This is not a "boring" topic. Just pretty detailed. Truth be told, I've been analyzing a lot about what I like about rpgs. And I've noticed that how text is presented can make a games dialogue go to either being snappy and easy to get through, or a slog that puts you do sleep. How text is presented is extremely important.

These are my favourite type of videos you make. I understand you probably get more views from FF/SMT/Square videos but these type of videos are where you stand out from other content creators. Please keep it up!! :)

@zanderstigen

11 ай бұрын

Couldn’t agree more

@lildrewZ

11 ай бұрын

My thoughts exactly

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for saying that, really glad to hear others resonate so much with these types of videos as they’re some of my favorite to make as well. Maybe one day the algorithm will appreciate them in the same way but in the meantime we’ll keep ‘em coming!

@krum1985

10 ай бұрын

I agree with that, these videos are interesting in the sense that I go "huh, I've never really thought about that" =)

I love it when jrpgs have character portraits. They add so much soul.

To go further, I'd say that text placement within the text box is also important. Like, the aim should be to keep a complete sentence in a single box rather than splitting it across multiple, or at least break up the sentence where it most makes sense, such as at commas. Easier said than done when translating from Japanese which can say more with less space, but content written originally in English should have no problem with this. 😉

Bro this! Another thing that I miss specifically from FF games is the menu sfx every time you scroll through and select an option. It’s those little things that I miss from the old days.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Hell yeah those cursor sounds are iconic. The various sound effects of stuff like that is another underrated aspect in making a game stick with you

The blue FF boxes and font are just so clean and easy to read

I always enjoyed the way Quintet did their text in their SNES RPGs like Illusion of Gaia, where they had different colors for each character, and the text even had a gradient effect.

@penguin_acesgaming9483

11 ай бұрын

When I saw the title of the video that was the first dialogue boxes I thought of! They’ve always been my favorite.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Ah yeah those would have been great to bring up. I honestly forgot how good those looked as it’s been forever since I’ve played those games but after looking up some screenshots I remember how good they are now, very clean looking and the different colors for different characters is an excellent touch

Also, about font in textboxes, one issue people may have with font is dyslexia. People with dyslexia can really struggle to read certain fonts, especially if its on certain backgrounds or has poor text spacing. If a game wants to use certain fonts for stylistic choice or to show different characters, they need to have accessibility options for more readable fonts. Comic sans is a font that was made specifically to be readable for people with dyslexia so I feel like most games should honestly have an option for this. Also, coloured paper is another way that can help some people with dyslexia, so being able to change text box colour should also be a necessity, especilly if the default is white. I feel like dyslexia is an accessibility thing that often gets dismissed, but it is one reason why my girlfriend can't enjoy JRPGs as much as she could because of all the reading you need to do.

You've got to do a video on save points. From saving on the over world map, to random glowing areas, writing in books, etc. Save points would be a good one.

@Wiseman108

11 ай бұрын

I second this.

@flameshana9

11 ай бұрын

What's there to say about save points though? Some games have a lot, some games have too few. Some let you save anywhere. Okay now what? Show pictures of what they look like?

@ritacirocavalcante

11 ай бұрын

Hell, some save points actually are a part of the plot, like in Chrono Cross and Xenogears.

@RavinReagan

11 ай бұрын

@@flameshana9 I would have said the same thing about dialog boxes as a topic, but they definitely made it interesting!

@carlosaugusto9821

11 ай бұрын

@@flameshana9 I find myself lacking in creativity and imagination, but for that reply it seems you are worse than me. But it doesnt matter, these content creators can make things work. And this video is precisely a good example of that.

Portraits on dialog boxes are a must have for me. Love seeing them, especially with different expressions.

The Tales games will always hold a place in my heart and a huge part of it is the dialogue boxes that always have so much personality to it.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Even though I played Eternia before I played Symphonia, Symphonia is really where I fell in love with the series and a significant factor of that was how great the skits were in fleshing out the characters and giving the game personality

Man i saw this title and got so excited. i love how nostalgia makes text boxes take you back to the chair you lived in during these games

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Absolutely, so many memories come flooding back when you see something as simple as a dialogue box

Chrono Cross is one of my fav dialog boxes as well. Good UI really helps make a good game great. Can't wait for Musashi, such a gem and would LOVE a remake.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Yep UI in general is extremely important. I’m looking forward to sharing my full thoughts on the game soon but yeah it’s definitely one that would be super fitting for a remake/remaster with some modern QoL changes!

