Final Fantasy Hacktics

General => Archives => Mercenaries => Topic started by: LastingDawn on May 24, 2008, 03:17:02 pm

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: LastingDawn on May 24, 2008, 03:17:02 pm
Or Gaff Patch, whichever you prefer... this patch aims to be like nothing seen before, new classes, new bosses, a fully revamped classes. 16 secret abilities, one for each primary class and a method of exploration to obtain each should keep even veterans excited. So far there are 300 some new skills added, certainly a few have been taken from FFTA, but there are quite a few that are completely brand new.

Overview:
As you are traveling with Gafgarion and Rad (unique sprite supplied by Vanya) the whole game, your main antagonists will be Lavian, Alicia, and Agrias respectively. Lavian and Alicia have two unique sprites (as thanks to Zozma's wonderful work on Jenna and Misty) Lavian, Alicia, Rad, and Gafgarion all have new skillsets, Lavian is a Fencer, her pure prowess with a sword is unmatched, Alicia is Gaia's Lance, just as her commander has sworn fealty to the Heavens she has sworn fealty to the Earth, has many spear skills that dare to rip her opponents asunder. Rad is an Apprentice, he unlike anyone else in Ivalice has harnessed the starting power of Red Magic, though can't use it fully. His Double spells have a chance of acting only once, as if they were a normal spell.

Party:
Your official party is always Rad and Ramza. You can't mold Gafgarion, he's your boss. Rad though is your Apprentice, Containing completely different skillsets from Ramza for the majority of the jobs in which they share. There are many new basic Classes, each with their own assorted threads on this board. The other units that are "on your side" are always already deployed on the battlefield, but unlike normal "guests" you can control Gafgarion and any other guests you happen to have, at the time.


ScreenshotsBasically just screenshots of that which is done, more then likely on video, there are a few exceptions though...

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_024404_0383.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_025834_0945.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141436_0412.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141641_0037.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_17082008_002113_0203.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_17082008_004146_0104.png)


Video Updates:I will be updating the project with video's of my work to show in person what is changed and what not, reading is good, and pictures are better, but they simply can't compare to the medium of videos. I have up four video's currently, the intro of Mercenaries, Two Ability demonstrations, and an Exodus preview. As well as t he second event and battle teaser.

Gaff Patch Demo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vZeE2sH-6A)
Lion War Tourney (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G37t3oQFv5M)
Mercenaries Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dBt4UKUEOY)
Exodus, Esper of Libra (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYKlf5MKp4)
Gariland Guests (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qIQ5oYARwE)
Lavian Luna, Mandalia Plains (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2j4j14uckY)
Sweegy Showdown, Voldemort Attempt (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxpQ2Ef3OVk)

Features:
The Lion War!
Take active part in this epic battle, Join either the Black or White Lions while chance and skill may lead the day, don't become disheartened, expect a grand prize at the end! 10 battles in all and many guest appearances from many different units, all dependent on the side chosen!

New end boss battle! At the end there will be a boss battle with Exodus the Esper associated with Libra, how this all comes about, you may ask? Well that would be giving everything away!

Exodus, Esper of Libra (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYKlf5MKp4)

Secret skills and Class inheritance! Part way through the game you will recieve an item called "Band of Abilities" which if you had been picking up crystals (from everything else but Squires and Chemist) you would notice odd skill receptions which you don't actually have access to, for instance Blood Sin with Invokers, Doom Archer for Archer, etc. Well the Band of Abilities unlocks these abilities for you to use, but keep in mind you can only recieve these abilities from crystals of those fallen classes, go for all 16!

New storyline! Past Zirekile the game takes an incredible turn! (as can be read from the title...) With Ramza and Rad staying with Gafgarion a whole new adventure awaits!

New Addition: Usable Treasures!
In events one may happen upon a rare item named after one of the "Treasures" in the normal game. Now these are not just normal items, each time you obtain these one of a kind, brand new items, it will be added to the Brave Story under their proper treasure! Obtaining them all is an arduous task though. It is not as simple as winning them in battles, watch for decisions, they may affect outcomes to a considerable degree.

New Addition: Unique Skillsets for Rad/Ramza!

With advances in FFT Hacking, our leader Zodiac created a tool called the Ability Requirement Hack, the scope of this program is too large to discuss here, but it is what makes this possible. Rad and Ramza now share two unique skillsets for the majority of the classes in Mercenaries. This is done for the purpose of enhancing their characters and truly making them different from one another. In addition these skillsets work fantastically together as a team. If Synergy is needed for a specific fight, then take advantage of some of the more specialized skills in the varied skillsets.

New Addition: Bounty Hunting and the Warden's Office!

Once again with the help of Zodiac, The ability "Poach" has been changed into "Bounty Hunter". This is not just a simple name change. In randoms, sidequests, and sometimes even story missions there will be unique units, with special descriptions. These descriptions read right off of a wanted poster, telling the player the crimes of the Bounty and their strengths, also including the two "tickets" one can receive for capturing them. (Not to mention you will likely get a Gil Reward at the end of battle purely for them) If these units are defeated with Bounty Hunter equipped (Gafgarion always has Bounty Hunter innate) their capture will allow you to obtain a "ticket" at the Warden's Office and buy the item reward.

New Addition: New sidequests! At least ten in each chapter!
There may be times in the game, when you see odd places open up, with a red dot, these unsurprisingly will open their way to sidequests, some of them will hold some importance to the storyline while many are there purely to gain additional gil and items.


New Addition: Historical Archives!
History plays a large part in Mercenaries, with a lot of the back story actually being told through these scrambled historical texts. Everything that used to be a proposition, is now a small snippet of history! Of course the rumors are no exception, hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to add more. But I have far too similar of a writing pattern when I write but first let me give you a slight base...

The three main books you read in the game are...

The Durai Report, which had gained massive success and is garnering resentment towards the Hyral Royal Family, it has now been released for 40 years and though many people have tried to refute it, Alazlam was able to respond in kind and point out how everything "fit". Frequently citing another book called "Memoirs of a Cadet" which was widely believed to be a work of fiction, until the Durai Report was released.

This book chronicles the life of young nobleman Badum Gillroy as he journey's with St. Victor to stop the cause of the Lion War, it is a tale of daring and danger, demons, monsters, and ill hearted humans fill it's pages but St. Victor and his team triumph over all. The book ends on a rather sad note as they descend into Orbonne Monastary, Badum leaves the collected diary outside, hoping someone would pick it up if he were not to return. Believed to be a work of fiction, written shortly after King Delita united the land, the Durai Report adds credence to this tale, and would mean that "St. Victor" was none other then Ramza Beoulve.

Alazlam has used these two books as a way to keep out debate for thirty eight years in total. Though shortly after he died of natural causes, historians came out of the woodwork, struggling to tear down Durai's legacy of "Enlightenment". Many court historians arose like locusts with many "unreleased" texts which painted Ramza as a cold blooded murder, but that only seemed far too suspicious to the wary public, and disregarded these new "manuscripts".

Griescher's Documents is the second book, written only years after the Durai Report's release, he was Alazlam's main opponent and his notes aim to prove that the Durai Report is for the most part nearly a fabrication. Griescher was the head historian for the Hyral Royal Family, it was tasked to him to show that the Durai Report was just misleading propoganda against the great founder of the current Royal Family. His Foreword places Ramza Beoulve as a dangerous Heretic who killed these innocent people lusting after the Holy Stones, who had no relation to the Hero King Delita. Before being able to complete his work, he died under mysterious circumstances. His unfinished works were collected and released, shortly after Griescher's death. Any serious historian studying the Lion War would take both the Durai Report as well as Griescher's Documents along with them in their journeys.

The final and most important book is called "Ruglia's Records" which chronicles the life of a young mercenary in the service of renowned mercenary Gaff Gafgarion. The story starts at Fort Zeakden, known to history as the Fort Zeakden incident. This book is Ramza's own personal journal, the only biases are his biases, no one elses. Truly the most influential text of the mystery surrounding the youngest Beoulve. Though many other court historians have arrived with their own "lost texts" the historian Hedin Fordring must prove that these are genuine articles and compile the journey's of Ramza Ruglia, into a single, coherent book. Armed with the Durai Report in one hand and Griescher's Documents in the other, the young historian journey's Ivalice on the thirst for further information on the Lion War.

Here are a few samples for Olan and Grieschers books. (Thanks goes to Kaijitani Eizan as well as LostMinstrel for writing up Griescher's foreword and a snippet of the Durai Report!)

I am looking for submissions for any random piece of the Ending of the Fifty Year War, until King Delita Unites the Land. Don't worry about grammar, I would be glad to fix it up for you, this also gives a good chance to be put in Mercenaries! I cannot wait for what you fellows come up with, there are a lot of propositions that need replaced, so keep the creativity flowing!



QuoteForeword to Griescher's Documents:

Let me get straight to the point...

Ramza is a fictional character concocted by Orlan Durai as part of his anti-Delita agenda. 99% of the story is untrue, because Alazlam is retelling history based on the Durai Report, which Orlan wrote, and we can't trust Orlan because of his anti-Delita bias.

Reasons for Orlan to hate Delita include Delita's manipulation of Goltana to have his foster father (Orlandu) arrested, Delita's murder of Goltana, and Delita's murder of Orlandu. In the Report, a "fake" Orlandu is killed by Delita. In actual history, Delita killed the real Orlandu. Orlan changes things in his report, having his foster father join with the fictional Ramza to "save Ivalice from the Zodiac monsters".

The actual Ramza is as the Church says, a heretic. There were never any Zodiac monsters in history. Ramza just kills everyone, and Orlan attributes the massacres to Zodiac monsters. Crazy I know, but consider Vormav as he is portrayed in The Manipulator and the Subervient  and Vormav as he appears in The Valiant. In The Manipulator and the Subservient, he is an agent of the Church, manipulating things with Delita's help. In The Valiant, after no time lapse, he is possessed by a Zodiac monster. Orlan stretches the truth, and paints Ramza as a "kind man", from a "noble family". He does this to establish a character to rival Delita, a stable boy of humble beginnings that rose to high standing through hard work. The people of Ivalice admire Delita, but Orlan tries to fu-fu him and make Ramza seem like a good guy.

Why did the Church conceal the Durai Report? Because it brings to light the Church's own manipulation of things. It was ultimately unable to triumph, as Delita, the clever opportunist, siezed the chances he was given.

Lastly, consider the ending. Orlan depicts Ramza as having miraculously escaped Murond. That didn't happen. Orlan is just a poor writer. He does this though to give Ramza a "larger than life" sense of being. He's from a good family, he stood true to his friends, he did things selflessly, and ultimately, he saved Ivalice from the "Zodiac monsters". His sister Alma, as least as she is portrayed in the Report, is also largely fictional. However, just as Delita showed determination and resolve after his sister's death, so too does the fictional Ramza show resolve to rescue his sister. However, fictional Ramza is ultimately successful, unlike Delita, but that is only because Orlan is mis-portraying history.

There is also the final entry in which Ovelia turns on Delita. None of that actually happened in history, but Orlan retells this out-landish lie to portray Delita as a manipulator that ultimately had nothing in the end (i.e. he loses his queen, he lost his childhood friend, etc.). He does this in one final attempt to portray Delita as a bad person, having "used" the fictional Ramza for his own purposes.
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Post by: Cheetah on May 24, 2008, 04:19:39 pm
Sounds ambitious. Looking forward to your progress.
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Post by: VincentCraven on May 25, 2008, 12:09:28 am
Nice!  Since you are pretty much making a whole new storyline, you'll be able to cut out many classes and many abilities which will help you insert new abilities and classes, right?  Now this is something that I'm interested in.
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Post by: Armorvil on May 25, 2008, 08:16:42 am
Incredible !
I'll play this gem, that's for sure :D
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Post by: melonhead on May 28, 2008, 08:09:59 pm
Wow. This looks great. It's a great feeling to see so many people using tools I made to create creative works of art like this, Heavenly Chaos, VK, 1.3, Zodiac Crisis, etc.
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Post by: LastingDawn on May 28, 2008, 08:42:54 pm
Ah thank you, Melonhead and yes as I've sajd before your wonderful works is what allows us to do all of this and let our creativity flow!
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Post by: trickstardude7 on May 28, 2008, 09:25:49 pm
Wow looks great awesome job!
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Post by: McCracker1 on May 29, 2008, 12:12:27 am
This sounds great I can't wait
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Post by: LastingDawn on May 30, 2008, 06:15:34 pm
UPDATE: NEW MUSIC

Yes indeed, we have discovered completely 19 unused songs, which I am glad to say can easily be put into Mercenaries, expect to hear character themes for Lavian, Alicia, Rad, and many others now! As well as some wonderful new battle music, left to us by the wonderful creators of this game!
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Post by: Archael on May 30, 2008, 07:20:26 pm
music ftw
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Post by: Hippeus on May 30, 2008, 08:24:45 pm
Lets see I like Gaffy and Ramza so I call this a win win situation. Can't wait to try out this patch.
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Post by: thewhoandthehare on May 30, 2008, 08:29:24 pm
do you have to kill agrias and/or delita at the zirekil(sp) falls battle? you probably won't tell me but I thought I might try asking
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Post by: LastingDawn on May 30, 2008, 09:54:08 pm
Hehe, you'll have to wait to find out, Goltana and Larg are complete, but I still need to finish a few other NPC's also in the next video I'd like to show the new intro and aftermath.
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Post by: Hippeus on May 31, 2008, 12:11:57 am
You're gonna make me cry if you don't get this done soon :D
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Post by: Caliburn on May 31, 2008, 12:19:47 am
Cool idea for an alternate storyline.

Very ambitious and I wish you luck on completing it. Look forward to trying it.
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Post by: LastingDawn on May 31, 2008, 03:15:34 pm
The new intro is complete, please tell me what you fellows think, the more feedback the better.



Mercenaries: Intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxAnS2wAxc)
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Post by: trickstardude7 on May 31, 2008, 08:09:34 pm
Wow it looks SO cool I cant wait!! how did you even do all that O_o are you going to include Funeral at all ^_^
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Post by: LastingDawn on May 31, 2008, 10:33:40 pm
Funeral will indeed make a few appearances and not just getting slaughtered by the Shrine Knights,  though the video is a simple tech demo, using a hex editor that inputs key strokes as letters (which is rare due to FFT's unconventional way of placing text) I was able to text edit quickly and efficiently, the demo didn't actually touch the event, it's just Ramza in Map 000, the ENTD is a modified one that only includes Ramza.
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Post by: Xifanie on May 31, 2008, 11:50:49 pm
I taught him.  :o

Site in on a small pause because I want to work on the events some more, since I've only been doing PHP and JavaScript lately.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 01, 2008, 03:02:26 pm
Certainly so, without Zodiac and his continuous help on IRC things would look pretty bleak for this project, well with some very minor event editing I've adde proper text bubbles to all of Ramza's text, also any reference to Zeakden was removed, since that is the first battle, replaced with other important things such as Alma and the Reed Whistle. I believe I may have rushed this video a bit much though, if that's the case please tell me, I can reupload it, it so desired. Next event video (except for fixes of this if need be) will be reruitment by Gaffgarion, hope to see you there.

Mercenaries Intro Final (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dBt4UKUEOY&watch_response)
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Post by: Vanya on June 01, 2008, 07:55:20 pm
I would re-upload an improved version of the first scene periodically until you think it is perfected to your standards.
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Post by: Archael on June 01, 2008, 09:34:48 pm
Quote from: "Vanya"I would re-upload an improved version of the first scene periodically until you think it is perfected to your standards.

eh upload the first one the best one the most perfect one!

I think LD is a pretty cool guy he makes great ideas and doesnt afraid of anything
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Post by: McCracker1 on June 02, 2008, 03:47:59 am
so I don't know if your taking suggestions on this but I'm working on a ronin sprite I figured you might want it(when it's complete) to replace samurai as it would fit your merc theme
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 02, 2008, 01:18:05 pm
Finally! Something to replace the overarmored people! Personally of all the sprites, I think they did a pretty poor job on the Samurai sprite, oh and of course I'm open to suggestin. There's no way I can do this alone, hehe. If anyone has a suggestion for this, place come forth and place it, nothing is set in stone as of now.
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Post by: McCracker1 on June 02, 2008, 06:31:01 pm
Since I'm not working on much except the ronin sprite right now I figured I might help you brainstorm on some things for the patch. But I have to ask some questions first.
What jobs are you changing?
Are you changing all the skillsets?
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 02, 2008, 09:21:28 pm
My wish is to at least alter all the generics skillsets, while all these classes get secret abilities to a point that might not be enough, they might need more to such. Odin is no longer available to Summoners and neither is "Rich", they should have two more moves, but I am unsure as to what...
Squires used by the enemy will not exist, since the Basic Skill set of their's is currently giving the Lancer's a home. Chemists have absolutely no changes and I am at a wall with them, if one has thoughts on them that would be wonderful. Archer is completely changed partially modeled after the FFTA archer with a wide array of moves, with varying strengths.
Knights are basically 1.3's Knights with a little bit added, no need for improvement there. The Monk's Chakra now costs MP and doesn't recover MP, also they have lost Revive. I'm wondering if replacements for those are really neccessary though... Priests, Wizard, Time Mage, Summoner, have nothing new added to them yet and only have a secret skill.

Thief has become Traveler as seen in the demo, They are mage thieves, Focusing on gil making, speed, self preservation, as well as a number of Mage Bane tricks, they're solid without being too good.  Mediator's roles have become changed, losing brave and faith adding and Invite one would think them useless, but they are anything but, in their places a few new skills were added. Invitation is now Revelry, the enemy and you both sing a song (in performing status) Until the "revelry" is broken. Defend! allows you to cast defend on one of your own units, doubling their evasion and protecting them from attacks. also their secret skill is something new and unseen before as well, their _Praise now adds PA +1 instead of Brave +4,  at the cost of MP, of course.


Oracle and Geomancer only said change is in their secret skills,  Lancer  on the otherhand has seen a complete facelift, They still have Jump but only 4 Panels as in FFTA, Their abilities range from powerful to random, their new strengths are not to be underestimated.


Samurai and Ninja unfortunately see no change except for the loss of two of their abilities for use by "Secret Skills" (cheap cop out, I know)

Calculator becomes Blue Mage, typical Blue Mage, aside from the choice of skills there's not much unique here, maybe a Magic Flying Sword, but that comes with the territory.

Bard becomes Red Mage only Rad has access to this class. Dancer's become....?  Ramza's last special class, which I am sorely asking for ideas! The idea we had, only worked for both guys not both, so it would need to be something unique to Ramza and NOT Heavenly Knight. Remember this Ramza is nothing but a Merecenary.
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Post by: McCracker1 on June 02, 2008, 10:07:46 pm
well you could have gaff die and ramza would become the same as gaff but it would definatly be cooler if he became something all together new(I'll try to think of something). If you end up using my ronin sprite I have an Idea for a secret skill to go with the new merc based take on samurai.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 02, 2008, 10:23:20 pm
That's good news, Currently their Secret Skill is Masamune, which is quite a copout. Well about Gaffgarion dying... I can't say anything one way or another but the story is more or less prepared by now, all main events anyhow.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 11, 2008, 11:33:20 pm
Alright, I am at heads with what Ramza's final class should be, Rad's will be Red Mage, that much is finalized, but Rad is supposed to be the only one in Ivalice with access to Red Magic,  therefore Ramza can't also be that for his final class. I need an idea that is NOT Heavenly Knight, even if one throws the old arguments, this is certainly not the same Ramza as in the normal FFT. His stance is a bit more aggressive, nor is he AS compassionate, he'll still show mercy and the like, but he will lose a lot of his tender behavior. Therefore he is not as near alike as his father.

I also want to avoid the cliche of "gaining the Master's Class" which means he won't become a Dark Knight either. Something a bit more creative... which I... ahem... seem to be lacking for myself. Any ideas aside from those aforementioned will be given consideration.
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Post by: Kourama on June 13, 2008, 03:20:21 pm
My best idea would be giving him the some sort of "Hero" title. He doesn't have to use swordskills but can improve "morale/stats" of allies during battle as well as keeping him with his basic abilities.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 13, 2008, 03:35:37 pm
Ah, thank you for the idea, but I don't think I made myself clear enough... Ramza and Rad have two different ending clqasses, using  Dancer and Bard replacements of course. Rad's Red Mage replaces Bard and Ramza's Class replaces Dncer, these aren't the normal class changes given to Ramza but a special final class option.

Also this Ramza pretty much follows around Gafgarion the whole game, not exactly the cutting edge leader, he does get "Guard!" though. He doesn't get anything else new for his basic class. Therefore this final class, wouldn't really fit the leader prospect.
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Post by: Kourama on June 14, 2008, 08:34:03 am
I understand now. Well the only thing I can think of is a title of Apprentice or something along those lines where he would be following in the footsteps of Gaffgarion as a Dark Knight. But you said you didn't want anything like that.

I'll try to see if I can come up with a good title for that position.
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Post by: BeoulveBlack on June 20, 2008, 06:47:12 pm
hey lastingdawn

how did you get the effect for [jump] onto the skill you conveniently called 'jump'? i wanna know so i can attach it to a skill called 'death plunge'

P.S.
i always wondered why chemists didn't throw items like the fire balls or explosive potions (small explosion at fort zekeden graphic), posioning herbs, etc.?
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Post by: Vanya on June 20, 2008, 07:13:59 pm
We don't currently have a way to change the character animation that is used  in conjunction with a given skill. However, LastingDawn and I both found a monster skill that when a human use it, it uses the jump animation. It's Worker 8's Crush skill, but it isn't perfect.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 20, 2008, 09:04:06 pm
It is indeed what the new Dragoon class relies on, I wanted a Dragoner-Lancer, with a bit of FFTA Dragoon and I have to say it worked very well. That Crush skill is a life saver! Without it, I would still be wrapping my head with trying to figure out a way to make units use jump without problems.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 23, 2008, 09:24:50 pm
The second video is all but prepared!

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_014805_0191.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_024404_0383.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_025834_0945.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_23062008_210741_0607.png)

And there's much, much more! Which Duke will triumph over the other? Why are King Delita and Ramza on the same team?! Why are Gafgarion and Ramza crossing blades with one another?! How are the two Dukes even alive with King Delita standing there?! What is that skill that Mustadio will invariably use offscreen!? Why is Sephiroth there?! Is he Friend or Foe?! Well only a few of these will be answered since this is only a demo battle video. It is set to release sometime late tonight, along with the savestate for PsxFin, hope to see you there!
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Post by: Cheetah on June 23, 2008, 09:57:16 pm
...Sweet! I have been pretty impressed by this project but this is looking really cool.

Are you still needing a Sephiroth portrait or any other graphics stuff?
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Post by: gojoe on June 23, 2008, 10:13:58 pm
hmmm i wouldn't know what to call the class but why not give ramza the ability to equip a sword and a gun at the same time? maybe a skillset based using either of the weapons with either holy or dark element. call the skill set heaven or hell (of course the gun would have to be specialy modded ,got the idea from sword of the new world a game i played for about 5 mins) just don't make it a pirate class, hmm maybe call it dueling fates, a warrior who walks the void between heaven and hell.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 23, 2008, 10:24:19 pm
Ah yes indeed. Thank you for the support Cheetah, a Sephiroth portrait is sorely needed. Also, Sephiroth is in reality a placeholder sprite for another sprite I've been working on, not with much success though.

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/Final%20Fantasy%20Tactics/Assassin.jpg)

This is supposed to be Rofokare, (nameless Time Mage in Yuguo, becomes a rather main character) though I had tried 100  different ways for the arms (I do not want the gauntlets, too obvious what the base is.) But as you can see I would like it to be a hooded sprite without gauntlets. Though the hood parts themselves look a little awkward, if you can fix those up a little it would be deeply appreciated. If you can think up a good portrait for her as well, that would be wonderful!

The gun/sword is a pretty interesting idea... but there would be little way to relegate that to only Ramza that would be a bit tricky.
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Post by: Bastard Poetry on June 23, 2008, 10:42:45 pm
WOW, LastingDawn.. just.. WOW!

I never had a chance to swing over here and check out your project, but now that I finally have, I'm REALLY excited!

I can't wait to see where this all goes! If you need any help in the writing department, let me know. I've been keeping busy with the Chronicles, but I could always do some writing for you when I'm at work. (It gets pretty slow at night).
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 23, 2008, 10:55:16 pm
That would be wonderful Bastard Poetry! The writing department is a bit difficult for me, though I have the main story all in my head, but simply because of spoiler purposes I can't really post it. But would you like a copy through PM?

EDIT: All in my head? I meant all on paper, ahem....
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Post by: Bastard Poetry on June 23, 2008, 10:56:35 pm
Email it to me:

bastardpoetry@gmail.com
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Post by: Cheetah on June 23, 2008, 11:17:01 pm
LastingDawn have you seen my Blue Mage sprite and the arms on her? It would be really easy for me to replace head so that it had the hood. I think it could look pretty cool. Then the portrait would be really easy, I know just what to use.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 23, 2008, 11:18:49 pm
That sounds great! But can the color scheme stay on Rofokare? It's pretty central to her character,

EDIT: After I finish this video I'll certainly send it your way Bastard Poetry.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 23, 2008, 11:55:22 pm
Oh yeah I would totally leave the color scheme. Mind if I use that purple as one of m Blue Mages alternate palettes when I get around to officially releasing her?

I could probably have the sprite ready in a few days if you need.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 12:05:10 am
It would be an honor, though the purple isn't really mine it was an idea of Zozma's. It looked good on one of his sprites and it turned out looking pretty nice on H85.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 02:15:47 pm
Well it might not be "last night" but it's not too late today, eh? Well the video is up 9:50 seconds, I tried to cram everything I could into the video up to the 10 minute mark, while I couldn't get the AI to use everything (or allow me to use any of Balmafula's other skills...) but regardless there are quite a few new skills used (though perhaps a bit too many Sword Skills... King Delita really steals the show)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G37t3oQFv5M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G37t3oQFv5M)

Enjoy! Any critique or comments are certainly appreciated!
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Post by: Cheetah on June 24, 2008, 02:55:52 pm
I'm so excited to check it out.

Wow that is some pretty impressive stuff. Did you do the opening by editing an existing skit or did you use Zodiac's event compiler stuff? That was a lot of unique sprites out there. I'm guessing Seph was just on your team and you just had him attacking everyone right? Some of those spells were pretty snazzy. I think my favorite skill out of all of that was Guard! on Ramza, that would be great for a Warrior job. How did you do it?
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Post by: Cheetah on June 24, 2008, 05:09:24 pm
Is this what you are looking for as a portrait for that character? Oh can you post the pic of her sprite in PNG instead of JPEG format? The JPEG compression makes it impossible to work with.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 05:32:05 pm
Ah absolutely wonderful! If you could add a smirk to her face, that would perfectly fit her character!


Ah, didn't realize you edited your post. I edited Zirekile but it highly involved the decompiler that Zodiac had made. But no... Sephiroth was Light Blue, he was attacking anyone he felt like (mostly my team). Applying Defend to a character is as simple as making a new status and marking "Defending". It works very well.

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/Assassin.jpg)

Would that suffice? To be honest, I'm not sure how to attach it to the site.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 24, 2008, 07:31:22 pm
Perfect, in regards to the sprite. A smirk would be really easy to do. I'm thinking of adding like a little wisp of hair too, would that be good?

That is awesome about the video. I didn't know you could do that with enemies, can you have it be like a whole different team? I am also very impressed by the event editing you did, that is really great.

Anything else you need help with?
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 08:08:12 pm
Currently I'm recording what events actually are according to the system, so I can have better control over events. Indeed you can, it's quite simple, Voldemort has an excellent display of such on one of his videos of a 5v5v5 team that works incredibly. The AI was put in for it, the application of said AI just wasn't applied. Zodiac managed to find it, I'm curious to where it was...

What I currently need help with, hmm... story scripting still needs a bit of work (which I stilll need to send to Bastard Poetry) aside from that... well there is an EXodus Sprite currently being worked on... ah I know! A lot of the event character's will need a ton of work. But that is such a large thing to ask of anyone... You'll notice that in the video the character's in the talking stage looked a bit static. I think I know how to manipulate EvtChr.bin so implementing anything like that wouldn't be too difficult. The spriting portion of Evtchr.bin would need a large change, since only a handful of characters from the original game has made it into any notable scenes in Mercenaries. If you'd like I can also send you a story synopsis?
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Post by: Zozma on June 24, 2008, 09:04:30 pm
the purple looks good, but i suggest using a less bold shade on the cloth underneath, it stands out as something alien to the rest of the color scheme IMO, but it looks good  :)

i also like the way the portrait looks too.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 09:15:53 pm
True it does come across as rather odd, what color would you suggest instead of that shade of purple?
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Post by: Bastard Poetry on June 24, 2008, 09:19:47 pm
Incredible! Absolutely incredible!

I'm looking forward to working on that script for you, because now I feel honored to have the opportunity to be a part of this project!

Using those event animations for attacks was freakin' SEXY!!

Exclamation points!!!
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Post by: Zozma on June 24, 2008, 10:14:02 pm
purple is still good, just a softer shade to match other fft characters. teta's dress colors? the darker shades of purple, still try to make it more pastale to blend with the other shade of purple. even the grey that it was originally isnt bad. whatever you chose it just needs to be softer even a dark shade.

i like that portrait she looks like some sort of assassin or something evil lol...
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Post by: Archael on June 24, 2008, 10:32:37 pm
I'm really looking forward to the story most of all.

I hope the Gafgarion + Ramza bonding story fills the gap that my father left when he was never around for my upbringing.

You hear that LD!?

If your patch doesn't fix my childhood induced psychological traumatic stress, I will commit suicide!

Not to pressure you or anything.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 10:37:54 pm
Hmm, Teta's dres's purple  does look nice and would most certainly look better.
As well thank you Bastard Poetry, currently typing up the story I have down on paper, at least up to the end of the first chapter. (things get a bit hazy there...) And Voldemort... um... I'll.. ?do? my... best?
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Post by: Archael on June 24, 2008, 10:46:27 pm
You better.  :shock: !!!
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Post by: Asmo X on June 24, 2008, 11:22:47 pm
I like the way your commanders are coming out. The attacks Larg used in the video suggest outside aerial support which is really cool.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 24, 2008, 11:30:30 pm
Alright, I sent you the story event sheet Bastard Poetry (all the way up to the beginning of Chapter 2...) It might be a bit confusing to read. If you need assistance in that, I can rewrite it to be more legible.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 25, 2008, 12:33:50 am
I'm still touching up Purple Mystery's portrait. Though I'm not sure if you will like the smurk, it makes her look less femanine. But I will keep working on it.

I will also work on the purple of her dress when I take a look at her sprite as well.
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Post by: Zozma on June 25, 2008, 12:37:39 am
i think she looked pretty sweet without the smirk but maybe its intended for her to be less serious?
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 25, 2008, 02:43:51 am
Oh her character is certainly serious, the smirk on her face will play into her character enormously, I can promise you that.
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Post by: VincentCraven on June 25, 2008, 11:46:45 am
hmm... Lasting Dawn, are you still planning to have this game start @ Fort Zeakden?  If so, how?
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 25, 2008, 01:27:18 pm
Ah, that's the whole point of the "flashback" scene, the Flashback goes from scenario 1 to Scenario 4E (The start of Fort Zeakden) After Zeakden Battle, it cuts immediately to Ramza in the Military Academy with the text explaining how Delita nor he could make it in time but when the final blow was struck on Algus, like clockwork the fort exploded violently claiming whatever little life Teta may have had and incinerating Ramza's troops. Unfortunately from that point on, unless I didn't want to include the World Map, I have to follow the same flow of events. Chapter 1, while vastly different in ENTD and structure will be the same areas (not precisely the same maps though..) And the same progress as such, unfortunately I am bound to this by the unknown map structure which we seem far from figuring out.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 26, 2008, 06:57:22 pm
Nooo. The power went off in my apartment building and I hadn't saved much of my work on the Purple Mystery Portrait. Luckally I can just used what I posted and I didn't do that much after that anyways.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 26, 2008, 07:23:39 pm
Ouch... I hope you can recall what you had working on. I have that problem as well, I leave my computer on for days at a time until it gets turned off by an outside force.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 26, 2008, 07:45:56 pm
Okay it is going to be hard to take me seriously after I ask this but. Do you want Blue Mystery to have clevage showing or covered up?

Preview! Thoughts?
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 26, 2008, 07:57:19 pm
Covered up would be preferable, it is a highly ornate Robe as it stands. The preview looks excellent! Only thing the hood needs is far enough to cover her eyes, and it would be perfect. The smirk is very unpronounced but that's exactly what I was looking for! Rofokare is a highly subtle character and your sprite certainly does justice to her.
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Post by: Zozma on June 26, 2008, 09:06:48 pm
rofo what? hehe... was that the name of one of the characters ive seen it before
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Post by: Archael on June 26, 2008, 09:08:12 pm
rofoKARE!!!
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 26, 2008, 09:20:57 pm
Rofokare is the faceless Female Time Mage from Yuguo Woods, Mercenaries adds a lot to this character, and she is very important to the plot.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 26, 2008, 09:27:05 pm
Yeah I got that smurk to work out pretty well. Okay so I if you are okay with how the sprite looks in the preview with clevage then I can have the sprite done in tonight or tomorrow. If you want it to be more covered up like the original Meliadoul then it is going to take a few days at least and I might run into more problems. I'm fine doing it either way, I just want to make sure I'm doing it the way you want it. With clevage she would be a Type2 sprite and without clevage I'm not sure, but probably Type1.
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Post by: Archael on June 26, 2008, 09:30:06 pm
cleavage will make her even more mysterious


not only will she be hiding something

she'll be hot too.

type 2 please.  :D
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 26, 2008, 09:36:51 pm
It's not really too revealing, and it might be good publicity, certainly, Type 2 is fine. Once again, thank you for all of your work.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 26, 2008, 09:38:46 pm
Green Light, GO!
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Post by: Archael on June 27, 2008, 12:03:47 am
Quote from: "Cheetah"Cleavage, GO!

fixed  :D
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Post by: Cheetah on June 27, 2008, 07:01:56 am
Voldemort: Haha

Well I have Rofokare pretty much done. I just need to add the extend hood everywhere. Shouldn't be too hard, but I'm on my laptop at work and I need a mouse to do fine detail stuff like that.

PS: I have a few extra colors to work with. Do you want the shoes and decorations to be red or some other color? Oh and what color do you want her eyes to be? I'm making it so they are mostly hidden except for a few frames, but I think it would be cool if they were a really striking color so that when you could see them it would be really noticeable. Thoughts?
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Post by: Cheetah on June 27, 2008, 08:42:13 am
So here it is for your inspection. I do think the color of the eyes and the red highlights should be changed. But I think it is turning out to look pretty sweet.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 27, 2008, 04:48:33 pm
Positively wonderful! Thank you very much Cheetah! But the eyes have to stay that color, for all the short time they can be seen. Though what are the red highlight's you're talking about, I can't seem to find them. eXtra colors, eh? If it's not too much work could very small runes be inscribed on the robe? That is if possible, if not, then simply coloring different parts of her outfit would be fine with me.
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Post by: Cheetah on June 27, 2008, 06:30:26 pm
Hmm ruins would be quite difficult to get the shading looking right even given the large area of her dress to work with. I might experiment with it. The red is just on the shoes and dots on her back. I'm glad you like it. I will put it into and SPR soon.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 27, 2008, 06:51:52 pm
Well I'm off for the weekend, excellent work thus far!
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Post by: Archael on June 27, 2008, 07:41:38 pm
first patch of it's kind ftw
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Post by: Zozma on June 28, 2008, 05:32:18 am
hey cheeta how does it look this way..?
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Post by: Asmo X on June 28, 2008, 08:03:31 am
Hey i think I like that one the most
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Post by: Cheetah on June 28, 2008, 10:28:37 am
Yeah your hood looks a bit better then mine. You saw that I posted the complete sprite sheet with the hood though right? But you can totally do some touchups if you feel so inclined. I did the sprite in like a day while pulling an all nighter so it could use some work. I haven't even had time to see it in motion yet.
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Post by: Zozma on June 29, 2008, 04:06:08 am
hey ;)

plus it might work as a great template for the blue caped person in the menu screen who has the phony saint job.
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Post by: Archael on June 29, 2008, 12:51:14 pm
type 2 = cleaveage = oh yes    :D
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Post by: Cheetah on June 29, 2008, 02:38:23 pm
The extra shading does cover they eyes hmmm. I will look into it, it would be easy enough to do, and I do think it looks better. I will totally be making this available, just needs some slight additions and then the spr will be up.
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Post by: Zozma on June 29, 2008, 03:38:14 pm
a type 1 can have just as much cleavage, its really only the way the arms connect thats so different. but this sprite isn't supposed to be revealing shes supposed to be a "mystery" right?
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Post by: Cheetah on June 29, 2008, 03:45:32 pm
Voldemort is just refering to the fact that if I had things differently she would have had no clevage and would have been a Type 1 sprite. Given the work that I have already done with my blue mage it was just much much easier to do a type2 sprite with clevage, plus the arms are type2.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 29, 2008, 07:48:31 pm
Hmm, the hooded face effect is really much better then an elongated hood, excellent idea Zozma. Certainly Rofokare seems to be shaping up quite well!
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Post by: Cheetah on June 30, 2008, 08:40:24 pm
So I think this is the near final portrait. Since the sprite is showing a little skin I thought the portrait should as well. Plus I think the hood looks much better like this. Oh and I also think the inclusion of clevage makes the sprite more clearly female. Next I'm going to touch up the sprite, and then present the SPR. Give me a day or two.
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 30, 2008, 10:22:16 pm
As always, excellent work! Yes, that picture is a slight improvement, it's always good to see such dedication.
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Post by: Zozma on July 02, 2008, 09:02:14 pm
that little smirk does it. she looks evil alright.. lol im so gonna use this sprite in my own patch
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Post by: Archael on July 02, 2008, 09:36:11 pm
ah

you already had me at the cleavage part

 :D
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 02, 2008, 11:41:00 pm
As you are pretty much the inspiration for her existence more or less Zozma, it would be an honor to have you use it as well. Of course anyone is free to use it, it 's just a sprite after all. We'll each find different roles for different sprites.
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Post by: Zozma on July 03, 2008, 01:55:49 am
thank you :D, it works alongside entd editor and has to be enemy only characters.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 03, 2008, 01:04:16 pm
Indeed, Zodiac, Karsten, and Vincent have absolutely wonderful sprites. I'm just glad I'm able to obtain the help of your fellows, I am quite fortunate to have you guys around. New sprites breathes a lot of new life into a game.
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Post by: Cheetah on July 03, 2008, 05:14:03 pm
So here is the finished Rofokare. I haven't seen her in motion much so tell me if there are any problems. Remember that she is a Type2 sprite, so she will only work on some jobs or bases. I made some of the changes Zozma recommended, but I didn't change the hood much to look snazzy like he had it.

