Part 203: Interim 3: Disc 2's unused content

So, today's update was just supposed to be a short "here's a few unused things" bit before we wrap this up.

It, uh... It wound up being a bit longer than I expected.

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Welcome back!

Before we wrap this up, let's take a look into disc 2's unused content, going roughly in order of the game's map files.

For starters, it contains the Sea Dragon and Pirate Island maps. While the Sea Dragon ones work perfectly fine (including the one that tells you to switch to disc 2), Pirate Island seems to be missing some data elsewhere on the disc and selecting either of those maps crashes the game. Just imagine screenshots of the end of disc 1 and a black screen with "this is on disc 2, honest" written out below them.

In Laine, there's a conversation with Nicky that goes unused.

: Rapp's having a hard time, huh?

: Looks like they won't let that old broad from Laine into the village...

: OLD BROAD? Who taught y'all to say such a thing?!

: Huh? Um... Huh? Uh... Rrr... Rapp did. He says you're a gorilla girl....

: Uh, well... actually, uh....

: Heh heh. Let's forget about it....

: OK, I'm sorry. I did it. I taught him.

: I'm sorry. I should never call Rapp's guests sleazy chicks or gorilla girls or anything like that.

: Well, what's said is said. Are y'all sure you understand now?

: Yes! And thanks for talking to me again, Miss Milda!

The Petrified Forest has text for another section of petrified village. Much like the included section of Petrifed Cafu, though, the translation wasn't looked over and so the grammar is very awkward.

Also, it has Rapp literally breaking down in tears when he sees the statue of a mother holding her child. And optionally getting teased by Milda about it if she's in the party.

There's a few other stories, too. Like the guy who got petrified right as he was getting stung by a bee. Or the woman who was putting fruit in jars, looked into one, saw a cockroach, and screamed right as Gaia hit. And Nitto who was planning on leaving town anyway, and Samark, who was playing hide-and-seek.

.... Let's skip on ahead to the Tower of Doom, where there's a few text boxes asking if you want to rest. Probably unused because of the save points.

There's also text in the first floor where... well...

: Hmm... Hey, I can feel a breeze here.

: Is this wall coming apart?

: Heh, heh. Gimme some room here....

And Milda has some more dialog for smashing the console.

: IT'S TRASHING TIIIIIIME!!



There's nothing exciting in the lab.

The next bit, though, is far more interesting.



Maps 9C10 and 9C14 bring you to an unused variant of the North and South Zil Deserts, respectively.





Yes, there exists on the disc a Gaiafied version of the Zil Desert, complete with some otherwise unused enemies!



They have a pretty decent chance of dropping MP boosters, and their skills are pretty powerful. Especially prickle, which deals ~90 damage to everyone. If a group of four all decides to do that at once, you're pretty much toast.



Both of their skills are physical, and thus get their damage reduced by armor. Poison Quills poisons (imagine that), and Scissors Attack causes Move Block.

There are also Gaia Snakes in the area, but we've seen them before.

Another thing to note is that you can enter the Castle of Dreams and Soldier's Graveyard from here. Unfortunately, when leaving, they send you back to the pre-Gaia version of the desert. It may be based on the plot flags you have set, but you can only access the debug menu screen from the main menu and so none of the plot events have actually been triggered yet.

Both variants of the Savanna are pretty much set, except the West Savanna has a location label for a place called "Protection Park 1".

Moving onward, to Zil Padon!

There's a few unused location labels scattered around, including a few older ones for the hotel and apartment building. More interestingly, there's also one for a casino, and one for the Teleportation Room. There's also some dialog about splitting up and searching a house for the Mogay Elder. Maybe the Mogay Embankment was originally one large interior area?

Also in Zil Padon, when the doorway to the Spirit Sanctuary appears, there's some more text associated with a few of the NPCs that never seems to get triggered.

: Good news everybody! Good news! The city, she get rebuild more and more, and people, they smiling too! Beautiful Zil Padon she's gonna be even MORE beautiful than before! I'mma see it with my OWN EYES! Mr. red-haired adventurer boy, you gonna LOVE it! 'Cause it's SO beautiful! We working very hard. So you to, eh? Adventuer boy! I know you can DO IT!

: We better get going so we can finish rebuilding Zil Padon by the time you get back. So we gonna be working at our job while you do yours. Do a GOOD job, OK? Justin... you leave things up to us. Just keep going forward, OK? OK.

: You know, Justin? It just occurred to me... you might be a REALLY big adventurer, you know? I mean you went over the End of the World and the Spirits like you and all....

