Brave New World 1.8.5 is now available!

Download Brave New World Here

(New to Brave New World? Want to know what it's all about? Check out the Readme here or our list of Frequently Asked Questions.)

(NOTE: for current bugs in 1.8.5, see this post for fixes)

Nine months ago today, Synchysi and I released what was "very definitely the final update to Brave New World until 2.0, no seriously we mean it this time". It was chock full of new features that were initially slated for 2.0 and it marked the completion of our changes to the game's vanilla content - all development henceforth would focus on expansion. And... well, we actually meant it. In the months following the release of 1.7, we quietly gathered bug reports for a final minor update. It wasn't until the discovery of an actually significant bug - an overflow error in the physical damage formula that was causing high-vigor characters to do much more damage than they should - that we began working on what would eventually become 1.8.

In addition to the aforementioned bugs, the primary feature of this update was a new system suggested by Nowea (and pushed by Mishrak) to allow espers to provide on-equip bonuses just like equipment does to address the fact that 1.7's EL Bank had created an environment where players had little reason to care *which* esper anyone had equipped so long as they had one on. This system was coded by Think, who has thus far contributed more to Brave New World than anyone who isn't named BTB or Synchysi. He also fixed the above-mentioned overflow error and provided us with several other patches for this update.

Not to be outdone, our friend and colleague DN provided us with a myriad of hacks for the game's interface, something which we hadn't done much of in the past due to the Lovecraftian nature of menu hacking. The most notable of these is a vast improvement to the way that status buffs are displayed in battle so that boss battles are no longer a random clusterfuck of glowing characters. It also allows the Scan spell to report enemy statuses since it was otherwise a completely useless spell (and still kind of is).

Last but not least, seasoned FF6 hacking veteran Seibaby contributes his "Smart Cover" patch to the mix, which provides an elegant solution to our longest-running (and by far most aggravating) known issue of the "protect weakened allies" feature also blocking curative strikes. It does this by simply preventing the function from activating on any attack originating from the same team. My sincerest gratitude goes to him for finally hunting down this white whale for us and giving it a serious ass-spearing.

And, of course, thank you so very much to everyone who beta tested this release and provided feedback. Satarack, Mishrak, and Yuyu: you guys have been invaluable in making this update happen and preventing me from having to playtest my own work. It cannot be understated just how amazing it is to me that every time I have something new on the horizon, I have wonderful people like you who are practically champing at the bit to let me Tom Sawyer my work off on you. More so than any other release before it, 1.8 is truly a product of the community surrounding it - all Synchysi and I really provided for this one was a pot with a stone in it.

As for my own hand in this update, it was per usual largely the result of watching players LP Brave New World on Twitch and Youtube. I've tweaked the late-game experience curve given the tendency of players to unintentionally (and also very intentionally) overlevel their characters. While 1.7 was strongly focused on quality-of-life changes and making the mod more accessible to newer players, there are those who I feel run a little too far in that direction. Brave New World is adamantly *not* a difficulty hack, but it does require the player to pay attention; powerleveling your characters to the point where you can just phone in the rest of the game while you hold "A" to ROFLstomp everything runs contrary to the experience we aim to provide.

Finally, a reminder to everyone that Brave New World is now available as a reproduction cartridge courtesy of our good friends at Retro Circuits. Feel free to contact them with questions about their products or even just to chat; they're great folks and I'm glad to have the pleasure of dealing with them.

And that's about it, now and for a very long while ahead of us. Thank you all for your support throughout all of these years and for making Brave New World what it is today.

What's new in 1.8.5:

(See below post)

What's new in 1.8.4:

What's new in 1.8.3:

What's new in 1.8.2:

What's new in 1.8.1:

What's new in 1.8.0:

(Oh, and if liking things on Facebook is your bag, baby, then by all means go nuts.) 

Here's the official changelog and documentation for 1.8.5 (NOW AVAILABLE!):

 • Added several minor menu hacks to show the names of blitzes in the menu screen, correct a display bug for max HP/MP in the party creation screen, and allow easy switching between the equip and relic
   menus by pressing the "Y" button

 • Made the Colosseum function more like a trading post by nerfing the only two opponents of any real difficulty (Siegfried and WEAPON) and changed many trades to improve end-game equipment availability;
    also improved the readability of the "prize" menu by marking all invalid trades with dashes

 • Overhauled enemy status resistances (again) and removed the "immunity to fractional damage" flag from all randomly-occurring enemies previously flagged as minibosses (i.e. Dante/Virgil);
    also rewrote the scripts for two bosses (Phunbaba and the Battle on the Bridge) impacted by this overhaul

 • Corrected an oversight in Final Kefka's script that allowed him to potentially use two devastating party-wide attacks in quick succession; also lowered the inappropriately-high damage dealt by
    one portion of the first tier of the final tower of bosses

 • Lowered the defense/m.def of several end-game bosses to shorten the length of the fights, as well as to reduce the dearth of high-defense enemies in the late game which was causing an
   over-emphasis on defense-ignoring attacks (and thus weakening character builds that don't rely on them)

 • Edited the battle scripts of several early-game enemies to give players more/better opportunities to learn how counter-attacks work in the mod (this lesson was previously confined mostly to Mt. Koltz)

 • Addressed the tendency of players to overlevel while cash-grinding in the early game by lowering exp. gains from certain enemies and increasing the availability of GP (both from enemies and from chests)

 • Swapped Cyan's and Sabin's base magic power (NOTE: this change requires a restart or save editing)

 • Swapped the summons on Odin and Crusader (thus making Odin a stamina-based attack)

 • The Siren summon now sets Bserk on all enemies (instead of dealing MP damage)

 • The Mute spell now targets all enemies (instead of only one)

 • Halved the power of the Osmose spell

 • Raised the power of the Bio and Storm spells

 • Raised the power of the Dispatch bushido

 • The Fire Dance blitz no longer ignores defense

 • The Aurabolt blitz now sets blind

 • Desperation attacks now set Slow in addition to Sap

 • Changed Discord back to being a lore (replacing Grav Bomb)

 • Swapped the 7/16 (Moonlight) and 5/16 (Specter) steps on the Love Sonata dance

 • The Specter dance step now sets Muddle and Mute as advertised (it was only setting Muddle before)

 • Changed the attacks on several rages, most notably the ones with healing moves:

        Adamiantite     2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Cyclonic)
        Allosaurus       2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Attack 3x)
        Chickenlip       2/3 attack changed to Net
        Gargoyle         2/3 attack changed to Holy Wind (was 1/3); 1/3 attack changed to Quake
        Griffin              2/3 attack changed to Razor Leaf; 1/3 attack changed to Harvester (was 2/3)
        Kudzu             1/3 attack changed to Bio
        Mesosaur        2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Sun Bath)
        Peeper            2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Rock)
        Rhinotaur        2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Cure 2); raised 1/3 attack bonus to 3x damage
        Spike               2/3 attack changed to Lode Stone; raised 1/3 attack bonus to 3x damage
        Tumbleweed   2/3 attack swapped with 1/3 (Harvester)

 • Overhauled the stat boosts on end-game swords to focus on the store-bought ones, Apocalypse/Illumina, and Zantetsuken for this purpose while specifically excluding the Excalibur and Atma/Omega Weapon

 • Raised the power of all spears except for Gungnir, which is now the second-strongest spear (Longinus is now the strongest) but now has a +50% HP bonus (and is the "only" item in the mod to offer it)

 • Reworked Shadow's knives to be more desirable for fighting by adding the "X-Fight" property to the Kagenui and more desirable as stat sticks by adding stamina boosts to them

 • Lowered the price of Shadow's weakest buyable knife (now renamed to Kunai) to promote it as an ideal single-target damage alternative to Shuriken (which are also cheaper now)

 • Changed Stormfang's random cast to Bolt so that the "vigor" claws now all cast direct damage spells

 • The random cast on the Quartrstaff will now multi-target (only) on MP-fueled critical hits, while the Doomstick will cast X-Zone instead of Doom (again, only on attacks that use MP for a critical hit)

 • Removed the evasion/magic evasion boosts from WoB rods and all brushes and added physical evasion to the Punisher (it now offers both).

 • The Dragoon Seal and Radiant Gown now increase the random spellcast rate of swords and paintbrushes, respectively; the Radiant Gown in turn no longer boosts MP or blocks fire damage

 • Raised the evasion/magic evasion of the Royal Jacket and Radiant Gown (respectively)

 • Lowered the stat boosts on the Moogle Hide and the elemental shields

 • Lowered the speed penalties on the Snow Muffler and Kusarigama

 • Fixed a bug with Setzer's (not fixed) Dice where three would be thrown if they were held in the left hand with another weapon or nothing in the right hand

 • Fixed a bug where the Ragnarok equip bonus was not working properly

 • Equipping Seraph now blocks Zombie as every other form of instant death protection does

 • The Tentacles (Figaro basement boss) are now listed in the correct order in the battle screen

 • It should no longer be possible to be blinded during the "Save Terra from the Guards!" sequence

 • Made several dialogue changes/additions, primarily in the form of advice to the player

 • Several other minor/insignificant changes

---

http://btb2.free.fr/ff6/Readme.txt
http://btb2.free.fr/ff6/Printme.xls
http://btb2.free.fr/ff6/Unlockme.rar
http://btb2.free.fr/ff6/BNWCP.xls 

Woah, where's the 300 pages of discussion about the stat bonuses on the Zantetsuken?

On 5/8/2017 at 9:13 PM, Lockirby2 said:

Woah, where's the 300 pages of discussion about the stat bonuses on the Zantetsuken?

I think you know what we have to do now.

22 minutes ago, Synchysi said:

I think you know what we have to do now.

Redo espers?

I will cut you.

1 hour ago, Synchysi said:

I think you know what we have to do now.

I think its time to introduce the new feature:  Quad wielding.  Also auto-morph for every character that can use it on the Zantetsuken.  Lastly, please bring back the Imp set.

Plz restore optimize. I don't know how to equip things.

We've actually had that exact request.

Hey guys, Bahamut is my favourite Esper.  Do you mind if we allow him to be equipped on everybody now?  We can rebalance Flare a bit to make it a bit weaker.  Then we just need to weaken Holy to maintain their duality, buff Magic Celes to account for this weakness, weaken Cure 2 because now it's OP on Magic Celes, lower the HP of undead enemies to make sure Cure 2 is still effective coming from the other characters, make Sabin's Fire Dance weaker to avoid him destroying Cave of the Sealed Gate, give Sabin more offensive magic to give him a magical option against enemies that Fire Dance doesn't hit weaknesses on, and...

...

take all of Shadow's Espers away to make sure buffing Throw isn't too OP, and

...

make a new Relic for Strago that turns his Ice spells into Fire Spells because we removed Raze, and

...

and finally, give the Zantetsuken an extra 10 Evade to make everything perfect.

You put too much balancing effort into that troll post. 

Is it worth waiting for 1.8.5 if it's super difficult for me to patch the files to reinstall them on my game medium?  If it's days or a week and not months I'd rather just wait.  <3

At this point I would say to go ahead and wait. The 4th anniversary of BNW's release is coming up soon and I'm really hoping to have 1.8.5 out before then.

Thanks!  What's the anniversary date?  I'm super happy to have found this romhack for my favorite childhood game!

The anniversary date is the 31st.

Happy early anniversary!

So, just an update... 1.8.5 is currently going through some testing. We're looking at a proper release tomorrow if everything checks out.

<3

So, we were lucky enough that my good friend Leadbeer was starting up a new run just as we got the beta release created and he plans on blasting through the game over the next couple of days, so we're going to play this one safe and wait for him to finish and make sure there aren't any... unexpected surprises waiting for us.

In the meantime, feel free to stop by his stream!

1.8.5 is up!

Thanks for your patience, everybody.

You rock!!!

So one thing I'm seeing with the Relic/Equip y button hack: If you first load the Relic menu, and then switch to the Equip menu, the game doesn't show the updated stats preview for the helmet and armour slots. It shows it for the hand slots though.

Don't know if this is known already or not.

It doesn't happen if you start from the Equip menu, only if you start from the Relic.

My guess is that this has to do with the relic menu's two slots, versus the Equip menu's 4.

UPDATE:

Figured out more on the Relic -> Equip preview bug.  The game is getting confused about the 2 hands slots, and 2 relic slots.  The preview is confusing the Right hand with the 1st relic, and the left hand with the 2nd relic.  If you Start in the Relic menu, and switch to the Equip; the stat preview for the hands slots assumes you're replacing the equipment in the corresponding relic slot.  And if you start from Equip, and switch to Relic, the preview thinks you're replacing the equipment in the corresponding hands slot.  Screenshots in the spoilers.

Weird. I'll toss it onto the 1.8.6 pile along with a potential Atma/Omega Weapon overflow fix.

Does Siren set berserk because she's mooning the enemies?

We'll say yes.

Expect streaming of this whenever I get back home or thereabouts, assuming I'm not trying to mess with a FFT mod.

5 hours ago, Nakar said:

Expect streaming of this whenever I get back home or thereabouts, assuming I'm not trying to mess with a FFT mod.

Awesome!

If one were to put a publisher name for this romhack to make it available to someone(s) somehow what should one put?

BTB & Synchysi

We just discovered a game breaking bug with the quarterstaff and doomstick: the game outright crashes if they proc.

Headered fix: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c4igwepxtoetwb8/[h]BNW_1.8.5_quartrstaff_fix.ips?dl=0

Unheadered fix: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jxvkist3pj768jp/[n]BNW_1.8.5_quartrstaff_fix.ips?dl=0

 Example of game crash via Quarterstaff.

Fix for the equip/relic stat display issue:

Headered: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2w43yk9xqoxe3ry/[h]Y_Equip_Fix.ips?dl=0

Unheadered: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uey0fudreae61ap/[n]Y_Equip_Fix.ips?dl=0

I'll need to send the updated file to Synchysi as well, since this patch moves some stuff that will otherwise just be useless.

Updated OP with links to fixes until we can put out 1.8.6.

In addition to those, I will also add another hint about fighting Phunbaba, likely to Terra's dialogue so that the player doesn't miss it. 

Another minor bug: the Kagenui is mistakenly set to 0 BatPower. Below patches will fix.

(EDIT: see Seibaby's patches below)

Woah, Nakar has an image now.

That Kagenui patch looks like it changes a lot more than it should. These ones only change the 4 relevant bytes.

Non-headered
Headered

Thanks. Seibaby!

Will there be a rolled-together version at some point, a la 1.8.5a or whatever? Just wanted to be sure before I start any major undertakings that I don't screw up any patching orders.

When Synchysi gets back from vacation, we'll put out 1.8.6 proper, which will basically be 1.8.5 with these patches applied (the order in which they are applied does not matter).

Cool. Will he be gone a while? I'll go ahead and just patch if he's going to be away for too much longer as I don't want to delay just because of that.

Until the end of the month, I believe.

Nakar, will everything be streamed, or will you upload youtube videos also?

1 hour ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Nakar, will everything be streamed, or will you upload youtube videos also?

I'll record and upload, provided the recordings work. If not I'll probably pull and upload the vods.

16 minutes ago, ayzia said:

does this mod work 100% with no graphic glitches on it, with the hotfixes

To the best of our knowledge, yes.

The only graphics glitches that should remain would be vanilla ones and typically with sprites during battles. 

15 minutes ago, ayzia said:

does anyone have the brave new world mod v 1.7.4 that they could send me please

Hey there.  If you go to the downloads page for BNW:

You will be able to scroll down and you'll see a changelog section.  If you click on the change log button you can choose the Version you wish to look at and download.  Let me know if this helps.

2 hours ago, ayzia said:

Can someone patch the 1.8.5 version of brave new world mod for me with the hotfixes on it and then send me the patch please

 

because i can't patch romhacks anymore myself

No. Patching isn't difficult and BNW even includes an easy to use patching program. We don't distribute patched ROMs as the website stays on the proper side of the law.

Any tips for surviving fights after the difficulty spike at the siege of Narshe? Random encounter enemies on the way to and in Zozo can oneshot Gau, in the backrow with the best defensive equipment I can get him, so I feel like I must be doing something wrong. My guys are level 10~11, which I understand to be the expected level for this point.

The siege itself was extremely painful, too, since the game explicitly told me in the beginner's school not to minmax, so I did it the intended way (with three parties) rather than the cheesy way with one party that beelines the boss. Enemies just seem to do an absurd amount of damage, so I burn through my MP and healing items very quickly.

Gau getting one-shot is almost to be expected, he's not a very durable character. Tek Armor rage has innate Safe so that could help. Battle @ Narshe is a difficulty spike, and is intended to be one.

As far as consumables go... buy a lot of dried meat. There's a reason it's cheap. In addition, you have means to debilitate enemies that you can't kill instantly.

i think most people beeline the boss. i know i do. edgar's bio blaster makes the the battle at narshe a breeze. 

for gau, i like to gear for evade rather than defence. i haven't tried tek armor in a while, but i really like antlion rage; it sets stop on or outright kills pretty much everything. 

I second the evasion on Gau. He will be squishy for a pretty long time but can get decent evade. Just finished the decent into hell..er Floating Continent with him even at 19/20 I still needed to max evade and slap bell + guard ring on him just to live long enough to rage. I used him on Dada though.. well I use him on everything including the main sweeper team at Narshe.. he is my MVP after all heh. Don't recall needing safe to survive but I did run him with hp buffing (green beret or relics) to keep him above instakill range until around 15.

For the Narshe randoms, you'll want to turtle using NoiseBlaster. Don't try to brute force all those human enemies; counterattacks will kill you. Muddle the foes, pick them off with magic attacks (or let them pick themselves off) Runic / Cure with Celes. Bum rush the rider though, using the Demon rage with Gau; he's too strong to play games with. Kefka should be fairly simple after all of that.

That's my recommended strategy at least. Gau will probably die several times against the Narshe randoms themselves. Unfortunately, IIRC, there's no real trick to avoiding that. You just have to muscle your way through it with Phoenix Downs. NoiseBlaster is your main defense for Gau. Don't remember if it works on the dog enemies though; if not, you'll just have to accept that those dog enemies are going to murder Gau.

*****

Hey, BTB, spitball: what if the Knight Cape's "Guard Ally" wasn't dependent upon ally HP? Something like "Randomly Guards an ally with an ? % chance" or "Guards allies when Defending." Or even just raise the HP threshold for Wounded? Something so that "Cover" can be an actual strategy to consider, instead of just a gimmick.

*****

EDIT: Whelp, I tried to DPS Ultros with Banon. Turns out, Banon only gets two auto-criticals out of the Bolt Rod. There goes my fun. ; _ ; Still, it was enough for an opening salvo of 300 swing + 800 Bolt 2.

i brute force it all the time ; i think they only counter 1/3 of the time. stick edgar in the back row, give him a stout spear and full set of iron armour (including a shield) and he's fine. noiseblaster works too and is probably safer. my only complaint with it is that it seems to take much longer.

i would also like to see cover improved. fwiw i never buy the knight cape.

edit: 3 dragonflys,

one uses !special on locke, berserks him and triggers locke's counter, which triggers a gale cut counter.

another casts gale cut

locke gets his turn, and attacks the third, who counters with gale cut.

i hate these things so much.

Any thoughts on damage focused Gau vs healing Gau, and the same for Mog? I need one extra healer and those two are the ones I haven't stuck any esper levels into yet, so I figure I'll make one a healer and one damage. It would be mage Mog, since I already have Edgar set up for dragooning.

You can go either way.  Healer Gau is probably a little more reliable than Mog, although Mog's dances are still good.  The nice thing about Gau is you can quite easily do healing and damage with the same EL build, just swap rages.  Use Stray for Stamina based heals/damage, or Fenrir for everything else.

I think Gau's a more reliable healer. Stray's the common wisdom, but Fenrir Gau's got enough speed to be a solid healer too. Use whichever.

In my experience, Mog doesn't make a reliable healer. Not at all. His healing dances are useful for keeping the party topped off, but they're unreliable for healing off a big attack. I'd focus on making Mog a tank or a damage dealer. You've got plenty of attacking options with mage Mog.

Gau has a fair degree of leeway regardless of build because he has good gearing options and usually has to focus his gear to suit a particular role or even a specific Rage (to cover weaknesses, supplement resistances, whatever). If you have a plan for what he's going to do then gear him appropriately; he isn't a terribly great generalist, though his Stamina-based Rages can do an okay job of that. Even with minimal Stray ELs he can suit up to be tanky and gain +Stamina from gear, which should make him a perfectly competent healer against all but heavy spike damage... which is why it helps to have someone else who CAN heal with him just in case, but they shouldn't be healing as their primary role.

Whelp, I'll no more say bad things about dual-wielded Butterflies. Hyper Shadow just tore through Zozo like a hot knife threw butter. No threat from any of the randoms whatsoever. Didn't have any spare Butterflies to throw (I'm calculating ~1500 damage from a thrown Butterfly, or did I do something wrong?), so Shadow just spammed Smoke Bombs (defends against Elbow Drop) & Dried Meat against Dadaluma. Easiest Zozo run ever. (Sabin, Edgar, & Gau all helped too).

Still can't think of any particular reason for why I'd want to bring Celes to Zozo though. Anyone else got any insights? I was just proved wrong about something, I'm all ears.

*****

BTW, having extra money early game has removed any desire to grind up money for the various shops prior to the Magitek Factory. Also kills the desire to steal many Phoenix Downs from Gigas in Zozo.

36 minutes ago, thzfunnymzn said:

BTW, having extra money early game has removed any desire to grind up money for the various shops prior to the Magitek Factory. Also kills the desire to steal many Phoenix Downs from Gigas in Zozo.

weird, i've been experiencing a distinct lack of funds this playthrough. perhaps i missed a big chest somewhere. 

I was having a hard time with the narshe part, after my 2nd game over I decided to make one really strong team and try to rush to the boss.  I was able to make it to kefka without any of the guards reaching banon; though, they were probably pretty close.

On 5/28/2017 at 11:12 PM, seraph9888 said:

3 dragonflys,

one uses !special on locke, berserks him and triggers locke's counter, which triggers a gale cut counter.

another casts gale cut

locke gets his turn, and attacks the third, who counters with gale cut.

i hate these things so much.

I had something similar happen, except Locke was using a healing shiv which healed the only damage I'd done so far. 

On 5/30/2017 at 7:52 PM, thzfunnymzn said:

(I'm calculating ~1500 damage from a thrown Butterfly, or did I do something wrong?)

Last time I played through Zozo, my thrown Butterflies were hitting Dadaluma for around 1k I believe. I also may not have had as much vigor as yours did, so my experience may be off. I don't recommend the strategy, though, because it basically required all my funds upon hiring Shadow to get the 10 Butterflies I ended up throwing at Big Daddy D.

Still, Shadow and his roving band of buffoons is the best way to murderate Zozo, hands-down.

Butterfly Throw Spam is way too expensive of a strategy. You could bring along Locke to steal Butterflies, but Locke's redundant if you have Shadow (unless he goes Healing Shiv, which...meh).

You are right though, Shadow IS one of the best ways to murderate Zozo. I'm now forming the opinion that the best Zozo team, bar none, if Shadow / Gau / Edgar / Sabin. Cyan, Celes, and Locke just can't compete with the Figaro Bros., the ninja, and Rerise. (Rerise feels kinda necessary on Dadaluma in order for things to go smoothly. Spoon & Jump just deal too much damage).

Shadow being op here is fine - he costs money. Not really fond of how the Figaro Bros. are heads-and-tails above the others though - this hack has been working hard to eliminate flat-out "best characters." (vig Sabin didn't get the memo though). Edgar's obvious - the two AoE blasters are just way too important at this stage in the game, when everyone's so frail. Sabin just does ridiculous damage with Poison Claws (almost as much as a Thrown Kunai, IIRC), has high HP, and most importantly, can Slow & Sap Dadaluma.

Cyan's not bad for this point, he's just not one of the Figaro bros. Celes & Locke feel weak though, especially Celes. She has neither the magic nor the weapons to do anything useful except Cure, which she will run out of MP for.

Celes is the only character without a strong damage option vs. Dadaluma and she's basically there for support. Locke and Shadow have Butterflies, Sabin has Poison Claws, Cyan has Dispatch, and Gau has Wild Rat. Edgar's damage options are relatively weak, but he's useful for Bio Blasting Dadaluma's Fighters and is the only character with a targetable sap option. He and Shadow are the only two I think are more useful than the others, and both require a significant money investment to claim that title.

i actually like bringing locke and shadow. locke makes shadow significantly cheaper and has a decent attack himself. plus i don't want to come back to steal mystery eggs. edgar will always have a spot in my zozo team though. my fourth spot depends on who i'm taking to vector, but i leave celes babysitting banon. both to leave her at a lowish level, and because she is criminally useless in zozo. 

You don't need Locke to steal from Zozo, unless you no longer get the Switchblade in/before it. It's random proc, but it can get the job done if you're just looking to steal opportunity things on your way through.

I'm not sure where this Celes hate in Zozo comes from. She's your only healer at this stage. She's bulkier than most of your other options, beating Cyan by virtue of knowing how to hold a shield, and Sabin by virtue of evasion. I think, and don't quote me on this, but I think she and Edgar can both survive either spoon or jump, whichever does less damage, if you take the Safety Glove at the Returner's Hideout and get the safe proc from it in this fight.

I agree that throwing Butterflies is expensive, but it's well worth the price. It is hands-down the single fastest way to take Dadaluma out, reducing the number of spoons and jumps he can throw your way. Also, I find the shop options largely irrelevant prior to Thamasa anyway. I'd suggest everyone try it at least once. And honestly, it was only like 5k for the 10 butterflies last time I tried this, which definitely feels more feasible now that cash flow has been increased.

I don't always throw gil at my problems, but when I do, I use Shadow to do it. 

2 hours ago, vonriel said:

I'm not sure where this Celes hate in Zozo comes from. She's your only healer at this stage.

 

Thank god, someone said it. People act as if running out of magic is a crime when you have Tinctures. (Assuming you even need to use any)

I still agree that she's the weakest link, but that's only because she's focusing on healing (which is mad important)

the bug in which party members with image can be hit from the back still exists. it has not been fixed as was previously thought. 

I dislike bringing Celes to Zozo because her healing will have to be supplemented with Dried Meats anyways both because of how limited her MP is & because, IIRC, Cure is still rather weak at this point in the game; because the main problem with Dadaluma is unavoidable deaths (Spoon, Jump) and Stop (Elbow Drop) which Celes can't heal; and because she has no good damage option.

Spoon ignores defense. It kills everyone, unless you're overleveled. Jump can be Defended against, which, IIRC, allows Sabin & Cyan to survive it. Elbow Drop is certainly something Celes & Edgar survive better than others, though they'll still need both healing & Remedy, just as anyone else would've needed a Phoenix Down & healing.

tl;dr, Celes really isn't that great of a healer in Zozo, and she has no attack power. If you argue "Tinctures," I argue "Dried Meats > Cure".

***

I was wrong on Locke though. Mug doesn't trigger counterattacks (missed that), so props for him. Shadow, yeah, Butterfly Throw spam will end Dadaluma fast. Personally think it's too expensive, but I acknowledge it's powerful.

Speaking of "ending Dadaluma fast", has anyone attempted speedrunning this game? How many hours are we looking at?

I've done some routing that seems to stall a lot due to laziness and the constant state of change the game seems to be in. But I have done runs up through cranes (4.5 hours with a 1hr of mistakes) and I'm thinking the game is probably around the 14-16 hour mark right now based on some educated guesswork and maths. 

Huh...for once, an RPG speedrun can't be glitched thru in under an hour or beaten in 4-9 hours. The BNW speedrun actually takes a good chunk of time, a time still somewhat similar to a normal run. (Mot of my runs show a 60 hour game timer, and the speedrun sounds like it's only a quarter of that).

It would really just be about executing a plan and knowing how to deal with rng. And there's a lot of rng to deal with. So you minimize rng, know exactly what you're doing every step of the way and try not to mess it up. 

Hoooly shit, 14-16 hours? You could almost run 7 and 8 back to back in that time. (Side note, that sounds like a fun race for a marathon event: BNW vs 7+8)

I'd love to see practice runs or read through any route planning, btw. Wonder how many characters can reasonably be skipped?

Finished IMF. Used Cyan & Sabin. Cyan took over healing from Celes. Celes mostly supported the boys with Runic Guard and the occasional Ice, as per usual. Didn't even get a chance to hit Number 024 with an elemental. : (

Loving how fat Kirin Locke's HP is. Allows me to dual wield without worrying about how many Phoenix Downs the poor thief treasure hunter is gonna need. Had a nice fat team (Celes had the lowest HP) that made Number 024 look like a chump - easiest 024 fight I've ever had. Got some cute Golem summons on the bosses thanks to the Magic Cube. (Level 14 is the magic level to pull this off as of the current build). Raw HP and Golem win fights yet again. : )

Right, there was some discussion in chat on how to balance Dice, which happened because X-Fight was going to finally receive it's damage penalty (it currently doesn't) so Setzer would need some better sources of X-Fight damage, all of which is happening because of Anima breaking the game with Shadow and X-Fight.

Such a change will hurt Setzer's Avenger / Man Eater output, and while something needs to be done about that, that's not why I'm posting.

*************

After spending time with Dice until I'm sick out the wazoo, I've found that there is no way to get Dice doing halfway decent damage with just two Dice. Double damage on same dice rolls (dubs) ain't doing it, equal chances of all sides ain't doing it, heck, even a higher chance of a 5 or 6 on a roll then 1-4 ain't doing it. Nada. Zip. Zilch. The average multiplier Setzer gets for any of this is just too low to be useful.

So, before I go to bed, and to avoid this getting lost in chat: the Dice need to roll 3 dice, just like Fixed Dice rolls 3 dice, if it wants any chance whatsoever of being useful. We'll have to figure out what penalties it receives to avoid being op early on.

And this is why you don't do math at midnight. I forgot that Dice have an innate x2 multiplier.

3 Dice is not needed. Rather, you need to do two things.

• Change the odds of getting individual numbers such that 5 and 6 have a higher chance then 1-4. (I used 1/4 for D5 and D6, and 1/8 for the D1-D4).
• The multiplier gets doubled on doubles (dubs).

That should be enough to make Dice useful without being op. Course, it still needs testing to insure I didn't make a mistake or that FFVI isn't being FFVI.

here is a program for testing some different variables. note that it uses the current odds for dice rolls. dicelevel and fixeddicelevel refer to setzer's level; thought one might want to change them independently. http://anydice.com/program/c2c1

How does one feel about Stamina based Setzer?

Played the traditional way, like a lategame tank who attacks with GP Toss and heals with RegenX? Not good anymore. Both GP Toss & RegenX have been nerfed - nowadays, the numbers are too low to play him like a Paladin-esque tank. Also, Slots are no longer random, so GP Toss loses one of its big advantages over magic Setzer.

Also, a buff to Dice means stiffer mid-WoR competition. Lastly, I'm 90% that Daryl's Soul + Fixed Dice outputs better (long-term) average damage than GP Toss.

Played as an alternative "Bank" Setzer? Probably fine. Setzer doesn't need pure Seraph ELs and Shoat's mostly useful for WoR Slots (and Cure 3, a little bit). If most of your offense is coming from Shoat, Doom, Daryl's Soul with either Daggers or Fixed Dice, and WoB Slots (Daryl's Tomb included, lulz), then Bank Setzer can work fine with either pure Seraph or Seraph/Starlet. Latter's probably better actually - Setzer doesn't need that much HP / MP to get his job done, whereas extra stamina will give him better status & magic defense, alongside the utility of a better RegenX.

I've all ready got to update my Build Reference Text for information on the 1st respec. Might update the Setzer section while I'm at it.

8 hours ago, seraph9888 said:

here is a program for testing some different variables. note that it uses the current odds for dice rolls. dicelevel and fixeddicelevel refer to setzer's level; thought one might want to change them independently. http://anydice.com/program/c2c1

For the record, this is what my Dice suggestion looks like.

http://anydice.com/program/c2cc
 

Be aware that both of these links do NOT contain any bonuses if (Fixed) Dice rolls dubs / trips.

Finished WoB. First time I've played Locke, Celes, and vig Terra team on Floating Continent.

Warming up to vig Terra. Morph wrecked face. Ultros, Chupon, and Atma never knew what him 'em. Poor Atma thought it'd be a good idea to Berserk Terra. > : ) Also warming up more to dual-wielding - Elec Sword + Rising Sun combo for Locke & Terra worked quite well for most randoms on the Floating Continent. Kirin on Locke helps with dual-wielding. With Ramuh, I've kept Locke on Shiv duty b/c he's too frail with dual-wielding, but lacks damage with sword + shield. Kirin Locke's lack of vigor was noticeable against Atma, but he's still being awesome (1000 HP - he's like Cyan). Locke's best WoB build is probably lots of Kirin with some Ramuh. Celes & Shadow are still Celes & Shadow.

Little to say about Sealed Cave thru Thamasa. Brought Locke into the Cave for the first time in my life - Flametongue + Demonsbane kicked butt. Also tried learning the enemies on Mt. Thamasa for once in my life. Oh, and broke Ultros' script with Locke's Elec Sword yet again. Much as I hate Ultros III, that script should really be fixed.

The "Start of Battle ATB" speed patch seems to be working. Didn't really pay attention, but Locke & Shadow seemed to move first most often on the FC, while Terra tended to move last. I'm going to run pure speed on Gau and Shadow in the WoR. That should give some good feedback on how well the speed patches work.

Whelp, early WoR is next. Have no idea what order I'll do things in the WoR either - probably an early Ancient Castle to play stam Strago & Omega Locke early.

So, looking at it, it looks like Terra's the only character who has two distinct builds for the FC. She can either play glass cannon attacker (vig with Morph), or bulky healer with wind magic (mag/stam). Everyone else either doesn't have the espers yet for different builds, their builds play exactly the same until the mid-WoR, or one build is significantly better than the other.

Locke: Without Phoenix, the only build in town is Kirin + Ramuh, with either "dual-wield either ele swords & boomerangs, conserve your healing MP" or "healing shiv + shield".

Edgar: vig & mag play the same. mag has good attacks with Ele Sword Jumping but no Defib / Battery, vig Edgar still has blasters for randoms & good magics, same armor, similar HP, etc.

Sabin: stam Sabin lacks Chakra, and consensus on Mantra is that's it's not that great.

Celes: vig Celes doesn't really do anything that mag Celes can't all ready do. Unlike the glass cannon esper and the treasure hunter, mag Celes all ready has Bolt & Ice, with the MP to use her spells and pure magic espers for magic growth.

Cyan: stam Cyan is better right now. vig Cyan doesn't really offer anything interesting.

Everyone Else: lol

EDIT: Edited for clarity. I'm talking about build distinction on the Floating Continent, not necessarily build viability

Umm, Phunbaba failed to Hurricane away two people. Edgar had all ready landed, so I saw no reason for this behavior. Is this bug all ready known?

Also, why is Shoat's summon attack called "Hurricane"? Wasn't it called "Demon Eye" or something like that? Isn't "Hurricane" the name of Phunbaba's attack?

*******

Leap Anywhere is so good. Getting Gau's WoR Rages was so much quicker. Just drag Gau around for the WoR Errands and you'll quickly & easily snag 'em all. Even got Phoenix Cave & Mt. Zozo Rages, though I only looted the Wing Edge. The Harpy & Trolls went berserk when they saw me and pwned me with crazy Cyclonic, Red Talon, and Lulz spam. Died twice just trying to get that stupid Rage. Yeesh.

Dragon + a Bone weapon + Fenrir ELs is a huge spike in power for Gau, kinda like Bum Rush is for Sabin. My characters were doing ~1500-2000 beforehand, excluding weaknesses. Now, I've got two juggernauts who push 3k with each attack. Yeesh.

Does make me wonder if maybe the location of Gau's Rages should be modified if Leap Anywhere is going to become official. Having Gau's remaining Rages all come right at the beginning means that Gau all ready has his "best" Rages. So he has no more room to grow as a character & the lesser WoR Rages are immediately filed away as "filler or niche." Combined with the sudden BPow jump from Bones, magic damage jump from Magic Bone & Blizzard Orb, and raw speed from Fenrir, it also means Gau sees a humongous spike in power right here.

*******

Oh, and Setzer's Blackjack spam has definitely been the backbone of my AoE offense. Was hoping to play around with a stronger Dice and X-Fight, but looks like it ain't happenin' anytime soon. Oh well. Celes is still a healer that relies on elemental control for damage (haven't hit lvl.24 for Ice 3 yet), though there's thankfully enough weaknesses to go around. Would snipe Holy Dragon early for Merton shenanigans, but until I get full Fire resistance, there's no point.

Also remember why I hate the Fanatic's Tower. Don't have Reflect Rings & high mg.def? Die first turn from tier-3's & Flare spam. The randoms here are harder than the Magimaster. Frustrating, because if I don't grind here, I'm going to reach Kefka's Tower with an EL of, what, ~18? Whereas if I grind at the Fanatics', I can get nice & high ELs without gaining too many levels. Le sigh.

I once proposed giving the peepers in WoR high sp just for being able to grind ELs without affecting level as much.

Leap Anywhere would pretty much have to be accompanied by a balance pass. This was discussed moreso for the IMTRF rages, but WoR it also applies as well.

1 hour ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Umm, Phunbaba failed to Hurricane away two people. Edgar had all ready landed, so I saw no reason for this behavior. Is this bug all ready known?

Yeah, it does that sometimes. Consider it a feature.

Quote

 

Also, why is Shoat's summon attack called "Hurricane"? Wasn't it called "Demon Eye" or something like that? Isn't "Hurricane" the name of Phunbaba's attack?

Because it *rocks* you

3 hours ago, Nowea said:

I once proposed giving the peepers in WoR high sp just for being able to grind ELs without affecting level as much.

Leap Anywhere would pretty much have to be accompanied by a balance pass. This was discussed moreso for the IMTRF rages, but WoR it also applies as well.

I'd honestly like it if, in general, WoR enemies gave high sp. By that point, the player has most of their spells. Also, Celes & Sabin solo means they're going to gain high levels if you don't turn Exp Off. (Of course, if you turn Exp Off, then Celes doesn't have Ice 3 and Sabin doesn't have Chakra, so mag Celes and stam/hyb Sabin are limited. Not that, you know, that's what's currently going on with my file or anything. No sirree, not at all). So there's not much of a downside, but there's certainly some benefit.

That, and the selfish reason of wanting to maximize a build without gaining super high levels. I'd like to hit EL 25 by endgame without grinding so that I feel like my characters have finally fully matured just as they prepare to take on Kefka. Adds another layer to the story / theme, feels good, and ties in with how Brave New World, at its core, is about making each character a unique flower.

