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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-07-24 14:05:27 »

Recently did the Pagoda in Wutai... is it even possible to morph Shake and Chekhov?
The former seems basically unhittable with Morph, while the latter takes no dmg from physical attacks.

Chekhov can't be morphed. Shake can be morphed with patience and stacking a lot of accuracy (via dexterity and defense%).

Additionally, isn't haste considered kind of overpowered? It seems to speed up the ATB gauge way too much and, even on arrange mode, feels like its trivializing some battles. If possible, I'd call for toning the speed increase down.

Haste is strong, but it does have drawbacks. It makes buffs like Barrier and Shield expire faster, causes Dual and Poison to tick faster, and is much less effective at higher battle speeds or when a character is already very fast.

Battle speed is a particularly large factor in how useful haste and slow are. I thought they were overpowered when I typically played at low battle speed, but now I more often play with it maxed out and they're often not worth bothering with.

Also, between things like the Powersoul, Master Fist, Mime, Barrier, sadness, Cover + back row, Elemental, Conformer, White Wind, Magic Counter + Cure, Force Stealer + Counter Attack, 4x cut, and Bad Breath, Haste doesn't stand out as relatively overpowered to me.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-05-07 07:50:45 »

I'm currently in the Midgar Raid portion of Disk 2. Cloud is level 71 and at maxed Rank - he's got 180 strength, 226 attk but is barely doing 1000 points of damage against the enemies there. Then Red XIII waltzes in with his 150 magic and does anywhere between 2000 and 8000 damage, depending on the spell/weakness. It seems to me that Cloud should be doing much more damage - can anyone tell me why he isn't? Since he's MAX Rank, he's got nowhere to go, either. This is the case with all the characters, with their standard attacks, actually. Am I missing something?

Some combination of Deathblow, Slash-All, Throw, Multi-Cut, Counter Attack, Command Counter, and Added Cut is needed for strength-focused characters to shine. You might not have Slash-All and Multi-Cut yet as they're in the Ancient Forest, but you should have everything else.

That said, the enemies in the Midgar Raid are generally weak to magic and resistant to physicals for whatever reason. Ultima and Comet2 are also pretty overpowered when they're first available.

[Spoiler:]

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-04-25 01:08:44 »

Yet more bugs and general weirdness, still from an Arrange run. This is probably the last of it for a while, though.

Spoiler: show

• Most important first: the Pinnacle Sephiroth fight didn't work for me. I was never given a chance to make the second party, so it wound up empty, crashing the game when swapping parties. I managed to work around it with Ochu, though that led to the fight being a bit buggy.
• Cid's Second Wind will show its activation message after every action while he's defending, even after his HP/MP has been refilled. This continues until he takes another action, and will reoccur if he defends again.
• Princess Guard targets the enemy party by default.
• During Barret's limit quest, Scorp's AP Rifle is ridiculously strong compared to the rest of its attacks. It currently ignores defense and row, hitting for 4000 through barrier and very often critting for 8000.
• The weaponsmith still asks for a "Red Crystal" to craft Limited Moon.
• The Centclip has its vanilla attack of 58.
• Vincent getting manipulated by Lucrecia while in Death Gigas results in very long "animations". I imagine the same happens with his other limit forms.
• Omega Weapon's Terra Break did a lot less damage than I expected. A party of Cloud, Cid, and Vincent survives easily with no special preparation. Ultima, meanwhile, wipes out the party except for Cloud.
• Added Effect=Barrier includes Shield in its effects.
• Ultimate End still shows either nothing or a jumbled mess as its name when cast.
• Carmine Weapon uses some ability after its eyes are destroyed, which looks like Search Scope. Its name doesn't stay on screen long enough for me to read it, and it has no apparent effect.
• In Kalm on disc 3, Elmyra is stuck on the thing in the middle of the town.
• The battle message at the start of the Chokhmabo battle calls it "Yahcobo". I think the latter is its old name.
• The Kalm Traveler rewards you with Long Range for one of the items you give him, then defeating the master materia gives you another one.

Edit: I should probably mention that I've been playing with the IRO, dunno if that matters.

