EDIT:
It's out!
Here's the link to the download page:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4134/Hope everyone enjoys it!
Hi Everyone!
I think this is a good time to show what I've been working on for the past several months as the project is nearing its release. At first, inspired by great FF4 hacks such as Unprecedented Crisis and Golbez Edition, all I wanted to do to the game was add some new weapons and make some edits to existing ones for my own enjoyment. Yes, it was going to be a small personal hack that I play on my own. But as I made the additions and edits, I started to balance the stats for the items, and then one thing lead to another, the next thing I know I'm already making a full blown FF4 hack!
At first, I didn't even have a name to the hack. The file name was something like "Final Fantasy 2 - 8bitfan edition.smc". I eventually gave this hack a name and called it Ultima. I'm calling it that because of the Ultima Weapon introduced to the series later on, and the fact that Ultima is my favorite RPG series growing up. I said, hey, why not call it
Final Fantasy 4 - Ultima!
This isn't a complete overhaul of a hack such as Unprecedented Crisis or Golbez Edition, so the majority of the base story and game are left intact with the exception of some
major edits on existing bosses. What I have done is sort of a 'Deluxe' version or a 'Re-imagination' of the vanilla game, and I did this by
adding extra content...lots of it.
Before I continue, I would first like to give credits to Pinkpuff, vivify93, Fauntleroy and Yousei. Pinkpuff and Fauntleroy for their inspiration with Unprecedented Crisis and Golbez Edition. Pinkpuff for the AMAZING ff4kster editor! This hack would NOT have been possible without it! Yousei for the FF4ed editor as it was the only one I found that allowed me to edit the world maps! Huge thanks also to vivify93 for allowing us to use Project II as a base! I chose to use Project II because it's the closest to FF2US, with most of the dummied out content added back in.
Here's a short list of what you'll be seeing in this hack:
1) 21 New Weapons! Including Ultima Weapon the sword.
2) 11 New Spells! And revamped exiting spells so the useless ones are now useful!
3) New Armors.
4) New commands for characters and end-game party.
5) New events!
6) 8 New bosses!!
7) Revamped shops/equipment and balanced their progression.
Edge is now buffed and no longer useless!*
9) Rydia has also been buffed(slightly). It's a surprise!
10) Cecil has been buffed as a tank. I've nerfed some of the ridiculous stats from a few of his weapons(don't worry, there are still uber end-game weapons such as Ultima). He's still strong offensively, but he's now able to block physical attacks for wounded members without much problems.
11) Rosa can use more White Mage combative gears.
12) Kain has a few end-game offensive buffing white spells and new commands as he rejoins the team. (Having just 'Jump' made him kind of boring in the vanilla version)
13) Rare items and summons now drop much easier! This hack is designed as a 'play-through' without grinding.**
14) Many enemies now have meaningful rare drops, and all end-game enemies now have rare ultimate drops!
15) New thrown weapons and back-row weapons!
16) Lots of secrets that can lead to early acquirement of better equipment!
17) Few minor tweaks to the base game such as save points, etc.
18) Useless finds now replaced with good items or equipment!
19) All weapons/armors used by characters no longer in party are now usable by at least one character from the end-game party!
20) MOST items/equipment are now non-missable. Meaning they will be acquirable in some ways at end-game. (not including unique ones such as Excalibur, Masamune, etc. so don't throw those for 100% games!
)
* Edge always felt kind of useless at end-game. I see the intent was for him to be a well-rounded, jack of all trades character but I think that fell short and the end result is he's really not that good in anything. I buffed him so he's now capable both physically and magically! He has new spells, new gears, and end-game steals have good items as opposed to useless junk in the vanilla version.
** Some ULTRA rare items are still hard to come by at end-game and will likely require grinding to acquire.
As the vanilla version was a very easy game, here's what I did with this hack's difficulty:
-About 1/3 into the game, the difficulty starts to increase slightly from the vanilla game.
-At around the events after the Sealed Cave, the game's difficulty ramps up.
-After the last save point in the last dungeon, the game becomes 'Nintendo hard'. Casual players would likely not make it and might need to grind a bit. Veterans of the game should still have no problem beating it.
I won't be releasing any beta or early versions of this hack as I'm VERY CLOSE to completing this, so I'll just submit it to RHDN when it's ready.
Anyhow, without further ado, here are some screenshots:
Wait a minute. Where am I??
New summon! Way to go Rydia.
Oooo...fancing weapon there Rosa.
When all else fails, use Ultima.
All I wanted was to visit the Hummingways.
Easy with the Explosives there Edge. You'll wake up the forest animals.
Hey give that harp back to Edward, Rydia!
New weapons galore. SPOILER ALERT! Oh wait, too late.
How can I get to Mist now??
Hmmm...can't land here...
...can't land here either.
Close call...
Is that the legendary...?
Link to the patch:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4134/All comments and suggestions welcome!
Cheers everyone!!
8-bit fan
Topic: Final Fantasy IV - Ultima (Read 9842 times)