KERNEL.BIN being the skeletal structure of the mod, I'll start with it.
COMMAND tab
* New camera angles for some commands
* Slash all : toggle multiple, can target allies (useful for Aeris and her weapons providing buffs)
ATTACK tab
*Cure/Cure2/Cure3/Cure4 recover set amounts of HP (in battle). They're also not reflectable. Cure restores 500 HP, Cure2 : 2000 HP, Cure3 : 5000 HP, and Cure4 all HP.
* Esuna replaces Poisona.
* Dispel replaces Esuna.
* Defence Break: replaces Resist. Casts Reflect and nullifies Def and MDef. Now that reflect is always a good status effect (healing spells aren't reflected), this is a "drawback" to an otherwise overpowered magic. Plus, it allows enemies immune to Reflect, to also be immune to the loss of defence.
* Life : restores life with 50% HP.
* Status spells have a low MP cost and a perfect accuracy.
* Focus : Replaces Barrier. Doesn't cost MP, and recovers MaxMP*1/32. If a character uses it and has a max MP of 32, he'll recover 1 MP. If he has 960 MP, he'll recover 30 MP for free. Useful when you're in a dire situation and don't have an Ether to spare.
* Cure4 replaces MBarrier.
* Life3 replaces Reflect. Restores all allies to life with full HP.
* Overdrive replaces Wall. Sacrifices the user's limit gauge to fill those of other allies. Costs a lot of MP.
* Blind replaces Haste.
* Pearl replaces DeBarrier. Powerful Holy elemental attack.
* Petrify replaces DeSpell.
* New camera angles for attack spells.
* Some elements are now weaker / stronger than others. Here is the order, from weaker to stronger :
Poison (=Dark) < Ice < Lightning < Water < Earth < Wind < Fire < Gravity (not a % based element anymore) < Holy
So, Bolt is more powerful than Ice, but Ice2 is still more powerful than Bolt (but less powerful than Bolt2, of course).
To go more in-depth about elements, you can now tell which element an enemy is weak to, just by looking at it. Just look at the enemy's color. If black is the dominant color, then it is weak to Holy and halves Poison. If it's purple it is weak against fire and halves ice, if it's yellow it is weak against water and halves lightning, if it's blue, it is weak against lightning and halves water ; if it's brown, it is weak against wind and halves earth ; if it's green, it is weak against earth and halves wind ; if it's red, it is weak against ice and halves fire. And if it's white, it is weak against poison and halves holy. Gravity has no color - it is the "space" element, used for spells like Comet, Ultima, and the Bahamuts. Many enemies are weak to it.
Also, the Poison status also inflicts Dual, now. Think of it as a reverse Regen. It's still considered Poison though - so a Remedy/Esuna/etc will still remove the status. Note that a Bio attack either inflicts all status effects (Poison + Dual + Dual Drain), or none (but if your character blocks Poison and not Dual, he'll only get the Dual status of course).
But let's go back to the Attacks tab :
* Water replaces Escape.
* Water2 replaces Remove
* the Aero spells replace the Demi ones. If you want to use % based damage, use the Laser enemy skill.
* Meteo replaces FullCure. More powerful than Comet2, and hits 6 times.
* Water3 replaces Shield.
*New spell : Big Wall. Unusable by the party - can only be used by enemies. Casts Barrier/MBarrier/Reflect.
* Summons ignore the enemies' MDef.
* Enemies skills don't depend on the Magic stat, anymore. Someone with 1 Magic will be as effective in Enemy Skills as someone with 255 Magic. The difference is that Enemy Skills are generally less powerful than normal magics, and that they cost more MP (the price for versatility).
* Power Up replaces L4 Suicide. It inflicts KO on a random party member, but doubles the caster's Strength (max strength: 510). Use this if you feel lucky, because if it targets the caster, then it would have been for nothing.
