Pokemon Legends Z-A’s visuals aren’t “great” say former Nintendo marketing leads, but hope Switch 2 could allow GameFreak to “go back to the drawing board” and add more detail to future RPGs
Pokemon Legends Z-A’s visuals aren’t “great” say former Nintendo marketing leads, but hope Switch 2 could allow GameFreak to “go back to the drawing board” and add more detail to future RPGs
by Turbostrider27
49 Comments
MarcsterS
Other Nintendo devs do not have this problem. 6 years after thier first HD game attempt, this is a GameFreak issue.
Fthebo
I genuinely don’t even care if the visuals are a bit rough, I just want it to not run like shit
Masam10
BOTW and its sequel, and/or the many Mario games obviously do not pair up to the PS5 or Xbox Series X graphically, but they all look and run great on the Switch.
There is no excuse for the poor quality of Pokémon. I played Scarlet and Violet and it was just embarrassing. Textures not loading, graphical defects everywhere and the general quality just poor. From the media I’ve seen released from Z-A, it looks like the same to be honest.
These guys have rode the success of the Pokémon IP long enough, time to start getting back to pumping out top games for the consumer instead of just ripping people off with lazy products.
Pokémon is normally a day 1 buy for me on name alone, but this time I’ll be waiting to see some proper reviews and gameplay and judge how the performance stacks up.
Karuro
Just get someone competent with the console to make the games instead, like Monolith Soft. Or send someone like them over to teach Game Freak, as they’re clearly having trouble.
tripl35oul
Lol I see it’s again time for hoping the next gen system would be utilized by GameFreak to improve Pokemon
ThriftyMegaMan
Monolith has no issue making Xenoblade games look “good”. This is a genuine flaw in Game Freak. It always has been.
stoic_spaghetti
2 big problems:
1. GameFreak will likely use the extra power of Switch 2 to save time, instead of pushing the hardware and doing impressive innovations. This was their philosophy with Switch 1. The tech doesn’t matter as much as the philosophy going into it. They *choose* to use resources to cut costs and save time, instead of craft.
2. The “visuals” aren’t as important as the art direction, in my opinion. Switch 2 graphics API could come with all kinds of neat post-processing effects, like volumetric fog and lighting and particles etc etc. None of it will make up for bad or even boring art direction.
GameFreak is stuck in the mindset of the most conservative, banal parts of Japan design aesthetic from the 90s. Think of beige computer towers and grey filing cabinets. That’s GameFreak. They need authentic creative intervention, not just access to fancier effects and filters.
DarkP88
if they did not do anything remotely similar to the Zelda and Xenobalde games in the first Switch, why do we have to believe they would suddenly improve with the next switch to take advantage of the new system resources?
Just some examples of good looking switch games, some of them even open world.
So yeah, this is on the devs not the console hardware…
AThrowawayAccount100
Now instead of looking like early PS2 games the Pokemon games can look like late era Wii games!
burrito67
I just want pokemon in the style of octopath traveler…and I know it will never happen 🙁
Mobile phone games are their real market now.
ryan8954
Switch… This is the console that somehow magically runs doom flawlessly, is having trouble with pokemon.
Sounds like development issue over hardware issue.
tfox245
It’s kind of funny how any time a headline includes “former Nintendo marketing leads” we can just assume it’s coming from Kit and Krysta lol.
throwaway872023
It’s the highest grossing media franchise of all time by a wide margin. They don’t give a shit. Yall will still fork over your money no matter how bad the game is.
Verysupergaylord
It’s not a hardware problem.
Monster Hunter Rise maintained steady frame rates with a far more demanding system. Persona 5, another monster catcher game, has incredible graphics on Switch. Astral Chain, Xenoblade, hell we have Skyrim and The Witcher.
The Switch is not the fucking problem and I’m sick of anyone using this narrative. It’s a Gamefreak issue, period.
RealSkyDiver
Better hardware does not suddenly elevated devs talents when they can’t even come up with good art design…..
