I feel like the criticisms of the graphics in Pokemon Sword and Shield are kinda... insincere?

[Lant_War]

Like what happened on the 3Ds, it took a bit for the new Pokemon generation to arrive to the Switch. The power leap between the 3DS and the Switch is likely the biggest ever for Nintendo Handhelds, so people obviously have high expectations for the first big Pokemon title (after all, Let's Go was yet another remake so it likely didn't get as big of a budget as SwSh).

And Game Freak... delivered? Maybe it's just me, but Pokemon Sword and Shield look really nice to the point where I'd call it one of the Switch's best looking games, especially on the most recent footage we've gotten. People have been nitpicking certain footage of the wild area to show how it looks "horrible" or whatever (tbf, it certainly didn't look the prettiest in the initial showing), but can people honestly say that this looks ugly?

This looks great for a Switch game, I really don't get it. The artstlye is nice and colorful, Pokemons on the wild area are very expressive, it's not a graphics benchmark but definitely not an ugly game. I have the slight feeling that the reason why the graphics in this game have been criticized is because of the pokedexit stuff, and it really is a shame because the actual game isn't bad-looking at all. What do you think?

 

[Potterson]

To me it's weird cause the world is so empty. It was harder to notice with traditional top-down view and old style :P

 

[Deleted member 36578]

It's not bad looking, but it's also not the step up I would've liked the first main line Pokemon released on a home console to be.

 

[Hogendaz85]

Agreed. Also with the first responses it's like do people expect everything and anything?

 

[Leviathan]

I think the game is gorgeous, but I am hesitant to suggest that all of the criticisms are insincere. I think a great many of them are BS though, to be sure. I figure some of them have to mean it, probably.

The new systems (dynamaxing, overworld encounters, XP situation) are much more worthy of criticism, though not to the point of keeping me from buying both versions. Excited to get them.

 

[ZSaberLink]

I feel like Pokemon has never pushed graphics heavily so I don't know why people expect it to be so different now.

 

[Kouriozan]

Graphics are nice but the game look super flat.

 

[AllChan7]

I think the game has a lot of charm to it and find the artstyle cool. Sure its no Mario Odyssey graphically but the game still has a neat aesthetic to it

 

[WestEgg]

The Zelda tree thing always felt really disingenuous. I think a bunch of little things added up for some people and a lot of folks eventually decided everything about the game must be bad.

 

[Lashley]

Honestly, some people seem determined to hate on this version of Pokemon.

 

[Uncle Sensei]

To me it's weird cause the world is so empty. It was harder to notice with traditional top-down view and old style :P

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Looking at these screenshots, it looks like a Pokemon version of Everyone's Gone to the Rapture

 

[takriel]

You forget that we have Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade 2 that have set a precedent.

 

[Eumi]

Seems kind of shitty to accuse people of lying about their opinions just because you disagree. I'm not sure what's wrong with some people just not digging it and wishing it looked better.

 

[Deleted member 864]

I think the areas look nice, it's just I'm not particularly "wowed" by them.

 

[Deleted member 679]

I don't like to have opinions about other people's opinions, but I do think the game itself looks great.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

You forget that we have Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade 2 that have set a precedent.

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Nintendo's first party stuff is the most impressive on the console by a wide margin. Xenoblade 2 however is a performance mess.

 

[NotLiquid]

The main reason SwSh's graphics are so aggressively used as a knock against the game is because GF ran with the excuse about the graphics being a big reason NatDex wasn't returning, and a lot of lapsed supporters beat that horse to a pulp.

 

[Common Knowledge]

A lot of it looks cute and charming but there's nothing in it on the level of other big Switch games. And some screenshots of the game do genuinely look rough.

 

[808s & Villainy]

So they're insincere because you think it looks great? That's not really an argument

 

[KernelC]

They look charming, yes. There is an art direction indeed. But I wouldn't say they look impressive or well, different?

Seems kind of shitty to accuse people of lying about their opinions just because you disagree. I'm not sure what's wrong with some people just not digging it and wishing it looked better.

