Messages

16

Gaming / Re: It's MAR10 today. So what Mario game are you playing or replaying?

« on: March 10, 2016, 08:51:14 pm »

I completely forgot - my mind's more oriented towards Pi Day. >_>

I don't I'll be playing anything Mario-related. If anything, I MIGHT get back to work on EO2U, who knows. Just dealing with some nasty stuff in real life at the moment in addition to the usual stuff that'd keep me from working on it.

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: February 26, 2016, 07:08:12 pm »

To be fair, logo and trademark leaks don't mean much. Pokemon Delta Emerald and Pokemon Grey were trademarked, as were stuff like Pokemon Amethyst and Pokemon Brown, so I was expecting another thing nothing would come of. Especially when a bunch of fake Twitter accounts disguised as the official Twitters for, example, Nintendo began spamming it around.

All we know is Holiday 2016 according to the US stream ("Late 2016" for the EU stream, "Winter 2016" in the Japanese stream) for the release, so I'm guessing just December outright.

But I didn't get anything I didn't expect. For six minutes, I was expecting a blurb about Pokemon RBGY (which I got - but did not expect the whole Bank thing, which means they probably patched the glitches which, while I understand, is still kinda mean because of how much a figure Missingno. is), and a blurb about a new game (was expecting Z, though). Detective Pikachu I'm honestly not sure if it'll make it to the US at this rate since the hype kinda died years ago, Pokken is pretty hyped already, as is Go, and Directs aren't usually used for the movies and stuff AFAIK. I am surprised to see Gen. VII (?) possibly introduced without a Pokemon Z or Delta Emerald, but Generation VI just didn't have enough realistic substance - particularly gameplay-wise - to appeal to me well, so I can't say I'm entirely upset to see Kalos go.

It's not like I'll be getting around to mapping them any time soon, though. I'm still stuck in the second Generation II because of this STUPID ETRIAN ODYSSEY GAME *smacks it with a bat*.

*sigh* At least the 6th Stratum in this game is SIGNIFICANTLY less of a chore. Because of how the navigation is handled, my walkthroughs for this will be mostly "look at the map I gave": there are almost no puzzles of any note!

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: February 26, 2016, 12:05:58 pm »

Pokémon Sun & Moon just got announced a few hours ago, so I now should add that to by ever-growing backlog.

19

Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: February 19, 2016, 03:05:45 pm »

Irregularly-timed update ... uh, time. >_>

Finished up mapping 25F and B5F on EO2U, putting me at 30/35 completion (~86% completion). Kinda surprised I managed to clear the 5th Stratum THAT fast; it only took me about two weeks. I still have to write a walkthrough for B5F, though, but otherwise I should be able to start the 6th Stratum - the final five floors! - this weekend.

Thank God ... I'm like 50,000% DONE with this game. I mean, it's an awesome game and all, but writing an FAQ for it is beyond tedious this time around. I'm not sure if it's because of the transition to college life being hell on me or what, but unlike EOU and Persona Q, this game has taken significantly longer to cover with only similar levels of content. This is the sixth month since I've gotten it. By comparison, writing up the learnsets, EV yields, and all sorts of other anal crap for my Pokedex for Black/White 2 only took three months, and it's 4.5 MB of pure text. EO2U has single-handedly murdered much of my motivation for pretty much anything FAQ- or map-related. I can only hope I'll get done with this sometime soon...

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Maps In Progress / Re: FlyingArmor's Map Projects Present and Future

« on: February 16, 2016, 07:15:20 pm »

Random thought.

Since you love doing Final Fantasy maps - or at least seem to - would you be able to complete the Final Fantasy III set: the Famicom version, not the one from the SNES that you've already done. 

21

Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Upload sites?

« on: February 08, 2016, 09:40:21 am »

Hi, Jester, I got your email...but when did I ever say I would reject a game based on age?  And why would I?

The reason we don't have many "modern" maps is simply because not many have been sent in.  If there is a modern game that is mappable and it is done so and is submitted, of course I would put it up.

