FiringSquad technically breaks down the PS2. In short.. they don't like it.

[fs5]

The reason why I want to have my PS2 a monitor is because I don't have a TV in the room I'm currently in. So I have perfectly good monitor sitting right here and I'd like to be able too hook my PS2 to it.

 

[LXi]

<<yes, ff7 and 8 are out on pc. They get better at translating to pc with every release, so no real point to buying a ps2. Its inferior hardware.>>

Yes they're getting better but the playability and graphics is still miles away from the far inferior PSX, not to mention PS2. Didnt matter how good they made the FMVs they still couldnt match the PSX version, do you really think that Square will actually make the PC versoin better? Who cares if PS2 is inferior hardware, being able to playing on your TV is the sh1t.


<<Release dates should get closer too, i think they are working on the pc ver of 10 at the same time>>

Oh they'll never release both versions at the same time either, guess why? Because they're afraid the PC version will hurt their PSX/PS2 version sales. FF is just not a good game on PC, nobody liked it, and I think Square is wasting their time making PC versions. Let it be known that I own FF7/FF8 PC version.

 

[Zucchini]

Yes they're getting better but the playability and graphics is still miles away from the far inferior PSX, not to mention PS2. Didnt matter how good they made the FMVs they still couldnt match the PSX version, do you really think that Square will actually make the PC versoin better? Who cares if PS2 is inferior hardware, being able to playing on your TV is the sh1t.


What? that didn't make any sense? Just what are you trying to say. Anyhow, i played ff8 with full screen antilizing(can't spell) on...improved the experience by far and created seamless transitions between the FMV and 3d.

If your saying that the FMV's didn't match the psx on tv, you are partially right. The fmv's for FF7 were inferior, the ff8 videos could be called superior as they were encoded at a higher resolution...

As for release dates, we will see.. its probably going to creep up pretty close to the ps2 release.

and if you didn't notice already.. TURN FSAA on for ff games

 

[LXi]

<<What? that didn't make any sense? Just what are you trying to say. Anyhow, i played ff8 with full screen antilizing(can't spell) on...improved the experience by far and created seamless transitions between the FMV and 3d.>>

Its not just the graphics that couldnt match PSX/PS2 version, the sound/music was also inferior, both PC versions use crappy MIDIs, w/o having good MIDI hardware you're not going to be able to enjoy those great music. Just compare the music in FF8 PC to PSX, PSX version sounds like pure symphony music while FF8 sounded like some amateur made crap.



<<If your saying that the FMV's didn't match the psx on tv, you are partially right. The fmv's for FF7 were inferior, the ff8 videos could be called superior as they were encoded at a higher resolution...>>

FF7's FMV are totally inferior, they simply made a bad transition and decided to use AVIs, FF8 videos are superior to FF7's, but didnt quite match the PSX. If you look closely, comparing the high res PC version to PSX, there are still small edges and jaggies, where PSX version looks totally clean. The saddest part is, FF7 is my favorite, and it happened to be the worst port.


<<As for release dates, we will see.. its probably going to creep up pretty close to the ps2 release. and if you didn't notice already.. TURN FSAA on for ff games>>

I will turn FSAA on as soon as I get my V5. Lots of talk about FF9 being an overhyped game, people didn't like the Super Deformed characters, and the character design is pure crap compare to FF7's in my opinion. Im not going to put FF8 into the mix because the characters arent designed by the same person(forgot that guy's name).

 

[Imported]

Nothing like the PS1 and PS2 controllers for the PC also. Them be some of the best controllers out there.

It also doesn't hurt to be playing it on a 36&quot; TV, or the 36&quot; WEGA XBR that I so want to have..

 

[LXi]

illkid:

You got it, playing with controllers is just much better than with a stupid keyboard. TV also kicks these small monitor's arse.

