CIty of SPIRA

[Cloud Strife 0]

Hello to the forum,

I'd really like to start a city journal about the city I'm currently playing with.

Just before I begin talking and describing the city, I want to write something about the way I play.

 

At the beginning of my SC4 adventure I did lots of cities starting from nothing. It's really lot of months that I'm playing this great game, and my way of playing has changed a lot since that.

Actually, I ceased to build cities following the rules and from the beginning, and began to pause the game as soon as I start a new city, in order to start building my city in PAUSE mode. I also unlock the rewards, so that I decide immediately where the mayor house will be placed, where the mayors statues will look their best and so on.

Then, when I've finished building the city, I put it in FASTEST mode and just sit down watching it develop by itself for some years. I see the problems that will generate and then, at some point, I start playing in NORMAL TIME mode to solve the matters.

This is something that I remember the old SIM CITY for SUPER NINTENDO had... anyone remember it? There were some cities already built, that you were able to play with in order to solve the problems that city had.

This is something I miss a bit in SC4 so I found this way to reproduce it.

I play this way also to have more chances to give to the city the look I really want it to have (for instance: I use the mayor's statues for the main squares... it would require too much time to wait they get available otherwise).

 

The city I'm going to talk about is not an ideal city... it's just a city, with its problems, and its good places. I'm from Italy, so it is in someway a typical italian-structured city.

 

Its name is SPIRA, like the Final Fantasy X world. I have been a great fan of FFX game, so my city is ideally based on that world. The roads have names from Final Fantasy X locations and characters, and I tried to imagine that some of the zones have a little story connected to FFX. Since I often play in UDI mode, it was useful for me to give to the main roads a name, so I've choosen names from a videogame I really liked.

 

The pics are max 800x600 and hosted on an external site, as requested in the rules.

 

I like the idea of writing a CJ also to track and have a little history of the changes of my city.

 

The first post will give a glimpse of the city and it's location in the region (I started playing SC4 in the new york default region.. many cities have been built since then!).

 

Eventually I'll add a sort of menu in this very first post (by editing it) as soon as I update the CJ.

 

I used some mods in my city... I just began playing with mods in this city only. I downloaded some and put into the city... since I don't really remember all the authors and mods I've used (I downloaded some, but used only a few), I give credit to all people I'm using the mods of. Of course I use also NAM and GLR. If anyone wants to have informations on a lot/bat/mod just ask and I'll tell you what mod is and the author. Anyway just searching in simtropolis will bring you directly to get all the infos you want on the lots/mods I've used.

[Cloud Strife 0]

A description of the city of SPIRA

As just said before, the city is placed in the default SC4 region named New york. Since I play SC4, I used to build my cities in this particular region, so many cities are around here.

 

 

 

As you can see, SPIRA is located in the north-east part of the region.

It confines with the big city of BALAMB GARDEN (yeah another name from a Final Fantasy game!), and the smaller cities of Hirule (very rural city) and Costa Del Sol (still Final Fantasy ), a small city on the coast.

 

The mayor of SPIRA is Tidus (some people surely was betting it!).

 

So far it counts about 319.000 residential people, 96.000 commercial, and 48.052 people in industrial area.

 

Flying over the city, this is what we would see:

 

 

In the next post, we'll jump off the mayor's private jet, to start a tour of the main city zones and suburbs.

 

 

[mayormommy 8]

This is certainly a very interesting looking city. Are you going to leave those open areas in Spira or fill them in? I'm looking forward to future visits to Laguna and Citta Morta especially.

[rooker1 4]

Very interesting city you have going here.  You certainly have alot of work done already so we should be able to see lots of pics very fast.  Can't wait to see more. 

[Cloud Strife 0]

Date: 1/20/2006 12:44:04 PM Author: mayormommy This is certainly a very interesting looking city. Are you going to leave those open areas in Spira or fill them in? I'm looking forward to future visits to Laguna and Citta Morta especially.

 

Thanks to y'all for the interest in my city This really give me a boost to post more stuff soon!

 

Just a few words about the two cities you mentioned.... yeah they're surely very particular cities, I will talk about them later... I was also thinking to open up a thread about the various realities of my region put in comparison between them... if the idea sounds good I might do that when I'll end up with Spira

 

Laguna is a city built on a lagunar zone.. its name is not only because of its geographic place, but is also dedicated to a character of FF8 pretty expectable, isn't it?

 

Citt

[Cloud Strife 0]

Jumping off the Jet... the VALEFOR AIRPORT

 

The Mayor's JET is just landing! We see the airport closer and closer... we'll land to the INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT OF VALEFOR.

Valefor was the winged Aeon of FFX: it's said that it was the very first Aeon that summoner Yuna was able to get as soon as she got the powers of summoning in the Temple of Besaid. It was a sort of eagle-shaped aeon.

The Airport is connected to the city thru a wide highway (called, in fact, Highway to Valefor), a suburban road Via Valefor (that means Valefor Street) that connects to the south-east corner of the city where there are those roundabouts. It is connected also to Besaid thru a road along the seaside (Lungomare Valefor that means something like Long-the-seaside-road).

 

The Highway to Valefor begins from the circular highway that is built around the city.

As you can see in the previous images from the JET, the heart of the city is blessed by an highway that is built around it. It has exits and entrances to-and-from the main roads that goes to the suburbian area and to the neighbor cities. It provides a fast and clear way for the citizens to move around the city.

It is insipired to the G.R.A. (Grande Raccordo Anulare) freeway of Rome, that in fact runs around the city (and is everyday full of traffic, making me get late at work!). This highway is just called SPIRA FREEWAY.

 

Back to the Airport, there is also a fast rail connection directly from the SPIRA CENTRAL STATION and the station of TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENTS (that we will see later). A wonderful way of visiting the city for tourists and people who came to Spira for work from other countries!

 

 

Here is a closeup image of the railway station.

