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Post subject: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 3:29 am 
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I am preparing to check all blocks for strings I did not encounter in the games and ensure they are coherent and as well-formatted as possible.

Quick observations about SSMS-II:

1. It's a true sequel, connected by some cross-over characters and a few surprising unexpected ties-in to the original.
2. It's as good a game as the first one.
3. It's one of the hardest RPGs I've played.
4. For most, SSMS-II will probably require less than 100 hours.
5. Battles are VERY frequent in some places, especially in caves and underground, sometimes 2-3 steps apart.
6. Battle graphics are top notch.
7. This will be one of my top 10-15 RPGs.
8. It has what I consider a long ending.
9. Credits are cleverly interwoven with after-action animated cut scenes.
10. Most menus allow only four-letter character names, but longer names are used for some characters in dialogue boxes. The trick was to make the first four letters of names look like nicks.
11. This time-keeping (including current date) game does not appear to be Y2K affected.

Fixes needed: (very few, fortunately)

1. A certain powerful ally joins late in the game, one with amazing attacks. That menu will need re-assembly.
2. At Gerb's suggestion, I am changing a major villain's name to Jocque (instead of Jodan). This is mostly handled in the text blocks, but we have a few graphic applications of "Jodan" that will need to be re-drawn.
3. A fairly lengthy game credits block was apparently never dumped or translated. This shouldn't be any big deal to find and "Roomaji-ize".

Bongo` already had everything in super shape as of two years ago. The last 12% flowed like silk, except as noted above.

Note to Sylardean: If I remember correctly, two years ago you had like a V 0.84 or 0.88 beta and were playing it for sanctuary construction. I don't know your current status with games, but now that I have the 0.99 in the can... Well, let me know....

I masked the graphics, just in case someone considered them spoilers.

Within them, a few needed graphical and menu fixes are included, just FYI.

Spoiler! :
Image Image

Image Image

Image Image


1. The last graphic should read:

"Shell Dragon

MP 150

Fire Power
Water Power
Wind Power
Earth Power"

Image


2. This translates to "Happy!" I believe. I would like for it to read: "MP-free Random Summon"
or just MP-free Summon"

Image


3. Translates to "Finish". I would like for it to read "Fin!"

Image


4. A battle menu displays monster vulnerabilities. I have used the first two characters of elements for Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Bacteria, Poison, and Light. If the box can't be enlarged and we can't spell these out, I am wondering if symbols might work better.

Image


5. Finally, I have displayed an untranslated credits screen. Near the end, the game uses quite a few of these.


I have been working on this game around 4-5 years. After completing SSMS-I, I pestered Bongo` to set me up with an insertion structure for the sequel. Initially, I had no translation support. I did about two-thirds of that work myself. Then, I pestered Gerb until he agreed to fill in some blanks. Finally, Gerb got really into SSMS-II, and he gave me his reading on the entire game. I found that my work was only about 95% accurate and complete. That wasn't good enough for me. Thanks to Gerb, eventually, I'll be able to create a super translation of SSMS-II.

Soon, I will start my second pass and clean up everything. I will lay Gerb's reading side by side, this time, and ensure everything makes perfect sense. I can't estimate when I'll complete SSMS-II. I don't feel any pressure to push on this game. In fact, I'm not really sure I want to release our version of SSMS-II (English) to the general public, maybe just friends I know would appreciate the opportunity to play it. After all, I write for myself and my colleagues only, as a hobby. I hope that everyone who reads this post understands what I just said, thoroughly.

Plenty of time to deliberate over the disposition of completed SSMS-II (English) work accomplished by D-D personnel and a few good friends such as Gerb and SylarDean.


