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

goodretina

goodretina

Member
Dec 30, 2018
1,704
There was criticism about graphics in the initial reveal trailers, but things got worse after they announced cutting the National Pokédex. There were multiple reasons given, but from what they have revealed nothing seemed to add up to warrant that sort of paradigm shift for the series.

I think the graphics are decent, and I appreciate the overall aesthetic for the region. I don't want to comment on the animations because I will hold final judgement until I see the finish product, but they seem recycled. I am interested in the game, but it doesn't seem up to par with other major Nintendo games on the Switch, however.
 
Clefargle

Clefargle

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,123
Limburg
They had more time to figure out HD development than any other Nintendo exclusive dev. They still failed to fully use the hardware (again) imo
 
Brawly Likes to Brawl

Brawly Likes to Brawl

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,092
Ryohei Suzuki's bedroom
I don't think it's wrong for people be more critical of SwSh's graphics when the first explanation behind dexit was that it would help improve the overall look of the game. A month out from release I've still yet to see what kind of tradeoff is happening to make up for the inability to use hundreds of Pokémon.
 
Wispmetas

Wispmetas

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,546
It's just...so simplistic. Nothing about it is great, absolutely nothing. And this is like the biggest IP nintendo has, it makes CRAZY ammounts of money... And this is the best they can present fans while cutting content?

Pokemons before this always had the excuse of being on an underpowered console. But now it really could have looked better. But yeah it looks fine.
 
Admiral Woofington

Admiral Woofington

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,892
My issue with it is less to do with "what is this game super Nintendo" exaggeration over the graphics and more disappointed that I've been wanting a main console pokemon since I was kid thinking about how insane itd be and instead I got a game like this which while an upgrade doesn't look like something I'd expect from a console with some gorgeous and insane titles.
 
MP!

MP!

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,198
Las Vegas
it's the best looking pokemon game by far...

But that's not saying like... a whole lot.
They could be even better
 

Necronomicon

Banned
Dec 11, 2017
374
It's not so good graphics for a game series that sells so many millions copies every year.
Clearly the engine is old. Maybe they modified the engine of sun&moon but didn't behave well on switch.
 
Farrac

Farrac

Member
Nov 3, 2017
2,082
Alcalá de Henares, Spain
I just want to bump this post because it's a quality one.
sunnpeace said:
I think it's disingenuous to say that people are lashing out at the graphics just because of the Dexit issue and that it's purely an expression of outrage. People have been expressing how underwhelming they found the graphics before E3.

The line of argumentation has been:

Game Freak justifies the Pokedex cuts by saying they worked on graphical fidelity (referring specifically to models and animations but not really going into detail) --> Fans don't believe the current graphical fidelity is worth the Pokedex cuts --> People nitpick areas in the game and wonder what exactly was added in in exchange for Pokemon being cut

I'm not saying this is sound reasoning (I'm pretty sure Creatures works on the Pokemon and other departments of Game Freak work on the environment and characters) but it's not an incoherent train of thought, it's fans trying to parse what was given up and what was added in. It's why people lashed out at the Camp feature, because they assumed that all new features are direct tradeoffs with the number of legacy Pokemon. They don't think the Camp feature is sufficiently compelling nor the graphics sufficiently pretty to justify the lack of a National Dex. Honestly a lot of this explanation has been lost in a sea of shitty Tweets and people fighting each other.

I personally think the game looks good and don't have an issue with the Dex cut, but I don't think the opposing opinion is insincere. It's hyperbolic to say the 3DS could've handled this, though.
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Pokemaniac

Pokemaniac

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,944
The graphics aren't bad or anything. They're actually probably about where I expected for the most part. The worst part is really just how flat and empty the wild area often looks.

The bit that really is fueling a lot of the complaints, though, is that while the graphics are fine overall for a typical Pokémon game, they're decidedly not "worth cutting Pokémon" good, so any "pass" Game Freak may have historically gotten over graphics isn't happening this time.
 
Atheerios

Atheerios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,098
And there has been a clear graphical upgrade

--R said:
j3whh0cz26t31.jpg


The difference 2 months can make
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MayorSquirtle

MayorSquirtle

Member
May 17, 2018
7,955
Passing Assassin said:
But we could only get footage of the first train station at all, including this screenshot.
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Are you a previewer or just making a lot of assumptions about what footage people "could" get or release (or mistakenly release like the video showing Xatu)? I'm just saying, this copy-and-paste with minor edits thing is a Pokemon staple for facilities that appear in multiple towns, and I don't think I've ever seen NPCs added or removed from locations in Pokemon's pre-release footage. It also doesn't make much sense for that many people to be hanging around the train station for the sleepy village at the start of the game.
 

