Game fonts: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

[cj_iwakura]

So fonts may not be a huge deal, but they go a long way towards making all that reading palatable.
(I assume this is going to be a largely JRPG-centric thread, but western games can apply too, I'm sure)

Here's some good font examples, IMO:

(Class of Heroes 2)

(Growlanser II: The Sense of Justice)

(Growlanser V)

(Etrian Odyssey IV)


And some less good:

(Uh, hate to seem like I'm targeting a certain company, but these gave me the thread idea, and they've done good fonts as seen above.)

(Persona 2: Innocent Sin)

Compare to Innocent Sin fan translation:

(Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers)

Spoiler

I don't give a crap if this uses Comic Sans, I buy this regardless.

(Growlanser IV)

Personally they seem too bubbly in SH's case(doesn't fit the game's tone much) and thin(for lack of a better word) in Growlanser IV's case.



So any other examples of good/bad fonts? Which ones do you like, and hate seeing in use?

 

[Seda]

I just started Vagrant Story....and I'm still getting used to

 

[Why would you do that?]

The Nintendo DS font (supposedly the default font used in the dev kits) is very infamous. Each letter is at most 4 pixels wide, and specifically Ms and Ws look like hot messes.

Edit:

Poor progranner...

 

[Alcoholikaust]

persona 2's typographical rivers drive into my soul

disdain-

 

[Ingueferroque]

I just started Vagrant Story....and I'm still getting used to

It fits perfectly though.

 

[Screenboy]

I hated the Tales Of Symphonia font.

 

[bernardobri]

Metal Gear Solid series got great dialogue fonts. I don't remember their names, though...

 

[mollipen]

Hmm... the only example I like from your "good" list is Growlanser II. *laughs* I think the rest are terrible. Meanwhile, I like P2: IS's official font. Same for Soul Hackers.

I think too often, companies go for style over readability, which I hate. At the same time, you then have things like that Etrian Odyssey IV font, which just feels like somebody photoshopped some text onto an image.

 

[Weiss]

I don't get it. What's wrong with Persona 2?

 

[Het_Nkik]

I honestly never pay attention to fonts. I just don't think about them at all while reading. If I can read the words it's a good font.

HOWEVER, the fonts (really the entire UI) used in Android/iOS Final Fantasy games look crazy bad to me. You have this 16-bit sprite work overlaid with super sharp text and it just clashes really bad.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

Yesterday I was at an academic symposium and a Japanese lady had a PowerPoint presentation in Comic Sans. Surely some games have been dumb enough to do the same

 

[DemonNite]

I guess this classic image fits here

 

[mollipen]

It fits perfectly though.

For me, it's the perfect example of style over substance. When a font actively works against the player in terms of readability, the font has failed.

HOWEVER, the fonts (really the entire UI) used in Android/iOS Final Fantasy games look crazy bad to me. You have this 16-bit sprite work overlaid with super sharp text and it just clashes really bad.

I actually think fonts like that might not look as bad if the UI wasn't such garbage. Mobile games really have the worst, cheapest, laziest UIs ever.

 

[AniHawk]

growlanser v and class of heroes 2 are damn near unreadable for me.

 

[MikeE21286]

I hate the Xenoblade text. Can't find a good picture of the text with the hit damage. But that's specifically what I mean

 

[Summary Man]

Metal Gear Solid series got great dialogue fonts. I don't remember the name of them, though...

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080306193846/metalgear/de/images/2/20/Metal_gear_solid_codec.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080619081460/metalgear/es/images/3/38/Sons_Of_Liberty_%28Codec_Screen%29.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/06/mgs42.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

I came to post this exact thing. The fonts in the MGS aren't fancy, but they're readable and instantly recognizable to me.

 

[Emitan]

Pretty much every iOS game uses the same font and it is AWFUL.

 

[MYE]

I love the expressive font on the Paper Mario games.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

VS's font works just fine for me on a CRT without uprezzing at 15ft.

I guess this classic image fits here

Sting to Activision: "Get on our level, son."

 

[Emitan]

VS's font works just fine for me on a CRT without uprezzing at 15ft.

Sting to Activision: "Get on our level, son."

Gungnir is Sting's absolute triumph in their goal to put as much useless shit on the screen at one time.

 

[Muffdraul]

So far the worst thing I can say about Dead Space 3 is that I hate the new font they decided to use on most of the menus and interfaces. I think it's ugly in general, and in a lot of cases it looks... I dunno, not blurry really, but... "soft". Like a low res sprite that's been upscaled to the point where it looks worse than it normally would.

 

[Emitan]

Sonic Adventure 2 uses Comic Sans which is all you need to know about that game's quality.

