Question about Iida Joji Nightmare Interactive: Moon Cradle

[Plissken]

Hello guys, it has been a while since the last time i have posted on this forum

I have noticed that this nice isometric horror adventure game has been ported to the Saturn too, but the Saturn version is made of 3 CDs, while the 3DO version has only one CD. I wonder, what are the differencies between the two ports in order to justify such a great difference?

[Trev]

Not sure ... this game is one of the few that won't run on an ntsc player if I'm not mistaken. Someone w/the Sanyo unit may know.

[3DÖ]

Without having tried the saturn version and compared it to the 3do version I will just assume it has to do with that the saturn version has more fmvs and the fact that they might take up much more space than 3do fmvs cause of the slighly higher quality of saturn fmvs.

And the game works on a US 3do , I have tried 99,9% of all jap titles and made a tiny list of what doesn't work here http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1402

[Plissken]

Yes, of course the new FMVs might take a lot of space but... 2 extra disks only for FMVs?
That doesn't convince me at all. I am trying to obtain the CD images for the Saturn version, but it's pretty slow.

[BryWI]

If the game data takes up a lot of the disc, it wouldnt leave much room left to put fmvs. And depending on the game, it might need all the game data on each disc.

[3DO Experience]

slightly higher quality of Saturn FMVs? I hope you mean for this game in particular.

[3DÖ]

slightly higher quality of Saturn FMVs? I hope you mean for this game in particular.

Well theres a big difference between the early crap fmv compression method and the later Duck compression on saturn which is why I use the term "slightly"

The early sega saturn compression is just as crappy as the 3do compression but usually not as high in resolution but maybe faster fps. And the later sega saturn compression is almost on par with psx fmvs.

What I don't get is why not all games on 3do used the "Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger" fmv compression cause it just blows most other 3do games out of the water but then again its on 4 cds

[Plissken]

As far as i know, Moon Cradle uses the Saturn's MPEG card. So the video quality should be a little better than the standard compression used back in the day

Also, as far i have read, this remake should feature...a 3DO inside the game

[3DO Experience]

Ahhh hardware expansion, that makes a bit more sense.

You'll have to give me a title of one of those later games that looks good using the base console. Because all the games I have and have seen the FMV is just awful. Yes there are some pretty bad ones for the 3DO as well but as far as the average goes the Saturn has no advantage (video-wise) over the 3DO in any respect.

Please also keep in mind I have over 300 3DO games but only around 20 SEGA Saturn games.

[Austin]

Ahhh hardware expansion, that makes a bit more sense.

You'll have to give me a title of one of those later games that looks good using the base console. Because all the games I have and have seen the FMV is just awful. Yes there are some pretty bad ones for the 3DO as well but as far as the average goes the Saturn has no advantage (video-wise) over the 3DO in any respect.

Please also keep in mind I have over 300 3DO games but only around 20 SEGA Saturn games.

It's OK, since it's inception I've probably owned about 300 Saturn games. With that in mind, yes, FMV on the Saturn was usually pretty bad compared to the other available 32-bit consoles. Just off the top of my head I can name a couple of 3DO titles that smoke any Saturn game in the FMV department, and they're full-screen to boot.

[3DO Experience]

Well I'd like the name of a few good Saturn games that have video that looks good using the base console. I really like the Saturn & wish that it had better success and I am really interested in seeing what it could really do.

[3DÖ]

Well I'd like the name of a few good Saturn games that have video that looks good using the base console. I really like the Saturn & wish that it had better success and I am really interested in seeing what it could really do.

Well the better encoding compressor came out 1997/1998~ so its a minority that has the nicer quality fmvs but heres a few that comes to mind:

Panzer Dragoon Saga
Deep Fear
Burning Rangers
Wachenröder
Grandia

And if you want to see an example of the most compressed fmv quality ever on sega saturn then I recommend booting up Mystaria AKA Blazing Heroes

[3DO Experience]

DEEP FEAR is one I wanted to check out anyway, as there is an unreleased Official NTSC version floating around (I had it but I lost that drive before I burned it) but I know where I can get Burning Rangers.

[Plissken]

Finally i have obtained the Sega Saturn version of Moon Cradle. I'll try to compare the two titles.

[Austin]

Deep Fear is really, really cheap when it comes to imports, and all of the voice acting is in english. I've only played it for an hour or so, and I don't remember exactly the quality of the FMV.. all I can say is that the VA was surely made for drinking games.

Unfortunately, most of the Saturn's best FMV, like the Sega CD, was run in small boxes that only took up a small portion of the screen. Each of the Panzer Dragoon games, especially with Part II and Saga, were like this.. Regardless, they were still nice to watch.

I enjoyed the FMV in Lunacy. Not the absolute cleanest, but on the other hand, it's full-screen. Come to think of it, the FMV quality in Solar Eclipse was pretty good, actually, full-screen and all--probably better than most Saturn games, especially considering it was an earlier title on the system.

[Plissken]

So far, without the MPEG card, the game seems to be a 1:1 copy of the 3DO one, but i haven't got very far.
I'll try enabling the MPEG card in emulation to see if there are substantial differencies.

[vampyre mike]

This game looks so damn interesting, would it be fun to trudge through at all for a non Japanese speaker?

[Martin III]

This game looks so damn interesting, would it be fun to trudge through at all for a non Japanese speaker?

Reportedly not. I don't have either version myself, but from the vids the game does seem very driven by Japanese text and voice.