Vaylen

Always thought dual elements were in a... bad spot. They are cool and thematic, but, ultimately, really weak. Personally, I'd like a system that has multi-elements as advantages. Current system, they are more on the disadvantageous side.

Look at the boards, there's a randomizer stickied there. Didn't use it myself, though... Installation seems to be via an executable. Just be aware that, especially for Espers and enemies, randomizing may be a bad idea. As Espers are now bound to characters and cannot be equipped by everyone, which Esper you get when makes a difference - for example, getting an Esper for the Thamasa duo while not getting them for awhile would suck, as would not getting an Esper for a character already in your party. No idea how this randomizer works in detail and if you can choose what to randomize, but you definitely shouldn't randomize Espers for BNW and stuff like monster randomizing may have some annoying side-effects. PS: Don't think anyone here is upset, just... confused, really.

As a sidenote, levelling up past 30 is very difficult already, so that's not an easy grind. If you really wanna grind, you should wait till south figaro - the desert enemies are hard, but give lots of xp and money. But really, as everyone here says... I'd advise against grinding. Undermines the depth of the mod by a lot. And, for the endgame, you'll likely still be just about lvl 30 anyway. Grinding Esper Levels is also way more important - which you cannot even as of right now.

Heh, yeah. I'd advise against grinding, as being OP makes a lot of the challenge negligible, but that may just be me.

I think they trigger via counter. Many enemies have counters to specific commans like attack, magic, blitz, tool etc. etc. Those counters can wreck you hard, so you got to play around them.

In the character discussions for Gau, you can find a nice rage-list. Helped me out a lot in finding out which rages are "best".

Hello there. There are two oddities I noticed... First is: Genji armor is one of the best armors on nigh everyone that can equip(Which is close to everyone). Feels especially strange that someone like Shadow can equip it. Shouldn't there be another option? Especially cause its stats can feel so awkward on many characters, as many do not care for one stat or the other - yet it is still their best option. Feels like the game is missing an armor to accomodate for that. It is nice to make a choice as to which character gets which armor... It is less nice when the choice is always the same. Secondly... The Dark spell seems kind of pointless. Only rarely will one use it over Raze. And it is gotten on Odin~ Making it kind of a "meh" pickup. Celes' Merton is similarily of little use usually, but Crusader is at least important for a build of hers. Odin's equip bonus is very nice at least, but you often want Zoneseek for the summon(imo). I'd propose giving the Dark spell to some other characters(Setzer/Mog, maybe?) and giving Strago something with actual use for him. Could be anything, really... Maybe something stamina-scaling to make that more of a build option(Fittingly coming with Odin).

You are not wrong. A lot of thhe ubiquity is in terms of Genji including locke/shadow as its users and some armors gotten very late(Minerva, Mirage). Mirage Vest being not the best thing hurts this a little more, too. Swapping some power around and giving access to a few armors a little earlier would certainly help. So~ The ubiquity vanishes by the end, I can agree on that. At any point before, though, too many people want Genji.

Argument is not Genji being OP, but ubiquitous. It is not good design that it pops up as an option all the time - and nigh all builds enjoy either the 7 stamina or 7 vigor really much. The option often feels like "You could take the cool specialized armor... Or you just take a ton of stats. That works too.". Genji just doesn't ever feel as suboptimal as it should feel. I see the utility in auto-haste a bit more. And yeah, Auto-Image is really strong - it just sounds nice on paper. Gau and Sabin are not really taking Mirage Vest ever(Jacket/Muffler). Leaves only Locke and Shadow - and Locke can get away with less dodge anyway due to HP Esper. Only leaves Shadow and, while I see the utiliity of auto-haste, it isn't the strongest of effects on him still. And it feels strange if the, in theory, best user has the least use for the passive. I'd rather pump the power budget of the passive into defences/+health. A small +health really helps out Shadow's survivability(Say, +12.5%), but doesn't bring it over the top. He just tends to survive attacks more often with a sliver of health. An mp boost similary small is also appreciated, just to make his support set a little easier to use. Sadly, such an effect would still not make Mirage Vest compete with Muffler/Jacket at all, while Locke doesn't really care and would prefer auto-haste.

But the need to rebuff shadow is so easily fulfilled cause of his absurd base speed. He has no qualms about "wasting" a turn or two. Overall, I think the haste on it could really be something else that works better for the squishies - even just some raw def to make them less susceptible to death. Minus speed is a real bad idea. Think about it like that: Who could stomach having less speed? Someone with 80 speed or someone with 30? Shadow wouldn't mind that much to give up some speed for strong defences. -5 spd just makes genji underpowered as hell. Removing evasion would still be could. I couldn't justify picking it on Shadow like that. Could get a compensatory buff to m.def or def, for example. I'd also like to see a shift in the stats it gives: Instead of 7 vig/7 stam, go 5vig/9stam. This would require a dedicated vig or vig+spd armor to equalize options... although, nigh any heavy armor user really enjoys stam, even if it is just for cover/counter.

