DCFFVII Research Thread

Shademp · Nov 24, 2016

Came across pre-release images for the English version of Dirge. They...surprised me.

Vincent's MP bar is still the one from JORG, which marks the point at which you can transform into Galian Beast. The text font looks like what you'd get by using the Japanese text tables. Perhaps the translation process began even before the final English tables had been implemented?

Observe also the cheat present in the Galian Beast image: His total amount of handgun bullets is over 800, when your cap in all versions is 500.

Shademp · Nov 24, 2016

Revisited DCFF7info.net and found that I hadn't properly combed the media archived there in the Wayback Machine. Know that if you are looking for every possible URL that's been saved, it's best to look at the whole list of saved links, instead of just clicking your way through the pages. I figured this out a long while ago yet I somehow managed to miss a bunch of juicy Multiplayer snapshots until just now.

We now have visual confirmation that the officer to speak during a cutscene changed depending on which officer you spoke to: The one to the East, South, West or North. In all saved cutscenes, both those made by binnsennto/nekomimi/Pochi and in the unlocked cutscenes in the International version, we always see and hear Officer-East. Never any other officer.

My archeological gland is tickled by the thought that somewhere, on somebody's harddrive, there are recordings of these alternate variations of the cutscenes.

Binnsennto's recordings don't have the broadband connection icons to the upper right. Presumably those recordings were made via an offline Event Viewer, while the screenshots above are from the gameplay.

Picture uploaded on February 20, 2006. This matches the timeline for other snapshots where DGSC Hiren has not yet donned the "Black Mage" outfit.

Shademp · Nov 25, 2016

This Niconico video has annotations that talk about the Multiplayer NPCs while screenshots from the game flash by. The annotations are not included when you download the video.

Thankfully I could copy the annotations and translate them. I am especially happy that they repeat a statement I have only seen in S&G's documents so far: That the NPC "DGSC Jingi" is actually turned into the Black Widow "Black-J". In S&G's documents, which include google translations to an unknown blog, it is said that the brain of an NPC was inserted into this robot.

This also explains what the moogle doll is all about. I have seen it there in the North Lobby in so many snapshots from the time of the "Turk of Turks" event and wondered just what was going on, and best I can tell it is a reminder of where DGSC Jingi used to stand.

0:01
Song of the Gathered　（オンライン/ロビーBGM）

0:12
《Argento》
銀の色を持つツヴィエート。「最強を秘めし最弱」。
ヴァイスの銃剣は彼女がこしらえたんだそうな。すごいですね。

0:22
《Restrictor》
存在しないはずの部隊「ソルジャー第14部隊<ロストフォース>」所属。
レストリクターは1人ではなく、エリア1～4＋αと複数いるそうです。

0:34
こちらがエリア1のレストリクターさん。
・・・見分けがつきません（苦笑）。

1:07
DGSC 《Hiren》
エリア4にいる、花を育ててくれるお姉さん。

1:18
DGG 《Iruka》
怪しい実験をしてる、とっても腹黒い人。エリア3にいる。

1:29
DGSC 《Jingi》
エリア4にいる、DG一の魔晄好きJingiがモーグリになった姿。
鳴き声は「クポー」じゃなくて「オエエェェェエーーー」。

1:40
《Black-J》
ブラック・ウィドーになったJingi。
やっぱり「オエー」ってなってる。

2:12
Final Briefing　（オンライン/ブリーフィングルームバトル前BGM）

4:12
Underground Complex　（オンライン/ブリーフィングルームバトル後BGM）

6:48
Fierce Battle　（オンライン/ミッションBGM）

0:01
Song of the Gathered (Online / Lobby BGM)

0:12
"Argento"
Tsviet with silver color. "Keep the strongest and weakest".
She seems to have created a bayonet for Weiss. It is amazing.

0:22
"Restrictor"
It belongs to the unit "Soldier 14th unit <Lost Force>" which should not exist.
It seems that there are two or more Restrictors, not one, but area 1 to 4 + α.

0:34
This is Restrictor is in Area 1.
· · · It is not possible to distinguish them (bitter smile).

1:07
DGSC "Hiren"
An older sister who grows flowers in area 4.

1:18
DGG "Iruka"
I'm doing a suspicious experiment, a very dangerous person. I am in Area 3.

1:29
DGSC "Jingi"
In area 4, the figure that DG 1 Magic lover Jingi became Moogri.
Crying is not "Kupo" but "Oehaea".

