[FF7PC-98/Steam] New Threat Mod (v2.0.999992)

[UpRisen]

I just finished the game on Arrange mode so I geuss ill give some overall feedback.

Spoiler: show

Things I liked: The ramping and pacing was nearly perfect for most of the game.
The "New Threats" were all nice to see and fun, cant comment on their balance though since with the exception of yuffies tifas and clouds I used w-summon KOTR (more on that in the dislike section)
Early game felt harder in general with a few random enemies taking me by suprise and causing me to have a game over.
Cloud Tifa Barret Cid and Yuffies inate abilities are well suited for their characters and play styles.
Sources from mr. happy to build your characters was a nice addition and most characters I was happy with the selections available.
Low materia slots on weapons and the stats given from them really made me think harder about what loadout I wanted to run
I ended up speccing low on the physical damage scale (tifa focused dex and luck and cloud was vit/spr and dex) but was happy to see that basic magic and eskill felt balanced throughout the game and not just spikes when aquiring an E-Skill.
4x cut and Dblow+added cut didnt feel like the o.p. must have loadout for mid-late game.
New vareity in materia and skills gave me a new path to play though with which is something alone that will bring me to play through ff7 again.


Things Im on the fence about: Ultimate weapon crafting, With the ability to do all of the New Threats before actually descending into the crater I would have liked for those fights to have had one of the weapons required the crafting as a steal reward so that they could be crafted without having to try to farm from enemies in the crater. I was already max level before the crater with all the ap I needed for my materia so i felt like i was just wasting time trying to get an Iron giant to drop a weapon for it. But i understand It being the way it is to add more playtime and to encourage people to explore after reaching the bottom.
Trading a guide book for a gold chocobo, Again on the fence here because I see the reasons to give it earlier since the caves are hard and it saves time on chocobo racing, but I enjoy the chocobo breeding grind and did it anyways so this is just a nit picky point.
Crystal weapons seem a bit too powerful to me, Once i had those I prettty much always used them except for the characters special varients or ultimate weapons. I also valued defence speed and materia slots this run so thats part of it, but I feel that they are either over tuned or the later weapons are either too situational or just not worth using.
The platnium match in the battle arena. I tried this fight about 15 times before I beat it, and while for the first 6-7 times I adjusted my load out, party and strategy I only won because of pure luck because he didnt use his AOE status attack on the first turn and the person he attacked survived the hit so i was able to spam KOTR for the win.
The dark cave was a nice new addition to the story, but it ends so abruptly that i thought it was bugged at first since none on the NPCS had new dialogue like I had been in the cave, especially DIO who i assumed would have a reward or atleast a new line of text after i completed it, It was only when someone told me that the cave always ended liek that that i knew it wasnt bugged.

Things that I disliked.  The new bottom swell fight felt harder than the rest of the disc 1 fights. Jenova felt laughably easy after that. But I feel like those other fights were balanced and that bottom swell was the outlier fight. I managed to pull together a 1st time win vs him and if i had lost the strategy to beat him would have been pretty apparent but the point I am making is that his difficulty feels out of place for that area, I would personally tone him down just a tiny bit, or make the mythril cave turks and Jenova fights just a tiny bit harder to keep the flow of the balance.
Demons gate felt way to weak, admittingly i was pretty overleveled by this point but he still felt more like a "just chip away at him forever with no danger of dying" boss rather than "Lord Demon's gate the 3rd, destroyer of runs and smasher of controllers"
Theifs glove come a little too late IMO. Yes its a great item to have and I like how expensive it is to aquire but by the time I got it (right after getting cloud back) i didnt see the need to use it and only put it on tifa because I had renew+magic counter and wanted the +30 dex from it.
Renew is obtained too early for the effects that It has and is a bit too easy to master.
Bomb king..... I hated this fight. After the first attempt i knew the strategy i needed to beat him, but i felt like the right was just 25% prep and 75% RNG. One of the fights he used chain explosion, sucker punched the character that was going to heal the bombs, then chain explosion again. I beat him because i got a good pattern and he only used chain explosin on turns 1 and like 10 or something. And the bombs chose to spam eruption instead of their basic attack so my characters werent in any actual danger.
OMEGA weapon is affected by stop, making that fight the easiest of all the materia cave bosses, and for KOTR It should feel like the hardest.
My only "real" complaint though is Master summon + w-summon. These were easy to obtain and as soon as I had that combo the game became basically free as mastersummon+MP absorb+w-summon followed by mime was the way I won every fight. I know that that combo also exist in vanilla and that i could have just NOT used it ( next time i play im doing a no KOTR run) but it was obtained so easily imo that there was no reason to not use it ( i didnt w-item glitch anything so atleast i got that going for me ^_^)
The way I would balance that would be to either remove master summon entirely or put one of the summon materia at the bottom of the crater or make all the master materia have a much harder boss fight than the KOTR boss was.

