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Just chiming in to say, that was a great read. As a modder myself I would be delighted to get this kind of praise. I've played the hack and I agree with most of your points, and you've articulated them better than I'd be capable of. Now I actually feel like going back and replaying it! Zombero did a great job here... I've been thinking of getting this on cartridge so I can enjoy it on console; just need to find a suitable script hack to go with it (can't remember if CT: Lavos' Awakening included text edits). Anyway, yeah -- great read, great mod.

I've added a link in the OP for the demo build. It fixes the problems found so far, and adds the following system changes: DYING BODY cancels STR-UP; Ashley cannot cast Herakles on himself. DYING HEAD cancels INT-UP; Ashley cannot cast Enlighten on himself.* DYING LEGS cancels AGL-UP; Ashley cannot cast Invigorate on himself. *'Dying head' means you're also Silenced, so you wouldn't be able to cast spells anyway. But now even an ally (like Sydney) wouldn't be able to cast Enlighten on Ashley in this situation. I wanted to make the "dying" mechanic more relevant, and I think this adds some welcome complexity into the combat system. Edit: Fixed the demo link on the OP.

Fixed it. Thanks for reporting the bugs, it is really useful to me. Also, I'd ask you something if you don't mind: whenever there' a story cutscene let it play out in full, so I can be sure that I didn't break anything else. After the Limestone Quarry area the rebalancing is unfinished, so you might experience some oddities/inconsistencies.

Found the problem, thanks for pointing it out. If you'd like a temporary solution, try skipping the cutscene which plays after defeating the Sky Dragon. That should find you right back in the boss room and you can proceed normally. I'll address your other questions as soon as I'm able.

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.

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.

Personally I wouldn't change the New Game option, I'd rather have a tiny "v.1.5.2" on the bottom-left corner or something. That'd be enough to signal that the mod is working correctly.

I see. That's good to know, thx.

I'll put in the OP.

True. I should make sure to fight the Fiends while they're available, IIRC you can miss out (permanently) on some of them, like the Hellbiker for instance. I think there's a window of opportunity for each Fiend. I'm not sure how that works, though. Ah, I heard about the new and improved Magma Axis. Well I'm sure the new setups are reasonable. Thanks for the heads up.

It comes naturally. Hmm, guess I'll have to do TDE later. Yeah I always leave the buff/debuff to the demons so I figured I'd try something different. I might change my build later tho. But I'm really big on Yosuga so I'm definitely keeping that. They're the coolest bunch in the game. 'Nother chapter in. I need to pay more attention to the magatama movements, so I can learn their skills whenever possible. @zombero Since you revised the magatamas I suppose you also changed the level requirement for their skills, eh? Anyway I could've probably learned Berserk at my last lvl up...

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.

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.

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.

New chapter added. I think I'll do a debuff/physical build, invest in Iyomante, get that Mind's Eye. That ought to increase my chances of survival. I'll also be doing the Yosuga route, since TDE has been done by everyone and their mother. Looking forward to Futomimi fight.