Nier Automata for Nintendo Switch - DF Tech Review - Another Impossible Port?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ย. 2024
- Although it's hardly state-of-the-art in terms of its rendering, Nier Automata pushed the last-gen base consoles hard - so we approached a Nintendo Switch port with some trepidation. Has conversion house Virtous managed to deliver another 'impossible port' for the Nintendo hybrid? Just how did the developer manage to get the game running on Switch at all? Oliver Mackenzie has answers.
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It's incredible how much effort Virtuos put into making this port possible.
It doesn't work, as it is irish so you should pronounce it "Melow"
It’s an amazing piece of work and Virtuos should be highly praised for another fantastic port
@@TiredOfAllOfThis Another fantastic port? Have you played Return to Arkham?!
@@theinfinitynerd4954 No but I have played and loved Nier Automata and the Bioshock Collection… I have also played LA Noire all of which have had the hand of Virtuos on the them and I think that the play fantastically on the Switch.
I have been playing games since the 1970s and I know what I like but more importantly I know how lucky we are today… games are amazing part of modern life… a long way from Pong, Asteroids, Space Invaders and PacMan… we have the opportunity to play some quite amazing games… but no, they are not all perfect but I appreciate what we have.
@@TiredOfAllOfThis Virtuos also did an remarkable job on porting Dying Light to the Switch as well.
So would you say this port is NIER perfect?
I would.
Next step is Crisis Core FF7 Reunion
shut up
that was too good
Oh com'on!
I just Venmo’d you $5
Angry upvote moments
The fact that it hits 1080p is impressive on its own and with antialiasing.
imagined it overclocked
@@MatchStickMad true
Yeah, specially considering that base PS4 and Xbox One both runs the game at 900p
a 1080p game for 0.00000000000000000000001% of the game (taro loves its supid names) and fully 540p (vita is life) for the rest of the remainder 0.99999999999999999999999%. Impressive, indeed.
@@starfox14now 🤣
Congrats to the talented team at Virtuos! Your efforts are most certainly appreciated by us.
I'm buying a physical copy of this port for my OLED Switch (my 3rd copy of this game!).
It's worth it, I have two copies here, Game of the Yorha Edition on PS4 and now End of the Yorha Edition on Switch.
Appreciate the 4K video despite source material being 1080p, really helps with the TH-cam compression.
Honestly getting this game and Persona 5 Royal in the same month, this is such a treat for Switch fans. It may not be the best version of the game but it doesn't change the fact Automata is an amazing game.
Seriously, two heavy JRPG hitters in the same month.
@@DVL_Main These 2 games IMO are easily among the best on the PS4 it's so nice to see more people get the chance to play them. At this rate I think the only thing missing is FF7R.
You just saying that reminds me back in 2017 when both Nier Automata and Persona 5 were first released in the same year just a month or two apart. Good time for gaming back then, and the same just happened again for for Switch only this time they are releasing so close together.
@@theevokeruser2356 And the times only going to keep getting better when 4 and 3 join the party. Between those Arena and Strikers the Switch isnt a bad console at all for Persona 😊.
To be honest, for some it actually is the best version outside PC. Personally I can't play a game with aliased edges, it completely destroys the inmersion for me. This fixes that. For the OLED model playing in handheld, it's probably the best version after PC if you really dislike not having AA.
I’m so happy with this port, it shows how games of this scope/scale can run on the switch when smart concessions are made and care is taken by the studio doing the port. Virtuos deserves respect and gratitude for giving us this amazing technical achievement. I’m so glad we have Digital Foundry to help highlight this. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
one of the best games i've ever played, can't wait for another wave of people to experience it for the first time
same, i wish i could erase my memory and play through all the endings again. i still think about this game all the time and i beat it 3 years ago haha
@@taloor3137you worded is perfectly! It's such a masterpiece and I still about this game since its release 😭
This is definitely a very impressive port.
No Man's Sky drops on Switch today too. That one is going to be very interesting to look at.
Idk why people find gutted and downgraded versions of games interesting
considering the scale and scope I consider NMS to be the harder to port game
@@omarcomming722 Because it runs on what is primarily a handheld?
@@omarcomming722 because of the technical feats these can represent. one person's 'gutted' is another's 'efficiently compromised'. if you never bought this game, travel a lot or just want to remain untethered, and especially if you have a switch oled, this might be a great buy.
@@omarcomming722 it’s interesting to see what the developers/porting team have to compromise in order to get a game that runs and performs well (Obviously it’s not 100% guaranteed but interesting nonetheless). I imagine some of these ports (i.e. Doom Eternal, The Witcher 3, and Nier) are not an easy process making their ports that more impressive.
