Going to see if I can win Fritz' contest. Only found 89 of the titles, but the remaining eleven are so deeply buried I don't know if I'll ever find them. Not much else to say right now. This is basically just a replacement for the devnote that used to be on NBCi.


3/11/01

Been a while, but high time I updated this. (For the record, I forgot to enter the contest at all. Multiple people found all 100 though, so it makes no difference.)

Recently VERGE has been hating me more than usual, and I was really fed up with it for a while. (See the 3/09/01 update) Nothing was working correctly, and the one thing I really tried to work on ran into a wall when I found out that V2.6 has no font converted/compiler and crashes big time if you load what I think was the V2+i format. Eventually I tracked down the old 8-bit VERGE palette and used pcx2fnt. (fntmak never works right, unfortunately) The font is looking better than my early tests had indicated. I also discovered that VERGE is apparently limited to ten fonts just because the source code says "fontnum[10]", or some such, not for any other reason. I also made some changes that shaved the number of fonts from 12 to 8 though, so I have some breathing room again. Plus I found that V2.6 no longer requires text.fnt, so that frees up an unnecessary slot, and the new system.fnt is quite a good looking font that I might put to use in the battle system, so that's not a waste either. It has also occurred to me that all the plans I had for an antialiased variable spaced font (which got hung up on memory errors and the loss of those new docs with the int to ASCII functions) and the new text commands could be easily applied to the existing font system. I just need to write most of the same code, but rather than blitting, I'm PrintStringing. The principle is otherwise the same. Most of the new text commands were going to be implemented in the textbox function anyway, which is now working, and quite well, though the printing speed isn't quite what I was expecting. The text speed slider now radically alters the print speed. The difference between 1 and 5 is now so great that I'll probably readjust the scale to go only that far. (Previously it went from 25-100) It's cool to see it printing multiple characters a frame though, and it's amazing how simple the code is, especially compared to boxes that don't work half as well. For that matter, the problem turned out to be a combination of forgetting to zero the timer before engaging the main loop and a typo due to cut&paste that became partners in crime to cause the first three lines to print incorrectly. That was quite a shock, since that had been a big problem for other reasons in my previous textbox, and it seemed as if VERGE was inflicting old bugs upon me. ;)

I also got rid of the AutoExec script. It just goes straight to Start.map now and takes over in VC like it used to. I haven't confirmed that this really changed anything, but since VERGE is in an unnatural state during the AutoExec (no map loaded) it might be effecting things, that being the way VERGE can be sometimes. I've been redoing all of the fonts as part of this big overhaul of most of the old graphics/code from the original 8-bit version. Some of it is really badly out of date. With the fonts working again, I'll probably get back to scripting the new menu system. I've already laid it out in sketches, and it's looking nice. Very un-Final Fantasy, compared to the original, which was FF's.


3/13/01

The menu is running again. It isn't displaying much other than the time and place, but it is running. It looks almost like the sketches, just a little off due to some tweaks to the window positions. So far I'm impressed with it. It displays more data in less space than the old one, and doesn't look like the Final Fantasy menu anymore. It's interesting how things can be rearranged to better fit a space. Although I never really had a problem with the original menu, (aside from one occurrence of that global var mixup that shouldn't exist) the new one should be more stable and contain less duplicated code since all of the menus share the same input handling and the stacking behavior is simulated now. (That is, submenus are no longer actually called from their parent menus. I don't know if that really changes anything, but it is easier to code for, and makes multi-page menus a simple matter.)


3/21/01

Speed fixed the problems even though he couldn't see them. I guess I'll get back to the character/item system crossover.


3/24/01

I was reading the IGN Best Playstation Games Ever feature, and I can't help but be annoyed by several of their choices. First of all, Xenogears, Square's greatest game ever, was not on the list. Second of all, Final Fantasy VIII, Square's worst game ever*, was. Another problem, due to FF8's inclusion, was that Suikoden missed the list by one place. (26th out of 25) The Suikoden series is far superior to Square's little cheap-ass money maker, yet gets no recognition... At least Silent Hill and Syphon Filter were honored, and Metal Gear Solid, quite possibly the most memorable game ever, took first place, as it should have.

