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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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 Porom's right, what's the worst that can happen?  oh
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Jan 21, 2018 17:01
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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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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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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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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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Bogart posted:In my upcoming ff5 mod I will not be deleting the extended scene where Bartz and Galuf work out in the nude. it isn't homoerotic, they're just getting up to some jovial wrestling Good
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Jan 24, 2018 21:11
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Chapter 3 - Just Chillin' in the Basement Our next stop is Toroia.  Enemies are the same. I'm out of Phoenix Downs so I run from most encounters.  I think you need this Chocobo to cross the river to reach Toroia. There's no bridges to reach the northern part of the forest. Maybe I'm wrong, though, I'm not exactly used to walking through all this area.  Toroia's pretty much the same. There's a Serpent Road entrance, of course, and items are shuffled around.  This is the only noteable new dialogue I found.  Finally, an item shop!   Nothing new, it's stuff from previous shops or from chests.  Oh boy, this gimmick still exists!  Also the actual best NPC still has the actual best line.  Let's jump straight to the castle, then.  Oh.      ...own hands... Now, stand aside or be destroyed! No, not this time... This madness stops here!This version of Cecil doesn't whine or complain once the new writing kicks in. This Cecil is a man of action and isn't going to take anyone's bullshit.  ...On second thought, maybe old Cecil's approach wasn't a bad one.  Don't stand in a straight line you fools do you not loving remember what happened last time you did that   This time Golbez summons his Shadow Dragon and just annihilates everyone without even a courtesy battle.   Also the guards die because why not.    Now I shall rob you of yours! What?! Who is this foolish old man... Oh boy, Tellah's not wasting any time to die this time.   No one can ever defeat me... ... ...Remember how in the original version of this fight, Tellah threw out Bio and the -aga spells? Now remember he hasn't learned those spells in Mt. Ordeals, so he's stuck with his inferior spells. So if anything, this fight is even sadder.   Tellah's rage unlocked the ultimate spell... ... Even if it kills me... I will destroy YOU! Oh and this time Tellah just pulls Meteo out of his rear end. Sure, why not.   But hey, it worked!  This isn't over. Until we meet again... r.i.p. Tellah. -----    ...Uh ...Um   The Clerics that rule our country seek an audience with you once you feel well enough. Thank you... Not at all! Due to your efforts, the crystal is safe, as are our people. It is we who thank you.To be fair, it was Tellah that saved the day. It's too bad he's dead now.  Oh, or maybe he actually lived this time. Sure, why not.  I was, wasn't I? ... Cough! Cough! ...  That much magical energy would be difficult for anyone to control. I'm certain I can handle it... once I get better that is... I'd like to stay with him until he recovers... Of course! Thank you for everything, Edward. You've been a great help.So Edward's out of the party now to babysit Tellah. Funny how we glossed over the Tellah forgiving and accepting Edward thing this time. Also, the rest of the party's already with us, guess they don't really have any interest in saying goodbye to Tellah or Edward.  No, you need to rest.This will likely be a side-or-main quest we can get to later.  All the dialogue is the same otherwise.  More consumables. The big treasure room is still closed to us for now, so let's fix that.  I fear it may not be for long. Golbez is relentless. He won't stop until he has them all. In that case, perhaps we could lend the crystal to you for safe keeping... That may be for the best. Golbez is already after us... there's no need to endanger more lives. I promise to return it the moment this war is over. Then it's agreed. Take the crystal and keep it away from Golbez!I guess it makes some sense. If Golbez is going to murder somebody to get the crystal, might as well be Cecil.  Seriously though the original US "FF2" translation has the best NPCs in general due to their wonderfully dumb dialogue.  Also, free treasure! We don't have to deal with the drat Magnetic Cave!  Would you call the crisis...unprecedented?  Crystal #2. Now we must rescue Rosa and recover the other crystals! Golbez has been operating out of a tower called Babil. I bet he's holding them all there. How do we get in? The nation of Eblan is near there. Perhaps their ninjas can help us. Agreed. Let's go!So our next plot destination is Eblan. Obviously that means it'll be the last place we visit.   Mostly a bunch of consumables and arrows. Shurikens are interesting, though.  While we have no airship, the Black Chocobo forest still exists, so now we can explore the world! It's a shame there's not too much to explore.  We could check out Mysidia...  How can I show my face here after that? ...... Perhaps once I've redeemed myself for what I've done......but understandably Cecil doesn't feel like returning since it's not his last option to do so.  No entering Mt. Ordeals either.    Mythril doesn't really have much for us this time. The Giant Glove gives +5 Vitality, but I don't think the Viking Helm does anything special besides being a direct helmet upgrade for Cecil and Cid.  Agart is probably the most interesting optional area to visit, mostly because there's a lot of new dialogue foreshadowing new stuff to do.  Eh, I'll forgive this one.  I don't know how you'd prevent it from destroying itself in the process, though...Dunno if it's a reference or foreshadowing a future quest. Maybe I don't want to know...?  ...or can it?If this series taught me anything, there's always a way to cure petrification. Also I'm too lazy to make new sprites for these knuckleheads since I'm just reusing stuff from my FF4 LP anyway.  OK this one is pretty good.  Well, at least we know where to go later to do that quest.   The weapons here seem a bit beyond our current party. Also nobody can equip any of them, even the knives. Oddly Edward is the only person who could have wielded knives so far, unless Rosa could and I didn't notice. Also why the Wooden Shield?  SeaRuby, huh.  So the Levistone from FF1 is going to make an appearance, huh? Random enough reference to work for me.  Also of course we gotta look at the telescope.   Also we can't actually do the Magnetic Cave because Cecil doesn't want to. Honestly I can't blame him.  As I said, there really isn't much optional stuff to do, so on to Eblan. This forest is the only place to land our chocobo, but we can cross that northwestern inlet just fine to reach the castle.   Eblan Castle has random encounters with some nasty enemies. This is rather unfortunate.  Oh hey Edge.   Have I met you before? I am Eblan's Prince Edge! I'm gonna get revenge on you for what you did to my parents! Parents? Whatever do you mean...? Don't play the fool with me! Edge, brilliant as always, proceeds to cast fire magic on the fire fiend. Somehow, this doesn't work. Was it flame? I will show you how! So of course it ends just as poorly as it did in the original.  Then welcome to my barbecue! In the meantime, perhaps I'll hide away myself...fair is fair after all! Come back here!Rubicante decides just to go hide somewhere. Sure, why not.  We're also after Rubicant for his crystal. Why don't you stay out of this? He is one of the Fiends of Elements! Haven't you tasted enough of his power!? Think I'm just a spoiled prince, huh? The Royal Family of Eblan is trained as Ninja! I can take care of this myself, okay? Son, from what I've seen he really did a number on you... You used fire on the fire fiend.  We're after him anyway to retrieve the crystal... And we'll do it somehow whether you help or not... But we could really use the extra hand! ...they didn't survive... Then when he and his monsters attacked the castle, we tried to fight them off but there were too many of them, so we fled to our underground hideout.  So Edge joins as our fifth party member. Hooray...?  This is the first part of the castle I try to explore. Maybe not the greatest idea.   This guy hits hard, but for once I use status magic (Cecil's Charm spell saves a turn here) to slow him down while I beat him up.   Edge is pretty much the same, except instead of Ninjutsu he has regular Black Magic. Tornado in this hack isn't the Weak spell but a regular wind damage attack, because seriously, why does this series always three different tiers plus summon versions for Fire, Ice, and Lightning, but always pretty much ignore Wind and Water magic outside of Leviathan or occasionally Aero or Aqua Rake for Blue Mages?    Anyway he hits hard but I hit harder. As a bonus, I pick up Ifrit!  The reward is lame, though. Can't even use this since Cid's back to using a two-handed weapon.  The good news is there's no fight with three Mad Ogres this time.  The bad news is we can't leave this room without encountering Rubicante. Welp!  So...this is where your people have escaped. Shut up! How brave! But you'll never gain real strength as long as you are swayed by emotions. I'll show you the power... I'm not like the others, you see. I like to play fair!  Some things never change.  Rubicante still switches between his cloaked and uncloaked form. I didn't test to see if his cloaked form still absorbs ice attacks because, well, the only actually decent one we have is Shiva and Rydia's my main healer so she doesn't really have a chance to cast it.  Edge is stuck in the back row while the grown ups fight, but this is a good opportunity to make use of those Shurikens.  Rubicante's main attack is a target-all Fire2. When his cloak is closed, he has a high chance of countering physical attacks with it, which...kinda makes me regret Berserking Cid for this fight.  And when his cloak is open, he'll usually throw out a Glare before retreating back to his cloak. Thankfully it's single-target, but it'll flat-out KO whoever it targets.  That said, if you can keep up with the constant Fire2 spam then this isn't a bad fight. Rubicante has a decent bit of HP, but like the other fiends, not enough to make this fight dangerous.  But I shall return! Good luck...See ya.  Weak people can join forces... I admire you, warriors! ...Farewell... OK leave already.  Hey free crystal. Dad... Mom... I avenged you...! My people are digging a tunnel to connect to the Tower of Babil. Next time, we're just gonna skip right to the Tower of Babil. Sure, why not.
