Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Dynasty Warriors 6, or: The Axes of Evil
When the jump to three-dimensional graphics was made, most western games went with either normal, up-is-up control for the vertical axis when moving the camera, or the inverted up-is-down. There were usually options to choose between the two, but even if there weren't, the universally agreed on method for the horizontal axis was direct left-is-left, right-is-right control.
For Japanese games though, for some reason, right-is-left became popular. And although there have been a number of titles where there were options to invert one or both of the axes, this little hanging point can throw things into disarray. Case in point: The Samurai Warriors 2 port to the Xbox 360. It had only two options: Invert or Normal. Picking Invert meant that both your up and down as well as left and right were reversed. Going with Normal, left and right were direct, but up and down were reversed. If you preferred your vertical axis inverted, there was no winning no matter what.
Seeing other Japanese-developed titles like Capcom's Dead Rising and Lost Planet deal with this issue correctly (simply offer the option to invert the axes independentely) and both had come out before the last Musou/Warriors game, Warriors Orochi, I was hoping that Koei/Omega Force would take that example and not make me choose which axis I would have to relearn with every play session. They didn't, so I was filled with dread as the approaching Dynasty Warriors 6 release loomed closer.
Now playing the title, I am happy to report that upon my first visit to the controller settings menu in Dynasty Warriors 6, I was greeted by that happiest of compromises: There are now independent axis inversion settings available, and I couldn't be happier. Well maybe if I was playing Devil May Cry 4, but I still have to try out this title. Either way, it's my hope that other Japanese developers (*cough*SONIC TEAM*cough*) learn from the people who are actually making money on games in the west and enable this easy fix to a fundamental problem in all of the titles coming out of the east in the future.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to get Chinese on some mofos.
For Japanese games though, for some reason, right-is-left became popular. And although there have been a number of titles where there were options to invert one or both of the axes, this little hanging point can throw things into disarray. Case in point: The Samurai Warriors 2 port to the Xbox 360. It had only two options: Invert or Normal. Picking Invert meant that both your up and down as well as left and right were reversed. Going with Normal, left and right were direct, but up and down were reversed. If you preferred your vertical axis inverted, there was no winning no matter what.
Seeing other Japanese-developed titles like Capcom's Dead Rising and Lost Planet deal with this issue correctly (simply offer the option to invert the axes independentely) and both had come out before the last Musou/Warriors game, Warriors Orochi, I was hoping that Koei/Omega Force would take that example and not make me choose which axis I would have to relearn with every play session. They didn't, so I was filled with dread as the approaching Dynasty Warriors 6 release loomed closer.
Now playing the title, I am happy to report that upon my first visit to the controller settings menu in Dynasty Warriors 6, I was greeted by that happiest of compromises: There are now independent axis inversion settings available, and I couldn't be happier. Well maybe if I was playing Devil May Cry 4, but I still have to try out this title. Either way, it's my hope that other Japanese developers (*cough*SONIC TEAM*cough*) learn from the people who are actually making money on games in the west and enable this easy fix to a fundamental problem in all of the titles coming out of the east in the future.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to get Chinese on some mofos.
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