* Magic Hammer : drains approx ~3% of the target's MP for no MP cost. Some random enemies and bosses have a lot of MP, so it can be useful. Of course, if you use it on a random enemy that only has 100 MP, it's not that good (3 MP stolen, yay...).
* White Wind : heals more status effects, but it has a higher MP cost now.
* Ether Corpse : replaces Big Guard. It restores 1000 MP to one dead ally. Will miss if you target anyone still on their feet.
* Angel Whisper : simply restores life at 50% HP, now. MP cost lowered.
* Refuse: replaces Dragon Force. 1260 Dark damage on all opponents.
* Flame Thrower : 200 Fire damage to a single opponent
* Laser now uses the Poison element, since all Poison attacks use the 'Unknown' one. It has many uses you'll notice. One of which is the fact that, if an enemy is immune against the Poison status effect, it'll also be immune against Laser.
* Matra Magic : 360 Holy damage on all opponents
* Beta : inflicts 1000 Fire damage on all opponents
* Aqualung : inflicts 760 Water damage on all opponents
* Trine : inflicts 500 Lightning damage on all opponents
* Magic Breath : damages MP. Since all rules have an exception, this is the only Enemy skill that increases power with the Magic stat.
* ?? ?? : Hit-elemental. Some enemies can be weak / halve / or be immune to Hit. So if Barret had 200/1000 HP and he'd hit an enemy who halves Hit, he'd deal 400 damage instead of 800.
* Goblin Punch : Hit elemental and perfect accuracy. Use this if the enemy is weak to physical attacks and keeps dodging your attacks. Depends on the Strength stat.
* Shadow Flare : 3000 Gravity damage
* Pandora's Box : 2000 Gravity damage on all opponents.
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INITIAL DATA
Character data
Cloud starts the game at level 1. Everyone starts the game on the Back Row with a full Limit gauge.
No one gains stats at level up anymore. The only things that go up are HP and MP.
Everyone starts with ~10 in all stats and 200 HP / 20 MP, except Cloud that comes with ~15 and 300 HP / 30 MP. Use the sources that all random enemies drop to make your characters evolve as you wish. You shape your own team.
Oh, and you need less kills / limit uses to learn new limit skills. The limit gauges also take more time to fill (it was necessary, because since the enemies hit harder, Limit breaks occured too often. I made Limit breaks rarer, so you'll sometimes want to use them in specific spots - not always as soon as they're available).
Equipment that Cloud comes equipped with :
WEAPON : Buster Sword
ARMOR : Soldier 3rd
ACCESSORY : Strife
Materias that Cloud comes equipped with :
*Medic
*All (mastered)
*Low Level magic
*Counter-Attack
*Seal
*Added Effect
*Poison
*Enemy Skill
*Morph
*Focus
Equipment that Barret comes equipped with :
WEAPON : Gatling Gun
ARMOR : Avalanche Warrior
ACCESSORY : Wallace
Materias that Barret comes equipped with :
*Enemy Lure (mastered)
*Double Cut
*Item
*Steal
Equipment that Tifa comes equipped with :
WEAPON : Wizard Glove
ARMOR : Cotton Shirt
ACCESSORY : Lockheart
Materias that Tifa comes equipped with :
*Luck Plus
*Slash All
*Added Cut
*Steal
*Lightning
*All
*Enemy Skill
*Ice
(I won't go over the other characters, for now - laziness and all that...)
Party Data
You start with these items :
-Potion x10
-Hi-Potion x3
-Super Hero Drink x1
-Mega Potion x1
-Ether x1
-Remedy x5
-Phoenix Down x3
-Mega Phoenix x1
-a bunch of Greens
ITEMS
Almost all magics turned into attack items that have the same effect as the magics. Examples : Cure Stone, Ultima Stone, Meteo Stone, Aero Stone. Attack items deal a set amount of damage, and follow the same principle as attack magic. That means that the Bio Stone deals 80 damage, while the Ice Stone deals 100 damage, the Bolt Stone deals 120 damage, etc.
