• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Gamekult editor on graphical differences between the Zelda Switch/Wii U version

RoadHazard

Gold Member
The only one I haven't finished is Skyward Sword. I certainly don't remember Twilight Princess being that stable, but I'll take your word for it. Still, the N64 ones were definitely not hot in the framerate department.

I was going to say something similar, but with a different delivery:

Some people here really, really love Ocarina of Time, which ran at a lower framerate than BotW will be at most of the time. Remember, the mentioned performance drops are mainly confined to the plateau area. The rest of the game should run at or near 30, if reports are to be believed.

If we could play through and enjoy Ocarina, why not this? It'll be running better anyway!

The difference is that the N64 titles were generally very stable at 20fps (or 17fps here in PAL land), outside some specific scenes. I can still play OoT just fine after getting used to the low framerate again. Sudden drops from 30 to 20-ish are much more jarring than a consistent low framerate. That's why many people prefer a stable 30fps over unstable 60 that frequently drops noticeably below that. Now, I'm not saying Nintendo should just have locked BotW to 20 (that would certainly not have been acceptable), but the comparisons with the N64 titles don't really work.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Maybe a bit. But they said it doesn't ruin the enjoyment of the game. We have two reviews that have tested both versions and both gave glowing reviews, both saying that while frame rate issues are present, more so on the WiiU, they felt it did not detract form the over all experience of the game. So take it for what you will. Reviewers, previewers, and tech guys saying it's not a problem, or the handful of people that say it is.

Everyone's different. Some people don't mind, while others get headaches from sub 30fps. It'll be interesting to see DF's performance comparison between the two retail copies of BotW.
 

ClearData

Member
I understand but is it really all that much different from Sony robbing us of 399 bucks to play the games they hyped us with target renders to buy the original PS4? Sure the games run okay on PS4 but they run better on PS4 Pro. Same as with Zelda, it runs on WiiU but it runs better on Switch. The big difference is that it will stop with Zelda with Nintendo but might just keep on getting worse with Sony because of Pro and PS4 coexisting. Will GT, Shenmue, FF7 Remake, God of War etc run just fine on PS4? We'll see. I'm not expecting much tbh, devs like powerful hardwares so the Pro will likely be the target platform going forward and the games will simply be downported to PS4, with varied results.

Okay most of this is conjecture based on no evidence. From what I've read developers develop on the lowest common denominator and scale up. Publishers are forbidden to release Pro exclusive games and as far as I've seen there don't seem to be any glaring horror stories of performance differentials. Horizon Zero Dawn is rock solid on both model PS4s. There are 40 million plus regular PS4s and counting. Sony and publishers have no incentive to have poor performance on the version with the most owners. That's a really bad example that is based on poor assumptions.

In the case of this game I haven't seen a lot of press reports on performance, but again they are mostly on Switch it seems and I've read a performance patch is on its way so waiting for reviews is what I'm doing. But in any case there are 14 million potential customers on Wii U so I don't expect Nintendo to drop the ball here. Especially when they noted differences being resolution, LOD, and HD sound for the Switch version. That gives me hope that the frame drops are just pre-patch issues.
 

janoDX

Member
Remember when we all marveled how GTA V ran on 360/PS3 with a lot of frame issues and pop-ups?

Yeah, this is the same case, it's incredible a game of this scope is running on WiiU.

So, I'll take it, once I buy my Switch when Splatoon 2 is out I might sell it and buy the Switch version.
 

Peltz

Member
Ive been playing on consoles since i was 5. My issue isnt poor performance, my issues is that its becoming increasingly apparent that the game i held on to the wii u for two years is being borked to sell their new hardware.And despite what people say, my frustration on that end is justified.
Because no matter how much theyre pushing the hardware, I can guarantee you that in world where Wii U wasnt a flop, they would sure as hell find ways to make it run a lot better than it is now.

There's no way of knowing that at all. Remember, Nintendo said they struggled to get the physics engine running appropriately on Wii U hardware. The lower framerate is likely the result of such a struggle.