I suppose it’s similar to the whole, “can it run doom?”
1080p, even reconstructed with AA is impressive for Switch standards.
And also they didn't choosed to unlock framerate, which is good.
Good job Virtuos.
Not only that but PS4 had an unlocked framerate and never really did reach 60fps at 900p. This makes the Switch version seem more stable in some places
@@mspeter97 Well it's always more stable, since PS4 never reach 60 fps
They couldn't have unlocked framerate
Game physics and speed are tied to the framerate
Since they reworked everything to run in 30fps, the game would run faster if it ever went above 30FPS
@@Plumtopia It depends on what the Switch version is based, if it's a One / PS4 port, unlocked 60 shouldn't be an issue.
(But who wants unlocked 60 anyway, outside of VRR users ?)
@@ThibautMahringer it's still tied to the framerate in those versions
Look at the PC version, which is a port of the PS4 versions, if your GPU can't handle 60fps most of the time, the game will run slow. You wouldn't notice this on the PS4 or Xbox because it still runs at or near 60fps most of the time, even if it doesn't always hit the target
One of my favorite games period. It's a shame that so many only play 1/4th the game cause they don't realize the 2nd-5th ending completes the story.
How do you continue on to the rest of the game?
@@MrsBlaileen1 there are multiple endings, endings b-e are main endings. The rest f-z are hidden endings that are kinda more fun, but still memorable ones
@@nicholasotto2882 I was under the impression that the early “endings” were not real endings and that you play through the credits and continue on…
@@MrsBlaileen1 I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, but some endings are from different characters perspectives and others quite literally continue the story after other endings. Part E is the true final ending and you must play through a-d to get to it.
@@nicholasotto2882 Thanks very much. As long as it’s obvious how to continue past the “fake” endings (apparently they have fast scrolling credits), then I’ll be ok. Just hope it’s not confusing. I’m very early in the game…just finished first amusement park area/initial visit to robot village.
I've been having an absolute blast with this port. I'm not a big stickler when it comes to graphical fidelity as long as the overall performance and game feel are nice. And even with it being capped at 30fps, I'm finding the experience pretty enjoyable as when I played the PS4 version.
The only thing I found a little irritating (and it's honestly a *really* mundane thing) is that whenever you trip around some kind of bush or shrub while running, the sound effect sounds gargled and distorted as if someone ripped a 32kbps audio file off limewire. It kinda disrupts the feeling and atmosphere the music provides in certain areas.
As a gamer since 1985 and played thousands of games, Nier Automata is in my all time top ten. A beautiful gem of a game that makes you think after every play through. Inventive, thought provoking and a great narrative. Enjoy the gameplay ride ✌️🕹♿️
No Man's Sky also deserves a quick look I think.
It's also a miracle port all things considered
Persona 5 Royal is looking to be another miracle port as well
@@Boriratrit The og Persona 5 is also on PS3 so it was probably very easy to port
@@Boriratrit in rpg games I think DQ11 is more demanding game
@@Boriratrit persona 5 PC requirements are surprisingly low.
@@Boriratrit Atlus RPGs or most anime style JRPGs aren't that demanding. Persona 5 can probably run on the Vita
It still baffles me that a PS4 Platinum Games title was able to be ported to Switch, but not any of the Kingdom Hearts titles from the PS2 and PS3 era.
Square Enix has skewed priorities...
Exactly. Simple answer pure laziness.
Nier is the game that made me care about frame time. The pc port felt awful on my machine but the fps looked fine. Figured out it was stuttering from inconsistent frame time and now that’s become my biggest performance pet peeve.
Batman backstory
I never really had frame pacing issues with Automata but by that point I already knew about RTSS and how to get it to work to smooth out the frametimes. You should give Rivatuner Statistic Server a try and cap your framerates with that tool to clean up frametimes. Even makes 30FPS playable on PC too.
Hope you discovered special K and FAR for nier automata.
Yeah the average fps was unchanging 59-60, BUT there where very noticable and terrible stutters all the time! Made me realize that average fps is useless. Its the minimums which matter.
Is it fixed on the Microsoft Store on PC since that version is different from the Steam one?
I'll take this on Switch over a Cloud version ANY DAY. Great job putting this on Switch.
Without question. Even a full maxed out PC experience streamed to the switch would not be nearly as good as this
Honestly, framerate is overrated. People crying on social media seriously expected 60fps 1080 for this Switch port?
If people survived 30fps with Bloodborne for this long, then I am sure people will be fine with Nier being 30fps all things considering inferior hardware.
@@cbgg1585 60FPS is rather useful in games that move really fast. And Nier is a game that has a tendency to do that.
