[FF8PC-Steam] Ragnarok Rebalancing Mod (v1.2.3 & v1.1b)

[Callisto]

Edit: Out of curiosity, would it be possible to bring Ragnarok to the PS1 original game or are changes too extensive to allow that?

Making the mod compatible with the original PS1 game is something I would really like to do, but I don't think it's possible without several drawbacks compared to the other versions. As far as I know, most relevant files (such as enemy data and kernel.bin) need to retain their original size in order to work with emulators, so extensive edits to the enemy AI could be problematic, as they increase file size. I would never say never, but a complete port for the PS1 version is rather unlikely at the moment.

He was a little harder thanks to spamming Pain and Death once the pod was open, but otherwise was manageable thanks to Shell.
Now when both pods go red, oh boy, that's carnage, very hard to survive it, so I set Quists to hit any pod that had gone yellow, something I
also set Zell to do while Squall did the heavy hitting.

Death comes from one of the orbs and can therefore be avoided. In the base game, the orbs can be safely ignored as they are very slow and do only little damage, so they have been buffed by quite a bit. Anyway, it's good to hear the boss didn't give too much trouble.

Even though I have Mesmerize Blades on stock, I didn't have a chance to upgrade the gunblade yet and Zell is way behind weapon wise. I hope I can upgrade soon.

If you are after Squall's Flame Saber and didn't get any Missiles during the escape from D-District Prison, then I would recommend skipping the Flame Saber and go for the next weapon (Twin Lance) instead, as Missiles are difficult to come by after the prison events until reaching Esthar (will be made easier soon). The Twin Lance requires 2 Red Fangs that can be stolen from the Hexadragons that appear in forests on the Centra continent (rare encounter), and 2 Orihalcons that drop from Adamantoises found at the beach near Cactuar Island (to the southeast of Centra). The Hexadragons are quite threatening though, so be careful if you encounter one.

As for Zell, he has only 4 weapons in total, so if you are still on Maverick, that should be totally fine. It requires 4 Spider Webs and 1 Dragon Fin to make at the Junk Shop. Dragon Fins are rare in the early-game, but one can be found in Dollet as part of the dog sidequest if you do it before disc 3. If you have already reached Esthar, just mug them from the high-leveled Grendels that appear around the city on the world map, or try making the 3rd weapon (Gauntlet). One Giant's Ring can be found in one of the Chocobo Forests if I remember correctly, and one from Watts on the White SeeD ship in exchange for the Girl Next Door magazine, while Fury Fragments can be stolen from Blue Dragons that appear in snowy forests on the Trabia continent.

Thank you again for the report. Will update Standard Mode with slight nerfs to Wendigo, Tri-Face and a few other enemies soon. You are absolutely right that they are a little too powerful overall.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

Thanks for taking the time to read my somewhat haphazard comments. I appreciate it!

Regarding a future PS1 version of the mod, maybe an ECC recalculator would allow the changed files to behave properly and work correctly in an eventual patch.

I got through the Trabia segment (ventured out a bit, fought a few Snow Lions. These guys are super tanky, wow haha).

The fight with Fujin and Raijin was interesting, but it took a lot of patience. Fujin was constantly spamming Metsu which means I had to Esuna + Haste to counteract the effects so it felt like a fight of attrition.

I actually managed to build Flame Saber, so Squall is okay for now, I'm mostly worried about Zell's weapon (he's strong from stats + junctions alone, but I'd like to give him a bigger push).
Were materials changed a lot from the original ones needed?

I'm now at the part of the story where Galbaldia Garden crashes onto Balamb. Been grinding a bit to get -ga spells and to level up Quistis (she's way behind) and also trying to get all junctions for Pandemona.

Once more, thanks for working on this great mod and making the game actually fun to play.

Edit: Missiles can be mugged from one of the robot encounters during Galbaldia's attack; same bots that appear in the D-District Prison, though I haven't scanned to check Lv; probably higher.