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Jan 24, 2018 23:36
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 For some reason the hack keeps saying we're going into the Tower of Babil but once you enter it's very clearly the Tower of Zot. I mean you even fight the freaking Magus Sisters. I don't know. Update probably tomorrow.
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Jan 26, 2018 22:09
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I'm pretty sure Tower of Zot is a different tower floating in the sky, which is why Kain guides the Enterprise so high up, and why after leaving by warping Cid has to retcon in that he actually remote controlled the airship back to Baron. Not to mention in-hack, you follow the Eblan Cave as normal except in the original upperworld Babil is still significantly different than what Zot is, yet the hack takes you to what is obviously Zot yet says it's Babil. It's probably the nitpickiest of nitpicks but I'm a LPer so (plus I mainly posted this to continue conversation during the lack of updates).
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Jan 26, 2018 23:26
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EponymousMrYar posted:And my rage for this keeps on rising.  You say that like that's a bad thing.
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Jan 27, 2018 01:13
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RAAAAGH 
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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. Holy crap, thanks so much! That'll definitely be very useful both for updates and for actual gameplay.
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Jan 27, 2018 14:30
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Chapter 4 - Girlish Charms Before we start, forums user Dr Pepper was great enough to share spreadsheet he made listing the stats of the weapons and armor in this hack! So now I can actually tell you guys what gear does.  Anyway, Eblan Basement now leads straight to the underground hideout.  I think this is the first area where we can buy HiPotions. At any rate, it's definitely not a bad idea to buy some!  The Flame Armor is a nice upgrade for Cecil and Cid that reduces fire magic. No clue if it still has the ice weakness. The Gold Shield is old news but now I know it blocks petrification and reduces damage from Zombie enemies. Light Armor like Judo have significant lower defense but have some magic defense and also give a bit of physical and magical evasion. The Judo clothing in particular also gives five-point boosts to Strength and Vitality, very handy stats for people like Edge and Yang.  Edge starts with an Ashura, the base katana which is still much better than any regular knife we can get right now, and since it's Holy-elemental it'll wreck the undead we'll face in the path to the Tower of Babil. Shurikens are also available for very reasonable prices. The Flame Sword is pretty simple and a nice upgrade, though I end up skipping it because I'm cheap. Knives in general are much weaker than non-mage weapons. Other than the obvious properties (Blind Dagger inflicts Blind, Air Dagger is air-elemental), they have much higher hit rates than other weapons and all knives give stat boosts. These three only boost Agility by 3, but later ones give significantly larger boosts and add Wisdom and Will boosts as well. And since I have this information, I'll summarize the characters' equipment. Feel free to skip this stuff if it doesn't interest you.  Edge: Gaia Gear has no stat boosts but reduces damage against...air? Sure, OK. The Bracer boosts strength by 5 and reduces damage from Giant enemies. The Headband is a simple 3 point STR boost. Yang: I mostly left him in boring starting gear so it doesn't really matter. It's good to note though that claws are not in this game at all, so Yang will always be barehanded.  Rydia: Suffice to say Rods and Staves have garbage attack stats and hit rates and you'll probably never use them for actually attacking. Mage Armor of course generally has higher magic defense and evasion, with the Hairpin, Magic Gloves, and Wizard Robe all each boosting Wisdom and Will by 3. The Rings don't boost evasion like shields, but they do have a variety of other boosts. The Rune Ring is geared towards magic defense, with five-point Wisdom/Will boosts and protects against Mage enemies. Cecil: His Shadow armor all protects against Holy damage and Spirit enemies, plus each gives a 3 point Wisdom boost. Right now he swaps between the regular Coral Sword (obviously lightning elemental) and the Ancient Sword (Dark elemental, can inflict Curse). Cid: Axes and Hammers are inaccurate, with Hammers being slightly moreso and requiring two hands but of course being stronger. All hammers do extra damage to Robot enemies, and his Gaia Hammer can cast Quake like in the original. Nothing special about his Mythril armor. His Giant Gauntlets reduce damage from Giants, give 5 Vitality, and blocks Pig, Mini, and Frog. The Viking Helmet is mainly useful for blocking a variety of status effects, including the three form changes plus Charm, Sleep, and Curse. OK now I'll shut up about numbers. Let's get back into the game proper.   The tunnel is complete! We now have a back door into the enemy's head-quarters! Excellent work! The soldiers will create a distraction outside while we sneak in through the back, rescue your friend, and take out Golbez once and for all. Your highness, with all due respect, with your parents gone and you leading the task force, your soldiers lack a leader. You're right... but this mission will require the skills of a Ninja... ...by your leave of course. Agreed! Thank you, Yang! Of course! And with that, Yang leaves. Good thing I didn't just immediately buy him new armor! Actually, good thing there's a save point right below where we're standing and I can just reload.   Next up, the path to Babil!   It's basically the same.  Just a lot more useful consumables.    This chest guards two Stalemen, a bit threatening but nothing too bad. The Power Staff gives a 5 point Will boost and can inflict Berserk as an item. With how wonky the ATB is in this game, Berserk is very useful for physical hitters, so it's a nice get.   Anyway, after that uneventful trek we're finally at the Tower of   Seriously, though, this is the Tower of Zot in all but name. The layout and enemies are the same as the original.  Slightly different loot, of course. The Mythril Hammer is actually stronger than the Gaia Hammer in this version, though otherwise there's nothing special about it.   The Silence Staff wrecks mages damage-wise (you know, if you used your staff to attack) and of course inflicts and can cast Mute. Mostly it's nice for the 10 point Will bonus.   Hell, even the Magus Sisters are the same. Same gimmick of Reflecting spells off Cindy, too. She's still the primary target since I'm sure she'll still cast Raise.   That said, Edge-for-Yang isn't really as bad a trade as the original, plus more importantly Rydia's Summons avoid Reflect completely, so if anything this version of the fight is easier.    The big difference here is Sandy starts throwing some nasty spells once Cindy goes down.  But otherwise this isn't that bad a fight once you get a hang of things.  As a bonus, Cecil picks up Drain.  Only thing to do now is rescue Rosa.   Cecil!!? Never mind how we got in! Those three girls were the only ones who saw us, but we defeated them. The Magus Sisters...then Barbariccia will soon find out. Barbariccia, the Fiend of Air. She's guarding Rosa as we speak. Look... Cecil... So today's big plot twist is Kain is not actually brainwashed, but simply pretending to betray us to gain intel on Golbez. Alright, then.  There's no time for talk. Rosa is in the next room. If Barbariccia finds you here she'll probably kill her...and you!  That locked door on the first floor? Yeah, this opens that.   Well, he did just give us the master key to the tower... What other choice do we have? Come on, let's hurry! Well, there's Rosa.    Uhhhh   Good eyes, Romeo... your lady friend tricked me and trapped me here. But thanks to you I'm free again! Oh-hohohoho... Come on Kain, let's trash these losers. loving brutal, Kain.  Barbariccia is floating and thus immune to Earth attacks, which nullifies...Cid's Gaia Hammer spell I guess? Maybe if Rydia had more levels she'd have learned Titan by now, but eh.  I got this! My Jump will stop her Spin!All physicals during Barbariccia's tornado form ends up triggering this line. That said, I don't think she'll actually counter attacks, and the characters will still do some damage, so the primary reason to Jump is to shut Kain up, and also because he's in the back row anyway so might as well.   Otherwise, she can cast Tornado for decent damage and do physicals I guess...?  Drain also does surprisingly solid damage. That Shadow gear does give Cecil an extra 12 Wisdom...  Anyway Barbariccia is a joke compared to the other fiends and goes down pretty easily.   Anyway, Kain's cover is pretty much blown now, but whatever.  Yes. They open the way to the moon. The moon. As in, the one in the sky. Apparently, it contains the secret to such great power as has never been imagined. This tower can generate a portal to the moon, but it requires the power of the crystals. Now that we have them all, we can use it ourselves to beat him there and keep him from getting all that power! Indeed! I don't know how she got out, but she couldn't have gone far. Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go! Kain's now with us for this part. All Spears are Air-elemental, but some like the Thunder Spear also have a second element. I'll let you figure out what that element is.  I skipped this chest on the first floor on my way up. That's a shame, because it gives five point boosts to Vitality, Wisdom, and Will, plus blocks Mute, Pig, and Frog.  Also you can leave Bab-il though no clue how far you can go and what all really changes, if anything, should you do so.  Besides we gotta find Rosa. Surely she's in this locked room?  Rosa! There you are!   aw yeah  Cid! Rosa, please...call me Grandpa. And Kain! I still think the only way we're going to beat Golbez is from the inside...but in order to work, it has to look convincing. I promise, no matter how bad it looks, I'm on your side.At least Kain's not a sad sack here. It's almost like he actually has his poo poo together in this version.   ... Heehee! I'm not afraid anymore! And I'm gonna use my summons to put Golbez back in his place! Eblan's prince Edge at your service, my lady! Eblan... Your soldiers are attacking outside. They're putting up a good fight but I'm afraid they may not be a match for Golbez's army... They understand the risks. Besides, Yang is an outstanding commander. That he is! In any case, the battle is a distraction to allow us to sneak in! And now that we have, and we know you're safe, the plan is to use the crystals to activate the portal to the moon, get there ahead of Golbez, and keep him away from the power there.    So we've got all four crystals, and places to put them.   Simple stuff.   As you wish. Til we meet again... Alright! We're all set and ready to go to the moon! ...any day now...  Why isn't anything happening?... Earth, fire, air, water... They're all in place. What could we be missing?   oh hey Golbez  I see you brought me some gifts. How thoughtful! All this time I thought I would have to fight you for them, but no, you've simply handed them over...  So while this hack changes many story beats, at least it and the original are consistent about one thing: Cecil is really terrible at being a hero.  On the contrary, my loyal lieutenant. The four to which you refer are only the crystals of light. There are four more crystals...those of the darkness, found in the underworld. Underworld? Indeed...there is more to this tower, and indeed the world itself, then you seem to realize. There is an entire world underground, hidden from view...this tower connects the two. Here, allow me to demonstrate!   OH GEE WHO DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING   She must not have made it... Poor thing...if anyone had to go it should have been me... Rydia...wherever you are...I won't rest until I find you! I'm going to, though. Next time, we explore the Underworld! And maybe try to find Rydia or something, it doesn't really matter does it.
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Jan 27, 2018 17:54
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 Tomra now has a king who is literally Santa Claus.  No, seriously.
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Jan 28, 2018 02:11
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:I beat the hack. It was pretty difficult at the end but I enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty neat, though some stuff was kinda meh. I did like the fresh take on some of the old boss battles, though some of the new ones were hit and miss. Even as someone who's not a fan of the original I recommend people give this a shot. I'm glad my LP got you to try it out!