The most powerful attack item is the Pearl Stone, which deals 5000 damage. Oh yeah, and attack items have their own element (Shout). For example, some enemies can instantly die from being hit by an attack item.
Potions restore 400 HP in battle, 100 HP out of battle
Hi-Potions restore 2000 HP in battle, 500 HP out of battle
Ethers restore 400 MP in battle, 100 MP out of battle
Phoenix Downs restore life with 50% HP in battle
Take note that I kept the Light and Lunar Curtains, as one of the only ways (next to Aeris' weapons and some limit skills) to grant the Barrier & MBarrier statuses. But these items are rare, so I'd advise to use them as last resorts of sorts.
As a final note, forget about Eyedrops, Antidotes, Echo Screens and the likes. Now there is only one item to cure all status effects : the Remedy. It doesn't cost much gil, and it's a good idea to stock some. As for Hyper & Tranquilizers, they don't exist anymore. A certain weapon can inflict the Fury status (it makes enemies lose accuracy), and some Limit skills add Sadness to the party, reducing the damage taken.
WEAPONS
All weapons can be useful. Depends on your playstyle, and what enemy you are facing.
Some weapons give stat bonuses, can target MP instead of HP (some enemies can die if they have no MP left - most of the time, you can defeat an enemy with a huge HP pool a lot quicker by depleting its MP), weapons that have the Demi effect, weapons that ignore defence, that deal magical instead of physical damage, that always deal a certain amount of damage, that inflict status effects, that drains HP, etc... ...and all characters have a double & triple growth weapon. Also, in general, the better the weapon, the fewer materia slots they have. Oh yes : all weapons are now Long-Range. I always hated this advantage the game gave to Barret, Vincent and Yuffie over the other characters.
And I almost forgot to say that each character deals elemental attacks. All of Cloud's swords are Lightning elemental, for instance. And even most of his Limit skills deal lightning damage (the exceptions being MeteoRain which is Gravity/Space, and Finishing Touch which is Wind-elemental). The elements of the other characters are just below, in the armors section.
ARMORS / BANGLES
Each character has his/her armor of choice (all with 8 linked slots) that absorbs a certain element. Cloud absorbs Lightning, Tifa absorbs Holy, Barret absorbs Earth, Aeris absorbs Gravity, Red XIII absorbs Fire, Yuffie absorbs Water, Cait Sith absorbs Ice, Vincent absorbs Poison, and Cid absorbs Wind.
Also, each character has better personal armors that cost a lot of gil. For example, Cloud comes equipped with the Soldier 3rd armor. But later in the game, he'll come across the Soldier 2nd armor that absorbs lightning too but has Double materia growth, and adds 30 to both Strength and Magic. As for the Soldier 1st armor, it has Triple materia growth and adds 50 to both Strength and Magic. Of course, only Cloud and Sephiroth can use these Soldier armors. Same thing for Tifa, who has the Cotton Shirt, the Jujitsu Gi and the Brave Suit, etc...
You can also find armors not specific to characters. Like the Gigas Armlet (adds 70 to Strength, Def +200), the Aegis Armlet (adds 70 to Magic, MDef +200), the Dodger Armlet (Dexterity +30, Evade +50%), the Wizard Armlet (Luck +30, MEvade +50%), or the Genji Armlet.
