Frame Rate And Resolution For Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity Demo Revealed

Botw looks better.

It's pretty dishonest of VG Tech not to mention "Demo" in the title. Sure, the full game might not have a better frame rate or resolution, but in the best-case scenario this would be pretty misleading

it does need to improve but the comparisons to BOTW and people almost expecting it to be BOTW 1.5 are ridiculous. it's Hyrule Warriors 2 and should be compared to the first HW game not BOTW.

I’m sure the final release will be fine, and if it hiccups at launch, it’ll be fixed.

@quinnyboy58 Thank you! 🤣

@Snatcher It does run at a noticeably higher res, although it does have less enemies too.

I may pass on this if the release is like the demo. The resolution is too low for me, and I only play portable. Fire Emblem Warriors was nice and crisp, and I loved it. The AOC demo was too muddy for my eyes.

Not gonna say I didn't notice framerate drops, but I am going to say they aren't really a big deal.

Let’s hope things get improved on final release.

Having said that, resolution isn’t everything, but stable frame rates helps.

@Snatcher slow it down cowboy, let’s not be so harsh, shall we? Let’s just say it looks and plays differently than the other game. The majority of Musou fans are more than happy with the game. Though as ive been playing BotW religiously ever since it’s release, I had to cancel my pre-order of HW:AoC anyway lol

It’s just, musou games don’t really click with me, but this fact bundled with performance issues far outweigh my curiosity about the story in this game. If anything, I’m grateful for the demo as it made me pass on an otherwise regrettable purchase.

@Snatcher There is a lot to note with this, of course Breath of the Wild looks better, first off, this is developed by Koei Tecmo, the fact that the game looks this faithful to the visual style of the first game is a really big feat, other than that, the game is not being made with the engine of Breath of the Wild, rather using the same engine used in the first Hyrule Warriors game. On top of that, have you seen all the action going on in the screen? It's absolutely crazy how many enemies there are, stuff happening all over. Honestly, the game looks great, considering what it is, and looks objectively better than the first Hyrule Warriors game, especially with the visual style.

@horizoniki Warriors games really aren't for everyone, and it really isn't worth it if you don't like them, it's best to watch gameplay videos if you really want to know the story, for me though, it's gonna be a day-1 purchase

@batata wish it was for me though! I love me some quality spin offs and this game seems to be just the case.

I play mostly on PC so framerate is between 60-120 fps on Ultra.

I would have bought Hyrule Warriors AOC if it ran at stable 30 fps, but frequently down to 20 fps is just unplayable to me.
Reminds me of Bloodborne on PS4 which had unplayable frame rate to me too. Too much frame skipping in BB.

If retail version runs at 30 fps, i will buy it, or will buy it if it's fixed in a patch.

lmao all the people that can't stand framerates lower than 30fps or anything that isn't perfect 1080p make me laugh so hard; seriously how much of a snob do you have to be to pass on a game based on that kind of crap 🤡🤡🤡

It’s like watching your favorite movies in HD instead of 4k.

@SimonCucho exactly! Those that go on constantly about FPS probably can’t even tell the difference, they’re just trolling and trying to belong to some stupid group of tech elitists. I’ve never even considered it when playing games

As expected of Koei Tecmo. Making products to piggyback off of popular releases without caring about optimization. I wonder if that's why P5 Scramble hasn't been released over here yet.

@quinnyboy58 the comparison is only natural, because its set in the same world, and positioned as canonical. Isn’t this what nintendo went for? A prequel as a major holiday release?

@SimonCucho if you think sub 30 fps is fine then get basic PC and download a new game and max the settings on it and play it it would be bad. Or play deadly premonition 2 without the patch in the open areas. That is framerate and it is very important to have locked 30 fps minimum.

Resolution to me is not that important but FPS is very important. They needed get atleast a locked 30 fps for a smooth experience for the whole game.

This is bad, no point in down playing this. We are talking like 540p, aka standard definition resolution, at framerates below 20fps.

The worst part is that is the frame pacing is flat-out broken and there is barely a second of smooth gameplay in that clipp.

I dunno, was looking forward to this, but it is not a must-have game to me, not with all the other heavy hitters around the corner. Someone mentioned Bloodborne earlier, and while this had some framepacing issues as well, the resolution and framerate was nowhere near as bad, and besides these issues, I still hold it up as the best From Software and best Souls games to date. It's a masterpiece with framepacing issues. Bloodborne looked grotesquely gorgeous, still does, and I play it to this day.

This is just another intriguing musou game featuring Nintendo characters with resolution, fps and framepacing issues up the wazoo.

To be honest, this isn't really a deal breaker to me.

@SimonCucho I think bad performance is a completely legitimate criticism. I'm not saying that Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity is unplayable, but having extremely variable framerate can definitely make the experience feel worse to play.

Of course, Musou games are quite demanding games in the sense that they have tons of objects on screen at once, but I think it's fair to expect good performance from a game published by Nintendo, with Zelda license and all.

@SilentHunter382 mate I play first person shooters at 144fps on my setup, I can deal with stuttering on the Switch. Anyone complaining about framerates for the switch is just 🤡🤡🤡

@SimonCucho Has nothing to do with being a "snob". Why would I bother with paying full price for what often degrades into a juddery pixelsoup, when tons of equally good or even better games deliver an experience several levels above and beyond said title.

