ff4(2us) hack lol patch

[Fenrir90]

Sing: Currently sing multi targets 3 spells that normally can only single target, Curse, Hold, and Allure (lamia version), (and toad if he is in toad status) in addition to casting Sleep as the replacement for the 'nothing happened' spell. Since Edward will now learn full white magic this may be subject to change however, they seem to be decent upgrades to the original single target Sing command that only cast: Sleep, Mute, Charm and "nothing happened". (im open to suggestions)

For the curse song's name "Song of Sadness", IMHO its kind of misleading (I played too much Earthbound) and there are better words that could be used instead. In the recent versions of FFIV, there is a enemy attack called "Cursed Elegy" (Milon Z/Scarmiglione - Zombie Form). If you are looking for a more original name, there is always Cursed Song, Mysterious Elegy, Mysterious Melody, Cursed Elegy, Eerie Song, Song of Despair, etc... For the visual, use Milon Z's DullSong/Cursed Elegy effect (it's the sleep spell effect, but its brownish instead of bluish/purplish) and it has a different sound effect (Pollen sound effect if I remember correctly).

For the "nothing happened" failure song, I always imagine that a failure song would be a song that would deal damage to a single target/multiple targets instead of inflicting a status ailment. What I mean is that if you listen to someone playing a song and he screws up the notes or he's a bad singer, etc. To listen to him, he'll hurt your ears due to the bad noise/bad notes played/etc. Discord Song (what I called it) would have the power of a level 1 spell (Fire1, Ice-1, Lit-1) or at best would have the power of a level 2 spell (Fire2, Ice-2, Lit-2). The power would increase as you level up, so it would be tied to your Wisdom or was it Intelligence (anyways, the one that is the black magic stat). Discord Song would have a non-elemental property or have the darkness property. For the visual, I would used the Dispel/Dummy effect.

Edward's two other songs are both fine (Song of Charm and Stunning Melody)

The white spell "Nova" ("custom spell, like a "Holy" version of meteo slightly weaker because it has a specific element"). The spell effect I suggest to use for your Nova would be Last Arm's Fission because it looks more like a nova/supernova. Meteo spell effect doesn't look much like a nova. Or, how about you simply rename Nova to Comet and rename the twincast "Comet" to Stardust instead. Comet is usually the weaker version of Meteo/Meteor.

"Blast (Cid) - casts "Fission" on all enemies, killing the caster." Since this game will be a little harder than the original, how about replacing Cid's Blast with Magnet (inflict stop status ailment), but for Cid make it able to fail too. Magnet seems more like a ability associated with Engineers than Blast IMHO. I remember some machines used this technique in the Giant of Babil.

Link: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Final_Fantasy_IV_Enemy_Abilities#Magnetic_Radiation

Darkness element, does that mean that Cecil and Golbez's sword (they are Dark Knights) will all/majority have the Darkness element associated with them? In the original game, there weren't many enemies or any at all that were weak against Darkness. I know there were some that were resistant to it. I am hoping that some enemies will become weak to the darkness element and/or your patch will introduce the darkness element.

It's sad to hear that Sheila has been discontinued/removed, and yes I like Yang and his daughter Ursula. So what will become of Sheila's sprites? I suggest you summit it to sprite-ressource or something. It'll be such a waste to let her spritesheet be deleted.

As always, just tossing ideas your way and of course keep up the good work Zozma. I am waiting patiently for the patch. Good luck.

Add: Here is another idea that just came to me, how about using Zeromus (aka Zeromus EG) sprite and battle script from FFIV - Easy Type (snes) or Gameboy Advance.

Link: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Zeromus_EG

[Zozma]

Thanks a lot for the feedback Im glad to see some interest in this lolpatch of mine

about Edward's songs, I think song of Despair or Cursed Elegy sounds great

It already has a perfect animation btw, remember that symbol that you see appear when you cast Dispell? you might not since it was dummied originally. Well i turned Dispell into "Curse" Its befitting the spell as it looks like some form of a hex.

