Final Fantasy Lapis Tactics ~ A difficulty mod (v1.200 update and special edition)

[Kapilapis]

tl;dr: the zip in the attachment contains the .ppf patch and a Master Guide. also check the end of this post for compatibility
Lapis Tactics v1.200.zip

Jobs Trailer:

Monsters Trailer:

Introduction:

Welcome to Lapis Tactics. Making an FFT mod has been on the back of my mind for at least a decade now, but it was only after I started streaming and played some great mods that I finally decided to make that thought into a reality.

While I kept saying that my primary focus was to make a difficulty mod, I think that, more than difficulty, making things interesting is what guided my decisions the most. That being said, challenge is still a primary goal of mine.

I have a <Discord server> if you want to contact me directly or talk about the mod.

The Master Guide is included on the .zip with the patch and also available here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/113p6-P4LxDdNDMK1Lwt75Jn7c5aYvwr-n6w033t77ds

How to apply a .ppf patch:

https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9379.0

Emulator compatibility:

This mod uses some ASM hacks which don't have perfect compatibility across the board.
- Known to work:
ePSXe 1.9 (100%), ePSXe mobile (100%), psxFin (not fully tested but seems perfect)
- Known not to work
ePSXe 2.5 (Sword formula deals 1*WP), Duckstation,  PCSX-Rearmed, Retroarch (HP% formulas behave as if everyone has 1k HP)

[Kapilapis]

Tips:

Money is tight in the early game but, being of a noble family, surely Ramza must have something valuable he could pawn off to get things started.

Equip Change does not cost your turn if you only change weapons/shields.

Alicia, Lavian and Rad come with Mediator, Geomancer and Summoner unlocked, respectively. You might want to take advantage of that when planning your team. 

Some boss units have had their zodiac signs changed for the sake of having a better balance of compatibilities across the game.

spoiler: Not exclusive to this mod, but this simplified Zodiac Compatibility chart may be of use:

Important changes:

- Smart encounters and cross skip: no random encounters unless you directly click a green dot and hold "x" to blast through dialog. (Xifanie's)
- Equip Change does not cost your turn as long as you only swap things on your hands. (Xifanie's)
- Reorder units with R1/L1. (Glain's)
- Unit bench: 10 extra slots to hold units. At the cost of their unspent JP disappearing upon benching. (Glain's)
- Weapon Guard is "innate" to everything. More accurately, the game doesn't check if you have it or not before applying weapon evasion.
- All Jobs have innate skills. The main goals here are to allow more freedom of builds, make each job more unique and the choice of which job to have as a main to be harder and more interesting.
- In-game help text has clearer information, JP costs are reasonably low and Special Characters can do propositions.
- Male and female units have the same PA and MA growths and gendered gear is gone. There are still slight differences in HP and MP, but you actually get to choose what you want your generics to be without hurting their potential.
- Speed growth is standardized. Other stats have different growths by job which will lead to small differences between physically and magically trained units, but not enough to make a change in career unreasonable.
- The level cap is 50. This one is the last on the list because it deserves to be elaborated more.

spoiler: Level cap reasons.

First: level 99 is very high and won't be reached under normal circumstances by most players.

Second: associated with the level cap we have growths.

Speed is an enormous issue in vanilla, as at high levels units get so fast that even Short Charge spells have issues keeping up. There are a few solutions to this problem, all of them come with drawbacks.

You could make speed just not grow at all, but that leads to there being no interesting changes in strategy as units level up at different paces and get their speed points.

You could greatly lower the speed growth so that it is balanced at lv 99. The problem with that one is that you make it so most of the game has tutorial levels of speed, just so the levels players will probably not reach will be balanced.

Lowering the level cap allows for a speed growth similar to vanilla but that never gets to the point where things just break.

Speed is not the only thing that breaks in vanilla at high levels. Another big problem in vanilla is the power difference between linear and quadratic damage skills. Get to a high enough PA value and Monks will be instantly punching much harder than the big spell a Mage had to charge up for several clockticks to cast. The possible solutions and drawbacks are similar to those of the speed problem, and the reason I prefer this solution is because it allows the game to have a satisfying power growth and still have linear and quadratic formulas coexist peacefully.

Other changes I wanted to talk about:

- In the Japanese version of FFT (...and WotL), Summon and Draw Out have cast names which are different from the ability names. All the English version did was to name both the ability and the cast name the same. Those cast names have been restored.
- To further differentiate Rafa and Malak, Rafa's strongest spells are now Malak's weakest, and vice versa. Rafa is good with the light-aspected elements and Malak with the dark ones. Their skills have also been slightly retranslated for readability, trying to keep them as close to the spirit of the original names.

Generic jobs overview:

spoiler: Generics

- Squire: With a vast weapon selection, decent bulk and nice speed, the Squire takes advantage of his innate Equip Change to adapt to the flow of the battle. Basic Skill, while not as impressive as other skillsets, allows the Squire to do a little bit of everything. They have a 100% knockback, a bit of ailment heal, a weak revive and a modest heal that applies a Regen. Innate Maintenance also makes sure their precious gear stays with them.

