Hey Sega Chief--I haven't played this mod in eons, but want to play through again. However, I think I saw you mention that 1.5 is the "final" version of it, and I just wanted to check and make sure what that meant.
Is the Final Final version uploaded on the OP, or do you still plan some small updates for 1.5?
Also, I saw you mention a 2.0 version that would be rebuilt with other modding tools. Are you able to let us in on what major changes you plan on making? Or is it still super preliminary while you work on other projects?
Looking forward to playing this again, especially with some of the nerfs I know people like me asked for in previous versions!
The original plan was to update 1.5 one last time to sort some things out with it and then wait for some new frameworks to release and making 2.0 using the new features offered by those frameworks.
But now I'm thinking it might be better to instead push for a comprehensive 1.5 update and port that to the new frameworks instead. That way I can add a few things here or there depending on what features are available. So there'll be no 2.0, more like a 1.5+ with unique features depending on what framework is being used to play it (7th Heaven, Reunion, or Sister Ray).
The goal of the update:
//Balancing
-) Level modification in character AI is being removed
-) Full re-spec of every spell, character, item, weapon, armour, and accessory
-) Rebalancing run of the game's enemies
-) EXP handling changed (more moderate, no soft-caps)
-) Materia & AP adjustments (some new Materia added to separate out certain spells)
//Field Script & Content
-) Extra Battle expanded
-) Full roll-out of the 'meet party in towns' feature to include other locations
-) Removal of SP currency in favour of upgrades becoming available at set intervals
-) Additional QoLs
-) Ending Behaviour changed (Ending FMV will always play except under one condition)
//Arrange Mode Expansion
-) Proper replacement of every story boss
-) Difficulty-level drastically increased
-) Field scripting for alternative story flow (some characters will be available earlier)
-) All item pickups on the field changed from Standard Mode
-) Two crucial gameplay modifiers that I'm not disclosing at this time
//Cut Content
-) Dark Cave has been deactivated and the scripts are being repurposed
-) Junon Leagues scrapped
-) A number of encounters will be removed/repurposed
//Misc.
-) Some restructuring in the flevel.lgp, char.lgp, and battle.lgp for mod compatibility
-) EXE modifications ported over to hex format for better compatibility
-) Proper .EXE support for French, Spanish, and German versions
I've already finished some of these, and others are fairly fast to do at this stage. We'll see how it progresses.
To clarify, the 1.5 update will be the final update. When modding frameworks release, I'll add a few extras based on what they make possible but the mod will essentially be the same on all frameworks.