twowingedangel

"It looks pretty bad on Switch, with presentation that makes the storytelling less effective..."

So you'd rather have a 10 fps slideshow instead?

"...it’s still disappointing to see such performance issues in a game that doesn’t seem to justify them."

Uh, is the person writing the article just a Nintendo fanboy sheep or are they trolling? I think the art style of the HD/2D games is fantastic and straight up one of the best for remastering these types of games.

If the Switch can't run these games we'll, than that's a Nintendo problem with hardware thays stuck in 2015, not a Square Enix problem. I've been playing on my Steam Deck OLED and I've had no such issues. It's clear Nintendo should have refreshed the Switch's hardware long ago, given this is FAR from the first time that games are having trouble with this grandparent of a console.

Apart from that, this is a really nice game; I'll probably give it a full on shot on Steam once it unlocks for me.

@DDFawfulGuy I agree with most of what you're saying. But it's not 2017 anymore. There are so many handheld competitors to the Switch now. Heck, my sister is looking st playing Baldur's Gate 3, on her computer of course, but may switch over to a different handheld if the Switch 2 isn't a home run. And judging from those leaks, it very well may not be.

@BenoitRen "No, you need a dose of reality. The Switch is more capable than it's made out to be. But it's more susceptible to bad programming as it's weaker than other consoles. Because, yes, it is bad programming. The graphics on display won't win any awards, even on the Switch. It's probably just a case of bad optimisation. Which, mind you, you always need to do, because a bad graphics implementation can easily bring any powerful machine to its knees."

Yes and no. You can only optimize games so much before you hit a brick wall. After that, you do need more performance. Maybe not this game, but there are countless other games that either couldn't be released on Switch, were planned for the Switch but we're canceled because they would give the Switch a stroke trying to run them, no matter how long they tried, or launched in less than ideal states solely because there's nothing more that can be done.

"tl;dr: Stop defending corporations for doing a poor job for maximum profits."

I've got one better for you: Stop defending big corporations for not updating an elderly console for almost 8 years when it clearly needs it. Sure, there are SOME AAA companies that do do this, but when some games literally hit a brick wall like this, it's only going to hurt trust in Nintendo, especially when I can play the same game on Steam (for other third-party games) on the Steam Deck OLED and it becomes a night and day experience.

@N64-ROX "I've said it before and I'll say it again. Games of this calibre were running perfectly fine on Switch back in 2017 and 2018. The only explanation for performance like this is laziness and a lack of care." Or maybe that Nintendo should updating their old as dirt hardware and give gamers better? Otherwise, you'd end with another Wii U; a console with very few third-party games.

@PinderSchloss Yeah, that's another reason I hate Nintendo sheep like NL. And why I don't negotiate with sheep. It's beyond fanboyism.

@cpmh1234 "It's crazy how some games that outwardly look much better than this one (BoTW, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom for example) play so much better than this game, which can in theory get away with so many fewer polygons and lower-res textures." Let me stop you right there. BotW does not look amazing. It looks old, especially TotK and that's one of the biggest reasons I think Nintendo really is scraping the bottom of the barrel and really needs to release the Switch 2 NOW.

"Imagine a world where Nintendo quits making gimmick consoles, focuses on software and releases Tears of the Kingdom on PS5."

@PinderSchloss That would be the dream. Oh, and for Nintendo to stop C&D fans who are showing labors of love only to be middle lingered by Nintendo.

@JokerCK Absolutely. Nintendo should be getting the majority of the blame for middle-fingerings developers who can't drop the quality settings any lower but still can't reach 30 fps on the Switch's ancient hardware.

And that's before all of Nintendo's questionable behavior and decisions with their franchises...

Hey Nintendo, maybe it's time for a new console. You know, maybe so that games can actually look modern, good, AND run well without serious sacrifices?

(Not excusing the softlocks or some of the game design issues, like the quests, but the load times and framerate issues are no doubt due to the Switch's age and poor hardware in 2024. No wonder many people think Nintendo doesn't give two hoots about their fans or game developers, and we've seen that with very few exclusive third-party games for the Switch, and many indie and other Switch games have also come to PC. That wasn't always the case with the DS/3DS era.)

@Druidsbrook I agree. Heck, this honestly feels like a mix of Pokémon, open world survival games, and BotW. Honestly, there are a few models that did give me a "yep that's very much like a Pokémon design" vibe, but unlike Pokémon Switch games, it looks like it will play well on Xbox and PC, and theres' no chance even if it would be allowed by Nintendo, that it would even come, probably because the Swtich would be unable to run the game well.

What a clickbait article!

