[Sword & Shield] Pokemon Sword and Shield graphics worse than Let's go Pikachu/Eevee?

[PokeDotMan]

I started the game yesterday and pretty early on I noticed jagged edges and just prety lackluster visuals overall but just assumed it was because I hadn't played my switch in a while. I then remembered not noticing anything when playing Pokemon Let's go last year so decided to head back on there and do a quick comparison, it turns out Pokemon Let's go is much clearer in comparison. I've added some pictures below, the difference might not be as apparent as it is in person since I took these pictures from my phone but you can still notice a huge difference even from these. What are your thoughts on this?

Pokemon Sword/Shield:

Pokemon Let's go Pikachu/Eevee:

 

[Z]

If you want an in-depth technical analysis of SwSh you should check the video Digital Foundry published today on YouTube.

 

[PokeDotMan]

Thanks, just watched it

 

[Sheep]

LGPE have decent graphics but definitely are a bit more cartoony/stylized, whereas I find SwSh to be a slight bit more on the realistic side. I definitely don't notice most of the complaints people bring up unless they're hugely obvious (the infamous Tree Texture) and find SwSh to be more immersive and better-looking visually. Yeah, the more jagged edges are somewhat noticeable what you put those screenshots side by side, but that doesn't stop the game from looking good to me at all. Especially when you compare the usually lifeless, large-headed LGPE protagonist to the characters and cutscenes we have here (I just completed Milo's gym challenge and absolutely adored the dynamax animations).

To each their own though, of course! I just feel like this is a fairly minor thing...for me, at least.

 

[bobandbill]

They're different styles, certainly, and one will just appeal to some people more than the other, and vice versa.

As for quality, when SwSh has the proper fully fleshed out animated scenes, it wins hands down. Other times, it reuses the same animations and graphics as LGPE, which in cases is akin to the XY days (yikes). And then sometimes it is arguably worse - in say texturework on the ground, trees, rocks, etc. So it's a mixed bag.

Overall I'd say it's a improvement over LGPE, but for a full retail switch game and seeing a bunch of other games really flex some figurative muscle... it's a bit of a let down.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

To be fair, Let's Go is a far simpler art style that what they used in SwSh. Not only that, but SwSh is also using a lot more different types of movement while for Let's Go, it was mainly just straight lines, so it was easier to make everything cleaner.

I have never looked into jagged lines detail and could honestly careless unless it is just out right noticeable and bad for the eyes. But for what I am seeing in your pictures, to myself I thin, why does anyone care? That is just my own thoughts though,

 

[PokeDotMan]

To be fair, Let's Go is a far simpler art style that what they used in SwSh. Not only that, but SwSh is also using a lot more different types of movement while for Let's Go, it was mainly just straight lines, so it was easier to make everything cleaner.

I have never looked into jagged lines detail and could honestly careless unless it is just out right noticeable and bad for the eyes. But for what I am seeing in your pictures, to myself I thin, why does anyone care? That is just my own thoughts though,

It's not as noticeable in handheld, but I prefer to play on my large 4k display, which makes it extremely apparent and it was one of the first things I noticed. I get that the art style is somewhat different but to me the difference is night and day between Sword/Shield and Let's go. The game it's self is amazing but I question why Sword/Shield often has blurry textures has jigged edges. Breath of the wild was out almost 3 years ago and looks so much better, makes no sense to me

They're different styles, certainly, and one will just appeal to some people more than the other, and vice versa.

As for quality, when SwSh has the proper fully fleshed out animated scenes, it wins hands down. Other times, it reuses the same animations and graphics as LGPE, which in cases is akin to the XY days (yikes). And then sometimes it is arguably worse - in say texturework on the ground, trees, rocks, etc. So it's a mixed bag.

Overall I'd say it's a improvement over LGPE, but for a full retail switch game and seeing a bunch of other games really flex some figurative muscle... it's a bit of a let down.

It's hard to say, the graphical style is more ambitious than let's go, but let's go looks better to me since it's crystal clear. I'm loving Sword/Shield but at times I'll be playing and randomly think to myself "how is this a game released in 2019?" Also, those animated cutscenes still have noticeable jagged edges, I've noticed that the clearest points in the game tend to be inside smaller buildings like Pokemon centres.

LGPE have decent graphics but definitely are a bit more cartoony/stylized, whereas I find SwSh to be a slight bit more on the realistic side. I definitely don't notice most of the complaints people bring up unless they're hugely obvious (the infamous Tree Texture) and find SwSh to be more immersive and better-looking visually. Yeah, the more jagged edges are somewhat noticeable what you put those screenshots side by side, but that doesn't stop the game from looking good to me at all. Especially when you compare the usually lifeless, large-headed LGPE protagonist to the characters and cutscenes we have here (I just completed Milo's gym challenge and absolutely adored the dynamax animations).

To each their own though, of course! I just feel like this is a fairly minor thing...for me, at least.

Yeah I get your point, they certainly are different styles, I wouldn't say Let's go is worse though, I really like the more cartoony style. The dynamax animations are pretty good looking, although I'm not a fan of the whole dynamax concept in general, but that's a discussion for a different time. Overall, I'm enjoying the game and glad they went back to regular gyms rather than those weird totem battles from Sun/Moon. I am a little disappointed with the visuals though, I find it hard to accept that a game with a similar art style that launched with the Switch almost 3 years ago (breath of the wild) absolutely destroys Sword/Shield graphically

 

[Azuviin]

Echoing what most have already said, I think it definitely looks way more detailed and immersive so I think it's mostly due to style and the sheer size of some of the areas rather than poor quality. Though when I was playing with my bf, he kept pointing out that some of the models seemed to have ngons which really bothered him, ahaha.

 

[PokeDotMan]

Echoing what most have already said, I think it definitely looks way more detailed and immersive so I think it's mostly due to style and the sheer size of some of the areas rather than poor quality. Though when I was playing with my bf, he kept pointing out that some of the models seemed to have ngons which really bothered him, ahaha.

Well yeah, pretty much any statement on the game at all will have been said before since many people will post right away or even earlier if they get the game early for whatever reason. I didn't actually see anyone else mention this though, so I assumed it hadn't been milked. Either way if you look at the generational leaps (GB to GBA, GBA to DS, DS to 3DS) this is by far the most disappointing one and it's not even close. The gameplay is great but in the graphics department, it's a slightly upgraded version of Sun/Moon

 

[MoonPony]

They went into a more complex style as a test. I truly believe this game is a test for the switch. They did this with a few games in the past.... Like Black and White was a test but people didn't complain too much. Sun and Moon was defiantly unique and Let's Go Eevee and Let's Go Pikachu was really to keep people entertained. It was simple in design and less detailed compared to Shield and Sword. The next game is defiantly going to be larger.

 

[Unown Seer]

Like Black and White was a test but people didn't complain too much.

It seemed like a culmination of the DS era, held back by the pixelated backsprites.

The next game is defiantly going to be larger.

The next generation. I expect any remakes to look closer to LGPE than SwSh.

 

[Couples-Consoling]

I think LGPE has better graphics, if only in terms of STYLE. That being said? The world you interact with in SwSh makes up for it, imo.