It makes me think, actually. This whole concept that the Final Fantasy "series" is a great one with a name that means something. There are three great games out of nine. That's hardly a winning record. And the remaining ones are nothing special, or downright bad. I mean, really. I've played them all. 1 was great, 2 and 3 were boring (I only got to play them after 8 though, so I didn't see them in the context of their own time), 4 was great, 5 was fun, but empty feeling, 6 was great, 7 seemed like they didn't know were to go with it, 8 was 4 again with all the fun sucked out, and Cecil replaced by dickhead Squall, and 9 seemed again like they didn't know were to go with it. Hell, the plot in FF9 doesn't even start until the third disc, and Kuja actually manages to be a worse villain than Sephy and Ultimecia combined. He just does nothing of any real interest. And why does he look like a woman? He is neither awe-inspiring, spooky, or cool. He's just...lame... At least Exdeath (I will not use Square's lame-ass translation) actually did some things to elevate himself to "not too bad villain". People always talk about the "tradition of excellence" or some shit like that, like it means something. If the Final Fantasies want to live up to something, why don't they try living up to Xenogears. Damn that game is fine. Chrono Cross was such a disappointment following that. I was debating, hmm, yeah Chrono Trigger wasn't that good, but Xenogears was awesome...Alright, I'll play Chrono Cross. Somehow, it manages to be Chrono Trigger without even whatever is was (the time travel, I suspect) that made CT worthwhile.

Oh, that brings me to another topic. I have had Star Ocean 2 recommended to me several times, so I finally tracked down a copy. I found little to praise. First of all, the innovative gameplay is the Ultima system, which I don't like in Ultima itself, but granted many people do. (Interesting how something long standing on PC is "innovative" on a console and vice-versa. See Homeworld and Shenmue.) And second of all, excellent introduction sequence aside, the translation takes a long walk off a short pier, the gameplay degenerates into "go to this town, find out what their problem is, fix it, move on", the voice acting sucks, and the combat system is a half-assed Seiken 3 clone that offers almost no control, and boils down to button mashing to kill the enemies before your mages stupidly blow all their mana. Or you can tell the mages not to use spells, but then, what's the point of having them? That and judging from the "cheats" I've since read of, the gameplay is none too balanced, as it seems easy to exploit the system for infinite money, huge level gains, almost free skill levels, etc. Hell, one boss I fought was a matter of stunning him with a spell, then button mashing until he dies. Otherwise, he kills you in two hits. You call that good design? I've only played Claude's quest so far, but far enough to see that behind the translation, there's some mighty bad writing, too. After reaching Mars, Claude goes from caring guy to total dickhead in one cutscene. He also suddenly (recall that he is an ensign on a starship, marooned on an alien world) becomes an authority on swordsmanship and magic. Magic I might add, that doesn't seem to surprise him in the least. neither does the fact that he is gaining these pseudo-magical "Killer Moves" with his sword. Granted, the game has it's good points, but each one is offset by something lame or stupid. Sounds kind of like what I've heard of Valkyrie Profile, which I believe is also Tri-ace.

It just really makes me wonder. How do all these games ship with potential crippled by silly oversights. Doesn't anyone play through the game and say, "we should fix this". Do people actually say "Yeah, there have been better spell effects on the NES, but we'll go with this"? Does Square actually _care_ anymore, or is everything fine with them as long as the action figures and vocal single sell? I swear, Square is the Disney of video games. That company that used to make good stuff, now produces crap, but ALWAYS reminds you, "hey, we're Square/Disney, remember? Now give us your money." as if their name alone requires it.

In my perfect world, PC development would consist of Blizzard+Blizz North, the original Mircoprose, (MPS labs + Sid back together), the original EA, the original id, old Origin, (Garriot, Spector and Roberts, maybe then we'd have Worlds of Ultima 3+ and Privateer 2, rather than Erin's little disappointing film with the bad space shooter tacked on.) maybe the original Bullfrog, (Unless Black and White wouldn't happen then, in which case, Lionhead Studios) and a few other developers like Quicksilver, Silicon Knights and Mindscape. (Castles, Dark Legions and Siege rocked)

Console development would consist of only joint Nintendo/Sega consoles, and feature Konami, Nintendo, Sega, Koei, Enix, Quest, pre PSX Square, Capcom, (after they sign a contract stating that they must create one original game for every cloned sequel, mainly so I can have MvC2. That and I have fond Megaman memories) and Polyphony Digital, because Gran Turismo rocks.

*Even though Square may have made some really piss poor games, this one was passed off as a Final Fantasy, hyped to hell and back, and praised by the brown-nosing media. All for a half assed rip off of Final Fantasy IV.

P.S. Famitsu sucks. "Tough ratings" indeed. They give near perfect scores to anything that looks good, no matter how shallow it may be (Vagrant Story, FF8, etc) then turn around and dock others points for 2D graphics, as if they've done something wrong. (Valkyrie Profile, though the game may be deserving of it's score for other reasons) It's like Famitsu just echoes popular opinion, yet is considered such a respected review system. What gives?

Well, that was my rant on the state of the industry. And to think I was just going to comment on IGN's Best of Playstation feature.


