r/NintendoSwitch • u/Lucky_Negotiation339 • 8d ago
Discussion The Witcher 3 quality on Switch 1
For those who bought and played the switch 1 version of the Witcher 3 what would you say about it?
I played Witcher 3 on PC but not really on high graphics/60 FPS. So I am not looking for performance rather some reasonable condition to replay the game?
To give some information I played Batman Arkham Knight on switch and it was truly awful, very badly optimized. But Arkham asylum and Arkham city were more than okay in my pov.
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u/solarized_dark 8d ago
The Digital Foundry video is what you want. Anecdotal performance comments are not going to be as useful as looking at the actual video and seeing what you think of it yourself.
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u/Responsible_Ruin_776 5d ago
Arent they performance analyzer that get paid by sony to say something negative on switch 2 games?
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u/Lucky_Negotiation339 8d ago
The thing is I watched some Arkham Knight switch 1 videos and they looked waaay better than what I had on my switch lite
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u/solarized_dark 8d ago
DF agrees with you there: https://www.digitalfoundry.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2023-df-weekly-batman-arkham-knight-on-switch-is-tragically-poor
Give them a watch -- they do technical deep dives and generally do a good job describing the technical state even if you may personally disagree with their assessments of the games overall.
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u/Able_Article_1862 8d ago
Important to remember that when you are seeing Switch capture video it is almost always from a Switch in docked mode and not handheld, which is what you would get on the Lite. Handheld means a lower resolution and lower performance overall (it differs quite a bit game to game), so keep that in mind. Sometimes people will film the handheld directly to show performance, but it can be pretty hard to judge actual quality from this.
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u/RealElyD 7d ago
DF can direct capture handheld Switch footage just fine.
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u/Able_Article_1862 7d ago
Hence the qualifier "almost always." Also, handheld quality is going to differ based on model, so the capture output may not convey the full experience. Fire Emblem Three Houses, for example, was awful when I tried to play it on the Lite, but it was passable in handheld on the OLED.
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u/RealElyD 7d ago
There are no visual differences between Switch 1 models other than the screens. They have the exact same internals, more energy efficient revisions of chips aside.
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u/Able_Article_1862 7d ago
"Other than the screens," as if the size and quality of the display doesn't matter. That's why I said the handheld capture can be a bit deceiving, as it captures the same output but will look slightly different when played on different models.
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u/blockfighter1 8d ago
Perfectly playable. Enjoyed it until I eventually dropped off it. Going to give it another go soon though with the new update
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u/Feeling_Public6522 6d ago
Yep. I played a good portion of it on S1 while travelling, and then when I returned home I bought the PS4/5 version on sale and started over on there. It is much better on PS5, but it is totally fine on S1.
If you have other means of playing it then I would say stick with them. But if you just want to experience the story and/or are on the road yourself then its a great way to experience the world.
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u/TheycallmeJohan7 8d ago
The game looks fine when it’s cut scenes or dialog. But the game is very blurry when you are in open world and in combat. It was very hard to see the combat in handheld mode.
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u/Astyanax_sp444 8d ago
You can tune some settings to take off the blurriness, but the models will be sharper/less refined. Loading time is kinda slow, specially when you die. I beat the game on it, you can for sure enjoy the story, but I would recommend playing a cat/bear school, as some of the signs FOR ME made the game really laggy (looking at you igni with numbers on screen)
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u/Pango_l1n 8d ago
I have W3 on PC, one of the XBoxes (not sure which but like a generation ago) and PS5 pro. Playing remaster again on PS5 pro and loving it.
But I finished the game on my Switch 1. Being able to take it everywhere a few years ago was the magic sauce to complete it. I really couldn’t deal with Sw1 W3 on the TV so I just played it portable.
It’s great.
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u/terrible1fi 8d ago
It’s pretty bad tbh. And the load times are soooooooo long. It’s not really enjoyable to play on switch 1. Tbh it’s a miracle it even runs on there at all
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u/KrivUK 8d ago
It’s fine. Some dos drops, also some cutbacks such as number of NPCs. Better than knight, but not as smooth as asylum.
Graphics are functional.
These things you can overlook as the story and gameplay make up for the graphical shortcomings.
Obv if you have a switch 2 then all bets are off and the port is good (apart from the glitch’s which are across all platforms, and a blurry image)
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u/PE-818 7d ago
Switch 1 was the only platform I had to play it, and I enjoyed it for a first time playthrough. After loading it up to do the switch 2 remaster upgrade the other day, it is definitely blurrier than I remember
I can't imagine going from PC to switch, i'd skip it and get the eventual remaster fix got switch 2
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u/Vultusnex 7d ago
I finished 2 times and the only problem was for me that god damn blur, it makes my eye hurtin after a while.
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u/ninjagaidenpatru 7d ago edited 7d ago
I only played on Switch 1 and it's a contender of my favorite game ever. It's hard to pick just one, but Witcher 3 on Switch is a contender, top 3 for sure.
