The system font in iOS is Helvetica, not Arial, and the version that's shown in that picture is not condensed. I should know: I've been setting type since before there was such a thing as layout software (I'm probably one of the few people around here who has used a waxer and rubylith). And Helvetica is both a typeface and a font -- I could explain, but I'm sure that 99.9% of the audience here would be bored to tears. @OgreBattle: that's nicely put, but, unfortunately, nonsense. There is no visual integration between Chicago (originally designed for the Mac interface) and Toriyama Akira's art direction. Squaresoft basically threw in an SNES system font, added a horrible drop shadow, and called it a day. They seem to be doing the same thing on the iOS version, but Helvetica is a much better designed typeface than Chicago, so I see it as an improvement. Quite frankly, all this belly-aching about text fonts is akin to complaining about the font used for the subtitles in The Bicycle Thief. As youngkykun put it, I'm much more concerned about the way they upscaled the pixels, controls, and animation, etc. You know -- stuff that matters.
Actually I'm intrigued enough for the main hurdle to now be only the fact that I'd much prefer playing something like this on the iPad. I'll keep an eye on this thread though, as well as the one for release and see what pans out.
This is where you're wrong. There is a lot of text in jRPGs and you spend a lot of time looking at those text boxes, so to dismiss it as something that doesn't matter aesthetically like you are is a bit misguided. Sure, it may not matter to you, but clearly to a lot of people in the thread so far, it does. It doesnt mean it's more important than controls or animations, but it still matters and the way they handled the text screams low effort on their part.
I am saying that those people are deluded. They didn't complain when they were served horrible typography on their SNES. The only reason it's an issue now is because of nostalgia. And I f'cking hate nostalgia. Folks need to grow up (and I say that as much to myself as to anyone else).
Wow, so anyone who feels any sense of nostalgia is deluded. I think you just lumped a large percentage of iOS jRPG gamers and insulted them all. And from a mod no less.
You misunderstand me. We all have things from our childhood that we hold dear. Heck, to this day I still wear a Pitfall t-shirt with the original box art. The problem is when we evaluate things only through the lens of nostalgia. I do it sometimes, and clearly folks who are sweating the use of Helvetica on this port are doing so as well. Folks (and again I put myself here as well) need to get some distance and understand that they like some things only because they experienced them at formative period of their lives. It gets worse when we build whole rationalizations to justify our nostalgic preferences. It's okay to love something for personal reasons, as long as you understand that that's why you love it. Otherwise we are deluding ourselves. Let me add that the reasons all of this matters is because Chrono Trigger is, objectively, a great game. We don't need to cloud that fact with nostalgia.
I'm not. I'm evaluating it from a design standpoint and it looks terrible. Having used a waxer and rubylith I'm assuming you're a Graphic Designer and as such I am appalled that you would say type doesn't matter! It ALWAYS matters!
It doesn't look terrible, bro. It simply doesn't. You think it does, I understand. But you are wrong. That's what it means to evaluate things through the lens of nostalgia. Of course type matters. But if you really felt that way about this game, you would have been horrified with the original SNES typography. But you're not. That's another example of evaluating things through the lens of nostalgia. (And if you're not, I'm appalled that as a designer, you would prefer a pixelated Chicago to Helvetica. I mean, that's seriously bad taste.)
Really?! Really?! You are all still fighting about font! Font! If it's that big of a deal to you don't get it. I just can't believe it matters that much! Its not even out yet! Font!
They're at the same resolution, the pixels used for the SNES chrono trigger font are at the same scale as the pixels used for the characters, graphics, etc. everything in the game, Hence "taking a magic marker to a mosaic". It's not the particular typeface that is the problem, it's the resolution it's at compared to the rest of the game. I hope this clarifies my nonsense into sense for you. If you go through this thread though, you are the one raising the biggest fuss about the font, as you have vehemently been defending it from any criticism. Are you sure it doesn't matter to you? Chrono Trigger actually has something in common with an apple product, the ipod uses the same type face Steve Jobs has also said that the most important class he took in Uni was Typography and that's the typeface Chrono Trigger on the SNES used.
i for one love chrono trigger and i am going wait and see reviews on it cause i got fft wotl and it was a horrible port and i will not buy another horrible port. wotl still hasn't been updated for 5.0 and no iPad release and no info. i wouldn't be surprised if this is delayed to spring....... if CT is done right with retina i will buy. otherwise it will probably run better on a emulator anyway.
I love the game, but I'll be passing on this one. I already have it on my device via an emulator and it plays perfect enough.
Funny: I would never think of "better than Chicago" as a ringing endorsement. Helvetica is a pretty mediocre choice, but it's a better choice than the original, especially considering that the iPhone can produce much sharper font rendering than the SNES (or the original iPod, for that matter). My point has always been that the original choice of font in Chrono Trigger was not part of any grand design but more or less a default. Chicago was a decent choice for a low resolution raster display, but aesthetically it's appalling. As to Steve Jobs and typography, please. I loved the guy, but you are talking about someone who chose ITC Garamond Condensed as a corporate font, perhaps one of the nastiest bastardizations of a classic ever. His next corporate typeface was Myriad, which looks okay but is actially a poor knock-off of Frutiger, a much better typeface designed by the genius behind Univers. I would certainly not use good old Steve, rest in peace, as an arbiter of typographic taste. Even so, as soon as the resolution allowed it, he ditched Chicago as a Mac and iOS system font and replace it with -- you guesses it -- Helvetica Neu.
Except I never said the original wasn't terrible. I've yet to say that I prefer Chicago to Helvetica. You're putting words in my mouth. You keep assuming that EVERYONE hates the typeface because of nostalgia. I don't hate Helvetica at all. I enjoy it... when it's used properly. But it isn't being used properly here. Can you really justify Square using Helvetica? What about Helvetica fits this game? Someone earlier said that the typeface seemed too "techie." Granted, Helvetica isn't what I would call "techie," but it IS too modern looking for this game, as are the text boxes in which they are placing the type. It's very jarring to look at such a nice clean typeface and then move to the pixelated graphics of the game.
