Messages

301

Troubleshooting / Re: Making playable backup discs of my old FFVII Discs

« on: 2008-01-11 08:55:09 »

Not necessary.
in3rt!a, did you install the game from your actual CD drive? If so your registry is looking for the information at that location, so when you mount your ISO, your FF7.exe doesn't even look at your virtual drive. You'll need to manually change that in the registry for it to look at G: drive, for example, as opposed to E: or whatever your CD/DVD drive is. If you're unfamiliar with regedit, I can walk you through the process. It's not as technical as it sounds.
It's a shame pirating is such a problem (I mean with it running rampant, not that the board has a problem with it) because I try to use No-CD patches with all of my games so I don't even have to mess around with the CDs.

302

Completely Unrelated / Re: Qhimm.com Foreign Counterpart?

« on: 2008-01-10 23:00:14 »

and yes, the movie is way too short to make a decent addition to the ff7 game. it just wouldn't work out, and i guess everybody felt it coming the closer it was to release. you just cannot stick an equivalent to final-fantasy-like storyline in 2 hour movie. so you think something simple, short, and hope fans are too busy with keeping up with the wowie-zowie fx to think about those shortcomings.

Yeah, I won't hold the fact that it's a movie against the series. For the most part, the action sequences seemed to make up for the lackluster storyline (assuming you're into Hong Kong cinema and completely unreal fight scenes). I just found the character "development" a joke, especially where everyone starts out at. I was also irritated at the fact that even though the movie was intended to fill plot holes, it created even more. First Tsurugi, Bahamut Sin's origin (I doubt there was Huge Materia in Cloud's chest at the church and I equally doubt the three stooges took a stroll to Cosmo Canyon...), among other things. Even with the novellas, we're still left with gaping plot holes.

303

Completely Unrelated / Re: PC Games similiar to Final Fantasy?

« on: 2008-01-10 22:52:06 »

To be fair, Morrowind and Oblivion loaded to the teeth with mods are two seriously addicting RPGs.

304

Troubleshooting / Re: Making playable backup discs of my old FFVII Discs

« on: 2008-01-08 16:43:20 »

I personally use DiscJuggler, but apparently a lot of people have trouble with it. So my advice there is try it but prepare for the possibility of disappointment. Nero 8 can do it, but I think it'll only create backups in .nrg format, which a lot of mounting utilities don't support. It's been a long time since I've used anything else, really. MagicISO might work, and if I remember correctly, CloneCD will do it as well, but only in it's .ccd format which some mounting utilities don't support.

305

Completely Unrelated / Re: Qhimm.com Foreign Counterpart?

« on: 2008-01-08 16:28:52 »

Ah, now that's making some sense. Thanks for clearing that up. I'll have to look up their laws now on copyright issues since I'm curious.
Haha, now I kinda wonder if the fellas over in Hong Kong have done anything to FF7.

As for "otaku"... <Rant and Spoilers>
It's my personal opinion that Square has already destroyed some of the really good points of the game just to make their new spin-offs seem more extravagant. Lots of little things, like how now the canon is supposedly that Sephiroth jumps off the bridge instead of Cloud throwing him, that sort of thing. Advent Children also make Cloud seem WAY more feminine than the game ever did. Hell even though he cross-dressed in the game, he still seemed more masculine. Not to mention down-playing Cloud's complete ownage of Sephiroth at the end. I'm by no means a Cloud fanboy, but his original story, when you take away all the crap that came afterwards, was one of a kind, and you can ask anyone who played Final Fantasy VII but grew out of games shortly afterward and they'll tell you that Cloud is badass. Betcha they wouldn't think so if they saw what's happened to him since. Again I must stress I'm not trying to make Cloud seem super cool, but the fact is he is the centerpiece of the game and therefore a lot of it's appeal depends on him.
Which takes me to an even more abstract direction, which the thought of a FF7 remake on the PS3. Admittedly, I thought it would be cool at first. But then I got to thinking about the above paragraph and realized it'd be completely different than the FF7 we all know and love, unless they decided to ignore everything else. Superficially it'd be very similar, but a lot of that essence would be gone.
Now don't get me wrong, I think the spin-offs are perfectly fine... on their own. I enjoyed most of what I've seen thus far, but cutting into the original canon though was pointless. There's better ways to make the bad guy seem more powerful than saying "Oh, well actually, the main characters weren't as good as we made you think they were in the game..."