You literally made a video on one of my favorite game subjects. I could watch hours of content talking about menus, typography and fonts, dialogue boxes, maps, etc.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Nice! There’s a surprising amount of stuff to talk about when it comes to the smaller details like those

Great video! Another topic I find interesting in the "Little Things Matter" category is how JRPGs handle their level up screens. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete is my personal favorite on this topic because I just love the style of how they show each stat on the screen at the same time. I'll never forget the first time the "Number of Attacks" stat increased in that game. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is another that adds so much detail and fun to their level up process.

One thing that's in every dialogue boxes that's very hard to master is the perfect text speed. Fast enough that you're not compelled to just press the button again to show the whole text, slow enough so that you don't just end up skipping everything that isn't the text. Extra direction points for games that tries to sync the text speed to the character showing emotions, with pauses and varying speeds.

In Wild Arms 3, if you press the select button during a dialog the faded portraits will be shown in bold colors, and it also works in the status screen menus with the characters portraits.

Not a JRPG, but Pentiment does different fonts for characters which tells you about their personality, education/background and more. Excellent game with fantastic dialogue boxes and worth checking out

@jeffhampton6972

5 ай бұрын

I haven't played Pentiment yet, but I saw a review and their handling of fonts seems outstanding. That's actually a main reason I want to play it, the idea of something as simple as text being used so artfully is really cool.

I enjoy these videos on topics about JRPGs that not many people pay attention to. I’m happy to see that something many would consider small is getting much deserved attention. They are truly immersive! Persona 5 and FFT are my top!

Golden Sun was one of the first I noticed the text noises, and I loved how it really was like different voices. It even conveyed emotion with the tones which I thought was great because it could do different region languages, and not need to change.

Coming in clutch again on a Friday evening! Appreciate you guys!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

No problem, thanks for watching!

I love when you cover these more obscure topics, its fun to think about an element of my favorite games that is so easy to take for granted.

It’s nice to have these smaller videos between your bigger, more epic videos.

banger vid as always the production value is insaneo channel deserves millions of subs, in time it will come

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Shit I’d be happy with 1/10th of that lol thanks dude! Maybe one day

Honestly, minor as it is, I think it does contribute a pretty good amount to how aesthetically pleasing an RPG is and people really don't give them enough credit. Definitely with you on Chrono Cross' boxes too, when I found out you could find new frames and just change them whenever you wanted I was pretty shocked and excited since i'd never heard of an RPG doing something like that before and in '99 at that.

A couple of years ago it was announced that Sakurai's wife would be completely remaking the GUI for Smash Bros Melee, and at the time I didn't even know that Sakurai worked with his wife, let alone that she's responsible for all the UI in his games. IMO interface, be it menus or dialog boxes, are sorta like CGI where you don't really notice mid and good Interfaces, only the bad or amazing examples. Great vid. I didn't have a Sega when I was a kid, but I remember hanging out with one friend a LOT back in 97 or so simply because I was fascinated by everything in Shining Force II. The dialog boxes and sounds were a big draw for me as a kid.

I love this video, it's easy to find retrospectives of popular JRPGs but the extensive knowledge you have on those games really makes a topic like this interesting an also unique on the platform!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you! I do love making the single game retrospectives too but yeah it’s super fun to talk about more obscure and general topics like this

This is exactly the kind of stuff I love getting super deep in the weeds about. It's such an important, underrated aspect. Heck, when the Mario RPG remake was announced, the one complaint was that the few dialogue and UI boxes onscreen didn't match with the game, and of course the whole debacle about the Pixel Remasters and their fonts

Man, the production quality for the Sega Camelot games still holds up so well. As much as I love the SNES library, the Genesis kind of spoiled me in terms of expectations for animations and character personalities.

Dude, I LOVE videos like this. Focusing on very specific details and topics like this lets you get more into detail about small, underrated but important elements like this. It's harder to appreciate these details when you have to cover a larger topic or whole game in one 15 minute video. One of my favorite tropes for dialogue boxes is when a character portrait will suddenly change pose for the rest of the game to show a huge character shift. Stuff like that is examples of using "limitations" like this to create a memorable experience. I'd love to see more videos like this covering these hyper specific elements. (Video on the tales skit system maybe?)

My favourite text boxes in JRPGs has to be the ones from final fantasy VII and IX they look so refreshing to see. And even you can customise FFVII text box to have different colours. I have a habit of doing them right near the end of the game.

honestly, i have alwasys loved the Design of games almost more than playing them, ever since i was a child i was so enamored by the fact that people MADE these games and i was always looking at all the little things that made them unique, i am sorry i only recently found your channel, i watch you wilst editing game footage. thank you for what you do and have a wonderful day!

this is a great idea for a video! these days, if possible I turn voices off and try to keep it old school by reading the text.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks! Nothing like immersing yourself in an old school RPG reading the dialogue and imagining how all the various characters sound in your head

I really loved how Grandia 2 skits were the characters actually have a talk at dinner while at the inn. Such a nice slice of Life approach!

