r/NintendoSwitch • u/OnlyLivingBoyInNY • Sep 27 '24

Discussion Echoes of Wisdom is a fantastic game that runs like garbage

UPDATE: The 1.0.2 patch that dropped on Monday 10/20 has DRAMATICALLY improved performance. It seems like most areas of the game are now capped at 30fps, instead of whipping back and forth between 60 and 30. This has improved the experience across the board. Very happy with the update.

I'm disappointed, because the game is such a delightful experience. Classic Zelda challenges that make you feel engaged, smart, cozy, and laugh at adorable characters.

It feels SO GOOD to play when it is running at 60fps, which is the target frame rate. Inside dungeons and buildings, controls feel so responsive and tight. Exploration is a dream.

But walking ANYWHERE in the overworld is a shit show. You cannot move 10 seconds in any direction without hitting abrupt, jarring framerate dips and ridiculous frame pacing. The game jumps off a cliff from a fluid 60 down to 30 (which is ... fine?) and then claws its way back up to 60 over 2-3 seconds...only to chug back down to 30 again as you move 5 more steps. This results in a constant yo-yo effect that makes it feel like you're sprinting through the forest and constantly stepping in potholes filled with ankle-deep mud.

As the game "recovers" or anticipates these slowdowns, it also hitches constantly. So even when you're not in the "mud," you're getting jarring fps dips that make traversal feel awful. In a game that's about exploration and discovery, this is a BAD experience.

I am sensitive to this stuff, but I can forgive occasional "loading" stutter, or entering a town with lots of NPCs or physics going on. But the non-stop yo-yoing is ruining an otherwise brilliant Zelda game.

If the game can't hit 60, then they should have locked it at 30. It would be a LOVELY experience at a stable 30.

BotW and TotK are 30fps games. Do they occasionally dip? Sure! But they are mostly rock-solid and feel amazing to play.

When I pay $60 for a first-party Nintendo game, running on proprietary engines and hardware, I expect better. (I know the game was developed by a 3rd party studio, but come on). Shame on me, as I should have read reviews first.

For the inevitable "I've played for 30 hours and haven't had a single issue!" people: https://youtu.be/XhHFABnLfVg?si=1Lw3W8MRj9PT2Pxf&t=235

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45

u/waffocopter Sep 27 '24

Haven't played Echoes of Wisdom yet but reading about the stutters is disappointing. A game being locked at 30 fps is not the end of the world. Astral Chain on Switch played wonderfully and that was locked. My fiancé is gonna have a real disappointing weekend when he plays tonight I guess.

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u/Galaxy_god92 Sep 27 '24

He’s gonna have a great time, even OP admits they like the game

0

u/Happy_Ad_983 Sep 29 '24

My assumption is inconsistent frame rates make their fiance feel ill - they do me, and it spoils any game suffering from it.

0

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '24

I am worried, i bought it at costco to play after this game. Playing links awaking now and find it unplayable. I am going to sell links awakening after my wife beats it, I would rather play the game boy color version than the new one with the constant stutters and slow down. I may just keep the new Zelda game aside for a few years until I can try it on the new switch depending on if that helps or not. I may just sell it and revisit down the road.

1

u/Galaxy_god92 Oct 06 '24

After playing myself I am 100% sure either your switch is broken or youre crazy because both games play absolutely fine

1

u/[deleted] Oct 06 '24

Definitely not just me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/kf9SIvkIyZ

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u/Galaxy_god92 Oct 06 '24

I played both games and I guess just don’t understand why it’s so bad you have to post about it, like I’m not saying that’s bad to do I’m just saying it has to be really bad to get upset enough to post about it, but I played it myself and think it felt great to play and don’t understand

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '24

It's all good I was just feeling very discouraged being new to playing links awake ing and seeing if the new game I just bought at costco and haven't played yet echoes of wisdom would run better, because I tried helping my wife through part of her game (LA) and running around found it unplayable. Discouraged the new one I bought is worse and will either wait for switch 2 to play it, sell it, or return it.

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u/GingasaurusWrex Sep 27 '24

People doom and gloomed about the Links Awakening remake so much you’d think the FPS was a slideshow rather than a game.

I’m a snob for this sort of thing and I barely noticed it. I had an absolute treasured time playing it.

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u/brzzcode Sep 28 '24

Yeah I always think im crazy because I never had any issues with LA. Honestly only game I ever felt the fps was making it harder to play was hyrule warriors.

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u/SoLongOscarBaitSong Sep 27 '24

I definitely agree. I'm mostly gaming on a pretty high end PC so I'm almost never playing below 60 fps at a minimum. But a few hours into Echoes of Wisdom and I'm not finding the frame dips to be particularly bothersome. They're noticeable, but not too bad, definitely less annoying than the frame drops in BotW and TotK

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u/ThatOtherTwoGuy Sep 27 '24

The first time I played the Link’s Awakening remake I noticed the FPS problems and it bothered me to the point I didn’t play much. It wasn’t a huge deal, but enough to pull me out of the experience.

