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Brave New World 2.1 is now Available!
Hapanpappa replied to BTB's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
...as opposed to 4 that you're going to put all your best gear on? If you want to add "challenge" by way of RNG then just have the party be selected randomly to begin with so you have to outift everyone in equal gear. Which sounds like an absolutely asinine idea, by the way. Whether 7 characters in 3 parties or 2 is "dumb" comes down to opinions. It just seems odd to feel so strongly about a multi-party battle that you gimp the thing entirely. It's not like every argument that can be made for 2 parties can't be made for 3. It even adds to the theoretical challenge to have your forces spread out thinner, which is exactly what I liked about it, for instance. Whether or not you make use of that in practice is up to the player. -
Brave New World 2.1 is now Available!
Hapanpappa replied to BTB's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
Any possibility of ever reinstating some of the removed features such as the Narshe 3-party battle and getting to actually choose the final Kefka battle order instead of it being random bullshit, or am I forever doomed to keep returning to 1.8.6 to get the "full" experience? Always had a hard time figuring out why those had to be changed because unless it had to do with technical stuff like space limitations, couldn't you have just - you know, not used them if you personally didn't like them, instead of outright removing even the possibility of utilizing those mechanics? Seems like the only logical explanation is that there was a high cost for them existing as-is and thus had to be removed, but somehow I doubt it. On another note, is the floating continent multi-party dungeon still a thing that might happen in this lifetime, because that always sounded awesome. -
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The infamous Landon Ray still in the ring? I've missed this entirely. I remember googling Xenogears mods years ago and found almost nothing except your mod, accompanied by woe and lamentation from those who played it, haha. I put it in the backburner but now after all this time it might be time to finally have a go at it, although jugend's impressions do make me hesitate a bit... If the difficulty is quite frontloaded, ostensibly mostly because of the lack of options as is usually the case early on in RPGs, and by the endgame when you'd usually want the most challenge - because you have all these awesome bells & whistles and actually know how to play the game - the difficulty nosedives, then it's really the wrong way around and might not be worth it for me. Any thoughts on that?
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Dadaluma might need nerfs
Hapanpappa replied to Raxistaicho's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
The only thing I take exception to is your topic title - it's all fine and good to come for advice and/or vent, but it's another thing to jump on the "this needs to be nerfed because I'm having trouble" train straight away. That has to do with everyone playing the mod, not just you, so the claimant's onus is far greater there. Aside from that, the standard fare for boss fights works here, as always: maintain debuffs, keep HPs high, be reactionary - as in if you expect his turn is about to come up, don't get greedy and queue an attack in case he jumps or kills someone because then you'll get in trouble recovering, and when he jumps heal & defend depending on the situation. -
Celes' out-of-place jab against Locke at the opera
Hapanpappa replied to Timorio's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
Categorizing it as "nonsensically callous" is suspect, I'd argue it's just her being unequivocal & forward, and well within her character. I quite liked it. I understand your confusion more with regards to the latter part. The two sentences aren't necessarily meant to be taken literally. The first part is just justification for how he operates in the present. How I interpreted it is that Locke has made himself a knight in shining armor in order to redeem his guilt and what he does he does for himself - it's not actually about the women he saves and thus obviously doesn't necessitate him loving them, at least initially. Celes affirms this by questioning whether he just chose her to be a substitute token for him to protect and feel better about himself. It requires a bit of inference, but I guess that's why I liked it as well. -
How do I prevent Kaiser's meltdown?
