Insane Difficulty: Final Fantasy IV: The Darkness Within Alpha/Beta Development Topic - Insane Difficulty

Characters & Stats
------------------

-Many characters have had their stats and levels adjusted to account for the point where they join the story.

-Some characters join at pre-set levels (mostly the early characters). Later characters will join around the average level of your party.

-Spell lists and learned spell levels have been adjusted for most characters.

Spells & Abilities
------------------

-Several spells have had their power/accuracy/cast time adjusted in an effort to make all spells serve a purpose.

-Sylph (Summon) has been removed from the game as a bug present in vanilla causes this spell to cast at no MP cost. Becuase of this, Asura has been made available earlier and had its MP cost and power adjusted.

-Chocobo (Summon) spell power has been increased significantly and changed to deal Air damage.

-Virus (Black) is now Dark element in order to give the party a way to deal magical Dark damage.

-The Warp (Black) spell has been removed from the game as it was largely redundant to the Exit (White) spell.

-The Sight (White) spell has been removed from the game.

-Waken (White) has been added. This spell removes Sleep and Stun.

-Bless (White) has been added. This spell removes Curse.

-The Exit (White) spell has been disabled in a number of locations to prevent sequence-breaking teleports.

-The Ninja spell Pin has been removed.

-Ninja magic has gained a spell called "Bandg" (Bandage). It provides a small heal to one character.

-A number of enemy-only abilities have been adjusted to provide for more engaging fights.

-Several new abilities have been changed/added/re-introduced to the game:

• Dark Wave: Everyone's favorite Dark Knight ability is back. Provides group damage at the expense of HP.
  
• Pray: Chance to cast a wide-variety of White Magic spells on the entire party. 20% chance to fail. Spells DO consume MP!
  
  • 5% chance of: Arise, Blink
    
  • 10% chance of: Esuna
    
  • 15% chance of: Cure4, Haste, Raise, Wall
  
  
• Sing: Revamped to affect all enemies and removed chance for failure.
  
  • Equal chance for: Stop, Mute, Charm, Sleep
  
  
• Hide: Has changed characters.
  
• Train: A small chance (10%) to cast a VERY powerful spell at no MP cost...
  
• Focus: Charge up an attack for double damage. Bypasses "Fight" counter-attacks.
  
• Drink: Self-cast Berserk+Blind.
  
• Luck: Self-cast increase to critical hit rate by 5. Stackable.
  
• Flirt: Reduces one enemy's chance to hit by half of the user's modified Vitality stat. Stackable.
  
• Aria: Sets group regen at 50 HP per tick. Locks the user in place until complete/incapacitated.
  
• Sneak: Removed from the game.
  
• Dart: Changed to Throw.

Equipment
---------

-Equipment you find in new shops is *almost* always a direct upgrade in the same weapon/armor class.

-A lot of gear has had its properties and stats changed. Please refer to the included Weapon/Armor chart (may contain light spoilers).

-Negative stats on equipment have been almost entirely removed.

-Evasion has been removed from most armor. Shields, light bodywear, and medium bodywear are now the only sources.

-Racial, elemental, and status bonuses are now much more rare on armor. They are much more prevalent on weapons.

-Several characters are capable of equipping different weapon types. These weapon types offer differing styles of gameplay intended to allow the player to hybridize certain characters. Different weapons grant different stat bonuses. Most rings are equippable by both light and medium armor users. Gloves are now heavy-only.

-Spells cast by items are now mostly restricted to rods and staves. The power of these spells is lower than their casted counterpart, but they cost no MP.

Items & Status Ailments
-----------------------

-Individual status curing items have returned. Curative items have their corresponding status ailment icon in their item name to aid the player in identifying which curative item to use.

• Soft: Cures Petrify
  
• Mallet: Cures Mini
  
• Echo Screen: Cures Mute
  
• Antidote: Cures Poison
  
• Maiden's Kiss: Cures Toad
  
• Diet Pill: Cures Piggy
  
• Eye Drop: Cures Blind
  
• Remedy: Cures All

-Remedies (formerly Heal) are still in the game, but are much more rare and expensive.

-Cure3 items have been made more common and are now purchasable at certain shops.

-Fat Chocobos no longer require an item to summon. They can be found in most small chocobo forests as well as a few other places.