 

[Nemesis_]

It's basic, but I love the font in Silent Hill games (well the Japanese ones).

 

[Detox]

That 'classic' image of COD sucks because the game has a perfectly fine UI that millions of players have no issues with. I don't care if they use loads of different fonts and effects, it works.

 

[Traumahound]

Diablo 2's font fits the theme, but definitely falls under ugly. I can't count the number of times I had to think, "hold on, is that a five or a six?".

 

[Zeranium]

Echoing the dislike for NDS font.

I wasn't too fond of the font used for the first 2 Wild Arms.

I think they were also used for the Arc the Lad games on PS1.

 

[Meccanical]

VS's font works just fine for me on a CRT without uprezzing at 15ft.

Sting to Activision: "Get on our level, son."

Sting has the busiest UI's I ever seen, yet there is something charming about that.

Like a child who must use every crayon on a single picture in his coloring book for no reason.

 

[UncleSporky]

VS's font works just fine for me on a CRT without uprezzing at 15ft.

Sting to Activision: "Get on our level, son."

Those guys.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Gungnir is Sting's absolute triumph in their goal to put as much useless shit on the screen at one time.

Oh, a good bit of it was useful, it's just they seem to rate giving design majors aneurysms very high in terms of a goal.

 

[perfect free]

I don't know what it is that bugs me about Innocent Sin; it's something about the capital letters not meshing with the rest of the line.

SMT: Strange Journey did text right. I know the dialogue font isn't unique to this game, but it's clean, easy to read, and nicely spaced:

 

[dab0ne]

I remember the first Dead Rising's font being super tiny. I hated that shit.

 

[Waylon Drums]

The old N64 font still haunts my nightmares.

 

[UncleSporky]

Diablo 2's font fits the theme, but definitely falls under ugly. I can't count the number of times I had to think, "hold on, is that a five or a six?".

Notice how it uses a different font for resistances as opposed to, say, stamina. Different 5's.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I hate super-serif'd fantasy fonts so much. Say what you will about Skyrim's terrible UI, but at least they ditched the faux-handwritten Oblivion font.

 

[GuardianE]

Sting to Activision: "Get on our level, son."

My eyes. They bleed.

 

[DocSeuss]

Looking at every one listed as "good" in the above post leaves me shaking my head.

No.

None of those are good.

But I'm the guy who would prefer it if all fonts used Gill Sans Light.

 

[Roo]

I thought this thread was about the fonts used for game logos
*leaves disappointed*

 

[Red Chocobo]

I always liked the SOTC font.

 

[MrCunningham]

Nuts & Bolts comic sans > everything else

 

[Emitan]

That 'classic' image of COD sucks because the game has a perfectly fine UI that millions of players have no issues with. I don't care if they use loads of different fonts and effects, it works.

Just because people don't care about a bad UI doesn't make it not bad.

 

[Aeana]

Well, I have quite a bit to say on this matter (surprise), but not enough time to make a post about it at the moment, so it'll have to wait.

I always liked the SOTC font.

That's Papyrus, one of the most improperly used fonts ever. Also used as Avatar's subtitle font, sadly.

Nuts & Bolts comic sans > everything else

That's not Comic Sans, it's Andy.

 

[Funchameleon]

The OP's "good" examples are almost all bad and his "bad" examples are fine to good.

I always liked the SOTC font.

You're going to fucking love a lot of default font libraries then.

 

[Kazerei]

Gungnir is Sting's absolute triumph in their goal to put as much useless shit on the screen at one time.

I dunno, I'd say Knights in the Nightmare still has that crown. When there's bullets and gems flying everywhere, it's craziness.

 

[UncleSporky]

I always liked the SOTC font.

Isn't that just friggin' Papyrus?

 

[Roo]

Nuts & Bolts comic sans > everything else

is that... is that a N64? :O
lolololol
first time I see it

 

[rando14]

Really enjoyed the combat font in FFXII, crisp and clean:

I recall Pokemon Sapphire/Ruby having a particularly bad font:

 

[timetokill]

Here's some good font examples, IMO:

(Class of Heroes 2)

This looks awful to me. Hard to read and for no reason.

I always liked the SOTC font.

:lol Papyrus

 

[Aeana]

(Persona 2: Innocent Sin)

(Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers)

Spoiler

I don't give a crap if this uses Comic Sans, I buy this regardless.

I don't know if you realized it, but this is the same font in both.

 

[Instro]

Pizzaroll, Aeana thread.

Oh she's already here!

 

[Muffdraul]

I hope whoever chose the font for dialogue for FFXII was taken out behind Square Enix HQ and shot.