Final Fantasy Hacktics

Hey all! It's your friendly neighborhood White Mage, back in action again (for good or ill.)

So, I'm sure a few of you have noticed my increased activity around these parts recently. With small silly things like the Reflect-o-Rama and FFT:Doublecast Red Mage patches or more seriously with FFT:Honored. I'm back in the game modding FFT and I've had an idea brewing in the back of my mind since I was working on CCP 2nd. I started working on Honored because I wanted to get back into the swing of things again before I tried to follow up on the CCP legacy, such that it is. Finally starting to feel like I'm back up to speed (or near enough) to get to work brainstorming and planning things, and I want your help.

First things first, as I tend to focus on when I'm starting any FFT project, come the Jobs. It's my bread and butter and possibly the one place I excel at making fun (even if I don't ever get the balance quite right.) To that end, I've set up a small poll over here:  LINK REMOVED - POLL CLOSED (Thank you everyone that submitted responses!)   It's only a few questions to collect some general feedback about favorites and least favorites from my past projects and should only take a few minutes. There's also a link at the very bottom of that survey (Google Forms link) to go to a handful of related short-answer questions. Filling out and submitting any of these would be extremely helpful for me going forward developing and working on CCP3.

I'm not sure where this one is gonna go overall, or what kind of bugs features to expect from it, but if things roll out the way I'm hoping to have them go, then this will be an FFT mod unlike any ever seen before. I would love for as much of the community here to be involved with the dreaming and creation of it as possible. It means the world to me that you all enjoy my work and share that joy back with me and continue to do so and I look forward to working with you all again.

One thing I am sure of though: Something of value came back.

As the name implies, FFT:DRM is a mod that modifies the vanilla game to add in the many-times-requested Red Mage class. It also adds in a Doublecast support skill. This mod can be freely used as a base to build other mods off of.

A lot of people over the years have requested mods with a Red Mage class and I decided to make one. There are some other changes, a few by necessity and a few just for fun or for Quality of Life purposes, but overall this is still a very vanilla presentation of PSX FFT.

Good, I hope. Cross-Skip and Smart Encounters come built-in for QoL. Red Mage going in means something else goes out, so Calculator (and thus Math Skill) are absent from this mod. Don't worry though, RDM and Doublecast make up for the lack of ridiculously overpowered instant speed no MP cost infinite range spell casting. Fits right in line with the vanilla power curve.

Total build time on this project was about 5 hours, maybe a little more. I used mostly-complete tools and hacks already available to the community from other projects or just stuff created to be used by our wonderful group of talents modders and coders. The mod is available right now and should be considered completed at the time of this posting.

Other than myself I had help and used mods by various members of the community. Special thanks to Talcall for working out the Doublecast function for me and getting it working solidly, as well as for his continued supportive presence with this project and others of mine. Also quick thanks to Xifanie, Pokeytax, and Lijj for their contributions to the community for the hacks and sprites I used in this.

Right here! You can download the PPF file from this post and apply it to a clean, PSX ISO or BIN of FFT and get right to it! Check the spoilers below for a more specific list of changes.














You can also see how having a Red Mage using a Secondary skillset (Summon Magic) and Grey Magic won't be able to access Yin-Yang Magic. This is an unfortunate bug I don't currently have a fix for.



I hope you enjoy FFT:DRM!

Please report any bugs you find in the mod here in this thread or to me on Discord. Feel free to use this thread to post gameplay/reactions/criticisms as well.

I'm not exactly getting into ASM writing or anything here but since I've got something to share that I don't think exists in any other capacity, I figured I could finally start a thread here.


Modify Female-Only Equipment Access
This lets you change what equipment female units get access to (Default/Vanilla is Ribbons, Bags, and Perfumes) regardless of their class. You can also use it to swap that access to Male units instead, or disable the extra equipment access entirely.


Gender Byte - Set this to 0x40 for Female or 0x80 for Male. There currently isn't support for anything else.

Equipment Entry - Set this to 0x00 to Disable any extra equipment for units regardless of the Gender Byte set. (Make sure to set it for both 1st and 2nd Equipment Entries to fully disable it.) Otherwise set your Table value here (0x4A, 0x4B, 0x4C, or 0x4D. These cannot be combined in the same Equipment Entry.)

You can find a list of the appropriate table values over here: Formula Hacking

You can add the values to make multiple pieces from the same Table accessible.

Ex: The default 1st Table Entry uses 0x4C (Table 3) and the 1st Equipment Entry is a combination of 0x40 (Bag) and 0x02 (Ribbon). Perfumes get set on the 2nd Table Entry and with the 2nd Equipment Entry.

For another example of adding the Equipment Entry values: you could set a Table Entry to 0x4B (Table 2) and the associated Equipment Entry to 0xA9 (0x80+0x20+0x08+0x01) to give access to Staff, Gun, Longbow, AND Spear to a specific unit gender.



Hopefully this thread won't be empty of anything else but who knows.

What started as a difficulty-mod intended to take some inspiration from Final Fantasy 1 has taken on a life of its own and thus we have FFT:Honored.

The original concept was a minimalist approach to difficulty: Limit the players choices but keep the AI/Enemy units in command of the full (or nearly-full) range of jobs, skills and equipment. The limitations on jobs were to be kept to the six jobs seen in FF1: Fighter, Thief, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, and Red Mage. But the question kept arising: "Will you be including the promoted jobs as well?" Initially I wasn't planning to, with the minimalist idea trumping any others. Thankfully, good taste prevailed. Hence the patch name, which is drawn from this NPC in FF1, whose dialog changes to the following after you class change by bringing Bahamut proof of your courage:

Thus, FFT: Honored

The minimalist idea is still here in a less-extreme form; Instead of being limited to six base classes, they can now all class change at Job Level 6 (Pending Idea: JL6 + After the end of Chapter 2) in their respective jobs:

Warrior: Proficient in the use of most weapons, they possess skills to bolster allies and strike multiple foes at once with physical attacks. Promotes into "Knight".
Thief: Lightly armed and quick, able to steal equipment from enemies as well as demoralize them to make them easier pickings. Has access to simple recovery skills of questionable origin. Promotes into "Ninja"
Monk: Martial artist skilled in delivering physical punishment to individual foes. Their understanding of energy flows in the body lets them help in a smaller support role as well. Promotes into "Yojimbo"
White Mage: An expert in curative and support magics, the backbone of a well-rounded team. Skilled in only the most-basic of martial arms and equipment. Promotes into "Devout"
Black Mage: Weak in hand-to-hand combat, they can rain elemental destruction down upon their foes from a distance. Powerful but fragile. Promotes into "Magus"
Red Mage: "A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one!" Skilled in multiple weapons, armors, and cantrips, but not especially good at any one thing. Promotes into "Strategist" (as do all Unique jobs.)


Knight: Upgraded version of the Warrior. Keeps access to all Warrior skills in their new skillset: Chivalry.
Gets access to the powerful Knightswords - huge, double-edged blades with immense damage potential. Gains the ability to smash a target's equipment while they're wearing it, rendering it useless for the remainder of the battle.

Ninja: Upgraded version of the Thief. Keeps access to all Thief skills via their new skillset: Ninjutsu.
Learns to use five new weapon types, some heavier armor, and access to some limited Black Magic as well as a small variety of new skills. Focuses on speed and mobility.

Yojimbo: Upgraded version of the Monk. Keeps access to all Monk skills with their new skillset: Secret Arts.
A martial artist similar to the now-absent Samurai, gaining access to Katana and Longbow weapons. They provide an elemental edge to physical attacks in an area around them at instant speed.

Devout: Upgraded version of the White Mage. Keeps access to all White Mage spells in their new skillset: Holy Arts.
A veritable font of holy power, their spell repertoire is doubled and reinforced with the most powerful recovery magics known to man or beast.

