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Topics - TerraEsperZ

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121
You know, I've been using TerraEsperZ for so long (ever since I came online, which means close to 10 years), it's become difficult to refer to myself as anything else on the net. And yet I've always found that name incredibly generic, in the sense that it doesn't have anything to do with me aside from a character I liked in a game I played long ago.



Well I'm thinking of changing my alias now, and I'm happy to say that I've found a name that's both quite close to my real name and yet different enough that no one except close friends would make the link between the two.



But in a way, changing the name I've been using for years on several different forums makes me feel as if I'll lose whatever visibility I had manage to gain. Those people who know me do so under the name TerraEsperZ, and I'm not that popular or a regular enough poster (except here) that people would wonder where I was gone after changing my name.



Also, it would mean that all the maps I've done so far with that name would, in a way, fall between the cracks and lose their creator. I also have a great piece of fan art someone did on a Transformers board with my name on it that would end up the same way.



I guess in a way, I'm saying that I'll most likely not change my name, but mostly because it doesn't seem practical enough.



So, getting back to my original question in the thread's title: has anyone here ever changed their alias like that, and if they felt it was difficult for them and why?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

122
Message Board Help / How the hell do I read a PM!?
« on: July 22, 2006, 10:00:56 pm »
JonLeung, you sent me a PM this evening but I have no way to read it! All I get is a PM with "(1)" as subject but it isn't clickable, and even if I select it by checking the box on the left and click on "Read", nothing happens!



So... mind telling me what you wanted here, or is it too private for that?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

123
Mapping Tips/Guides / How much disk space do your own maps take?
« on: July 20, 2006, 10:06:57 am »
Yesterday, I finally did a much-needed backup of my game maps folder since the last one dated back at least 8 months, maybe more. The whole thing came to about 380 MB, including all the abandonned, completed and in progress projects with all the Raw, WIP and Final versions of the various maps plus the various sprites and tilesets I kept separate.



So I was wondering: how much space do your own maps take? And do you include all the screenshots  in that figure (since I remember someone who kept all of his; I don't)?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

124
Map Gab / Treasure Master (NES)
« on: July 19, 2006, 10:00:32 am »
This is more of a placeholder for when I finally finish these maps, hopefully sometimes this weekend.



What's there to say about Treasure Master for those who don't know of this elusive game?



Well for starters, the game is mostly one big puzzle adventure and involves travelling across several differently themed levels, collecting and using items to progress.



It was also made to act as the main part of a contest where players were given a secret code at a given date. Entering that code gave access to a secret level at the end of the game, and finishing *that* gave you another password which allowed you to win prizes if you gave it to the company fast enough.



In addition to all that, it also sports a great groovy soundtrack by Tim Follin (who did an amazing reimagining of the arcade Ghouls'N Ghosts soundtrack for the Amiga conversion; the game is pretty poor but the music is awesome and full of subtleties and variations not present in the original). Anyone interested should download the NSF here: http://www.zophar.net/nsf/treasure.zip



And on a personal note, I first saw the game in the pages of an old Nintendo Power and it seemed intriguing back then. Afterward, I saw it on the GamePro TV show (shows how old I was) where they showed a couple of secrets (which led me to discover one that the only FAQ for the game on the net didn't mention) and I was really sad that I never saw the game in any store nor did I know anyone who had played the game, not even those who always seemed to get their hands on exotic or import cartridges. Finally finding and playing the rom was a fun experience, even though the game falls short of my expectations, or even the expectations for a normal puzzle game like that.



Stay tuned for finished maps as I complete them.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

125
VGMaps Social Board / Great Ad Campaign - Phillips Bodygroom
« on: July 12, 2006, 08:26:57 pm »
I heard something clever said recently: people don't hate commercials, they just hate *bad* commercials. And with that in mind, I direct you to http://www.shaveeverywhere.com/index.html. Be sure to watch the music video, and I hope you laugh your heart out :D



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

126
VGMaps Social Board / Shows you're watching right now
« on: July 09, 2006, 10:46:06 pm »
Well, it's summer, and thus there's not much on the air, but the advantage of being a Quebecois is that many channels around here will show new episodes of English shows dubbed in French, so essentially we get new episodes even during the summer.



So for me:



-Battlestar Galactica (season 1)

-Doctor Who (season 1)



I know we're lagging behind on those two and to be honest, they've already shown them but I missed many episodes of both and I'm slowly catching up during repeats.



-Desperate Housewives...



I know what you're going to say, what is a guy watching a woman's show like that? Doesn't he have  any testoterone left!? Well yeah, I admit I've grown to life the show. At first. it didn't interest me at all, since it seemed to be about a bunch of superficial woman living the perfect life . But I've been following it since they started showing Season 2 and now I really wish I had been paying attention during the first one, which is why I'm planning on renting the first season to get up to speed. I've already watched the first DVD and I have another five to go.



