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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-04-12 12:08:50 »
It doesn't seem to always happen, though? Usually once Peerless wears off, I can damage them again just fine...
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-04-08 00:38:36 »
Well, I've played a bit more. Left the sidequests and gone to the Northern Cave, I've reached Jenova-Synthesis but haven't beat her. Had a go against Omega as well, very nice fight, can't beat it yet.
I have to say, the random battles here are VERY nice. The Iron Giant took a little bit of thinking - also at one point, everything I did to him started only doing 1 damage, is this intentional?
I have to say, the random battles here are VERY nice. The Iron Giant took a little bit of thinking - also at one point, everything I did to him started only doing 1 damage, is this intentional?
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-03-24 20:20:38 »
One way to deal some nice damage to Air Buster is save some Bolt Plumes from the first reactor. You can win them off those Sweepers, which when you encounter them alone, are fairly easy to beat. (And when you encounter them with others, you use a Bolt Plume to one hit KO all enemies, and you win another one off them plus EXP and maybe a couple of Potions).
That aside, back attack him with Limit Breaks. I do think Bolt is worth casting when you don't have limits, though. But only have one person using it, the other two should be ready to cast Cure as needed.
Really, I think my one piece of advice for this mod is don't underestimate white (healing) magic in it. Its usefulness is limited at best in vanilla, but it's very hard to live without here. You want Restore-All on everyone ASAP, and whenever possible put the combination into a double or triple growth piece of equipment, certianly never on a None (unless they're already mastered). Revive-All and Heal on at least one character is also pretty much essential, again, you want to be levelling these up ASAP. I wouldn't go out of my way to put All with Heal, but once you get Mega-All you may as well put Heal on the character you give Mega-All to. (This is mostly because against anything that can status everyone at once, you're probably going to want to be dealing with it via Resist rather than Esuna anyway, and Resist can't be all'd). You also want to learn White Wind as soon as possible; you can get away with dropping some of the Alls on your restores once you have it (but I'd reccomend still keeping at least one Restore-All combo, if nothing else for Regen-All). Do keep in mind that you still want to have Heal once you get White Wind, because in this mod White Wind no longer heals most status effects (except for Sleep and Confusion). However, if you're using Resist, make sure you cast any positive statuses you want (mostly Sadness, Haste and Regen, barriers have limited usefulness against bosses where you need Resist as they run out) before you cast Resist as it also makes the target immune to *positive* statuses too (Dragon Force and Hero Drink still work after resist, though).
...on that note, I actually have a minor technical question. If you cast Resist and then Death Force on a character already under Death Sentence, they won't die when the death sentence runs out... but what causes this? Does Death Force still work even under resist, or does Resist just protect against death too? (I always thought it didn't, but I haven't actually checked.)
That aside, back attack him with Limit Breaks. I do think Bolt is worth casting when you don't have limits, though. But only have one person using it, the other two should be ready to cast Cure as needed.
Really, I think my one piece of advice for this mod is don't underestimate white (healing) magic in it. Its usefulness is limited at best in vanilla, but it's very hard to live without here. You want Restore-All on everyone ASAP, and whenever possible put the combination into a double or triple growth piece of equipment, certianly never on a None (unless they're already mastered). Revive-All and Heal on at least one character is also pretty much essential, again, you want to be levelling these up ASAP. I wouldn't go out of my way to put All with Heal, but once you get Mega-All you may as well put Heal on the character you give Mega-All to. (This is mostly because against anything that can status everyone at once, you're probably going to want to be dealing with it via Resist rather than Esuna anyway, and Resist can't be all'd). You also want to learn White Wind as soon as possible; you can get away with dropping some of the Alls on your restores once you have it (but I'd reccomend still keeping at least one Restore-All combo, if nothing else for Regen-All). Do keep in mind that you still want to have Heal once you get White Wind, because in this mod White Wind no longer heals most status effects (except for Sleep and Confusion). However, if you're using Resist, make sure you cast any positive statuses you want (mostly Sadness, Haste and Regen, barriers have limited usefulness against bosses where you need Resist as they run out) before you cast Resist as it also makes the target immune to *positive* statuses too (Dragon Force and Hero Drink still work after resist, though).
...on that note, I actually have a minor technical question. If you cast Resist and then Death Force on a character already under Death Sentence, they won't die when the death sentence runs out... but what causes this? Does Death Force still work even under resist, or does Resist just protect against death too? (I always thought it didn't, but I haven't actually checked.)
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-03-24 08:05:22 »
I'm pretty sure the installer for this has a revert option... :/ Just sayin'...
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-03-23 07:30:36 »
Messed around a bit in the Ancient Forest, wasn't getting very far so I continued with the story for a while. Completed Disc 2 now.
A common problem I noticed in Midgar is that enemies seemed to be very "glass cannon"-y. They can dish out insanely high damage, but they fall with very little damage themself.
Anyway, for the bosses... the Turks were pretty much the best example of the glass cannons. They pack a punch, but fall far too quickly for this to be a worry.
Proud Clod seemed to be the exception to this. He took quite a while to take down, but was practically harmless. Nothing special really.
The fight against Theo, Locke and Venus was a bit easier than their other two were, I think. Again, glass cannons.
Now, Hojo gave me a good run for my money. His first form doesn't appear to attack (except Capsule), but the samples are deadly. But, also vunerable to Sleep. One Bad Breath and you're basically free to buff up your characters, drain back some MP, then very quickly beat Hojo down. Helletic Hojo was another glass cannon - hitting me for around 13000 damage in Sadness, when I only have about 14000 HP. A torrent of 2xCut and Ultima quickly takes care of him though. Now, Lifeform was where things got interesting. It took me a while to realise his counterattack had Dispel, even longer to realise that this even extended to dispelling Resist. His MP Drain was also annoying, until I realised it could be Covered; since Yuffie is a purely physical attacker, I gave her Cover. I also had Counter Attack and Counter-Morph on her to get some counterattack damage in; eventually I let this become my primary method of offense once I realised how efficient it could be (Combo can lead to up to 8 counters). It was only once I got that idea I was able to beat him. Very nice battle.