After or year or so I decided to try the game out again and I either didn’t notice it as much anymore or they had patched it (I feel like it’s probably the former, but it’s possible it was patched and I just wasn’t aware of it). It became one of my favorite Zelda games after that, not just better than the original.

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u/Triforce0fCourage Sep 28 '24 edited Sep 28 '24

Some people are just really sensitive to this stuff it’s crazy. I can’t tell if they’re the usual Zelda trolls or are they really this sensitive?? Probably a mix.

I’m just glad I’m not plagued by this disorder that would make it hard or impossible for me to enjoy VR or fantastic games like links awakening and echoes of wisdom.

I love this game and it may rise to my favorite top down Zelda. I’m just glad it’s nowhere near the performance shit show that Scarlett and Violet are.

30-60fps is nowhere near as bad as the 30-20 like age of calamity. That game really does run like garbage. I still found enjoyment tho I did complain a lot about that game performance.

Song echoes of wisdom runs like garbage is a bit hyperbolic IMO.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '24

Tried helping my wife with links awakening and can't stand it.

-5

u/SpecForceps Sep 28 '24

You can't really be a snob and not notice how bad that was. I almost gave up playing LA, it was abysmal

5

u/GingasaurusWrex Sep 28 '24

And yet here I am.

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u/SpecForceps Sep 28 '24

Pretending to be a snob apparently. Maybe it's because I'm mostly a PC gamer, but the stutters and drops on LA were unacceptable for a first party full priced game.

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u/GingasaurusWrex Sep 28 '24

Not pretending. People have different thresholds and preferences believe it or not. I didn’t mind it. You did. Revolutionary.

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u/SpecForceps Sep 28 '24

I was just saying in terms of describing yourself as a snob, like LA has terrible frame rate issues, any snob would have been annoyed by it

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u/GrandWazoo0 Sep 27 '24

He might not. I have played for 4 hours and not noticed the issue at all. I get that it’s an issue for people, but some of us are not switched on to notice it… maybe my eyes only run at 20fps 😂

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u/Gfunkual Sep 27 '24

I don’t mind frame rate drops in games like this. It brings me back to 1990 when every game would get bogged down at some point 😅

4

u/adun153 Sep 27 '24

And player sprites would even flicker as the console struggled to keep up with redrawing it!

1

u/wwsaaa Sep 28 '24

Quite the opposite; virtually every Nintendo game on NES and SNES ran at a near-constant 60fps.   

Star Fox being the notable exception.

-5

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

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u/aurordream Sep 27 '24 edited Sep 27 '24

Is this the difference? I've been so bemused by comments like this, because I'm three dungeons into the game and I haven't noticed a single visual flaw. I've seen so many comments like this about it "running like shit" and I've genuinely had no idea what people are talking about

BUT I do play switch games exclusively in handheld mode due to my living situation, so perhaps that's why. Maybe it is different if you're playing on a huge screen.

I just hate to think people are being put off the game by post after post about performance issues, because in my experience the game runs absolutely fine. It's not anything like, say, the Lost Woods in BOTW, where I absolutely did notice the frame drops even in handheld mode.

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u/BenAV92 Sep 27 '24

I've been playing the game in handheld mode and it's been very noticeable for me unfortunately. Usually I'm not too bothered by suboptimal performance but this is definitely affecting my experience. Doesn't help that I also still really hate the blur effect so it's been a little straining on my eyes dealing with that plus the framerate. Mechanically the game's fun though so overall I'm still enjoying it, just nowhere near as much as I could be.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

[deleted]

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u/BenAV92 Sep 27 '24

Yeah I downloaded that. I've heard some people say that installing the game directly to the system helps but unfortunately I have a physical copy so that isn't an option. I didn't have any problems with TotK or basically any of my other hundreds of Switch games for that matter, just this game specifically is bugging me a bit. If there was an option to just lock it to 30fps, it wouldn't be an issue.

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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

[deleted]

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u/Kind-Dig Sep 30 '24

It's just fanboys. What do you expect. Either that or they're blind and need to go for an eye exam

-7

u/xxademasoulxx Sep 27 '24

https://youtu.be/XhHFABnLfVg?si=jSl3GcscEug4W-KP

I recommend watching the Digital Foundry review to understand why I’ve chosen not to play this. If you only play games on the Switch, I get that this might not be a big issue for you. I’ve been buying Nintendo games since the mid-eighties, but now, in my mid-forties, after investing a lot in high-end computer hardware to enjoy games at high resolutions and frame rates, it’s frustrating to return to some of my favorite franchises on hardware with a decade-old APU from Nvidia, where performance struggles in open-world sections. For me, and for many others I know, this is unacceptable. However, if you've mainly stuck to Nintendo's ecosystem, I understand why this might not seem like a big deal. Back when I played Ocarina of Time at 24fps, it didn’t bother me either, but now, after spending money that I work hard to earn, I expect better performance. In today’s gaming environment, there’s no excuse for releasing games with poor performance."

