Sonic Forces: Nintendo Switch Version Footage and Discussion

[JezMM]

Footage of the Switch version, originally posted in this topic by @Operationgamer17 and @Ayliffe respectively:

 

 

Figured this deserved it's own thread since the quality of the Switch version had been a point of contention/discussion for a while in the Megathread.  From this first footage, it seems like the game is overall completely on par with the visual fidelity of the PC/PS4 version so like, to the couple of naysayers who were expecting Unleashed Wii levels of graphical downgrade and that the first Green Hill footage looked bad "because it's the Switch version", all my gloating towards you guys.  A thousand gloats at you.  Gloats all over your front lawn.  Go have a glass of "you were wrong" juice to calm down oh no too bad you can't I filled your refridgerator with gloats.

(EDIT: Since the discovery of some lower quality textures/models in the city geometry, I've taken it upon myself to remove the gloats from your fridge and I picked up MOST of the ones on your lawn?  Not all, some of it still stands.)

Now that's out of my system though, there are still places where the Switch version could fall short.  Obviously the footage above looks to me that it runs at 30 FPS and has the occasional frame dip during hectic sections - not a dealbreaker for most, Breath of the Wild suffers this after all.  Naturally the handheld mode will be running at 720p, but it's possible for performance that the non-handheld gameplay could be the same if they haven't scaled the visuals back.  Not every part of the game could have the same level of optimisation due to time restraints, causing bigger dips in unseen parts of the game etc.

The purpose of this thread is to share and discuss footage that will continue to give us a clearer picture of how the Switch version will be.

[Blue Blood]

The framerate seems to struggle at times and is most likely going to be capped at 30fps instead of 60fps, but I'm thoroughly impressed by this display. I honestly expected the Switch version to be a very noticeable visual downgrade. Not something of the calibre of Unleashed Wii which was an entirely separate game, but for it to look watered down. What I'd like to see now is some direct feed screenshot/videos of that version specifially so that we can tell exactly what the differences are. It looks like they've exhausted every effort to get the make sure the Switch version doesn't feel lesser. Kudos, Sonic Team.

[Wraith]

There have been talks by some of objects missing in the background but I didn't notice anything. 

I also have to admit this is better than I expected. I always was secure in expecting the game to play the same, but I assumed it would take more hits visually, so good job on Sega for the porting job.

I...think I would rather lose some more objects than play a boost game at 30fps if I can help it, but eh. Portability is a good enough trade for that, I think.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

I can hear the avatar has a voice in the gameplay. So there's hope that he or she will have lines in cutscenes?

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

39 minutes ago, Acoolsonicfan said:

I can hear the avatar has a voice in the gameplay. So there's hope that he or she will have lines in cutscenes?

No voicelines. Only grunts, confirmed through the latest stream, before E3 happened. I could hear some of it through the Green Hill Gameplay.

[Blue Blood]

We may have jumped the gun.

[JezMM]

Yeah, confirmed here:

 

Seems about what I expected though, it really does look like a PC game on lower settings and I'm glad they didn't have to sacrifice the atmosphere/colour palette/lighting.

I'll definitely still be getting the Switch version just for that portability, but this pretty much confirms that I'll be double-dipping and first playing on PC for the pretties.

[The Deleter]

21 hours ago, JezMM said:

From this first footage, it seems like the game is overall completely on par with the visual fidelity of the PC/PS4 version so like, to the couple of naysayers who were expecting Unleashed Wii levels of graphical downgrade and that the first Green Hill footage looked bad "because it's the Switch version", all my gloating towards you guys.  A thousand gloats at you.  Gloats all over your front lawn.  Go have a glass of "you were wrong" juice to calm down oh no too bad you can't I filled your refridgerator with gloats.

Anyways, the game is still in development to the point where GHZ wasn't even finished when it was revealed, so things could get better for this version later down the line... But that depends. And honestly, I thought they picked the Lost World art style for the sake of running it well on the Switch in the long run. Even though Lost World looked simple, it's texturework was still more detailed than that footage shows Forces running at. And again, Generations-tier graphics should be entirely possible. This art style is simpler, and yet looks worse than Generations did on this build.

Buuuut...

If the Switch version stays like this, I'm not sure which one I'd pick as my go-to copy, tbh. The switch is portable, which I use much more than home consoles by far, and I've always wanted a (GOOD) portable 3D Sonic game, and would give me more of a reason to buy it than console would when I have all the other Boost games to fall back on...

But, if modern Sonic's stages actually end up feeling really good, if not demanding, then I'd reeeaaally be wanting that 60FPS in comparison... Probably moreso than any of those points above, tbh.

Hoping that the switch version is optimized further, but until then, it really depends on how the game turns out in the long run, for me.

[Blue Blood]

Off screen again, but we get a good look at the framerate tanking and some of the really poor looking textures. Jez's description of "a PC game on low quality settings" is bang-on the mark.

[JezMM]

I definitely think they've scaled back intelligently mind you.  I'd much rather have low-res textures with the same gorgeous lighting, reflections, and background action/particle effects etc, than have high quality visuals but all of the special effects trimmed away so puddles are non-reflective or background scenery is simplified, no physics on exploding business etc.

Just hope they can get that frame-rate in check, but it's far from unplayable at the moment.

[Blue Blood]

7 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I definitely think they've scaled back intelligently mind you.  I'd much rather have low-res textures with the same gorgeous lighting, reflections, and background action/particle effects etc, than have high quality visuals but all of the special effects trimmed away so puddles are non-reflective or background scenery is simplified, no physics on exploding business etc.

Just hope they can get that frame-rate in check, but it's far from unplayable at the moment.

