[FF7PC-98/Steam] gjoerulv's "Hardcore" mod (v1.0.7.2)

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Once you can beat a lone Sweeper, you're set. It'll drop a Bolt Plume (if it doesn't, reset and try again). You can use this against the encounter of a Sweeper, a Robot and the Shinra guy to win it in one move. You'll usually get 2 potions and another Bolt Plume from this. If you don't get the Bolt Plume, reset, if it's just the potions missing, keep going (you'll still get EXP after all). If you encounter any more lone Sweepers, try to take them out without the Bolt Plume so you can have more than one - it's a really good item early-game, and Sweepers by themself are not hard to defeat.
 
Hey guys, I'm just wondering, does this affect the growth rate for the party's stats? I installed the mod on a playthrough and I'm being annihilated so I'm wondering if I just have to grind or restart the game.
 
Grind.... but honestly, you should play it from the start... there's differences when what stuff is available, and some completely new bosses...
 
Not to mention if you start halfway thorugh you're missing out on some truely intense boss fights and gameplay.
 
I started replaying as soon as Cloud's first flashback was finished, in that town after you leave Midgar. Did I miss that much? I honestly don't feel like restarting the game, as much as I love the Midgar parts.

And I figured I had to grind more, the amount of exp I'm getting in relation to how much I need for the next level is fairly high. I grinded for a bit and now I'm strong enough to survive The Materia Keeper on Mt. Nibel but not kill it.
 
You've missed a shocking fight with a guard scorpion and the first Venus Theo Locke fight the fight against Reno was interesting but I wouldn't have called it strategic i don't think a 1 on 1 fight in a final fantasy game can be strategic. But missing the first Lock Theo Venus fight is fairly big.
 
I don't think a 1 on 1 fight in a final fantasy game can be strategic.
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you really think this? I am shocked. I always thought these were where the better strategies were needed.
 
Well my reasoning is simple during a 1 on 1 it's all about set-up, if your materia config is good and you're around the right level you can win, where-as in the other fights you need the proper set-up as well as the right battle strategy, and there is undeniably more options if you have more people.

I really found 1 on 1 fights to be mainly about sadness and big guard. as well as just not being reckless and keeping your health up
 
Dyne is a good one-on-one fight. Unless you're quite overlevelled (unless gjoerulv intended a significantly higher level than I had by this point), you're not going to be able to do much damage and keep your health up, so poison and/or counterattack is a must.


Anyway, I've played more from where I left off last time, my feedback from Nibelheim.

Mt Nibel actually seemed more fun and less tedious than I'm used to in this mod. Those MP-sucking bastards were a huge pain though. I think in general there's a bit of a problem in this area - enemies that attack MP do so way too strongly. It's nice to see them actually hit MP, but the damage needs to be toned down a bit IMO - one attack is often enough to completely shut down a mage for a turn or two, and using an Ether doesn't always do anything since they're likely to hit you with it again before the next turn. Materia Keeper sadly wasn't anything too special, but not bad. I have to ask - did you do ANYTHING to Palmer? It seems he was the same as in vanilla. I know he's meant to be a bit of a joke, but upping his damage or throwing in a status effect or two couldn't hurt. I didn't try (or even run into) the infamous Dragon yet, might go back and have a go before I wind up with Disc 1, just to see what he's like.

I had a couple of tries (beyond the compulsory one) in the battle square while I was there. Didn't manage to beat it. Will try again at some point, but it's finally the sort of challenge it should be IMO. Good work here.

Temple of the Ancients was quite good. I found the random encounters here to have a very good level of difficulty - not so high that you virtually need a recovery after every one, but not so low that they're boring. The bosses... I have to say, Red Dragon was insane. I didn't expect such a huge jump. I had to grind a bit for him, and use Poison (along with attacks, it wasn't my sole source of damage unlike with Dyne). Good fight. Compared to that, Demon Gate was actually quite a disappointment... he was little more than a matter of having Barrier (no need for MBarrier, so you can just use Barrier+All, and get the full power of Cura while you're at it) and Sadness up at all times to keep the damage manageable, and attacking away. To be honest, the both-sides attack with the Ancient Dragons was more trouble for me... until I noticed their weakness to Gravity. xD

Since I'm often running into trouble with some bosses (and even occasionally random encounters), I'm wondering if I'm at a lower level than you intended... I'm at around level 35 now, after just finishing Temple of the Ancients.

