Wondering what you can expect this episode?

Our regulars join up with some blowhards.

A LOT of Massive Blowhards

A giant troll

And Lisa actually DOING something for once.

In addition, I start singing, Soak and Carlie stay as perverted as ever, and Red makes an impressive show for her first commentary.

So stop it with that fake smile and get ready for a slightly different brand of insanity than what you’d normally get from this show.

Download episode 15 here.

Download episode 16 thisaway.

Continuing our theme of making Final Fantasy VII a more multi-player experience here on The Lifestream, we’ve just re-started a Community Playthrough of the game, in which our forum members play along at the same time and all discuss it together. If that sounds like your kind of thing, read on…

Back in August of last year, TLS members began playing Final Fantasy VII collectively and posting their thoughts on it as they went along. Unfortunately, it fizzled out after a couple of months, with the players in Junon. As it was such a popular feature, though, we’ve decided to cast Life2 on it and carry on.

Over the last few weeks, we ran a “Prelude” section to allow new players to catch up with those who were playing last time. With that finished, we’re back to all playing together again. We’ve split the game up into 27 chapters, each of which should take no more than an hour for an experienced player, and something like an hour and a half for new players. There are only two chapters per week, so it doesn’t require a large time commitment. Of course, if you want to learn all the characters’ limit breaks on disc one, you’re welcome to do so, and then tell us all about it! Some people are even streaming their progress on the Lifestream’s Twitch.tv page for others to view and discuss.

If you took part last year, now is the time to dust off your memory card, find out exactly where you left off, and join in with us again. If you want to join in for the first time, on the other hand, it’s not too late! There’s no time limit for playing any of the chapters. You can go through the first six chapters in the Prelude thread, and everything from Junon onwards in the Community Playthrough thread itself.

See you there!

Here we take a look back at how it all unfolded and get the thoughts of the players.

At 14:00 (UK time) on Friday, both players pressed NEW GAME in Final Fantasy VII at exactly the same time. Viewers of the streams remarked on how closely synchronised the two opening FMVs were. Of course, it wouldn’t stay that way for long. Flintlock took the first lead of the race, gaining a little time in the first reactor and more on the train to the second.

My first game over was Midgar Zolom. He was at a really unfortunate position in the marshes, and caught me at the last possible moment before I pressed triangle. Had to reset because he killed Tifa before I could escape. Luckily I had just saved.

Prince Lex

A slow Air Buster fight for Flintlock allowed Prince Lex to catch up, and he pulled ahead with a different strategy at Wall Market, getting the best items to make Cloud be chosen as Don Corneo’s date. Lex was able to keep his lead throughout the rest of Midgar, reaching Kalm just a couple of minutes ahead. When he accidentally got into a battle with Midgar Zolom and had to reset, Flintlock was able to close the gap. Lex could only manage 33% in the Junon marching task, giving him six potions, while Flintlock got the much better prize of 5000 gil after scoring 51%, which made things very interestingly poised as the two players headed for the second continent.

Both players then had the same strategy in Corel, which was to steal at least five Right Arms from Bomb enemies, to use in later boss fights. Lex, although unlucky with the number of battles he got overall, managed to steal quite a few of the items straight away, while Flintlock needed many more attempts. That put Lex into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the race. His game nearly sabotaged him in the desert prison, as he got into a second battle with Dyne after already killing him once. The players had agreed before the race started to allow players to replay any parts of the game which they lost due to glitches, so Flintlock waited for him to beat Dyne again. He had his own trouble in the Desert Prison, as he tried to learn Laser but forgot to equip anybody with the Enemy Skill materia, meaning he had to do it a second time.

Materia Keeper was a brick wall for me. Although I got unlucky, Lex had a much better strategy which I hadn’t thought of. The lead he built there allowed him to level up later on, making the remaining challenges of the game much more straightforward.

Flintlock

Speaking of Enemy Skills, Lex got a Game Over when trying to learn Aqualung after leaving the prison, while Flintlock needed an unusually high number of battles to find a Touch Me enemy for the Frog Song ability. Despite that, there was still only a ten or fifteen minute gap between the players as they reached Mt. Nibel. Lex was ambushed by Sonic Speeds, who were able to kill his party in one hit per character, resulting in another visit to the title screen. Flintlock had no such bad luck, but he ran into a lot of trouble with Materia Keeper. Mostly through bad luck such as consecutive uses of Trine, it took six attempts before the boss was finally defeated. Lex had a much safer method, which was to use Bio and then wait for poison to take care of things. The gap stretched to about half an hour.

The players knew that the Temple of the Ancients would be a make-or-break part of the game. Although the maze, the rolling rocks and the clock room can sometimes prove difficult, they each knew how to make it through as quickly as possible. The bosses, on the other hand, were a different story. Both players had a tough time with Red Dragon but still managed to take him down on the first attempt. Demon’s Gate was another horrible part of the game for Flintlock, though. After three attempts, in which most had begun with either a one-hit KO or two consecutive attacks on the same character, he decided to level up in the Mural Room. Laser and Frog Song came in handy for dealing with the powerful enemies there. More attempts at the boss were followed by more levelling up until the battle was finally won at the twelfth attempt. Lex, on the other hand, had had a huge slice of fortune, winning the battle on the first attempt with Tifa left on 5 HP. That extended his lead to a whole hour.

Jenova-LIFE was an absolute nightmare and cost me loads of time. Luckily Cid had the water ring, but she killed Cloud and Tifa with Aqualung and other attacks – I think I used 7 Phoenix Downs – so ending the battle was difficult because Deathblow kept missing.

Prince Lex

Lex struggled against Jenova LIFE, costing a lot of time, though it only took him one attempt. Flintlock managed to cast Death Sentence on Tifa, allowing her to do much more damage with the Powersoul and Deathblow, before Jenova killed the other two characters with Aqualung, but Tifa then missed five times in a row and the 60-second timer on her life expired. That meant having to go through the whole series of events preceding the battle again, which take a number of minutes.

A couple of pincer attacks gave Lex a close call on the way to Icicle Inn, but otherwise things went smoothly for the two players until the Great Glacier, when they took the same path, via the important Added Cut materia. They both needed to steal a Circlet from a Snow enemy and they both wasted a fair amount of time doing so. In fact, Lex had to go through the snowstorm three times as he accidentally made his way to Holzoff’s cabin before stealing one.

Schizo could have been a difficult fight, but it didn’t turn out to be. With enough ice- and fire-absorbing equipment, it is only really Quake and the final attack that can cause a problem. In Flintlock’s case, the ice head kept attacking the fire-absorbing character while the fire head went for the ice-absorbing character. That made him waste time healing and reviving, whereas Lex was able to just plough ahead with Deathblow. The extra levels he had picked up while ahead in the race helped there. Jenova DEATH was as easy as ever for both players.

