Zach's Difficulty Patch!

[Zach]

This hack is done all the way up to Lemuria (which I consider the half-way point and actually Poseidon was the last thing edited and not the items inside Lemuria itself). Without further ado, I present to you, my (in-progress) difficulty patch.

Zach's Difficulty Patch Version 1.04

Just to let you know, the difficulty is on the high side and to get past the 4 scripted battles in the beginning of the game, you have to use the 4 oil drops that I put in your inventory.

Changes from the game
~You can use nearly all of your items in battle
~Weapons are more useful now
~Weapons cost more (due to usefulness, but money shouldn't be a problem after a while)
~Difficulty is SPIKED!
~When you fight a Djinni, they will NEVER be alone
~Most of the classes (except for the Hermit series, classes that requires items, and the tri-elemental classes since they have not been edited yet) have been changed (nerfed in most cases)
~All enemies have 2 turns (excluding the Rat, Serpent, Felix, Jenna, and Sheba)(Refer to Plot Twist! for Felix, Jenna, and Sheba)
~Cost of Psynergy is increased
~Nearly all of the enemies can use psynergy
~Some classes (like the Mariner class series for example) can use unleashes and/or enemy-only moves
~EXP Level Requirements have been increased
~Different base classes
~To use the old base classes, Felix needs Jupiter Djinni, Jenna needs Mercury Djinni, Sheba needs Venus Djinni, and Piers needs Mars Djinni
~Serpent has a different palette swap for each light that is activated
~Avimander has been replaced with Felix, Jenna and Sheba ( Plot Twist!)
~All utility psynergy (except the ones used in battle) costs 4 PP including Retreat

Once you get past Kibombo, I recommend doing the following in this order:
Aqua Rock -> Gaia Rock -> Sea of Time Islet (Optional) -> Tundaria Tower -> Ankohl Ruins. The weakest enemies are at Aqua while strongest are at Ankohl Ruins

Also, when you get to the djinn tutorial, make sure you skip it if you have the Long Sword equipped

That's about it until I remember something else. Enjoy please and some feedback would be nice.

Here's what each weapon and armor (the category atleast) generally does when used in battle. NOTE: Not all of them does the same thing in battle

All Weapons - Varies
Armor - Guard Aura
Clothing (Shirts, Coats, and Vests) - Guard
Robes - Guardian
Shields - Protect
Gloves - Demon Spear
Armlets - Ward
Helms - Protector
Caps (Caps, Crowns, Hoods, and Hats) - Resist
Circlet - Bind

Here's a general rundown of weapons and armors (general categories) abilities (i.e Max HP, PP Recovery, etc.)

Long Swords - Boosts Encounters (most weapons has this ability)
Light Blades - Boosts Encounters and for some, Agility Gain
Axes - Boosts Encounters and Agility Loss (but great Atk and Def stats to make up for it)
Maces - Varies
Staffs (Staffs, Rods, Wands, and Ankhs) - Varies
Armor - Good Defense and Agility Loss
Clothing (Shirts, Coats, and Vests) - Agility gain, mediocre defense, and attack (usually less then half of the defense stat)
Robes - Luck boost and average defense
Shields - Agility loss, mediocre attack, and average defense
Gloves - Max PP increase, Great Attack (for armor =D) and below average defense (usually half of the attack stat. even with high attack, it's hard to get go defense with this method)
Armlets - Nothing surprisingly o.O. Thinking about adding increase criticals or counterstrike rate
Helms - Max HP increase, mediocre-average attack strength (usually half of the defense stats) and great defense
Caps (Caps, Crowns, Hoods, and Hats) - Nothing surprisingly o.O. Thinking about adding increase criticals or counterstrike rate
Circlet - PP Recovery gain, horrid attack stat (usually 1/3 of the defense stat), and average defense

As Salanewt would say "Have a nice day" ^-^

This post has been edited by zach on Sep 13 2009, 10:55 PM

[Zach]

Some videos from my hack:

Difficulty Patch Battle

Getting my revenge

It's those thieves again

Versus the Uber Serpent

Plot Twist!

Versus the Mighty Poseidon

EDIT: New vid (went back and am correctly doing bosses that were not filmed)

Versus the Chestbeaters

The King Scorpion

Briggs The Pirate

I'm contemplating whether or not to do each djinn (but I'm leaning towards no)

This post has been edited by zach on Sep 22 2009, 10:40 PM

[Aile~♥]

It has to be a patch, or Role will kill you. Remember? Get rid of this quick before you are banned.