- Chemist: On top of healing HP and MP with Potions and Ethers and reviving with Phoenix Downs and treating ailments, Chemists now have access to Vanishing Tonics to apply Transparent for a single-use Concentrate, Strange Fluids to apply random ailments (with a chance of backfiring...) and Dispel Vials to dispel Buffs, Berserk and Time Magic effects. Their innate abilities allow them to Throw Items 4 squares away, find hidden items without compromising their movement ability and Equip Change to swap from defensive parrying knives to offensive guns when they have time to shoot.

- Knight: Their high HP and PA, combined with an innate Defense UP, make them very strong and durable units. Their toolkit allows them to strike and dispel buffs, attack all around them, hold undead in place, heal curses from allies and weaken enemies with Slow and MP damage. The Two Hands ability has also been moved to their skillset, giving melee units a better chance to compete in the magically dominated meta of the early game.

- Ranger: Skilled hunters who use nature to their advantage. They have a monster-only Charm and the ability to buff monsters with Reward. They also have a multitude of skills that take advantage of a Bow's range to inflict ailments at a distance, interrupt casts or just hit hard after some charge time. Their innate skills allow them to support allied Monsters by unlocking their hidden skills, hunt monsters for gear and throw items to support their allies.

- Monk: These martial artists now have access to a few more elemental attacks. Wave Fist is now Agni's Fury, and deals Fire damage. Indra's Fist is a Lightning elemental attack which bypasses evasion. Their other moves are still very similar to what you are used to, but now have new names to keep a cohesive theme in their skillset. Their innate abilities allow them to move through water without any movement penalties and suffer no penalties tot heir elemental attacks due to bad weather. They also have access to Poles as an alternative to fists.

- Thief: Stealing gear and hearts are still the core of this job, but now they have a Sleeping Dart to allow them to be more self-sufficient in their skullduggery. Knives are still their weapon of choice, but now they have innate Two Swords, which opens up a few build options. All offense with two damage daggers, balanced with a damage and a parrying dagger or speedy evasion tank with two parrying daggers. They also have innate Secret Hunt to poach wild beasts for loot, of course.

- Geomancer: Using the power of the land to strike at a distance, with a chance of crippling ailments, or the brute force of an axe to strike up close, Geomancers are all about offense. They can cross water and lava without trouble and are invigorated by the land itself with their innate Move-HP Up. They also have innate attack up, to make sure they always get the most out of the damage potential axes provide.

- Lancer: Similar to Geomancers, Lancers can strike hard from afar or up close. Jump can hit very far away and gives them amazing reach for a low mobility unit. If someone happens to get close, their spears hit very hard thanks to their innate Attack Up. They can also leap long horizontal gaps with their high Jump stat or arbitrarily high with Ignore Height. They also have innate Secret Hunt. Dragon materials are too precious to just waste.

- Wizard: These masters of magic have the highest MA and MP multipliers of any unit, but the lowest HP by far. Their innate Equip Change allows them to always choose the best staff for the spell they are about to cast, or perhaps a Dagger if the occasion calls for it. Their freedom from armor for elemental boosts and enormous MP pool allows them to run non-standard builds, such as Equip Armor to remedy their bulk, or embrace frailty to maximize their damage output. Their skillset has spells for every situation. Bio is guaranteed to poison the target, Chain Lighting is weak but resolves instantly, Gale supports itself with Float, Heavenly Strike hits hard with a chance of Slow, Frog takes a unit out of commission, and Douse casts very fast, covers its targets with Oil and allows the mage to capitalize with big damage with Scorch or Flare. Even low faith targets are not safe, thanks to Dark Holy.

- Priest: These battle Clerics can protect themselves from physical attacks with Shields and take reduced damage from magic thanks to their innate Magic DefendUP. Their skillset is what you expect: heals, cures, buffs and revives. Their buffs cast fast and have increased range, making them easier to use. If they need to go in the offense they have Flails, which ignore evasion, and Holy, which hits hard but is not too fuel-efficient.

- Time Mage: Incredible passives, awkward gear and mana issues. Time Mages have access to Teleport and Short Charge, which makes them amazing with any school of magic they decide to use. However, they have almost no access to elemental boosting gear and a mediocre MP pool. Their own skillset is no joke, either. Haste, Slow, Stop... they have the ability support their allies or cripple their enemies. Quart and Demi are reliable boss slayers, even if not as broken as in vanilla, and Meteor can decimate several targets at once if cast in the right situation.

- Oracle: Oracles are safe casters with balanced stats. They are more mobile than most casters and have a better chance to survive a midcast than most thanks to their Defense UP. They also have Move-MP Up to stretch their mana pool. Yin Yang Magic has an answer to everything. A well-chosen spell is very well capable of turning the tide of the battle in your favor.

