D
Deleted User
Guest
OP
There are many games out there which have questionable design choices that reduce the quality of a game but save time and money.
The first example is Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. Out of the three choices available the Switch version is definitely the best of the bunch but it has pretty clear flaws from a performance perspective. Fire Emblem Warriors allows you to choose between performance mode (720p 60fps) and cinematic mode (1080p 30fps) and the game sticks very close to the target framerates. In Hyrule Warriors you're stuck with 1080p and an uncapped framerate which makes the game look choppy during action sequences. It's a big improvement from previous iterations but could be a lot better. The other, bigger design flaw is in handheld mode. The framerate is terrible because the game renders a 1080p image then displays it on the 720p screen. I'm no programmer but I think this decision saved a little development time while making a big compromise to the game's performance. Surely it would only take a few lines of code to change the resolution to 720p while in handheld mode. If I met the team behind this port IRL I would ask them in my best Gordan Ramsay impression "do you even fucking care about this game?"
Now we have Dark Souls Remastered. I'm focusing specifically on the Switch version here. My first point is somewhat subjective but I think the game should have ran at 720p 60fps in docked mode instead of 1080p 30fps. It's a very difficult action game so responsiveness is more important than resolution. The Priscilla soft lock is a game-breaking bug which was not fixed; this is bullshit. The final flaw is the audio quality. To compress the game onto a 4GB cart the audio was compressed to the point where it sounds like a shitty radio from the 90's. Having an optional high quality audio download is a bad idea, not giving the option is even worse. It would have been better to compress the game's other assets which would have resulted in longer load times.
There are other games which have design flaws that would have taken more time and money to address. The lack of 3D support in some 3DS games like Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga. The N3DS's super stable 3D is fucking great, use it. Smash Ultimate's Spirits Mode is artificially lengthened by lots of weak opponents. The very short single player mode Mario Tennis: Aces. BotW and Splatoon 2 are both slightly less than complete without DLC. In BotW you need to buy DLC to max out both your hearts and stamina and to access Master Mode (hard mode). Splatoon 2 doesn't offer much of a single player experience out the box. The Switch ports of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and New Super Mario Bros. U include new easy modes but lack new levels. The Banner Saga Trilogy on Switch only contains two of the three games on the cartridge, requiring users to download the third game. This is supposed to be the physical release of an eShop game.
A lot of Xbox One X games should be able to support 1080p 60fps but don't. Take Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy for example. Kudos to CD Projekt Red for doing a good job on The Witcher 3. I don't give a shit about 4k; 60fps animations are incredibly smooth.
There is a difference between making an economical decision and cutting corners. Luigi's Mansion on the 3DS has compressed assets allowing the game to fit onto a smaller cartridge but introduces load times. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition cuts corners. Most games mentioned in this post make a few too many economical decisions.
But ultimately you vote with your wallet. By buying games with design flaws there will be more games with design flaws released. No post I make online is going to convince a statistically significant number of people not to buy a game. So do I raise a good point or am I being an entitled piece of shit?
Edit: I forgot to mention one recent big fuckup
The first example is Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. Out of the three choices available the Switch version is definitely the best of the bunch but it has pretty clear flaws from a performance perspective. Fire Emblem Warriors allows you to choose between performance mode (720p 60fps) and cinematic mode (1080p 30fps) and the game sticks very close to the target framerates. In Hyrule Warriors you're stuck with 1080p and an uncapped framerate which makes the game look choppy during action sequences. It's a big improvement from previous iterations but could be a lot better. The other, bigger design flaw is in handheld mode. The framerate is terrible because the game renders a 1080p image then displays it on the 720p screen. I'm no programmer but I think this decision saved a little development time while making a big compromise to the game's performance. Surely it would only take a few lines of code to change the resolution to 720p while in handheld mode. If I met the team behind this port IRL I would ask them in my best Gordan Ramsay impression "do you even fucking care about this game?"
Now we have Dark Souls Remastered. I'm focusing specifically on the Switch version here. My first point is somewhat subjective but I think the game should have ran at 720p 60fps in docked mode instead of 1080p 30fps. It's a very difficult action game so responsiveness is more important than resolution. The Priscilla soft lock is a game-breaking bug which was not fixed; this is bullshit. The final flaw is the audio quality. To compress the game onto a 4GB cart the audio was compressed to the point where it sounds like a shitty radio from the 90's. Having an optional high quality audio download is a bad idea, not giving the option is even worse. It would have been better to compress the game's other assets which would have resulted in longer load times.
There are other games which have design flaws that would have taken more time and money to address. The lack of 3D support in some 3DS games like Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga. The N3DS's super stable 3D is fucking great, use it. Smash Ultimate's Spirits Mode is artificially lengthened by lots of weak opponents. The very short single player mode Mario Tennis: Aces. BotW and Splatoon 2 are both slightly less than complete without DLC. In BotW you need to buy DLC to max out both your hearts and stamina and to access Master Mode (hard mode). Splatoon 2 doesn't offer much of a single player experience out the box. The Switch ports of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and New Super Mario Bros. U include new easy modes but lack new levels. The Banner Saga Trilogy on Switch only contains two of the three games on the cartridge, requiring users to download the third game. This is supposed to be the physical release of an eShop game.
A lot of Xbox One X games should be able to support 1080p 60fps but don't. Take Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy for example. Kudos to CD Projekt Red for doing a good job on The Witcher 3. I don't give a shit about 4k; 60fps animations are incredibly smooth.
There is a difference between making an economical decision and cutting corners. Luigi's Mansion on the 3DS has compressed assets allowing the game to fit onto a smaller cartridge but introduces load times. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition cuts corners. Most games mentioned in this post make a few too many economical decisions.
But ultimately you vote with your wallet. By buying games with design flaws there will be more games with design flaws released. No post I make online is going to convince a statistically significant number of people not to buy a game. So do I raise a good point or am I being an entitled piece of shit?
Edit: I forgot to mention one recent big fuckup
Last edited by ,