[Spoiler:]

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-04-23 04:29:07 »

Even more weird stuff, though I think some if it has been mentioned before:

• Party members can cast Pearl as frogs. I assume this is because it uses the ID originally meant for Toad.
• Stardust Ray deals very little damage, even on a magic-focused Red XIII. It doesn't even keep up with Blood Fang.
• In Midgar during Disc 2/3, Aeris seems to have disappeared from the church and Cait Sith doesn't have any dialogue in the bar in Wall Market.
• Cait Sith's Battle Trumpet has 0 growth. It's ostensibly a triple-growth weapon.
• Cid's Hyper Jump doesn't use the right animation; for some reason he does his spellcasting animation (like Dragon) instead of jumping and the effects are centred on him. It can still crash the game.
• Malboros don't have their drop/steal/morph set up the way the rest of the North Crater enemies do. They drop Sniper CR, morph into Outsider, and M_Tentacles are stolen from them.
• Rude can cast Turk Cure on the player party if he's confused. I'm not even sure how I managed that, honestly. It only happened once, during the fight during the Midgar raid.
• After defeating the Nycaloptian Dragon (is that still its name? The dragon in Cid's limit quest), random encounters play the Weapon Raid theme until you leave the area.
• The Mimic looks like Ifalna at first, then suddenly looks like Aeris when you get close.
• The first hit of Planet Destructor removes barriers, but the visual effects of MBarrier aren't removed until the attack completes.
• The last word in Yuffie's dialogue after defeating the mimic gets split across two lines.
• Trying to reenter the area the Mimic was in led to Cid getting stuck.
• Gun in the Junon League is hidden behind the railing because of the camera angle and uses Tseng's defeat line.

Dark Cave stuff:

Spoiler: show

• Various area transitions throughout the quest reset the background music.
• It seems starting the quest with Tifa or Cid as party leader results in them being locked in the PHS.
• After talking to the guy that disappears at the beginning, trying to backtrack triggers the scene with him again.
• In the reactor, there's a 0:00 timer in the corner. I get the impression that's not supposed to appear until the "bomb" is set.
• On touching the save point in the reactor, a large blank dialogue box appeared behind the timer.
• During the Amalgam battle, Red XIII and Vincent are facing the wrong way.
• Spectral Hojo is really weak. It only managed to use Goner before Cloud and Red XIII tore it to shreds.
• Mirage's attack which causes Petrify and Resist also inflicts what looks like Slow-Numb on top.
• After completing the quest, the Key to Sector 5 was missing from my inventory. I was able to get it back at Bone Village, though.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-04-21 10:36:04 »

@Chronoseth
-) It's a one-time item you can get from Aps via Morph so I felt that it would be OK. One of the planned fixes is to make the boss Morphs better/consistent again.

-) The Vector nodes spawn I assumed was due to people killing the boss before it could reach the criteria needed (2 attack cycles) but maybe it's an actual AI problem. I'll have a look at it properly, it's been mentioned quite a few times now.

-) The thing with the Limits is I wanted a (loose) theme for the damage-dealing ones (Clouds was defence-reduction, Yuffies was speed reduction, etc).

- I don't mind getting a strong item from Aps, but Dragon Scales in particular instagib or gut most the other bosses in Midgar. Actually using it feels like cheating, especially since Aps is one of the easier bosses to morph. It particularly cheapens Arrange Thousand Gunner.

- Just now I let Vector run through its script six times, bringing it to low HP halfway through, and it never spawned the nodes. Vector Storm, Lasers, Bacteriophage, Nucleic Laser, Transducer, repeat.

- After playing with them more, it's mostly just Braver and Climhazzard that seem off to me. Other limits with similar effects tend to have some other trick to them, but Braver and Climhazzard remain practically clones of eachother. Still better than the original game, though; I really like the limit changes as a whole.


There's some more stuff I've noticed in another playthrough. I ended up starting over because of how over-leveled I got.

• Each of Shake's images can be targeted and attacked individually. A patient player can morph each one for several copies of Sprint Shoes. The battle only ends when ShakeA is defeated.
• Chekhov's opening move doesn't have an apparent effect, unless it's Slow and I just didn't notice.
• Chekhov can't break out of confusion because they're immune to physicals. Inflicting it is an auto-win.
• Doorbulls lack a berserk command, just saying their MP is depleted and doing nothing.
• MP Plus can be sold for 560000 gil, completely destroying the game's economy.
• Cait Sith is conspicuously absent from the group talk scene after Aeris gets skewered. Unless he's hiding somewhere.
• Aeris' Flower Girl rank-up claims to increase Luck, but it increases Spirit instead.
• Reno's opening move in the Gelnika Turks fight is weird. Maybe it's supposed to be a fakeout, but Resist stops Death Sentence from actually doing anything.
• Sculptures in the North Crater counter physicals with Barrier-All and magic with MBarrier-All. This results in them countering Barrier with MBarrier when in a group together.
• MP Turbo's Magic penalty means it's not actually beneficial unless the character already has exceptional Magic.
• Summons seem weak, but I haven't quite figured out why. It's like they don't ignore defense anymore, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

I also noticed something weird with Gorkii's name, but I think that one is intentional.


