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I caved and bought a Switch last week. It’s the best tech purchase I’ve made in years! The games on it are fun, the versatility of the Joycons is incredible, an
by basisword 3y ago
I caved and bought a Switch last week. It’s the best tech purchase I’ve made in years! The games on it are fun, the versatility of the Joycons is incredible, and the loading speed is a breath of fresh air. My main console is an original PS4. I upgraded to PS5 last year and returned it. It’s just more of the same. Huge game downloads, huge update downloads, a huge console, and long load times. And tbh, I didn’t see a lot of difference in terms of graphics. If you want to play super realistic games then Nintendo doesn’t seem to be the way to go, but if you want to have fun and don’t care about frame rate/whatever other performance metric people complain about, the Switch is amazing.
- hans0l074 3y agoDid you get a chance to checkout Horizon: Forbidden West (the sequel to Horizon: Zero Dawn)? I have been gaming for a few decades now, and this is the most impressive technical achievement I have seen in a game. For me, everything else pales in comparison after this experience (The studio develops their own game engine Decima)
- rjzzleep 3y agoIt looks beautiful, but I tortured myself through zero dawn and then dropped forbidden West an hour in. The story is dumb, the dialogues are a nightmare and I feel like the more they try to paint the female protagonist as some kind of strong woman the worse it made the whole thing. Instead of making her seem strong she's like a petty person, constantly complaining and badmouth everything. The game mechanics make it hard to overlook the terrible storytelling, constant boring grind with an extremely boring skill system. But it's not exclusive to her. All of dialogues are silly. If you had Horizon with the script writers of God of War (2018) even with the boring game mechanics, it would probably be a masterpiece.
- Gareth321 3y ago> The story is dumb, the dialogues are a nightmare and I feel like the more they try to paint the female protagonist as some kind of strong woman the worse it made the whole thing. Instead of making her seem strong she's like a petty person, constantly complaining and badmouth everything. The Mary Sue trope has infected Hollywood and now the gaming industry. Every woman needs to be perfect; flawless. Every man serves only one purpose: make the Mary Sue appear even more perfect. At this stage I'm impressed when media doesn't include a Mary Sue. I'm really disappointed to see this game is similarly compromised, as I was looking forward to playing it one day.
- AlexandrB 3y agoI really didn't get the vibe that there's some kind of pandering going on with Zero Dawn (haven't played the sequel). I would also note that it's extremely common for video game characters to be Mary Sues, probably because they're often a stand-in for the player. In this regard, Aloy is not particularly different than a Gordon Freeman or a Link. Perhaps that's an indictment of how poor the writing in Zero Dawn is, but it's not unusual.
- rjzzleep 3y agoCompletely different from Link. It's not even in the same dimension. One character that might be similar is that guy in Devil May Cry 5 and I find him equally cringe, I'm glad I didn't actually pay for it.
- trafficante 3y agoThe character writing in Forbidden West is largely of the same quality as Zero Dawn: serviceable with a few outstanding characters (none of whom are the MC, unfortunately). I feel like the reason it’s suddenly become an issue is that the quality of the Main Story took quite a drop in the sequel and it’s easier for people to pick out and criticize examples of poor characterization. And to be fair, I never thought Forbidden West would be able to match/exceed the fantastic Zero Dawn plot - since ZD relied on a fantastic sci-fi premise that couldn’t be easily repeated once the “truth” had been revealed. But going with cackling immortal demigods dressed like a low budget episode of Star Trek: TOS was a poor choice for the middle act of a trilogy. What’s really strange is how the new FW expansion lays out more breadcrumbs for the closing act of the trilogy that honestly should have been part of the second act (eg: VAST SILVER and the interactions between Old World AIs). I’d be less disappointed in the mustache twirling, scene eating, villains in sparkly spandex if they were the final remnants of humanity’s ancient hubris that had to be dealt with to bring lasting peace.
- ska 3y agoI think this is an idiosyncratic use of the trope “Mary Sue”, which isn’t really gendered, or wasn’t originally. Unless the usage has drifted a lot more that I’m aware of?
- ESMirro 3y agoDo you think you would feel the same about Aloy if she were presented as a male character? As the protagonist of the story she’s privy to information and intelligence far beyond the knowledge of much of the rest of the cast. She’s treated as a literal outsider for much of the early story and is often held back from completing vital goals by archaic and arbitrary belief systems throughout both games. The character is arguably too nice and accommodating to those blocking progress, given the situation, yet your complaint is fairly common.
- rjzzleep 3y agoAbsolutely yes. Maybe there are male game characters like that, but I clearly don't remember them. Do you have any examples? You can be snarky by the way. She is not snarky. She's just superior to the "dumb plebs" and whiny at the same time. I can't currently think of stupid annoying completely superior male protagonists, but they are quite common in certain types of anime. If the comments on streaming platforms are any indication on their popularity, for the most part, unless the story is extreme parody, they are usually universally disliked.