When the timer disappeared for the FMV of the train stopping, it showed just 00:53, by far the worst time I have ever got there. The whole train sequence was my worst and most embarrassing moment of the whole race.

Flintlock

Once the Highwind was acquired, it was time to get some Huge Materia. The train battles at Corel were slower than they should have been for both players, but particularly for Flintlock. He only had the Magic Breath ability on one Enemy Skill materia, which proved important when its caster was silenced in the second battle. He came close to dying twice, while Lex’s only problem was a longer-than-usual battle against the Eagle Gun. Next up was Fort Condor. Both players had the same strategy of putting fighters as low as possible to kill the first enemy that appears on the screen, but neither managed to get it right. Lex ended up having to face five enemies, while Flintlock reset and tried again.

One item that gained extra importance in this race, compared to a normal playthrough, was the Cursed Ring. In case you’re not familiar with it, it gives +35 to strength and magic, +15 to vitality, spirit, and dexterity, and +10 to luck, but inflicts its wearer with Death Sentence. When combined with Tifa’s Powersoul weapon, it makes her an unstoppable fighting force. It’s a pretty rare item, though, as there are only two in the game. One is held by Ultima Weapon during the forced battle against him in Mideel. He flees after three turns, though, so that’s all the time available to try and steal it. It’s quite a difficult steal, but Lex got it in his first battle, which he had only a 26% chance of doing. Flintlock could not get it inside his first eight battles, even though he had a 79% chance of doing so. If the outcome of the race wasn’t decided already, it was after that. He had to resort to levelling up outside Mideel before eventually stealing it.

Amazingly, I won first time against Carry Armour. He was down within around 1 minute or so, if memory serves. Most definitely the biggest stroke of luck I had in the entire run, and I was grateful because I was totally dreading it.

Prince Lex

With Cloud back in the party, it was time to head for the Underwater Reactor, home to one of the most dangerous bosses in the whole game, Carry Armour. Whether it was through luck or his extra levels, Lex managed it first time, while it took Flintlock about four tries. In fact, it was while Flintlock fought Carry Armour that Lex managed to complete the game – a complete thrashing. Still, he carried on to the end of the game. Things didn’t get any better, though: the submarine mini-game took him two attempts and a fair bit of time, despite it being possible to win in a matter of seconds. Lex had got it first time. The same also applied to Diamond Weapon some time later, after all the scenes at Cosmo Canyon and the Forgotten Capital. The return to Midgar went smoothly all around, with both players using a glitch in the game to avoid facing the Turks in the railway tunnel. The three-stage fight with Hojo was one of the only ones in the race which went better for Flintlock than Lex, but neither player died.

Onto the North Crater. Lex got into a bit of trouble with a pair of consecutive Ahriman pincer attacks, but was able to survive. Flintlock had no such trouble, instead finding a set of Movers in the same area, which were easily defeated for their AP and Turbo Ethers. One particularly luck-dependent part of the game is the area with rocks leading down to the final string of bosses. There is a 25% chance of getting into a battle after each jump, and there are thirteen jumps. Lex got through the whole first screen of five jumps without a single battle, incredibly, and then had only a few in the next screen. Flintlock, meanwhile, got into battles more often than not, including about six in eight jumps in the second screen.

It was quite unlikely that Tifa would get confusion again on my second try, but she did, along with Cloud. The battle seemed lost, but the only things that happened during the confusion were an attempted physical attack from Cloud and a Phoenix Down on Sephiroth!

Flintlock

Jenova SYNTHESIS and Bizarro Sephiroth are very easy with the combinations of Deathblow+Added Cut and W-Magic+Ultima, but both players’ parties were reduced to 1 HP right before Bizarro hit the bucket. Lex than had a long fight with Safer Sephiroth, as he had forgotten to equip Destruct materia and thus had to put up with the boss’s Wall. Flintlock had a shorter fight, but not for a good reason: Tifa got confused by Supernova and ended up killing herself when she was the last character standing. That meant going back through all the pre-Jenova fights, Jenova herself, and the two Sephiroths. When it came to Supernova the second time, both Cloud and Tifa got confused, but luckily his follow-up attack of Heartless Angel brought them out of it before they could hurt themselves. One Megalixir and a couple of attacks later, Sephiroth’s second form was finally dead.

The game doesn’t quite end there, though, as anyone who has completed it once will know. The last player input comes in the third and final fight against Sephiroth. It is impossible to lose the battle, but there are two choices of action: use Omnislash, or wait and use a counter-attack. Either way, a single move is enough. Only when the last damage number appears on the screen can the game be considered complete, so that was the point at which we took our final times. Lex used Omnislash, knowing he had won, while Flintlock used the faster counter-attack.

It’s been so much fun. Incredibly stressful at some points and frustrating at others. When I completed the game I was genuinely sad that it was over. I’d definitely do it again, but far far far away into the future.

Prince Lex

I’m glad I did it. It would have been nice to have had a closer race, but it wasn’t to be. It was a great community event, and there has already been talk of other races, which I think I will really enjoy – as a spectator!

Flintlock

It wasn’t a close race at all, as the margin of victory was some two and a half hours. In truth, it was always going to be difficult for Flintlock to catch up after being half an hour behind on the first day, but it just got worse after that as luck really went against him. That’s not to say Lex didn’t have his fair share of bad luck either, but it seemed to come at less critical moments.

Here are the official times, taken at the moment when the third form of Sephiroth was defeated. Prince Lex completed the game in 10:25:34 of real time, with an in-game time of 10:18:06. Flintlock’s in-game time was 10:48:41, only half an hour behind, but it took him 12:55:06 in real time, which shows how much more time he lost to resetting and reloading.

Both players commented on how exhausting and stressful it had been, but also how much fun it all was. It was pleasing to see the viewers enjoying it as well. All that’s left to say now is congratulations to Prince Lex, commiserations to Flintlock, and just as importantly, thanks to everyone who contributed by chatting in our IRC channel. See you at the next race! If you’re not already a member of our forums, why not sign up to find out exactly when that is going to be?

If you thought Final Fantasy VII was only a single-player game, think again. This weekend on The Lifestream, two of our members will play the game head to head as they race from “New Game” to “The End”.

There is a dedicated page for this race, which contains both players’ streams, so you can watch their progress, and a chat room for discussion. Both players will be in the chat room and will be able to field questions during their breaks.

The playing sessions will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 14:00 to 21:00 UTC each day. You can check what that is in your timezone here. Those seven hours include five and a half hours of playing, a few breaks, and around half an hour at the end to discuss it and answer any questions you might have.

