the_E_y_Es_o_0

Vagrant Story Zenith

156 posts in this topic

The purpose of this mod is to revitalize this old gem of a game.

While not a hardtype mod, the difficulty is somewhat increased due to the removal of the bonus roulette, which was present after boss fights in the original game. As a result, your stats will remain at their initial values - 100 STR, 100 INT, 100 AGL - unless you increase them through consumables such as Elixirs and wines.

This is a long-term project and now the focus is to lay a solid foundation for the mod. The difficulty rebalance will be done in later versions, after players provide feedback on how hard or easy is v1.00, and once I have a definite idea of how I'm going to tackle this aspect.

 

Project Design, Hacking, Programming: the_E_y_Es

Programming, Tool development: Valendian

Additional Programming: Rosto

 

Download version 1.03

Apply the patch on Vagrant Story(U).bin

 

Features include:

Teleportation is free

Analyze spell hitrate is 100%

Heal spell restores 75 HP, ignores armor

2-Handed weapons are stronger

 Break Arts are more powerful

Staff Break Arts now use INT instead of STR

Crossbows get a 10% hitrate bonus to melee

New hitrate for Exorcism/Banish

Manabreaker gem no longer blocks friendly spells

Traps can kill Ashley

Bonus roulette removed

Training dummies removed

Escapeway area removed

New enemies

New enemy attacks

New Polearm grip

And much more.

 

Homepage: vszenith.wordpress.com

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

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Nice one mate, I look forward to checking it out. Always happy to see more hard mode or rebalance projects. Cheers for the effort!

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This actually looks pretty dope, and this is coming from someone who never played the original. I might give this a whirl.

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I was unable to continue with the original game when I found myself always using the same cheap tactics. Felt forced to drop it cause of boredom.
A shame, since I can't stop hearing the game is a master-piece "and I know it is".
Maybe the problem was me, that once I found those cheap tricks, started to use them.

Same happens with FFT/FF8, you can't just ignore them and say "I will do fair play and don't do that", the existence of those exploits is kind of irritating.

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On 15/09/2017 at 3:35 AM, MysticLord said:

Does the auto-healing buff still cancel on damage?

IIRC, it cancels when a spell is cast on Ashley. That hasn't changed. It heals like 5x faster, though.

@SquaresoftThe cheap tactics are being addressed. I agree they were a problem in the original.

Here's the link to the development playlist.

 

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I need to get to downloading this mod. Would it be possible to play through the whole game? Or should I just keep an eye on it until you're done? 

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2 hours ago, velsper said:

I need to get to downloading this mod. Would it be possible to play through the whole game? Or should I just keep an eye on it until you're done? 

Right now it's not playable from start to finish, as some areas are still being worked on. I intend to release v1.0 by the end of January, so I'd say wait for that.

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Nice, This looks fantastic!

One of my favourite games of old, but was a bit too easy. It's great that someone with the know-how is making a mod like this, I'll be waiting patiently for the 1.0 release :D

Thanks for the effort!

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I may be missing something obvious, but where is the download link to this mod? Can't wait for the completed version, this game's one awesome masterpiece.

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6 hours ago, coffee potato said:

I may be missing something obvious, but where is the download link to this mod? Can't wait for the completed version, this game's one awesome masterpiece.

There was a link for the demo, but I can't recommend it at this point. The finished version should be out by the end of January.

 

Yeah, this game is nearly perfect in my eyes. Probably the only one I'd put this much effort into.

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37 minutes ago, the_E_y_Es_o_0 said:

There was a link for the demo, but I can't recommend it at this point. The finished version should be out by the end of January.

 

Yeah, this game is nearly perfect in my eyes. Probably the only one I'd put this much effort into.

Gotcha, I can't wait! These last few months have been like a constant Christmas of mod releases of basically the best of everything ever. 

By the way, do You mind if I do a sort of blind test run series on this? I oten blind test run mods as a hobby, figured it'd be best to ask first. Funnily enough I was looking for an excuse to do a run of this for a while, it's hands down one of my favorites on the PS1. It always seemed funny to me that of all things, VS was what they referenced more than anything in Tactics Ogre, which is what I do tests of most of the time. 

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1 hour ago, coffee potato said:

By the way, do You mind if I do a sort of blind test run series on this? I oten blind test run mods as a hobby, figured it'd be best to ask first. Funnily enough I was looking for an excuse to do a run of this for a while, it's hands down one of my favorites on the PS1. It always seemed funny to me that of all things, VS was what they referenced more than anything in Tactics Ogre, which is what I do tests of most of the time. 

