Author Topic: [FF8-PC Steam/Switch] FFVIII Crystal 1.5.6 / Remastered Version 1.1.6  (Read 55750 times)

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #75 on: 2021-01-20 22:28:01 »
Sure, feel free to send them over or post them. Is Hyne necessary if I restart the game? I figure I might as well restart in full as I'm not too far into the game yet, and then I'll be testing from the start to the end. Although it will probably take a couple weekends to get to the last Laguna dream, I'll be able to give feedback.

Here you go: https://mega.nz/file/we4zmAaJ#kZdxxEymG0EiEEzA91i3h1xdp_FAe3zKc6R9psnmDF8

You won't need to edit anything if you start a new save file. Since you're starting a new file, I also went ahead and switched Irvine's GF to Cerberus and buffed Defend's Crisis Level boost. Let me know if you have any problems.

EDIT: You probably know already, but don't forget to put the .txt file into the Hext folder.

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If you don't want to do 1.3 just yet, you could release what you have with the Edea fix as a 1.2.1 once you are satisfied with the testing results. It's not a big content update but restoring Edea to a full character is a big enough change I think.

I just might, especially now that I switched Irvine's GF.

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It's good to see that the first two Laguna dreams are working fine now, hopefully the remaining three will also be good! It's definitely a good sign.

Fingers crossed  ;D I'll test the others soon too.
« Last Edit: 2021-01-21 03:15:34 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #76 on: 2021-01-26 16:52:41 »
A quick update, I've also reached the second Laguna dream and according to the Hyne save editor, Edea is still equipped with Eden on my end too.  :) I'm hoping to finish disc 1 soon.

As for some observations, you were right about Squall's strength. While he initially seemed lacking, once I got to run around the world map a bit and he started to approach level 20, I noticed that his damage output became a lot more solid. For Rinoa, I think it might be better to have her limits be magic-based to give her some extra damage since she is limited in offensive options. Whenever she gets down to yellow health, I'd rather just have her heal herself than use Angelo cause the damage she deals (at least with Angelo's initial limits) just isn't worth the risk of keeping her at low health for one turn.

The rest of the characters so far feel good to use, no complaints with them. Although I have to ask, are any of Quistis' limits missable or rare? By rare, I mean situations where the item is only dropped by enemies in a specific one-time only area, and then don't show up again until the disc 3/4 or at all. For example in the Vanilla game Gespers in Laguna's Cetra dream are the only way to get Quistis' Degenerator apart from card modding.

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #77 on: 2021-01-26 18:11:43 »
A quick update, I've also reached the second Laguna dream and according to the Hyne save editor, Edea is still equipped with Eden on my end too.  :) I'm hoping to finish disc 1 soon.

I also checked out the third Laguna dream and it also keeps Eden. I haven't tested the last two yet, but I feel fairly confident in saying that the issue is fixed now.

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As for some observations, you were right about Squall's strength. While he initially seemed lacking, once I got to run around the world map a bit and he started to approach level 20, I noticed that his damage output became a lot more solid. For Rinoa, I think it might be better to have her limits be magic-based to give her some extra damage since she is limited in offensive options. Whenever she gets down to yellow health, I'd rather just have her heal herself than use Angelo cause the damage she deals (at least with Angelo's initial limits) just isn't worth the risk of keeping her at low health for one turn.

What did you think about Squall's Cure spells in the early game? I shifted his Mag growth so that the baseline for his Cures would be around 350. Also, what are your party's levels?

The thing about making Rinoa's Limits magic-based is that magic damage doesn't scale very well. For instance, if I made Angelo Cannon magic-based and gave it a base power of 42--the same value that it's set to right now as a physical attack--it might do pretty solid damage in the early game, but it would be awful later on. At level 100 she'd do about double the damage with physical Angelo Cannon as magical, even with the large gap between her Str and Mag stats (156 vs. 232). I added the Confusion effect in one of the updates to try and make it more useful while playing into her role of healing/mitigation (enemies can't hurt you if they're hurting themselves), but I think the real solution is to shift her Str stat to be higher earlier, similar to what I've done with other characters. I might also bump Cannon and Strike's base power up a bit (Wishing Star doesn't really need it since it's multi-hit and ignores Vit). As I was telling Nikkolas earlier in the thread, I've thought about replacing Cannon with a heal using Invincible Moon's animation, but I don't want to get rid of Cannon and I also don't want to turn IM into a healing skill since its invincibility keeps some of that FFVIII "flavor" and adds an additional perk to using Rinoa.

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The rest of the characters so far feel good to use, no complaints with them. Although I have to ask, are any of Quistis' limits missable or rare? By rare, I mean situations where the item is only dropped by enemies in a specific one-time only area, and then don't show up again until the disc 3/4 or at all. For example in the Vanilla game Gespers in Laguna's Cetra dream are the only way to get Quistis' Degenerator apart from card modding.

None of them are missable but you may have to go out of your way and/or get lucky to find them/find them at the earliest you can get them. Degenerator is the only one that I've removed outright.



In update news, I'm currently working on another battle in the aberrant monsters quest for 1.3:
Spoiler: show


I'm also strongly considering removing Irvine's Magic command and replacing it with Draw. His spell selection is not that useful and the command is a remnant of a time when I was less sure of what to do with him.


EDIT: I should mention that mid- and high-level Abyss Worms will sometimes use a Scan Stone; it doesn't crash the game or anything, but they're supposed to be using Aero. I'll have that fixed in the next update.
« Last Edit: 2021-01-26 18:28:03 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #78 on: 2021-01-26 19:07:00 »
What did you think about Squall's Cure spells in the early game? I shifted his Mag growth so that the baseline for his Cures would be around 350. Also, what are your party's levels?
They worked better this time around. I think the increase was enough, Squall had more turns attacking than previously because his healing was more potent. Previously Squall's healing often couldn't fully heal a bigger hit in the early game, now it does and usually adds a little on top. Now I no longer had Squall constantly healing to keep up with the punches.

Currently I finished Laguna's second dream, Squall is 21, Selphie is 19 and Quistis is 18. I kind of took a bit longer in the dream than I expected and I also ran around the map a bit, so Rinoa and Zell are also 17.

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The thing about making Rinoa's Limits magic-based is that magic damage doesn't scale very well. For instance, if I made Angelo Cannon magic-based and gave it a base power of 42--the same value that it's set to right now as a physical attack--it might do pretty solid damage in the early game, but it would be awful later on. At level 100 she'd do about double the damage with physical Angelo Cannon as magical, even with the large gap between her Str and Mag stats (156 vs. 232). I added the Confusion effect in one of the updates to try and make it more useful while playing into her role of healing/mitigation (enemies can't hurt you if they're hurting themselves), but I think the real solution is to shift her Str stat to be higher earlier, similar to what I've done with other characters. I might also bump Cannon and Strike's base power up a bit (Wishing Star doesn't really need it since it's multi-hit and ignores Vit). As I was telling Nikkolas earlier in the thread, I've thought about replacing Cannon with a heal using Invincible Moon's animation, but I don't want to get rid of Cannon and I also don't want to turn IM into a healing skill since its invincibility keeps some of that FFVIII "flavor" and adds an additional perk to using Rinoa.
Ah, fair enough. Shame magic damage is so wonky.

