Nowea Hard Type

Join the discord to download and patch directly onto your BNW 2.1 ROM. The password for it is the same as the BNW unlockme password

After TENS OF MINUTES of work I'm ready to release my modification to Brave New World. This is deliberately designed to be harder in a "FF3usME stat hack" style. @seibaby helped a bunch.

Changelog below:

• V1:
• ATB formula changed so that enemy ATB fills twice as quickly.
• Esper Levels that grant HP now grant half the HP
• Warp and Warp Whistle made 33.33x more expensive.

• V2:
• Lowered ATB multipliers for slow/normal/haste by 5 each due to an overflow error causing hasted enemies to have very few turns
• Made the timer for status ticks constant, so that they are no longer affected by other status effects like Slow, Haste, Sleep, and Stop

• V3:
• Removed the Warp and Warp Whistle price hike

• V4:
• Added Warp Whistles to many item shops
• Added Back Guard to (pre-IMTRF) Narshe relic shop
• Reduced Back Guard price to 5000 (was 7500)

• V5:
• Fixed a text error reported by @thzfunnymzn way back in February where HP EL gains were still displaying old values

• V6:
• At the request of @BTB I have edited the config screen to reflect that you are playing Nowea Hard Type. I did this all by myself and there's absolutely no way I screwed something up in the mean time.

• V7:
• Standardized HP and MP ELs, now all HP and MP ELs give +20 (if with another stat) or +40 (if just giving HP or MP)
• Added 4 new items. 3 are rare steals and 1 is a Colosseum trade. Steals were only edited on current humanoid random enemies that had steals previously. Note: This version uses item indexes 16, 60, 66, and 247. In 1.9 and 1.10 these indexes are not used, but other versions are not guaranteed. In addition, for maximum compatibility, these new items don't have descriptions
   
• V8:
• Changed 1 hidden item.
   
• 2.0:
• Added more easter egg weapons, some as rare drops and some as rare steals from humanoids. Note that these weapons still do not have descriptions. These added weapons use item slots that BNW 1.9 uses, but 2.0 doesn't. This effectively means that NHT 2.0 is for the BNW 2.0 line only.
• Altered and added formations, expect to see some new enemy combos and enemies where you don't expect. Sometimes this even works in your favor
• Added a password requirement to access the patch, the password is the same as the BNW unlockme. I don't want people playing NHT as their first BNW experience in general.
• Now every item and relic shop has Warp Whistles or Back Guards (respectively).

• 2.1:
• Updated for 2.1 release, config menu still shows 2.0
• Multiguards now halve each element, but no longer give a stat penalty
• Updated descriptions

This looks like how FF6A was made.

5 minutes ago, BTB said:

This looks like how FF6A was made.

Dragon's Den is the greatest dungeon of all time.

So you took the game and made it less fun

4 hours ago, Echoherb said:

So you took the game and made it less fun

I made it harder for anyone that felt like "I want to play BNW... but different"

Less fun for most, yes.

Updated for V2, fixing a boss-breaking overflow error and tweaking status timers.

Stop still halts other timers. :P

V3 made, it's slightly less stupid now that there's no price hike on Warp and Warp Whistle.

Played a bit of RC14 Nowea Hard Type.

Had a near wipe on the pincer introductory Narshe Fight. Bad luck would've wiped one or both of Biggs and Wedge. Yikes. Had to actually Cure between battles for insurance. Whelk also killed me once because I underestimated how many Beams I could fire off before he went into his shell. Nothing truly scary, but a wake up to call that I was playing Nowea Hard Type.

Figaro & Figaro Cave are same, essentially.

Around Figaro Town & Mt. Koltz though, things get scary. First and foremost, Rock. That move is horrible. High damage, no defense against muddle, limited Remedy supply, and I'm worried that such enemy speed will make it a matter of luck as to whether or not I can endure Mt. Koltz at decent levels. Other physicals & magics are bad too, but Rock is the worst.

Edgar is going to have to go all in with speed (Iron Cutlass, Knight Cape, Buckler instead of Iron Shield), lest I fall behind on NoiseBlaster control. Terra & Locke will both need Boomerangs for the damage output, so I'm going to have to grind a bit for GP; I don't think I can turtle forever with such fast enemies. Might also grind GP for Remedies & Brawlers for Slim Jim (with EXP turned off).

That's it for now. Might get to play some more tomorrow.

40 minutes ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Played a bit of RC14 Nowea Hard Type.

Had a near wipe on the pincer introductory Narshe Fight. Bad luck would've wiped one or both of Biggs and Wedge. Yikes. Had to actually Cure between battles for insurance. Whelk also killed me once because I underestimated how many Beams I could fire off before he went into his shell. Nothing truly scary, but a wake up to call that I was playing Nowea Hard Type.

Figaro & Figaro Cave are same, essentially.

Around Figaro Town & Mt. Koltz though, things get scary. First and foremost, Rock. That move is horrible. High damage, no defense against muddle, limited Remedy supply, and I'm worried that such enemy speed will make it a matter of luck as to whether or not I can endure Mt. Koltz at decent levels. Other physicals & magics are bad too, but Rock is the worst.

Edgar is going to have to go all in with speed (Iron Cutlass, Knight Cape, Buckler instead of Iron Shield), lest I fall behind on NoiseBlaster control. Terra & Locke will both need Boomerangs for the damage output, so I'm going to have to grind a bit for GP; I don't think I can turtle forever with such fast enemies. Might also grind GP for Remedies & Brawlers for Slim Jim (with EXP turned off).

That's it for now. Might get to play some more tomorrow.

I've yet to try NHT without grinding Terra in the mines (to 6 or 7), which helps get through the part where you don't have much option.

I'd be surprised if you can get through everything at a similar level to BNW's expected levels without resorting to LLG-level strats

I expect that the hardest part of NHT is going to be the early game. Once I get past Dadaluma, I think things will get simpler. Who knows though, maybe I'm in for a world of hurt.

What constitutes LLG-level strats? I would figure grinding for 99 Slim Jims would constitute as one.

I'd say that relying so heavily on rare steal consumables would count.

It is very possible that the challenge is front-loaded simply because of options opening up after Daddy. Unfortunately my personal run is paused for this week and nobody's played past Dadaluma to know for sure.

Defeated Mt. Koltz at lvl.7, whole team.
 

tl;dr, aside from nasty AoEs, I overprepared and played it cautiously. More importantly, Gale Cut can be dodged now! Huzzah!!

Lete River will be more challenging.

Ultros down, everyone at lvl.8. Sabin & Sap did all the hard work, everyone else healed. Ultros moves too fast to attempt anything else. Lete River was surprisingly simple, just had to be more cautious with attacks & healing.

Start of Ed/Te/Banon scenario is rng-based; unlucky rng with misses/Blind = death by Fireball. Otherwise, same ole' boring scenario.

Sabin's scenario next up. I want Celes at highest join level as well as maximum equip options for TunnelArmor.

I did level grind up to lvl.8 at the end of Mt. Kolts, so I has 10,000 extra GP (2000 spent on Phoenix Downs) plus a few more Slim Jims.

Sabin's Scenario defeated. Lvl.9 for all, save Gau at lvl.8.

Soul Train was roadblock. Only defeatable with a Slim Jim Sabin beatdown. Granted, Slim Jim Sabin soloed & auto-fought Soul Train. Still, Soul Train was too fast, aggressive, and strong to try anything else. Can't Suplex Slow him either because of Elf Fire counters. Life Bell Sabin might've soloed as well, but Life Bell is gotten after this battle.

Couldn't use Knight Capes. I want the stat boosts (HP, Eva, Vig, Spd), but Cover is too dangerous to use. Quite annoying. Kinda worried that this is gonna be a thing for a while. Brainstorming makes me realize that certain late-game Hero Ring set-ups are no longer ideal b/c said set-ups don't want Cover.

Otherwise, same as usual for NHT: beware of early-game magics (Ghost x2 / Ectoplasm x3 is a frustrating encounter), play cautiously, kill enemies quickly. Used lots of Dried Meats. Got a lot of cash on hand, even after Nikeah shopping.

Finished Locke's Scenario & Narshe Battle. Level 8, with a couple of dudes at level 9.

Locke's randoms were same as always. Hell Angel, otoh, was rng-dependent. Even with top speed + Sprint Shoes, Celes' Runic cannot keep up with the magical onslaught. Best chance is to bum rush the guy with Boomerang x2 + Power Glove + Black Belt. Having a Slim Jim on Locke is useful too. Still luck dependent, but thankfully, Hell Angel doesn't have too much HP.

Narshe Team was Locke, Cyan, & Figaro Bros. Steal x4 vs. Trooper x4 gives more than enough healing items, so who needs white mages? Locke's a boss. Definitely saw the faster speed vs. Trooper x4, but thankfully, having a team of bulky dudes + Life Bell + back row + NoiseBlaster is more than sufficient to handle these boogers.

Knight Cape proved to be a mistake in the Narshe Fight. Knight Cape Cyan died, first fight. Took too many hits for the team. Can't tell if it's Nowea Hard Type's faster enemies or just a mistake in using Cover this early; my guess is the latter. A little annoying, as the Knight Cape's stat boosts are nice in the early game. Cyan especially loses out, as he really likes the stat boosts but can't use it at all. Boomerang Locke can still use it though.

Hell Rider, otoh, is another rng-dependent fight. He can open the fight with Virite + Acid Rain before you can move, practically wiping your party. Sabin's Spirit Claws proc'd Stop on the fool, which was nice. Failed to steal a Black Heart: hope that doesn't bite me in the butt. Kefka's also definitely stronger (and, without Runic, more dangerous). Failed to steal Tiara before Locke dropped (failed both boss steals), so I just bum rushed the dude with big damage. Still won first try, unlike Hell Angel or Hell Rider.

***

Phantom Train, Hell Angel, and Hell Rider have been frustrating. The first two require specific strats without overleveling. Otherwise, nothing unbeatable yet. Yet.

But...now comes Dadaluma. We'll see if I keep my streak of keeping my levels at normal levels with this booger.

I'm kinda surprised that Hell Angel ended up being a difficulty. On my original run it wasn't bad at all, but that may have just been that my 1 fight against him in NHT going well.

I'm enjoying hearing about this on the whole.

W00t! Dadaluma down, second try, average level (lvl.10)! Feel rather good about that one.

