These are my favourite type of videos you make. I understand you probably get more views from FF/SMT/Square videos but these type of videos are where you stand out from other content creators. Please keep it up!! :)
Thank you for saying that, really glad to hear others resonate so much with these types of videos as they’re some of my favorite to make as well. Maybe one day the algorithm will appreciate them in the same way but in the meantime we’ll keep ‘em coming!
This is not a "boring" topic. Just pretty detailed. Truth be told, I've been analyzing a lot about what I like about rpgs. And I've noticed that how text is presented can make a games dialogue go to either being snappy and easy to get through, or a slog that puts you do sleep. How text is presented is extremely important.
To go further, I'd say that text placement within the text box is also important. Like, the aim should be to keep a complete sentence in a single box rather than splitting it across multiple, or at least break up the sentence where it most makes sense, such as at commas. Easier said than done when translating from Japanese which can say more with less space, but content written originally in English should have no problem with this. 😉
You've got to do a video on save points. From saving on the over world map, to random glowing areas, writing in books, etc. Save points would be a good one.
What's there to say about save points though? Some games have a lot, some games have too few. Some let you save anywhere. Okay now what? Show pictures of what they look like?
@@flameshana9 I find myself lacking in creativity and imagination, but for that reply it seems you are worse than me. But it doesnt matter, these content creators can make things work. And this video is precisely a good example of that.
Bro this! Another thing that I miss specifically from FF games is the menu sfx every time you scroll through and select an option. It’s those little things that I miss from the old days.
I always enjoyed the way Quintet did their text in their SNES RPGs like Illusion of Gaia, where they had different colors for each character, and the text even had a gradient effect.
Ah yeah those would have been great to bring up. I honestly forgot how good those looked as it’s been forever since I’ve played those games but after looking up some screenshots I remember how good they are now, very clean looking and the different colors for different characters is an excellent touch
You literally made a video on one of my favorite game subjects. I could watch hours of content talking about menus, typography and fonts, dialogue boxes, maps, etc.
Also, about font in textboxes, one issue people may have with font is dyslexia. People with dyslexia can really struggle to read certain fonts, especially if its on certain backgrounds or has poor text spacing. If a game wants to use certain fonts for stylistic choice or to show different characters, they need to have accessibility options for more readable fonts. Comic sans is a font that was made specifically to be readable for people with dyslexia so I feel like most games should honestly have an option for this. Also, coloured paper is another way that can help some people with dyslexia, so being able to change text box colour should also be a necessity, especilly if the default is white. I feel like dyslexia is an accessibility thing that often gets dismissed, but it is one reason why my girlfriend can't enjoy JRPGs as much as she could because of all the reading you need to do.
Even though I played Eternia before I played Symphonia, Symphonia is really where I fell in love with the series and a significant factor of that was how great the skits were in fleshing out the characters and giving the game personality
Great video! Another topic I find interesting in the "Little Things Matter" category is how JRPGs handle their level up screens. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is my personal favorite on this topic because I just love the style of how they show each stat on the screen at the same time. I'll never forget the first time the "Number of Attacks" stat increased in that game. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is another that adds so much detail and fun to their level up process.
Chrono Cross is one of my fav dialog boxes as well. Good UI really helps make a good game great. Can't wait for Musashi, such a gem and would LOVE a remake.
Yep UI in general is extremely important. I’m looking forward to sharing my full thoughts on the game soon but yeah it’s definitely one that would be super fitting for a remake/remaster with some modern QoL changes!
In Wild Arms 3, if you press the select button during a dialog the faded portraits will be shown in bold colors, and it also works in the status screen menus with the characters portraits.
I enjoy these videos on topics about JRPGs that not many people pay attention to. I’m happy to see that something many would consider small is getting much deserved attention. They are truly immersive! Persona 5 and FFT are my top!
I love this video, it's easy to find retrospectives of popular JRPGs but the extensive knowledge you have on those games really makes a topic like this interesting an also unique on the platform!
Golden Sun was one of the first I noticed the text noises, and I loved how it really was like different voices. It even conveyed emotion with the tones which I thought was great because it could do different region languages, and not need to change.
I love the videos you guys make. The more obscure or weird of a topic, the better. I 100% agree as well. Blank dialogue boxes are just lack luster, and there's so much style added when you have a portrait or picture
Dude, I LOVE videos like this. Focusing on very specific details and topics like this lets you get more into detail about small, underrated but important elements like this. It's harder to appreciate these details when you have to cover a larger topic or whole game in one 15 minute video. One of my favorite tropes for dialogue boxes is when a character portrait will suddenly change pose for the rest of the game to show a huge character shift. Stuff like that is examples of using "limitations" like this to create a memorable experience. I'd love to see more videos like this covering these hyper specific elements. (Video on the tales skit system maybe?)