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None of them are missable but you may have to go out of your way and/or get lucky to find them/find them at the earliest you can get them. Degenerator is the only one that I've removed outright.
Good to know!

Nikkolas

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #79 on: 2021-02-09 13:31:46 »
Hey man, do you have any hope of ever porting this to the remaster version?

Asking for a guy on Reddit.

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #80 on: 2021-02-09 20:52:54 »
They worked better this time around. I think the increase was enough, Squall had more turns attacking than previously because his healing was more potent. Previously Squall's healing often couldn't fully heal a bigger hit in the early game, now it does and usually adds a little on top. Now I no longer had Squall constantly healing to keep up with the punches.

Good to hear.

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Ah, fair enough. Shame magic damage is so wonky.

It's the biggest reason attack magic is so bad in vanilla. I made some changes to Rinoa's Str stat after my last post and I think Angelo Cannon is in a better spot now.


Hey man, do you have any hope of ever porting this to the remaster version?

Asking for a guy on Reddit.

Hey there. I plan to, but it may not be for a while. I'd like to complete the rest of my plans for this version before I work on Remastered in order to minimize the amount of extra work required. Some things are as easy as drag and drop, but others require more than that. I also don't know whether the mod's .exe changes are possible in Remastered, so I'll have to investigate how to do that at some point too. At worst, I may release a version that excludes the .exe changes but has some other differences from the 2013 version, but I'd like to avoid that if possible.

I ported some of the simpler stuff to Remastered once, but I didn't go any further than that.

Spoiler: show


Did you get my last PM, btw? The thing I was talking about is a little closer to being possible now that I've figured out how to stop the JUNCTION opcode from unequipping guest characters' GFs.




In update news, the aberrant Abyss Worm fight that I posted about before is finished and I'm currently working on a sidequest with a little more story/dialogue than the stuff I've done so far; as a result, it's taking longer as well. Both will be in 1.3.

Spoiler: show
« Last Edit: 2021-02-10 02:44:07 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #81 on: 2021-02-10 12:58:20 »
Hey,

You may already know this, but I've reached the Lunar Base and I can confirm that Edea has no problem with de-equipping GFs now from the Laguna dreams. Your fix for that works great.

I found what I think may be a small oversight. You know the invisible Aura drawpoint that is available during the battle of the Gardens? The one here: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/d/db/Aura_draw_point_location_during_the_Battle_of_the_Gardens_from_FFVIII_R.png/revision/latest?cb=20191119214919

It's still there and can be used, giving you access to some Aura spells. I know it's invisible and one time-only, and only Quistis has move-find and she isn't there, but if you know it's there, you can still use it.

I also had a weird instance where an enemy cast Aero on itself and died. I forgot which one it was sadly but I think it was an encounter with three enemies and may have been story related? I wish I had written it down... I keep thinking it may have been humanoid soldiers but I'm not sure.

As I'm approaching the end, I'm really enjoying the mod. For the most part it kept the same level of challenge and balance, which I think is pretty good. There were some harder fights, but nothing too ridiculous and it very much feels like a proper difficulty, rather than a hard-type mod, which I really appreciate. I think the second Seifer fight was a good example, he wasn't really hard and I didn't need a super specific strategy, but he had a good chunk of HP and could dish out damage fast, so I needed to pay attention. You turned him into a proper boss rather than a joke, without going overboard.

I think I might write up a small review on the mechanics and what I liked, and some minor stuff that could maybe use a bit of improvement. Maybe I'll focus on how the characters function since that's a good way to look at the game balance. So yeah, I'm almost finished and overall super pleased with this mod. Good work!

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #82 on: 2021-02-10 21:59:23 »
Hey,

You may already know this, but I've reached the Lunar Base and I can confirm that Edea has no problem with de-equipping GFs now from the Laguna dreams. Your fix for that works great.

Good to hear. I also confirmed that it prevents Seifer's GF from being unequipped, which I may make use of eventually. What did you think of Edea as a playable character?

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I found what I think may be a small oversight. You know the invisible Aura drawpoint that is available during the battle of the Gardens? The one here: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/d/db/Aura_draw_point_location_during_the_Battle_of_the_Gardens_from_FFVIII_R.png/revision/latest?cb=20191119214919

It's still there and can be used, giving you access to some Aura spells. I know it's invisible and one time-only, and only Quistis has move-find and she isn't there, but if you know it's there, you can still use it.

Yeah, that shouldn't be there. IIRC it's supposed to contain Bio or Dispel or something like that. Thanks, I'll have it fixed in the next update.

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I also had a weird instance where an enemy cast Aero on itself and died. I forgot which one it was sadly but I think it was an encounter with three enemies and may have been story related? I wish I had written it down... I keep thinking it may have been humanoid soldiers but I'm not sure.

These are all of the enemies that use Aero:

Creeps
Chimera
Torama
Vysage
Abyss Worm
Ruby Dragon
Fujin (1)
Thrustaevis (Whirlwind uses Aero's animation)

I looked through their AI but didn't see anything that would cause them to use Aero on themselves, but I may have overlooked something. If the list jogs your memory, let me know. As far as soldiers go, I think the G-Specialists (the green ones) used to use Aero, but it's not in their movelist anymore. Low- and mid-level G-Blue Mages (the light blue ones) can use Storm Breath though.


Never mind, I found it right after sending this post.  :-\ It's the Base Soldier. The Potion+ item they used to use is now a stronger version of Aero after I added Scan Stones and I overlooked that, thinking there were no enemies that used Potion+. It's fixed now, thanks.

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As I'm approaching the end, I'm really enjoying the mod. For the most part it kept the same level of challenge and balance, which I think is pretty good. There were some harder fights, but nothing too ridiculous and it very much feels like a proper difficulty, rather than a hard-type mod, which I really appreciate. I think the second Seifer fight was a good example, he wasn't really hard and I didn't need a super specific strategy, but he had a good chunk of HP and could dish out damage fast, so I needed to pay attention. You turned him into a proper boss rather than a joke, without going overboard.

I think I might write up a small review on the mechanics and what I liked, and some minor stuff that could maybe use a bit of improvement. Maybe I'll focus on how the characters function since that's a good way to look at the game balance. So yeah, I'm almost finished and overall super pleased with this mod. Good work!