W00t! Game should be easier from here on out. IMF will still be difficult, and the Ultros III - IV - IAF sequence will be a hump, but otherwise, I'm not predicting major resistance until the endgame.
 

Dadaluma

Randoms

Builds

Ultros down. Sabin for MVP again. Fire Dance clears rats. Self-berserk + Fire Claw = roasted octopus appetizer at the Opera House. Life Bell kept Sabin alive. Cyan & Locke were mostly there for moral support; Sabin could've solo'd Ultros. Hanging outside the IMF now at lvl.12 (Sabin's at 13).

OTOH, double speed randoms are rough. My best defense right now is a good offense - kill anything with nasty AoEs el pronto and Muddle stuff. Not quite going full-on glass cannon though. Also, I have to beware of jerks who counterattack the Fight command (Dragonflies, Trilium recolors). I sometimes have to wait a minute before using Blitz/Bushido just to insure that Locke/Celes attack other dudes first, minimizing how much time enemies are on-screen. Doesn't always work; sometimes, Locke fails to Throw his Full Moons, or I get pincer'd, or the AI just decides to spam powerful AoE magic. Chickenlip x5 would've been brutal if Chickenlips weren't so weak: they got, like, a million moves to my one move. >_< Onion Kid x5 killed me for this very reason; got too greedy stealing everything, then WHAM!, Sabin gets Muddled right as I input the Fire Dance command. >_< Dogs and soldiers ain't much better; they hit like trucks.

I'm not sure if I can safely use Cover yet. Double speed randoms are just too rough. Furthermore, I'm not sure there's a point in using it yet. No one member of my party can stand up to a concentrated physical onslaught right now, especially thanks to these reduced HP gains, so there's little point re-directing physicals to one member. (Normally, Cyan would be nearing 475 HP with heavy armor. Now, he's still short of 400 HP, still lacks a shield, and gets hit twice as often.) I tried some Cover/Counter with Morning Star Celes, but those dogs nearly killed her first turn for even thinking about it. She didn't even counterattack, nor did she need to cover Mr. back-row-high-evade Locke. >_<

OTOH, if most characters struggle to use Cover/Counter effectively, it might mean Unicorn Edgar is unchallenged in his role as a good Cover tank. >_> At the very least, HP+50% Gungnir is still going to be awesome. When I get there.

Oh, HP/MP gains still say "HP+30", etc, etc. Might want to fix that.

***

Morning Star Celes is nice. Even with Power Glove and Ramuh ELs, it falls short of OHKOing randoms except for small fry (Bugger, Chickenlip, etc) unlike Edgar, Sabin, and Cyan. It's nice to have even decent offense though. Morning Star + Scimitar is cute, but I don't think it'll hold up for the IMF (too much high defense). Oh well. Hey, @BTB , have you considered having Fighters not counter Magic? That way, Celes' Ice can actually hammer their weakness without overkill retaliation? Could even make Dadaluma weak to Ice as well as not countering Magic. Doubt it'll do much compared to just using Edgar, but at least Celes gets some reward for using her special skill set. Sides, Dadaluma not countering Magic kinda makes some sense Lore-wise.

I'm enjoying this Let's Play, funnyman. Keep 'em coming. Glad you decided to go full in on trying out Stamina builds for cover and counter, too.

* blush * Why, thank you.

***

Aaaand...IMF, clear. Lvl 15 after Cranes. No Cover/Counter used; too dangerous. OTOH, Morning Star Celes just keeps getting better. Number 024 aside, I'd put her on par with Cyan for the IMF. She needs to stick with Runic for 024 though. (Dispatch melted Number 024. 1650 damage a blow. That's almost as much as summoning an esper on a weakness. I think this is one area where "Bushido gets stronger with BPow" goes a little too far). Locke just abused the new Mug mechanics, proc'ing a lot of Bolt 2 casts while he was at it. Sabin & Cyan did Sabin & Cyan stuff. Used a lot of Dried Meats.

Stupid Mine Cart nearly wiped me. Jerk x4 spammed AoE Ice, killing Cyan, and then smacked Locke to take him down. Sabin had to reduce them to one then carefully Phoenix Down back up. Number 128 was also pretty nuts with how many turns he got; I'd have been in trouble without Golem + Ocean Claws. Cranes, first round, straight up OHKO'd Setzer & Locke before I could move. >_< gg Cranes. Second round, Locke got heavy armor, I summoned Golem, Suplexed (Slowed) one, and then they were manageable with Ocean Claws & Storm Blade. Cyan just summoned Kirin and ran moral support.

Sabin is still MVP. Carries clutch victories, doesn't die thanks to Life Bell (best user of Life Bell), good speed for both turn count & initial ATB gauge, and Suplex / Ocean Claws. Despite the weaker 1.9 Golem, equipping Stat Stick / Magic Cube to summon Golem in the boss fights here is still useful. Golem prevents 024's muddle strike, and since 024 mostly relies on magic, Golem should stay up for a while. (Or for the whole time, if you're melting 024 with Dispatch). Number 128 and the Cranes can now wear down Golem pretty quickly, but it does give some breathing room in the opening of the fight.

Morning Star Celes was fun. Probably still a little weak for the Zozo arc (see my Ice comments on Fighter / Dadaluma above), but once she starts getting levels, Ramuh ELs, and the Power Glove, she'll do solid damage. Cyan's stronger, Sabin will outdamage her even without the Power Glove, and both Figaro Bros. have better AoE, but blast it, it was fun actually letting General Celes deliver a meaningful physical beatdown in the WoB. Course, I'm going to have to use Esper Reset if I'm to try out Phantom Celes, but oh well.

Abusing the new Mug mechanics was amusing. Locke would sometimes get in 4 hits before anyone else moved, including some Bolt 2 casts. Even KO'd a high defense Defender once thanks to his number of attacks. Lol. His elemental blade options allowed him to outperform Cyan for Ifrit & Shiva, 024, and Cranes. Though I had Cyan summon Kirin, which somewhat balances things out a bit.

Cyan didn't wow me as much, especially near the end, but I think it's subjective; he didn't have cool new toys to play with, nor was he ever the biggest damage dealer (except for 024). NHT also appears to hit him the hardest; again, probably not objectively true, just looks that way. Kirin Cyan is normally nigh invincible by the mid-/end-point of the IMF. In NHT, he still hasn't reached the point of invincibility. I suspect he'll pick up some steam once he can stack more HP ELs and learns Dragon though.

***

Gau & Mog are running WoR builds, so they won't be active players in the WoB. Setzer, despite running a stam build, will probably go heavy Seraph at first, so I might use him later in the WoB. Edgar can finally start stacking Unicorn ELs, though I'm concerned that I've passed the point of the game where I need a hyper-dedicated Cover specialist. We'll see. For now, it's just some breather dungeons with the Cave to the Sealed Gate and the Imperial Banquet.

Finished Imperial Banquet.

"Return scum! I challenge you to a duel!"

Cyan Dispatches him for 1900 damage.

"Maybe you can handle the espers."

Lol.

***

Used Locke, Terra, Edgar, Setzer for the Sealed Gate, lvl.15. Everyone's running heavy HP builds, so I've got 450 - 550 HP across the board.

Was an interesting run. Got slammed with statuses much more than normal thanks to double speed. Antares had to be Muddled to avoid Glare spam, and Muddle, Berserk, and Blind all proved annoying. Nothing deadly though; still a breather dungeon. I normally buy Spirit Ring x4 for this dungeon & Daryl's Tomb, but I'm restricting how many status immunity relics I allow myself (only one of each, sans the 2nd Ribbon in Kefka's Tower) so as to see just how useful stamina's status evade really is. (Should be testing this without NHT, but >_> ) I had precious few methods of nulling Zombie (Seraph equip included), though thankfully, I didn't see that status a lot of it.

Phalanx boss went down to BioBlaster spam.

Cave to the Sealed Gate is the first dungeon where I can safely Cover/Counter. Decked out Edgar for max defense and a Fire Lance. Only !Halberd (Phalanx) did significant damage. Edgar is significantly tankier than Terra & Locke (Locke less so); he face-tanked some halberds for Locke. Course, this cave is a breather dungeon more focused on statuses; Floating Continent may prove a better test of Cover/Counter in NHT. Haven't tested Cover/Counter Cyan here. Not super interested in doing so either, will probably just wait until the Murasame & Floating Continent.

At first, I had Locke dual-wield Flametongue with Demonsbane. Then I noticed that Demonsbane insta-kills undead anyways, so I didn't bother.

Terra & Setzer did normal stuff. Heals, Fire 2, and Blackjack spam.

***

I'm probably going to cheese Ultros III's broken script with an Elec Sword for the upteenth time, so I'll post again after I finish the Floating Continent.

"Hey, guys, I got an idea. How about I miss Slow on Heartfire."

"Uh, Terra, that's..."

Fireballs and meteors rain from above. Team dies.

***

"Blargh. Brains."

"Well, don't that just beat all. Mog and Gau have turned into zombies."

"Eh, let them sleep it off in the castle. They'll be fine in the morning."

"Uh, you sure about that Edgar? You sure they won't try and eat someone's brains?"

"Trust me, they'll be fine. Sleeping cures everything."

***

Oh, and Kirin Cyan's mighty 635 HP right as we prepare for the Floating Continent. ; _ ; (Normally, he'd have 770)

Holy good night, Atma is insane! Took me six or seven tries to finally put that booger down, and even then, only by the skin of my teeth. (Lvl.18 IAF, Lvl.20 Atma, vigCeles/Relm/stamEdgar)

Even when Slowed, he gets two turns for every one that my party gets. Maybe that's what everything else was getting and I'm only just now noticing it because of how crazy Atma's script is. Doesn't help that I'm playing extra macho and the only relevant status relics I have are Jewel Ring, Fairy Ring, and White Cape. Low HP hurts.

Atma's supposed to have new script about Dispelling his power as he charges it, right? I completely forgot about that. >_> Also, when does Atma re-set Haste on himself? I think knowing both of those would've helped me a little bit. (For the fights that managed to get that far).

Not Atma

Atma

Characters

Whelp, tried the stam-Locke / vig-Sabin / HPMP-Terra team on Floating Continent. Most of the continent was a lesson in why 600+ HP = win. Easy peasy IAF without having to worry about Relm or Cover. Choke points were IAF boss and Atma. Forgot Ocean Claws first time for IAF boss so I wiped. Otherwise, easy peasy.

