Struggle for Freedom MOD?

[Lord Commander Dante]

Hi guys!

Im about to purchase the game and play it the very first time. I was told Sreuggle for Freedom MOD is a near addition to alter the game's easy difficulty.
My question to you the veterans who played the game on the various platforms, what would you suggest? Wont it ruin my first playthrough the game altering the game with this MOD?

[Pepper0ni]

I played vanilla FF12 back when it was new and am playing through SFF on rebalanced 12 jobs mode ATM, though tend to play my RPG's on hard mode where possible.

SFF's difficulty felt fair to me for the most part, the auto-save and general difficulty game overing in FF12 (6 people need to die, and running away is quite easy most of the time outside of bosses) and only really died when messing around in areas where I really wasn't supposed to be (and to the 2 judges fight on leviathan, oddly enough, though a new strategy fixed that), though some bosses pushed me close. however I also did a lot of exploring for chests and optional hunts so I was never really underlevelled (and am currently quite overleveled going into endgame due to abusing a double experience accessory while doing a lot of optional stuff) and already had a good grasp at teambuilding.

So long as you are willing to learn how to play the game well and take the game at a relaxed, exploratory pace having a first playthrough on SFF is reasonable. Do note that the various job board options effect the difficulty quite a bit, playing on PS2 boards or abusing the broken aspects of the vanilla zodiac jobs will make for an easier game than rebalanced jobs, and using those will be easier than the struggle/freedom jobs (or so the dev says, never tried them as I like the job customisation aspect too much) and the ability to respec takes a ton of fear out of job selection.

Those are just my opinions though.

[Lord Commander Dante]

Originally posted by Chaotic1:

I played vanilla FF12 back when it was new and am playing through SFF on rebalanced 12 jobs mode ATM, though tend to play my RPG's on hard mode where possible.

SFF's difficulty felt fair to me for the most part, the auto-save and general difficulty game overing in FF12 (6 people need to die, and running away is quite easy most of the time outside of bosses) and only really died when messing around in areas where I really wasn't supposed to be (and to the 2 judges fight on leviathan, oddly enough, though a new strategy fixed that), though some bosses pushed me close. however I also did a lot of exploring for chests and optional hunts so I was never really underlevelled (and am currently quite overleveled going into endgame due to abusing a double experience accessory while doing a lot of optional stuff) and already had a good grasp at teambuilding.

So long as you are willing to learn how to play the game well and take the game at a relaxed, exploratory pace having a first playthrough on SFF is reasonable. Do note that the various job board options effect the difficulty quite a bit, playing on PS2 boards or abusing the broken aspects of the vanilla zodiac jobs will make for an easier game than rebalanced jobs, and using those will be easier than the struggle/freedom jobs (or so the dev says, never tried them as I like the job customisation aspect too much) and the ability to respec takes a ton of fear out of job selection.

Those are just my opinions though.

Thank you for your input on the matter. I just hope the game will be good, i get FFXI vibes from this game as both games seem to use auto attack formula in-combat and all kind of other little things that ive picked up which reminds me alot of FFXI.

[Melodia]

I wouldn't say you'd ruin the game playing it with the mod for the first time but it really is best to play through the game normally first just to get to know it.

If you want a bit of extra challenge simply stick to a single job per character -- the game is balanced around that anyway.

[Lord Commander Dante]

Originally posted by Melodia:

I wouldn't say you'd ruin the game playing it with the mod for the first time but it really is best to play through the game normally first just to get to know it.

If you want a bit of extra challenge simply stick to a single job per character -- the game is balanced around that anyway.

This mod seem to fixed alot of issues apart from the difficulty problem

[Hinnyuu]

If you're a JRPG veteran (especially FF), and you appreciate a challenge, I see little reason NOT to start with the mod. It comes with the option to use the original license boards, and it doesn't change the story at all - meaning that all that would be different is combat and items/skills, in terms of difficulty, balance, etc.

SFF isn't absurdly hard, particularly during the story-related fights. Endgame side content has a tough nut or two to crack, but nothing that can't be figured out. It fights fair, and it doesn't go over the top. You just need to pay attention to what is going on.

However, if you're primarily playing the game for story rather than challenge, you may want to take it slow. In that case, playing without the mod so you can get a feel for the mechanics of combat and the job system may be a good idea. And when you notice yourself being underchallenged, you can always switch to the mod for your second playthrough.