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Unprecedented Crisis is a ROM Hack for the U.S. version of FF4, designed by experienced FF4 hacker Pinkpuff as a demonstration of sorts for their all-in-one FF4 hacking utility FF4kster. It ends up changing a large amount of content, gameplay, and plot stuff, and that's what I plan to show off. Here is a link to the patch. I'll be doing this mostly blind. I have streamed an older version of this hack a couple years ago but never finished it, getting as far as the underground. Follow me on Twitter to keep up with updates. ----- Updates Chapter 1 - Here We Go Again Chapter 2 - Bad Life Decisions Chapter 3 - Just Chillin' in the Basement Chapter 4 - Girlish Charms Chapter 5 - Ho-ho-ho! Chapter 6 - Blubicante Chapter 7 - You Imbecile. You loving Moron. Chapter 8 - Gifted a Floater Chapter 9 - Chrono Trigger Chapter 10 - Moon Dragoon Chapter 11 - A Stupid Octopus "Final" Chapter - The Rosa Freak Out Bonus Chapter 1 - Cid and Tellah's Quests Bonus Chapter 2 - Dark Knight Run with "Default" Party Bonus Chapter 3 - Solo Paladin Cecil Run --- Stream Episodes: [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] Bonus Chapter 4 - Solo Dark Knight Cecil Run --- Stream Episodes: [1] | [2] | [3] ---[Stream Playlist] Mega64 fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Mar 12, 2018 |
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Jan 21, 2018 14:39
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Dr Pepper made a spreadsheet detailing all the stats for the weapon and armor in this hack! If you have any interest in playing along with this hack, I would highly recommend checking this out!Dr Pepper posted:Well I have something for you. When I played this hack I actually opened it up with FF4kster and documented all the gear. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Jan 27, 2018 |
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Jan 21, 2018 14:39
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Chapter 1 - Here We Go Again  This hack does change a lot of stuff, but it also takes awhile before we actually get to those changes. Thus this update will be flying through a large chunk of the early game, only slowing down to show off the few mechanical changes, mostly in terms of new character abilities.  First off, the Sort and Trash options are a lot more convenient, and Cecil starts with more items. There are two blank spaces where Cecil thoughtlessly wasted spell items when he could've just used physical attacks. Fool.  Cecil's gear is also slightly less or more-generic, depending on whether you think his all dark gear was boring or stood out more compared to the generic iron gear Cecil currently has.  The mage quarters are gone. That's a shame.  Otherwise all of Baron is the same, down to the intro and your dialogues with Rosa, Kain, and Cid.  This hack houses a bunch of info in the training room. There's a few pieces of info concerning classic FF4, and a bunch explaining new commands, which I'll show off as I encounter them.  A lot of the new commands relate to current HP.  The Wooden Staff now heals petrification when used as an item. This is more relevant once we hit Mt. Hobs, where there's no more gradual petrification.   Rings are now shields for mages. Mages get gloves for the arm slot instead.   This hack has damage floors that you may not have the Float spell to access, so now there's an item to give you Float status. Also these two people helped worked on this hack.   There's some new white magic spells that may or may not become relevant to us.  Shops now sell Bestiaries for dirt cheap, like 10 Gil a pop. I have a feeling Libra doesn't exist as an actual spell anymore, so I may want to grab a few once things change up.   This hack also tries to make equipment distinct enough that everything isn't just a flat upgrade from the last tier. It worked in the Brave New World hack for FF6 because you had unlimited inventory space and because that game actually gave you the stats and special powers that equipment offered. I'm a bit worried it won't work as well here because FF4 doesn't tell you crap about equipment other than how much attack/defense it'll boost. It doesn't even outright tell you if equipment boosts primary stats, something FF3 did! Then again, maybe the hack will find other ways to be descriptive about equipment. We'll see.   ...Don't think I'll try the infamous dupe glitch.   Cecil still has Dark Wave, and though I haven't tested it yet I assume it still damages all enemies at the cost of HP. Except now Cecil can equip non-Dark Swords, and using those disables Dark Wave. Not a big loss. Cecil also gets Black Magic now, though it's all debuff magic.   Kain gets Lancet now, which can drain HP. It's half the strength of a regular attack and can only be used if Kain is wielding a spear.   Mist Dragon and everything else proceeds as normal.  Biggest highlight is Cecil learning Mute. Meh.    Rydia doesn't learn Black or White magic anymore. She's a pure Summoner now.   Here's the gear shops. I buy a Wooden Rod for Rydia since it'll still cast a weak attack magic spell.  Each town seems to have its own Serpent Road now. Of course, they don't go anywhere since Mysidia sealed them all.  