A common problem I noticed in Midgar is that enemies seemed to be very "glass cannon"-y. They can dish out insanely high damage, but they fall with very little damage themself.
Anyway, for the bosses... the Turks were pretty much the best example of the glass cannons. They pack a punch, but fall far too quickly for this to be a worry.
Proud Clod seemed to be the exception to this. He took quite a while to take down, but was practically harmless. Nothing special really.
The fight against Theo, Locke and Venus was a bit easier than their other two were, I think. Again, glass cannons.
Now, Hojo gave me a good run for my money. His first form doesn't appear to attack (except Capsule), but the samples are deadly. But, also vunerable to Sleep. One Bad Breath and you're basically free to buff up your characters, drain back some MP, then very quickly beat Hojo down. Helletic Hojo was another glass cannon - hitting me for around 13000 damage in Sadness, when I only have about 14000 HP. A torrent of 2xCut and Ultima quickly takes care of him though. Now, Lifeform was where things got interesting. It took me a while to realise his counterattack had Dispel, even longer to realise that this even extended to dispelling Resist. His MP Drain was also annoying, until I realised it could be Covered; since Yuffie is a purely physical attacker, I gave her Cover. I also had Counter Attack and Counter-Morph on her to get some counterattack damage in; eventually I let this become my primary method of offense once I realised how efficient it could be (Combo can lead to up to 8 counters). It was only once I got that idea I was able to beat him. Very nice battle.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-23 06:36:42 »
Did Diamond Weapon and Ultimate Weapon. I have to say, they were both very good. Challenging, but not insane like some of the optional ones... (well okay, Ultimate is optional... haha)
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-12 11:19:06 »
No, there was a boss (and I found it to be a very good fight) but no random encounters.
Also, in the Gelnika... is it just me, or are the Unknowns back to front? I remember Unknown 3 always being the hardest and Unknown 1 the easiest. On this, it's the other way around.
EDIT: Still can't beat the f*cking Mime boss. The HP<-->MP one was a very nice fight though, and in fact, I might actually see potential use for HP<-->MP against the Mime one.
... That f*cking Silver Dance attack is also %-based? Dude... I honestly can't see any way of beating these guys, short of powerlevelling and brute forcing them down... and I don't even know how well THAT would work. The one at a time are fine, but when there's four of them at once, potentially capable of taking out two characters and leaving the last one at 1 HP within one "round", with all their attacks being %-based meaning that no amount of raising your HP works (indeed, I dropped the HP Pluses for this fight to make healing more economical)... What am I missing? I did click to Susano'o being Wind-elemental, but that's still only a minor help...
The KOTR boss is also somewhat overkill, but at least in this case it's somewhat justified by what its guarding. Was a bit surprised to see Gravity absorbed after the other materia cave enemies being vunerable... but my biggest annoyance is how he can heal far quicker than you can dish it out. I'm guessing Shadow Flare is a must for this one? (I didn't bother to get it from the Quadra Magic boss... guess I'm waiting for Ultimate Weapon now.)
Also, in the Gelnika... is it just me, or are the Unknowns back to front? I remember Unknown 3 always being the hardest and Unknown 1 the easiest. On this, it's the other way around.
EDIT: Still can't beat the f*cking Mime boss. The HP<-->MP one was a very nice fight though, and in fact, I might actually see potential use for HP<-->MP against the Mime one.
... That f*cking Silver Dance attack is also %-based? Dude... I honestly can't see any way of beating these guys, short of powerlevelling and brute forcing them down... and I don't even know how well THAT would work. The one at a time are fine, but when there's four of them at once, potentially capable of taking out two characters and leaving the last one at 1 HP within one "round", with all their attacks being %-based meaning that no amount of raising your HP works (indeed, I dropped the HP Pluses for this fight to make healing more economical)... What am I missing? I did click to Susano'o being Wind-elemental, but that's still only a minor help...
The KOTR boss is also somewhat overkill, but at least in this case it's somewhat justified by what its guarding. Was a bit surprised to see Gravity absorbed after the other materia cave enemies being vunerable... but my biggest annoyance is how he can heal far quicker than you can dish it out. I'm guessing Shadow Flare is a must for this one? (I didn't bother to get it from the Quadra Magic boss... guess I'm waiting for Ultimate Weapon now.)
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-11 10:32:42 »
Wait, there's encounters in all of them? I didn't run into any in the blue materia cave.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-10 05:53:49 »Are you talking about the second phase of the mime boss because I had no idea his reflect wore off.
It does, but it also comes back. From what I can tell, it seems at the start he can reflect one spell; afterwards, he can reflect 4 each time. It regenerates on his turns.
I've taken a break from them and gone to explore the Gelnika. The Turks fight was good, but Aita is freaking insane. Shuffled my setup around a bit now that I have Yuffie's ultimate weapon (previously she was my mage). The random battles are very good here IMO.
On the note of random battles... what the hell is with the random encounters in the Mime cave? o_O They're insane... (or I'm underlevelled, not sure which)
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-08 20:38:57 »
It's the intermittent Reflect on the second guy that really gets me. How it's not always there but you never know when exactly it comes back. Although I'm guessing there's some trick to this that I'd catch on to if I paid more attention? (I know you can DeBarrier it but that means you're wasting a turn whether you actually need to or not).
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-08 09:07:27 »
The guys guarding Mime are freaking crazy... o_O
The solo ones are bad enough, but then two of each all together?
The solo ones are bad enough, but then two of each all together?
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-08 03:00:45 »
I'm guessing he's a lot more powerful in the actual fights than he is in Mideel then?
Also, I just beat Adamantai. Very nice battle, and I like how you made Reflect risky.
Also, I just beat Adamantai. Very nice battle, and I like how you made Reflect risky.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-07 23:50:16 »
Carry Armor seemed like he had potential to be problematic, but the take-one-arm-out-at-a-time-then-go-for-the-body strategy still works perfectly fine.