 

[pg22]

If anyone thinks the PC ports of FF7 and FF8 are superior to the PSX ones...they probably aren't playing them on 21 inch monitors.

ever seen what a pre-rendered 640x480 scene looks on a 21 inch Trinitron?

UGH.

 

[LXi]

640x480 limitation sucks. One more reason why PC versions dont match PSX.

 

[Zucchini]

ok your confusing me again. Pc's also have game controllers.. you don't need to use a keyboard if you don't want to. Actually my gravis gamepad pro looks exactly the same as a psx controller, same configuration.

As for resolution, yes that is a bummer but the problem is solved using FSAA. I have a 19&quot; sony g400, and it looks pretty good with FSAA on. FSAA is also becoming a standard feature on pc video cards. Remember the console version runs at even lower resolution... probably even lower then 640x480.

 

[pg22]

&quot;ok your confusing me again. Pc's also have game controllers.. you don't need to use a keyboard if you don't want to. Actually my gravis gamepad pro looks exactly the same as a psx controller, same configuration.&quot;

Ok, I have the same controller, and it is my favorite PC controller (I've had a ton), but it is not as sturdy or versatile as the PSX or PS2 Dual Shocks.


&quot;As for resolution, yes that is a bummer but the problem is solved using FSAA. I have a 19&quot; sony g400, and it looks pretty good with FSAA on. FSAA is also becoming a standard feature on pc video cards. Remember the console version runs at even lower resolution... probably even lower then 640x480.&quot;

I think you're forgetting that ever since the Final Fantasy series came to the PSX, they have used pre-rendered backgrounds for every game screen. It is essentially a static image. Now imagine taking any image from your computer that is 640x480 native resolution, and blow it up to say 1280x1024 and watch how UGLY it becomes. The only way to fix this would be to

a) Play the game at 640x480 on your monitor (basically a small window)
b) they would have to redraw every pre-rendered scene at higher resolutions.

 

[LXi]

I've seen the gravis, but got any dual shock? As far as I know you can &quot;feel&quot; the Guardian Forces in FF8, none of the PC controllers can do that, nor do I think the PC version has this feature included. FSAA standard? Do you really think everybody's got a V5, GF2 or Radeon? Im running on a pathetic 3dfx Velocity 100, even when I get my V5 and enable FSAA, I doubt it can look any better than PSX version on TV.

 

[LXi]

pg19:

You hit it right to the spot, there is no way Square will redraw every pre-rendered background, if they do then the PC version might have a chance to beat PSX version.

 

[pg22]

This is also why all Resident Evil's sucked on the PC as well

At least Metal Gear Solid was upped to 1024x768 reso, but they used all polygons, so it was a different beast alltogether.

Oh well, back to PS2

 

[JayPatel]

doesnt resident evil 3 for pc have a 1024*768 display option?

 

[Zucchini]

Also, as for video quality.. have you ever ripped psx game video to pc? Its relatively low resolution, but played on a tv set it gets blurred. Same thing can be said for the jaggies you talk of.

Yes the music could be better, but that is dependent on your soundcard really. I wasn't impressed with the psx's music either.. they should be using cd audio or compressed audio not midi for either.

Lets just get this straight, i'm not saying that one platform is totally superior to the other. The pc certainly has the potential to be. In their current form it doesn't even get near other pc games obviously. The point is there isn't all that much reason to own a ps2 just to play final fantasy games. I'm a big fan of eye candy on the pc, so playing console games like ff isn't a regular thing for me, but you do have to realize that tvs improve images by bluring basically. I guess another advantage is the high refresh rate of a good monitor helps when playing hour after hour

And yes, try that FSAA, ff8 pc went from butt ugly with bad transitions to video to very good.