Atma, however..............

....is impossible without either Rerise spam or a team fully decked out in Amulet + White Cape. And the former is still a tricky luck-shot. (OK, technically, I also have to try out Forest Suite as an option too. It's unreliable, but maybe it can work without the other two?). Simply impossible. I tried. I can get past the initial Flare Star + Mind Blast, but without the clutch of either Seraph + Rerise spam or a team fully decked out in status immunity relics, I simply get trapped in a Remedy / Cure 2 loop. I can slowly deal damage with Suplex, Break, or Kunai, but he simply lays on the hurt FAR too fast, even when Slowed, and Mind Blast comes RIGHT as I finished recovering from the previous.

Mind you, this is the new Rerise, which revives at 200-500 HP. Not sure if old Rerise would've cut it.

Last thing to try is Forest Suite without Rerise or mass status immunity. Maybe Mog can clutch it. If not, well, this is a lesson in why turtling = win in BNW. Lots of HP ELs + status immunity relics + Rerise = invincible. (Mass status immunity relics = win is one of the major reasons for why I don't think stamina is really equal in importance to the other stats. It's nice, sure, but when push comes to shove, HP and relics are far more reliable).

(OK, ok, so friggin' huge damage also is very important. Not sure it's as important as the turtling that I mentioned. Having Relm's Sketch / Ice Rod as my dps in lieu of Suplex would be nice, but without Rerise, I don't think it'd be enough to clutch a victory unless I got lucky).

***

Should also mention that Kirin Locke, like Unicorn Edgar, is a weak link against Atma too. Too much of his utility (MP) is locked into the WoR & Icebrand is only so-so against high p.def foes with only 25% proc rate. Forgot to use Cover, but honestly, not sure how much of a difference that would've made, since aside from Shadow, no one member of my team is particularly lacking in the bulk department. (That, and Atma's not scary b/c of his physicals but b/c of his magic). Maybe I'll replace him with Mog.

*******

EDIT: Oh, my precious Harvester and status immunity relics! I'm never leaving you again!

Harvester kicked Atma's butt, Mog MVP. (Locke was replaced). This has been a lesson in BNW's status game.

Honestly, it's a little unfair of me to rant so much about stamina in the WoB, when it's still low. But you know what? I think my point will still stand in the WoR anyways. Reliability > unreliability. Harvester & relics > stamina evasion. Guess I should test Myria & Atma (KT) with primarily stamina as my status defense?

***

Thinking about it for five minutes, stamina's defensive benefits are really backloaded. Not the regen ticks; those more rely on the character having actual HP. But Stamina's contribution to status evade only really matters on endgame set-ups that really, really stack it. Kinda like how defense gets more and more valuable the higher and higher you go. Like, going from 96 -> 112 stamina is HUGE in terms of how much garbage you can dodge. Going from 48 -> 64 however? Meh, whatever.

Perhaps if early & mid-game stuff status / gravity garbage had lower accuracy? Mind Blast might've been more tolerable without Harvester / mass immunity if I could rely on one of my heavy stamina dudes actually evading the statuses thrown my way. As is, I had Kirin Locke, Unicorn/Carbunkl Terra, Maduin Mog, & Unicorn Edgar all go at it. None of them could reliably dodge Rasp, Grav Bomb, Quartr, Mind Blast, what have you.

Also, forgot to mention that I'm loving how I can dodge Flare now. Stacking mg.eva actually proves useful for once. : )

*******

EDIT 2: After owning Atma with Harvester, I should probably back-up and retract my statements about Locke & Edgar being weak links in the Atma fight. Edgar's Cover performed admirably for what its job was worth, especially since Golem balanced now & Shadow had no time for Smoke Bombs. With Harvester support, I could've set Locke up for Cover + Counter with an Icebrand and, I think, gotten good results.

Got the Falcon. After the nightmare I just went through, everything here was a breeze. Only death was b/c I decided to play around with the Tentacles. (Double speed with lots of enemies is honestly somewhat scary. Most of my trouble was me dorking around with elemental attacks though).

Places

Characters

Nothings set in stone, but I think the first things I do in the WoR after my initial sweep of everything is to clear Owzer's Mansion, then get Cyan and clear his Soul, and then finish up Narshe. The first to Strago, Relm, and Starlet. Second and third are so that I can esper reset asap - former to use Phantom Celes & vig Cyan (both with lots of Alex), latter to use Terrato Sabin. Oh, and I'll start using Gau and Mog now that I have Fenrir and Palidor.

!R(GJ2F!@FQ@#TN!(TR!G

SINCE WHEN WAS PHUNBABA THIS STRONG!!!!!!

In the end, I only beat him using kaizo strats (aka, save states). Part of my problem was learning the hard way that BTB recently changed Phunbaba's script to favor an all-in offensive tactic. But...the other half of the problem is that Phunbaba is a luck-based fight at fair levels. : / I had to luck-out with the glitched Hurricane that only blows away one party member, leaving me a full team for Phunbaba. I also had to get lucky with how often Phunbaba attacked Terra, since Fire 2 - didn't have Fire 3 b/c underleveled, : ( - was my best offense, with Bum Rush in second. Also had to get lucky in who was kept after Hurricane, esp. for any poor unfortunate soul who tries to do this without the "Randomly keep 3 party members"  glitch.

Phunbaba, alongside Hell Angel & Soul Train, have been the only battles so far that I felt have been totally and completely luck-based. Everything else has been beatable with the correct strategy, even Dadaluma and Atma.

Whelp, now I can finish sweeping the WoR before going into Owzer's.

"OK, I have Gau now, let's use the new 'Leap Anywhere' function to quickly & easily grab all but a few Rages, plus steal me a Magic Bone for his physical offense"

* 50 Game Overs later *

OK, treat everything like a full-fledged mini-boss or boss fight, especially Colossus. Be prepared to run whenever a Phoenix Cave fight turn south b/c my lvl.20 team cannot win these fights with bad luck. Punishers wreck face now, why do they wreck face now?

>_<

It's nothing I can't handle, but I'm going to have to treat the WoR with respect now if I'm too win smoothly (finally). It was my failure to respect NHT that got me killed. (Plz give us a mid-game Bone that isn't a rare steal in a late-WoR dungeon; that was annoying.)

Kinda worried about Unicorn Edgar though. Edgar's an unmatched tank in NHT, but his low vigor, speed, and stamina (Cover%) are all very noticeable. : / Definitely wouldn't go pure Unicorn in normal BNW, probably shoot for more 10/10 or 12/8 Unicorn:Siren. He does have unparalleled HP in NHT, but I'm not sure how well I can leverage that.

Also kinda worried about HP/MP Terra, but that may have just been me trying to use her at lvl.18 without respecting NHT. We'll see.

***

On a lighter note, I learned that Cover will, in fact, Cover allies on the other side of a pincer. I also got to witness Celes & Edgar both Cover the same attack (didn't pay attention to who took the damage). Fun stuffs. Cover seems more useful now that I've got actual HP & defenses, though for la-de-da-dolling along just collecting stuff, it was more just there rather than anything real serious.

OK, so, grab Mog, then do Owzer's. Going to have fun with the new Rune Edge + Falchion combo, plus old standards like Mogoon that I haven't played in a while. : )

Enter Narshe Mines.

Get pincer'd by Hot Wheels and Low Rider.

Wipe before I can execute any command.

- _ -

This was going to be a post about how stupidly powerful Gau's Adamantite Rage is. 9999 damage to Inferno, cripples every Narshe encounter save for Hot Wheels + Low Rider and Nastidon x2, the latter of which is solved with Muddle anyways.

Instead, what happens? Right as I'm about to enter the doorway to Mog?

Pincer! Low Rider x2, Wizard x2. Attack, attack, Stop, Magic, Stop, Zombie, death. Couldn't even Warp out since Edgar is Stop'd right as I use a Warp Whistle.

- _ -

So, basically, Pincer = Game Over. I....I'm not sure if it's because I'm "underleveled" for the Narshe Mines or if this is just going to be a thing from now on. I'm going to go buy a Gale Hairpin & Back Guard (haven't bought those in years) and hope this is just a "Narshe Mines is meant for lvl.25 characters" thing. If this keeps up, though, I'll chalk it up as a 4th thing that needs to be looked after for NHT (alongside Hell Angel, Phunbaba, and Phantom Train).

Considering how much I'm relying on Gau's Adamantite Rage to carry me through the Narshe Mines, perhaps it is just an underleveled thing. Maybe NHT is hard enough to force the soft level barriers of the various dungeons. * shrug * We'll see.

- _ -

Well, Owzer's clear. That was a lesson in humility. (vig Celes, vig Mog, vig Sabin, HP/MP Terra. Average finishing level of 22, except Celes at 24)

Chadarnook was simple. Bolt resistant gear, Terra's Cure 2 keeps everyone topped off, Celes & Sabin pound away, Mog Hastes and either Jumps or dances Blues. Simple stuff, just took quite a few rounds because of his HP.

No, the real threat here were the randoms. All encounters are 3, 4, or even 5 (!) buggers who open the fight with powerful physicals or AoEs. I count a handful of Game Overs.

• One to the forced pincer in the painting in the basement (I tripped it on purpose). Or was it an unlucky pincer I got that wiped me right away? Might've been both. Think on one of them, there was nothing I could do. Just got straight up owned before I could input any command.
• One to a Eagle x3, Atlasphere x2 opening. No back attack or nothing, just straight up "We attack first and roll Gale Cut x3, Starlight x2." I died, nothing I could do. Didn't even have poor gear or anything.
• One to the mini-boss painting. I went in unprepared for SleepX, what does she do? SleepX, own me, SleepX right as I get up, Game Over me. HP/MP Terra's & Sabin's stamina stats weren't high enough to do anything.
• One to the Maiden x3 guarding the basement. Tbf, this was more poor planning and "eh, it's not going my way, let's just reset and try again"

: /

The WoR is going to be smooth sailing funnyman. You keep telling yourself that.

