Final Fantasy Mod Progress Updates, Part II

[Zurai]

And the last thing that annoys me is that Square... and everybody else that has played the FF-series, still don't get that Sleipner (Odin's horse) had EIGHT legs (as a mark of pace), not SIX.

Sleipnir had 8 legs in at least on FF that I remember, though I can't remember which. I *think* it was FF7, but it's been so long since I've played any of them but FF10 that I can't be sure which it was.

 

[Mr. Do]

I did have to supress a chuckle when the guy making the FF mod couldn't say who the president of Esthar was I dunno if Balamb is significant enough to have its own civ, what with Balamb consisting of a single city and an independent military academy. The only one-city civ I'd really like to see included wuld be Wutai. Burmecia might be a nice addition too- I think I remember seeing some possum units somewhere that might even fit in with them.

I think Yevon's third UU should be a piece of forbidden machina, like they use to guard the temples. A graphic to reporesent such a machine though, is unlikely to come around...

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Since I actually enjoyed these games, I have some things to comment.

Laguna is president of Esthar.

Also, Balamb should be included and have "SeeD" as UU.

Headmaster Cid should be the leader.

Squall and the others could be GLs.

Master Norg could be SGL.



And the last thing that annoys me is that Square... and everybody else that has played the FF-series, still don't get that Sleipner (Odin's horse) had EIGHT legs (as a mark of pace), not SIX.

Well, I WAS going to put off posting an update until Sunday (when I got some of the stuff I've added/changed finalized), but since there's actually been activity in this thread, I'll post a quick update with the full update (with pictures) coming Sunday.

For Starters, when my ship made a port visit to Singapore, I managed to pick up a copy of FF VIII for the PC and decided to play it. It turns out that the junctioning system wasn't nearly as bad as I found it to be the first time I played the game in '99 (I didn't get very far past the Fire Cavern that time, I was renting the game and I ended up returning it in disgust because I hated the junction system). Part of the reason for my initial atipathy was because I was new to the whole RPG genre (previously I only played 3D FPS, action turn based and RTS games), with FF VII (PC version) being the FIRST RPG I ever played. Since VIII was so different (and it didn't look like it was coming out for PC any time soon) I gave up on it. That was my mistake, since I'm actually playing and enjoying the game now. Ummm..... Did I say "playing"? What I meant was doing some serious research... Yeah, that's it

Anyways, I've manged to....research my way to disc 2, and I've got enough Info to add 3 civs from that game, although I need to actually get to Estar before I can get enough info to add that to the game (I'm nearly there). Since Laguna is president of Estar, I'll have to change the Galbadian MGL list a bit, though (and add Estar sometime tonight). I'll see about coming up with a Laguna LH, too.

So to make the short Update Short and sweet, here's a really quick summary of the additions to the game thus far:

*Updated the minor civ resources and unit lines, dropping the Elvaan MCU's to 4 (defensive line), keeping the Dwarves the same, and adding a Giant Spider (courtesey of Kinboat) and Goblin line as well. I also decreased the appearance probability of all minor civ resources, so that you don't know what kind of units you'll have available.

*Added two Civs from FF VIII: Galbadia and Garden. Edea is the leader of Galbadia, and Squall is Leader of Garden (since Cid does turn control over to him on Disc 2, after all, not to mention that I have all the hair, and clothing props I need to make a Squall Leonhart LH in Poser). I was able to come up with enough location names for Garden by combining Balamb, Dollet, Timber, Trabia and their surrounding areas. Finding the names of all these locations was rather tedious and time consuming (and I'm not even quite done, really).

*Updated Shinra, Al Bhed, and Yevon city lists.

*Got info for a buncha other stuff, including the third Yevon UU.