Hapanpappa replied to Dufaux's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
I like how the guy's quote gets more and more oddly specific and detailed with each update. I fully expect him to go "look, dumb shits; here's how you beat Kaiser..." by the time 2.0.5 rolls around. -
Was Interested In BNW but already turned off by the opening
Hapanpappa replied to warioman91's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
Hmm, well I certainly didn't interpret "more like vanilla dialogue" as "the dialogue is exactly the same as in BNW save for fourth wall breaks", but maybe I'm reading into it wrong... I mean I'm seriously allergic to this game's vanilla script after playing BNW so I automatically disregard anything that even alludes to it. -
Was Interested In BNW but already turned off by the opening
Hapanpappa replied to warioman91's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
I, too, rate immersion highly in RPG's so I'd be down for a non-referential & non-fourth-wall breaking script, but alas we don't live in a perfect world and the stuff that matters most (character dialogue) BNW gets so right that it far outweighs the bad for me. If only someone took it upon themselves to do an edition where the stuff in question is changed but everything else is the same, now that would be the tits.. -
Breath of Fire 2 - Defiance of Fate
Hapanpappa replied to praetarius5018's topic in Development Discussion
That's a really tragic limitation, holy shit. Both options are bad but there's something even more fundamentally unsound with unlocking every fusion, the gut feeling it gives is akin to suddenly getting every spell in the game, only rebalanced for earlier use, or like getting every summon/limit break at the same time in a FF game but the better ones are watered down until later. Personally I'd rather just not have them at all and wait for endgame proper to earn the good stuff like in any game. Well, if the code really doesn't offer a decent solution to it, guess you'll just have to make the hard choice and it's gonna heavily define the mod. Have you checked out maeson's mod for inspiration? I used Jean (Tapeta in the retrans) plenty in that because he was the tankiest character that came in handy since all enemy damage was naturally buffed, with good healing abilities like a paladin archetype, plus the awesome field ability.- 26 replies
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Breath of Fire 2 - Defiance of Fate
Hapanpappa replied to praetarius5018's topic in Development Discussion
Dunno if this is still in the works, but gonna chip in anyways since it'd be a damn shame if this game never got an overhaul mod. Ah, BoF2 - probably the most bittersweet jrpg experience for me, with all that missed potential. So many great ideas that would've legit been ahead of their time had they been properly implemented, mainly the township & fusions come to mind. Maeson's mod rebalances some things but sadly it ends up feeling like a new coat of paint rather than anything that actually unearths the system's potential. The dragon system is still gimmicky and totally boring in how its implemented, half the content is still absurdly cryptic, recruiting tenants is a total crapshoot, and overall mechanics feel pretty limited/barebones with really only a couple relevant stats (att, def, speed, hp&ap) so there's only so much room to make characters and different fusions stand out and have their unique skills not be entirely worthless. I'd say those would be solid starting points, and it looks like some you've tackled already. A fantastic idea with the timed hits, way to make the most of the game's peculiarities and add engagement on the player's part. Torn on the single-use spell system; depends on how it feels in practice. Another idea for something a little less drastic would be to just rebalance the spells by tinkering with targeting, power and elemental properties; for example, flare would do more damage than fireblast because it's single target so you have situations for both spells, and just kind of expand from that basic idea. The spell system as a whole would benefit greatly if elemental properties were made far more relevant and many more enemies were completely resistant to one element and weak to another, and mix the enemy formations so that you have more of an incentive to use the single target spells for sniping rather than just spam AoE's. Probably what I'm most opposed to as an idea is allowing every fusion right off the bat - I think it's important to save some of the more prestigious fusions until later to maintain a sense of excitement & progression; the tried & true gist of getting the good stuff little by little. First you just get power ups from fusions, then someone changes color and you're like "oh yeah baby, getting stronger", and finally the super fusions to blow your socks off. The transformations are literally the coolest part of the entire game and it would absolutely destroy the excitement if they were handed out like candy all at once. Agreed that the shamans came in way too late in vanilla, with only 1 dungeon remaining in the whole game after you got the last shaman which is just horrendous. So a logical solution, I think, would be to let you customize more freely right off the bat, but the epic transformations came more steadily as rewards for progression. That way you wouldn't have to "nerf" them & their unique commands that much either and it would feel rewarding and worthwhile to start using them upon acquirement. I remember drooling like a dog and rushing into battles after I successfully transformed someone to see what their unique power would be so I think it ought not to be totally underwhelming(as many of them were originally). And yes, they should still be acquired earlier than in vanilla though, so you actually get to properly use all the fusions you like. Also, the less mutually-exclusive thing BTB mentioned, I'd love that. I never could form my true A-team because the shaman requirements overlapped. I like that there's some customization you can do via equipment or whatever. Is the guts stat "gutted" completely or does it still do something? That's one less stat to play with in terms of customization if it's removed entirely... But the general direction seems promising.- 26 replies
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Confessing my issue with 2.0 & the flipside of balance
Hapanpappa replied to Hapanpappa's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
Thanks for chipping in, guys. Was pretty apprehensive about posting my thoughts in such long-winded detail; the more I thought about it the more I feared this would come across as too complain-y or abstract to spark discussion, and I haven't seen any prior talks whatsoever pertaining to this subject. @Mishrak A relief to hear someone share what I assume to be a sort of outlier viewpoint. The game is certainly at its best in the thick of strategic combat and that more than makes up for any disappointments along the way in my mind. But I don't think it would take much to find a perfect sweet spot - just a little something extra in the way of thrills or that "cool factor" would go a long way in making your party, and by extension the endgame, feel more exciting. Good thing regarding Kaiser, that's one boss who deserves to actually be experienced and fought to the fullest. @Cecil188 For whatever reason Goner didn't feel any more threatening to my setup than Meteor did, so that's why. And none of my guys ever died to it, which I was kind of hoping for at that point, channeling my inner Schwarzenegger "Come on, kill me! I'm right here!" because I was just begging for something to blow me away at that point. In fact, I had to be way, way more wary of his counter attacks than anything he threw at me on his own. I had a pretty defensive strategy so not sure if that did it. Other than that, a stellar fight overall. @AuthenticM Great write-up, many of your points are very similar to how I've praised the mod on forums before. Vanilla has been obsolete for me since I first played BNW, and I'm not the least bit sorry about it. However I think you might've misconstrued the crux of my thesis; it's not about difficulty or how challenge is handled, I've no problems with that aside from maybe the exp gain rate which I perceive to be overtuned. Rather I'm just trying to ramble my way into figuring out what gave me a creeping sense of insipidness the longer I played and the closer I came to beating the game. To try and put it as practically as I can; Imagine, if you will, multiple instances where a player "waits" for dozens of hours for a cool powerup for their favorite character, an ultimate skill/spell they know is finally coming or that piece of legendary equipment, only to find that they're all so very... OK/serviceable, not necessarily that unique, and ultimately they may end up not even using some of it despite being so excited for them. Kind of anticlimactic, don't you think? It inevitably impacts your... hype factor, as it were. It's all done for good reasons, clearly - there's an unmatched equilibrium that presides over the different gameplay elements and tools & choices offered to the player, to the extent where pretty much none are above the rest. It's uncanny in how balanced & regulated it is, keeping all the different options viable. The skill you had from the beginning of the game may be just as useful, or even moreso than the skill you just got before the final dungeon - and therein lies one of the negative side effects of it. -
Confessing my issue with 2.0 & the flipside of balance
Hapanpappa posted a topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
A sincere thank you to everyone who worked on this mod. It was among the first FF mods I ever played and in terms of consistent overall quality, it's still at the top years and dozens of mods later. It seems that integrity&balance is at the core of the design - to a fault. In a crusade to fix the magnificently broken, different gameplay elements are kept in check to a point where the mod lacks a sort of visceral excitement in many areas toward the lategame. It all appears very regulated, constricted and in some cases even underwhelming. To demonstrate what the hell I'm talking about... The cursed shield is a pretty interesting concept and promises something unique. Once it's all said and done though, it's just another shield; comparable to other lategame shields. I mean it's good, but considering the unique mechanic and the wait, just not that... exciting. The original game's version was broken but exciting as hell and quite... flavorsome with its power and mechanic, teaching ultima and all that. Some of the iconic, flashy top moves of characters suffer from this problem. Bum rush is decent enough but rarely preferable to hitting with elemental claws or setting statuses with other blitzes - in fact, I found it almost never preferable to other actions, even with a vigor build. It's not quite as guilty of the meh-at-the-end-of-the-day syndrome as Tempest, though, which is essentially a glorified critical hit. In fact, now that it doesn't ignore defense, it's exactly the same as a critical hit - it does good damage to be sure, but again: it's underwhelming when you realize it's "just" that. I wish these moves did something more unique, cool or anything that made them stand out a bit more; you have to wait a long time to get them too. The mere possibility to crit with tempest's hits, or giving a status effect to bum rush also etc. would be enough for a unique twist. I understand why they're designed how they are (to not make other options obsolete & overall design philosophy outlined earlier) but I guess what it comes down to is that there aren't that many flashy, unique moves in this game compared to later installments with limit breaks and stuff, so you just kind of want something a bit more thrilling. Endgame weapons are given to you