ASUS_USUS_WEALLSUS
Don’t count on it lmao
Paperdiego
I am starting to see a lot of these articles lately. I am sure Kit and Krysta do not like these gaming outlets using their podcast to manipulate their words for clicks.
SwashNBuckle
A lot of people who say they don’t care about the visuals actually mean that they don’t care about realism.
cats4life
It’s bananas that Game Freak was never about cutting corners on the hardware until the Switch.
Every Pokemon game used the hardware in different and interesting ways. The jump between the fourth and fifth on DS and sixth and seventh generations on 3DS are remarkable. Game Freak made leaps in their understanding of the consoles and the games’ technical quality spiked.
And then they just gave up. They either didn’t bother training their staff how to develop for a home console, or decided it would save time and money to treat each new entry like they were still on a handheld.
And some of that mentality of improvement is still there, but in a design perspective. Going from Let’s Go to Sword & Shield had Pokemon fans on suicide watch, but Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet are well-designed games. Their primary flaw is that they were created by a company who hasn’t realized that they’ve been out of the handheld gaming market for eight years.
Teleporno69
This is like an ongoing problem for Pokemon games
ThisOneTimeAtLolCamp
I doubt it’ll change anything. They need a better art style.
Both Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest 11 have the perfect art style for Pokemon imo.
ChuyMasta
Xenoblade Chronicles, Luigi’s Mansion and others would like to have a talk about visuals.
SoftlySpokenPromises
The last game I bought from Game Freak was the previous Legends title and it’s looking like that’s going to remain true for the forseeable future until they start respecting their damn customers.
I refuse to shell out these new improved premium prices for half finished games.
ZealPlus
Higher specs aren’t going to solve what is a dev problem.
StruggleBoy1999
Pokemon hasn’t been the same since they moved away from 2D sprites in my opinion. The quality has become embarrassing. I like Pokémon a lot, but the state of these games only frustrates me. I can’t enjoy the game. Not when the horrible visuals and terrible framerate are constantly in your face. Its so bad, its impossible not to get distracted by it.
But it’ll probably still make a ton of money. Kids don’t care, and neither do the most obsessed of the fanbase.
tigertron1990
I’m not sure why they didn’t stick with the Let’s Go art style. Those games looked great.
Poke_Jest
to “future RPGs” after they rake in Billions again from the most cope community in gaming.
BenjiSBRK
To think when I was a kid I dreamt of having a mainline Pokémon RPG on the N64, and today we have just that: a mainline Pokémon RPG on the N64.
thegurba
Arent great? They look terrible. Hard pass probably.
No_Squirrel4806
This far into pokemons life we shouldnt be having this problem. 🙄🙄🙄
Lancelot189
Yeah they could be developing for the most advanced gaming pcs in the world and GF will still manage to make it look like a n64 game lol
SicWilly666
That’s such a lame excuse for the largest entertainment property on earth…
Plenty of other 5+ year old games on Switch ALREADY look and run better..🙄
Rohkha
Gamefreak seemingly just doesn’t have either the time or the talent for anything graphically impressive. It is known.
What I don’t get is why they opted for this PS2-PS3 style of graphic fidelity style rather than go the route of any studio that doesn’t have the budget or talent to make graphically stunning games:
Creativity. Find an artstyle identity and stick to it. Cell shading or comic style ish, if whatever you want. Breath of the Wild is not graphically stunning. It’s the art style that make it (imo) one of the most beautiful games on the switch, and honestly, even across consoles.
Heck I can still launch Windwaker on Gamecube and have a great time. Pokemon being games that tend to be infinitely replayable, with speedruns etc, should aim for a look that doesn’t age. Instead they’ve been releasing games that look outdated when they release already.
thehedless
The hardware is not the problem. G.F. Doesn’t care about if we like the visuals
AvocadoPrinz
Just another trash 3d pokemon
Warrenj3nku
The problem is no matter what they produce people still buy it in mass because “it’s pokemon”.
Until people vote with their wallets things won’t change.
FlowKom
THE HARDWARE IS NOT THE ISSUE.
