Way back I played an earlier version of this mod, and didn’t even realize early on that I was playing an updated version of it now. Even in its infancy it was very enjoyable, but the team has obviously put a lot of love and time into this project to bring it to where it’s at today.

Some people seem to complain about things like excessive grinding being present and will give a NO recommendation for this game, but I think that it needs to be appreciated that the mod wasn’t made for them. This was a game that was made at a time when excessive grinding in RPGs was the norm and everything wasn’t just given to you for free. That being said, if you were to play both the original game and this mod back to back you would find that the grinding has been significantly diminished from the original game, so really there should be no complaints at all on that front in my opinion. In fact, I had actually been overgrinding quite a bit since I had to spend a large portion of the final hours I played the game with the encounters turned off because they had nothing new to offer me since I was maxed out with most of the best gear.

I also disagree with anyone who complains about the placement of the new special dungeons as well. I actually thought it was kind of a treat when I realized early on that there were new caves in the overworld map and that most of them required a bit of thinking about how to actually get to them. Was it maybe a little annoying to put that work in and find out that I was way under-leveled to be there and that you couldn’t even engage with the bosses that early on? Sure. But at the same time it really gave a sense of wonderment at what the future of the game would bring once I progressed further in the original story. It made a game I’ve probably played 2 dozen times in my life “new” again.

I’ve always been a fan of trying to de-construct how the RNG treats things like special drops through the use of save states as well, and I found it quite fun to grind some enemies with the help of the save states to get great gear. Really a treat when you figure out that an enemy early on will drop something like the Zeus Gloves and you can outfit your entire team with this huge boost far before you were meant to pick one up in a chest as well.

Very much looking forward to different difficulty modes being added in the future as well as any other surprises that might be found.

Some suggestions that I might add for the future of the game…

1. More and bigger Special Dungeons!!! Maybe even a “secret Moon” to put even more of them. These were a fantastic addition IMO, and it would be awesome to see them become larger than just single screen deals. Maybe even have some new NPC dialog trees in areas of the game that were long abandoned late in the story that say things which no longer make sense in the late game and replace them with “lore” about these new dungeons, the enemies and bosses inside of them and the possible rewards that they might hold. For instance, the dude with the telescope might have some new dialog and tell you to look into it again to see a pallet swapped moon that shows up after you trigger the event, and an additional option could be added when you touch the crystal in the Whale to go to the moon or to this new area?

2. Drop the “Encounters: ON/OFF” custom menu option and replace it with an equippable accessory like a Charm Bangle like other games in the series use.

3. Change or make additions to the end-of-game scenario if all “special/extra” post-game content is completed. As amazing as it is to have all of this post-game content, I feel like the spoils of battle end up being nothing more than cool things that you really don’t need after you’ve obtained them. By the time you reach the end game bosses, if you’ve been doing all of the extra content, you’re almost surely level 99 and all that extra gear is just going to make the final boss a cakewalk.

Hmmmmm…… Maybe AI becomes sentient when his master dies and comes back for one last battle with his plans to carry out his now fallen master’s wishes???

Anyhow. Awesome job here. I can’t believe you all are still working on this thing and I always feel like modders and hackers never actually get the amount of praise they actually deserve for all the unpaid time and energy they put into these types of things. Please know that you do have a very appreciative crowd for the work that you do.

THANKS!