Just for the lulz I had a quick look at Emerald Weapon (needless to say I died VERY quickly)... ouch. o_O
Just for the lulz I had a quick look at Emerald Weapon (needless to say I died VERY quickly)... ouch. o_O
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-07 21:58:48 »
Okay, annoying as they are, I have to say that was one of the awesomest battles yet. When I first attempted it, it seemed like simply a matter of grinding more then overpowering them... with some more work, I've found that that was a very cunningly designed battle. The usual strategy in a multiple-enemy battle like this would be to take out one at a time (so that there's less attackers on you), after any defensive setups (I went for Barrier, MBarrier and Regen but didn't bother with Haste cause of them constantly inflicting Slow). Of course, this leads to them using Angel Whisper (even on KO'd Simurghs), so I needed a way around that. Initially I tried Reflect, but found out that Angel Whisper is still not reflectable - and at any rate, that wouldn't help against KO'd Simurghs. So my next trick was Magic Breath, failed pretty quickly due to their Recovery-absorbtion of one of the elements. Magic Hammer it was. So with them at MP 0 (which had the nice side effect of getting rid of Hom as well), I wore them down... and what happens? They have an MP absorbing attack! I'm about to try the "weaken them then take them out in one blow" strategy when suddenly, a bulb lights up...
So I go into the battle, get my defense set up, Magic Hammer them down, as usual. Then this is where my great idea comes in. Get the setup - everyone to full HP, fresh Barrier and Regen up (MBarrier isn't needed since they don't use Hom at 0 MP), I also used Bad Breath to Poison the Simurghs. And then... Enemy Skill > Magic Breath > All Allies. To be honest I was half-expecting them to be prepared for even that strategy, but nope, it worked like a charm. =) No MP for them to absorb, so no Angel Whisper. =) The rest was just a matter of wearing them down - thanks to the fresh Barrier and Regen set up before, I didn't need to heal.
I like battles that take this much thinking, rather than speedy command input and getting lucky. =)
By the way, my characters are at Lv50 to 52 at this point, which I notice is a lot lower than most enemy levels, how does this compare to other players?
So I go into the battle, get my defense set up, Magic Hammer them down, as usual. Then this is where my great idea comes in. Get the setup - everyone to full HP, fresh Barrier and Regen up (MBarrier isn't needed since they don't use Hom at 0 MP), I also used Bad Breath to Poison the Simurghs. And then... Enemy Skill > Magic Breath > All Allies. To be honest I was half-expecting them to be prepared for even that strategy, but nope, it worked like a charm. =) No MP for them to absorb, so no Angel Whisper. =) The rest was just a matter of wearing them down - thanks to the fresh Barrier and Regen set up before, I didn't need to heal.
I like battles that take this much thinking, rather than speedy command input and getting lucky. =)
By the way, my characters are at Lv50 to 52 at this point, which I notice is a lot lower than most enemy levels, how does this compare to other players?
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-07 21:15:17 »
Got past them, nice fight.
I'm up to the Simurghs battle now, and holy fuuuck they are annoying. But I have a plan... I'll get back to you.
I'm up to the Simurghs battle now, and holy fuuuck they are annoying. But I have a plan... I'll get back to you.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-04 11:39:06 »
Just use Aali's Graphic Driver, it's built in. You just have to enable it in the config.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2012-01-03 11:59:02 »
Jenova Death was, I wouldn't say hard, but very decent. The key here, I found, was to focus on one character instead of trying to keep all 3 alive (Fire-nullify armour, Added Effect-Destruct and Ribbon nullifies the worst of her attacks, then it's just about making sure you heal enough to survive the damage).
I'm up to the Corel Train now. Can't beat Locke Venus & Theo, as before they seem to dish far more attacks out than expected. But I haven't looked for any potential weaknesses yet, so I'll let you know when I put more effort into it.
I'm up to the Corel Train now. Can't beat Locke Venus & Theo, as before they seem to dish far more attacks out than expected. But I haven't looked for any potential weaknesses yet, so I'll let you know when I put more effort into it.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-31 11:09:02 »
Wow... that's quite a complex for a random encounter. That would've actually been quite nice as a boss.
Also... IMO the great glacier enemies give a bit too much AP. EXP is good but AP is a bit over the top. Just my three cents (cause I'm not stingy so I give more than two).
I'm just before Schizo now (haven't actually fought him yet, just at the save point before him) so I'll let you know how that one goes. He's another one that gives me HEAPS of trouble even in a normal game (and was one of the few bosses that gave me trouble in a No Materia game, along with Motor Ball, Midgar Zolom, Carry Armor and Bizzaro Sephiroth) so I'm really looking forward to it.
EDIT: One more thing: The joker-type enemies in Gaea's Cliff, it's a bit annoying how they use Remove on your guys leading to a quick, unblockable game over (or does Death immunity block it? I didn't actually try that, just thought of it now). Perhaps it could've been like Midgar Zolom's tail flick (ie: it counts as escape, not death), or like Shinryu from FFX with his Eraser (in that he won't use it if there's only one character left - I believe Ruby Weapon on vanilla FF7 is the same with Whirlsand?).
EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?
Also... IMO the great glacier enemies give a bit too much AP. EXP is good but AP is a bit over the top. Just my three cents (cause I'm not stingy so I give more than two).
I'm just before Schizo now (haven't actually fought him yet, just at the save point before him) so I'll let you know how that one goes. He's another one that gives me HEAPS of trouble even in a normal game (and was one of the few bosses that gave me trouble in a No Materia game, along with Motor Ball, Midgar Zolom, Carry Armor and Bizzaro Sephiroth) so I'm really looking forward to it.
