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Secret of Evermore bits.
Posted by The Management in art, games on September 19, 2009
Secret of Evermore came out close to the end of the SNES era and was the first and only game to be developed by Squaresoft USA. It tried to piggy-back on the relative success of Secret of Mana, retaining that game’s ring-menu system and part of its title, but it was not well received by the fans. The main reason for this is that it wasn’t Secret of Mana 2.
The defeat of the iconic Thraxx, one of the earlier bosses in the game.
Anime was really taking off at the time, but SoE had its own aesthetic style. Its setting also had nothing to do with Mana, and the two games played quite a bit differently. Adding insult to injury, various magazines previewed Seiken Densetsu 3, the real sequel to SoM, and hinted at the game not coming out in the West because of SoE.
Despite all the fan outrage, though, Evermore was a quality game and I personally prefer it to Mana.
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Fun with YouTube.
Posted by The Management in miscellaneous on May 20, 2009
Recently I’ve been browsing YouTube for some examples of JRPG combat mechanics. This little search led me to a low-level, initial equipment playthrough of Final Fantasy IV (Advance). It was a pretty interesting watch, and it reminded me of just how much varied content exists on the site. Sure, you have your usual gameplay footage, corporate trailers and fan reviews, but there’s a lot more beyond that.
Broadcast Yourself. And videogame clips.
Prince of Persia, I really wanted to like you.
Posted by The Management in games on February 6, 2009
In my opinion, Prince of Persia is hands down the most beautiful game of 2008. Technically and conceptually it’s simply jaw-dropping, and the graphics aren’t the only good thing about it.
It's really, really pretty.
It’s not a very long game either, but I don’t think I’ll ever finish it.
The FOV in Mirror’s Edge.
Posted by The Management in design on February 2, 2009
The pros and cons of Mirror’s Edge have been debated time and time again, but there hasn’t been much talk about its FOV.
Fisheye field of view in Mirror's Edge.
In order to simulate a sans peripheral, stereoscopic view, FPS games tend to use a 90 degree window. The FOV in Mirror’s Edge, however, seems to be smaller. This might’ve been a result of wanting to achieve a more personal, zoomed-in feeling and a cleaner, flatter look (a smaller FOV tends to flatten the perspective of the projected image), but was it really necessary?
Now don’t get me wrong, DICE has created some really impressive visual effects in Mirror’s Edge. The motion blur, camera movement, body positioning and reactions, etc. were all a large jump ahead of the usual FPS fare where disembodied, chest-level cameras are a standard. Still, why shorten the FOV? After all, it tends to exaggerate camera movement which can lead to motion sickness, something that DICE had battled throughout the game’s development.
I myself never got motion sickness playing Mirror’s Edge, but the FOV still bugged me. Why? Well, at times it made everything seem too cramped up. Now this isn’t really noticable when overlooking a large vista, but it becomes quite apparent in tight hallways or in areas without an expansive view of the horizon. In a game that’s supposed to embody the spirit of parkour, it often caused me to feel boxed in and not adequately aware of my surroundings — probably not the sensation DICE intended.
Also — and this is completely unrelated — more of the music in Mirror’s Edge should’ve been as good as the title theme.
About
Hi, my name’s Radek Koncewicz, and I work as a videogame design consultant. I'm also the creative lead of Incubator Games, a small development studio I started with a few former coworkers.
I think a lot about videogames, and write a lot of it down too, so I figured why not make it public?
If you'd like to contact me, drop me a line at themanagement@significant-bits.com.