Quality of life improvements on Nintendo Switch

[Derekt]

Hello developers at Pathea Games,

I finally got the game on the Nintendo Switch and everything is fine. I would appreciate some quality of life improvements on that version, though I'm sure everyone would like them (at least on consoles). Simple (and not so simple) stuff that would make a very big difference to players.

1. Any time a menu has to open (a store, the mailbox, the inventory...), it takes a few seconds of loading. I can't really grasp my head at what is causing that freeze. It should really come up almost instantly. Loading times in general I feel could be improved, they seem too long for what they are.

2. Another big one is inventory management. To set down materials (for example if you're making the saw and you want to set down the copper blades), you need to open the inventory, put the blades in your quickbar, close the inventory, go to the quickbar slot, and finally set them down. Instead I should just press A, and the copper blades are set down on the blueprint if they are anywhere in my inventory.

3. Please an invisible wall around water so that players don't walk in it. As it is you take a step in, the screen goes black and you're teleported back to shore. I'm sorry to say this looks very amateurish.

4. I feel the game also freezes, or hiccups, when I use the pickaxe and axe. I'm not entirely sure, but it definitely looks like something that shouldn't be happening, is happening.

5. Add an option to make the interface bigger. In portable mode at least, the font is very small and so is the interface in general.

6. A small complaint: but when you go to sleep and wake up, you have to press A to leave the bed. I'm not really sure why that's there. Also a more complex complaint: it seems there is no lightning in your house. I mean that at night, the inside of the house should be dark, but it's always lit up perfectly.

7. And otherwise tiny issues that I feel someone on the team should take time to play with and write down as they go. Like if you open the menu and go into the Social tab, you can only move between pages by using the right stick, whereas the left stick only moves you to different characters. Why can't I also use the left stick to move between pages?

Otherwise I really like the game, but all those issues add up and make playing a not very enjoyable experience, at least not as enjoyable as it should be. Thanks.

[Gnome d'War]

2, 3 and 6 are the same on PC, so are not likely to be changed.

I can't comment on the rest since I don't have a Switch.

[Sabishi1985]

Originally posted by GrumpyKitten:

2, 3 and 6 are the same on PC, so are not likely to be changed.

I can't comment on the rest since I don't have a Switch.

1 and 4 are also a thing on some PCs since the last update. Moving the game to a fast SSD drive helps quite a bit though.

[DefaultForHire]

i agree with all of this Its hard to get immersed when majority of menus actions and jsut loading areas takes a overwhelming amount of time. if i could go back and choose i would have purchased the pc version. the game it's self is a must have!

[vpryor13]

Originally posted by Derekt:

Hello developers at Pathea Games,

I finally got the game on the Nintendo Switch and everything is fine. I would appreciate some quality of life improvements on that version, though I'm sure everyone would like them (at least on consoles). Simple (and not so simple) stuff that would make a very big difference to players.

1. Any time a menu has to open (a store, the mailbox, the inventory...), it takes a few seconds of loading. I can't really grasp my head at what is causing that freeze. It should really come up almost instantly. Loading times in general I feel could be improved, they seem too long for what they are.

2. Another big one is inventory management. To set down materials (for example if you're making the saw and you want to set down the copper blades), you need to open the inventory, put the blades in your quickbar, close the inventory, go to the quickbar slot, and finally set them down. Instead I should just press A, and the copper blades are set down on the blueprint if they are anywhere in my inventory.

3. Please an invisible wall around water so that players don't walk in it. As it is you take a step in, the screen goes black and you're teleported back to shore. I'm sorry to say this looks very amateurish.

4. I feel the game also freezes, or hiccups, when I use the pickaxe and axe. I'm not entirely sure, but it definitely looks like something that shouldn't be happening, is happening.

5. Add an option to make the interface bigger. In portable mode at least, the font is very small and so is the interface in general.

6. A small complaint: but when you go to sleep and wake up, you have to press A to leave the bed. I'm not really sure why that's there. Also a more complex complaint: it seems there is no lightning in your house. I mean that at night, the inside of the house should be dark, but it's always lit up perfectly.

