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FFVIII Crystal 1.5.5 / Remastered Version 1.1.5
Introduction
FFVIII Crystal is a rebalancing mod for FFVIII that began as a self-imposed class-based challenge playthrough roughly 10 years ago and still retains some of its features. It attempts to make each character more distinct, dial back some of the overtuned mechanics and abilities of FFVIII, and make the game more challenging while keeping the "flavor" of the original game.This mod is intended for the English 2013 Steam release of FFVIII and is playable from start to finish.
Steam-2013: Nexus / itch.io
Remastered PC/Switch: Nexus / itch.io
Donations
Characters
Enemies
Most enemies now have a fixed level in order to accommodate the changes to characters and leveling, though bosses and certain enemies still scale in some fashion. Many enemies use abilities they didn't before, and some are new. Enemy AI scripts have been adjusted to make them smarter and less wasteful of their turns, with some having new AI scripts altogether. Bosses have been made more challenging and given new abilities and mechanics.
Undead status has been removed from enemies, and formerly undead enemies now tend to have high Vit and a weakness to Holy and Fire. Sleep now halves an enemy's Vitality for the duration. Curse can be inflicted on enemies and reduces their Str and Mag by 20%.
Magic
Offensive spells have been strengthened across the board while curative spells have been weakened slightly. Demi, Aura, Double, Triple, and Meltdown are now enemy-only spells. A low-level Holy-element spell, a low-level Earth-element damage spell, and a high-level Water damage spell have been added. Pain now deals Poison-element damage, effectively making it a high-level Bio. Death has become Doom, which inflicts Doom and deals non-elemental damage.
Command Abilities
In an effort to make FFVIII's special commands more interesting, worthwhile, and distinct from other abilities, almost all of them have been replaced outright and most of the remainder have been altered in some way.
- Double: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Double status.
- Mad Rush: Spends 1/2 current HP to grant the user Berserk, Haste, and Reflect.
- Chakra: Restores a percentage of one character's HP and removes a handful of status effects.
- Defend: Defend now costs 1/4 of the user's current HP.
- Darkside: The damage multiplier has been decreased while the damage dealt to the user has increased.
- Pray: Restores HP to all allies.
- Nightsword: Vitality-ignoring damage that drains HP and inflicts Curse.
- Shock: Physical damage and Poison to all enemies.
- Aurabolt: Vit-ignoring damage that inflicts Darkness and Sleep.
- Aura: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Aura status. Aura's effect on Crisis Level has decreased, but its duration has increased.
- Kamikaze: The user sacrifices themselves to deal Vitality-ignoring damage and inflict Vit 0 on all enemies; also the player's only source of Vit 0.
- Devour: Stat increases have been replaced with helpful status effects; the amount of HP lost by negative Devours has been decreased or removed.
- Card: Unchanged.
- GF: The command itself is the same, but GF HP has been lowered, G-Returners have been removed, and Compatibility is now a fixed value.
Miscellaneous
- New items and battle items have been added.
- Several new sidequests have been added and existing ones have been adjusted to give more significant rewards, including abilities not learned by the characters' GFs.
- There are now more choices that can lower the player's SeeD rank points.
- Shops have been given more unique inventories.
Changelog
Installation
Credits
Programs Used:
Doomtrain by alexfilth, Maki, and JWP
Deling by myst6re
Ifrit by Gjoerulv
Ifrit AI beta by JWP
Cactilio by JeMaCheHi
Quezacotl by JWP
Rinoa's Toolset by Maki
MnGrpEditor by Nightshade
JunkShop by alexfilth
Roses and Wine/Hext Tools by DLPB
Many thanks to everyone involved in creating these tools.
Thanks to Sega Chief for showing me how to fix enemy data files; to JWP for many of the exe edits used in this mod and for sharing them publically; to Callisto for locating and sharing the SeeD salary values; to Colly for the mngrp.bin Thingy tables; and a huge thanks to UpRisen, goodmorninpluto, Nikkolas, and Dorklord for feedback and bug-finding.
Lastly, a huge thanks to everyone in the FFVIII modding community. I couldn't have made this without you and your efforts.
