So, today I've been playing ghost master (thank you GOG weekend sale on strategy first titles, I also got port royale 2, all for a little under £4), and it made me feel the pain of a PC gamer. A little.
See, when I was young, just beginning to become a little bit insane in enjoying other people's fear, I snapped up ghost master: the gravenville chronicles on the PS2. At the time I thought it was a sequel, as I'd seen ghost master on PC in a shop years back, but a while later, I discovered that it was a port. At the time I thought not much of it, gravenville chronicles was, at times, infuriating in it's control schemes, glitchiness, hit-and-miss effectiveness of ghostly abilities, and practically everything aside from the intro sequence, but it was original, and at the time, I let it be just on that...but now I've played the original ghost master, I realise just how god awful the port was.
It makes no sense at all. Did people actively ask for ghost master on the PS2? Because then it means that someone decided they didn't want ghost master, but this messed up atrocity instead. I'm reminded of an old argument about amnesia on consoles; "They'd dumb it down and make it more action orientated!" But why? That would mean it wouldn't be amnesia anymore, it'd be dead space in a haunted house. What would be the point?
So, what do you think of ports between PCs and consoles? I think personally, far too much change happens sometimes. Sure, technically, change will probably be necessary, but why change the mechanics? If one or the other party wanted it on their console, they wanted IT, not whatever version of it some idiot executive thinks the target audience wants. Look at torchlight, for example. I haven't played the PC version personally, but it would appear all that changed was a neccessary console-isation of the controls. Maybe it leads to a slightly different feel, but it's still effectively the same game, your success is more dependant on RPG strategy than any kind of hack and slash game skill. That's how it should be done. Changed as much as technically necessary, and no more.
See, when I was young, just beginning to become a little bit insane in enjoying other people's fear, I snapped up ghost master: the gravenville chronicles on the PS2. At the time I thought it was a sequel, as I'd seen ghost master on PC in a shop years back, but a while later, I discovered that it was a port. At the time I thought not much of it, gravenville chronicles was, at times, infuriating in it's control schemes, glitchiness, hit-and-miss effectiveness of ghostly abilities, and practically everything aside from the intro sequence, but it was original, and at the time, I let it be just on that...but now I've played the original ghost master, I realise just how god awful the port was.
For one thing, content. The PC version has far more levels, an upgrade system for your ghosts, which there are also far more of, longer missions, larger levels, and the ability to replay previous levels with different ghosts, which the PS2 version lacked without a cheat code, and even then you were stuck with the same ghosts that the level gave you. It is a drastically stripped down version, as skeletal as some of the game's protagonists.
The controls were obviously going to be an issue, but they weren't terrible. What made it terrible is attempts to hand hold which end up making the control system's problems worse.
Take the evil dead style shack level, for example. You have to get three students to find an evil book, whilst also scaring off their professor, who's trying to stop them. In the PC game, the solution is fairly simple.
in the ps2 version
It seems to me they wanted a more structured, hand holding game, but ended up making it immensely frustrating. What annoys me more, is that they thought they had to. The control scheme wasn't completely awful, they didn't need to strip it down so much. So many poor design decisions, so much squashing and crunching of the PC version, why? Because apparently, the console gamers aren't as smart as the PC gamers? Certainly not to this point.
The controls were obviously going to be an issue, but they weren't terrible. What made it terrible is attempts to hand hold which end up making the control system's problems worse.
Take the evil dead style shack level, for example. You have to get three students to find an evil book, whilst also scaring off their professor, who's trying to stop them. In the PC game, the solution is fairly simple.
You have to get a spirit to blow the leaves off the basement door, and with or without spiritual encouragement, they'll eventually find it and enter. Then you have to use a kinesis ability to get the book out of its hiding place, then the professor will show up. Since he mostly hangs around the basement, you can pretty easily scare him off with minimal effect on his students, this made even easier when trained ghosts can be told to pick on him, at which point his students read the book and unleash ye olde horrible beasty. Extra depth is added to the level by three trapped ghosts hidden around, who you can try to save for your team.
in the ps2 version
this was easily one of the most infuriating levels. You have to blow the leaves off, which only works SOMETIMES, then you have to find a key for the basement by using, not kinesis, but an electrical ability in the room it's hidden in (god knows why), then you have to guide the stupid students to the basement once more, use kinesis to reveal the book (which still only sometimes works) scare off the professor and pray the students don't run as well, all whilst dealing with a priest and a time limit (a feature the ps2 game has for no apparent reason). This was frustrating as hell, relying upon broken systems and hoping against hope that the spells you use to draw the mortals where you want them both actually work, and work on the right people.
It seems to me they wanted a more structured, hand holding game, but ended up making it immensely frustrating. What annoys me more, is that they thought they had to. The control scheme wasn't completely awful, they didn't need to strip it down so much. So many poor design decisions, so much squashing and crunching of the PC version, why? Because apparently, the console gamers aren't as smart as the PC gamers? Certainly not to this point.
It makes no sense at all. Did people actively ask for ghost master on the PS2? Because then it means that someone decided they didn't want ghost master, but this messed up atrocity instead. I'm reminded of an old argument about amnesia on consoles; "They'd dumb it down and make it more action orientated!" But why? That would mean it wouldn't be amnesia anymore, it'd be dead space in a haunted house. What would be the point?
So, what do you think of ports between PCs and consoles? I think personally, far too much change happens sometimes. Sure, technically, change will probably be necessary, but why change the mechanics? If one or the other party wanted it on their console, they wanted IT, not whatever version of it some idiot executive thinks the target audience wants. Look at torchlight, for example. I haven't played the PC version personally, but it would appear all that changed was a neccessary console-isation of the controls. Maybe it leads to a slightly different feel, but it's still effectively the same game, your success is more dependant on RPG strategy than any kind of hack and slash game skill. That's how it should be done. Changed as much as technically necessary, and no more.
