Would anyone care for a FFX-2 Randomizer?

[pigslie]

Update:
You can try it out here: https://github.com/shea093/FFX-2-Randomizer

So out of my own desire to brush up on hex editing, programming, and just a general interest for a game that has a very limited modding scene, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a program that randomizes stuff in the game?

So far I have completed a randomizer for Job Abilities (and "learning branches" which randomizes REQUIRED skills for those abilities too) and Job Stats + stat growths.

One caveat: job skills are usually tied to their own job animations, BUT most of them actually still work but just use a generic movement as the "starting" animation, while a few (but very few) others just have the character standing still, like Dance animations. It looks dumb but they still functionally work the same.

There were a few job skills that outright make the game bugged or crash to desktop, such as Tantalize or Paine's mask abilities. Replacing these with *other* job animations fixed the issue, but obviously it isn't as fun as watching Paine throw her mask at enemies, or watching the seduction animation. Right now I have just replaced all of these with the Fira animation lol

But yeah I'm not sure if anyone would want to try it or not but I'll be putting the source code up on github soon, and will release a very early build if anyone wanted to test it (note that you will also need VBFBrowser to inject/extract the needed files to edit), but not sure if anyone wanted to in the first place. I'll probably work on randomizing enemy data too later if there's enough interest.

Here are some screenshots after injecting randomization:
https://imgur.com/a/ueXzF2p

[Forgottensage]

I am interested! Could you also randomize monsters from the creature creator? I don't mean stats and abilities, but more of where and possibly when you capture them

[pigslie]

Originally posted by kylelopezwms:

I am interested! Could you also randomize monsters from the creature creator? I don't mean stats and abilities, but more of where and possibly when you capture them

This would be a cool feature, but I'm not sure if that'll be easy to do or not. I do know that information about creatures are stored in mon_get.bin, which has the stat growths and abilities, but I'm not sure if the information for the capture locations are or not. It will require a bit of trial and error for me to figure out, but I'll keep it in mind for sure.

[RubyDoll]

Id be interested, was gonna do a 100% run of the game at some point but a randomizer might be something to do before/after it

[Sephiroth]

bring all the ranomdizers

[Penghis Khan]

I'm definitely interested.
Think you'd be able to randomize the overworld girl instead of just Yuna?

[DuckyTales]

oo yes yes randomizers are wonderful fun ouo

[Plex]

I wouldn't get any hopes that this game is still getting any mods that changes gameplay related things.
The FFX modding scene is completely dead now.
but whoever wants to kick start it be my guest.

[pigslie]

Sorry for lack of updates to the few people that were following this. Other than being busy with IRL stuff, I've been hesitant about releasing it in the current state, because the way to get it working is a bit obtuse as you also need to use VBFBrowser to extract and inject the binary files yourself (I can't upload them myself on github without (probably) infringing copyright), so I'll likely need to write up a detailed Readme. I also haven't had anyone else test it so I'm concerned that I've overlooked something and that the build wouldn't work outside of my isolated project environment. I'll try my hardest to get a trusted friend to do a quick alpha test of it.

Originally posted by Plex:

I wouldn't get any hopes that this game is still getting any mods that changes gameplay related things.
The FFX modding scene is completely dead now.
but whoever wants to kick start it be my guest.

I understand your cynicism. I've been wanting mods for FFX-2 for so long, especially a hard mode (there is one on Nexus but it's a bit.. too extreme for my tastes) which was my initial goal but then I started delving into randomisation as I found more hex positions for a lot more things than I expected.

Other than the dressphere abilities (which I showed in my screenshot) I've also found the Ability Power, MP Cost, Damage Type, # Of Hits, Ability-specific Hit rate (e.g Mad Rush), Ability-specific Crit Rate (e.g Scatterburst), Cast time, "Wait" time, and various other things for the skills, which I've had a bit of fun editing for balance. Nerfing the power of normal physical attacks ("Attack") alone has been great for balance since I always found that spamming Attack is *too* viable in most fights. So if anything, if this randomization program never gets released, I may just try a balancing / hard mode patch that doesn't just bloat the enemy values.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by lesli:

I may just try a balancing / hard mode patch that doesn't just bloat the enemy values.

I'd welcome any attempt at this. I've always said that while some value adjustment is usually needed, mods that do difficulty ONLY through adjusting of values tend to not be very good.

I'm glad to hear other properties of abilities can be edited. X-2 has a lot of potential in combat mechanics, but that would require a lot of reworking of some of the details of how abilities work. The favor right now is far too much towards quick abilities (no charge time) and those that ignore enemy DEF; everything else just falls flat very quickly.

There's also a good number of abilities that aren't exactly differentiated well - the Gunner especially has a lot of those - or ones that are way too niche in their application (hi Blue Mage's ten thousand type-specific bullets).

I've always thought that it would be cool to lock away more abilities the way the Songstress does it - have an item later in the game that unlocks the higher-end stuff, so you can't just grind out Firaga as soon as you get the Black Mage and oneshot every enemy until chapter 5. That would allow things like Ultima etc. to be present on dresses rather than externals, and free up more accessory shenanigans (which also need some love, let's be honest). I've always thought YRP could use more multi-hit abilities, too. Way too little of that going on.

Side note: one big balance problem is the Creature Creator. There's a lot there that lets you break difficulty to pieces, but I've thought of a very simple solution: make all the cups Chapter 5 only. Done. You can still capture fiends and train them, but no more getting god-level accessories (not to mention Mascot) in Chapter 1.

[pigslie]

Hey y'all, I've released an Alpha version of the Randomizer here: https://github.com/shea093/FFX-2-Randomizer . Installation isn't intuitive so I recommend following the instructions on the front Readme page

[Empress Fordola]

Is this still being worked on/functional? I just found it and it sounds awesome :o

[Tantalus]

recently there is also an External File Loader without changing the game data to load mods.
https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasyxx2hdremaster/mods/150

[A_guy_called_Kole]

Has there been any updates on this project I'm wanting to try to use mod but I don't want to start if anything changed. Love ffx and randomizers are a fun way to replay.