Mabye if it was $20 game I could find it in me to be more lenient here, but ultimately, this is just a either too demanding for the system, and as such a mismatch, or it is poorly optimized, which is flat-out unaccepable at the asking price.

@Rodan2000 You can tell the difference. The problem with people who say this have not played on higher fps. I can tell the difference between 120, 60 and 30.

We are not trolls. Framerate is very important for a game. A solid fps give a smoother experience and the higher it is the more fluid it will be as well as faster input response. The input response on 60 is faster then 30. Why do you think all fighting games are 60 fps it is because cause of the response time.

I still liked it 🥸🤷🏽‍♂️

A pre-release demo is when you put your best foot forward.
This ain't it

@Rodan2000

1. It is less about framerate and more about framepacing. Anyone can tell variable from constant framepacing right away, particularly in an action game.

2. The different between sub-30 and a locked 60 has no need for a framegraph either. This gap anyone with any experience in modern gaming can tell right away, hell you don't have to be playing even. Most of the time you can just tell from the footage, for instance by the smoothness of a horizontal turn. It's not 100% reliable of course, as there are means for interpolation, but still, there is no way of hiding these kind of krass performance issues - measurements or not.

And the resolution ... can I tell the difference between 1440p and 2160p at all time? No, can I tell the difference between 540p and 1080p in docked .... sure, anyone can.

Again, these are pretty krass numbers, and as such measuring them is just icing on the cake. People were complaining long before anyone bothered getting scientific with this game, precisely because they could tell without any graphs. I really don't get what you are droning one about. The 2000s are gone and done. Most of us have grown rather sensible to these issues, and frankly, the prevalance of Hold-Type displays did not really help in that regard either. I am less than keen on playing juddery messes like this on my OLED.

It feels like controling someone stuck in molasses and any technology that is meant to compensate by interpolation is going to have a rough time with this all-over-the-place frametiming graph. It's never going to feel even remotely smooth playing and it is never not going to look "meh".

@SimonCucho If the game was a solid 30 then it would be fine for me. I would like it too be 60 but I would take a consistent 30 then a 60 fps that would be all over the place but they couldn't even get a solid 30 so that is why I am complaining.

@ritouf you need to know I have a pc too buddy, I also play at 144fps on a different system that doesn't have the same games or ips be picky then, choose not to play it lmao

@horizoniki Look i'm not stupid ok When I said it looks better what I mean is that the landscape of botw looks really pretty and its just weird to see the same art style but it does not look as pretty. @batata I agree with everything you said and I love the heck out of the demo, I love games like this so I have to hate to it, not saying you said I hate it just to be clear.

@SilentHunter382 Agreed, I would be fine with 30fps and 720p docked. Just an okay experience, but enough for this game. This is not it though. I really hope we get that "Switch Pro" sooner rather than later...

@SimonCucho Dude 30 fps is not the best this game can offer I think thats all people are saying bc mario od had 60 fps mario kart had 60 fps, to be fair the BOTW did not run at 60 so I can see why this one doesn't ether but you don't have to call people a snoob bc they don't like the 30 fps its ok if it dose not matter to you it doesn't really matter to me ether but I can see why people don't like it at 30 fps it just dose not look right. And to be fair this demo did look pretty crappy on my switch lite idk how it looks on a docked switch I have not trid it yet.

@Ralek85 I’m not droning on about anything, I simply said how tedious it is reading about people going on about FPS all the time, it’s like it’s the latest ‘cool thing’ to talk. I’d be amazed if you knew the difference. I’ve been gaming since the 80s and frame rate has never been an issue for me.

Terrible performance

Demo is fine. I'm happy. Never been too snobby about this kinda thing.

So far after 2 chapters I’ve had fun, I’ve liked what I’ve seen. Admittedly I’m no super-player, I muddle and mash through the action and performance issues don’t immediately register with my muddle-mashing brain. Maybe I’m even average in that regard. Hard to know on an enthusiast blog site. Ive recommended the game to a friend as well, as a perfect companion to the mainline Zelda experience.

Maybe my eyes are too old to register all the hiccups in frame rates and frame pacing or the way i play allowed for a smoother experience but i enjoyed the Demo without experiencing issues. Now i have never been too hung up on this as long as the performance does not break the gaming experience for me and i am lucky enough to have a low bar (seemingly). I am sorry for the hardcore gamers that do notice it quickly because they will experience a gamebreaking performance much more often than i do and will miss out on things because of this that i do not.

Ouch. It's kinda excusable if it was one or the other, but sub 30fps while it can't even maintain 1080p, and frequently drops below 720 is gonna hurt. Bad optimisation, or is just the age of the Switch showing?

@Octane Seeing how well other games run on the Switch, it's a combination of both hardware limitations and bad optimization to meet release deadline.

The issue here is just that Warrior games are about rendering as many enemies on the screen as possible for you to mow down.
That is the whole core gameplay. So this is bound to cause frame rate problems on the Switch and would require some serious optimization magic.
Resolution scaling is just the most lazy way out of this sadly.

You know what would make a good Warriors game? Golden Axe. Yeah it's got nothing to do with this article but I just wanted to say I reckon it would be cool.

You no the limitations your getting with the switch from the start

@Octane It's because there's hundreds of people on screen at once.

@Kabloop
I won't complain

@Clyde_Radcliffe Just lower the amount of enemies on screen in that case. I'd rather fight dozens of more skilled enemies, than a hundred of fodder that won't do damage anyway.