 

[Callisto]

Your comments are fine, no worries. I'll take a look into the ECC recalculator you mentioned. Thanks.

Snow Lion's HP are actually unchanged from the base game. I guess they should be reduced a little, as encounters with it can take very long without using Demi or Diablos on it.

As the overall changes to weapon materials, some are totally different, some remain the same. Here is a list for Squall I compiled a good while back, for an older version of the mod, but it should still be accurate for the most part. If I remember right, there is a list somewhere for the other characters as well. Can't find it at the moment, though. Edit: Never mind, the list for the remaining characters is just slightly below that post.

Well, I hope the rest of the playthrough goes well. If you consider something over the top, too easy, or whatever, let me know.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

I will. I hope to be able to finish it (I never could finish the original) and Ultimecia seems suuuper scary even vanilla, so we'll see haha. I'll keep reporting as I progress. Approaching the end of disc 2 now.

Edit: If I may make some suggestions about weapons:

1) Please don't tie materials necessary only to card modding or Triple Triad. I know it's a restriction I imposed on myself so it's not your fault (rather it is my choice) but I'd prefer if every needed material was either dropped or mugged as well (or cards also be dropped), even if chances aren't super awesome.

2) If it is possible to modify the text in weapon magazines, please add hints to the origin of the materials needed, as I'd rather not have to look for info outside the game if I can help it.

3) Even if some materials come from missable side quests, please make it possible to get these things in other ways too.

 

[Callisto]

1) + 3) There are actually no materials that are exclusive to Card Mod or sidequests; the lists linked above merely provide examples in regards to where to find the needed items. In fact, there are usually various other ways to get them, such as formerly rare items becoming available in shops later in the game. Granted, Card Mod or sidequests are sometimes the earliest or easiest opportunity to get certain materials, but this is rather the exception than the rule.

In any case, I'll have another look at the weapon upgrade possibilties over the course of the game and make some adjustments where necessary, like adding in a possibilty to get Missiles after the prison escape, which comes in handy if the player didn't get any from the GIM52A's.

2) Yes, modifying the text in magazines is possible (and has been done already in a few cases), and I like idea to have some more guidance in search for the materials. Space in magazines in sparse though, and I guess some of the default information would need to be removed. Making certain NPCs giving hints would be possible too, even though it means the info is not always accessible. Anyway, I'll keep that idea in mind and come up with something.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

Thanks for considering my suggestions!
Regarding magazines, if only short tips are allowed, maybe the name of the continent where the monster that drops the material would help.

If NPCs can be added, junk shops could have an NPC called quartermaster that would give tips for a certain amount of money.

Edit: If not, maybe a new menu (like the Odine shop in Deling) would be quite enough.

 

[Rikku]

Hi everyone !!

I am wondering if there is a way to make magic no consumible, i mean if you use a magic in battle the numbers don´t go down, in the normal version there is a way but in remastered i don´t know if there is or not.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

That would be handy, although at least in the mod it is much faster to gain magic stocks, so using them isn't such a detriment (and characters have actual strengths outside of the junction system too).

 

[Malekith]

Thanks for the great work!
I would love to play it also in my own language (italian), is it going to be any support for that?

 

[el_pitu]

I can refine tents into Curaga, does that mean something is wrong with my game?

 

[Helm_Smasher]

I can refine tents into Curaga, does that mean something is wrong with my game?

Probably. If I had to guess, you might need to repatch the relevant .dll file.
How many draws can you make in combat? if you never draw more than 9, that's certainly it (I had this issue before).

 

[Callisto]

Edit: If not, maybe a new menu (like the Odine shop in Deling) would be quite enough.

Having the possibility to ask for materials at the Junk Shop directly sounds good to me. I'll give it a try.

I am wondering if there is a way to make magic no consumible, i mean if you use a magic in battle the numbers don´t go down, in the normal version there is a way but in remastered i don´t know if there is or not.