Now to answer the mailbag:

Bad Brett: looks like I already beat you to your suggestion, and I still say Squall should be leader of Garden because of the reasons I listed above, and thanks for spoiling... er... I mean the Info on Estar, I'd have found out in maybe another week or two (at my current playing rate), but now I can add Estar sooner, rather than later. I'll also be using CamJH's Wheel of Time unit as the SeeD. The other UU's are either going to be the Forest Owls (preferebly represented by Rinoa), the SeeD assault ship (like Sqall and Co. rode to Dollet in), or the SeeD Ship (the solar powered cruiser the White SeeDs use), or the Centra Shelter (mobile version of the garden), or maybe the Dollet Troopers (Though those losers are definitely LAST on my list of choices)

Mr. Do: About your comment about my not knowing who the president of Estar was, you have to keep in mind that I've never played I-VI, Tactics or VIII, and I've only recently played X, IX, and Started on VIII, but I love the series anyways despite not being a "hard core" player who's beaten all the games (I've only beaten VII thus far, but I'm on the verge of beating IX.. just gotta grab everybody's ultimate weapons and teach them all their remaining skillz before whooping up on Kuja). As for your suggestion on X, great minds must think alike. I was just looking at the FF X strategy guide this morning and I happened accross the YAT units (which I've already encountered in Bevelle), and thought to myself, "you know, those wouldn't be too hard to model," so I've added them to my unit to-do list. The YAT's are the hovering machina with the twin mortar arms. I was going to have them replace the mobile artillery for the Yevon, and either give them 3 movement (the normal mobile arty has 2), increase the bombarment by +2 or give them the ability to ignore movement cost over ALL terrain (because they don't actually TOUCH the terrain, after all). I'll be using Kinboat's modern Legionary as the Yevon's Finest (or Yevon Guard, depending on which name I end up settling on). As a matter of fact, once I'm finished with the Tesla Tank, I'll probably Start on either the YAT 65 or the Galbadian BGH251F2, or "Iron Clad" Tank.

Again, I'll have the full update done on Sunday, and thanks once again for your support.

 

[Mr. Do]

Hehe, I just thought it ironic that you could quote the name of the BGH251F2 unit but not the prez- I guess that's down to the strategy guide (I thought those sort of problems would be with FF9 though, what with its main strategy guide not actually having much information in it, and instead constantly telling the user to refer to playonline.com). I actually forgot to ask the question that was the main reason for my post- what are all the black squiggles on the August the 12th screenshot?

Also if you want someone to do some data collation for another civ for you, I can put together a city list etc. for "The Empire" from FF6, another civ that deserves a slot.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Mr. Do, I'm not sure what you man by "black squiggles." The only things that are sorta black and kinda squiggly are (a) the Railroad graphics, and (b) the crossed pickaxes for the mining graphics.

And yes, the FF VIII strategy guide does not say who the president of Estar is. Also, I'd be happy if you posted some info for the Empire from FF VI, especially since Sword of Geddon also gave me a link to some more FF VI info (the more info I have, the easier it is to add civs and come up with UU lists to the game)

Also on another note, I've finalized the Middle ages tech tree, and have at least re-named all but one of the Great Wonders. I'm using the original graphics as placeholders, but will change them when I get back to Wonder/Improvement graphics creation.

The list of changes for those that I haven't already changed is: Copericous' Observatory=>Bugenhagen's Observatory, Adam Smith's Trading Co.=>Rin's Travel Agency, Newton's Univerity=>Dr. Gast's Laboratory, Shakespear's Theater=>The Zanarkand Dome (since I've replaced the Free Artistry tech with my own Blitzball tech)

The only stickler is Magellen's voyage, which I can't seem to think of a FF equivalent for.

 

[Mr. Do]

They might be the crossed pickaxes, but why are they all over the coast as well..?