at an even pace, scattered randomly around the dungeons. Not many stand out in the way they're acquired or found, except the aforementioned shield which ultimately falls flat & Apocillumina which has a meaningful choice attached, but it'd be cool if it had a sidequest of its own before getting the sword to give it more prestige. Now it's just "clear the phoenix cave&go take the sword" instead of the big sidequests attached to some ultimate weapons in other Fantasies; those usually end up being the most exhilarating sidequests as well. Anyways, Omega weapon used to be among the select few that stood out, requiring you to defeat the Ultima weapon before Atma would evolve to its full potential. Needless to say, I don't agree with removing that small bit of excitement from the game too. I was super disappointed when nothing happened when I beat the boss. Not as important but feeding into the same overall problem - standout overworld enemies don't seem to exist anymore. Even the epic dino forest has been dummied to be an effortless farm ground. If there's one thing Fantasies have done right, it's give you a place or two where you can go flex your muscles against the toughest enemies in the game. Failing that, there's some super strong enemies scattered around that keep you on your toes when you explore the world. The only thing I recall that comes close to being an exception to this is the zone eater who actually puts up a decent fight when you're not expecting it. Bosses are consistently thrilling in the mod. In a perfect world, you never beat a boss on your first try because you just don't know what to prepare for and there are some surprises along the way. BNW seems to take this approach and would succeed if it wasn't for the way too generous exp gain that inevitably renders some bosses' mechanics moot since you can just brute force them. And I hate to be that guy, I honestly do - but Kaiser dragon suffers from this. An interesting mechanic for sure and it tries to force you to play it his way, but it's over before you know it. A bit too literal interpretation of the "bosses are puzzles" ideology where there's nothing else to the fights after surviving a single cycle of a pattern. He needs to be made into a longer, more epic fight and change it to where he remains an optional superboss(so not block your path after you kill other dragons). I know BTB has an aversion to the term superboss but never mind the semantics, you don't need to adhere to whatever implications you feel burdens the term, it's still super cool as an idea and a popular one for that very reason. I swear the first question my vanilla-FF friends have asked when I recommended this mod to them has been "are there any superbosses?". Kaiser is one done right but it's just way too damn short for the fight to reach its potential. Even Doomgaze was denied a superboss level of power in service of providing an essential Esper for Relm. I have to say though, for me the toughest fight was Kefka as it should be; others have claimed to have beaten it on the first try which sounds like a tragic mistake. I can only assume the aforementioned overleveling problem is what causes that to happen. I had an awesome time with it but my EL's were around 15 and regular levels around 25 for that fight due to using exp off a lot. Although even with Kefka, his unique move Goner is underwhelming for an ultimate enemy attack move in the game, again contributing to my main gripe of heavily regulated & controlled content and balance environment to the point of feeling neutered. Magimaster's hail mary Ultima was nowhere to be seen either. I agree with this choice actually, but that brings me to the conclusion... I don't think any of these things are necessarily problematic in and of themselves but it all slowly added up to where nothing ever really ended up surprising or wowing me. In hindsight and as I'm recounting this stuff, it's funny how much even simple things feed into the player's excitement & anticipation with a game. So ironically I guess you might say my main problem with BNW is that it's too balanced, haha. I'd like to hear if any of this was interesting to you or relatable on any level. I certainly didn't expect to come out with an outlook such as this but there you have it. I'd like to shower y'all with praise now that I got that out of my system because I have plenty in store, but that's too much text already. -
How do I prevent Kaiser's meltdown?
Hapanpappa replied to Dufaux's topic in Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World
Remember the old man in the first WoR town? The legend he cites could come in handy, in fact it spells the strategy out for you less-than-subtly. Good thing too, because this is one of those bosses that just kills you if you don't play it his way. Spoiler-tagging the strategy, though mods may want to delete it if the in-game hints are meant to be enough. -
Color me intrigued. Wasn't even aware of a modding scene for ff13. However I've no grasp at all on how much those hard mode options might affect the difficulty&gameplay, having only completed the vanilla game once years ago. Can you recommend a reasonable hard mode package to choose for someone who wants a good challenge that requires you to think outside the box, but without it devolving into such a mindless grind that forces you to use the same 1-2 effective strategies over and over? I'd appreciate even an estimation of which ones likely go overboard&into the realm of tedium and which ones make it reasonably harder. Although I have completed almost all the difficulty mods available for FF games and can't stand the easiness of vanillas anymore, so the bar's pretty high.
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But the mere fact that people are having wildly different&unique experiences with different bosses, depending on their party comps and setups and whatnot, is more a sign of varied&complex gameplay rather than something inherently problematic.