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Releases / Re: [FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v1.5)
« on: 2020-05-13 21:20:04 »
I've completed the mod! For the most part. I think... so here I'd like to both gush and squawk about some aspects of it.
Things I especially liked:
- The Dark Cave quest. Did you binge some David Lynch movies before writing this one? It was disorienting in such a good way. I loved the premise with all the confused, trippy NPCs and the bosses which were tough but never unfair, and the finale feels really unique.
- The non-linear progression in weapons and armors, and the sheer level of customization possible through the combination of materia, equips, and Mr. Smile's stat paths. (Though, I did make some mistakes on a few characters, and ended up with a nearly useless Yuffie and an Aeris that got one-shotted constantly in end game. Cid was MVP with his ultimate weapon for its self-heals.)
- All the little details throughout the game that helped the world feel more alive, like various appearances from party members with (usually) in-character dialogue.
- Cid's sidequest was an absolute laugh riot, while still being in the spirit of the game.
"I used it to augment a giant killer dragon."
"OK." (fight woosh)
- Cait Sith's sidequest was a little brief, but complete gold for similar reasons. That boss is just such a ridiculous idea yet totally perfect. One of the hardest of the bunch too, but in a fun way.
- The many appearances of the XATM scorpion. In particular, the moments where it tries to tail attack with a broken tail, and where it jumps into the dragon fight in the Temple. I was getting absolutely stomped by the dragon until it arrived just in the nick of time which was awesome, plus along with the unique mechanics where I started trying to keep it healed, it was a really fun roller coaster. And finally, the last meeting in Barret's sidequest which was surprising in its own way.
- Yuffie joining early, complete with fun gang battle and no "hand me the players' guide" dialogue prompts. Awesome! And overall, her character somehow became more obnoxious and more enjoyable at the same time, which is a tough rope to walk, so serious props for it.
- Reviving Aeris, while a bit silly in the moment with Cloud freaking out, was a lot of fun. As somebody who tried doing it with cheats back in the day, I know you put a lot of effort into making sure she didn't crash the game in every other story scene - and even the extra dialogue in a lot of them. The scene discussing Holy with Bugenhagen was really nice in particular, because of the way it felt like the story had a ripple effect from her being alive.
- That Sephiroth fight, in your first visit to the North. Perfect example of "I couldn't have possibly imagined this would be here, but the moment is SO much better now that it is."
- The Planet materia! So useful. If anything, Contain was a little underwhelming to get afterwards.
- The diorama is closed.
- Junon Tournament has lots of fun bonus appearances and is fun to play through.
- The final fights with Sephiroth were rough but fair, rather than being complete pushovers like in the original.
- All the little nods to other games, like attacks, enemies, and items being renamed or brought in line with other FF games.
- The rebalanced equivalents to Ruby and Emerald, which still took advantage of their unique features but without the BS moves.
Things I didn't like:
Things I especially liked:
Spoiler: show
- The Dark Cave quest. Did you binge some David Lynch movies before writing this one? It was disorienting in such a good way. I loved the premise with all the confused, trippy NPCs and the bosses which were tough but never unfair, and the finale feels really unique.
- The non-linear progression in weapons and armors, and the sheer level of customization possible through the combination of materia, equips, and Mr. Smile's stat paths. (Though, I did make some mistakes on a few characters, and ended up with a nearly useless Yuffie and an Aeris that got one-shotted constantly in end game. Cid was MVP with his ultimate weapon for its self-heals.)
- All the little details throughout the game that helped the world feel more alive, like various appearances from party members with (usually) in-character dialogue.
- Cid's sidequest was an absolute laugh riot, while still being in the spirit of the game.
"I used it to augment a giant killer dragon."
"OK." (fight woosh)
- Cait Sith's sidequest was a little brief, but complete gold for similar reasons. That boss is just such a ridiculous idea yet totally perfect. One of the hardest of the bunch too, but in a fun way.
- The many appearances of the XATM scorpion. In particular, the moments where it tries to tail attack with a broken tail, and where it jumps into the dragon fight in the Temple. I was getting absolutely stomped by the dragon until it arrived just in the nick of time which was awesome, plus along with the unique mechanics where I started trying to keep it healed, it was a really fun roller coaster. And finally, the last meeting in Barret's sidequest which was surprising in its own way.
- Yuffie joining early, complete with fun gang battle and no "hand me the players' guide" dialogue prompts. Awesome! And overall, her character somehow became more obnoxious and more enjoyable at the same time, which is a tough rope to walk, so serious props for it.
- Reviving Aeris, while a bit silly in the moment with Cloud freaking out, was a lot of fun. As somebody who tried doing it with cheats back in the day, I know you put a lot of effort into making sure she didn't crash the game in every other story scene - and even the extra dialogue in a lot of them. The scene discussing Holy with Bugenhagen was really nice in particular, because of the way it felt like the story had a ripple effect from her being alive.
- That Sephiroth fight, in your first visit to the North. Perfect example of "I couldn't have possibly imagined this would be here, but the moment is SO much better now that it is."