Thanks  :) I'm glad you're liking the mod. Looking forward to your detailed feedback should you decide to do a write-up.
« Last Edit: 2021-02-10 22:05:11 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #83 on: 2021-02-16 09:40:15 »
Good to hear. I also confirmed that it prevents Seifer's GF from being unequipped, which I may make use of eventually. What did you think of Edea as a playable character?
I think she was balanced. She was strong and her limit break could kill regular enemies in one hit, and my tactic against the boss at the Great Salt Lake (Abadon I think?) involved her spamming her limit. The boss went down quick. You could arguably say that she's a bit overpowered but since she's not a permanent character I didn't mind, plus she's supposed to be strong, so it made sense. She reminded me of Beatrix from FF9, who is only with you for a short while but is made powerful so you can have fun with her.

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.2
« Reply #84 on: 2021-02-17 14:11:13 »
I think she was balanced. She was strong and her limit break could kill regular enemies in one hit, and my tactic against the boss at the Great Salt Lake (Abadon I think?) involved her spamming her limit. The boss went down quick. You could arguably say that she's a bit overpowered but since she's not a permanent character I didn't mind, plus she's supposed to be strong, so it made sense. She reminded me of Beatrix from FF9, who is only with you for a short while but is made powerful so you can have fun with her.

I consider Beatrix close to perfect as a temporary party member, so that's good to hear. I figured Edea would make Abaddon a lot easier, but I thought it'd be with doublecasted Holy. My gut reaction to your post was to nerf Edea a little in 1.3, but after giving it some more thought I decided to leave her as is for now since Abaddon (and more importantly Diabolos, whom it's possible to fight using Edea) will be getting reworks in 1.4. I can keep her the same and just make them tougher.
« Last Edit: 2021-02-17 14:14:14 by Leythalknight »

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.3.2
« Reply #85 on: 2021-02-26 16:51:18 »
FFVIII Crystal 1.3.2 released.

Download: https://mega.nz/file/QWwnHYSI#aB8sMed3DWcp6JzxiT6QaKKTKCIwQfwvBWIcD6vzmRQ


Content:

Spoiler: show
- Added a new sidequest at Edea's House, available with Rinoa in the party after visiting the Sorceress Memorial during the story.*

- Added a new battle in the aberrant monsters sidequest.


*Will not work on pre-1.3 save files if you've already triggered the conversation between Edea and Rinoa about sorceresses' knights. If you've triggered that conversation and want to try the sidequest, send me your save file and I will edit it for you.


Characters/GFs:

Spoiler: show
- Adjusted various characters' stats and stat growth.
- Lowered Drain's Status Atk-J power from 50% to 34%.
- Lowered Arise's Elem-Def power from 25% to 20%.
- Lowered Ultima's Elem-Def power from 30% to 25%.

- Reintroduced Edea as a guest party member.
*GF: Eden
*Comes with abilities such as Pray, Double, and Expendx2-1 as well as a variety of spells.
*Spell selection: unlimited

Squall/Bahamut:
- Changed materials required to make Lionheart.

- Zell/Ifrit:
- Chakra's healing increased from 1/4 to 5/16.

Selphie/Tonberry:
- Changed levels at which refinement abilities can be learned.
*High Mag-RF: 35 --> 30
*BLK-RF 3: 45 --> 35

Rinoa/Carbuncle:
- Angel Wing now uses JWP's Angel Wing patch, which makes Rinoa cast only certain spells regardless of whether they're in her inventory. She has a chance to cast the following spells during Angel Wing, grouped in order from most to least likely: {Holy, Waterga}, {Flare}, {Doom, Meteor, Tornado}, {Pain, Quake}, {Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga}, {Curaga, Slow}, {Ultima}, {Haste}, {Wall}, {Aura}, {Apocalypse}
- Removed Angel Wing's Haste effect and replaced it with Float.
- Changed materials required to make Shooting Star.

Irvine:
- Changed Irvine's GF to Cerberus.
*Counter Rockets: grants Haste to the party.
- Removed Irvine's Magic command and replaced it with Draw.
- Irvine now starts with 30 AP in Aura.

Seifer/Alexander:
- Changed starting abilities.
- No Mercy: ignores Vit.


Enemies:

1.3.1: Restored Jumbo Cactuar's standard world map behavior.
1.3.2: Changed the save variable used by the aberrant Abyss Worm; added UFO? rework.

Spoiler: show
- Enemies in Tears' Point now scale up to level 50; changed some enemy formations.
- Made various changes to spell refinement item drops.

- Grendel: Replaced Tail Blade with a generic attack using Tail Blade's animation; replacement attack is slightly less powerful but more accurate.
- Hexadragon: Has a one-time chance of using Rapture if afflicted with certain status effects; increased power of Chemical Breath, removed Poison effect and changed to non-elemental; now has a chance of using a critical attack instead of a normal one; low- and mid-level behavior altered to incorporate normal attacks and Bio.
- Abyss Worm: Base stats modified; stats change when below 30% HP; can now remove status effects; has a chance to use Vampire instead of a normal attack.

- Iguion: Earth weakness changed from 200% to 150%; Slow added to Draw list; now casts the Haste spell on itself; fixed issue in which Haste wouldn't take effect; fixed issue in which Iguions would not use Resonance.
- Base Soldier: Fixed issue in which it would use Aero on itself; now uses Cure instead.
- Oilboyle: Reworked.
- NORG Pod: Lowered HP.
- NORG: Modified NORG's pattern; Orbs now cast the Haste spell on themselves instead of being Hasted through AI, so the effect can be dispelled; Orbs can begin Hasting themselves sooner; at 30% HP, there is a chance that an Orb will advance directly from blue to red; changed NORG's level scaling.
- Odin: Acts more frequently; action chances increase when below 60% HP; now uses Daunt instead of Stop; restored a line of unused battle dialogue.
- Seifer (3): Str increased; has an additional action chance; is more likely to use Zombie; can counter physical attacks with Blind and magical attacks with Silence; Provoke gives a Regen effect; gains a Str and Spd boost and a guaranteed critical attack action when under Aura status.
- Edea (2): Increased Spd; now uses Aura on Seifer instead of Berserk; increased action chances and adjusted action probabilities; uses Maleficium sooner; has an additional guaranteed use of Maelstrom at 20% HP.
- Ultima Weapon: Replaced Light Pillar with Licht Säule, which deals no damage but inflicts an immunity-ignoring Death effect; now has a chance of using Tornado instead of Quake.


Misc.:

Spoiler: show
- Changed the following spell refine totals:
*Cure: 5 --> 10
*Raise: 3 --> 5
*Protect: 3 --> 5
*Shell: 3 --> 5
*Zombie: 5 --> 10
*Curaga (WHT-RF 3): 3 --> 5
*Holy (WHT-RF 3): 3 --> 5
*Haste: 3 -> 5

*Fire: 5 --> 10
*Blizzard: 5 --> 10
*Thunder: 5 --> 10
*Fira: 5 --> 10
*Blizzara: 5 --> 10
*Thundara: 5 --> 10
*Firaga: 5 --> 10
*Blizzaga: 5 --> 10
*Thundaga: 5 --> 10

- Fixed Aura Draw Point outside of G-Garden; replaced with Zombie.
- Added Cottages to Winhill Shop.
- Joker has a unique shop on Disc 4.
- Joker now has an option to heal the party when spoken to aboard the Ragnarok.
- Added a hidden shop that allows for the purchase of certain missable items on Disc 4.
- Updated Aberrant Key items' descriptions.
- Added dialogue to hint at new sidequests.
- Restored an unused line of dialogue during the meeting with Edea on Disc 3.
- Updated Credits section of OP.
- Updated screenshot album in the OP.
- Added a donation link to the OP.