The railway will be called Fs from now on (just like in Italy... the meaning I give to it here is Ferrovie della Simnazione that means Railway of the Simnation).

The station is built with the same style of the airport!

Getting off the plane, you have so much ways to choose in order to go to the heart of the city!

If you got money, just jump on a TAXI!

Otherwise you can take the Fs train to get directly to the main station, and there choose between metro subway lines, trams, or bus to visit the city!

If you need to reach the south-east corner of the city (with many offices and industries) you can also think to jump aboard a bus!

The bus line V connects the airport with the hotel, passing thru the south-east corner of the city with many offices and industries, just to arrive to one of the biggest stations of the city (Temple of Ancients station, with Metro-subway, bus, railway and elevated railway to besaid/seaside).

(soon, a map and the history of the transportation systems of the town)

 

Don't forget the wonderful VALEFOR HOTEL, that you can see in the first image, placed near the airport, encircled by green trees, near the toll of the highway. It's reacheable from the Airport station by taxi or bus.

 

Close to the airport, there is also a freight station in the lowest south-east corner of the map.

 

Since we're with the mayor, we'll take a First Class ticket for the Passenger Train. We'll have also a breakfast in the restaurant-train wagon.

[mtbrocket 2]

That map has some great variety. I look forward to seeing close-ups.
-Dan

[Cloud Strife 0]

Arrival al the Central FS Station

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/STATION.jpg align=baseline>

 

Time to get off the train! We're finally arrived at the Central Station of SPIRA, located in Via Zanarkand (Zanarkand Street), a large 2 roads avenue with the tramway in the middle.

Since we're guests of the Mayor, we have his limousine awaiting for us, and ready to bring us to the Mayor's house in order to take a break and rest for a while after the trip.

Anyway as soon as exiting the station we see in front of us a Tram Interchange Station. On the right, there's the entrance to the subway.

Here at the central station, the two subway lines cross together, so we can choose to take the A line and the B line underground.

We also can choose among three tram lines: the red, green and blue line.

On the left, there's a large bus station with big parking. Another parking is on the right, nearby the subway entrance. More on the left, there is a small road called Via dello Scalo di Macalania (Macalania Freight Station Street) that brings us to the TRAM and BUS depot, and to the big central freight station.

 

Let's just look around better in a less close-up pic:

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/CENTRO_4.jpg align=baseline>

 

In front of the station there's also a McDonald's Restaurant, full of tourists and young boys and girls at all hours!

In this pic you can see better the depots on the rear.

The [M] signs stand for Metro (subway). The [M]b means that it's a B LINE subway station.

 

Now just get on the limousine. It starts driving on Via Zanarkand in the west direction. We pass under the railway bridge and keep going straight ahead along the same road.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/CENTRO_1.jpg align=baseline>

 

Driving on Via Zanarkand, we can see on our right the wonderful ACADEMIA OF ART. Just after it, we turn right seeing a big square with the Mayor statue in the middle. There's a Red Tram Stop in the center of the road.

We keep going straight and see the Town Hall and the Court, in a wonderful oasi of green grass, trees and an artificial lake and rich buildings full of offices and expensive (but anso beutiful) houses.

There's a subway station (B line underground - Fluvilunio) near the court.

There's also a museum here.

In the middle of the small lake there's a good looking flower garden with a statue of the Mayor's wife Yuna. We just turn right here, and go straight through Piazza dei Lunioli (Moonflow Square), where another B Line underground station lays. In the middle there's a religious temple/church, with a wonderful garden around it.

Going straight ahead, we stop at a tollgate with a small police station in front of it. We must be authorized and identified before letting us enter the private road that brings to the house of the mayor!

Then the toll bar lifts and we're able to proceed.

The orange arrows indicate the mayor's house.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/MAYOR_HOUSE.jpg align=baseline>

 

Here we are! A close-up pic of the zone and the house of the mayor (I rotated the map of 90

[Chicagolife 0]

Like your update and ill keep my eye on this one plus love that station The Fs as u call it and whats up with that um big plateu or a big mountian over ther in Balamb Garden.

 

Good luck with you post

[Micah 16]

It actually looks very cool. I'll stick with this CJ because it looks exciting! Good job Cloud.

[jacqulina 162]

fantastic start love what you have done so far which is a lot,nice pics too

[am44 0]

i like the city although the names are quite familiar...

good job though  i l

[Cloud Strife 0]

Thanks for the comments! I'm very glad you like my city

So this is time for another step!

 

Touring the center of the city

 

 

 

Let's take a look to the heart of the city! We just arrived to the Mayor's house and took some rest.

What about a walk then? Walking down the streets of the SPIRA center is really pleasant: parks, green, trees and flower are all around! Walking north and leaving the lake, we arrive to a small plaza with a fountain and a police station. Here the roads merge a bit and we found we're walking along Via del Corso: this is the most central, prestigious and rich road of the city! Around here only very rich or important people live! Along the street we can see the Art Museum, a wonderful Hotel with pool, tennis field and all comforts (but just don't ask for the room prices! you could have an heartache! ), parks and gazebo in the middle. On the right, thee's a road and a square with the Bureau of Burocracy and a rich Hospital with all the most recent technologies and highly qualified doctors from all over the Simnation! And then a private school (for wealthy people) and the Main big Library at the end of the street.

 

On the left of the Main Library there's a one-way-only road that you won't be able to take by car because of its direction. It's called Via di Guadosalam (Guadosalam Street), that comes down in one-way-sense from the immediate north suburbian zone of the city. It's not yet populated however, but we'll take a look later.

There is also a cemetery and a church in front of it, that are dedicated to the Guado. One of the biggest summoners of Spira's history was a Guado. His name was Seymour, who lived in Bevelle. Because he got mad, for some time Guados were considered traitors and were forced to escape and hide in Macalania, leaving their home zone. In the Guado City there was a placed called The Farplane. Rumors say that inside the Farplane people could talk to their dead-relatives or anyway to people they loved and that are dead. This cemetery and the temple is dedicated to it.