I think i typed wrong about "Nothing Happened" and said it casts sleep, but Lullaby already casts a 100% chance version of that so the "nothing happened" thing IS what was is now called "Stunning Melody" that casts a more effective version of Hold

about Nova looking like Fission, Im sticking with fission staying on cid, as the actual graphic for the fission radiates from the caster and would look better for something like this. For Nova im using a blue/white version of Megaflare. Now, giving Cid "Magnet" is actually not a bad idea, I am able to do that easily. thanks for that idea.

as far as the darkness element, basically all cecil "gains" from his trip to mt ordeals this time around is the "ability" to equip greatswords. Even if it may be odd, I may leave one or 2 of those swords with the light element. but yes, i will probably have to go and add some more weakness to darkness along the way....

As for Sheila, yeah I've decided to stick with Yang. I realized that she created one mage/fighter too many. Yang being pure physical power even tho he looks like a biker outta a gay leather bar lol... Anyway I might re-add sheila if i manage to create a decent portrait to match like anna's but if i re-add her she will only be a monk type as well with no magic. that part is up in the air, i still have the sprite tho...

[efrate]

Yang being pure physical power even tho he looks like a biker outta a gay leather bar lol.

Say that to his face, dare ya.  I always hated giving him up for Edge.  So with DK cecil, using the death sword, you upping resistance to instant death in non-undead, because if not that becomes a huger WTF PWN attack.  I'm very interested as well, FFIV is one of my all time favorite games. 

[Zozma]

ahhh here is my unused crap + the cosmetic changes to Rosa and then Baigan

Rosa, Sandy, Cindy, Mindy all use the exact same 16 color palette...

[Fenrir90]

Good stuff Zozma, really good stuff. I've been meaning to ask since I didn't see you mention the Protect or Shell white magic spells. Are you going to re-added them as learnable spells? Or are you planing on making customs spells out of them both.

Of course I am interested and I am sure others are too. I never felt this way about any patch/hacks or even a translations of a foreign game into English. FFIV was my very first RPG, so it has lots of nostalgia about it. Also, your patch isn't like any other FFIV patches I've seen so far.

[Zozma]

protect and shell will be re-added to the game as well as Dispell
however dispell will now be "curse" instead of dispell since there is pretty much a 99% chance that you will never need to dispell any enemy in the game lol.

Rosa, Porom, Tellah, Kain, Baigan and Edward can all learn these 3 spells

Protect normally raised defense by 5
Shell normally  raised mdefense by 3

ive changed it so that they both raise their defense by 15 otherwise the spells are crap anyway.

other spell changes:
Sight has been changed to Blind (as the only primary method to inflict this on the enemy)
Mini and Piggy are dummied. You have toad which can pretty much do the same thing as mini but also disable magic.
Dispell being curse means you now have 3 ways to inflict curse instead of just one (the ancient sword)
Now because of Curse existing as a white mage spell, It can also be cast on multiple targets by Edward's Song of Despair.
---

I just finished re-integrating Yang into the game, correcting his hp bug and making it so he gains just a little more wisdom and will for magic defense purpose. so he is back in action.
Due to his lack of magic (along with Cid) I have given him more options, I added an extra Claw
(Vampire Claw) which hasn't been tested yet, but I am hoping it can either Drain or OHKO or both on hit.

He can also use Chakra and Kick.
so much for sheila but Yang's been improved enough to be worth it.

Rosa also has a character specific set of Doom arrows. She might be worth getting back if you really want to.
Unfortunately I had to sacrifice 3 or 4 arrow types in order to give Yang his status inflicting claws back. This isn't necessarily a big deal, however, because Rosa can also equip Hammers. Including the new Gravity Hammer that can cast "Globe199" lol

[Fenrir90]

as far as the darkness element, basically all cecil "gains" from his trip to mt ordeals this time around is the "ability" to equip greatswords. Even if it may be odd, I may leave one or 2 of those swords with the light element. but yes, i will probably have to go and add some more weakness to darkness along the way....

Actually, I always though that Ragnarok should have been a Dark Knight sword's name instead. Well, it fits perfectly with the Dark Knight theme. Ragnarok = Doom of the Gods. The other sword of light could be called Apocalypse or something.

