I'd love to get a PS1-era-looking JRPG with pre-rendered backgrounds, made with a non-AAA budget
- Thread starter AuthenticM
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Baten kaitos is 14 or 15 years old though.
Isn't OP asking for a new game?
They already graduated from 8 and 16 bit, or rather now 2D and 3D ones happen concurrently.
This is what a random low-budget 3D game looks like nowadays:
So yeah, they pretty much skipped the PS1 era entirely in favor of PS2-PS3 level stuff.
Purely an opinion here, but I don't find the PS1 style low-poly characters paired with pre-rendered backgrounds to be appealing at all. Give me 16 bit style pixel art over that any day of the week.
Don't know whatever became of it but someone was working on a ps1 inspired survival horror game a few years ago.
But the thing is - those games with pre-rendered backgrounds took a lot of development work (and therefore budget). They were not cheap, as artists had to make all those backgrounds by hand, and since they were all unique and there were hundreds (thousands?) of them I'll wager it was a huge undertaking. We're talking at least an AA budget, and no one's going to risk that on an extremely niche title.
I agree for PS1 era FF, the contrast between characters and background looks awful. But I need more Legend Of Mana in my life
I think PS1 graphics are a bit too low poly but PS2/early PS3 equivalents would be fine. I think Earthlock would fit that bill.
And I would like a Chrono Trigger sequel made with 2D HD sprites. Hell I'd settle with a style similar to Octopath Traveler too. It's nice to wants things, OP!
It's 100% possible.
I mean, it's basically CRPG but with turn-based combat in a separate arena, right?
Pillars 2 even has overworld exploration.
The question is would the devs want to do it?
I mean, it's basically CRPG but with turn-based combat in a separate arena, right?
Pillars 2 even has overworld exploration.
They're all small budget. Probably on par with the likes of Bamco/KT JRPGs such as Tales of and Atelier.
The question is would the devs want to do it?
That's back in 1995, isn't it? I believe I have it on steam.Don't know whatever became of it but someone was working on a ps1 inspired survival horror game a few years ago.
Isn't there a million and a half of these for dirt cheap on Steam nowadays?
Any toaster could run them.
Like this. I'm going to buy this now. Thanks for pointing it out. :)
Any toaster could run them.
Like this. I'm going to buy this now. Thanks for pointing it out. :)
i feel like OP doesn't understand how much those prerendered background cost nor the talent that was involved in making them.
Seriously OP, especially in modern times:
- High detailed prerendered backgrounds to the standard to those made in ps1
- Not AAA budget
pick one.
Seriously OP, especially in modern times:
- High detailed prerendered backgrounds to the standard to those made in ps1
- Not AAA budget
pick one.
Yeah, especially the dungeons in Bravely Second look much better.
Here's a cool picture from Second. Not a dungeon though:
Looks at Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2. Those games didn't have a huge AAA sized budgets and they have beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds.
I greatly miss pre rendered backgrounds. I know for the most part the camera can get in the way but god they were so beautiful to look at.
Both of those wee subpar and overpriced. Might as well replay one of the classics instead.
I'd be okay with this as long as it's in HD with anti aliasing and 60 FPS. The low Polygon count of PS1 era games doesn't bother me but I can't go back to the grainy low res mess. Vita level enhanced PS1 classics are tolerable due to the upscaling and other enhancements but out of the box PS1 and even N64 games look and play like shit.
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Nah, Octopath's environments are 3D. The far background is a texture, but that's akin to a skyboxes than what the OP is thinking of
Making HD prerendered backgrounds for a huge game like an ROG would be quite the expensive endeavour though, especially if prerendering is supposed to come with any advantages here (i.e. more details than in a fully realised 3D environment with static camera). The level of visual fidelity would ensure we're approach quite the big buget, at least in terms of artists, or am I missing something?
If they play like shot, what difference does a visual enhancement make? And to be clear: I disagree with the jab against how PS1/N64 games play. Many classics like Banjo, F-Zero, Mario, the Zeldas, the Crashs, the FFs or NiGHTS still play fantastic, some of them have yet to be surpassed to this day (in particular: F-Zero X is still the best racing game ever made).
Persona 5 pretty much is an example of an AAA PSX era game
looks great, but below the tier of the high tier budget games with an acceptable visual style
Would cost too much for the target market.
Doing something in 3D would actually be more efficient and more marketable. A win-win for the dev/pub and for most of the people looking to buy said RPG.
