[FF8PC - Steam] New Threat Mod (v0.3)

[smalldirt]

It can be done on a weapon per weapon basis? That's great news.

Atleast by my assumption, since the related section contained in the weapons and not in the chartacter modell file, however need to test it.

[rc2112]

Hi,

A few questions.

First, and foremost, how much different will this be than the Ragnarok mod? I have played your NT version of VII and loved that so I just wanted to gauge if I should just wait for this to be completed or if I should check out Ragnarok too if I get time.

To follow that, was wondering if there was an expected date for this to be finalized (at least fully playable). It looked like the last update was in March of last year, but the thread is still active so I assume it's still moving along.

And I don't think I saw anything about it, but are there any changes to Triple Triad at all? Including what cards are held, their locations, difficulty, A.I., etc.

Thanks so much for this work. If anything I asked has been answered elsewhere I am sorry. I just wanted to check on the status of this project but am currently in a meeting at work haha.

[Sega Chief]

Hi,

A few questions.

First, and foremost, how much different will this be than the Ragnarok mod? I have played your NT version of VII and loved that so I just wanted to gauge if I should just wait for this to be completed or if I should check out Ragnarok too if I get time.

To follow that, was wondering if there was an expected date for this to be finalized (at least fully playable). It looked like the last update was in March of last year, but the thread is still active so I assume it's still moving along.

And I don't think I saw anything about it, but are there any changes to Triple Triad at all? Including what cards are held, their locations, difficulty, A.I., etc.

Thanks so much for this work. If anything I asked has been answered elsewhere I am sorry. I just wanted to check on the status of this project but am currently in a meeting at work haha.

I would check out Ragnarok, it's a gameplay mod with full gamut of changes; sidequests, battle overhaul, .exe changes to formulas, that sort of thing.

Progress on the project slowed down significantly when I started a new 9-5 job in April of that year, but I chip away at it when I can. I've done some work on the Triple Triad game.

[AuthenticM]

Hey,

I'm a big fan of New Threat for FFVII, and I just learned that Sega Chief was making such a mod for FFVIII. I just want to say that I am on board and that I have bookmarked this thread for periodic check-ins. Thank you for your hard work, Sega Chief, and also to everyone who contributed to your work. You are injecting some new life into these old games and it's just fantastic.

On another note, I just want to say that I hope the mod eventually becomes compatible with the new FFVIII remaster.

Cheers!

[Konichu]

Hi Sega Chief, how things are going for this mod ?

[Sega Chief]

Hi Sega Chief, how things are going for this mod ?

I sidelined it to get FF7 NT 2.0 out several months ago. I'll need to get my head back into it at some point and re-organise my files.

[AuthenticM]

I am very much looking forward to it!

[flacidapplebottoms]

Have you considered making Edea a permanent party member for this mod? This was done for Beatrix in the mod for FFIX called "Alternate Fantasy", and it integrated her into relevant scenes subtly to maintain continuity when needed. I always thought it was be a great idea for Edea in FFVIII and I'm surprised no one ever suggests it.

Just an idea.

[AuthenticM]

Have you considered making Edea a permanent party member for this mod? This was done for Beatrix in the mod for FFIX called "Alternate Fantasy", and it integrated her into relevant scenes subtly to maintain continuity when needed. I always thought it was be a great idea for Edea in FFVIII and I'm surprised no one ever suggests it.

Just an idea.

I don't think I like this idea. FF8's story is very much about the orphanage kids and their destiny. Edea's role in that destiny is one of support.

[Aerodynamics]

Have you considered making Edea a permanent party member for this mod? This was done for Beatrix in the mod for FFIX called "Alternate Fantasy", and it integrated her into relevant scenes subtly to maintain continuity when needed. I always thought it was be a great idea for Edea in FFVIII and I'm surprised no one ever suggests it.

Just an idea.

I also dislike the idea. I dont think it's not something worth spending precious time on.
Remember that each extra feature Sega Chief works on is time not spent on the main development.

[PokeFaize]

Heyo! Since your work on FF7 New Threat was absolutely superb, and hearing you'd start focusing on this project after the next FF7NT Update, I figured I'd give this a try and help out with feedback!

I LOVE the changes to junctioning, with 1 stock =100 stocks for stat boosts. It makes playing Magic characters as Mages feel actually viable without shooting yourself in the foot.

I've made it to Timber where Rinoa officially joins the party, and I've intentionally avoided abusing Triple Triad, Card, and Card Mod (mostly because I really hate Triple Triad). GFs also have not been used in Combat.

Character related notes:

Spoiler: show

-If Selphie is intended to be a hybrid glass cannon, maybe buff her base stats so she hits harder than/as hard as Squall? At least for the early game, especially where her lower bulk gets her killed super fast.

