Re: [PSX/PC] Alternate F...

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Hi I'm on my tradition of replaying FF mainline titles every couple of years and I stumbled upon your mod. The possibility of recruiting Beatrix piques my interest and I'm deciding to give this a try. Did you perchance made any changes to the stat growth system? I'm asking because an annoyance of mine about FF9 was that you had to hold back leveling until endgame to maximize stats, which kinda kills the fun for me.

Also, aside from things you described in the main post, were there other things that were changed like item locations, missables, and such? Again I'm asking because I'm kind of a perfectionist and I don't see a Documentation file or some sort in the main post.

All in all this seems like the most interesting FF9 mod and I've found and I'll be waiting for your reply before I start. Can't wait to start a playthrough of this mod!
 
Hi!
The stat system itself has not been changed. However, I made some tweaks related to it: a few forced battles don't give exp anymore and ultimate weapons all give very good stat boosts. I am afraid that if you're both a perfectionist and annoyed by lvl1 playthroughs, that will be a pain to you ^^'

I swaped a few items' location, but didn't add or removed any chest. There are a few less Protect Rings obtainable with the end game sidequests (they have been replaced by other rewards) but you can still get them from the Hot & Cold minigame. Also, the blue magics are not given by the same monsters as before, but they are all available during the end game. Making a documentation is kind of opposite to what I am aiming with the mod: making the player try and seek for things he would have not bothered with in vanilla because he knows the game by heart.
 
Hi!
The stat system itself has not been changed. However, I made some tweaks related to it: a few forced battles don't give exp anymore and ultimate weapons all give very good stat boosts. I am afraid that if you're both a perfectionist and annoyed by lvl1 playthroughs, that will be a pain to you ^^'

I swaped a few items' location, but didn't add or removed any chest. There are a few less Protect Rings obtainable with the end game sidequests (they have been replaced by other rewards) but you can still get them from the Hot & Cold minigame. Also, the blue magics are not given by the same monsters as before, but they are all available during the end game. Making a documentation is kind of opposite to what I am aiming with the mod: making the player try and seek for things he would have not bothered with in vanilla because he knows the game by heart.
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Hi. Thanks for your reply. I've already started my playthrough on this and it looks pretty good so far. Although, my plans for a max stats run is pre-emptively flushed down the drain because I can't get past Black Waltz and Sea Lion for the life of me. The measly lvl1 105 hp just isn't enough to survive. I mean it can be done with pure luck, but the odds are quite grim and I'm not a madman lol. Oh well, better start leveling then. I'll be counting on those Ultimate weapon stats :D

Anyway, I'm having a blast so far and I'll be posting here if I have questions on the mod. Great work!
 
Started this a few weeks ago a just finished the "first CD" (I don't have much time for gaming).

So far, I think it is fantastic. Congrats Tirlititi, this is one of the finest fan content thingies I've seen.

My only gripe so far is with stealing. In the original, sometimes it took a while to get every item from a boss, but I remember being able to get them consistently even if it took several tries.

With Gizamaluke I just gave up after 45 minutes (literally 45 minutes), and more or less the same with Beatrix in Burmecia. I'm going to resort to just adding the items through Memoria and fight the bosses normally.

Was the formula changed? Is it an unintended side effect of some other change? Have I been just unlucky?

In any case, it might seem bad because I only voiced a negative thing, but seriously, fantastic job 10/10.
 
Hi Rasca, I'm glad that you like it.

I am sorry for the steals but you got unlucky: the steal rate has not been reduced and it was even increased for Beatrix's rare steal (her 1st encounter) as it was changed from a super-rare steal 1/256 to a rare steal 16/256. I did the same change for the Fairy flute of Hilgigars.
It is still a big matter of luck. I also used to steal things pretty easily (I didn't even notice the Fairy flute was so hard before 5 or 6 playthroughs) but it can really get long indeed. I would have liked to change the mechanics to avoid it (like giving a limit to the number of fails) but it is not implemented for now.
 
