Fast Forward/Frame Throttle: A Blessing or a Curse?

[LUNARMYTH]

Sorry for the dramatic title, lol. But the thought's been crossing my mind lately: Is fast forwarding games in emulation a blessing or a curse?

I know the primary positives - speeds up grinding time, makes some sloggy parts of older games less tedious, so on and so forth. But the more and more I use/used speed up functions while playing games, the less magic they seem to express. When many of us were young, frame throttling was hardly an option if at all. We put in the work and made those classic gaming strides.

I can hardly play a Pokemon game without fast forward. And that saddens me because the work developers do in ROM hacks is so damn good. Maybe I'm just getting older and time isn't nearly as free. Genius soundtracks from games are just garbled messes with fast forwarding. My only saving grace is finding a frame throttle speed per game that takes away the slog of certain titles but making the game still enjoyable.

What's your stance? Do you use it, love it or hate it, or maybe you never thought of it this way? Haha.

 

[Yousef]

it’s good

 

[ATenderLad]

Not a whole lot of games where I think, "It's good, but another eight hours of tedium would really make this a masterpiece."

Hell, Xenogears runs so bad, I use FF and Turbo on Duckstation, double speed and quadruple respectively, one for general town, platforming, and battle, and the other for cutscenes running at 10 FPS. Only way I can replay it now.

 

[Yousef]

Not a whole lot of games where I think, "It's good, but another eight hours of tedium would really make this a masterpiece."

Hell, Xenogears runs so bad, I use FF and Turbo on Duckstation, double speed and quadruple respectively, one for general town, platforming, and battle, and the other for cutscenes running at 10 FPS. Only way I can replay it now.

p much, hardware limits are why some games were slow, not every game but some. Plus fast forward is only ever bad if the emulator itself can’t handle it which happened to me with some knockoff emulators.

 

[LUNARMYTH]

Not a whole lot of games where I think, "It's good, but another eight hours of tedium would really make this a masterpiece."

Hell, Xenogears runs so bad, I use FF and Turbo on Duckstation, double speed and quadruple respectively, one for general town, platforming, and battle, and the other for cutscenes running at 10 FPS. Only way I can replay it now.

Your post makes me laugh because I 100% agree with you. It really does make many things so much easier. I guess the only way to deny it is for it not to ever have been an option.

 

[Yousef]

There’s some debate about how some games were deliberately designed around being slow, for balancing issues.
I agree with this actually. Sadly my limited free time doesn’t so hitting the fw it is.

 

[LUNARMYTH]

There’s some debate about how some games were deliberately designed around being slow, for balancing issues.
I agree with this actually. Sadly my limited free time doesn’t so hitting the fw it is.

Indeed. The clock comes for us all. Limitless freedom really would make the standard speed less monotonous.

 

[RageBurner]

To put it simply, the more tedious something is, the more you'll love fast forwarding.

Those that criticize its use (and this falls under the umbrella of save states and rewinding, too) are often self authoritative purists that want to tell YOU how YOU want to experience YOUR games, and that very notion is laughable.

Let me give a personal example: the only game I've never used such emulation QoLs was Monster Hunter, because I wanted to learn it even through failure, but that's because I'm highly invested in the franchise and love it, it was MY decision, not someone else's. If someone else wants to play MH using whatever shortcuts they wish, more power to them, enjoy the game!

The only instance where these things objectively cause problems and could be seen as unfair would be games with multiplayer environments - at that point a line needs to be drawn, but other than that, people need to chill and remember games should be fun, first.

 

[Yousef]

Indeed. The clock comes for us all. Limitless freedom really would make the standard speed less monotonous.

It’s because of this that I should back up with examples.
My experience with Pokémon is a bit wonky but here’s a summary of it (I’m a newcomer, I’ve zero nostalgia, I played these games in my 20s so my opinions of them are nostalgia-dry)
I loved gen 1. Grinding with the fw made it piss easy.
Loved gen 2. Elite four were kinda silly but nothing I could not handle.
Gen 3 was silly. Fast forward wasn’t working properly so I did a AFK grinding method. Beat it with little problem.
Played gen 4 almost normal speed. Actually made it really really far but elite four dungeon made me eventually drop it due to burnout. I was just not having fun. Game was too slow.
Could not make it far in Gen. 5 cuz of burnout even though I was enjoying it.
Gen 6 and 7 I skipped cuz I don’t emulate 3ds. No reason.
Gen 8 I actually played on real hardware. Worst experience of my life.
Gen 9 wasn’t really winning me over.