THE INCOMPETENT DEVELOPER IS.
the switch 1 runs fucking zelda and xenoblade. there is no reason for Pokémon to look the way it is other than a bad Dev
PaperClipSlip
How many excuses must we make?
“Sw/Sh look bad because it’s GF’s first mainline console game”
“BD/SP look bad because they were outsourced”
“Legends Arceus looks bad because it’s an experiment”
“S/V look bad because it’s an open world”
“ZA will look better on Switch 2”
Perhaps it’s time to accept that Gamefreak is currently incapable to develop console Pokémon games. Whether that is because they’re bad devs, are on a tight budget, a small time or time crunched is irrelevant.
Marauding_Llama
Just make the damn games 2D again. They were good at that.
lugasssss
They just won’t stop defending Game Freak’s abysmal handling of the franchise’s mainline games. It’s unfair to blame the Switch’s hardware when other companies accomplished games like Zelda and Xenoblade on that same hardware.
Hell, even third parties like CD Projekt got The Witcher 3 running – yes, with a lot of visual compromises but the fact that it’s playable it’s already a miracle.
GalvenMin
So the main takeaway is that an upcoming title this late into the lifecycle of the console still looks like dated garbage, and that they will also get away with it when the next console comes out.
iDrum17
jfc here we go again. This franchise deserves better.
Vallis359
Gamefreak doesn’t need to make good games.
They only need to sell mediocre ones.
The fan base has to stop buying or nothing will change. Period.
newtdawg44
How about just a complete national dex? Cutting pokemon out of the games is the worst new feature of the switch games.
ThePlatinumPancakes
This is solely a GameFreak issue. Plenty of games look gorgeous on the Switch. Pokemon Snap on switch also looks gorgeous. Pokemon Snap was not made from GameFreak.
Yes the switch isn’t gonna give you Xbox Series X or PS5 visuals. But GameFreak should be fully aware of its capabilities and work with its art director on its games to come up with a style that plays into its weaknesses as strengths
The issue is Pokemon is the biggest IP on the planet and GameFreak knows anything they do will sell gangbusters – so I’m sure they’re asking “why needlessly rock the boat?” – even though almost all Pokemon fans are desperate for them to do so
KasukeSadiki
Lol they ain’t gon do shit
greasyjonny
Is there any legitimate answer for why the license hasn’t gone to someone else? This is one of the biggest titles on the planet and the games are barely any better than the gameboy red and blue versions they started with. Game freak can’t be more than like 2 raccoons in a trench coat judging by what we’ve seen small Indy dev teams accomplish in comparison.
Strider-SnG
Pokémon shits gold. They have no incentive to do better as long as everyone buys their stuff every two years
49 Comments
Other Nintendo devs do not have this problem. 6 years after thier first HD game attempt, this is a GameFreak issue.
I genuinely don’t even care if the visuals are a bit rough, I just want it to not run like shit
BOTW and its sequel, and/or the many Mario games obviously do not pair up to the PS5 or Xbox Series X graphically, but they all look and run great on the Switch.
There is no excuse for the poor quality of Pokémon. I played Scarlet and Violet and it was just embarrassing. Textures not loading, graphical defects everywhere and the general quality just poor. From the media I’ve seen released from Z-A, it looks like the same to be honest.
These guys have rode the success of the Pokémon IP long enough, time to start getting back to pumping out top games for the consumer instead of just ripping people off with lazy products.
Pokémon is normally a day 1 buy for me on name alone, but this time I’ll be waiting to see some proper reviews and gameplay and judge how the performance stacks up.
Just get someone competent with the console to make the games instead, like Monolith Soft. Or send someone like them over to teach Game Freak, as they’re clearly having trouble.
Lol I see it’s again time for hoping the next gen system would be utilized by GameFreak to improve Pokemon
Monolith has no issue making Xenoblade games look “good”. This is a genuine flaw in Game Freak. It always has been.
2 big problems:
1. GameFreak will likely use the extra power of Switch 2 to save time, instead of pushing the hardware and doing impressive innovations. This was their philosophy with Switch 1. The tech doesn’t matter as much as the philosophy going into it. They *choose* to use resources to cut costs and save time, instead of craft.
