[FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.99994)

[Sega Chief]

Cheers, bud; I appreciate that. If there's any other problems, let me know.

Next thing I'll start on is a temporary re-spec for these Ultimate Weapons, something to make them worth getting. I'll fine-tune them when I grab them in the playthrough I'm doing.

[FrozenExcalibur]

looking forward for the re-spec ultimate weapon

[Sega Chief]

New scene patch is up (24th), that re-specs the Ultimate Weapons to be stronger.

[HeaN]

Finally I was really waiting for this

[FrozenExcalibur]

i don't get how the new ultima weapon formula work
but it was definitely stronger than before
and worth using now

[Sega Chief]

The ultimate weapons are using the original formulas, with a few differences.

Cloud/Ultima Weapon: Same as before, power decreases as his HP gets lower (the sword will slowly turn from white to blue, as a visual indicator of the amount of power lost). Note that it's the % of your HP remaining, not the actual amount; a Cloud with 300/300HP would deal more damage with it than a Cloud with 5000/9999HP.

Barret/Missing Score: Power is based on the total AP of all the Materia equipped to the weapon; Mastered Materia like Quadra, Mime, etc. tend to give the best bonuses. Does very little damage with no Materia/low AP.

Tifa/Premium Heart: Changed. Basically the same as Ultima Weapon, but uses MP instead. The more MP you use, the less power it has.

Aeris/Princess Guard: Changed. This heals targets, and grants the Shield status.

Red/Limited Moon: Changed. This deals more damage based on how high your Limit gauge is. Best used with a filled Limit Lv.4 and commands like Deathblow or Mug (as attack is disabled when Limit is available).

Yuffie/Conformer: Deals more damage based on target's Level; also ignores the penalty on Morph attacks.

Cait Sith/HP Shout: Changed. Deals damage equal to the difference between maxHP and currentHP (so an ? effect).

Vincent/Death Penalty: Changed. This now has the Yoshiyuki effect, and will gain a damage boost whenever another party member is KO'd (if both are KO'd, then damage is increased again).

Cid/Venus Gospel: Changed. Has no special damage formula, but drains damage as HP.

They also carry some stat bonuses, usually in-between the bonuses given by the other end-game weapons.

[Rufus]

would you say in 2 months time 1.4 will be out long with the special 'arrange' mode.

as overall i think 'arrange mode' -which i think the name should be changed to 'boss rush' mode or something - would be my prefered way to play the game given my familiarity with the story, I'd rather just head straight into the boss fights and have minimal story.

[Sega Chief]

Arrange is going to be close to Original, but with twists in it. NG+ is going to be a minimal story + survival campaign.

[Rufus]

oh yeah, of course, forgot about that.

maybe 'survival mode' sounds like a good name, it think it reminds me of say a fighting game where you have 'story mode' or 'survival mode'.

i hope you manage to incorporate every boss in this mode though.

[Murasame]

*DARK CAVE SPOILERS TO FOLLOW*

 for anyone who doesn't want to be spoiled about the new sidequest






So I've been going through this section and I've really enjoyed the challenging boss fights thus far. Hell Armour was one of the toughest fights I've had in this game but it was so worth it when I finally heard that enemy death sound effect.

I have to concede though, Viragea is throwing me a huge curve ball. Its attacks aren't so much the problem but I can't figure out its immunities. After I beat Mirage Weapon it takes attacks fine. It doesn't seem to be immune to slow numb but once paralysed the fight continues; I have to chuck a soft at it to continue things. But about midway (guessing) through the fight, it grows and seems to absorb all my elemental attacks and physical attacks deal 0 damage.

If all that is intentional then by all means keep the secret to beating him a secret. I was just wondering if you somehow rendered this beast as insurmountable as he seems ;_;



Also some side notes about things in general (like last time, nothing game breaking)l :

-Viragea's attacks hit "twice" (i.e the damage shows, a small animation shows and the damage is shown again) but it only hits once. Assuming this isn't a psychological thing to emphasise my hopelessness in my fight, it's there.

