Vaylen

9 hours ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Probably best if we use mid-WoB, late-WoB, early-WoR, instead. Even mid-WoR is kinda ambiguous, as it could be split into two.

For the big mid-WoR part, I think that restrictions could allow for a better balance curve.
As is, you can go basically everywhere after early WoR. This makes balancing all the different areas rather... difficult. Personally, I only encountered any sort of resistance in the Veldt Cave(Probably cause I got there rather early) and felt like I steamrolled every other dungeon without much trouble, despite working hard to keep my lvls in check.

15 minutes ago, Mishrak said:

What part of the game are you referring to as mid-game?

Forgive me if this has been answered, but there is far too much in here to really read every word of it. 

Nowea addressed the major points about being too high level, and he was correct about how those affect a perceived balance shift.

wrt: C/C, keep in mind characters that can do this effectively usually have to trade status mitigation or damage relics to utilize it.  Almost none (except Celes) can do every piece of what makes C/C most potent and even she doesn’t have the best of stamina.

 

I'd say~ For midgame, the final stretch of WoB - Magitek Facility through FC.

48 minutes ago, SirNewtonFig said:

If I have time this weekend, I'm going to start a new run with the objective of getting to the FC with all party members at level 18 with 8-10 banked but unspent ELs, and can share a savestate for further experimentation. If there are any other points before the FC that folks would like similar test data for, let me know (along with a desired target level and number of banked ELs) and I'll try to get a snapshot for each.

Personally, I'd like some opions on Zozo regarding how hard you can gimp yourself via teamcomp. Just curious there, really.

Additionally, Magitek Facility, Sealed Gate Cave. Those were the points I felt OP at, to be honest. The burning house in Thamasa felt like a joke to me, too(Aqua Rake=GG).

 

C/Cs reliance on Stamina makes it much less appealing in many cases - especially for characters with poor base stamina/stamina growth(Edgar comes to mind).

Stamina does not add dmg to your counter, but is necessary to keep the C/C chance reliable enough. Additionally, Cover needs at least some form of tankiness that does not solely rely on dodge(This makes Shadow a poor Cover user).

The problems are setups that "cheat" that inherent balance of Stamina=/=damage.

However, the reliance on stamina for C/C builds is largely what keeps them in check: Many character simply do not benefit enough from Stamina(Like Locke) to make their C/C build optimal in the long run.
But... We are talking about midgame balance here. And midgame balance is~ kind of a mess. I noticed that myself in my playthrough.

To "fix" that problem, one could swap ELs around... for example, granting Locke not access to Stam+HP, but rather MP+HP. That would keep his midgame C/C setups in check. Would need to crunch through all the midgame problems to make any proper calls on this, though - along with checking availability of each build going into the WoR.

Another possible "fix" for the midgame problem could... to actually just straight-up buff it. Thamasa, Sealed Cave and FC all need serious buffs, I feel. After all, taking options away from the player is not fun - but upping the challenge very well might be.

 

Some characters are definitely OP midgame. Cyan and Locke are the ones that come to mind first. However, I think it was established that you grossly overlevelled somehow. To prevent this, one could change the XP curve to spike MUCH more heavily past 20(Similar to the post 30 spike) and scale the WoR enemy XP up to compensate. This would prevent levelling characters post 20 in WoB by accident. Your results are definitely mainly caused by overlevelling - and accidental overlevelling feels crappy, especially if you are looking for a challenge.

12 minutes ago, Sega Chief said:

I fixed the latest reported issues, so things should be okay; but if you run into anything then let me know.

Sure thing. If I find anything, I shall post it on Qhimm.

On that note:
Clouds Past, Shinra Mansion basement. When first getting there, part of the dialogue(By Sephiroth) is unfunctional. This issue may very well stem from Beacause/Menu Overhaul, though - and I can't really check it on a clean install atm anyway.

The Dialogue boxes appear, but disappear almost immediately. May be worth checking(If it is easy to do for you), but as mentioned, I'd expect other mods to be the culprit.

6 minutes ago, Sega Chief said:

I updated the files on Qhimm; just uploading the new installer here at the mo.

Nice.

This made me wonder: Are there currently any other known bugs?
Not the small stuff,, but things affecting abilities would be nice to know as a heads up.

Just now, Sega Chief said:

Caught your post on Qhimm; I'm going to be updating all the installers/files tonight to sort out issues and oversights.

Thanks a bunch.

Talking about the Enemy Skill learned from Mu's - it turns grants all targets invincible, reflect, barrier and mbarrier.
I am using 7th heaven and downloaded the june 23rd version. Is the bug simply not fixed?