Read on for the rules and the players.

The rules are straightforward: both players must start a new Final Fantasy VII game at the same time, after which they will race in real time to reach the end. Real time means that if one player gets a Game Over, for example, the other player can keep playing and pull ahead (or catch up). The first player can’t do anything except reload their game and try again. In that way, it’s not the in-game clock that matters, but the real-life one. That brings up all sorts of strategical decisions which have to be made. Is it worth taking thirty seconds to save the game ahead of a boss, or is it a small enough risk to not save? Is it worth fighting random battles to gain EXP, AP, items and Gil, to make the game easier, or should they just be escaped?

In this case, neither player has done any speed running before, but they both know the game of Final Fantasy VII inside and out. They are:

Flintlock (that’s me!)
24 years old, from Finland
TLS member since January 2012
Day 2 progress: finished*

Prince Lex
22 years old, from Scotland
TLS member since June 2009
Day 2 progress: finished

* Flintlock continued playing after the day’s scheduled play had finished to reach the end of the game.

There will be a bot in the IRC channel, known as Sephibot, who will be responsible for timekeeping. He will tell us when to start, when to take breaks, and when to stop. At the end of each day, we will keep playing until we reach the next save point which would normally come up in the game. If we’re in a town, for example, we don’t have to run outside to save on the world map immediately; instead we can continue until we have done everything we want to do in the town. It’s inevitable that one player will have to make their final save for the day slightly before the other, so the following morning they will be given a head-start of equal length to compensate for it.

One final note: we may not need all the available time on Sunday, depending on how long it takes us to complete the game.

We hope you’ll be able to join us!

What’s that expendable giant monster? You’re complaining about how little screen time you get?

These two episodes mark a noted change in the series, the part where stuff starts getting real, if not any more coherent.

So what can you expect from this week’s episode?

Chocobo DDR

Chocobo Job Changes

And Mushroom headed Fungus getting really big when he gets excited.

And from us? Lots and lots of Penis jokes, but when it’s a Mushroom verse a gun, the phallic references just write themselves.

So get yourself ready for Chocobo Paladins, the Deus ex Machina starting to fail, and a desperate cliffhanger that you’ll need to wait another two weeks for the end of!

Download episode 11 here.

Download episode 12 thisaway.

What’s in store this week?

Lou is still inappropriately clingy towards our ultra angsty hero.

Our time is deliberately and repeatedly wasted.

Giant peppers become important.

Creepy children appear! New creepy children!

And Kaze summons both a creature that pierces and a creature that swallows everything. Way to slip it past the censors, guys.

So whether you’re ready or not, it’s a perfect time to get your episodes ready and listen to these next few commentaries. I personally promise you won’t be disappointed. You might be confused as hell, just not disappointed.

Episode 9 can be nabbed here.

And episode 10 is available here.

Right click and save both episodes.

Stop that Lou, you’ll scare people.

Hey folks, sorry for the delay, I’ve been busy, and we’ve had technical issues, but we’re ready with another set of two FFU episode commentaries. This time I’m joined by commentary regular Force and Tennyo, as well as a newcomer, Tennyo’s friend Lindsey.

So what can you expect in these episodes?

A bottle show.

A Giant Evil Hand.

Characters acting weirder than usual for this show.

A fabulous new villian.

And an absolutely fabulous new gun.

So get ready for some extra special crazy with two more episodes of Final Fantasy Unlimited.

Download the Episode 7 commentary here.

Get the Episode 8 commentary thisaway.

Right click and save as for both files.

Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison

We are speeding through the world of FFVII, hence why the article titles will read as “Location A to Location B” for a good while from now on. In this case we start with the Chocobo Farm, move on to the intermediate areas of the Mythril Mines, Fort Condor, Junon, Costa del Sol, Mt. Corel, North Corel, and Gold Saucer, and then we end with a visit to the cosy desert spot of Corel Prison.

On the way we will, among other things, analyse a scrapped mechanic for the Fort Condor battles and see more unused scenes left behind by Motomu Toriyama.

Farm Inn (FRMIN)

In the debug rooms there are occasional “please wait, still constructing” notes that end with hearts. This is without a doubt one of these lines.

Farm Stable (FRCYO)

Before the shop menu was ready to be linked to, this placeholder note would appear when trying to access the store.

Choco Billy, the kid who sells you the Chocobo Lure materia, has a different name in the Japanese game. The literal translation is “GreenGreen”. This may have to do with the fact that he also sells greens to you. We see, then, that the name ‘Choco Billy’ is a very liberal translation.

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An earlier tutorial for mating.

Tutorial Misadventures

The English game is a bit lacking in a tutorial for how to mate two Chocobos. Choco Billy will only mention the necessity of Nuts if you pick the “Mating Chocobos” option but don’t have any Nuts in your inventory, as you can see in the snapshot below.

What has happened is that the actual tutorial on how to mate Chocobos is incomplete in the English game, but it is fine in the Japanese game. While technically not an unused text entry, it is a piece that was omitted from the English game.

The same also happens in the tutorial when you ask what Classes are. Notably, the Japanese game calls him just “Green” here and not “GreenGreen”.

Players of the English game were left to discover this mechanic by themselves.

Releasing Chocobos

This is about the option to release Chocobos which are already in your stable. In the final game you are transported to a close-up view of a Chocobo (with the option to toggle between each one) in front of a black background, while also being allowed to read the Chocobo name, class and gender.
I assume that before the close-up menu interface was implemented, the command box below would appear on the field instead.

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Next we have unused text entries with Choco Billy judging the potential growth curve of a Chocobo and then a number of “Chocobo Name, Gender & Class” text entries. Noting that these and the scrapped command options are right next to each other, I assume that the “growth curve” and “Chocobo Name, Gender & Class” were to appear on the screen in some context when trying to pick which Chocobo to release into the wild; either when toggling the pointer between your Chocobos or after picking one of them.

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As the brackets indicate, separate flags decide which chocobo name, gender and class are displayed. By making the text dependent on external factors you are able to condense it all into one text entry, unlike the ridiculous multitude of text entries below, one for each commutation of gender versus class. Placeholder names have been added for most, but two entries have the leftover of a “name-check” function.

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Remember, we are still trying to decide which Chocobo to let go of. All these text entries about Chocobo name, gender and class were to appear during this process.

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From the looks of it, the now-absent “All right, will you release Chocobo 1?” was rewritten into the “Is it all right to let this one go?” command box we have in the final game. The other, shorter command box just above this paragraph was then to appear after GreenGreen’s question, but in the final game it is used for deciding whether to let go of Chocobos that you’ve just captured (which have not yet been accepted into the stable).