The Zelda team is new to physics engines as well as large scale open worlds. The combination of the two is likely the reason why framerate is not 100% solid 30 fps. To say this is just a "lazy devs" situation after all these years of development and the scope of the game (which is apparently massive) is a bit dismissive of reality.
 

Afrodium

Banned
So....the people who bought a full-priced Wii U for $349 in 2012 dollars in anticipation of this Zelda game should get the best experience, right?

Don't buy a console for games that aren't out yet.
The only games guaranteed to someone who bought a Wii U in 2012 were the Wii U games out at that time.
 

The Hermit

Member
Remember when we all marveled how GTA V ran on 360/PS3 with a lot of frame issues and pop-ups?

Yeah, this is the same case, it's incredible a game of this scope is running on WiiU.

So, I'll take it, once I buy my Switch when Splatoon 2 is out I might sell it and buy the Switch version.

I know ( from videos) this is nothing like GTAV. I couldn't play that game, it literally made me sick.

I really hope this is not the same case here.
 

JeTmAn81

Member
Don't buy a console for games that aren't out yet.
The only games guaranteed to someone who bought a Wii U in 2012 were the Wii U games out at that time.

I'm pretty sure every single console manufacturer wants you to buy consoles for games that aren't out yet. This game was announced in 2013, for Wii U. It's ridiculous to spit in the face of customers who were promised a bill of goods and received an inferior product as reward for their loyalty (assuming it is significantly inferior).
 

Frostman

Member
It WAS a WiiU game. It has spent the last year or so with Switch as the lead platform in development.

Didn't they say that they started porting this game to the Switch this time last year?

I don't think this game has been lead platform for more than a year. Definitely not 2.

Lead platform is also a weird phrase to use. Would devs really shift main development platform 4 years in development?

Edit: here's a source for their decision on the Switch port - 'spring last year' http://www.usgamer.net/articles/zel...a-reality-on-switch-until-spring-of-last-year
 

Xdrive05

Member
Do we have any Wii-U version reports of the jungle / ruins area that was shown in December; the one with the electric lizalfos in it? It looked really slow at the time. I'm curious if they got it running okay in time for release.
 

Donnie

Member
Didn't they say that they started porting this game to the Switch this time last year?

I don't think this game has been lead platform for more than a year. Definitely not 2.

Lead platform is also a weird phrase to use. Would devs really shift main development platform 4 years in development?

Edit: here's a source for their decision on the Switch port - 'spring last year' http://www.usgamer.net/articles/zel...a-reality-on-switch-until-spring-of-last-year

Nah Switch certainly isn't lead platform, this game has been in development for a long time on WiiU so it's no doubt designed tightly around its architecture. They've just gone right to WiiUs limits with the game, so sometimes performance is less than solid.
 

Gestault

Member
Don't buy a console for games that aren't out yet.
The only games guaranteed to someone who bought a Wii U in 2012 were the Wii U games out at that time.

Let's not do the thing where we pretend the game wasn't announced early on for the Wii U.

The Zelda HD tech demo on the Wii U was shown at E3 2011. In June 2011, Miyamoto confirmed that Nintendo was developing a new Legend of Zelda title for the Wii U. That game got the "Breath of the Wild" name in the Wii U Direct presentation in January 2013. They had gameplay supposedly running on the Wii U in 2014. People very reasonably bought the Wii U for Zelda.
 
Guy on Reddit who says he has been playing it for a while now on Wii U says there are framedrops here and there, there is also aliasing but that was also the case on the Switch version that he played as well. None of this ruined the gameplay for him which he thought was fantastic. I don't think the guy was trolling.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Let's not do the thing where we pretend the game wasn't announced early on for the Wii U.

The Zelda HD tech demo on the Wii U was shown at E3 2011. In June 2011, Miyamoto confirmed that Nintendo was developing a new Legend of Zelda title for the Wii U. That game got the "Breath of the Wild" name in the Wii U Direct presentation in January 2013. People very reasonably bought the Wii U for Zelda.
Uhhh what? No? It didn't get a name until E3 last year. The first we saw anything even resembling the game was a 30 second E3 2014 clip and then they went dark for over a year.
 