[Zach]

It has to be a patch, or Role will kill you. Remember? Get rid of this quick before you are banned.

that's the problem. when i upload the patch itself, it doesn't make any changes at all <.<

how exactly do i go about this?

This post has been edited by zach on Aug 13 2009, 06:49 PM

[Atrius (He/They)]

I'm feeling generous today so no ban this time, but DO NOT DO IT AGAIN!!!  Posting commercial ROMs is illegal.

[Zach]

but how exactly am i supposed to upload this then?

[Atrius (He/They)]

To create a patch you need your modified version of the game as well as an original unmodified version of it.

[Salanewt]

Hm... I suppose you could try using a different version of LIPS. If you can somehow find the version that I used for the Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga patches, then it should work. If you can not find it, then I will try to upload it onto my website, and give you a link (and I could post a link here).

Have a nice day.
   

[Zach]

To create a patch you need your modified version of the game as well as an original unmodified version of it.

I know, BUT when I upload and people use it, the changes aren't made (thanks to Jamie for pointing that out)

EDIT: The real problem is the size. The patch itself is 1 KB, while what I uploaded is 16,384 KB. Pretty much the size is going to that instead of the patch itself. And when it's time for upload, the patch itself changes from 8 bytes - 82 bytes. That's why i uploaded what I uploaded instead of the patch itself

This post has been edited by zach on Aug 13 2009, 07:04 PM

[Atrius (He/They)]

Make sure you're selecting them in the right order then try uploading it again.

An 8 byte patch?  There's no way that even contains all the changes you made to begin with.

[Zach]

Make sure you're selecting them in the right order then try uploading it again.

An 8 byte patch?  There's no way that even contains all the changes you made to begin with.

which is why i need your help. how should i go about fixing this?

[Atrius (He/They)]

[Zach]

finally got it to work

[thenightsshadow]

Okay.  Here's a couple of my thoughts when I started:

- Okay, let's see what's different.
- Wha...why is the name line huge?
- Skip the intro, yadda-yadda.
- Waiting for the computer to allow me the Autofire A option.
- Let's just get the Herb and get out of there.
- Okay, let's see what Jenna has...huh?
- Swordsman as a class, Guard with 10 PP?  Oh boy.  Looks like I'm not casting Psynergy.
-
- First enemy.  Let's see what he does...
- Wha?  Flash Punch?  With a Sword?  And he attacks first and twice.  Lovely.
(First turn:
Ruffian used Flash Punch. 24 damage.
Jenna attacked. 10 damage.
Ruffian used an Herb.  Healed to full.)
- Okay, so how am I supposed to win?
(Second turn:
Ruffian used Flash Punch. 22 damage.
Jenna attacked. 10 damage.
Ruffian used Flash Punch. 22 damage.
Jenna died.)
- Definitely couldn't win.  Let's check the editor...
- Only two Flash Punches on the Ruffian?  I think I got the short end of the stick, since one of the Flash Punches makes him use an item.
- Well, that's why.  Wooden Stick casts Ice Horn when used.
- Ruffian used Flash Punch.
Jenna used Wooden Stick.
- Well, that was easy.  I'll do it again.
- Wait, what?  No Wooden Stick?  Huh, interesting idea.  I like it.  One-shot spells from weapons/armor.
- Looks like I'm stuck using Oil Drops.
- Died to the group of 3.
- Beat them.
- Actually beat the Punch Ant (because he called for help) at 12 HP.
- Okay, more Autofire A goodness.  Waiting for Felix and co.
- While waiting, I can't help but think they were TOO hard.  One thing I think Zack forgot was that it needs to be beatable in Hard Mode, where HP is x2.0 and ATK/DEF/AGL is x1.5 (or was it x1.25? I forget).  It's impossible with what is given to actually beat them in Hard Mode, and the rest of the hack needs to reflect the changes done to them as well...well, maybe not.  Being unable to change Briggs more than once right now kinda is a pain in the butt.