Overall id rate this mod 8/10 and I would say that I enjoyed it just as much as the Hardcore mod, albeit for different reasons.
Well done.

[Oxymorjohn]

So... I watched some YouTube vids to confirm. Looks like Aerith ain't supposed to die in your mod, but in my game, Cloud laid her to rest in the water and everything. She wasn't revived.

[mkrnova]

what is the different between to to mode normal and arranged?

[Sega Chief]

I just finished the game on Arrange mode so I guess ill give some overall feedback.

Thanks for the feedback; there's a lot of content and feature bloat in the mod that could stand to be cut away. I think I would also need to rebuild the mod from scratch to address the more fundamental problems in its rebalance; the work-arounds I have in place can only do so much, and I'd likely need to focus a lot better and properly plan out what I want the mod to be balance-wise.

So... I watched some YouTube vids to confirm. Looks like Aerith ain't supposed to die in your mod, but in my game, Cloud laid her to rest in the water and everything. She wasn't revived.

There's a dialogue option before the FMV that determines it, but this comes up a lot so I'll definitely need to come up with a better way of implementing this choice somehow.

what is the different between to to mode normal and arranged?

Arrange changes some of the bosses fights and gives all enemies a Level buff for increased damage, etc. It's like a hard mode.

[Oxymorjohn]

Oh, I see. I chose the text in red. I didn't know it was going to kill her. lol.

[Oxymorjohn]

@UpRisen and SegaChief: Since UpRisen mentioned innate abilities and fitting the theme of a character, I actually had some ideas for Cait Sith, Red XIII and Vincent. I know these would be tough to do (or maybe even impossible to do in the case of Vincent), but I really feel like these suit the characters. Spoiler below!

Spoiler: show

Cait Sith:
\\Curiousity Healed the Cat//
When Cait Sith gets a Shout or Dice critical hit, his HP/MP is restored by a damage dependent amount.

Formula:
HP restored = Damage x0.2
MP restored = Damage x0.01

--

Red XIII:
\\Jack of All Trades//
When Red XIII uses a limit break, all his stats are increased by 1.1x for the duration of the fight, up to a max of 1.2 times.

--

Vincent:
\\Experiment: Turk//
Each physical attack, Vincent has a 5% chance for his current limit break form to join him in a physical attack that the form can use. Each Magic attack, Vincent has a 5% chance for his current limit break form to join him in a magic attack that the form can use. This does not change Vincent's form; the form simply shows up spectrally then fades away when the attack is done.

When Vincent changes form, reverse this effect. Vincent will join him, instead, using attacks and magic that Vincent knows.

[SlumDrunk]

Where is Trine? There are a lot of old information in this thread about it but I can't find it. Already got rid of Godo so thats not where I can find it anymore heh (and I think I received Aqualung in that 5 story building).

[Oxymorjohn]

I think I got Trine from the optional boss at the end of Nibelheim's mountains, on the screen with the pipes you can slide down.