Introduction
FFVIII Crystal is a rebalancing mod for FFVIII that began as a self-imposed class-based challenge playthrough roughly 10 years ago and still retains some of its features. It attempts to make each character more distinct, dial back some of the overtuned mechanics and abilities of FFVIII, and make the game more challenging while keeping the "flavor" of the original game.This mod is intended for the English 2013 Steam release of FFVIII and is playable from start to finish.
Steam-2013: Nexus / itch.io
Remastered PC/Switch: Nexus / itch.io
Donations
Characters
Basic stat junctions have been removed in favor of more meaningful gains through leveling. Junctions for Elem-Atk, Elem-Def, Status-Atk, and Status-Def are still available, and the values that spells add to each have been adjusted. Additionally, each character joins the party with a GF tailored to their abilities.
This mod is designed around limiting which spells can be used by characters who possess the Magic command. This information is provided below as well as in the in-game Information section, but as it is not hard-coded into the gameplay, you can ignore this aspect of the mod if you wish.
Squall
- Knight archetype that borrows from the Paladin and Dark Knight classes
- High Vit and solid physical damage, low Spr and Spd
- GF: Bahamut
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF 1 ability (Cure, Esuna, Dia, Water, Scan, Float, Blind, Confuse, Sleep, Silence, Berserk) + Regen and Zombie
Squall's Limit Break damage has been lowered and all finishers but Lion Heart now inflict a status effect. New finishers are now gained according to blade type, so the Cutting Trigger is the first gunblade to give Fated Circle and Twin Lance is the first to give Blasting Zone.
Quistis
- Blue Mage with solid stats all around, but low Spd
- GF: Shiva
- Usable spells: N/A
Blue Magic is generally weaker in order to balance it around regular usage. Degenerator has been removed and some Blue Magic spells have had their properties changed with the aim of making as many of them useful as possible.
Zell
- Monk archetype with High HP and Str, weak defenses, high Spd
- GF: Ifrit
- Usable spells: N/A
The button combinations for Duel attacks have been changed, the timer has been shortened, and the move sequences are simpler. Most of Zell's Duel attacks now have an elemental property:
Dolphin Blow: Water
Meteor Strike: Earth
Burning Rave: Fire
Meteor Barret: Thunder
Basic Duel attacks, Different Beat, and My Final Heaven remain non-elemental.
Selphie
- Black Mage archetype with a hint of Red Mage
- High Mag and Spr, low HP, Str, and Vit
- GF: Tonberry
- Usable spells: All spells included in the BLK-RF series of abilities + Dispel, Meteor, Ultima
Full-cure is no longer in Slot, but Percent has been added to Slot and deals 50% HP damage to all enemies. The End now deals massive damage instead of inflicting Death. Additionally, healing/defensive options have been removed from Slot in favor of more offensive ones. Selphie's weapons now deal magic-based damage.
Rinoa
- White Mage archetype with high Mag and Spr, middling Str and Spd and low Vit
- GF: Carbuncle
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF series of abilities
Angelo's attacks are Str-based, Angelo Strike inflicts Confusion, and Invincible Moon now grants Regen and is the only source of Invincibility in the mod. Angelo Search has been removed, but all other Angelo passives remain. Angel Wing's damage multiplier is x2 instead of x5 and now uses JWP's Angel Wing patch, which makes Rinoa cast only certain spells regardless of whether they're in her inventory. She has a chance to cast the following spells during Angel Wing, grouped in order from most to least likely: {Holy, Waterga}, {Flare}, {Doom, Meteor, Tornado}, {Pain, Quake}, {Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga}, {Curaga, Slow}, {Ultima}, {Haste}, {Wall}, {Aura}, {Apocalypse}
Irvine
- Middling Str and Mag, low defensive stats, high Spd and Luck
- GF: Cerberus (2013) / Cactuar (Remastered)
- Usable spells: N/A
Each of Irvine's guns have unique properties instead of being straight upgrades like other characters' weapons; additionally, each gun requires only one item to make, all of which can be bought in shops. Weapon properties are as follows:
Valiant: Basic, well-rounded
Ulysses: High base damage and Str, low accuracy
Bismark: Boasts the highest Str bonus, but its normal attack is weak
Exeter: Heals the target
Shot is generally weaker to account for more regular usage and the timer is shorter. Dark Shot now inflicts Poison damage. Hyper Shot is now the powerful attack it always should've been, but there are a limited number of Pulse Ammo in the game.
