Author Topic: [FF8PC - Steam] Succession Mod (v.1.0)  (Read 94281 times)

gunner_1207

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Re: [FF8PC - Steam] Succession Mod (v.1.0)
« Reply #175 on: 2024-02-01 19:55:00 »
Yeah sorry Lilith, but i gotta agree with Percival. I just don't see its relevance to a game this old.

ASD87

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Re: [FF8PC - Steam] Succession Mod (v.1.0)
« Reply #176 on: 2024-08-01 16:26:23 »
Hi, I wanted to ask about the mod's compatibility with the FF8 Remaster ver.

This mod works the earlier steam release of the game, and requires replacing 3 files. These same files can be found in the Remaster after using DEMASTER mod, as it 'unpacks' the game's data files.

Replacing the Remaster files with the ones you made don't seem to change the text sadly, but maybe this could help in figuring a way to get it to work with the Remaster ver.?

Percival

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Re: [FF8PC - Steam] Succession Mod (v.1.0)
« Reply #177 on: 2024-10-05 01:03:06 »
@ASD87

  I have not yet released a version of this mod that is compatible with the Remaster. It will not work if you simply use the Demaster and attempt to replace the files. I have plans to release a new version eventually, but it is only around 2/3 complete at this time. And I am not currently making progress on it. In the meantime, you will need to use the 2013 Steam version or perhaps the old PC version for this mod.

Apologies.

Percival

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Re: [FF8PC - Steam] Succession Mod (v.1.0)
« Reply #178 on: 2024-10-05 03:22:39 »
From Lemmie63, originally posted on the Succession page of the Nexus:
Spoiler: show

I'm terrible with giving positive reviews, and just words in general, but I thought this mod deserves my attempt at some praise because wow, it was amazing. Also I'm not sure if there's like a way to tag spoilers so anyone reading this, I do spoil a far bit of the mod. Just a warning.

I've just finished the game with this mod installed literally seconds ago and I wanted to say what an incredible experience it was. FF8 is a game I love in spite kind of hating nearly aspect of it. My biggest problem is unfortunately the story that way too often doesn't make sense or throws things on screen that have no real build up or pay off, it has next to no interest in any character that isn't Squall and Rinoa yet will still introduce dozens of other characters only to give them pretty much no resolution. And of course the amnesia plot being a prime example of maybe the worst bit of writing in the entire franchise. It's just a very strange script that desperately needed several more drafts and maybe trim some of the fat, it's way too ambitious for what they could manage at the time. It's the game I wished got a remake just so the developers could try and fix it's messy plot.

The only real criticisms I have aren't actually related to the mod but just the overall structure of FF8 and some of the stupidity of its individual scenes that no amount of dialogue changes could fix. This mod really highlights how barebones and rushed everything in disc 3 really is, because the writing was so captivating up the Battle of the Gardens and rather well paced, especially the burgeoning romance between our two leads. Then Disc 3's pacing comes along and everything is racing to rush this game to the finish line. Every time I play this game I forget just how quickly we go from FH, to Esthar then immediately space. It's like maybe an hour of game time? I still much prefer your version of events in Disc 3, even if I did a stronger sense of disappointment just because I wanted more compared to the original game.

That's why I'm happy to have finished the mod and are able say it is a vastly stronger, and more importantly, more coherent story you've written here, especially considering the limitations the game had placed on you.

It's a story I actually want to revisit because it's a legitimately good tale.  There are a lot of changes I really like, notably; Cid being a much more authoritarian character, the worldbuilding hidden away in the bloody menu actually being used in the plot, Seifer having motivations that you can understand. Oh and I can't describe how happy I was when I was in the first few hours of the game and the characters were openly discussing their time at the orphanage. The basketball court scene now being about how they all felt differently about their time in the orphanage completely salvages that scene. I also think the ending cinematic makes a little more sense coming from the perspective that this all inside Rinoa's mind and Squall's consciousness falling apart, instead of the weird "Squall lost in time" thing. I also want to point out all the foreshadowing and set-up you do that the original game completely failed at, the Lunatic Pandora being a prime example. It's actually spoken about throughout the game instead of just sort of appearing super late in the game and that one Laguna flashback.

There's one change I really want to highlight that really made the play-through worthwhile and that is your portrayal of Rinoa. I can say with certainy that she now has earned her spot as the deuteragonist. Her being a sorcerer right from the start is a brilliant idea that gives her some desperately needed depth and story in the first two discs and a much more solid character arc that can actually begin right from the time we meet her. That being a sorcerer is a corrupting power that will ultimately turn her into a monster gives her actual motivation to haphazardly join up in a Timber resistance cell. Her quickly forgetting all about Timber is something that always bothered me, and her actions there now being a part of her desperation to prove that she can be a good person really mends that for me.  It makes her joining and sticking with the party actually make some manner of sense, it's now all related to her internal fears about her future and her person. Oh and the ending now ties into her character and completes Rinoa. She succeeds at freeing herself from becoming a monster, she gets her wish. Absolutely stunning. Overall a much stronger character whose personal arc now stretches the entire game. She is the reason I love this mod so much, this Rinoa is a character who'd make my top 10 Final Fantasy characters.