EDIT: I lied, I did get it from Mt. Nibel but it was from the blue bird that's on the ground.

[Rikku]

Hi everyone

I´m new in the v1.5, i finished the v1.4 times ago and i have some questions.

This has two difficulty options, there are some major differences between "normal" and "arrange" ??
I love difficulty mods but i thought v1.4 has the rebalance that makes the game (more) difficult than the original version (also i loved that difficulty), so ... is Arrange some kind of a Nightmare or is just "a little" more difficult than normal o what ?

Thanks and congratulation for this Mod

[SlumDrunk]

I think I got Trine from the optional boss at the end of Nibelheim's mountains, on the screen with the pipes you can slide down.

EDIT: I lied, I did get it from Mt. Nibel but it was from the blue bird that's on the ground.

I went to Nibel and thundercracker didn't have Trine when I manipulated him. Do I have to wait? I'll check it out again but uhh that is weird.

EDIT: Went there again, let him attack for 10 minutes and he only does Thunderbolt2 and Flap

[Sega Chief]

@UpRisen and SegaChief: Since UpRisen mentioned innate abilities and fitting the theme of a character, I actually had some ideas for Cait Sith, Red XIII and Vincent. I know these would be tough to do (or maybe even impossible to do in the case of Vincent), but I really feel like these suit the characters. Spoiler below!

The Vincent one is definitely out, unless there's some means of calling those models and then getting them to act. Cait's one would be tricky as well, I don't know if the AI can track that flag of a previous attack. Red's one can be sorta done, but I think the challenge there would be getting it to only trigger when Red's limits are used rather than anyone but a set of Action Indexes: ID should clear that.

I quite like the Limit one you've proposed, I've been looking for a replacement for Cloud's innate (people have been very mixed on it when it was brought in for 1.5) so I might use it for him instead.

Hi everyone

I´m new in the v1.5, i finished the v1.4 times ago and i have some questions.

This has two difficulty options, there are some major differences between "normal" and "arrange" ??
I love difficulty mods but i thought v1.4 has the rebalance that makes the game (more) difficult than the original version (also i loved that difficulty), so ... is Arrange some kind of a Nightmare or is just "a little" more difficult than normal o what ?

Thanks and congratulation for this Mod

Arrange is generally more difficult with some spikes here and there; the Bottomswell fight in particular needs some additional tuning.

***

Thanks to JVS for the donation; appreciate it bud :3

[UpRisen]

unless there's some means of calling those models and then getting them to act.

They only way I can think of to do that would be have it in his normal attack script to attack then use limit break, he would transform and attack but we have no way to control which of his 2 attacks he does. Then the script would have to kill him then revive him to stop him from just being in limit form, But this leaves the problem of it will remove all of his status and either leave him at low hp or full hp EVERY attack. I havent started learning about how exactly to make those things happen so that may still be impossible, but if there is an "easy" way to do it then it would be my way.

[Ripsta]

Hi.

I recently bought the Steam version of FF7 after i stumbled upon this mod via a youtuber called 4-8Productions. And i gotta say, it's awesome. It peaked my interest to replay this game with a new experience. I only have one problem. I'm trying to set up DS4Windows to work with this mod but i never get it to work completely.

I know this is not the mods fault, just wondering if there's someone who managed to get it to work. I managed to get used to playing with the keyboard so far and i've reached Junon now. But i feel like i will fail the upcoming simon says part to impress Rufus. Anyone got any tips?

[markul]

Hi
1 question .
You put SaferPalmer in the game at the end to fight?xD
If yes ¿where?  ?_?
Thanks O_o

Hi.

I recently bought the Steam version of FF7 after i stumbled upon this mod via a youtuber called 4-8Productions. And i gotta say, it's awesome. It peaked my interest to replay this game with a new experience. I only have one problem. I'm trying to set up DS4Windows to work with this mod but i never get it to work completely.