 

[Zucchini]

yes i know about the prerendered backgrounds.. very obvious They've done that in other games as someone else has mentioned.. i think i had resident evil 2.. ugly. As for why they don't rerender at higher resolutions? Time/money mainly.. they don't cripple a game on purpose. They seem to have enough trouble just porting the game over to pc, notice how they don't even take the trouble to rework the interface to better match the pc. In fact, you could call the interface horrendous.. hitting ctrl+q to quit a game is early 90's level. Also considering the system resource hogs these low polygon simple games are.. i wouldn[t be surprised they are pretty much emulating psx. Getting the game to use higher res backgrounds would probably add another set of problems they didn't want to deal with. They just invest very very little energy in it. Slowly improving as i've said.. but still bad.

as for dual shock controllers, i think even mac has a dual shock controller THere are tons of better controllers for pc then my lowly gravis, i'm just too cheap to upgrade.

 

[pg22]

In the end, it's all about the games, and in my opinion, they have never been better =)

 

[Mixxen]

Oh my....FF1, those were the days of spending a lot of time at shops stocking up on potions. You could only buy 1 at a time damit!

FF9 rocks, vivi is cool, and it is much like FF1...white mage, black mage, fighter, etc.

 

[LXi]

<<Also, as for video quality.. have you ever ripped psx game video to pc? Its relatively low resolution, but played on a tv set it gets blurred. Same thing can be said for the jaggies you talk of.>>

But at least they dont show on TV. When I get a chance Ill try playing the PC versions on TV, see if its anything close to the PSX version.


<<Yes the music could be better, but that is dependent on your soundcard really. I wasn't impressed with the psx's music either.. they should be using cd audio or compressed audio not midi for either.>>

Like I said, most people dont have expensive MIDI gears, the best FF7 MIDIs I've heard of is using Yamaha's software Synthesizer, but it hogs your CPU and resource. Using SB Live!'s soundfont doesnt sound as good but runs faster. FF7's audio on PSX was bad too, but FF8 is a totally different beast, like I said, real symphony band music compare to some amateur sounding MicroSoft synth.


<<Lets just get this straight, i'm not saying that one platform is totally superior to the other. The pc certainly has the potential to be. In their current form it doesn't even get near other pc games obviously.>>

It can only be blamed at Square's bad port, or their nature of pre-rendering scenes.


<<The point is there isn't all that much reason to own a ps2 just to play final fantasy games.>>

Of course not, thats why GT, Metal Gears, Tekken, The Bouncer, DDR, Dragon Quest, and many other great games exist.


<<I'm a big fan of eye candy on the pc, so playing console games like ff isn't a regular thing for me, but you do have to realize that tvs improve images by bluring basically. I guess another advantage is the high refresh rate of a good monitor helps when playing hour after hour>>

Hey, my eyes never get tired after watching hours of TV, its just that I dont use it as often as my monitor. If FF7/FF8 PSX version isn't eye-candy, I dont know what is. But if you want real time rendering plus eye-candy, then you have to look at PC games.


<<And yes, try that FSAA, ff8 pc went from butt ugly with bad transitions to video to very good.>>

I'll verify that when I get my V5.

 

[LXi]

Mixxen:

Its not the first time I heard that Vivi is a copy of the FF1 magician.

 

[Zucchini]

actually i wouldn't say very good. that part came across wrong, its pretty good and the transitions between 3d and video became very good.

As for why i said the ps2 was inferior hardware.. its too close to 2 year old competition(dreamcast)..which means it will be inferior within a year.. esp when competing consoles come out.

 

[Hardware]

With 4MB video ram the biggest design flaw in history since the n64 rom modules!

 

[pg22]

If nVidia made those 4MB, you wouldn't thinks so.

 

[Zucchini]

yes, after 300 for the console, and another pile of money for extras and games, it seems like a lousy investment.

 

[LXi]

Whats these bash towards PS2 about?? Who cares if they only have 4MB? All I care is that it can pump out Metal Gear Solid 2 graphics, have you seen those? The games and the looks are all it matters. I think the $300 is well worth the console, however if you budget wont allow, the $150 DC will also serve you well.