Ayo, gotta say, that late 90s/early 2000s adult swim era style bump you got for an intro goes fkn DUMMY bro One of the best intros I’ve seen for any channel in any genre full stop for sure

Another beautiful and fresh video, what a lovely night to enjoy it.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you 😌

This is the only intro I don't skip. I really love it!❤

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Hell yeah love to hear it!

If I remember correctly, a fun thing you could do in Wild Arms 3 is, if you press Select during a conversation, you could make the character image become prominent for a little bit.

ahhh a nice new Gaming Broductions video for a nice relaxing Friday night. Thanks for always make awesome stuff bro, I always make sure to watch and like your videos. Hope all is well with you brotha.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Really appreciate that bro. Hope you had a chill weekend and enjoyed the video!

I work in game localization. I was so excited to see this topic pop up!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Oh nice that’s really cool! Hope you enjoyed the vid!

OH AH! A Brave Fencer Musashi retrospective?! Subbed! I had that game when 8 years old and it unlocked something in me. I always feel it gets extremely overlooked... truth be told I haven't played it since I was 10 but I remember it very fondly... (except for when I was 8 and I accidentally created my first unbeatable save ever. The part of the game where you have a time limit to stop the tree from exploding)

Dialogue boxes and the font/text choices are so important. It's akin to dialogue bubbles and lettering in comics. You rarely notice them/appreciate them when they're executed well, but you sure as hell notice it when they're bad...and when they are bad, they are *bad*.

Weird... I was just watching your older videos while eating dinner when I saw this pop up. Nice

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Perfect timing. Hope you enjoyed 👍

@TaylorFalk21

11 ай бұрын

@@GamingBroductions I actually really enjoyed the topic. Your channel has a vibe that I love so it doesnt really matter to me what you talk about. But you 2 were able to actually make an enjoyable video about text boxes

Videos like this is why I am addicted to KZread. Where else do we see people doing a deep dive on dialog boxes of all things.

Love your videos and I love topics like this. There's so much that defines these classic games and I appreciate that you actually make videos about it. Here's a topic for a video: Hidden loot/treasures and games that award the maniacs that constantly clicks every wall and furniture in hope of finding a hidden item, moveable shelf that leads to a secret room or something behind that waterfall. Stuff like that! :)

I absolutely love that you pick these niche topics that mean so much for me in the sense of the atmosphere!

@GamingBroductions

8 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! We have plenty more niche topics in the works 🙌🏼

This was so helpful friend. I added the sound effect to voices to my indie game. It really helps. Your style is clear and well considered. Subscribed.

I love the videos you guys make. The more obscure or weird of a topic, the better. I 100% agree as well. Blank dialogue boxes are just lack luster, and there's so much style added when you have a portrait or picture

Another great video! I love that you guys continue to shoutout the Shining Force series. Underrated series for sure

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks! Can never give Shining Force enough love, such a great series

It's a small, nostalgic detail, but I agree it can really add character to the game if done well. Text is so important in RPGs! Also since you asked, Front Mission 3 is one of my favorite dialogue windows, including the character art style!

I actually watch/listen to your videos over and over. When's the dvd box set coming out. fr

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Ya love to hear it. Shittt maybe one of these days when we get enough videos in a certain series we’ll combine them all together for a super long video

Something I’m glad I’m not the only one who ever thought about this in this particular way.

My friend and I were just talking about the Dragonquest XI text and the Megaman battle network text. Glad this video touched on an under-appreciated aspect of games today!

My attempted RPG Antquest had character portraits in some of the dialogue boxes. They were usually static but they did show the main character putting on a top hat (made of ants) for one scene and did some a body of an ant hive mind being temporarily used by a bigger ant hive mind. It also used a few comic style cutscenes although those where used more in my number biggering game The Queen must grow. Another thing I in the game antquest was you once meet an ant that fused itself with a spider to form the ultimate jouster. It had all lines said twice total in two different colors.

Bro!! I love your editing and videos, you deserve every sub.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Hey thanks dude! Appreciate that

Man, I love your videos. You seem to have experienced jrpg the EXACT way I've always done. We think the exact same things.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Hell yeah, cool to know there are similar minded people out there!

Thank you for that historical retrospective. I mean artistic video. I mean retro/classical concert. All of the above?

