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Final Fantasy IX PC/Mobile |OT| How did the source code survive?

BriGuy

Member
So how do you actually toggle fast speed, no encounters, and invincibility? The game doesn't say and Google is of zero help. I feel like an idiot here.
 
About the music: I went back and did some objective listening tests and empirical testing - The music, or some part thereof (possibly e.g. the samples used in resynthesizing them, or whatever) files in this port actually are sampled at 16kHz, or were downsampled to 16kHz without proper brickwall filtering at some point regardless of what the assets are. This is what's causing the scratchy, tinny sound people are hearing due to aliasing over Nyquist.

As in, I'm re-assessing my opinion, and now it's that the music in this port is actually (needlessly) inferior. Gonna open a support ticket and contact a couple of people I know to see what's up and/or if it can be fixed.

http://i.imgur.com/DtatGNJ.png

FFT of Steam version music in Alexandria - notice the spikes just before 8kHz, which mirrors itself after 8kHz. That's aliasing at work at a badly sampled 16kHz (more reading & nerdery here)

http://i.imgur.com/2fcj7mu.png

Exact same part of the same music off a YT video of the original.

edit: FFT = fast fourier transform, not Tactics lol

Thanks for the info, that is what I was worried about too. It doesn't seem the audio files themselves are the problem :(

I just skimmed the steam thread linked earlier, it seems some suggested there as well that the audio engine is the issue, or rather that it is not playing back the files like a PS1 should.

Kind of disappointing. The emulated audio engines from the PS emulators are like single megabyte in size.....

I hope we get a fix for this. Just a simple fix would make the audio that much more worthwhile and make a decent port even better.

At least for now the good thing is that the audio differences are not particularly noticeable for the most part, at least in general for most of the tracks.

The only one I genuinely notice it on is the cursor select movement and the new game button.
 

Slaythe

Member
Bare in mind this isn't a " let's bring ff9 to pc ! " situation. They brought it to mobile. And ported that to pc. I highly doubt they ll fix everything wrong with the PC version because it wasn't their ambition.

The awful background upscaling is proof that they only gave PC an after thought.
No analog proper support, crappy interface scaling and bad audio just seal the case.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Thanks for the info, that is what I was worried about too. It doesn't seem the audio files themselves are the problem :(

I just skimmed the steam thread linked earlier, it seems some suggested there as well that the audio engine is the issue, or rather that it is not playing back the files like a PS1 should.

Easiest way to figure out where the problem is is to get ahold of the files themselves. Which I don't exactly have the time right now for, to go dumpster diving for inside the game directory :|

The awful background upscaling is proof that they only gave PC an after thought.

Oh please get over yourself.
 
I don't think anyone was expecting an excellent port, that's pretty unrealistic given the history of ports to PC of PS1 era FF games.

What is surprising however is how close it is to being a fantastic version. There's amazingly only a few areas in which to improve this version, which I wasn't expecting at all.

And for the most part, besides the backgrounds, which aren't totally bad thankfully, a lot of them are easy fixes, like changing the font or possibly changing how audio is rendered, and analog movement, those are probably the 3 main issues I would say.

Given that it's surprising. Just happy it's not totally shite or running at 15 fps in battles.. never gonna forgive them for doing that to FF7.

Also the battle swirl surprisingly does not suck, only thing is that it doesn't quite cover the whole screen.
 

atbigelow

Member
The battles run at 60 FPS, but none of the animation does. All the ps1 FF games ran at 15 FPS and had that baked into all the animations. You can easily see the engine is running way higher from the damage numbers.

They could have converted all those. But it would have taken a hell of a lot of work.

I definitely feel some issues with their controller implementation. Not just lack of true analog. Feels like lag at times.
 
Yea I was thinking that. The ATB bars are also very smooth. They still move slow as fuck even on the highest setting though :D

Battle scenes are well done, it is how the FF7 port should've been treated as well... but alas. 15 fps cursor selection... like really! Lol.

Models are incredible too, even Steiner's or Vivi's eyes are clearly visible and very sharply detailed, animations are easily noticeable and look just as if you would imagine them in HD. They definitely re-did some of the texturing, combined with advanced filtering elsewhere.

I think most of the enemy types are just filtered though, the big plant lair monster just seemed filtered for example, same with the kidnapping plants. They look great though anyway.

