Insane Difficulty: Final Fantasy VIII - Requiem v1.2.1 - Insane Difficulty

Final Fantasy VIII - Requiem v1.2.1
http://www.insanedif...y-viii-requiem/

This patch is a difficulty and re-balance modification for the PSX NTSC-U version of Final Fantasy VIII.

Enemy Alterations
Strength, Magic, Speed, and HP have been increased. Bosses have extra status immunities and are immune to gravity attacks. Ability scaling has been altered. Bosses often use more powerful abilities. HP is now the only stat that can be increased by Devouring enemies. Some AI scripts altered.

GFs
Stat bonus abilities (Str Bonus, etc.) have been replaced. Stat increasing abilities (Str+20%, etc.) have been reduced in effect. Forbid Med-RF and Cover have been removed. Doomtrain doesn't inflict Vit0.

Magic
All magic junctions have had their effects reduced. Meltdown no longer inficts Vit0. Aura change to Shield, adds Protect and Shell. Meteor is less powerful. Re-balanced magical damage.

Items
Hero-Trial, Hero, Holy War-Trial, and Holy War add Haste, Regen, Protect, and Shell. Aura Stone changed to Shield Stone. Knight's Code replace with Thief's Code, teaches Mug. Elixers restore 2000 HP to the party. Megalixers restore 4000 HP to the party. X-Potions restore 5000 HP to one character.

Limit Breaks
The End no longer ignores Death immunity, but it has gained Catastophe's damage formula and breaks the damage limit. Wall now adds Invincibility and Aura. Rapture and The End appear more frequently in Slots, while Wall is much less frequent. Lionheart, Punch Rush, Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, and Wishing Star have had their damage multipliers reduced. Meteor Strike is non-gravity damage. Zell's Finishing Moves are more powerful and My Final Heaven can break the damage limit. Fated Circle and Blasting Zone are more powerful. Angelo Cannon and Angelo Strike are more powerful. Angelo Strike can inflict Vit0. Invincible Moon changed to Wishing Moon, a weaker version of Wishing Star. Irvine's Shots have been re-balanced. Hyper Shot can break the damage limit. Degenerator now uses the same status hitrate as spells like Death, Blind, etc.

Enemy Level Alterations
Most story bosses have fixed levels. Most optional bosses still scale. Enemies in Ultimecia's Castle that previously randomly spawned their levels now are set to party level+30. The final bosses are set to level 100. Brothers are changed from max level 75 to fixed level 25. Enemies in Lunatic Pandora scale. Enemies that had fixed levels now have higher fixed levels. Enemies in the Deep Sea Research Facility are set to party level+22. Enemies in the Centra Ruins are set to party level+15.

Magic Damage Multipliers
Fire - 23
Blizzard - 23
Thunder - 23
Aero - 28
Cure - 21
Fira - 36
Blizzara - 36
Thundara - 36
Water - 39
Drain - 39
Cura - 45
Firaga - 62
Blizzaga - 62
Thundaga - 62
Bio - 53
Meltdown - 56
Curaga - 83
Tornado - 76
Quake - 80
Holy - 96
Flare - 96
Meteor - 15
Ultima - 120 (can break the damage limit)
Meteor 2 - 30 (enemy only)
Ultima 2 - 180 (can break the damage limit, enemy only)

Note: May not be compatible with saves from the original game or earlier versions of this patch.

v1.2.1 Changes
altered elixers, megalixers, and x-potions

v1.2.0 Changes
altered magic damage multipliers
removed cover
replaced knights code with thief's code
thief's code teaches mug

v1.1.2 Changes
reduced canister shot's damage multiplier to 45
increased quick shot's damage multiplier to 7

v1.1.1 Changes
reduced armor shot's damage multiplier to 30

v1.1.0 Changes
increased normal shot's damage multiplier to 15
increased scatter shot's damage multiplier to 10
increased dark shot's damage multiplier to 10
increased fire shot's damage multiplier to 25
increased canister shot's damage multiplier to 50
increased quick shot's damage multiplier to 5
hyper shot can break the damage limit

v1.0.6 Changes
my final heaven and the end can break the damage limit
slightly increased wishing moon's damage multiplier
increased the end's damage multiplier

v1.0.5 Changes
altered some text
reduced angelo strike's status hitrate
increased wishing star's damage multiplier
invincible moon changed to wishing moon (a weaker version of wishing star)

v1.0.3 Changes
disc 4 bosses modified
omega weapon, tiamat, red giant, catoblepas, and ultimecia's ai scripts altered
added a ribbon as a reward for defeating the omega weapon
dark flare is non-elemental
fixed some text
increased ultima 2's damage multiplier to 160
increased apocalypse's damage multiplier to 255

v0.9.0 Changes
disc 3 bosses modified
reduced the hitrate of degenerator to 200
minor alteration to doomtrain