If you think there should be any color changes or adjustments just tell me.
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Post by: Archael on July 03, 2008, 05:38:06 pm
amazing work

looks like a very interesting character

5/5  :shock:
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Post by: Zozma on July 03, 2008, 06:25:06 pm
i can do the hood when i get home if you'd like sure
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Post by: Cheetah on July 03, 2008, 07:12:56 pm
If you like go for it Zozma. I think it looks fine either way, but your reworked hood is definitely snazzier.

Thanks Voldemort.
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Post by: Zozma on July 03, 2008, 07:21:26 pm
i think ill use her at the lake, with all the undeads.. shell have a speaking part at the beginning too cool...
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Post by: Cheetah on July 03, 2008, 07:38:08 pm
She would make a good Neocromancer it is true. Sorry for the horrible spelling.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 03, 2008, 07:51:41 pm
Betterthen I could have dreamed of! Also the folds of the robe over the arms, did you put those in yourself?
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Post by: Cheetah on July 03, 2008, 07:57:40 pm
I'm glad you like it LastingDawn, I like how it turned out. I'm sure it will look even better if Zozma makes some tweaks to it. I can't take credit for the arms though, I just grabbed them from Balmafula and then made them work with the robe.

If you could post a quick vid of her in motion with some sword attacks that would be greatly appreciated. I'm still not sure those animations look quite right.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 03, 2008, 11:51:55 pm
Hmm... as much as I would love to test it out, I'm not sure of any Type 2 sprites that aren't Balmafula which is large enough to hold the sprite... Would you happen to have any thoughts?
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Post by: Zozma on July 04, 2008, 01:00:00 am
the extra celia and lede sprites don't have enough space?
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Post by: Cheetah on July 04, 2008, 01:50:24 am
Just replace it over the dancer and it should do the trick. For testing at least.
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Post by: Zozma on July 04, 2008, 02:35:18 am
unless you want to see her in the menu too, u could just use the unused seria.spr or ledy.spr should be the size of a dancer....
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Post by: Zozma on July 04, 2008, 03:21:15 am
okay check this out
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Post by: Zozma on July 04, 2008, 05:33:19 am
i just tried it, rofokare DOES fit inside the LEDY.SPR
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Post by: Cheetah on July 04, 2008, 12:22:38 pm
Looks good. I would just recommend adding some motion to her head/hood for her front walking animation. I had this in the original to some degree for an example, but it still might need a little work. It doesn't need to be much, just a few pixels. It makes for a cool effect and gives the sprite a lot more life.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 04, 2008, 11:43:25 pm
Hmm... when I tried it, Rofokare was 43.5 kb, and Ledy was 42.3, if I recall... did you do something diffierently? Ah, as well, no need for a menu sprite, she'd be a guest only.
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Post by: Cheetah on July 05, 2008, 12:19:34 am
Even if they are a little bit better they often work, even when CDMage gives you a warning. If they wont work then CDMage usually just wont burn the ISO. Though I haven't tried yet.
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Post by: Zozma on July 05, 2008, 03:52:53 pm
try this, take out the ledy.spr (or seria.spr doesnt matter) open it with shishi and import rofokare's palette
export it as a bmp and the copy/paste rofokare in that bmp
import that back into the ledy.spr and see if you managed to change the size... other than that you might have to cut off an arm or something to reduce size.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 05, 2008, 04:27:09 pm
Hmm... nothing I've tried has worked, I've tried your method now, but all that seems to do is screw up the sprite itself, but it might be the tool I'm using to make it happen, in any case you wouldn't be able to upload your modified Ledy (Rofokare) sprite would you? It seems like it simply won't work that easily over this way.
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Post by: Zozma on July 05, 2008, 05:06:34 pm
ill upload mine when i get home from work, it will be several hours but no problem
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Post by: Xifanie on July 05, 2008, 06:53:50 pm
You should use cdprog instead; it bypasses the file limit up to the next sector. The game will still read the whole thing even if the file wasn't allocated all of it because the game won't care about allocated size at all.
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Post by: Zozma on July 05, 2008, 07:10:45 pm
ahh so thats why I have never had any trouble inserting my sprites i know jenna's is bigger (probably because of the hair... then again i did cut off some sleeves.....

yeah i didn't do anything special to rofokare so if you use cd prog it should be easy.
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Post by: VincentCraven on July 07, 2008, 12:00:59 pm
*face palm*
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 08, 2008, 01:46:45 pm
CD Prog? Hmm? I'll try that out then.
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Post by: Archael on July 11, 2008, 10:06:32 pm
LD would you mind if I steal your Talk Skill ---> Defend idea for V1.3 Mediator?

We're re-tooling Praise , Preach, Threaten and Solution
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Post by: Cyberblade on July 13, 2008, 12:47:36 am
Hehe Nice work... now I have a question.

Whats the name of the first song in your first video? Its awesome.
And a second Whats the Animation for Dark Wave? I dont think
I have ever seen it.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 13, 2008, 02:08:20 am
Sorry been away for a bit (cannot let anything distract me from job searching!) but of course it's fine to use that, Voldemort. The first video's first song is "Strangers" from hack//Sign, the Dark Wave animation (which has been changed by now) is Dark Whisper, but that was just a test and didn't look as clean as I had hoped, sorry about the lack of updates or participation recently, I really want to get this job situation worked out before I can relax.
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Post by: Archael on July 13, 2008, 10:18:52 am
Quote from: "LastingDawn"Sorry been away for a bit (cannot let anything distract me from job searching!) but of course it's fine to use that, Voldemort. The first video's first song is "Strangers" from hack//Sign, the Dark Wave animation (which has been changed by now) is Dark Whisper, but that was just a test and didn't look as clean as I had hoped, sorry about the lack of updates or participation recently, I really want to get this job situation worked out before I can relax.

I agree man best of luck with the job searching. And here I thought it was FFTA2 keeping you distracted lol. I under-estimated your responsability and sense of self-improvement  8)

good luck bro
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Post by: Cyberblade on July 13, 2008, 01:10:26 pm
That explains where i heard the song =P .hack = pretty good

But the versions i find on youtube dont sound like the version in your video =P oh well.

Good luck on the job search

EDIT: Why it didnt sound the same is because that isnt tthe song its Foreigners not Strangers =P
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Post by: Glenn on July 19, 2008, 09:31:54 pm
Wow this looks really great so far, but like all great games you have to wait for a release.

Sorry to sidetrack a bit but have you thought of a last class for Ramza yet?
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 19, 2008, 09:52:36 pm
Indeed, the classes name is "Hessian" which basically just means Mercenary... in... German, ahem! But in any case it acts as a sort of "Super-Squire" class, it is basically a highly updated version of the Squire skillset. Though it's not all finalized... did you have any thoughts on it?
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Post by: Glenn on July 19, 2008, 10:01:07 pm
Hessian sounds original since it does mean Mercenary (your game is called FFT: Mercenaries). So in respect it does make sense, but I'm curious about the skill set. A super squire just sounds kinda boring in my opinion.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 19, 2008, 10:08:11 pm
Wel, the skill set aims to be rather varied, Throw Stone would become Throw Explosive (name pending...) which cancels charging of opponents, as well as damages them. Dash becomes Bullrush, which, (as well as a much higher power then Dash) has a chance to Don't Move or Don't Act your opponent. Heal becomes Nurse, which heals a decent amount of HP as well as cures any Status Ailments you may have. Admittedly I am having trouble coming up with some things, any help would be good.
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Post by: Glenn on July 19, 2008, 10:19:34 pm
Well those seem alright. Hmm Bullrush should also have a higher chance to knockback then dash as an added bonus. Gimme a couple minutes and I could probably fill some gaps.
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Post by: Vanya on July 20, 2008, 12:00:23 am
No way to mess with 'knock back' right now.

@LD: You may want to consider an extra offensive ability or two.
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Post by: Glenn on July 20, 2008, 12:11:24 am
Well thinking of what he's trying to make he's only missing a buffed Wish, Yell, Scream, Cheer, and Accumulate.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 20, 2008, 08:02:11 pm
Scream no longer exists and "Cheer up!" Became "Guard!" I think an upgraded Guard! would be longer range and effect area, not sure what to call it. Yell would probably cast Quick as well as Haste (thank you 1.3!) Wish is never upgraded, Wish is simply that, Wish plays a relatively underlying point in the plot, but I can't say any more then that.Accumulate would probably  be a Gather Power esque move, but that might need changed.
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Post by: Archael on July 20, 2008, 09:43:09 pm
Yell casting Haste or Quick (preferably Haste or both for this patch IMO)

is a buff to the skill itself

Haste is better right off the bat than +1 speed, and at the same time prevents +1 speed stack abuse.
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Post by: Glenn on July 21, 2008, 02:07:06 pm
Guard! with longer range sounds nice I suppose but at the same time isn't really great. How about calling the replacement Safe!, it puts the character in the defensive stance but also has a chance to give Protect or Shell?
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 21, 2008, 02:44:31 pm
Oh! Good idea, I hadn't thought of that, also is that an FFT Portrait based on Ganondorf?
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Post by: Glenn on July 21, 2008, 02:55:14 pm
Actually no but good guess! Its my self portrait of how I would look on FFT I guess. I have red hair in real life and its really just a recolorized portrait of Balbanes without the ponytail. I also tried to make him look younger. But I'm not too great at pixel art.  :(
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Post by: Glenn on July 21, 2008, 02:58:29 pm
I was trying to think of a new Accumulate. I got as far as an idea of a skill that would give maybe 3 to 5 attack power but would give the user Don't Move or Don't Act. However once those wore off you would have a way powerful unit. But really its the same as stacking accumulate but more tedious.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 21, 2008, 03:41:12 pm
Ouch, unfortunately I forgot for the time that +X and Status don't ever stack in the formula's they all have NS by them, it's peculiar, but it doesn't seem to work, which means I'll need to rethink Yell as well.
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Post by: Zozma on July 21, 2008, 06:08:47 pm
that modded balbanes portrait shows me that it has alot of potential for portrait templates :D
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Post by: Glenn on July 21, 2008, 11:19:11 pm
Haha glad you noticed that.
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Post by: Zozma on July 24, 2008, 09:08:40 pm
yo BP do you mind if i submit the purple mystery on zodiac's submission page so that everyone can have access to it?

and what should i call that sprite btw?
also im making a special knight sprite just for miluda (wow ive made alot of females huh? its cause im so good at animating hair and the ladies have it lol....)
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 25, 2008, 01:07:28 am
(Assuming you meant me...)

No...? Not at all... Zozma. Please, feel free. You and Cheetah did the true majority of the work, if only I could get CD Prog to work... I would be able to have her ingame, but alas.
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Post by: Cheetah on July 25, 2008, 03:00:00 am
I just called her Purple Mystery because I didn't know what Lasting Dawn was calling her at the time. I would probably just continue to call her Purple Mystery since she is a patch specific character and everyone would be confused by Rofokare most likely. In the credits I would note that it was Lasting Dawn's design, I did most of the sprite work, and then of course your contributions Zozma. I was going to submit her soon myself but I am very busy with the Chronicles of Kanbabrif right now.

Lasting Dawn:
Have you still be unable to get Rofokare in there? How did you get Seph in there but can't get Rofokare?
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Post by: Zozma on July 25, 2008, 03:22:15 am
yeah LD thx, but okay ill leave it for you guys to submit, its just a good sprite  wanted to make sure it wasn't forgotten.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 25, 2008, 11:53:16 am
Quote from: "Cheetah"I just called her Purple Mystery because I didn't know what Lasting Dawn was calling her at the time. I would probably just continue to call her Purple Mystery since she is a patch specific character and everyone would be confused by Rofokare most likely. In the credits I would note that it was Lasting Dawn's design, I did most of the sprite work, and then of course your contributions Zozma. I was going to submit her soon myself but I am very busy with the Chronicles of Kanbabrif right now.

Lasting Dawn:
Have you still be unable to get Rofokare in there? How did you get Seph in there but can't get Rofokare?

Well Sephiroth is taking Elmdor's place (He's dead and Stays dead!, just like Wiegraf his only mentions is in a rumor and partially in a flashback). He was the same exact bytes as Elmdor of course, the one place it would fit is over Balmafula, but I have rather large plans for her, and didn't want to replace her. Though CDProg, from what Zodiac says, it should be able to include sprite size +2 KB which is absolutely gigantic.
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Post by: trickstardude7 on July 25, 2008, 08:53:38 pm
Lasting Dawn I saw the colliseum battle thing

AMAZING !!

I am excited for this patch i want to be a beta tester :shock:
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Post by: woodenbandman on July 25, 2008, 11:15:13 pm
Wow, that opening scene reminds me of Cloud from FF7. Which reminds me: Is he still in there?
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 26, 2008, 01:56:48 am
Cloud's sprite is still there (so small I can't find any adequate replacement...) but I have no plans for him making an appearance, Cloud's purpose has been completely removed (no way for his scenes to happen now...) also his Limit's have been used and reworked to be... well... not Limit moves.


Well, I do need beta testers. I'll try to make a suitable build for such.
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Post by: trickstardude7 on July 26, 2008, 02:04:55 am
Quote from: "LastingDawn"Cloud's sprite is still there (so small I can't find any adequate replacement...) but I have no plans for him making an appearance, Cloud's purpose has been completely removed (no way for his scenes to happen now...) also his Limit's have been used and reworked to be... well... not Limit moves.


Well, I do need beta testers. I'll try to make a suitable build for such.
I cannot wait lol is it hard to do all of this :?:
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 26, 2008, 02:07:21 am
It's... time consuming, everything requires fine tuning and the new abilities are no exception. The character's unique abilities still need proper testing, and the Shine skills on the Treasure Hunter still need a lot of testing.
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Post by: Cheetah on July 26, 2008, 02:26:19 am
So here is a pic of Rofokare replacing a few different units. So I feel like you should be able to import her over Cloud if you aren't using him. If he isn't a type 2 sprite, I heard that Zodiac had figured out how to change the type of a sprite file.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 26, 2008, 10:15:55 am
Oh? Well I'll need to ask him about that, but it all comes down to use of the CD Prog which my computer seems to be having trouble using it, since Cloud is only 41.5 and Rofokare is quite a bit more then that, how did you put her in?
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Post by: Cheetah on July 26, 2008, 02:27:23 pm
Take the BMP of her with the palette set up correctly, import the BMP into Cloud's SPR file. Then Use CDMage Beta to import the new Cloud SPR over the old one. It might give you an error saying it is too big, but as long as it saves it isn't an issue.

I did the exact same thing, just over the male and female squires.
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Post by: BeoulveBlack on July 26, 2008, 06:46:48 pm
i would love to know how to change .SPR types... it would help me sooo much
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Post by: Zozma on July 27, 2008, 10:21:36 am
this is an edited version of purple mystery in sprite form. its a slight variation i did to the original, just to share.
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Post by: woodenbandman on July 27, 2008, 12:02:32 pm
I'll be a beta tester, no problem. I happen to have a pre-dorter II save all ready.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 27, 2008, 11:59:02 pm
Heh... well unfortunately I am grounded for much more then that, after the opening cutscenes I'm forced to follow the game's normal flow of map unlocks (perhaps not neccesarily events or maps... highly untested yet.) That is explained by saying it is the time in which Ramza and Gafgarion first met and worked together as Mercenaries, as the title implies... the large scope is between Ramza, Rad, and Gafgarion, with pleny of antagonists and a few protagonists to add spice to it all.
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 10, 2008, 02:36:20 pm
Alright, the Exodus video is up, and while it does spoil a few things about him, you cant have a good video without it, also there's no comparison to watching Stare Decisis and actually experiencing it. No storyline spoilers though. The "scenario" created is once again, just a demo, no storyline meanings put into it.

Exodus Test Run, Co-starring Rofokare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QYKlf5MKp4)

Now back to where I left off...

New Addition: Historical Archives!
History plays a large part in Mercenaries, with a lot of the back story actually being told through these scrambled historical texts. Everything that used to be a proposition, is now a small snippet of history! Of course the rumors are no exception, hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to add more. But I have far too similar of a writing pattern when I write but first let me give you a slight base...

The three main books you read in the game are...

The Durai Report, which had gained massive success and is garnering resentment towards the Hyral Royal Family, it has now been released for 40 years and though many people have tried to refute it, Alazlam was able to respond in kind and point out how everything "fit". Frequently citing another book called "Memoirs of a Cadet" which was widely believed to be a work of fiction, until the Durai Report was released.

This book chronicles the life of young nobleman Badum Gillroy as he journey's with St. Victor to stop the cause of the Lion War, it is a tale of daring and danger, demons, monsters, and ill hearted humans fill it's pages but St. Victor and his team triumph over all. The book ends on a rather sad note as they descend into Orbonne Monastary, Badum leaves the collected diary outside, hoping someone would pick it up if he were not to return. Believed to be a work of fiction, written shortly after King Delita united the land, the Durai Report adds credence to this tale, and would mean that "St. Victor" was none other then Ramza Beoulve.

Alazlam has used these two books as a way to keep out debate for thirty eight years in total. Though shortly after he died of natural causes, historians came out of the woodwork, struggling to tear down Durai's legacy of "Enlightenment". Many court historians arose like locusts with many "unreleased" texts which painted Ramza as a cold blooded murder, but that only seemed far too suspicious to the wary public, and disregarded these new "manuscripts".

Griescher's Documents is the second book, written only years after the Durai Report's release, he was Alazlam's main opponent and his notes aim to prove that the Durai Report is for the most part nearly a fabrication. Griescher was the head historian for the Hyral Royal Family, it was tasked to him to show that the Durai Report was just misleading propoganda against the great founder of the current Royal Family. His Foreword places Ramza Beoulve as a dangerous Heretic who killed these innocent people lusting after the Holy Stones, who had no relation to the Hero King Delita. Before being able to complete his work, he died under mysterious circumstances. His unfinished works were collected and released, shortly after Griescher's death. Any serious historian studying the Lion War would take both the Durai Report as well as Griescher's Documents along with them in their journeys.

The final and most important book is called "Ruglia's Records" which chronicles the life of a young mercenary in the service of renowned mercenary Gaff Gafgarion. The story starts at Fort Zeakden, known to history as the Fort Zeakden incident. This book is Ramza's own personal journal, the only biases are his biases, no one elses. Truly the most influential text of the mystery surrounding the youngest Beoulve. Though many other court historians have arrived with their own "lost texts" the historian Hedin Fordring must prove that these are genuine articles and compile the journey's of Ramza Ruglia, into a single, coherent book. Armed with the Durai Report in one hand and Griescher's Documents in the other, the young historian journey's Ivalice on the thirst for further information on the Lion War.