I guess they're stuck with the BOTW aesthetic, so they can't lower the in-game visuals and details.

@Ventilator that’s too bad. Bloodborne is a fantastic game.

@Rodan2000 Know the difference between what? Also, "FPS" as such is a secondary concern as I said before. The impact on frame pacing is far more egregious. Less fps are actually preferable if they are delivered in constant intervalls that divide equally by refresh rate, which is typically 60hz (at least forgoing any form of VRR, which the Switch does not support).

There is next to nothing to understand or know here. It's literally elementary school math. I tired of people pretending just because you can calculate frametimes and plot them on a graph, you cannot see issues with frametime without said graph. It's simply an inane statement to make and it is also evidently false.

If you are okay with paying full price for a pixelsoup presentation (at times), that will never run and thus feel smoothly, that is fine. But that does not mean the issue is non-existent. This is not motion sickness or something like that. It is not subjective. It may matter to you or know, but whether it does ... it is still there.

Stop defending technically inadequate productions please. Other developers put a lot of time and hard work into making their games enjoyable on every level, that should be appreciated. Equally, devs not willing or able to do the same should be called out on this.

Honestly I'm starting to doubt on buying this game.

Not because of the frame rate, but because the demo itself didn't really impress me that much overall (time travel is kind of a buzz kill), and the fact that later down the line they'll probably release a "definitive edition" like they did with HW1 that I'll probably like to get instead. I hate putting hours into a game and then an upgraded version comes out that I have to get to experience the real full thing.

@horizoniki
You don't usually play musou games for the story, you play them because it's fun to kill hundreds and hundreds of enemies smashing buttons more or less mindlessly.

Cancelled my pre order after the demo.

I'll wait for a fix but more than likely it's a permanent pass for me. I didn't actually like the gameplay at all. Performance to one side, the controls and the movement wasn't fluid.

The camera was not intuitive and half the time I was attacking things I couldn't see.

Yeah I'll pass on this one

@Octane
If you lower the Number of enemies than it's not a musou...

@Whitestrider It would make a better game

Let's be honest, what's the difference between 100 and 300 enemies?

I have to admit, had I read these figures without actually playing Age of Calamity for myself, I’d probably swerve the game Altogether. HOWEVER, in reality, I have played the demo (on a Switch Lite), and the game doesn’t actually feel like it renders between 380 and 540p. And that’s what counts the most. Indeed, the game looked and felt absolutely fine to me, and that’s far more important than raw statistics. Having had an absolute blast with the demo, I’m now looking forward to the full game more than ever! Roll on November 20th!

@Octane
The more, the better.

Truth is this will still sell millions regardless of what some trying to hard elitists think because Nintendo are smart enough to know there opinion ultimately means nothing in the grand scheme of things and there are millions of gamers who will enjoy this game.

@SimonCucho
Exactly, i play high end games on my pc. And love this game.
People will always complain, same whas when botw came out and everyone bought it. Same whas with the Witcher, people complaining About the graphics and the framerates. As for many other games. People want a cheap system with high end performance and graphics, wont happen.

@SimonCucho imagine if they had to try and play a few rounds of Goldeneye split screen on an old CRT. Believe me gaming has come a long way in the last thirty years i don't think there is anything that could be considered 'unplayable' from a FPS/resolution point of view in this say and age but NL loves to put these kinds of articles out get some easy clicks from the snobs.

Lol I dont think anyone has ever played a demo.a demo is not the final build lol.the demo and actual release will be different.if the first game runs at 1080p and 60fps.im pretty forsure this one will also lol

@Darkyoshi98 There is no way they can do that. If the demo has a resolution of between 570p - 810p with fps of 20 - 30 fps then there is no way they can do 1080p 60fps on the release. The best you can hope for is a solid 900p 30fps in the final game and even then I don't think they will be able too achieve that.

Pretty bad isn’t it. 🤔 we need more power

I liked the first Hyrule Warriors but not enough to want to play through a sequel. This one will be a pass for me.

@Ashunera84 I assume you didn't play the multiplayer much?
I played with my boyfriend and we met HARSH frame drops, it was extremely noticable and he doesn't usually care for that kind of thing at all. The frame rate at its worst got so bad it was half way to looking frozen! Didn't affect our enjoyment but definitely something I want to see fixed and is something we never really came across in the other HW. But the first also looked way worse and was an upscaled Wii U game so.

It is OK, I am just not a big fan of these Warrior games and whilst the cutscenes etc are high quality (clearly something Nintendo had a hand in) the gameplay is lacking some polish, the whole sequence with the Guardian in chapter 2 was very messy.

Also that mini guardian being a time traveller makes me nervous. Do not retcon the story Nintendo!

@LivingLeif I would like to recommend you try the demo. This game has fully voiced cutscenes and story, more creative attacks, better graphics, better combat, better progression. All from what it is shaping up to be so far, I would encourage you to try the demo.

I'm not someone who's bothered about 30 or 60 fps, but an inconsistent frame rate dropping below 30 in an action game is just bad. The whole point of a demo is for a developer to show off what the game will look and play like, so this hasn't done them any favours. This is a reminder that this, like its predecessor, is not a Nintendo game. It's a third-party title which Nintendo has allowed to use its IP, and really shouldn't be a tentpole Christmas release for the Switch. When the original came out, it was positioned as a second-tier release in a stellar year which had already had Mario Kart 8 and which would finish with Bayonetta 2 and Smash 4. The story and setting makes this one appealing to Zelda fans (me included) but my personal opinion is that the Warriors series just aren't very good games by comparison with the best of what Nintendo otherwise has to offer.