Without severe overleveling to create a massive HP & damage buffer, it looks like Gale Hairpin + Back Guard + Ribbon + Muddle spam are going to be mandatory from here on out. Randoms just have too many dudes taking too many turns and hitting too blasted hard, or crippling me with nasty statuses. Turtling doesn't work; while I still need the HP to survive the attacks as well as status immunity, by and large, my only defense is killing & crippling my foes before they can do anything. I can't really rely on the stamina stats of my +1 stamina builds either: Edgar got owned by Stop plenty in the Narshe Mines, and stamina certainly didn't help Terra or Sabin against SleepX or Mute. (Mind you, they're +1 builds prior to having lots of good stamina+ gear, but then again, that's kinda part of my whole issue with trying to use stamina as a makeshift status relic anyways).

Three vigor dudes in Owzer's felt less like a "Easy mode, let's own this place" and more like a "Required team set-up just to survive". Without the dps from striking the low p.def of the foes here, I fear I may not've had the strength to punch through, even with Muddle spam.

I skipped the floating treasure chests because I feared for my life. I'll return to snag them when I'm stronger.

Mt. Zozo is next, after I level up Strago. I'm not looking forward to this, especially not to the Wind Dragon.

***

In more positive news:

Rune Edge Celes is great. Hits as hard as Sabin, but can actually take a hit. With her OHKO's and Cover/Counters, she was my dps MVP for this dungeon. : ' ) I'm so happy, vig Celes is finally a shining star. (Tbf, she was two levels ahead of everyone else). I stuck with Rune Edge + shield because I needed the defense here. Rune Edge + Falchion + Hyper Wrist was used on the mini-boss though.

Mogoon is Mogoon, except that the real shining star here was his statuses. While Terra also has Muddle, Mog's high speed (high starting ATB with the new patch) was a godsend for controlling randoms here. Easily the true MVP of the dungeon. Some battles, alls he did was spam Muddle. Because I was using a Thunderguard for Chadarnook, he spent most of the boss fight either setting Haste or dancing Blues. (Did I mention I like Haste Mog? I like Haste Mog). As per usual, Fire Lance was great for the plants & Trident was useful for the mini-boss.

Sabin did Sabin stuff, claws & Suplex. Didn't use Bum Rush, (though it'd probably have been just as effective as Spirit Claws vs Chadarnook anyways). Did summon Golem in the (mini-)boss fights, but that was about it. Actually less reliable for OHKOs than vig Celes (!), but still, it was Sabin.

Terra = Healbot. Boring, but practical. Also back-up Muddle user, so I guess she's strictly superior to Setzer in that regard. (Oh, and Break outdamaged a single-handed Mogoon vs Chadarnook, but w/e).

Lesson in humility: Please do "easy" and/or short WoR dungeons first with strong immediate rewards (Mt. Zozo, Gogo's Cave, Owzer's), rather than bull-charging to something hard like Yeti. >_<

***

Team: vig Mog (lvl.22 - 24); spd Gau (lvl.20 - 22); HP/MP Terra (lvl.22 - 25); mag Strago (lvl.20 - 22). Most definitely under-leveled, especially the two low HP dudes. Another level or two would've probably changed some OHKO's into 2HKO's.

This time, the randoms were simple, but the bosses were a doozy. The randoms here are all susceptible to very debilitating status effects (Stop, Death, Muddle), which my team has plenty of (Doomstick, Muddle x2, Antlion, Mute, Stop, Bad Breath). Gau & Strago dropped several times, hurting my Phoenix Down supply and further hurting Terra's MP, but overall, randoms in the ruined town / snowfields were simple.

Randoms in the Yeti Cave weren't real any stronger. Rasp / Rock were annoying, but again, status effects took control of the situation. Doomstick was replaced with Quartrstaff, since lots of stuff in here nulls Death.

Biggest issue was that such a long dungeon really hurt Terra's MP supply, even though I've given her 8 Carbunkl ELs. (Also difficulties staying Morphed in boss fights hurts her damage output, making her less MP efficient). I dipped into a handful of my Ether supply and even an X-Ether. I'm not proud of this, and really wish I had done Gogo's Cavern first so that I'd have Edgar for Mana Battery support. Otoh, Battery support can be done later, whereas I don't think Edgar would've helped at all for the Yeti fight.

Also, Gale Hairpin only gave me, like, 2-3 Pre-emptive strikes in this entire dungeon. Useless trinket. Oh well, I'm keeping Back Guard at least.

Side note: For 1.9, I had initially planned on having vig Mog run c(over)/c(ounter) Quartrstaff / Doomstick set-ups prior to finding Longinus and Gungnir. If he fails to proc, he'd still deal strong damage, so total win-win. Decided against it here because Nastidons & Cerberus hit way too hard to play around with c/c. Probably should've tried it in Yeti's Cave though. Oops.

***

Tritoch was, as usual annoying. Difference is that he's now fast enough to be dangerous. (Also, Thordain = death to Gau & Strago). I stuck to a Refract plan while Morph Terra whittled away at him with Fire 3 - used my first Ether for this fight. Mog had to Sun Bath a once or twice (failed it mostly), and I ultimately won with a few people eating dirt and zero MP left. Closest Tritoch fight I've ever had. Tbf, I think I could've improved my strat (and starting MP) to greatly smooth out the fight.

Tonberry's a jerk. First, I forget to set Mute, eating multiple Step Mines. - _ - Second, I learn the hard way that he un-Mutes everytime he returns to the back. - _ - Third, I learn that he's so fast that he'll Shank 4 times before I can revive anyone, so it's Conjurer (Rerise) or bust. - _ - Doesn't help that Shank can't be dodged via Image. Stupid. Kept a save state here to avoid walking back everytime I died.

Yeti................@$(TQGN# BN(JF@Q#$%H(Q#*G(UAV A(W*E)R(@#Q)(FVQG#$GNA(JU(SI*TW#$JNGV IW N(J$

I really should've gotten more levels (HP) before trying this. Reset that save state right before the boss fight so many times. Also learned that pissy boss mode does, in fact, set Haste alongside Safe and Shell.

Otoh, I'm quite proud of my victory against this bugger. Turtling up by stacking as much Image support as I can (Refract, Witch Rage, Desert Aria) with as much speed on those three characters as possible; keeping everyone topped off with Holy Wind, Tonics/Potions, and the occasionally Sun Bath (Aria); setting Zoneseek initially while equipping Wind resistant gear & auto-Haste (Blizzard) (Iceguard would've helped, hence, why I should've done Mt. Zozo first); and letting Witch Gau and unMorph Terra slowly beat him down with Fire 3 (lacked Dispel, but oh well). Once I got this strategy down, I beat him in two tries (sans the times he just straight up killed me on the first turn >_<).

Few levels would've still helped Gau & Strago survive at least one Yeti attack. Thankfully, Mog & Terra had enough HP/defense to survive a few attack or one Takedown.

I now have Terrato. Once I snag Alexander (later), I'm esper resetting Sabin, Edgar, Celes, and Cyan. Celes so I can go pure Phantom + Alex (she's Ramuh + Seraph right now). Cyan for Tempest (I don't trust c/c in NHT). Sabin for Terrato Sabin > : ). And Edgar because I want Siren ELs.

***

Mog didn't mogoon. Instead, he played support with status, rods, and dance. Forgot to do Quartrstaff + c/c in Yeti's: oh well. For once in my life, I actually liked Desert Aria. Strago's Refract and the Witch Rage are definitely better, but I needed a third source of Image from , and Aria did a decent job. Also got some clutch Sun Baths and Meerkats. So, not a great primary source of Image/heals (to random), but it's a nice back-up to take some of the pressure of your primary Image/heal person. I think vig Mog's speed also plays a role here: timing and # of turns seems more important for this dance, rather than raw power. BUT....otoh, Sand Storm was counterproductive - did zero damage and even triggered Takedown counterattacks. - _ - Not a fan of Sand Storm.

Terra needs Battery support. : ( Granted, this is a long dungeon prior, with no Restore Points, but half of my MP ELs are Carbunkl. Probably should just let the remainder of her ELs be Unicorn. Fire 3 still saved the day here, against all 3 bosses. I couldn't Morph against Yeti. I can't reliably keep Image up all the time, so Terra needed to be able to take a hit or two. I doubt more Unicorn ELs would've changed that, and her level wasn't too bad (25), so, meh, no Morph against Yeti.

Strago was here for Refract + Holy Wind (all in speed equips), though he got to also pitch in with statuses, Quartrstaff counters, and a few Razes.

Gau used Antlion & Brawler for randoms (status control), Dragon for Tonberry, and Witch for Yeti and Tritoch.

As I say I will do on Discord I will post my progress here I don't know if I'm going to complete it but we'll see

Beginning of the game :

Figaro :

Mont Koltz :

Lethe River :

Because it seems like what all the cool kids are doing, I decided to try my hand at NHT too. I'll probably just be posting highlights.

Biggest highlight: Gau is massively MVP everywhere I can use him.

Ultros 1:

Phantom Train:

Ultros 2:

Number 024:

Number 128:

Cranes:

Sealed Cave:

Heartfire:

Ultros 3:

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by how doable NHT is so far. I haven't run into anything I've felt was "unfair" other than pincer attacks.

Fuck Atma Weapon

Continuing so

Terra's scenario has nothing important going on for it

Locke's scenario :

Sabin's scenario :

Narshe battle :

Road to Terra :

Got all the characters! Now to clean everything up and go to KT.

Dullahan:

Phunbaba:

Road to Chadarnook:

Tritoch:

Doomgaze:

Yeti:

After getting feedback and discussion about solutions, I've put out a V4 of NHT.

The objective of this version is to ensure that the player always has a tool to handle pincer/back attacks and to always have the means to get out of combat with randoms (Warp Whistles) because running in NHT is pointless.

I'm amused that this quick and dirty stat hack that was made as a joke is starting to slowly take off as more and more people keep trying it, and then it keeps getting small tweaks to make it more "fair".
Maybe one of these days I should give it a shot as well since I have a problem of over exploring areas and getting a bit too much exp anyway.

Brown-D and Blue-D: practically free.

Purple-D:

Wrexsoul:

Red-D:

Silver-D:

Hidon:

Time for FT and then KT! God help me

11 hours ago, Nowea said:

After getting feedback and discussion about solutions, I've put out a V4 of NHT.

The objective of this version is to ensure that the player always has a tool to handle pincer/back attacks and to always have the means to get out of combat with randoms (Warp Whistles) because running in NHT is pointless.