I love that y'all cover so much more about the minutia of JRPGs. If I am indeed 1 of 17, we're a cool ass club of seventeen haha. Dialogue boxes really are something that matters. Kingdom Hearts reminded me of how important they are!
Don't have the chance to watch the video yet, but I can't wait to see it! Dialogue Boxes in jrpgs are one of those seemingly minor details that really tie things together. They often one of the first details to notice in a game to!
Man I love your channel. You have some of my favorite content regarding JRPGs and what makes them special. Thank you for what you do! Seriously, this content always makes me super happy to see and watch. I’ve shown my wife your content to help explain why I love these games it got her to try the Tales Of games.
Thanks for the kind words, really appreciate that and it’s awesome to hear how much you resonate with the content. Also love to hear that it played a factor in getting your wife to try out the Tales series, hope she’s been having a good time!
Love your videos and I love topics like this. There's so much that defines these classic games and I appreciate that you actually make videos about it. Here's a topic for a video: Hidden loot/treasures and games that award the maniacs that constantly clicks every wall and furniture in hope of finding a hidden item, moveable shelf that leads to a secret room or something behind that waterfall. Stuff like that! :)
ahhh a nice new Gaming Broductions video for a nice relaxing Friday night. Thanks for always make awesome stuff bro, I always make sure to watch and like your videos. Hope all is well with you brotha.
honestly, i have alwasys loved the Design of games almost more than playing them, ever since i was a child i was so enamored by the fact that people MADE these games and i was always looking at all the little things that made them unique, i am sorry i only recently found your channel, i watch you wilst editing game footage. thank you for what you do and have a wonderful day!
If I remember correctly, a fun thing you could do in Wild Arms 3 is, if you press Select during a conversation, you could make the character image become prominent for a little bit.
One thing that's in every dialogue boxes that's very hard to master is the perfect text speed. Fast enough that you're not compelled to just press the button again to show the whole text, slow enough so that you don't just end up skipping everything that isn't the text. Extra direction points for games that tries to sync the text speed to the character showing emotions, with pauses and varying speeds.
A couple of years ago it was announced that Sakurai's wife would be completely remaking the GUI for Smash Bros Melee, and at the time I didn't even know that Sakurai worked with his wife, let alone that she's responsible for all the UI in his games. IMO interface, be it menus or dialog boxes, are sorta like CGI where you don't really notice mid and good Interfaces, only the bad or amazing examples. Great vid. I didn't have a Sega when I was a kid, but I remember hanging out with one friend a LOT back in 97 or so simply because I was fascinated by everything in Shining Force II. The dialog boxes and sounds were a big draw for me as a kid.
Greetings from Brazil, I wanted to thank you all; your videos are really great, and one can feel how much you love the genre. I've created a channel here in Brazil to talk about J-Rpgs, and I hope to one day produce content of such high quality as yours, keep the good work!
My favourite text boxes in JRPGs has to be the ones from final fantasy VII and IX they look so refreshing to see. And even you can customise FFVII text box to have different colours. I have a habit of doing them right near the end of the game.
OH AH! A Brave Fencer Musashi retrospective?! Subbed! I had that game when 8 years old and it unlocked something in me. I always feel it gets extremely overlooked... truth be told I haven't played it since I was 10 but I remember it very fondly... (except for when I was 8 and I accidentally created my first unbeatable save ever. The part of the game where you have a time limit to stop the tree from exploding)
Not a JRPG, but Pentiment does different fonts for characters which tells you about their personality, education/background and more. Excellent game with fantastic dialogue boxes and worth checking out
I haven't played Pentiment yet, but I saw a review and their handling of fonts seems outstanding. That's actually a main reason I want to play it, the idea of something as simple as text being used so artfully is really cool.
Pentiment is an rpg that lacks combat. it's one of the most unique and enjoyable gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm glad they ported it to other systems so more people could experience it. Josh Sawyer and the Obsidian team are just incredible.
Ayo, gotta say, that late 90s/early 2000s adult swim era style bump you got for an intro goes fkn DUMMY bro One of the best intros I’ve seen for any channel in any genre full stop for sure
As an american comic book and japanese manga reader, i do really like the font style difference for each character and or sentences. It can give so much vibe and nuance to it even without voice acting. Also different letter spacings sometimes can convey certain vibes too. Good topic to bring up! Small thing but often overlooked and taken for granted by a lot of people.
Just found this channel. Great voice over and general production. Plus you really know you're stuff; it made me really nostalgic! Instant sub, now to check out your other content. Also, hearing my typing sounds as I write this has a nice little touch now as this is kinda of like my dialogue box ;)
Man, the production quality for the Sega Camelot games still holds up so well. As much as I love the SNES library, the Genesis kind of spoiled me in terms of expectations for animations and character personalities.
