Final Fantasy Hacktics

Projects => Works in Progress => Topic started by: CONMAN on November 15, 2012, 10:37:44 pm

Title: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on November 15, 2012, 10:37:44 pm
(https://images.app.goo.gl/vYwphVm6ZbQCR2jy6)
---Next Patch update February 9th 2023---
Fixed an issue with a side quest that messes up the main character if played during chapter 4- This will only be available during chapter 3.  Added an additional side quest to chapter 1 (Daravon/Darlavon).  Made a handful of text edits to a couple items and events.  Made a couple of chapter 1 battles a little easier and one slightly tougher.  Current build is 4.42


--Additional Tiny update: November 27th 2022--
Releasing a 4.41 patch update because the chance to replay the martial arts master was basically zero. (Wish I didn't have to delete each patch. I can only have one uploaded at a time.No message is associated with this attachment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: October 15th 2022 the 4.4 is replacing the 4.2 version release

This is it! A full four chapter story mod!  The story itself is a few events short of vanilla length but features double the side quests. Accessed via bar rumors ala vanilla.

In this alternate universe version of Ivalice, you are one of the souls destined to hold a Zodiac stone.

Battling evil forces across the land, you are a cut above the rest.  It's fair to describe the party, the lead especially, as over-powered.  It is also accurate to describe the opposition as stacked against you.  Meaning more enemies or magically empowered super soldiers.

This mod features many new sprites, imported music and a few new maps as well.  All but a few chapter 4 randoms have been edited.  Cameos from other final fantasies, chrono trigger and marvel pop in for fun.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Patch UPDATE October 15th 2022

The deep dungeon/Cave of Illusions is finished.  Also many event edits and some map changes and several other things I am probably forgetting!


Updated Patch: January 25th 2022


Credits (work in progress)
Credits:
Sprites:
ZOZMA-ZOZMA
CHELSEA (FEMALE ROGUE)-R999/LIJJ
JENNA (10YEAR OLDGIRL)- ZOZMA
LALA (LULU BASED)-MIROSHI BESHIMA
ISABELLA (MONICA)-ZOZMA
TITAN-KAGEBUNJI/FFTA
HULK (TITAN EDITS) JUMZA
TONBERRY-KAGENBUNJI
TERRA-VALKIRST
TERRA ESPER-ZALKIRST
LOCKE-BLOODTHIRSTER0
CYAN-KAGEBUNJI/DARKHOLME
FENCER (ANIMIST FEMALE)-TWINEES
CHRONO-STEWELELEMENT
FROG-SAIGAS
MINDMAST-LIJJ
BEATRIX-ZOZMA
DUMA-LUIAKYN
FERAL (BERSERKER)-TWINEES
IRONFIST (KEN)-SEUSHIRO
GELWAN-ZOZMA
SHADOW-LIJJ/MASTER GRAND
IRON GIANT- LUIAKYN/CURU
KANBABRIF-BASTARD POETRY
ELIDIBS-ZOZMA/LUIAKYN
BOLMNA-ZOZMA
GARLAND- SEUSHIRO
UMARO- CHOTO

SPELL EFFECTS:
MAGIC BALL-
ULTIMUS-
HELL SWORD (RED STASIS SWORD)-XIFANIE
MARSIL-CELDIA
DARK FLARE-CELDIA
TERRA ZODIARK-VALKIRST

ASM'S AND TOOLS, ETC:
UNIT DISMISSAL- CHOTO
BLANK SUPPORT+ +25% HIT-XIFANIE
SPRITE PALETTE HACK-XIFANIE
GLOBAL EVADE- XIFANIE
FFTText Editor- XIFANIE
INDEX MANAGER- XIFANIE
MIDI-TO-SMD- POKEYTAX
Sprite ID causes Game Over when crystallized/treasured:CHOTO
Sprite ID cannot be dismissed- CHOTO
EFFECT EDITOR-CHOTO
MANY TOOLS-RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ
UWE ENTRIES-GLAIN
Formula 11: Damage = MA * (WP+Y)- GLAIN
Punch Formula becomes (PA + XX)/2 * PA- PRIDE
MIN/MAX FAITH+BRAVE- FFMASTER
SOUND TEST- FFMASTER
Multi-Reaction Deluxe- EMMY
easyvent editor/attackout -RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ
FFTPATCHER-XIFANIE/GLAIN + MORE CONTRIBUTORS

MAPS:
FROM ARMOREDKORI:
WINDMILL
SWEEGEY WOODS
ZIREKILE FALLS
ZIGOLIS SWAMP
CHURCH OUTSIDE OF TOWN

GENERAL THANKS:
I'm sure I have forgotten or messed up a few of these thanks and I will attempt to rectify this as I continue to work on this mod.  Aplogies if I have missed the names of some have helped me out.

I have recieved so much advice and pointers in the decade plus that I have worked on this mod.  While it would be absurd to try and rank all the help that I have recived, at the top must be Xifanie and Elric. Without them I don't know what the hell I would be doing!

While I hate to name people (because I'm definately missing some), I would feel terrible not to give thanks for all the advise, and inspiration I have recieved. Including: Jumza, Nyzer, Choto, Glain, Celdia, RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ, Kokojo, Pride, Angel, Valkirst, Twinees, Lijj, Kagebunji,ArmoredKori, Akashachi, Garmichael, Zozma 

Original Posting:
Firstly, let me say like the rest of you I love Final Fantasy Tactics.  I have played this game on and off since about 1998 and found new ways to enjoy it for many years.  Beaten the game a half dozen time, started an new pay through well over a hundred.  I spent forever playing around with class and skill combinations.  I was lucky enough to have used the work of many to gameshark tinker for years....And then I found this place! :wark:

All that I have tried to say in the previous paragraph is this: I have enjoyed tactics for many years and it has become a long term hobby.  It's one I can imagine enjoying for many more years to come.




Souls of Destiny...

Magic stones, dimensional portals, ... demonic hosts?

Ramza faced many strange things in his battles against the Lucavi, but he never understood them quite like his own brother and sister.  Perhaps he could have?  Imagine if this game had been played from the perspective of Weigraf...  How many people could have potentially been suitable hosts for the various Lucavi?  ...and could different, or perhaps lesser spirits have grabbed hold of other individuals in some shamanic possession through contact with the stones?

My game is like an alternate version of Tactics, in which the Lucavi set out to take the world in a different, more direct manner.  That is to say that the Lucavi/Zodiac Braves are less behind the scenes and are out in full force trying to deceptively sell their cult worship to the public. 

What's more, our hero could very well be one of them.  Not a noble, not a general, not one of the elite, just a man who wants to be left alone when the worst door-to-door evangelist imaginable comes calling.  Leaving behind a simple life, a normal man and his family must face an ancient evil that desires them.

Simply put, our commoner/everyman is a potential lucavi host.  Be hunted or be haunted, embrace power beyond reason or battle it to the end.  When a mysterious prophet desires him for a new disciple, he learns saying no isn't enough. He must leave behind the comfort of his home to face a world that can no longer be ignored.

Battle-wise, I plan to allow the main characters to be badass-ish (Not calc/Cid more like agrias/ninja level).  To balance it out fewer player characters would be allowed on most maps, along with more enemies.  Mechanically, most jobs will stay the same (with some little tweaks).



New Characters

Connor (yes, that's my name...)- (Main)-Sprite-ZOZMA.
Class-Sidhe/Sith: monk/aura style skills. 

Chelsea-sprite- Female Rogue (brown hair)
Class-Ace: similiar to weak assassin/ninja.  High movement and evade, two hands, disabling skills at weapon range (sleep, don't act, don't move)

Jenna-Sprite- 10 year old girl (brown hair)
Class-Indigo: Glass-cannon Mage. high mp/ma. Low hp/pa (duh). Some zero ct spells, and other low ct spells.  Very high mp cost for skills.

LaLa-sprite-H82 with LuLu portrait (finished btw)
Class-Outlaw: Thief/Ranger mash up.  (Crossbow) Steal, couple of musty like skills.
Favorite skill: Repeater: repeated attacks locked onto one panel.  Attacks on regular interval like sped up song/dance.

Isabella-sprite-Monica
Class: Paladin: Holy knight plus healing

Esperella?- sprite-.....Esperella.....
Class: Esper: to be determined...

Magnus-(early villain)-sprite-Magneto
Class: Prophet:... to be determined....

Job Changes: (as of now...)
--->many attacks previously without mp cost now have them.  This effectively nerfs sword skills and monk etc. In this way various jobs have "trump cards" and holy explosion etc. can't be spammed.
Archer- same skills, buffed jump and speed. innate poach
Thief- lose steal gil/exp gained poison slash, and precision (pa*(wp+4)) @ 20mp
Samurai- drawout debuffed. (while actual MA multiplier increased) innate 2 hands
Calculator- now archmage... essentially Kletian (ya, I know)
Dancer- now Storm- elemental style sword skills. ma based
Bard- now feral/Blue mage 
No message is associated with this attachment.No message is associated with this attachment.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: Durbs on November 16, 2012, 04:36:45 pm
Mm... I like this idea a lot. You're saying that the main character, as a proper host, would have access to the powers of the Lucavi... perhaps he is taken over by one, enjoys the power for a time, but gradually has to battle himself for re-control?

I do like the concept, though.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: MiKeMiTchi on November 17, 2012, 06:23:09 am
Interesting, but I do suggest changing the title a bit. As of now, based on RPG making experience, I could consider it as a generic name. ;)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: AzureSana on November 20, 2012, 07:06:12 pm
So, we'll all get to experience FFT through Wiegraf's eyes? Neat, I've always felt he deserved a bigger role other than just as one of the Lucavi/Corpse Brigade leader.(He did have a decently large role I'll admit, though not as much as I'd have wanted for him. Maybe I'm just a Wiegraf fan, heh. :3)

Even if we don't get to play as him, this idea still does sound pretty cool, as we'll have the Lucavi hosts as allies, as well as being one, I believe? Awesome~ ^o^
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on November 24, 2012, 06:24:45 pm
I support this mod idea. Sounds like alot of fun. If you need help, you know where to ask.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on July 02, 2014, 02:32:21 pm
SOULS OF DESTINY UPDATE

Yes, I am still working on this project! Yup, this project is life long (hopefully that long won't be necessary :D). 

I have nearly two chapters worth of story evented!  Some events are little more than dialogue changes, but all but about 5 are in the 95% complete stage.

New attack on Beoulve is glitchy
Chapter 1 final scene needs work
Replacement Reed whistle scene needs fix
Ruins of Zaland replacement needs 1 tweak
Araguay Woods-Hulk battle-(Summer event give away :mrgreen:
Final chapter 2 scene needs to be made


I seem to have worked the camera out well on most events, but some seem to jerk me around.  Some dialogue needs to be mildly edited, some mix ups with effect/action orders on an event, and my one scene with my own evtchr needs to be fixed.

The First chapter is a very clear parallel/(alternate history) with Vanilla-Mostly the same battle maps and the same map path.  New characters take the places of our heroes/villains, but the original characters exist as temporarily guest units (Ramza/Zalbag/Weigraf).
I actually love the fuck out of this chapters final battle as the whole chapter builds up the villain.

The second chapter also follows the map path, but occasionally leads to allies instead fighting battles elsewhere.  Agrias is replaced by similar female holy knight who is the main character's sister-in-law.  Gaff is replaced by Simon as the guest for the first half of this chapter, however Gaff does return as a nihilistic hired goon.  Mustadio/goug battles are all flipped on their head.  Draclua battles in his human form....

Finally the third and fourth chapters I should be able to actually implement my toddler understanding of map drawing/ Event conditionals.  These two chapters I imagine as one giant Anarchist/Atheist/Anti-Ajora wet dream of blood shed.   
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on July 02, 2014, 04:37:10 pm
Some crazy shit going on in this events haha, if you need any help or someone to review them, lemme know.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: Valkirst on July 03, 2014, 02:39:28 am
:3 so confused as well!

Feel free to use whatever I make CONMAN, have you seen my summon replacements?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on October 14, 2014, 03:18:17 pm
Update on Souls.....

I plan to release a ppf for this patch in the next week or two.  While still in need of some cleaning up and and tweaking a 2 chapter play through is (mostly) ready to go.  While this patch is not quite shooting for the moon or as polished as it could be, it might serve as an enjoyable filler while waiting on bigger games to released. 

Random battles for chapter one have been changed up from vanilla (and will get tweaked up in the future) while those in the second are mostly the same for now.(I figured new story battles are FAR FAR more important!)

The same map path for these two chapters are  the same as vanilla.  The first chapter has many parallels with the original while the second is pretty off the wall.

The four main characters and abilities:
Connor-Sidhe
Dash
Spin fist
Wind Fist
Spirit fist
Dragon Punch
Chi Burst
Scream
God Hand

Chelsea-Ace
Leg Aim
Arm Aim
Knock out
Yell
Shadow Fist
Flame Burst
Fire Aura
Trump

Jenna-Indigo
Magic Ball
Wish
Empower
Force Field
Osmose
Ice/Fire/Thunder Breath
Ultima
Dark Flare
Comet
LaLa-Outlaw
Thief skills
Cheer up
Barrage- (persevering attack on one panel w/ chance of don't move)


Core Job changes
Archer -thief speed, jump buff and innate poach
thieves -steal gil becomes precision (extra damage at mp cost) steal exp becomes poison blade
monk -some skill gain mp costs
Samurai- gain innate 2hands, ma multiplier buffed (draw outs inversely nerfed)
Summoner loses Salamander
Mediator- loses guns, gains books, buffed ma, mp multi (intend to become similiarly skilled druid)
Bard- feral monster blue mage skills
Dancer- magic fencer -ma powered elemental sword skills
calc- sort of to be determined- currently Archmage


Monster have been slightly tweaked....
Goblins tougher physical fighters...
Several others have been tweaked such families feature 1 fighter, 1 attack style, and 1 status magic.

Weapons:
Harps/cloths removed. No magic guns, now physical style. Books will gain magic attacks ability.
Removing perfumes/Hair adornments...

Over the next week or two I'll make sure the chapter 2 final battle plays the way I want it to and adjust the order and JP cost of the main characters (I've also used the mains to test out various skills for other characters- because that's easy for my purposes).  Very few other tweaks will be made as I finally got around to use and adjust the Hulk battle Jumza made for me :mrgreen:

....Finished project -NO... Still using the original game intro and some other things still exist that I simply can't do unless I buy Photoshop, but this feels like a pretty solid 2 chapter beta.  (I would put chapter 1 at ~90+% and chapter 2 at 85+% of where I want to be.  This thing simply feels like I finally have enough to actually show this site and people irl what I have sporadically been privately working on :D

I'ld like to thank Xifanie, Elric, and many other great posters on this site for their help and making this fools dreams come true! Standing on shoulders of gaints and all that stuff!

Hope to gift you guys something very soon!!!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: Jumza on October 14, 2014, 06:17:10 pm
:o

Epic!

Can't wait to play it Conman :) It's great that you're keeping up work on your project!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on October 14, 2014, 06:18:15 pm
You rock CONMAN. I really want to see more of this. Also I have a Portable version of Photoshop if you need it?
Everything works the same, just no install.

Quote from: CONMAN on October 14, 2014, 03:18:17 pm
I'ld like to thank Xifanie, Elric, and many other great posters on this site for their help and making this fools dreams come true! Standing on shoulders of gaints and all that stuff!


<3
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on December 02, 2014, 06:27:56 pm
Wow, took me a lot longer to get this here that I thought!

.... I actually just back tracked and rewrote this post due to the file size being too big!

Anyway, 2 chapter BETA to pass a some time!  Hope, it's enjoyable


Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on December 02, 2014, 06:53:52 pm
Awesome CONMAN, I'll try this out tomorrow.

I edited your post after i downloaded it, and linked it from the site, it'll be easier for people to download this way.

I'd suggest also uploading it into your OP as well.

Can't wait to test this out! I'm planning to do a LP, I'll link it here when it's finished (it'll be my first, so I'm sorry if it sucks)




Also, since you've now released a demo, I'm going to go ahead and move you to Works in Progress. Well done

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: Gokzarak on December 03, 2014, 01:43:04 pm
I really like the patch, although only the beta process, I look forward to the final version. ;)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on December 19, 2014, 05:07:19 am
Okay so I haven't done the LP yet as there are a few concerning bugs that should probably be fixed first.
Raven and I have both played through this, I do really like what you are doing here, so everything I'm going to point out is only to help better the project.

- The sprites got messed up something horrible. I believe this might have been an issue with making the patch itself. I can help you fix this if need be.

- The main characters can crystalize and die without penalty. You can see them in other scenes after this as well, so I'd suggest using Choto's ASM that he made for Jot5 to Game Over if one of the main characters dies.

- Quite a few event issues, mostly concerning camera movements and dialogue boxes as well as scenes ending without fading out (this is another thing I can very easily help you get fixed and will improve your events quality by a lot)

- Need to find someway to make this game not able to use the name Ramza, maybe force a different name? The game talks about Ramza, so it's kinda confusing if you use Ramza as your name.

- I think Raven has some more info as well, but I'll either let him post or I'll speak with him about these.

As I mentioned already, I do like what you are doing here and I can help you straighten this stuff up a bit if you'd like. You know where to find me :P
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on December 19, 2014, 02:02:07 pm
Ya, I need to update the opening post... been lazy about it (and yet i spent like 5 hours trying to sprite yesterday...)  I'll probably do this on sunday.

QuoteThe sprites got messed up something horrible. I believe this might have been an issue with making the patch itself. I can help you fix this if need be


Perhaps I screwed up creating the patch.... I might not have expanded the original bin correctly.  I need to use the formation sprite hack to redirect a couple of sprites.. I might have a couple screw up on sprites in the endt...

Quote- The main characters can crystalize and die without penalty. You can see them in other scenes after this as well, so I'd suggest using Choto's ASM that he made for Jot5 to Game Over if one of the main characters dies.


I had this on my to do list but got a little confused on it's implementation.... unfortunately, I think you can only apply that to three (the main character would count for 3 w/ the chapter changes- so total of 5?) total characters correct?

Quote
- Quite a few event issues, mostly concerning camera movements and dialogue boxes as well as scenes ending without fading out (this is another thing I can very easily help you get fixed and will improve your events quality by a lot)

- Need to find someway to make this game not able to use the name Ramza, maybe force a different name? The game talks about Ramza, so it's kinda confusing if you use Ramza as your name.


Some cameras i think I let go because it was "close enough for now" when so many other things needed to be worked on... I partially blame this on the way I created events (usually three to four at a time, and then went back to check for mistakes). I don't think I even thought about the fade out... but yes dialogue boxes are off- a habit of re-using the same variables or not changing them from the original.

The Ramza name is issue is crappy.  If he wasn't going to be in the game then I wouldn't care, but he is fun to keep around.

There are a couple of image file types i can't edit without the right software (hence the intro is the same) and I should get around to creating a new title screen... The first couple things someone sees in a hack can definitely set the tone... 

Curious how far you got (it's not a very hard game)?  I really wanted to build up the chapter one boss as a badass and I hope he sort of delivered...
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on December 19, 2014, 06:37:52 pm
Quote from: CONMAN on December 19, 2014, 02:02:07 pm
Ya, I need to update the opening post... been lazy about it (and yet i spent like 5 hours trying to sprite yesterday...)  I'll probably do this on sunday.

