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Squeenix Front Mission series worth playing?

Suicidal

Arcane
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
2,208
Actually I read somewhere that in general FM's were made to also appeal to westerners, however since it wasn't big success (no marketing, didn't even bother to release second game in west for some stupid reason) they said fuck it and made 5th just for Japan. Could be why characters are so annoying.

The main problem for me was not that the characters were annoying, but that often I couldn't understand what they were talking about - much of the dialogue read like a bunch of logically unconnected gibberish, as opposed to a coherently flowing conversation. This was especially prominent outside of cutscenes when speaking to people in military bases, because you had no way to know who was actually talking at the present moment because there were no character portraits that would show the speaker, no voice overs to distinguish them, so sometimes it seemed like the characters were talking to themselves. Whether this was due to the shittiness of the unofficial translation or the original script, I do not know, but the result was a really hard to follow and badly written dialogue.

Also, now that I've actually beaten it, I think I understand why FM5 story was so shitty compared to the other games. In all the other Front Missions the events followed each other and were related to one another and your jackoff squadron usually had a clear goal to which they were progressing throughout the entire game. In FM5 the story progression is essentially a string of barely connected sub-stories that take place several years from one another - one moment you're fighting against the enemy nation in a war, then the war's over and several years later you're fighting some terrorists... then a year later you're fighting completely different terrorists and etc.

Also most of the time you're just fighting random nameless soldiers with a squad consisting of 2 people who have some presence in cutscenes and 4 random nameless soldiers (they actually have names, but nothing beyond that). In the other FMs the missions usually had a lot more story weight to them, you were often fighting with and against named characters, doing shit directly related to the protagonists' goals and etc. In FM5 apart from the endless stream of generic soldiers you only ever fight 2 named guys - the main villain, who is introduced only in the last quarter of the game and is never mentioned before, and his personal butt boy. You fight them during the last 2-3 levels of the game.

Purely from a gameplay point of view, FM5 is very good and the best in the series, IMO, but the story is so fucking dry and uninteresting and both the writing and the pacing suck, so I understand that quite a few people can be put off by all this.
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
^
That sounds fucking terrible. Story in FM2 is ok so far.
Still, I have to go through 2 & 4 before I reach 5.
And FM3 is probably my favorite PS1 game, above FFT & Vagrant Story even.
 

Suicidal

Arcane
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
2,208
^
That sounds fucking terrible.

Oh, it is. Depending on your tolerance for bullshit I think entirely skipping the story to go to the missions might actually add to the experience, rather than take away from it.

By the way, how complete is the FM2 translation and are they planning to improve it at some point? I'm planning to play FM4 after I'm done with Original Sin and I'd like to play FM2 afterwards.
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
By the way, how complete is the FM2 translation and are they planning to improve it at some point?
The team claims it’s ~75% complete and I would agree.

What’s translated:
- all tutorials (thank god),
- dialogues before/during/after missions (3d map),
- text in menus and their descriptions (with some exceptions).

What’s still in moonrunes:
- dialogues between missions (2d sections),
- graphical elements in menus and interface,
- network section (but some of it is in vanilla “Engrish”).

IMO, the game is perfectly playable, you just have to conslut the EventScript.txt (included in patch) to learn what’s going on during 2d dialogues.
A FAQ may come in handy as well, since not everything is covered in the tutorials.

And I don’t think they will improve it, they said they don’t have enough l33t skills to insert the remaining text and modify graphics with Japanese signs. But maybe some other team will pick this patch up sometime in the future, who knows.
 

Wen Yang

Novice
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
15
As a long-time Front Mission fan... I am obligated to answer the OP with a big, fat, YES.

It's a great series, with 5 being my personal favorite.
 

laclongquan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
1,870,144
Location
Searching for my kidnapped sister
Now that I am bored enough to start editting fan-translated Japanese Light Novel, I wonder if the quality of games' English localization is to blame.

Have you guys played those games inJapanese to compare the level of writings?
 