Devs can port this to Switch natively but left us with Kingdom Hearts HD Remix Cloud? Lmao
@@DeadPhoenix86DP I can see why cause Resident Evil games were made for native PS4 hardware which is significantly more powerful than Switch. But come on, Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD was a PS3 game, even Wii U could run that. Pretty fcked up imo
Purchased on switch. It’s a masterpiece and looks and plays absolutely fine. Highly recommended.
I have played this game for the first time when it came out on switch and I have to say it has one of the best intros I've seen in a long time - just 2 sentences and you get to play the game
This game looks fantastic, whether on the switch or not. Only goes to prove what I've been saying for years about the kind of hardware necessary to make a good game. You don't need the latest and greatest hardware. The most important things you need for a good game are obviously gameplay, but also story. Graphics come a very distant third. Very, very distant. If you can get all three, those are the games people will love.
For me, the real number 3 priority isn't graphics. It's aesthetics.
A game can have the most pedestrian of rendering techniques and technical scene complexity and still look amazing. Just look at all of Valve's games.
Aesthetics, that is, the actual artstyle and imagery you're trying to evoke with the graphics tech is where it's at.
More graphical horsepower should only serve to get closer to the original artistic vision. Not just jam more graphics tech just for the sake of it.
@@3lH4ck3rC0mf0r7 I would actually consider that part of graphics, but if you want to separate the two then graphics overall would come a distant fourth with aesthetics coming third. Looking at all the games that had cel shading, think Wind Waker, it doesn't take the latest and greatest tech, but it still looks great. And then there are games like Psychonauts, it's not realistic looking, but the aesthetics of the game give it a distinct style that I love.
@@anon_y_mousse Exactly. I separate aesthetics from graphics because the first is about the artistic vision, while the other is about the technology used to approximate that original vision as closely as possible. I consider it important to have such a distinction.
A game without good aesthetics is a game that doesn't look good. It doesn't matter how much graphical tech you throw at it if the artistic vision just isn't there.
But a game with great artistic vision can still look amazing even decades later, if the graphics tech that is used approximates that artistic vision very closely. The latest-and-greatest rendering tech definitely helps, but depending on the aesthetics chosen, it might not be necessary.
Nintendo's games from the Wii and GameCube era (again, think Wind Waker) upscale amazingly to 1080p when under emulation. Those games weren't designed to be HD, but they stick the landing, and you often come across details that aren't as clearly defined on their original hardware.
Nintendo uses texture tiling a lot, and in very clever ways to create complex layered effects that cost literal pennies in terms of GPU power, but scale wonderfully even to massive resolutions the games were never designed to run at.
@@anon_y_mousse graphics and art direction are two very different things like completely not the same... Art direction is the drawings artists do before even sending their creation to the developer team, the ones that do all the graphics and stuff...
@@talion7268 Okay. When did I mention art direction?
Awesome to see you guys finally uploading a Switch tech review at 4k instead of 1080p. 1080p's bitrate is so low it always baffles me when people upload Switch gameplay at 1080p. It's like they assume that because the console displays at 1080p that means their video doesn't need to be any higher res but that's not true at all. 1080p's bitrate (6Mbps) just isn't enough to represent what a game really looks like, even if it's sub HD res. 1440p (13 Mbps) and 4k (50 Mbps) gets past that hard limit even if the content is only HD.
At least now, you can really get a good idea of what a game would look like, instead of compression artifacts hiding details and flaws like it does at 1080p on youtube.
One of the best videogame experiences. I remember starting this game and while intro mission started with music my eyes started to get wet. I knew this ride will be something special and it truly was.
I got about one minute into the intro and the American VO has next to no emotion (basically reading from a script without context) until she says "50 kilometer".. sounded angry about that :P
Music was.. present?
It might be bloody solid, gameplay wise, but I'm not seeing an epic narrative journey, especially not right in the opening moments?
one of the most overrated games ever imho. Very boring, shallow and incredibly repetitive. Dropped it after about 10 hrs.
@@phattjohnson it’s almost like different opinions exist or something idk
I was playing it today in the desert zone. A huge part of the desert turned into low rez polygons/some where missing and when I approached it I fell through to the underground area. It was kinda crazy b/c the game had a text box saying loading map. Never seen that text box in game before. Still love it bugs and all!
Actually had that issue on ps4 before. Very wierd, after restarting it worked fine though
@@yepthatsme1671 I just kept playing after I fell and it was fine, lol.
Thank you DF for an in deepth analysis of the port, while i do love this game and i´m glad another gaming platform is able to enjoy it, TH-cam is swarming with "imposible port acomplished" type of videos whitout delivering a proper analysis as you have done.
