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Messages - Rew

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1
Maps In Progress / Re: Coming Soon: Undertale Maps!
« on: Yesterday at 02:59:30 pm »
Hey, Rew!  That's exciting!  This is one of the games on my personal requests list.

Being behind on my games, I didn't play this 2015 game until probably five or six years later, so 2020 or 2021, and finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was about.  Man, that final boss really is one of the hardest bosses I've ever encountered, or certainly recently.

I was surprised then that it seemingly wasn't mapped yet, especially given its popularity.  Its simplicity certainly helps, you'd think there wouldn't be much that would be technically challenging.  But then I saw that some areas were indeed mapped, as shared on reddit, so I asked the mappers, and... well, I don't know, it seemed that they didn't "get" VGMaps.  Not sure what there is to "get" or not "get".  Maybe they didn't want to contribute them, but didn't know how to say no.  Whatever.

Looking forward to your map sets, which I would be anyway, but especially since you say you're going to do labelled AND unlabelled maps.   :D

Surprised you haven't contributed anything before.  I remember seeing your name around, I would've thought you'd have mapped something for your name to be familiar to me.  Well, in any case, glad you're here (again)!
Ha, I've got you beat! I played Undertale for the first time just this past October--less than two months ago--after a lot of cajoling from friends who knew the pacifist route in particular would be right up my alley. And I've been obsessed ever since!

I actually know which maps on Reddit you're referring to. Those maps are okay--I actually used them on my first playthrough. But I have some problems with that person's maps: They tried too hard to make the maps "canonical" and artificially elongated or shortened certain areas to make everything try to line up. And one thing about these areas is that the rooms definitely don't line up! (It's been a pretty big challenge for me in mapping this game--esp. Waterfall.) My maps focus more on being game maps specifically. Each room is its own entity, and when things don't line up, I use a letter of the alphabet to designate where to go. I hope it makes it easy to follow. (I really should post a prototype of my maps of Snowdin and the Ruins to show my approach.)

And yes, I used to be active on here ten or so years ago, but that was always either as a lurker or requester. I've long been fascinated by game maps and have often given thought to doing them myself. But this game inspired me so much that I finally moved beyond thought to action. (Having each individual room already pre-ripped definitely helped.) It's good to be back!

2
Maps In Progress / Coming Soon: Undertale Maps!
« on: Yesterday at 04:55:00 am »
(Seeing this website go nearly a decade without any maps from Undertale fills you with DETERMINATION.)

Truth be told, I was already making these maps and then remembered I used to frequent this website back in the day. I returned to see how this site handled maps from this game and was surprised to see there were none. (But nobody came!) Kind of a pleasant surprise, though, because now I get an opportunity to share my maps with this place! :D

They're still in progress, but I'm putting the finishing touches on Hotland, then they'll be ready to roll. I'll go into more detail about my methodology in a later post, but the gist of it is, I'm using the UndertaleModTool, which has rips of each and every single room in the game. So I'm stitching all those rooms together. However, the rooms are rather imperfect compared to what you see in-game (especially the Hotland ones, what with all their complicated backgrounds and whatnot). So I'm using Paint.net to polish the rooms so they look as close to how they appear in-game as I can get them.

There will be two different varieties of maps I'm doing: labeled maps (the rooms in the mod tool include a lot of interactable elements you can't see in-game, most of which I'm keeping for this variety--which is great as a visual guide to what you can and can't interact with, ideal for those on a second or later playthrough who want to experience everything). These maps include spoilers such as late-game and post-game NPCs, puzzle solutions, etc.

And then I'm doing unlabeled maps (without all the game data labels), which still include items and NPCs, but only ones you would see on a first visit--and no puzzle solutions either. This type will only show what you can actually see in-game and will be as close to spoiler-free as one can get with an Undertale map.

Anyway, I look forward to sharing more in the near future! (Fun fact: These will also be the first ever video game maps I've ever done. :D)

3
Hey everyone--so first things first, I'm an absolute neophyte at creating maps myself. Even though I've been here a long time, it's always been as a spectator/requester; I've never actually tried to make a map by myself.