ACCESSORIES
Each character has his/her accessory of choice, that protects against status effects and give additionnal bonuses. These are :
Strife : Repels Death, Death Sentence, and nullifies Bullet attacks (all bullet attacks have their own element)
Lockheart : Repels Sleep, Slow, and nullifies Laser attacks (all laser attacks have their own element)
Wallace : Repels Slow-Numb, Petrify, and nullifies Impacts (like punches, attacks from blunt objects, etc - they have their own element)
Nanaki : Repels Berserk, Frog, and grants Auto-Haste
Kisaragi : Repels Stop, Paralysis, and grants Auto-Haste
Crystal Ball : Repels Silence, Mini, and grants Auto-Reflect
Valentine : Repels Poison, Dual, and grants Auto-Reflect
Highwind : Repels Confusion, Blind, and nullifies Slash attacks (attacks from swords, spears, claws, etc - they also have their own element)
There also are accessories that protect against elements :
Hell Ring : Halves Dark (=Poison) & Fire elements
Heaven Ring : Halves Lightning & Holy elements
Gaia Ring : Halves Earth & Water elements
Blizzard Ring : Halves Ice & Wind elements
Star Ring : Halves Gravity element
And there are accessories that protect against status effects :
Talisman : Repels Poison, Dual, Confusion, Blind
Safety Bit : Repels Death, Death Sentence, Slow Numb, Petrify
White Cape : Repels Frog, Mini, Silence, Berserk
ATB Protector : Repels Slow, Stop, Paralysis, Sleep
...Add to that accessories that give stat boosts, the Reflect Ring, the Haste Ring, the Thief Glove and the Hypno Crown - and I think we're done with the accessories.
MATERIA
All materias give stat bonuses. For example Double Cut adds 1 to Strength and Vitality but removes 1 point to Magic and Spirit. Now you could equip materias with the stat boosts in mind, instead of the effects / magics they give (like putting a bunch of yellow materias to further increase a character's strength, etc).
- the Focus materia replaces HP Plus. Bye bye HP Plus, I won't miss you. Too easily abusable, IMO.
- the Low Level Magic materia replaces the Long Range materia (now useless). The Low level magic materia gives access to the spells Ice, Bolt, Aero, Quake and Water (not in this order though). You only need 100 AP to learn the next spell.
- Flash command removed from Slash all.
- W-Item turned into the Item materia. You can't use items in battle if this materia is not equipped.
- Blank spot under Item : Strength Plus materia.
- Elemental has only two levels, now. It can only halve an element. Not resist or absorb it. If for some reason you want to absorb Fire, for example, use Red XIII.
- Mime turned into the Flash materia
- Blank spot under Enemy skill : Vitality Plus materia
- Blank spot under Vitality Plus : Spirit Plus materia
- Blank Spot under Spirit Plus : Status Ailments materia. Combine this with added effect to either get a Ribbon effect, or to inflict all status ailments on the enemies you hit. A very rare materia.
- Master Command turned into the No Limit materia. Even more rare than Status Ailments.
- Exit materia turned into Water materia
- Gravity materia turned into Wind materia
- Barrier materia turned into Rejuvenate materia. Spells are : Focus, Cure4, Life3, and Overdrive.
- Full Cure materia turned into Meteo materia
- Shield materia turned into Pearl materia
- Blank spot under Master Summon materia turned into Medic materia. Spells are : Cure, Esuna, Life, and Cure2
- Blank spot under Medic is Mid-level magic materia. Spells are : Ice2, Bolt2, Aero2, Quake2 and Water2. Only 200 AP needed to learn the next spell.
- Blank spot under Mid-level magic is High-level magic. Spells are : Ice3, Bolt3, Aero3, Quake3 and Water3. Only 300 AP needed to learn the next spell.
- Blank Spot under High-level magic is Mother's materia. Magic materia, but gives no spell. Aeris comes equipped with it - it's Holy-elemental so combined with Added effect, you can inflict Holy damage / halve Holy, and its equip effect is 10h. Meaning that it adds 8 in Magic, 8 in Spirit, +20% MP - but it reduces HP by 10%.
Kernel mostly done ! ...I'll continue tomorrow, I'm tired x_X
Also take note that even though I'm satisfied with this, it is not set in stone. I've been working for years on this mod, so if you can convince me to change some things, no problem.
EDIT : @Cloudef: no, I'm not doing such field editing (for now, at least). The events will stay the same. I'm only interested in the gameplay, for now.
