Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-01 16:02:27
(https://i.imgur.com/dulCXNl.png)
Download 2013 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YtLcQ5PsuYi5uqJm_jAdZGpXLhm4Q2uc/view?usp=sharing) | 2019 (https://mega.nz/file/KM0SCTyY#OFTDvwZdfFP9onv0W-vIASQ1z_c_CLsVqNDnIFfPIYw)
Introduction
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Ragnarok Mod. This mod was created with the aim of rebalancing several gameplay aspects of Final Fantasy VIII, such as usefulness of all characters in battle, the power level of Limit Breaks, or the ways of obtaining powerful tools to become stronger. Not only does this mod limit the gains from playing Triple Triad or makes enemies more challenging, it also adds various convenience functions not present in the original game, such as lifting the Draw cap in battles, providing additional save possibilities or giving the characters basic spells right off the bat.
Overall, the mod is for those who look for a new challenge and maybe those who would like to relive Final Fantasy VIII the way they did during their very first playthrough, when they didn't know the game inside out yet. Of course, new players are welcome as well, but should get accustomed to how the general gameplay mechanics work first.
The mod is currently available for both English Steam versions only. It has been playtested from start to finish and should be largely bug-free. Note that some of the mod's features are currently absent from the 2019 version (check out this post (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=18404.msg280765#msg280765) for more information). If you give this mod a try and discover something off, please report it here. Also don't be shy to share any impressions about the mod, such as the balancing changes being on point or not, or any suggestions for improvement.
Changes overview
Spoiler: show
Additional features
- Includes a separate Hard Mode called Lionheart
- Includes Maki's Bad UV fix (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=16327.0) for a better looking overworld
- Decensors Gerogero's appearance and Gargantua chamber
- Fixes several typos
- Fixes a glitch that made the victory fanfare play incorrectly during the FH instrument selection
- Improves broken PC animations of a few enemy attacks (Maelstrom, Gravija)
- Optional alternate title screen (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=18404.msg259277#msg259277) by Mcindus
Lionheart Mode info
Spoiler: show
Setup instructions
For 2013 Steam:
1. Backup the contents of your lang-en folder (steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII/Data).
2. Replace the relevant files in your lang-en folder with the ones from the download package (check Standard or Lionheart Mode folders). *
3. Download and install Roses and Wine W07 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YU7dP4DkuPt7kCCmkdg8SKnliZ7ygfGD/view?usp=sharing) to the game's root folder.
4. Place the Ragnarok_mod.txt file from the download package root in RaW/GLOBAL/Hext.
* Make sure to always keep movies, world and magic files inside your own lang-en folder.
To check if the mod changes are active, do the following: Start a new game and check Squall's spell inventory. He should have some spells by default. If not, you are missing the files from the lang-en folder (see Step 2). Next, go check the Draw Point in Balamb Garden's library. It should contain Double instead of Esuna. If it does not, Ragnarok_mod.txt is not at the right place. In order to revert the changes applied by the mod, replace the modded files with the ones you backed up and remove the Ragnarok_mod text file from RaW/GLOBAL/Hext. Ask for help in this thread if necessary.
For 2019 Steam:
1. Backup your main.zzz and FFVIII_EFIGS.dll files (steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered).
2. Download Demaster unofficial patch (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=19432.0), drop all files in the game's root folder.
3. Run ffviii_demaster_manager.exe to create a folder called DEMASTER_EXP in the game's root directory.
4. Merge the DEMASTER_EXP folder from the mod download package (found in Standard and Lionheart Mode folders) with your own DEMASTER_EXP folder.
5. Patch your FFVIII_EFIGS.dll with the IPS patch file from the mod download package (can be done here (https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/)).
6. Move your patched FFVIII_EFIGS.dll back to the game's root folder and restore its original file name.
Verifying correct installation is the same as for the 2013 version. If you already use custom textures for Gerogero in-battle or its Triple Triad Card, remove the textures folder inside DEMASTER_EXP provided by the mod package before merging. Many thanks to Maki for the Demaster patch. Installation is also be possible with this alternate DL (https://mega.nz/file/7AckgJAJ#nJqXsyjlglakKn74j2xhxxAvH_Mf6q8qxHS3xK9sTvM) and follow the setup instructions inside.
v1.3 progress
Spoiler: show
Update log
Spoiler: show
Tools used
- Deling Field editor by myst6re
- Ifrit enemy editor by Gjoerulv
- Cactilio Battle structure editor by JeMaCheHi
- Doomtrain kernel.bin editor by Alexfilth, JWP and Maki
- MnGrp Translation tool by Nightshade
Post by: DLPB_ on 2018-09-01 16:04:08
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-01 16:19:44
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-09-01 21:07:58
When RaW latest is released tomorrow, you won't need hextedit... it can then be done just by adding these to a folder and loaded at game start.
Well, that's nice, looking forward to it. I'll update the setup instructions then.
Yeah, I'm going to be doing the same for a few of my mods. :)
But -- having said that, this mod seems AWESOME!!!! WHAT THE Strawberries.
Great job. But I think I would miss Triple Triad too much...
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-01 22:09:58
Yeah, I'm going to be doing the same for a few of my mods. :)
But -- having said that, this mod seems AWESOME!!!! WHAT THE Strawberries.
Great job. But I think I would miss Triple Triad too much...
Thank you. Regarding Triple Triad: Even with the changed Card Mod results, playing Triple Triad is actually still worth it in this mod. You can still get up to mid-level spells (Water, Bio, Meltdown) by modding the cards at the beginning of the game. It's only the high-tier spells like Firaga, Quake or Tornado and onwards that won't be available for a longer time. There are also some surprises to Card Mod, like the possibility to make Power Generators, for anyone who didn't want to mug it from Blitz, or messed up with the access to the items inside Lunatic Pandora. So yeah, I would say it's definitely still worth it.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-09-01 22:12:07
how hard is this ff8 mod?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-02 01:41:03
If you would like to know something more specific, feel free to ask.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-09-02 11:37:34
will the ff8 save editor break your mod at all, and will the ff8 in game booster cheats break your mod at all
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-02 12:06:03
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-09-05 21:13:33
Thank you. Regarding Triple Triad: Even with the changed Card Mod results, playing Triple Triad is actually still worth it in this mod. You can still get up to mid-level spells (Water, Bio, Meltdown) by modding the cards at the beginning of the game. It's only the high-tier spells like Firaga, Quake or Tornado and onwards that won't be available for a longer time. There are also some surprises to Card Mod, like the possibility to make Power Generators, for anyone who didn't want to mug it from Blitz, or messed up with the access to the items inside Lunatic Pandora. So yeah, I would say it's definitely still worth it.
I'm actually -really- interested in this mod, but I was hoping there was a version that didn't require me to change my game information, and simply be able to hext-inject. How much of the mod is dependent on the 'lang-en' folder modifications? Also, is there a way to 'throttle' the difficulty? For example, if the mod proves to be a bit more of a PITA that I expected, is there a way to lower the difficulty a little bit in order to make it more playable without completely turning off the mod?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-05 23:41:05
I'm actually -really- interested in this mod, but I was hoping there was a version that didn't require me to change my game information, and simply be able to hext-inject. How much of the mod is dependent on the 'lang-en' folder modifications? Also, is there a way to 'throttle' the difficulty? For example, if the mod proves to be a bit more of a PITA that I expected, is there a way to lower the difficulty a little bit in order to make it more playable without completely turning off the mod?
I'm aware of the lang-en replacement not being the most elegant way to apply a mod, but anything else is beyond my knowledge at the moment. I don't know how to do this per dll injection, but might look into it at some point.
The changes coming from lang-en folder account for around 80% of all changes. The best way to lower difficulty is still playing Triple Triad, even with the toned-down Card Mod results. Fira, Water, Meltdown and other low-mid tier spells are still first available through Triple Triad, and it's good to have them as soon as possible for their increased spell damage. As the game is now much more spellcaster friendly, it's always good to have a healthy stock of spells in your inventory. Playing Triple Triad at the beginning of the game also helps with getting a character's second weapon sooner than looking for the required materials elsewhere. So all in all, Triple Triad can still help quite a bit, just nowhere near as much as in the vanilla.
I would suggest playing until Galbadia Garden to see if this mod is for you. Up until then, you should have a clear vision of what to expect in the future.
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-09-06 05:14:58
I will be playing this soon, since I'm going to be testing a lot of my newer mods in the recent months. I'm not the best to test for playthroughs, though - since most of my work will be pulling textures and codes, but I will definitely let you know what I think of the gameplay!
Post by: qotsaninsoadkorn on 2018-09-07 11:08:21
also did you consider making New Clones to replace some of the Dummies...
c0m000.dat is easy to replace since it's listed in cactilio... i make a copy of Bahamut's file and modded that my NEO BAHAMUT Prototype... keen to try a HUE change soon... then i'll need a texture upscale to match i guess...
but yeah if we can figure out how to also use the other DUMMY's 144-199
that's allot of potential for Clones with Diff Magic / Items / Stats etc
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-07 19:17:39
@qotsaninsoadkorn: Yes, altering the enemy AI can be tricky with Ifrit enemy editor, but you can already achieve a lot by applying changes by hand with a hex editor, using Ifrit only as a guideline to find certain bytes more quickly. That's what I did for the most part to avoid broken enemy encounters.
I have been thinking of adding new enemies to the game too, but I guess this would have delayed an initial release of the mod greatly, as it's not an easy thing to do. Maybe in a future update. Thanks for the hint regarding c0m000.dat and your interest in the mod. Might check out yours as well if I find the time.
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-09-07 19:58:50
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-07 21:43:35
Due to recent events (saw someone playing the mod), I feel the urge to leave a few more words about the mod's difficulty:
As I said before, the spells given to the party by default are just enough to beat the first few bosses. It is necessary to look for new spells every now and then to keep up with the difficulty as you progress. Cure, Fire, Blizzard and Thunder can carry your party up to the Centra Excavation site at most. If you still don't have anything better for junctions by then, your party will be stomped into the ground by the final two Cyborgs there. GF distribution should be rechecked if they still seem unbeatable, to get the most out of the junction abilities (HP-J, Str-J etc). Leveling up can help too, as they are at fixed levels, but that alone probably won't do it. In case you wonder why they have been made so difficult, it's simple: this battle was supposed to feel like a real boss battle, and the Centra Excavation site as a whole more like a real dungeon.
Post by: iDerek759 on 2018-09-07 22:37:05
Edit: So just had my first test battle fighting solo with Grats in the training center, they killed Shiva before I could even get a cast off... I'm in for a good time! xD
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-09-08 06:51:16
^ Would be awesome to have this in-game when using the mod. Nice ;D
Here you go! Just install Tonberry and SeeDReborn and then put this in /FINAL FANTASY VIII/textures/ - just copy/merge/replace the files it prompts you about.
If you don't want ALL of SeeDReborn and just want the title screen, you will need to place the SeeDReborn_hm.csv hashmap in "/FINAL FANTASY VIII/tonberry/hashmap/" but DO NOT copy over the textures from that mod!! Simply move the 'sy' folder from this file to /textures/ as mentioned above.
Ragnarok Title Screen (https://mega.nz/#!fkA2BA5a!f-mM8zxrWsOPzzDHJNFBgTpCSQlT-5pxKwRdI-wleYA)
(https://i.gyazo.com/83245b9720998b2342c786c00bb72b4b.png)
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-08 16:28:04
So just had my first test battle fighting solo with Grats in the training center, they killed Shiva before I could even get a cast off... I'm in for a good time! xD
Wow, that's actually not quite what was planned ;D But given the circumstances (solo Squall, Lv. 1 Shiva likely being hit by Gastric Juice)... yeah, there is a chance she won't make it. Grats may catch the player off-guard at the beginning, but won't be a threat for long. They should be as tame as always after unlocking the first set of Junction abilities.
Anyway, thank you for giving the mod a try. If you play until the Centra Excavation site, I would appreciate if you shared how it went for you there. If more players struggle with that area a lot, I might tone it down a bit after all.
Thank you for that picture, Mcindus. I've been using SeeDReborn for quite some time already. This is definitely a nice addition :)
Post by: Lunareste on 2018-09-10 00:18:17
edit: Figured it out. Need to copy and paste the lang-en folder contents into the original folder, because the downloaded folder does not contain the movie file that plays when exiting and entering Garden at the beginning of the game.
edit 2: I went ahead and got the game going, beat the Fire Cavern and I want to give a couple thoughts. Although I would consider myself an expert of the game, I haven't played FFVIII in several years now so I'm going into this with a fresh perspective.
1. I did a couple Draws on enemies and immediately noticed the difference in the amount of magic I'm receiving, and I'm impressed with this change. I was never really a Draw guy since I discovered how powerful Card modding was to begin with pretty early, but if Card modding is nerfed here then I can see how this change is both necessary and welcome. I'm very curious as to how Magic is going to be distributed to the monsters in game, and what I can do with it because...
2. Magic is MUCH MORE POWERFUL than in the base game, and I LOVE this change! I'm terribly excited to see how Magic ends up in Rinoa's hands, since she's going to be much more proficient at using it (which makes total sense lore-wise). I actually almost never used to cast Magic because it just wasn't worth it compared to physical attacks/Limit Break spam, so I'm hoping this fleshes out the battles a lot.
3. The encounter length seems good so far. It's nice that it takes 3 to 5 normal attacks to kill an enemy now, it's not too fast and not too slow.The normal enemies aren't really threatening yet, but we'll see how it works out once I encounter T-Rexaurs or large packs of enemies.
4. Ifrit was actually a bit threatening. I gained a level or two before entering the Fire Caverns, and prepared for a worst-case scenario of him killing Shiva while I was casting. This did come to fruition, he seemed to focus casting Fira on whichever character was using a GF. I ended up leaving 1 character at full ATB to cast heals on the party while the other used GF attacks and Ice Magic to deal damage. Overall he wasn't too difficult, but your stated goal is to introduce strategy to the encounters and I think Ifrit's increased damage definitely forced me to play defensively.
Loving the mod so far and I'm looking forward to seeing how the game shapes out going forward. I'm DEFINITELY excited to find the new side quests you introduced and do the old ones for good rewards. Thank you for your hard work!
Post by: Divatox on 2018-09-10 20:09:02
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-10 22:15:19
And yes, casting spells is now definitely more worthwhile; especially during the early-midgame, they are usually superior to physical attacks due to their higher raw power. Towards the end of game, they lose a bit of effectiveness, as their damage increase in relation to the Mag stat is only linear, whereas physical attacks rise with Strength exponentially. But then again, there's still Triple, and in the case of Flare and Holy, they are now even more than twice as strong than in the base game, to make spellcasting worth it throughout the entire game.
@Divatox: Draw works pretty much as usual, except that the Draw cap of 9 has been lifted. Whether you can draw more than 9 units of a spell in a single turn or not mainly depends on the drawer's Mag stat. Spellcasters such as Quistis or Rinoa will be able to break that limit easily and will gain 100 units very fast, while others may struggle. So no 100 units per Draw guaranteed, sorry ;)
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-11 15:43:46
(https://i.imgur.com/sTTDGQv.png) (https://i.imgur.com/sOMWrv0.png)
One of the many vanilla encounters that only have 1 Geezard in it. The addition of Cockatrices makes this particular battle more dangerous, as they can now inflict high damage with their Thunder attacks.
(https://i.imgur.com/LTvL1rd.png) (https://i.imgur.com/kEalYkB.png)
A better variety of enemies can now be encountered at beaches (in the base game, it's like 90% Fastitocalon-Fake most of the time).
Spoiler: The following image contains a little spoiler - new players (if there are any at all), click at your own risk • show
Post by: Divatox on 2018-09-11 18:53:08
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-11 19:43:47
Quote from: Divatox
You edited every encounter in the game?
No, mainly just the most trivial ones. There are actually many interesting encounters in the base game already - the problem is that these are often very rare. This has been changed for the mod as well, so players can expect too see previously rare encounters more often than before.
Post by: qotsaninsoadkorn on 2018-09-12 01:01:34
No, mainly just the most trivial ones. There are actually many interesting encounters in the base game already - the problem is that these are often very rare. This has been changed for the mod as well, so players can expect too see previously rare encounters more often than before.
so you're also changing Enemy Diversity :)
i guess for me it felt like Disc 1 especially suffered from lack of diversity...
even their Levels being FIXED instead of SCALING for so many areas during Disc 1 is a bit :( inducing...
it does mean different MAGIC is available sooner though which means you want to be careful not to make it too easy to get OP i guess...
but speeding up the first couple hours of game-play a bit that was does seem nice :P
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-12 03:07:06
so you're also changing Enemy Diversity :)
i guess for me it felt like Disc 1 especially suffered from lack of diversity...
even their Levels being FIXED instead of SCALING for so many areas during Disc 1 is a bit :( inducing...
it does mean different MAGIC is available sooner though which means you want to be careful not to make it too easy to get OP i guess...
but speeding up the first couple hours of game-play a bit that was does seem nice :P
Yes, as enemy variety or lack thereof is a balancing matter, this point had to be tackled in the mod as well. The results might still not be optimal, as there aren't that many different enemies in the game to begin with - which in turn makes it tough to find enough matching enemies for a certain area or enemies that fit well in the same battle (a soldier alongside a T-Rexaur would be a no-go for me). There should be still a noticable improvement compared to the original though.
By the way, isn't it just the Fire Cavern where random enemies' levels are fixed on disc 1? That's actually how it is in the vanilla as well as in the mod. Not so sure what exactly you are referring to here. In case you meant the limited scaling from the mod: You usually won't even reach these level caps as long as you don't spend a lot of time power-leveling (limiting exactly this is one of the reasons for the change). I also think it's better to not have too many different enemies at the beginning of the game already, to leave some surprises for the later stages.
Post by: qotsaninsoadkorn on 2018-09-12 04:02:59
Yes, as enemy variety or lack thereof is a balancing matter, this point had to be tackled in the mod as well. The results might still not be optimal, as there aren't that many different enemies in the game to begin with - which in turn makes it tough to find enough matching enemies for a certain area or enemies that fit well in the same battle (a soldier alongside a T-Rexaur would be a no-go for me). There should be still a noticable improvement compared to the original though.
By the way, isn't it just the Fire Cavern where random enemies' levels are fixed on disc 1? That's actually how it is in the vanilla as well as in the mod. Not so sure what exactly you are referring to here. In case you meant the limited scaling from the mod: You usually won't even reach these level caps as long as you don't spend a lot of time power-leveling (limiting exactly this is one of the reasons for the change). I also think it's better to not have too many different enemies at the beginning of the game already, to leave some surprises for the later stages.
Yeah i decided to have fun with it, instead of being too strict with my enemy combinations :P
yeah Fire Cavern but even BOSSES in the game tend to scale only UP TO a certain LVL...
for EG... FAKE PRESIDENT + GEROGERO only scale up to lvl 12 apparently ... many other examples i could give :P
and then don't get me started on how many have STATIC stats then don't go up with LEVEL...
SPR SPEED etc... I'm Looking at you...
even changing the LVL RANGES for enemy seems like a fun way to make it less predictable then just LVL 20-29 = MEDIUM...
indeed can't ruin disc 1 and give you access to everything, it's about finding a nice in between while not having so many 1 hit kills where the AI hasn't even had a chance to pull off a move :P
Post by: Konichu on 2018-09-12 13:16:59
For exemple, in the second dream of Laguna, when you have to fight 3 waves of monsters, the last one is really insane, I had to farm like a retard to have lots of hp, since they have 2 AoE which deal around 800/900 damage and 2 of my member had 1k hp and the last one ~600 because I did not unlocked the HP. I had to retry this fight until they decided to not do it at all. Last one, where I am playing right now, right after getting Irving and getting to Deiling city, Tauros et Taurux, the AoE (when they attack together) is insane, 1500 damage to all my team, even with protect it deals a lot, I don't know if i'm a really big noob but I love this mod for the difficulty.
And I don't know if the ATB Wait is working as intended because when I'm in the menu in a battle, when I am looking for my magic, the enemy still attack me instead of freezing the ATB but mine freezes.
(Sorry for bad english)
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-12 14:35:54
The difficulty spike at the Centra Excavation site is intended, to motivate players to look for new spells in case they still don't have anything better than Cure, Fire, Bliizzard or Thunder for junctioning. I see that the last battle against the two Cyborgs can be frustrating, especially if they use Boomerang Sword early - so I might tone them down a bit in the next update. All in all, stabilization is key in this battle. You can draw Protect and Shell from the nearby Gespers if you don't have any more left, and Dispel from Elastoids which is a decent upgrade on HP over just Cure. Of course, it is very beneficial to have HP-Junctions available for all 3 characters when you fight them. They are also susceptible to Slow. You can also save yourself the waves of soldiers before the two Cyborgs by activating all the traps inside the Excavation site, to make things a little easier.
In order to beat the Brothers, make sure to have at least Zombie on HP for everyone, which you can get by modding the Zombie Powders you got from the Gerogero Boss or by Drawing it from Blood Souls around Galbadia Garden. Regen and Demi are also available at this point in the game, in case Zombie is not enough. In battle, try to stabilize as soon as possible and hit them with their elemental weaknesses. The battle is intended to be very challenging and long, given the fact that it is entirely optional.
About the ATB: I know it can appear the way you described, but it's working as always. In the case of the Cyborgs, they are just very fast (especially after throwing their weapon), and Minotaur immediately uses a follow-up attack after being healed (Sacred does this too, but sometimes he just heals without doing a attack immediately after). I would recommend lowering the battle speed in order to have more time to react to certain moves accordingly.
Post by: Lunareste on 2018-09-19 02:11:23
SeeD mission in Dollet: This portion of the game seems well balanced, actually. I will say that running into double Red G-Army soldiers was actually quite threatening, they do a lot of hard damage and aren't pushovers. My characters without HP-Junction were actually killed a few times throughout the mission (importantly, this depleted my supply of Phoenix Down, more on that later). I didn't have any problems with Elvoret or Biggs and Wedge encounters, seemed solid. I tried to kill the X-ATM092 the traditional way, I had stocked up on Lightning Magic but it wasn't nearly enough to kill him.
Timber mission: An important thing I noticed is how few opportunities you have prior to this battle to stock up on items you need in Timber. I did not purchase any Phoenix Downs prior to leaving Balamb, and unless I am mistaken, there is no opportunity to purchase more from a vendor within the city. With two Phoenix Down left and with a party member dead, I had to force the story forward (instead of exploring the city's side quests) in order to use a one-time rest at the inn of the leader of the Forest Fox because the regular inn is not available while the town is under occupation. If I could give a suggestion, I think having the G-Soldiers you encounter while running around town drop Phoenix Downs may alleviate this issue.
Battle vs. the President's body double: Probably the hardest battle I'd encountered so far. Again, I tried to kill him the traditional way a few times but ended up wiping and getting a game over. At this point I became very conscious of the changes you made to character's stats and strengths. I had already noticed that Selphie and Squall are much better at using magic then Zell, but after a few wipes I completely rebalanced my character's magic inventories and Battle abilities via Junction to maximize their effectiveness. I stopped equipping the Magic command and gave Zell the Item command instead; I'd given Selphie the exclusive job of casting our party's strongest heals at Gerogero. I have to say that I am very, VERY pleased with how this aspect of your rebalance is turning out.
Post-Timber: After leaving the train station at West Academy, I instead traveled to Dollet to use the in-game vendors and purchased the Phoenix Downs that I felt that I needed. At this point I decided to do some more AP grinding and unlock Diablos along with the the 3rd HP Junction, which I felt was increasingly necessary. I did wipe to Diablos a few of times, but after some more junction optimization (now getting Rinoa to Stock/Cast Demi because of her advanced Magic stat) I was able to beat him. After getting him to low HP his physical attacks increased in frequency and this is where he was the most dangerous, it seems his speed is a bit high. Overall, I don't have suggestions for this encounter. His difficulty seems reasonable for an optional boss encounter.
The Centra Excavation: I'd gone into Centra without much problem. I was quite upset because I did wipe and lose about 20 minutes worth of progress to a single Elastoid, though. After they go haywire, their spellcast (forgot it's name, sorry) casts for about 800 damage to all party members. Without prior knowledge that this powerful attack would occur, I lost two party members to the first cast and before I could run away or even fill my Laguna's ATB bar, he used the same attack again without me being able to do anything. Lesson learned, maybe I should pay more attention to what the enemies are doing. I did encounter a Gesper and learned about their magic inventory which I took advantage of to get a full stock of Protect and Shell on two characters. I'm not sure whether this is intended, but they present no threat to the party at all. Their single physical attacks inflicts only about 150 damage, and they often attack each other and heal the party. For such a powerful defensive junctioning magic, I think maybe they should be a bit harder to get than through a Gesper that most likely won't kill you.
The final encounter at the Excavation site: I previously used the site's defensive measures to get rid of some of the enemy soldiers that attack you, and that was fortunate for me because this encounter is RIDICULOUSLY HARD. At this point, Kiros had 1000 HP, Laguna had about 1300 HP. Ward had 1500 with 100 Protect and Shell junctioned to physical and magic damage reduction. Despite this, I still died to this about 5 or 6 times total, each time rotating magic and junctions absolutely maximize the amount of damage that my party can take. During the final encounter with the two black-suited Esthar Soldiers, the amount of damage they can do in succession is absolutely ridiculous. I'd often get hit with double Boomerang Sword followed quickly by their physical attack or Aero, which did 400 damage or 800 damage respectively. I only had two options to begin the encounter: try to cast GF as quickly as possible on all of my characters to absorb one of these blows, or hope that I started the encounter with enough ATB to even get off a Protect on any of my characters. I quickly learned that the 2nd option was not really feasible because one or two of my characters would die to the incoming attacks anyway, and the AI was smart enough to start casting Aero against me before I could also cast Shell on anyone/everyone. In the end, the option that worked for me was to use Mega Potions to negate Boomerang Sword damage and heal the entire party as I used others to cast protective spells. Overall I am displeased with this encounter because it is too difficult and because I feel like any chance to beat it is purely RNG dependent. I don't feel like I earned my victory here, despite my efforts to maximize my characters defensive potential at this juncture of the game. I feel like I beat it because I got lucky and the enemy skipped a turn or two.
Overall I am happy to report that I am VERY satisfied with the mod overall though. If I may offer one more important bit of feedback, and this may be an extreme suggestion, but would you consider disabling the GF command in battle? There's not really a lot of strategy to them offensively, they do too much damage to regular monsters and the most efficient option to winning battles is just to cast one and kill everything at once. I'm tired of watching these animations and being so disengaged once they're cast that I'm looking at my phone instead of my screen. I can only think of one strategic use for GFs in battle, which I had to employ against the Esthar soldiers: sacrifice the GF in order to eat an otherwise deadly or disadvantageous attack. I could see this sacrifice being useful later as an intriguing option for early Ultimecia's castle, but otherwise I feel like they are too efficient not to use throughout the game.
Likewise, I don't use Zell in my party any more because his potential damage is so much less than the GF attacks or casted magic that he's pretty useless. I'm not sure how to fix this issue other than maybe making him naturally more tanky than other characters?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-19 15:07:12
SeeD mission in Dollet: This portion of the game seems well balanced, actually. I will say that running into double Red G-Army soldiers was actually quite threatening, they do a lot of hard damage and aren't pushovers. My characters without HP-Junction were actually killed a few times throughout the mission (importantly, this depleted my supply of Phoenix Down, more on that later). I didn't have any problems with Elvoret or Biggs and Wedge encounters, seemed solid. I tried to kill the X-ATM092 the traditional way, I had stocked up on Lightning Magic but it wasn't nearly enough to kill him.
It's good to hear that the Elite Soldiers provided a bit of a challenge to you. That's exactly what I had in mind for them: Noticably more robust over generic G-Soldiers while dealing good damage, without turning them into killing machines. The main reason for making them stronger is their interactions with other enemies, which were hardly ever seen in the base game, because pretty much all soldiers die after one or two hits. To beat the X-ATM092, it is important to always be prepared for an incoming Ray-Bomb (it is used like every 5th turn) and to damage it at the right time in order to make it go into repair mode again as soon as possible. The Double spells from Balamb Garden are also very helpful here, should there be some left.
Quote
Timber mission: An important thing I noticed is how few opportunities you have prior to this battle to stock up on items you need in Timber. I did not purchase any Phoenix Downs prior to leaving Balamb, and unless I am mistaken, there is no opportunity to purchase more from a vendor within the city. With two Phoenix Down left and with a party member dead, I had to force the story forward (instead of exploring the city's side quests) in order to use a one-time rest at the inn of the leader of the Forest Fox because the regular inn is not available while the town is under occupation. If I could give a suggestion, I think having the G-Soldiers you encounter while running around town drop Phoenix Downs may alleviate this issue.
There is a vendor in front of the pub entrance that can be accessed after completing the train mission. You probably just overlooked her. Still, it is indeed advisable to buy some items before leaving Balamb because of the Gerogero boss fight. While we are at it: Inside Timber pub, buying the man the right drink is now more worth it instead of just showing him the Buel card.
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Battle vs. the President's body double: Probably the hardest battle I'd encountered so far. Again, I tried to kill him the traditional way a few times but ended up wiping and getting a game over. At this point I became very conscious of the changes you made to character's stats and strengths. I had already noticed that Selphie and Squall are much better at using magic then Zell, but after a few wipes I completely rebalanced my character's magic inventories and Battle abilities via Junction to maximize their effectiveness. I stopped equipping the Magic command and gave Zell the Item command instead; I'd given Selphie the exclusive job of casting our party's strongest heals at Gerogero. I have to say that I am very, VERY pleased with how this aspect of your rebalance is turning out.
...
Likewise, I don't use Zell in my party any more because his potential damage is so much less than the GF attacks or casted magic that he's pretty useless. I'm not sure how to fix this issue other than maybe making him naturally more tanky than other characters?
Good you realized that Zell is not suited for taking the role of a mage at all. Even with Mag-J available, other characters will be noticably more proficient in spellcasting (the order is Rinoa > Selphie > Quistis > Squall > Irvine > Zell). As mentioned in the changes overview, his low Magic and Spirit stats are meant as a penalty for his high HP and Strength. The fact that physical attacks lack the solid raw power of spells might lead to the impression that having Zell in the party is not worth it. Keep it mind though that physical attacks rise with Strength exponentially, so Zell will become a valuable fighter as his Strength stat rises. If he gets Ifrit and his second weapon (the required Dragon Fins can be received from the Grendels in the forest before Galbadia Garden, or Card Mod), while having something like Aero junctioned to Strength, his Strength should be around 100 - which is pretty much the point where physical attacks start getting strong enough to rival the power of spells or GF.
About the Centra Excavation site: I rechecked the damage of Elastoid's Reflect Beam and 800 damage is indeed a bit much for this point in the game. Gespers have always been attacking allies and foes alike - a unique trait that I wanted to keep for the mod. It is correct that they are relatively weak compared to other enemies at the site, but keep in mind that they start using Degenerator from medium levels onwards. The final two Cyborgs will be nerfed with the next update coming later today:
- Boomerang Sword will deal 200-300 less damage
- The critical hit rate from Shotgun and their Punch attack will be reduced
- Their speed multiplier after throwing their weapon will be reduced from x2 to x1.5
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If I may offer one more important bit of feedback, and this may be an extreme suggestion, but would you consider disabling the GF command in battle? There's not really a lot of strategy to them offensively, they do too much damage to regular monsters and the most efficient option to winning battles is just to cast one and kill everything at once.
I wouldn't really like to remove them altogether, but I'm considering lowering their base power a bit. For now, further increasing Zells base Strength as part the update should help with dealing some quick damage during battles. Which spells are you currently having junctioned to Strength by the way? After completing the Centra Excavation site, it should be at least Aero, which can be easily obtained from Thrust Aevis around Timber.
Again, thank you for your input. It is really interesting to discuss all these little details that hardly ever mattered in the original game. Feel free to share more impressions in the future.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-19 15:46:58
For a quick update, you can just update your battle and main files by downloading this file (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1doG0Ve0pxJDY-Zkzopz9qGD-4FauinHB).
Post by: DLPB_ on 2018-09-20 12:19:34
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-20 15:40:09
Post by: DLPB_ on 2018-09-20 20:41:22
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-23 14:25:30
- Reduced AP requirements for Junction abilities (HP-J, Vit-J etc), as learning these soon is essential for this mod
- A buff to the Return Damage ability (less AP, more damage)
- More tweaks to enemy AI
- Few more smaller sidequests
- Changes to upgrade materials for getting a character's second weapon sooner
If you have own ideas don't hesitate to share. I'll see what I can do then.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-09-23 14:30:21
I have idea to share, how about you try to add in more seifer boss battles on your mod please, and try changing the boss battles on the final boss castle on disc 4 to different much more harder bosses
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-23 14:51:08
As for the castle bosses, have you already beaten them in the mod? Sphinxara, Krysta and Tri-Point are still not that hard as there have to be some easier bosses due to the seals, but the rest should be pretty rough, even with solid junctions.
Post by: iDerek759 on 2018-09-24 12:12:51
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-24 14:55:17
I hope this helps. Report back if necessary.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-24 19:36:05
- Many early-game spells are now easier to draw to make the first couple of hours less of a chore
- AP requirements for basic Junction abilties reduced from 50 to 30 AP
Click here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KoAPgGK4-qKeg0RkqPDZAjhrmqhy5JNO) for quick update (replace your main.fs files from lang-en).
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-09-24 19:44:33
i have another idea for your mod, on the end of disc 2 in the garden where you get the keycodes, how about you put bosses there insted to get the keycodes to unlock the doors in the garden at the end of disc 2, what do you think about that idea
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-25 08:59:44
Edit: Beat the fight with a perfect set of circumstances. Got protect off on Rinoa before enemy took action, captain used aura instead of meltdown first, squall displled and rinoa queued up quez. meltdown on quez and no other attacks to it. Zell gets hit with micro missle x2 to be put into crisis, spam dolphin blow to finish 1 robot off. Squall heals zell. quez goes off. Queue up brothers on zell to take a hit, heal zell to full. queue quez. robot hits brothers killing it, captain shoots squall. quez goes of a second time wihtout getting hit, second robot dies. attack captain till dead.
So for me to win that fight the enemy didnt use ray bomb, or aura more than once. They also didnt hit the GF that was at 70 hp nor did they use curaga or land any critical hits. Like I said in the initial part of the post this fight relies way to heavily on RNG. I had an attempt where i got hit with meltown followed by ray bomb x 2 before my first action went off.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-25 13:30:50
Spoiler: Beating the prison bosses • show
As for the Meltdown and Double Ray-Bomb opener, the chances for this to happen are very low. But I'll see what I can do to avoid this further.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-25 16:48:22
- Your GF distribution was not optimal. Brothers should be paired with Quezacotl because of their junction abilities. Quezacotl, Carbuncle and Diablos on separate characters so Mag-J is available for all characters. You can have two Spr-Junctions at this point (from Shiva and Brothers).
- You could have used the 5 Mega-Potions you found in the prison for countering Ray-Bomb.
- Your approach with beating the robots first is legit too of course, but relying on GF is too slow. Quistis could have learned Aqua Breath with the Water Crystals from the Chimeras and used this against the robots for tremendous damage.
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-25 19:43:07
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-25 20:34:42
One of my goals for the mod was including boss battles that call for strategic approaches as well - battles where character stats and junctions are only secondary. And the prison boss battle is certainly one of them. I was thinking about this particular one for a really long time and wondered how far I can go here. Getting a Game Over on the first try should be totally normal and that's why the save point the floor below is now visible. But multiple fails isn't exactly what was planned either, so yeah - toning down the battle by 5-10% seems reasonable.
So for the next update, expect some smaller changes to this battle. I'm also thinking about buffing Siren by adding in Slow to her attack, which would be really useful for this battle. I know that getting a cast off can be difficult, but that's why there's things like Silver Mails, GF compatibility items, Protect and so on. Just use all that stuff that was next to useless in vanilla - that's what the mod has been made for too.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-27 02:32:32
Changes to the Prison boss: Ray-Bomb and Meltdown damage is slightly reduced and GIM52As generally do less damage under Aura. I would have liked to make it so that Ray-Bomb is never used the first couple of turns, but setting it that way breaks other GIM52A encounters using current tools, so that has to do for now. You can also get an extra Mega-Potion from one on the Moombas now, if that helps.
Other changes:
- Siren now inflicts Slow in addition to Silence, 100% hit rate unless enemy isn't immune to the respective status
- The Return Damage ability has been improved - 1/2 instead of 1/4 of the damage are now returned to the enemy
- Ifrit's AI has been altered, he also uses a new attack
- Some enemy Draw lists have been updated
- AP requirements for Elemental/Status-J abilities have been reduced
- Some enemy item drops have been altered which helps getting a few characters' second weapons earlier
- A few more Draw Resist values from spells have been reduced
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-27 18:59:49
Post by: iDerek759 on 2018-09-28 03:15:48
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-28 04:01:16
Derek, the Rosetta Stones can still be won in the prison, but you can no longer manipulate the RNG to get one guaranteed as you need Enc-None for that which can't be learned at this point of the game. I would maybe just wait a bit and keep on playing, as there is now an easier way to get an early Rosetta Stone:
Spoiler: show
Post by: iDerek759 on 2018-09-28 04:13:13
Derek, the Rosetta Stones can still be won in the prison, but you can no longer manipulate the RNG to get one guaranteed as you need Enc-None for that which can't be learned at this point of the game. I would maybe just wait a bit and keep on playing, as there is now an easier way to get an early Rosetta Stone:
Oh excellent! Okay, Cause I saved just right before the Prison boss fight and I thought I lost my chance in getting one, good to know! Also, I was a bit more prepared and tried the prison boss fight before applying the latest patch, it's an easily manageable fight as long as you have the proper magic and junctions. :P
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-28 21:09:25
Click here for Hotfix (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N5lOLHQaY_pWrIN5reM6AOvu_KG7u9b2). This also reduces the power of the Explosion attack from Death Claw.
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-29 02:14:28
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-29 02:46:41
For the mod, a few alterations have been made to this quest:
Spoiler: show
I'll try to make it so that the Card Queen gives the hints at appropriate times. Thanks for the heads-up.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-29 06:42:20
- Some Queen of Cards text in Dollet is now rewritten, which helps keeping track of where new cards appear
- Fixes rooms in Galbadia Garden
- Adjustments to few enemy attacks
Quicker update here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1N5lOLHQaY_pWrIN5reM6AOvu_KG7u9b2) (replace your main and field files in lang-en).
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-29 14:25:43
Seifer in galbadia garden: Mostly a good fight. His flare was hitting for about 3000 through shell and his big physical was hitting for around 2.8k through protect. Its managable as long as you get triple off and can have 1 character focused on healing, but if he double attacks any target or if you have less than 3k hp on anyone then it gets rough.
Siefer before edea. pretty good balance here, he cant really kill you if you pay attention, and draw casting haste pretty much seals the deal for you.
Edea: This one is frustrating because she can spam maelstrom and reflects herself or spams pain or Death. You cant protect vs every status she throws out so if she manages to get the 10% stop off then it becomes a game of catch up. I only beat her because after mega phoenix quistis got a Might Guard limit that gave aura and I was able to blow her away with Duel and Renzo. I dont think any of the numbers need to be changed in these fights, but maybe reduce their action speed just a tiny amount to give a bit of breathing room.
Abadon was pretty fun and relatively easy if you have the right stat-j. Just set up double/triple and spam fireaga/ifrit/alexander and maintain. Only scary part was when he used quake 4 times in a row. woulda died if i didnt have double curaga
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-29 14:56:26
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-29 15:42:08
As for Edea, I have to recheck the conditions of her using Maelstrom. I actually wanted her to use it during the first couple of turns only.
The battles in Lunatic Pandora Laboratory are mostly about killing the enemies in the right order. That's particularly important in the encounter that has the Elastoid in it. Make sure to save your game at the Laboratory entrance. Other than that, I'd highly recommend using negative status effects on the enemies there. Gesper is vulnerable to pretty much everything, and the Cyborg can be easily slowed down.
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-09-29 21:08:38
Post by: Callisto on 2018-09-30 18:39:05
As for the missing save point between Abadon and the Lunatic Pandora Laboratory, I'm currently thinking about a solution. Placing a visible save point in a screen that normally doesn't have one, is unfortunately not an easy thing to do. Might have to look for a way to add a scripted save possibility instead.
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-10-01 19:29:27
The "Sorceress" chain fight on the other hand felt like triple ultima was the only way. The second type that spawn cast double and death. even with stat-d death they wiped my team in 1 turn. Im always opposed to instadeath status moves in any game. Its an RPG, i should not be forced to have stat-def death for the entire game just to avoid getting insta killed by bosses. The final phase of that fight i believe needs to be tweaked to be more difficult. 1 triple cast meteor was all it took to beat it.
So the real issue im feeling right now is that i feel that the mod has forced me into a corner where only triple casting meteor or ultima and spamming limits is worth anything. The rest of the game I felt the freedom that I expect from an RPG, but now that im at the tail end I just dont see many ways to get through without LB cheese or triple cast.
The Ultima Weapon fight was fantastic though. It was a very tight fight where I had to do everything perfect and 1 mistake would be a game over. It was fun, fast, and unless he spammed meteor ( so many enemies use meteor) I could maintain throughout the fight.
I am concerned with Ultimecia castle though, if its similar to the last 2 bosses then I dont expect that I will enjoy it very much, but I am hoping that it was just those 2 bosses that felt... for lack of a better term... lazy. Before I continue to it though im maxing the rest of my characters levels using the stat bonus abilities and gathering the ultimate weapons (which would have made the previous bosses quite a bit easier but ultimate weapons should be reserved for the final dungeon imo).
90% of this mod has been just wonderful and its had me streaming 14-20 hours every day while playing it so im really hoping the final dungeon regains the feel of the middle of the game.
lastly where is zells card? I havent been able to find anyone with it and Im fairly sure ive played everyone.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-01 20:42:34
Quote from: UpRisen
It feels like you werent sure how to balance these fights out so you just started giving every enemy meteor. (fujin, behemoth, adel, and 2nd phase sorc all use it in this area).
The increased Meteor frequency in the late-game is nothing that was added for the mod. All the enemies you mentioned cast it in vanilla as well. I even tried to make the spell less prominent by removing it from Ruby Dragon, which now casts Tornado instead of Meteor. Looks like it was not enough - so I might remove it from some more enemies.
Fujin casts Meteor only once for the entire duration of the battle by the way. And only one of the 2nd phase Sorceresses can use it. They all have different moves, with only a few being able to cast Death. You can counter it with Reflect if you don't want to rely on Status-Defense. When going for protection from Status-Defense, make sure to junction Life, Holy or Full-life in addition to Death for 90-100% protection.
Casting Triple Meteor or Ultima and Limit Breaks should not be the only reliable way to inflict high damage in the end-game. Other spells, like Flare and Holy also do good damage (if the enemy's spirit stat isn't too high). As for standard weapon attacks, they are still worthwhile, depending on Strength and Elem-Atk junctions (Adel, for example, is weak to wind). Other than that, you might want to check out Darkside. It is weaker than in vanilla, but still very strong in the hands of Squall, who makes its damage multiplier x3.5 instead of x2 using the R1 attack.
The first couple of bosses in the castle should be easy, as it would be unfair to make everyone incredibly strong with the majority of seals still being active. Trauma and Red Giant require more of a strategic approach to win, while the rest should be doable with appropriate stats and junctions.
Spoiler: Zell card • show
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-03 05:09:16
Changes:
- Enables menu save right before the Gesper/E-Soldier/Cyborg battle in Lunatic Pandora laboratory
- Meteor Draw point at Shumi Village entrance swapped with Quake, price increased to 10.000 Gil per Draw (it will be the first easy way to get some Quakes)
- Behemoth now counters with Assault Horn instead of Meteor, has a chance of casting Meteor as final attack instead of Flare, casts Flare occasionally
- Adel casts Meteor less frequently, has her Spirit stat reduced, heals less so Rinoa can survive 3 Drains unshelled
- Torama no longer casts Meteor
- Only one Sorceress Type B can cast Death now
- Raijin (1st) has increased Blind resistance
- Edea (2nd) uses Maelstrom only once at the beginning of battle
- Chocobo Basics Forest has additional treasure
- Getting back to the Ragnarok on disc 4 is now rewarded with some items (talk to Xu)
- Card Mod: The number of Jumbo Cactuar cards required for making 1 Jet Engine is reduced from 10 to 5
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-10-05 02:39:36
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-06 07:28:27
About the recent changes to the mod, I'm totally fine with them. You pointed out some important things, especially Meteor being overused towards the end of disc 3. It was already annoying in vanilla due to its length, and the fact that it inflicts more damage now makes things only worse. So a reduction of Meteor usage seems fair enough - also spell variety-wise. If you have any more suggestions for improvement, don't hold back. I actually still have a lot of things in mind for this mod, and player feedback is always welcome, of course.
Post by: UpRisen on 2018-10-06 19:59:03
here is my boss order and any thoughts i have on them.
Sphinx -> magic
Tripoint -> resurrection
Trauma -> limit break
Simple fight unless he uses Mega Pulse cannon in a short span, for me he used it, then punched then used again next turn. It deals 7500ish non protectable damage, if you arent over 9200 hp then a pulse cannon + punch will kill you every time.
red giant -> item
Krysta -> GF
Too low HP. 1 triple cast meteor with 255 magic won the fight. Its damage was nice though, 1.8k counter through protect and 6.5k with ultima no shell.
Gargantua -> Draw
The only acceptable use of the L5 death spell Kappa. Rebirth flame saved me in this fight.
cateboplas-> save
Tiamat -> ability
In general I would recommend increasing their HP by atleast 1.5x. I triple meteor spammed and they were all over before they really began.
Ultimicia. I would recommend removing greivers elemental weaknesses. Triple cast water on selphie and squall for 8-10k per cast and rinoa in angel wing with only Meteor to use made easy work of the entire fight.
I think that the triple spell should be removed entirely and replaced with something else as it trivialized the entire ending.
Overall id give the mod an FF8/10. Just a few more tweaks here and there, but the power of triple is really the only major thing left that i had issue with.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-06 22:13:12
- Reduce the impact of Haste status on ATB bar. I already feared that Auto-Haste might break the late-game to be honest.
- Reduce the Angel Wing damage multiplier to 3, or making it so that Rinoa's casts aren't limited to what she has in inventory.
- Removing Triple.. Not sure about it. Getting the spell is already more difficult than in vanilla (can't draw it from Cerberus or Odin). I guess I would prefer making it even harder to get, similarly to Aura, instead of removing it altogether.
- General adjustments to castle bosses, like giving Krysta some more HP. I think it's ok to let the final bosses have elemental weaknesses, as they have tons of HP. Auto-Haste and Meteor-spam is the bigger problem here I believe.
Trauma's Mega Pulse Cannon is rough and will likely lead to death, that's true, but that was intended and can be avoided by not killing both of the Dromas. The optimal strategy for this fight is: Killing off one Droma, outdamage Trauma's Auto-Heal until he begins draining HP from the remaining Droma (which means his HP is at 0), killing off the second Droma and then quickly give Trauma the rest before Mega Pulse Cannon gets off.
Anyway, congratulations and thank you for playing the mod until the end. Your feedback has been really helpful to make improvements for sure.
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-10-07 01:58:49
Alright, so I'll add the following to the to-do list:
- Reduce the Haste speed multiplier from x2 to x1.5, also to be more in line with other entries in the series (like IX). I already feared that Auto-Haste might break the late-game to be honest.
- Reduce the Angel Wing damage multiplier to 3, or making it so that Rinoa's casts aren't limited to what she has in inventory.
- Removing Triple.. Not sure about it. Getting the spell is already more difficult than in vanilla (can't draw it from Cerberus or Odin). I guess I would prefer making it even harder to get, similarly to Aura, instead of removing it altogether.
- General adjustments to castle bosses, like giving Krysta some more HP. I think it's ok to let the final bosses have elemental weaknesses, as they have tons of HP. Auto-Haste and Meteor-spam is the bigger problem here I believe.
Trauma's Mega Pulse Cannon is rough and will likely lead to death, that's true, but that was intended and can be avoided by not killing both of the Dromas. The optimal strategy for this fight is: Killing off one Droma, outdamage Trauma's Auto-Heal until he begins draining HP from the remaining Droma (which means his HP is at 0), killing off the second Droma and then quickly give Trauma the rest before Mega Pulse Cannon gets off.
Anyway, congratulations and thank you for playing the mod until the end. Your feedback has been really helpful to make improvements for sure.
Is there any way to possibly nerf triple by only allowing it to be used once in battle, and then break? This way you keep it for special healing or uber damage moments
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-07 23:31:43
Post by: fab_lorenzi on 2018-10-12 04:00:42
I have the next problem with the Queen of Cards quest:
After lost Quetzal's card in Balamb, she moves to Dollet. If I ask about her father, she says that he has created the Kiros card and it's somewhere in Winhill.
I've played several times with the woman of the inn-hotel (since you said the card is there), however she never uses Kiros card against me. The other man in the inn doesn't play cards. I don't know what to do.
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-10-12 10:49:34
Just beat Gerogero and done some sidequests in Dollet.
Overall the hardest battle so far was random encounter with red galbadian soldier + 2 blue ones :)
Bosses hit hard, but then they have a lot of downtime between turns, I usually can act twice between their next action, so unless they KO someone it's pretty easy to heal back up and continue your offense.
Granaldo was a total pushover with his weakness to sleep. And Quistis even advises you to junction that to Status attack right before this fight! Easy access to Protect and Shell spells.
Gerogero and Diablos were nice fights in which things spiced up a bit, but I do have a question regarding Diablos AI
Spoiler: show
Regarding Gerogero, I think more status ailments would make this fight more interesting. He berserked me once, but that's it. Blindness is not a problem because (for now, at least) magic outdamages physical attacks, and silence and slow are minor inconvenience which can be treated right away with Esuna you can draw from him. Maybe change his Esuna for something else? With him casting silence on someone it was basically him skipping turn.
I read that difficulty spike is coming soon in Centra Excavation Site, looking forward to it!
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-12 19:25:52
goodmorninpluto, thank you for your impressions. Diablos counters Demi no matter the circumstances. The only condition is that you have to cast Demi from own stock - he won't do it when using Draw Cast. He can beat your party with his physical attack and the Pain spell that does Poison damage now, which you can't protect very well against when attempting the battle right away. Maybe you just got lucky and he used Gravija most of the time. Anyway, the Diablos battle rather serves the purpose of a Limit Break showcase than a real challenge, and the statuses from Pain only help with that. I wanted him to be beatable right away on purpose, so the player can get a third HP and Mag-J soon, which is important especially for the Centra Excavation site.
As for Gerogero, Esuna in his Draw list was kept for safety reasons, i.e. if the player boarded the train in the worst situation possible (barely any spells, no Phoenix Downs left etc), as you can't do anything to improve your characters' stats or buy items once inside. Maybe I would remove it if I managed to add in a shop there. As for Gerogero's attacks, I'm doing adjustments to bosses at the moment anyway, so expect some changes to Gerogero too.
Post by: fab_lorenzi on 2018-10-14 05:37:49
fab_lorenzi, the woman behind the counter in Winhill inn is one of the card players who are very stingy with playing rare cards. Last time I played her, it took me 8-9 games until she finally used the Kiros card. There's probably a variable that controls a card player's willingness to play rare cards. I would change it for this player, as she also plays so damn well. Have to investigate that. For now, I can only advise to keep trying.
This time it only took me three games, so thank you for your advise to keep trying. I will continue the next Queen of Card's quests (never played Triple Triad in Vanilla so this mod is the perfect excuse for me to have all cards).
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-19 05:54:53
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-20 22:43:58
Changes:
- Several bosses have their AI changed or use new attacks:
- Ifrit
- Gerogero
- Oilboyles
- Norg
- Edea (2nd)
- Propagator (red)
- Propagator (purple)
- Krysta
- Ultima Weapon
- Final bosses
- Two new smaller sidequests are now available:
- Receive a random item after each stay at Galbadia Hotel in Deling City with equal probabilities
- Get one or two items from Selphie during the SeeD party, depending on when you joined the Garden Festival Committee
- A mini-boss has been added to the Winhill flashback to spice that part up a bit
- A new and unique Shop is now available in Deling City
- Some problematic card players use rare cards more often (Doomtrain, Laguna etc)
- Seifer and Edea now have some spells by default as well
- The Angel Wing damage multiplier has been reduced from 5 to 3
- The impact of the Speed stat on the ATB bar has been slightly reduced
- Weapon Hit rates have been increased
- Price lists have been overhauled, many items sell better now
- Gerogero's appearance and Gargantua chamber have been decensored
- The reward for getting back to the Ragnarok on disc 4 has been improved
- General Caraway no longer "magically" loses the Ifrit card the moment he gets it
Post by: Lunareste on 2018-10-22 03:59:13
I never encountered one before the update so I don't know if it's related.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-22 07:59:18
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-10-24 13:09:56
Battle with Esthar cyborgs was indeed tense, it came down to last character alive and deciding whether to do Limit Break or heal. Luckily, Limit Break did enough damage.
Your Deling city modifications came just in time for me to see them. I loved them! Spent like 20,000 gil right there at the hotel. Besides many useful items there, on one occasion I also received Magical Lamp.
The shop with different uprade components is a nice addition. May I suggest adding another one like this in late game for later weapons?
Also while traveling around the city I found old woman (near the sewer gates) talking about rare cards in this world. It striked me as odd when she talks about such topics but has absolutely lame deck and somehow wins all the good cards from the old man nearby, as he tells you. May I suggest adding some sidequest to this scene? I just find it so lovely.
Battle with Brothers was awesome. Got 4 game overs on them figuring out the strategy. Double + Haste, Protect and Shell seems like a must from now on.
Seifer was Seifer. Not much can be done with 1v1 battle under turn-based system. Return Damage is good here.
Edea fight ended pretty much instantly. After Carbuncle she Dispelled everyone, casted Thudaga on Squall and ended the fight while I was still setting up everyone's defenses. Apparently this is how it works in vanilla and you can't actually lose it?
The added battle at Winhill caught me off guard and got me another game over. It's nice that you can save right before it and adjust your strategy.
Can you say in the spoiler or PM what items Selphie gives to you for joining her committee? As these changes came when I was further in the game, I hope I didn't miss something important :(
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-24 18:05:19
The new shop in Deling City primarly serves as an alternate and quick way of getting level 2 elemental spells and Cura, for those who haven't found these through other means yet (the end of disc 1 is the absolute latest the player should get them). Later in the game, more items will be available for this shop using Tonberry's Familiar Ability. I would love to add even more unique shops to the game, but it's probably not that easy, as there is only one dummied out shop in the game data that can be made into basically anything without touching the already existing shops.
As for the first Edea battle, yeah, it's pretty much the same as in vanilla. I didn't want to change it into a must-win battle, as the party ends up being in trouble afterwards anyway. Still, there might be updates to at least Edea's attack pattern and AI in a future update, like having her use weaker spells at the beginning, and switching to stronger ones as the battle progresses.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your impressions. I'll keep your Deling City sidequest idea in mind. Thought about that couple earlier too, and making something Triple Triad-related out of it could be really interesting.
Spoiler: show
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-25 06:50:20
is there any chance you could make this mod much more harder like the other ff8 modder did in the past please
Post by: iDerek759 on 2018-10-25 08:11:52
hey
is there any chance you could make this mod much more harder like the other ff8 modder did in the past please
No offense Zara9, but that’s not really the intention of this mod. It’s a rebalance, not an entirely new difficulty mod.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-25 10:16:40
on the other ff8 modder mod, enemies and bosses had new spells and stuff that made it much more challenging for me and for everyone else
i had a challenge back then, i still like this mod alot but this mod needs enemies to have new spells and be alot more powerfull as well
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-25 12:12:46
You could try a low level challenge for this mod or set battle speed to max for added difficulty, or just go with Requiem if you haven't already. I don't really want to make the mod much more challenging than it already is, as this would be hardcore territory, which is not what the mod aims for, as Derek said. The focus is more on rebalancing the game than anything else.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-25 12:40:00
i just need a much more harder ff8 pc steam mod to play please
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-10-25 21:25:04
on KLITLIKA'S EPIC MOD i had a challenge back then, enemies and bosses attacked alot more faster, they had new spells and stuff and it made me think alot about what i should do about beating them
i just need a much more harder ff8 pc steam mod to play please
like callisto said, use colly's hardcore mod or use the requiem pc version mod. those are ridiculously hard.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-26 06:58:00
i do not think colly hardcore ff8 mod would work for me at all, because that mod has not been updated and tested since 2010
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-10-26 07:40:28
Spoiler: show
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-26 08:00:20
Post by: Callisto on 2018-10-26 08:36:14
Hotfix here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gY8YWU0oSYyPJQfjtP_ffupsgOzugUy-) (update your field files).
Zara, you've got advice in this thread as well as per PM already. There is no new difficulty mod at the moment, and I doubt there will be one anytime soon. Accept it.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-10-26 09:19:37
keep up the great work on your mod
i might play it 1 of these days
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-11-01 05:22:04
I enjoyed the difficulty on disk 2, the battles are challenging and engaging, not feeling too easy or too unfair. Zell with 100 str finally caught up to magic users and started doing same damage as lvl 2 spells. Though via card and item modding I do have an access to some lvl3 spells and with Double-casting magic still remains the king.
I have a question about Defend command. I remember it being very useful in Requiem mod, especially in the upcoming Raijin/Fujin fight. Hovewer I don't see it in Brothers ability list. Was it removed entirely or locked under higher level requirement?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-01 06:49:04
As for the weapon/magic damage balance, I think it would be really great to have something like Double Cut from FFVII for the late game, to balance things out a bit more. This would be probably hard to implement though, so for now, the Darkside Ability, Berserk and abusing elemental weaknesses with Elem-Atk have to do when it comes to increased physical damage.
Post by: Nikkolas on 2018-11-11 01:21:05
I just started the mod, about to head to Timber, but I like it. Character differentiation is the most important thing in a VII or VIII mod. I can't play the games anymore with everyone being the same, it's just too dull. Physical attacks are also viable instead of Triple-casting magic being the only solution like in Requiem.
Reporting your reports, you've also taken great pains to actually help the players which I respect greatly. Some modders forget that these games are supposed to be fun. For example, I do not foresee me being hopelessly screwed when I face Fujin and Raijin in Balamb like I was in Requiem. I ended up having to grind up to Level 100 to beat them because I had missed Auto-Haste. I forget how you get it, off one of the character cards I think that only appears as part of the Queen sidequest which I had not started.