Anyway, looking forward to the Kjata boss (who I've heard nothing about bar that there *is* one) and seeing what Jenova-LIFE is capable of. Probably gonna go back and try Midgar Zolom before I wrap up Disc 1 too.

EDIT: Haven't done Wutai yet either, so I'll do that before finishing Disc 1 too.
 
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 - enemies that attack MP do so way too strongly. It's nice to see them actually hit MP, but the damage needs to be toned down a bit IMO -
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- did you do ANYTHING to Palmer?
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Thanks for feedback.  :)
The MP attacks stays. It can be considered a way of preventing magic use and spending more ethers. It also makes you wonder if it's worth using ethers between battles.

Palmer is very much the same. Only he do a more damage.

There is no "correct" level at any point. If you're stuck you may want to do some grinding, but it should be doable without any grinding. The only grinding one need is leveling up materia and getting items like ethers and remedies.
 
Magic attacks generally haven't been that useful against MP drainers; it's the lack of Cura that makes it a major issue.
 
Not necessarily against these guys. It could go cross battles. Anyway, there are items too, and one should expect some handicaps playing a hard mod. Besides, they're not that difficult to beat.
 
Hey, I'm just giving my opinions. =P

I've played up to the base of Gaia's Cliff now (including the Wutai sidequest). As usual, my feedback:

Wutai was decent. I actually expected Raaps to be a lot harder given the no materia handicap, but I see you actually adjusted quite well for it. Good work. The tower was somewhat challenging. I'm not sure if it's something you've done or something that's always been there, but I like how if you try to get rid of Godo's MP, he spams Beast Sword. xD

At first, I thought Adamantamai was a bit on the overpowered side. The whole "attack him and he nearly wipes out your whole party while taking very little damage" thing... until I noticed a few weaknesses he had (vunerability to Stop, and the fact that Light Shell is magical meaning you can manipulate him then just have him use it over and over on himself). Nice to see a battle that can't be won by brute force. =)

The Kjata boss was, IMO, a bit too much on the easy side. For one, a single summon of Bahamut will take out Levant, while Beta makes quick work of the blue one, leaving only the yellow guy who, by himself, is easier than some random encounters.

Jenova-LIFE was a nice challenge. I'm not liking this Dual status effect too much though - mostly due to the lack of any obvious way to heal it (however, I noticed that it and Regen cancel each other out, so I've been using Regen as a countermeasure). She's still a bit over-reliant on elemental attacks, but at least it's more than one element and she does have a non-elemental attack now.

Spent hours walking around Great Glacier trying to find the Alexander fight (did you move it? Maybe my memory was a bit on the bad side), and to be honest... it was far too easy. Unless I got lucky and she never used it, it appears she can't do any HP damage that isn't ice-elemental. The MP-attacker problem also comes up again (both with her and some random encounters in this area) - I mean, it's one thing to be attacking it, but >1000 MP damage at a point in the game where your MP is barely 300? Just a suggestion... it seems all the MP attacks are either "get rid of 100% of your MP" or "do way more MP damage than your MP would be at this point" (with the exception of MP Hammer and Aspil), don't you think attacks that actually take part of your MP (and thus, instead of just being "f*ck you, no magic for you!", they're more "you're goign to have to be careful about which/how much magic you use" - which could allow for more interesting battles, as the wider variety of magic means it'll always be more interesting than a plan Attack-fest).

One other comment - those guys on the beach near Bone Village, don't you think that's making Beta a bit *too* accessible (although I noticed you slightly nerfed it in that it's now reflectable - I never quite understood why previously it wasn't yet Aqualung was)? It was actually somewhat annoying to finally put in the effort and get it from Midgar Zolom, only to immediately find a much easier source... and on the same note, Beta makes insanely quick work of the Great Glacier enemies, Snow seems to be the only common one that can survive it... I wasn't really surprised with Aqualung making quick work of everything back when I got it (since I kinda got the impression I wasn't meant to have it that soon), but maybe these enemies should've been a bit tougher?

EDIT: Also, has Laser been modified? It did 1/2 HP damage to an enemy that Sense reported as being weak against Gravity, so that'd suggest to me that it now only does 1/4... however, the description still says 1/2...