 

The large venue crossing Guadosalam Street is the pursuance of the inner-city freeway (a tangential large road that puts in quick communication the center of the city, nearby the station, with the northern part and the stadium. We'll see where it starts later). It's called East Freeway (Tangenziale Est in Italian). At the end of the freeway, it becomes a large venue going straight to the stadium that you can clearly see on the left of the pic (anyway I'll publish another pic dedicated to the stadium-zone soon).

Along this avenue some hi-tech industries.

 

In the southern part of the EAST FREEWAY, and just on the left of Via del Corso, there's another very rich district: LE BLANC DISTRICT.

LeBlanc was a beautiful and very rich woman in Final Fantasy X-2, who, despite her vain and conceited personality, helped Yuna and her friends, after the war against Sin, to find the truth about the destiny of Spira, by saving the planet once again, and bringing back Tidus who disappeared after the death of SIN and the disappearing of the summoners lots of centuries ago. 

The Country Club you see here is just dedicated to Le Blanc, as long as the road that take her name. The aristocracy of the city lives and spend their spare time around here!

This district is really wonderful and full of important and rich people! Beautiful houses and offices are around you if you take a look!

The bad looking buildings you can see are abandoned because they're very old and precarious, so they've been closed down for security reasons waiting the funds to restructure them.

 

Now just go back to the closest subway station (there's one in Via del Corso), and take a journey to the LUKA STADIUM, that is also the terminal station of the B subway line.

[Cloud Strife 0]

The Stadium of Luka

 

*be-beep*

Luka Station - connection with Red Tram line - Terminal, please get off!

The recorded voice playing on the train is quite understandable: time to get off, we reached our goal! Yeah, goal is the right term to use here!

 

We're at Luka Stadium where the most important matches are often played! Not only baseball, but also soccer and often very important concerts and live sets of famous international artists!!!

Rumors say that many centuries ago, at the times of Final Fantasy X-2, also Yuna and her band had a concert here! Also the most important Blitzball tournaments have been played here! Blitzball was a soccer-style sport that was played in water. There was also a port here but eventually in the centuries the water has disappeared leaving a the plain where now there's the city.

Some parkings are around the stadium, but they're absolutely NOT enough when there are great torunaments here! In these occasions people fill all the parkings around here, even the interchange parking of the metro station!!!

Via Luka connects the city to the neighbor city of Bikanel and to the near industrial suburbian zone along the Albhed street (we'll see it later).

There's also a subway station Stadio that is closer to the entrance of the stadium.

 

The flags you see on the sign indicate the public transportation that are connected in this station: [M] stays for Metro subway, as said before. B stays for BUS. T as TRAM. P means Parking. Quite simple, isn't it?

From the Luka station, many suburbian buses depart and arrive, connecting the city with the suburbian industrial zone. Many workers at morning pass through this station to go to work, and at evening they arrive here back on their autobus and then took their car (left at the parking) or jump aboard a subway train or tram, to reach their house.

 

Let's see another pic of the area:

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/STADIO_1.jpg align=baseline>

 

As you can see, Luka Street has also a connection with the SPIRA's FREEWAY.

Look at the roundabout with the Mayor statue: the way on the right is Via LeBlanc (that we saw before), that bring you to the central zone of Via Del Corso and the Mayor's house.

The road going down is Via Mihen Nuova: VIA MIHEN is a very important road in the city and in the suburb. We'll see it in the next step!

 

Down the stadium, and along the Mihen Street, there are plenty houses and offices. The RED TRAM line that links this zone (and provide transportation for people) with the central station thru Via Zanarkand (do you remember the trip with the Mayor's limousine? We saw a red tram station in front of the Spira Square with the Mayor's Statue! That was Zanarkand Street).

 

[rooker1 4]

WOW, your city is great, I didn't think you would post so many pics so quickly, this is very cool.  Great work, keep it up.

[Cloud Strife 0]

So what's next stop? A look to the transport system of the city...

Where to go now? It's about 16 PM, it's afternoon, but we won't miss the diner at the mayor's house, so we have about 3 hours to go around the city.

We heard of the big Commercial Center full of offices and shops in the District of Mihen, but will it be easy to reach from Luka? Since we won't take a TAXI, a good idea is to check the transportation map depliant that we took at the Subway station of Luka!

 

If you want to see a bigger version of the map (more readable) in 1024x768, just click http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/mappa.jpg  (opens in new window)

 

In SPIRA there's one only big company that manages and take care of the transportation system. Its name is S.I.TRA.L. that stands for Sistema Integrato di TRAsporto Locale (that means: Integrated local transport system).

 

In the depliant there's a bit of the story of this company. Let's talk a bit about it.

At the beginning of the city, there were three main companies that took care of the transportation system of the city.

 

The very first one was the SIM.BUS:

 

This company took care of the BUSes of the city. They build buses, stations, stops, and gave work to many people as bus-drivers, station managers, security controllers and so on. The buses connected the main points of interest of the city with the suburbian industrial zone.

There was no connection by bus with the seaside zone of Besaid, except when the elevated railway get broken.

They then built two of the three TRAMway lines: the green one (that connected the middle of the city with the suburbian EAST zone) and the red one (that did not arrive to Luka at the time, but just to the Mihen cross).

 

 

As long as the SIM.BUS, there was another national company that had his depot and office in SPIRA: the already mentioned F.S.:

This company (that in our terms could be called RS: railway of the simnation) is very important, because take care of all the railways of the simNATION ! All inter-outer city trains and stations were owned by the FS company. They built the Central Station of SPIRA too!

 

 

The last (but not least) company is also the younger one:

The SI.METRO (that stands for subways and trams of the simcity), as said, is the youngest company that built and owned the lightrail lines.

Their very first work was an elevated railway that connected the center of the city (from the PACCE Station, that is just another side of the Temple of Ancients big central station! we'll see it next!) with the sea suburb called Besaid. At the beginning there were just few steps.

They then built the first subway metroliner of the city, that connected the rich district of S. BEVELLE (we'll see later!) with the main central station of Spira (F.S.), sharing the elevated railway for besaid! As for today, the B Subway Line shares the Elevated railway of Besaid for 2 stops that we'll see later, and that are clearly visible in the transportation map pic that you can see at the beginning of this post.

 

 

[Note: the drawings that I used in those pics are not drawn by me, it's just some clipart that I found around the net. I just added some colour and the writing]

 

 

Eventually, the three companies decided to merge in one only big company, with full access to all the aspects of the transportation system (except for TAXI). This was a great decision for many reasons!

 

The new company is the S.I.TRA.L. as said before.

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/SITRAL.jpg align=baseline>

 

So what changed for the citizens? What improvements have this thing brought?

First of all an UNIQUE TICKET SYSTEM! Yes, all the citizen of SPIRA can travel through the SITRAL public transport system by paying ONE ONLY TICKET! They can take any bus, metro, train in the city with the same ticket for 120 minutes! After 120 minutes, they need another ticket.

The cost of a ticket is damn low, just 1

[nycsc4 5,250]

great cj.  i noticed you used an airport from the sc4 website.  i made it, it is based off of the St. Louis airport.  i love this cj and i will be comming back.

[Cloud Strife 0]

Journey to the mayor's house and the night fun in Spira

 

be-beep

Stadio station - Right side exit - Next stop LeBlanc

 

Ok we're on our way back home. It's getting dark, as we're in the subway.

We look again at the trasportation map. Let's try to understand with will be our way tonight and tomorrow.

 

We find two subway lines:

Subway A Line: this subway connects the south-ovest corner of the City (from the MIHEN Station) with the north-east corner (Porta del Crepaccio station), passing through the Big Central Station.

Subway B Line: this line connects the south part of the city (S.BEVELLE station) with the north-ovest part of the city (LUKA station), passing through the Big Central station. It shares the elevated railway to besaid for two stops. So at that stops (Isaru and Gippal) you can get off the subway train and take the train, coming in the opposite direction, to go to Besaid! Very useful in the summer time to go to the sea!

 

It's clear enough that both lines connect at the SPIRA Central Station.

 

The mayor told us that the night is young in Spira, we just need to know where to go!

There's a district that every night is full of people and open pubs-discos-restaurants-cinemas and all the funniest things you may desire to spend your night!

The mayor let that district be and grow in the memory of the Zanarkand that never sleeps of the FFX times.

So how to get there ? After our diner, we just need to take the Subway B Line from the station Lunioli (close to the Mayor's house) and get off at the station Temple of Ancients.

 

But how to go back??? If we go dancing in a disco, we'll surely be late! And the subway stops at 01:00 AM. The mayor tells us that there's absolutely no problem! The BLUE TRAM LINE works all night long! It never stops! We can take that to get back to the main station, then we could take a night bus as said before or get a walk in the heart of the city at night (being a good district, full of rich and important people, there's lot of police and it's pretty safe to walk also late at night!).

 

 

Let's go and have fun! Heading to Mt. Gagazet Street!

 

We just wanted to try the TRAM service now! So we take the subway B line to the Central SPIRA Station, get off and go to the BLUE TRAM station, that is on the right, in Via dello Scalo merci di Macalania (Macalania's freight station street).

We did choose to take now the tram because from the subway we couldn't see the city at night! It's wonderful around here!

Few tram stops (that is slower than the subway) and we're ready to get off. Our stop is the Blue Tram terminal station: BRASKA , as written on the map.

We get off, and watch the wonderful PYRAMID monument. It's called TEMPLE OF THE ANCIENTS: rumors say that it was once a big temple full of misteries. It's believed that it was the black materia itself, a very powerful energy source, built by the ancients long time ago, at the times of Final Fantasy 7 (that... maybe I should not tell but... it follows FFX and FFX-2... the reason is in FFX-2 last mission... but I won't spoiler more just in case some FFX players are around here ).

 

We'll get a tour of this zone tomorrow, with the sunlight. Here there's the second huge station of the city, as you see on the transport map, the station TEMPLE OF ANCIENTS connects the F.S. railway with the Subway B Line, the Elevater lightrail to Besaid, the Blue Tram, and a bus station!

 

Anyway we're going to have fun tonight, so let's cross the big square around the Pyramid, and take Via di Monte Gagazet (that means Mount Gagazet Street).

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/NIGHT_1.jpg align=baseline>

 

This is the fun district!!! See how many lights, and fun places are around here!

There are several pubs open, such as Wild Zebra, a Sonic Drive-In, BurgerKing and McDonalds just in case you want to eat something fast before the film, a showgirls club, and much more!!!!

There's also a DISCO in an old power-plant!

The only matter of this zone is the crime rate, that is a bit higher than the center of the city. Most of the clubs and pubs here are abusive, such as the disco in the old plant : they just made it without any permission, but it has had so much success between the youngest people that nobody thinks it could be a good idea to send them away. It would surely require a police action and the mayor doesn't really want wars nor to hurt anyone in the city if it's not strictly necessary.

There are many parkings along the road (which is one-way road, that ends up on the back of the pyramid), but after 00:00 they're all occupied!!! It's just 10:30 PM and see how much cars are already around here.

 

Walking from the station to here, we passed near the Pyramid and near the CEMETERY OF THE ANCIENTS, where it was believed Aeris has been buried after Sephiroth murdered her in Final Fantasy 7. However nobody knows if it's true.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/NIGHT_2.jpg align=baseline>

 

Just see how much the traffic increases as long as the time passes! All the young people come here at night!

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/NIGHT_3.jpg align=baseline>

 

See how much traffic and people is around here at night!

 

We don't want to be too late, because tomorrow we'll have to visit the remaining part of the city, so we'll have to get up early!