Magus: Upgraded version of the Black Mage. Keep access to all Black Mage spells via their new skillset: Dark Arts.
Expands their spell list greatly and stands unrivaled in destructive magic, calling upon the very personifications of eldritch power to lay waste to the battlefield.

Strategist: Upgraded version of all other jobs. (All Unique jobs will unlock Factotum as Red Mage functions as the new base class in place of Squire.) Has a small collection of skills that don't work like many others in their skillset: Tactics. (Yes, the names were inverted again purposely, yes because of Tactician getting 'Strategy' in CCP2.)



Archer is still Archer, but they 'Charge' faster. This is an AI-only job. Players no longer get access to the Charge skillset*.

Chemist is getting a CCP-style 'Alchemist' facelift and will have some offensive items. This is an AI-only job. Players (currently) no longer get access to the Item skillset**.

Lancer is getting restyled to Dragoon just because but (at the moment) has no specific plans to change otherwise. This is an AI-only job. Players no longer get access to the Jump command*.

Time Mage remains Time Mage, but there are a few skill changes in Time Magic. This is an AI-only job. Players no longer get access to the Time Magic skillset*.

Summoner becomes Caller to indicate they are generally less-powerful than the original Summoner class because I've re-routed some summon spells. This is an AI-only job. Players no longer get access to the Summon Magic skillset*.

Bard and Dancer are almost completely unchanged except their slowest Song/Dance are made a little faster. These are AI-only jobs. Players no longer get access to the Sing or Dance skillsets*.



Oh, right. Did I mention the Crafters' Guild??? Advancing your equipment is going to take some extra steps in Honored because you won't just be able to always buy a shiny new upgrade as the story advances. Instead you'll have to take the bits and pieces you either find (All Player units have Move-Find Item innately; Enemy units have this function disabled and won't be able to snag your prizes) or cut off of Monsters when you Poach them (as well as getting some from random battles as war trophies, the availability of which can be checked from the information text of different areas on the world map.)

The Crafters' Guild has been rolled into the Fur Shop and serves the functions of both. Due to limitations of space, right now only weapons can be synthesized. Most require a small gil fee to be paid and one to three different items (in varying quantities) to craft a weapon, destroying those items in the process. This is the gateway to much more powerful and even unique weapons as the recipes in the Crafters' Guild expand as the game progresses much like the shops themselves do, so make sure to check back in frequently! Every Trade City as well as the Imperial Capital has a Crafters' Guild accessible and all Monsters have poachable materials designated per-family. There are no more Rare Poach chances, nor Move-Find entries to be had so no worries about keeping a low-Brave unit around for anything like that, either.


* - Access to Charge/Item/Jump/Summon/Sing/Dance will be through unique job classes only, who will lack access to Red Mage and the Red Magic skillset. They will still get access to as many of the Red Mage's R/S/M skills via their own unique skillsets as possible. Orlandu, Cloud, and Worker 8 are currently unchanged from vanilla. Orlandu does not Join Up in current versions of the mod.

** - While some Unique units may give the player access to other Generic job skillsets, the Chemist's 'Item' skillset is never properly assigned to any unit that joins the player. Check Mustadio's 'Engineering' for a poor imitation of some of the basics.

- Known Major Bugs -

Emulation seems to be wonky regardless of how careful I am creating things these days. New Game seems to stall/crash modern emulators when trying to load the initial Orbonne Monastery event. I thought I knew what the fix for that was but my attempts to fix it have all been in vain thus far. However, if you get past that first battle the game immediately gives you the option to save BEFORE the Gariland cadets event. A save file loaded from there into another emulator seems to work fine and is recommended to use if you don't want to be stuck using psxfin or some other less-accurate/less-discerning emulators. Akashachi has reported that ePSXe Mobile seems to run it all perfectly fine though. I do know the Crafters' Guild won't work if you're playing in Duckstation or using the BeetlePSX core, but PCSX ReARMed (tested as the core loaded via RetroArch) seems to handle the Guild just fine, but it suffers from the Orbonne crash.