It's not a RPG, but Pentiment did it's text boxes phenomenally as well. You can really read the expression of the character out of these. Great video! Never thought too much about them but they are important. :)
Honestly, minor as it is, I think it does contribute a pretty good amount to how aesthetically pleasing an RPG is and people really don't give them enough credit. Definitely with you on Chrono Cross' boxes too, when I found out you could find new frames and just change them whenever you wanted I was pretty shocked and excited since i'd never heard of an RPG doing something like that before and in '99 at that.
My friend and I were just talking about the Dragonquest XI text and the Megaman battle network text. Glad this video touched on an under-appreciated aspect of games today!
Something about seeing images of Shining Force 2's character portraits and dialogue boxes back in 90s gaming magazines always made me really want to play it. It was just so different than most games coming out around that time.
Hey bro, love ur channel man and really appreciate ur work. This is a great topic of discussion for RPGs and I agree with u that if only more RPGs had portraits in their dialogue, that would undoubtedly be more appealing and more enjoyable to play. Anyways...another awesome video and keep up the good work.
This is exactly the kind of stuff I love getting super deep in the weeds about. It's such an important, underrated aspect. Heck, when the Mario RPG remake was announced, the one complaint was that the few dialogue and UI boxes onscreen didn't match with the game, and of course the whole debacle about the Pixel Remasters and their fonts
Ya love to hear it. Shittt maybe one of these days when we get enough videos in a certain series we’ll combine them all together for a super long video
@@GamingBroductions I actually really enjoyed the topic. Your channel has a vibe that I love so it doesnt really matter to me what you talk about. But you 2 were able to actually make an enjoyable video about text boxes
My attempted RPG Antquest had character portraits in some of the dialogue boxes. They were usually static but they did show the main character putting on a top hat (made of ants) for one scene and did some a body of an ant hive mind being temporarily used by a bigger ant hive mind. It also used a few comic style cutscenes although those where used more in my number biggering game The Queen must grow. Another thing I in the game antquest was you once meet an ant that fused itself with a spider to form the ultimate jouster. It had all lines said twice total in two different colors.
Dialogue boxes and the font/text choices are so important. It's akin to dialogue bubbles and lettering in comics. You rarely notice them/appreciate them when they're executed well, but you sure as hell notice it when they're bad...and when they are bad, they are *bad*.
It's a small, nostalgic detail, but I agree it can really add character to the game if done well. Text is so important in RPGs! Also since you asked, Front Mission 3 is one of my favorite dialogue windows, including the character art style!
I’d say one of my favorite (maybe my favorite?) dialogue box ideas is from Blue Dragon. While the box itself is fairly standard, the real time, animated portrait of the character your talking to on the screen really feel like a step up in the style of using a portrait for dialogue.
This is a completely pertinent topic, JRPGs are typically menu driven, meaning you're going to be looking at lots of menus and dialogue boxes. I always appreciate when games make that extra effort to enrich the experience, and over the course of dozens of hours it has a big impact.
The banjo kazooie sfx on top of xenogears dialogue was hilarious lolll this was an awesome topic, the little things matter, loved the frames in chrono cross as well! underrated topic i think. BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI LFG!!!! i loved that game though sadly i was unable to beat the final boss.. side note.. there was a track in this video that had a xenogears track playing with an off rhythm beat playing to it.. it was distracting but great content still! keep it up, cheers!
You can draw your own window frame and inside the window in Wild Arms 1 (maybe 2 and 3 as well I forget). It puts the pressure on you to make it look good so i just went with a default one but it’s a really neat option
I love me a good portrait in the dialogue box if the camera is zoomed out or the sprites are small. Like Shining Force or Langrisser. But there are cases where I truly think it would add nothing too. Chrono Trigger is a case where the sprites are so charmfully animated during cutscenes that I never once wished there were any dialogue portraits to go along with it. How every character feels is portreyed perfectly as it is to the player.
To add to the mention of Undertale's, Deltarune also does something interesting. In the Light World, it uses the Undertale dialogue box and menu UI, but the second you enter a Dark World it all gets much fancier, including how Darkner portraits are colored unlike the Lightner ones. Its such a good little detail and I hardly ever hear anyone mention it.
You are right, it is the little things that matter. Those details are what always sets things apart. People notice even when they don't think they do and they separate the good from the great. I mean, if you were making an RPG game with dialogue boxes, then you'd be thinking about all these sorts of things. Many out there already have.
talking about portraits, i cant wait for star ocean 2 r portraits. they use splash art and have them animated too, im gonna love it. and i kinda wish octopath travelers has portraits too, tho. but they did great job animating the sprites to express the characters' emotions. and for me, octopath's font is soooo befitting. i dont think it's pixelated but it weirdly fit the dialogue box & the whole aesthetic.