So happy to see you cover this! Just got my hands on a Switch Oled, def gonna pick this up! Also please review Persona 5 Royal for Switch, that port has been wanted for years and so far looks pretty good
Unpopular opinion but I think the last Gen is still fine (Graphics wise) and the Series X/S and PS5 were unneeded rn. Seriously, what games have come out that actually NEEDED to be on the new consoles? This generation feels like the most marginal and least innovative in a long time. That’s just my opinion. The fact they can get games like this on Switch, proves devs could have got so much on One X and PS4.
Agreed the only benefit PS5/Series consoles have over PS4 and One is 4k and raytracing which to me is kinda pointless since I value framerate over resolution and rendering gimmicks
@@ThatNormalBunny Tbh most of the games with raytracing so far have been slightly shinier and that’s it. I’m really not that impressed by it. Consoles are becoming iPhones
@@ThatNormalBunny loading times are a massive improvement and is way more revolutionary than higher resolutions or high frame rates.
new consoles finally have decent CPUs instead of shitty jaguars which automatically makes them a giant leap, let alone the SSDs (with PS5's SSD in particular being faster than 90% of SSDs you can even buy for a PC)
decent CPU will hopefully ensure 60fps games for the whole gen and SSDs go way beyond just faster load times, whenever everything becomes current gen only
120FPS modes in MP games is a game changer. I wish more devs targeted 120.
Thank you! Can't wait for your No Man's Sky Switch analysis 🙏
Thanks a lot for this video! :)
Got my switch version on Thursday. I played it back in 2017 on my PC and was really surprised how good it looks and feels on my Switch. Great port😍
Man I remember my gtx 1070 chugging thru this game at 1080p high settings back in the day, it's amazing switch is able to even play this game. Kudos to virtuos for this impossible port
That just means the game had garbage optimization or none. Virtuous just finally optimized it
It's fixed now on pc.
I still have a 1070... and play on monitor with 1440p.
Not tried this game yet.
I still have have my 1070 and this game with it, played the game on my pc about 2 years ago (i think)
It was a fantastic experience
Now as a relatively new Switch owner i wanna replay this amazing game
Imagine how games could look if developers would optimize already at this level to use all capabilities of current gen hardware.
A lot of devs nowadays get paid based on the amount of code they write. So there's an incentive to write the most code rather than the most efficient code. It's unfortunate, but executives really don't understand technical aspects of specific jobs (an example from another industry, I applied to a video editing job where they wanted you to work on a provided Lenovo Thinkpad with 8GB of ram and an i5) executives are completely numbers focused, and every creative industry suffers from it.
Kingdom hearts *coughs coughs*
Agreed, not only the dev.s but also allow us to overclock. I don't mind myself upping things up for a little bit more battery drain.
The game isn’t demanding. The poor performance was the dev’s fault. The PC port was near unplayable on highest systems and you had to get a fan mod to fix it. And the mod made the game run like butter
8:05 "My only issue at this point was the lack of any sort of motion blur."
Me, hating fake effects that our eyeballs already produce biologically: Good. 😅
We really need a switch pro. Nintendo keeps trying to eek out every last drop of performance from this thing and it's not aging well. Too many cuts are being made. For me the terrible LOD pop in is a deal breaker. That is very distracting and just detracts from the immersion.
early 2023 will be 6 years since the Switch came out so I am sure a Switch Pro or Switch 2 will come out soon
@@reallybigmistake The Tegra X1 is from 2015, the same year the iPhone 6s was released. Of course the 6s CPU was twice as powerful as the X1 was at 2ghz, and Nintendo is running the X1 at 1ghz… of course the X1 is nearly twice the GPU performance as the A9 in the 6s, but with 1/4 the CPU, it was always limited.
Thank you ! I was very interested in seeing the DF analysis.
I love Automata and have considered double dipping for the Switch just to support the IP/developer. But I can call it like I see it too. Really poorly optimized at times and the PC port was a mess for a long time. Even on the Steam Deck, it’s very difficult to get 60 fps without serious quality degradation.
I’m actually kind of surprised dynamic resolution wasn’t used for the Switch. But either way, happy to see the story make it to more eyeballs.
'Even on the Steam Deck, it’s very difficult to get 60 fps without serious quality degradation.'
I just saw Steam Deck footage of Nier Automata on TH-cam. Maxed out and basically locked 60 FPS at 800p. The only "serious quality degradation" (if you can even call it that) is using SMAA instead of MSAA. Miles better than Switch version and at double the framerate. But you call it 'serious quality degradation'. How do you call Switch version then? Catastrophic quality degradation? :D
@@ukaszp2333 How far into the game was the video? I see one too but it is right at the beginning, which is the same as the Switch. Try playing some of the later areas/boss battles and you absolutely will NOT be at at 60.