Wen Yang

Novice
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
15
IMO, FM5's story only really works if you've played all the previous FMs as well. I found the early parts most interesting since it lets you play the other side (almost literally, you even see the FM1 protags shooting at your allies in some cutscenes) of the game. Closing the game right where the third game starts was also nice, but overall, the game story-wise DOES feel kinda like a big pile of semi-related random storylines that doesn't make much sense without having played the previous games, which is a bad thing.

It does pack the best gameplay in the series though, so there's that.
 
Joined
Jan 28, 2015
Messages
891
Location
Canuckistan
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
I enjoyed the hell out of FM1 playing it on an emulator with translation pack ages 10+ years ago. It really scratched an itch for tactical combat in a good way. Nothing like giving the latest greatest missle launcher to your missle specialist chick and watching her blow guys to pieces in a single shot when you planned out the use of the mission layout just right. The plot was decent enough from what I remember although it's kinda out there by the end with the whole
wife's ghost in a computer (if I remember correctly?)
It sounds like I really should try FM2.
 
Joined
May 30, 2013
Messages
155
Location
Lützen
From a gameplay perspective in which order ought the first three Front missions to be played? In release order, 1,3 and then 2 or 3,1,2?

I have the impression that one might be a tad bit let down if one plays 3 after two.
 

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
From a gameplay perspective in which order ought the first three Front missions to be played? In release order, 1,3 and then 2 or 3,1,2?

I have the impression that one might be a tad bit let down if one plays 3 after two.

1, 2, 3. Personally I don't get trying to play a series out of order.
 

Exhuminator

Arcane
Joined
Sep 10, 2015
Messages
609
I see this is an old thread but I'll add some quick thoughts.

I've beaten Front Mission 1 (SNES & DS), Front Mission 3, Front Mission 4, and Front Mission 5. Also beat Gun Hazard. My general consensus with this series is it's my favorite strategy franchise. I love big mechs, downtrodden industrial aesthetics, geopolitical warfare plots, techno music, ultra customizing all things, and other faggalicious stuff that Front Mission specializes in. This series has always had me by the balls.

Front Mission 1 = I consider this a classic SRPG on par with say Tactics Ogre. I'm that goofy over it. I absolutely adore this game, even if yes, it's a little easy. I'd rate it 9/10 any day.

Front Mission 3 = MMmmm... still a great game, a bit simplified with so few wanzers allowed on the field, and the difficulty is a joke the whole way through. BUT still very fun, great plot, tons of missions across two story lines, can't go wrong for sheer bang for the buck. 8/10 says I.

Front Mission 4 = Compared to the other two I mentioned, this one finally grew some chest hair and decided to punch back. I appreciated the increased difficulty. Some folks say the aesthetics in this one are too drab, it's GREY on GRAY. I liked it. I also enjoyed Front Mission 4's plot tremendously. However this is quite a long game, gets kinda repetitive at points, and due to lack of variety overall I gotta go with 8/10. Still loved it though.

Front Mission 5 = It all comes together in FM5, all dangling plots are joined into one cohesive end. Difficulty up into the stratosphere, delicious! You better know how to link son. Graphics are the best the series has seen, cutscenes are legit fantastic now, and recruiting waifu pilots never gets old. A great way to end the series proper, and I loved it, but won't pretend it's perfect. Still a 9/10 from this guy.

Front Mission: Gun Hazard = Now you know I'm batshit because this is one of my all time favorite SNES (or SFC rather) games ever. Like top 3. Like 10/10 for me. I can't help but love the sidescrolling mech action-RPG fest this one is. Does some stuff you wouldn't think the SNES could do. I could pour praise on this game all day but you get the point. For a giant robot geek Gun Hazard is like having unprotected sex with a giant mecha wet dream except the vagina is not made of cold hard steel.

Never played Front Mission 2 cause the English translation is still not finished. I guess I'll have to just get over it and enjoy what is there. I'd also really love to beat Front Mission Alternative but I don't think anyone knows the game even exists especially fan translation hackers. It's RTS Front Mission with a rad ass OST and resides exclusively in moonspeak.