- Hehe, can't get rid of Move that easily.  Retreat and Move are back...with a different PP cost.  4 PP on Retreat makes it too easy to get out of a dungeon, and 4 PP for Move is a tolerable increase.  It's okay.  Ray's at 7 PP, which doesn't seem too bad.
- Wait, Sheba's a Wind Mage?  Uh oh.  Looks like the Djinn will go haywire on purpose.  That's not good in my opinion.  Purposefully unbalancing Djinni isn't something you do lightly.  Ever.
- Okay, big problem.  Five enemies to start out with?  Did you seriously just buff the difficulty without buffing the strategy?  Now it's always going to be nuke nuke nuke.
- Felix's party was defeated...great.  We're off to a "great" start.  Do realize, Zack, that there's no free money.  It's not a game if you can't beat it.
- I just noted something.  Felix is the only one with a weapon, but he has 130+ attack.  What in the world?
- Short Sword, Attack + 120.  Boosts Encounters.  Thanks.[/sarcasm]
- Venus Summon doing 120 to an enemy early on.  What the heck?
- I win, and I get a Water of Life and a Psy Crystal.  HUH?
- I'm going back to the shops to sell the new items AND sell the Herbs, since they're useless.
- Funny how the Short Sword is the best item from the shop.
- Rebuying the Herbs since I forgot there's no healing spell early on <_<  This seems strangely familiar...
- Sheba's Shaman's Rod lets out a Howl!  Summon Dullahan!  26 damage.
- Jenna's Short Sword let out a Howl!  Defend!  A protective aura encircles Wild Wolf! (Uh...uh oh?)
- Felix attacks!  Wild Wolf took 34 damage!
- Wait...oh boy.  What did he do?  *checks editor*
- Weird happening.  It's just the normal Defend Effect.  It just...hit his enemy.  Somehow.  Weird.
- Felix's party was defeated...stupid bats.
- Felix's party was defeated...again.  Okay, I'm confused.  Why did it do 80 in that one battle, and 30 in this one?  Myeh.  I just have to think, I guess.
- Felix's party was defeated...I ALMOST beat those four bats.
= End Transmission, Day 1 =

In all seriousness, you accomplished what you wanted to accomplish.  Too bad it's unplayable in that form.  IMO, a game isn't a game unless it is possible to complete it.  If I wanted to complete this, it'd take me a lot longer.  And while there are a couple of good ideas that I like, you went overboard in the difficulty and not so much in regards to the thinking involved.  Is this even beatable in Hard Mode (I was doing Normal)?  Can you actually kill one enemy?

[Salanewt]

Hm... You know what? I can take a break from what I am doing to test this patch. I will tell you what I myself think of it.

Have a nice day.
 

Names:

Felix: Yoshi

Isaac: Moby Dick (first name to come to mind)

Starting the intro, always interesting.
Finished intro by skipping it...

- Alex won't shut up...
- Still won't shut up...
- ...
- ...
- ...
- He actually stopped talking-wait, never mind.
- Finally finished talking.
- Lets get me my herb.
- Alex is showing off (when the editor is more advanced, I am killing off Alex near the start).
- Cool, Guard the psynergy... I suppose I should use it, right?
- Ow! 25 damage...
- There we go, second Flash Punch only dealt 12 damage...
- 9, 12 with regular attacks... He dodged my attack! Herb time.
- 23 damage, he killed me before I could use it.

Retry...

- Ow-ow-ow-ow! 28 damage with Flash Punch...
- Guard.
- Finally, he defended.
- Dead... Guard did nothing this time?

Retry...

- 12 damage from attack.
- This time, I followed your advice and used an Oil Drop. Dead (not me)!
- Next battle.
- Aw... Baby Isaac. Lets kill him.
- Flash Punch and Quake, lowered me from 50+ HP to 6.
- Next battle.
- Oh cool, the original Ruffians are all dead. Time to kill them... Scarface style (not really, but you get the idea)!
- Punji Stike... 161 damage!!! Holy crap!

Retry...

- Oddysey... 366 damage!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I thought Punji Strike was strong.

Not retrying again for a bit, sorry.

Well, this is pretty good, but I think you made a mistake by giving the purple Felix Ruffian moves that go first, and destroy me before I can do anything (this might be okay if you lower his speed). The Oil Drop is unusable because Felix killed me before I had my turn.

Also, I think you should maybe edit guard a bit, allow it to raise your defense by at least 10-12 instead of 5. As for the Oil Drops, maybe you should only get two, and make it so the first one can be killed with normal psynergy (maybe one that is normally enemy only, but not have it be as powerful as Fume).

Okay okay, one more retry... Huh? The purple Felix is gone. Maybe I can do this after all.

- Quake, Gaia (5 HP now), Flash Punch, dead.

Maybe not...

One more thing... I like the idea of two turns, I even did this myself in my not uploaded patch, but you need to consider their speed. Also, maybe you should have it so you have an equipment item that gives you two turns, but you have to use it to beat the second last scripted battle?