- ESMirro 3y agoI don’t really agree with your interpretation of the character, I would argue she’s more understandably frustrated and desperate given the context of the story than whiny. To me that makes her a more realistic and well-rounded character. She’s certainly nothing close to an anime cliche even at the characters more stubborn or impulsive moments. Edward Kenway (Assassins Creed: Black Flag) is a similar character that comes to mind, though I concede it is difficult to think of many open world video-game characters that deviate from blank-slate people pleasers.
- nikanj 3y agoI did the same. Aloy is supposed to be the chosen hero who destroys massive killing machines with just a stick, but instead she’s stuck dealing with a petty bureaucrat who refuses to open a gate. PS: I tried shooting the dude, to see if that works. He’s bulletproof because railroads and scripted events
- andrewingram 3y agoHorizon: Forbidden West is an amazing technical achievement, I just wish I had found it more enjoyable, instead it was "fine". Elden Ring coming out 2 weeks later kinda made me forget all about it - it gave me a feeling I haven't felt playing games in decades that I had been really missing.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- capableweb 3y ago> The studio develops their own game engine Decima Death Stranding (Hideo Kojima's latest game) also uses Decima and is a nice showcase as well, runs like a dream on even the Steam Deck.
- Scaevolus 3y agoCuriously, Death Stranding's PC port is much better optimized than Horizon: Zero Dawn's port.
- nicolapcweek94 3y agoDeath Stranding on the PS4 is the last time I remember being truly immersed in the world the game is presenting - in a non-Nintendo game. The first time you go out of the city, the world just opens up to you and the soundtrack just gets more and more calming and you're left with Sam, the cargo and the target. It's just... wonderful. Of course, the same exact thing happened this morning in the first few minutes of Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo seems to get this right way more often than everyone else.
- sodapopcan 3y agoI felt the same. I came late to Zero Dawn playing it 5 years after it came out. My first Zelda was the original Zelda (I was 7 when it came out) and Zero Dawn is the closest I ever came to that same feeling as an adult. I don't know the siblings comments are on about—I usually don't really care about the story, though I found myself super curious to find out what was going on the whole time and worried less about what kind of person Aloy was.
- peanuty1 3y agoI've heard the Steam Deck emulates Switch games like Zelda BOTW much better than the Switch. And it's not much more expensive either.
- rkangel 3y agoI own a Switch, but I'm still debating whether I play BoTW on Deck or Switch. Either way I'll probably buy it on Switch because developers should be rewarded for making good games, but it's handy for me to have all of my games in one place. Plus the Deck is a much more comfortable for me to hold - more ergonomic, better fit for larger hands.
- johnchristopher 3y ago> but I'm still debating whether I play BoTW on Deck or Switch. Debating what ? Are you pulling the "IP owners don't make their products available on my platform so I am forced to pirate it" netflix card when you own the device the game is supposed to be played on ?
- rkangel 3y agoIf you read my comment, I said I'd pay for it either way. At that point while I might be technically pirating, I don't think I am ethically.
- johnchristopher 3y agoNo, you wrote (emphasis mine): > Either way I'll probably buy it [..] If you don't for sure buy it then there is no debating playing it on deck unless what you are debating is playing the game or not.
- setr 3y agoHe’s not debating on whether to pay for the game, he’s debating on where he’ll get the best experience with it. It just happens to be that one of those options requires pirating game instead of paying for it.
- merpkz 3y agoWhat are you talking about long load times on a PS5? Isn't it supposed to revolutionize gaming by dropping load times altogether because of it's ridiculously ( for a consoles anyways ) fast SSDs? That's what I have heard anyways, don't have PS5 myself.
- basisword 3y agoIt’s a lot faster than the PS4 but it’s still slow in comparison with Switch games. It’s understandable given the difference in file size/game “quality” but I don’t want to wait more than a few seconds.
- GordonS 3y agoIME, it depends on the game. Mario Kart 8 and Mario Odyssey load really quickly, for example. All the Lego games seem to take forever to load tho, it's quite frustrating!
- trarmp 3y agoIt is. I don't know what OP is on about, but load-times on the PS5 are practically non-existent for me. Played the latest Horizon game, and on loading screens I can't even read the first few words of the game-tip. It's never longer than a second, if it's not instant.
- thiht 3y agoSame for me, load times on PS5 are actually pretty impressive. I can't remember being bothered by load times since I have it. In comparison I recently started my Switch again to play Dead Cells and load times really break the die & retry experience. So yeah, praising the Switch performance over PS5 is... weird? Possibly dishonest?
- merpkz 3y agoThat's what I was thinking. Recently got myself a PS4 because they are really affordable now and god damn those loading times are obscene. About an hour to install new game on first disc load - didn't even connect to internet to skip downloading 10s of GB of updates.
- ehnto 3y agoIt is a super cool piece of kit. I haven't had a console since the PS2, the switch won me over with it's form factor versatility and of course the game library.
