Final Fantasy Mod Progress Updates, Part II

[DJ Bonebraker]

OKay, quick update: I've got my Bad @$$ orc LH done for the Orcish Horde of FF XI, and decided to use Embryodead's Black Orc for the King unit.... I've also added all the orcy UUs (protector, warchief and war machine), as well as some orcy flavor units... I replaced the worker with an orcish worker unit called a builder that uses Aaglo's hobgoblin worker, and gave the Orcs a settler unit called the Nomad, which uses Aaglo's orc settler.... these units have the same stats as the original worker and settler, but different graphics. Similarly, the San d'Orians have the Elvaan Worker instead of the regular worker, since they ARE supposed to be an Elvaan civ. I may give the Elvaan worker to the Light Warriors as well (since Theif, their leader, is a member of the Elven royal family in Elfheim). Therefore, since they have the same exact stats as the units they replace they are not UUs, but merely flavor units so they don't count towards the three UUs I've set for civs.

ALso, I created a quasi-unique unit for the Evil civs (who don't already have a UU that replaces this guy), which is the Dark Knight that they build instead of Paladins, and the Dark Knights have +1 offense and -1 defense. I'll also be trying to get the Shinra Building and Constitutional government small wonders set up (basically the Shinra Building is like a second FP for Corporate Republics and creates a Turk every 5 turns, like the Secret Police HQ, and the Constitutional Government is a second FP for Democracies that produces a Citizens' Militia (which has very low offense but high defense and does not require upkeep) every 5 turns).

 

[Falnax]

Can we please get a preview of said leaderhead?

Also, is the title screen finished? It's not in this topic, but seeing as it generally does seem to come in early on, it might have been in the original...

 

[Quinzy]

the leaderhead is in the graphics forum.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

The Orc LH is in the Graphics Modpacks subforum, and the Preview is in the first post. I've already got the Title screen done. I don't know where the original FF VII title screen thread is, but I used the scene from FF VII that shows Cloud about to attack the Shrina Building (because it kind of resembles the default title screen where the samurai is about to storm the castle).

Oh, I'm also working on some more flavor units.... I'm adding the Lizardman worker that Kinboat made as a Bangaa worker for Bervenia from FF TA, and making an Elvaan Settler for San d'Oria (and the Light Warriors when I get around to adding them) as well as a Viera Settler for Bervenia... I may even add a Dwarf Civ that will use some of the (fan-fictional) cities found in 8-bit theater as well as possibly adding in all other dwarf cities from the other games (like Conde Petie from FF IX)... I may even make a Cleyran/Burmecian settler as a flavor unit for Lindblum (since Cleyra and Burmecia were under the protection of Lindblum as Treno and Dali were under the protectorate of Alexandria)..... BTW, Chocobo Knight previews are in my Creation thread.

 

[odintheking]

Wow! You're a busy little bee, aren't you. That Dwarf thing sounds awesome.

 

[Stormrage]

Will you make the dwarven berserker with a monocle!?!?

Yay for the Dwarfs! Also, those dudes in FF 9, that were talking funny on that new continent (its been a few years since I played ), were kinda dwarfs...

 

[Falnax]

He's got a good point - you could name the dwarf civilization Conde Petie, in order to make it apparent that it comes from a Final Fantasy game...after all, there aren't any FFIX Outer Continent civs...

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Currently Conde Petie is part of Alaxandria (I had to split the cities on gaia in half to get at least 18 cities for both civs).....

 

[Chris85]

I like the idea of putting Dwarves in as a civ and having them named Conde Petie sounds good too.

Don't forget they're also Dwarves that live in the underworld in FFIV. I know they had like 3 cities, so if you do put Dwarves in as a Civ, you could nick a couple of city names from them.

 

[Falnax]

Perhaps an idea would be to make a Kazham civilization; I think it's unnecessary, but I'm sure there's plenty of people who'd like to see the Mithra kinky party civilization...

Kazham (Seafaring, Agricultural, Religious)
Leader: Chieftain Jakoh Wahcondalo

Military Leaders:
Soun Abralah
Gatih Miurabi
Ronta-Onta
Mhebi Juhbily

Scientific Leaders:
Magriffon
Hari Pakhrob

City Names:
Kazham
Yuhtunga
Balih
Chavizaai
Beyzen
Sahbeo
Dakha
Dodmos
Tomaron
Sinterilo
Demuhzo
Naharaf
Kakapp
Ryuhkowa
Majjih
Haplihza
Mumupp
Celodeki
Pahya
Posbei
Tcinono
Ifalombo

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

I like the idea of putting Dwarves in as a civ and having them named Conde Petie sounds good too.