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Jan 28, 2018 04:31
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Chapter 5 - Ho-ho-ho! Oh my goodness, we're in the Underworld!  Are you crazy!? Get out of here before someone sees you!If you try to enter the Tower of Bab-il from the bottom, Kain calls you a moron and tells you to crawl away. What a fool.  Instead Cecil and company are going to moonwalk the original Bab-il march back to the dwarves.  The Definitive Final Fantasy IV Experience.  These boost your Max HP, I'm going to guess. I don't know how much since my intent is to hoard them and never use them due to my extensive experience in playing jRPGs and knowing I might need them later, like after I'm dead.  Good?  Those Angel Wings we heard about in Agart are on sale here, though they're pretty drat expensive considering they only work one floor at a time and, as I'll find out later, only work in battle. Not worth buying them honestly, at least this early on. Stock up on Hi-Potions like mad, though.  If anything the dwarves are even more chill in this version. We haven't even talked to Giott yet and the dwarves are all, "Go ahead, take all our poo poo, we don't give a gently caress, Lali-Ho!" Yeah I love the dwarves in this game.  Don't forget Rosa's white magic is all about de/buffs, not curing crap, so in this version Rosa definitely wants the light armor that buffs Strength and Vitality over that stupid mage crap.  If you guessed Cid is going to ditch us here like he did in the original, then I am personally congratulating you on your brilliant insight. Seriously, good job with your brain power here! Unfortunately that means this piece of poo poo is worthless for our future party.  This glitchy piece of poo poo is gauntlets, or heavy gloves that apply to only Cecil, Cid, and Kain, and I literally just spoiled Cid's ditching us in a few minutes. Guess what, the Power Gauntlets boost Power! +5 Strength, I may be a bit dickish here but I ain't complainin' about more drat Strength! Plus it blocks a whole bunch of random status effects that would be bad for physical characters, so trust me, I'm definitely not complaining about getting these!  We can't access the secret room with the drunken dwarf dancer and the developers anymore. I am truly sorry, but not really because screw those guys (except the drunken dwarf dancer, that guy rules).  Nothing really new here, but right now this is our only source for this stuff, so...  Oh, hey, actual new stuff here! The Sleep Sword is stronger than Cecil's current weaponry and, spoilers, it'll inflict Sleep, so why not splurge on it? The Posion Rod inflicts, uhhhhhh, Poison (which isn't actually Poison, thanks to Dr Pepper, but damage that inflicts Sap), while the Aura Staff casts Shell (which I'll eventually have access to in the next dungeon anyway so let's save 2000GP I guess). Also we can buy a Flame Spear for loving nobody, and Fire Arrows if we somehow meet something weak to Fire. Also I should mention that the basic Wooden Arrows boost Rosa's attack by 10. No other arrow boosts attack besides the end-game Yoichi Arrows (or Samurai for you FF2 purists), but the other arrows add elemental attacks to make up for it (they are Fire, Ice, Bolt, Dark, and Holy. Dark inflict Blind as well, but otherwise the elementals literally do as they say and I'll trust your intelligence for once).  With all that nonsense done let's talk to King Giott.   Pleasedd to meet you, Cecil. I am Giott, King of the dwarves. I come to warn you of an imminent threat. A man named Golbez is after the crystals. Fear not, we dwarves are mighty warriors! Our soldiers and tanks will protect our Bolt crystal! I don't doubt your soldiers' abilities, but they can't be everywhere at once... we must protect the other crystals too. It wouldn't hurt to have more help! You and your friends investigate the other crystals and keep them from Golbez. Where exactly are the other crystals?   We can actually do these in any order from appearances, but of course the enemies within kinda dictate the order for us. The Ice Crystal in particular will be our first destination. How can we get to these places? The tanks can't go over the magma, but we did find a flying ship that crashed nearby... If you can make it work, it's yours! Cid's a badass when it comes to airships so that garbage dreck is as good as ours.   They may be useful to you in your quest. who the gently caress wants kids following them around with their snot and stuff  Actually nevermind these motherfuckers are pretty god drat cool.   Forgive my brother and his arrogance. My name is Porom. Pleased to meet you, sir.  Yes. My brother and I were aboard a ship on its way to Baron on a diplomatic mission when a giant sea monster attacked us! Then my bungling sister miscast a Warp spell...  I love Cecil's thinking here. "If I take these brats along with me, maybe the town whose people I ruthlessly murdered to steal their most precious treasure will forgive me!" I mainly love it because I finally have a person who can do a full-party heal for more than 30HP a person.   Obligatory "Cid fixes an airship" montage, except this time with bonus child labor.  Those tanks could use an upgrade as well... I think I'm gonna stay here and help out. I'm sure the dwarves will appreciate the help. Take care! Wait, we haven't named the airship!  Eh, I can appreciate doing something different from the "Falcon" here. Though I've only ever seen the pilot...    We got a freaking airship!  Palom and Porom start off with some really basic gear. The weaponry is no big deal since you'll have plenty of extra rods and staves, plus buyable ones if you need them (though I do miss the Healing Staff Rydia took with her to the grave), but armor is another thing considering how expensive it'll be to deck the twins out. But enough about that, let's explore!  This is pretty much the same.  So are the Sylph Cave and Summoned Monsters Cave, though what was the Sealed Cave is completely new, thank God. Anyway let's go to the only other place that won't actively try to kill us, Tomra.     TAKE A WILD loving GUESS WHAT THIS IS A REFERENCE TO   Also note how dwarves extract the water needed to survive in such a magma-filled place. Actually don't, the king of backwater hicksville dwarf town Tomra is loving Santa Claus.   I don't know this for certain of course, but I'm going to guess the Levistone is in the ice dungeon, perhaps after we beat the boss. Obviously I could be wrong here, though.  