9 ms·

Nier Automata for Switch is a miracle port

79 points by Terretta 4y ago

dmix 4y ago
Speaking of Steam Deck, is it worth the effort to invest in making one via Raspberry Pi? I don't think you can still buy the original Steam hardware version in Canada where I live.
- galleywest200 4y ago
  If your goal is just indie games that are mostly 2D it might be totally viable. If you are looking for 3D gaming it would be limited to retro consoles just due to the hardware. There are several channels on YouTube that try to push Pis to their gaming limits, check them out -- search for low spec gaming.
- jakogut 4y ago
  Even the Pi 4, which is quite the powerhouse with 4x Cortex-A72 cores that easily overclock to 2.0+ GHz, is no match for the Steam Deck. https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/14301251?baseline=16110501 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/14301251?baseli... The Pi 4 overclocked to 2.3 GHz has approximately 40% of the single-thread performance, and 20% of the multi thread performance, which is quite impressive for a $35 board. The Steam Deck also has quad-channel LPDDR5, and a relatively beefy GPU. The Pi 4's GPU is lacking compared to the processor, barely being capable of running a desktop environment with acceptable performance. I have run Portal 2 on a Pi 4 using box86, but it was extremely hacky, unstable, and netted something on the order of 2-3 fps. You could run old school emulators that aren't GPU bound no problem, and probably even some old school shooters like Doom 3, but it's not going to be as polished or performant as a Steam Deck.
  - dmix 4y ago
    Thanks, I didn't know that. I wonder what my options are then :(
    - 3np 4y ago
      Anything Ryzen-based at or above above 3400G should be good. There's probably decent Intel alternatives too. You may be able to use the Rpi4 (or equivalent) as a Steam Link client. I have it running mostly fine on a comparable 6yo embedded Celeron streaming from the desktop downstairs. Not sure how well that works without tweaks on ARM but it could be worth a shot if that's what you're after.
    - naikrovek 4y ago
      If the Nvidia Jetson Nano was still supported it would do MUCH better than a Raspberry Pi at nearly anything. It has a tiny (but very real) GPU on it, and tons of memory bandwidth: 4GB of RAM, I think, and something like 25GB/s of memory bandwidth.
    - fomine3 4y ago
      There are some Chinese offerings like AYANEO or GPD
- syntheweave 4y ago
  Almost certainly not, in terms of time-money tradeoffs as well as the final result probably being less of an integrated thing. There's been an onrush of Deck clones lately from all sorts of companies, and a lot of them look worthy of interest. See ETAPrime's Youtube for coverage.
  - saghm 4y ago
    Based on my experiences trying to get Windows stuff working through WINE/Lutris/Proton on my Arch Linux laptop/desktop, I'm guessing that a huge part of why they're able to make the SteamDeck a good experience is being able to guarantee that all the software they've written to help with compatibility is tested on their exact hardware. It took me a full weekend of tinkering to get ray tracing to work on both my desktop (which uses an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT) and my laptop (with a mobile 3070); even after getting Lutris to use Proton Experimental that I downloaded through Steam, I still needed a smattering of different environmental variables (only some of which were the same for both AMD and nvidia) along with a newer version of mesa (for DXR 1.1) that's available even in the Arch, which have a reputation for bleeding edge stuff (although since then it's been put into their testing repos, so hopefully it will get pushed out soon). Even after finally getting the configuration so that the GPUs successfully reported the ability to do ray tracing, it took some specific configuration of the WINE prefix itself to be able to get certain games to allow the setting to even be enabled; apparently the Windows 10 prefix that WINE created had its registry initialized with inconsistent values for the OS patch build number it would report to software and the human-readable version of the string, both of which were old enough that the games didn't believe that ray tracing was actually supported, so I had to update them both to the corresponding values for a new enough Windows 10 patch before I could even enable the ray tracing settings. Long story short, I have to imagine that even if someone managed to make custom hardware that was powerful enough to run the games they wanted, trying to just install the custom Linux distro that SteamOS uses would not just magically run arbitrary Windows games well. This really seems like something where the hardware and software have to be designed and tested in tandem to be able to have any level of confidence in a good user experience.
    - doix 4y ago
- fayten 4y ago
  You cannot buy one outright currently, but you can still reserve one on Steam and from the looks of it you'll most likely get it by December. The steam deck is pretty incredible and I have greatly enjoyed tinkering with it. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-deck-is-speeding-up-production-and-shipments/1100-6507663/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-deck-is-speeding-up-...