Was it too much to ask for Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness on le DS in English SQEX? Really? Couldn't throw us a bone there? You fuckers were willing to localize and publish My Pet Shop and Pony Friends 2, but not FM2089? All of my weeb rage :whatho:
 

Siveon

Bot
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Messages
4,509
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I've been fixing some bugs in the partial FM2 English Patch and also translated the opening. You can get it here: https://mega.nz/#!dG4WQYoK!Najfzknf70E2tykMOv3A_6X92oHF2nmk92BkEDbC8ZM
Like the original patch team I can't get around the text scrambling compression for the intermissions etc, but I've included a .txt and PSP document.dat with skills + script translation.
I hope you upload this to other sites like Romhacking.net and GBATemp. This is a great effort.
 

BreadGrill

Novice
Joined
Sep 11, 2017
Messages
17
Location
Oven
I hope you upload this to other sites like Romhacking.net and GBATemp. This is a great effort.
This fix is standalone and doesn't require you to use the original patch and romhacking.net only allows patch fixes if they patch an already patched ROM. I can't be bothered to modify the patching process but if anyone else wants to do it and upload it there it's fine by me.
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
Geez, I would love to fuck around with FM3 and FM4, for example modifying enemy setups in missions and shit. But OFC Square had to use their shitty compression / encryption, so it's impossible AFAIK. These games could've been 5x better with some tweaking.

:cry:

*Edit:

I see you at least went with a .bin file as a base for patching, not an .iso like the original translators. Half the fags couldn't even patch the image thanks to that (MODE 2048 instead of 2352).

:incline:
 
Last edited:

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It's not surprising that the first step of many fan-translations is 'first convert to iso'. It's because MODE 2352 is really really bad for binary patching.

The reason is obvious subtle: if by some reason you need to increase or decrease a filesize, many other sectors of the .bin is likely to be changed, even 'trash sectors' (crc32 checksum data, except zerofills i think). Can easily turn a 2mb patch into 300mb.

I don't think this is much because the iso format is superior for offset invariability but because the patching tools are bad at recognizing 'equal intervals of bytes' or that the bytes were just 'moved' not changed. That MODE 2352 has additional data in-between the sectors appears to make this more incompressible.

Or maybe the people that standardized the scratch resistant MODE 2352 format were retarded enough to make the sectors checksum depend on offset or the previous sectors... doubt it though, cds are supposed to be random access and that would just increase the opportunity for errors, not decrease it.

Maybe the problem is not on the binary patcher but on the tool to insert the altered files on the bin altering sectors checksums needlessly (cdmage usually).


edit : this translation patch appears to not be binary so it doesn't have the 'uncompressability' problem. I'm actually surprised that a 135 mb patch with videos turns into 15 mb 7z but i'm sure it would be much much larger with a xdelta, especially if it was targeting a cue/bin like this. Good job.
 
Last edited:

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Actually, i just applied the patch and made a 'reverse xdelta' patch (to reset to the original for a patch update later) and the reset patch is surprisingly small on this game - 300 kb - so the equivalent of a xdelta patch should also be small. This isn't nearly ever the case in my experience though..
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,158
Geez, I would love to fuck around with FM3 and FM4, for example modifying enemy setups in missions and shit. But OFC Square had to use their shitty compression / encryption, so it's impossible AFAIK. These games could've been 5x better with some tweaking.

True, but there are some mods running around in Russian/potato language, so some people likely managed to hack FM3 to some extent.
 

BlackGoat

Arbiter
Joined
Sep 15, 2014
Messages
505
Thinking about playing thru this series. Does the DS version of the first game make any real changes to the original? Should I stick to the SNES version for an accurate original experience?

Also, didn't realize Amano did concept art for this game. So cool

Yvc9toB.jpg


Zt5S6h7.jpg


N5Ug4ot.jpg
https://www.creativeuncut.com/art_front-mission_a.html
 

Jinn

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
4,930
Also, didn't realize Amano did concept art for this game. So cool

Not only that, but all the in-game portraits are reproductions of his character designs too. Awesome to see Amano do pure sci-fi. Love that guy.
 

Kem0sabe

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
13,076
Location
Azores Islands
Front mission 3 is spectacularly good, probably one of the best strategy rpg of it's generation, only behind Final fantasy tactics and tactics ogre.

The rest of the series is mostly forgettable, but 3 is an easy recommendation even today.
 

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