On frame rates in games… it just doesn’t always matter

Did you know books have a frame rate of 1fps?

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1 min read
Chrono Cross Interview

This is something that happens far too often: an excellent game with a lot to say and think about gets released, and, because it drops a few frames here and there, that’s all anyone ends up talking about.

Related reading: Our review of Chrono Cross.

Sometimes it does matter! Sometimes the game is a lesser experience for it. But when it’s a story-driven turn-based JRPG? No. And the conversation being so fixated on frame rates really does the game a disservice.

So that’s what I talk about in this video.

 

  • They used to chastise the telltale games for this. Like it makes any difference in the experience whatsoever.
    Although, a narrative based game like that with a bit of budget behind it doesn’t have an excuse for having bad performance. So there is an element to that.

    • Yes, that is a good point, that if a game has a healthy budget behind it, there are a series of things that you expect to be right at minimum, and frame rates are probably one of them. Then again, a lot of the time games are made for smaller budgets than people might think. I doubt this re-release, for example, had much money behind it at all.

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