I am astounded each time I pop in on these boards or pay a visit to the downloads page, because it shows what a strong following this game has fostered among hackers and non-hackers alike. The character editors, the sprite editors, the custom scripts, the elaborate patches... and someone even took the time to make the :more: emoticon! :P
Anyway, this post has two purposes: First, to express my gratitude for being allowed in to this FFT community, and second, to pose a simple but, I think, complicated question.
Here goes. What is it about FFT that has made it such a popular game for hacking? Is it simply that the game itself (storyline, mechanics, etc.) is so stellar that its own merits have inspired such a following? Is it that the game engine lends itself particularly well to hex editing and the like? Or perhaps some hackers love the game but view it as "incomplete" when unhacked (i.e., the undoctored game has unmet potential)? Is it something else altogether that hasn't occurred to me?
Thanks in advance for anyone taking the time to read this and reply. :)
P.S.: I have tried my best to place this in the most appropriate section, but please feel free to move it somewhere else if that is where it belongs.
FFT is an awesome game, cursed by not having an in-game editor and being unbalanced
That's all (IMHO)
P.s: Welcome
P.p.s: Someone move this to the intro section ;P
Welcome to FFH! :D
To answer your question, it's because FFT has so much potential, I think. Having the tools that we have available to us now, thanks to our coders and ASMers, we can do almost anything we'd like to the game, and since FFT already has a ton of potential, it means you can pretty much make whatever you want, with enough willpower. It's kind of like when people mod Oblivion/Fallout. It's just that there's so much potential for change and creativity.
partly because the game itself was so great that it has a large following to this day (even among people who aren't even aware the game can be hacked and edited), that there was just the people-power when someone said "hay gaiz! lets edit teh gaem moar!". With the MASSIVE gameshark handbook for this game (hosted on gfaqs) and the massive BMG (also on gfaqs), everyone had access to at least general editing of this game. So after enough people went "lets make holy knight ramza!!!", one guy went "lets make it so people can just *play* FFT, and ramza IS a holy knight, without each person having to edit the game themselves, we can just make a 'new' FFT" then people modded more and more and it grew to what it is today.
I can't speak for the others, but for me I just remember all the times when I was younger and playing FFT and thinking "Oh man, you know what would be so awesome?!" and then rambling off some idiotic idea (to my only friend that played FFT) for a class or a skill or a battle and wishing I could make it actually happen. That same friend and I actually pooled some money and bought a Gameshark for the PSX for the explicit purpose of accessing the FFT Debug menu. I guess that was really my first foray into game hacking, extremely amateur as it was, but even in the late 90's FFT was amazing enough of a game to have that kind of allure. For all its flaws that become revealed (especially when looking at the code) its just a great game. Everything it does, it does very well and it just makes you want more when you're done with it.
There aren't many really good Tactical RPGs out there, and FFT is one of the best.
Because of the gameplay. It has what I considered for the longest time the best representation of FF's job system, and a very interesting Reaction/Support/Movement-Ability mechanic. It also has a ton of special abilities and additional content to modify and isn't full of FMV's and voice acting to worry about removing for the sake of your mods. As a hacker/modder, you feel as though you're in complete control of everything the game has to offer. The only other PS1 game I'd feel similar about when it came to hacking would probably be Dragon Quest VII. There's plenty of potential in that game too, only, nobody has hacked it yet (As far as I know).
Its a popular hack because it has a lot of potential to play the game differently. Even with small hacks like save editor you can drastically change how u play the game by changing what characters you have on your team. SRPGs in general are great for hacking because they usually have many abilities and characters you don't have access too, that become available via hacking, making a playthrough a different experience each time.
For me it was the appreciation of the game, then I had a dream about the game once, almost like I saw into the future; I saw FFT Arena 9-10 years ago in that dream and I picked red for my team.