Here are a few samples for Olan and Grieschers books. (Thanks goes to Kaijitani Eizan as well as LostMinstrel for writing up Griescher's foreword and a snippet of the Durai Report!)

I am looking for submissions for any random piece of the Ending of the Fifty Year War, until King Delita Unites the Land. Don't worry about grammar, I would be glad to fix it up for you, this also gives a good chance to be put in Mercenaries! I cannot wait for what you fellows come up with, there are a lot of propositions that need replaced, so keep the creativity flowing!



QuoteForeword to Griescher's Documents:

Let me get straight to the point...

Ramza is a fictional character concocted by Orlan Durai as part of his anti-Delita agenda. 99% of the story is untrue, because Alazlam is retelling history based on the Durai Report, which Orlan wrote, and we can't trust Orlan because of his anti-Delita bias.

Reasons for Orlan to hate Delita include Delita's manipulation of Goltana to have his foster father (Orlandu) arrested, Delita's murder of Goltana, and Delita's murder of Orlandu. In the Report, a "fake" Orlandu is killed by Delita. In actual history, Delita killed the real Orlandu. Orlan changes things in his report, having his foster father join with the fictional Ramza to "save Ivalice from the Zodiac monsters".

The actual Ramza is as the Church says, a heretic. There were never any Zodiac monsters in history. Ramza just kills everyone, and Orlan attributes the massacres to Zodiac monsters. Crazy I know, but consider Vormav as he is portrayed in The Manipulator and the Subervient  and Vormav as he appears in The Valiant. In The Manipulator and the Subservient, he is an agent of the Church, manipulating things with Delita's help. In The Valiant, after no time lapse, he is possessed by a Zodiac monster. Orlan stretches the truth, and paints Ramza as a "kind man", from a "noble family". He does this to establish a character to rival Delita, a stable boy of humble beginnings that rose to high standing through hard work. The people of Ivalice admire Delita, but Orlan tries to fu-fu him and make Ramza seem like a good guy.

Why did the Church conceal the Durai Report? Because it brings to light the Church's own manipulation of things. It was ultimately unable to triumph, as Delita, the clever opportunist, siezed the chances he was given.

Lastly, consider the ending. Orlan depicts Ramza as having miraculously escaped Murond. That didn't happen. Orlan is just a poor writer. He does this though to give Ramza a "larger than life" sense of being. He's from a good family, he stood true to his friends, he did things selflessly, and ultimately, he saved Ivalice from the "Zodiac monsters". His sister Alma, as least as she is portrayed in the Report, is also largely fictional. However, just as Delita showed determination and resolve after his sister's death, so too does the fictional Ramza show resolve to rescue his sister. However, fictional Ramza is ultimately successful, unlike Delita, but that is only because Orlan is mis-portraying history.

There is also the final scene in which Ovelia turns on Delita. None of that actually happened in history, but Orlan retells this out-landish lie to portray Delita as a manipulator that ultimately had nothing in the end (i.e. he loses his queen, he lost his childhood friend, etc.). He does this in one final attempt to portray Delita as a bad person, having "used" the fictional Ramza for his own purposes.
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Post by: Zozma on August 10, 2008, 03:09:15 pm
hehe, nice video, umm i noticed rofokare's magic animation is messed up

i repaired it and re-posted it one page back
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 10, 2008, 03:14:02 pm
Oh is it? You have good eyes, I didn't notice anything. I'll certainly re download it, thank you for the extra helping hand.
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Post by: Zozma on August 10, 2008, 03:30:50 pm
lol crap, another animation was off a bit too (updated again)

some of the water frames were a bit messy as well
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 11, 2008, 02:38:42 pm
Here is the preview for Gaffgarion (nohelm that was decided for me to do in chat)
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 11, 2008, 03:42:59 pm
for some reason this makes me think of old solid snake
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Post by: Archael on August 11, 2008, 09:53:29 pm
I know Lasting Dawn doesn't want a forum section at the moment but I don't really care

I vote for this to get own forum section (is mine worth 20 pnts cuz im a moderator? I think it does.. forgot the exact rules)

we need more original projects like this with great ideas and lots of work put into them for FFH

these projects will turn out great and will get more ppl on this site

every storyline patch (even if they take ALOT more time & effort to make than a difficulty / balance patch like 1.3) are basically a new game of their own and well worth the work put in them  8)
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 11, 2008, 10:26:20 pm
ok here he is Completed (more or less i need to do his portrait)


EDIT: Portrait done
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Post by: Zozma on August 12, 2008, 08:46:19 am
bolmna is almost done! :P that came out of nowhere huh?

LD you did want sprites of bolmna and blansh right....?
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 12, 2008, 02:39:11 pm
What a welcome surprise indeed! Yes, Bolmna and Blansch were simply on my wish list, I had no idea you were working on him as well. Thank you Zozma. As always your work looks wonderful.


Also Helmetless Gafgarion is superb! Truly your skill with sprites Cyber improves by the day! I thank you all for your continual support.
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Post by: Zozma on August 12, 2008, 03:26:47 pm
well... i wasn't lol, i just decided to play around with a screenshot of the back of his head lastnight and now im about 90% done with the sprite lol...
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 13, 2008, 03:05:17 am
Yhalothar Female Darknight who stole gaffy's helm =o

Based off the Miang Sprite (Thanks Zozma!)
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 13, 2008, 01:32:17 pm
Slight update on the first page of the topic, sorry that took so long to be updated, heh...
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 13, 2008, 02:24:30 pm
Alright, a new video should be up early tommorow or late tonight! I have the second scenario and battle's events done! Here are a few pictures of the work thus far.

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141249_0943.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141328_0490.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141400_0974.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141436_0412.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141502_0006.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141518_0224.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141622_0537.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13082008_141641_0037.png)
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 13, 2008, 04:21:37 pm
K the Unit that is Gaffyhelmetthiefbasedonmiang is done =o
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Post by: Archael on August 13, 2008, 04:39:32 pm
Quote from: "Cyberblade"K the Unit that is Gaffyhelmetthiefbasedonmiang is done =o

very interesting sprite..

didn't even know u were working on this
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 13, 2008, 04:41:49 pm
XD i started it last night round 2 am and finished it today and why r u not on chat =(
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Post by: Vanya on August 13, 2008, 04:57:54 pm
My Warrior Sprite!! =3
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Post by: Archael on August 13, 2008, 05:01:15 pm
hey uh..
those screenies look really good.. like .. really good...

maybe you could upload the video early and show it to me privately..

that would be really good too... really cool...

yeah...  :D
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Post by: Zozma on August 13, 2008, 07:10:12 pm
the female dark knight is a neat idea. its pretty sweet, i like the way the hair goes with the helmet. only thing id suggest is maybe use a different color for her armor, at least where it starts to turn yellow.
for the portrait i suggest only use the entirity of gaffy's helmet and maybe even the body portion if the neck connects to it okay... if not try to find another body part that angles well with it.
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Post by: Sen on August 13, 2008, 07:20:40 pm
I think Gaffy's helm has horns  :twisted:
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Post by: Zozma on August 13, 2008, 07:29:25 pm
well, in a case like this its probably better to do a totally new portrait using the gaffy helmet, because its angled differently,but stil based off the same hair color and eye color
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 13, 2008, 09:23:57 pm
I love the screens!  I can't wait to test this!

btw, what was up with the items equipped on the chemists?
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 14, 2008, 12:27:39 am
New screens of the event poses (seen in the other topic) which will be included in the video!

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_14082008_000312_0778.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_14082008_000256_0168.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_14082008_000251_0418.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_14082008_000237_0730.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_14082008_000237_0730.png)
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Post by: Zozma on August 14, 2008, 12:28:43 am
hehe, awesome.
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Post by: Vanya on August 14, 2008, 12:40:36 am
Yay! Rad! =3
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Post by: Cyberblade on August 14, 2008, 05:05:19 pm
Shadow Knight For LD (Recolored Milluda Sprite)  (Thanks Zozma)
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 15, 2008, 01:11:33 am
Tch... power outage, well in any case the next event and preview is finished! Now unlike every other video I've made so far, this video doesn't really have much excitement, don't expect to be "wowed" by the battle, these fellows have little to no skills. In any case here it is, Second Event and Battle of Mercenaries. Oh yes... and the restorative items on the Chemists, it's to show that they were hurried and still had the items equipped on them, this also gives the chance to recieve them as War Dead's items.

Gariland Guests (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qIQ5oYARwE)
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Post by: SentinalBlade on August 15, 2008, 01:53:34 am
Very nice LD

One thing ive been meaning to ask you, how are you changing where the text appears? if the unit is no longer the one it was before i edited it, the text like..appears way off screen...do you have to set its x/y position somewhere and im just not seeing it? =(
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 15, 2008, 01:56:17 am
The best way to do this, I find, is to use the same Unit ID, Unit ID's are all that matter for events, any sprite can play any role, just as long as they have the same Unit ID as the previous player.
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Post by: SentinalBlade on August 15, 2008, 01:57:34 am
Honestly, i have not edited unit ID... just the placement of units, so my "Grand Creator" from the academy will say something where ovelia should have said it if she were still there...
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 15, 2008, 11:53:37 pm
First post is updated with a bit of round about information.
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Post by: Saigas on August 16, 2008, 02:41:21 pm
LD, here is the article for Griescher's Documents that you wanted, all typed up and ready to go ^_^

Quote from: "Griescher's Documents"Excerpt from the journal of Brother Shaker, Groundskeeper for Lionel Castle.

November 3rd

A great miracle has happened!  Lord Bremondt's long lost lover Reis has finally been found!  She returned to Lionel Castle today, escorted by honorable Templar Aliste.  The poor girl.  I was still in the service of Lord Draclau back then, but I remember that dreadful curse Heretic Beowulf Cadmus placed on her.  His Holiness says that the demon magic the jealous former Templar commander used to turn her into a dragon (a DRAGON, of all things!) has scarred her memory.  She can no longer recall the love that the two of them once shared.  I do hope she gets well again.  I see sadness in the eyes of Lord Bremondt whenever he looks upon her, for Reis avoids his gaze whenever he does so.  To her broken mind, he is but a stranger.  It breaks my heart to witness such things...

November 4th

I write this entry now whilst fearing for my life and feeling so very helpless.  The entire castle is empty, all my brethren dead, Lord Bremondt and Templar Aliste murdered, and Reis has been kidnapped!  And I simply stood by and watched as it happened.  I am so ashamed of myself that my tears dot the pages of my parchment as I try scrawling out words with my quill.  But I cannot fight, I have never been in battle, and so I hid.  I hid behind the statue of St. Ajora in the hall and I watched, and now I am the only one alive.  The only one who has SEEN what has happened here.

I was tending to the polishing of Lord Draclau's memorial bust in the Entrance Hall when it happened.  There came an assortment of muffled voices through the front doors and, curious as to who might be making such noise, I quietly went forth and opened one of them.  I peeked my head outside, only to see an event that I have no doubt will give me nightmares from this day forward.  A group of strangers I had never before laid eyes upon were doing battle with Templar Aliste and the castle guards!  I could make out two faces from amongst those who were unfamiliar, however.  One was none other than that terrible man, Beowulf Cadmus.  He came to take Reis from Bremondt by force.  I feel only slight comfort knowing that his deals with demons will leave him damned to an eternity of Hell.  The other man, however, is truly the most important of them all.  Heretic Beowulf is keeping company with the Heretic Ramza Beoulve!!!  I watched as Heretic Ramza and Heretic Beowulf, along with their party of delusional blasphemers, skewered the guards.  I swear to you, Heretic Beowulf looked like he was smiling when he viciously drove his sword into Templar Aliste's stomach.

It was then that I ran back inside, leaping behind the statue of St. Ajora and praying that none of them found me.  God chose to answer my prayers, which I am wont to regret for if I had only prayed for everyone else's safety instead of only my own they might still be here.  Heretic Beowulf and his blasphemers burst through the castle door and began to slaughter everyone that stood in their way.  Inching around the sides of the statue to catch glimpses of the goings-on, I note that both Heretic Ramza and Heretic Beowulf were fighting like men possessed, and I suspect that might very well be the case.  Only Lucavi himself could have given them such power as to burn through Lord Bremondt's Elite Guard as they did.  When they passed through the Entrance Hall and on to the Great Chamber, they proceeded no further.  I heard voices arguing again, Lord Bremondt's cries for assistance and then some kind of "Dark Spell".  Only moments later there was a terrible roar, like that of a dragon, and the entire castle shook with it.  Whatever it was, His Holiness valiantly tried to vanquish its evil.  Alas, when all alone even his Holy Magic could not stand against the darkness of two Heretics given demonic power by Lucavi.  I'm certain the same dark power was used here to murder Lord Bremondt as that which was used to murder Lord Draclau.

When all was over, Heretic Beowulf and Heretic Ramza left the castle.  They took Reis with them.  The castle is now empty, save for myself, but I will not linger here.  After I perform the funeral rights for those who died, I will be placing this account in the Castle Archive and heading for Lesalia.  I will live out the rest of my days there in shame, for I know that the guilt of not aiding my Lord when he needed me most will stay with me forever.  I only hope that St. Ajora will be lenient with me, and that this account will remain intact so that no one will forget what happened here.  I know that I never will.

Brother Ephraim Shaker
Groundskeeper
Lionel Castle
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 16, 2008, 04:13:36 pm
Incredible work Saigas, I am glad to see you have taken an interest in the historical aspect of Mercenaries. Now for some other news...


True Ambushing Units!
The unwary will falter in the face of a surprise attack! Invisible units that even the player cannot normally see have now been added to the battlefield!

Before their turn...
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_16082008_154837_0475.png)
During their turn...
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_16082008_160935_0803.png)
(reason for different statistics was two different game loads, if somehow one wouldn't believe me, it would be shown to work in the next video)


This is done with event command 45, for instance this is how summoning Unit 85 is done...

[45] Unknown (r850001);

You can be certain this will be used a few times in Mercenaries, hehe.
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 16, 2008, 05:32:50 pm
nice!  mercenaries will be so sweet when it's finished.

i already have an img file off to the side for this
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 17, 2008, 12:50:55 am
Some new event pics before I head to bed...

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_17082008_002113_0203.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_17082008_004146_0104.png)

Now saving her actually gives a beneficial reward!
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 17, 2008, 08:07:55 am
I was wondering what you were going to do for that battle.
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 18, 2008, 01:13:26 am
Next video is up, introducing the Fencer, Lavian Luna. This is where she makes her appearance for the first time in the game. She travels with the Mercenary party for a short amount of time after Mandalia. But enough about that...

Alright! I am very proud of this video, and I must say, I believe it to be current crowning achievement. This video shows off a typical battle in Mercenaries (without healing, ahem...) Along with a new class with abilities that weren't seen before.

This video also contains a new form of Ambush, the unwary had better watch their step, only a cautious player would see these fellows.

New War Trophies! Depending on choosing to save Lavian or not, changes the War Trophy given, as well allows the ambush to occur!

This video was very fun to make, and unlike my last one, I feel this one captures the heart of what Mercenaries is about. Please do enjoy this video.

Lavian Luna, Mandalia Plains Battle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2j4j14uckY)
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 18, 2008, 07:25:34 am
Very good preview LD.  The only thing wrong i can see is the level up box (which I know you've already noticed) and on the second part of the filming you moved your emulator down a tad.  Otherwise pretty perfect!  Can't wait for the next preview of this!  Unless the patch comes out first that is.
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 18, 2008, 09:09:10 am
Yes, I had to do a lot of editing and re-editing of the video, the Emulator being moved down was because all my replacements for the Traveler weren't looking right inside of the Thief's sprite. I thought if I closed the emulator and reopened it, it would stay in the same place. Indeed, I realized that problem a bit too late. But it's easy enough to fix.
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Post by: 8Bit Fighter on August 18, 2008, 10:15:18 am
Yeah but that was just a minor detail.  Shouldn't affect the playthrough though
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Post by: BeoulveBlack on August 18, 2008, 05:26:16 pm
yo LD, how is it that you get the poison effect to work at 100% and still have the attack do damage?
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 18, 2008, 11:06:38 pm
I just used 2D (which is a pretty poor option, since it will eventually make Mantle's and the like completely useless.
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Post by: SentinalBlade on August 19, 2008, 05:32:55 pm
Useless LD? arent delita and agrias bosses? it simply means you need to find a good alternative. like absorbing equips or such. mantles will be far from useless in none story battles or randoms, im sure.
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 20, 2008, 11:27:15 am
Ah, those aren't in reference to Agrias or Delita. The reference is to normal new Archer skills, which some have 100% chance to hit Beso Toxico is one example, which also guarantees a poison on hit. I need to find a better option for it.
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Post by: SentinalBlade on August 20, 2008, 05:07:33 pm
Ahh, i will let you know if i find anything while i cant get acess to my patch..

Another thing LD... have you tried adding new events...recently i made the riovanes event far shorter, and i had alot of space free...so i made a new event... gave it a new script number, and i think its working. the problem here being no text. Now i coudlnt just add this to teh world map... ihad to force it to load through another event
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 20, 2008, 10:46:19 pm
I really don't have a reason to make new events, but if the need would arise, I can think of a few things...

In any case I have a gigantic announcement to make sometime soon which will throw to light many mysteries on many things, regarding our current hacking abilities. Of course that's on the forums, people on the IRC more or less already know.
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Post by: Cheetah on August 22, 2008, 01:03:19 am
This stuff is so sweet LastingDawn, keep up the good work. I might take a crack at making some additions to the helmetless Gaffy if Cyber doesn't mind. Great job with the sprite Cyber.
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Post by: kenj_083 on August 26, 2008, 10:55:03 pm
If you like, you can use my portrait of helmetless Gaffy. :D
It's already in 16 colors, btw.
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 02, 2008, 01:22:56 am
Hmm, that's a very interesting take... my only problem with it, it doesn't quite fit the style of FFT. If it were "zoomed" in a bit so to speak. That might fit it a bit better, the colors while good, are too expressive. Normally FFT sticks with lighter colors. If that could be accomplished. The grey is a bit too... strong, so to speak. If it were a lighter shade of grey, I think it would look a bit better. Also the hair is curious... but it looks a bit too much like a toupee, which is a bit of a problem. If it stayed flat on his head, that would be optimal, but enough complaining...


His expression is priceless! It may not have his "day dreaming" look he has on his normal sprite but it does have a very clever look in his eyes. The Mustache is pretty spot on, a very nice shading of colors. While I don't think it will make it into the final cut, the feather pauldrons look positively radiant! The neck brace as well  must have been very complicated to get in. Over all, wonderful work, which just needs a bit of improvement. I do apologize for not replying ot this sooner. I hadn't noticed it until now.
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Post by: Archael on September 02, 2008, 01:37:26 am
LD you should really use new events in Mercs... I mean.. you know how now...
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 02, 2008, 01:56:08 am
Don't worry about that. Dorter promises to be on the scopes like nothing anyone has ever seen before! Sweegy is going to be pretty good, but it won't be "examplary" that one will be more about the varied possibilities then anything. As I said though... new events aren't fully needed for most of the first chapte. But near the end there will be quite a few new ones.
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 07, 2008, 01:30:53 pm
Did I say Sweegy isn't new...? I must have been out of my mind! Sweegy is no doubt my most impressive achievement yet! This certainly reigns as my masterpiece! From a Golden Dragoon with a personality disorder, crazy fanatics, and a legendary spear all obtained through an outing for firewood, this is quite a silly event! It's difficulty all depends on which of the 12 combatants appear. It is a 1v1v1v2, (Red team has 2, not that the Golden Dragoon female is especially dangerous) The treasure and the weapon Only appear if the Golden Dragoon is present, if he is not, his second talking skit will not appear at all and you will receive neither Longibunne the Weapon or Longibunne the Treasure.