Well this is flying all over the place. The point of this long winded whatever was, if anyone is disrespecting the original game, it's Square-Enix themselves who, as I understand it, barely have any of the original people working on this big compilation of it. I'm sure if one were to swap release dates for FF7 and FF8, the former would look a lot like it does now with the high-res, NPC-RP, etc. These are just my opinions and I expect plenty of people to disagree with them. But, as President Shinra would have put it (Or Heidegger perhaps), the otaku can flush their problems with the rest of their crap in the morning.

</Rant and Spoilers>

306

Completely Unrelated / Re: Qhimm.com Foreign Counterpart?

« on: 2008-01-08 05:56:01 »

If you cant speak a word in japanese then why do you wanna know about other sites in japanese?^^Sounds kinda contradictive

The language barrier has never stopped me, one can always use a translator service or hover links to navigate. I simple find it strange that the Japanese, of all people, wouldn't have also released patches and programs similar to the ones found here. If that's the case, wouldn't it be worth knowing about their existence? 

307

Troubleshooting / Re: Making playable backup discs of my old FFVII Discs

« on: 2008-01-07 05:56:28 »

Most burning programs allow you so copy CDs or even create ISOs from them. I personally took my discs, made ISOs of all of them, then burned them onto a single DVD along with daemon tools to mount them with. In fact I do that with all of my multi-CD games. With the price of the game skyrocketing, you definitely want to make sure your originals stay in top condition. I'm actually considering copying my DVD and keeping that copy unused just to be redundant about it.
But anyways, if you want CDs, just do a regular CD copy. Look up CloneCD on Google and use that, as it's least likely to eject a useless coffee coaster out of your drive.

Just don't change the question around and ask for ISOs. That's a shortcut to hell around here.

308

Completely Unrelated / Re: PC Games similiar to Final Fantasy?

« on: 2008-01-05 08:49:35 »

He just clearly asked for PC games, and no MMORPGs...

And on that note, seeing how typical "Final Fantasy style" RPGs are mostly made in Japan, and they don't develop a lot for PC, there's really not much along those lines going for it. There are RPG Maker games, and actually a few are really well made, but most are crap, and if you're into emulation and have played lots of games, then you're going to be seeing a lot of familiar sprites and hearing familiar music.
I know a few freeware RPGs that have the side-view battles, but they look like really poor drawings that move around. The original Abaddon I thought was alright for freeware, but again you're looking at older sprites. There's honestly not a lot in that particular style I'm afraid.  I'd kinda like to know if there are any similar games as well, because if there is I haven't heard of it.

309

Completely Unrelated / Qhimm.com Foreign Counterpart?

« on: 2008-01-03 10:15:32 »

I realize that technically there's more to this forum than Final Fantasy VII and VIII, but ultimately those two games are it's main draw. With Final Fantasy VII being such a big deal, I find it kinda off to think that at least the Japanese don't have a website with people doing the exact same thing as is happening here. Obviously there are a few Japanese forum users here, and Qhimm.com is not associated with any country, but surely there is a Japanese equivalent? As I cannot speak a word of their language, it wouldn't do me any good, but I'm curious to know if there are any similar websites to this one in a foreign language - be it Japanese or otherwise.

310

Archive / Re: Has anyone ever heard/seen one of these....

« on: 2008-01-03 02:32:25 »

To my knowledge, the only way to equip the Masamune onto Cloud is to edit one of his swords to use the graphics that Masamune uses. I've seen screenshots of this done before, but I cannot recall an actual patch for this existing. For that matter, I also haven't seen a patch that simply lets you play as Sephiroth. There's the patch that completely changes the game, and you can force him into your party using the Jenova game save editor - as a computer controller, game breaking character.
In otherwords, unless someone can prove me wrong, if you're looking for a quick download to grant your wish, it just doesn't exist yet   

EDIT - Try changing the subject of your topic to reflect what you're looking for. If someone does in fact have it, it'll increase your chances of them reading this.

311

General Discussion / Re: Real Life believes

« on: 2008-01-03 02:24:48 »

Theories based on theories...

I think everything in this topic points towards one thing. We don't know jack.