Yes, there is a way to have unlimited spells in Remastered too, but I guess no one has searched for the relevant data in the EFIGS.dll yet. I'll take a look as soon as I find the time.

Thanks for the great work!
I would love to play it also in my own language (italian), is it going to be any support for that?

I would like to, but it would be very difficult without the help of native speakers, as there is quite a bit of extra dialogue in this mod (mostly related to the new sidequests). I'm also not familiar with any of the kernel.bin files except the one for the English version. It contains all the new (30+) enemy attacks which would need to be translated, as well as some data in other files, so help would be much appreciated.

I can refine tents into Curaga, does that mean something is wrong with my game?

It looks like something went wrong during the installation. Which version (2013 or 2019) are you using? I can elaborate a bit more on the several steps if needed.

 

[DiscoCokkroach]

I'm playing on Lionheart Mode and I found a bug in the Granaldo & Raldos boss fight in the Training Center: When I Attack with Squall, I can't trigger his Gunblade. If I time the trigger press correctly, I will still get the "KABOOM" sound FX, but the damage doesn't increase and I don't see the explosion visual FX on the attack.

I didn't try using Renzokuken, so I don't know if it happens if you try to hit the trigger during Renzokuken.

 

[Callisto]

This is very likely due to the Blind status which the Raldos can cause with their Foul Breath attack. If Squall is affected by Blind, he won't get the increased damage from the R1 attack, despite the visual effect being shown (Renzokuken damage on the other hand will not be be affected). The base game has this mechanic as well, so it is nothing that was added by the mod.

On another note, back to something discussed earlier: After some more research in regards to the game occasionally freezing when using Squall's R1 attack I came to the conclusion that this is not a mod-related issue, but rather a problem with the 2013 Steam version itself. For reference, here's a video that shows the issue in 2013 version (completely unmodded). It occurs at around 02:07:00. I don't know what causes it, but as said before, using an internal resolution below 1920x1080 might help.

 

[Malekith]

I would like to, but it would be very difficult without the help of native speakers, as there is quite a bit of extra dialogue in this mod (mostly related to the new sidequests). I'm also not familiar with any of the kernel.bin files except the one for the English version. It contains all the new (30+) enemy attacks which would need to be translated, as well as some data in other files, so help would be much appreciated.

I'm italian native speaker and I'm glad to help! Let me know, I will give you my contact information!
I already worked as a japanese to italian traslator, I can translate both english and japanese

A question, where is the flower for the mother of the girl in Lapin beach? There is a girl in Winhill that talks about that flower saying she's selling it but I buy it nor find anywhere.
I also can't find the cards in Deling city, any hint?

Ok, also I'm at the end of CD 3 (lionheart mode) and I have lot of feedback to do:
In the documentation there is written that in fire cavern you can set 5 minutes: you actually can't but you get the reward anyway apparently.

After losing Quezacotl card I couldn't find kiros card anywhere in winhill, I tried to play everyone but I guess it should be the lady in the hotel that comes when you ring the bell.
It would be cool if the blonde girl that live's at Raine place would have it. Didn't try with the rest of sidequest.

Selphie's Calamity is way too op in early game, and not that useful in the late game, the damage scaling isn't that good and allows to easily do all the CD 1 bosses.
Same for the Quistis Shockwave pulsar, easily obtainable with some grinding at galbadia garden, made the seifer+edea fight far too easy for an hardcore mode, is becoming just fine now, after ragnarock. Thing is that it doesn't scale as good as attacks.

Junction system feels really good, great job there.

The secret boss in lunatic pandora has too high resistance, it would take something like 100 shockwave pulsar to kill him, no way I could beat him at that point in the game, as he started doing 7000 damage ultima, making it impossible before getting ragnarock. It says you can do it just in the first visit, also there isn't any savepoint close to it. Also I kinda got tired of that boss as it was in another sidequest already, would love to see something different.

The final boss of fire cavern I think he is immortal under normal circumstances, but you can beat him easily

Spoiler

using return damage and just wait him to attack, he's not going to use autoheal.

