Insane Difficulty: Starting playing a while ago - comments and questions - Insane Difficulty

Memento Ring *does* have other bonuses besides the stats and Rerise, but they're pretty minimal. It protects against a couple things that aren't super-common, but is always nice to have. I mostly treat it like a stat stick for Shadow, since +7 Mag is pretty hefty on him and make his scrolls pretty potent.

Julford, on 01 August 2016 - 02:31 PM, said:

No, it doesn't.

Huh, could've sworn it also protected against instant death/condemned too. Guess that's just Shadow's natural evasion playing into things then, because I always bring him along for Wrexsoul for that reason.

Julford, on 02 August 2016 - 07:55 AM, said:

i think it did that in vanilla.

Quick Google search, yes, Memento Ring did guard against that stuff in vanilla.

Also, Memento Ring is the Safety Ring, which in Super Mario RPG, is found in the Sunken Ship. Wonder how it got there? Or did Strago fish it up 50 years ago or somethin'?

This post has been edited by thzfunnymzn: 02 August 2016 - 07:04 PM

oh my god that mustache. all these years he never changed it!

Does that mean Hidon is Bowser?

As promised, I'd mentioned my thoughts on I had finished this hack and I finally did. Let me start by giving kudos for the insane amount of work it must have took to retool everything and keep every character balanced. Dunno how you managed to salvage the incredibly broken battle system, but somehow you did. New dialogue and more viable strategies make it feel like an much better game and I'll definitely play it again someday.

I'll keep this post a bit short for now, but here are the first of my end-game characters and how I felt about using them throughout the game. Keep in mind that I overleveled somewhat inanely (35 plus 25 EL's) which made things far too easy for my liking: will limit myself a LOT more in the next playthrough



Wasn't particulary creative with Terra, but her stats tend to skew her towards being a mage anyway so why not go full magic? Got the Gem Box (50% MP reduction) equipped plus whatever relic I needed to block relevant statuses, mostly defaulting to a White Cape. I tried using the Apocalyps + Oath Veil for a while, but damage felt lacking and she is just that much more vulnerable in the front row. Terra remained useful throughout the whole game, used her Morph a few times to burn down a few bosses but overall the increase in damage feels too dangerous to use constantly without a Stam build. Mostly spend her EL's in magic and some HP for survivability. With such a variety in magic damage and eventually Ultima, she became my go-to magic damage dealer. High Mblock and Mdef doesn't hurt either, especially late in the game. Dispel had some nifty uses as well to make some bosses more manageable.



Celes was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, she plays like a more balanced Terra throughout the WoB to the point where the two feel interchangeable. Runic had its uses, and Shock is great for clearing randoms in the WoR. Eventually, I tried an Illumina + Oath Veil setup with most EL's invested in Vigor and HP. She's got the Crystal Orb equipped since Terra did fine without it (and already got the MP boost from Circlet) but the melee damage was just lacking. 17-18 MP for a crit is decent, but Holy still only triggers 50% of the time, requires a dedicated headgear equip and places her in the front row. I felt like making her a dedicated mage might have been the better choice, since Cyan / Shadow / Sabin all outperformed her with far less effort.

Then again, she did have strong heals, strong magic and several supports spells at her side so I'm gonna say it evens out pretty nice. Auto-Safe and protection against the three most common elements make her pretty much unkillable.



Went full Stam and MP with Strago. His Magic is good enough to not really need any more investment. With a Life Bell and Safe, pretty much nothing kills him while he can heal consistently with Reflect. Hides give customisable protection against many elements, and whatever doesn't get absorbed Strago either tanks or dodges entirely. Lores being cut down to a few essential ones is a very welcome change. Shield + Zoneseek especially is a great way to start any battle and ensured him a spot in most of my teams. Kinda missed any form of bolt damage, but I suppose that's the trade-off for doing so many other things very well. Raid and Osmore ensure him surviving most battles: his MP in this build is 999 (with equips) but that's FAR more than you reasonable need for any battle. Him being slow a slow old sack is easily remedied with some Haste Shoes early on and spells later.



Shadow was my fourth member for the final boss and he pulled more than just his weight. First impressions weren't that amazing: his low HP pool and defenses meant he spend most early encounters face-down. It's not until the WoR that he shines with a Mirage Vest and endgame weapons. Both his evasions stats comes close to being maxed, and with the Memento Ring and Rogue Cloak his scrolls hits ridiciously hard. They did so too in the WoB, but I never imagined they'd be this good in the WoR. His EL's were spend in Speed (15) up until a certain point, after which it offers little added value so the rest went to Vigor.