Lemme know if you need any help.

Quote
Perhaps I screwed up creating the patch.... I might not have expanded the original bin correctly.  I need to use the formation sprite hack to redirect a couple of sprites.. I might have a couple screw up on sprites in the endt...

You never wanna expand the original bin via Shishi, Xif made a tutorial on how to make a PPF and its pretty spot on. I'll post it if you need it.

Quote
I had this on my to do list but got a little confused on it's implementation.... unfortunately, I think you can only apply that to three (the main character would count for 3 w/ the chapter changes- so total of 5?) total characters correct?

Nah, Choto extended it since there will be more than 5 chars that need it for Jot5

Quote
Some cameras i think I let go because it was "close enough for now" when so many other things needed to be worked on... I partially blame this on the way I created events (usually three to four at a time, and then went back to check for mistakes). I don't think I even thought about the fade out... but yes dialogue boxes are off- a habit of re-using the same variables or not changing them from the original.

Refering more to your camera at the beginning of the second scene, its jumpin all around
Dialogue has nothing to do with variables, only the length that you personally make each line

Quote
The Ramza name is issue is crappy.  If he wasn't going to be in the game then I wouldn't care, but he is fun to keep around.

So just change his {Ramza} name in Tactext. Easy to fix

Quote
There are a couple of image file types i can't edit without the right software (hence the intro is the same) and I should get around to creating a new title screen... The first couple things someone sees in a hack can definitely set the tone... 

The intro can be entirely edited in Graphics Gale :P

Quote
Curious how far you got (it's not a very hard game)?  I really wanted to build up the chapter one boss as a badass and I hope he sort of delivered...


I got 4-5 battles in, but i think Raven ended up beating it, I'll ask what he thought of the boss
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: Jumza on December 19, 2014, 07:50:21 pm
Quote from: Elric on December 19, 2014, 06:37:52 pm
I got 4-5 battles in, but i think Raven ended up beating it, I'll ask what he thought of the boss


I've gone all the way through if you want any opinions on anything. I did send you that PM but that was basically just about the one battle :P
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: RavenOfRazgriz on December 20, 2014, 02:50:03 am
Okay, I played up through Sand Rat Cellar completely blind.  Haven't even read the OP, so I don't know what's actually in the Changelog or planned in future revisions.  I went in with no expectations or impressions besides "CONMAN made a story patch, tell me if you think it's good" from Elric.  Below is feedback / bugs / etc. found based on that.

* Steal Heart's text or effect is wrong.  The text says it adds Charm, yet every time I tried using it, the displayed status was Death Sentence and none of the times it actually landed a status so I don't know what it's actually meant to do.

* Characters don't save between the Intro at Thieves' Fort and Magic City Gariland and it's very disorienting, because there is no reason for them not to save between battles.

* You get no revival options in the first two battles, as well as no healing options whatsoever besides Wish, and in the second battle your characters are capable of Crystalization. 

* Your main non-hero characters can Crystalize without a Game Over and the game continues as normal.  I tested this by having Chelsea Crystalize in the second fight and was able to complete up to Sand Rat Cellar without any issues or the game caring in any way despite one of my main characters literally being dead.

* La La does not join immediately after helping you so she resets before joining your party.

* After La La joins, your Inventory is completely reset.

* La La joins at a far higher level than the rest of your party.  I believe either Level 7 or Level 8 while the rest of your party is still floating at Level 2.  It might be a bit lower than this because I didn't think to check her level until Sand Rat Cellar but by that point she was Level 10 while the rest of my Party was Level 2 and Level 3 so she had to join at least at Level 5.

* Enemies starting after La La joins seem to be far higher level than your other playable characters.  I'm guessing battles are Party Level based on this.

* Mandalia Plains restricts you to 3 Units despite you having 4 Units and there being no Sprite Limit issues. 

* Mandalia Plains has enemies up through Level 7 including a Squire with a Battle Axe that can oneshot anyone in your party.

* Other enemies tend to grossly overlevel the party.

* Zalbag uses your main character's formation sprite.

* Zalbag sucks.  Really he's completely fucking worthless.  The only useful thing he did for me was act as a high MP target for Jenna's Osmose skill.

* Zalbag's AI in the Sweegy Woods battle makes him twice as shit as he is in other battles because he hides behind your party unless the enemy moves in close.

* Sweegy Woods only allows you to deploy 3 characters despite there being no Sprite Limit issues.

* Enemies in Sweegy Woods on average are over 3x the level of your party unless you're grinding.  My units that weren't La La averaged Level 2 and the enemies averaged Level 7 on top of outnumbering you heavily despite you likely having no ability pool yet.

* Dorter Slums finally allows you to deploy all your units, too bad one of mine was dead forever.

* Units in Dorter Slums outlevel you by even more than Sweegy Woods unless you've been grinding.

* Monk can oneshot any unit in your party that's not Zalbag unless Compatibility saves you.

* Units in Sand Rat Cellar begin breaking Level 10 despite all my units that aren't La La being Level 2 or 3.  Zalbag doesn't count because he's literally more worthless than Algus because he doesn't start on the side that allows his corpse to be used to block the door.

* Enemies include a Level 11 or 12 Samurai that can twoshot your entire party including Zalbag simultaneously via Draw Out.

* Monk present still oneshots entire party that's not Zalbag, La La included.  Zalbag is still worthless despite this so him not being oneshot honestly does more harm than good.




That's where I stopped playing for now.




Other notes:

* Sprites are borked, but you know this already.

* Event Text is often broken or badly formatted.  Too many instances to document them all individually.

* Story seems rather confusing to follow.

* Story is twice as confusing to follow if you don't edit your name because you seem to have Ramza as an existent, separate character.  The default name should be changed if this is so.  This can be done via FFTacText.

* This happened during one of the scenes with Alma, forget which: http://gyazo.com/54d4a0cd974f543e457bf20dec796f74

* Unique units don't feel very unique so far since the ones I've encountered so far merely utilize generic class abilities with higher stats and innates with only one or two unique abilities.  Having a lot of abilities on a Job isn't very important.  A character like Mustadio who has 3 unique and character-defining moves is much better than a character like War of the Lion's Balthier which has 12 moves simply taken from everyone else.

* The general idea of the patch seems to be that your starting units are far more powerful than the enemy generics so you fight a larger number of higher level generics.  At this early point in the game there are two problems with this formula:
** 1. This highly disincentives me as a player from changing Jobs to get new skills.  Journey of the Five has this problem to a lesser degree, but this patch seems heavily based on the "Squire" Jobs being heavily bad-ass so its far more prevalent here.
** 2. At this early point in the game, Level is easily one of the most determining factors in how strong a character is so, at least in my playthrough so far, most enemy units are as strong or stronger than my units by virtue of raw numbers.  If I were an average player I would have been forced to either grind levels and hope levels don't scale or stop playing.

* Despite all of the above, I was able to trivialize every fight except Sand Rat's Cellar despite the difficulty brick wall that seemed to get added to them via Jenna's Magic Ball and La La's Barrage.  However, this required a lot of mechanical manipulation that novice or intermediate players would not have considered, such as abusing Zalbag as an Osmose target to keep Jenna's MP full.

* Osmose does not seem to target the player like a normal spell with a CT, but targets the panel instead.  Not sure if this is intentional given this isn't how Vanilla spells function and everything else still seems to be pretty much set up like Vanilla.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on December 20, 2014, 02:30:13 pm
QuoteYou never wanna expand the original bin via Shishi, Xif made a tutorial on how to make a PPF and its pretty spot on. I'll post it if you need it.

I didn't expand via shishi.  I tried follow the video- but using windhex I expanded the .bin rather than adding 00's to the end of the file (i didn't see the option Xif used) I am hoping that this is the source of the sprite issues, if not some more....

QuoteNah, Choto extended it since there will be more than 5 chars that need it for Jot5

fuck ya! I'll try to get this working!

QuoteRefering more to your camera at the beginning of the second scene, its jumpin all around
Dialogue has nothing to do with variables, only the length that you personally make each line

:oops: In deed too much jumping... Dialogue length is squirrely -I meant that I had a habit of reusing the same variable for the type of dialogue box- I usually would just use 10? which should be above the character, but end up on top of them (which might be fine if I had the camera set better.)
QuoteSo just change his {Ramza} name in Tactext. Easy to fix

I'll take a look- I didn't think that was so simple. I changed it in several places, but I don't think the quick edit option in tactext hits them all.  Is it possible to change the default name in the name-selection screen at the begging of the game?- is that what you are saying?

QuoteThe intro can be entirely edited in Graphics Gale

I guess I can change the openbk images (PNG) , but opentex is a gif.  My Graphics Gale won't allow me to edit those...

QuoteSteal Heart's text or effect is wrong.  The text says it adds Charm, yet every time I tried using it, the displayed status was Death Sentence and none of the times it actually landed a status so I don't know what it's actually meant to do.

I just checked this and apparently I had another ability that I changed which shared the same inflict-status variable... should have been charm.

QuoteCharacters don't save between the Intro at Thieves' Fort and Magic City Gariland and it's very disorienting, because there is no reason for them not to save between battles.

I should add this.  I don't think there is one in the original between Orbone/ first real battle- I really didn't think about it.

QuoteYou get no revival options in the first two battles, as well as no healing options whatsoever besides Wish, and in the second battle your characters are capable of Crystalization. 

Perhaps I should add something in- That has indeed screwed me

Quote* Your main non-hero characters can Crystalize without a Game Over and the game continues as normal.  I tested this by having Chelsea Crystalize in the second fight and was able to complete up to Sand Rat Cellar without any issues or the game caring in any way despite one of my main characters literally being dead.

will change via hack

Quote* La La does not join immediately after helping you so she resets before joining your party.

* After La La joins, your Inventory is completely reset.

I think I initially had her join after the battle and then in her home accidently (double units).  I went with the second option- I should change it back. I have no idea about the inventory thing..

Quote* La La joins at a far higher level than the rest of your party.  I believe either Level 7 or Level 8 while the rest of your party is still floating at Level 2.  It might be a bit lower than this because I didn't think to check her level until Sand Rat Cellar but by that point she was Level 10 while the rest of my Party was Level 2 and Level 3 so she had to join at least at Level 5.

* Enemies starting after La La joins seem to be far higher level than your other playable characters.  I'm guessing battles are Party Level based on this.


I did this initially because LaLa kept getting wiped out in this battle (I initially wanted it to be a "Save LaLa battle" I should lower her level and make her immortal to prevent this leveling wonkiness.  That should adjust the enemy levels to a reasonable amount.

QuoteMandalia Plains restricts you to 3 Units despite you having 4 Units and there being no Sprite Limit issues.

Initially I meant to do this to create a degree of balance by having an over-powered team- I should change it back via attackout.  This is how many of the first battles are changed...

QuoteMandalia Plains has enemies up through Level 7 including a Squire with a Battle Axe that can oneshot anyone in your party.

I should adjust the level these axes are available- I removed variable damage. Those levels will be lower with the lala fix.

Quote* Zalbag uses your main character's formation sprite.

* Zalbag sucks.  Really he's completely fucking worthless.  The only useful thing he did for me was act as a high MP target for Jenna's Osmose skill.

* Zalbag's AI in the Sweegy Woods battle makes him twice as shit as he is in other battles because he hides behind your party unless the enemy moves in close.

I need to edit the uwentries.  I figure I should just add control onto his battles so he actually is worthwhile.  He is worthless with the ai.  With control he should actually be helpful.

QuoteMonk can oneshot any unit in your party that's not Zalbag unless Compatibility saves you.
Enemies include a Level 11 or 12 Samurai that can twoshot your entire party including Zalbag simultaneously via Draw Ou

LaLa fix should adjust this otherwise I'll look at the entd.  But, the monk/Samurai are meant to be a little beastly...They have the same name.  It is a reoccurring hint that pops up later.

QuoteThis happened during one of the scenes with Alma, forget which

I have tried to figure this one out over and over... I might post the script later in the event forum.  Nothing in her actual text or the dialogue spot seems off to me....

QuoteUnique units don't feel very unique so far since the ones I've encountered so far merely utilize generic class abilities with higher stats and innates with only one or two unique abilities.  Having a lot of abilities on a Job isn't very important.  A character like Mustadio who has 3 unique and character-defining moves is much better than a character like War of the Lion's Balthier which has 12 moves simply taken from everyone else.


I see what you are saying with this.  LaLa is the worst offender. She really shouldn't have thief skills.  She needs one or two more unique abilities to go with barrage (which is powerful, but I assume it tapers off with levels).  Chelsea should probably have the aim abilities removed (they seemed to fit character style pretty well, but I am adding mustadio so....).  That leaves her with 6.  Jenna should lose those breath attacks and get something else... I don't mind her having ultima if it only pops up on one to two enemy units the rest of the game.  I think the main dude has 6 unique plus dash and spin fist.  Spin fist ought to come off but I feel dash isn't hurting anything on a brawler type.

Quote* The general idea of the patch seems to be that your starting units are far more powerful than the enemy generics so you fight a larger number of higher level generics.  At this early point in the game there are two problems with this formula:
** 1. This highly disincentives me as a player from changing Jobs to get new skills.  Journey of the Five has this problem to a lesser degree, but this patch seems heavily based on the "Squire" Jobs being heavily bad-ass so its far more prevalent here.
** 2. At this early point in the game, Level is easily one of the most determining factors in how strong a character is so, at least in my playthrough so far, most enemy units are as strong or stronger than my units by virtue of raw numbers.  If I were an average player I would have been forced to either grind levels and hope levels don't scale or stop playing.

* Despite all of the above, I was able to trivialize every fight except Sand Rat's Cellar despite the difficulty brick wall that seemed to get added to them via Jenna's Magic Ball and La La's Barrage.  However, this required a lot of mechanical manipulation that novice or intermediate players would not have considered, such as abusing Zalbag as an Osmose target to keep Jenna's MP full.

* Osmose does not seem to target the player like a normal spell with a CT, but targets the panel instead.  Not sure if this is intentional given this isn't how Vanilla spells function and everything else still seems to be pretty much set up like Vanilla.

The first chapter is awkward without a healer type...  Stripping down some of their abilities should hopefully make job branching out  more of an incentive- The main should really become a monk (I think I'll put that is the character quote), LaLa should head toward archer/thief, Jenna should need to go magical, Chelsea should need to go knight(2swords)/ninja. 

I'll need to adjust the battle difficulty (levels should get largely fixed via LaLa- many battles are player level plus 1/2).  It was meant to begin on an easier path and crank up as it goes.  I didn't realize I had osmose set up that way- definately change that.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on December 20, 2014, 04:06:31 pm
Quote from: CONMAN on December 20, 2014, 02:30:13 pm
I didn't expand via shishi.  I tried follow the video- but using windhex I expanded the .bin rather than adding 00's to the end of the file (i didn't see the option Xif used) I am hoping that this is the source of the sprite issues, if not some more....

This HERE (http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=7457.0) You have to pad the bin with the 00's bytes to make this not happen. If you are still having issues after this, lemme know and I'll help ya out.

Quote
:oops: In deed too much jumping... Dialogue length is squirrely -I meant that I had a habit of reusing the same variable for the type of dialogue box- I usually would just use 10? which should be above the character, but end up on top of them (which might be fine if I had the camera set better.)

x11 for above the character, x12 for below the character :P

Quote
I'll take a look- I didn't think that was so simple. I changed it in several places, but I don't think the quick edit option in tactext hits them all.  Is it possible to change the default name in the name-selection screen at the begging of the game?- is that what you are saying?

Yes, Ramza's default name is in tactext, you can open your tactext patch in notepad instead, it's actually a lot easier to edit that way since you can just CLT+H and replace all {Ramza} with whatever you want. Just keep the brackets where they are.

Quote
I guess I can change the openbk images (PNG) , but opentex is a gif.  My Graphics Gale won't allow me to edit those...

I'll see if I can find something to help you out. I do still have that portable version of Photoshop if that would help?

Quote
I have no idea about the inventory thing..

Raven should've explained this one, IIRC this is due to one command CallFunction 01 (or {43}) remove this from that script and it should fix that issue.

Quote
I have tried to figure this one out over and over... I might post the script later in the event forum.  Nothing in her actual text or the dialogue spot seems off to me....

Post this event in a spoiler, I'll show you where the issue is that is causing this, it happened to me before as well, but it's easier to show you than to explain.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on January 17, 2015, 11:24:35 am
Still working on this thing despite not posting in a while.  I've adjusted several battles and done little things like patching uwentries so that Zalbag properly shows up in the formation screen.  I adjust the attackout so that a full team can now be deployed in the story battles.  The beginning of the game no longer sets "ramza" as the default name.

I've switched up the skill sets  of the main four so that they are more unique and promote growing out into other jobs.  Chelsea lost the aim abilities and  gained "witch blade", an ability that deals extra damage to those with protect/shell (and cancels).  "Connor" lost spin fist.  Jenna loses ultima and the breaths; gains mystic blast (non-elemental breath-like abilty with a charge time) and pray -revives ally (100% but only heals 1...9).  LaLa loses thief skills; gains tranquilize (weapon range: seperate sleep/slow- aim formula) and interceptor (extra damage to charging/performing units).  (Zalbag gains the control flag and becomes useful but not overpowered).

I'm having a lot of fun switching up random battles (which I really had done much of previously).  I attempted to edit the main screen, but I'm pausing on it because I think I should change the name of this patch. 

I'm going to hold off on editing the initial post/ppf until I have properly gone back through easyvent and patched the cryalization hack.  I expect that mistakes will still slip through- but fixing the cameras will be the number one priority.

oh, also:
Offset(x0003A000)
//Remove the previous line if you wish not to override the offset in CONFIG.INI.