-Rapture Description typo: "Float,Regen,Hass te to all."
 -(Also, all of Selphie's Limits are "unlocked" from the start, but so far only DemiCure has shown up in her Slots.)
 -(I think DemiCure should have some status healing to make up for no longer healing the party to full HP.)

-Some of Zell's "paths" in his Duel Limit wind up at dead ends

-Rinoa's Strength and Magic are both naturally higher than Selphie's (while also being at a lower level), which undermines Selphie's Role as a Hybrid Glass Cannon.

Gameplay related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Ifrit nearly wiped me cuz I decided to play risky with Squall at low HP to spam limits (had less than 5 minutes to beat the fight). Very good, really enjoyed the difficult fight.

-With Enemies hitting harder, it may be a good idea to lower their speed during the early game. Too many close calls & game overs from enemies attacking non-stop despite being in Wait Mode

-Elvoret wiped the party after using Siren Song (which did absolutely nothing) and started throwing out Thundaras, doing roughly 650 damage to whoever got hit. Rematch went rougher against Biggs+Wedge due to how fast they are and Biggs' Confusion on his Attack, but smoother on Elvoret due to being better prepared.
 -(Siren Song still did 0 Damage on the rematch, but succeeded in inflicting Silence)

-X-ATM092 nearly wiped my team in the first forced fight with it since I spent a couple turns Drawing Protects and Shells. Opted against abusing the AP Trick with it to avoid the risk of a Game Over.

-Granaldo Fight was fairly tame. Protects on the Aldos left me having to spam Quistis' Ultra Sonic Wave to take them out before Granaldo could wipe me with its hard hitting combo attacks.

-Maybe change Ability Description to include Base Power, like in recent FF7NT updates? Would help a lot for getting the most out of Quistis' Damaging Blue Magic Limits.

-Diablos' Party-Wide Doom is pretty unneccesary and kinda overkill for Disc 1, especially since he can apply Aura, Double(?), and Haste(?) to himself
 -(Already mentioned, but camera doesn't work right when Diablos summons Cerberus)
 -(Diablos having Nether Blast to circumvent Blind cheesing him also makes his Party Wide Doom very overkill for Disc 1)
 -(Beating Diablos gave no EXP, and Diablos joined at Lv.9)

-GeruGeru was a complete pushover, though I did spam Squall's and Zell's limits. Maybe boost its Vitality and HP? Auto-Protect too? The team is very physical oriented at this point, so making GeruGeru physically resistant could make it more of a challenge?

Glitch & Crashes related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Draw Point in Library (Sleep/Silence) crashes the game when choosing to Draw Silence. Choosing to Draw Sleep produces no game crashes.
 -(Have been avoiding choosing the second draw point option since then, due to not having saved recently upon approaching new draw points in the event choosing the 2nd Draw Option is what made the game crash)
 -(Chose Draw Aero from the Water/Aero Draw Point in Dollet Tower; no crash. Seems the one in the Balamb Library might be bugged?)

-Already mentioned, I think, but Items used in Field are different from when used in Battle. Would probably just be better to cut down Status Healing Items to just Remedies?
 -(Potions say they heal 400HP, but only healed 200 in field and 250 in battle)
 -(Note for others: Luna Tonics heal Blind in the Field)

-Battle Formation Bug Bite x2 and Caterchipillar had Caterchipillar invisible until both Bug Bites were dead.
 -(Same battle, the Now-Visible Caterchipillar proceeded to repeatedly attack despite being in-menu on Wait Mode, resulting in a Game Over as I tried to heal)

-Weird animation glitch: When leaving the training area after talking with Quistis in the Secret Area, the event for the Granaldo Fight triggered as normal, but Squall ran in a circle before exiting the screen.

-Game froze during a battle against a red Galbadian Solder after GeruGeru battle, when Squall dealt a critical hit to him.

Really enjoying the mod so far, and will continue to keep taking notes as I go! 

[Sega Chief]

Heyo! Since your work on FF7 New Threat was absolutely superb, and hearing you'd start focusing on this project after the next FF7NT Update, I figured I'd give this a try and help out with feedback!

I LOVE the changes to junctioning, with 1 stock =100 stocks for stat boosts. It makes playing Magic characters as Mages feel actually viable without shooting yourself in the foot.

I've made it to Timber where Rinoa officially joins the party, and I've intentionally avoided abusing Triple Triad, Card, and Card Mod (mostly because I really hate Triple Triad). GFs also have not been used in Combat.

Character related notes:

Spoiler: show

-If Selphie is intended to be a hybrid glass cannon, maybe buff her base stats so she hits harder than/as hard as Squall? At least for the early game, especially where her lower bulk gets her killed super fast.

-Rapture Description typo: "Float,Regen,Hass te to all."
 -(Also, all of Selphie's Limits are "unlocked" from the start, but so far only DemiCure has shown up in her Slots.)
 -(I think DemiCure should have some status healing to make up for no longer healing the party to full HP.)

-Some of Zell's "paths" in his Duel Limit wind up at dead ends

-Rinoa's Strength and Magic are both naturally higher than Selphie's (while also being at a lower level), which undermines Selphie's Role as a Hybrid Glass Cannon.

Gameplay related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Ifrit nearly wiped me cuz I decided to play risky with Squall at low HP to spam limits (had less than 5 minutes to beat the fight). Very good, really enjoyed the difficult fight.

-With Enemies hitting harder, it may be a good idea to lower their speed during the early game. Too many close calls & game overs from enemies attacking non-stop despite being in Wait Mode

-Elvoret wiped the party after using Siren Song (which did absolutely nothing) and started throwing out Thundaras, doing roughly 650 damage to whoever got hit. Rematch went rougher against Biggs+Wedge due to how fast they are and Biggs' Confusion on his Attack, but smoother on Elvoret due to being better prepared.
 -(Siren Song still did 0 Damage on the rematch, but succeeded in inflicting Silence)

-X-ATM092 nearly wiped my team in the first forced fight with it since I spent a couple turns Drawing Protects and Shells. Opted against abusing the AP Trick with it to avoid the risk of a Game Over.

-Granaldo Fight was fairly tame. Protects on the Aldos left me having to spam Quistis' Ultra Sonic Wave to take them out before Granaldo could wipe me with its hard hitting combo attacks.

-Maybe change Ability Description to include Base Power, like in recent FF7NT updates? Would help a lot for getting the most out of Quistis' Damaging Blue Magic Limits.

-Diablos' Party-Wide Doom is pretty unneccesary and kinda overkill for Disc 1, especially since he can apply Aura, Double(?), and Haste(?) to himself
 -(Already mentioned, but camera doesn't work right when Diablos summons Cerberus)
 -(Diablos having Nether Blast to circumvent Blind cheesing him also makes his Party Wide Doom very overkill for Disc 1)
 -(Beating Diablos gave no EXP, and Diablos joined at Lv.9)

-GeruGeru was a complete pushover, though I did spam Squall's and Zell's limits. Maybe boost its Vitality and HP? Auto-Protect too? The team is very physical oriented at this point, so making GeruGeru physically resistant could make it more of a challenge?

Glitch & Crashes related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Draw Point in Library (Sleep/Silence) crashes the game when choosing to Draw Silence. Choosing to Draw Sleep produces no game crashes.
 -(Have been avoiding choosing the second draw point option since then, due to not having saved recently upon approaching new draw points in the event choosing the 2nd Draw Option is what made the game crash)
 -(Chose Draw Aero from the Water/Aero Draw Point in Dollet Tower; no crash. Seems the one in the Balamb Library might be bugged?)

-Already mentioned, I think, but Items used in Field are different from when used in Battle. Would probably just be better to cut down Status Healing Items to just Remedies?
 -(Potions say they heal 400HP, but only healed 200 in field and 250 in battle)
 -(Note for others: Luna Tonics heal Blind in the Field)

-Battle Formation Bug Bite x2 and Caterchipillar had Caterchipillar invisible until both Bug Bites were dead.
 -(Same battle, the Now-Visible Caterchipillar proceeded to repeatedly attack despite being in-menu on Wait Mode, resulting in a Game Over as I tried to heal)

-Weird animation glitch: When leaving the training area after talking with Quistis in the Secret Area, the event for the Granaldo Fight triggered as normal, but Squall ran in a circle before exiting the screen.

-Game froze during a battle against a red Galbadian Solder after GeruGeru battle, when Squall dealt a critical hit to him.

Really enjoying the mod so far, and will continue to keep taking notes as I go! 

I think I've got a number of the glitches mentioned here sorted but will check the enemies as the AI bug can be quite subtle sometimes and not crash in certain formations.

Zell's thing with Duel was I think an experiment to see if I could set him up so that the goal becomes to get to the finisher rather than repeating the same few moves for maximum damage, with a dead-end reached if the path to one of the finishers wasn't met (or the finisher wasn't unlocked though I think they can be used anyway if you know the inputs; plan with that was to change the inputs for the book-locked finishers so the first playthrough at least can't use them early). I recall there being a problem with Zell or similar where an enemy would start to attack infinitely or behave strangely after Duel, but I think that was resolved after 0.3 went up so it won't be in the final build.

[PokeFaize]

I think I've got a number of the glitches mentioned here sorted but will check the enemies as the AI bug can be quite subtle sometimes and not crash in certain formations.

Zell's thing with Duel was I think an experiment to see if I could set him up so that the goal becomes to get to the finisher rather than repeating the same few moves for maximum damage, with a dead-end reached if the path to one of the finishers wasn't met (or the finisher wasn't unlocked though I think they can be used anyway if you know the inputs; plan with that was to change the inputs for the book-locked finishers so the first playthrough at least can't use them early). I recall there being a problem with Zell or similar where an enemy would start to attack infinitely or behave strangely after Duel, but I think that was resolved after 0.3 went up so it won't be in the final build.

Oh that sounds neat with Zell's duels. I should take some time to figure out the path to Burning Rave then lol

Glad to hear that some(/most?) of these glitches have already been caught and dealt with

[PokeFaize]

Just finished the demo! A very solid battle to end Disc 1! I'm super excited to see what you have in store for this project!

Here are the notes I took as I wrapped up the demo

Character related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Selphie is in a weird spot where she's definitely made of glass, but missing the cannon part (both physically and magically). Her speed makes her great for rapidly Stocking Magic from monsters but that's about it. Maybe buff her Strength and Magic? or swap her Speed, Vitality, Spirit, and HP with Quistis?
 -Selphie's Slots can take ages to bring up the right Selection, and being fragile puts her at even greater risk of being killed while searching for Wall or DemiCure. Being tanky would help reduce the odds of this happening, and having low speed would make her Slots' Double and Triple Casts much more valuable imo.
 -Quistis' low speed doesn't do much to balance out her ability to freely choose which Limit she uses, especially when she's more than durable enough to risk staying at lower HP ranges (her high HP making her "low HP" range much safer than most everyone else's) to repeatedly fire off Multi-Target Limits before casting a White Wind to heal the party to full/near full when things get too risky.

-Everyone else plays just fine imo. No real complaints for anyone besides Selphie.

Gameplay related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Brothers boss was a total pushover with Float on everyone + the Brothers. If possible, maybe consider adding Dispel in some form to their move list?

-Iguion x2 was a pushover, which is fine imo.
 -(Had the option to Draw Carbuncle from them, so I did to ensure I got it)
 -(Carbuncle is Lv.13 when obtained.)

-Both the Brothers and Carbuncle have Mid-Magic Refine

-Reflect and Shell give the same amount of Elemental Resistance. Maybe buff Reflect's Elemental Defense boost?

-Hi-Potions heal 1000HP on the field like the description says, but heals 750HP in battle

-Edea + Seifer battle was easier than anticipated, though Edea's Tornado being Single Target is a huge blessing as having Tornado hit the party like normal would make this fight significantly more difficult without Selphie's DemiCure (or Quistis' White Wind if it's available at all in the Disc 1 demo)

Glitch & Crashes related notes:

Spoiler: show

-Fought a Grendel in the forest where the 2nd Laguna Sequence happens. Game froze when it killed Squall.

Gonna try taking on the extra boss at the end of the demo! Great work so far, and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

EDIT: well that went about as well as expected lmao

[AuthenticM]

Hey,

Does the mod modify in any way how limit breaks are obtained? The original game could be cheesed by keeping Squall and others at low HP to spam limit breaks. I'm wondering if the same thing can be done with NT.

Thank you

[Aerodynamics]

-Edea + Seifer battle was easier than anticipated, though Edea's Tornado being Single Target is a huge blessing as having Tornado hit the party like normal would make this fight significantly more difficult without Selphie's DemiCure (or Quistis' White Wind if it's available at all in the Disc 1 demo)[/spoiler]

Also played the demo and I actually agree with everything on your post, but to me, the Edea Seifer battle was on the borderline of difficulty. I found it hard, buffing them up could mean they would be OP. Might be just me I dont know, but since I agree with you in so many points, I really think this battle shouldn't be messed with.

[PokeFaize]

Also played the demo and I actually agree with everything on your post, but to me, the Edea Seifer battle was on the borderline of difficulty. I found it hard, buffing them up could mean they would be OP. Might be just me I dont know, but since I agree with you in so many points, I really think this battle shouldn't be messed with.

I think the fight is perfectly fine as it is, but it was much more manageable than I had anticipated given some comments about how hard they were in earlier posts on this thread. There really isn't a whole lot of room to buff them without making the fight nightmarish to manage without Selphie's DemiCure (or Quistis' White Wind if it exists in the demo) to keep up with the damage they do.