I'm obviously talking amongst Nintendo's line up but fair enough.
I still think the games art is only "ok."
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I feel like the criticisms of the graphics in Pokemon Sword and Shield are kinda... insincere?
- Thread starter Lant_War
- Start date
I still think the games art is only "ok."
People keep mention Xenoblade2, Link's Awakening, BOTW but do they also remember the performance issue of those games? I can forgive BOTW since it was not developed for Switch, but the others??
People keep forgetting this is GF first true HD's title (I don't count Let's Go since the difference in scope), and they just started do this since 2015-2016.
While Zelda's team, Monolith Soft, Mario's team has been done this since ever...
People keep forgetting this is GF first true HD's title (I don't count Let's Go since the difference in scope), and they just started do this since 2015-2016.
While Zelda's team, Monolith Soft, Mario's team has been done this since ever...
The last main entry I played was Ultra Sun on 3DS and this is a huge leap forward from that, so I think it looks great.
Im gonna have to disagree with that - Arlo can be (and often is) quite negative towards Nintendo.
Pretty much. There's a lot more things they could do to overhaul it, but at the same time, it's not THAT bad.
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.
This is also a good example to why game that are still in development have the "game footage in this video is not final" tag in their trailers. Because they are still in development and can improve or change later down the line.
I never liked it when people get too hung up on a game graphic during the development stage when all they are judging it on a game trailer based on gameplay that isn't finished.
"There's no one that hates X more than X fans"
Pokemon has some of the worst fans, and most of the "Critiques" were levied against the Wild Zone which was its own open area thing too, which never made sense. Then you have the age old "This looks like a [insert older generation of technology here]" comments from people who clearly need to get their eyes checked.
People love dogpiling on things, and I love dogpiling on bad things, but aside from the Dex issue that I think got WAY overblown I don't see why this looks terrible, especially with how god awful Sun and Moon looked in comparison.
Pokemon has some of the worst fans, and most of the "Critiques" were levied against the Wild Zone which was its own open area thing too, which never made sense. Then you have the age old "This looks like a [insert older generation of technology here]" comments from people who clearly need to get their eyes checked.
People love dogpiling on things, and I love dogpiling on bad things, but aside from the Dex issue that I think got WAY overblown I don't see why this looks terrible, especially with how god awful Sun and Moon looked in comparison.
Yeah a lot of times with Nintendo games they get a lot of polishing passes towards the end. Saw it with Odyssey too. The first trailer to the final game is pretty drastic in terms of art direction and details.
Gen 5 is one of the best looking sprite based games of all time, but honestly that was literally the only time they were at that kind of peak.
tbh my biggest problem with most of the time I hear people criticize the art on the game is that it's almost always brought up in addition to the lack of a national dex, and I've actually seen a lot of people in the Pokémon community pull a full 180 on this as when the first trailer was shown people said "it's beautiful" and then when It was revealed there was no national dex it became ugly apparently.
that doesn't mean they're bad for thinking the game is ugly but I mean... I also honestly doubt they truly think it's this hideous abomination against god I've seen people ramble about
that doesn't mean they're bad for thinking the game is ugly but I mean... I also honestly doubt they truly think it's this hideous abomination against god I've seen people ramble about
To me, it's not so much the graphics as it is other cuts and sacrifices.
- National Dex cut. This is huge not only for these titles but for the franchise moving forward. People complaining about Kano pandering and Charizard getting a 4th form are actually complaining about the same thing as the Dex Cut - it's about Game Freak choosing which Pokemon are relevant and which Pokemon are ignored. If the game had all the Pokemon, it wouldn't matter. People could use and transfer in the Pokemon they like. Now Game Freak has unprecedently taken control of the process and will dictate to fans which Pokemon they can use and which they can't.
- Forced XP share. Again, something that was optional is now forced on everyone. For those of us who preferred early generations and like adding just a little more challenge to the game, this is really such a pointless removal.
- More gimimcks with Dynamaxing. I don't know any single fan that is actually excited about this. Megas were great, but now they've been abandoned. Z-Moves? Gone. It's just one gimmick after another now, and I think that Dynamix and Gigantamax are flat out stupid. It's blunt, but it's how I feel. Just ridiculous concepts.
- Pokemon following you? Not in the game. Flying on Pokemon? Doesn't look like it. These games will once again lack beloved features that appeared in previous games that haven't been touched since. It's always one step forward and two steps back with this franchise.