I know this is not the mods fault, just wondering if there's someone who managed to get it to work. I managed to get used to playing with the keyboard so far and i've reached Junon now. But i feel like i will fail the upcoming simon says part to impress Rufus. Anyone got any tips?

If interest you ,i play with JoyToKey to assign the keys to the joystick

[SlumDrunk]

Hi.

I recently bought the Steam version of FF7 after i stumbled upon this mod via a youtuber called 4-8Productions. And i gotta say, it's awesome. It peaked my interest to replay this game with a new experience. I only have one problem. I'm trying to set up DS4Windows to work with this mod but i never get it to work completely.

I know this is not the mods fault, just wondering if there's someone who managed to get it to work. I managed to get used to playing with the keyboard so far and i've reached Junon now. But i feel like i will fail the upcoming simon says part to impress Rufus. Anyone got any tips?

Hmm, wasn't a fan of Steam's version controller support. That's what I was doing in the past; I used Joy2Key to configure my controller using the keyboard keys and boot the game with steam, do not have the controller connected before launching the game, connect it after.

[Ripsta]

Thanks a bunch markul and SlumDrunk, works now . I'm at Cosmo Canyon now. But i managed to impress Rufus and do the Chocobo race with keyboard, was a pain though. Many save reloads :p.

[GeoFlare]

Howdy, its been awhile.

I think someone may have reported this bug before but, after Cargo Ship, when arriving in Costa Del Sol, if you talk to the innkeeper it seems to freeze. If Aerith is in the inn she seems to move vertically slightly but other than that the game completely freezes.

[Jacko87]

Could you put an actual save point in the Temple of Ancients so we can toggle random encounters? I went in with them off and these clock enemies are wrecking me, especially the ones that can attack twice back to back. Luckily, I made a save outside the temple, but I'm going to try to get through it regardless.

Thanks for allowing me to play this game again. I never replayed since I was kid because it was too easy.

[Sega Chief]

Sorry for lack of responses, I've been ill the last few days (still recovering but doing better now).

Howdy, its been awhile.

I think someone may have reported this bug before but, after Cargo Ship, when arriving in Costa Del Sol, if you talk to the innkeeper it seems to freeze. If Aerith is in the inn she seems to move vertically slightly but other than that the game completely freezes.

Yeah, I need to sort this out. I thought I'd got it before but it seems not.

Could you put an actual save point in the Temple of Ancients so we can toggle random encounters? I went in with them off and these clock enemies are wrecking me, especially the ones that can attack twice back to back. Luckily, I made a save outside the temple, but I'm going to try to get through it regardless.

Thanks for allowing me to play this game again. I never replayed since I was kid because it was too easy.

I'll place one inside somewhere.

[Alucard Chris]

So i finished the Ancient Forest, i got 2 Apocalypses for Cloud in there ?!

And whats about this man in the cave at the End, i cant talk to him. https://m.imgur.com/a/azLhZ

Edit :

I updated the NT Mod from 1.4 to 1.5 with the 7thH Iro, from here. Now the man disappered and the cave is empty ?!

Can someone explain me that.

[Sega Chief]

So i finished the Ancient Forest, i got 2 Apocalypses for Cloud in there ?!

And whats about this man in the cave at the End, i cant talk to him. https://m.imgur.com/a/azLhZ

Edit :

I updated the NT Mod from 1.4 to 1.5 with the 7thH Iro, from here. Now the man disappered and the cave is empty ?!

Can someone explain me that.

The situation there is a bit complicated but it boils down to this:

1) The 7H IRO version of NT doesn't include the walkmesh chunk which is only a problem on those screens because I changed the map jump locations directly rather than using field script opcodes. That cave was supposed to be 'removed' from the Ancient Forest and used for the last screen of a new sidequest (the NPC found there relates to this as well).

2) Upgrading from 1.4 to 1.5, there will be differences in variables/switches that can cause oddities.