Feeding Your Chocobos

The final game has you pick a Green before you are brought to the previously mentioned close-up view menu where you toggle between Chocobos to make your pick. However, the unused text below implies the process was in reverse: you were to first pick a Chocobo, then decide on a Green. Another possibility about this older scenario is that you were to walk up to the Chocobo you desired to feed, rather than being brought to this more menu-like interface with the black background.

The used line below naturally follows the order that you first pick a Green then a Chocobo, but the unflagged line just below that fits either as a superfluous intermediate line or as a message that was to appear when you walked up to the Chocobo you wished to feed.

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The Love Birds go Breeding

From feeding, moving on to arranged Chocobo marriage…

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The unused line is inferior as it does not have the “Never mind” choice which allows you to exit the mate selection process.

The used message above is immediately followed by a statement about the newborn’s gender and a request to name the Chocobo. We see here, however, that Choco Billy was to judge their stats also.

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The negative aspect of this last one might be that its stamina bar runs out too quickly.

The only instances in the used game when the workers of the Chocobo Farm comment on Chocobo stats are after feeding your giant bird pets and when Chole determines which has the highest stat in a given category.

The Marshes (SICHI)

Because no forests are available before you pass through the Mythril Mines, you can’t face Yuffie (whom you can only encounter in forests) and recruit her into your party. Cheat her into your party before entering this field and see her hidden reaction.

There is a trick to triggering this line which does not require a cheat device. When you are about to enter the patch on the world map that transports you to SICHI, enter the menu. Leave the menu, then immediately as you take a step towards the cave entrance, enter the menu again.
Repeat this a few times, just to ensure that you do it right, and you will see that Cloud has progressed beyond the border that normally triggers the scene. Go through the cave, recruit Yuffie, then immediately when you go back through the cave to the other side this scene will happen.
I consider this trick more of a glitch than a fair condition, which is why I list the text as unused.

Yuffie’s Scrapped Early Recruitment

Yuffie’s presence can be explained by the theory that originally she was meant to be recruitable earlier on. In the Character Files section of the FFVII Ultimania Omega’s Early Material Files, the recruitment info says that Yuffie was to be available any time after passing Kalm.
Semantics can argue that the earliest window in the final game to recruit her, which is after passing through the Mythril Mines (when you get to the first forest patches), is technically after Kalm, but the Ultimania passage is still arguably suggestive.

Also take into account the odd fact that even though you battle Yuffie in a forest, the scene that follows takes place on a grassfield with no trees in sight. This item too is with a counterpoint, specifically that the party may have dragged her out of the forest for reasons unknown, but the combination of this odd transition and the recruitment info in the Early Material Files adds credence to the notion that originally Yuffie was to be encountered on the grassy fields. In this scrapped framework, she would have been naturally present in the scene with the impaled Midgar Zolom.

Yuffie’s field model does not exist in the Mythril Mines, however, so no additional indication of her earlier recruitment can be found there.

About Party Member Dialogue

In order to understand why some party member dialogue gets shafted (a problem which we already glimpsed in the previous article) we need to review how these dialogue trees work. The game actually alternates between two systems.

PHS Menu System

The leader who is locked into the party is labeled “Character #0″, while the two others are labeled “Character #1″ and “Character #2″ respectively. Whenever you leave the main menu (or if leaving the PHS menu immediately takes you back to the field) the game will check from top to bottom if a character has a set position.
This is why simply entering the main menu and using “Order” to re-arrange character icons, or switching the optional characters in the PHS menu, will NOT affect which member is #1/#2.
To change this, a member must leave the party and a new one needs to be introduced. Only if you switch both of your optional characters and you are led to the main menu can you affect which character becomes #1 or #2 by using “Order”; the game does the check first AFTER leaving the main menu, so with no new spots settled yet, you can choose which optional member becomes #1 by placing them at the top (or if the party leader is at the top, place the optional member beneath the party leader).

A somewhat complicated affair to explain, but the dialogue system is simple enough. The game calls for Character #1 or Character #2 to speak and accordingly you can adjust members to change which dialogue they are assigned to use.

In the Submarine fields, Barret’s member #2 dialogue becomes unused because at one point the game forces him to be in the member #1 spot. This is the only case I know of in which dialogue becomes unused in the PHS dialogue system.

Priority/Ladder System

If Barret is in the party, he will speak. If he is not in the party, then Tifa will speak. If Tifa is not in the party, then Aeris will speak. If Aeris is not– yeah, you get the picture.
The order in which team members’ lines are prioritized vary greatly, but in general the early AVALANCHE members receive higher spots than the later recruits.
A logical necessity of this system is that when a priority ladder becomes long enough, the character at the very bottom never get to speak. Say that the game calls for the characters in this order; Barret, Tifa, Aeris, Red XIII, Yuffie, Cait Sith, Vincent & finally Cid. With our chain-smoking pilot in the last spot, he never gets the chance to speak because you will always have a party member of higher priority in your team.

In Fort Condor, which uses the ladder system, we shall see examples of characters never speaking up because they are last in line…

Mythril Mines (PSDUN_2)

If you try to go through the Mythril Mines before the flashback events in Kalm, the party will split from Cloud and prevent you from progressing through the cave. The developers accidentally assigned Aeris with the wrong text ID, so when she is character #1 in the PHS menu she will use Tifa’s dialogue instead. This is why Aeris’ intended line is unflagged.

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Take note that it is impossible to see this line used twice in the same sequence, even if you have both Aeris and Tifa in your party. This is because the referred text here by Tifa is solely a ‘character #1′ line and you can’t have two characters assigned the same spot.

Correcting this mishap is easy in the Japanese game. Simply change from text ID #10 to text ID #9 for Aeris and everything will be okay. Doing this in the English game, however, means that you have to manually change the size of the dialogue window in order to fit the new text.

In-game error.	Error fixed.

Press OK to see the next row.	Pressing OK exits the box. Full message never seen.

Sleeping Old Man (ZZ1)

Though technically available only after getting the buggy, we’re checking this now to avoid jumping between continents.

The man’s snoozing is always coupled with additional text in the used script.

Recruiting Yuffie, the Thief (YOUGAN2)

So many variations of used text in this field, all depending on the present party leader/members and the picked dialogue options! Such a surprise, then, that the field only has one unused piece.

Yuffie can steal 200, 500 or 700 gil from the party. Generally, the penalty will be greater the later on you pick the wrong dialogue option. At no point will she steal 1000 gil, though.

Fort Condor, Interior (CONVIL_1)

As an act of mercy, I will spare the reader the more detailed discourse on just how odd the Ladder System is built here. All you have to know is that Fort Condor is ripe with used text and multiple scenarios, many of which will go unseen by the casual player. Setting the used and unused pieces apart was a trying task, but I believe I have accomplished the mission.

