Final Fantasy II: A Threat from Within (Part 1 official release)

[chillyfeez]

Hi, everyone.

The first official release of my magnum opus has finally dropped. I've been working on this since about 2012 (if you've been around that long, you might remember a thread I started about this probably five years ago or so). It's only part one of (at least) four, but playthrough can take probably 4-10 hours, depending on how much you're into sidequesting and secret hunting, and it's designed to have considerable replay value (which hopefully comes across as much as I intend).

Anywho, here are the deets...

This is a sequel to the original FFIV (and to The After Years). The main character is Edge's son, Furio. Furio is the newest member of the Royal Eblana Mercenary Army and while carrying out routine missions he begins to uncover a sinister plot to wipe out mankind.

In addition to a brand new story, this hack also seeks to check a lot of the boxes on my list of "wouldn't it be cool if FFIV had this feature?" Many of which are features from later games in the series, but in a way that fits nicely into the FFIV universe. Among them:
A. Mercenary Characters: Mercs are playable characters who do not participate directly in the plot. Mercs represent a variety of fighter classes, each with different abilities that can help the party in various ways. Mercs are hired by speaking with Namingway at their home barracks. The player can choose to have any available merc in the party, as long as s/he has the right Job Card. Job Cards can be purchased in shops, and occasionally won in battle or found in treasure chests. Job Cards can be expensive, but are not expended when hiring a new merc, so it is only necessary to have one of each Job Card in your inventory at any time. Mercs will also charge for their services, taking a flat rate every day (every time you sleep in an inn or a tent or cabin), which varies depending on the class. If you do not have enough GP to pay your merc, s/he will leave the party. Mercs join the party unequipped, but will leave all equipment behind if they leave or are dismissed.

B. Limit Skills: When a character is weakened during battle, s/he has a chance to perform a special technique known as a Limit Skill. You will know a Limit Skill is available because a message saying, "LIMIT BREAK!" will appear at the top of the screen, and the character's Fight command will be replaced with LIMIT. Limit does not need to be used right away and it will remain available even if the character is healed. Once the Limit skill is used, it becomes unavailable to that character for the rest of the battle, and the Fight command returns. Each different character class uses a different Limit skill.

C. Epic Choices: At certain points in the game, the player is given the ability to decide how the story will progress. Epic choices may carry consequences such as what boss monsters the player fights, what characters join the party, and more.

D. Chocobos: Chocobo forests no longer exist, but chocobos are still available as a means of transportation on the world map. In order to ride a chocobo, the player must catch it. Chocobos appear randomly among other monsters on the world map. The player must defeat all other monsters quickly without damaging the chocobo. If you take too long or hurt the chocobo, it will run away. Once you have caught a chocobo, you may dismount or re-mount it at will, as long as you do not walk too far away. When a chocobo is far enough away to be out of sight, it will run away. Chocobos are capable of reaching parts of the world map that are otherwise inaccessible, as they can cross streams and travel through shallow parts of the ocean.

E. Backpack: Though the Fat Chocobo is no longer around to store extra inventory, Furio does carry a backpack which enables him to store extra items. To access the backpack, choose "Cache" from the menu.

Here are a few random screenshots:






















Here's a link to the project page if you'd like to give it a try. I'd be excited to talk about it with you. We can do that here, or over at the FFIV Ultima/TfW discord:
https://discord.gg/tznd27E

Enjoy, and stay tuned for Part 2, coming in hopefully less than eight years!

[Special]

About time you finished this! First thing I read on the project page was, "40 years after" and I thought, damn you old. And let's hope it wont be the same long wait for Parts 2,3, and 4... cliffhangers better be worth it if so.

[Vanya]

Looks cool. I'll give a spin some time this week.

[chillyfeez]

About time you finished this! First thing I read on the project page was, "40 years after" and I thought, damn you old. And let's hope it wont be the same long wait for Parts 2,3, and 4... cliffhangers better be worth it if so.

I mean, yeah, I'm old but I didn't start making this hack when I was 1.


A lot of what took Part 1 so long was tweaking the game mechanics, then getting play testers to help me figure out if the tweaks were viable. A lot of that doesn't need to be re-done for subsequent parts, so while I won't be cranking the rest out like a factory (I do have a full time job), I don't anticipate they will take nearly as long as Part 1.

[8.bit.fan]

Woohoo! It's finally 'officially' released!!

Oh and welcome to the discord Vanya!

[Digitsie]

Congratulations! ABOUT TIME!

[chillyfeez]

Congratulations! ABOUT TIME!

LOL. I took some detours, for sure. It's changed quite a bit (gameplay-wise, not story-wise) since you played it all those years ago. If you play it through again I'd be interested in hearing what you think!