So, which shows are *you* into these days?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

127
VGMaps Social Board / RE: Coolest movie death sequence
« on: July 08, 2006, 12:46:49 pm »
There's this old sci-fi horror movie playing right now on TV called "Ghost In the Machine". It's really stupid in principle, with this serial killer dying and haivng his consciousness transfered into electrical impulses that can travel into and control any electrical appliance and kills people for fun.



I just saw this hilarious sequence where the killer goes into a microwave and starts cranking out microwaves like it was hell on earth. This old man comes into the kitchen, sees an inferno taking place inside the oven with the electrical cord melted and everything, and he *opens the oven*, which then starts sending intense microwaves throughout the kitchen. Electrical arcs are happening everywhere, popcorn is popping out of its box, bananas are exploding and the guy is rosting in place with bubbles all over his body and all kinds of similar things. I'm sorry, I'm usually queasy about seeing people die in movies but this was just so over the top I couldn't help but laugh!



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

128
VGMaps Social Board / The Japanese Are Crazy! (funny video site)
« on: June 27, 2006, 07:29:23 pm »
Well, it's one of those 'flavour of the moment' web site, but it's a really funny one at least! Basically, the site features a number of crazy and/or prank videos from Japan. The 'Toilets' video is especially funny :)



http://www.thejapanesearecrazy.com/



---



"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

129
VGMaps Social Board / Reno 911: Boots of Escaping
« on: June 21, 2006, 11:00:02 pm »
I've never seen Reno 911 as such, since I don't get Comedy Central, but it's apparently a very subtle parody of COPS and other such police reality shows.



Well I just found a link to this gem that will, if you have any knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons, put a big smile on your face. The fact that it's played in a completely straigth manner just makes it even more hilarious :rofl:



http://gorillamask.net/bootsofescaping.shtml



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

130
Corny and simplistic, but I got a kick out of the Star Wars one :)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWfZjVbFFkc



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

131
Message Board Help / Can't add a board in the Board Manager
« on: June 19, 2006, 06:04:38 pm »
What the topic title says. I can visit the Map Request board from the Board Manager, but I no longer see the little check boxes to add or remove some from my preferences.







---


"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard





B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

132
Message Board Help / Bandwidth exceeded?
« on: June 17, 2006, 01:41:27 pm »
I don't know if anyone else noted, but last night VGMaps was down on account of the bandwidth having been exceeded. I was curious to know if this situation happened often, or if someone found a way to do massive hot linking of the site's maps?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

133
Gaming / What are your favourite game soundtracks?
« on: June 16, 2006, 04:20:51 pm »
A little repost from before the board died, but with the addition of links to many of the soundtracks I'm recommending, if anyone's interested :)



I'm a big fan of game music; in fact, I have been for years (I used to do the beat of Megaman songs with my mouth as a kid when going on road trip with my family; it annoyed my sister to no end). But thanks to console emulation, there are now many music players and/or player plugins that allows me to listen to the original soundtrack of many old games. Since it's the major part of the music I listen to everyday, I thought it would interesting to share our musical tastes on the subject. So here are my favourite game soundtracks grouped by system:



NES



Megaman II, III, IV and V: The Megaman series has always been one of my favourite ever since I first played one of the game. To me, the music composition really got interesting with the second game and maintained the variety up until the fifth game. The sixth one has good tunes too, but like everything in that game, they're just not that memorable. None of the Gameboy, SNES and PSX games of the original series managed to have soundtracks as good as those four.



Play the following with a NSF player:

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman2.zip

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman3.zip

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman4.zip

http://www.zophar.net/nsf/megaman5.zip



Akumajo Densetsu (Dracula's Curse JAP): Of all three Castlevania game on the NES, the third one had the biggest and best soundtrack. What most people don't know however, is that the japanese cartridge had a special sound chip inside to improve the music with more channels and instruments. All the songs sound a lot better and almost too good to be from an NES game.



http://www.zophar.net/nsf/akuden.zip



SNES



Starfox: You can't compare the music between Starfox and it's remake Starfox 64. You just can't. The first one has tunes with rythm that keep you in the action for the entire game, and the second has generic music that's less intense than in the original game. They corrected the problem with Starfox Assault by having the N64 themes reprised with full orchestral sounds and much better composition, but I still feel that the original sountrack remains the best.