1:40
"Black-J"
Jingi became Black Widow.
After all it is becoming "Oe".

2:12
Final Briefing (Online / Briefing Room Battle before BGM)

4:12
Underground Complex (Online / Briefing Room Battle after BGM)

6:48
Fierce Battle (Online / Mission BGM)

Interesting that DGSC Hiren is described as an "older sister". From my recent research, it seems that you give the Fuzzy Seeds (or some other seeds) to DGSC Hiren. You then waited 3 days, came back and got the Dandelion to hand over to Este-D.

While browsing the PlayOnline archives to make sure I had found EVERY image that's been saved, I found this gem:

Here the name is not "DGSC Hiren" but "DGD Hiren". Remember that Drone is the lowest rank, one rank below Scout. Somebody got promoted!

In the records of the Beta version, the NPC was indeed named "DGD Hiren". This image, and the others I found in the same area, look very much like they are from a Beta stage of the game. They lack the β symbol in the upper corner, but I still wager that this is pre-launch material.

Strangelove · Nov 26, 2016

Shademp said:
@hito
Thank you! I have edited the document with your observations.

Here is what Azul says in Chapter 4, compared to 久方ぶりの in the row 77 of my jsnddb sheet.

that would be the equivalent to "long has it been..." in the english version, then

Row 88
お弁当食べる？ Do you eat lunch box?

this is possibly a reference to one of the memory capsules/fragments of memories titles? "picnic" in english? it's apparently found in chapter 6 from what i can gather online. i don't know if you have a copy of the lists from the games to check it against to see if that is one of the movie titles

row 3986 is the same as above. 4143 means 'to get stuck/stranded' (so maybe just "stranded" if you were to go for something that sounded nicer for a title), the 'eat' here being a usage of 'kurau' (a casual/impolite way to say 'to eat/drink') to mean have something negative happen to you

Row 3757
z217キャラ選択個室環境音 z217 character selection private room environment sound

this is character selection. did the multiplayer have the option to have multiple player characters which you could select from when you start?

Row 3896
ジェノヴァプロジェクト１ Genoa Project 1

i'd say this was just a typo of the regular 'jenova', yeah

Row 4049
影狐急停車１ Kagekitsune sudden stop 1

i spent a few moments trying to work out where this name might have appeared in the game, then i realised it was a direct japanese translation of 'shadowfox', the wro van from the wasteland chapters. so it's 'shadowfox sudden/emergency stop'

Row 4737
流れこむ魔洸１ Komu flow McCaw 1

it should be mako ('flowing mako/mako flows [in]'). 'mccaw' seems like an odd translation for what is a made up word, unless it thought it was meant to be an old-fashioned or chinese style transliteration of a foreign name

Row 4850
そうだ私だ宝条だよ１-１ It does so I'm I'm Takarajo 1 - 1

'That's right, it's me, Hojo' (don't remember if this is an exact line from the game or not)

Row 5154
頭部方面から敵ワラワラ１ Enemy from the head towards Walla Walla 1

enemies bustling from the... direction of the head? idk i'm in need of sleep now and i can't say i'm that familiar with the phrase being used like this but the way i'm reading this is a big swarm of enemies (like a dynasty warriors game) coming towards you from the top/'head' of an area? like there's a gate or doorway at the top of an area where enemies keep appearing from

Row 5412
z211オンライン神羅屋敷/神羅屋敷内 z211 On-line Shinra Land / in Shinrana Yashiki

'online Shinra Manor/Shinra Manor interior'

Shademp · Nov 26, 2016

Strangelove said:
Row 88
お弁当食べる？ Do you eat lunch box?

this is possibly a reference to one of the memory capsules/fragments of memories titles? "picnic" in english? it's apparently found in chapter 6 from what i can gather online. i don't know if you have a copy of the lists from the games to check it against to see if that is one of the movie titles

row 3986 is the same as above.

You are correct! Here is a zip file you can download with all the Event Viewer menus from the International version, both in English and in Japanese.

- INT Event Viewer: English & Japanese

お弁当食べる？ is the exact same as what we see in the Event Viewer, so I'm writing the translation as "Picnic" since that's the official localization. How would you phrase the sentence in a retranslation though? The closest we get to this line in the actual scene is what Lucrecia says at the very end.

Strangelove said:
Row 3757
z217キャラ選択個室環境音 z217 character selection private room environment sound

this is character selection. did the multiplayer have the option to have multiple player characters which you could select from when you start?

Why yes it did! From what I've seen, players could create a total of four different characters on the same account.

