Topic: FlyingArmor's Map Projects Present and Future

[Trop]

You're knocking FF out FA.  Any planes to do FF8?

[FlyingArmor]

FF3 was the easiest FF to map by far; not having to jump through technical hoops to map things properly was really nice.

As for FF8, I have no plans to map it. If there's anyone out there who wants to give it a shot, by all means! Just because I've done most of the mapping for Final Fantasy on this site doesn't mean I have a monopoly on it.

[ReyVGM]

I have a few requests if you're looking for something to do. I don't really need the maps or anything, but it would be nice to have them mapped by pros.

Jurassic Park 1 & 2 (SNES)

And... there's this obscure game called No Escape for the SNES. There aren't any FAQs for it, and pretty there's much zero information about what you need to do in the game. I've never been able to even pass the first area. It's a sidescroller, but you need to gather materials and combine them to build other materials (such as combine bottle, gas, and rag to make a molotov). The game has different endings depending on what you do to complete or escape the final mission.

Anyway, it would be cool to have maps for such an obscure game.

[YelseyKing]

Daaaaaaang, those Ultima 6 maps are *excellent*. I daresay some of your finest work to date. That level of detail is extremely impressive. Makes me want to replay the game, even.

[FlyingArmor]

ReyVGM: I'm actually trying to reduce the number of projects I'm working on at the moment, so adding even more would be counterproductive in that regard. Once I get the majority of my current projects out of the way (Light Fantasy and Ultima VI mainly), I'm probably going to take a break from mapping for a while to concentrate on other things. However, I do appreciate you suggesting me such projects!

YelseyKing: Thank you very much! Although I don't mind adding the amount of detail to my maps that I have (by detail I take it you mean where all possible obtainable items can be found, and the mini maps with the latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates), it's really the game itself that requires me to do it. And these are just the maps for the SNES version of the game! If I were to apply to same standard to the PC original, the item legends would no doubt be at least two or three times as long, given how many more items there are to obtain (which more often than not, end up being useless items like honey jars, rakes, oven spatulas, plates, chairs, etc).

[Trop]

Great.

[JonLeung]

So with all that said, I should have all the maps done long before the remake comes out if I continue to work on them regularly.

The Final Fantasy VII remake is now expected to be released in March 2017; is this still a true statement?  

Of course, there's always the possibility of a delay, like with Final Fantasy XV now coming out in November instead of September or whenever...I'm near the end of Final Fantasy XIII so I should probably just finish that off, so that for a brief while I can say I've played all the main numbered, non-MMO Final Fantasy games!

[FlyingArmor]

I would say it's still a true statement. I think I have about 3 or 4 more game maps to finish off, and there's the overworld map as well. We're about six months away from March, so it's definitely within the realm of possibility!

By the way, I did end up buying a used PS3 back near the end of June and have been playing Final Fantasy XIII on and off since then. It's quite an amazing spectacle to behold! I still find the battle system a bit strange, although I've gotten used to it somewhat. I do however like not needing to heal after battles and not having to worry about MP!

[FlyingArmor]

Inching closer to completing the Final Fantasy VII map set! I've now got the Northern Cave and Inside the Planet areas mapped and labeled.

Assembling the Inside the Planet map was a nerve-wracking experience. Because there are FMV sequences playing in the background when you're in this area, they obviously won't be visible when viewing the maps in 7mimic. The major problem I was running into was trying to find any program that could open the BIN files that the videos are encoded as. Most of the major FMV sequences in the game are stored as MOV files, and most programs I came across don't have any problem playing those, but none of those programs could play files ending in *.BIN. Long story short, I just bypassed the whole BIN file thing by downloading the AVI files from the PC Version of Final Fantasy VII instead. Ah, much nicer!

It still took a bit of effort to get the lighting correct on everything (or rather as correct as I can possibly get it) which involved separating the foreground and background and other such stuff, but at least it looks more or less how it's seen in-game. And because of this learning experience, I decided to go back to my Whirlwind Maze map and add in all the wavy background effects found in that area, which I didn't bother to do at the time I was working on it.

There's only a few more in-game maps to worry about, as well as the overworld map (which I haven't bothered working on yet), so I'm just about done with this game.

[YelseyKing]

... there is a Magic Counter materia in the Northern Cave. I... have played FF7 many times, and I never knew that was there. Wow. Would've saved me a lot of trouble trying to get that from the Chocobo Races.   (Of course, there are still a couple *other* materia exclusive to that minigame, so I'd need to play it *anyhow* for 100% completion, but still.)

[FlyingArmor]

I wouldn't have known it was there either if it wasn't for this site showing me where it was, with it's well done hand-drawn maps. I walked right past it the first time I was documenting the treasures in that area and only realized I missed it when referring back to that website.

[YelseyKing]

Just out of curiosity, outside of the world map (and possibly the Great Glacier snow field, though I have absolutely no idea *how* you'd map *that* featureless mess), are there any FF7 maps you have left to do? I don't see any *obvious* omissions, but there could be a couple I'm forgetting offhand. Awesome work on them, though, as always! I've always loved the detail that went into FF7's backgrounds.

[FlyingArmor]

Thanks very much!

I'm fairly sure that all the maps that use pre-rendered graphics are complete. I didn't bother to include areas that were used solely for flashbacks or cutscenes, an example being the backstory with Zack and Cloud breaking out of the basement of Shinra Mansion.

Besides the world map, I'm also thinking of doing maps for the chocobo race courses. They'd have to be drawn by hand of course, but I'm sure I can figure out a way to represent them two-dimensionally.

[JonLeung]

The Final Fantasy VII remake is now expected to be released in March 2017; is this still a true statement?  

Well, to answer my own question, March 2017 begins tomorrow, and we haven't heard much about it that is encouraging, so I'm pretty sure it's not...

And now that you mentioned areas for flashbacks/cutscenes, I wonder if, for completion's sake, if there would be any problem doing those too, either as separate maps or integrated with areas they would be connected to.  If you did consider them, keeping them separate would probably help to avoid confusion.  Unless they are very much connected to some area (I still find the Chocobo Race Waiting Room being separate from the Golden Saucer a choice different from what I would have done, IMO)...

Any progress on the overworld maps and race courses?

[FlyingArmor]

Yeah, I had checked a little while ago if the FF7 Remake had a tentative release date yet, but it still looks like that's up in the air.

I haven't made any progress on those maps for FF7, but I have gotten back into mapping Ultima VI after about a five month hiatus. I've finished up 10 more maps, and have about half a dozen left to work on. I'll probably send what I've got done to you some time tonight.