And believe me, it wasn’t a knock on the SD. I love mine! Was moreso just a comment on the relative graphical inefficiency of Automata. And I agree that Switch graphics are not going to be great. The pop in especially is rough in the Switch vids I’ve seen. But if you don’t have any other way to play it, at least Switch owners get to experience it! It’s a hell of a ride. 😊
I think Nier Replicant getting a port is an inevitability now, and I desperately want it to happen because more people need to witness the masterpiece of a game that is Nier Replicant.
On xbox series X you can even buy Neir xbox 360 game. So xbox has the most complete Neir experience. 4th game is on mobile
I can safely say that I never saw this being ported to the Switch. Very cool.
If Witcher 3 was ported, then anything from the same gen can be, with minor exceptions like GTA V and such.
@@StefanConstantinDumitrache One could argue that the PS3/360 version of GTA could be ported to the Switch with little issue if it was done right
@@noahdavis7406 Switch could run the PS4 version of GTAV. they barely enhanced the game. IDK why people think GTAV or PS3 games in general of all things would have issues running on Switch when there's games ported from PS4 and 5 running just fine
@@TheMalioman Because GTA V is a full open world game. The Switch would definitely have to cut back on the visual upgrade that the PS4 and Xbox One version brought about, and it might just end up making it look worse than the PS3/360 version if they do.
Looks to be an example of "Any port in a storm," so to speak.
If you don't have a PS4 or Xbone, don't have any degree of gaming rig, and haven't grabbed a Steam Deck, this will serve you well enough.
If you have no other means of playing Automata, don't miss your chance to do so.
Also, same for A Hat in Time, in case the same situation applies. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
well, it is better than the ps4/xbox one versions in many ways... higher resolution, proper frame time, anti aliasing... just the textures are messy but if you play on the oled screen thanks to the lower resolution it might be one of the prettiest ways to experience this game.
Amazing impossible port! I'm glad the switch is getting a bunch of gems towards the tail end of its life cycle! ^^ I will probably pick this up on sale eventually since I have the pc version already.
I honestly think the switch will have a very long life, with a lot more anticipated games will last at least another 2 years imo
ASSUMING his life cycle is over soon.
Just get a steam deck then.
@@HermesBlRD why would anyone subject themselves to torture
@@YUGAMISEKAI Yeah, why would anyone get something just $100 more than the Switch to get like 10x the performance and non-shitty versions of games that rely on mountains of compromises to still look like a blurry mess??
Finished it recently on Series X and performance wise it was absolutely perfect.
Glad people can enjoy this masterpiece on Switch now
Which version is there an official Series X version, and is it a goty edition or the regular?
@@AsgerJ It came out for the Xbox One (digitally) in 2018. It's called "Become as Gods Edition".
I don't think it's the GOTY that came out a year later for the PS4.
Xbox series X has all 3 games. Neir xbox 360 is available to buy and has FPS boost
TLDR; Does this port do 30FPS? (Mostly) Are visual sacrifiies made (SOME) Should I buy it if dont have another platform (PROBABLY) Where you put this in the list of most important games of all time (TOP 10). Hows the soundtrack (A*)
I was looking for a tech comparison video and you did delivered more than I wanted. And because of this, I’m gonna pick this one up right now on the eShop as it is on sale. So thank you very much! You earn another subscriber so keep them coming! 👍🏻
Great video oliver, this is my fav game so I was waiting for this video sin r it was announced
It’s less so that it’s an impossible port and more so the fact that the Xbox, PS4 and PC versions were pretty unoptimized, while the devs behind the Switch version actually optimized the game properly.
The fact we have a game with anti aliasing in a Nintendo console while not having it on the other consoles is incredible
Lol, and did they forget to cut the price?
It's a very surreal port because at 900p 60fps on Xbox One, when it's come to previous Switch ports, it doesn't give a whole lot of headroom for the Switch and something like Doom you'd get 720p with many dips below.
But here we are with what should be another challenging port somehow a higher resolution. virtuous hasn't always delivered, but they've clearly found their way with Switch hardware. When the Switch first came out, it was all about what Panic Button would port next, nowadays it's Virtuous and Saber Interactive.
Along with Dark Souls 3, Nier: Automata was the reason why I bought a base PS4. It’s like a dream to see this masterpiece finally arriving at Nintendo’s portable console.
I know you get this a lot but I really love your videos. Too much work put into these videos. Thanks!
