Author Topic: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.99994)  (Read 4837109 times)

Barachiel

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9550 on: 2020-05-18 21:43:34 »
The Restore Materia at the start was left its default cyan colour, I didn't swap in the Green materia model for it so that's fine. Steal can be bought from shops later on, but are you sure you didn't just run past it? Maybe one of those model mods made it difficult to see or something.

Added Effect combines the status ailment of the Materia to either the weapon (inflicts, about 12% chance or so) or the armour (protects completely).

The documentation I used to have for the mod fell more and more out of date over time. The current one is like a placeholder of sorts.

2.0 is in the works, but it won't be compatible with save files from 1.5 as I've reworked the unused variables that NT uses in the mod to add additional drops, rescript scenes, etc. A 2.0 save file will be compatible with a vanilla game, but not with the 1.5 build unfortunately. As for timeframe for release, I'm not sure. Several weeks is my best guess.

Neat!  *adds that to Notes*

Oh.  Oh.  Damn.  I... kinda want to wait.  I wish my Reunion build had been more stable but it kept crashing randomly exiting or entering battles.  I guess I'll go with a Vanilla run, or maybe back to NVT for the time being, and save a full NV run for the heady days of 2.0 ahead. 

Sega Chief

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9551 on: 2020-05-19 16:50:36 »
I updated the IRO, but not in the usual way. I've set up a new catalog that'll handle the NT IRO and a few others.

Add this to your Catalog Subscriptions list under Settings > General Settings in the 7h Launcher then click Save.

iros://Url/http$pastebin.com/raw.php?i=vXc4PpBS

Refresh the list in Browse Mods/Restart 7h after adding it and four new IROs should appear. You will likely need to deactivate/uninstall the previous NT IRO if you have it.

The new NT IRO has:
1) Fix for a softlock if scratching the white chocobo in mideel behind its neck with a party leader other than Cloud
2) Added World Map models for consistency with field models (Cloud, Tifa, Cid) and for battle models (Emerald, Ruby, Diamond, and Ultimate Weapon).
« Last Edit: 2020-05-19 16:52:21 by Sega Chief »

Shirohô

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9552 on: 2020-05-19 18:10:58 »
Hello Sega chief and fellas,

After finishing remake on ps4, bunch of friends (+3) and me were really attracted by your NT mod applied on steam FF7 through Seventh Heaven software. We don't have the same pc but
we did choose around the same config together (all qhimm mods activated, these one only, pref SYW and kalarasha textures).

We all had these same issues so far, but im not 100% sure it's your mod. Posting that here because it could be somehow dialog related :

Glitchy Dialogues during Sephiroth/cloud flashback in Shinra mansion cellar just when you open the door. (tested it 3 times on my comp, 2 other friend reached it and has it aswell).
The dialog box are invisible when sephiroth read his book to cloud, when you press action, then the next dialog box pop/disapear in a fraction, then it's blocked again (invisible dialog box) until you press action again. Result is you can't read anything and can't do something to act on it.


Also, at that time when you save a game (with save everywhere tweak in qhimm mods), the chara picture is Cid with a weird code next to it.


Before flashback and until then no issue at all.

We had this aswell : Me and 1 other friend only, game broken (we both had to alt F4) at the other flashback scene where cloud and sephiroth look into the pods in nibel mountain reactor, dialog stopped at the end of flashback, infinite black screen making impossible to get back to the group in inn (present time), precisely.

That's the only bugs we encountered so far. (with some bug on sephiroth body + masamune during fights, but that's nothing to do with NT i think)

Congratz for the intensity of the work you did, it's wonderful. I really love it.
Since i am a mod creator since a decade (texturer mainly), i might take a shot around FF7 or FF8 soon !
 
Cheers and keep it up !

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9553 on: 2020-05-19 18:31:54 »
Magic counter and renew was a pretty strong combo late game... might want to nerf that to make things a bit harder. It also can be used on a dead character instead of life2 to bring them back with full HP.