EDIT: I didn't want to triple-post, so I updated this post with 1.3.1. I suddenly remembered the other reason that I made Cactuar Irvine's GF: if no one has it, then Jumbo Cactuar will never stop spawning on the world map. I figured out how to make JC's spawn check one of the battle save variables instead and the hex values I changed are below.

The new sidequest at Edea's House is the first that includes story elements. I may make a few more such sidequests in the future, so let me know what you think. Speaking of sidequests, I'll be concluding the aberrant monsters sidequest in 1.4.

I still have some reservations about the Angel Wing update, and may alter or revert it in the future depending on the feedback I get.

I'm also posting the hex values for a few of the changes included in this update and the previous one should anyone want to use them:

Spoiler: show
Code: [Select]
#Allow Minimog to be summoned regardless of Chocobo World progress

8E0AF = 75
8E0B0 = 00
8E0B1 = 40
8E0B2 = 00

This changes the address checked by the MiniMog command to one found in an error handling message in the exe, as I figured said value would never change in actual gameplay. This should work pretty easily in other versions as long as you change it to an address with a value within the correct range (the minimum needed for MiniMog to appear is 0D, but I can't remember the max...).

Code: [Select]
#Double MiniMog's Gil cost

8E0D6 = 03

Code: [Select]
#Prevent removal of Edea's GF during Laguna dreams

ACE7F = 90 90 90 90

This also works for Seifer (and other characters too, presumably).

Code: [Select]
#Changes the address Jumbo Cactuar's world map spawn checks to save var 57

144C4A = 58
144C4B = E9

144C4C and 144C4D make up the rest of the address, but in this case I didn't need to change them.
« Last Edit: 2021-03-04 02:05:33 by Leythalknight »

Leythalknight

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam] FFVIII Crystal 1.4 / Remastered Version 1.0
« Reply #86 on: 2021-04-16 15:49:21 »
FFVIII Crystal Remastered Ver. 1.0

Download (outdated; most recent version in OP)

1.0 includes the same content additions, changes to enemies and abilities, etc. as 1.4 of the 2013 version of the mod (below) with the following exceptions:

Spoiler: show
- Unlike pre-1.3 releases of Crystal, Edea remains a party member despite the GF unequipping fix not yet being in place for the Remastered version.
- Irvine's GF is Cactuar instead of Cerberus.
- Jumbo Cactuar is spawned by killing at least 5 Cactuars and winning a battle in which only a single Cactuar is present.
- The contents of certain Draw Points has been changed.
- The Draw resistance of all spells but Meteor, Ultima, and Apocalypse has been reduced to 0.
- Characters start out with more spells stocked.
- Draw, Auto-Potion, Cover, Darkside, and Return Damage use their default behaviors/properties.
- Angel Wing has its default behavior and damage multiplier and inflicts Vit 0 and Slow on Rinoa.
- Minimog has its default price and Mog's Amulet is not sold by Chocoboy.
- SeeD level payouts are at default values.


I hope to get these exe changes ported over as soon as possible.


FFVIII Crystal 1.4

Download (outdated; most recent version in OP)

Content:

- Added a new battle in the aberrant monsters quest, accessible by going to Fisherman's Horizon from the start of Disc 3.

- Added the conclusion to the aberrant monsters quest, accessible by ? after collecting all four Aberrant Keys.


Characters/GFs:

Spoiler: show
- Increased unboosted damage of all damage-inflicting GFs.
- Elem-Atk bonus standardized at 50% regardless of element or spell tier.

Quistis/Shiva:
- Bad Breath: Status infliction power lowered.

Zell/Ifrit:
- Lowered Str stat as well as the Str bonus of Ehrgeiz.
- Lowered Vit slightly.

- Selphie/Tonberry:
- Strange Vision now deals 1/8 physical-based fractional damage.

- Rinoa/Carbuncle:
- Pray now heals Curse and Doom.

- Irvine/Cerberus:
- Valiant's Crit Bonus increased.
- Ulysses' Str lowered slightly, but Attack Power increased by 1.
- Bismarck now deals a weak Vit-ignoring attack but has the highest Str bonus of all guns.


Enemies:

Spoiler: show
- Added Adamantoises to Deep Sea Deposit.

- Ochu: Uses Dispel more intelligently; now has a chance of using a critical attack at mid-high levels; Damage and status power of Ochu Dance increased.
- Blue Dragon: Reworked.
- Adamantoise: Only uses White Wind at or below 50% HP; changed Haste/Reflect behavior and action probabilities.
- Lefty: Fixed issue causing crashes.
- Malboro: HP increased; weakness to Fire lowered; skips fewer turns; can now use Acid; has a chance to counter Fire-elemental damage.
- Iron Giant: Spd increased; status resistance values changed.
- Luckitocalos: Mug rate and EXP yield increased.
- Granaldo: Given unique behavior when encountered as a normal enemy.

- Right Orb/Left Orb: Decreased likelihood of using Haste.
- Abaddon: Reworked.
- Diabolos: Reworked.
- Jumbo Cactuar: Reworked.
- Bahamut: No longer advances the Mega Flare counter after using Aura on himself.
- Fujin(2): Changed Starfall to Meteor; will now cast Meteor one additional time at 30% HP; some stats raised.
- Raijin(3): Changed properties and usage conditions of one of his attacks; can now use Aura on himself throughout the fight; lowered resistance to Blind, Slow, and Confuse; made immune to Poison; some stats raised; Blind will be removed after a certain number of turns, after which he'll be immune.
- Adel: Reworked.
- Red Giant: No longer displays "ineffective" messages when using certain abilities with non-standard damage formulas.
- Ultimecia (1): Adjusted usage of Wall; fixed issue in which Ultimecia wouldn't take action under certain conditions.
- Helix: Is now affected by Curse.
- Ultimecia (final): Can counter Ultima; builds up a counter to Limit Breaks.


Misc.:

- Added a custom title screen.
- Joker will now appear aboard the Ragnarok on Disc 3.
- Changed reward for defeating Aberrant Behemoth.
- Reduced price of Hungry Cookpot from 4000 to 2000.