Is the update will work with save from the previous version ?

7 hours ago, Nesouk said:

Is the update will work with save from the previous version ?

Should work just fine, just do typical proper patching procedure and patch NHT onto a clean BNW and you should be good. (hell, patching it onto a V3 patched ROM should also be fine but idk)

FT:

Warp Whistle from nearly every encounter

White-D:

Magimaster:

Alright, guess it's time for KT....!

@Deschain @thzfunnymzn and anyone else:

Any chance you 2 could fill us in on what levels you have been completing stuff at?

KT: Ok, first, how to split the party.

Atma:

Inferno:

Green-D:

Guardian:

Gold-D:

Kaiser:

So now I have exactly 8 Remedies left because I completely forgot to restock on them before coming, I should probably leave before doing the Goddesses...

@Nowea Current levels, before fighting the Goddesses

Myria:

Asura:

Isis:

Fuck I have 4 Remedies left. Hope that's enough!

Kefka:

Okay, so! Thoughts.

1) I don't like the nerfs to HP espers, I think the speed increase does a good enough job at increasing difficulty, the HP nerfs just made a lot of ITD attacks feel unfair. If the HP nerf stays, I think Meteo/Quasar/Moonlight(?) need a small nerf to compensate.

2) M. Block is absolutely essential. You basically need to make sure you're dodging enough attacks that their missing compensates for them getting twice as many turns. By the end of the game most of my strategy involved "how can I efficiently put as many points into M. Block as possible and still be able to do other things I need to do." Other than on jumping characters I pretty much didn't equip an item if it didn't give M. Block.

Other than that, it really never felt unfair. I always felt like I was able to figure out how to win, with the tools the game gives. Which really says something about how insanely well balanced BNW is.

...OK, so, Deschain is a better player than me, and also a significantly faster player than me.

1) I'll take Deschain's remark as proof positive that HP nerfs was a bad idea then (I know I'm at least part of the reason for why it happened). Guess that validates what I'm seeing that HP esper nerfs is also homogenizing character HP values too much. Probably also hurts Cover/Counter too.

2) ...Dang, I stopped paying attention to eva and mg.eva a long time ago. Probably because I keep pushing & trying novel (aka, downright stupid) strategies. Oops

Gogo's Cavern: (Vig Celes, Vig Sabin, Mag Strago, Umaro)

Zone Eater? Easy peasy. Just have Umaro and Ocean Sabin rip him a new one

Randoms? Sigh.

First time, died right before save point to a Shinobi / Ogor / O-Bake combo. Didn't have any Warp Whistles, got status controlled to death.

Second time, died the very first random.  Wart Puck's Quartr followed by Ogor 3x attack "Oh, I'm sorry, is your whole team dead without chance to do anything? Here, we'll put Sabin to sleep as well." - _ -

Umaro has 90 stamina. Does that do jack-all guarding against Ogor's Zombie Strike? Nope. Umaro got Zombie'd more often than not, and a Zombie Umaro is an instant Warp Whistle. (I officially give up trying to rely on stamina for status evasion. Time to go buy a full set of status immune relics). This on top of my usual "Someone got Muddled first thing in a random, let's just Warp Whistle and ignore this random"

Oh, and I still hate those buggers on the stupid bridges.

I want to fight an enjoy the battles here. I really do. But, like Fanatics', this is the one area where, more often than not, I just Warp Whistle.

*****

In brighter news:

Bodyguard Umaro works nice. Overleveled Yeti does a great job protecting the party. Shame he got Zombie'd so often.

Dunno which version it happened in, but I like being able to Stop undead. There were a number of Ogor fights I could win simply because of Strago's Stop. Also liked being able to Mute those stupid dancers.

Celes' Kusarigama got to show its face again. It's actually not terribly much stronger than the Rune Edge against high defense foes and lacks stats, but doesn't drain MP. Hmm.... (+HP% on flails? Would give Strago an actual reason to equip them. It's a spitball)

The only real unstoppable random here was O-Bake / Shinobi / Ogor. Ninjas are dangerous, even when berserked; Ogor can potentially ruin a fight before he can be Stopped; and O-Bake has Discord, plus he can't really be dealt with until the other two are handled. Most the other randoms can be dealt with via status control before they get out of hand. The Wart Puck / Ogor cheap shot was a stroke of bad luck. Don't take this the wrong way, as this still is one of the most dangerous WoR dungeons.

*****

Now, off to recruit Cyan, and then to clear his Soul so that I can respec for Phantom Celes and Terrato Sabin.

Stickied. I shoulda done this sooner. 

1 hour ago, Mishrak said:

Stickied. I shoulda done this sooner. 

I consider this an official endorsement 
V5 output, while re-reading @thzfunnymzn playthrough I saw he had reported ELs claiming they gave more HP than they do.

No, they give the reported HP. I'm just agreeing with Deschain that it should be reverted to normal, since double enemy speed is bad enough.

OK, so, before heading into Mt. Zozo, let's actually grind up magic points for Setzer and Relm so that they actually have their WoR magics. Which means killing Doom Gaze and obtaining Heiji's Coin.

Heiji's Coin was simple. Setzer just cast regen on himself and slowly wittled the foe down with Dice. Think I had Seraph equipped for some sort of immunity, and that was it.

As for Doom Gaze, I took Umaro, vig Mog, mag Strago, and HP/MP Terra

mag Strago was really just there for support. Considered Gogo to have a Chakra and a spare Life 2 user, but I don't need Chakra for Doom Gaze and he's got too little MP for Life 2. (Probably still would've been a fine choice though). Managed to get some use out of the Sage Stone with X-Slow and X-Shell. No damage though. (X-Ice2 was his best option, at 2800 damage to the 4k+ everyone else was doing).

Got a nice Tritoch summon with Terra for 7k+ damage (to Fire 3's 4k+). Also, Life 2 proved useful when Doom decided to laugh at my characters. She also dodged two bullets (Aero and Bolt 2) after being revived at 1 HP from eating her own Doom.

vig Mog did vig Mog stuff. Flew around in the sky with a flaming spear, did damage, got wrecked with Bolt damage, got used as a battering ram by Umaro for 9999, etc, etc. Mog stuff.

Umaro face tanked everything, did Bodyguard stuff once, and threw a few characters for big damage.

***

Grinded Setzer and Relm up, so when I next play, its Mt. Zozo time. Complete with killing the Wind Dragon.

Umaro's nice right now. Halved effectiveness on HP espers means his HP advantage is unchallenged. Also, his level advantage is a lot more useful when things are harder.

Went into Mt. Zozo with spd Gau, stam Edgar, mag Relm, stam Setzer. Levels 24, 23, 21, 21 respectively.

Crushed randoms with status and AoE. Ran from Colossus though.

Wind Dragon was a slow fight, though I still won it comfortably in my first try. Gau raged Dragon, Relm & Setzer danced between supporting with heal / Rerise and attacking with Flare / GP Rain (and needed lots of MP support). Edgar pretended to be mag Edgar, lul.

I....summoned Fenrir. Saved Gau & Relm the first few times, but then Edgar's Image never dissipated, so he was never able to Cover Gau or Relm. Had Palidor equipped, so no Golem summon. Oops? Still won, but it meant that Edgar's main use never came into play. Also, magic attacks chew through Edgar's HP rather quickly. Tbf, he didn't die, unlike everyone else.

Relm died in one hit to Wind Claw counters. Should've gone and gained more levels with her. Flare isn't as strong as I remember; about same power as GP Toss. I presume I've been doing something wrong in my recent games for Flare to feel so weak. Either that or its the low level really weighing her down. Also forgot to learn RegenX before the fight. Oops. She spent a decent deal of time healing with Osmose, though only for 96 MP a pop.

Setzer healed, threw money (ouch, my wallet!), spammed RegenX, and occasionally used Rerise and Bio. Had to be supported with a Mana Battery. Useful, though I wish I had more GP so I didn't feel so bad using GP Toss.

Gau clocked Wind Dragon upside the head for 4400 a pop with his Rage, much more than Relm's & Setzer's 2800. Also moved much faster than them, so despite the random Glares, he was definitely my dps here. (Snow Muffler and a higher level helps a lot though). Seriously, Bone Club is absurd once its obtained. Hurtmore and Umaro are easily my strongest attacks right now, to a little bit of a ridiculous degree. (But Gau balance is another topic of discussion entirely, and we're all ready busy with stamina discussion over in the other topic).

***

Next up is clearing Cyan's Soul. Going to actually grind up in the FT first for ELs and Levels. I am so not doing Cyan's Soul at levels in the low 20's. Afterwards, I'm esper resetting Edgar (to magic), Sabin (to Terrato), Cyan (vig + Alex), and Celes (Phantom + Alex).

I finished it.

Wasn't too brutal with the speed increase once you build around it and prepare to take a lot of hits and do a lot of pre-heals. 

Cleared Cyan's Soul. vig Sabin, stam Edgar, mag Relm, all level 23 - 24

Also, I made an esper reset. Celes, Sabin, Edgar, Cyan. I finally have people who have other 1,000 HP naturally, w00t!!

***

First order of business is getting a Punisher Rod for dealing with the Dream Jerks. Relm's going to be MVP for the boss fights. To do that, I need either the Wing Edge near the entrance to the Phoenix Cave or the Avenger near the entrance to the Cave to the Ancient Castle, and then trade said item in the trading circle in the Colosseum. I opt for the Avenger, guarded by Master T.

Team is: MP/HP Terra, mag Strago, vig Sabin, mag Relm

Turns out, 'Gank' can miss now (or was it always like that). Huzzah! Does mean that this guy becomes a lot simpler: Mute, Golem, p.eva, lots of Fire damage. Morph Terra does 7k+ even without magic EL investment, Raze & Flare do 3800 - 4400, and Fire Claws are doing 4.5k. Master T crumples without a hitch, Colosseum trade goes quickly.

***

First area of Cyan's Soul, I actually bother to clear a random with Meteor. Otherwise, just running to the Stooges with Back Guard + Gale Hairpin equipped.

