Author Topic: [FF8-PC Steam/Switch] FFVIII Crystal 1.5.6 / Remastered Version 1.1.6  (Read 55791 times)

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
FFVIII Crystal 1.5.5 / Remastered Version 1.1.5


Introduction

FFVIII Crystal is a rebalancing mod for FFVIII that began as a self-imposed class-based challenge playthrough roughly 10 years ago and still retains some of its features. It attempts to make each character more distinct, dial back some of the overtuned mechanics and abilities of FFVIII, and make the game more challenging while keeping the "flavor" of the original game.This mod is intended for the English 2013 Steam release of FFVIII and is playable from start to finish.

Steam-2013: Nexus / itch.io
Remastered PC/Switch: Nexus / itch.io


Donations


Characters
Spoiler: show
Basic stat junctions have been removed in favor of more meaningful gains through leveling. Junctions for Elem-Atk, Elem-Def, Status-Atk, and Status-Def are still available, and the values that spells add to each have been adjusted. Additionally, each character joins the party with a GF tailored to their abilities.

This mod is designed around limiting which spells can be used by characters who possess the Magic command. This information is provided below as well as in the in-game Information section, but as it is not hard-coded into the gameplay, you can ignore this aspect of the mod if you wish.

Squall
- Knight archetype that borrows from the Paladin and Dark Knight classes
- High Vit and solid physical damage, low Spr and Spd
- GF: Bahamut
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF 1 ability (Cure, Esuna, Dia, Water, Scan, Float, Blind, Confuse, Sleep, Silence, Berserk) + Regen and Zombie

Squall's Limit Break damage has been lowered and all finishers but Lion Heart now inflict a status effect. New finishers are now gained according to blade type, so the Cutting Trigger is the first gunblade to give Fated Circle and Twin Lance is the first to give Blasting Zone.

Quistis
- Blue Mage with solid stats all around, but low Spd
- GF: Shiva
- Usable spells: N/A

Blue Magic is generally weaker in order to balance it around regular usage. Degenerator has been removed and some Blue Magic spells have had their properties changed with the aim of making as many of them useful as possible.

Zell
- Monk archetype with High HP and Str, weak defenses, high Spd
- GF: Ifrit
- Usable spells: N/A

The button combinations for Duel attacks have been changed, the timer has been shortened, and the move sequences are simpler. Most of Zell's Duel attacks now have an elemental property:
 
Dolphin Blow: Water
Meteor Strike: Earth
Burning Rave: Fire
Meteor Barret: Thunder

Basic Duel attacks, Different Beat, and My Final Heaven remain non-elemental.

Selphie
- Black Mage archetype with a hint of Red Mage
- High Mag and Spr, low HP, Str, and Vit
- GF: Tonberry
- Usable spells: All spells included in the BLK-RF series of abilities + Dispel, Meteor, Ultima

Full-cure is no longer in Slot, but Percent has been added to Slot and deals 50% HP damage to all enemies. The End now deals massive damage instead of inflicting Death. Additionally, healing/defensive options have been removed from Slot in favor of more offensive ones. Selphie's weapons now deal magic-based damage.

Rinoa
- White Mage archetype with high Mag and Spr, middling Str and Spd and low Vit
- GF: Carbuncle
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF series of abilities

Angelo's attacks are Str-based, Angelo Strike inflicts Confusion, and Invincible Moon now grants Regen and is the only source of Invincibility in the mod. Angelo Search has been removed, but all other Angelo passives remain. Angel Wing's damage multiplier is x2 instead of x5 and 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}

Irvine
- Middling Str and Mag, low defensive stats, high Spd and Luck
- GF: Cerberus (2013) / Cactuar (Remastered)
- Usable spells: N/A

Each of Irvine's guns have unique properties instead of being straight upgrades like other characters' weapons; additionally, each gun requires only one item to make, all of which can be bought in shops. Weapon properties are as follows:

Valiant: Basic, well-rounded
Ulysses: High base damage and Str, low accuracy
Bismark: Boasts the highest Str bonus, but its normal attack is weak
Exeter: Heals the target

Shot is generally weaker to account for more regular usage and the timer is shorter. Dark Shot now inflicts Poison damage. Hyper Shot is now the powerful attack it always should've been, but there are a limited number of Pulse Ammo in the game.


Enemies
Most enemies now have a fixed level in order to accommodate the changes to characters and leveling, though bosses and certain enemies still scale in some fashion. Many enemies use abilities they didn't before, and some are new. Enemy AI scripts have been adjusted to make them smarter and less wasteful of their turns, with some having new AI scripts altogether. Bosses have been made more challenging and given new abilities and mechanics.

Undead status has been removed from enemies, and formerly undead enemies now tend to have high Vit and a weakness to Holy and Fire. Sleep now halves an enemy's Vitality for the duration. Curse can be inflicted on enemies and reduces their Str and Mag by 20%.

Magic
Offensive spells have been strengthened across the board while curative spells have been weakened slightly. Demi, Aura, Double, Triple, and Meltdown are now enemy-only spells. A low-level Holy-element spell, a low-level Earth-element damage spell, and a high-level Water damage spell have been added. Pain now deals Poison-element damage, effectively making it a high-level Bio. Death has become Doom, which inflicts Doom and deals non-elemental damage.

Command Abilities
In an effort to make FFVIII's special commands more interesting, worthwhile, and distinct from other abilities, almost all of them have been replaced outright and most of the remainder have been altered in some way.

