DF: Zelda BOTW & TOTK (Nintendo Switch 2) Review

Played BotW on a friend's Switch 2 and immediately noticed the differences without side by side comparisons. I've played it a few days before on my Switch 1 and noticed instantly more ground details, better and higher res textures up close and waaaaay better anisotropic filtering that doesn't make textures muddy at 3 meters distance. Faster loading times, better shadows, way better image quality and resolution and obviously 60 frames per second. It now feels like a modern game, and the Switch 1 version looks like a mobile game in regards to image quality and visual fidelity (not art design, mind you).
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
The Switch was the gold mine. They were the first into the handheld market, and that was huge. The Switch 2, even though it has sold a ton, will never be able to keep up, because it's not that "special" thing anymore. Instead, it's a portable system that most people use docked (outside of Japan), and you get poor performance out of it because of its mobile specs.

There's plenty of room. Not to mention that we can pretty much erase the Xbox at this point, they're not offering anything. For example, let's say that you don't own any systems atm. You're searching for one, and the Switch 2, instead of being this weak mobile system, is more in line with the PS5. This Switch 2 has access to all third party system, has a proper online infrastructure and offers the same, or better visuals than the standard ps5. The same system will also have access to Nintendo exclusives, games you can't play anywhere else. Knowing how fuckedup current Sony is, and how much of a shitshow MS has been, why won't you get the Switch 2 right at this moment? You have mario kart, new DK and what would be an amazing looking Metroid 4 if built for ps5-like specs coming very soon. There's literally no reason why you wouldn't buy a powerful Switch 2, even as your primary system. Instead, Nintendo and their systems are permanently stuck as a side bitch, and will never be able to be the primary system of anyone that takes their hobby remotely seriously.

If that's the reasoning for mini discs, then they were drunk. Not only was the loading long like on every other system at that time, they messed up their console with those discs.

I don't believe for a second that a multi billion dollars company cares about a region. They might, and most likely do care more about Japan than CaliSony, if most sales are in NA, $$$$$ is all that matters.
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Nintendo likes to be the 150+mn selling 'side bitch.'

IF they are only the 100+mn 'side bitch' this gen then they'll gladly take that as well.
 
tr1p1ex said:
Nintendo likes to be the 150+mn selling 'side bitch.'

IF they are only the 100+mn 'side bitch' this gen then they'll gladly take that as well.
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I don't see this happening with the Switch 2, and i believe they'll be real far from those numbers. Way too much options in the portable space nowadays compared to when the Switch launched.
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
I don't see this happening with the Switch 2, and i believe they'll be real far from those numbers. Way too much options in the portable space nowadays compared to when the Switch launched.
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But you're the same guy that just said they should make a PS5 clone and compete against cutting edge specs of home consoles and pcs and you're now worried about 'handheld' competition?

Nevermind there are not any true consoles in the handheld space. They are all pc handhelds.
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
I don't see this happening with the Switch 2, and i believe they'll be real far from those numbers. Way too much options in the portable space nowadays compared to when the Switch launched.
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Steam Deck was launched at the middle of the Switch 1 life cycle and still managed to sell like 50 million more… Also, there's a classical thread here about the Switch 1 predictions… Never bet against Nintendo, especially now.
 
tr1p1ex said:
But you're the same guy that just said they should make a PS5 clone and compete against cutting edge specs of home consoles and pcs and you're now worried about 'handheld' competition?

Nevermind there are not any true consoles in the handheld space. They are all pc handhelds.
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I am not worried about anything. What i am saying is that the Switch 1 had no competion for years, and that's the reason it has done as well as it did. The Switch 2 is not in the same kind of a situation. All the Nintendo fans are grabbing it like the WiiU, which even that failed system did well at the beginning. It's in the long run that i would never see the Switch 2 approaching Switch 1 sales. If i had to thrown a number, the Switch 2 will sell around 90M. Which is good, but it ain't not 150M+ club. And those numbers can easily be achieved with a powerful system, while also offering quality visuals and frame rate.
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
I am not worried about anything. What i am saying is that the Switch 1 had no competion for years, and that's the reason it has done as well as it did. The Switch 2 is not in the same kind of a situation. All the Nintendo fans are grabbing it like the WiiU, which even that failed system did well at the beginning. It's in the long run that i would never see the Switch 2 approaching Switch 1 sales. If i had to thrown a number, the Switch 2 will sell around 90M. Which is good, but it ain't not 150M+ club. And those numbers can easily be achieved with a powerful system, while also offering quality visuals and frame rate.
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Why do you think there's a correlation between graphic power and sales when it comes to consoles?
 