- Summoner: Big AoE attacks, healing, revives, buffs and ailments. Summoners can call upon illusory creatures to do all of those... at hefty MP costs. Their innate Half of MP helps them with their expensive spells and their gear access allows for many different builds. Their stats are good all-around, except for Speed, which is the lowest among all jobs. A low speed is not necessarily bad for a caster, however, as it allows one to cast spells after everyone else has moved.

- Mediator: Talk Skill has a diverse choice of oddball skills. Some ailments, Ct 0, Reraise, Dispel and Esuna combined into one and MP healing. Their innate skills allow them to Train monsters and Throw Items if you choose to have that as a secondary.

- Samurai: Specializing in two-handed weapons, the Samurai use Equip Change to change from the very strong Katana, to the long-ranged Bow, to the balanced Pole as the need arises. They can also draw the spiritual powers of katanas for powerful elemental attacks, healing and buffs.

- Ninja: These trained assassins have a diverse skillset which allows them to go from support to offense as necessary. Shuriken is an unmissable ranged attack with decent damage, Huton and Raiton are magical attacks with Silence and Don't Move procs, respectively, Senpuku hides the target in a cloud of smoke and prepares it for an ambush with Haste and Transparent, Kagenui is an accurate Slow and Dokumu poisons and blinds targets around the Ninja. They also have access to four different weapon types to choose from with their innate Two Swords.

- Blue Mage: Learn monster skills and use them to your advantage. Blue Magic provides you with an all-rounder skillset which does a bit of everything. They have balanced stats and can attack at melee range with their Clubs. They can Train beasts to make learning easier and support any ally Monsters with Monster Skill. Move-MP Up keeps their MP flowing, even if they choose to lean physical with their gear.

- Bard: With their songs, they provide strong support to the team. Life and Angel Song provide steady HP and MP healing, Nameless Song provides random buffs to the party (multiple buffs are possible!) and Last Song can make units move again. New to this mod are Foe Requiem, which steadily damages the target, and Magic Finale, which works like an instant Dispel. Bards have decent MA and make decent casters, with Magic DefendUP to keep them safer.

- Dancer: Dance hits all enemies with damage or debuffs. Wiznaibus and Witch Hunt deal steady HP and MP damage which, while not very strong, hits all targets at any range. Nameless Dance can inflict a number of random ailments and Last Dance can make units lose their turn. Dancer also gets two new skills: Danse Macabre is a forbidden dance which continuously reanimates a target in a very frail state. Anything that is not healing will break the effect and kill the target again. Invigorating Step is an instant Esuna. Dancers have strong PA and can hit hard with the right weapon. Their fast movements provide them with physical defense in the form of innate Defense UP.

- Mime: Mimes mimic any action used by allies. Generics, Specials, Monsters... they will copy anything. Their stats are good all around and their innates help them perform well in any situation. Martial Arts and Concentrate makes their fists deadly, Monster Skill helps if you want to use monsters and Distribute allows them to cooperate with an ally to heal a distant friend.

Special jobs overview:

spoiler: Specials

- Squire: Ramza sacrifices the access to Axes to gain the ability to equip Robes and, later, Heavy Armor. His unique skills are Yell for Haste, Cheer Up which boosts Brave by 10, Scream which adds Protect, Haste and Regen to himself and Ultima, a decently powerful magical attack.

- Blue Chocobo: Boco can attack physically or magically as needed, Esuna his allies and restore HP and MP. His Counter Flood is powerful, but he does not have too much Brave. He is also a Monster with Monster Skill.

- Engineer: Mustadio's vanilla skills are back. He also gets access to Mosfungus Bomb and Phoenix Bomb to Poison and Slow enemies or revive allies in a small AoE. He no longer loses Maintenance upon joining the party. On top of that, he gets access to Throw Item and Move-Find Item.

- Holy Knight: Agrias's skills are now subject to evasion and cost MP to use. Her PA is better than vanilla and she gets a Knight's innate Defense UP. She also gets to put her high HP to use, healing her allies with Guardian's Gift.

- Heaven Knight: Rafa's skills have 3 vertical tolerance but do not hit allies, allowing her to use them to reduce their AoE and increase their accuracy. She also gets innate Equip Change, which allows her to freely boost her skills or choose the right weapon to hit the enemy with.

- Hell Knight: Malak's skills have 2 vertical tolerance and can't hit self. He is more independent when it comes to reducing the AoE of his skills, but he has to play more aggressive than Rafa. His innate Two Swords allows him to strike hard when he does not have a good target to make use of his random magic.

- Holy Swordsman: Orlandu comes with two Holy, Dark and Mighty Sword skills. He gets to forfeit a Shield in order to deal even higher damage with his Sword Skills by using a Katana. As for innates he gets... Defend.

- Divine Knight: Meliadoul comes with innate Equip Change, so she actually gets to make use of her ability to use Spears and Crossbows, without sacrificing her ability to use her Sword Skills. She gets a new skill which can hit Monsters and things without gear, and also Wish to have some utility.