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

All the above works. Haha thanks for watching!

Gotta love these adult swim/toonami like intros.

Intro is always so fire

Greetings from Brazil, I wanted to thank you all; your videos are really great, and one can feel how much you love the genre. I've created a channel here in Brazil to talk about J-Rpgs, and I hope to one day produce content of such high quality as yours, keep the good work!

I would love a lot longer version of the intro. Just keep the vibes going

This is a completely pertinent topic, JRPGs are typically menu driven, meaning you're going to be looking at lots of menus and dialogue boxes. I always appreciate when games make that extra effort to enrich the experience, and over the course of dozens of hours it has a big impact.

Just found this channel. Great voice over and general production. Plus you really know you're stuff; it made me really nostalgic! Instant sub, now to check out your other content. Also, hearing my typing sounds as I write this has a nice little touch now as this is kinda of like my dialogue box ;)

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words and welcome to the channel! Hope you enjoy your time here and the other content we have :)

I’d say one of my favorite (maybe my favorite?) dialogue box ideas is from Blue Dragon. While the box itself is fairly standard, the real time, animated portrait of the character your talking to on the screen really feel like a step up in the style of using a portrait for dialogue.

Awesome introduction! And lovely video idea!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Man I love your channel. You have some of my favorite content regarding JRPGs and what makes them special. Thank you for what you do! Seriously, this content always makes me super happy to see and watch. I’ve shown my wife your content to help explain why I love these games it got her to try the Tales Of games.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks for the kind words, really appreciate that and it’s awesome to hear how much you resonate with the content. Also love to hear that it played a factor in getting your wife to try out the Tales series, hope she’s been having a good time!

To add to the mention of Undertale's, Deltarune also does something interesting. In the Light World, it uses the Undertale dialogue box and menu UI, but the second you enter a Dark World it all gets much fancier, including how Darkner portraits are colored unlike the Lightner ones. Its such a good little detail and I hardly ever hear anyone mention it.

I love me a good portrait in the dialogue box if the camera is zoomed out or the sprites are small. Like Shining Force or Langrisser. But there are cases where I truly think it would add nothing too. Chrono Trigger is a case where the sprites are so charmfully animated during cutscenes that I never once wished there were any dialogue portraits to go along with it. How every character feels is portreyed perfectly as it is to the player.

Love videos about subtle features like these. Keep it up!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks, that’s the plan!

Don't have the chance to watch the video yet, but I can't wait to see it! Dialogue Boxes in jrpgs are one of those seemingly minor details that really tie things together. They often one of the first details to notice in a game to!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Definitely, one of the first impressions the game makes on you. Hope you enjoyed the vid when you got around to it 👍

@lincolnshaughnessy5568

11 ай бұрын

@@GamingBroductions 10/10 video as usual. I've watched it several times since I posted this comment 😂

I love your channel man, thanks for the great vids

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

No problem man, thanks for watching!

Hey bro, love ur channel man and really appreciate ur work. This is a great topic of discussion for RPGs and I agree with u that if only more RPGs had portraits in their dialogue, that would undoubtedly be more appealing and more enjoyable to play. Anyways...another awesome video and keep up the good work.

As an american comic book and japanese manga reader, i do really like the font style difference for each character and or sentences. It can give so much vibe and nuance to it even without voice acting. Also different letter spacings sometimes can convey certain vibes too. Good topic to bring up! Small thing but often overlooked and taken for granted by a lot of people.

Great topic, more of these please!

You are right, it is the little things that matter. Those details are what always sets things apart. People notice even when they don't think they do and they separate the good from the great. I mean, if you were making an RPG game with dialogue boxes, then you'd be thinking about all these sorts of things. Many out there already have.

Another Code: Two Memories on DS is an adventure puzzle game, but it too has a wide range of portrait emotions, especially for the main character Ashley.

We are all massive nerds for loving this kind of content but I am here for it. Great video and topic!

Earthbound had that crazy Mr. Saturn font and it was awesome. And I agreed more games need to give you more "flavor" options for dialog boxes

They aren't JRPGs but I love the text boxes in the Shadowrun games, they all have portraits and some like the Genesis game have really unique feel to seem like a cyberpunk computer. Also the Owlcat Pathfinder ganes do it well with you being able to use custom portraits. Btw your points on Shining Force II are spot on on just how charming that game is.

fantastic video as always

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Not mention of golden sun? Icons over their head, the jumps when they talk to emphasize their spech and it had the different pitch too. It even had words changing their font to emphasize fear, exhitement, etc

Going to go Patrick Bateman on the FFT masterpiece of dialogue boxes: • The speech bubble indicator that follows the character speaking • An off white slightly warm neutral grey that doesn't clash with colors • Subtle texture that gives it a parchment feel for that high fantasy tone • A character portrait that very effectively uses the limited pixel count • Dropshadow to separate it from the environment with a bottom weighted underscore • Recognizable font that I can spot almost instantly when used in other projects It may sound silly, but the combination of all of these elements are tricky to get just right. All the information without demanding your attention.

