phones, which is awesome they can keep up with Apple's power management. It's a starting point. I suspect we're going to see a home console at the beginning of 2021, plus updated Switch Lites and OG Switch systems as well.

@TG16_IS_BAE
"Everytime I see articles like this, it makes me wonder why people defend Nintendo for making their system under-powered."

Pretty black and white opinion to me from you.

@progx lol Easy with the assumptions, I might be older than you, but on the internet, we are all the same age: unknown.

And seriously, you’re comparing the Game Gear to the Switch? Let’s make another, actually relevant comparison. Apple continually updates the iPad with newer hardware, gradually. Yet, it still has the usual 8-10 hour battery life. Nintendo can’t do that? Again, not sure why people keep defending Nintendo for weak hardware, but there you go!

@progx It’s not an opinion, more of an observation of things that actually happen in the comments section

@mesome713 To be fair, they've been selling underpowered systems long before the Switch, so your statement is unreasonable and unfair.

And im sure they could have tweaked the Switch juuuust a bit more here and there.

Anyway, my personal two cents on the matter:
While we've had some decent third party support, let's not kid ourselves here: There are still tonsssss of games that dont make it to the system due to obvious reasons. And the ones that DO come out are heavily watered down for the same obvious reasons.

Their philosophy is working for them financially, but they're still needlessly flawed.

Even if Nintendo starts selling consoles at a loss (due to graphical power and RAM) they would still make up the money with better third-party support. Some people forget that Nintendo takes a small cut from every game sold (not just their own titles, but from every title on the system as a whole). So Nintendo should start investing in hardware just a bit more, as the additional best-selling 'AAA' games would help them offset the cost of hardware.

@diablo2 Tell that too the Gamecube.

@mesome713 GC failed in sales not due to strong raw power, but rather by other limitations and stiff competition at the time. Keep in mind that while the Cube exceeded in graphical areas, it reaaaally lacked behind in other, equally-important areas (mini discs, for example).

Not to mention everyone was going crazy over the PS2 and its native DVD drive. This whole thing really hurt the GameCube's bottom line.

Your comments are really starting to make you sound like you dont put much thought into things. You just seem to sort of publish the first thing that comes to your mind without much logic or without weighing things in objectively. So you should probably just stop acting like a fanboy and develop a more mature perspective first.

I love Nintendo and all, but im not blind to their unnecessary decisions.

@diablo2 Nintendo doesn't need to compete with PC. That's how you go out of bussiness. Nintendo games and console sells amazing every gen. They don't need third party, that's what a PC is for.

@TG16_IS_BAE Meh, it's a fanboy thing. Some people can't seem to form reasonable and fairly intelligent opinions / comments. Extremely black and white, as you said.

@mesome713 I thought the chief complaint regarding the Wii U's failure was a lack of 3rd party support?

@diablo2 So true! Thanks for being reasonable. Feel like I've been putting out fires all morning, lmao

@mesome713 "That's how you go out of bussiness."
Lol, that officially settles it. You truly shouldn't be commenting about business whatsoever.

I'm out, kiddo. Much better things to do with my day. Thanks for the laugh, though.

"Further improve the performance? They make it sound like it is already improved.

@TG16_IS_BAE
The iPad (at least the new ones) retail for much more than $300 USD.

And this is why the physical has "digital download required" on the box. Also a reason I will not be getting it as it's not physical.

If Witcher 3 can get all it's stuff on one cart without downloads, so can anyone else

@westman98 Apple tax. There are other tablets that are similar cost as a Nintendo Switch, and have better hardware (or close to it) than current ipads. (And a less restrictive app store, at that.)

Also keep in mind that in console sales, the prices are lower because they sell them at a loss and pick up the cost through subscriptions and their app stores.

I just finished my first playthough yesterday, and while the visual downgrades and issues were certainly noticable, they rarely prevented me from enjoying the game. I will look forward to starting a second playthrough once the patch is live.

@TG16_IS_BAE "Also keep in mind that in console sales, the prices are lower because they sell them at a loss and pick up the cost through subscriptions and their app stores."

And this, right here, is one of Nintendo's main issues with their chosen business model. They opted to make the console profitable from Day 1. They absolutely refused to lose a single dime, although they could have easily (at the very least) included 80GB storage if nothing else — even if it lowered their margins.

Their strategy is certainly a profitable way to do business, but it's not the best one nor the most consumer-friendly.

I always respected Amazon's model with Kindle. They famously stated that they weren't making profits from Kindle hardware sales at all (at least not initially), but rather from the software (e-books). This slow-burn strategy have helped Amazon dominate their industry.

More companies should opt for loses in some areas in favor of profiting later down the road with other accessories and subscription services, which is a huge win-win for everyone.