But the playable characters and NPCs like Ruby look absolutely fantastic.

Compared to the other ports of the FF PS1 series, absolutely amazing. If we get a Chrono Cross in the same vein that would be incredible. Hopefully that's not just a dream :(

And if we get FF X/X-2 and FF XII and DQ8 on PC or something.... I imagine we won't have to deal with any of these problems for the most part (unless they decide to throw out analog support...). Textures in those games were already hyper-detailed so filtering alone would make them look incredibly sharp automatically (just like in PCSX2).
 

Slaythe

Member
Oh please get over yourself.

Er, no ?

There are extremely easy ways to get much better results out of the backgrounds.

The only reason it looks that bad is because they weren't designing the remaster for TVs and PC monitors in mind.

That's not a belief, it's a fact. So there's nothing to "get over" . Hopefully we can fix it with mods.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
The only reason it looks that bad is because they weren't designing the remaster for TVs and PC monitors in mind.

should totally have just left the models and fmv alone then

not gonna be noticed on tiny mobile screens
 
How's everyone enjoying this port of my fav game?

don't have the game, but all the posts I've read say trigger buttons for F# keys?
image.php

*heavy breathing*
I like your Mandragora avatar.
 

ampere

Member
It looks like this is actually a solid port, the character model updates look great. I'll keep this on my radar if I get the itch to play it again.

I really hope we can get a mod now to restore the original background art. For the ones that are lost for good, maybe a team of artist can work on recreating them.

Wow, never saw that thread. That's some really awesome art.

Makes me want to see some modern games take the pre-rendered background art approach.
 

telasoman

Member
100 nobles impressed on my second try. I guess I'm a lot better at video games than I was 15 years ago...

Game looks great so far. Excited to replay it again and actually be old enough to understand it this time :)
 

Ludens

Banned
So, I discovered the "bug" regarding Master Abilities booster. Basically when you push the button, the game asks you if you want activate the booster. For the italian version, there's only "yes" available (dunno for other countries, but other booster options have both yes and no). If you simply push B, the booster won't activate. You need to push up and than B, and it will work.
 
Sounds like everyone is enjoying it for the most part which is great :)

I honestly haven't seriously played a classic Final Fantasy game in several years.... it is good to be back... :')
100 nobles impressed on my second try. I guess I'm a lot better at video games than I was 15 years ago...

Game looks great so far. Excited to replay it again and actually be old enough to understand it this time :)
Yea lol :p

They definitely made it much, much more lenient on timing. I got 100 nobles on my first try, I think it's only based on timing for nobles.

But I mis-clicked one button and Brahne wasn't impressed, until I did a second try and got 100 nobles + Brahne (and her delicious moonstone :)). Was very easy.... but I'm not complaining ^^
 

Byvar

Member
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.

Any mod to slow down the turbo button to something like 2x speed? It's too fast for me now.
Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS w/ booster = 30 instead of 75). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed" (so you need to remove the ".Patched2" from the filename). Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48 (You can also use Memoria to change the battle FPS). It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

EDIT -> Updated with a new version of the booster-only patch: Booster x2 (updated)
And the new booster+24fps patch: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48 (updated)
The old version is still accessible here: Booster x2 (old version)
The old version of the 24fps + Booster x2 patch is also available here: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48 (old version)
 
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.


Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS = 30). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed". Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48. It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

Ill have to try this when i get home. Seems sweet
 

Meesh

Member
The only thing I find aggravating about FF9... Is not being able to play it right now!! My PC is being fixed, I just wanna cry lol :(
 

cwistofu

Member
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.


Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS = 30). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed". Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48. It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

About to try out the fast forward mod.

Does setting the battle FPS to 24 speed up the ATB?
 
The battles run at 60 FPS, but none of the animation does. All the ps1 FF games ran at 15 FPS and had that baked into all the animations. You can easily see the engine is running way higher from the damage numbers.

They could have converted all those. But it would have taken a hell of a lot of work.

I definitely feel some issues with their controller implementation. Not just lack of true analog. Feels like lag at times.

The UI elements always rendered at 60 Hz, even in the PSX version. This is true in FF7 as well, which stands out the most during Tifa's slots. It just isn't rendering the rest of the battle scene at that rate. It's just more noticeable now because the UI is a much higher resolution so you can see what would've been sub-pixel movement on the original.