With 1.4, I've finished going back over all of the enemies in the game. While I will still make changes based on player feedback, I don't have any more updates of this size planned currently. In the future I'll be working on more sidequests, including one with some story content, as well as getting that last 0.1% of the 2013 version of Crystal ported to Remastered.
« Last Edit: 2021-04-30 13:14:40 by Leythalknight »

UpRisen

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Re: [FF8-PC Steam] FFVIII Crystal 1.4 / Remastered Version 1.0
« Reply #87 on: 2021-04-25 19:22:24 »
Been just over a year since i finished my first playthough of this, and now seeing your 1.4 version out I am going to be starting another playthough in the next couple of days so we can see how far its come.

Leythalknight

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Been just over a year since i finished my first playthough of this, and now seeing your 1.4 version out I am going to be starting another playthough in the next couple of days so we can see how far its come.

Looking forward to it. I think you'll find it's improved a lot since then.  :)



EDIT: I don't wanna double-post, so I'll leave this here: FFVIII Crystal Remastered Version 1.0.1

A small update that includes a few fixes and minor things I forgot to port over from the 2013-Steam version as well as a patch that lowers Angel Wing's damage multiplier from x5 to x2.

Changelog:

- Updated readme with instructions on how to apply the IPS patch.
- Lowered Angel Wing's damage multiplier; removed status penalties from using Angel Wing.
- Fixed issue in which Ifrit's naming screen appeared twice during Zell's introduction.
- Changed Cid's dialogue when giving you the Elixir before leaving for Timber.
- Added a shop to the Forest Owls' train and dialogue to point it out.
- Fixed issue with a quest-related NPC in Dollet.
- Fixed issue in which the player could slip past the soldier in Dollet earlier than intended.
- Removed the Magic command from Cactuar's ability list.
- Joker now appears aboard the Ragnarok on Disc 3 and has a different shop as well as the ability to completely heal the party.
- Irvine/Cactuar starts with 30 AP in Aura (new save file only).

I also have a Switch port of the mod working. The only thing holding up its release is figuring out how to apply the Angel Wing change to it.
« Last Edit: 2021-04-26 17:01:00 by Leythalknight »

Hart-Hunt

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Hey there! Been enjoying this, I love the ideas behind the modifications. I always wanted to play a mod that tried to tackle the idea of limiting GFs and their abilities a lot more. It's been fun.

However, I'm at Dollet right after beating Elvoret, and the game softlocks when the fight battle against X-ATM begins. I'm not able to take a screenshot, but it appears as it is crashing right when X-ATM is supposed to appear in-battle.

I disabled all of tonberry's mods, and it's definitely Crystal acting weird.

Am I missing something? Has this happened to anyone?

Playing Steam edition (not remastered). Patched 1.4.7 from OP.
Steam overlay is disabled.

Leythalknight

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Hey there! Been enjoying this, I love the ideas behind the modifications. I always wanted to play a mod that tried to tackle the idea of limiting GFs and their abilities a lot more. It's been fun.

However, I'm at Dollet right after beating Elvoret, and the game softlocks when the fight battle against X-ATM begins. I'm not able to take a screenshot, but it appears as it is crashing right when X-ATM is supposed to appear in-battle.

I disabled all of tonberry's mods, and it's definitely Crystal acting weird.

Am I missing something? Has this happened to anyone?

Playing Steam edition (not remastered). Patched 1.4.7 from OP.
Steam overlay is disabled.

This will fix it: https://www.mediafire.com/file/5va46l9e2eactiw/battle_fs_04-28-21.7z/file
This is only for the 2013 version; the remaster is unaffected.

One of the offsets in the header was off. I went through each enemy I modified since the last update, but I guess I missed that one. Thanks for the bug report, and sorry about the issue.

I'll upload a version update with the fix in a little while.

EDIT: 1.4.1 released: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rzpuem0gwjvgyy2/FFVIII_Crystal_1.4.1.7z/file

- Fixes X-ATM crash.
« Last Edit: 2021-04-28 21:40:47 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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It's been a while since I was last here. Unfortunately I'm very busy these days so I ended up not playing much more of the mod. I was surprised to see so many updates!

Anyway, since it seems like I might not finish the game any time soon, I decided to do the write up I mentioned way back on my experience with the characters. Keep in mind I'm only at the Lunar Base so there are abilities and limits I haven't unlocked yet. Also keep in mind, this is all pre-1.3, so some of these may not be relevant.

Squall: Squall's good the way he is. He is very tanky and can deal very good physical damage, especially with Darkside. He might seems a bit weak early on, but once he gets towards LV 20, and gets abilities like Darkside, he really starts to pick up the slack. Only thing I might suggest as a change would be to give him Cura and maybe Life as additional spells. Cura would definitely give his white magic a bit more longevity and Paladins tend to have it in FF.

Zell: Probably one of, if not the best party member. His high HP offsets his relatively weak defenses, his damage is really high and doesn't cost HP or spells. If I had trouble with a boss, swapping in Zell usually helped turned things around. He's really good, almost a bit too good when compared to the rest of the characters in terms of damage and survivability.

Selphie: Like Zell, she is really good. She is squishy but her damage output makes up for it. Selphie's straightforward like Zell, so there isn't much to say about her. She's easy to use, her spell selection is great, I really don't have any complaints. This is true even before unlocking her Double ability, and after she gets even better.

Rinoa: Rinoa functions perfectly well as a white mage and offensively Dia and Water get her by for the most part. Angelo's limits are strong too so that also helps. Nothing much to say about her stat-wise or anything, she is the necessary white mage and fulfills that role just fine.

Now on to the two characters who I think need some changes.

Quistis: Until she gets Aura, Quistis is pretty limited. It doesn't help that her physical damage isn't very good and Draw-casting is unreliable. Once she gets Aura and a few limits, she gets better but honestly, she still isn't very good. Even though her stats are balanced, she just doesn't do enough damage or have much in the way of utility. Apart from stealing, she's really only good for dealing damage with limits. While her limit selection is technically versatile, acquiring her limits takes more effort than those of any other character, and even then her damage with them isn't up to snuff. Sure she has various elemental attacks, but not only do you have to find them first, but once you do, characters like Selphie and Rinoa still outdamage her with their magic very noticeably. I had Selphie deal twice as much damage as Quistis constantly, if not more.

Plus given that you have to seek her limits out, the few defensive spells Quistis has that could give her some versatility aren't obtainable until much later. I'm at the Lunar Base and she still doesn't have Mighty Guard or White Wind for example, both of which would have been very useful in any boss battle up until now. I think she should get these particular limits much earlier to give her some much needed defensive capabilities that would make her uniquely useful. Additionally, the damage of her limits could use a boost.

Honestly, if not for her ability to steal, Quistis would have been a permanent bench-warmer for me because she was always a liability for bosses. She couldn't deal much damage, she couldn't take damage for long, she just isn't very good. I was struggling against Seifer in Galbadia Garden with Rinoa and Quistis in my party, once I switched her out for Zell, I won the fight on my first try.

Irvine: Irvine's too gimmicky for his own good. His damage early on is really low and he isn't particularly good for anything until he gets Aura like Quistis. Later on he starts catching up, his damage gets better and his speed and critical rate start showing more potential. However I found him to be dead weight up until that point, mostly had him using healing items. I understand the idea behind the different guns but I'm honestly not a fan of that mechanic all, I'd prefer if he just had normal weapons like everyone. Overall, Irvine has the same problem that gimmicky characters like Gau from FF6 do: he can be useful if you put in the effort but when most other characters are easy to use, it makes him look worse.

I have a big suggestion for Irvine: turn him into a Red Mage. Give him Magic (and Draw?) and a spell list containing most of the basic and second level spells, plus some support ones. I was thinking Scan, Cure, Cura, Esuna, Haste, Slow, Fire, Fira, Thunder, Thundara, Blizzard, Blizzara, Water, Aero as must have spells for him, plus anything else you think is appropriate, like status-effect spells. Maybe Life?

Irvine has a pretty good magic stat and I decided to use him as a Red Mage, and it made him so much more useful. He isn't as good as the pure mages, but he's good enough at both offense and healing that he can be useful up until high-level spells start rolling in. Having both black and white magic as well makes him uniquely versatile early on, and is a great choice for elemental magic if you can't use Selphie or as a second healer if you don't want to use Rinoa. This is really good in particular during the prison and missile base sections where the party gets split up, having a second healer is super useful.

This would also help his late-bloomer stats. Early on he's not that fast or strong physically, but he has good magic, so he'd mostly be sticking to using spells to offset this. Toward the later parts of the game, as his magic starts lagging behind, his physical damage starts catching up and he gets more types of ammo, you'd start using his physical attacks and limit more. His spells would no longer be as useful later, since Thundaras can't keep up with Thundagas or high-end spells, but by then, he'd grow into the physical attacker he is. Sinceh he'd have Cura, he'd still be a decent secondary healer as well in a pinch.

Basically he'd be the classic Red Mage, a class that is really useful early on but not so good later, and by the endgame, he'd grow into a fast, high-critical rate Gunner, while still retaining his spells for emergencies if wanted. I think this would be better than he is now, plus Irvine always struck me as a hybrid character, who'd have a class that combines attacks and magic, not really sure why. Also, his GF should learn Call Shop to make buying ammo easier. I think Cerberus only has Junk Shop, which is less useful in my opinion.

Well, that's all. I hope it will be useful. I'll still be keeping an eye on the mod in the future, although I'm not sure when I'll actually have the time to continue playing properly. :C

Leythalknight

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It's been a while since I was last here. Unfortunately I'm very busy these days so I ended up not playing much more of the mod. I was surprised to see so many updates!

Anyway, since it seems like I might not finish the game any time soon, I decided to do the write up I mentioned way back on my experience with the characters. Keep in mind I'm only at the Lunar Base so there are abilities and limits I haven't unlocked yet. Also keep in mind, this is all pre-1.3, so some of these may not be relevant.

Squall: Squall's good the way he is. He is very tanky and can deal very good physical damage, especially with Darkside. He might seems a bit weak early on, but once he gets towards LV 20, and gets abilities like Darkside, he really starts to pick up the slack. Only thing I might suggest as a change would be to give him Cura and maybe Life as additional spells. Cura would definitely give his white magic a bit more longevity and Paladins tend to have it in FF.

Squall started out a little rough, but I agree that he's in a good place now. I like the soft mechanic of fluctuating HP between Darkside, Defend, and Auto-Potion, as well as being able to utilize Defend's fractional HP penalty/Crisis Level bonus to make his Limits more effective.

This ties into your suggestion for Irvine, but I've been thinking about doing away with the magic restriction stuff altogether and leaving only Squall, Rinoa, and Selphie with the Magic command. Squall's Magic command would still be situationally useful for things like buffs and revives past the early game; I'd leave Rinoa's stats the same or close to it; and I'd lower Selphie's Magic stat so that she wouldn't be far better than Rinoa as soon as she gets Double.

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Zell: Probably one of, if not the best party member. His high HP offsets his relatively weak defenses, his damage is really high and doesn't cost HP or spells. If I had trouble with a boss, swapping in Zell usually helped turned things around. He's really good, almost a bit too good when compared to the rest of the characters in terms of damage and survivability.

I agree that Zell is a little too good for how simple he is, so I nerfed his damage output in a previous update. He's still pretty good, though.

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Selphie: Like Zell, she is really good. She is squishy but her damage output makes up for it. Selphie's straightforward like Zell, so there isn't much to say about her. She's easy to use, her spell selection is great, I really don't have any complaints. This is true even before unlocking her Double ability, and after she gets even better.

I think Selphie's only other drawback is that Slot isn't that useful past a certain point. I plan to adjust it again, though I also don't consider it a big problem since she's strong even without it. I've thought about nerfing her some, but haven't decided anything.

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Rinoa: Rinoa functions perfectly well as a white mage and offensively Dia and Water get her by for the most part. Angelo's limits are strong too so that also helps. Nothing much to say about her stat-wise or anything, she is the necessary white mage and fulfills that role just fine.

On the subject of offense, I doubt most would do this but Rinoa with Shooting Star also makes a solid candidate for the copy of Darkside you get from Bahamut since the weapon makes her crit around a quarter of the time.

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Quistis: Until she gets Aura, Quistis is pretty limited. It doesn't help that her physical damage isn't very good and Draw-casting is unreliable. Once she gets Aura and a few limits, she gets better but honestly, she still isn't very good. Even though her stats are balanced, she just doesn't do enough damage or have much in the way of utility. Apart from stealing, she's really only good for dealing damage with limits. While her limit selection is technically versatile, acquiring her limits takes more effort than those of any other character, and even then her damage with them isn't up to snuff. Sure she has various elemental attacks, but not only do you have to find them first, but once you do, characters like Selphie and Rinoa still outdamage her with their magic very noticeably. I had Selphie deal twice as much damage as Quistis constantly, if not more.

Plus given that you have to seek her limits out, the few defensive spells Quistis has that could give her some versatility aren't obtainable until much later. I'm at the Lunar Base and she still doesn't have Mighty Guard or White Wind for example, both of which would have been very useful in any boss battle up until now. I think she should get these particular limits much earlier to give her some much needed defensive capabilities that would make her uniquely useful. Additionally, the damage of her limits could use a boost.

Honestly, if not for her ability to steal, Quistis would have been a permanent bench-warmer for me because she was always a liability for bosses. She couldn't deal much damage, she couldn't take damage for long, she just isn't very good. I was struggling against Seifer in Galbadia Garden with Rinoa and Quistis in my party, once I switched her out for Zell, I won the fight on my first try.