Anyway, my take on The Empire, also know as Gastoria (Not officially, however):

Traits Militaristic and Industrious or Scientific
Leader: either Emperor Geshtahl or Kefka (See http://www.uff9.net/ff6/char.shtml for pics, but basically the emperor is an old man with long long white hair, and Kefka is an evil clown-a-like)
UU's:
The Imperial MagiTek Walker-type units, Imperial Air Force ( http://www.ffonline.com/ff6/bosses.htm ), and perhaps a huge defensive machine called "Guardian"

Military GL's:
General Leo
Celes Chere
Wicks
Wedge
Setzer Gabianni*

Scientific GL's:
Cid Desefore
Terra Branford*

Capitol City:
Vector
Others (basically annexed cities, including in the world of Ruin):
Albrook
Tzen
Miranda
South Figaro
Jidoor*
Zozo*
Kohlingen
Fanatics' Tower
Narshe*
Nikeah*
Thamasa*
Mobliz*
Doma*

Items with a * are from the FF6 world that may not fit in exactly, but the lists are fuller for having them. But given Kefka conquered the whole world basically, every *ed item was either in the Empire's control at one time or another.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

They might be the crossed pickaxes, but why are they all over the coast as well..?

Because I've given the Industrial and Modern age naval transport units the ability to mine coastal tiles (hence why I'm using a generic crossed pickaxe graphic and not Nieussuh's excellent mines). The terrain_buildings.pcx that I was using at that time also had a lot of dark colors due to what I was using for the barb camps. I've redone the file with a ruined city barb camp that has lighter colors, and the color balance of the terrain_buildings.pcx has increased, so the Pickaxes look better now. I'll be posting screenshots with Sunday's update. Right now I'm adding some of the UU's that I alluded to earlier.

Oh, and thanks for the info. I've added it to the "list."

 

[Mr. Do]

Ah, that explains that... does the AI mine his coasts as well?

Also, on Magellan's Voyage wonder, maybe you could make it something like the underwater mako reactor at Junon? It'd make sense that mako-powered vessels would be faster than egularly-fueled ships.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Well, I know I promised to do this yesterday, but stuff came up at work, plus I had to finish uploading my latest unit creation.

Anyhow, here's the latest for the Final Fantasy Mod.

First of all, I've finalized the middle ages tech tree and changed the tech boxes ancient and middle age science advisor screen so that they look like FF VII's menu screens:

I've now added two more civilizations from FF VIII, Garden and Galbadia. (I'll add Estar sometime later this week), and even added 1 of their UU's. I've added the Galbadian Soldier for Galbadia which uses NeOmega's Techensai (replaces the Swordmaster & can move 1 extra space), and the SeeD for Garden which uses CamJH's Asha'Man graphics(replaces the Samurai, has offensive bombardment) Other UU's for Galbadia would be the Galbadian Elite Soldier (replaces the Sniper or Samurai), and the BGH251F2 or Iron Clad Tank (which will be among my next three unit projects). Garden's other UU's I'm planning are the Forest Owl (replaces sniper, would hopefully use Rinoa as the basis, most likely post the info in a separate request thread), and either the White SeeD Ship (solar powered heavy cruiser) or SeeD Amphibious Assault Ship (the hydrofoil that Squall, Quistis, Zell and Seifer rode to Dollet during the SeeD field exam).

I'm using Squall Leonhart as the leader of Garden, and I'll be making a Squall leaderhead once I get my unit backlog cleared. I'm using Sorceress Edea as the leader of Galbadia, and I'm using Frenchman's evil witch leaderhead to represent her.

In addition, I've also added a few UU's for civs that I haven't added UU's for and updated other civs.

I've reduced the number of San d'Orian UU's to 4, since I got rid of the Elvaan Dragoon line. The San d'Orians build the Elvaan Dragoon line, and do not require Elvaan to build those units. They still need the forest elvaan to build the elvann archer/ranger line. I've added the Shinra GrossPanzer which has slightly increased bombardment and +1 hp over thestandard Heavy Tank(graphics for which I made myself), and am considering using the Blood Angel space marine that Smoking Mirror made as the Mighty Grunt, but I'd rather have the Highwind be the third Shinra UU (I'm still planning on adding the SOLDIER as soon as I can get the apropriate graphics). I've also added one of Ordalia's UU's, the Firewall Elite. The Firewall Elite was one of the most feared units during the 50 years war between Ivalice and Ordalia, and I have them replace the Samurai, and gave them amphibious assault capability as well as ignore movement cost over hills and mountains. I'm using KinBoat's Man at Arms graphics to represent them, and rather than require Mythril and Materia as standard Samurai do, Firewall Elite require Satlpeter and Mythril.