Enemies
-------

-Almost every enemy in the game has had their stats adjusted. Enemies as a whole have more HP and hit harder than they did in vanilla. DS/mobile HP levels were used for most enemies. It generally takes one round of attacks or hitting a weakness to kill an enemy.

-Many enemies now inflict status effects along with their regular attacks. Enemy type often determines what kind of ailment you can expect. (Lizards inflict Calcify/Petrify, etc.)

-Many enemies have had their race, resistance, and weakness tables adjusted to make more sense.

-Very Weak to an Element has been removed from every enemy (this was a 4x bonus). Weaknesses hit for 2x, resistances for roughly 1/2. Racial bonuses have been lowered from 4x to 3x and are much less common than elemental resistances/weaknesses.

-AI of monsters has been altered so not every enemy spams Fight until they die.

-Monster formations have been changed in several places so that there's not as much repeating of old enemies.

-Enemies no longer drop equipment. Most enemies drop consumables at a reasonable rate.

-Several bosses have new tricks up their sleeves...

Dialogue & Naming
-----------------

-Spells, abilities, monsters, and items have had their names changed either to align more closely with what they are or to more closely resemble their names in newer versions of the game. Some liberties were taken as the game imposes strict character limits, but you should see less abbreviations overall.

-Nearly every dialogue box in the game was edited or completely altered. Proper English is now used in most cases, and the characters should display more personality with their new dialogue.

-Townspeople often give hints on where to go or what to expect next.

-The Training Room has been rewritten to provide a good overview of basic game functions as the original text was pretty vague or hard to understand.

Map & Events
------------

-Events occur in a different order from the original game almost right from the start!

-Maps were edited in several places to account for dungeon pathing.

-Some NPCs were removed from certain areas in order to be re-used elsewhere or to prevent strange occurances.

-Map headers (the thing at the top of the screen when you enter an area) have been spruced up a bit to make some areas sound less bland.

-A number of sidequests have been added at roughly the 2/3 point of the game which provide a break from the action as well as VERY lucrative rewards.

3. Gameplay Changes
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-First, and foremost, you would be well-served to speak with everyone in the Training Room in the first town you
explore. You will be told the location of it during the story.

Characters & Stats
------------------

-Many characters have had their stats and levels adjusted to account for the point where they join the story.

-Some characters join at pre-set levels (mostly the early characters). Later characters will join around the
average level of your party.

-Potential for stat-downs at levels >70 have been removed. Level ups >70 are still randomized, but will always be
in the positive direction.

-Spell lists and learned spell levels have been adjusted for most characters.

Spells & Abilities
------------------

-Several spells have had their power/accuracy/cast time adjusted in an effort to make all spells serve a purpose.

-Sylph (Summon) has been removed from the game as a bug present in vanilla causes this spell to cast at no MP cost.
Becuase of this, Asura has been made available earlier and had its MP cost and power adjusted.

-Chocobo (Summon) spell power has been increased significantly and changed to deal Air damage.

-Virus (Black) is now Dark element in order to give the party a way to deal magical Dark damage.

-The Warp (Black) spell has been removed from the game as it was largely redundant to the Exit (White) spell.

-The Sight (White) spell has been removed from the game.

-Waken (White) has been added. This spell removes Sleep and Stun (Combat only spell).

-Bless (White) has been added. This spell removes Curse (Combat only spell).

-The Exit (White) spell has been disabled in a number of locations to prevent sequence-breaking teleports.

-The Ninja spell Pin has been removed.

-Ninja magic has gained a spell called "Bandg" (Bandage). It provides a small emergency heal to one character.

-A number of enemy-only abilities have been adjusted to provide for more engaging fights.

-Several new abilities have been changed/added/re-introduced to the game:

• Dark Wave: Everyone's favorite Dark Knight ability is back. Provides group damage at the expense of HP.
  
• Pray: Chance to cast a wide-variety of White Magic spells on the entire party. 20% chance to fail. Spells DO consume MP!
  
  • -5% chance of: Arise, Blink
    
  • -10% chance of: Esuna
    
  • -15% chance of: Cure4, Haste, Raise, Wall
  
  
• Sing: Revamped to affect all enemies and removed chance for failure.
  
  • -Equal chance for: Stop, Mute, Charm, Sleep
  
  
• Hide: Has changed characters.
  