So what is Sword and Shield offering? Better textures and 720p resolution? Because other than the Wild Area, which looks a bit rough, I'm not seeing anything revolutionary here. I'm seeing more of the same - gimmicks, cuts, and an overall design philosophy that hasn't budged in 20 years.
- National Dex cut. This is huge not only for these titles but for the franchise moving forward. People complaining about Kano pandering and Charizard getting a 4th form are actually complaining about the same thing as the Dex Cut - it's about Game Freak choosing which Pokemon are relevant and which Pokemon are ignored. If the game had all the Pokemon, it wouldn't matter. People could use and transfer in the Pokemon they like. Now Game Freak has unprecedently taken control of the process and will dictate to fans which Pokemon they can use and which they can't.
- Forced XP share. Again, something that was optional is now forced on everyone. For those of us who preferred early generations and like adding just a little more challenge to the game, this is really such a pointless removal.
- More gimimcks with Dynamaxing. I don't know any single fan that is actually excited about this. Megas were great, but now they've been abandoned. Z-Moves? Gone. It's just one gimmick after another now, and I think that Dynamix and Gigantamax are flat out stupid. It's blunt, but it's how I feel. Just ridiculous concepts.
- Pokemon following you? Not in the game. Flying on Pokemon? Doesn't look like it. These games will once again lack beloved features that appeared in previous games that haven't been touched since. It's always one step forward and two steps back with this franchise.
So what is Sword and Shield offering? Better textures and 720p resolution? Because other than the Wild Area, which looks a bit rough, I'm not seeing anything revolutionary here. I'm seeing more of the same - gimmicks, cuts, and an overall design philosophy that hasn't budged in 20 years.
thats where I'm at. But I also think if they fix them awful trees from Wild Area I probably won't care (maybe they already have?)
What exactly do people want it to look like? It can't be stylised and it can't be realistic. Yeah, they could make environments look like hand drawn wonderlands or something, but graphics haven't had an important role in Pokemon games since Gen 3. The only one I ever seeing people gawk at was Stadium.
It's just not something that's been important for over a decade. I don't see why people are upset OR what they actually want it to look like.
It's not gonna look like Detective Pikachu.
It's just not something that's been important for over a decade. I don't see why people are upset OR what they actually want it to look like.
It's not gonna look like Detective Pikachu.
I can't agree with the OP. It looks like a marginally upgraded version of a late PS2 or early PS3 RPG. Look at Ni No Kuni on PS3, look at Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen, Mass Effect 2, ect.
Every person is entitled to their own opinion. I actually don't have any real problem with the graphics.
However, the reason why many of us were a bit more vocal about the quality of the graphics and particularly the animations is because according to Gamefreak they were the reasons why they had to cut the National Dex. And they are not impressive enough to be considered an acceptable trade-off in my book.
Cricitism rarely takes place in a vacuum.
EDIT: Oh, and I should specify that it is less about the game looking good or not, and more about the animation quality basically being a flat improvement over the previous games instead of a significant step-up.
However, the reason why many of us were a bit more vocal about the quality of the graphics and particularly the animations is because according to Gamefreak they were the reasons why they had to cut the National Dex. And they are not impressive enough to be considered an acceptable trade-off in my book.
Cricitism rarely takes place in a vacuum.
EDIT: Oh, and I should specify that it is less about the game looking good or not, and more about the animation quality basically being a flat improvement over the previous games instead of a significant step-up.
They've done quite some improvements since the last pokemon game. Hoping the performance can live up to it.
I like it, but I also really like how Let's Go turned out. It's bright, cheerful, and has a good overall style to it. It may be a bit barren and the texture work isn't the best, but overall I think it's perfectly fine. People need to get over graphics in general and focus more on gameplay.
So you think he has some reason or incentive to be insincere with his Nintendo themed channel watched by Nintendo fans that benefits from a direct relationship with Nintendo? Really? In almost every negative video he spends half the video apologizing for being negative
What's his reason for being insincere in his criticism?
The Wild Area looks genuinely awful. Flat lighting, poor textures, pop-in issues, the works. The rest of the game just looks ok, but it's mostly the art style that saves it.
The real issue comes down to comparisons to other top tier, or even mid tier, Nintendo properties on Switch. Sword and Shield simply don't compare. When you combine that with expectations for the first home console Pokemon being high, along with one of the reasons GF gave for cuts being better visuals, you get a recipe for many people being thoroughly disappointed with the results.