I just finished re-integrating Yang into the game, correcting his hp bug and making it so he gains just a little more wisdom and will for magic defense purpose. so he is back in action.
Due to his lack of magic (along with Cid) I have given him more options, I added an extra Claw
(Vampire Claw) which hasn't been tested yet, but I am hoping it can either Drain or OHKO or both on hit.

He can also use Chakra and Kick.
so much for sheila but Yang's been improved enough to be worth it.

Rosa also has a character specific set of Doom arrows. She might be worth getting back if you really want to.
Unfortunately I had to sacrifice 3 or 4 arrow types in order to give Yang his status inflicting claws back. This isn't necessarily a big deal, however, because Rosa can also equip Hammers. Including the new Gravity Hammer that can cast "Globe199" lol

Thanks for the update Zozma, but I've got a few more stuff for you if you don't mind. You must think that I'm annoying lol. Sorry about that.

Will Asura be getting her Protect Spell back into her arsenal? Replacing her Cure 3/Curaga.

Oh, the Lunar/Kinesis Staff can cast Dispel when used as an item. Here, it will cast the curse spell. You might want to rename the staff to fit the name and to whom it targets first. Or make a new staff out of the Lunar/Kinesis Staff altogether.

Not sure if you are aware, but there is an unused dagger called Assassin within the game, it obviously causes instant death (like Cecil's Deathbringer sword). Maybe it could be turned into another dagger stronger than Mage Masher. While on the subject, there is a two handed Crystal/Ragnarok Sword. It's between these two items.

Charm/Lamia Harp
Two Handed Crystal/Ragnarok Sword
Poison Axe

Item restoration, will you be including all the dummied out items?

If Piggy and Mini spells have been removed from the game, does that mean their status effect still exist in some shape or form? New weapons could cause these effects on monsters (just like Deathbrinder causes instant death). Dark Knight's Gluttony Sword causes instant Piggy status for example. Lucky Mallet/Lilliput Hammer causes instant Minimum, etc. I don't know if this affects your patch, but I'll mention it to you anyway. The Change Rod cast Piggy when used as an Item.

Rosa with Globe199, yikes!

[Zozma]

For Asura. I don't know if theres much of a point to her having the "Protect" spell in her arsenal because Protect and Shell were always multi targetable in this game. With 2 final party members able to cast both of those spells not relying on Asura's randomness, it wouldnt do much good.

As far as the weapons, many of them have been altered. Anything that can inflict Piggy or Mini will be changed.
For example the "Change" rod will cause Toad instead of Piggy or whatnot.

As far as the Assassin dagger, Im sure ill put it in a chest or more likely make it a rare drop. its a good thing that its very weak, because the instant death attribute is very effective on those not immune. If cecil hold's onto his deathbringer sword it can be very useful for him even later in the game. This is subject to change. I will most likely make a good number enemies immune to instant ko.

the two handed sword falls right below Dreamer and Lamia harps
the game is scripted so Edward can sing with weapons starting from Dreamer and down, so as funny as it sounds
he can sing with the ragnarok and and poison and rune axes. Because of this i had to relocate these 3 items
and turn their original slots into Harps: Echoer(twinharp) Bloody(bloody strings) and Lunar

The gravity hammer will be a Rare drop. and if you recall rare drops are like 1/64 chance or some crap like that?. like trying to harvest pink puffs.

Items, most of them will be restored. A typical oldschool FF game where Remedy is very expensive but there are the individual items to remove different status. Obviously Mallet and whatnot are not needed.

Also I will make sure you can get the 3 fang items by drops or steals, I recall White Fang (the one for the Ice spell) being dummied out. I looked at their formula, its not all that great, elemental damage plust caster hp /2. thats why they are so lame late in the game.

I have made it so Tellah learns magic like everyone else. He starts on level 10, by level 20 his status are almost identical to his default  lvl20 status, but from there he starts gaining the true status of a well renouned sage with the highest wisdom and will growth and the worst physical attack power and vitality and average to low agility.

With him learning spells instead of having them added per event It eleminates the issue of him being able to rape earlier enemies easily now that he has high mp growth after lvl20 (10 per level).