v0.8.0 Changes
changed catastrophe to meteor 2
increased blasting zone's damage multiplier
altered edea's ai (2nd fight)
some other minor changes

v0.7.4 Changes
slightly weakened fujin and norg

v0.7.3 Changes
fixed some tutorial text
fixed a problem with the elite soldier
altered norg

v0.7.1 Changes
basic alterations to odin and tonberry king

v0.7.0 Changes
lv5 death changed to all death
angelo cannon and angelo strike's damage multipliers increased
angelo strike can inflict vit0
altered some descriptions
basic alterations to bosses up to and including edea (2nd fight)

v0.6.0 Changes
added spd-j scroll to elnoyle as a rare drop
all regular enemies modified
altered tutorial menu text
percent changed to ultima 2
apocalypse's damage multiplier increased to 160
meteor's damage multiplier increased to 15

v0.4.1 Changes
fixed a problem with the elite soldier using aura
further reduced the damage multiplier of lion heart
restored the original damage multiplier of dolphin blow
meteor strike is now non-gravity
the damage multipliers for zell's finishing moves have been increased
the damage multipliers for fated circle and blasting zone have been increased
reduced the damage multiplier of meteor
created a new version of meteor for use by enemies
altered aura and wall again
fixed some text issues
some other little changes

v0.3.2 Changes
reduced the power of most multi-hit limit breaks

v0.3.1 Changes
switched aura and wall

v0.3.0 Changes
hero/holy war/trail add protect, shell, haste, and regen

v0.2.9 Changes
removed vit0 from doomtrain

v0.2.8 Changes
removed forbid med-rf from doomtrain

v0.2.7 Changes
altered edea's ai, yet again

v0.2.6 Changes
removed stat bonus abilities
reduced the effect of stat % increase abilities
cleaned up descriptions for the end and meltdown

v0.2.5 Changes
altered edea's ai
seifer casts flare

v0.2.4 Changes
altered enemies up to and including edea (disc 1)
removed vit0 from meltdown
the end merged with catastrophe and no longer ignores death immunity

v0.2.3 Changes
altered enemies up to and including the iguions

v0.2.2 Changes
bosses are immune to gravity based attacks

v0.2.1 Changes
altered enemies up to and including brothers

v0.2.0 Changes
altered some more enemies

v0.1.9 Changes
altered some enemies

v0.1.8 Changes
altered enemies up to and including gerogero

v0.1.7 Changes
hp is the only stat that can be increased by using devour

v0.1.6 Changes
altered enemies up to and including diablos

v0.1.5 Changes
reduced the effect of junctioning magic

v0.1.4 Changes
altered level formulas for disc 4 enemies

v0.1.3 Changes
altered level formulas for disc 3 enemies

v0.1.2 Changes
altered level formulas for disc 2 enemies

v0.1.1 Changes
altered level formulas for disc 1 enemies

v0.1.0 Changes
altered enemies up to and including ifrit

I'm excited to see how this progresses. Thanks for putting in the work.

My body is ready.

That's for the PC version right?

No, I switched back to working on the PSX version.

Yeah I saw that, at least that's gonna be easier for me to test.

Well I did everything up to Ifrit, a couple of random battles outside the Fire Cavern and Ifrit himself (with the 10 minutes options). The random battles are good, only really challenging when it's a 3 monsters formation. I ran from the random battles in the Fire Cavern due to the timer.

Ifrit was a good challenge, I died on my first attempt kinda due to bad luck (his scripted first melee 1 shot one of my chars and I got stuck in a ''revive, die'' loop until I ran out of Phoenix Downs). 2nd attempt I beat him with 5 seconds left on the clock with mostly Limit Breaks. I didn't stock on Blizzards beforehand but it's probably the ''safest'' strat (didn't find Shiva worthwhile for the time it took to cast).

this guy are a beast modder

added to games page

http://www.insanedif...index.php/games

do you want this published on front page of site? more people need to see this (so it doesnt stay buried in dev forum)

Sure!

On a side note, I don't think Time's Anguish is up to date games page. On a note even more to the side, I should probably finish testing v1.2 one of these days...

Back on topic, the next patch should be ready by Wednesday evening. It will contain enemy level formula modification for all four discs, reduced effect of junctioning magic, and modified enemies up to (and including) Elvoret and Diablos.

Landon, do you have a list of planned changes you're going to make to the game? If so would you mind posting them/pming them to me? I've played the shit out of this game over the years and would love to give input/feedback.

As far as re-balances…
Reducing the power of junctioning magic.
The only stat that can be increased by Devour is HP.
The only stat that can be increased by item consumption is HP.
Meltdown and Doomtrain don’t inflict Vit0.
The spells Aura and Wall will be switched. Aura, multi-target, accessible only through Selphie’s Limit Break. Wall, single target, available as a junction magic. Aura Stones changed to Wall Stones.
Hero/Holy War/Trial add Protect, Shell, Haste, and Regen. Holy Wars are multi-target. Trials have a 50% hitrate.
Lower damage multipliers for multi-hit Limit Breaks.