So right I have about 40-odd screenshots from an overworld map, and I'm sitting down to put them all together in Paint.net when I realized... I don't have a friggin' clue how to actually do that. I mean, how do I get them to line up pixel perfectly? To do this properly (i.e. by hand) seems like it would take hours and even days of painstaking precision, lining up, moving them just so. Like the world's most obtuse jigsaw puzzle. But that seems horribly inefficient; I feel like I'm probably doing something wrong.

How do you all do it? Do you really sit down and measure things out pixel by pixel and line everything up by hand?

4
Maps In Progress / Re: Peardian's map projects in progress and planned
« on: February 25, 2017, 07:46:36 pm »
Oh, does he not check the forums anymore? (I figured he still lurked even if he hasn't mapped in a while.)

But yeah, I can message him.

5
Maps In Progress / Re: Peardian's map projects in progress and planned
« on: February 23, 2017, 07:32:24 am »
Ah, cool! So maybe there's hope for the remaining Yoshi's Island GBA secret stages then. ;)

6
Maps In Progress / Re: Peardian's map projects in progress and planned
« on: February 18, 2017, 06:52:02 am »
So I've been perusing Peardian's glorious Yoshi's Island maps recently for Super NES. Then I decided to take a look at the GBA version of those maps on this site, and I found only Secret stages 1 and 2 were done. I don't suppose someone could coax Peardian out of retirement for Secret stages 3 through 6? =P (Those would probably be easier to map than Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask after all!)

7
Maps In Progress / Re: Zelda link to the past live maps
« on: February 18, 2017, 06:43:43 am »
I just discovered these maps. Very awesome how you got them all to animate! It's amazing how much more "busy" Link's Awakening is than A Link to the Past. That's something I never actually considered before.

8
Map Gab / Latest Maps?
« on: January 03, 2015, 03:45:16 pm »
Okay, so I guess this is more of a main site help topic instead of a message board help one. :P But how can you tell which maps are the latest ones?

For example, the latest update has new Wario Land II maps. But when I click on it, I'm taken to the Wario Land II section and have no idea which maps are the new ones. There are maps by three different mappers on there.

Perhaps in the near future, there can be a "new" label attached to new maps? Or (better yet) date stamp all the maps? (I understand this latter suggestion could be a massive undertaking if it had to be done by hand...)

9
Map Requests / Re: Mega Man Maps
« on: December 29, 2014, 09:55:27 pm »
I'm afraid there isn't a construction mode for Maverick Hunter X as it is a direct remake of Mega Man X, without any extras. However the Sigma Fortress levels are heavily changed in layout, which means mapping them if possible is definitely worth it. Unless the 2.5D platforms can be centralised and measure in grid, the maps will have to be improvised somehow.

EDIT:

Further research reveals that capsule, heart and part upgrades are changed in the stages from the original. In addition the upgrades, ride armours and enemy placements are changed when playing as Vile.

ADDITIONAL EDIT:

The 3D RPG Megaman X Command Mission, has got a 2D minimap of the various areas that you explore. It doesn't rotate, but its kind of transparent so some touching would have to be applied to make it a finished map, otherwise its rather easy to rip and assemble. Also the game has a web like 2D map system of each zone.

I know I'm late to the party here, but I'd love to see those Mega Man X Command Mission in-game maps, if you're able. :)

10
Most impressive Peardian--and worth the wait!

There's a secret backroom in the Swordsman's School?  I've never even been in there.

Try going in there during the final hours of the final day. ;)

11
Maps In Progress / Re: Peardian's map projects in progress and planned
« on: April 24, 2014, 09:13:49 am »
Can't wait. Sounds like it's going to be pretty awesome. :D

12
Gaming / Re: Super Smash Bros. Direct 4.8.2014
« on: April 09, 2014, 02:26:18 pm »
I actually just started Paper Mario: Sticker Star yesterday. It's... less than impressive so far. :P

But as for the upcoming Smash Bros. -- DAT MEGA MAN FINAL SMASH. O_O

13
I spent today (well, after work) playing Chapter 1 of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. :D

Note that this is my first time ever playing this game! (I know, I know, I'm late to the party.)