: And so you gotta go and save Feena, and show her how BIG an adventurer you ARE!

Milda and Gadwin have nothing new, and there's enough generic NPC chatter left over that it certainly seems that you were originally intended to be able to come back here after the Spirit Sanctuary. It all follows the same vein as Gina and Guido's extra bits, though.

Oh, and Rapp and Liete have some dialog here, too.

: OK Juss. Let's get going! No reason to get butterflies NOW.

: Wait! You're not going ALONE, are you Juss? Can't do it alone, right?

: I'm comin' too!

: I won't take no for an answer!

: I know, Justin. I know that humans need a time of rest. Right now... you are very tired. But I don't know what will revive your strength. So I have decided to wait. Justin... I'll wait by your side until you can stand on your own again. I am used to waiting. I have waited in Alent over the ages.

: I shall follow. For I have finally met the Embodied One.

: Rapp! Liete! Let's go! As long as there is a future an adventurer never stands still and never gives up! Come on! For the sake of the people of the world!

Really, it's unsurprising that most of the cut content comes from a big, important cutscene like this. They tend to be made before the rest of the game is finalized, and so leave bits and pieces behind as the rest of the game changes around them.

Speaking of big cutscenes in Zil Padon, there's very little unused in the Zil Ruins. That said, there is one juicy line in the underground Justin solo area....

: What is this stone tablet? It has 5 different colored gems in it. Guido? Do you know anything?

: Who knows? But I think for sure the ancient Angelounians have some purpose for this.

Anyway, next up is Laine. There's a small dinner conversation with Liete that's not triggerable.

: You know, it's strange if you think about it. Liete, what did you eat when you were in Alent?

: Actually, there was little need.

: Alent is a Sanctuary. The effects of time are not felt there.

: The presence of the Spirits supports life, so only a slight replenishment of energy is necessary.

: So you mean that even if you don't eat you can just keep on living?

: Then if a human were to go to Alent he would live forever?

: No, it's not like that. All life ends sometime.

: It is true that I, Liete, have lived for many generations. But I am not immortal.

: But you can see that there are many things on the ground that are strange to me. Eating is one of these things.

There's also another conversation with Milda and Darlin that was cut for pretty obvious reasons.

: Well what's wrong boy? Y'all look like a squirrel in a dog pound.

: That fiend Baal is still alive! And he's using Gaia to get at Zil Padon!

: Gaia! That scum! After Zil Padon is he?! Well he won't get away with it...!

: Hurry up Justin boy! You want to save Zil Padon, don't you? Strike while the iron is hot, boy. Don't lose the moment! You can do it! The folks here won't take this lying down either. Hurry off to Zil Padon, before it's too late!

Let's see... next up is the Grandeur.

For starters, there's a text-only version of the cutscene where Justin gives Baal the Spirit Stone. There's also a second copy of the escape catapult map where you fight Baal, for some reason.

Alent has some unused text in the Gondola room. It may seem somewhat familiar....

: This'll take us back?

: Yes. All we need to do is get on board, and it will fall to the planet immediately.

: Fall...? Hey, are you telling me this thing's gonna drop like a stone!?

: Yes. Like a stone.

: B-but just a minute! Falling from HERE...!?

: WOOOOOOOOAH!!

: EEEEEEEEEK!!

: YAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

: I don't know why you're so worried. It will stop without any problem when we hit the planet.

: ARE YOU CRAZY!? LET ME OFF THIS THING!!

: Why Rapp, do you want to fall and hurt yourself?

: I mean... YAAAAAAARGH!!

Kinda glad they scrapped that to go with the FMV, honestly.

Next up is the Luzet Mountains.

: This is all army facilities from here on. No reason to go this way.

Next up is J Base. Remember all the troops there and how they had dialog that changed, like, all the goddamn time?

Well, it turns out that there's even more dialog that goes unused. Pretty much every room has text defined for NPCs who don't appear. There's probably enough to do an entire update on just that, if I felt like transcribing all the dialog. Instead, I'll summarize: There was a sentry out at the entrance who you snuck past by claiming to know Mullen. There were more injured guys in the TACOM Center, with the statue and entrance to the secret passage. There were some dudes in the Officer's Quarters. Nobody has anything new or interesting to say, though the dialog from the Officer's Quarters does seem to indicate that the people there are the ones populating the field base.

... Well, okay, there is ONE interesting conversation.

