Latest news: Disc One demo released. See here: http://www.moddb.com/mods/final-fantasy-7-rebirth/downloads/rebirth-v1-disc-one
I've released a Midgar demo! Find out more here and download the latest version at http://www.mediafire.com/?rpja1qrb7iy7soo
For the last four months, I've been working on a comprehensive rebalance of Final Fantasy Seven.
From the ModDB page:
Final Fantasy 7. The perfect game?Proving popular with countless generations of gamers, despite its age, inspiring fanart, fiction, a series of spinoff games and even a full-budget movie, it's tempting to fit Final Fantasy VII with the title 'Greatest. Game. Ever'.
And I'll agree, it's an awesome game - but, as much as I love FF7, as much I enjoy playing through it over, and over, there's always been a nagging suspicion: could it be... better?
Let's be honest. The battles can get a little too samey, there's little incentive to experiment with materia, and the game can all to easily be bested by simply attacking and spamming Cure-All. We've all heard horror stories about players who have managed to push themselves to the Northern Crater without even grasping the basics of the materia system.
This mod - this rebalance - seeks to address these issues, altering enemy statistics and AI, nerfing overpowered skills whilst promoting others that have been neglected, introducing new tactics, creating cunning and entertaining creatures, and overall making battles far more exciting and engaging.
So, what exactly will the rebirth mod feature? Work is still in progress, and I intent to keep certain features secret until release, so as not to spoil matters, but the mod has the following broad aim in mind: to promote a more strategic mode of gameplay. You won't be able to mash attack to get through REBIRTH. You'll have to keep your wits as sharp as your sword, and think carefully about every choice you make through the entire game.
I think you'll love it.
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I am currently working towards a demo version without many AI changes, that relates to disc one, for the purposes of garnering feedback on balance, difficulty levels and the proficiency of the enemy class system.
What will REBIRTH have?* A new elemental system. Enemies can now be intuitively divided into classes, each with their own elemental affinities. It should be intuitive when a creature is weak to a certain spell. Who looks at a Wolfmeister and guesses it will be weak to water?
* A new status system. Enemies can now have their status vulnerabilities guessed from their appearance and bearing. Status spells now no longer take note of accuracy, and enemies now *all* have some status vulnerabilities, but *none* are subject to gamebreaking combinations. You should be able to see an enemy, use your brain, and change tactics to confound an enemy - in vanilla FF7, it's a matter of randomly trying out spells, hoping they'll hit, and occasionally finding a gamebreaking combo (like an enemy weak to both mini and berserk). This makes for dull trial and error followed by dull single-spell spamming.
* Enemy skills rebalanced: some are altered completely. Consider Lullaby, that acts like FF9's Night. Or Purge Flame, that heals statuses at the cost of fire damage.
* Holy, Air and Wind spells are now available to the player, and these elements now play a real part.
* Enemy stats boosted; steal rates tweaked to make stealing genuinely useful.
* Weapons completely changed. Vincent now has a range of pistols - including an MP sapping Silver Rifle and the Sleep inducing Tranq Rifle. Cloud now has a Blood Sword; Cid now has a range of elemental spears; and Barret has a collection of multi-targeting machineguns.
* Stat curves completely altered to differentiate characters. Materia stat changes are now non-trivial, and can make a radical difference to how characters play.
* Vincent no longer makes spacktastic Limit Break choices, like using Beast Flare on the Materia Keeper
* Sephiroth controllable
* Completely rejigged accessories. Status protection carefully portioned out to promote a more tactical style of play. Will you use Headbands with Lullaby to put enemies to bed? Will you try the Zombie Ring for massive power at the cost of being able to heal? Use Star Pendants to make Bad Breath a multi-hitting, MP cheap Esuna? With enemy stats boosted, and overpowered spells preened, there's now a real incentive to experiment with these strategies.
* A new Defence Break mechanic that works with a spell named 'Shatter'. Like Meltdown, Shatter reduces enemy defences, *but* multiple castings *don't* stack (it doesn't work like an inverted Dragon Force).
MODDB PAGE HERE:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/final-fantasy-7-rebirthSCREENSHOTS:
VIDEOS:
Spells and Blue Magic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrIv8ANmJQkOlder, experimental video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5UU6lupK3g
