Final Fantasy XIII Demo is Enormous

[-Seraph-]

Normally I would not stupe to such lows but: What do you expect from a forum full of JRPG haters! they think that if they have played one they have played them all.

 

[ffxfriek]

Honestly I wouldn't mind having 2 or 3 discs. Have you damn kiddies forgot the age of ps2 when a good JRPG would come in this huge doorstop size jewelcase and have sockets for FOUR discs?

exactly remember FF for the computer 4+ discs?

 

[Aegwadar]

*Laughs very loudly to himself* I remember that kid on youtube; bitching about 13 coming out on PS3 AND 360... ahahahha.. such fail to ever come out of a female body...

 

[Ionami]

If you were to "record" it the way you're suggesting, you'll lose significant picture quality. Also, it is a video file. And it is scripted to play at a certain point within the demo.

The movies are not being rendered by the game's engine or anything like that, they're pre-rendered videos. The point is that you still have all of that information on screen, and it's a lot of data to process. The program that creates the videos is where they would export from, and that original video file would be massive. They could compress that video, but then they would lose the video quality. (Even with a lossless compressor, the size is still huge.)

HD footage typically works out to be about 1 minute of HD video = 1 GB of data. And that's talking about a handheld, home video camera. If you create CG images, with tons of special effects, and export out as HD video, you're file sizes are going to be massive.

Point being, they clearly did all the compressing they could to the videos, and that's about as small as they're going to get without sacrificing video quality.

Also, most movies these days still shoot on film. So an HD-DVD video was not actually shot on HD footage necessarily. It was just converted to HD for the DVD version.

It's starting to become more popular, but it's still quite recent. Michael Mann is one of the folks who have started shooting HD Hollywood status films. i.e. "Collateral" and "Miami Vice".

But... that's not true. At all. The size of uncompressed video is a factor of length and resolution, not of what's actually in the image. A pixel is a pixel is a pixel; they take up exactly the same amount of space regardless of what's in them. A completely black frame is exactly the same size as one that has several million colors. So special effects have zero impact on the size of that data. And compression algorithms aren't particularly partial to them either: depending on the method being used a particular frame will be better or worse compressed based on how many parts of it are well suited to the algorithm. The "quality" of the visuals isn't particularly relevant, only the suitability for the compression technique; lots of special effects could theoretically improve the compression rate for a given algorithm, depending on their nature.

But... it IS true.

I work with both CG AND HD footage. A pixel with nothing but solid black in it, renders MUCH faster and contains less data than a pixel with something in it. And you cannot convince me otherwise, because this is my job, and I see it happen EVERY DAY.

When we export footage and images from our CG software, it is ALWAYS much higher in size than our regular HD footage. And our regular HD footage is STILL massive. We have to compress and re-export our footage many times to get it ready for internet streaming. The final product, although it looks amazing, is still nowhere near as good quality as when we started, and the file sizes have dropped a LOT. i.e. a 40GB video has suddenly become 450 MB.

So before compression, the video is massive. After compression it is a fraction of the size. The image quality is still good. Clearly, compression has a factor in the size of the video.

The more special effects you have in a shot, the longer the render time, the more objects to render, the larger the final export. i.e. the more special effects and objects you have on screen, the more rendering that needs to happen.

EDIT:

After re-reading your post, I don't think we're talking about the same thing here.

I'm an editor, and 3D modeler. The material I'm talking about is the raw source footage that we either capture right on our HD cameras, and the 3D materials we create. A minute of HD footage that we capture, at 720p 60fps equals 1 gigabyte of data. We have a P2 Memory Card that holds 17GB, which means we can only capture 17 minutes of footage on that camera, before we have to stop and dump the footage onto a hard drive, and then format the card.

To make that footage watchable, it needs to be compressed multiple times (This goes for the 3D materials as well) with 2 different codecs. Say if we have a 15 minute video, that means the file size on that video will be at LEAST 15 GB, if not more. If I export out a 3D scene at a resolution of 6400x4800, and it's 3 minutes long, the file sizes will sometimes be over 100GB, depending on how much special effects are in that scene.