  - HideousKojima 4y ago
    Also shipping is speeding up, I was scheduled to get mine Q4 this year at best but they shipped mine 2 weeks ago.
    - krzyk 4y ago
      I ordered 256 version a week ago, and got the "complete purchase" on Thursday. (in EU).
- teraflop 4y ago
  Are you maybe getting the Steam Deck confused with the now-discontinued Steam Link? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6424-467a-31d9-c6cb https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6424-467a-31d9-c6... If you do want a Steam Deck, you can get one in Canada: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/ https://www.steamdeck.com/en/
- seba_dos1 4y ago
  Steam Deck is available in Canada, you can order it just like anyone else. In terms of gaming capabilities, comparing it to Raspberry Pi is like comparing a mid-end smartphone to a full blown gaming rig.
- naikrovek 4y ago
  the Raspberry Pi memory bandwidth is absolutely terrible, which makes performance absolutely terrible. it is a computer designed to be inexpensive and to teach computers, and it excels at these two things. The Raspberry Pi is not a good platform for virtually anything else, really. "But PiHole!" Ok, sure. I would argue that this could run in a container on any other machine on your network and use less electricity, and if you don't have another machine on your network, fine; use a Raspberry Pi. the Pi is not a Steam Deck competitor; it is not even good as a Linux desktop if you do anything in a browser or use any Electron applications.
metadat 4y ago
The ads on this site cover literally half the screen and open when you click "skip". Just pure gross and terribly inhumane. Marching ever closer to Idiocracy in real life. https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/idiocracy.jpg https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/idiocracy....
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- mattigames 4y ago
  Wait until you realize that the article itself it's an ad for a videogame...
Barrin92 4y ago
For anyone who is interested in what videogames as a medium uniquely can do to tell stories in a way other media cannot and who hasn't played it yet I'd recommend Nier Automata strongly. It's in my opinion the smartest and for a lack of a better term 'deepest' game of the last decade.
- hn_go_brrrrr 4y ago
  I really enjoyed Nier Automata -- I'd say it's a solid second place -- but it doesn't hold a candle to Horizon: Zero Dawn. The storytelling was superb, and the gameplay was really good too.
  - kobalsky 4y ago
    Horizon: Zero Dawn is a marvel. One of the best looking games, original, solid and challenging gameplay and a storytelling that keeps on the edge of the seat wanting more. It has everything.
  - AlexandrB 4y ago
    Horizon: Zero Dawn is fine. Definitely above average. But the narrative in Horizon: Zero Dawn is best described as "extremely conventional" with many predictable tropes (it was obvious your father figure was going to die from the first time you meet him). The main (past human) villain also takes a disappointing turn from "relatably misguided" to "mustache-twirllingly evil" in the second half of the game. One illustrative difference is the side quests: I don't remember a single Horizon: Zero Dawn side quest. Nier Automata's side quests, meanwhile, are almost always tied into the main story or its themes - even if you don't realize it at the time you're doing the quest. Nier Automata is rough around the edges, but the whole comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts. Horizon: Zero Dawn, on the other hand, is very polished and well-executed, but it doesn't "gel" as well as Nier Automata, nor does it take as many risks.
    - pdpi 4y ago
      Not all the sidequests are great in H:ZD, but there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the end cinematic that explains one of the collectibles and makes it suddenly be much more meaningful. (SPOILER: You see a circle of metal flowers around Sobek's grave at her home, implying they're GAIA's memorial to Sobek)
4258204984 4y ago
4258204984 4y ago
kevinh 4y ago
What makes the Nier Automata port any more miraculous than, say, the The Witcher 3 port? This article has almost no details.
- fooey 4y ago
  After the lazy dumpster fire atrocious port they did for PC, I guess anything can be a miracle
- knolan 4y ago
  Graphically Nier is very basic compared to The Witcher 3, scaling the latter to Switch was indeed miraculous. Nier is not remotely surprising — there are probably more polygons in the main character model than the entire map.
  - alpaca128 4y ago
    Witcher 3 doesn't have crazy high requirements especially when you turn down the settings. On Switch it also only renders at 540p resolution, so just a quarter of 1080p. I see no miracle here.
    - knolan 4y ago
      Most games on Switch run sub 720p and don’t manage the seamless open world that the Witcher does. It certainly looks a lot worse than on other systems but it manages to deliver the experience pretty well. It’s hard to find a game other than BOTW that manages something similar and BOTW benefits from its sparse art style.