Sadly, at the end of the day, most companies answer to hungry and unreasonable investors who simply won't settle for a few millions, but rather many MANY millions.

@diablo2 Man, that's a lot of food for thought! Thanks!

@TG16_IS_BAE

I've said time and time again they should've partnered with Apple and got their ARM chips in exchange for some N titles on Apple Arcade.

But they went cheap and dirty with Nvidia and got a chip and that's about it. It's Nintendo; they haven't thought through anything since maybe the original NES.

@sword_9mm Imagine a partnership between Apple and Nintendo, that would be unprecedented! But, Nintendo wants to stand on their own two feet, understandably.

I agree with you completely, though, as partnering with Apple would have gotten them access to much sweeter hardware!

I look at games like Witcher 3, the Borderlands collection, DOOM, and other heavy hitters, and I'm convinced that Outer Worlds could be made to run well on the Switch, but it would require more time and resources than were put into it. There's an adage that says, "You can do it fast; you can do it cheap; you can do it right. Pick two." In its present state, the Outer Worlds port says "fast and cheap".

@TG16_IS_BAE yeah they could have, there's a CPU bottlenecking issue here that ruins everything. Apparently it was going to be even weaker, but Capcom of all people talked them into at least the specs they have now. This is a system that is only a bit more powerful than consoles that launched in 2005. We can talk all day about "graphics not mattering" but games on this system just dont run well. Fortnite is broken on here. Newer ports run or look like total garbage. ALl of this isn't an issue when Nintendo is pumping out 1st party stuff, but when they aren't we just aren't able to get but 3rd support and when we do it's really old really overpriced collections with most of the content only available as a download, with games that don't run off the card or broken playing games like Outerworlds. Switch pulled me back into gaming with it's amazzzzzing 1st year...but after the past few, I'd be pretty hesitant to pick up their next console unless it's an upgraded version of the Switch than runs everything I've sunk money into, much better.

I still wanna play this game and I was ready to buy it until the reviews came in. Games are too expensive for me to pay this steep price. In my opinion, they should've changed the art style from pseud-realistic to full on bright cartoon cel-shaded. It would've worked better with the textures and lightning. I'll say how this new patch goes though, and if it's good enough, I'll definitely support them and buy it. But only then

@Dang69 Right, agreed on all points. That's my main thing, too. I don't want prettier graphics, I want better performance.

It's really weird that people will so stubbornly defend a company, I forget what the phenomena is called, brand loyalty, I think?

Anyway, it's weird that people will defend a company even when they don't do things right, such as bad performance and of course, Joy Con drift.

Trust me, if you saw my gaming setup, you would see that I've loved Nintendo since the 80's, but that doesn't mean they are immune to criticism, or that they can't do better!

@Anguspuss absolutely. I played it on GamePass originally, and was hankering for another go (but portable, and wanted to give the devs some money), and am surprised that despite the nips and tucks, I'm even more sucked into the world(s) on Switch. Looking forward to the patch to see what else they can pull off.

@TG16_IS_BAE

It's called 'Fanboyism' or 'Fanboy'.

Brand loyalty is one thing but fanboys take it to a whole 'nother level.

@Entrr_username But, from your photo I can see you are a dog lover.

Part of the problem is that people expect something that was never really intended to run AAA titles designed for vastly superior consoles to run those games well on it. The Switch was never intended to be at parity with the current consoles, and having the unrealistic expectation it can is a silly fantasy.

This "Can it run on Switch?" mentality reminds me of the stupidity of the 90's when they tried to put Doom on everything under the sun (which is apparently still a thing). The question shouldn't have been can it run, but should it run on SNES and 32X (and while a technical marvel, the answer is resoundingly, "No, it shouldn't").

It is just unfortunate in the current games market, the remaining mega-publishers are so hyper-focused on blockbuster games to the point that smaller projects have almost no chance of being developed or published. Like it or not, they still consider Nintendo consoles to be a small market.

@TG16_IS_BAE Slightly more power would still leave the system underpowered compared to the xbox one and PS4, and then we get someone else complaining the system is underpowered.

And when we have PS4 specs packed in to a mobile device, that will be underpowered too. Because the other companies are chasing high specs above all else, and that's one of the reasons those console are having to get so large and expensive, to overcome the diminishing returns on power.

My point was that if Sony and MS slowed down their graphical arms race, a system like the Switch would not appear to be as underpowered as it seems, since underpowered is really a relative term more than it is an objective one.

You look at games like Borderlands and Bioshock and their performance is fantastic on Switch. Throwing more power at a console doesn't automatically equal better performance. That's just not how that works. Better performance comes from better optimisation. Outer Worlds was clearly never designed for Switch, its target was higher spec systems, and the dev team who ported the game were hit hard by the Covid outbreak during a crucial time.

