Well, dang it. Persona 3 Reload’s Nintendo Switch 2 port is looking less-than-stellar. Players have been checking out its free demo, and while the image quality is actually quite solid, there are some dire framepacing issues holding it back from being an easy recommendation.
They’re honestly some of the worst that I’ve experienced in a long time; I gave the game a whirl, huge Persona fan that I am, and oi. Much as I treasure the idea of playing it portably on my shiny new Switch 2, I’m not sure that I can roll with this.
S.E.E.S. The Difference
The above screenshot might not be the most accurate reflection of Persona 3 Reload’s image quality on Switch 2. I yanked it straight from Nintendo’s own website, but I could have it looked a bit nicer on my own system this morning. Maybe I’ll go back and update this later. Compare notes. Swap it out for something better.
Either way, S.E.E.-ing is believing, as they say. (/Aigis voice.) The truth of the matter is, the game doesn’t terrible on Switch 2, but it rough. That’s because the framepacing is kind of bonkers levels of all over the place. A thread on ResetEra has plenty of folks going into greater detail about this dilemma. “The frame pacing is very distracting, and it’s a huge shame they couldn’t get this working with 60fps on the UI layers,” JackOfSomeTrades says.
The 60fps UI would be lush – I mean, yes, that is one fabulous-looking menu suite. But I’d be fine with it if there wasn’t visible on parts of the menu. And the thing about framepacing is that, well, it’s about uneven frames. That unevenness will make games feel sluggish. It’s an issue with Bloodborne, for instance. There are unmistakable beats where you’ll feel like the controls aren’t responsive, which is bad news for a game of that sort. It’s less of an issue for a turn-based RPG like Persona, but even so, it’s hard to recommend any port that feels notably worse to play than its prior form(s).
“Weird feeling,” Mikch85 notes in that same Era thread. “It’s 30fps alright, but it feels so incredibly slow and choppy.” Mikch85 concurs with me that the visuals are totally fine. Which makes the fact that the demo is free all the more incentivizing — you’re not going to see the problems with pics, and you won’t even really see them in the reveal trailer:
Instead, you’ll experience them on a level that is just , one that’ll get you sensing something off the whole time. Or maybe it won’t! Maybe you’ll be fine. I can’t speak for you. What I can say is that I’ve gone from “definite purchase” to “on-the-fence”. I do notice the issue less on the small screen of the Switch 2 itself than on my TV, where I’d just replay the PS5 version, anyway. So, I suppose I’m probably still in, but oi. I’d really hope to see this thing running more smoothly. Maybe Mitsuru can straighten it out with a stern look or something.
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