- Known Mechanics Bugs -

Brave and Faith reset back to battle-start values when an unit affected by a change levels up. The cause is known in a general sense but a fix is yet to be devised. This is being worked on and my hopes are that it will stop being an issue before I'm finished with this project.

- Known Display Bugs -
Items in the equipment List function show seemingly random Immunities/Innates. Does not affect gameplay/intended functions of affected equipment. No fix is planned at this time.

Some equipment shows incorrect stat modification previews (most common seems to be showing +Jump when there is no change to Jump) but the items have been applying the proper adjustment to stats once equipped, so if something seems wrong just slap it on someone and compare the intended changes. They should be working correctly otherwise.

Something is causing off-hand equipped weapons and monster units to have wildly inaccurate Weapon Power values in their status screens. This doesn't affect anything with monsters since they never use attacks that calculate in WP. As for equipped human units, the weapon's proper value appears to be what gets calculated and is only a visual issue, so try not to shit a brick if you see a Ninja show up with an off-hand knife displaying 250 WP.

Edit: v.003 update to fix some of the more major early bugs. If anyone else sees the Saber turning people into Chickens, let me know. It shouldn't do that.

v.004 Uploaded with more bugfixes.

v.005 fixing some stuff I thought I caught in v.004. Nothing huge but that Romanda Gun might actually shoot now.

Updates should be in the last post in the thread with the current download.

Okay, if you haven't been checking out the NEW MAPS over here https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12678.0 then what are you even doing with your life?

Had a look?

Good. Want to try some CCP2 on those new maps? It's attached to this post. Have fun. Hopefully it doesn't explode on use (seems to load fine in pSXfin and ePSXe 1.7 still.) Tested them on stream up through Sand Rat with no issues. Tons of fun!

So I had the dumb idea of giving everything Reflect in vanilla and seeing what would happen. So now the patch that no one asked for: TwoClick. Because I made it by clicking the mouse twice (click Job, click Innate Status: Reflect on) on every job in the patcher (except 00, though something tells me maybe I only needed to do it to 00). Included in the attached archive are six seven* different .FFTP files and you will need the 493 Beta version of patcher (https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=7163.0) to apply them to a clean ISO. The files are labeled as such:

Reflect Only: What it says on the tin. Every job has Always: Reflect going and there are no other changes. Do not expect any game text to reflect (ha, oh god why, I promise that was unintentional) these changes.
The rest of them took Three (or more?) clicks to do but they all have the above Reflect All changes. Since it took three clicks to do that part, I named them ThreeClick.

Summons Only: As above, but also all Summon spells have been flagged as Reflectable.
Samurais Only: As Reflect Only but all Draw Out skills are flagged as Reflectable. This one does not change summons.
Summons and Samurais: Hopefully self-explanatory. Summon and Draw Out skills are all flagged Reflectable.
S+S+SS (Summons, Samurais, and Swordskills): As Summons and Samurais, but with the fun addition of Agrias' five swordskills being flagged as Reflectable.
Sorry Gaffy: As S+S+SS but includes Dark Sword and Night Sword in the list of Reflectable swordskills.

This is completely untested and presented as-is and I consider it complete. There will be no future support of this patch. Keep in mind this patch is more about how the AI's decisions will change due to the modifications than it is about the player just making everyone a Monk and playing mostly like normal. Try to do something fun with it.

* Fake Edit because I thought of one more before I finished typing this up:

* S+S+Mime: As Summons and Samurais above but Mime Job unlock is all 0's so everyone has it from the start. Enjoy!

I highly encourage anyone amused by the idea to share their experiences here with it. Also if anyone else does have ideas for this and are willing, just post your own modified .fftp patchfiles up in this thread. Very curious to see what comes of this, if anything.

Heyla, folks. So this here is a quick rebirth of an old project that I thought I might dive into real quick to see how quickly I could get it updated using Xifanie's FFT Mod Helper (v 1.01) toolset. It even helpfully found a couple entries I'd missed so many years ago.

ISIA Base Patch


What Does This Do?