14
Gaming / Re: Nintendo Gallery: OoT
« on: February 25, 2014, 06:25:27 am »
Peardian, you're internet famous! ZeldaInformer posted a link to your OoT models on their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/ZeldaInformer/photos/a.10150313965571447.337243.101670051446/10151901747206447/?type=1&stream_ref=10

15
Gaming / Re: What Games Are We Playing
« on: February 16, 2014, 08:01:44 pm »
So I have at last finished Super Mario RPG! I may be 18 years late to the party, but this one was worth the wait--and turned out to be more fun than I expected.

This was definitely a quintessential step into Mario's past, before the establishment of a fixed design for Peach's Castle (just before, as it turns out, as SM64 would be only a few months away when SMRPG was released), not to mention probably the last game where the princess went by the name Toadstool outside of Japan. The Chancellor is not yet Toadsworth, and we get introduced to numerous species that (so far as I know) we never see again outside of this game: the frogs/tadpoles of Tadpole Pond, the moles of Moleville, Mallow's cloud people of Nimbus Land, and most infamously the one and only Geno.

I also like how Mario and Bowser become allies (even if not friends) for the first time in franchise history (not counting games like Super Mario Kart, etc.). Granted I wish Bowser had been a more useful player in the game (he spent most of my run on the bench), but the thought was nice. He had some interesting story moments and character development too--I loved his reevaluation of his reasons for going into Smithy's Factory after the defeat of Exor!

The visual style and the gameplay really show how far the SNES had come here at the end of its cycle. It's interesting really, in that around 1994 or so, Miyamoto disparaged the art style of Rare's DKC trilogy and sought to take his next Mario game, Yoshi's Island, in a completely different direction visually. Now by 1996, it appears that the Mario team had capitulated as you can see a heavy influence from Rare here. The early areas in the game in particular look like they were lifted directly from the map screens of DKC3, the Midas River sequence (first part) reminded me of the K. Rool chase on the waters at the end of DKC3, and even Mario's Pad looks like it was directly inspired by DK's cabin at the beginning of the original DKC. And yet even more interestingly, in this game's sequel, Paper Mario (and its successors) the developers went right back to the style of Yoshi's Island and Yoshi's Story. I'm not really making a point with all this--it's just an interesting observation to me.

The game is not particularly difficult at all. There were a couple times I had some scares when one or two party members would go down during a boss fight, but I never experienced a game over through the whole adventure (not counting failing the courses in Bowser's Keep behind those six randomly generated doors). Your party's arsenal and skills will generally be a little ahead of your adversaries as you progress through the world, so the learning curve is lenient (esp. if you're like me and faced off against as many enemies as possible to build up as much EXP as I could). You have three bonuses you can choose from each time you level up, and I deliberately alternated and spaced them out evenly as I powered up my party. That's perhaps not the absolutely best way to do it (for instance there's no point in adding magic/special bonuses on a party member whose special moves you almost never use). And of course once you get the Lazy Shell weapon and armor, the game absolutely becomes broken as your party crushes the resistance while being nearly impervious in its own right. Even the mighty Culex wasn't much of a problem by the time I was done.

I should say that the battles are (in general) the easiest part of the game. Nearly everything else ranges from difficult to absolutely cumbersome. While I'm a fan of the isometric visuals in the game, it makes for some unintuitive platforming, and nowhere was this more on display than in the 3-dimensional maze in the Sunken Ship (something which only belongs in games like Super Mario 3D Land/World) and the two "action courses" inside Bowser's Keep. If you've ever played this game, well, I'm pretty sure you know what I mean.

