I just bought the remastered version of Final Fantasy X/X-2 from Steam and I've been loving it. It's the first time I've been playing it, if I don't count the demo I played ages ago on the original platform it was released on, PS2. But as I didn't have that console myself, I played it on a friends console, I never bought the game when it was brand new. Good thing that it came out on PC now, as it is fantastic.
But I'm not here to talk about FFX. What I'm here to talk about is frames, as buying FFX has opened my eyes to the fact, that there seems to be a portion of PC players who think 60fps is a definitive reason to decide to buy or not to buy. Obviously, I don't really know if they do end up buying the "inferior" 30fps games, but they are, at least, very vocal about the joys of a smoother 60fps experience. Apparently, some princesses even get a headache from the horrors that is 30fps. And some consider games to be broken if they're locked on certain FPS rates.
The thing is though, FFX is a game that was designed to run in 30fps, as it is a game that was originally made for a less capable platform than modern PC's are. The limitations it has have been built in the engine itself and it shows. There's at least one modder attempt for unlocking it for 60fps, that is pretty compelling evidence, that trying to make it run nicely with more than 30fps might be more work than it's worth in the end.
The modder Naxshe does say, that the issues seen on the video are nothing that could not be fixed, and I'm sure they aren't. But the question is, will it really be a worthwhile endeavour? Because from the test it's evident that a lot of the things in the game itself is tied to certain FPS. There's not only the animation, but there are music and sound effects as well, and all seems to get very messy when the frames are unlocked. The animation plays too fast, at places looking like it's fast-forwarded and what's worse, the music and sounds get all glitched.
None of those things is something that could not be fixed, but again, it will be a lot of work, as the frame lock by itself is built in the engine itself and there does seem to be a good reason why SquareEnix didn't remove the frame lock themselves from the remaster. And they had access on the source code.
Again, I'm not saying it's impossible to make FFX run in 60fps. With enough time and effort, it probably will be possible. But what I'm saying is, that 30fps, just like 60fps, doesn't make a game itself good or bad.
But I'm not here to talk about FFX. What I'm here to talk about is frames, as buying FFX has opened my eyes to the fact, that there seems to be a portion of PC players who think 60fps is a definitive reason to decide to buy or not to buy. Obviously, I don't really know if they do end up buying the "inferior" 30fps games, but they are, at least, very vocal about the joys of a smoother 60fps experience. Apparently, some princesses even get a headache from the horrors that is 30fps. And some consider games to be broken if they're locked on certain FPS rates.
The thing is though, FFX is a game that was designed to run in 30fps, as it is a game that was originally made for a less capable platform than modern PC's are. The limitations it has have been built in the engine itself and it shows. There's at least one modder attempt for unlocking it for 60fps, that is pretty compelling evidence, that trying to make it run nicely with more than 30fps might be more work than it's worth in the end.
The modder Naxshe does say, that the issues seen on the video are nothing that could not be fixed, and I'm sure they aren't. But the question is, will it really be a worthwhile endeavour? Because from the test it's evident that a lot of the things in the game itself is tied to certain FPS. There's not only the animation, but there are music and sound effects as well, and all seems to get very messy when the frames are unlocked. The animation plays too fast, at places looking like it's fast-forwarded and what's worse, the music and sounds get all glitched.
None of those things is something that could not be fixed, but again, it will be a lot of work, as the frame lock by itself is built in the engine itself and there does seem to be a good reason why SquareEnix didn't remove the frame lock themselves from the remaster. And they had access on the source code.
Again, I'm not saying it's impossible to make FFX run in 60fps. With enough time and effort, it probably will be possible. But what I'm saying is, that 30fps, just like 60fps, doesn't make a game itself good or bad.
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