Played the demo, no issues for me that made it unplayable, but...I still do not understand the appeal of musou at all. I pressed like 4 buttons and it was like 100 KOs! I played through the whole first map and the gameplay boils down to half a dozen monsters that are an ok fight, and a whole lot of running across a map filled with trash fights. Yawn.

@JMR_Alden

I wouldn't say it's crazy. I would prefer not to spend money on something I won't get full enjoyment from. There are a lot of other great games to buy. I'm not saying people shouldn't buy AOC, I'm sure it will be a ton of fun. Just stating my personal sentiment regarding making a purchase.

@SilentHunter382 considering a demo is not the final build

Everybody’s standards are different and valid (when offered sincerely). I’ve downloaded the demo though haven’t booted it up yet (trying to finish my 2nd run in Ys Origins) and the criticism I’ve read here is pretty concerning - I bet a big day-1 patch is incoming for my preordered retail release, which I hate.
But on the other hand the last musou games I played were the originals - Sangoku Musou 1 & 2 (Dynasty Warriors in the West, I think) early on in the PS2 days, I loved them and contemporaries like Earth Defense Force which pushed the hardware way WAY beyond their limits but still delivered fun.

I’m hoping Age of Calamity does the same, despite the warts. That’s my old geezer take on this.

I’m enjoying the demo. And the cinematic scenes are absolutely vibrant and gorgeous. Now, this is my first time playing anything like HW... is it really supposed to be so...fast? It’s like everything is on fast forward. Why does Link run so damn fast??

I had never ever played a warriors game before, it did nothing to me but my kids love it, so im gonna go and buy one. To anyone bitchin' about frame rate and stuff, you clearly never play megaman games on release cuz i remember those games were so demanding to the NES even the melody on the music went off while using an energy thank. Certainly you are a gamer from another era or not gamer at all as to diss a game for stuff like that, i cant get it. Ill buy 3 copies, one for every real gamer in this house.

@horizoniki This isn't a spin-off though, I this technically does fall under canon, since it is telling the story of a 100 years prior to Breath of the Wild, the first Hyrule Warriors was definitely a spin-off though, and a great one at that, though that was more about the gameplay and "coolness factor" as Arlo puts it, and not as much about the story

@Darkyoshi98 Not.... really, yes, this is a demo, but it is just 20 days off from release, and I don't think they will magically change the resolution scaling of this game, it's a lot of load on the engine, with this game, and is understandable that problems as such persist, I expect frame-rate improvement though

@Kabloop i won’t. I’m not in the mood to play through what is obviously a losing battle. It’s like watching rogue one... no thank you. I get enough tragedy irl i don’t need it in my escapism.

It didn't seem too bad to me.

I would never pay full price for a game like this anyway. I think I'd like to pick up hyrule warriors/Aoc but i'll grab the carts used for cheap.

Warriors games are fun for a little while but tend to bore me after a bit so no way i'd pay full price even if it ran 4k/60fps.

The performance numbers aren't great, but they're also not way outside the norm of how a lot of very demanding Switch games perform. 540p is, unfortunately, the magic number for quite a number of "big" Switch games in portable mode. And a lot of Switch games also struggle to maintain 30fps consistently.

I'll be happy enough if the framerate dips are evened out a bit. If they can iron out the dips that go into the low 20s, I think it'll help a lot with the overall feel of the game.

Do I wish it performed at 1080p60/720p60? Sure. But it's an exclusive, so it's not like there's a lot of choice about where to play it. And the performance isn't bad enough that I'll snub it altogether, either.

To be honest played the demo, wasn't keen. Terrible texture pop in, frame rate, to me personally started to get repetitive. Very doubtful I will buy this.

I'm not that bothered by resolution or FPS. Sure, I'll pay attention when booting up a new game to see how it looks - I'm VERY into graphics - but after a few minutes it's all about playing and getting into the story. I usually won't play a game w/o a story to get sucked into. That said -

"resolution found being approximately 676x380"

Isn't that like 3DS numbers? Even I know that's not good.

@Octane Wondering about the number of characters on screen at once? Here's HW on 3DS vs New 3DS. It's CRAZY how different 2 versions of the same game ran on basically the same console. They didn't just change the graphics, they changed the game. Starting at 0:22. It almost isn't a mousou game on 3DS and Link is running in molasses.

Somebody said in the comments - not sure if it's true or not but seems plausible - this isn't running on the BotW engine, it's running on the HW Switch engine. If that's the case, why so limited? HW:DE was running at 1080p and 60fps docked. Less in handheld but the screen is only 720p so.

"The graphics are surprisingly top-notch, running at 60fps with occasional dips, but the gameplay remains smooth throughout, even when indulging in some split-screen co-op."

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/nintendo-switch/hyrule_warriors_definitive_edition

"When docked Hyrule Warriors runs in 1080p"

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/06/digital_foundry_takes_issue_with_hyrule_warriors_portable_performance_on_switch

Plus - and I think this is a big plus - isn't this game made by the same dev who put out FEW three years ago? And that game ran at 1080p = 30fps or 720p + 60fps.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/preview_fire_emblem_warriors_could_be_the_best_musou_game_yet

So it sounds like it could run better than this, they just haven't spent the time to get it running better than this, perhaps b/c Nintendo rushed them along to get it out in time for the holidays since BotW 2 isn't ready yet? Or they choose themselves to get it out in time for the holidays, ready or not?