Hi Rasca, I'm glad that you like it.

I am sorry for the steals but you got unlucky: the steal rate has not been reduced and it was even increased for Beatrix's rare steal (her 1st encounter) as it was changed from a super-rare steal 1/256 to a rare steal 16/256. I did the same change for the Fairy flute of Hilgigars.
It is still a big matter of luck. I also used to steal things pretty easily (I didn't even notice the Fairy flute was so hard before 5 or 6 playthroughs) but it can really get long indeed. I would have liked to change the mechanics to avoid it (like giving a limit to the number of fails) but it is not implemented for now.
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Nostalgia glasses in full effect. I probably didn't give a damn when I was a kid so I didn't notice.

Thanks and keep it up!
 
@tirliti hello, there is an error on french version ragtime mouse quizz : where he ask if "defigeur" kills epitaf. the item is defijeur not defigeur ( made me go wrong because of this :D .

Great mod by the way, i love it so far !
 
I didn't remember at all this play with the name! Sorry for making you fail that question because of it...
There are a lot of "c" -> "k" changes in the names, in the french translation and not so many "g" -> "j" changes.
 
No problem, i don't care that much, ir's just that it messed a perfect game up to now :p (i'm pretty sure i missed no treasure up to now ;) )
 
So Magic Hammer is good in this mod? I'm watching a video from 2016 of somebody playing this mod. I swear I tried using Magic Hammer once  in Unleashed against the Antlion and it didn't seem to help so I forgot about it and never bothered with it in your mod either. I guess that was my mistake.


I planned to play this game again for Steam a while ago now but never got around to buying it. Hopefully next month. Really wanna try out having Beatrix in my party. Maybe use Vivi too since I always ignore him after I can choose my party.
 
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Magic Hammer is somehow random: it removes the enemy's MP by a random amount between 0 and its current MP. When repeated several times, it  completely depletes an enemy's MP pool with a quite robust probabilty and independently of his initial Max MP. For the vast majority of the game's enemies, that's the only way to make enemies run out of MP (Lancer can be used to help at the end, but is not efficient enough by itself), which usually makes the fight much easier (well, for Antlion, only his Fira costs MP for instance) but requires a few turns to setup. Personally, I don't find that it worths it, but it is a legit strategy and only a few enemies have a counter-measure against it.

The principle of Magic Hammer works exactly the same in vanilla, Unleashed or in this mod. One should edit the game's battle engine code to mod that effect (or create another kind of attack removing MP) and I didn't do it.

Enjoy your next playthrough :)
 
Hi Tirlititi!

I recently started a new game with your mod and I've got a question. I saw you changed some of the bosses' steals so I was wondering if you somehow changed the rare items you can dig within Hot&Cold. I was farming some items and I got a Diamond. A F* DIAMOND LOL. Since it's not on the lists for vanilla prizes, I thought it may have been part of the mod? I'm playing the psx version, if it helps shed some light on the mystery.
 And great work with the mod. I'm trying to stay low level to raise stats as much as I can later on and it's quite the challenge!
 
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Magic Hammer is somehow random: it removes the enemy's MP by a random amount between 0 and its current MP. When repeated several times, it  completely depletes an enemy's MP pool with a quite robust probabilty and independently of his initial Max MP. For the vast majority of the game's enemies, that's the only way to make enemies run out of MP (Lancer can be used to help at the end, but is not efficient enough by itself), which usually makes the fight much easier (well, for Antlion, only his Fira costs MP for instance) but requires a few turns to setup. Personally, I don't find that it worths it, but it is a legit strategy and only a few enemies have a counter-measure against it.

The principle of Magic Hammer works exactly the same in vanilla, Unleashed or in this mod. One should edit the game's battle engine code to mod that effect (or create another kind of attack removing MP) and I didn't do it.