For the vast majority of this article, you had my attention. I had been following this game since I heard about it from another news site and it's PC (and Linux) port, and it was one of the first big games using the open-source game engine Godot, before the Unity drama. Not to mention this game was the thing I needed when it released. The fact that TWO people (for the most part) made a game that beats pretty much every Nintendo Switch Pokémon game really shows both how far that franchise has fallen and how much passion Bytten put into their game. For me, in terms of monster catching RPGs, it's my top pick and in terms of turn-based RPGs, it's number two after Baldur's Gate 3. I love this game so much, that I ordered the Casette and Vinyl soundtrack to go with my day one purchase on Steam. It really feels like they pushed aside the notion of "every monster catching RPG has to be a clone of Pokémon" when they made many good changes to the formula that actually worked. In that way, I'm kind of sad that they don't seem to have plans for a PS5, because this game was awesome.

But with the last paragraph Alana, I'm afraid I disagree with you. I played this game on the original Steam Deck (not the OLED model) TWICE through, and I haven't had a SINGLE issue with it. Maybe your Switch has dust or something stuck in the fans or maybe you guys at NL just like to complain about everything when this was essentially a two person job that imo succeeded on every account. Honestly, while I can understand some games getting the "why is this not running well on Switch" when they're first party and/or Switch exclusive (like Bayonetta 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 & 3, and of course the Pokémon Switch games), this last paragraph is really petty. It's not like two people can ruin their game just for the lowest common denominator!

I highly recommend this game, especially on PC and the Steam Deck.

@Darthmoogle You are right but also wrong. Some ports were good, like The Witcher 3; although Hogwart's Legacy was definitely going to be a challenge to port and the fact that they managed to do so at all was insane, sectioning off an open world really shows how poor the Switch has aged like I've already said. Not disagreeing that the port was nothing short of incredible to pull off technically, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the game and probably should have just been canceled if this had to happen or been pushed to the Switch 2 or whatever it will be called.

Also, like I said in my original comment, imagine how many other games won't come to Switch because the console cannot handle it. Sometimes the developers cannot make any more compromises because they've already tried everything and yet they now have to either abandon the port or release it as is because they cannot afford to "optimize" for the lowest common denominator; this is why some live service games actually pulled Switch support post launch and why Marvel Midnight Suns had its Switch port canceled.

There is also no chance we will see games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Alan Wake 2 come to Switch; there's just no way that the games could be edited to provide a satisfactory experience on the Switch. And for users, they should be demanding more from Nintendo than to keep using ancient hardware in 2023...

@Darthmoogle Somebody else I know doesn't have issues with the Switch version of DDV anymore and while I agree the paid add-ons are infuriating, as I always say, the more people complain about Nintendo's Switch's performance problems (because in many cases, it's not the developers problem, it's the Nintendo Switch performance being older than Hyrule), the less games you Nintendo babies will get. Is that what you want?

As for this game, I'll probably give it a shot when it comes to Steam. Not looking forward to some of the mechanics though, and I may stop if the F2P mechanics gets too on the nose.

@shining_nexus Thank you for being fair to the game. Pretty much every modern Pokémon game on the Switch performed worse than this game does.

Now if only Square Enix would release the game on Steam...

@DDFawfulGuy I think the biggest problem is devs are even trying to build games for the Swtich that really can't run well even with all of the oPtImIzAtIoNs in the world.

I'm not defending games like the Switch Pokémon games or other first party games; I'm defending the indie devs or devs in general who legitimately try to port their games to the Switch properly only to find (often late in development) that there isn't enough power on tap to make the game work, so they either are forced to release it in a not great state or in some cases (like Marvel's Midnight Suns) the game has its Switch port simply canceled because they can't make it run any better because the console is worse than even a Xbox Series S.

When Valve releases a device that can play PC games like Hogwarts Legacy at decent settings with the proper open-world format unlike the lesser format the Switch port was forced to use because the console can barely run modern games at good settings levels, then Nintendo either needs to step it up and release a Switch 2 in 2024 or watch themselves head into another Wii U era.

Maybe that's why many third-party developers that historically were Nintendo developers now release onto Steam as well.

I think Nintendo fans need a dose of reality. There's no way that the Switch should be stuck with having to choose between good performance but sub-par visuals or good visuals but bad performance. People need to stop blaming the developers for this (with a few exceptions like Pokémon, as that's first-party), because it's clear that the Switch is not a powerful enough console for this day and age.

And don't give a "well Breath of the Wild ran well and looks good" excuse, becuase it doesn't look good compared to PS5 and Xbox Series X games (and imagine how much better they would look if they had a more powerdul console) and honestly, the loading screens in those games are really long because the console can barely even play games that look like they were from 2012...

TL;DR, stop blaming devs for EVERYTHING.

Imagine praising Sword/Shield but dissing Scarlet/Violet because of things outside of GF's control. It's Nintendo's fault for not upgrading the ANCIENT hardware in the Switch.