To further this, it's mainly because a big focus on the mapping on this site is with emulators - taking screenshots and piecing them together, the effort in which varies from game to game. (Games like the GB Pokemon games require only you remove sprites and annotate along a few minor things, whereas for the 3DS ones you'd need to hack the camera altogether and still make the structures and things look right because the alignment gets screwy somehow.)

Modern consoles also don't have as many emulators, or at least as many CAPABLE/STABLE ones, and fewer have functions like screenshotting or RAM/ROM editing. It thus becomes easier and more probable that someone covers older titles, because those games are simply simpler to deal with.

Granted, modern games can get maps. I've been making maps for some 3DS titles myself, but they're hand-drawn, and most of the maps on this site are done via screenshot mapping for various reasons. Doesn't mean that they can't get covered themselves, but they're less likely to be covered.

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: February 03, 2016, 10:03:34 pm »

I recently mapped out 21F on EO2U, so yay. >_>

That aside, I learned of yet ANOTHER localization thing that'll impede my eventual Poke-mapping projects.

Turns that the Japanese release of Pokemon Emerald has a slightly different layout for at least one of the Trick House puzzles, so I'm now obligated, whenever I get around to that game (after Crystal and Ruby/Sapphire) to play two versions of it.

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Maps Of The Month / Re: 2016/02: Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions - RyuMaster & KeyBlade999

« on: February 01, 2016, 10:23:21 am »

(Since you mentioned considering remapping these maps, can I make a suggestion?  Hope it's not too scathing to criticize maps in the same topic that I am praising them...  But since the series is about how you "gotta catch 'em all" (I mean, it says so right there on the box), would it be much to ask for the maps to indicate where each of the Pokémon species are found and their rarities and other pertinent information?    I know there are entire web sites dedicated to Pokémon but even so I still haven't seen really good maps that show all their locations.  Now that would really be something!)

I was actually tempted to do that with Pokemon Crystal as a bit of a test-run for the idea - it danced around in my head during G/S. Granted, it's not as pertinent in Gen. I & II (because the Pokemon earned there can't be transferred to the newer ones, whereas they can in Gen. III onwards), but I figured it'd be worth a shot. I probably WOULD have tried it during G/S, but localization complicated the issue. (The Japanese Silver exclusives are the international Gold exclusives, and the reverse is true as well, so the thing would've been plagued by complex tables from the start.)

Really, it shouldn't be that hard. Just give my guide on GameFAQs some HTML formatting and copy and paste a screenshot of it and it might work. ... Not that it's really ideal to reformat a whole guide, because it can be tedious, so I might just do the tables and use their preview tool for HTML guides. It might end up being a problem for larger areas like the Safari Zone, though, because of the huge number of encounters present there, varied based on the portion of the area, so it could clutter the map up. I might have to reinvent my formatting for that scenario, but I think I already have a prototype in mind.

What kind of data do you think would be relevant? Pokemon species and possibly rarity, if I can find the values, obviously, but beyond that? The thing is that I would probably get too anal on this and list type, ability, EV yield, base stats, possible hold items ... lol.

In any case, any project redos are a bit down the road. EO2U is kicking my butt at the moment; a week or so from now mark six months since I started working on it, by far the lengthiest project I've ever tried -- and I'm the guy who documented EVERY bit of data for Pokemon, learnsets, EV yields, base stats, everything for Black/White 2 -- and even then the maps themselves could use a redesign, though their reception on GameFAQs has been decent thus far. I only hit 21F last night, marking 25/35 (5/7 or about 70%) completion. >_>

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Maps Of The Month / Re: 2016/02: Pokémon: Red, Green (J) & Blue Versions - RyuMaster & KeyBlade999

« on: January 31, 2016, 10:11:11 pm »

I did not expect to win this. O_O Pretty fitting month to do it for, though.