Card Mod being rebalanced - and even unnecessary as of yet - is also appreciated. Of course I still have used it and it helped a lot with Diablos. Also helped was you giving me Double. Dunno how I'd beat the spider or Diablos without Double Cure for the former and then Double Aero for the latter. But of course that's all optional. Glad to have the HypnoCrown though.
I think this will be one I see through to the end. I'm very curious to see what is to come as I've liked what I've seen up to now.
More mods need to give you stuff at the start of the game, BTW. FFVII HardType gave you some choice material at the start too, like I think Counter Attack and another one or two. It's been a while. My point is, we're all repeat players here and a mod should recognize that and help break up the early game tedium when you are Level 1 scrub with a Rusty Sword and Old Armor by giving you some nifty abilities.
Post by: Nikkolas on 2018-11-12 10:55:00
Edea certainly wasn't quite the headache she was in Requiem. She thankfully only uses single targeting spells instead of, ya know, Ultima. I won my first attempt but I didn't get the steal so I reset and did it over. She never once used Dispel on me like the earlier poster said.
You are very generous with things I must say. I had a great supply of Doubles already but giving the Iguions all those Dragon Fins is still appreciated.
Overall I have died a couple times but nothing too major. Last super hard fight was Diablos. The Brothers were a challenge though, thankful I only got Minotaur's steal on my first attempt. I killed Sacred too fast but he still only had the stuff to make Curas so I'm not bothered by missing his steal. That Power Wrist helped Squall a lot. Really appreciate the fact physical attacks are still viable. Squall's physical attacks and Double Bio'ing Rinoa were what took Edea down while Irvine healed. Don't have many Bios right now but I figured I'd use them for a timed boss fight and all.
Overall I think this is a pretty cool mod so far. I'll try to recommend it to people elsewhere.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-13 00:47:57
Of course, when modding a game, you have to be careful not to make sidequest rewards too good either, or even necessary to make progress in the game. For this mod, the minimum is looking for new spells every now and then, and caring for a reasonable GF distribution for the most part. If you feel like being forced into doing anything beyond that to proceed in the game, please let me know and I'll try sorting it out, as this is not how it should be.
Currently planning an update and busy with adding some more sidequests that mainly center around getting Level 6 and 7 Boss Cards before they become available through regular Triple Triad players (which is quite a bit later than in vanilla, as said before). Some smaller changes to Triple Triad cards will likely be made too, as well as a Seed Salary rebalance to make money matter a little more than usual. Hoping to get v1.0.9 done soon.
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-11-13 03:55:18
where can i find a good ff8 hardcore mod at for the pc steam version
Post by: Zara9 on 2018-11-13 20:48:34
i suggestion to add, is there anyway to make this mod alot more harder with bosses having new spells and making them attack alot more faster and stuff
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-11-15 04:41:19
Btw, is the Double draw point in Library ever going to refill?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-15 05:12:55
The Double Draw Point in the Library never refills to keep the early-game balance in check, but now that you say it, I think it could be made available again from a later point in the game onwards. If you need a source for Double spells right now, I would recommend the Grendel encounter in the forest near Galbadia Garden (needs LV Up though, as this Grendel's natural level caps at 12 or 13 I think).
Post by: Divatox on 2018-11-15 23:09:35
quick question, in some bosses you literally mod the AI? using some program?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-16 05:41:42
So all in all, I'm just using Ifrit and hex editor where necessary. I don't know of any other program that change enemy AI. But who knows, maybe Ifrit gets another update some time in the future.
Post by: Nikkolas on 2018-11-17 02:23:43
Is getting Odin on Disk 4 viable in this mod so Seifer can be a real challenge and have a good climactic finish for his role in the story?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-17 04:29:43
Now that you mention it, I think it would be a good idea to prolong the time it takes to make Gilgamesh appear, as the span was really short in the original version, making the battle rather pointless indeed. Would be also nice to have an option to temporarily disable Odin and Gilgamesh once you have them, as they often show up when you don't need them. Maybe I can come up with something for the next update, to increase the incentive to actually get these two GF. During my latest playthroughs, I got neither of them to be honest..
Post by: Nikkolas on 2018-11-19 06:28:28
Getting Odin before disc 4 in the mod is not more worthwhile than it is in vanilla. In fact, rather the opposite, as Triple has been removed from his Draw list (he still has the Luck-J-Scroll though). So unless you want him to assist you in battle, you can just ignore and get him later to ensure he doesn't disrupt the Seifer fight.
Now that you mention it, I think it would be a good idea to prolong the time it takes to make Gilgamesh appear, as the span was really short in the original version, making the battle rather pointless indeed. Would be also nice to have an option to temporarily disable Odin and Gilgamesh once you have them, as they often show up when you don't need them. Maybe I can come up with something for the next update, to increase the incentive to actually get these two GF. During my latest playthroughs, I got neither of them to be honest..
Sounds good! Thanks.
One more quick question, you mentioned additional sidequests. I've kinda just been blazing through the game apart from some Triple Triad and minor battle grinding. Are there rewards for looking about when I get control of the Garden? I just beat NORG where I'm at.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-19 08:26:30
I would also recommend doing the Master Fisherman quest for a heavily improved reward (more items + major boost to SeeD rank), as well as collecting the items at Grease Monkey's house after straying away from the concert preparations as Irvine. In Timber, you now get something for rescuing the girl from the train at the station and the man in front of the Timber Maniacs building gives a different reward if the player cheered him up during disc 1. Winhill and Chocobo Forests are worth checking out too.
It's not that much yet, but more is coming soon.
Post by: Nikkolas on 2018-11-20 01:10:06
In Fisherman's Horizon, you can get a reward for reuniting the Cafeteria Lady's son with his mother, but the time frame for making him appear near the station is short (only while the place is in shambles after the BGH251F2 battle) and you need to have exhausted the Cafeteria Lady's dialogue in Balamb Garden during disc 1 if I remember correctly. If this prerequistite has been met, the safest way of getting the item is talking to Dobe right after the boss fight, leave the area and re-enter. The Cafeteria Lady's son should be there then (until the concert).
I would also recommend doing the Master Fisherman quest for a heavily improved reward (more items + major boost to SeeD rank), as well as collecting the items at Grease Monkey's house after straying away from the concert preparations as Irvine. In Timber, you now get something for rescuing the girl from the train at the station and the man in front of the Timber Maniacs building gives a different reward if the player cheered him up during disc 1. Winhill and Chocobo Forests are worth checking out too.
It's not that much yet, but more is coming soon.
That's still plenty. Very awesome, thank you.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-20 15:47:02
I'm guessing this and KLITLIKA'S MOD are incompatible, right?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-20 17:16:39
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-20 21:07:53
I wonder if there is a full sidequest list.
Most original game made sidequests useless (except GFs amd weapons), so it's interesting to have a list.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-21 05:46:39
Post by: Percival on 2018-11-21 16:05:16
One question, does this mod change any of the story or dialogue? I thought I read that you fixed some typos.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-22 05:00:57
As for the mod in general, I think there are still quite some kinks that need to be ironed out, but are difficult to deal with due to how the game is programmed. For example, I'm still quite disappointed with what can be done to weapon customization at most - I'd wish there was more than just bonuses to Strength, Hit and crit rate to make them stand out more. Besides that, the late-game would really benefit from a Double Cut Ability, which is likely hard to implement, and of course, the game needs more different enemies.. Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied with what I have been able to accomplish with this mod so far, but there's still room for improvement and things you could do differently compared to this mod (at least it appears to me that Klit's mod is quite different from this one, even though they share the same goals), so better don't give up on your own :)
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-23 21:41:21
What could help:
- double all enemies HP, increase def and spr, but also double exp and HP. Longer and more difficult battles, but worth the time.
- recomend players to never import chocobo world items. Instead give some nice items as sidequests rewards.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-23 22:29:22
As for Chocobo World, yeah, I could advise against playing it, but most players who look for a challenge probably pass on it automatically anyway. Still, I could change the items that can be found through it to prevent abuse. Thanks for reminding.
Post by: Percival on 2018-11-24 03:54:14
There are no fundamental story or dialogue alterations planned at the moment, but I've been thinking of some script changes that make the game more faithful to the original Japanese version (such as changing Edea's speech during the Deling City parade, fixing Samantha Soul mistranslation or adding back other things that were lost in translation). The currently corrected typos refer to simple spelling errors like "Disolving Acid", an attack used by Malboro, or spacing mistakes between words (which are quite common), so nothing too major.
As for the mod in general, I think there are still quite some kinks that need to be ironed out, but are difficult to deal with due to how the game is programmed. For example, I'm still quite disappointed with what can be done to weapon customization at most - I'd wish there was more than just bonuses to Strength, Hit and crit rate to make them stand out more. Besides that, the late-game would really benefit from a Double Cut Ability, which is likely hard to implement, and of course, the game needs more different enemies.. Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied with what I have been able to accomplish with this mod so far, but there's still room for improvement and things you could do differently compared to this mod (at least it appears to me that Klit's mod is quite different from this one, even though they share the same goals), so better don't give up on your own :)
Thanks for the encouragement! I agree about the weapon limitations. I found the most value in altering the GF's (abilities and attacks), since they are actually the primary mechanic in the game.
I love the creativity in Klit's mod, but I was also moving in the other direction. It made more sense to me to try to make the 6 main characters a bit weaker, rather than make every enemy stronger. For example, the first thing I did was lower the stat bonuses for almost all junctioned magic.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-24 13:27:04
After str-J, enemies are still OHKO.
Overall I like the mod, I will definitely play it all the way and report, but it still feels it need some kick (force the use of scan to see vulnerabilities cause everything else does little damage for example).
Another thing I never liked is the 0 exp from bosses. It makes the game all about grinding. Bosses are supposed to be a major push up to npcs, but FF8 only gives AP and some items. Is this changeable?
[Edit]
Perhaps I spoke too soon... Difficulty just tripled on the way to Dollet tower. Red galbadian soldier hitting for 300 and Anacondaur for 450 per squeeze is interesting, specially at those two screens when Seifer leaves.
Post by: Kraust on 2018-11-25 00:50:40
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-11-25 06:48:15
Story content is challenging but not unfair, it still requires preparation and knowledge of the game systems and enemies weakness.
Optional battles are much harder, so perhaps you will enjoy them more.
Disc 2 and onwards really shines in that regard, because you learn new useful abilities and can approach the battle in many ways.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-25 11:25:49
Post by: Kraust on 2018-11-25 13:21:19
You need to play further than that to really judge the difficulty of this mod :)
Story content is challenging but not unfair, it still requires preparation and knowledge of the game systems and enemies weakness.
Optional battles are much harder, so perhaps you will enjoy them more.
Disc 2 and onwards really shines in that regard, because you learn new useful abilities and can approach the battle in many ways.
I'm still playing, I just stopped for the night.
Finished Disk 1 and Seifer/Edea were insane. I could not beat Seifer unless I did Haste->Protect->Shell->Regen->Attackx4 and Edea seems to have way too much HP. Also her fight can easily be cheesed by spamming Carbuncle as the AI seems to prioritize Dispel if anyone has Reflect.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-11-26 09:52:07
Quote from: eXistenZe
Another thing I never liked is the 0 exp from bosses. It makes the game all about grinding. Bosses are supposed to be a major push up to npcs, but FF8 only gives AP and some items. Is this changeable?
Yes, it is changeable. The reason the 0 exp from bosses is still in is to generally allow runs at characters' initial level, for those who look for a tougher challenge (such as Zara9), but I think as long as the amount of exp given is moderate, it should be fine. There's also that one achievement you can get for finishing the game on Squall's initial level, which I would like to keep doable for the mod. But then again, you could still get it by just killing off or petrifying Squall before beating a boss.. Well, I'll think about it.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-11-26 21:33:05
Bad luck I guess.
Second time was a charm.
Stop is an interesting concept, but then ultra cure always removes it (intended?).
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-01 22:08:25
Sorry again to anyone waiting for the next update by the way. There are a few more things I'd like to include that kept me busy, such as fixing Julia not actually playing the piano in Deling City or increasing the elevator speed in Fisherman's Horizon, which I thought was always incredibly slow and annoying, especially when doing the sidequests there. Now there's only a few things left to do, such as adding optional battles in Dollet, Esthar and Lunatic Pandora Institute. Shouldn't take that much longer.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-02 14:35:46
Before Deling city there's already access to Death magic on world map. Perhaps overkill for disk 1?
Another unbalanced magic is Tornado, by converting Abyss Worm cads into windmills. Makes str go way high.
Armadodo and T-Rexaur also give access to Dino Bone which gives access to Quake.
Loved the new battle on winhill. You could add a few dozen more :) it would give more new content. There are quite a few monsters you will only see once in the game (like some castle bosses). Perhaps add a low level version here and there :)
In the prision, the human guards do only one attack (stop). Is this intended? With 3 members its easy, but that screen with only zell it's a coin flip.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-02 14:56:22
Well, thank you for sharing impressions, highly appreciated. More battles similar to the new one in Winhill will come soon :)
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-02 15:57:40
Death is not from draw point. It's from some monster I can't quite remember... Vysage? Or perhaps latter esthar cyborg? It's before Deling for sure.
Also break from iguion is extremely effective against 90% of enemies (including sub-bosses like balamb garden norg vs cid battles). Perhaps adding some resistances would be nice.
Mug also seems to appear to soon in the game (makes item collecting from enemies too easy). Perhaps moving it to alexander would balance it.
Overall, I'm loving the mod. Great work.
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-12-04 04:46:13
By stealing from lvl 30+ Thrustaevis I get Shear Feathers, and stealing from Abyss Worm nets me Mystery Fluid.
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-04 05:27:46
LV1-19 = Low level
LV20-39 = Mid level
LV40-100 = High level
@eXistenZe: So you probably got Death from the Cyborgs then. Not sure whether to change this opportunity or not, as Death isn't that effective anymore due to many enemies having higher resistance or immunity against the status effect, and its boost to HP has been reduced too. I'll recheck Break resistances for sure though.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-04 08:25:54
Post by: Crossfade on 2018-12-07 07:45:19
Edit: Ok I found it but I cant draw it atm so idk if it is double or not
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-07 19:02:16
The Library Draw Point is the same as in the original game (non-refilling), it just contains Double instead of Esuna. So all it needs it having the Draw Command junctioned. Feel free to report back if the problem persists.
Post by: Crossfade on 2018-12-07 23:50:33
Looking forward to trying this out
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-08 17:06:16
Too much access to high level magic...
Card mod could be moved to after ragnarok (bahamut or eden).
Speed is way overpowered still. After spd j it's just not fun anymore. Auto haste will just make it borring.
Can you delay access to chocobo forests to after ragnarok too?
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-10 08:49:45
Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga: Very specific Worldmap encounters after controlling Garden, Galbadia Garden enemies late disc 2, Card Mod: CC-Sidequest or card players in FH
Tornado: Draw from high level Ruby Dragon in Grandidi Forest or Laguna flashback early disc 3, Card Mod: CC-Sidequest or card players in FH (<-- I could change the Elvoret result, but it's unfortunately the only boss with a strong connection to the element wind, so Windmill is a bit difficult to assign to the right enemy. Guess I'll move it to Jumbo Cactuar, who has Tornado in his Draw list, so it would be somewhat fitting)
Quake: Draw from high level T-Rexaur (needs LV UP) or Abadon, Card Mod: disc 3 start
Holy, Flare, Meteor, Ultima: Not available before Lunar Cry for drawing, Card Mod: not available before disc 3, and the refining rate is not as efficient as in the original game
I agree with Auto-Haste being detrimental to the game's difficulty though, as enemy turns seem to be heavily suppressed if all characters have it (similar to the Limit Break priority thing). You got Auto-Haste by modding the Kiros card, right? Maybe it should no longer refine into 3 Accelerators at all. Regarding Chocobo Forests, I think the time they can be accessed is fine. The rewards you can get there can be easily changed though. Which items do you think were too powerful?
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-10 10:56:11
Also accessed holy and some other nice spells. And stats items.
Item importing is just sort of cheating, and can be abused, but I guess it's mostly a player choice to cheat or not. I don't think people play chocobo world for the fun of it. The same way people can use hyne to cheat stuff in.
Other than that, in my normal playthrough, speed seems to be the most unbalanced stat. Even before auto-haste. It's like str before and after tornado. Huge bump.
I liked the idea of diferent stats for diferent chars. You can actually see the differences in game (spd, str and mag mostly). But magic join makes the diferences be minimal. Perhaps reducing the increase value from join could benefit overall game balance and make chars more unique. Make it impossible to achive 255 for example.
Post by: Mcindus on 2018-12-10 20:25:30
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-10 22:33:25
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2018-12-11 04:48:57
My final party was lvl 70 Squall, lvl 65 Zell and lvl 50 Rinoa. I kinda regret not swapping Zell midgame for another magic user, since he basically never catched up to spellcasters in terms of damage, so I relegated him to healer role. Other characters were 30-40 levels behind, so were their stats, and to me it seemed like every point in stats mattered a lot more than in vanilla. I like that you made level gain much more relevant.
Now unto balance. There is a brief period (~second half of disk 2) where attack was preferable to magic, but after acquiring Cerberus and Alexander you can get Triple (via GF summon or High Mag-RF) and can supply yourself with level 3 spells from Odyne shop. With bosses being immune to Vit0, not even 255 strength and abusing of elemental weakness could catch up to 255 magic triple casting Meteor. I know you suggested to use Berserk, but it comes with the cost of losing control over character and it's not really an issue of damage on hit (it's comparable to lvl3 spells), but rather the issue of physical attacks being single hit, whereas milticasting can break 9999 damage limit. Limit Breaks should theoretically bridge the gap, but staying on low HP is risky and Aura is very hard to stock up (until disk 4). Considering how potent Triple and Meteor are, I think adjustments for refine formulas of Dragon Fin and Star Fragment are in order.
Auto-Reflect, Counter and Return Damage are really good, especially for a point in time you get them. With these abilities it's basically auto-win against Seifer and Edea.
Regarding command abilities, they are mostly like in vanilla can be easily substituted. Kamikaze got nerfed (and for a right reason, it was broken), Recover, Revive and Treatment like in vanilla are good only until certain point. You lowered the requirements of Whispers for learning Recover, but I still don't understand why it takes so much work for getting this ability at the point in time you can learn it. Defend being available so late made me never even try bothering with it. Bosses attacks are either AoE nukes or can be negated with Protect/Shell. Also by that time you are already such a powerhouse that in just a few turns of attacking you get a victory, so maintaining defense is not that neccessary contrary to how it was during Disk 1 and 2. The hardest battle on disk 3 was against beefed up Elastoid and Esthar soldiers during Laguna's flashback. Level Up/Down don't work on enemies I want them to (like Ruby Dragons or Iron Giants). Darkside being single hit loses to magic. Is there a way for this ability to break damage limit? Perhaps that could be the solution.
Disk 4 balance is heavily in player's favor. By getting to Ragnarok and playing with CC group you can get endless supply of Aura Stones (Gilgamesh cards), Megalixirs (Bahamut) and Holy Wars (Seifer). I don't really think player should have so much convenience for so little trouble. Is there a way to make CC group play only the cards you didn't get yet, but not the ones you refined? Because since you can get the cards again and again it doesn't really matter that the number of items you get through modding is lowered. If you abuse Holy War + Triple Meteor final dungeon becomes pretty much a joke and not posing any challenge at all.
Overall I enjoyed this mod. New additions in sidequests, much more desirable level gain and great balance during disks 1 and 2. It just needs a bit of fine-tuning on disk 3 and 4, because if player keeps up with the best options the difficulty drops down significantly.
Post by: levantine on 2018-12-12 12:00:43
I don't know where to post so i will try here,
I have a huge problem, sometimes when i play the game freeze and i have this message (most of the time, it come when a battle starting, i have the music, but game freeze ) :
An unknow exeption has occured
I passed several days trying to resolve it but still get it ...
I tried this method https://steamcommunity.com/app/39150/discussions/0/666828126743975209/?l=french&ctp=3 but this doesn't change anything
Hope somebody can help me...
Also i'm at the end of cd1, really enjoy your mod, will post my feedback later ;p
Post by: Sega Chief on 2018-12-12 12:48:03
https://steamcommunity.com/app/39150/discussions/0/1696046342852378557/
'Now i run it as administrator, in Windows 7 compatibility mode, with only CPU 1 in affinity and with Steam Overlay disabled. Literally every solution of every problem i have read on this forum.'
Seems a bit much, but he purportedly got through game without a crash after all this so maybe it could help.
Post by: levantine on 2018-12-12 13:34:42
failed to create useful direct 3d device
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-13 13:49:29
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-fix-d3d9-dll-not-found-or-missing-errors-2623235
I remember that I needed to put in the file there manually some time ago to make the game work at least with Tonberry.
eXistenZe and goodmorninpluto, thank you very much for your feedback. It made me realize that there are still quite a few gaps that can potentially break the game in the later stages. Chocobo World loot will be nerfed significantly soon, and some more Card Mod results will be changed (Elvoret, Kiros and Carbuncle in particular). The CC-Card players on the Ragnarok could be made easily into not replaying used up cards, but I'm not so sure about really going for it, as it would be quite a drastic change and they are usually the main reason for actually doing this sidequest earlier. Maybe just changing some more of the delicate Card Mod results would do - not sure yet.
Allowing Darkside to Break the Damage limit could probably be done by creating a new attack type that would then be assigned to a character's weapon, which could then do more than 9999 damage universally with a standard physical attack, not just with Darkside (which is based on it). That's my current plan for making the Ultimate Weapons stand out more which is one of my main goals for the mod that have yet to be realized. Anyway, thanks again, also for playing the mod until the end :)
Post by: levantine on 2018-12-14 08:17:15
I fallow this yesterday : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391096600
I tried the part For issues in Windows 10:
- Download the DirectX9c June2010 End User Runtimes and Install the most recent package, do NOT use the 'normal' Web Installer.
GO HERE: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109
I played a litle and did not get anymore my bug, i have to try much longer to see if that solved my problem, but i lack in time this week end, i'll post my feedback later on if that solved the problem
Anyway, thx for helping me, big up !
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-14 18:10:10
Code: [Select]
Card Previous Current
Imp 1 = 5 Magic Stones 1 = 3 Magic Stones
Elvoret 1 = 1 Windmill 1 = 1 Dynamo Stone
J. Cactuar 5 = 1 Jet Engine 1 = 1 Windmill *1
Tri-Point 1 = 1 Dynamo Stone 5 = 1 Jet Engine
C. Chocobo 1 = 100 LuvLuvG's 1 = 20 LuvLuvG's
Gilgamesh 1 = 10 Aura Stones 1 = 10 Fury Fragments *2
Carbuncle 1 = 3 Glow Curtains 1 = 20 Dragon Skins
Diablos 1 = 100 Steel Orbs 1 = 20 Steel Orbs
Odin 1 = 100 Dead Spirits 1 = 20 Dead Spirits
Phoenix 1 = 3 Phoenix Spirits 1 = 3 Phoenix Pinions
Bahamut 1 = 10 Megalixirs 1 = 3 Shaman Stones
Kiros 1 = 3 Accelerators 1 = 3 Aegis Amulets
Laguna 1 = 10 Heroes 1 = 3 Friendships
Seifer 1 = 3 Holy Wars 1 = 3 Heroes
Squall 1 = 10 Adamantines 1 = 3 Adamantines
*1 Note that J. Cactuar is a LV 7 boss card and not LV 6 (Elvoret) - that means the Windmill availabilty through Card Mod will be delayed to disc 3 (excl. Pandemona). Dynamo Stone has been moved down to the LV 6 range to match the Red Fang and North Wind availability.
*2 10 Fury Fragments are worth 2 Aura Stones or 2 Aura Spells; 2 Fury Fragments are also needed for Zells 3rd weapon, to give the transformation a bit more value.
As for the drop from 100 items down to 20 in a few cases, I think is necessary to prevent an infinite source for Demi and Death spells (especially easy 100 Demis for everyone in the early-game is quite powerful). These items also sell much better since the last update - so refining the Diablos card into 100 Steel Orbs right after getting him and then selling these would be overkill too.
If anyone would like to make suggestions, don't hesitate to share. Otherwise, I'll go with that.
Levantine, I hope you are getting your issue fixed.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-14 21:10:28
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-14 21:29:04
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-15 08:28:41
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-15 15:01:19
Quote from: eXistenZe
Doesn't jet engine allow some nice refines early on?
They can be turned into Rocket Engines (teaches Spd+30%) and Spd Ups, but Tri-Point cards aren't available before disc 3 as they are LV 7 cards. And even with the lowered requirements, it would still take long to actually get Rocket Engines and Spd Ups that way. Furthermore, turning them into Rocket Engines requires GF Abl Med-RF from Eden, whereas the Spd Up refinement needs Forbid Med-RF from Doomtrain, so not much can be done with the item until late disc 3 (other than just teaching a GF Spd+10% with the item itself).
By the way, the earliest availability for LV 6 and LV 7 boss cards in the mod is as follows:
LV 6: CC-Group and FH card players disc 2 (vanilla: Galbadia Garden disc 1)
LV 7: Edea and Cid disc 3 (vanilla: CC-Group and FH card players disc 2)
This was a necessary step in my attempt to balance Card Mod out without nerfing the results to the ground or just moving it to Eden, an idea I never really liked to be honest. I am firmly convinced that it's ok to leave Card Mod at Quezacotl as long as the mod results are reasonable and the availability for the better rewards is delayed.
Post by: eXistenZe on 2018-12-15 20:42:31
Post by: Scai88 on 2018-12-16 07:01:05
Kind regards,
Scai
Post by: Callisto on 2018-12-16 16:52:46
Post by: Scai88 on 2018-12-16 18:19:35
UPDATE: @ Calisto: I´ve followed your advice and changed my version to the english version to play with the mod. First I thought that it worked because squall and quistis had some spells at the beginning. But now I recognized that the drawpoint in the libary is still esuna instead of double and also the fight versus ifrit and the random encounters weren´t more difficult than normal. So i am confused now if the mod works or not. The point is that I downloadet and installed RaW but there was not an RaW folder after extracting the torrent file whether in the extracted files nor after installation in my FF8 main folder. So I also downloadet the Roses and Wine light Version and took only the RaW folder from there and puted it in the FF8 root folder (i also tried to use the bass.dll and ddraw.dll from the RuW light version but the sound was than the same as the default sound, so I deleted it again) and placed the Ragnarok_mod.txt file in this RaW/GLOBAL/Hext folder. Now it looks like a part of the mod works (cause of the spells in the inventory) and another part don´t work. I have so much obstacles to get up and running one of the mods that I want to use... I hope I can get help here. What can I do?
UPDARE2: I got it!! I made a mistake with the RaW torrent file and now i could fix this and your mod works perfectly. I had to heal my chars against Ifrit, how wonderful :-). I really looking forward to a new FF8 experience. Never made a playtrough because of its low difficulty I lost my interest no later than disc 3 when I was ridiculously owerpowered. Its amazing that you took the time to improve the game in this way, thanks a lot for this :-)
Post by: Murasame on 2018-12-21 02:49:55
Edit: whoops. Looks like the RaW folder needs to be accessed from FFVIII's files after installation rather than directly in the RaW folder itself. Don't mind me.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-06 12:39:02
It's been quite some time since the latest update, but today I finally managed to finalize a new version for this mod. During the last couple of weeks, I spent quite a lot of time on learning the game's Field script language more properly, which allowed me to do more things than initially planned, and that's part of the reason why it took way longer than expected. Sorry again to anyone who was hoping for an earlier release. And thanks again for all the feedback and ideas. A lot of it was taken into account and is now included, as you can see in the changes overview below.
As always, let me know if you find any bugs. I have double-checked everything, especially the new sidequests, but it could be that something was overlooked. But for now, enjoy :-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Balance changes
Refine results
Code: [Select]
Card Previous Current
Imp 1 = 5 Magic Stones 1 = 3 Magic Stones
Red Giant 1 = 5 Meteor Stones 1 = 3 Meteor Stones
Elvoret 1 = 1 Windmill 1 = 1 Dynamo Stone
J. Cactuar 5 = 1 Jet Engine 1 = 1 Windmill
Tri-Point 1 = 1 Dynamo Stone 5 = 1 Jet Engine
C. Chocobo 1 = 100 LuvLuvG's 1 = 20 LuvLuvG's
Gilgamesh 1 = 10 Aura Stones 1 = 10 Fury Fragments
Carbuncle 1 = 3 Glow Curtains 1 = 20 Dragon Skins
Diablos 1 = 100 Steel Orbs 1 = 20 Steel Orbs
Odin 1 = 100 Dead Spirits 1 = 20 Dead Spirits
Phoenix 1 = 3 Phoenix Spirits 1 = 3 Phoenix Pinions
Bahamut 1 = 10 Megalixirs 1 = 3 Shaman Stones
Kiros 1 = 3 Accelerators 1 = 3 Aegis Amulets
Laguna 1 = 10 Heroes 1 = 3 Friendships
Seifer 1 = 3 Holy Wars 1 = 3 Heroes
Squall 1 = 10 Adamantines 1 = 3 Adamantines
Triple Triad cards
Some cards that previously had no elemental property have been given an element or have their element changed in an attempt to achieve a more evenly distributed elemental representation for the actual Card game (in the original, there is only one Holy-elemental card, for example). The changes are as follows:
Code: [Select]
Card Previous Current
Grand Mantis -- Water
Ochu -- Poison
Death Claw Fire Wind
Torama -- Holy
Adamantoise Earth Water
Elnoyle -- Wind
Iguion -- Fire
Krysta -- Ice
Sphinxara -- Holy
Besides that, the Pupu Card's stats have been slightly improved, as its stat sum is very low compared to other Level 5 Monster cards, no matter the A value on the right side.
Chocobo World
The following items can no longer be imported from Chocobo World:
Hero, Holy War, Power Generator, Dark Matter, Ribbon, Aegis Amulet, Rosetta Stone, Moon Curtain, Steel Curtain, Accelerator, Phoenix Spirit, Gaea's Ring, Hyper Wrist, Adamantine, Royal Crown, Magic Armlet, Solomon Ring
Stat Up items and other items of similar value are still available, but the probability of finding them has been significantly reduced.
SeeD Salary rebalance
Code: [Select]
S-Rank Prev. Current
01 500G 500G
02 1,000G 1,000G
03 1,500G 1,500G
04 2,000G 2,000G
05 3,000G 2,500G
06 4,000G 3,000G
07 5,000G 3,500G
08 6,000G 4,000G
09 7,000G 4,500G
10 8,000G 5,000G
11 9,000G 5,500G
12 10,000G 6,000G
13 11,000G 6,500G
14 12,000G 7,000G
15 12,500G 7,500G
16 13,000G 8,000G
17 13,500G 8,500G
18 14,000G 9,000G
19 14,500G 9,500G
20 15,000G 10,000G
21 15,500G 11,000G
22 16,000G 12,000G
23 16,500G 13,000G
24 17,000G 14,000G
25 17,500G 15,000G
26 18,000G 16,000G
27 18,500G 17,000G
28 19,000G 18,000G
29 19,500G 19,000G
30 20,000G 20,000G
31 30,000G 30,000GThe lowered amounts in the mid-range might seem harsh at first, but keep in mind that loot generally sells better since v1.0.8, so you can use that as a secondary source for income in addition to SeeD salary. Besides that, the Cottage/Mega-Potion money making trick still kind of works, and in case that all is still not enough, the update also adds some sidequests that rewards the player with Gil (see further below).
Spells and GF
Break now does some Earth damage as well and can be junctioned to Elem-Atk and Elem-Def. Spell damage is between Fire/Blizzard/Thunder and Aero and the maximum Earth damage/protection through Elem-Junctions is 40%. Float also grants protection against Wind in addition to Earth when junctioned to Elem-Def (max. 30% for both). The base damage of all GF up to Brothers has been lowered, but damage is still higher than in vanilla un-boosted.
2) Enemies
- There is now more variation in the Granaldo/Raldo boss battle on disc 1: Raldos attack even while Granaldo is still alive and can do an AoE that has a chance to inflict Slow. If Granaldo is defeated before the Raldos, the Strength stat of all remaining Raldos doubles until the battle ends. Likewise, if all Raldos are defeated before Granaldo, Granaldo gains access to Dissolving Acid in addition to his standard physical attack.
- There is also more variation in the battle against Edea (1st), depending on her current HP. She starts with weaker spells and no longer spams Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga for the entire duration of battle, and the probability of her using Dispel on characters under Reflect has been reduced. Instead, she now uses Astral Punch more often, which has been buffed and has a chance to silence the target.
- Death Claw now uses a Wind attack on lower levels to justify its affiliation to the element Wind (see above) in addition to it dropping Shear Feathers and it offering the Aero spell for drawing (which has been there in vanilla already).
- Some alterations have been made to Omega Weapon and Griever.
- It now takes 10 more turns to make Gilgamesh appear and defeat Seifer at the end of disc 3, to make the battle more challenging if the player got Odin before.
- The probability of late-game enemies and bosses skipping their turns has been further reduced.
- The last Ruby Dragon battle before facing Bahamut (the one that is always a back attack) now has another monster in it to prevent being wiped by Ruby Dragon's Breath attack right away, which can feel unfair and needs a very high Vitality stat to be survived.
- When Zell is chased down by Galbadian Soldiers inside D-District Prison, the only possible encounter is the one against a single Guard (varied between 1 and 2 Guards before - facing 2 can be a gamble, considering Guards use Stop instead of Sleep in the mod).
- Ultimecia (final form) is now able to use her GF disabling move again (it was absent in v1.0.8 due to an oversight).
3) Sidequests and new content
The old couple in Deling City
The old man sitting at the bench near the sewer gates who lost all his good cards to grandma can now be helped building up his card collection again by finding a bundle of cards he lost somewhere in the city. In the end, the player will be able to choose between 3 different rewards:
- 3 Turtapod, 3 Bomb and 3 Chimera cards
- 1 Granaldo, 1 Abadon and 1 Propagator card
- 6,000 Gil
Furthermore, the couple now plays stronger cards than before, but the old man refuses to play until the quest is completed. The dialogue between the two also changes once the quest is done (after leaving and re-entering the screen once, and only when grandma is walking around).
Dollet revisited
Heading back to the Communication Tower after the SeeD mission on disc 1 now triggers a non-escapable battle against a new X-ATM092 variant that uses a different AI script and attacks (it would normally just fall down a cliff and that's it). The battle will likely be tough when attempting it at first occasion, as he starts nuking the party with strong AoE's if the battle takes too long. It should be easily doable on disc 2 or 3 though.
More items in Fisherman's Horizon
Talk to the man near the elevator when controlling Irvine after leaving the concert preparations. It triggers a short conversation that gives Irvine's character a bit more depth (it is the same as in the original - shame it is so well hidden that most players will likely miss it). After the concert is over, talk to him again with Irvine in your party, and he will apologize for what he said earlier, handing out a Triple Triad card.
Trading in Trabia Garden
There is one NPC in Trabia Garden who sells some of her belongings as her savings have been destroyed as a result of the missile attack. The player can use this opportunity to get good value for just 20,000 Gil: 2 boss cards and 3 different items. Buying or creating these items separately would be much more expensive.
Galbadia Garden
Some time on the way to Seifer and Edea, a non-escapable battle against 4 high-leveled Galbadian Soldiers will trigger: 2 G-Soldiers, 1 Elite-Soldier and 1 Paratrooper.
Centra Ruins
On the way to Odin's chamber, there will be a non-escapable battle consisting of 1 Chimera and 2 Armadodo's that can be challenging when visiting the Centra Ruins at the very first occasion.
Magical Lamps
Leftover Magical Lamps the player may have received by either staying at Galbadia Hotel or through Chocobo World can be traded in for a random Stat Up or an Elixir at Esthar Seaside Station (talk to the old man there). Can only be done after the Lunar Cry.
The dog in Esthar
Stop the dog running around the streets in Esthar to make him return to his owner nearby. If you then talk to the owner while having Pet Pals Vol.3 in your inventory, you have the option to give it to him for free for an item, or sell it to him for 15,000 Gil. If you don't have it in your inventory, he will hint at it. Can be done anytime before entering Lunatic Pandora as Zell and Edea.
Rescuing the girl at Esthar's Shopping Mall
Talking to the crying girl at the Shopping Mall will trigger a non-escapable and unique battle with 2 Behemoths in it. The reward is an item and a card. Can be done after Lunar Cry only.
Lunatic Pandora Laboratory research project
After the Lunar Cry events, Esthar digs out its old mobile weapons and tries to improve them. At Lunatic Pandora Laboratory, the player has the option to try 3 different battles that consist of stronger variants of Gespers, Cyborgs and Elastoids. The battles can be repeated multiple times for no costs, but the rewards are one-time only.
4) Other changes or improvements
- Early-game Draw Points change their contents on disc 2 to keep them more relevant later. For example, the Cure Draw Point at Balamb Garden's Gate will contain Cura, the Fire Draw Point inside Fire Cavern transforms into Fira etc.
- The Double Draw Point in Balamb Garden's Library becomes usable again on disc 2 and keeps refilling until the end of the game. The same goes for the Bio Draw Point inside the Timber Maniacs building that never refills on disc 1, but now does so on disc 2 onwards.
- Julia now actually plays the piano during the first Laguna flashback in Deling City.
- The elevator in Fisherman's Horizon now operates at a higher speed and the characters' legs are no longer cut in half when riding it.
- The wounded Dollet Soldier right before the mini-boss battle against Anacondaur in Dollet now acts as a save opportunity (in a similar way as Cid does before entering Balamb Garden's MD-Levels on disc 2). Note that talking to anyone but your team members during the Dollet mission will result in deduction points though, so don't talk to the soldier if you go for the highest possible SeeD score.
- A "Quit/Never mind" option has been added to the Queen of Cards text box options in case the player accidentally talked to her, ending up being forced to hear some of her longer dialogue.
- The new Odine Shop has been added to Joker on the Ragnarok in case the player never visited the shop before the point of no return at the end of disc 3. He has been also given a "Quit/Never mind" option for convenience.
- On disc 4, the probability of CC-Group card members playing rare cards has been reduced.
- Cid now uses his 3D model during the scene at Balamb Garden's directory before heading to Dollet (it wasn't a hard thing to do, since this screen has his 3D model by default).
Post by: ryfee on 2019-01-08 22:29:57
However, I ran into some issues fighting the Brothers. The best magics I have junctioned to STR/MAG are Break/Aero, and I have some magics like Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Esuna, Haste, Protect, Shell. However, the Brothers fight was really hard for some reason. I know I could "float" them and my whole party, but their physical damage was too high; my party wiped within a few turns especially when they started hammering with physical attack.
My Squall is lv20, Irvine and Rinoa around ~lv15 with about 1,1k~1,3k hp. I am not playing Triple Triad; I only occasionally Carded monsters in battle.
Any tips for this fight? Should I grind some more?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-09 03:10:38
In battle, go for defense first by casting Double and Protect on everyone (they have both spells available for Drawing). Shell is not that important, as the only magical attack in this battle is Mad Cow Special, which is strong, but predictable, as it's being used in regular intervals, but not very often. Once stabilized, cast Float on your characters against this attack and make sure to defeat Sacred (the bigger one) first, as he has less HP than Minotaur and once one of the Brothers is dead, Mad Cow Special will no longer be used so no more Floats need to be recast, which saves time. Sacred's physical attack, which has a chance to inflict Confuse is another reason to get rid of Sacred first. If you have the time to attack, use Double Aero or Bio, which should do good damage, especially when casting them with Rinoa.
All in all, killing the right enemy first is key in this battle to release some pressure as soon as possible, and going for Sacred first is the most reliable way to do so. After Sacred is gone, Minotaur will start using Mower more frequently, but this is much more manageable than having both alive as long as you have Protect up. If you keep losing to them, try setting battle speed to low. This can generally help with having more time to react to the Brothers' attacks.
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-09 14:30:51
That said, I am planning to use this mod to replay this amazing game I played for the first time almost 20 years ago. But in addition to a renewed and more balanced gameplay, I'd like to apply some other mods to improve graphic and music as well.
I had a look at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391096600 and all these non-gameplay mods seem fabulous, but I wonder if there is a way to install all these mods together without messing things up.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-09 17:07:38
The most convenient way to get it all installed is getting the Lunatic Pandora Mod Pack first, and then follow the instructions for installing this mod. Of course you can also install each mod that comes with LP separately - it would just take longer. But no matter how you decide, there shouldn't be any incompatibilities. If there are, just report it and we'll see what we can do.
Thanks for your interest and have a good time reliving Final Fantasy VIII.
Post by: ryfee on 2019-01-10 01:56:00
For some reason I never guessed that Zombie would be useful for HP... After getting Regen and Zombie the fight went so much smoother! I beat them. :)
Now just need to finish up Disc 1 and move on to Disc 2.
Thank you for the wonderful work!
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-12 10:22:38
There shouldn't be issues with using this mod and any of the graphics or music mods at the same time. I've been using some of them by myself and never noticed any incompatibilities. Maybe even the Hard-mode that is mentioned in the list from your link above works with it, but it would make the game harder than intended, so I would advise not using the Hard-mode on top of this mod.
The most convenient way to get it all installed is getting the Lunatic Pandora Mod Pack first, and then follow the instructions for installing this mod. Of course you can also install each mod that comes with LP separately - it would just take longer. But no matter how you decide, there shouldn't be any incompatibilities. If there are, just report it and we'll see what we can do.
Thanks for your interest and have a good time reliving Final Fantasy VIII.
Thanks for your answer!
I used the lunatic pandora installer and your mod. Everything looks fine so far (I've just got Ifrit) but one thing. When I use magics during the battle, they don't decrease. They do though, when I use magics from the menu (to cure for example). Any way/suggestion I can fix this?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-12 12:12:04
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-13 10:14:13
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-13 11:02:41
I happen to be in a similar position, recently reinstalling FF8 for a rerun and want to give your mod a go, it sounds right up my alley with added difficulty and balancing things out in a tasteful way. But just wanna make sure that the lunatic pandora package doesn't mess with the balance you've intended, so I probably should delete all the files relating to the hard mode that were automatically installed with the package. So to make sure - do you reckon the following files ought to be deleted in order to play your mod without other gameplay modifications messing it up: "Damage.dll, Hard.dll, HP.dll, Magic.dll and Publish.dll"?
Yeah, good point.
I didn't know that Lunatica Pandora was also adding this HardMod that substantially changes the gameplay.
Any advice from more experienced modders it's highly appreciated.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-13 11:27:06
Quote from: Ayoyo
So to make sure - do you reckon the following files ought to be deleted in order to play your mod without other gameplay modifications messing it up: "Damage.dll, Hard.dll, HP.dll, Magic.dll and Publish.dll"?The first four would definitely interfere with this mod's intentions, so I would advise not using them on top of this mod, by moving them somewhere else, as a backup. Publish.dll just removes the Squaresoft logo on startup, but I guess it needs to be removed too as I've heard of incompatibilities with the latest version of Roses and Wine music mod.
So yeah, you're better off removing them all. They would probably work just fine alongside this mod, if you wanted to further increase the game's difficulty, but there might be unexpected bugs or glitches I'm not aware of (haven't tried these dll's myself yet). No matter how you decide, just report back in case you face any issues and enjoy :)
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-13 16:29:28
I'm right now in the training center (Where you meet T-Rex for first time). Party is just Squall and Quistis. I have 100 Curas (already!) from Siren ability. I noticed that if a junction these 100 Curas with VIT, my vitality goes from 7 to 37. Weirdly though, physical damage inflicted...increases! I tested with Grat enemies in the training center only, but when they whip my Quistis (LV11) when I have no magic in junction on my VIT, average damage is 35/36. If I junction 100 Curas and therefore get my VIT to 37, average damage inflicted is...45!! (Both Grat tested in these 2 scenarios were lv 9).
Any explanation? Suggestions how to fix this?
Another 2 points:
1) I play with ATB on "wait". But differently from FF7 and FF9, ATB keep going when I am on the "select target" phase e.g. it stops when I am selecting a spell, but it starts again when I have to select the target for the selected spell. I know this is not a mod issue and it's how is intended to originally work the game, but I wonder if someone released any mod to fix this annoying issue.
2) On the same point, is there any mod out there that allows to skip/reduce the GF animations? GF are quite strong with this mod, and I am relying on them heavily, but the length of the animation is really annoying.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-13 17:31:59
Average damage when Vit was 7: 34 HP
Average damage when Vit was 37: 30 HP
So in my case, higher Vit did reduce the damage inflicted by Grat's standard physical attack, even though the differences within these ranges are rather negligible - the difference was there. Did you remove the Hard.dll from the Hard Mode? I can imagine this being the reason for your findings, as this one modifies both player and enemy melee damage.
As for your other two suggestions, I would really love to implement them, especially shorter GF summons, but it's not an easy thing to do, sadly. I think it hasn't even been achieved for FFVII either, and FFVII has been modded for quite a bit longer than FFVIII. Maybe it will be possible at some time, but probably not anytime soon.
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-13 18:19:59
I have just tested this under the exact same circumstances as yours (LV11 Quistis, Cura junctioned to her Vit, facing LV9 Grat) and the results were as follows:
Average damage when Vit was 7: 34 HP
Average damage when Vit was 37: 30 HP
So in my case, higher Vit did reduce the damage inflicted by Grat's standard physical attack, even though the differences within these ranges are rather negligible - the difference was there. Did you remove the Hard.dll from the Hard Mode? I can imagine this being the reason for your findings, as this one modifies both player and enemy melee damage.
As for your other two suggestions, I would really love to implement them, especially shorter GF summons, but it's not an easy thing to do, sadly. I think it hasn't even been achieved for FFVII either, and FFVII has been modded for quite a bit longer than FFVIII. Maybe it will be possible at some time, but probably not anytime soon.
Thanks for your answer!
Weird, I did remove all the dlls from the hard mode patch, so I should not have anything interfering with dmg calculation from your mod. Any further suggestion? Do you recommend to start a clean game removing hard dlls before starting?
Yeah, I can imagine shortening GF animation being a pain. I have to say though that it would be the least significant change amongst the two I mentioned in my previous message. I find incredibly annoying having to play at slower battle speed possible to mitigate the fact that the ATB is not actually frozen when choosing the enemy. Any hope for that in the future?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-13 19:11:18
If none of that helped, try replacing your current FF8_en.exe with a clean one - it could be that it was altered by the LP Pack installer to apply the Hard Mode changes. If you didn't backup a clean exe before installing all the mods, you can redownload it from Steam.
Making the ATB stop when selecting targets would probably be easier than shortening the GF summons, but right off the bat, I wouldn't know how to do that either. I'll keep that idea in mind though. It would be a convenient change for sure.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-17 02:21:20
Other than that, really digging the added little stuff like Selphie giving me something nice at the prom for joining the committee, Zell just donating me his inauguration money on the train(lol) or what I presume was an additional reward for not getting caught during the train mission. If these existed in the original game, I had no recollection whatsoever so I assume it's new extra stuff for being attentive, which is nice.
One of the best things you have going on is the vast differences in natural stat growth for characters, absolutely the right choice to give them an identity and their own strengths. However it does seem that some characters take a longer while to bloom though, seeing as Rinoa just joined the party and evidently as the leading lady of the story gets to trump the other girls in every possible stat despite being 2 levels lower than them, lol. I do hope it evens out eventually, seems detrimental to the idea of unique identities and different strengths to have someone just be hands down better.
Speaking of which, I'm interested to see which direction you've taken the ladies in. Boring and homogenous in vanilla, I'm really hoping to see some differences between them here so there's actually a choice to be made as to what kind of magic user you want. Selphie always felt to me like she should be a fast but fragile glass caster, with Quistis on the other end of the spectrum sporting some strength and more sturdiness to go with that magic(I mean come on, she goes around whipping the crap out of dragons and stuff) while Rinoa would be the heavy hitter with highest magic stat but average everything else. Am I way off or how have you assigned their roles/strength?
This turned into quite the random rant but I'll have some feedback of actual substance later. Now off to play some more.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-17 14:16:59
As for disabling EXP, I like that idea too, but it's likely a bit more difficult to implement. Can't promise anything yet, but I'll look into it.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-17 16:31:19
I already brought up some points regarding how Quistis and Selphie might be characterized in accordance with their features&profiles, but to reiterate in gameplay terms: I strongly feel Selphie is suited towards magic&speed as primary stats and probably luck as secondary stat so the lack of defensive stats would make the player work carefully to keep her alive and make use of that speed; Quistis is the most physical of the girls so I'd like to see magic&strength as primary stats with vitality as secondary to make her kind of allude to a battle mage role of sorts, that'd be cool. Do those sound like sensible ideas to you? And of course Rinoa with magic&spirit. That would certainly make them all truly distinct, interesting, and have different uses. I'm already starting to theorycraft as to party setups, boss strategies and which one of them works best in any given scenario.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-18 09:08:08
Anyway, here's a smaller update (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dw0DHBkjh8wsnpmpWs14fBwltX2QnHmG) that changes character base stats even further. Replace your main files in lang-en; changes are in effect immediately, no need to start a new game (mod installer coming soon).
This also alters some stat gains from Junctions (for example, Regen's effect on Vit and Spr has been reduced) and Rinoa's Limit Break can now be triggered slightly earlier than that of the other characters.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-18 17:53:18
Trying really hard not to get too powerful and keep levels low. Still not sure if I want to try and beat the entire game without card refinement, so far there certainly hasn't been any need to. Just drawing whatever magic I come across as I progress, the mod still generously gives you major stat upgrades if you take the time to draw full stacks.
Far as bosses go, so far nothing too threatening: Elvoret went down quite easily. X-ATM couldn't handle lightning summon+double thunder combo although it took a few tries to keep quetzalcoatl alive long enough to deal major damage. Diabolos has a nifty new spell in "pain" but blinding him still works and gave me ample time to draw full demi stacks in between heals. Gerogero didn't feel any harder than in vanilla, didn't try to phoenix down him though, I wonder if it still 1 shots him. The two cyborgs in the Laguna sequence were handily made harmless by silence+blind, allowing me to get full death stacks - a major upgrade to stats.
Old tricks still worked on Minotaur&Sacred, drawcasting double on myself lets me float+protect everyone quickly, mitigating their damage so free double stacks for all. Getting occasionally confused turned out to be the only real threat in the fight as my characters took to casting death on my own party and other cool stuff, so that was fun. Still, I managed to recover and beat the boss on first try. I can see why the story bosses are a bit on the easy side but Minotaur could stand to be a bit more complicated IMO, being an optional boss? Of course, if you for some reason don't use float (even though the game gives you a clear-as-day hint about it and even scanning straight up tells you to use float) I suppose the fight can be a bit harder, but by this point you've gotten regen from vysages on the way to the dungeon, or at least zombie from Gerogero so you have easily enough health to tank even the combo attack. Personally I didn't even bother with float towards the end, the combo attack of theirs damaged me just enough to cycle through limits before healing back up.
By this point I was about level 15 with Squall at 18 so maybe I'm already overleveled.
Trying to keep my levels to a minimum from now on to see if I run into trouble at any point. Excited to see if the difficulty amps up with Edea.
Edit: interestingly, shear trigger doesn't give me access to fated circle. First I thought it was just randomly not triggering, only rough divide, but then I checked the status screen and it doesn't show up there either so it definitely didn't unlock. I don't know if this bug existed in vanilla since I always went straight to lion heart. Or is something wrong with my game?
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-19 00:51:33
Have you checked the troubleshooting section on the Lunatic Pandora mod page (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391096600)?
If none of that helped, try replacing your current FF8_en.exe with a clean one - it could be that it was altered by the LP Pack installer to apply the Hard Mode changes. If you didn't backup a clean exe before installing all the mods, you can redownload it from Steam.
Making the ATB stop when selecting targets would probably be easier than shortening the GF summons, but right off the bat, I wouldn't know how to do that either. I'll keep that idea in mind though. It would be a convenient change for sure.
Thanks for your answer again. Unfortunately I checked both pandora troubleshooting and tried to replace the exe with the original one, but still same issue with more physical damage when VIT is higher.
Any other suggestions or test I could try?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-19 04:34:21
Regarding difficulty, I think the aforementioned spells is what removes part of it for you, rather than your current levels. Maybe I should remove Death from the Cyborgs again, as well as Regen from Vysage - Zombie on HP is actually just fine at this point in the game; and for Vit and Spr, Protect and Shell should do. As for Double from Minotaur, it might be better to just put another limited source for Double spells somewhere, to make sure the player can use some for this battle.
My respect for drawing 100 units of each spell though. Especially getting a full stack of Demis directly from Diablos must have been tiring, considering you usually don't have Mag-J available for everyone when facing him right away. Of course, players who are willing to spend the time should be rewarded in some way, but the spells in question might be a little too good for disc 1. I'll reconsider some of the spell availability for next update, thanks for sharing :)
Oh, and not getting access to Fated Circle after upgrading to Shear Trigger is nothing to worry about. Fated Circle and Blasting Zone availability is just slighty delayed in this mod.
@kekko1285: At this point, I would consider a complete reinstallation of the game using Steam functions. Then, after Lunatic Pandora contents are installed as well, immediately following this step mentioned on the Lunatic Pandora Page:
Quote from: Lunatic Pandora Mod page
If you don't want to use the Add-On's, go to "/HL_Files/DLL_in/" and remove them from the folder, but leave "Hext_in" alone.
Your bug is very likely caused by the Hard Mode add-ons. Make sure to not start the game using FF8_Ultra_Launcher. It's looks like it's only needed for the Hard Mode add-ons and UV fix anyway, the latter being included in this mod as well.
Feel free to report back again. I hope you'll get the issue fixed.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-19 07:33:19
Overall it does seem logical that bosses offer the best drawable spells at this point in the game so also agreed on removing regen. Doubles do seem overkill - I rationed the initial doubles I got from Balamb garden to last me the entire disc 1 and I used them on the harder bosses. I think it introduced an entirely new resource management/economy element to the game I had yet to experience. 1 or 2 doubles per boss should suffice for players so adding another single-use draw point for disc 1 is more than generous. I had some left over from my Balamb doubles by the time I got to Minotaur even after using them on some bossfights.
Maybe this'll be the first time I get every weapon upgrade in order, then. Cool stuff.
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-19 22:24:45
@kekko1285: At this point, I would consider a complete reinstallation of the game using Steam functions. Then, after Lunatic Pandora contents are installed as well, immediately following this step mentioned on the Lunatic Pandora Page:
Your bug is very likely caused by the Hard Mode add-ons. Make sure to not start the game using FF8_Ultra_Launcher. It's looks like it's only needed for the Hard Mode add-ons and UV fix anyway, the latter being included in this mod as well.
Feel free to report back again. I hope you'll get the issue fixed.
Hey there, thanks for your answer again. So, I did some testing, and I tried the following:
- Clean installation, adding only your mod and RaW (not Lunatic Pandora mod pack): Quistis with VIT 11 gets around 33 dmg, while with VIT 41 gets around 45 dmg.
- Clean installation, only Lunatic Pandora mod pack installed without any of the dlls from the Hard mod: Quistis with VIT 7 gets around 20 dmg, while with VIT 35 gets 31 dmg.
- Clean installation, no mods whatsoever: Quistis with VIT 7gets around 21 dmg, while with VIT 35 gets 18 dmg.
Help.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-20 03:23:54
Ayoyo, your ideas and reasoning behind them sound good to me. Only thing I'm not sure about is making Demi better than Berserk on Strength again. Berserk actually fits the stat better than Demi, due to what the status effect causes, whereas Demi has the stronger connection to HP and Magic stats. Maybe I'll make another spell the strongest one for disc 1 - one that is equally as effective on both Strength and Magic, to make players set priorities in regards to where to put it. Removig Double from Minotaur (maybe even from Edea) and creating another one-time Double Draw Point on disc 1 is exactly what I had in mind. Will definitely be changed for next update. I like the idea of the game having more resource management elements too.
Post by: Mcindus on 2019-01-20 20:42:56
If using Lunatic Pandora Mod Pack v1.0:
1. Delete the HL_Files/ folder.
2. Download THIS FILE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RReDAU8r2LFwW8Ki3FKHkCyTktBHsH7m/view) to replace the UV Injector that comes with Lunatic Pandora
3. Place that file into RaW/GLOBAL/Hext along with the ragnarok mod and any other Hext files you have.
4. Run the game from the normal launcher.
Lunatic Pandora does not modify the game .exe and will never interfere with other mods as long as you don't use the HL_Files folder.
None of those mods will technically conflict, but you will not get the intended ragnarok experience.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-21 13:34:09
Ayoyo, your ideas and reasoning behind them sound good to me. Only thing I'm not sure about is making Demi better than Berserk on Strength again. Berserk actually fits the stat better than Demi, due to what the status effect causes, whereas Demi has the stronger connection to HP and Magic stats. Maybe I'll make another spell the strongest one for disc 1 - one that is equally as effective on both Strength and Magic, to make players set priorities in regards to where to put it. Removig Double from Minotaur (maybe even from Edea) and creating another one-time Double Draw Point on disc 1 is exactly what I had in mind. Will definitely be changed for next update. I like the idea of the game having more resource management elements too.I try to be helpful if I can, these kinds of mods are vital to my continued interest in these great old games. Agreed on berserk fitting STR, but if you're gonna take the route of putting a new "best" spell in there for disc 1 that you have to either junction to STR or MAG, be mindful of not going overboard with the good stuff because I think Berserk and even Demi already provides plenty of STR for clearing disc 1 without difficulties so adding even better magic might call for rebalancing.
Some quick updates on my personal run: The double Iguana boss was a breeze but probably kept pretty manageable for a reason since Irvine might suck for many people at this point. Their damage is potentially in a good place though but because of their low health pool I actually missed their harder attacks the first time around; on second try I played for time a bit and they used a pretty strong attack(can't remember the name) that surprised me positively and the fight was "on" for a while. Not sure if their HP is worth buffing a bit if only to give them enough time to at least show off their stronger attack.
Seifer didn't die in 1 hit! Might be the first time ever. Even made me use protect so it was refreshing.
Edea underwhelmed me severely although I myself am probably to blame. I spent a good while preparing for it and optimizing the party since Irvine was among my lowest lvl characters at around 14. Appointing Rinoa to double heal and/or esuna was enough to keep me topped up the whole fight so no need for reflect, shell or protect shenanigans. Haste I used at the beginning, expecting a long haul but she dropped pretty quickly. Being so familiar with older Fantasies almost became my undoing because I was like "yea turn me into a zombie and heal me with poisons mwahaha" but apparently it didn't quite work like that in FF8.
Turns out that's not the only thing I'd forgotten about this game, because with Zell I immediately ventured downstairs, meeting some nasty Chimeras that proved to be a challenge for solo lvl 15 Zell. I was thrilled because I actually had to put in some effort to beat them. Still a chore to constantly switch junctions between parties in the prison.