Play the following with a SPC player:

http://www.snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=sf



Contra 3: The Alien Wars: A classic. I've always liked the music in the first two Contra games, and the third one continues the tradition of fast-paced music that fits the mood and/or action of each stages.



http://www.snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=cntr3



N64



Castlevania: Legacy Of Darkness: Unlike the more baroque and flamboyant Symphony Of the Night (PSX) with diverse compositions of varying styles and orchestral goodness that matched the style of the castle, this one is more ambiant and thus is better at establishing an atmosphere in the various levels of the game. There are no loud recognizable tunes like in previous CV games aside from a few like the first boss battle and the Dracula fight. Rather, the music flows more smoothly. For example, the songs for the Underground Tunnel and Underground Waterway are sombre, depressing pieces, especially "Invisible Sorrow" for the tunnel which is a sad and haunting tune. Definitely a more ambiant soundtrack and one that can be enjoyed better without having played the game I think.



Play the following with a USF player (like the 64th Note Winamp plugin at the bottom of the page at http://www.hcs64.com/usf/):

http://www.hcs64.com/usf/sets/prelim/Castlevania%2064%20-%20Legacy%20of%20Darkness%20-%20Parasyte/

(You need to extract cv2lod.usflib from the first archive in a directory, and then the content of the second archive in the same place to get the track names. Due to emulation problems, the music isn't always identical to the one in-game, but it's a lot smaller in size than the whole thing in mp3s)



The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask: What can I say? Zelda games have always had great music, but as much as I liked Ocarina Of Time, Majora's Mask beats it in almost every category. The music in the four temples stand out much more than in the various temples of its predecessor. There's also the town music that changes with each day, becoming darker and more sinister as the cataclysm draws near, and the last night is the most emotional piece that underscores well that the world is about to end. Add all the ocarina tunes that are better than in Ocarina as well as finally getting the classic Overworld theme that Ocarina had denied us, and you get my favourite Zelda soundtrack.



http://www.hcs64.com/usf/downcnt.php?lozmmusf.zip



Gameboy Advance



Sonic Advance 1, 2 and 3: I'm a big fan of the Genesis Sonic game and their music, but although the Advance series didn't convince me at first, they eventually grew on me. I now prefer their soundtracks, with a preference for Sonic Advance 2. Not a whole lot to say about it, but if you like traditional Sonic music, give them a try.



Play the following with a GSF player (like the Highly Advanced at the top of the page at http://www.caitsith2.com/gsf/):

http://gsf.caitsith2.net/gsfs/sonicadvance.rar

http://gsf.caitsith2.net/gsfs/sonicadvance2.rar

http://gsf.caitsith2.net/gsfs/SonicAdvance3_gsf.rar



The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap: One of the most polished 2D Zelda game so far, The Minish Cap also has the best soundtrack IMO, beating A Link To The Past simply for having technically superior music. A lot of classic tunes are back, such as the Hyrule Castle song from the aforementioned game in two versions, a more upbeat and regal one for the intact castle and the classic one for the castle after being taken over by the villain Vaati. Definitely a soundtrack that would benefit from being remade on a CD with real instruments.



http://gsf.caitsith2.net/gsfs/minishcap.rar



Genesis



Contra: Hard Corps: A pure techno-metal-rock soundtrack, or at least the closest the Genesis can get to one. Since the game is pure action with almost no breather, the music follows suit. The boss music are especially engaging and all songs have lots of well-done drums.



Play the following with a VGM player (you can find a few on the bottom right of the page at http://project2612.org/)

http://project2612.org/download.php?id=91



Golden Axe: This game goes back to the beginning of the Genesis, and although they sound old technically, it's the composition that more than saves them. It's not often that you get songs that alternate between a refrain and three different verses before finally looping back to the beginning. I first heard the game on the PC with an Adlib music card (most people probably don't even know that, as it predates the Soundblaster era) and recently rediscovered on the Genesis. Although the Genesis sound hardware sounds worse than the old Adlib, the tunes have more instruments and more refined compositions thus sound better than on the PC.



http://project2612.org/download.php?id=136



Ristar: The Shooting Star: An attempt at another colorful mascot in the vein of Sonic, Ristar inherited the same colorful graphics and upbeat tunes. Since the game came out near the end of the Genesis' popularity, the music sounds better than the Sonic games and the compositions are top-notch.



http://project2612.org/download.php?id=55



Rocket Knight Adventures: I hate repeating myself, so here's the deal: this game also has a cool main character like Sonic and Ristar, also has great looking graphics and great sounding music. Just listen to all of them, or better yet, *play* them all!



http://project2612.org/download.php?id=32



Sonic CD (both US and Japan version): One of the first console game with a CD quality soundtrack, Sonic CD is litteraly an oral orgy. In addition to having several zones, each one is accessible in several time periods which sport remixed versions of the same tunes. For example, in the Past the music is more upbeat and almost comical; the Good Future levels have hopeful tunes and the Bad Future ones have mechanical and/or sinister songs. The music in Japan was full of J-Pop tunes and was completely re-recorded for the US release; lots of purist claim the US one is horrible, but don't believe them, they are both excellent, just in completely different styles (it should be noted that the sound quality of the US soundtracks is better than the Japan one). Besides, the US composers gave us the famous Sonic Boom! A must!



