I’ve been thinking over The Skillster’s idea for a FF7 extreme edition patch. Now, I’m sure that most of us are at least aware of the various criticisms toward FF7’s battle system. In a nutshell, the game is too easy for a lot of this genre’s fans. Granted that FF7’s being so conceivably boosted its marketability to the casual fans (as many of us admit we were before FF7), obviously the dulling combat won’t continue to satisfy those who made it to dwell here. With this realization I also seek to rekindle a spark inside the original gameplay through various means as they become available.
For a start, as I mentioned earlier, there is an imbalance between the use of weapons and magic. A sure way to freshen up the battle system would be to try to adjust the two as weapons were relied on far more then perhaps they should have been to permit challenging circumstances. Rather then modifying the stats of the weapons themselves I think that it would be more appropriate to hyperbolize the apparent characteristics of the monsters. For example, the Adamantaimai should demonstrate a significant resilience to weaponry considering its visibly thick armor. The Slaps should feature a particularly high weapon evasion rate and turn frequency according to their divisibility and how nimble they appear. Generally, perhaps something like the smaller the monster is the more likely it would be able to dodge a physical attack. I remember reading a lot of comments around the web where people said they didn’t use Aeris very much because she didn’t achieve as a physical attacker. Therefore a lot of them didn’t develop a reasonable level of attachment to her to compliment her function in the story. I can imagine a greater impact if she was allowed to contribute her suddenly more valuable skills a lot more often while on the pursuit of the Black-Caped Man.
Aside from just calibrating the vulnerabilities of the monsters it would be challenging to face deadlier enemies from time to time. One immediate way to adjust this would be to boost a monster’s amount of HP or evasion rates, allowing it to last longer and cause more damage. Unfortunately this would make some battles unnecessarily tedious (Who’d want to fight a Grangalan pack for half-an-hour?). The obvious approach would be to increase the monster’s strength and magic power stats so it would do more damage in each of its various attacks. Another alternative would be to raise its turn frequency so that it attacks more often during its lifespan, possibly coupled with a boost in MP to sustain a wider availability of attacks. Though this particular option would suit monsters with a more agile appearance, fighting an extremely ferocious Midgar Zolom would be awesome. Or better yet, a truly machine-quick Proud Clod would make you think it could actually combat WEAPONs. Also it would be quite satisfying if the Shin-Ra combatants would actually live up to their reputation too. Anyway, the number of lethally-enhanced monsters in the random encounter circuits would probably have to be limited. It would be too much if everything could nearly murder your whole team each battle. In any case, a slighter higher incidence of recovering phoenix downs and the like would be needed for the team to usually survive while on leveling spree. Of which, it might be more fun to select one or two of the rarer monster species in each region and amplify their stats in the ways above. They could sustain more damage, attack faster, and cause more harm but then reward you with much more experience, AP and gil. This way it might decrease some of the repetitiveness of leveling yet still consume approximately the same amount of time and resources as fighting several batches of weaker opponents from the same region. This sort of diversity would help draw attention away from some of the discouraging stress that would build from the more-challenging gameplay. After all, the objective still requires the game to be fun to play.
According to the copy of the scene_eng text file I have, all the basic stats and receivable items are modifiable. In time, hopefully the elemental/status vulnerabilities will become adjustable. Perhaps even later, extra subspecies using the same models (conceivably like with the Chocobos) can be introduced into different regions. Ah, if only…