Strangelove said:
Row 4850
そうだ私だ宝条だよ１-１ It does so I'm I'm Takarajo 1 - 1

'That's right, it's me, Hojo' (don't remember if this is an exact line from the game or not)

Yup, it's a line from the game. そうだ! 私だ!! 宝条だよ!!

Thank you so much for your help hito! The aid given in these few areas have also helped me shape up the jsnddb document in other places. It's only growing more beautiful.

Shademp · Nov 26, 2016

In the Extra Mission "Boxemon" you shoot boxes with the goal of unveiling the three Cactuars you need to defeat, though you are at the high risk of instead summoning a Dual Horn, Bull Heads, red saucers and/or DG commanders when you destroy a box.

You are limited to a small area during this mission. I broke the boundary and found that all enemies were waiting elsewhere before they are teleported to the area with the boxes. No matter what you do these enemies will not attack you and so you can easily kill them off and clear the mission in this unconventional way.

Strangelove · Nov 26, 2016

Shademp said:
You are correct! Here is a zip file you can download with all the Event Viewer menus from the International version, both in English and in Japanese.

- INT Event Viewer: English & Japanese

お弁当食べる？ is the exact same as what we see in the Event Viewer, so I'm writing the translation as "Picnic" since that's the official localization. How would you phrase the sentence in a retranslation though? The closest we get to this line in the actual scene is what Lucrecia says at the very end.

i suppose something like 'do you want to have/eat lunch?' or 'shall we have lunch/something to eat?' the literal translation would be like 'eat boxed lunch?' but it's used as a suggestion to someone to do something, so i think the 'shall we...' one sounds nice?

Shademp · Nov 27, 2016

Secret of Boxemon now in video form.

In the Extra Mission "Two-Handed", you can have Vincent's running speed increased by exchanging enough Gigas EX Medal at the right jukebox. I used this to find multipliers for Vincent's running speed!

By increasing the running speed I could traverse from one end of the wasteland to the other in an instant! When you're slow enough that the camera can still follow you, you may still end up with the camera far away from you (as seen above) because it can't quite keep up with you.

Vincent's running speed was a 4-byte value, with a default decimal value of 1114636288 (hex: 42700000). The jukebox in the mission Two-Handed would always change your speed to 1120403456 (hex: 42C80000) no matter what your speed was before.

Knowing these values and the general region in memory that deals with the running speed, I manipulated Vincent's speed elsewhere in the game. When at a high enough speed, Vincent will run straight through EM barriers.

I have not found running speed multipliers for Cait Sith or for Vincent in JORG. The reasons could be many and I won't speculate on that here.

Okay fine I won't skip the obligatory reference XD

Shademp · Nov 27, 2016

Observed recently that in Nekomimi's cutscene recordings, there are four moments where player input is required to skip past a text box. Grimoire edited these away for his re-uploads and the player input is not there when the cutscenes are viewed in DCFFVII:International. Could somebody transcribe the text for me? Fortunately 3/5ths of the text string is the same for all four.

Scene 8 at 01:07

Scene 9 at 0:50

Scene 10 at 2:15

Scene 12 at 0:54

Strangelove · Nov 27, 2016

those are just messages telling you missions have been added (〇〇〇がミッションに追加されました, x has been added to Missions)

the specific missions and a rough name are

騒乱の顛末 (an account of the disturbance)
アクティブ・ジャミング (active jamming)
ライトニング・トリック (lightning trick)
支配の代償 (the price of control)

Shademp · Nov 28, 2016

You say "those are just messages" hito, but I find that reveal to be super exciting!

Thank you!

I've been making a number of observations for my "Video Archive" feature and I'm not even finished re-watching all the gameplay videos yet.

My mind was blown away yesterday when I saw that during the lifetime of the multiplayer, the map compass was changed in just the same way as it was changed between the US and PAL release!

- Compass map in early Multiplayer history
(Don't know why Monster_78 decided to render the maps in black-and-white, but there you go)

The S, W and E were removed, just like what happened for the PAL and INT versions.

From re-watching the Tsviet Examination videos I made the following observations:

– Firing a Cure orb at the wall works just as fine as firing it straight into the ground to create a healing pool.

– The maximum number of potions you can carry are three, not four like in the Single Player.

– Midway through part 2, an Ether restores the player's MP from roughly 1/7 to a full MP bar. Visually, this is more restoration than can ever happen from an Ether in Single Player. There are a number of possible explanations for this, such as the max MP of the player character being 75 or 50, unlike Vincent's max MP which is 100.

– Just like in the "Defeat 100 Sahagin" video, a limit break status lasts for 20 seconds.

Shademp · Nov 29, 2016

Almost done re-watching the gameplay videos and writing commentary for them all. I am able to understand more of what is going on than ever before and I still learn more about the Multiplayer.

- 1x Chocobo Coin is converted into 1000 gil at the end of a Team Battle. If you are killed while carrying a Chocobo Coin, you will drop it for somebody else to pick up. At last I know something about how this coin worked.

- Even when a character lay dead on the battlefield with no chance to respawn, their MP will keep regenerating while the mission goes on for the other players.

- Players of the same battle might hear different background music. We hear this when comparing two recordings from the same "Team Battle: Desert" video. Pierce heard "Train Graveyard" and Futaba heard "Counteroffensive".

- In this post I bring up the unused items "K2" and "K3" which in post-JORG both have an icon I was not familiar with.

Watching "Capture the Flag" videos reveal that this icon, albeit colored blue and red, is used for the TFL (Team Battle: Flag) mode.

In one video we see the following items in the inventory menu:

魔晄カプセル = Mako Capsule
イフリートフラッグ = Ifrit Flag
シヴァフラッグ = Shiva Flag

Watching the video it doesn't look like a TFL (Capture the Flag) setup, but instead a "Destroy Enemy Base/Station" setup. When a player dies in the video we see the respective HP bars for the stations and the "flag" icon is white, not blue or red. Interesting that these items were added to the inventory even though the setup doesn't seem to involve capsules or flags.

Best I can gather from this mysterious video is that Majestic and Kimari setup a "Destroy Enemy Base" battle together for the sake of artifically gaining gil and/or medals. There is nothing competitive going on, with nobody trying to destroy the base (also notice the lack of a countdown). It's just a grind.

"Capture the Flag" was first added to the Multiplayer with the February 27 update while "Destroy Base" appears to have first appeared on March 24. This might explain the lack of the "Flag" icon when you unlock the unused items "K2" and "K3" in JORG. There they simply use the Capsule icon.

EDIT: I wonder if this folder icon exists somewhere in the game disc...

Shademp · Nov 30, 2016

Color me exhausted.

- The Video Archive

I look forward to setting up the Audio Library soon, since I know that page can be finished in a day. Quite unlike the Video Archive which took almost a week of hard work. I still have the task left of adding subtitles to my own uploads of the online mode cutscenes. Scene 1 and Scene 12 already have subtitles, so only eleven more scenes to go.

What would a literal translation of the DG mask "死霊の面当て" be? Google translate gives me "Surfer of the Dead Spirit", but the word "Surfer" doesn't make a whole lot of sense here. In the unused game data this mask was localized as "Phantasmask" with the description "Headgear possessed by the spirits of deceased DG soldiers."

In the 44-minute failed campaign against Weiss, I was able to compare the Soldier Suit and the Magic Suit in regards to the Cure spell.

The Soldier Suit consumes twice the MP per Cure spell compared to the Magic Suit. In the former you only have three spells available from max MP, but with the Magic Suit you could fire six spells, then have a seventh one available because the MP regeneration of the Magic Suit is so much faster. The Cure spell restores 118HP with both suits, but ultimately you can restore more HP with the Magic Suit thanks to the lowered MP consumption.

In the Multiplayer, a Potion restores 150HP. Compare this to the Single Player, where a Potion restores 200HP.

This 150HP restoration also matches what the online mode Potion restores if you unlock it in the Single Player.

EDIT:

My ears had registered this before but my "brain" hadn't, if that makes sense. The voice and personality of Officer-East changes from Scene 8 and onwards. It sounds like an entirely different voice actor and an entirely different personality. This is true for the original recordings and for the DCFFVII:International iterations. The change in voice and personality is thusly consistent.

Is this just an error? Or did something happen to Officer-East? Maybe Este-D scrambled his brain. Maybe Officer-East A got replaced by Officer-East B. People die all the time in Deepground, after all.

The Twilight Mexican · Nov 30, 2016

I would translate that DG mask name as something like "Spite of the Departed" or "Bitterness of the Dead."

Strangelove · Dec 1, 2016

i kinda want to say, but don't want to put my foot down about it because it's not an area i feel super knowledgeable about, that the 面当て for that equipment isn't the つらあて of 'spiteful action' but more めんあて as in something that covers the face. to support this, if you google 面当て you get a lot of images showing the face-covering parts of helmets, if you search for it with a word like 兜 it comes up with helmets covering the face, and it was also apparently used in the description of the the cross helm/close helmet in fft (『頭から首までを完全におおう兜。面当てが付いていて、顔もガードする。』 / a helm that completely covers from the head to the neck. it has a mask/face guard attached and also protects the face). i also saw something from ffxiv about being able to know lower the 'mask' on a piece of armour.

JBedford · Dec 1, 2016

It might also be a pun on both meanings :monster:

I looked up the word earlier but didn't want to say anything because I don't know shit, but that's the conclusion I came to. Because the whole spite thing makes sense with spirits of the deceased, but it is also headgear (assuming the localised description is accurate).

The Twilight Mexican · Dec 1, 2016

Yeah, I think the pun is pretty likely.

Shademp · Dec 1, 2016

If anyone wants to continue the discussion here is the Phantasmask's description in Japanese and what the mask looks like in the launch version.

Remembered there was a second mask whose translation I was curious about because I mention it in the Video Archive. It does not exist in the unused data of Dirge of Cerberus.

ヌーベルマスク = Nouvelle Mask

Novel Mask? Noble Mask? Nowhere Mask?

The Twilight Mexican · Dec 1, 2016

You got your "so" and "no" mixed up there again. That just says "SOLDIER Mask."

As for the Japanese description of the other helmet, it says "Headgear overflowing with the resentment of DG SOLDIERs who have died" -- so yeah, I'm thinking the pun.

Shademp · Dec 1, 2016

Oops, I copy-pasted the wrong mask name. (Sauce)

ヌーベルマスク = Nouvelle Mask

Strangelove · Dec 1, 2016

i think nouvelle/nouvel is right for that (assuming it's meant to be the french word and not a made-up one)

Shademp · Dec 2, 2016

Found two more unique installation screens (and one repeat) for the Beta Multiplayer, in addition to those already found.

　　

I recognize the Drone rank icon/medal to the top right (okay not exactly the same but similar enough). The two below must represent Scout and Trooper, which are the two rank symbols that, before today, we had not seen. Best I can gather, the top rank you could achieve in the Beta was Trooper.

Shademp · Dec 2, 2016

You really have to keep in mind that even sites which still exist may have Multiplayer content if you go there in the Wayback Machine.

Like in the "Ex-Potion" site, their DCFFVII Multiplayer content was removed by February 2007. Used the Wayback Machine with wonderful results.

Google Translate from the page about servers:

The server is dedicated to domestic players.

Currently there are 7 domestic player dedicated servers. It can enter up to 1000 people per lobby.

Lobby name
JP-01 Vincent
JP-02 Cait Sith
JP-03 Cloud
JP-04 Barret
JP-05 Tifa
JP-06 Aerith
JP-07 Red XIII

YYYEEEEESSS!!! Finally a list with all the servers (as of May-June 2006 at least).

Lots of great info in there too about equipment and the Drone missions too.

ForceStealer · Dec 2, 2016

And given that they were taken down so quickly, is it just that no one was ever on them? I assume that's what it was but I could be wrong, haha.

Shademp · Dec 3, 2016

Google Translate has suddenly become even better at translating formal Japanese. The version update/upgrade reports from PlayOnline make even more sense than before. Some neat facts learned from the April 20 update update:

- The NPC "TSV Pullum" was added on April 20. That's this person in the East Lobby, aka Area 1, wearing a Moogle Cap.

When you talk to TSV Pullum "under certain conditions" she (I think it's a female model) will offer to clear missions for you if you have the gil for it.

I also learned from Final Fantasy Cheats that by paying TSV Pullum you can gain medals. This explains where Michui bought the "Emblem of the Black Wings" medal after he gave up on trying to defeat Nero.

- At last we know what the "+" and "-" signs adjacent to your class ranks mean.

For the + sign, this is the google translation:

When the classification test is cleared with the first challenge, "+" will be added next to the class name.

Either this means that if you clear the Promotion Exam on the first try, or as your first mission after having reached a new class, you will get a + sign added to your class rank. I don't know which of these two interpretations are true.

If you pay TSV Pullum to clear a Promotion Exam for you, a minus will be added to your newly paid for rank.

Some completely lacked + and - symbols, some were filled with them.

Jill paid TSV Pullum in order to reach the Tsviet class!

DCFFVII Research Thread

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AI Researcher

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AI Researcher

Pro Adventurer

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Ex-SeeD-ingly good

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Double Growth

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