The real issue comes down to comparisons to other top tier, or even mid tier, Nintendo properties on Switch. Sword and Shield simply don't compare. When you combine that with expectations for the first home console Pokemon being high, along with one of the reasons GF gave for cuts being better visuals, you get a recipe for many people being thoroughly disappointed with the results.
I won't deny that the graphics have improved over time but I'm fairly sure most of the differences between these two is because they're two different train stations.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.
Remember when some fans are freaking out because Spider-Man PS4 removed some ponds and a little "downgrade" in later trailers towards release?
it's not the best to show the game with max graphic setting turn on just to scale down later for the sake of better performance...
I don't care how many pokemon are in the game. I'm just observing that the presentation doesn't rise to an AAA level when it really should considering that pokemon is the highest grossing property in human history
The graphical complaints came long before the national dex issue.
1. They're showing the same text on the information (probably departure/arriving) board, why would they show the same when it was 2 differents stations.
2. Even if they are different station, you still can see some improvement over lighting, etc.
Agreed.
I think it looks ok but I expected a little better to be honest and the art style isn't really to my taste. In particular, I wish the environments looked a bit better. I think the characters and the Pokemon are looking good except for their animations.
No No Kuni came five years into the life cycle of the PS3.
Can we stop with these arguments? If you're gonna say a AAA game released in 2019 looks like something from over ten years ago, show comparison pictures to prove your point or get out. What do the other two games even have to do with it? It's like comparing the graphics of Vice City and Yoshi's Crafted World.
It looks like Nihon Falcon made it, except it's not made by a 60 person team and is likely projected to make 10 times what a Kiseki game would.
I mean, I'm okay with Pokemon Showdown graphics since I only care about battling when it comes to Pokemon, but Showdown is free. It's really weird to see people call it "trolling" when precedent has been set on Switch with BOTW, Odyssey, Xenoblade 2, and a few current gen titles ported over. The NintendoLife preview said that the worst thing about the game was the graphics and that the towns felt somewhat lifeless and empty compared to other RPGs on the Switch. The previewer even found it odd that GAMEFREAK was putting out some of the best looking titles for 3DS but then when they're given better hardware they fail to utilize it well. The previewer thought that maybe GAMEFREAK hasn't learned the hardware yet, which is fair, but I also think it's fair to criticize the graphics.
Game looks nice in certain places, but overall, it just isn't that impressive to me. I find that it can look kind of flat at times, honestly.
I don't think the criticism of the games' graphics are insincere at all. Unless if you're thinking about the infamous tree criticism. It definitely reached the point of nitpicking, even if I also think they look pretty nasty, lol.
I don't think the criticism of the games' graphics are insincere at all. Unless if you're thinking about the infamous tree criticism. It definitely reached the point of nitpicking, even if I also think they look pretty nasty, lol.
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.
1. Because Game Freak doesn't care about small details like that. See:
It basically comes down to people feel Pokémon ought to have the same budget and level of care put into it as Nintendo's other biggest franchises like Mario, Zelda, Smash, etc.
Like, as depressing as it is, I would say Sword and Shield's graphics aren't a significant improvement over the tiny background stage elements in Spiral Mountain in Smash Ultimate, and that's at 1080p60 too.
I want Pokémon to be amazing! Not "good enough, maybe, I guess".
Like, as depressing as it is, I would say Sword and Shield's graphics aren't a significant improvement over the tiny background stage elements in Spiral Mountain in Smash Ultimate, and that's at 1080p60 too.
I want Pokémon to be amazing! Not "good enough, maybe, I guess".
That's always been a dishonest statement when its a measure of the IP's earnings and not the games. We don't live in a utopia where companies output relative to their earnings. That's why League of Legends looked unimpressive and lacked so many features for so many years relative to its popularity. I don't expect Indie devs who sold millions of copies to start spending a fortune producing massive games either, ie. Deltarune is still going to be in the same realm.
People have always complained about many of Pokemon's shortcomings, but catching all the Pokemon was all they had left to cling to. Now that that's gone...
I'm not claiming he's insincere - he's generally pretty honest in his opinions from what I can tell. I'm just saying that him being negative towards something Nintendo-related is not uncommon for him.
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That's the only train station we ever saw. Previewers were only allowed to go there.