- Temple Knight: Beowulf is like an Oracle who trades a bit of range and accuracy for the ability to cast them instantly. His Drain is different in that it uses the weapon's power to calculate damage and he also has Shock!, which has pretty high damage potential under the right circumstances. His innate ability is Magic DefendUP.

- Holy Dragon: Reis in her dragon form is very bulky with both defense up skills. She also has access to her four Breath attacks.

- Dragoner: In her human form, Reis gets access to Dragon support skills. She still keeps her breath attacks and gets a few innates: Martial Arts, Two Swords, Monster Skill and Train. Her gear access is extremely limited, however, only getting to wear Rings, Armlets and accessories in the miscellaneous category.

- Steel Giant: Worker 8 is a very durable unit, capable of dealing huge damage and healing himself when he gets to critical health. He can also use Items and has amazing defensive capabilities with his Defense UP, Innocent and elemental immunities. His low move and Speed are a bit of a liability, though.

- ???: ???

- Byblos: Defeating Elidibs gives you access to this book demon. His skillset can inflict ailments and deal big damage against any target. His innates are Counter, Secret Hunt and Ignore Height.

Special thanks:

Cerabow, Celdia and Talcall for the amazing ideas, enlightening conversations and fun times. All the wonderful people I met on Twitch while streaming FFT mods. I wouldn't have gone in this journey without the great times we had together and your encouragement. All modders, especially ASM hackers, for all the work you did to make FFT modding such a robust community. This mod simply would not be possible without you. 1.3 for giving me a taste for blood.

ASM Hacks/Sprites credits:

spoiler: ASM Hacks

Kapilapis:
Formula 13 is faith magic with 100% proc, Low HP Golem, Formula 19 is like Seal Evil but checks for Wall instead of Undead, a few fixes of other hacks

Assorted:
Punch Art formulas use Naked PA

Dokurider:
AI Usage - Buffs

Emmy:
Moves Abandon to Support, Meatbone Slash mimics range and animation of other ability, Instant skills blink red if unusable due to silence/out of mp, Caution becomes Barrier, Sunken State adds Haste, Face/Brave Up inflicts status effect on self

FFMaster:
Damage Split returns 25% of damage instead of 50%, Haste is 25% speed bonus

Glain:
Random unit gear based on story progression, random unit equipment more selective, Fix Reraise Graphic Width, JP Scroll Glitch Actual Fix, Switch unit number with L1 and R1, Equip duplication glitch fixes, crits always deal bonus damage, Unit Bench, Blade Grap trigger: Weapon attacks

Pokeytax:
Inherent RSM Limitation Hack (bugfix by Emmy), Speed Save boosts attribute XX by YY, Auto Potion Ignores Hi-Potion/X-Potion Slot

Pride:
Ability Animation 07 00 00 will always swing item, Item attribute rewrite 1.1

Razele:
Death Sentence - Ignore Cancel:Dead, AI attacks transparent unit, Special characters can do propositions, Job X is mountable, Poison/Regen/HP % formulas use Min(999, Max HP), Soldier Office can rename any unit, Secret Hunt isn't needed to enter Fur Shop, Undead units receive 25% max HP damage from Phoenix Down, Potions use a fraction of maxHP

Xifanie:
(#+1%) Chance of Knockback for Dash/Throw Stone, Cross Skip, Incremental Jump Range, Move-Find is Player only, Raise Palette Limit, Removes permanent brave/faith alteration, Sets the title screens defautl option from New Game to Load Game, Smart Encounters, Elemental Fix (v3) FIXES HOLY SWORD AND OIL, Remove forced slowdown for Math Skill

Twinees, Kagebunji, Mando, Mitchi and porklin:
Absolutely amazing spritework

[Kapilapis]

Version History:

2021-04-06: v0.8 - Initial release (downloaded 48 times)
2021-04-26: v1.0 - Deep Dungeon update (downloaded 25 times)
2021-05-05: v1.001 - Ribbon Bugfix update (downloaded 52 times)
2021-06-10: v1.102 - The Ovelia and Monsters update (downloaded 66 times)
2021-07-16: v1.112 - Final boss fix update (downloaded 268 times)
2022-01-04: v1.200 - "I said I was done with major changes but then I went and remade Geomancer" version and also special april fools edition

Patch 1.200 mostly consists of bugfixes, with a few gameplay changes
From here on, expect only minor bugfixes and text fixes to this mod. It is now complete™.

spoiler: v1.200 patch notes:

"I said I was done with major changes but then I went and remade Geomancer" version and also special april fools edition

Bugfixes:
- Ochu Pollen no longer disabled by Silence

System Changes:
- Geomancer skillset completely revamped; check Master Guide for details!
- Healing and support spells ignore Reflect
- Elixir heals Undead
- Invitation renamed to Taming and no longer works on humans (MA+5) -> (MA+30)