Bronetta

Ask me about the moon landing or the temperature at which jet fuel burns. You may be surprised at what you learn.
I understand you but I just thought using Sony as an example was a bit odd. Boost Mode hype nearly got me to jump in but nope I've already bought my PS4 this generation, the whole argument that PS4 was cheap at the launch would be lost if I payed $399x2 for the console. Check DF to see that we're slowly getting shafted for buying the console day 1, we might not be forced to play 20fps games, yet, but seeing others game at 60fps is not making me overly satisfied with the purchase tbh. I could've easily waited if I knew there would be a better one out halfway through the generation. I sure won't be buying PS5 day 1 that's for sure. Fool me once... And MS is about to do the same thing... :(
Sorry for ranting a bit here :/

I certainly hope you arent buying a Switch at launch then considering Nintendos last handheld got a revision with a power boost and EXCLUSIVE games like Xenoblade Chronicles which couldnt even run on launch hardware.
 

Wil348

Member
My thoughts on the Wii U version: It actually doesn't look bad when you consider that this is running on a Wii U. In fact, I would go as far as saying that having something of this scope on the U is quite impressive. However, the framerate does look quite bad. Not anywhere near Just Cause 3 console levels of bad to where it's almost unplayable, but still pretty damn rough. But, as somebody else mentioned earlier in the thread, look at GTA V on last gen. Performance was comparable to this, but the game was massive for the hardware it was on so it was understandable. Same case here. However, the problem with this version is that a better version is releasing alongside it, a version with stable performance and cleaner visuals. The problem with the Switch version is that if you don't mind the (notable) technical issues in the Wii U version, and nothing else coming to the Switch in the near future interests you, then there isn't much reason to buy the Switch version (let alone the Switch), unless you just want the new hardware day one.

Personally, as a Wii U owner? I'm going Switch, but not for Zelda. I like the Switch itself, and having what will probably end up being the best game to hit the Wii U but better and portable is icing on the cake (very sweet icing, mind you). Also, I generally just don't like using the Wii U due to how clunky and sluggish it feels.
 

indask8

Member
I bought both versions, I've seen some videos of the Wii U version, looks playable for me, I've always been mainly a console gamer, I've played starfox on snes, I really don't mind framerate drops as long as the game push incredible graphics for the hardware (GTA V for example as stated above).

I'll start playing on the switch version, but once I'll have some spare time I'll play the Wii U one.
 

arlucool

Member
Is there any word of a day one patch for the Wii U version that might stabilize the framerate at all?

There is already a patch, or more like an update, that I think expands the wildlife. I'm not sure though, someone else might clarify.

BTW, this youtuber uploaded recently his first playthrough of the game on the WiiU, 34 min. on the Plateau. Here's the link https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5LQLphLx8
I'm currently watching, but it looks really smooth, more so than the other video of the guy who uploaded the first 15 minutes, o_o
 

EloquentM

aka Mannny
If this thread with its lack of substantial comparison is pretty much a shit show I cannot wait until the DF thread. Gonna be so fun. I'll keep up with the thread while playing zelda.
 

Skyzard

Banned
There is already a patch, or more like an update, that I think expands the wildlife. I'm not sure though, someone else might clarify.

BTW, this youtuber uploaded recently his first playthrough of the game on the WiiU, 34 min. on the Plateau. Here's the link https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5LQLphLx8
I'm currently watching, but it looks really smooth, more so than the other video of the guy who uploaded the first 15 minutes, o_o

I played the first hour today, it was smooth - I was very happy playing it, wasn't at the switch event.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Is there any DF analysis of this game yet? I'm curious if it's worth picking up on Wii U or waiting to get a Switch.

I don't think they tend to get review copies. And probably certainly not from Nintendo who tend to be pretty limited in who they send games too (especially with sending a game with apparent performance issues to a site that tears apart performance).
 

arlucool

Member
Any source for this? First time I've heard of such specific patch details.
From this thread (non-spoiler): www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1347783&highlight=

That's what they were able to get from the day one update on Wii u, who knows how many more there are
Apperently, the update expands the number of animals.