7. And otherwise tiny issues that I feel someone on the team should take time to play with and write down as they go. Like if you open the menu and go into the Social tab, you can only move between pages by using the right stick, whereas the left stick only moves you to different characters. Why can't I also use the left stick to move between pages?

Otherwise I really like the game, but all those issues add up and make playing a not very enjoyable experience, at least not as enjoyable as it should be. Thanks.

The freezing and load times have been acknowledged. That's part of an update that they're working on and said should be out in the next few weeks. :)

[Tirah]

I've been obsessively playing the Switch version for a week now, and I agree with the OP (though I don't mind pressing A to get up in the morning). The game is extremely flawed but still very playable and a lot of fun. I too have a few suggestions that would make the Switch port better, and hopefully here it will be read by the developer.

1. Game stability and performance fix!!! I can't stress this enough. The graphics are absolutely terrible and look like something from the old Wii, no anti-aliasing, extremely low res textures (looks like absolute crap on my 4K TV), no grass... yet the console still struggles to run it at a solid framerate. There are constant hiccups and delays, especially when opening menus, mining, chopping trees or fighting. It's ridiculous. This console can run Breath of the Wild just fine - and that game has a massive open world and looks infinitely better. Needs better optimization.

2. A better Game Over screen. The day I just started the game, I was running around among some cutesy animals near my workshop when suddenly it's game over. It was so immediate that I had no idea what happened. I went back to see and I was dead again. Much later I realized there were some high level sea urchins which attacked and killed me instantly. If the screen slowly faded to black so you have time to look around, and maybe if it said something like "You were killed by [enemy name]" things would be easier. It just looks weird that the game ends so abruptly.

3. Improved player feedback when fighting. Combat just feels unrewarding. You mash 1 button and press dodge every now and then. It's also hard to tell when you're taking damage. This should be very obvious and I should be able to notice without having to glance at the health bar every other second. I'm not asking for something like the ingenious Bayonetta with its combo system and extravagant visual effects, but a few colourful slashes and flashes would go a long way.

4. Harvesting giant crops crashes the game. Fix, please!

5. Easier way to target the debris in abandoned ruins. There are pieces of old world structures buried in the abandoned ruins which you can mine for materials like pipes, hardened clay or bricks. Sadly, targeting them is extremely finicky and I still haven't figured out how to target them reliably. You just have to kinda walk around very VERY slowly and hope that when that health bar will appear on top of the screen you won't accidentally take one step further and make it disappear again. It's incredibly frustrating when it should be easy. If the blue reticle is hovering over the debris, that should be enough for me to target and mine it.

Obviously there's heaps of bugs and missing features (some cutscenes are completely silent, I know the voice acting was removed from the Switch version, but sound effects are missing too?). I'm aware that Pathea is a small team working on a huge ambitious project so I don't expect them to do everything we request anytime soon, or possibly ever - other than fixing the most glaring issues, that is. I'd expect that much from a game they ask a full price for. Still, I hope they'll read this thread and maybe consider some of these suggestions.

[vpryor13]

Originally posted by Tirah:

I've been obsessively playing the Switch version for a week now, and I agree with the OP (though I don't mind pressing A to get up in the morning). The game is extremely flawed but still very playable and a lot of fun. I too have a few suggestions that would make the Switch port better, and hopefully here it will be read by the developer.

1. Game stability and performance fix!!! I can't stress this enough. The graphics are absolutely terrible and look like something from the old Wii, no anti-aliasing, extremely low res textures (looks like absolute crap on my 4K TV), no grass... yet the console still struggles to run it at a solid framerate. There are constant hiccups and delays, especially when opening menus, mining, chopping trees or fighting. It's ridiculous. This console can run Breath of the Wild just fine - and that game has a massive open world and looks infinitely better. Needs better optimization.

2. A better Game Over screen. The day I just started the game, I was running around among some cutesy animals near my workshop when suddenly it's game over. It was so immediate that I had no idea what happened. I went back to see and I was dead again. Much later I realized there were some high level sea urchins which attacked and killed me instantly. If the screen slowly faded to black so you have time to look around, and maybe if it said something like "You were killed by [enemy name]" things would be easier. It just looks weird that the game ends so abruptly.