Don't forget they're also Dwarves that live in the underworld in FFIV. I know they had like 3 cities, so if you do put Dwarves in as a Civ, you could nick a couple of city names from them.

Of course I didn't forget about the FF IV dwarves.... Of course, when I add the Dwarves as a civ, I may have to eliminate the Dwarven Stronghold Minor civ resource (allows anyone to train dwarven units), and just give the dwarven units to the dwarfs as UUs....

I could just see the dwarf Diplomacy.txt entries: Rally-HO!

....Or I could just add the Mithra... I DO have a bunch of Catgirl props for Poser (which I used for the Mithra Ninja)....

Anyways, here's a quick preview of the Elvaan settler... I need to get a new staff for her, though:

 

[Falnax]

I snuck this part in when I edited my last post, so I'll post it again...

The Orcish civilization city probably should be changed slightly, and the leader name should change, in order to reflect the fact that it's based on CC, not XI. The title is changed to king, as it is in FFCC. CC doesn't say the name of the Orc leader, so it's changed to Vatgit, the minor leader of the FFXI Orcs (Bakgodek is a much more recognizable name, so the name is different to prevent people complaining about him looking different from how he does in FFXI). Cathuriges, the Orcish capital of FFCC, is substituted for Davoi, the FFXI capital, and Davoi as well as Ghelsba, a city of the Orcs, are moved further down the list. Also the three D cities with nearly identical names were moved apart to make it less confusing.

Leader: King Vatgit

City Names:
Cathuriges
Gotblut
Barakbok
Bilopdop
Frazdiz
Vrukwuk
Grosvez
Deloknok
Gochakzuk
Vokdek
Davoi
Mozzfuzz
Darobok
Gavotvut
Dratbat
Hajwaj
Mazzgoz
Jagibod
Derkabak
Aufwuf
Gottdit
Ghelsba

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Hey! That's a good Idea, combining the Orcs from FF XI and CC.... Maybe I could change one of the UUs to an Ogre, and use Aaglo's Black Orc as their King unit... I tried to find the Orc King's name in the CC strategy guide, but he's just listed as "Orc King".

 

[Falnax]

The Orc King from CC in fact has no name, hence why I substituted Vatgit for the name. Naming him Bagkodek would confuse people who've actually played FFXI...

Also, as for the UU to replace with the Ogre, I'd replace the Orcish Warmachine, seeing as it bears no resemblance to its namesake in the slightest, whereas the others are actually believable...

 

[Falnax]

Sorry for the double post, just bumping the topic a bit...

Anyway, the original San d'Orian city list had a lot of typos, and many of them were taken away by the Orcs and Selbina, so here's an updated city list:

San d'Oria
Ronfaure
Ranperre
La Theine
Ordelle
Jugner
Beaucedine
Bostanieux
Yughott
Horlais
Fauregandi
Zvahl
Ranguemont
Pso'Xja
Fei'Yin
Valdaunia
Xarcabard
Uleguerand
Tavnazia
Lufaise
Misareaux
Riverne

These cities are placed in order of when an FFXI player would logically encounter them, Zvahl no longer has "Castle" because it would look silly if there is no castle there, the Tavnazia areas often fall under San d'Oria's dominion, and since except for Tavnazia the all sound quite San d'Orian in name, they probably should go on the list. "Oubliette" was removed because Oubliette is not the areas name, but rather describing what the area is; an Oubliette is a type of prison in which the prisoners are not fed, so instead of eventually being released, they starve to death as punishment for their crimes...

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Okay, I ended up giving the Elvaan Settler Brown tights and shirt, since for some reason the white would have Civ colors show up in it, and is currently under production (1/6 animations that need doing).... I'm also thinking of getting rid of the Dwarven and Elvaan minor civ resources since there will be an actual Dwarven civ as well as 1.5 Elvaan civs (the Light Warriors from FF I are being based on the 8-bit theater version of that story, with Thief, the Elven prince, as their leader, and a number of Elven flavor units), and giving the units that would normally be available to any civ posessing those resources to the Dwarves, San d'Orians and Light Warriors as flavor units (i.e. they have the same exact stats and cost as the unit they replace, but look different). Similarly, some of the "goblin" graphics that use the Orc graphics that Aaglo made will be using the Hobgoblin graphics... i.e. currently the Goblin Raider uses the Orc Spearman, but I'm replacing the graphic with the Hobgoblin spearman, and the Goblin Mercenary uses the Orc Swordsman graphics, and it will be using the Hobgoblin sneaky-git graphics instead to free those two graphics for use by the Orc civ... I.e. the spearman will be the Orc's "Knight" replacement, and the swordsman will be the swordmaster replacement, and the Warchief will take the place of the samurai for the Orcs.