I played the first hour today, it was smooth - I was very happy playing it, wasn't at the switch event.
I was very surprised! On the other video, when the player moved and turned the camera around at the same time, it was tragic, but seeing the new footage had me SO relieved.
 

Formless

Member
From this thread (non-spoiler): www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1347783&highlight=


Apperently, the update expands the number of animals.


I was very surprised! On the other video, when the player moved and turned the camera around at the same time, it was tragic, but seeing the new footage had SO relieved.

I'm not sure that the info from that thread means the animals are in the patch. The Wii U version requires a 3 GB install presumably to help with loading.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
Remind me, on what console did it debut on at E3 last year?
Remind me the relevance of this? Games hop generations. This happens all the time. And there is no guarantee the weaker version is going to be up-to-snuff. Hell even the fucking Switch version has performance problems.

Should it run better? Hell yes it should. But also don't make purchasing decisions way ahead of time before you have any clue what the final product is going to look like.
 

IMACOMPUTA

Member
I feel like a lot of these observations are based on the pirated version that people are loading from who-knows-what-kind of storage. Let's see how the actual legitimate game performs before losing our minds.
 

Coffinhal

Member
I'm pretty sure every single console manufacturer wants you to buy consoles for games that aren't out yet. This game was announced in 2013, for Wii U. It's ridiculous to spit in the face of customers who were promised a bill of goods and received an inferior product as reward for their loyalty (assuming it is significantly inferior).

What did Nintendo promise in 2012/2013 about Zelda ?
 

brad-t

Member
It's ridiculous to spit in the face of customers who were promised a bill of goods and received an inferior product as reward for their loyalty (assuming it is significantly inferior).

What would you have preferred, exactly?

I just don't get what Nintendo should have done here. If the Switch version disappeared today, the Wii U version wouldn't perform any better. Clearly they weren't willing to scale back the scope of the game in order to increase performance any further than they already have.

Considering how strategically critical BOTW is for the Switch, hamstringing the title so it would have smoother performance on Wii U wouldn't be a smart move.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
What would you have preferred, exactly?

I just don't get what Nintendo should have done here. If the Switch version disappeared today, the Wii U version wouldn't perform any better. Clearly they weren't willing to scale back the scope of the game in order to increase performance any further than they already have.

Considering how strategically critical BOTW is for the Switch, hamstringing the title so it would have smoother performance on Wii U wouldn't be a smart move.

Seems like they could have scaled down some graphics on Wii U to keep frame rate up. Or give users options between modes focused on graphics or performance like many of games and more games lately on PS4/X1.
 
This is like complaining that MGSV runs worse on PS3 than PS4. It's a very ambitious game and at least it's actually releasing on Wii U. Leading up to release several gaffers speculated the Wii U version was cancelled.

right? Based on the "OMG wtf Nintendo!" responses you would think (at least I did) that posters were mad the Switch version was worse than the Wii U version. Of course the Switch version is going to run better than the Wii U version, its the newer console so I would HOPE that the Switch version would run better....otherwise why would I buy another $300 console?
 

Coffinhal

Member
right? Based on the "OMG wtf Nintendo!" responses you would think (at least I did) that posters were mad the Switch version was worse than the Wii U version. Of course the Switch version is going to run better than the Wii U version, its the newer console so I would HOPE that the Switch version would run better....otherwise why would I buy another $300 console?

new library and portability
 
Seems like they could have scaled down some graphics on Wii U to keep frame rate up. Or give users options between modes focused on graphics or performance like many of games and more games lately on PS4/X1.
The framedrops are obviously due to WiiU's weak CPU.

You can't "scale back graphics" to improve CPU related framerate problems.
 
I'm pretty sure every single console manufacturer wants you to buy consoles for games that aren't out yet. This game was announced in 2013, for Wii U. It's ridiculous to spit in the face of customers who were promised a bill of goods and received an inferior product as reward for their loyalty (assuming it is significantly inferior).

I'm sure they do. It doesn't make it less of a bad idea though.
 
Top Bottom