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Contents Intro Class Overview Game start and the Temple of Fiends Level 1 Magic The Pirates of Pravoka Level 2 Magic Elfland, the Marsh Cave, and Astos's Castle Level 3 & 4 Magic Melmond and the Earth Cave Level 5 Magic Treasure Hunting Level 6 Magic Gurgu Volcano Gaia, the Caravan, and Onrac Level 7 Magic Sea Shrine and Library of the Ancients Lefein, Mirage Tower, and Sky Castle Level 8 Magic Ice Cave Dark Cave Time Tower Holy Shrine Mysterious Castle Temple of Fiends Redux Things are pretty bad in the world right now.  But things might be looking up. After all, it seems that the group of heroes who will restore balance to the world are due to arrive any day now.  But this is not that group. This is a group of fools.  The fools found themselves outside the kingdom of Coneria. They weren't sure how they'd gotten there, but that sort of thing was a trivial detail.   A lovely city, chock full of old men that the four fools did their best to ignore.  The local dancer, on the other hand, caught their interest immediately. As if aware of what fools they were, she imparted on them the most basic of advice, which they took to heart.   They immediately went to the local shops and purchased themselves the finest weapons and armor they could use:   Wooden sticks and cloth shirts.  Unsure what to do, the four fools headed to the castle.  The first guard they met told them that the the queen was looking for the "Light Warriors." "Surely," thought the fools, "that must be us."  The queen received them graciously. Though skeptical of their abilities, she nonetheless told them of her kidnapped son.  Questioning the local guards quickly gave them their destination: a ruined temple to the northwest.  And so they set out to rescue the prince.  Despite a few minor scrapes, they made it to their destination intact, and headed inside.  Seeing a door directly ahead of them, they naturally took the direct route, but were stopped by a mysterious barrier.   Thus they were forced them to take the long way around.  It was here that they met their first true foes: two of the walking dead. Easy prey, they thought.     Unfortunately, they could not have been more wrong.  Thus, the tale of the four fools came to an end. Another group would be needed to save the world. 5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jan 27, 2022 |
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Dec 14, 2021 06:20
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:43 |
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 What the hell is this? Final Fantasy Ultra: Champion Edition is a ROM hack of the original NES release of Final Fantasy, created by Robert August de Meijer. Besides fixing several bugs from the original game, it also attempts to make it more challenging, but in a way that's interesting rather than simply unkind. It also streamlines some of the early fetch quests and adds a substantial amount of new content, including four optional endgame dungeons. While it's not perfect, I think it's a lot of fun! The character choices make party building a much more interesting exercise, as no matter what you choose, you'll have to make sacrifices. Despite the casual tone of the intro, this is going to be a primarily informative LP. I'm going to do a single run of the game using a party chosen by you, the poor goons subjecting yourselves to my writing. (...Unless no one wants to vote on that, I guess, in which case I'll just pick a mix that I think will be interesting.) I won't be facing the two "super bosses" (I'm not obsessive enough to do that much grinding), but otherwise I'll do my best to show off everything the game has to offer and point out where it differs from the original. Of course, since I'm asking you to choose my party, you'll probably need to know what your options are. The game has twelve classes available, and anyone can vote for up to four of them to be included in my party. In the case of ties, I'll pick whichever class(es) compliments the rest.  The Viking is the main physical beat-stick. Although he can't use magic, his high physical strength means he doesn't really need to. The Viking is the only class capable of wielding axes, the strongest weapons in the game, and while he's not super durable, his ability to wear mail armor should keep him alive through most fights.  The Rogue is an interesting class. He's similar to the Viking, in that he has good attack power and reasonable defense, but he wields swords, which aren't as strong as the Viking's axes. Like the Viking, he also cannot cast spells. The Rogue compensates for this with utility: he has a very high Luck stat, which improves his ability to run from fights, as well as the party's chance of getting preemptive strikes if he's the leader. He also has good evasion and high magic resistance, making him surprisingly durable. His ability to avoid fights also lets the player get into high-level areas, grab loot, and get back out alive.  The Monk is pretty similar to his vanilla counterpart. He can't use any weapons or armor, replacing them with natural growth in fighting power and durability. Properly buffed, he can actually deal more damage than the Viking, though he's much less tough. The Monk also has the ability to cast all indirect spells in the game (that is, those that apply buffs and debuffs), though like all characters he can only learn three spells per spell level, and he'll always lag behind dedicated spellcasters.  