Equipment:
- Fixed text on Leather Hat/Helm HP (for real this time hopefully)
- Linen Robe now available to buy from the beginning
- Added "Heals Target" to Potion Bag descriptions
- Aegis Shield p.Ev 15% -> 10%, MA +1 removed
- Flame Whip's description no longer mentions elements and procs it does not actually have
- Updated Faith sword effects on the Master Guide
- Defender's description now has the correct evasion value: 5%
- Enlil's Horn moved to after saving Agrias
- Enki's Reed properly strengthens Wind, Earth and Water
- Earth Clothes moved to Ch3 - Save Rafa
- Diamond Shield now immune to Petrify
- Fixed text color on Maximilian
- Flame and Ice Shield correctly state that they Drain their elements

Battles:
- Sweegy Woods plot battle monster levels are now fixed
- Bariaus Hill no longer features the incredible Double Talk Skill Mediator
- Golgorand Ranger remembered to equip her armor
- Goug Thief no longer has a useless Catch
- Underground Book Storage Equip Sword Lancer realized Equip Axe was a better skill option
- Doguola Pass Chemist now has the correct Attack Up skill
- Meliadoul made a bit harder to kill
- No more double Regenerator Monk in Zalmo II
- Germinas Peak: Spear Samurai now has the proper Support skill, Thief decided to take care of its pets, one of the birds downgraded a tier
- Rofel is still a dummy

Jobs:
- Wizard now has innate Abandon
- Dancer HP growth buffed to make it a better levelling job, similar to how good Bard is to male casters
- Beowulf and Blue Mage lost innate access to Swords
- Plague now has Look of Fright instead of Circle
- Knight Blade description fixed to say "Innate: Martial Arts"

Skills:
- Added "Low chance of: Death" to Odin's description
- Added "Add: Stop" to Hold Evil's description
- Steal Heart (MA+40) -> (MA+45)
- Meteor no longer follows target
- Life Song inherited the buffs from Nameless Song and now heals 12% HP
- Wiznaibus inherited the ailments from Nameless Dance and now deals 8% HP damage and slightly heals the user
- New Bard skill: Love Serenade; Charm (MA+45)
- New Dancer skill: Sword Dance; 2 Range (PA*(WP+5)) (camera does funny things if you use a bow on this)
- Look of Fright changed from Brave reduction to (MA+70) Silence
- Ahriman's Death Sentence (MA+45) -> (MA+65)
- Rafa and Malak MP cost text fixed
- Almagest now spelled correctly in the Master Guide
- Reincarnation should no longer display a "No messages" quote
- Added "Overwrites Move MP Up" to Move HP Up's description
- Ochu Pollen (Sp+55) -> (Sp+65)

spoiler: v1.112 patch notes:

v1.112 Patch Notes:
Bugfixes:
- Goblin skill text was causing display errors because I forgot to add linebreaks. Fixed.

Bosses:
- Altima 2 was very overtuned because I somehow forgot to save the final update to her stats I did after altering how phase 2 works. She has been brought down to reasonable levels now.
- Rofel is still a dummy

spoiler: v1.102 patch notes:

Bugfixes:
- Katanas now work properly with Sword Skills
- Undead now immune to Death Sentence (oops)
- Removed Move-Find Item from Pigs and Birds. turns out I should really have tested that one monkaS

System Changes:
- JP rewards for propositions increased
- 2 Swords now only deals 75% of the damage per weapon and and 2 Hands only increases damage by 75%
- Stop can't stack on top of itself
- Innocent duration 20 -> 15

Equipment:
Changes
- Club weapons now have new sprites that better represent what they are supposed to be
- Mythril Vest has been cannibalized to make some behind-the-scenes stuff work. the armor still works normally, but it is no longer available in shops and the game will now optimize it over better armor. you should probably sell any copies you have to avoid that annoyance. Adaman Vest was made available earlier to make up for it
- Rubber Costume - gained immunity to Don't Move
- Lucky Charms now sell for 5000 gil

- Frost Gauntlet - removed (mostly redundant with Magic Ring)
- Angel Ring - gained immunity to Dead, Undead and Blood Suck (inherited Crystal Gauntlet's properties)
- Crystal Gauntlets - removed
- Magic Ring - now drains Wind and gained immunity to Confusion and Sleep (inherited N-Kai Armlet's immunities)
- N-Kai Armlet - removed
- 108 Gems - Half Water -> Drain Water
- Defense Armlet -> Invigorating Armlet - Immune: Slow, Don't Move, Half Ice

- Flame Shield - Drain Fire
- Ice Shield - Drain Ice

- Due to a bug introduced by one of the many ASM hacks, the Holy boost does not actually increase healing. Swords which used to boost Holy now have innate Faith instead
- Every Katana's power has been tweaked to account for the change to 2 Hands. damage should stay about the same as previous versions
- Air Knife 10 -> 11 WP, Cinquedea 8-> 9 WP
- Raijin's Blade 13 -> 14 WP, Fujin's Kunai gained Speed +1
- Kraken Club 10 -> 8 WP
- Holy Lance 14 -> 13 WP, Dragon Whisker 15 -> 14 WP
- Fixed Javelin II which was wrongly compatible with 2-hands
- Chaos Blade lost Always Regen and gained Always Defending, w.ev 15% -> 10%