UnitAnim(x01,x01,x02,x00,x00)

{63}(rC9)
Camera(+00160,-00208,+00000,+00318,+03776,+00000,+04096,+00001)
{4D}(r78)
WaitForInstruction(x04,x00)
Wait(00400)

BlockStart()
WaitForInstruction(x08,x00)

UnitAnim(x01,x00,x35,x00,x00)
UnitAnim(x04,x00,x35,x00,x00)
UnitAnim(x07,x00,x35,x00,x00)
BlockEnd()
WaitForInstruction(x08,x00)

Focus(x08,x00,x08,x00,x00)

DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0001,x08,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)

Focus(x07,x00,x07,x00,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0002,x07,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
Focus(x08,x00,x08,x00,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0003,x08,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
Focus(x07,x00,x07,x00,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0004,x07,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
WalkTo(x08,x00,003,007,x00,x00,+008,x01)
WaitWalk(x08,x00)

UnitAnim(x08,x00,x02,x00,x00)
Wait(00030)
RotateUnit(x08,x00,x0F,x01,x01,255)
WaitRotateUnit(x08,x00)
Wait(00030)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0005,x08,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
Wait(00060)
WalkTo(x30,x00,001,005,x00,x00,+008,x01)
WaitWalk(x30,x00)
UnitAnim(x30,x00,x02,x00,x00)
Wait(00060)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0006,x30,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
WalkTo(x82,x00,001,004,x00,x00,+032,x01)
WaitWalk(x82,x00)
Wait(00060)
UnitAnim(x82,x00,x29,x00,x00)
UnitAnim(x30,x00,x1C,x00,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x0B,x00)
Wait(00060)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0007,x04,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
UnitAnim(x30,x00,x02,x00,x00)
WaitForInstruction(x0B,x00)

DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0008,x30,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
Wait(00120)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x0009,x08,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x000A,x01,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x000B,x08,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
DisplayMessage(x10,x11,x000C,x07,x00,x00,+00000,+00000,+00000,x03)
WaitForInstruction(x01,x00)
CallFunction(x01)



{6A}(r052300005F)
{3E}(r02000000FFFFFF6000)
WaitForInstruction(x0C,x00)
ZERO(x006E)
ADD(x006E,x0004)
ZERO(x006F)
ADD(x006F,x0002)
ZERO(x01BF)
ADD(x01BF,x0001)
ZERO(x01C0)
ADD(x01C0,x0001)
ZERO(x0269)
ADD(x0269,x0001)
ZERO(x03EF)
ADD(x03EF,x0001)
EventEnd()

//INSTRUCTION SECTION END -  TEXT START
//Message x01
{font:08}Zalbag{br}
{font:00}Welcome guests. I am sorry{br}
,but Ramza is unavailable at the{br}
moment.  Lala, my brother speaks{br}
well of you.  May I ask why you{br}
have come?{end}


//Message x02
{font:08}Lala{br}
{font:00}We came seeking news{br}
of a growing threat in Ivalice.{br}
Someone is gathering men{br}
for rebellion and is recruiting by{br}
force.{br}
My brother, his family, myself, and{br}
the knight Weigraff have all faced{br}
recruitment at the end of a blade.{br}
They don't seem to take no for{br}
an answer...We wished to find{br}
out their motives and hoped that{br}
Ramza would have the resources{br}
to uncover this for us.{end}


//Message x03
{font:08}Zalbag{br}
{font:00}Ha!  I wish Ramza was more{br}
concerned with this threat you{br}
speak of.  He still acts as more of a {br}
child than he should.  As a Beolve,{br}
he should take a leading role in these{br}
sorts of matters......................{br}
I have been trying to{br}
uncover this myself.  {end}

//Message x04
{font:08}Lala{br}
{font:00}So, then you know who{br}
is behind this movement?{end}

//Message x05
{font:08}Zalbag{br}
{font:00}Actually, I thought I would{br}
by now.  I have, or rather I had a {br}
man on the inside.  I sent Ramza's{br}
close friend Delita out to gather{br}
information.  I had him join up with{br}
these rebels, but he seems to have{br}
been found out recently.........{end}

//Message x06
{font:08}Alma{br}
{font:00}Pardon me, but I must say{br}
that your little girl is adorable.  I can't{br}
wait until I find a good man and{br}
have a beautiful child.  I can see{br}
it like a dream, even now.{end}

//Message x07
{font:08}Chelsea{br}
{font:00}Jenna! Behave yourself!{br}
I'm sorry, she's eager to please.{end}

//Message x08
{font:08}Alma{br}
{font:00}Don't apologize.  It's just{br}
what children do!{end}

//Message x09
{font:08}Zalbag{br}
{font:00}Back, to our discussion.{br}
I was considering having Ramza{br}
join me on a mission to retrieve{br}
his young friend, but seeing as{br}
this is a mutual goal.... Why don't{br}
you accompany me?{end}

//Message x0A
{font:08}{Ramza}{br}
{font:00}Thank you.  We are{br}
honored to join you on this{br}
quest.{end}

//Message x0B
{font:08}Zalbag{br}
{font:00}I assume you must have{br}
some talent if they sought you{br}
out.  I love the inherent irony that{br}
they wished to hire your blade {br}
only to find it in their belly!{end}

//Message x0C
{font:08}Lala{br}
{font:00}Uhmmm......yeah.{br}
It's hilarious....their uh..{br}
murder that is....{end}


Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: TigerBlade on April 04, 2015, 12:08:09 pm
Awesome, keep up the good work!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on April 25, 2015, 01:55:21 pm
mini update on slow progress:

*added gameover hack for non-main hero crystalization... keep forgetting the un-boot-able hack for them.

*Figured out and partially implemented world map drawing etc. for third chapter.  (I always wanted an epic battle series at the capital.)

*Did some touch ups on some early events and made the the first two events for chapter 3.  (Also realizing that I will abuse the hell out of {43}callfunction 0F/10 for mid battle transformations)

*Thinking I need to get a new hex editor to properly pad my original file to make a better ppf.

Curious if anyone can suggest a good alternative to camtasia- I would like to throw some videos out, but I don't want to drop $299 to do it.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: 3lric on April 25, 2015, 02:21:32 pm
Quote
*Thinking I need to get a new hex editor to properly pad my original file to make a better ppf.

TinyHex works great, as does Winhex

Quote
Curious if anyone can suggest a good alternative to camtasia- I would like to throw some videos out, but I don't want to drop $299 to do it.

Find me on IRC
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: fin7710 on September 13, 2015, 02:01:45 pm
Just played through the fist two chapters, this is great.  Just wondering if this is still being worked on.  I see this thread hasn't been updated in a couple months. 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny
Post by: CONMAN on September 13, 2015, 08:04:57 pm
QuoteJust played through the fist two chapters, this is great.  Just wondering if this is still being worked on.  I see this thread hasn't been updated in a couple months.

It is still being worked- Sorry I have put out an update, or uploaded a newer version of the mod.  I have actually been slowly cleaning up events and stuff. 

I'm slowly working on the third chapter.  The map paths and story are going further off the rails as I move forward.  I really hadn't been motivated to update in a while- I'll try do so soon :cool:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny December 23 2015
Post by: CONMAN on December 23, 2015, 02:11:23 pm
Thought I would post a little update on where I am with this patch.  I'll have a couple weeks of furious progress and then months of inactivity.  Anyway, as this is mostly a story patch (Main characters changed but not giant job changes like in other patches) I thought I would post how far I am.  The ppf on the initial post hasn't been altered and only goes up to the loki battle.  I still need to make attack battle event changes on these later events (switching kill'em alls/boss fights as well as target id of save the esper battle)

spoilers ahead, but what the hell!


Event Progress

ORIGINAL:    ALTERED

orbonne prayer: intro/home
orbonne battle: Homefront battle
Military academy: Magnus intro
Gariland battle: save Lala
Balbanes death: Lala's house
Mandalias plains (Algus):Mandalias plains (Weigraff)
Igros: Join up with Zalbag
Sweegy woods: near identical
Dorter trade city: near identical
Interrogation: Magnus visits Alma
Sand rat Cellar: trap battle
Gustave V Weigraff: save Delita+ revisit Weigraff
Larg's Praise: Return Delita to Igros
Miluda 1: Rebattle Beatrix at homefront
Release Miluda: Murder...
Attack on Beoulve: Magnus kidnaps Alma
Meet with bedridden Dycedarg: near Identical
Expelling Algus: Meet/Recruit Ramza
Reed Whistle: Magnus defeats Weigraff
Miluda 2: Battle Elidibs Avatar
Weigraff Berating Golagros: Magnus woos Alma
Windmill Battle: Defeat Alma
Finding Teta Missing: (removed) turned into chap.1 Rumor battle
Fort Zeakden: Magnus Battle
Partings: Alma.......

Chapter 2

Orbonne: Recruit Isabella and Simon
Dorter 2: Near identical
Araguay Woods: Incredible Hulk battle (Thanks Jumza!)
Zirikile Falls: Save Weigraff from Delita
Ovelia Joins: Words with Weigraff
Zaland fort City: Battle as Weigraff to save Esper
Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias & Ovelia meeting: Weigraff meets Izlude
Ruins of Zaland: similar-Hero speaks with Simon
Bariaus Hill: Battle Phantom Thief Zero
Dycedarg & Gafgarion Reunion: Dycedarg conspires with Vormav
Gate of Lionel Castle: virtually identical
Meeting with Draclau: similiar..
Besrodio Kidnapped: Mustadio kicks Rudvich butt
Zigolis swamp: battle Goug scum with Rudvich
Goug City: battle Mustadio and mechsuit troops
Besrodio saved: recruit Mustadio
Warjilis Port: Meet Elidibs
Draclau hires Gafgarion: similiar
Bariaus Valley: Defeat Evil Agrias
Gologorand site: very similiar
Substitute: Simon and Draclua discuss the stones
Lionel castle gate: battle human Draclua
Inside of Lionel castle: suped up Quecklain
Gelwans Death: High Priest Funeral Plots

Chapter 3
(event compression and real map path alterations begin)

*Event compression: rumor battle against lizardmen

Chapter 3 Start: similiar-Goltana officially begins the lion war
Goland coal city battle: Zaland fort battle with Loki and Frost giants
Goland Post Battle: Magnus returns
Talk with Zalbag: Weigraff becomes official shrine knight
Outside Castle Gate in Leaslia: Goland battle against ramza
Outside Castle Gate in Lesalia; Talk with Alma: Re-recruit Ramza

*Orbonne Battle series becomes Lesalia Capital Series
Orbonne monastery: Front gate of Lesalia
Underground Book Storage First Floor: Side gate of Lesalia (unused Limberry2 map)
Underground Book Storage Second Floor: Defeat baron Grimms and save Ruvelia
Underground Book Storage Third Floor: Back gate of Lesalia-battle Orlandu
Meet Velius: Thanks and War stategies with Ruvelia

*Malak and the Scriptures: reordered into later battle
Delita swears allegiance to Ovelia: Weigraff and Izlude prepare for battle
Grog Hill: Battle Magnus as Weigraff.......
Meet again with Olan: Vormav introduces himself to Weigraff
Rescue Rafa: (Moved to Dougla Pass) Rescue Esper/ defeat Izlude *in Progress
Exploding Frog: *Not started
Yuguo Woods: (moved to Bervenia Free city) Demon Children Battle *In progress

*Malak and the Scriptures: Finath River Battle *Not started

*Riovanes Castle Battle Series becomes Zeltennia Castle battle series *Not started


Title: Re: Souls of Destiny December 23 2015
Post by: DeJ on January 02, 2016, 10:08:44 am
Conman --

I began playing your patch a few days ago and let me say that it's a great patch! I love the character changes and minor job/ability tweaks you have come up with so far. Your patch is on my watch list and I will be playing all versions as they're released. Please stick with this project and post another Beta version if you can.

Also, not sure if others experienced this, but at the beginning of the game, after the Mandalia Plains fight - when you go to Igros and an event occurs with LaLa and the party at the front castle gates. Once the event and dialogue conclude, it started my game over again (from the Thieves Fort battle). It basically 'reset' my game and I was unable to do anything at or beyond Igros. I am using PSXfin 1.13. Could you maybe look into this and address with next update?

thanks man, keep up the great work!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny December 23 2015
Post by: CONMAN on January 02, 2016, 10:45:45 am
Thanks for the heads up.  I'll check this out to see what happened.  I assume something got funky when I condensed the first chapter to make event space.... Hopefully, it shouldn't be hard to fix.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny December 23 2015
Post by: DeJ on January 04, 2016, 10:24:20 am
Sounds good, thanks Conman!

Please keep us updated on this great patch. :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on January 04, 2016, 11:24:19 pm
Sorry man, I thought I had rechecked the first chapter (probably from a later point).  I caught where this mistake happened- due to faulty event compression..... anyway the updated patch is on the first page!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: DeJ on January 06, 2016, 11:29:41 am
Thank you very much good sir! I'll be playing this tonight and will let you know my thoughts if you'd find them valuable.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on January 08, 2016, 06:12:53 pm
Conman! This was an awesome patch man!! I was a little hesitant at first because it was a alternate timeline/story kinda thing and I usually have trouble getting into them but I had no trouble getting into this at all. I enjoyed it very much and I didn't realize how far along your mod was but it had plenty of content and kept me busy for quite a while  :P. The story was great and I like the new characters you added. I also like the skills and new jobs too. I thought the difficulty was a little low though. I have been playing quite a few mods the last few months so I definitely kicked all the rust of off my fft skills a while back. I would like to see the difficulty increased on your next chapter though. But that's just me I love a challenge. Either way the story is good and will keep me interested.

Now on to glitches/bugs.

I only noticed one bug honestly
The battle at grog hill lucavi vs magnus repeats every time you go over grog hill


There was tons of graphical glitches. The only one I would say affected game play was the glitchy attack sprites. Other than that these didn't affect gameplay but still very noticeable: Blue character faces, almost all battle conditions are incorrect(save algus, save rafa, and etc.), and portraits are glitchy(black spaces or empty spaces on faces).

There was also a lot of minor typos and such.

also
The queen has no portrait and there is a scene with rafa(where malak the frog comes) from vanilla towards the end that is out of place


Most of the typos and graphical glitches are very noticeable so I won't post em here but I did take a lot of screen shots. I'll post a few so you have examples and I can PM the rest to you if you want. But yeah keep up the work CONMAN you got another fan now  :mrgreen: Hope to see more sometime in the future!!

**edit**
Actually everything after the lucavi battle repeats itself and even got me two esperellas lol. During the esper battle the esper has the no crystal status with the stars but she can still die. Matter a fact even after reviving her she still can die  :evil: was really irritating. Guess I got lucky on my first battle
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on January 15, 2016, 01:00:26 pm
QuoteConman! This was an awesome patch man!! I was a little hesitant at first because it was a alternate timeline/story kinda thing and I usually have trouble getting into them but I had no trouble getting into this at all. I enjoyed it very much and I didn't realize how far along your mod was but it had plenty of content and kept me busy for quite a while 


Wow, I had no idea anyone had played that far!

QuoteI would like to see the difficulty increased on your next chapter though. But that's just me I love a challenge. Either way the story is good and will keep me interested.


This definitely needs an eye.  I'm pretty much the only one play testing, hence my style of play/ lack of grinding definitively contributes.

QuoteThere was tons of graphical glitches. The only one I would say affected game play was the glitchy attack sprites. Other than that these didn't affect gameplay but still very noticeable: Blue character faces, almost all battle conditions are incorrect(save algus, save rafa, and etc.), and portraits are glitchy(black spaces or empty spaces on faces).

There was also a lot of minor typos and such. 


I believe most of these graphical glitches are due to me screwing up the ppf patch creation.  Editing the battle conditions are something I have struggled with- Every time I have attempted to change them I apparently create a file too big to re-insert....  The Queen didn't actually have her portrait on the sprite because I'm still working on it :P  I believe some other port mistakes pop up because I reused old dialogue commands and didn't catch every time they have a Wildface port forced over it. The typos are the bane of my existence!  I know the spacing has thrown me off...

QuoteI enjoyed it very much and I didn't realize how far along your mod was but it had plenty of content and kept me busy for quite a while


Yeah, my plan of attack on this mod has been to create one giant sketch, rather than a few perfect picture (it really shows).  As for the glitches around the Lucavi battle- that's pretty much where my work has stopped. It needs to be fixed up- I didn't think anyone would have played that far! :mrgreen:

Thanks for your support!  I'm actually going to post a couple videos for other people to view.  I'm using camstudio and the videos it outputs I can't open with my video editor (which I don't even know how to use yet!). I either need to find afile converter of some kind, or something....   



Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on January 17, 2016, 02:49:14 am
Give me a shout if you ever want me to test anything. I'm not sure I'd be able to give suggestions on balancing or anything but I can at least give you a rating on how easy it is or something along those lines  :) And I can always point of any glitches/bugs I find. Always good to get a different perspective!

Hey sorry for posting this here...but I figured I was posting here anyways so I'd ask. Still planning on doing a frankensprite tutorial someday? That would be extremely helpful to people like me, who have 0 artistic ability :mrgreen: 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: fin7710 on January 17, 2016, 11:16:37 am
Is this new version backwards compatible?  I'd love to use my save data from the end of Chap.2.  It seems to work so far, but I'm only in the first battle of Chap. 3.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on January 18, 2016, 05:00:32 pm
QuoteIs this new version backwards compatible?  I'd love to use my save data from the end of Chap.2.  It seems to work so far, but I'm only in the first battle of Chap. 3.


I assume that you are using the original download. Yes-As long as you're save is from chapter 2 on.  Unfortunately you don't have a whole lot of battles completed left- but they should be real good.


QuoteStill planning on doing a frankensprite tutorial someday? That would be extremely helpful to people like me, who have 0 artistic ability :mrgreen:


You've got me thinking about it- It probably wouldn't be a video, more like a ten screen shots with some explanations.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on January 28, 2016, 09:12:39 am
Hey conman I found some of my notes I had typed for your game(I think its for souls anyways....) and I forgot to mention one of the battles.
It's hard to recall exactly but wanted to post anyways.
The dragon battle was ridiculously easy. Not sure if the generic dragons were supposed to attack the "boss" dragon but they did and they killed him before I could even get over there. I actually remember having to reset a few times and try again because I wanted to try and tame him(which didn't work but I'm sure that was intentional so I just poached him)

Also Lich summon says Rich. I believe it can be translated to either of these(?) but it says Lich on the skill list and says Rich when you summon

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this one already but just in case.... The battle with esperella is bugged, Now I only noticed it after i fought that battle a second time (because the game loops at the end) so I'm not entirely sure it happens on the main battle... but she would die and I revived her and all was going well then all of a sudden she randomly dies and game over. 

*edit* I had this written down as well but can't remember what the skill does.

mystic blast in description says all allies

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: LastingDawn on February 01, 2016, 05:24:03 pm
That is an impressive opening! I enjoyed the esoteric speech between the ?Heavens? and the Spirit, beyond that I have to wonder where you got that matching font for the place names, this is definitely a promising work.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on February 02, 2016, 07:18:42 pm
I hate to disappoint you LastingDawn, but I simply copy/pasted the original map title letters.  It certainly would be nice to have a matching font. 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: LastingDawn on February 04, 2016, 12:37:19 pm
You know... that's not actually a bad idea to create a font in that manner. The Capital's could be lacking in the end though. I imagine with how big FFT is that Somewhere on the internet there should be an appropriate font to use. Did the Heroes of Ivalice forums ever have something akin to that?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on May 03, 2016, 03:27:04 pm
Still going!  I have a few notes on patch changes.

While I have worked on the latest story line battles to smooth and fix some things, I haven't added on any more to it.  I know how I'm going to end this chapter. I also know how the final battles play out, but pretty hazy on the bulk of the fourth chapter. I really don't have an good reason to head out to the Limberry portion of the map.  I don't want to leave it out, but it needs to be a natural progression.

I've been working on three side quests for the third chapter.  All three end in character recruitment: Phantom Zero, Umaro, and Besrodeo.  Obviously, Besrodeo recruitment requires Mustuadio, but none of these need to be done in a specific order.  I never liked that in Vanilla, an exact mandatory order was needed for the side quests.The fourth side quest I'm considering reworking (reptilians), but i'm not sure what I want to do with this one.  I originally threw it in the game just to feature the sprite.  I feel something like a secret humanoid race of reptilians should be deeper than I have currently set down...

I've been adjusting game abilities and mechanics a little. 

