Forums > Game Talk > How to map old console RPG world maps
Scribblemacher (195) on 12/31/2012 4:39 PM · Permalink · Report
A lot of old NES RPGs didn't come with a world map or, at a time when complete games are expensive and harder to find (especially for RPGs), isn't accessible, it's very easy to get lost. I'm currently playing Dragon Warrior 2, which doesn't have an in-game map like Final Fantasy did and has frequent encounters on the world map, which makes getting lost a frustrating ordeal.
For many games, I've made paper maps. 3D maze RPGs like Wizardry fit nicely on graph paper. Metroid didn't have to be an exact map, it only needed to show me what doors to go through to get to X item. The Legend of Zelda sort-of fit on graph paper, where each screen was one grid square.
Big RPG world maps are way too many tiles to comfortably fit on a sheet or graph paper, or even a few taped together. Dragon Warrior 2 is the one I'm currently playing that seems to focus on exploration, but without a map, it's very easy to forget where X town was located or where I got Y item. Other games like Uncharted Waters really want you to explore, but the world is just so big.
Has anyone come up with a good idea on how to approach these times of games? I was thinking of just figuring out how many tiles big the DW2 world map is, and drawing my own graph on a piece of poster board or something, but that would be kind of labour intensive and my wife would probably laugh at me (and then yell for spending so much time on a video game instead of cleaning the basement). I tried just drawing a rough map of big land masses and stuff to find my way between towns, but it was too inaccurate to be useful...
Pseudo_Intellectual (66532) on 12/31/2012 8:17 PM · Permalink · Report
A general technique could be just to write down location names and associate each one with a "signpost" you maintain on a piece of paper -- I came here from there by traveling west for 3 minutes, so that location is 3 mins (or 3 screens, or ... etc.) east of here.
Adzuken (836) on 12/31/2012 9:46 PM · Permalink · Report
I'd just use an online map, if you must, for Dragon Quest 2. The North American version of the game came included with a map, so you aren't exactly giving yourself an advantage. Personally, I've got a very good memory for game worlds, especially the 2D varieties and only find myself getting lost in games like Willow (NES), where segments of the world map are repeated numerous times. For Dragon Quest 2, I would keep directions to get back to the harder to find islands. I'd basically write down "Three tiles right from North-Eastern most point - straight down." I did the same for Pirates! on the NES, where I memorized most of the landmarks on the map and made notes for places I can easily miss.
I have made full maps for games like Goonies 2 on graph paper, and when I finally find myself with the willpower to play through Metroid, I'll likely do it for that as well.
Scribblemacher (195) on 1/1/2013 1:18 AM · Permalink · Report
I think writing down directions is probably the most effective and fastest idea. I've already been doing that in my head (go north until I see this, turn right, etc) but haven't been writing it down. I better start writing it down, otherwise I'll go a month without playing and forget where everything is!