- Double: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Double status.
- Mad Rush: Spends 1/2 current HP to grant the user Berserk, Haste, and Reflect.
- Chakra: Restores a percentage of one character's HP and removes a handful of status effects.
- Defend: Defend now costs 1/4 of the user's current HP.
- Darkside: The damage multiplier has been decreased while the damage dealt to the user has increased.
- Pray: Restores HP to all allies.
- Nightsword: Vitality-ignoring damage that drains HP and inflicts Curse.
- Shock: Physical damage and Poison to all enemies.
- Aurabolt: Vit-ignoring damage that inflicts Darkness and Sleep.
- Aura: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Aura status. Aura's effect on Crisis Level has decreased, but its duration has increased.
- Kamikaze: The user sacrifices themselves to deal Vitality-ignoring damage and inflict Vit 0 on all enemies; also the player's only source of Vit 0.
- Devour: Stat increases have been replaced with helpful status effects; the amount of HP lost by negative Devours has been decreased or removed.
- Card: Unchanged.
- GF: The command itself is the same, but GF HP has been lowered, G-Returners have been removed, and Compatibility is now a fixed value.

Miscellaneous
- New items and battle items have been added.
- Several new sidequests have been added and existing ones have been adjusted to give more significant rewards, including abilities not learned by the characters' GFs.
- There are now more choices that can lower the player's SeeD rank points.
- Shops have been given more unique inventories.

Changelog

Spoiler: show

1.4 / Remastered Version 1.0: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19581.msg284551#msg284551

1.3-1.3.2: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19581.msg283899#msg283899

1.2: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19581.msg283349#msg283349

1.1.1: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19581.msg283125#msg283125

1.1: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19581.msg282970#msg282970

1.0.2a
- Corrected HP Up's item type.

1.0.2
- Fixed text display errors in the WHT-RF 1 and WHT-RF 2 Information menus.
- Fixed camera angles in certain battles.
- Replaced Esthar Soldier's Ultra Waves with Noiseblaster/Sunbeam.
- Lowered train fare prices.
- Fixed a display issue with Minotaur's in-battle dialogue.
- Grand Mantis: Melting Bubble is now a mid-level attack; uses Silence at low levels instead.
- Creeps: Float added to Draw list.
- Various changes to world map encounters and encounter regions.
- Changed items available in Chocobo Forests.
- Mog's Bounty item removed; replaced with Mega-Remedy, which heals several status abnormalities for all allies.
- Mega-Remedy added to Esthar Shop!!!.
- Altered final bosses' behavior.
- Preparation for future updates.
- Misc. changes.

1.0.1
- Fixed the crash before getting your initial SeeD rank.
- Fixed the issue with Shiva's name menu appearing multiple times.
- Miscellaneous fixes.

- Bite Bug and Vampire Bat will use fewer moves at low levels.
- Caterchipillar's bite no longer poisons and Ultra Waves' status attack power is lower.
- T-Rexaur's status properties changed; immune to Sleep but can now be Blinded, but only once.
- Ifrit can counter Blizzard with Fira and has a new move called Firewall that protects it from Ice attacks.


Installation
Spoiler: show
1. Install Roses and Wine (R07), available here to the game's root folder.
2. Copy the FFVIII Crystal.txt file in the Hext folder into Roses and Wine's RaW/GLOBAL/Hext folder.
3. Back up the files in your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder before continuing.
4. Copy the files in FFVIII Crystal/lang-en into your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder.

Be sure to start a new save file.

Methods of verifying installation:

1)init.out - Upon starting a new game, your inventory should be:

Potion x3
Phoenix Down x3
Antidote x3
Eye Drops x2
Tent x1

2)kernel.bin - Potions should heal for 400 HP instead of 300.
3)shop.bin - Balamb Shop won't sell Hi-Potions.
4)price.bin - Phoenix Downs will cost 2000 gil.
5) Field.fs - After naming Squall at the start of the game, you should be prompted to name Bahamut.
6) Battle.fs - The Bite Bugs in Balamb will be able to use Fart and Whirlwind. Ifrit will be accompanied by a Buel.
7) .exe changes - You should be able to Draw a maximum of 15 of a spell.


Credits
Programs Used:
Doomtrain by alexfilth, Maki, and JWP
Deling by myst6re
Ifrit by Gjoerulv
Ifrit AI beta by JWP
Cactilio by JeMaCheHi
Quezacotl by JWP
Rinoa's Toolset by Maki
MnGrpEditor by Nightshade
JunkShop by alexfilth
Roses and Wine/Hext Tools by DLPB

Many thanks to everyone involved in creating these tools.

Thanks to Sega Chief for showing me how to fix enemy data files; to JWP for many of the exe edits used in this mod and for sharing them publically; to Callisto for locating and sharing the SeeD salary values; to Colly for the mngrp.bin Thingy tables; and a huge thanks to UpRisen, goodmorninpluto, Nikkolas, and Dorklord for feedback and bug-finding.

Lastly, a huge thanks to everyone in the FFVIII modding community. I couldn't have made this without you and your efforts.
« Last Edit: 2022-05-10 03:42:01 by Leythalknight »

kaspar01

  • *
  • Posts: 118
  • FFVIII Fan & Collector , 3D Artist , FF8RP-WIP
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.0
« Reply #1 on: 2020-03-04 19:57:58 »
cool mod!