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131414_0678.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131421_0710.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131432_0116.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131435_0491.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131501_0600.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131512_0397.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131636_0460.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131701_0991.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131720_0991.png)
(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_07092008_131723_0241.png)
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Post by: Cheetah on September 07, 2008, 11:41:59 pm
WICKED!!
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Post by: Shade on September 08, 2008, 12:38:55 am
Quote from: "Cheetah"WICKED!!
SKILLS!!
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 09, 2008, 12:39:04 am
The event has been finished, but the event uses sound very often, therefore I've asked Voldemort to show Sweegy Woods. The video for Sweegy Woods will show up on his account.
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Post by: trickstardude7 on September 14, 2008, 05:35:13 pm
lol I CANT WAIT FOR THIS XD ive said this before but each day reading on the additions and such its just just

WOW

if you need help on something let me know im a noob but can learn :D
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 14, 2008, 06:35:17 pm
is this one gonna include the Lucavi or are they on vacation
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 14, 2008, 07:46:19 pm
the Lucavi are included, only a few though. Also the video will be up whenever Voldemort gets it up... in the mean time I'm going to continue on, but don't expect any large updates until then (he's running the video since his computer can run sound.)
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Post by: Ichipoo on September 14, 2008, 08:37:26 pm
[hopes there's going to be a patch for the PSP version too]
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 14, 2008, 08:37:58 pm
if he doesnt make one someone will
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 14, 2008, 09:16:12 pm
I think porting this to the PSP version will be much easier then it looks, heh. No need to worry about this for now. I'll test this when I release the first chapter.
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Post by: Archael on September 20, 2008, 02:01:31 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxpQ2Ef3OVk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxpQ2Ef3OVk)
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Post by: Cheetah on September 20, 2008, 02:57:32 am
LOL that was such a great video. Recording your first playthrough is definitely the way to go Voldemort, you get so shocked by stuff.

LD this is such an awesome event, the dialog seems really good for the most part too. Are you figuring out more stuff about how to reposition text boxes? Hopefully you can convince Voldemort to post a few more vids of different playthroughs of this to show of all the work you really put into this.
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Post by: Oddity473 on September 20, 2008, 04:48:58 am
Do you need any more help with the story?  If you have any issues with grammar or spelling I can fix em.  If you're interested in anything like that just ask and I'll post my email.

Here's a sample of the kind of cleanup I would do:

QuoteForeword to Griescher's Documents:

Let me get straight to the point...

Ramza is a fictional character concocted by Orlan Durai as part of his anti-Delita agenda. 99% of the story is untrue because Alazlam is retelling history based on the Durai Report, which Orlan wrote, and we can't trust Orlan because of his anti-Delita bias.

Orlan hated Delita for manipulating Goltana into having his foster father (Orlandu) arrested, killing Goltana, and then murdering Orlandu in cold blood. In the Report, a conveniently "fake" Orlandu is killed by Delita while the real Orlandu goes onto join Ramza in his "battle with Lucavi." In actual history, Delita executed Orlandu, leaving Orlan bitter and vengeful.  

The real Ramza is, as the Church says, a heretic. There were never any Zodiac monsters in history. Ramza just had a taste for blood, and Orlan justifies his vicious massacres by crying "Lucavi." It sounds crazy, but consider Vormav as he is portrayed in The Manipulator and the Subervient and Vormav as he appears in The Valiant. In The Manipulator and the Subservient, he is an agent of the Church, manipulating things with Delita's help. In The Valiant, after no time lapse, he is possessed by a Zodiac monster. Orlan stretches the truth, and paints Ramza as a "kind man", from a "noble family". He does this to establish a character to rival Delita, a stable boy of humble beginnings that rose to high standing through hard work. The people of Ivalice admire Delita, but Orlan tries to smear his good name in the dirt and make Ramza into the true "hero."

Why did the Church conceal the Durai Report? Because it brings to light the Church's own manipulation of things. It was ultimately unable to triumph, as Delita, the clever opportunist, siezed the chances he was given.

Lastly, consider the ending. Orlan depicts Ramza as having miraculously escaped Murond. That didn't happen. Orlan is just a poor writer. He does this though to give Ramza a "larger than life" sense of being. He was a bastard Beoulve who stood true to his friends as the pure Beoulves never did.  If we were to believe Orlan he was a man who selflessly threw himself into harm's way for total strangers and who ultimately made the final sacrifice to free the world from "Lucavi."  His sister Alma, as least as she is portrayed in the Report, is also largely fictional.  She was never captured by the church to bring back some kind of Dark Messiah, how ridiculous is that? Orlan feeds us these fantastic lies for the sole purpose of getting revenge on the man who killed his father.

There is also the final scene in which Ovelia turns on Delita. None of that actually happened in history, but Orlan retells this out-landish tale to portray Delita as a manipulator that ultimately had nothing in the end (i.e. he loses his queen, he lost his childhood friend, etc.). He does this in one final attempt to portray Delita as a heartless manipulator, having "used" the fictional Ramza for his own purposes.
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 20, 2008, 08:20:30 am
what was that
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 20, 2008, 08:24:02 am
Oh, I could use a ton of help with the historical backdrop! The story though, a few parts are currently a bit sketchy... but I think I have that sector controlled. Though I really like your rewrite! You must have read what is being done to the Bar, Rumors turning into "Main Documents", Proposition turning into "Historical Snippet". Is that right?

The two sides of the story. I love Alazlam as a character, I liked the thought of hearing a story, but his role after a short while falls away. Now I want to keep the "historian" involved in all things, while I might not be able to give anything for it. I'd like the role of Hedin to be a bit... larger then Alazlam's was.


And the video... Wonderful work Voldemort! You portrayed it quite well! If only you were a few levels higher though, hehe... Though I think, since I have all the fixes on my own computer I can do a "Receiving Longibunne" video. Sound for that isn't really important, hehe.
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Post by: Xifanie on September 20, 2008, 08:49:32 am
Nice video!
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Post by: Oddity473 on September 20, 2008, 01:02:30 pm
Alright send me any text you want 'spiced up' and just generally what you would like me to help you with.

freakx472@hotmail.com

Edit: And to answer your question I haven't heard about the rumors and propositions turning into 'main documents' and 'historical snippets' but when I get home from work I'll look through the thread to find out.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on September 20, 2008, 04:30:08 pm
LastingDawn, I've gotten two events down that could be a part of Ruglia's Records. If I'm thinking correctly, it's basically composed of summaries of each event, similiar to the ones found in the Brave Story/Chronicles of the vanilla game. I hope I haven't misunderstood your intentions there though.

Here's a sample:

Mysterious Swordmaiden

While traveling through Mandalia Plains, we chanced upon a woman named Lavian being attacked by a group of brigands. Though Gafgarion wanted to simply cut down the rogues and continue on our way, Rad wanted to save the woman. A brutal battle ensued, in which Lavian showed herself to be skilled with a sword. After the brigands were dispatched and noting how dangerous it was to travel alone, Gafgarion offered Lavian a chance to join us.


Wasn't sure what to call the enemy in that battle, so "brigand" is just a placeholder of sorts.
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 20, 2008, 05:17:15 pm
why dont you try rogues cause they weren't quite brigands
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Post by: Oddity473 on September 20, 2008, 08:15:30 pm
Of course the stuff I was looking for was right in the first post (I mostly scanned it the first time).  I'll have to think up a few of those history snippets/main documents... hrrmmmm....
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 20, 2008, 10:36:40 pm
Ah, that does sound good! That works well as an introduction to the system, with Ruglia's Records, Griescher's Documents, and Durai Report's based on the main events as they come. Of course the historical snippets need a lot of info put into them as well, those will probably be in the "Main Documents" for those that don't become added to the Brave Story of course.
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 21, 2008, 12:26:43 am
i had a brain fart who is ruglia again
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 21, 2008, 12:31:17 am
Ramza Ruglia, Ruglia was the maiden name of his mother, in the normal game, Ramza adopts this name until Gafgarion blows his cover, when he reveals to Agrias that he is a Beoulve.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on September 21, 2008, 01:33:52 pm
Here's the other, based on the battle in Sweegy Woods. BTW, nice vid of the battle, Voldemort.

A Surprise Evening Melee

As I searched Sweegy Woods for suitable kindling for a campfire, I came across a Dragoon and a group of armed fighters. The Dragoon informed me that a melee battle was about to take place and that the sole survivor would win prizes. I was surprised when he told me that I would be a participant as well. I attempted to call for help, but the Dragoon bluntly stated that I would be killed on the spot if I did. Reluctantly, I took part in the battle and won. Afterward, I questioned myself for getting caught in such a situation, and wondered about the zeal of the participants in this bloodsport.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 21, 2008, 01:38:47 pm
"The Dragoon informed me that a melee battle and that the sole survivor would win prizes. I was surprised when he informed"

The first sentence isn't working, and there is just too much "informing" going on. But decent overall.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on September 21, 2008, 01:44:04 pm
Thought I caught those errors earlier. Thanks Cheetah.

*goes back to clean up the post*
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 21, 2008, 03:32:45 pm
Quote from: "LastingDawn"Ramza Ruglia, Ruglia was the maiden name of his mother, in the normal game, Ramza adopts this name until Gafgarion blows his cover, when he reveals to Agrias that he is a Beoulve.

thanks i knew the name sounded extremely familiar
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 21, 2008, 07:10:01 pm
Very nice! I like the description and character, not to mention they exactly fit the tone of a short journal entry.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 24, 2008, 02:09:36 am
Okay so here is my attempt at a Helmetless Gafgarion. Still needs a bit of touch ups and this isn't in 16 colors (though it is testing well so far). I just really need some feedback to see if this is the right direct at all. What do people think?
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 24, 2008, 02:17:51 am
Wonderful work Cheetah! This is what I was looking for, indeed! All the character of Gafgarion rounded up in one picture!
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Post by: Zozma on September 24, 2008, 02:56:53 am
i told you in chat, but that is a great job on the portrait.
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Post by: Xifanie on September 24, 2008, 06:55:46 am
Of course it is, really that last portrait was really bad IMHO, but this one rocks.
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Post by: greymeister on September 24, 2008, 09:00:42 am
That portrait is pretty sweet.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 25, 2008, 12:42:38 am
Okay pretty much final version and game ready. My only issue with it is that the armor seems a little tight around his neck. But at the same time its makes it kind of remenisent of "THAT GAFFY PIC", which I actually kind of find fitting. So unless someone can come up with some really good criticism I'm thinking it's done. Only minor changes from the last preview.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 25, 2008, 02:43:59 am
Hehe I had a lot of fun with these, plus they were quick and easy. So the first one (top left) is just the normal Chapter 2 Ramza. Second is Chapter 1's Ramza head on merc armor. Third (bottom left) is Chapter 4 Ramza head on  merc armor. The fourth is merc Ramza with edits to hopefully make it look like he is yelling. This was obviously the tough one since no one opens their mouth in normal FFT, and aparrently for good reason because it is hard to make look good without a freaking nose. Some suggestions on the angry mouth would be appreciated.

Any other Ramza requests Lasting Dawn?
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Post by: Zozma on September 25, 2008, 05:16:47 am
quite interesting... if you directly import gafgarions color palette over Miangs original sprite, she looks like shes wearing pure gold.. it doesnt look bugged at all either! her hair is grey and everything is in the right place lol...

*eherm* now back to making her look right...

anyway wouldn't it look better this way?

Edit: even making the hair in front come out over the helmet in front might not be such a bad idea... when she walks you can barely see her hair at all in front view, thus making her lose a bit of what makes her look female...
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 25, 2008, 12:19:14 pm
Wow! That is excellent looking! Though as you said the hair suffers a bit from it, but the build, and the face portrait (obviously) will show that Myan is female.


Also I really like those portrait's Cheetah! I think that the emotion idea to work for different scenes will work wonderfully! It may require a bit of "extra work" but if we're not willing to go the extra mile, I feel that Mercenaries won't quite reach it's potential.
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Post by: Vanya on September 25, 2008, 02:26:56 pm
Very nice work, gentleman! =)
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Post by: Zozma on September 25, 2008, 03:24:46 pm
allright ill continue, now do u like the bangs out like that? or shall i keep them covered by the helmet? and is her default miang haircolor what  you want?
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 25, 2008, 03:34:14 pm
The default hair color is perfectly fine with me, I also like the hair in the preview. That shouldn't be a problem.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 25, 2008, 04:16:37 pm
Any chance of you trying a few different hair colors just for kicks Zozma. Even though LD is happy, and that is what counts, I just really want to see if you can get black hair to work on her.

I love your sprite Zozma, I just always feel that the anime colored hair styles just really don't fit with FFT as a whole. But once again my opinion really doesn't count here. Obviously a small concern overall too because it is an easy palette swap to change the hair color.
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Post by: Vanya on September 25, 2008, 06:34:43 pm
You could always try a more realistic shade of the same color. =)
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Post by: Zozma on September 25, 2008, 09:33:16 pm
i did soften the indigo a bit because it was too harsh agains the brown.. but i think black is both 100% doable and appropriate... , because her hair is such a drastic difference right now, you could change the 3 shades to practically anything and it will look fine because the hair is so independant of the rest of the colors. (black is still the best choice tho, as the armor is rusty brown, and with the goldish look, blonde wouldnt be as good either)
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 25, 2008, 09:51:54 pm
Ah, then I'll go with black hair, if you don't mind.
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Post by: Archael on September 26, 2008, 02:14:30 am
Quote from: "Cheetah"Okay so here is my attempt at a Helmetless Gafgarion. Still needs a bit of touch ups and this isn't in 16 colors (though it is testing well so far). I just really need some feedback to see if this is the right direct at all. What do people think?

that is sick
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 26, 2008, 11:31:57 am
Quote from: "Cheetah"Okay so here is my attempt at a Helmetless Gafgarion. Still needs a bit of touch ups and this isn't in 16 colors (though it is testing well so far). I just really need some feedback to see if this is the right direct at all. What do people think?

awesome man
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Post by: Zozma on September 27, 2008, 03:03:29 am
k, here is Myan with a little tweaking by me. I have not attempted the portrait, perhaps there is a good portrait maker out there? :P

Edit: there is now a newer version of the Miang sprite on the site submission section. it uses the female squire arms as opposed to the bigger arms here..
it definately makes her appear just a little more feminine.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 27, 2008, 01:12:01 pm
It is certainly a slick looking sprite. If someone was to take on a portrait of her, it would definitely be a challenge. Are you recommending that the arms be switched out for the newer ones, or does this sprite already have them?
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 27, 2008, 01:28:16 pm
Hmm, regardless of feminine look, I think she looks fine as of now. Though yes, a new portrait is definitely needed.
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Post by: Zozma on September 27, 2008, 01:34:27 pm
it's a recommendation, however what you already have might be more suited to the character? but take a look at the miang2 sprite and see which would be better.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 27, 2008, 07:19:19 pm
Okay so I inserted my Gaffy portrait into his helmetless sprite, but once I saw the sprite in motion up close I'm noticing some areas that need some touch-ups. If I'm uploading the sprite with a new portrait I might as well make it as good looking as I can. So it will be up sometime soon. I'm working on more Ramza portraits too, I will show them off when I have a few more of them done.
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Post by: trickstardude7 on September 27, 2008, 07:40:35 pm
oo sounding good! i want to see this in its own forum ! i mean look how many pages there are!
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Post by: Zozma on September 27, 2008, 07:59:18 pm
*hands LD 10 points* 'here ya go!"
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Post by: SentinalBlade on September 27, 2008, 08:27:04 pm
i Throw in my 20 :E
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 27, 2008, 09:44:52 pm
Quote from: "Zozma"*hands LD 10 points* 'here ya go!"
me too me too
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Post by: Archael on September 27, 2008, 10:08:08 pm
I throw in my 65,535 points

gg
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Post by: boomkick on September 28, 2008, 11:20:38 am
i throw in -65505 points to even out Voldemort's

na jk

i throw in my 10 points.
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Post by: Archael on September 28, 2008, 12:08:11 pm
bitch 65535 - 65505 = 30

that still leaves 30 points for LD  :x   :twisted:
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 28, 2008, 03:25:24 pm
wasnt that the point lol
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Post by: boomkick on September 28, 2008, 04:30:48 pm
Quote from: "darthpaul"wasnt that the point lol

20 from Voldemort (i believe o.O)
10 from me
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Post by: DarthPaul on September 28, 2008, 06:34:53 pm
Quote from: "boomkick"
Quote from: "darthpaul"wasnt that the point lol

20 from Voldemort (i believe o.O)
10 from me

i might be wrong but i think Voldemort word is worth 30 point since he's a mod
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Post by: Cheetah on September 28, 2008, 07:10:31 pm
Okay so I have have watched this guy in action for walking and stuff and he is looking much better now. The original job was a bit messy so it took some doing to get it all looking correct. I believe this guy should work perfectly now, please tell me if you find any issues and I will fix them. Oh and of course the new portrait is inserted.
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Post by: boomkick on September 28, 2008, 11:56:45 pm
Quote from: "darthpaul"
Quote from: "boomkick"
Quote from: "darthpaul"wasnt that the point lol

20 from Voldemort (i believe o.O)
10 from me

i might be wrong but i think Voldemort word is worth 30 point since he's a mod

mods give 20
admins give 30
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Post by: Archael on September 28, 2008, 11:58:53 pm
Voldemorts give 65,535 sorry
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Post by: Zozma on September 29, 2008, 05:33:45 am
Okay Myan version 2 based off of the second version of Miang

edit: check page 16
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Post by: bamseyboy on September 29, 2008, 06:41:35 am
I gotta say this all looks fantastic.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on September 29, 2008, 11:09:03 am
Lasting Dawn, I know I said I was going to write up another event summary, but I'm not sure what I've come up with is an accurate summary of the events that occurred. It's supposed to be a summary of the event at the Gariland Military Academy and the following battle.

If you want, I can still post it up.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 29, 2008, 01:02:14 pm
Hmm I'm not sure which one is better Zozma, I think I would have to see both of them in action.
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Post by: Cyberblade on September 29, 2008, 01:09:43 pm
Im glad to see everything goin so well and thanks to everyone who fixed up the portraits and sprites i made/edited. I hope this get finished but currently im still on lockdown AGAIN because of school so i dont have much time to do anything. I hope to be able to play this one day. Again Greatwork to all of you.
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Post by: Cheetah on September 29, 2008, 01:57:54 pm
Well good to know you are still out there and well Cyber.
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 30, 2008, 09:57:45 am
Hmm... well it is worth a shot, do keep in mind though that after the battle, Ramza asks to become a mercenary, in which Gafgarion and Ramza debate with one another in the reasons "why". Afterwards Ramza, Gafgarion, and Rad visit a bar to celebrate their new recruit. In which we see that Ramza has changed to his Mercenary gear. Of course... there's no way you could have known this originally, hehe.

