Symphony of the Night's UI is Fascinatingly Bad | Semi-Ramblomatic
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Symphony of the Night's UI is Fascinatingly Bad | Semi-Ramblomatic (YouTube)
Comments (10)
Way belatedly I had the sudden realisation WHY the UI was a placeholder so late in development, and for that matter why the UI in a lot of games old and modern can end up being so bad- because, by necessity, the UI is going to be one of the last things you finalise in a game. Because all the information it displays and the options it presents for you are liable to change during development, meaning you'll have to change it anyway, or end up with a confusing and misleading UI based on an earlier build with different priorities. In any game getting a rush to release, unfortunately common then and now, it makes sense that a functional placeholder UI is likely to remain in release as there's bigger priorities than cosmetic polish before getting it out the door.
This hits the mark, absolutely. My only "defense" of it could be that even in those days, we were accustomed to fighting bad UI as if it was part of the game's challenge. This game was equally bad if not better than the experimental Flash-based antics crowding the nascent internet at that time.
When I first played this game back in 2001 or so the cheap and nasty pause menu with it's revolting system fonts is something that immediately stood out as bad, in an otherwise stellar game. I've always wondered whether it was a rushed late addition to the game, maybe if it was originally designed as a classic 'Vania and the RPG elements were added late in development.
Yeah, having not seen it I was expecting an overly ornate UI matching the weirdly designed status indicators in gameplay, but instead it looks like a hastily thrown together placeholder.
6:13 Actually yes, Japan often uses English words in its music, for instance, almost purely for aesthetic purposes. That's not to say that the words are *never* related but the swap to English is almost always just because it sounds cooler. Not to mention that English is taught as a second language in Japan due to its prominence as a near universal language so it's useful for everyone to know it. Which, funnily enough, is one of the reasons why countries where English is the dominant language doesn't teach its students other languages. Not to say that only teach English is a good idea, I've long held the notion that learning Spanish or Portuguese in schools should be standard here in the states purely because of our proximity to countries that have those are their native language
Yeah, Yahtzee is probably pretty on the money with the comparison to gratuitous French used by English speakers sometimes, though the intended thematic implications are I think a little different. Language classes in schools tend to be a crapshoot at the best of times, especially since it's hard to really learn something unless you actually got opportunity and reason to practice it, but there's often logic to it at least. Down in Australia it's a mess since no one has any idea what would be the 'useful' second language to learn. I've had bits of classes in Indonesian, French and German, and thanks to being a nerd I know more Japanese than the rest put together.
Played it for the first time a couple of years ago and honestly it holds up brilliantly… but the UI and menu is an abomination to modern eyes.
This was really fun Yatz! l'd love to see more like these if your schedule permits it. I've reached the age where retrospectives of the classic games are blissfully nostalgic.
What is a game? A miserable pile of UI.
About the whole "why sometimes English in Japanese" question: the very short, non-weeb tinged answer is: yes. Pretty much what you said: it's a language many people in the country speak casually but not fluently, and has a certain "exotic flair" to native Japanese speakers/listeners.