 

The disco is full of teenagers dancing and drinking! I wonder how will they get back home so drunk! I hope they will take the tram, and not drive after drinking so much alcohol! I now understand why the blue line works all night long!

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/BLUE_TRAM2.jpg align=baseline>

 

Time to go, here we get aboard the Blue Tram. It's 01:30 AM and it's still working! It's pretty empty at this time, just a few of teenagers that are going back home on it.

At this time there is no more traffic: everybody left their cars parked somewhere and are having fun!

[Cloud Strife 0]

Date: 1/20/2006 8:50:06 PM Author: nycsc4 great cj.  i noticed you used an airport from the sc4 website.  i made it, it is based off of the St. Louis airport.  i love this cj and i will be comming back.

quote>

Thanks everybody for the comments! I'm really happy you like my first CJ!

 

Thanks also to nycsc4 for the great St.Louis airport you've made! I really like it and think that it looks great near my airport! You've done a great work!

 

If anyone recognizes his lot/bat in my CJ, feel free to write it here to let people know!!

 

More updates soon!

[Superchan 23]

looks great.

[Superchan 23]

looks awsome.

[tethys 0]

Fico !

[Cloud Strife 0]

A small update for today

Today (Saturday) I've not updated the CJ because I was busy trying to mod some files, eheh.. I was trying to enable the night headlights of the ELevated train because it's pretty dark at night. It seems it looks good now but I don't understand why, when passing on curves, the cars following the engine do show the same lights for a second... I'll have to work much on that. This is a pic anyway of the result.

 

 

 

 

And now....

 

Back to the City tour!

 

Early morning, time to get up and have a huge breakfast in the mayor's home where we're still guests of. Yesterday night we toured the zone of Spira that never sleeps, full of pubs, clubs and fun!

Time to return there for a tour with the daylight though! Of course, at daytime, all the clubs are closed and all those parkings are used by people who work around there.

 

 

This time, we arrive here by the subway B line. Our stop is Temple of the Ancients Station. Off the tunnel, on the surface we look around and can see the Pyramid better than yesterday night.

This station is the second biggest station of the city, and a very important exchange node! It connects the F.S. railway; the subway B line; the F.M. elevated metroliner that brings to the seaside fo Besaid, the BLUE TRAM (with a depot) and various BUS lines, such as the very important one that connects directly to the VALEFOR AIRPORT and its Hotel! A parking is available for cars, but don't expect to find free parkings after 10:00 AM because it gets full soon at early morning!

Here we can see that the merging of the public transport companies has happened not so much time ago! As you can see from the transport map and from this pic, the F.M. station (FM is the elevated metroliner connecting the city to the sea) is called PACCE because in fact it faces on Via Pacce (Pacce Street), while the station is called Temple of the Ancients. The subway and tram stop are called Braska because they face Via Braska (Braska Street). At the time of building there was not an unique company, so each one (FS, Simbus and SI.Metro) used the names they wanted when building a station.

 

Let's go back to the Pyramid, and take a walk.

 

 

We can see on our right the Mount Gagazet Street (Via di Monte Gagazet) where we have been yesterday at night! It looks very different at day.... we go straight ahead and cross the square with the Mayor statue, walking on Via dell'Oasi di Sanubia (Sanubia Oasi Street). At the middle of the road there's the blue tram line with some stops. Since it's not cold today, we choose to walk some more instead of taking the tram.

 

Let's take a look to the entire district:

 

As you can see, this district is very pleasant. Lots of green parks, the Ancients' Cemetery, the wonderful Pyramid, lots of parkings, a blue water canal, offices, and a McDonalds for the workers to get a fast and slurpy lunch. At day time, the McDonalds on the bottom is opened, while the one on top (in Via Monte Gagazet, where there are the pubs) is closed and opened only from 7 PM on.

 

The FS railway separates this district from the southern one, that is more popular and a less poor than this one. It's pretty normal: the more we go far from the center of the city, the poorer and more populated the districts are.

 

But we were going north!

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/PZA_BONACCIALE.jpg align=baseline>

 

The way Sanubia Oasi Street let us arrive in front of a very big square, called Piazza del Bonacciale Eterno (Eternal Peace Square).

This square is dedicated to the Final Fantasy X Calm Lands: where a summoner was able to defeat the evil Sin, there was a period of peace and healt. That period was called Bonacciale (at least, in the italian version of FFX I dunno how it's called in the international english version, if there's any FF fan here please let me/us know! ).

On the right there are the ruins of an old temple. Rumors says that it was the Calm Lands' temple where the Yojimbo aeon rested.

In the middle of the big square, two tram line cross and interchange: Green and Blue tram. This is a very important exchange node, while also an important historical and tourist destination.

On the left, there's the Spira Central Station we've already visited yesteray at our arrival by train!

On the other side of the square there's a beautiful castle in the middle of a square called Piazza dell'Invocazione (Summoning Square).

That was the Temple of Macalania. In fact, on its left, the wonderful Macalania district begins. We'll see it next. Rumors say that in the temple is still resting the aeon Shiva.

North of the castle there's the beginning of the East Freeway that allow cars to quickly arrive from here (and the eastern central part of the city) to the Luka Stadium, coasting Guadosalam and Macalania.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/PZA_INVOCAZIONE.jpg align=baseline>

 

On the right of those two squares, there's the beginning of two very important roads.

On the right of Eternal Pace Square it begins Via del Bonacciale (Bonacciale Road), that goes very far away! It's a road that goes far out of the city. It has an exit/entry from/to the Spira's Freeway, and lots of houses where not-very-rich and poor people live, expecially out of the Spira's Freeway. We'll see the suburb later. This road is full of traffic. Moreover, it is one-way only in two parts, requiring cars coming from the suburb to turn right just before the square and take the other road that I'm going to introduce.

There's also the Green Tramway that runs parallel to the street till the end of the suburb.