312

FF7 Tools / Loveless - a FF7 text editor [v.1 - 2.5]

« on: 2008-01-03 02:11:36 »

I'm not positive what exactly causes it, but it seems that editing certain text, not sure what, completely erases the text in the field file "las4_42". This is the scene immediately after you defeat JEVONA Synthesis, so in game when you defeat her this causes a crash. This of course can be currently fixed by simply reinserting the original field file with Highwind, but it's still troublesome and might cause more problems than just that.
Another problem, possibly due to symbol hotkeys/buttons/whatever, is during the scene where the party is detected on the train and has to avoid the security checks. Where it would normally say "Car #1" for example, instead it will have "Car [odd symbol here]".
The editor crashes frequently when doing large amounts of editing due to memory problems. Yet if you close and reopen the program, you can resume editing as much as you like so it can't be an issue with the file itself.

Other than these three things, I cannot think of any other bugs.

As for ideas, is it possible to modify default names in the current version? I attempted to edit "Aeris" to "Aerith" using various techniques but none worked. Perhaps a task for Meteor, but if it's possible to implement into Loveless, all the better.

313

Completely Unrelated / Re: Your favourite Final Fantasy villian?

« on: 2008-01-02 07:09:53 »

!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!

Perhaps, but I could also argue that Sephiroth constantly has his facts wrong in the FF7 storyline, as well as a complete idiot for "toying with Cloud" despite having a record of 0-4 or so against him. But that's what creates the character. In art, flaws create perfection. That's why I liked Yu Yevon, who was so desperate to cling to Zanarkand that he created Sin and forced the fayth to summon a dream version of his former home, then demolished any sign of advancement to protect Zanarkand. In that sense, it blurs the entire concept of good and evil. He wasn't a God, he wasn't trying to be, yet he had a much longer lasting and more devastating impact in his world than almost every other FF villain.
I said not necessarily my favorite because it's a toss up between him and Kefka, who I honestly just found hilarious in his own odd way. No further explanation needed, really. Same with Sephiroth, who I can understand why he's liked and all.

EDIT - Apologies, obesebear. I'm not sure if you were sarcastic or not, but regardless I should have added the spoiler alert. As cool as I thought Sin was, and the back story for FFX, the game itself had a lot of things going against it. Namingly Tidus. 

314

General Discussion / Re: Real Life believes

« on: 2008-01-02 06:48:37 »

It also shouldn't be "righter" than anything else, by that same principle. One thing I've noticed about religion in general is that all are possible, yet none can be proven by fact. There's evidence, there's faith, there's what seems to make sense, but ultimately the fact people still argue about religion constantly speaks for itself.
That said, there's really no reason to start believing in the lifestream, fayth, the matrix, or anything else. Consider it a possibility, sure. Truly believe in it, though? I don't think it wise to fill gaps in our knowledge with any answers just for the sake of self comfort. Assuming we don't all die in war or accident, we might find the truth eventually.

315

General Discussion / Re: Square translation mistakes

« on: 2008-01-02 06:43:07 »

Now that I think about it, "shit" wasn't censored really, but yeah you get what I mean. Thanks for clearing most of that up.

Off course! 

316

General Discussion / Re: Square translation mistakes

« on: 2008-01-02 05:46:32 »

Is there a conclusive list of translation disputes anywhere on the internet for Final Fantasy VII? I'd like to correct what I can using Loveless.
Speaking of which, "Shinra" and "Shin-Ra". Which is it? Right now I'm using Shin-Ra since that's how it's depicted in graphics, but is that even a proper way to write that?
Also, did the censoring happen after the script was completed? I always picture Barret saying "Shit" a lot, while Cid spammed the F-word like a retired sailor, and have edited my personal version to reflect that. On the other hand, I can see where "%^@$#" was an intentional thing, meant to be funny kinda like Q-Bert.

In a Kernel2 patch here, Heaven's Cloud is changed to Excalibur. Is there any evidence that this is correct, or was it just a judgment call by the author of the patch?

Is "Ultima Weapon" an ongoing mistake Square does on purpose, which should have originally been "Ultimate Weapon", or was "Ultima" the intended word?

317

General Discussion / Re: Contradictions in the Final Fantasy Cutscenes

« on: 2008-01-01 21:19:48 »

A lot of people would argue that Safer is the correct translation, aluding to the fact Sephiroth's name has it's roots in Judiasm and the Qabbalah, as does Safer. But as there's no official word from Square, and he DOES have the appearance that suggests Seraph, it could go either way. But, old argument 

Back on topic, it probably has to do with Amano originally designing the character concepts with blonde hair. Of course, he draws nearly EVERY Final Fantasy character with blonde hair, so when it comes time to implement them into the game, it's easy to see why certain characters get colors changed. This doesn't happen so much anymore since Nomura and/or other team members do the concepts for the characters, while Amano seems to only do official box artwork.
Personally, with today's technology I'd like to see Square create a game entirely based on Amano's intricate artwork, that really is only now possible since his detail level is so high. Or better yet a modern remake of FF6 using Amano's designs. The Magitek Armor would rule. Too bad that'll never happen. 