The Ninja, like the Viking, is a damage dealer, though he goes about it very differently. Where the Viking relies entirely on physical damage, the Ninja is more versatile, able to not only wield swords, but also to cast direct black magic spells (those that deal damage). (But like the Monk, casting is his secondary calling, so he can't complete with other casters.) The Ninja is limited to robes, but compensates by having the highest evasion in the game, making him surprisingly durable.  The cleric is one of the best defensive characters in the game. He's a dedicated caster, able to learn all the indirect white magic in the game, as well as one direct white magic spell at each spell level - he learns CURE spells for healing, but lacks whole-party healing. He wields hammers, which are good against skeletons and zombies but otherwise mediocre, and wears both mail armor and shields for armor, making him one of the better tanks. Coupled with his spellcasting, he's excellent for keeping the party alive through tougher fights.  The Warlock is the primary magical damage dealer. A dedicated spellcaster, he can learn all of the damaging black magic spells in the game, as well as a small selection of debuffs (which help keep his lower level spell slots relevant in the mid- and late game). Though physically weak (he wields staves, the weakest weapon type), he can wear mail armor, which gives him more durability than you'd expect from a mage.  The Sage is the ultimate class in terms of magical versatility. Every last spell in the game is open to him, allowing him to fill whatever gaps the rest of the party has in terms of magical ability, or to act as the primary caster in a physical-heavy party. He also has the highest Intelligence in the game, giving his spells more kick. The Sage pays for this versatility, though: he's physically puny, being limited to staves and robes, and his spellcasting progression is somewhat slower than that of other dedicated spellcasters.  If you read the intro, you know what the Fool can do: jack poo poo. The Fool exists purely for those who want an extra challenge and has absolutely no redeeming qualities. I'm including the class here for completeness, but I won't be using one in this LP since it's just not interesting. You can still vote for the class though, in which case I'll treat it as a wild card and fill the spot with whatever I want.  The Paladin is the game's main tank. Though not impressive offensively (he wields hammers), he's the only class capable of wearing plate armor, and can combine that with a shield for even more defense. He can also cast all the direct white magic spells in the game (albeit with a slow rate of progression), allowing him to heal the party and toss the occasional HOLY spell on undead groups.  The Ranger is the ultimate "jack of all trades" class. His stats are mostly average across the board, and his ability to use swords and mail armor makes him a middling fighter. He can use shields, though, which gives him above-average durability. He can also learn any spell in the game, making him a good backup caster despite his slow advancement in the magical arts. The Ranger is a solid choice for just about any team.  The Wizard is possibly the most interesting class in the game. A dedicated spellcaster, he wears robes for protection, but can hit reasonably hard due to his ability to use swords. His main strength, though, is his spellcasting; the Wizard can learn every indirect black magic spell in the game, as well as single-target direct damage spells. This gives him strong offensive buffs and crippling debuffs in a hack where both of those things are quite powerful.  The Priest is the game's ultimate healer. Though physically weak (limited to staves and robes), he can learn every direct white magic spell in the game, with the MP to cast them plenty. He can also learn a single indirect white magic spell at each spell level, though this mostly gives him condition-removal spells that complement his existing healing abilities. The Priest therefore lacks versatility more than most casters, but given how useful healing is, it's a reasonable trade-off. Our party has been chosen: 
5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Dec 16, 2021 |
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Dec 14, 2021 06:20
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Viking/Cleric/Warlock/Ninja, three tanky slow boys (well, wearing moderately heavy armor anyway) and a Ferrari.
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Dec 14, 2021 06:32
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Viking, Warlock, Ranger and Monk
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Dec 14, 2021 06:41
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ranger, warlock, wizard, sage They're making a band and calling it the blasty boys. Does promotion work in this one or is it like some other hacks I've seen where thr new classes are using up the promoted class slots?
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Dec 14, 2021 07:11
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FoolyCharged posted:Does promotion work in this one or is it like some other hacks I've seen where thr new classes are using up the promoted class slots? The latter. Luckily the hack is balanced around it.
