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Console Games And Color Blindness

Posted by simoniker on from the red-vs-blue-also-concerned dept.

Hinoki writes "Atlus' PlayStation 2 SRPG Disgaea seems to be taking off in the console gaming community. A friend of mine strongly recommended the game, so I decided to chase down a copy and bring it home, only to find that one of the key elements is color coded. Now, this is a problem for me, since I've got color-blindness, which means under the majority of circumstances.. I can't tell the difference between red and green. The geo-panels in Disgaea are more widely varied than simple red-green-yellow-blue.. there are subtle shades and different colors altogether. How big a problem is this for other gamers, and what, if anything can be done about it? Surely it can't be that hard to code in an option that changes a color to a given shape, for those of us that're color-impaired?"

2 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Civ 3 by Prien715 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Civilization 3 I know has a color-blind help option. It's a really great game, but definitely not in the same vein.

    Also if you're color-blindness is red-green and you're looking for a tactical RPG, I'd highly recommend Final Fantasy Tactics as well (not the sequel, which is entirely too easy and plotless). All the text contrasts in the game are black against something else, which makes it easier (though damage is red so might be hard to read at some points).

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    -- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
  2. Re: CB tied to the X chromosome by Psykechan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The gene for colorblindness is tied to the X chromosome and is recessive. The reason that more males have colorblindness is that the Y chromosome is treated as having the gene.

    On topic; Color difficulties usually come into play with puzzle games. I wish that Capcom would release a playable version of Super Puzzle Fighter II X someday. I've been able to play Puzzle Bobble and Columns by using shapes and got pretty good with Klax by using sound as an assistance, but SPFIIX is completely unplayable. For a game that only uses 4 different colors they could at least make them somewhat different.

    For a better solution, check out Triptych which has a color select mode. I personally think that they should list that as one of their main features.

    BTW, I am a colorblind female who plays games and frequents Slashdot. (How's that for rare)