And really, it's hard to be mad at a console's tech, when its tech was known long before release.

And just to get a head of this because I see you throwing it out there. I'm no Fanboy. I mean, I am, but not to the extent you see others, and certainly not to one company. Oddly enough I've been talking about the effects of brand loyalty all week. And I most definitely am critical of all companies when I see something wrong. With Nintendo it's mostly been their completely miserable online service and features. I just don't currently see the power of the Switch to be one of them. I've long asked for a Switch Pro/home edition, but even with that, new games would still have to run on a base Switch, and in my research I don't think I found any chipset that would be a considerable improvement to warrant a brand new system.

As it stands, it's just best to enjoy what the system offers until the Switch 2 is released in all its underpowered glory.

when i first started this game on switch, i was rather bothered by the overall appearance of this game. now that i am about 20 hours or so in, i can honestly say that it doesn't bother me at all. I do look forward to seeing how the improvements might work, but having this game on switch has been more than worth the sacrifices made, thus far anyways.

@shining_nexus I completely agree, I have an XB1 & PS4, the older original Switch and a Switch Lite. I play on the switch as my primary gaming unit for that same reason. If Sony made a Vita 2 then that would probably be my go to since I believe they would put better internals in it- I also have a PS Vita & 3DS. Remote play could and is a huge advantage for a Vita 1 (or 2), but in the real world, the Switch is what we have available.

I love that the Switch plays AAA third party titles. I love that it's getting ports that used to bypass Nintendo consoles. This is the best third party support Nintendo has had since the Super NES. With the sales climbing, that support grows, and the mix of first party exclusives, retro favorites, indies and third party ports equals the best variety I've ever had with a Nintendo console hands down.

@graysoncharles Unfortunately it's because of the nature of porting a game like this on a reasonable budget. They use LOD automated mesh reduction over hand created lower poly meshes. They also didn't prioritize texture filtering. The complete lack of anisotropic filtering makes the floor textures look muddy even more so than the lower resolution texture does.

If they reduced material and effect complexity further to the low setting on PC they could get more performance also. (materials and visual effects run similar to the high preset on PC, glass dividers in bathroom have refraction effects of high setting, materials show similar shading results to medium or high, but at lower resolutions).

I honestly would be okay with some kind of distance fog at a few hundred meters even, if it let them cut the view distances way closer it could give a huge boost and prevent the assets needing to stream in different lower detail versions as much, which thrashes the limited memory bandwidth on switch.

Also the base game runs terribly on PC and consoles compared to it's visuals and gameplay. It's a hub world based game that runs like it's a much larger scale open world game.

@sword_9mm Right, thanks

@Richnj I agree that there are some games that run just great on the Switch, but then you have games like Witcher and Bloodstained with terrible framerates at varying times, and Panzer Dragoon with 70(!) second load times between stages. Just saying, the Sega Saturn, a disc system, loaded stages in just a couple seconds when the original PD came out.

I understand that more power does not guarantee better performance, but I would argue that it gives a development team more to work with in terms of resources, which may enable them to more easily tune performance.

And you're not a fanboy, you came across as very reasonable. Thank you!

@TG16_IS_BAE I feel like Nintendo makes hardware powerful enough for them to make games, but underpowered for third party games

@nickeddowes Mostly true, as Link's Awakening has performance dips for no reason that never got patched, as far as I know.

@Agramonte For once we agree. The patches that next gen titles will be receiving in lieu of proper optimization before being sold is likely to be a huge problem.

@TG16_IS_BAE from what I understand about Links Awakening its performance issues are caused by memory bandwidth, linked to transitioning between areas as its streaming the new data in. That coupled with a double buffer v-sync which hard drops the framers to 30fps.

As for Bloodstained, I think that is just poorly coded in general as it drops frames even on PS4 Pro and One X and there really is no excuse on those

Why this ***** got a 8/10 from NintendoLife is really beyond me...

@carlos82 Wow, that’s good to know. On PC, the game plays flawlessly (so far!) but I appreciate the heads up cause I was tempted to get it for the PS4.

@graysoncharles I don't think Witcher 3, or DOOM, or XCOM 2, or Bioshock, or Borderlands, or any others are "miracle" ports. Rather, they were simply done properly. Outer Worlds, on the other hand, was not done properly. It looks like the developer didn't optimize, they just kept knocking out one graphical feature after another until the game ran sort of acceptably and then shipped it.

@zxylady I had an OG Vita, but traded it in because it had a battery drain issue that I could not figure. I was planning to get a slim eventually, but prices were too high and it looks like it'll just keep climbing. Might have to bite the bullet eventually.

Vita has a ton of games I want to play, especially the classics. Hopefully I can find one at a price that I'm comfortable with.