The most necessary change (which I stubornly refused for quite a while) that I made was to finally change the bare hands attack formula.  Having the main character being a bare handed attacker just mad this more glaring all the time. At first, I decided to simply cap brave at 80, but this simply wasn't enough to keep damage at a reasonable level.  I always loved that brave factored in, but eventually changed the barehand formula to : {(pa+3)/2 *pa}.  I do like how this scales against the standard martial arts abilities. 

I made some adjustments to a few of the normal and special classes. (And changed some counters thanks to Emmy's asm hacks.) 

Thieves had an extra-damage attack (which didn't fit with the theme) and gained a blinding attack- which also replaced the their gil-game counter.

Fencer special attacks became wp*ma (like they should have been all along)

White mages lost wall and gained magic hammer (mp damage) and gained it as a counter.

Mediators are on a slow transition do ~druidy types, gaining dragon level/power up (asm'd to apply to all monsters) and having other abilities tweaked.

Chelsea gained blast- similiar to a magic wave fist as a counter.

Besrodeo has his own special ranged counter.

LaLa now has the +25% hit bonus as a support.

The abilities of the four special characters joining in this chapter are
being rebalanced.  Esperella was too powerful, while Zero was simply weak.
Title: Video spoilers
Post by: CONMAN on July 23, 2016, 04:07:44 pm
I thought I would throw a couple videos out to show people what I've been tinkering with lately!

I would like to think I'll have a pretty complete 3 chapter mod out in the next couple months, but I keep thinking up extremely optimistic time frames for completing events too.... :oops: (I have been working on the last like 4/5 events for this chapter for like a month and a half or more)

It's funny all the little things that are forgotten until you are play testing... like ability descriptions, or random battles only edited up to the previous chapter...etc.

At some point I'll either need to scrap the brave story (maybe character profiles too) because event compression means that they no longer match up ... and sometimes lead to battles which reset the whole game  :cry:  or re-point the whole thing.  With so much else on my plate trying to put this mod together, I'm not sure it's worth it.

I still need to edit the winning conditions graphics-It really stands out...

Anyway, enough rambling on... Here is a couple videos! As I was making them I noticed a few mistakes that I had totally forgotten about.... I had decided I was making these videos today and thought-SCREW IT!

Like the rest of this thread, the videos are spoiler-ific!








Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: sasapinjic on July 25, 2016, 04:20:02 am
I like this project , good work !  :D
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on August 02, 2016, 02:12:13 pm
I just realized I totally forgot to post anything on the new content  :oops:. This last month for me has been a nightmare. Trying to get a car ready for inspection in NYS is like opening Pandora's box. I do all the repairs myself, this was not a good year with all the salt damage from winter and my lack of funds/time.

Anyways, CH 3 in a couple months would be sweet! If you ever need help testing just let me know, Hopefully I will get my schedule back on track here shortly. I wouldn't mind if you scrapped the brave story, could always add it later, or just warn people not to view it and them re-point it later too.

Videos look interesting, looks like things are getting heated. Nice to see the new characters are in the mix now. I never realized you could recruit zero. Can you actually recruit any of the unique characters from the random encounters? ( I never actually tried   :mrgreen: )  That background image looks pretty slick too. But yeah looking good man, I didn't really notice any mistakes besides a few typos, looking forward to your next release!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on August 02, 2016, 04:04:33 pm
Quote
Anyways, CH 3 in a couple months would be sweet! If you ever need help testing just let me know


That's the plan. I just finished going through tactext the other day to fix all the ability descriptions, I have a couple glaring event edits that need to be made, but I could propably have this out in a couple weeks if I get real motivated (and I have the time).  Also, I'm finally using the Hex editor that Xifanie always suggest- so hopefully the graphical glitches that popped up before should be all cleaned us with a proper patch.

QuoteNice to see the new characters are in the mix now. I never realized you could recruit zero. Can you actually recruit any of the unique characters from the random encounters? ( I never actually tried   :mrgreen: )


It wasn't possible to recruit Zero the first time you run into him :cool:. Since my last patch I changed 4 rumors so that they activate side quests battles or battle series.  The extra recruit-able units pop up in these battles- so they can't be missed.  Mustadio is required for one of them-and it happens in his home town, so it will be kind of obvious.

QuoteThis last month for me has been a nightmare. Trying to get a car ready for inspection in NYS is like opening Pandora's box. I do all the repairs myself, this was not a good year with all the salt damage from winter and my lack of funds/time.


Sounds rough man! I hope life eases up on you!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on August 12, 2016, 02:59:35 pm
Quote from: CONMAN on August 02, 2016, 04:04:33 pm
Sounds rough man! I hope life eases up on you!


Yeah it's always something lol, I hope everything goes smoothly for you too. Looking forward to playing this soon (Take your time though!)

I just realized you already mentioned recruiting zero before  :oops: Ha apparently I missed the gigantic post you had discussing changes  :roll: I think it would be cool if you eventually made some of the random encounter uniques recruitable too.

So when you mention emmy's asm hack for the counters... is it just formula changes or how they are triggered? Just wondering because iirc she has made quite a few counter hacks.

Also I think it would be cool to see the reptilians get a bit of a story, even if it's not until CH4. Maybe even have a unique reptilian that is recruitable or something. Could always have them live on the island temple, if you don't have plans to it, and make a cool map for the inside of the temple ( I always wanted to go inside it on vanilla lol ).  I'm sure whatever you decide will be cool though!

I still plan on working on a website too. I did start one a while back but as I said a bunch of shit came up, and now I have a ton of new stuff I learned that I'd like to implement. Plus I'll have a bunch of new content when you release CH3. So will probably end up starting over, but that probably won't happen till I go back to school in a few weeks. I'm stuck taking horribly boring classes this semester so I figure it'll be perfect time to start working on my websites.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on August 13, 2016, 12:29:47 pm
QuoteI think it would be cool if you eventually made some of the random encounter uniques recruitable too.


I've considered it, but there is limited space in the formation screen to consider, and often the skill sets of the random unique(s) units are a hodgepodge of abilities meant to better represent them. It would be a bit odd to say add chrono with lightening in his basic class when it isn't unique from the wizards.  I might add a random unique later on. 

Quote
So when you mention emmy's asm hack for the counters... is it just formula changes or how they are triggered? Just wondering because iirc she has made quite a few counter hacks.


Just a couple of new counters- one using an unused slot and couple changed from their original.  Just unique counters for unique characters- triggered in the manner you would expect.

Quote
Also I think it would be cool to see the reptilians get a bit of a story, even if it's not until CH4. Maybe even have a unique reptilian that is recruitable or something.


I plan to have a whole reptilian multi- battle side quest. I could have a recruit-able one, but I would need a couple new skills to round it out.

Quote
Could always have them live on the island temple, if you don't have plans to it, and make a cool map for the inside of the temple ( I always wanted to go inside it on vanilla lol )


I always wanted to see the inside of that temple too! I have a plan for it and really I would like to put the reptilians underground as much as possible (not much vanilla cave-like maps unfortunately.)
Title: souls of destiny: 3 chapter beta
Post by: CONMAN on August 17, 2016, 02:26:29 pm
So here it is! 

A Full 3 chapter beta for Souls of Destiny!  The previous release ran about half way into the third chapter and didn't have all the side quest battles.  This one has about 10 more story battles (I forget exactly the number).  Some equipment changes have happened- most the armor items have seen reasonable hp boosts... I've probably mention various other changes in this thread...uhh...


Here you go!

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Eternal on August 20, 2016, 07:28:14 am
I'm going to give this a shot and report my feedback! :)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on August 20, 2016, 01:22:12 pm
Thanks Eternal!  I could use as much feedback as possible.  Only so much adjustment can be made when doing most the play testing by yourself!  You obviously have a lot of experience creating your own mods!

I actually keep feeling that the heavy vanilla mirroring of the first chapter might turn people off.  I feel like each chapter grows and changes directly in proportion to my own understanding of modding tools.  While I am obviously biased, I feel like the chapter 1 finale is worth the build up (and hopefully excites enough to play through it all.)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on August 21, 2016, 12:11:44 am
Sweet CH3 is out  :mrgreen:

I'll be starting fresh from CH1 again, so it'll take me a while with the little free time I got, but I'll keep ya posted on my thoughts.

Thanks for the hard work!

Quote from: CONMAN on August 20, 2016, 01:22:12 pm
I actually keep feeling that the heavy vanilla mirroring of the first chapter might turn people off.  I feel like each chapter grows and changes directly in proportion to my own understanding of modding tools.  While I am obviously biased, I feel like the chapter 1 finale is worth the build up (and hopefully excites enough to play through it all.)


I was a little reluctant to play the game at first, being an alternate version of vanilla, as they just tend to turn me off. Once I started actually playing, it didn't take long before I was a fan.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Jumza on August 31, 2016, 02:20:57 pm
Playing this again, having a blast! I'm in chapter 3 and the story is getting better and better as I go from battle to battle!

Anyway, just letting you know that this is a really fun hack you've made! It's a little rough around the edges at certain points but I'm having a great time playing it.

I wish I had been writing things down to give you a real bug report but there's a lot that I could comment on that I would save for a more thorough going through of the game. Right now I'm kinda just running through story missions.


In the Umaro sidequest, all the Yeti's are dragons with black palette swaps! I'm in the middle of the battle so I don't know if Umaro himself (if he appears) also suffers from this.

EDIT: The chemist in the second fight isn't actually there.

Not a bug but I totally one hit KO'd Orlandu with a Holy from Jenna  :twisted:

Alma seems to flagged as male in the windmill shed battle, because when you kill her she yells like a man.

There are a whole load of other things that you'd see right away if you replay the first or second chapter too, but I'm sure you're well aware and are just more concerned with making progress. Really good job man, it's a lot of fun!


The
Frost Titans
have been the hardest encounter yet, especially the first time because I totally wasn't expecting to run into a battle there. I probably had to reset like 4-5 times to complete it. After almost getting to the end (thanks to buying some ice shields) I was screwed over on my second to last attempt by
Loki
but I worked around that in my last run and made it through. The challenging battles are really fun to play because the characters are all very powerful and you really have to make the most of them in these fights.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on September 01, 2016, 03:29:28 pm
Thanks for the reply Jumza! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Quotedragons with black palette swaps

Crap, I moved some stuff around so that the jobs/sprites/uwe entries would match up- and then changed them back after a mistake. I thought I fixed that!

QuoteAlma seems to flagged as male

Never noticed that... wierd...

Quoteone hit KO'd Orlandu

Yup, I've done it too.  I assume that happens the first time you battle him, but probably possible on the next, too... As you know, there is some difficulty trying to even out enemy strengths- compared to ???? Monsters Orlandu is a glass cannon.  There should be a couple enemies out there where you could unleash 5 holy spells- they would tank it and kill half your party on their next turn!

I've play tested a few battle where they went from too easy to holy crap, but I kept them because the right strategy make pretty beatable. Some battles maneuverability or mp damage are almost necessary for victory.   

Quotethe hardest encounter yet, especially the first time because I totally wasn't expecting to run into a battle there.

I went back and forth with myself on whether or not I should red dot the map for that battle, but I decided against it because it is a sneak attack- and I figure red dots on a map are new places where conflict is expected.

Quote
There are a whole load of other things that you'd see right away if you replay the first or second chapter too, but I'm sure you're well aware and are just more concerned with making progress.

Pretty much. I think I have made 2/3 passes through the first 2 and sometimes more mistakes existed than I could keep track of!  I typically have replayed each new event/battle a few times until I think it's pretty good and then move on.  Sometimes I have gone ahead and made like 5 new events and then tried to fix several mistakes all at once and some still slip through.  At the moment I have a vague plan of putting out a clean near perfect 3.5 as my next release. 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on September 08, 2016, 01:10:53 pm
Hey conman, I finally made it to the end of ch1!!! lol I've been really busy but I'm chugging along, my schedule this week is even worse so I figured I'd post a bug report on ch1 at least cuz it will probably be a while till I get all the way through.


Animation glitches and blue smurf portraits are GONE!!! nice!

Still not saving exp/stat and ect. after first battle ( DID save after second battle this time )

Igros castle first visit inventory resets, and during the scene inside the castle alma says a bunch of jibberish
Second visit to igros after alma is taken, inventory resets (this one REALLY SUCKED)

Rubber shoes explains everything it does in the description ( "bouncy", negate lightning and don't move ) but the only effects it says in red are jump + 2

magnet glove does not say it increases lightning damage as an effect in the description.

flame burst description just says hadoken! and in battle the ability name is listen as hadoken! instead of flame burst
Outlaw skill luck no description
Ace skill blaze no description
One of the thief reaction skills is named pocket sand(it's not the actual ability one), but says receive gil for damage received

In a random encounter in mandalia plains....There was a monk and I wanted to crystalize him... so I was save stating until he appeared as a crystal. Whether it was a crystal or chest...the image was all distorted ( crystal was just black and chest was black with a red background) and if I tried to learn the abilities the game just froze( it didn't really freeze... it just wouldn't let me do anything). I will let you know if I encounter this again. I do have screenshots if you want me to send them to you.

Elidibis encounter( the one with the dragons ), his sprite is just a black conner sprite ( portrait too ), and not a dragon. The battle itself is MUCH better this time. Actually had a little trouble with this one, he was 1 hitting everyone and I was starting to run out of phoenix downs =P. No need to change anything though, it was just the right amount of challenge for this stage of the game IMO.

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on September 13, 2016, 10:15:48 pm
Thanks for the run down Guru.  I'm planning on starting a beginning to end run thru to fix as many glitches as possible.  Hopefully I will have some sort of 3.5 in several months.  I definitely hate missing stuff.

QuoteStill not saving exp/stat and ect. after first battle ( DID save after second battle this time )

   This is how vanilla starts the game (demo battle of sorts) and have largely assumed that it's just how it is- I'll have to poke around.

QuoteIgros castle first visit inventory resets, and during the scene inside the castle alma says a bunch of jibberish
Second visit to igros after alma is taken, inventory resets (this one REALLY SUCKED)


I forgot about this and should have fixed this sucker a while ago- I know that I used the incorrect "callfunction #" in that event to add new units.

... damn equipment/ability descriptions!  easily fixed....

QuoteIn a random encounter in mandalia plains....There was a monk and I wanted to crystalize him... so I was save stating until he appeared as a crystal. Whether it was a crystal or chest...the image was all distorted ( crystal was just black and chest was black with a red background) and if I tried to learn the abilities the game just froze( it didn't really freeze... it just wouldn't let me do anything). I will let you know if I encounter this again. I do have screenshots if you want me to send them to you.


Apparently that was the palette #5 glitch- I liked the idea of random "tough guys" with different colors and should have caught this.

QuoteElidibis encounter( the one with the dragons ), his sprite is just a black conner sprite ( portrait too ), and not a dragon. The battle itself is MUCH better this time. Actually had a little trouble with this one, he was 1 hitting everyone and I was starting to run out of phoenix downs =P. No need to change anything though, it was just the right amount of challenge for this stage of the game IMO.

Well, I'm glad the battle got tougher! I was confused by the sprite being wrong as you stated- when I checked patcher I saw that I had changed the original dragon sprite from "Holy Dragon" to a series of unused dragon sprites at the bottom of shishi... didn't know that would happen.

Thanks for all the notes in this thread guys! Time for me to restart play-testing this sucka!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Darkholme on September 14, 2016, 05:46:02 pm
This project looks pretty damn neat. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see how it unfolds. :)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on September 18, 2016, 04:04:13 pm
BAM had a day off the other day and killed CH3 lol. Overall it was awesome :mrgreen: I agree it gets better the further you get, I can't wait to see ch4! Anyways here my notes so far, sorry they got a bit out of order.  I'll mess around a bit with random battles and comment more on balance stuff later on.



First battle of the new content ...man that priest can jump!, in same fight if Jenna dies or goes critical, she starts talking like rafa then runs away :lol: This was actually pretty challenging, most my characters had low jump so it was like a death trap with those archers. Then they jenna got critical and left lol. Plus the priests are all badasses. The main enemy though, forgot his name, but he was pretty much useless.

I like conners new sprite, he starting to look like a noble  :cool:

Nice queen portrait!

In umaro side quest, the yeti are black dragon sprites. Also in the second battle conner asks the same question (if anyone has seen a yeti with white fur), and there is nobody there, then another yeti appears, and a chemist answers from inside the mine. The last battle the sprites are correct.

Goug sidequest is just conner and mustadio at first, then conner, mustadio and besrodio. Not sure if this was intended or not. Definitely made things challenging (which is always good IMO)

zero recruitment sidequest, he dives into a deep spot so it looks kinda odd when he talks. Also shadow attacks the other ninjas too

draclau no portrait

Queklain -bio spell animation is glitchy

First esperella battle, weigreif has conners portrait during conversations

Equip katana is named equip knife(it works and desc is good though)

doguola pass stays red after battle, as does bervenia, but there is no battle at bervenia?

hawkeye is supposed to be a more powerful charge attack, but does not inherit weapon element, so if I have say a holy lance, with 108 gems(boost holy) it actually does less damage.

Barrage doesn't display damage, I also didn't check to see if it inherits weapon element

Zero's move ability (silent) does not make player invisible on move

Zero comes with secondary ability steal, but has not unlocked thief yet and has no steal abilities

Snow blade, fire blade, and wind blade all have the same range and effect area in description, but they are not the same.

Also snow blade does more damage than fire blade, even though it's an area attack

Fencer MUCH more balanced with new dmg formula, but I still feel like it needs a little bit of a boost. Not too much, I mean they are instant attacks, relatively low MP cost and they did decent damage with equipment that boosts the element but still feels like they are slightly lacking

No green cherry for umaro? He only has north wind and head cracker. I still think you should give him the moogle summon too, so he can summon his pal mog  ;) Also umaru can unlock other classes, was this intentional?

I think it'd be nice if holy sword could be used with samurai swords, and have a equip great swords skill for paladin since there is already a equip sword skill for knights. That way I can use great swords in other classes, and if I have her as a samurai she can still use holy sword ( plus it makes sense since they are still swords )

Also in holy sword description, it still lists the element(like lightning stab is lightning element and etc.) even though I think they are all inherit the element of the weapon. Not sure what your intentions are with them, I know there is a quick asm fix for it somewhere around here, but honestly I prefer them to inherit the element of the weapon

I also would like to see a couple of the draw out (samurai) skills get an upgrade. Especially the first bunch of skills, they just do a little more damage than the last one. So once you get the next one it becomes useless. The only one even remotely useful out of the first 3 is the MP damage one.

can't view descriptions in loki battle, and beginning of ch4 really glitches out if you try to view descriptions
on any equipment gained in the loki battle (see attached screenshot)

Also sage is unlocked in ch4. I know your not there yet, but figured I'd mention it


Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: azavier on September 24, 2016, 10:50:55 pm
are you still working on this game ? and how far is it playable to ?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on October 08, 2016, 02:14:51 pm
Been meaning to reply for a while...

QuoteFirst battle of the new content ...man that priest can jump!, in same fight if Jenna dies or goes critical, she starts talking like rafa then runs away :lol: This was actually pretty challenging, most my characters had low jump so it was like a death trap with those archers. Then they jenna got critical and left lol. Plus the priests are all badasses. The main enemy though, forgot his name, but he was pretty much useless.