UpRisen

  • *
  • Posts: 236
  • Again... AVALANCHE is born again!
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.0
« Reply #2 on: 2020-03-04 20:28:46 »
I do believe I am now going to have to set up and give this a try.

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.0
« Reply #3 on: 2020-03-04 21:21:57 »
cool mod!

Thanks!

I do believe I am now going to have to set up and give this a try.

Thanks for the interest! Let me know what you think.

UpRisen

  • *
  • Posts: 236
  • Again... AVALANCHE is born again!
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.0
« Reply #4 on: 2020-03-05 13:32:54 »
Got through Dollet but cant continue due to a 100% crash.

thoughts and bugs so far.

bug:
when meeting quistis naming screen for shiva appears twice, the a third time after the tutorial, and every time you enter and leave the garden and quistis joins
game not responding in catchapillar fight after getting it low hp, appears to be ultra wave. Ultra wave works with quistis
Crashes when transitioning to Cids Office to recieve your first seed rank.


Balance:
every enemy in beginning had a status, including a petrify, berserk, and a confuse. its a little oppressive.
T-rexaur in balamb forest should not be reliably beatable by squall + quistis before fire cavern. Either needs to hit harder or be immune to sleep
ifrit a litte whimpy overall. just a few cast of blizzard while chain drawcasting cure is more than enough to win with tons of time left over.
Dollet was fun and well balanced.

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.0
« Reply #5 on: 2020-03-05 20:07:37 »
1.0.1 released.
Download here: https://mega.nz/#!EbgwWAib!0-PyP9lbyWclioXhQKSlwKtsF4Zc7a44wlnL5uCltiM
- Fixed the crash before getting your initial SeeD rank.
- Fixed the issue with Shiva's name menu appearing multiple times.
- Miscellaneous fixes.

- Bite Bug and Vampire Bat will use fewer moves at low levels.
- Caterchipillar's bite no longer poisons and Ultra Waves' status attack power is lower.
- T-Rexaur's status properties changed;immune to Sleep but can now be Blinded, but only once.
- Ifrit can counter Blizzard with Fira and has a new move called Firewall that protects it from Ice attacks.

Got through Dollet but cant continue due to a 100% crash.

thoughts and bugs so far.

bug:
when meeting quistis naming screen for shiva appears twice, the a third time after the tutorial, and every time you enter and leave the garden and quistis joins
game not responding in catchapillar fight after getting it low hp, appears to be ultra wave. Ultra wave works with quistis
Crashes when transitioning to Cids Office to recieve your first seed rank.


Balance:
every enemy in beginning had a status, including a petrify, berserk, and a confuse. its a little oppressive.
T-rexaur in balamb forest should not be reliably beatable by squall + quistis before fire cavern. Either needs to hit harder or be immune to sleep
ifrit a litte whimpy overall. just a few cast of blizzard while chain drawcasting cure is more than enough to win with tons of time left over.
Dollet was fun and well balanced.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm sorry about the issues. How sloppy of me.

I'm not sure what's causing the issue with the Caterchipillar, but it may be related to its targeting when using its Bite attack as that's the only thing in its AI that I've changed. I've reverted it for now and will investigate more tonight.

When I was testing the mod before uploading, I noticed Shiva's name menu wasn't appearing and inserted some redundant MENUNAMEs, forgetting that it'll keep popping up even if you already have the GF. Should be fixed now.

The post-Dollet crash was happening because two of the files for Cid's office weren't in the field archive for some reason... It may be related to a crash that occurred while trying to save changes to that field in Deling. I must've forgotten to replace that field's files after removing the corrupted ones.

With regard to status effects in the early game: Yeah, I had a feeling it was too much and the last-minute change to Bite Bug didn't help.

I slightly increased the levels of the T-Rexaur encounters in the early game and made him immune to Sleep but susceptible to Blind. I have a method of making powerful, permanent status effects like Blind less so and planned to roll it out gradually to certain enemies, and now's as good a time as any to give it to T-Rexaur. Basically, Blind will work on T-Rexaur, but the effect will be removed after a certain number of turns and you won't be able to inflict it again. There is another method of cheesing T-Rexaur in the early game, but I'm leaving it in because it relies on limited resources and because I think it's fun to watch.

I went back and forth on Cast-Blizzard in the Ifrit fight since both its variance and Ifrit's damage output are high. I had runs in which he was a breeze and others in which he gave me a hard time. I thought it over and gave Ifrit a chance to counter ice-element attacks with Fira, and at half health he will use a new move called Firewall that heals him a little and makes him immune to Ice.
« Last Edit: 2020-03-06 07:25:27 by Leythalknight »

UpRisen

  • *
  • Posts: 236
  • Again... AVALANCHE is born again!
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.1
« Reply #6 on: 2020-03-08 18:34:29 »
Im up to the Tomb of the Forgotten Soldier with no other major issues. Ill keep all of my notes about the balance until the end to make sure its the best possible feedback and as to not warp my experience of the mod.

list of bugs.
several encounters have enemies that are off camera. inside timber vs 2 red guard. outside timber vs a mushroom and snake
outside of Deiling has an encounter with the beach field with a Thrustavius
Maybe misunderstanding the post about Kamikaze being the source of vit 0, but Grand Mantis Melting Bubble attack applies vit 0 to my characters.
Still on Disc 1 you can fight Adamantoise on the beaches outside of the desert prison. Way to early to get Blizzaga, protect, shell, and quake. weak to stop so can just stop him and draw 3-4 times and run away. I didn't farm him for sake of balance testing.

