This hack does a very good job at preventing the characters becoming spambots or over-powered jack-of-all-trades. With everyone being able to learn any spell and getting the Magic stat boosted to the maxin the original game, Brave New World prevents this by limiting the equip-able espers every character can equip. Therefore, every character excels at something which not every other character can do well. This is done without giving you just one option for every character - you can build some of them differently. This will also make you think twice how to build the 2 / 3 groups when entering Phoenix Cave / Kefka’s Tower.

The first part of the game can be a little difficult if not well prepared, but fortunately, Brave New World does not punish the player for gaining levels before getting the espers. The new mechanic of “Esper Level Ups” gives you enough time to consider when to boost which stat. Talking about levels - the level cap is now 50, rather than 99, which is very welcome for players who don’t want to easily stroll through the last dungeon and bosses.

The equipment and balance of the commands have also been improved. In the original game, the Attck/Fight command was almost never a good option for some characters - Edgar, Sabin, Cyan (although only 1 tech for him) were able to spam evade-ignoring, defense-piercing, strong attacks from the back row - without MP cost. This has been tweaked by nerfing and/or replacing many of the techniques. Also, some relics which were virtually never used (Gauntlet, Sniper Eye…) were either dealt with by boosting them, or by implementing the effects into other equipment (like certain weapon categories). A good approach, as I don’t know anyone liking throwaway equipment.

Two of the most hated characters in gameplay (Cyan and Umaro) gained needed boosts. Cyan’s Bushido bar now charges at a reasonable pace while Umaro became strong enough to justify him being uncontrollable. Strago’s Lore, however, was still not stellar, mainly due to high MP cost. However, there has been something done about that in newer versions.

I recommend this hack to anyone who wants to play FF6 while having a new, fresh experience on the battles. It also contains many bugfixes and a nice reward (if you want to play the hack again sometime) after beating the game. But FF6 newbies should better play the original game before trying this hack.