Bowguns and Bows were lagging behind other weapon options due to their forced 1/2 hands property and thus received a general boost in power
- Silver Bow 6 -> 7 WP, Ice Bow 7 -> 9 WP, Lightning Bow 8 -> 10, Windslash Bow 11 -> 13, Mythril Bow 10 -> 12, Cupid Bow 12 -> 14
- Longbow now available from the beginning, Silver Bow now available after saving Elmdor
- Bow Gun 4 -> 5 WP, Night Killer 5 -> 6 WP, Cross Bow 7 -> 8 WP, Poison Bow 9 ->  10 WP, Hunting Bow 10 -> 12 WP, Stardust Shooter 12 -> 16 WP

New
Weapons
- Potion Bag - 6 WP, Heals Rdm([PA/2]...[PA*3/2])*WP
- Apothecary's Bag - 10 WP, Heals Rdm([PA/2]...[PA*3/2])*WP
Accessories
- Falconer's Glove - Innate: Train
- Beast Mantle - P.Ev/M.Ev: 17%, Innate: Monster Skill
- Gear Bag - Innate: Equip Change

Battles:
- Reduced Chocobo population in the very early game Mandalia Plains formations to make those encounters more friendly for those who wish to learn abilities before Sweegy
- Sweegy Woods story battle revamped to be reasonable with the new monster skillsets
- Wiegraf 1 was made less sandbaggy. I made the formation thinking only on how it playes as an assassination, but the way it played out was a bit too annoying if you find yourself having to kill his allies
- Zaland Fort City and Bariaus Hill now feature Ovelia as a Guest and different formations due to spritesheet limitations
- Removed the extra Time Mage in Bethla Garrison's South Wall

- Changed several Deep Dungeon formations which used to feature ??? boss units to make the fights shorter
- Confiscated Item from the TERMINATE Steel Giants
- Changed Barrier to Counter Flood in a MLAPAN formation to make its user less bulky
- TIGER Dragon Reis formation has been removed. Ovelia formation added in its place
- Fixed TIGER Mime which wrongly had a random secondary
- Made Nelveska and HORROR Ruka and Vee a bit more vulnerable to ailments

Jobs:
- All human jobs can equip Potion Bags
- First Aid - HP recovery 20% -> 33%
- Remedy no longer heals Confusion or Charm
- Panacea and Treatment now heal Confusion
- Esuna and similar abilities no longer heal Charm (the AI was a bit too efficient at removing Charm with those)
- Devotion is now Faith based
- Wizards can now learn Ultima
- Time Mage renamed Time Battlemage to better reflect the job's stat distribution and gear selection
- Odin gained a 4.75% Death proc
- Geomancer PA multiplier 110 -> 120. lost innate Attack Up. kind of a buff, kind of a nerf. higher potential damage if you use up your support, slightly lower damage if you don't
- Elemental skills [(PA+6)/2]*MA -> [(PA+11)/2]*MA. Lava Ball [(PA+13)/2]*MA
- Senpuku is now 100% accuracy
- Blue Mage now has unique sprites! (male by Kagebunji and Mando, female franskensprited from that one)
- Self Destruct, now called Explode, no longer has a cast time
- Circle is now a Blue Magic
- Mind Blast no longer evadeable

- Monster skillsets have been revamped for the most part. Stat changes have been made to account for the new skill formulas. Too many changes to list here, refer to the Master Guide for details.
- Skeletons, Goblins and Squids now use "complete" spritesheets (Skeleton by Mitchi, Squid/Goblin by porklin)
- Goblin family has Move-find Item
- Ghost family has less HP, lost Blade Grasp and gained MP Switch and Move MP Up
- Skeleton family gained Move HP Up
- Bomb family is now more varied. Tier 2 and 3 are now Balloon and Djinn. Water and Dark elemental, respectively
- Protect Spirit and Calm Spirit are now 100% accuracy
- Ochu now weak to Fire
- Hydras are now found in Poeskas Lake
- Hydra and Behemoth families, as kings of monsters, gained Monster Skill

Boss
- Rofel is still a dummy
- Lune Knight's skills are now properly ordered
- Adramelk gained Cocytus to have elemental alternatives

Skills:
Taking Phoenix Down as a baseline for revival skill strength, some skills were very lacking
- Revive - HP healed: 20% -> 40%, Accuracy: PA+70 -> PA+255
- Wish - Range 1 -> 2, Accuracy: PA+70 -> PA+90
- Lick Wounds - Accuracy PA+70 -> PA +90, gained Esuna effect
- Oink - Accuraccy PA +65 -> PA +75
- Life Spirit - Accuracy PA +65 -> PA +75

spoiler: v1.001 Patch Notes:

General:
- Small text edits (typos, clarity, etc): Fujin's Kunai, Vanish Mantle
- Sakura text now matches the 13 WP it has
- Dragon Power Up description no longer too long to display
- Fixed Grenade's common poach in the Master Guide (Sleep Sword -> Flame Xiphos)
- Elixirs were supposed to be sold after Zalbag. I had set the flag for when but never for where. now fixed

Bug Fixes:
- Ribbon was immune to Crystal but not Treasure. this horrible mistake has been fixed (this bug is the entire reason this patch is coming out early)
- The patch now uses the proper version of the Bench hack, which fixes the bug that removes non-primary abilities from Monster units.