Pretty cool idea. More NPC interaction isn't bad, especially cause Zozo's so goofy with it. I knew what Slim Jims did beforehand cause I stole them. Maybe one could make it a rare drop of one of the Zozo enemies and/or put a chest somewhere. The npcs could give more hints about his pattern in contrast to that, being a good learning experience as to what to expect from enemies in the future, too.

Shadow really enjoys bonus MP for rerise spam(With his high speed, it really is a strong option on him). But that's just a small thing. Mirage vests defences are really just not... endgame material. Add the lackluster boni it grants and it becomes really iffy. I'd like to see its defences boosted by 5 and granting +vigor. A change of any kind on its passive would simply be appreciated. I'd still like auto-image to be set, it just sounds so good and fits well. Would also allow the defences to be leaning more heavily towards m.def. The reason I thought about +hp is that it simply is a strong effect. It would also mean it could compete better with jacket/muffler - as the +hp is such a good effect. That said, I generally think +HP is kind of a OP stat, as well as heavy HP espers... So there's some bias, I guess.

Evade removal can be compensated rather easily, though. It would just make it a lot more unappealing to the dodge-characters. Sabin and Gau have little use for mirage vest. Dragon Hide, Snow Muffler and Jacket are all outshining it, I'd say. Locke and Shadow both feel very susceptible to an untimely death without more defence. Shadow doesnt benefit from auto-haste, too. So that leaves only Locke, who often prefers force armor anyway and, when dual wielding, probably enjoys the defences of Genji more. Maybe Mirage armor could just give hp/mp plus. 25% HP goes a long way on all of these characters as a good anti-one-hit option. Think I currently even use stat stick on shadow, just to boost his stats a little for survivability and rereise >.>

I'd argue that Auto-Haste is rather useless on a character with HasteX that always goes first ^^" and a speed bonus of 7 vs a vigor bonus of 7 shouldn't make much of a dps difference. I find mirage vest a tad underwhelming as an "ultimate" armor. I do think, though, that I would take it over Genji if Genji wouldn't give 10 evasion. Yeah, you are not wrong. It just feels strange to see Genji even as an option for Locke and Shadow. Mirage Vest adding some vigor would be really nice. Genji losing it's evade would also make mirage better by contrast. I'd think about changing Mirage's passive effect from auto-haste to something else. Auto-image kinda sound fun and fits the "mirage" theme. On Shadow, this wouldn't be that powerful even. On Locke probably, though.. Mh, I am not talking about Genji-Helms at all. As mentioned somewhere: Genji helm is much less competitive, as they are so many rare helmets with strong effects(Oath Veil, Circlet, SKull Cap, Red Cap, Stat Hat, Dragon Helm). Much more variety there. You often won't need a lot of m.def on the girls, due to their headgear especially. Talked lots about shadow/locke further up. Simply put: Genji Gear does give very competitive stats for vigor/speed builds in terms of dps. And Genji allows them to actually take a hit before dying. Mirage Vest is just overall a bit lackluster for an "Ultimate" armor. It is good, but not on the same powerlevel as Genji, I feel.

Different element would at least make the spell.. useful. But yeah, not everyone needs everything. Dark just feels especially bad cause it is supposed to be your "ultimate" spell, together with Black Omen. X-Magic Strago still has use for Black Omen: Ignoring Def, AoE, Poison resistance. Non X-Magic Strago has absolutely no use for Dark except for very, very niche cases(Phoenix Cave). Genji still pops up an awful lot as a desirable option, doesn't it? I'd propose rebalancing it slightly, maybe restricting it to heavy only and creating a new medium and/or light armor. Also, just got a mirage vest and... man, Shadow is paper. Guess that's what he is meant to be, but I feel safer equiping Genji. Not to mention, 7 Vig is really strong on Shadow anyway. Think that's one of the things that makes Genji so ubiquitous: Usable on many, strong defensive stats that can pull up the low def characters and the sheer amount of stats... + those stats are widely useful, both on offence and defence... oftentimes even utility, due to all the Stam scalings scattered around. And yeah, Genji is really nice for most counter-attackers. Just a strong stat combo for them.