This mod is designed around limiting which spells can be used by characters who possess the Magic command. This information is provided below as well as in the in-game Information section, but as it is not hard-coded into the gameplay, you can ignore this aspect of the mod if you wish.
Squall
- Knight archetype that borrows from the Paladin and Dark Knight classes
- High Vit and solid physical damage, low Spr and Spd
- GF: Bahamut
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF 1 ability (Cure, Esuna, Dia, Water, Scan, Float, Blind, Confuse, Sleep, Silence, Berserk) + Regen and Zombie
Squall's Limit Break damage has been lowered and all finishers but Lion Heart now inflict a status effect. New finishers are now gained according to blade type, so the Cutting Trigger is the first gunblade to give Fated Circle and Twin Lance is the first to give Blasting Zone.
Quistis
- Blue Mage with solid stats all around, but low Spd
- GF: Shiva
- Usable spells: N/A
Blue Magic is generally weaker in order to balance it around regular usage. Degenerator has been removed and some Blue Magic spells have had their properties changed with the aim of making as many of them useful as possible.
Zell
- Monk archetype with High HP and Str, weak defenses, high Spd
- GF: Ifrit
- Usable spells: N/A
The button combinations for Duel attacks have been changed, the timer has been shortened, and the move sequences are simpler. Most of Zell's Duel attacks now have an elemental property:
Dolphin Blow: Water
Meteor Strike: Earth
Burning Rave: Fire
Meteor Barret: Thunder
Basic Duel attacks, Different Beat, and My Final Heaven remain non-elemental.
Selphie
- Black Mage archetype with a hint of Red Mage
- High Mag and Spr, low HP, Str, and Vit
- GF: Tonberry
- Usable spells: All spells included in the BLK-RF series of abilities + Dispel, Meteor, Ultima
Full-cure is no longer in Slot, but Percent has been added to Slot and deals 50% HP damage to all enemies. The End now deals massive damage instead of inflicting Death. Additionally, healing/defensive options have been removed from Slot in favor of more offensive ones. Selphie's weapons now deal magic-based damage.
Rinoa
- White Mage archetype with high Mag and Spr, middling Str and Spd and low Vit
- GF: Carbuncle
- Usable spells: All spells included in the WHT-RF series of abilities
Angelo's attacks are Str-based, Angelo Strike inflicts Confusion, and Invincible Moon now grants Regen and is the only source of Invincibility in the mod. Angelo Search has been removed, but all other Angelo passives remain. Angel Wing's damage multiplier is x2 instead of x5 and now uses JWP's Angel Wing patch, which makes Rinoa cast only certain spells regardless of whether they're in her inventory. She has a chance to cast the following spells during Angel Wing, grouped in order from most to least likely: {Holy, Waterga}, {Flare}, {Doom, Meteor, Tornado}, {Pain, Quake}, {Blizzaga, Firaga, Thundaga}, {Curaga, Slow}, {Ultima}, {Haste}, {Wall}, {Aura}, {Apocalypse}
Irvine
- Middling Str and Mag, low defensive stats, high Spd and Luck
- GF: Cerberus (2013) / Cactuar (Remastered)
- Usable spells: N/A
Each of Irvine's guns have unique properties instead of being straight upgrades like other characters' weapons; additionally, each gun requires only one item to make, all of which can be bought in shops. Weapon properties are as follows:
Valiant: Basic, well-rounded
Ulysses: High base damage and Str, low accuracy
Bismark: Boasts the highest Str bonus, but its normal attack is weak
Exeter: Heals the target
Shot is generally weaker to account for more regular usage and the timer is shorter. Dark Shot now inflicts Poison damage. Hyper Shot is now the powerful attack it always should've been, but there are a limited number of Pulse Ammo in the game.
Enemies
Most enemies now have a fixed level in order to accommodate the changes to characters and leveling, though bosses and certain enemies still scale in some fashion. Many enemies use abilities they didn't before, and some are new. Enemy AI scripts have been adjusted to make them smarter and less wasteful of their turns, with some having new AI scripts altogether. Bosses have been made more challenging and given new abilities and mechanics.
