the_dengle said:
I respect your appreciation for this feature but if it was happening in a game I was playing I wouldn't even notice. To me it is a frivolous detail unless it affects the gameplay in some way. For example, on Dragon Roost Island in Wind Waker there's an area where the wind is constantly (and apparently randomly) changing direction. You have to throw an ally into the wind to progress, meaning you have to pay attention to the wind patterns to time your action right. Is is dynamic or pre-determined? Hell if I know. Probably pre-determined, since if it was truly random there would be a chance (however slim) that the wind would never blow the correct direction even if you waited for hours. So in this case dynamically changing weather would actually be detrimental to the game, because the weather is integrated into the gameplay. Suppose for the sake of argument that you are playing one version of Wind Waker with dynamic weather in this area and I am playing a version with a pre-set pattern in place, and that despite the odds of this being low, our individual trips through the area contain identical weather patterns (your wind randomly wound up matching my pre-set pattern). Our two experiences are the same, neither of us would be able to tell whether the wind direction was random or not. No matter how technologically complex the programming is in your version compared to mine, it has not impacted the beauty of the game in the slightest. Not even a little bit. If, on the other hand, your version of the game randomly neglects to generate the "correct" wind direction, this fancy dynamic weather has actually tarnished the beauty of the experience. Dynamic weather likely wouldn't have any ill effect on most games (including XCX and FFXV), but it doesn't automatically improve games, either. It's just a thing a game can have. |
I do appreciate the small details, for me they make the experience much more immersive.
The beauty of dynamic systems is that they make the world less predictable, the same location would feel different even if you visit it twice. The dynamic weather system is obviously not a necessity, but it is up to developers to make most of it. Otherwise it wouldn't be different than patterns except in theory.
Yes, in your example, having a pattern is necessary. The dynamic system can be enabled and disabled as the developer see fit (that would probably require a loading time though).
In FF XV dynamic weather system will have different impact on magic spells. Fire wouldn't set enemies on fire during the rain, lightning would have wider impact. The clothes of the characters would appear wet. All small details but I do appreciate them.