First off, I need to point out that Porom can equip Hammers. There's actually a reason to do this beyond her physical attacks. Otherwise, the Sledge is merely a direct upgrade from the Mythril Hammer, likewise the Killer Bow from the Great Bow, and who cares about the Blizzard Spear. The Kotetsu is a small upgrade over the Ashura katana, but the Kotetsu is also Dark-elemental as opposed to the Ashura's Holy elemental, and considering the amount of undead in the next dungeon it's better to hold off on these.  The Diamond Rings resist Lightning attacks and give decent boosts to Physical Defense and Magical Evasion. I end up splurging my money for two for the twins. Otherwise, Ice Armor resists Ice (shocking), and the Opal Shield resists Lightning and attacks from Mages. Nothing exciting here.  Anyway I love the dwarves because they're more than happy to let you loot their poo poo.  Also I loot the Big Chocobo to sell crap since now I know what I should and shouldn't keep. This gives me just enough money to get the twins outfitted enough to not die as easily.  For a quick test, I trek into the Sylph Cave to see how it goes.  It goes poorly, the enemies here way outclass my current party.  So I just loot the first floor of its two underwhelming treasures and check right out.  This was the site of the Sealed Cave in the original game, but thankfully it's much different now. It's also where we're supposed to go, so there I go.  Aesthetically, it's not that interesting and pretty linear. I mean, it's a completely unique dungeon so I can see it not being as strong as dungeons designed by the actual game designers. Still, I'll forgive it because it doesn't actively piss me off. It's functional, I'm happy enough with that.  Screamers aren't too exciting other than being able to inflict Charm with their physical attacks.  The second floor is one massive rectangle. Simply travel to the opposite corner, nothing interesting here.  Mind Flayers can cast Blaster to stun (or possibly instant kill, though I never saw that) a character. Otherwise they're easy EXP.   The Wizard seems to have a set pattern similar to the Dark Elf boss from the original.   First, the Fire2/Bolt2/Ice2 trifecta.  Then a casting of Death which never lands.  Then Bio, which obviously sucks.  Then finally Slow before starting the pattern all over again.  Also, holy crap, actual healing, it's so nice to have that for once.  The pattern isn't that bad, so the Wizard goes down quickly enough to grant a new Dark Sword. It's Cecil's strongest sword yet, with a nice ten point Wisdom bonus, and can inflict Charm as a status. Solid upgrade!  Also free Ice Armor, hell yeah.  See that odd-looking square?  Yeah, we're not entering that space so easily.  At this point, loads of undead may show up in battles. Edge makes short work of them.  This is also the only floor in this dungeon that has damage floor spaces.  ...which makes me really wish I healed up first before opening this chest, the only one on this floor with monsters within.  The Frost Dragon isn't that bad otherwise, just semi-nasty physicals and a decently strong Blizzard attack.  I probably should have healed but oh well. It's not that long a trek back, at least.  Also letz me encounter more annoying enemies! The Crawlers counter physicals with multi-target Slow, oh joy!  They also can steal MP but it's pathetically small amounts so who cares.  I did get a free Angel Wings drop, at least.  Also more loving bats.  Anyway Edge's Fire2 and Cecil's Chaos Sword make short work of the Ice Dragon here.  The Icebrand is the best regular sword in the game, and surprisingly it's ice-elemental. It's still a few points weaker thean the Chaos Blade, but it'll do against fire enemies.  Literally swimming in these drat things. Keep in mind of our current party, only Cecil can wear these.  These chests all contain money. Between these and the rather generous enemies here, our money problems quickly go away, hooray.   Palom and Porom both pick up some nifty new spells.  And soon after so does Edge.  The next floor gives a free Opal Shield.  There's two exits on this floor. This one leads back to the OverUnderworld, which isn't bad since we can save and not lose our treasures and heal/restock before the inevitable boss battle.  Final Dungeon Dive. I use the Angel Wings in-battle since you can't actually use them out-of-battle.  The other exit is this pit...  ...and that leads us to our ultimate destination.  And look at that, it's King Santos!    This is pretty old hat at this point so...   Cagnazzo pallete-swap! This guy's pretty similar, except Ice elemental. He follow a pretty rigid script.  First, a couple rounds of Ice3 spam. This will instantly kill whoever it hits at this stage of the game.    Anyway the Ice Fiend is weak against Fire.    After a couple rounds, Alichino will put up an ice wall and then add Reflect. So good luck nullifying it, if even possible.  After that, he'll release a powerful Blizzard attack.  Then finally Chakra to restore HP before restoring the pattern again. Of course, the key here is Chakra restores (Current HP/2) HP, so the further you reduce his HP, the less it heals.   My strategy was to Haste and Berserk Edge. He'd end up doing ~1k HP an attack, and of course he's pretty fast. Rosa would buff a bit, Porom would heal, and Cecil and Palom pretty much threw items.  Eventually, I got him to where Chakra didn't heal enough to be relevant.   Focus boosts Palom's Wisdom stat. Bonk! requires a Hammer and pretty much cures any battle status like Berserk and Sleep.  Twin...isn't as impressive here, though this might have been a bad spot to try it. Not like they had anything else to do, though!  Eventually, Berserk Edge got the job done.  And so we get our first new crystal we'll probably give up to Golbez due to incompetence.  Then the twins go off screen for a bit and make random noises until...   The real King Santos is free! Good, I guess...?   One crystal down! Next time, more crystals to go, I guess. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Jan 28, 2018 |
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Jan 28, 2018 21:46
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Something minor: while looking at the Dwarf Castle loot/stores, you mention Porom learning a spell, before the twins joined your party. Thanks for that! Edited it to be slightly more vague. As for Bonk!, I think it's more focused on in-battle stuff like Charm and Sleep. Here's the description from the tutorial center. 