6400x4800 is an insanely high resolution, I know. But that is the size we need to work with, to make our final product look as good as it does. So, working from the source footage that can be hundreds of GB for a single video, it's not really surprising to think that an extremely detailed CG video with uncompressed audio/video might be 3-4 GB in size.

 

[Jumplion]

Honestly I wouldn't mind having 2 or 3 discs. Have you damn kiddies forgot the age of ps2 when a good JRPG would come in this huge doorstop size jewelcase and have sockets for FOUR discs?

exactly remember FF for the computer 4+ discs?

I also remember when FF was in 8-bits and had a few words for a story line. Does that mean all FF games should be 8-bits and hardly have a story line from now on?

Yes, of course that means that all FF games should be 8-bits and hardly have a story line from now on, havn't you heard? Change is bad, any kind of change at all really! I'm perfectly fine with having to switch disks because that's how most FFs and games have been before, so of course they're perfectly fine! Of course, they shouldn't evolve in any way, just stay the same like people remember them, for better or for worse (usually for worse)!

Please don't tell me I have to put an [/sarcasm]...

 

[Vortigar]

I'm keeping my eye on this game despite being completely unimpressed with it so far.

Feels like they crossed FFX with FF7 and called it a day.

Ah, we'll see. Maybe Lightning can break from the Cloud mould she seems to be inhabiting.

When the hell is it coming out anyway? Hell, if the game is that big I can only imagine how HUGE the fucking walkthrough is going to be

Please Square, think of the poor strategy guide writers!

You can't do this to those poor hard working souls, it'd be inhumane!

 

[Doug]

Honestly I wouldn't mind having 2 or 3 discs. Have you damn kiddies forgot the age of ps2 when a good JRPG would come in this huge doorstop size jewelcase and have sockets for FOUR discs?

exactly remember FF for the computer 4+ discs?

I also remember when FF was in 8-bits and had a few words for a story line. Does that mean all FF games should be 8-bits and hardly have a story line from now on?

Yes, of course that means that all FF games should be 8-bits and hardly have a story line from now on, havn't you heard? Change is bad, any kind of change at all really! I'm perfectly fine with having to switch disks because that's how most FFs and games have been before, so of course they're perfectly fine! Of course, they shouldn't evolve in any way, just stay the same like people remember them, for better or for worse (usually for worse)!

Please don't tell me I have to put an [/sarcasm]...

Not with me you don't.

Hell did you people hear FFXIII will have NO LEVELING! and your party members are AI Controlled, You also heal after every battle.

They bitched so damn HARD when FFXII simply made it so you could move around on an open map. Is this going to give brain damage to people? I dunno.

Ah, we'll see. Maybe Lightning can break from the Cloud mould she seems to be inhabiting.

The character designers were asked to make "A female Cloud"

Hell, you should see the old Fallout fans *****. They wanted Fallout 3 to be 2D isometric again. And my god did they *****. You'd think the first Fallout games where faultless marvels of a bygone age the way they harp on about it. Ok, I've played them, and they were fun, relativity deep and all, but far from flawless.

 

[Vortigar]

The character designers were asked to make "A female Cloud"

Seriously?
That's rather jarring.

And yeah, I agree with your last post. First this is bad, than that is bad, then everything is bad and then... I just don't know any more. Just play the ones you like please. After so many games they should know how this series works right? Every one since FF7 does its own thing.

Except for FFX-2 where they came up with a crossed version of FF7 (limit breaks), FFX (in battle switch) and FF5 (atb, class + level system) with a little spice added (timing of attacks based on set duration and possible temporary interuptions). Personally I loved that one, too bad the rest of the game was rather sub-par.

 

[Jumplion]

Condense

But let's get back to why the whole "change is bad" feel is stupid; people saying that it's fine for a game to be multi-disked.

While I can accept a 2-disked game every so not very very often (very very VERY not often), and a 3 by a very small stretch, to say that it's perfectly fine for games to be multi-disked is absolutely ludicrous.

Think, how would people treat an author if the author made the book so that you finish a book, then you have to get up and read the other. You know, i'd think they'd call it A FREAKING SEQUEL!!

 

[RikSharp]

Condense

But let's get back to why the whole "change is bad" feel is stupid; people saying that it's fine for a game to be multi-disked.

