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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 4:46 am 
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CRV10 wrote:
I just need to blow off some steam, hope it's OK...

Spoiler! :
I was playing for three straight hours when something unexpected & most unpleasant happened :oops:

I loaded the game (in game save) at the town where you met Arlaw (Arlowe) for the very first time & are asked to acquire an item to cure the curse put on him by Zolde.

In three hours of playing I finally got Arlowe in my party, have cleared the Wind Shrine, have gone through Bandol, received the blessing to become the next Light Warrior & have reached the town of Noland. I saved my game (again in game via the Magic Guild) & before I turned off the game (emulator) I decided to leave town & do a savestate at the world map. I often do this because I'm so used to games like the Final Fantasy games where you can save outside towns. So anyway, I get out of town & made a savestate, then my stupid "enjoyment" of the game made me look at my party's stats & doing so made me realize that my Idol party only needs one more battle for the team to level up. So I walk a bit north onto the Snowy area (I've already acquired the Sledge) & bam! A battle starts! I won the battle, the idols leveled up & as soon as the world map returns I pressed the Save state button (I assigned it on the Right Trigger number 2 button of my Logitech Gamepad) then.... Oh no! The emulator crashed! 0_o Well actually it stopped responding (game froze, no sound) so I had to end the process.

When I reloaded the game my heart was torn to pieces when my state would not load (the status text said the state was not in the correct format) as it seems to have been corrupted & what's worse was my last save (in Noland) seems to have been destroyed as when the game loaded I was back at where I began playing (in the town where you meet Arlowe) 0_o So yeah, three hours of fun went down the toilet :(

At least the crash didn't corrupt the in game save making it so I start at the very beginning because if it did that'll truly make me want to cry :(


End Rant...
If you were using ZSNES 151, be advised that the game can become unstable in that emulator.

Spoiler! :
Go back to that frontier post near Arkasas City, buy a bunch of Jeweled Boxes, and save out in the open with those after huge battles or great item drops.


Also, if you play that sequence again using SNES9 x143, do a save-state frequently. If you encounter such a problem again using SNES9x 143, there's an off chance we have a bug. Bongo` needs save-states from SNES9x 143 to do his best tracing of routines that might be failing under certain conditions. This game was very fragile during the production stage, one of the most tedious hacks Bongo` may have ever accomplished besides Chaos Seed.


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:16 am 
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The person on gamefaqs that had crashes before was using Zsnes, swapping to Snes9x alleviated the problem.
Still, as Wildbill pointed out, savestates and SRAM files would be extremely useful.
Zsnes proved troublesome early during testing, but I never imagined it would be so bad.
We really need to make sure our next read me tells users to literally run away from it.

Edit: Addendum - Zsnes hates games that require precise timing to work correctly because it uses
many speed hacks to achieve the running efficiency that made it famous. While most games
don't complain of such shortcuts, others will either completely deny the player the ability to run
them (Actraiser 2) or display unstable, erratic behavior (Shin Megami Tensei).
Silva Saga 2 fits on the same scenario as SMT: It runs, but with problems like hangs
and such.


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 2:18 pm 
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Oh!

So this could be some sort of bug you say :shock:

Alright then, I'll reproduce the instance again & let you folk know :)

By the way, I am using snes9x 1.53 (the last release) for all of my SNES ROMs.

I didn't know my moment of despair could potentially help you guys out & some how I feel a little bit better now :)


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:27 pm 
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What I'm about to say is highly unlikely, but try playing without your gamepad for a while and see how it goes.
Make separate saves around Noland, as Wildbill advised and fight around a bit, if you can spare the time.
Every little thing helps in figuring out what the problem could be.


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:15 am 
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OK folks sorry for taking so long, but I've finally reached Noland again & this time something else funkier happened.

Thankfully I hadn't encountered that instance the emulator froze on me, yet. But this time text overflow & other funky text hiccups were happening inside Noland town. Once you load any of the three savestate files I've attached to this post go straight into Noland & check the nearby well to see garbled text. Talk to Noland townsfolk to see funky text overflowing with dialogues from townsfolk from other cities. At first I thought the ROM might have gotten corrupted when I moved it from one location to another, from My Documents > Downloads folder to my designated ROMs folder on my other drive. To make sure it isn't a corrupted ROM issue I downloaded a fresh copy of the ROM & applied the translation patch & when I load the savestate the text remain garbled. It's not a permanent garbling though, if you go into the Magic Guild & save your game then turn off the game (emulator) then rerun the game & load the in game save you will see that the townsfolk's dialogues will be fixed, resetting the game then reloading the in game save works too, it's just annoying doing so on snes9x as it sometimes creates a .oops file in the saveestates folder if you do.


Attachments:
File comment: SS2 SRAM
Silva Saga II Data.zip [376.18 KiB]
Downloaded 621 times
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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:34 am 
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CRV10 wrote:
OK folks sorry for taking so long, but I've finally reached Noland again & this time something else funkier happened.

Thankfully I hadn't encountered that instance the emulator froze on me, yet. But this time text overflow & other funky text hiccups were happening inside Noland town. Once you load any of the three savestate files I've attached to this post go straight into Noland & check the nearby well to see garbled text. Talk to Noland townsfolk to see funky text overflowing with dialogues from townsfolk from other cities. At first I thought the ROM might have gotten corrupted when I moved it from one location to another, from My Documents > Downloads folder to my designated ROMs folder on my other drive. To make sure it isn't a corrupted ROM issue I downloaded a fresh copy of the ROM & applied the translation patch & when I load the savestate the text remain garbled. It's not a permanent garbling though, if you go into the Magic Guild & save your game then turn off the game (emulator) then rerun the game & load the in game save you will see that the townsfolk's dialogues will be fixed, resetting the game then reloading the in game save works too, it's just annoying doing so on snes9x as it sometimes creates a .oops file in the saveestates folder if you do.
I had trouble in Noland last year, too. I sent a report to Bongo`, and we speculated that the problem might have been caused by faulty save-states that we generated prior to several bug-fixes. We could never replicate the problem, but your report convinces me that something random may be triggering occasional pointer miscues that are at least reversible in game play. Thank you for the save-states, CRV10.

BTW lesterklarth has released a Silva Saga-II Mercenary, Idol, and Spell Guide. http://www.dynamic-designs.us/silvasaga2/Mercenary_Idol_and_Spell_Guide.htm


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:04 am 
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@Wildbill: I'm very Glad I could help out & return something to you guys for your hard work :)

I've currently stopped playing Silva Saga II for a little while because I was waiting for a go signal from you guys. So anyway, assuming I can finish my business at Noland, can I resume playing? And if yes, can you mention other areas that might have possible bugs you may want me to look out for?

Also, while I was waiting I had a go with Silva Saga I & I got confused. Was SS-II a direct sequel to SS-I? SS-I starts out in Arkasas Castle of all places & you get to meet familiar characters like Yulat, Mahat & Morin. So my question is, in SS-I are you assuming the role of Prince Kyral & are fulfilling his quest? And if so, then SS-II is a sort of "what if?" (borrowing a coined term from Marvel Comics) alternate story line in which Kyral Failed to finish his quest?


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:23 pm 
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CRV10 wrote:
@Wildbill: I'm very Glad I could help out & return something to you guys for your hard work :)

I've currently stopped playing Silva Saga II for a little while because I was waiting for a go signal from you guys. So anyway, assuming I can finish my business at Noland, can I resume playing? And if yes, can you mention other areas that might have possible bugs you may want me to look out for?

Also, while I was waiting I had a go with Silva Saga I & I got confused. Was SS-II a direct sequel to SS-I? SS-I starts out in Arkasas Castle of all places & you get to meet familiar characters like Yulat, Mahat & Morin. So my question is, in SS-I are you assuming the role of Prince Kyral & are fulfilling his quest? And if so, then SS-II is a sort of "what if?" (borrowing a coined term from Marvel Comics) alternate story line in which Kyral Failed to finish his quest?
By all means, continue. Noland was the only place I encountered that bug. Red Soul, Draken, and the beta testers seemed to get through the entire game without triggering the Noland anomaly. Bongo` is busy during the work week. He probably won't have time to examine your save-states until the weekend.

I haven't played SS-I, but I believe it was Garrett who might have said they followed similar stories. I got the impression the SS's were rather like Destiny of an Emperor-I and II. That series had significant overlap, but DoaE-II added major new details of the period such as the famous Battle of Red Cliff between Cao Cao's amazing navy and the Southern alliance that included Liu Bei.


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 3:51 am 
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Thanks for the heads up Wildbill :)

I read your post several hours ago & I am glad that everything has been smooth sailing so far. To avoid any other possible mishap I developed a habit of Saving in game at every town (especially in the Noland area) & resetting as soon as the save has been confirmed. I still use savestates but I make sure I do the save then reset safety precaution, just in case :)

I'm now near the end of the game with the four towers, the Cave door & Zolde's castle all that's left for me to conquer.

But I won't be heading into the four towers yet as I need to Grind a bit until my idol team is at level 35-ish to match the levels of my Main Party & my mercenaries. And speaking of my mercs... :D I did something stupid with my merc party because of naming preferences :D

My merc party is already at an even level with everyone at level 35. But I decided to scrap one of my mercs, Blake to be exact in exchange for Grant a level 30 merc you can hire at Anan. Why the idiotic move you might ask? Well my original merc team was composed of Blake, Louie, Julia & Sarah. This team kicks ass as they are all powerful tanks who can deal heavy damage & take a good beating. The reason why I took Blake out was because his character portrait is exactly the same as Louie's. Believe it or not, as I was looking at mercenary rosters in towns where mercs are available I was actually looking at each merc's name as I was looking for ones whose names sound like names you get to see in real life. I would have been happy with Blake who I got in the second town but as I said he & Louie shared the same portrait.

So with me leveling up my idol team of Janus, Siva, Yarn & Doll & my merc team to at least level 37 (I'm grinding at the path that leads to the Snow Cave) it might be a little while before I tackle the final areas of the game :)

Anyhoo... here are two more screenies for you guys...

Spoiler! :
Image

After you save Endra he tells you that our next destination is "Dolan"... I thought it was Dolun?

Spoiler! :
Image

And here's that nasty text overflow with the priest at Altoga who polishes up one of your idols with the Powder of Radiance.

Oh, & I need to find some stuff too...

Spoiler! :
1. Where do I buy Mirror Helmets & Shields? The wandering merchant at Anan sells Mirror Swords in the morning & Mirror Armours at night but no helms & shields. Do these drop from monsters?

2. How much HP do those Flying Elementals have? I tried tangling with one of 'em & the main party can't even get decent hits on 'em with physical attacks. Pigrio or Endra can deal 200+ damage when the hero casts Lamin?? (that spell that increases attack power) on Endra/Pigrio & he slams (double critical hit) but after several minutes of misses I've counted 800HP of dealt damage & it still didn't go down. And those things hit hard, I've used Poan to increase evasion & they still hit hard LOL!


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Post subject: Re: Silva Saga 2 post release feedback
PostPosted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:56 pm 
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Hey guys, just wanted to check in and say that I beat the game last night!

It is a neat little game! A little easy, but you guys were basically as flawless as can be.

I noticed one little hiccup towards the end, but the poster above me already mentioned that, the text overflow from the priest who polishes one idol. Other than that, perfect guys!

Wildbill, you expressed interest in how players were handling the three parties, my levels and strategy:

Main: 46
Milfa: 44
Arlaw: 44
Endra: 44
Louie: 42
Gaius: 43
Milet: 43
Elma: 43
Gale: 40
Soul: 40
Feat: 39
Yarn: 39


My main somehow outpaced the other three. Maybe he had some significant stat increases at some point? Wasn't paying attention (oops) but I have an idea... As you can see, I prefer to level everyone equally instead of having one over powered group or ignoring one group. In the last dungeon, I focused on the idols and got them a few extra levels.

Mercs: All hired in the first town and kept for the entire game. I think this was easier and better because by the end, they easily held their own in any random encounter and were very good tanks/took damage at the start of every boss battle and lasted many many rounds.

Idols: I just kept ones that were more predictible (seemed to cast only ONE ...USEFUL...spell, like soul and feat. Although on rare occasion both would attack. Gale, I made so much effort getting, I just kept. Same with Feat. Besides, Feat and Gale were also predictible and useful. Finally, I sacrificed so much to get to Yarn, that I figured I might as well use Yarn in the end game party. Hence my idol choice. Properly leveled Idols are a great benefit as they can supplement mercs by putting enemies to sleep to allow mercs to last even longer. I would often use them for the very first round to poision bosses, before switching to the mercs for another half dozen rounds. Then, allow my main party to put finishing touches on the boss.

Other idols:
Lake: 27
Love: 27
Dark: 22
Rage: 21

(lost other idols due to combinations...I know I had victory, for one thing).

PS: As a show of gratitude, if you ever find yourself in the DC metro area, I owe you a beer/whatever else you drink, seriously! You guys are awesome and I love being able to play old school Jap rpgs that are..obscure!


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