 This patch is intended to be used as a base patch for new PSX FFT patches that want all of the duplicate Inflict Statuses and Item Attributes from Vanilla cleaned up into single entries that are properly referenced by the skills, items, and etc. that need them.

How Do I Use This Patch?

 Included in the download are both .PPF and .FFTP files (use whichever you prefer, the end result should be the same) that can be directly applied to a CLEAN ISO before any other modifications for a new patch are made.

Notes

The only thing of note is that the Vanilla Inflict Status of "40 - None [Cancel: Petrify, Oil, Poison, Stop]" remains in the patch even though nothing uses that I.S. and it has been shuffled down to position 2B if for some reason you are looking for it. Replacing that shouldn't affect anything Vanilla.

Some of you folks might be interested to know that for the RPG Limit Break charity speedrun marathon going on right now, TheYetee has teamed up with them much like with the Games Done Quick folks and has some new t-shirt designs including one for Tactics. Link to that design here. A portion of proceeds goes to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness which has more info about that organization here.

Here's a quick look at the shirt design:


I don't think there's too much FFT apparel out there but this one is pretty accessible.

Hey all. Long time.

Been working on a new project and I've got a final edition ready for distribution so I thought I'd drop it here.

Just a new romhack of FF1 built off of the FF:Restored hack. There's details in the PDF with the patch file.

Updated to version 1.07 which fixes most of the bugs found in playtesting and includes a spoiler list for weapons and armor as well as fixes a game-breaking bug in Ordeals.

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4159/

Friend of mine has been putting a lot of work into a new game and I was hoping it might get some love from the crew here.

If you're a fan of games like Wizardry or Etrian Odyssey but would like something a little darker, I might have something you'd be interested in.

If you're willing to burn 5 minutes of your time, head on over to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/93546740/shrine-of-orm and watch the video. It makes a better case for the game than I could just typing about it here. If you're interested, give it some props for Greenlight or maybe make a KS donation.

Here's hoping you like it.

I know some other folks around here were interested in this project. Just in case you haven't been keeping up though, version 1.0 has been released, meaning the project has been fully realized and is complete! For those not familiar with it, this is a wonderfully faithful and incredibly conceptualized remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus. It may well become the definitive version of the game with fan acclaim. If you're any kind of a fan of the 2D Metroid titles, give it a try. I can't imagine you'd be disappointed.

Downloads and info here: http://metroid2remake.blogspot.de/p/am2r-downloads.html

Not sure if I'm late on this one, but anyone caught wind of this yet?

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201601/29098213.html

http://www.famitsu.com/matome/dff/character15.html

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/square-enix-profits-more-than-double-year-over-yea/1100-6423405/

https://gamesdonequick.com/

It's that time once again. I don't know that I really need to explain what's going on at this point. Just follow the link, the fun starts at 2pm EDT, today, the 22nd. The charity that funds will be raised for is Doctors Without Borders. Spread the word!

http://www.crystalsforlife.ca/

It has already begun. They're running a huge list of RPGs. Lots of FF games. Suikoden is going on as I post this, actually. Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Star Ocean, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Ys games, Secret of Evermore, Lost Odyssey, Legend of Mana...just piles and piles of games I know you people are interested in. Come join chat, enjoy the games, spread the word and all that.

...then you should tune in over here this weekend: http://www.twitch.tv/ludendi

Speedruns of EVERY Metroid game. This includes some titles you may not be familiar with like Metroid Prime: Hunters and Pinball!

There will also be a premiere of the latest demo of AM2R "Another Metroid 2 Remake" which if you're a fan of Metroid and haven't heard about this project yet, you owe it to yourself to either tune in for that or go check it out here: http://metroid2remake.blogspot.com/   Just some really awesome stuff going on this weekend and its already underway. Stop on by and show some support!

...he'll be yours.

Speed Demos Archive is at it again. Tune in to the speedrunning marathon here: http://gamesdonequick.com/

They'll be playing all week, non-stop and collecting donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation once again. This year's goal is $500,000. They've done it once before and here's hoping they'll do it again!