3/24/01 - Take two

Well, here's the real entry. Those problems that Speed fixed come back if I try to get the Nifty Loading Screen + Loading Indicator working, so I have just dropped the whole concept. Players will just have to stare at a black then pink screen while it's loading, unless maybe I can get the Nifty Loading Screen alone to work.

Other than that, not much has happened.


3/30/01

Just read the GIA's TGS report on Final Fantasy X. All I have to say is back off, Square! Your new battle system (about damn time) looks too much like MY battle system.

Other than that, there's another Xenogears on the way, sort of, so the future looks bright. (This also explains why Chrono Cross sucked.) Square's designers are jumping ship. I love it. Die, Square, you traitorous bastards! You could have stayed with Nintendo, you could have helped the N64 rise over the PlayStation, but no, you went sell out, you joined with the source of all that is dark and unholy in the Land of Consoles, and now you're going down. All that I mourn is that the last three Final Fantasies could have been worthwhile had they appeared on the N64, where you might have been forced to substitute gameplay and plot for FMA.

Long live Xenosaga!!


4/15/01

I had a strange dream. I was piloting the Eidolon through the first cavern, and I went and blew away the troll and the rotofly, and then I started studying the walls of the cavern, because they looked kind of different. So I headed for the last creature in the cavern, and the deeper I went, the better the graphics became. Soon enough, the cavern was fully light sourced and well textured. The Eidolon also disappeared, and I was walking through the caverns with a weird thing on my wrist that was shooting the fireballs. The framerate never improved, though, so I had a terrible time trying to combine two red fireballs. I headed for the last monster, who was in a fully 3D bowl-like depression in a totally new section of the cavern. The creature wasn't one I had ever seen before, so I shot it with a green fireball, and it turned into bottleneck, so I shot it again and it turned into another troll. A red one. So I dropped it with three fireballs, and it dropped another red crystal (although I had never collected them, I suddenly had the red and green crystals) while the blue crystal appeared at the creatures spawn point. So I picked them up, although the red crystal turned into a red key and would not go into the wrist thingy. I headed for the dragon next, but just before I got there, I noticed I was low on energy (probably those green fireballs) so I was going to get some more, when I ran into two things. A bunch of cats, one of which I knew, and a passageway that lead into some sort of storage room. That and I was also no longer myself. I was G. Gordon Liddy now. So I went into the storeroom, which was filled with all sorts of old toys I remember from my childhood and a Terra Branford doll. My brother and sister were there now, and I wasn't Liddy anymore, I was back to myself. Also, the storeroom wasn't in the cavern anymore, now it was in my house. After a brief discussion about what we could do with this extra room we now had, I found myself walking along the side of the road from the A&P back to the apartment complex I lived in twelve years ago, discussing secret government plans to teach gorillas how to use modern military weapons with Hideo Kojima. But along the way, we turned off onto a side road that shouldn't have existed, and were headed for a warehouse-like building, when suddenly my mother was there. She didn't walk up, she wasn't waiting for us, she was just there. The three of us headed for the building, and my mother says something to the effect of "that director is good looking". (Hey, dreams are hard to recall in detail.) and Kojima looks at her and she says "Not you, the other one." So we arrive at this warehouse thing, and the loading bay door is open, so we go in, and there's the weird guy standing in front of eight washing machines lined up 2x4, and suddenly I find it difficult to walk, like I have no strength left in my legs, and then I woke up.

I posted this because it was the strangest dream I've had in a long time, and because the subject was oddly game-oriented. That and I remembered it clearly enough to write it down.


4/17/01

Amend that to:

Long live Xenosaga and Suikoden III!

'bout damn time Konami gave us something from the latest water mark story. Prior to the announcement a week or so ago, I was really beginning to fear that Suikoden III had been canceled. Now I can rest easy. I'm hoping they do show something at E3, 'cause I really want to get a look at the game. All I've had to go on was the statement from like a year ago that the game was fully 3D, designed to mimic the original 2D, or something to that effect. Sounds like what I wanted to do with Haven's Saga, so I'm quite interested to see how it turns out.

Oh, and my opinion on Kessen is as follows: It's fun, short and easy.

It's quite fun to play, but the game is six battles long (yes, you heard correctly) and about as challenging as FFT with Thundergod Cid. Simple rule: Forget all the other units. Ninja and Cavalry all the way. Ignore all the advice you are given, it's worthless. Just group your units up and beat on the brain-dead AI. Fire at will with your special attacks, especially Cannonades against large (6000+) units. Once the enemy unit falls, you'll regain all the Zeal you spent. Repeat until victory results. I would advise renting it. I beat both campaigns in two days.


4/18/01

Heh, Square's getting desparate. All of a suddon they're giving FF4 and CT a Northam re-release after all? AND remaking 7,8 and 9?