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Jan 28, 2018 22:50
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What an odd trait.
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Skanker posted:The mapping of that dungeon and the palette swap, yuck! The new abilities and magic lists seem pretty fun if only because they break away from the healbot archetype (but then again, Porom seems unchanged?). Porom's Cure2 really isn't as helpful as you'd think considering how hard enemies hit at this point, while Cure2 only heals ~150HP party-wide. You'll still want plenty of HiPotions, it's just Porom can do a party-heal and spend MP in place of items for some stuff. Plus she can de/buff if you need Rosa to attack (which she isn't that bad at, especially for flying enemies).
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Jan 28, 2018 23:17
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The dungeon itself is very basic and unimpressive, but as I said, I'll certainly take that considering just how much worse these dungeons could be. It's not a teleport dungeon or some ridiculous maze with a bunch of ludicrous bullshit. It's simply linear with very little branching, not going to win any awards but I don't actively hate it either, and honestly for a ROM hack that's as big an endorsement as you'll likely get.
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Jan 28, 2018 23:27
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This is going to be fun because I think the next update will be the farthest I've gone in this hack, so everything will be news to me. I remember a Rubicante palette-swap so surely there's two more for Scarmiglione and Barbariccia, also what does it say about me that I actually memorize the spelling of those motherfuckers (other than I'm incredibly drunk which, uh, I am).
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Jan 29, 2018 01:11
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My knowledge of FF1 is terrible so tomorrow I’ll have to look up the dungeon design for that and compare it to this one. Wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the same since the Levistone or whatever is implied to be here. e: The first couple floors are basically identical, the rest are pretty different but otherwise it is a pretty blatant reference to FF1’s dungeon. Maybe I’ll get better screenshots tomorrow afternoon. Mega64 fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jan 29, 2018 |
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Jan 29, 2018 03:04
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 Did the Summoned Monsters and Sylvan Cave. This is as far as I've gotten the first time I tried the hack, so everything after this will be completely new and unknown! Gonna aim to have the next update up tomorrow.
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Jan 29, 2018 23:03
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At least the fiend recolors show up in slightly more interesting ways this time. Blubicante for instance is pretending to be a prophet of Bahamut, thus the worshipping mages.
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Jan 30, 2018 02:44
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Chapter 6 - Blubicante Christmas is saved! Yes, Christmas is canon in the Final Fantasy universe thanks to the FF5 GBA translation.  I also got a bunch of money in that dungeon, but I already bought all the gear I wanted. More HiPotions and Phoenix Downs never hurt, though. This game actually expects you to use items!   Today we'll be tackling the other two dungeons in the Underworld. They're both pretty much the same, the only difference being this dungeon has a couple long secret paths that wrap to the exit so you can skip a lot of the damage floors in exchange of having to walk more and thus risk triggering more random encounters.  Conjurers summon a variety of monsters, but aren't that bad themselves. They're also a handy source for stealing Ethers!   The twins pick up two useful spells, though obviously Palom's would've been much more useful in the last update.  The RockMoth can blind, I guess?  The Clapper uses Blitz for lightning damage. Shocking, I know.  The HugeNaga is like the rest of the Naga enemies in that it exists and that's pretty much everything of note.  Warriors hit hard, Devils can inflict Charm.  ...which can be nasty if it lands on the wrong character.  Finally, Arachne is a bit more annoying since we don't have free Float. In particular, it means you can't just run through the dungeon without healing, since a back attack will cause a wipe (like it did here).  Third tier of ninja star.   Another wipe later, and I finally reach our destination.   Some stuff is changed and shuffled around, but the basics are the same.  The Yoichi arrows are the only other arrow other than the Wooden ones to add to attack, in this case a whopping 30 (as opposed to the Wooden's 10). The other arrows are all elemental ones.  Hi!   It's still cheaper to buy a cabin and rest at the save point next door.  Speaking of which! Rydia! Are you ok? What happened? The sylphs saved me from falling and carried me here... I'll stay here for a while. I'll be ok.And now we're caught up with Rydia! She's still her young form at least.   After saving and making a quick run through the town, I backtrack to this chest. The fight here isn't so bad.  And the reward is pretty good! The Blood Sword is the first dark sword to not be dark-elemental, and as you expect it'll drain HP from whomever it hits. It still gives 5-point penalties to all five stats, but now the attack is good (it's now Cecil's strongest weapon!) and the hit rate isn't terrible, so it's actually a nice get.  Back to the summoned monsters. The Fairy Rod is the second-best in the game and inflicts Charm, which is very handy for random encounters. Kikuichi is the next step up for Edge, but it's also crazy expensive and the Ashura's holy element still wrecks a lot of enemies. The Rune Bow wrecks mages. Dark Arrows are dark-elemental and are the only arrows that can inflict a status effect, in this case Blind.  The Diamond Armor and Helm are straight upgrades that also resist Lightning. The Zeus Gauntlets are kind of a rip-off compared to the Power Gauntlets. They add two whole defense but give no stat boosts compared to the Power's 5 STR and only protects against Berserk (which Cecil's actually fine with!) and Charm (which the Power Gauntlets already protect from, along with a bunch of other status effects). Finally, the Aegis Shield protects more against magic attacks than physical, also protecting against dark-elemental attacks as well as petrification, instant death, and sleep.  Anyway here's the crystal.  My name is Cecil. A man named Golbez is attempting to collect the crystals for evil ends. My companions and I are trying to keep him from them. I see. Our Shadow crystal helps keep us hidden, but you may borrow it to keep it away from Golbez as long as you promise to return it when the threat abates.  That was...ridiculously easy.  Who's there!?   Oh and randomly the Scarmiglione palette-swap shows up.  His minions are much bulkier, but Edge rips through the undead like butter.   Ciriatto counters all damage with Stop, which is a good bit more scary than Scarry's counters.   Also, the Reapers' Drain attacks hurt a heck of a lot more.  I think this was the first time I died in a boss fight. This means I can adjust my strategy to "Haste Edge and keep him healed as much as possible".  Once the Reapers die, Ciriatto starts spamming Bio. It may not be a bad idea to keep one Reaper alive. But then again he only has 7000HP so he goes down quickly.  Leviathan gives no fucks about what just happened.   Also who didn't see this one coming Hear the song of the fallen angel!  