Enjoy your next playthrough :)
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It's been so long since I played Unleashed I can't remember what exactly it was that Antlion was doing that was giving me trouble. It might have been its Fira Oh well. Magic Hammer just doesn't sound like a very efficient use of Quina's turn since s/he has so many other guaranted useful skills.


Thanks for you reply.

Also, out of curiosity, did you ever try to do Oelvert and the Desert Palace "wrong" with your mod? You know, maybe send Eiko to Oelvert and take Freya to the Desert Palace or something?
 
@Mr.Nona: Yes, I added the jewels in the "extremely rare" items you can get with Hot & Cold. There are other jewels in the other Chocobo places (I think you can get Diamonds, Emeralds and Moonstones; I don't remember if I also added Rubies in one place). Honestly, this change was not long-considered for balancing or other purpose: I only found it funny to imagine a completionist trying to get 99 of those jewels as ultra rare digs. I must admit that the game is quite sadistic against hard completionists and I didn't do anything to make it better ^^'

@Nikkolas: No, I have only tried once to do Oeilvert with Eiko, Vivi and Dagger in vanilla and it wasn't too hard, just more tedious. You can still do some damage with Zidane and rackets. In the mod, I guess it mainly depends on who can access to Clear Headed at this point (if none of them can, then it must be a terribly hard fight).
Taking only one magician is not a problem though. Speedrunners usually take Eiko with them for Ark and that doesn't disadvantage them so much. Valia Pira can be beaten with any party, as both physical and magical abilities are useful in the Desert Palace.

Also, Oeilvert is the point from which you can get dead peppers. It's a very strong damage dealer when doing a lvl1 run (especially in the mod).
 
I've never done low level runs in games. I guess I should try it someday but the reason I like mods like yours and Unleashed and etc. is because they kinda demand you use all your abilities. It's like, I can't even imagine why somebody would torture themselves in FFVIII with a No Junction run. I can't imagine something more tedious and boring. Part of the allure of RPGs is getting those new, awesome techniques as you level up.

I'd simply rather play a mod that makes things hard enough that I don't have to gimp myself to have a challenge.

Bit I might try switching around the parties come Disk 3 then just for something different. I also hate the fat the Bloodstones give you such good prizes. I'd really like to see how hard the boss is at full power.


Also I FINALLY got 100 nobles Impressed/Queen Brahne quite impressed. This has literally never happened in all my runs of the game. That Moonstone teaching Shell could come in handy. Obviously not needed but just nice insurance for Black Waltz No. 2 to keep Vivi and Garnet alive with their tiny, tiny HP.
 
Hello there ! First of all, thank you Tirlititi for your work and your mod.

However, I now want to play a new vanilla game, but with Beate, her abilities and all the scenes and dialogs where she appears.
I already checked your method from the steam forum, but I think some links are dead...

Could someone help me to do so ?

Thanks a lot !
 
Hey great job on this mod! I have been really enjoying it! Is it possible to get an update for use with Maguri mod/re-orchestrated music. It seems something would need to be done with the assembly file. Also, is it safe to uninstall Alternate Fantasy Mid-play through? Will character skills be permanently messed up by replacing the assembly file mid save game?
 
Hello and thanks Euron-Crows-Eye,

You can switch from vanilla to Alternate Fantasy back and forth with little to no problem. The only things that can happen is that you learned in AF an ability that was not meant to be available in the normal game, or find an piece of equipment or things like that. Also, if you have Beatrix in your team in AF, you keep her when you switch back to the normal game which is fine in most situations but may freeze a couple of cutscenes (same problem when you hack her in the team with Gameshark/CheatEngine).
This message describes how to install AF with Moguri's mod. It is a bit tedious and the Assembly-CSharp.dll is indeed the trouble-maker. I may update my tool Hades Workshop to be able to directly export mods compatible with the Memoria tool but I don't promise anything as I am on a long break about modding.
 
Would be nice if af mod and moguri would be fully compatible with memoria tool :)
 
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