      - alpaca128 4y ago
        Sure, but the game launched on $400 consoles 7 years ago, running fine on harddrives without loading screens. It was optimized for such things from the start. Impressive but I'd say the more noteworthy part is that Nintendo managed to make the platform attractive enough for such ports. They succeeded where Sony's PS Vita failed miserably.
Hamuko 4y ago
It's a five year old game running somewhere between 20 and 30 FPS? Miracle? Eh. I'd rather pick up the PS4 copy for half the price and enjoy the game. It's not really a game designed to be played on a bus.
- jchw 4y ago
  I honestly don't think it's coming through to people just how limited the Switch hardware really is. Sure, it is a modern machine, but the frame budget is just nothing compared to most home consoles. The Tegra X1 was a pretty decent mobile SoC... For 2015. And the one in the switch actually runs at a lower clock speed than NVIDIA was running it at before. The crowning achievement for the X1 was that it could technically boot UE4 games, but frankly as evidenced by a lot of Switch titles, it doesn't do all that well if the developers don't put a lot of effort into optimizing it. Nintendo is overall pretty good at making stuff that looks good on their own hardware, but porting games designed to run on other flagship consoles to the Nintendo flagship seems like it has been quite a challenge for the past ten years or so. > Miracle? Eh. I'd rather pick up the PS4 copy for half the price and enjoy the game. It's not really a game designed to be played on a bus. This is more of a nitpick but the Nintendo Switch definitely is made with Japan in mind. I am not a cultural expert on Japan by any means but it surely seems like people living near city centers have quite little space to work with, leading to folks using iPad setups instead of desktop or laptop computers. The Switch is certainly compelling in this regard, if you don't have much space for a comfortable TV setup at home. I think viewed through this lens, the contortions make a lot more sense. This also explains why Valve has been pushing very hard in Asia in general with the Steam Deck, and aggressively pricing it as well.
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    Or, like, children who spend much of their lives outside of home?
  - Agentlien 4y ago
    I just want to add to this. I'm a graphics programmer in the gaming industry and for the last few years my main focus has been performance. The games I work on are games targeting all consoles, but my main focus is largely getting the switch version to look decent and still run well. I'm exaggerating a bit but my experience is roughly that you can throw almost anything together and it will work flawlessly on a PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Go through it and clean up the obvious unnecessary wastes of performance and it will run smoothly on PS4 and Xbox One. But Switch... getting the same thing to run on Switch generally involves lowering resolution, decreasing texture sizes, removing tons of set dressing, cutting several post process effects, and replacing a lot of shaders with cheaper alternatives which hopefully look good enough that people don't notice the difference thanks to the lower resolution.
ekianjo 4y ago
> this port might be one of the best PS4 to Switch conversions I’ve played Who says this was ported from the PS4 version? The author has no clue what they are talking about
Jack000 4y ago
Nier Automata is possibly the greatest video game ever made, definitely in my top 10. Reading through this thread it's pretty clear most people who disliked it stopped before the first ending. I think the main issue is that the actual gameplay is the weakest part of the whole package, without the world building, story and experimental mechanics it's just a decentish rpg. It's really easy to miss the good parts (by design?) by stopping early or not interacting much with npcs.
- mackatap 4y ago
  I find it fascinating you could sonsider a game to be the greatest of all time when the gameplay itself isn't good. Is gameplay not the most important part of a game? It's like saying the greatest movie of all time, except for the plot. The greatest car, except for the driving. The greatest winter coat, except for staying warm.
  - Jack000 4y ago
    It's really not important. If I want to play a "fun" game I'd go for mario kart. Nier is not very accessible and it's better for it. Also, the gameplay is not bad, just generic.
    - k__ 4y ago
      [this is what game journalists actually believe]
  - AjaxGb 4y ago
    I could easily imagine someone who considers a movie to be the greatest of all time but to have a weak plot. A movie that is such a tour-de-force visually that it blows the plot out of the water, or a movie that focuses carefully on a character study without telling much of a story, or an arthouse film that stirs the emotions while making no sense from a linear summary perspective. Like video games, movies can have many more components than just the story being told.
    - 4y ago
127 4y ago
Did they ever update the PC version in substantial way after the initial release? I needed mods to even run it properly.