Before getting to the meat of Fort Condor, let’s review some errors in the dialogue trees that cause text to become hidden.

Red XIII’s Script Mechanic

When the old man asks the party what is on top of the mountain, Red XIII will only give a reply if Tifa is the party leader. Indeed, this is a primary example of the ludicrous ladder system constructions. A somewhat esoteric fact, however, is that Red XIII’s dialogue will change after the Cosmo Canyon events to reflect his newfound maturity after finding out the truth about his father. This is more noticable in the Japanese script than it is in the English counterpart.
The best example showing this change is in the scenario where Yuffie steals your money (YOUGAN2), to which the ‘immature’ Red XIII can respond by saying,
“Greed……A perfect example of human nature.”
but post-fatherly-revelations Red XIII will say,
“Give……give back what is rightfully mine!”
The difference here is shown by the lack of a demeaning note about the human species.

Going back to the old man’s question, what is Red XIII’s used ‘mature’ response versus the normally unseen ‘immature’ response?

The difference in the English script is laughably irrelevant but the Japanese script presents something more important. The early/unused response ends with な (na) while the late/used one ends with ね (ne). How is this difference important to Japanese speakers and readers?
な is more commonly used by males; it has a more arrogant and strong-sounding tone. ね is more often used by females, although males can occassionally use it, as it has a “softer” feel to it. In Red XIII’s case it makes him sound more humble. If a male overuses this way to speak, though, he may come across as feminine and will be assumed to be gay.

Nitpicking here, the Japanese sentence in the early response, あれは、魔晄炉, is incomplete and should end with だよ。 (or at least だ。) like its used counterpart.

Scenario: Getting some shut-eye

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When walking close to the beds, the party splits and a party member will ask if they should rest. Cait Sith is the last character in the ladder system, hence why his response is normally impossible to trigger.

Scenario: You’ve won! Now to visit Cloud & Tifa

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In the scenario that you’ve already completed the North Corel mission, Cid and the team will talk about going back to Mideel. When the party realises that Cid is talking about Cloud, Vincent’s reaction is the last in the ladder system and is thus locked from the player.

The Unused Fort Condor Mechanics

If you lose the battle for the Huge Materia, Fort Condor will fall. The player will not get a permanent Game Over, but instead gets restricted from entering the fort and gets to see the party members react to this tragedy. This is all part of the accessible, used aspects of the final game.
As the quest for the Huge Materia can only happen on disc 2 when Cid is the party leader, the scenario of winning or losing the final battle can’t happen when Cloud, Tifa or Aeris are available party members.

However, in earlier builds of Fort Condor, the player was to be allowed a limited number of losses before the fort would finally crumble from the pressure. Jumping ahead a bit, an unused snippet in the shed (CONVIL_2) clearly spells this out:

In the final game it doesn’t matter how many of the optional pre-Huge-Materia battles you lose; the fort will remain standing. No unused check for this mechanic remains in the game code so unfortunately we can’t tell if the number of allowed losses was ever decided.

Likewise, we find that the game has the unseen scenario of Cloud, Tifa and Aeris winning the battle for the Huge Materia and reacting to seeing the powerful shiny rock. Here it is unknown what the planned game mechanic was to be; was the final battle set to trigger after a set number of victories or was the Huge Materia quest set to be available before the death of Aeris? I have found no hints to explain the original conditions behind the final winning scenario.

Of course I can’t avoid mentioning the fact that the game doesn’t even try to hide the original mechanic to allow only a limited number of losses. When the man in the shed thanks you for offering your services, he will say:

When Cid is the party leader and this is your first go at Fort Condor, the strategist guy will use a different line that does not include the comment about ‘losing repeatedly’.

Then we have the comment in the tutorial if you ask about “conditions for victory”. Same here that this specific line is not used when Cid is the party leader.

No other part of the game, used or unused, speaks of a probability factor deciding whether the fort falls or stands. From the used text alone though we see that Kazuhiko Yoshioka, the event planner for Fort Condor and its minigame, was playing around with more ideas for how the sidequest was to work.

Not only that, but the old man (CONVIL_1) keeps track of your loss count. Lose a battle (that is, lose both the battlefield segment and the “boss” battle), leave the fort, then go back and talk to the old man.

The counter is obscure not only because it is only seen when you have lost one or more times, but because the battles are so easily won and anyone who might lose is more likely to hit the reset button than to continue playing.

We now get back to the unused text.

Scenario: You’ve come at a good time

If you promised to help the old man before the Huge Materia sidequest began, he will be relieved for your arrival once the final battle for the Huge Materia draws near. Whatever the mechanic was meant to be, in the earlier draft Cloud, Tifa and Aeris could be present at this point.

Cloud’s line indicates that battles have been lost in the past, but that is not a necessary condition for the line to appear. Might it be so that, aside from the plot progression prompt, Yoshioka never figured out a mechanic to trigger the final battle other than losing a set of battles? That is, assuming Cloud is talking about losses in Fort Condor and not elsewhere.

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Scenario: Congratulations, you won!

The normally impossible presence of Cloud, Tifa and Aeris repeats after victory against Shinra. The programmers forgot to include Red XIII in a part of the ladder system, hence why he has one unused line as well.

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The party members split from the party leader.

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Tifa’s dialogue is the same even if she is the party leader.

This line is not included in the dialogue branches, but Red XIII’s own code group has this line flagged. Just link it to the ladder system and voila!

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After reviewing the unused text of the shed, we’ll look at the unseen dialogue from losing the final Fort Condor battle with Cloud, Tifa and/or Aeris in the party.

Fort Condor, Watch Room (CONVIL_2)

The image of the condor and its egg is actually a separate layer of CONVIL_2, so in essence we have two maps in one.

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This abides with the how the final minigame works; for each troop, independent of type, left standing on the field you will receive 200 gil. You can employ a max of 20 troops, so indeed with 20 allies left you’ll get back 4000 gil.
Perhaps formerly the field had one text entry prepared for each remanining number of allies, much like the Chocobo Farm has over a dozen text entries for commutations of Chocobo gender and class.

No such check remains in the code of the final game. For this reason, we do not know what the allowed number of losses was, assuming this was ever even decided upon. As has already been explained, in the final game it is the story (i.e. the plot progression value) that decides when the fort can meet its end.

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The unflagged line became useless when the text entry with the counter was introduced.

“Weapon” refers to the “Shooters” you can deploy: Stoners, Tristoners, Catapults and Fire Catapults. You can delete these from the battlefield but you can’t move them, so the translation should be “Even if you decide to remove it later“.
Removing the shooters will not give you back any gil whatsoever, so what we read above is another mechanic that was either scrapped or they forgot to implement it.