I do some light grinding and Rydia picks up Chocobo at L5, so she's a bit more useful now. Rydia has a new special ability, "Help!", which summons a random summon in the game, though it'll still cost however much MP it usually costs.  Next up, Tellah.   He has a lot more magic than the original, but also half the MP. I don't really touch his magic since the enemies here don't really do much damage and go down relatively easily to Cecil's physical attacks and Rod magic.  Honestly the only interesting change is Cecil getting a shield upgrade here. All his gear is Mythril. Everything else is pretty much the same, including the Ice Rod that I give to Rydia. Same dialogue, too.  Octomammoth doesn't lose tentacles here. Instead, it just attacks very often.  Cecil's physicals tear into it.   Rydia's summons...not so much.  On the bright side, Rydia learns Shiva from level up, so her usefulness suddenly shot up a large amount.  Damcyan still bombed, except now this guy won't die and get out of the way of the goodies beyond.  Still some nice stuff up here, though, including Bard clothing, a new bow, and these armlets.  Tellah leaves, Edward joins.  Edward can still Hide and split Potions on the party.  His singing is buffed, though. Speed casts party-wide Haste while Defense casts party-wide Protect. Dirge wreaks undead. He later learns Allure to confuse enemies, though the Lamia harp he finds in this dungeon works just as well for that.  Shiva bypasses Antlion's counter and is strong enough to kill it quickly.  So who's ready for a bit of new dialogue? Since Rydia can't cast Black Magic, this needs slight tweaking.   Instead of melting the ice, Rydia needs to blow it up now. Alright, then.  Also, Rosa's no longer a White Mage.  Also also we completely skip Edward's night fight because no one cares about Edward.  Rosa does still have White Magic, and thankfully it's the two important spells. Later on she picks up Warp as well. If she learns Blink later we'll be set. She gets "Charge" over Aim, it basically takes more time to do more damage. No idea if she gets an accuracy bonus from it. Bows are still finite and expendable, so it's not a terrible command to use.   ...No. ? I hate bombs! She's afraid of bombs because her village was destroyed by bombs...Too bad.    Now to never use it since I have Shiva.   Charm still dominates this dungeon.  Charge does some sick damage, too.  A weapon upgrade for Cecil that isn't a dark blade!  A couple minor differences here. We completely skip the battle Yang has with three imps.   Also this dialogue.  Chakra restores half of Yang's current HP. It's more useful if you have more HP, of course. Kick is the same.   Otherwise, pretty much the same fight as before, except this time we can simply one-shot the smaller bombs.  No claws for Yang for now.  New gear I skip for now. We can also buy attack items now!  This hack tells us Sheila's name, which is good since she's the best character in the game.   The only difference is Rosa and Rydia show up for this one scene. It's still a nice touch.  Kain still betrays us and Golbez still kidnaps Rosa.  Of course, no White Magic here, so Rydia just uses Phoenix Down instead. No clue if it expends one from our inventory.  This leads to the Serpent Road entrances for Fabul.  Otherwise, new rod.  We rest and then immediately talk to the king. No idea if this sword still inflicts instant death or not, guess I'll find out later.  Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. Actually, that line is the exact same in the original game.  This time, we don't get to walk to the port. The game directly takes us from the king to the port.   Which is a shame because I forgot to unequip my party...   ...except I don't need to! Surprise!   Give my regards to Sheila and the King.  No Leviathan attack this time! We're gonna keep rolling with DK Cecil, Yang, Edward, and Rydia. Next time, who knows? Mega64 fucked around with this message at 23:57 on Jan 22, 2018 |
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Jan 21, 2018 14:40
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I was just thinking of re-playing IV. Maybe I'll play along this version instead.
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Jan 21, 2018 15:42
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This was a really good hack. There are a few fights that are incredibly difficult if you don't happen to level up to get certain spells for and some of the experience was out of whack with how difficult some of the dungeons were, but I think they fixed those issues.
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Jan 21, 2018 15:53
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 Porom's right, what's the worst that can happen?  oh
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Jan 21, 2018 17:01
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GODDAMMIT POROM
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Jan 21, 2018 19:46
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This looks cool. Not a fan of hacks that up the difficulty but I might give this a shot, especially with that story change.
