Hello everyone,
since I've been playing with the idea of creating a mod of my own for quite a while now and was recently looking for a somewhat original way to play through this game, I've just decided, I could quite easily set my hand on something you could call an enforced character classes mod. In particular this means that I'm trying to limit each character to certain abilities and equipment plus modify these and the characters stats, as it is known from some other Final Fantasies, for instance.
To do this, I'll mainly be using WallMarket, however there are just a few things of matter this program can't modify, and I'd like to know if there might exist any other tools or easy ways around this. (I'm completely lost when it comes to hexediting and that kinda stuff, so leave that out.
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So what I'm looking for, is on the one hand some way to change the initial equipment and stats of Cait Sith and Vincent. I've heard something about their stats being dependant on those of the other members when they're joining your team, so I suppose they might not be modifiable in WallMarket because of that. Though, if there actually is a way to do it, I'd like to know.
Next, I'm aware there are ways to modify the supply in stores, respectively the prices, but I didn't come around any appropriate tool yet, nor do I know which files this information is located in.
Further, I don't think this is easily possible, but if someone knows a way to bind materia to certain characters or even to weapons/armor, that'd be great.
Regarding the more specific stuff, I'm already positive about most classes that should be included and their equipment, however some of them are giving me a headache. I should mention that I'm putting emphasis on the classes to suit their character, plus I want the whole thing to be somewhat challenging, not the hardest mod out there, but not a cakewalk either.
As for how the skills will be available, I'm intending to modify a few of the materia that can't be found anywhere but only bought at stores (so hopefully I can completely abandon any duplicates of these materias by making them unavailable or at least unaffordable in stores) to hold all the skills a certain character should be able to learn and make them their initial equipment. The amounts of AP needed for new skills to be obtained are yet to be considered. Any materia collected throughout the game shouldn't have any use but serve as a source of money.
Here follows a list of my first considerations so far, which only holds information regarding the character classes and what skills they should have but no information regarding stats or equipment.
All skills are listed in the order of learning. Included are a few spells such as Blind or Hastega, which don't exist in the game, but are meant to be created. Oh and I'm using the names from the "New Spell Patch" by zero88, but most of you should be familiar with those.
Thief/Ninja - Yuffie
Skills: Steal, Throw, Escape, Mug, Coin, Morph, Remove
Other Materia: Gil Plus, Pre-Emptive, Speed Plus
Limits: None
Blue Mage - Cait Sith
Skills: All(?) Enemy Skills, Manipulate
Other Materia: Chocobo Lure, Underwater
Limits: None
Black Mage - Red XIII
Skills: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Tremor, Bio, Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, Quake, Biora, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Earthquake, Bioga, Comet, Freeze, Break, Tornado, Flare, Cometeo, Ultima
Other Materia: Magic Plus, perhaps Magic Counter
Limits: Lv.1 - spell (tier 1) hitting all enemies, Lv.2 W-Magic (tier 2), Lv.3 W-Magic, all enemies (tier 3), Lv.4 Quadra Magic (tier4)
Arcane Mage - Vincent
Skills: Demi, Mini, Blind, Confu, Slow, Demara, Silence, Toad, Berserk, Sleepel, Demaga, Slowaga, Stop, Death
Other Materia: None
Limits: Perhaps Hades or some unique spell that inflicts several status changes, or leave him with his original transformations.
On to the somewhat tougher calls...
Berserker - Barret (I'm not too happy with this, though it wouldn't probably be bad, gameplay-wise.)
Skills: X-Attack (after lots of AP), Flash
Other Materia: HP-Absorb (linked to Slash All), Cover, Counter Attack (probably multiple ones, with different leveling requirements), HP Plus
Limits: None
Notes: Will always wear accessory that inflicts the berserk status.
Monk - Tifa
Skills: Sense, Deathblow, 2xAttack, 4xAttack, W-Item
Other Materia: maybe Long Range (after lots of AP)
Limits: Default ones.
White Mage - Aeris (She would obviously suit a white mage very well, the only downside is her early death, after which the need for a healer doesn't exactly decline, so probably someone else should take over this role from the very beginning. Tifa would be a rather valid option, though it would be sad, regarding her unique weapons and limits.)
Skills: Cure, Poisona, Barrier, MBarrier,Cura, Esuna, Life, Haste, Regen, Curaga, Reflect, Wall, Resist, Hastega, Full Cure, Revive
Other Materia: Magic Plus, perhaps Magic Counter
Limits: Likely the same as the Black Mage.
Summoner - Aeris (might be more appropriate for her, since the usefulness of summons - excluding KOTR - usually decreases towards the endgame anyway.)
Skills: All Summons in the usual order, except of Hades, provided he becomes part of Vincent's setup.
Other Materia: Magic Plus, MP Plus, perhaps MP Turbo
Limits: Either simply free of charge summons or some exclusive ones or W-Summon.
Cloud - Well... hard to decide. I was planning on giving him some elemental swords but that alone won't do. Adding Mime would be an option, but still a bit clumsy for a main character. Then again, there are still some spells to be allotet, such as DeBarrier and Dispell. This and maybe a couple more of some newish skills, which could allow to break enemies stats for example, would be fine, I guess.
Cid - Don't really know, he gets aboard too late to make for an effective white mage, so I'd probably let him have Tifa's part and simply call it Dragoon. This would furthemore be fortunate, in that you wouldn't have to start out with all the melees.
So, any help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated.