New Pokemon has me worried about BtoW2.

So I just got started with Pokemon Legends Arceus and I am enjoying so far. However, man does this game look rough and performs bad. I didn't expect a lot considering the Switch hardware, but the lack of anti aliasing is tough and textures on main characters are super grimey. Despite this there's frames dropping in the starting town and it isn't even that detailed.

With this in mind, it is actually making me extremely nervous for Breath of the Wild 2. BotW has a great art style and did fantastic stuff with the hardware, but even that game struggled. I don't know how they can expand it for all of the sky stuff shown off and still keep it reasonably playable. Anybody else have this concern?

i think it's almost a guarantee there will be performance issues with a new BotW2 seeing as the OG game didn't exist on a platform where it performed without issue. i suppose it's possible nintendo is really refining the engine for the switch- though i suppose that also would mean scoping and catering the sequel design to optimize performance- and i'm not sure that's their priority.

but i will say- the sorts of performance issues BotW experienced didn't really bother me. certainly didn't ruin any gameplay or immersion.

Performance can definitely be an issue on the Switch. But Game Freak isn’t the same dev team as Nintendo SPD/Monolith Soft. Some devs can work miracles with enough expertise and time to optimize.

Time will tell.

I couldn't tell you the last Switch game I played where the performance was where I would have liked it to be so it's not so much a Concern as it is an Expectation.

I had no issues with the first one on Switch. I don't expect to have any significant ones with this one either.

It's worth noting that all the recent Pokemon games have had framerate issues, at least since they came to 3DS - at this point I just don't really trust Game Freak's technical chops to make a game with a decent framerate. That certainly doesn't mean I think BotW2 will have an incredible framerate, just that a modern Pokemon game isn't something to really judge another game by.

Currently watching it on a stream and it does look like a sub-PS2 game sometimes, like if there was a console between a PS1 and a Dreamcast then Arceus would be on it.

@cikame: This is silly meme shit, cmon.

Been a few years since I've played it but I dont recall any performance issues in BotW that stood out. Its also one of the best looking games on the Switch and I suspect they'll be just sticking with the same graphics/art style/scope - given this is their second time around the block with this engine I think they'd have to go out of their way to make it perform worse Icarus style.

I reckon it will run just as bad/good as the first one. Doubt they'll be pulling any major graphical improvements, since it seemed BOTW was reaching the ceiling of what the switch is capable of.

Not concerned. Nintendo is always a few years back in terms of tech but they know how to use it pretty well. I don't see why the added sky areas and so on would push it any more than what was already there.

@efesell: There's a graphics comparison meme?
I was careful to include the word "sometimes" because it's only at certain angles the game looks kinda rough, it looks fine most of the time but i really wouldn't expect slowdown from graphics like this.

I was looking at anime styled games on the PS2 for a comparison but then i remember The Witcher 3 is on the Switch so it's kinda pointless.

I really wouldn't use a GameFreak game as a gauge for what the Switch can or can't handle. Every GameFreak game, from the moment they moved away from pixel art, has had serious performance problems. Arceus, handled by a competent Dev team, could perform significantly better than it currently does.

I think it's worth noting that Arceus does not run badly at all. The tone of this thread is kinda acting like it's out here running at 15 fps or something.

It like... might drop frames slightly in the village and that's about it. Unless running portable is significantly worse. I can't test that cause my Joycon drift is mad fucked.

@efesell: Okay, so I'm not the only one who thinks this is being overstated. I remember the slowdowns on Sword, which I played a lot of. I was specifically looking for any of that in Arceus and I'm just not seeing it. I played for a couple hours handheld. This game looks and performs just fine, at least in the starting areas for me.

Regarding BotW2 I'm going to make a huge assumption here but I feel like from what little we've seen I feel like the game will actually have you spend most of your time inside a dungeon. Large enclosed areas where the devs will be able to tailor an indoor experience without worrying about the overworld which will still be massive but the most of the action will be underground or in temples of some sort. This will make it both easier for the Devs to work with without worrying about rendering distant objects while catering to the folks that wished BotW had more traditional Dungeons. Huge assumption I know but it seems like the kind of compromise that will fans can appreciate.

i wouldn't worry about it personally , nintendo first party devs tend to have a knack for working in their own hardware that 3rd party devs just don't have. gamefreak ppl forget sometimes is very much not first party , hell its not even second party ( tho nearly). i'd be lieing if i said i thought this new entry looked good , the textures look a few gens old and those trees are horrible, but graphics aren't everything. as for frames i can't speak to that since i'm running it in ryujinx and the couple hours i played ran good even if just at 30fps, but last i knew alot of switch games have those types of issues tho of the ones i've actually played on my switch i haven't had any real issues but those are mainly first party.

I haven't played any games on the Switch outside of Ring Fit Adventure for well over a year. Stuff like this new Pokémon get me interested at times, but the lack of power on the Switch has prevented me jumping back in. At this point the Switch hardware is essentially two generations behind modern consoles. I know this sounds stupid, but it's hard for me to play games at 30 fps anymore after getting used to everything being 60 fps or higher and at decent resolutions on the Series X and PS5.

Well, it's a different team developing BotW2 than PLA. Additionally, I do not think we are getting BotW2 this year. I'm pretty sure it's going to get pushed. I could also see it getting pushed to the point where they say, "And it's a launch game for the Switch2 as well as coming to Switch."

Yeah, I'm unsure on how will BOTW2 is going to perform on the original Switch, but what if that game gets patched or re-released for the Switch 2, then hopefully the performance and visuals will be improved.

@gtxforza: I appreciate the hope you are clinging onto about Switch 2.