I appreciate your help. I'll take a few more stabs at him tomorrow and if I'm well and truly stumped I'll take a fuller peek at the notes you sent me. Thanks a lot. I wouldn't usually ask for advice on a boss but I just don't want to have to give up the 4 hours I've spent in the sidequest and all the materia and limit mastering I've gained in the process.
No prob.
\\NT update//
Big change on the horizon, and it's to do with character stats & builds. Right now, and this is true of the default game even more, the characters in NT are quite samey with their stats and due to the pre-made stat arcs I've used there are times when characters intended to be proficient in a stat are overtaken by their rivals (Tifa, a physical hitter, having a higher magic stat than Aeris for instance on certain levels). While these are 'hidden' to an extent by stat boosts given by equipment it's not ideal, and definitely not what I'd originally hoped for. Character 'builds' are also limited entirely to equipment.
The ill-fated Arrange prototype tried to address this and create a system where the player would decide which directions to develop a character, with each character having a static set of stats that wouldn't change on level-up. This would make characters less reliant on equipment + limits for individuality, and allow a player more freedom in making dedicated builds for characters. It was supposed to get a trial run in the prototype, but it got KO'd by a serious balancing flaw caused by an early version of the current level synch + several technical issues.
This isn't being rolled out yet, but it's in the works. I think it'll make developing a team more involving for the player, and as part of it I've got a plan to add a quick set of 'Save Point' options that are triggered with a button press (Square/Switch for instance) to do things like toggle the music behaviour, use the new stat-boost system, etc. Currently, whenever you touch a save point a dialogue appears informing you that Save has been enabled. This text box is the perfect opportunity to have those options be available to trigger; it'd be 100% seamless as multiple dialogue boxes can be open on screen at once. I'll make a vid of it in action once the prototype is done.
As far as save compatibility goes, it'd be 100% compatible. Stats can only go up, not down.
Another thing I've got to do is get the optional .exe patch finalised and to start distributing the link for it on the main page. I also need to make a hext-compatible file for it, so it can be used with DLPB tools (and 7H I think).