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.1
« Reply #7 on: 2020-03-10 20:47:26 »
Im up to the Tomb of the Forgotten Soldier with no other major issues. Ill keep all of my notes about the balance until the end to make sure its the best possible feedback and as to not warp my experience of the mod.

list of bugs.
several encounters have enemies that are off camera. inside timber vs 2 red guard. outside timber vs a mushroom and snake
outside of Deiling has an encounter with the beach field with a Thrustavius
Maybe misunderstanding the post about Kamikaze being the source of vit 0, but Grand Mantis Melting Bubble attack applies vit 0 to my characters.
Still on Disc 1 you can fight Adamantoise on the beaches outside of the desert prison. Way to early to get Blizzaga, protect, shell, and quake. weak to stop so can just stop him and draw 3-4 times and run away. I didn't farm him for sake of balance testing.

The next update will include fixes for those issues as well as a few other things. I'm gonna hold off on a release for now barring a major issue, though.

Enemies can still inflict Vit 0, but the only way for the player to use it is Kamikaze. I might make the Grand Mantis only use that from mid- or high-level.

Thanks again!

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2
« Reply #8 on: 2020-03-18 03:57:24 »
Took longer than I had planned, but:

Version 1.0.2. released.

Download: https://mega.nz/#!Ne4xSCTQ!ZF7GQTDglxv1CbGKSyyhTeQFI8geVAE8O_BnaPK6A-o

- Fixed text display errors in the WHT-RF 1 and WHT-RF 2 Information menus.
- Fixed camera angles in certain battles.
- Replaced Esthar Soldier's Ultra Waves with Noiseblaster/Sunbeam.
- Lowered train fare prices.
- Fixed a display issue with Minotaur's in-battle dialogue.
- Grand Mantis: Melting Bubble is now a mid-level attack; uses Silence at low levels instead.
- Creeps: Float added to Draw list.
- Various changes to world map encounters and encounter regions.
- Changed items available in Chocobo Forests.
- Mog's Bounty item removed; replaced with Mega-Remedy, which heals several status abnormalities for all allies.
- Mega-Remedy added to Esthar Shop!!!.
- Altered final bosses' behavior.
- Preparation for future updates.
- Misc. changes.

If anyone could confirm that the refinement abilities' Information menu text displays properly for them, I'd appreciate it.

UpRisen

  • *
  • Posts: 236
  • Again... AVALANCHE is born again!
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2
« Reply #9 on: 2020-03-18 12:42:33 »
Found a major issue. After the Iguion fight in Deiling City you receive an HP Up item. Using this item will instantly start an encounter vs a single Galb Soldier in Dollet, after the fight every time you attempt to press Menu it will start another fight instantly.

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2
« Reply #10 on: 2020-03-18 16:12:27 »
Found a major issue. After the Iguion fight in Deiling City you receive an HP Up item. Using this item will instantly start an encounter vs a single Galb Soldier in Dollet, after the fight every time you attempt to press Menu it will start another fight instantly.

1.0.2a released and OP updated.
https://mega.nz/#!NTx13YDI!MaRqrBvHq178KSf6sCsrUpoRXtXdaFH-NWOr-0Xw-g8

- Fixes the above issue.

Gensoul

  • *
  • Posts: 46
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2a
« Reply #11 on: 2020-03-18 18:18:57 »
This sounds quite fun. I like the story, but I'm not a big fan of "monsters level up with you" or "everyone can do everything" play-styles.

I'd like to play your mod. Is there a way to port it to remastered?

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2a
« Reply #12 on: 2020-03-18 19:59:57 »
This sounds quite fun. I like the story, but I'm not a big fan of "monsters level up with you" or "everyone can do everything" play-styles.

I'd like to play your mod. Is there a way to port it to remastered?

I'm not up-to-date on Remastered modding, but to my knowledge, the only issue with porting to Remastered is making changes to the executable. I haven't made that many such changes, but nerfs to abilities like Darkside and Cover would no longer be there and removal of certain spells would be broken due to being unable to change the contents of Draw Points, among other things. I've considered creating a "lite" version of the mod to get around this, but if it comes to that, I'd prefer to wait until I've gotten more feedback and made more additions so that I don't have to keep porting changes each time I update.

The specific things you mentioned may not be too hard to implement, though. I'll look into it tonight and let you know.

Robgatti

  • *
  • Posts: 36
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.2a
« Reply #13 on: 2020-04-04 01:44:12 »
About to begin playing this now myself.
Didnt notice anything about Triple Triad, does it remain the same (I'd dont mind Triad myself, just worried about items I may need from it)?

Are the GFs RECOMMENDATIONS for those characters or are they locked?


Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #14 on: 2020-04-11 18:58:14 »
Took me longer than I'd have liked, but here's 1.0.3. https://mega.nz/file/1fgURSAQ#hhm4KVMa79zsYV4PIFLS7HTHZtKxQ9EevFA_g9Cbwag  Apologies to anyone who may have been waiting.