I haven't played the demo yet, and I'm sure no matter how bad it may come across those first 5 minutes that I'm paying attention I'll still get it Day 1, but w/ both HWDE and FEW running better than this on Switch, this seems rushed, no excuses.

A lot of people have been commenting on the frame rate, but honestly? I haven't noticed anything. No amount of enemies on screen has once made me notice any drop in quality.
It almost makes me think some of them are just making it up, or making a mountain out of an anthill. Certainly doesn't seem like a good enough to reason to skip this game entirely.
However, for some reason the game outright slows down after I defeat an outpost boss and the treasure chests appear in bursts of light. I think the slow-mo might be on purpose, but it's kinda jarring either way.

I placed a pre-order about 48 hours before the demo was announced. Having played the demo, I have to admit I'm tempted to cancel.

This just in: switch is underpowered

@Darkyoshi98 Honestly I would consider the demo to be the final build. If it wasn't then it would be classed as a playable beta.

People often compare this to Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, which pretty much brought out the Switch's maximum hardware capabilities by running the game at 1080p 60fps in docked mode.

I'd say that this comparison is simply not a fair comparison, because HWDE is an enhanced port, rather than a game built from the ground up. HW was developed on less-powerful consoles, with the original Wii U version running almost like Age of Calamity; 720p 30fps, where Age of Calamity runs at a weird resolution between 720p and 1080p, but still at 30fps.

They couldn't simply reskin HWDE for AoC if we're getting a much more complex map system in AoC, not to mention the overall game probably has much more to offer judging by its giant file size.

So please stop treating this as a successor or a derivative or a sequel to Hyrule Warriors. Even though they share the same title, they are two very different games, much like ALMOST EVERY Zelda game out there.

Being the true Nintendo fan that I am, I felt that it was smooth enough. Just above movie frame rate, so I don't care.

The demo runs like dog s***. It just does. A solid 30FPS is the bare minimum to enjoy an action game because fluctuating frame rates completely ruins the flow of the game and gets in the way of playing it. Resolution doesn’t totally matter although the docked version is basically a GBA at this point. Not sure if this shows Switch’s absolute power disadvantage or just really poor optimisation. We’ll have to see on release.

Is keeping a game at a locked 30 fps REALLY that hard to do in 2020? I mean, really?

Quite bizzare numbers. I guess my monitor is working some voodoo magic because the graphics are pin Sharp on it, comparable to running my X1X on it. Despite the frame rate dropping to 20fps the "feel" of the gameplay is still "fast" and that is more important. I was impressed by the demo, but clearly Switch needs a newer processor now. Hoping them buying Arm will result in a tailor-made upgrade for next Holiday.

@Rodan2000 Frame rates are interesting partly just because some people don't notice them or can't see them while others tend to always see them (like me). I just wish developers could somehow collaborate more. Like why can't all the musuo games on Switch just use the pretty awesome Fire Emblem Warriors engine so they could have a pretty consistent 60fps mode while docked? Just give people an existing well budgeted game engine and then they can adjust art, texture maps, models (same number of polygons for newly created items). I guess everyone has to develop their own, sometimes crappy, engine...

I found this to be a hot mess. I sure hope this isn't the final product because it needs work.

@Octane That's what I have been saying in general. I also disagree with Musou fans that it wouldn't be a Musou just because you downgrade the enemy number for more challenge and better performance. There would still be hordes, just less or at least with lower numbers in groups. As you said, Musou or not it would make a better game.

Having said that loved the demo and I have it preordered. While performance could and should improve, I felt it more challenging and enticing than previous games on the genre as well as way more fun so I'm in haha.

Anyone who is willing to pay for this is a fool.

I don’t care about frame rate. But the demo itself was a bit boring

I honestly don't understand why people are trying to defend the game here. 30 fps is pretty much a bare minimum industry standard and people do have the right to criticise a game's technical limitations if they are paying customers. It may not matter to some but the criticism isn't invalid. On the other hand, those who are freaking out and writing off the game right away are overreacting. Even if this is the release version, a patch might come in near future. And this is why I don't support pre-ordering games, without reading reviews.

@graysoncharles I just played Fire Emblem Warriors and it looks pretty good to me. I could see some drops below 60fps, but it felt minor to me and didn't bother me much. I gave up on the Switch version of Hyrule Warriors though because it just seemed to always run in the 30 to 55fps range, and without variable refresh rate (like Sekiro has on Xbox One X while using an appropriate monitor or TV, which makes it fairly smooth looking) that range just feels bad to play. It seems like each Warriors game on Switch gets worse as time goes on. I'd love to see the frame drops in performance mode cleaned up for sequels or later games in the same style, not the performance mode dropped while making the frame rate even more juddery and uneven...

Frame rate issues didn't bother me in HW nor in FEW, this is still gonna be a day 1 purchase for me.

Imagine all the people who would pass on Ocarina Of Time because of issues like these if it released today ("But standards have changed since," Ocarina Of Time will objectively and forever be the greatest game of all time, framerate issues and all. No 8K 144fps movie game will ever even remotely compare). We are failing to see the painting because we're too busy critiquing the paint. Besides the fact that major framerate issues will undoubtedly be ironed out with post-release patches, a fact that is apparently lost on many, It's a musou game based on the Zelda series, the first canonical console Zelda side game, a prequel in a chronological trilogy of Zelda games (the first of its kind in the history of the series), the prequel to Breath Of The Wild (the game of the decade and one of the best Zelda titles since Ocarina Of Time), and, most importantly, it's fun. Get over the forgettable technical specs — what you consider high-end or even industry standard today will be a joke in two years — and just have fun, something that always ages better.

