NES Rebalance and Peninsula of Power Reactivation Mods

[Spooniest]

You know, I've been kind of donion rings with a side of harsh browns with people who are complaining about Pixel Remaster, but it comes from a place of exuberant joy. I've been a fan of these games since 1991 (when I got a NES) and they're special to me. I don't like to hear them attacked.

But, I gave it some more thought (and I'm part of Saftle's VG Research + Modding Discord[discord.gg]). ...I kinda get it. The original experience was fun; playing it with the experience tiers lowered, the Peninsula of Power Leveling (what I have always ominously called "The Corner") removed, and with the Monsters' HP levels changed can feel like you're being given "milk and water."

So I picked out these two mods. The NES Rebalance (by hpgross) sets the Exp Levels and Monster HP back to the NES levels, and the Peninsula of Power Restoration (by Eatitup_86) does just what it says on the tin. Ok I've discovered a problem with this patch; it restores the encounters to the area, yes, but about 40+tiles due south of where the 4 that trigger the encounters are supposed to be. Don't apply this patch yet.

While I don't believe in throwing battery acid on people's faces for disagreeing with you, though my temper is rather acerbic when I get tested, I do want to say that I understand the upset-ness of people who don't agree with the Dungeon Master (with full respect to Mr. Kitase and Team as well, of course).

[shsrpr]

I've been a huge fan of this particular game since my stepfather bought the game for me and my stepbrother in 1990. I'm more a fan of FF1 than of 2-6, possibly only 7 is better in my mind, and not by much. So this 'milk and water' ♥♥♥♥ they gave us did piss me off. Still does, simply because Square really should have put a bit more effort into it for the price they're selling it at.

But it's fine for what it is, and I'm certainly not upset with the people who are enjoying this release, and very happy to see people who would otherwise not play the game get some enjoyment out of it. But yes, much thanks to the modding community for stepping up and fixing one of my all time favorite games.

[gallaghan2000]

Two changes that might make things more interesting with how weak all the monsters seem to be, now, is to:

1) change all these pieces of equipment that cast spells into equipment that when equipped will give access to a given spell, or upgrade the casting of a normal spell of the appropriate type to the next higher version (mostly to put things back into properly managing resources instead of getting free access to stuff that can negate resource expenditure entirely).

Ex1: Zeus Gauntlets stage Thunder up to Thundara, Thundara up to Thundaga, and grant the use of Thnuder4 whatever it should be called if you cast Thundaga with them equipped. The Healing Staff would do the same for the Heal series of spells. The Mage Staff for the fire spells, etc.

Ex2: the Light Axe would grant those with access to light magic access to the basic Dia spell instead of doing the above for the White Mage. (which amusingly enough would still wipe out most undead besides the Lich with a single casting)

2) Remove Ethers and Dry Ethers outside of the handful of enemy drops that currently exist, maybe even cut the prices of cottages and tents to compensate.

[Spooniest]

Modding can usually edit what parameters are there in the code itself to read out some different value, but what you're talking about is actually creating new code for the game to recognize. Equippable Items, as it stands now with Nasir Gebelli's Final Fantasy 1 Code, have nothing to do with what magic is usable inside a Spell Caster's Spell List. Those two aspects to the code have "no way to talk to each other" as it is now, except for the Intelligence Stat, which is purely math-based.

tl;dr That's actually a really heavy modification, even though it might not seem like it. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you'd have to have a pretty savvy computer programmer on hand to do it.

Most of what I've done has been script editing and audio engineering, in the mods I've made. I am not really schooled in writing actual computer code. I'm frankly not even sure what programming language the Pixel Remasters were written with... that stuff's all Greek to me.

Edit: Final Fantasy 9 does exactly what you're talking about, in fact. Equipping an item gives you an ability; taking the item off takes away the ability. If you keep the item equipped, and collect ability points from winning battles, then eventually you learn the ability permanently, but it basically is what you're talking about.

Final Fantasy 7 is more strict about it, in that if you take off Materia, you lose the ability associated with it; however, collecting ability points strengthens the abilities that the Materia Grants.

