Topic: Nintendo Switch --OT--

@Ralizah I think I’d enjoy playing The Witcher 3 handheld, despite the cutbacks.

@Bentleyma The game looks horrid out of the box, because it ships with anti-aliasing that makes the entire game look blurry. Thankfully, people complained enough that the developer patched in a PC-like graphics settings menu, which allows you to turn off the AA, increase sharpness, etc., and messing with that makes the game look 100x better. You get some jaggies, sure, but I'll always take that over muddy image quality. And if you're playing handheld (because why would you get the Switch version if you're not playing undocked at least some of the time?), they're not terribly noticeable.

The main game looks alright. It's what I imagine a PS3 port of TW3 would look like. The strong art direction helps it to still look quite good most of the time, barring the occasional insanely bad environmental texture. I was impressed with how it looked, even on my 1080p monitor.

The Blood and Wine DLC was... a little rougher. Still perfectly playable, of course, but, for whatever reason, it just looks worse. Maybe the main game's darker environments hid more of the game's visual imperfections?

Coming off the PC version, the biggest downgrade, for me, was having to play it at 30fps. You do get used to it after an hour or so, but it makes jumping between the Switch and PC versions (which have cross-save support) a bit rough.

While I mostly play exclusives and less demanding titles on my Switch, I do harbor a secret fascination with super-demanding ports. While I have very little interest in Hogwarts Legacy on my PC, for example, I'm dying to see what the game looks like running natively on a Switch.

@Ralizah I’m also interested in demanding ports. I find it pretty impressive that the Switch can even run games like The Witcher 3 or No Man’s Sky. Hogwarts Legacy is definitely going to be an interesting one for sure. I can’t even imagine how many cutbacks they’ve had to make.

@Bentleyma Sometimes they surprise you. NieR Automata is a game people swore would never run on the hardware, but there's a shocking level of visual parity with the other console releases, and it seems to run at a consistent 30fps. Dragon Quest XI S also did a great job of snipping in the right areas to keep the same feel as the original release.

I have a question for you guys - does Pokémon Scarlet Violet look like trash for everyone or is it just our Switch?
We bought it for my daughter and I just couldn’t believe how bad it runs. The frame rate is atrocious and there are jagged edges everywhere. Even my non gamer wife commented that it looks like a game from 20 years ago.
Was just playing a bit of Mario Odyssey today and that looks great.

@MB81 Yeah that’s just how it is. I was playing it the other day and couldn’t help but think it looks worse than Shenmue, a game that was released in 1999.

Not Nintendo actually giving me a reason to use my Switch!

Weird.

So, Tears of the Kingdom is officially a $69.99 game if bought on its own.

But it's also voucher-eligible. You know, you spend $100, and get two first-party games digitally.

Nintendo really pushing them vouchers!

Anyway, not as good as the September Direct, but I'm cautiously optimistic about the return of Level-5. If the new Fantasy Life and Professor Layton games are good, I'll be a very, very happy customer.

That's pretty bad that a company that rarely has physical games on sale raises the price to $70. Sure, you can get Breath of the Wild for around $40, but that was years after release. It's greedy too, but at least PS5 and Xbox games that are $70 eventually drop in price permanently. Not a random sale and then back to $60 (or now $70). They might as well just have eliminated physical copies given that it's clear they don't want you to buy them.

As for the Direct, at least we finally got Metroid Prime Remastered. I may finally use my Switch again as I've been waiting for this for months. Hopefully we get the rest of them at some point.

@KilloWertz It's a weird situation, although as someone who doesn't like to wait to play games I'm interested in, I'm still pretty happy with the arrangement. Nintendo's first-party titles are going to effectively be $50 at launch going forward with the vouchers. Microsoft, if they ever decide to release new games again, have an even more cost-efficient method for experiencing their games at launch. Sony has nothing similar, and as long as that's true, it's incentivizing me to just wait for the games to sink in price in a year or two. And, at that point, I might as well wait for the price to fully depreciate.

I fully understand why someone who wants to stick with physical copies on Switch would be irritated, though.

A new Professor Layton game was my highlight, but that was quite a strong Direct.

Stellar Direct!

Haven't touched my Switch since I finished up XC3 last summer (aside from a few brief sessions trying out the new MK8D tracks as they come out), but between Prime Remastered, Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe, Tears of the Kingdom, & Pikmin 4 it looks like it might be commanding a fair amount of my time from now through the summer.

I very nearly bought Metroid Prime Remastered. It just seems overpriced for just the first game, especially because Nintendo released the Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii.

@Ralizah The vouchers they finally brought back are nice for people who are all digital and buy new games, but games that are old should be less than that without a voucher. They also shouldn't basically be forcing people to go all digital. $70 for a handheld game is absurd.

Ironically enough out of the handful of games I have, all but one of them is digital. That wouldn't have been the case if things had taken off for me with the Switch, but as it stands now going physical would be stupid unless the game isn't voucher eligible.

@Bentleyma Honestly, I'm a little shocked it's not $60, lol. $40 for a clearly visually touched up remaster with new control options and whatnot isn't unreasonable.

That said, I already own Metroid Prime on Wii and GameCube, so I don't need a third version of the game. Especially since it'll have the same structural flaws as the original.

@KilloWertz $70 for ANY game that's not a premium edition or something is absurd. I'm just glad I have the option to bypass it in this case.

I knew the $70 MSRP was gonna start taking off when Sony normalized it and people kept buying their games anyway. Sometimes even opting for the more expensive PS5 versions of games when free PS4-to-PS5 upgrade versions already existed. Nintendo isn't immune to terrible industry trends, just the last in line to adopt them.

That said, it's especially absurd in this case, since they don't even have the excuse of it being a 4K next-gen release.

This was a great direct, hyped for Metroid Prime 1 and the GameBoy/GBA games.

Also looking forward to these games as well...

2023
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe - February 24
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon - March 17
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - May 12
Master Detective Archives: Rain Code - June 30
Disney Illusion Island - July 28

TBA 2023
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie (June 2023)

TBA
Professor Layton and The New World of Steam

@Ralizah Not gonna lie, I’m probably going to own it by the end of the day! People like me are the reason they can charge so much. I complain and then end up buying it!

@Bentleyma I have my finger hovering over the "buy" button this very second! Like @Ralizah, I've already got it on the GameCube, though. I'll probably cave when the physical edition comes out.

@LN78 I had it in my cart yesterday and decided against buying it. I’ll probably do the same thing several times today until I eventually give in!

@Bentleyma If I wasn't getting "Hogwarts" tomorrow I think my will power would've cracked much earlier!