I'm not sure what is the intended design of that boss.

Having phoenix down and life healing 25% of the max life makes cover kinda useless.

Generally a bit of enemy HP buff would be cool, for example Cactuar and Bahamuth did balanced damage but died too fast.

Generally I don't feel like the game is that hard once you get used to it, specially if you abuse selphie and quistis. The requiem one was way much harder, but in an unbalanced way sometimes.
Here close to everything feels balanced, but sometimes too easy, specially some bosses.

Will give the feedback of the rest of the game as I progress.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

I don't mean to minimod, but maybe this mod deseves a sub forum inside its own thread to separate feedback from the regular and Lionheart variants, I feel.

 

[Malekith]

Ok, just finished the game.
Ultima weapon was really easy, same with seifer.
Adel was kinda ok, with the fact you have too keep rinoa up and you can't do any multiple target move makes it fairly hard.
The first bosses in ultimecia castle were just fine, but since you can get most skills I expected more of a challenge from tiamath and catoblepas.
The extra secret boss felt nicely balanced (even if I personally would lower defenses and increase HP), but the main problem is that everytime you attack him you get either blind or silenced, and going over the same animation for nothing like 100 times is annoying, even with speed 3x (steam version).
Enemies in Ultimecia's castle were too easy and useless.
Omega really felt like a challenge, nice.
Ultimecia's damage was too low overall, having 255 vit or spirit makes you laught at any of her attack. Having some fixed damage like omega's terra break.
Would be nice to have renew farm
Most important thing: REMOVE SELPHIE'S THE END in lionheart mode.
It so nonsense that works on all the bosses. Would be nice having catastrophe instead.
Just go 255 spirit, use defense, have ribbon on and just spam slot until you get it, then just use defense again, go grab you favourite drink and watch any of the boss in the game dying helplessly.

 

[Helm_Smasher]

Okay I made some more progress, though I'm still on Disc 2 (playing the normal version).
Once I moved from Balamb to Galbaldia I noticed a difficulty jump. Enemies are pretty sturdy on the whole, and certain abilities I was relying on, like Heal, aren't scaling all that well anymore.

It's mostly manageable, but enemies are rather vicious (I had an encounter in which a Creeps monster would Thundaga the character I had just revived repeatedly). I'm not saying smart enemies are a bad thing though, better than cheap (or auto scaling) ones, haha. It's nice that you put a Tri-Face encounter between the first and second floors in G-Garden as Pain is an excellent spell and I'm stocking on it (Rinoa has it on Mag and Squall on Str).

Sadly because I didn't buy skill scrolls I don't have junctions for every stat on everyone, but I'm hoping by Disc 3 I'm able to better sort things out. I haven't fought Cerberus yet but I'll post on that fight when I comment on the mod next.

Once again, thanks for making the game actually good, and keep up the good work.

 

[AesonNix]

RAGNAROK Lionheart
Hello, been playing this mod for a couple hours now. Quite a fun one! Thank you so much for the release. I am enjoying the side contents added and the difficulty raised

I have one suggestion, and I think it's a missed 'nerf'. It is possible to exchange 50 chimera cards for 5 regen ring which yields 100 full-life prior to leaving balamb for Timber. I have found other good magics but none close to this strong. Giving this to a stripped Zell yields a good 4.5k HP which is a damage tanker for a good part of the game.

The rest so far seems so fun and challenging Actually getting game overs for once is so much fun to me! And those 3 forbiddens in the ToUK! Omg what a nice touch.

 

[Unwise Owl Tattoo]

Would you guys recommend using the original steam release or the 2019 remaster for modding? I was surprised to see mods available for the 2019 release. I vaguely recall reading about frame timing issues and other downgrades in the reviews when it came out last year. I ended up passing on buying it due to the poor reviews it was getting at the time. Has anyone been able to fix those issues? The community always seems to come up with some ingenious solutions to these ancient games.