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To me it's weird cause the world is so empty. It was harder to notice with traditional top-down view and old style :P

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these responses are on point.

 

[ANNeFRANKxGOKU]

Feel like you're being disingenuous with these screenshots and your op

The characters and pokemon are nicely modeled but a lot of the environmental texture work is muddy. And many poke animations are just bad (insert seagull pokemon wild gif). On my phone so I cant link any pics right now. Bunch of environments they'v shown off too are barren.

 

[ClickyCal']

The wild area looks blegh. The rest looks good.

 

[bobbychalkers]

Graphically the game looks fine but the animations look dated. I'd expect more from the creators of one of the biggest cash cow IPs on the planet.

 

[Prof Bathtub]

There have been some further screenshots of the same areas that have shown some improvement over the ones posted above, and certainly have filled the environment with more characters.

 

[Zemst]

Not as ugly as FE Switch but still underwhelming. I expect big improvements for the next one like x & y to sun & moon. I don't expect PS4 level output but I know what it's capable of and I just think more can be delivered. Anyways it's a Pokémon game, it'll sell millions and review well regardless of quality.

 

[Leo]

The game looks generally nice, and the artsyle is great so that helps a lot, but the Wild Area looks rough. It looks barren and empty, and lacks polish in some aspects. The biggest problem are the textures, that are very low res and blurry, and watching the previews I got the impression that they didn't improve at all, and might even be worse since they showed more of the wild area.

If not for the textures, it would be a very fine looking game.

 

[xendless]

You forget that we have Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade 2 that have set a precedent.

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I'm gonna throw Animal Crossing on the pile
If AC stays as good as it looks right now anyway, I think it has the best lighting on the Switch. Shadows really take a hit in most Switch games.

 

[Richietto]

I think the game looks very good, except the wild area. That part of the game really doesn't look good at all.

 

[Aadiboy]

It's on par with early PS3 graphics, not sure what there is to really praise. It's not like Gamefreak is in a bubble, their contemporaries have pretty much all surpassed them.

 

[jman2050]

Almost all of the criticisms of Pokemon Sword and Shield to this point have been insincere.

It's somehow been worse than the Let's Go debacle.

 

[Tibarn]

I agree that the game looks nice and the art is fitting, but I can understand why people think that a system that has BotW, Odyssey, SSBU or Xc2 has enough power to render far more complex things, and that Pokemon is big enough to deserve it.

I don't think I'll enjoy the game more if it looks far better, but I wouldn't say the complaints are insincere.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

You forget that we have Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and Xenoblade 2 that have set a precedent.

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Xenoblade 2 in scale but it's has some glaring performance issues more so than any of the first party games. Especially if you played it in undocked.

 

[Alexhex]

I feel like it's kind of a yes and no situation. It's obviously not technically impressive but has its own style, so there's lots of room for interpretation depending on your own tastes. There's a pretty big disparity between the more curated routes and the wild area though and a lot of the criticism has been centred around that

That being said there has been a lot warranted controversy around some of the decisions and I have no doubt that soured people on other aspects where the heat is a little less warranted. Like we have folks sweating over the dex count because gamefreak are keeping stuff closer to their chest this time around, and I don't think that would be the case so much if the community weren't already miffed

 

[Toxi]

I'm going to start accusing everyone who disagrees with me of being insincere.

I think the early footage looked pretty woeful, but the game has been looking better with time. It's still not very impressive.

 

[DoradoWinston]

its ugly in some areas and alright in others.

That being said the shots you show are empty af in terms of people or pokemon, now thats probably because it was early so we will see on release.
The game has some really ugly looking parts though and unfortunately we have seen more of that than the parts that look pretty alright imo.
That could be to it just being what gets brought up tho but thats my before release impression.

 

[Gold Arsene]

It looks alright but I wouldn't remotely call it one of the Switch's best looking games.

Not when Link's Awakening, Breath of the Wild ,Mario Odyssey, Luigi's Mansion 3, etc are out there.