I've also updated the city lists for Shinra, Yevon, and Al Bhed, so that these civilizations now have at least 18 cities. I've also dug up a copy of the FF Tactics: Advanced strategy guide that I hurled down in disgust earlier, and managed to compile enough data to add Kiltia (which is the civilization that created the Grand Grimoire that Mewt finds). I'll have Marche as the leader (on a side note, Marche and Ashley, the guy from Vagrant Story, must have the same barber), and Mewt, Cid Randell, Ritz, Shara, Montblanc, NoNo, Ezel Berbier and Babus Swan as various Military or Scientific Great leaders. I was also, thanks to the strategy guide, able to come up with a respectable 29 cities for the civ (it would've been 30, but Bervennia Palace is already owned by Ivalice).

Possible UU's for Kiltia would be, Bangaa dragoon line units (I could use some of Kinboats lizardmen with a re-color job for that), Moogle gunner and sniper units, or (and I'm especially rooting for this one) Viera archer/mage type units. For those of you who don't know, the Viera are a race of hot bunny chicks who are good at archery and magic. As a matter of fact, since FF XII seems to be set in the same location and roughly the same time period, I might end up combining the data, but not likely. In any case, I'll include a screenshot of a typical Viera archer in a separate request thread.

I've also added two new minor civ unit lines and resources. The first I added was the Goblins (based in part on FF XI's civilized goblins), which are fast (+1 movement), cheap (-10% shield cost) and weak (-1HP) offensive units that encourage swarm tactics (and yes, I HAVE been swarmed by AI goblins before, the worst part of which was when some of the little runts killed some of my dwarven units, which have a +1 HP BONUS, that I sent after them). The second is the Giant Spider line, which has similar stats and technology requirements as the Chocobo cavalry line, but the spiders have increased attack and cost in addition to one extra special ability (such as blitz or zone of control) and the ability to enslave enemy units as spider eggs, which can then be upgraded to the best type of spider currently available.

I've also re-worked the Elvaan line, since having 9 units available with one resource set (as opposed to 4-6 for the others) would give an unfair advantage to whatever civ had access to Elvaan. I dropped the Dragoon line and gave them to San d'Oria as their UU's, and kept the Archer line and the Elvaan bolter siege engine. I left the Dwarves unchanged.

On a final note, I still can't figure out who should be the leader of Ivalice. Right now I'm using Delita Hyral, but I still thing Ramuza or Princess what's her name (the one who shold've been ruler, but who was "killed" by Delita at the end of the game) Also, should I or should I not include FF Crystal Chronicles (the Gamecube game) in this mod, or for that matter, FF Spirits within (if I still have civilization slots available after adding all the mainstream game civilizations, that is). Unfortunately I can't post a poll, so you'll have to let me know what you think in replies or PMs.

Here's a screenshot from the latest playtest with Shinra in the modern era:

Here's a quick preview of the Minor civ unit lines.

 

[Goldflash]

Hey hey hey, looks like one of da Boyz snuck into da Final Fantasy Mod. WAAAGH!

 

[Mr. Do]

I don't think having a FF:tSP will add much to the game, especially with it being set on Earth. And since it mostly sucks.

 

[Morfos]

This is beggining to look interesting. Since you have a mage, I suggest you also make a witch and/or sorceress since Final Fantasy had them. One question though, is it possible to use mods in a way that you can just link a map to a folder using scenarion files instead of having to modify the entire game?

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

I don't think having a FF:tSP will add much to the game, especially with it being set on Earth. And since it mostly sucks.

Yeah, I agree with you. I mean there wasn't one damn chocobo in the whole movie and they had the nerve to call it Final Fantasy!! In that case, if I run out of mainstream game civs, how would you guys feel if I added a few from other Square RPGs, such as Chrono Cross, Parasite Eve or Star Ocean? (I don't know much about Parasite Eve, but I have played Star Ocean once and had a friend who was always playing Chrono Cross, so I have a basic idea there).

On another note, I was looking over both world maps for FF VI, and was wondering how I should split the list up btween the Empire and the Returners (basically I've included everyone who hates the Empire with the Returners)

The one's that I'm sure about (or that you guys listed) will either have and (E) after the name for the Empire or (R) after the name for the Returners.

Anyways, here's a full list of FF VI locations:

Narshe
Figaro Castle
South Figaro
Sabin's Cabin (I'm guessing R)
Mt Kolts
Returners' Hideout (R, no-brainer here)
House in the Veldt
Imperial Base (E again, no-brainer)
Castle of Doma
Phantom Forest
Baren Falls
The Veldt
Moliz
Crescent Mountain
Nikeah
Kohlingen (E)
Jidoor
Zozo
Opera House
Albrook (E)
Tzen (E)
Maranda (E)
Vector (E)
Sealed Gate
Esperville
Thamasa
The Solitary Island
Darill's Tomb
Colosseum
Phoenix Cave
Triangle Island
Fanatics' Tower (E)
Duncan's House
The Ancient Castle
Eboshi Rock
Kefka's Tower

Note that there's enough location names to split evenly btweeen the Empire and the Returners, giving them 18 each (which I consider the Mininum for a viable City list)

As for Great leaders and such, Locke, of course should be the leader since he started the Returners (if I remember reading correctly), and MGL's should be Sabin Figaro, Shadow, Gau, Umaro, and the Samurai dude with a moustache (can't remember his name off the top of my head). SGls should include Edgar Figaro, Strago, and Strago's Granddaughter (the one who draws all the pictures). UU's: Flamegrape's Yeti , possibly some swashbuckling types (to represent Edgar or Locke and the samurai dude), and probably some type of scholarly wizard type based on Strago.

Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention in the previous upgrade thread, I've finished re-working the governments. Basically, most of the governments in standard Civ III suck, so I added one, and re-did three. The government I added was Tribal council, which has the same stats as Despotism, but with normal tile production (it serves as a good early transition government until you can get something better) that's available after researching Shamanism (ceremonial burial). The first government I changed was feudalism, basically all I did there was fix it to the way it was originally intended. I.E, city improvements don't cost anything, and you get lots of free units if you have town sized cities, but units you have to pay for cost 3 gold in upkeep. I essentially got rid of Fascism by changing it into Corporate republic, which I made available where Democracy normally would fall. You no longer have forced re-settlement, but the government is still xenophobic. You get the tile trade bonus (after all, this is a CORPORATE government), and Minimal corruption. What I did to balance out the new bonuses was to reduce worker efficiency to 2 (normal) rather than the original 4, halve the unit support, and decrease the MP limit. I changed Democracy to match the same stats as the Social Democracy in my Tweaked out mod. It's available when Fascism normally would be, has communal corruption, paid rushing, tile trade bonus, the same unit support as republic, medium war weariness, and no MP's allowed.

If for some reason the traits of the Corporate Republic sound familliar, it's because I based it off of the Shinra Corporation in FF VII. As a matter of fact, for AI purposes, I set the Preferred government for Shinra to Corporate Republic and the Shunned government to Communism (the last thing a bunch of rampant capitalists want).

Morfos: in the C3C editor, you can import maps into already made scenarios (or blank default rule scenarios for that matter).

