the_E_y_Es_o_0

Version 1.03 is available on the front page. Because of time constraints, I will no longer update this topic. Those who are interested in Zenith can follow the thread at gamefaqs and/or visit the project's site. Thank you all for your continued support!

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

v1.02 is now available on the 1st page. Changes are: Fixed a door exit at Hallowed Hope, Sanctum. Fixed cutscene problems at Limestone Quarry and Great Cathedral. Lich, Lich Lord and Death enemies are less powerful. 2-Handed Break Arts have been rebalanced. Break Arts kill requirements have been reduced.

Hello, sorry for the late reply. If you're playing the mod, do tell me what you think of the difficulty, especially in later areas. With the roulette removed, the gap between Ashley's stats and the enemies becomes quite considerable as you progress. In the next update I will nerf Guildenstern's 2nd form, as it's just too powerful for a base stats playthrough. Also, if you experience any problems with cutscenes, tell me where it happened and what emulator you are using. Thanks!

I guess you just got lucky, because he is still able to heal himself. Since you reached Rosencrantz, I assume you got through Snowfly Forest - did you have any issues with the Grissom boss fight? Some people have reported problems with the cutscenes there. Interesting. I will look into that. Yes, I reverted the combination tables. In the case of Spear + Glaive = Scorpion, I might put that back into the next version, along with Wizard Staff + Clergy Rod = Summoner Baton. Sure. I'm still writing the changelog but it will be available soon. Not right now, but it is a possibility in the future. This is a common request so I will try to implement something. Thanks for playing!

v1.01 is live. This one should be bug-free.

Not that one, no. On the topic of Prostasia, if a Crusader is equipped with an accessory, casting Prostasia will boost the accessory's stats. In that case it might reduce the damage dealt to him. IIRC the Last Crusader boss at Temple of Kiltia is an example of this. The next patch - v1.01 - will fix the Grissom bug and the enemy Encyclopaedia, which is broken atm. v1.02 will focus on bosses rebalancing. Edit: Now that I think about it, if we put armor on his armor he can protect his protection. Which is good.

Yes, he has no armor equipped. It makes sense, if you think about it. Like the Dullahan, he's an animated suit of armor, so wearing armor on his armor... well. Unless you do like Xzibit and go "Yo dawg, we put an armor in your armor...", etcetera.

I've had several reports of that same bug -- it's probably being caused by Grissom's character model. I gave him a different weapon, a Summoner Baton, instead of his original Wizard Staff. Even though it runs fine on my end, at least 3 other people had the game freeze in this boss fight, sometimes before the cutscene, sometimes after it. I'll put a patch out as soon as I can. If it's not too much to ask, can you keep a save file of your game in this area? In the "Forest River" savepoint, before the boss fight. That way you could perhaps test it again when the patch is available.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll be sure to tweak the bosses in the coming updates. Seems that the issues are mainly the high cooldown and weak offense (physical especially). Glad you didn't experience any bugs or crashes.

So you got through Snowfly Forest without problems?

No need, just play it however you prefer.

I see. The Dragon breath was already powerful in the original and now with a low-stats Ashley it must be near-fatal, even with a shield. For the record, are you increasing your stats with Elixirs or are you keeping your base stats of 100 STR/100 INT/100 AGL? Just so I know. Yes, I agree. The cooldown is something that can be easily reduced, although some enemies will always be slower than others. This will definitely be tweaked in the following updates. Glad to hear it. Thanks for the feedback, this is the kind of stuff that will be useful for me later on.

From the OP: "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." Right now, I'm interested in how the removal of the bonus roulette will affect the difficulty, as well as the new mechanic of "if your HP reaches 0, you die" instead of healing yourself back to life with Defense chains. If the early game is still easy, that will be adjusted later. Do tell me how hard or easy the rest of the game feels, because that info will be taken into account when I begin the difficulty rebalance.

I don't think it would break anything, TBH. I've had reports of the Russian translation being compatible with the now defunct Rebalance mod. So it's worth a try.

Zenith v1.00 will be released in the next few days. If someone would like to help by playtesting it, drop me a message and I'll provide the link. Edit: version 1.00 is ready. Check the opening post for the download link.

@hitakoh@gmail.com To be clear, the version you're playing is the old Rebalance Mod, not Zenith. Zenith can't be found online yet. As you've noticed, some of the boss fights are all but broken. That's one of the reasons I removed the download link. Rebalance was merely my first attempt at hacking the game and I don't recommend playing it. When Zenith is ready later this year I'll make it available in this topic.

I'm not sure. The clean rom was working fine, but everytime I patched it with the tech demo - or the retranslation - it broke and wouldn't run. Then I found a pre-patched retranslation rom (v1.2b) and applied the tech demo on it. Then it worked fine.

I'm trying to play your tech demo, but the patched rom doesn't boot. I'm using Breath of Fire II (U).smc Edit: Nevermind, got it. Timed hits and item priority are working.

New site: https://vszenith.wordpress.com/

Yeah, the Minotaur is too powerful in the current version. Bosses in general. The next update will fix that problem. Also, the changes made to blade combinations will be unmade. Like this one: Might as well post the last video update: Release date: probably early next year.

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.