Jobs/abilities:
- Reis MA Multiplier 120 -> 150
- Fixed formation sprites for [redacted]
- Fixed follow target flag on one of uh.."Cloud"'s Limits
- uh... "Cloud" lost Martial Arts. he was supposed to have his best skills disabled when set Innocent, but his physical attack was so strong that that was not working as intended

Fights:
- Removed dummy skills from Goug and Lionel generics
- Fixed zodiacs in Zalera's fight
- Adramelk gained Non-Charge
- Zalera and Adramelk lost about 2k HP
- Rofel is still a dummy
- Worker 7 is now fixed level should have much less HP than before
- Removed Immortal flag from a character with a Cursed Ring in the Deep Dungeon and gave him a Reflect Mail for Araise protection. Also made associated formation less sandbaggy

spoiler: v1.0 patch notes:

Big changes:
- All Deep Dungeon formations have been customized
- The first pass on random encounter edits is complete
- We skipped version 0.9 straight to 1.0! I think vanilla random encounters were mostly already good and I didn't want to change the natural fauna of Ivalice too much. still, every single formation was looked into for enemy diversity and availability as well to check that the humans had decent skillsets

General:
- Added job requirements to Master Guide (I can't believe I missed that lol)
- Fixed Blood Sword's description to say it is Dark elemental
- Fixed Libra's zodiac compatibility text
- Edited all monster descriptions to be single page for readability
- Fixed animations on Dragon Spirit, Hnarqu's Boon and Time Warp
- Changed animation on Holy Cross. Looks better and should hopefully fix the bug Celdia found
- Fixed AI usability Flag on Throw Stone
- Changed Chocobo MA Growth so their early game numbers are not off
- Flagged most basic monster attacks (Choco Attack, Tackle, Knife Hand...) as Countergraspable
- Made Treant monsters more common in Araguay Woods
- Text edits: Poison Knife, Paracelsus, Torpid Body, Poison Shot, Yell, Wish, Monster Skill, Auto Potion, Maintenance, Equip Change, Concentrate, Meatbone Slash, Bio, Gale, Dark Holy, Moogle, all Jump skills, Blade Grasp, Mind Blast, Sylph, uh... Omnislash
- Status duration changes: Sleep 60 -> 50 (now lasts slightly-less-forever), Innocent 32 -> 20 (makes it more viable defensively and less debilitating offensively), Berserk ∞ -> 40 (still amazing, but doesn't break the AI forever), Protect/Shell/Haste/Reflect/Faith 32 -> 36 (all buffs match Regen's duration now. mostly to avoid awkward double camera pans when Mabarrier starts to fade)

Fights:
- Nerfed Sweegy Woods monsters a smidge by fixing their Brave to be low
- Buffed the Wizards in Dorter by giving them robes to wear
- Gave the Araguay Goblins a friend or two
- Made Bards in Bariaus Valley easier to kill
- Fixed AI flags on Lionel's Gate Gaffgarion
- Queklain: lost Dark absorption, lost innate Magic DefendUP, HP increased a smidge, Brave increased, PA decreased to account for the Brave increase (Attack damage remains about the same), Death's Door cast time increased 2 -> 4 (you were supposed to be able to react to the casts), Death Stench can now add Poison
- Confiscated Goland Mediator's gun. it was causing him to do over-a-minute-long thonks consistently. he now has a book to read and think about what h-... wait
- Adjusted Olan's setup to account for the Galaxy Stop change listed in the next section
- Removed Concentrate from one of Zalmo's Monks
- Removed Hellish Brand and Ruin from Izlude's moveset (leftover data I did not notice)
- I accidentally put Wiegraf 2 above the sprite limit. now fixed
- Removed one (1) Apanda from Colliery 2