EDIT: I prefer the second one, hands down. The smaller arms does enhance her charm.
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 01, 2008, 10:24:35 pm
Caped Ramza Preview (FOR LD =P)
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Post by: Archael on October 01, 2008, 10:36:02 pm
seems to fit that sprite very well
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Post by: Vanya on October 01, 2008, 10:48:13 pm
Isn't his cape supposed to have an 'A' cut at the bottom? Sorta like Balmafula's?
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 01, 2008, 10:56:19 pm
I thought so as well but...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jhr9kik ... 55&index=0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jhr9kikuNQ&feature=PlayList&p=B4EED9BF8AF39755&index=0)

Matsuno's artwork show's otherwise. it did seem to be a cut cape, but I think that's only because we've becomed so accustomed to that cape thanks to Balmafula.
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Post by: Vanya on October 01, 2008, 11:04:09 pm
What the HELL would have given us Both that impression? o.O
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 01, 2008, 11:09:54 pm
As I said, I think Balmafula mislead us both, hehe.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 02, 2008, 02:55:23 am
The cape is a good start and the colors look good if he keeps everything under 16. There needs to be a bit more shading though, looks flat right now.
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Post by: Zozma on October 02, 2008, 06:05:42 am
sweet! hey i know this is off your topic but i got my miluda to do the crit teleport! it might be useful for you if you havent already gotten it to work somewhere :D [EVT_187_0BB]

{63}(rAA)
{1F}(r1100110000)
Camera(+17920,+00122,+31558,+00302,+03584,+00000,+04096,+00032)
WaitForInstruction(r0400)
Wait(00016)
{92}(r1100000100)
WaitForInstruction(r4300)
Wait(00010)
DisplayMessage(x10,x70,x21,x00,x11,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x01)
WaitForInstruction(r0100)
Wait(00020)
{94}(r1100)
{1F}(r6900690000)

is when gaffy teleports at the execution site
(i dont know how much of this you need for it to work, and of course changing the 11 to the proper unit id) is this old news? if so sorry lol

http://i140.photobucket.com/player.swf? ... enalia.flv (http://i140.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid140.photobucket.com/albums/r9/zozma1/MilatLenalia.flv)
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Post by: Vanya on October 02, 2008, 07:17:12 am
Pretty sweet.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 02, 2008, 07:19:15 am
Pretty sweet Zozma, I didn't realize you could get the other party members to teleport too.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 02, 2008, 11:16:38 am
That was awesome! Excellent work Zozma! Though who Jade and Fabian? I don't quite recall you telling me about them.
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 02, 2008, 12:29:28 pm
All Walking Frames done =D
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Post by: DarthPaul on October 02, 2008, 12:38:28 pm
very nice work on the cape
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 02, 2008, 12:46:51 pm
thanks =)
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Post by: Zozma on October 02, 2008, 03:46:15 pm
they are just two commoners that will appear with her all 3 battles you have. not much more than specific assigned names for two of her generics, tho in battle 3 they will ba generic holy and dark knights. :P
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Post by: Cheetah on October 02, 2008, 06:17:38 pm
Looks much better Cyber. The only other thing I would recommend is finding a better way to make it look like it is going higher and attaching to the shoulders.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on October 03, 2008, 01:37:10 pm
Couldn't think of a title for this one, so "Gariland Military Academy" is a sort of placeholder. It's for the event that takes place there.

Gariland Military Academy

Having left the Order of the Northern Sky and feeling hopelessly lost after the tragedy at Ziekden, I found myself questioning my own purpose in life. Still, I drifted back to the Gariland Military Academy, having nowhere else to go. It was there that I met a young sellsword named Rad, who was an apprentice to Gafgarion, a well known mercenary and an ex-Eastern Sky commander. They were hired to find and eliminate a group of brigands who attacked a prominent apothecary recently. When the group was spotted trying to escape town, Gafgarion and Rad gave chase. I decided to accompany them, feeling a mysterious sense of excitement fill me.


Lasting Dawn, are you going to use the PS1 or the PSP names for the knightly orders?

Anyways, let me know what you think of this one.

*Edit: Replaced the PS1 names of the knightly orders with the PSP version names.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 03, 2008, 02:22:31 pm
More then likely the PSP version. I prefer translated titles then lazy excuses our poor translator's couldn't quite figure out. Order of the Northern, Southern, and Eastern Sky (whatever happened to the East and West orders? You never hear of them anywhere, except Gafgarion being a member of the East) I really do like this one! This one fits the event perfectly, as well as explains the past of the reasoning he is at the school.
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Post by: DarthPaul on October 03, 2008, 03:32:27 pm
well LD it says in the fifty year war rumor that the northern and southern sky really stood out in the fighting so if east and west exist they just were not as big in that war or pertinent to the story

but i was rather fond of hokuten and nanten cause they sounded cool but a translation doesnt bother me
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 06, 2008, 03:46:31 pm
no details Just a sprite for LD
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Post by: Zozma on October 07, 2008, 05:21:55 am
how does this look?

Edit: alright after some constructive input from Cheetah, i've put together the sprite :D i hope you like it!
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 07, 2008, 07:25:20 am
Hmm, quite an interesting take! I loved the hair, and the portrait's helmet looks very similar to Gafgarion's! This will certainly be her portrait, thank you very much Zozma and Cheetah!
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Post by: Cheetah on October 07, 2008, 02:34:14 pm
Cyber: I like the long cloak idea. It needs a bit more texture/shading but looking good. I'm really not sure about armored arms for a...did you say Merchant? It is looking good though.
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Post by: Zozma on October 07, 2008, 06:55:34 pm
glad you like it! :D and cheetah look! i managed to add in an extra color and made the armor a shade darker. turns out the portrait actually was only using 15 colors before.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 07, 2008, 08:33:29 pm
Ah yes the armor is darker. Maybe not quite dark enough, but it will definitely do.
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Post by: Zozma on October 07, 2008, 09:04:11 pm
going darker is would result in having a black shade at 0,0,0 or having to darken skin tones as well, they are shared with the armor. either way would result in a sloppy look...

besides, she stole the helmet, if i thought it wasnt supposed  to match 100%...? did i missunderstand? hehe anyway its all yours :D

Edit: okay after looking at non helmet gaffy's sprite i decided to touch it up a bit and repair its color loss.

please test it out. im not sure what had happened but his sprite had lost a few colors that helmeted gaffy has, and it took away some of the detail.. so try this one out and compare.
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Post by: Zozma on October 09, 2008, 02:01:49 am
craaaap sorry for double post, but if anyone downloaded the version of myan before i put in a portrait please dont write over it! theres  a mistake on the new one... i can remake it yes but it will have been the loss of an entire days work if i dont get the old version that used to be on page 14..... help *cry*

the difference is this one uses the normal squire arms that gave her a more feminine figure.... thats the one i lost! :( please post it if u got it

well i think i managed to recreate most of it the back singing frame might not be so good, but i dont think that it was ever right.. the newest Myan file is on the site submission page...
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 10, 2008, 07:28:14 am
Talk about an eventful week anyway i might not finish this for a while so im posting it here so anyone can finish it if they want.
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Post by: Vanya on October 10, 2008, 12:23:34 pm
Pretty damn good! Nice job! =)
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 10, 2008, 01:27:09 pm
Very nice work Cyberblade! My only problem is the first animation on the third line. The cape doesn't look as high quality as it does in the other animations.

As well Zozma... which one is it that you need? Not the one with the new portrait?
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 10, 2008, 02:00:36 pm
Thanks =) sorry its going slow XD
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Post by: Zozma on October 10, 2008, 05:50:12 pm
well i had posted it on page 14, but when i added in the portrat (to the wrong old file) i removed it with that "latest version"
(i would still like to have it just to compare and just in case i missed something)


anyway i managed to go back and recreate the sprite (the singing front frame is probably better than the first one... but ive resubmitted the sprite, download the latest off the main page.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 12:54:24 pm
I apologize for the lack of updates recently, but I have been busy with the sub-quests of Mercenaries, which is the role of Hedin Fordring, the young historian who stumbled upon the Ruglia Records. His role is completely unique. The Bar has been transformed into "Historical Archives". Which allows you to read through histories, and allow Hedin to study specific subjects, this will net you a few extra gil and Hedin will gain JP. Of course this subplot has no (planned) affect on the outcome of the game. It is an imperative goal of mine to show  that Hedin Fordring and Ramza are the two main protagonists, while Hedin researches the Ruglia Records and takes on many different subjects, Ramza's journey is just that of a book. To emphasize this, is the "Memoirs" Section of the Records, (used from the unused "Fact" section in our normal FFT)

Memoirs, to jog some memories is short for "Memoirs of a Cadet" a tale that arose shortly after Delita united the land, and had quickly become a favorite in households. Tales of daring young men, demons, brave women, and one heroic saint.,St. Victor,.Memoirs of a Cadet lends large credence to the Durai Report, since there are many uncanny similarities between the two. Many people now believe that St. Victor was Ramza Beoulve, and his childhood friend who lost himself to ambition, and rising to the rank of Duke was actually King Delita. With the Durai Report in one hand and the Memoirs of a Cadet in another, Alazlam's seat of power was guaranteed.

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_17102008_122640_0718.png)
With Ramza and Rad, Hedin will always be in your party. But Hedin has a double role... He is the only character that can "study" (attend propositions). Thanks to this he obtains Gil and JP (his gil is still of course, Ramza's gil.) But his JP is special, his main class (Historian) has a few unique skills. Well as I've said before, Hedin plays no active role in the game, but he plays a relatively helpful role. you only get one Hedin, of course. when you place Hedin into battle, he will immediately become a Crystal. This is the true worth of attending the sub-plot. He has a unique skill for the Mercenary and Hessian for Ramza. If Rad chooses to pick up the crystal, there will be a unique skill for Apprentice and Red Mage. So if you do intend to sacrifice Hedin, make sure to do so after you've unlocked their final two classes. Otherwise it isn't really worth it.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 17, 2008, 05:51:36 pm
Wow, very interesting ideas. I didn't know about the unused "Facts" section at all, how are they used? Do you want a custom portrait for this new Hadin character?
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Post by: Vanya on October 17, 2008, 06:16:06 pm
@Cheetah: I've already been commissioned for it, but...

@LD: I can go ahead with the sprite part. maybe you should let Cheetah do the portrait since that's his specialty?
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Post by: Cheetah on October 17, 2008, 07:05:35 pm
Haha I am cool either way. I just thought something other than Alazlam's would be good.
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Post by: Vanya on October 17, 2008, 07:28:56 pm
I have a lot of stuff I'm working on, so I'd personally appreciate a hand.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 17, 2008, 07:47:57 pm
Okay sounds good. I like doing a portrait every now and then to keep things fresh. Just pm me the character description and whatever progress you have made. Or you can post it here if it is okay with LD.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 10:00:18 pm
You may certainly post it here and thank you very much for the continued aid everyone! Without it this project would only be subpar.
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Post by: Vanya on October 17, 2008, 10:16:51 pm
LD, could you PM me the description again? I seem to have lost it.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 10:53:53 pm
Yep, no problem.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 10:57:35 pm
[01:10] <Lasting_Dawn> It's very iffy... he's young anywhere from midteens to late 20's. Red hair, preferably,
[01:10] <Lasting_Dawn> He wears either a robe or very fancy jacket and pants.
[01:10] <Vanya> Sorta like the Mediator/Orator?
[01:10] <Vanya> OK. I don't think that will be too difficult at all. Just the portrait and unit pic? Do you have a base portrait in mind?
[01:10] <Lasting_Dawn> Hmm, I can't say I really do, but since it's a bit in the future, I think glasses could be permissible.
[01:10] <Lasting_Dawn> Also, is it possible for him to always have a book on his sprite?
[01:10] <Vanya>  I don't think would be a problem either.

That should do it for both you and Cheetah Vanya, if you need any more of a description don't hesitate to ask.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 17, 2008, 11:23:08 pm
Looks good. Hmm glasses might be tough, but I will certainly give it a go. Any thoughts on facial hair or hair style?

Oh and LD, what do you think about Ramza's mercenary armor actually being black instead of that dark purple color? I know that that is the color of black in normal FFT, but I don't know why. Just a thought, it would be just about the quickest change you could do and test out.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 11:31:23 pm
I just watched a WoTL cutscene and you are right, his armor is supposed to be black, I leave that to you then, seems like a refreshing change.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 17, 2008, 11:35:20 pm
Haha yeah I just beat WotL lastnight, needless to say I took my time. But yeah that is what gave me the idea.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 17, 2008, 11:50:35 pm
He probably wouldn't have facial hair, he's a bit young, looking but no particular thoughts on hair style, something very formal would fit though.
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Post by: Vanya on October 18, 2008, 01:45:39 am
I'll have a look at it and make a first draft later today. Will he need a hat or anything like that?
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 18, 2008, 07:35:27 am
That is up to you two, but you can feel free to make a draft with and without.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 18, 2008, 01:27:20 pm
Well here is what a black armored version of Ramza could look like. I'm wondering if the armor might need some white highlights added to make it look more like metal armor.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 18, 2008, 07:11:12 pm
Black Armor Ramza looks adorable! But if you'd like to try to make it look more "shiny" (not sure how that could be done...) then certainly, feel free.
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Post by: trickstardude7 on October 19, 2008, 08:21:05 am
ZODIAC WHERE ARE YOU THIS NEEDS ITS OWN FORUM LOL it really does so we can get this organized and topics for specific discussions.
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Post by: Archael on October 19, 2008, 10:08:37 am
yeah it really does
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Post by: Xifanie on October 19, 2008, 12:15:37 pm
LD doesn't want one so I can't force him. If you wanna put pressure on someone, it has to be him.
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Post by: Archael on October 19, 2008, 12:20:00 pm
we will
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Post by: Vanya on October 19, 2008, 01:15:04 pm
@LD: Here's the first draft. Is this what you were looking for? I need to know what colors you want, too. =)

(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh189/koala_knight/SampleScholarDude.png)
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Post by: Cheetah on October 19, 2008, 01:28:45 pm
Hot damn that is slick. I like it. But yeah some color changes might be needed. I think LD said he would like red hair. I love that color blue, but the pants could certainly be a better color. Great work with the book.
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Post by: Vanya on October 19, 2008, 02:19:12 pm
Thank you, thank you. =)
I used the hair & neck thing from the Mourner 3 and the face and collar of 20yo male. You might want to take that into consideration when doing the portrait. =)
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Post by: trickstardude7 on October 19, 2008, 05:24:15 pm
Quote from: "Zodiac"LD doesn't want one so I can't force him. If you wanna put pressure on someone, it has to be him.
okay :[ well anywho cant wait for this lol
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 19, 2008, 05:44:33 pm
Very nice Vanya! Only thing he's missing i sRed Hair, I take it glasses were an impossibility then?
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Post by: Vanya on October 19, 2008, 06:23:48 pm
*see chat*
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 19, 2008, 06:45:34 pm
Chat? There was so much talking I missed your messages, sorry about that.
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Post by: Vanya on October 20, 2008, 12:31:51 am
You answered my question over there. No worries. =)
You'll have the second draft in the morning.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 20, 2008, 07:20:26 am
I did answer...? I must be losing my mind... in any case...

Sweegy Showdown Redux is up! Voldemort showed the basics of the battle, but his video could only do so much (I loved the first playthrough  reactions though.) This one highlights possibilities that *happen* only if *certain* units have randomly appeared. In this case, the Golden Dragoon, owner of the Longibunne Spear. Mercenaries will more then likely take advantage of this unique option later down the line. As well our friendly Traveler AI shows us the definite use that Blow Leaves has! (Great for those pesky Phoenix Down spammers.) As well as a bunch of animation fixes which gives the scene a bit more vibrant life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UW70EpspWc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UW70EpspWc)
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Post by: Cheetah on October 20, 2008, 08:48:31 am
Awesome vid LD. Voldemort's commentary on this was awesome, but this is good to show off more of the effort you have put into this. Do you have the means to limit the number of units it will allow you to take into the battle? And what would happen if you took in more than just Ramza?
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 20, 2008, 02:35:35 pm
Well, nothing would happen, you would just have an added unit.  I tested that with Gafgarion originally. If you took in Hedin (the only other person who could be brought in...) he'd be just a crystal.
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Post by: Cheetah on October 20, 2008, 07:00:55 pm
There must be a way to limit the number to bring in...oh I think I know how. You can change what the initial starting position information is in Attack.out. If there is one in the original game that requires only one unit and Ramza, then you can assign it to that and it would work. Otherwise you could put in an event instruction to just RemoveCharacter of all potential people you could bring in. This would make it for sure a 1vs1 fight.
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Post by: Cyberblade on October 25, 2008, 10:18:28 pm
Sorry abotu Vanishing again >____> No more work on ramza done (AGAIN SORRY) But i had 4 projects piled on me in a day sooo yeah. Anyway i might have a bit more done next week, im not able to get on the web mich either because my internet is down so im only gonna be able to get this up via school and that moght be a problem (im at the library now so haha)
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on October 27, 2008, 02:04:27 pm
Here's something I came up with. Needs some polishing though:

I've seen many creatures in my life. The kinds of monsters and beasts I've encountered in my travels with St. Victor have been too numerous to count. But nothing prepared me for the sight I witnessed in Lionel Castle. It was a demon of unimaginable horror.

Apparently born of the auricite, it invoked within me awe and a crushing fear...
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Post by: AuraDragon on October 27, 2008, 04:20:15 pm
Ramza fears something?  Great... I always thought of Ramza as the strong silent type with a bit of self blame.
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Post by: Archael on October 27, 2008, 05:48:29 pm
requesting work for mercenaries please
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Post by: Vanya on October 27, 2008, 07:12:37 pm
Better? Are the pants ok?
(http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh189/koala_knight/SampleScholarDude-1.png)
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Post by: Cheetah on October 28, 2008, 12:06:14 am
The pants look pretty good, but baggy. Which might not fit his character, but it would likely be too much of a bother to fix. He still needs red hair though right?
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 28, 2008, 12:15:33 am
I really like the pants, personally. The updated sprite looks great!
Also AuraDragon... it's not Ramza who fears something, it's his Cadet ,Badum Gilroy in Memoirs of a Cadet, a side story you can read.

Though for a small blurb it sounds quite good Dominic!
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Post by: DarthPaul on October 28, 2008, 08:56:42 am
sweet ramza gets a cadet

also post 701
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Post by: Vanya on October 28, 2008, 12:22:03 pm
I was going for a natural red, should it be darker?
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Post by: Archael on October 28, 2008, 01:32:35 pm
requesting work for mercenaries please
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Post by: Cheetah on October 28, 2008, 03:15:49 pm
Yeah I think you are going to have to go redder, it is basically just an odd shade of blondish brown right now. Hmmmm, you are right in that it can't be too red though.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 28, 2008, 03:42:14 pm
Let's see... work for you Voldemort, unfortunately I would tell you about my plans for Dorter, but the shock value of the event would be gone. And your expression will be worth it. Though let's see... as I've said I think I'd like to replace Ninja, if you can think up any replacements (In an FF fashion, preferably) that would be great Voldemort

Vanya,
I feel just a bit more red, would about do it, hits a perfect 10 on everything but the hair currently.
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Post by: Dokurider on October 28, 2008, 04:19:24 pm
Oh no, oh no, oh no (yo yo yo yo yo)
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Post by: Archael on October 28, 2008, 06:16:17 pm
got it
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 10, 2008, 08:36:54 am
I am back from playing Legend of Cao Cao and I will get right back to work. I apologize for the break.
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Post by: Russelldrome on November 10, 2008, 09:59:57 am
Quote from: "LastingDawn"I am back from playing Legend of Cao Cao and I will get right back to work. I apologize for the break.