To be fair, the results also depends on how the game was originally made, if it was really well coded (it also helps it is a smaller game compared to the witcher for example), it can be adapted relatively easy with great results, if it's a messy and huge game, then it would surely be a nightmare to port with acceptable at the best result, this is probably the result of how automata was made by platinum, combined with the very experienced studio of virtuos on switch ports.
Did you guys experience any crashes? I had my game crash on switch 50 min in and lost all my progress. Probably not touching this for a while.
i haven’t experienced any crashes and im over 5 hours in. and i haven’t updated my cartridge, its version 1.01
Nier Replicant next. ASAP please
Bro, thank God you brought up the aliasing issue for last gen systems on the first 30 seconds. I noticed that too. I think it also needed better draw distance. This game certainly deserves a free upgrade patch for next gen.
Replicant & Drakengard for switch next !!
I hate motion blur so much, that I disable it whenever possible. Hardly a loss for me.
I would trade a 1080p picture for a more aggressive DRS or even 720p with AA if it could make a perfect 30fps
its cpu bound as mobile performance isnt really much different, so downscaling resolution wont help
@@TheWretchedEgg12 darn, i see
Now only if they make the already released-and-paid-for PC port payable. This is why piracy is still viable.
Without a doubt, an incredible port of an incredible game. Other than the FPS difference and some downgraded textures, this game is impressive as hell. No matter which version you get, you're in for a treat.
I have it on both Switch and PS4 and can attest to this. I'm shocked at how this looks and feels on the Switch.
You have to be a stickler for detail in order to really notice the differences. They don't affect the gameplay in the slightest. I will say it looks fantastic on the OLED to boot. If you're on the fence about getting this game? Do it to it!
I never played this game but you're giving me the final push to buy it for my switch lol, now the debate is, digital or physical.
@@endame90 get the physical version, I got mine that way, zero regrets. Gonna warn you, this game hits you HARD! I mean, like a damn freight train hard! The story is just superb the more it opens up, and adding to this, there's 26 endings to obtain. You're in for an amazing time, but also for one hell of a gripping story.
clearly the switch version is the worst that is to be expected for the least powerful console out their..
The release of the Switch version made me start a new playthrough on the Deck, and I didn't remember how taxing this game is in regards to the visual quality.
So, seeing it running that well on Switch is really impressive.
Good job Virtuos for managing such a brilliant port, this game deserves to be played by more people.
And good luck Switch players, this one and P5 in the same month ? Wew.
I've started playing the moment I got my copy. I have to say, it's incredible what they've done to get it on the platform.
My thoughts:
The reduction to 30fps (or lower) target is _very_ noticeable, a little distracting IMHO. What I loved so much about the game was the fast action and this really dulls the game. Makes fights harder to deal with as the flow is slowed down drastically. Playing on PC it was easy to move around in a battle and avoid getting hit, playing the first mission, it feels like 2b is sluggish and gets hit easily.
Either way, I'll be playing this thing to death, just hope that it doesn't kill the experience.
Followup: Played through toward the end of the second playthough. Overall, still runs great. Fighting at the reduced framerate still feels like a slog at times. Slows down quite a lot when doing heavy attacks at a group of enemies but it's not deterring me from playing. I'm pretty happy with the game as it is, being able to revisit this in a portable format is a dream.
I played the game on PS5, so I had no performance issues. I didn't realize there were issues on previous gen systems. It's cool to see how well they did for the Switch port.
Xbox series X has all 3 games. NEIR xbox 360 has fps boost
This port is a fucking miracle. Incredible effort they put on this version. And most impressive that runs at 1080p dock and 720p portable and 95 % at 30 fps. Considering the power of switch, this is very amazing
Things like this make me realise how unnecessary are the constantly over-sold GPU upgrades, as far as value for performance is concerned
@@null140 naah man, it's a good port but this doesn't make a GPU upgrade unneccessary, wtf.
@@meisterwu8922 I didn't say 'GPU upgrades are unnecessary'; I tried to point out that by looking at what can be achieved on *extremely* dated and limited hardware, it should become obvious that the 'best of the best' newest--often expensive--upgrades are in fact overhyped by an industry that wants as much of your money as they can get, despite offering quite poor value for what that hardware upgrade will *actually* get you, qua overall gaming experience compared to the kind of experience you can in fact get from lower-end hardware. If you can't run a game you want at as high a level of fidelity you want, then obviously yes, a GPU upgrade will be 'necessary' for you.
@@null140 Ran a GT640 2gb until a few months ago when I finally got a RTX2060 12gb. As long as I have maximum textures I don’t care about the rest. Shadows low, antialiasing off, everything else off. Textures make zero impact to performance if you have the Vram for it. Just Cause 2 looked super amazing on a GT220 1gb, maximum textures 720p. So much better than the PS3 which ran it at 480p with very poor antialiasing. Lost Planet 2 looks amazing on PS3 because it *doesn’t* use antialiasing.