For the Stooges, courtesy of @Satarack, I have discovered Reflect Ring strategies, making these guys so much simpler. I was dreading these punks on NHT, as they normally give me trouble every game. Reflect Rings made this fight a lot simpler. Also, Relm's RegenX cuts through Reflect. ^ _ ^

Edgar's purpose is to SlowX. After that, he mostly pretends like he's mag Edgar, with Bio Blaster, Defib, Cure 2, and Battery. I didn't even equip a spear for Cover because speed (Falchion) was more important. I brought Edgar along for Cyan's Soul because he's one of my lower level dudes and has SlowX. Mog perhaps would've been a wiser choice, but you know what, oh well.

Sabin's purpose was to be dps, but it turns out that Poison Claws only do 950 damage a pop (as does the proc), so...uhh...stam Edgar was outdamaging Sabin. >_< Berserk Sabin did better, but I couldn't berserk him until the top stooge is down because getting through the first part of the fight is top priority. Multiple opponents at double speed = not fun.

Relm's purpose turned out to be dps. Punisher's Dark proc hit for 7k, nearly 8k, damage a pop. Granted, the rng decided it hated me most of the time, but the raw damage output compared to the Figaro Bros. couldn't be ignored. It ain't the Figaro game anymore. RNG decided it liked me for the last dude and proc'd Dark thrice in a row, ending his life quickly. Otherwise, Relm also threw out RegenX.

***

Soul Train portion was handled with more Poison. Caves portion was the usual Bolt + Heal nonsense, though with some high damage killing Relm once.

***

Wrexsoul, otoh, was a pill. It took me many resets. Despite improving my strategy & tactics a bit, there was still some luck to the fight. Namely, with who Wrexsoul had infected and Flare / Meteo. It's rare that I pull together a team for Cyan's Soul that can easily handle both Dream Stooges and Soul Fires, though that may also be because I keep trying to clear Cyan's Soul at lower than expected levels. >_<

Sabin actually was the dps for this fight. After summoning Golem, his job was to berserk himself (so, no Reflect Ring, ; _ ; ) so that he can wail on the Soul Fires for 1.7k Ocean Claw strikes, plus the occasional critical (2.8k) and Drain proc keeping him topped off. Spreading out the damage proved useful, since the last Soul Fire going berserk proved difficult to handle, so it needs to be nearly dead when the first one dies.

Relm's job was also to provide damage (Flare) and the occasional Cure 3 after setting up with RegenX and Rerise. I tried to have her Flare whichever Soul Fire had been taking less damage so as to avoid the "last Soul Fire goes berserk" problem. Relm kept a Reflect Ring on, protecting her from Flare & Lifeshaver. For the winning run, this and Relm's high mg.eva for dodging Meteo proved invaluable, as she was the one who Wrexsoul had "possessed." Reflect Ring, Red Cap, and high mg.eva meant she never died despite the Figaro Bros. dying, so I was able to win.

Edgar was least valuable person here. SlowX is still nice, as was Hasting Sabin, but otherwise, he mostly sits on a full ATB until someone needs healing because I can't afford not to have someone without an active turn ready because of double speed Soul Fires. Also, Defib proved useful.

I had to use 2 Phoenix Tears, an X-Potion, and an Ether in the winning run. What jerks. Ultimately, though, it's my fault for dragging some underleveled Figaro Bros along to a late WoR dungeon. Probably should've replaced Sabin with Mog, come to think of it.

***

Well, I still made it through, and went straight to esper resetting Celes, Sabin, Edgar, and Cyan.

For Edgar, I gave up on stam Edgar and reset him to mag Edgar. 5 Unicorn, 10 Siren. He basically was a bad mag Edgar for Cyan's Soul anyways, might as well stick with it. I'll use Umaro, Celes, or Locke if I want C/C. (Might try Shadow).

Sabin has been reset to Terrato Sabin for the lulz. 15 Terrato. Probably should grab some Stray.

Cyan has been reset to vig Cyan, because that's the way you play Cyan. Actually, he's still got 8 Alexander ELs, so he's still bulky. Need to grind him up, as he's only at 18/9 right now.

Celes was reset to Phantom / Alexander Celes instead of Ramuh / Seraph Celes. 8 Alex, 7 Phantom, with more Phantom coming. Get to try out a bulky c/c Celes with ???.

***

I have no idea what's up next. I guess the Phoenix Cave?

Beat Phoenix Cave & Cave on the Veldt, grinded up Cyan (vig), Locke (kirin, with some phoenix), and Shadow (spd), grabbed Illumina, and am now ready to grind Hero Shield, kill Earth Dragon, and then conquer Ancient Castle. Mostly breezed through everything on auto-pilot. Hopefully, hard stuffs over until Kefka's, with a couple of exceptions (Holy Dragon).

Levels were mostly 25 across the board, with a few hitting 26. Terra hit 27 at some point, forgot when.

Also, I completely forgot to try out Phantom Celes these two dungeons. Uhh.....oops?

***

P.Cave, Dragon Killers: spd Gau, Umaro, HP/MP Terra, mag Edgar

P.Cave, Other Team: HP Sabin, stam Setzer, vig Cyan, mag Strago

Umaro and Gau wrecked the cave. 6k Hurtmores at top speed from Gau, and Umaro tanks stuff, kills stuff, and guards allies a ton. Terra & Edgar kinda just watched them half the time, with Terra having a knack for being turned to stone or getting killed by Blowfish (damsel in distress). The other half of the time, Umaro and Gau kept missing, so Terra would have to pick up the slack. Edgar kept Terra's MP going with the Battery, healed, and sometimes Muddled stuff. Only difficult fight for this team was Sea Flower x5, and half of the difficulty was the annoyance of watching Gau & Umaro slag through it while Edgar & Terra keep everyone healed.

The other team, otoh, kinda struggled a bit, with only vig Cyan really looking good. Tbf, I messed up my Strago strategy. I relied mostly on Raze and Tsunami, and while Tsunami turned out solid, Raze was kinda meh. Should've gone Rod + Black Belt for single-target damage. Probably should've tried some Shoat strats with stam Setzer, as half the time I did attack, I tended to use either Bio or attempt insta-death.

HP Sabin is a lie. Dude could barely scratch anything without Water/Ice weakness (Mus and Witches). Also, his HP gets chewed through very quickly, requiring constant healing. Which means no Cover strats for Sabin. Guess I can turn him into a Chakra battery instead.

Fire Dragon exploded. 8k Ice 3's from Morph Terra, 6.5k Blizzards from Umaro, Gau doing 3k Ninja Waves at ~80 speed, and he can barely hurt me because of my resistances. Tbf, claws and blowfish are threatening, and berserk is annoying, but mostly, he got 'sploded.

Oh, and I got Locke. Yay, Locke. I can now continue playing as Kirin Locke. I finally have more C/C users besides Umaro! (Umaro's still the best)

At some point there, Umaro threw Terra for 9k+ damage, whereas he was normally tossing people for 6k+ damage. Also, every other time he threw Terra, it was for 6k+ damage. So iunno what happened there. Also, pincer'd Sea Flowers + Wavecannon = minor graphical glitch of Wavecannon dancing around between which side it's gonna hit.

***

Cave on the Veldt was Chakra team. HP Sabin, HP/MP Terra, Kirin Locke, mag Relm, all 'sploding stuff with magics while Sabin supports. Can't really tell how strong the strat is overall because I'm nearly endgame strength running over an early/mid-WoR dungeon. Won't really get to know until I take it to Kefka's either.

It was mostly Relm and Terra 'sploding randoms with Meteor, Flare, Fire 3, and Ice 3. Locke did Cover fairly well, but it wasn't really necessary right now. Sabin never died and no one ran out of MP. Can't tell if HP Sabin is a better Chakra battery than stam Sabin b/c of survivability or if it's just being overlevelled.

Tiamat exploded. Morph Ice 3 and Flare followed by Morph Fire 3 and X-Fire 3 (without Rogue Cloak, but oh well). Didn't last long.

When Tiamat comes from behind, does that switch row or not? I assumed it did, but then I told Terra & Relm to switch rows and they go forward. Don't recall Locke ever Covering anyone after the switch either, though Tiamat did explode pretty quickly. Also, Tiamat Haymaker'd Morph Terra for ~1200 damage after she switched rows (going forward).

***

Eh, I kinda wanted too long to get Locke, Shadow, Cyan, re-spec Phantom Celes, etc, and now I don't have too much time to play with them before Kefka's. Also forgot to use vig Mog more and, being underleveled most of the time, had little time to play with Chakra. Oops. Otoh, I do know how vig Mog, Cyan, and Shadow work anyways.

I'll go 'splode the Earth Dragon next time before going to the Ancient Castle. Shadow's coming along for the ride, dunno who else is. Probably should bring Mog.

Hey there,

How does one go about patching this?  My friend and I are going to give it a playthrough.

FF3 US -> BNW -> Nowea HT?  Or just straight from original to Nowea?

What's the difference in the two files?

Thanks!

37 minutes ago, MGE said:

FF3 US -> BNW -> Nowea HT? 

Correct.

[H] is if you're using a headered rom, [N] is if you're using a non-headered rom. If you have to ask, you are probably using a non-headered rom.

52 minutes ago, Deschain said:

Correct.

[H] is if you're using a headered rom, [N] is if you're using a non-headered rom. If you have to ask, you are probably using a non-headered rom.

Many thanks, we're hoping this offers a great challenge.  We've played through just about every hack and hard mode for most Final Fantasy games that are available and are still looking for a very difficult challenge.  Thanks again.

WoR has too much grinding. Maybe I just play inefficiently.

Grinded out Hero Shield, made several trades in the Colosseum, and also re-spec'd Setzer to The Bank because of some discussion that's been going on in Discord and b/c Bank is just better than stam anyways. (OK, OK, GP Toss should start doing good damage once you stack enough stamina, but by that point, I'll have Fixed Dice. Sides, I got Umaro for c/c).

Ancient Castle will be spd Shadow, vig Mog, Phantom Celes, and Bank Setzer. My first actual test run of c/c Illumina Celes. We'll see how it goes.

Finished Ancient Castle and Ebot's Rock. Only few last things (grind to 30, Dragons, Cultist's Tower), and then Kefka's.

***

Ancient Castle. spd Shadow, Phantom Celes, vig Mog, Bank Setzer. Start at levels 25/15, finish at 28/18. Ancient Castle and Narshe seem to be dungeons of the WoR that really give EXP; don't think I've gotten huge jumps in level in any other WoR dungeon.