Tellah will be stored in the Shadow party after his last event,In case you want him back later.

and Golbez: I am unable to give him his own Summon list, so IF i do decide to give him summons, he will likely share them with Rydia. Possably adding his shadow dragon to the list at time of joining, provided that i can figure out how to do that. The reason for this is there are No more available magic lists to assign to anyone else, Anna uses FuSoYa's Black list and Baigan uses FuSoYa's white list. What used to be edge's Ninja magic has become Golbez' full black magic list.

There is one thing i might do, if i have the space for it. that is to store Palom in the shadow party for the sole purpose of sharing his magic list with Golbez. If i make palom learn his last spell on level50 then when you get golbez at level50 he will have everything. this would free up a magic list. perhaps to give back to edge or something.

-----Final Shadow Party/Final Party/Reset characters

Empty
Tellah
Rosa
Baigan
Golbez

Cecil
Kain
Rydia
Edward
Anna

Yang
*Palom
*Porom
Cid
Edge
*FuSoYa (Dummied)

So you will have a one time opportunity to change your final party (Dark Knight Cecil cannot be removed DUH)
Anyone you remove from the final party is permenantly gone. Yang Cid and Edge levels will be reset to default starting levels
the guests with asterisk can not currently rejoin you.

Honestly unless you just like physical attackers you already are left with the best Final party.

I am in a crossroads about one thing tho. Should I give the second version of Edward Hide or Steal
(note that Hide would not cause him to "auto hide) and might come in handy as a white mage. however having Steal would provide an opportunity to steal earlier in the game.

[Fenrir90]

I am in a crossroads about one thing tho. Should I give the second version of Edward Hide or Steal
(note that Hide would not cause him to "auto hide) and might come in handy as a white mage. however having Steal would provide an opportunity to steal earlier in the game.

Thanks for the update Zozma, great post. But one thing, Lunar Harp -> Luna Harp or Selene Harp? Both sounds a little better.

Hide or Steal? I can see Hide being useful, and Steal can be too... but I need to ask you first...

Honestly, Steal is/was pretty much useless in FFIV. I've rarely used it myself. All you are able to steal are common items which for the most parts can be bought in shops and the rest of the items were basically useless (items spells such as Zeus' Wrath, etc). But, will there be weapons/armors as stealable items off monsters? Equipment that can be useful right after being stolen off the enemy and can be equip to your current roster and make a small difference in power/defense. In other words, make the command worth using. If so, than it could be useful.

On the other hand, if every character is unique, that makes your patch have re-playability. For example: The Star Ocean series, you get a bunch of characters, but you can only take a handful of those characters since your roster is small and limited compare to the amount of characters that can be recruited.

Just want to make sure that I read right, are you at a crossroad to give Edward a new ability, either the Hide or Steal command? I personally can't see Edward stealing (out of character), but I can see Palom stealing. So I guess I would pick Hide, because it seems more useful for Edward. Edward's is now more useful/better than the original (SNES); possessing more useful songs and him having white magic (full list) plus better harps, a 3rd command will be likely less useful/meaningful and rarely chosen. Hide would actually be useful on him during boss battles and harder regular battles. Just an idea that came to me when writing this, you could make Hide into the Flee (Run Away L+R effect or Smoke minus the smoke effect) command. In other words, Edward's Hide (pre-Toria/Toroia) transforms into Flee after getting Edward back. Just a thought.

Have you ever though of giving Cecil the Steal (Plunder) command. I mean, he does "plunder" Mysidia (well, steals/takes the water crystal) in the beginning of the game and if I remember correctly, he says "the Red Wings shouldn't be used for plundering" in the dialogue (gba/PSP text script), well something along those lines.

[Zozma]

Cecil would be ideal for "steal" as he remains a dark knight... unfortunately because "cover" is coded into his paladin actor It takes up his last remaining skill slot.

Cover attached to Cecil#2 actor is just like edward's actor#1 having auto hide. I have no way to remove them. and giving another character the cover command does not work either...

Palom and Porom have 5 commands Fight, Black, Twin, Focus, Item and Fight, White, Twin, Cry, Item

one thing to note about steal in this game. you can steal unlimited times from the same enemy....
perhaps thats why it was mostly useless before. Id probably make a few special items that can be stolen from bosses since those are one time monsters. the rest would be consumable items that you can only get by stealing, such as the RedFang, BlueFang, WhiteFang etc.

