David Jaffe sets Twitter on fire after calling Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “bland and old looking”

I mean, it is very old looking. I went back to BotW (haven't bought TotK yet) and my first impression was it looks like shit. But after about 5 minutes you totally forget about that first impression. They got the critical things right, for example you can climb a tower and see important landmarks from very, very far away.
 
Schmendrick said:
On my 77" OLED even in 4k/60fps + reshade I can wholeheartedly agree.
I looks like....well, a game made for a 6 year old handheld.
Tried it for a few minutes on an actual switch in docked mode....the horror :messenger_poop:
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With the amount of shimmering this game has, docked mode should give you an epilepsy warning.

I can get used to blurry look due to low resolution but not the constant shimmering.
 
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Mr Rogers Clown GIF
 
Unknown? said:
Seems like an opinion that will gain some traction after the honeymoon period.

Reminds me of how pissed people were with that BOTW 7.5 review.
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I mean, I don't know why people get pissed at reviews, but are you trying to say botw is a 7.5 game? Cuz if so, that's ridiculous
 
I think it looks bootiful and Tears Of The Kingdom is the most interactive open world ever.

Pulling off those physics and AI's in that world with no bugs and still having it look great on weak hardware embarrasses other developers.

I'm sorry my friends.
 
It's been fun watching davidjaffe davidjaffe chasing years-old Youtube trends to try to get clicks. Still love you though.

Beyond some graphical flaws found in most open world titles (antistrophic filtering, pop-in, frame dips, etc.), I've been fine with Zelda's visuals and often impressed. The world feels meticulously crafted and I don't think that would be possible if Nintendo were pushing cutting edge graphics as there is only one developer who creates massive worlds that feel handcrafted and uses cutting edge tech. I'm willing to bet R*'s development staff dwarfs Nintendo.
 
ulantan said:
I really like TOTK however there is a truth that only Nintendo can get away with charging 70 for this. Right now Starfield is on the examination table being picked through even though we have barely seen footage. If Starfield comes out with 60fps but drops to 50fps it will be yeeted into a volcano.
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the issue with what we saw of starfield is not the graphics though.

as per nintendo being the only one that can afford it, we will never know because it's the only AAA studio right now that for necessity or choice doesn't make of graphics a selling point
 
Majukun said:
the issue with what we saw of starfield is not the graphics though.

as per nintendo being the only one that can afford it, we will never know because it's the only AAA studio right now that for necessity or choice doesn't make of graphics a selling point
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Yeah but the frame rate on TOTK gets rough sometimes even if it targets 30 I expect it to be somewhat stabe
 
ulantan said:
Yeah but the frame rate on TOTK gets rough sometimes even if it targets 30 I expect it to be somewhat stabe
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agree, but since the game has been stewing for 6 years, it seems that the switch just could not do more regardless...while i don't like fps dips, it would have been a shame to sacrifice something else just to avoid them
 
He has a point.

This will likely end up being my favourite game of all time, but this *has* to mark the end of the Switch lifecycle.
 
ulantan said:
Yeah but the frame rate on TOTK gets rough sometimes even if it targets 30 I expect it to be somewhat stabe
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I actually think the frame rate is fine, and does a very good job of staying consistent.

But the graphical fidelity has been hugely toned down to accommodate it.
 
Icymanipulator said:
He's right, the game looks rough as fuck at certain times, and Nintendo definitely gets a pass more than other devs.
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It's a systems driven game on 6 year old dated hardware that wasn't exactly cutting edge at the time.

Context matters.

But I guess, it'd be the same people complaining about how this game looks and how an XBOX One S game runs VS a fully kitted OCed 4090 specced out PC of the same game. Or just an XBOX One S VS a PS5. There are just clear levels of hardware differentiation.

And Nintendo has ALWAYS gotten shit on for it's graphics 'situation' for as long as I can remember. That shit really kicked on about the N64(tho I can still remember people complaining about the power of certain other consoles VS the NES and SNES), slightly eased up on GC, and then never ended from the Wii onward.

Still though, he is right, it is 'old looking' for very obvious reasons. As for 'bland', it'd be in the eye of the beholder.

But it is what it is. "IMO and given how important visuals seem to be to others". Not sure why he used this as a screen, and also not sure why he'd want the game to be dinged on graphics. God of War 2 looked great for the PS2 at the time....but it was also released the same year as Crysis and in comparison....well, you work with the hardware you got.
 