79 points by Terretta 4y ago

dmix 4y ago

Speaking of Steam Deck, is it worth the effort to invest in making one via Raspberry Pi? I don't think you can still buy the original Steam hardware version in Canada where I live.

galleywest200 4y ago
If your goal is just indie games that are mostly 2D it might be totally viable. If you are looking for 3D gaming it would be limited to retro consoles just due to the hardware. There are several channels on YouTube that try to push Pis to their gaming limits, check them out -- search for low spec gaming.
jakogut 4y ago
Even the Pi 4, which is quite the powerhouse with 4x Cortex-A72 cores that easily overclock to 2.0+ GHz, is no match for the Steam Deck. https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/14301251?baseline=16110501 https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/14301251?baseli... The Pi 4 overclocked to 2.3 GHz has approximately 40% of the single-thread performance, and 20% of the multi thread performance, which is quite impressive for a $35 board. The Steam Deck also has quad-channel LPDDR5, and a relatively beefy GPU. The Pi 4's GPU is lacking compared to the processor, barely being capable of running a desktop environment with acceptable performance. I have run Portal 2 on a Pi 4 using box86, but it was extremely hacky, unstable, and netted something on the order of 2-3 fps. You could run old school emulators that aren't GPU bound no problem, and probably even some old school shooters like Doom 3, but it's not going to be as polished or performant as a Steam Deck.
- dmix 4y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know that. I wonder what my options are then :(
  - 3np 4y ago
    Anything Ryzen-based at or above above 3400G should be good. There's probably decent Intel alternatives too. You may be able to use the Rpi4 (or equivalent) as a Steam Link client. I have it running mostly fine on a comparable 6yo embedded Celeron streaming from the desktop downstairs. Not sure how well that works without tweaks on ARM but it could be worth a shot if that's what you're after.
  - naikrovek 4y ago
    If the Nvidia Jetson Nano was still supported it would do MUCH better than a Raspberry Pi at nearly anything. It has a tiny (but very real) GPU on it, and tons of memory bandwidth: 4GB of RAM, I think, and something like 25GB/s of memory bandwidth.
  - fomine3 4y ago
    There are some Chinese offerings like AYANEO or GPD
syntheweave 4y ago
Almost certainly not, in terms of time-money tradeoffs as well as the final result probably being less of an integrated thing. There's been an onrush of Deck clones lately from all sorts of companies, and a lot of them look worthy of interest. See ETAPrime's Youtube for coverage.
- saghm 4y ago
  Based on my experiences trying to get Windows stuff working through WINE/Lutris/Proton on my Arch Linux laptop/desktop, I'm guessing that a huge part of why they're able to make the SteamDeck a good experience is being able to guarantee that all the software they've written to help with compatibility is tested on their exact hardware. It took me a full weekend of tinkering to get ray tracing to work on both my desktop (which uses an AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT) and my laptop (with a mobile 3070); even after getting Lutris to use Proton Experimental that I downloaded through Steam, I still needed a smattering of different environmental variables (only some of which were the same for both AMD and nvidia) along with a newer version of mesa (for DXR 1.1) that's available even in the Arch, which have a reputation for bleeding edge stuff (although since then it's been put into their testing repos, so hopefully it will get pushed out soon). Even after finally getting the configuration so that the GPUs successfully reported the ability to do ray tracing, it took some specific configuration of the WINE prefix itself to be able to get certain games to allow the setting to even be enabled; apparently the Windows 10 prefix that WINE created had its registry initialized with inconsistent values for the OS patch build number it would report to software and the human-readable version of the string, both of which were old enough that the games didn't believe that ray tracing was actually supported, so I had to update them both to the corresponding values for a new enough Windows 10 patch before I could even enable the ray tracing settings. Long story short, I have to imagine that even if someone managed to make custom hardware that was powerful enough to run the games they wanted, trying to just install the custom Linux distro that SteamOS uses would not just magically run arbitrary Windows games well. This really seems like something where the hardware and software have to be designed and tested in tandem to be able to have any level of confidence in a good user experience.
  - doix 4y ago
fayten 4y ago
You cannot buy one outright currently, but you can still reserve one on Steam and from the looks of it you'll most likely get it by December. The steam deck is pretty incredible and I have greatly enjoyed tinkering with it. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-deck-is-speeding-up-production-and-shipments/1100-6507663/ https://www.gamespot.com/articles/steam-deck-is-speeding-up-...
- HideousKojima 4y ago
  Also shipping is speeding up, I was scheduled to get mine Q4 this year at best but they shipped mine 2 weeks ago.
  - krzyk 4y ago
    I ordered 256 version a week ago, and got the "complete purchase" on Thursday. (in EU).
teraflop 4y ago
Are you maybe getting the Steam Deck confused with the now-discontinued Steam Link? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6424-467a-31d9-c6cb https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6424-467a-31d9-c6... If you do want a Steam Deck, you can get one in Canada: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/ https://www.steamdeck.com/en/
seba_dos1 4y ago
Steam Deck is available in Canada, you can order it just like anyone else. In terms of gaming capabilities, comparing it to Raspberry Pi is like comparing a mid-end smartphone to a full blown gaming rig.
naikrovek 4y ago
the Raspberry Pi memory bandwidth is absolutely terrible, which makes performance absolutely terrible. it is a computer designed to be inexpensive and to teach computers, and it excels at these two things. The Raspberry Pi is not a good platform for virtually anything else, really. "But PiHole!" Ok, sure. I would argue that this could run in a container on any other machine on your network and use less electricity, and if you don't have another machine on your network, fine; use a Raspberry Pi. the Pi is not a Steam Deck competitor; it is not even good as a Linux desktop if you do anything in a browser or use any Electron applications.

