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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« on: 2019-10-19 12:50:45 »Snip
I think the stacking of multiple similar elemental materia increasing power could be interesting, but devoting individual materia to single spells--especially low-level ones--like that would cause problems, especially since materia slots are already at such a premium.
For example, my personal favorite build in the entire game is Barrett as a tank/attacker, and since he isn't going to have much magic, I give him support spells and Renew (when I get it), and devote the rest of his slots to purple, command, and an occasional elemental materia if needed, partly for effect, partly for stat boosts. With the proposed change, my needed magic materia slots change from 3 to 6-8 (depending on how many spells from each materia I want to use with him), which of course also multiplies how many "All" materia I also need to equip for ideal use by the same amount (from 2 to 3-5). And since Time and Barrier materias are so important in this mod, any spells I can't equip on Barret will have to overflow to other characters, whose magic selection will be also be limited, and whose available slots aren't too much more in number than Barrett's.
Basically, playing casters--and maybe even hybrids--in this hack will be really painful for a massive chunk of the game because you will never have enough slots for everyone. Even endgame--which features mega-all and master materia--will probably be an issue because only 1 character can max out at 16 slots, and the rest max out at 9-14 depending on your weapon/armor of choice--and not all of those have generous servings of connected slots!
The only potential issue I can see with amplifying multiple "stacked" materia is how much of a bonus you get from that stack. The new battle rebalance is already IMO much friendlier to the player (in a reasonable way), and if you add a mechanic where, say, Cloud can stack 3-4 lightning materia in Midgar, will the stacking bonuses just make him a steamroller for bosses there? And would stacking those materia upset the power balance anywhere in the early-to-mid-game? Because you'll basically be able to do it right away with basic magic materia.
IMO the stack mechanic might upset the balance least is used only for summons. You start collecting them a bit into the game, there are limited numbers, they're currently single use, and they each have a plethora of plus *and* minus stats for equipping. I personally used summons primarily for stat boosts and rarely actually summoned them outside certain battles or farming (if only because most summons were equipped on fighters/hybrids). But stacking could make them more viable regular use options (provided you have enough MP)