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From the discussion thread at GameFaqs: "So I've decided not to release the next build just yet. It will be a long while until it becomes a coherent whole, and I don't want to hand over some patchwork mess to you guys. Moreover, there are some glaring issues with balance and difficulty that I need to address -- boss fights, especially. Damage multipliers, stats, everything really. Even drop rates; because I increased them, they interrupt the gameplay too much. The mod needs a top to bottom revision. My suggestion is to forget about this project for the time being. I will leave its current version (0.92) available on ngplus.net, although it's very dated and not representative of future releases. This topic can stay open (if anyone cares to bump it), but I don't really plan to provide updates on what I'm doing. So there will be some radio silence from me in the coming months. I realize I'm going back on my word, but it's all for the best. The longer the wait, the better the final product will be. In the meanwhile, go check the awesome NES mods at romhacking.net. Like Rogue Dawn and Dragoon X Omega II. Great stuff. I'll catch you guys later, then." So this is goodbye for now. Thanks to all who supported the project. I will return with Zenith when it's done, and hopefully it will be worthy of its name. See you all later.

This sounds very cool. It could get more people to play snes mods, especially outsiders who don't really know about romhacking, patching, headers and the like. Personally I'm not involved in snes hacking, but it's a sleek idea nonetheless.

Yes, that's intentional. I changed a few of the combinations, sometimes to enable upgrades, sometimes to disable them. In this case, you'll have to acquire a Griever from an enemy in the field. Barring that, you can also use lateral combinations with other weapon categories to somehow produce a Griever. I did the same thing with the Double Blade; you can no longer forge it with the Balbriggan + Sabre Halberd combination. The reason for these changes was the new power level of those weapons -- considering how early (and easily) you could make them, they obsoleted other weapons before they really should, and threw a wrench in the balance of things. OTOH, I enabled some early upgrades that weren't possible in the original. Examples: Wizard Staff + Clergy Rod = Summoner Baton (previously Wizard Staff) Spear + Glaive = Scorpion (previously Spear) Etc. The next update will include similar changes, such as Guisarme + Large Crescent = Sabre Halberd (previously Guisarme). Even so, I don't intend to rework too much of the combinations; just make things more fun and balanced overall.

Good to hear. There will be a workbuild prior to release, I'll send it your way when the time comes. Thanks to all you guys for the testing and continued support.

A little progress update, and my plans for the mod in the near future: Yesterday I finished rebalancing Guildenstern, so all 1st play content is done. For the New Game+ areas, I had already rebalanced the normal enemies, which means there's only the bosses of Forgotten Pathway, Snowfly Forest East and IMB2 left to do. That brings me to the point I want to address: while the Rebalance mod is nearly complete, its sucessor, Zenith, is still at its infancy. So my intention is, when I finish Rebalance, I'll release Zenith instead. I'll explain. The main fact is the newborn Zenith is already head and shoulders above the latest version of Rebalance. TBH, it makes the latter look a bit ridiculous. What are the differences between the two? The focus of Zenith is on world building, namely the addition of enemies and encounters to all areas, and transforming them over time. Like the old saying goes, you never step in the same river twice. All this I had mentioned already in the original thread at gamefaqs. What I hadn't mentioned is that the mod also includes a new rebalance of spells, two-handed weapons and Break Arts, the removal of the enemies' "thought bubble", and a number of miscellaneous changes I can't possibly list here. It also does away with the noobishness that's still found in Rebalance. Like having Last Crusaders all over the place, or bosses with super-immunities -- typical bad design by someone who was besottted with what he could do, not minding if he should. In short, one of the reasons for moving onto Zenith is the improvement in design quality. But most importantly for me, it's also much more organized internally (in terms of data), which makes a world of difference when modifying it. Valendian's teachings really paid off in this aspect; now I have a much better platform to work with. It's probably the main reason I want to perform this upgrade. Finally, there is the question of timeframe. You might be wondering, why not finish the new mod before releasing it? The truth is, considering the workload required to give one area the "Zenith treatment", it will take approximately 2 years minimum to get even close to completion. That's assuming I can work on it every day. To be fair I'm surprised myself with how high my standards got, and how far I can run with this idea. As for the present state of Zenith, I'll discuss it when it's time to release it. Which means Soon™.