- Lowered status affliction power of certain enemy abilities.
- Removed Doom status from certain abilities.
- Jumbo Cactuar now spawns from killing Cactuars, similar to Tonberry King.
- Certain enemies/bosses changed to take fewer actions.
- Lowered Irvine's base Speed.
- HP Up's effect increased from 10 to 20.
- Removed unknown34 opcode from Sphinxara and Trauma's AI.
- Various changes and fixes.

HUGE thanks to UpRisen for all the feedback and bug-finding.

I would have released this a bit sooner if not for Sphinxara and Trauma. I found that the unknown34 opcode was causing crashes even when using clean dat files, so I replaced it with launch(), which appears to do the same thing--spawn enemies--without the crashes. Both worked properly the last time I played through the mod and I'm unsure of the root cause of the problem or at what point it began.

About to begin playing this now myself.
Didnt notice anything about Triple Triad, does it remain the same (I'd dont mind Triad myself, just worried about items I may need from it)?

Are the GFs RECOMMENDATIONS for those characters or are they locked?

Sorry for the delayed response. There's no Card Mod, so no need to play TT if you don't want to. If you're inclined to collect cards, you can get an item to teach Card from the stacks of books in the TT player's private room in Dollet. TT is otherwise untouched.

As for GFs, something in-between, I guess. They're not actually locked to the character, but you're meant to keep each character with their assigned GF. There are logical limitations even if you were to swap them around--for example, Squall will never be a good mage and thus you wouldn't want to give him a GF like Carbuncle or Tonberry.
« Last Edit: 2020-04-11 20:51:14 by Leythalknight »

moothead

  • *
  • Posts: 37
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #15 on: 2020-04-15 00:49:06 »
Just beat Ifrit after 3 tries, so used to not needing to think in this game that I wasn't really prepared. Messed up not exchanging magic but managed to bruteforce it with draw-casting Cure. The AI changes were exciting.

Even this early on I'm really liking what I'm seeing, the changes are pretty much exactly what I was after with this game. The NT mod is interesting too but I haven't seen much progress on that one recently :(.

Thanks for making it!

kokie

  • *
  • Posts: 20
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #16 on: 2020-04-30 20:31:24 »
Hi , Leythalknight

Can you tell me how did you modify darkside multiplier?

The damage was too epic in the original and l have been wanting to change it for a long time but l dont know how. Doomtrain program doesn't have this function as far as l know.

JWP

  • *
  • Posts: 194
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #17 on: 2020-04-30 21:06:30 »
The Darkside multiplier is located in the exe file itself.
See here

You would need to know how to edit the x86 assembly and you would either have to edit the exe file directly or patch the memory while it's running.

goodmorninpluto

  • *
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #18 on: 2020-05-12 09:10:31 »
Currently playing through this mod, up to Dollet (second visit), will post more feedback once I finish disk 1, for now I want to point two bugs (nothing gamebreaking):
- game text still says I received Occult Fan II instead of Gambler Spirit in Dollet TT player room (only text, item in inventory is correct)
- cockatrice AI near Dollet doesn't work, it just looks at me menacingly and not doing any moves.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-12 09:21:54 by goodmorninpluto »

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #19 on: 2020-05-13 19:44:24 »
Sorry I haven't been around in the past few weeks--between work, another project i needed to finish by the end of April, and some issues in my personal life, I just didn't have the time or energy to work on this mod. Things have calmed down, though, so I'm getting back to work on this.

Just beat Ifrit after 3 tries, so used to not needing to think in this game that I wasn't really prepared. Messed up not exchanging magic but managed to bruteforce it with draw-casting Cure. The AI changes were exciting.

Even this early on I'm really liking what I'm seeing, the changes are pretty much exactly what I was after with this game. The NT mod is interesting too but I haven't seen much progress on that one recently :(.

Thanks for making it!

Thanks for the kind words =) I hope the rest of the mod lives up to your expectations.


Currently playing through this mod, up to Dollet (second visit), will post more feedback once I finish disk 1, for now I want to point two bugs (nothing gamebreaking):
- game text still says I received Occult Fan II instead of Gambler Spirit in Dollet TT player room (only text, item in inventory is correct)
- cockatrice AI near Dollet doesn't work, it just looks at me menacingly and not doing any moves.

Thanks for the feedback. You can use these files to fix the Cockatrice: https://mega.nz/file/9GIXQCBJ#SPxT1IpM4feu0Yc_k2QUvDaGJed2r-ijpYn63IU6Joo

I'll have the Gambler Spirit text fixed in the next update.

goodmorninpluto

  • *
  • Posts: 16
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.0.3
« Reply #20 on: 2020-05-16 18:47:05 »
Finished disk 1, found two more bugs related to Mug:
I can steal some mysterious 0 s from Iguions and 1 s from Seifer. I checked my inventory, I think nothing important and new appeared (maybe it was some regular item or actually nothing, I dont't know).