AND THE ORCISH WARMACHINE STAYS!! PERIOD! Why? Because I happen to like it, and I say so. End of discussion.

Here's the list of up and coming flavor units (and possibly stuff to replace the minor civ resources that are being replaced)

For the Dwarves:

UU will be the Dwarf Sub (a truly Unique unit... Basically it's a sub that's avaiable with Natural Sciences (physics), and is mainly a hidden scout with a weak stealth attack, and it upgrades to the regular sub), Fireship, and Battle Rager (use Aaglo's Dwarven Fireship and Longbeard respectively)... The current Dwarf minor civ units will go to make up the flavor units, starting with the Dwarven knight, which upgrades to the dwarven Guardian, which then upgrades to the Dwarven Berserker, and finally to the one UU (Battle Rager).
Also, the dwarves get a flavor defensive line, starting with the Dwarven Archer (aaglo made such a unit), which upgrades to the Dwarven Ranger (again, Aaglo made one), which upgrades to the Dwarven Gunner (using Aaglo's Chaos Dwarf Blunderbuss) which then upgrades to the dwarven Sniper (uses Embryodead's Dwarven Thunderer). In additon the dwarves get their own settler (aaglo, yet again), and workers (Kinboat's Gnome workers are perfect for this).

San d' Oria and the Light warriors get Elvaan Settlers and Workers as flavor units. They also both get the entire Elvaan minor civ unit defense lineup as flavor units: The Elvaan Archer, Ranger, Marksman and Sniper (all armed with bows)... San d'Oria's UUs will be the San d'Orian Guard (Gladiator replacement), Royal Lancer (replaces the Lancer), and Temple Knights (replaces the dragoon)..... The light warriors, kind of to emphasize their multi-race compliment get a Red Mage, Black Mage and Sword-Chuck UUs.

The Orcs Flavor units are the worker and settler, as well as Offensive infantry (except for the two that happen to be UUs), starting with the Orcish Looter (replaces Knight), followed by the Orcish Protector ( UU: replaces Dark Knight), then the Orcish Slayer (replaces the Swordmaster), which upgrades to UU #2, the Orcish Warcheif. In addition, I'm using the Stormier Boyz as the Orc Jump-trooper replacement, and the Ork Kommando as the Orcish marine flavor unit.... and, in case you didn't get it before, the third Orc UU is the Warmachine, and it replaces the Heavy Tank.

In addition, I'm thinking of adding some Cultural Flavor for the Workers and settlers of all the other civs.

 

[Falnax]

Anyway, as you can tell, I have an odd passion for FFXI, so if you don't mind I would like to make a scenario for FFXI...

But my scenario is not going to have LEGO Warmachines. End of story.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Sure, knock yourself out... However, I have a feeling that you'll find out really quick how much work mod making is.

....And it's not LEGO, it's a Warhammer 40K Ork Dreadnaught dadgummit! (okay never mind the fact that the original unit creator admited that it had some legoish qualities ). Besides, it looks much better, IMNSHO, than the semi-moblile junk piles that they called warmachines in FF XI.

 

[Falnax]

Anyway, in going through some of the lists for military and scientific leaders, I noticed that the San d'Orian list seemed a bit flawed - although there's nothing wrong with giving Grandraem a military great leader, it's generally customary to put the easter egg unit as the last unit, rather than the first. Oddly, thoguh you speak so highly of him, he seems to have missed the fact that the leader of the San d'Orian Knights, and hence the first MGL, was Currila...I assume he didn't consider her because she's a woman...also Pieuje is known for his scientific contributions to San d'Oria rather than military contributions, so he should be listed as the first SGL. The second should probably be Muchavette, the pope of the San d'Orian church, with Andelain, Miageau, and Eperdur following behind. There's really no place for Destin outside of the leadership spot; he's probably best dropped entirely. Perhaps the civilopedia article could reference his recent death, as that's the only logical way to explain why he isn't leader...

Off topic, though, I wish I had a cameo as a GL...but I guess cameos aren't for pricks who try to correct you on just about everything...

As for Bastok and Windhurst, the leader of the military in FFXI, is Volker for Bastok, and Perih Vashai for Windhurst...odd that, again, the main military leaders were dropped...

Anyway, making Conde Petie the dwarf civilization wouldn't be too hard, seeing as all it would take away from the other civilizations is Conde Petie, and Tozas, and with a little name generator magic and we have...