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If you’ve given gil to the fort, before the final battle you’ll receive the gil you’ve deposited. The strategist will say, “Let’s give them all the gil we have!”

However when your funding reaches 30,000 gil, later deposits will be denied. The max value is 32,767 gil, so even if you make a large deposit before reaching 30,000 that should exceed this amount, the final value will not be greater than 32,767. Ergo, receiving 40,000 gil is impossible in the final game.

Here we see two debug lines which no doubt must have been used quite fervently.

“Scenario” might have decided if the present battles were the optional ones, or if this was the final battle for the Huge Materia.

To speed up debugging, this line probably appeared in the place of the actual minigame to work out the scenarios. Though a battle only counts as a loss if you lose both the minigame and the “boss” battle, we can’t be sure whether the above options led to the post-minigame scenes or the post-boss-battle scenes.

We now find a problem that is exclusive to the English version of the game. When winning battle #10, #11 or #12 in the list of optional battles, the receipt line for the reward will be too small to display any text.

But when the text entry is expanded, we see this:

Depending on the settings of your script viewer, this text entry will either be empty or claim that you receive three Elixir. This is because occassionally an empty text entry will adopt the entry that is next in line. This phenomenon is especially prevalent with location names and we shall see an example of this later on in Mount Corel. So although the English game appears to be lying, this receipt line was in fact never translated. Victory in battle #13 and upward, not counting the Huge Materia battle, will reward you with three Elixir.

Fort Condor: The Bad Ending (CONDOR2)

If you lose the battle for the Huge Materia, your party leader will fall unconscious in the shed, then wake up here, with no access to the fort as Shinra has killed all its inhabitants and taken the Huge Materia. Many will never have unlocked this scenario due to how easy the minigame and the optional boss battles are. Despite its esoteric nature, I shall have this section present only the unused text.

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With each line the character stands up.

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Scenarios now split depending on who is the party leader.

Scenario: Cloud as the Party Leader

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The party joins Cloud and the player gains free mobility.

Scenario: Tifa as the Party Leader

As a reminder, Tifa is only the party leader on disc 2 when Cloud is still missing.

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Scenario: You’ve lost! Now go visit Cloud & Tifa!

In the case that the North Corel mission has already been completed, Cid will talk about going back to Mideel. Again, just like in the scenario that you won, a reaction by Vincent gets left out because he is the last character in the ladder system.

Thusly we end our tour of the unused content of Fort Condor; a primary example of how messy the planning and execution of FFVII could be at times and how even the used text hints at scrapped ideas.

Under Junon, Resuscitating Priscilla (UJUNON4)

Junon, Costa del Sol and Mt. Corel are all areas that Motomu Toriyama was responsible for. He left behind surprisingly little in Junon, but the two latter areas will present us with some entertaining bits.

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The tutorial is always present during the CPR event making the above dialogue unnecessary.

Then why don’t you do it yourself, old man?!

Pressing Square then letting the bar reach the top of Cloud’s lungs four times will cause the elderly man to use the above line. Not unused, just easy to miss.

Under Junon, Inn (JUMIN)

Intended for after Cloud wakes up and before he asks Tifa about Nibelheim. Simply add this line of code to the scene choreography at the proper place.

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Her inquiry would fit in the scenario when Cloud wakes up and is deep in thought about Nibelheim. It could also be an alternate line for when she asks Cloud if the party should rest.

Dolphin’s Beach, High Voltage Tower (UJUNON3)

Accessing the menu will still yield this location name as it is the same one used in the previous field you were in.

Junon, Hallway (JUNIN1)

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Is this Cloud denying that he has to follow the commander’s orders? Is it a debug line? Is it a soldier saying that the parade has not started yet? In the final game you will not have access to this area until after the parade has begun.

Training Session #1, Locker Room (JUNIN1A)

Cloud is now dressed up as a Shinra grunt and has to learn how to march in line! Not much unused here, so for the fun of it I also include the entirety of the (somewhat fragmented) Marching Song lyrics.

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After the final line an empty text entry appears (after which the song starts over from the beginning). This is never noticed by the player because all the text boxes related to the lyrics are transparent. Either this empty text entry was included just as a pause or the developers forgot to add lyrics to it.

Transition Field (JUNON)

As soon as you follow the Shinra grunts out of the hallway, the game transports you to this field. The ensuing FMV starts playing so quickly, however, that technically you never get to “see” this actual field, but only the FMV rendition of it.

Even if you cheat so to allow access to the menu, this can only happen when the FMV has not yet begun playing so the time window is extremely short.

Marching Parade (JUNONR4)

Training Session #2, Locker Room (JUNIN1A)

In line with the game’s natural progression, we’re back in the locker room, this time to drill in preparation for a send-off routine for Rufus.

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Then for the sake of comparison…

Now, the only way you “present arms” in the final game is after the entire send-off routine at the docks. Pressing any directional button will cause Cloud to “present arms” like the other two Shinra grunts while Triangle, Square and Cross (assuming you did not change the controls) will trigger other animations.
Presumably then, timing this change to the formal stature was to be an important part of the performance. In the final game, however, this military send-off event ends after you perform the special.

This might explain the glaring oversight that the game never teaches you that pressing the OK button triggers the special move. If the “present arms” move was the original finisher, then you can easier see how the developers forgot to adapt the tutorial to this new choreography.
The final game creates a scene around the fact that Cloud comes up with the finishing move but the button prompt is never revealed. Maybe it was actually an excessive focus on the humor in this scene that caused the forgetfulness with the tutorial.
If you are playing the minigame at the docks for the first time, you will in other words be very disoriented at the end.

Basement Pub (JUNPB_3)

I would attend but I need to fight Jenova·BIRTH on the Cargo Ship. Sorry.

Soldier Barracks (JUNMIN1)

A grunt is guarding the entrance to the ‘Expert Hall’ tutorial room below. In the final game you are allowed entrance even when in the Shinra uniform but perhaps earlier on you were denied admittance due to the costume change.

Expert Hall (JUNPB_2)

The unused text found here is almost identical to the one found in the Beginner’s Hall of the Sector 7 Slums (see Part 2, second page).

This one is actually a left-over from the Beginner’s Hall, where Cloud will use this line when initiating in conversation with the tough-looking men. The Japanese text is exactly the same in Sector 7 as it is here in the unused Junon equivalent but the English translation is different.

I’ll leave it to the reader to extract humor from the idea of Cloud “rapping”.

Having all party members killed off instantly triggers the “Game Over” statement. There is no intermediate “Wiped Out” message or any such status spelled out anywhere.

In the case that you try to trigger the “How to cure party members” tutorial but you don’t have any potions in your inventory, the guy will give you one.