I think you're selling Quistis short. Electrocute in particular is very easy to get before the end of Disc 1 and is pretty strong on Disc 2 due to all the sections in which you're fighting Galbadian mechs. While I nerfed its status affliction power somewhat in the last update, Bad Breath can be gotten as early as Disc 2 and is great in most random battles. Acid is another easy to get spell and is a consistent 900/1200 damage on any target, which is solid for Disc 2. Gatling Gun's Vit-ignoring properties come in handy as well. On Disc 3, she of course gets Mighty Guard, which is still plenty useful even after I nerfed its Crisis Level 1 properties; White Wind, which is easily the best healing ability (it's possible to get White Wind on Disc 2, but only as the rarest drop from mid-level Adamantoises, so I won't count it); and Homing Laser/Shockwave Pulsar, which are competitive with one another depending on the number of enemies and their Spr stat. Since discussing the character balance with Nikkolas a few months ago I've started to think that Zell or Selphie are the best characters overall, but I still think Quistis is the most solid by the end of the game, with no real weaknesses outside of a low Spd stat, and can be a lifesaver in certain fights.

With that said, I think you have a point about her early game being weak, and it doesn't help that she's out of the party for a significant portion of Disc 1. I think I'll bring her early Str/Vit up some. One question though: when did you make her second weapon? It's pretty easy to make as early as post-Dollet if you can get the Anacondaurs to drop Venom Fangs, and if not then, then after leaving Timber.

One change I considered and forgot about amidst everything else on my plate was making her breath attacks physical-based so that they'd scale better over the course of the game; I'd probably make it easier to get all of them on Disc 1 in such a case as currently, they're pretty strong for when you can first get them. I may start her with some AP in Aura/make it available earlier so that she learns it sooner. I've also been thinking about starting her off with Devour, not really to buff her but just to get it out of the way and maybe encourage the player to try it.

The only spell I'd consider making available significantly earlier is Ray-Bomb. However, I've long thought about changing Degenerator into something else, perhaps a weak heal + Regen AoE that can be gotten sooner than White Wind. I'm open to suggestions from anyone, but keep in mind it would have to reuse one of Quistis' existing Blue Magic animations (and it can't be Degenerator's) and, preferably, isn't a worse version of something else she has.

Also, maybe I should reconsider which spells are "freebies" and which you need to go out of your way for. Because I didn't make drastic changes to what enemies appear where, the mod doesn't stray far from vanilla in this regard.

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Irvine: Irvine's too gimmicky for his own good. His damage early on is really low and he isn't particularly good for anything until he gets Aura like Quistis. Later on he starts catching up, his damage gets better and his speed and critical rate start showing more potential. However I found him to be dead weight up until that point, mostly had him using healing items. I understand the idea behind the different guns but I'm honestly not a fan of that mechanic all, I'd prefer if he just had normal weapons like everyone. Overall, Irvine has the same problem that gimmicky characters like Gau from FF6 do: he can be useful if you put in the effort but when most other characters are easy to use, it makes him look worse.

I have a big suggestion for Irvine: turn him into a Red Mage. Give him Magic (and Draw?) and a spell list containing most of the basic and second level spells, plus some support ones. I was thinking Scan, Cure, Cura, Esuna, Haste, Slow, Fire, Fira, Thunder, Thundara, Blizzard, Blizzara, Water, Aero as must have spells for him, plus anything else you think is appropriate, like status-effect spells. Maybe Life?

Irvine has a pretty good magic stat and I decided to use him as a Red Mage, and it made him so much more useful. He isn't as good as the pure mages, but he's good enough at both offense and healing that he can be useful up until high-level spells start rolling in. Having both black and white magic as well makes him uniquely versatile early on, and is a great choice for elemental magic if you can't use Selphie or as a second healer if you don't want to use Rinoa. This is really good in particular during the prison and missile base sections where the party gets split up, having a second healer is super useful.

This would also help his late-bloomer stats. Early on he's not that fast or strong physically, but he has good magic, so he'd mostly be sticking to using spells to offset this. Toward the later parts of the game, as his magic starts lagging behind, his physical damage starts catching up and he gets more types of ammo, you'd start using his physical attacks and limit more. His spells would no longer be as useful later, since Thundaras can't keep up with Thundagas or high-end spells, but by then, he'd grow into the physical attacker he is. Sinceh he'd have Cura, he'd still be a decent secondary healer as well in a pinch.

Basically he'd be the classic Red Mage, a class that is really useful early on but not so good later, and by the endgame, he'd grow into a fast, high-critical rate Gunner, while still retaining his spells for emergencies if wanted. I think this would be better than he is now, plus Irvine always struck me as a hybrid character, who'd have a class that combines attacks and magic, not really sure why. Also, his GF should learn Call Shop to make buying ammo easier. I think Cerberus only has Junk Shop, which is less useful in my opinion.

I may make Irvine start out with Aura or GF to give him something else to do and to make Bismarck/Exeter more viable picks from the outset as well as adjust his Str stat to give his attacks a higher baseline. I also need to decide what to do with Fast Ammo...

While I like the Magic suggestion, I want there to be fewer "rules" on how to play the mod; that's one reason I removed Irvine's Magic command in 1.3. I touched on this above, but while I think the game is more fun when characters are assigned only certain spells, sometimes I think I should stop trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, if you will. It'd be great if I could actually make different Magic commands that allow for the casting of only certain spells, but that's beyond my ability. I dunno, maybe the final update will have two different versions depending on how you'd rather play the game.

On the subject of Irvine as healer, Exeter's power is only two points shy of Cura and works well enough if Rinoa isn't around (it can be Darksided for double the heal on Disc 3/4, which is fun but not exactly optimal). He can also learn Med Data starting from level 35, which makes him pretty good at healing as long as you have the items for it.

I gave Irvine Junk Shop so that he could more easily switch weapons. This is all subject to change, but one sidequest I'm planning will have Ammo-RF as a potential reward as early as the Missile Base as a way of getting ammo if you need it and can't get to a shop.

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Well, that's all. I hope it will be useful. I'll still be keeping an eye on the mod in the future, although I'm not sure when I'll actually have the time to continue playing properly. :C

I appreciate the feedback  :) I'd love to hear your thoughts on the rest of the game whenever you get the time.
« Last Edit: 2021-05-01 00:31:01 by Leythalknight »

Dorklord

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With that said, I think you have a point about her early game being weak, and it doesn't help that she's out of the party for a significant portion of Disc 1. I think I'll bring her early Str/Vit up some. One question though: when did you make her second weapon? It's pretty easy to make as early as post-Dollet if you can get the Anacondaurs to drop Venom Fangs, and if not then, then after leaving Timber.
I got it after Timber, while wandering around the world map, so pretty soon. Maybe I'm selling her short, but her damage seemed low to me. I'd give examples but I haven't played in a while so I don't want to state something that I might be misremembering.