: What are you civilians doing here? I haven't heard anything abou this from Colonel Mullen.

: Umm... well... you see... we are associates of Colonel Mullen, and he told us to come... yep.

: Oooh... my... so the Colonel plans to use civilians, too. Well, he knows best. Carry out your orders. Enter the large door halfway down this corridor. Someone will attend to you when you get there.

: Heh, heh. Now we know where Mullen is! Thanks!

: Say! Halt there, you!

: Erk! Ah, um... yes?

: You man be civilians, but here we refer to him as COLONEL Mullen. Don't forget that!

: Uh...? OH... Oh, of COURSE!! COLONEL Mullen... why, yes! Heh, heh... Colonel Mullen... Right.

: That's better. Off you go now! Complete your mission!

Next up is the Spirit Sanctuary. There's a second copy of both maps, but they both crash when trying to load. The second map only has the save point text, too, so it's unlikely that the cutscene was planned there. Possibly the area was originally four rooms long.

The Ancient City didn't lose much, except for Feena yelling for Justin in the area with the Gaia Battler. And all of the Gaia and ending maps have all their content in-game properly.

Honestly, there was more than I was expecting, but it's disappointing that none of the extra maps would load. And that the cutscene-only maps always triggered their cutscenes properly, so we didn't get to go exploring any of them like we did the Field Base on disc 1.

Oh well, at least there's still a bit more juicy content....



There's a few unused key items in here. This one is the only one kind enough to let us know that it's unused.



The jail key was seemingly intended to be a proper inventory item, but canned at the last minute.



Alent also had its own key at one point, which keeps with the whole rainbow theme it has.



Pretty sure this knife isn't used anywhere. On account of being way too powerful for Dom, and way too weak for the Tower of Temptation.



This probably wasn't used on account of being nearly twice as strong as Feena's starting knife, despite being rusty and dull.



A knife counterpart to the Gil Sword.



Perhaps hammers were originally distinct from maces?



This would have been nice to find just outside Sult.



The Zero Equipment also originally had a shield and boots, as well.



Pretty sure this is unused, but either way, it has a different description on disc 1, where it's the horns of a Big Horn instead.



This is used, it's one of the treasures you get from the Castle of Dreams, but it actually increases IP loss by two levels. Or decreases IP loss resistance....

... Everything else that says that it slows IP loss has a positive power for Parameter Type 16. There.



Not sure if I just missed it, or if this is actually unused.



This is a fun one that actually works. It casts a 0-power Howlnado.



Tower of Temptation also had a key at one point.



+7 magic power on the accessory slot is kind of insane.



There's a full set of stat reducers, too. They all work as advertised.



There's also a +1 and +5 manual for each skill type. Sadly, these don't work as advertised.







Finally, the 100 weapons. Oddly enough, Liete can only use the one with the morningstar icon, and not the one with the rod icon. Just a bit of trivia.

The other items past the 100 Fire Mace are all garbage data, so we'll be skipping over those.

Finally, spells and skills.



Lacosta is the unused skill that still has it's learn-at data intact: Wind level 12.



Milda has a few unused skills that, unsurprisingly, all boil down to "Hit an enemy really freaking hard".



Rage here is barely more powerful than Milda Kick.



And Milda Hit 2 is actually 100 power weaker than Milda Hit 1.



The actual icons there belong to Protection and Diggin'. Sanctuary could have been very interesting, depending on how it was implemented.



The spells numbered 100-117 are all "behind the scenes" spells that handle effects like MP/SP restore, the Bond of Trust thing, cause or cure ailments that normal spells don't, etc.

Essentially, if there's an item that does something, and no spell that mimics it, it's found in the 100+ range.



Though they all have proper names and descriptions.

And finally, a few more unused enemies that aren't used on any maps that actually load.



Pretty obviously a palette-swap of the Squid King.



Likewise, it's very clearly an upgraded Ganymede.

It's possible they were originally the guardians of Alent, or perhaps you had to fight your way past them to leave, based on their stats and such.

Probably would have been more fun to fight these two than go for another two rounds against Gaia Battlers, that's for damn sure.



He's found just after the Gill Newt in the enemy data, and they both have two skills: a spore attack and a slime one, so it seems to fit that mold.

Not quite sure why this guy was unused. Guess they just couldn't fit him in anywhere.

Anyway, that's the unused crap from disc 2. Maybe I'll figure out how to rip the graphics and palettes for the unused enemies at some point, or scour the map data for more than just text, but that'll do for now.

See you next time!