Gotta say that what you did to balance Shadow was perfect. Shurikens remains useful throughout the game, scrolls go from being almost OP to amazing (considering they have no mana cost), his spells have him slinging buffs and Rerise and Kazekiri / Mutsunokami slices through randoms like a hot knife through molded butter. Shadow got little variety in his build - just a matter of weighing speed against physical damage - but he consistenly used every spells and item available to him, making him feel like probably the best-developed character in the hack.

I'll do the other characters at a later time, as well as a longer post reflecting on the entire game, dialogue and equipment and whatever else got my notice. Have to say btw that the hacks certainly succeeds in what the readme promises: make FF6 the game it was intended to be.

Might as well do a few more...



Locke starts out great in the WoB. Him dual-wielding makes his melee damage much better than Edgar or Terra early on, even coming close to Sabin at some point. I got him rather late in the WoR so I didn't do too much stealing there, but the WoB steals are a nice way to save some GP (GP felt much more balanced btw, always had to make sensible choices in what to buy first at every new town) and his evasion remained high throughout. Besides that, he doesn't shine too much due to his limited options so I kept him benched most of the time.

WoR is an entirely different story. With the Sage Stone he can be an excellent rezzer / healer despite his low Magic stat. Only having access to fire and no realy way to boost it through EL's makes him far more suited as a melee attacker I think. Valiance manages to hit for 4-5K on every enemy with a build mostly focused on Vigor and HP. Genji equipment can be switched for Force when needed, but he remains sturdy anyway.Valiance feels far too good to use to ever consider Atma / Excalibur / Zantsesuken or giving up a shield, but I haven't tried those weapons too much in my first run. Locke feels very customisable: I'm curious to find out what other roles besides melee damage / healing he can perform well.



Not exactly the paragon of originality, but Cyan can only go two ways anyhow and kicks ass at both. His Bushido seems very appropriate during the time you get them: Mindblow kills every undead in the Phantom Forest will preventing those annoying death counters, Dispatch remains useful in the entire WoB and Empowerer ensure he nevers dies. Sprint Shoes or Wall Ring to compensate for his low Speed and Magic were essential, but he needs little else. Kirin summoning is a decent way to give him some support options, but melee damage is the only reason I'd brought him along in most battles. Eventually went with a Vigor and some HP build: this resulted in Flurry (the level 7 one) doing 2-2.5K hits making him the only character to consistenly hit for the damage cap along with a morphed Terra hitting a weakness. Cyan needs some help from the other party members to compensate for his lower stats, but his damage output is reliable and even his standard fight attack can hit for 4-6K. I've tried a Stam build for a while, but Dragon never got above 3,5K and the backrow bonuses didn't seem that useful to an already strong physical wall. I guess his Quart and Demi spells would be far better with high Stam as well as increasing the hitrate of Cleave, but I'd rather have the high damage output for boss fights.

Gotta say though, Cyan went from garbage in vanilla to being one of my favorites to use, even if he is a bit of a one-trick pony. That's probably how he was intended anyhow, and he is very good at what he does without requiring MP or any specials relics later on. Gave him a Muscle Belt to beef him up and whatever other relics was useful at the time.

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

Apocalypse is best used with a vigor build. +2 vigor bonus outweighs a +1 magic bonus. (Illumina is a different story).

I, too, find Morph only useful for a select few bosses. Others seem to like it with a melee-focused Terra (vigor, and this new Omega Weapon).

If you play stam Terra, don't discount her magic. Terra's high starting magic & mag+ gear means her magic will still wreck face even without investment. stam Terra isn't all about swinging a lightsaber.

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

Locke can only melee, heal, & do fire damage. Nothing else. (I should probably try melee Locke in the WoB one of these days).

Two-handed Excalibur > Valiance, unless you're fighting Asura or Isis. You're right about the other weapons though.

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

vig Celes is infamous for being an inferior mag Celes. Even Illumina is used just as well with a Siren built Celes b/c of the extra speed, unlike Apocalypse on mag Terra. I do notice you've got a Shiva built Celes though. >_>

Hmm...did you try Crusader for your vigor ELs? Each melee strike will be less impressive than with Ramuh, but the extra speed puts Crusader either ahead or on par in the long term. Plus the benefits of having more speed.

The only way to get impressive melee damage with Celes is by two-handing the Excalibur. : /

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

stam Cyan's Dragon lost a good deal of power in 1.7. Dragon used to have a spell power equal to Flare, letting it hit ~5k around endgame. Now it's spell power is more on par with Holy. He's still great for the mid-game, but now he falls apart endgame. Very disappointing.

Stamina does not increase the accuracy of fractional attacks or instant death attacks. Rather, it increases your evasion against them.

