Load times...

Luthair · 10-25-2006, 06:47 PM

I've recently been playing PGR3 on Xbox-360 (won the xbox) and have really found the constant loading often for long periods to be very irritating (on SD if that matters). Thinking back, I also recall annoying load times on some games for the PS2 (particularly irratating were loads on the Chrono Trigger PS port). Am I alone in getting annoyed with this?

I suspect many (including developers) often shrug blame load times solely on optical media, but I believe in at least 2 cases its its purely bad design:
1) Users should *never* need to wait for a menu to load, I'd rather have a simple menu than a flashy one which takes 2 minutes to load
2) Restarting a level should take significantly less than loading from scratch

ValkyrieIsAboutToDie · 10-25-2006, 07:04 PM

The only reason I miss the cart format on the golden days.

/sigh... to have the instant loads of N64 and SNES back again...

RiskyChris · 10-25-2006, 07:48 PM

It's the reason I refuse to play FF6 on FFAnthologies -- I absolutely HATE that I have to wait for loading times in fucking random battles.

Throag · 10-26-2006, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiskyChris

It's the reason I refuse to play FF6 on FFAnthologies -- I absolutely HATE that I have to wait for loading times in fucking random battles.

Exactly, and in those cases it's obviously because of a lazy port from SNES. It's not a technical issue, it's just plain fucking lazyness (I don't remember waiting for menus in FF7 as opposed to the 1sec wait between each menu in FF6)

Eomer · 10-26-2006, 06:34 AM

Worst game I ever played on a console for loading was SegaGT. It was fucking awful. Not loading times for races and stuff, those seemed reasonable. But the fact you had to see a "loading" thing in the bottom right corner for 3-5 seconds each and every fucking time you went up or down a level in the menu system was amazingly shitty design by the makers. At first you don't even notice, but after awhile you're like "why the fuck does it need to load when switching between the base simulation menu and the career menu? It's loading fucking text?!"

Zefah · 10-26-2006, 06:38 AM

Anyone have that video is the PSP wrestling game where it took like 8 minutes to get into a match and it had loading screens.... for further loading screens?

AladainAF · 10-26-2006, 08:03 AM

PSP Games with long load times are horribly coded. The wrestling game is the #1 that comes to mind. I recently bought Ys 6 (I'm a huge Ys fan) for the PSP, and while an awesome and fun game, way too much loading.

A superbly coded game for the PSP, such as Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, takes only a few seconds to load an entire level.

I dont know why this is - If it was the format I would think it would be consistant along all games. Sony should force standards on load times to prevent that crap cuz sometimes it makes games not fun.

Soygen · 10-26-2006, 08:17 AM

You don't know loading unless you owned a NeoGeo CD(the first version). It loads so slow they added mini games to play during the loading screens.

Szlia · 10-26-2006, 09:18 AM

Well... the load time for the intro of 3x3 Eyes on Super CD-Rom2 with an Arcade Card was also pretty impressive. And of course there was the tape era... or the massive disk swapping needed in some multi disks games at the time of the Amiga.

Soygen · 10-26-2006, 09:36 AM

Yeah, I remember some slooooooooooooooow loading on my Commodore 64. We would put a disk in, start it loading and go watch some TV.

BirgittePovar · 10-26-2006, 01:28 PM

The disk doesn't even compare to the tape drive.

The Disk may take 5 minutes, but the tape drive could take a half hour+.

Mazuli · 10-26-2006, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zefah

Anyone have that video is the PSP wrestling game where it took like 8 minutes to get into a match and it had loading screens.... for further loading screens?

Load times!

Cor · 10-26-2006, 04:16 PM

Guess this information is applicable to this discussion --

Quote:

MTV's Stepehn Totilo wrangled some previously unreported information out of Sony's Gamer Day that should please future PS3 owners. Apparently gamers will be able to install Genji: Days of the Blade as part of a one-time process (is this what Sony meant about squashing game resale?).