Unfortunately it's only natural that gamers will scrutinize a game using the BOTW brand with a sharper microscope due to the high bar it originally set.

If Nintendo is prepared to allow KT to utilize the BOTW brand, then perhaps they should be a bit more involved with QA.

Ultimately, as everyone has said, it's a musou game, and should not be expected to achieve the same quality as a Zelda title made in-house.

However, these weaknesses do inform my purchase, as an outsider to the musou genre.

@SimonCucho It all comes down to the type of game. Adventure games, ie ones that are slower paced by nature will still be fine, but not ideal with a substandard framerate. 30FPS is a perfect framerate target, when 30 is done right, as it often is, it is impossible to tell from 60 or 120.

However when there is a 25 frame fluctuation, 5-30fps as shown here it is unfortunately not acceptable.

A game focused on fast arcade action like Hyrule Warriors should be as close to a locked 30 as possible on Switch. 😘😘😘

@Menardi OOT is by nature a slow paced game and so the comparison is mute.

OOT on real hardware on a crt or via ultra HDMI looks perfectly fine, the issues regarding lag crop up with converting Analogue to digital signals on modern sets, the same issues reside playing all pre HDMI retro consoles, hence why there has been monumental community effort in creating HDMI solutions.

@graysoncharles Super Smash bros ultimate has 1080p 60 fps. That's a lame ass excuse.

guess im not buying it

The demo is ROUGH. It actually hurts my eyes at times while playing it due to the unstable performance. I don't need 60fps for this game. Just a stable 30fps would suffice. But this is just atrocious.

@MARl0 if your eyes hurt from playing I'm sorry to break it you but it's not the demo, it's your eyes

@MARl0 reason why the final version of this game will be polished up before its release.

@SimonCucho No, it's the game. Your trolling doesn't help anyone. So please grow up.

I just want them to allow us to fix the controls like in the first Hyrule Warriors. Why is that not an option here?! I have to configure my controls via the hard binds in the settings on the switch options menu just to play it well.

@liveswired The comparison is valid in that both games are entirely enjoyable at face value regardless of minor framerate issues, because they are simply good games. Put a child in front of either one, that child is not going to whine to you about its sub-30fps framerate because they don't know of or even care about such a topic, they care that they are having fun mowing down hundreds of Bokoblins, trying (maybe in vain?) to save Hyrule, and seeing more of what happened prior to the events of Breath Of The Wild. I agree with you that there is work to be done to bring it more in line from a performance standpoint with industry standards, I routinely criticize Pokémon Sword and Shield for that same reason, but the issues are being severely exaggerated by some here, and I think we all know the final release is probably going to address the problems in this demo, either out of the gate or via post-release patches, meaning there is some leeway that isn't being given here by the armchair experts among us. Breath Of The Wild had similarly minor framerate issues exaggerated by the usual vocal minority at the time of its release as well. It's called a demo for a reason; it's probably fair to say it will run a little more smoothly at release, call me crazy.

I'm fine with the lower resolution, but the framerates are just disappointing. 30fps rock stable would be fine, but frequent performance drops like these is a pain for me personally, i'm quite sensitive to those, i notice them so clearly. Anyway i hope they can fix it up a little.

@MARl0 you being inflammatory doesn't help either )) "it actually hurts my eyes" my ass mate

@Andymad Later on there will be a lot more going on with enemy units, and you’ll have to carefully react to reinforcements or other battlefield changes. The running speed is so that you can manage these things when they start happening.

Demo plays well, that’s all

Too many people are spoiled by PCs and stronger hardware. If you're a fan of the series and want the storyline, you'll buy it.

@graysoncharles
So unstable 20-30 fps is acceptable in 2020? Lol okay.

Game runs and looks perfectly fine for me. Surprisingly looks and plays really well handheld too.

Everybody keeps saying its just a demo. However, if it lets you play actual parts of the story and carry over all of your progress... then it might be an actual piece of the game. Especially with it being only 20 days out. The copies are probably already printed up and ready to be shipped. I’ve enjoyed the demo, but I think what you see is what you’re getting.

@graysoncharles Still a crappy framerate. Can't defend that.

@Mrac you don’t get the benefit of the doubt when you just released a Pikmin 3 demo at 720p 30fps and then In the same month release the game at 720p 30 FPS. This demo is more than likely a good indicator of what the actual game will be.

I hate being the nintendolife 1080p 30fps warrior on here. I know there are others out there that have similar beliefs. But it’s so exhausting hearing the “good enough” or “it’s not that bad” comments.

Btw I am complaining and I will Not be buying the game. My god what is BOTW 2 going to run at? Sub 900p sub 30fps. Smh we NEED a switch pro or we will be streaming nintendo content sooner than later.

I am probably in the minority, but I really can't tell the difference when it ranges from 40fps down to 25fps. It looked about the same to me honestly.

I personally didn't notice the framerate or resolution (maybe because I played it on a switch lite). My biggest problem are the wall hitboxes. There's a pretty big gap between how close the characters can get to a wall.