What did you think of vig Cyan around the middle of the game? i.e., before getting Bushido 7, but still after the Magitek Factory?

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

Strago's got Bolt Rod for lightning damage. >_>

And Moogle Hide, Dark Hood, & Black Belt for speed. <_<

This post has been edited by thzfunnymzn: 08 August 2016 - 06:51 AM

SharmatOfLove, on 08 August 2016 - 01:16 AM, said:

This is incorrect. Demi and Quartr do fixed damage and Cleave's hitrate is set. Stamina only increases the damage of Dragon/Eclipse.

(EDIT: Ninja'd by Funnyman >.>)

Great reads so far. I quite liked your take on Shadow.

Strago and Shadow will forever be the two units I have the most fun with and nothing will ever change that. It's their world, everyone else just lives in it.

Glad you're enjoying them (and the rest of the game).

Regarding Strago, I did somehow forget about the spellcasting uses of rods for most of the game >.> Gotta agree that his speed can be increased significantly with the right gear, and his base stats + easy way to increase MP would make it doable... but I think I'd rather focus on his Mdef instead.

Gotta say though the the evade rate for HP-based / ID attacks seems pretty high without investing in stam. Demi and Quatr suit Cyan well since his magic is so low anyhow, but otherwise I've ignored his spellcasting almost completely. He was a mainstay in most of my party during the WoB, but his low Mdef makes certain bosses and areas - i.e. the FC - hard to survive. All in all Sabin did trump him in nearly all aspects thouhj.



Moving on to Mog, it's amazing how much more useful Dance becomes once you get the Moogle Charm. Current equipment is somewhat randomly assigned from what was left after gearing up most other characters, but he performed well in the endgame. Most EL's went into Magic/Stam with a bit of HP, this combined with a place in the backrow makes him very durable. I've tried dragooning for a while, but I liked using dance to much to sacrifice his magic for it. I think Surge from the water rondo hit for 5K or more during most randoms, and Float + Quake is a reliable way to deal damage. Don't know exactly what amount is considered enough to prevent stumbling almost completely - read that about 40 should do it - but I think Mog has way more than he really needs right now. X-magic seemed somewhat lacklustre considering his shallow spell pool compared to Strago / Locke and lower MP. Harvester becomes a ridiciously efficient party heal later on, and together with Edgar / Setzer he became one of those guys that simply could not die.



Relm has finally become the badass she was written like in vanilla FF6 and it shows. First of all, Sketch is not only usable but also a neat way to clear many randoms encounter for no MP cost. I can't really recall any specific encounters, but I've seen plenty of meteo / tier 2 or 3 elemental spells being used. Strago's sidequest giving her some sweet new gear is a nice touch as well. Went with Speed and MP mostly as far as EL's are considered. This led to her slinging Flare whenever she could and throwing out a Cure when needed. Having access to non-elemental and piercing magic makes her usable in every party that can use another damage dealer. I think the Magic Brush would be better suited than the Ross (regarding the bonuses they give) but otherwise her unique equipment is really all she needs to do her job wel. I suppose she could use a hide, but Gown + Royal Jacket + Minerva + Blizzard Orb means a party that can throw out Merton every turn without getting damaged. Overall a very focused characters that sacrifices some utility for reliable high damage - shame she isn't avaible during much of the early game.




And then there's the King himself. Edgar dominated the game early on if you bought the Bioblaster and gets easy group-wide damage with his tools when the ability to do so is still scarce - the amount of humans enemies in the WoB plays to his strength very well. The new tools are interesting and made me consider building up his magic for a while. Eventually the slight increase in effectiveness of the the battery / defribilator were not enough to win me over and my party still needed a dragoon anyway, meaning he was busy smacking people with his king's spear later on. Jump did around 5K per hit in randoms in the final dungeon, and even the crossbow was somewhat viable. This setup sacrifices some survivability for damage and speed - equipped with a sword and a Force Shield instead and Edgar becomes a complete wall. The Royal Jacket went to Sabin instead due to his already massive HP pool benefitting more from it, and with Dragon Helm + no shield being needed to really maximize his dragoon setup his equipment choices becomes some limited. I haven't tried to many options in what works well with Edgar, so I'm probably missing something here... Edgar still pulled his weight during both the WoB and WoR, I just haven't used him as much as other characters.

I'll make another update about Gau and Sabin later on, Gau especially felt much easier to use due to so many weak or useless rages being removed, but I need some time to check which ones I thought distinctly useful.

SharmatOfLove, on 10 August 2016 - 02:13 AM, said:

For speed, use Thundergurd & Dark Hood. You won't sacrifice mg.def, and it sounds like you won't need Circlet's extra MP. : )

SharmatOfLove, on 10 August 2016 - 02:13 AM, said:

Thanks for the info.