Also there may be some perler art prizes in there that I made that you should totally bid for. Just sayin'.

With the close of the most recent spriting contest I've finally decided to move forward with something I've thought about for a while now and that's the retirement of both Celdia's Complete Patch and my own term here as a moderator. This isn't some idle decision I've made over a cup of tea but rather something that has been long in coming and I can't imagine any of you that really know me to see it as a surprise. It has been quite a while since I really separated myself from the more social aspect of this community - something that was done for various reasons that need not be discussed here - and while I'd hoped that would help me find motivation for this project, instead it just showed me how well and truly done I was with it.

First I would like to thank everyone who helped me with this project. Your names are forever immortalized in the generic character name lists in CCP1 and my apologies to the few people whose names I never got around to adding. Those of you that helped make this project as fun as it was know who you are though and you were all invaluable to me as I plodded along from the first changes I made back when I still called it CEAP.

Next, of course, I have to thank everyone who actually played this half-broken monstrosity of a patch. In lieu of not having the constant affirmations from the players, I realize a lot of my motivation came from each of you telling me what you thought of the patch and watching you each play it either via live stream or Youtube videos. I never had so much fun doing anything as watching all of you face off with my creation, everyone coming up with interesting and unique solutions to the roadblocks I placed in your way.

Lastly I would like to tender apologies to anyone who may have been still following this project and hoping for the next update even so many months since the last one. I would also like to extend special apologies to both Choto and pokeytax for the extra work they did on my behalf that I never got to apply to the patch and test. I'm sorry the fruits of your labors never got an official release of any kind. However, they will not just be lost to the void...

Attached to this post is a collection of various resources I used to create both versions of my patch along with what I believe were the latest PPF files, FFTP and FFTTEXT files, ODS/XLS files and even some unique XMLs for FFTorgASM, some short note files and my Resources.zip files for both CCP1 and 2nd Beta. Those unapplied pieces are also packed in there as well as some other odds and ends I don't think I ever got to putting into the Beta for 2nd. I'm officially releasing all of those as well as the content of my patch as open to anyone who wants to borrow or steal from it, just so there is no question about that in the future. I hope something there gets put to good use. If there is anything anyone feels is missing from the packet that they would like or can't seem to remove from a patched ISO, leave a message here about it and if I still have whatever it is you're looking for I'll try to post it. However in a few months time I'll likely have either backed-up everything onto a storage drive or just deleted it so do try not to dawdle with requests.

I have to admit I've had a good run. I still can't believe the number of downloads I've seen for my patch over the years I've been working on it. Hundreds of people played something I made and that still fills me with a sense of wonder and awe little else has in my life. I just wish I still felt the way I did back when I was scrambling every week to release a new version while trying to fix it and re-upload it 5 to 10 times in one night. It was hectic but it was fun and as much as I may have complained, everyone's comments the days after always made it worth it. Again, thank you all.

As for myself, I'll be stepping down as a General Moderator. I find myself more out-of-touch with what goes on around here than I feel is proper for someone that should be in a position of authority or even management of posting on the forums. That said, you very likely won't see much of me around anymore so this is also a bit of a farewell. I hope some of you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. They say to go out on a song but no one ever liked my music choices anyways, so I guess I'll just leave one of my favorite quotes behind. Good luck out there and happy hacking! Elric, I leave the rest to you.



"Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

We're past the submission deadline and now it's time to cast your votes! See the submissions over here: http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9852.0

As always I would like to start by saying thank you to everyone that entered the contest. While the turnout this time around wasn't quite as numerous as the last contest, there were certainly an interesting number of styles of chosen among the contestants. Now without further ado, let the voting begin! We'll be trying the new three-vote option for this contest, meaning you have up to three votes available to you. You may choose to use them all or just vote once or twice for your very favorites. Feel free to discuss or ask questions in this thread and for those of you just burning to critique the various entries now would be an appropriate time to do so.