-Cloud's Buster Sword isn't present on his field model in the section before the Jenova Decay and Zack boss fights

-Visiting Don Corneo's mansion with Tifa as the party leader has a Cloud model stuck in Corneo's desk (Haven't tested with Cid but I'm willing to assume it's probably the same)

- I've noticed that some attacks that rendered my party members down to a very small amount of health have still killed them regardless of some health remaining? An example is my Yuffie currently has about 3400/3700 HP, she'll take an attack worth about 3300 and still die. This isn't limited to instant kill attacks but I'm fond of regen and I've noticed the line underneath HP representing the HP bar can go a little crazy after such an attack. Not sure if that's a possible source?

- This one is just off the cuff but I noticed you mentioned the ATM core is unmissable, I've combed the planet looking for it, got Barret's Catastrophe but still can't find it. The Heaven's Cloud is similarly AWOL, gone from the gelnika. I'm not asking for the straight answer but a hint maybe? ):

[Sega Chief]

Also some side notes about things in general (like last time, nothing game breaking)l :

-Viragea's attacks hit "twice" (i.e the damage shows, a small animation shows and the damage is shown again) but it only hits once. Assuming this isn't a psychological thing to emphasise my hopelessness in my fight, it's there.

-Cloud's Buster Sword isn't present on his field model in the section before the Jenova Decay and Zack boss fights

-Visiting Don Corneo's mansion with Tifa as the party leader has a Cloud model stuck in Corneo's desk (Haven't tested with Cid but I'm willing to assume it's probably the same)

- I've noticed that some attacks that rendered my party members down to a very small amount of health have still killed them regardless of some health remaining? An example is my Yuffie currently has about 3400/3700 HP, she'll take an attack worth about 3300 and still die. This isn't limited to instant kill attacks but I'm fond of regen and I've noticed the line underneath HP representing the HP bar can go a little crazy after such an attack. Not sure if that's a possible source?

- This one is just off the cuff but I noticed you mentioned the ATM core is unmissable, I've combed the planet looking for it, got Barret's Catastrophe but still can't find it. The Heaven's Cloud is similarly AWOL, gone from the gelnika. I'm not asking for the straight answer but a hint maybe? ):

Virage was an opportunity to do something a little different, using several unused ideas and a couple of 'glitches' I found while putting the mod together; he's intended to be more confusing and intimidating than he actually is. The 'mixing' attack animations are an example of that. I'll send a PM with some notes/strategies for him.

For the others:
-) Cloud's buster sword on his field model mysteriously vanished a while ago, likely due to me messing around with something when preparing new field models (one of the new ones used his parts as a base). It's something I've been meaning to get round to; it's relatively harmless, but it's needing fixed.

-) That Corneo's mansion thing has been reported before, but I clean forgot about it. I think I can amend it fairly quickly, though. Thanks for reminding me.

-) Ah, Regen! There's a mechanical shortcoming with this status (and on Dual Drain, which is the opposite of Regen) that I call the 'snap-back' effect. Basically, when an attack animation starts the game will perform it's calculation right then and there; problem is, Regen will be restoring your HP while the animation plays so, when the attack finishes, the damage will be deducted based on what your HP used to be. This creates a confusing sight where the character will have apparently survived the attack and their HP will still be increasing...but then they'll suddenly drop down dead. That's what the line going crazy under your HP is doing; it's trying to correct the character's current HP based on a) the damage it took when the attack animation started up and b) factoring in HP gained by regen in the meantime.

-) It is unmissable, so no worries.

[Zara9]

hey sega chief

can you send me a pm about how to beat Virage please

thanks

[Sega Chief]

I sent one to you too.

[Murasame]

I appreciate your help. I'll take a few more stabs at him tomorrow and if I'm well and truly stumped I'll take a fuller peek at the notes you sent me. Thanks a lot. I wouldn't usually ask for advice on a boss but I just don't want to have to give up the 4 hours I've spent in the sidequest and all the materia and limit mastering I've gained in the process.

[Sega Chief]

I appreciate your help. I'll take a few more stabs at him tomorrow and if I'm well and truly stumped I'll take a fuller peek at the notes you sent me. Thanks a lot. I wouldn't usually ask for advice on a boss but I just don't want to have to give up the 4 hours I've spent in the sidequest and all the materia and limit mastering I've gained in the process.