I think the game is still using the original PSX resolution for a lot of things. I noticed when the party first gets onto the cargo airship that the camera swaying was moving the background in rather large chunks--probably the size of a pixel. I wonder if the backgrounds have been scrolling in those chunks in general and I just haven't noticed.
 

Slaythe

Member
should totally have just left the models and fmv alone then

not gonna be noticed on tiny mobile screens

Excuse me ?

The models are displayed at higher resolution and they removed the flickering that was caused by the ps1 hardware limitations.

Flickering would have been instantly visible, due to multiple close ups, throughout the game.

As for the FMVs, pixelation is especially bad during upscaling, when there is movement. What is tolerable on mobile thanks to the scale of the screens for backgrounds, would be hell to look at during full movement. You can see an exemple of that during the rare transitions of CG and gameplay, like the forest at the beginning.

So higher FMV quality is welcome even on mobile display.

Better backgrounds could also be welcomed on such display, but the size of it makes it okay. Not good, not bad, okay.

PC and TVs, on the other hand, sorry to be picky, and to know what can be done through emulation or decent filtering, but no, for my standards (and they're not that high), the backgrounds look absolutely awful. They could have used a better upscaler for such displays.
 
Excuse me ?

The models are displayed at higher resolution and they removed the flickering that was caused by the ps1 hardware limitations.

Most are, but many aren't. Main characters are new, and even some of the baddies like Zorn and Thorn and Beatrix. I imagine Kuja is improved as well, but I haven't seen him yet.
 

Parsnip

Member
About the music: I went back and did some objective listening tests and empirical testing - The music, or some part thereof (possibly e.g. the samples used in resynthesizing them, or whatever) files in this port actually are sampled at 16kHz, or were downsampled to 16kHz without proper brickwall filtering at some point regardless of what the assets are. This is what's causing the scratchy, tinny sound people are hearing due to aliasing over Nyquist.

As in, I'm re-assessing my opinion, and now it's that the music in this port is actually (needlessly) inferior. Gonna open a support ticket and contact a couple of people I know to see what's up and/or if it can be fixed.

DtatGNJ.png


FFT of Steam version music in Alexandria - notice the spikes just before 8kHz, which mirrors itself after 8kHz. That's aliasing at work at a badly sampled 16kHz (more reading & nerdery here)

2fcj7mu.png


Exact same part of the same music off a YT video of the original.

edit: FFT = fast fourier transform, not Tactics lol

Thanks for looking into it.

The hero we deserve.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
Is anyone getting errors that cause the game to crash to desktop?

I've been getting a specific error when I talk to some NPCs, it happened the first time I talked to Rat Kid / Puck to climb the ladder in the Steeple on the way to see the play.

The second time it happened was in the middle of the very first fight against Steiner trying to escort Garnet out of the Castle.

The same error happens all the time.

I know it's not my system and I can definitely run the game without issues (i5 3570k, 8GB, HD7950, W10 x64)

This is the message I receive every time the game crashes.

"GetThreadContext failed"

After doing a bit of searching, it seems I'm not the only person with this problem - http://forums.eu.square-enix.com/showthread.php?t=188655
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
So, I just got out of the petrified forest and suddenly the game is running at super speed. Battles take 5 seconds or so, and I move so fast through the over world I cant tell where I'm going. I can't find any options that might have caused this. Battle Speed turned down and nothing changes.

Will be nice for grinding in the future though, but going through the entire game like this would be annoying.
 

Byvar

Member
So, I just got out of the petrified forest and suddenly the game is running at super speed. Battles take 5 seconds or so, and I move so fast through the over world I cant tell where I'm going. I can't find any options that might have caused this. Battle Speed turned down and nothing changes.
Press F1. You have the Fast Forward booster on.
 

Ludens

Banned
Stupid question: I missed a moogle on the mail quest, so the chain basically broke and I can't complete it if not by backtracking to Alexandria (I think it's not possible for now).
What is the reward for the quest?
Also can I backtrack to complete it later?
 

artsi

Member
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.


Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS w/ booster = 30 instead of 75). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed". Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48. It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

Wow, awesome, thanks!
 
Stupid question: I missed a moogle on the mail quest, so the chain basically broke and I can't complete it if not by backtracking to Alexandria (I think it's not possible for now).
What is the reward for the quest?
Also can I backtrack to complete it later?