ANOTHER EDIT: I forgot to mention I fought the Mideel enemies a bit. They're nice, although Kwim seems impossible to hit... or is there just some trick I'm missing?
 
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quick question regarding steal: do enemies have 2 items or just 1 item to be stolen? i seem to recall that each enemy in vanilla only had 1 item to be stolen, yet the little enemy in the train graveyard gave both a potion or a fire claw. made for a bearable reno fight, that fire claw :P
 
That was always the case even in Vanilla. Not every monster has multiple options but quite a few do.
 
@taterz
You can only claim one item at a time from enemies, but they can hold 4 different items to drop/steal. If you steal something it won't drop anything. Some items can only be dropped; some items can only be stolen.

@LJH
Thanks again!
The Kujata boss can be fought right after you get the tiny bronco, when no bahamut can help you. I actually had bahamut in mind when I made 'em.  ;) Also, here is no need to wait for the Wutai quest.
Everything should be beatable as early as possible, but those materia cave bosses may need some materia mastering.

I didn't touch laser. In some cases enemies have this "can't avoid" property to some elements, thus the sense materia says it's weak to given element.

The Qwim enemy is immune to damage every time it rests (taking a break). After it counter attacks it's susceptible to damage. It's damage immunity is off every time you attack it, but it only counters attacks about 50% the action taken towards it. Not necessarily against the attacker. It also counters with hell charm some times, in other words, it may be difficult to know when it actually counter attacks. But it's immunity is off. To damage it effectively, you'll need to time your attacks in a way all (at least 2) of your characters attacks it before get it's turn. Basically after every action it takes have at least 2 characters ready to damage it. The 1st attack will be ignored, but the 2nd will damage it. Note that it may counter between the attacks, but it won't gain immunity with a counter.
 
just a shot in the dark, but did you increase the amount of items to be stolen from enemies compared to vanilla? being an increased difficulty i know how important items will be, and as such i've been stealing like a dirty criminal every chance i get. so far it doesn't look like the bosses at the least haven't been changed, except the ones added in.
 
Wow... that's quite a complex for a random encounter. That would've actually been quite nice as a boss.

Also... IMO the great glacier enemies give a bit too much AP. EXP is good but AP is a bit over the top. Just my three cents (cause I'm not stingy so I give more than two).

I'm just before Schizo now (haven't actually fought him yet, just at the save point before him) so I'll let you know how that one goes. He's another one that gives me HEAPS of trouble even in a normal game (and was one of the few bosses that gave me trouble in a No Materia game, along with Motor Ball, Midgar Zolom, Carry Armor and Bizzaro Sephiroth) so I'm really looking forward to it.

EDIT: One more thing: The joker-type enemies in Gaea's Cliff, it's a bit annoying how they use Remove on your guys leading to a quick, unblockable game over (or does Death immunity block it? I didn't actually try that, just thought of it now). Perhaps it could've been like Midgar Zolom's tail flick (ie: it counts as escape, not death), or like Shinryu from FFX with his Eraser (in that he won't use it if there's only one character left - I believe Ruby Weapon on vanilla FF7 is the same with Whirlsand?).

EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?
 
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EDIT: Very disappointed with Schizo; far too easy. Death Gigas'd Vincent with absorb Fire and Ice is cruise control for victory. Also, his attacks seem to be somewhat buggy - his earth counterattack, half the time Vincent absorbed it and half he didn't. He also absorbed the lightning final attack even though he had no reason to. Also, why does the ice breath attack sometimes give me positive statuses?
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He he, that's a 1st. I think about everyone who have given feedback on schizo say it's too hard. Same thing about Jenova death.
The key to winning this battle (schizo) is to guard against fire, ice, lightning and earth. You do that you win.
I can't explain why you get positive status effects. The single breath attacks should remove any positive effect. Maybe because you absorb the element?
Btw, i did not change the elemental properties of schizo's attacks, except removing fire and ice from double breath (the only non elemental attack).
 
.. Why didn't I think of that for Schizo?
I ended up making tifa resistant to everything but sometimes she'd randomly take damage, it was really confusing I assumed he had a few non-elemental attacks. and he was using them a lot I also had the same thing with the breaths giving good status' and sometimes removing them, also same thing with the earth elemtal half the tme I absorb half the time I get damaged.
 
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