OrangeRKN wrote:deathofcows wrote:In case of interest to anyone, here is said article about FFIX!
But really it's about the pleasure of fixed-angle backdrops in old-school Final Fantasy
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020 ... al-fantasyP.S.
Orange Rakoon this is a sort of culmination of many of the ideas we were discussing in the BotW/Link's Awakening Camera/Continuity discussion way back! So thanks for that discussion too!
This was really interesting again! Which is impressive considering I haven't played FFIX so the specifics are lost on me
Just last week I was talking with a friend about Metal Gear Solid 3 and it's original, fixed-camera release vs subsistence with it's player controlled third person camera. I can't decide which version I prefer despite them feeling obviously different. It's not quite a fixed backdrop in the original because you can enter first person aiming, which is why I think the design still translates into a third person camera (these places were always created to be freely looked around in some manner), but the fixed camera angles do frame certain areas in important ways - guard patrol routes are more obvious in their patterns, items get framed through the scenery in a sort of hidden object game style, and the insides of buildings and caves get a more cramped and oppressive quality. Subsistence plays better and is easier, from a pure quality of life perspective, but you still lose something.
I assume you've played Crystal Chronicles as you mentioned it? My favourite element of that game is crossing the miasma streams. The combination of the camera, visual and sound effects and the character movement make crossing those streams feel so incredibly tactile even when playing on a GBA with no rumble whatsoever. It's pretty much magic how they pulled that off, and I really hope HD rumble in the Switch re-release adds to it rather than detracting.
Glad of interest!
I've only played the original MGS3 but can fully imagine how different it would be with a freely controllable camera. Maybe 'better' as a game proper but also with one less defining character trait in its feel, and a whole different (literal and qualitative when played) 'worldview'!
I have to say I think part of the pleasure of replaying FFIX was the focus of a single stick, and so a single axis of control. The satisfaction of movement isn't diluted by camera control ('viewment'?!) concerns, and the relationship between character and environment is firmed up (I know I used this phrase already in the article proper!) by losing the perspective/frame-altering camera changes. And by reducing the ability to multitask and look around at stuff, which I think is a visually anti-mindful way of playing - if you get me.
I'd love to be able to play (e.g.) MGS3 in both ways, readily interchangeably - like one of those HD remasters like Halo or Monkey Island. I wonder if that kind of mechanical difference is more profound to a game's textural quality than any visual upgrade, and would be fun to compare in the hands (which is basically the self-imposed restrictions I messed about with when playing BotW to try and work things out!)
Re: Crystal Chronicles - I love that game's aesthetic and audio-visual tones, and remember the miasma crossings!
I'm excited for a re-release, just to have its AV palette on my switch to immerse in every now and then. But I do think it looks a little clean in HD which not only sharpens the edges in a way that is less charming and in tune with the games rounded plumpness (I should have probably saved the 'emplumped' thing from the article for Crystal Chronicles!), but also takes away that thickened-air feel that comes with CRT blur - as if there's less particle matter in the air proper.
And I've got a bad feeling the fur fuz of the GC original is gone.
And the redrawn clavat boy's face has the wrong eyes.
And I realize I am just being very
very pernickety, but it's about a game whose look I really
really love! If only they added a CRT-filter a la the retro SNES releases and the like - it's as relevant to this as to them!