the_E_y_Es_o_0

Vagrant Story Zenith

156 posts in this topic

Loving the mod. So much so that I've completed my first play-through with it and am on my way through a second.

I'm particularly liking the quicken spell, it's let me clear a few gaps that shouldn't be crossed, at least not at the time I'm crossing.
So far, it has allowed me to cross the gap that forms in the room with the first ghost, the gap in the room with the cloudstone before fighting the dragon and the river in the town straight after fighting Duane.

The second gap I mentioned, after going through and beating the dragon, I went back to where you fight the Golem as I hadn't done that and he wasn't there. I'm just wondering if this will break anything. It seems fine so far though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Maedroth said:

Loving the mod. So much so that I've completed my first play-through with it and am on my way through a second.

I'm particularly liking the quicken spell, it's let me clear a few gaps that shouldn't be crossed, at least not at the time I'm crossing.
So far, it has allowed me to cross the gap that forms in the room with the first ghost, the gap in the room with the cloudstone before fighting the dragon and the river in the town straight after fighting Duane.

The second gap I mentioned, after going through and beating the dragon, I went back to where you fight the Golem as I hadn't done that and he wasn't there. I'm just wondering if this will break anything. It seems fine so far though.

Sequence breaking in VS?! Well damn... those are some unforeseen applications of the Quicken spell. I did wonder if the Town Center river could be cleared, I guess it can. Does that mean you skipped Abandoned Mines B1 entirely? As for the Sanctum river, I never thought of crossing it before the Golem fight. Did you land on the inactive cloudstone on the other side? In any case, what surprises me the most is that you jumped the abyss in The Lamenting Mother, Catacombs. It just seems impossible to me. Now I have to try it myself...

To be honest, I'm not sure what the ramifications are for bypassing segments of the game. My first thought is you might miss some flags that spawn enemies and perhaps even bosses. For one thing, I'm pretty sure the Ogre boss fight in AMB1 triggers some Crimson Blades in Town Center West. So if you think the area is a little empty, it's probably that. With that said, I'm curious as to how a non-linear, sequence break'd playthrough would hold up. I take it you're still progressing, and haven't got stuck? Do keep me posted, as I haven't got any feedback on this aspect.

Glad you're enjoying it, too. Makes it all worth it. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

After jumping the river in TCW, I proceeded as normal to the scene with Guildenenstern and Sydney, then went back to AMB1 for the sake of map completion and ran into problems.

Upon entering The Battle's Beginning, the doors locked as normal and the cutscene played as if to show the Wyvern but the Wyvern didn't appear so I couldn't leave. I reloaded and went into AMB1 from where you come out after the Ogre. When entering Traitor's Parting from behind, the same thing happened with no Ogre appearing and Ashley was rooted to the spot and couldn't do anything except reset.

The soldiers in TCW appeared as normal and the cloudstone across the river activated though.

For the sake of finding out more on how far you can go with sequence breaking, I will continue and keep you posted.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I see. Looks like you missed out on those bosses, then. IIRC you can go around the Wyvern room, but without the Hyacinth Sigil you can't fully explore the area.

Thanks for the update, I wonder how far you'll be able to go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 hours ago, topopox said:

Hi!, I'm stopping by to say that I love your mod so far! I'm at the Snowfly forest and I'm having a ball!!

Glad to hear it. Seems you've registered just to tell me that? I'm flattered, haha.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 13/12/2018 at 1:42 PM, the_E_y_Es_o_0 said:

Glad to hear it. Seems you've registered just to tell me that? I'm flattered, haha.

Hey no prob man!

I'm actually interested in donating for support! I really like this project!

Merry Christmas!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Quick question:

What's the purpose of removing the Escapeway area? I haven't played this game in years, so I don't remember anything about it. Was it problematic for some reason? Isn't it just a shortcut locked behind a Rood Inverse door? Thanks.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, topopox said:

Hey no prob man!

I'm actually interested in donating for support! I really like this project!

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas to you as well. I intend to put up links for those interested in donating, along with an official site for the mod. Nothing fancy, just a basic wordpress blog for my updates and stuff. It should be up in the next month. In the meantime, just have fun and report any problems you have with the mod. :)

2 hours ago, Hyphen-B said:

Quick question:

What's the purpose of removing the Escapeway area? I haven't played this game in years, so I don't remember anything about it. Was it problematic for some reason? Isn't it just a shortcut locked behind a Rood Inverse door? Thanks.

Nothing really wrong with it. It's just that I decided the data space which the Escapeway occupied was better used in favor of other areas (mostly Temple of Kiltia). That way I could expand ToK's enemy roster and add more encounters to its rooms. I had all these cool ideas, but not the bytes to accomodate them. So I thought, Escapeway is a pretty lousy area. No bosses, and all its enemies are recycled copies from other places. A more subjective point, its location is a bit annoying; merely an obstacle to get the Gold Key. Finally, after removing it I thought the new progression felt more natural than the original, so that kind of cemented my decision. To the point that even if I didn't need the extra space, I'd still remove the Escapeway because it's just better without it.

Relevant vid: 

 

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ah okay, that makes sense. I'm excited to play this mod. I always like to try out things that are made by people with a thorough understanding of the game they're working with, which you definitely have. To that end, I actually have another question. What do you guys use to run VS?

I've tried the Mednafen libretro cores - Beetle PSX and Beetle PSX HW - but they always hang when I get to the quake in the Chamber of Fear. My guess is that it has something to do with the level geometry changing, but I'm a total layman so I really have no idea. ePSXe seems to handle that event just fine, but I'd really prefer to not use ePSXe if I don't have to.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
11 hours ago, Hyphen-B said:

Ah okay, that makes sense. I'm excited to play this mod. I always like to try out things that are made by people with a thorough understanding of the game they're working with, which you definitely have. To that end, I actually have another question. What do you guys use to run VS?

I've tried the Mednafen libretro cores - Beetle PSX and Beetle PSX HW - but they always hang when I get to the quake in the Chamber of Fear. My guess is that it has something to do with the level geometry changing, but I'm a total layman so I really have no idea. ePSXe seems to handle that event just fine, but I'd really prefer to not use ePSXe if I don't have to.

Personally I use epsxe. Ofc, pcsx also works, but it's too barebones for my tastes. I've been told that the mod is not compatible with the PS Vita, so I assume that's not an option.

One user at gamefaqs said Retroarch runs the mod just fine, although I don't know what core he was using. I could try to find out if you're interested.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah that'd be great if you wouldn't mind. He might've been using the PCSX ReARMed core which works fine, but, like you said, is pretty barebones and only outputs a software render at native resolution. I'll keep experimenting and see if I can't get Beetle to work; it's really accurate and has a lot of cool features. If not I can always go back to Ol' Reliable aka ePSXe :P Thanks!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Tried a few different things so far. Seems like it's only the Beetle core that doesn't like the scene transition in Chamber of Fear, the one after Ashley says "This is a big one!". Works fine in the base game, but that room + Zenith causes the emulator to hang. No idea what might be causing this, since other emulators don't have a problem with it. Additionally, if I get past that transition on the PCSX core, save, then swap to Beetle, going back to that room after the transition has occurred will still cause a hang. Not a big deal, since I can just switch cores if I ever need to be in that room. Just thought it was interesting.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
47 minutes ago, Hyphen-B said:

Tried a few different things so far. Seems like it's only the Beetle core that doesn't like the scene transition in Chamber of Fear, the one after Ashley says "This is a big one!". 

This is where the game crash on ps vita. 

Mod works with retroarch pcsx rearmed on switch. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, Hyphen-B said:

Seems like it's only the Beetle core that doesn't like the scene transition in Chamber of Fear, the one after Ashley says "This is a big one!". Works fine in the base game, but that room + Zenith causes the emulator to hang.

 

4 hours ago, Rounard said:

This is where the game crash on ps vita.

This is useful information, thanks to both of you. I'm going to try and recreate the bug on my side, so I can work on it. I have some ideas of what the problem might be.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Anyone else gotten to the Zombie Minotaur yet? He won't die even if I reduce his HP to 0. He just kind of stands around like a dummy and doesn't do anything xD

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
22 minutes ago, Hyphen-B said:

Anyone else gotten to the Zombie Minotaur yet? He won't die even if I reduce his HP to 0. He just kind of stands around like a dummy and doesn't do anything xD

Lol, embarassing... I think someone else reported the same problem. I'll look into it. Been kind of busy but I hope to have some free time soon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Patch updated (version 0.92). link: https://mega.nz/#!NJ8XxIAK!XO0QEHtryrItrpdaua_Ye_istuzuR0oI8M24OxP-Xl8

A brief summary of the changes from last version:

- fixed Minotaur Zombie bug

- workaround for Chamber of Fear freeze (needs testing)

- Last Crusaders no longer teleport

- numerous rebalance tweaks in several areas

- Break Arts no longer deal variable damage

- IMB2/B3 map is invisible again, like in the original

I'm unable to test the Chamber of Fear bug atm, if someone could do it for me I'd be grateful.

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Made this account just to reply here and tell you how I absolutely LOVE the -idea- behind what you are doing.

Mind you, I would love what you're -doing- if only I could get it to work :)

I got double sure the .bin I got is US, and I'm using the program you linked, it tells me that all is fine and dandy when I patch the file, but when I get into the game itself, none of the changes seem present, well, except for the fact that the mobs in the "this is a big one" room are glitched and don't aggro on me, in stead, they freeze in place and refuse to die whenever I hit them. Otherwise they just fly/run around like blind little puppies, it's almost cute.

 

Been trying the 0.92 version, could you perhaps reupload the 0.91 version so I can see if it has the same issue? Would be great, love your work and THANK YOU SO DAMN MUCH for reviving this great little gem!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, KarotConCarne said:

Made this account just to reply here and tell you how I absolutely LOVE the -idea- behind what you are doing.

Mind you, I would love what you're -doing- if only I could get it to work :)

I got double sure the .bin I got is US, and I'm using the program you linked, it tells me that all is fine and dandy when I patch the file, but when I get into the game itself, none of the changes seem present, well, except for the fact that the mobs in the "this is a big one" room are glitched and don't aggro on me, in stead, they freeze in place and refuse to die whenever I hit them. Otherwise they just fly/run around like blind little puppies, it's almost cute.

 

Been trying the 0.92 version, could you perhaps reupload the 0.91 version so I can see if it has the same issue? Would be great, love your work and THANK YOU SO DAMN MUCH for reviving this great little gem!

I had a feeling something was off with that file. The previous patch was about 7 MB, while 0.92 was only 230KB or so.

I remade the 0.92 patch and now it has the appropriate size (7 MB). Do try it before falling back to 0.91. Here's both patches, just in case:

VS_0.92: https://mega.nz/#!FBUVRCAZ!Eu11axAb2113G5ZENdLcATw0MYtXTqcF5IBN7GaBMBo

VS_0.91: https://mega.nz/#!EZ9lUaRY!8Rn2e3ql4poajKZR4dgQIJDmNL83p81ozl1MU5kR9Uc

I really wonder why that room is so problematic. For now I think I'll revert my changes to it and leave it exactly as in the original.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You truuly are doing Tzeentch's work, my friend.

Alas, there must be some foul curse cast upon the 9.2 version, since according to the patcher, it is not a valid ppf file.

The 9.1 version works, though, and I'm instantly in love with it. The early mimic definitely caught me off guard, my thoughts at the moment were "wait, that chest was on the other side of the rooOHGODWHATTHEFFFF"... and then the mino killed me in one shot. Glorious, just glorious :D

Edited by KarotConCarne

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Heyo, 

Started a brand new game with this mod last night (beta ver 0.92) and the Zombie Minotaur boss spawns along with the normal one. He pretty much one shots me. 

 

I'm using RetroArch with the PSCX-ReARMed r22 core ver 1.7.5 on Windows 10.

I used the file from the mega.z link in the first post. 

 

Hope this helps. Thanks for your time and hard work. 

20190124_012503.jpg

Edited by mooses8d

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now