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Second handheld only Switch game is Severed

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I'm playing Severed on the Vita, and it's awesome. I'm not sure how it'd work on the Switch in docked mode. It should probably be advertised as a handheld mode only game.

I can't recommend the game enough. Drinkbox has become one of my favorite devs. Mutant Blobs and Guacamelee were such a blast to play on Vita (and console too!).

I'm tempted to double dip with Severed on the Switch. I didn't actually realize it was releasing for it.
 

inner-G

Banned
Nintendo doesn't want people to get the impression that the Switch is a second Wii U. The second screen gimmick failed hard and they don't want people to think that Switch is a second screen device. Same thing is the reason why the dock blocks the Switch's screen. (Of course, Nintendo being Nintendo, they got the idea to release an online app for smartphones, making Switch essentially kind of a device with a second screen again -- Nintendo's never very good at executing a concept coherently lol).

Also, Switch doesn't connect to the TV when playing in handheld mode to begin with. The entire way the dock works would need to be redesigned for that to be possible.
Idk, my dads $80 android phone can mirror to the TV no problem. I just think it would have been fairly cheap for them to implement and it seems weird that it can't do it from a consumer perspective.
 
Chill, man. I haven't changed my point of view. Some people use the system portable only and some use the system docked only. This is a fact. My opinion is that if the game can't be used in either mode, then it shouldn't get released. We're all talking about opinions, and I've stated mine. You don't like it, that's fine, but it doesn't and won't change my point of view on this.

Your opinion is reactionary and reductive though? It's a bad opinion?

If you only play docked and don't want to play this touchscreen-only game... don't buy it. I won't deny that they should make it more clear that this doesn't work without access to the touchscreen, but saying that no one should get to enjoy a game that, again, literally only works with a touchscreen because it won't work docked is such a pointlessly absolute response. As long as your consumer understands what they're buying, it's up to them if they think it's worth it.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
I don't even own a Switch and am fine with this.

I assume the Vita and Wii U versions were also touch-screen only? (Wii U gamepad required?)
 

muteki

Member
I'm pretty okay with this when it comes to older ports but I hope we don't see a bunch of new games that are handheld only.
 
Idk, my dads $80 android phone can mirror to the TV no problem. I just think it would have been fairly cheap for them to implement and it seems weird that it can't do it from a consumer perspective.

And how does this work?

Sorry, but you're not making much sense.
 

Figboy79

Aftershock LA
I play my Switch docked the majority of the time, but I'll also sometimes play it on my commute to work, or during breaks at work. I love being able to...switch (groan!) between the two modes.

With that said, if a game is designed for touch screen only play, I have no issues with playing it that way. Seems like a non issue to me. To be frank, the Switch needs all the games it can get, and having a quality game like Severed on it is better than not having it on the Switch at all.
 
Idk, my dads $80 android phone can mirror to the TV no problem. I just think it would have been fairly cheap for them to implement and it seems weird that it can't do it from a consumer perspective.

Uhh, do you know how an android phone mirrors content to a TV, and what sort of content? How much of a delay there is between the native device rendering a screen and that screen showing up on your TV? (anywhere between a quarter-second to multiple seconds, depending on the hardware config...)



Ask yourself why you can't just connect your PS4 or your Xbox or your PC to your TV wirelessly.
 
As someone who almost never plays his Switch outside of docked mode, I have absolutely zero issue with this.

If Nintendo refused a game like Severed from being released on Switch because of this restriction, you can bet we'd have a thread about it full of angry users.
 

kiguel182

Member
I've been meaning to buy this game but never did.

I don't know why anyone would have an issue with it being handled only.
 
This.

If something like zelda locked out tv mode I'd be pissed though.

Right, imagine if BotW 2 released in say 3 years, and due to increased graphical of physics stuff could only run in docked mode. Would people here really be saying "that's totally fine"? I certainly hope not.
 

inner-G

Banned
Uhh, do you know how an android phone mirrors content to a TV, and what sort of content? How much of a delay there is between the native device rendering a screen and that screen showing up on your TV? (anywhere between a quarter-second to multiple seconds, depending on the hardware config...)

Ask yourself why you can't just connect your PS4 or your Xbox or your PC to your TV wirelessly.
It may not be fast enough for gameplay, but if you usually play with someone on the couch, you could at least see what each other were doing when they were playing without looking over their shoulder

And I can stream stuff wirelessly from PC, my TV has a SteamLink app built-in
 
It may not be fast enough for gameplay, but if you usually play with someone on the couch, you could at least see what each other were doing when they were playing without looking over their shoulder

And I can stream stuff wirelessly from PC, my TV has a SteamLink app built-in

I mean, what are you asking for here? A NintendoLink app on smart TVs that would basically just for social screen use? From the same company that can't make a competent voice chat app on phones?
 