Voting officially ends on Thursday night, July 11th, at 11:59pm EST! I will tally up the votes and announce the winner then! Here's a quick recap of the suggested judging criteria.

1) Creativity: There are obviously a lot of different style options when you can pick from any other game. This criteria would be more about how far and away from what has been done before a submission is.
2) Artistic Ability: The more like the chosen game style, the better. Of course visual quality of the entry is always important.
3) Personal Preference: When it all comes down to it you should pick what you like best!

---

Back by popular demand, the latest FFH Spriting Contest has officially begun! Head over to this thread and see what it's all about!

Ivalicians Abroad

Back again by popular demand, it's another FFH Spriting Contest! Our last contest brought in nearly a score of entries from the community and there were some truly outstanding ones in the mix. I know I'm hoping to see a repeat of that kind of participation. I'm throwing off the yoke of it being a Halloween contest and going a bit more free-form this time around because our theme is going to be a bit backwards from the norm. I'll admit that this was my second option when I decided on "Heroes From Other Worlds" for the last contest. After how things have developed though, I'm glad I saved it.

With the popularity of Journey of the Five riding high I thought this idea might be fun to use now. We've seen a lot of other heroes coming to Ivalice, so now let's have a look at our favorite characters from Ivalice heading out to those "Other Worlds" to see how they might look there! That's right, this contest will even take our dedicated spriters out of their comfort zone because the goal will be to make sprites in the style of other games using FFT and FFTA characters!

Once again, this is a beginner's level spriting competition. If you've never done a sprite before we'd still love to see what you can do! The competition is open to EVERYONE and you may make as many or as few submissions as you like. You may also continue to update your submissions to the very end of the due date. Feel free to give constructive criticism on entries as they get posted to help people make the best sprite they can. Also, if someone else is doing a character and style you yourself would like to do, don't hesitate to post your own version!

Submissions are due by 11:59pm EST on Sunday, June 30th, with the possibility for an extension by request. Once the submissions are closed, all entries will be organized and a public voting poll will be opened in a new thread. Every community member will be allowed to vote for up to three entries. Poll closing will be determined when the voting begins, but it likely not to exceed 5 days. The poll will be blinded so please respect the voting process and don't make your vote choice public while voting is still ongoing.

Prizes
Elric, Xifanie, Kagebunji, Lijj and Mobius have each generously offered their talents towards prizes for this competition! To the 1st place winner will go a custom-designed event with custom portraits for the sprites used* and to each of the 2nd and 3rd place winners will go custom portrait-style avatars done by Lijj as well as sprite concepts done by Kagebunji. In addition to all those, Elric has offered to create a custom event as a collective effort to be designed by our top three winners! I hope the sprites in the contest are even half as amazing as the prizes being offered! Thank you all for your contributions! ...I think I've pretty much lost any logical way to describe all of these by now. @_@ If I get any more prizes to add I'm just going to make it a bullet-point list. -_-;;
* - some restrictions may apply, offer not valid on all planets, no purchase necessary

Submission Requirements:
1) A minimum of 1 frame in the style of a game other than FFT/FFTA. If you want to do more frames or even submit something animated, go for it.
2) A name for your entry. This can just be the actual character name you're making.
3) The name of the game from which you are drawing inspiration from.
4) Provide a spoiler'd image or link to a similar-style sprite of the game listed from #3. (Ex: If you're doing a Street Fighter 2 style character portrait, don't link to a picture of a character's idle animation for during a fight, link to another portrait image.)
5) 100% or 200% Zoom in either BMP or PNG format. We like to see those details up close!
6) Post your submission in this thread and it will be officially entered.
7) Submissions need to loosely follow the general competition topic. As long as you aren't submitting an FFT or FFTA style sprite, you should be okay.
8) Follow general forum rules, such as no nudity.
9) There is NO limit on the number of entries per member as long as they are significantly distinct.
10) If there are multiple valid versions of the same submission posted in the thread, the latest version will be considered the competition version.
11) Unique characters from existing FFT/FFTA patches are considered valid, but you will need to provide a source image for the character as not everyone may be familiar with characters outside of vanilla. [Ex: If you're going to do Gospel from Call of Power, make sure to post his sprite with your entry.]