 :o somebody else who knows of the Three kingdoms era.... please tell me you think Cao Cao is a military genius and not a tyrant!!
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Post by: DarthPaul on November 10, 2008, 10:57:16 am
Yes everyone knows Cao Cao was a very tactical mind but i dont put a lot of stock in Wu(he was Wu right). What ever i like games that allow you to play as Liu Bei and the Shu.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 10, 2008, 11:15:05 am
Off Topic: Three Kingdoms Talk

Admittedly the book exaggarates Cao Cao's cruelty, but he wasn't a tyrant, more so then paranoid, not that he didn't have the right to be so. What really made me hate Cao Cao was killing Liu Zong (a little boy) on his way to his new home, after surrendering his given province to Cao Cao without a battle. Little did I know that didn't happen in history, but Liu Zong was actually given a marquisate and was allowed to live his life. Cao Cao did massacre an innocent people on his way to avenge his father's death and murdered 80'000 of Yuan Shao's men after they surrendered to him. Other then that, aside from setting the way for his son to take power, he was a relatively upright person. But I think he was probably the original Chinese Anti-Hero, he had the qualities of a hero and a villian, not just a villian or hero, like many others of that time
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Post by: Cheetah on November 10, 2008, 12:52:57 pm
On Topic: I'm so happy to hopefully see some more progress made on this patch :).

Off Topic: I don't know much about the Three Kingdoms other than that I freaking love kicking some butt with a buddy in Dynasty Warriors. Guan Yuan all that way!
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Post by: Archael on November 10, 2008, 12:54:13 pm
Yeah this patch.. this patch

GET TO WORK LD!!!!
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on November 12, 2008, 07:45:43 pm
LD, I'm stumped ATM. I don't know what I should be writing about.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 12, 2008, 09:37:00 pm
Hmm? Ah, well I believe I had asked you to write the actual Memoir's of a Cadet, as well as any Records according to the game. Though are you stuck on what the actual premises are?
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on November 12, 2008, 10:33:35 pm
That's my issue. I don't know what premise I should be going off of.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 13, 2008, 12:30:47 am
Ah, the premise, at least for the first chapters are...

As a Cadet - Life as a noble, then the sudden change from that cozy life style when being thrust reluctantly into the Military Akademy by his relatively famous father, who established himself in the "Long War". Finding himself in the company and quickly earning the friendship of the other noble's children and befriending St. Victor. To the time that they depart for Eagron (3 - 4 Paragraphs is fine)

Under His Guidance - St. Victor stumbles upon a wizened old strategist under attack by the Lethe Brigade, after rescuing him St. Victor's constant companion, who happened to be of low birth, takes an immediate disliking to the elitist old man, but St. Victor puts those problems aside for the moment. When they reach the castle of Eagron the strategist allows them to lodge in his castle while he concocts a plan to rescue the aged lady marquis of Rimbeni. At this point St. Victor is continually keeping peace with his own men and the strategist, who demands they sleep in the servants quarters.

In the coming week the strategist had devised a scheme, the people who were holding the lady ransom were starving men and women all they had left was a reservoir, which sympathizers sent food and drink to. The plan was to dam up the river, forcing them into a dire situation, left with no other way out, they would surrender or die of deprivation. St. Victor fought vehemently against this plan, only to be expelled from the strategists estate.  St. Victor rushed to warn the Lethe Brigade of the plan, after breaking through a few patrols,  he managed to make it to their leader. Spilling the strategists plan, the young rebel had taken St. Victor's words to heart and planned to evacuate by cover of night, leaving the lady marquis on their abandoned grounds. (Quite long, as long as you can manage, if possible)

The Price of Nobility - With St. Victor on the loose the strategist read everyone of the boy's moves and captured nearly the whole of the brigade as they attempted to evacuate. St. Victor's crew as well. The strategist though had other plans... what better way to humiliate the young man then give him credit for this "wonderful victory"? With St. Victor's hands tied (his whole troop in custody), he agreed to accept the new ranks on his and his men, as well as agree to destroy their final stronghold at Ft. Zion, as long as he was allowed to take his low born friend along with him. The strategist agreed and sent them both out.

The Saint came back, but his low born friend was absent, regardless he ordered his troops released, the strategist had heard of their resounding victory and quickly released them, then they were safely back in St. Victor's hands. The things which St. Victor and his friend must have been forced to carry must have been truly despicable, for in the next moment, he cut down the aged strategist and any ensuing guards after the small troop.  (This chapter isn't actually too long, since one entry could be several weeks later, also some cheesy love story with one of the female cadets, would be preferable, just to set the mood)

Well, I think that's enough on your plate! Just keep in mind, it should be in diary entry form and all that could be written down are the events seen by Badun himself.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 13, 2008, 01:33:54 am
And Dorter is halfway done! The event begins with Rad and Lavian walking through Dorter, Ramza and Gafgarion nowhere in sight, as Rad recounts a rather long drawn out story about how Gafgarion and he defeated a powerful rebel named Kearn at one point, only in the recourse of explanation they were both interrupted by an Archer... how will this turn out for the stranded travelers?

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13112008_011744_0555.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13112008_011754_0602.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13112008_011759_0102.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13112008_011809_0071.png)

(http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n198/LastingDawn/SCUS_94221_13112008_011812_0821.png)
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Post by: Cheetah on November 14, 2008, 03:29:42 am
This scene is looking to shape up nicely. I will definitely look forward to the video preview.

I'm very confused by your diary entry thing, but I'm sure all will become clear later and it was an interesting read.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 14, 2008, 10:20:25 pm
Dorter is finished! Now we just need to wait for Voldemort to up the video, as it stands... I want to see his expression more then anything! for that reason I will not be uploading the rest of the pictures yet. And yes, this will be much faster then the Sweegy Woods being uploaded, at least... it better be!
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Post by: Archael on November 15, 2008, 03:44:32 pm
Mercenaries video(s) coming tonight
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on November 15, 2008, 03:54:33 pm
Looking forward to that^^^.

LD, I've been a bit busy, but I'll get started when I come back home tonight. It's going to be the usual "get every down and then run it by you" affair.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 16, 2008, 12:17:45 am
No need to worry about it, Dominic we still have plenty of time, hehe.
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Post by: Cheetah on November 16, 2008, 03:06:52 am
Hey LD can you make a thread here just for your graphics request and post everything in there that we already have? Easier to organize that way and I'm sure it will get much more attention that way.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 16, 2008, 11:16:32 am
Oh, yes please! I completely forgot about that, I will get to that right away!
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Post by: Maverick6464 on November 17, 2008, 05:09:44 pm
When exactly will this mod be completed? It looks abosulutely gorgeous! Something completely fresh and new.
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 17, 2008, 05:10:30 pm
Thank you for your support! I have no estimated Official release date, but I will have a playable demo out on Christmas Day.
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Post by: Maverick6464 on November 18, 2008, 03:56:31 pm
Haha, that's quite the Christmas gift! I will be fully willing to play all of the demo on Chirstmas Day, and tell you exactly what I think of it
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Post by: DarthPaul on November 18, 2008, 04:12:35 pm
You should have been here for the halloween event.  again thank you LD I shall patch my ISO today as I now have plenty of time.
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Post by: Maverick6464 on November 18, 2008, 08:32:04 pm
What was the halloween event?
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 18, 2008, 09:37:22 pm
The winners and contestants were given a few savestates and an early demo of Mercenaries.
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Post by: Zozma on November 19, 2008, 07:17:07 am
yes thx for that :D
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Post by: TRC on November 19, 2008, 11:21:39 pm
*cant wait*
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Post by: TRC on November 20, 2008, 04:38:36 am
so how long until you think this will be 100% completed?
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Post by: LastingDawn on November 20, 2008, 08:24:21 am
Eh heh... probably the complete version of Mercenaries won't be out for quite some time, a year or  two, progress on events is the main factor, which is why I'm getting the mechanics out of the way now, so it won't make problems later.
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Post by: DarthPaul on November 21, 2008, 05:48:44 pm
I was an idiot and tried to patch the alpha to the psp version of the iso :oops: now i have to rip the psx version.  Such a drag (but worth it)
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Post by: TRC on November 22, 2008, 09:04:47 am
I sure wish I was here on Halloween. >_>
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Post by: gasm on November 22, 2008, 11:22:05 am
I sure wish I had enough spriting skills to stand a chance to win at halloween...
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Post by: DarthPaul on November 22, 2008, 02:50:05 pm
Who cares if ya win it's a fun experience and you get a prize no matter what so why not join the Crhismahanukwanzika one.
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Post by: TRC on December 01, 2008, 06:11:51 pm
god I can't wait until christmas day! @_@
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Post by: Skip Sandwich on December 02, 2008, 07:31:08 am
Man, between this site and AGTP i'm going to have my hands full come cristmas! A veritable double fistful of awesome!
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Post by: GZGoten on December 03, 2008, 10:50:33 am
Dunno if this is the right thread to ask this but is this game gonna have uber weapons, accesories, and armor or are you completly avoiding them to make the game harder?
By uber I mean weapons like the Chaos Blade or an armor that protects against all status aliments and give auto regen, raise, haste, etc. or the Ribbon, Perfume (whatever it was called) accesories

Also what are your ideas for guest characters? (Balthier, Cloud, Luso, Sephiroth, Ritz, Tifa) I ask only for the sprites I've seen
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Post by: DarthPaul on December 03, 2008, 11:04:01 am
There was a Ritz sprite!!!!! And not a Marsche one!!!!!!
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Post by: GZGoten on December 03, 2008, 05:14:01 pm
Not sure if Marche sprite exist or not, never really liked the character so I didn't bother looking for it. It was in one of those japannesse youtube sites. They showed only the female sprites they made for FFT:WoL Tifa, Ritz, and Fran being the only ones that actually caught my eye
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Post by: Zozma on December 03, 2008, 07:17:47 pm
i donno i think its a waste to make a marche sprite, he just looks like a kiddy version of ramza to me...
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Post by: Maverick6464 on December 15, 2008, 04:29:12 pm
So, I haven't been on here for a while. How are things looking so far?

Is there still a beta coming out on Christmas Day?
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 15, 2008, 08:02:26 pm
Certainly, things are only currently being changed for the classes, until we get that all worked out it's kind of difficult to proceed with story.
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Post by: TRC on December 15, 2008, 10:31:23 pm
omg *cant wait*

*orgasms*
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Post by: Zuka on December 21, 2008, 10:29:39 am
This might be a silly question since I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in this forum if it is at all, but is there any sort of scheduled release date? or even a time you might be looking for a couple of testers? I would very likely kill to play mercenaries, I have to say, it seems immensely exciting.
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 21, 2008, 03:45:15 pm
Definitely no release date! The completed version is a far way off. Though come Christmas Day, I'll release a "playable" demo, which will have up to Dorter Trade City, in terms of battles, not a very long process... aside from that a few savestates. Believe me, don't get too excited, the Demo I will release on Christmas is just that, a demo.
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Post by: TRC on December 21, 2008, 05:02:28 pm
*is still excited*
>_>
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Post by: Zozma on December 24, 2008, 06:51:56 pm
hey LD i am planning on creating this spell for my patch and i figured id share the idea in case u havent heard it yet. donno what job it might be good for for you but im sure it would be useful.

Exorcism

If Undead -> Crystalize
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Post by: DarthPaul on December 24, 2008, 07:13:58 pm
Nice Idea for a new priest skill!
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Post by: Zozma on December 24, 2008, 07:16:37 pm
the thing about it that you have to deeply consider is

being -IF undead crystalize-, that means special units could be destroyed with it if you inflict undead status on them, right?

thinking it over, if your characters had access to it, couldnt you take down bosses quickly? and i dont think the best solution to that would be simply making them immune to undead. what about special generics like miluda, ya know?

anyway its a nice idea IMO if its perfected somehow...
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Post by: DarthPaul on December 24, 2008, 07:28:33 pm
Most bosses that I'm aware of are immune to undead even the minor ones like Miluda.
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Post by: Zozma on December 24, 2008, 07:32:14 pm
but how is a generic immune? i dont see a flag on endt for that...

at any rate, i think a good idea would be to make it:

IF Undead & Monster = Crystalize (boss monsters would be immune anyway so for that it wouldnt matter.)
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 24, 2008, 07:34:15 pm
I like that... that could work. But is there a way to guarantee that?
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Post by: Zozma on December 24, 2008, 07:36:35 pm
id say it'd need to be asm'ed (I personally would gladly give up the only skill that causes "crystal" for this)
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Post by: DarthPaul on December 24, 2008, 07:41:11 pm
I'm not sure but I know any of the "special characters are immune and I'm guessing it's to make the game harder thatn just undead phoenix down combo through all the hard stuff.
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Post by: TRC on December 24, 2008, 11:04:12 pm
*hopes for a midnight release*

>_>
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 24, 2008, 11:49:15 pm
No luck with that, I'll be lucky if I can get a release tommorow... I'll do my best though.
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Post by: Dormin Jake on December 24, 2008, 11:58:45 pm
Just make boss characters immune to Crystal.  The only boss character that ever actually crystalizes in game is Gafgarion, as battles always end as soon as bosses are dispatched.  Also, does the Immortal flag grant immunity to Undead status?  Because that could prevent special storyline enemies from being one-shotted as well.
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Post by: TRC on December 25, 2008, 12:12:49 am
oh well, whatever you do is fine by me!
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Post by: TRC on December 25, 2008, 07:26:35 pm
=(
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Post by: gasm on December 25, 2008, 08:52:33 pm
TRC's hopes were dashed  :(

I'd rather have a solid demo over a rushed one, so I am glad it's taking a bit longer.
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Post by: TRC on December 25, 2008, 09:12:58 pm
yeah I dont mind that much but yeah =(
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 26, 2008, 12:12:36 am
I do apologize, it turned out to be a lot more work then I had thought... but I can send you the "demo" as it currently is TRC, if you'd like.
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Post by: TRC on December 26, 2008, 06:20:49 pm
@_@

Its all cool, I'll patiently wait until Mercernaries is ready, the whole game. It will be more surprising and interesting that way!
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on December 28, 2008, 12:56:11 pm
I need more to do. MOAR.

Seriously, I'd love to have a look at anything I can help with.
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 28, 2008, 02:54:05 pm
Oh certainly, I'll send you the patch for critiquing, of the script (which is in place) at the moment, your English is quite proficient, so having another set of eyes wouldn't hurt. Also I think I might take you on as a story crafter, since I want to make sure the story makes sense, and before I get too far along, have things as proper come on IRC and I'll explain the basis.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on December 28, 2008, 04:09:43 pm
Send me a PM when you get the chance.
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Post by: Shade on December 28, 2008, 04:32:03 pm
Are you gonna make PSP version of this patch.
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Post by: LastingDawn on December 28, 2008, 05:42:29 pm
That's a bit more difficult... we don't know how to disable cutscenes, therefore that would be extremely strange to see, for some of the scenes. Especially with Delita being... no where near friendly to Ramza.
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Post by: psp master on January 01, 2009, 02:39:01 pm
If you have a psp demo (or beta or sth like that), please send it to me!
psp7master@mail.ru
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on January 01, 2009, 10:59:20 pm
LD, are you still going to use the Four Gods Set as a shield? If so, I suggest shamelessly ripping off of FFTA2 and renaming it the Shield of the Four.
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Post by: DarthPaul on January 01, 2009, 11:06:28 pm
Quote from: "LastingDawn"That's a bit more difficult... we don't know how to disable cutscenes, therefore that would be extremely strange to see, for some of the scenes. Especially with Delita being... no where near friendly to Ramza.

Would it be possible to remove the cutscenes from the ISO to edit the scenes underneath?  Also if he doesn't just play the psx version on your psp, simple fix.
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on January 01, 2009, 11:45:03 pm
Unfortunately, ripping the cutscenes from the ISO won't work. The game does run fine without them. The problem is that when you try to view one of the scenes that's animated, the original non-animated scene doesn't show up at all. Instead, it just shows a black screen and after a few seconds, goes to the next event if you're viewing the scene for the first time or goes back to the Chronicles entry you were viewing.
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Post by: DarthPaul on January 02, 2009, 10:45:16 am
Hmmm with that couldn't you just edit those scenes out for mercenaries or does LD plan on using them?
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Post by: LastingDawn on January 02, 2009, 11:53:23 am
Well those scenes will be replaced, that's the problem, I need to cut out the "activate cutscene here", acti...vator? Those scenes are quite important, especially the aftermath of Zeakden and Zirekile Falls.

Also yes, Four Gods Set will be a shield, not sure what it's going to do yet...
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Post by: boomkick on January 02, 2009, 12:12:28 pm
Quote from: "LastingDawn"...Also yes, Four Gods Set will be a shield, not sure what it's going to do yet...

Elemental Warder? Just from its name it has Four Gods on it, why not make it resist elements.
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Post by: LastingDawn on January 02, 2009, 12:31:57 pm
Hm... that works. So no physical or Magical Evasion either?
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Post by: boomkick on January 02, 2009, 12:35:04 pm
Just slighty, like around 10% each.
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Post by: LastingDawn on January 02, 2009, 01:00:45 pm
Black Tortoise of the North- Symbol of Winter
Vermillion Bird of the South- Symbol of Summer
Azure Dragon of the East- Symbol of Spring
White Tiger of the West- Symbol of Autumn

As they correspond, might it be Strengthens? This could make it quite useful for the Esper Blades, association with the Seasons as well. Of course this kind of contradicts that with the SpellBlades being a Two Handed weapon, therefore a shield's not a real possibility in that respect, hmm...
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Post by: Dominic NY18 on January 02, 2009, 08:17:15 pm
I stand by name Shield of the Four.

If you decide that it should strengthen elements, will they (are they gods?) correspond to the classical elements?

Black Tortoise of the North- Symbol of Winter, Strengthen Water
Vermillion Bird of the South- Symbol of Summer, Strengthen Fire
Azure Dragon of the East- Symbol of Spring, Strengthen Earth
White Tiger of the West- Symbol of Autumn, Strengthen Wind (Air)
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Post by: LastingDawn on January 03, 2009, 02:01:04 pm
Yes, that seems appropriate, I never really was a fan of the 108 Gems strengthening Everything under the sun, also this allows the lesser elements to shine a slight bit more, with the only main Element present being Fire.
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Post by: The Damned on January 03, 2009, 11:13:51 pm
Quote from: "Dominic NY18"I stand by name Shield of the Four.

If you decide that it should strengthen elements, will they (are they gods?) correspond to the classical elements?

Yes, they're the four Eastern gods. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheFourGods)

(Try not to get distracted as I am; why must you be so alluring when I am weary of Wikipedia, TVTropes?!)