This nasty beauty lowers the party's HP to single digits. The end of his attack pattern is a party-wide attack so better heal up!   Next up is DarkHoly, which does massive dark damage.  And gradual petrification because why not.  Again, Edge and his holy-elemental katanas are our primary offense.    Then Bio, Death, and finally Dark Wave.  It was a struggle keeping everyone healed and alive. I mainly stuck with Porom, Rosa, and Edge, and by the end a Berserk Edge won in a damage race.  And that's it for the Feymarch!  Now we're much better prepared for this cave.   Charm helps a ton here.  And Drain Sword in action. The DarkTrees are a pain since they can cast Blink.  Rosa picks up Stop here.   Not worth the effort to fight.  Most of the treasures are consumables or stuff on sale in the Feymarch. This room still has three Elixirs, but also another Yagyu shuriken.   Palom and Porom's new spells are...alright.  Cecil's seems a bit late for this stage of the game, but then again maybe not.  Another Wizard (Dark Elf wannabe) guards the Avenger. It boosts Strength, Agility, and Vitality by 10, but also reduces Wisdom and Will that much. Dark-elemental with the same attack as the Blood Sword. It does require two-hands, but like the original it automatically inflicts Berserk at start of battle. Cecil doesn't do much besides attack anyway, so what the hell.  Final item is the Mystic Hammer, which has high attack power and also hurts mages and robots, but the big note are the massive 15-point boosts to Wisdom and Will. Thus Porom actually wants to wield it, even if she'll never actually use it outside maybe her Bonk! command.   Later in the dungeon, the twins pick up two very useful new spells. Cure3 in particular feels long overdue.  Thirty holy arrows. These are kinda hard to come by, so they'll be nice to have.   Another Frost Dragon guards the Mage Masher. Small boosts to Agility, Wisdom, and Will, it inflicts Mute and of course mashes mages. It's actually only a couple points lower in attack than the Ashura, but again, Holy element is too great to have.  Eventually I reach the house within.   Well this is convenient.  Hmmmmm.    Wow, what a nice guy.  You're no prophet!  Draghinazzo, or should I say... Choco1980 posted:Ah, yes...Blubicante ...is the Holy-elemental themed.  He casts Holy.  He's one of the first holy-elemental foes I've encountered so far, or at least it feels that way when I watch Cecil poo poo out massive amounts of damage on him.  This is just cute.   Drain is also dark elemental!  I didn't even get through his entire attack rotation. Berserk Cecil just made absolutely short work of him.  And there's crystal number three!    The Black Robe resists Holy and Air, while the White Robe resists Fire, Ice, and Lightning. They also give massive 15-point boosts to their respective stats.  Now we're farther in than the last time I played. Everything from here on will be a complete mystery to me. So next time, who the hell knows?
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Feb 1, 2018 01:03
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SirSystemError posted:Also I can't believe you didn't mention the new name of the cave where Blubicante is... Didn't think to check!  Hah.
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Feb 1, 2018 22:41
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 I can't believe Kain betrayed... ...uh... ...who is Kain betraying again?
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Feb 2, 2018 23:55
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Chapter 7 - You Imbecile. You loving Moron. We've gotten the other three crystals, time to go back to Giott and see what hamfisted way we lose the last crystal.  How did it go? We have the other three crystals and stopped Golbez's fiends from taking them. Splendid! They will be safe here in our fortified castle. Cid! Cid showing up is always a good time. They'll have a hard time getting through the newly upgraded tanks, and I also figured out a way to use the power of the Bolt crystal to generate an electrical field that prevents warp spells! What was that? I didn't hear anything... Shh! Someone is sneaking around... Behind that wall! That's the way to the crystal! Come on, let's go! Not so fast! Turns out the Dwarven Castle's getting bombarded all of a sudden. You can't actually see it you'll just have to take my word on this. The Red Wings! I guess we're about to see just how well defended this castle is... Right! You got it!I do like how this hack makes Rosa into much more of a badass who gets poo poo done. It's kinda how she started out in the original game, but then you rescue her and she's kinda just there the rest of the game besides the Big Whale scene, and then she does nothing in the sequel. Here, she has no problems sniping motherfuckers like flies.  Cecil!  Aww.  Meanwhile...  Pilot, take us closer. I want to be within warp range. But master... How can we warp through that electrical field? Fear not, master. I'll have that field down in a jiffy! You'd better...Back to the party.  Just a doll... It's one of Luca's. The doll moved on its own!? It took the crystal! Someone must be controlling it! Either way, we have to get the crystal back in place before Golbez decides to warp in here!  This fight is pretty much filler. Calbrena only has a weak physical and rarely attacks. No fancy gimmicks here.   Step aside. Never! Very well...  Great going, guys. Now, Kain, get the crystal! With pleasure...  Seriously, way to fail at your jobs again. Cecil really is the most incompetent hero.  Kain... You...  That's right, Kain just betrayed Golbez. Hey, Kain's gotta betray someone, right?   Not until you hand over that crystal! This is the final fiend, and she's a tough one.   The issues are that she only does three things. A powerful physical attack that could potentially one-shot some people, a multi-target Bolt3 that does decent damage to the party, and Magnet, which inflicts Stop. She's also very fast at doing these things, so much so that it'll be difficult to keep up with healing, especially with a character Stopped and Kain having to play Jump duty. Also, look how drat tanky Kain is. Guy's close to 2000HP when Edge hasn't even hit four digits. And yet he's the guy who Jumps...  Drain is a pretty drat solid spell behind Palom's stats. It's definitely better than the tier-2 elemental spells.   It took me three attempts before I could wear her down.   Looks like my cover is blown for good. And we're down to one crystal...what now? Golbez can't use the portal without all eight crystals. As long as we still have this one hope is not lost. We can still mount one last counter-offensive and try to get the rest back. Agreed. Let's talk to the King.-----  Our only hope left is to attack the tower. You can count on us for any support you need! Thank you, your majesty. "I suggest we go to Golbez's house and leave the crystal at his front door. We all know what's going to happen anyway, let's at least skip the bullshit and get drunk instead."  There's also the Red Wings to worry about... Thanks to Rosa's sharpshooting skills, the airship force has been weakened quite a bit. In that case, now is the time to strike! We take them out while they're still weak... ...before they have a chance to regroup! We'll use the tanks in a full frontal assault on the tower, meanwhile a few of us will enter, get the crystals, and leave. Kain, you're familiar with the layout of the tower. Edge, your Ninja skills will also come in handy for this mission. Palon and Porom, we'll probably need your magic. Cid and Rosa, since you did so well against the airships earlier, perhaps you can lead the tank assault. No problem! We'll show 'em who's boss!  