[Josh7601]

Acer Aspire 5515
Amd Athlon 64 2650e 1.6 GHz
3GB RAM
ATI Radeon X1200 Graphics

This is pete's D3D 1.77. The game runs perfectly, 60fps or 59.5, it fluctuates as I'm sure that's normal. Certain spells cause slowdown, but that's expected with my system specs. I'll upload opengl2 screens with shaders in a bit, you'll be surprised with what I'm achieving on this lower end laptop (great fps too...just not for full 3d areas like the world map).

 

[Princess Garnet]

It wouldn't really be too surprising to get full FPS in the menus and on 2-D backdrops, to be honest. The menus are mostly CPU and/or framebuffer related, if I remember right (although I know ATi used to have pretty bad framebuffer performance long ago, not sure if that's still the case), and the backdrops are, well, tiny 320x224 images with a few 3-D characters in front of them. My much weaker and older Intel 865 (Extreme Graphics 2) did OpenGL 1 fine at fullspeed (including 3-D and everything), so it sounds about right that a stronger, more modern, IGP can almost do OpenGL 2.

That being said, I'm still looking forward to seeing them.

Those are decent shots (yay, no overwhelming amount of pixelation that I see far too often with this game), but I can't stand the stretched look on the second one.

 

[Josh7601]

Yeah, the first one is what I actually play the game on, 800x600 windowed. Stretched makes the characters too prominent, they don't blend with the background at all like that.

 

[Josh7601]

First, is obviously the Cartoon Shader. I love it with this game, but only during full 3d segments. It ruins the 2d background IMO. The fmvs look amazing with the Cartoon Shader, though.

The others are BumpMap, or whatever it's called, and the Last are my setttings.

 

[Princess Garnet]

No wonder I liked your first screenshot. Your settings aren't too far off mine.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but I never really liked the bump map shader (at least in this game). I like it too look as natural as possible. Enhancing it is acceptable, but I won't do it if it takes away from it looking too natural.

P.S. Don't let that walkthrough spoil this game for you. It's too good for that.

 

[Josh7601]

oh man, you don't even know lol. I've beaten this game about 6 times in my life. I finally broke down and used a walkthrough so I could see what I was missing (which wasn't all too much, just random items here and there). The only way I even consider guides for any game is if I've already beaten it.

The more I look at the Bump Map, the more I don't like it. To be honest, this game looks better on my laptop with d3d imo. The cartoon shader was for fun of course, I also tried the storybook shader. They're interesting for about 15 minutes, then I go back to d3d and play the game seriously.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I didn't know you'd already played it. I fall under the assumption that most people playing it are doing so the first time. I've played it countless times (and I mean literally countless, maybe twenty or thirty plus times). I haven't, however, played it in about half a year, which is rare for me (I usually get a small break between playthroughs with another game or few, but never for this long), and intend to start on it again soon. It's my favorite game.

As for the shaders, for playing around, sure, they're fun. I've messed around with many plug-ins (software and hardware), settings, resolutions (high and low), filtering levels, shaders, etc. with this game.

For when I'm really playing it though, I have to have it look how it should, as natural as possible. When I first started playing it for the first time via emulation (I'd already played it many times over even before then), I settled with Pete's OpenGL 1 with a resolution of 1024x768, and the rest was about standard fare (filtering level of 4, etc.). Soon, the pixelation wore on what I remembered as crisp, smooth backgrounds, so I set out to make it natural. Lowering the resolution to 640x480, using a filtering level of 2, and screen smoothing, were what really helped. Once I got my 6800GS (heh, only had both a GeForce 4 MX440/Ti4200 before back in, what, 2004-2005?), I switched to Pete's OpenGL 2, and refined it a bit more to what I have now.

I should try and get some screenshots up myself, but I never took many (if any). 640x480 screenshots don't do any justice, so I never bothered. You have to see it in person on the screen. Otherwise, they'd probably just say "that's so small and blurry" and not understand (since the high resolutions and sharpness are one of emulation's features, but people don't understand that these aren't HD, and you can't get them as such no matter what you do).

Anyway, nice shots. Do share any others (shaders or not) that you happen to take.

 

[Josh7601]

This game is definitely in my top 5, along with Chrono Cross. Can't put my top 5 in order though, or my top 10 for that matter. I love replaying older games, even though they never feel like they did the first time you beat them (except Chrono Trigger for some crazy reason).

Anyway, 640x480 fullscreen......I love it. I normally play 800x600 window (or fullscreen), but I dropped it down and it's closer to the original game in terms of blending 2d and 3d. Natural looks are what I go for as well. From my first screenshot in my first post, you can probably see that. The second one with Quina was fullscreen desktop resolution, so the characters didn't blend well at all.

You're packing way more under the hood than my little laptop, but that's what I like about the configuration options of epsxe; you don't need something grand to enjoy the games you love, I even enjoy them more on emulators now.

 

[Princess Garnet]

I never tried Chrono Cross, but most people seem to say it's not as good as Chrono Trigger (which I liked alot). The Playstation and SNES are my favorite two consoles for the reason that they have most of my favorites RPGs.

 

[nanaya]

See it as a different game than Chrono Trigger then Chrono Cross sure is not disappointing, and compared to today's RPG I'd say it is still better.

