Messages

126

WIP / Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project

« on: 2020-06-05 18:43:29 »

That's really cool laujclan, although maybe you should wait until me and eqprog work out our version. Also, aren't they called Banora White because the trees are supposed to be white?

Github is easy, it just lets you upload your work online. Then you can give permissions to people who are allowed to work on the project, and they can upload/update textures one by one.

https://github.com/AkiraJkr/Birth-by-Sleep-HD-ReMix

Here's an example. Then people can download the "master version" easily which contains everything updated.

Once you're done the beta (when you finish the game), you should post everything in a new topic, I imagine we might have 5000 textures once you're done. Then the next step would be to skim all these 5000 textures for things like posters that got upscaled poorly.

I also fixed the issues in Costa del Sol (the sky's a bit brighter as a side effect, but it's no biggie).

127

WIP / Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project

« on: 2020-06-02 22:03:14 »

You've been keeping multiple save files in case you need to go back, right? In case you don't, I have like 10-15 prepped. You can also assign a button in PPSSPP to quickly enable/disable textures by pressing a button so you can easily compare what looks better or worse.

I've been checking out various areas and it looks good! Of course, we'll need to go back and look for all those messed-up 2D elements like posters and road signs that got messed up.

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/77WDPNNX

Some errors I noticed:

- The pavement outlines of the bricks are gone
- The beach skies and waves at Costa beach are messed up
- The soft glows at the highway look pixelated, because a lighting texture got upscaled in a bad way.

128

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-06-01 14:40:17 »

I vastly prefer the wider screen and the wider field of view, it's way more immersive, imo. I know you want to be accurate to the original game, although I feel this is one of those things that should be dropped. Playing a narrow cellphone resolution on my widescreen TV makes me feel claustrophobic and wishes for something more. It also reminds me that this originates from a flip phone game and feels dated from 15 years ago. I think there are many times when being too purist is a bad thing, sort of like how some fans get hot and bothered over literally any change the FF7 remake had over the original ("how dare Aerith's dress is more of a white tone instead of a hot pink tone! Rawrrrr!").

The main reason why people would play our version instead of Richter's is basically for a visual novel (for now, unless we get skippable optional battles as you said), higher fidelity feel with some better graphics, so we're already sort of appealing to the "higher graphics" crowd anyway.

The sprite actually looks good! Which sort of shocks me a bit because I've never actually done anything like this before. And yeah, as you said, they're a liiiiitle big and maybe should be reduced about 80% in height. If you pause at 9 seconds in the video when Cissnei is standing by the window, I think the best height would be where the top of her head reaches the top of the window.

Do you know if there's a way to disable 8 directions for now? The swerve between 8-9 seconds bugs me, and 8 directions is more of a stretch goal for now. Doing all the sprites in the game for me is daunting enough, but something I can do. 8 directions of top of that makes me feel overloaded.

https://www.mediafire.com/view/pr7kw61aukgn372/CissneiEdit.psd/file

Here's an edited psd where the fourth sprites are flipped, so her running up/down animation should look more even.

For now, I think I'm going to skip Reno and do the Soldier/Avalanche guys next. Reno has a lot of unique animations (for example, he has an attacking sprite and unconscious-on-floor sprite) and he carries a rod behind his back. I don't want to betray quirks like that so stuff like that will take a bit of effort.

I know there's going to be times where we're both busy. I think ideally, we could try to release the final game before the end of the year. And of course, I don't want to bottleneck you, so you can add chibi sprites as placeholders like you've been doing. I can pump out a spritesheet about once a week, so by the end of the year, I'd have 25 sheets done at that rate which should be enough to cover the whole game or so.

129

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-29 11:02:19 »

Finally finished this sprite sheet, it'll be good for female characters in the future.
Once you've got it working in-game, I think it'd be a good idea for me to do Reno next to build a basic male base (since the men in the game should be a tiny bit taller, so you may need to do some pixel adjustments to get the proportions.

There really isn't a fixed pixel size I've come up with yet, but I think they should be scaled down by at least 50 percent.
I'm not sure if it's something RPG Maker automatically does on its own, or if it's necessary to do it beforehand (I can easily do that in Photoshop).

The running poses should go in a 12321 order, not a 123123 order.
Really eager to see what it'll look like in-game!

130

FF9 Graphical Releases / Re: [FF9 PC] Moguri Mod update 8.0 (LIVE ON OFFICIAL SITE)

« on: 2020-05-26 20:56:15 »

I did have no PSX font in 7, then I uninstalled FF9 via Steam and deleted everything in the folder. I didn't uninstall via a Moguri .exe so I don't know if that was a proper uninstall.