• Train: A small chance (10%) to cast a VERY powerful spell at no MP cost...
  
• Focus: Charge up an attack for double damage. Bypasses "Fight" counter-attacks.
  
• Drink: Self-cast Berserk+Blind.
  
• Luck: Self-cast increase to critical hit rate by 5. Stackable.
  
• Flirt: Reduces one enemy's chance to hit by half of the user's modified Vitality stat. Stackable.
  
• Aria: Sets group regen at 50 HP per tick. Locks the user in place until complete/incapacitated.
  
• Sneak: Removed from the game.
  
• Dart: Changed to Throw.

Equipment
---------

-Equipment you find in new shops is *almost* always a direct upgrade in the same weapon/armor class.

-A lot of gear has had its properties and stats changed. Please refer to the included Weapon/Armor chart (may
contain light spoilers).

-Negative stats on equipment have been almost entirely removed.

-Evasion has been removed from most armor. Shields, light bodywear, and medium bodywear are now the only sources.

-Racial, elemental, and status bonuses are now much more rare on armor. They are much more prevalent on weapons.

-Several characters are capable of equipping different weapon types. These weapon types offer differing styles of
gameplay intended to allow the player to hybridize certain characters. Different weapons grant different
stat bonuses.
*Most rings are equippable by both light and medium armor users. Gloves are now heavy-only.

-Spells cast by items are now mostly restricted to rods and staves. The power of these spells is lower than their
casted counterpart, but they cost no MP.

Items & Status Ailments
-----------------------

-Individual status curing items have returned. Curative items have their corresponding status ailment icon in
their item name to aid the player in identifying which curative item to use.

• Soft: Cures Petrify
  
• Mallet: Cures Mini
  
• EchoScrn: Cures Mute
  
• Antidote: Cures Poison
  
• MaidKiss: Cures Toad
  
• DietPill: Cures Piggy
  
• EyeDrop: Cures Blind
  
• Remedy: Cures All

-Remedies (formerly Heal) are still in the game, but are much more rare and expensive.

-Cure3 items have been made more common and are now purchasable at certain shops.

-Fat Chocobos no longer require an item to summon. They can be found in most small chocobo forests as well as a
few other places.

Enemies
-------

-Almost every enemy in the game has had their stats adjusted. Enemies as a whole have more HP and hit harder than
they did in vanilla. DS/mobile HP levels were used for most enemies. It generally takes one round of
attacks or hitting a weakness to kill an enemy.

-Many enemies now inflict status effects along with their regular attacks. Enemy type often determines what kind
of ailment you can expect. (Lizards inflict Calcify/Petrify, etc.)

-Many enemies have had their race, resistance, and weakness tables adjusted to make more sense.

-Very Weak to an Element has been removed from every enemy (this was a 4x bonus). Weaknesses hit for 2x,
resistances for roughly 1/2. Racial bonuses have been lowered from 4x to 3x and are much less
common than elemental resistances/weaknesses.

-AI of monsters has been altered so not every enemy spams Fight until they die.

-Monster formations have been changed in several places so that there's not as much repeating of old enemies.

-Enemies no longer drop equipment. Most enemies drop consumables at a reasonable rate.

-Several bosses have new tricks up their sleeves...

Dialogue & Naming
-----------------

-Spells, abilities, monsters, and items have had their names changed either to align more closely with what they
are or to more closely resemble their names in newer versions of the game. Some liberties were taken as
the game imposes strict character limits, but you should see less abbreviations overall.

-Nearly every dialogue box in the game was edited or completely altered. Proper English is now used in most cases,
and the characters should display more personality with their new dialogue.

-Townspeople often give hints on where to go or what to expect next.

-The Training Room has been rewritten to provide a good overview of basic game functions as the original text
was pretty vague or hard to understand.

Map & Events
------------

-Events occur in a different order from the original game almost right from the start!

-Maps were edited in several places to account for dungeon pathing.

-Damage floor tiles have been changed from -50HP per step to -10HP per step.

-Some NPCs were removed from certain areas in order to be re-used elsewhere or to prevent strange occurances.

-Map headers (the thing at the top of the screen when you enter an area) have been spruced up a bit to make
some areas sound less bland.

-A number of sidequests have been added at roughly the 2/3 point of the game which provide a break from the
action as well as VERY lucrative rewards.