Sure, with the caveat that everyone's definition of "playable" is different.
I am using the latest Eden AppImage and a 1.4.2 ROM. I didn't change anything in Eden besides controller setup and increasing the RAM to 8GB (this has to be done in the game config). This gets you fps in the teens and 20s.
Then I ran the NX Optimizer AppImage. I used the Steam Deck preset and chose the 2nd of the 2 TotK entries on the game menu. The only change I made was the lower shadows to 512x. I don't know if that did anything... the shadows do look pretty bad. Then I clicked "Apply". Note that if you have multiple emulators, NX is going to try to figure out which one to apply to. I'd get rid of anything that's not Eden AND the settings folders that are in ~/.local/share.
NX adds a "mod" entry you can view and turn on and off in the game settings. It also installs something called UltraCam, and you'll know that because it changes the game opening and adds UI elements. Now I have no clue what any of this stuff is doing. It's poorly explained... Like is it just modifying emulator settings you could do yourself? Is it doing something to the ROM? No clue. You can make adjustments to UltraCam settings by hitting both triggers combined with left stick click. I changed resolution to 900p, and turned on FSR. But it's unclear how much that helped.
Anyway, the result is a max, locked 30 fps. It will dip while shaders are caching and when you first use ultrahand and in villages and other areas with fire. It is not smooth by any means but it's "mostly smooth". Usually in the open world and in shrines it's stable. There's also some banding from what I assume is anti-aliasing, but I don't see any turned on in any setting I can locate, so who knows.
Like I said, it's good enough for me. Like you the ergonomics of the Steam Deck are so much better than Switch that I'll take the compromise here.
They've published a bunch of updates, with pretty detailed change logs. Have you checked to see if they addressed that issue?
I haven't got nearly that far. It's an absolutely amazing recomp and I love that it exists, but as I'm fiddling with the controls and the camera and the combat I'm just thinking "Breath of the Wild exists, why am I doing this?"
Last month I finished up Transiruby, which is a really fun and breezy Metroidvania. The art style and the incredible chiptune soundtrack gave me big Axiom Verge vibes, despite being quite tonally different.
My June project is getting TotK emulation working satisfactorily, which finally happened last night after far too much trial and error. I know Nintendo's lawyers have made everyone scared but the amount of vagueposting around this subject is maddening. This means I can likely sell my Switch as it was the only game I had left to play. It also means I have to play the first 10 hours of the game again...
I was confused by this news because I buy games cheaper from other retailers all the time, even Steam keys. I assume this about full retail price, but since PC games go on sale so often, it seems like "average retail price" can easily be lower through another store front.
I think anyone with a fairly basic understanding of economics (and that is admittedly a declining number in many places) understands the idea that "salaries and benefits are expensive".
What he doesn't explain that would actually be helpful is why teams are so big. Like what are all the departments that work on AAA titles, what do they do, how many people on staff relative to other departments, what does a 3D modeler make vs. a gameplay programmer?
He also doesn't talk about anything outside of staffing, like marketing, cinematics, voice acting, localization, bribing Geoff Keighley...
This would all be more useful than the baby math lesson provided.
I share your skepticism, because Valve is definitely in a damned if you do/don't situation. But...
The only people who could justify an absurdly high price for a Steam Machine are the people who NEED a plug-and-play console-like system and can afford a high price. And that is just not a big market.
I'm not sure it was ever a large market. Like I don't think based on Valve's comments during the launch that they were thinking "bigger than the Steam Deck". It really felt like "for the subset of Deck users who want this too, and maybe it'll surprise us." The commentary around price has ALWAYS been "it's going to be too expensive", from the second it was announced, so it's hard to know how much the price will actually impact sales, because so many people want to talk about how they'd buy a thing if not for this one factor who were never ever going to buy the thing.
The pricing is definitely going to be a problem now, there is no way around that. But because I'm the person you are describing, I will say... I'm just over building PCs and the inherent compromises (nevermind that the component prices are crushing that market too). The guy who did the video a few months back was a) in Canada, b) buying shit in parking lots from FB marketplace, c) doing this 6 months ago, before the war. I'm not convinced it could be done reasonably today at some remarkably lower price than whatever you or I think the Steam Machine will cost.
I don't want the ecosystem lock-in of consoles, I already own tons of PC games. I want exactly what Valve is cooking, and not really anything else. Even if it's an alleged better value.
If they're expecting people to use the Frame with the Machine, then they'd probably want the Machine on the market first. I'm not totally clear on the strategy. They obviously made it "standalone", but will there be enough content to release it as such?
I certainly plan to buy it specifically to use with the Machine.
I used the Wii version. There was a (mostly) helpful video that had links to pre-configured controller mappings so I can do all the motion control stuff with regular controls. The star aiming isn't quite as intuitive, but I've not had an issue playing casually.
After the winter sale and some Christmas gift cards I was kinda paralyzed by choice and just stopped playing.
I've been following "Video Game Club" on Mastodon and the March game is Super Mario Galaxy. So getting emulator and controller working for that and getting it going. The game itself seems decent, but has not become a total timesink yet.
Yeah I think that was my point about feeling like Valve is purposely screwing me. Microsoft showed with the Xbox Ally X that their appetite for hardware subsidies is waning (perhaps even their appetite for hardware at all).
Valve has a lot of goodwill with Steam Deck owners and I think if they price it at a number higher than any one person's expectations, that person is less likely to think it's Valve's fault, than if Sony were to do the same.
Don't announce a price and see every single comment section devolve into pricing discourse.