Edit: Saw there was an update(30th june version).
Downloaded the Iro and installed it via 7th Heaven. Quarry Fuse still makes enemies invincible, though.

Edit 2: Tested a few things.
Ran the main installer(on my vanilla steam-file) and tested Quarry Fuse. Works as intended there, but not in the 7th Heaven version.
Completely reinstalled 7th Heaven from scratch. Tested without any other mods - but the issue persists.

35 minutes ago, Nesouk said:

Cloud is actually hybrid if you wish you can make him a physical fighter, a caster or do a balance build of the 2 depending of what rank up option you choose, same with Red and Vincent

Barret to put it simply back when I play you could get +120 Vit and Spr through his rank up alone that was insane and was making him almost impossible to kill, and then I was using him for buffs like Haste, Barrier, Regen and  spell like Life 2 that don't rely of the magic stat, the Ennemy Skill "White Wind" is also very good as Barret has the highest Max HP.
Now however you can't get over 80 Vit and Spr which reduce his tanking ability however you can now in addition to these 80 point gives him either 100 point toward Magic (4 times Heavy Metals and 4 Times Techno-Freak) to gives him more healing ability and possibility to attack decently with magic or +120 STR (8 times Marauder) to makes him a tanky physical fighter, it's your call.

Also for Cid should note that he also has a very high luck which for a long portion of the game makes him shine as he will crit more often than the other physical fighters.

For Yuffie you can also build her as a mage to basically gives her the same role as Barret only relying on Dodge instead of tanking directly.

As for Ozma yes this mod as some references to other FF games ^^

Okay, thanks. Very helpful, I'll keep those tips in mind as pointers.

3 minutes ago, Nesouk said:

For the installation basically in the post of the modder in the "Lien de téléchargements" section download the following :

-Installeur (first link)
-The Data (second link)
-And the NT Addon to make it compatible with NT (tough I'm actually unsure if the modder update it with the last 1.5 version of NT)

Put all of that in the same folder and just use the "FF7SYW.V2.09.exe" to instal after that you will get an icon on your Desktop use it and you will get this :

Go to the difficulté window and below "Type de difficulté" select New Threat

As for what it does it basically graphically improve everything :
-World Map
-Menu
-Background
-Character Models
-Battle's animation

Okay, thanks a lot.

Soo, to put it shortly...
Cloud is a main mage? Seems.. off. But I guess he has the main character syndrome(Jack of all trades).
Tifa is the resident glass cannon.
Barret is a tank. That said, a character that is just a TANK and nothing else is pretty useless. What is his main offence(M or P) and does he have good utility?

Aerith as a mage, makes sense.

Red is... another hybrid M/P, I guess?
Yuffie is another glass cannon~ish character, but with high evasion.

Vincent... I guess a mage primarily, or are physical builds also strong?
Cait Sith~ I might be the only one who kinda likes Cait Sith... Though, the one I like is Reeves. I guess he is a utility mage/tank.
Cid is "bruiser". Strong phys, strong defence.

Got that about right?

Ozma, huh... The superboss of FF9 was called Ozma, too.

4 hours ago, Nesouk said:

A french modder made a graphical overhaul of the game and have make it compatible with New Threat you can get it here :

http://ff7.fr/forum/index.php?page=post&ids=341131

Hm, I think there is a compability issue with me and the language there x)
Google translate will probably spit out a mess, so can you tell me about the installation and what the mod exactly overhauls?

Hello there.

Is the mod compatible with the various model/texture/animation mods out there? Any specific ones I should avoid?
Recommendations would also be very welcome. I am using 7th Heaven for the installation.

Hello there.

I recently played through the ff6 mod BNW and, as I wanted to re-play 7 next anyway, I stumbled upon this mod. Haven't started so far, but I'd like a bit of a heads-up on what to expect.

Some advice on builds on each character would be very appreciated. Additionally, any advice/hints on key differences in this mod would be welcome. Lastly, is there a newer version in the works and could I upgrade to it mid-playthrough?

36 minutes ago, Sealarkspur said:

I couldn't find anything on Google for backgrounds or location, and the code someone linked in this thread to learn all the dances doesn't work because the mod apparently changes how dances are learned.

Don't think the learning process of dances have been changed(Exactly the same method as vanilla). But sometimes, codes just don't work due to stuff.

And well, as mentioned... just google around. I found another code on this site:
https://www.almarsguides.com/retro/walkthroughs/snes/games/Finalfantasy6/gamegenie/

Hopefully, this helps you out.

Might also be worthwhile to look at action replay variants for the codes instead o game genie.

8 minutes ago, Sealarkspur said:

Does anyone have a code that would change the battle background to water, or that would teleport you to one of the water spots without screwing the game up?