Failure to meet the submission requirements will result in disqualification of the entry.

Judging Criteria:
1) Creativity: There are obviously a lot of different style options when you can pick from any other game. This criteria would be more about how far and away from what has been done before a submission is.
2) Artistic Ability: The more like the chosen game style, the better. Of course visual quality of the entry is always important.
3) Personal Preference: When it all comes down to it you should pick what you like best!

Important Dates:
Opening of Competition: 5/5
Submissions/Extension Requests Due: 11:59pm EST 6/30
Voting Begins: TBA
Winners Announced: TBA

Why are you...?

Just a quick Q&A section to try and head off some possible questions about the contest and change from form of previous contests. I'll update this bit if anyone asks things in the thread.

Q: Why do we get three votes this time?
A: During the last contest more than a few people expressed the wish to be able to vote for more than one entry as a favorite because they just couldn't choose. It was suggested then that for future contests we be allowed more votes.

Q: Why are you allowing so much time for submissions?
A: First, I can't really see extending the submission time as hurting the contest any. Second, I know that this can be a hectic time of year for some of our members who attend school and rather than just wait to announce the contest I figured giving more time would be to the benefit of everyone involved. Third, with all the possible styles to pick from this much time would give people interested in doing highly advanced sprites enough time to complete them. Finally, these contests have been at best bi-annually. It isn't like we're running them every month and the submission time is going to run into another contest's timeframe.

Q: Why are you allowing extensions for submissions with so much time already set aside for them?
A: This is really just reflective of the last contest and the number of messages I got in the last couple days of submission for people that wanted to submit something but didn't have time or hadn't heard about the contest early enough.

Q: How do I request an extension?
A: Just send me a PM here on the forum before the submission closing and tell me how much time you feel you will need to get your submission done. The longest extension I am willing to grant for a submission will be 2 weeks so keep that in mind if you feel you need to apply for one.

Q: You didn't mention any prizes for this contest. Will there be any?
A: At the moment I have no prizes planned for the contest. That doesn't mean that won't change before the end of it. Also, if anyone wants to donate something as a prize for the contest they are welcome to. Just contact me via PM here on the forum about it.

Q: Were you serious about this being back by popular demand?
A: Actually, yes. I have gotten multiple PMs asking about when the next spriting contest might be held.

Q: I'm still not clear on the goal of this contest.
A: Not a question but definitely a potential concern. Here are a couple of great examples of FFT characters done in a different sprite style.
These examples are not my work and belong to their original creators, whoever they may be.




That pretty much covers anything I can think of right now. If you have other questions, feel free to post them in this thread. Other than that, let the spriting begin! ^_^

It's that time of year again.



Spread the word.

Just in time for the holidays is a quick look at the new "Celdia's Complete Patch: 2nd"! Some more [limited] information is available here: Click!

Current version is playable through the end of the main story. Infinite loading glitches at places like Orbonne and Goland (sidequests) should be fixed by now.

9/12/2021: Un-fucked the latest Fix patch. Removed the confirmed bugged one and uploaded a new version. See latest post for details.


Some classes have gotten serious rewrites and others just some tweaks here and there. There's a new job tree as well (see below) and I've implemented Xifanie's amazing Cross-Skip Hack so hold those X buttons and watch that  l i t t l e  m o n e y  just FLY by!

As always, this mod must be played via emulation. If anyone manages to get it working on any real hardware, I'd love to know about it.

I'll try to get some more updated info posted below sometime soon. Suffice to say, the information the rest of this thread is old and out-of-date.


Ooh, fan art! Courtesy of dointhangs. Thank you so much! ^_^


And this thing is still here:

Apparently these were part of some Utah college's youtube channel. Probably until someone actually watched them.

Well all the submissions for this year's contest have been checked out and assembled for easy viewing, so get on over to the new thread and cast your vote! http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9285.0