Have to say, I enjoyed this hack very much. There’s a lot going on in the background, from mechanical changes to combat tweaks, that contribute to some very nice quality of life updates. The biggest I noticed was the scaling of enemy levels in relation to your party; the difficulty stays consistent throughout, so you aren’t ever steam rolling over the top of every enemy formation.

The main character and constant in the party is Furio: son of Edge and a Ninja of Eblan. He plays very similarly to Edge from the original. He has some Ninjutsu, can steal from enemies, and can throw items. The latter happens to be his strongest skill that I could see. If you can keep his ammunition well-stocked, you’ll deal with most random encounters without much issue.

The party includes some established characters from the original and The After Years, but I won’t spoil that here. That said, one of the key features of the hack are mercenaries. You can hire these units from the main towns: who you can recruit ties directly into the area. You can have a single mercanary at any given time, and should you dismiss one, you recruit them at that level you dismissed them. Furthermore, you also keep any equipment you bought them.

• Ninja – recruited in Eblan. You’ll have this one from the start, and they play the exact same as Furio. Solid in the beginning, though I dropped mine rather quickly in favour of others.

• W. Mage – recruited in Mysidia. I described the White Mage as the “safe” option, largely because of their supporting abilities. Furio does enough damage that devoting your mercenary slot to healing and support was a valid path. There’s also a specific weapon - again, not spoiling it or its location - that allows them to dish out some fantastic damage, too, which was great when I ran out of ammo for Furio’s throw.

• B. Mage – recruited in Mysidia. This is your all-around damage-dealing unit. If there’s an elemental weakness to exploit, this unit is the one to do it. The way rods work, they actually boost the respective element; fire boosts fire, ice boosts ice etc. They also cast whatever spell they empower when used with the Fight command, helping to preserve MP.

• Dragoon – recruited in Baron. Overall, I found the Dragoon to be the most useful. There’s a specific dungeon where having one along helps tremendously, but even outside that, their speed and damage allow them to inflict some very nice damage without having to worry about expending resources. They can equip Spears, Swords and Knives, so they’ve got weaponry for a lot of situations, and with their Heavy spear, can damage Flan-type enemies without having to expend MP or use valuable throwing items with Furio.

• Bard – recruited in Damcyan. Very useful, if a tab unpredictable. They can Sing just like Edward could, and can pull out some very useful effects. From slow to Bio, they slot into the party well. I found them to be the squishiest of the mercenaries, though, and they happen to come quite late.

Another thing I enjoyed was the story. I play games as much for the story as the fun-factor, and there was enough going on in this hack to keep me interested. The epic choice system allows for some branching in the story, and it also effects Furio’s character a little and how others react to him, so seeing that first-hand was nice.

Overall, I was very happy with this hack. Played it through to completion twice, and honestly can’t wait for Part 2! I highly recommend you give this a try yourself.