Messages

76

Completely Unrelated / Re: Smoking in video games

« on: 2010-05-11 20:01:25 »

I smoke in the hopes of one day having an extremely well choreographed fistfight with an old Russian man whose taken up the personality of my deceased twin brother.


Everything leading up to that might be pretty cool too.

77

General Discussion / Re: I don't know if this is allowed....

« on: 2010-05-10 20:12:08 »

You buy it because SQUARE ENIX DESPERATELY NEED YOUR MONEY OMG SHEESH.
So yeah I can hardly afford every single intangible I consume and Squeenix would be about 14 miles down a physical list of people and companies I feel compelled to support. Certainly a lower priority than Devin Townsend, but nobody is arguing ethics anyway, people are arguing talking specifically about having pirated it on the public forum.

I think buying intangibles from people besides the creator when downloading for free is an option is actually negative ethics points btw, so I am actually opposed to finding FFVII for PC legally I JUST HAD TO THROW THAT IN BECAUSE I AM FEELING DOUCHEY.

78

Completely Unrelated / Re: AMV I made

« on: 2010-05-09 17:35:04 »

It's not shitty indie rock it's blandsh*t pop rock, and just about the blandest of the bland. I don't know if maybe you might prefer that yourself.

79

General Discussion / Re: Jenova & Griever obsolete? O.o

« on: 2010-05-07 18:19:59 »

On the subject of people who find bringing Aeris back to be anything more gratifying than a "screw around" toy on their n'th playthrough - http://xkcd.com/299/

Anyway stuff goes obselete all the time, I find this unsurprising.

80

General Discussion / Re: I have a question regarding the "Remake" of FFVII you're all working on

« on: 2010-05-06 17:55:00 »

I am pretty sure that Team Avalanche, while not illegal strictly as a mod, could cbe considered distribution of a large number of plagiarized models, or similar.

81

Team Avalanche / Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!

« on: 2010-05-03 20:55:26 »

I couldn't really get the geometry as finished as I'd like to in sketchup in order to have little enough left to do in zBrush without being a lot better with it. So my planned order of programs is now sketchup -> 3DsMax -> zBrush -> Max.

82

Team Avalanche / Re: New Project: Bombing Mission!

« on: 2010-05-03 20:10:04 »

Huh. I was going to comment that I would expect the space between those tiles to be bridged with some metal at the same height (as in every school I've been in, for instance), but it does look like there's an actual indent. Also, adding a bit more detail to the machinery in the octagonal room might be worth it.

On another note, wish I could help on this. Certainly I've gotten good enough at sketchup to use it as far as I would for mnkin2, and I could easily detail in zBrush, but that's the problem - it would be unrealistic for me to attempt to do much more than detail a nearly finished "base mesh" in zBrush for a project like this. So I'm learning 3Ds Max for what's essentially the most important part, but I know how slow I am to pick up on these sorts of things, even if I were to just use Maya instead.

83

Troubleshooting / Re: Final Fantasy VII Remix - A compilation of FF7 Mods [1.0-2.5.1]

« on: 2010-05-02 20:01:27 »

It's painfully obvious to anyone who has even a basic understanding of the concept of files, I would think. And you may stay quiet when someone says something extremely stupid, and maybe you stay quiet when someone says something offensive, or ignorant, or something you don't agree with, and maybe you don't talk about a movie you hated - I can't know and don't much care, but some people with a sense of humour enjoy interactions outside of 'question -> answer' and "i think X" -> "oh i think x too!".
I know that's a bit much to say to a fairly innocuous statement, but it's a sort of statement that I generally see coming from an attitude that I find frankly anti-social. It's not trolling to say anything even the slightest bit "inflamatory".

Also, question, although it is fairly easy to change most things that I might want to, would it be all that difficult to make a modular version of the installer? Or is it already modular? (I haven't downloaded it yet but it doesn't sound as though it is..)


Edit: Whoa, apparently I can be more of an asshole than I thought if I am woken up by a friend after 4 hours of sleep. At most I had cause to mildly suspect that sort of attitude. Still, even in the (admittedly likely) even that the post generally doesn't apply, it should illustrate why I don't think that was trolling, I guess.

84

Completely Unrelated / Re: CP is great!

« on: 2010-05-01 04:01:52 »

"Hey, the possibility of a precedent for restriction of information is fantastic because there's a small chance it might help me in some way that is in itself questionable!" Yeah you sound like a great guy whom we should all support!