So I did a fresh installation of FF9, then a fresh installation of Moguri 8.0.

If no one else has this issue, then it's not a big deal as it's an easy fix.

131

FF9 Graphical Releases / Re: [FF9 PC] Moguri Mod update 8.0 (LIVE ON OFFICIAL SITE)

« on: 2020-05-26 19:09:49 »

I installed 8.0 and unchecked "Use custom font (PSX)", but I got the PS1 font anyway.
I had to make it "UseGarnetFont=0" in the Memoria file which fixed it.

Idk if anyone else is having this issue, but the installer may not adjust for it.

Thanks for the mod.

132

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-25 21:48:09 »

Sure, you can find a way to make grungier, just going to need some time on this sprite sheet so I can polish the animations.

Here's the running animation I have so far:



And here's what it would look like if you stopped running for a second, then kept going:

133

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-25 14:28:11 »

Some more mock-ups. How do you feel about this? I think it's probably the best and more realistic option so far.




A lot of detail gets lost when the sprites are downscaled, but it fits the world better imo, and leaves your imagination to fill in a bit.
I could easily do all the NPCs and enemies in the game like this, as long as I have reference photos for each of them.
It'd be a bit time consuming for me, but I get to be creative and it ensures a consistent art style across everything.

134

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-25 04:53:42 »

I just checked the "Cissnei sprites" folder and oh lord, those are some blurry sprites.
Remastering them just isn't feasible imo.

Since you found a way to increase sprite size, I think we should go back to the original TWEWY idea.
There's a lot of pros to this idea:

-Line art is consistent with enemies as opposed to pixelated look
-Tons of poses to choose from, easy to use if we ever want to get into a battle system
-TWEWY's stylization is cool and is designed by Nomura, and it looks close to the original sprites in terms of movement

If you're OK with it, I can cook you up a basic Cissnei sprite sheet, just give me 3 days to polish it. How about it? I can even do her cross-arms pose as a basic neutral sprite. I'll have to leave 8 direction out for now tho, but we could always come back to it later.

What I'm thinking of is a 4x4 sprite sheet, 12 sprites per character.
Each running animation has 3, with the idle pose at the very right.

135

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-24 03:23:05 »

Ripping them is very easy enough.



The real question is, do you want accuracy like the above, or do you want something more like my Stardew Valley-ish mock-up job? I could even recreate poses like her cross-arms pose.

Either is fine by me, although I'd be a bit sad if you decide to go with the former as it means little creativity from me and I like being creative. I would totally understand why you'd go with the former as it's more of a 1:1 recreation. Plus I'm not really good at doing pixelated monsters from scratch, so if you do decide to go with a battle system, there wouldn't be inconsistency by having realistic monsters next to pixelated characters.

Also, ever thought about contacting RichterW and asking for their sprites and data? I wonder if they'd be willing to help us out.

136

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-23 03:46:09 »

I realized that RPG Maker isn't really built for exaggerated and very fluid sprites, so using TWEWY as a basis is out of the question. I was scouring for RPG Maker Ace VX sprite bases and was annoyed by how... chibi everything is.

I finally found something decent with realistic proportions.
It's very simple with only 9 sprites to work with per sheet, and I'm pretty sure you could always set different walk/run speeds to simulate when you want to portray a character is in a hurry.

Male:


Female:


We could use these bases for the whole game and they're extremely versatile.
There's also a less muscular male body version too (the muscular body will come in handy for people like Barret).

For a mock-up job, how do you feel about this Cissnei?




If it's a go, I can try doing everyone in chapter 1.

I should also add, these are free bases, so it's A-OK and we won't have to worry about legal stuff as long as we credit Greg Mustache:

https://thegregmustacheexperience.tumblr.com/post/129156785421/sprite-bases-for-rpgmaker-vx-ace-two-male

137

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-22 11:06:03 »

Sure, it's nice to think about, but now we have a situation where we're like "is it even worth doing a fan remake if an official one is in progress?"

People who spread fake rumors need to grow up. I used to spread gaming rumors and lies when I was a kid because I wanted people to give me attention, so the people who do that sort of stuff often have low self-esteem and a lack of friends. I grew out of it.

I'm not trying to bash you or anything, Izban, thanks for letting us know of this rumor, anyway.

Keep up the good work, obesebear, and let me know if you need any help. I have decent art skills ready to help you out.

138

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-22 08:16:24 »

I call BS on that rumor and wouldn't take it seriously. It's nearly 2 months old (the "leaker" even said "soon").

Before Crisis would also need a remake, I seriously doubt even Square has resources to translate an old phone game due to the age of the code.

And why just Switch? Why not PC/PS4 where the FF7 Remake is?