I see a lot of disparate elements - a future world of magic & technology, an all-powerful alien race, an Empire, an Alliance, an epidemic - it's too much, IMO. I'd suggest simplifying your idea to the bare essentials of what you want to convey. "Outcasts finding hope" is a good starting point. But going from there to this cornucopia of stuff that you've added... you'll get lost in your own creation. And not in a good way. To be more specific, I believe the setting is needlessly complex and involved, and doesn't justify itself. Especially for the main idea (hope and healing), which is a simple and universal message. I'll be frank here, it's almost as if you're building a complex world just for the sake of it. What's worse, you run the risk of disappearing up your own arse very very rapidly. When it comes to storytelling, less is more, I say. Considering this is just your 1st chapter, I can only imagine the following ones will complicate matters further. Not to be negative, but this will eventually lead to a point where you're asking yourself what you're doing, and why. So before you proceed with adding more (and more...), you should take a moment and rethink your material. Bottomline, I suggest editing your idea to make it simpler. The core is good (outcasts, hope and despair, etc), so you have that in your favor. No need for byzantine plots and whatnot. The main characters, the main conflict - focus on those. Hope this helps.

Thanks. I have my moments.

Ok, this should work. It also restores the chest that spawns with the Minotaur Zombie, with the (D)Circle Shield inside. https://mega.nz/#!YJkTRaia!XmhUktzMSH9G0MpB6uOrDInmq41sFBaHGndat5o5xOs

He's right, there is a problem. I'll fix it right away.

Glad you're enjoying it. There will be more to come in the future. Could you try this one for me? https://mega.nz/#!BJE0CArB!jKmShKc-s7JScHC_xHyGE-Ux2MNFnTuaUIt8X_HXnHM

I had a feeling something was off with that file. The previous patch was about 7 MB, while 0.92 was only 230KB or so. I remade the 0.92 patch and now it has the appropriate size (7 MB). Do try it before falling back to 0.91. Here's both patches, just in case: VS_0.92: https://mega.nz/#!FBUVRCAZ!Eu11axAb2113G5ZENdLcATw0MYtXTqcF5IBN7GaBMBo VS_0.91: https://mega.nz/#!EZ9lUaRY!8Rn2e3ql4poajKZR4dgQIJDmNL83p81ozl1MU5kR9Uc I really wonder why that room is so problematic. For now I think I'll revert my changes to it and leave it exactly as in the original.

Patch updated (version 0.92). link: https://mega.nz/#!NJ8XxIAK!XO0QEHtryrItrpdaua_Ye_istuzuR0oI8M24OxP-Xl8 A brief summary of the changes from last version: - fixed Minotaur Zombie bug - workaround for Chamber of Fear freeze (needs testing) - Last Crusaders no longer teleport - numerous rebalance tweaks in several areas - Break Arts no longer deal variable damage - IMB2/B3 map is invisible again, like in the original I'm unable to test the Chamber of Fear bug atm, if someone could do it for me I'd be grateful.

Lol, embarassing... I think someone else reported the same problem. I'll look into it. Been kind of busy but I hope to have some free time soon.

This is useful information, thanks to both of you. I'm going to try and recreate the bug on my side, so I can work on it. I have some ideas of what the problem might be.

Personally I use epsxe. Ofc, pcsx also works, but it's too barebones for my tastes. I've been told that the mod is not compatible with the PS Vita, so I assume that's not an option. One user at gamefaqs said Retroarch runs the mod just fine, although I don't know what core he was using. I could try to find out if you're interested.