Now this might just be me reading into things or seeing plot threads that were never intended, but I get the feeling there was an intention for more that the game just wouldn't allow you to write. One specific example of this has to be Squall and Cid, how Squall starts off feeling deeply indebted to Cid until Rinoa falls into the coma then tension begins to form. Cid starts talking about how maybe she just shouldn't wake up, Squall yells and rebukes him and some of that hero worship he had seems to fade, and this little story just stops. I just get the impression there may have been an intention for a bit of a story between them that never came to fruition because there just isn't any more Cid scenes to re-write. I dunno, maybe I'm completely wrong here.

Anyway, it was an amazing mod and I adored it. It's certainly my favourite playthrough of FF8 I've ever done.

And my response:
Spoiler: show

Thank you so much for your response! I always appreciate the feedback. You highlighted a few ideas that haven't been mention by anyone else. As long as you don't mind, I'd like to repost your comment along with my reply on my Qhimm Forum page. And please, anyone reading this, please DON'T CONTINUE if you plan on playing this mod and don't want any spoilers.

I couldn't agree with you more regarding the pacing of Disc 3. Disc 2 slows down a lot until it ramps up at the Garden Battle. But from the beginning of Disc 3 things happen too fast. Starting from the orphanage with Edea to the Lunar Station it feels like breakneck speed, and it all happens with very few moments for the necessary exposition to allow things to make much sense.

If I had it my way, I would have loved to add a few extra scenes with the team confronting Seifer as he raised the Lunatic Pandora from the sea (ideally at the Deep Sea Research Facility). This would have helped to transition the story from confronting Edea to pursuing Seifer into Esthar.

I'm so glad to hear that you like the changes to Rinoa and Cid. There is definitely more that I had hoped to write, and I’ve got lot’s of notes that never made it into the mod. Of the three characters I changed the most, being Seifer, Rinoa and Cid, only Rinoa had room for a complete story arc. For Rinoa, I was personally surprised at how well the story was able to accommodate the alterations from my mod.

But for Cid, I recognized early that his story essentially ended with the orphanage scene, and that he wasn’t going to get much resolution beyond reuniting with Edea. Also, keep in mind that the tension between Squall and him began earlier. When Cid revealed what he knew about Ellone, Squall threw a fit right in front of Cid, and afterward Squall considered quitting SeeD. So, from my perspective, at the orphanage scene Squall demonstrated an improvement in self-control from before. And even though Cid’s language was harsh, if you listen to his words, he was trying to give Squall a lesson in leadership. In Squall’s position, he no longer had the luxury of being selfish. He needed to consider the well-being of those under him (and possibly those of the whole world) when deciding what to do about Rinoa. And remember, this is coming from Cid, someone who just spent the last 10+ years of his life building an army for the primary purpose of killing the woman he loved. He’s serious about this issue. Squall isn't just angry at Cid because he thinks Cid's being unfair or controlling, he's angry at the situation because he's afraid Cid might be right. And unlike Cid, he's not yet mature enough to make the hard decision to sacrifice someone he's starting to love. Not even for the good of the entire world.

There’s a lot going on in this scene, and it’s one of my favorites.

If I could have added a scene for Cid, it would have involved providing some closer surrounding Squall's position at Balamb Garden. In the vanilla story, Squall simply abandons his responsibilities without telling anyone. In my version, either Cid should have officially retained leadership of the Garden and allowed Squall to make his own decision about what to do with Rinoa, or Squall should have confronted Cid and decided to resign in order to pursue Ellone and help Rinoa. Whichever, this should have been a defining moment when Squall began to strike out on his own and make decisions for himself, possibly for the first time in his life.

There’s another point to consider about my methodology for this project. When rewriting most scenes, I spent a lot of time analyzing and even taking notes on the character's animations and body language. The animations for this game are very detailed and expressive, and they provide a ton of characterization for the main cast. (This is a dramatic improvement over earlier titles, and for me, it’s one of the highlights of the game.) Whenever possible, I did my best to let the character’s body language dictate the tone of my writing, rather than try to force it the other way around. More than once Cid brought out some of Squall's strongest emotions. This was my main motivation for most of the tension between them. Squall's body language dictated that he cared a lot about everything Cid had to say, whether he agreed with it or not. (Squall punches the wall in front of his superior officer and the rest of his team. Think of what it would take for you to do that in a meeting with your boss?) This was just one of the ways I attempted to produce something that honored and respected the original work.