Not at all. If you're familiar with the original game, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the mod. And I appreciate all the feedback I can get. VS has always been a niche title, I'm glad there are people willing to re-experience it after all this time. I do hope you have a grasp of the underlying mechanics, though; otherwise you might find it too difficult. TBH the game never did a really good job of conveying some things to the player (how to deal damage effectively, for instance). In any case, I welcome the interest, so yeah feel free to do your thing if you feel like it.

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14 hours ago, the_E_y_Es_o_0 said:

Not at all. If you're familiar with the original game, you shouldn't have too much trouble with the mod. And I appreciate all the feedback I can get. VS has always been a niche title, I'm glad there are people willing to re-experience it after all this time. I do hope you have a grasp of the underlying mechanics, though; otherwise you might find it too difficult. TBH the game never did a really good job of conveying some things to the player (how to deal damage effectively, for instance). In any case, I welcome the interest, so yeah feel free to do your thing if you feel like it.

That I do, it's something I have gone back to time and time again, and was actually introduced to it originally a few years ago when a pretty well known Dark Souls guy suddenly made a series on it. The decision to buy it came dang near instantly. As for the damage mechanics, they may be a tad out there, but it's incredible to see a game actually go out of it's way to show that these armored soldiers and monster units are actually protected by their respective armors. At any rate, looking forward to it!

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Follow-up question! Would you also like some feedback from a player who goes into the mod knowing nothing about Vagrant Story? Or is this more of a mod for veterans?

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2 hours ago, Regdren said:

Follow-up question! Would you also like some feedback from a player who goes into the mod knowing nothing about Vagrant Story? Or is this more of a mod for veterans?

Sure, that'd be interesting. I didn't think someone's first playthrough would be through my mod, I wonder how that could turn out. One thing is you won't have a basis for comparison, so you won't know what I added from what was already there. Although that's not really an issue since you can always go back and play the original game. More importantly, I hope you enjoy the story and music which are stellar even by today's standards.

You could say the mod is for veterans in the sense that it adresses some long-time issues people had with the game. It's not so much a hardtype mod as it's a rebalance mod. My main goal was to make it more playable and interesting, instead of just harder; I wouldn't want people to drop it because of difficulty. I can't say it will be a walk in the park for you but I suppose I could give you some directions if you're struggling too much. There are only a few basic rules to understand, anyway.

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For those wondering about the release date, I expect to finish the mod in a month's time or so. Rebalancing is a slow process, and if I were to rush it the quality would suffer.

 

If you want to get your hands on the current build, this patch includes what I've done so far:

(link removed)

Apply it with Ppf-o-matic on a clean (US) rom.

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0
Check the OP for the current build

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I've just beaten Duane with this mod. Looks very challenging so far! Love the increased drop rates (currently equipped with hagane guisarme & scorpion) and increased monster power (dragon dealing 250+ damage with tail attack is nuts, not a fan of random status effects tho). The mod is fantastic, keep developing it please!

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On 18/03/2018 at 8:42 AM, kotpeter said:

I've just beaten Duane with this mod. Looks very challenging so far! Love the increased drop rates (currently equipped with hagane guisarme & scorpion) and increased monster power (dragon dealing 250+ damage with tail attack is nuts, not a fan of random status effects tho). The mod is fantastic, keep developing it please!

Glad to hear it! Make sure to experiment with break arts, they're a lot more useful now. The final build should be out soon.

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So, I've just passed Snowfly Forest. The lizards are tough, I'm looking for a reliable way to deal some 20+ damage per hit to them (tried polearm + gem, sword + gem, break-arts for both, no results so far). No hints please, I'll figure it out myself :)

A couple of questions: 

1) Do I have to start a new game once a final build is out?

2) Have you considered rebalancing/revamping offensive chains? Due to heavy shot and life drain presence (for fighters specifically, I know that there're other chains for mages), I think that they lack a bit of variety.

3) How about adding RISK to magic usage? (equal to MP usage for example?) Investing in INT heavily seems a bit OP if you know where to look for certain spells (especially that you gain now single-hit spells in addition to AoE) and have a suitable weapon to chain MP.

Edited by kotpeter

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By the way, I've just encountered a bug: when I defeat the Air dragon (the one after Earth elemental fight), I get teleported to Godhands workshop and cannot move there. Hopefully it gets fixed before release.

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