EDIT: One more thing: The joker-type enemies in Gaea's Cliff, it's a bit annoying how they use Remove on your guys leading to a quick, unblockable game over (or does Death immunity block it? I didn't actually try that, just thought of it now). Perhaps it could've been like Midgar Zolom's tail flick (ie: it counts as escape, not death), or like Shinryu from FFX with his Eraser (in that he won't use it if there's only one character left - I believe Ruby Weapon on vanilla FF7 is the same with Whirlsand?).
EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-29 08:17:15 »
That was always the case even in Vanilla. Not every monster has multiple options but quite a few do.
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-26 13:02:41 »
Hey, I'm just giving my opinions. =P
I've played up to the base of Gaia's Cliff now (including the Wutai sidequest). As usual, my feedback:
Wutai was decent. I actually expected Raaps to be a lot harder given the no materia handicap, but I see you actually adjusted quite well for it. Good work. The tower was somewhat challenging. I'm not sure if it's something you've done or something that's always been there, but I like how if you try to get rid of Godo's MP, he spams Beast Sword. xD
At first, I thought Adamantamai was a bit on the overpowered side. The whole "attack him and he nearly wipes out your whole party while taking very little damage" thing... until I noticed a few weaknesses he had (vunerability to Stop, and the fact that Light Shell is magical meaning you can manipulate him then just have him use it over and over on himself). Nice to see a battle that can't be won by brute force. =)
The Kjata boss was, IMO, a bit too much on the easy side. For one, a single summon of Bahamut will take out Levant, while Beta makes quick work of the blue one, leaving only the yellow guy who, by himself, is easier than some random encounters.
Jenova-LIFE was a nice challenge. I'm not liking this Dual status effect too much though - mostly due to the lack of any obvious way to heal it (however, I noticed that it and Regen cancel each other out, so I've been using Regen as a countermeasure). She's still a bit over-reliant on elemental attacks, but at least it's more than one element and she does have a non-elemental attack now.
Spent hours walking around Great Glacier trying to find the Alexander fight (did you move it? Maybe my memory was a bit on the bad side), and to be honest... it was far too easy. Unless I got lucky and she never used it, it appears she can't do any HP damage that isn't ice-elemental. The MP-attacker problem also comes up again (both with her and some random encounters in this area) - I mean, it's one thing to be attacking it, but >1000 MP damage at a point in the game where your MP is barely 300? Just a suggestion... it seems all the MP attacks are either "get rid of 100% of your MP" or "do way more MP damage than your MP would be at this point" (with the exception of MP Hammer and Aspil), don't you think attacks that actually take part of your MP (and thus, instead of just being "f*ck you, no magic for you!", they're more "you're goign to have to be careful about which/how much magic you use" - which could allow for more interesting battles, as the wider variety of magic means it'll always be more interesting than a plan Attack-fest).
One other comment - those guys on the beach near Bone Village, don't you think that's making Beta a bit *too* accessible (although I noticed you slightly nerfed it in that it's now reflectable - I never quite understood why previously it wasn't yet Aqualung was)? It was actually somewhat annoying to finally put in the effort and get it from Midgar Zolom, only to immediately find a much easier source... and on the same note, Beta makes insanely quick work of the Great Glacier enemies, Snow seems to be the only common one that can survive it... I wasn't really surprised with Aqualung making quick work of everything back when I got it (since I kinda got the impression I wasn't meant to have it that soon), but maybe these enemies should've been a bit tougher?
EDIT: Also, has Laser been modified? It did 1/2 HP damage to an enemy that Sense reported as being weak against Gravity, so that'd suggest to me that it now only does 1/4... however, the description still says 1/2...
ANOTHER EDIT: I forgot to mention I fought the Mideel enemies a bit. They're nice, although Kwim seems impossible to hit... or is there just some trick I'm missing?
I've played up to the base of Gaia's Cliff now (including the Wutai sidequest). As usual, my feedback:
Wutai was decent. I actually expected Raaps to be a lot harder given the no materia handicap, but I see you actually adjusted quite well for it. Good work. The tower was somewhat challenging. I'm not sure if it's something you've done or something that's always been there, but I like how if you try to get rid of Godo's MP, he spams Beast Sword. xD
At first, I thought Adamantamai was a bit on the overpowered side. The whole "attack him and he nearly wipes out your whole party while taking very little damage" thing... until I noticed a few weaknesses he had (vunerability to Stop, and the fact that Light Shell is magical meaning you can manipulate him then just have him use it over and over on himself). Nice to see a battle that can't be won by brute force. =)
The Kjata boss was, IMO, a bit too much on the easy side. For one, a single summon of Bahamut will take out Levant, while Beta makes quick work of the blue one, leaving only the yellow guy who, by himself, is easier than some random encounters.
Jenova-LIFE was a nice challenge. I'm not liking this Dual status effect too much though - mostly due to the lack of any obvious way to heal it (however, I noticed that it and Regen cancel each other out, so I've been using Regen as a countermeasure). She's still a bit over-reliant on elemental attacks, but at least it's more than one element and she does have a non-elemental attack now.
Spent hours walking around Great Glacier trying to find the Alexander fight (did you move it? Maybe my memory was a bit on the bad side), and to be honest... it was far too easy. Unless I got lucky and she never used it, it appears she can't do any HP damage that isn't ice-elemental. The MP-attacker problem also comes up again (both with her and some random encounters in this area) - I mean, it's one thing to be attacking it, but >1000 MP damage at a point in the game where your MP is barely 300? Just a suggestion... it seems all the MP attacks are either "get rid of 100% of your MP" or "do way more MP damage than your MP would be at this point" (with the exception of MP Hammer and Aspil), don't you think attacks that actually take part of your MP (and thus, instead of just being "f*ck you, no magic for you!", they're more "you're goign to have to be careful about which/how much magic you use" - which could allow for more interesting battles, as the wider variety of magic means it'll always be more interesting than a plan Attack-fest).
