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http://www.smspower.org/Music/SylvanTale-GG

Well, it's been nearly a month since my last full pack was released. I've been a bit resistant to diving in since timewise, these packs tend to take more time than usually anticipated. Interestingly, this game was released on the same day as the game of my last pack -Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S (95/01/27). Just passed their 20th anniversary.

Also, coincidentally, I opted to do Sailor moon then over this pack, which I preferred, but was given early indications that it would be quite time consuming to process this pack. The main reason for the substitution was confidence that I could finish Sailor Moon quickly. I don't recall anything too challenging.

When I released the mega pack of GG games, I intended to write a tutorial, specifically on this game, but gave up when I realized it would be too challenging for a beginner. Unfortunately, in order to categorize the pack by difficulty, a lot of the work necessary to fully process it would have to be done, currently. I'm hoping someday to change that.

On a rank from A(hardest) to E (easiest), Sailor moon was a D (many tracks and minor challenges preventing it from being fit for a total beginner). Sylvan Tale i would rank as an A to high B.

Features of a "difficult" pack are:
1) A high number of tracks
2) Difficult to properly loop
3) Music has irregular or stochastic elements
4) Requires mastery of many different tools
5) Requires decent understanding of the vgm format,
6) Music is less accessible to a naive ear.
7) It is time consuming

An "Easy" pack might take an hour and change. A more challenging pack may take a good chunk of time over several days. That's how it is currently.

Sylvan Tale has a good amount of these traits. It is very musically accessible, with a wide variety of themes. Some themes resemble others in specific elements, so it requires a bit of attention to identify the tracks properly.

Processing was a bit straightforward. It might have been easier for a less experienced person since the music is catchy and easy to understand. Most tracks are a similar length.

There are very few "true" loops, and the few that do, have lengths unacceptable for a reasonable listening experience. I ended up going back and redoing some tracks to a more appropriate length. It's possible, some of these may not loop for longer than 15 minutes, but not due to anything the ear would notice (perhaps an expert ear).

Several tracks have thematic "loops" of 3-10 seconds, in which case, I lengthened the loop points to allow for some enjoyment. Other tracks repeated the same material on a similar scale in much longer periods of time, those were abridged. Often the reason for this was an odd command, inserted or deleted, although in this case, in some cases, it implied intelligent purpose and did not seem to be just the whimsy of the sound engine. With so many tracks, I did not investigate much, but would recommend it for study as a good example of how to use the sound engine well.

This took a bit to write, but less time than some of the menial aspects of processing this pack. Titles came from faqs, youtube, nico and my imagination. I did not come across 3 tracks, in any of the sources i exploited. They may be unused, or overlooked.

Ascribing and confirming titles took longer than it would have done to beat the game, which i also did, rushed, cheats galore. You can probably beat the game in 20 minutes if you cheat and have a reasonable idea where to go. The game depends more on what's in your inventory than other flag-rich games.

Normally gameplay ranges in hours, probably a few sittings. It's a nice looking game, good music, but story is a bit basic. I won't spoil it for those who haven't tried it, but I would recommend the translation available for those interested, not fluent in the original language.

Me and Johnnyz once tried to dump this amazing soundtrack but we failed in titles since we didn't complete the game (we decided not cheating).

Great work sherpa.

Interesting. This game actually has a trigger so logging the song is rather simple. I know information about the sound engine has come a long way since the early days, did you guys not use a trigger, or is it just due to not having titles that it wasn't released?

I know the translation patch (english) was released a while ago, and the faq has been available for a while, but i think a full playthrough of the game was only release on YT a few months ago. I used it to double check my progress and make sure i wasn't missing anything.

It's a pretty straightforward game, even without cheats, a little backtracking for extras, but not necessary. Johnnyz sure made a lot of contributions to this site. Most of the previous work relating to vgm logging /sound engine hacks here came from a small team of brazilians. It's not obvious until you start to pay closer attention whose name keeps showing up. It's too bad most of those guys don't seem to come around any more. I guess I'm following in their footsteps.

Thanks for your contributions. Having my work appreciated is always nice too.

Obrigado!

sherpa wrote

Interesting. This game actually has a trigger so logging the song is rather simple. I know information about the sound engine has come a long way since the early days, did you guys not use a trigger, or is it just due to not having titles that it wasn't released?

Well, we were terrible players and got stuck. We could have seen gamefaqs and tips but then the interest fade away and we ended up not releasing the VGM.

sherpa wrote

Johnnyz sure made a lot of contributions to this site. (...) I guess I'm following in their footsteps.

Yeah he still hangs around SMS brazillian facebook group page. There was a great community at orkut which is now on fb.

sherpa wrote

Having my work appreciated is always nice too.

Obrigado!

Sure, thanks dude!