This is exactly the sort of content that I followed this page for in the first place! Weirdly when I was young I didnt like when games included character portraits because I seen it as a way of getting around having to properly animate their sprites, but I wasnt really interested in 2d RPGs at that age either. 3D was new and I couldnt understand why some devleopers remained in the 2D space when others out there were going 3D. Looking back now though, those 2D games have aged so much better compared to the polygon graphics which I thought was so amazing at the time!!!
Another Code: Two Memories on DS is an adventure puzzle game, but it too has a wide range of portrait emotions, especially for the main character Ashley.
Not mention of golden sun? Icons over their head, the jumps when they talk to emphasize their spech and it had the different pitch too. It even had words changing their font to emphasize fear, exhitement, etc
@@GamingBroductions A Game focused in a High Fantasy world where you are a Dwarven Quarry Breaker which is thrusted into becoming a Miner. As you slowly developer your understanding and your skills. You attempt to develop who your going to be, and how your going to get there. Singleplayer & Multiplayer. So far we're just about done with the Core singleplayer functionality and now working on pushing out Connectivity to the Storyline and Dialogs and such lol
They aren't JRPGs but I love the text boxes in the Shadowrun games, they all have portraits and some like the Genesis game have really unique feel to seem like a cyberpunk computer. Also the Owlcat Pathfinder ganes do it well with you being able to use custom portraits. Btw your points on Shining Force II are spot on on just how charming that game is.
I really like the dialogue boxes in Shining Force 2 with the animated portraits, kind of reminds me of some of the Quest for Glory games (not a jrpg, I know; but still a good game!). I also liked the dialogue boxes for Shadowhearts 1.
These are my favourite type of videos you make. I understand you probably get more views from FF/SMT/Square videos but these type of videos are where you stand out from other content creators. Please keep it up!! :)
Couldn’t agree more
My thoughts exactly
Thank you for saying that, really glad to hear others resonate so much with these types of videos as they’re some of my favorite to make as well. Maybe one day the algorithm will appreciate them in the same way but in the meantime we’ll keep ‘em coming!
I agree with that, these videos are interesting in the sense that I go "huh, I've never really thought about that" =)
This is not a "boring" topic. Just pretty detailed. Truth be told, I've been analyzing a lot about what I like about rpgs. And I've noticed that how text is presented can make a games dialogue go to either being snappy and easy to get through, or a slog that puts you do sleep.
How text is presented is extremely important.
I love it when jrpgs have character portraits. They add so much soul.
The blue FF boxes and font are just so clean and easy to read
To go further, I'd say that text placement within the text box is also important. Like, the aim should be to keep a complete sentence in a single box rather than splitting it across multiple, or at least break up the sentence where it most makes sense, such as at commas. Easier said than done when translating from Japanese which can say more with less space, but content written originally in English should have no problem with this. 😉
You've got to do a video on save points. From saving on the over world map, to random glowing areas, writing in books, etc. Save points would be a good one.
I second this.
What's there to say about save points though? Some games have a lot, some games have too few. Some let you save anywhere.
Okay now what? Show pictures of what they look like?
Hell, some save points actually are a part of the plot, like in Chrono Cross and Xenogears.
@@flameshana9 I would have said the same thing about dialog boxes as a topic, but they definitely made it interesting!
@@flameshana9 I find myself lacking in creativity and imagination, but for that reply it seems you are worse than me. But it doesnt matter, these content creators can make things work. And this video is precisely a good example of that.
Bro this! Another thing that I miss specifically from FF games is the menu sfx every time you scroll through and select an option. It’s those little things that I miss from the old days.
Hell yeah those cursor sounds are iconic. The various sound effects of stuff like that is another underrated aspect in making a game stick with you
Man i saw this title and got so excited. i love how nostalgia makes text boxes take you back to the chair you lived in during these games
Absolutely, so many memories come flooding back when you see something as simple as a dialogue box
I always enjoyed the way Quintet did their text in their SNES RPGs like Illusion of Gaia, where they had different colors for each character, and the text even had a gradient effect.
When I saw the title of the video that was the first dialogue boxes I thought of! They’ve always been my favorite.
Ah yeah those would have been great to bring up. I honestly forgot how good those looked as it’s been forever since I’ve played those games but after looking up some screenshots I remember how good they are now, very clean looking and the different colors for different characters is an excellent touch
Portraits on dialog boxes are a must have for me. Love seeing them, especially with different expressions.