Is there even a mirage vest outside coliseum? Same question for Minerva, tbh. Force Armor is much more specific than Genji Armor, making them compete rarely with eachother. And if they do, one often wants Genji over Force, cause of how good Stamina is for some characters/builds. Nigh every character actually has a build that really enjoys stamina... Also, it is easy to get more Genji Armor through Coliseum(Especially as Genji Helm isnt nearly as competitive as the Armor, due to all the good, specific headgear for most). Dont get me wrong, force armors are still good and it is nice to make a difficult choice between force and genji... It is not as nice if I have to make the choice 4 times and have others, as Shadow, that don't even get the freedom of choice for a long time. Yeah, it would be nice to have a defensive/supportive benefit on Stam Strago. I find his support set to be a tad wonky, too... Put up zoneseek+shield and that's basically it. Strong, sure, but quickly gotten over with. I just built him with some MP and full magic, dishing out great numbers due to absurdly high magic. But what I am really asking for is to make Dark useful outside of X-Magic. Strago would enjoy it being a fire instead of poison type spell(undeads), a stronger ice option or basically anything he doesn't cover way too good already with his Lore.

Yeah, first try can be hard. On the first try, I tend to jusk fuck around: Use all status available, all commands available(To check for counters) and stuff like that. I remember Wrexsoul wrecking me pretty hard, cause my team lacked good offence or defence against it the first fight. Sabin's random targeting made him useless. Terra was my big damage dealer with morph n fire 3 - but she was also my best reviver/healer. Edgar's damage just isn't that high to capitalize on Wrexsoul's short appearances. After changing the setup a little - hell claws, more M.Def for Sabin(He'd get one shot by flare and nigh one shot by meteor) and keeping terra dead when he has posessed her, so she can't get re-posessed... he went down real quick. So yeah, first time, fight seemed unbeatable. Second time, it was pretty quick. Same goes for some other bosses which I fought pretty underlevelled. Wrecked Holy D thanks to Celes' runic, for example...

But isn't it par for the course that, when you get to a boss, you save, you try everything you can and then die, going in with more information next time? Of course, being unable to always easily switchh characters is a bit of a bummer. But I think just about every party setup has some sufficiently strong stuff vs Dadaluma.

Snow Muffler doesn't compete with Genji gear, though. And for Shadow.... you mean lazy shell? Only hidden armor I could think of. But to clarify: I am not saying Genji Gear is overpowered. Just that it is very often the best option. This is only aided by the fact, that most of the comparable/better gears are gotten very late or only via coliseum trading(Which, in turn, is highly dependant on what you actually can trade without compromising a build). And also... Dark Gear is very clearly in a low Tier than Genji in terms of sheer power. You lose only 10 eva for a whopping 30 defence. And in terms of stat, you gain 2 vigor and 7 Stamina for 5 speed. Surely, speed is the more useful stat(on most Dark Gear users). But at the same time, it is kinda very obsolete - Locke and Shadow, for example, usually have enough speed to not prioritize gearing for it and instead want higher defences, evasion and damage. And I'd say... if 10 eva wasn't worth 30 def, something's strange in the balancing of the stats. Thinking about Genji Gear, it is the best armor for a TON of builds. Namely, basically all builds that like Stamina and nearly all builds that enjoy Vigor. It even gets used on the light armor dudes simply cause of the superior defence+the sheer amount of bonus stats. And I don't mind your infamous opinions, I guess I have sometimes rather... strong opinions myself. But I see you are kinda agreeing with me on Raze, so there's that. And honestly? I don't find X-Magic very appealing on Strago. X-Magic on Locke looks much more appealing to me, for example(Despite him lacking support spells). Yeah, but... it seems strange to me that I need to jump through hoops to get a good light armor, while heavy equipment is just scattered about everywhere. It feels kinda... dumb, I guess? Making it physical wouldn't really do anything(Sides from X-Magic, but thats not the point). Omen is already a defence ignoring nuke, so there is still no point in using Dark like that. Making it being a Stamina-based attack, though... that seems interesting. My Strago currently has a ton of stamina - even though I put 0 points into it. Stam Strago would really be cool if he had some extra support. It's annoying what a balance conondrum Dark is thanks to X-Magic... add to that, that X-Magic feels a tad lackluster anyway.