Randoms were swept with a mix of Kunai, Fire Scroll (Zorathians), Jumps, Illumina, and Bank Setzer throwing the fancy Black Dart weapon talked about in Discord. I don't think anything really threatened me. Also got to have fun with Kagenui's X-Fight. WEAPON was handled with Water Scroll and Water Rondo; found 3-4 of them, so major EXP and EP.

Katanasoul perished under a mountain of Fire Scrolls and Illuminas. High HP (finally) means he didn't kill me with GP Toss.

Got fancy Genji Shield for for Phantom Celes.

For Water Dragon, Shadow, despite having high speed Bolt Scrolls, has no Water resistance, so, uh, he died a lot. (Forgot about Kagenui + Orochi strats, oops). Him dropping a lot was probably the chink in my armor for that fight. Otherwise, Celes and Mog did a good job pummeling the dragon while Setzer kept everyone healed up.

Return trip, however, I was majorly drained on MP, so I had to resort to Zantetsuken and Slots for return battles. Boxxy x3 is b0rked; I got hit with three S.Cross's in a row, no chance to react, and just flat died. >_< Otherwise, I made it through about the same as normal, just slower.

For Shadow, despite dropping a lot against the Water Dragon, performed well. I forget how powerful he is. Still dislike his frailty and lack of build variety. Oh well.

Phantom Celes was amazing and may be my new favorite build for Celes. Illumina hits plenty hard right now, and C/C does a nice job increasing her damage output. Didn't need the defensive benefits for Mog and Setzer though. Also, Illumina chews through her MP really fast. (Hmm.....chews threw MP fast, Cover to defend frail characters. I'm seeing a character to pair with stam Sabin and mages). Cover also defends people on the other side of a pincer, hilariously. Otoh, I'm concerned that she won't be as effective once enemies get harder in Kefka's.

Mogoon was Mogoon. Punisher strats would've been stronger, but enemies here were easy enough that I just stuck with Partisan for conserving MP. (And I talk so much about Punisher being better than Partisan). I did use Punisher strats for the Water Dragon though, for the extra damage. Dragon died right as Mog ran out of MP too.

Bank Setzer is invincible and has an infinite amount of MP. For just strolling through the dungeon, I had, effectively, an infinite amount of MP for throwing the Black Dart. Otoh, Seraph and Cures drained my MP after the Water Dragon fight, so I had to resort to Slots. Oh well.

***

Ebot's Rock was done with mag Strago, mag Relm, stam Sabin, and Kirin Locke.

Randoms died to X-Zone.

Hidon was a surprising bugger on Hard Type. Probably b/c of two low HP characters, forgetting to set Slow, and forgetting to summon Golem to handle early battle physicals. >_< Herp derp.

X-Fire3 did 12k damage to Hidon. (Yes, I used X-Locke with Kirin Locke. Omega Valiance was used for randoms).  Even when Locke's MP bottomed out (I used an Ether once) and I had to resort to Fire3-Fire2 combo while Sabin Chakra'd, he still did 9k. My main damage dealer.

Sabin spammed Chakra to keep X-Locke going. Also used Mantra a few times to restore HP, but eventually, Locke's MP meant he had to Chakra full time. Didn't bother with Aurabolt; actually, I competely forgot it existed. Wouldn't have helped, b/c I wanted to keep on Hidonite alive to prevent a respawn.

Strago, as usual, was kinda just there. He used Tsunami to help control Hidonites at first, but afterwards, resorted to Holy Wind, when he wasn't down on HP from Quasar. @BTB, please remove Poison absorb from Hidon, it's frustrating that Strago doesn't actually put down his rival from his youth. (Actually, please swap Fire weakness for Poison weakness. I want to blow up Hidon with X-Dark).

Relm did Relm stuff. Sketch'd for Black Omen, RegenX / Cure 3 at times, and used Flare (and got Mute'd in response).

I...really b0rked this battle. Should've had White Cape on Relm, summoned Golem, Slow'd him earlier on, etc, etc. >_< Stupid. Oh well/

***

Imma take stam Sabin, X-Strago, and Phantom Celes to one of the dragon fights. (Not Holy Dragon). Don't have a second Sage Stone, so can't do a double X-Mage strategy. Ah well, maybe I'll drag Terra or Relm along. Probably Ice Dragon, for the Morph Fire 3. Might also try to get this team working in Kefka's.

Otherwise, standard endgame ahoy.

2 hours ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Imma take stam Sabin, X-Strago, and Phantom Celes to one of the dragon fights. (Not Holy Dragon). ... Ah well, maybe I'll drag Terra or Relm along. Probably Ice Dragon, for the Morph Fire 3. Might also try to get this team working in Kefka's.

Enjoy! Morphed Terra spamming lategame spells, C/C Illumina Phantom Celes, and Stam Sabin for MP support are BFFs. It's one configuration where relegating Sabin to MP-recovery duty doesn't feel like a waste. Strago would make a great fourth wheel, bringing Shield, X-Shell, Refract, and some heavy Poison and Water elemental  coverage to the table. I've used Relm as the fourth in this configuration to great satisfaction as well. Having 3 characters who can all switch hit between healing and DPS like champs is extreme luxury.

I feel like it's high time I take a stab at NHT. This thread has me craving another run, and this patch should make things fresh enough. Maybe toss on a few beta patches (Elemental mixing, ephemeral reflect, encounter rate) for extra freshness.

Speaking of fresh new things, what is this Black Dart for Setzer you speak of? I don't recall coming across that before.

I'm guessing he modded Setzer's darts based on something BTB will likely make a post relatively soon on regarding 1.10 development

22 hours ago, SirNewtonFig said:

Enjoy! Morphed Terra spamming lategame spells, C/C Illumina Phantom Celes, and Stam Sabin for MP support are BFFs. It's one configuration where relegating Sabin to MP-recovery duty doesn't feel like a waste. Strago would make a great fourth wheel, bringing Shield, X-Shell, Refract, and some heavy Poison and Water elemental  coverage to the table. I've used Relm as the fourth in this configuration to great satisfaction as well. Having 3 characters who can all switch hit between healing and DPS like champs is extreme luxury.

I feel like it's high time I take a stab at NHT. This thread has me craving another run, and this patch should make things fresh enough. Maybe toss on a few beta patches (Elemental mixing, ephemeral reflect, encounter rate) for extra freshness.

Speaking of fresh new things, what is this Black Dart for Setzer you speak of? I don't recall coming across that before.

As Nowea said, I made a modification based on 1.10 development. Also making a change to Dark based on 1.10 development. X-Strago is going to wreck Holy Dragon.

For Chakra spam, my main issue has always been that I felt like there's too few configurations where it's truly useful, meaning it's difficult to use Chakra Sabin without pre-planning into specific set-ups. Chakra itself is pretty boss (1.10 development looks like it'll buff Chakra itself, which I'm not a fan of). C/C was just recently introduced, so my lack of playing 1.9 means I missed a new use for Chakra Sabin. Throughout most of BNW's history, Osmose was pretty op, so Relm and Strago didn't need Chakra support either, meaning Chakra Sabin was limited to Morph Boxless Terra, X-Mog, and X-Locke. I...I'm a stubborn mule, so it's taken me 2-3 playthroughs of recent versions to accept that new Relm does want Figaro support. Not sold on Strago wanting Figaro support (support spells are cheap, his dps is unimpressive without a weakness), but the aforementioned new Dark change is meant to change that.

EDIT: Also, technically, I'm running Terrato Sabin with a few Stray. So far, I prefer Terrato Sabin at Chakra support rather than Stray Sabin.

Cultist's Tower done. Easiest time I've ever had with this place. HP/MP Terra, spd Shadow, HP Sabin, mag Strago.

For the randoms, adding Gale Hairpin, Back Guard, and spd Shadow with Warp to the Reflect Ring set-ups makes it much easier to skip all the encounters here. They never once did major damage to me, despite NHT's double speed. Therefore, I childishly stick my tongue out at this place. : p

For the Holy Dragon, everyone's at level 30, equipped with HP boosters, and with decent enough stamina for mg.dmg variance to matter. (Despite playing mag Strago, Strago's stamina meant Holy came just short of a OHKO. This proved very crucial to keeping my momentum going). After the initial buff / debuff phase, the strat is that Terra's the healer, Shadow runs other support (Rerise, HasteX, Smoke Bombs, spot-heals when Terra's not available), HP Sabin spams Chakra (used Mantra twice), and X-Dark Strago is the dps. Terra and Shadow are running White Capes to avoid my support structure getting halted by Mute. X-Dark's great dps for this fight, but I'm also playtesting a proposed 1.10 idea: a Dark that's stronger but costs more MP (from 72 to 90 BPow, from 32 to 42 MP), so that X-Dark is more useful as a general-purpose attack (instead of just for Poison weakness or low mg.def). Idea is that X-Strago gets a true general-purpose, top-tier dps attack, but the high MP cost should mean he wants Figaro support.

Even if I hadn't run a stronger X-Dark, this was definitely my easiest Holy Dragon fight in a long, long time. (New X-Dark meant 14k damage instead of 11k. Still breaking the damage cap). Everything went very smoothly. So...another toast to Chakra Sabin, although part of that toast also goes to just having high HP. I like high HP. It's nice finally having high HP. * glares at nerfed HP espers * Course, I did most of the WoR "underleveled" (running into later WoR dungeons at below level 25), so some of this is my fault.

Oh, add spd Shadow to the list of people who like Chakra support, even though he doesn't care for it as much as an X-Mage.

Magimaster died a horribly, bloody death, as per usual. Do I need to comment on this fool?

***

Since I've got a real dps tool for Strago now, I did something unusual (for me) and traded out the Box for another Crystal Orb. Thamasa Duo are both getting an Orb for moar damage! If I hadn't had this new tool, I'd have probably kept the Box and used mag Strago more as a mixed & speedy support dude with good off-turn attacks. Both of which would've meant limiting Chakra Sabin to Relm + C/C Celes. With a real dps tool, I've got a few different options for how to build Chakra team; options are nice.

Only things left before Kefka's are Earth Dragon and Ice Dragon. (Oh, also, I ran from those forced pincers in Owzer's. Gonna go back for my mullah). I'll forgo a Chakra team for either since I all ready got my fill with Cultist's.

Defeated Warring Triad. Only Kefka remaining. Everyone's at 30, except for a few at 31.