metadat 4y ago

The ads on this site cover literally half the screen and open when you click "skip". Just pure gross and terribly inhumane. Marching ever closer to Idiocracy in real life. https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/idiocracy.jpg https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/idiocracy....

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mattigames 4y ago
Wait until you realize that the article itself it's an ad for a videogame...

Barrin92 4y ago

For anyone who is interested in what videogames as a medium uniquely can do to tell stories in a way other media cannot and who hasn't played it yet I'd recommend Nier Automata strongly. It's in my opinion the smartest and for a lack of a better term 'deepest' game of the last decade.

hn_go_brrrrr 4y ago
I really enjoyed Nier Automata -- I'd say it's a solid second place -- but it doesn't hold a candle to Horizon: Zero Dawn. The storytelling was superb, and the gameplay was really good too.
- kobalsky 4y ago
  Horizon: Zero Dawn is a marvel. One of the best looking games, original, solid and challenging gameplay and a storytelling that keeps on the edge of the seat wanting more. It has everything.
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  Horizon: Zero Dawn is fine. Definitely above average. But the narrative in Horizon: Zero Dawn is best described as "extremely conventional" with many predictable tropes (it was obvious your father figure was going to die from the first time you meet him). The main (past human) villain also takes a disappointing turn from "relatably misguided" to "mustache-twirllingly evil" in the second half of the game. One illustrative difference is the side quests: I don't remember a single Horizon: Zero Dawn side quest. Nier Automata's side quests, meanwhile, are almost always tied into the main story or its themes - even if you don't realize it at the time you're doing the quest. Nier Automata is rough around the edges, but the whole comes together to be greater than the sum of its parts. Horizon: Zero Dawn, on the other hand, is very polished and well-executed, but it doesn't "gel" as well as Nier Automata, nor does it take as many risks.
  - pdpi 4y ago
    Not all the sidequests are great in H:ZD, but there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the end cinematic that explains one of the collectibles and makes it suddenly be much more meaningful. (SPOILER: You see a circle of metal flowers around Sobek's grave at her home, implying they're GAIA's memorial to Sobek)

4258204984 4y ago

kevinh 4y ago

What makes the Nier Automata port any more miraculous than, say, the The Witcher 3 port? This article has almost no details.

fooey 4y ago
After the lazy dumpster fire atrocious port they did for PC, I guess anything can be a miracle
knolan 4y ago
Graphically Nier is very basic compared to The Witcher 3, scaling the latter to Switch was indeed miraculous. Nier is not remotely surprising — there are probably more polygons in the main character model than the entire map.
- alpaca128 4y ago
  Witcher 3 doesn't have crazy high requirements especially when you turn down the settings. On Switch it also only renders at 540p resolution, so just a quarter of 1080p. I see no miracle here.
  - knolan 4y ago
    Most games on Switch run sub 720p and don’t manage the seamless open world that the Witcher does. It certainly looks a lot worse than on other systems but it manages to deliver the experience pretty well. It’s hard to find a game other than BOTW that manages something similar and BOTW benefits from its sparse art style.
    - alpaca128 4y ago
      Sure, but the game launched on $400 consoles 7 years ago, running fine on harddrives without loading screens. It was optimized for such things from the start. Impressive but I'd say the more noteworthy part is that Nintendo managed to make the platform attractive enough for such ports. They succeeded where Sony's PS Vita failed miserably.