On the right of the Summoning Square it begins Via di Sanubia (Sanubia Road/Street): this is a very large avenue, with two large roadways. It is parallel to Via del Bonacciale until the Spira's Freeway, then it turn north-east and goes out the city, to the Simnation.

Along this road you can see many residential medium-wealth buildings and some industries. The suburb is not very rich. We'll see it later.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/VIA_BONACCIALE.jpg align=baseline>

 

This pic shows Via del Bonacciale. It has been rotated of 90 degrees.

 

Next update's coming soon tomorrow!

 

[Cloud Strife 0]

The road to Besaid and the district of S. BEVELLE

Since we've visited the eastern central district of the city yesterday, going until the city border signed by the SPIRA Freeway, let's visit the southern central part of the city before exiting out the ring of the SPIRA FREEWAY where the suburbs are.

So let's get back to the Pyramid, and take the subway B line. Here it's cool to travel on the subway, because it exits from the underground and runs on the elevated railway of Besaid for two stops, so we can see the city from the train window!

 

Isaru station - Right side exit - Connection with urban railway for Besaid - Next stop Gippal

The voice that speaks on the train through the loudspeaker informs us that we're already on the first of the two elevated stops of the subway B line. If we wanted, we could get off the train and wait the one for Besaid on the same bench!

 

The subway train is running up Via Besaid (Besaid Street-road), that arrives to the seaside.

As we can see, it's full of residential buildings around here. Less commercial zone, and some industrial ones in the back. It's not a very wealth zone, but not even so poor. Medium wealth we should say.

 

Gippal station - Right side exit - Connection with urban railway for Besaid - Next stop G.I. Mika

This was our last stop on the surface. Now the subway B line turns right and goes underground again, while the trains headed to Besaid would continue straight ahead to the seaside.

 

About a kilometer after, Via Besaid becomes an one-way road, and the cars heading to the suburbs must turn right and travel along Via del Mare di Besaid (Besaid's Sea Roadway), that has exit and entrance from and to the SPIRA's FREEWAY ring.

Via Besaid and the Elevated Railway just cross the freeway without exit nor entrance, as you can see at the bottom of the picture.

 

Our goal is the District of S. Bevelle, a wealthy zone full of commercial oppurtunities.

 

 

Looking at the transport map, our goal is the subway terminal station.

*be-beep*

Saint Bevelle Cloister station - Terminal, please get off!

 

Time to get off the train!

If you want to know where we are now, just look at the bottom of picture: the subway station is near the large bus station you can see. That's the end of the subway B line here. We need to take a bus now to travel around this district. Otherwise we can have a walk.

The mayor gave us a bonus ticket for taxi, so we choose to call a taxi (from the taxi station you can see in front of the subway) and ask the driver to let us have a tour of this district.

The taxi starts from the station, and at the first roundabout (the one with the gazebo in the middle) it turns left. We can see on our right the Stock Exchange. This zone is full of well-kept roads, parkings, offices and shops for all the workers and important people that come here from other cities for affairs and/or work!

At the end of the street, we're at a crossing with a very large avenue. It's VIA DI S. BEVELLE (St. Bevelle Street). This avenue is in someway parallel to the Besaid Street. In fact, S. Bevelle Avenue arrives to the seaside of besaid! There's also a wonderful residential zone on it, called Celsius Residential Center, that we'll see later when touring the suburbs.

This avenue has two entrances to the SPIRA's RING FREEWAY but only one exit from the Freeway! Coming from the eastern part of the freeway, on the inner roadway of the freeway, it's not possible to leave the freeway exiting on S. Bevelle Avenue. People that need to arrive to the S. Bevelle Avenue from the eastern side of the Freeway have to leave the freeway turning right at Via Besaid, and then drive through the Celsius roads or turning on Circonvallazione di Bevelle (Bevelle Bypass Street) that connects Via Besaid and S.Bevelle Avenue. That's the road we are being driven on, and where we've seen the Stock Exchange.

 

 

This is a close-up image of the zone.

In front of the Circonvallazione there's a huge and wonderful Hotel, for the very rich and important people that comes often to this zone for affairs. It's good also for tourists with money to spend.

Now the taxi turn right on the already described Viale di S.Bevelle (St.Bevelle Avenue), till we arrive at a roundabout with a tower in the middle. This is what remains of the ancient civilization of S.Bevelle, the sacred city in Final Fantasy X where the clergy lived and governed Spira.

All the master summoners have lived and reigned in Bevelle, till the last one that was Master Seymour.

The civilization of Bevelle was against the machines, they promoted the spiritual part of the life, and recommended praying. They tought and said that machines were a very bad thing, and it was their fault if the evil Sin periodically appeared bringing destruction and death to the world of Spira. They said the only way to defeat Sin was to pray and expiate our own sins.

Rumors say that Bevelle had a secret side, hidden in the underground, full of machinery and war weapons. It's also believed that Bevelle destroyed once the Zanarkand civilization in a war.

Anyway it was a very shining city!

 

On the left of the Roundabout begins Via Kilika (Kilika Street) that arrives until the Mi'hen District that we will tour later.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/S_BEVELLE_CLOSEUP2.jpg align=baseline>

 

On the right of the roundbout with the tower, there's a road that arrives to the Convention Center, another very important building for the affairs in Spira.

You can see again the roundabout with the Gazebo and the Stock Exchange we've already passed by.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/S_BEVELLE_CLOSEUP3.jpg align=baseline>

 

Let's just continue north from the tower, on the S.Bevelle Avenue. On our left we can see a big bust station, very well maintained, and built in a sort of modern monument, that to tell the truth is just some old walls of the ancient Bevelle city, kept and cleaned in order to build a bus station.

It's called Staz. Piazza degli Invocatori (Summoners' Square Bus Station), because of the name of the square in front of the station.