More opinions:

• Does every Unknown in the Sunken Gelnika need to counter limit breaks with an eject or similar? Just walking through the area is tedious because they're so dangerous, and there's little reward for actually fighting the things.
• I think a strength/magic penalty would fit better for Elemental (and maybe Added Effect) than a defense penalty. As is I'm having difficulty justifying its use.
• I'm having a bit of trouble finding a role for Tifa. The Powersoul and Master Fist are busted, obviously, but that seems to be just about all she offers. Her magic isn't high enough for a proper support role, she pretty much requires a tank to stay alive, and her strength is outmatched by the innate abilities of Cloud and Barret. She's fast, but Yuffie is faster and can sit in the back row.
• Are the normal attacks from 8-Eyes supposed to deal 50% of a character's max HP as damage? It feels unfair, and it's only the start of their nonsense. If it deals elemental damage I haven't figured out the element yet.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-04-10 04:31:48 »

I've noticed some weird things during my current Arrange run:

• Hell Houses are practically impossible to morph because of Bad Plumbing spam.
• Dragon Scales deal 5000 defense-ignoring damage. Whether or not that's intentional, it's ridiculously overpowered for something you can morph Aps into.
• Poison ticks being non-elemental damage means Lich GT now harms itself with it.
• Jenova-VECTOR never seems to summon the Vector Nodes.
• Ethers restore 300 MP in the menu.
• Near Mideel, Hippogriffs don't give any EXP but Spirals do. I haven't fought the other enemies there yet.
• The Spiral Shuriken grants 68 attack. I think this was the case in previous versions too, but it only now hit me how inconsistent that is.
• In terms of stat bonuses, White Capes are flat-out better than Safety Bits.
• Is Trine obtainable in Arrange before the final dungeon? Armor Keeper doesn't use it.
• Cloud's innate is triggered by all of Vincent's attacks while he's transformed.
• Cait Sith's Black M-Phone doesn't actually drain HP.
• Aeris still hangs out in Lower Junon when she's supposed to be in the City of the Ancients.

As for stuff that's just my opinion:

• Braver and Climhazzard both reducing defense is a bit boring. Same with Greased Lightning and Landscaper both inflicting Slow, though Landscaper is at least different in other ways.
• Satan Gate seems weak. Maybe I just got lucky, but its attacks were weak when they didn't just miss and I beat it before it could do anything meaningful. The Brass Dragon was a much longer and more involved fight.
• The stat penalties on Added Effect, Magic Counter, and Gil Plus seem needlessly harsh.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2018-01-24 05:22:25 »

Immediately ran into a problem: potions are taking away 56 HP in the menu, and Ethers are taking away 6 MP. They work fine in battle.

Edit: Hi-Potions have the same sort of bug too.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)

« on: 2017-08-16 03:07:53 »

I've been trying to tackle Lambda Calcule in Arrange mode. This battle is ridiculous, but I think I can do it without coming back later. Eventually.

Is there a source of Vaccines before Mt Nibel? My first thought is the Gold Saucer but I don't remember if it has vaccines on disc 1. I think hitting the physical form with Resist after slowing it should make things easier.

How do Lambda Calcule's level changes work? I thought it incremented by 1 every turn, presumably resetting at some point, but then L5 Suicide missed when I thought it wouldn't.

Unrelatedly, is Aps Senior supposed to morph into Dragon Scales? It one-shots any individual boss in Midgar.

Edit: I figured out a way to beat it, but the questions still stand.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.4)

« on: 2016-11-26 00:51:55 »

Though one pet peeve of mine is how far ahead Cloud is compared to everyone else. It makes sense since he's always in the party, but I wouldn't mind if his SP requirements were a little higher than the other party members.

This is bothering me a bit, too. I did a bit of grinding to get to level 2 magic sooner and experiment with morphing, and this has resulted in Cloud being rank 5 while everyone else is rank 3 just as I've gotten to Nibelheim on disc 1.

Everyone is higher level than they really should be, but Cloud is so far ahead that he's outshining everyone else in every role. If I use Vincent and Cid when I get access to them so I can boost their ranks, Cloud will end up even further ahead.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.4)

« on: 2016-08-20 18:00:08 »

I just grabbed Mime from its materia cave, and for some reason it has the usual two stars and didn't drop mastered.

Am I right to think that's not intentional?

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.4)

« on: 2016-08-17 07:59:10 »

Physical attacks are used at random between these attacks.

