GIVE ME META! (FFX HD edition!)

[auronlu]

 owlmoose suggested Meta December, and I'm all for it. But having not played Dragon Age yet (woez!) I'm still stuck back in my old fandumbo. 

Which means...FFX. And since I'm flailing at ideas for meta, here's a thing. Squeenix is going to re-render FFX in PS3-quality graphics, RealMYST-ish, so that we can wander around a lot more freely (camera control, yes, please!) and brainwash a new generation of fans.

Spira is by far and away my favorite rendered virtual world, despite its now out-of-date graphics; I love its supersaturated colors and wild landscapes with great love. It's the sort of world Catherine of MYST would've written, in contrast to her analytical lab experiment husband, who would've come up with Cocoon/Pulse. People who read my fanfic know I wallow in FFX landscapes like Tolkien getting all purple prosaic on Helm's Deep. So I will buy HD FFX just for the sake of exploring, although I love this game for many other reasons.

I'm not sure what kind of gameplay tweaks will be added to FFX HD. But here's my question. What would you love to see in the upscaled version of FFX? New gameplay? New graphics? New...um? 

And what do you hope they'll leave alone?  Or do you not care? And, for that matter, would you bother to get FFX in PS3/Vita quality graphics, or is it "been there, done that?" 

Personally, I'm hoping against hope they will remaster the sound. There was a lot of clunky editing to synch voices to lip-flaps and (I'm guessing) file sizes. Some of it was actors trying to lip synch, with ghastly results, but some of it was processing, and that could (and must) be fixed. 

Of course, voice junkie that I am, I also wish for an original-Japanese option. Except then we'd lose Matt McKenzie, and the original-Auron voice isn't as good. And the original-Rikku has a scream that could shatter glass -- one would have to play the Thunder Plains with the sound muted-- so whasername Bubbles the PowerPuff Girl is a definite improvement. But the original Yuna and Tidus are infinitely better (except, sadly, in the laughing scene), Elma is sooooo much better, and Lucil's is also one of those catnip voices that makes me roll around in a puddle (unlike poor Elma, her American dub is excellent, but different). 

Fooey, here I am talking about superficial things when I really want to pick people's brains about what they liked, or don't like, about FFX enough to want to play a new version of it.

(Let's set aside "Squeenix should make new games instead of rehashing old ones," please. I believe they just lost tons of money on XIV and are struggling to do something to refill the coffers. As much as I love X, I'm quite happy for them to do a 10 anniversary remake.) 

Comments

[ex_pendency799]

I'd love to see this happen. I really liked playing 10, and hate the fact my PS3 is not backwards compatible, so I have no anti-HD remix feelings if it means I can keep playing on my single machine.

I wouldn't mind seeing some of FFXII's battle system come across, though -- unless of course they decide to re-do FFXII too.

Would also be interesting seeing blitzball with an actual 3D height/depth element to it as well... That game always bugged me: yes, ok, we're in an awesome sphere of water, so why are we playing on a flat field?

[auronlu]

I have seen some rumors that Blitzball is going to get a revamp, although it may just be network play.

I'm hopeful. That's the sort of easy fix they could and probably will do, considering how much emphasis recent video games and films have placed on the z-axis.

I'm one of those crazy people who actually really enjoys blitzball. I usually have no patience with minigames, but that one kept me entertained.

[owlmoose]

I would totally play an HD remake. And I'm really glad they're doing it for the PS3, because I have no interest in the hand-held.

My top wishlist item would be for them to re-record the English dub with the same actors -- yes, yes, I know, everyone hates the Tidus and Yuna VAs, but I actually think the voices suit the characters, and they could do a fine job with some better directing. Heddy Burgess, particularly, improved *immensely* in FFX-2. But if it's a choice between reusing the old vocals and re-recording with new actors. I will pick the old vocals, clunky lip-synching and all.

[auronlu]

I agree with you, actually; I think both of them would be perfectly acceptable if they had better directing. I don't like James whoosit quite as much as his Japanese counterpart, but he's fine. He did an amazing job with the "bluescreen of death" sequence (Tidus' meltdown in Home).

Hedy Burgess is great when she's not trying to lip-synch. That was giving her a bad case of Shatner.