The boss fight at the top of the prison was a complete joke because silence worked on the middle dude. So much of this fight's difficulty rests on the guy that I'd almost make him immune to silence or something?
The bosses of Selphie's mission on the other hand provided the best challenge yet in terms of fun had, I was really pleased. Not because they were hard by themselves but because of the pressure to make the time limit or replay everything including the last boss again. It provided a nice bit of pressure and tension. First, the 3 guys downstairs; immediately silenced by Siren, blinded, and left to cry helplessly on the floor while I drew from them what I wanted. Felt bad for they dudes. The captain actually lived through a 10-second pounding from Zell at the end though so that's worthy of respect.
On my first try I forgot to set up junctions, gf's and heal afterwards and had to do it all after the 10 minute time limit started running so that took me a nice minute already. On top of that I'd completely forgotten that you have to kill the 3 guys that emerge from the boss within the same time limit. I was mashing those buttons like a madman and ultimately had less than 30 seconds to spare. Had so much fun with this, haha. Of course, I just had to play it again and with some surplus time drew some stops from the boss. He started using a pretty stiff beam attack after I whittled him down too much (thanks, unwanted return damage, lol) so had to end my drawing ceremony abruptly to finish the boss. Great stuff.
I'm still way early to make substantial analysis on overall balance but so far I've been really pleased with limit breaks, for example. They seem to deal just enough damage to feel awesome but not too much either. I'd probably shave some seconds off Zell's max time to do his limit, though. It gets silly when it goes over 10 seconds.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-21 18:13:32
Ayoyo, it's good to hear that at least some of the early disc 2 bosses were able to create a certain degree of tension, after having no trouble with the remaining disc 1 bosses at all. The Iguions' HP could be a little higher indeed, no problem with that. Will likely be changed. As for Edea though, I'm not sure. Other users who have played the mod thought her HP were too high. I'm also a bit surprised you didn't even need Shell to finish her off. Do you remember which spells you had junctioned to Spr at this point? Maybe you just had too many tools available to mitigate her spell damage.
The Elite Soldier's defense against Silence is 90 out of 100, so he should be almost immune. How did you silence him? Just used the Silence Spell, or by having it junctioned to Status-Attack? My plan for this battle was that only Siren can reliably inflict the status (100% if enemy is not immune), but getting a cast off can and should be difficult if the player has never invested in increasing Siren's low HP. Guess his defense needs to get raised to 99 to achieve that, if it still worked easily through other means. Other than that, I'll see what I can do to remove some of the general Junctioning hell inside D-District Prison. At least preventing the game from removing junctions all by itself at several occasions in the early-game should be easily doable.
Regarding the time frames for Zell's Limit Break, they have already been reduced for all Crisis Levels. At the moment, they are like this:
- 4 seconds on CL 1 (down from 4,66 default)
- 6 seconds on CL 2 (down from 6,66 default)
- 8 seconds on CL 3 (down from 9,33 default)
- 10 seconds on CL 4 (down from 12 default)
For those who are already familiar with his Limit Break, the changes are probably still to mild then. Could decrease the frames further, maybe. Altering the button sequence for each move would be possible too. Haven't really thought about it yet. Would you be ok with that? Opinions from others would be appreciated too, of course.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-25 14:12:26
I took the time to read through this thread to see what others have gone through, and I was indeed surprised to see where people have struggled. I thought I was already limiting myself/playing sub-optimally by restricting my acquirement of magic to only drawing from monsters I meet naturally and keeping levels low. I haven't even dabbled into refining yet, nor played triple triad nor bought anything from shops. But apparently, I've still had way less trouble than some people - I honestly have no idea whether this has to do with personal skill, familiarity with the game, certain aspects being too powerful in terms of balance or something else entirely. Remains to be seen.
As for Edea - I checked and I got dispels for spirit. And since I have 3 full stacks of them, I assume they can be drawn from a not-too-threatening enemy. Probably worth taking a look at that? Shells should easily suffice for now, especially since most of her damage output is magical. Dispels coupled with Shiva's +30%SPR which I assume anyone should have at this point puts my spirit score at over 100, making Edea's -aga spells more like a minor nuisance than a major threat. I think Astral punch was her most damaging attack, almost putting Irvine from max HP to yellow but not quite. And like mentioned, I didn't even use shell or any buffs. Taking all that into account, there's no way she's overtuned - if someone had trouble with her, they must not have utilized any of the strategies or tools that most certainly are available to everyone by this point to negate her damage.
Concerning silencing the soldier bosses, I don't see why you wouldn't always use Siren for silencing purposes, precisely because it's 100% odds. Siren is the only summon I normally use anyways; my logic behind it is that why would I need damage from summons because I already get ample damage from limit breaks and hitting elemental weaknesses with regular spells, but what I do need is reliable ways to inflict statuses. There aren't many of those and Siren is so far the only summon that does anything besides damage so it's a no-brainer to open every single boss battle with her to see if the statuses stick. This is the reason I don't think the 90% resistance matters - Siren is the only worthwhile means of doing it anyways because it never fails. And it made all those bosses laughably easy. Even if you didn't try to keep Siren alive during the summoning with protect etc., it still requires plain bad luck for her to die because GF's get so much hp with level ups, the %summon hp skills aren't required at all. I have no suggestions at this time as to what could "remedy" the situation other than having the soldiers always remedy themselves if they're silenced so you gotta keep working if you don't want them to become a threat. That would probably make it a lot more interesting.
Ah, I must've gotten crisis level 4 then. It's a good change. I wouldn't recommend altering the buttons, it still takes only a couple battles to memorize the new ones, becoming a momentary inconvenience more than anything. I have to test it further on more bosses to see if it's too good with high crisis levels. Overall I think it would be a prudent redesign of Duel to decrease the timer but buff damage so that it evens out. It's reasonable streamlining IMO because in CL 4 Dueling can go on for like a minute, which is just completely silly. I also think Duel should potentially deal more damage than Renzo on each crisis level with fast enough inputs since you want to reward skill; but make it so you have to be really fast or it deals damage comparable to or lower than Renzo+finisher. I'm down for some practical testing if you decide to try rebalancing it.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-01-25 18:08:21
In regards to Silence, the soldiers inside Missile Base actually can use Remedy when under the status, it just doesn't happen very often - only 25% chance, so I guess this should be significantly increased (as well as their probability to heal themselves with Hi-Potion, which is even lower). As for the Prison boss battle, getting a cast off Siren was difficult during all my test runs when no GFHP+xx% has been learned before, as one of the GIM52A's often used Ray-Bomb during the first couple of turns, so I guess there was a little luck involved in your case. I think I'll leave this battle as it is, but the one in Missile base will be slightly changed, at least so that the Base Soldiers can't be made crying helplessly on the floor easily :)
Well I guess there will be another smaller stealth update soon, also with some alterations made to Zell's Duel (decreased time frame especially for the higher CL's). Thanks for all your suggestions so far, they are really helpful.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-28 15:03:32
It seems you were very well prepared for Edea indeed. Getting 100 Dispels for everyone can take quite some time though, and you can only have up to two Spirit Junctions at the end of disc 1 - one from Shiva by default, and one from Brothers that needs to be learned first. With the rather short time frame between beating the Brothers and the Edea battle, unlocking the second Spirit Junction before Edea shouldn't be taken for granted (some players might want to go for the third Strength Junction from Brothers first). All in all, it looks like you spent some time on doing extra battles, and if the bosses become quite a bit easier then, that's totally fine.Yea I went straight for the spirit junction since I pretty much knew 1 member of the party will always be relegated to magic duty exclusively so the STR junction was easy to put on the back burner, thus I didn't need to do any additional battles aside from natural ones in the sewer to get it in time for Edea. Not to mention, I'm still attempting to keep my levels low so I didn't even finish every fight, running from troublesome encounters and turning easier ones to cards.
It could very well be that I got off a lucky Siren, I went back to retry it and sure enough Siren died this time around. Out of curiosity I left the middle guy in peace to test the waters and was excited to see the fight take a pretty nasty turn as he buffed the robots. Manually applying silence later on stabilized the situation again. This leads me to conclude that the fights are probably in a really good place except for the self-remedy percentage which could serve to be higher so players have to work more to maintain control of the battlefield. Good stuff.
More comments on my progress - I'm really starting to pray on my knees for a no encounter ability or better yet, a no-exp option at this point; it's getting increasingly difficult keeping my guys from leveling up and requires a disproportionate amount of effort. For example during the Balamb garden civil war thing there's a bunch of inescapable encounters that aren't boss fights so you get the exp as normal. First I figured I just need to kill off Squall(he's the highest lvl) to make sure he won't get the exp even if I accidentally kill the monsters but it got too tedious to manage the fights with only 2 members who are around level 17 at this point and the fights are getting incrementally harder, not to mention the minibosses had new spells so I needed everyone alive to draw. Then I figured I just needed to be really careful not to kill them and card them instead, but there were monsters that couldn't be carded either. I'm no master at this game and may be missing some way to solve this conundrum but this section especially felt exceptionally strenuous if you don't want to level up. Take into account the fact that you even get exp from freaking mugging and escaping. That racks up over time too, especially if you have to hit multiple times to get the steal so you can't really mug either if you're going for a low level run. Maybe this is just me but this feels like a glaring flaw that certainly needs to be rectified - you've already said you'd look into the turn exp off thing though so that would be the best option, because I really want to fight the encounters - it's just that I don't want to risk leveling up. I was never into the static 1k exp level intervals either in this game, feels way too small.
This is getting really long again but gotta comment on the next bosses. And is it just me or is the encounter rate on the MD level super high? Oh well, mugging trifaces got me started out on those curse spikes. This whole garden debacle and mugging has racked up some unwanted levels for me though so I have Zell 18, Quistis 19 and Squall 23 for the Oilboyle boss fight. I didn't even remember they existed so my first try was just figuring out what their weakness was and which statuses stuck. Second time around I was geared up and made short work of them, and although they have respectable damage they just don't have the HP to really become a major threat. IIRC I blinded and silenced them but they just didn't give a crap and still used strong attacks; coming after the prison guys who were neutralized totally by silence I was pleased to see this boss was way different.
I was sweating bullets during the NORG fight because the mere thought of having to go through 10+ minutes of dialogue and junctioning again coupled with the fact that I had forgotten the battle speed to max made the whole thing that much scarier. I have to say the default targeting cursor position screwed me over more than once. I even think it switches from the norg capsule to the leftmost button mid-fight which makes targeting a complete freaking nightmare, especially when you're all hasted up and battle speed at max trying to make clutch hits on the buttons to prevent hardcore magic. I botched like 3 hits in a row on a wrong target towards the very end of the fight and that became my undoing, got steamrolled by an onslaught of magic and just as I queued a Megaphoenix with Zell, the last man standing but still at max hp, Norg whipped out instant death and BAM. It was like scripted, haha. Lesson learned; max speed is too fast especially with a boss like this where the targeting cursor is unintuitive in my mind and hitting exactly the right target is vital. After sitting through the 10 minutes of dialogue again I made sure to decrease speed this time, making the fight really fun and manageable.
Onto FH.
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-28 16:04:47
Sorry I didn't catch this! Removing all .dll files from /FINAL FANTASY VIII/HL_Files/DLL_in/ will ensure that the Lunatic Pandora mod does not have any conflicts with the Ragnarok Mod. I use the UV Injector, Shunsq's buttons, and this mod flawlessly together.
If using Lunatic Pandora Mod Pack v1.0:
1. Delete the HL_Files/ folder.
2. Download THIS FILE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RReDAU8r2LFwW8Ki3FKHkCyTktBHsH7m/view) to replace the UV Injector that comes with Lunatic Pandora
3. Place that file into RaW/GLOBAL/Hext along with the ragnarok mod and any other Hext files you have.
4. Run the game from the normal launcher.
Lunatic Pandora does not modify the game .exe and will never interfere with other mods as long as you don't use the HL_Files folder.
None of those mods will technically conflict, but you will not get the intended ragnarok experience.
Thank you very much for your reply.
So, it appears that I was incredibly unlucky during my tests. Every time I was testing with the cura junctioned to my VIT, I was meeting an enemy of level 13. Every time I had my VIT not junctioned, I was meeting an enemy of level 9 (or 11, I don't remember). This caused me to falsely believe VIT was not working as expected. Very unlucky I'd say.
So it turns up everything was working just fine.
On a different note, I'd like to suggest a change that could improve gameplay slightly and maybe it's not too hard to make.
I think it would be very helpful to have the number of magic currently in stock for the active players next to the name of the magic we want to draw from an enemy or source. That would help understand how close we are to the 100 cap without having to go back to the magic screen to manually check (making the char probably losing a turn for this since the ATB will not wait when we browse the draw and magic menus).
So far I found the balance quite good, some minor frustration due to some enemy appear to be not dangerous but suddenly use very powerful AOE skills that basically deal 90% of my party max HP. But I also recognise my party is not well structured and I am not doing all my best to make it more efficient.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-01-29 07:51:26
Personally I think this is a good thing to do with a mod. There's a tendency for players to become disengaged from the gameplay in vanilla versions due to staleness and predictability. Throwing a few surprises our way at least demands a modicum of attention and preparedness from us which is a good thing in my mind..
So far I found the balance quite good, some minor frustration due to some enemy appear to be not dangerous but suddenly use very powerful AOE skills that basically deal 90% of my party max HP. But I also recognise my party is not well structured and I am not doing all my best to make it more efficient.
Post by: kekko1285 on 2019-01-29 09:46:42
Personally I think this is a good thing to do with a mod. There's a tendency for players to become disengaged from the gameplay in vanilla versions due to staleness and predictability. Throwing a few surprises our way at least demands a modicum of attention and preparedness from us which is a good thing in my mind..
Yeah, I agree. In fact every time I've got a game over it was because I wasn't paying enough care about party and setup pre-combat.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-02-08 11:39:20
The fight itself was still a joke with him channeling his inner Rocky and letting me whoop his ass however I wanted in hopes of tiring me out eventually. I do wish something could be done to make this fight more interesting. At least in vanilla it's a race against time because he's the first enemy you get access to that has triples so you want to draw those for everyone AND kill him within the time limit. Well, he does have double here... Maybe if Odin was the first enemy with double in this mod, that would have the same effect! I mean we already discussed the possibility of pushing doubles out of disc1 save for some single use draw points so it might be feasible to let Odin be the earliest enemy you can draw them from. I imagine you've buffed his HP a bit so that would be a fun way to make players sweat bullets if they get greedy and want to draw the tempting doubles while killing him in time. Because right now, it's even more boring than in vanilla, especially for veterans since the puzzles are the same. So in short, my suggestion: gating doubles even further back so that players who want to clear Centra right away get the earliest possible access, should they be daring enough, that is.
Tonberry King tried to put up a fight with "it's sharp!" but keeping everyone hasted and protected let me comfortably draw curagas for all, major HP upgrade for my lvl 17-23 party. Also lvl-up will be useful to get better steals and magic from enemies. As a summon, he's still useless. Intentional?
Back to main story. Fujin&Raijin in Balamb are clearly stronger than in vanilla but don't have a lot of HP. Fujin started using an annoying debuffing attack after I killed the other but a couple double bios and limits took care of her quickly.
After numerous story segments where I didn't notice much being different from vanilla, battle of gardens ensues. Protect the hotdogs, dammit! Anyways the enemies here don't offer much so I usually run from battles, except for some mandatory ones where I'm again forced to level up since there's no running or carding the soldiers. Yay.
In Galbadia there's finally some enemies worth mugging, of course after using lvl-up on them. Shenanigans ensue as I desperately try to mug and card level 100 triheads and hexadragons. Their attacks become quite troublesome at max level. Eventually I began doubling their level only once, hoping it's enough to cross the threshold to high to give better steals.
Cerberus spammed quake and tornado A LOT, so I junctioned tornadoes to ele-def along with life to get 20% absorb wind damage, so that's nice. Then you just float everyone and voilá, he can't do much besides the acid spit thing, which is annoying because it dispels or something, but luckily he doesn't use it too often.
Seifer is probably the hardest-hitting boss on disc 2, which is pretty cool to see him finally not be a total sad joke. His limit break attack is pretty stiff actually and the first time he used it on Selphie it also critted, killing her instantly through protect AND from max HP. Damn I got hyped for this fight when I saw that, haha. Good stuff. You really want to get Cerberus off right away to buff your party fast, I can't imagine beating him without haste&protect on everyone with these levels. And that's how it should be IMO. The key to making a fool of him is reflecting him when he starts casting curaga. He dies in no time flat when denied those heals. Add insult to injury with Carbuncle so he flares himself and heals you, lol.
The final battle of disc 2 felt easier for me. Seifer didn't use his limit or flare, giving me ample time to buff myself to high heaven before Edea. Holy crap that mug from Seifer, though - I thought these had been removed from the mod. Hoping to not see many more of these. Edea didn't throw anything too surprising my way aside from the first spell which I think debuffed everyone and did major damage, however she never used it again. Intentional? Anyways just keep dispelling her reflect and she'll pretty much stop doing anything else and tries desperately to get it on herself, becoming even less of a threat. Turns out she can't handle triple cast -aga spells for too long so it'll be over quick. Also darkside from Squall holds its own in terms of damage and is worth using.
Really wanted to upgrade Squall's weapon to Punishment to see blasting zone already, been using the other 2 finishers for so long now, but apparently laser cannons were removed from high level Belhelmels. I'm not sure how to feel about this one - I killed 30-40 of them in the course of an hour and made sure to lvl-up them to at least 40 to get a high-end drop, and didn't get one. Don't know if they're refinable from cards since I've stayed away from TT mostly. It'd be nice for it to be at least possible(with effort) to get the third finisher in time for disc 2's end, though - Lion heart has been pushed so far back already since there's no way of knowing what it requires before the final weapons monthly, so you pretty much get it in time for only endgame content which is appropriate enough I guess but I at least want my Punishmeeeeent >:(
What deserves praise is the work that's been put in balancing the different methods of dealing damage. I've found myself casting spells, summoning GF's, fishing for limit breaks, and attacking in old fashion in pretty much equal measure. Only GF's have lately fallen off since I haven't bothered with buffing their damage so can't comment on that balance/whether they are worth it compared to double/triple casting elemental spells. I suppose it's inevitable that at least the elemental ones become obsolete eventually in a world with triple -aga casting. Diablos seems to be the one who stays relevant in addition to Siren(guaranteed statuses) thanks to guaranteed 9999 on bigger enemies assuming no immunity and I've used them a bunch. Of course Cerberus will now become the new go-to summon for boss fights. But so far, nothing seems overly better than the others.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-08 17:09:37
Regarding Odin, making him the first enemy you can Draw Double from is what I have in mind too, to raise the incentive to actually defeat and get him. Also, the junction effects for Double will be increased - at the moment, they are rather low and outclassed by early-game spells easily. I could also have Odin use attacks instead of doing nothing, but the problem is that he has no real attack animations besides Zantetsuken. It would work, but would look pretty buggy at the same time, so I thought it's best to just increase his HP and Vit 0 resistance, so the time limit is the real enemy, as in the original game. Other than that, an Odin toggle on/off at the blue orb at the bottom of Odin's tower has been planned for quite some time already, but I still haven't found out all I need to achieve that. I'll look into it once more. Maybe the Hyne tool can help.
The Tonberry summon not being very useful is intended, yes. But I'm open to any ideas that would make it more unique. Shouldn't be too powerful though, as Tonberry's animation just doesn't look like it, and the Abilities he offers kind of make up for it anyway. Other than that, I'm quite relieved to hear that you make use of at least Siren, Diablos and likely Cerberus from now on as well. All the other GF up to that point actually deserve a tweak to become more relevant too. I'll think about it. Diablos learns Enc-Half at Level 32 by the way, if you are still bothered by the increased random encounter frequency here and there.
Seifer and Edea disc 2: There are four invincible items in the original game: Hero-trial, Holy War-trial, Hero and Holy War. Only the first two were removed from the mod, the other two are still in, but very rare throughout the entire game. Edea uses Maelstrom only once at the beginning of the battle after complaints from users. I guess that change was a bit drastic then. I think I'll make it part of her Reflect handling and/or let her use it multiple times again, but with lowered probability.
As for Punishment, have an eye on the Elastoid that appears during the Laguna flashback at the beginning of disc 3. You also don't need it to unlock Blasting Zone; Twin Lance should do, which becomes available after controlling Balamb Garden if you find the required upgrade materials.
kekko1285, I'm glad you figured what was going on and can now finally play the mod for real. Unfortunately, your suggestion about putting the spell stock count next to the characters' names would be difficult to implement. All I can do for now is keeping that idea in mind. Thanks regardless.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-11 18:31:10
Changes Overview
Early game balance
- Esuna can no longer be drawn from Biggs and Gerogero.
- Regen can no longer be drawn from Vysage (has been replaced with Drain).
- Slow can no longer be drawn from low level Elastoids.
- Double can no longer be drawn from Minotaur and Edea.
- Death can no longer be drawn from Cyborgs at Centra Excavation Site.
- A one-time Double Draw Point is now available at Tomb of the Unknown King (refills from disc 2 onwards).
- The Double Draw Point at G-Garden auditorium is now a one-time Pain Draw Point.
- The Sleep Draw Point at Centra Excavation site is now a refilling Slow Draw Point.
- Dragon Fins can no longer be mugged from low level Grendels.
- The amount of Dragon Fins required to get Zell's second weapon has been reduced.
- Remedy has been removed from Balamb, Timber and Dollet shops (requires Familiar Ability).
- Hi-Potion has been removed from Balamb and Timber shops (requires Familiar Ability).
- Spell junction effects on Vit and Spr have been rebalanced.
Battles
- Base Soldiers use Remedy and Hi-Potion on themselves more frequently.
- Edea (2nd) uses AoE spells more frequently if the entire party is under Reflect, occasionally casts Maelstrom no matter the circumstances.
- The evolved Gespers at Lunatic Pandora Laboratory have been made more threatening.
Refine Ability changes
Code: [Select]
Refine Abl. Item Previous Current
Card Mod Grendel Card 2 = 1 Dragon Fin 5 = 1 Dragon Fin
Time Mag-RF Dragon Fin 1 = 20 Doubles 1 = 10 Doubles
Time Mag-RF Rocket Engine 1 = 30 Triples 1 = 100 Doubles
Time Mag-RF Samantha Soul 1 = 40 Triples 1 = 30 Triples
L Mag-RF Chef's Knife 1 = 20 Deaths 1 = 15 Deaths
L Mag-RF Dead Spirit 1 = 15 Deaths 1 = 20 Deaths
Recov Med-RF Tent 6 = 1 Mega-Potion 8 = 1 Mega-Potion
GFAbl Med-RF Whisper 50 = 1 Healing Ring 20 = 1 Healing RingAdded status effects for GF
Code: [Select]
GF Status Base chance
Quezacotl Slow 130/255
Shiva Stop 80/255
Ifrit Vit 0 80/255
Brothers Petrifying 120/255
Leviathan Death 120/255
Pandemona Confuse 160/255
Alexander Blind 254/255
Siren is now Silence-only again (254/255) and Tonberry ignores enemy Spirit to make his summon more useful for now. I am aware of Eject being more fitting than Death for Leviathan, but if the Eject effect triggers, enemies just disappear at the end of the summon sequence instead of being washed away, which is the case when using Death, so I thought Death is the way to go here.
New Command Ability: Step Mine
Step Mine/Traveler, known from Final Fantasy VI and XII, has been implemented as a Command Ability for this update. It deals damage equal to steps taken / 1000 to all enemies and can be learned from Brothers and Tonberry. Note that the current step count can be checked from the menu if you have received the Battle Meter from Cid. In order to create space for this Ability, the Recover and Revive commands have been merged into a single Ability (now called Renew, learned from Alexander), so Step Mine can take the Recover slot. To accommodate these changes, Healing Ring now teaches Absorb instead of Recover and Leviathan now learns Move-HP Up in Recover's place. Other than that, X-Potion now uses the unique Recover animation to keep it in the game. Step Mine's damage formula might be changed later to make it more powerful. From what I've tested, it takes quite long to make the Ability inflict any meaningful damage, but for now it should at least be enough to kill Cactuars faster and more reliably than any other method.
Other changes
- Zell's time frames for performing Duel have been further reduced (CL3 and 4 mostly, CL1 and 2 changes should not be too noticable).
- A shop has been added to Forest Owls base (talk to the man sitting at the bench next to the save point right before heading to the boss).
- Lightweight and Samantha Soul have been renamed Sprint Shoes and Thamasa Soul respectively to match the Japanese version more precisely.
- Drops of blood have been restored in Gargantua chamber, making it 100% identical to the Japanese version.
- The Fire Cavern time limits have been restructured. Completing the task within 5 minutes yields a special reward.
- The Missile Base time limits have been restructured, and the emergency exit only opens when choosing the lowest setting.
- Choosing the lowest time limit at Missile Base will be rewarded with a more noticable boost to SeeD rank.
- The selling prices for Occult Fan I and II have been reduced.
- The Absorb Command now ignores enemy Spr to make it have an advantage over the Drain Spell in certain situations.
- Quistis' Micro Missiles now does a little less damage as it is a Gravity based attack that can break the damage limit.
- Odin is now the first enemy the player can draw Double From.
- To accommodate the delayed Double availablity, its Junction effect on Str and Mag has been increased.
Things that didn't make it in due to time constraints:
- General Exp disabler
- Odin toggle on/off at Centra Ruins
- New sidequests: Fire Cavern and Tomb of the Unknown King revisited
- New damage types that allow Ultimate Weapons to break the damage limit with standard attacks
- Replacement for Boost Ablility that allows any GF to break the damage limit
- Retranslating Edea's speech in Deling City
- Making the ATB bar stop when selecting targets when it is set to Wait
- Removing some of the Junctioning mess at D-District prison when party changes
Some of that will make it sooner or later. At least Odin toggle, new sidequests, retranslated speech and Junctioning mess relief at prison will likely be implemented soon.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-02-13 11:11:58
First and foremost I was going to bring up my view on what was the worst offender in terms of balance in the earlier discs, and it most certainly was the generous spell availability, especially via drawing. In my opinion, drawing magic from monsters should offer the default minimum that players are expected to have by whichever point in the game to progress and around which the gameplay is balanced(=enemies are balanced around the supposition that players have at least the magic that's been made available to them by encountered monsters), with refinement/other "bonus" means of collecting magic offering advantages&earlier access to spells - however as it stood, I was able to draw full stacks of strong magic from monsters way before I could've conceivably refined them from cards or items that I had, which again is the exact opposite of how I feel it should be. So I'm sure the changes here went a long way to remedy this situation.
Especially digging the restrictions on double. The only thing that's missing from the list is the reflects on disc 1 - I don't remember which enemy had them but I had full stacks for the first Edea fight. Surely that's a bit of an overkill since you get Carbuncle at that point anyways&dispels for spirit junction which is only slightly worse than reflect, and wouldn't it be logical to have players make use of the new summon instead? Seems somewhat redundant to get a reflect summon after acquiring full stacks of it. And if you want to have a fail-safe in case people miss carbuncle then a reflect draw point some time before the boss would also hint at using them against Edea.
I'd really like to try the 2nd Edea fight again now(maelstrom is awesome), but I guess it'll have to wait for another playthrough. I was really surprised to hear you say people had problems with her, I mean I've had reflects junctioned to spirit since disc 1 as mentioned so surely by this point everyone else does as well... Not to mention you got Cerberus already so triple casting is most certainly available and super strong at this point. I would've understood complaints about the earlier Seifer fight more since he hits way harder.
GF's inflicting statuses was gonna be my suggestion in the next report too to add some extra appeal to them. I like how you took theme into consideration too: Shiva freezes them, Alex's light beams blind them... Good stuff. Can't comment on whether the probabilities&damage will be high enough to warrant usage/command skill slot(this has actually been the factor that has limited my use of GF's the most, there are so many commands that I just need more than summons who bring mostly nothing but sub-par damage to the table) or if players would rather opt simply for casting the statuses and elemental spells individually - certainly requires testing to see where the balance lies. As it stands, pretty sure they will inevitably fall off towards the very end before you manage to unlock the damage limit somehow - multicasting/multihit will always be preferable to a single hit that invariably deals 9999 at best.
I always wondered what the hell a lightweight was. As in "lightweight baby" à la Ronnie Coleman? Good idea renaming that. Also didn't even know micro missiles could break damage limit. Surely it couldn't in vanilla?
As for upcoming changes, I don't want to put pressure on you, but I sure hope to God you manage to implement these changes in the near future(I might just have to postpone my next playthrough until they're in there), because holy crap are they needed. Many a boss fight I've struggled with the targeting cursor because time indeed doesn't stop and you want to give commands as fast as possible, often with disastrous results. Odin's insistence to show off whenever he feels like it has denied me steals, given me unwanted exp and all sorts of other things. I've racked untold hours of extra gameplay because of exp management issues. Yes, it's my fault for being obsessive about it, but man, it shouldn't be this difficult. All these problems would be solved with the changes you listed, so I'll say a prayer for your progress nightly.
You asked for ideas for Tonberry summon - I was going to suggest instant death since in many other FF's they just outright murder your ass which I think is an awesome trait for the Tonberries, but it seems death was hogged by Leviathan... Maybe they could be reassigned if you're feeling the idea, for example give Leviathan sleep instead. Don't ask how that works, though - the sounds of the ocean calm them to sleep? :D
And finally I have a major QoL improvement request- an additional save possibility in between cutscenes/story scenes and bosses. Most mods tend to do this for understandable reasons and especially the first Edea fight and Norg fight come to mind that force the players to waste a whole lot of time going through scenes again should they fail or reattempt the boss.
edit: forgot to reply to the punishment thing. I did indeed forget about twin lance altogether but understandably so since you get August issue before July for some reason, although it doesn't change the fact that you really can't get either by the end of disc 2's end, which I would've liked. As it stands, it does make for a long gap between getting the second and third finishers. And considering Lion Heart becomes available soon-ish after the story railroad sections of disc 3, I suspect the gap between third and fourth finishers on the other hand will be quite short, so maybe there's a point to be made there about more even distribution. This isn't a big deal though and I don't really have more arguments to make for my case.
Post by: SefiCompacto on 2019-02-13 18:17:14
Is there any sort of document that lists all the new sidequests, and any kind of information that i would want to check? Mainly to make sure I don't miss anything/check all the new content. Just some guidelines like "make sure you visit this town before doing X main story trigger" or something like that would help
Keep up the good work!
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-14 04:49:07
Quote from: Ayoyo
Tons of stuff here, and all of it good. Very neat update. I was going to wait until finishing my playthrough to give myself time to contemplate and then share an in-depth and comprehensive analysis on overarching balance and whatnot, but I might as well bring some pointers up now seeing as this major update already came out.
Thanks again for the feedback, it's been a great help. I have re-checked the possibilities of getting Reflect on disc 1, but didn't find any. It can be drawn from high-leveled Blobras and Adamantoises, but I think they can't reach high levels naturally where you can encounter them on disc 1, and knowing that you try to keep your levels low, it can't be from them anyway. The earliest you can draw Reflect should be from Biggs at D-District prison, but this is admittedly still a bit too early for that spell, considering you have just received Carbuncle a short while back, which goes against the incentive to summon Carbuncle, so I guess Reflect should be pushed back a little further as well.
As for a possible status for the Tonberry GF, I also thought about Death (254/255), as it would somewhat fit the Chef's Knife, which can be refined into the Death spell after all. It would actually be a good trade-off for Tonberry being only single-target with rather low base damage, and Death resistance could be easily re-adjusted for some enemies that are not meant to be defeated easily. I think Leviathan can actually just be left with Death to be honest - even with his much lower status infliction rate, he wouldn't be completely overshadowed by Tonberry, since his attack hits all enemies for more elemental damage that can hit weaknesses.
Adding in some more save opportunities sounds good to me and is not a hard thing to do, so I guess there will be a smaller update within the next couple days (I accidentally left Double in Edea's Draw list anyway), also swapping the July and August weapon magazines (Twin Lance requires Orihalcon and Red Fang I believe; the magazines are not necessary to upgrade the weapons at Junk Shops, but they definitely help since the required materials are often different in this mod).
SefiCompacto, no problem, here's a list that covers the extra things you can do in this mod. It's mostly smaller things, nothing too big yet. The first bigger sidequest will likely be the one related to revisiting Fire Caverns I mentioned earlier, coming soon :)
Spoiler: show
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-16 21:39:21
- Status effects for GF have been changed. After some more testing it became evident that some of the status effects as they were in 1.1 won't really trigger on anything stronger than a Geezard or a Bite Bug. As for Quezacotl and Shiva and their identical probabilities, I'm aware of Stop being the "better" status, but the enemy resistances against the Stop status are generally higher than those against Slow, so it evens out.
Code: [Select]
GF Status Base chance
Quezacotl Slow 150/255
Shiva Stop 150/255
Ifrit Vit 0 150/255
Brothers Petrifying 160/255
Leviathan Death 180/255
Pandemona Confuse 254/255
Tonberry Death 254/255
Alexander Blind 254/255
- Save possibilities have been added right before the battles against Seifer (1st) and Norg. Be careful when using these saves though - when loading, you will be basically thrown directly into battle (well, almost). You have to beat these bosses with what you currently have and there is no way to do any random battles to acquire new spells to increase your stats etc. However, there's always the option to open up the menu before attempting the battles.
- A flaw in Edea's AI (1st) that can lock her into casting Zombie over and over has been corrected.
- The locations for the July and August Weapons Monthly magazines have been swapped as it makes more sense curve-wise.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-02-18 18:03:13
Spoiler: show
Post by: blankdiploma on 2019-02-18 19:37:46
I purchased the Steam version of FF VIII solely to try this mod, but I didn't realize how much stupid crap they'd forced into the re-release, and refunded it immediately. Is there any chance at all that you might consider releasing a version of the hex edit data for the original 2000 PC release? I understand that it's a bit of work to translate the address space from the steam release to the original, but I really hope you'll consider doing it for those of us who don't want to support Square Enix's awful decisions surrounding this port.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-18 23:20:28
Ayoyo, that's an extensive report again, thank you. I'll keep the comments in spoilers for now too.
Spoiler: show
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-02-19 11:35:11
Spoiler: show
Post by: blankdiploma on 2019-02-20 05:27:31
Quote
Hey blankdiploma, and welcome to the forums. With crap, do you mean the in-built cheats, like getting full spell stocks automatically and the like? I guess you already know but I better say it just to be sure, but all these things are optional. Other than that, I don't think there are any real differences between the 2000 PC and Steam versions, besides the launcher. Still, I'm planning to make the mod compatible with other versions too, just not sure when.
Oh, I'm mostly referring to the horrible DRM launcher and (somehow!) managing to ship with WORSE controller support than the original PC release. Those other extras are kind of silly, but really it's just Square Enix's business practices that I don't want to support, not if they're going to treat their venerable franchises this poorly.
It's great to hear that you're planning on making it compatible with other versions of the game! I will gladly wait patiently for that to happen.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-21 08:51:14
Spoiler: show
@blankdiploma:
You could also just give it a try and see if the provided mod files are compatible with the 2000 PC version as well (after creating backups of all original files, just in case). I've never tried it myself to be honest, since I've never owned this version. It could very well work, I just can't guarantee it.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-02-21 16:35:21
Spoiler: show
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-22 08:53:07
Spoiler: show
Post by: Robgatti on 2019-02-22 20:58:44
I'd like to just play the game casually, preferably without no encounters.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-22 21:39:37
No, keeping levels low is definitely not advised in this mod, as bosses are at fixed levels and stat gains through leveling are higher than in the original game (and will likely be increased even more in future updates), so there isn't much to gain from low level runs, unless you are in for a tougher challenge. One of this mod's goals is to break with many of the conventions that have manifested over the years in regards to the game's playstyle to deliver a new experience to players that are bored by these conventions, making enemies more interesting by mixing encounter formations up, giving them new attacks etc. instead of just skipping them by having Enc-None activated all the time and breeze through the game, including bosses.
Enc-None isn't available until late in the game, similarly to Final Fantasy VI and X, and Enc-Half unlocks after Diablos reached level 32 (this level requirement might be reduced, as constant random encounters are just not for everyone). If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Post by: Robgatti on 2019-02-22 21:47:25
Starting my playthrough now without Triple Triad or Enc - None.
After Dozens, possibly over a hundred runs, I'm so happy to play the game in a new setting and not spending 4 hours at Balamb Garden playing Triple Triad.
Thank you for the work you put in here, I'll do a write up as I progress through.
Post by: CeruleanSpirit on 2019-02-24 14:43:15
Having played the PSX version about 5-6 times, I brought the Steam version just to try this mod. I am currently just before the 2nd dream sequence. I can already say i'm impressed. It is somewhat different. You really have to search every nook and cranny of the game again because things may be different. Example: some minor quest like the Dollet bone quest yield a Pet Pals magazine that you can't find in Timber. I like the approach where you remove from one hand but give with the other hand. A few points on my playing experience.
- You can't really break the game early on with Triple Triad. It will give you a nice start but that's it. The spells you will most likely be able to stack to a 100 early are: cure, scan, fire, thunder, blizzard and sleep.
- New: The fire cave can be challenged in a 5 min. run. That's really hard! If you beat it, you get a Elem Atk. J., which is really nice this early. My way of doing it was to draw double spells from the library draw point. Flee from every encounter. Use double it to double blizzards on Ifrit, that in conjunction with summoning Shiva. Even then, I had perhaps 10 sec. left.
- Enemies yield more good items through drops and mug. I have found out that if you know items and the alchemical process of refinement well, this is the way to really get stuff and spells. A few examples. I was able to easily stock hundreads of aero and water spells hunting down Fastitocalon and Thrustaevis for Fish fins and Shear Feathers. Also, refining a whisper from adamantoise now yield 100x curas. Get a few in your inventory and you've got a giant hoard of healing spells. I like that because the game becomes a type of monster hunt.
- Bosses are now tougher and you have to strategize more. Some examples:
- Raldos and Granaldos now all attack right off the bat. They will destroy you if you're unprepared. I had to clear the Raldos early with 2 big summons.
- Diablos now cast pain. I revolved my strategy around blinding him, having phoenix downs on hand, keeping my team hp low and using Squall's limit break repeatedly. If he cast pain, he will kill my character but the bad status will now stick. Then I revive my character.
- Gerogero is now a master of bad status effects and cannot be instantly killed with a phoenix down. On top of that, I hadn't found a good source of Esuna this early in the game. I killed him with 3 hi-potion+ (6000 dam.) which I refined from Biggs and Wedge cards.
- A lvl. 40 X-ATM092 can be challenged if you go up the Dollet hills after the Timber events. The thing is impossible to beat for me this early. I will wait til disc 2.
Overall very good mod, I am enjoying playing FF VIII again. I will keep posting my impressions as I keep playing.
Post by: SefiCompacto on 2019-02-24 14:45:42
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-24 22:46:07
@SefiCompacto: Well observed, I noticed this a couple of days ago as well. I've been working on fix, but it seems that creating new moves that can revive and heal at the same time isn't as easy as I thought. Guess I have to revert Revive and Awakening Moon to their standard effects for now (these are the only ones), or make Awakening Moon act like a Megalixir at least, since Invincibility that early in the game is broken balance-wise. I'll try to upload an update today or tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Post by: CeruleanSpirit on 2019-02-25 23:50:37
Alrighty, so I am currently at the 3rd dream sequence at beginning of CD2:
- A good knowledge of the game can make strides. The monsters, items and spells are so closely linked that I go from the principle that every monster has a story to tell and something to give. Mugging, Carding, drops all work well if you know what to look for. I got my death spells hunting down Belhelmel for their Circular saw which I refined. I got my Berserk mugging steel pipes from Wendigo. Then I carded them to get Steel Orb refining them to Demi spells. I like this better than playing TT for hours to get cards or drawing boredom.
- Second dream sequence: The last 2 esthar soldiers, I call them esthar commanders, as they are tougher and can do 900 damage. I dealt with them with summons of Quetzal, Shiva and Ifrit. A little Suggestion: The Elastoid and Gesper enemies can only be encountered in Laguna's dreams, that's a pity because they are missable. I would put them in the encounters on the Esthar road along with the Gaylas.
- Minotaur Bros: The biggest challenge that I got was that Minotaur's morningstar induced confuse on hit. I didn't get a good source of confuse or Esuna at this point. I strategized and came up with a plan: Come in battle poisoned (Bio on my characters pre-fight). Yes! This way even if my character was going to act under confusion, the poison damage was going to end the confusion immediately. Tough battle but it worked along with Protect, Regen and Float.
- Iguions: No issue here, I knew I had to watch out for Petrification.
- Seifer duel: Hey, I used the new Ifrit's ability "Return damage". I let the half damage rebound, kept curing myself with draw and laughed. Suggestion: remove cure/cura/curaga from his draw list. Too easy.
- Edea: Her spellcasting damage was impressive (~1500 dam.). Squall was my main DPS, the other 2 were on standby. At one point, she tried using Zombie over and over on Rinoa. I knew a cure spell was next so I kept using spare holy waters. The problem was that she kept wasting her action trying to get the zombie to stick. Might I suggest a different AI for her: Remove dispel from her draw list. Let her cast reflect on herself then let her cast her -ga elemental spell on herself to rebound on to a character, just like a high level Buel. That will actually negate the usual strategy of using Carbuncle for reflect on everybody, then her wasting 3 turns dispelling the reflects.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-02-26 10:01:47
Esuna can be first drawn from Vysage near the Tomb of the Unknown King in the night areas, and Remedies can be first bought in Deling City instead of being available right after starting the game, to make all the shops more unique, as it is usually the case in all other Final Fantasy games, and also to give Antidote, Echo Screen etc. more relevance in the early-game. If you think the Remedy availability is too late, let me know, and I might add it to Timber Shop.
Seifer and Edea: Locking Edea into casting Zombie over and over by just using Holy Water immediately has been addressed and fixed for the latest version. If you are still on 1.1 try updating and see if that fixes it, or wait for the next update coming very soon (adding in a pretty big quality of life change will slightly delay it). I'll think about your suggestions in regards to Seifer and Edea - it seems she still uses Dispel too often if any character is under Reflect. No problems with Carbuncle being helpful here though, since he is the "new" GF at this point, so making Edea 100% anti-Carbuncle would be a little unfair :)
Post by: CeruleanSpirit on 2019-02-26 21:29:35
Seifer: I would probably replace the Cure/Cura/Curaga by a flat low level Cure or something less useful like Life or Esuna. Seriously, coming to this boss fight without any means of healing is like coming to gunblade fight with a nail clipper.
Edea: My bad, I forgot this was a balance mod for a second. If this she doesn't lock on Zombie in the newest version, then i'm fine with her. The usual rule of thumb in RPGs: The new stuff you've got is usually going to help you beat the next boss. Carbuncle in this case.
I downloaded v1.1a at the very top of the thread. Where can I download the newest version of the mod?
Thanks!
Post by: Callisto on 2019-03-01 17:07:44
Changes Overview
Balance changes
- Natural character stat growth has been further increased.
- HP Bonus, Strength Bonus etc have been removed and replaced with other Abilities.
- HP+10/30/50% structure has been changed to HP+10/20/30%.
- The base power of Irvine's Armor Shot has been reduced from 26 to 22.
- Critical hit rate of Irvine's Shot types have been rebalanced.
- Rapture, Fortify and Ultra Cure appear more often in Selphie's Slots.
- Selphie's Calamity spell inflicts Poison, Darkness, Blind and Sleep (254/255 chance) in addition to its damage.
- Quistis' Homing Laser ignores enemy Spirit.
- Doomtrain and Bahamut summons inflict more damage.
- Gilgamesh's Excaliber and Masamune inflict more damage and can break the damage limit.
Enemies
- A non-escapable extra battle will trigger on the way to the Brothers inside the Tomb of the Unknown King.
- Edea (1st) uses Dispel less frequently when the party is under Reflect, uses Astral Punch more often instead.
- Adel's Energy Bomber has a chance to inflict Darkness.
- Griever is noticably more agile now.
- Abadon is under Auto-Shell while standing (thanks to Sega Chief for helping prevent file corruption on this one).
- Propagators are immune against Silence.
- Jumbo Cactuar is immune against Slow.
- Bahamut's moveset has been changed in resemblance to what he uses in Final Fantasy V.
- Ultima Weapon's attack pattern has been extended.
- Elnoyle is no longer immune to LV Up/Down.
- Base Soldiers now use Drain instead of Water.
New feature: Easy card rule abolishment
(https://i.imgur.com/Y19EGyC.png)
Most players probably know about the NPC pictured above - he is the one who can reset all Balamb rules by just challenging him to a card game. As part of this update, more such NPCs have been added in other regions as well, to allow easy card rule abolishment everywhere, not just Balamb. Using this new service won't be free in most cases though, in order to prevent abuse and also to give players more opportunities to spend their money. Costs vary between 20,000 and 100,000 Gil, depending on an area's default ruleset. I have tested this new feature at least once for every area, and it seemed to work flawlessly, but I can't guarantee it's 100% bug-free. Please report if you discover anything off regarding this feature, like rules not resetting despite having paid for it. The NPCs in question can be found at the following locations:
Dollet (https://i.imgur.com/wzrwWQt.png) | Galbadia (https://i.imgur.com/nonFG2w.png) | FH (https://i.imgur.com/1bW5dlh.png) | Centra (https://i.imgur.com/a6QuYD4.png) | Trabia (https://i.imgur.com/u1YW75U.png) | Esthar (https://i.imgur.com/SuUcJ4B.png) | Lunar 1 (https://i.imgur.com/3bt7rv1.png) | Lunar 2 (https://i.imgur.com/7MVg5fN.png)
Other changes
- New mini quest: At Lunar Gate, keep challenging the right guard to a card game until he agrees, then play to earn some items (can be done again after Lunar Cry).
- Due to a glitch, Revive/Renew has its standard effect restored, Awakening Moon has the same effect as a Megalixir for now.
- In order to compensate for the missing Recover Ability, Treatment now restores HP in addition to curing status changes.
- Defeating the 3 Cyborgs at Lunatic Pandora Laboratory yields two additional Friendship items.
- Another Friendship is now rewarded at Chocobo Sanctuary in addition to the Chicobo Card.
- A new enemy Ability, Mind Blast, is now used by a few select enemies; inflicts magic damage that ignores Spr and can inflict Stop.
- The game can be saved in the room where Bahamut awaits.
- Diablos' level requirement for the Enc-Half Ability has been reduced from 32 to 24.
- Flare can break the damage limit when used under Angel Wing.
Many thanks for all the user feedback lately, it has been very helpful :)
@CeruleanSpirit: 1.1a was the latest version before this one, so I guess you just had a bad RNG and saw her casting Zombie a little too often. The probability of her using Zombie has been reduced for this update as well.
Post by: Nikito on 2019-03-10 21:45:23
I have a question though, How early is it possible to get a steel pipe for squall's first weapon upgrade? I found out the hard way that Elastoid doesn't turn into a steel pipe anymore.
On that note, is there a list of where to get items in this mod?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-03-11 02:34:19
The first opportunity to get a Steel Pipe is in Timber, right after completing the train mission on disc 1. Make sure to stop by the Town's Gate near the inn and help the two guards dealing with the Galbadian soldiers. Unlike the original game, this will be rewarded with a Steel Pipe and some screws, which is just enough to upgrade to Squall's second weapon. Even if you miss this opportunity, you can still get Steel Pipes shortly after by mugging Wendigos in Timber Roshfall Forest on the world map.
There is no list that contains all the item information yet, but there will be one soon for those who are interested.
Post by: Nikito on 2019-03-16 12:40:03
Did you by any chance change the queen of cards side quest? I just reached her in Dollet and she's asking for a Quezacotl card and didn't say the mini mog card is with the old guy's son, which i've never had happen before.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-03-16 15:50:08
Make sure to ask the Queen about her artist father whenever she is in Dollet to always get hints about where new cards appear (in the original, these hints are very easy to miss) - the Kiros card holder has been changed as well and is now found at Winhill inn rather than Deling City streets. Other than that, the Queen now requests the Pandemona card instead of the Sacred card, but the rest of the questline remains the same as in the original game.
By the way, here's a full guide on how to get Squall's weapons as early as possible. The other characters will soon follow.
Spoiler: show
Post by: Nikito on 2019-03-16 18:52:09
On a kinda related note, is it not possible to change weapons so that they give magic too? Weapon upgrading on Sephie, Quistis and Rinoa feel kind of underwhelming if not useless with them giving only strength boosts.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-03-19 16:02:37
Spoiler: show
I would love to add more bonuses to weapons, such as giving some a Magic Boost, as you suggested. Unfortunately, it's one of the harder changes to make. FF8 tool support is still relatively young though, so it might be possible more easily at some point - fingers crossed.
Post by: Nikito on 2019-03-24 20:49:26
Post by: demondrakeza666 on 2019-03-29 19:15:33
Thank you for the awesome mod, been enjoying it alot
I have a question I would like to ask,if I may?
Just spent 2+ hours trying to get the Zell Card from his mom, I then read that the location has changed.
Is there any clues you can give as to where this is?
Is it obtainable in Disk 1?
Is it part of a Side Quest? eg Queen of Cards or the CC group?
Dont want to know exactly where it is,yet. but would like a vague idea of where it could be.
Thanx
Post by: Callisto on 2019-03-30 00:35:15
@demondrakeza666: Yes, the Zell card has become part of a sidequest in this mod, rather than being won by a Triple Triad player. This sidequest can be completed at the beginning of disc 3 at the earliest, until the point of no return at the end of disc 3 at the latest. You don't have to care about any prerequisites prior to disc 3, the card can be found anytime during disc 3, no matter the circumstances. If you need more information about where to find items, cards etc, let me know.
Post by: Nikito on 2019-04-07 18:37:15
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-08 03:56:01
Quote from: Nikito
I was wondering how do you obtain Seifer's card now since Cid doesn't seem to have it.
Nothing has changed in regards to the Seifer card, only the Kiros and Zell card locations are different from the original game.
Are you playing at his office? The probabilties of Cid using the Seifer card are different depending on where you play him. It's only 20% in his office, while later at Edea's House chances increase to about 50%. So I'd suggest keep trying.
Post by: IFireflyl on 2019-04-12 06:41:25
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-13 03:35:51
Other than that, Omega Weapons physical attacks are harder to dodge, as the Speed gains through junctions - and therefore also Evade stats - have been toned down by quite a bit, and he can't be easily put under the Vit 0 status effect by just casting Meltdown, so the fight will probably go on longer than usual - also because Squall's, Zell's and Irvines' Limit Breaks no longer inflict absurd amounts of damage. Character stats are generally harder to max out since the latest update, which should help with the difficulty of this battle as well.
I'm not sure if this is enough to turn him into a nightmare, but it should be a noticable step up frome the base game. I guess there's still more potential to this battle, like slightly more randomization of attacks, so his pattern becomes less predictable. I'll think about something for the next update, which should release soon.
Post by: Nikito on 2019-04-14 18:22:37
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-14 23:33:34
Steel Pipes must be mugged from Wendigos (they appear very frequently on the dirt ground area near Deling City), as they are no longer available through Card Mod. As for the other items, the ways of obtaining them are the same as always. Here's a link:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Doomtrain
Post by: Yuey on 2019-04-15 03:08:49
I'm looking forward to the rest of the game and hopefully I'll report back with my thoughts after playing some more. Cheers!
Post by: fooli on 2019-04-16 10:00:12
Three things I wanted to bring up, I noticed in a previous comment that you changed the queen of cards quest. I lost my minimog card to her and she gave the text saying she was moving to dollet. I haven't gone back to check if she's actually gone. Also, could you put together a list of the card changes?
Second thing was during the late night visit to the training center with Quistis I was back attacked by a T-rexaur and before I could act was tail whipped for roughly 900 damage a pop and wiped out Quistis and Squall.
Third was Double doesn't seem to do anything. I have the option for single and double cast after I buff someone with it, but the second spell never goes off. Edit: Something in this process resolved -
If using Lunatic Pandora Mod Pack v1.0:
1. Delete the HL_Files/ folder.
2. Download THIS FILE to replace the UV Injector that comes with Lunatic Pandora
3. Place that file into RaW/GLOBAL/Hext along with the ragnarok mod and any other Hext files you have.
4. Run the game from the normal launcher.
Post by: fooli on 2019-04-16 12:58:14
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-16 15:30:40
@Fooli: It's best to wait with starting the Queen of Cards sidequest until you have the Quezacotl card from Mayor Dobe in Fisherman's Horizon, as the whole quest chain now starts with this card instead of Minimog. All in all, not much has changed about this sidequest otherwise. Click spoiler tag for more details:
Spoiler: show
As for the T-Rexaur wipe, I'll look for a way to prevent back attacks against this enemy, or will just decrease the power of its tail attack a little.
Rechecked shop options in Timber train, and can confirm the bug you described. It only happens when talking to this NPC right after getting Rinoa out of her room though. After the actual train mission and right before facing Gerogero, the options work as intended. Will fix this very soon, thanks for the info.
Post by: NxK on 2019-04-18 13:31:25
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-18 16:10:59
Post by: IFireflyl on 2019-04-19 17:22:51
I guess there's still more potential to this battle, like slightly more randomization of attacks, so his pattern becomes less predictable. I'll think about something for the next update, which should release soon.
The other things you said make the battle sound way better than Vanilla, but less predictable attacks would (in my opinion) be a huge improvement for Omega Weapon. Thanks so much for everything you've put into this! I want to replay FFVIII again! ;D
Post by: NxK on 2019-04-19 18:13:13
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-19 20:03:31
What you could do in any case is relying on the RNG for you to remove a certain rule from the card players on the Ragnarok, as long as you are able to carry rules to certain players that don't already play them. Check out this link, for example:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/76700194
Post by: Yuey on 2019-04-20 03:38:31
One thing that I do want to mention though was the Cerberus fight. That was probably the hardest fight for me up until this point and man what a fight that was! I thought I was more than prepared for anything (had pretty much full stock of every possible spell so far on my entire party and was a solid lvl60 on squall / 40-ish on my other two members) and he still wiped the floor with me. I ended up having to dedicate both Rinoa and Quistis to full time buff and healing duties just to stay alive. Both tornado and quake would do half of my party's hp even with aero and break junctioned to ele-def and sometimes he would back to back cast them. I felt like I needed protect at all times because of his physical/acid rain and haste/double on both my casters in order to keep up with healing. I tried using shell/float too but opted for just healing through since he kept dispelling and it was too many buffs to try to maintain. Oh, and that acid rain attack has got to be the worst part of the fight. The dispel plus the heavy physical damage of it meant that if it followed a tornado or quake before I could heal, it was likely a KO on one of my casters. Not to mention he really likes to spam it and he's so freaking fast! All in all, very fun fight and even more satisfying once you beat him.
On the other hand, the boss battle right after that felt like a joke in comparison. Maelstrom hurts a lot but she just didn't have the speed to really follow up to make it deadly and I could easily heal up to full before anything happens. The RNG deaths were annoying but nothing I couldn't deal with since once again her slow speed makes it easy to recover.
Also, is triple still available as a drawn spell from enemies at some point in the game since neither Odin or Cerberus has it. You can just tell me a yes or no so I know if I would need to refine it or not.
Edit: In hindsight, I think much of what made the Edea fight easier for me compared to Cerberus was the fact that I had two treatments already by that point and since a lot of her skill set revolved around inflicting status ailments, that kind of trivialized the fight. Gaining an extra Spd-J also really upped my party's survivability since both of my casters had 50+ spd.
Post by: fooli on 2019-04-20 04:28:46
The Missile Base commander and his two side kicks wiped me twice oddly enough. First time I silenced them all with Siren, then the two mooks started spamming hi potions while the officer had them gang up on whoever was lowest HP. Action economy was seriously busted, it was like they were all hasted. Second time I tried dropping the officer without scanning him, he had a ton of hp I wasn't expecting lol.
Something seemed super wonky with the random encounter rate where you fight the oilboyles. Went through it twice and had at least six random encounters each time just walking across the room. Most of Garden seemed pretty high, Galbadia doesn't need missiles when there are that many bombs running around the halls.
Not sure if it has anything to do with your mod, but the text font occasionally goes back to the original every other letter. Opening the menu usually fixes it.
Been enjoying this run quite a bit as the characters feel distinct. Selphie is seriously MVP so far, she is higher level than squall at the missile base just from how many killing blows she deals. She just murders everything with her limit break and her innate magic stat. However I can't seem to make Zell useful compared to anyone else, and I've yet to get his finisher to show up when Duel-ing. Did the command order get changed? Irvine is kinda in the same boat outside his limit.
What does Angelo's damage scale off of for Rinoa? It seems to be super weak.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-21 04:52:28
Still, the drop in difficulty between Cerberus and Edea (2nd) might be a little too noticable indeed. So I guess a small speed bonus to Edea (2nd) sounds reasonable, as well as increasing the level requirement for Leviathan to learn the second Treatment Ability.
Speed junction bonuses will be further reduced in the next update, probably releasing next week. This will also change Triple availability. At the moment, the earliest methods of aquiring Triple is by finding Three Stars from Chocbo World, by modding the Selphie card, or through High Mag-RF from Alexander a little later. There are only 2 non-regular enemies you can draw it from on disc 3 or 4, so make sure to not miss out on them if you prefer drawing it.
@fooli: I rechecked SeeD rank salary for each rank and found that the value for rank 16 is busted because of a typing error in the ragnarok_mod text file. Thanks a lot, I probably wouldn't have spotted it myself anymore.
The soldiers from the Missile Base boss battle can be tricky indeed, but there are various spells that help dealing with them. For one, the Base Soldiers are very vulnerable to Slow, a spell that should be easily accessible at this point of the game. Quezacotl has a chance of inflicting Slow as well. They can't even cure the status with their Remedies, so it'll definitely help. The Base Leader's HP have been made that high to give the Demi spell an opportunity to shine in a boss fight.
In general, if you feel like being overwhelmed by certain enemies, don't hesitate to try status changing spells. They are sometimes the key for winning battles. This is particularly true for the (in this mod) infamous Esthar Cyborgs as well.
I'm not sure what caused the increased encounter rate at the Oilboyle screen; it's even set to be slightly lower than elsewhere at MD-Levels. Guess I'll just decrease it further, as it can be really annoying to run into a random battle on your way to where the Oilboyles spawn. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Mixed text fonts are definitely not caused by this mod. I know what you mean, and I believe it happens more frequently if you alt-tab out of the game and back in with any font-changing mod active, but not entirely sure what causes it.