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Jan 21, 2018 20:54
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It's by no means one of those ridiculous "you have to grind and every fight is a FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE" hacks. There are just a few bosses where you may have to go get a level or two to get another rank of a spell (Cure 3/Curaga, etc.) for example.
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Jan 21, 2018 21:00
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My interest was piqued so I downloaded the hack and tried something you wouldn't normally try. If Mega says it's ok I'll share it. It's alluded to in the readme file but I didn't read that until after I did it. 
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Jan 22, 2018 04:52
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So, when I ran the game I didn't read the readme file past the instructions on what the original ROM's checksum was, because lol who reads anything. Anyway, there's a speedrunning exploit you can do when you get to Mist village. Basically, if you stand next to Mist and take a step away from the village and immediately open the menu when you've only moved like a pixel, and then use a tent, the game will offset the character sprite slightly and you'll be able to move onto the first tile of the village without entering it. Then, if you save and quit, when you reload, you can step onto the second tile of the village and then off it, so you can enter Mist from the other side, bypassing the trigger for the Package event, so you can run around and loot and buy some late-game items. So I tried that, and well... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA6AbWa5llY Afterwards, I checked the readme: * Speed-run trap: There is a technique speedrunners use to skip the plot scene in Mist in the beginning and get access to the Mist shops way earlier than intended. You don't want to do this. Trust me. You've been warned. It also happens if you bypass Mist completely and go to the Oasis.
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Jan 22, 2018 14:43
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well, the creator is nice enough to give you a shop before the end, and any speedrunner doing a mistskip is already going to have glitched their inventory full of goodies to sell, so that's actually kind of a boon to speedrunners id think. skips a whole mess of uncertainty that typically plagues ff4 any% runs
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Jan 22, 2018 19:51
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I always like hacks that do a mechanics revamp to the base game. It's a good exploration into what the new game designer/ROM hacker values. Though I do hope new dialogue is kept to a minimum. Brave New World's new dialogue wasn't... the best part of that ROM hack.
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Jan 22, 2018 20:16
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Chapter 2 - Bad Life Decisions Since Cecil and friends do not encounter Leviathan, they don't get separated and Cecil ends up near Baron instead of Mysidia. We're just a short walk to Baron at this point.    That said, nothing is really different in Baron compared to when you return in the original. Cid's under arrest, and we still have to fight the guards to get the Baron Key to progress. The only difference is our party and the fact we don't have to fight a brainwashed Yang.    We only have to fight these two Guards. We're going to be a bit underleveled since normally Cecil has done Mysidia at this point, but we also have one less boss fight so it evens out.  The Key of Baron! Yeah! With this key, we can make it!  The equipment shops have some different gear, including this Healing Staff, which can do single or multi-target Cure. Multi-target is a weak 30ish HP, but single-target can do 150ish, which isn't too bad for this stage of the game, though enemies are already going to outscale that.  Edward's the only one that can use the knives that would actually want to, and even then he doesn't want to. The other stuff is irrelevant.  Shadow gear is nice but expensive. I hold off for now.  Anyway, we're railroaded to take the Baron Waterway.  Pretty much the same enemies here as in the original.  Of course, we have a weaker and smaller team. No dedicated healer, Cecil's still a Dark Knight, Edward's Edward, and we've got an entire dungeon worth of experience missing. I burn through most of my Phoenix Down stock since I'm not used to actually needing to buy items in this game.  At least Rydia's still awesome.   It gets hairy trying to reach the next save point, though.  Cecil's next non-Dark Blade. I assume it's the same lightning-elemental blade that Easy Mode gives you here. Same strength as the Ancient Blade.  Otherwise, business as usual.   We must find Cid to progress.  The same way we're getting you out! Gotta use the Baron Key one more time...   ...you and Kain. I didn't trust him after what he used my airships for so I hid the latest schematic. We need to put an end to this right away. Count me in! Let's take out that imposter!  Cid is a freaking tank. His HP nearly doubles that of Cecil's!  Anyway, now we can loot Baron. That's right, no Baigan fight here.  I'm sick of your lies. Because of you, the people of Mysidia had their crystal stolen and the summoners of Mist have been all but exterminated. You think you can just lock up or kill whoever opposes you? Whoever you are, you're not King Baron and I'm done being manipulated!Ever wonder what would happen if Cecil didn't act like a sad sack and told the king to gently caress off instead? There you go.   