You can find the MP3s for the japanese version at the following page (you'll have to download the file one by one on that site though):

http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/1672

No link for the US version, sorry!



Saturn



NiGHTS Into Dreams: I've never played the game, and it's a shame since it seemed like a great experience. The soundtrack at any rate doesn't disappoint. It's difficult to define exactly; it's cute and upbeat at times, dark and action-oriented at others. Fantasy-adventure might be a good description, but that could mean anything now, could it? I wish I could find a way to share this one with people as it's definitely worth listening to.



The following isn't the soundtrack as sold on CD, but all the tracks recorded from the Saturn version:

http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/2954



Sonic 3D Blast: Although the game is essentially the same as on the Genesis, the music is on a whole other level. Composed by Richard Jacques, the music is an odd mix of atmospheric and upbeat tunes (I keep using upbeat but I can't seem to find another word for it) that could actually save the crappy gameplay unlike the Genesis version. The Spring level has carnival music, the snow level has a sorta-Christmas style to it, the volcano stage has this kind of adversial music as is you were up against the elements, and the Robotnik fights have great beats and sinister organ parts that really fit the super-villain motif.



http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/947



Sonic R: Also written by Richard Jacques, the music to this one is a bit different. It's not for everyone for starters, as it's full of fast-paced music with upbeat and feel-good lyrics (yup, lyrics) like "Can You Fell The Sunshine", "Living In The City" or "Work It Out" sung by a female voice. Yes, the lyrics are corny, but they're really catchy tunes, and probably the kind of stuff you should listen to if you're exercising.



No link for this one, sorry!



PC



Dune (Exxos - Dune Spice Opera): For those who have played the old PC adventure/strategy game by Cryo, you probably remember the awesome musical composition it had, even if it was one of those old FM soundtrack for Adlib/Sound Blaster. Well, when they made a CD-Rom version of the game (it was among the first CD games at the time), the music composer totally remade the soundtrack and, something unbelievable at the time, Virgin released it on CD. The result is a great mixture of synth/electro-ambiant music that sounds a little alien (which fits the theme of the Dune universe quite well) with exotic themes for the Fremen and atmospheric tunes for the main theme and for when you travel in the desert on a sand worm. I'm glad I was able to find this a long time ago.



http://gh.ffshrine.org/soundtracks/3373



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

134
VGMaps Social Board / Anyone miss me?
« on: June 15, 2006, 09:55:50 pm »
I hope I'm not presuming too much by asking this, but I know I've been somewhat absent the past few days, so if anyone was wondering why (and it pleases me to think that my presence was sorely missed ;) ) here's the reason.



Well, things changed at work, for the better in some ways. Since there's not enough work for two people at my previous post (that is, repairing printers, faxes and computers for the goverment of Quebec), I'm now doing printer service calls on the road instead. That means that I can no longer just get online and surf the web in between repair jobs, and as for getting online during lunch hours, well for one my computer is still in my old workshop, and second, the people in the main office are a lot more sociable and pleasant to talk to than my old co-worker. I don't need the web to fill the lonely and silent lunch hours (I swear, my old co-worked is one of the least sociable guy I've worked with. Not exactly unpleasant, but when he doesn't feel like talking, which happens often, he'll answer questions in a concise manner and then turn back to his computer. Not exactly someone who's fun to talk and interact with, and I won't miss him for sure).



I'm still mapping thank you very much, Bloodlines to be precise. Fusion is still taking a break, on account of pissing me off by having rooms where the layer separation for water and transparencies made a lot of my previous work obsolete (again, grr!). Anyway, it's going well, even though I'm only mapping about a single section a night. JonLeung, expect to get maps for the whole game in about 1 week, 2 weeks top.



Anyway, so that's it. Also, I'm kinda drunk on Amarula, so I might not be making a lot of sense :toast:. That probably includes more grammar and spelling mistakes than usual, so you've been warned Revned ;).



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

135
Map Gab / Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis)
« on: May 31, 2006, 11:29:53 pm »
I already posted some previews on the previous board, but since I finally finished Stage 3 after taking a break from Metroid Fusion for a few days, I'm reposting it for the benefit of whoever cares about this game.



Stage 1 - Romania:

http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=castlevaniabloodlinesstage1rom.png



Stage 2 - Greece:

http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=castlevaniabloodlinesstage2gre.png



Stage 3 - Italy (NEW):

http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=castlevaniabloodlinesstage3ita.png



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

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