I had one more idea on how Quistis could be improved a while ago, but that would require too much work probably. The idea was to put a bigger emphasis on refining magic by getting some refinement abilities from the start and having shops sell items that refine into magic. This could be the main way of getting magic for all casters, except for Quistis who would be the only character who can draw. So while everyone needs to refine magic, Quistis could draw it from enemies. She would also get the Magic command and she'd be allowed to use any spells she draws, however she could not refine magic like everyone else as a trade-off.

So basically, Selphie would refine black magic, Rinoa white magic, Quistis would not be allowed to refine anything but she'd be able to draw and use any spells gotten from enemies. However, I realize this would require further complicated rules and it's not worth it.

Anyway, I'll see how Quistis compares once I get Shockwave Pulsar, that is sure to make a difference!

Leythalknight

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I got it after Timber, while wandering around the world map, so pretty soon. Maybe I'm selling her short, but her damage seemed low to me. I'd give examples but I haven't played in a while so I don't want to state something that I might be misremembering.

Noted.

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I had one more idea on how Quistis could be improved a while ago, but that would require too much work probably. The idea was to put a bigger emphasis on refining magic by getting some refinement abilities from the start and having shops sell items that refine into magic. This could be the main way of getting magic for all casters, except for Quistis who would be the only character who can draw. So while everyone needs to refine magic, Quistis could draw it from enemies. She would also get the Magic command and she'd be allowed to use any spells she draws, however she could not refine magic like everyone else as a trade-off.

So basically, Selphie would refine black magic, Rinoa white magic, Quistis would not be allowed to refine anything but she'd be able to draw and use any spells gotten from enemies. However, I realize this would require further complicated rules and it's not worth it.

That's a cool idea, but...yeah, too much work at this point.  :P

On the subject of rules, I've also considered leaving the mod's rules as-is and creating a separate mod that uses Crystal as a base but adds the other GFs back for a more standard FFVIII experience for people who prefer that. I dunno if another FFVIII modding project would be a good use of my time, though, even if it would reuse much of this one.  :|

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Anyway, I'll see how Quistis compares once I get Shockwave Pulsar, that is sure to make a difference!

Keep in mind that Homing Laser (which drops from Mobile Type 8 ) is stronger than Shockwave Pulsar if there's only one target and their Spirit is above a certain number (I can't remember exactly, maybe 112 or so?) unless Quistis is at Crisis Level 4, in which case SP is stronger than Apocalypse. I forgot to add that I don't want Quistis to do as much damage as characters like Zell or Selphie because of all the additional utility she has, but I think you're right about some of that utility needing to be expressed earlier. It's just a matter of how to go about it.

baadsheep2

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I'm doing the aberrant monsters side quest and have obtained all four keys.

When I get about halfway through the 3nd screen of the area that you're meant to go once you have all 4 keys the game crashes with an "Unknown exception has occurred" error message.
« Last Edit: 2021-06-12 20:52:19 by baadsheep2 »

Leythalknight

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I'm doing the aberrant monsters side quest and have obtained all four keys.

When I get about halfway through the 3nd screen of the area that you're meant to go once you have all 4 keys the game crashes with an "Unknown exception has occurred" error message.

Hi, sorry for the delayed response. Could you give me some more information (mod version, characters in your party, OS version, any other details that seem relevant)? I can't seem to reproduce a crash there in either mod version.

Never mind, I found the issue. I'll edit this post with an update once it's done uploading.


2013-Steam Version 1.4.2 released.

Download: Nexus / Mediafire

- Fixes crash related to the final battle in the Aberrant Monsters quest.
« Last Edit: 2021-06-15 03:05:35 by Leythalknight »

Leythalknight

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Update 1.4.3 / 1.0.2 released.

2013-Steam: Mediafire
Remastered: Mediafire

This update includes some balance changes originally meant for 1.5 / 1.1, focusing on improving Quistis' and Irvine's early game, as well as a couple of bug fixes.


Characters

Changes preceded by an X apply only to new save files.

Squall/Bahamut:
- Early Spr growth increased.

Quistis/Shiva:
- Early Str and Vit growths increased.
X Quistis now starts with Devour and Mug.
- Aura's AP requirement has been reduced to 80 and is now available to learn from GF level 10.
- Shiva now learns St-Atk-J from level 15 and Elem-Atk-J from level 30.
- Laser Eye: now has a Slow effect.
- Ultra Waves: base power increased at all Crisis Levels.
- Shockwave Pulsar: base power at Crisis Level 4 increased.
- Fire Breath, Aqua Breath, and Electrocute have been changed to physical attacks.
- The earliest availability of certain Blue Magic items has changed as follows:
*Inferno Fang: Can be mugged from low-level Bombs.
*Water Crystal: More likely to be mugged from low-level Chimeras.
*Spider Web: Now only drops from mid- or high-level Caterchipillars.
*Power Generator: Can be mugged from mid-level Blitzes.
*Laser Cannon: Can be mugged from high-level GIM47Ns.

Zell/Ifrit:
- HP growth decreased.
- Late Spr growth decreased.

Selphie/Tonberry:
- Late Mag growth decreased.
- Made some changes to Slot as a stopgap measure until a proper overhaul can be implemented.

Rinoa/Carbuncle:
- Pray's AP requirement reduced to 80.
- Pinwheel: Hit increased to 100.
- Valkyrie: Crit Bonus increased from 0 to 5.
- Shooting Star: Crit Bonus increased from 30 to 33.
- Luck stat modified slightly.

Irvine/Cerberus:
X Irvine no longer starts with St-Atk-J, but instead starts with Aura.
- Irvine can learn the GF command from GF level 15.
- Early Spr growth increased.

Enemies:

- In the battle added to the vase quest in Winhill, killing the Red Bat now removes Creeps' physical immunity and killing the Forbidden now removes Creeps' magical immunity.

- Elite Soldier: Fixed incorrect targeting conditions when in battle with GIM52A.
- Elvoret: Drops an Elvoret card.
- X-ATM092: Stats adjusted.
- Grendel: Fixed issue in which Thunder Breath's power was set too high at the mid-level range.
- Esthar Soldier: More likely to drop a Phoenix Down when killed or Mugged at all level ranges.
- G-Blue Mage: Replaced Storm Breath with Wind Blast in order to prevent crashes in certain battles.

Misc.:

- Deling City Shop now sells Cottages.
- Gambler Spirits can be purchased from the secret shop on Disc 4.

drflesh

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there is something really wrong with my game, i installed the mod for the remastered version and the shops, gf, enemy ai, dmg changes is working perfectly but for some reason i can freely change gf between all my characters, cactuar learned the magic command for 1ap at lvl 20 and any character with the magic command can use any type of magic

https://imgur.com/a/saEyWf4  img of cactuar with the magic command and a bugged ability with 0/0ap

Ffamran90

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I've just collected all the aberrant keys and don't have the least idea of what I've to do with them.
In the doc the only thing written is "when you collect all the keys...." and the keys description doesn't give any hint.
May someone tell me what I have to do to complete the quest? It's the only one left before finally I can go to disc 4.
Thank you in advance :D