Oh, yes! And I took his place! Ha-hah-hah! I knew it!! Wanna see the King? Don't worry! You'll see him soon enough. Who are you...    Our first fiend fight already! Without Tellah and Palom laying down the hurt with lightning magic, this fight is a wee bit more difficult.   The big difference here is even what feedble lightning damage we have won't dispel the waters. You're going to get hit with a tidal wave.   And it hurts. At least at the beginning it does. The damage scales based on Cagnazzo's current HP, so the best strategy is to rush him down until he enters his defensive stance.  Cid's got two special abilities. Dash deals damage equal to his current HP, but then lowers it to 1. It's basically the Explosion spell from other games in the series. Cid does have the massive reserves to make it hurt, but it's still very situational. Rage simply inflicts Berserk on Cid. Honestly it's not a bad move for him in boss battles since he's got the HP and offense to keep chipping away while the rest of the party heals up.  And chip away I do, until Cagnazzo's Tidal Wave is no longer a threat.   At this point, Cagnazzo will heal 500HP and reduce incoming damage until he heals up enough to attack. Of course, you can get in a deadlock with him, and I take advantage of this to revive my party and heal them back to full before going on the offensive.  Don't forget that Cagnazzo is only weak to lightning if he has the water raised, otherwise his weakness is ice!  With Rydia more than offsetting Cagnazzo's healing, this fight finishes up rather quickly.  And we've recovered our first crystal.  ...A monster. We dispatched it already.   Yes. I'm not proud of my actions, but what could I do alone against Golbez and all his and Baron's forces? I know I have dishonored the Knights of Baron and will do whatever it takes to make amends.Oh yeah, Baigan's not evil this time. At least as far as I know...  What was that thing we just fought? Golbez has four Fiends, each of which gets their power from one of the crystals. You defeated the Fiend of Water. So that's why he was so desperate for Mysidia's Water crystal. Yes, moreover, the crystals also act as keys of some sort. If Golbez can collect them all, he will be able to activate some kind of device. I'm not sure what it is or what it does, but it can't be good. Then we have to stop him from getting Toroia's Earth crystal at all cost! Cid, you mentioned something about a new airship? It's only a design... My assistants can start work on it, but it won't be done in time... Are any of the sea ships usable? I'm afraid not... Then we'll have to go on foot... There's a shortcut through the Misty Mountains! I'll show you the way! Excellent! Let's go! Baigan, I trust you to take good care of Baron while we're gone! I will. Good luck!So our new goal is to go back to the Mist Cavern.  NPC dialogue is mostly unchanged from the original at this point.  But not entirely.  Actual King Baron is still in his secret throne room.   Cid can make equip heavy armor, so he gets Cecil's Mythril armor while Cecil gets some new threads.  Mist Cavern has new treastures and enemies.   Nothing too threatening.  Though one bad surprise attack can ruin your day.  Another dungeon, another spell I'll probably never use.  This has the same strength as Cid's Wooden hammer, but it only requires one hand, so now Cid can equip a shield while still doing the same amount of damage.  Which is handy because we also get a new shield here.  Otherwise, no boss here. On to Mist!  That is just morbid.   New gear. I don't buy anything since we can get a free copy of most of it from Rydia's house.  Another Serpent Trench entrance.  Wizard Gear, Rune Ring, Fire Rod, and this thing.   Head east from Mist, and we get a brand new dungeon! Gotta say, I like the aesthetics more than what The After Years went with for this mountain range.  Enemies are pretty tough, of the "Magnetic Cave" variety.  Not sure what status effect this one does.  Bats are even more obnoxious than ever, since their drain attack hurts a lot and actually drains. Still go down with little effort, though.  The enemies wear you down a bit, but it's also not a long dungeon and right next to an inn (though Mist doesn't sell any items, unfortunately).  Watch out! I sense something evil! I'm glad... glad indeed... to slay you all... Who is it!? Now! Meal time for my monsters!Scarmiglione is a bit more scary in this fight.  This time, he counters every attack with gradual petrification. Honestly, it's much less scary than his Lit-1 counter in the original, requiring an occasional Remedy (or Wooden Staff use if you still have one).   His Ghasts still drain, though a much larger amount.  Even worse, Rydia's summons don't do much to these guys. What to do?   Don't forget, Edward has a song that damages undead! And damage it does, instantly killing all but one of them, which is easily picked off with physicals. This form of Scarmiglione isn't undead.  Once the Ghasts go down, Scarmiglione starts throwing out Bios, which are nasty.  Oh yeah, at some point Edward picked up an underwhelming healing song. So there's that.  Otherwise, Scarmiglione can't keep up with the damage focused on him and goes down rather easily.  But of course, this ain't all. After backtracking to heal up and notice an odd graphical glitch...   ...Scarmiglione is back, and...honestly easier than the last battle. Fall flat into the deep ravine! He'll sometimes cast Quake, but it's really only mildly threatening for Edward.  He also knows Demi, a series staple new to this game.  And a full-on petrification attack. None of these are really as scary as mass drain or Bio spam, thankfully.  This sword swipe is weird. Just wanted to show that off.  This version of Scarmiglione is undead, so Dirge does solid damage. Just a shame it takes forever to go off.  Scarmiglione's attacks can also inflict Curse, so that's something else to look forward to!  Otherwise, his offense is more than manageable, and he doesn't have the HP to make it a drawn-out slugfest.    Two fiends down already! Now I know what you're thinking. "Gee, I wonder what's happening in Mysidia!" Well, don't I have good news for you!   The attacks were not his fault, but a man named Golbez! Truly!? ...We must investigate to verify the truth of this. Take a ship to Baron.So Cecil's whole atoning for his sins thing? Don't worry about it, it wasn't actually his fault, it's all water under the bridge.   ...such a young age. How could I forgive myself if something were to happen to you?This is where I remind you that in the original, the Elder sent these two five-year-olds to spy on the Dark Knight that murdered his people and stole his crystal and thought so little of them he didn't even expect them to return alive. Some parts of FF4 are just straight morbid if you think about it long enough.   Also I'm so happy I can revisit FF4 now that I know how to make GIFs so I can do stuff like this:    But how much can we really learn, stuck here in a classroom? We need to go out now and then... As rude as my twin brother is he does make a good point...and this is a diplomatic trip, correct? What's the worst that could happen? QUITE A LOT ACTUALLY     And so Palom and Porom go on a diplomatic mission to a nation Mysidia is currently at war with based on shaky intel that they may actually be good now? I guess no matter the version, the Elder is really terrible at child care.   So this hack is basically the answer to the question, "What if Leviathan overslept the day he attacked Cecil's ship?"   Also the twins just can't catch a break. The universe really wants them dead.  Don't just stand there, Palom, do something! I don't know, you're the one always calling himself a genius! This really isn't the time, sis...You know, you're mages. Why don't you just tele-   -oh. I'm surprised people don't do this more often.  Too bad for everyone else on that ship! They're dead! Diplomatic success!  Anyway Cid gets another weapon upgrade so that's nice.    And now we're within walking distance of Toroia! Next time, we'll go to Toroia and probably experience more insanity.
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Jan 23, 2018 00:55
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Huh, these are more changes than I expected. Rewriting the plot like this, even adding a new dungeon, that's pretty impressive. I can't see the point though. And it doesn't seem like it's well-balanced for the changes. Cagnazzo especially looked horrendous.
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Jan 23, 2018 02:42
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This is a good LP and a good romhack (it seems)! I was going to play Darkness Within when I was in a FF4 mood again but from I have read this hack is more interesting.
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Jan 23, 2018 03:31
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I played through about half of this hack myself, and I would tentatively recommend it to people who enjoyed FF4. However, Cagnazzo was very poorly placed for how difficult he was - he should've been toned down or moved elsewhere. Really, he's quite manageable - but still tough - once you know that his tidal wave gets weaker as his HP drops. The problem is that it's indicative of a larger problem the hack has: it just doesn't tell you enough about bosses, and the tricks to beating them aren't really things you can reasonably intuit. Like the HP scaling thing with Cagnazzo - your first instinct is to turtle up, heal, and try to hit him with a Bolt spell to stop the next tidal wave. Then you do that and it doesn't work, so you figure you need to do more damage, so you try and time Rydia's summon to the short window of time when the wave shield is up, but then that still doesn't work. And by this point you've died several times and just have no idea how to beat him, so you google him and find out about the HP scaling mechanic, and then Cagnazzo is possible. The game gives no indication that's what you're supposed to do, and you wouldn't think to do it yourself. Without spoiling anything, the game is going to use the "HP scaling to weaken all-party attacks" several times more for other bosses, and again, there's no hint - you've just beat Cagnazzo before, so you have a hunch that this or that boss might work the same way. As a result, some bosses can turn into an absolute slugfest where you're just barely hanging on for most of it, slowly chipping away at their HP until the all-party attack is weakened enough to be manageable. That's fun for one or two bosses, maybe, but it pulls it too often for my tastes. The hack does an admirable job of explaining the abilities and equipment it's added, but the strategies for certain bosses are way too obtuse for their own good.
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Jan 23, 2018 05:40
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Oh hey, this hack. I gave it a shot but got walled at Cagnazzo. Interesting premise, so glad it's getting LP'd.
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Jan 23, 2018 07:01
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What has been shown so far looks pretty good, might play along. People that play romhacks usually have a good idea of the original game and its quirks so obscure mechanics should be a given.
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Jan 23, 2018 09:54
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I only struggled a little at the Cagnazzo fight. I did buy all the Shadow gear though. Other than that I've just kept stocked up on healing items. This is a pretty cool hack to say the least.
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Jan 23, 2018 10:19
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I'll get the next update up tomorrow. Until then... Oh, what are you doing in Eblan's basement, Rubicante? Chilling? That's cool.
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Jan 23, 2018 23:29
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Mega64 posted:I'll get the next update up tomorrow. Until then... He wouldn't be chilling, what with the ice weakness and all.
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Jan 23, 2018 23:32
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Huh. Let me get this straight: 1. Leviathan doesn't sink Cecil's ship. 2. Cid didn't finish the Enterprise before being thrown in jail. 3. Golbez didn't take the Water Crystal from Cagnazzo before Cecil fights him. 4. (Apparantly) Baigan wasn't turned into a monster yet. 5. The Elder sends a ship to reopen diplomacy with Baron (instead of, say, unsealing the Devil's Road), Palom and Porom tag along and escape via magic when Leviathan attacks for no apparent reason. Is that all correct? The story here is what happens when the coincidences didn't line up exactly right?
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Jan 24, 2018 00:13
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So unless I'm missing something, the only proper healing in the game so far are from items and Edward's song. That seems a little dicey.
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Jan 24, 2018 01:04
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Bogart posted:So unless I'm missing something, the only proper healing in the game so far are from items and Edward's song. That seems a little dicey. Rydia's Healing Staff has been my main source of healing, but otherwise, pretty much other than that brief period Tellah was in the party. It's not really been that big an issue besides the fiend battles, and even then I never actually wiped. If anything, the most challenging thing for me so far is remembering to buy items since you actually need to use them. I've had a couple instances where I ran out of Phoenix Downs, but again, that's due to poor preparation on my part. MightyPretenders posted:Huh. Let me get this straight: Pretty much. It basically jumbles a bunch of the plot stuff in random chunks. We'll be seeing a major plot scene from the original happen in a new and bizarre context once we hit Toroia, and of course now Rubicante is hanging out in Eblan. It's roughly the same beats but in a completely different order and context, at least for now. I think the game changes quite a bit from there once we reach the underworld, but it's been a couple years since I last played (and apparently I've forgotten 75% of what I played) and I never did get much further once I hit the underworld. Things should shake up gameplay-wise around then, too, if I had to guess.
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Jan 24, 2018 01:18
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Cirosan posted:The problem is that it's indicative of a larger problem the hack has: it just doesn't tell you enough about bosses, and the tricks to beating them aren't really things you can reasonably intuit. This is probably the biggest mechanical issue of the hack that I have. It still pales in comparison to my issue with how it messes with the story and sort of brakes the neato gameplay/story integration the original game had in it's bare-bones form.
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Jan 24, 2018 01:38
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I was expecting a true alternate story to the original, but this seems like it was designed more as a treat for FF4 fans who have already memorized the original. The original FF4 wasn't a masterwork, but from a storytelling perspective, it hit some good notes. So far, this version has removed several of those notable points and replaced them with self-referential humor. Wonder how different it'll be by the ending?
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Jan 24, 2018 01:43
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Oh man, this hack. Back when I played it, I went in with good expectations, being a bit of a sucker for alternate history stuff. I was left...unsure how to feel about it. There's a lot of good things to say about this hack, but there's also some things that had me scratching and/or shaking my head. That was one of the first versions released, though. So it'll be interesting to see if anything's changed since then. One small thing regarding Rosa - her Aim command hasn't exactly been replaced, instead Aim replaces Fight (and has been renamed to be Fight). Last I remember, anyway.
