I understand that they looked cool at the time but man have they aged poorly. Half the time I can't tell what's a wall and what's a walkway so I have to go around humping all the scenery until I figure it out. The PSP ports of old PS1 games look even worse as everything is shrunk to a much smaller scale. In Star Ocean the treasure chests are devastatingly small and always have a knack for blending in perfectly with the background. Drives me nuts!!!
You have a point, but on the PSX itself, I always thought prerendered backgrounds were a brilliant idea. They look stunning, don't waste any resources, and navigating through a town/dungeon of prerendered backgrounds has a kind of PC Adventure atmosphere to it. Plus, having the backgrounds prerendered opens up so many opportunities in terms of art direction. Check out Legend of Mana for example, where all the backgrounds were handpainted.
But yeah, when it comes to ports, you definitely do have a point. I wish developers would go through the trouble of re-rendering the backgrounds in higher resolution before they sold them on PSN. If that's possible at all (I'm guessing it isn't).
Final Fantasy did them well.
Some PC adventure games did them HORRIBLY (pixel hunting anyone?).
I think to this day the idea has some merit. I'd love a FF game with prerendered backgrounds and an overworld with today's tech.
The problem of navigation is mostly bad/lazy level design. And we have seen many full 3D games with the same problems (invisible walls anyone?) so yeah......I think they can still work .
But yeah different resolutions for different set ups is a must.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:The success of a console is determined by how much I enjoy it.
I guess we have to agree to disagree this time BoneSnapDeez, I LOVE prerendered backgrounds. From the RE games to JRPG's on the PSX, I think they look amazing and have made those games age way better than most N64 games or whatnot, which were more often than not fully 3D.
This is another reason why I can't wait to dive into PC adventure games, haha.
Like ZeroAX said though it's probably just a case by case issue if they don't work out too well, and I do think I remember the chests being hard to see in Star Ocean 2, haha. But I remember the camera was often zoomed out a ton in that game, so that was probably a factor as well.
I love Sierra's pre rendered backgrounds. Now some of the puzzles may have been poorly designed, but the backgrounds themselves are beautifully hand painted.
Great stuff.
We are prepared to live in the plain and die in the plain!
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate how the backgrounds look but how they feel. Not being able to decipher foreground and background, or shadows from impassible barriers, drives me nuts. I think my colorblindness just exacerbates the problem too.
BoneSnapDeez wrote:Don't get me wrong, I don't hate how the backgrounds look but how they feel. Not being able to decipher foreground and background, or shadows from impassible barriers, drives me nuts. I think my colorblindness just exacerbates the problem too.
oh.....yeah I think the lack of color will make it a pain to understand what's a path even in the best designed prerendered background. I'm sorry to hear about your color blindness mate
BoneSnapDeez wrote:The success of a console is determined by how much I enjoy it.
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