Eh, it’s a Warriors game. Can’t have a Warriors game without a frame-rate-dropping amount of enemies on screen.

@abbyhitter yes I may be spoiled with being a PC gamer for the past decade but I am not expecting every game to be 1080p 60fps on other systems. I am just expecting a game to have atleast a stable 30 fps even if it has an unstable resolution cause an inconsistent framerate can ruin the game for me.

Ok those words mean nothing to me whatsoever.
I dont want to watch the video as I want to wait until I have the full copy and find out storyline as I go.
Is there massive slow down? Or is it just a bit glitchy?

@sixrings IDK. Warriors games typically get a big day one patch on other systems when they release. This is very common for tecmo. Nintendo rarely does this. Seeing as who Pikmin (Nintendo) and Calamity (Tecmo) are developed by the two, this seems relevant.

@sixrings Ever get the feeling of deja vu?

Maybe I'm crazy but I played the demo and it ran perfectly. I loved it 🤷‍♂️

The performance doesn't bother me nearly as much as the gameplay, unfortunately.

Can't wait for the review which undoubtedly will consist of three paragraphs explaining how of course the reviewer would love it to have a higher resolution but it still looks good enough, the frame rate is not that bad once you get used to it, and that half the people on the comment section are basement dwelling man children with nothing better to complain about. Btw a solid 9.

@Menardi "Imagine all the people who would pass on Ocarina Of Time because of issues like these if it released today".

If you are referring to framerate, the difference between OOT and this demo, is at least OOT's framerate, regardless of NTSC or the butchered PAL version (which I played), despite being 20 frames (NTSC) was at least consistent, and didn't drop up to 10 frames in normal gameplay. Musou games do have lots of enemies, hence the demo's first stage is normal gameplay, and yet, it drops as much as it does. This is why it is a bigger issue. Although I prefer 30fps (and am in disbelief that in 2020, we are still having these discussions), the game could be 25fps for all I care as long as it stayed there. But it does not.

Maybe it will be fixed with a future patch, but I am not holding my breath.

The demo plays pretty ok. These fps issues are not irritating at all

20-30?

Gross.

I wasn’t going to get it anyway.

@Mrac pretty embarrassing to offer a sample of your product and it not living up to industry standards. Just saying.

@SimonCucho how much of a sucker do you have to be to accept it?

How is it "snobbish" for people to expect a game to have consistent fps (whether at 30 or 60) when a game is made specifically for a single system. It's not like this is a game on multiple platforms or has to take into account multiple PC setups. It shouldn't have been hard to keep it at 30 without drops.

Oh and yes, some people do get motion sickness with low fps...but lets just call them snobs and clowns and act like we're better🙄

Metroid Prime 4 in 2022. 540p 24fps???? And we will wonder why Metroid has poor sales.

@sixrings Well, to be fair I don't see this game getting less than an 8 since it seems to accomplish what fans of the genre expect. I'm not a fan of Musou games but I found this way more fun than previous games I tried with improvements in almost every way. That being said, poor performance shouldn't be treated as an insignificant problem since just as there are many of us that can't see much difference, there's also people affected by it that get motion sickness. As long as the review mentions said problem I think that they are doing enough.

I also don't think that they'll have the attitude that you describe against people that have problems with it's performance based on what they do on previous reviews. I have only seen just a couple bad reviews that take condescending or judgemental attitude in the years I have been part of this community but that's my personal experience and it has been more because of certain types of games and not because of performance.

@roy130390 anything less than 900p and less than 30fps should at the very least be docked 1 point on a 10 point scale. I understand that's a subjective opinion but then what is the motivation to get a game to run properly.

While not 'ideal' resolution specs I really enjoyed the demo. Maybe I am just extra happy to be back in the universe. Replaying 'The Battle Of Hyrule Field' and 'Road To The Ancient Lab' Missions right now to level up a bit.

@sixrings Yeah I think that's fair. I honestly expected that since this game is such a big deal, it would be as optimized as possible. I suppose that they can patch it later, but expecting patches of things that should be addressed since day 1 shouldn't become the standard.

It's good but needs to be more longer no offense..

The framepacing is awful (more problematic for me than the frame dips) and the rez looks pretty awful at times, all around being a bit headache inducing. HOWEVER, despite this, miraculously, the demo on hard mode was a LOT of fun. Hope they can patch the FPS a bit.

@sixrings i think that should be standard

Let's get our 3x faster CPU and GPU Switch (ram needs improvement the most). 1080p/60 for the next console or Nintendo should hang their heads in shame.

@MarsOne for first party games 1080p 60fps should be the standard.

I personally haven't had any problems with framerate, maybe some dips, nothing deterrent or off-putting though. I've noticed that in some scenes, either docked or in handheld mode, the resolution drops quite a bit, and everything looks low-res. Not that I'm worried, after all, it's running on a tablet whose processor released in 2015. Again, nothing that is going to deter me from buying this jewel of a game the 20th.

I haven't played it yet but this sounds a bit dissapointing. However the game does have a lot on the screen at once so I don't think that it is unreasonable.

@SimonCucho FPS matters with reaction times. Pinball and first/third person shooters are great examples of why framerates matter. It's not just a preference of seeing something closer to realtime movement, but a higher framerate also allows your brain to subconsciously make quicker decisions and also allows the game to make more accurate collision detections. This article explains it well: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/what-is-fps-and-how-it-helps-you-win-games/

@Rodan2000 I'm glad you feel the need to insult and name-call a group of people just because you don't relate to them. Nice job spreading hate and ignorance.

