Nikkolas

So I tried this at least three or four times and it always happened, but if you exit Dollet Tower and go onto the main scree (not the screen with the doors) you will first trigger a random encounter with a solo Galbadia Red soldier/officer, then the next battle will be 2 Geezards and an Anacondaur. This always happens. This is great because it's the best source of AP and EXP at this point. Just to be safe, I always saved, quit the game, reloaded, and then exited the tower again. So it might only happen when you first load up a game but it always worked for me. Finally beat Elvoret with a Level 19 Squall, Level 17 Zell and Selphie. About 3 o4 4 or 5 Limits from Squall were needed, though. I think this is a bit too much grinding this early on. Then again, there is always the other version so I dunno.

Elvoret at Level 22? I doubt I have to grind all the way up to that but it's pretty gnarly. Especially with Storm Breath which wipes out my entire party unless they're at max HP. Squall is Lv 13, Zell Lv 12, and Selphie Lv 10. Don't really have much in the way of Junctions to help right now, either. You don't have to tell me how to win the fight, just curious if some level grindage is mandatory here.

I gotcha. I'll keep taht in mind, then. I usually use Rinoa, anyway. And I played up through Ifrit on Max so I'll restart with Fixed. I also meant to ask if this requries Triple Tirad grinding? I dunno if you ever played the old Requiem mod but it sure as fuck required A LOT of TT grinding and immediately. So far things seem much more reasonable in your mod.

I did try it with 7.0 but still got the same error. I checked the file and Read Only isn't checked. If all it changes is Rinoa's Angel Wing, though, and she doesn't get that till end of Disk 3, could I start the mod while this is all being figured out? And hey no rush. Thanks for the reply and help and all the effort you put into this. EDIT: Also which would you say is more of a challenge, Fixed or Max Level version?

So I finally saw he instructions in the OP...but now I'm getting this error mesage when I try to follow them: The Main Patch says it was applied successfully but I've tried this multiple times and it always happens.

So I'd like to try this but I have no idea how to apply the patch. The mod comes with Xdelta patch and nothing else. I dunno what to "patch" the patch onto... I'm sorry for being clueless about this kinda thing.

Well the final boss being hard is not a problem at all. I welcome that. But yeah I think he just straight inflated HP on everybody, including the dumb Defender robots. God those fights are boring, especially the two of them in Omega Ruins. Still, I did try that Sin Unleashed mod for Steam FFX. All that guy did was add HP to every enemy, something like 60% more HP. That wasn't a challenge at all and actually gave me some appreciation for LR reworking the Sphere Grid in addition to increasing enemy stats. I guess I never asked, did you like the mod? You played through multiple versions right?

Fucking awesome. It even has the older version of International which I think must mean it was before he buffed the Keepers to insane levels. That was what I really wanted to be honest. But I got both! Thank you so much. I think I might actually try to finish FFX this time. I'll be frank, I gave up last time out of boredom. I'm weird, I always have the most fun before these games open up and it's grind time, ya know? My favorite parts of replaying FFVII are never everything before you get the Highwind, at least mostly. Thank you again now and for your helpful advice all those months ago.

Sorry for the necro and I probably should have asked this before. Does anybody here have the older version of Punishment? v1.7 seems so much more reasonable and it's what I'd probably like to use in any future replays.

I'm so jaded these days, I can't play older JRPGs without hacks or mods if they are available . I literally haven't played vanilla FFVII since, I dunno, 2009 or before. Often the systems are really good - looking at you FFX - but it's so easy and I can't stand self-imposed challenges like low-level runs. I want the game to force me to use all tools at my disposal, not for me to neuter myself by restricting things. Part of the joy of RPGs is watching the numbers go up. Anyway, at this time, I have played: FFIV The Darkness Within, FFVI: Brave New World, FFVI: Return of the Dark Sorcerer, FFVII: Lost Wing (this was my first ever FFVII game mod. Good times), FFVII New Threat, FFVII Hardcore, FFVII HardType, FFVIII Requiem, first disk of FFVII Ragnarok Rebalance, FFIX Unleashed, FFIX Alternate Fantasy, FFX Punishment , FFX Sin Unleashed up to Mii'hen Highroad, Xenogears HardType. I'd have to say VII New Threat is the best by a clear margin just due to the incredible number of changes done to it. And they're great changes, too. It really reinvents and spices up the gameplay. I'm not sure after that though. That's why I made this thread, to hopefully get the opinions of posters here. What are your favorites and why? I really need to get around to playing Xenosaga HardType.

Good luck, friend. Xenogears is a great game and the mod...well, it definitely makes it more challenging. Maybe too challenging at points for me but I hope you have fun.

This is awesome news! I gotta actually finish the game this time. lol I got so close last time but I think I got stuck at the top of the Cult...er, Reptile Tower and I could not beat the boss. I can't even remember why now but I couldn't win and I couldn't see a way out. I don't think you can Teleport or Warp out of there? It's been a while. Either way that was o my old PC which died so I need to start a new game anyhow. Here's hoping this new run goes better and I can beat the whole thing. Also kinda hoping that the Esper restriction patch might work. Or I might have to put that challenge upon myself. I was curious if you could beat the game without giving everyone Cure spells or the like but apparently you can so I need to do that.

I do agree Necron was a nightmare. I only beat him with luck and I certainly could never beat Ozma. And Zidane is kinda useless until he gets his Trance skills because without the stat bonuses from weapons magic is the only efficient way o do damage. It's just, after having played several LR mods at this point, it seemed to me like he put in the most effort into Unleashed. I'm still gonna try his Xenosaga mods because I love Xenosaga and finally have a halfway decent PC that can emulate PS2 and beyond.

Really? You would say it's better than FFIX Unleashed? To me, he clearly peaked with Unleashed. There he made significant changes to gameplay, altering Freya's, Steiner's, Amarant's and Quina's skills. He also gave the bosses lots of new moves and stuff. He didn't just make enemy numbers go up and your numbers go down. I still consider it by far his best mod, especially when combined with No AP. I beat normal Unleashed years ago and I got to the end of Disk 1 of Unleashed/No AP with no problem and quite enjoyed myself. Although I still have to say Alternate Fantasy is the best FFIX mod at present, IMO. Yeah that was my thinking. Steam has an Autumn sale apparently that kicks off around Black Friday so I'll just wait a week and hopefully get FFX and even X-2 for like $15 or something. Thanks for all your help through this thread. I really appreciate it. If I didn't have this other mod to test out I would probably finish Punishment. But I just don't want to totally burn myself out, ya know? I might still finish it, we'll see.

Also there is an FFX PC gameplay mod somebody elsewhere just told me about: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1413607626 I am very interested in this but I don't have the PC version right now. Maybe next month. But incase anyone else is interested. In fact I might put my playthrough of Punishment on indefinite hold. I just don't know if I have teh patience for LR's mod anymore. Running around the Omega Ruins casting Demi a billion times is giving me hardcore FFVIII Requiem flashbacks. There, Triple-casting Demi was the only way to beat the hyper inflated HP of certain enemies like Chimeras. Here I have to do much the same, just cast Demi over and over and over and over and over and spend five minutes on each fight. If there is another mod for FFX, I wanna give it a shot. It helps that the description of teh mod sounds very exciting. It isn't just raising their numbers and lowering your numbers. It changes up gameplay a lot it seems.