 

[LUNARMYTH]

It’s because of this that I should back up with examples.
My experience with Pokémon is a bit wonky but here’s a summary of it (I’m a newcomer, I’ve zero nostalgia, I played these games in my 20s so my opinions of them are nostalgia-dry)
I loved gen 1. Grinding with the fw made it piss easy.
Loved gen 2. Elite four were kinda silly but nothing I could not handle.
Gen 3 was silly. Fast forward wasn’t working properly so I did a AFK grinding method. Beat it with little problem.
Played gen 4 almost normal speed. Actually made it really really far but elite four dungeon made me eventually drop it due to burnout. I was just not having fun. Game was too slow.
Could not make it far in Gen. 5 cuz of burnout even though I was enjoying it.
Gen 6 and 7 I skipped cuz I don’t emulate 3ds. No reason.
Gen 8 I actually played on real hardware. Worst experience of my life.
Gen 9 wasn’t really winning me over.

Good take as a whole in my opinion. Even with the nostalgia factor for me, I am in agreement with you for gens 1-3, Gen 4 is hard to say, I love playing HGSS but damn is that game on the slow side.
Heavily agree with 2 most recent gens. Played them. Only perfection I received from them was the Pokemon Maushold.

 

[Waffles]

Excellent question.

For some, it's really damn useful (I love Pokemon Crystal, but I can only sit through the animations for so long). For others... well, torture is always evolving lol

 

[LUNARMYTH]

Excellent question.

For some, it's really damn useful (I love Pokemon Crystal, but I can only sit through the animations for so long). For others... well, torture is always evolving lol

This is the kind of pain that stems from thinking way too hard about a mostly helpful feature, lol.

 

[ATenderLad]

I would add it depends a lot on the game of course, not a whole lot of stuff on MAME that I'm uncapping the framerate for.

 

[Yousef]

Good take as a whole in my opinion. Even with the nostalgia factor for me, I am in agreement with you for gens 1-3, Gen 4 is hard to say, I love playing HGSS but damn is that game on the slow side.
Heavily agree with 2 most recent gens. Played them. Only perfection I received from them was the Pokemon Maushold.

Yeah. Being a nostalgialess rando playing Pokémon in their 20s probably makes me the best and worst to talk to about Pokémon. Makes me develop a couple more specific opinions that makes me feel like it’s probably better to not engage with the fandom and just keep stuff to myself but since I’ve already opened the can of worms I may as well.
FireRed/Leafgreen is Gen 3, not gen 1. Same logic applies to all remakes.
The entire Pokémon anime is good. Every episode has a purpose. I only disliked orange cuz it’s boring.
Liko is a good girl but her anime is boring.
All Pokémon protagonists have good designs except male gen 9.
Gen 1 pandering holds gamefreak/TPC bsck and I’m shocked they’re still committing to it.
Pokémon Go isn’t that bad. Just kinda generic.
Shiny hunting is dumb. I’ve 20 shinies I’ve gained solely from trading legendaries.
Competitive Pokémon community is the worst community of all time. Competitive Pokémon itself is fun. I’m open to playing on Pokémon showdown with anyone.

 

[RageBurner]

Yeah. Being a nostalgialess rando playing Pokémon in their 20s probably makes me the best and worst to talk to about Pokémon. Makes me develop a couple more specific opinions that makes me feel like it’s probably better to not engage with the fandom and just keep stuff to myself but since I’ve already opened the can of worms I may as well.
FireRed/Leafgreen is Gen 3, not gen 1. Same logic applies to all remakes.
The entire Pokémon anime is good. Every episode has a purpose. I only disliked orange cuz it’s boring.
Liko is a good girl but her anime is boring.
All Pokémon protagonists have good designs except male gen 9.
Gen 1 pandering holds gamefreak/TPC bsck and I’m shocked they’re still committing to it.
Pokémon Go isn’t that bad. Just kinda generic.
Shiny hunting is dumb. I’ve 20 shinies I’ve gained solely from trading legendaries.
Competitive Pokémon community is the worst community of all time. Competitive Pokémon itself is fun. I’m open to playing on Pokémon showdown with anyone.

