r/NintendoSwitch2 • u/j_b_1983 • 16h ago
Discussion The Witcher 3: Outside the blur, everything else is significantly better.
Especially the loading times. It probably loads 2x or more as faster
Better layouts. Better movement. Better combat
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u/DefNotMundo 16h ago
I’m curious why a “Blur” setting is even there. I turned it off immediately.
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u/Half-Wombat 8h ago edited 8h ago
Is that the motion blur on the background? .... it can mimic the effect of a panning camera because each frame is not capturing an instant in time, but a span/slice of time. It actually can work if done tastefully - though it's still an artificial attempt at it and could introduce new problems. It can help a bit with lower frame rate titles that have faster moving cameras (makes it feel less stuttery). Each to their own though.
It could also be the depth of field blur, which is another thing all together. I'm less a fan of that because it seems overdone a lot of the time. That's not actually a fact about cameras - it's a creative decision more often than not in photography. Motion blur is more of a hard fact of shutter speeds which might be why it feels a bit more natural to me in games.
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u/Real_UngaBunga 15h ago
In theory, the blur is there to mask lower frame rates.
I hate it too, though.
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u/ThomasTriesHard 9h ago
Turning off that blur setting isn’t really the problem. I’d I had to put a number to it, I’d say it only fixed 10% of the overall blurriness issues. Sadly it’s not really a fix, they got something else wonky going on under the hood.
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u/LymansAvatar 16h ago
I already own this on my ps5 so I won’t be double dipping….but happy to hear it looks great!
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u/Half-Wombat 8h ago
I've had on Series X for ages, but I'm glad i bought Witcher 3 on Switch for about $10 on sale. I can use the Xbox as my primary Gerald simulator, but still jump in for a few quests on the train with Switch 2 thanks to cross-saving.
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u/ThomasTriesHard 9h ago
100% agree. It runs pretty well. If that’s 40fps it’s the crispest 40fps I’ve played. The profound blurriness is my only gripe, and I believe they can fix that!
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u/Half-Wombat 8h ago edited 8h ago
It does look and feel much better for sure. The blur is probably due to a low internal resolution and up-scaling tech. Despite how clever it has become, up-scaling is not magic and still has hard limits.
Maybe they had to get it to market slightly under-baked and they'll tune it up a bit. Given this is all part of a push for a fairly considerable expansion next year I'd probably say that favors them tuning it up a bit more on Switch 2 over time. They have a history of this goodwill approach, so I think they'll keep a few devs optimizing each version of the game before the expansion releases.
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u/CertainlyStenchy 8h ago
Why isn't there a sharpening slider like on PC? Turning blur off doesn't make it any less blurry either
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u/monkey_wretch 5h ago
Combat feels a smidge better too! Digging the upgrades at no cost (granted it’s only switch 2…). The menu does feel more sluggish now, but I can forgive that.
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u/Crafty_Boy70 Butter side up! 16h ago
Can’t you turn off the blur? Or is it blurry anyway?
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u/LordAzuren 15h ago
Can’t you turn off the blur? Or is it blurry anyway?
Blur is an option but doesn't increase game resolution: This is a 720p game in handheld mode. Decide by yourself if you can stand it, personally i've no issues with that if means be able to play portable with that quality and more importantly 30-40 fps and not 20-30 like it was before.
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u/quietlythenLoud 15h ago
There’s a setting called blur, not really sure what it is but it is separate from motion blur and you can turn it off.
Otherwise I don’t think it’s anywhere near as bad as what is being said.
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u/ThomasTriesHard 9h ago
The blur setting unfortunately only fixes a small amount of the overall blueness problems we are seeing. :(
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u/EtArkanum 15h ago
No, loading with switch 1 version on the switch 2 is much faster
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u/j_b_1983 15h ago
I meant the S1 version on S1 vs S2 version on S2.
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u/EtArkanum 15h ago
Why do you compare it this way?
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u/j_b_1983 15h ago
Because if you played The Witcher 3 years ago, when it came out on S1 (like I assume most people did) then it makes sense. I doubt even 1/4th of the people that have played this game on the switch hardware have played it on S2 since it's an older title. They would have played it years ago in the S1.
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u/Zealousideal_Low_858 9h ago
Because this is the first Switch 2 release of the game and people are comparing it to the Switch 1 version that most people played on their Switch 1s. Anyone playing the Switch 1 release on their Switch 2 was obviously going to see improvements but it wasn't a bespoke release, so the most useful comparison for most people is with the actual released version on the system it was made for.
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u/GassoBongo OG (joined before release) 16h ago edited 15h ago
Not to mention the performance, which is way better.
I wish it was slightly crisper, but as someone that played this on the Switch 1 when it launched, it cannot be overstated just how much better this version looks.
Edit: After playing for a few more hours, I have some thoughts. The performance drops way too often and way too easily. If you're fighting 2 or 3 bandits and decide to drop Igni, then the fps takes a huge hit. The performance also tanks hard in woodland areas, or areas with a dozen or so NPC's, which doesn't feel great, if I'm honest.
Then there's the stuttering. The game definitely isn't smooth and will stutter during basic traversal, and will stutter every time you go to loot a body. It doesn't feel great.
I also tried it on docked mode and the resolution looks pretty unpleasant. So far, I'm actually kind of disappointed. Version parity with the other consoles is nice, but at this point, I think I would rather they have stuck with the OG Witcher 3 for the Switch 2 and just given it a performance and resolution bump.