Jenna replaced Rafa in this game and I forgot to fix the conditionals sheet.  This battle played out the same for me- Despite having Beowulf skills, the "boss" is like the least tough part of this battle.

QuoteNice queen portrait!

Not mine! It's already in vanilla, but I think only seen in a Brave story entry.

QuoteGoug sidequest is just conner and mustadio at first, then conner, mustadio and besrodio. Not sure if this was intended or not. Definitely made things challenging (which is always good IMO)

On purpose- Buddy adventure!

Quotezero recruitment sidequest, he dives into a deep spot so it looks kinda odd when he talks. Also shadow attacks the other ninjas too

That's weird about shadow- patcher looks right.

QuoteSnow blade, fire blade, and wind blade all have the same range and effect area in description, but they are not the same.

Also snow blade does more damage than fire blade, even though it's an area attack


whoops- thought i had those.

QuoteFencer MUCH more balanced with new dmg formula, but I still feel like it needs a little bit of a boost. Not too much, I mean they are instant attacks, relatively low MP cost and they did decent damage with equipment that boosts the element but still feels like they are slightly lacking


I'll play around and take a look.  I also think the class needs a name change, but I haven't been big on any name yet.

QuoteNo green cherry for umaro? He only has north wind and head cracker. I still think you should give him the moogle summon too, so he can summon his pal mog  ;) Also umaru can unlock other classes, was this intentional?


I overlooked the job class thing- probably will have to replace byblos... Weird on the green cherry... I have it on mine and it's quite useful.

QuoteI think it'd be nice if holy sword could be used with samurai swords, and have a equip great swords skill for paladin since there is already a equip sword skill for knights. That way I can use great swords in other classes, and if I have her as a samurai she can still use holy sword ( plus it makes sense since they are still swords )


I agree on the Katana use. The only way I would consider "equip knight sword" would be if it was only for one special.  It's one of the few decent perks of regular knights.

QuoteAlso in holy sword description, it still lists the element(like lightning stab is lightning element and etc.) even though I think they are all inherit the element of the weapon. Not sure what your intentions are with them, I know there is a quick asm fix for it somewhere around here, but honestly I prefer them to inherit the element of the weapon


I don't think I ever thought about this- it should be asm'd.

QuoteI also would like to see a couple of the draw out (samurai) skills get an upgrade. Especially the first bunch of skills, they just do a little more damage than the last one. So once you get the next one it becomes useless. The only one even remotely useful out of the first 3 is the MP damage one.


I never thought about changing their skills up, but I'll take a look.  I like the idea of a little variety.

Quotecan't view descriptions in loki battle, and beginning of ch4 really glitches out if you try to view descriptions
on any equipment gained in the loki battle (see attached screenshot)


I knew Gunginir was glitchy- I tried to fix it once and it apparently didn't take. In fact, once selected, all other text for items become glitchy until you either leave battle or exit that particular menu.  I thought Mjlonir was fine, but I'll double check.

Quotehawkeye is supposed to be a more powerful charge attack, but does not inherit weapon element, so if I have say a holy lance, with 108 gems(boost holy) it actually does less damage.

Barrage doesn't display damage, I also didn't check to see if it inherits weapon element

Zero's move ability (silent) does not make player invisible on move

Zero comes with secondary ability steal, but has not unlocked thief yet and has no steal abilities


I don't think the formula for hawkeye takes element- I'll see if I can change it.  I feel like barrage stops displaying damage when used with a non-ranged weapon-noted. Not sure why I gave silent walk to zero- I think I intended to change that ability to something else. Steal removed (I think I originally had him start as 6 levels of thief-but then he didn't have enough of his base skills learned to be useful in that battle.)

Quoteare you still working on this game ? and how far is it playable to ?


Yes, 4.

Slowly replaying and fixing stuff as I go- I'll try to keep updates popping out!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on October 16, 2016, 01:30:21 am
No biggie man, been swamped lately anyways.

QuoteI agree on the Katana use. The only way I would consider "equip knight sword" would be if it was only for one special.  It's one of the few decent perks of regular knights.


Not sure what you mean by this, one special character or one special weapon? I was thinking it would be a nice special perk for the paladin lady ( what the hell was her name... :oops: ), Especially since she is likely the only character who will use knight swords, since the only 2 classes that can equip them are knights and paladins. I know I at least don't plan on putting any characters as knight class for a base, at least by the time great swords are available. Either way you should at least ditch the equip sword ability she has in her paladin class, since it is already available in the knight class. Although chelsea and lala both have skills that are available in other classes, which is kind of nice....

Speaking of the draw out skills, I got an idea from one of the bugs someone mentioned in JOT5, where draw out was unintentionally damaging the user. A really strong "darkness" like skill that compensates for it's awesomeness by damaging the user. Would be cool for the Muramasa, because I believe it is considered a cursed blade? I just looked it up, it is not the cursed blade I thought it was, but all swords made by Muramasa are considered cursed demonic blades. In contrast swords made by Masamune are considered holy swords. The one I was thinking of was forged by a chinese couple who forged swords, and were both killed, and their spirits are said to dwell in the last sword they created (or pair of swords?) can't seem to find the name of the couple/sword(s) anymore. The chinese have the coolest legends lol :cool:

QuoteOn purpose- Buddy adventure!
The goug sidequest was one of the hardest battes I think. Really enjoyed the challenge, even had to restart a couple times.

It's a lot easier to point out bugs and things I either don't like, or have suggestions on. So don't get the wrong idea cuz I obviously enjoy the hack  ;) If you ever want more feedback on something specific just ask. I'd be more than happy to go back and test different things too. I meant to go back and test out balance on some of the new characters since I didn't use them all, but yeah life can be a pain in the ass sometimes lol. Hopefuly soon!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: DeJ on October 20, 2016, 11:38:48 am
Just picked up your new patch (the BETA version) and have been playing through it.

I gotta give you props man, this game is a lot of fun! Good story so far and I like the changes you've made. The new characters are also legit and the battles are still a challenge. I am still early in chapter 1, but have decided to dedicate some time to your patch.

I played your initial release and it had some issues - but this time around, it's much better.

Keep up the good work man! I am excited to see what this has to offer.

DEJ
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: DeJ on October 22, 2016, 01:59:22 pm
Yo ConMan -

I just encountered:
Frog in Lenalia Plateau, won't let me invite him though. Is this just a mini boss meant to drive me mad or am I missing the way to actually recruit him? (Invite w/ Mediator doesn't work) Furthermore, does he only appear once or multiple times? I would love to be able to recruit him!

It was a pleasant surprise as I love CT.

Lemme know!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on October 23, 2016, 12:45:29 am
He's just there for fun! He and Crono pop on that location every once in a while.  I intend to have Magus, and perhaps more pop up in chapter 4 eventually.  You can't invite Frog.  I have considered some sort of weird scenario where I might let you control him and other stranger characters that will pop up.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: DeJ on October 23, 2016, 09:26:03 pm
Sweet man!! Great addition. Found Crono too, haha.

Loving the patch in CH 2, rolling through it nicely!

You should seriously consider scaling all story battles to the level of the controller's party, to make things more difficult.

I am literally having an easy time punishing each creative battle. Having great fun, but it's easy. I am an FFT grinder though. And to see what this patch has to offer I feel grinding is warranted.

Don't know how easy it is to scale the levels, but you should add that in your next patch!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: DeJ on October 23, 2016, 10:51:56 pm
Found Shadow in Barius Valley. Sweet Samurai vs Ninja battle. Not even going to try recruiting him. Great addition man! Loving this patch!!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on October 27, 2016, 01:01:51 am
Ha I never found frog. I'm gonna have to go back and kick his ass now...

Quote from: CONMAN on October 23, 2016, 12:45:29 am
He's just there for fun! He and Crono pop on that location every once in a while.  I intend to have Magus, and perhaps more pop up in chapter 4 eventually.  You can't invite Frog.  I have considered some sort of weird scenario where I might let you control him and other stranger characters that will pop up.


This sounds cool, I'd love to see more you do more of this. Hope you bring out some OP badasses that can kick my ass! Being able to control some of em for battles would be neat too.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on December 16, 2016, 01:40:05 pm
Progress Report!

I've been meaning to post for a couple weeks. When I have downtime I figure I'm better off working on the mod rather spending time updating this thread.

Slowly replaying and fixing things as I go.  A fair chunk of time has just been playing and trying to grind some generics to test out stuff.  I love to try to auto-battle grind, but I feel like 80% of the time they lose.... I'm currently near the end of the second chapter.  Bunches of little things like dialogue, camera, unit animations... changed an evtchr...yadda yadda.  Thanks to the newest patcher/shishi update I have been able to change the over-world sprite and have edited the battle conditions graphics to be accurate (defeat Magnus etc..)

I've been increasing the difficulty of story battles when they seem a little weak.  I still need to adjust the info on a few item/ability descriptions I had overlooked- or simply screwed up.  I may make some adjustments to class abilities to even things out.  I probably boosted the samurai a little too much.

The third chapter should take me a little more time than the others, but I plan to spend more time on my mod now than other hobbies for a bit.  Events will need some tweaks, I need to move umaro/yetis to the byblos spots to work properly, I need to finish the Ruvelia Queen sprite etc...

I day dream the upcoming fourth chapter all the time...  I have the main story all worked out.  Vanilla's 4th is like the size of 2 chapters.  I don't plan to have it be quite so long.  Maybe a little over half the length of Vanilla, but I intend to have more side quests, super monsters and the like.  At some point, I need to get over my fear of the unknown- and mess around with Xifanie's ISO manager- I definitely feel limited with the current ability effects and would like to add a couple new ones.

I can't help but have some giant and therefore time consuming plans for the final chapter.  Intend to make at least 3 sprites: A new lucavi, a monster sprite Apocalypse,  and complete my man/dragon "phantom beast".  I want to have some sort of "mini battle arena" side scenario- for things like: chrono crew vs Magus, or Thor vs Marvel baddies...

Finally, I intend to end the game with alternate final battle/ending scenarios.

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Timbo on December 16, 2016, 10:13:13 pm
Rather than grinding things out, why but create a separate ISO where all skills cost 0 and are learnable by JP? You can test your events by giving Ramza a range 255 enemy only  255 auto murder attack.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: 3lric on December 17, 2016, 02:54:47 am
Quote from: Timbo on December 16, 2016, 10:13:13 pm
Rather than grinding things out, why but create a separate ISO where all skills cost 0 and are learnable by JP? You can test your events by giving Ramza a range 255 enemy only  255 auto murder attack.


How would that help with gameplay testing in the slightest? That would make the testing incredibly inaccurate...
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Guru on December 27, 2016, 01:49:01 pm
QuoteI can't help but have some giant and therefore time consuming plans for the final chapter.  Intend to make at least 3 sprites: A new lucavi, a monster sprite Apocalypse,  and complete my man/dragon "phantom beast".  I want to have some sort of "mini battle arena" side scenario- for things like: chrono crew vs Magus, or Thor vs Marvel baddies...


These all sound awesome  :mrgreen: I've always been a fan of SoD, I jumped in around ch 2.5 but I've definitely enjoyed everything you have come up with so far. Can't wait to see how you wrap up the story!

If you ever need a tester or anything feel free to hit me up. My next semester is going to be a nightmare so not sure how much free time I will have until it's over, but I'm still willing to do what I can.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: Timbo on December 28, 2016, 12:42:48 am
Quote from: Elric on December 17, 2016, 02:54:47 am
How would that help with gameplay testing in the slightest? That would make the testing incredibly inaccurate...


Great Question. Before I answer, let's see what CONMAN actually said.

Quote from: CONMAN on December 16, 2016, 01:40:05 pm

Slowly replaying and fixing things as I go.  A fair chunk of time has just been playing and trying to grind some generics to test out stuff.


What do you suppose he's grinding out with his generics? Could it be JP to spend on the abilities he created? If that's the case, which, based on his statement, is a perfectly reasonable assumption, then my suggestion to just create a version with no cost abilities probably makes a lot of sense.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: 3lric on December 28, 2016, 02:01:11 pm
Quote from: Timbo on December 28, 2016, 12:42:48 am
Great Question. Before I answer, let's see what CONMAN actually said.

What do you suppose he's grinding out with his generics? Could it be JP to spend on the abilities he created? If that's the case, which, based on his statement, is a perfectly reasonable assumption, then my suggestion to just create a version with no cost abilities probably makes a lot of sense.


No, JackOfAllTrades, it doesn't. Anyone who has used FFTP for more than 3 minutes knows that you can simply set the JP to 1 or 0 or whatever to learn and test abilities much easier if abilities are what you are trying to test... (or he could even more easily just use the debugger)

With that in mind, he's obviously testing gameplay in a way that requires actual gameplay testing

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny January 4 2016
Post by: CONMAN on February 28, 2017, 09:58:33 pm
The marathon continues.... Still plugging away! 

I've replayed through all three chapters and only have one event I still want to tinker with (a brave story one thankfully).  I haven't messed with the fftactext/spells messages that I needed to. But, fixing events seemed like it would be the longest clean up process and I'm happy to mostly have that behind me. 

I've gone ahead and laid out the bones for the first leg of chapter 4: worldmap/attackout/conditionals/patcher.  I've put together condensed (mostly placeholder) events and done some tinkering with them.  This chunk should be about 20/25% of the final chapter's story battles.  That definitely drives home that fact I really need to get this done really well before I move on...

Once I am satisfied with the second leg of the story battles and most if not all of the side quest events I will release a ~3.5 for this mod.

...

I was about to post the hypothetical thought that I could have the first full 4 chapter story mod out near the end of the year. However, after checking, I realized I posted a beta 1 chapter mod a little over 4 years ago (that pace is probably a little optimistic).  Ajora, the time flies!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: Guru on March 15, 2017, 02:22:04 pm
Cool, thanks for the update! Sounds like you are nearing the end at least, that is very exciting to hear!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: CONMAN on May 26, 2017, 02:00:18 pm
Progress log!

Progress totally came to a halt for a little bit as I worked on a Cthulhu sprite- I almost used a palette swapped squid, but it would have been an unacceptable use of that name.  It's pretty close btw.  Spriting is definitely slowing this down.

Need to touch up and complete the first battle series of the 4th chapter, but it's largely set.  It has some "custom music" to boot! I've set up the skeleton for the map path leading to the next series.  That series should be the last story line portion before I release another update patch.

I'm working on a hand full of side quests, a couple single and couple multi-battle series.  Also, the Deep Dungeon Cave of Illusions will open after the first battle series.  Other than the final floor, these battles won't use the protagonists at all... Each battle will be theme battles ie Beoulve team vs, Marvel team vs, Super Boss vs, etc.  I'm going to use the lightened-up maps for the deep dungeon.  I'm removing the find-the-panel to open the next floor mechanic and replacing it with a simple a defeat Elidibs avatar/unit id "x".  I always hated finding those damn panels!
Title: Beowulf the Lunatic
Post by: CONMAN on June 08, 2017, 11:39:30 am
Having some fun making side quests.  I always liked Beowulf and wanted to include him.  Totally taking him on a different path.  Felt like sharing the first scene.  Here it is!

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: DeJ on June 21, 2017, 12:06:04 pm
Haha Conman - this is awesome!

I love the Reptilian references. I think I like this Beowulf a little better, less... noble, and he's a crude drunkard.

Seems you are on the home stretch to a completed patch, this is truly good news!

I will happily play through your patch once you post another update with the great work you've done.

Keep it up man, you have an outstanding patch on your hands!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: Tomershalin on October 01, 2017, 10:12:19 pm
Any new updates on this project? I've been liking it so far :D
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: CONMAN on October 01, 2017, 10:31:24 pm
Sorry, I don't really have much to add at this point.  I was going off the deep end for a bit with importing/tweaking music from other games.  I needed to cool off for a bit.

My thought process on this was to complete about 4/5 events and finish a battle series.  That's my current plan for a 3.5 release.  I've been back to it recently, but not a lot of work since my last post unfortunately.
Title: Cave of Illusions: the soundtrack
Post by: CONMAN on November 12, 2017, 09:56:32 pm
So I have sort of still been working on this mod thing of mine.  I keep getting side tracked and pulled into weird side ideas instead of the actual story line battles.  My most recent thing has been messing with the "deep dungeon" and swapping out old music tracks for new ones.

I still really need to make some changes to positioning and locations of units (and a bunch of special skill sets too). Seriously setting up 40 random battles takes a minute.

On the other side, spending years modding a game has made me absolutely sick of a lot this game's music (even though it is mostly great.)  I feel like I am practically tone-deaf and our current music converter seems to make some weird changes sometimes.  I have spent a fair amount of time hex editing several songs bit-by-bit altering the speed and instrument selections to some up with some fairly nice sounding versions. 

Enough jibber-jabber... here is a video with some "cave of illusions" battle themes and sound selections.
Songs:
1:Frog theme
2: FF6 Fierce Battle(Atma)
3: FF4 Boss
4: FF2 Magicians Tower
5: Mother: Battle with a dangerous Foe
6: FF5 Battle on the Bridge (Gilgamesh)
7: FF5 Exdeath
8: Chrono Trigger World Revolution

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny Feb 28 2017
Post by: CONMAN on April 01, 2018, 06:02:10 pm
I'm making a post to challenge myself here.  I intend to have my 3.5 beta patch out in 60 days from this posting. 

I keep farting around on side stuff and amusing myself with little things.  I feel like I should have a little something more to show for the time since my last release.  I'm determined to not let my patch be yet another that just fades away and never materializes like it could.

Heavy event work needs to be on my plate.


edit: giving myself a day or two more before I do this.  Dead set on having something more to play soon.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on June 05, 2018, 01:42:23 pm
Souls of Destiny 3.5 release!

Firstly 3 and ½ chapters of new story content!

10 new songs and including most of the random battle music!

About 130ish changed random battles (Most available directions available minus rares)

32/40 deep dungeon randoms changed.  Floors are now unlocked via victory not panels!

Nine side quests both one shot and multi-battle events!

Yeah! I finally am posting an update of my weird alternate universe story patch!  It's more Beta than I would prefer, but still this is a lot of game play!  As noted above, the deep dungeon (cave of illusion) isn't complete, but it is a fun playground for the first 8 levels.  It's got a new cast of characters and the not-so-secret-characters are fun and different.  A bunch of fun side quest bosses and probably way too many obvious marvel comics characters...

Any way, give it a spin and tell me what you think!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: iherou on June 05, 2018, 03:45:00 pm
youre amazing...
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Eternal on June 05, 2018, 06:35:18 pm
Great work, CONMAN! I'm super excited to be able to try it out. :)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on June 08, 2018, 01:29:59 pm
Thanks for the comments!  I've just been chugging along for a good long time.  I've got good enough skills at spriting/eventing and enough knowledge of most of our great tools here to eventually complete my own full mod (eventually).

Honestly just about anyone with enough will to spend the time could do exactly as I have on this site.  Of course, I have had a big advantage over the older mod attempts here due to the ever increasing pool of good tools here.  I remember a bunch of old changes I had made that were finding hex addresses and changing bit by bit and now I can simply make a few changes in a spreadsheet and I'm good to go!