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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:48 am 
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Hi Wildbill,

Yeah I.. errr...? got to as far as..
Spoiler! :
where you end up in a coma and then wake up in Grangram Castle

I gather I was getting closer to the end of the game cos i was starting to find more things to report at that point,
so I stopped there. I kept all the problems and stuff I had found and some suggestions into a .zip folder waiting
to send to you when you requested them, but no doubt at ur version now you probably have sorted some of the
issues out.. one important one being the time temples had not been worked on at all so were all a jumbled mess
text wise, so I hadn't covered any of that in the sanctuary guide.


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Spoiler! :
CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5DrStvYrMxTrHZR11paQMA/
You can find all types of RPG, JRpg, Mmo, PC, SNES, and PS1 games mini-reviewed with no voice-overs there.


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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:37 pm 
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FYI:

Spoiler! :
Image


I'm pretty sure this is a sneeze. https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%8 ... 7%E3%83%B3


The Devil takes notes from Lina Inverse? That sounds about right.

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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:57 pm 
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filler wrote:
FYI:

Spoiler! :
Image


I'm pretty sure this is a sneeze. https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%83%8 ... 7%E3%83%B3
Spoiler! :
Makes sense... Could it be the sound of sneezing, such as "Achoo!"? This is the spell that makes it flash on the screen (くしゃみ Sneeze), then a random Summon Monster enters the battle.


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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 4:16 am 
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Wildbill wrote:
Spoiler! :
Makes sense... Could it be the sound of sneezing, such as "Achoo!"? This is the spell that makes it flash on the screen (くしゃみ Sneeze), then a random Summon Monster enters the battle.

Spoiler! :
Yes. The sound of a sneeze is exactly what it is. Sounds like a goofy spell.


The Devil takes notes from Lina Inverse? That sounds about right.

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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 9:03 pm 
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SylarDean wrote:
Hi Wildbill,

Yeah I.. errr...? got to as far as..
Spoiler! :
where you end up in a coma and then wake up in Grangram Castle

I gather I was getting closer to the end of the game cos i was starting to find more things to report at that point,
so I stopped there. I kept all the problems and stuff I had found and some suggestions into a .zip folder waiting
to send to you when you requested them, but no doubt at ur version now you probably have sorted some of the
issues out.. one important one being the time temples had not been worked on at all so were all a jumbled mess
text wise, so I hadn't covered any of that in the sanctuary guide.
Yes, do you want to partner up again and get this thing perfect? If so, I'll fill you in on the details later. Do you still use the same e-mail address?


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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:42 pm 
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Wildbill wrote:
SylarDean wrote:
Hi Wildbill,

Yeah I.. errr...? got to as far as..
Spoiler! :
where you end up in a coma and then wake up in Grangram Castle

I gather I was getting closer to the end of the game cos i was starting to find more things to report at that point,
so I stopped there. I kept all the problems and stuff I had found and some suggestions into a .zip folder waiting
to send to you when you requested them, but no doubt at ur version now you probably have sorted some of the
issues out.. one important one being the time temples had not been worked on at all so were all a jumbled mess
text wise, so I hadn't covered any of that in the sanctuary guide.
Yes, do you want to partner up again and get this thing perfect? If so, I'll fill you in on the details later. Do you still use the same e-mail address?


Sure why not, I don't mind helping out. I think i'm still using the same email.. i'll PM you it again just incase.


Image
Spoiler! :
CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL @ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5DrStvYrMxTrHZR11paQMA/
You can find all types of RPG, JRpg, Mmo, PC, SNES, and PS1 games mini-reviewed with no voice-overs there.


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Post subject: Re: SSMS-II Reaches V0.99 Beta
PostPosted: Thu Dec 07, 2017 6:04 am 
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SylarDean wrote:
Wildbill wrote:
SylarDean wrote:
Hi Wildbill,

Yeah I.. errr...? got to as far as..
Spoiler! :
where you end up in a coma and then wake up in Grangram Castle

I gather I was getting closer to the end of the game cos i was starting to find more things to report at that point,
so I stopped there. I kept all the problems and stuff I had found and some suggestions into a .zip folder waiting
to send to you when you requested them, but no doubt at ur version now you probably have sorted some of the
issues out.. one important one being the time temples had not been worked on at all so were all a jumbled mess
text wise, so I hadn't covered any of that in the sanctuary guide.
Yes, do you want to partner up again and get this thing perfect? If so, I'll fill you in on the details later. Do you still use the same e-mail address?