*continues to read "Four is Death"*
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Post by: LastingDawn on January 03, 2009, 11:18:22 pm
TVtropes got you too, eh? They got me too earlier today, I never knew FF4 fell into... so many of them.
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Post by: psp master on January 14, 2009, 03:37:46 pm
You haven't made the playable demo yet?
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Post by: Smitson on February 11, 2009, 12:16:53 am
Very excited for playable demo!!!

Great work LD.
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Post by: LastingDawn on February 11, 2009, 04:52:46 pm
Thanks Smitson, but along with 1.3027 this demo cannot be released without text edits, without them it is nearly unplayable. Nearly everything is set up by this point though.
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Post by: Smitson on March 11, 2009, 08:43:14 pm
Quote from: "LastingDawn"Thanks Smitson, but along with 1.3027 this demo cannot be released without text edits, without them it is nearly unplayable. Nearly everything is set up by this point though.

With the new texteditor out, any chance of it coming out?
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Post by: PX_Timefordeath on March 11, 2009, 09:24:35 pm
So it's coming out soon? YATTA!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by: LastingDawn on March 12, 2009, 08:07:01 am
Eh? Who said that? I'm currently working to get everything looking right, all the placeholder sprites ready and using my Highly limited artistic ability to make something that looks even Slightly like claws and cards, let me tell you, the attempts so far have not been pretty, also I wonder if I should wait for Razele's Maintenance/MP Break hack.

Other then that, basically everything else is done.
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Post by: boomkick on March 13, 2009, 01:50:46 am
My i can't wait to play this when your done with everything LD
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Post by: Smitson on March 13, 2009, 08:05:28 pm
Quote from: "LastingDawn"Eh? Who said that? I'm currently working to get everything looking right, all the placeholder sprites ready and using my Highly limited artistic ability to make something that looks even Slightly like claws and cards, let me tell you, the attempts so far have not been pretty, also I wonder if I should wait for Razele's Maintenance/MP Break hack.

Other then that, basically everything else is done.

Everything else is basically done for the demo or full game?
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Post by: SilvasRuin on March 13, 2009, 11:18:33 pm
I suspect he means for the demo, although if by some off chance he does mean full game, I'll be ecstatic.
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Post by: Arvine on March 31, 2009, 09:21:30 pm
Im a freaking retard king yay
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Post by: Smitson on April 02, 2009, 04:10:34 am
Wasnt there a demo released in August or something? Of the lionwar?
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Post by: LastingDawn on April 02, 2009, 02:28:39 pm
That was a video Demo that's really it. It was before we really knew a lot about events, it was just basically using the scripts to Zirekile, but that is where I hade the revelation on what in battle events were and what all the other "junk data" in the event file was incidentally.
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Post by: Cheetah on April 02, 2009, 08:21:05 pm
Hey LD, can I post a youtube vid of the Dorter event I did for you? I now of the capability of doing pretty good recordings and I have been itching to show it off for a really long time. I will make the combat fast so that it isn't a focus of the preview.
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Post by: LastingDawn on April 03, 2009, 01:57:38 am
Certainly, feel free Cheetah, and as always thank you for your assistance.
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Post by: jimmyjw88 on April 03, 2009, 04:26:13 am
Ah...So demo is coming out soon? ^^
Glad to hear that. Can't wait till the demo is release ^^
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Post by: LastingDawn on June 27, 2009, 06:49:36 pm
I know I haven't updated much in... well a long time but that's because there was a "random battle spritesheet limitation" hurdle that first had to be jumped if I wanted any of my random missions to succeed. I looked and looked but to no avail, then Zodiac started to help and we made some slight headway into other directions, but nothing with this random battle spritesheet limitation. Then while I was away today I come back to find that Zodiac fixed the problem! We were looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing! In any case Zodiac has solved it all and we are back on schedule! Feel free to continue with Random Missions and (as long as they don't go over 8 Spritesets...) I will review them and try to include them!
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Post by: Cheetah on June 27, 2009, 09:39:13 pm
Great news Lasting Dawn! You will have to tell me later how it was finally done.
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Post by: ruwin on June 28, 2009, 04:37:01 am
I am thoroughly impressed by the level of detail in the storyline, class system and... well... everything in this hack. It's as if FFT has transformed entirely. I will refrain from downloading any demos until the full game is released, as I am far too impatient once given a taste of what's to come, but this is a seriously ambitious project and I applaud you.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 02, 2009, 04:58:18 am
Quote from: "ruwin"I am thoroughly impressed by the level of detail in the storyline, class system and... well... everything in this hack. It's as if FFT has transformed entirely. I will refrain from downloading any demos until the full game is released, as I am far too impatient once given a taste of what's to come, but this is a seriously ambitious project and I applaud you.

I could have sworn I replied to this... (also Grand avatar!!)
In any case, yes. It is a fully different feel from the original FFT, which wasn't initially the purpose, but eh... in reality it was inevitable. From the start I wanted a game of only Rad and Ramza, that would have been very difficult to make work, with the initial skills. "Abuse" is hardly a possibility. With only two units you can set, you must be careful and use all openings to your advantages.

Mercenaries aims to be a lot of things, it takes cues from FFTA, (Alicia and Lavian's sets are all but based off of their sills), FF4 (the ever changing party aspect of four always stuck with me), Vagrant Story (Mercenaries is in some ways an attempt at imitating a feeling of loneliness, though still being in a tight unit as Gafgarion's Troupe.) Not to mention taking blatant skill names, and basing Invoker, on the skills of the game. Though whether it succeeds in being any of these well... that's not my judgment.

Though once I do release the first patch (it might actually be a multi-patch sort of deal), in that case it will be episodic, in that regard. Each chapter, while connected is it's own contained story, which while having references and consequences of past chapters, really are a bit self contained.
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Post by: The Damned on July 07, 2009, 02:33:54 pm
It's good to see at least one of is still going, Lasting Dawn. It's been a while.

When you get the time, I'd like to ask you something with regards to Gambler (yet again).
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 08, 2009, 02:12:59 pm
Quote from: "The Damned"It's good to see at least one of is still going, Lasting Dawn. It's been a while.

When you get the time, I'd like to ask you something with regards to Gambler (yet again).

Welcome back! I had feared you left us permenantly, glad to see I was mistaken, so what was your question?
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Post by: beawulfx on July 15, 2009, 01:01:54 am
LD my good man, there's one thing I've meant to ask about Mercenaries. From what I gather Rad/Ramza are the only two characters that will be able to be modified by the player as they see fit, correct? While I am still in awe of all you are doing here the only concern/question I have is that you have so many creative jobs that look like an absolute blast to play around with and customize but only two characters with which to do so.

I may be missing something/totally off base there, but I guess it's not a slight on the game just the fact that I want to be able to enjoy and utilize all those classes because they look so damn fun! [for example, the bullets/gun combo still makes me drool]
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 15, 2009, 04:15:55 am
Quote from: "beawulfx"LD my good man, there's one thing I've meant to ask about Mercenaries. From what I gather Rad/Ramza are the only two characters that will be able to be modified by the player as they see fit, correct? While I am still in awe of all you are doing here the only concern/question I have is that you have so many creative jobs that look like an absolute blast to play around with and customize but only two characters with which to do so.

I may be missing something/totally off base there, but I guess it's not a slight on the game just the fact that I want to be able to enjoy and utilize all those classes because they look so damn fun! [for example, the bullets/gun combo still makes me drool]


Hmm... this is a bit of a difficult question to answer... two characters avoids a lot of the "broken" combinations that can be done with a team. The name of the game, in Mercenaries is Adaption, Equip Change will play a part (hopefully a large part...) because there is no best armor, best weapon, it is all up to one's own preferences (except Daggers, they're pretty onesided). I am flirting with the idea of removing the growths so Ramza and Rad will always, be set to be either a magical or physical class, I don't want to make people feel as if Ramza needs to be one way and Rad another.

There is plenty to customize and play around with, I am guessing Knight will probably be a favorite class, I for one love the Dark/Holy Knight, mix they now represent, for those who love chance, there is always the Gambler, who is almost 100% based upon such. Yes, there is a lot of combinations, but it's not only jobs now but the very weapons and armor one will equip, I'd like to believe that there's a bit more variety in this game, then the original.
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Post by: SilvasRuin on July 15, 2009, 10:02:25 am
I would suggest making their stat growths identical in all classes rather than removing growths.  Or is that what you meant?

I'd likely try and keep Rad magic and Ramza physical either way, whether you do so with the growths or not.  It would just be nice to maybe master a few skills from the other side without having the stats take a hit while doing so, even if it is a little hit.
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 15, 2009, 12:34:24 pm
Yes, that's what I meant hehe, removing the growths altogether would be... odd... to say the least.
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Post by: beawulfx on July 15, 2009, 12:38:42 pm
Thanks for the reply LD. I do see what you are going for a little more clearly now. It is a good idea and I think that being urged to adapt and change more often to suit the situation will be more fun than making a strong party and never really switching it up throughout. I guess it's just a matter of a little greed on my part. I see all these classes and I want to have them all at once, haha, that's all. Thanks for quelling my concerns, keep up the great work!

PS - Funeral is in serious need of some grooming. Those eyebrows are deadly.
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Post by: Kagebunji on July 16, 2009, 02:42:48 pm
I lurked here for long time, and I have to ask you LD 2 questions. First one, will there be characters like Balthier or Meliadoul, and I thinked about replacing Agrias with Beatrix, if that's impossible o'course. Could you tell me please, will Cloud be in Mercenaries? If yes maybe You would replace him with Zack?? And finally the last question, how is the process going, when will you release it, oh and will it be playable on psp? Well there was more questions afterall (sorry for spelling, I'm learning english).
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Post by: LastingDawn on July 16, 2009, 04:00:38 pm
Quote from: "Kagebunji"I lurked here for long time, and I have to ask you LD 2 questions. First one, will there be characters like Balthier or Meliadoul, and I thinked about replacing Agrias with Beatrix, if that's impossible o'course. Could you tell me please, will Cloud be in Mercenaries? If yes maybe You would replace him with Zack?? And finally the last question, how is the process going, when will you release it, oh and will it be playable on psp? Well there was more questions afterall (sorry for spelling, I'm learning english).


Oh, learning English? I'd say your English is better then about 50% of the people here already.

In any case, Meliadoul is a very small plot character in Mercenaries, Balthier will more then likely make an appearance in a sidequest, not sure where, but I'm sure he'll make it in somewhere. If you want to replace sprites, you should pick up Shishi on the main site's "Download" page, you can replace a lot of things. The only thing that might be wrong is that Agrias has a few evtchr's (special animations unique to certain units)

Cloud will (probably...) be in a sidequest, Zack will probably be as well, Sephiroth will make an appearance, but only as a combatant in the Lion War.

The process is slow-going, but I'm making good progress, a release is up in the air, as I plan to release it episodically, there is a version planned for PSP but I'll only deal with that after I've finished the PSX version completely. The PSP version is a bit more complicated.
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Post by: Kagebunji on July 16, 2009, 06:24:32 pm
Yeah I'm from Poland, have 5 from english, I learned it all from games, and who said games are bad to us? Thanks for encouragement :D. Oh and I found already topic here about creating sprites so this won't help ;(. Anyway I hope you can help me LD ;)
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Post by: Kagebunji on July 18, 2009, 12:04:49 pm
Hmm, everything would be cool, if you would tell me how the heck you will run it on psx/ps1? You have a program or something? In my ps1 there is no usb enter, or somethin.
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Post by: SilvasRuin on July 18, 2009, 01:48:34 pm
What?  Most people here use ePSXe, I believe.  You can use your keyboard as the controller and set which keys do what.
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Post by: Kagebunji on July 18, 2009, 02:04:51 pm
Do FFT must have some uber computer to run properly or no? Well I suppose instaling the whole ePSXe is hard, isn't it?
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Post by: CT5Holy on July 18, 2009, 02:27:33 pm
Nope, no super computer required. A normal computer should be fine (ran fine on Windows 98 =P). Google ePSXe, download version 1.6 under 'Old Peripherals' in the Downloads section, then download the stuff needed to setup ePSXe (google for that, too).
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Post by: Kagebunji on July 18, 2009, 02:39:27 pm
Thx, now all that's left, is waiting for Mercenaries. I must say, that this is the first site where users are so friendly and try to help you :) Umm I just found epsxe v.1.6 and is it possible to have only 280 KB??
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Post by: beawulfx on August 21, 2009, 08:44:35 pm
This is so late in coming LD, but I finally got my new computer and recorded the last of the demo battles at Dorter! I could do the demo justice now since I can record such better quality videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9hB29tz2kg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9hB29tz2kg)

It's an awesome fight, went way too smoothly because of Blade Flurry though :P
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Post by: LastingDawn on August 21, 2009, 10:02:26 pm
Ah? Glad to see you were able to get that up, yes aside from some major skill overhaul and the like from that demo... the scene is still the same, you have Cheetah to thank for the newer and improved version.
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on September 05, 2009, 07:39:02 am
Sir LD, I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know if someone suggested this before:
Can you lower the exp, JP gain and levels for all the units in the game? This way, it'll be harder
to achieve max level.

Hmm..?
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 09, 2009, 04:19:19 pm
Well I never did explain this did I...?

In Mercenaries you start at Level 10 (to show previous experience from the normal game's chapter 1), I will cut Exp gain, not so sure about JP Gain...

You can only get to Level 20 in the First Chapter Patch.

30 in the Second Chapter Patch

40 in the Third

and finally 50 in the Final Chapter (as a sort of reference to FFTA and because it's only 15 levels past the point of balance, if I recall right?)
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on September 09, 2009, 04:27:08 pm
I see. Baahh.. I really need to know more about Mercenaries. :P
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Post by: philsov on September 09, 2009, 06:43:06 pm
oooh, balance is such a relative thing.

35 is a good balance point because that's the speed plateau for all the 100 SPM classes due to their default speed growths.  The same scenario is present at 18 and 52, for example, though a little varied.  But this also means levels 34/17/51 are where the biggest relative differences are (ie, most imbalanced), while 36/19/53 isn't that much different than the original points.  Think a tangent wave.

And then on top of this, as the overall speed increases, the potency/imbalance of charge time damage is inversely affected.  That is, a level 1 they're badass but at 99 they're a liability.

Starting at level 10 and capping at level 50 does wonders for that second note, especially when coupled with lower exp gains.  Good call :)

Meanwhile, by simply altering the speed growth/multipliers (while also limiting +sp gear, I suppose), both of these functions calm down quite a bit as well.

Something radical I'd like seen done is the duplication/modification of the Jump charge-time formula onto a lot of normal charge-time abilities so they remain as a ratio instead of an absolute, but that probably requires a metric asston of hacking.
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 09, 2009, 06:47:24 pm
That is definitely an interesting suggestion... Zodiac said once about making a hack that scaled CT to level, I don't think he ever finished it though... if he had that would have definitely made it into Mercenaries.
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on September 09, 2009, 09:35:58 pm
I guess you should update the first post once in a while, Sir LD :)
(for reorganization)
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Post by: SolidSnakeDog on September 30, 2009, 05:57:47 am
Cant wait to play this wondefull projet! But what is hapening lately? there was no comment for like 20 days here, did something go worng? i hope not...  :(
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Post by: SilvasRuin on September 30, 2009, 07:28:47 am
The activity on the development for Mercenaries isn't isolated to one thread.  Try taking a look at the other threads, some of which get many posts a day.
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on September 30, 2009, 08:09:00 am
Yes, that would be advisable. ^

But also yeah, he has a point.
For a newbie, he can't understand what's happening.

For reorganization, I guess LD should update the first post once in a while. :)
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Post by: SolidSnakeDog on September 30, 2009, 04:20:17 pm
I hope he does, i want to see what progress he made lately. But id just look at few other places for that info.
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Post by: LastingDawn on September 30, 2009, 04:21:53 pm
Haha... well there's the rest of this large Forum devoted to the Production of Mercenaries, currently on our plate is spriting and artistry, as well as a few gameplay ideas from time to time, but most of those have been ironed out. If you have any specific questions, I'll give you the answers you need, feel free to post them here.
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Post by: kiaxiou on October 20, 2009, 02:31:30 am
well although i am new here and i seen many many videos of the demos on youtube i want as well to join on the fun when it is done
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Post by: Dokurider on October 27, 2009, 07:24:13 pm
Where do I download? I can't find it in the first post.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 27, 2009, 07:46:58 pm
Are you looking for that Ancient Demo, Dokurider?
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Post by: Dokurider on October 27, 2009, 08:17:02 pm
Uh, sure.
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Post by: LastingDawn on October 27, 2009, 08:52:10 pm
http://www.ffhacktics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2706 (http://www.ffhacktics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2706)


That is in this topic, very... bad, if I do say so myself... it's a bit imbalanced, but Don't Use Wish if you plan on actually playing it.
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Post by: SolidSnakeDog on October 28, 2009, 09:08:33 pm
Says...how is the mercenery progress LD?
I wish i can help you in some way.
Like testing battles. class balancing and other stuff like that.
But i guess i am too late for that...

Anyway. Keep up the good work LD.
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on October 28, 2009, 09:28:57 pm
Class balancing? Yeah. We need comments.
If you wanna help, read the jobs and try to judge
if they are balanced or not, or suggest something
that'll help this project.
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Post by: SolidSnakeDog on October 28, 2009, 10:07:09 pm
Hmm. Guess i will.
But i don't have the Patch yet to look into it.
And the demo is too outdated.
Guess i will need to ask LD for that..
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Post by: MiKeMiTchi on October 28, 2009, 10:24:50 pm
He's working on it, don't worry.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: Cheetah on February 16, 2010, 01:26:43 am
Has Lasting Dawn really not posted in a month? Did he say he was going to be away? I'm starting to wonder where the guy went to.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: RamzaBot on April 21, 2010, 01:39:41 pm
Hey I haven't been on the site in a long time. It's nice to see some new changes. But I was wondering with all the new changes where and how do I access certain things ? Like I want to download some of the patches but I once did it from the forum but now where are they ? And I like the contest, do you have to be a script/sprite/ anything to be in it ? Or do you get to make a team if you want ? Cause I would like to take a chance with all the new abilities and jobs. I love this game and the teams that are working on these new versions. Hope to see more.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: Oaks on June 15, 2010, 06:02:33 pm
Looks like a promissing project, i cant wait to see it, anyway..good luck!
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: LastingDawn on August 22, 2010, 01:02:08 am
Very lightly updated the main info. in the first post.

(Added info. on the Unique Skillset/Bounty Hunting/Sidequests)
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: LastingDawn on August 31, 2010, 02:03:07 pm
Gariland Guests - True, has been completed! Just a few little evtchr dealings is all the event needs now.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: LastingDawn on September 02, 2010, 09:03:32 pm
A new event (Meeting with Cherie) have been added, after the Gariland Battle.

Three Hedin Essays implemented

A few of the bio's have been updated.
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: BlackSheepKnight on October 25, 2010, 11:34:16 am
hey im new here, someone know what i need to play Mercenaries
Title: Re: Final Fantasy Tactics: Mercenaries (Main Info Thread)
Post by: Mari on October 25, 2010, 04:41:32 pm
It's not quite finished yet.