Lunar harp, the idea of that name was actually reference to the key item in FF7, just like the bloody strings is from FFT and the Echoer is an alternate name for the TwinHarp

Ill go with leaving Edward with Hide. Just remember tho, he will NOT do that annoying auto-hide after you get him back in Toria.
Hiding will merely be a defensive strategy. Imagine knowing the enemy is about to cast Meteo or something, your white mage hides and comes back to heal or revive. Ok so It's still a lame skill but his white magic and songs more than make up for that.
Kain can technically do the same thing because of jump, only you cannot control when he returns and he only has limited white....

I can't make a command change from one thing to another btw. theres no more command space to use so turning hide into flee is a no go....


Btw, I also tested my improved Safe and Shell and they are quite potent. Im going to have to make them cost more mp to cast
probably AT LEAST double the norm like 20+ mp. that seems lame but kain learns shell at about lvl9 or 10, if he is able to cast it, the mist dragon's breath can only do 1 damage. now thats just cheap. I might have to also make these 2 spells single target only, like they are in ff6.

[Fenrir90]

As long as there are decent items that can be stolen from monsters, Steal will have a better purpose.

I agree with Safe and Shell, but also. Can you cast it multiple times to increase the effect on a single target? I don't know how to explain it properly, so I'll put down an example.

Cast 1 Safe add 5 defense. Does that mean that casting it 3 times on the same character adds 15 defense. Is there a limit to the spell?

Or...

Casting Safe 3 times on the same character only adds 5 defense period. Your wasting your MP by trying to cast Safe multiple times. Safe limit is 1 time.

Piggied monster battle sprite (Picture -> http://strategywiki.org/wiki/File:FF4_Piggy.jpg). I was wondering if the sprite can be used as new monsters. Lol, maybe has a superboss or simply be regular enemies.

This wasn't answered yet, so I assumed you missed it in my large block of text. How about using Zeromus' sprite and of course his new battle script from FFIV from Easy Type (snes)? The reason I'm suggesting this is because the numerous patches just leaves Zemorus' "Brain" (original sprite) in their FFIV patches, only one patch that I know of uses Zemorus' Easy Type sprite and that patch is called "Final Fantasy is Easy Type". You can find it on romhacking.net. Personally, I prefer Easy Type sprite to the original. The other reason I am suggesting this is that it will make your patch have a little more spice to it (the last boss part) compare to the other available FFIV patches.

Link to Picture of Zemorus Easy Type: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Zeromus_EG

The water element, how many spells possess the water element beside Flood, Leviathan and Tidal Wave (enemy skill - Aqua Worm)? Just throwing an idea at you. Ever thought of inserting the weapon Trident having the water element when physically attacking (when used as an item, cast Flood). More monster could be weak to water. In the original game, Dark and Water were truely ignore in FFIV. This could add a new dimention to the game.

Now, for the final question that I have for you. How far are you in your patch in terms of %? Just my anticipation of the patch speaking, and don't take this as a way to pressure you to finish faster or anything. Just curiosity.

Well, that's pretty much it from me Zozma. You pretty much answered all my questions so I'll let you continue your work on the patch and if other question(s)/suggestion(s) arises, I'll post them here. So thanks for taking your time to answer me. Of course, I'll be waiting for updates from you.

[Zozma]

Im not sure about the zeromus sprite, monsters have not been worked on yet. If its in an snes version im sure i can do that in mine. but ill see....

Id say I'm at 60% with most of the character mechanics done. the rest is dialog and monsters

As far as safe and shell, im not sure if they stack or not, i will have to look into that... if they stack then i will make them weaker, because as they are right now, they are set to boost their defense +15 instead of the default 5 and 3. thats why i have currently made them cost 20 mp and single target only. (in this way, it WOULD make sense to let Asura cast Safe on the party instead of cure 3. We will see.

the piggy sprite? Ill look into that too, a new monster in the place of that might be nice, but Im one that insists everything matches so it would have to look ff4 style definately. like how i managed to get that Anna portrait.