 

[Bad Brett]

It would be cool with some kind of chocobo knight... and shinra soldiers

Also, I would like to see Midgar a bit darker and with MAKO lights.

Otherwise it looks fantastic!

 

[Reno]

Looking good so far especialy the Shin-Ra part.

"Target Weapon don't let it land!"

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Looking good so far especialy the Shin-Ra part.

"Target Weapon don't let it land!"

You know, if Civ III was like Civ II and allowed for the barbs to advance as the ages advanced, I'd have them start with low level monsters like the current sweeper and bandersnatch, with mid-level monsters like bombs, malboros, anaconduars and cactaurs in the middle and industrial ages, and boss-type monsters such as the Midgar Zolom, Weapon and Sin roaming around in the modern age

BTW, I checked what effect a 30 bombard radius would have on a "standard" map, and in a direct linear path from east to west, the radius overlapped by about 3 tiles Most of the remaining countries capitol cities were also in range. That fact coupled with a full modern airship strike (with said airships loaded with the 5 foot units that they can carry) could put a sizeable strike force deep into enemy territory, with these makou cannons blasting opposition troops. The thing is, the other players can do the same. During the Maya war with England, I saw the Maya transport armada get hit by a makou cannon once per turn on the way to England as well as on the return trip, leaving all the Maya destroyers and Military transports in either the yellow or the red.

BTW, I just figured out what one of the Returner's UU's should be: The Shadow Ninja's Since the Ninja is not part of the released PTW medieval Japan unit line, I'll have to find an alternate ninja/assasin unit to use. What I'll then do is take the separated german shepard (from the Conquistador) that Straczynski did, and use SBB to make a munit out of them (so that Shadow can have his faithful dog, Interceptor). The Shadow Ninjas will replace the Samurai, ignore all movement costs, and have stealth attack capabilites. As for the other UU's, I'll still probably use Flamegrape's gun-yetis ......or not.

Bad Brett: Makou lights wouldn't look that good, the way the game handles the city graphics. Besides, I didn't build a single factory or Makou reactor the whole game.

As for the chocobo thing, If someone would be willing to make a chocobo model or a chocobo unit line, I'd be eternally grateful. Ditto with the Shinra SOLDIERS. I've already got the GrossPanzers done. BTW, here's a pic of the Makou cannon in its natural habitat, along with the GrossPanzer in action.

 

[Goldflash]

Hikaro, you can sue the units from the conquests. Just make links in the INI to the proper files

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Goldflash, I was going to make a Munit from the Ninja and the German Shepard, since one of Shadow's (the ninja in FF VI) distinguishing features was his dog, Interceptor, who aided him in battle. Besides, Shadow used blades and throwing weapons, not Kamas (sickles) like the Firaxis ninja does. I know I saw a blade ninja around this site somewhere, but I'm too busy to search for it as of right now.

 

[Goldflash]

Oh, Okay. And yes, I know all about FFVI. It is my favorite.

 

[DJ Bonebraker]

Oh, Okay. And yes, I know all about FFVI. It is my favorite.

Good, then maybe you could help me with sorting out who gets what city/location (from the list below)

I'm trying to do as much on-line research as possible, but with being in port for the first time in over two weeks, and working on my latest unit, I haven't had much time.

Working City Lists:

Empire:

Imperial Base
Kohlingen
Albrook
Tzen
Maranda
Vector
Fanatics' Tower


Returners:

Figaro Castle
South Figaro
Sabin's Cabin
Returners' Hideout
House in the Veldt
Duncan's House

Don't have a clue:

Narshe
Mt Kolts
Castle of Doma
Phantom Forest
Baren Falls
The Veldt
Moliz
Crescent Mountain
Nikeah
Jidoor
Zozo
Opera House
Sealed Gate
Esperville
Thamasa
The Solitary Island
Darill's Tomb
Colosseum
Phoenix Cave
Triangle Island
The Ancient Castle
Eboshi Rock
Kefka's Tower