I figured I would take a week or so off from messing with this thing, but the next day I finally worked on a title screen (not in the release  :roll:) and started hunting some new music!  I keep making little goals and this thing keeps moving.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Andre Pratama on June 11, 2018, 06:19:17 am
I have played until chapter 3 although are is there bug in chapter 2 Zirekile , simon speaks endlessly, i got away.  use gameshark, Lots of amazing new skill



Sorry my english is bad
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on June 13, 2018, 09:09:20 pm
Thanks for the tip Andre!  I'm going to need to run through this patch again catching stuff.  The more notes I get, the better.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on July 04, 2018, 02:51:29 pm
Started trying my hand at some map edits recently.  I really feel like Lesalia should be heavily represented in this game- I mean it's the freaking capital! 

Started trying to turn the inside riovanese map into gold hall map.  I still am puzzling over changes that need to be made to make it a worth while battle map.  I have various parts just hanging in the air, because I might still change some of these unique textures into other things- like possibly some thrones or something.  I'm going to get rid of the water currently in the room or maybe change it into something that alternates it's appearance. 

What they say about map editing is true- not technically hard but tedious work...
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Valkirst on July 04, 2018, 08:21:37 pm
Wait, how do you do this?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on July 05, 2018, 10:28:24 am
Valkirst, you need to get a hold of two tools on the website here: Ganesha and map2gl.  Basically Ganesha is the real map editor and map2gl works as a quick way to double check your changes.

Elric has an excellent post on the tutorial page and being able to copy/paste map parts is huge!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=10013.0 (http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=10013.0)

Gomtuu, (Ganesha master) has an instruction page that covers things pretty well:
http://gomtuu.org/fft/Ganesha/instructions.html (http://gomtuu.org/fft/Ganesha/instructions.html)

Some of gomtuu's instructions weren't clear at first to me, but a little tinkering around and I'm sure you'll get it!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on July 05, 2018, 11:30:31 am
Twinees also made a update to Ganesha a while back to add some more functions and make Ganesha itself, be in color
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on July 10, 2018, 03:26:36 pm
Not sure if I want to toy with this much more than I have.  It's mostly what I want.  The blue floor doesn't look great and the map ended up looking sort of blocky.  I have changed all the terrain data height/slope/ground type and made sure the map looks right from all sides.  I'll post the map files if anyone wants them.

Once I sort of figured out what I was doing, I started thinking bigger of course  :P!  What I really want to try out is turning Germinas peak into a volcanic peak! We'll see what happens
Title: beta volcano top map
Post by: CONMAN on July 13, 2018, 03:15:38 pm
Felt like showing off my work so far on making volcano peak map.  It's in the very early stages of course and eventually I would really like it to less obviously look like I just screwed around with regular bervenia map.  I'm shooting for an impassable rock in one corner, only a few little rocks jutting up in the middle of the lava, a little bridge on one end (with even fewer stepping stones. This is getting a lot easier now that I understand ganesha a little better.
Title: Volcano peak map
Post by: CONMAN on July 19, 2018, 12:35:10 pm
I think this puppy is good to go.  This edited Bervenia map is the same size as the original, so it could outright replace the normal map in game or could be popped in somewhere else with Xifanie's ISO manager.  I haven't checked it out yet it game but all the tiles and have been adjusted for proper height/geomancy type and such.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Valkirst on July 27, 2018, 11:05:33 pm
Wow Conman! This awesome, I'm definitely going to mess around with this. Don't know what will come of it, but it seems fun.  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on April 27, 2019, 11:04:44 am
I started replaying this mod recently because I forgot to transfer my emulator and saves onto a new computer.  While trying to make another sweep through fixing, I got irritated about the fact that I was using the thieves fort map as a front yard.  Really the map options for what I wanted where really limited... Rather than finishing sprites or doing more productive things, I figured I would make a decent map.

I figured making the first battle map of the game a new one would be a good first step towards making it feel fresher.  I'll post the files when I am finished, but here is what I have:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on May 12, 2019, 11:37:41 am
Well here is the completed map.  I have the zip file for it below.  While unlikely that anyone would want it, I figured I would put it out here anyway.  I have tested this in game and it is all ready to roll.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on May 12, 2019, 12:56:17 pm
Noice. Ill throw it somewhere in Jot5 for use in some Marks or something. Good job.
Title: status update
Post by: CONMAN on August 17, 2019, 05:12:44 pm
I hadn't posted in quite a while on this thread, so I thought it might be worth saying that this mod is still living. 

I have most the chapter 4 skeleton in place but need to actually create the events themselves.  Most of that is thankfully sketched out with dialogue and such in a big 'ole game notebook of mine.

This mod really keeps getting an update delay due to me pursuing quality as opposed to completion.  Having what is essentially an alternate universe makes it a little difficult to feel fresh enough.
Mostly I've been focusing on editing as much of the commonly heard music selections.  I've been playing around a bit with some of the maps- I backed off creating a bridge falling event at the waterfall because I would have to redo several events and randoms there.  Lately I've been changing up some events in the second chapter to introduce some nice twists into that part of the story.

Hopefully, I wont see too many issues that need addressed in chapters 3/4 and in a month or so I'll be pushing ahead again!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Locke_Cole on September 09, 2019, 05:04:06 am
Quote from: CONMAN on August 17, 2019, 05:12:44 pm
I hadn't posted in quite a while on this thread, so I thought it might be worth saying that this mod is still living. 


Do your thing bro, we are rooting for you, and patiently awaiting.  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Linken on September 28, 2019, 10:26:24 pm
First off I'd like to say, this is probably one of the best non-vanilla mods out there, very nice work Conman!

I'm currently stuck in Chapter 4, the Murond Church Battle where you see Vormav turn into a red archaic demon with a few others, and the battle freezes as soon as the dialogue is done and the enemies show up. Has anyone else encountered this, and is there a way to bypass this somehow? I'm using PCSXR, as pSX 1.13 doesn't work in Win10.

I'd appreciate any help at all.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on September 28, 2019, 10:50:48 pm
pSX 1.13 most definitely works on Windows 10. I have both 10 pro and 10 home, pSX works on both perfectly fine.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Linken on September 29, 2019, 04:30:54 am
Quote from: Elric on September 28, 2019, 10:50:48 pm
pSX 1.13 most definitely works on Windows 10. I have both 10 pro and 10 home, pSX works on both perfectly fine.


You're completely right, I had trouble with the DX9 runtimes and installing them in Win10. Once I got pSX 1.13 working, I was able to get past the point the game was freezing at. It was giving a bunch of read sector errors in the console at the point it would freeze in PCSXR, but kept going this time.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Linken on September 29, 2019, 09:20:03 pm
Two bugs that I've come across in Chapter 4 so far;

1) Bug/exploit: After reading the rumor in Zeltennia Castle to trigger the event in Nelveska Temple, once you beat the even the first time, you're supposed to be able to come back and repeat the event over. What happens when you visit Nelveska Temple every time after that; the screen goes black, the battle is completed automatically and you receive 36,000 gil and 2x Karate Shoes.

2) When trying to view the details for the dagger, 'Zorlin Shape', the in-game text bugs out until you exit the 'Formation' screen.

I continued using pSX 1.13, I already like it better than the other emu.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on September 29, 2019, 09:58:59 pm
^ CONMAN, if you need help fixing the above, lemme know.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Linken on September 29, 2019, 11:50:08 pm
I just finished the fight with Shogun Elmdor at Limberry, and once you save past that point and attempt to continue the game, it resets back to the Squaresoft logo. Is this intentional?

I did make a save prior to that point, but it'd be nice if it would let you out on it's own to try the Deep Dungeon with that Genji set on!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on September 30, 2019, 01:02:00 am
Was it a save+formation, or just a save and then into a scene/battle?

The former would be because he made the Variable 55 jump to the wrong event
The latter would be because when its just a save, even if you have a jump to next scenario set, it will always load the next event in the attack.out order, which is why arranging events properly is important.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: Linken on September 30, 2019, 01:26:19 am
Quote from: Elric on September 30, 2019, 01:02:00 am
Was it a save+formation, or just a save and then into a scene/battle?

The former would be because he made the Variable 55 jump to the wrong event
The latter would be because when its just a save, even if you have a jump to next scenario set, it will always load the next event in the attack.out order, which is why arranging events properly is important.


It was a save+formation, then it showed the zone where we'd see Zalbag with Alma and Teta for the first time in vanilla, with the enemies present from the previous battle (Elmdor/Ovelia/Samurais) but your own party missing. After the brief dialogue, it resets right after.

Also, the Mjolnir hammer (flail-type) cannot be dual-wielded nor used with both hands, while all the other flails can. Guns show as being usable by Chemists & Mediators, but Mediators can't equip them.

The Deep Dungeon was quite interesting, once entering the third stage 'MARVEL', the game goes in an endless cycle of 'Now Loading'. I guess this is far as the patch goes as far as story and side-content.

Thanks for the experience, Conman!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: 3lric on September 30, 2019, 02:41:25 am
Quote from: Linken on September 30, 2019, 01:26:19 am
It was a save+formation, then it showed the zone where we'd see Zalbag with Alma and Teta for the first time in vanilla, with the enemies present from the previous battle (Elmdor/Ovelia/Samurais) but your own party missing. After the brief dialogue, it resets right after.

Also, the Mjolnir hammer (flail-type) cannot be dual-wielded nor used with both hands, while all the other flails can. Guns show as being usable by Chemists & Mediators, but Mediators can't equip them.


Okay, so yeah, he has his variable 55 set incorrectly in that event. It should be variable 55 <VARI> Variable should be the number event he wants it to jump to after formation, in hex.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on October 03, 2019, 10:28:36 am
I hate to tell you Linken, but you are running into the limits of what I had completed in this mod.  The Shogun battle is the end of the story battles/scenes on the release.  Neither the deep dungeon nor the Nelveska temple cycle were completed. 

The Myolnir was purposely intended to be one haded only and a few text issues need to be fixed with item descriptions. 

I'll give you a holler when I inevitably screw up again Elric!  Most the issues noted above are due to incompletion.
Title: Penultimate Battle Preview Video
Post by: CONMAN on January 04, 2021, 08:40:05 pm

Thought I would share a video of my next to last battle event.  This event has a couple of imperfections ,but I started working on it a couple of weeks ago and figured I would share it on new years.  Unfortunately it wasn't ready.  I figured I would stop delaying and just put up this clip.

It's been about 14 months since I posted in this topic and that corpse you thought you saw was in fact a daydreaming sloth.  I have definitely been in a cycle of falling down rabbit holes.  Spending a couple weeks trying to properly import new instruments, working on alternate songs, daydreaming sprites that have no value to this mod, tinkering with effect edits or totally relearning tools I haven't used in a while.

So my current mod goal is to put out a 3.9 version.  This wouldn't include all chapter 4 random battle entds completed or my version of the deep dungeon fully complete either.  It would include final battles and at least partially complete ending scenes.  I still have events that need to be cleaned up between my 3.5 to now and need to balance these battles.  Currently the two big hurdles between now and this 3.9 release are that I need to complete an alternate final boss sprite and I want to make another map worthy of a final battle.  Tinkering with both of these has also drained a lot of time.

So yeah, those 2 big things and a bunch of grueling event work.

   
Title: Souls of Destiny: Info update
Post by: CONMAN on September 19, 2021, 03:17:01 pm
It's alive!  Yes it's still happening. (I think this is how I have started last few posts already!)

I keep trying to find something motivational.  Jumping around half done mini projects isn't the best idea, but I also think I'm a lot more productive when motivated.

On that note, I paused on my final boss sprite and jumped back into some map making.  I didn't hit a wall with the sprite as much as I simply got all hyped up by ArmoredKori doing awesome work on maps.

I fixed up volcano map.... I actually think I fixed it once before hadn't saved my progress!!!

I put some work into making a Lesalia throne room.  I would put it around ~95%, but I haven't tested it out in game.  I was never super happy with the actual throne itself or the immediate background

This past couple weeks I started working on "Lesalia Palace Roof."  So far pretty happy with it.  Need to make a really fancy front on this building and haven't been happy with my attempts so far.

Souls is set up with alternate final battles.  I have done most of the event scripting for one of them but it needs a little clean up.

I briefly put out and then deleted a follow up youtube video for the penultimate battle.  As soon as I saw it I remembered that I was going to give Ramza a new theme song to battle to.  I changed up the instruments on "Hero" for the initial dialogue part of the event and attempted to transform Cid's theme for use during the actual battle.  I wasn't happy with it and next I'm going to attempt to change up "And I ran away" to give it a different feel.  This Ramza is plenty different from the original and altering the themes of these 2 songs feel like they would give some real weight to the character change.

Since the last post I made 5 or 6 new spell effects.  A couple are summons and some are largely just color changes, but using the guidance of Choto's effect editor I have been able to play around a little with the location of particle effects and sound effects.  The bosses in that last half of the 4th chapter seemed like they needed a little extra pizzaz and new effects seemed to be necessary.

I told myself no more new sprites, but I decided I wanted one more for a minion in one of the final battles.  It's just going to be a frankein-sprite, but it's still one more on the to-do list.

At some point in the future, I am going to change up some of the  music again, especially the random battle tunes.  When I first implemented these changes, I wasn't capable of altering file size and moving data around.  This meant that some better and higher quality songs sat in my folders and didn't see any use because I couldn't fit them into the available space. I will wait until I have added the last 2 maps and am confident with my selections before I gobble up more free space.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: ArmoredKori on September 19, 2021, 04:07:48 pm
I'm super happy to see your progress on this and also honored to be able to provide you with the inspiration to keep going! If you haven't tried Garmichael's new Ganesha DX, please take a look: LINK HERE (https://github.com/Garmichael/GaneshaDx). Please stop by the discord if you have any questions regarding GDX!

Can't wait to try this as it's the only story hack on the site I haven't got around to playing!

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny 3.5 chapter patch release!
Post by: CONMAN on September 20, 2021, 01:24:36 pm
Thank you Kori!  I'll have to take a look at the GDX!

I'd love if you took a look.
Title: Heavenly knight Ramza Video
Post by: CONMAN on October 31, 2021, 02:32:08 pm
Thought I would share a video of the actual penultimate battle with Heavenly knight Ramza.  I meant to do this over a month ago and remembered that I wanted to actually have some proper battle music in there.

The first song is a mild instrumental edit of Ramza's hero theme. The second is a fire emblem song that I believe I had seen Angel suggest in one of the many video game music threads here.

I've been playing around a bit with the game music some more. Initially, I added music largely because I could.  Since then I have been revisiting and replacing some of those tunes where I wasn't happy with the quality.

Random Waltz-> Magician Tower (FF2)
A Chapel-> a tune from the Mother series
(14) Apoplexy-> FF4 Boss
Dessert Land->FF3 battle-> FF4 battle2
Ultima Nice Body->FF6 Fierce Battle (atma weapon)
Ultima Perfect Body-> magus chrono trigger-> Dancing Mad Tier1
(23) General Unhappiness-> Ramza "Anti-Hero"
Tutorial-> Kefka Theme
World Map Music-> Chrono Trigger Middle Ages Map Music
Team-Making (roster menu)-> FF6 Narshe (might change this)
Character Making (game opening)->FF6 Esper World
Shock Failure-> FF9 Mystery Sword
Fighting1 ->FF5 Battle on the Big Bridge (Gilgamesh)
Repose ->FF5 Exdeath
Sky Travel-> Lavos World Revolution -> Fire Emblem Sword of Seals Music-Final Boss
In a limited Time-> Chrono Trigger Frog Theme
Little Wing -> Dancing Mad Tier4
TG Cid (slow)-> FF6 Fanatics Tower
(99) Apoplexy Extended-> One wing angel-> Magus->? To be determined.

If you're seeing this Elric, I attempted to edit Sweet Screams by turning the MP3 into a Midi, but then the Midi borked the SMD converter.  A fresh midi might work but I had trouble finding one.
Title: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: CONMAN on December 04, 2021, 12:39:19 pm
Souls of Destiny 4 Chapter Release!

This is it! A full four chapter story mod!  The story itself is a few events short of vanilla length but features double the side quests. Accessed via bar rumors ala vanilla.

In this alternate universe version of Ivalice, you are one of the souls destined to hold a Zodiac stone.

Battling evil forces across the land, you are a cut above the rest.  It's fair to describe the party, the lead especially, as over-powered.  It is also accurate to describe the opposition as stacked against you.  Meaning more enemies or magically empowered super soldiers.

This mod features many new sprites, imported music and a few new maps as well.  All but a few chapter 4 Randoms have been edited.  Cameos from other final fantasies, chrono trigger and marvel pop in for fun.

Note: the deep dungeon is not in a complete form.  It is partially completed in this patch, but will receive a makeover in future releases.

I've added the newest patch to the first post and updated.  Next on my plate will probably be catching various mistakes that snuck through as well as adding various post game super bosses and such.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: ArmoredKori on December 04, 2021, 02:06:46 pm
CONGRATS!

Can't wait to play through it!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: Akashachi on December 05, 2021, 10:55:42 am
The skills Osmose and Tranquilize don't seem to work. Playing on Duckstation mobile. Both skills show 00% chance of hit and always miss. Other skills also seems to bug on Duckstation, so I wouldn't recommend using it for this mod.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: Andre Pratama on December 06, 2021, 08:47:23 am
I'm using the epsxe game emulator it still freezes in chapter 4 murond holy pleace in part 3 in the cruch
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: CONMAN on December 06, 2021, 01:10:52 pm
Slowly looking at these various issues.  I'll have to look at the 3 part of church battles there.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: CONMAN on December 18, 2021, 11:22:36 am
Working out some bugs in the most recent release.  Currently Souls runs fine on PSX FIN.  A couple of scenes have run into issues on different emulators- especially on 2 different scenes.

The next release should hopefully pretty soon.  The goal is to have it run fine on more emulators, fix various text issues (mostly complete) and adjust some job balance and and battles difficulties (Hopefully done.)
 
The next release goal is cleaned up events (in progress), change up the deep dungeon and add some of the custom ArmoredKori maps to event battles.  The idea is that the random battle maps would stay the same, but events would be in a different part of the same area.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: ArmoredKori on December 19, 2021, 08:19:52 pm
Hey! Let me know which ones you plan to use and I'll clean up the textures if the alternate map needs it!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: Murse_Jon on January 11, 2022, 09:36:50 am
Just downloaded your mod, can't wait to try it out! Finishing up a run on another mod but after reading all the posts and viewing some of the videos I'm super excited to check this out. Thanks in advance for all the hard work you've put into it.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter release
Post by: CONMAN on January 11, 2022, 10:18:01 am
That's great to hear. Do understand that this mod runs well on PsxFin (pSX) but has major issues on Duckstation and comes to a stop on epxe during the 4th chapter. I have been making text fixes (and making map additions.)  I am working towards fixing the troublesome event that breaks epxe.

My next release will include these text fixes, major chapter 1 map changes, re-skinning equipment (a few minor changes), a little re-balancing and additional new music for the shop(s) and attack formation screen.