And with COVID (likely the reason why they can't fix the PS4 texture issue), it makes everything even more unlikely.

139

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-21 14:31:07 »

That looks really good so far, the portraits could use some transparency edits (easy fix).
It'd be a good idea to include the speaker's name above the dialog boxes.

Have you thought about what you're going to do for sprites?
One idea I have is to use TWEWY: Solo Remix sprites a base, remove all 8-direction movement and keep them a bit basic.
I did a mock-up job as Cissnei (I can do better work, just wanted to see what your idea is first).

140

WIP / Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project

« on: 2020-05-20 09:07:47 »

Yeah, you can see how the upscaling is a mixed bag...

Aerith's hair and eyebrows look better.

Some stuff like her dress (the flowers on them too), eyes and lips could use some refining.

If you look closely at the chandeliers, the transparency got messed up...

I have an idea, how about upscaling the whole game, then posting all the textures on Github?

Then everyone could work on it like a group project, playing the game from the beginning to the end, manually fixing errors, etc. I could help you out on that, but we'd all need a basic framework to start from.

141

WIP / Re: Before Crisis game

« on: 2020-05-19 02:30:20 »

That's really cool you're trying to remake it.

I finished RichterW's and while it was serviceable and good for a fan effort, there were some annoying parts, lack of battle sound effects, lots of typos, and it crashed a few times on me.

I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but how would you feel about adding in a fandub?
It's not a super long game, some characters like Aerith/Barret/Zack only appear for a chapter or 2, so everyone who offers their voices wouldn't have to do much work (except Shotgun's).

142

WIP / Re: [CC:FF7 PSP] Crisis Core UI Upscale Project

« on: 2020-05-15 08:31:50 »

Maybe you should just focus on environments for now since yeah, the hair and transparency looks off when done by AI, and it will be a pain in the butt to do all those individual masks.

I think vierock already did most of the characters anyway, and they all look good (altho Cissnei's/Hermione's eyes are too bright imo).

143

Releases / Re: [FF8:Remastered] BattlefieldPack: Remastered v1.3

« on: 2020-05-13 03:18:51 »

Yeah, I would decrease saturation of the brown and adjust so it looks more grey/yellow tone.

If you zoom in on the image, you can see the cobblestones, but that's sort of the thing, players see the pic zoomed out and when you squint, the individual tiles become blurred because as you said, the grainy dirt texture is too apparent.

I don't know if this will help but I also found a possible useful texture:

144

Releases / Re: [FF8:Remastered] BattlefieldPack: Remastered v1.3

« on: 2020-05-12 23:43:34 »

Glad to see you're still active, it makes me happy.

I think it looks great, altho if I have to be honest, the floor here sort of bugs me a bit:



It sort of looks like they're fighting on dirt when I think it should look more like cobblestone (specifically, round cobblestone). Dollet is under Galbadia control and the floor currently looks more like a city that's been bombed, as opposed to one just being invaded by another.




I can't find anything totally accurate that's seamless, but I think this looks better:



I always got the feeling that Dollet, being a war-torn city, is supposed to resemble a sort of European town. It also gives me London vibes, hence why I think the stronger emphasis on cobblestone looks better.

I still don't own FF8 Remastered yet, but once I do, I'll defo play with your packs and look for improvement.

145

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-10 22:28:46 »

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-7-remake-is-a-very-faithful-recreati/1100-6475164/

They said it would be faithful in the sense that it keeps a lot of the original story structure and plot beats, but also said there would be new additions. They were right about that. I don't see any dishonesty.

Was it good writing? No. And it's not an opinion, it's simple logic.

Aaaaaand I'm noping out of this convo. I can only take so much "this is objectively bad" before I lose my sanity. People who act like their opinions are more than just opinions, I can't deal with.

146

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-10 20:02:18 »

I would argue FF7R is a remake-reboot-sequel, all at once, not just one or the other. Who says remakes aren't allowed to change the meaning/concept of the plot? This is the definition on Wikipedia:

"A remake tells the same story as the original but uses a different cast and may alter the theme or target audience."

Imo, FF7R tells the same story for the most part so it counts as a remake. Is it getting into a murky territory a bit? Sure, but whatever.

Again, I just view the "timeline/Zack" stuff as a bonus, not a requirement. Newcomers will still be able to understand 95% of the overall story which is why I don't have issues.

I still think the major plot points (bombing of reactor, Cloud meeting Aerith, Cloud planning to bomb a second reactor, Cloud and Aerith being chased by Reno in the church, Cloud and Aerith trying to rescue Tifa in Corneo's mansion, the plate falling, rescuing Aerith at the Shinra Building, etc) are the same.