I am all for a new recording -- and get some child actors for Pacce and young Tidus -- especially if they can give Julie Fletcher (Yunalesca/Elma) enough caffeine and sugar to voice a girl 40 years her junior. She was rather better in X-2.


Voice actor trivia.... Elma in RL is married to Barthello, while Dona/Lucil is married to Luzzu. *head spin* Isaaru is Axel/Reno. And you probably know that Gippal and Baralai are RL brothers, and Nooj is Sephiroth. If only I could stand RPF, there would appear to be some amusing crackfic possibilities.

Random: I fed DSHND into my text-to-speech box tonight to listen to while I do mindless grinding. Good to get it all again.

[wallwalker]

So... is the HD version going to be based off of the International release? Because that'll definitely sell me on it. I loved the game a lot but I played the North American release, and it always felt unfinished.

Original voice-track options would also be wonderful. The entire game is subtitled - why can't they let us choose between vocal tracks the way that movies do? Is it because the voice tracks just take up too much room?

[auronlu]

I don't know if they'll do the international release or not. I'm watching for and gathering the news, but right now I've only got unconfirmed rumors:

• FMVs will be upscaled / filtered
  
• New character models / aeons
  
• Some networking capability (fans speculate this will be blitzball)
  
• Blitzball tweaked / updated
  
• No info yet whether it'll be FFX Intn't or original version

I suspect the too-much-room with the vocals is always the problem. I know that with FFXIII, parts of the game actually had to be removed to make it fit in the XBox version -- and then they were removed from the PS3 as well so they'd be identical, waah -- so there certainly wasn't room for a second soundtrack in XIII. It would be even more of a problem in X, where one gets the chance to speak to lots and LOTS of random npcs, many of them with multiple comments if you keep going back. I don't know of any recent games where there's multiple language tracks, so I'm guessing in every case, they decided filling the disk to the brim with gameplay, scenarios and renders was more important than providing original-language for the few people like us who would love to be able to switch back and forth.

I must confess my favorite form of copyright-nose-thumbage is "undubs," fan-made walkthroughs where they've slotted in the Japanese soundtrack.

[leasspell_dael]

To my eternal shame, I don't actually own a copy of FFX, as I originally played it with my mother's/sister's. Very excited about this remake, because it means I can get a copy without scouring second-hand bins or trawling eBay. \o/

I loved this game a lot, but agree with your hope that the voice-acting is updated. Also agree that I hope they leave Auron's voice alone. An original-Japanese voices option would be awesome, especially if you could switch back and forth as you played the game. :D

I've never been bothered by the "locked in" phenomena of the world-map, although I'm certainly not going to object to more freedom either.

Just, looking forward to this, whenever it's released!

[radish]

Lol, KJ and I were having this almost exact discussion the other day.

And I came to a lot of the same conclusions you did.

More freedom will be excellent, as will enhanced graphics. Spira is just such a gorgeous world, I really look forward to seeing it pop -- the ability to examine the ramshackle huts of Kilika, to get a good look at the High Summoner statues.

And though I don't have much hope for it, I'd be all over any new content, preferably with the same VAs, at least for the main cast. Particularly JAB stuff (did you really need to ask?), and assuming the shaky translations are true, more material connecting FFX to FFVII. I'd pretty much be happy with any new material, though. If nothing else, I'd hope they'd throw in the international version content.

They also need to retcon dresspheres so I can see Kimahri's Lady Luck.

[auronlu]

*DIES*

That would almost make dresspheres worth it.

I have a feeling we won't get much in the way of supplementary material, apart from extra bosses and/or the Dark Aeons. I still have mixed feelings about more JAB stuff, because I don't trust present Squeenix to do a good job with them. And yet... it would be so wonderful if they did.

Oh, yes, summoner statues!

I keep noticing what I am pretty durned sure is the broken base of Braska's statue in the flooded ruins of Baaj Temple, but I CAN'T MOVE THE CAMERA. Of course, if that's really what it is, they'd fix it in the remake (probably).

[lassarina]

Snce Square does own me, I'd probably buy it. I'd like some vocal cleanup (I am replaying to let the paladin watch, and I keep wanting to punch VAs.)

All things considered, I am not 100% sure I loved FFX enough to want the new version. On the other hand, I like it better than some of the others, and I'd probably play it just to keep up with friends.

Difficult decision. I'd take a version on either Vita or PS3, as I own the latter and plan to buy the former.