Nintendo doesnt care about graphics. Theres a lesson somewhere in there the critics need to understand. Calling the game bland and old looking is just confirming yourself as a retard.
 
I'll take art style/direction over visual specs any day of the week. Having said that, it would be nice to play this in 4K/60ps with higher res textures. Hopefully we can on the next Switch.
 
I wonder when people will grow a brain and understand that it's not reasonable to expect console-level graphics running on a portable hardware of the same generation...because of physics.
Sure, the Switch is outdated now when compared to hardware like Steam Deck and Rog Ally, but it was pretty good for its price point in 2017.
 
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Ya but it still runs better than Jedi survivor on old ass hardware. Fat man needs to chill thinking he's a god or something cause his games are good but they are not the second coming of Christ
 
supernova8 said:
Reviewers were pretty critical of Pokemon SV's visuals, no?

I thought there was a general consensus that these Zelda games (ie BOTW and now TOTK) have a lot going on (especially fully fleshed out physics engines and dynamic worlds) and therefore look OK given the constraints of the Switch. In contrast all of the Pokemon games so far have looked like absolute dogshit despite having almost zero world interactivity.
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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have 72 average metacritic. We all know it launched broken mess, bugs, lot of problems, glitches, pop in, etc. Still got good reviews and sold a lot.
 
GigaBowser said:
I think it looks bootiful and Tears Of The Kingdom is the most interactive open world ever.

Pulling off those physics and AI's in that world with no bugs and still having it look great on weak hardware embarrasses other developers.

I'm sorry my friends.
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This. Imagine what Nintendo could do with power equal to the current systems.
 
Oh it's Jaffe. Never mind.

In all seriousness I think this from short ACG sums it up nicely, context matters:

 
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Onironauta said:
I wonder when people will grow a brain and understand that it's not reasonable to expect console-level graphics running on a portable hardware of the same generation...because of physics.
Sure, the Switch is outdated now when compared to hardware like Steam Deck and Rog Ally, but it was pretty good for its price point in 2017.
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BotW and TotK's success pretty much shows that a very large majority of people just don't care about cutting edge graphics and features like a few graphics-obsessed forum dwellers do.

I know which group I'd listen to, and which I'd flush.
 
bender said:
It's been fun watching davidjaffe davidjaffe chasing years-old Youtube trends to try to get clicks. Still love you though.
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or he's brave enough to call a spade a spade instead of jumping on the bandwagon like all the other youtubers, reviewers and tech bros like DF whose only job it is to criticize shitty graphics.

I will never understand why gamers turn on people who are actually brave enough to voice their opinions. You would have to be blind to not see how atrocious this game can look at times. DF completely glossed over the problems. So if what he's saying is true, based on reality then who cares why he's doing what he's doing?

DF literally found that the framerate drops to 20 fps every single time you open up your L1 ability to manipulate objects. I can confirm this. It happens every single time. For a game designed around this feature, its simply unacceptable that this was glossed over in a technical review of the game.

They are the ones who are frauds. Not Jaffe.
 
All the outrage for an opinion that is 100% valid. The game looks 2 generations old at best. The gameplay is great the game is fun that's fine. You still have eyeballs you can see he's not wrong.
 
gatti-man said:
All the outrage for an opinion that is 100% valid. The game looks 2 generations old at best. The gameplay is great the game is fun that's fine. You still have eyeballs you can see he's not wrong.
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Please, show me a portable game from 2 generations ago that looks better than this
 
Captain Toad said:
Nah, it did. Your comment sounds like a modern outrage cancel culture post.
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Blocked since you think making fun of any race, or saying on a podcast that game breaking glitches in a game are a way to get black people into the cast of characters is acceptable. Or that cancel culture is at play because I, as an individual, think making light of ethnicity for a punchline is a step too far.

Enjoy though.
 
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ByWatterson said:
Art style goes a very, very long way.

But yeah, I can't wait for the inevitable remaster on Switch Turbo Jaguar Pro 420.
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Yup. And honestly, while ToTK does look "bad" (especially if the game you just played before it is Jedi Survivor), it's purely the limitations of that hardware. And IMO it doesn't really detract from the gameplay or enjoyability of the experience. Even if you were to remark on the game being jaggy city, it's still a 9/10 experience.
 
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