Can FFVI rom be edited to be harder?

[i90east]

I've heard about rom editing, and this is just a wild idea. How hard would it be to find and edit all the monster stats (like HP up 20% and attack power up 30% for all monsters)? Let me guess, wishful thinking. Heh. It would make the game a lot more intense and strategic.

Kefka at the end needs 200% more hit points and 50% more attack power :laugh: The first Atma Weapon boss needs a big boost too (he gets his own battle music and yet he sucks!! :o) 6 of 8 dragons are weak, and DoomGaze is a joke.

The game is just too easy for experienced players. Sure the first time we played it it was hard, but now it's just a big ownage fest (including 90% of the bosses). I mean heck, I don't even train my guys and still beat bosses in 5 hits :rolleyes: Or maybe Gau just needs to be nerfed :laugh:

[GogoTheMimic]

I would *assume* that it can be done. I'm not sure how hard it would be though. Now that I think about it, I think I've seen a ROM editor floating around somewhere. Mods, is it okay to attach a ROM editor?

[The Man]

I'm pretty sure I did it before and no one had a problem with it.

http://aaron.fools-gold.org/ff3ed.zip
http://aaron.fools-gold.org/FF3usME60.zip

My own edit (which makes things vastly easier, amongst other monstrous changes) is posted in a thread (showthread.php?threadid=36154) I made awhile back, and I'll post it again:

http://aaron.fools-gold.org/aaronff6hack.zip

(The thread on FG linked to in the EoFF thread has now been deleted, thanks to the ex-staff members who decided it'd be a fun idea to delete half the forums on the board; I'll get to reposting it later, when I feel like mucking around in phpMyAdmin).

[i90east]

Wow, is it hard to edit things in the game? Do you have to be a programmer to know what you're doing, or is it all laid out in simple terms? This sounds like great fun. If I could do this, I'll make an expert version of the game. Since I'm a perfectionist it would turn out great.

[The Man]

It's not really that hard, but unfortunately, neither program works EXACTLY like it's supposed to... for example, you're supposed to be able to edit the appearance of world map tiles in the ff3ed program, but you're actually only able to edit the layout. There's a bunch of other bugs in the ff3ed program; I get the impression that it was never properly "finished." The FF3usME60 program works a hell of a lot better; unfortunately, its use is more limited ;x I don't think you really need to be a programmer to do it, but it's somewhat frustrating, to say the least.

Also, I think there was an "expert" version of the game on Zophar's Domain (www.zophar.net) somewhere, but I can't be bothered searching for it, mostly because I don't have the time to do so at the moment =P

[i90east]

Hmm, I checked that site and it seems like Zophar only has a few roms there (no FF games). Well I'll check out the software, and create a copy of my FFVI rom to mess with. Thanks.

[The Man]

No problem.

I could've SWORN that there was a harder version of FFVI SOMEWHERE. Hm, maybe it wasn't at zophar.net. I dunno, though. Anyway, good luck and stuff :)

[Star of Penumbra]

There are several hardtype hacks. Personally, I think this is one of the better ones.

http://members.aol.com/shiromesa/hardtype.html

[i90east]

Well those programs are suprizingly easy to use. I'm in the process of adding 20% to each monster's HP and 20% to their levels. The level variable seems to affect attack power more than any other variable. Narshe Guards were doing 3,000 HP damage at level 99. Since I'm going by percentage, the changes will become more significant as the game goes on, forcing you to stop and train your guys before moving on. The only question is, will these changes be too little, too much or just right? Bosses may get special treatment (especially the weaker ones).

I will also be increasing the prices of all items by a certain percentage, which means they will also go up exponentially throughout the game. This is good because in the World of Ruin GP was never really an issue.

I also fixed that one monster you first see in the Magitek Facility that never had enough MP to cast Life 3. He now has 100 MP instead of 35 :D

I'll post more in a minute... *switches computers*

*edit* Poof, I'm back.

I'm also making minor additions to the dialogue. It won't be much, mostly townspeople. But there may be a couple of suprises. I won't alienate the story in any way.

Since the battle music gets too repetitive, I'm thinking about only having the battle music play on harder battles (either 4 or more enemies or formations that contain strong monsters). We'll see how that goes.

I won't be doing anything to the characters, items or weapons. Monster abilities, rages, sketches, items stolen and itemize will not change.

If this version turns out to be good, I'll host it up for anyone who is interested.

[The Man]

I wound up taking the battle music out of prettymuch every non-boss battle in the game in my version, tho' if I had it to do over again, I'd probably only take it out of all the battles that didn't appear on the world map. If you remove the battle music, make sure you also remove the Victory Fanfare at End of Battle, since otherwise the music will restart after you've finished the battles.

Interesting stuff; I'll be interested to see what it plays like when you're done.