3. Improved player feedback when fighting. Combat just feels unrewarding. You mash 1 button and press dodge every now and then. It's also hard to tell when you're taking damage. This should be very obvious and I should be able to notice without having to glance at the health bar every other second. I'm not asking for something like the ingenious Bayonetta with its combo system and extravagant visual effects, but a few colourful slashes and flashes would go a long way.

4. Harvesting giant crops crashes the game. Fix, please!

5. Easier way to target the debris in abandoned ruins. There are pieces of old world structures buried in the abandoned ruins which you can mine for materials like pipes, hardened clay or bricks. Sadly, targeting them is extremely finicky and I still haven't figured out how to target them reliably. You just have to kinda walk around very VERY slowly and hope that when that health bar will appear on top of the screen you won't accidentally take one step further and make it disappear again. It's incredibly frustrating when it should be easy. If the blue reticle is hovering over the debris, that should be enough for me to target and mine it.

Obviously there's heaps of bugs and missing features (some cutscenes are completely silent, I know the voice acting was removed from the Switch version, but sound effects are missing too?). I'm aware that Pathea is a small team working on a huge ambitious project so I don't expect them to do everything we request anytime soon, or possibly ever - other than fixing the most glaring flaws, that is. I'd expect that much from a game they ask a full price for. Still, I hope they'll read this thread and maybe consider some of these suggestions.

I read a post that they mentioned they were aware of the giant crop harvesting crashing the game. It's supposed to be a part of the update they're working on, along with adding sounds and more quests that are available on pc. I have the pc and Switch versions, despite the fact that I don't regret buying it, there are definitely improvements that need to be made on the Switch version. I was going to buy it for my sister in law but I'll definitely be waiting until I see what improvements they make in the update first. It's supposed to be updated within the next few weeks so we'll see, I suppose.

[Tirah]

So the new major update is out and the giant crops finally no longer crash the game. Too late for me since I've missed out on the Autumn Festival second year in a row, but next year will be mine! :)

Though I now have another suggestion: it's rather jarring to see NPCs running around in summer clothes in the dead of winter. Everything is covered in snow and frost and the Hulu brothers frolic around in tees and shorts. Would be nice to have a different clothes set for each character to wear depending on the season. Hell, just 2 versions of their current outfits would be fine, a long-sleeved one and a short-sleeved one. Some characters (Ginger and the Civil Corps guys) could get away with having just one outfit.

[Sabishi1985]

Originally posted by Tirah:

Though I now have another suggestion: it's rather jarring to see NPCs running around in summer clothes in the dead of winter. Everything is covered in snow and frost and the Hulu brothers frolic around in tees and shorts. Would be nice to have a different clothes set for each character to wear depending on the season. Hell, just 2 versions of their current outfits would be fine, a long-sleeved one and a short-sleeved one. Some characters (Ginger and the Civil Corps guys) could get away with having just one outfit.

As far as I know there will be different clothing options for NPCs in the future.

Check out this tweet:
https://twitter.com/PatheaGames/status/1123562466405961729

And you might also want to read this thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/666140/discussions/0/1649918058737839012/

[Tirah]

Originally posted by Sabishi1985:

Originally posted by Tirah:

Though I now have another suggestion: it's rather jarring to see NPCs running around in summer clothes in the dead of winter. Everything is covered in snow and frost and the Hulu brothers frolic around in tees and shorts. Would be nice to have a different clothes set for each character to wear depending on the season. Hell, just 2 versions of their current outfits would be fine, a long-sleeved one and a short-sleeved one. Some characters (Ginger and the Civil Corps guys) could get away with having just one outfit.

As far as I know there will be different clothing options for NPCs in the future.

Check out this tweet:
https://twitter.com/PatheaGames/status/1123562466405961729

And you might also want to read this thread:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/666140/discussions/0/1649918058737839012/

I don't have a twitter so I had no idea, but that's great to hear! I also hope they'll fix the bugs the newest update brought with it, namely the random crashes (used to happen only when you put the Switch to sleep with the game still running) and your character's head getting stuck in one position (for me she's usually looking at her horse and twists her head to stare at it no matter where she is) which looks pretty bad and can only be fixed by restarting the game.

[Lauren_Team17]

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