 

[Matis]

The reason most people are mad at Cross is because it's not Chrono Trigger 2. It's Chrono Cross. That said, both games have a LOT in common if you know where to look. But the references are subtle most of the time(except in that ONE scene, and Porre being mentioned all over the place).

Overall, it's a great game. Just do go in there expecting to play Trigger all over again.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

Its a sequel, but not a direct sequel.

And Chrono Trigger IS effectively the better game.

 

[Matis]

The major problem with Cross is that they included so many characters that it was hard to flesh them out. Not that they fleshed the main cast of Trigger much, but still. Many people didn't like the leveling system either. I thought it was a good way to keep players from overleveling to hell and back. Then there's the thing about the final boss. To actually defeat it, you need to

Spoiler

pay a LOT of attention to the previous battle you had with it. And even having done so, you must realize what the last battle meant. It was hard, but I remembered, more out of luck than anything, the order of the elements the Time Devourer used the first time, and I used those myself, having already tried 20 other things with the Chrono Cross. A VERY annoying battle.

 

[verboten999]

Final Fantasy IX IMO has the best "Final Fantasy" feel to me compared to the other FFs for the playstation. Not that VII and VIII are bad, they are all excellent games in their own rights, but I had the most fun playing FFIX and for me it is the most memorable overall (VII has the most shocking story for me, and VIII has the most innovative character configuration for its time). Too bad my laptop isn't strong enough to use all those funky shaders, so I usually enjoy it using the soft plugins. Played it many times, though not as many as you guys .

Chrono Cross received quite of a stir when it was first released. At the time, I never played Chrono Trigger, the prequel that was worshipped by its fans, and for them Chrono Cross was a blasphemy for a reason. That was why I kind of hesitated buying this game. But Chrono Cross, despite its deviation from Chrono Trigger, was and is an excellent game. I think of it as a side chapter or a gaiden of sort to explain things that Chrono Trigger did not have the space to. And yes, the final battle is the part about Chrono Cross that I like the most. It is unique as you don't hack right and left and summon meteor from the sky and blow the final boss to oblivion, but rather staying alive and be in "harmony" with it. That was magnificent (and I have to admit it was annoying since I'm the powerlevel type of player), and unheard of.

 

[Josh7601]

FFIX is just so lighthearted at times. You have your little jokes here and there, the ATE's that are usually just for laughs and character development, it's just great. But, it's very serious too. That's what I like most about it I think, the fact that they develop the characters so well with the lightheartedness, and then oh crap, huge things going down in the story.

As a fan of both Trigger and Cross, I actually view Cross as a direct sequel. I mean, it's as close to a true sequel as you can get without ruining the story of the original. Sure, there are a few very important things that are not explained and are left to speculation (the fall of Guardia for example, and the whole Magus and Janus thing), but Imagine what a true sequel would be. It has the potential to be awesome, and the potential to be horrible. There are parts in Cross that directly link it to Trigger, they just didn't make them that noticeable for some reason. Like, you'll talk to a random NPC and they'll mention something about Guardia, or Zenan during regular cnonversation.

If a true sequel was made it would've been a gimmick IMO. Cross had one of the most complex stories due to them deciding to do dimensional traveling instead of the same ole time traveling. The stuff with FATE, and how El Nido came to be really ties into Trigger's story, and that's why I think it's a good sequel. They just needed to make some certain conversations in the game about Zenan and Guardia more prominent.

 

[Matis]

The point was that, as much as the game took place in the same world, and only 10 years after the end of Trigger, none of the cast is actually acquaintanced with the cast of Trigger, which is why it wouldn't make sense for both stories to link together completely. That is why most of the info about the links between Cross and Trigger are subtle(bar a few exceptions, of course).

On another note, try to keep spoilers to a minimum. If Zedeck intends to play Cross at some point you might just have spoiled some small parts of the story about it.

 

[Josh7601]

My bad, I didn't get into specifics, so I didn't think that would ruin too much.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

well technically....... you can't really say its 10 years after, since chrono trigger spanned a few million years from its earliest date to its latest

 

[nanaya]

The point was that, as much as the game took place in the same world, and only 10 years after the end of Trigger, none of the cast is actually acquaintanced with the cast of Trigger, which is why it wouldn't make sense for both stories to link together completely. That is why most of the info about the links between Cross and Trigger are subtle(bar a few exceptions, of course).

On another note, try to keep spoilers to a minimum. If Zedeck intends to play Cross at some point you might just have spoiled some small parts of the story about it.

iirc

Spoiler

Kid IS Schala and you see kiddified crono, luca and marle before fighting lavos
but yeah, the hint is very subtle for Kid and crono and the gang appear out of nowhere >.<

 

[Matis]

That is why I said that the connection is not really too clear, except for a few things, like what you said, and the mentions of Porre, Guardia and one or two other places.

well technically....... you can't really say its 10 years after, since chrono trigger spanned a few million years from its earliest date to its latest

When the whole ordeal was done, Crono, Marle and Lucca went back to 1000 AD and stayed there. Cross starts in 1010 AD, so it IS 10 years after the events of Trigger. At least in one of the time periods.