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SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
I am not worried about anything. What i am saying is that the Switch 1 had no competion for years, and that's the reason it has done as well as it did. The Switch 2 is not in the same kind of a situation. All the Nintendo fans are grabbing it like the WiiU, which even that failed system did well at the beginning. It's in the long run that i would never see the Switch 2 approaching Switch 1 sales. If i had to thrown a number, the Switch 2 will sell around 90M. Which is good, but it ain't not 150M+ club. And those numbers can easily be achieved with a powerful system, while also offering quality visuals and frame rate.
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Ok so you want them to take on a real challenge. Forget their low selling expensive handheld 'competition.'

And instead go after the relatively high selling competition in Sony and MSFT instead (along with pc gaming towers and gaming laptops.)

Despite their ~35 years of much greater success in handhelds. And despite this chart:

handheld.900x.jpg
 
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LordOcidax said:
Steam Deck was launched at the middle of the Switch 1 life cycle and still managed to sell like 50 million more… Also, there's a classical thread here about the Switch 1 predictions… Never bet against Nintendo, especially now.
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What?.............. The classic NeoGaf thread that most said the original Switch was dead on arrival. So tell me again why do we even listen to these guys anymore..... Assuming any of them are still on here.
 
Filben said:
better anisotropic filtering that doesn't make textures muddy at 3 meters distance
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Can you show examples? All I see is increased shadow and texture resolution, no filtering changes. Essentially change the config, recompile, include the original texture assets and not the ones they downscaled to fit the Switch 1 RAM budget, and there you have it.
The rest is the HW grunts sustaining that load at 60 FPS.
Shadow filtering has not been improved, number of samples for AF has not been increased (see the DF video), LOD and draw distance has not been changed, AS is the same as before.

Still, overall is a better looking and playing upgrade, we do not have to boast about things it does not have.
 
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Mozza said:
What?.............. The classic NeoGaf thread that most said the original Switch was dead on arrival. So tell me again why do we even listen to these guys anymore..... Assuming any of them are still on here.
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When I go into threads that old, I rarely recognize anyone. But at the time, folks had Wii U fresh in their minds and so calling Switch 1 "DOA" was pretty easy for many, I would imagine. Not that outlandish really and hindsight is 20/20
 
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Topher said:
When I go into threads that old, I rarely recognize anyone. But at the time, folks had Wii U fresh in their minds and so calling Switch 1 "DOA" was pretty easy for many, I would imagine. Not that outlandish really and hindsight is 20/20
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So true, a lot would have been banned. How is Donkey King going?.... I still need to get around to buying that one.
 
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LordOcidax said:
Why do you think there's a correlation between graphic power and sales when it comes to consoles?
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Because better specs don't just mean better visuals, but frame rate as well. Everyone is so focused on graphics when it comes to good specs, but the reality is, you get both, something you will never see on a mobile system. Wanting Nintendo to deliver gimmicks, is asking for inferior games, because with their mobile specs, they have limits to what they're even capable of achieving.
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
Because better specs don't just mean better visuals, but frame rate as well. Everyone is so focused on graphics when it comes to good specs, but the reality is, you get both, something you will never see on a mobile system. Wanting Nintendo to deliver gimmicks, is asking for inferior games, because with their mobile specs, they have limits to what they're even capable of achieving.
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No they are not. The masses simply do not care.
 
tr1p1ex said:
Ok so you want them to take on a real challenge. Forget their low selling expensive handheld 'competition.'

And instead go after the relatively high selling competition in Sony and MSFT instead (along with pc gaming towers and gaming laptops.)

Despite their ~35 years of much greater success in handhelds. And despite this chart:

handheld.900x.jpg
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From what year is this graph? Outside of Japan, there's zero chance this is how the Switch 2 is being used in 2025.
 
Mozza said:
No they are not. The masses simply do not care.
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The more casual demographic Nintendo has, don't. There's plenty of the "core" demographic that does, and if they were capable of offering their titles at 120fps (assuming they kept simple looking assets), it would literally become the selling point of the system.
 
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SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
Because better specs don't just mean better visuals, but frame rate as well. Everyone is so focused on graphics when it comes to good specs, but the reality is, you get both, something you will never see on a mobile system. Wanting Nintendo to deliver gimmicks, is asking for inferior games, because with their mobile specs, they have limits to what they're even capable of achieving.
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People don't care about those things in the real world, and the people that really care already moved to PC, especially now that we have almost all the Microsoft and Sony "exclusives" on Steam.
 
Topher said:
When I go into threads that old, I rarely recognize anyone. But at the time, folks had Wii U fresh in their minds and so calling Switch 1 "DOA" was pretty easy for many, I would imagine. Not that outlandish really and hindsight is 20/20
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This is another great thread… Good old times.
LordOcidax said:
Cant wait when the Switch reach 100 Million, to read a lot of "Not surprised" and "Expected" here. Never change GAF... lol
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And looks like GAF hasn't changed 🤣
 
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LordOcidax said:
This is another great thread… Good old times.

And looks like GAF hasn't changed 🤣
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The switch 2 won't sell more than the ps4 tho, unless Nintendo creates another meta like the animal crossing covid bonus' i still remember the hype like yesterday it was crazy. It opened the eye for everyone to know that the switch exists.

(I didn't bet against switch1 btw.)
 
Inanilmaz said:
The switch 2 won't sell more than the ps4 tho, unless Nintendo creates another meta like the animal crossing covid bonus' i still remember the hype like yesterday it was crazy. It opened the eye for everyone to know that the switch exists.

(I didn't bet against switch1 btw.)
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My bet is between 125-135 Million.
 
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SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
The more casual demographic Nintendo has, don't. There's plenty of the "core" demographic that does, and if they were capable of offering their titles at 120fps (assuming they kept simple looking assets), it would literally become the selling point of the system.
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This comment demonstrates why you and others on here just do not get it... And the fact it has to be explained multiple time on multiple threads. Then reinforced by the sales figures.... says more than any of your poorley disguised Nintendo hating commenrts ever could.
 
KuraiShidosha said:
Honestly couldn't have said it better myself. These games are awful and people only think they are "omg so epic!!!" because they play them while riding the bus to work sitting in their little corner miserable. The games themselves are overrated trash and yeah playing them in 4k 60 didn't make them any better when I emulated them, neither will a paltry 1440p with significant drops.
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Wait, they are not even in 4k and have drops?

How the fuck you can't bring ps3 level of fidelity at 4k60 in a machine 2x times more powerfull than a ps4?

They even upgraded the cpu so the physics of a sw1 game should not be a problem to handle.

Yo guys and gals, maybe this is why some people open topics about ninteno getting a free pass :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
GymWolf said:
Wait, they are not even in 4k and have drops?

How the fuck you can't bring ps3 level of fidelity at 4k60 in a machine 2x times more powerfull than a ps4?

They even upgraded the cpu so the physics of a sw1 game should not be a problem to handle.

Yo guys and gals, maybe this is why some people open topics about ninteno getting a free pass :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
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The guy you are replying to full of it when he says it has "significant drops". Summary in OP clearly says stable 60 and that's my experience as well. As far as the rest, Switch 2 still has the limitations of a handheld. What were your expectations here?
 
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
The guy you are replying to full of it when he says it has "significant drops". Summary in OP clearly says stable 60 and that's my experience as well. As far as the rest, Switch 2 still has the limitations of a handheld. What were your expectations here?
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To have ps3 graphic at 4k60 in a 2025 console that is 2x times more powerfull than a ps4?

I guess it's too much to ask.
 
GymWolf said:
To have ps3 graphic at 4k60 in a 2025 console that is 2x times more powerfull than a ps4?

I guess it's too much to ask.
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Whatever happened to all that "cross gen" stuff folks used to point out? And we do understand that this thing has to operate within the thermal confines of a tablet, right? It may or may not be 2x a PS4 in theory, but only fraction of the watts are running through it.
 
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I've just picked up a Switch 2 mostly to play the improved Zelda games (and there is bugger all else I want to play until GOY comes out in October). I'm currently one boss down on BOTW and I'm having a good time. I couldn't play the game on TV via the OG Switch because it looked awful (to me), so it's a real pleasure to enjoy the game on the big screen looking smooth and sharp. I still find the colours a little gaudy at times, but overall the improvement is massive as far as I'm concerned.

I couldn't even finish TOTK because I was really disappointed with the performance and the fuzzy visuals, so I'm looking forward to jumping into that one as soon as I'm finished with BOTW.

Playing on the big screen is a lot more immersive for me, and I've already found many things in the game that I hadn't even noticed when I played it originally on the OG Switch in handheld.

I had a quick go of Links Awakening too and, even without an upgrade, looks and plays much better.

I was hoping to hold out much longer for the Switch 2 because I'm not massively interested in any of the new stuff, but I've discovered that I can only go so long without some Zelda in my life
 
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Topher said:
Whatever happened to all that "cross gen" stuff folks used to point out? And we do understand that this thing has to operate within the thermal confines of a tablet, right? It may or may not be 2x a PS4 in theory, but only fraction of the watts are running through it.
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You have a point, on the other hand, as i always say, nobody forced nintendo to come out with a crappy tablet in 2025 that can't guarantee 4k60 with ps3 level graphic (and i'm being gentle, u3 or kz2 probably murder vanilla zelda)

If people can criticize series s for existing, sw2 doesn't get a free pass for having such shitty performance on a 80 euros remake of a 8 years old game.
 
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