Deleted member 10726

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,674
ResetERA
Honestly I just am not impressed. Sure it's a step up from the 3DS games, but the resolution difference alone already would make it an upgrade over it. I don't think it looks bad but it also ain't anything to write home about.

Exfactor said:
They only started to complain about the graphics once it was revealed their favorite Pokemon might not make the game.
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Yeah no, far before the whole national dex situation people were already saying the graphics aren't good. Read the trailer threads prior to the National Dex news and you find a huge amount of people stating that they aren't impressed by the graphics.
 
Linde

Linde

Banned
Sep 2, 2018
3,983
i think its looked good for a while now
the wild area can look rough though, but the towns look nice
i agree with some criticisms that it could benefit from more npcs or going ons or a bigger fov from the camera
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,693
The water is something I think looks genuinely unappealing. Mario WiiU would be disappointed.
Even in the snowy weather they could make it ice up or have the snowflakes touching the surface for a split second or something.

Wispmetas said:
giphy.gif

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Its not THAT bad.
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1. That's a movie (of which a lot of people didn't like the designs of) and 2. There's a reason they actively tried to avoid battles in that movie
Its not Monster Hunter
 
HMD

HMD

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,300
Look at Mario Odyssey and Breath of The Wild, the other two big Nintendo first party games and compare them with Sword and Shield, it literally looks a generation and a half behind.
 
Atheerios

Atheerios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,098
Maple said:
So what is Sword and Shield offering? Better textures and 720p resolution?
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SWSH is 1080p

HMD said:
Look at Mario Odyssey and Breath of The Wild, the other two big Nintendo first party games and compare them with Sword and Shield, it literally looks a generation and a half behind.
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BotW was 5 years in development. Mario 4. Pokémon doesn't have that privilege because it's an annual franchise.
 
Wispmetas

Wispmetas

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,546
lvl 99 Pixel said:
The water is something I think looks genuinely unappealing. Mario WiiU would be disappointed.
Even in the snowy weather they could make it ice up or have the snowflakes touching the surface for a split second or something.



1. That's a movie (of which a lot of people didn't like the designs of) and 2. There's a reason they actively tried to avoid battles in that movie
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Just showing to the other poster that a realistic pokemon experience exists out there and that it is not the worst thing in the world.

But thanks for pointing out that it is a movie.
 
Thatguy

Thatguy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,207
Seattle WA
You can cherry pick bad shots too:
screen-shot-2019-05-10-at-5-22-47-pm.png

pokemon_sword_and_shield_runes.0.png


Also, if people have been playing games on other platforms, and statistics say that they do, they're used to games looking more like this:
kingdom-3-4.jpg


So it's not too difficult to see where the criticism is coming from. S&S looks very dated no way around it. It might be a huge step up for the Pokemon team, but other teams (Monster Hunter) made a huge step too with way better results. Even BotW looks better and that's a WiiU port.
 
Juraash

Juraash

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,349
I think it looks really nice honestly. I remember that first trailer where everyone was shitting on it, kind of dampened some of my excitement initially.
 
--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,779
Thatguy said:
You can cherry pick bad shots too:
screen-shot-2019-05-10-at-5-22-47-pm.png

pokemon_sword_and_shield_runes.0.png


Also, if people have been playing games on other platforms, and statistics say that they do, they're used to games looking more like this:
kingdom-3-4.jpg


So it's not too difficult to see where the criticism is coming from. S&S looks very dated no way around it. It might be a huge step up for the Pokemon team, but other teams (Monster Hunter) made a huge step too with way better results. Even BotW looks better and that's a WiiU port.
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Are you really using old screenshots and a PS4 game as a comparison?
 
leng jai

leng jai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
15,118
If anything it just feels like people's standards for visuals in aPokémon game are low as hell.
 
Giga Man

Giga Man

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,227
Syrian_Scholes said:
I hope pokemon never goes with realistic kind of graphics like that, would kill the immersion.
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That barely resembles anything realistic. The fact that character can jump so freely in a JRPG is something I wish my character in Pokemon can do.

Call me weird, but whenever I see a big open space, like I'm seeing in SWiSH's Wild Area, and there are places where my habitual instinct is to jump toward it (such as seeing something on the bottom of a short cliff), and I can't do it, I feel sad.
 
--R

--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,779
Trigonometrize said:
Ironic that the thread title used the word "insincere" and you've used as your sole example a shot from a battle
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2454660-185622-tales-of-graces-f-ps3-screenshot.jpg


I put the first screenshot I found on Google Images. But if you're really saying a game that came originally for the Wii looks better than Pokémon, you need to go to the eye doctor asap.
 
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