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Sounds like I didn't rebalance their stats. There's still work to be done in IMB2/B3, and other NG+ dungeons like Forgotten Pathway, etc. I was thinking of restoring one dummy in particular, the affinities one. I'd place it inside of Godhands, but I'm still undecided if I should do it. Like you said, their absence adds another level of challenge. TBH I don't know how I feel about "ultimate weapons" anymore, and whether I should facilitate their creation or not. Right now, if you want any increase to your weapons' classes or affinities you must get it from actual enemies out in the field. I like that notion. Good to hear. I'm starting to think there is a % drop chance that is ideal, or at least a range that tends to work best. Noted. I guess I should weight the pros and cons in each situation. The whole Last Crusader teleporting was made for that Temple of Kiltia boss fight; later I applied it to other Crusaders. So it makes sense that you liked that one in particular.

Just a quick reply to this, as I'm very keen on getting those locked rooms working correctly. From what you're telling me, I don't think they are. Here's a run-down of what you should find in each of those rooms, after you clear IMB2/B3 for the 1st time: Ordeal by Fire: https://imgur.com/0CLE5JH Pressing: https://imgur.com/xQs0ED8 The Saw: https://imgur.com/3TPYkan The Shin-Vice: https://imgur.com/J7rDtJk If you're getting different mobs, then something's up. So yeah, if you can take notes of what you find in each of those 4 rooms, I'd appreciate it. And also any other triple encounters you find in IMB2. The one outside of Godhands is intentional, so no worries there. Edit: found the problem. The bosses are respawning every time you enter those rooms. What a mess. I'll put up a fix asap. Edit2: that should do it. Link updated in the OP. Current build is v0.91. Apply the patch to a clean rom. @blackcat777To clarify, after applying the patch you'll probably have to fight those big enemies one more time, in their respective locked rooms. That'll set the flag that makes them stop respawning. You'll notice that they drop sigils, now. Those are for opening the Time Trials in the Keep. Don't use them, as the TTs are currently out of service. You'd probably get stuck in an empty room, or some other weird situation.

Oops, double post.

The one in the OP is the latest version; I'll add a version number to it to avoid confusion. Edit: done. The current version is VS_0.9.ppf. Link updated in the OP.

Some post-game spawns replace old ones, yes. The IMB2 post game encounters (the locked room battles) should spawn after defeating Asura, but I don't remember having three enemies in a single room, unless you mean three Shriekers. If you mean anything other than those, I have to fix it. BTW, did you ever happen to find regular enemies appearing alongside any of the bosses in IMB2? The bosses should be by themselves (ofc), but I've had this bug in the past and I'm wondering if it's still there. Rebalancing Asura was pretty simple, actually. Once I gave her Marlene's Ring (in the original only her Time Trial version had it equipped), her stats were at the level I wanted. After that I just tweaked her spells, special attacks, turn speed, etc. Good to know she's still beatable. I was afraid her healing move would complicate things too much. Hmm, I think you're misremembering, the Death enemies outside of Godhands used to drop Elixir of Queens/Mages in vanilla. I just kept the same drops. If you can check it for me -- is it a (D)Plate Mail or (D)Brigandine outside of Godhands? If it's a Brigandine and you were still able to forge a (D)Dread Armor with relative ease, then I'll need to reduce this drop or change it to something else. This is something I'm definitely interest in -- I wouldn't want the loot in IMB2/B3 to be too much, too easy. Have you encountered the Blood Lizards in IMB3? I might have to nerf their equipment. Noted. I'll add it on the next update. Those are mine. I added them to make leather equipment more viable. IMO the Liches were the ideal choice for them. I'm also partial to hoplite leather, like you. If you're going that route, IIRC you can simply farm (L)Armets and (L)Brigandines and combine those to get the rest. I'll have to check those. I think you're probably right, their % is lower. Yep, that's something I'm currently addressing for the next version. High level wood shields are kind of rare/exotic IMO, so I'm trying to place them in a tasteful way. The % completion remains a mystery to even myself... I'm surprised you were able to reach 97%. That's probably because I repurposed so much of the Escapeway data for other areas. By that logic, if I can repurpose all of it then 100% map completion should be attainable. As do I. I included it to encourage exploration in that area. But I suppose it does subtract a bit from the lore. Depending on the feedback I get, I might revert it to normal. Ah, you noticed. It's a side-effect of giving teleportation to enemies who aren't supposed to have it. In this case, the Last Crusader. Admittely, I did it for the cool factor; but once the novelty wears off, you're still left with this annoying "chunk chunk chunk" (nice onomatopeia, btw). So, if by the time the next update is ready I don't have a solution to this, I'll restore their movement parameters to normal, as in no more teleporting. Glad to hear. I had my doubts if anyone would actually uncover the post-game content and all the little touches I've added; it's no fun for me if it goes by unnoticed. But you've put those thoughts to rest, so thanks again for playing. Hah, gotcha.

Hmm, try copy/pasting this link: https://mega.nz/#!BRFUmQoS!TlzldgUbL_M02Bm58XU6ug_kfUEF9oBNo-AfAugdZoc I really ought to remove the key requirement; there's no need for that...