You literally made a video on one of my favorite game subjects. I could watch hours of content talking about menus, typography and fonts, dialogue boxes, maps, etc.
Nice! There’s a surprising amount of stuff to talk about when it comes to the smaller details like those
Also, about font in textboxes, one issue people may have with font is dyslexia. People with dyslexia can really struggle to read certain fonts, especially if its on certain backgrounds or has poor text spacing. If a game wants to use certain fonts for stylistic choice or to show different characters, they need to have accessibility options for more readable fonts. Comic sans is a font that was made specifically to be readable for people with dyslexia so I feel like most games should honestly have an option for this. Also, coloured paper is another way that can help some people with dyslexia, so being able to change text box colour should also be a necessity, especilly if the default is white.
I feel like dyslexia is an accessibility thing that often gets dismissed, but it is one reason why my girlfriend can't enjoy JRPGs as much as she could because of all the reading you need to do.
The Tales games will always hold a place in my heart and a huge part of it is the dialogue boxes that always have so much personality to it.
Even though I played Eternia before I played Symphonia, Symphonia is really where I fell in love with the series and a significant factor of that was how great the skits were in fleshing out the characters and giving the game personality
Great video! Another topic I find interesting in the "Little Things Matter" category is how JRPGs handle their level up screens. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is my personal favorite on this topic because I just love the style of how they show each stat on the screen at the same time. I'll never forget the first time the "Number of Attacks" stat increased in that game. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is another that adds so much detail and fun to their level up process.
Chrono Cross is one of my fav dialog boxes as well. Good UI really helps make a good game great. Can't wait for Musashi, such a gem and would LOVE a remake.
Yep UI in general is extremely important. I’m looking forward to sharing my full thoughts on the game soon but yeah it’s definitely one that would be super fitting for a remake/remaster with some modern QoL changes!
Coming in clutch again on a Friday evening! Appreciate you guys!
No problem, thanks for watching!
banger vid as always
the production value is insaneo
channel deserves millions of subs, in time it will come
Shit I’d be happy with 1/10th of that lol thanks dude! Maybe one day
In Wild Arms 3, if you press the select button during a dialog the faded portraits will be shown in bold colors, and it also works in the status screen menus with the characters portraits.
I enjoy these videos on topics about JRPGs that not many people pay attention to. I’m happy to see that something many would consider small is getting much deserved attention. They are truly immersive! Persona 5 and FFT are my top!
I love this video, it's easy to find retrospectives of popular JRPGs but the extensive knowledge you have on those games really makes a topic like this interesting an also unique on the platform!
Thank you! I do love making the single game retrospectives too but yeah it’s super fun to talk about more obscure and general topics like this
Golden Sun was one of the first I noticed the text noises, and I loved how it really was like different voices. It even conveyed emotion with the tones which I thought was great because it could do different region languages, and not need to change.
I love the videos you guys make. The more obscure or weird of a topic, the better. I 100% agree as well. Blank dialogue boxes are just lack luster, and there's so much style added when you have a portrait or picture
Dude, I LOVE videos like this. Focusing on very specific details and topics like this lets you get more into detail about small, underrated but important elements like this. It's harder to appreciate these details when you have to cover a larger topic or whole game in one 15 minute video.
One of my favorite tropes for dialogue boxes is when a character portrait will suddenly change pose for the rest of the game to show a huge character shift. Stuff like that is examples of using "limitations" like this to create a memorable experience.
I'd love to see more videos like this covering these hyper specific elements. (Video on the tales skit system maybe?)
I love when you cover these more obscure topics, its fun to think about an element of my favorite games that is so easy to take for granted.
I love that y'all cover so much more about the minutia of JRPGs. If I am indeed 1 of 17, we're a cool ass club of seventeen haha.
Dialogue boxes really are something that matters.
Kingdom Hearts reminded me of how important they are!
It’s not the biggest but hey it’s a cool ass club. Kingdom Hearts does have geat ones! Love the style for sure
It’s nice to have these smaller videos between your bigger, more epic videos.
Don't have the chance to watch the video yet, but I can't wait to see it! Dialogue Boxes in jrpgs are one of those seemingly minor details that really tie things together. They often one of the first details to notice in a game to!
Definitely, one of the first impressions the game makes on you. Hope you enjoyed the vid when you got around to it 👍
@@GamingBroductions 10/10 video as usual. I've watched it several times since I posted this comment 😂
I absolutely love that you pick these niche topics that mean so much for me in the sense of the atmosphere!
Thanks for watching! We have plenty more niche topics in the works 🙌🏼
Another beautiful and fresh video, what a lovely night to enjoy it.
Thank you 😌
This is the only intro I don't skip. I really love it!❤
Hell yeah love to hear it!