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Dec 14, 2021 07:17
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Paladin/Warlock/Ninja/Priest is my vote.
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Dec 14, 2021 08:28
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Viking, Cleric, Warlock, Ranger is my choice
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Dec 14, 2021 09:18
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I'm voting Viking/Ranger/Warlock/Cleric
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Dec 14, 2021 09:41
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Viking, Ranger, Wizard, Priest: the cool hats party.
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Dec 14, 2021 11:28
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 Rogue, Ranger, Cleric, Viking
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Dec 14, 2021 11:51
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Viking, Ranger, Wizard, Priest Also because of the hats.
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Dec 14, 2021 13:09
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wizard, fool, fool, fool yeah gently caress it there's one class that seems most interesting to me so let's go for it Tulip fucked around with this message at 23:37 on Dec 14, 2021 |
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Dec 14, 2021 14:42
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Tulip posted:wizard, monk, cleric, ranger You're certainly welcome to just vote for one class if it's all you really want to see.
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Dec 14, 2021 15:08
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I'd be up for seeing a Warlock most specifically. I'm down for this LP! I always find anything about the NES Final Fantasies to be a good read, so this has my attention.
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Dec 14, 2021 16:17
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Ninja, Cleric, Warlok, Wizard aka team "who needs physical" I'm interested in both buffs and debuffs being shown, and I'm wondering why the Warlok does NOT have sword (right?) but the Wizard DOES.
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Dec 14, 2021 16:39
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Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 14, 2021 20:25
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Natural 20 posted:
Yeah, can't say no to these real and for real light warriors here.
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Dec 14, 2021 20:44
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I'm voting for the meme pick, Rogue, Ranger, Cleric, Viking.
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Dec 14, 2021 21:48
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Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 14, 2021 22:01
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Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 14, 2021 22:58
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5-Headed Snake God posted:You're certainly welcome to just vote for one class if it's all you really want to see. Y'know what, sure. Edited.
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Dec 14, 2021 23:37
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I can't believe you let Clod die like that  Rogue, Ninja, Warlok, Priest
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Dec 15, 2021 00:25
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I'd like to get this going soon, but it's clear there's enthusiasm for this, so I'll leave another day or so for folks to get their submissions in. Gotta say, I'm kind of blown away by all the input.  Simply Simon posted:I'm interested in both buffs and debuffs being shown, and I'm wondering why the Warlok does NOT have sword (right?) but the Wizard DOES. Besides likely being a balance thing, the hack's author is a self-admitted Lord of the Rings fan, so the Wizard being a sword user likely comes from Gandalf. 5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Dec 15, 2021 |
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Dec 15, 2021 00:32
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It looks to me like the wizard is a deranged glass Canon in all respects and warlock is more going for beefy wizard rather than a hybrid.
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Dec 15, 2021 00:53
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5-Headed Snake God posted:I'd like to get this going soon, but it's clear there's enthusiasm for this, so I'll leave another day or so for folks to get their submissions in. Gotta say, I'm kind of blown away by all the input.
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Dec 15, 2021 02:18
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Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 15, 2021 06:49
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Team Magic: Sage, Ranger, Wizard, and Priest. It's interesting that the game gives you two classes that have access to all spells (presumably up to lv 6 for Ranger), but no classes that have access to all spells of one "sphere", the best you get even on dedicated casters is all of either the direct or indirect spells and some of the other. Unless I missed a class or two like the idiot I have been known to be sometimes, in which case I will most likely change my vote. Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Dec 15, 2021 |
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Dec 15, 2021 07:15
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Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 15, 2021 07:24
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I would like to see the Viking and the Wizard, please
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Dec 15, 2021 07:41
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Interested to see where this goes. Most FF1 balance/class hacks have seemed pretty terrible to me, so I'd love to see a good one Also, we gotta: Natural 20 posted:
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Dec 15, 2021 09:13
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Natural 20 posted:
Cleric, Cleric, Cleric, Cleric?