- The Planet materia! So useful. If anything, Contain was a little underwhelming to get afterwards.
- The diorama is closed.
- Junon Tournament has lots of fun bonus appearances and is fun to play through.
- The final fights with Sephiroth were rough but fair, rather than being complete pushovers like in the original.
- All the little nods to other games, like attacks, enemies, and items being renamed or brought in line with other FF games.
- The rebalanced equivalents to Ruby and Emerald, which still took advantage of their unique features but without the BS moves.
Things I didn't like:
Spoiler: show
- No "ultimate secret" or grand finale to the mod, at least not one that I found. It's not a completely necessary thing, as the mod was already amazing without it, but it felt like it was dropping hints every so often that something big and weird was coming. Ultima Weapon talks (!) and drops cryptic hints about Jenova or something. The Dark Cave incident isn't followed up on. Mr. Smile is dripping with ominous "deal with the devil" implications, but once everyone is maxed out, he just tells you to come back later. And that weird corrupted save point thing...
- The Battle Square Special Battles. Almost everything requires some form of exploit or planned hyper-efficient abuse of mechanics, similar to the original Emerald/Ruby fights, which is fine for those who are excited for that, but they feel much more required than those because several big items are gated behind them, like materia and weapon materials. I got the other 3, but never did manage to beat Nemesis.
- Gilgamesh is awesome and that fight is great, but he takes forever to take down if you're trying to farm BP.
- Red's sidequest has a cool fight, but it felt like it was missing something. I think this would be a good opportunity to "hear the cries of the Planet" and get some trippy messages while you're in the cave, along with maybe some replaced random battles with Northern Crater-level stuff. The return to the cave could feel like part of the quest that way, instead of just a necessary backtracking to get to where the boss is.
- Cloud's sidequest was a good way to incorporate the Zack material, but the fight seemed a little bit tacked on and didn't really fit with the story. The Crisis Core references in his attacks were appreciated, though - and thanks for the save point, I never would've beaten him otherwise!
- There's a certain section of mid-late game where enemies feel completely reliant on status effects. It falls off by the very end, but it gets a little obnoxious for a while because there are no Ribbons or other ways to really defend against it or know what effects are coming except for dedicating a large chunk of a party member's materia space to Hades-AddedEffect + Esuna-All.
- I forgot to get Alexander and a couple enemy skills, so I tried to revisit the Great Glacier and the game kept locking up upon entering.
- Aeris's sidequest had a very cool fight but didn't really take advantage of the mysterious vibes of the Forgotten City. This might just be a personal preference thing, my fault for psyching myself up for some weird secrets down there, or doing something nutty with the White Materia.
- I made the mistake of trying to build Vincent as a mage, so his limits were pretty bad and he became a bit of a liability as a party member. Cait Sith felt like he was missing something too, but his stats were fine.
- But overall, don't worry too much about these things because they feel minor compared to how stellar the mod is as a whole.
- The Battle Square Special Battles. Almost everything requires some form of exploit or planned hyper-efficient abuse of mechanics, similar to the original Emerald/Ruby fights, which is fine for those who are excited for that, but they feel much more required than those because several big items are gated behind them, like materia and weapon materials. I got the other 3, but never did manage to beat Nemesis.
- Gilgamesh is awesome and that fight is great, but he takes forever to take down if you're trying to farm BP.
- Red's sidequest has a cool fight, but it felt like it was missing something. I think this would be a good opportunity to "hear the cries of the Planet" and get some trippy messages while you're in the cave, along with maybe some replaced random battles with Northern Crater-level stuff. The return to the cave could feel like part of the quest that way, instead of just a necessary backtracking to get to where the boss is.
- Cloud's sidequest was a good way to incorporate the Zack material, but the fight seemed a little bit tacked on and didn't really fit with the story. The Crisis Core references in his attacks were appreciated, though - and thanks for the save point, I never would've beaten him otherwise!
- There's a certain section of mid-late game where enemies feel completely reliant on status effects. It falls off by the very end, but it gets a little obnoxious for a while because there are no Ribbons or other ways to really defend against it or know what effects are coming except for dedicating a large chunk of a party member's materia space to Hades-AddedEffect + Esuna-All.
- I forgot to get Alexander and a couple enemy skills, so I tried to revisit the Great Glacier and the game kept locking up upon entering.
- Aeris's sidequest had a very cool fight but didn't really take advantage of the mysterious vibes of the Forgotten City. This might just be a personal preference thing, my fault for psyching myself up for some weird secrets down there, or doing something nutty with the White Materia.
- I made the mistake of trying to build Vincent as a mage, so his limits were pretty bad and he became a bit of a liability as a party member. Cait Sith felt like he was missing something too, but his stats were fine.
- But overall, don't worry too much about these things because they feel minor compared to how stellar the mod is as a whole.
Top guess was either Zack or a Sephiroth clone.
??), seemingly one was added somewhere? Will this become clear in the Northern Crater or one of the side quests, or did I miss something?