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Digital Foundry - Rayman Legends on Switch isn't really definitive

k41m

Member
I really wanted to get this game, the demo left me an overall good sensation, even with the extra price going on and lack of that much new content, but now i'm pissed off because it simply doesn't worth that many bucks if the only thing that i can get in return is a shitty port.
 

guybrushfreeman

Unconfirmed Member
That's a real shame. It's a great game and one of my favourite Wii U titles. I wish more people had got the chance to play that version
 

Scrawnton

Member
I really wanted to get this game, the demo left me an overall good sensation, even with the extra price going on and lack of that much new content, but now i'm pissed off because it simply doesn't worth that many bucks if the only thing that i can get in return is a shitty port.
It doesn't even seem like a "bad" port. Just a "compress the heck out of it to put it on a 4gb card load times be damned" kind of decision.

It's not a deal breaker but it's a shame Ubisoft prioritized slightly higher profit margins at the cost of load times.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I bought the game and the 10 seconds instead of 5 to load a level are ruining my life.

Oh wait... no. Talk about overreacting. The game plays beautifully and looks gorgeous as always, specially on the Switch screen.

It's incredible how everything "negative" found by Digital Foundry becomes a deal breaker to some. They're fast becoming a sort of Rotten Tomatoes for technical reviews. Not their fault though.
If you really think that, you should really look at most of the videos I've done lately. I prefer producing positive features that highlight the best aspects of games. This is the first negative video I've done in a long time.

...but also think you're understating the loading issue which detracts a lot from the game - especially compared to the 'no loading screens' PS4/XO version.
 
Vita only supported two players with system link. Just FYI. Still was a neat feature though.

Damn, that makes it all the more disappointing that they didn't program the functionality into Switch. You could have up to 5 Switches, or 2-5 Switches. You could have one Switch docked (or in table-top mode) with four players, and a fifth player on a second Switch as Murphy. It'd have been great.

Ubisoft knew this wasn't going to be a feature when they announced the game - the store description only mentioned wireless play in the context of Kung Foot, but the distinction was subtle enough to go un-noticed.
 
If you really think that, you should really look at most of the videos I've done lately. I prefer producing positive features that highlight the best aspects of games. This is the first negative video I've done in a long time.

...but also think you're understating the loading issue which detracts a lot from the game - especially compared to the 'no loading screens' PS4/XO version.

Did you by any chance see my earlier Rayman topic to realise the issue of missing multiplayer options? :p it's just that every other reviewer seemed to have missed it!
 

Scrawnton

Member
If you really think that, you should really look at most of the videos I've done lately. I prefer producing positive features that highlight the best aspects of games. This is the first negative video I've done in a long time.

...but also think you're understating the loading issue which detracts a lot from the game - especially compared to the 'no loading screens' PS4/XO version.

Is it a possibility that they could release a patch that uncompresses files in the future if gamers demand it?

Do you think they're justified in compressing it in such a harsh way to cause these loading issues?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Did you by any chance see my earlier Rayman topic to realise the issue of missing multiplayer options? :p it's just that every other reviewer seemed to have missed it!
Yeah, of course. I found it this afternoon while trying to confirm that I wasn't missing something! When finishing up the story, I started checking Ubi's site and it mentioned full co-op which made me think I made a mistake but then I saw you had the same problem! So that thread saved me some stress. ;) It's obvious that NONE of those features are in the game which really sucks.

Do you think they're justified in compressing it in such a harsh way to cause these loading issues?
I'm surprised that the compression would impact loading THAT much but I can't think of any other reason. They really can't patch that side of things either, I'd imagine.

The theory is that they wanted to use a smaller game card to save money so had to compress it down to a small size. No idea what the reality was, though.
 
Yeah, of course. I found it this afternoon while trying to confirm that I wasn't missing something! When finishing up the story, I started checking Ubi's site and it mentioned full co-op which made me think I made a mistake but then I saw you had the same problem! So that thread saved me some stress. ;)

Thanks man. Thanks a lot for making sure and mentioning it. I was getting frustrated that everyone was ignoring this fact! Are you in any position to contact UBI/Pastagames and ask them to comment on the missing multiplayer features or do you not feel that's really necessary?
 
I started checking Ubi's site and it mentioned full co-op which made me think I made a mistake but then I saw you had the same problem! So that thread saved me some stress. ;) It's obvious that NONE of those features are in the game which really sucks.

I'm glad it wasn't just me who interpreted that passage on the game in that way. While it was in the same paragraph about Kung Foot's tournament mode it really isn't clear enough that they were only referring to Kung Foot.
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Rayman Legends on Vita wasn't so great though, but only because UbiArt levelled up beyond Vita's capabilities. 3D objects lacked antialiasing and there was flatter lighting, so the mix of 3D and 2D visuals in Legends felt jarring on Vita when it was natural elsewhere.
Even the PS4/Xbone versions lack any kind of AA so I don't think that's a technical limitation.

