[PSX/PC] Alternate Fantasy (v3.2 & v6.8)

[x3000]

Hello hello! I've come to report some anomalies in my playtrough since I've updated to Alternate Fantasy 6.8, (currently on memoria engine 2025.05.12)
randomly Zidane will cast Blizzard automatically on an ally, no idea why...

Also his "Windfall" animation seems broken now, he'll cast it as if it was a Fire animation instead of what it used to be. Any way I can fix this? these didn't happen in the previous version.

[Tirlititi]

It might be related to the SFXRework mode.
Alternate Fantasy is not fully compatible with the option "SFXRework = 0" since a long time, but these incompatibilities only get more and more important with each version. You need to have "SFXRework = 1" in your Memoria.ini for that kind of things.

[Zalsaria]

Recently picked up FF9 on Steam since my PS2 died and the lid on my PS1 won't shut anymore but I am playing it modded (beat it 5 times since 2002, 100%ed once) and wanted to have a slightly different play-through. So I downloaded the HD stuff, 30fps FMVs, and Alternate Fantasy. For some reason the first Steiner fight on the Prima Vista bugs out and never ends, and whoever he does the last hit of the 3 slashes to gets stuck in a weird animation glitch and instead of the short animation of the armor break playing, nothing happens. Anyone happen to know why or how to fix it? I really wanna try a more difficult FF9 combat wise and get Beatrix but nothing else really. This didn't happen until I installed Alternate Fantasy, I kept making saves with different mods.

[x3000]

It might be related to the SFXRework mode.
Alternate Fantasy is not fully compatible with the option "SFXRework = 0" since a long time, but these incompatibilities only get more and more important with each version. You need to have "SFXRework = 1" in your Memoria.ini for that kind of things.

Yeah, activating SFXRework solved the issues seemingly, thank you! What is this setting supposed to be anyway, like what does it do in general?

[Jamesaga]

Hello! I played Alternate Fantasy a couple of years ago and I absolutely loved it!

I've been exploring Hades Workshop and Memoria and wanted to ask how to make new command abilities double cast like Quina's Dbl Blu in Alternate Fantasy?

[Tirlititi]

Hello. Double magics can be setup by using a file "DictionaryPatch.txt" in a mod.
More infos there: https://github.com/Albeoris/Memoria/wiki/Dictionary-Patch

[Jamesaga]

Hello. Double magics can be setup by using a file "DictionaryPatch.txt" in a mod.
More infos there: https://github.com/Albeoris/Memoria/wiki/Dictionary-Patch

Thank you very much! I must have looked at every other page except that one!

[WND100]

Hello. I'd like to ask if anyone has tested patch v3.2 for the PS1 on real hardware. Thanks.

[paky-outsider]

Hi WND100,
I tested PS1 emulator (patch v3.2), on PC and on Android and it works.

On italian psx version, (it seems only me have this problem),
I've some trouble with texts (maybe because the patch add hidden dialogues)...so the game softlock in lindblum, first meet with Cid, because dialogues messed up with Garnet, Cid and Steiner.
To fix this...when i apply the patch with hadesworkshop, i flag off texts (and fields? i don't remember), and the game works great. I finished the game with mod, without other problems.

I think it works even on PS1 real hardware, I guess.

[Tirlititi]

Hello. Here's the answer I made a couple of days ago to that same question:

I've never tested on real hardware, but normally it doesn't work, as there are security checks that are performed on real hardwares and not on most emulators.
There should be tools to fix that though. Again, I have not tested it, but this tool should do that: https://www.romhacking.net/utilities/1264/
(1st patch the game's BIN with Alternate Fantasy, then run error_recalc on it, then burn the result onto a CD, and that should be fine)

[Tygrex26]

Hello everyone and sorry for m'y english 😊

I’m playing Final Fantasy IX on a PS1 emulator (version FR) and I would love to install the Alternate Fantasy mod, especially to have Beatrix as a permanent party member, while enjoying the other gameplay/story changes.

I already have PPF-O-MATIC and my ISO is ready.

I’m looking for the PPF patch v3.2 for my version of the game.

If someone could point me to a safe download link or send me the file directly, I would be very grateful 🙏


Thanks a lot in advance for your help, and congratulations for all the amazing work done on FFIX mods! 💖

[Lopes]

Hi!

Im going to try this mod.
Want to know if the stat growth is fixed or does gear change the stat growth?
Can or should i use "perfect stats" mod?

Thanks

[Tirlititi]

Hello.

@Tygrex26 : The PPF for the french version of the PSX file is in the first post of this topic. It is still a valid download link.

@Lopes : The stat growth system is not changed by this mod (nor by the David Bowie mod). Some equipments don't give the same stat bonuses but the overall system is still exactly the same.