Now regarding the gameplay. I am playing this mod trying to keep your intended roles for characters (but leveling all GFs to see gameplay possibilities), here's my ranking:
1) Selphie. Absolute powerhouse. Thanks to buffed magic she has the highest damage currently. She deals more damage than others Limit Breaks (which were nerfed across the board) with a single cast. Thanks to that I basically relegated my other two characters (until Irvine) to simple draw-bots that stores magic for her and occasional item usage (with items having great restorative potency, better than restorative magic).
2) Irvine. Him coming up with Aura ability made me realize that this + Shots is the intended way to play him (and that I missed out on Quistis). Could never get a crit gun to work (I guess I need ridiculous amount of luck for that and endgame), but his highest Str gun rivals Selphie in terms of sheer power. It had a drawback that it sometimes miss, but you can easily circumveint this by using Shots so it will be guaranteed hit. It's really powerful. The only downside is that it requires a bit of setup and some Ammo.
3) Zell. For the first half of disk 1, when I didn't unlock str bonuses, my main method of doing damage with him was not attacking, but actually draw-casting magic from enemies. I think it's a little unfair to him that this method easily deals x3-x4 damage compared to his fists. Though later it normalized after some level ups and a new weapon, but still not on the level of Selphie and Irvine. Chakra is great ability, thanks to many statuses regular enemies will inflict you with (I loved that!).
4) Quistis. I unlocked Aura way too late for her, so didn't realize at first that Blue Magic supposed to be used in normal circumstances, and not at yellow health. For the danger of yellow health the damage of her initial spells is way too low, so I quickly benched her and only occasionally returned her in the party.
5) Squall. Maybe later with some level ups he will deal solid damage, but for now it's really low (even with Renzokuken). I can't bench him, so he serves healer role for now.
6) Rinoa. By the time she comes, my party is much stronger than enemies, can survive a lot of hits, so I don't have the need for white mage (like I had during early game and had to use Squall for that). Her Limit Break deals miniscule damage, she can't cast black magic, so she's like worse version of Squall (who is already one of the weakest). Items command alone basically negates her role for now.

Overall I enjoyed disk 1, but for me it was a bit on the easier side (though harder than vanilla, of course). Difficulty peaks at Ifrit and then gradually comes down and then spikes again at Edea. By the time I assembled full party I could just faceroll through every encounter. However fight with Ifrit is really tense and challenging, where every action matters. But all bosses after that are pushovers. I think the reward for defeating X-ATMO92 is a bit of letdown. You don't really need that item at the beginning of the game. Defensive stats (Vit, Spr) doesnt really matter, offensive play felt more rewarding.
For now, I like what direction you went with, but I think some elements of it are a bit undertuned and doesn't come to its full potential. Maybe some tinkering with numbers here and there will help early game to retain that challenging feel of Ifrit. However this is only after finishing disk 1 and not full game impression. I am gonna continue playing and posting my thoughts!

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.1
« Reply #21 on: 2020-12-19 18:35:09 »
FFVIII Crystal 1.1

Download: https://mega.nz/file/ZDwVyKCL#xAaF2EXFgHzl48I5tZKzGlP2PXFnz1UKkaORttnY7ho

This update may be big enough to be called "2.0," but I think a lot of the changes are how things should've been from the start. Consider it a relaunch.

Some screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/sFzaH4y
(Taken using graphical mods by MCINDUS and FatedCourage)

Content:

Spoiler: show
A new battle has been added to the Winhill vase quest.

A new battle has been added to the mountain hideout in Dollet, accessible after the events at Trabia Garden.

A new battle has been added at the Sorceress Memorial, accessible after meeting the president of Esthar.

A new enemy has been added to Esthar, accessible after the Lunar Cry.

Unique AI has been added for the Thrustaevis battle triggered during the Obel Lake quest.



Characters/GFs:

Spoiler: show
- All characters' GF compatibility increased from 400 to 600.*
- All GFs' HP increased.
- Altered GF summon damage values.
- Chocoboy now sells Mog's Amulet for 20,000 gil at each of the first six Chocobo Forests.
- Added Tool-RF, which can be used to learn Elem/Status-related Junctions and the WHT/BLK refinement abilities from items.
- The final reward from the bone quest in Dollet has been changed to Tool-RF Scroll regardless of story progress.
- Aero, Bio, and Break have been moved from BLK-RF 2 to BLK-RF 1; removed Demi from BLK-RF 2, which was added erroneously.
- Esuna: St-Def-J changed to Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Confusion.
- Dispel: St-Def-J changed to Petrify, Silence, Berserk, Zombie, Slow, Stop, Curse, Drain.
- Devour: HP restoration added to buff-granting effects; altered some enemies' Devour effects.

- Squall/Bahamut:
- Ability unlocks changed as follows:
> Darkside: 35 --> 15
> Return Damage: 25 --> 35
> Cover: 15 --> 25
> Elem-Atk-J: 25 --> 20
> Str+20%: 25 --> 30
> Abilityx3: 30 --> 25
- Decreased Cover's AP requirement from 100 to 80.
- Mega Flare: Power lowered; now ignores Spr.
- Defend status now has a small effect on Crisis Level.
- Renzokuken: Attack power of each hit increased from 9 to 10.
- Lionheart (Limit): Attack power of each hit increased from 9 to 11.

Quistis/Shiva:
- Luck lowered; Weapons' crit bonus lowered.
- Spd lowered slightly.
- LV?Curse: Status attack power increased.
- Acid: Damage lowered.
- Micro Missiles: damage increased (3/16 at level 1, 3/8 at level 2, 1/2 at level 3, 3/4 at level 4).
- Gatling Gun: Crit Bonus increased.
- Ray Bomb: Damage increased.
- Homing Laser: Damage values changed; now ignores Spr.
- Shockwave Pulsar: Crisis Level 4 damage increased.