@JimmySpades Nobody should be expecting "proper optimization" why having hardware with overhead at the start is so important.

Well, even worse is have the base game not run at all and just being skipped altogether. There is no hope for even a patch like now.

Already dynamic resolution to 520p @24fps to make some games run. Wonder if Come a point where the screen will not even be rated for the resolution and just display solid black input.

Like I said... will only get worse in 6 months.

@graysoncharles Also, your Galaxy S10E was released in January 2019. The Switch was announced in 2016, then released in 2017. In the ARM-based world it's way out of date, but it has no equal as a dedicated gaming portable and tablet. Your S10E isn't a fair comparsion due to age. My iPhone 11 Pro smokes it.

You're missing the point, it isn't so much just battery performance as it generates heat on the board. Making a portable PS4 and Xbox One in 2015-2016 was extremely far-fetched because it would be untouchable and not feasible to produce.

@TG16_IS_BAE I don't think the level of power is the issue as much as the truncated development time. Alien: Isolation and Breath of the Wild show what a great job the Switch can do, and The Witcher is pretty good all things considered.

@GannonBanned You are right, there has to be some compromise between development time and what the Switch is actually capable of. (Black magic)

Finished the game this weekend. It's fantastic. I highly recommend it. Listen to NL and RGT 85 about this game. The graphics/FPS downgrade is not a deal breaker. This is more than playable and is up there with other great third party ports coming to this wonderful console.

Well if the game looks a bit better and runs a bit more stable I will easily pick this one up.

@TG16_IS_BAE The Switch used the most powerful low wattage chip on the market available to them when the console was released so actually they couldn't make it any more powerful.

@Sandman83 Citation needed.

@MichaelHarvey That is very true, the switch 2 will see a lot of people shift to it, especially as the drift issue will be fixed

CD Projekt Red has set the standard for porting with the Witcher 3 Complete with game playable out of the box with no download required along with DLC and expansions and a boxed complete edition at UNDER retail MSRP of $59.99. It's easy to find the game for $50 like I did recently on Amazon brand new. It was the PEGI version but the same as the US ESRB version and it was brand new in the box in the cellophane with all the extras. 2K has done a fantastic job porting with Borderlands games, BioShock games, XCOM. Panic Button has ported over some great games like DOOM which looks and runs great imo. Bethesdha also did a stellar job with porting over and improving Skyrim to the Switch. What this says to me is that Developers CAN do proper ports of games given the resources to do so but many developers choose to put their resources in other places for a quicker and likely higher return on investment for stakeholders especially if they are a public traded company. On the other hand having that diverse portfolio for developers can also be a good thing for any stockholder and is good for gamers to have more options. I'm enjoying seeing the progression of what relatively smaller but popular and talented developers like Hi-Rez / Evil Mojo have been able to accomplish on Switch with games from Paladins to the most recent and not officially released Rogue Company. I've seen enough open world games on Switch and also seen fans make this game look and run better on Switch to know that this game can run a hell of a lot better on Switch without all the compromises.

I think they set a deadline and dropped the game at the worst time alongside the previous mentioned monolithic titles from 2K. There's an outstanding number of open world and triple A games on Switch outside of Breath of the Wild a list that is too numerous to think of. Aside from BOTW, obviously the games I mentioned earlier, Skyrim, Borderlands series, Bioshock series, XCOM, The Witcher 3, The Asssassin's Creed series, NBA 2K series, Wolfenstein games, DOOM, Lego City Undercover (I know this was a Wii U Title first but it was enhanced and updated on Switch), damn near every Resident Evil game from 1-6 along with the Revelations 1 & 2 titles, Crysis Remastered. The fact Crysis Remastered is running on Switch to the degree it is alone should be evidence that Switch can play The Outer Worlds in a way that performs and looks better. I think the devs had a deadline to make and were rushed. With the reception now I know they have mentioned this update quite a while back but due to the timing when they dropped the game I think they are really working on a proper patch for the game and want to drop it at a time to use the update as a marketing tool to get some buzz around the game again. Going up against the 2K games and having the technical and performance issues it has made it go under the radar to many and for those who bought it at launch, including myself, we are just waiting to play this game at a more proper level or have abandoned ship. A proper patch could be used to market this game again but Private Division seems radio silent since the original tweet about the patch. People have been tweeting at them on almost every post asking about the update and they have not responded to anyone or given any update. It would be nice to have an ETA for the patch or for them to at least say because of COVID the situation is uncertain and they are continuing to work on it but are unsure of the patch update. Hopefully they patch it sooner than later.

It's now been two and a half months since that tweet about the patch and three months since the game released. I mean WTF, where is the update? The console versions get updates all the time but we haven't even had one. What a scam. I wish I could bring my copy back!