Maybe a really, really small team could try something like this if they really, really kept the scope small, like super small. Nothing on the scale of FF7. And the quality and level of detail wouldn't be there, but, on paper it's conceivable. I just don't see it as a viable enough ROI for a publisher or dev to spend like $10M on such an idea.
I'd be totally down for it though if someone did.
Doing something in 3D would actually be more efficient and more marketable. A win-win for the dev/pub and for most of the people looking to buy said RPG.
Maybe a really, really small team could try something like this if they really, really kept the scope small, like super small. Nothing on the scale of FF7. And the quality and level of detail wouldn't be there, but, on paper it's conceivable. I just don't see it as a viable enough ROI for a publisher or dev to spend like $10M on such an idea.
I'd be totally down for it though if someone did.
I also miss that a lot. That's why I stopped mainly playing on PS consoles after the second one.
We need games like Radiant Historia but using some more power to look slightly better.
Too bad there aren't that many good examples of games of that type nowadays.
I miss PS1 RPG more than 2, but both are close to extinction.
We need games like Radiant Historia but using some more power to look slightly better.
Too bad there aren't that many good examples of games of that type nowadays.
It's more of a SNES type of game than PS1... or PS2 (both are also different).
I miss PS1 RPG more than 2, but both are close to extinction.
Far from it. They can hardly be good enough to hold the comparison with snes RPG which they're copying.
I meant that in the context of frame rate as that affects gameplay. I have no problem with tank controls and still enjoy playing the likes of FFVII and RE2 but i find them unplayable without enhancements granted by superior technologies like AA, and upscaling so they look decent on HD screens: why anyone want to deliberately emulate a crappy old SD tube tv is beyond me. Even creators would agree that they didn't design their games with unstable frame rates in mind and other visual glitches,
What is funny is Battle Chasers (from a non Japanese developer) was much better than either of these games.
I hope more non Square Enix developers give this genre a chance in the next few years.
And Saga Scarlet Grace is at the top of it.
I think it's better than Battle Chasers (which is already very nice) in every way but (arguably) art style/animation. But there also very different in atmosphere, one might appeal to someone while the other wouldn't.
Better balance, challenge, contents...
But the backgrounds in those games aren't pre-rendered at all?
People keep saying this while there are proofs that it's not the case. Low-budget CRPGs (and many other indies/AA games) do use pre-rendered backgrounds which scale up to 4K. The thing is, JRPG devs aren't too fond of that idea anymore, it seems.
Making something that actually looks like one of those PSX games is still bound to be costly, even if it's not FFXV-expensive.
I'd love to know how much Lost Sphere and I Am Setsuna cost to develop relative to the PSX classics. Modern technology and practices can obviously be more cost-efficient, but these games don't strike me as being as asset-dense as the classic PSX games.
I'd love to know how much Lost Sphere and I Am Setsuna cost to develop relative to the PSX classics. Modern technology and practices can obviously be more cost-efficient, but these games don't strike me as being as asset-dense as the classic PSX games.
Problem is Lost Sphear is 50 dollars which is insane imo. It's a low budget game with almost a AAA price. I am Setsuna is a little cheaper at 40 but it's been out for 2 years without a permanent discount despite the budget. I would bite on both of these games if they were 20-30 USD but it is very hard to justify any higher than that imo.
Unstable framerates were a problem, but no universal. F-Zero X held a stable 60, Crash and Banjo a stable 30. Disliking the look of mid-90s games is understandable, but this is not a gameplay issue. Which is why I pointed out my issue with the gameplay statement but not with the visuals statement. As an owner of an SDTV, I have no issues with SD graphics though, obvisouly ^^
There have been multiple sales on I Am Setsuna bringing it down between $20-30. The same will happen to Lost Sphear, in time. Personally I had no problem buying either at full price, I don't think the games come close to the true classics in the genre but they are both competent JRPGs and worth the price imo. Plenty of niche publishers sell lower budget, lower quality games for a higher price, but that's because they have a smaller audience and have to get the most out of that audience. It all comes down to what you personally are willing to pay. I won't pay $60 for an Idea Factory RPG (typically I won't even buy them at any price) but some people like those games and will do so, and there is nothing wrong with that. This isn't even a new thing, lower budget games have asked the same price as higher budget games since the video game industry has existed, it's all about whether or not it's worth it to you