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9554 on: 2020-05-19 18:39:53 »
Magic counter and renew was a pretty strong combo late game... might want to nerf that to make things a bit harder. It also can be used on a dead character instead of life2 to bring them back with full HP.
Basically put this on each of my characters. And have one character be super tanky and immune to all status effects. It essentially makes you invincible. I was thinking to combine it with magic counter and osmose but i just use aeris to keep my party full mana.

Ketsuban

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9555 on: 2020-05-19 21:51:05 »
man now I feel dumb for never trying added effect with barrier on aeris with mega all, or just using renew with magic counter. I just used sneak attack + wall and magic counter osmose.
Will have to step up my game when 2.0 hits, gonna do an arrange mode run as soon as it's out

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9556 on: 2020-05-19 22:07:44 »
man now I feel dumb for never trying added effect with barrier on aeris with mega all, or just using renew with magic counter. I just used sneak attack + wall and magic counter osmose.
Will have to step up my game when 2.0 hits, gonna do an arrange mode run as soon as it's out

haha dont feel bad... i have a nack for finding broken strategies and stuff. ff7 is one of my favorite games but the original was really lacking when it came to combat.

i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9557 on: 2020-05-19 22:08:36 »
haha dont feel bad... i have a nack for finding broken strategies and stuff. ff7 is one of my favorite games but the original was really lacking when it came to combat.

i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.

and yeah i dont mean bosses you need to kill to progress, im talking extra content

Sega Chief

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9558 on: 2020-05-19 23:46:12 »
Hello Sega chief and fellas,

After finishing remake on ps4, bunch of friends (+3) and me were really attracted by your NT mod applied on steam FF7 through Seventh Heaven software. We don't have the same pc but
we did choose around the same config together (all qhimm mods activated, these one only, pref SYW and kalarasha textures).

We all had these same issues so far, but im not 100% sure it's your mod. Posting that here because it could be somehow dialog related :

Glitchy Dialogues during Sephiroth/cloud flashback in Shinra mansion cellar just when you open the door. (tested it 3 times on my comp, 2 other friend reached it and has it aswell).
The dialog box are invisible when sephiroth read his book to cloud, when you press action, then the next dialog box pop/disapear in a fraction, then it's blocked again (invisible dialog box) until you press action again. Result is you can't read anything and can't do something to act on it.


Also, at that time when you save a game (with save everywhere tweak in qhimm mods), the chara picture is Cid with a weird code next to it.


Before flashback and until then no issue at all.

We had this aswell : Me and 1 other friend only, game broken (we both had to alt F4) at the other flashback scene where cloud and sephiroth look into the pods in nibel mountain reactor, dialog stopped at the end of flashback, infinite black screen making impossible to get back to the group in inn (present time), precisely.

That's the only bugs we encountered so far. (with some bug on sephiroth body + masamune during fights, but that's nothing to do with NT i think)

Congratz for the intensity of the work you did, it's wonderful. I really love it.
Since i am a mod creator since a decade (texturer mainly), i might take a shot around FF7 or FF8 soon !
 
Cheers and keep it up !

The dialogue boxes seem to be to do with NT and ESUI mod; we're working on a fix.

The Save/PHS Anywhere hack is a dangerous one to use, because this game has a lot of procedural scripts that can break if you reload 'fresh' into them when it doesn't expect a field to be initialised as a save location. Sephiroth and Young Cloud I think cause problems with the Save File Preview window which is why the game can't be saved during the flashback normally until the midway point (when it temporarily shifts back to the Kalm Inn and puts the regular Cloud back into the party for the save before carrying on with Young Cloud).

The black screen may be a new thing though, I'll check into it.

Basically put this on each of my characters. And have one character be super tanky and immune to all status effects. It essentially makes you invincible. I was thinking to combine it with magic counter and osmose but i just use aeris to keep my party full mana.

Maybe, but I've got Magic Counter sitting at a max trigger-rate of 50% and Renew has a fairly high MP cost. If you've set up to make it work with Aeris as an MP-machine then I'd say that's not too bad. But perhaps Full Cure could be used as the Pearl/Holy-element end-game damage dealing spell, and Toad can go back to being Toad.

man now I feel dumb for never trying added effect with barrier on aeris with mega all, or just using renew with magic counter. I just used sneak attack + wall and magic counter osmose.
Will have to step up my game when 2.0 hits, gonna do an arrange mode run as soon as it's out

Barrier being combinable with Added Effect was a lapse in judgement on my part, as it's a very strong combo, particularly adding Shield to it when it doesn't even have that spell on it. It won't be on the 2.0 build but I'm leaving it on the 1.5 build.

haha dont feel bad... i have a nack for finding broken strategies and stuff. ff7 is one of my favorite games but the original was really lacking when it came to combat.

i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.

I was thinking of expanding the Extra Battle part a bit and periodically adding battles to it which are there for a challenge rather than as a way of gating things like W-Magic, etc. But I may add a bonus scene or item to each one added so people who do beat them get something more out of it.

TheOppressed

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9559 on: 2020-05-19 23:55:18 »
i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.

I'm sorry but that doesn't feel fair or interesting.. OHK never are in my opinion, especially when it isn't a supporting ingredient of a particular fight. To me, it would just be incredible annoying as I roll my eyes, reload my save point, replay a few cutscenes and begrudgingly equip the corresponding elemental materia to negate the mechanic entirely.

Interesting usage that I've seen has one-hit kills that are either non-elemental or pierce resistance anyway, because they're never used as a primary gimmick.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-20 00:07:43 by TheOppressed »

PokeFaize

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9560 on: 2020-05-20 00:21:45 »
i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.
Absolutely not. This is just flat out terrible design, especially with the extra character customization SegaChief has added in NT. Forcing players to use one specific strategy/build to beat any boss defeats the whole point of custom builds and the "on the fly" planning that comes with ATB Combat. When you negate the whole "gimmick" via Elemental Materia or whatever, the boss becomes a mindless endeavor and is an unsatisfying battle.

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9561 on: 2020-05-20 00:39:49 »
I'm sorry but that doesn't feel fair or interesting.. OHK never are in my opinion, especially when it isn't a supporting ingredient of a particular fight. To me, it would just be incredible annoying as I roll my eyes, reload my save point, replay a few cutscenes and begrudgingly equip the corresponding elemental materia to negate the mechanic entirely.

Interesting usage that I've seen has one-hit kills that are either non-elemental or pierce resistance anyway, because they're never used as a primary gimmick.

Let me clear up a few of the assumptions you made. 1st one.. you'll have to wait through some tedious cut scenes.
These kind of extra content difficult bosses would be specifically designed to have maybe a text dialogue or two before the fight. And you can save immediately before fighting it.

2nd, I'm not talking about the boss spamming the move... to the point where you're forced to restart. the game should give you a chance to kill it first try. essentially what im saying is this: as it stands you can get through the game pretty easily with completely ignoring resistances.

Your typical challenging game which incorporates element resistance mechanics generally forces you in most cases to have some resistance across the board, or you get messed up.  Essentially between your party you should be required to have all the resistances covered by at least half. For example:
Cloud is wind/ice resistant/lightning resist...   tifa is earth/holy/demi... barret is fire and etc.  therefore when you get hit by the move, the character which resisted can then phoenix down and get your party going again... but if between all your characters you had NO wind and ice resistance.. that's your bad in a hardcore style game.

A game with resistance mechanics which can be largely or completely ignored, you may as well get rid of the mechanic entirely.

dvsblack

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9562 on: 2020-05-20 00:52:51 »
While were on the subject of elements.. one thing which can be kind of annoying in FF7 is that the element weapon thing is basically only useful when you already know what you're gonna be fighting. If you run around permanently with lets say a fire weapon... there is a chance your auto's might end up healing the monster. (which can get pretty bad if you have counter attack etc.) Personally i like to try and beat a boss first go without having to worry about restarting and then designing my gear around that specific boss, which often makes them a cakewalk the second time around. Because of this I rarely end up using elemental weapons... seems wasteful of a fun mechanic though.

That being said I thought of a way around it depending on how difficult it would be. I personally think a pretty fun mechanic is if you could have two weapons loaded up with materia and weapon swap as one of your actions. Though I think the programming for this would prove kind of heavy it would be really fun, at least for me.

Another thing I would personally like but probably wouldn't be popular, would be having to actually go to something like a materia smith (any weapons shop), to actually have the materia changed for a reasonable cost.

Last thing I can think of would be more ways to spend money. For an example, think you should be able to buy megaelixers, even if they cost 100,000 per or even 200,000.. atleast you can spend these millions of built up irrelevant gils

TheOppressed

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9563 on: 2020-05-20 01:11:18 »
Let me clear up a few of the assumptions you made. 1st one.. you'll have to wait through some tedious cut scenes.
These kind of extra content difficult bosses would be specifically designed to have maybe a text dialogue or two before the fight. And you can save immediately before fighting it.

You made it sound like just normal enemies (as you said: "a few monsters") hence this assumption. Clarity would have been nice.

A certain boss that does this would be less tedious. Still the point remains that just equipping the proper elemental materia would negate the challenge if it alone is the primary gimmick, especially when mastered ELEMENTAL materia would absorb elemental damage during endgame, the time you would see an "extra content difficult boss". And I haven't even mentioned null-elemental accessories

2nd, I'm not talking about the boss spamming the move... to the point where you're forced to restart. the game should give you a chance to kill it first try. essentially what im saying is this: as it stands you can get through the game pretty easily with completely ignoring resistances.
This I agree on, but I think that is more to do with other things IMO: e.g. Barrier and MBarrier being very potent

I could maybe agree to the idea, but it would require for some very hefty changes to its gameplay systems. For example, if such bosses exist as you say, then have it so equipping those materia have a heavier trade-off than marginal stat-loss (maybe a weakness system too). If so, as much as I like Shin Megami Tensei, it would resemble that too much and I would question why am I even playing this mod. But that's just me.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-20 01:16:35 by TheOppressed »

EmperorSteele

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9564 on: 2020-05-20 02:32:54 »
The thing that kills me about elements in this game, especially NT, is, let's say I'm planning on fighting a big heavy boss, so I put Earth elements in my weapons. But on the way, I get into a random battle. That random battle will almost always have flying enemies who I then CAN'T HIT because they all ignore Earth attacks. Or if I put lightning in my weapons, I end up against things that ignore or absorb that!

I really think that common, run of the mill enemies shouldn't be able to ignore or absorb elemental damage (unless it really really makes sense), just reduce it (25% or 50% for stronger things). Though maybe there are some things the game just can't handle. Like, I understand why flying enemies wouldn't be affected by Quake, but that doesn't mean they should be able to ignore Earth-powered bullets... but maybe the game can't differentiate between damage coming from a spell or an attack.

The cheesiest thing I can recall is during the Shinra building escape. First boss you fight is weak to bolt and earth... not that it matters because you're already fighting him by the time you realize that. But whatever, let's say you anticipate this and have bolt and earth ready. The next fight, which happens immediately as a second phase, not allowing you to switch things up, are two fliers (so earth won't hit them), one of whom absorbs lightning! On one hand, I can respect keeping people on their toes and throwing them curveballs, and you can't just let people abuse the same materia combinations over and over, because that would be boring. On the other hand, I feel like this mod actively tries to low-key punish you for using elemental damage. It's a tough balancing act! I think SC generally does a good job with this, but it'd be nice if I could just set up an elemental combo and not worry that something in the area is gonna no-sell me. One of the most satisfying places in the game for this is the Gi cave. Set up Holy element in your weapons and you're good to go!

OLKv3

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9565 on: 2020-05-20 02:57:29 »
I beat the cameo boss and it seemed weird

Spoiler: show
Ozma didn't have his FF9 music like the youtube videos showed, instead he had some goofy music. Also none of it's attacks had animations or names, and I know they're supposed to.


The only mods I had on were Nino's character model replacers, 60fps, and Borderless Windows. Any idea what could've caused this?

Sega Chief

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9566 on: 2020-05-20 03:24:08 »
The thing that kills me about elements in this game, especially NT, is, let's say I'm planning on fighting a big heavy boss, so I put Earth elements in my weapons. But on the way, I get into a random battle. That random battle will almost always have flying enemies who I then CAN'T HIT because they all ignore Earth attacks. Or if I put lightning in my weapons, I end up against things that ignore or absorb that!

I really think that common, run of the mill enemies shouldn't be able to ignore or absorb elemental damage (unless it really really makes sense), just reduce it (25% or 50% for stronger things). Though maybe there are some things the game just can't handle. Like, I understand why flying enemies wouldn't be affected by Quake, but that doesn't mean they should be able to ignore Earth-powered bullets... but maybe the game can't differentiate between damage coming from a spell or an attack.

The cheesiest thing I can recall is during the Shinra building escape. First boss you fight is weak to bolt and earth... not that it matters because you're already fighting him by the time you realize that. But whatever, let's say you anticipate this and have bolt and earth ready. The next fight, which happens immediately as a second phase, not allowing you to switch things up, are two fliers (so earth won't hit them), one of whom absorbs lightning! On one hand, I can respect keeping people on their toes and throwing them curveballs, and you can't just let people abuse the same materia combinations over and over, because that would be boring. On the other hand, I feel like this mod actively tries to low-key punish you for using elemental damage. It's a tough balancing act! I think SC generally does a good job with this, but it'd be nice if I could just set up an elemental combo and not worry that something in the area is gonna no-sell me. One of the most satisfying places in the game for this is the Gi cave. Set up Holy element in your weapons and you're good to go!

Good point, I'll do a sweep of random enemies and set elemental null/absorbs to half damage instead to make it less punishing if a bad element was set to the weapon. I can't really do this for flyers vs. Earth though, it'd be a bit odd for them to be hit by it. I've extensively reworked the way elements are utilised throughout the game so hopefully this also helps improve it.

I beat the cameo boss and it seemed weird

Spoiler: show
Ozma didn't have his FF9 music like the youtube videos showed, instead he had some goofy music. Also none of it's attacks had animations or names, and I know they're supposed to.


The only mods I had on were Nino's character model replacers, 60fps, and Borderless Windows. Any idea what could've caused this?

I'm actually a bit confused by this; I checked the battle ID a few times and it is definitely the correct Ozma that's set up. But for some reason, people are getting the prototype one that's very buggy. What I think I'll do is just port over the Ozma data to overwrite the 'prototype' one.

As for the music, this is because the track uses the comical.ogg track. So if the track isn't replaced (as in, a music pack is used or the vgmstream folder isn't being used) then you get the unused track instead. I might just go for a regular boss theme or similar instead.

OLKv3

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9567 on: 2020-05-20 03:34:44 »
Good point, I'll do a sweep of random enemies and set elemental null/absorbs to half damage instead to make it less punishing if a bad element was set to the weapon. I can't really do this for flyers vs. Earth though, it'd be a bit odd for them to be hit by it. I've extensively reworked the way elements are utilised throughout the game so hopefully this also helps improve it.

I'm actually a bit confused by this; I checked the battle ID a few times and it is definitely the correct Ozma that's set up. But for some reason, people are getting the prototype one that's very buggy. What I think I'll do is just port over the Ozma data to overwrite the 'prototype' one.

As for the music, this is because the track uses the comical.ogg track. So if the track isn't replaced (as in, a music pack is used or the vgmstream folder isn't being used) then you get the unused track instead. I might just go for a regular boss theme or similar instead.

Huh. That is weird. Especially the music problem, since I haven't messed with the music at all so both should be working as intended.

TheOppressed

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9568 on: 2020-05-20 03:42:23 »
Huh. That is weird. Especially the music problem, since I haven't messed with the music at all so both should be working as intended.

If you're using 7th heaven, make sure to have "Music Option" set to "VGMStream" in the settings.
It's specifically in Game Driver>Advanced

OLKv3

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9569 on: 2020-05-20 04:01:39 »
If you're using 7th heaven, make sure to have "Music Option" set to "VGMStream" in the settings.
It's specifically in Game Driver>Advanced
It is on that, that's why I'm confused.
I'm going to test the fight on Steam and see if it works

KaosuReido

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9570 on: 2020-05-20 04:21:16 »
Magic counter and renew was a pretty strong combo late game... might want to nerf that to make things a bit harder. It also can be used on a dead character instead of life2 to bring them back with full HP.

Just want to quote this to ask Sega Chief: Please don't start nerfing things like this suggests. That leads to a horrible loop a lot of projects get into where the developer just gets feedback from players with overly tuned characters and who enjoy punishing, grueling fights, and everyone else just has to deal with things gradually getting harder and harder as anything resembling an advantage for the player gets removed.

An important aspect of gameplay that a lot of people don't think about is when the player puts these things together, and realizes what they can do now. For instance, Aerith with Barrier + Added Effect. Most players have no idea this is possible, but when someone figures it out, that's a game changer. Suddenly it feels like a million things open up. Magic Counter + Renew is another one like that, where the player has a new tool in their kit that lets them deal with things that felt impossible.

i think this game needs a few monsters that have very specific strategies and basically cant be beaten otherwise, like a monster with an ice attack which one hits your whole party and also a wind attack which does the same.

so you basically need to have those resistances or you wipe. also more things with timers... if you dont beat it within a certain time limit of like 10 mins or something it wipes you.

Things like this just cull the number of strategies a player can use. If a player is FORCED to have certain Materia combinations on or something, or is FORCED to wear certain accessories or they just die, that's not strategy. That's just an artificial lock on the battle that takes away other options. New Threat manages to make most of its battles more involving than Vanilla FF7, but not so involved that every single one feels like a puzzle with one solution.

The player should be able to be flexible. The player should not feel like they're artificially forced to just follow a walkthrough of actions of something to beat a battle. If some options are unbalanced and overly powered, that should be fine, especially if they're something that can stumbled upon by thinking outside of the box. The player should be rewarded for trying new things, not punished by having those things taken away because they're a little too good. If something thinks they're too good, they can just challenge themselves by nothing using them, the game doesn't necessarily have to do that for them.

OLKv3

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9571 on: 2020-05-20 04:41:26 »
Just want to quote this to ask Sega Chief: Please don't start nerfing things like this suggests. That leads to a horrible loop a lot of projects get into where the developer just gets feedback from players with overly tuned characters and who enjoy punishing, grueling fights, and everyone else just has to deal with things gradually getting harder and harder as anything resembling an advantage for the player gets removed.

An important aspect of gameplay that a lot of people don't think about is when the player puts these things together, and realizes what they can do now. For instance, Aerith with Barrier + Added Effect. Most players have no idea this is possible, but when someone figures it out, that's a game changer. Suddenly it feels like a million things open up. Magic Counter + Renew is another one like that, where the player has a new tool in their kit that lets them deal with things that felt impossible.

Things like this just cull the number of strategies a player can use. If a player is FORCED to have certain Materia combinations on or something, or is FORCED to wear certain accessories or they just die, that's not strategy. That's just an artificial lock on the battle that takes away other options. New Threat manages to make most of its battles more involving than Vanilla FF7, but not so involved that every single one feels like a puzzle with one solution.

The player should be able to be flexible. The player should not feel like they're artificially forced to just follow a walkthrough of actions of something to beat a battle. If some options are unbalanced and overly powered, that should be fine, especially if they're something that can stumbled upon by thinking outside of the box. The player should be rewarded for trying new things, not punished by having those things taken away because they're a little too good. If something thinks they're too good, they can just challenge themselves by nothing using them, the game doesn't necessarily have to do that for them.
Thank you for saying this. New Threat shines because it's a rebalance instead of a typical hard hack. If he follows that guy's ideas then it turns into yet another typical hard hack

TheOppressed

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9572 on: 2020-05-20 05:08:00 »
Just want to quote this to ask Sega Chief: Please don't start nerfing things like this suggests. That leads to a horrible loop a lot of projects get into where the developer just gets feedback from players with overly tuned characters and who enjoy punishing, grueling fights, and everyone else just has to deal with things gradually getting harder and harder as anything resembling an advantage for the player gets removed.

An important aspect of gameplay that a lot of people don't think about is when the player puts these things together, and realizes what they can do now. For instance, Aerith with Barrier + Added Effect. Most players have no idea this is possible, but when someone figures it out, that's a game changer. Suddenly it feels like a million things open up. Magic Counter + Renew is another one like that, where the player has a new tool in their kit that lets them deal with things that felt impossible.

Not the guy you were replying too, just sharing my thoughts.
I don't think that Magic Counter+ Renew is OP, I think that being able to negate its MP costs per se with Wizard's Staff is "a smidge" OP. Without that, the cost would be too high that countering every single attack with Renew, especially in endgame, would destroy your MP.  (I think its also possible for confuse to screw you over when it heals a boss, not sure though.) Even Caith Sith needs several turns defending to get its MP back.

Barrier+Added Effect is kinda OP though, with it making the Barrier spells obsolete. They're zero cost.
« Last Edit: 2020-05-20 05:10:22 by TheOppressed »

KaosuReido

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9573 on: 2020-05-20 05:14:29 »
Not the guy you were replying too, just sharing my thoughts.
I don't think that Magic Counter+ Renew is OP, I think that being able to negate its MP costs with Wizard's Staff is "a smidge" OP. Without that, the cost would be too high that countering every single attack with Renew, especially in endgame, would destroy your MP.  (I think its also possible for confuse to screw you over when it heals a boss, not sure though.) Even Caith Sith needs several turns defending to get its MP back.

Barrier+Added Effect is kinda OP though, with it making the Barrier spells obsolete. They're zero cost.

Ok, but is that really an issue? "Hey, if the player thinks outside the box and tries to do something with Aeris that they would never do in the vanilla game, they can do something that gives them a big advantage". That's rewarding the player for trying things, and a mod like New Threat, which is all about trying to get the player to take new approaches to battles, should absolutely reward that. Bosses having vital but not necessary weaknesses if the player tries something interesting SHOULD be a thing, players being able to find some exploits with experimentation SHOULD be a thing.

Look at what you described with Aeris: That requires a Materia most players wouldn't stumble on in an out of the way area, another Materia the player might not even think about pairing with recovery magic, and a staff that refills a stat most players don't pay all that much attention to overall. You put those three things together and you can do something amazing. That absolutely should be how things work, that the player can combine elements of systems to interact in fun and effective ways.

TheOppressed

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Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« Reply #9574 on: 2020-05-20 05:39:36 »
Look at what you described with Aeris: That requires a Materia most players wouldn't stumble on in an out of the way area, another Materia the player might not even think about pairing with recovery magic, and a staff that refills a stat most players don't pay all that much attention to overall. You put those three things together and you can do something amazing. That absolutely should be how things work, that the player can combine elements of systems to interact in fun and effective ways.

I come from someone that saw Wizard Staff and didn't even bother with any other staff I found after that. TBF it was endgame, but I haven't found the 4 last staves yet, according to the documentation.

I can concede with the Full Cure materia, because it can be easily missed without paying attention to the bartender's dialogue in Cosmo Canyon.
Nevertheless, I still think that restoring you to full MP is too much. It can still be "fun and effective", as you put it, but I'm not against Magic Counter+Renew anyway. Just tone down the MP recovery of Wizard Staff.

Edited for grammar
« Last Edit: 2020-05-20 05:54:22 by TheOppressed »