You didn't ask for it, but here we go, LOL

- Agreed, remakes belong in the generation where they released, though I don't see anything inherently wrong with referencing the generation they are reproducing.

- Sorry, hard no on this one for me. I detest the anime for overemphasizing things that don't really matter and sometimes shortcutting/skirting around game rules. Same problem I have with the YGO anime.

- No idea who that is, no opinion.

- I can't really agree when the male MC in Black 2/White 2 pretty much has palm tree for hair, but designs are mostly passable.

- Pokémon Go is a viral disease.

- Shiny Pokémons are indeed a stupid pursuit. In games like Coromon they have actual statistical value, so that's more justifiable.

- For sure, one of the worst communities, but toxic elitism is everywhere in gaming. You wouldn't believe how bad the MH folks can be, sometimes.

 

[Yousef]

You didn't ask for it, but here we go, LOL

- Agreed, remakes belong in the generation where they released, though I don't see anything inherently wrong with referencing the generation they are reproducing.

- Sorry, hard no on this one for me. I detest the anime for overemphasizing things that don't really matter and sometimes shortcutting/skirting around game rules. Same problem I have with the YGO anime.

- No idea who that is, no opinion.

- I can't really agree when the male MC in Black 2/White 2 pretty much has palm tree for hair, but designs are mostly passable.

- Pokémon Go is a viral disease.

- Shiny Pokémons are indeed a stupid pursuit. In games like Coromon they have actual statistical value, so that's more justifiable.

- For sure, one of the worst communities, but toxic elitism is everywhere in gaming. You wouldn't believe how bad the MH folks can be, sometimes.

PALM TREE HAIR LOOL

Yeah don’t worry I always ask for opinions to bounce off. Even disagreements can help us grow.

I never actually met anyone who dislikes the YGO anime but your reasons are completely fair. I think DM is the weakest season because it’s a bad adaptation of the manga. GX, 5Ds and Zexal are anime originals and they’re my preferred.

Liko is Ash, well ash died so he’s not the protagonist anime. I actually like Liko more because I prefer the character design over Ash’s stupid fucking hair.

 

[RageBurner]

PALM TREE HAIR LOOL

Yeah don’t worry I always ask for opinions to bounce off. Even disagreements can help us grow.

I never actually met anyone who dislikes the YGO anime but your reasons are completely fair. I think DM is the weakest season because it’s a bad adaptation of the manga. GX, 5Ds and Zexal are anime originals and they’re my preferred.

Liko is Ash, well ash died so he’s not the protagonist anime. I actually like Liko more because I prefer the character design over Ash’s stupid fucking hair.

So he's the kid that replaced Ash? goes to show much I know of the anime. I'm not sure I like either. IMO the anime should have followed the games and changed protagonists each season instead of having a kid that's basically the Japanese equivalent of Peter Pan on the lead for what, two decades?

 

[Leon]

I see it as a general good personally, as we get older the older grind really slows down that precious time.

 

[Yousef]

So he's the kid that replaced Ash? goes to show much I know of the anime. I'm not sure I like either. IMO the anime should have followed the games and changed protagonists each season instead of having a kid that's basically the Japanese equivalent of Peter Pan on the lead for what, two decades?

I agree I think it’s sucks we didn’t get characters like Red, Rose or Jimmy into the anime.
Well I guess Jimmy’s in the ova.

 

[Ikagura]

But the more and more I use/used speed up functions while playing games, the less magic they seem to express.

"Magic", much like "soul" are pretty vague and subjective things about video game.

I also am responsible of saying it sometimes but I feel like people put a word to express something they cannot describe properly about an older thing (like "the mystique of this thing").

people need to chill and remember games should be fun, first.

I fully agree about this principle.

A full purist can play the game on the real hardware on a CRT from the same era but this is for themselves, if they force it upon others it just make them sound rude and unbearable as an individual.

Nobody wants to be that guy.

 

[MistHunter]

For me, both of them. after all... a miracle. is quite useful!

 

[LUNARMYTH]

You all make extremely fair points. And the general consensus appears to be that fast-forward is for the betterment of gaming and yes, I agree. I haven't used a CRT in decades and have no plans of doing so, lol. I feel like we hit some philosophic-gaming points here even about something as minor as a toggle function for speed.

Also @Ikagura, when I used the word "magic" it was more of a placeholder word for enjoyment.
But you are correct, the bottom line is having fun. There's no right way to play a single-player game.