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Performing for Rufus! (JUNDOC1A)

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The earlier Mood Gauge text box was to use a variable to present your score. The annoyance with this function, however, is that it requires the text window to refresh every time the value of this variable changes; otherwise, it won’t be updated.
To avoid this, the developers ended up using the same animated counter that is used for the mako reactor explosion countdown (among other instances).

Cargo Ship, Interior (SHPIN_2)

Hidden in plain sight between the boxes, in the final game, exists an All materia for the taking.

The message strangely lacks brackets. We can’t tell if this was to be the game’s response if your materia list was full or if a sailor was to catch Cloud in the act of stealing the All materia.

Ship Interior, Unused Field (SHPIN_22)

Link to full-size field here.

No known prompt in the game code leads you to this field but it is easy to picture this clean version of the cargo room as parking space for the buggy during the trips between Costa del Sol and Junon. Any planned scene showing the buggy parked here does not exist, however, as the only field model data here are those of Cloud and the other eight playable characters.

The field entirely lacks exit/entrance data. It has a solid walkmesh so you can walk wherever it appears you should be able to. The field consists only of one bottom layer which means that without a top layer Cloud (or any other field model) is never obscured by the environment. See example below when the model should be only partially visible behind the stairs.

Cloud on the ground.			Cloud on the stairs.

Same effect if you go through the door, plus the field entirely lacks animations so the door can never open, either.

The Dead Speak Silently (SHPIN_3)

The two other deceased NPCs use this same text entry, but the flagged instance by the red commander is normally inaccessible because he is on the other side of a border which triggers a scene that removes him from the field.

The Cargo Ship sure was lacking in unused text. The interested can find a few, scrapped snippets in the Early Material Files, though. It is unknown if those pieces ever existed in the game code.

If you’d rather, we also have the audiobook in two segments via the embedded YouTube clips, which have captions included so that you can read along while you listen. You can see the first one at the bottom of the article, and the second half can be viewed by clicking “Read the rest of this entry.” As always, we are very proud of all the hard work by the individuals that went into making this. We hope that you enjoy this latest presentation and look forward to your comments.

Length – 39 minutes 29 seconds

Written by Kazushige Nojima
Produced and Narrated by Joseph Knight
Featuring music by HypochondriacPiano and Roy Todd

Starring
psylentknight as Barret Wallace
Jonathan Waters as Cid Highwind
nuggetsoftruth as Old Man Sakaki
Michael Lloyd as Boilerman
Elephantologist as Junon Mother
Ryushikaze as Sakaki’s Nephew
The3rd23790 as Young Father
The Pawt as Oil Derrick Engineer
Tennyo as Shera
ForceStealer as Rocket Town Engineer

Music
‘Missing Score’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘Sad Reflections’ by Roy Todd
‘The Promised Land’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘A Tinge of Sadness’ by Roy Todd
‘A Time to Heal’ by Roy Todd
‘The Pilot’s Dream’ by HypochondriacPiano
‘Tears Inside’ by Ripley7

All characters and scenarios copyright © SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

YouTube Part 2

]]> http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/13338/tls-presents-case-of-barret-audiobook/feed/ 11 http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/13317/max-natural-hpmp-challenge-completed-for-real-this-time/ http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/13317/max-natural-hpmp-challenge-completed-for-real-this-time/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:16:05 +0000 Shademp http://thelifestream.net/?p=13317 Some visitors may recall last Christmas when it was announced that a certain “HARSHREALM” had managed to get each playable character (excluding Aeris) to their natural max HP/MP at level 99. However, after providing save files to prove said achievement it was discovered that he had actually tampered with the file data.
This individual, who appeared very suddenly on GameFAQs with no prior public documentation of his supposed way to the top, was nothing more than a liar and a cheater.

The event, as unfortunate as it was, however spurred the GameFAQs community to take up this never-before-completed challenge yet again. One of the most respected posters on the FFVII GameFAQs board, songsengnim, has now on March 7th 2012 achieved this daunting task.
As he has documented his progress for a very long time, plus added that he has contributed to info and methodology for the Perfect Save File challenge in the past, there truly is no other member whom we could trust more to honestly have completed the challenge!

See GameFAQs Thread

After thousands and thousands of resets we finally have it confirmed that at least in this line of HP & MP progression songsengnim went through the charts provided in Absolute Steve’s guide work! A big round of applause for songsengnim!

For those who want a more in-depth explanation of the Natural Max HP/MP Challenge and its history, I now repost the same presentation from my now deleted Christmas post about the challenge.

Details of the “Natural Max HP/MP” Challenge

An in-depth guide to this challenge exists in Absolute Steve’s FFVII guide, but those who want a summary, aimed at non-perfectionists, can read the paragraphs below.

Anyone who has done multiple playthroughs of FFVII may have noticed that a playable character’s max HP and MP once on level 99, without any Materia added to change the values, is not the same when comparing both save files. The exact stat progressions when levelling up is far from a fixed affair in FFVII.

For those interested in achieving a “Perfect Save/Game File”, this is a huge problem because getting the maximum possible HP/MP becomes impossible. However, thanks to hacking efforts, the charts now exist which map the required HP & MP values a character must achieve. These tables can be found in Absolute Steve’s FFVII guide.
As there are no official definitions for a perfect “Disc 1″ save file, Aeris/Aerith is left out of the equation and no one has calculated the charts for her optimum stat growth (yet).

It is once a character reaches their “max safety level”, that players must keep track of the progression of these stats. For example, Cloud is in the safe zone up until level 64-65, but after this his HP and MP growth must be monitored if both are to reach their max values by the end.

The matter is not so simple though. Cloud’s theoretical natural max HP is 9511, while his theoretical natural max MP is 905. However, both HP and MP can’t achieve their max at the same time! The game will not allow it. So one must be sacrificed for the sake of the other. Members of the GameFAQ forums quickly agreed that MP would be sacrificed, as this value is increased anyway when magic Materia is equipped. As a result, Cloud’s final, natural max MP goes down to 902.

So what’s the big deal? Well, initially getting the right values may be easy and may require no more than a few resets, but after a certain point, if you are aiming for maxing out both HP and MP, we are talking a harsh probability of 1/64. So imagine these probabilities for two dozen or so levels for one character, then take into account all the eight characters in total, and on your table you have the task to reset the game literally thousands of times to get the best values.

