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Which Near-Vanilla Rebalance to Use?

Started by Xodarap777, January 06, 2018, 02:25:32 pm

Xodarap777

Hey all, I've read and read on threads about this, so I'm not just skipping my own forum-reader's duties, here...  (BTW, hello, long-time lurker, first-time poster!)

I'm hoping to find a mod that rebalances classes and improves AI and enemy abilities.  I don't need a harsh difficulty spike, and I hate nerfs.  I tried one of the difficulty-increasing mods years back (1.3 maybe?), and I hated it.  It wasn't a "fun" increase, and the difficulty felt "artificial."  Ideally, I would love *any* level of added difficulty if it was based in AI and rebalanced abilities.  I wouldn't mind, e.g., a nerf on Orlandu, but I would rather see archers and white mages improved to meet other classes, than to see those other classes nerfed.  I like being powerful, but having my power properly checked by an also-powerful AI and battles that are stacked against me - but fairly so.

Particularly, I worry about early-game battles being difficult, before I have the opportunity to really pursue my own tactical and strategic development.  But I would love for the deep dungeon and bosses to seriously challenge my *tactical* abilities!

So, for those who have played and experienced them, which mod am I looking for?  I'm pretty stuck between LFT and KO, right now, but I might be missing some other options, like the newer Git Gud.  In particular, it looks like KO may do a better job in buffing AI, while LFT does a better job in buffing player classes.  I really do want the player abilities *rebalanced*, but KO looks like it might be a bit too heavy-handed for my taste.  Maybe that's just from reading their hard-to-parse changelogs.

Any thoughts?
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Eternal

Hey there! Welcome to FFH! I'm the author of KO, and yeah, I suck at changelogs, haha. I'd be happy to answer any KO related questions you have, and I'm somewhat familiar with LFT, so if you have any questions about that one as well I'd be happy to help! :)
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Xodarap777

I guess that my big worry about KO is that is is or will be a bit "heavy handed" in changing vanilla classes beyond their most basic rebalancing.  I don't want to "relearn" the game - I don't want to get halfway into monk Ramza before realizing that my beloved Chakra is actually so nerfed by vert-0 that it's no longer the class I want him to be... Then "rerolling" after 10 hours lost.

BUT the thing really getting me to lean toward KO, besides the ongoing development (which is awesome, btw!) is the beefing-up of monster/enemy AI and abilities.  I worry a bit about the difficulty getting out of hand (esp at the beginning), but maybe I'm also worrying too much about the class changes.

Your changelogs are great in that they include full detail, but the "broad strokes" should have their own areas, unless I missed them.  For example, LFT's frontpage says stuff like:

"-Archer-
Summary: Mobile ranged attacker, now able to get into favorable position quickly thanks to innate Ignore Height. On certain maps, an accessible height advantage makes them almost untouchable and able to assail any enemy position. They use magic secondaries more effectively. Charge skillset vastly improved in ease of use."

For each class - so I can quickly get a notion of what I'm going to experience.

Still, leaning toward KO for beefier/scarier goblins/etc.  If the base game needs anything, it's less-casual random encounters and more need for careful party balancing.

Basically, I'm hoping for a "20% change" to the "feel" of the game I know - not a big swing; enough to feel, but with random "Oh"s, not big huge "WTF"s.

Also: SUPER awesome of you to have a PSP version.  I'm one of the few fanatics who prefers the WotL translation.  Sure, the olde english is cringeworthy, but the text is so much deeper in character development, too.  Can KO be run on a PSP?  I like FFT enough that I could totally justify getting an old PSP 2000 on ebay to carry around to play KO.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Bonesy

they all have issues for me that prevent MAXIMUM ENJOY tbh
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown
  • Discord username: Bonesy#9386

Eternal

To address your concern, KO was specifically designed to feel as close to Vanilla as possible. Most of the changes have been number changes and formation changes, but overall it should still feel like the FFT you know and love- that was the goal from the very beginning. It's certainly not perfect, but we've worked hard to ensure that each update is better than the last while taking a look at feedback.

Difficulty against monsters at the beginning is a little more challenging than Vanilla, but you can either opt to skip the random encounters altogether until you have more abilities, or you can just be careful, use buffs and debuffs, and defeat enemies that way. This is something that's on my to-do list that I'm working on for the next update, is to make early monsters a little easier to get used to, but battles are definitely doable right now.

KO PSP can be played on a PSP, but I wouldn't recommend buying a PSP for it. PPSSPP is a great emulator that runs it nearly flawlessly. KO PSP is a somewhat different beast though, since I had to make some unique changes to that version that doesn't apply to the PSX version.

All in all, my suggestion? Try both. KO is great if you're looking for a more balanced experience, whereas LFT is a wonderful patch that rebalances things by buffing everything to be on equal pacing (sometimes being a little too buffed though). I enjoy playing through LFT every once and a while, and it's certainly fun as well. :)
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Xodarap777

Can KO be applied over the top of the FFT Complete patch (that moves text from WotL into FFT)?
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Eternal

I'm honestly not sure if it'd work or not. You're really not supposed to multi-patch, because it can cause issues.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Windows X

My suggestion is you should try playing all of them until Dorter City. At that point, you should feel which one is most suitable for your needs.

If you want vanilla rebalance without changing abilities and such, my Valeria mod may suit your taste. I also improved Archer's usefulness based on Archer in A2 and White Mage has some more usable buffs. :)
  • Modding version: WotL

3lric

I'm moving this to the help section. This section is for completed mods, or threads concerning them

Thanks
  • Modding version: PSX