One other comment - those guys on the beach near Bone Village, don't you think that's making Beta a bit *too* accessible (although I noticed you slightly nerfed it in that it's now reflectable - I never quite understood why previously it wasn't yet Aqualung was)? It was actually somewhat annoying to finally put in the effort and get it from Midgar Zolom, only to immediately find a much easier source... and on the same note, Beta makes insanely quick work of the Great Glacier enemies, Snow seems to be the only common one that can survive it... I wasn't really surprised with Aqualung making quick work of everything back when I got it (since I kinda got the impression I wasn't meant to have it that soon), but maybe these enemies should've been a bit tougher?
EDIT: Also, has Laser been modified? It did 1/2 HP damage to an enemy that Sense reported as being weak against Gravity, so that'd suggest to me that it now only does 1/4... however, the description still says 1/2...
ANOTHER EDIT: I forgot to mention I fought the Mideel enemies a bit. They're nice, although Kwim seems impossible to hit... or is there just some trick I'm missing?
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Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-25 03:12:01 »
Magic attacks generally haven't been that useful against MP drainers; it's the lack of Cura that makes it a major issue.
22
Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-24 17:00:24 »
Dyne is a good one-on-one fight. Unless you're quite overlevelled (unless gjoerulv intended a significantly higher level than I had by this point), you're not going to be able to do much damage and keep your health up, so poison and/or counterattack is a must.
Anyway, I've played more from where I left off last time, my feedback from Nibelheim.
Mt Nibel actually seemed more fun and less tedious than I'm used to in this mod. Those MP-sucking bastards were a huge pain though. I think in general there's a bit of a problem in this area - enemies that attack MP do so way too strongly. It's nice to see them actually hit MP, but the damage needs to be toned down a bit IMO - one attack is often enough to completely shut down a mage for a turn or two, and using an Ether doesn't always do anything since they're likely to hit you with it again before the next turn. Materia Keeper sadly wasn't anything too special, but not bad. I have to ask - did you do ANYTHING to Palmer? It seems he was the same as in vanilla. I know he's meant to be a bit of a joke, but upping his damage or throwing in a status effect or two couldn't hurt. I didn't try (or even run into) the infamous Dragon yet, might go back and have a go before I wind up with Disc 1, just to see what he's like.
I had a couple of tries (beyond the compulsory one) in the battle square while I was there. Didn't manage to beat it. Will try again at some point, but it's finally the sort of challenge it should be IMO. Good work here.
Temple of the Ancients was quite good. I found the random encounters here to have a very good level of difficulty - not so high that you virtually need a recovery after every one, but not so low that they're boring. The bosses... I have to say, Red Dragon was insane. I didn't expect such a huge jump. I had to grind a bit for him, and use Poison (along with attacks, it wasn't my sole source of damage unlike with Dyne). Good fight. Compared to that, Demon Gate was actually quite a disappointment... he was little more than a matter of having Barrier (no need for MBarrier, so you can just use Barrier+All, and get the full power of Cura while you're at it) and Sadness up at all times to keep the damage manageable, and attacking away. To be honest, the both-sides attack with the Ancient Dragons was more trouble for me... until I noticed their weakness to Gravity. xD
Since I'm often running into trouble with some bosses (and even occasionally random encounters), I'm wondering if I'm at a lower level than you intended... I'm at around level 35 now, after just finishing Temple of the Ancients.
Anyway, looking forward to the Kjata boss (who I've heard nothing about bar that there *is* one) and seeing what Jenova-LIFE is capable of. Probably gonna go back and try Midgar Zolom before I wrap up Disc 1 too.
EDIT: Haven't done Wutai yet either, so I'll do that before finishing Disc 1 too.
Anyway, I've played more from where I left off last time, my feedback from Nibelheim.
Mt Nibel actually seemed more fun and less tedious than I'm used to in this mod. Those MP-sucking bastards were a huge pain though. I think in general there's a bit of a problem in this area - enemies that attack MP do so way too strongly. It's nice to see them actually hit MP, but the damage needs to be toned down a bit IMO - one attack is often enough to completely shut down a mage for a turn or two, and using an Ether doesn't always do anything since they're likely to hit you with it again before the next turn. Materia Keeper sadly wasn't anything too special, but not bad. I have to ask - did you do ANYTHING to Palmer? It seems he was the same as in vanilla. I know he's meant to be a bit of a joke, but upping his damage or throwing in a status effect or two couldn't hurt. I didn't try (or even run into) the infamous Dragon yet, might go back and have a go before I wind up with Disc 1, just to see what he's like.
I had a couple of tries (beyond the compulsory one) in the battle square while I was there. Didn't manage to beat it. Will try again at some point, but it's finally the sort of challenge it should be IMO. Good work here.
Temple of the Ancients was quite good. I found the random encounters here to have a very good level of difficulty - not so high that you virtually need a recovery after every one, but not so low that they're boring. The bosses... I have to say, Red Dragon was insane. I didn't expect such a huge jump. I had to grind a bit for him, and use Poison (along with attacks, it wasn't my sole source of damage unlike with Dyne). Good fight. Compared to that, Demon Gate was actually quite a disappointment... he was little more than a matter of having Barrier (no need for MBarrier, so you can just use Barrier+All, and get the full power of Cura while you're at it) and Sadness up at all times to keep the damage manageable, and attacking away. To be honest, the both-sides attack with the Ancient Dragons was more trouble for me... until I noticed their weakness to Gravity. xD
Since I'm often running into trouble with some bosses (and even occasionally random encounters), I'm wondering if I'm at a lower level than you intended... I'm at around level 35 now, after just finishing Temple of the Ancients.
Anyway, looking forward to the Kjata boss (who I've heard nothing about bar that there *is* one) and seeing what Jenova-LIFE is capable of. Probably gonna go back and try Midgar Zolom before I wrap up Disc 1 too.
EDIT: Haven't done Wutai yet either, so I'll do that before finishing Disc 1 too.
23
Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-22 08:15:05 »
Grind.... but honestly, you should play it from the start... there's differences when what stuff is available, and some completely new bosses...
24
Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-19 11:54:52 »
Once you can beat a lone Sweeper, you're set. It'll drop a Bolt Plume (if it doesn't, reset and try again). You can use this against the encounter of a Sweeper, a Robot and the Shinra guy to win it in one move. You'll usually get 2 potions and another Bolt Plume from this. If you don't get the Bolt Plume, reset, if it's just the potions missing, keep going (you'll still get EXP after all). If you encounter any more lone Sweepers, try to take them out without the Bolt Plume so you can have more than one - it's a really good item early-game, and Sweepers by themself are not hard to defeat.
25
Releases / Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« on: 2011-12-18 21:07:32 »
WELL. After two temporarily-gave-up-then-lost-the-save-before-having-a-chance-to-resume playthroughs (at Jenova-BIRTH and Dyne respectively), I think I've finally gotten far enough to give some decent early-game feedback.
I don't remember my levels at every point in the game, but I do remember I got to about level 8 for Guard Scorpion, I was about level 17 on reaching Jenova-BIRTH but grinded to about Level 20 to be able to beat her, and I'm currently, just before Nibel Mountains, using Lv31 Cloud, Lv28 Yuffie and Lv30 Barret.
I've beaten all optional bosses I've found up to this point except Midgar Zolom (so, Silver Chocobo, the guy guarding Titan (forgot his name), and Lost Number), and wherever I've seen one, I've beaten any new enemies I've found (Ryoka Xenophobic was quite interesting, if not too challenging) at least once. Overall, I have to say it's really good. I've actually found myself using Sadness, the Barriers, and even Defend - things I almost never do in a regular play (but am quite familiar with the concepts of thanks to excessive challenge plays of FFX).
** WALL OF TEXT WARNING - Reviewing pretty much the whole game so far. Note that there may be some strategy-related spoilers ahead, so don't read if you wanna come up with your own ideas!!! **
The 1st reactor, I have to say, I think there was little need to make Lv1 the starting level. It just makes this place require a bit of a grindfest... which itself is made easy (but tedious nonetheless) by simply beating a Sweeper once, then using the Bolt Plume (or was it Swift Bolt? I always get the two mixed up) you get against another Sweeper (even better if they appear alongside other enemies, then you may get a couple of Potions as well). They're also very effective against both of the first two bosses (I ended up using my spares from grinding against Guard Scorpion but had none left for Air Buster). The lack of healing items also leads to a similar matter of abusing the Bolt Plume cycle to get potions (since you're likely to lose more than you gain any other way). However, I will emphasize that the 1st Reactor is pretty much the only major criticism I have - everything else is just small things here and there, and most of my feedback is actually pretty good.
The 2nd reactor was pretty fun. Air Buster is actually a challenge now, but still a reasonable introduction-period boss. I like how you can pick up a few pretty neat items (Deadly Wastes for one) if you put a bit of effort in, yet unlike the 1st Reactor, they are far from mandatory.
The slums are really nothing special, but I have nothing bad to say either. Maybe making Hell House just a tad tougher would've been nice, I remember when I very first played the game finding them to be quite a frightening enemy (even if they didn't really hold up to that impression as well as you'd hope) and had been quite interested to see what this mod would do with them. But I think that's more a personal thing than anything else.
Train Graveyard is perhaps the place I have to say has the best degree of difficulty adjustment. Not so hard that you have to grind insanely or see Game Over every 2 minutes, but not so easy that it appears untouched. Good work here.
The Reno fight, I have to say, was somewhat a letdown. The only difference I noticed was the Pyramids took more to break.
Shinra HQ... hmm. The random encounters weren't that much improved until the few highest floors (where they were quite good), seemed to be just a bit of HP buffing. Sample was a bit more of a challenge than usual. The elevator fight wasn't that interesting, but there again, it never was in the first place. The real highlight here is the Locke, Theo & Venus battle... on all 3 times I've played through, I've found this battle very challenging yet mostly one of strategy - I have never had to grind or rely on luck to beat it, just refining my strategy has worked well enough. A huge thumbs up for that one. Motor Ball is pretty good, but nothing too special.
Upon reaching the world map, the encounters seem alright. Not going to touch Midgar Zolom yet at the damage he's doing o_O. Silver Chocobo had me stumped for a while until I realised he never attacks except as a counterattack. It was made easier again when I realised he was vunerable to Mindblow (although it does take 3 hits to get rid of all his MP), pretty much getting rid of all his attacks. My only comment was that, since you're meant to *need* a Chocobo at this point, and you have no way of preventing Beserk, it was a bit unfair to give one of the tougher enemies that appears with chocobos a way to inflict it. Random encounters around Junon seemed to be pretty decent. Yuffie was still painfully easy to beat though.
Bottomswell seems pretty unchanged, apart from using Big Wave less than what I remember - in one of my runs, he only ever used it as a final attack, not during the battle.
Jenova-BIRTH is probably my biggest complaint apart from the 1st reactor. As I said before, in one of my saves she was my quit point, I got sick of trying. Both of the other two I have the same issue - she is not hard, just cheap. I like how she has a weakness to physical attacks, but unfortunately, her difficulty pretty much just comes from that she inflicts around 4 times as much damage per turn as anything else you're used to by this point. Keep in mind that the last really major boss, Motor Ball, had 10000 HP and at worst could do about 400 fire-elemental damage to everyone in one turn, or about 200 non-elemental. IIRC, the single-character damages are about the same. Skip to Jenova-BIRTH, she can potentially do nearly 1000 non-elemental damage to everyone in one turn, as well as having over twice the HP. To a single character, she can do 1200 in one turn (triple W-Laser). Not only that, but you don't even know how much damage you're going to be up against - since it's random how many times she attacks per turn. This is a point where you have to either get lucky or majorly grind.
