Woot.. lookie what came in the mail today

[Mike 01Hawk]

Gonna put the DB50 thru it's paces.

[glendower]

What OS are you running? You'll prolly need to patch the heck out of it, too (upsidedown video, etc).

I really enjoy that game

[Mike 01Hawk]

Win98se w/ a Voodoo3 2000 and well.. of course, the DB50

Oh, and I grew up on the NES/SNES Final Fantasy series, didn't have enough interest/time to get into FF7 when I was in college... so I've never played this one before, so NO SPOILERS please

[glendower]

perfect system!

you'lll want to geta nice controller too And hook it up to the TV... I have a system with an SW60XG just for that game

[Mike 01Hawk]

Hmm... welll I guess I could hook it up to my 2405fpw (24 inch 16:10 LCD).

Will probably just stick w/ my 19 inch CRT 4:3... dunno.

What controller do you recommend? I've NEVER had a joystick/controller for a PC.

[Frank M]

Logitech Rumblepad 2, it looks and feels just like a playstation 2 gamepad. and plus it rumbles.

[glendower]

Yeah, Can't go wrong with a logitech controller! Wayback when I played, I used a gravis ultrapad or gamepad pro orsomething like that.

WHat i use for most of that sort of gaming (emulators, etc) is something called (and I know it sounds dirty) a 3-in-1 Joybox. I can hook up PS2, N64, and Saturn controllers up to it. I primarily use my wireless logitech PS2 controller... wireless has totally spoiled me from those damb corded controllers

Oh, and the reason that i recommend the TV is because it will let you really plop yourself down comfortably... the first time I played it, a friend of mine and I racked up 36 hours in a weekend :-D I'm not going to spoil anything here-- -but I just want to warn you that the first couple of hours are a little flat. It might be because it was the first time that I played through a Japanese RPG (I'd seen large parts of other ones before, but never actually played), but I was thinking "oh... this is it?" I guess a more seasoned player would have known that these games tend to have an intro period.

Oh, and just as far as gaming goes, you should try to track down Grandia II (like final fantasy, one game is not dependent on the last). I don't think that it uses MIDI on the PC version (I have it for my DreamCast), but it has a really interesting and fun battle system.

[glendower]

have you had a chance to try it out yet?

[Mike 01Hawk]

I played it for a few min the other night.  Ugh on the keyboard, gonna have to get a gamepad I suppose.

Oh, and I have to keep forcing myself into thinking 'this was 1997.. the horrible transition years from sprites to polygons... ugh... just go with it..."

I mean seriously! I woulda taken sprite based over the what... 10 polygon count characters:(  Must say the pre-rendered backgrounds are very nice... but then again, pre-rendered/hand drawns usually always are

I must say though, the music = rocks Makes all the time and effort into tracking down hardware and this game worth it.

[glendower]

I don't know why they had to make the in game characters look so silly. I mean look at them in battle, watch a summons... they're pretty impressive. I think they were trying to work out how to make super-distorted characters in 3D. I like SD characters, but they do look pretty clunky in game

[Great Hierophant]

I assume this version of the game still had the midi music tailored to the XG synthesizers.  Does it still contain the software Yamaha synthesizer?

[Mike 01Hawk]

Great,

Yup, it still has the option to install the Yamaha software synth.   You can also select between GM or XG.

[dnewhous]

I didn't realize this game used MIDI.  I'm surprised that a Windows game can do that pre-DirectX 8, although I understand it is very simple from a software perspective - just shoot a stream of data at the Windows MIDI mapper. 

If you want to run this on a computer that doesn't have authentic hardware, you have to use one of those Glide3D emulators don't you?  I tried that with Carmageddon II and it worked fine until I tried using a racing wheel.  I imagine that it would similarly work fine with Final Fantasy 7 as long as you don't try to use a gamepad.

If you want to use a gamepad I recommend a PC/Playstation dual use gamepad.  I know Thrustmaster makes one.

[kreatorb]

I played through this game on PC using the numeric keypad.. it isn't that bad a form of input.

I'd probably say the best way of playing this soundwise would be to have a soundcard that can load the large (8MB I think) soundfont present on the install disc.  You might disagree until you hear "one winged angel" in XG mode without the chorus - it really makes all the difference.

Oh yeah, don't fall into the trap of reading newsgroups if you want a hint on the game.. spoilers abound.

[dnewhous]

Does the game even support a gamepad?  I'd be surprised if it did, most PC games that were available on the Xbox don't support a gamepad, it's only been the Xbox 360 games that appear to make gamepad support on the PC standard.

What's a good external version of the db50xg?  I say just get an external XG synth and hook it up like you would an MT-32.

[Great Hierophant]

Does the game even support a gamepad?  I'd be surprised if it did, most PC games that were available on the Xbox don't support a gamepad, it's only been the Xbox 360 games that appear to make gamepad support on the PC standard.

What's a good external version of the db50xg?  I say just get an external XG synth and hook it up like you would an MT-32.

Yes, FInal Fantasy VII supports gamepads, 10 buttons, just like the PSX.

The external version of the DB50XG is the MU10XG, which is very difficult to find. 

[apeman]

The external version of the DB50XG is the MU10XG, which is very difficult to find. 

Not that difficult to find. I bought a MU10 off eBay a couple of years ago, and have seen a number of them since. I'd say things like a CM-500 are much rarer....

[mace]

I didn't realize this game used MIDI.  I'm surprised that a Windows game can do that pre-DirectX 8, although I understand it is very simple from a software perspective - just shoot a stream of data at the Windows MIDI mapper. 

If you want to run this on a computer that doesn't have authentic hardware, you have to use one of those Glide3D emulators don't you?  I tried that with Carmageddon II and it worked fine until I tried using a racing wheel.  I imagine that it would similarly work fine with Final Fantasy 7 as long as you don't try to use a gamepad.

If you want to use a gamepad I recommend a PC/Playstation dual use gamepad.  I know Thrustmaster makes one.

Actually, carmageddon just has problems with racing wheels.
I suppose it was a USB wheel? They don't work without some coercing. 

[Rhizome]

Not that difficult to find. I bought a MU10 off eBay a couple of years ago, and have seen a number of them since. I'd say things like a CM-500 are much rarer....

And I was given mine by someone I know over at The Mod Archive