Author	Message
sherpa Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 365	[VGM Pack] Sylvan Tale (GG) Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 1:41 pm Last edited by sherpa on Fri Jun 05, 2015 2:07 am; edited 1 time in total
sherpa Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 365	http://www.smspower.org/Music/SylvanTale-GG Well, it's been nearly a month since my last full pack was released. I've been a bit resistant to diving in since timewise, these packs tend to take more time than usually anticipated. Interestingly, this game was released on the same day as the game of my last pack -Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S (95/01/27). Just passed their 20th anniversary. Also, coincidentally, I opted to do Sailor moon then over this pack, which I preferred, but was given early indications that it would be quite time consuming to process this pack. The main reason for the substitution was confidence that I could finish Sailor Moon quickly. I don't recall anything too challenging. When I released the mega pack of GG games, I intended to write a tutorial, specifically on this game, but gave up when I realized it would be too challenging for a beginner. Unfortunately, in order to categorize the pack by difficulty, a lot of the work necessary to fully process it would have to be done, currently. I'm hoping someday to change that. On a rank from A(hardest) to E (easiest), Sailor moon was a D (many tracks and minor challenges preventing it from being fit for a total beginner). Sylvan Tale i would rank as an A to high B. Features of a "difficult" pack are: 1) A high number of tracks 2) Difficult to properly loop 3) Music has irregular or stochastic elements 4) Requires mastery of many different tools 5) Requires decent understanding of the vgm format, 6) Music is less accessible to a naive ear. 7) It is time consuming An "Easy" pack might take an hour and change. A more challenging pack may take a good chunk of time over several days. That's how it is currently. Sylvan Tale has a good amount of these traits. It is very musically accessible, with a wide variety of themes. Some themes resemble others in specific elements, so it requires a bit of attention to identify the tracks properly. Processing was a bit straightforward. It might have been easier for a less experienced person since the music is catchy and easy to understand. Most tracks are a similar length. There are very few "true" loops, and the few that do, have lengths unacceptable for a reasonable listening experience. I ended up going back and redoing some tracks to a more appropriate length. It's possible, some of these may not loop for longer than 15 minutes, but not due to anything the ear would notice (perhaps an expert ear). Several tracks have thematic "loops" of 3-10 seconds, in which case, I lengthened the loop points to allow for some enjoyment. Other tracks repeated the same material on a similar scale in much longer periods of time, those were abridged. Often the reason for this was an odd command, inserted or deleted, although in this case, in some cases, it implied intelligent purpose and did not seem to be just the whimsy of the sound engine. With so many tracks, I did not investigate much, but would recommend it for study as a good example of how to use the sound engine well. This took a bit to write, but less time than some of the menial aspects of processing this pack. Titles came from faqs, youtube, nico and my imagination. I did not come across 3 tracks, in any of the sources i exploited. They may be unused, or overlooked. Ascribing and confirming titles took longer than it would have done to beat the game, which i also did, rushed, cheats galore. You can probably beat the game in 20 minutes if you cheat and have a reasonable idea where to go. The game depends more on what's in your inventory than other flag-rich games. Normally gameplay ranges in hours, probably a few sittings. It's a nice looking game, good music, but story is a bit basic. I won't spoil it for those who haven't tried it, but I would recommend the translation available for those interested, not fluent in the original language.

Niloct Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 607 Location: São Paulo - Brazil	Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2015 2:57 pm
	Me and Johnnyz once tried to dump this amazing soundtrack but we failed in titles since we didn't complete the game (we decided not cheating). Great work sherpa.

sherpa Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 365	Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2015 9:14 pm
sherpa Joined: 28 Nov 2014 Posts: 365	Interesting. This game actually has a trigger so logging the song is rather simple. I know information about the sound engine has come a long way since the early days, did you guys not use a trigger, or is it just due to not having titles that it wasn't released? I know the translation patch (english) was released a while ago, and the faq has been available for a while, but i think a full playthrough of the game was only release on YT a few months ago. I used it to double check my progress and make sure i wasn't missing anything. It's a pretty straightforward game, even without cheats, a little backtracking for extras, but not necessary. Johnnyz sure made a lot of contributions to this site. Most of the previous work relating to vgm logging /sound engine hacks here came from a small team of brazilians. It's not obvious until you start to pay closer attention whose name keeps showing up. It's too bad most of those guys don't seem to come around any more. I guess I'm following in their footsteps. Thanks for your contributions. Having my work appreciated is always nice too. Obrigado!

Niloct Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 607 Location: São Paulo - Brazil	Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 1:19 am
	sherpa wrote Interesting. This game actually has a trigger so logging the song is rather simple. I know information about the sound engine has come a long way since the early days, did you guys not use a trigger, or is it just due to not having titles that it wasn't released? Well, we were terrible players and got stuck. We could have seen gamefaqs and tips but then the interest fade away and we ended up not releasing the VGM. sherpa wrote Johnnyz sure made a lot of contributions to this site. (...) I guess I'm following in their footsteps. Yeah he still hangs around SMS brazillian facebook group page. There was a great community at orkut which is now on fb. sherpa wrote Having my work appreciated is always nice too. Obrigado! Sure, thanks dude!

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