So, this is a system that FF eventually went on to try. I can see why it would work.

[Dadalama]

Neat!, thanks, I also wonder if dropping the encounter rate would help too. Because I could manage to not be over leveled for a little bit if I just was really careful to keep supplied and not backtrack too much. Or if I can't find something.

Also, I didn't actually know about the Penisula of Power until well after I shelved the NES version. IIRC I walked into the area east of provoka, saw nothing there, and went back without really doing much. I was kind of disappointed because it seemed like their should have been something there. There's a lot of empty spaces that I wish they would have been able to put things like extra dungeons or towns or whatnot.

[Spooniest]

Ready to get your MIND BLOWN?

Final Fantasy (NES) clocked in at a total storage capacity of no more and no less than 144 *kilobytes.*

I think the Notepad app in Windows is larger.

[ChickenStrip]

How much harder is the NES mod, in practice, given all of the PR's QOL? It seems like it basically takes an 8 hour game and makes it a 9 hour game instead. It mostly impacts the very starting portions of the game, makes the bad classes even worse, nerfs the final boss. Does it also re-break all of the spells that were originally broken?

[Spooniest]

Originally posted by ChickenStrip:

How much harder is the NES mod, in practice, given all of the PR's QOL? It seems like it basically takes an 8 hour game and makes it a 9 hour game instead. It mostly impacts the very starting portions of the game, makes the bad classes even worse, nerfs the final boss.

I'll know more after I've completed a playthru with it. I don't know if it actually changes any of the stats of classes, but just their experience tiers, I. E. How many exp points it takes to increase to the next level.

[Spooniest]

Though I should say, with Peninsula of Power, Winter Wolves can drop an Ice Shield, and the NES version did not have rare drops. So... I mean, having an ice shield on a Warrior pre-Marsh Cave is definitely a huge asset.

[ChickenStrip]

IMO, the peninsula of power is an unnecessary change and works against the general NES rebalance. If the intent is to make it take longer to grind up, then it should take longer to grind up. Peninsula of Power + NES could very well be easier and shorter than the PR balance, because with the rate at which battles can be completed you can grind to high levels super fast.

FF1 has a super steep curve for how much experience enemies give, much more so than DQ or most other Final Fantasies. So being able to do anything resembling a sequence break can push the player to crazy levels for that point in the game.

[Dadalama]

Originally posted by Spooniest:

Ready to get your MIND BLOWN?

Final Fantasy (NES) clocked in at a total storage capacity of no more and no less than 144 *kilobytes.*

I think the Notepad app in Windows is larger.

Yeah, that's what being able to repeat assets from a sheet of 3 color tiles will do. Screenshots of SMB are bigger than the whole game. Edit:Well, 24 bit color JPGs anyways.

Originally posted by ChickenStrip:

IMO, the peninsula of power is an unnecessary change and works against the general NES rebalance. If the intent is to make it take longer to grind up, then it should take longer to grind up. Peninsula of Power + NES could very well be easier and shorter than the PR balance, because with the rate at which battles can be completed you can grind to high levels super fast.

Yeah, plus it's a long trek to a dangerous area that's obviously a glitch that makes the game easy from there on. And it's not particularly interesting, just fira fira fira.

[Spooniest]

The logic behind my choice was that it is in the NES version. That, and it's just how I got used to playing it over the years.

[qwert_44643]

for some reason im having trouble gettin into discord...is there a direct link to this mod by chance?

[qwert_44643]

ok finally got in and the 2 mods installed...is there anyway to see if hey are installed correctly and working right?

[shsrpr]

Originally posted by qwert_44643:

ok finally got in and the 2 mods installed...is there anyway to see if hey are installed correctly and working right?

If you start a game, and check the menu screen. It should be 40 exp til your next/first Level Up. In the unmodded version it's 14 exp til your next Level Up.

[shsrpr]

Also, for some mods there, you might need to overwrite a file in the install directory called UnityPlayer.dll with a modded version that can also be downloaded in that discord. I know that it's necessary for the Classic PSX Button prompts, though I don't believe that it's necessary for the PoP or NES Rebalance mods.