Undead status has been removed from enemies, and formerly undead enemies now tend to have high Vit and a weakness to Holy and Fire. Sleep now halves an enemy's Vitality for the duration. Curse can be inflicted on enemies and reduces their Str and Mag by 20%.
Magic
Offensive spells have been strengthened across the board while curative spells have been weakened slightly. Demi, Aura, Double, Triple, and Meltdown are now enemy-only spells. A low-level Holy-element spell, a low-level Earth-element damage spell, and a high-level Water damage spell have been added. Pain now deals Poison-element damage, effectively making it a high-level Bio. Death has become Doom, which inflicts Doom and deals non-elemental damage.
Command Abilities
In an effort to make FFVIII's special commands more interesting, worthwhile, and distinct from other abilities, almost all of them have been replaced outright and most of the remainder have been altered in some way.
- Double: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Double status.
- Mad Rush: Spends 1/2 current HP to grant the user Berserk, Haste, and Reflect.
- Chakra: Restores a percentage of one character's HP and removes a handful of status effects.
- Defend: Defend now costs 1/4 of the user's current HP.
- Darkside: The damage multiplier has been decreased while the damage dealt to the user has increased.
- Pray: Restores HP to all allies.
- Nightsword: Vitality-ignoring damage that drains HP and inflicts Curse.
- Shock: Physical damage and Poison to all enemies.
- Aurabolt: Vit-ignoring damage that inflicts Darkness and Sleep.
- Aura: Spends 1/4 current HP to grant the user Aura status. Aura's effect on Crisis Level has decreased, but its duration has increased.
- Kamikaze: The user sacrifices themselves to deal Vitality-ignoring damage and inflict Vit 0 on all enemies; also the player's only source of Vit 0.
- Devour: Stat increases have been replaced with helpful status effects; the amount of HP lost by negative Devours has been decreased or removed.
- Card: Unchanged.
- GF: The command itself is the same, but GF HP has been lowered, G-Returners have been removed, and Compatibility is now a fixed value.
Miscellaneous
- New items and battle items have been added.
- Several new sidequests have been added and existing ones have been adjusted to give more significant rewards, including abilities not learned by the characters' GFs.
- There are now more choices that can lower the player's SeeD rank points.
- Shops have been given more unique inventories.
Changelog
1.4 / Remastered Version 1.0: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240320/
1.3-1.3.2: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240319/
1.2: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240295/
1.1.1: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240267/
1.1: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240255/
1.0.2a
- Corrected HP Up's item type.
1.0.2
- Fixed text display errors in the WHT-RF 1 and WHT-RF 2 Information menus.
- Fixed camera angles in certain battles.
- Replaced Esthar Soldier's Ultra Waves with Noiseblaster/Sunbeam.
- Lowered train fare prices.
- Fixed a display issue with Minotaur's in-battle dialogue.
- Grand Mantis: Melting Bubble is now a mid-level attack; uses Silence at low levels instead.
- Creeps: Float added to Draw list.
- Various changes to world map encounters and encounter regions.
- Changed items available in Chocobo Forests.
- Mog's Bounty item removed; replaced with Mega-Remedy, which heals several status abnormalities for all allies.
- Mega-Remedy added to Esthar Shop!!!.
- Altered final bosses' behavior.
- Preparation for future updates.
- Misc. changes.
1.0.1
- Fixed the crash before getting your initial SeeD rank.
- Fixed the issue with Shiva's name menu appearing multiple times.
- Miscellaneous fixes.
- Bite Bug and Vampire Bat will use fewer moves at low levels.
- Caterchipillar's bite no longer poisons and Ultra Waves' status attack power is lower.
- T-Rexaur's status properties changed; immune to Sleep but can now be Blinded, but only once.
- Ifrit can counter Blizzard with Fira and has a new move called Firewall that protects it from Ice attacks.
1.3-1.3.2: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240319/
1.2: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240295/
1.1.1: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240267/
1.1: https://www.ff7catalog.com/posts/240255/
1.0.2a
- Corrected HP Up's item type.
1.0.2
- Fixed text display errors in the WHT-RF 1 and WHT-RF 2 Information menus.