The banjo kazooie sfx on top of xenogears dialogue was hilarious lolll this was an awesome topic, the little things matter, loved the frames in chrono cross as well! underrated topic i think. BRAVE FENCER MUSASHI LFG!!!! i loved that game though sadly i was unable to beat the final boss.. side note.. there was a track in this video that had a xenogears track playing with an off rhythm beat playing to it.. it was distracting but great content still! keep it up, cheers!

This reminds me of how a game like golden sun will have little emoticons and punctuation marks during dialogues. Little visual and audio characteristics go a long way in producing an atmosphere in a game. 🙌

You can draw your own window frame and inside the window in Wild Arms 1 (maybe 2 and 3 as well I forget). It puts the pressure on you to make it look good so i just went with a default one but it’s a really neat option

I love that y'all cover so much more about the minutia of JRPGs. If I am indeed 1 of 17, we're a cool ass club of seventeen haha. Dialogue boxes really are something that matters. Kingdom Hearts reminded me of how important they are!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

It’s not the biggest but hey it’s a cool ass club. Kingdom Hearts does have geat ones! Love the style for sure

NEW BRODUCTIONS VIDEO LETS GOOOOO

I believe Sakaguchi said something to the tune of 'anyone can make a Final Fantasy, with the blue text boxes'

@shutup1037

11 ай бұрын

😂

This is exactly the sort of content that I followed this page for in the first place! Weirdly when I was young I didnt like when games included character portraits because I seen it as a way of getting around having to properly animate their sprites, but I wasnt really interested in 2d RPGs at that age either. 3D was new and I couldnt understand why some devleopers remained in the 2D space when others out there were going 3D. Looking back now though, those 2D games have aged so much better compared to the polygon graphics which I thought was so amazing at the time!!!

i think an interesting topic would be the "the first parties in JRPGs" like in most games the first party members are quickly replaced and rarely used, i think it would be an interesting video

Dialogue boxes, font, and portraits are all elements that speak to quality control to me (especially with MMORPGs). Often times, less is more. Also, as I get older, I really appreciate either having larger fonts or the option to enlarge the font; small font really put me off on games like Star Ocean: The Divine Force.

It's not a RPG, but Pentiment did it's text boxes phenomenally as well. You can really read the expression of the character out of these. Great video! Never thought too much about them but they are important. :)

I know it's more action RPG but Phantasy Star Online, amazing dialogue boxes. Especially in PSU 😂 the iconic sounds they still use to this day. They'll never change the sounds in that game.

Turns out CC's default, Arnian Wood, frame just so happened to be my favourite lol, only Thee For Three saw some use, at least it was fun collecting all those frames.

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

The Arnian Wood is my second favorite, it does fit the vibe of the game super well too and is easy to see why they made it the default

Now I need Banjo Kazooie dialogue SFX patches for all my favorite RPGs.

Intro is fire!!!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Thanks!

One thing I thought was clever in FF6's dialogue boxes was how text would appear letter by letter instead of all at once. This seems ordinary until you also notice that the designers could modify the rate at which text rendered, which offered a subtle but tangible idea of how quickly a character was speaking in those days before voice acting. You had the occasional dramatic pause mid-line. You had Kefka's "I hate hate hate hate" rant probably show up faster than any other text in the game. It's a detail I greatly missed while playing the Pixel Remaster. I'd also be remiss to avoid mentioning that one of the alternate backgrounds buried in the customization options can be combined with tweaking the color palette in that same menu to unleash Demon Chocobo (and make the menus nearly unreadable). FF7 allowed for multiple dialogue boxes to appear on screen at once, and therefore allowed for simultaneous line delivery. A place where this really hit was during That Spoiler scene where Sephiroth starts monologuing, and a box where Cloud yells "Shut up!" not only appears mid-monologue, but does so partially covering up Sephiroth's text.

Something about seeing images of Shining Force 2's character portraits and dialogue boxes back in 90s gaming magazines always made me really want to play it. It was just so different than most games coming out around that time.

The content i didnt know i needed

Huh. That was hella insightful!

@GamingBroductions

11 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed!