Author Topic: [FF7PC-98/Steam] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod (v1.0.7.2)  (Read 1079097 times)

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1250 on: 2011-12-25 03:12:01 »
Magic attacks generally haven't been that useful against MP drainers; it's the lack of Cura that makes it a major issue.

gjoerulv

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1251 on: 2011-12-25 11:59:01 »
Not necessarily against these guys. It could go cross battles. Anyway, there are items too, and one should expect some handicaps playing a hard mod. Besides, they're not that difficult to beat.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1252 on: 2011-12-26 13:02:41 »
Hey, I'm just giving my opinions. =P

I've played up to the base of Gaia's Cliff now (including the Wutai sidequest). As usual, my feedback:

Wutai was decent. I actually expected Raaps to be a lot harder given the no materia handicap, but I see you actually adjusted quite well for it. Good work. The tower was somewhat challenging. I'm not sure if it's something you've done or something that's always been there, but I like how if you try to get rid of Godo's MP, he spams Beast Sword. xD

At first, I thought Adamantamai was a bit on the overpowered side. The whole "attack him and he nearly wipes out your whole party while taking very little damage" thing... until I noticed a few weaknesses he had (vunerability to Stop, and the fact that Light Shell is magical meaning you can manipulate him then just have him use it over and over on himself). Nice to see a battle that can't be won by brute force. =)

The Kjata boss was, IMO, a bit too much on the easy side. For one, a single summon of Bahamut will take out Levant, while Beta makes quick work of the blue one, leaving only the yellow guy who, by himself, is easier than some random encounters.

Jenova-LIFE was a nice challenge. I'm not liking this Dual status effect too much though - mostly due to the lack of any obvious way to heal it (however, I noticed that it and Regen cancel each other out, so I've been using Regen as a countermeasure). She's still a bit over-reliant on elemental attacks, but at least it's more than one element and she does have a non-elemental attack now.

Spent hours walking around Great Glacier trying to find the Alexander fight (did you move it? Maybe my memory was a bit on the bad side), and to be honest... it was far too easy. Unless I got lucky and she never used it, it appears she can't do any HP damage that isn't ice-elemental. The MP-attacker problem also comes up again (both with her and some random encounters in this area) - I mean, it's one thing to be attacking it, but >1000 MP damage at a point in the game where your MP is barely 300? Just a suggestion... it seems all the MP attacks are either "get rid of 100% of your MP" or "do way more MP damage than your MP would be at this point" (with the exception of MP Hammer and Aspil), don't you think attacks that actually take part of your MP (and thus, instead of just being "f*ck you, no magic for you!", they're more "you're goign to have to be careful about which/how much magic you use" - which could allow for more interesting battles, as the wider variety of magic means it'll always be more interesting than a plan Attack-fest).

One other comment - those guys on the beach near Bone Village, don't you think that's making Beta a bit *too* accessible (although I noticed you slightly nerfed it in that it's now reflectable - I never quite understood why previously it wasn't yet Aqualung was)? It was actually somewhat annoying to finally put in the effort and get it from Midgar Zolom, only to immediately find a much easier source... and on the same note, Beta makes insanely quick work of the Great Glacier enemies, Snow seems to be the only common one that can survive it... I wasn't really surprised with Aqualung making quick work of everything back when I got it (since I kinda got the impression I wasn't meant to have it that soon), but maybe these enemies should've been a bit tougher?

EDIT: Also, has Laser been modified? It did 1/2 HP damage to an enemy that Sense reported as being weak against Gravity, so that'd suggest to me that it now only does 1/4... however, the description still says 1/2...

ANOTHER EDIT: I forgot to mention I fought the Mideel enemies a bit. They're nice, although Kwim seems impossible to hit... or is there just some trick I'm missing?
« Last Edit: 2011-12-27 10:47:34 by LJH »

taterz

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1253 on: 2011-12-29 00:21:31 »
quick question regarding steal: do enemies have 2 items or just 1 item to be stolen? i seem to recall that each enemy in vanilla only had 1 item to be stolen, yet the little enemy in the train graveyard gave both a potion or a fire claw. made for a bearable reno fight, that fire claw :P

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1254 on: 2011-12-29 08:17:15 »
That was always the case even in Vanilla. Not every monster has multiple options but quite a few do.

gjoerulv

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1255 on: 2011-12-30 18:35:28 »
@taterz
You can only claim one item at a time from enemies, but they can hold 4 different items to drop/steal. If you steal something it won't drop anything. Some items can only be dropped; some items can only be stolen.

@LJH
Thanks again!
The Kujata boss can be fought right after you get the tiny bronco, when no bahamut can help you. I actually had bahamut in mind when I made 'em.  ;) Also, here is no need to wait for the Wutai quest.
Everything should be beatable as early as possible, but those materia cave bosses may need some materia mastering.

I didn't touch laser. In some cases enemies have this "can't avoid" property to some elements, thus the sense materia says it's weak to given element.

The Qwim enemy is immune to damage every time it rests (taking a break). After it counter attacks it's susceptible to damage. It's damage immunity is off every time you attack it, but it only counters attacks about 50% the action taken towards it. Not necessarily against the attacker. It also counters with hell charm some times, in other words, it may be difficult to know when it actually counter attacks. But it's immunity is off. To damage it effectively, you'll need to time your attacks in a way all (at least 2) of your characters attacks it before get it's turn. Basically after every action it takes have at least 2 characters ready to damage it. The 1st attack will be ignored, but the 2nd will damage it. Note that it may counter between the attacks, but it won't gain immunity with a counter.

taterz

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1256 on: 2011-12-31 03:45:10 »
just a shot in the dark, but did you increase the amount of items to be stolen from enemies compared to vanilla? being an increased difficulty i know how important items will be, and as such i've been stealing like a dirty criminal every chance i get. so far it doesn't look like the bosses at the least haven't been changed, except the ones added in.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1257 on: 2011-12-31 11:09:02 »
Wow... that's quite a complex for a random encounter. That would've actually been quite nice as a boss.

Also... IMO the great glacier enemies give a bit too much AP. EXP is good but AP is a bit over the top. Just my three cents (cause I'm not stingy so I give more than two).

I'm just before Schizo now (haven't actually fought him yet, just at the save point before him) so I'll let you know how that one goes. He's another one that gives me HEAPS of trouble even in a normal game (and was one of the few bosses that gave me trouble in a No Materia game, along with Motor Ball, Midgar Zolom, Carry Armor and Bizzaro Sephiroth) so I'm really looking forward to it.

EDIT: One more thing: The joker-type enemies in Gaea's Cliff, it's a bit annoying how they use Remove on your guys leading to a quick, unblockable game over (or does Death immunity block it? I didn't actually try that, just thought of it now). Perhaps it could've been like Midgar Zolom's tail flick (ie: it counts as escape, not death), or like Shinryu from FFX with his Eraser (in that he won't use it if there's only one character left - I believe Ruby Weapon on vanilla FF7 is the same with Whirlsand?).

EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?
« Last Edit: 2012-01-01 01:39:44 by LJH »

gjoerulv

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1258 on: 2012-01-02 15:34:50 »
EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?

He he, that's a 1st. I think about everyone who have given feedback on schizo say it's too hard. Same thing about Jenova death.
The key to winning this battle (schizo) is to guard against fire, ice, lightning and earth. You do that you win.
I can't explain why you get positive status effects. The single breath attacks should remove any positive effect. Maybe because you absorb the element?
Btw, i did not change the elemental properties of schizo's attacks, except removing fire and ice from double breath (the only non elemental attack).

Livesey

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1259 on: 2012-01-02 20:44:22 »
.. Why didn't I think of that for Schizo?
I ended up making tifa resistant to everything but sometimes she'd randomly take damage, it was really confusing I assumed he had a few non-elemental attacks. and he was using them a lot I also had the same thing with the breaths giving good status' and sometimes removing them, also same thing with the earth elemtal half the tme I absorb half the time I get damaged.

taterz

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1260 on: 2012-01-03 03:54:35 »
i had the same thing with schizo, his ice breath gave me both barriers and apparently each breath he hit me with healed me and sometimes damaged. i spent so long on that fight simply trying to steal that stupid ring. none of the boss fights have been particularly hard, but i'm right around the point with the corel train so i'm sure that part would be difficult.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1261 on: 2012-01-03 11:59:02 »
Jenova Death was, I wouldn't say hard, but very decent. The key here, I found, was to focus on one character instead of trying to keep all 3 alive (Fire-nullify armour, Added Effect-Destruct and Ribbon nullifies the worst of her attacks, then it's just about making sure you heal enough to survive the damage).

I'm up to the Corel Train now. Can't beat Locke Venus & Theo, as before they seem to dish far more attacks out than expected. But I haven't looked for any potential weaknesses yet, so I'll let you know when I put more effort into it.

Livesey

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1262 on: 2012-01-03 12:02:59 »
The train fight was by far the hardest fight with them for me, so many times I almost won to be wiped out by the final attack... So many curses.

gjoerulv

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1263 on: 2012-01-03 16:01:49 »
Spoiler train fight.

Theo (purple) and Venus (red) can be mini, slowed and poisoned.
Locke (blue) and Theo can be berserked, but that isn't very smart unless you blind them with ink (venus can't be berserked or blinded).
Theo can be paralysed (dazers).
All of 'em can be death sentenced.  :p

Locke and Theo counters magical attacks, while Venus counters physical attacks. They counter these with magic.

Theo and Venus also have a general counter, meaning they counter anything with an attack (not magic). That's why it may seem as they get way more turns than you. For instance if you attack Theo with magic, he'll first counter the attacker with thundaga then counter attack a random target. And if it's his turn he'll throw in an additional attack. Then imagine you have a character on standby, ready to magically attack Theo  :o

Here is a decent strategy. Make sure you're resistant to ice, everyone should be able to heal and have one character with added effect + bio and added effect + mini on the weapon. You should be long range and hight attack power.
Start the fight by maigcally mini Venus (red) and keep Theo paralysed with dazers. Cast bio on venus until she's poisoned. Then attack Theo (purple) physically. Since you have added effect + bio + mini he should eventually be mini and poisoned.
If you manage to do this the fight is pretty much over. But you don't have much time.
1st kill Venus with magic (not fire based), then theo with physicall attacks and finally locke with physical attacks.

/spoiler

Sid

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1264 on: 2012-01-03 17:40:30 »
Nice to see that ff7 has a community after all this time!  it along with diablo 2 are the biggest games in my life, so this is great.

I just started using this mod today, and I have to say, wow this is tuff!!  I've defeated this game so many times, so im in for a challenge.  Years ago i tried to install a hard mod and failed miserably for days, then gave up to try later. well here I am.

So yeah, I died 2 times so far before making it to the first save point, Lol.   I Finaly saved it, so no more watching Aeris walking through the streets.   I did die in my first battle after I saved it though...  The monsters are Quite resiliant so far and do high damage!  along with status affects this is one challenge!  But Im up for it!

I just wanted to say thanks for revitalizing the most nostalgic game for me!

Im now going to attempt to improve the Character models and get some high quality music. Thanks again!!

edit:

Before I have to stop at a point because I dont have a 9999 breaker mod, can someone direct me to one?  I'm looking all over but I cant find one... and I read in these comments that you basicly need it becuase later enemies can go over 10k damage. 

ps: Im stuck at air buster so I have a ways to go, LOL.
« Last Edit: 2012-01-03 23:46:47 by Sid »

Slade

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1265 on: 2012-01-04 05:03:53 »
The easiest (but fairly time-consuming) thing to do is to go to this thread: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=12008.0

and follow the directions. It includes the hardcore mod, all currently updated character models, and DLPB's Menu Overhaul which has a 9999 limit breaker.

Takes a while to download everything though. I think someone in that thread has it all up on a torrent.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1266 on: 2012-01-04 11:39:06 »
Just use Aali's Graphic Driver, it's built in. You just have to enable it in the config.

Sid

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1267 on: 2012-01-05 04:25:37 »
The easiest (but fairly time-consuming) thing to do is to go to this thread: http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=12008.0

and follow the directions. It includes the hardcore mod, all currently updated character models, and DLPB's Menu Overhaul which has a 9999 limit breaker.

Takes a while to download everything though. I think someone in that thread has it all up on a torrent.

Oh nice!! All char models built in and a new menu, cant wait!! working on that right now.  Thanks Slade!

taterz

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1268 on: 2012-01-07 10:39:42 »
that's a rather complicated strategy for the trio of n00bs. i destroyed them using L4 suicide and demi 3 (really, really dislike the name change for that. gravity/gravira/graviga would be my own preference lol). the hardest part of that entire train section was stealing the armors: the warrior bangle from birdy mclolsauce and the minerva/escort/mystile from the trio. i only managed the warrior bangle and mystile before they bit the dust. curse you steal modifier :(.

i'm considering retrying it for the other 2 armors, but i'm reluctant to do that drawn out sequence in hopes that all 4 steals happen within the first couple of tries.

Livesey

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1269 on: 2012-01-07 17:16:52 »
that's a rather complicated strategy for the trio of n00bs. i destroyed them using L4 suicide and demi 3 (really, really dislike the name change for that. gravity/gravira/graviga would be my own preference lol). the hardest part of that entire train section was stealing the armors: the warrior bangle from birdy mclolsauce and the minerva/escort/mystile from the trio. i only managed the warrior bangle and mystile before they bit the dust. curse you steal modifier :(.

i'm considering retrying it for the other 2 armors, but i'm reluctant to do that drawn out sequence in hopes that all 4 steals happen within the first couple of tries.

That is what I also did but Gjoe's strategy seems like it would be more viable at a lower level or with worse equips, mind you it does involve getting dazers... Which some don't know where to obtain.

Also agreed on the gravity name change. I also dislike the names of quake but, hey , minor quibbles.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1270 on: 2012-01-07 21:15:17 »
Got past them, nice fight.

I'm up to the Simurghs battle now, and holy fuuuck they are annoying. But I have a plan... I'll get back to you. ;)

NxK

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1271 on: 2012-01-07 21:30:44 »
Got past them, nice fight.

I'm up to the Simurghs battle now, and holy fuuuck they are annoying. But I have a plan... I'll get back to you. ;)

Tell me once you enter the materia caves for the battles awaiting there are much more interesting and entertaining. ;]

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1272 on: 2012-01-07 21:58:48 »
Okay, annoying as they are, I have to say that was one of the awesomest battles yet. When I first attempted it, it seemed like simply a matter of grinding more then overpowering them... with some more work, I've found that that was a very cunningly designed battle. The usual strategy in a multiple-enemy battle like this would be to take out one at a time (so that there's less attackers on you), after any defensive setups (I went for Barrier, MBarrier and Regen but didn't bother with Haste cause of them constantly inflicting Slow). Of course, this leads to them using Angel Whisper (even on KO'd Simurghs), so I needed a way around that. Initially I tried Reflect, but found out that Angel Whisper is still not reflectable - and at any rate, that wouldn't help against KO'd Simurghs. So my next trick was Magic Breath, failed pretty quickly due to their Recovery-absorbtion of one of the elements. Magic Hammer it was. So with them at MP 0 (which had the nice side effect of getting rid of Hom as well), I wore them down... and what happens? They have an MP absorbing attack! I'm about to try the "weaken them then take them out in one blow" strategy when suddenly, a bulb lights up...

So I go into the battle, get my defense set up, Magic Hammer them down, as usual. Then this is where my great idea comes in. Get the setup - everyone to full HP, fresh Barrier and Regen up (MBarrier isn't needed since they don't use Hom at 0 MP), I also used Bad Breath to Poison the Simurghs. And then... Enemy Skill > Magic Breath > All Allies. To be honest I was half-expecting them to be prepared for even that strategy, but nope, it worked like a charm. =) No MP for them to absorb, so no Angel Whisper. =) The rest was just a matter of wearing them down - thanks to the fresh Barrier and Regen set up before, I didn't need to heal.

I like battles that take this much thinking, rather than speedy command input and getting lucky. =)

By the way, my characters are at Lv50 to 52 at this point, which I notice is a lot lower than most enemy levels, how does this compare to other players?
« Last Edit: 2012-01-07 22:03:43 by LJH »

gjoerulv

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1273 on: 2012-01-07 23:20:32 »
that's a rather complicated strategy for the trio of n00bs. i destroyed them using L4 suicide and demi 3 (really, really dislike the name change for that. gravity/gravira/graviga would be my own preference lol).

...

Ye, I would hardly call it complicated though. This mod is not for n00bs lol. L4 suicide is perfect for this fight, only problem would be the counters on low levels. Even then it's a great 1st attack.

LJH

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Re: [REL/FF7] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod. v1.0.5
« Reply #1274 on: 2012-01-07 23:50:16 »
Carry Armor seemed like he had potential to be problematic, but the take-one-arm-out-at-a-time-then-go-for-the-body strategy still works perfectly fine.

Just for the lulz I had a quick look at Emerald Weapon (needless to say I died VERY quickly)... ouch. o_O