I hope my advice will help you. If not, then I hope that you are successful with your hack.

Have a nice day.
 

This post has been edited by Salanewt on Aug 29 2009, 12:25 PM

[Zach]

Okay.

[Zach]

- 12 damage from attack.
- This time, I followed your advice and used an Oil Drop. Dead (not me)!
- Next battle.
- Aw... Baby Isaac. Lets kill him.
- Flash Punch and Quake, lowered me from 50+ HP to 6.
- Next battle.
- Oh cool, the original Ruffians are all dead. Time to kill them... Scarface style (not really, but you get the idea)!
- Punji Stike... 161 damage!!! Holy crap!

Retry...

- Oddysey... 366 damage!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I thought Punji Strike was strong.

Not retrying again for a bit, sorry.

Well, this is pretty good, but I think you made a mistake by giving the purple Felix Ruffian moves that go first, and destroy me before I can do anything (this might be okay if you lower his speed). The Oil Drop is unusable because Felix killed me before I had my turn.

You fought Purple Felix (Ruffian 3)? You're not supposed to fight him until right before Lemuria. *checks editor*, that must be a glitch in the editor since he's not in the enemy group that's in the scripted battles and since it didn't happen to TNS (and if it did, he hasn't said anything about it)

Also, I think you should maybe edit guard a bit, allow it to raise your defense by at least 10-12 instead of 5. As for the Oil Drops, maybe you should only get two, and make it so the first one can be killed with normal psynergy (maybe one that is normally enemy only, but not have it be as powerful as Fume).

Unfortunately, that's the highest it can do since you can only raise defense by 25% (which it's at) and 12.5%

One more thing... I like the idea of two turns, I even did this myself in my not uploaded patch, but you need to consider their speed. Also, maybe you should have it so you have an equipment item that gives you two turns, but you have to use it to beat the second last scripted battle?

I hope my advice will help you. If not, then I hope that you are successful with your hack.

Have a nice day.
 

The only weapon that bestows 2 turns is the Long Sword

This post has been edited by zach on Aug 29 2009, 02:40 PM

[Salanewt]

I think it is. However, I must tell you that he was not in that fight for the three or four times that I was in that battle (the first two battles, he was, but in the other one, he was not there).

As for equipment... How about one or two rings? Perhaps they can also give you double turns. As for the defense limit... I had forgotten about that limit. Oh well. Wait... I am guessing that raising its power would have no effect, right?

Have a nice day.
   

[thenightsshadow]

Since I'm a Fire Emblem buff as well, I'm quite familiar with the Darion Patch.  Reminiscent, sure; like, no.

Funnily, you went the opposite direction as I did.  I went for tougher bosses and slightly harder enemies.  You went for tougher enemies and slightly harder bosses (I checked).

Here's some advice.  You've got to make sure the Djinni and class bonuses check out with the weaponry and enemies available as if it was Hard Mode.  That was a mistake of mine when I started, too.

Unless you can find a way to beat even a singular enemy with the stats you give in Hard Mode, it's not likely that this will be successful.  Since you're aiming for difficulty, give the player a false sense of security.  Something like, make certain enemies easy, and other enemies harder in comparison.  You can, say, travel along the World Map and easily beat the monsters, then get to the next destination and die in one hit.  Something like that.  That's a difficulty change that isn't AS annoying.

Another one could be the explanation straight up.  I know the text editor isn't available yet, but at least drop some hints along the way.  I can play better than what I did, but I approached the hack like a player that had previously beaten the game at least once, which isn't that much better than a new player.

Probably, you can incorporate what made the Darion Patch playable: shifting what can be obtained and whatnot to make them think more?  Something like, have the Mimic drop a key item to use vs. the Chestbeaters, or something similar to that.

[Salanewt]

Yeah, TNS has some good points, but maybe you shouldn't spike enemies located in certain places more than on the World Map.

Anyway, I like it how Jenna does not have powerful psynergies near the beginning of the game, and the Oil Drops are a pretty good idea. However, I think you should slightly alter their distribution near the beginning of the game.

As for TNS' idea about making it so a Mimic might drop something that is required to defeat the boss... This is a good idea, but I think you should wait for the editor to be more developed first (so you can relocate the Mimic). Oh yeah, while making your hack, if you find out how to disable Piers' Douse (so he does not have it as a permanent psynergy) please tell me.

Have a nice day.
 

You called the Purple Felix near the beginning a glitch, right? Good luck on fixing it, as well as finishing the hack (and I hope that it is successful).