The IMF is honestly fine with Leap Anywhere methinks. It mostly gives Gau an early Acid Rain & healing rages. But, yeah, Leap Anywhere allows for a re-evaluation of the logic of where Rages are located / earned. Mostly, I'm wanting Gau to have more smooth growth, instead of that sudden spike at the beginning of the WoR.

3 hours ago, BTB said:

Yeah, it does that sometimes. Consider it a feature.

Because it *rocks* you

Well, then, Phunbaba got pwned. Morph Fire 3, speedy Revenant, and Bum Rush. Stupid fool didn't stand a chance. Celes just sat around casting Mute and Cure 2.

*******

Well, looks like I'm going Ancient Castle early to play around with stam Strago. Ain't no way I'm sitting around the whole WoR just to try this guy out. That, and I've identified several areas where I think "support Strago with overkill stamina" could prove useful. Also gonna steal lots of Multiguards for once so that I can get on with spamming Merton. Was gonna do the same for X-Quake Mog, but as it turns out, aside from maybe the Cave to the Veldt and Owzer's Mansion, there's just no use for grabbing Quake early. Sadness. : ' (

I've never had a problem with Gau being overpowered with Learnable Rages in the IMTRF. He was rocking Fighter the whole time anyways (aha). Defender and Onion Knight weren't that useful against the bosses, all told. Maybe Defender on Number (whatever, the mage one) is better than what he could have, but Tek Armor worked perfectly fine for me on that fight anyways.

7 hours ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Mostly, I'm wanting Gau to have more smooth growth, instead of that sudden spike at the beginning of the WoR.

The only way to really do that is to gate the rages behind bosses in some way. Meaning that you'd have a lot of rages in KT.

You can already have the spike in power in the WoR by going and getting the encounters then going back to the Veldt.

Ultimately, it's a QoL thing since the first time any rage is available doesn't change whether or not you're forced to backtrack to the Veldt in order to get it.

I wouldn't put any rages in Kefka's Tower since that's too late in the game to give the player new attacks. Something like Ultima is fine because it's a singular attack, not a whole plethora of them.

10 hours ago, Nowea said:

The only way to really do that is to gate the rages behind bosses in some way. Meaning that you'd have a lot of rages in KT.

You can already have the spike in power in the WoR by going and getting the encounters then going back to the Veldt.

The way to gate Rages would be to put the applicable formations at the end of a WoR dungeon (if possible). Yes, it's still technically possible for a player to raid the dungeon for early Rages just like they would any other treasure. But, such behavior is heavily discouraged.

For example, if the player has to hike all the way to the Water Dragon's room just to pick up, oh say, the Io Rage (Weapon and Io are palette swaps, so changing Io Rage to Weapon is feasible), then it's heavily unlikely that the player will be grabbing the Io Rage without also completing the whole of Ancient Castle.

I looked at the game's mapping when I thought of this idea some time ago (and also brainstormed where each Rage would go - iow, such a change is feasible, even if my ideas for re-locations aren't the best). IIRC, for many of the WoR dungeons, it is possible to put the applicable Rage only in the last part of the dungeon. Heck, even just spreading the Rages out too many different dungeons is a form of gating Rages. It also means that Gau plays different based off what dungeon order the player does - which is kinda the point, as several other characters must also play differently if they aren't getting to do their own dungeons first. Of course, the "better" Rages would end up in the "later" WoR dungeons. (Might as well use this opportunity to say: make Hidon a Rage. >_>).

Nowea, I know Gau all ready has a spike in power in the WoR by returning to the Veldt. I've done it all of my 20+ times playing this game. I'm advocating re-locating Gau's Rages to undo that sudden spike in power. Because the spike is too large, and because, unlike most other characters, it means Gau suddenly has all of his "best" Rages quite early, which doesn't seem desirable from a design perspective.

BTB, there is an error with Rage.

Tumbleweed is supposed to be Harvester / !Special, according to the Printme. But, in the actual 1.8.5, it's !Special / Tumbleweed. Just looked in FF3usME, and confirmed with how often Gau is using "Sap" with Tumbleweed.

Noted and fixed for 1.8.6.

Cool, cool.

*******

Been using spd Gau with the new "Starting ATB" patch. It's a very noticeable difference - Gau starts pretty much every fight with a full ATB Gauge. Don't think I have enough speed yet to tell how well the "Speed Nerf" patch is working. That, and Gau's very powerful at the beginning of the WoR thanks to the new weapons & rages - I'll know more about the new speed balance later.

*******

Finished Gogo's Cavern & Mt. Zozo.

Actually paid attention to the strengths & weaknesses of the randoms, like I just now did for the Narshe Caves. Makes it much easier when you use appropriate status effects & weapon equips.

Mt. Zozo, I decided to be cute and have Mog mostly use X-Bio, even for the Wind Dragon fight because I so didn't forget to properly prepare my characters for a more intense, weakness sniping fight, what talk you?. Not bad. Helps that Colossus, Punisher, & Scrapper are all Poison weak. Also wasn't bad for the Wind Dragon fight. (2k vs. Bolt Rod's average of 3k, though Rod procs hate me and never proc). Only needed one Love Sonata during the fight to re-charge MP; so far, Love Sonata seems to be doing its job of re-charging MP.

Desert Aria is still a piece of trash, and I don't understand why people like it. - _ - Terrible Image setter. Couldn't use Morph Wing Edge strats.

My full-on glass cannon build for vig Terra (10 Bismark) worked for the WoB - even for Atma - but it's starting to bite me in the butt now. Terra needed babying with heals, Rerise, Shell, and no Morph in order to survive the fight. Otherwise, dual Wing Edge is pretty decent filler for randoms - she's frail, but on average, she's a little stronger than Bum Rush, even without Hyper Wrist or Floating foes. Had to raid Phoenix Cave & Ancient Castle (+ Colosseum trade) to get both of 'em though, so a bit of an obscure filler weapon.

*******

After Owzer's, it's time for an early Ancient Castle. Then, stam Strago. ^ _ ^

Do keep in mind that Gogo's cave is viewed as a mid to later WoR area, so having the blizzard orb power increase for Gau is definitely a veteran player move. 

I like the idea of shifting some WoR rages to places deeper into the dungeons though. 

2 hours ago, Mishrak said:

Do keep in mind that Gogo's cave is viewed as a mid to later WoR area, so having the blizzard orb power increase for Gau is definitely a veteran player move. 

I like the idea of shifting some WoR rages to places deeper into the dungeons though. 

Umm ... I never used the Blizzard Orb in Mt. Zozo. Gau was smashing things up with Dragon & Defender - spd Defender Gau was a great healer for the Wind Dragon fight. Thanks for the compliment on WoR Rages though. ^ _ ^ I should still have my old notes on what dungeons Rages can be put in - paying attention to which dungeons can have the Rages put into only the very last rooms, or which dungeons have palette swaps of existing Rages.