- m_st 3y agoI owned a PS4, then PS4 Pro, then PS5 and a laptop capable to play games. And couldn't agree more with you. Make sure to get also Super Mario Odyssey. This game is just such a joy. It feels like a trip to a funfair every time. And sure, Mario Kart 8 for some multiplayer fun. 6 years in, and the Switch is still the most used console in my family with 3 kids.
- highwaylights 3y ago3 kids you say? Boomerang Fu. You are welcome. It's a silly, simple, utterly un-put-downable game in our house.
- askvictor 3y agoIndeed. Stick Fight and Rubber Bandits are similarly fun and addictive
- patwolf 3y agoBoomerang Fu occasionally goes on sale for $2 on the eShop. Even at full price it's one of the better cost/fun ratios of any game I've played with the kids.
- rtomanek 3y agoThis works equally well on a PC with controllers/ gamepad, as attested by another family with 3 kids. This game is just perfect.
- faitswulff 3y agoAgreed on the Boomerang Fu recommendation! "Good Job" is also a fantastic buy for 1-2 players. Just a hilarious game
- maccard 3y ago> and the loading speed is a breath of fresh air. I don't know what games you're playing but my experience pretty much across the board with the switch is "frustratingly long" loading times. Metroid dread is one of the more recent games I played and the loading screens are painful. Especially compared to a PS5. Check out something like Spiderman for how good it can be. > And tbh, I didn’t see a lot of difference in terms of graphics. Then you're not the target audience. Look at TOTK beside Ratchet and Clank on PS5. The difference is night and day.
- lttlrck 3y agoSwitch load times are indeed long, especially after living with a PS5. In fact they frustrated me when I originally played through BoTW on release.
- maccard 3y agoComing back to this, I've been playing TOTK this weekend on my switch. The loading times on death, or entering/exiting shrines are pretty close to a minute. I'm currently playing jedi survivor on PS5 and the load times are closer to 10 seconds. It's night and day.
- basisword 3y agoOn the graphics point I meant from PS4 > PS5. Switch is obviously much less powerful graphically but it has zero impact on my enjoyment of the games.
- maccard 3y agoIts a very different thing to say there's no difference, and that the difference doesn't impact your enjoyment of the games. I've been playing TOTK this weekend, and the graphic quality does affect my enjoyment. There are performance issues, super low res graphics, awful aliasing and shadows, and super low detail textures. It doesn't ruin the game, but this is stuff that definitely deserves to be talked about.
- cardy31 3y agoIf you don’t have a 4K TV then you wouldn’t notice for dons games since both consoles would run at 1080
- TheRealDunkirk 3y ago> Huge game downloads, huge update downloads I have uncapped gigabit internet. (Like many of us, I WFH, and want the most "internet" I can get.) I recall redownloading a game I wanted to play recently. It was 40GB. I thought I would go get a coffee while I waited. It was done before I rounded up and got my shoes on. I don't think the game and update sizes really matter to most of the target demographic of a current-gen console any more. But, hey, I could be extrapolating my experience in a terribly shortsighted way.
- OkGoDoIt 3y agoUnfortunately having uncapped gigabit Internet isn’t an option for most people. I would gladly pay for that if I could. But I’m stuck with Comcast. I’ve lived in 4 different cities in the last decade and I’ve always been stuck with Comcast. You should absolutely not assume that massive downloads don’t matter to most people.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- joe_guy 3y agoIt may not be available in your area but even being stuck with Comcast it might be available. With Comcast I pay $100/mo for gigabit and $20/mo for unlimited usage.
- TheRealDunkirk 3y agoThis is precisely what I'm doing.
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoI have comcast and I have uncapped 10G internet. I'm sorry you don't and I don't love comcast as a company and years ago comcast was definitely synonymous with poor network quality and certainly they still are in some locations, but, it's hardly universal anymore.
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- jeffwask 3y agoThe Switch is an excellent piece of hardware. Nintendo knocked it out of the park so far it's only just starting to see competition at the end of it's lifecycle.
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoI've had a switch for years and I agree I do love playing it, but, there are some really great games in the playstation ecosystem. It's definitively a less casual environment but I personally would not give up on playing games like The Last of Us and Horizon and the new God of War games. Really incredible gameplay with incredible story as well.
- annexrichmond 3y agoI really want to get a Switch but I can’t seem to justify paying full price for hardware that is evidently several years out of date. Released 6 years ago and still $300. I was so used to older consoles being bundled with games after a couple years after being released When I first got a PS4 it was bundled with GTAV and Last of Us. Pretty incredible deal.
- basisword 3y ago>> I really want to get a Switch but I can’t seem to justify paying full price for hardware that is evidently several years out of date. I thought similar but at the end of the day does it matter? Games work well on it. Sure they might be making bigger profit margins on it but it still does what it’s meant to at a good level.
- netdoll 3y agoHonestly, while I have a running boycott of consoles on moral grounds (Steam Deck notwithstanding), I feel like the Switch and PS4 are the best systems in quite a while, both for the variety of independent/AA games in all genres on them, and the retro arcade game ports M2 and Hamster are churning out at a steady and ever increasing pace.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]