That would probably not be as easy. But just google for it, maybe you'll come up with something(Just save before).
Double-check the code and if you did everything right. If Mog has water rondo, you don't have to worry at all - as you can get all other dances in WoR(AFAIK).

And also... go through some code sites, maybe you'll find a different code for learning dances - and that one may work then.

Deserts for general farming(Money, EL, EXP)

Fanatics is really good for EL farming.

For money, forest near WoR Jidoor. The frogs and, especially, movers give lotsa money.

For EXP, Dino Forest is still good. You level pretty fast there anyway - at least, till lvl 30. Leveling past 30 is intended to be real hard(As 30~ish is the intended "maximum").

12 hours ago, SGFTI said:

Arbitrary difficulty (sponges) doesn't really interest me. Fights that make you think rather than endure are more what I'm seeking. BNW did a good job of that, Nowea's patch helped make it a lil more extreme.

Something masochist but also well done is what I seek.

I see. Well, you should always remember that you can increase the challenge yourself by imposing some rules on the run
In, for example, FF8, I made it a decently difficult(Yet more fun) challenge to limit the spells, junctions and abilities of each character to make them more unique and tried my best to not exploit the game in any way.

So, if you find something that looks really good, but is not hard enough for your tastes(Like BNW without Nowea's patch), you can always try to alter the difficulty via self-imposed challenges and restrictions.

And yeah, arbitrary difficulty... sucks. Sometimes, though... It is all a game needs. There are many games that have strong combat systems, but ultimately are too easy for you to use "advanced tactics" and/or have some exploits that ruin the difficulty curve.

Do you actually want arbitrary "hard modes", or are you more looking for a re-balance to emphasize strategy?
Many hard-types out there are just... annoying. Way too beefy enemies, making them a drag... oftentimes requiring absurd amounts of grinding~ With little thought put into the actual combat system.

BNW and, from what I gather, new threat both mainly aim at making the gameplay "better", not harder. As a side effect, the games get harder(As easy games don't really allow for strategy).

So do you just want a "hard-type", or first and foremost gameplay overhaul? 

Recently finished bnw myself  and am also interested in this. I heard about the aforementioned ff7 mod - if anyone here as on hand experience with it, I'd be interested to hear.

14 hours ago, thzfunnymzn said:

In the words of some of the children I've taught, ya'll are trippin' if ya'll think claws ain't used at all. Berserk + Elemental Claws = dead boss. Sabin can even berserk himself, IIRC. Also good for hammering a foe with low p.def. Or just for hitting a specific foe in a crowd instead of hoping Bum Rush does the right thing.

Hm, ya might be right. I tend to use claws for elemental sniping primarily and slapped a black belt onto Sabin. Can be useful vs multiple foes, too.
I view them more as a secondary damage tool. A decent tool nonetheless, but secondary. Tying the bulk of Stam Sabin's damage output to counters would make them more of a main damage output. But yeah, beserking vig Sabin is pretty strong - though, weaker than bumrush spam(when not elemental sniping) I'd wager...?

28 minutes ago, BTB said:

Quoth the Readme:

Whoops, totally forgot those. However, this Love Token situation is the first one I experienced of the creeping Gau and it happened consistently when his Zap got covered by an Ally, not in any other circumstance.
I hope this info may at least help in identifying the problem.

One, possibly two, bugs encountered during the Isis fight, both having to do with Gau.

Had Gau with the conjurer rage. When he attacks using "Zap" while someone is enticed by Love Token to cover, Gau will inch forward. Nothing gamebreaking, but annoying.

Secondly, Gau only casted Rerise on his side of the field, never on the opposing side. Maybe I just got really unlucky with the RNG, but it could be worth looking into it. He should be able to cast rerise on anyone in the party, after all. Incidentally, that made the fight a lot harder.

4 hours ago, SuperHario said:

I’m not saying the other C/C options are not better, just trying to make Stam Sabin relatively viable since the verdict now is that he’s not.  And his use comes down to Kefka’s Tower, when you have to use nearly everyone, so the question is where would he best fit.  Other places, of course you can use others, that’s the case now and each player is going to have preferences about who to bring, with Stam Sabin being pretty low in the pecking order.

An alternative option to slightly improve Sabin’s cover capability is to put minor PDef and/or PEvade stats on his claws.  You could argue that the claws are like gauntlets, providing some protection, and he’s more agile with them relative to someone with a broad sword.  This latter point gets me thinking - is it possible to start with high PEvade and weapons reduce it by varying amounts?

