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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy |OT| Yes, "One-Winged Angel" is in! Quit asking!

S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
When do you guys tend to use items?

I've only used one so far, and that was just a scroll to learn an ability after the song.

I assume it's best to wait until you're stuck?

Also, I wish the game gave you a description of the item you just earned in a song. It's a pain having to go to the equip screen and scroll through them all the time.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
laika09 said:
You're asking them to fundamentally alter the game's content. In the exactly one case of a Japanese song, Melodies of Life, you're asking them to modify the actual gameplay (as the notes are tied to the vocals) without any input from the developer. You're asking them to record videos, in English, of games that were never released outside of Japan.
Click to expand...

With respect to the vocal songs, yes? Yes, they should ship the English game with, at a minimum, the English versions of the songs. I don't think it's absurd to assume that their localization budget includes enough to re-track the notes on one song. And it doesn't need to be "without any input from the developer". This isn't a third-party company localizing the game. There should be open lines of communication between Square Enix USA and the development team in Japan.

With respect to the background videos, YES?! This isn't rocket science. I'll set aside the unlocalized games (although I don't feel it's asking too much to dump in the subsequent localizations to record the videos), but it's downright trivial to re-record the FFIV/FFI sections

Take FFIV. Visually I can't tell well enough what's going on in the Prelude video to know what to record there--but all the scenes appear to be from before Cecil and Kain leave Baron, so we're talking <15 minutes to record--obviously it takes time to cut the video again, of course, but we're not talking about a month long project here.

In the Theme of Love, here are what you'd need to re-record (strikethrough is scenes that can be kept without changing):
- Exterior shot of Baron Castle from intro sequence
- Red Wings flying on world map, intro sequence
- Kain and Cecil unleash the Bomb on Mist
- Rydia's mom is dead
- Kain and Cecil fight Rydia+Titan, he uses quake or whatever on them.
- Earthquake on world map
- Rosa leaves Cecil in Baron
- Introduction of the twins
- Stopping the fire at Mt. Ordeals with Ice
- Edward, Rydia, and Cecil wake up sick Rosa
- Cecil walks up Mt. Ordeals
- Lights flows into Cecil's sword in Ordeals, he becomes a Paladin
- The walls close in, the Twins turn to stone
- Leviathan swallows the ship from Fabul
- Cecil saves Rosa from the Guillotine/Spike Ball, they hug
- Cecil fights Kain, Kain jumps Cecil
- Edward talks to Ghost Anna
- Fighting Rubicante, Rubicante uses flame on party
- Milon Z back attack
- Cagnazzo uses his wave attack counter
- Kain jumps on Barbariccia
- Tellah confronts Golbez at the top of Tower of Zot
- Tellah casts Meteo on Golbez
- The gang watches Tellah die
- Airships zig-zagging in the underground
- Cid suicide jumps from Airship to blow the underworld closed
- The underworld is closed
- Yang kicks cecil out of the room
- Cecil approaches the room and the place blows up
- Big Whale takes off
- Earth and Moon separating
- Rydia's Mist Dragon uses breath on Golbez and the Dark Dragon Snake thing, Snake thing dies, a line is said, Rydia shows up and then uses Ifrit on Golbez,
- Cecil and Rosa address the crowd at their wedding, everyone cheers

You're looking at the first 6, maybe 8 hours of the game for a first time player. Then you're looking at a few hours of video editing. I suspect you'd find a fan out there that would be willing to recut the Event Scene video scene-for-scene in their spare time.

I really don't think this is expecting too much.
 
R

Roto13

Member
Stumpokapow said:
With respect to the vocal songs, yes? Yes, they should ship the English game with, at a minimum, the English versions of the songs. I don't think it's absurd to assume that their localization budget includes enough to re-track the notes on one song. And it doesn't need to be "without any input from the developer". This isn't a third-party company localizing the game. There should be open lines of communication between Square Enix USA and the development team in Japan.

With respect to the background videos, YES?! This isn't rocket science. I'll set aside the unlocalized games (although I don't feel it's asking too much to dump in the subsequent localizations to record the videos), but it's downright trivial to re-record the FFIV/FFI sections

Take FFIV. Visually I can't tell well enough what's going on in the Prelude video to know what to record there--but all the scenes appear to be from before Cecil and Kain leave Baron, so we're talking <15 minutes to record--obviously it takes time to cut the video again, of course, but we're not talking about a month long project here.

In the Theme of Love, here are what you'd need to re-record:
- Kain and Cecil fight Rydia+Titan, he uses quake or whatever on them.
- Cecil fights Kain, Kain jumps Cecil
- Fighting Rubicante, Rubicante uses flame on party
- Milon Z back attack
- Cagnazzo uses his wave attack counter
- Kain jumps on Barbariccia
- Tellah confronts Golbez at the top of Tower of Zot
- Tellah casts Meteo on Golbez
- Rydia's Mist Dragon uses breath on Golbez and the Dark Dragon Snake thing, Snake thing dies, a line is said, Rydia shows up and then uses Ifrit on Golbez,

You're looking at the first 6, maybe 8 hours of the game for a first time player. Then you're looking at a few hours of video editing. I suspect you'd find a fan out there that would be willing to recut the Event Scene video scene-for-scene in their spare time.

I really don't think this is expecting too much.
Click to expand...

They should have just lifted the footage from various Let's Play videos. :p
 
J

Jucksalbe

Banned
Can you somehow get Feature Zones while still getting the Stoic Bonus? Kinda sad that every EMS stops a bit before the end when you're trying to get SSS rankings.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Munkyface said:
I would've liked to hear PlayOnline's menu music in-game over either of the two borefests they tossed in there for XI's EMS and BMS.
Click to expand...

Awakening is great. Kinda wish they picked a more lively area for the field theme than ronfaure though.

As for the jp videos in the background, while it doesnt really bother me that much...i think they might have covered themselves by stating in the main menu "as originally released in japan".

Edit: damn touch screen keyboard :p
 
M

Midou

Member
Teknoman said:
Awakening is great. Kinda wish they picked a more lively area for the fild theme than ronfaure though.

As for the jp videos in the background, while it doesnt really bother me that much...u think they might hav covred themselves by stating in the main menu "as originally released in japan".
Click to expand...

Ronfaure is like 'the' FFXI song though, it's always at FF concerts and such. It's always tied to my early FFXI memories as well. There are certainly better songs, but it isn't a bad one to choose.
 
B

Bisonian

Member
Was there a bitch fest about No.90+ Dark Notes yet?

(Very very minor note chart related spoiler:)
Rotating directional notes? Are you kidding me? How is this fair?

Has really put a dampen on me hitting the "end game content" of that game mode. How are you supposed to handle those?
 
T

Teknoman

Member
Midou said:
Ronfaure is like 'the' FFXI song though, it's always at FF concerts and such. It's always tied to my early FFXI memories as well. There are certainly better songs, but it isn't a bad one to choose.
Click to expand...

Maybe im just biased since I always favored Bastok/Gustaburg.
 
R

rpmurphy

Member
Bisonian said:
Was there a bitch fest about No.90+ Dark Notes yet?

(Very very minor note chart related spoiler:)
Rotating directional notes? Are you kidding me? How is this fair?

Has really put a dampen on me hitting the "end game content" of that game mode. How are you supposed to handle those?
Click to expand...
I just don't have the muscle coordination to do those slide note chains. I can do sets of three or four, but a full circle is impossible for me right now. :[
 
C

cagelessrat

Member
Loving this game. Characters are about level 40. It reminded me though (all the Dark Notes with Mambo de Chocobo), where is Chocobo Racing 3D? Haven't really heard anything since E3 2010.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Bisonian said:
Was there a bitch fest about No.90+ Dark Notes yet?

(Very very minor note chart related spoiler:)
Rotating directional notes? Are you kidding me? How is this fair?

Has really put a dampen on me hitting the "end game content" of that game mode. How are you supposed to handle those?
Click to expand...

They always rotate a set amount, so once you figure it out you should be able to react accordingly. I mentioned it throwing me off as well earlier, but once you're ready for it its not so bad. Unless there's a ton in a row or alternating, then at that point its up to you remembering the sequence coming up if you can't get through solely on reaction.
 
B

Bisonian

Member
rpmurphy said:
I just don't have the muscle coordination to do those slide note chains. I can do sets of three or four, but a full circle is impossible for me right now. :[
Click to expand...

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing so I'll try again:

The directional note, a single note, the arrow will rotate as it comes across the screen, locking in place only immediately before it is to be played.

If you can do a set of those though, color me impressed. I have the FFIV battle song on a No.93 dark note and it's non stop duos of those that essentially just has me guessing until I die a very rapid death.
 
C

Cjdamon042

Member
Bisonian said:
Was there a bitch fest about No.90+ Dark Notes yet?

(Very very minor note chart related spoiler:)
Rotating directional notes? Are you kidding me? How is this fair?

Has really put a dampen on me hitting the "end game content" of that game mode. How are you supposed to handle those?
Click to expand...

7 posts above yours :p

But yeah, totally threw me off guard. I could handle them slightly in the FMS, but when it got to the BMS I was royally screwed and died lol
 
M

MrDaravon

Member
Japan's getting 4 more tracks on July 11th bringing the total up to 52; wonder if this will be the last pack or not (they said initially at least 50 tracks).

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/07/0...inal-fantasy-xi-players-back-to-sarutabaruta/

Final Fantasy X - Final/Decisive Battle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjhXqgB1TMo

Final Fantasy XI - Sarutabaruta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wuvJ9wlZwA

Final Fantasy XII - Boss Battle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-AwbsQi-nk

Final Fantasy XIII - Desperate Struggle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUelR8WPhuo
 
B

Bisonian

Member
XiaNaphryz said:
They always rotate a set amount, so once you figure it out you should be able to react accordingly. I mentioned it throwing me off as well earlier, but once you're ready for it its not so bad. Unless there's a ton in a row or alternating, then at that point its up to you remembering the sequence coming up if you can't get through solely on reaction.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the song I drew has both of the things you mentioned. I'll have to try to get a different Dark Note song and see if it's a little bit lighter on the bullshit notes.



Cjdamon042 said:
7 posts above yours :p

But yeah, totally threw me off guard. I could handle them slightly in the FMS, but when it got to the BMS I was royally screwed and died lol
Click to expand...

Ah, my bad, I missed you :( You are not alone though!
 
S

Shotgun Kiss

Member
If they released DLC tracks as packs at reduced prices, and DLC characters, basically allowing me to expand the game for the same content-to-cost ratio as the main game itself, I'd consider buying everything. And that's coming from somebody who is completely unfamiliar with all Final Fantasy games and music apart from FFVII.
 
L

laika09

Member
Stumpokapow said:
With respect to the vocal songs, yes? Yes, they should ship the English game with, at a minimum, the English versions of the songs. I don't think it's absurd to assume that their localization budget includes enough to re-track the notes on one song. And it doesn't need to be "without any input from the developer". This isn't a third-party company localizing the game. There should be open lines of communication between Square Enix USA and the development team in Japan.

With respect to the background videos, YES?! This isn't rocket science. I'll set aside the unlocalized games (although I don't feel it's asking too much to dump in the subsequent localizations to record the videos), but it's downright trivial to re-record the FFIV/FFI sections

Take FFIV. Visually I can't tell well enough what's going on in the Prelude video to know what to record there--but all the scenes appear to be from before Cecil and Kain leave Baron, so we're talking <15 minutes to record--obviously it takes time to cut the video again, of course, but we're not talking about a month long project here.

In the Theme of Love, here are what you'd need to re-record (strikethrough is scenes that can be kept without changing):
- Exterior shot of Baron Castle from intro sequence
- Red Wings flying on world map, intro sequence
- Kain and Cecil unleash the Bomb on Mist
- Rydia's mom is dead
- Kain and Cecil fight Rydia+Titan, he uses quake or whatever on them.
- Earthquake on world map
- Rosa leaves Cecil in Baron
- Introduction of the twins
- Stopping the fire at Mt. Ordeals with Ice
- Edward, Rydia, and Cecil wake up sick Rosa
- Cecil walks up Mt. Ordeals
- Lights flows into Cecil's sword in Ordeals, he becomes a Paladin
- The walls close in, the Twins turn to stone
- Leviathan swallows the ship from Fabul
- Cecil saves Rosa from the Guillotine/Spike Ball, they hug
- Cecil fights Kain, Kain jumps Cecil
- Edward talks to Ghost Anna
- Fighting Rubicante, Rubicante uses flame on party
- Milon Z back attack
- Cagnazzo uses his wave attack counter
- Kain jumps on Barbariccia
- Tellah confronts Golbez at the top of Tower of Zot
- Tellah casts Meteo on Golbez
- The gang watches Tellah die
- Airships zig-zagging in the underground
- Cid suicide jumps from Airship to blow the underworld closed
- The underworld is closed
- Yang kicks cecil out of the room
- Cecil approaches the room and the place blows up
- Big Whale takes off
- Earth and Moon separating
- Rydia's Mist Dragon uses breath on Golbez and the Dark Dragon Snake thing, Snake thing dies, a line is said, Rydia shows up and then uses Ifrit on Golbez,
- Cecil and Rosa address the crowd at their wedding, everyone cheers

You're looking at the first 6, maybe 8 hours of the game for a first time player. Then you're looking at a few hours of video editing. I suspect you'd find a fan out there that would be willing to recut the Event Scene video scene-for-scene in their spare time.

I really don't think this is expecting too much.
Click to expand...

From a pragmatic perspective, you're elevating the project an order of magnitude in time and expense. If you commit to rerecording any of the videos, you really commit to rerecording all of them. If you commit to including different content (eg, English Melodies of Life), you commit to changing *all* of it. (I don't really see a world in which they would selectively modify FFIX content to meet Western expectations but leave FFIII content intact.) What was a one-month cash-in becomes a six-month tribulation. Now you have to contract out Indieszero to remap notes for some songs. Now you have to rerun QA tests on everything you touched. And so on.

You can say I'm taking this out of perspective and that Square Enix would be perfectly happy to release a game with mishmashed content, and you might be right. But I don't see it that way.

Or maybe I'm wrong and it really is just that trivial to fix. Who's to say how talented or resourceful or efficient their localizers are. As ShockingAlberto suggested, that's mostly just me making excuses for the localizer, or for Square Enix's project management. This discussion all kind of betrays my larger point.

What I'm getting at is that I don't really see this game at all targetted at Western consumers, even Western Final Fantasy fans. We're all just borrowing what began as, and was until very recently, first and foremost a Japanese series. As somebody who's played the early (1-3) games, I actually do get a nostalgia kick from those, but 98% of people who play this game won't have touched a Final Fantasy on NES.

Of all the ways they could have gone with this localization, only two make sense to me: the way they did it, and the complete opposite extreme, where the content gets completely tailored to the West just as it was originally to Japan. Anywhere in-between leaves you with a strange mash-up of cheesy English songs and "spoony bard"-isms in the background right next to Japanese videos of games nobody's ever played. And if you go the extreme route of making everything just like it was in its original Western release (to say nothing of the differences between North America and Europe), then you get games with conflicting titles, and out of order, and various strange graphical leaps, and a whole host of other issues. I just don't see myself being nearly as satisfied with any other alternative.

I think of it this way: this game is clearly a retrospective, albeit musical, with some text and gameplay attached. If this retrospective wasn't a game, but a book, would it be released here? Of course not. Ultimania guides aren't released here. If it was a CD set, would it be released here? Almost certainly not, either. The only reason they did release it here was that it had a pretty fun gameplay element and would a relatively easy side-project to finish for some bonus profit, plus engender some much-needed goodwill in a small minority of fans. It doesn't make sense to go back and alter history to conform to the West's distorted timeline.

Anyway, I make a lot of assumptions about what other people (or the general audience) does or doesn't like, or want, or expect, as well as what Square Enix would or wouldn't be content with. I guess your satisfaction with the localization just depends on what you're looking for.
 
R

rpmurphy

Member
Bisonian said:
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing so I'll try again:

The directional note, a single note, the arrow will rotate as it comes across the screen, locking in place only immediately before it is to be played.

If you can do a set of those though, color me impressed. I have the FFIV battle song on a No.93 dark note and it's non stop duos of those that essentially just has me guessing until I die a very rapid death.
Click to expand...
OMG what.
 
S

Scythian Empire

Member
Why are all the songs in Chaos Shrine just the same handful of songs over and over again? And how do I unlock some of the songs in challenge mode? Like "Something To Protect" from FF9 is the best song ever, but I need to play a shitty song from FF3 before I can play it? :(
 
Z

zroid

Banned
Scythian Empire said:
Why are all the songs in Chaos Shrine just the same handful of songs over and over again? And how do I unlock some of the songs in challenge mode? Like "Something To Protect" from FF9 is the best song ever, but I need to play a shitty song from FF3 before I can play it? :(
Click to expand...

Rhythmia. But apparently some CS songs don't even unlock in Challenge. :/
 
E

EvilRedEye

Member
The only thing that really bothers me about the localisation is that the character limit for profile names is too short for Western needs. I'm surprised people no-one else has moaned about it. I think in an ideal world the FFIV event stage could have been originally cut in a region-agnostic way like the ones for FFV and FFVI, but never mind (the NES games are just a lost cause really).
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Bururian said:
Finally unlocked Mt. Gulg. Why does it only have a 'Special Score' and not more than one note map?
Click to expand...

This is a hunch as I haven't tried to confirm it yet, but I think the difficulty for those scales with the level of your party to reflect how they also can be easy or hard in Dark Notes?

So it would be easier with a low-level group, but bring in a bunch of 99s and you'll see it go faster with more notes including the rotating arrows.

rpmurphy said:
OMG what.
Click to expand...

You are not prepared. ;)
 
M

matthwq

Banned
This game inspired me to start up Final Fantasy IV this past weekend after playing the main theme a billion times. I've already put in 20 hours. It's a really good game.

Thanks, Theatrhythm!!!! :)
 
S

saveweyard

Banned
matthwq said:
This game inspired me to start up Final Fantasy IV this past weekend after playing the main theme a billion times. I've already put in 20 hours. It's a really good game.

Thanks, Theatrhythm!!!! :)
Click to expand...

It inspired me to play through all of the main FF titles this summer, starting with 1 this week. And skipping XI/XIV.

I've only ever played III, IV, VII, X, XII, and XIII.
 
L

laika09

Member
EvilRedEye said:
The only thing that really bothers me about the localisation is that the character limit for profile names is too short for Western needs. I'm surprised people no-one else has moaned about it. I think in an ideal world the FFIV event stage could have been originally cut in a region-agnostic way like the ones for FFV and FFVI, but never mind (the NES games are just a lost cause really).
Click to expand...

I couldn't fit "Worst birthday ever" into the proficard slogan line :\
 
B

B.K.

Member
Fight With Seymour is impossible for me. I don't have the coordination or reflexes to beat it. I didn't even make it a quarter of the way into the song before the characters' HP was at 0. I can't imagine playing on anything other than the default difficulty.
 
O

Oro

Member
Getting my ass kicked by Fight With Seymour. I thought EBA would prepare me, guess not. Anyway this game is great.
 
1

1337Sauce

Member
I'm interested in buying this game, but am currently playing through as many of the FF games that I can because I only lately have gained access to any of the playstation systems. However I have always been interested in the music, and know most of the tracks that are in this game.

I do want to avoid as many spoilers as I can for the series because I would rather experience them within the actual game. Can anybody tell me how apparent any spoilers are within the game, if there are any? It doesn't matter if there are images, such as boss fights and what not, I just don't really want to know their relations to any of the main plot lines.
 
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