2. The “visuals” aren’t as important as the art direction, in my opinion. Switch 2 graphics API could come with all kinds of neat post-processing effects, like volumetric fog and lighting and particles etc etc. None of it will make up for bad or even boring art direction.
GameFreak is stuck in the mindset of the most conservative, banal parts of Japan design aesthetic from the 90s. Think of beige computer towers and grey filing cabinets. That’s GameFreak. They need authentic creative intervention, not just access to fancier effects and filters.
if they did not do anything remotely similar to the Zelda and Xenobalde games in the first Switch, why do we have to believe they would suddenly improve with the next switch to take advantage of the new system resources?
BOTW, TOTK, Xenoblade 1,2,3, Astral Chain, Bayonetta 3.
Just some examples of good looking switch games, some of them even open world.
So yeah, this is on the devs not the console hardware…
Now instead of looking like early PS2 games the Pokemon games can look like late era Wii games!
I just want pokemon in the style of octopath traveler…and I know it will never happen 🙁
Mobile phone games are their real market now.
Switch… This is the console that somehow magically runs doom flawlessly, is having trouble with pokemon.
Sounds like development issue over hardware issue.
It’s kind of funny how any time a headline includes “former Nintendo marketing leads” we can just assume it’s coming from Kit and Krysta lol.
It’s the highest grossing media franchise of all time by a wide margin. They don’t give a shit. Yall will still fork over your money no matter how bad the game is.
It’s not a hardware problem.
Monster Hunter Rise maintained steady frame rates with a far more demanding system. Persona 5, another monster catcher game, has incredible graphics on Switch. Astral Chain, Xenoblade, hell we have Skyrim and The Witcher.
The Switch is not the fucking problem and I’m sick of anyone using this narrative. It’s a Gamefreak issue, period.
Better hardware does not suddenly elevated devs talents when they can’t even come up with good art design…..
Don’t count on it lmao
I am starting to see a lot of these articles lately. I am sure Kit and Krysta do not like these gaming outlets using their podcast to manipulate their words for clicks.
A lot of people who say they don’t care about the visuals actually mean that they don’t care about realism.
It’s bananas that Game Freak was never about cutting corners on the hardware until the Switch.
Every Pokemon game used the hardware in different and interesting ways. The jump between the fourth and fifth on DS and sixth and seventh generations on 3DS are remarkable. Game Freak made leaps in their understanding of the consoles and the games’ technical quality spiked.
And then they just gave up. They either didn’t bother training their staff how to develop for a home console, or decided it would save time and money to treat each new entry like they were still on a handheld.
And some of that mentality of improvement is still there, but in a design perspective. Going from Let’s Go to Sword & Shield had Pokemon fans on suicide watch, but Legends Arceus and Scarlet & Violet are well-designed games. Their primary flaw is that they were created by a company who hasn’t realized that they’ve been out of the handheld gaming market for eight years.
This is like an ongoing problem for Pokemon games
I doubt it’ll change anything. They need a better art style.
Both Dragon Quest Builders and Dragon Quest 11 have the perfect art style for Pokemon imo.
Xenoblade Chronicles, Luigi’s Mansion and others would like to have a talk about visuals.
The last game I bought from Game Freak was the previous Legends title and it’s looking like that’s going to remain true for the forseeable future until they start respecting their damn customers.
I refuse to shell out these new improved premium prices for half finished games.
Higher specs aren’t going to solve what is a dev problem.
Pokemon hasn’t been the same since they moved away from 2D sprites in my opinion. The quality has become embarrassing. I like Pokémon a lot, but the state of these games only frustrates me. I can’t enjoy the game. Not when the horrible visuals and terrible framerate are constantly in your face. Its so bad, its impossible not to get distracted by it.
But it’ll probably still make a ton of money. Kids don’t care, and neither do the most obsessed of the fanbase.
I’m not sure why they didn’t stick with the Let’s Go art style. Those games looked great.
to “future RPGs” after they rake in Billions again from the most cope community in gaming.