You can complete the Mognet Central quest anytime before Disc 4, IIRC. I forget if it's blocked because of events after the end of Disc 3 or not.
 
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.


Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS w/ booster = 30 instead of 75). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed". Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48. It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

Very nice fam :)
 
Most are, but many aren't. Main characters are new, and even some of the baddies like Zorn and Thorn and Beatrix. I imagine Kuja is improved as well, but I haven't seen him yet.

Yep, they did actually retexture the main character models, even some of the NPCs possibly.

Not all 3D models though.

Kuja probably looks incredible.
Higher res isn't the same as high res.
These are better than the original but a far cry from HD.
Can't be that far.

Videos must be about 800x600 or even 1024x768, which is not far from HD which is 720p.

There is a huge, huge amount of detail in the PC version FMVs that is not in the original game.
 
I can't remember how the saves worked on the original game but is there something fruity going on with them on the PC release? For instance, it's as if it's using a checkpoint system or something as I'll often not be in the same position I was when I saved, or it'll have forgotten about a couple of battles I did. Things like that.
 

diablos991

Can’t stump the diablos
I can't remember how the saves worked on the original game but is there something fruity going on with them on the PC release? For instance, it's as if it's using a checkpoint system or something as I'll often not be in the same position I was when I saved, or it'll have forgotten about a couple of battles I did. Things like that.

That's why I don't use the continue option. Always load a save I performed manually.

The continue option uses some bizarre checkpoint system that can undo progress from the most recent manual save.
 
That's why I don't use the continue option. Always load a save I performed manually.

The continue option uses some bizarre checkpoint system that can undo progress from the most recent manual save.

Ohhhh! Thanks for the tip, didn't realise that. I assumed it would just use the most recent save.
 

Peff

Member
Oh man, my US discs don't look like this :(

2_mc4ih6fpg7.jpg

Funny story, a bunch of the European copies actually had misprints and a number of the CDs actually have repeated couples instead of having the whole party. It was weird, but hey, at least the discs themselves have the right data.
 

Tc91

Member
I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.


Agreed. 5x is is way too fast (wtf Square :p), so I patched it down to 2x. Battles feel so much better now.
Here's a link: Booster x2 (battle FPS w/ booster = 30 instead of 75). This file should replace Assembly-CSharp.dll inside "install_directory\FF9_Data\Managed". Be sure to make a backup first!

I also tried a modification to upgrade the default battle FPS to 24, which looks pretty nice IMO. It speeds up all the battle animations as expected, but not to the degree that it looks bad: Default Battle FPS = 24, Booster x2 FPS = 48. It shouldn't break anything, but again, be sure to make a backup in case it does.
You can also set battle speed to "Slow" in the menu to get as much time to think as before, except with faster animations and better FPS.

It seems scaling down the UI requires some more complex modifications which sadly I can't do. Applying the Waifu filter to the backgrounds seems like a lot of work too. Let's hope other modders will take care of that! :)

This is amazing.
 

Ruruja

Member
Oh man, my US discs don't look like this :(

2_mc4ih6fpg7.jpg

I have that copy! The discs are lovely.

Actually due to the Steam release, today -- after 15 years of starting my Final Fantasy IX save on the PS1 -- I finally got around to completing the game (I saved it at the very end all those years ago and never went back to it). It was fun seeing the characters with names of my friends I had around that time. I got quite emotional when it ended, had a big nostalgia wave.

Anyways, hope you guys who are playing this for the first time are enjoying my favourite FF, more of you should post your impressions, I love reading them.
 
I'm having a hard time trying to do the sword fight during the play since the game is using Xbox prompts and not PlayStation.

Also when I loaded my game it took me to the tower where you meet the first moogle instead of directly at Kupo where I saved. I had to watch the whole sequence again of Puck getting him by him and then Stiltzkin coming.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Excuse me ?

The models are displayed at higher resolution and they removed the flickering that was caused by the ps1 hardware limitations.

Flickering would have been instantly visible, due to multiple close ups, throughout the game.

As for the FMVs, pixelation is especially bad during upscaling, when there is movement. What is tolerable on mobile thanks to the scale of the screens for backgrounds, would be hell to look at during full movement. You can see an exemple of that during the rare transitions of CG and gameplay, like the forest at the beginning.

So higher FMV quality is welcome even on mobile display.