Hello there, I am new to this board and made an account to ask a few questions. I recently got the urge to play FFVI again, so I looked through mods for it and found this. A lot of what this mod does is what I would have wanted to do(If I had the ability...), so I am rather stoked to play this. Lots of the choices remind me of the Etrian Odyssey games... I haven't started to play so far, but I've got a few question regarding the mod - simply a few concerns or worries. - Some characters sound incredibly squishy by nature(Strago, Shadow, for example). While evasion is fine and good, having a character on the team that gets 1-shot by everything that connects is kind of a liability, is it not? So my question is... How fragile are the fragile characters really? - Many espers are only obtained very late in the game. This does hinder the growth aspect as well as spell selection of certain characters(Especially if you talk about Crusader). Question is if this has been taken into consideration and not have 1-2 characters that are very limited until near endgame. As far as I remember, most Espers are WoR and many are optional. If I need Crusader and Tritoch for a specific build, am I just out of luck? - On the topic of Espers, I read the progression system has been fixed through some bank feature. Does that mean every character has access to their esper stat-boosts even if you do not have the Esper? Or do I still need to get them? - On builds, I gather that many builds require specific gear/relics. Aren't some of those only gotten very late? I fear that the game experience and balance may have gone heavy into endgame, neglecting the way there(Happens a lot...), hence all these questions. - I read about a respec option in WoR. Is it available quickly and easily, or does it take a considerable amount of time to get to? Also, what and how much does it cost? - If an update comes out, can I just put it over an already started game without much trouble? I probably won't just raze through the game in a week and updates are always good. Should I possibly even wait for the next update to start my playthrough? - MP seems to be made to gate spell use a LOT more. This is fine, in and of itself, but... Not using spells is also not fun. And random encounters tend to be plenty - going oom after a few spellcasts sounds simply annoying - mp management is one thing, but not using abilities is the opposite of "play". Of course, this would be alleviated if there is some kind of auto MP-reg feature after battle and there are the mana-batteries(Edgar and Sabin, from what I've seen), but it worries me nonetheless. Some insight into the mp management(Especially on less MP-heavy characters like Locke) would be appreciated. On a sidenote: If there is no reg after battle, it could be a consideration. Partial HP/MP reg after battle allows to make random encounters a tad harder - incentivizing more strategy. Full Reg can make random encounters very difficult without being a frustrating experience(Just don't make every thing a meatbag - fast and hard should be the name of the game). Full MP reg allows for much more intrinsic balance of MP reserves and can lead to a lot of cool stuff in terms of balance and strategy - And lastly, any information on the overall difficulty level and strategy, especially for a earlier parts(pre-esper) of the game? Thanks in advance for any reply, I am hoping to get at least some question answered ^^"

I dont compare dark to black omen, but to raze. They are very similar and, barring a few edge cases, raze is always better(Except X-Dark, of course). That's my problem with dark on Strago, as it is only useful as X-Strago and has next to no use in other cases. Equipment should not be too specialized, yeah. While it feels nice to have stuff like snow muffler and radiant gown, it would be more interesting if there were options. That said, Genji Armor is too general. If something is generally very good and often times among the best, it becomes ubiquitous and frustrating. Having instead another bucket for ultimate, say, evasive gear(In different forms, limited) would create more choice, as it wouldn't need to compete vs the raw stats of Genji. To put it short: I don't want to think "K, so, basically... 5 of my toons do best with Genji Gear". That sucks.

Well, I will do that. Thought "new questions, new topic". Genji armor does offer a high amount of bonus stats, though... In addition to decent raw defence. I believe it would be more beneficial to reduce the possible users and compensate by adding more specialized armors. Additionally, Genji armor is very strong for any stam user and vigor user, but those two do not mesh together as well as one would expect. I'd call for a shift of power there. I see the point of Dark now, but... it still stands that it is a nigh useless spell for non X-Magic Strago.. and that just feels bad. Dumb reasoning, I know, but having something marginally useful would just feel a ton better.

That sounds like fun. I currently got him as a healer/tank with GP toss and built on stamina. GP Toss REALLY hits hard, gotta admit. But thanks for the input!

High evasion is great. Actually taking a hit and surviving coupled with decently high evasion is preferred, I say. Also, stats: Genji Armor gives 7 vigor, which is huge on someone like Shadow. Of course, Genji armor is not ALWAYS the best. But way too often, it your best option, despite being suboptimal in one way or another. The huge boosts to stamina and vigor make it a strong armor on most of the cast - and that it can be worn by most of the cast too just makes it feel strange(Isn't it supposed to be heavy armor...?). I'd rather have it a bit more limited in users, so it is not such a competitive piece of armor and/or create armors comparable in strength for evasion and/or stamina builds specifically.

But shouldn't his spell list also compliment a non-X-Magic build? Most of his spells do(Except bio, usually). That his "ultimate" non-lore spell winds up close to useless without X-magic just feels really bad and isn't wholly necessary. Simplest solution would be to add a useful effect to it and/or change it into another element he doesn't already cover very well. I doubt this would make him super OP all of a sudden, albeit, it's still a bit of a buff.