Yeah, my effort was completely separate from RyuMaster's, mine done originally for GameFAQs when I got bored and played them through (which triggered a rewrite of my Red/Blue/Green guide on the same) because their coverage of Pokemon is usually limited to important/hard dungeons, which neglects a lot of the game. I started out with the intention of mapping them all - this was back when I got into competitive Pokemon, so I was DEEEEEEEEP into Pokemon fanboyism at the time - and ... heh, that stopped quickly. Didn't map Yellow or Gold/Silver until 2015 and I'm so slowly grinding at another project that I haven't even done Crystal yet.

It's fun remembering this project and Yellow and G/S in turn. I think I actually learned some more about these games while making maps for them and all; really, I didn't know some of these hidden items existed at the time (Bulbapedia even missed one in G/S, I swear!). Not to mention trying to get to the Cerulean Cave in Pokemon Green (yes, the Japanese games had a different Cerulean Cave, I dunno why) -- I had to start over and speed through the game in Japanese (which I'm still iffy on), and I sped along so fast that I basically only used Venusaur throughout the entire run, even against Blaine (Fire-type Leader). It was pretty difficult at the time because my knowledge of Gen. I mechanics were plagued by Gen. VI assumptions, and a lack of knowledge of several glitches in the game that result in further erroneous assumptions (i.e. If you use a Fighting move on a Normal/Flying type, it says "Not very effective", even though it's normally effective).

I remember my dad walking in my room when I was about halfway through Green and asking something along the lines of "What the hell is that gibberish?" when I was in the middle of a battle, him referencing the Japanese; I told him "Yeah" and managed to translate the text on-screen at the time, reading it both in the Japanese and English fashions ("Venusaur used Razor Leaf!", or something to that effect, then "It was super-effective!") and he just walked out, baffled. Might be the first time I ever truly blew his mind - and this is that guy who hates the fact that I love Pokemon so much. He didn't stop until he saw me and my sister competitively battling last year and we each explained what was going on and, oh, Helix, the stuttering and the corrections we made to him as we discussed it with him and he tried to feign comprehension. Total pwnage. XD

This was easily one of the more fun projects I pursued, thus why it was probably one of the first "map everything in the game you can" projects I pursued; there are a lot of memories attached to it, even if it isn't my best work.

I've honestly considered remapping the entire set of games a second time, this time from the Japanese games' viewpoints because the graphics are ever so slightly different (and, in my opinion, better), but that's something way down the road.

Okay, I think I rambled enough. Thanks, Jon! Maybe I'll actually finish Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold this month and get back to submitting maps.

25

Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: January 26, 2016, 10:02:45 am »

Semi-monthly update.

I've been grinding ever further on EO2U; my motivation is beginning to wane a bit because I keep encountering problems playing the game (namely having to redo floors every time my cart is suddenly left undetected mid-game >_<), but so far things have been going ... okay-ish, I suppose? Hard to say. It took me only a month to cover EOU, but now we're around 5.5 months in and only 2/3 done with EO2U, which is hardly more complex. Anyhow. I'll end up writing the walkthrough bit for my guide on 19F tonight, then I should be able to cover 20F by the weekend and finish off the 4th Stratum.

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: January 07, 2016, 08:29:12 pm »

Oh my God, Trozei... Pokemon Battle Trozei was practically my Game of the Year for 2014, it was ridiculously addictive. It's a shame they tried ruining it when they basically ripped it off for Shuffle.

Can't say the same for the main games, though; X/Y and OR/AS were pretty disappointing; at this point, I'm only really playing them because writing FAQs for them is fun and because I play competitively (so I basically beat the story in 60 hours and never look at it again - got me 1300+ hours on X and over 600 on OR). Maybe whatever they'll release next - I'm personally predicting a Pokemon Red/Green reremake or Pokemon Z game for the anniversary - will actually address the flaws people continually mention with them, like difficulty. (Sure, they're trying to appeal more to kids, but it's not like they can't implement difficulty modes, but Game Freak doesn't accept feedback, last I checked their Japanese site. =/)

I should stop before I go on a rant. Needless to say, though, Generation VI has only impressed me with the stuff on the side.

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: January 05, 2016, 07:43:48 pm »

Phew...

Yet ANOTHER Pokemon game released and delayed me hard. In this case, it was Pokemon Picross on the 3DS; admittedly one of the better freebie 3DS Pokemon titles as of late. The game is huge, with some 700 puzzles. I would've probably just done image-style solutions of them, but it was recommended that I just fill up tables with them since the FAQ system doesn't easily handle hundreds of images at once. So it ended up looking like this -- http://www.gamefaqs.com/3ds/183130-pokemon-picross/faqs/72634. Hypothetically speaking, one could always just screenshot those solutions or something, but it'd be tedious. May be easier just to link to it, if at all.

So, what's new? After spending some 3 weeks on that, I managed to get back to Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold, and this time without any perceivable delays in the near future. I finished mapping B3F, B4F, and 16F and writing most of their walkthroughs. Kinda lacking motivation at the moment because I'm suffering from an overload of projects I want to do. Gah.

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Maps Of The Month / Re: 2015/12: ActRaiser (Super NES) - Rick Bruns

« on: December 01, 2015, 01:47:25 pm »

Anyway, I also was not aware that the Japanese version had differences in the layout.  Differently designed enemies is not a surprise, but the stage design is another thing.  I guess in my head I always imagine localizing departments to just be hacking the text, and maybe editing some graphics, stuff an amateur ROM hacker might do, not something more physical/structural (in the in-game sense).  I'm sure I'm wrong but that's just an idea that's stuck with me for years.

I'm the same way a lot of the times. But it's amazing what people have edited. In just my years of playing Pokemon, I've noticed something interesting about the first generations' localization. The graphics are very different between versions (and frankly, the Japanese Red/Green had the superior ones =/) and something as out of the way as Cerulean Cave got altered between the JP and US releases, for seemingly no reason whatsoever. (I mean, really, I can't see any sense in altering it, or just the graphics - I swear to God, the freaking POLES on the sides of Routes were changed!) Maybe I'll go back through and redo my terrible maps for those games and even include the JP versions' graphics, though personally it seems like double the work for the same result (the details are somewhat minor - noticeable, but aside from Cerulean Cave nothing is really affected).

In Pokemon Gold/Silver, this stuff thus prompted me to play the Japanese versions as I mapped it -- turns out the version-exclusives, of all things, were swapped. (What's exclusive to our Gold is on the Japanese Silver, and what's exclusive to our Silver is on the Japanese Gold, aside from Ho-Oh/Lugia, which technically aren't exclusive but whatever.)

Localization be weird.

But I digress. Congrats Rick!

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Maps In Progress / Re: KB's Maps in Progress

« on: November 13, 2015, 02:35:14 am »

Agh, I FINALLY got past 15F in EO2U and the Frozen Stratum. I'm sick of the cold, I'm sick of this stratum because it echoes of nothing but bad memories for being delayed in completion for nearly a month. I'm particularly sick of icy puzzles, but ... agh, maybe I have a cold. >_>

In any case, 15F is complete and I'm officially past the halfway point after this weekend since I should finish up Ginnugagap B3F, 16F, maybe 17F (18~20/35 maps complete). Phew. 15F is below if anyone wants to check.

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VGMaps Social Board / Re: Welcome! (Autumn 2015)

« on: November 02, 2015, 07:58:21 pm »

'Sup.

Let's see... I think I first found it through word-of-mouth, really. On GameFAQs, there's this thing called the NES FAQ Completion Project (basically getting a guide out for every last NES/Famicom - and now Famicom Disk System - game out there), and at some point they linked to an overworld map of Double Moon Densetsu on here. Having done quite a few maps myself, I figured I'd send those not covered here along since it wasn't as annoying as uploading ~1,000 maps one at a time.

Don't I know you from somewheres

Hm, you *seem* familiar... :p