The three-minute installation process, which begs the question of how much space is Genji using of the 4GB Blu-Ray disc, will reduces load times from 15 seconds to 4. It'll be interesting to see how many games support this process, as we can all appreciated decreased load times. However, do you think that this will kill the ability for resale of used games because players might (emphasis here, kids) be unable to duplicate the process if someone had previously installed the game on their PS3?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3154595

I'm hoping that this will be the norm in the future, rather than the exception. Load times are a bitch.

10-25-2006, 06:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Luthair Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 914 -4 Internets	Load times... I've recently been playing PGR3 on Xbox-360 (won the xbox) and have really found the constant loading often for long periods to be very irritating (on SD if that matters). Thinking back, I also recall annoying load times on some games for the PS2 (particularly irratating were loads on the Chrono Trigger PS port). Am I alone in getting annoyed with this? I suspect many (including developers) often shrug blame load times solely on optical media, but I believe in at least 2 cases its its purely bad design: 1) Users should never need to wait for a menu to load, I'd rather have a simple menu than a flashy one which takes 2 minutes to load 2) Restarting a level should take significantly less than loading from scratch

10-26-2006, 09:18 AM	#9 (permalink)
Szlia Conquest Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Switzerland Posts: 4,683 +10 Internets	Well... the load time for the intro of 3x3 Eyes on Super CD-Rom2 with an Arcade Card was also pretty impressive. And of course there was the tape era... or the massive disk swapping needed in some multi disks games at the time of the Amiga. __________________ -retrosabotage-

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10-25-2006, 07:04 PM	#2 (permalink)
ValkyrieIsAboutToDie Needs food badly Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 1,318 +15 Internets	The only reason I miss the cart format on the golden days. /sigh... to have the instant loads of N64 and SNES back again...

10-25-2006, 07:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
RiskyChris Safety Dance Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: West Lafayette Posts: 5,525 -3 Internets	It's the reason I refuse to play FF6 on FFAnthologies -- I absolutely HATE that I have to wait for loading times in fucking random battles.

10-26-2006, 06:34 AM	#5 (permalink)
Eomer You mean I can change this? Neat! Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 9,810 +29 Internets	Worst game I ever played on a console for loading was SegaGT. It was fucking awful. Not loading times for races and stuff, those seemed reasonable. But the fact you had to see a "loading" thing in the bottom right corner for 3-5 seconds each and every fucking time you went up or down a level in the menu system was amazingly shitty design by the makers. At first you don't even notice, but after awhile you're like "why the fuck does it need to load when switching between the base simulation menu and the career menu? It's loading fucking text?!"

10-26-2006, 06:38 AM	#6 (permalink)
Zefah Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Kanagawa, Japan Posts: 1,472 +0 Internets	Anyone have that video is the PSP wrestling game where it took like 8 minutes to get into a match and it had loading screens.... for further loading screens?

10-26-2006, 08:03 AM	#7 (permalink)
AladainAF Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Texas Posts: 2,044	PSP Games with long load times are horribly coded. The wrestling game is the #1 that comes to mind. I recently bought Ys 6 (I'm a huge Ys fan) for the PSP, and while an awesome and fun game, way too much loading. A superbly coded game for the PSP, such as Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, takes only a few seconds to load an entire level. I dont know why this is - If it was the format I would think it would be consistant along all games. Sony should force standards on load times to prevent that crap cuz sometimes it makes games not fun.

10-26-2006, 08:17 AM	#8 (permalink)
Soygen 100% Pure Soy Monk Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Posts: 6,238 +23 Internets	You don't know loading unless you owned a NeoGeo CD(the first version). It loads so slow they added mini games to play during the loading screens.

10-26-2006, 09:36 AM	#10 (permalink)
Soygen 100% Pure Soy Monk Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Posts: 6,238 +23 Internets	Yeah, I remember some slooooooooooooooow loading on my Commodore 64. We would put a disk in, start it loading and go watch some TV.

10-26-2006, 01:28 PM	#11 (permalink)
BirgittePovar Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 692 -1 Internets	The disk doesn't even compare to the tape drive. The Disk may take 5 minutes, but the tape drive could take a half hour+.