Zell's Duel damage can still be high and compete with other characters' Limit Breaks when using certain combos (outside of repeated use of Punch Rush and Booya, known as the "Armageddon Fist" in the base game). Nothing has changed about command order, so you can use this as a guide:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Duel
Irvine's natural Speed growth will be increased for the next update, so he will be the only character that reaches a high Speed stat without grinding for Speed Up items (only Selphie will come close). Angelo Cannon and Angelo Strike damage is based on Rinoa's Strength, which is rather low naturally, but can be increased with junctions to somewhat decent levels. As a compensation, her Limit Break will trigger a little earlier than that of the characters (40% max HP instead of the usual 30%) and Wishing Star is currently still incredibly powerful.
Post by: fooli on 2019-04-21 11:17:15
Hope these things aren't coming through as complaints, I am enjoying this mod a great deal and am trying to keep things constructive.
Post by: fooli on 2019-04-23 12:54:58
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-23 14:13:26
Here's a new text file you can use to fix SeeD rank 16 by the way. Put it in RaW/Global/Hext and replace the old text file.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1W7Sey3BTTKiJftInphYeRVY-4aydfWHZ
Didn't get your feedback wrong, no worries :)
Post by: Yuey on 2019-04-25 06:15:58
Spoiler: show
) Post by: Nikito on 2019-04-28 13:50:00
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-30 04:32:51
Irvine and Quistis are actually not meant to shine only in the late-game. But in the case of Irvine and his Strength based Limit Break, this is pretty much unavoidable due to physical damage scaling with a character's Strength stat exponentially, meaning that damage output is rather low until a certain Strength threshold, and from thereon increasing rapidly. Magic damage on the other hand doesn't scale with a character's Mag stat that well, as its damage calculation forumla has no exponent in it. Spell base damage is usually higher than that of physical attacks though, which is why spells are superior in the early-mid game, when Strength can't reach very high levels yet (at least not in this mod), which fits perfectly well with what you observed. If you learn Quistis' Blue Magic spells as early as possible (especially Electrocute and Aqua Breath), she can become a very valuable character for the first half of the game as well, so I wouldn't necessarily say she only shines in the late-game.
Other than that, I understand that the late-game balance is still lacking a bit in this mod, and the main reason for that is Aura and Limit Break spamming indeed - and enemies usually don't punish the latter enough when staying low on HP intentionally, just to get permanent access to Limit Breaks. I hope the next version will improve on that, by toning down certain attacks (Wishing Star and Homing Laser come to mind - the latter shouldn't do high damage and ignore enemy Spirit) and by making changes to certain enemies, so players get a chance to actually see some of their special attacks at least once. I'm also thinking of removing and replacing Aura as a spell completely, and just leave the Stones, so it is no longer possible to obtain larger amounts of Aura by drawing it in battle. I guess putting the spell on Ultima Weapon was not limiting enough, so for the next version, it will at least be moved to Omega Weapon and then possibly be completely removed in the version after that. Not sure what to replace the Aura spell with yet, but Aura in its current state needs to be addressed for sure.
Still, I want to avoid making the end-game go overboard with difficulty, so max character levels and top tier spells will be mandatory to beat the game. I've been thinking of creating an alternate, harder version of the mod, as you suggested, but at the moment, it's just a thought. Haven't started working on it yet, but maybe will do soon.
All in all, you've really made some good points. Much appreciated.
@Nikito: Late disc 3 is a good opportunity to get the spells you are looking for. Meteor can be drawn from Lv40+ Iron Giants around Esthar (they appear very frequently at Tears Point while Lunatic Pandora is hovering above), while Ultima Weapon is your best bet for Aura and Ultima. Farming Energy Crystals from the repeatable Elnoyle encounter in Esthar and then turning them into Ultima using Forbid Mag-RF also works, as usual. Enc-None is learned by Eden, but I might change this to an earlier GF before the new version of this mod releases tomorrow.
Other than that, it's good to hear you found some use in Irvine. Maybe his Speed stat doesn't even need to be increased that much then. At the moment, it is set to peak at 82 on Level 100 (for comparison, Squall's Speed caps at 37 on Level 100), which is already a very high value for Speed, so I fear could be a bit much. Anyway, if you have more questions, let me know.
Post by: Mcindus on 2019-04-30 04:44:30
Post by: Callisto on 2019-04-30 04:55:41
Post by: Yuey on 2019-04-30 21:28:53
I'm also thinking of removing and replacing Aura as a spell completely, and just leave the Stones, so it is no longer possible to obtain larger amounts of Aura by drawing it in battle. I guess putting the spell on Ultima Weapon was not limiting enough, so for the next version, it will at least be moved to Omega Weapon and then possibly be completely removed in the version after that. Not sure what to replace the Aura spell with yet, but Aura in its current state needs to be addressed for sure.
The thing with trying to balance Aura is that it is kind of like Hero/Holy War. You either have it or you don't and once you gain access to it, it makes everything much easier. There's not a lot of room in between.
I agree with limiting its availability or quantity, though it kind of sucks to lose out on a potential high tier junction. Putting it on Omega pretty much limits it to the last two fights in the game, which could actually serve as a neat little cue for the player that this is it: the final showdown. :P
As for replacing the spell, what about a physical damage increasing buff? Kind of like berserk but without the loss of control. I feel like physical would be really lacking late-game in the absence of Aura and a spell like this would fill in nicely.
Post by: Ai on 2019-05-01 01:13:20
It is required or just an option? Since it seems to be torrent download only and my IPS block any torrents download, i cannot get it.
I hope it's just optional, if not is there any chance for me to get it via other means? If not them i'm probably screwed. :(
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-01 03:05:45
https://kalak.dhs.org/
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-01 05:36:52
Changes Overview
Balance changes
- Speed Junction effects have been further reduced.
- Irvine's weapons have received an innate critical hit bonus.
- Natural Speed growth has been increased for Selphie and Irvine.
- Natural Magic growth for Selphie, Quistis, Rinoa and Edea has been increased.
- Rinoa's Wishing Star base power has been reduced.
- Quistis' Homing Laser base power has been reduced and no longer ignores enemy Spirit, 254/255 chance to cause Sleep.
- Quistis' Acid now ignores enemy Spirit instead.
- Quistis' Ultra Waves has a chance to inflict Blind and Berserk on all enemies.
- Quistis' Shockwave Pulsar inflicts less damage on Crisis Levels 1-3, but can still do 60,000 HP damage on Crisis Level 4.
- The End now inflicts 100% Doom on all enemies, rather than instant Death.
- Base power for Tornado, Quake, Holy and Flare spells has been slightly increased.
- Carbuncle casts Regen on the party in addition to Reflect.
- Enc-None is still learned by Eden, but no longer requires 200 AP and is learned by default.
- Leviathan's level requirement for learning the second Treatment Ability has been increased to 42.
- Tool-RF and Supt Mag-RF have had their respective GFs swapped, to allow earlier access to support magic Refinement.
- Triple can no longer be created by using High Mag-RF. Breaks can now be turned into Quakes instead.
- A few one-time Triple Draw Points have been placed at various late-game locations.
- Aura can no longer be drawn from Ultima Weapon and has been moved to Omega Weapon.
Enemies
- Many late-game enemies have received a major stat overhaul and more tweaks to their AI.
- Turn skip probability has been reduced for almost all enemies. Some late-game bosses no longer skip their turns at all.
- Speed stats of Elastoid and Esthar Cyborg have been slightly reduced.
- Reflect Beam, Resonance and Psycho Blast enemy attacks inflict slightly less damage.
- Seifer's resistance against Drain has been increased.
- Base Soldier and Base Leader drop more AP.
- Encounters with T-Rexaurs on Balamb can no longer begin with a back attack to avoid unnecessary Game Overs.
- Mesmerizes now appear in one of the scripted battles during the Norg scenario, which can be important for a certain weapon upgrade.
- Bombs now appear in some of the random enemy encounters on the Galbadia continent for similar reasons.
- Cockatrices now appear in the Laguna flashback in Winhill, alongside Bite Bugs and Caterchipillars.
- The encounter rate for the Oilboyle screen at MD-Levels has been reduced.
- Random enemy encounters have been disabled in all cells of D-District Prison.
Chocobo World
More items have been entirely removed from Chocobo World:
- Three Stars
- Status Guard
- Elem Guard
- Megalixir
- Shaman Stone
- Aura Stone
- Fury Fragment
- Moon Stone
- Inferno Fang
- Laser Cannon
- Pulse Ammo
Some of the good items that are still available include: Healing Ring (=100 Curagas), Phoenix Pinion (=100 Firagas), Energy Crystal, Power Generator, Stat Up items.
Ultimate Weapons
The base power of each Ultimate Weapon has been increased. This value works independently from the bonus they add to each character's Strength stat, so a standard physical attack performed with an Ultimate Weapon will always inflict more damage than all the lower tier weapons, even if the character is already at 255 Strength. Note that the increased power from those weapons will affect standard physcial attacks only. Limit Breaks power is excluded from this change and relies solely on a character's Strength stat, as usual.
Universal damage limit removal
The 9999 HP damage limit has been removed for all attacks and the new limit is 60,000 HP, mainly to increase the incentive to use standard physical attacks and GF more often in the late-game. This change includes Gravity based attacks as well, so they are now extremely useful on enemies that have high HP, such as Malboro, Snow Lion or Iron Giants. To prevent Gravity attacks from becoming too powerful overall, it was necessary to make a few more enemies immune to them, or give certain bosses that are vulnerable to it a massive HP boost to compensate for the change.
This, alongside stronger Ultimate Weapons, should also solve the issue in regards to standard physical attacks becoming rather useless in the late-game, as it is now possible to get excellent value out of Darkside, especially in combination with critical hits and abuse of elemental weaknesses. In order to keep the total physical damage output in check, the Darkside Ability is now learned by only one GF, and many late-enemies and bosses have had their stats increased, as stated before. Some more Limit Breaks had to be reduced in power too, as they would do absurd damage with the cap removed, such as Blasting Zone, and most of Zell's Duel finishers.
I'm not sure if I succeeded in balancing out every late-game enemy around this new feature properly, as I haven't really had the time to do so yet. If you find something really off, like doing more than 30,000 HP damage on a certain enemy by using only a single physical attack, please report it here.
Angel Wing
The Angel Wing damage multiplier has been increased from 3 to 4, so using this Limit Break always has an advantage over just casting Triple spells. Furthermore, spell determination no longer depends on what spells Rinoa currently has in her inventory. Instead, the spells she uses are now randomly selected from a set table that consists of only higher tier spells, with different probabilities for each spell.
Summoning Odin
Odin summon mechanics have been changed in a way that he no longer interrupts battles randomly, and is now summoned by using an item instead, to avoid his often unwanted occurrences once and for all. After defeating Odin at Centra Ruins, the player receives 10 units of this new summon item, and 3 more each time Odin's chamber is visited again after all of these items are used up. There is no other way of getting this item, so the maximum amount the player can carry at the same time will always be limited.
The idea behind this change is adding another resource management element to the game, and of course also to make getting Odin more worthwhile. Gilgamesh is not available in this version of mod for now, as I haven't found a way to get these items out of the item menu properly right before the Seifer battle at the end of disc 3. He might return in a later version though.
Important: This change as a whole can cause quirks on game saves in which Odin has already been unlocked. If you wish to use this version of the mod on an older save that has Odin unlocked, I would recommend using the Hyne tool (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9713.0), go to G-Forces, select the Griever icon and untick Odin from there. Otherwise, Odin will still appear randomly at the beginning of a battle.
Other changes and bugfixes
- Draw amounts in battle have been further increased, so even low Mag characters can draw basic spells relatively fast.
- Some more new battle items that replace Death/Holy/Flare/Meteor/Ultima Stones have been added.
- Get a healing item from Raine at the end of the Winhill flashback, depending on how many enemies have been defeated on Laguna's patrol.
- A new sidequest is now available at Fire Cavern after the Lunar Cry event. Zell will mention it inside Ragnarok after Squall returns from space.
- CC-Spade can now abolish all card rules for all areas on disc 4.
- A save opportunity has been added between the Missile Base and Norg scenario events on disc 2.
- A Junk Shop can now be accessed through CC-Joker inside D-District prison and Balamb Garden Training Center.
- The FH shop can now be accessed through the old man at FH Seaside Station as well.
- Status effects for GF can now be checked in battles when pressing start while having the cursor on the respective GF.
- Stat Bonus Abilities have been removed from Cactuar for good.
- Gil value for SeeD Rank 16 has been corrected.
- Talking to an NPC inside Timber Train no longer shows a broken text box.
- A mistakenly placed Card rule reset option has been removed from the vendor in FH inn.
- Some enemy attacks have been renamed. For example, all "Breath" attacks now have their own, unique name.
- Step Mine uses another animation, as the previous one didn't display correctly when hitting 4 enemies.
Thanks again for all the feedback lately - not only through users on these forums, but also through XeroKynos, who was streaming this mod a while back, which was very helpful in spotting certain late-game imbalances directly. Also huge thanks to Sega Chief, whose Ifrit tool enemy AI fix came in handy, and JWP who came up with an Angel Wing Patch that was necessary to put my ideas into practice. I hope it's a decent, less broken alternative compared to endless Meteor spam :)
@Yuey: I don't think a damage boosting spell in Aura's place is all that necessary anymore, now that the general damage cap has been lifted. I was also thinking about another Water elemental spell, as this particular element is still underrepresented in this mod, due to possible animations being sparse and/or broken when used by own party (the Grand Mantis one, for example). I'll keep your idea in mind though.
@Ai: Roses and Wine W07 is necessary to make a lot of this mod's changes work (everything that comes from the text file), such as drawing more than 9 spell units per Draw in battle, or proper magic damage calculation. I hope Yuey's link will help you getting it.
Post by: Ai on 2019-05-01 05:45:20
Someone provided a mirror to a direct download in the official thread:
https://kalak.dhs.org/
Ah! Nice! Thanks, i should be able to get it working, if not i can always look at some tutorial.
Also, that update came right at the perfect time. :D
Time to actually get challenged by VIII for the first time ever.
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-01 21:07:57
I'm excited to jump in again soon.
Post by: oksymoron on 2019-05-03 20:31:38
@Callisto, Could you perhaps name places where you should be able to get Triple and Ultima? I'm playing your mod and I really hope I didn't miss any of those spells, right now I'm after taking back Rinoa from Sorceress Memorial. I saw that Ultima Weapon has them but come on, getting them from this boss? :) (Obviously not mentioning refining items into magic, mostly talking about Triple since Ultima is only obtainable via refining and Ultima Weapon)
BTW. I really love your mod, before it I completed this game about 20-30 times and it was always oh so easy, with your mod, it's a completely new experience.
P.S.: Since I'm past middle of the game would it be possible for you to edit files from mod version 1.1.2 that would fix the SeeD rank problem at lv 16? I would not like to update to version 1.1.3 since there are pretty substantial changes between those two versions.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-04 01:34:34
There's actually a quite cheap way to draw free Triples in this mod. If you do all the base game sidequests on disc 3/4, you'll eventually find the enemy that has it. Let me know if you would like a more direct answer, and I'll put in a spoiler tag.
Ultima availabilty is actually unchanged from the base game, so it can be still only drawn from Ultima and Omega Weapon, as usual. If you want it as early as possible, I would recommend doing the fixed Elnoyle encounter in Esthar over and over, then using Forbid Mag-RF to make Ultimas out of the dropped Energy Crystals. The refinement ratio is even slightly more efficient than usual (1-5 instead of 1-3).
Here is a link to the 1.1.2 text file that has the SeeD Rank 16 bug fixed:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tWpPm_nBaR1f-7Bm6Z6zxkag2F5CVPKA
Anyway, thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying the mod :)
Post by: oksymoron on 2019-05-04 08:39:52
I'll let you know about Triple, Right now I'm in the middle of chocobo quest so I will probably do them all :)
EDIT: Do you have any comprehensive list of added sidequests? Maybe not like what exactly you get from them but something that would lead us to them? Also any changes to existing sidequests?
PS. Just got Triples, clever way to hide it in the game :)
Also got a question, I think it was done in 1.1.3 version but, are effects of Stat Bonus abilities that Cactuar can learn are neglected by the fact that now characters by default get certain stat buffs with every level? Is it even worth bothering with those abilities in 1.1.2?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-06 03:26:41
Spoiler: show
As for changes to already existing sidequests, the Queen of Cards sidequest is worth mentioning:
Spoiler: show
Other than that, it's just the rewards that have been changed. I hope completing all the Chocobo Forests will be worth your trouble :)
Cactuar's Stat Bonus Abilities aren't supposed to be available from version 1.1.2 onwards, as their presence can still limit the incentive to level up, and getting rid of these also helps with maintaining character identity throughout the entire game. All in all, it was an oversight to keep them for Cactuar, so I would recommend just deleting them using Amnesia Greens. This also frees up space for some of the new Abilities he can learn in this mod.
Post by: oksymoron on 2019-05-06 14:27:21
Really nice mod and everything you did was perfect, the balance is right and I can now not only use attack like in the original but magic (which I still used in the original but felt like it's not as powerful as it should be). Overall, I will do another playthough with no hesitation.
Gotta ask you as well, can you give me the "not-precise" location of Zell Card? Mama Ditch doesn't have it and I read that it's one of the cards that you tinkered with :) Is it still in Balamb or maybe I should look somewhere else? (I have a feeling it's connected to Zell's "Girlfriend" :))
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-07 04:21:53
Spoiler: show
Otherwise, thanks for the kind words, very encouraging :)
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-05-09 07:14:14
Thinking back, I never got back to you with regards to my final feedback and the final boss conversation, I suppose I moved on to other things in such a hurry that I never got to finish those thoughts, regrettably - I can no longer remember what I wanted to say. Something regarding the balance/difficulty side of things for sure though, considering the unusually dire conditions I beat the boss in, haha.
Anyhow super awesome to see you still perfecting the beat, as it were. Thanks for your continued support of the mod and making it the best it can be. The definitive version of FF8.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-09 22:58:41
While many of the points you made were already on my list back then, it was indeed your feedback that made me push some of the changes for the latest version, even though some of the results are different from what was initially planned. Maybe you remember me saying that I would like to keep the Stat Bonus Abilities until I find a replacement for them (some entirely new Abilities), but after thinking about what you said few times, I came to the conclusion that it's better to just remove them, even if there's no proper replacement for them yet.
The same can be said about Odin; it became more and more obvious that the mechanics are in need of a change, so he would no longer appear randomly at the beginning of battle without the player having a chance to stop this, resulting in forced EXP or missed opportunities to get a certain item from an enemy. The initial idea was to implement an option to toggle Odin on or off, but since I have never found a way to access the Odin variable through Deling Field editor, I came up with the item idea, which I think is a somewhat decent solution as well, even though if it means sacrificing Gilgamesh (for now).
So all in all, your feedback at least pushed me to find alternate, easier to implement solutions for various issues. Again, thanks for that, and also for your latest post in general. While this mod has evolved by quite a bit during the last couple of months, I still think there's room for improvement. For example, there's still the Aura spell, which is just toxic to this game's balance, and therefore should be replaced with a new spell, leaving just the rare Aura Stones, as said above. Other than that, using Darkside with max Strength, and hitting a major elemental weakness can now do tremendous amounts of damage to certain enemies, and sometimes negates any need for using spells and even Limit Breaks. Both issues will be addressed in a smaller update releasing soon.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2019-05-10 07:41:49
Yea I really like how you got around the Odin situation, reinforcing the theme of meaningfully limited resources, as I liked to think about it. It feels appropriate in the context of the mod. Aww, poor Gilgamesh, what a shame. I'll truly miss you randomly interrupting a tense lategame bossfight in order to deal 1k damage to them.
I do remember being in favor of even more heavily restricting Aura, to the point where it becomes a super limited external resource with a set number of stones that can be acquired in the game rather than a spell that can be drawn&junctioned. I think I had a supply of around a dozen for the ultimecia castle and I enjoyed the thought of having to ration and carefully select the times of use so much that I imposed the restriction on myself even though I did have a full stack of Auras from UW, so I didn't allow myself to use it via magic. Really cool to see you've been steering the mod in that direction.
Just talking about balance in terms of damage output, different abilities and whatnot gets me so excited man. It was one of the best things in the mod, seeing how different strategies measured up against each other and fighting bosses over and over using all the different tools at my disposal. And it was exciting precisely because you had balanced it so well, in my opinion. I imagine you lifting the damage cap just cranked the whole thing up to 11, I'm gonna have so much fun when I manage to get into this. But even without playing, it does indeed sound like Darkside has just become the most convenient way of delivering the hurts against enemies with elemental weaknesses. Why bother with limits, GF's and others when you can just attack and deal a similar amount of damage? Good idea to only have 1 darkside in the game. I don't think I ever commented on that but I did find it weird when there were multiple. At least now you have to make a choice. Well, I'm blabbing again and this time without even playing. My God.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-11 05:22:55
As for the Aura replacement, I'll have to drop the idea for a high-level Water spell for now, as there aren't any animations that are entirely bug-free and compatible with Double/Triple at the same time. Will probably go with a strong support spell for the late-game instead, like one that combines the effects of Protect, Shell and Regen. Any other ideas, also in regards to spell name, feel free to share.
Darkside has become very powerful with the damage cap removed indeed. It feels a bit weird to finally have a way to inflict high and fast damage, without having to resort to spells and Limit Breaks, which often come with longer animations. I personally like it though, and I think the late-game needed that. But as said before, a few bosses take too much damage from it, due to having a major elemental weakness. A Bomb easily takes 60,000 HP with one hit, when being at max Strength and having Blizzaga junctioned to Elem-Atk, which I think is fine for minor enemies in general, but if you suddenly do 40,000 HP damage to one certain phase of the final battle, something is off and needs to be addressed. At the moment, I'm trying to make it so that 30,000 HP is the maximum damage that can be inflicted with Darkside on late bosses, which is about in line with the total damage that can be caused by a spell under Triple.
Anyway, progress is going well, so the Aura replacement and Darkside adjustments will be included soon.
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-13 19:51:47
I don't know what I was expecting but a bomb boss fight was definitely not it. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it pop out of the crater.
Spoiler: show
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-14 01:18:28
Spoiler: show
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-14 02:02:11
Spoiler: show
By the way, it might be good to have a save point before the boss. Those mandatory fights beforehand take a while and it wouldn't be fair to expect someone to figure out the boss on the 1st try.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-14 03:58:16
Spoiler: show
Alright, will try to add a save possibility there, right before heading to the crater.
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-19 20:46:34
EDIT: You added Vengeance to Omega?! Now that's just mean.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-20 01:33:12
https://drive.google.com/open?id=159nfhB5FCJzalFpUo1iazJ1OPSiGiPm5
Drag to lang-en and replace old battle files to fix it. Thank you very much.
Omega Weapon can use this attack at two specific turns only, not anytime he wants. Let me know if it's too much and if you managed to defeat it regardless :)
Post by: Divatox on 2019-05-20 02:08:00
and sorry for the question, but i saw something about the second time into the fire cavern, do you made the Zell speach and changed the monsters? And a new boss?
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-20 02:15:25
I'll have to give Omega more attempts another day though. Tried a couple today hoping to not get a death since I couldn't unlock resurrection with Tiamat bugged. My last attempt was going pretty smooth but got unlucky when he casted an Ultima right after Terra Break before I could get a turn to heal. Turn order feels really tight now since I'm assuming he's skipping less compared to the last version. I'm loving the challenge though. :-P
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-20 02:38:42
It can be done after returning from space, and Zell will automatically mention it inside Ragnarok, to inform the player about it. There are 6 custom enemy encounters in total, and at the end, a custom Bomb boss battle can be attempted (it is recommended to save the game outside Fire Cavern before heading to the crater where Ifrit was once fought, as there's currently no save possibility right before this battle).
It primarily serves as an opportunity to obtain an otherwise rare item that is required to get Zell's best weapon, and of course was also added for a little entertainment :)
@Yuey: Well observed. In fact, Omega Weapon's turn skip probability has been reduced to 0 for the latest version. In previous versions, it was 20%, which I thought is still too high for the strongest enemy in the game. Vengeance is a bit mean indeed, but then again, it can't touch your Auto-Abilities, such as Auto-Protect or Auto-Haste. Well, I hope you'll manage to defeat it next time.
Post by: Divatox on 2019-05-20 03:47:27
how do you made this new event and boss? if may i ask.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-20 05:39:32
The hardest and most time consuming part is the work in Deling, as you need to learn that script language and use it yourself to put own ideas into practice. If you are really interested, you could start by comparing the non-modded Fire Cavern fields with the ones from this mod, to see what the differences are in detail (most changes are in the Director script). Always create backups in any case though, as things can be messed up easily if you are not familiar with changing field scripts.
Other information, for example about field variables, unused enemy encounter IDs, main story progress variables etc are helpful too. You can get a lot of this information from here:
https://wiki.ffrtt.ru/index.php/FF8
Post by: Divatox on 2019-05-20 14:44:29
i asked because i only modded the usual game, didn´t put new battles
and with IFRIT when i tried to edit some enemies in the AI, in game the grafics became a big mess =/
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-23 01:37:23
Had a ton of fun this time around as well. Plenty of great quality of life and misc changes in this version but for this post I mainly want to give my thoughts on some of the major changes and other notable points I came across during this playthrough.
Spoiler: show
Post by: Callisto on 2019-05-26 08:48:55
Spoiler: show
Post by: Yuey on 2019-05-26 19:45:20
Anyways, I want to take this opportunity to thank you again for all the work you've put in and still continuing to do on making this amazing mod. I can't speak for anyone else but I had an absolute blast with my two playthroughs. I'm really glad I decided to revisit the game again after all this time and for accidentally stumbling upon your mod because I don't think I would've had as enjoyable of an experience as I did otherwise. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you have in store for future versions. Cheers!
Post by: Shrike on 2019-06-01 11:45:24
I ran into a problem in the Cerberus battle. It hits Selphie with a move called Autodefense and then the battle stops (atb freezes). This has occurred four times now. Any way to work around it?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-06-01 17:13:28
Here's a quick fix:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CYhTtEpVovLuktd-FSo1uM1RFs_p5lV6
Copy paste the 3 files to lang-en and replace the old ones to fix the issue.
Post by: Shrike on 2019-06-02 01:14:40
Post by: Murasame on 2019-06-19 08:04:03
Post by: Callisto on 2019-06-19 17:28:25
There would be only a few things to take care of in regards to compatibility with saves from older versions:
- if Odin was already unlocked in one of the previous versions, he would still randomly appear at the beginning of battles. If that's the case, I would recommend disabling Odin by using Hyne Save editor (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9713.0) to prevent him from appearing, as in the newest version, Odin is summoned by using an item instead.
- there might be something strange in GF Ability lists, like "Tool-RF, required AP: 53/30". This is because some of the Abilities have been changed or swapped around in the latest version and can be easily fixed by selecting the Ability, then doing a battle. The issue will auto-correct itself afterwards, and the Ability in question will be fully learned.
You could also just send me your save game and I would adjust it for you, but I think it's better to wait until the next version of this mod releases within the next couple of days.
Post by: Binnon on 2019-06-20 16:19:43
UPDATE:
Just realized I made a mistake by replacing the Lang-en folder entirely so I was missing the world files (including some "magic" documents). So now I'm able to load the world map.
Post by: DiscoCokkroach on 2019-06-20 20:26:38
- I love the fact that Intruders (Deling City sewers theme) continues to play when you fight the new optional boss in Dollet. I'm fairly sure this was intentional, but if it was a bug/oversight, please do not fix it; it's subtle and quite humorous. :P
Oh, and good to hear that a new version is coming out soon! Keep up the good work.
Post by: Murasame on 2019-06-21 11:56:57
Yes, you could update to the latest version by redownloading the mod package from the opening post, and go through all the steps again, as if the mod was installed for the first time.
There would be only a few things to take care of in regards to compatibility with saves from older versions:
- if Odin was already unlocked in one of the previous versions, he would still randomly appear at the beginning of battles. If that's the case, I would recommend disabling Odin by using Hyne Save editor (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9713.0) to prevent him from appearing, as in the newest version, Odin is summoned by using an item instead.
- there might be something strange in GF Ability lists, like "Tool-RF, required AP: 53/30". This is because some of the Abilities have been changed or swapped around in the latest version and can be easily fixed by selecting the Ability, then doing a battle. The issue will auto-correct itself afterwards, and the Ability in question will be fully learned.
You could also just send me your save game and I would adjust it for you, but I think it's better to wait until the next version of this mod releases within the next couple of days.
I appreciate the offer, I won't trouble you though. I'll just go ahead and download the current one now and get the newer version when it's out. Glad to know there won't be any trouble though. Thank you!
Loving the mod by the way. I’ve hit a few walls against bosses (I’m doing a semi- selfish magic run in combination with the play through) and I’m loving the challenge.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-06-23 18:03:19
Changes Overview
New spell: Renew
The Aura spell has been replaced with a new spell called Renew that casts Protect, Shell and Regen on one character. It can be drawn from a boss at the end of disc 3 and can be refined from Barriers and Shaman Stones using Supt-Mag RF. As for junctions, it works very well on HP, Vitality, Spirit and Elem-Def and is generally a good substitute for Holy, which doesn't necessarily needs to be junctioned anymore, and therefore can now be used more freely in battles. Having a spell that combines the effects of Protect, Shell and Regen also helps with freeing up space in the spell inventory, as these 3 spells now become pretty redundant once Renew has been obtained. To avoid confusion, Alexander's Renew Ability has been renamed to its default name, Revive. Note that Aura Stones are still available, but as rare as usual.
Boss changes
Several bosses have had their AI changed, use new attacks or have their stats altered to avoid Darkside inflicting too much damage on them:
- Biggs and Wedge (1st) and X-ATM092 have some more HP.
- Raldo's Breath attack now causes Blind instead of Slow.
- Diablos uses an additional attack, and a slightly different AI.
- Sacred uses a new attack, in addition to his physical attack.
- Edea (1st) has a different opener.
- The G-Soldiers that appear alongside Raijin (1st) have been made more robust.
- Fujin (1st) says "ELLONE, WHERE?" only once per battle, can use Mega-Potion.
- Jumbo Cactuar's weakness against Water has been reduced.
- Mobile Type 8 generally received some major changes to its attack pattern.
- Catoblepas' Deadly Horn hits more often, Thunder Summon has been renamed and is now non-elemental.
- Tri-Point got some adjustments in regards to Darkside usefulness.
- Final boss (3rd phase) got some Darkside related adjustments as well.
Other changes
- An optional boss battle against a unique Ruby Dragon is now available at Trabia Canyon.
- PuPu now goes into rage mode after being attacked a few times.
- The game can be saved right after the boss battle against the 3 soldiers at Missile Base.
- A save opportunity has been added right before the new optional boss battle inside Fire Cavern.
- Base power for Water and Meltdown spells has been slightly increased.
- Base power for all GF up to Brothers have been slightly reduced.
- Zell's Ehrgeiz weapon has a higher base power (not to be confused with Strength bonus).
- Natural base growth for Spirit has been increased for some characters.
- Elemental spells are now being used less frequently under Angel Wing.
- Protect Stone and Shell Stone have been added to the new shop in Timber train.
- Includes the recent bugfixes for Cerberus and Tiamat.
@Binnon: Glad you figured out what was going on. You are not the first one who accidentally did this. I'll update the installation instructions to prevent this from happening in the future.
@DiscoCokkroach: Yes, the music change was intentional as I thought "Never Look Back" plays one screen too early on the way to the new boss encounter. Good to hear you are enjoying the mod overall. I hope XeroKynos' latest video won't discourage you from playing, because of his rough battle against the soldiers at Missile Base. Maybe I should emphasize more clearly that leveling up is actually helpful in this mod (besides looking for new spells every now and then) - it would have definitely helped.
@Murasame: Thank you. Whenever you are of the impression that certain battles are too tough or unfair, let me know.
Post by: Kael on 2019-06-25 21:06:39
I am currently in DISC 2, in D-District Prison. So far:
- Gerogero was the first fight that was unbeatable by junctioning alone. He kept spamming his attacks, making the fight very difficult. Won by some lucky Limit breaks
- The fight with the Brothers was also very tiresome. The kept mauling the (overleveled) party, which kept trying to Protect and Haste everyone. On top of that, the Confusion stat was a pain.
- Currently, fighting Elite Soldier and GIM52As, who are using OP magic, like Aura Stones and Meltdown. This fight is unfair on so many levels. I don't know if you did it on purpose or an accident.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-06-26 01:16:12
Gerogero: Yes, I know he can hit hard, especially if the player missed drawing Protect and Shell from Granaldo, which is why Protect and Shell Stones have been recently added to the Forest Owls shop that can be accessed right before heading to the boss (Rinoa will mention it). If you use these Stones moments before the start of the second phase, cast Cure on Gerogero repeatedly (preferably with Selphie, who has the highest base Mag stat out of the three; if you have some Doubles left, that helps too), and remove Gerogeros status effects, you should be in a reasonable spot, even with less ideal junctions and rather low levels.
Brothers: They have been made that strong as they are optional, but it's actually a pretty manageable fight, depending on which spells the party has received up until that point. Zombie should do for HP, which can be refined from the Zombie Powders Gerogero dropped, and can be also drawn from Blood Souls near Galbadia Garden or near the Tomb in night-time areas on the world map. Aero is a good spell on Str and Mag at this point and can be drawn from Thrust Aevis that appears almost everywhere near Timber and Deling City. The player should also have Protect by now (if not, it can be drawn from Armadodo inside the Tomb), which helps mitigating most of the Brothers' attacks, and if junctioned to Vit, Sacred's Confuse shouldn't proc all that often. A newly added secondary attack for Sacred further alleviates the issue of falling victim to Confuse. In battle, it is highly advisable to defeat Sacred (the bigger one) first, as he has less HP than Minotaur and their Mad Cow Special attack will no longer be used after one of them has been defeated. As for own damage output, Aero, Bio or Demi should all do good damage on the Brothers, especially when used with high Mag characters. Haste is actually not all that useful for this battle, as Protect wears off faster then. I would limit positive status effects to Protect and Float for this battle, as anything else just takes too much time to maintain.
Prison boss battle: It's mostly all about taking out the Elite Soldier as fast as possible, as the fight becomes noticably easier once he is gone (the GIM52As will stop using Ray-Bomb and no longer counter with it occasionally, and can no longer be healed or buffed). Using Bio in conjunction with Double is probably the most reliable way to do so. Slow on the Elite Solider is very useful as well and should work most of the time (use your highest Mag character for this task). If he uses an Aura Stone on one of the GIM52As (he would do that in the original game too, as well as casting Meltdown), the status can be removed conveniently with their own Dispel spells. Vit 0 can be nasty, but it should be ok to just ignore the status as long as Protect and Shell are up. If your junctions aren't that great, get Water and Bio from Chimera, Regen from the Guards, Berserk from the Wendigos and Life from the GIM47Ns. Levels should be around 20-25 for this boss battle.
Post by: DiscoCokkroach on 2019-06-26 23:40:28
Post by: Callisto on 2019-06-27 00:51:33
Post by: Divatox on 2019-06-30 20:48:59
Post by: Callisto on 2019-07-06 04:23:36
- Gerogero's Magic stat has been reduced; inflicts ~200 HP less damage with its "Brrawghh!" and Poison Mist attacks.
- Sacred's chance to inflict Confuse on-hit has been reduced.
- The Elite Soldier from the Prison boss fight has slightly lower Speed, and reduced protection against the Poison status.
- Diablos now has HP-J already learned by default.
- Slight changes to normal enemy stats, especially Speed, have been made.
- The description for Quistis' Blue Mage spells are now more detailed in her status menu screen and in battle.
Thanks to Kael for bringing up the first 3 points. I especially agree in the case of Gerogero's general damage output, which was a little too high if the party has nothing better than Cure on HP (which is perfectly normal at this point). As for the other two bosses, the changes probably don't change all that much, but in combination with up-to-date spells and prioritizing targets, it should go well.
@ Divatox: I have sent you a PM and listed some enemies that should be safe to edit using the Ifrit tool, as they mostly appear alone (exceptions in brackets), without the need of manual hex editing, which can be complicated indeed if you have never hex-edited something before. In case you missed this list, here it is again:
Spoiler: show
Post by: Divatox on 2019-07-07 06:22:45
Post by: Dark_Ansem on 2019-07-22 11:22:11
Post by: Callisto on 2019-07-24 05:07:27
But even without that change, spells and GF can be quite useful even as single-hit, as there is no 9,999 HP damage limit in this mod. Holy, for example, can inflict more than 9,999 HP easily on enemies that are weak to it (like Tri-Face, or Griever) and Bahamut can do up to ~35,000 HP on any enemy, depending on Bahamut's level and Abilities learned.
Post by: Dark_Ansem on 2019-07-24 10:35:47
Yes, I've tried increasing the number of hits for several spell besides Meteor - it didn't work, though.
But even without that change, spells and GF can be quite useful even as single-hit, as there is no 9,999 HP damage limit in this mod. Holy, for example, can inflict more than 9,999 HP easily on enemies that are weak to it (like Tri-Face, or Griever) and Bahamut can do up to ~35,000 HP on any enemy, depending on Bahamut's level and Abilities learned.
Sad :( I wonder why it didn't work?
Post by: Divatox on 2019-07-26 07:06:58
Post by: Callisto on 2019-07-26 15:35:17
@Divatox: Draw amounts aren't always 100 in this mod, but implementing this feature should be no problem. Do you have Roses and Wine W07 installed? If so, then download this text file (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z-iqBto2yZn-aqZBYpawQG1XK_gR5W3K) and put it under Steam/steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII/RaW/GLOBAL/Hext, and see how it goes (remember to set each Draw Resist value to 0 using Doomtrain tool, as with this setting, Draws can still fail if Magic stats are too low).
Post by: Divatox on 2019-07-26 17:02:49
Thanks you very much Callisto
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-06 06:10:06
Edit: Nevermind, The Global and Hext folders are in the RaW file. I Should have looked more closely to what I was doing.
Post by: Murasame on 2019-08-09 08:30:27
Edit: I forgot about the amethysts! I got a back attack on one of them just now and used one of those and got a delicious 8 tentacles!
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-09 15:04:30
Quinn212, glad you got the issue solved. Have fun, and feel free to share any impressions you have.
Post by: Divatox on 2019-08-10 06:07:07
Post by: gunner_1207 on 2019-08-11 22:20:54
@Dark_Ansem: There is a byte for each spell that contains the number of hits, and it's set to 1 for every spell other than Meteor (10). Changing that byte to anything greater than 1 just doesn't have any effect in battle, unfortunately. Might be related to spell animation data, which is not easy to get access to, but this is just a wild guess.
@Divatox: Draw amounts aren't always 100 in this mod, but implementing this feature should be no problem. Do you have Roses and Wine W07 installed? If so, then download this text file (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z-iqBto2yZn-aqZBYpawQG1XK_gR5W3K) and put it under Steam/steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII/RaW/GLOBAL/Hext, and see how it goes (remember to set each Draw Resist value to 0 using Doomtrain tool, as with this setting, Draws can still fail if Magic stats are too low).
Callisto you my man are a legend, i have been trying for ages to write a draw formula with absolutely zero succes. i have used yours THANK YOU. :) :D
Post by: Rainku on 2019-08-12 22:19:16
Love this mod, it's really made the game a whole lot better. The vanilla game was extremely unbalanced and broken. This mod has done some serious fixing to those issues! It's so cool! Everything is useful now! I love it! ;D
Just a quick question if I may. I'm kinda stuck at the moment with the brothers GF fight. I use double, protect, float and haste mainly to avoid their mad cow special and to prevent them from healing.. but as soon as protect wears off and they get attacks in and kill someone, I find it becomes almost impossible to get back into the fight. As soon as I start healing, I pretty much just get stuck into healing everyone until I die. Of course it would be easier if I can kill one of them ASAP, but I just seem to be stuck on what to do at the moment.
Any guide or tips on how to beat them?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-13 01:47:16
@gunner_1207: Glad it was useful, thank you.
@Rainku: Before attempting the Brothers, make sure to have HP-J available for everyone, and junction at least Zombie to HP, which can be drawn from Blood Souls near Galbadia Garden or Tomb of the Unknown King. The spell can also be refined from Zombie Powders that were dropped by Gerogero.
As for Vitality, junction Protect (can be drawn from Armadodo inside the Tomb) or Esuna (can be drawn from Vysage that appears outside the Tomb in night-time areas) for the characters that have access to Vit-J, to reduce the damage of their physical attacks and also the chance of getting confused.
In battle, start with casting Double, Protect and Float on your party (in that order), cut Haste (as otherwise positive status effects will wear off too fast) and after stabilizing, go for Sacred first by casting Float on him and start attacking with Aero, Bio or Demi. If you have the Diablos card, and are willing to mod it, you can also use Gravity Bombs on them to great effect. After Sacred has been defeated, no more Mad Cow Special attacks will be used, but if Minotaur is alone, he will use Mower more often than before, so make sure to always have Protect up.
Post by: Rainku on 2019-08-13 03:46:29
@Rainku: Before attempting the Brothers, make sure to have HP-J available for everyone, and junction at least Zombie to HP, which can be drawn from Blood Souls near Galbadia Garden or Tomb of the Unknown King. The spell can also be refined from Zombie Powders that were dropped by Gerogero.
As for Vitality, junction Protect (can be drawn from Armadodo inside the Tomb) or Esuna (can be drawn from Vysage that appears outside the Tomb in night-time areas) for the characters that have access to Vit-J, to reduce the damage of their physical attacks and also the chance of getting confused.
In battle, start with casting Double, Protect and Float on your party (in that order), cut Haste (as otherwise positive status effects will wear off too fast) and after stabilizing, go for Sacred first by casting Float on him and start attacking with Aero, Bio or Demi. If you have the Diablos card, and are willing to mod it, you can also use Gravity Bombs on them to great effect. After Sacred has been defeated, no more Mad Cow Special attacks will be used, but if Minotaur is alone, he will use Mower more often than before, so make sure to always have Protect up.
I think my main problem was Haste taking my Protect away too fast. I got him in the end by making sure everyone was Curing each other until stabilized before I did Demi or Aero attacks on Sacred. It was just the moment float and protect wore off and my party wasn't fully healed yet at the moment, causing the brothers to do insane amounts of damage before I even had a turn. But junctioning Zombie and more Protects helped. Thanks for the advice!
On another note, I got Diablos a little later than what I was suppose to in this mod I think.. Since he was surprisingly easy to fight.. It would've benefited me having his abilities earlier on. Loving this mod so far! I also love what you did with the side quests and the rewards etc.. Feels a lot more worthwhile how you have to earn everything.. Also cool how I was able to gain access to the items needed for upgrading everyone's weapons early on. Thanks again for the mod, it's really cool so far. Feels like the game was meant to be played this way.
Post by: Murasame on 2019-08-13 17:43:00
As for my thoughts so far. I am approaching the end of disc 3 now and I just beat Mobile type 8 and, although I admittedly took him on with two of my lesser powerful characters (Selphie and Quistis; both of which had still been keeping up with current party levels), I thoroughly enjoyed fighting it. It’s been so long since I actually felt so involved in the boss fights in this game that it took me back so many years when I was a kid and used to work so hard to beat these battles. I have to thank you because this mod has honestly rekindled my love for this game and let me experience it as if it was new I am genuinely worried and preparing myself for Ultimecia, a feeling that I’m sure the original game hoped to instil upon its players,
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-15 17:57:15
Well, I hope the rest of the game will provide a decent challenge, thank you for the kind words.
@Rainku: Yes, Diablos hasn't been made all that hard on purpose, to ensure the third HP-J Ability can be accessed without much hassle. If Selphie manages to Draw Cast a few Demis on him, it will make things considerably easier, and it helps to not heal HP and status effects immediately, to have access to Limit Breaks. But I guess you already figured that out.
Also good to hear you've managed to defeat the Brothers. The next few upcoming battles shouldn't be as tough, but if you look for a challenge similar to the Brothers, there is a new extra boss battle in Dollet. It should be very hard with the limited Junction possibilities on Disc 1, but will likely be very doable on Disc 2 and onwards. Anyway, hope you're having fun; feel free to report back with any impressions you have.
Post by: Murasame on 2019-08-16 13:41:53
Regarding Krysta, its Auto Defense skill seems to soft lock the game? I was left unable to do anything. No damage value or visible effect to my characters.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-16 15:10:09
Use this to replace your battle files under lang-en, it will fix the issue:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12-ni3SZGp8h-6R3DXhsew9TbkFUWwRCy
Post by: calderax on 2019-08-17 14:27:21
so far i really like the changes you made (although a documentation of the changes in the card game you made would be great... i robbed the black galbadia guy of a hundred cards or so before i realized that MAYBE he doesnt have it). but now i am at the second edea fight and... i am really frustrated and at the edge of just throwing the towel, so i apologize if i strike too harsh of a tone. i dont think that this fight is balanced, but maybe i am missing something (also very possible).
my first gripe is seifer in the edea fight. the 30something k life he has... why? its a watered down version of the first fight, you already beat him, yet we have to chew through his HP again before we can tackle the real challange. it feels unnecessary and gets old really quick.
then edea... i have no idea how shes possible without a large amount of pure luck. i bring her to around 10k hp pretty consistently but then it goes downhill EVERY goddamn time. maelstrom, maelstrom, ebon wave. quick succession, no possibility for me to recover. maybe it would be possible if the slow effect wasnt there, but it penetrates my 70% resistance without exception. i'm around 4.7k hp on my highest and 3.2k hp on my lowest char. i think i dont do enough damage... like only 700 to 1000 physical with irvine and squall. but i have no idea how to push that.
do you have any ideas on how i could proceed? what am i doing wrong? i could train my chars to lvl 60, but that can hardly be what youre trying to achieve with the mod, or is it?
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-17 19:25:31
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-17 22:24:03
Other advice:
- Seifer is weak to the Poison element, so if you double cast Bio and junction Bio to the Elem-Atk of your physical attackers, defeating him shouldn't take too long (if you don't have Bio, draw it from Tri-Faces).
- Before finishing Seifer off, it is advisable to prematurely cast all protective spells you would like to benefit from against Edea (most importantly Double and Shell).
- Use the Treatment Ability from Siren and Leviathan to heal status effects and HP at the same time.
- Blocking the Slow effect from Maelstrom requires 100% protection against Slow, which can be achieved by junctioning 100 Slows and Reflects in Status Defense.
- Ebon Wave is Water elemental, so having Water junctioned to Elemental Defense helps mitigating its damage, while Ice magic helps against Blizzaga.
Post by: Percival on 2019-08-18 00:16:12
I don't want to gush, but let me take a moment to compliment you on this mod. I recently finished my second time playing through Ragnarok, and I love just about everything you've done. Rebalance is a perfect word to describe it.
It is far more challenging, but is never overwhelming. There were times when the difficulty took me by surprise (like those damned Esthar cyborgs in the Laguna dream) but no challenge ever felt cheap.
I'm particularly impressed with how well you nerfed the card modding. You didn't make the cards worthless, but eliminated all the classic shortcuts to becoming OP.
I also really appreciated all of the extra scripted battles. I only wish the game presented good opportunities for even more...
I was just beginning to make plans for a similar type of mod, but you've done such a great job, I don't feel the need to try reinventing the wheel. I'm truly impressed with all the hard work.
Post by: calderax on 2019-08-18 10:49:17
ohhh, that could actually help a lot! stupid i didnt think of that, thanks!! i only protected against ice. see, i knew i was doing something wrong :D
EDIT: so yeah, junctioned water into my ele defence and kicked her ass first try. with that little change the fight was challenging, but never unfair. unlikely to be beaten first try, but third or fourth. just the right amount!
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-19 04:52:48
I did realize while in Galbadia Garden I forgot to get Leviathan from Norg and that really bummed me out since I'm missing a Status Defense junction on Rinoa :(
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-21 20:48:17
Having tons of fun, but I'm admittedly a little worried about going against Adel since she's pretty rough in Vanilla FF8. Also did you make it so Odin never appears? I got him before going to Trabia and he's never appeared. I imagine you might have done this so he wont show up for the Seifer battle.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-22 05:47:47
Odin no longer appears randomly in this mod, and is instead summoned by using the Amethysts he gave to you after defeating him. Whenever you run out of these items, you can revisit his chamber to receive a few more. Using this item, you can also skip most of the new battles inside Fire Cavern, to approach the boss more easily. As for Odin showing up for the Seifer battle, it's deactivated at the moment, so there's no possibility of getting Gilgamesh, but this will be changed in the next version coming soon.
Anyway, thanks for reporting back and letting me know how the second Edea battle went, also to calderax.
@Percival: Thank you for the comment. I like the idea of adding more extra encounters as well. At least one new battle consisting of 3 unique Adamantoises will be added soon. Interesting work on your Succession Mod by the way. I hope that someday I'll have the time to check this one out, as well as Martial Law.
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-22 21:45:49
Right now I'm in the mountain area near Trabia (the one you first visited as Laguna) Trying to kill the Ruby Dragon. It still does Dragon Breath even with a KO'd party member. I made it so Squall and Zell have a high tolerance against the Pain status Ailments, made Rinoa immune against Zombie and stuck Revive and Treatment on her. I do pretty well until it eventually throws out Ultima or Dragon Breath and wipes us.
Gonna see what's in store for me at the location Bahamut is in, then off to Lunatic Pandora unless i'm forgetting anything?
Also where Would I find the items for Squall's Lionheart and Zell's Ultimate weapon?
And last question reguarding Ultimecia. Do you still have to exhaust all of her dialouge before she'll actually die? Because in FF8 vanilla you could take her health down to 0 Thanks to Lionheart and AP shot, but she wouldn't die until she was done talking, or is this not an issue because of the increased difficulty?
Having A LOT of fun, do you plan on making this mod work on the PC version of the remaster? I'm planning on getting it and waiting for the background textures to get fixed by modders and if Ragnarok could also be applied I would be in Heaven.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-23 21:22:37
Before going to Lunatic Pandora, make sure to visit Lunatic Pandora Laboratory near Esthar on the overworld, if you haven't already. There is a new little sidequest that will help you get some rare items.
The materials for Lionheart are similar to the original version, but Moonstones are required instead of Dragon Fangs. You can steal these most easily from Toramas that appear everywhere near Esthar after the Lunar Cry. Zell's Ehrgeiz requires 1 Phoenix Spirit (dropped from the Bomb in Fire Cavern), 4 Dragon Skins (dropped from LV40+ Anacondaurs that always appear on the mountains surrounding Dollet), 2 Inferno Fangs that can be stolen from Ruby Dragons.
Nothing has changed about Ultimecia's last words yet.
Not sure about porting the mod to the Remaster yet. We need more info on the new file structure first. But I'm positive there will be a way.
Post by: calderax on 2019-08-24 10:19:31
so i finished the game a few days ago (i didnt know about fire cave, lunatic pandora lab etc. so i cant give feedback on that. sounds like it could've shaved off quite a big junk of farming time though :D) and want to give some feedback.
i really liked the overwhelming majority of the changes you made to the game. you made it more challenging and therefor, at least for me, more fun. I was never a fan of FF8 (i really despise the characters and the story) but you gave it a breath of new life and made me sink about 60 hours into your mod. so all in all very well done. a bit more in detail:
• i REALLY like the additional save points you introduced before challenging fights. especially after a long time since the last save point.
• removing the cap on draw is the single best change you did. made the game so much better.
• your spell progression and availability felt really good. the way you gated tier 1, 2 and 3 spells is nicely done. i was stoked when i got my first -ga spells and extatic when i got the first endgame spells like flare or meteor (peed my pants a little when i drew 60 ultima from ultima weapon in one draw lol)
• thank you for getting rid of the horrible limit abuse! or at least for making it risky/costly to pull off in boss fights
• odines shop for tier 2 spells feels very well executed
• most enemies seem fairly balanced
• fixed enemy levels kinda forces you to train up your characters. nice!
• im sure theres more but i cant remember. if i didnt mention it in my negative comments i propably liked it
that being said, there are a few things that i either didnt like or that (in my mind) need serious balancing.
• i didnt like the changes to the card queens quest you made. not because they made it inconvenient or anything, but because there is no official documentation about it and people (like me) might follow the card game guide, therefor wasting a lot of time doing the first steps of the quest wrong. also the swap of the zell card to later. i strongly feel these changes are unncessary. you neutered the card rewards anyways, so i dont see the point in delaying the aquisition as well.
• magic is wildly overpowered. by the end squall was my hardest hitting character with 255 strength. normal hits with him did around 7 to 11k damage depending on ele weakness, sometimes a bit more. i perma used darkside with him amping up the damage by a lot to sometimes 20 22k per hit. the most ideal scenario was a vit 0 t-rexaur with blizzaga junctioned and a darkside hit. that one hit the damage cap of 60k 2 or 3 times. ... in come selphie and rinoa with triple and meteor blasting fools away with consistent 60 to 90k PER ROUND. seriously, the second i had access to those spells i dumped zells useless ass for selphie and first tried every single encounter for the rest of the game. ultima weapon? died in minutes. ultimecias minions? attacked maybe 2 or 3 times. ultimecia herself? wasnt even close. now, it should be noted the i farmed up 2 more auto-hastes and auto-protes which helped immensly but the critique stands. magic is way too powerful.
• i didnt kill omega weapon because it seemed way too overpowered. i only did like 4 or 5 tries though so it wasnt really testing. it ended the same everytime though with vengence and megido flame back to back with no time to recover in between, even triple hasted. maybe i was doing it wrong, maybe not. i wasnt in the modd to test the fight further though.
• i dont know if you changed that already, but the krysta auto-attack sof lock was in the version i was playing. you prob. fixed that already
i want to say all in all the mod improves the game SO much. thank you for all your hard work, i enjoyed playing it. the single best thing you could do is draft a proper documentation of the changes you made.
calderax
well, thanks again!
calderax
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-28 06:45:32
Not sure if you knew of that exploit or not but I wanted to let you know.
Post by: Quinn212 on 2019-08-29 06:42:49
Post by: Callisto on 2019-08-29 08:45:26
As for the changes made to the Queen of Cards sidequest, I understand your frustration in regards to trying to get the Kiros card from the usual card player in Deling City. I thought it would be helpful to make the Queen of Cards give more information about requested and newly created cards whenever she is in Dollet, but I guess these hints are still too well hidden, so a documentation that covers moved cards, items and spells will soon follow. The reward for the Zell card is still Hyper Wrists by the way. In the case of the Kiros card, yes, Aegis Amulets are quite a downgrade from Accelerators, but for disc 1, having access to 3 Eva-J Abilities is a little too good, so I guess it's fine to leave card holders as they currently are.
Triple Meteor is still quite strong in the late-game indeed, despite Meteor being among the few spells that weren't actually buffed for the mod. I'll look for a way to balance it out by either lowering its base power, make it land less hits or adjust enemy Spirit stats accordingly.
Against Omega Weapon, it helps to reduce battle speed to the lowest or second-lowest setting, and have Speed stats of at least 60. That way, there should always be enough time to react to Omega Weapon's attacks. Other than that, Auto-Protect is very useful, as he occasionally uses an attack that removes most positive status effects. Furthermore, he isn't immune to Vit 0, but highly resistant, so casting Meltdown probably won't do it - Quistis' Ray Bomb can inflict Vit 0 as well with 100% accuracy, as long as the target isn't immune to it. If you see Omega Weapon using Gravija, that's still the sign for using the Defend command to nullify the damage of the incoming Terra Break attack. As for attacking the enemy, I would recommend having Irvine in your team and use Pulse Ammo whenever possible.
@Quinn: Having the possibility to skip the extra encounter at Centra Ruins was not intended. I had a look at it and apparently unit control wasn't entirely disabled when examining the blue orb, which allowed walking around while the textbox is still being displayed. That will be fixed soon. Good catch, thank you very much.
I rechecked the link to the Krysta fix, and didn't have any problems downloading it. Maybe just give it another go, and report back if the problem persists:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=12-ni3SZGp8h-6R3DXhsew9TbkFUWwRCy
Post by: Robgatti on 2019-09-06 00:24:52
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-06 16:28:02
I guess we have to wait and see if tools will be updated to be fully compatible with the Remastered version before any of the mods will be playable again. This will probably take a while, so give it at least several more weeks.
Post by: Robgatti on 2019-09-06 17:39:26
Only reason I prefer the remaster sadly is how easy the controller configuration is, no need for mods or button image mods and what not.
Good luck to you and whomever else is working on the remaster!
Post by: nesadi on 2019-09-08 14:01:20
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-08 20:03:41
@nesadi: Are you fighting the Brothers? They can perform two moves in a row (Auto heal + another attack), so it can lead to the assumption that ATB settings are ignored, but it has always been that way. Furthermore, the ATB bar will go on while selecting targets regardless of having it set to Wait, which is also normal (it's on this mod's to-do list though). Some enemies also use counter-attacks, further contributing to the assumption that something might be off. It really isn't though.
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-18 01:16:50
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-18 17:40:28
Hi, Callisto really love what you've done with this mod. I'll probably never go back to vanilla after this play through. I don't know if this is from the mod or not but the game has crashed on me multiple times, i'm on the Ragnarok after saving Rinoa. The game crashes randomly during the propagator fights. squall will go to attack the enemy and the game will freeze up and I have to alt f4 to close the game. it only seems to happen AFTER i load a save from death. I'm on windows 10 and running all the mods from the lunatic pandora's installer. Again this mod is amazing I love that you don't have to avoid fighting until end game to make leveling feel worthwhile, and the draw cap being removed should've been in the base game. Keep up the great work i'll post again if i'm able to get past this current segment.
I was able to beat them and get past it, definitely only happened when i reloaded after a death tho. I was able to save in between each pair and was fine, loved what you did with those fights you actually have to pay attention to their weaknesses. Also is squall supposed to be doing over 10k dmg with darkside and having the enemy elemental weakness on his weapon? Squall is in his mid 60's levels wise. Im excited to fight bahamut. :)
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-19 21:27:12
I re-checked Propagators with only this mod and SeeD Reborn installed, including getting Game Overs and reloading, but couldn't reproduce the issue. So it's probably something else causing this.
As for the high Darkside damage, especially when hitting an elemental weakness, I think 10k per hit is ok on the Propagators (it's around the same as what Rinoa can do with Double -aga spells at this point). Even though they are now immune to Death and Odin, I wanted to leave a few options to get rid of them quickly, since you have to fight so many of them. Most other late-game bosses will have higher Vitality and of course much more HP than the Propagators, so if you fear that Darkside will break your remaining game, it won't, since there's only one Darkside copy in this mod anyway.
Well, I hope the late-game won't disappoint. Feel free to share any further impressions :)
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-20 01:12:10
Hey Squall93,
I re-checked Propagators with only this mod and SeeD Reborn installed, including getting Game Overs and reloading, but couldn't reproduce the issue. So it's probably something else causing this.