Man I love your channel. You have some of my favorite content regarding JRPGs and what makes them special. Thank you for what you do! Seriously, this content always makes me super happy to see and watch. I’ve shown my wife your content to help explain why I love these games it got her to try the Tales Of games.
Thanks for the kind words, really appreciate that and it’s awesome to hear how much you resonate with the content. Also love to hear that it played a factor in getting your wife to try out the Tales series, hope she’s been having a good time!
Love your videos and I love topics like this. There's so much that defines these classic games and I appreciate that you actually make videos about it.
Here's a topic for a video: Hidden loot/treasures and games that award the maniacs that constantly clicks every wall and furniture in hope of finding a hidden item, moveable shelf that leads to a secret room or something behind that waterfall. Stuff like that! :)
These kinds of videos are a gold mine for people who develop games and need to research different stylistic and technical details for inspiration.
ahhh a nice new Gaming Broductions video for a nice relaxing Friday night. Thanks for always make awesome stuff bro, I always make sure to watch and like your videos. Hope all is well with you brotha.
Really appreciate that bro. Hope you had a chill weekend and enjoyed the video!
This was so helpful friend. I added the sound effect to voices to my indie game. It really helps. Your style is clear and well considered. Subscribed.
honestly, i have alwasys loved the Design of games almost more than playing them, ever since i was a child i was so enamored by the fact that people MADE these games and i was always looking at all the little things that made them unique, i am sorry i only recently found your channel, i watch you wilst editing game footage. thank you for what you do and have a wonderful day!
Bro!! I love your editing and videos, you deserve every sub.
Hey thanks dude! Appreciate that
If I remember correctly, a fun thing you could do in Wild Arms 3 is, if you press Select during a conversation, you could make the character image become prominent for a little bit.
One thing that's in every dialogue boxes that's very hard to master is the perfect text speed. Fast enough that you're not compelled to just press the button again to show the whole text, slow enough so that you don't just end up skipping everything that isn't the text. Extra direction points for games that tries to sync the text speed to the character showing emotions, with pauses and varying speeds.
A couple of years ago it was announced that Sakurai's wife would be completely remaking the GUI for Smash Bros Melee, and at the time I didn't even know that Sakurai worked with his wife, let alone that she's responsible for all the UI in his games. IMO interface, be it menus or dialog boxes, are sorta like CGI where you don't really notice mid and good Interfaces, only the bad or amazing examples.
Great vid. I didn't have a Sega when I was a kid, but I remember hanging out with one friend a LOT back in 97 or so simply because I was fascinated by everything in Shining Force II. The dialog boxes and sounds were a big draw for me as a kid.
Greetings from Brazil, I wanted to thank you all; your videos are really great, and one can feel how much you love the genre. I've created a channel here in Brazil to talk about J-Rpgs, and I hope to one day produce content of such high quality as yours, keep the good work!
Another great video! I love that you guys continue to shoutout the Shining Force series. Underrated series for sure
Thanks! Can never give Shining Force enough love, such a great series
Man, I love your videos. You seem to have experienced jrpg the EXACT way I've always done. We think the exact same things.
Hell yeah, cool to know there are similar minded people out there!
My favourite text boxes in JRPGs has to be the ones from final fantasy VII and IX they look so refreshing to see. And even you can customise FFVII text box to have different colours. I have a habit of doing them right near the end of the game.
OH AH! A Brave Fencer Musashi retrospective?! Subbed! I had that game when 8 years old and it unlocked something in me. I always feel it gets extremely overlooked... truth be told I haven't played it since I was 10 but I remember it very fondly... (except for when I was 8 and I accidentally created my first unbeatable save ever. The part of the game where you have a time limit to stop the tree from exploding)
Not a JRPG, but Pentiment does different fonts for characters which tells you about their personality, education/background and more. Excellent game with fantastic dialogue boxes and worth checking out
I haven't played Pentiment yet, but I saw a review and their handling of fonts seems outstanding. That's actually a main reason I want to play it, the idea of something as simple as text being used so artfully is really cool.
Pentiment is an rpg that lacks combat. it's one of the most unique and enjoyable gaming experiences I've ever had. I'm glad they ported it to other systems so more people could experience it. Josh Sawyer and the Obsidian team are just incredible.
I work in game localization. I was so excited to see this topic pop up!
Oh nice that’s really cool! Hope you enjoyed the vid!
Love videos about subtle features like these. Keep it up!
Thanks, that’s the plan!
Ayo, gotta say, that late 90s/early 2000s adult swim era style bump you got for an intro goes fkn DUMMY bro
One of the best intros I’ve seen for any channel in any genre full stop for sure
As an american comic book and japanese manga reader, i do really like the font style difference for each character and or sentences. It can give so much vibe and nuance to it even without voice acting. Also different letter spacings sometimes can convey certain vibes too. Good topic to bring up! Small thing but often overlooked and taken for granted by a lot of people.