So that summarises the challenge and why it is a subject of concern for those dreaming of having a Perfect Save File. But getting to this point that made the challenge possible was not an easy one. I know, even moreso because I once played a part in it…

History of the Natural Max HP/MP Challenge

In 1999, Terence Fergusson made his own website where he posted his various FFVII findings. Over the years, he continued hacking the game and published guides on GameFAQs. After many revisions, he re-uploaded the guides in 2009, in the form that we now know them:
- Battle Mechanics FAQ: Status Effects, Attack Types, Battle Speed etc.
- Date Mechanics Guide: Mapping instances when Love Points (or “Affection Values”) are changed and by how much.
- Enemy Mechanics FAQ: In-depth Enemy AI and Encounter data.
- Party Mechanics Guide: Mechanics of Level-Ups, Materia, Limit Breaks, Weapons and other equipment.

These monumental guides, all the result from serious hacking efforts, set the grounds for devicing ridiculous (but still working) strategies against enemies as well as an expanded exploitation and understanding of the game’s glitches. Many variations of low-level playthroughs, speed-run accomplishments and indeed the “Perfect Game” challenge, would not have been possible without these guides.

Of importance then to the Natural Max HP/MP challenge was the Party Mechanics Guide where Fergusson revealed how the stat-up systems worked. As an appendix to the guide he added charts for optimum HP or MP growth for each playable character (excluding Young Cloud and Sephiroth). I can recall, from back in 2008, reading on GameFAQs about players who had begun using these charts.

Trouble soon striked though when, after certain passes, those using the tables found it impossible to get the proper HP and MP value simultaneously for some levels. Fergusson figured out that a random number generator was keeping the two separate values from reaching max at the same time. The charts would have to be re-made to adjust to this previously undetected part of the HP/MP growth mechanics. As I previously described, the conclusion was that MP would be sacrificed so that HP could reach its maximum natural value. It is for this reason that we know Aeris’ theoretical max MP to be 994, but no one has calculated the lessened value when her natural max HP, 8816, is preferred.

For a while the project was in limbo. The charts for Cait Sith, Vincent & Cid had been discovered especially arduous to make, requiring extra programming skills, and the members with the know-how were too busy to contribute. Some could do the calculations by hand but did not have the knowledge to create the functions to automatically spew out the correct tables. Not to mention, the likelihood was still there that other characters might have erroneous charts, still.

It was then, in early 2009, that I contacted GameFAQ member “1whoistornapart”, a prominent figure in this project, and asked him to provide the new charts for me to test. He obliged and did his best to gain the additional coding knowledge required to print the correct HP/MP progression path.

The results were, sadly, not positive. On multiple occassions I found myself stuck, often having to ask for revisions. This also meant that on multiple occassions Absolute Steve updated his guide with the revisions, only to find after a while, as I continued resetting my PlayStation like a lunatic with OCD, that 1whoistornapart had overlooked details in his coding.

After more than two months of intensively testing the various iterations of the HP/MP progression tables, I threw in the towel. No hard feelings on 1whoistornapart though, as he made an honorable attempt at filling in for the GameFAQ members that had presently left the project, plus doing his best to help despite a busy personal schedule. I recommend people to watch his YouTube videos, such as his No-Damage run in “Castlevania : Bloodlines”.

Naturally I had lost the will to continue with this challenge or even keep myself updated on its developments, but fortunately there were others who kept on trying. Absolute Steve has listed that, back in November 2010, an edit was made to Yuffie’s Max Natural MP chart. Most recently, in June 2011, edits were made to Barret’s, Red XIII’s, and (again) Yuffie’s charts.

The rest you all know by now. Around Christmas last year a new GameFAQs member, HARSHREALM, lied about completing the challenge but fortunately this event spawned additional effort by the GameFAQs community to finally prove that the Max Natural HP/MP charts work. On March 7th 2012, long-time poster songsengnim finally did it and he has now made his mark in FFVII gaming history. Congratulations again, songsengnim!

]]> http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/13317/max-natural-hpmp-challenge-completed-for-real-this-time/feed/ 3 http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/12150/site-goals-set-down-tls-now-recruiting/ http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/12150/site-goals-set-down-tls-now-recruiting/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:11:02 +0000 Shademp http://thelifestream.net/?p=12150

TheLifestream.net has long struggled with its identity. With no FFVII news, what is there to do? Well, quite a lot actually. I have always seen TLS as being in a good position to become a great hub for FFVII content and it is my wish to help the site become just that:
A Final Fantasy VII Hub.

I draw much inspiration from the spectacular site Chrono Compendium. If you want to find any information about the Chrono series, there is where you can find it.
(It should be mentioned though that while the site at present do not plan to include a wiki-style encyclopedia, like the Chrono Compendium has, such a feature may become an option later on when TLS has grown significantly.)

I have written a series of mission statements or Site Goals. But for those who don’t like reading fancy definitions, what is the short story?
To be a guide and resource to the FFVII franchise in terms of its narrative, titles, products and fan-made content.
TLS is very willing to grow, but we need more work power. We need YOU to help fulfill the site goals!

We are always on the lookout for translators, hackers and people who enjoy documenting and analysing the many facets of the FFVII franchise. So even if you do not belong to the two first categories, there is still a good chance you can contribute!

Browse the assignments in the aptly named Project List. If anything catches your interest that you think you can add to, join the forum and post in the thread to enlist! Or if you have an idea for an additional project that suits the written goals of TLS, tell us!

Speaking of changes, the front page will see more renovations of its content and layout, so be on the look-out for that!

This has been a message from Shademp, the newly assigned Content Coordinator of TheLifestream.net.

]]> http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/12150/site-goals-set-down-tls-now-recruiting/feed/ 7 http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/12128/happy-15th-anniversary-final-fantasy-vii/ http://thelifestream.net/final-fantasy-vii/12128/happy-15th-anniversary-final-fantasy-vii/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:43:20 +0000 Shademp http://thelifestream.net/?p=12128 On January 31st 1997, the seventh (roman numeral) installment of the Final Fantasy series was released in Japan. This old PlayStation title remains one of the biggest video game obsessions of all time, as proven by the still active fanbase.

Though this is indeed the game’s fifteenth anniversary, the FFVII as we know and love it was not released until the latter half of 1997. In Japan it was titled “FFVII International”, while in the rest of the world it became the standard edition of the game. But despite the original’s glaring lack of Weapons emerging from the Northern Crater or the inability to use Exchange to instantly swap materia between party members, this release was still considered an awesome experience and instantly spawned a huge following in Japan while the overseas gamers were still drooling over Sony’s ad campaigns for this epic game.

Our gratitude extends beyond the re-release it spawned, as in recent years it has been revealed that this first edition is the possessor of many exclusive, deeply hidden secrets such as the now classic Honey Bee Inn lobby scenes. Whether it be in story or gameplay, this game truly is more than meets the eye!

The Lifestream.net wishes Final Fantasy VII a glorious fifteenth anniverary!

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