[VIII] Opted stuff - Forgotten unused background + hidden collections

[makipl]

While thinking about VIII remake I tried to search for "the making of" to see some 3DS Max or some other 3D modelling software screens of map backgrounds to see if it's more 2D painting job, or real 3D render. After few minutes on google I found out, that Square DIDN'T made background by themself, but they passed the work to so called KUSANAGI Corp. (クサナギ), there I found many of their "showcase" works having at least 5 screens for every game they we're working on. From sketches, to never seen backgrounds. The most intriguing is:
http://www.kusanagi.co.jp/art/artgalleryfre-m/ff8/ff8.htm
the last one.

Chech more by going to:
http://www.kusanagi.co.jp/art.html
clicking on TVゲーム

There you can see sketches and renders that I totally didn't see. You can catch there sketches that you for sure wouldn't find in any "concept art" album. If it's well known, then sorry, but I really didn't see that anywhere. Enjoy!

 

[Sega Chief]

That's a pretty neat find; I didn't know Square had out-sourced their field screens.

And who knows, maybe these guys have a wee folder sitting somewhere with all the original FF backgrounds...

 

[LeonhartGR]

Thanks for pointing that out! Also here:

Kusanagi Studio Final Fantasy VIII Artwork Images

The have also created artwork for VII and IX:
Kusanagi Studio Artwork Images

 

[Mortael]

I wonder if there is an artist out there who could paint/draw Trabia Garden as a reconstruction, show us what it could have looked like when it thrived?

 

[alloy]

I remember finding a cg artists portfolio site showing off the work he'd done on a bunch of ff9 scenes.  Final scenes in high resolution. Alternate views concept art many work in progress shots. It was amazing...   Alas this was *years* ago and I doubt his page exists anymore Heh.

 

[alloy]

Lol never say never


http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=551612&page=1

 

[makipl]

Whoah, that's a really heavy full-of-content thread there! God, wish'd to see FFVIII's one.

 

[alloy]

Too bad the internet was basically non-existent back when ff7 was made :|

 

[Norwin]

wow

 

[Halfer]

I found some early shots of the game, maybe you are interested.

http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/image/ff8jan18.jpg  (background is in game, but the car isn't used, translation would be nice)

http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/image/ff8oct2610.jpg  (some kind of vehicle, interesting)

http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/image/ff8oct264.jpg  (removed battle field)

http://psxmedia.ign.com/media/previews/image/ff8septone6.jpg (different camera angle)

Pics are from this website. http://goatee0092.tripod.com/ff8alpha/ff8pic.html
There's a lot of pictures, mostly from trial version.

If you have any pictures of the game in early stages or other unused/ probably unknown material I would be super happy, especially of 3d renders. I'm very fascinated of ff8 material but unfortunately there seems to be only low amount of material available. My only dream would be if Square-Enix showed more renders and materiasl from game as it seems like they putted really much effort in making all the backgrounds and CGI movies. Would be awesome to get a peek behind the scenes.

 

[LeonhartGR]

yeyyy more more!

 

[makipl]

That was an awesome dig Halfer!
I think I've seen somwhere 3D Software (probably 3DS Max), showing in-edit Irvine presentation scene (that one from Galbadia Garden). Can't find it currently. Going back to these Alpha caps:
I'll describe every screencap from there. This is also awesome moment, to improve my hiragana writing/reading skills. For Kanji I'm using really functional KanjiTomo.

Legend:
There is name of image from the site Halfer posted. Under is this image attached, either my description or kana translation/ recognized characters. Also, the title containing INTERESTING! and having underline, are the pictures worth seeing as they may contain opted content or some bugs.

Cliff's edge:

キロス = Kiros

最悪な... = The worst (saiaku 最悪=さいあく=Worst, and 'na' at the end, don't know why)


Courtyard

Kiros
 おまえはいったいここで
何をしているのだ = Something like "What on earth are you doing (here)?" Or "What should you do here?"
[Looks easy ATM, only one kanji character 何.]


Hotel Detective

*Here appears some katana writings, that romaji stands for "Dzuya" that can sound like Julia, but I'm not sure, as it's connected with 'journalist' that is also in katakana.

ラグナ = Raguna/ Laguna

俺, 兵隊やめたらヅジャーナリストになりたいんだよ = "I want to be journalist (Dzu? Julia?), After I quit (beign) soldier"


Ice field

Laguna
なんで、こりや？ - Why, Stiffness (?)
This was too much kanji for me.

Laguna in a field - INTERESTING

*This one is having that green truch in BG, probably to block testers/players from going up to main hall?

Kiros
世界を旅するジャーナリストに
なるんじゃなかったのか? = (Probably "Why didn't you become journalist to travel the world?")


Restaurant interior

Laguna
ひでえこと言うょな。 (??)
*too much kanji here, sorry*

 

[makipl]

Rinoa CG
I've made it to get almost the same frame as the screencap from 2013 PC re-release FMV. That one from alpha is having a lady on the left with blue skirt, but it could be just bad screen quality, also Rinoa looks a bit 'fatty' on alpha.

Stage crew

モれならキミモ学(Kanji software gave up, sorry) But probably it's about joining something, as I can see from English translation, then this could be "”Then you should join the
 Garden Festival committee, too!“

Throne room

Nothing unusual.

Another spell

Fight with buel. This is from Dollet raid, but this location didn't include fighting with this monster.

Another town shot

Attack in progress - INTERESTING

As Halfer noticed, this battlefield was opted. This is fight with Grendels, and it looks like a place from Salt lake or something.

Awesome battle

Zell and Squall fight with Anacondaur, Buel (I can see the wing) and Mesmerize. This is starting animation of Blizzaga/Blizzara, as the monster is blue colored (as of Blizzara makes the enemy freeze for a sec). Also, is that Esthar? I can't recognize battlefield. This could be Esthat or Balamb underground.

Battle action unfolding

Battle with wendigo, crushing someone (from top - Squall (スコール), Zell (ゼル), Rinoa)
As you can see the menu is not suitable to position of characters in the battle. Normally, in the retail game, if Squall was first, then it should be the person from very right, here on alpha - Squall should be the one attacked by wendigo, but he is in center)

EDIT: Okay, look at the next screen to see something interesting


Battle on the streets - INTERESTING

You can see, that Squall is ready to fight (glowing, yellow mark above Squall's head). Also, take a look at ATB. Person with full ATB is ゼル. However, if you convert it to romaji, then you'll get "Zeru". Squall is above "Zell" on the list. So we FOUND the bug! It's almost the same exciting as FFXIII's "Blizzrad".

 

[makipl]

Battle scene
This one contains Anacondaur and Mesmerize in Dollet. There is no way party could fight monsters like this here.

Boss shot

This time, it's finally normal ATB screen. Squall is ready, and squall is waiting for order, not zell.

Courtyard dialog

 つ、ついにやるのか！(Phew, that was easy, only hiragana) - "Are (we) doing (this) finally? *What? Anyone remember something like that?

Omitted:
CG Shot - Nothing "Fun"
Casting fire - ENG version, rinoa in dollet fighting, demo contained Rinoa in dollet raid.
Clashing blades CG - Nothing "fun"
Comet shot - Either comet, or leviathan summon scene
Desert installation - Nothing "Fun"
Enemies - This one was really in-game, but there's rinoa, we already know, that Rinoa was previously used to be present in dollet raid.
Explosion - Same as Casting fire



Dialog selection - INTERESTING

This one contains unused dialog. Neither this was used in ENG and JPN release. Also, the rinoa is there.


Edea and Rinoa together - INTERESTING

Well... This scene is only visible during opening, but! That screencap is never seen in-game! It's unused CGI of Rinoa trying to give Edea ring, also this was all rendered in-game, and the only FMV playing after, was:

*Note that, when it's that opted CGI, Edea is having something "red" on her face, however in retail game, that scene was only when Edea was without that thing, and Rinoa was standing in front of the doors, not white hangings.


Renzokuken Zell's style - INTERESTING

This is really sweet one! Renzokuken style was once made something like Auron's limit break in FFX or just Zell's. Bar was going the other way, and you had to push select or start in correct time. Thank you Square, you changed it to actual nice renzokuken.



Item reward yes or no - INTERESTING

After winning battle, you had the option to either get the reward, or discard it. Fancy, huh?


Other card game background - INTERESTING

This one had a white hole in center. I feel empty looking at that hole. Nice move they changed it lol.


Prison - unused BG?

Unfortunately, it's screencap from FMV showing Squall cell going up. I checked it right now, it's actually disc01_00h.avi - 00:23
I'm just too lazy to upload this screencap. Sorry...
EDIT: Here it is:

Weird vehicle Halfer posted

Unfortunately, it's again screencap from FMV showing Squall cell going up. it's disc01_00h.avi - 00:25
Here:

 

[Halfer]

Nice analysis!

 

[Aavock]

More unused maps and interesting facts: https://tcrf.net/Final_Fantasy_VIII

 

[makipl]

@UPDATED *reserved post

That's all. Also there're three renders of so called "Vessel" - an boat they used when raiding dollet.

Also, translation for this:

DAMN! It took me 30 minutes, to identify that second kanji. I almost gave up, but then just put this is google, and finally found that 言. Grrr...
Finally, this sentence is:

Probably: 要かったって言ってるだろ (See below, for more probably correct translation/reidentification)

As far as translators and dictionaries are helping me this is:

I need to say (here it's either openmainded, or bright or something else, but nice). If anyone here understand JPN more, then write, so I can edit posts.

Also, I found very similiar kanji to that first one, at it gives clearly better translation:

悪かったって言ってるだろ - I'm telling what went wrong / And this is probably it, as 悪かった joins perfectly as "was wrong",


EDIT:
Just was raping FFVIII demo with Deiling (thank you author, for this mighty tool!), but before that I just saw some .TIM files lying freely. My 2D/3D browser software succesfully read, and reexported it to JPG. The most interesting is ETUTO_07.TIM, this is:

 

[LeonhartGR]

I read it all! So interesting facts!

 

[Halfer]

There is also a production error in the "Escape from Dollet" FMV. Rinoa and Zell are seen from X-ATM092's view with normal costumes. I don't know why there is this kind of error but I think it has something to do with the time Square had to make the game or maybe they let it slip through cracks in hopes of not been found because of low resolution.

Anyways here's a screen from frame where you can see Rinoa and Zell somehow:

Actually looks like there was some kind of post processing used for not rendering the whole scenes again.

In this pic you can see Rinoa's cape faintly behind Selphie's legs.

In this you can see Rinoa's capes shadow on ground.

 

[makipl]

Wow, Halfer, nice one. Looks like they just post-render deleted rinoa. Maybe too big cost or time deadline to render it again?

FFVIII PC (2000), on installation disk are locations having really big load of comments and developer leftovers.

Here:

rgcock1:
Code: [Select]

Event in developmentNo lift implementedMatch character with soundReport only bugs for this scene

gpgmn1
Code: [Select]

TestElectric shock

gpcell1
Code: [Select]

Motion, placement are temporary

gpexit1
Code: [Select]

In developmentCharacter not in motion with moviePlease wait

gpexit2
Code: [Select]

Movie&event in development.Test movie{NewPage}What to do in the parking lotGo to the desertDo not return to prison.  It crashes.

gpbigin3
Code: [Select]

We know that the soundis not timed well.No need to report it as a bug.

ebcont1
Code: [Select]

This is it for today's CD.This is the end of DISC 3.

ebadele5
Code: [Select]

That's it for today's CD.Thank you.

ebinhi1
Code: [Select]

Map is not connected.Go to control room where Seifer is waiting.

bg2f_3
Code: [Select]

The students' reactions are currentlyunder construction.  Head for the library.

bgroom_5
Code: [Select]

          Under Preparation  [This area is under construction] 

bgsido_8
Code: [Select]

Event in the works!!! Squall presses anything

gdsand3
Code: [Select]

After events,go to Party setup menu.

fhfish1
Code: [Select]

”The master fisherman's motions are all temporary.  They're not connected.“

bdifrit1
Code: [Select]

Defeat IfritRaise flag

gghall1
Code: [Select]

Cerberus Battle

sspod3
Code: [Select]

Thank you, all QA personnel.That's all for today.

   *QA person is some type of tester, that doesn't test the technical details of game, but sees if story is okay and the whole quality is ok.

sspace3
Code: [Select]

x-{Var0}y-{Var1}

*This is used for Rinoa space catch scene, to debug for "where is the rinoa!?"

rgair3
Code: [Select]

No motions are included.They are floating.

tgcourt1
Code: [Select]

” 1  Replay  2  Court 2  3  Court 3  4  Court 4“

gwpool2
Code: [Select]

karidesu

feirele1
Code: [Select]

For debugging

fehall1
Code: [Select]

Remove items for debugging