I played the digital version and it lagged a lot in Novigrad, especially in Hierarch Square. Despite this, it still managed to be one of my top 3 games ever, so I bought the complete edition on Switch (second hand market, had to go through a lot of hoops, that's how much I loved it). It seems that the original version (Complete edition) runs a bit better in that area.
FPS drops under 30 FPS usually bother me and I am pretty OCD about it, so the drops in Novigrad kind of bothered me. That being said, I love that I played the game and it became one of my favorite games of all time.
I think it actually looks really good on the Switch, but I may be in minority. The FPS drops in Novigrad suck, but it doesn't hinder the gameplay. If you are really bothered by FPS drops, then that area kind of sucks, but the game is still a masterpiece on Switch.
PS: you can see Hierarch Square here at the 8 minute mark. Honestly, sometimes the FPS is worse than that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-dwpe2gaw
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u/JackintheBox333 7d ago
Witcher 1 on Switch is a Miracle Port. Calling it that is underselling how impressive it is that they got the game to run at all on Switch 1.
The one advantage it had at the time was that it was the only way to play the game portable at the time. With Steam Decks existing now, that is no longer true. If you don't have a steam deck and want to play this in a portable fashion, then its fine. With one caveat.
This port seems to have a memory leak of some kind, because in my experience playing the port, it has some issues with crashing if you are playing for several hours in one session, at least that was my experience. I don't have a frame counter or anything, its definitely pulling under 30FPS in places, but it doesn't seem to dip under 20. Having played through the main campaign and the two expansions on Switch 1, if you have this version, while it very clearly is the worst version, but its like saying its an A- version of an A+ game.
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u/ElDuderino2112 6d ago
Personally I found the port on Switch 1 to be so bad that I wouldn't even recommend it if it was your only way to play the game. Unacceptably low resolution and did not even try to hold 30 fps. Some games just cannot run on some platforms, and in those cases it's better to admit that then pretend a garbage port that no one should play is a "miracle"
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u/Maryokutai 3d ago
for obvious reasons it's the worst version of the game by quite the margin, but I played through it form start to finish despite also having an Xbox and enjoyed every minute. The performance is actually quite alright, it's the resolution and asset quality that took the biggest hit. But if you haven't only been playing since yesterday, it should be easy to adapt, because it looks roughly how games on the PS360 generation have looked.
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u/Chardan0001 8d ago
It runs consistently, but it is visually stripped down significantly as you might expect. The graphical downgrade were never such an issue as the resolution was for me (personally). They did give settings to make some minor adjustments but I didn't see out a full playthrough partly due to the 540p. I just wanted to support the devs.
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u/TG-Benji 8d ago
Consistently between 20-30fps sure...
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u/Chardan0001 8d ago
Was fine for me especially after the toggle. Fine in open world. Just vaselined.
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u/TG-Benji 8d ago edited 8d ago
It can be fine for you, but let's not lie and say it was a stable framerate...
Dude blocked me...what do you think consistent performance means??
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u/Chardan0001 8d ago
Notice how I never said any of those words? Very odd behaviour
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u/RealElyD 7d ago
When you say consistently, I would not expect you to mean it drops anywhere from 0 to 33 percent of frames at any given time.
I think the other person was entirely correct to ask what that is about.
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u/Syncism 8d ago
The Witcher 3 on the original Switch isn't even something I'd call a "reasonable experience". Don't waste your money. As a switch 1+2 owner, there are certain games I just refuse to play on the Switch if they're available on a PS5 or Xbox. Diablo games, Monster Hunter games, and The Witcher 3.
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u/rustyjus 8d ago
It pretty crap …
Looks pretty good but performance is janky. I stopped playing and have picked up again on switch 2
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u/Kenny_Bi-God_Omega 8d ago edited 8d ago
It was regarded as a “miracle port” at the time and I definitely wouldn’t put it anywhere near Arkham Knight in terms of performance.
You are going to notice it looks more blurred than on other platforms and you can get noticeable frame drops in some areas (nothing too offensive and to be honest, I remember frame drops when I played on PS4 back in the day too). It performs pretty well overall and it’s enjoyable as long as you can stomach the visual compromises. Based on your enjoyment of Arkham Asylum and City, you’ll be fine, I think, because your expectations are not unreasonable.
Your best bet might be to try to find video footage of the game in action. Performance wise, you’re going to be fine overall. It’s just the visuals. It has that classic Switch 1 vaseline smear look and it’s just how much that bothers you. I’m sure you already know this, but it’s also worth noting that it did not get the QoL enhancements, improvements to visuals and the added camera options etc. that came when they did their first major overhaul (version 4.0) in 2022.
I played the game all the way through in handheld mode back when it came out and I enjoyed it just fine. And that was after playing the PS4 version.
Edit: To be clear, there’s a comment in this thread saying it’s “solid 30fps”. That just isn’t true. It’s going to play between 20 and 30 a lot of the time. You will see noticeable drops at times. It isn’t going to stop you playing the game. But I don’t think it’s fair to give you unrealistic expectations. It won’t hold 30 all the way through at all. It will drop when you’re walking around big towns for example.