So the intended sequence of events was that when you reach the last screen of Ancient Forest it puts you back to the world map instead of that cave. The cave is instead used for the last screen of a Disc 3 sidequest which involves that NPC.

[Alucard Chris]

So the intended sequence of events was that when you reach the last screen of Ancient Forest it puts you back to the world map instead of that cave. The cave is instead used for the last screen of a Disc 3 sidequest which involves that NPC.

yeah i saw this on youtube. Thats why i updated the mod, but when i load a save before the cave and entered it at 1.5 i still get in there but with no NPC in it !

Its bugged for me, but why ?

[Sega Chief]

yeah i saw this on youtube. Thats why i updated the mod, but when i load a save before the cave and entered it at 1.5 i still get in there but with no NPC in it !

Its bugged for me, but why ?

Its because the cave isn't supposed to be accessed at all, but the 7H IRO version of NT is missing a walkmesh change which means you can still access the cave. IROs split files down into chunks so that they can be mixed together with other mods; I hadn't needed to use the walkmesh chunk until now, so it wasn't included with the IRO.

You're not missing anything in any case, and you can just exit the cave to get back to the world map as normal.

[Sega Chief]

\\NT Announcement//

So first of all; happy new year and hope you had a good holiday. I spent mine sick as a dog unfortunately, but on the positive side it gave me some extra time off work which I spent thinking about the state of NT and how to take things forward from here. In the last few weeks, thanks to DLPB's help, I've been able to get to grips with modifying the game's assembly (specifically the executable) which opens a lot of new doors. I can now modify damage formulas, modifiers, and add some new functionality to the menus (like an SP counter for instance, bottom-right): https://imgur.com/a/4Shqc

I think NT, as it is now, has been taken as far as it can; I've scaffolded so many fixes and changes onto it that I can't even keep track of it all anymore. Working and planning for the mod has always been very chaotic and what I make usually conflicts with what I say the mod should be; I wanted it to be a gameplay-only mod that doesn't affect story, but I added that Aeris thing and rewrote all the text. I wanted the game to be fast and snappy to play, but I've added a lot of content & feature bloat. It's been a very weird road from 1.0 to 1.5, lot of design choices have come and gone (like the disastrous 'weather' system, or that business with the hard level cap), but even after all this time I'm still not happy with how NT turned out.

I'm in a weird place where I'm glad that NT has gotten so much positive feedback and attention, but also a bit ashamed at how shoddy it is. I find it difficult to watch streams of it because it usually highlights the fundamental problems that it has. There's too many gimmicks, obtuse mechanics, and arbitrary encounters that either fall flat or just frustrate the player. I've tried to change too much for the sake of having it be different and not kept a clear plan in mind for how things should play out when making a lot of this. I was also pretty burnt out, and 1.5 was kind of a last-ditch attempt to fix some of it before I called it a day and left things be.

But I wasn't expecting to get to grips with assembly; I've gotten back a lot of my energy and drive to work on FF7 again. And it'd be a shame to leave things like this, so the plan I've come up with is:

l) Start with a fresh set of files and produce a 'NT 2.0' with the assembly modifications in place; this'll allow me to drop the work-arounds I've been using until now and implement new functionality directly. This mod will have the name of NT and some features will come across like the option to skip some cutscenes, but it'll essentially be a new mod project.

l) Perform a last wave of bug-fixes and balancing for current outstanding issues in 1.5 and continue to support it with any bugfixes that need done in the future; I want to keep 1.5 available as a 'legacy' version of the mod. The 2.0 build will be drastically different so I'd like to keep this available for people in the best possible shape that I can get it.

I'll go over the finer details later; time's crept up on me, and it's almost midnight; I gotta go s:

Happy new year!

[selius]

O_O

hype.

honestly, i was thinking about asking you if you were done making changes yet. there's assorted things i dislike about the mod that i was just gonna cheat my way around and call it a day, but if you're making a 2.0 i can wait. i've waited this long already.