The Cave Story Transcription Project v2

Time to start on my challenge mod, which I am naming "Battle Spire".

Good luck!

 

Good luck!

Thanks. I'm going to really try and learn to ASM hack some Kero Blaster enemies into it.

 

Pretty good on this. I noticed a small issues when checking out the hall of secrets; a few things (like the moles in pier 16) are unintentionally transparent in fullscreen. This is usually caused by too dark sprites. Try making them brighter. (Ex. #0A0A0A)

 

So I took out my save file just to see what would happen if I selected "no".

I feel like if the mod was just this and not with an original Cave Story path, it would have worked better. Especially since the question at the beginning isn't a very clear yes vs. no.

Analysing this mod from the original Cave Story game just with a Quote resprite and new music: this doesn't work for me at all. Sure some of the ORG renditions are decent, but the music in Cave Story helps set the tone and atmosphere in the original game. To have that overwritten deters the tone in usually a very awkward manner. Some ORG replacements, namely Balrog's theme, Gravity and Safety were just distasteful. They were kind of bland, and with the same sound. In the original Cave Story, there were many different tones in the instrument choice and pacing of the pieces. Balrog's was dissonant but at the same time kind of silly, with lots of buzz. To have it replaced with something slow and ambient was just weird and later kind of dull.

All in all for that part, if you're gonna make an unclear question and then make someone go through the entirety of the original Cave Story, at least have more suitable music or go full out on changing the dialogue, or sprites. There really is no point to put your ORGs in a game that already had its own music to begin with and try to override its association.

But let's address the alternate path, because that's the actual content you put effort into (I hope) and the part that keeps this mod interesting.

I'm surprised that it's not possible to damage Ma Pignon with the Blade. Was it like that in the original game? I only fought that boss with the Spur though, so I wouldn't know.

Seems like kind of a cheapout method for defeating the boss, being able to just stand there and fire with the snake. Poor Ma Pignon won't even twitch. Also blue against blue isn't the greatest, and this area was a little too open for Ma Pignon to be in it, especially since the rocks and other mushrooms barely pose a threat.

I like the Kero Blaster transcription a lot as well as the sprites. Pier 16 was actually really nicely put together aesthetically, aside from the horizontal presses and the fact that it's basically just a resprite of the Last Cave map. Are you supposed to take damage there to get past them? It's kind of odd how you just die by touching them.

Oh yeah and:

Spoiler

Really? -_-

 

So I took out my save file just to see what would happen if I selected "no".

I feel like if the mod was just this and not with an original Cave Story path, it would have worked better. Especially since the question at the beginning isn't a very clear yes vs. no.

Analysing this mod from the original Cave Story game just with a Quote resprite and new music: this doesn't work for me at all. Sure some of the ORG renditions are decent, but the music in Cave Story helps set the tone and atmosphere in the original game. To have that overwritten deters the tone in usually a very awkward manner. Some ORG replacements, namely Balrog's theme, Gravity and Safety were just distasteful. They were kind of bland, and with the same sound. In the original Cave Story, there were many different tones in the instrument choice and pacing of the pieces. Balrog's was dissonant but at the same time kind of silly, with lots of buzz. To have it replaced with something slow and ambient was just weird and later kind of dull.

All in all for that part, if you're gonna make an unclear question and then make someone go through the entirety of the original Cave Story, at least have more suitable music or go full out on changing the dialogue, or sprites. There really is no point to put your ORGs in a game that already had its own music to begin with and try to override its association.

But let's address the alternate path, because that's the actual content you put effort into (I hope) and the part that keeps this mod interesting.

I'm surprised that it's not possible to damage Ma Pignon with the Blade. Was it like that in the original game? I only fought that boss with the Spur though, so I wouldn't know.

Seems like kind of a cheapout method for defeating the boss, being able to just stand there and fire with the snake. Poor Ma Pignon won't even twitch. Also blue against blue isn't the greatest, and this area was a little too open for Ma Pignon to be in it, especially since the rocks and other mushrooms barely pose a threat.

I like the Kero Blaster transcription a lot as well as the sprites. Pier 16 was actually really nicely put together aesthetically, aside from the horizontal presses and the fact that it's basically just a resprite of the Last Cave map. Are you supposed to take damage there to get past them? It's kind of odd how you just die by touching them.

Oh yeah and:

Spoiler

Really? -_-

The mod part of the mod took a week. I spent well over six months on all of the ORGs.

Uh... IDK what you were listening to but I wouldn't call "A Pirate's Life for Me" ambient.

 

The mod part of the mod took a week. I spent well over six months on all of the ORGs.

Yes and I have spent two years composing ORGs, none of which I use in mods. Your mod is still a mod, and I will judge it as a mod. If you wanted to showcase how well you did with the ORGs alone, you could have just put a ZIP folder up for download on the ORG music thread and left it at that. Overall, the mod would have worked a lot better if it was just about the custom content, rather than even providing an option to play through the original game with just custom music.

Uh... IDK what you were listening to but I wouldn't call "A Pirate's Life for Me" ambient.

Well, I mean more calm, and less urgent than Balrog's theme is. I just didn't see it as a suitable replacement, ORGwise. Your version is definitely more filled with soft sounds, though I haven't heard the original "A Pirate's Life for Me" yet.

 

I know this defeats the whole point of the mod, but I made FLAC and MP3 versions of the ORGs (for just listening, or making an physical CD, although this takes up two CDs), if anyone is interested.

 

Yes and I have spent two years composing ORGs, none of which I use in mods. Your mod is still a mod, and I will judge it as a mod. If you wanted to showcase how well you did with the ORGs alone, you could have just put a ZIP folder up for download on the ORG music thread and left it at that. Overall, the mod would have worked a lot better if it was just about the custom content, rather than even providing an option to play through the original game with just custom music.


Well, I mean more calm, and less urgent than Balrog's theme is. I just didn't see it as a suitable replacement, ORGwise. Your version is definitely more filled with soft sounds, though I haven't heard the original "A Pirate's Life for Me" yet.

When I replaced Balrog's theme, I was more aimed at matching the character and not the track.

 

Hi! I just wanted to say that your mod finally lured me out from lurking and I wanted to say you've done a great job with it. The ORGs were great and I had fun fooling around in the areas connected from the developer's lounge. All in all, this might have been the best mod I've played in a while.

My opinion probably doesn't count for much around here, but congrats anyway.

 

Fuck it.
MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q84wx1jlacipldl/Cave%20Story%20Transcription%20Project%20%28MP3%29.7z?dl=0
FLAC: https://www.dropbox.com/s/05j3ckgk4pheu4q/Cave%20Story%20Transcription%20Project%20%28FLAC%29.7z?dl=0

 

Fuck it.
MP3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q84wx1jlacipldl/Cave%20Story%20Transcription%20Project%20%28MP3%29.7z?dl=0
FLAC: Will be posted as soon as it is done uploading.

Cool, thanks for this! Did you use a recording program or did you convert using XM?

 

Cool, thanks for this! Did you use a recording program or did you convert using XM?

I used an .org plugin for foobar2000.
Uploaded FLAC version.

 

I'm not going to lie. This is very very cool.