Jobs, Abilities and Items:
- New abilities:
(Squire) "Gariland Phalanx" Range: Auto, Effect: 3v3, Add: Defending (generic Squire only)
(Knight) "Devotion" Range: Auto, Effect: 1, Add: Reraise, Faith, MP: 16, Hit: (MA+63)
- Knight MP multiplier 100 -> 110
- Dispel Strike MP cost 18 -> 14
- MP costs added to Knight skill descriptions (oops)
- Train moved from Mediator to Ranger
- Dispel Magic now deals F_(MA*20) damage with 100% Dispel proc
- Fixed Mimicable flag on Ochu Pollen and a Blue Mage spell
- Fixed accuracy on Triple Breath (it was MA+10%...) and made it the Hydra family's Monster Skill (that was my intention at first but apparently I forgot it while setting up the skillsets)
- Increased MP cost Choco Cure to make it a bit less ridiculous early game without hurting its late game potency
- With a change of animation on Agrias's Guardian's Gift, Meliadoul no longer needs a custom skill and can inherit Split Punch instead
- Galaxy Stop now has an MP cost of 30
- Samurai now has innate Two Hands
- Katanas back to 2 sword/2 hand able grip and attack values have been reduced to account for that change
- Skills that require Sword now also accept Dagger, Ninjato and Katana
- Descriptions have been updated to reflect the above change
- Removed the Don't Act proc from the Jubakuto (leftover data from vanilla Spell Edge I forgot to change)
- Battle Axe WP 12 -> 10, Enlil's Horn WP 16 -> 14. (still a good bit ahead of the curve but slightly less ridiculous. Enki's Reed unchanged)

To be done and known issues:

spoiler: To be done and known issues:

To be done:
- A few Igros/Gariland/Dorter propositions were intended to be moved to Chapter 1, but just changing availability didn't work
- Touch up custom palettes and sprites. They look ok, but can use some work after I'm done editing more important things
- Adjust fight difficulty as needed

Known "issues" which are either features or may just stay untouched:

- Celia and Lede share a formation sprite because I ran out of space for those
- Throw Item as a support skill is broken and unequips itself if you try to put it on. I already planned to make it only available as Innate or through the Item Bag accessory even before I spotted the bug, but the fact that that happened is both funny and curious to me.
- Some generics have special skillsets equipped to them which mimic other generic skillsets. The reasons for doing that include: getting around the JP limitations AI has, getting around stupid AI with some job/skillset combos, and fixing a weird display bug which makes Ninjutsu skills not display their names when the AI uses them unless I do this. Those units are perfectly functional when recruited and a simple job/skillset change will make them 100% normal.
- Faith-based magic with procs can inflict those through Innocent. (vanilla thing, but more relevant here. not believing in magic does not prevent you from being doused in oil)
- Mustadio's bombs go through obstacles. The choice is line of sight or AoE. I chose AoE.
- The ASM hacks to limit the level cap to 50 do not seem to affect story encounters. Please play nice. Making story fights fixed level is also under consideration.

Known thing which only happened twice and scares me because I don't understand how or why it happened: While playing through Chapter 2, Agrias had Float, Berserk and Frog ailments in one attempt in Bariaus Hill. Her sprite did not change in any way and I only noticed it because she was punching and dealing single digits damage despite having a sword equipped. Later on, the same thing happened with Mustadio at the gate of Lionel Castle. These events happened in very early development and before I did a good cleanup of redundant/unnecessary ASM hacks and then never again. So, I assume (and hope) it was a side effect of one of the things I removed.

[Kapilapis]

April Fools Edition:

Despite the name, this is a legit remixed version of the hack I have been thinking of making more or less since I first started working on it!


It is no secret that I love monster units, and this version basically turns human classes into more monster species.


Furthermore, Chapter 1 random battles have been mostly replaced with "recruitment fights", where you can easily recruit any job or monster species easily. They join at party level, 70/70 Brave/Faith and Master at their job. In the "human" recruitment fights (in Mandalia and Sweegy) the units will automatically join you and the monster fights (Zeklaus, Lenalia and Fovoham) there are controllable enemies which are just standing there waiting for you to invite the species you want, making this a pretty low commitment spin off of the main hack.


Being an April Fools thing, some corners were cut in order to make the development time reasonable (it still took quite a bit of work), but it is still meant to be a serious hack and any necessary fixes will be made if need arises hoping I got everything right in this one, though.

[badstapp]

don't know why, but i tried to do my version, like yours, changing to be more challenging...and i saw many completed mods but yours called my attention, i was just hopping that ramza could be a holy knight (mine i tried to do that as each chapter with new skills) but thanks for your work (and your videos explaining, so nice)

i think this is the chosen one to play!

[Eldiran]

Started this a bit ago and am greatly enjoying it! Up to Golgorand now and having lots of fun with the new abilities and classes.

Some notes so far:

• Love the rebalanced stat growths, takes a lot of stress out of managing my team.
• Goblins are surprisingly brutal early on with their endless healing and revives - Araguay Woods was quite a challenge. Oddly, the strongest Goblin type is the regular one because of its heal.
• There's a small visual glitch during the Zirekile Falls dialog because the enemy leader is supposed to be a Knight and plays a Knight-specific animation.
• Having early access to Mime is a lot of fun.
• Really like the new accessories, they're quite balanced and interesting. I got a lot of good use out of the Falconer's Gloves and various mantles.

[Murse_Jon]

Fun mod! The difficulty is definitely ramping up! I'm at the Execution Site