(PSX/PC) FF8 - Adding towns in 4th disc

[Goth]

How hard would it be to modify the fourth disc deleting the big ending FMV and putting all the towns back in the disc and let them be accessed in the game?
I guess that disabling that blue shield in the world map which doesn't let you go into the cities is pretty easy to do. But inserting the actual content in the 4th disc may be not so easy. I'm just curious about it, I've no knowledge to do that but I would love it, because unless I'm wrong they don't let you enter the cities just because there was no space on disc, so a "patch" to change that would be awesome and it will break the need to do most of the stuff in the 3rd disc as players usually do because they know they will not have the beautiful towns in the 4th one.
Maybe this is easier to do on the PC since the content is all on the hard disk (isn't it? - it's long time I do not play the PC version).
Thanks for any insight.

[xLostWingx]

Your logic seems sound.  Hopefully there is enough talent involved with FF8 that this will become a reality.

[Vgr]

I didn't answer earlier because I thought someone more knowledgeable would. Guess not.

There is more than enough space on the disk to put all the towns. The reason the towns are locked is because you're not supposed to be able to access them when you're in the temporal compression. From what I understand, it was easier to do that than to create a whole new map stripped of towns and roads. Putting it back might be as simple as disabling/enabling a flag, but it might also be hard (I have no clue on this).

[DLPB_]

There may be space, but in the playstation version they probably designed it in case there wasn't due to FMV (or in case the actual scenes themselves led to FMV).  They did the same with FF9 and the tree roots.  It is more likely that they just made absolutely sure that there wouldn't be a problem (and I'm assuming you're correct about the space).  If FF8 and 9 had been on a larger disc (let's say DVD), I am sure the towns never would have been taken away.  If they really did take them away in both games solely for the story, that's a bit silly.

Also...  it may have been deliberate to avoid having to update NPC conversations on each town.

To place them back may just be a simple edit to the world map script programming. Unfortunately,  I don't think there is an editor for world map script in ff8... there isnt even one for ff7.

[Vgr]

However, one can deduce that the restricted access to the towns is due to the story. It has nothing to do with space, it just happens to be on the fourth disc. I am 90% positive that there is enough space.

[Covarr]

Even if there is enough space doesn't necessarily mean they knew there would be. The decision to lock those towns may have been made before they knew how much content would be on disc 4.

[Vgr]

Good point. I still think, however, that it's related to the fact you're not supposed to be able to go anywhere during the temporal compression (the only locations you can still go are the places that you get Guardian Forces from, and the Ragnarok).

[Goth]

Vgr, I'm 100% sure that you're wrong. In Ultimecia's time (the future) you have portals. What those portals are for? Do they serve you to go to the world map? Nope, you could just go to the world map exiting the orphanage, why would you need a crazy thing like portals? Those portals (which in games and movies are almost always related to time-travel) serve you to go back to your time (present), so that you could visit towns, talk to people, get missing G.F.s, fighting monsters, do side-quests, etc. Ultimately they decided to not include towns, maybe because of the space, maybe because of NPC talking, or for other reasons. But with those portals you definitely go back to present time.
I would like to remind you that the time compression was not completed: the plan was that Ellone would bring back Ultimecia (in Adel) before she ended casting the time compression; using this not-completed time compression Squall & co. was able to go to the future using their will.
This is a very common misconception regarding the plot: Squall & co. in the Ultimecia's castle are NOT into a weird time were past-present-future are merged; they simply are in the future. You can see the "real" time compression when the game shows you those crazy FMVs where the charaxcters seem to float in an hallucinogenic trip. Also when you fight the sourceresses. In Ultimecia's castle you're instead in a "stable" future time.

If they can go to the future there's no reason why they couldn't go to the past. To make going to the past clear and scenic they've put portals.

(@DLPB)
For these reasons there wouldn't even be the need to update NPC conversations, IMHO.

The only locations you can still go are the places that you get Guardian Forces from, and the Ragnarok.

Yes, because the player needs those places. Towns have been sacrificed.

Disc 4 is 678 MB BTW, if anyone wants to venture a guess about the "towns space" theory.

[DLPB_]

The NPC thing is 1 explanation, but the best one is that they designed it to make sure that there was space on the disc, and later, even though there was, they didn't undo it. Same as FF9.