[Special]

So haven't played it yet, but it's definitely near the top of my "to play" list when I find time, but I was wondering. How you are handling these four parts, are they essentially just standalone games, sharing the same story line or will our game saves from previous parts carry over to the next (that'd be cool!). Obviously don't spoil the story!!!

[chillyfeez]

So haven't played it yet, but it's definitely near the top of my "to play" list when I find time, but I was wondering. How you are handling these four parts, are they essentially just standalone games, sharing the same story line or will our game saves from previous parts carry over to the next (that'd be cool!). Obviously don't spoil the story!!!

Cool, man. Of course I'm excited to hear what you think once you've played.

I've set up some under-the-hood routines that draw certain data from different places in ROM depending on whether specific progress flags are set in SRAM. That, in combination with the doubled ROM size, will allow me to put it all on the same ROM.
So, when part 2 is finally released, it will actually be parts 1 and 2. And Part 3 will be 1, 2 and 3. At the end of part 1, it asks if you want to save your game. If you say yes, you are transported to a 3x3 room with a save point, and exiting the room runs the credits and ends the game. One part 2 comes out, exiting that room will resume the game at the beginning of part 2. So you'll be able to play all the way through, or pick the game up where you left off in the previous part.

[Special]

Damn, sounds technical. Not surprised though, since it's your project after all. You're a little beyond simple text edit hacks.

[chillyfeez]

Damn, sounds technical. Not surprised though, since it's your project after all. You're a little beyond simple text edit hacks.

This is considerably more than a text edit, for sure. I tried to make it feel within the gameplay canon of ffiv, mostly, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

[Ok Impala!]

This looks really impressive! I like the fact that you added completely new gameplay mechanics. Congratulations of finishing part 1 after all these years! 

[Grimoire LD]

I am overjoyed to see that you're finally satisfied with releasing this gem! Having playtested it from very early on unto some of the most recent builds, I can say that this is one of the most in-depth and fulfilling FFIV hacks anyone will have the pleasure to play as of now. There is a lot of replayability in the Epic Choice system as well as the mercenaries which really changes up the way you approach a given encounter. With fair, but challenging gameplay, some legitimate twists in both gameplay and story, this is a treat that any FFIV fan should play.

[chillyfeez]

I am overjoyed to see that you're finally satisfied with releasing this gem! Having playtested it from very early on unto some of the most recent builds, I can say that this is one of the most in-depth and fulfilling FFIV hacks anyone will have the pleasure to play as of now. There is a lot of replayability in the Epic Choice system as well as the mercenaries which really changes up the way you approach a given encounter. With fair, but challenging gameplay, some legitimate twists in both gameplay and story, this is a treat that any FFIV fan should play.

Thanks for the plug, Grimoire, and always good to hear from you!

[Arturrgd]

 I really enjoyed playing this romhack! Dude, don't stop, your ROM has a lot of potential, especially in terms of history. You were very creative in thinking beyond the box. You creating a different game than the other FF2 hacks.

The most things i really liked in your game is: Mercenarys, A FUCKING CREATIVE AND NEW HISTORY and the Desesperate attacks.

Some suggestions:

- Add a part of the story with Golbez on the Moon looking for Fusoya after the events of After the Years

It would also be interesting to also invest in the history of the Lunarians and fit in your original history.

Many of us who play After Years are left in doubt about what happened to Golbez and Fusoya after the events, and of course we want to play with him again.


- Make Ceodore more stronger (level 25-30)
- Make Palom and Porom more strongers (Level 30) Cuz they are the ultimate magic defense of FUCKING MYSIDIA
- Put Flame Jutsu at level 25 for Furio
- Balance more the enemys (Goblins at the first map can be more challenge than the Mt.Ordeals monsters)
- Put a libray in baron casttle like the one in Asura and Leviathan's House. This library will explain whats happened in all those years, but not all.
- Able Palom to be a Sage in a Sidequest.
- Make a option to switch characters (if u going to let us to play with a more than 5 characters in final game) like Super Mario RPG system.
- Create a relation between the main character and another one. Example: Tsukinowa from TAY can be his master or something like that.
- Change Ceodore legs color to the same color of his cloak (in battle).

Im not finished the game yet, so i will play more and i will be back. Sorry for my bad english, i am Brazilian.

[kaine23]

Such a great hack!

[Lumiere]

Congrats on finishing Chilly! I remember seeing this on the slick productions forum. I unfortunately didn't try the earlier verions but, I'll play this. You and Grimoire are two of the big hackers of FFII so anything by the two of you is worth a play.