Zell/Ifrit:
- Altered Str curve to increase growth at earlier levels.
- Luck lowered.
- Spd growth curve changed; Spd maximum slightly lowered.
- Hit of all weapons lowered.
- Crit bonus of certain weapons lowered.
- Duel: Timer slightly increased; input sequences of Burning Rave, Meteor Barret, Different Beat, and My Final Heaven reduced to four buttons.
- Aurabolt: Now deals Vit-ignoring physical damage; element changed to Non-elemental; inflicts Sleep in addition to Darkness; status affliction power lowered.

Rinoa/Carbuncle:
- Angelo Reverse: Fully restores HP upon revival.
- Wishing Star: Power decreased from 22 to 17; now ignores Vit.
- Shooting Star: Hit increased to 255.

Selphie/Tonberry:
- Altered Spr growth to increase growth at earlier levels.
- The End: damage increased.
- Reverted removal of Wall from Slot.
- Altered Slot array for greater spell variety.

Irvine/Cactuar:
- Cactuar: Begins with St-Atk-J*.
- Valiant: Str and Hit increased.
- Ulysses: Crit Bonus increased from 5 to 8.
- Bismark: Str and Crit Bonus lowered.
- Exeter: Base power increased from 24 to 26; Crit Bonus increased from 0 to 12.
- Normal Ammo: Crit Bonus decreased from 20 to 10.
- Shotgun Ammo: Crit Bonus decreased from 15 to 10.
- Dark Ammo: Power decreased from 11 to 8; Crit Bonus decreased from 20 to 15; elemental damage modifier increased from +120% to +150%.
- Fire Ammo: Crit Bonus decreased from 15 to 10; elemental damage modifier increased from +120% to +125%.
- Pulse Ammo: Crit Bonus increased from 50 to 54.

*These changes will not be reflected in save files from previous versions.


Enemies:

Spoiler: show
- Starfall: Power lowered.
- Certain enemies will now use a more accurate version of the standard physical attack at high levels.
- Increased Evasion of certain enemies.
- Enemies in Lunatic Pandora (final) now use standard FFVIII level scaling.
- With the exception of those in the central part of the Galbadian continent, plateaus on the world map now hold enemies that scale up to level 60; the left half of Winter Island contains enemies that scale up to level 75; and Island Closest to Heaven enemies scale up to 90.
- Enemies on Island Closest to Hell now use standard level scaling + 10 levels and you cannot run away from them, but a "bonus" enemy has been added for winning these fights.
- Changes to level calculation in various battles/areas.
- Fixed battles with bad camera angles/enemy placements.

- Glacial Eye: Acts less frequently; uses Blizzard at low levels; won't use Petrify Stare if Blinded.
- Fastitocalon (Fake): Replaced.
- Caterchipillar: Increased weakness to fire and ice.
- T-Rexaur: Made immune to Confusion.
- Red Bat: Added Blizzard to mid-level Draw list and Blizzara to high-level Draw list.
- Bomb: No longer expands after using Protect on itself.
- Elite Soldier: Attacks less frequently.
- Wendigo: Spr increased.
- Grendel: Thunder Breath changed to a physical attack; Vit lowered and Spr increased; altered elemental resistances; added Confusion behavior; added an additional ability and associated text and AI.
- Elastoid: Str, Vit, and Spr lowered; Spd increased; can now use Dispel more intelligently and follow up with Beam Laser; Beam Laser's accuracy raised to 255; uses Reflect Beam at or below 40% HP; drop and mug rates increased; Slow added to Draw list.
- Chimera: Lowered HP and Vit; Fire/Thunder/Water absorption changed to 50% damage taken.
- Thrustaevis: Uses diving attack less often.
- Creeps: Added weakness to ice.
- G-Blue Mage: AI reworked; Storm Breath replaced with Eerie Sound Wave at high levels; recolored texture.
- Cactuar: EXP gain lowered; fixed issue causing graphical glitches in certain battles.
- Forbidden: Swapped effects of Double Sword and Thrust.
- Malboro: Eerie Sound Wave now deals magic-based percentage damage; Dissolving Acid is now a Spr-ignoring magic attack; Bad Breath now inflicts Zombie.
- Turtapod: Lowered Sleep and Doom resistance; now uses a defense-ignoring physical attack when Confused; added Reflect to its Draw list.
- Torama: Str increased; Blaster changed to a Spirit-ignoring Magic attack; now uses LV5 Death only when below 30% HP; added Confusion behavior.
- Elnoyle: HP, Str, Mag, and Spr lowered; Spd increased; takes increased damage from Fire and Holy; added invulnerability to Poison; status vulnerabilities and Draw list changed.
- Iron Giant: Thunder weakness reduced from 250% to 220%; Earth weakness reduced from 200% to 170%.
- Behemoth: Vit increased; Spr decreased; now has a chance to heal status ailments.

