Am I the only one who finds the PS1's multi-disc games fascinating? You really feel like you get your money's worth!

[Estil | 1,264]

So as you guys may know, I've been trying to get caught up on both the PS1 as well as the JRPG genre in general.  That being said, am I the only one who finds the multi-disc PS1 games especially fascinating?  I mean the PS1 (though I didn't really know it at the time until 2001 when I finally got my first non-Nintendo console for the MegaMan games) did many ground breaking things such as not only transitioning from 2D to 3D polygon games but also from "silents" to "talkies" as the huge (at the time) amount of room on the CD-ROM format (640 MB; even the biggest N64 game was only about 10% of that?) allowed easily for both the voice acting and FMWs...apparently they learned that FMWs are best as a "sidedish"/"compliment"/"supplement" to a game rather than try to make a whole game out of them like the Sega CD often did.

But apparently one disc was often not good enough!  There were many games that got up to 3-4 discs and even one five disc game (Riven; not tried it yet though).  And it just so happens many of those multi-disc games are JRPGs!    You sure do feel like you get an especially huge epic quest and truly get your money's worth when it comes on 2-3 or even occasionally four disc eh?

Did any of the rest of you find them fascinating/groundbreaking back in the mid-90s-early 00s when the PS1 was in its prime?

EDIT: This is a neat video all about multi-disc games:

EDIT: I thought for everyone's convenience I'd list all the US multi disc PS1 games; enjoy!

5 - Riven: Sequel to Myst

4 - Fear Effect (1 & 2), Final Fantasy (8 & 9), Koudelka, Legend of Dragoon, Wing Commander (3 & 4), X-Files

3 - D, Final Fantasy 7, Fox Hunt, Galerians, Juggarnaut, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, Psychic Detective, Tales of Eternia (Destiny 2)

2 - Alone in the Dark: New Nightmare, Armored Core: Master of Arena, BrainDead 13, Chronicles of the Sword, Chrono Cross, Colony Wars,Command & Conquer (trilogy), Countdown Vampires, Cover Ops: Nuclear Dawn, Dracula (1 & 2), Dragon Valor, Dragon Quest 7, Driver 2, Evil Dead: Hail to the King, G-Police, Golden Nugget, Gran Turismo 2, Grandia, Heart of Darkness, Hive, In Cold Blood, Lunar: Silver Star, Metal Gear Solid, Novastorm, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, Paradise Eve (1 & 2), Resident Evil 2, Rival Schools: United by Fate, Shadow Madness, Star Ocean 2, Star Wars: Rebel Assault 2, Street Fighter Collection, Syphon Filter 2, Thousand Arms, Valkyrie Profile, Wild Arms 2, Xenogears, You Don't Know Jack

Edited June 28, 2023 by Estil

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

Seeing as some movies required 2 or even 3 VHS tapes and some computer games required multiple floppy discs to be installed, games on multiple CDs didn't strike me as odd.

Often this was required when games had a lot of video to run and from that era onward, JRPGs are loaded to the brim with cutscenes. 

[TDIRunner | 2,731]

For me, it was a first and I was fascinated by it.  I didn't do much computer gaming at the time, and if a PC game required more than one disk, it was usually a one time thing during installation, and not quite the same thing as needing to change games in the middle of a playthrough.  

Of course for me, the most interesting disc change is in Metal Gear Solid, because they reference it several sequels later. 

Spoiler

If you've played Metal Gear Solid 4 on the PS3, there is a section of the game where you revisit Shadow Moses Island (the location for MGS1).  You get to revisit several areas from the original PS1 game, but in amazing PS3 graphics.  When you get to the same location that required a disc swap, you get a message from Otacon saying you need to change discs.  When Snake gets confused, Otacon admits he was just joking because the huge size of the Blue Ray PS3 discs didn't require multiple discs.  It's a hilarious scene and definitely fits into a Hideo Kojima game.  

 

[AstralSoul | 502]

I always loved the multi disc games mostly as a sign of progress especially in RPGs. Like I know if I play a Final Fantasy and I'm on disc 2 of 4 I'm a little more than a quarter way through. But the double disc cases are also better looking and the package as a whole looks better and feels more substantial. 

[cj_robot | 540]

Nah, my first experience with multi-disc games was on Sega CD. So when I saw them on PS1, I pretty much assumed it was because they just loaded the game with excessive amounts of video, which was usually the case, tbh.