85

Team Avalanche / Re: New Field backgrounds/CG Cutscenes thread

« on: 2010-04-28 20:21:54 »

Yea I tried to do that the other day but had trouble getting it to line up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw4TDjjDYYE might be helpful. Or it could very likely not include anything you haven't already figured out, I dunno.

86

General Discussion / Re: Things you can't wait to see in a remake

« on: 2010-04-25 23:00:22 »

Legitimately, I'd like seeing it with detailed, smooth animation, since that's the real big divider between early 3D and "proper" 3D, and that's something that won't ever realistically get modded in, probably. Wouldn't mind a class system, or a re-balance, but odds are the more Square changed outside of graphics and sound, the more they'd cock up, and FF games in general aren't exactly known for being balanced.

87

Team Avalanche / Re: Resolution

« on: 2010-04-25 22:52:59 »

My current monitors resolution is 1600x900, so playing at 1280x800 in windowed mode would be appropriate.

88

Team Avalanche / Re: Video Tutorial: How to make improved FF7 backgrounds in Sketchup

« on: 2010-04-25 19:34:15 »

...Wow, Guess you're right, It works ok even when you assume it's square. What happens if you drag the green ones to something we know 100% is gonna be square? (i.e the vertical-y part of the bridge)

The scene is actually square as seen by my pictures above. You just have to get the perspective right.

While possibly the most embarrassing way I've ever turned out sort of correct, I noticed the walls still don't line up perfectly like that (you can see a bit of the reactor's face painted onto the wall, as well as a sliver of distant ground). I guess that's getting a bit further from my assertion that it's "illogical", although still a bit quirky if someone wants to go for total accuracy. I made it way harder than it had to be by not having the the base and top edge of either wall parallel to each other though.

89

Team Avalanche / Re: Video Tutorial: How to make improved FF7 backgrounds in Sketchup

« on: 2010-04-25 05:56:31 »

I noticed some of the field backgrounds don't have especially logical perspective. From the bombing mission, the three-way catwalk is the most egregious. With the X and Z axis aligned to either wall, the Y axis will be slightly misaligned to that very wall, and whether the the X and Z axis are aligned to the catwalk or either wall, you'll find the other two major surfaces out of alignment, and if you try aligning one red line to one wall, and the other to the other wall, you'll still find the catwalk and the other edges of the walls off, and so on in every manner I tried. This makes it very difficult to model, and as pushing oneself is the fastest way to learn, I of course jumped right into it. I have spent spent hours working feverishly and uselessly, to come up with this:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceA.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceB.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceC.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceD.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceF.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/795661/practiceE.jpg
There are inaccuracies that are entirely my fault to the point that this couldn't really be made into anything usable, but you can see where quirks are "the game's fault". Still, after what I have learned attempting this, I feel I could make any simpler (and more sensible) background my b*tch, as well as any badger.
I posted this here not only because it seems to have become an odd, temporary newb thread, but also because it seems right for talk about perspective.

90

Team Avalanche / Re: Team Avalanche Main Cast Project

« on: 2010-04-25 04:28:28 »

I hate Chibi, but I feel that playing without it now would just be a far too substantial difference, in that I would notice it and compare it to memory constantly, from the start of the game to the end. That would be pretty immersion breaking.

91

Team Avalanche / Re: Video Tutorial: How to make improved FF7 backgrounds in Sketchup

« on: 2010-04-24 18:37:29 »

Nice stuff scottmctony, Glad to have you onboard. Firslty, If you'd rather spend some time learning your tools fine, but imo, the best way to learn is by getting right into a project you're enthusiastic about.

Another suggestion, don't work on a scene that someone else has started. If you're unsure, or can't be arsed to check through the forum, ask SL or myself.

Well, there's a reason the files were named practice1 and practice 2, mind.  If I come back in 3 months and nobody's claimed Shinra HQ I might try to do that (unless someone already has?). About learning by doing, I'm more worried about my zbrush skills. I'd show you some awful thing I've already done in that, but it is shameful and there are more than close friends here. If I were to try something usable now, there would be months of remodeling that before I was satisfied, and the only difference that would make would be how incredibly sick I'd be of a single field.
djkoopa, for your second day doing any kind of modeling, I am amazed.

92

Team Avalanche / Re: Video Tutorial: How to make improved FF7 backgrounds in Sketchup

« on: 2010-04-24 08:20:22 »

Been modeling with zbrush for a few weeks, which I guess I'll use for detailing, and I've been intending to help out when I can for a while now, but this post actually got me started using google sketchup. Not that I intend to seriously submit anything for some months, certainly not for the bombing mission project, but hopefully you guys won't be finished every inorganic field background by the time I feel halfway confident in my competence.