The Xbone version suffers from crushed blacks and clipped whites like many early games this generation so I wouldn't recommend that version either.
 
I think that compressed filesize theory makes sense. Ubisoft was probably aiming for cheapier 4GB cartridges. This stuff will probably hurt many other games in the future.

The port costs 40€ however and for that it's not worth the money. Especially if you have any other version of the game. I will with my Wii U + Vita combo.
 
Will grab this eventually because portable KungFoot will be the shit, but the lack of missing features and loading times are definately a bummer.
 

Gitaroo

Member
I prefer vita version over every other one, looks and play amazing. Guess it is probably still my preferred version.
 

Seik

Banned
As long as it's 1080/locked 60 I'm a happy man.

Weird that the cartridge version ends up being the sloppiest with loading times though.
 

rudger

Member
I remember an interview with the devs back when this came out on Wii U and they talked about how great the RAM setup was that while testing they accidentally used the uncompressed assets and the game ran great....yet with a faster system and more RAM they've decided to compress the assets even more. This is just too blatant an attempt to save money on cart costs to support.
 
It's really annoying cause they're minor issues, but it sounds like they could have easily been avoided. Really shitty that something like compression to go with a cheaper cart is weighing down the experience like this. Slower load times than Vita and WiiU is absolutely ridiculous.

Can they patch this??
 
I downloaded the game as soon as I could this morning and tried a few levels. Load times are the first thing I noticed, and they do kinda suck. My only other experience with this game was on PS4, so I never experienced the asymmetric multiplayer in the first place. Don't feel like I'm missing anything there.

My worry when I saw the title of the video was that there would be serious framerate/performance hiccups I didn't know about. But if load times and a lack of asymmetric multiplayer are the only issues here, I really don't regret the purchase at all. The game plays great. I hope they patch the load times in the future but that's my only criticism, and it's a minor one.
 

nampad

Member
Vita>Switch ;)

The Vita game size is 1406 on my memory card, just checked. Of course, better assets need more space but with twice the size, can it be compressed so badly?
 

Fiendcode

Member
And here I thought 8GB was the smallest cart available.
No, 8 GB seems to be the sweet spot for pricing comparable to PS4/XB1 $59.99 releases in terms of manufacturing cost. There are also smaller/cheaper cards (1, 2 and 4 GB) and larger/pricier cards (16, 32 GB).

I wouldnt believe 1 random vague tweet about price parity. A blu-ray disc is around 21 cents. I highly doubt an 8GB cart is that price.
What a BRD+case+manual actually costs to mass produce (well under $2), and what Sony/MS charge 3rd parties to produce them (around $6-9 depending on MSRP) are two very different things.
 
giphy.gif
 

Raysoul

Member
The criticisms are fair. It all boils down to these questions if you want to buy this:

- Can I handle a 10 second load time?
- Is Asymmetric multiplayer a feature that I need?

I'll still get this in the near future. Kung Foot sessions is a big hit when we play it on our friend's Wii U.
 

Timu

Member
The criticisms are fair. It all boils down to these questions if you want to buy this:

- Can I handle a 10 second load time?
- Is Asymmetric multiplayer a feature that I need?

I'll still get this in the near future. Kung Foot sessions is a big hit when we play it on our friend's Wii U.
Near 16 actually.
 
Near 16 actually.

I would have paid $10 more for the game if it meant this was not gonna be an issue. Sounds like Ubi cheaped out here which is really a shame. 3rd parties really can't complain about their stuff not selling on Nintendo platforms if they pull stunts like this one.
 

Ludist210

Member
Hmm. I was willing to double-dip, but I'm not so sure now...still, would love to have it on the go, and when the price drops, it might be a decent pickup.
 

nicoga3000

Saint Nic
I just left Best Buy. Almost grabbed this since I've never played it, but 16s load times for a game encouraging time attacks is NOT a good sell. Boo.
 
At least the core gameplay is still great! I don't care about multiplayer or touch/motion controls.

Rayman Legends is one of the best 2d platformers I've ever played. Might triple dip!
 

ghibli99

Member
Wasn't going to pick this up anyway since I already put my dues in on PS3 (wonderful game), but that still kinda sucks about the shortcomings, especially when this port already seemed strange/very late to begin with when announced (kinda like Skyrim, although that one's doing more things right on Switch). Load times don't sound any worse than Crash N.Sane Trilogy, and I dealt with those through all 3 games.
 

