Ok...Time to Wipe!

Post by **3DO Experience** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:34 am

I'd like to just chill for a minute. I know that elitegamer / Atari5200 has been working hard to get people against each other the past few days. And it looks like even through he's been banned it's still working. I saw how he was trying to make it sound like people were hating on ArfredHitchcacku when they weren't. I like him and as far as I can tell so does everyone else.

I think most of us agree that PC's don't really count when talking about console games. Now if you want to count or not count console games for different systems in different countries it's easy enough to just use the term "English". I mean Symphony of the night was on more than one console but if you want to you can say it was exclusively in English on the PSX, right?

I would very much like to participate in a discussion rather than an argument.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 4:40 am

3DO Experience wrote: I would very much like to participate in a discussion rather than an argument.

Shut up and pick a side you power hungry mod!

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Fri Feb 03, 2012 5:08 am

Yes, mother!

Post by **3DO Experience** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 4:11 am

Trev wrote:Shut up and pick a side you power hungry mod!

Didn't we ban you?

Martin III · Post by **Martin III** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:09 pm

3DO Experience wrote:I think most of us agree that PCs don't really count when talking about console games. Now if you want to count or not count console games for different systems in different countries it's easy enough to just use the term "English". I mean Symphony of the night was on more than one console but if you want to you can say it was exclusively in English on the PSX, right?

With exclusivity you really gotta define your terms: In what part of the world? For what type of platform (console, PC, handheld)? Restricted to that particular generation or no?(i.e.Do you count Phantasy Star IV as a Mega Drive exclusive even though it has been ported to the Saturn, Wii, etc.?)

Now that I've got that bit of pedantry out of the way, as to what I would consider meaningful exclusivity: Even though I'm very much a console gamer, I generally don't consider games such as Star Control II to be exclusives. The presentation between console and PC just isn't different enough. That said, if you're looking back on mid-90s PC games from today, you probably don't have the operating system to play them on anything but a console.

Whether or not region counts depends on the language barrier in each particular game. Lucienne's Quest, I would say, is definitely a 3DO exclusive in any meaningful sense of the term. Language is very important to the game, and even hardcore Saturn collectors generally don't give the Saturn version a moment's consideration. With games like Gex or Slayer, on the other hand, even a Japanese-only port could be considered as compromising the game's exclusivity.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:23 pm

Martin III wrote: With exclusivity you really gotta define your terms: In what part of the world? For what type of platform (console, PC, handheld)? Restricted to that particular generation or no?(i.e.Do you count Phantasy Star IV as a Mega Drive exclusive even though it has been ported to the Saturn, Wii, etc.?)

I agree. These are all really good points to consider.

FrumpleOrz · Post by **FrumpleOrz** » Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:33 pm

Now that I've got that bit of pedantry out of the way, as to what I would consider meaningful exclusivity: Even though I'm very much a console gamer, I generally don't consider games such as Star Control II to be exclusives. The presentation between console and PC just isn't different enough. That said, if you're looking back on mid-90s PC games from today, you probably don't have the operating system to play them on anything but a console.

If we're talking the original Star Control 2 on PC from back in the day, the 3DO version is a greatly enhanced version. The original PC version was all text for the conversations and the 3DO version had actual speaking. I'd say that's a pretty difference in presentation, no?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:10 am

FrumpleOrz wrote:If we're talking the original Star Control 2 on PC from back in the day, the 3DO version is a greatly enhanced version. The original PC version was all text for the conversations and the 3DO version had actual speaking. I'd say that's a pretty difference in presentation, no?

Since the PC version is basically freeware now, there has been a conversion that has added in the extra goodies from the 3DO version and can be downloaded here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Regarding the sounds, yes it allows the game to stand out more, but I don't feel it makes it any more 'exclusive'. The core of the game is roughly the same as far as I can tell. It basically got the "CD treatment," much like many games ported to the Sega CD did.

Trev · Post by **Trev** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 2:45 pm

Austin wrote: It basically got the "CD treatment," much like many games ported to the Sega CD did.

Gotta disagree w/you on this one ... most Sega cd ports enhancements were limited to basically grainy fmv cinemas and cd soundtracks. However the hours of speech in 3DO SCII is such a huge improvement to the game. The quality is through the roof (it's no Resident Evil) and really helps to draw you in to the story. Like FrumpleOrz said, it's a great enhancement.

I think of it like comparing a point n' click game on the DS vs. the Wii. It may be the same game, but if I can play a game (especailly a stroy driven game) w/full speech over text bubbles, I'll pick speech any time.

FrumpleOrz · Post by **FrumpleOrz** » Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:40 pm

The core of the game is roughly the same as far as I can tell. It basically got the "CD treatment," much like many games ported to the Sega CD did.

The core of the game is roughly the same, yeah, but the game feels so vastly different from the original version. It honestly makes a BIG difference.

Oh, and the The Ur-Quan Masters freeware version? It's the 3DO source code. That's gotta tell you something, no?

Martin III · Post by **Martin III** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:02 am

FrumpleOrz wrote:
Now that I've got that bit of pedantry out of the way, as to what I would consider meaningful exclusivity: Even though I'm very much a console gamer, I generally don't consider games such as Star Control II to be exclusives. The presentation between console and PC just isn't different enough. That said, if you're looking back on mid-90s PC games from today, you probably don't have the operating system to play them on anything but a console.
If we're talking the original Star Control 2 on PC from back in the day, the 3DO version is a greatly enhanced version. The original PC version was all text for the conversations and the 3DO version had actual speaking. I'd say that's a pretty difference in presentation, no?

I didn't mean any game in particular, just that the general presentation of games on a console isn't that different from on a PC. While there are certainly a number of cases where the console and PC versions of a game are significantly different, you generally expect a console port to be more or less the same as its PC original.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:29 am

Trev wrote:Gotta disagree w/you on this one ... most Sega cd ports enhancements were limited to basically grainy fmv cinemas and cd soundtracks. However the hours of speech in 3DO SCII is such a huge improvement to the game. The quality is through the roof (it's no Resident Evil) and really helps to draw you in to the story. Like FrumpleOrz said, it's a great enhancement.

I'm not denying that it's got some great enhancements over the original PC version and that a lot of work was clearly put into it, but I still view it as "getting the CD treatment". What exactly is the CD treatment? Well, full-motion video, CD-quality music, and voice acting and other cd-baed samples. Regardless of how good or how bad it is or whether you prefer it over something else, that's what it is.

I wanted to list Dune and Willy Beamish on the Sega CD as counter-examples, and that 3DO SCII wasn't the only one that did what it did, but I found out that there were PC-CD versions of those released before the SCD ports, so I guess they don't count (they were originally Amiga and DOS-based floppy disk games). Regardless, I suppose that's not really the point.

I do understand exactly what you mean by the 3DO Star Control II being the definitive (key word here) version though. For me, in regards to the games from the Genesis that were ported to the Sega CD, it's really difficult for me to play the cart-based versions these days. Despite most of the CD enhancements only coming in the form of FMV and CD audio, they were more than enough to change the feeling I received from playing the games, and are typically the definitive versions of the games.

FrumpleOrz wrote:Oh, and the The Ur-Quan Masters freeware version? It's the 3DO source code. That's gotta tell you something, no?

You win on that one, it even says it on the front page on their site and I somehow missed it. I have a tendency to do that.