[FFIXFAN]

I have recently started a play through of the CanaryMod which uses AF, I just got to the Iifa Tree and got the Diamond but it doesnt have Carbuncle on it to learn?

[ssbob]

Looking at Shapeshift in the skill list it says at the beginning " Possible transformations are: Gigan Toad, Anemone, Lizard Man" however when I use it Quina turns into this weird alien creature with an ability "mucus" that appears to do way more damage than intended before gizamaluke's grotto. Is there a bug or is this intended?

[Tirlititi]

There are more transformations than that. Surely it's just the display that cuts the information. However, what you describe looks like an Anemone to me.

Possible transformations are:
- Gigan Toad, Anemone, Lizard Man,
- Abomination (after Pinnacle Rocks),
- Ogre, Jabberwock, Armstrong (after reaching the Forgotten Continent),
- Agares, Wraith (Ice), Wraith (Fire) (after obtaining the Hilda Garde III),
- Ring Leader (after reaching Terra),
- Grand Dragon (after reaching the Crystal World),
- Deathguise (after beating Deathguise, Hades and obtaining 99 frogs),
- Ozma (after unlocking Deathguise, beating Ozma and all of the Hades extra boss fights).

[ssbob]

Oh that's definitely it, for some reason I was confusing Anemone with Myconid and didn't think to just look it up. Thank you!

[Flashkannon]

I wanted to try Beatrix-only (steam version, for reference), but the Memoria download never starts, and I can't seem to find the .hws file to follow the manual Hades Workshop conversion steps from alternate fantasy to Beatrix-only. Is there any other way to get the Beatrix mod?

[Tirlititi]

That is because the server hosting that mod is currently off. It also affects the download URL of Hades Workshop. It will eventually come back, I assume.

[aquecoucou]

Had a ton of fun playing the mod and really liked how most characters were reworked. Couldn't find a reason to slot Quina in though once disc 2 was reached as other characters can do most things better aside mighty guard. Not a huge fan of the randomness of tranformations either.

Difficulty wise, I found Beatrix fights and Tantarian the hardest but still fair and they definitely rely a lot on knowledge. Most other boss fights could benefit from a slightly higher difficulty, a lot of midgame bosses aren't immune to slow (at a point you can already have auto-haste) while all endgame bosses are. The new Tantarian fight at Hades was very nice and I enjoyed a lot figuring the mechanics.

Balance wise, I mostly used Zidane / Eiko / Vivi / Amarant for everything aside when a team is imposed or Quina is needed for her 99 frogs fight and from what I quickly tested, the gap between physical & magical is kinda huge. I honestly think my team leans toward a very optimized setup though you could argue for Steiner over Amarant for breaks or Dagger for summons and backup healer. Eiko is really good with her flute buffing the whole team and being the only character that has a direct slow spell while having dual utility during Trance.

Basically trance wise, Vivi is by far still the strongest while Eiko is close and most likely Beatrix (though I didn't bother to level her so not sure how hard her skills actually hit) but anything that can damage twice at damage cap per turn is obviously the strongest. Vivi trance can achieve that, Eiko double Holy nearly as well. Most likely Dagger with Ark double hitting although unlike Vivi & Eiko this is much more lategame.

Vivi can attain the damage cap earlier than anyone else, basically when he gets Flare and for a minimal setup needed. If he gets to cast a -ga on elemental weakness, he can reach the cap even earlier (or still abusing reflect shenaningans even with x2 reflect gone). MP isn't much of an issue as Half-MP is decently early and bosses don't have enough HP to deplete Vivi's stock plus Ethers are plentiful.

But what makes truly Vivi the best character is still return magic as a lot of mid & endgame still have reflectable spells and would trigger it more often than phys counters. Even the new optional fights at Hades emphasize that. Waltzes and 4 guardians can be killed solely by Vivi reflecting their spells. Also Amarant's Quick skill combos very well with Vivi damage cap AoEs on these fight.

Regarding Ozma I don't know what's intended or not but I found his ATB broken, like basically he has a very small ATB to the point even in wait mode it could act in between selecting commands right after his action ended. I managed to beat it by being over-agressive and taking advantage of the summon priority but that felt very RNG. Also the fight softlocked several times after it used Holy. I'm only running this mod + Moguri through the memoria patcher, though I also had a bunch of random crashes during regular gameplay (but might be on moguri side)

Overall one of the best rebalancing mod I played in for FF main games. Nice job!

[Tirlititi]

Thanks a bunch for the review.
For a long time, I thought that there was a huge gap in the mod between physical & magical... in favor of physical characters. At some point, Vivi's power on late game (mid disc 3 up to the end) was almost exclusively relying on Return Magic + Magic Element Null. I made a few changes for the end game since then, so now I'm glad that he's strong there.
Also I still love Quina :p

The battle against Ozma is literally broken indeed. I need to do something about it but I'm stuck on other things unfortunatly.