City Names:
Conde Petie
Tozas
Genus
Lulir
Bunar
Rilin
Noin
Thoimli
Thenus
Soisil
Galir
Bomgan
Harin
Segan
Rofur
Lusil
Folin
Dafur
Goignus
Sesin

Anyway, with the addition of the Orcs, there's now 28 civilizations, and Kazham and Conde Petie, if added, would make 30. Seeing as there's only two more civilizations needed to make a full 32, it's probably best to get the last two out of pure Final Fantasy games instead of taking a crack at Seiken Densetsu or Fullmetal Alchemist...

Terrans might be a logical civilization to make, seeing as they have no affiliation whatsoever with any nation in FFIX, but the lack of material might make them a poor choice...

Perhaps Wutai could be reconsidered? Seeing as AVALANCHE already has 10 MGLs, cutting it down to 8 wouldn't be too much of a problem, as that's more than many civilizations anyway. After all, Yuffie's affiliation with AVALANCHE is poorly explained - her motives don't really seem to strong enough to merit her as uncompromisingly loyal AVALANCHE member, and Godo has almost no relation to AVALANCHE at all. Plus, with the third UU slot that was previously taken by Yuffie, you could make an awesome "Ancient" (As in the unit's name, not the tech age...) unit based on Red XIII. The biggest downside is that it would reduce the number of AVALANCHE cities to 17, which may cause players to revolt when they look at a city with as cluttered a title as "New Tifa's Seventh Heaven." Or they might just wonder who New Tifa is...

The Quadav are admittedly a bit limited, and honestly too ugly of a face to make diplomacy to, so I'd say they're not worth a second thought. However, the Yagudo really do offer a lot more options than the Quadav, and have a handy advantage: The leader wears a mask. Hence the leaderhead could be made with non-Poser technology, but since she has a mask on, the player would be unlikely to notice that the expression is unchangable and the leaderhead cannot blink, because the face is hidden behind the mask. Not to mention that magic casting birds are just plain cool...

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Falnax, I don't think of you as a prick at all... I don't have FF XI (and I won't get it until I get a regular High-speed DSL line installed so that I can actually hook up the internet to one of the two computers I have that can run the game), so I had to come up with all the leaders and lists based solely on the FF XI strategy guide, which I might add never once mentioned the names of any of the leaders of the major civs (with the exception of Kam'lanaut and Star Sybil), let alone had any pics of them.... I had to do long painstaking searched on the internet for most of them, so don't worry, I will add you in as an easter egg somewhere (which kingdom do you owe your allegience to in FF XI?).

As for completing the civs.... I currently have (according to my hand-dandy list of which civs are currently using what color and which colors are not taken because I don't have civs for them), there are six civs left. Once I add Conde Petie (after finishing the Elvaan settler), there will be five. At least 4 of those will come from FF I and II.... leaving that last wild-card civ. I could just simply delete the Maya (civ #31) without any ill effects on the game and have a nice, neat 30, or I could go to FF MQ OR (at the pace this mod is going) wait until FF XII comes out and add Romanda from said game.....

Or, I may do Wutai... I won't use your city list for one reason: It's based on Japan, and Wutai, believe it or not is based on Okinawa, which was once known as the Ryukyu Kingdom, but it was brutally subjugated by Japan in the late 1600s (sounds kind of like what happened with Wutai, don't it?), and even names like Yuffie, Da-Chao and Wutai are similar to people and place names in Okinawa, and are from the Ryukyu language (which was gramatically identical to Japanese, but many of the words were a combination of Japanese and Chinese, as was most of their culture), So I'll whip out my Red Atlas (Detailed atlas of Japan I bought when I was in Tokyo), and see what kind of Okinawan names I can come up with. As for the Leaders, I could use Yuffie as the leader, since I actually have the model I used for making the Wutai Ninja on my computer... but it would be just wierd to have your leader and trade advisor be the same person... I could also use the Middle ages version of Tokugawa as Lord Godo, and use Kinboat's Kensai as the King unit to represent Lord Godo... As for other UU, Yuffie of course would be the Wutai Ninja, I could use the Firaxis Samurai as the Wutai Guardian, and one of Embryodead's Temple dogs to represent the Foulanders (the Temple lion-dogs that you sometimes run into during random battles on Da-chao mountain)....

In that case, I'll have to replace the Wutai Ninja in AVALANCHEs UU lineup... I'm thinking (since again, I have the models....) of making an Aeris unit and calling her the "Cetra Magus" and give her attacks like I did with the Esperling (Terra from FF VI)......

But I'll get to that when I get to it. Right now I've got a dwarven LH to download, and about a zillion flavor units to add as well as two minor civ resources to get rid of or change.