1 hour of tutorials + 1:30 or so of actual work =



Yes, I know I created the wall offset from the bridge for some reason, and consequently it's out of perspective with the original background, as well as causing the pipes (and anything else I attempted to create protruding from it) to be mis-angled. And ignoring that, even just my bridge part isn't as good as djkoopa's, which is why I intend to practice for at least 3 months before I make a serious attempt at even a simplistic industrial background. I'm a bitterly slow learner at anything the least bit artistic, but also a perfectionist, a "never plateau" kind of guy, and a "work until 7 AM Friday night, only noticing that it isn't still 2 once the sun comes up" kind of guy, so I can make it work, I guess.

93

FF7Voice / Re: One teeny tiny question

« on: 2010-04-19 20:16:06 »

Actually I was under the impression that it can become th or su, which is why I said equally correct, even though that would actually make it become Aerisu, which sounds silliest of all, but it's not a stretch to imagine the u just being dropped. My mention of the lack of a th sound in the Japanese language was pretty meaningless though I don't know why I brought that up. In any case, I'm more inclined now to think it was a simple mistake based on titeguy's observation, and even though it sounds nothing like earth really, I certainly don't find it too annoying that I couldn't rapidly get used to Aerith.
And if Opine is correct, then I definitely consider that a phonetic improvement, at least in the bland western accents that I imagine most or all of the VA will be in.

94

Completely Unrelated / Re: You know what else grinds my gears?

« on: 2010-04-18 02:04:28 »

Hey Kudistos, while it is pretty stupid saying "my character would beat your character in a fight, mine's better"(I'm pretty sure that's some form of ad hominem), and I agree that simply how powerful or impressive they are has little to nothing to do with how interesting they are on its own, when analyzing characters like Kefka and Sephiroth, using power as a point of quality comparison isn't totally meaningless, if you do it right. The thing is, creating a narrative context where a character achieving a certain degree of power is believable, while still being exceptional in the universe in which it's set, does require some skill, and does help add to audience fascination. And if surprise at such power can be created, without hurting belief, it can sometimes reach something close to awe.

See in this sense, though, I think that Sephiroth wins. While Kefka at his most powerful probably would beat Safer in a fight, I was far less surprised when he became so powerful. Sephiroth, on the other hand, combined impressiveness, belief, and surprise, all so strongly that I feel his transformation is the only instance in gaming or any medium where I can comfortably omit "something close to" from my last paragraphs final statement.

Of course, disregarding surprise or belief, clearly God is the best character ever. Fucker drowned the whole planet and somehow fit 2 members of ~14 million species on a mid-sized boat just by deciding to. Can't beat that.

95

General Discussion / Re: Remake, Battle System/ world exploration?

« on: 2010-04-17 05:47:33 »

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing would be if the battle system were kept the same, but the bosses all rebalanced. As it is, it seems almost like "babies first turn based combat". Although the first time I played (and it was my first game with turn based combat), Sephiroth took me about 17 tries, I'd reached him with zero grinding, zero optional things, zero megalixers, one megapotion, no enemy skill materia, and probably a few other things. In other words, nearly the worst circumstances possible, and I still DID win eventually.
Not an issue with the PC release, and I'm with Colonel Ramsay on the idea of a remake, but if one did happen, and otherwise wasn't a bag of suck, I'd almost demand that.

96

FF7Voice / Re: One teeny tiny question

« on: 2010-04-16 02:14:56 »

I... What? I'm asking how it's going to be pronounced in the VA for this project, since Aerith sounds like ass when said out loud, as far as I'm concerned.
It probably won't be what I'm hoping, but I may as well ask.

97

Troubleshooting / Re: Final Fantasy VII Remix - A compilation of FF7 Mods [1.0-2.5.1]

« on: 2010-04-16 02:12:59 »

Am I just crazy, or does Those Who Fight seem to play where it would normally be Those Who Fight Further?
This is based on your videos, I finished a second PSX run of the game about a week before it occurred to me that people probably modded the PC version.

98

FF7Voice / One teeny tiny question

« on: 2010-04-16 01:11:02 »

How's Aeris's name being pronounced? Although I don't care for Square Enix's later decision that it was properly Aerith, and also don't care for the idea that it's more correct as a direct translation (it's about equally correct, especially when you consider Japanese doesn't have the th sound), I don't mind people who do prefer Aerith, but, um, it sort of sounds like ass saying it out loud. Even if I'd never heard Aeris, it would sound like a fat guy with a lisp trying to say Aeris to me, seriously.