No prob.

\\NT update//

Big change on the horizon, and it's to do with character stats & builds. Right now, and this is true of the default game even more, the characters in NT are quite samey with their stats and due to the pre-made stat arcs I've used there are times when characters intended to be proficient in a stat are overtaken by their rivals (Tifa, a physical hitter, having a higher magic stat than Aeris for instance on certain levels). While these are 'hidden' to an extent by stat boosts given by equipment it's not ideal, and definitely not what I'd originally hoped for. Character 'builds' are also limited entirely to equipment.

The ill-fated Arrange prototype tried to address this and create a system where the player would decide which directions to develop a character, with each character having a static set of stats that wouldn't change on level-up. This would make characters less reliant on equipment + limits for individuality, and allow a player more freedom in making dedicated builds for characters. It was supposed to get a trial run in the prototype, but it got KO'd by a serious balancing flaw caused by an early version of the current level synch + several technical issues.

This isn't being rolled out yet, but it's in the works. I think it'll make developing a team more involving for the player, and as part of it I've got a plan to add a quick set of 'Save Point' options that are triggered with a button press (Square/Switch for instance) to do things like toggle the music behaviour, use the new stat-boost system, etc. Currently, whenever you touch a save point a dialogue appears informing you that Save has been enabled. This text box is the perfect opportunity to have those options be available to trigger; it'd be 100% seamless as multiple dialogue boxes can be open on screen at once. I'll make a vid of it in action once the prototype is done.

As far as save compatibility goes, it'd be 100% compatible. Stats can only go up, not down.

Another thing I've got to do is get the optional .exe patch finalised and to start distributing the link for it on the main page. I also need to make a hext-compatible file for it, so it can be used with DLPB tools (and 7H I think).

[Rufus]

how about you touch a save point, dialogue comes up, you press Square/Switch which then takes you to save 1-9 entry box.

that would make saving go a lot faster.

[Zara9]

hey sega chief and Rufus

here is a better idea, how about a save point that allows you to press square/switch with a tent option also to heal your party members also

[Rufus]

a simple 'press square to save' then it goes to last known save file aka slot 1, save 1 and focuses on the last save, then you press confirm on the file and it saves.

or better yet make it like FFX

press confirm key at a save point then it comes up with dialogue 'save?' then you press confirm or can cancel out,  so no the silly 'save message' like what ff7 gives you.

although to make it exactly like ffX you would need to make save points have a real detection script so i can't run through it and such, but i think it would be much better.

[Sega Chief]

I'll consider it; I've a few prototypes to test.

Edit: Here's a video showing some of the prototype/beta features: https://youtu.be/TtNd4QVaAWE

They're still under development, but I'm hoping to implement them at some point. The Extended Save Console allows for control over certain NT features like Battle Music Behaviour, Weather Effects, and conveniences such as Quick-Tent and Un-equip Party.

The second feature which ties into this 'console' is the Rank-Up system that was originally in the Arrange prototype that met an untimely end due to balancing problems. This would combo with 'static' character stats that do not increase when leveling up; instead, the player decides how to develop the character's stats through the use of Source Packs.

A Rank-Up itself would be unlocked through gathering Source Points (SP); these are gained by every character whenever you defeat a story boss, with characters who actually participated in the battle gaining a small bonus on top of it. Certain story events and dialog options will also result in SP for certain characters. When enough is gathered in, the character will Rank-Up and get a Source Pack to choose from when the player next visits the Rank-Up screen.

I've not decided yet how visible to make SP, whether it should be done invisibly and something to check in on periodically to see if anyone ranked up, or if it should be more direct and show the player how much SP they need to reach the next rank. I don't want it to get in the way of the story boss fights (could be distracting), so I might need to add some kind of method to check it somewhere.

Anyways, let me know what you think.

[FrozenExcalibur]

Hello Sega Chief, my game seem to freeze before the area where u fight mirage weapon, after mirage weapon fight, and leaving the area.
the game freeze up 3 time on 3 different occasion.

also is it normal for mirage weapon to not fight back at all after casting slow and bad breath on it?

[natepley]

The SP thing sounds pretty cool.  I like the idea of characters with very different stats and I also like the idea of characters strength not being determined by how much grinding a player has done.  (Sorry if I'm bringing this up too often, but) I think a similar system could be used (at least sometimes) for materia growth.  You gain some kind of points through story events and then at the special save menu, you can receive leveled up materia once you have enough points.
Also, I was thinking that since morphing seems to be quite important in your mod, increasing the HP limit of Sense might be nice.  I feel like if you're going to spend both a materia slot and a turn on Sense, then it should actually work on enemies strong enough that you'd want to Sense them in the first place.  In the original game, I always felt Sense was so useless because Sensing weak enemies was a waste of time and Sensing strong enemies wasn't possible.
Anyways, I'm enjoying reading your updates, and I'm looking forward to 1.4.

[Gatchaman]

I think ideally sense would work as long as the enemy's HP was below a certain value, so for stronger enemies you'd have to whittle away at them a bit first, but I don't think that would be an easy change to implement, going from what was said about Variablis and drawing the information from the battle set up rather than current information.
I think that not knowing the hp for some enemies would be important as part of the challenge, and with morphing them I've solved it by either being cautious (ie slow) and only using gravity /morph to take them down, or by estimating their total hp in one fight and morphing in the next.

[Rufus]

the save menu is cool, quick tent is awesome, given that tents are cheap this is basically the same thing as ffX full restore at save points.

id prefer the interface to be much smaller though,  having text boses take up the entire screen isn't ideal.

but yeah an 'instant save' button would go a long way, just press the button and go to the save menu in slot 1 instantly, preferably focus on last save.

SP sounds great, so leveling up will only affect HP and MP, but for stats like strength and magic you need to rank up, then you choose 3 or so options, but does it have to go through that menu where you see the sources being applied to the party member?

I think ranking up at the end of a boss battle could be fine, the message box 'rank up' could happen then you can choose between 3 options for each party member that has been ranked up, would also give you a chance to hear the victory fanfare music more often.


I have yet another idea

-) ReBalance with no menu access in dungeons

How about when in dungeons you can’t access the menu, that means no easy phoenix downs/potions/ethers when out of battle, this coupled with regen while walking in field and revived party members when downed could make things way better, it would be harder, but much cooler.

Only thing is changing materia and equipment, you couldn’t really do that, maybe you can make it so you can do that at save points.

Some things will have to be re-thought out, but it’s a pretty cool starting point.

[Sega Chief]

Hello Sega Chief, my game seem to freeze before the area where u fight mirage weapon, after mirage weapon fight, and leaving the area.
the game freeze up 3 time on 3 different occasion.

also is it normal for mirage weapon to not fight back at all after casting slow and bad breath on it?

Would this be in the Church? There's maybe an encounter in that area that's been removed or changed if there's crashes happening in there. I'd better have a look and see what I can find. As for Mirage's AI, I'll double-check it to see if there's some kind of flaw in it that would cause it to remain passive throughout the fight.

Edit: Had a look at both, but encounters appear to be disabled in the Church for this event. Mirage's AI is fairly basic as well, so there's not really anything in there that'd prevent fighting back if hit by Slow or Bad Breath except for maybe Silence. I'll do some tests with that status to see if that's what derailed him, though I thought it only affected Kernel-based spells (he has one of these, maybe it clashes with the way his AI works and renders him 'stuck').

As for the crashes, did you tab out/lose focus of the Steam game window at any point? That version has a chance to crash whenever you click away while in Window mode or when tabbing out/opening the Steam overlay.

@Nate/Gatchaman
I think it's possible to boost the Sense limit up to 65535, but it glitches out when reading anything above that (the value rolls over, which makes it difficult to follow). There's a tool you can try out however called Ochu by DLPB; it reads the game's memory in real-time and I think it can keep track of how much HP the enemy you're fighting has. It also has some other cool features like being able to adjust the FPS of Field, Battle, and World Map.

[Gatchaman]

Oh nice, if there's a tool to handle that issue already, then you don't have to worry about working it into the mod default. Great stuff.