Let's show Golbez who he's dealing with! So, are you going to keep the crystal here, or hide it somewhere, or...oh, you're taking the Bolt Crystal with you? To the Tower that Golbez resides in and has his many minions wandering about in? OK, yeah, sure, you're the genius tactician here, Cecil. Because all your plans have worked out well so far. Not knocking the hack's writing here because the original was equally as drat stupid. As I've said plenty of times and will probably say plenty more, Cecil really is incompetent at being a hero.   Kain has some decent gear he comes with. It's also good to note that he can equip axes, though I opt to buy him a Blizzard spear from Tomra since I'm gonna have him constantly Jump from the back row.  To the Tower of Babil!  The layout for the underground section is unchanged...for the most part.  Tied for most defensive light armor, it also boosts Agility and Wisdom by 5. Feels like it's custom made for someone, but I wonder who.  The Armlet apparently protects against any enemy with a specific "type" (like Undead, Dragon, Zombie, etc.) and throws in 10 Vitality on top of that. It makes sense to give it to our healer.  The enemies aren't really anything special, other than confusing BlackCats to Bluster themselves to death.  +3 Agility and second-best defensive stats of any hat. Otherwise, meh.   Four chests with Alert enemies. They still summon random trash until defeated.  This time they summon four pieces of the Genji equipment. None of them give any bonuses or anything, they're simply the most defensive gear you can get at this stage of the game.  Bolt-elemental and a pretty solid upgrade. At this point we're not really running into enemies weak to Holy, so Edge starts rocking this and the Mage Masher.  Wrecks Ogres. A decent bit better than the Blizzard Lance, but again, I'd Rather Jump.  Edge picks up Bolt2 along the way.  At some point I get distracted and drunk for awhile, then when I came back I simply ran from every battle since these random encounters can take awhile.    If we reach the area where we originally meet Lugae, we instead get to progress further on. First, the underground area of the tower where in the original we fell through a trap door and ended up discovering the Falcon.  And eventually we get to the overworld section that you originally enter from Eblan Cave. Makes sense to combine all of these parts.  Still four Mad Ogres, but only an Elixir here.  Also this odd chest that gives a ton of GP still does the same thing in this hack.  Instead of Edge's parents, we meet Lugae here.   You can't tell me what to do anymore, you backstabber! Golbez wants me to stop you from going any further, so that's what I'm gonna do! Balnab! Get them!  Same antics as before.    This happens. I guess things get ugly like the original if you beat up Balnab.  Instead I beat up Lugae.   That certainly made this fight simpler.    Lugae here is...the exact same as he was in the original game. No new moves or anything.  Thus I'm skipping ahead to where he dies.  And Palom finally picks up Bio! Sadly Porom died during a random during this dungeon and thus got desynced from Palom EXP-wise.  Alright, let's do this.  oh hi golbez   not gonna say hello or anything, just gonna get right to fighting us, huh. ok, that's cool, no big.    Meal time, Shadow!  So remember when this happened in the original? And then suddenly adult Rydia jumped in to save the day?  That's not happening today.   Awkwardly enough Kain dodged the Hold Gas thanks to Jump, much like you can do in the original version of this fight. Except here Golbez isn't putting up with your smug exploit bullshit and just spams Globe199 until you die like you're supposed to.  Seriously, guys, great loving job.   -----  Cecil! The tower expelled you. Cid flew the Red Dwarf up to save you. Thanks, Cid! I haven't lost my touch yet! And now the tower is protected by some kind of shield. We can't damage or enter it. Does that mean we're stuck here in the underworld? Of course not! I attached a drill to the Red Dwarf! We can drill up through the northeast mountain range. Then we'll be able to travel back and forth at will! Then there's no time to waste. Golbez has certainly made his way to the moon already. We need to regroup, find our friends, and figure out a way to get to the moon ourselves.I mean, don't you know where all your friends are at this point? Edward and Tellah are in Troia, Rydia's in the Feymarch, and Yang's with the Eblan troops. You don't really have any other friends, Cecil.  Anyway who cares because we got a giant loving drill in our airship and next time we're gonna use that loving son of a bitch YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
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Feb 4, 2018 01:51
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Slow's still solid, had it miss during the last fiend fight but that was probably because it was cast during her whirlwind form, didn't think to try again during her normal form.
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Feb 4, 2018 03:25
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Leroy Dennui posted:This might be moot since you probably have a shitton of archived saves, but you should make a new save file either now or right after getting the Lunar Whale. I couldn't figure out how to initiate the new sidequests, so I tried going to the crystal chamber of the moon first, and then ended up railroaded to the endgame after all the crazy poo poo that happens there I actually haven’t been backing up my saves for whatever reason, so this is great to know, thanks!
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Feb 4, 2018 14:11
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 Um... I... ...You know what, forget it. 
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Feb 4, 2018 16:09
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:I hope you found that relatively quick. I spent so long looking around for that stone that I had to find a walkthrough on youtube to help me figure it out. There's a character in Agart who says, "I hear the Floater is frozen underground" so I decided to check the Ice Cave, and well, things worked out. Also not LP-related but I wrote up a nice little thing where I mess around with Chrono Trigger.
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Feb 4, 2018 18:42
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Carbon dioxide posted:Can I subscribe/follow you anywhere to get pings when you post more updates to that? Probably best way is my Twitter, where I rarely post anything outside LP updates and now website stuff. I'll probably muck around with other ideas later on keeping people updated.
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Feb 4, 2018 21:24
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So it looks like the next update will open up a bunch of side quests that I'm pretty sure can and will shuffle our party depending on what we do. Of course I'm playing this blind, so I have no drat clue what to do besides "Don't immediately progress to the end game area." But then again that's part of the fun! I also know there's a couple alternate endings based on the Readme, though I don't know what changes as a result. So what I may end up doing is do several playthroughs to show off as much as I can because, well, why not? Not going to do any votes because, well, I don't really know what the hell is even possible. I get the feeling though that things are going to get weird. At any rate, next update will probably be tomorrow.
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Feb 6, 2018 01:36
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Kemix posted:Why not keep a save BEFORE doing the sidequests and then go from there? Systematically cross them off then show off the endings one after another. Better than "Welp, time to play the same game multiple times with slight differences on the ending!" That’s actually what I plan on doing, but still good call on mentioning that in case I wasn’t.