@@Trainboy1EJR Exactly. It's a convenient consumerist machine that many people think they need the latest and the best, forking out hundreds or thousands for ultimately small, incremental experience upgrades. The stats don't equate to the game experience, and this is something we'd do well (and tech companies wouldn't do well if we were) to realise.
The comparison I really want to see with these switch ports is: how does it compare to steam deck... not even a mention.
Even with the necessary downgrading I think it made sense to port it to the Switch. There are a lot of fans of Platinum Games in the Switch with player getting used to play Astral Chain and the Bayonetta games.
0:10 OMG!! Is this game a SHMUP!! 😳It looks amazing. I’ve never played these games before but seeing this part makes me rethink playing it.
Just bought this for $19.99. What a blast on the OLED!!
kind of wish the game had two different display settings. 900p & 540p for respectively for docked and portable to try to keep frames. don't know if that would make a significant difference in performance.
No man's sky next please!!!
I wanted 2B in Smash so bad
Would be super cool to see the Steam Deck included in your Switch performance reviews. Especially now that it's readily available for purchase direct from Valve and both devices are in many users hands at this point. Seems like the Deck would make good comparison as it's handheld, has fixed hardware and most non-nintendo published titles are available on it as well. At least a blurb about it's performance and IQ in any given title would be really awesome. I'd probably say that it's more relevant to the gaming landscape of today than the Xbox One S is.
I had a chance to check out the game on my Deck, and it was able to hit 60 FPS without issues (and it looked great!).
As an aside, my first play through was via Intel's Iris Pro integrated graphics when the game first came out. I am pretty sure that Switch owners would have a better experience than I did with my integrated graphics journey.
That would be an interesting comparison although I think the settings for when it is not plugged in would have to match the battery life on Switch to be an honest assessment of real world expectations.
I'm surprised and happy with how it looks/runs (in Portable Mode on the OLED specifically) I only picked it up as it released at a Budget price as well ($55 here in Australia which is surprisingly low for anything on Switch actually)
If I'm gonna play it again on the TV I'll boot up the Xbone Version on my Xbox Series X with 60fps and I believe it was 4k as well? Also had it since Launch on PS4 and got the Platinum so might as well get those 1000Gs (plus I have Nier X360 through BackCompat and Nier Reincarnation already Downloaded on the XsX so might do a FULL Series Run soon-ish 👍)
*After a quick Google* Apparently it is 4k/60fps on the XsX 🙌 I bet the other 2 are as well so yeah 🤔 (the X360 Nier is 60fps since it has "FPS Boost" turned on by default, haven't checked yet since I still need to buy it... Downloaded it through the Xbox App which is a cool/handy little thing you can do imo)
Reminder that we got Kingdom Hearts as Cloud but Nier Automata got this beautiful port.
Square? Screw you
I would have preferred 720p 50fps, but hey as long as 30fps is locked guess it'll do.
When are you going to do the No mans sky switch port.
You needed a question mark at the end of that sentence. You can't just forget it lol
So Square Enix had this ported to Switch, but not the Kingdom Hearts Ps2 games. Bruh.
They clearly have more faith in Automata than they do in Kingdom Hearts on what is going to sell more on Switch
@@ThatNormalBunny That's weird, because Kingdom Hearts has a pretty large fanbase.
Would have been nice if you compared it to the steam deck version as well
*would have, or would've.
Whats the point woudnt it just run at max settings at 800p ?
@@nickblack2006 the point would be to compare the two options of playing this game on the go...
Steam deck is a pc after all (portable but still a pc)
@@nickblack2006 you can dock a steam deck and play on either a monitor or tv at higher resolution
The background at 10:55 though……..
Never understood Digital Foundry's love of motion blur.
I despise it and turn it off wherever possible no matter what a game's framerate is.
Because it can smooth out choppy framerates slightly.
On base switch colours appear to be as the artists intended.
man people underestimate the switch hardware to much that this review is needed
Nier Automata is one of my all time favorite games, very nice to see the switch port is actually way better than I expected
Thanks for the video ! Glad it turned out good, as someone who played Automata on PS4 I was worried about the performance on Switch. Hopefully a future patch will help a bit with the remaining framerate issues, but it seems playable as is for people who doesn’t have any other console
Ahh, the mighty Switch beggars and their forever hope for "future patches"
@@gabrielgoncalves2763 Ahhh the mighty console war bro who can’t just be happy that more people will be able to enjoy a good game
P.S. : people also hoped for a future patch when this game released on PS4/One with the same framerate issue, and also when it was released on PC with awful optimization
To this day I am still fascinated to see console games running on the Switch, there is something magical about seeing such a game running on a small screen of a $199 handheld.
You never know how good a game really looks until you see it compared to a switch version.
I remember when this game came out and the western gaming media asked the main guy why he designed 2b and the female characters in "that" way and he simply said he just like female characters like that. drove them mad. man is a legend
when did it drive anyone mad tf?
@@z3n0n66 no one, until game journalist lost their minds in the early 2010s
As ALWAYS YOU NAILED IT AGAIN !!! Crazy thing is I have this game for 2 yrs. Now for my ps4 pro. But, I have never had the chance to PLAY IT with a lot of games releasing. AND NOW WITH Both my ps5 & Series-X... I think I'll buy this port !!! 😄 🤣
One of the greatest games ever made. A must-have for those who have never played it :)
The game is boring, and poorly made.
@@will891410 why do you say so? what’s makes what you’re saying true?
@@will891410 cmon man
@@will891410 Congrats, you have an opinion. Do you want a cookie for it?
@@murilokleine Yes, why not.
I’m so glad this it’s not a full priced game I’m getting this
I'm glad it's actually running on the Switch and isn't cloud like the Kingdom Hearts games...sigh
Very nice video! While I personally would never play any of these watered down ports on the Switch hardware, I think it's nice for more people getting the opportunity to experience Nier: Automata! This game might one of the most awesome experiences from last generation, if not THE greatest! Simply brilliant stuff!
You started the video by saying 45 fps was typical during combat on X1S, and I would bet that it's the main reason ambient occlusion is completely absent.
well I guess this is an option for those who only have a switch. I wonder if anyone can actually develop a new 60fps action game for the switch someday.
Bayonetta 3
Congrats to both DF (😉) and Virtuos!!
By the way there's a typo in the description, with the name of Virtuos.
Meanwhile on EA. Launching horrendous Fifa 23 legacy editions for switch
I would highly recommend using more upbeat background music in your videos, and switch up the music also when you move to a different section of the video. Otherwise it kind of feels like listening to an essay. Otherwise awesome coverage!
Modern phones are faster than Nintendo Switch. That means new phones can actually run Witcher 3 and nier automata. It's actually crazy that we are already there.
On paper they are faster, but practically it's much harder to make that case. We demand our smartphones to be ultra thin and therefore there's no room for a dedicated cooling system like the Switch has. That would mean playing ultra demanding games on a phone would be hard because it would be more prone to overheating and that would lead to the internals throttling
@@livinlikeeli6785 Closest example of modern PC game on phones is Genshin Impact. It looks very nice on ultra. But you are right about overheating. They are gaming phones but those are not the best thing for daily use. I wonder which one will be the winner. Cloud gaming or running games natively on mobile?
How is the sound and music on switch compared to other platforms?
Not bad, better than the sound crunch that was dark souls. Really the sound is quite fantastic
Hopefully they port Replicant next, also would like to see a "Steamdeck vs Switch" video featuring this game considering the PC port's technical hassles.
Would the Steam Deck's vast gulf in power in tandem with potential optimizations Valve/The community has made via Proton/SteamOS be able to overcome the technical failings of the PC port and produce a image/experience better than the Switch version? Or will it require consessing to being similar to the Switch version in regards (Lower Visuals, Reduction to 30fps via SteamOS's framerate limiter, implimentation of OS-level FSR.etc)
Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if the switch version is better. It runs so poorly on PC that I could totally see steamdeck only achieving 720p30 with slightly higher settings
@@HugoStiglitz88 I'm most curious as to if the FAR mod would work on SteamOS (And if FAR does much to help performance anymore after more recent patches), and how Automata with FAR performs vs without it vs the other versions in the present
@@HugoStiglitz88 Surprisingly, the Steam Deck version runs a relatively stable 60fps at the native 800p with high settings. The only real issue I noticed (outside of no mod support) was that the game boots for the first time in a very low resolution, yet it reports that it is running at 800p. This is fixed by just changing the resolution in the settings. The stuttering and other issues that plagued the early Windows versions oddly don't seem to be present, at least in the early stages of the game.
Nier PC port has been fixed for about a year now, the switch would get slaughtered tbh.
If you got this on Switch use daisy chain with 2 mclassic, mcable gaming & cinema cable then out put with 4k gamer pro.
Definitely happy with my results using it on my LG nano TV on cinema & HDR settings etc.
have fun playing a masterpiece on a tiny 720p screen with crappy textures 👍
Will do. 👍
Will do don't worry 👍🏻
@Hobbes4ever
Played 30+ hours on the 720p with crappy textures, and it's amazing 👍