- Elvoret: Str increased; can now heal Blindness; now uses a critical attack at certain HP thresholds. This will also advance the variable which determines its action by 1, and the second critical attack will also increase its Spd for the rest of the battle.
- X-ATM092: Gains a slight Str boost after its HP has been reduced to 0 three times.
- Iguion: Increased HP; increased likelihood of using Haste; decreased Slow resistance.
- Base Leader: Lowered HP.
- Base Soldier: Increased HP.
- Raijin (1): Level lowered.
- Cerberus: Str lowered; Slow resistance lowered; no longer uses Quake; Doom replaced with Meltdown.
- Abaddon: Turtle Shell now drops from the boss as well as being a Mug item.
- Propagator (all): High level range changed from 40 to 34.
- Jumbo Cactuar: Spawns with fewer Cactuar kills; Str and Spr lowered.
- UFO?: Uses Abduct 1 turn sooner; increased EXP value from 60 to 250; added Meteor to Draw list.
- Raijin (final): Vit decreased; Spr increased.
- Fujin (final): Spr and Vit lowered.
- Seifer (final): Bloodfest's attack type reverted to standard physical attack; uses fewer attacks after Bloodfest, but is more likely to attack with a critical hit; Str and Spr lowered; Vit increased.
- Adel: HP lowered.
- Bahamut: Fixed an issue in which Bahamut would stop using Breath attacks; increased likelihood of shifting elemental weakness.
- Ultima Weapon: HP and Vit lowered.
- "Sorceress" (worm): Str, Vit, and Spr lowered.
- Red Giant: Made more susceptible to Slow.
- Omega Weapon: Lowered HP; can now counter the Shot command; removed Holy and Meteor from its Draw list and replaced them with Life and Zombie; made immune to Poison.
- Griever: New ability added; Dispel replaced with Light of Penance.
- Ultimecia (final): Dispel replaced with Light of Penance; Apocalypse strengthened; attack pattern changed.


Misc.:

Spoiler: show
- Updated the included info doc with information on
> new refine abilities
> new item locations
> new content
> Devour effects
> the number of empty slots each GF has as well as which abilities can be safely deleted without losing any functionality, for players who want to plan out how they distribute abilities.

Lowered the prices of the following shop items:
- Shell Stone (1500 --> 1250)
- Protect Stone (1500 --> 1250)
- Demolition Ammo (500 --> 350)
- AP Ammo (500 --> 350)
- Thief's Glove (20000 --> 10000)

- Corrected Steel Curtain's sell price.
- Raised the sell prices of Jet Engine to be in line with other ability-teaching items.
- Merchant's Hat changed to a one-time reward; restored ability to purchase Gysahl Greens from the Chicobo in Chocobo Sanctuary.
- Lowered Sleep status timer.
- Added/changed NPC dialogue to hint at new sidequests.
- Various other changes and fixes.

Future plans
- More new sidequests
- Reworks/additions for some enemies/bosses that still use vanilla or close-to-vanilla behavior
- Diabolos re-rework
- FFVIII Remastered version
- Reorganize the Item list

Also updated the OP with thanks to goodmorninpluto for the feedback.

Nikkolas

  • *
  • Posts: 134
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.1
« Reply #22 on: 2020-12-24 19:01:06 »
Yo. this mod looks awesome and right up my alley. Thank you and I'm excited to try it.

But just a heads up for you or anyone else who is just coming back here for the first time in months - the Roses and Wine thread is gone because the creator was banned. So the readme instructions included with the mod needs to be fixe.

And since RaW is needed for this mod to work, the Ragnarok Rebalance creator has a link to it
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YU7dP4DkuPt7kCCmkdg8SKnliZ7ygfGD/view

Leythalknight

  • *
  • Posts: 84
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.1
« Reply #23 on: 2020-12-25 19:56:06 »
Yo. this mod looks awesome and right up my alley. Thank you and I'm excited to try it.

But just a heads up for you or anyone else who is just coming back here for the first time in months - the Roses and Wine thread is gone because the creator was banned. So the readme instructions included with the mod needs to be fixe.

And since RaW is needed for this mod to work, the Ragnarok Rebalance creator has a link to it
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YU7dP4DkuPt7kCCmkdg8SKnliZ7ygfGD/view

Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

Oh, I didn't realize. I'll fix the link in the next update. Thanks.  :)

Nikkolas

  • *
  • Posts: 134
    • View Profile
Re: [FF8-PC Steam 2013] FFVIII Crystal 1.1
« Reply #24 on: 2020-12-26 19:13:47 »
Thanks, hope you enjoy it.

Oh, I didn't realize. I'll fix the link in the next update. Thanks.  :)

No problem. I just got to Galbadia Garden and having fun with the changes you've made.

I do have a few questions, though.
1. Would you say the game gets harder later on?  Maybe I'm just overleveled (Squall is Level 16, Rinoa is Level 18 and Selphie is Level 21) but things haven't been too difficult for a while now.  if this was a normal RPG you'd expect challenge to increase with time but since it's a mod, you usually see a huge spike in difficulty right from the start ya know? I dunno, I don't think it would hurt to increase damage and HP a bit on the enemies.

2.Do you ever get more GFs? I've already "mastered" all the innate abilities on a few of my GF's. Or do you just learn more abilities for the GF's you have?

3. Do you ever get Abilityx3 or Abilityx4? In general I'm just curious how I learn more abilities for my GF's since right now I've been Drawing all my magic and am sorely missing Refine abilities.

EDIT:

Okay just about to do Sorceress Assassination and Shiva is gonna learn Blk Mag RF 1. I guess i's a Level thing, maybe? Oh well, sorry for the dumb, impatient question.

EDIT 2:

Also I kinda cheated with Rinoa using Aero against the Brothers... Aero is a White Magic spell in many FF games but I just got Blk Mag RF 1 and it's Black Magic here. My bad. I def won't do it again.

Edea was a pretty sweet boss fight.
« Last Edit: 2020-12-27 19:38:46 by Nikkolas »