Team 1 is Team Chakra: HP Sabin, HP/MP Terra, Phantom Celes, mag Strago. After the fork, they'll fight Asura. Also, again, testing out the in-development Dark for 1.10. (Slightly higher BPow, but also slightly higher MP cost).

Team 2 is glass cannon team. mag Edgar, mag Relm, spd Gau, vig Cyan. I thought they'd fight Myria (Flurry & Hurtmore), but they fought Isis instead. Oops.

Team 3 is a bunch of bulky dudes and a ninja. Kirin Locke, vig Mog, Bank Setzer, and spd Shadow. I thought they'd fight Isis, but they fought Myria instead. Oops.

***

Unless Kefka pulls a surprise, Nowea, I think you've gotten most of my feedback. There's a few bosses that need to be looked at (Phunbaba especially), and Back Attacks need to be less "rng kill you". Also gonna agree with Deschain that HP ELs have been lowered a bit too much. I'd at least bring them back up to 2/3 strength (+20, +40).

I'll comment more on general 1.9 thoughts some other time.

Commenting on 1.9 in general:

Defeated Kefka. Had to level grind up to lvl 34/25 in order to defeat him though. T1, T2, and Kefka himself are no jokes.

Team: HP/MP Terra, mag Edgar, mag Strago, mag Relm. (spd Relm would've been much superior. Oh well)

General Strategy: Strago is damage unit using 1.10's X-Dark. Occasionally uses Black Omen. Uses Shield prior to T2, and Holy Wind / X-Items as needed. Relm is Rerise / Cure 3 support, as well as occasional damage. Terra is tank and healer, with the occasional damage. Edgar provides the critical SlowX for T1 and T2, as well as being another support unit, especially since I'm low on Ethers. (Fast foes = lots of healers, one big damage dude).

T1: Strago picks off Face (9999 x2 damage thx to weakness), Left Arm (also big damage, low mg.def), and then Right Arm (also big damage). Edgar uses SlowX, Hastes / heals everyone, occasionally run Battery support (I'm low on Ethers). Relm and Terra do their thing. Strago sets Shield before going to fight T2.

T2: Lost twice due to sheer bad luck (Berserk and Freeze; no Ribbon and no stamina). SlowX is essential to getting this guy under control. T1 and T2 are perhaps the only fights in the game where I feel like I actually want high stamina. Memorized actual opponents here: top-right Hit was nuked with X-Dark (9999 x2), bottom-right Tiger was nuked with double Ice 2 (6000 x2), top-central Tools is nuked with Terra's Bolt 3 (9999), and far-left Magic is nuked with non-elemental, ignores target defense (Ultima, Black Omen, Flare; the Big Magics).

T3: Breather battle. Nuke the Girl with Big Magics, keep everyone healed up, pick off Sleep with X-Dark. Getting Rerise back up after T2 is desirable for Kefka.

Kefka: After summoning Bahamut and Ragnarok (9999), the only attack that ever happens is X-Dark, doing 4.5k - 5k twice over. Surprisingly smooth when only one guy is attacking (still a very tense battle that burns many X-items), though I had a scare when Relm got Muddled and nuke Terra with a Punisher Rod. Kefka never used Goner.

Kefka hard-walled me when I tried fighting him at lvl.30. (Surprisingly, I made it past T2 once, though with Shadow replacing Terra b/c of T1). His elemental tier 3's OHKO'd the squishes and I only had one healer. Gaining levels for HP certainly helps.

***

I have conquered NHT. I've had my fill of challenge, next game is a normal BNW. Might even get the chance to play with c/c more outside of Celes and Umaro. Also, Terrato Sabin!

Released v7 of NHT, see link on first post.

• V7:
• Standardized HP and MP ELs, now all HP and MP ELs give +20 (if with another stat) or +40 (if just giving HP or MP)
• Added 4 new items. 3 are rare steals and 1 is a Colosseum trade. Steals were only edited on current humanoid random enemies that had steals previously. Note: This version uses item indexes 16, 60, 66, and 247. In 1.9 and 1.10 these indexes are not used, but other versions are not guaranteed. In addition, for maximum compatibility, these new items don't have descriptions

NHT 2.0 release. Main post edited with download link. Please be courteous and considerate of mainline BNW testing still being done for BNW 2.0.

• Added more easter egg weapons, some as rare drops and some as rare steals from humanoids. Note that these weapons still do not have descriptions. These added weapons use item slots that BNW 1.9 uses, but 2.0 doesn't. This effectively means that NHT 2.0 is for the BNW 2.0 line only.
• Altered and added formations, expect to see some new enemy combos and enemies where you don't expect. Sometimes this even works in your favor
• Added a password requirement to access the patch, the password is the same as the BNW unlockme. I don't want people playing NHT as their first BNW experience in general.
• Now every item and relic shop has Warp Whistles or Back Guards (respectively).
• Known issue: The config screen version display looks janky when playing with any of the RC patches. This should resolve itself when 2.0 is out.

After tens of minutes of testing, I can safely say something is wrong with the Fire spell in NHT. See Discord for details.

7 hours ago, ff7hero said:

After tens of minutes of testing, I can safely say something is wrong with the Fire spell in NHT. See Discord for details.

Fixed fire spell, no other spells appeared to have the issue after a quick once-over.

Quick v3. One hidden weapon had its power reduced by 30%

Updated link with some more fixes. Removed an easter egg item that didn't function properly. Fixed some broken formation/pack data, etc.

Yo, is this updated to work with 2.0? I'm deep into my new playthrough and 2.0 is everything I ever dreamed... Except for the difficulty, which feels even tamer than in some older versions - so much so that it undermines the complexity&depth of gameplay and monster AI, since only a few enemies and bosses pose a long/serious enough threat for the mechanics to fully shine. So already craving for a hardtype run instead of just limiting myself and keeping exp off, thereby missing all the cool customization in the mod.

21 hours ago, Hapanpappa said:

Yo, is this updated to work with 2.0? I'm deep into my new playthrough and 2.0 is everything I ever dreamed... Except for the difficulty, which feels even tamer than in some older versions - so much so that it undermines the complexity&depth of gameplay and monster AI, since only a few enemies and bosses pose a long/serious enough threat for the mechanics to fully shine. So already craving for a hardtype run instead of just limiting myself and keeping exp off, thereby missing all the cool customization in the mod.

This is updated to 2.0, yes. Some of the items I added have glitchy animations but they still function (This is addressed on my end but not put out in a patch yet). That being said, make sure you have the unlockme password handy since I don't like people tossing on NHT without any BNW experience.

No worries there, been coming back to BNW occasionally since 1.6x if I recall. Although limiting information is one of the best, and my go-to ways to make any game more difficult, I imagine that won't be needed here. 

Now that I've finished BWN for the umpteenth time, I guess I'll try this bad boy for a spin.

Wish me luck. Or better yet, pray for me.

Finally got past Hell Angel. All the battles up to it were a cinch, mostly because of a nice little item that has been added to NHT: the Stinger.

What is the Stinger? Only the best sword I've ever seen. It has these properties:

• Dark elemental
• May counter attack
• Allows 2nd weapon
• May cast Sap
• May instantly kill

It simple roflstomped everything up until now. I've lost count of how many battles I've won by simply countering enemy attacks (which on NHT happen very very often) and the Dark element dealt a ton of damage even to Vargas. But it really got to shine on the Hell Angel battle (which, by the way, is every little bit as hellish as the previous posters said). The strategy that worked on it was this:

• Steal 2 Slim Jims from those fighters at Mt. Kolts.
• Get the Black Belt relic in the South Figaro basement.
• Stock on at least 30 dried meats.
• Put everyone in the back row.
• Give Locke a Stinger and an Iron Cutlass, set def relics on him becase he'll need it.
• Give Celes Black Belt.
• At the start of battle, immediately use the Slim Jims on both characters and set them to defend.
• PROFIT

Hell Angel might be immune to Dark, but it is NOT immune to sap. The counters on Stinger will guarantee that eventually Hell Angel will get sapped, and whatever damage it may cause you will be mitigated by defend and healed by regen. You simply have to counter/sap it to death. Takes a ridiculous amount of time, though, and you can't really be afk because every time it casts Sleep you will have to set the target to defend again once it wakes. And heal it with a dried meat if Hell Angel casts Tek Laser on them more than twice while they're asleep.

Fun fact: it will only cast fire during the very beginning of the battle. Afterwards it's just Sleep and Tek Laser.

Yeah, Stinger is a super nice Scimitar-Class weapon for the very early game. It drops in usefulness after Zozo usually due to the lack of bpow and weak proc but a sap proc and insta-kill is useful.

Technically he has a 2/3 chance of using Fire any round he doesn't use sleep until he gets under 1024 HP

Continuing on version 2.0:

Got past Dadaluma. My strategy for the Soul Train battle was to have everyone wear ghost rings, and everyone but Cyan defend. Cyan himself had sprint shoes on and spammed mindblow, which derailed the train in three turns.

The Narshe battle was a bit harder, since Terra and Edgar had lower levels than everyone else, but I stocked on dried meats on Nikeah and it proved to be a good idea. Kefka himself fell on the first turn once I stole a tiara from him (was that BNW or a new NHT item? anyway, it was genius).

For the journey to Zozo, I picked Locke, figaro bros and Gau. I don't really like BNW's Shadow, probably because I usually prefer to stock on healing items and never have GP left for scrolls. I didn't hire him. Locke and Edgar had Stingers on, while Sabin had the black belt, and once again the counter attacks carried me. Gau did Gau stuff and either healed with the Soldier rage or dealt some AOEs with Leafer.

Zozo had a couple of surprises, namely the Beatstick and the Hairspray. I'm really enjoying the added items, and can't wait to try the Beatstick on Strago. Or Relm. Or Mog ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

On Dadaluma himself I admit I cheesed a little and had Gau use the Conjurer rage. Dadaluma got so many counter attacks on his face that he fell before getting a chance to use Spoon, and I stole a number of Slim Jims from his cronies. All in all, a profitable encounter.

Now, on to the IMRF.

On 8/22/2017 at 8:30 AM, Nowea said:

Now every item and relic shop has Warp Whistles or Back Guards (respectively).
 

I'm VERY tempted to do something with Warp Whistles and Back Guard whenever I finally get around to doing my own mod.