To think when I was a kid I dreamt of having a mainline Pokémon RPG on the N64, and today we have just that: a mainline Pokémon RPG on the N64.
Arent great? They look terrible. Hard pass probably.
This far into pokemons life we shouldnt be having this problem. 🙄🙄🙄
Yeah they could be developing for the most advanced gaming pcs in the world and GF will still manage to make it look like a n64 game lol
That’s such a lame excuse for the largest entertainment property on earth…
Plenty of other 5+ year old games on Switch ALREADY look and run better..🙄
Gamefreak seemingly just doesn’t have either the time or the talent for anything graphically impressive. It is known.
What I don’t get is why they opted for this PS2-PS3 style of graphic fidelity style rather than go the route of any studio that doesn’t have the budget or talent to make graphically stunning games:
Creativity. Find an artstyle identity and stick to it. Cell shading or comic style ish, if whatever you want. Breath of the Wild is not graphically stunning. It’s the art style that make it (imo) one of the most beautiful games on the switch, and honestly, even across consoles.
Heck I can still launch Windwaker on Gamecube and have a great time. Pokemon being games that tend to be infinitely replayable, with speedruns etc, should aim for a look that doesn’t age. Instead they’ve been releasing games that look outdated when they release already.
The hardware is not the problem. G.F. Doesn’t care about if we like the visuals
Just another trash 3d pokemon
The problem is no matter what they produce people still buy it in mass because “it’s pokemon”.
Until people vote with their wallets things won’t change.
THE HARDWARE IS NOT THE ISSUE.
THE INCOMPETENT DEVELOPER IS.
the switch 1 runs fucking zelda and xenoblade. there is no reason for Pokémon to look the way it is other than a bad Dev
How many excuses must we make?
“Sw/Sh look bad because it’s GF’s first mainline console game”
“BD/SP look bad because they were outsourced”
“Legends Arceus looks bad because it’s an experiment”
“S/V look bad because it’s an open world”
“ZA will look better on Switch 2”
Perhaps it’s time to accept that Gamefreak is currently incapable to develop console Pokémon games. Whether that is because they’re bad devs, are on a tight budget, a small time or time crunched is irrelevant.
Just make the damn games 2D again. They were good at that.
They just won’t stop defending Game Freak’s abysmal handling of the franchise’s mainline games. It’s unfair to blame the Switch’s hardware when other companies accomplished games like Zelda and Xenoblade on that same hardware.
Hell, even third parties like CD Projekt got The Witcher 3 running – yes, with a lot of visual compromises but the fact that it’s playable it’s already a miracle.
So the main takeaway is that an upcoming title this late into the lifecycle of the console still looks like dated garbage, and that they will also get away with it when the next console comes out.
jfc here we go again. This franchise deserves better.
Gamefreak doesn’t need to make good games.
They only need to sell mediocre ones.
The fan base has to stop buying or nothing will change. Period.
How about just a complete national dex? Cutting pokemon out of the games is the worst new feature of the switch games.
This is solely a GameFreak issue. Plenty of games look gorgeous on the Switch. Pokemon Snap on switch also looks gorgeous. Pokemon Snap was not made from GameFreak.
Yes the switch isn’t gonna give you Xbox Series X or PS5 visuals. But GameFreak should be fully aware of its capabilities and work with its art director on its games to come up with a style that plays into its weaknesses as strengths
The issue is Pokemon is the biggest IP on the planet and GameFreak knows anything they do will sell gangbusters – so I’m sure they’re asking “why needlessly rock the boat?” – even though almost all Pokemon fans are desperate for them to do so
Lol they ain’t gon do shit
Is there any legitimate answer for why the license hasn’t gone to someone else? This is one of the biggest titles on the planet and the games are barely any better than the gameboy red and blue versions they started with. Game freak can’t be more than like 2 raccoons in a trench coat judging by what we’ve seen small Indy dev teams accomplish in comparison.
Pokémon shits gold. They have no incentive to do better as long as everyone buys their stuff every two years