As to Stam-based claw counters, this does not really fit thematically (Omega being the exception, of course).  But to make the new blitz more unique, I suppose it could be a Stam-based cover chance of any single target attack, and guaranteed counter with Stam-based damage.  If equipped with Black belt, I think it would only offer a claw counter chance in response to physical attacks, though (I.e., current practice).

But Vig Sabin is strong already. That's the one stam Sabin really has to compete with in terms of powerlevel - and a very awkward counter wouldn't help.
I'd also oppose granting him more basic defence via claws. He has low defence, rather medium dodge.. but very high health. That's fine as it is.

Thematically, I do not see where there is really a disconnect. Stamina already being THE counter stat and all. As mentioned, bonus damage based on Stamina could also be possible. I just want to push claws more into the limelight, really. While they are plenty strong on Vig builds, you'd probably just Rush over them in most scenarios.

Sabin being low in the pecking order in general is fine, but Stam Sabin shouldn't be noticeably less desiraable than Vig Sabin(A very solid dps).

11 hours ago, Shax said:

Cover Sabin really loves Death Ward(or the relevant Gaurd/Wall ring pre-Death Ward) and Regen, but can't have all three at the same time. I'm dubious whether auto safe & shell +regen would even be enough tankyness, but what that really means is I need to play this game again. Oh the humanity! Thankfully Regen is a fairly common spell so many teams will be able to buff him should he need it. Further proof that the father daughter dynamic duo is great for him with both regen and reraise spells each. Now if only he could get all of the above and counter because obviously Sabin needs EVERYTHING.

He is bulky enough to not require the autos. Think Speed is a much more appreciated stat on Stam Sabin especially.

2 hours ago, JohnFuklaw said:

For Hario's idea with the Retort-like Blitz, what if while in the "counter-ready" state, Sabin takes reduced damage based on his Stamina?

Heh, that was my first idea that started this. Stamina based Damage Reduction while covering - this would rather clearly make this a Stam-Sabin only move.


But~ I think we fleshed out the idea a bit. Some kind of skill that allows Sabin to C/C with(maybe) stamina based DR and stamina based counter. I like the idea, as it fits for a monk-style character, is a special kind of C/C and cements stam Sabin more as a support Sabin. Now onto the details:
I'd be in favor of non-physical C/Cing, to give him something very special over any other cover user.
Additionally, duration is a question. As a runic-esque ability, it could work(last until any other action is taken). There is also the possibility to let it last for X C/Cs, or a set amount of turns -  or a combination of both. It could also become inactive once his health drops down to a certain stage.
How the counterattack should work is a small discussion point. Think it should be a stamina based counter - I'd personally like to incorporate claws, as the Vig build under-utilizes them(Except for weakness sniping/doom procs) - either replace vig with stam in the counter formula, or add stam based bonus damage for claws. A simple stam based counter works, too(Would look cool with Wind Slash animation). Another question is how damaging his counters should end up being. They could be the builds best offence and be rather damaging - the unreliable nature allows that. Could have a double-dipping problem(Stamina=Offence&Defence). Could also have a medium damage output, putting the defensive use at the forefront.

Hm, maybe we should create a poll, just to get a better feel for general reception on the idea.

2 hours ago, SuperHario said:

As funnyman says, Stam Sabin implies a generous amount of Terrato, and a Royal Jacket or Red Cap (if Force Robe becomes a thing) give +25% to HP, so Stam Sabin will not be lacking HP.  Plus Golem gives the (slight) boost to PDef.  Could also give Sabin the option to equip Snow Muffler for more HP+ possibilities; he is a ‘bear’ after all and certainly a closer physical resemblance to Umaro than Gau or Gogo.

As to losing a turn, the ability to cover potentially saves a revival of an ally (making up for the lost turn), and putting a life bell on him could do wonders for not needing to dedicate a healer to him (even more so if Mantra sets regen, again to save a relic slot).  

With all these skills and using no relics (summon Golem, then self-cast Safe once it expires), Sabin with some status protection relics becomes pretty tanky, with respectable damage  (to answer your question), and is primarily there to facilitate the full activities of his allies.  This is his selfless monk build.  I see him best suited to supporting frail nukers (Relm, morphed Terra, X-mages), if you don’t want to bother with self MP management or using items.

But... Why not use any of the other, better cover users then? But the direction sounds good regardless.
I simply do not think saving a relic slot is worth giving up too many turns. You can easily slap cover on any of the actually tanky characters - and they'll do it well enough.

Having this kind of C/C skill requires it to be actually good. Granted, many options for that. Not to mention, if he could only C/C physicals, he'd be very limited. Having him be able to cover single-target non-physicals would be a new and unique thing. DR while covering to actually make him survive and not go down in a few hits and stam-based claw counters, to put those more into the limelight in terms of the damage output of the build.