 

This bus station (that has also some parkings on the front) is very important here. Many bus lines stop and depart from here. First of all, the suburbian bus line going to the Celsius residential center. Then a bus line going for the suburbian industries. Another bus line, that tours the entire district, depart from here and arrives to the subway B line station, stopping near the important buildings of this zone (such as the Convention center and the Stock Exchange). This district has no subway connection other than the B line station terminal (that is not very close to here), but thanks to the wide streets, the buses represent a good way of moving around.

 

Heading north, we see a private school, and the State Fair that often hosts very important events or official new product previews by important international companies.

Sometimes the fair is choosen also by international live bands as the location for their concerts! (if you see, in the bottom-left corner of the fair there's also a stage).

 

[Cloud Strife 0]

Leaving Bevelle and heading back to the Center of the City

 

The taxi continues to drive north. We reach a cross with Via Ifrit (Ifrit Street) on the left. That road would take us to Mihen too. There's also an FS station on that road that we'll be able to see later.

Still heading north, we reach a very big square with a temple in the middle. It's the St. Bevelle Temple (to tell the truth, it's a brand new church that is believed has been built on the ruins of the ancient temple).

This is a very important and trafficked square, because it connects the heart of the city with the Bevelle district. The upper road will bring you directly to the Central FS Station, while the one on the right will bring you to the Temple of The Ancients FS Station (where the Pyramid is). Both avenues are really wide.

 

Just to give the idea of how this square is connected with the center of the city, here's a pic shot from the Jet :

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/CENTRO_3.jpg align=baseline>

 

We ask the Taxi Driver to drive us to the FS Station, because we want to vist the district of Macalania today.

 

But just before leaving S. Bevelle, let's see a pic of the district at night.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/S_BEVELLE_CLOSEUP5.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The district of Macalania and the monumental forest

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/MACALANIA_1.jpg align=baseline>

 

 

Here's an aerial pic of the District of Macalania.

 

At this point, I can answer to the question someone asked at the beginning of this thread, about all the trees. As you can see in this pic, and from the one I posted at the beginning, at the north of the Central FS Station there's a huge forest. It is known as the Woods of Macalania (Bosco di Macalania in the Italian version). At the time of Final Fantasy X, it was a magical (and wider) area full of trees, lakes, and magical creatures and locations, where some of the clou moments of FFX have developed.

Eventually the magic aura of the forest died, and so it became uninhabited. Those wonderful blue-cyan colours that made it so characteristic vanished, leaving that common green colour we're used to see on trees.

Because this is all that remains from that magical forest, it's considered a monument itself, and won't be violated anymore.

A Ranger Station has been built around here to ensure the security of the forest is not violated by anyone.

The road you can see is called Via di Macalania (Macalania Street) and crosses both the inner east-highway of Spira and the external Ring Freeway of Spira, making possible to enter and exit from both the freeway.

 

Only F.S. got the authorization to build the railway inside the forest many years ago. It's like today they would not have obtained that permission from the Mayor.

 

As you can see, along Via di Macalania there are a few interesting locations.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/MACALANIA_2.jpg align=baseline>

 

First of all, the City Zoo.

Rumors say that it has been built by Clasko at the time of the Chocobo Ranch moved from the Calm Lands. The Chocobo Ranch was itself built on the ruins of the older Zoolab.

This is a very important point of interest for tourism and also for people to relax and enjoy a good sunny day.

There are very few apartments and residential zones along Via di Macalania. The people who live here are really lucky because it's a wonderful place to live in! They're also very rich indeed. Blessed by the trees, and in the heart of the city. There's also a Subway Metro Station (A Line) in front of the Zoo.

Near the zoo, we can see the Ranger Station that vigils on the security of the Macalania forest.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/MACALANIA_3.jpg align=baseline>

 

Up along the Macalania Road there's an important religious and cultural zone.

A church, that is supposed has been built on the ancient Macalania Cloister Labyrinth (that the training summoners had to pass in order to arrive to the Aeon's Temple). In front of it, there's a monumental wonderful cemetary dedicated to the ones dead in the war against Sin.

Near the church, a Museum with the rests and some pics of the forest at the time of FFX. High historical interest.

 

Going north, we encounter a big medical center hospital and a few of small villas where lucky and wealthy people live.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/scalo_macalania.jpg align=baseline>

 

This pic, that I shot when it was night, shows the zone on the right of the Central FS Station of Spira.

It's still part of the Macalania District, in fact the grey street you see is called Via dello Scalo Merci di Macalania (Macalania Freight Station Street).

On that road, that ends up with a dead-end, there's the central freight station of Spira, that is built close to the rails of the Central Station, so it's in the middle of the forest (this is why it has this name).

You can better see the freight station in the larger picture before. This last picture I posted just show you where the Freight Station Street begins and the tram and bus depot that are still on the same street.

There's also the terminal station for the Blue and Green tram lines, and a rail roundabout for the trams to go back.

[Cloud Strife 0]

A night at the Casin

[Cloud Strife 0]

The north-east urban zone.. just before visiting the suburbian area of SPIRA

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/CREPACCIO.jpg align=baseline>

(I shot this pic at sunset, so I did apply some filters to make it more clear because it was pretty dark)

 

The north-east zone of the city is reacheable with the Subway A Line. The terminal of the subway is around here, the Stazione Porta del Crepaccio (Door of the Dirupe Station), referred to the door in the precipice of Final Fantasy X-2 that required the Kermes' spheres in order to be opened.

This zone doesn't have much interesting stuff to look at.

It's funtamentally a low-wealth residential zone. There are some industries in the northern corner, and the most interesting thing to see is the Militar center dedicated to Nooji, that was the leader of the Youth League in Final Fantasy X-2.

 

The main road here is the Via Micorocciosa (Mushroom Rockroad Street), that has in/out ramps for/from the SPIRA's FREEWAY RING.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/Z_NOOJI.jpg align=baseline>

 

The militar headquarters. The access is restricted and checked by the toll. In front of it, some military industries.

 

 

 

 

 

[simcity1992 0]

Iw ish my cities would be as nice as yours.