LandonRay, on 28 August 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

Any plans for card mod and all its family?

No, you're going to need it.

So you're going to balance monsters around card mod?

awesome

U made my day, LandonRay =) Abyss Worm card turn into 20 tornados, which is kinda imba in early game. These cards are obtainable on disc 1, Balamb garden.

LandonRay, on 28 August 2012 - 11:07 AM, said:

What do you mean by this, exactly? Will you need to mod Quistis's card for triples ASAP? Will you need the Str+60% from Zell? Auto-Haste from Kiros as soon as it's available? It's incredibly difficult to modify the difficulty without touching card mod, because saying "you're going to need it" could mean almost anything.

Also a question/suggestion about Vit0. Removing Vit0 from Doomtrain and Meltdown means that Quistis's bad breath is the only way to cast Vit0 in the game. The removal of Aura makes the chances of Quistis (or anyone) reaching crisis level 4 quite low (as it should have been from the start). The issue I see there, though, is that bosses still being vulnerable to Vit0 can turn difficult boss battles into "reset until I get a successful crisis 4 bad breath." It's not a great strategy, and clearly not a consistent one (I see it similar to spamming Invite in a hard FFT battle and resetting if it doesn't go your way), but the percentages aren't too low (Around a 25% chance by having 10% HP, blind, and a dead character, or ~18% with just blind and 10% HP).
One way to handle this is to just say "if you want to use that strategy, go for it." That's a fine stance to take, since as I said it's a luck-based strategy that would involve some resetting. Another is to make (most) bosses immune to Vit0 and make Degenerator inflict Vit0 instead of instant death. Or maybe someone has a better one.
Edit: I just realized you're not removing Aura, just giving it to Selphie's limit. That complicates things, but depending on which tables you put Aura in, the strategy could instead be "wait for Selphie to cast Aura, then spam bad breath until you get a Vit0" (guaranteed 100% with blind, aura, and under 23% HP, and 67% chance with blind, aura, and 50% HP).
While we're on the topic of Aura, might I suggest a reduction in its status bonus from 200 to 100? It's still very powerful (40% chance of crisis 4 limit with 20% HP and aura at 100 status bonus). If you reduce the aura modifier, I'd suggest putting aura in Selphie's more accessible limit slots (I'm not too familiar with the mechanics of her limit break since I never really used it).
And while on the topic of her limit break, I'd definitely recommend removing The End. IIRC, I once read that Selphie had a spell programmed in her slots but not used in the game that was a powerful version of Ultima. This could be a perfect substitute for The End if it's easy to insert it into the game instead.

Anyway, just something to consider. I'm looking forward to your next version and plan to play through it to try to offer some feedback. Waiting for the stat reductions since I don't think it makes sense to try testing it yet.

Patch updated.

Awesome. Gonna start playing through now.

How much HP does Elvoret has lol (lvl 9)

Sweet! FINALLY! Going to start working on this... Already playing to defeat Sephy and the weapons on Galen's mod and Finishing rounding up the Super Bosses in Darkkefka's SMRPG mod.

LandonRay, on 28 August 2012 - 09:55 AM, said:

How exactly is the stat change handled. Is each magic given a flat number to increase a stat by? (i.e. 1 Fire increases x stat by y amount, Therefore 2 Fire increases x stat by 2y amount?) I've always wanted a mod that encouraged the use of the magic command. Is there a way to make it so 1 to 10 of a spell increases by x, 11 to 20 increases by y, 21 to 30 increases by z, etc? I always figured that would encourage more casting so people weren't all "ZOMG CAN'T CAST ULTIMA WILL RUIN MY STR JUNCTIONS" and whatnot.

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Neat.

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Love all of these.

The thing I also have to question is not changing card mod/card playing at all. I think it would be a very good idea to at least attempt and change what items turn into what, or what items you get from cards(less rare items from cards, or less items that turn into high level magic). You can grind high end items, and eventually high end magic from card playing alone. You say we'll need it but does that mean we'll need all the best magic from the start to even play? Seems like a silly idea. (Although I highly doubt that's what you're implying at all, you know, because you're not an idiot.)

But yeah, I think card playing/card mod/items from cards could use a rehaul. I also vote to nerf the timer on Zell's limit break. By like... a lot.

Also, don't forget to nerf the infinite money exploit in later discs. I think it was something like turning 100 Tents into 25 Mega Potions for some ridiculous profit.

And I'll assume that AP rewards from enemies will be nerfed as well. (No more grinding Fastiticalon-F's and Cactuars for 6/20 AP a pop.)