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Dec 15, 2021 10:01
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Natural 20 posted:
Rogue, Ranger, Cleric, Viking
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Dec 15, 2021 12:38
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Commander Keene posted:It's interesting that the game gives you two classes that have access to all spells (presumably up to lv 6 for Ranger), but no classes that have access to all spells of one "sphere", the best you get even on dedicated casters is all of either the direct or indirect spells and some of the other. Unless I missed a class or two like the idiot I have been known to be sometimes, in which case I will most likely change my vote. You're 100% correct, except about the ranger - he can learn spells all the way up to level 8, though you're not going to get that far without deliberate grinding, since he only gets that access to that tier at around level... 37, I think? But yeah, there was clearly a deliberate effort to avoid generalists in either white or black magic. It's a decision that mostly works, since the existing four casters have set niches and feel distinct despite only having access to 8 different spells. Some of those "exclusive" spells are really good and help define the classes that have them. 5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 14:30 on Dec 15, 2021 |
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Dec 15, 2021 13:20
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Okay, I think I can call this now. Meme party it is. Warlock nearly beat out Rogue, which probably would have made for a slightly stronger party, but this is still pretty solid! It's a very durable party, with four mail users and two shield-bearers, plus the Cleric. The Ranger is probably going to be grabbing group damage and group healing spells, plus whatever good buffs and debuffs the Cleric can't get. I know I advertised the Rogue's talent for soft sequence-breaking to get treasures, but honestly, I probably won't be doing a whole lot of that. There isn't actually much need to do so, and most of the late-game dungeons are gated behind tough boss fights. There is one good chance to show it off though, and I'll do that when the time comes. Expect the first real update within a few days!
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Dec 15, 2021 20:03
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This looks interesting. Hopefully better than the last romhack FF1 game that was tried earlier this year that threw a bunch of classes into the pile and that's honestly all I remember about the game since after character creation it just turned forgettable and was abandoned. Will you at least show the super bosses even if you don't beat them?
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Dec 16, 2021 00:49
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FeyerbrandX posted:This looks interesting. Hopefully better than the last romhack FF1 game that was tried earlier this year that threw a bunch of classes into the pile and that's honestly all I remember about the game since after character creation it just turned forgettable and was abandoned. Well, that's certainly a vote of confidence!  FeyerbrandX posted:Will you at least show the super bosses even if you don't beat them? I won't make any promises since they're both low-chance random encounters, and one of them is just WarMech. I'll see if I can't show off the other one at some point, though.
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Dec 16, 2021 01:14
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Oh its legit vote of confidence, you're at least going into it knowing what it is rather than going in blind beyond "there's 16 jobs and there really isn't that much justification for that, wait this is really dull" At least here's there's going to be a lot more specialization and reasons and balance put into that.
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Dec 16, 2021 03:40
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FeyerbrandX posted:Oh its legit vote of confidence, you're at least going into it knowing what it is rather than going in blind beyond "there's 16 jobs and there really isn't that much justification for that, wait this is really dull" Oh, it was blind? drat, that does make me feel better. I've finished this hack four times now, so I more or less know my way around.
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Dec 16, 2021 04:08
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 01:43 |
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Did I say to expect an update within a few days? I meant tonight!  As in vanilla, the game opens right outside Coneria, and the first priority is to buy some weapons and armor. Gear is inexpensive now, but that will eventually change rather dramatically.   The party's starting weapon and armor setups. Cleric is capable of using shields, but I've held off on buying one for reasons that will become apparent in a bit.  The party menu screen. Everyone currently has identical HP values; those will drift apart as they level up, but not by as much as you'd think. You might also notice that Rogue and Viking have MP despite not being casters. This apparently a quirk of the game engine - I'm guessing it has something to do with class change being removed. Both of them will continue to advance, but as they can't learn any spells, it doesn't do them any good.   The magic shop offerings in Coneria. I'll cover what these spells do in another update, but you can probably guess at most of them. For the moment, I buy CURE for Cleric and both BOLT and CURE for Ranger. BOLT targets all enemies, making it more generally useful than the stronger FIRE.  