Just found this channel. Great voice over and general production. Plus you really know you're stuff; it made me really nostalgic! Instant sub, now to check out your other content.
Also, hearing my typing sounds as I write this has a nice little touch now as this is kinda of like my dialogue box ;)
Thanks for the kind words and welcome to the channel! Hope you enjoy your time here and the other content we have :)
Man, the production quality for the Sega Camelot games still holds up so well. As much as I love the SNES library, the Genesis kind of spoiled me in terms of expectations for animations and character personalities.
It's not a RPG, but Pentiment did it's text boxes phenomenally as well. You can really read the expression of the character out of these. Great video! Never thought too much about them but they are important. :)
Honestly, minor as it is, I think it does contribute a pretty good amount to how aesthetically pleasing an RPG is and people really don't give them enough credit. Definitely with you on Chrono Cross' boxes too, when I found out you could find new frames and just change them whenever you wanted I was pretty shocked and excited since i'd never heard of an RPG doing something like that before and in '99 at that.
My friend and I were just talking about the Dragonquest XI text and the Megaman battle network text. Glad this video touched on an under-appreciated aspect of games today!
this is a great idea for a video! these days, if possible I turn voices off and try to keep it old school by reading the text.
Thanks! Nothing like immersing yourself in an old school RPG reading the dialogue and imagining how all the various characters sound in your head
I really loved how Grandia 2 skits were the characters actually have a talk at dinner while at the inn. Such a nice slice of Life approach!
I would love a lot longer version of the intro. Just keep the vibes going
fantastic video as always
Thank you!
Something about seeing images of Shining Force 2's character portraits and dialogue boxes back in 90s gaming magazines always made me really want to play it. It was just so different than most games coming out around that time.
Videos like this is why I am addicted to RUclips. Where else do we see people doing a deep dive on dialog boxes of all things.
Hey bro, love ur channel man and really appreciate ur work. This is a great topic of discussion for RPGs and I agree with u that if only more RPGs had portraits in their dialogue, that would undoubtedly be more appealing and more enjoyable to play. Anyways...another awesome video and keep up the good work.
This is exactly the kind of stuff I love getting super deep in the weeds about. It's such an important, underrated aspect. Heck, when the Mario RPG remake was announced, the one complaint was that the few dialogue and UI boxes onscreen didn't match with the game, and of course the whole debacle about the Pixel Remasters and their fonts
I actually watch/listen to your videos over and over. When's the dvd box set coming out. fr
Ya love to hear it. Shittt maybe one of these days when we get enough videos in a certain series we’ll combine them all together for a super long video
Weird... I was just watching your older videos while eating dinner when I saw this pop up. Nice
Perfect timing. Hope you enjoyed 👍
@@GamingBroductions I actually really enjoyed the topic. Your channel has a vibe that I love so it doesnt really matter to me what you talk about. But you 2 were able to actually make an enjoyable video about text boxes
My attempted RPG Antquest had character portraits in some of the dialogue boxes. They were usually static but they did show the main character putting on a top hat (made of ants) for one scene and did some a body of an ant hive mind being temporarily used by a bigger ant hive mind. It also used a few comic style cutscenes although those where used more in my number biggering game The Queen must grow.
Another thing I in the game antquest was you once meet an ant that fused itself with a spider to form the ultimate jouster. It had all lines said twice total in two different colors.
Awesome introduction! And lovely video idea!
Thank you!
Dialogue boxes and the font/text choices are so important. It's akin to dialogue bubbles and lettering in comics. You rarely notice them/appreciate them when they're executed well, but you sure as hell notice it when they're bad...and when they are bad, they are *bad*.
It's a small, nostalgic detail, but I agree it can really add character to the game if done well. Text is so important in RPGs!
Also since you asked, Front Mission 3 is one of my favorite dialogue windows, including the character art style!
Intro is always so fire
I love your channel man, thanks for the great vids
No problem man, thanks for watching!
1 year later, i'm trying to design some dialogue boxes as we speak! This was a great resource, thanks again!
I’d say one of my favorite (maybe my favorite?) dialogue box ideas is from Blue Dragon. While the box itself is fairly standard, the real time, animated portrait of the character your talking to on the screen really feel like a step up in the style of using a portrait for dialogue.
This is a completely pertinent topic, JRPGs are typically menu driven, meaning you're going to be looking at lots of menus and dialogue boxes. I always appreciate when games make that extra effort to enrich the experience, and over the course of dozens of hours it has a big impact.
