Pokémon Legends: Arceus Pre-Load File Size For Switch Revealed

Looks like a standard file size.

It's sitting upon my switch, mocking me.

First off, I'm surprised Nintendo hasn't added such important information onto their websites. Literally any other game including their own mentions the file size pre-release.

Secondly, I'm gonna have to go under the assumption that Nintendo Life is gonna be quite late in getting the reviewer copies of the game.

Thirdly, the game's street date has been broken and people are already illegally playing this game, as mentioned previously in the datamine article. I'm almost certain the file size of this game has already been revealed, unofficially.

Either GF finally managed to optimize the size of their games, or PLA would be rather empty on the overworld.

@Savage_Joe Yep quite small for me. Even SwSh use 12.4 GB.

@ModdedInkling Illegaly playing the game?

@Savage_Joe From what I've heard it's that the game itself is more optimized from a code aspect.

@ModdedInkling the xci is 7.4 GB

I really actually wonder if perhaps they got help from Monolith Soft on this one. We usually don't find this information out until the credits but it seems like an obvious choice since Nintendo came to them for help with making big open worlds whilst still maintaining reasonable size. I think XCX was the one Monolith Game with awful size in terms of how much space it took on the Wii U.

@Varkster well, from what I've heard from the leaks, Monolith did work on it, but we don't know to what extent.

@Varkster
Several contract employees who worked on the Xenoblade games also worked on this game (and Sword/Shield).

Other than that, this is very much a GameFreak game.

Nope, getting a physical copy, which is a safer bet with new games

Had a wee nosey at the eShop last night, and Pokémon Legends is sitting at numero uno on digital pre-orders.

@westman98 Even then, I've heard some good things gameplay-wise.

@westman98 @VoidofLight In terms of open world tech I think Monolith has it down better than most developers out there in the industry, it wouldn't be a big surprise that Nintendo would want their help on bigger projects like this which involve larger areas.

I also can't imagine it would slow the current game Monolith Soft is working on by a lot, so there really wouldn't be a major downside.

Of course, this game is probably radically different mechanically than anything Monolith developed so far but the open world aspect of it specifically would make sense.

Is it just me or do these screenshots look much better than anything else we have seen so far of the game?

I've heard that 6 is the average size..

@KnightsTemplar Well, you know its not about size, really the quality of the uh game

@KnightsTemplar File size doesn’t mean anything except for the space of the game itself. It doesn’t determine features or how long the game is.

pre-ordered it on the my nintendo store since by the time i finish work most game stores'll be shut, means i can just come in after work and get to playing tho, since it'll prolly be delivered during my shift!

Definitely waiting to see some reviews before I plunk down money for this as I just don't trust GameFreak but I will give them this I'm at least interested which is more than I can say for most Pokémon releases. Hope it goes well!

Man after the leaks i really want it asap.
Saw some amazing gameplay footage.
Man bring it already lol.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

@Would_you_kindly
Thank you. Never understood why Nintendo is so quiet about this.

@AstraeaV
Using emulators in a way to access the game earlier than its intended release date. Technically it's legal assuming someone got their hands on a copy early, but everyone else using that ROM is playing it illegally.

I’m cautiously optimistic. Fallout New Vegas looks like utter muck and runs even worse but is one of the most engrossing open worlds in the business.

Updates are one thing it's how big the updates are that matters. At least I got my two physicals or three coming so not too worry right now.

Is it just me, or does that first picture look SUPER good? Is it an actual in game picture?

@P-Man It was a shot within one of the first ever trailers, so I imagine it is in-game footage.

@Savage_Joe The entire industry uses the same compression methods, there isn't any magical algorithm that only a few people have access to. At the same time, the file size doesn't mean the world will be empty. It does probably mean that this game will have much fewer Pokemon than SwSh, though, which I haven't really gone out of my way to find out, but I think we can assume that much. I doubt this game will have more than 300 species.

@Troll_Decimator I don't even think it speaks for the volume of content within the game. It's just that the files are better compressed, and they're not repeating things like having a different version of a single model each scene because they don't know how to just have one singular version of that model.

Edit: I heard that this game has more content than Sword and Shield did, and yet it's 6GB while Sword and Shield is around 10.

I can't wait! Very hype for this game. BDSP while nice to experience the Diamond/Pearl Era again, didn't quite fully scratch my Pokémon itch since Sword and Shield...this though...this looks awesome!

@Troll_Decimator I disagree on the compressions thing. There are tons of examples of games having different sizes on each console. Right now, multiplat games are significantly smaller on ps5 than xbox. So, there is some magic algorithms only few people know

@Savage_Joe Going by leaks the game is packed with content and the world is lively in that the Pokemon actually feel like they exist in it compared to S&S when its just 3D models hovering around doing nothing and not interacting with the world or themselves. I think people will surprised at how much thought and work Gamefresk put into this game.

Got it on my Switch ready, it torture having to wait haha.

@VoidofLight Thank you for the clarity.

@Troll_Decimator
It's not about some magical compression algorithm. It's about optimisation, asset resolution/reuse and so on. It could well be that this game is smaller due to the art style. Hell, because of the open nature of it they might have picked this art style because it allows for smaller sized textures which matters more in an open world environment

@skywake Everyone does this. Nintendo does have an additional incentive to do so because they use cartridges. They are not doing anything special that isn't known in the wider industry.

ive been avoiding seeing things about this game, does anyone know what the eshop means by "in-app purchases"?

If I end up getting this game, I'm 100% going physical. I've never been a fan of getting Digital games, and I only willingly go digital if it's the only option.

Edit: My sister bought it digitally. I'm thankful but kinda upset that we're using more storage on our Switch

I thought the file size was 13GB?
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/08/file_sizes_of_pokemon_legends_and_pokemon_diamond_and_pearl_remakes_seemingly_revealed