[Fenrir90]

Im not sure about the zeromus sprite, monsters have not been worked on yet. If its in an snes version im sure i can do that in mine. but ill see....

Ah sorry, got the patch name wrong. It's "Final Fantasy II *is* Easy Type" for SNES. I came here to modify my post, but you've already replied before I could change it.

Patch link: http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/419/

the piggy sprite? Ill look into that too, a new monster in the place of that might be nice, but Im one that insists everything matches so it would have to look ff4 style definately. like how i managed to get that Anna portrait.

Here, I meant the pig sprite could be used as pig enemy or enemies. For example, they could be called Warthog, Battle Hog, Desert Hog, etc. Or like you said, a completely different new monster sounds better and of course it should have FFIV sprite style.

Thanks for the respond.

[Zozma]

I suppose the pig could be used for some sort of enemy. might as well. At least one type perhaps.

btw, If only i could turn the 15th sprite into a full sprite I could re-add my version of Sheila. Shed be a perfect candidate for the person with "Steal"... oh well.

Edit:

I double checked, and it appears Safe and Shell do indeed stack, therefore I will need to reduce the defense down to +10 instead of 15. but i think it is still appropriate to leave them as single target spells

[Fenrir90]

What happened to Edge's Ninjutsu spells? Did you use all 6 of his spells for your new spells (Nova, Demi, etc) or do they still exist within the game in some form.

Also, Edge only has his Steal and Throw commands, right.

[Zozma]

Im giving edge Jutsu, however you do not have control of the spells.

this ability is formerly known as "Recall" it will randomly cast:
Flame, Flood, Blitz,
a wind spell and an earth spelll

But something to note, you mentioned "what has a water element in the game besides "flood"
there actually is no such thing as an earth or water element in this game, however there is an Air element which usually pertains to Kains spears and The Fullmoon chakram. ive made use of this element for Aero and this new wind spell as well.

Also an interesting thing to note, the "Gaia" hammer, is actually fire elemental.

I MIGHT also  be making the Flood spell use the "ice" element but that is up in the air

[Fenrir90]

Hey, that's not a pretty bad idea. Gale (Wind) and Tremor (Earth) will probably be their names. Might as well add Pin into the arsenal if its possible.

The DeJap Translation uses Katon, Suiton, etc for the Ninjutsu. They were apparently called this in the Japanese version of FFIV. Will you be renaming them to their Japanese counterpart (which would make sense since Ninjas are Japanese origin) or sticking to the English names? Yeah, I know. It's just cosmetics and bear no effect to the game. Still worth to ask.

Source: http://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588330-final-fantasy-iv/faqs/5507

Really, there is no water element at all. I wasn't expecting that, can't believe that Flood is a non-elemental spell. Hmm... but, doesn't Rubicant cloak absorb its damage. I might try to test that when I have more time on my hands.

[Zozma]

if rubicants cloak absorbs the damage that means its ice elemental....

I don't recall if the "remember" skill displays spell names, but I might make a Fake "Jutsu" magic list in his menu to display the spell names... we'll see

[Fenrir90]

if rubicants cloak absorbs the damage that means its ice elemental....

Okay, I've decided to do it right away and check it out. I "cheated" to get all spells so that I could test Rubicant's cloak out. This is at the Tower of Babil (after getting Edge and where he learns Flood and Blitz). Spells went off and hit Rubicant when he had himself covered by his cloak. Here are all the results.

Virus/Bio -> Damages Rubicant
White/Holy -> Damages Rubicant
Ice/Blizzard -> Heals Rubicant
Flame -> Damages Rubicant
Thunder/Blitz -> Damages Rubicant
Flood -> Heals Rubicant
Quake -> Damages Rubicant
Mist Dragon -> Damages Rubicant
Leviathan -> Damages Rubicant
Meteo/Meteor -> Damages Rubicant
Nuke/Flare -> Damages Rubicant

Yep, I guess Flood is ice elemental.

[dwib]

Interesting... curious that Leviathan is non-elemental. Anyways Zozma, this is looking good, glad to hear about all the progress.

I think keeping steal with Edge would be fine... then if someone really wants to use steal they will just have to put him in during your one chance to change your final party.