I mostly agree with you, but...

This kind of thing really needs to be touched up.Those textures wouldn't impress on the PS2.

[Nast]

.

[shdowhunt60]

Neither are particularly spectacular, but this was to be expected. You just can't make a game that's running on a PS4 run on a Switch in portable mode without making some major sacrifices. There's just a massive deficit in performance there. And honestly, if it was me, I'd probably even go further than that just to see if I couldn't hit 60fps.

[JezMM]

44 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

I mostly agree with you, but...

This kind of thing really needs to be touched up.Those textures wouldn't impress on the PS2.

Yeah, I noticed in the last footage you posted a couple of other spots where it goes that (smoothed out) pixelly with the textures too.

Strange how it's just particular spots.  In comparison the ground looks low quality but servicable, but stuff like this is very jarring.  Considering the game will likely have a fixed camera, you'd think of all the textures they'd make sure are looking good, it'd be the ones that the camera will be pointed directly at, front-on.

[Chili Dawg]

I suppose we should all just thank our lucky stars we've not heard hide nor hair of Dimps involvement.

[Badnik Mechanic]

More Switch impressions

https://www.sonicstadium.org/2017/06/sonic-forces-on-nintendo-switch-e3-impressions/

Game was played in both docked and portable.

[doctorbenMD]

31 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

More Switch impressions

https://www.sonicstadium.org/2017/06/sonic-forces-on-nintendo-switch-e3-impressions/

Game was played in both docked and portable.

*exhales*

Yeah this is too tricky to call right now which version I'll go with. I'm sure other players feel the same sentiment. We're so far off from the release date (that we still don't really know) that these issues might be resolved. It's possible these issues might even be resolved by the time TGS rolls around in September. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

2 minutes ago, doctorbenMD said:

It's possible these issues might even be resolved by the time TGS rolls around in September. 

That's extremely unlikely.

The lead system for this is so clearly the PC/PS4 right now, there is absolutely no way it'll get to the same level as the PS4/Xbox especially since all versions are due out on the same day.

This is what you're going to get, the difference between the systems is what you see right now, it's very unlikely to change at all.

[doctorbenMD]

20 minutes ago, Mayor D said:

That's extremely unlikely.

The lead system for this is so clearly the PC/PS4 right now, there is absolutely no way it'll get to the same level as the PS4/Xbox especially since all versions are due out on the same day.

This is what you're going to get, the difference between the systems is what you see right now, it's very unlikely to change at all.

And you're probably right. This kind of stuff is not my forte. It ultimately doesn't matter too much to me--I'll be playing the game regardless. But I guess it makes sense that having a true-to-form 3D Sonic game that runs smoothly in portable mode was a bit too good to be true. Izuka did say that developing for the Switch was one of their bigger challenges, so I'm not entirely surprised. 

I do think it's bullshit that we haven't seen it run on the regular PS4 and regular xbox, though. Like, I'm sure most of us don't have the extra 500 scratch laying around to buy another console. 

[FantasticMrRobb]

HEY

I appreciate this thread. Seriously.

I was planning on getting the Switch version, even though I have an Xbox One.

Reason I mention this, I'm a perfectionist. Every game I play has to be in the best console quality I can have it in before I feel good about playing it.

A curse, yeah, but at least my fridge wasn't oozing with gloats earlier.

Anyways, I really know nothing much at all about this, just heard that the Switch version may no be as "pretty" as pretty much the PlayStation and Xbox versions, BUT if it's just for the TV, I guess that's okay. I rarely ever hook my Switch up to the TV. Not that I wasn't planning on doing it eventually for kicks though.

Sure hope that it can look as good as the other versions eventually. I've truly never enjoyed playing the lesser-in-quality versions of games unless there's an actual difference like between the Wii and 360 versions of Unleashed.

[JezMM]

Hogfather is probably right that the visuals probably aren't going to change before release.  At the most MAYBE some of the most glaring textures might be cleaned up in exchange for other ones that are less visible.  Or MAYBE the game will be optimised a little better to remove the framerate drops (but still remain at a max of 30 FPS).

But very unlikely both of the above.

[Badnik Mechanic]

5 minutes ago, FantasticMrRobb said:

Anyways, I really know nothing much at all about this, just heard that the Switch version may no be as "pretty" as pretty much the PlayStation and Xbox versions, BUT if it's just for the TV, I guess that's okay. I rarely ever hook my Switch up to the TV. Not that I wasn't planning on doing it eventually for kicks though

Pretty is a really really bad word to use when describing this game.

If it were literally just graphical fidelity then you might have a point. But because this game is a high speed game frame rate becomes a lot more important. The higher the frame rate, the better the game will both look as well as respond to your own inputs.

[JezMM]

I'm not SO worried about the framerate - it's a shame we can't get 60 on Switch and I imagine it'll take some getting used to when playing portable (I plan to double-dip but play PC first), but Unleashed also ran at 30 with drops and was still playable - plus thus far Modern Sonic's gameplay looks far less intense than Unleashed, on par with Colours, so it might not be crazy demanding of us.  We'll see.

[Bobnik]

Eh, expected, but still sucks. I guess other people are able to play modern sonic games at 30 FPS, but not me. I cannot for the life of me play any Sonic games at 30 frames, it feels so sluggish and, well, slow.

 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

Well, keep in mind Demo's are a screenshot of development, and generally are several months old as well. partially because it takes 2-3 months to make them stable without the rest of the game, and you need it ready long before the event. So there could be some final patching up and refinement. Although this should be a general idea. Also, this could be argued the best looking handheld sonic yet