Better backgrounds could also be welcomed on such display, but the size of it makes it okay. Not good, not bad, okay.

PC and TVs, on the other hand, sorry to be picky, and to know what can be done through emulation or decent filtering, but no, for my standards (and they're not that high), the backgrounds look absolutely awful. They could have used a better upscaler for such displays.

Apologies for the late reply, but I'm glad you're seeing how absurd my counter-example was.

Let's take this point by point, then!

First of all, you insinuate that poorly upscaled graphics are proof (your term, not mine) that large displays are an afterthought. I bring up an opposite but equally ridiculous assertion that higher resolution FMV and updated character models prove that the port was done instead for large format displays. These are both faulty logical disconnects. You cannot assert as proof one way or another. Regardless, all of this ties to how the game looks, both on mobile and larger displays. There are a shit ton of backgrounds in the original game, and if time was taken to upscale each one manually with the best tool for the job (since some upscaling algorithms work better on some source material) it'd look better on both small and large displays. I mean, your opinion is exactly that with regards to FMVs and the higher polygon characters, anyway!

You also mentioned UI, analog control and bad audio. Let's take these one by one too:

UI: It's functional on mobile. It's functional on PC. While not the action list is not taller than the original, It takes up slightly more real-estate horizontally, and thus results in a bit of crowding. I think it's fine for what it is.

Analog control: I agree with you here - this is something that should be in the game. However, remember a lot of people game on mobile with a controller as well (the iOS release thread has a -lot- of complaints about incomplete MFI controller support, for example. Incidentally it got fixed recently)

Bad audio: This really is a technical issue that has very little to do with platform choice. There are bad sounding games on mobile. There are good sounding games on mobile. The issue has absolutely nothing to do with bitrate (i.e. filesize concerns as an extension of platform considerations) and absolutely everything to do with either how the assets were mastered (a methodology/technical issue), or how they're being played back (an engine issue)

I think your main disconnect here is that mobile = it's ok to be shit. Mobile is a completely viable contemporary platform right now, with its one major drawback being longevity, since no one knows how long your purchases will last, even over something as simple as OS updates. Of the four issues listed, three (outside of UI) are things that would improve the mobile experience as well.

I'm having a hard time trying to do the sword fight during the play since the game is using Xbox prompts and not PlayStation.

Heh, I've played so many games with wrong button prompts using both Sixaxis/DS3 and X360 controllers that I've learnt to just read them as up/down/left/right, although 'X' sometimes throws me off.


I've been looking into modding this to make the battle HUD smaller again and strangely I've stumbled upon quite a lot of code and text that suggests this was (or still is?) planned for the Vita. One example is that the warning you get when enabling a booster is literally stored as follows:
Code:
BoosterWarningNotVita,\n\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.[C8C8C8],\n\n
BoosterWarningVita,\n[CENT][D06050]*This feature cannot be disabled once active.\n[CENT]You will also be unable to earn achievements.[C8C8C8],\n
That line is fully localized and integrated into the code as well (with platform checks). Sadly, nothing points at a PS4 release being planned yet.

That's a really interesting catch. Considering the engine though, it may have been for the best (Unity games... haven't done so hot on VITA performance-wise; see Setsuna)
edit: Also interesting in that it's also not congruent vs how boosters work with the FF7 PS4 release where trophies weren't disabled.

When you say the UI stuff is out of your league, is it a code thing or an art asset thing? Or something completely different?
 
Sounds like everyone is enjoying it for the most part which is great :)

I honestly haven't seriously played a classic Final Fantasy game in several years.... it is good to be back... :')
Yea lol :p

They definitely made it much, much more lenient on timing. I got 100 nobles on my first try, I think it's only based on timing for nobles.

But I mis-clicked one button and Brahne wasn't impressed, until I did a second try and got 100 nobles + Brahne (and her delicious moonstone :)). Was very easy.... but I'm not complaining ^^

How the hell did you get a Moonstone? I just did it and got 10,000 gil. It took me a while because of the button prompts being for Xbox, but I did it. Yeah, they had to change up this mini game. All the times I played this game I make sure that I never missed one button and I just get up to 99 nobles at the most and figured it's probably impossible to get 100, but then I do it this time and for some reason it works? Okay then.

Just beat that and now ready to kidnap Garnet.
DrH3WoX.jpg
 
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