Random encounters for Mt Corel were very well balanced, I felt. Probably would've been quite challenging (but still reasonable) had I not had to grind for Jenova-BIRTH (which would've put me 2-4 levels lower at this point). Desert Prison's ones were somewhat disappointing. Dyne was a very good battle. As opposed to the last one which was pretty much a matter of brute power and survival, I found Dyne to be interesting - while at first it may seem like grinding Barret to insane levels is the only way, so that you have time to defend and attack, a bit of experimenting revealed a vunerability to Poison. This takes the offence side out of the way, leaving you to focus on survival, which at the level I was at, worked out quite nicely - two attacks (which later he starts doing in one turn) would be about equivalent to what you'd heal from a single Cure2, and you'd usually have a spare turn to throw a bit extra damage or if needed an Ether.
After that I did a bit of enemy skill hunting. Didn't try Beta yet but got Aqualung - needed Sadness and Big Guard to survive that at this point, and even then it still killed Yuffie and left the others with under 100 HP each! I also Mindblew the Harpy after it used it, luckily it didn't use Aqualung again - I didn't actually notice until it was nearly dead that Mindblow only took half its HP. Also, for some reason, when hitting from behind, Barret's Big Shot did over 10000 (not a typo) damage on a Cazador, at a point where it's usually doing about 600 on a front hit to most enemies. Glitch, or do they just take HEAPS of back damage?
Turks battle in Gongaga was pretty standard. The battle for Titan was a bit too easy, just a matter of keeping your HP up and dishing out damage.
Cave of the Gi was quite interesting. The enemies were a decent challenge (although the Stingers still being vunerable to Mini made them a bit too easy... once I remembered that they were, which wasn't until I fought the last one xD). As I mentioned before, Ryoka Xenophobic was quite an interesting enemy. I'm guessing there's no way to change his death animation to the normal enemy one though? Gi Nattak itself was quite easy, although his damage was quite formidable - but unfortunately, even if you've fixed up the Phoenix Down loophole (which I'm assuming you have, I didn't actually try), he still takes very high damage from Cura, and taking that away would pretty much kill the whole concept of this boss.
Lost Number was actually the first boss I didn't manage to, in the end, beat with all 3 characters alive. I lost to him once - noticably, the first time he went into physical form, the second time into magical form, so I can provide a bit of feedback on both. Overall, Lost Number was a really good and challenging battle. I needed to Poison him to defeat him, and ultimately I did end up relying on that for the last 2000 or so damage once he had me down to one character and no spare revival items - before this I was barraging him with physical hits from Cloud (doing about 600 each - he had Long Range, Murasame and Power Wrist) and Aqualung from Yuffie (about 1400 a hit vs Lost Number IIRC), while Barret healed. Was also keeping Yuffie (but not the others as they could survive everything except Lost Blow outright) under Big Guard. Very intense battle, but I do have to mention that physical and magical forms are very unbalanced to each other. While magical may inflict Poison once in a while, physical does nearly four times the damage... I'm also going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that Lost Number isn't intended to be fought the second you get to Nibelheim on this mod, just like with Midgar Zolom? I actually suspected that before even fighting him, only to pretty much consider it confirmed once the fight started - but with how close I got, I thought I may as well keep trying anyway.
Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far. I'll give more feedback once I'm a bit further (may be a while, I tend to get a bit procrastinative whenever I reach Mt Nibel as it's probably my least favorite part of the game until the boss) - looking forward to what's ahead, especially Materia Keeper as he's usually the point I start running into trouble in a regular game.
Overall, my highlights so far would have to be Train Graveyard, Locke Venus & Theo, and Lost Number. Downers would really have to be the first reactor and Jenova-BIRTH. Hoping the rest of the game will be good!
I don't remember my levels at every point in the game, but I do remember I got to about level 8 for Guard Scorpion, I was about level 17 on reaching Jenova-BIRTH but grinded to about Level 20 to be able to beat her, and I'm currently, just before Nibel Mountains, using Lv31 Cloud, Lv28 Yuffie and Lv30 Barret.
I've beaten all optional bosses I've found up to this point except Midgar Zolom (so, Silver Chocobo, the guy guarding Titan (forgot his name), and Lost Number), and wherever I've seen one, I've beaten any new enemies I've found (Ryoka Xenophobic was quite interesting, if not too challenging) at least once. Overall, I have to say it's really good. I've actually found myself using Sadness, the Barriers, and even Defend - things I almost never do in a regular play (but am quite familiar with the concepts of thanks to excessive challenge plays of FFX).
** WALL OF TEXT WARNING - Reviewing pretty much the whole game so far. Note that there may be some strategy-related spoilers ahead, so don't read if you wanna come up with your own ideas!!! **
The 1st reactor, I have to say, I think there was little need to make Lv1 the starting level. It just makes this place require a bit of a grindfest... which itself is made easy (but tedious nonetheless) by simply beating a Sweeper once, then using the Bolt Plume (or was it Swift Bolt? I always get the two mixed up) you get against another Sweeper (even better if they appear alongside other enemies, then you may get a couple of Potions as well). They're also very effective against both of the first two bosses (I ended up using my spares from grinding against Guard Scorpion but had none left for Air Buster). The lack of healing items also leads to a similar matter of abusing the Bolt Plume cycle to get potions (since you're likely to lose more than you gain any other way). However, I will emphasize that the 1st Reactor is pretty much the only major criticism I have - everything else is just small things here and there, and most of my feedback is actually pretty good.
The 2nd reactor was pretty fun. Air Buster is actually a challenge now, but still a reasonable introduction-period boss. I like how you can pick up a few pretty neat items (Deadly Wastes for one) if you put a bit of effort in, yet unlike the 1st Reactor, they are far from mandatory.
The slums are really nothing special, but I have nothing bad to say either. Maybe making Hell House just a tad tougher would've been nice, I remember when I very first played the game finding them to be quite a frightening enemy (even if they didn't really hold up to that impression as well as you'd hope) and had been quite interested to see what this mod would do with them. But I think that's more a personal thing than anything else.
Train Graveyard is perhaps the place I have to say has the best degree of difficulty adjustment. Not so hard that you have to grind insanely or see Game Over every 2 minutes, but not so easy that it appears untouched. Good work here.
The Reno fight, I have to say, was somewhat a letdown. The only difference I noticed was the Pyramids took more to break.