It's inside the chest at Forest River, Snowfly Forest. Thankfully you can just teleport there and collect it, it's easier than navigating that place... As for the Warlock spells, I followed the pattern laid out by the original game, with Elemental bosses giving out the AoE spells (like Flame Sphere, Thunderburst, etc.). The only difference is now they also drop their respective single-target spells. For example, the Water Elemental drops both the Avalanche and Aqua Blast grimoires. In the original you had to farm those single-target spells from enemies like the Phantom or the Dark Eye. I haven't touched the Great Cathedral yet, but on principle I'm ok with the extra grimoires you find there. I'll have to playtest it to know for sure, but I'll probably keep them where they are. I thought of tweaking the STR/INT/AGL difference between materials, but I don't really know where that is located within the rom. I think there is some potential in that, although I'm not sure what I'd actually do with it. Maybe try and make the materials more distinct in their properties. It's cool that you were able to finish the 1st playthrough of the mod, you're the first person to report doing so. Thanks for playing. =)

Congrats! That was pretty fast, too. Did anything give you trouble, besides Rosencrantz and the Lich? The next version of the mod will take a while. A few months, at least. So I'd say go ahead and play. Since you're focused on Godhands, you could simply ignore the other NG+ areas. It would go something like this: once you defeat the Ogre at Abandoned Mines B1, return to Town Center West, cross the river, go to Glacialdra Kirk Ruins and open the Rood Inverse door. Enter it and navigate the segment of Undercity West that leads you to The Crumbling Market (check my yt channel for "path to gold key - no escapeway"). Collect the Gold key, then go back to TCW and proceed normally to Snowfly Forest, then Rosencrantz. From there it's a sprint to Abandoned Mines B2. Once you defeat the Sky Dragon, the exit will take you to The Crumbling Market again, by the save point with the Dullahan. Now go ahead to Tears from Empty Sockets, there's a door locked with the Gold key. Enter it and one of the paths will take you to Godhands.

He has 950 HP. Another tricky thing about Rosencrantz is that he's immune to all magic, so you can't Analyze him to check his stats. So in terms of possible weaknesses, you're in the dark. If you ever face him again, I'd suggest using the Invigorate spell to increase your AGL and thus your % chance to hit (if you haven't done so). And like you mentioned, the Braveheart gem is useful here. Keep in mind that your weapon's affinity affects damage a lot more than its Class (Human, in this case). So maybe pick an affinity, use gems and enchanter spells to increase it as high as possible, then look for a bodypart that's vulnerable to it. Of course, it's very easy for me to say all this, since I know everything about the mod... I hear ya. I did want to have a few bumps in the road, and Rosencrantz is definitely one of them. I'm partial towards Great Axes and Polearms, myself. Ha. I never liked that once you finish IMB3, you're done with the game. It's a culmination, but also kind of a bummer. In terms of power level, nothing can resist you at this point. The coolest weapons (the Rhomphaias, the Holy Win) are here, not to mention a full set of Hoplite armor. As for boss fights, everything is dead. So from now on it's entirely up you to come up with new challenges and stuff to do. I've already taken a few measures to extend the life of the game beyond IMB3. There are more to come with the next iteration of the mod. This is really cool, and very motivating for me to hear. Awesome. Haha, no problem.

Hello blackcat777. I seem to remember you from the gamefaqs board? Or it could have been somewhere else. Let's see... Wow, you have some respectable chaining skills. I'll have to look into the Rosencrantz battle, it's supposed to be viable with a 1-H weapon as well. Hmm, this is worth a thought. In the past I've considered increasing the gem capacity of some bolts to 2 or 3 gems like the other weapons' grips. At the time I thought it would break the game, but now I just might give it a try. Cool weapon name, btw. This is really gratifying to hear. Ah, the stat editor. That simple tool was my entry point into modding the game. It was more user-friendly than the almighty VSTools, which was a little overwhelming for me back then. Without the stat editor to ease me into the game data files, this project would never exist. I hope JayC can check out the mod sometime and see what he set in motion with that little program. Just to be sure, this is the Minotaur Zombie at the Gallows, Wine Cellar; not the Minotaur Lord at Temple of Kiltia, correct? Ok, I'll look into it. He doesn't drop any sigils or keys, so you should be able to continue the game normally. I think I know what the problem is, as I've seen this exact bug happen before. Yes, any save files you might have will be fully compatible with later versions of the mod. So you can invest in your file without worries. I'm glad to know I could spark some enthusiasm with the mod, that was my goal after all. And from what you've mentioned, I think my intentions were translated sucessfully into it. Instead of going all out in the difficulty level, I wanted something enjoyable and interesting. Thanks for the feedback!

Haha, this is great. I see you're quite the talker, it was very entertaining. It's also the first video of someone playing the mod other than myself. Watching that segment I already see a few things that can be smoothed out. Like the room with the Mimic; I could probably remove one of the Silver Wolves. It's also fun to follow the live chat, I enjoyed that too. The latest version of the mod should be completable, although I haven't finished my playthrough. The Great Cathedral and some of the 2nd-play areas have not been rebalanced yet. But as you've mentioned, I've already added some post-game content to play with. It was better to acommodate that stuff early on, for design reasons as well as space limitations. Your emulator doesn't seem to like save states too much. I didn't know using them could cause slowdown. A couple of people mentioned losing all the equipment stored in the container while playing the mod. If it does happen to you, let me know.

Not for a while. It's kind of low priority at the moment. Although I still work on it when I have the time.

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.

Starting my own thread for this cause I'm a narcissistic son of a gun. Upload takes forever so the chapters will be slow to arrive. Here's the playlist:

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.