Title: SoD: Progress Report
Post by: CONMAN on January 19, 2022, 01:20:05 pm
I recently event edited a scene that caused a freeze in the ePSXe emulator.  I have tested it with that emulator and now the scene proceeds as it should. 

I've run through item descriptions and will take another quick look through ability descriptions. 

I've been updating/adding and replacing maps.(Hat tip to ArmoredKori)  I've done this with the slight majority of chapter one maps and have a little more testing to do.

Homefront-updated
Gariland-I added another house (moved them around), widened the stream and added another bridge
Mandalia- same, but still debating swapping in Kori's map
Sweegey Woods event battle is now Kori's map, but the random battle one is the original
Dorter Trade city battle is in Zozo, but the original dorter remains in the game and will see use
Sand Rat Cellar- main battle map is the same, but it's second state is now a hideout map used to replace 2 other scenes
Lenalia- still the same but considering a change
Windmill map- will use Kori's map. Considering adding snow
Fort Zeakden- Considering a map edit. Kori's map presents an issue with the post battle scene.

Made some big item changes.  Not using the synth shop hack- it's so big!  I'm not exactly Zigging to the Hacktics Zagging.  Sort of moving with a throw back organization of items by leaning heavily into the poaching aspects.  (Poaching starts early in this mod btw and one of the starting characters has innate poach)  Many of the new items will now have clearly been created by scrapping dead monsters.  Of course, that means poaching monsters will lead to more clear and obvious equipment instead of potions/ethers/crap.

Examples:
Chocobos-Bird claw knife, Chocobo hat, Chocobow
Skeletons- Bone shield/armor/helmet
Goblins- Goblin vest, Red Cap
Cats- Cat claw knife, tiger mask, Black Panther Suit
Ghosts- Spectre Shield, Glass Mask

Going to do a little double-checking that the maps changed in the first chapter play nice and then release an updated patch.
Title: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on January 25, 2022, 01:24:21 pm
I'm updating the patch on the first page with an updated version of Souls of Destiny.

As noted in the previous posts, the bug that stopped ePSXe in chapter 4 has been fixed, items have been updated (visual changes and corrected info mostly), many chapter 1 maps have been worked on/adjusted/ or used from ArmoredKori's awesome work.  A couple of songs have changed, and new screens have been added for things like the bar or item shop.

There are still event fixes that are being worked on (my spelling can be a blind spot), deep dungeon completion and adding some more maps on tap for a longer term patch release.

Here are a couple pics and a chimney smoke on Zeakden:

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on February 12, 2022, 02:55:08 pm
Still enjoying some tinkering with ArmoredKori's and my own maps as I continue on editing this mod.  Perhaps, some other editing should be done first, but I find enjoying what you are doing is the best way to be productive.

I've been editing the colliery underground maps into some that are vaguely inspired by FF6 Narshe.  In Souls of Destiny, I use those maps for the Umaro side quest.  This seems so fit a little better and I was never crazy about the originals (but my last map was a snow map and this seemed like an nice transition.)  I've been sort of making the 3 of them together and the 1st 2 are pretty close.  the idea was to have one map be sort of like the entrance to a mining camp, the second the actual camp and the third, rocky cliffs with a bridge leading to a cave.

I just took ArmoredKori's awesome waterfall map edit and converted it into the second map state. This retains the original map for random battles and I am using his for special event battles.

Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Greatkain on March 06, 2022, 01:14:53 pm
Finished this today. Absolutely outstanding. Barely any story hacks here and i was excited and glued playing this from the start. Alot of bugs and glitches but fun and well done!! Thank you for the hard work making this! 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 06, 2022, 08:56:18 pm
Good to hear it!  While I'll stat quiet for stretches, I am slowly trying fix these various bugs/glitches and smooth out events and such!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Greatkain on March 07, 2022, 02:27:03 pm
No game breaking bugs, but the biggest one was the Barious Valley fight. "The special enemy" starts on an invalid panel and can't move
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Tarnum85 on March 11, 2022, 10:38:22 pm
Hello

I am really interested in trying this out but I cant get it to work. I downloaded your version Souls of Destiny 4.1 ppf. I used ppf-o-matic3 and an usa version of ps1 fft the emulator I use is psx v1.13. I get an error is cd unusable failed to read .cue file.  Any help would be great I really want to try this.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 12, 2022, 08:57:24 am
Do you have a .cue file in the same folder as the patched file?  Sometimes my emulator will run without and sometimes not... They can be found relatively easily online and I believe that tools/websites exist that can generate one from the Iso/bin file.
Title: Souls of Destiny: Play through videos
Post by: CONMAN on March 14, 2022, 05:34:10 pm
I've been quiet for a bit, but still tinkering here and there.  I started creating a multi-part YouTube series.  I wanted to create a series of saves between everything so that I could be more organized fixing various event issues. Also, I figured putting it out online might peak the curiosity of people who would otherwise never know that the patch existed.  Currently, it is up to part 41. This is all of chapter 3, some of 4 and all the side quests. 

Figured I would post it here for the hell of it. 










Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Greatkain on March 14, 2022, 06:06:07 pm
I plan on playing through this again cause i enjoyed this that much, but i wanted to ask before i do, are you planning on posting an update or are you unsure?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 14, 2022, 06:42:56 pm
I do plan on posting an update GreatKain. I can't really quote you well on a time frame.  I want to smooth over the events, do a little more balancing, maybe make another map and complete the deep dungeon before releasing another update. 

My guess would be that completing that would probably be at least 5 or 6 months.  I'm doing some sprite cleanup along with everything else.  Also, I probably will make a few new sprites to populate the deep dungeon. 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 15, 2022, 09:29:19 am
I didn't want to drop the mountain of videos at once. Here is the next batch:










Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 16, 2022, 04:55:11 pm
I may wait a couple more days for anymore video batches, but here is the next set.










Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 18, 2022, 01:14:24 am
Adding a special ppf sprite change for Macawili
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 18, 2022, 11:25:59 am
I can't be bothered to make flashy title screens for videos.  I sort of struggle with the double edged sword of what to show of on a video too.  I want something eye-grabbing and that pretty much leads into spoiler territory. 

Part of the purpose of these videos was to catalogue issues that needed to be addressed.  Some of the time I immediately fixed issues that pop up right after recording because they were too frustrating to see (like Thor's ugly portrait).  Once or twice I think I actually fixed the issue before recording (like missing music.)










Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 21, 2022, 05:22:13 pm
Almost finished throwing videos out here!










Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 23, 2022, 07:00:54 pm
FINAL VIDEOS AND END GAME SPOILERS!



Title: Progression update
Post by: CONMAN on April 10, 2022, 04:16:00 pm
Slowly working on some stuff here.

I'm updating the main post with a thank you credit. It's a bit of a work in progress, but there is a lot to track!  Let me know what's been missed!

I'm replacing the oracle job class with druid and replacing mediator with mesmer (name?) and have three quarters of those sprites done.  I've been considering swapping out geomancer for something else.  Beefed up the "feral" on the last patch release and will probably do the same to "sage" here at some point. 

After making a male "mesmer" sprite, I think I should get to a good cleaning up of events.  It's not as exciting as making new boss sprites or completing my version of the deep dungeon.  Having cleaner events would probably be the biggest improvement.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Katanga7 on May 22, 2022, 07:03:58 pm
HEY!! So Im almost finishing chapter 1 and I notice that steal and buff abilities are 0 percent chance... is that a bug of some sort??
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on May 22, 2022, 07:09:59 pm
Unfortunately, on a few different emulators this is a problem with a few abilities.  Especially those used by Lala.  Oddly enough, this doesn't happen on PsxFin (PSX) but does seem to happen on duckstation and some versions of ePSXe.  I'm hoping this is due to a couple of older hacks that can be replaced.  At the moment, it isn't figured out.
Title: SoD Duckstation Friendly update patch
Post by: CONMAN on May 25, 2022, 04:30:14 pm
I have been progressing though some fixes and general updates.  I wanted to release a bigger overhaul patch before putting another one out, but making SoD playable on newer and better emulators seemed like something that shouldn't wait.

1. Fixed an old buggy hack broke some skills on duckstation and some versions of ePSXe.

2. Changed the barehand formula to create a little less brokenness from the mc as well as the formula for Chelsea's shadow fist.

3. Swapped out the mediator and oracle classes for "Mesmer" and "Druid"

4. Made several event/text/map edits
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Andre Pratama on August 22, 2022, 03:28:55 am
wow this is amazing i really enjoy it
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Marotaum on September 03, 2022, 08:23:26 am
Hi, is there a complete walktrough of this patch?

I've been wandering if i lost any secrets or itens.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on September 03, 2022, 10:13:58 am
Unfortunately I do not have a walkthrough for this.  I can tell you that I pretty much ignored the use find items except to remove some things that would be over powered.  If you check all the bar rumors for side quests you should get all the the secret characters (I tend to give special equipment just for completing battles) also, the one secret move for the MC is a learn on hit ability that is used in a side quest.  It should be pretty clear thematically which battle is a learning experience.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Marotaum on September 03, 2022, 10:20:31 am
Tyvm for the reply. i belive i've found everything them.

i just started the cave of ilusions and had a blast playing some of the battles and realised the secrets there work like the OG version, tyvm for the great content.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: coldds on September 23, 2022, 07:09:40 pm
Hi Conman,
you mentioned that some adjusts on deep dungeon will be added in the future.
Do you plan to add more battles/items/quests or this is the final version, and future patchs will be focused in bug fixes?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on September 23, 2022, 10:12:20 pm
Hey coldds, I am pretty close to releasing a bug/text/deep dungeon fix version. I do indeed plan to release an expansion with additional side quests and an end game super boss in a bit. My estimation on that would probably be like 4-5 more months, but I can't quite be sure. 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: DanCo01 on October 14, 2022, 09:36:11 pm
Quote from: CONMAN on September 23, 2022, 10:12:20 pmHey coldds, I am pretty close to releasing a bug/text/deep dungeon fix version. I do indeed plan to release an expansion with additional side quests and an end game super boss in a bit. My estimation on that would probably be like 4-5 more months, but I can't quite be sure. 

Hi Conman

I am currently playing your mod and i am very impressed so far but i had a question regarding some special enemy characters i am wondering if they are recruitable? such as using Lalas 'tame' ability or as an orator using Entice
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on October 15, 2022, 12:39:31 am
Sorry DanCo01.  You cannot recruit those characters.  There are 3 extra recruits form the rumor side quests, but none of the story/random battle specials can be recruited.  Long term, I would like to add several more side quests could lead to a couple more recruits.
 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on October 15, 2022, 07:07:08 pm
Just released a cleaner and updated version of the patch  with a complete deep dungeon and a whole bunch of other stuff.  Here are a couple more video!


Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: coldds on October 16, 2022, 11:43:06 am

I have some questions:

1/Can Connor (or other character) learn Ultima from Ramza in Goland Coal City battle?
2/Will my save break in this new patch?
3/All the new custom musics are bugged for me. Could this be related to the emulator that Im using or some kind of configuration that needs to be added? I use DuckStation

This mod is awesome, thanks :)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on October 16, 2022, 12:11:30 pm
There are a couple of songs (specifically 2 used for random battle) I've been thinking I just need to replace but it is a struggle to convert. Outside of those couple it shouldn't be too funky.

The MC can gain a secret ability in a chapter 4 side quest.  No one gains the ultima ability.  Also, no one can learn "Zodiac" because it has been replaced.  I considered making it's replacement learnable, but chose not to.  Depending on player choice, that ability can be used in the endgame.

There shouldn't be an issue with using your save on a new patch. There wasn't any story progression variables or such changed, but a few of the map colors in chapter 4 were fixed.  I don't believe that there should be any issue with reusing your save on the new patch.  Cleaner, events, new maps, and some various late game battle/equips saw some rebalance.

BTW the deep dungeon (cave of illusions) doesn't require finding tiles anymore.  All you have to do is defeat all enemies to open the next map.

-edit- the music seems to run fine on psxfin, which I mostly run on.  It's possible that it is off using duckstation.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: bajibarg on October 29, 2022, 06:35:35 pm
H, I just started playing this patch and wanna say it looks really nice for now. Thank you very much for all the work on this. I wanted to know if there is a guide or something somewhere for all the choices, jobs, sidequests, character, etc?

or may e a discord server to go and ask for help.

Thanks again for this game. fft was already amazing and having a second one to play is Awesome!!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on October 29, 2022, 06:50:32 pm
There isn't any real big secrets.  Pretty much rumors should lead to all of the side quests and the main character can learn a secret move from one them.  There is a member of the beoulves with a stat down ability that joins as a guest.  Abuse the heck out of it when you can.  I will say that Lala and Jenna have a few abilities that can be life savers. Luck ups the % chance of several abilities, interceptor can stop spell casters in their tracks, barrage can be excellent in tight quarters and Jenna's insta-cast self reflect is highly situational.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on November 27, 2022, 11:03:37 am
Made a tiny patch update (4.41) to fix an issue with how often the martial arts master can be re-battled.

Currently working on a big hill top map for an eventual end game super battle!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: twigglypuff on December 05, 2022, 10:10:19 pm
This mod looks amazing btw. Just quick question, hows the difficulty of this mod when compared against the vanilla experience and compared against FFT 1.3?

Is it like a fine inbetween?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 06, 2022, 04:44:09 pm
On average, I would say it's a little easier than vanilla.  For anyone that has already played the original, a lot of tactics and understanding already carries over. It certainly has some difficulty spikes and some of the side quests are fairly tough.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: manofinfamy on December 09, 2022, 09:57:19 am
So first off, long time lurker, first time poster. I've been watching videos of all these mods and I have been intrigued by SoD it looks like an awesome game and I'm excited to try it after playing through wotl for the 100 time. So after reading a ton on how to put this all together, I finally figured out how to get the bios and patch the rom. Game runs, goes through to the first scene where Connor and family are talking and then goes to a loading screen and the sound freezes, I've let it sit for 10 mins to see if it was just the sound frozen or a bug but I can't get past that loading screen.

I'm using OpenEmu as that has been the only thing that worked on my mac, and inputs, video and sound all look right and work, just not sure if this is common on macs or any suggestions?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 09, 2022, 03:36:47 pm
Unfortunately, I don't have any clue on mac emulators.  I would say it's worth trying out another rom to fresh patch. Just in case there might have been something off with it.  Otherwise, I would suggest asking in the Hacktics Discord.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: manofinfamy on December 09, 2022, 04:09:49 pm
Thanks man, apprecate your work and hopefully I can do a full play through!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: oskyll on December 09, 2022, 10:42:11 pm
man, i really like this mod, but i saw some nice chars around the game, and i really want to get them to play ? is there a way ?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Geramel on December 10, 2022, 05:55:33 am
I've played for a few hours now and I am loving it. One question the fights all seem to be the same based on area. Like mandalia plains is always a group of squires. Is this intentional? Also status healing items are causing status effects instead of curing them. Antidote causes poison eye drops cause sleep.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 10, 2022, 09:15:49 am
Quote from: oskyll on December 09, 2022, 10:42:11 pmman, i really like this mod, but i saw some nice chars around the game, and i really want to get them to play ? is there a way ?

There are quite a few flavorful npc's around that you can't invite.  You do get some pretty interesting characters, especially through side quests.  I have had enough people ask this and it makes me feel like I should allow a few more unusual characters into the party.

Quote from: Geramel on December 10, 2022, 05:55:33 amI've played for a few hours now and I am loving it. One question the fights all seem to be the same based on area. Like mandalia plains is always a group of squires. Is this intentional? Also status healing items are causing status effects instead of curing them. Antidote causes poison eye drops cause sleep.

Mandalia plains was sort of set up like that to speed up grinding, especially for generic characters.  The idea being that most the squires there have most squire skills learned and crystal farming would be beneficial.  I actually hoped to minimize grinding by having all characters possess innate gained jp-up and increasing the jp rewards for all propositions.

I could have sworn that I fixed the antidote->poison issue. I will have to review the items.  If you can report any other bugs that would be appreciated!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Geramel on December 11, 2022, 09:01:01 pm
Ahh that makes sense. I'll report any bugs I find
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Arashim on December 22, 2022, 08:13:37 pm
Hi, Thank you for your hard work. I have been playing this mod for a while and I am really enjoying this so far.
I don't know if its a known bug I tried to look it up here and couldn't find anything.
Might not be a priority but thought I'd mention it.
Basically I tried to delevel my character using the Mindflayer "drain level" skill but when using the monster skill ability on Mindflayer, his "drain level" skill doesn't appear instead he get copy of the of his skill "Aqua Blast"

Again thanks for the hard work and the awesome game, its so much fun replaying the but with some changes.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 22, 2022, 10:10:29 pm
At first glance, it looks like I intended to remove the "level down" for a different water attack.  I will take another look and make an adjustment.  I fixed the issue brought up Geramel, but waiting to release another update for a little bit.  I was intending to add a couple more side quests and can't release an update with a half finished quest.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Arashim on December 23, 2022, 05:07:54 pm
Alright, no problem, no rush I was simply mentioning something I noticed.  I can always use the trap for deleveling anyway.

There is also another bug that is kinda hard to explain, it happened 2 or 3 times, I'll try to take screenshot when it happen next time.

Basically it happen when I tried to use haste or esuna, what happen is instead of having the right animation for the spell, you get a weird sphere of magic surrounding the characters THEN the right animation happen BUT the right animation happen somewhere else (not on the characters) on the map and at the end both magic fail work. So there was 2 animations for each spell, one wrong and the right one not hitting at the right place and both spell failed to work as intended.

It happen before I decided to write on the board that's why I that time I didn't think about taking any screenshot.
I'll get it next time


Edit:
Just tested it out, it was in fact reflect which it weird cause I never use reflect
lol been playing for over 10 years and never happen to me (never used reflect thats why I didnt recognize the animation lol).
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 23, 2022, 05:29:03 pm
Quote from: Arashim on December 23, 2022, 05:07:54 pmAlright, no problem, no rush I was simply mentioning something I noticed.  I can always use the trap for deleveling anyway.

There is also another bug that is kinda hard to explain, it happened 2 or 3 times, I'll try to take screenshot when it happen next time.

Basically it happen when I tried to use haste or esuna, what happen is instead of having the right animation for the spell, you get a weird sphere of magic surrounding the characters THEN the right animation happen BUT the right animation happen somewhere else (not on the characters) on the map and at the end both magic fail work. So there was 2 animations for each spell, one wrong and the right one not hitting at the right place and both spell failed to work as intended.

That's weird. That sounds like they had the reflect status and bounced those spells off of them.

It happen before I decided to write on the board that's why I that time I didn't think about taking any screenshot.
I'll get it next time
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Arashim on December 26, 2022, 02:28:07 pm
Happy Holidays, hope everyone is taking some time to off and relax. Wasn't sure if it was a good idea the post now but I figured it was better to do it now then lose and interest
and move on.

**** Quest Spoiler Below ****

Has anyone encountered the bugs in Goug machine city at the the beginning of chapter 4 with the Iron man quest? There is a lot of bug in the 2 battles there, at the end of the second battle the main character is reverted at worst then beginning level where he loses name, stats jobs and so on.

I play on Duckstation and Im over 50 hours in.

