Lunar Threads

Youtube user さとみch has uploaded the SSS on Win98 cutscenes. Looking closely on this higher resolution FMV, I discovered something very wrong with the Vile sisters cutscene... THEY DON'T HAVE ANY EYES OR MOUTHS!!
Another reason I prefer SCD Xenobia. But seriously, this is quite an animation oversight.

Oh wow! That's some terrible quality!

ShugoHanasaki wrote:Oh wow! That's some terrible quality!

Yeah I kind of doubt the developers who used 480p screens at best predicted the rise of 1080p let alone 4K screens and how blown up their images would look on our modern displays . I also zoomed in to emphasize their blank faces, which added to the pixelation. Granted it is still the best-looking version of the remake cutscenes I have seen.

I haven't had the chance to play through all of the Windows SSS (just test it out to see that it works, and pull some files for the site). But, it doesn't surprise me that they had to... cut a few corners... to get it to work on PCs in that era.

Then again consoles from around then weren't more powerful either... It could just be that TV's resolution was bad enough to obscure it all. KF

Kizyr wrote:I haven't had the chance to play through all of the Windows SSS (just test it out to see that it works, and pull some files for the site). But, it doesn't surprise me that they had to... cut a few corners... to get it to work on PCs in that era.

Then again consoles from around then weren't more powerful either... It could just be that TV's resolution was bad enough to obscure it all. KF

Actually, I suspect that this was an issue with the source footage going back to Silver Star Story (non MPEG version on Saturn) it just wasn't visible with more pixelated older versions eg both Saturn versions, PS1 even PSP I never noticed it, (though that could just be me not overanalyzing on SSH.)

Update: I checked the cutscene on PSP upscaled to HDTV via my XRGB mini Framemeister, and I could see their eyeless faces in that one scene. I don't have any capture equipment, so I can't submit a screenshot.

Yeah, the video compression was not up to the challenge that this particular cutscene posed. Most of the other videos are easier to make out than this, but as a stylistic choice, reducing facial features in situations like these to conserve detail is a pretty reasonable move for an animator. Considering that the whole field looks like this: The characters are full-body and they take up roughly the center third of the frame. There is a lot of detail to work on already, and with the hair, clothing, fire and background all moving around the figures, the viewer is unlikely to focus too much on the faces.

There's an article to be written about missing body parts for the sake of overall design or performance. It makes me think of the footless characters in Fire Emblem: Awakening or the faceless NPCs in Persona 5:

Sonic# wrote:There's an article to be written about missing body parts for the sake of overall design or performance. It makes me think of the footless characters in Fire Emblem: Awakening or the faceless NPCs in Persona 5:

Those examples are both about in-game graphics, this is a detail in an FMV (in the actual animation, not playback/encoding). Performance would not be affected.

Those examples are both about in-game graphics, this is a detail in an FMV (in the actual animation, not playback/encoding). Performance would not be affected.

"Design or performance." To clarify, I agree with Shiva Indis's explanation that this is a design choice.