It may not be fast enough for gameplay, but if you usually play with someone on the couch, you could at least see what each other were doing when they were playing without looking over their shoulder

And I can stream stuff wirelessly from PC, my TV has a SteamLink app built-in

For such a system to be fast enough for gameplay streaming, Switch would need to dedicate a portion of its finite GPU capabilities to streaming, and the dock would need to have the hardware required to accept that stream. That take on a 'streaming' Switch isn't technically impossible, but it'd require a stronger GPU, a bit more CPU overhead, and a more expensive dock with its own OS and wireless capabilities. We're talking a 400$+ Switch at launch. Anything less would be impractical for anything but not having to look over someone's shoulder to observe their gameplay from a couple of seconds ago.
 
I mean, what are you asking for here? A NintendoLink app on smart TVs that would basically just for social screen use? From the same company that can't make a competent voice chat app on phones?

I'm just wondering what the point is in mirroring the handheld screen to the TV is when you could, you know, just put the Switch in the Dock...

And even if it's for the sake of the few handheld only games, who would want to play a touchscreen game on their handheld while looking at a TV?
 

Mikke

Member
Has anyone actually tried this on Switch yet? Interested to know if it works well.
I am playing this for the first time on Switch. Works really well.

You move and look around using a joycon and use your other hand on the touch screen.

It's kind of a dungeon crawling game similar to Grimrock when it comes to movement. You move from room to room to fight stuff and solve puzzles. Combat is purely touch based with enemies having specific body parts and that are hittable and others that will block your attack, which is why I think this would not work without a touch screen. During combat you can also use the joycon to look around which allows you to juggle multiple enemies at the same time.

So far I'm loving it.
 

Red or Alive

Neo Member
I completed this on iOS. I never complete games on iOS - Severed is just that good.

It might also be the best introduction to 1st person dungeon crawlers on the market right now.
 

chronomac

Member
I am playing this for the first time on Switch. Works really well.

You move and look around using a joycon and use your other hand on the touch screen.

It's kind of a dungeon crawling game similar to Grimrock when it comes to movement. You move from room to room to fight stuff and solve puzzles. Combat is purely touch based with enemies having specific body parts and that are hittable and others that will block your attack, which is why I think this would not work without a touch screen. During combat you can also use the joycon to look around which allows you to juggle multiple enemies at the same time.

So far I'm loving it.

Thank you for your impressions. I had been meaning to get this on either 3DS or iOS and just never got around to it. Rectifying that tonight.
 

CamHostage

Member
I'm just wondering what the point is in mirroring the handheld screen to the TV is when you could, you know, just put the Switch in the Dock...

And even if it's for the sake of the few handheld only games, who would want to play a touchscreen game on their handheld while looking at a TV?

Yeah, if this portable-only line of Switch games became an epidemic, maybe Nintendo could sell like a trackpad accessory or link up a 3DS or use a phone/table ala Sony's PlayLink app (and put a representational element of the game on the screen ... I'm having a hard time thinking how you'd even do that in Severed, but something like Yoshi Touch & Go would kind of work,) but none of those methods would do it, and unless for some reason masses of publishers refused to make games compatible in dock mode, we're talking only a few instances and games where it really only makes sense to have them play the way they're designed to play.
 

RPGam3r

Member
The selling point of the system is that games can be played on the TV or portably. If it can only be played on the TV, that's not good. If it can only be played portably, that's not good, either. I would bet that if the next Pokemon game came out on the system and it could only be played portably, there would be a huge outcry to that.

Agreed, this is flying under the radar probably bc people don't care all that much about these titles to be blunt.
 
Time to remind everyone that the Switch is primary and above all, A PORTABLE?

I >>almost<< finished it on the 3DS, someday I will go back to it :p.
 

nick_b

Member
They absolutely need to advertise the fact that it is touch screen only. If I hadn't come here and searched for it then I wouldn't have known and would have bought it. I will buy it later down the line because I do want to play it but I was looking for games I could play in TV mode at the time.

Touchscreen only is totally fine but please make it known so that people do not buy it assuming that it is TV compatible.

Time to remind everyone that the Switch is primary and above all, A PORTABLE?

This is not true at all for me. I played about halfway through Zelda in handheld mode and a bit of Arms but since Splatoon 2 has come out it has been TV mode 95% of the time.
 
Agreed, this is flying under the radar probably bc people don't care all that much about these titles to be blunt.

It's 'flying under the radar' because it's a non-issue. Most people are not going to care that a touchscreen-centric game is portable only. Most reasonable people aren't going to look at that touch screen game and think to themselves, "Oh no! What if this means Pokemon will be portable only!" like the decision to make this game portable only was arbitrary and not firmly rooted in the design of the game
 
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