I can do a more detailed post if you need of all the bug I noticed in that quest
 
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 26, 2022, 09:18:06 pm
I believe I had heard of this once and wasn't able to replicate it, but I do have an idea now.  The MC is forced into the battle like a guest, but there are 3 different versions of the MC. A chapter 1, a chapter 2/3 and a chapter 4.  They each are separate in the game's code.  This side quest pops up during the third chapter... I was wondering if you played this during the 4th chapter? 

One way or another I believe there is an error with a load formation/save formation set up for this battle.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Arashim on December 27, 2022, 11:08:48 am
Yes I was on Chapter 4 when I got to that quest, Dam I could have gotten that character in chapter 3?? I wanted to see if Cloud was still recruitable but got stuck there, had to backtrack to level up Mustadio from level 30 to like 60 to finish because I had to pretty much solo both battle with only him.

Kinda stuck now, can never go back there, wanted Cloud but super happy to know we could recruit the other character but then...

Like I said, your game is super fun to play as I tried another mod yesterday, I realized that your mod kept the core of the gameplay while adding diffilcuty and some new stuffs.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on December 27, 2022, 02:58:55 pm
I appreciate the feedback Arashim!  If you see any more bugs or have any notes, I would love to have them!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: erish on January 03, 2023, 03:16:06 am
Hello CONMAN! Happy new year 2023!
Your mod is really great! It's just I have some problem with it. The status screen of characters like Chelsea's job isn't showing properly..it showed as "free?kCwidinal", beatrix's job showed as "summoner"? and there are other weird words too.. Did I install this wrongly? I used ppf-o-matic3 to install it like other mods.

I also have a request, could you share the BATTLE folder(where all spr is stored), UNIT.BIN, WLDFACE.BIN, WLDFACE4.BIN of the soul of destiny 4.41 mod here? There's some sprites and unit portraits from soul of destiny that I'd like to play with some other mods!

I tried extracting the content myself using CDMAGE but were given error "File length doesn't match sector boundary".

Thanks CONMAN!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on January 03, 2023, 05:01:42 pm
It sounds like I added too much text in my most recent patch update.  I will try to have this fixed shortly.  I seem to be always on the edge of having too much and it causes names to be bumped down the line. 

I will try to have the update posted and see if I can assemble a file for the sprites and such in a zip.  Hopefully I should have this set by tomorrow.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on January 05, 2023, 09:04:36 pm
I seem to be having trouble dumping sprites from my copy of the game.  I wanted to see if there was anything in particular you were after.  The shi-shi sprite editor doesn't seem to want to let me dump them all for some reason.

Probably going to wait a few days and smooth out a couple more things before re-releasing.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: erish on January 06, 2023, 08:12:39 pm
Hello again CONMAN! Yeah it's true! For some reason, the patched iso cannot be opened in shishi and the files on the patched iso also cannot be extracted from CDmage! I actually want LaLa, Terra, and Ruvelia's sprite, unit.bin, and wldface.bin for now. It'd be really nice of you can fix this, I really want to play your mod of alternate ivalice story! thanks again CONMAN!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on January 08, 2023, 10:13:02 am
Hi Erish! I have compiled a zip with the items you listed.  Let me know about other things you may be interested in.  I do try to put out bulk of things to share.  You could take a look at these threads:

Sprites:https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=7249.0
More Sprites:https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=13004.0
Spell Effects:https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12826.0
Most Maps:https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12914.0

I am not going to try to rebuild the patch for easier shi-shi access and such.  The original rom had been expanded with an old version of the shi-shi sprite editor and it did it in a way that created this issue.  Quite a few edits were done on this mod prior to the existence of some tools via hex editing. It would be a pretty gigantic effort to rebuild the mod from scratch, but I will pull and share stuff that you are interested in.

I caught one more thing that needs to be fixed before re-releasing.  On a recent release I used a special guest patch and apparently messed some stuff up that I need to work on.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: erish on January 09, 2023, 08:31:38 pm
Thanks CONMAN! waiting for you to fix the mod as I really want to play it!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CarlosSilva on January 23, 2023, 08:36:59 am
Hi everyone, im new here and love fft.
I cant find the download  to play the game, is there any out right now?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on January 23, 2023, 03:54:58 pm
It's on the first page labeled something like (souls_of_destiny_4.41.ppf"

You will need a copy of the original game rom or iso.  A playstation emulator.    And a program to patch it as well: https://ffhacktics.com/wiki/Tools    Most people use PPF-O-MATIC found on that tools page.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Majork67 on February 08, 2023, 11:13:26 pm
I just hit that battle that Arashim mentioned. It turns "Connor" to a bunch of zeros and Lv00. I barely won, but even out of battle, he stays that level. I can take a screenshot as it even changed the name
Title: Version 4.42 update patch
Post by: CONMAN on February 09, 2023, 03:53:41 pm
I am posting an update that should fix this issue Majork67.  Unfortunately, the solution is to remove this side quest from the chapter 4 content.  The event itself pulls the chapter2/3 character data and creates this weird issue. 

Added a new side quest to chapter (Darlavon).  Made some text edits here and there.  Also added a support to Isabella's class (Sturdiness)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Majork67 on February 09, 2023, 05:45:22 pm
Quote from: CONMAN on February 09, 2023, 03:53:41 pmI am posting an update that should fix this issue Majork67.  Unfortunately, the solution is to remove this side quest from the chapter 4 content.  The event itself pulls the chapter2/3 character data and creates this weird issue. 

Added a new side quest to chapter (Darlavon).  Made some text edits here and there.  Also added a support to Isabella's class (Sturdiness)

Oh Thank you! I just wanted to provide the screenshot to support it because I didnt see it in the posts. Then again, I might be lost and just missed it. Either way, thank you for the response.

This mod is great and I just avoided the area on a previous save above. I have a spastic saving issue for things like that (Thank you mass effect for my lifelong anxiety), so this didnt hit me as hard as others. Thanks!
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Ozma on February 25, 2023, 02:23:33 pm
would it be possible to get .bmps of the sprites? i really want that rofel sprite if it has multiple palettes
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Joeferson on February 25, 2023, 02:53:17 pm
Hi! I am having a bug with the rumors. I am in the first chapter, just finished Fovoham Plains and the following rumors don't open new fights anywhere (don't know if they should either): Goblin Uprising, Emissary of Ramuh and Academy Rebellion. And the text that appears is from the vanilla FFT, as in the image. Truth be told, the Academy Rebellion oppened up a battle in Gariland against Daravon earlier in the chapter and the rumor had disapeared but it returned, with corrupted text.

Is it problably a bad ISO copy?

FFT.png
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on February 26, 2023, 10:55:13 am
My bad! I planned a couple of additional side quests but hadn't actually implemented them when I put out the most recent patch update.  I was concerned with fixing a couple of bugs and forgot that I had changed the text there! :oops:
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Santidad on March 21, 2023, 01:33:37 am
Good job
Quote from: CONMAN on November 15, 2012, 10:37:44 pm(https://images.app.goo.gl/vYwphVm6ZbQCR2jy6)
---Next Patch update February 9th 2023---
Fixed an issue with a side quest that messes up the main character if played during chapter 4- This will only be available during chapter 3.  Added an additional side quest to chapter 1 (Daravon/Darlavon).  Made a handful of text edits to a couple items and events.  Made a couple of chapter 1 battles a little easier and one slightly tougher.  Current build is 4.42


--Additional Tiny update: November 27th 2022--
Releasing a 4.41 patch update because the chance to replay the martial arts master was basically zero. (Wish I didn't have to delete each patch. I can only have one uploaded at a time.No message is associated with this attachment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update: October 15th 2022 the 4.4 is replacing the 4.2 version release

This is it! A full four chapter story mod!  The story itself is a few events short of vanilla length but features double the side quests. Accessed via bar rumors ala vanilla.

In this alternate universe version of Ivalice, you are one of the souls destined to hold a Zodiac stone.

Battling evil forces across the land, you are a cut above the rest.  It's fair to describe the party, the lead especially, as over-powered.  It is also accurate to describe the opposition as stacked against you.  Meaning more enemies or magically empowered super soldiers.

This mod features many new sprites, imported music and a few new maps as well.  All but a few chapter 4 randoms have been edited.  Cameos from other final fantasies, chrono trigger and marvel pop in for fun.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Patch UPDATE October 15th 2022

The deep dungeon/Cave of Illusions is finished.  Also many event edits and some map changes and several other things I am probably forgetting!


Updated Patch: January 25th 2022


Credits (work in progress)
Credits:
Sprites:
ZOZMA-ZOZMA
CHELSEA (FEMALE ROGUE)-R999/LIJJ
JENNA (10YEAR OLDGIRL)- ZOZMA
LALA (LULU BASED)-MIROSHI BESHIMA
ISABELLA (MONICA)-ZOZMA
TITAN-KAGEBUNJI/FFTA
HULK (TITAN EDITS) JUMZA
TONBERRY-KAGENBUNJI
TERRA-VALKIRST
TERRA ESPER-ZALKIRST
LOCKE-BLOODTHIRSTER0
CYAN-KAGEBUNJI/DARKHOLME
FENCER (ANIMIST FEMALE)-TWINEES
CHRONO-STEWELELEMENT
FROG-SAIGAS
MINDMAST-LIJJ
BEATRIX-ZOZMA
DUMA-LUIAKYN
FERAL (BERSERKER)-TWINEES
IRONFIST (KEN)-SEUSHIRO
GELWAN-ZOZMA
SHADOW-LIJJ/MASTER GRAND
IRON GIANT- LUIAKYN/CURU
KANBABRIF-BASTARD POETRY
ELIDIBS-ZOZMA/LUIAKYN
BOLMNA-ZOZMA
GARLAND- SEUSHIRO
UMARO- CHOTO

SPELL EFFECTS:
MAGIC BALL-
ULTIMUS-
HELL SWORD (RED STASIS SWORD)-XIFANIE
MARSIL-CELDIA
DARK FLARE-CELDIA
TERRA ZODIARK-VALKIRST

ASM'S AND TOOLS, ETC:
UNIT DISMISSAL- CHOTO
BLANK SUPPORT+ +25% HIT-XIFANIE
SPRITE PALETTE HACK-XIFANIE
GLOBAL EVADE- XIFANIE
FFTText Editor- XIFANIE
INDEX MANAGER- XIFANIE
MIDI-TO-SMD- POKEYTAX
Sprite ID causes Game Over when crystallized/treasured:CHOTO
Sprite ID cannot be dismissed- CHOTO
EFFECT EDITOR-CHOTO
MANY TOOLS-RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ
UWE ENTRIES-GLAIN
Formula 11: Damage = MA * (WP+Y)- GLAIN
Punch Formula becomes (PA + XX)/2 * PA- PRIDE
MIN/MAX FAITH+BRAVE- FFMASTER
SOUND TEST- FFMASTER
Multi-Reaction Deluxe- EMMY
easyvent editor/attackout -RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ
FFTPATCHER-XIFANIE/GLAIN + MORE CONTRIBUTORS

MAPS:
FROM ARMOREDKORI:
WINDMILL
SWEEGEY WOODS
ZIREKILE FALLS
ZIGOLIS SWAMP
CHURCH OUTSIDE OF TOWN

GENERAL THANKS:
I'm sure I have forgotten or messed up a few of these thanks and I will attempt to rectify this as I continue to work on this mod.  Aplogies if I have missed the names of some have helped me out.

I have recieved so much advice and pointers in the decade plus that I have worked on this mod.  While it would be absurd to try and rank all the help that I have recived, at the top must be Xifanie and Elric. Without them I don't know what the hell I would be doing!

While I hate to name people (because I'm definately missing some), I would feel terrible not to give thanks for all the advise, and inspiration I have recieved. Including: Jumza, Nyzer, Choto, Glain, Celdia, RAVEN OF RAZGRIZ, Kokojo, Pride, Angel, Valkirst, Twinees, Lijj, Kagebunji,ArmoredKori, Akashachi, Garmichael, Zozma 

Original Posting:
Firstly, let me say like the rest of you I love Final Fantasy Tactics.  I have played this game on and off since about 1998 and found new ways to enjoy it for many years.  Beaten the game a half dozen time, started an new pay through well over a hundred.  I spent forever playing around with class and skill combinations.  I was lucky enough to have used the work of many to gameshark tinker for years....And then I found this place! :wark:

All that I have tried to say in the previous paragraph is this: I have enjoyed tactics for many years and it has become a long term hobby.  It's one I can imagine enjoying for many more years to come.




Souls of Destiny...

Magic stones, dimensional portals, ... demonic hosts?

Ramza faced many strange things in his battles against the Lucavi, but he never understood them quite like his own brother and sister.  Perhaps he could have?  Imagine if this game had been played from the perspective of Weigraf...  How many people could have potentially been suitable hosts for the various Lucavi?  ...and could different, or perhaps lesser spirits have grabbed hold of other individuals in some shamanic possession through contact with the stones?

My game is like an alternate version of Tactics, in which the Lucavi set out to take the world in a different, more direct manner.  That is to say that the Lucavi/Zodiac Braves are less behind the scenes and are out in full force trying to deceptively sell their cult worship to the public. 

What's more, our hero could very well be one of them.  Not a noble, not a general, not one of the elite, just a man who wants to be left alone when the worst door-to-door evangelist imaginable comes calling.  Leaving behind a simple life, a normal man and his family must face an ancient evil that desires them.

Simply put, our commoner/everyman is a potential lucavi host.  Be hunted or be haunted, embrace power beyond reason or battle it to the end.  When a mysterious prophet desires him for a new disciple, he learns saying no isn't enough. He must leave behind the comfort of his home to face a world that can no longer be ignored.

Battle-wise, I plan to allow the main characters to be badass-ish (Not calc/Cid more like agrias/ninja level).  To balance it out fewer player characters would be allowed on most maps, along with more enemies.  Mechanically, most jobs will stay the same (with some little tweaks).



New Characters

Connor (yes, that's my name...)- (Main)-Sprite-ZOZMA.
Class-Sidhe/Sith: monk/aura style skills. 

Chelsea-sprite- Female Rogue (brown hair)
Class-Ace: similiar to weak assassin/ninja.  High movement and evade, two hands, disabling skills at weapon range (sleep, don't act, don't move)

Jenna-Sprite- 10 year old girl (brown hair)
Class-Indigo: Glass-cannon Mage. high mp/ma. Low hp/pa (duh). Some zero ct spells, and other low ct spells.  Very high mp cost for skills.

LaLa-sprite-H82 with LuLu portrait (finished btw)
Class-Outlaw: Thief/Ranger mash up.  (Crossbow) Steal, couple of musty like skills.
Favorite skill: Repeater: repeated attacks locked onto one panel.  Attacks on regular interval like sped up song/dance.

Isabella-sprite-Monica
Class: Paladin: Holy knight plus healing

Esperella?- sprite-.....Esperella.....
Class: Esper: to be determined...

Magnus-(early villain)-sprite-Magneto
Class: Prophet:... to be determined....

Job Changes: (as of now...)
--->many attacks previously without mp cost now have them.  This effectively nerfs sword skills and monk etc. In this way various jobs have "trump cards" and holy explosion etc. can't be spammed.
Archer- same skills, buffed jump and speed. innate poach
Thief- lose steal gil/exp gained poison slash, and precision (pa*(wp+4)) @ 20mp
Samurai- drawout debuffed. (while actual MA multiplier increased) innate 2 hands
Calculator- now archmage... essentially Kletian (ya, I know)
Dancer- now Storm- elemental style sword skills. ma based
Bard- now feral/Blue mage 
No message is associated with this attachment.No message is associated with this attachment.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Santidad on March 21, 2023, 01:37:50 am
Thanks
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Guillaume on March 23, 2023, 11:08:34 am
Congrats for this awesome mod!!! I have a question. Do the new maps have hidden items, of which you can find using the move-find item ability?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on March 23, 2023, 05:24:29 pm
Unfortunately I haven't set up new move-find for the new maps.  There are definitely some spots that would be great spots to put items (hello grand father clock!)
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Lkkaig on September 11, 2023, 02:26:59 am
I've been playing this on my vita but everytime I turn off the vita it deletes my saved data, do you know why this is happening?
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: Lkkaig on September 11, 2023, 02:32:37 am
I've been playing souls of destiny on my ps vita but everytime I power off my vita it deletes my game data , how can I stop that from happening
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on September 11, 2023, 03:29:46 pm
There shouldn't be any difference between this mod and pretty much any other on Hacktics.  I have modified anything that would alter save data.  I would assume that it has something to do with the vita itself.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: keisuke on October 12, 2023, 01:07:03 am
nice to meet you! I'm playing your patch from Japan. First off, the graphics are strange. I'm using Retroarch Mobile as an emulator. The graphics are normal in other patches. It seems that only this patch is not displayed properly. Can you give me some advice? The English translation may be strange, but thank you for your understanding.

I would like to attach an image, but I can't do it properly. The strangest thing about the graphics is that the ocean colors turn into a rainbow.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: CONMAN on October 12, 2023, 03:34:53 pm
This might require using another emulator?  I don't know about that particular emulator, but with duckstation, it normally loads the latest savestate related to an ISO when you just boot it up (which can cause issues with modded games).  It is possible that another save-state is causing an issue. 

Otherwise, I am not sure.
Title: Re: Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch
Post by: keisuke on October 14, 2023, 12:23:52 am
thank you!

My device is the latest IOS, and I played the game with retroarch and the core is "pcsx rearmed". Confirmed some graphic errors in custom maps. It freezes when forming a unit with "Goug" and I can't proceed further.

After that, I changed the core to "beetle psx" or "beetle psx HW" and also tried it with "cue" and "chd" files. In the above case, the game froze at the loading screen for the first battle at the start and could not proceed further.

In addition to retroarch, I also tried epxe, and epxe has no graphic errors and can be played normally. Retroarch has the PS1 BIOS configured and other patches work properly. For some reason, only this patch causes an error. I mainly play games on IOS, so it's a shame that I can't play this patch.

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/iJWPMUYqr-cROqvB5AuOvIp1bV1EMlyupZ5HVUzgRjyaOa2AAUn_lIt8qwrkvdZI27rIq0vdqS8cZkGcbSLdr7LUAst0gxcchA8pXqp9rVAc8P8TQx2yGnqNxRPyu2R8=w1280)

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/MeRrhKqa57Ex5Xt-41LQMIZ2YVKIsi9WpyIImbkqFEYwMItDWQQW1UrIG0sf_jcNBEGOQ_s-PROPgLYYfSE7HLp-cUc_ZzZU04Ch6hJ6TEQeKB8v3jcJbWNQm1mm3en0sQ=w1280)

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/tn5tcv-AUYc7LkIgMcZWXRxQq-l0nY3jPbEuyE4rO4qky4algt8DBqmIV0z-Eap3AowCOY2Z5M-qIPj6rwjQWyvyWDzhkX1MrsRTiC69DeW9h7lXJbK-G8VjfbboYzo-uA=w1280)

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/AUmYA84DeImRpE2TLgnsZz9vKJHDyf1fia5rJfY_RFhKJichK4GZQ0zkgrfV89_12IGWBlvpIOONefwWUUTdlP537uA5q6MQG0qpiYiHh25p5FDMGyOhVS-uUK7VXqykjg=w1280)