Thanks, that was the thing throwing me off. I finally managed to beat it.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.4)

« on: 2016-08-17 04:29:34 »

Is there any way to tell when Omega Weapon is about to use Terra Break? It seems like it would be survivable if I got the chance to use some Gospel Sparks or defend, but as far as I can tell it has a random attack order.

[Spoiler:]

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.4)

« on: 2016-03-30 09:01:43 »

This is a weird one: moving across the tracks on Mt. Corel, I ended up fighting a bomb which I managed to morph into a fire ring. When I got to the bridge just outside the town, though, the bombs there gave the usual fire fangs as their morph. I tried going back to the tracks to morph another bomb to make sure I'm not crazy, but I can't seem to get that battle now.

Someone else mentioned this a while ago, but is the Striking Staff supposed to cause Barrier on hit? It did that in 1.35 as well, but it's counterintuitive for a weapon with very high attack and a name which implies it's for hitting things to give enemies a buff which halves the damage.


Regarding balance, magic feels ridiculously strong compared to physical attacks in the early parts of the game (I've just now gotten to North Corel, so I can't judge late-game magic yet). Keeping MP topped off is a non-issue with a few Heal materia and tents, and magic has huge advantages from the many All materia you can find and sitting in the back row. It doesn't help that all of Cloud's early weapons have mediocre attack. Tifa and Red XIII can be made into very strong physical hitters with the right equipment, but that still doesn't beat the AoE nukes and adaptability that magic gives you.

Unrelatedly, Kalm Fangs are assholes. Getting back attacked by them immediately after leaving Midgar is a great way to suddenly game over and lose progress. Levrikons are similarly much more dangerous than every other enemy in the area.

And about a certain angry Cokatolis...

Spoiler: show

The Mamatolis really ought to be immune to sleep. Using the spell makes the battle very long, boring, and more or less impossible to lose.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.35)

« on: 2016-02-29 11:04:30 »

Do you mean, that you want Emerald to throw Demi back at the party, using reflect? Doesn't seem like it can be reflected in FF7 (or perhaps just NT).

... I forgot about that.

It definitely needs to do something to counter Demi if it keeps its gravity vulnerability, though. The damage dealt by quadded demi is ridiculous.

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.35)

« on: 2016-02-29 10:08:16 »

Emerald and Ruby are still fairly easy as 'super'-bosses go even in this new build, might be more apt to call them mid-bosses. I could soup them up a bit if people fancy.

IMO Ruby is fine in 1.35 (whirlsand can go **** itself), but Emerald was far too easy. The only real danger is its eye rays, but they're almost entirely nullified by ribbons, and Emerald doesn't do enough damage for the lack of barriers to be a concern. Making them do something like drain a lot more MP or forcibly inflict dual-drain would make the battle more interesting.

Oh, exploiting Emerald's gravity vulnerability also makes the battle hilariously easy and short. Maybe make it counter Demi with reflect?

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.35)

« on: 2016-01-13 16:06:05 »

edit#2: Doing some damage-tests, to determine who I want to accompany Cloud & Aerith in 1.4. Yuffie (equipped with Conformer) dealt about 6k per hit with counter attacks @ Nemesis, but for some reason she did half that with her 4x cut. Any idea why? It doesn't seem as if other characters suffer the same penalty.

Seems that for some reason 4x cut is using the half-damage penalty for being in the back row, even when equipped with a long-range weapon. I'm noticing the same thing with Barret.

Another weird thing I've noticed is that Comet2 seems to miss quite often. Against most enemies it always seems to miss at least once, and bosses often evade half or more of the hits. The spell completely useless; it rarely outdamages Comet, yet costs almost twice as much MP.

[Spoiler:]

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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.35)

« on: 2016-01-03 10:15:57 »

Another set of Materia planned to be made 1-star/mastered are the rare ones that I think would be better balanced as unique one-off pieces. I reckon this could prove unpopular, though:

Mime
W-Magic
W-Item
W-Summon
Final Attack (1 use only)

I think it'd be a good idea to add Quadra Magic to this list as well: it was a large factor in trivializing the Extra Battle bosses and final battles for me. Cloud and Vincent spamming quadded W-Magic Tornado while Tifa mimed the spell tore through Safer Sephiroth before his third turn. I didn't expect such an easy battle after the nightmare that was the Dark Cave's final boss. D:

By the way:

Spoiler: show

Am I supposed to be able to steal Mystile from goblins? Getting multiples isn't really helpful, but it feels weird to get an end-game item midway through disc 2.