We are all massive nerds for loving this kind of content but I am here for it. Great video and topic!
The banjo kazooie sfx on top of xenogears dialogue was hilarious lolll this was an awesome topic, the little things matter, loved the frames in chrono cross as well! underrated topic i think. BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI LFG!!!! i loved that game though sadly i was unable to beat the final boss.. side note.. there was a track in this video that had a xenogears track playing with an off rhythm beat playing to it.. it was distracting but great content still! keep it up, cheers!
Great topic, more of these please!
I believe Sakaguchi said something to the tune of 'anyone can make a Final Fantasy, with the blue text boxes'
😂
You can draw your own window frame and inside the window in Wild Arms 1 (maybe 2 and 3 as well I forget). It puts the pressure on you to make it look good so i just went with a default one but it’s a really neat option
I love me a good portrait in the dialogue box if the camera is zoomed out or the sprites are small. Like Shining Force or Langrisser. But there are cases where I truly think it would add nothing too. Chrono Trigger is a case where the sprites are so charmfully animated during cutscenes that I never once wished there were any dialogue portraits to go along with it. How every character feels is portreyed perfectly as it is to the player.
To add to the mention of Undertale's, Deltarune also does something interesting. In the Light World, it uses the Undertale dialogue box and menu UI, but the second you enter a Dark World it all gets much fancier, including how Darkner portraits are colored unlike the Lightner ones.
Its such a good little detail and I hardly ever hear anyone mention it.
Something I’m glad I’m not the only one who ever thought about this in this particular way.
You are right, it is the little things that matter. Those details are what always sets things apart. People notice even when they don't think they do and they separate the good from the great. I mean, if you were making an RPG game with dialogue boxes, then you'd be thinking about all these sorts of things. Many out there already have.
talking about portraits, i cant wait for star ocean 2 r portraits. they use splash art and have them animated too, im gonna love it.
and i kinda wish octopath travelers has portraits too, tho. but they did great job animating the sprites to express the characters' emotions. and for me, octopath's font is soooo befitting. i dont think it's pixelated but it weirdly fit the dialogue box & the whole aesthetic.
Woot! I am one of 17 people still interested!
Welcome to the club!
@@GamingBroductions You know it baby!
Thank you for that historical retrospective. I mean artistic video. I mean retro/classical concert. All of the above?
All the above works. Haha thanks for watching!
This is exactly the sort of content that I followed this page for in the first place! Weirdly when I was young I didnt like when games included character portraits because I seen it as a way of getting around having to properly animate their sprites, but I wasnt really interested in 2d RPGs at that age either. 3D was new and I couldnt understand why some devleopers remained in the 2D space when others out there were going 3D. Looking back now though, those 2D games have aged so much better compared to the polygon graphics which I thought was so amazing at the time!!!
i like the little things in RPGs, so this was entertaining for me, thank you!
Earthbound had that crazy Mr. Saturn font and it was awesome. And I agreed more games need to give you more "flavor" options for dialog boxes
Thanks a lot. This video made me shed a tears. 😢
Another Code: Two Memories on DS is an adventure puzzle game, but it too has a wide range of portrait emotions, especially for the main character Ashley.
Not mention of golden sun? Icons over their head, the jumps when they talk to emphasize their spech and it had the different pitch too. It even had words changing their font to emphasize fear, exhitement, etc
Gotta love these adult swim/toonami like intros.
Love this video, currently making a 2d game. Used this video to showcase shit to my team for the Dialogue Boxes
We’re happy to hear our video assisted you and the team for game development! What type of 2D game is it?
@@GamingBroductions A Game focused in a High Fantasy world where you are a Dwarven Quarry Breaker which is thrusted into becoming a Miner. As you slowly developer your understanding and your skills. You attempt to develop who your going to be, and how your going to get there. Singleplayer & Multiplayer. So far we're just about done with the Core singleplayer functionality and now working on pushing out Connectivity to the Storyline and Dialogs and such lol
They aren't JRPGs but I love the text boxes in the Shadowrun games, they all have portraits and some like the Genesis game have really unique feel to seem like a cyberpunk computer. Also the Owlcat Pathfinder ganes do it well with you being able to use custom portraits. Btw your points on Shining Force II are spot on on just how charming that game is.
Intro is fire!!!
Thanks!
Huh. That was hella insightful!
Glad you enjoyed!
You videos are really cozy😊
Thank you 😌
I love these videos where you get in depth into an esoteric topic because I learn so much.
Love to hear that
I really like the dialogue boxes in Shining Force 2 with the animated portraits, kind of reminds me of some of the Quest for Glory games (not a jrpg, I know; but still a good game!). I also liked the dialogue boxes for Shadowhearts 1.