The mini-games I'll confess were not particularly fun. The Yoshi races (or Mushroom Derby) required a sense of rhythm I really don't have, and having no skill in music, the Toadofsky songs escaped until I just looked them up in a guide. Midas River and Booster Hill were vaguely amusing but sort of monotonous as well. Mole Mountain (the mine car ride) was more fun but only as a diversion. Grate Guy's Casino was a good idea in theory but terribly boring in execution (sort of like the mini-games in NSMB on DS). Perhaps I'm used to the good mini-games in the Zelda series, but it was obvious in SMRPG that the game makers had a ways to go.

Back to the main game, there were some really neat moments I liked. It was a little bit hilarious how shocked Mallow was to find he's not a tadpole when he looks nothing like one at all. And I loved Bowser's comic relief throughout the game, from his crying when reminiscing on the good old days when Mario was his only adversary, to recruiting Mario to join the Koopa Troop, and to being ignored by the Manager or Director near the end of the game. The stuff in Nimbus Land was really great too, to Valentina's blatantly obvious act, to people being confused how big "Prince Mallow" (i.e. Dodo) was but just rolling with it anyway--and one of my favorite moments in the game was when Mallow goes into the castle to reunite with his parents, and we see Mario pull out an umbrella (Toadstool's Parasol?) right before it starts raining with his tears.

Smithy put up a proper good fight in the finale (though I think Cloaker and Earth Link may have given me even more trouble) and was a very rewarding final boss. Add Smithy to the likes of Wart among villains I'd like to see return to the Mario series in some capacity (even as secondary to Bowser). The ending was cool, and I like the parade during the staff credits--which from what I understand is a Mario RPG tradition. When the sun went down and those floats lit up had to be some of the most breathtaking visuals I've seen on a 16-bit machine! I'll be curious to see how Paper Mario compares.

It's a shame we won't be seeing Mallow or Geno anymore. I know a lot of people clamor for the latter to be included in Smash Bros. I certainly wouldn't be against that, but I see Geno more as assist trophy material rather than a full fledged fighter character. If nothing else, I would love to see the upcoming Smash Bros. game give SMRPG some love in the trophies and music dept.! Also, since they're bringing the Koopalings into Mario Kart 8, why not Mallow and Geno? I think that'd be a great comeback for them.

Finally I conclude with an observation. Have you all seen much of the official art for this game? (You can find it in downloadable versions of the instruction booklet and player's guide.) And it's absolutely gorgeous. What makes it so wonderful to look at (and you can tell the game was trying to make it look this way too, though it's not apparent with the 16-bit limitations) is that all the characters look like toys and dolls. Heck, even the maps in the player's guide look like plastic play sets! And this is a recurring theme we see in the game: Booster uses dolls of Mario, Toadstool, etc. to rehearse for his wedding, and Gaz in Rose Town plays Mario vs. Bowser with his dolls in a very meta reenactment of the players ourselves playing an elaborate game of Mario and party vs. the bad guys. And especially given that this game is an RPG--a role-playing game--it takes the genre literally and produces a really neat result. It's interesting that the characters in this game look like dolls, and in the next installment the art direction is a bit more overtly modified with Mario and all the characters being made out of paper and the whole of Paper Mario looking like a story out of a pop-up book.

One could almost say that this was a precursor to the idea in the original Super Smash Bros. of the Master Hand representing a child playing with his/her dolls in a playroom.

I don't think I can really rank this game against the Mario series platformers, but if I did, I would say it's approximately on par with Super Mario Sunshine (another game I liked more than I thought I would) for me. I really would love to see a game like this again--a proper RPG with a full party, etc. The art style for this particular one would look magnificent on the Wii U. It's probably just a pipe dream, though.

(Side note: Shout out to Peardian because his SMRPG maps were immensely helpful during my run!)

Anyway, up next is Paper Mario! From what I understand, the RPG elements are a bit simplified in this game, but it looks like it has a lot of its own charm. I'll get started on that one tomorrow night hopefully.

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