Shinra HQ... hmm. The random encounters weren't that much improved until the few highest floors (where they were quite good), seemed to be just a bit of HP buffing. Sample was a bit more of a challenge than usual. The elevator fight wasn't that interesting, but there again, it never was in the first place. The real highlight here is the Locke, Theo & Venus battle... on all 3 times I've played through, I've found this battle very challenging yet mostly one of strategy - I have never had to grind or rely on luck to beat it, just refining my strategy has worked well enough. A huge thumbs up for that one. Motor Ball is pretty good, but nothing too special.
Upon reaching the world map, the encounters seem alright. Not going to touch Midgar Zolom yet at the damage he's doing o_O. Silver Chocobo had me stumped for a while until I realised he never attacks except as a counterattack. It was made easier again when I realised he was vunerable to Mindblow (although it does take 3 hits to get rid of all his MP), pretty much getting rid of all his attacks. My only comment was that, since you're meant to *need* a Chocobo at this point, and you have no way of preventing Beserk, it was a bit unfair to give one of the tougher enemies that appears with chocobos a way to inflict it. Random encounters around Junon seemed to be pretty decent. Yuffie was still painfully easy to beat though.
Bottomswell seems pretty unchanged, apart from using Big Wave less than what I remember - in one of my runs, he only ever used it as a final attack, not during the battle.
Jenova-BIRTH is probably my biggest complaint apart from the 1st reactor. As I said before, in one of my saves she was my quit point, I got sick of trying. Both of the other two I have the same issue - she is not hard, just cheap. I like how she has a weakness to physical attacks, but unfortunately, her difficulty pretty much just comes from that she inflicts around 4 times as much damage per turn as anything else you're used to by this point. Keep in mind that the last really major boss, Motor Ball, had 10000 HP and at worst could do about 400 fire-elemental damage to everyone in one turn, or about 200 non-elemental. IIRC, the single-character damages are about the same. Skip to Jenova-BIRTH, she can potentially do nearly 1000 non-elemental damage to everyone in one turn, as well as having over twice the HP. To a single character, she can do 1200 in one turn (triple W-Laser). Not only that, but you don't even know how much damage you're going to be up against - since it's random how many times she attacks per turn. This is a point where you have to either get lucky or majorly grind.
Random encounters for Mt Corel were very well balanced, I felt. Probably would've been quite challenging (but still reasonable) had I not had to grind for Jenova-BIRTH (which would've put me 2-4 levels lower at this point). Desert Prison's ones were somewhat disappointing. Dyne was a very good battle. As opposed to the last one which was pretty much a matter of brute power and survival, I found Dyne to be interesting - while at first it may seem like grinding Barret to insane levels is the only way, so that you have time to defend and attack, a bit of experimenting revealed a vunerability to Poison. This takes the offence side out of the way, leaving you to focus on survival, which at the level I was at, worked out quite nicely - two attacks (which later he starts doing in one turn) would be about equivalent to what you'd heal from a single Cure2, and you'd usually have a spare turn to throw a bit extra damage or if needed an Ether.
After that I did a bit of enemy skill hunting. Didn't try Beta yet but got Aqualung - needed Sadness and Big Guard to survive that at this point, and even then it still killed Yuffie and left the others with under 100 HP each! I also Mindblew the Harpy after it used it, luckily it didn't use Aqualung again - I didn't actually notice until it was nearly dead that Mindblow only took half its HP. Also, for some reason, when hitting from behind, Barret's Big Shot did over 10000 (not a typo) damage on a Cazador, at a point where it's usually doing about 600 on a front hit to most enemies. Glitch, or do they just take HEAPS of back damage?
Turks battle in Gongaga was pretty standard. The battle for Titan was a bit too easy, just a matter of keeping your HP up and dishing out damage.
Cave of the Gi was quite interesting. The enemies were a decent challenge (although the Stingers still being vunerable to Mini made them a bit too easy... once I remembered that they were, which wasn't until I fought the last one xD). As I mentioned before, Ryoka Xenophobic was quite an interesting enemy. I'm guessing there's no way to change his death animation to the normal enemy one though? Gi Nattak itself was quite easy, although his damage was quite formidable - but unfortunately, even if you've fixed up the Phoenix Down loophole (which I'm assuming you have, I didn't actually try), he still takes very high damage from Cura, and taking that away would pretty much kill the whole concept of this boss.
Lost Number was actually the first boss I didn't manage to, in the end, beat with all 3 characters alive. I lost to him once - noticably, the first time he went into physical form, the second time into magical form, so I can provide a bit of feedback on both. Overall, Lost Number was a really good and challenging battle. I needed to Poison him to defeat him, and ultimately I did end up relying on that for the last 2000 or so damage once he had me down to one character and no spare revival items - before this I was barraging him with physical hits from Cloud (doing about 600 each - he had Long Range, Murasame and Power Wrist) and Aqualung from Yuffie (about 1400 a hit vs Lost Number IIRC), while Barret healed. Was also keeping Yuffie (but not the others as they could survive everything except Lost Blow outright) under Big Guard. Very intense battle, but I do have to mention that physical and magical forms are very unbalanced to each other. While magical may inflict Poison once in a while, physical does nearly four times the damage... I'm also going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess that Lost Number isn't intended to be fought the second you get to Nibelheim on this mod, just like with Midgar Zolom? I actually suspected that before even fighting him, only to pretty much consider it confirmed once the fight started - but with how close I got, I thought I may as well keep trying anyway.
Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far. I'll give more feedback once I'm a bit further (may be a while, I tend to get a bit procrastinative whenever I reach Mt Nibel as it's probably my least favorite part of the game until the boss) - looking forward to what's ahead, especially Materia Keeper as he's usually the point I start running into trouble in a regular game.
Overall, my highlights so far would have to be Train Graveyard, Locke Venus & Theo, and Lost Number. Downers would really have to be the first reactor and Jenova-BIRTH. Hoping the rest of the game will be good!