 

[Deleted member 35077]

My main complains aren't about the graphics, but the battle animations. They are still reusing the same ones for the majority of the old pokemon, and I can honestly believe Blastoise will still continue to fire beams from his forehead, or Xatu using the same stupid gliding animation as its main. This wouldn't be a big complain if it wasn't for the fact that they specifically said new animations were of the reasons for the removal of old pokemon.

 

[Jobbs]

In my case it's not insincere in the least. I have no reason to want Pokemon to be bad. I have no issue with it.

It's not the worst looking game ever. On the whole, it's just kind of okay. Considering that it's a flagship installment in the biggest IP on earth, it's reasonable to expect AAA quality. This ain't AAA quality.

Arlo's video on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZlt3G-t1Tg

Arlo is a big time Nintendo fan with a Nintendo themed channel and is very reluctant to post negative videos about anything Nintendo. He has no reason to be insincere in bashing it, but the reverse, and yet he's criticizing it. Highly.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

The Zelda tree thing always felt really disingenuous. I think a bunch of little things added up for some people and a lot of folks eventually decided everything about the game must be bad.

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I never took the tree comment seriously as the bigger focus is clearly the Pokémon and trainers models and I feel that Game Freak delivered on that department. Especially with the main trainer having expression. A common complaint in regards to the gen 7 trainer having a blank stare.

Bottom line sacrifice had to be made somewhere and I rather the tree in the overworld took that than the key important factor of the Pokémon series, which are the Pokémon themselves.

And beside, I feel that the overworld looks fine.

 

[takriel]

I'm gonna throw Animal Crossing on the pile
If AC stays as good as it looks right now anyway, I think it has the best lighting on the Switch. Shadows really take a hit in most Switch games.

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No, Animal Crossing still looks like a Gamecube game, sorry.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

It looks alright but I wouldn't remotely call it one of the Switch's best looking games.

Not when Link's Awakening, Breath of the Wild ,Mario Odyssey, Luigi's Mansion 3, etc are out there.

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You named 4 games (one of which isn't even out) out of Switches massive library and that somehow means its not one of the better looking Switch games?
I think you forget just how many games are on this platform

 

[xendless]

No, Animal Crossing still looks like a Gamecube game, sorry.

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You cannot be serious.

 

[Deleted member 2809]

It looks just passable

 

[TheMilkman]

Like I said in another thread, I'm coming from Gold and Silver as the last mainline Pokemon games I've played, so this feels like a gigantic leap to me. I guess it's all relative of course, but there it is.

And as far as comparing it to other Switch titles, I don't know, I've never been hard up about that type of shit anyway, and I play almost exclusively in handheld on my OG Switch, so I couldn't even tell you the differences

 

[.exe]

I don't think it looks good at all. Those are some of the more flattering screens I've seen but it still isn't great. It's not just the muddy textures here and there but the art style is somewhat incohesive. It's stuff like the color palette of the grass not fitting the environment in that middle screen. That's probably what gets me most. If you think it looks fine that's okay though.

 

[ckareset]

Looks terrible lol. They should have cel shaded everything to the level of the characters

 

[Lant_War]

Seems kind of shitty to accuse people of lying about their opinions just because you disagree. I'm not sure what's wrong with some people just not digging it and wishing it looked better.

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It's not that I think that everyone who doesn't like how it looks is lying to hate the game, but it really feels like ever since the Pokedex stuff happened the complaints about graphics have gotten worse with disingenuous shit like the N64 comparison.

 

[Mary Celeste]

No, Animal Crossing still looks like a Gamecube game, sorry.

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lmfao come on bro

 

[Armite]

To me it's weird cause the world is so empty. It was harder to notice with traditional top-down view and old style :P

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To be fair, the game has been steadily introducing more detail and NPCs to the world with each new trailer. For example:

We've also seen an NPC or two react to you passing by, which I imagine will be a common occurance that will help to make the world feel more alive.

 

[Deleted member 17388]

It just looks kinda desolated.

Needs more NPCs: