Planet Bob

I also couldn't force myself to start drawing dungeon maps

That was my favorite part of playing old school RPGs. I still have a bunch of hand-written maps of games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior IV, The 7th Saga, Crystalis, etc. Good times in 7th grade. I even made a complete hand-written map of Zebes (or Zebeth) for Metroid.

Hehe, I guess you have to have it in the blood. I've always been avoiding it like a pest. I ususally played with photocopied maps from gaming mag walkthroughs, highlighting the areas I've visited with text-markers

 

I guess mapping out the spinner sections in some regions of Bard's Tale I/II will drive you insane...

 

BTW: Hm... did one really need a map for Final Fantasy? I recently played the GBA remake and I don't remember needing one... Those Japanese games usually work with the old "find the exit in the labyrinth" trick: Put one hand on the left (or right, if you prefer) wall and just walk along this wall. Then after some time you'll either reach your goal or the exit again

I don't usually go for traditional RPGs. I played Dragon Warrior quite a lot back when it first came out (got mine free with a subscription to Nintendo Power). I sorta lost interest after my younger brother accidentally deleted my game. I was soooo far!

 

I actually enjoyed making a map of the Deathstar in the Namco version of Star Wars (Famicom). Of course, the fact that a lot of the rooms were one screen (Zelda style scrolling) and having an emulator made it much easier than how it would have been back in the day.

did one really need a map for Final Fantasy?

 

Probably not. When I bought the game (or my brother, I don't remember), it came with maps of the first half of the game's dungeons, a map of the overworld, a table with all the classes and their respective equippable weapons, armor, magic, etc. So, after playing through the first half of the game, abusing those maps with wild abandon, I guess I got soft. For the last half of the game's dungeons, I had no map, so I had to make my own. The dungeons aren't really that difficult, but I like to make maps. I wanna be a cartographer!

 

tee hee!

I thought a bit about this, but it seems the only thing coming close to a map I ever drew for a video game was the mission tree of the first Wing Commander

That's the only map you've ever drawn!

 

Must run in the family; I've always enjoyed making maps...somewhat - the problem is that it generally interrupts the flow of the game. I even made a map of parts of Zelda: OOT.

I still have a bunch of hand-written maps of games like Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior IV, The 7th Saga, Crystalis, etc.

 

Hee hee. I got my scanner to work, so I thought some of you might enjoy this masterpiece I made while working on a speedrun of Crystalis.

 

Since I can't access my school's server at the moment, crapocities to the rescue!

 

http://www.geocities.com/tmont_musicman/sabrenorth.GIF (287 KB)

Uihjah... so what kind of game is Crystalis? Zelda-esque?

Yeah. It's kind of like a cross between Zelda 1 and Zelda 2. It's a top down view like Zelda 1, but you have magic points and spells and stuff. You also get to ride a dolphin. You're also in a sexy purple outfit. It rules. If you like purple stuff and/or Zelda, you should check it out on an emulator or something.

 

Amusingly, I forgot I made a page about it while trying to come up with content for my website that I created while (re)learning HTML. It's pretty lame: http://www.wou.edu/~tmontg1/test/crystalis.html

Okay, thanks! Added it to my NES shopping list!

Okay, thanks! Added it to my NES shopping list!

Oh yes, Crystalis is a top-5 NES game.