Hamuko 4y ago

It's a five year old game running somewhere between 20 and 30 FPS? Miracle? Eh. I'd rather pick up the PS4 copy for half the price and enjoy the game. It's not really a game designed to be played on a bus.

jchw 4y ago
I honestly don't think it's coming through to people just how limited the Switch hardware really is. Sure, it is a modern machine, but the frame budget is just nothing compared to most home consoles. The Tegra X1 was a pretty decent mobile SoC... For 2015. And the one in the switch actually runs at a lower clock speed than NVIDIA was running it at before. The crowning achievement for the X1 was that it could technically boot UE4 games, but frankly as evidenced by a lot of Switch titles, it doesn't do all that well if the developers don't put a lot of effort into optimizing it. Nintendo is overall pretty good at making stuff that looks good on their own hardware, but porting games designed to run on other flagship consoles to the Nintendo flagship seems like it has been quite a challenge for the past ten years or so. > Miracle? Eh. I'd rather pick up the PS4 copy for half the price and enjoy the game. It's not really a game designed to be played on a bus. This is more of a nitpick but the Nintendo Switch definitely is made with Japan in mind. I am not a cultural expert on Japan by any means but it surely seems like people living near city centers have quite little space to work with, leading to folks using iPad setups instead of desktop or laptop computers. The Switch is certainly compelling in this regard, if you don't have much space for a comfortable TV setup at home. I think viewed through this lens, the contortions make a lot more sense. This also explains why Valve has been pushing very hard in Asia in general with the Steam Deck, and aggressively pricing it as well.
- saagarjha 4y ago
  Or, like, children who spend much of their lives outside of home?
- Agentlien 4y ago
  I just want to add to this. I'm a graphics programmer in the gaming industry and for the last few years my main focus has been performance. The games I work on are games targeting all consoles, but my main focus is largely getting the switch version to look decent and still run well. I'm exaggerating a bit but my experience is roughly that you can throw almost anything together and it will work flawlessly on a PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Go through it and clean up the obvious unnecessary wastes of performance and it will run smoothly on PS4 and Xbox One. But Switch... getting the same thing to run on Switch generally involves lowering resolution, decreasing texture sizes, removing tons of set dressing, cutting several post process effects, and replacing a lot of shaders with cheaper alternatives which hopefully look good enough that people don't notice the difference thanks to the lower resolution.

ekianjo 4y ago

> this port might be one of the best PS4 to Switch conversions I’ve played Who says this was ported from the PS4 version? The author has no clue what they are talking about

Jack000 4y ago

Nier Automata is possibly the greatest video game ever made, definitely in my top 10. Reading through this thread it's pretty clear most people who disliked it stopped before the first ending. I think the main issue is that the actual gameplay is the weakest part of the whole package, without the world building, story and experimental mechanics it's just a decentish rpg. It's really easy to miss the good parts (by design?) by stopping early or not interacting much with npcs.

mackatap 4y ago
I find it fascinating you could sonsider a game to be the greatest of all time when the gameplay itself isn't good. Is gameplay not the most important part of a game? It's like saying the greatest movie of all time, except for the plot. The greatest car, except for the driving. The greatest winter coat, except for staying warm.
- Jack000 4y ago
  It's really not important. If I want to play a "fun" game I'd go for mario kart. Nier is not very accessible and it's better for it. Also, the gameplay is not bad, just generic.
  - k__ 4y ago
    [this is what game journalists actually believe]
- AjaxGb 4y ago
  I could easily imagine someone who considers a movie to be the greatest of all time but to have a weak plot. A movie that is such a tour-de-force visually that it blows the plot out of the water, or a movie that focuses carefully on a character study without telling much of a story, or an arthouse film that stirs the emotions while making no sense from a linear summary perspective. Like video games, movies can have many more components than just the story being told.
  - 4y ago

127 4y ago

Did they ever update the PC version in substantial way after the initial release? I needed mods to even run it properly.