Knurek

Member
...but also think you're understating the loading issue which detracts a lot from the game - especially compared to the 'no loading screens' PS4/XO version.

How do those versions handle the 'get extra heart on the loading screen' thingy?
This helped me a lot in the PC version, especially since each heart you take while having one will grant you 5 or so lums...
 
Do we know if the file size is the same on Physical versions? Would be nice if it wasn't compressed which appears to be the cause for the majority of the issues (according to the DF theory).
 
I don't know if this could work logistically but I wish they could've had a bigger file for download and keep the compressed assets for the physical 2.9gig cart.


No way I'm sitting thru those load times, I had enough of that when playing DKC:TF.

They better patch in some sort of solution or I'm not getting it.
 

Yarbskoo

Member
So what are the arguments for getting the Wii U or PS4 versions over the Steam release? Normally I'd go with PC by default, but he didn't even mention it which worries me somewhat.
 

pswii60

Member
Still surprised Kung Foot Tournament was all that was added.

Are there no new costumes? Xbox One and PS4 got new ones on release but then again they were platform-specific and didn't include some of the previous platform-specific ones.



I would guess to use a 4GB card?

Which is weird as the difference between a 4GB and 8GB would hopefully not be huge.
It quickly adds up when you consider it affects the margin on every one sold, and it's a budget release.
 
I don't know if this could work logistically but I wish they could've had a bigger file for download and keep the compressed assets for the physical 2.9gig cart.


No way I'm sitting thru those load times, I had enough of that when playing DKC:TF.

They better patch in some sort of solution or I'm not getting it.

I feel similarly (probably will still get it down the line though). I would gladly download the 10GB version for the load time trade off.
 

hiim_haz

Banned
I just beat the first level on the Switch. There was an update before o launched the game. Anyway I timed the load times after I beat the first level and it was around 14 seconds.

It doesn't bother me but if it does bother you then don't get this version I guess.
 

brawly

Member
Sounds like it is the best version if you don't play multiplayer. I'll pick it up cheap once I get a Switch.
 

Intel_89

Member
#ShouldHaveBeenExclusive #DarkestTimeline

It sold best and played best out of all the console versions on WiiU but Ubi decided to shoot it and themselves in the foot by announcing "it's coming to everything" and delaying it to do such and have it launch simultaneously. They killed a TON of momentum for the game and potentially really hurt the WiiU's first year of software by assisting the game drought.

Game is still incredible and the music levels are S-rank platforming joy. Sad to see that a 5 year port of one of ubis more recently adored games is being hindered to save money.

Don't get me started about the launch of Rayman Legends, to this day I'm still salty about it not being a launch game as planned because of Ubisoft porting the game to other systems.
 

hiim_haz

Banned
So this entire time I thought the long load times were when you die and respawn, but when that happens it loads instantly. The 15 seconds load time only happens when you load up a level lol.
 

rjc571

Banned
Odd, I just played the demo and one thing that struck me was that the level loading screens were much shorter than the Vita version. They definitely weren't 16 seconds long like they were in the video. Not sure why they would be that much longer in the full version. I did notice that it lacked polish in some areas, for example the Murphy level soft locked on me at the end.
 

joms5

Member
I bought the game and the 10 seconds instead of 5 to load a level are ruining my life.

Oh wait... no. Talk about overreacting. The game plays beautifully and looks gorgeous as always, specially on the Switch screen.

It's incredible how everything "negative" found by Digital Foundry becomes a deal breaker to some. They're fast becoming a sort of Rotten Tomatoes for technical reviews. Not their fault though.

What?

Longer load times, worse (or no) 2 player asymmetric gameplay, more expensive (by almost 2 times the price too). No one is saying the game is bad. But this seems like the worst version you could possibly get.

So just call it what it is. I hate when people take it personally because the console they own has the inferior version. I had a PS3 and played Red Dead on it. It was one of my favourite games of last gen, but the PS3 had the short end of the stick. It is what is it. No need to get salty about it.

Plus I think it's good that developers are being called out on this stuff. Don't call it "definitive" or "remastered" if it's going to be worse off than the original release.
 
So I got this game last Thursday and I'm halway through now, and I've experienced performance degradation related to how much time you play, to the point of massive slowdowns when scratching the lucky tickets. Load times are also affected getting worse and slower, e.g. in the levels of the Living Dead Party hub it takes a whole lot of time to load the menu when you've completed one of the musical stages there (way longer than those 16 seconds that John mentioned in the video).

I am not sure if it happens because of long playthroughs or using sleep mode when the game is running in the background.

Nevertheless I've noticed that these problems are solved when I close the game and run it again.

Anybody have these same issues?
 
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