While I can accept a 2-disked game every so not very very often (very very VERY not often), and a 3 by a very small stretch, to say that it's perfectly fine for games to be multi-disked is absolutely ludicrous.

Think, how would people treat an author if the author made the book so that you finish a book, then you have to get up and read the other. You know, i'd think they'd call it A FREAKING SEQUEL!!

isnt that the matrix... or the lord of the rings...
if they made games about the main plotline of those books/movies (and BTW i know they have) then by your logic, 3 games are better than 1 game on 3 disks...

as a long standing jrpg fan (among other things) i really dont mind multiple disks. just means that theres more than can fit on one disk and thats no bad thing.

 

[Meado]

I don't get the problem people have with miltiple discs. Lost Oddessy had 4 of them, and it was actually cheaper than the short-arse, hack-n-slash/run-n-guns next to it, so cost and value for money arn't the problem. They provide a normal sized case that can hold all the discs anyway, so space isn't it. Maybe you're just too lazy to get off your fat arse for twenty seconds to change the disc every thirteen hours.
My point? Put FFXIII on two discs Squenix. Is it a coincidence that your games really started going downhill when you squished them from four discs (FF9) to one(FF10)?

 

[scotth266]

~ Implying the Men look like girls

Forgive me, but even I as a player of Final Fantasy games, have to say that there are a decent amount of androgenous men. It's just blown out of proportion as to how many there are. For every girly man in a FF game, there's two like this:

Spoiler: I AM MAN! HEAR ME ROAR!

But there are some.

 

[Pendragon9]

I don't get the problem people have with miltiple discs. Lost Oddessy had 4 of them, and it was actually cheaper than the short-arse, hack-n-slash/run-n-guns next to it, so cost and value for money arn't the problem. They provide a normal sized case that can hold all the discs anyway, so space isn't it. Maybe you're just too lazy to get off your fat arse for twenty seconds to change the disc every thirteen hours.
My point? Put FFXIII on two discs Squenix. Is it a coincidence that your games really started going downhill when you squished them from four discs (FF9) to one(FF10)?

I actually really hate multidisk games. For some reason they tend to glitch more often than not. This one star Wars game I have, for example (the one with Tie Phantoms)always seems to freeze whenever I re-insert the second disk. If they simply had the game on one disk, it would be less likely to happen.

I know this doesn't happen with all multi games, but come on. There should be no need for two disks.

Also, where are all the 360 fanboys who claim that Blu ray is a lie and that the 360 has more storage in their DVD disks?

 

[Meado]

*snip*

I actually really hate multidisk games. For some reason they tend to glitch more often than not. This one star Wars game I have, for example (the one with Tie Phantoms)always seems to freeze whenever I re-insert the second disk. If they simply had the game on one disk, it would be less likely to happen.

I know this doesn't happen with all multi games, but come on. There should be no need for two disks.

Also, where are all the 360 fanboys who claim that Blu ray is a lie and that the 360 has more storage in their DVD disks?

You sure that's not just a problem with the disc?

And there's no way we can say DVDs have more space than Blu-ray. It's something that has been proven, and claiming otherwise is delusion. We're not that stupid.

 

[Jumplion]

I don't get the problem people have with miltiple discs. Lost Oddessy had 4 of them, and it was actually cheaper than the short-arse, hack-n-slash/run-n-guns next to it, so cost and value for money arn't the problem. They provide a normal sized case that can hold all the discs anyway, so space isn't it. Maybe you're just too lazy to get off your fat arse for twenty seconds to change the disc every thirteen hours.
My point? Put FFXIII on two discs Squenix. Is it a coincidence that your games really started going downhill when you squished them from four discs (FF9) to one(FF10)?

This may or may not be true, but I heard that the Lost Odessy packaging had one disk in a special sleeve while the other three were crammed into the disk slot which caused alot of scratched disks. Just because LO had 4 disks doesn't mean that it should've had 4 disks in the first place.

 

[antipunt]

"This means that 4.41GB of the demo is just video.""

WOW, what a TWIST. Even the demo is mostly cinematics....just like the PREVIEWS!