147

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-09 19:00:57 »

Aerith could've brought Barret with her at least for protection, since I feel Tifa might not want to abandon Cloud.

I think the plot being set in another timeline (or "going off track" as you call it) is good just because I find it interesting, entertaining and exciting, and makes me feel like I'm having a new journey, rather than the same one I had before, just in HD. It's a remake, and everyone should know that remakes tend to change things up and add new concepts and ideas, which is why I think the hate for the ending is overblown. People should expect it.

Also, I don't think the remake assumes everyone has played the original. I think the point of the remake's ending is to entice people to play the original and Crisis Core, which is fine by me. Is the timeline stuff confusing? Sure, but it's also been confusing for people who have played the original. They don't spend more than 5-10 mins of this 40 hour game on this "original timeline" idea, so I see it as more as a bonus to those who've played the original, not a requirement that people must play the original first. Nearly all the major plot beats are the same.

And maybe I didn't always pay attention. It's a long game, and when people start talking about spells and ancient prophecies and what not, I zone out a bit.

148

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-08 19:58:38 »

Aerith went totally alone, and she was the last Cetra so she should've realized how important her life was. She was the only one who could obtain Holy, and if she didn't, the planet could be doomed. While sure, Cloud was acting sort of insane and possessed, she could've brought other teammates along with her for protection. Instead, they split into a "Aerith vs everyone else" party. This is the same logic why people shouldn't go alone in horror movies. Everyone just got lucky that Aerith was able to control the Lifestream in her death, if she wasn't powerful enough, then everyone would've died.

I don't see how adding some new themes (destiny, fate) is an insult. It's possible for a story to have multiple themes. It's not like they're going to be talking about light and darkness KH-style every hour in Part 2. Are the ecological themes suddenly removed from the story due to chapter 18? No, they're not. It's also extremely early to see where they're going with this. They could be using it to make things even more tragic, being unable to stop Aerith's death a second time. There's a chance Zack still died in another way, and perhaps Biggs will also end up dying. When the sector falls, they still portray it in a way to make you think Biggs and Jessie and Wedge all died, and Biggs/Jessie have much longer death scenes to make their roles and deaths seem more meaningful.

I also find it a bit offensive when people call Kingdom Hearts "childish", as if that's KH in a nutshell. Yes, KH is aimed at children as a demographic, but they also keep older fans in mind, which is why they add their insane tough critical modes, superbosses, etc. I grew up with KH, and it taught me a lot of deep themes about friendship, pursuing your own path, not giving up when things seem hopeless, etc. Just because a story has multiple timelines and time travel, it doesn't automatically make it childish.

149

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-08 07:14:52 »

You just admitted, Aerith decided to go alone, and that's what strikes me as terribly selfish and stupid. Imagine if Yuna decided to say to her guardians "screw ya'll, I'm going to do this pilgrimage myself". Aerith is aware Sephiroth is out there, the guy with a huge sword who impaled a giant snake. Even Barret is smart enough to ask "why did she go herself?!"

I played the original translation of FF7, not Beacause, and I don't remember Barret being stupid or throwing random tantrums. I remember Barret asking a lot of questions, but that doesn't necessarily make him stupid, just inquisitive.

If anything, I feel the remake's Barret is more hot-headed and can't control himself. For example, in the elevator scene in the beginning, Cloud pisses off Barret. In the original, Barret shakes his hand while looking away, but ultimately holds it in. In the remake, Barret is like SAY THAT AGAIN and is basically shouting at Cloud for not caring about the planet. There is a scene of Barret threatening Shinra employees in the remake which I don't remember in the original. Also, in the remake, Barret throws an angry fit because Cloud scared Marlene, which I thought was extreme.

I was also disappointed that the remake left out the part where Barret says about Cloud's pay "but that gil is for Marlene's schooling!"

150

General Discussion / Re: [SPOILERS] FF7 remake discussion time!

« on: 2020-05-08 02:30:24 »

I would argue Aerith is even more unintelligent than Barret.

When Avalanche bombs the sector, you find her strolling along, unphased while everyone else is panicking trying to get to safety. Her survival instincts aren't great.

Aerith goes on her own to find the city of the ancients, despite that Sephiroth is roaming the planet trying to oppose them, instead of staying with the group for safety which could've affected her survival.

Aerith writes 89 letters to Zack, and concludes he must've ditched her for another woman, despite how intimate they were. Give him the benefit of the doubt, jeez. You think she would've figured out after the 30th letter that something's wrong.

In the remake, she takes her sweet time trying to rescue Marlene during the plate fall. Grab the kid and go, don't spend 3 minutes talking to her.