Bishojo games, lame specs :)

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#1

Flame Shield up!
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1:I am wrong much of the time.
2:You are right, I state only my opinion.
3:Your opinion is correct, I will never argue that, just hear me out too.
4:cursing at me won’t get your point across, being mannered with sense in your reply makes me want to reply in the same way.
5:I’m most of the time, the village idiot, we all need one, don’t we?
- im developing this as I go, don’t yell at me
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System Windows 95, 98, Me
Memory 32 MB or greater
Install 30 MB (compressed) or 99 MB (uncompressed)

I play right now, currently.
Homeworld, homeworld: cataclysm, counter-strike, tribes, tribes2.

I had to buy the annihilator 2 to run tribes2 just right. when will we see bishojo games asking for some hardcore specs like this.

What I do understand, not sure, things change. that Japan like’s the console market more than the PC, alot. So is this why im asking in the future will the specs Go On’ up?

when we will be asked to get the geforce3!
lol, i know that was complete usless ranting, yet I dunno, we all need a village idiot

#2

Ok, remember that tech-wise Japan’s a little bit behind, PC Hardware wise. That’s why the specs for some games are lagging. PIII 500, is the top spec requirements I’ve seen on some of the games posted on Himeya’s site.
-Also take into account that the Japanese style of Game design doesn’t push the envelope hardware wise. Story is probably the most important gameplay element in a bishojo type game.

-As an aside, The only games that might require a GeForce3 card aren’t going to be released this year anyway, even if they are scheduled for this year. No game has shipped yet that uses T&L (Transform and Lighting) acceleration that Nvidia’s Geforce Family of graphics processors utilizes. You probably won’t see any that do until next year. The only plus side to the GeForce3 is that it is fully DirectX 8 Hardware compliant. Right now that isn’t enough to make me spend $550 for it unless there’s a cheaper option available. (which there isn’t)

#3
quote:
Originally posted by Doug:
Ok, remember that tech-wise Japan's a little bit behind, PC Hardware wise. That's why the specs for some games are lagging. PIII 500, is the top spec requirements I've seen on some of the games posted on Himeya's site.

Add that to the fact that it takes circa a year to get the game in English. So, by then, we all (most probably) have Athlon/Duron > 800MHz or Pentium III > 800MHz.

Ferior: Shouldn't you be happy that the game does not require you to upgrade your current computer to be able to play it??? [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

#4

I’d say developers generally try to push the envelope. The US is very much a market for video-philes. More colors, better lighting, smoother motion…you name it. That’s great for action games, if the fine folks at Id Software weren’t constantly tweaking the Quake engine, they wouldn’t be where they are today.

Games that aren’t in the finger dexterity genre may suffer by the same standards. 3D engines and art take time, and I would say personally… that the gameplay (strategy involved, difficulty) of say the Final Fantasy series has been in a steep decline post FF4 or so, when they began to adopt this approach. Meanwhile, the American market didn’t even get to see the other Dragon Quests, (Dragon Warrior in US), since they were deemed unable to compete graphically (perhaps from the poor sales of DQ4, which looked the same as 1-3 really). The gameplay and plot innovations were far superior though… (my opinion again).

The Geforce cards are great, speed, filtering, and what-not, but it’s a tool for a different kind of game. A rendered, 3D, sort of game. I don’t see where rendering or a 3D enviroment would ever have a place in what is a basically, a completely drawn sort of game.

Isn’t the Anime art part of the reason we play these?

#5

I see your point ferior, but there one point your neglecting:

PC games in the west are pushing the envelope of PC technologies, but they’re getting too obsessed with that.

Remember what happend to Ultima Ascension? It was hell to get that thing to run properly, but even if it did, the soul that was Ultima was long gone from the series.

The same goes to most games today. Everyone wants to come up with a FPS, and one that demands more of your PC, the better (ah yes, Tribes2…) There’s a dirge in terms of creativity in the PC game industry, and I blame most of that on this preoccupation with creating the ‘best looking games’.

People tend to forget that some of the best and most original games in gaming history were written on 8-bit machines, and occupy just a few sectors of today’s hard disks.

Another thing that you might not be aware of is that many bishoujo games are what we call visual novels, or are based more or less on the genre. Technically these aren’t really games but rather multimedia novels, so they don’t demand a lot from the PCs running them. Also, these games are produced on a much lower budget compared to the titles you mentioned. As Kumiko pointed out, they stress more on character development and storyline.

As for specs going up for these games, the answer is yes, but not in great leaps. The console gaming industry’s still the bigger player around, and their games warrant bigger production budgets. but in case you’re wondering, there are also bishoujo games for consoles, and expect upcoming titles like Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial 3 to be setting technological standards too (In Tokimeki Memorial 2, you can programme the girls to call out your name–don’t recall any PC game in the west has done that so far).

I don’t know, but do you really need a Geforce 3 card to enjoy a game? Was playing Alter Ego the other night (really OLD game, that life-simulation title from Activision), and realised it was still fun even over a decade later.

[This message has been edited by yyoshi (edited 05-08-2001).]

#6