NXE's Game Installation and Tales of Vesperia

[Cless Aileron]

Recently, the Xbox 360 got a major upgrade with one new feature being the option to install Xbox 360 games on the hard drive (yes, it's optional, so don't worry about another PS3 Devil May Cry 4 installation nightmare happening).  I pretty much know hearing about that, I do intend to install Tales of Vesperia on it when I get a bigger hard drive (especially considering that I'm doing a second playthrough with the intent of making up for a mistake on my first playthrough that made me not able to fight the cameo battles).

It's suppose to have benefits like the disk drive doesn't have to be spinning to access data (and going easier on it) and better loading times.  However, I did hear about some games that do not really benefit from being installed.  I've seen a video that makes a claim Dead Rising does have a little bit more loading time, Bungie went out to tell people not to install Halo 3 since it causes longer loading times, and I just happen to decide to install Bully on it just to see what happens and noticed significant loading times.

After that, despite having to use a 20GB Hard Drive for the time being, I decided to delete a few things off my hard drive (at least, ones I can redownload) and install Tales of Vesperia and take a look to see if it's worthwhile to do so (Just so you know, it takes up about 6GB to install on a hard drive) and comment on it.

From what I tested, it's beneficial to install the game on the hard drive.  When I booted the game, I let the logo splash screen and intro video run until at the title screen and I found noticeable less loading time from it (particularly just booting it up).  However, I haven't noticed any difference in the transitions into battle and out of it.

I didn't fully test this out but I may have noticed it took less time to get on the world map, NPC models took less time to appear (at least, when I went into Nam Cobanda Isle), and maybe even loading a video (also when at Nam Cobanda Isle).

Doing this test and from the results I got, I actually have no objections on installing the game on the hard drive.  If you have the hard drive space, go right ahead and install Tales of Vesperia on the hard drive if that's what you want to do.  After hearing that installing Halo 3 causes longer loading time, I'm actually going to be selective about games going on the hard drive and at least Tales of Vesperia doesn't suffer from it.

Now, I don't know if Cless tried some of this testing himself but it would be cool to hear a second opinion about installing the game from him if he did, since he seems to know more about the technical programming of these games than I do.

[Cless]

I installed it yesterday but only played for about five minutes. I haven't played the game in a few weeks and I couldn't tell if there really was any difference. Honestly, the game's loading times were a huge non-issue in the first place; they're all pretty speedy, aside from one (the first battle load from turning the game on). I couldn't tell if there was any difference for that.

There *may* have been a slight decrease in the loading time for the second and up battle though, surprisingly. It sometimes felt that it might have loaded battle even faster than Symphonia GC. On the other hand, I'm currently playing Dawn of the New World which has significantly longer load times, so that may be affecting my perception.

But, for me to really say for sure, I'll need to record videos of loading time and compare them.

[Cless Aileron]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if you did the installation, since I remembered that you bought the Xbox 360 Pro Bundle last year (with the 20GB hard drive, the same one I got) and personally, I am already getting down to filling mine up.

I certainly agree with the statement that Tales of Vesperia's loading times were a non-issue.  It'll just be interesting if installation makes to be even more of a non-issue, which lead me to try it myself.  At least the developers kept their word about the game not suffering from the loading issue like Tales of the Abyss did (not to mention the PS2 port of Tales of Symphonia).  It gets me to wonder if they were prepared for the 360's installation option themselves.

When I tested it, I did it both ways and remember other things from experience, like the first battle load of a play session being longer (though not really annoying) than any proceeding battle.

Well, if you've ever do take a deeper look into it, I'd love to hear your commentary on it (sort of like when you did your commentary on the PS2 port of Tales of Symphonia...but most likely not that expansive).

[Kajitani-Eizan]

the biggest difference is that it seems to me that dialogue loading is instantaneous. i could swear there was a slight load pause between when you hit A and when the next character started speaking. that seems to be gone now. if your timing with the A button is good enough, the dialogue now flows smoothly almost mass effect style.

and yeah, not that loading times were very long to begin with, but they seem even shorter now. so if you have space on your hard drive (y helo thar 60gb pro bundle), it's certainly worth the space. i'm not so sure if you have a 20gb, since you only have like 13 gb to play with in the first place. that's probably only one game at a time, so you may want to install the game with the greatest benefit for installation.

[navydude]

Try that with lost odyssey... Really cuts down the time when battles load

[Kevassa]

Anyone tried with Sonic 06 to see if it cuts all loading time by half or something?

[navydude]

yeah right... i burnt that game to a crisp long ago lol

[Kevassa]

yeah right... i burnt that game to a crisp long ago lol

A bit too late then ;_;
I wanna see if they remove those awfull loading times (if then I am sure as buying it, I love sonic!)

[navydude]

Naw, just playing, I bought that game for the ps3 ( back when I believed the ps3 was going to be better than 360... boy was I wrong lol) and I think u should be able to download it to a ps3 hard drive so I'll test that out and see if it speeds things up though I seriously doubt that lol

[navydude]

alright, ignore my previous post i'm dumb lol... I thought there would be an option to install it to your hard drive because there's an option to install soul calibur 4 ps3 to your hard drive but I guess I was wrong

[Joseph]

Trust me when I say this:

Even if the load times were completely removed, Sonic 2K6 would still be an awful game.

Save yourself $20. Use that money to buy a good game.

[navydude]

He has a good point... save your money... unleashed must be better than that but i'm done with sonic.... my hero has died forever until they remake Sonic 1, 2, 3 and knuckles with upgraded 2d graphics, none of that stupid-ass speed rail stuff, make sonic a platformer again because that IS what sonic is (ign), incorporate 3d in it (not like unleashed but like the psp version that has 2d stages 3d boss fights),  Murder sonic's voice actor, have 3 zone stages, and allow super sonic to be playable ( dnt care if it makes the game easier... who cares SS and Hyper Sonic are fun)... oh and i almost forgot, What ever happened to looking for chaos emeralds and hyper emeralds and the mini-stages... that NEVER got old! bring it bACk! ugh... anyway, anyone download mass effect?? That game slows down like crazy

[Kogahazan]

... remake Sonic... 2...

Wish granted, although not immediately
http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showforum=42

[Kevassa]

He has a good point... save your money... unleashed must be better than that but i'm done with sonic.... my hero has died forever until they remake Sonic 1, 2, 3 and knuckles with upgraded 2d graphics, none of that stupid-ass speed rail stuff, make sonic a platformer again because that IS what sonic is (ign), incorporate 3d in it (not like unleashed but like the psp version that has 2d stages 3d boss fights),  Murder sonic's voice actor, have 3 zone stages, and allow super sonic to be playable ( dnt care if it makes the game easier... who cares SS and Hyper Sonic are fun)... oh and i almost forgot, What ever happened to looking for chaos emeralds and hyper emeralds and the mini-stages... that NEVER got old! bring it bACk! ugh... anyway, anyone download mass effect?? That game slows down like crazy

Unleashed HAS 2D parts, mind you

[navydude]

Yeah, but unleashed isn't like any sega sonic game... it has 2d but just because its 2d doesn't make it sonic... it needs platforming... not speed lol... the sonic 2 hd looks pretty good  but its not what i'm looking for... I want unleashed's 2d sonic in A remade sonic 1, 2 and 3 levels... I want the death egg's crash landing remade for a newer generation and I want the doomsday battle in space with Hyper sonic remade that is what i want... take a look at that sonic 2 hd link and that IS what sonic IS... and sorry for getting off topic topic creator lol


this is kinda what im talking how the new sonic should look lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcdKZRE3Rfo&feature=related