SharmatOfLove, on 10 August 2016 - 02:13 AM, said:

Was it Forest Suite you used for Harvester, or Wind Song? Also, did you try out Earth Blues? Can't say I've been impressed with how random Suite & Song are, but that's three new players who seem to like them. I've always preferred Earth Blues.

X-Mog is lacklustre. :' ( He'll output great damage, but he needs an MP babysitter (Mana Battery). Unless someone's managed to get Love Sonata to keep up, but I'm doubtful.

Dragoon Mog can output good damage through speed, but Punisher Mog is better until you get the endgame spears (Longinus & Gungnir).

SharmatOfLove, on 10 August 2016 - 02:13 AM, said:

Another lover of spd Relm. : )

Spd Relm is awesome, ain't she? I remember getting ultra-quick Ifrit / Bahamut summons with her. The enemies in Narshe never knew what him them.

SharmatOfLove, on 10 August 2016 - 02:13 AM, said:

I probably should give Dragooning more of a chance. It's slow as molasses, but it does seem to do its job with the right weapon & enough HP. Did you use dragoon all throughout the game, and did you use him on randoms & boss fights? Might as well know for when I try it out.

mag Edgar can be "achieved" by simply giving vig Edgar the right gear. Nirvana Band & Force Shield alone probably work well, but there's also Omega Weapon, Crystal, Dragon Helm, etc. mag Edgar himself seems more for dangerously frail parties, or for strategies that burn through MP at warp speed.

Forest Suite is the only dance that has Harvester, Funnyman

Huh...blast, I've forgotten something about this game. >_< How shameful!! Wind Song does use Sun Bath, doesn't it?

Well, that's two people who like Suite, and one person who likes Song. Interesting.

Had a new post all typed out and ready to go... and then the site connection times out. Will have to take new screenshot and look things up again.

About Gau though, even with the rage list being condensed considerable - probably one of the best changes of the patch - I still found it hard to utilize their potential fully. I'll shamefully admit that I was one of 'those guys' who never went much farther than spamming Stray Cat in vanilla, so I never did get all that used to the mechanics.

When first recruiting Gau, it becomes obvious that his stats have shifted to being a fragile speedster - fitting for a youth going barenaked safe for whatever dead animal he has covering him. As such Gau spend a lot of lying facedown in the dirt, which makes me think that despite the many physical oriented rages he could probably do better as a support or backrow damage dealer (especially after getting to known the information in the unlockme file).

On paper his equipment and relics looks amazing: elemental immunty to two elements through relics, two more through the use of the snow muffler - the speed penalty being neglible due to his EL choices. The club was a sweet addition as well, though it does feel awkard to have his attack soar up all of a sudden. I suppose adding more clubs or other weapons for Gau would be a bit too much effort while not adding much to the game... fits the FF6 'logic' perfectly with spellcasting swords and whatever being far more common than regular clubs.

Offensive rages I've used a lot were Brawler, Dragon and Behemoth early on. Brawler is available immediatly and gives a chance to muddle entire groups AND has fire immunity, Dragon hits like a truck with Hurtmore and Behemoth is great for clearing groups with Meteo.

But like I said, his durability suffers later on and Dragon wastes a lot of turns on bosses with Glare. I feel his support / healing rages with stam investment might be a better choice, but the two I've found had their drawbacks... Defender uses an annoying melee attack, and Flan has storm / cyclonic (?) which adds a certain unpredictability to his healing capacities. I've read that Griffin is pretty good, but I never did encounter it on the Veldt.

I can't really blame anyway but my own ignorance of how to properly use Gau, so I'll definitely invest more time and effort in him in a second playthrough (might be a while, currently hooked on the Lavos' Awakening hack and a Lufia 2 that's actually challenging sounds interesting as wel).

One question btw: do elemental defenses from rages cancel those granted from equipment?

Elemental immunities cancel out weaknesses, not vice versa. So, defenses from Rage + gear can make Gau very good at nulling elemental attacks. Especially useful if you know what elements a boss uses.

More clubs for Gau is possible, & you're not the first to mention the idea. Gau's physical Rages can do incredible endgame damage, but it requires major Fenrir investment, Image support (Smoke Bomb, Refract), the proper gear, and, of course, the Bone Club. Prior to this, I agree with you, Gau's better as a back row mage. His frailty & physical's damage just ain't worth it.

Griffin uses Harvester as its common heal. Nothing else special, but that alone makes it the best healing rage by a good margin. (Some people do like Defender, & Peepers is decent. Griffin just dominates both of them).