Each town also has an NPC, usually near the magic shops, who gives a short blurb on what each spell does. My spell info updates will go into a little more detail and have some commentary.             The circle of sages in vanilla was located in Crescent Lake, and existed primarily to give you hints on where to go next. The hack relocates it to Coneria, and each sage has a brief description of one of the classes.   If you read the intro and are wondering why the queen's name changed, it didn't. Coneria has two queens instead of a king and queen. It's a nice nod toward inclusivity.  There's also the kidnapped prince's sister, whose dialogue I believe is unchanged from vanilla apart from the gender of her sibling.  But enough with the royal family, let's do some fighting! Grinding is, for the most part, not really required in UCE, but it's helpful to do some in the early game when the party's resources are limited. The forest around Coneria is mostly populated with imps, as in vanilla, and like in vanilla, they're the bottom of the barrel, with low HP and attack power. They are, however, tougher than in vanilla: at level 1, only Viking can reliably kill them in a single hit.  Speaking of Viking, I wasn't kidding when I said he's got high attack power. This is about four times what Rogue or Ranger can do on a standard hit.  Gray imps are more of the same, while wolves seem to have somewhat higher evasion than in vanilla, making them a nuisance to fight.  At level 2, I rest up at the inn and head to the Temple of Fiends.  The line in the intro about not being able to take the direct path to Garland wasn't a joke, by the way. That... whatever it is is an actual barrier. Note the doors to Garland's left and right. Those are how you have to get to him. But first, loot!  My first encounter in the Temple, which I'm showing off purely due to its similarity to the battle that ended the Fools. I ended this in a couple of hits. It's nice having actual competent classes for party members. In the future, I'll only be showing off encounters with new or interesting foes, or those that ended up being memorable.  In vanilla, this door and the one to the north of it are locked by the Key and contain some unique treasures. Here, the key only opens a few doors, and none of them are here.  And this is why I only bought one shield in Coneria. The bronze shield is an upgrade over the copper shield I bought for Ranger and will improve his defense nicely.  This is going to be our armor loadout for the rest of this update.   The northeast treasure room has a soft potion, which cures petrification (same as vanilla), and a cleanse potion, which cures all ailments except petrification and death and replaces vanilla's pure potions. This is, I think, mostly so the game is balanced for parties that lack magic that can cure those ailments, but even this party will want to have a stockpile eventually.  Bones in vanilla were about as weak as imps. UCE upgrades their damage output significantly.  Cleric's hammers are fairly weak in most cases, but I wasn't kidding about their efficacy against corporeal undead.   The northwest treasure room. Tents function the same as in vanilla, but cure potions restore much more HP: 100 out of battle and around that amount in battle. Unfortunately, at 250 GP apiece, they're also much more expensive. At this point, finding one is really nice.  I decided to fight this fight. It was a riskier play than I realized...  ...because I had already forgotten how hard these fuckers can hit.  This was so, so lucky.  Ranger saves the day. This is a good example of one of the reasons I like this hack. This random battle was really tense! The level up I got afterward was all the sweeter for it.  Eagles are a new enemy. They don't hit too hard or have much HP, but they have sky-high evasion, making them rough for parties reliant on attacks for their offense. There are two ways to counter them: the BIND spell and the BOLT spell. I opted for the latter here:   After grabbing the last treasure from the southwest room (155 GP), I decided to head back to Coneria to rest up before tackling Garland. I also filled out the rest of my level 1 spell slots, buying INVS and WAKE for Cleric and FIRE for Ranger. I was tempted to go with SLEP, which is a bit more useful right now, but FIRE has more long-term usefulness. For those of you interested in seeing debuffs in action, worry not: he'll be grabbing more of those for the next few spell levels.  Garland still says the thing.  Garland doesn't fight much differently than in vanilla, but he is more difficult. He hits pretty hard (as seen here), and he's much more durable. Where vanilla Garland usually goes down in a round or two, this battle took me six rounds.   This part of why I grabbed FIRE. That's the low end of its damage, compared to an average hit for Rogue.  Finally, the party leader crits the black knight to end the battle.  He drops a nice chunk of cash, which will go a long way toward getting my level 2 spells.   The prince's dialogue is the same, and he takes us back to Coneria. Queen Klaizen is accordingly grateful.   So are Sarah and Queen Eva.  The author seems to have forgotten that he changed Jane's name.  I hope you enjoyed this taste of what's to come. This LP is just getting started! 5-Headed Snake God fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Jan 20, 2022 |
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Dec 16, 2021 04:35
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