[i90east]

For anyone who cares, it's turning out real good. I'm testing it, and right now I'm at Zozo trying to get Terra. The boss there still died in 3 hits. :bored: Man, that guy needs some major HP. So I added 7,000 to him (he had 3,500 originally) :laugh:, and I'll try fighting him again next time I play. Anyways, it's great, there are parts where you have to use expert strategy to survive. It's not impossibly hard though, it's just right IMO. Sabin had Fire Dance before I got Gau :laugh:. Shadow left me before I went on the mystery train :( That never happened before. Heh.

I added monsters to random battles (of the same type), which also contributes to making the game more challenging. The only problem is, when you add too many monsters, the display messes up, and you only see pieces of the monsters. I've already had to fix 4 random battle formations because of this... stupid game engine. ;)

I'd prefer to continue working on it before offering, because it would allow me to fix any problems.

[Wightraven]

Damn. As if I didn't have enough to do I just stumbled upon this thread.

Ah well. I'm sure it'll be a productive editing experience. *grins* Much like my travesties of FFI were. Heh.

Thanks for the links all, this should be fun.

[Edgar]

Okay, this is interesting. *snatches ROM editior*

[Emperor Grahf]

Humm,this looks,really interesting,my friend,I surely hope to get my hands on your version of that marvel of Squaresoft,keep on' the great work,it looks really more rough n' tough just how I like my ffs.

[Rude]

This sounds fun... unfortunately I just started a new game of FFVI on PSX so it would be foolish of me to start anew.

[robfinalfantasy]

I'd be very interested in trying your "buffed up" version of FFVI. It might just be able to re-spark my interest for the game.

[i90east]

I have a web page and a readme file. Now all I need is the completed game. Click on the link in my sig for more info about the game. I'll finish sometime this week :D

[Edgar]

Gau's sprite now has green hair?

Wow, make Terra's hair yellow! :P

this is gonna be kewl.

[i90east]

Ok, it's done :D I tried to squash all of the bugs but if any linger, let me know. I'll fix the problem and you can continue your game with the fixed rom file. I don't expect any big problems though. Well have fun! I'll be here for advice. :cool:

[Flying Mullet]

Super Sweet Coolness! :thumb:

I'll have to check this out when I get a chance. :D

[You Spoony Bard!]

I'd like to say thanks for making this rom, i90. I'm not exactly a regular here, but I've played FF6 pretty much since it came out. In about the first half hour of gameplay on your edited version, I've already had more trouble than on practically any previous playthrough.

example: The Marshal, in particular, I found to be a real challenge: his attack usually kills a character in one hit, and I couldn't find any way to beat him before he slaughtered everyone. I like that, though - it forces you to develop new strategies - like taking advantage of Mog's dance (Pois. Frog is pretty strong), which is something I've never had to resort to. Since I'm not one to level up, I suspect that there'll be a lot more of these types of battles.

[i90east]

Just to let everyone know, the rom file was named "i90east's FFVI Hard Version 1.0.smc.smc". Some emulators have problems with this, so you can fix it by renaming the file to "i90east's FFVI Hard Version 1.0.smc". If you download the file anytime after this post then it's already fixed.


I'd like to say thanks for making this rom, i90. I'm not exactly a regular here, but I've played FF6 pretty much since it came out. In about the first half hour of gameplay on your edited version, I've already had more trouble than on practically any previous playthrough.

Your welcome bud. I had someone else tell me that he died on the "saving Terra" part. When I played through it Snare killed the Marshal. Thanks for the feedback. I'm very interested in hearing what people think of it :)

[Storm]

The monsters seem to be doing different attacks that I have never seen them do before.

I like how when you make your way to the mines how in a battle a guard whistles and more guards come in the screen to fight.

The Marshall's charge attack was destroying me, but somehow Locke did his desperation attack before I was about to be annihilated and it took off 1200 damage from the Marshall. I've never seen that move before from Locke.

Anyhow, it's been a grand challenge so far, I can't wait to get to the Czar Dragon.

[Edgar]

Ouch! Almost died on my way to Figaro O_O

[robfinalfantasy]

The rhinoceros type guy around South Figaro counters by hitting me with a tonic or potion. Did you do that on purpose? Also sometimes I hear random chocobo cries.

[i90east]

No he's supposed to heal himself. I have no idea what causes chocobo cries. Well I fixed the first problem. Thanks.

[Danger]

I dowloaded the expert version of the ROM to see the changes (I'm playing a game on my SNES right now so I only got to the marshal) and I'm impressed.

I was just wondering though what you set the evade rates of the Virites to be. I was using Terra and was attacked by two of them. I used fire to kill the first (playing in the back row to play it safe, this being an expert version of the game) and then I missed six times in a row using fire on the second and had to run away because of lack of MP. Was this dumb luck or what I should expect from the monsters in this game? Also does the sniper sight ignore evade and actually hit 100% of the time? It's kinda useless in the regular version of the game, I was wondering if it would be useful now.