As for the high Darkside damage, especially when hitting an elemental weakness, I think 10k per hit is ok on the Propagators (it's around the same as what Rinoa can do with Double -aga spells at this point). Even though they are now immune to Death and Odin, I wanted to leave a few options to get rid of them quickly, since you have to fight so many of them. Most other late-game bosses will have higher Vitality and of course much more HP than the Propagators, so if you fear that Darkside will break your remaining game, it won't, since there's only one Darkside copy in this mod anyway.
Well, I hope the late-game won't disappoint. Feel free to share any further impressions :)
It's been quite good so far, I am getting similar crashes when im fighting jumbo cacutar, My game just might be messed up on my end. It might also have something to do with darkside that's when it seems to crash most of the time. I'm not sure though. I didn't die all that often in the early game. I might test dying in the early game then reloading and using darkside and see what happens.
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-21 00:03:52
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-21 04:32:54
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-21 14:07:17
Auto-Potion will trigger whenever a character receives damage when their remaining HP are at 50% or less. It will also trigger when a character is currently still above 50%, but is hit by an attack that puts their HP below 50%. This is how it works in the base game as well, but X-Potion and Elixir were removed from the pool for balancing reasons, so Hi-Potion+ combined with Med Data is the way to go if you would like to use this Ability.Yeah i figured it out, I'm enjoying the balance of the late game so far. bahamut was challenging but he wasn't stupid hard. I got lucky and was able to squeeze out two renzokukens before he killed me.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-22 14:38:01
On the mod itself I only played up to Ifrit for now, want to say the mod seems quite easy compare to Requiem and Reloaded Mod (the only other FFVIII's mods I've played for now), but I acknowledge that this is a Rebalance Mod not an Hardtype Mod so that's a nice change of pace for me, it feel not hard but not Vanilla easy at the same time for now. I also like the Draw cap removal that's a really nice change here make the early game faster when tring to draw the early magics. Just I think a source of Double might be to early, it completly trivialize Ifrit all you have to do for him is spam Double Blizzard, use Double Cure when he uses Lava Burst and single Cure when he jumps (the damage from fire aren't an issue), I didn't check if the source reload with time, but if it does then it's nice.
Now I have some questions :
-I saw a lot of people play a lot with Card Mod with this mod, and so I'm gonna I am that weirdo that absolutly despise that mini-game and found it boring, so here's my question : How much is Card Mod necessary ? Can we finish the mod without it ?
-I saw you remove the Damage cap for many attacks, but saw on stream that there is still spells capped at 9999 so which spells/ability had the damage cap remove exactly ?
EDIT : Continue a bit did Dollet mission, I admit that for now I run away from like 80% of the random fight, maybe I shouldn't do that considering bosses have fixed Level, but for now this isn't an issue at all so as for the bosses :
-Biggs, Wedge and Elvoret : Are a non issue, Zell's limit break is still very powerfull (maybe even OP to be honnest) for this point, you can still chain infinitly and some hit hit hard (mainly Mach Kick was dealing 140 to Elvoret) and the chain with Burning Rave which was dealing over 900 damage, I set Silence (and he had been Blind by the Snake's dark Mist earlier) on him to boost his Crisis Level and with Elvoret still having the predictable breath (every 3 turn) it's really to spam his Limit Break and destroy Elvoret with it.
-X-ATM092 : Very easy, his Clash and Ray Bomb hit hard, but I had spare some Double for him so basically Double on Selphie and Squall, 100 Thunder Junction to Ele-Atk for Zell, I tried 3 time to set Vit 0 with Ifrit but it didn't work so I just put Zell in Berserk and let him be (he hit for around 330), Selphie was spamming Double Thunder (up to around 400 per cast) and Squall was the healer it did go well and despite losing time on trying Ifrit (3 times) and Quetzacoalt (who was dealing 900 by the way but the animation is to long and he can die easily), I still manage to beat and go back to the beach with 10-12 minutes left. Also didn't use Protect cause IMO the statut duration is to short for now.
Still haven't grind a lot for now, so that's good.
Post by: THESQUALL93!! on 2019-09-22 19:31:08
Hi there, so I'm just passing and wanted to try this mod, after having hard time to install it I run into an issue, the gameplay change seems to work perfectly fine, however I just don't have music at all just the sound effect, so this isn't an issue that make the game unplayable by any mean, but is there someone that run into that issue and know how to fix it ?
On the mod itself I only played up to Ifrit for now, want to say the mod seems quite easy compare to Requiem and Reloaded Mod (the only other FFVIII's mods I've played for now), but I acknowledge that this is a Rebalance Mod not an Hardtype Mod so that's a nice change of pace for me, it feel not hard but not Vanilla easy at the same time for now. I also like the Draw cap removal that's a really nice change here make the early game faster when tring to draw the early magics. Just I think a source of Double might be to early, it completly trivialize Ifrit all you have to do for him is spam Double Blizzard, use Double Cure when he uses Lava Burst and single Cure when he jumps (the damage from fire aren't an issue), I didn't check if the source reload with time, but if it does then it's nice.
Now I have some questions :
-I saw a lot of people play a lot with Card Mod with this mod, and so I'm gonna I am that weirdo that absolutly despise that mini-game and found it boring, so here's my question : How much is Card Mod necessary ? Can we finish the mod without it ?
-I saw you remove the Damage cap for many attacks, but saw on stream that there is still spells capped at 9999 so which spells/ability had the damage cap remove exactly ?
I can answer some of your questions. All attacks have had their dmg caps removed i believe. Towards the end game its not uncommon to be hitting over 30k dmg with squall using darkside with max strength. As for card mod I've barely used it and have been completely fine.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-22 19:35:44
I can answer some of your questions. All attacks have had their dmg caps removed i believe. Towards the end game its not uncommon to be hitting over 30k dmg with squall using darkside with max strength. As for card mod I've barely used it and have been completely fine.
That is good to know, really don't want to go through the cards again for now, Damage Cap remove looks interesting will see how it goes end game (I don't expect to reach this kind of damage this early obviously^^).
Post by: miruss89 on 2019-09-23 02:42:02
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-23 08:05:29
have you checked if the Roses and Wine music files are present under RaW/GLOBAL/Music in your FFVIII parent folder? I can't say for certain what happened, but from your description it sounds like the files aren't actually at their designated location, so I would advise checking this out first.
The Draw Point in Balamb Garden library can only be used once during disc 1, as the Double spell is meant to be a valuable resource in the early-game before it becomes more common from mid disc 2 and onwards.
Card Mod results have been toned down in a way that they merely give you a good start instead of making you invincible for the rest of the game. The overall benefits of Card Mod should not last much longer than early disc 2, at which point you would receive the possible spells from monsters anyway. LV 6 and 7 boss cards still refine into very good items, but their availability has been pushed back to mid disc 2 and early disc 3 respectively (before that, they can only be received as one-time rewards for completing sidequests), but the spells they refine into become available soon through other means as well. So all in all, Card Mod is never really needed and should be seen as a little bonus in this mod, or an alternate method of acquiring spells.
As for the damage limit, it is as Squall93 said - everything can break it as long as it has the potential, mainly to make standard physical attacks and GF more useful in the late-game. 30k damage with Darkside is indeed possible, but not without having the right element junctioned to Elem-Atk, and of course it also depends on enemy Vitality. I guess the stream you watched showed an outdated version of this mod, when this change was not introduced yet.
Other than that, thank you for sharing your imressions in regards to difficulty. They are what I would expect from someone who has played both Requiem and Reloaded mods. The first couple of bosses are indeed quite easy, to maintain a healthy curve, but difficulty should ramp up noticably from Centra Excavation Site and onwards. From that point, getting up-to-date spells becomes important, and monsters should be fought for leveling up instead of running from every encounter.
Casting spells is also way more important than in the base game. The junction effects for many spells have been made rather weak intentionally, so they can be used in battle freely. That's particularly true for basic offensive spells, such as Fira, Blizzara or Thundara - they are rather poor on core stats, and magically oriented characters don't necessarily need them on Elemental Junctions either, as their Strength is low to begin with and their natural Spirit is high enough to reduce enemy elemental damage to reasonable levels. Status-changing attacks are also often the key to winning battles, as well as prioritizing targets, maximizing damage per-turn, or just defensive play before going all in.
If you keep all that in mind, you should never really encounter any major problems in this mod. Even though it will probably reach hardcore mod levels only rarely, I hope it will entertain in some way, and offer an experience different from the original version. Feel free to report back any time.
@miruss89: Not yet, but I will look into it once the new version for this mod is done, which will probably at the end of this week.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-23 20:25:38
The Draw Point in Balamb Garden library can only be used once during disc 1, as the Double spell is meant to be a valuable resource in the early-game before it becomes more common from mid disc 2 and onwards.
Yeah I check after posting my message, that's good I think farmable Double would have been OP at this point ^^.
Card Mod results have been toned down in a way that they merely give you a good start instead of making you invincible for the rest of the game. The overall benefits of Card Mod should not last much longer than early disc 2, at which point you would receive the possible spells from monsters anyway. LV 6 and 7 boss cards still refine into very good items, but their availability has been pushed back to mid disc 2 and early disc 3 respectively (before that, they can only be received as one-time rewards for completing sidequests), but the spells they refine into become available soon through other means as well. So all in all, Card Mod is never really needed and should be seen as a little bonus in this mod, or an alternate method of acquiring spells.
Yeah that's what I thought I think there's only 3 ways to go about Card Mod, either do it the way you did aka Balance it around the game, the way LandonRay try to do in Requiem which is balancing the game around it (which translate to make every oppenent strong as hell, which didn't work at the end cause abusing Card Mod was still making the mod way easier than it should) or the way Mexico did it for Reloaded Mod which is making Card Mod Disc 4 only and only if you have gotten all the cards before the Disc 4 (this was kind of a huge sidequest), which I think was an interesting approach as Card Mod basically give you the final upgrade you can get from the game (and he disables Triple Triad in Disc 4 so Rare Cards can only be refine once each, which makes it easier to balance IMO) so it come as a nice final reward but not necessary at all and can't be abuse. Will see how your approach turns out, for now tough I don't plan using Card Mod ^^"
As for the damage limit, it is as Squall93 said - everything can break it as long as it has the potential, mainly to make standard physical attacks and GF more useful in the late-game. 30k damage with Darkside is indeed possible, but not without having the right element junctioned to Elem-Atk, and of course it also depends on enemy Vitality. I guess the stream you watched showed an outdated version of this mod, when this change was not introduced yet.
Maybe in the stream I watch the player was breaking damage limit with Flare (with Angel Wing) but Quake was stuck at 9999, so I dunno. But that's an interesting feature, I honnestly always thought that GF were like the absolute worst thing to do in battle in FFVIII Modded or Vanilla, not only cause the damage potential is really not great, but the animations just take for ever (by the time their animation end I could have just cast 2 or 3 spells for overall more damage), I don't think this is possible but if there was a way to make their summoning sequence skippable that would be better.
Speaking of summon, what are the chance of success to their statut effect ? I was genuily hype when I saw while pausing that Ifrit could set Vit 0, but everytime I summon him it doesn't inflict it and just do mediocre damage.
Other than that, thank you for sharing your imressions in regards to difficulty. They are what I would expect from someone who has played both Requiem and Reloaded mods. The first couple of bosses are indeed quite easy, to maintain a healthy curve, but difficulty should ramp up noticably from Centra Excavation Site and onwards. From that point, getting up-to-date spells becomes important, and monsters should be fought for leveling up instead of running from every encounter.
Casting spells is also way more important than in the base game. The junction effects for many spells have been made rather weak intentionally, so they can be used in battle freely. That's particularly true for basic offensive spells, such as Fira, Blizzara or Thundara - they are rather poor on core stats, and magically oriented characters don't necessarily need them on Elemental Junctions either, as their Strength is low to begin with and their natural Spirit is high enough to reduce enemy elemental damage to reasonable levels. Status-changing attacks are also often the key to winning battles, as well as prioritizing targets, maximizing damage per-turn, or just defensive play before going all in.
If you keep all that in mind, you should never really encounter any major problems in this mod. Even though it will probably reach hardcore mod levels only rarely, I hope it will entertain in some way, and offer an experience different from the original version. Feel free to report back any time.
Yeah spell casting wasn't bad in Vanilla but clearly inferior to Limit Break so they need a buff, this is something that every modder even LandonRay (aka the master at nerfing the hell out of the player XD (HS : I'm trolling him a little but genuily enjoy most of the Requiem Mod, hope he is fine haven't heard of him for quite a long time now)) seems to agree on, for now I say the difficulty is between Vanilla and Requiem (Mexico's Reloaded is more tricky to note cause it keeps the Level scaling even on bosses (altough for bosses it removes the cap every boss can go up to LV100 even Ifrit) so it really depend, tough I think some parts where genuily harder than Requiem).
I'm honnestly not seeking hardcore level for now (I have my deal with Requiem and LV100 version of Reloaded XD) but a more relax experience (not a walk in a park mind you) and above all having fun.
I recently beat Granaldo and the Raldos and Diablo, Granaldo and Raldos are a good farming spot for Protect and Shell, once you kill 2 Raldos you effectivly reduce the numbers of attacks by a lot, with Protect they don't hit very hard and so by just healing from time to time it's easy to stock up Protect and Shell but the fact the Raldos attacks and even have an AoE is interesting make the fight more entertaining, so I think this fight is good for what it's suppose to be, I would just buff out Granaldo for when he is alone, he just doesn't do enough damage, I read on this thread he was suppose to gain new ability once alone but I killed him in 2 turns (I had damage him a bit prior to killing the Raldos tough).
Now for Diablo, I say he is my biggest disappointment so far, I don't have issue with story boss being easy, but this is an optionnal boss, and I think he should put up more of a fight, first off I honnestly think he shouldn't be vulnerable to Demi, this is something that always bug me he is the Gravity GF, all he does is Gravity, even his summoning attack is Gravity it makes absolutly no sense for him to be vulnerable to gravity, furthermore this battle really resolve into having a character Draw/Cast Demi (to avoid the counter) with the 2 other healing and then wait for Gravija to finish him off with Limit Break, Doom and Pain are interesting ideas tough but he seems to prioritize Demi, physical and Gravija over it, also his physical really was nothing impressive (200-220), maybe you could spice him up by having him cast Double or Haste on himself when he is at half HP (or even both one when he is at Half HP and one when he is seriously about to lose) I mean that would justify more the fact he gives the ability to create Time Magic.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-26 21:28:06
-Just grind Mid Magic refine and so fill my character with Fira, Blizzara, Thundara and Cura still keeping them for junction tough.
-Laguna's first sequence : There's really nothing noticeable, outside of having encounter an Ochu, I don't remember Ochu being a mob in this place, also the sewer having only Red Bat, unfortunatly, so not worth going down in there.
-Gerogero : Very easy fight thanks to selphie's Limit break, while Zell was just punching him (in Berserk) and Squall was on support, I didn't even pay attention to his attacks to be honnest, saw he has a new attack that's like the Snake's Poison breath, which actually help me more than anything else, and his physical attacks was dealing 400-500, also only Zombie to draw from him, interesting tough as Zombie gives more HP when junctionned to HP than Cura.
-Timber : To put it simply every forced Encounter was deal with Zell's Duel, as a side note I'm still doing pretty much no Random Encounters as for now I don't need to will see.
Did go to Dollet see we can have a little rematch against X-ATM092, however considering the bastard is LV50 with over 32k to deplete, I'm gonna pass on this one for now.
-Laguna's second dream : Well Esthar's robot have Protect, Shell and Dispel to draw from so that's nice as Dispel is the best junction to Magic I have at the moment, Protect and Shell are obviously good, the last fight wasn't that bad, the main danger being Circle Sword however 2 out 3 of my character can survive 2 Circle Sword and once they did Circle Sword with Slow on them and Protect they are basically harmless just heal up and use some of Ward's Limit Break and done.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-28 10:16:07
Quote from: Nesouk
Will see how your approach turns out, for now tough I don't plan using Card Mod ^^"At the moment, some of the Card Mod results are probably still a little too generous. For example, it's still possible to create Death and Meltdown right after the start of the game. Especially Meltdown is a little problematic, as it is noticably stronger than the -ara spells in this mod, and contrary to other mods, it still inflicts Vit 0 reliably on most non-boss enemies. I guess both spells will be moved to LV 6 Boss cards for the next update, but other than that, I think the results are fine. Of course, moving Card Mod to the end of the game has its advantages, but I think turning cards into items/spells per se was a fun component in the base game, just not very well balanced in regards to results, so I deciced to leave the Ability in the early-game and balance it out.
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Maybe in the stream I watch the player was breaking damage limit with Flare (with Angel Wing) but Quake was stuck at 9999, so I dunno. But that's an interesting feature, I honnestly always thought that GF were like the absolute worst thing to do in battle in FFVIII Modded or Vanilla, not only cause the damage potential is really not great, but the animations just take for ever (by the time their animation end I could have just cast 2 or 3 spells for overall more damage), I don't think this is possible but if there was a way to make their summoning sequence skippable that would be better.Oh, I see. You were watching v1.1.2 of this mod then, when only the Flare spell had the damage cap removed, so it can do more than 9,999 HP damage under Rinoa's Angel Wing. It was a short-lived experiment though, as I've found a way to generally lift the damage cap shortly after, which I think was important and necessary to make standard physical attacks still relevant in the late-game, to always have a valid option besides Limit Breaks and spells, which often have tedious animations as well (especially Meteor). I would love to make GF summoning sequences skippable as well, but it's sadly not an easy thing to do, as you said.
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Speaking of summon, what are the chance of success to their statut effect ? I was genuily hype when I saw while pausing that Ifrit could set Vit 0, but everytime I summon him it doesn't inflict it and just do mediocre damage.The base chance for most GFs is 150/256, or ~58%. This gets reduced by a few factors, such as enemy spirit, status resistance and I think also GF Level to some extent. There are exceptions to this rule for some GF though. For example, Alexander will Blind the enemy 100% as long as they are not immune to Blind, and Tonberry's attack always causes Death if the enemy is not immune.
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Yeah spell casting wasn't bad in Vanilla but clearly inferior to Limit Break so they need a buff, this is something that every modder even LandonRay (aka the master at nerfing the hell out of the player XD (HS : I'm trolling him a little but genuily enjoy most of the Requiem Mod, hope he is fine haven't heard of him for quite a long time now)) seems to agree on, for now I say the difficulty is between Vanilla and Requiem (Mexico's Reloaded is more tricky to note cause it keeps the Level scaling even on bosses (altough for bosses it removes the cap every boss can go up to LV100 even Ifrit) so it really depend, tough I think some parts where genuily harder than Requiem).Yes, casting spells in the original was just not fun. And enemy magic damage was even worse than own magic damage, even at identical stats. I know that spells have been buffed even in Hardcore mods such as Requiem and Reloaded - which is absolutely the right thing to do. I played Requiem some years ago, and watched videos for Reloaded. It think Reloaded has many neat ideas, especially in regards to additional challenges and content. Too bad it isn't available in English though.
I'm honnestly not seeking hardcore level for now (I have my deal with Requiem and LV100 version of Reloaded XD) but a more relax experience (not a walk in a park mind you) and above all having fun.
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I recently beat Granaldo and the Raldos and Diablo, Granaldo and Raldos are a good farming spot for Protect and Shell, once you kill 2 Raldos you effectivly reduce the numbers of attacks by a lot, with Protect they don't hit very hard and so by just healing from time to time it's easy to stock up Protect and Shell but the fact the Raldos attacks and even have an AoE is interesting make the fight more entertaining, so I think this fight is good for what it's suppose to be, I would just buff out Granaldo for when he is alone, he just doesn't do enough damage, I read on this thread he was suppose to gain new ability once alone but I killed him in 2 turns (I had damage him a bit prior to killing the Raldos tough).Granaldo starts using Dissolving Acid after the Raldos have been defeated. It's an attack normally used only by Malboro and shoves off 37,5% of the target's current HP as physical damage and has a chance to set Vit 0. I guess you just didn't see it because the RNG went in favor of Granaldo's normal physical attack, so I guess a few AI changes and maybe slight buff for his normal attack should do - I don't think that durability is the problem here, as Granaldo actually takes quite some hits, unless you pound him with Aero repeatedly. As for Diablos, yes, your ideas sound reasonable. Especially the Haste counter when at 50% HP, as it would create a lot of tension. About immunity to Gravity attacks, I'm not sure. I'll try making Diablos counter Draw Cast Demis as well first. If that doesn't work, I might go for it.
Other than that, thank you for the feedback in your latest post. Now that you mentioned you were actually on an older version of RaW, I wonder if all mod changes have been active for you from the start. It could be that enemy magic damage didn't do its full potential before, but on the other hand, you said that you got Doubles and that X-ATM's Ray-Bomb did high damage, which is how it should be if everything is installed correctly. Hmm, weird. Anyway, good to hear you got the music issue solved, and also beat the Esthar Cyborgs by slowing them down. The Slow Draw Point at the beginning of the Excavation site has been placed there for exactly that reason.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-28 13:38:03
At the moment, some of the Card Mod results are probably still a little too generous. For example, it's still possible to create Death and Meltdown right after the start of the game. Especially Meltdown is a little problematic, as it is noticably stronger than the -ara spells in this mod, and contrary to other mods, it still inflicts Vit 0 reliably on most non-boss enemies. I guess both spells will be moved to LV 6 Boss cards for the next update, but other than that, I think the results are fine. Of course, moving Card Mod to the end of the game has its advantages, but I think turning cards into items/spells per se was a fun component in the base game, just not very well balanced in regards to results, so I deciced to leave the Ability in the early-game and balance it out.
Well I unlock the Card Mod ability recently, I didn't use it yet tough but from the look of it it didn't seem to OP, and well the Card Mod ability kind of justify the Triple Triad's existence, if it wasn't for it Triple Triad would just be a colossal waste of time, so it definitly should stay in the game one way or another, I just become broed of the mini game itself after so many years ^^.
Oh, I see. You were watching v1.1.2 of this mod then, when only the Flare spell had the damage cap removed, so it can do more than 9,999 HP damage under Rinoa's Angel Wing. It was a short-lived experiment though, as I've found a way to generally lift the damage cap shortly after, which I think was important and necessary to make standard physical attacks still relevant in the late-game, to always have a valid option besides Limit Breaks and spells, which often have tedious animations as well (especially Meteor). I would love to make GF summoning sequences skippable as well, but it's sadly not an easy thing to do, as you said.
Yeah I recheck it was XeroKynos's stream, didn't read the description saying it was v1.1.2, lifting the damage cap sounds good, I'm interest as how much damage Ultima can do end game, I saw in XeroKynos's stream Meteor seems to deal around 18-20k a cast on a target with Vit 0 so I'm wondering how Ultima will compare with damage cap remove, same for GF especially the elemental one when striking a weakness could be good.
The base chance for most GFs is 150/256, or ~58%. This gets reduced by a few factors, such as enemy spirit, status resistance and I think also GF Level to some extent. There are exceptions to this rule for some GF though. For example, Alexander will Blind the enemy 100% as long as they are not immune to Blind, and Tonberry's attack always causes Death if the enemy is not immune.
I'll keep that in mind, sound like FFVII New Threat, where GF were good for inflicting statut effect (especially early game) which I like even tough Summons were losing in usefulness end game.
Yes, casting spells in the original was just not fun. And enemy magic damage was even worse than own magic damage, even at identical stats. I know that spells have been buffed even in Hardcore mods such as Requiem and Reloaded - which is absolutely the right thing to do. I played Requiem some years ago, and watched videos for Reloaded. It think Reloaded has many neat ideas, especially in regards to additional challenges and content. Too bad it isn't available in English though.
Well Requiem and Reloaded had one thing in common since Aura was really hard to do, it end up like Magic was the safer option for good damage, while Limit Breaks were the high risk high reward (people underestimate Limit Break in Requiem but with Vit 0 Squall could deal up to around 60k with his Renzo, and Irvine was kind of OP between Dark Ammo for statut effect (even better in Reloaded as they can inflict Vit 0), AP Ammo to not give a damn about the ennemy defense, Fire Ammo for good AoE/Elemental damage and Pulse Ammo who could deal over a 100k in one round thanks to them breaking the damage limit (depending on Crisis Level and Critical Hit)), which I think was what makes Requiem fun, and it allow the Crisis Level mechanic to be really huge factor (while in Vanilla you don't give a shit about it because of Aura being so easy to access)
Well I was one of the beta testers of Reloaded, in fact some little stuffs are coming up off my feed back and suggestion, the biggest thing being the creation of LV1 and LV100 version, which accidently came out of me when I started a playthrough of Reloaded with using a Save Editor to stay LV1, I just wanted to see how it would play and mexico got the idea of creating this 2 sub versions out of it XD, so yeah kinda see Reloaded Mod as it was created, gonna say it was a very fun time (the most fun I had out of any mods) and instructive to of how game and modding development in general can be tricky (man how much trouble we had hunting down glitches and oversight like bosses not dying despite being at 0 HP or hitting themselves for some reasons XD and balance things out difficulty wise (like I insist a lot for nerfing Irvine's Pulse Ammo (originally it was possible to get up 200k with them which was ridiculous) and reworked is Limit Break in general (Dark Ammo and Pulse Ammo are now limited througout the game so have to use them wisely, was originally a suggestion of mine ^^), and yeah sadly for non french speakers mexico doesn't plan on releasing an english version and I can't blame him for it as it would take a hell lot of time to translate everything (especially new attacks name, new dialogs....etc....).
Granaldo starts using Dissolving Acid after the Raldos have been defeated. It's an attack normally used only by Malboro and shoves off 37,5% of the target's current HP as physical damage and has a chance to set Vit 0. I guess you just didn't see it because the RNG went in favor of Granaldo's normal physical attack, so I guess a few AI changes and maybe slight buff for his normal attack should do - I don't think that durability is the problem here, as Granaldo actually takes quite some hits, unless you pound him with Aero repeatedly. As for Diablos, yes, your ideas sound reasonable. Especially the Haste counter when at 50% HP, as it would create a lot of tension. About immunity to Gravity attacks, I'm not sure. I'll try making Diablos counter Draw Cast Demis as well first. If that doesn't work, I might go for it.
So I guess I was lucky for Granaldo, yeah as I mention I had already did some damage to Granaldo before taking care of the Raldo, I will keep a save for Diablos then once you modify him ;).
Other than that, thank you for the feedback in your latest post. Now that you mentioned you were actually on an older version of RaW, I wonder if all mod changes have been active for you from the start. It could be that enemy magic damage didn't do its full potential before, but on the other hand, you said that you got Doubles and that X-ATM's Ray-Bomb did high damage, which is how it should be if everything is installed correctly. Hmm, weird. Anyway, good to hear you got the music issue solved, and also beat the Esthar Cyborgs by slowing them down. The Slow Draw Point at the beginning of the Excavation site has been placed there for exactly that reason.
I can guarantee gameplay changes were applied from the get go, what happen is that I had RaW W07 Lite but my main RaW was W06 so I thinks that's why music wasn't working, up until now I was playing with RaW W07 lite (so no musics) so the change of gameplay were effectivly applied, I compare with XenoKyros's stream which I heard wasn't install properly in the beginning resulting in magical's damage from ennemies being way lower than you intended, as I was taking a lot more damage for Magical attacks like Ifrit's Lava Burst than him I think I can be assure that the gameplay changes were applied.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-28 22:09:37
-Tomb of the unknown King : Like that you had a little fight during the puzzle, tough you maybe should have immune the 3 Weevil (french name sorry I don't remember the English name the skeletons mob) to instant-death as you can kill them with Life spell.
-Sacred Round 1 : Not much to say here this is just a little preview of the true fight, I don't think I would have been able to kill him so I let him run away, however since he barely act I took advantage of him stock 100 Lifes with my characters and mugged him for 3 Healing Mails, Confuse on his normal attack is annoying but ultimately not dangerous.
-Sacred and Minotaur : This fight took longuer cause I wanted to mug them, and I was right to do so as Minotaur as a Power Wrist to take for a free Str + 20% really nice at this point, all in all an fairly easy fight as long as we are cautious, I use Double here to set Protect and Float as soon as possible, Float allow to avoid Mad Cow Combo and Sacred's new spell Cave-In (Earth damage + Gradual Petrification), I actually never get hit by Mad Cow Combo and this would be my only complain about this fight they take way too much time to use Mad Cow Combo, other than that set Float on them to cut off their healing, then it's just Double Aero (around 1.6k to 1.8k) or Zell's Duel (who is still very good at this point)
-X-ATM092 rematch : Before finishing Disc 1 I wanted to beat this fight, probably isn't suppose to be done at this point but I manage after some try, easily the hardest fight so far this guy is no joke, I have to pull off Shell, Protect and Float and keep them up for this all fight, as all 3 buffs are mandatory, if you don't have Protect he will destroy you with Explosion easily the worst attack of this fight as it does 1500 WITH Protect (at this point the highest HP I have is Squall with HP + 10%, 100 Life to HP he has 2500), Shell is needed for Firaga and Ray Bomb and Float is needed for Quake. Needless to say the beginning is very luck base, then it's a matter of being extremely cautious, keeps the buff up while Damaging him with Thundara (Rinoa does around 3000 damage with Double Thundara), thank god I still had some doubl to spare, this fight wouldn't be possible without them, also Quistis's White Wind is really usefull to counter his Explosion with just Blind it does enough damage for allowing her to have her Limit Break, otherwise it's Double Cura for healing. Must say I'm quite disappointed with the reward (I don't need Gold Armor and can't refine X-ATM092's card cause you need 10 of them) but at least 50 AP is nice to get.
So no go to end of disc 1 have a couple of fight to go through :
-Iguions : I make this fight harder for myself cause I wanted to mug them as we can mug Dragon Fin from so up to 2 Dragon Fin which can be refine into 20 Doubles, so couldn't let this chance pass, for some reason the one on the left is a lot and I mean a LOT harder to mug than the one on the right, in all of my try I manage to mug the right one in 1 or 2 attempts, but end up killing the left one before I succeed at mugging I had to resolve myself to heal the bastard in order to finally mug him, anyway the thing with this figh is that none of the 2 forced character is a good caster, therefore my healing and magic damage potential was severely reduce, but Squall with 100 Break to Ele-Atk can deal around 750 damage (1100 when Berserked), I set Shell on both Irvine and Squall cause Magma Breath and Resonance hurts quite a lot, the draw Carbuncle, Mug the right one and kill him with Squall was Irvine is on the support, once the right one is down Resonance is out of the fight which is good, then I mug the Left one and finish him off once I succeed.
Must say I was expecting some new fix fights with Zell, Quistis and Selphie bt it didn't happen so that part is just like Vanilla then onto the final fights :
-Squall VS Seifer : Not a push over this time around, his physical can hurt if he crit and later in the fight is Fira hit for 1000, and I forgot to protect Squall against Fire like a dumbass, fortunatly Seifer need 3 turns to kill Squall and seeing how Slow he is it's not gonna happe, as long as I don't take useless risk this is a manageable fight well done considering how 1 v 1 fight are tricky to balance in turn base RPG.
-Edea : Probably the biggest let down of Disc 1's ending, the start was great I was genuily afraid of her Maelstrom setting Slow on all my team, but then she doesn't have the speed to back it up, I had all the time necessary to heal Slow with Haste, set Double and Shell on my characters, she is slow and can only attack 1 character at the same time, which makes her easy even in the last phase where she uses aga spell, Shell is mandatory so that she doesn't 1 shot, but if it happen it's pretty easy to recover, as for damage I was relying on Double -ra cast and Renzokuken, I think she need a little buff in speed and some AoE options, as of now she is the easiest fight of Disc 1's ending IMO.
So Disc 1 over with Squall LV17, Quistis LV15, Zell, Selphie and Linoa LV14 and Irvine LV13.
EDIT : Progressing :
Laguna's third dream has a little fight against 2 Grendels, the can be berserk and slow which make them harmless, and I got lucky by turning them into Card I got 1 Catoblepas Card, which can be refine into a Black Hole to learn Degenerator to Quistis not sure if this intended.
Now for the Prison, I want to say Zell's Duel is still extremely good with No Crit I can still pull of over 6000 damage in 1 turn enough to kill any mobs in 1 turn (I'm quite interst to see how it will turn out late game), Quistis's Water Breath can break the 9999 limit on the Robots as they are weak to Water and she can kill pretty much anything with Degenerator anyway XD, so really the Prison was a walk in the park, this include the Final Fight which Quistis single handedly destroy with Water Breath she can kill the 2 Robots (they barely even got the time to act) in 2 turns then the Galbadian soldier is easily finish off by Squall using Darkside, Squall currently does 2000 damage with Darkside with no Junction to Elemental Attack by the way XD.
EDIT 2 : Progressing further, Missile Base was fun, on the Commander + 2 Guards fight I take out the Guard first, then manage to Draw 100 Reflect with both Selphie and Quistis (my team was Selphie, Quistis and Zell) which make the Commander annoying tough as he can set Confuse on us, Regen on himself and deal high damage with Bio.
For the big tank things at the end I Junction Water to Zell attaque and he was dealing over 2000 with Darkside, Selphie was dealing 1700 with Water spell same with Quistis, he hit like a truck tough his Gatling hit for over a 1000 and set Slow and his Laser deal over 2500 damage so pretty much a one shot, he also set Mighty Guard at a moment but I just Dispel it right way, and I finish off the soldiers after him with Zell's Duel and magic.
Now before starting the Garden I upgrade Irvine's weapon, now the garden part was for the most part well done since I was around LV15 with Linoa and Irvine and 18 with Squall the fix fight at LV45 were providing good challenge and I like how you change them so basically :
-Tri-Face : Very farming spot for Pain just put him to Sleep and you can draw Pain from him, I draw 100 Pains with Linoa (Irvine and Squall's magic were to low) and Mug 6 Curse spikes for 60 more pains, so just keep him under sleep and hit him with Fira until he dies, watch out for the Poison Gas before he died. 100 Pains gives a massive boost to Linoa's magic she now has 131 in magic.
-Grendel + Bomb : Kill the bomb with Blizzara, Linoa can deal around 3700 to it with Blizzara, for Grendel put Berserk on him makes him much manageable.
-Ochu : Haste to cure the slow of his Ochu dance, then he is weak to Fire so Fira spell and Squall with Darkside and Fira to Ele-Atk-J does really solid damage.
-Death Claw : Berserk + Blind = GG otherwise this guy would be a pain in the ass as he can counter with Sleep Gas and has Explosion who deal ridiculous damage.
-2 Mesmerize : Just Blind them and they become a non issue as all of their attack are physical/
-1 Glacial Eye + 1 Bomb : Kill the bomb with Blizzara and the Glacial Eye with Fire.
-Granaldo : Can be Slow and is weak to wind, honnestly he didn't even get 1 turn.
Then for the MD Level, has Tri-Faces been remove from here ? I couldn't find any wanted to get some Pains from them, so I just rush to Oilboyles, who I completly destroy, Oilboyles is definitly Irvine's time to shine as they are weak to Fire Irvine can deal 1300 (double if crit) per Fire Shot and he can easily pull off like 4 or 5 shots per round, I killed them in 2 turns this way, just one of them got the time to cast a Sonic Wave.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-09-30 11:29:18
Quote from: Nesouk
Yeah I recheck it was XeroKynos's stream, didn't read the description saying it was v1.1.2, lifting the damage cap sounds good, I'm interest as how much damage Ultima can do end game, I saw in XeroKynos's stream Meteor seems to deal around 18-20k a cast on a target with Vit 0 so I'm wondering how Ultima will compare with damage cap remove, same for GF especially the elemental one when striking a weakness could be good.Ultima can inflict around 12-13k on a target with Vit 0, but as most late-game bosses are immune to Vit 0, you probably won't see that very often. The average should be 9-10k, which is still a quite an improvement over the original version, in which Ultima does around 7k damage at most. Meteor is currently a little too strong in this mod, and will be put closer to Ultima levels of damage, so that Meteor does a slightly more damage than Ultima on a single enemy, but noticably less when hitting multiple targets. GF benefit from breaking the damage limit greatly. If you know about enemy elemental weaknesses and also their severity, they can be fun to use, if you don't mind the animations too much.
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Well Requiem and Reloaded had one thing in common since Aura was really hard to do, it end up like Magic was the safer option for good damage, while Limit Breaks were the high risk high reward (people underestimate Limit Break in Requiem but with Vit 0 Squall could deal up to around 60k with his Renzo, and Irvine was kind of OP between Dark Ammo for statut effect (even better in Reloaded as they can inflict Vit 0), AP Ammo to not give a damn about the ennemy defense, Fire Ammo for good AoE/Elemental damage and Pulse Ammo who could deal over a 100k in one round thanks to them breaking the damage limit (depending on Crisis Level and Critical Hit)), which I think was what makes Requiem fun, and it allow the Crisis Level mechanic to be really huge factor (while in Vanilla you don't give a strawberries about it because of Aura being so easy to access)Yes, I noticed Pulse Ammo being extremely powerful in Requiem too. But that's not really surprising at all. I have to say that Irvine's Shot is possibly the most difficult Limit Break to get right balance-wise - not just in terms of raw power (as they scale very well with Strength) and crit chances, but also when it comes to accessibility of Ammo in general. In the original version, all Ammo except Pulse Ammo is very easy to come by, and not that much has changed about that in this mod yet. Do you remember how you got the Flame Ammo for the Oilboyle boss battle? I already reduced the numbers you can refine from Bomb Fragments and the like, but I'm not sure if it's enough to make Ammo feel like a valuable, limited resource.
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[...]modding development in general can be tricky (man how much trouble we had hunting down glitches and oversight like bosses not dying despite being at 0 HP or hitting themselves for some reasons[...]Yes, I've noticed it all myself already. If you are not careful, you can make enemies counter themselves, or they don't die because a variable hasn't been set correctly, or it's something as simple as forgetting to put a "die" at the end of an enemy's Death tab.. But you are getting used to it after a while. Anyway, your efforts on the Reloaded mod seem to have paid off, as it seems to be in a quite good shape by now. Maybe I'll check it out myself someday, no matter the language.
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I can guarantee gameplay changes were applied from the get go, what happen is that I had RaW W07 Lite but my main RaW was W06 so I thinks that's why music wasn't working, up until now I was playing with RaW W07 lite (so no musics) so the change of gameplay were effectivly applied, I compare with XenoKyros's stream which I heard wasn't install properly in the beginning resulting in magical's damage from ennemies being way lower than you intended, as I was taking a lot more damage for Magical attacks like Ifrit's Lava Burst than him I think I can be assure that the gameplay changes were applied.Ok, that explains everything. Good to know that all the changes worked correctly from the start.
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Must say I'm quite disappointed with the reward (I don't need Gold Armor and can't refine X-ATM092's card cause you need 10 of them) but at least 50 AP is nice to get.Well, I know of a few mod testers who liked to use their GF as a shield in battle, so I thought Gold Armor would be a good fit for a sidequest reward. It's also one the items that are absurdly hard to come by in the original game, so I wanted to give a little more opportunities here. But I understand it feels disappointing for anyone who uses GF only rarely or not all. Maybe I'll switch it out, and put the Gold Armor elsewhere, so the victory over X-ATM092 feels more earned.
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-Edea : Probably the biggest let down of Disc 1's ending, the start was great I was genuily afraid of her Maelstrom setting Slow on all my team, but then she doesn't have the speed to back it up, I had all the time necessary to heal Slow with Haste, set Double and Shell on my characters, she is slow and can only attack 1 character at the same time, which makes her easy even in the last phase where she uses aga spell, Shell is mandatory so that she doesn't 1 shot, but if it happen it's pretty easy to recover, as for damage I was relying on Double -ra cast and Renzokuken, I think she need a little buff in speed and some AoE options, as of now she is the easiest fight of Disc 1's ending IMO.I would really like to give Edea one more AoE besides Maelstrom, but the problem is the limited space for attacks for each enemy. And in the case of the first Edea battle, it's particularly sparse, as all of her lines count as an actual move. But I'll see what I can do to free up a little more space. As for her Speed, yes, she is quite slow, but that's intentional, as she is a Mage/Sorceress, a class who isn't known to be the fastest. I think the bigger problem is her still skipping a turn every now and then (25% at the moment). This will be reduced or even removed completely in the next version though.
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Laguna's third dream has a little fight against 2 Grendels, the can be berserk and slow which make them harmless, and I got lucky by turning them into Card I got 1 Catoblepas Card, which can be refine into a Black Hole to learn Degenerator to Quistis not sure if this intended.Degenerator has its success rate reduced in this mod and more enemies are immune, but having the chance to get it early disc 2 was not really planned. Good that you noticed. I'll put in on the change list.
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Now for the Prison, I want to say Zell's Duel is still extremely good with No Crit I can still pull of over 6000 damage in 1 turn enough to kill any mobs in 1 turn (I'm quite interst to see how it will turn out late game), Quistis's Water Breath can break the 9999 limit on the Robots as they are weak to Water and she can kill pretty much anything with Degenerator anyway XD, so really the Prison was a walk in the park, this include the Final Fight which Quistis single handedly destroy with Water Breath she can kill the 2 Robots (they barely even got the time to act) in 2 turns then the Galbadian soldier is easily finish off by Squall using Darkside, Squall currently does 2000 damage with Darkside with no Junction to Elemental Attack by the way XD.Do you remember how you did 6000 damage with Zell's Duel in one turn? Is it still the repeated use of Booya and Punch Rush? If so, then I don't really know how to make it less effective, other than removing the possibility of this combo altogether (their base values are already quite low). As for the lack of difficulty in D-District Prison, I think you had a certain advantage because you keep your levels rather low, as the GIM47Ns won't use their AoE skill on lower levels (all enemy levels will be fixed in the next version though, to keep perceived difficulty more constant throughout the game). In the Prison, it's actually risky to stay at low HP for longer periods of time, as there's also the Aqua Breath attack from Chimeras that can catch you off guard easily. As for Quistis Aqua Breath, yes, it's quite strong, especially in this area, as there are so many enemies weak to Water there. In other areas, it won't be as effective though, so I guess it's fine to leave it as it is.
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Then for the MD Level, has Tri-Faces been remove from here ? I couldn't find any wanted to get some Pains from themTri-Faces are still there and common at the lower areas of MD Levels. I would recommend the Oilboyle area, where Blobras and Blood Souls can be encountered as well.
Again, thanks a lot for your detailed reports. Some of it will be considered for the next version of this mod. Granaldo and Diablos are already changed based on some of your ideas. Hoping to get the new version done within the next couple of days (the last week target was a bit too optimistic).
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-09-30 19:53:33
Ultima can inflict around 12-13k on a target with Vit 0, but as most late-game bosses are immune to Vit 0, you probably won't see that very often. The average should be 9-10k, which is still a quite an improvement over the original version, in which Ultima does around 7k damage at most. Meteor is currently a little too strong in this mod, and will be put closer to Ultima levels of damage, so that Meteor does a slightly more damage than Ultima on a single enemy, but noticably less when hitting multiple targets. GF benefit from breaking the damage limit greatly. If you know about enemy elemental weaknesses and also their severity, they can be fun to use, if you don't mind the animations too much.
AH Was expecting more of Ultima, but I guess that's fair enough, I really should give a fair shot to GF I'm just so use to not use them kind of hard to break that habit ^^
Yes, I noticed Pulse Ammo being extremely powerful in Requiem too. But that's not really surprising at all. I have to say that Irvine's Shot is possibly the most difficult Limit Break to get right balance-wise - not just in terms of raw power (as they scale very well with Strength) and crit chances, but also when it comes to accessibility of Ammo in general. In the original version, all Ammo except Pulse Ammo is very easy to come by, and not that much has changed about that in this mod yet. Do you remember how you got the Flame Ammo for the Oilboyle boss battle? I already reduced the numbers you can refine from Bomb Fragments and the like, but I'm not sure if it's enough to make Ammo feel like a valuable, limited resource.
Well yeah Irvine's Limit Break is hard to balance, heck even in Reloaded Irvine was kinda OP being the best damage dealer at all stage of the game with AP Shot for mid game, Fire Ammo for Fire weak ennemies (and even a decent AoE in general), Dark Shot has the single best way to set Vit 0 (which in Reloaded still work on every ennemies like Requiem) and Pulse Ammo for late game damage.
Maybe you could do something similar to what mexicon did in Reloaded, originally I suggested to remove Ammo-RF but that was a bit extreme, so mexico decide to just make the troublesome Ammos (mainly Dark Ammo and Pulse Ammo, AP Ammo was losing potency later in the game due to not breaking the 9999 damage, and Fire Ammo is situationnal) limited in the game, meaning you can't farm them there's just a fix amount in the game and no more which makes the player think twice before spamming them, maybe you could do that I don't know yet which ammo are the most powerfull tough.
As for Fire Ammo I get them from Fuel which can be refine into 20 Fire Ammo, you can buy them in shop which I didn't do but I dropped a lot of Fuel from the GIM52A in the Prison, so combine with Bomb Fragment I got 100 Fire Ammo fairly easily, in fact I still have 7 Fuels to spare so 140 Fire Ammo.
Well, I know of a few mod testers who liked to use their GF as a shield in battle, so I thought Gold Armor would be a good fit for a sidequest reward. It's also one the items that are absurdly hard to come by in the original game, so I wanted to give a little more opportunities here. But I understand it feels disappointing for anyone who uses GF only rarely or not all. Maybe I'll switch it out, and put the Gold Armor elsewhere, so the victory over X-ATM092 feels more earned.
To be fair it's partly my fault, GF seems to be really good in your mod, I really should try them more, I'm just reluctant due to past playthrough from Vanilla, and neither Requiem or Reloaded manage to make them usefull, so I will try to play them more from now on.
I would really like to give Edea one more AoE besides Maelstrom, but the problem is the limited space for attacks for each enemy. And in the case of the first Edea battle, it's particularly sparse, as all of her lines count as an actual move. But I'll see what I can do to free up a little more space. As for her Speed, yes, she is quite slow, but that's intentional, as she is a Mage/Sorceress, a class who isn't known to be the fastest. I think the bigger problem is her still skipping a turn every now and then (25% at the moment). This will be reduced or even removed completely in the next version though.
AH Yeah that 1/3 chances of skipping turn, yeah I remember this pissing off mexico during Reloaded's development ^^, and worst being that apparently some ennemies just completly glitch out if you try to remove it (Most noticeable in Reloaded being Ultimecia's third form, which is the easiest of the final fight in Reloaded because of this). Couldn't you remove some of their lines ? Like the one where she taunts the character mid battle is just a waste of time.
Do you remember how you did 6000 damage with Zell's Duel in one turn? Is it still the repeated use of Booya and Punch Rush? If so, then I don't really know how to make it less effective, other than removing the possibility of this combo altogether (their base values are already quite low).
OH No Booya and Punch Rush have been nerf down to the point it's honnestly pointless to use them, however Heel Drop, Mach Kick and Dolphin Blow are still strong on GIM47N Heel Drop does 400-450, Mach Kick does 550-600 and Dolphin Blow 780-820, basically I just try a chain with as much as these as I can so 6000 on GIM47N (without Vit 0) in 5 seconds.
As for the lack of difficulty in D-District Prison, I think you had a certain advantage because you keep your levels rather low, as the GIM47Ns won't use their AoE skill on lower levels (all enemy levels will be fixed in the next version though, to keep perceived difficulty more constant throughout the game). In the Prison, it's actually risky to stay at low HP for longer periods of time, as there's also the Aqua Breath attack from Chimeras that can catch you off guard easily. As for Quistis Aqua Breath, yes, it's quite strong, especially in this area, as there are so many enemies weak to Water there. In other areas, it won't be as effective though, so I guess it's fine to leave it as it is.
Chimera's Aqua Breath caught me off guard the first time but didn't kill me, after the first tough I just junction 100 Water to elemental Defense so I was fine, my only concern about Aqua Breath is Cactuar, Jumbo Cactuar and Ultimecia's third form (unless you changed it she take Triple Damage from Water), tough if it's only the Prison and them I guess it's fine.
Tri-Faces are still there and common at the lower areas of MD Levels. I would recommend the Oilboyle area, where Blobras and Blood Souls can be encountered as well.
Guess I should have just persevere, well to bad for me I guess, OH well it will just delay the time I will get Pains.
By the way I fight Norg, well I have no complain on this one really it's a really well done fight, Norg has enough HP to take a lot punishment without it feeling like a marathon so you need to do a lot of damage but he also does a lot of damage that you have to recover or protect from, he buff himself so you need to debuff him and all of that while preventing the Eye from turning Red so a really good fight as their is a bunch of thing to watch out for and always something to do, so I don't think this fight can be better outside of maybe giving him the possibility to inflict Statut Effects, and maybe reduce the amount HP of his Pod, the fight gets interesting once he is out of the pod, the pod phase feel unecessary to be honnest, other than that it's honnestly my favorite fight up to now, as for damage Squall's Darkside with Aero to Elemental ttack does over 3000 and Rinoa with aero hit for 1800 Irvine was mostly on support.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-09-30 22:43:42
Any chance to see this awesome mod in Remastered version?
thank you
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-03 12:14:48
-Tank second round (always forgot his name) : Way easier than the first time but I guess story wise it make sense, basically he really hate Water, and is quite slow, I quite didn't his Laser once.
-Centra : So first off good thing you add a fight there before Odin, that fight caught me off guard and I got killed once cause I wasn't prepare for it, the second time around got some Water and Earth protection, found out the Armadillo can be Zombified so I did that and throw Life to Instant-kill them, once alone the Chimaira is easy to deal with despite her Thundaga seriously hurting, good thing however we can go out of Centra and reenter to reset the timer, despite Odin's complaining XD
-Odin : So he is just like vanilla and does absolutly nothing, so yeah easy boss there, manage to steal Luck-J Scroll from him then I just spam Zell and Squall limit breaks and Double Water until he goes down, he has quite a lot of health but that's about it.
-Tomberry Sr : Man I swear I love Reloaded for having to just kill one Tonberry in order to fight Tonberry Senior, having to kill 20 tonberries is just dumbest thing in this game, OH well at least it allows me to get a bunch Chief's Knife to refine into AP Ammo. As for Tonberry Senior he is pathetically easy, really this guy is nothing but a giant HP Sponge, tough I don't know if I get Lucky but he didn't use Junk at all during the entire fight, so I just keep Quistis and Irvine low HP and spam their Limit Break while Squall was on support, by the way Irvine AP Shot is good was doing 750 damage per shot at the time (now probably more since I have better Junction) and over 1500 with Critical hit I can shot 3 up to 6 Ammos a time so that's 2250 up to 9000 depending of Crisis Level and Crits so pretty good.
-Fujin and Raijin : The fight against Raijin and 2 Soldier is just warm up so I didn't expect it to pose a challenge at all, so for Fujin and Raijin I think this fight could be interesting but it need some works, first off they can be Slow and once you Slow them both this fight becomes a complete joke as they will never be able to keep with your healing, the only dangerous attack is Raijin Special as it deals over 2800 without Protect so Protect is pretty much mandatory for surviving this attack, other than that Raijin doesn't do anything special, and also him doing a Hi Potion + is just laugheable I can hit him for 7000 damage with Double Bio, so what is the purpose of this I think you should replace the Hi Potion + by something else. Fujin does nothing but Wind Magic as long as you don't Draw Pandemona, after you draw it she starts using physical her normal attacks inflicting Slow and Poison can be annoying but again since she can be slow I can keep up with her, and by herself as long has you have Wind Resistance (I had Aero + Float junction to elemental defense on all character) she doesn't have any ability capable of doing dangerous damage outside of Sai reducing HP of 1 character to 1.
I also try the fight without Slow, it is still easy, just don't draw Pandemona while Raijin is around to prevent Fujin to do Sai (can be dangerous if Raijin is around as this potentially gives him the opportunity to kill a character) or her normal attack with statut effect overall I think this fight need some serious work, I think make at least one of them immune to Slow or give them some counter ability so that even slowed they can fight back, maybe give some other spells to Fujin Tornado is fine but Aero is honnestly kind of a joke at this point and making her able to use all of her attacks even when Pandemona is drawn and lastly Raijin's Hi Potion + should be replace by something else it's honnestly completly useless at this point of the game as we can deal over 7000 damage to him.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-03 14:01:20
-Ammo Availability: Ok, will do something similar, without making any Ammo type finite, though. Further reducing refine rates for Ammo and item drops should do for now. Some of them are still too generous, especially for Fire Ammo.
-Edea: Yes, removing one of her taunts sounds good. Her new AoE will be one-time only though, as she will have her turn skips removed. Both regular AoE and no turn skips would probably be a bit too much to be honest.
-Duel: Not sure about reducing the other moves besides Punch Rush and Booya yet. It would be good if you had an eye on how Duel performs for you against enemies in the late-game, as most of them (especially bosses) have noticably higher Vitality than enemies like the GIM47A, and are mostly immune to Vit 0. If by then you still feel like Duel is too strong, then some adjustments should be made for sure.
-Aqua Breath: I was very cautious in regards to its damage against Jumbo Cactuar and Ultimecia's third form, so they have had their weakness against Water reduced and defensive stats increased. It will still be strong, but not strong enough to finish these bosses within just a couple of turns (at least not with Water attacks alone).
As for your latest post, I kind of regret not having finished the mod's new version earlier, as almost all the things you mentioned will be changed in one way or another, especially in Centra Ruins. Would have been a good opportunity to get some feedback right away, but well... As for Tonberry, you are right, reducing the kills required to make Tonberry King appear is a good idea, yet somehow it has never crossed my mind. Just noticed that it's actually a quite easy thing to do. Everything else was already on the list, but thanks anyway.
@Nsandro: I can't guarantee anything yet, but it's definitely planned to be compatible with the Remastered version at some point. Will start to look at it thoroughly soon.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-03 14:27:06
As for your latest post, I kind of regret not having finished the mod's new version earlier, as almost all the things you mentioned will be changed in one way or another, especially in Centra Ruins. Would have been a good opportunity to get some feedback right away, but well... As for Tonberry, you are right, reducing the kills required to make Tonberry King appear is a good idea, yet somehow it has never crossed my mind. Just noticed that it's actually a quite easy thing to do. Everything else was already on the list, but thanks anyway.
A good thing with me I'm the kind of guy who does like 500 different save files XD, so if you were to release a new version I don't mind going back a bit for giving feedback, when do you the new version will be finish ? if not to long then I might pause my playthrough and continue once you update, would be pointless to give feedback on things you already plan to modify, on other subjects :
-Ammo Availability: Ok, will do something similar, without making any Ammo type finite, though. Further reducing refine rates for Ammo and item drops should do for now. Some of them are still too generous, especially for Fire Ammo.
That could work, for Fire Ammo I would suggest remove the Fuel from shop, this is pointless item to buy otherwise and the fact it's available pretty much anywhere make Fire Ammo really easy to get. On subject of Irvine's Limit break power since you say to have immune boss to Vit 0 Armor Shot is the one that worry me the most, currently on Cerberus I'm doing around 1000-1100 per shots (double if it Crit (it help Irvine has a good Base Luck with 100 Death and Luck+30% he has like a 30% crit rate currently) so with 3 to 6 shots I mention earlier that's 3000-3300 to 12000-13200, very unlikely to reach this tough often I say I get an average of 2 crit when shoting 6 ammos so that's more 8000 to 8800.
-Edea: Yes, removing one of her taunts sounds good. Her new AoE will be one-time only though, as she will have her turn skips removed. Both regular AoE and no turn skips would probably be a bit too much to be honest.
Will see how it turn out then.
-Duel: Not sure about reducing the other moves besides Punch Rush and Booya yet. It would be good if you had an eye on how Duel performs for you against enemies in the late-game, as most of them (especially bosses) have noticably higher Vitality than enemies like the GIM47A, and are mostly immune to Vit 0. If by then you still feel like Duel is too strong, then some adjustments should be made for sure.
It certainly is to early to judge if Duel is to strong or not especially considering I'm not using high tier magic yet (I've got some tough), I'must say tough that it's the most fun Limit Break to use, since the easy way of spamming Booya and Punch Rush is out of the way I have to found new combos, so on that aspect you manage to make it more fun, by the is Meteor Strike still a Gravity move ? Or did you make it a physical attack, I haven't test it yet.
Edit : Tested Meteor Strike is physical attack good thing, for now with 115 str and a crit rate of around 28%, I was able to get almost 14000 damage on a Hexdragon with a timer of 5.66 seconds as for the combo I do it goes as follow :
Punch Rush (starting) > Dolphin Blow > Mach Kick > Dolphin Blow > Meteor Strike > Dolphin Blow > Mach Kick > Dolphin Blow > Mach Kick > Dolphin Blow > Meteor Strike....etc...
I'm seeking for a better combo (potentially one that would get more Meteor Strike) currently and still haven't be able to run a damage test with better timer.
EDIT 3 : Manage to test with the highest timer possible of 9.33 second manage to deal almost 21000 damage still on Hexdragon, wonder how it will go against high vit bosses.
-Aqua Breath: I was very cautious in regards to its damage against Jumbo Cactuar and Ultimecia's third form, so they have had their weakness against Water reduced and defensive stats increased. It will still be strong, but not strong enough to finish these bosses within just a couple of turns (at least not with Water attacks alone).
OK that's a good thing to hear, I guess I will see how it goes.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-03 16:29:52
A good thing with me I'm the kind of guy who does like 500 different save files XD, so if you were to release a new version I don't mind going back a bit for giving feedback, when do you the new version will be finish ? if not to long then I might pause my playthrough and continue once you update, would be pointless to give feedback on things you already plan to modify, on other subjects :Ok, it would certainly help if you could retest certain things (especially Centra Ruins) after the new version is up. It should be finished by the end of this week.
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That could work, for Fire Ammo I would suggest remove the Fuel from shop, this is pointless item to buy otherwise and the fact it's available pretty much anywhere make Fire Ammo really easy to get. On subject of Irvine's Limit break power since you say to have immune boss to Vit 0 Armor Shot is the one that worry me the most, currently on Cerberus I'm doing around 1000-1100 per shots (double if it Crit (it help Irvine has a good Base Luck with 100 Death and Luck+30% he has like a 30% crit rate currently) so with 3 to 6 shots I mention earlier that's 3000-3300 to 12000-13200, very unlikely to reach this tough often I say I get an average of 2 crit when shoting 6 ammos so that's more 8000 to 8800.Armor Shot damage will max out at around 5500 HP per shot if Irvine's Strength is at 255, so damage will fluctuate between 16,000 and 33,000 HP, (critical hits excluded) depending on Crisis Level. It also has the lowest base critical rate out of all Ammo types, so I don't think it will be overly powerful in the late-game, when bosses have 100,000 HP or more, unless you seriously put some work on Irvine's Luck stat. Armor Shot has actually been nerfed two times in this mod already, but if you think it's still too powerful, don't hesitate to tell. Maybe changing the formula for physical attacks and critical hit calculation / Luck will be inevitable sooner or later, to get more pleasing results overall.
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It certainly is to early to judge if Duel is to strong or not especially considering I'm not using high tier magic yet (I've got some tough), I'must say tough that it's the most fun Limit Break to use, since the easy way of spamming Booya and Punch Rush is out of the way I have to found new combos, so on that aspect you manage to make it more fun, by the is Meteor Strike still a Gravity move ? Or did you make it a physical attack, I haven't test it yet.Meteor Strike has been changed from a Gravity attack to a physical attack that ignores enemy Vitality, so Duel is not totally worthless against high Vit enemies. Base power is between Mach Kick and Dolphin Blow, and its input should take a little longer than most other moves, so I think it's in an ok spot. But of course it would be interesting what you think after some testing on your own.
What are your character levels at the moment by the way? I wonder if you still have a certain advantage over normal enemies because their levels are rather low. Hexadragons in G-Garden will be around LV 40 fixed in the upcoming version, so if you face only LV 20 ones at the moment due to own levels, that would be quite a difference.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-03 19:35:42
Armor Shot damage will max out at around 5500 HP per shot if Irvine's Strength is at 255, so damage will fluctuate between 16,000 and 33,000 HP, (critical hits excluded) depending on Crisis Level. It also has the lowest base critical rate out of all Ammo types, so I don't think it will be overly powerful in the late-game, when bosses have 100,000 HP or more, unless you seriously put some work on Irvine's Luck stat. Armor Shot has actually been nerfed two times in this mod already, but if you think it's still too powerful, don't hesitate to tell. Maybe changing the formula for physical attacks and critical hit calculation / Luck will be inevitable sooner or later, to get more pleasing results overall.
Well I plan on eventually doing kind of a Crit build on Irvine, since he already has the highest Luck of 3 dudes and is arguably the character that beneficiate the most of an high crit rate so I planned on taking advantage of it, I guess I'll see how he turns out.
Meteor Strike has been changed from a Gravity attack to a physical attack that ignores enemy Vitality, so Duel is not totally worthless against high Vit enemies. Base power is between Mach Kick and Dolphin Blow, and its input should take a little longer than most other moves, so I think it's in an ok spot. But of course it would be interesting what you think after some testing on your own.
What are your character levels at the moment by the way? I wonder if you still have a certain advantage over normal enemies because their levels are rather low. Hexadragons in G-Garden will be around LV 40 fixed in the upcoming version, so if you face only LV 20 ones at the moment due to own levels, that would be quite a difference.
My LV were Squall LV37, Zell LV25, Selphie LV20 so an average of 27 definitly not LV40 altough I could use the LVUP ability to test on a higher LV Hexdragon actually I might do that.
Actually Meteor Strike's input for me are easier to perform than Dolphin Blow so that's not an issue to me, it seems to be less frequent than Dolphin Blow who seems to be everywhere XD, but like I said I think I'm to early in the game to really judge, I read in this thread that magic casting is OP, and seems to be the way to go (especially if the opponent has an Elemental weakness), for now it goes like this on an Hexdragon with the average LV I said :
-Zell's Duel is for now does up 21k in 1 turn or even more with crit
-Irvine's damage vary a lot depending on Crisis Level and Critical Hits currently up to around 8000-8800 a turn
-Squall's renzokuken currently does around 950-1050 per hit so that's 3800 up to 8400 and Fated Circle does around 2200 (it can crit dor Double) so Squall can currentyl reach up to 12k-12.8k if Fated Circle crit.
-Squall with 100 Water to Elemental attack can also deal around 8500 damage with Darkside, so yeah in the case of Squall Darkside compete with his Limit Break ^^
-Selphie with 136 in magic can deal around 6800 damage with 1 Water cast (meaning with Triple (tough I need to manage a Cerberus summon if I want it) it's 20400)
-Quistis with 140 in magic can deal 16500 with Aqua Breath
-Rinoa with 168 in magic deal 7500 a water cast (so 22500 with Triple)
So for now Zell has the best damage against neutral foe, if there is an Elemental weakness like Hexdragon tough magic is the way to go.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-10-03 19:49:59
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@Nsandro: I can't guarantee anything yet, but it's definitely planned to be compatible with the Remastered version at some point. Will start to look at it thoroughly soon.
Thank you.
Im lvl28 in G-Garden and Cerber crush me easy, so my lvl is to low or its very hard ? ^^
Can you tell me if this mod http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15354.0 is useless with yours ?
Thank you.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-04 05:10:07
Im lvl28 in G-Garden and Cerber crush me easy, so my lvl is to low or its very hard ? ^^
I just beat him yesterday around that LV, he can be tough if unprepare, but junction Aero and Float to Elemental defense Junction, Berserk to Statut Defense Junction, set Protect ASAP and NEVER let him in Triple if he cast Triple just Dispel him, as for offense personnaly I was keeping Irvine at low HP and spamming Armor Shot but you can do that with anyone.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-07 14:59:45
Changes Overview
Enemies
- All enemy levels are now fixed, not just bosses, to further encourage leveling up and keep perceived difficulty more constant throughout the game.
- Turn skips have been removed for most enemies, and have been preserved only for enemies that use major counter attacks or are just very fast.
- Sacred's base chance to inflict Confuse has been reduced to around 50% (and can be further reduced by Vit and Stat Def junctions).
- Malboro's Bad Breath status infliction rate has been reduced.
- Hitrate for physical attacks has been generally increased.
- Certain enemy AoE attacks such as Grendel's Thunder Breath or Granaldo's Poison Gas inflict less damage.
- Stat changes have been applied to many enemies in general.
Spells, Card Mod and Refinement
- Meteor base power has been reduced.
- Base power of Flare, Holy and Ultima has been slightly increased.
- Regen, Death and Meltdown have been removed from early-game Card Mod.
- Grendels can still be turned into Catoblepas Cards/Black Holes/Degenerator, but Eject resistance has been increased for some enemies.
- Ammo refinement is now less generous and relevant items drop in fewer numbers.
- Some more insanely uneconomic Refine Rates have been spotted and adjusted.
Boss changes
Almost all bosses have been changed in some way. The most notable changes are as follows:
- Granaldo uses an additional attack when on the battlefield alone.
- Diablos casts Haste on himself after his HP drop below 50%; counters Draw Cast Demis as well.
- Iguions use a new move when on the battlefield alone.
- Edea (1st) uses an AoE up to two times per battle.
- BGH251F2 in FH has been changed to some kind of durability battle.
- Odin unleashes a powerful attack every 4 turns.
- Tonberry King has some changes to his attacks.
- Fujin & Raijin in Balamb have been generally overhauled.
- Adel has access to two additional attacks.
- Krysta is more durable and has changes to its attack pattern.
- Ultimecia (1st) is more structured, can no longer spam the same move multiple times in a row.
Pigtail Girl sidequest
It has recently become known that Zell receives a spell during one of the events in Balamb Garden's library, depending on the survey answers from one of the previous events. The player can pick Zell's favorite color and food from 3 selections each, so there's a total of 9 different outcomes, and therefore 9 different spells Zell can get. The rewards are a little underwhelming in the base game, so they have been improved in this version of the mod. Credits go to gamefaqs user aladore384 and myst6re for discovering this. The rewards are as follows:
Code: [Select]
Base game
Red Blue Pink
Beef 1x Meteor 1x Scan 1x Demi
Fish 1x Triple 1x Holy 1x Ultima
Hot dogs 1x Shell 1x Full-life 1x Zombie
New
Red Blue Pink
Beef 10x Meteor 100x Scan 50x Demi
Fish 5x Triple 10x Holy 5x Ultima
Hot dogs 10x Renew 10x Full-life 100x Zombie
Other changes
- At Centra Ruins, the way back will be blocked after examining the blue orb, and if the timer runs out, it's Game Over instead of just being thrown out.
- At Missile Base, an extra battle can be triggered when visiting it on disc 1.
- A new sidequest is available in Dollet. Talk to the girl at the beach if she is alone to initiate it.
- Another sidequest is available in Esthar after the Lunar Cry. Talk to the assistant in Dr. Odine's laboratory to initiate it.
- Irvine's previously hidden critical hit chances for each of his weapons can now be viewed in Weapons Monthly magazines.
- The Queen of Cards generally plays stronger cards than before.
- Some more overpriced items have been spotted and reduced in cost (Draw Scroll, HP-J Scroll etc).
- The number of Tonberries that need to be killed to make the Tonberry King appear has been reduced from 20 to 8.
- A few Draw Point contents have been changed.
- Gilgamesh can be aquired again if there are no Amethysts in inventory when battling Seifer inside Lunatic Pandora.
A list that contains the most important Cards/Items/Spells swaps will soon follow.
@Nsandro: Yes, Hard Mode is compatible with this mod, but keep in mind that enemy physical damage will be 1.5 times higher than intended, and own physical attacks weaker than intended.
@Nesouk: I haven't made any changes to Duel yet, but maybe will soon, depending on how Duel performs for you late-game. I think it's ok if it's stronger than other Limit Breaks in many situations, as in return, it requires more skill to be used efficiently, and using it to full extent is quite time-consuming, and therefore dps is rather low, but we'll see.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-10-08 13:23:15
edit : in centra , if we leave , tomberry kill is no more reset?
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-08 19:29:49
Spoiler: show
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edit : in centra , if we leave , tomberry kill is no more reset?
Tomberry kill is never reset I don't know where that legend come from but even in Vanilla you can perfectly kill like 17 tonberries in Disc 2, then progress to the story until Disc 4 and come and you will only have to kill 3 Tonberries, the Tonberry kill will only reset if you make Tonberry King appear and run away from him.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-10-09 08:34:01
Thank you
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-09 12:16:05
@Nesouk:
Spoiler: show
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-09 19:20:33
I read that in my official guide from Peggyback, "Il vous faut maintenant tuer 20 tomberry sans sortir des ruines" and if i translate "You must now kill 20 tomberry without leaving the ruins". i thinks the translation is missing something like " You can leave the ruins for save , but you cant fight another monster because it will reset all tomberry kill"
AH French guy to, yeah for some reason this is a common mistake in french guide and website.
@Callisto :
Spoiler: show
EDIT : So for Fujin and Raijin so I fight them without Slow (I didn't try actually so don't know if you immune them or not), so the fight honnestly kind of feel the same, also I actually manage to kill Raijin before he uses Hi-Potion + so whatever you put at the place of the Hi-Potion + just know that it can be skipped, and I did that just by spamming Double Bio on him I suppose this is due to the turn skip unless you manage to remove it from Raijin (I know mexico didn't succeed at it, Raijin is one of the few bosses he didn't found a way to remove it without turning the game into a graphical mess), also Fujin is fragile to physical (5000 with Squall's Darkside) and Metsu is a golden occasion to use Limit Break since it does good damage and Poison boosting the crisis level, the part where she put Aura Stone into a Metsu was interesting but then she use a new attack Aerial Slash who honnestly is a none issue with 70% Wind resistance, actually I wonder if the Aura Stone was for her or for Raijin since I kill Raijin just before she uses it, I honnestly have trouble seeing how we could improve this fight without breaking it's idea (Raijin being the physical dude who hit like a truck and take little damage from physical but weak against magical and Fujin more of a glass canon) or entering into hard mod territory.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-10-10 10:34:58
Where i can give you donation?
Thx
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-11 02:08:02
That's some interesting observations regarding Irvine's Limit Break, especially the handling as AoE for counters. I didn't knew that. Sounds like an oversight to me, but I don't think it can be corrected easily. I managed to change Tonberry King's counter behavior though, so that all kinds of Limit Break will add to his counter, and not just a few, like Squall's. Probably wouldn't have noticed this without your help, so thank you. It's always surprising to learn something new about this game after all these years.
Raijin doesn't have any random turn skips in his script, but he will idle if there's only one female party member alive while Fujin is alive, and if Fujin is above 50% max HP (otherwise, he would occasionally heal her). I think you didn't see his healing as you finished him off too fast with Double Bio, and also because of the fact that he uses his healing only once when near death. I haven't noticed the latter until very recently, so I will change the moment he uses his heal to something sooner, and will also increase their defenses a little, so their weak spots aren't as glaring anymore (but of course still weaknesses worth abusing). They can still be slowed down by the way, but their resistance is higher than before, and Aerial Slash was added to have something stronger than Aero, but yes - when at 70% Wind resistance from Aero and Float, it's no problem at all. But better to not go overboard, as you said.
@Nsandro:
I hope so too, and it looks like I can work with most of the files that are relevant to gameplay. Still unsure about a few because of tool incompatibility with the new files (like mngrp.bin that has all the refine data) but in case of doubt, I'll have to apply the changes by hand. I'll send you a PM regarding donation, thanks.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-12 19:51:31
Anyway as for end of Disc 2 especially G-Garden, I like that you add an extra battle when recovering the first Key, but why not go further and do it for all 3 keys ? Would make senses, as for the bosses :
-Cerberus : I haven't try him in the last update so maybe what I will say is outdate (I actually fought him last week forgot to report about him ^^), sadly I forgot to keep a save right before him, so I had to replay some part in order to fight him again, anyway he seems to love using Quake so naturally some Earth protection is needed, he has a good defense so I decide to rely on Irvine's AP Shots, as for when he uses Triple I don't know what spell he can use and honnestly I don't care, the simple fact that when in his Triple stance he counter with a guaranteed Critical Hit was enough to set my mind on dispeling him right away goddamn his counter hurts, so yeah I just keep him dispelled, use Irvine's AP Shot whenever I got the chance and Squall and Quistis as back up also he doesn't have Spd-J Scroll to steal anymore well that's unfortunate for me ^^.
-Seifer : Very easy, I can actually kill him with 2 Duels if I get lucky and got a good timer, an easy strat to cheese him is to make the middle character which was Squall with Cover cast Protect and shell on him then cast Reflect on the other as long as I keep Squall alive the 2 other are invincible and he can't one shot him (his Demon Slice does 3000 damage with Protect tough), so the 2 other team mates are free to spam their Limit Break or do whatever they want ^^.
-Seifer + Edea : First doing the exact same strat, except this time I use this to pull off a Cerberus summon to get Triple (Cerberus as only 600HP so I needed a way to prevent Seifer to kill him), since Seifer is almost completly harmless with a character with Cover and Fire Protection I put Protect, Shell and Haste on everyone (not Reflect cause if you keep the Reflect up Edea will eventually resolve to spam Ebon Wave which is honnestly annoying), once set I kill Seifer with Duel and make absolutly sure that 1 character can act. Seifer's Protect on Edea while dying is kind of useless cause we already has access to Dispel so yeah whatever, Edea open directly with Maelstrom have to cast a Triple Haste to get rid of the Slow, Edea's most annoying attacks are Ebon Wave, Maelstrom and Death but I make tactical mistake that screwed up my plan, first off I forgot to put back the Draw command for Selphie and Squall so I had to heal Zell to Draw Alexander. Funny enough the hardest part isn't beating her it's tanking her while mugging her ferning item took quite sometime, but it's worth it as she has a Royal Crow (Mgi + 30%) to mug, after that she is weak to physical so I just put Squall on low HP and the 2 other on support and spam his Limit Break while healing until she fall. So overall it's not to hard but it's a fun fight.
EDIT : Progressing through disc 3 now :
-Did grind a bit manage to get High-Mgi-RF with that I stock up -aga tier spell as well as Quake and Tornado to my character Tornado being my best spell to Junction to Strength.
-Ruby Dragon with Laguna and co : Just make sure to constantly be on Protect and Shell and have at least 2 character in Double should be enough to heal his damage, main damage way is Double Blizzaga deal around 7000 damage on him.
-Salt Lake : The Lefty hand are rough with Quake and Meteor compare to it the Righty hand are kinda pathetic, but overall it's a short area so not really much to say about it. I must say I'm not sure if there is a point playing Edea here, she has a very good magic and spirit stat, but playing her mean no EXP for one of the main characters so not sure I'm gonna use her outside of the part she is forced in.
-Abadon : Man I'm still have nightmare of this guy on Reloaded (man easily one of the hardest storyline boss in Reloaded) and also of Requiem (the fact that he could use Rapture was one of the most bullshit thing of Requiem), fortunatly is neither hard and doesn't pull off cheap stuff like that overall an easy yet fun boss so basically he has to stance when he is seat down he mostly use physical, he Claw attack doesn't hurt to much with protect, his tongue attack is even less powerfull but has a chance of instant-kill the target, on this stance he low defenses especially magic defense Quistis could around 5800 with Firaga, 6500 with Curaga and almost 9000 with Holy so magic is definitly the way to go, Irvine can deal good damage thanks to his Fire Shot (around 780 per Ammo 1560 if it Crit I think the max shot I got was 8 and the lowest 4 so that's around 3120 to 6240 (no counting crit), so basically for this stance I put Protect on Squall and Quistis, Squall is mainly my tank, set Double on Quistis and the she is my main Magic Damage dealer, Irvine is in low HP and spam his limit break.
Once he stand up he switch to a more magic base offense, he also get a HUGE boost in Defense as well as Auto-Shell so Quistis can still get good damage with Curaga (around 6000 with Double) since Healing spell ignore Spirit, Irvine is an even est source of Damage her thanks to AP Shot (deal around 750 per shot (1500 a crit) so that's 2250 to 4500), as for Defense well to put it simply Reflect make almost all of his spells irrelevant as they bounce back to him the only exception is Quake but I can simply immune my self to Earth thanks to 100 Quake to the Elemental defense, so the stand up stance is effectivly harmless against me ^^.
Post by: Nsandro on 2019-10-13 21:02:56
Lvl 22/31/16 with 100 quake/tornado in str
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-13 21:44:08
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2019-10-14 01:16:02
Keep up the great work though! I'll be keeping track of the updates as time goes on, bc it's looking very promising! :D
One of the best mods around, for sure!
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-14 13:48:37
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-14 14:57:08
I assume you got Odin on disc 3? If so, then I think being able to rush him down with an appropriate setup is alright. He is supposed to be a challenge when attempting Centra Ruins right away after getting control over Balamb Garden, when there are no Speed Junctions or high-tier spells available yet. It's unfortunately very difficult to keep an enemy challenging for the entire game, no matter your setup (at least if you want to keep him beatable on disc 2). But I'll see what I can do to make him be at a higher level for discs 3 and 4, without enabling level scaling. Thank you very much for the donation by the way. Much appreciated.
@Nesouk:
Tornado and Quake are available on disc 2, but getting them takes time. For Tornado, you can steal Windmills from the Abyss Worms in Kashkabald Desert on Centra, but they don't appear very often. One Windmill refines into 20 Tornados using T-Mag RF, as usual. For Quake, you would need to get the Tonberry GF first, and then use LV Up on an T-Rexaur on Balamb or in Balamb Garden Training Center so you can draw it from him.
The Aura Stones from the Propagators are actually not an oversight, and rather meant as an opportunity to get a few for those who are patient. They should drop only rarely, with a chance of about 5%. How many did you get? If it's too many, I'll change the drops for sure.
Thanks a lot for the progress report otherwise. Cerberus can use Break when under Triple and will only target characters without Break status when using it and yes, his tail attack still hurts. So he should be dispelled as soon as possible, but maybe you noticed he counters Dispel with a standard physical attack since the latest version. This has been implemented so he can no longer be staggered easily after using Triple on himself. As for Duel, it looks like it's still performing very well for you, as you rushed Seifer down so easily using it, so I guess something needs to be done about it sooner or later. Also Righty's physical attacks should be a little stronger indeed. Well observed.
Just to say it in advance, there is an issue with Jumbo Cactuar not attacking. It'll be fixed by tomorrow.
@HeavensFury:
Thank you. Yes, it will be added to the Remaster version, unless I end up in a dead end in regards to file editing, as file structure is a little different compared to the 2013 version. Can't say when though. Probably takes a few more months.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-14 16:56:28
For Zell's Duel I kinda want to wait and see how it perform on boss with higher VIT later especially now that I unlocked all his finisher would like to see if using them is worth it, also for Seifer that's honnestly was just lucky I got 7.33 seconds 2 time in the row of course that ended up being brutal for him. Also I'm not always to perform at his best, didn't mention it but I don't know if it's just personnal issue but sometime I got some weird lag input on Zell's Limit Break which of course mess up my input and timing this happen often and it's annoying. And also now that I got meant to use Triple, Angel Wing and more of Quistis's blue I would like to see how Duel performs compare to these would need a good test subject for that.
By the way I kinda have mix feeling about Linoa's Angel Wing, from what I test she can use Ultima, Flare, Meteor, Holy, Bio, Pain, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga and Demi and her selection don't depend of what is in her inventory, I guess you did that for avoid the infamous Angel Wing Meteor tactics, but I kind of feel the Limit Break isn't as practical since you have no more control on it basically it's impossible to set her for exploit elemental weakness or avoid elemental resistance, also Demi is waste of turn if she uses it on something immune to it.
As for Aura Stones from Propagator I actually just got lucky and get 2 Aura Stones in the row on my 2 first fights against the Purple one since then I didn't get any so that was just pure luck on my side, but I'm gonna farm them anyway theyr are so easy to kill might as well finish teaching my GF's ability as much as I can with them ^^.
EDIT : Well since Jumbo Cactuar currently can't act I guess I can use him for Damage testing, he is good cause he has quite an high Vit which is what I was seeking for Zell's Duel (Jumbo Cactuar is perfect as he has so much Vit that even Critical Dolphin Blow doesn't do as much Damage as a normal Meteor Strike XD) and he has an elemental weakness so I tested various thing with the following stats :
-Squall : 162 Str, 100 Water to Ele Atk
-Zell : 167 Str
-Rinoa : 168 Mgi
-Quistis : 150 Mgi
-Irvine : 137 Str and 89 Luck
And so the results :
-Zell's Duel with 9.33 seconds : 38353 (22 hits)
-Zell's Duel with 5.66 seconds : 20999 (14 hits)
-Zell's Duel with 7.66 seconds : 29596 (16 hits)
-Zell's Duel with 3.66 seconds : 15791 (9 hits)
-Rinoa's Triple Water with 168 Mgi : 17700-19800
-Quistis's Aqua Breath : 14000-19000
-Quistis's Homing Laser : 7600-18000
-Irvine's AP Shot : around 1600 per shot 3200 with Crit so 3200 up to 9600 Crit excluded (theorically could reach around 19200)
-Irvine's Quick Shot : average of 260 (520 with Crit) per shot manage to shot 31 Ammos at best (maybe could shot more ammo) so 8060
-Irvine's Canister Shot : around 1200 per shot (2400 with Crit) so up to 6800 crit excluded (PS : Seems to have a far higher Crit Rate than AP Shot)
-Irvine's Pulse Ammo : Around 1500 per shot so 9000 damage at best (double with Crit)
-Squall with Darkside : 7000-8000
-Squall's Renzokuken : Around 1200 per successfull hit meaning 8400 on Jumbo Cactuar (fix sequence of 7 hits), Fated Circle does around 3700
OK so for observation out of this :
Zell's Duel is the big one, the damage vary depending of the number of Critical and especially which moves crit, as of now I think the biggest factor here is Meteor strike that move alone can up to 5000 if it Crit that almost the double of a Dolphin Blow's crit, the 9.33's 22 hits chain included 5 Meteor Strike 3 of them were crit these 5 almost deal half of the total damage so I can imagine if we were to find a loop that include more Meteor Strike (the loop I'm using currently include only 2 Meteor Strikes) by the way the loop I'm using currently is the following
1-Meteor Strike (Start with Booya here for 7.66s and 9.33s timer)
2-Dolphin Blow
3-Mach Kick
4-Dolphin Blow (Start with Punch Rush here for 3.66s and 5.66s timer)
5-Mach Kick
6-Dolphin Blow
7-Heel Drop
8-Meteor Strike
9-Dolphin Blow
(EDIT : While I was writing this I manage to found a better loop but didn't get numbers for it ^^")
EDIT 2 : Get the number for the new one :
3.66 second : 19468 (10 hits)
5.66 second : 27707 (15 hits)
7.66 second : 29792 (17 hits)
9.33 second : 43637 (23 hits)
New loop is as follow :
If timer is 3.66 of 5.66 (start with Punch Rush) then :
1-Dolphin Blow
2-Mach Kick
3-Dolphin Blow
4-Heel Drop
5-Meteor Strike
6-Dolphin Blow
7-Heel Drop
9-Meteor Strike
Back to number 6 (Dolphin Blow) just chain Dolphin Blow, Heel Drop and Meteor Strike as much as you can from there.
If timer is 7.66 or 9.33 (start with Booya) then :
1-Meteor Strike
2-Dolphin Blow
3-Mach Kick
4-Dolphin Blow
5-Mach Kick
6-Dolphin Blow
7-Heel Drop
8-Meteor Strike
9-Dolphin Blow
10-Heel Drop
11-Meteor Strike
Back to number 9 (Dolphin Blow) keep chaining Dolphin Blow, Heel Drop and Meteor Strike as much as you can from there.
As for the finisher, they honnestly feel kinda useless like my Final Heaven dealt 3320 (no crit) the one time I tried it they don't seem worth it, my suggestions would be :
-Nerf Dolphin Blow a little (currently can reach 2600 damage with Crit on Jumbo Cactuar, if you can drop it to 1800-2000 on average with Crit on Jumbo Cactuar with the Stat I give that would be good)
-Make Meteor Strike respecting ennemy's Vitality but slighty stronger than Dolphin Blow (the power of actual Dolphin Blow would do I think)
-Make the Finishers ignore Vitality (and adjust their Power for it) or increase their power by a lot, maybe not Burning Rave as it's available right away and for now Burning Rave is good for an early game move, but the 3 others aren't available until quite later and as of now once they became available there's no reason to use them over doing a chain with as much Dolphin Blows and Meteor Strikes as possible.
Outside of Duel the balance seems fine overall for now just the following notes :
-If Jumbo Cactuar is one of the ennemies with highest Vit possible then I guess Irvine's Limit Break is fine, but if not then I'm bugged by the fact that AP Ammo are his best Ammos, I think AP Ammo should be the best option only against the bosses that has the highest Vit possible, on bosses with average Vit I think it would be fair to make at least Pulse Ammo and Demolition Ammo deal more damage than AP Ammo.
-Squall's Renzokuken seems weak compare to Irvine and Zell's Limit Break, I'm fine with Darkside being a better option if the ennemy has an elemental weakness, but I dunno currently Squall's Limit Break seems very weak for a Limit Break, maybe it will get better with Lion Heart I don't know.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-15 18:39:42
- Raijin now uses a dedicated healing ability after his HP drop below 50% (also heals status effects; Balamb encounter only)
- Fujin's Vitality stat and Raijin's Spirit stat have been slightly increased (Balamb encounter only)
- All player actions will now add towards Tonberry King's Junk counter attack (except Scan and Draw)
- Odin Steal success rate for Luck-J Scroll has been increased from 25% to 50%.
- Windmills can now be stolen from the mid-level Abyss Worms in Kashkabald Desert (not a guaranteed Steal though)
- Fixed an issue with Jumbo Cactuar not attacking
- Increased Strength of Propagator's standard attack, Righty and many other common higher leveled enemies
@Nesouk:
Thanks a lot for all the testing and numbers. Jumbo Cactuar's Vitality stat is at 148, and many of the upcoming bosses will have around the same Vitality, so it should be easy to make general adjustments based on your recent damage test on Jumbo Cactuar. Irvine's Shots don't seem to differ in total damage a lot, but differences should become more noticable as you increase Irvine's Strength further. Canister Shot has in fact the highest critical hit rate of all shots to give it an edge over Armor and Hyper Shots in certain situations (in the base game, there's hardly a reason to use it at all).
As for Duel, yes, it seems to be in need of a change, as it does way more damage than the other Limit Breaks even on higher Vit enemies when repeating certain combos fast enough. Your ideas about how to change Meteor Strike and Finishers sound good, but I guess something about move sequences should be done as well (I've been quite hesitant about the latter as changing it can result in glitches - sometimes even game-breaking ones).
Other than that, I understand your worries about Rinoa's Angel Wing, but if you use it a little more, you will notice that she casts non-elemental spells most of the time (Flare is the most common one with a 25% probability), so this Limit Break should be most useful on enemies without any major elemental strengths or weaknesses. I left Demi in as it has the ability to actually kill enemies when used under Angel Wing, but I see using Angel Wing against normal enemies is hardly worth it, so maybe it will be replaced or removed from the spell table soon. I'll post the whole table later so you can make more suggestions if you like.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-15 21:38:35
Irvine 255 in Str and 126 in Luck :
AP Ammo : 5700 per shot (Up to 34200 crit excluded)
Pulse Ammo : 5000 per shot (Up to 30000 crit excluded)
Demoliton Ammo : 4200 per shot (Up to 25200 crit excluded)
Fast Ammo : 850 per shot (26350 crit excluded)
Darkside : 24000-26000 with Crit (Irvine Crit Rate is good enough for Darkside to be a good option for him)
Rinoa with 255 Mgi :
Triple Water : 26400
Triple Meteor : 30000
Zell with 255 in Str and 104 in Luck :
3.66 second : 36800 (9 hits)
5.66 second : 54355 (12 hits)
7.66 second : 89574 (18 hits)
9.33 second : 115493 (26 hits)
Squall with 255 Str and 100 Water to ele atk :
Darkside : 17500-19500
Renzokuken : 2900 per succesfull hits so 20300 on Jumbo Cactuar, Fated Circle does 9100 (double with Crit)
Quistis with 255 Mgi :
Aqua Breath : 16000-24000
Homing Laser : 12000
So yeah Zell's Duel definitly need a nerf in one way or another, I'm honnestly amaze that nobody picked up how freaking strong Duel can be before, I mean even with the lowest timer possible he does more damage in 1 turn than pretty much anything else, and with highest timer possible that is the best damage here I don't think anything come close (except maybe the Lion Heart) (and we are note even mentionning if the target can get hit with Vit 0) and as expected of FFVIII Physical scale way more with higher Level than Magic that's hold true here as Irvine's Limit Break can compete with Magic on higher LV and even Squall's Renzokuken get good with finisher.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-17 21:57:43
Of course, more than 100k damage is way too much on an enemy that has a decent Vitality stat. So for now, I further reduced Duel time limits and Dolphin Blow base power, also made Meteor Strike respect enemy Vitality (but increased its base power) and got the following results on Jumbo Cactuar:
Zell with 255 Str and 104 Luck:
3.66 seconds: 21202 (8 hits)
5.00 seconds: 29182 (11 hits)
6.33 seconds: 38529 (14 hits)
7.66 seconds: 46713 (17 hits)
That's still more than most other characters can do, but if you keep in mind that Duel is the most skill-based Limit Break in the game, and also that it requires a good Luck stat to achieve above results, I think it's ok that it's superior in most situations, depending on input speed and finding a good move sequence. Feel free to check it out yourself by putting these main files (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1jho5d-6MLcCuKBAaGPeudkDX9m2apD_c) in your lang-en folder.
As for AP Ammo vs Pulse Ammo, there is a good number of end-game bosses that take more damage from Pulse Ammo (and probably even from Demolition Ammo, due to its higher critical hit rate):
Fujin
Mobile Type 8
Adel
TC Sorceresses
Sphinxara/Sphinxaur
Catoblepas
Tiamat
Omega Weapon
All final boss forms (except Griever)
The Angel Wing spell table currently looks as follows:
Code: [Select]
Flare 64/256
Meltdown 32/256
Meteor 24/256
Ultima 23/256
Holy 20/256
Quake 12/256
Tornado 12/256
Firaga 12/256
Thundaga 12/256
Blizzaga 12/256
Water 8/256
Bio 8/256
Pain 8/256
Demi 8/256
??? 1/256
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-18 05:13:42
So anyway beat Jumbo Cactuar and Bahamut recently :
-Jumbo Cactuar : Well the challenge seems more to defeat him before he runs away than anything else, his normal physical hit like truck tough and could one-shot my LV35 Rinoa if she hasn't Protect, also love to use Ker Plunk I think that is the move he uses the more, Sand Storm is honnestly not threatning it does around 1000 and that's it and he also like to make you waste your time with Mighty Guard and 10000 Needles counter (which seems to come faster when you use dispel on him by the way), so I decided to take Rinoa and Quistis and just spam Double Water on him with Squall as a support and that's pretty much it just heal when needed, dispel his mighty guard revive when the 10000 needles counter happen and that should do it.
Before going for Bahamut I get Doomtrain which I forgot to take, the I wanted to see the Island Closest to Hell and Closest to heaven, seems they are fix at LV100, so I gain a couple of LV here and grind Pampas in order to learn abilities (mostly Auto-Haste for Cerberus) before going for Bahamut :
-Like the fact that instead of 2 Ruby Dragon we fight 1 Ruby Dragon then 1 Behemoth, altough the 2 are defeated the same way, Irvine is MVP here and can put both of them to sleep easily and slow with his Dark Ammos, so just has to use magic and Ammos while they are sleeping.
-Bahamut is tougher than Jumbo Cactuar but still manageable, just have to get immune to Stop because of Mind Blast, Irvine was my main damage dealer with AP Shot, Squall was in charge of mugging him (he has an Hyper Wrist for Str+30% so nice) then he and Selphie are on support, setting Protect, Shell and Haste on both they are pretty safe, Selphie is really good thanks to her natural speed, speed junction, Auto Haste and Spd+30% she sometime can act 2 times before Bahamut'snext turn. The most dangerous attacks for me are his normal attack which like a truck, Mega Flare who does 3000 damage with Shell and Maelstrom who set Slow and reduce your HP (I wasn't expecting this attack had I know I would have immune Squall to Slow as well thank god for Selphie having Auto Haste). So yeah Irvine does damage and Squall and Selphie heal, buff and revive Irvine, it did go well just a long fight.
So get Bahamut and Forbide-Mgi-RF with it, so back to Esthar as I wanted to check if you remove that weird black Esthar Soldier or not and you didn't so that's cool the thing with this guy is when you talk to him it put you in a unescapable battle against an Elnoyle, don't know what he is suppose to be, maybe it was gonna be part of a sidequest but they give up and forgot to remove him, but this is convenient cause Elnoyle is a pretty rare ennemy otherwise thanks to this dude you can just fight Elnoyles over and over (as the dude respawn by exit and reenter the area). So first I got the Moon Stones for the Lion Heart by mugging him and also the Pulse Ammo by killing him to get Energy Crystal, and now currently doing the biggest grind up to now which is kill this guy 30 times in order to get 60 Energy Crystals and so get 100 Ultimas on everyone (probably gonna do it more in order to have a good stock of Pulse Ammos as well).
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-18 17:37:46
-Tri-Face dies very fast I take advantage of them to get 100 Curse Spikes to get a Dark Matter to learn Shockwave Pulsar, also modde Bahamut Card into Shaman Stone for Irvine's final weapon, in any case Tri-Face are weak to Fire, Earth and Holy just have to junction this element to elemental attack for Squall and Irvine/Zell and they are killed in no time.
-Imp + Grendel : 100 Holy to Elemental attack and Squall can deal over 50k damage with Darkside to the Imp effectivly one shotting them while Quistis can Degenerator on the Grendel both with Initiative.
-Behemoth : They can be Berserked and put to sleep so Quistis's Homing Laser is really good to put opponent to sleep then Quistis can just set Vit 0 with Ray Bomb and kill them with Shockwave Pulsar (was reaching around 45k at best).
-Ruby Dragon : Same strat as Behemoth except I also use Double Blizzaga with Rinoa to speed things up.
-2 Iron Giant : Quistis with Initiative can neutralize them with Bad Breath with either Sleep or Blind then just spam Shockwave Pulsar until they die.
Now for Ultima Weapon, once I saw he had Triple to draw I decided to draw 300 Triple out of him as for now I didn't found anyway to get it, to do that I took an entirely magical team with Squall, Quistis and Rinoa.
That being done this is easily the hardest fight of the mod so far and this fight is hard because of 2 moves really, first is Light Pillar is it magical or physical I don't know but Protect seems to half it's damage but despite having the highest vit by far Squall was taking more damage from it than Quistis and Rinoa, in any case Light Pillar is a OHKO regardless dealing more than 9999, the second worse move is even worst Vengeance not only he deals decent damage (enough so that if Ultima Weapon use Ultima before we can heal it can end the fight pretty easily) but it also dispel all buffs a very nasty moves right there, in other word this fight is basically like the Dragon Quest bosses that have disrupted wave if he decides to spam Vengeance this fight can become very annoying very fast fortunatly I found a way around it so the strat was as follow :
-I change my junction in order for Quistis to have the lower Spr of my team, my goal was to make sure Ultima would put her in the range of using her Limit Break, I also make Rinoa's spr slightly lower to for the same purpose, Quistis also has Auto-Protect as otherwise Ultima Weapon's normal attack could one shot if he crit.
-The beginning of the fight he doesn't use Vengeance right away so I can safely buff just has to revive if he uses Light Pillar once I'm done Drawing the triple I start damaging him using Triple Flare with Rinoa.
-Once he uses Vengeance I purposely cast Pain on Quistis so that she get statut Effect which boost her Crisis Level, thanks to this a simple vengeance is enough for Quistis to use her Limit Break, so Quistis can heal out of everything (mainly Vengeance and Ultima) with White Wind.
-As for damage as soon as I get the chance I put Rinoa in Angel Wing, thanks to that I have a good offense that Ultima Weapon can't interrupt, Rinoa can deal up to around 20k with Ultima, Meteor, Flare and Holy less with other spells.
-And so from now on Squall just keep Protect on Rinoa, heal when Ultima use his normal attack and Revive if Light Pillar is thrown
-Quistis use her White Wind whenever Vengeance or Ultima are casted
So this strat is rather risky but it worked out in the end so yeah that was a fun and challenging fight.
EDIT : Just I wanted to run a damage test with Zell's Duel modification, I thought I would try on Iron Giant at Tear's Point, I think he has even more Vit than Jumbo Cactuar however so how much does Vit Iron Giants have at Tear's Point ?
Also I think Duel's finisher are in a good position now, my Final Heaven is an awesome AoE can deal up to around 38k if the target has Vit 0 and it crit, on an Iron Giant My Final Heaven does around 4500-5000 and around 10000 if it crit, this is really good to finish a combo currently a Non-Crit My Final Heaven does more damage that a Crit Meteor Strike considering My Final Heaven inputs are pretty easy it's a cool way to finish a combo.
Speaking of which I forgot to say that I also did the new Lunatic Pandora lab battles before Deep Sea and Geez Zell and Quistis are an amazing duo for these fights, just set Vit 0 on all of them with Ray Bomb then a Duel with Zell and conclude with My Final Heaven and laugh at Zell hitting the poor dudes for 19k (38k if it crit) XD, Elastoid seems immune to Vit 0 tough so My Final Heaven only does 8k (non crit, yeah Vit 0 really make a HUGE difference).
EDIT : Well did the Fire Cavern revisit quest, like it so basically it's just like Deep Sea, fix encounter on all areas and a boss at the end so :
-Armadillo + 2 Turtapod : Put the Armadillo on berserk to avoid Earthquake, Zell use his Duel, My Final Heaven is enough to kill the Turtapod so I just target the Armadillo to kill all 3, while Squall is covering Zell.
-Ruby Dragon + 2 big fish : The must annoying fight seems that without Quistis or Irvine putting the Ruby Dragon to sleep is hard but at least Slow work, the big fishs can be berserked so they are a non issue, need 2 My Final Heaven to kill them with Slow I should have the time to do it before the Ruby Dragon use Ruby Breath which hurt like a truck and will kill Zell, so I put Protect on Selphie and Squall so they can survive, Squall with Darkside and 100 Blizzaga to Ele Atk can finish off the Ruby Dragon as he hit for almost 20k with the damage Zell deal he should die fast.
-2 Hexdragons : Doesn't have a lot of HP and with Fire Protection they aren't to threatning, Zell's Duel and Selphie use Water spell they should die fast.
-2 Elnoyles : Despite being the last fight it's the easiest, this guy can easily be put on Vit 0 and with Vit 0 Zell's Duel is deadly and My Final Heaven alone can hit for 38k if it crit
-Boosted Bomb : Alright good job on this fight, really tricky the bastard has huge Defense and Magic Defense complete with Auto-Protect and Auto-Shell, his physical attacks are pretty strong as well as Flare, and everytime we hit him he heal for 17k-18k, so yeah even AP Shot wouldn't be enough to one shot him, also he destroy your GF once you attempt to use them, and he also heal himself if Flare is reflected at him. So honnestly the only way I found to beat is soloing him using Squall with Auto-Haste, Spd + 30%, Mgi + 30% and Return Damage, Return Damage is the only way I found to damage him without making him heal, so I just cast a Renew at the beginning of the fight (awesome spell by the way) and just try to stay alive while Return Damage kill him. Also at the end he uses Suicide on himself not sure if that was intended XD.
So now Zell finally got his final weapon.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-21 03:41:17
-Iron Giants have around 190 Vitality no matter where they are encountered, so most physical attacks will be next to useless against them. They retain their weakness against Gravity attacks though, so using one or two Gravity Bombs (new item), and then some Thundagas is a good alternative to finish them off. But of course, Shockwave Pulsar works very well too, due their naturally low Spirit stat.
-Lunatic Pandora Laboratory battles: It's really good to hear that you found a use for Quistis' Ray Bomb here. I never liked that it was next to useless in the base game, so it now reliably inflicts Vit 0, as long as the target is not immune to it. But using AoEs is actually quite risky against the 3 Cyborgs, as in this particular battle, each one has a 50% chance to cast Ultima upon defeat.
-Fire Cavern sidequest: Bomb using Suicide on himself at the end was not planned. I wanted it to target the character who last attacked, and in case it dies from a Counter or Return Damage, do nothing and just die. Guess it isn't as easy though, so I'll make it target a random party member instead.
Thanks for all the feedback again. It's interesting to read about the various strategies you've tried, like Angel Wing working for you against Ultima Weapon, which I'm pleased to hear. Also always good to get some feedback about the additional sidequests - so I guess the battles at Lunatic Pandora Laboratory could be made a little more difficult, and Elnoyle could be made immune to Vit 0, or perhaps be made an undead enemy to raise its natural defense against physical attacks (at least it would fit quite well).
Spoiler: show
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-21 05:17:09
-Ultima Weapon: Light Pillar has been changed from 9999 fixed damage to the most powerful single-hit physical attack in the game with a 100% crit chance. So it can be survived, but Vitality requirements are very high. Vengeance won't be used before turn 17 to give players more time to draw Triple or Ultima spells. After turn 17, it will be used at set intervals (every 4th turn), so Ultima Weapon won't be able to spam it to keep things in check.
Well thought then regarding leaving the player time to draw, I guess I don't have enough vit at the moment to survive it,
-Iron Giants have around 190 Vitality no matter where they are encountered, so most physical attacks will be next to useless against them. They retain their weakness against Gravity attacks though, so using one or two Gravity Bombs (new item), and then some Thundagas is a good alternative to finish them off. But of course, Shockwave Pulsar works very well too, due their naturally low Spirit stat.
So they have an even higher Vit than Jumbo Cactuar as I thought no wonder Zell's Duel damage for my testing were lower than the one you give for Jumbo Cactuar. But Yeah I figure Magic, Gravity and Statut Effect were the way to go against them.
-Lunatic Pandora Laboratory battles: It's really good to hear that you found a use for Quistis' Ray Bomb here. I never liked that it was next to useless in the base game, so it now reliably inflicts Vit 0, as long as the target is not immune to it. But using AoEs is actually quite risky against the 3 Cyborgs, as in this particular battle, each one has a 50% chance to cast Ultima upon defeat.
Yeah Ray Bomb is good in this mod probably the best way to inflict Vit 0 hands down, it was definitly a useless move in the base game and even in other mod like Requiem and Reloaded, especially for how hard it is to get it if you didn't do anything in Laguna's second flashback.
Thanks for all the feedback again. It's interesting to read about the various strategies you've tried, like Angel Wing working for you against Ultima Weapon, which I'm pleased to hear. Also always good to get some feedback about the additional sidequests - so I guess the battles at Lunatic Pandora Laboratory could be made a little more difficult, and Elnoyle could be made immune to Vit 0, or perhaps be made an undead enemy to raise its natural defense against physical attacks (at least it would fit quite well).
Or make Elnoyle resistance to statut effect as great as Ruby Dragons, currently Ruby Dragon can be slowed, sleeped and put to Vit 0 however inflicting these with regular Magic is almost impossible you have to use Limit Break (Quistis's Bad Breath, Homing Laser, Ray Bomb or Irvine's Dark Ammo) to have reasonnable chance of inflicting them, which I think it's fine for some of the toughest ennemies in the game.
Also regarding regular ennemies while I like that Statut Effect are usefull overall I feel there is to much ennemies that can be Berserked, which completly Trivialize them most notorious are Blue Dragon and Behemoths which I feel should be strong regular encounter (especially since most of the time they are alone), and overall Berserk + Blind combo has been a pretty consistent strat against regular ennemies.
Regarding Angel Wing honnestly this is the Limit Break that beneficiate the most from the Damage Limit being remove, outside of Meteor it was a useless Limit Break cause none of the other Spell could break the damage limit of 9999 due to that outside of Meteor it was always better to do a triple cast than Angel Wing, I wasn't sure about removing any sort of control the player have over it by making Rinoa's spell selection independant of her magic inventory, but considering this is a relativly safe offensive option (you lose control of Rinoa but the fact that it immune her to most crippling statut effects and unlike other Limit Break you can heal her and not give a damn about Crisis Level somewhat make up for that), on Ultima Weapon the lowest damage Rinoa could do was 8800 with Bio (didn't get any Pain tough) so from 8000 to 20000 per turn is fine considering it require 0 input on the players part.
So By the way regarding new sidequest :
-The Ruby Dragon of Trabia Canyon : A good fight can definitly caught you off guard the first time, being immune to Zombie and Berserk is a very good idea in this fight, he seems to act in a set pattern from what I understand and counter Regular attack by Pain, Limit Break by normal attacks and Magic by casting Reflect on himself, Putrefy is a nasty move setting Zombie on everyone, so I casted Triple on Rinoa who then cast Renew on everyone, main damage dealer was then Squall with Darkside and 100 Blizzaga to Ele atk he could deal almost 20k and also Irvine if he ever got the chance with AP Ammo can definitly do some serious damage (AP Shot does 5000, 10k with a crit), and I really should have done this quest earlier as the Dark Matter you as a reward is now pretty much useless to me as I already got shockwave Pulsar and Ultima.
-Saving the little girl at Esthar : Fight against 2 Behemoth Berserk make them powerless, then they have a pretty low Physical defense so I used Irvine with Darkside with Crit he can deal around 28k and he has a pretty good crit rate.
Also I'm trying to do Odine seeking for Mithryl sidequest, I got the Goddess bell item, but it doesn't appear in my inventory, when I go to the Tomb of the Unknown King I can't find the Rare Adamantoise anywhere so am I missing something here ?
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-21 14:30:16
Or make Elnoyle resistance to statut effect as great as Ruby Dragons, currently Ruby Dragon can be slowed, sleeped and put to Vit 0 however inflicting these with regular Magic is almost impossible you have to use Limit Break (Quistis's Bad Breath, Homing Laser, Ray Bomb or Irvine's Dark Ammo) to have reasonnable chance of inflicting them, which I think it's fine for some of the toughest ennemies in the game.Ok, will do something to make Elnoyles a little more resilient, but will probably leave the Degenerator back door open, so farming Elnoyle in Esthar won't be overly time-consuming. What I would really like to do is changing enemy status resistance dynamically for the same enemy, mid-battle or depending on battle. It can be done for elemental resistance (see Blobras or Thrustaevises), but in the case of status effects, it looks like a similar enemy AI instruction doesn't exist, unfortunately.
Also regarding regular ennemies while I like that Statut Effect are usefull overall I feel there is to much ennemies that can be Berserked, which completly Trivialize them most notorious are Blue Dragon and Behemoths which I feel should be strong regular encounter (especially since most of the time they are alone), and overall Berserk + Blind combo has been a pretty consistent strat against regular ennemies.
Berserk is indeed quite a cheap way of dealing with certain enemies, as they don't even get the increased Strength when berserked, and just use their regular physical attack unbuffed in almost all cases. It's possible to control which attack enemies use when under Berserk though, and I already managed to make Iguions actually inflict more damage when under Berserk, but a lot more enemies should get that treatment, so using Berserk always comes with a risk, especially if enemies are not blinded at the same time. It will take a little time, but more changes to enemy Berserk behavior will follow soon.
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Regarding Angel Wing honnestly this is the Limit Break that beneficiate the most from the Damage Limit being remove, outside of Meteor it was a useless Limit Break cause none of the other Spell could break the damage limit of 9999 due to that outside of Meteor it was always better to do a triple cast than Angel Wing, I wasn't sure about removing any sort of control the player have over it by making Rinoa's spell selection independant of her magic inventory, but considering this is a relativly safe offensive option (you lose control of Rinoa but the fact that it immune her to most crippling statut effects and unlike other Limit Break you can heal her and not give a damn about Crisis Level somewhat make up for that), on Ultima Weapon the lowest damage Rinoa could do was 8800 with Bio (didn't get any Pain tough) so from 8000 to 20000 per turn is fine considering it require 0 input on the players part.Yes, especially the last point you made is actually very important in tougher battles, as no time needs to be spend on selecting Commands or targets, so the enemy won't be able to interrupt your actions as often. So I think Angel Wing is currently in a reasonable spot overall. I'll probably remove Demi from the table though, to make it slightly more useful. I can imagine it's quite frustrating if Rinoa uses it against bosses.
As for the new sidequest in Esthar, you have everything you need to find the Adamantoises inside Tomb of the Unknown King (the Goddess Bell is rather just a variable than a real item; too bad there's no inventory for key items in this game). Have you already looked at the middle tower from all possible angles?
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-21 21:14:15
Ok, will do something to make Elnoyles a little more resilient, but will probably leave the Degenerator back door open, so farming Elnoyle in Esthar won't be overly time-consuming. What I would really like to do is changing enemy status resistance dynamically for the same enemy, mid-battle or depending on battle. It can be done for elemental resistance (see Blobras or Thrustaevises), but in the case of status effects, it looks like a similar enemy AI instruction doesn't exist, unfortunately.
Berserk is indeed quite a cheap way of dealing with certain enemies, as they don't even get the increased Strength when berserked, and just use their regular physical attack unbuffed in almost all cases. It's possible to control which attack enemies use when under Berserk though, and I already managed to make Iguions actually inflict more damage when under Berserk, but a lot more enemies should get that treatment, so using Berserk always comes with a risk, especially if enemies are not blinded at the same time. It will take a little time, but more changes to enemy Berserk behavior will follow soon.
That would be interesting indeed, in fact this could open some option for making Berserk a key factor in some battle (something I wanted to do in some boss battle when I was trying to mod FFIX (I should really come back to it by the way ^^) cause in FFIX to you can set which attack the berserked ennemy will use which I think could make some fight interesting if use properly).
Yes, especially the last point you made is actually very important in tougher battles, as no time needs to be spend on selecting Commands or targets, so the enemy won't be able to interrupt your actions as often. So I think Angel Wing is currently in a reasonable spot overall. I'll probably remove Demi from the table though, to make it slightly more useful. I can imagine it's quite frustrating if Rinoa uses it against bosses.
Yeah Angel Wing is in a good spot.
By the way speaking of Rinoa's Limit Break I did some testing with her Angelo Limit Break, I didn't use it like at all cause I was focusing on a Magic use for Rinoa but since I tried pretty much anything else I thought why not trying just to see what it can do and My God I think underestimate this Limit Break really bad it's actually a very good one :
-Angelo Canon and Angelo Strike are VERY strong geez, with 244 Str Angelo Canon is actually stronger than Zell's My Final Heaven with 255 Str on Iron Giant My Final Heaven does around 4500-5000 Angelo Canon does around 5200-5500 (double with Crit) this might be the best Physical AoE in the game actually cause since it's a Crisis Level 1 it's the most likely attack to get off and require no skill unlike My Final Heaven and is more likely to get than Squall's Finisher, and Angelo Strike is even stronger around 7900-8500 on Iron Giant with 244 Str (double with Crit of course) I actually reach 45k on a Behemoth with Vit 0 with this attack criting so this is a very strong single target attack.
-Awakening Moon is a free heal but it's honnestly an inconvenience more than anything else and I think this is the least usefull of Angelo's Limit Break, cause the problem is you cannot predict it and so if you plan using Rinoa as a damage dealer with her Limit Break this full heal will prevent you from using Limit Break and you will have to set up again and even if you want to actually heal why would you risk using something random like this when you can use Quistis's White Wind or simply a Triple Curaga ? You definitly want to nerf Invincible Moon but this new move is honnestly an annoyance more than anything else in a Limit Break Random as this one. So as of now I just didn't learn it so that at least I can be sure that Rinoa will do damage which the main goal of using her Limit.
-Wishing Star : Now that is the one that worries me the most it scale with Rinoa's magic which is good, and I think it's definitly the most powerfull Magic Attack in the game, with 255 Mgi Wishing Star deal around 72000 damage to an Iron Giant (which has 0 Spr apparently cause after setting Vit 0 on a Behemoth I was reaching the same damage output), that is quite a lot, on a Behemoth which apparently has a good Spr it does 30-32k that's quite a lot to put in perspective it's around the 2 time the damage of a Triple Ultima, and this is even stronger than Quistis's Shockwave Pulsar (who at best deal 65k to Iron Giant down to 45k depending of the Crisis Level with 255 Mgi and I didn't even exceed 17k on Behemoth) and this isn't mentionning this is an AoE. Tough the fact it require highest Crisis Level to pull off, make this move unlikely to being pulled off unless you really do your best at increasing Rinoa's Crisis Level (by reducing her HP a lot and put several Statut Effect on her).
As for the new sidequest in Esthar, you have everything you need to find the Adamantoises inside Tomb of the Unknown King (the Goddess Bell is rather just a variable than a real item; too bad there's no inventory for key items in this game). Have you already looked at the middle tower from all possible angles?
Manage to found them in the end, so the fight against them was pretty fun, having to keep an eye on what Ward they use, so immunity to Silence and Petrify is welcome, junction 100 Thundaga to Element Attak on Irvine and Squall, Rinoa as my magic damage dealer with Triple Thundaga, you can actually put Vit 0 on them quite easily and as such they over 30k from Triple Thundaga, and you can Blind them to make their physical attack and Sand Storm (cause it's physical for some reasons), overall most dangerous thing is the last one will use Ultima instead of Quake.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-23 13:41:41
-Fujin and Raijin : there is some good idea, I like the fact that Fujin act as more of a support here, but she is just to focus on support and outside of it don't do much she only did 1 Zan, 1 fix Meteor and 1 Bio, Raijin is more focusing on damage, except the issue here is they are severely lacking in damage even Raijin's Special didn't do more than 2000 with Protect, Fujin's support can simply be dispel and completly neutralize (really playing this I now understand why Mexico did something similar to FFVII and creat a spell that only dispel Protect, Shell and Reflect and is available for most of the game, and left the spell that dispel all buff for late game only, cause dispel just make any sort of ennemies using buff irrelevant unless it's a special buff like what you did with the Rare adamantoise and their wards or Defend), so basically I just Mugged them and kill them with Triple Bio, Squall using Darkside and Irvine regular attack (both with Bio on Element Attack).
-Mobile Type 8 : Well to put it simply if it wasn't for trying to mug all 3 of them I could end this fight before they even start to separate, Mugging took me a LOT of time don't know why but the right pod just didn't want me to mug him, I no joke must have try over 20 times before I succeed, at least Str Ups are a good thing, my main offensive was Irvine using is Limit Break (Pulse Ammo or Demolition Ammos), Squall using Darkside with 100 Thundaga to Elemental Attack and Selphie with Triple Thundaga, if he ever got the time when he separates he put himself in defense becoming immune to physical and halving magic at that point Squall just stay on support while Selphie rain down the thundaga. So the only thing to watch for is his Homing Laser Counter and the fact it inflict Sleep so immunity to sleep is good to have and be ready to revive Irvine.
-Seifer 3 : The lamest fight of the entire mod, what happen here ? He did nothing but regular attack, his regular attack doesn't do more than 1700 with Protect and don't even do Statut Effect and I don't know if I got lucky or what but he really did nothing else, no Bloodfest, no magic, nothing this one need a serious overhaul in his AI and his abilities and furthermore his HP seems pathetically low it didn't even last 2 minutes. Honnestly it's the final fight with Seifer he should pull off a big fight for the occasion, you already take away Gilgamesh auto killing him after some time.
-Adel + Linoa : The only good fight of this entire part, than one was good, Ray Bomb is a good idea as setting Vit 0 dramatically increase the damage we take, the damage Adel deals to Linoa is very high (1500 with Shell), I somehow manage to keep her alive but I kinda luck out here, the spell that inflict Doom on all the party is a good idea to, due to the nature of this fight we have to deal with Vit 0 and Doom, while keeping Rinoa alive and damaging Adel, Irvine was my main damage dealer here with Pulse and Demolition Ammos, combine with Squall's Darkside with Tornado on Elemental Attack and Selphie using Triple Flare when she got the occasion, as for Renew casting Renew on her and healing her from time to time, this is complete by the fact Adel has quite a lot of HP and so she doesn't go down easily. So not hard but it's a fun fight.
-Sorceress's gauntlet : Well as I said Adel was the only good fight of this part of the game, I can understand the first and second type of Sorceress being weak HP Wise to not drag this fight, however I think you should make it so they act at least 1 time as soon as they appear that would keep thing interesting at least as they go down really fast also remove the physical attack for the first type really a useless move, Squall one shot the first type with Darkside and when they are 2 of them Irvine can kill both with Fire Ammos. The last Sorceress like Seifer is lacking she did nothing but Gravija and Normal attacks, Gravija can't kill me and her normal attack does like 1500 damage with Protect, and she has low HP for that point of the game so again Irvine's Pulse Ammo and Squall's Darkside take care of this, think that one need a buff not necessarily to make it hard but more to make it fun at least.
So I think what happen here is you probably wanted to make this bosses to be beatable without doing the sidequests at Disc 3, as I guess if I didn't did all of them I would have been at a way lower LV with less good magic to junction which would have make these fight harder, however considering this is a mod that add quite a lot of sidequest and, in FFVIII unlike FFVII or FFIX finishing Disc 3 is really a point of no return locking up the player preventing his to get back, as such I think most players will do all the sidequests (at least as much as they can) before going to Lunatic Pandora, so you should take account how strong the player can be at this point, cause clearly I think these fight weren't design to a strong team, of course I'm not asking for each of this fight to be as challenging as Ultima Weapon, but really Jumbo Cactuar, Bahamut, that Special Red Dragon you add and even the Special Adamantoises were more interesting and/or challenging than these fight (save for Adel again she was a good fight overall).
Anyway so here I am to Ultimecia's castle now I'm gonna get the Ragnarok back.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-24 02:26:55
So reworked Seifers script to something more structured with way fewer randomization in it, to make sure all his moves will be seen. The other bosses you mentioned (except Adel) have been buffed as well, but not all that much for reasons you already mentioned (I also don't want to make casting Protect and Shell mandatory for every single boss battle). You can check out a preview here (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZIGNN_BKe_GLpBI_QUko_fZTJWSXdOUN) if you like (replace main and battle files in lang-en folder). Any further opinions would be much appreciated.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-24 05:44:09
-Sphinxaur : Well since we only have Normal Attacks this as a result is a very straight forward boss, I took all 3 boys junction Holy to their attack and I just keep attacking, he doesn't do that much damage, just have to be carefull hitting him and not the jelleye he summons in the second phase, I recover Magic and the 2 next bosses will be girls time.
-Tri Point : So the gimmick of this one is to alternate between Fire and Ice magic, so I use Triple on all 3 girls and Rinoa and Quistis use Triple Firaga and Triple Blizzaga respectivly while Selphie buff and heal. I recover the Limit Break option.
-Krysta : Still girl team, this time however I wasn't expecting his regular attack to do Stop so as a result only Selphie was immune via Auto-Haste, so she was the main Damage dealer with Triple Flare while Rinoa and Quistis were healing and buffing preparing for his Ultima. I recover the resurection option.
-Trauma : Took Squall, Irvine and Selphie. An interesting one, so apparently as long as even 1 Droma is here he gain a sort of auto-heal for almost 9000HP, the Dromas themselves aren't to threatning and go down easily with Squall and Irvine's physical attacks (with Tornado to Elemental Attack) and Selphie using Triple Tornado, Trauma's most dangerous attack is definitly Mega Pulse canon who does around 7000 damage and ignore Shell but this move is also a great occasion to use Limit Breaks to damage him. I recover saving ability.
-Red Giant : An easy one for once a mod doesn't remove his gimmick of being weak to Gravity XD. So just beefed up everyone Vitality, set protect cast Triple Demi 2 or 3 times and finish him off with Irvine's AP Shot. I recover the Command ability.
-Gargantua : Using Zell, Quistis and Rinoa first off we have to take off Lefty, Righty and Vysage no big deal a Triple Ultima will do the trick, Gargantua himself might be the second toughest of the 8 Guardian, mainly cause he can set Vit 0 on us, has Berserk and can use Vengeance yep this move again and his physical attacks are quite damaging, so just like Ultima weapon I putted Rinoa on Angel Wing as soon as I get the chance, so that he can't interrupt my offense while buffing/healing with Zell and Quistis.
-Tiamat : Using Zell, Quistis and Rinoa again, toughest of the 8 gardian but that's my fault I was focusing on Limit Break didn't know he could counter them with Ultima I realise that to late, so I switch strat mid battle using only Zell's Limit Break, outside of Ultima counter the most dangerous thing is he can now use Dark Flare whenever he wants and it's a 8000 damage in the face without Shell so yeah quite a damaging move.
-Catoblepas : Using Squall, Selphie and Irvine, well this guy only dangerous move his Heaven's Wrath just like Odin so my main Damage dealer was Irvine with Pulse Ammo and Squall using Darkside since he has low physical defense, Heaven's Wrath give a nice opportunity for using Limit Break due to the damage it does just have to be carefull in case it set Stop.
And so now for the big boy himself Omega Weapon, with he is definitly the toughest boss of the mod took me 4-5 tries to found a somewhat consistent strat against him and well show don't tell as they say so I record a fight :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSm1Ifm2yjE&feature=youtu.be (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSm1Ifm2yjE&feature=youtu.be)
So basically he has all kind of nasty moves including Megido Flame, Light Pillar, Vengeance and Terra Break, Megido Flame doesn't deal 9998 damage thank god, seems to deal damage depending of characters max HP, Terra Break is the big one without Defend this move alone make the fight luck base, for Light Pillar Squall can actually survive it without Defend (with 232 Vit and Protect Squall take 8000 from Light Pillar) so basically :
-Squall here is my tank set Renew, Haste and Triple then putting him in Defend and he stays in Defend in case Terra Break, at least Omega can't use Megido Flame and/or Terra Break back to back (however he can use Vengeance follow by Terra Break it's rare but this is definitly the most dangerous thing that can happen in this fight) so Squall is safe to be on support when either of them is used, is role is to tank and resurrect the other after Terra Break.
-Quistis is the support, use Ray Bomb to inflict Vit 0 then assist Squall on support, using Renew on her and resurrecting Irvine when he die, also throw Aura Stone at Irvine (first time I use them cause yeah this is the strongest boss in the game normally so no holding back on that bastard XD).
-Irvine is the main damage dealer with Pulse Ammos, Pulse Ammos might be a little to strong with Vit 0, despite our dear XenoKyros labelling Irvine as garbage he can pull off ridiculous damage here Pulse Ammo deal 11000-12000 damage and up to around 24000 per Shots, I even got an extremely lucky turn where I pulled off 6 Shots and all them Crit that's over 130k here so much for Irvine being a garbage XD.
Got to admit I got lucky on certain part especially on the first Terra Break not Killing Quistis, this is honnestly the first time it ever happen usually she died (I did 5 tries and also did this fight using Zell instead of Irvine and on all of them this is really the only time I saw Quistis surviving Terra Break), and after the Ultima Omega Weapon didn't use anything that could have killed Irvine leaving Irvine a lot of turns to damage him. Showing my junction after the fight if anyone is interested.
Also you might want to nerf the Pulse Ammos a little for that fight tough XD.
Also I think Light Pillar as some damage overflow thing notice how at 3:40 on the video Irvine has 8000HP game tell you that Light Pillar has 3754 yet this killed Irvine regardless XD
EDIT : Well Ultimecia defeated decide to leave Irvine and Zell out for once so I took Squall, Quistis and Rinoa, Squall as a physical fighter with 100 Water to Elemental Attack, Quistis and Rinoa as mage, just make sure to have a Holy and Thundaga spells :
-Ultimecia : Basically just a warming I just try to survive waiting for my team to come up, once I got my team I set up them with Triple, Renew and Haste, then since she has a good Magic Defense and no good weakness to exploit I just use Squall's Darkside and some triple Meteor.
-Griever : Poor dude only did 3 actions (including the fix Schockwave Pulsar) before dying he is very weak to Holy so with Triple Holy Rinoa does over 40k and Quistis (who has less magic around 32k so over 70k per turn Squall just healing if needed, so yeah around 3 or 4 round of Quistis and Rinoa using Triple Holy and he is done, his Schockwave Pulsar does around 3000 with Shell.
-Ultimecia + Griever : Now Squall can get some good damage as she take a lot damage from Water element Squall can hit for 28-29k with Darkside, Rinoa around 27k with Triple Thundaga and Quistis 24k with Triple Thundaga so yeah almost 80k per round since I have by far the advantage in speed I manage to cut her tail before she even get the time to summon one of her little thing. Once her tail is off she acts a lot faster but she doesn't do anything dangerous except maybe Demi Schock but hey my Elixir are here for that.
-Final Ultimecia : Alright this one is a lot longer to kill than the 2 previous one, since she has no weakness to exploit I decided to just put Rinoa into Angel Wing and let her do damage (PS : I actually got an Apocalypse here who did 47k so that was nice XD), Squall can do damage with Darkside hitting for 14k and his Limit Break if he got the chance, Quistis is on support. She actually has her own version on Vengeance except it also dispel Angel Wing, but she only used it once in the entire fight so I just had to rebuff. She can still remove are spells, and something weird happened by the way at one point the game told me that she removed Quistis's Ultima, but it was Squall's Ultima that were remove, so that was weird and because Squall has become useless for dealing damage but that wasn't an issue cause this happen once the inferior part appear, at that point I just draw 31 Apocalypse with Quistis and was using her for dealing damage with Triple Apocalypse (1 Apocalypse hit for 10k with 207 Magic stat), while Rinoa was continuing her job, Ultimecia didn't get the time to use Apocalypse in fact after Drawing she losed time casting Flare.
Once the inferior part is gone at this point she is nearly done, she does however recover more than 20k between each of her monolog lines, but she also seem to become more trigger happy with Hell's Judgement so I use that as an opportunity to use Schockwave Pulsar who can deal at best around 45k on her
So yeah that was the Final Boss, so Griever and Ultimecia + Griever needs some more HP I think to accomodate for the fact they do have weaknesses, especially Griever Holy being one of the strongest spell in the game he suffers a lot from it, cause as of now they barely get the time to act. As for Final Ultimecia my only complains would be that she uses Flare a lot to much compare to her other spells (or maybe that was just luck in that case nevermind) and she should cast her Apocalypse right away instead of wasting time casting something else, otherwise Final Ultimecia is good she is a fun fight, she has enough HP to take a lot of punishment without making it to tedious which is what you would expect from a final boss and she does has some trick to spice the fight a little.
So I'm gonna retry the End of Disc 3/Beginning of Disc 4 bosses and then I think I will be done and will sum up my conclusions.
Post by: Callisto on 2019-10-27 18:27:35
-Omega Weapon: Damage overflow shouldn't have happened, as damage is always capped at 60,000 HP in this mod. Do you have any other hext files under RaW/Global/Hext that mess with damage limit? That could explain it.
Otherwise, very well done fight. I don't mind that Pulse Ammo is superior to anything else in this battle (after setting Vit 0), as Omega Weapon is one of the few end-game enemies that are actualy vulnerable to Vit 0, and I think there should be a way to inflict massive amounts of damage on an enemy that enforces defensive play so much that it can be difficult find the right time to attack at all, as you noticed yourself. If anything, I would rather change the resources for getting Pulse Ammo instead of further reducing its base power. If you do the fixed Elnoyle encounter in Esthar repeatedly, it's actually quite easy to get a full stock in no time. As for the overall usefulness of Irvine's Limit Break, yes, Xerokynos' conclusion was a bit hasty (if I remember right, he tried AP Shot when Irvine had a Strength stat of only 32, then dismissed it for the rest of the playthrough) - if Irvine's Strength is high enough, then it's still very good.
I would be interested in seeing the stats by the way, especially Irvine's Luck. Maybe some spell junction effects are still too generous on it.
-Griever: It's honestly quite disappointing that he only got 3 attacks in your case, so I looked at his AI script again and found another, less obvious turn skip, which slows him down considerably. So removed this skip, and now he acts noticably faster. The third form has a similar turn skip as well, but it's difficult to remove without Ifrit enemy editor (the tool doesn't work very well with this enemy in general). I'll give it a try with manual hex editing though.
-Final Ultimecia: The time lapse between "Draw Apocalypse" and actually casting Apocalypse isn't any longer than in the base game. It's just that in this mod, Ultimecia acts at times she normally wouldn't, so she now uses another move between these two actions, when she would normally just skip a turn. Making it so that she casts Apocalpyse immediately after drawing it from her lower half would be quite difficult to achieve due to the complexity of her AI script, and similar to the previous enemy, the Ifrit tool doesn't "like" her file very much, so a lot of manual editing would be necessary, at least if you want to keep her Ability that destroys GF. I'll try to make her use Vaporize a little more often, and Hell's Judgement less frequently when near death. Thanks.
Post by: Nesouk on 2019-10-28 06:29:17
-Red Giant: Well yes, it's a little cheap that Gravity attacks still work on him, but being able to draw Demi from directly or simply destroy his defense using Vit 0 was even cheaper. Also, he is the only boss after Cerberus that is vulnerable to Gravity attacks, so I thought why not leaving the vulnerability in for a change. He also has as massive amount of HP, so he should always get at least a couple of turns, and damage is quite high if Vitality stats are below ~150, so I think Red Giant is fine overall. Could perhaps increase the hit rate of his single-hit sword attacks though, as they are quite easy to dodge even with only mediocre Evade stats.
Well I wasn't complaining ^^ for once Gravity attacks are usefull on a boss and kinda mandatory (as killing him with AP Shot would just take to long otherwise).
-Omega Weapon: Damage overflow shouldn't have happened, as damage is always capped at 60,000 HP in this mod. Do you have any other hext files under RaW/Global/Hext that mess with damage limit? That could explain it.
I check but I have nothing else in the Hext folder than your mod, back when I fight Ultima Weapon I effectivly saw 60000, however remember when I also said on Ultima Weapon that at one point Light Pillar was dealing more damage on Squall than Quistis/Rinoa despite Squall having highest Vit (Squall was 50k at the time while Quistis just 11k), so far Light Pillar is the only attack I saw an overflow.
However I got over 60k with Quistis's Schockwave Pulsar (did go up to 65k with Vit 0) but Demi didn't do more than 60k, unless this is intentionnal for Schockwave Pulsar it seems certain attacks break the 60k damage limit.
Otherwise, very well done fight. I don't mind that Pulse Ammo is superior to anything else in this battle (after setting Vit 0), as Omega Weapon is one of the few end-game enemies that are actualy vulnerable to Vit 0, and I think there should be a way to inflict massive amounts of damage on an enemy that enforces defensive play so much that it can be difficult find the right time to attack at all, as you noticed yourself. If anything, I would rather change the resources for getting Pulse Ammo instead of further reducing its base power. If you do the fixed Elnoyle encounter in Esthar repeatedly, it's actually quite easy to get a full stock in no time. As for the overall usefulness of Irvine's Limit Break, yes, Xerokynos' conclusion was a bit hasty (if I remember right, he tried AP Shot when Irvine had a Strength stat of only 32, then dismissed it for the rest of the playthrough) - if Irvine's Strength is high enough, then it's still very good.
I would be interested in seeing the stats by the way, especially Irvine's Luck. Maybe some spell junction effects are still too generous on it.
Yeah and Irvine happen to be the best way to get somewhat consistant high damage here, Zell is a good alternative and I suppose if you got lucky with Lion Heart proc Squall can be great to but I think Irvine's Pulse Ammo is the fastest way, I actually show my Stats and Junction at the end of the video but I'm gonna put the screenshot :
Squall :
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/h6dn.jpg)
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/0zyh.jpg)
Irvine :
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/y108.jpg)
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/zd2z.jpg)
Quistis :
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/3d8e.jpg)
(https://zupimages.net/up/19/44/xpvm.jpg)
-Griever: It's honestly quite disappointing that he only got 3 attacks in your case, so I looked at his AI script again and found another, less obvious turn skip, which slows him down considerably. So removed this skip, and now he acts noticably faster. The third form has a similar turn skip as well, but it's difficult to remove without Ifrit enemy editor (the tool doesn't work very well with this enemy in general). I'll give it a try with manual hex editing though.
So some skipping turn again, figure I wonder why they did that when they developped the game, kinda curious, well if you can remove it that should be better effectivly.
-Final Ultimecia: The time lapse between "Draw Apocalypse" and actually casting Apocalypse isn't any longer than in the base game. It's just that in this mod, Ultimecia acts at times she normally wouldn't, so she now uses another move between these two actions, when she would normally just skip a turn. Making it so that she casts Apocalpyse immediately after drawing it from her lower half would be quite difficult to achieve due to the complexity of her AI script, and similar to the previous enemy, the Ifrit tool doesn't "like" her file very much, so a lot of manual editing would be necessary, at least if you want to keep her Ability that destroys GF. I'll try to make her use Vaporize a little more often, and Hell's Judgement less frequently when near death. Thanks.
I'm wondering actually I'm not that much of a GF user myself but considering you tried to make them more usefull end game, is it worth to keep the Final Boss just basically pulling a "Screw you" move for people who use GF ?
Otherwise Final Ultimecia is pretty good fight already, the few tweak you mention should put her in a good spot I think
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-01-03 11:34:39
Post by: Callisto on 2020-01-04 21:09:32
Just finished work on the mngrp.bin file that contains all data relevant to menus. It needed a lot of manual adjustments as it's different from 2013 release. Next are Battle and Field files, which are also different, but shouldn't take that long to port over. The only thing I'm quite unsure about is certain exe changes (such as Angel Wing, or the new Dispel damage type) and the way of applying the mod changes to the Remaster version. It will probably be a little more complicated than for 2013, but Maki's new Demastered Tool looks promising and could make the process easier. Have to check.
If there's anything in particular you'd like to see in this mod, don't hesitate to tell :)
Post by: Lunareste on 2020-01-06 00:39:59
Planning to release a new version that will contain some more suggestions made by Nesouk earlier, among some other things, and also Remaster compatibility soon.
Just finished work on the mngrp.bin file that contains all data relevant to menus. It needed a lot of manual adjustments as it's different from 2013 release. Next are Battle and Field files, which are also different, but shouldn't take that long to port over. The only thing I'm quite unsure about is certain exe changes (such as Angel Wing, or the new Dispel damage type) and the way of applying the mod changes to the Remaster version. It will probably be a little more complicated than for 2013, but Maki's new Demastered Tool looks promising and could make the process easier. Have to check.
If there's anything in particular you'd like to see in this mod, don't hesitate to tell :)
Looking forward to playing this once again on Remastered version, Callisto. Thank you so much for all the hard work you've done for our community!
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2020-01-07 08:27:25
Played an old build, and since then mod got quite a lot of changes and additions, would love to try them with new visuals.
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-02-04 02:42:04
More things to enjoy in-game. :evil:
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-26 03:28:14
Note that the Remastered version currently comes without any exe changes. A compensation for some of the missing features has been done, though. See below for more information.
Changes Overview
Balance changes
- Each party member's core base stats and natural stat growth have been increased.
- Spell junction values for defensive stats have been reduced in the mid-late game.
- Hitrate for Irvine's weapons has been increased.
- Break base spell power has been slightly increased.
- Aqua Breath availability has been delayed from D-District Prison to Centra Ruins/Kashkabald Desert.
- Base power for Desperado and Massive Anchor Limit Breaks has been reduced.
- Desperado has a chance to inflict Confuse on all enemies.
- Angelo Cannon and Angelo Strike base power has been slightly reduced.
- Selphie's and Edea's Limit Breaks now proc slightly earlier than usual.
- Mega-Potions now heal 1500 HP instead of 1000 HP.
- Remedy+ is now multi-targeting and has been made slightly more common, but can no longer cure Doom.
- Doom Command Ability inflicts magic damage in addition to causing Doom status.
- Absorb Command Ability has been changed to Heal, restores HP to all party members for 18,75% of their max HP.
Enemies
- A slight to moderate damage reduction has been applied to most bosses in the early and mid-game.
- Evade stats for most flying enemies have been increased.
- Overall stats have been increased for many high-leveled common enemies.
- Some status immunities have been lowered for certain bosses, especially in regards to Poison and Vit 0.
- Enemies now do more damage under Berserk, and some will try to use this to their advantage.
- Vysage, Lefty, Righty, Elnoyle and Gargantua are now undead enemies.
- Meltdown can be drawn from the Hexadragons that appear in Galbadia Garden on disc 2.
- Pain can be drawn from the Tri-Faces that appear in Galbadia Garden on disc 2.
- Curaga can be drawn from high-leveled (LV40+) Mesmerizes.
- Many enemies can no longer spam powerful attacks and require a cool down of at least 2 turns before they can be used again.
Spoiler: Boss changes in detail • show
Drawable GF
Drawable GF can no longer be missed and will be automatically added to the player's inventory after beating the respective boss. Cerberus can be drawn from Catoblepas if missed earlier, and Eden can still be drawn from Tiamat as an alternative to Ultima Weapon. It's still possible to draw all the GF in question though, and doing so will grant the party a certain advantage in battle:
- Elvoret: Its Magic stat drops by 20%
- Iguions: Loses Auto-Reflect, as usual
- NORG: Loses access to the Water spell, as usual
- Fujin (1st): Loses access to the Tornado spell only (will still use Aerial Slash)
- Edea (2nd): Her Spirit stat drops by 20%
- Ultima Weapon: Is now under Auto-Protect and Auto-Shell unless Eden has been drawn
- Catoblepas: Uses Meteor as its final attack, otherwise Ultima
- Tiamat: All of his stats drop by 10%
Qol additions
- Another save opportunity has been added in Balamb Garden during the NORG events on disc 2.
- The Save Points near the auditorium in G-Garden and the one right before fighting Adel are now visible by default.
- The very last Save Point in the final dungeon now offers the possibility to warp out of the castle.
- Random encounter rates have been reduced at some locations, most importantly Centra Ruins.
- Random encounters are now completely disabled in D-District Prison until the alarm goes off.
- Caterchipillar has been added to the random encounters in BG Training Center, so Cure can be drawn before fighting Granaldo.
- The number of button presses required to open the valve at MD Levels has been lowered.
- Damage variance during the Paratrooper airborne battle has been reduced, outgoing damage has been slightly increased.
- Party members will no longer be chosen randomly before the final battle (but still vanish if left KO'd for too long).
- A completely unnecessary Junction reset has been removed after beating the boss at Fisherman's Horizon.
- The active party will be locked to Squall, Quistis and Selphie after leaving Timber on disc 1 until heading to the forest near G-Garden, as only their spells will carry over to the next Laguna flashback.
- Edea will temporarily leave the active party in the area between the Great Salt Lake and Esthar, as her spells will not carry over to the next Laguna flashback.
Sidequest changes or additions
- A new sidequest is available in Deling City on disc 2 or 3.
- A new sidequest/cutscene is available in Balamb Garden and White SeeD Ship towards the end of disc 3.
- A hidden boss battle is available in Lunatic Pandora during the 1st visit.
- A hidden boss battle is available in Ultimecia's Castle.
- The Elite Soldier at Grease Monkey's house in FH can be challenged to a duel as Irvine.
- The player will now be informed about the inability to leave Centra Ruins after examining the blue orb.
- The timer will now show during the new scripted battle at Centra Ruins.
- A battle against two LV 100 Tri-Faces will trigger after picking up the Solomon Ring at Tear's Point after the Lunar Cry event .
Other changes or bugfixes
- Each of Ultimecia's minions now guards a specific seal instead of being able to choose which one to remove from a list.
- All Command and Character Ability tutorial entries are now unlocked from the start.
- All GF base compatibility values have been increased.
- Lots of EXP will be gained from the soldier boss battle at Missile Base, to keep the level gap compared to the other party low.
- The random encounter condition has been changed (corrected?) for field "fhtown1" in Fisherman's Horizon.
- A hint about how to defeat BGH251F2 (2nd) most easily will be given at the beginning of the battle.
- Another scripted battle has been added to Galbadia Garden on disc 2.
- The Light Pillar enemy attack can no longer cause damage overflow.
- Fixed a potential softlock during the new Fire Cavern sidequest.
Compensation for missing features in Remastered
- Draw points: Some contents have been swapped around via Field edits.
- SeeD salary rebalance: Max initial SeeD rank has been lowered from 10 to 6, prices in shops have been increased.
- Return Damage: Returns only 1/4 of the damage, as in the base game, but AP cost has been halved.
- Darkside: Doesn't unlock before Diablos reaches LV 40.
- Enemy magic damage: Enemy magic stats have been increased; enemies use custom versions of Flare, Holy, Meteor and Ultima.
- Vit 0 immunity: Some enemies have been made immune via AI instructions; Meltdown status hitrate has been lowered, so they can block it more easily with their Spirit stat.
- Draw cap in battles: Draw resistance values have been reduced for most spells; M-Stone Pieces and Magic Stones drop in higher quantities; the first 3 Refine Abilities are learned by default, and the party starts with 20 M-Stone Pieces in their inventory.
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-03-26 14:52:05
Btw, could you give examples as to what exe changes weren't able to make it into the Remaster version at the moment? Just curious. :)
Can't wait for the next updates to arrive! I feel like a kid during Christmas every time you pop up in the forums. :-D
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-27 08:40:10
The biggest thing is probably the changes to Angel Wing power and mechanics. In Remastered, the damage multiplier is set to 5 and spells are selected from Rinoa's spell inventory, as in the base game, so endless Meteor spam at five times the power is still possible.
Other than that, your characters' standard physical attacks can currently not break the damage limit, not even with Darkside equipped, which limits the usefulness of your physical attackers in the late game, to some extent.
Not being able to draw more than 9 units per Draw in-battle is a little unfortunate too, but Refining has been made more accessible from the start as a compensation, so I would use that as the main source for acquiring spells (along with the new shop in Deling City).
Other changes that are currently absent and haven't been mentioned before include:
- A new damage type that allows dispelling status effects while doing magic damage
- X-Potions and Elixirs being excluded from the Auto-Potion item pool
- The fix to the Rare Item Ability (don't use this Ability if you want an enemy's rarest item)
- Some alterations to ATB bar filling speed in relation to a character's Speed stat
- An alteration the magic damage formula that allows up to 60,000 HP damage for magic attacks (like Shockwave Pulsar)
- An alteration to the Draw amount calculation that generally allows for more Draws in-battle
- An adjustment to the SeeD rank calculation that allows staying at SeeD rank A for a little longer than usual
Anyway, thanks for the comment. I'm going to implement the features as soon as I found out how to do that.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-29 14:55:44
In all honesty though and unsurprisingly, coming from me, can't help but feel turned off by what looks to be a major nerf to difficulty & bosses that you just put out, I wonder what's the reasoning behind that? I don't see any nerfs on the player's side of things to balance it out either, so the mod seems just universally easier now especially with regards to bosses, whom I thought were the best part of the mod before. That's super off-putting for players like me, though I always thought you had good reasons for doing stuff.
In other words, hard mode when? :P I'll be you guinea pig for that one. I'm sure it would heighten people's interest and give more replay value as well.
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-03-29 17:12:40
Well the mod is a rebalance one not an HardType one so I don't mind it being on the easier side, might redo a playthrough with this huge update ^^
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-29 17:59:09
Yea I know what the mod is(or used to be, at least), believe me; there's walls upon walls of text from me in this topic alone. Hence my shocked reaction to the drastic difficulty nerf, and curiosity with regards to a potential hard mode becoming an option at some point if the regular version is being geared towards being a much more casual gaming experience where previous amounts of strategy & planning isn't required.
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-03-29 18:30:50
Junction defense lowered natural growth increased is probably to encourage the player to LVUP as you can see on previous post I spend a good part of the mod with barely any Leveling at all and I was still fine despite being LV18 facing LV45 monsters XD, since then Callisto make every ennemies even random mobs at fix LV IIRC, so it has (or at least it should have) become more important to keep you LV up to date.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-29 19:10:11
I did a low level run too, in fact. If memory serves, everyone was around lv20 for the final boss, whom I beat with only 2 characters alive for the whole thing. Keeping low levels was way harder back then with an out-of-control Odin coming to kill enemies every now and then, forcing a reset. Good times, haha. But I was calling for buffs for bosses then as well because I was able to faceroll many of them even with low levels+other restrictions such as no card modding, as a way to ensure they're certainly not overtuned. With some strategic thinking, which is the main point of these excellent mods anyhow, the bosses were always reasonably easy.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-29 19:35:18
As for the possibility of weakening bosses by drawing their GF: I would say the effects are rather minor in most cases. After drawing Siren from Elvoret, its magic power becomes only slightly weaker than in earlier versions, as its actual magic stat has been increased. And Edea's Spirit stat is naturally very high, so -20% after drawing Alexander still doesn't allow rushing her down with spells quickly.
All in all, these nerfs won't have that much of an impact as you might think. All they do is making things more fair for players that currently don't have the best spells equipped, or don't use the optimal GF distribution, which I think should not be expected at all times. I guess a real difficulty version of this mod should be released separately at some point.
Also note that most late-game bosses are noticably harder than in versions from over a year ago. With a little luck, you could just rush them without ever seeing their special moves at all. For example, Nesouk won the last Seifer battle without Bloodfest being used, because there were way too many random checks in his AI script. Many of these have been removed, and now most of the bosses are balanced around having them use their special attacks at least once, no matter how strong your party is.
@Nesouk: The changes in defensive junctions are as follows:
Code: [Select]
Spell Vit/Spr v1.1.5 Vit/Spr v1.2
Regen 50/50 46/46
Meltdown 60/60 52/52
Curaga 75/75 56/56
Holy 70/70 60/60
Full-life 85/85 66/66
Renew 80/80 72/72
Ultima 90/95 80/80The new gains in natural stat growth do not soak this up completely. Some characters didn't even get gains on certain stats at all, such as Selphie or Rinoa on Vitality, or Zell and Ward on Magic - so only a character's natural strengths have been increased (HP growth is even completely untouched from the previous version).
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-03-29 20:02:09
Will do another playthrough in the next days see how it goes compare to last time.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-29 21:00:33
@Ayoyo: The main reason behind the boss nerfs especially in the early and mid-game is the overall difficulty progression, which can be quite wonky in earlier versions of the mod. Some players felt that the early and mid-game are actually harder than the late-game, so I wanted to improve on difficulty perception, aiming for a steady increase in difficultyWell I mean, alternatively the later bosses could've been buffed to sort of achieve the same thing :-P /jk... unless?
No but it's good that the mod's playerbase is getting what it wants, then - I suppose people like me & Nesouk are in the minority. You did alleviate my anxiousness somewhat though, maybe it's not so bad in practice, especially if lategame bosses are tougher. But now that it's on the table, it's destiny bro - hard mode, that is. It needs to happen... Doesn't even necessarily need to be all that fine-tuned or robust, just throw like a universal + modifier on enemies and see how it goes. I just got done playing a FFXIII mod that literally just applied modifiers like +50% on every enemy's HP, speed and +35% for other stats or something like that. It worked out fine, considering the amount of effort put into it and pretty much no testing whatsoever.
OH Yeah I remember end of Disc 3/beginning of Disc 4 to be the most disappointing part, in that every bosses except Adel which was fine was way to easy. Glad to hear this has been corrected.Corrected as in...? Are you referencing the random check fix that Callisto mentioned just now, or are there other prior changes to later bosses to make them less easy?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-29 21:53:22
Well I mean, alternatively the later bosses could've been buffed to sort of achieve the same thing :-P /jk... unless?Actually a good point, I thought about that too. But some players on stream in the past few months showed me that some of the earlier bosses are a bit overtuned (mostly damage-wise). They were using suboptimal Junction setups and didn't try to use status effects a lot, and I felt they were punished too severely for that. So I've tried to find a middle ground between "accessible to all players" and "not too easy". Whether it worked or not remains to be seen.
Quote
But now that it's on the table, it's destiny bro - hard mode, that is.If it's only a stat-increase you'd like to see in a harder version for now, then I could probably set that up in a month or so. Would be helpful if you tried the latest version first though, too see if it indeed became too easy for you after all.
Quote
Corrected as in...? Are you referencing the random check fix that Callisto mentioned just now, or are there other prior changes to later bosses to make them less easy?If the last version you played is indeed from a year ago, then a lot has changed in addition to reduced random checks, ranging from higher stats, new moves used, complete removal of turn skips etc.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-29 23:06:47
Actually a good point, I thought about that too. But some players on stream in the past few months showed me that some of the earlier bosses are a bit overtuned (mostly damage-wise). They were using suboptimal Junction setups and didn't try to use status effects a lot, and I felt they were punished too severely for that.Yea, that seems to be how many modders end up making changes, streams tend to draw stronger reactions when you actually see someone struggling with the game. Then if you see someone just walking over everything it'd likely net the opposite reaction. It's understandable, although personally I always thought it was counterintuitive to balance around players who don't feel like trying stuff out or use the breadth of tools & options offered to them, considering mods like this exist & are needed in the first place precisely because the original game was so unbalanced that you didn't need to use those tools or be strategic about it. Vanilla already exists for people wanting to play casually.
If it's only a stat-increase you'd like to see in a harder version for now, then I could probably set that up in a month or so. Would be helpful if you tried the latest version first though, too see if it indeed became too easy for you after all.Really? I think that would be a literal dream-come-true if you ever did that. Yes, I'm positive it would work out well enough since the system you have in place is already so good and robust. I swear I'll be your tester for that. In the meantime, you don't need to tell me twice; I'm pretty stoked to have another go at this despite my bitching. Although not sure if I should go for a low level run again. What do you think? I mean you did make it easier to maintain with the Odin changes, and I haven't had a chance to see those yet.
f the last version you played is indeed from a year ago, then a lot has changed in addition to reduced random checks, ranging from higher stats, new moves used, complete removal of turn skips etc.Looks to have been around February of last year. But sounds awesome indeed. I remember checking this thread out some months ago and shedding an epic tear upon reading the newest changelog, it was so freaking good.
Post by: Rikku on 2020-03-30 08:33:05
I´m enjoying it a lot, congatulations :)
But, is there any chance to use it in another language, like spanish? Maybe in the future?
Thanks
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-03-30 17:01:43
So basically back to my problem of playing with no music.
EDIT : OK what the heck happen, but by searching I found the very first RaW W07 Torrent I downloaded, for some reasons downloading from this torrent and it works perfectly fine, downloading a new torrent and the RaW doesn't weird stuff here, but hey at least it work.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-30 18:53:02
Otherwise I agree with what you said above. There's not much point in making a mod that still allows breezing through the game, barely using the tools given to the player. And in the particular case of FFVIII, some players tend to forget or not realize that junctioning spells is comparable to equipping armor in more traditional RPGs, and should thus be updated every once in a while. Still, I felt that the required minimum to beat certain bosses without frustration was set a little too high, which is why some of them have been slightly toned down. Not so much that they become ridiculously easy, just so much that they feel more fair when facing them with less than ideal Junction setups, as said above.
@Rikku: One should never say never, but at the moment, it's rather unlikely that there will multi-language support anytime soon. The fact that every language version uses different executables in the 2013 version hinders this by quite a bit, and some of the additional dialogue in Field.fs would need to be translated to Spanish, which I am not able to. Doing it for Remastered would probably be easier, but at the moment, I can't promise anything.
@Nesouk: Hard to say what the problem is, seems different from last time for sure. What I would do first is making sure that all the .ogg files are present in RaW/Global/Music folder, accessible from FFVIII root directory. If they are not there, you might have picked the wrong destination folder in the RaW installer. If they are there, then I'm quite clueless. Hope you're getting the issue solved.
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-03-30 18:57:41
Anyway don't know why but for some reasons downloading RaW W07 from a new torrent and it wasn't working, but redownloading RaW W07 from the very first torrent I downloaded a few month ago and it worked, don't have any ideas why this is the case or why RaW glitch out in the first place but hey a least it worked.
EDIT : And now it doesn't work again. Now I'm really confuse.
Post by: Vayne95 on 2020-03-30 22:00:18
Post by: Callisto on 2020-03-30 23:20:53
@Vayne95: No, this hasn't been changed.
If you are playing the 2013 version, make sure Roses and Wine W07 has been installed correctly. Then a folder called "RaW" should appear in your FFVIII root directory (Steam/steampps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII). Open it, click GLOBAL, then Hext and put the Ragnarok_mod.txt file from the DL there. All the exe changes including Draw points contents should become active then.
If you are playing Remastered, then it's enough to merge the two DEMASTER_XP folders.
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-03-31 01:38:47
You could call it the "Griever" mode, simply made for those who want to suffer lol.
I'd definitely play it. :)
Enemies and especially bosses could have new attack patterns (extra random), have more hp, deal more damage, and maybe throw in some special attacks that aren't in the normal version. Things that would make players go "WTF, i didn't see that coming" while having their asses handed to them lol! You could even add special super bosses just for the "Griever" mode alone. And if all of that wasn't enough, you could nerf certain things on the players side to make sure you can never be a bit too strong, only strong enough to have a chance of winning.
So the decisions you make all lean toward nothing but making the game a challenge. This would give you more leverage for the normal version, of not having to worry if you're making things too easy even if it's for the sake of balancing the game. :D Because then players will have that alternative choice to satisfy their masochistic itch.
Also, maybe you could add rewards for those who defeat specific bosses? A way to show off your accomplishments lol.
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-03-31 02:28:31
@Ayoyo: I would recommend keeping levels low so you have a more direct comparison to your first playthrough. Keep in mind that this time, the boss battle against the G-Soldiers at Missile Base drop tons of EXP though. To keep the this amount to minimum, you'd need to use the Gaia Drum item (can be stolen from Sacred, for example) to set the Petrifying countdown on them. The success rate isn't particularly high, but can be increased by having a high Magic stat character use it.Sounds reasonable, ditto that. And cheers for the tip regarding the soldiers & Gaia drum, I don't think I've ever used such an item before. I hope I can at least have a go at disc1 soonish, looks like some work projects might still be breathing down my neck for now.
Otherwise I agree with what you said above. There's not much point in making a mod that still allows breezing through the game, barely using the tools given to the player. And in the particular case of FFVIII, some players tend to forget or not realize that junctioning spells is comparable to equipping armor in more traditional RPGs, and should thus be updated every once in a while. Still, I felt that the required minimum to beat certain bosses without frustration was set a little too high, which is why some of them have been slightly toned down. Not so much that they become ridiculously easy, just so much that they feel more fair when facing them with less than ideal Junction setups, as said above.
So the decisions you make all lean toward nothing but making the game a challenge. This would give you more leverage for the normal version, of not having to worry if you're making things too easy even if it's for the sake of balancing the game. :D Because then players will have that alternative choice to satisfy their masochistic itch.Good point about hard mode development being potentially a liberating experience as you'd be unencumbered by elusive middle ground & accessibility requirements, instead being able to just have fun with it & kind of let loose. That said, it's still a lot of work and expecting an elaborate new mode right off the bat is unreasonable, which is why I lobbied for a more simple stat boosted version to start off with and get in the weeds with it later on. Not to mention, I still think it's logically sound to assume a big chunk of the people seeking out these mods are either veterans or looking for a challenge so I'm sure a hard mode would garner popularity.
Post by: Yuey on 2020-04-01 09:04:57
And as always, thank you for all the work you put into this for the rest of us to enjoy.
Post by: setafd on 2020-04-01 23:22:14
Post by: Callisto on 2020-04-02 00:28:59
@setafd: There's no need to start a new game because of the new version. The changed base stats for the characters will update automatically after putting the new files in lang-en, and there shouldn't be any conflicts with GF Abilities at this point of the game. If Heal appears in Siren's Ability list (instead of Absorb), then all is good.
Post by: setafd on 2020-04-02 00:59:20
@setafd: There's no need to start a new game because of the new version. The changed base stats for the characters will update automatically after putting the new files in lang-en, and there shouldn't be any conflicts with GF Abilities at this point of the game. If Heal appears in Siren's Ability list (instead of Absorb), then all is good.
Okay, great, thanks!
Post by: Union on 2020-04-02 15:27:14
I've purchased FF8:Remastered with the hopes I could play it with Ragnarok. I've follow your guide on the original post but for the life of me I cant get it to work. Could you give me a step-by-step guide on the installation process, especially in regards to the demaster mod. I consider myself tech savvy but I'm having trouble even confirming that the demaster has even installed correctly.
I've been really looking forward to giving ragnarok a go, it would be amazing if you could lend me a hand with it. Thank you ahead of time!
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-04-02 21:02:41
Post by: Robgatti on 2020-04-08 07:24:20
error:3983423270 :78
Object doesnt exist.
Followed the instructions to a T (Trying to mod the Remaster or 2019 ver).
I'm on windows 10.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-04-08 08:42:07
After installing Demaster unofficial patch, does your FFVIII Remastered root directory look like this (https://i.imgur.com/xJzqDpQ.png)?
If so, then copy the DEMASTER_EXP folder inside the Ragnarok download package, paste it to the game's root folder and select the first option "Replace files at destination" when Windows asks about what do to with the files. Just make sure to not accidentally delete the DEMASTER_EXP folder that is already present in the root folder and then replace it with the one from the Ragnarok package (this one only contains the files relevant to the mod, and is therefore not enough to make the game run).
If not all of the files pictured above are present, you are probably missing the files from the Demaster patch download package. Make sure to drop them all inside the game's root directory first, then running FFVIII_Demaster_Manager.exe, as stated in the USAGE.txt file.
Post by: levantine on 2020-04-13 16:00:28
Are you plan to update the remastered version to 1.2 or the version will still to 1.0?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-04-15 08:49:35
Quote from: levantine
Hello,
Are you plan to update the remastered version to 1.2 or the version will still to 1.0?
Hi levantine,
yes, updates to the Remastered version are planned. The version for Remastered will be identical to the 2013 version as soon as the exe changes are in. I don't know when that will be though, as porting them over is difficult due to 2013 exe no longer present in its previous form.
A hard mode for both versions is also planned. It takes priority at the moment, probably releasing in a couple of weeks. Also thinking about making bosses drop EXP in all versions, but at the same time giving the player the option to disable these gains to allow low-level challenges.
Post by: levantine on 2020-04-15 15:09:35
Also I'm waiting for get some HD mods for the remastered, in hope that thoose would be campatibles with your mod :)
Post by: Rikku on 2020-04-27 18:16:17
Post by: Ayoyo on 2020-04-28 11:33:03
Is there any posibility to make Seifer or Edea playable ? Maybe on late disc 3 ?Chipping in because I just realized I've totally forgotten to bring this up myself as a suggestion for additional/surprise bonus content, something the mod already incorporates quite a lot of. Specifically Edea because I imagine 'twould not be monumentally hard to pull off since she's already playable so the groundwork is there, and isn't unreasonable story-wise. Also the logistics of her joining the party would potentially be relatively straightforward to pull off & fit into the story seeing as she's just chilling around with Cid for the final parts of the game so it could just be a simple dialogue option that pops up. But I'm sure there's a lot on Cal's hands atm anyhow with hard mode and all, so consider this as more of a long-term pitch.
Not sure if I'd like Seifer though, from a lore perspective or otherwise. Seems more complicated/awry.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-04-30 07:02:11
I generally like the idea of having them available until the end, especially Edea, as nothing would conflict with it story-wise, as Ayoyo already mentioned. Seifer would indeed need a good reason to join after the events at the end of disc 3, but I guess a custom cutscene after disc 3 could be used to make it appear more reasonable. But as I said above, a tool that supports custom field models would be required before that can be accomplished.
Oh, and levantine, the Remastered version is fully compatible with any graphics mods, like those from Mcindus. Just remove the Gerogero decensors inside textures folder to avoid any conflicts in-game. Sorry for the late reply.
@Hard mode: Needs some more days, as I decided to do a little more than just stat increases for enemies. The standard version will also need a few adjustments. Making good progress overall though.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-04 17:01:01
I created an account just for this, I have never played ff8 remastered so I'd like to play it for the first time with the ragnarok mod. I want to play with the hard mode option, hopefully it's coming out this week, i'm really looking forward to play it
Post by: DrHojo123 on 2020-05-09 18:31:43
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-10 02:22:46
Main changes:
- Stat increase for almost all enemies compared to Standard version
- AI changes for many enemies (example: Diablos will stop using Gravija if all party members are in critical health)
- Some enemy elemental weaknesses have been changed or have had their severity lowered
- Status resistance has been increased for some enemies
- Various changes to enemy attacks, also a few new ones have been added
- Some formation changes to certain boss battles
- In Remastered, enemies now use custom versions for Tornado and Quake as well
Standard version adjustments:
- Critical hit rate for a few late-game physical attacks has been decreased
- Slight to moderate stat decrease for some enemies
- Some more enemies lost the ability to spam powerful attacks multiple times in a row
- Phoenix Down and the Life spell now restore 25% of a character's max HP (up from 12.5%, Steam 2013 only)
New in all versions:
Expanding on the idea in regards to weakening some bosses by drawing their GF, beating those bosses without drawing it will now be rewarded with some additional items after the battle. Keep in mind that every GF in question will be automatically added to the player's inventory after the battle, whether it has been drawn or not. The idea behind this is adding one more decision-making element to the game (in this case, weaker bosses vs better rewards), so unless the boss gives the player serious trouble, it is advisable to NOT draw the GF. Thanks to Nesouk for the incentive to implement this.
Spoiler: Additional rewards for not drawing GF • show
EXP for bosses and the option to disable it will be added soon. Haven't had enough time to implement this, unfortunately.
@Dealer1993: Thanks for the interest, I hope it's not too late. If you need advice in regards to how to set it up for Remastered, let me know.
@DrHojo123: Yes, there is a document in the DL that has information about the things that were moved around. Changes to Pet Pals are as follows:
Pet Pals Vol. 3 and 4 can no longer be purchased from Timber Pet Store without Familiar Ability unlocked. Pet Pals Vol. 3 is now one of the items that can be found as part of the dog sidequest in Dollet when doing it on disc 1, while Pet Pals Vol. 4 is now received randomly after staying at Galbadia Hotel in Deling City. Pet Pals Vol. 5 and 6 can be obtained by completing new sidequests in Deling City and Balamb Garden, respectively.
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-05-10 06:15:41
Post by: goodmorninpluto on 2020-05-10 16:34:15
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-10 18:13:22
@goodmorninpluto: Yes, all additional content is the same across all versions, with the exception of minor changes to most of the optional enemies themselves (higher stats, AI changes etc).
Post by: DiscoCokkroach on 2020-05-10 22:59:44
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-12 13:46:09
And it's good that it's still bellow reloaded, and did not like this one because the only way to win fights was to spam renzokuken...
Is it now possible to draw more than 9 magics and hit more than 9999 with physical hits in the remaster version of your mod?
Thx for your answer and to keeping up your work :)
Post by: Yuey on 2020-05-13 19:04:14
Post by: Tingcos on 2020-05-15 01:18:31
I just finished streaming a full playthrough of your Ragnarok mod yesterday and I had to create an account to say it was an amazing experience!
I never had any issues playing vanilla ff8 years ago and wanted to try something different with my recent playthrough. The rebalancing changes you have made actually caused me to struggle quite a bit in a good way.
I'm probably closer to the middle of the line player who doesn't abuse cards or mechanics if they don't need to, I wasn't trying to get tornados and quakes ASAP but rather letting the game unfold as naturally as i could until the end of disc 3.
I really enjoyed the Omega fight (without using The End or Invulnerability items) I feel like the Yunalesca secret fight was a bit too easy after doing Omega first and was kinda disappointing.
There was a crash after the two elnoyle fight in Fire cavern post Lunar tear which meant I couldnt experience the Fire cavern sidequest. I was playing on the 2019 steam remastered version.
I tried several times on disc 3 and once again on disc 4 to no success.
Overall its a big success in my eyes and I look forward to playing the Lionheart variant in a few months time.
If you have any questions on about the experience from a fresh player I'll be glad to answer them.
If you wanted to check out any of my gameplay footage, the vods will be live for 2 weeks on Twitch.tv/Tingcos otherwise pm me and I can upload anything you need to youtube.
Post by: mackoz on 2020-05-15 03:39:21
Post by: Tingcos on 2020-05-15 05:25:45
hey, not sure if caused by the mod or i'm doing something wrong. i did the beginner chocobo forest fine, went to the basics forest and for some reason i can't sound my whistle. i'm playing with ff8 remastered. thanks for your work on the mod!
For some reason the whistle is tied to Triangle after the first forest. This means that you will keep opening the menu when you need to use the whistle. The only work a round I found was to hold triangle and continously open and close the menu, using images of the best places to proc the whistle.
Changing menu button away from triangle will also change the whistle button as well so I couldn't find any better method outside of the one outlined above. I played on the remastered version too and eventually completed the chocobo side quest.
Post by: JLOUTLAW on 2020-05-16 03:05:03
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-17 00:02:20
Thx for your work, successfully bring a new experience of this game, could be upgrade in some points, but what I saw is that's a solid mod.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-17 07:32:40
- Fire Cavern sidequest no longer crashes after the Elnoyle battle
- Some Draw point contents have been corrected
- X-ATM092 battle model has been fixed
- New scripted encounter at Centra Ruins has been ported over correctly
- Cid's field model no longer disappears right after the SeeD mission introduction in Balamb Garden
- Lefty and Righty are no longer invisible when appearing together with Vysage
- SAM08G now uses Wild Cannon Blow instead of Blaze, as intended
@Tingcos: Many thanks for pointing me to your stream, it was really helpful with spotting all these issues. Some of the incorrect Draw point contents actually made your playthrough harder than intended, such as the Draw point at the Tomb of the Unknown King containing Confuse instead of Double, which would have helped against Brothers or Edea at the end of disc 1, for example - sorry for that.
The hidden Sorceress in Ultimecia's Castle is a little harder in the 2013 version, as she removes positive status effects with her normal attack, just like Yunalesca does. Such an attack (damage + Dispel effect) is unfortunately not possible in the Remastered version at the moment, but I hope that this and all the other currently missing features can be ported over in the future.
Whenever you decide to give Hard Mode a try, it would be really interesting to see how it goes. Hopefully it will be enough for more than SeeD Rank 1 next time 8)
@DiscoCokkroach: Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying your current playthrough. If you have suggestions for improvement, don't hesitate to tell.
@levantine: I guess you noticed it already, but no, it's still not possible to draw more than 9 spells in battle in Remastered. I'll try hooking the game to a debugger as soon as I have the time, to see if I can find the new address that controls draw amounts.
It's good to hear that you are enjoying the Remastered version nevertheless. How did the altered prison boss battle go? I've been thinking about making it so that the buffs from the Elite Soldiers don't count towards the GIM52A's Ray-Bomb counter, as it's probably a bit too much.
@Yuey: No problem, your suggestion with the little girl was not only a good opportunity for adding a new sidequest (as the problem with her mother is never elaborated on), it also helped me a lot with understanding FF8's field scripting. To be honest, what I've come up with it isn't very creative after all, but at least it gives another reason to return to Dollet other than just for card-related things, and the reward for completing it should be pretty useful.
@mackoz: I can't really tell what the problem with the buttons is. It's probably not related to the mod, but rather a problem with Remastered itself. The Chocobo Forests are actually the only fields that were altered by the developers (to remove the Chocobo World stuff), so maybe something has been messed up (similarly to Zell's Duel, which also has buttons swapped for some moves). I'll have a look when I get the time nevertheless.
@JLOUTLAW: Was it a back attack against the 3 Grats? If so, then yeah, it's almost guaranteed game over with Squall alone. I guess I should remove the possibility of back attacks for this specific encounter to keep things fair right after the beginning of the game.
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-17 12:35:31
But after some tries, I finally find a strategy for killing them :
Spoiler: show
finaly what can I say about this fight is that this one bring challenge, and need some strategy, also accept that some game over would coming lol.
In fact, all that is what I'm waiting for a hard mod :)
If you need any other feedback just ask ;)
Indeed I notice that in remastered I can't draw more than 9, but I know that you are working for this, no problem, I just use the x3 function when I need to draw a lot in a fight.
An other time, thx for this mod.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-18 09:26:00
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-18 12:46:01
Asking that because Squall have some spells by default only if the mod is correctly installed AND you launch a new game.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-18 19:45:33
Post by: mackoz on 2020-05-18 20:40:31
For some reason the whistle is tied to Triangle after the first forest. This means that you will keep opening the menu when you need to use the whistle. The only work a round I found was to hold triangle and continously open and close the menu, using images of the best places to proc the whistle.
Changing menu button away from triangle will also change the whistle button as well so I couldn't find any better method outside of the one outlined above. I played on the remastered version too and eventually completed the chocobo side quest.
thanks! will give it a try today
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-19 00:42:25
- Trauma boss now properly enters rage mode after both Dromas have been killed.
- Standard battle theme reverts back to normal after doing the secret boss in Ultimecia Castle (fixed in 2013 version as well).
- Cleaned up some dialogue and Rinoa's positioning on the White SeeD Ship.
Also removed the possibility of back attack for the 3 Grats encounter in BG-Training Center. Thanks to JLOUTLAW for pointing it out.
@levantine: Alright, so I'll leave the prison boss fight as it is for now. I was worried about this battle the most, as the pressure increases significantly with another Elite Soldier present. But knowing that you managed to defeat them after some tries is kind of relieving. Whenever you think a certain boss is too easy or too hard, let me know.
@Dealer1993: If you're only missing the default spells the characters start with, and everything else works as intended, then it appears to me that you didn't start a new game after installing the files using zzzdearchive, as levantine said. If you don't, you'd also miss some GF Abilities already learned by default, increased GF compatibility values and Edea starting at level 40 instead of 26, but if you are already past Elvoret, it's probably not worth starting all over again.
Just to make sure, can you confirm that the kernel.bin file (inside main.fs) has been installed correctly? You could easily check by having a look at Break or Pain spells. If Diablos' Pain inflicts damage in addition to status effects, and Break does earth-elemental damage, then all is good.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-19 18:06:33
Post by: setafd on 2020-05-22 00:05:49
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-22 00:49:56
Post by: setafd on 2020-05-22 01:42:59
If you've done the mod installation before, and would like to update because of the latest bugfixes now, it is fine to just do the file replacement again and continue with your previous save game file.
Alright, awesome! I'll put it on the Standard Difficulty for now :) Thanks for the fast reply
Post by: setafd on 2020-05-22 01:57:00
Post by: mackoz on 2020-05-22 08:20:05
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-22 12:22:48
Callisto said this :
can be obtained by completing new sidequests in Deling City and Balamb Garden, respectively.
But I don't really understand wich sidequests he is talking about...
Thx for the help.
Also about a deling city sidequest, where can i find the lost cards of the old man?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-22 16:39:43
@levantine: For Pet Pals Vol.5, enter the sewers through Caraway's mansion after asking him about Iguions, then search for the ladder that leads to the Presidential Palace. From there, head one screen left and wait for several seconds to make the boss appear. After the battle, return to Caraway to receive the magazine.
How to get Pet Pals Vol.6 is explained in the Sidequest document that comes with the DL, but there is a mistake in the description:
Spoiler: show
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-22 17:27:52
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-22 23:18:10
Can't seem to get it to work using Demaster. I keep checking magic and the draw in the library and nothing.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-23 02:46:08
there's no guide for installing the mod using zzzDeArchive yet, but I've just come up with a solution:
Download this file (https://mega.nz/file/uBlQGKbZ#M91KK4ro5SLIFqmBElzc_IUm0QKFjK8oH831tSH9MtI), then open zzzDeArchive and do the following:
1) Select option 3 (Merge)
2) Enter the path to your original main.zzz file (found in .../steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered)
3) Enter the path to one of the difficulty settings inside the download above (ex: D:/Downloads/ragnarok_mod_standard.zzz)
4) Check the OUT folder inside zzzDeArchive parent folder, it should contain a newly created main.zzz file
5) Replace this new main.zzz file with your own main.zzz inside FFVIII Remastered parent folder
Feel free to give it a try and let me know if it worked.
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-23 13:50:25
I had new spells on me when i could check in the classroom and the library has a Double draw point. It seems to be working just fine. I'm gonna give this a full play through, i'll let you know if i run into anything or if anything goes wrong. Thank's for the help and for the effort put in to make this.
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-23 16:12:04
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-24 02:12:21
I think it does well not giving you everything early on so you can cheese it pretty easily. The x10% + x20 STR/MAG buffs are in a good place. I think and the removal of the Zell Card early on (which was so game breaking to me in the original) is a great addition.
I almost lost drawing 100 protect and shell from Grenaldo because i didn't know the boss would go absolutely crazy on me after i killed the last Raldo. That would been a huge fail on my part. So far so good, i can't actually wait to continue with this, i'm on my way to Timber but it's not been easy. I had to re-junction and get my strategy right for a few bosses already, none of them were really walk overs.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-24 06:18:32
As for the Granaldo, yes, it can catch the player off-guard easily after all Raldos are gone. Maybe some kind of warning should be given before the change in its attack pattern occurs. Anyway, I hope the rest of your playthrough goes well.
@levantine: Yes, it's better to do that sidequest a little later. Doing it right away is usually very rough, especially on Hard. I would recommend leveling up and getting some new spells first if their damage output is the main problem (damaging them can also be tricky, as they change elemental weaknesses constantly). The forest near Kashkabald Desert would be a good spot to do so, as all the monster found there are at LV 40.
As for the lost card bundle in Deling City, I messed something up when porting the 2013 field.fs to Remastered, so it was impossible to get. It's fixed now, sorry for the inconvenience.
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 09:39:54
Weakness change constantly?? Wow This bosss is very stronger as I thank ^^
I Okay the loste cards where lost in the porting xD, no problem for the inconvenience, I know that your mod is still in development ;)
Also, need to speak about the fight against Ranjin and Fujin, in my opinion this fight need a nerf, because they where too fast and hit too strong for me, or maybe it's because I was underlevel for this fight (Squall was 32, Rinoa and Zell where 24 in memory).
Or maybe it's because a strategy that I did not found need to be applicate here (the only trick I found is to draw G-force, but even with this they where too strong).
Batle was too long, and too frustrate because of ranjin one shot squall full hp, and Fujin who buff and debuff as hell.
Edit : Was thinking about 1 or 2 trick that could help for killing them, so maybe it's me and they don't need a nerf, will check it when I could ;)
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-24 10:29:52
@Callisto I am on disc 3 and have just defeated Bahamut. I have only just realized that Jumbo Cactuar has all the Str, Vit, Mag and HP Bonuses. I have been playing with the same team the entire game (Squall, quistis, zell), they're lvl 100 but rinoa and the others are around lvl 20. I'm going to level up in island closest to hell with the bonuses junctioned. I think the low lvl characters will become overpowered and that these bonuses shouldn't be in the mod. I already have 255 str on squall and 255 mag on quistis and I never used the bonuses.
Maybe the disc 4 bosses are really hard and we are required to do this?
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 12:15:48
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-24 13:29:52
@Callisto just a follow-up on the bonuses, I got rinoa to lvl 100 from lvl 21 with hp, vit, spr and mag bonuses and she's looking a bit overpowered. I mean she has 255 mag and 231 spirit with nothing junctioned to them...
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-24 13:56:01
I been looking for the Stength Bonus on Ifrit i was kinda wondering where it was actually. Thanks for the heads up on that Dealer1993 !
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 14:23:17
About bonuses, I think it's a mistake that cactuar have them, Callisto said that he don't want this in his mod (and I totally agree with this, because as you saw, have the bonuses anable make character overpowered)
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-24 14:59:09
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 15:21:52
Spoiler: show
@Tempest : About Kiros card, there is a document in the folder you downloaded that explain how to obtain Kiros card :
"Instead of the Minimog card, you need to lose the Quezacotl card to the Card Queen to initiate this sidequest. This creates the Kiros card, which can then be found at Winhill Inn instead of Deling City streets."
Just wanted to say that the man is indeed in the inn (or auberge), but need to do something in the inn for appear him
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-24 16:06:58
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 17:30:57
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-24 17:44:48
@Dealer1993: The Stat Bonus Abilites shouldn't be there at all, as levantine said. Them being available from Cactuar was a side effect from not starting a new game after mod installtion (meaning the custom init.out file that determines GF Abilities learned by default was not loaded for your save). Should have realized sooner, sorry. You can use the the Hyne tool (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=9713.0) to undo all of the acquired bonus stats from the Characters tab if you like. The LV Up Ability will probably be replaced from the mod as well for the next version, as it allows way too big level jumps in general.
The BGH251F2 in Fisherman's Horizon automatically gets weaker after a set amount of turns indeed, to match its Scan description ("Can only fight for a short amount of time."), so going full defense before that happens helps a lot.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-24 18:49:11
@Callisto I will undo the bonuses, in terms of defense they were completely broken, having 255 spr means even ultimas deal less than 1000 dmg to me. I think I found a bug, while fighting Adel she did a move that instantly gave me victory. I couldn't see what it was very well because I was using the 3x speed option but it was called reflect something. she used it and instantly laguna's dialogue popped up. No defeat animation or anything. I retried the fight but she never used that move again.
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 19:19:01
Sorry for missing a letter "E" that cause misunderstanding, so yes I play to the lionheart mode, never play to the standard Ragnarock mod i wanted to start directly with the lionheart one ;)
Surprise that we encounter different experience with BGH251F2, as I said in my case, this boss wasn't too difficult with the strategy I used (the same as Callisto said, buff/heal at the begining until the boss auto-nerf himself).
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-24 20:46:20
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-24 21:50:08
I'm at the end of disc 2, we will see how are futur bosses with my playstyle hehe
Post by: Tempest on 2020-05-24 23:07:55
This is a lot of fun so far.
I think this is a bug instead of getting Pet Pals 4 from the Deling Hotel i got a Magical Lamp that i can't do anything with.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-24 23:58:59
@Tempest: Pet Pals Vol.4 is only one out of eight items that can be received after staying at Galbadia. The possible items are as follows (1/8 chance each):
- Pet Pals Vol.4
- Pet Nametag
- Luvluv G
- Mega-Potion
- G-Mega-Potion
- Life Ring
- Rune Armlet
- Magical Lamp
The Magical Lamps can be traded for a random stat up item or an Elixir at FH Seaside Station after the Lunar Cry event on disc 3, so it pays off to keep them until that point.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-25 11:47:52
I can go in more detail about the mod (specific bosses/disc/area difficulty...) if you want more feedback.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-26 04:00:06
Which late-game bosses (other than Ultimecia and Omega Weapon) do you think should be more difficult in particular? Or would you rather say that the lack of difficulty is a result of player resources still being too generous? You said that you used a low HP strategy for most of the time, so was there a certain Limit Break that was just too powerful? If the issue was Angel Wing, then there's unfortunately not much I can do in Remastered other than bringing back the damage cap for spells (or increasing enemy Spirit before they get hit by an Angel Wing spell, but not sure if that would work).
Otherwise, thank you very much for the feedback and testing the Hard Mode so early. I see that the late-game diffculty is probably not that far from Standard Mode at the moment. I'll see what I can do to improve it for the next version.
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-05-26 05:54:02
I have been mostly enjoying the adventure with the welcome rebalancing and huge difficultly bump until getting the mobile garden, then immediately hit a wall.
These are my personal notes, which I am sure will have some disagreements from others who have been deeper into the re-balancing than myself over the last 20 years.
- I get that the cards/card mod was excessively over-powered in the vanilla version, but this makes it excessively weak. Playing cards feels like a waste of time with this "rebalancing", both because I am effectively cut off from all the decent spells and because I am completely cut off from higher-level equipment until the game "lets" me. What I loved about the card game originally it it let me "break the mold" and get things earlier than I was supposed to. I agree that I shouldn't be getting curagas before I leave Balamb, but the high-level boss cards shouldn't be as junky as they became. Nothing sparks joy like getting Punishment before leaving the Garden, or Lion Heart on disc 1. No, I'm not expecting to be able to jump up to that level as fast in a properly balanced mod, but I also don't like feeling held back either. I didn't get a mesmerize blade to upgrade my gunblade until the scripted garden encounter, at which point it was almost insulting that the game was now "letting" me upgrade my weapon, rather than being something I earned.
- Removing the enemy auto-levelling works great 90% of the time, but then I get railroaded into using one party because my B team is too weak to switch in. My Irvine and Rinoa are struggling to break level 20 because I can never justify having them in my party without spending hours on random encounters to beef them up - especially when Rinoa's Angelo limit breaks are now a pile of hot garbage.
- I am using this mod along with the "hard mode" launcher (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15354.0), I'd like some clarification if they are SUPPOSED to be used concurrently. As things are now, I feel like melee is a complete waste of time compared to magic, which seems like an over-correction. But this is my first attempt into modding the game, so it very will could be that I'm handicapping myself more than the rebalancing intended.
- I was pissed that Ultima at the shumi village was replaced. I'm already paying a fortune to draw, just let me have ultima. If I want to waste 6 hours running in circles to fully stock all characters, that's my problem (but its really the principle of the thing). After all, this is a single player game - there's no real reason to cap what I get out of pure grining.
- A lot of enemies just feel like damage sponges for no real reason. I shouldn't need multiple full-strength attacks to kill a bite bug on disc 2 - the random encounters just eat an obscene amount of time.
What inspired this rant was trying to get Odin. I have no idea if I'm under- or over-levelled compared to others at this point in the game, but it is extremely frustrating to get a moving garden, head over to centra, and get timed out on random encounters because I can't kill the enemies fast enough. I haven't had a crazy time with any encounter before this (unless I was being greedy with draws), but that is mostly because I was free to go on the defensive.
I can't do that with a time limit, and I really hate effectively having an "invisible wall" around that part of the game until I feel like grinding. Until this point, I haven't encountered anything that I would consider "unbeatable" (brothers took a few tries, the Garden Master series of souped-up enemies took a few tries, but nothing I didn't think I could do), but now it feels like the doors opened on exploring the world, only to slam shut because I'm not "at the level" this area requires.
Post by: levantine on 2020-05-26 10:01:27
Did you find something that's allow physical attack break the cap like magic or it's something that you still working in? Fear that fighters would be useless compare to magicians in end game, espacially for someone like me who don't use so much limit break.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-26 10:38:06
Lion heart is also too overpowered, every hit needs to deal 1/3 or 1/2 of the damage it does now. Quistis's limits are fine, I didn't use Zell because they changed the buttons in remastered for duel.
Just as in vanilla, Selphie's limit is very good early game but useless in late-game. My suggestion is to increase the odds for high damage spells like calamity as she levels up or as she gets better weapons (if that's even possible).
To answer your question, I think the modified natural stat growth of all characters played a big role in this lack of difficulty. More specifically, if you wanted Rinoa to be a magic user in vanilla you had to use high tier spells like ultima to the mag junction to get close to 255. Now I can use Thundaga or something and use Ultima for some other stat like luck or HP. My Irvine had 135 speed with auto haste and 124 luck(!) with luck +30%. I beat Ultimecia with his limit break alone.
I have played through this game a million times and I don't want to make other players suffer with insane difficulty just because the late game was easy for me.
Post by: Dealer1993 on 2020-05-27 19:30:00
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-28 00:50:12
@Dealer1993: Thanks for elaborating on your impressions. So it was mostly the Limit Breaks that made things easy for you.
The issue with Selphie's Calamity still being relatively rare in the late-game is the possibility of it popping up in the early-game, where it can one-shot bosses easily. There's unfortunately no reliable way of keeping this spell exclusive to the late-game, so I was overly cautious of not making it appear too often. I could try making it weaker in the early-game though and make it appear more frequently in return.
As for Lion Heart, I think it's ok as it is. Omega Weapon is one of the few late-game bosses that are actually vulnerable to Vit 0, so against most other bosses with a decent Vitality stat (Jumbo Cactuar, Ultima Weapon, Griever etc), it's not quite as powerful. Angel Wing definitely needs a change in Remastered sooner or later, as even without knowing the game well, it's easy to abuse. If I can manage to make it work like in the 2013 version, then Rinoa's high base Magic should be no problem (damage average is about 20,000 HP per spell in 2013 Steam with Rinoa's Magic stat maxed out).
@aegisjester: Welcome to the forums and thanks for the feedback. I'm afraid that some of the frustation you've experienced so far is indeed caused by the Hard Mode launcher you linked. It decreases all player physical damage by a factor of 1.5, which explains your impression of random encounters taking too long. A Bite Bug should never take more than 2 weapon hits from Squall or Zell as long as they have access to STR-J and a decent spell junctioned to STR. Furthermore, enemy levels and enemy physical damage are also slightly higher than intended with the Hard Mode active, so all in all, I would advise against using it in conjunction with this mod.
As for the other points you made:
Quote
- I get that the cards/card mod was excessively over-powered in the vanilla version, but this makes it excessively weak. Playing cards feels like a waste of time with this "rebalancing", both because I am effectively cut off from all the decent spells and because I am completely cut off from higher-level equipment until the game "lets" me. What I loved about the card game originally it it let me "break the mold" and get things earlier than I was supposed to. I agree that I shouldn't be getting curagas before I leave Balamb, but the high-level boss cards shouldn't be as junky as they became. Nothing sparks joy like getting Punishment before leaving the Garden, or Lion Heart on disc 1. No, I'm not expecting to be able to jump up to that level as fast in a properly balanced mod, but I also don't like feeling held back either.Some of the Card Mod results are quite weak, yes, but I wouldn't say excessively weak in general, as Card Mod still allows getting many spells before they become available by drawing from an enemy. For example, the Water and Bio spells that can be won from Fastitocalon and Tri-Face cards right after the beginning of the game are a great help with getting through the early-game. The same goes for cards that refine into Magic Stones to get early access to the -ara spells, or the Grendel card to get more Double spells that are very valuable until they can be drawn from regular enemies later in the game. I also think that the boss cards are in a reasonable spot, as they also provide the earliest access to high-level spells (-aga spells through LV 6 cards that become available from Fisherman's Horizon onwards, Tornado and Quake through LV 7 cards at the beginning of disc 3 onwards). Not sure if you have noticed yet, but all these spells are way more powerful than in the base-game if you cast with a magic-oriented character, so getting some through Card Mod should always be worth it - most of them aren't even very good for junctions to encourage free use in battle.
Quote
I didn't get a mesmerize blade to upgrade my gunblade until the scripted garden encounter, at which point it was almost insulting that the game was now "letting" me upgrade my weapon, rather than being something I earned.So the weapon in question is the Flame Saber which is the 4th out of 7 weapons for Squall. One the mod's goals is to achieve a sense of progression in regards to become more powerful overall, something the base game is clearly lacking. So the earliest occasion of getting the Flame Saber is around mid-game after the Mesmerize battle in Balamb Garden, to make sure this weapon is easily accessible to all players, without playing Triple Triad or searching the world for materials, which I thought was important to keep in check the physical vs. magical output at this point. If the Flame Saber was available right from the start by just playing a couple of card games, that wouldn't be very balanced, especially not when considering the increased Strength bonus the weapons provide. I think the possible jump from Revolver to Cutting Trigger right after the beginning of the game by playing Triple Triad is fair enough.
Other than that, I understand that this kind of gating things can take away from the feeling of having earned something, but there are still enough weapons that won't fall into the player's hands automatically, among other things such as getting certain steals from bosses (for example, the Power Wrist from Minotaur is very good), looking for spells (drawing the Life spell in Deling City sewers as Laguna already etc) or the rewards from additional challenges like for doing the Fire Cavern in 5 minutes.
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- Removing the enemy auto-levelling works great 90% of the time, but then I get railroaded into using one party because my B team is too weak to switch in. My Irvine and Rinoa are struggling to break level 20 because I can never justify having them in my party without spending hours on random encounters to beef them up - especially when Rinoa's Angelo limit breaks are now a pile of hot garbage.Yes, the level gap between characters can become problematic for sure. For the next version, EXP for bosses are planned, so this should help mitigating this issue. Probably should have implemented this sooner, but I've been reluctant as it takes away the possibility of low-level runs (found a solution though) - sorry for the trouble. Some of the character starting levels will also be changed, which makes sense especially in the case of Quistis. Most of Rinoa's Angelo Limit Breaks are based on Rinoa's Strength stat, so if you raise it enough, they shouldn't be too bad.
- Ultima Draw point in Shumi Village: I think that having basically limitless to access Ultima that early would make most of the upcoming bosses too easy - even 15-20 would already be enough. This Draw point contained Meteor in older versions of the mod, and it was still too powerful according to player feedback, so it was changed to Quake which is still good in the hands of a magic-oriented character, and not easy to get through other means at this point of the game.
- Centra Ruins changes: I see that the instant Game Over after the time is up doesn't add much, so I'll probably revert that back to default, at least for Standard Mode. For Lionheart Mode, I'd definitely like to keep in the inability to leave Centra Ruins after a certain point, as just solving the riddles until the door to Odin's chamber opens, and then returning to the world map and save, kind of defeats the purpose of the timer. Of course, the timer could be changed to begin in Odin's chamber, so it's only relevant for the battle itself, but I like how the scripted battle along with the timer create a good degree of tension. If the Chimera that appears in the scripted battle becomes a problem, it can be easily dealt with using gravity-based attacks or Degenerator.
Post by: warkwarth on 2020-05-29 21:19:17
Also had a tough time with edea on disc 2 but that's the way it should be I actually had prepare my junctions just for her (auto potion and death resist) gave me a real sense of accomplishment finally beating her
Don't have much feedback for you yet except maybe junctioning death to attack for nearly 100% death with lots of enemies made alot of battles trivial at least on disc 2 no idea how what this is like late game yet though.
I was just curious is it possible to uninstall an older version of this mod install the new one and continue my game?
Is it possible to convert it somehow to lionheart mode from standard?
I'm only worried late game will become to easy but I suppose I can use another difficulty mod along with this one
Post by: Callisto on 2020-05-31 02:50:28
A difficulty mod that can be put on top of this one is this Hard Mode (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=15354.0), but I would not recommend doing so, as your physical attackers will be severely handicapped with it active, as mentioned above. I would try Lionheart standalone first to see how it goes (enemy resistances against Death are increased in this mode), and then maybe go for Hard Mode if you feel it's still too easy.
Otherwise congratulations on defeating Edea. Auto-Potion is indeed useful in that battle and generally often overlooked. Well done :)
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-05-31 20:47:13
Re: Cards - I guess it comes back to the balance of junction vs casting magics. In Balamb/Timber, I was indeed trying to load up on water spells from Fastitocalon cards, but they're not very common at that point in the game, and it still takes a couple to get a fish fin. I spent about an hour card playing and walked away with 20 waters. Meanwhile, I just power through Timber (exactly 1 boss battle later, so having the extra spells doesn't really impact difficulty progression) and I can mug them to my heart's content on the beaches outside Dollet. The loads of potions I'm getting out of my card wins just seems kind of "dummied". Grendel and Tri-Face don't have that issue - the cards are rare enough, and require enough refinements, that its too much of a pain to try to grind them to get junctionable stocks of spells, but can give me some good spells to keep in my back pocket in a pinch (which is how it feels like the card refinements "should" be, to me anyway).
Re: Weapons: I'm not going to complain too much on this, going around looking for random encounters opens up a few more possibilities. But I got my flame saber only to hit another wall for the Twin Lance, which I'm basically locked out of with the current level caps of all the enemies, since I can't get the required materials (as far as I can tell), relegating it to a Disc 3 upgrade (so I get all of 1 new weapon in disc 2). Not really a bad thing, and if I was playing FF8 for the first time I wouldn't think it was weird - I was probably more annoyed that my attacks were so weak from the hard mode mod that I was frustrated I couldn't get that extra 5% out of a better weapon. HOWEVER - if possible (and I can't see if it is the case), it would be fantastic if some weapons boosted magic instead of just strength.
Shumi quake draw: What if you make the recharge for the draw point much longer, but at least set it to flare or something non-elemental (I don't know which is stronger for junctions - meteor or flare)? Or circumvent that whole issue by switching to Full Life/Renew - OP, but in the opposite direction. If it can be done, what I think makes sense thematically for this particular draw point is that it would be randomized out of -aga and above spells (a guarded magic spring that puts out randomized "powerful" spells - and you're taking a gamble with each purchase).
I spent a few hours wandering around the world map, and started the battle of gardens. Love the Shockwave Pulsar without maxed Siren, but seifer and edea are absolutely wiping the floor with me. I get he's desperate, but his attacks are WAY stronger than the earlier battle (and he seems to be draining himself?). I'd say that if you want that maxed-out desperate attack, he should start out poisoned or something (he's going well beyond his limit, which is breaking him).
Post by: DefinitelyMarc on 2020-06-01 01:48:06
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-06-01 13:09:25
https://youtu.be/Wv97PHDpC0c
Not a lot to say, I just follow the instruction to show and ensure the mod is properly installed, did an early drawing spells and beat Ifrit in 10 minutes, little mistake in the dialogue from the guard at the entrance they say "You managed to get the GF within 5 minutes." but on Lionheart the minimum you can choose is 10 minutes, yeah I know just a little nitpick :-D , manage to do it in 7 minutes.
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-06-01 15:35:41
Post by: Zara9 on 2020-06-01 16:20:10
does this mod have a hard mode on it yet, just curious
Post by: warkwarth on 2020-06-01 21:19:44
I am on an old version of this mod so I do have cactuars bonus abilities and I used them a bunch on squall not realizing it wasn't a part of this mod?!
Even so I am having a hell of a time trying to beat adel I junctioned both life and and full life to stat defense and doom strike STILL always gets me, even tried remedy+ is there no counter to doom?!
Energy ball is pretty much a 1 hit kill too unless I have renew and especially after ultima but I can't keep haste or renew because doom kills everyone
I am forced to used renzokuken spam but everytime fated circle kills rinoa, how the hell are people doing this fight!??!
I am on at least my 10th try and am waiting for a lionheart to proc feels like a lot of luck and I'm also having to use a lvl 20 characacter because rinoa was in my team.
Can anyone help with with strat against adel?
Also as a minor feedback could rebirth flame heal at least 1 person to full life!? as it is now it never helped me once I'm always dead next turn anyways
I won't be switching ti lionheart mode anytime soon
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-02 08:43:06
- Seifer (3rd) no longer uses Drain on himself
- Garden Faculty dialogue after exiting Fire Cavern has been corrected (5 min -> 10 min)
- Some alterations to Omega Weapon's AI
- Some Elem-Def options have been toned down
@aegisjester: You've made some really good suggestions. Especially your idea in regards to the Shumi Draw point containing random spells sounds tempting. Not sure if I can make it work though, need some more time to check first, so I've put that idea on hold for now. An item shop somewhere in Galbadia Garden should be no problem, and will be included in the next version of the mod. More weapon stat bonuses have been requested quite a lot for FF8 mods, but it's unfortunately one of the harder things to do, so it probably won't happen too soon.
As for Seifer (3rd battle), he uses two scripted attacks on Squall that are auto-crits, so maybe your impression of him being stronger than before relates to that. Apart from those two hits, he is actually weaker than in the previous battle, especially defensively. It's also possible to poison him to get rid of him as soon as possible to fully focus on Edea.
@Nesouk: Well done Ifrit battle, but maybe the Fire Cavern challenge should be changed from "Beat Ifrit within 10 minutes" to "Beat Ifrit without Double". I guess it's the thing that makes the fight more than managable even in Lionheart Mode. Anyway, interested in seeing more of your playthrough, I hope all goes well and not too frustratingly.
@Zara9: Yes, a harder version of the mod was released some weeks ago. Check out the DL links and setup instructions if you want to try it out.
@warkwarth: If Cactuar has the Stat-Bonus Abilities, your save must be indeed from a really old version of the mod. Starting a new game after a new version has been installed is recommended to avoid issues like this, but I guess it's not a big deal and be corrected anytime with Hyne Save Editor if you feel like it (it would also unlock the replacements for those Abilities in Cactuar's Ability list).
If Adel's Energy Bomber one-shots everyone, you probably didn't remove the Vit 0 status effect from your characters, which is caused by Adel's opening move, Ray-Bomb. Always watch for its visual cue (a red-purple-ish tint on your characters) and remove it as soon as possible. The Doom status can be removed with the Treatment Ability, Elixirs or Megalixirs. If you don't want to use any of these, you can also use Zombie to stop the countdown. As for attacking, junctioning Wind spells to your characters' Elem-Atk is your best bet. Phoenix has recently been buffed in the 2013 Standard version - he now revives characters with 25% of their max HP (instead of 12,5%). That's all I can do to make him better at the moment, sorry. Hope you'll manage to beat her!
Post by: Nesouk on 2020-06-02 10:35:22
Also sadly can't continue for now Rose and Wine W07 keep screwing up on me, and it gotten even worse now for some reasons it litteraly disable my keyboard for FFVIII and since you can't close the Windows that show the button mapping, I can't even play the game, and this is definitly due to RaW W07 cause when I install W06 again it works with no problem.
Post by: Tempest on 2020-06-02 15:32:24
Also was Tonberry changed at all ? Do you acquire him the same way as the base game ?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-02 18:30:24
Post by: levantine on 2020-06-03 11:28:51
Post by: Rikku on 2020-06-03 16:20:33
I´m playing the lionheart mode of the mod and is really awesome, a bit more challenger the the standard version but not a imposible to beat.
I have some questions
1.- Is there a way to use a full controller with the steam version or it is impossible ?
2º.- What are the main differences between the steam version and the remaster version ? I considered buying the remastered version but i don´t know, if the differences aren´t so big i will continue with the 2013 version.
3º.- In the remaster, It is possible to use a way to use a magic without a number down, i mean, a free magic cast way like in the 2013 version can ?
Thank you !!
Post by: Tempest on 2020-06-03 17:40:50
Who play's the Kiros card ? I've been searching around Winhill for ages and i don't even know which building the Inn is ? I think i might have messed this quest up because i gave the Queen Quezacotl in Dollet...
Post by: Tempest on 2020-06-04 18:13:29
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-05 00:32:47
The differences between 2013 Steam and Remastered are listed here (https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VIII_version_differences#Final_Fantasy_VIII_Remastered). Note that "Updated animation effects in spells and command actions" is a bit misleading; there aren't any new effects in Remastered at all, some of them just look less broken compared to 2013 version (a good example would be Resonance and Sonic Wave enemy attacks). Also, a speed-up option is already present in 2013, and loading times aren't "significantly" faster in Remastered at all (only compared to original PS1 version). The other points in that list are correct though.
Infinite magic should be possible in Remastered as well, but I guess no one has looked for its address in the game code yet.
@Tempest: The inn is located at the southern exit of the village. Head to the counter to make a previously unseen NPC appear in the room, and select "No" when being asked about staying at the inn. You can then challenge this person to a card game to win the Kiros card.
As for Irvine's Ultimate Weapon, I have checked it myself and had no problems getting it. Are you sure you have all the required items? In the mod, it's Dino Bone x2, Shaman Stone x1, Star Fragment x2 and Screw x18.
Post by: Tempest on 2020-06-05 10:06:02
@Tempest: The inn is located at the southern exit of the village. Head to the counter to make a previously unseen NPC appear in the room, and select "No" when being asked about staying at the inn. You can then challenge this person to a card game to win the Kiros card.Ah so the materials are different. I assumed it was a Moon Stone instead of a Shaman Stone, i've used Irvine quite a bit in other versions.
As for Irvine's Ultimate Weapon, I have checked it myself and had no problems getting it. Are you sure you have all the required items? In the mod, it's Dino Bone x2, Shaman Stone x1, Star Fragment x2 and Screw x18.
I think i may have screwed up the quest i gave Minimog to the QOC in Balamb not realizing about the changes. she then moved to Dollet, i went back there and gave her Quezacotll. I have since checked the place in Winhill and no NPC is appearing there. The Kiros Card has been changed right because i would imagine that 3 Auto-Hastes would be too big too pass up on before travelling to Esthar in Lionheart mode. Thanks for the info !
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-06-07 15:54:22
Post by: ClownOfSorrows on 2020-06-07 16:58:14
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-06-08 23:22:41
I've re-read through the posts a couple times now, and I'd say a lot of people are just looking for a "bigger challenge" with the way they like to play. I design games from the ground up, and I'd say this re-balancing is 100% doing the job - all the other stuff is just icing on the cake.
My previous grievance against the cards still stands, however. You should be ashamed.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-09 05:34:55
The new Kiros card holder in Winhill inn even appears if you haven't lost the Quezacotl card to the Queen of Cards yet. She should always show up after ringing the bell on the counter to the far left of the room. The Kiros card refines into 3 Aegis Amulets in this mod, which can be used to make your physically fragile party members dodge physical attacks more often.
@ClownofSorrows: I'm not sure what access you're referring to. More information would help.
@aegisjester: Unfortunately, many scenes throughout the game rely on Squall being in the active party, so excluding him will result in glitches or make the game crash - at least without rewriting most fields from scratch. Could do it for disc 4 perhaps, as there's not much going on story-wise, but even that would mean quite a bit of work, as Squall is supposed to be the party leader in Chocobo Forests, for example.
I'll put a changelog that lists standard and hard mode differences to the OP shortly (a quick summary can already be viewed some posts back).
As for Card Mod results, I'm ok with most of them as they currently are. If you play Triple Triad regularly, you can still get many cards that grant access to spells and items that aren't available through other means yet. Even if it takes time to get full stocks for junctioning, getting a few for casting in battle alone is already worth it, as you said (the possibility of reliably getting Fish Fins from Fastitocalons at the beaches near Dollet was a mistake that will be corrected soon; the first opportunity to get them regularly was supposed to be at the beaches near Deling City instead).
I know that seeing something like Dino Bone having become a LV 7 boss card result can be irritating at first, but the value of items like these is usually completely different in this mod (in comparison to the base game), as most spells do much more damage or have useful supportive capabilities that are rather irrelevant in the base game (Double, Full-life etc).
Besides that, there are just too many cards in the game to give every single one a decent result if you want to keep things balanced and accessible right after the start of the game. An alternative would be moving the Card Mod Ability to the end-game so every single card mods into something really useful, but that's not very desirable, is it?
Post by: ClownOfSorrows on 2020-06-09 12:06:59
(https://i.imgur.com/Yxvghlb.png)
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-09 17:06:08
Post by: Nikito on 2020-06-11 20:15:52
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-12 04:24:40
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-06-12 16:08:01
@aegisjester: Unfortunately, many scenes throughout the game rely on Squall being in the active party, so excluding him will result in glitches or make the game crash - at least without rewriting most fields from scratch. Could do it for disc 4 perhaps, as there's not much going on story-wise, but even that would mean quite a bit of work, as Squall is supposed to be the party leader in Chocobo Forests, for example.Yea for the overworld he needs to be there, but how about JUST the battle party? In Chrono Cross, after completing the main game there was a way to swap out Serge JUST for the battles on the repeated playthroughs
Post by: ShadowCloudX on 2020-06-14 22:23:56
1. Is this intentionally supposed to be hard? I am on the remaster and using the standard version of the mod and I am constantly being destroyed/2 hit by enemies.
2. Or is this mod intentionally hard at the beginning and evens out at you progress? (Granted I'm not far but X-ATM092 is super difficult, maybe I didn't level as much as I should've before the mission?)
I don't mind difficulty in mods and maybe I didn't install something right but I was under the impression this isn't an hardcore mod unless you use the Lionheart version.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-15 01:29:16
@ShadowCloudX: I don't really know what could cause so much trouble that early in the game. The SeeD mission is balanced around being beatable without leveling up at all. Additional Stat-J Abilties (other than the ones your GF have already learned by default) are not necessary to progress either at this point.
What matters most is that all 3 characters possess basic spells. Make sure to get a good Cure stock for Selphie. It's generally helpful to make her your primary magic user and give her Quezacotl so she can make good use of her high natural Magic stat (at the beginning, Quezacotl is the only GF with the Mag-J Ability). This will help with dealing spell damage and also affects the amount of HP restored with Cure (Squall and Zell should heal with Potions at this point, as their HP restoration amount is usually below 200 when casting Cure).
X-ATM092 is weak to Thunder and should collapse after taking two Thunder spells from Selphie, until it stands up for the last time. It actually uses only one threatening attack (Ray-Bomb) which is used at regular intervals and never multiple times in a row. Its damage can be reduced with Shell which Zell came with when joining the party. The other attacks shouldn't be much of a problem but can be weakened with Protect (can be directly drawn from X-ATM092), just in case.
Other than that, are you perhaps playing with maxed out battle speed? If you do, then I would recommend setting the ATB speed back to default, as enemies will out-tempo you on higher settings because they don't need to spend time on selecting commands and targets (other than the player) - even the vanilla game becomes noticably harder with high ATB speed settings, so it's definitely not recommended for this mod, especially not for the boss fights.
Post by: ShadowCloudX on 2020-06-15 02:46:54
If I somehow accidentally installed the Lionheart version, would I have to start over to see the changes of the standard version?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-15 03:15:18
Starting a new game for the Standard version settings to take effect is not necessary. Also feel free to share some damage numbers from certain enemy attacks to make sure that everything is working as intended.
Post by: aegisjester on 2020-06-17 04:04:18
Post by: Callisto on 2020-06-17 04:34:28
Post by: adnanj91 on 2020-07-08 00:55:33
Post by: Callisto on 2020-07-09 08:16:06
Post by: AbsoLootAaron on 2020-07-21 21:24:21
I think that'd be a nice balance.
Essentially taking more time and effort if you want the best magic in-game.
But that's just my personal preference.
Maybe create a magic tier system, where at the lowest magic level you can draw up to a max of 100, and as you go up the tier list you can only draw a certain amount. Example, for top tier magic you can only draw up to 9 or less at a time.
Maybe even lowering the chances of getting a high draw number as you go up the tier list?
This would make the earlier parts of the game quicker and less frustrating/boring, while keeping the later parts of the game more rewarding to achieve.
Capping everything at max 9 draw or at max 100 draw for ALL magic still have their own positives and "negatives".
Doing it the way i've mentioned up above would be a very nice middle ground. Taking the positives from both sides and putting them together.
Has anyone ever thought of this as well?
I feel this idea could of been overlooked. Or would it be hard to implement?! Idk lol :P
Hopefully it can come to fruition someday. I REALLY love this idea.
Even if it's just for the hard mode version or as an optional mod, i'll take anything.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-07-25 01:32:51
Quote from: HeavensFury
It'd be cool if weak magic was easier/faster to draw, but for strong magic it's harder/slower to draw.
I think that'd be a nice balance.
Essentially taking more time and effort if you want the best magic in-game.
But that's just my personal preference.
Maybe create a magic tier system, where at the lowest magic level you can draw up to a max of 100, and as you go up the tier list you can only draw a certain amount. Example, for top tier magic you can only draw up to 9 or less at a time.
Maybe even lowering the chances of getting a high draw number as you go up the tier list?
This would make the earlier parts of the game quicker and less frustrating/boring, while keeping the later parts of the game more rewarding to achieve.
Capping everything at max 9 draw or at max 100 draw for ALL magic still have their own positives and "negatives".
Doing it the way i've mentioned up above would be a very nice middle ground. Taking the positives from both sides and putting them together.
Has anyone ever thought of this as well?
I feel this idea could of been overlooked. Or would it be hard to implement?! Idk lol :P
Hopefully it can come to fruition someday. I REALLY love this idea.
Even if it's just for the hard mode version or as an optional mod, i'll take anything.
Thanks for sharing your ideas. What you requested is more or less already part of the base game in the form Draw resist values for each spell. They determine how easy/hard a given spell can be drawn in battle, but this mechanic can't really be utilized because of the Draw limit of 9. In the 2013 version of this mod however, where this limit has been removed, the different Draw resist values show, and drawing 100 Ultimas in one go is not even possible with maxed out Magic stats, while for something basic like Cure, it's easily doable. More information on Draw resist here:
https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Draw_(Final_Fantasy_VIII)#Draw_list
On another note, an update for the Remastered version will be released by the end of the week, and most of the missing features will finally be ported over. I just need a little more time to create a patch. Sorry for the long wait to everyone waiting for this update.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-07-26 03:18:45
- Draw cap removal in battle
- Alteration to the Draw amount formula that allows for more Draws
- Alteration to the magic damage formula
- Alteration to ATB bar filling speed
- Removal of magic damage division for enemies
- Break Damage Limit for weapon attacks
- Rare Item Ability fix
- Return Damage improvement (now returns 1/2 of the damage)
- Phoenix Down and Life spell HP restoration change to 25% max HP
- Darkside damage multiplier change from x3 to x2
- Darkside HP loss change from 10% to 20% max HP
- Kamikaze damage multiplier from max HP x5 to max HP x2
- Angel Wing damage multiplier from x5 to x3
- Removal of damage reduction for Cover Ability
- Exclusion of X-Potion and Elixir from Auto-Potion Ability
- Penalty removal when using GF compatibility items
That leaves us with only a few features still missing (most of them are somewhat covered up by workarounds though):
-
-
- Angel Wing, Vit 0, and Dispel+Damage attack type patch by JWP
-
-
- Removal of Invincibility items from the Angelo Search item pool
- EXP-None Character Ability
A few balance changes and bugfixes have been made as well, for both versions:
- Elite Soldier no longer gains a Speed bonus at the top of D-District Prison
- X-ATM092 has more HP in Hard Mode
- Fujin and Raijin (Balamb encounter) are a little slower in Hard Mode
- Seifer and Edea (G-Garden) are a little slower in the combined Hard Mode battle
- Some enemy attacks (Shotgun, Counter Laser Eye etc) are less powerful in Standard Mode
- Esthar Soldier (Cyborg) has less HP in Standard Mode
- A softlock that can occur when fighting Behemoth has been fixed
Installation for the Remastered version has changed and now requires a patch to the FFVIII_EFIGS.dll file for the new changes to take effect. See first page for more information. If you already have the Remastered version installed and want to upgrade now, going through the installation process again is necessary, as the kernel.bin file has undergone some major changes. Feel free to ask if any help is needed.
Post by: sutebenukun on 2020-07-26 18:02:41
Just wanted to give you a heads up that the download links appear to be messed up. I tried downloading the 2013 version but that keeps giving me the 2019 remaster version and the 2019 link says the file was removed when I tried that as well.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-07-26 18:21:45
Post by: Murasame on 2020-07-30 13:16:03
One question I have is would you consider a clothes change option for the characters that already have pre existing field and battle models? I’m not sure if this isn’t possible because the likes of Seifer and Edea don’t appear as party members where they aren’t supposed to and I don’t know if normal Squall and uniform Squall are just skins or entirely different models.
Post by: Lunarian on 2020-08-02 13:23:25
Post by: Solodin on 2020-08-03 13:56:02
Post by: Callisto on 2020-08-03 20:36:38
@Solodin: If you are on Lionheart Mode, it could be normal, yes. Especially without using Double from the BG Library Draw point. In Standard Mode however, Ifrit should be very managable even without any prior level or AP grinding. Just don't let your HP drop below 300 and heal with Potions or Cure from own stock - do not rely on Draw cast Cure, as its result is random and can heal only very little HP if you are unlucky.
Also reduce battle speed if you have set it to max - on higher settings, enemies will easily out-tempo your characters as they don't need to spend time on selecting commands and targets.
Both Draw Cast randomization and higher ATB speed settings will be addressed soon. Especially the latter can make the mod nearly unplayable unless you know exactly what you and the enemy are doing - it's just way too fast and can even make the vanilla game quite challenging at times. So for now, I'd definitely advise against using it.
Post by: xxxjejay on 2020-08-05 14:19:08
Enjoy the mod very much.
Just Wondering how to get the sidequest "The lonely girl in Dollet" done.
Which needs to collect three ingredients for helping girl's sick mother.
As I see, two of them are Mystery Fluid and Remedy+.
But I can't find the last key item (an extract of a certain flower).
The only clue I found was the woman in Winhill who can also make medicine with flowers.
Any reply is appreciated.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-08-05 21:27:55
Hi, Callisto.Thanks and welcome to the forums.
Enjoy the mod very much.
Just Wondering how to get the sidequest "The lonely girl in Dollet" done.
Which needs to collect three ingredients for helping girl's sick mother.
As I see, two of them are Mystery Fluid and Remedy+.
But I can't find the last key item (an extract of a certain flower).
The only clue I found was the woman in Winhill who can also make medicine with flowers.
Any reply is appreciated.
The flower that is needed to complete this sidequest is received from a waitress at Timber Pub after the girl in Dollet gave the clues regarding the ingredients. I'll try to make it a little more obvious next time by making an NPC in Dollet Pub hint at Timber, in case the player visits Dollet Pub first.
Post by: Pruntarious on 2020-09-02 15:02:57
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-02 20:00:23
All attacks execpt Beam Cannon do physical damage, so it helps to raise Vitality as high as possible before the battle and to equip Abilities like Vit+20%. In battle, quickly cast Protect on your team, prioritizing your lower Vitality characters, and use Mega-Potions or Siren's new Heal Ability to soak up some of the damage. Alternatively, you can use your GF as a shield, preferably those with lower compatibility values to ensure longer charging times.
Post by: tyler_will on 2020-09-06 18:50:14
I am using the 2013 steam version along with the latest version of the Lionheart mode. I've narrowed it down to the files changed in lang-en; If I restore these from the defaults, the game does not crash. It looks like the standard mode lang-en files also causes the game to crash.
Post by: tyler_will on 2020-09-07 01:37:58
The game simply crashes with a window saying 'An unknown exception has occurred'. If I look into the windows event viewer, I do see 'Application Error' lines being logged, but there doesn't seem to be any useful info in them. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar enough with steam to know where else to look for logs.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-07 02:24:35
Standard Mode changes
- Enemies that appear in the new scripted encounter at Centra Ruins are now at a lower level
- Stop status infliction rate of Heaven's Wrath enemy attack has been reduced
- Vit 0 status infliction rate of Ray-Bomb enemy attack has been reduced
- Physical attack damage of high-leveled Creeps has been reduced
- SAM08G's damage output has been generally decreased
- Cerberus generally does a little less damage
- Edea (2nd) has had her Magic stat slightly reduced
- Maelstrom enemy attack no longer requires 100% protection against Slow to prevent its Slow effect
- All enemies that appear in the Laguna flashback at LP Laboratory are now at a lower level
- High-leveled Esthar Soldiers (Cyborg) and Elastoids now have lower Speed
- Hidden bosses in Deling City sewers are now at a lower level
- Propagator (red) uses Firaga instead of Flare
- Propagator (orange) uses Radiance instead of Holy
- All Propagators do less damage with physical attacks
- Jumbo Cactuar has less HP and Strength
- Bahamut's Mega-Flare does less damage
- Adel has less HP, drains less HP from Rinoa and generally does less damage
- Trauma's resistance against physical attacks has been lowered
Hard Mode changes
- Many high-leveled common enemies have had their Vitality increased to keep Ultimate Weapon damage in check
- General stat increase for several enemies
Changes to both versions
- All -aga spells can now be drawn from high-leveled Elite Soldiers (G-Garden and onwards)
- Most sub top-tier weapons have had their base power increased as well (only applies to Attack command damage)
- Rinoa's weapons have had their accuracy increased
- Initial Strength and Magic stats have been slightly increased for physically and magically orientented characters respectively
- BGH251F2 in FH now also loses Vitality and Spirit over time, in addition to Strength, Magic and Speed
- Edea (2nd) now also casts Dispelga in case the entire party is under Reflect (in addition to Maelstrom and Ebon Wave)
- Elem Atk, Status Atk, Med Kit, Doc's Code, Barrier, Hungry Cookpot and Mog's Amulet have been removed from the Chocobo World item pool (mainly to prevent easy access to Megalixirs, Shaman Stones and Renew spells)
- Mog's Amulet can now be stolen from high-leveled Tonberries as a rare steal
@tyler_will: Thanks for reporting the issue regarding Elnoyle. It is fixed now, sorry for the inconvenience.
As for editing posts, I think you need a certain amount of posts to do so. Not too many though, just 5-10 if I remember right.
Post by: Exlo on 2020-09-07 08:30:57
So I'm not sure if this is just me and my lack of nuance with these things, but I've had some problems crop up throughout my time here. Nothing game-ending outright, and could be I've gone and goofed something up myself, but I certainly wouldn't know what so. I'm just going to list them.
There are some straaange texture issues. Just reached the section where the party is headed to Esthar. I can see polygons with blank textures on the other side of dead dino canyon, on the world map. The sky when I enter is flickering... best I can describe it is almost a TV static -- very minor. Before this, in the Cetra ruins, I noticed the King Tonberry fight had some wonky textures displaying specifically on the effects... I wish I could remember the specific attack. I'm fairly certain it was only present on one of them. All I know is I was getting perfect squares around his hands filled with pixelated hoo-ha. The only other graphical issue I've caught is with the Creeper enemies. They like to spaz out when they use Heartbreak.
But then there are some gameplay oddities. On the first boss in aforementioned dino canyon (I'm sorry I don't know any names yet, I've never even gotten this far in FF8 before -- the undead guy that jumps the party) I tried to Doink™ him with sir Tonberry and it actually froze Selphie in place?? The game almost seemed to treat her like she was KO'd, and I got a gameover despite the fact that her animation, ATB gauge, and health value were all stuck in place.
And then there is assuredly the bane of my existence. Sometimes, I'm about 99% certain only on specific enemies, Squall's regular attack will crash the game. So far I think it's Ifrit and the Catacher... Catapha... the caterpillars, specifically the encounter where Balamb Garden is being attacked by Galbadia's. There has to be one more but it was random and far out of the way. These crashes come with the "unknown exception has occurred" window, like Tyler's. Could be the corruption extends into some other files? The complications certainly seem sporadic, so.
If I catch anything else I'll let you know. I've gotta say again, though, great work. I've never felt the milliseconds in between the safety of the magic menu and the absolute panic that is the command selection on such an intimate level before. Good stuff!
Post by: Exlo on 2020-09-07 08:36:52
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-07 09:11:56
The weird texture glitch on the worldmap where Esthar appears later is normal in the PC versions of the game, unfortunately. The same goes for the minor graphical glitches that can occur when fighting the Tonberry King. I'm not sure about the Creeps, I fought them right now and let them cast Heartbreak - no issues. Summoning Tonberry against Abadon worked as expected too. Tested on both 2013 and 2019 versions.
As for the game crashing when attacking with Squall, I have experienced that issue as well. Only very rarely though, so it's difficult to tell whether it's caused by the mod or by the game itself. Which version are you playing (normal or hard)? It might help tracking the cause down.
Post by: tyler_will on 2020-09-07 09:42:30
Overall, I'm pretty happy with this mod so far. It is definitely one of the more difficult mods I've played, and I've been playing final fantasy mods from this community for about 10 years. There were a number of fights that kept me on the edge of my seat for the entire battle. My favorite so far is probably the Edea fight at the end of disc 2. I found myself constantly having to pivot my strategy due to the multiple devastating AOE attacks she has. I am glad I had a healthy stock of mega potions + med data for that fight, since they absolutely saved me at various points.
The most difficult boss for me so far has been, surprisingly, the 2 elite soldiers and blue robots you fight at the top of the G-Prison on the bridge. My main issue was simply how FAST they were. I received dozens of game overs here due to being completely wiped out almost immediately after the fight started. In the end, I was able to barely pull through by first managing to get poison on the elite soldiers so I didn't have to focus on directly attacking them, and then basically spamming protect + heal until poison killed the elites off. At that point, the robots weren't too bad to dispatch of. I experimented with trying to esuna the vit 0 from meltdown / ray bomb, but this quickly proved to take way too much time given how frequently they inflicted it, so I opted instead to just make sure I kept protect up to mitigate it. One thing I realized later on is I had my battle speed set to max, so I suspect this added significantly to the frustration.
I'm only just approaching the end of disc 3, so there are quite a few remaining bosses I've yet to fight (including the extra optional ones added for this mod). I'm extremely curious as to what Ultimate and Omega weapon will be like. Now that Elnoyles are fixed, at least I have a relatively easy way to stock up on Ultimas now to boost my stats.
Post by: Exlo on 2020-09-07 17:50:50
I am playing on the normal version. I've gone ahead and updated, and when I have time I'll give it another go. That Tonberry freeze only happened on my first pass at Abadon, so some more science may be required. Now the Squall crashes are definitely tied to encounters. I had to run to Ifrit like 6 or 7 times before I finally learned to git gud and just beat him without a normal attack. I can only imagine if that was a problem with your mod it would have been sniffed out by now, but that is specifically where I would look to test that. I've been swinging it around plenty otherwise, though with some careful saving.
I don't know what is and isn't helpful here, but the crash dump for the Tonberry crash says 0xC0000005. The thread tried to read from a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access. Hm hm.
Sounds like I should maybe validate the files with steam or just reinstall. Perhaps ensure I'm running with administrator privileges, but I haven't had any real issues with anything like that since Windows Vista haha. I'll probably keep chuggin' till I'm hard stopped. Cheers!
Post by: Exlo on 2020-09-07 17:57:09
Post by: JohnnydarkPT on 2020-09-14 01:26:13
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-14 02:24:36
I played FF8 way back when it was released on the PS1, and it was a crushing experience.
I played blind, levelling normally and by the time I got to disc 4 everything was impossible to beat and I gave up. The game had left a bad taste in my mouth since, but it was a shame that such a technically impressive game couldn't be enjoyed properly.
I recently found out about the mod and I couldn't believe it addresses those I consider the biggest problems with the game (chiefly enemy scaling, but not only). I can't wait to delve deeper into the experience and given the list of changes, I feel it will be much more enjoyable. Thank you, and do keep up the good work.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-16 01:38:18
Closing the game and reloading my save seems to have fixed it, but I don't know if other monsters were affected.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-16 01:52:56
When Quistis left the party after completing the Fire Cavern, Bite Bugs were, again, stronger at Lv 12 (Squall was solo at 9). I fled the battle and scanned the next battle with them and they were back to 8, so I'm guessing the mod may be missing certain checks (party changes, level ups) when the next battle happens.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-16 05:33:54
@Exlo: In regards to the game crashing occasionally when attacking with Squall, I tried to replicate the issue with no success.
If you are playing the game at 1080p fullscreen, try reducing internal resolution and/or enabling windowed mode from the launcher settings and check if that fixes it. I did the same some time ago and have never ecountered this issue again ever since (could be just coincidence though, not sure, as it always happened in my case only very rarily). You could also try loading the game with non-modded files, to rule out a mod-related problem.
@Helm_Smasher: There is a small variation in enemy levels in the mod, even if they appear in the same area. It is encounter-based and definitely not dependent on your own levels. In the case of Bite Bugs that appear on the Balamb Isle, all Bite Bugs that appear in groups are at Lv 8, while the single one is set to Lv 12. I don't know why you encountered one that is at Lv 14 though. That's not intended for sure. Will investigate.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-17 06:05:11
Again, thanks for making this game actually enjoyable to me by fine-tuning the parts I considered bad design.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-17 06:10:18
would it be necessary to repatch the .dll?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-17 10:26:44
Also thank you for the kind words. I hope your playthrough will go well. If any more questions arise, feel free to ask.
Post by: JohnnydarkPT on 2020-09-18 20:11:30
Post by: JohnnydarkPT on 2020-09-18 21:07:15
Post by: JohnnydarkPT on 2020-09-18 21:17:55
Post by: JohnnydarkPT on 2020-09-18 22:38:43
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-20 02:02:07
It makes sense that some story events would alter the rank but being forced to fight half dead in hopes of raising it always struck me as annoying.
If that's not possible, would there be a way for the rank to not suffer alterations while one is in town areas?
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-20 07:49:51
I'm playing the normal difficulty version by the way, not Lionheart.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-20 14:49:14
The amount of Fastitocalon-F cards required to make a Potion is indeed a little mistake in Remastered that must have been there from the beginning. It seems to be the only incorrect Refinement though, and probably the one that matters the least, but it'll be fixed soon. Thanks.
Helm_Smasher: Yes, it should be possible to remove the SeeD Lv fluctuation, but I haven't looked properly into that yet. I guess I would rather reduce the amount of battles required to increase your SeeD Lv though. I agree that it always been a slog if you try to raise it that way. For now, I would recommend doing the SeeD tests from the menu, as it's way faster.
In regards to the Dollet raid, yes, it has some tough random battles here and there, but that's intentional so it's not too easy to get the max Attack and Spirit score (https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/SeeD#Field_exam) shortly after SeeD graduation, pushing the urge to flee from battle, which results in a lower score. The Squeeze attack from the Anacondaur is admittedly a little too powerful though, so its base power will be lowered for Standard Mode. As for the Elite Soldiers, reducing the levels for those that appear in the Communication Tower should do (they are at Lv 12 there, compared to Lv 8 elsewhere in Dollet). Thanks for the feedback.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-20 21:40:48
Thanks for your continued work on this wonderful mod. Without it, it would be impossible for me to enjoy the game.
Edit: I'm continuing the playthrough. Reached Timber. Let's see how the mission goes.
Regarding SEED ranks, would it be possible to keep them from going down when steps are taken in town? (unless I misunderstood, it is the number of steps that progresses the intervals between payments. Is that correct?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-24 22:54:03
- Anacondaur's Squeeze attack inflicts less damage in Standard Mode
- Elite Soldiers that appear inside Dollet Communications Tower are at a lower level
- The Card refinement for Fastitocalon-F Cards has been corrected
Also fixed an issue with Hard Mode exclusive boss battle formations appearing in Standard Mode. If you are currently playing this mod in Standard Mode, updating your files is highly recommended (patching the Remastered .dll again is not needed).
@Helm_Smasher: Yes, the salary is paid after a set amount of steps, and every time that happens, you lose some SeeD points, which will eventually lower SeeD rank if not enough battles have been fought since your last payment. This deduction can be disabled altogether, but I don't know if there is an easy way to make it dependent on whether you are currently in a town or not. There is a field opcode that is used to halt any SeeD rank acitivity when playing as Laguna, but re-enabling it when leaving a town might be difficult (as Laguna, it is always re-enabled after a flashback ends). I'll look into it, but I can't promise to make it work.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-25 04:55:43
I finished the train decoupling mission and things went well. Fake Deling gave off some hard hits but it felt fair. I'm now back in Timber.
Had a close call fighting Diablos but finally got him. I don't think I'd have managed if enemies kept scaling up, as I had no chance when first got the lamp, but after returning from the train mission I won (even if it was by a hair haha).
Edit: After updating to the latest version, animations and transitions became a tad sluggish. I don't know if it's something related to the game itself or not, but it feels off. Maybe it's the same thing that JohnnydarkPT was experiencing, but for me it feels slower but in and out of battle so it's even worse. It started around the Eshtar flashback (before the party reached Galbaldia).
Edit 2: I seem to have fixed the slowdown by adding XInput1_4.dll from the Windows folder inside the game folder (following instructions in the Steam forums, but since I started the Demaster_ExP folder from scratch, I'm not sure if the mod is active even though I followed the instructions to reinstall it. What level are the Geezards around Galbaldia Garden, so I can have a frame of reference?
Post by: Callisto on 2020-09-26 02:01:11
As for the slowdowns you experienced even in battle, did you have the Battlefield graphics mod installed? If so, that was likely the cause for those lags, especially right at the beginning of a battle. It's a known issue with almost any kind of texture replacement mods for this game, but I heard things will improve soon with the image format being changed from png to dds, so if you feel bothered by those lags but still want to use the graphics mods, just wait a little longer for them to be updated.
Also thank you again for the progress report. It's really interesting to hear how it goes :)
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-26 03:40:13
I don't really mind not using the texture enhancements, so it's okay if I have to forgo them, what I'm most interested in are the mechanics fixes the mod brings in.
I took a look around the Steam forums and it seems this issue affects several people, but putting the .dll inside the directory fixed things from what I can tell. I'm now only using texture enhancements for weapons and Mcindus' UI and font (they look so nice).
Thanks for the heads up about how to verify mod changes! I may have patched EFIGS.dll incorrectly as I can't seem to draw out more than 9.
The playthrough is a bit uneventful at the moment since I need to bring Irvine up in levels a bit before going to Deling.
Edit: Eh, spoke too soon. As soon as I patched EFIGS.dll (correctly this time) the problem returned. I don't think it's mod related at all, but I wish I could figure out the root of this.
The slowdown seems to be completely random. Some sessions play just fine, others have constant slowdown for everything (music plays normally).
I got to Deling and I'm getting absolutely crushed by the random encounters around the city (Wendigo and Vysage) is that normal? I think I have decent junctions, even though Zell and Irvine are a bit low on levels compared to Squall. Dribble from Wendigo basically puts them on critical damage with one attack.
Post by: kokie on 2020-09-27 05:13:10
Post by: OmegaBattle on 2020-09-27 23:31:13
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-09-28 04:01:03
Yes, it's compatible, as it uses the same Demaster framework. I'm actually using several enhancements myself and playing Ragnarok.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-10-04 03:32:37
I got to Deling and I'm getting absolutely crushed by the random encounters around the city (Wendigo and Vysage) is that normal? I think I have decent junctions, even though Zell and Irvine are a bit low on levels compared to Squall. Dribble from Wendigo basically puts them on critical damage with one attack.Well yes, it's kind of normal. Here is some advice:
Make sure to have the HP-J Ability unlocked for all 3 characters. The enemies that appear around Deling City are balanced around having at least Cura junctioned on everyone's HP. Cura can be drawn from the Geezard enemy in the area, or "bought" from the new Odine Shop in Deling City (indirectly through Healing Waters, or Tents via Siren's L-Mag RF Ability). The ideal HP spell at this time would be Zombie which can be made through the Zombie Powders dropped by the Gerogero boss or drawn by the Blood Soul enemy found at the night-time grassland area around the city. It should raise your HP to around 1500-2000, which should be enough to deal with the attacks by Vysage (500-600 HP single target damage through Aero, 200-300 HP damage through the AoE attack) and Wendigo (up to 800 HP single target damage). But I agree that Wendigo is slightly overtuned for this area, so its overall damage output will be decreased for Standard Mode soon.
All in all, as far as the early-mid game goes, I would say that junctions are more impactful than leveling up overall. Sometimes, searching around for new spells is needed to keep up with the enemies (especially after leaving Timber and during the D-District Prison events). Leveling up will definitely pay off in the mid-late game though, so there's no need to hold back with your levels (the Bonus Abilities that grant permanent stat boosts when leveling up are removed in this mod anyway).
Also good to know that you got the EFIGS.dll patch working. It is actually very important for all mod changes to take effect, not just in regards to the Draw cap in battle. Without the patch, for example, magic damage is severely limited for both party members and enemies, which explains why Elvoret (who uses mostly magic attacks) gave you little to no trouble at all. I hope the increased enemy magic damage is not too overwhelming now. Otherwise, don't hesitate to tell, and maybe more specific enemies will receive a little adjustment. Thanks.
@kokie: Information on Darkside damage can be found here (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=16838.msg240637#msg240637). As for HP loss, check out this (http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=17098.0) topic. This is for the 2013 version; the stuff is elsewhere for Remastered (EFIGS.dll instead of FF8_EN.exe): the damage multiplier instruction starts at offset 2E447E; while HP loss is at 2E3FD1.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-10-04 04:22:27
Well yes, it's kind of normal. Here is some advice:
Make sure to have the HP-J Ability unlocked for all 3 characters. The enemies that appear around Deling City are balanced around having at least Cura junctioned on everyone's HP. Cura can be drawn from the Geezard enemy in the area, or "bought" from the new Odine Shop in Deling City (indirectly through Healing Waters, or Tents via Siren's L-Mag RF Ability). The ideal HP spell at this time would be Zombie which can be made through the Zombie Powders dropped by the Gerogero boss or drawn by the Blood Soul enemy found at the night-time grassland area around the city. It should raise your HP to around 1500-2000, which should be enough to deal with the attacks by Vysage (500-600 HP single target damage through Aero, 200-300 HP damage through the AoE attack) and Wendigo (up to 800 HP single target damage). But I agree that Wendigo is slightly overtuned for this area, so its overall damage output will be decreased for Standard Mode soon.
All in all, as far as the early-mid game goes, I would say that junctions are more impactful than leveling up overall. Sometimes, searching around for new spells is needed to keep up with the enemies (especially after leaving Timber and during the D-District Prison events). Leveling up will definitely pay off in the mid-late game though, so there's no need to hold back with your levels (the Bonus Abilities that grant permanent stat boosts when leveling up are removed in this mod anyway).
Also good to know that you got the EFIGS.dll patch working. It is actually very important for all mod changes to take effect, not just in regards to the Draw cap in battle. Without the patch, for example, magic damage is severely limited for both party members and enemies, which explains why Elvoret (who uses mostly magic attacks) gave you little to no trouble at all. I hope the increased enemy magic damage is not too overwhelming now. Otherwise, don't hesitate to tell, and maybe more specific enemies will receive a little adjustment. Thanks.
Thanks for your kind reply. I have been experimenting with Junctions and stocking Zombie definitely paid off, just as you said. I was probably under-equipped, magic wise, when first arriving, but those protects from Wendigos help a lot. I actually went through the whole Deling mission segment and beat the lizard bosses, but then remembered I failed to get Brothers. Since I don't remember if I can return to get it later, I decided to reload from an earlier point and get it.
I'm quite glad you removed the permanent stat boosts, or I'd be royally in trouble later down the line haha.
Post by: Weisshuf on 2020-10-04 07:33:06
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-10-04 08:00:17
So, for the Iguions sidequest, when I went into the sewers and went up the ladder where the car is, I cant climb the car to enter the presidental residence. Why is that? Or is there another way in?
When you interact with the boxes, nothing happens?
Post by: Weisshuf on 2020-10-04 11:39:19
Quote
When you interact with the boxes, nothing happens?
I just got moving balamb, did nothing else except FH. I went there, climbed the ladder, tried interacting with the boxes but Squall just doesnt want to climb them.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-10-05 01:54:00
Anyway, from the screen with the boxes, head back into the sewers, then one screen to the left. Wait there for a moment and the Iguions will "appear" (not visually, but they can be heard) if Caraway has been asked about the Iguions. You will be given the choice to stay and fight them, or escape back to Caraway's Mansion.
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-10-12 00:20:41
Are they flat increases that apply only when equipped or do they also lead to increases on level up?
I hope it's only the former, because I'd rather not do an ability "chair dance" whenever someone is close to leveling just to maximize gains.
Post by: Callisto on 2020-10-12 03:45:08
Post by: Helm_Smasher on 2020-10-12 04:44:16
Edit: I'm guessing this means the "Bonus" abilities like Str Bonus and such are also absent? I honestly prefer it that way mind you.
What's the general gist of adjustment for natural stat gains? +2 for the focus stat of the character and +1 for other stats?
Edit 2: I got through Edea. Oh boy I wasn't expecting Maelstrom, it took mor