[Cloud Strife 0]

 The suburbian tour begins! Let's go to Besaid!

To reach the seaside of Besaid we need to take the F.m. elevated railway from the Temple of the Ancients Station (near the Pyramid). Just enter the PACCE Fm station.

(F.m. means 'Ferrovia Metropolitana' = urban railway)

We've already seen the first part of this line, because it's in common with the B subway between the Pyramid and the Gippal stop.

This time the train continues on the elevated rails and passes over the highway. We can see the cars running under!

The first stop after the highway is called CELSIUS.

The Celsius is the first southern suburb we encounter. Let's take a look around since it's really a good place to live!

 

At the first look from the train window, it seem just a small industrial zone. In this case, we don't get what we see! The residential area of the Celsius is deeper inside the trees, along VIA CELSIUS (Celsius Street), a road that connects the suburban line of Via Besaid and Via Bevelle (we visited yesterday the urban zones along these two roads).

 

 

Going deeper west along Via Celsius we encounter a Bus terminal station (with a small inn near) and an agglomeration of wonderful buildings surrounded by green trees and parks.

 

 

Proceeding west, we reach the center of the Celsius suburb. It's really a nice place to live! Beautiful houses, parkings, a blue-water lake and some small villas.

On the west corner of the image we can see S.Bevelle Avenue (Via S. Bevelle), do you recognize it?

 

 

Here's an aerial pic of the zone.

Wealthy people live here. It's a good place to stay also because it's easy and fast to reach both the center of the city and the sea too, by car or bus!

 

But let's get back to the elevated railway to Besaid...

 

 

Besaid Village station - Next stop Besaid Central station

Here we are, after leaving the Celsius station, we saw only trees and green land. Then suddenly, the train enters an area full of building. From the train we can't absolutely see the sea! Where's it? It seems a normal city! Just be patient!

The EL Train runs parallel to Via del Mare di Besaid (Seaside of Besaid Street). The road is very full of traffic at the rush hours! I think to the unlucky people that live in Besaid and have to go to work on monday morning!

 

There's also a lot of traffic in the summer time, expecially at night because there are so many parties and raves on the beach, and all the youngest people from the city comes down here to have fun! Same on summer sundays, when people come to the beach!

 

Next stop is the Central station of Besaid (you can see it in the pic, it's marked as [Fm] Besaid Centro). We decide to get off the train here.

 

 

There's a big plaza out of the station. We're in Via Wakka (Wakka's Street). Wakka was one of the greatest Blitzball players in the history of Spira at the times of Final Fantasy X. He and Tidus brought the Besaid Aurochs to win the Yevon Cup!

 

Crossing the road, there's a McDonalds. Anyway we can breathe and feel the odor of the sea. To reach the sea we can take a bus from the central station (on the right there's a medium bus station), or have a walk. Just head west on Via Wakka, and turn left in Via del Mare di Besaid (Seaside of Besaid Street), that ends up with a roundabout and finally... we can see the sea!

There's a road that runs along the seaside, there are people on the beach even if it's not very hot today.

A sign says that going left we would reach the Besaid Port, while going to the right we'll just find some more beaches.

As said before, in the summer time there are a lot of parties and raves on the beach, that is full of dancing people having fun!

 

 

Turning right, we can see more beaches, a small wharf, and the ending of the ELEVATED RAILWAY. That road that runs along the seaside connects with Via Valefor, close to the airport! (we saw it when we arrived in Spira the first day)

 

Let's take a look to the Port...

 

 

As you can see, it's a very rich port! There's also a dock for cruises and tourist port.

The big square you can see is Besaid Square (Piazza Besaid), where the Bevelle Avenue (Via di Bevelle) ends, as you can see in the top-right margin of the picture.

 

 

But the suburb of Besaid is not only on the seaside, there's also an inner zone that's unfortunately less pleasant to see and to live in.

 

 

Behind the Besaid Central Station there are many buildings: residential, commercial and some small industries. This is a medium-low wealth zone. It really doesn't look like a sea suburb. We have had the same impression too when we arrived the first time on the EL Train at the Villaggio station (that you can see on the left).

There's also a small stadium where very little sporting events take place sometimes, and where it's believed that the Besaid Aurochs trained long time ago.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/BESAID_1.jpg align=baseline>

 

An aerial photo of the zone, just to have an idea of the way the zones we've seen so far are linked together.

[Cloud Strife 0]

Forgot about the university?

Uhm... yes I did forget about talking about the University district So let's pause our tour of the suburbs, and let's get back in the center of the city to look at the university.

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/UNIVERSITY.jpg align=baseline>

 

The University of Spira is placed in a green oasi of trees between the Mihen district and the S.Bevelle Temple square.

It's on VIALE NEOYEVON (Neoyevon Avenue), that starts from Via Mihen, before the point where the road splits into two one-way road.

 

There's a subway station here, on Via Baralai (Baralai Street), where is the entrance of the University.

 

The street ends with a roundabout: on the right, there's a smaller street that would bring to the Large Medical Research Center; The Advanced Research Lab and the Spaceport Center.

 

As you can see this is a zone for studying and researching.

 

North of the roundabout there's a one-way-road that links to Zanarkand Street. It's possible to reach Zanarkand Street (and so the center of the city, mayor's house, the FS station etc...) from the University, but not vice versa.

 

There is also a bus stop for bus departing from Luka, Mihen, and from the close Ifrit FS Station. In the lower corner of the pic you can see the railway, that separates the University zone from the Kilika district we saw before.

The Ifrit Station faces on the other side of the railway, but there's a subway pedestrian passage that allows people to access the trains also from the Neoyevon street. The buses that depart from the northern exit of the Ifrit station bring to Luka and to the University.

 

http://www.eclatami.org/simcity/spira/Z_UNIVERSITY.jpg align=baseline>

 

A closeup pic of the university. As you can see, in front of the entrance, there are some small houses where students from other countries live.

Some small commercial buildings too.