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Feb 6, 2018 02:29
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Chapter 8 - Gifted a Floater  Back to the overworld! Note that there's no real direction we're given here. Cecil said we need to "find our friends", but we can't actually do that part yet. The destination we need to go to kinda makes sense if you think about it, but for now let's just go random places.  Porom picks up Harm, a spell that only affects the undead but does major damage against them. Situational but very nice to have.  Eblan Cave has a couple soldiers freaking out but is otherwise fine. This may end up relevant later on, should we choose to address it.  Anyway, to move the plot forward, we need to go to Mysidia. Now that we have twins from there, maybe Cecil will finally get over his guilt and break bread with the Elder.   What's wrong, Cecil? I can't come back here after what I did... ... Trust me... And so off we go to meet the Elder.  You!... I know I have no right to come back here... What I did was absolutely unforgivable. You were deceived... I forgive you, though it seems you do not yet forgive yourself. Climb Mount Ordeals. Renounce your Dark Knighthood and become a Paladin. Only then will you truly overcome your dark past. Then you must follow him there. But how? Legends tell of a ship that could travel through space, but it sank to the sea floor. A floater stone could raise it... Where would one find such a thing? I'm afraid I have no idea. What a great lead to go on! "I dunno, good luck!" Except we do have a lead! Frozen underground, I have a strong idea I know where to go. BUT FIRST.   Thus why we currently still can't use the Serpent Road despite things being "cool" (the rest of Mysidia still hates Cecil for murdering their friends but who gives a poo poo about them).  Mysidia's weapon shop only sells Holy arrows, though this is very welcome if we ever bring Rosa back. Meanwhile, the Paladin gear is weaker than the Genji gear Cecil currently has, but each piece does give a 3-point Will bonus and guards against Zombies.  Mysidia also sells late-tier items like X-Potions, DryEthers, and Elixirs. X-Potions are tempting, but it's also tempting to hold off awhile just to see what else may be buyable once we hit the moon or whatever.  Also, despite the Elder telling us we can go to Mt. Ordeals to become a Paladin, we actually can't do that yet. We have to get the Floater Stone first. Before we get to that, it's been awhile since we've explored the overworld. So let's do that!  The dying guy in Damcyan basement finally croaked, so we can loot the treasures here.  Some nice consumables and this baby. Boosts Agility, Wisdom, and Will by 5 each, wrecks Slimes, and most importantly is Holy-elemental. If for some reason Edge was still using Ashura, this would be a direct upgrade. A nice upgrade for his secondary weapon.  There's also two new rooms down here. One is a Serpent's Road entrance. The other...  Edward! ...Interesting room design.  Edward, I know you miss Anna, but I don't think this is what she would want. She would want you to help save the world from Golbez's tyranny...don't you think? She wants me to stay with her and keep her company. If you say so... I'm sorry, Cecil. Best of luck!Well, that's certainly creepy. But it's Edward so who cares, NEXT!  Tellah has gone to the Magnetic Cave, since several NPCs hinted it may have the Tome of All Spells that he wants.  But be careful...you can't fight with metal items in here. Are you prepared? If so, let's proceed! I'm afraid there won't be enough time... Understood. I'll be here if you change your mind. That's quite a few hooks right there, but there's not really much we can do with these until we get the Floater Stone.  So let's do that!   Harm does sick damage to the undead. Otherwise the trek back to Santos is rather uneventful.  Tell me, children, what would you like? I don't suppose you have...a floater stone?    ...I certainly hope that's an actual stone.   I'm going to name it The Queen Brahne.  The barrier protecting Mount Ordeals has been lifted...go if you wish to become a Paladin. The Serpent Road can make travel easier, but it is haunted. Use it at your own risk. Good luck, Cecil! The Lunar Whale is same as it ever was. The important thing is the game has opened up significantly and we can do sidequest stuff now. We can trigger ways to gain new party members now, though first we have to trigger ways to kick out our current party members. We can access the Serpent's Road now, though playing around with it off-the-LP-record I have no idea how it's relevant besides one thing that happens the first time you enter it from Mysidia, since...you can just take an airship to that place.  The one thing I will go ahead and do is make Cecil a Paladin because, hell, why not. Note than in this hack, making Cecil a Paladin is completely optional. You can beat the game as Dark Knight Cecil, and I may show that off after I finish this current run.   This trial is simple with the proper preparation.  It's basically a series of battles against zombie-type enemies. You'll fight a few of these same exact encounters, and the game is nice enough to fully heal you in between.  The trick is they all do nothing but spam Bio. Of course Dark Swords do nothing to them. Silence may be a good option that I never bothered trying.  Instead, I went with Flame Sword for the fire weakness and Aegis Shield for the magic defense. The Aegis in particular halves the damage from Bio and makes things much more manageable.  Cecil can one-shot the Ghouls and Zombies, though the Revenants take two hits. All zombie enemies do the same damage regardless of type with Bio, but the Revenants are much faster than the rest. Still, I opt to take out the Ghouls, then Zombies, then finally the Revenants. Worst case, I may need a Hi-Potion before I finish the battle, but most of the time I can win without healing.  Cecil walks automatically up the mountain during this trial.  Every time there's a text box, it's followed by the same encounter, over and over.  Once you get the prep down, this is pretty simple.  Then, finally, we finish the climb.   Hooray.   Now Cecil starts with Protect instead of Cure.   Otherwise it's the same battle as the original, don't do anything, blah blah blah.     This time we get a proper boss battle before Cecil can become a Paladin. First thing to note is the music, which is actually from the credits section of the ending. It's...actually pretty fitting here!   DarkMist is otherwise pretty simple attack pattern-wise. Just powerful physicals and a decently strong multi-target dark attack.  He's Dark, so the Gladius wrecks him.  However his Magic Defense is sky high and Palom's kinda useless against him. He's kinda stuck throwing items.  Edge rips right through 'em.   Cecil gains fifteen levels because he still starts at L1, picking up Cure and Awake (the "cure battle debuffs" spell). It's alright.  And with that we're dumped back to the summit of Mt. Ordeals with no fanfare.  Unfortunately Cecil's equipment is overwritten, so I lost all that nice Genji gear. Lame. The Legend sword is Holy elemental like all Paladin swords, but it's also pretty outdated. For comparison's sake, it's the same power as the Flame Sword and vastly inferior to the Sleep Sword and Icebrand.  That's fine for now though because Mt. Ordeals still has the same enemies as in the original, which of course are vastly weaker than our current party.  We can loot the items now but there's really nothing of note besides this Sage Staff, which casts Raise as an item and gives a hefty 15-point Will bonus.  Next time...I honestly have no clue. If you have suggestions, I'm open to them! Otherwise, I'll just do whatever. If I miss anything, I may do another run or two from this point on so it's not too big a deal.
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Feb 7, 2018 22:15
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Hitlers Gay Secret posted:Two things: 1) I have a two save states for Dark Knight Cecil before and after the final battle so I can hand those to you if you don't want to replay it completely. 2) Do everything BUT the magnetic cave. Tellah is weak; I'd argue weaker than FuSoYa. I almost scrapped my playthrough because of how worthless he is. Thanks for the offer! I think I'll be good as is, but I'll definitely keep that in mind. McTimmy posted:With the Elder's little spiel it felt more like Chrono Trigger to me. I'm kinda guessing it may be a direct reference to Gaspar's speech before the side quests open up since, well, the same thing's happening here. MagusofStars posted:Is the Rat Tail dude in the underworld still a thing? The Adamant guy? He is, but there's nothing different about that area, and the Rat Tail itself is no longer in the Feymarch, as far as I know.
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Feb 8, 2018 10:12
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I'll have to wait and see since I still haven't gotten around to playing yet (though I'll start on that shortly!) but DK Cecil was really starting to go downhill damage-wise compared to Edge and Kain, though Paladin Cecil isn't much better without an undead weakness to exploit. I guess it comes down to DK's debuffs vs. PAL's white magic and the fact that there are a hell of a lot more enemies weak to holy than darkness. On an unrelated note I posted Part 2 of Breaking Chrono Trigger for those following that.
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Feb 11, 2018 20:25
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 Yeah, this is definitely where the hack gets weird.
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Feb 11, 2018 22:46
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