Graphics vs Performance or simple cloud only? (Switch Specific)

[Pumkin_22]

I have been seeing a lot of debate on how the Switch version of Sonic Frontiers should be handled, and I am worried about that as well, because the only current gen console I own is the Nintendo Switch, and a decent PC that can play Sonic Generations at 60 fps, 720p, low settings (shadows, and reflections), FXAA, and Vsinc. So for many others that don't have PC, or any other console than a Switch, then we are definitely worried as drastic changes might be imminent compared to the other versions. Or will all of this worrying go away if a cloud version is announced? 

What do you think will happen? And is there some hope?

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Edited February 7, 2022 by Strickerx5
Changed title to be more including

[Blue Blood]

Gatekeeping the thread to just people who own specific consoles ain't cool. 

I have a PS5, PS4, Switch and PC that can run Generations on max settings and Forces on high settings if I run it at sub-1089 (I don't know the specs of my PC). The Switch is my favourite platform, but not at the cost of performance, a significant drop in fidelity or physical copies. I'm fortunate enough to have a PS5 which is likely what I'll be playing Frontiers on. The Switch version probably isn't going to be particularly good. It'll most certainly run at a maximum of 30fps with heavily scaled down visuals. Performance is key for Sonic games. Based upon most multiplatform games, I'm certain the Switch version will be pretty bad. 

And if it somehow ended up being a cloud version instead, I'd still give that a pass because I would be able to play it offline and it would stop working at some point in the future. I think you'll find that there's a great deal of resistance towards cloud versions of games. It certainly wouldn't stop a lot of people worrying. In fact, it would probably cause even further disdain. 

Just have to wait and see. It'll be one bad thing or the other bad thing. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Honestly if you have the choice... I would utterly avoid the switch version.

There is absolutely no way its going to even be close to the other systems in terms of performance without a massive cost to the graphical or level of detail in the environments.

[Diogenes]

I don't particularly care for how Frontiers looks even when they're throwing a bunch of power behind it, so I don't see any reason to hobble its performance just trying to live up to something that isn't even interesting to look at in the first place.

Of course, they'd need to convince me that any version of the game is worth buying before I'd have a reason to worry about the Switch version...

[Strickerx5]

While this discussion certainly favors a Switch user's experience, we don't limit discussions to certain groups here.

 

As for the topic at hand, I'm going to be honest here, I haven't seen this being brought up by sole Switch users. The discussion seems to be more around how ST developing this game with the Switch in mind is going to hinder the other platforms. The Switch can barely hold out on last gen games as is. Current gen is kind of out of the question if you're going to use their feature sets.

As far as a Switch only perspective is concerned, I've sort of seen the discussion revolve more around the game being on there at all rather than how well it runs/looks. I think the general Switch audience is less concerned about those things a lot of the time for various reasons. They just want to be able to play it.

That being said, it's hard to pin down where exactly we can expect Frontiers to land with this. We haven't really seen any actual gameplay yet so we don't know what the game is actually doing. If we were to go off the base level of having a 3D, open world Sonic game with a more detailed art style, than yeah... the Switch is probably going to be hurting. I'd expect around a >900p resolution docked with a semi-stable 30fps in the best scenario with every graphical option set as low as it can reasonably go.

Of course there is the Cloud (which as someone who prefers playing on PC I selfishly hope they do in order to give the other versions some more breathing room) but that has it's own issues that people aren't keen on. Latency, inability to play offline, service life, all that bs. As much as I hate to be reminded of this fact, this series does often see the bulk of its sales come from Nintendo platforms with multi-plat releases so it probably isn't in Sega's best interest to piss those users off.

Overall, my bet is that it's going to run natively on Switch... just not all that well. Though to be brutally honest here, if someone really cares about that stuff, they probably already have at least a One/ PS4 or something better lying around.

[VO.SUPER]

I hope the Switch version at least runs at a solid 30 FPS and doesn't look like utter crap. Its the only console I have, and my PC can't run modern games well. 

The base game should run fabulously on the other machines I'd hope. And I'd be happy if my Switch version is just consistent. 

Of course, SEGA kinda don't have a choice, unless they want to piss off Switch users like they did with Colours Ult. Seeing as how that game barely made a dent on the other consoles. 

Frankly as long as the game is generally well optimized for everything (hah) I think people would be happy. 

[BubbleButt TV]

I feel like if the Switch version is gonna be cloud based, they should've said so by now.  

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice runs natively on Switch and that seems to run pretty well. Also I think Sonic Forces kinda ran decently on Switch but that wasn't a very graphically demanding game tbh.

We'll have to wait and see I guess. I won't be surprised if the Switch version is clout based.