Sure why not, I don't mind helping out. I think i'm still using the same email.. i'll PM you it again just incase.
The following is repeated from a PM I just sent you, so the rest of the group may see how we're approaching this stage of the production.

Spoiler! :
I would like to have your old zipped folder so I can see what they are. Very likely, Bongo` and I have already fixed some of them. You can skip ahead and work on the time temples and such, if you want. But give me time to work my second pass up to the spot where the hero is comatose before you start a new pass yourself.

BTW, I will get slowed down from December 18 to January 2 with family activities. I don't know your timetable, but it's important you don't get ahead of me in actual story progression, so we don't create unnecessary work for ourselves. Here is what I have refined since V.88:

1. Time temples and wells.
2. All of the My Town features.
3. All of the random comments by fighting characters that vary, depending on their presence/position in active parties.
4. All of the main narratives in the game until the hero returns to earth and the game ends.
5. Virtually all of the strings in the dialogue files. (Soon, I must read through every single file to double check this.)

At this time we will put nothing in Mantis. That will start when we begin in-house and outside beta testing.

Here is where I need major backup:

1. Finding all of Poyon's learned skills.
2. Finding King Grangram's special Sun Lamp treasure in sunken Kutomina's Palace for the treasure-hunting subquest museum.
3. Finding powerful items I missed inside Dark's cliff palace.
4. Visiting every town after the Catastrophe to check for changed dialogue.
5. Checking everywhere in caves and mountains for new areas with new treasures that opened up for the first time after the Catastrophe. One such area had the seventh monkey. Without the seventh monkey you couldn't find all of Urnie's summon monsters and other important items.

Finally, here is a feature in the game that' will be tough to check thoroughly: A whole huge dialogue block is dedicated to character statements either following or preceding important wickets in the game. We're talking 9 fighters: Baltz, Rumiella, Urnie, Babu, Gabe, Shamil, Kupi, Robot, and Poyon. Each one of these has a specific line to speak, but most of the time a player will see just one remark out of the 9 possible. The speaker in these instances will always be one of the other three in a party with the hero, and who speaks appears to be position-dependent. With every possibility, it's impractical to keep backing up and switching characters until you've seen all nine statements in the game, but still, I must write all of these remarks in the unique voices of the speakers. Nevertheless, oftentimes I would make a number of them similar, to ensure I would have no text overruns on those I never saw. I'll leave it to you how much trouble you'll feel like going to in trying to see as many random character statements in the game as possible.

When I organize my V.99 package for you, I'll include all of the Text and Misc files, so you can see every line, item, and feature in the game. Bear in mind these are not in any particular order. Game scenes may draw from the multiple files by "skipping around". But these may help you narrow down what you haven't seen or discovered in the game.

Also, what many non-party speakers say depends on who is in the party at the time. For example, Many sub-quests won't trigger without the right cast in the party, such as Baltz and Rumiella when you enter the still-floating Kutomina Palace. I'll also include a folder of supporting documents, including my VERY heavily edited walkthrough of Arcadia's original creation. In there, I have tried to standardize spellings with the game.

Speaking of spellings, your map was invaluable to me trying to piece together where I left off two years ago and finish writng the game. At the same time, as we refine the game, please double-check some of the spellings on your map.

Also, any time you encounter that enemy clown, Jocque, (spelled "Jodan" in some game graphics) we will need save-states from SNES9x V 1.43 just prior to those graphics, so we may pinpoint them for re-drawing. I can't recall precisely, but it seems I saw a half dozen of these or so, maybe less, I hope.

I'll try to get this all put together for you tomorrow. I may find time start my second pass this weekend.


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