- Fixed camera angles in certain battles.
- Replaced Esthar Soldier's Ultra Waves with Noiseblaster/Sunbeam.
- Lowered train fare prices.
- Fixed a display issue with Minotaur's in-battle dialogue.
- Grand Mantis: Melting Bubble is now a mid-level attack; uses Silence at low levels instead.
- Creeps: Float added to Draw list.
- Various changes to world map encounters and encounter regions.
- Changed items available in Chocobo Forests.
- Mog's Bounty item removed; replaced with Mega-Remedy, which heals several status abnormalities for all allies.
- Mega-Remedy added to Esthar Shop!!!.
- Altered final bosses' behavior.
- Preparation for future updates.
- Misc. changes.
1.0.1
- Fixed the crash before getting your initial SeeD rank.
- Fixed the issue with Shiva's name menu appearing multiple times.
- Miscellaneous fixes.
- Bite Bug and Vampire Bat will use fewer moves at low levels.
- Caterchipillar's bite no longer poisons and Ultra Waves' status attack power is lower.
- T-Rexaur's status properties changed; immune to Sleep but can now be Blinded, but only once.
- Ifrit can counter Blizzard with Fira and has a new move called Firewall that protects it from Ice attacks.
Installation
1. Install Roses and Wine (R07), available here to the game's root folder.
2. Copy the FFVIII Crystal.txt file in the Hext folder into Roses and Wine's RaW/GLOBAL/Hext folder.
3. Back up the files in your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder before continuing.
4. Copy the files in FFVIII Crystal/lang-en into your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder.
Be sure to start a new save file.
Methods of verifying installation:
1)init.out - Upon starting a new game, your inventory should be:
Potion x3
Phoenix Down x3
Antidote x3
Eye Drops x2
Tent x1
2)kernel.bin - Potions should heal for 400 HP instead of 300.
3)shop.bin - Balamb Shop won't sell Hi-Potions.
4)price.bin - Phoenix Downs will cost 2000 gil.
5) Field.fs - After naming Squall at the start of the game, you should be prompted to name Bahamut.
6) Battle.fs - The Bite Bugs in Balamb will be able to use Fart and Whirlwind. Ifrit will be accompanied by a Buel.
7) .exe changes - You should be able to Draw a maximum of 15 of a spell.
2. Copy the FFVIII Crystal.txt file in the Hext folder into Roses and Wine's RaW/GLOBAL/Hext folder.
3. Back up the files in your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder before continuing.
4. Copy the files in FFVIII Crystal/lang-en into your FFVIII/Data/lang-en folder.
Be sure to start a new save file.
Methods of verifying installation:
1)init.out - Upon starting a new game, your inventory should be:
Potion x3
Phoenix Down x3
Antidote x3
Eye Drops x2
Tent x1
2)kernel.bin - Potions should heal for 400 HP instead of 300.
3)shop.bin - Balamb Shop won't sell Hi-Potions.
4)price.bin - Phoenix Downs will cost 2000 gil.
5) Field.fs - After naming Squall at the start of the game, you should be prompted to name Bahamut.
6) Battle.fs - The Bite Bugs in Balamb will be able to use Fart and Whirlwind. Ifrit will be accompanied by a Buel.
7) .exe changes - You should be able to Draw a maximum of 15 of a spell.
Credits
Programs Used:
Doomtrain by alexfilth, Maki, and JWP
Deling by myst6re
Ifrit by Gjoerulv
Ifrit AI beta by JWP
Cactilio by JeMaCheHi
Quezacotl by JWP
Rinoa's Toolset by Maki
MnGrpEditor by Nightshade
JunkShop by alexfilth
Roses and Wine/Hext Tools by DLPB
Many thanks to everyone involved in creating these tools.
Thanks to Sega Chief for showing me how to fix enemy data files; to JWP for many of the exe edits used in this mod and for sharing them publically; to Callisto for locating and sharing the SeeD salary values; to Colly for the mngrp.bin Thingy tables; and a huge thanks to UpRisen, goodmorninpluto, Nikkolas, and Dorklord for feedback and bug-finding.
Lastly, a huge thanks to everyone in the FFVIII modding community. I couldn't have made this without you and your efforts.
Last edited:
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