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Jan 24, 2018 01:56
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The new plot stuff isn't great, but my point of comparison is the Brave New World mod for FF6, and...yeah. This is better. Like, a lot better.
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Jan 24, 2018 01:58
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I got bored around the branching paths in Brave New World, anyone want to spoil the story changes? Surprisingly hard to google...
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Jan 24, 2018 02:39
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Mega64 LPed it.
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Jan 24, 2018 02:44
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A Raving Loon did some streams of a later revision that undid a lot of the Edgelord bits. So what remained was the mechanic tweaks and some... still probably not good story/progression changes.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:08
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A pretty significant bit has changed since Mega64 played BNW. Esper Points weren't even a thing back then, for example. I think most of the questionable story decisions have been dialed back at this point. Though there was a decision to put an extra lock-and-key mechanism in the WoR progression that I find a bit confusing.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:24
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I'd kind of like to see a version of this that keeps everyone's canon equipment and skills.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:45
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I've played BNW fairly recently, I think just last year, and I had a good time with it. The Esper shop system was pretty good. As for the dialogue, I didn't loathe a lot of the changes. A lot of the jokes in the version I was playing (Clean New World) were very geeky references to MLP etc but nothing egregious (that I can remember). There was this event at the end of the Floating Continent where Celes has a moment of self-loathing during a boss battle and unlocks some super power. It's neat but I don't think it fits the tone of the game and takes away from that scenario.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:47
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I think the reason I'm enjoying this so much is because I'm getting to use different party compositions which really makes you rely on items a lot. Plus it's been really cool to run around as Dark Knight Cecil in areas you never got to use him in.
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Jan 24, 2018 05:24
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DoubleCakes posted:There was this event at the end of the Floating Continent where Celes has a moment of self-loathing during a boss battle and unlocks some super power. It's neat but I don't think it fits the tone of the game and takes away from that scenario. Honestly that's probably the one area where I hated BNW's writing. The rest of it is OK after they patched out the excessive swearing. But then it doesn't really change the fundamental story the way Unprecedented Crisis does. So far UC's writing is...OK? It's had a few dud jokes and the writing's kinda fanfic level but it's also not terrible and is functional compared to the story. The main appeal of these hacks are the gameplay changes anyway, and so far those are...also fine. It's a nice challenge having to deal with the fiends without spamming Cure magic, even if the mechanics are barely explained (whereas BNW comes with a spreadsheet of what equipment does and the stats of basic monsters, plus being based on a game that actually tells you what things do). UC's biggest flaw so far is there's no reliable way to know what things do. I had to check the status menu to notice that a glove I get in the next update gives me +5 Vitality. The original game doesn't help with this (again, FF3 tells you when you get stat boosts from equipment so I don't know why the developers didn't include that here), but if you can't hack it in at least do a Readme like BNW did. It's a minor nitpick overall, at least for now. It might get more important later on though once things get unfamiliar and the challenge ramps up. SirSystemError posted:One small thing regarding Rosa - her Aim command hasn't exactly been replaced, instead Aim replaces Fight (and has been renamed to be Fight). Last I remember, anyway. Good to know, thanks!
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Jan 24, 2018 11:30
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Let’s be honest though, the original game’s script was not gonna win a pulitzer either.
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Jan 24, 2018 13:40
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tbf I think the guy who made BNW said Celes going Super Saiyan Rage was a necessary evil as a hacky way of setting up the level averaging for the World of Ruin or something like that
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Jan 24, 2018 17:24
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 18:42 |
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DoubleCakes posted:I've played BNW fairly recently, I think just last year, and I had a good time with it. The Esper shop system was pretty good. As for the dialogue, I didn't loathe a lot of the changes. A lot of the jokes in the version I was playing (Clean New World) were very geeky references to MLP etc but nothing egregious (that I can remember). There was this event at the end of the Floating Continent where Celes has a moment of self-loathing during a boss battle and unlocks some super power. It's neat but I don't think it fits the tone of the game and takes away from that scenario. I remember the one dude making the hack and he definitely had some egregious additions to Mega's LP thread. Definitely enjoying the look at this hack so far. It's interesting, if nothing else.
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Jan 24, 2018 18:14
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