318

Completely Unrelated / Re: Your favourite Final Fantasy villian?

« on: 2008-01-01 21:05:08 »

I always thought Sin from FFX was an interesting concept. Granted, it was something of a conglomerate of characters and created by Yu Yevon. At the same time though rather than the typical "destroy the world" villain, it was more like punish the world repeatedly. Plus the whole keeping Zanarkand alive in a dream, pretty cool. I'm not quite sure I'd go so far as to call it my favorite, but it deserves a mention.

319

Troubleshooting / Re: FF8 Launcher - Custom resolutions and 8-bit paletted textures fix (patch)

« on: 2007-12-30 16:20:01 »

Have to toss in my applause, the launcher is great. It's good to see FF8 getting some love, too. I wish there were more tools available to tweak it as we have with FF7.

320

Releases / Re: [Release] Higher Resolution FFVIIPC [v1.00] - Part II

« on: 2007-12-29 22:30:22 »

What exactly is the cause of certain battle animations and the opening credits messing up? The credits make it really interesting, since it makes me wonder if perhaps it's actually a "battle animation" itself. If that's the case, maybe the animation file can be played with, and a compatibility patch can be created for the Hi-Res?

EDIT - I just painfully read through all the Hi-Res threads. Perhaps it's not so simple, but I could be wrong.

321

Releases / Re: [Release] NPC Reconstruction Project

« on: 2007-12-29 22:27:48 »

Hey NPCRP team. I recall you guys saying a long time ago now that version 0.7 was getting ready to come out, and you had found beta testers for it in another topic. I realize it's the holidays so these things take a back seat to social life, but the long delay was just having me wonder if you guys ran into a massive snag or something during testing.

322

Archive / Re: New Game +

« on: 2007-12-05 21:39:48 »

Wouldn't that in itself sort of emulate having your stats kept high? Since Cloud is the party member, if he were level 80, wouldn't Barret be around 80 as well when he joined, or am I wrong? This is the first time I've even noticed this topic, which is strange considering I've lurked here for over a year before finally registering, and the concept is interesting.

323

Archive / Re: Regarding NPC Positioning...

« on: 2007-11-28 08:38:23 »

Well, after some fiddling around, I can definitely say you weren't joking about this being extremely hard. I'm fairly sure I know how to script the events to do what I want, the problem is that when I do so, it crashes the game. So right now I'm currently trying to figure out exactly what the game looks for that's doing this. I'm fairly sure it's not a filesize issue, unless certain areas of the file are checked. If so it could be as simple as creating dummy commands to fill the gap, so to speak. But I highly doubt it's that simple 

On a side-note, I've almost got the movie I wanted to place in completed. When I get on a faster connection I might have to upload that to YouTube. I've also been tossing around the idea of doing this with other FMVs like Otokoshi did awhile back. The problem then is consistency within the FMVs, but I've already got the NPC Reconstruction patch applied so my videos cut to "lego Cloud" anyways. Eh.

324

Archive / Re: [Weeemus] New Main Char Design Beta Release!

« on: 2007-11-28 08:15:51 »

Well, I meant the sword you see in the artwork, such as on the cover or the shot of cloud you posted, to be turned into a texture and slapped in game. Mind you, it's not a request at all, I was simply wondering if it had been done/thought of.
Cloud is looking great!

325

Archive / Re: [Weeemus] New Main Char Design Beta Release!

« on: 2007-11-28 05:30:57 »

That would be godly of you. I remember it being mentioned in the Reconstruction topic that any really high quality models were to look like the cutscene models, and I've been hoping for that to happen ever since. I'd attempt it myself, but the result would be a disgrace to FF7 lol.

EDIT - on that note, I wonder why nobody ever used the CGI buster sword or even some of the models shown in the ultimanias to redo the weapons. Granted, you'd have to make textures from scratch using pictures, but I've seen a lot of people in the Morrowind community using pictures from BudK and the like to create textures easily enough.