I think I'll play through this version of the game during Christmas when I'm at home. It seems more interestiing now that I actually have to pay attention to what I'm doing in battles again, instead of just overpowering the enemies with my weakest attacks.

[i90east]

There's seems to be a 20-25% chance of hitting flying enemies with magic. The actual evasion values are odd. Anything below 60% evasion seems to do nothing, while 120% makes monsters extremely evasive. With that in mind, flying creatures are set at 85%. Ninjas are 80%. Small enemies (human size and below) are 70%. Big monsters are set at 65%. These values include bosses.

Anyway, it looks like you did have a little bad luck there. You could just use physical attacks too. Even from the back row those monsters would die in one hit. One thing I've noticed is that throughout the game flying enemies have a lot less hit points than other monsters. It makes a lot of sense for them to be highly evasive. If you hit them they die. Only large flying creatures take multiple hits to kill.

The sniper sight does work the way you described it.

[babybahamut]

for some reason, none of the files work. i downloaded the 2 eds but it says "the zip file is corrupted or invalid". any help?

[Emperor Grahf]

Oh boy, been a while, since I've been here for the last time, seem's this topic is abandonned though..

[i90east]

I'm still here. If you're interested my expert version 2 will be done within the next 3 weeks if everything goes right. It will be much better than the original.

[Flying Mullet]

What's new/different?

I read what's on your site, just wondering if there's any other juicy tidbits of info you can fill us in on?

[i90east]

The first four things on the list below make up the foundation of the project.

The damage scale reduction cuts all HP and MP values by half and attack damage is cut in half. This keeps the 9,999 damage cap from being such a significant limitation and allows monsters' 65,535 max HP to be double the value. Also players will love the simplicity of the lower numbers. Terra starts the game with 32 HP. :) I'm about halfway through the WoR sidequests and my best 2 characters have 1,500 HP.

The AI of monsters is significantly improved. All monsters perform their rage, sketch and control spells. Many enemies have custom scripts that offer new strategy and challenge. Also the difficulty of random monsters everywhere has been increased. Some areas are harder than others, and you will need some good strategy to get through the harder areas. I'm able to spend more time on monsters than in the original version.

Here's the complete list of changes as of 3-4-04:
-The scale of damage is reduced by nearly 50%
-All monsters cast their rage/sketch/control spells
-Many monsters throughout the game have custom battle scripts that go beyond their original arsenal of attacks and abilities
-Entire game will get a second wave of enemy tuning
-Enemy evasion from original expert version gets small reduction
-All spells have increased accuracy in light of high enemy evasion from the original expert version
-Level 2 & 3 elemental spells and all gray magic get an extra accuracy boost
-Prices of many items are up again
-Black & White magic is harder to learn, and assigning magic jobs to characters is a good strategy (white mages and black mages)
-No single esper teaches white and black magic spells, it's one or the other along with gray magic
-Gray magic is easier to learn
-Esper summons are much more powerful but cost more MP
-Final boss and Czar Dragon keep the same HP despite the scale shift
-All HP/MP healing items keep the same values despite the damage scale shift, making them twice as useful
-There are less elemental weapons
-There are more status affect weapons
-Leo gets a new menu pic compliments of Kame from CoN (a controversial interpretation of an african Leo)
-New monsters on boss island from original expert version get HP reductions
-Entire game gets more custom enemy formations
-Crusader esper teaches 5 top spells and offers a secret stat bonus
-Raiden esper offers a stat bonus of speed +2
-Relm gets control command from the start
-Relm and Strago get better stats
-Most rods teach spells, and the Magus Rod randomly casts Meteor
-All brushes randomly cast Muddle
-Some bosses and random enemies have more attacks
-You can't run from flying creatures
-Some monsters carry more useful items for stealing
-The value of GP doubles (meaning the scale is reduced by half)
-Inns cost double the GP, treasures give double the GP, auction items cost double, rust-aid costs double, fanatics tower secret costs double
-More WoR monsters have "can't run" status, meaning you can't run from them
-Some random monsters on the WoR world map will be harder and offer more experience points so you can train up faster
-The relic "Beads" now increases the Magic Block (Universal Evade) stat instead of just the Evade stat which does nothing

[Flying Mullet]

Awesome, so doing 9,999 damage is really an acomplishment now huh? Shweet! :hat:

[DocFrance]

i90east - I noticed in the CoN thread that you were having trouble finding a patch for the evade bug. Well, I did, but I can't remember where I found it. I'll attach it for you. I've tested it out myself, and it works pretty damn well.

[i90east]

Wow DocFrance that's excellent! I'll check that out when I get home from work. Thanks a lot.

[DocFrance]

You can really tell the difference in the beginning, when Locke evades about half of the physical attacks. He has a base 25%, so give him a Green Beret, a Main Gauche and a shield for a total of 55%. And this is all before the battle at Narshe!