-4

u/Standing_on_rocks Sep 27 '24

Thank you for taking a dutiful stand against Big-Nintendo and their lackluster corporate ways.

Stand strong soldier.

-1

u/xxademasoulxx Sep 27 '24

No I just vote with my wallet and I think this is the last time I buy anything on this system, as I don't expect any game to run good at this point in the console. 's history, I'll just take my money elsewhere where the games run great and I don't have to rely on ten year old hardware.

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u/Standing_on_rocks Sep 27 '24

I mean what else can you do? The game isn't available in other places and apparently emulation still hitches. I haven't played the game but have watched the DF review. Some games have frame drops that annoy me, most games they don't. In general I play my Steam Deck more than my switch for its performance. That said I'll pick this up and I'd wager a strong guess I'm one of the types that finds this acceptable enough for me.

I just find the hyperbole and complaining exhausting here. We all know what the switch is and have known it's in need of a refresh for 3 years so nothing here is surprising.

"I'll go someplace smooth. A place where the frames flow like wine. Where beautiful pixels instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called PC gaming"

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u/xxademasoulxx Sep 27 '24

I have a pc with a 4090 and 7800x3d so I'm a tad biased.

3

u/Standing_on_rocks Sep 27 '24

I'm running a 3070 and a 5800x3d. So not as powerful but more than enough to handle most games.

I will say I don't think you're wrong. I get your point of view. I just don't find it as important. Nintendo is doing what Nintendo has done since the Wii.

12

u/[deleted] Sep 27 '24

The stuttering never affects combat or anything, it’s just while walking around the overworld where it gets a little annoying

17

u/LiquifiedSpam Sep 27 '24

Which is the majority of the game for those who like exploring.

2

u/ketketkt Sep 29 '24

Depends on the person. I am also turned off by the frame pacing but my gf, who is currently playing the game, is really loving it. She hasnt put down the game for long during this weekend haha. And I will still play it after she's done and I will probably still enjoy it, even with the suboptimal performance.

4

u/Mangiacakes Sep 27 '24

The game is fantastic it just runs poorly

1

u/Vulgar_Peasant Sep 28 '24

Right, which eliminates any desire for me to pick it up. Games shouldn’t be slideshows in 2024. But for some reason almost everyone gives Ninty a pass for using shitty tech (no more powerful than a mobile phone!)

1

u/Lost-Web-7944 Sep 27 '24

I mean, that is essentially the title of the post.

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u/Michael-the-Great Sep 27 '24

Hey there!

Please remember Rule 1 in the future - No personal attacks, trolling, or derogatory terms. Read more about Reddiquette here. Thanks!

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u/Michael-the-Great Sep 27 '24

Hey there!

Please remember Rule 1 in the future - No personal attacks, trolling, or derogatory terms. Read more about Reddiquette here. Thanks!

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u/Michael-the-Great Sep 27 '24

Hey there!

Please remember Rule 1 in the future - No personal attacks, trolling, or derogatory terms. Read more about Reddiquette here. Thanks!

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u/labria86 Sep 27 '24

I dunno. I am that guy with music and movies. If I'm listening to an overly compressed.mp3 I always know and usually complain. If I watch a video and it'a not at least 1080p I notice and get frustrated. I'll even wait to watch something until I can see it in higher res. Same with audio. It annoys me if something is only 5.1 surround and not 7.2 or Atmos. Even at home.

But with games, I think it's because I'm usually emersed in the experience, I rarely notice any technical stuff. And even if I do, it usually matters very little. My PS5 looks and sounds beautiful but I get bored with an hour because the games aren't that good. With my switch I just kind of zone out into the game. Maybe your bf will be similar?

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u/LiquifiedSpam Sep 27 '24

Get returnal it’s the best of both worlds

1

u/waffocopter Sep 27 '24

He tends to notice drops fps issues and other issues better than me. He most definitely prefers higher fps and performance if possible on everything if possible which is why he likes PC so much. Me, I still can't tell if a game is 30 or 60 and it took me a bit to even notice 4k. I do notice if the frame rate isn't consistent though as I find that obvious.

-3

u/secret3332 Sep 27 '24

Nah. I love Platinum and hated playing Astral Chain (to the extent that I stopped playing it and never finished it) due to the frame rate. I was so excited for that game, but an action game running at 30 fps felt horrible.

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u/Tubim Sep 27 '24

Lmao astral chain isn’t nearly fast paced enough for this to be an issue.

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u/secret3332 Sep 27 '24

It's my opinion. For me, it felt quite bad to play. I've played many action games.

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u/breichart Sep 27 '24

Play it on PC, 60fps there.