@SimonCucho You are the troll here. You don't see anyone else's point of view but your own.

I loved the demo but I can't handle the 20 fps dip constantly because it screws with my eyes and then gives me a headache. I know several people who have this problem. A solid 30 frames is what I will need. If not, my eyes can't handle it and I won't be able to play.

@Kilroy I’m not insulting anyone, go back and read my initial comment and then apply that to the context of most threads where people feel the need to harp on about FPS.
Your comment sums up why I hate living in such a snowflake generation.

@Rodan2000 "Those that go on constantly about FPS probably can’t even tell the difference, they’re just trolling and trying to belong to some stupid group of tech elitists"

"Probably can't even tell the difference": It's an insult because you're speaking down and implying we have no attention to detail.

"they're just trolling": Implying we're doing it just to annoy others.

"trying to belong to some stupid group of tech elitists": "trying", "stupid group"

I'm applying it to this thread where you posted it here. Deflecting it by saying "apply to most threads" is absolutely irrelevant to the context here. I presented facts on why a higher framerate is functionally better for multiple reasons, while your argument is simply that we're blind and stupid.

And no, my comment sums up why we live in a disrespectful generation that uses baseless opinions (as opposed to facts) on why they think they're right.

@SilentHunter382 you clearly have no idea what your talking about. FPS are nothing that really needs to happen. It is playable and is perfectly fine. Just because you cannot adjust for response that's your own personal issue and tells me you just complain because you cannot adapt

@zombi3wolf no game has a consistent frame rate. Your comment is moot.

@Ralek85 sounds to me like you are nothing but a whiner. The fps are fine. Just because you sick at the game or any other game because you cannot adapt is your own personal issues don't blame the game. You clearly haven't played older games if your complaining about this. Yes you can argue well today's standards and I will say screw standards. Games have no standards and never had. You are just expecting everything to be catered to your liking and that is not how the real world works. Don't buy the game there is nothing wrong with that but to try and make a argument for something that clearly doesn't matter is pathetic in your part.

@Dirty0814 Dude a stable fps should be atleast a basic requirement. I complain because I want the industry to try but when people just accept unstable framerate companies are just not going too try. But go head and continue too insult people if it make you feel better.

@Dirty0814 You might want to hold your horses there for just a ... frame.

First, what's with the language? Sorry you are having a bad day, truly, but that gives you no right to act like a little ****. Get a grip.

Secondly, what kind of argument is 'it was okay 40 years ago, so don't be a whiner!'. A lot of stuff was done 40 years ago, that we thankfully moved beyond, in gaming and elsewhere. If you want to go back to 8bit 4:3 digital entertainment be my guest. No, you go right ahead and stick to the 80s.

It's a sad day when a consumer blames another consume for being pathetic because they show no particular desire to quote-unquote adapt.

This game is no Sekiro. It's not worth bothering adapting to. I played and finished Sekiro just fine despite some at times annoying framepacing issues, thank you. It was well beyond worth it, masterpiece such as it is. This is simply a game that should be mindless fun, definitely not bogged down by the issues it is currently having.

Also, last but not least, FE Warriors was handled pretty well by the Switch, so ... I absolutely do feel entitled to an at least similar level of performance.

I feel most gamers, if they are honest, value steady performance, be it a locked 30 or 60fps, over visuals. So yeah, I remember Golden Eye choking up when the action got heavy, esp. in split-screen, sure, but at the time I did not know any better. NOW is not then though. It's 2020.

Don't be a shill. As any other person, you are well above that, whether you know it or not.

@SimonCucho If you want to pay full price for a leftover, burnt slice of pizza from yesterday's party that's stuck to the cardboard, go ahead. You might even get lucky and Nintendo will warm it up for you. But stop calling others "snobs" just because they don't share your taste.

@Dirty0814 If standards never existed in gaming, then the gaming crash of the 80's never would have happened and people would still be sheepishly buying the same redundant crap today that caused the crash in the first place. We would never have had the NES or anything that was inspired by it (that is, literally everything after it because the NES single-handed revitalized the industry).

Go ahead and play standardless tripe like this year's FIFA, which when released, was found to be exactly a c&p of last year's FIFA, but for full retail price and I believe that's gone on for even longer than that. I'll go play a game that was written with dignity instead. Hell, I might even buy FE Warriors because as people say, that actually has standards at or above the minimum of what people here are requesting. Hint hint: the devs did it once with FEW, they can do it again with AoC, but unless we're proven otherwise upon release, have chosen to not hold themselves to their own standard.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/08/youll_be_able_to_sacrifice_resolution_for_frame_rate_in_fire_emblem_warriors_on_switch#comments

Here we have people basically saying 60 fps for the win. But some people were willing to do 30fps 1080p. Imagine three years later settling for less than 900p and a sub 30fps. Nintendo fans love moving the goal post to defend nintendo.

@sixrings Excuse me, the Zelda and non-Warriors fans are the ones who want better performance. It's the Warriors crowd in this thread who say FPS doesn't matter. You're free to prove me wrong here with some quotes, but that's what I'm gathering as a Zelda and non-Warriors fan who wants better performance.

@Kilroy in general apparently we had higher standards three years ago. Both resolution and frame rate.

@sixrings I suggest we move back to the 3DS. 240p for the lulz.