It also kind of annoyed me, because I didn't like having a single game take more than one slot in my disc binder.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,514]

Nah.  Before I had 2 disc PS1 RPGs I had 5+ disc PC games.

[Gloves | 11,771]

8 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Nah.  Before I had 2 disc PS1 RPGs I had 5+ disc PC games.

[G-type | 2,479]

Leisure Suit Larry 5 came on 8 3.5" floppies

[Gloves | 11,771]

1 minute ago, G-type said:

Leisure Suit Larry 5 came on 8 3.5" floppies

Must... resist...

[Hammerfestus | 3,832]

[Hammerfestus | 3,832]

The more discs, the more special it felt.  Final Fantasy VII had 3 discs.  That’s awesome.  Final Fantasy VIII had 4 discs.  More awesome?

i think back then the CG cut scenes were still new and awesome.  So more discs meant more awesome cut scenes.  How cool was that Junon Canon?  Obviously Kojima or somebody ran the cut scene into the ground but once upon a time they were cool and special.

[croagunk | 798]

My first experience with multiple discs was a few months ago getting a few used Xbox 360 games loose from EB Games for $1 in their big sale. Haven’t played any yet, though. I have a few that have discs just for installation, some with 2 game discs, and L.A. Noire has 3 game discs. When I got them I was really fascinated. These games must be huge to need multiple discs. I sure got my dollar’s worth, haha.

[Estil | 1,264]

13 minutes ago, Hammerfestus said:

The more discs, the more special it felt.  Final Fantasy VII had 3 discs.  That’s awesome.  Final Fantasy VIII had 4 discs.  More awesome?

i think back then the CG cut scenes were still new and awesome.  So more discs meant more awesome cut scenes.  

Well for me they are basically new.  I'm quite amazed at just what the original PS1 can do, especially compared to the consoles (not PC) before it.  And didn't get my first one until 2001 and I didn't get into RPGs until 2013 so I still got some catching up to do I suppose...

[spacepup | 2,404]

Everquest II for PC had 10 CDs hah!  I think 9 game CDs and a bonus disc if I'm not mistaken.

I remember when I first saw Phantasmagoria I was surprised (maybe 7 cd's or something), but Everquest II is the reigning Queen here. 

[erac | 78]

Multi-disc games certainly have a special feel, but I have to disagree about "getting your money's worth". Simply because the multi-disc games were more expensive back then - ff7 and ff8 were like 20% more than a typical game.

[cj_robot | 540]

Definitely got my money's worth here:

[Estil | 1,264]

7 hours ago, erac said:

Multi-disc games certainly have a special feel, but I have to disagree about "getting your money's worth". Simply because the multi-disc games were more expensive back then - ff7 and ff8 were like 20% more than a typical game.

But how many dozens of hours does it take to get through even the main story mode, never mind all the side quests and other goodies?

And as Greta Thunberg would say, how dare you leave out FF9!!

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I skipped the PS1 until the Gamecube had already came out, and while GC wasn't my first to get a multidisc, it was pS1 with a copy of FF9, some years earlier I had multple CD, and before floppy on PC so it just wasn't weird.

[Red | 437]

10 hours ago, spacepup said:

Everquest II for PC had 10 CDs hah!  I think 9 game CDs and a bonus disc if I'm not mistaken.

I remember when I first saw Phantasmagoria I was surprised (maybe 7 cd's or something), but Everquest II is the reigning Queen here. 

The Japan exclusive Sega Saturn version of Phantasmagoria (called Phantasm) has eight discs, which, as far as I know, is the most for any console game.

[Gloves | 11,771]

Beneath a Steel Sky on Amiga was 15 floppies.

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

That reminds me, I still need to finish Riven.

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

I love the multi disc cases.  They are beautiful.

[fox | 1,665]

14 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

I always loved the multi disc games mostly as a sign of progress especially in RPGs. Like I know if I play a Final Fantasy and I'm on disc 2 of 4 I'm a little more than a quarter way through. But the double disc cases are also better looking and the package as a whole looks better and feels more substantial. 

Well in FF7, disc 1 is easily the longest.  Disc 2 is shorter and disc 3 is pretty much just the final dungeon.

FF8 was similar, with Disc 4 being reserved for Ultamacia’s Castle alone. So not all discs were created equal.

[fox | 1,665]

I think the best use was RE2, having a Claire and Leon disc.  Once you finished one, you could swap over to the second character to play their side of the story.

So you got 4 campaigns out of the deal.  This added a lot of replay value.

[Sumez | 2,934]

Lol, multi-disc/disk games are the worst