*******

I did use Sage Stone for Mog in Mt. Zozo. I....I guess for the randoms you could classify it as a veteran move. Maybe, sorta, if you stand on your head, do a little jig, and/or are really concerned about the Colossus random encounter? 8k to Colossus and 3.6k AoE to Scrappers & Punishers is pretty awesome. Problem is that, Colossus aside, the Mt. Zozo randoms are a piece of trash trash. So, the extra damage & reliability over Water Rondo is meaningless. For the Wind Dragon, a better non-boltrod veteran strat would've been Punisher with a Black Belt.

As I said, I was mostly being cute, and giving the new Love Sonata a test run. Early X-Mog, sadly, is just not worth it. (I will also point out that single casting Mog's Magic is especially mediocre, except for setting Poison or Slow. I imagine these two issues are related). I mean, sure, I could give X-Break a whirl in Owzer's Mansion if we really, absolutely, positively need proof that X-Mog struggles early on. But I think we both know the answer to that.

I did want to use X-Quake in Owzer's Mansion. Muscle right through those stupid forced pincer strikes. But I wasn't about to do two later WoR dungeons just for that.

Mostly, I'm a huge X-Mog fan. It's a mediocre to average set-up, but I want to use it, blast it. mag Mog should be the game's premier Wind / Earth nuke, not some weird all-elementalist with pretty wands & girly dances, blast it.

In all fairness, X-Mog was conceived more as a status-setter than a damage-dealer.

1 hour ago, BTB said:

In all fairness, X-Mog was conceived more as a status-setter than a damage-dealer.

O_o

That's.....extremely peculiar. When I first played BNW, I pinned Strago as the person who used X-Magic for status setting. I had in mind Shell & Osmose. I pinned Locke as the X-Magic Healer and Mog as the X-Magic attacker (Quake). One attacker, one healer, one status-setter. I thought it was pretty cool design. Funny how that turned out.

This is also peculiar because now I'm really wondering why you've been so adamant for so many versions (since 1.5?) about not letting Mog have status buffing Magic. Mog does have SlowX, SleepX, Muddle, Imp, and Bio, so, yeah, he's got a lot of debuffs. But...SlowX, SleepX, Muddle, and Bio are all ready AoE. Also, there's very limited use to setting debuffs multiple times in one fight - one debuff is enough to cripple a random (unless you're thinking SleepX + Muddle lategame shenanigans); for bosses, what few debuffs work (Slow) stick once they hit. Meanwhile, pairing X-Haste with X-Break gives a pretty nifty reason to use Sage Stone for setting buffs. X-Mog would open boss fights with Slow & Haste before getting to work attacking - Slow, Bio, and Haste for dragon fights, which starts to look more like what you intended for X-Status Setter.

I mean, I guess we could wait all the way until 2.0 (10 years from now) to expand boss scripts to make status setting X-Magic more useful. You still run into the trouble of all of Mog's debuffs all ready being AoE, and the other trouble of debuffs only needing to stick once.

Maybe you could have Drain set Sap? It's a buff to Ocean Claws, yeah, but then Mog can at least open with Sap (Drain) + Slow (+ Bio).

************

You know what BTB? Just for you, I'll pay attention to X-Mog as a status setter come the late WoR. On top of paying attention to X-Quake and Merton w/ Flameguards x4.

<3 Funnyman

Here's the official changelog for 1.8.6 (COMING SOON):

 • Added new hacks to lessen the effect of speed granting faster characters more turns over time and to increase its effect on the likelihood of getting first strike

 • Added new hacks to allow speed to influence the likelihood of getting rare steals and for successful steal attempts to be treated as "free" actions

 • Added a new hack allowing Gau to Leap on rageable formations outside of the Veldt and removed the scripting behavior where all "dog"-type enemies would forcibly target him

 • Fixed a bug with the "Y-Equip Relics" hack where stat previews for changing equipment would display incorrectly after switching between menus

 • Fixed a bug where the Quartrstaff and Doomstick would crash the game when using MP for critical hits

 • Fixed a bug with Setzer's Dice where the animation would display incorrectly and also crash the game

 • Fixed a bug with X-Fight where the X-Fight penalty and the dual-wield penalty were not stacking

 • The Kagenui now has the correct stats

 • Fixed the incorrect attack priorities on the Tumbleweed rage

 • Fixed the Raiden summon (only accessible via Slots) to be identical to Odin

 • Made a small change to Tiamat's script

 • Added a(nother) hint about fighting Phunbaba to Terra's dialogue

 • Adjusted the encounters near WoR Albrook to prevent solo Celes from getting into unfair fights

Wait, another hint is needed against Phunbaba? Really?

1 hour ago, thzfunnymzn said:

Wait, another hint is needed against Phunbaba? Really?

You went all-out offensive so you really didn't notice.

Turtling against him... does not end well >.>

Edited twice.

SoooOOoo...I decided to be cute and bring X-Mog into Owzer's Mansion as well. Try out X-Rasp. (Muddle goes without saying - it worked like a charm for 4/6 of the randoms there).

Killing things was more efficient than Rasping them.

There are two enemies in Owzer's that you can't Muddle, but that you do want to Rasp. For both:

• Dahling's would move before Rasp struck, so I got Fire 3'd anyways. By the time Rasp hit, Setzer & Cyan just killed them anyways.
• Nightshade's Starlight is an "Enemy Ability," so it doesn't use MP anyways. #NT$(TUNVNA

So...sorry, BTB, Rasp ain't working as a "neuter mages before they strike." Might work if the mages were bulky & hard to take down, so maybe for the Fiends in Kefka's? I'll test it out as a gimmicky way to kill undead later on, but don't hold your breath for anything amazing.

Muddle + SleepX should work like a charm when I get it.

************

Also, Tapir is a very disappointing 1/16 animal buddy to get from Dance. Specter re-charges Mog's MP properly - Tapir, the 1/16 step, re-charges ~60 MP to the whole party. Um...thanks? I shouldn't be wishing that Mog had gotten the 7/16 re-charge instead of the 1/16 re-charge. If a party wide MP restore is op, plz just have Tapir do something like "Fully restores Mog's MP" or something else basic.

************

Also, not sure if Rage Rod Gogo is working appropriately. I did the full set-up of Punisher, Hero Ring, Power Glove, Dragon Rage, and was even hitting low p.def foes. Gogo only did 2k damage. Gau, with a similar set-up, vigor stat, and level, was doing nearly 3k to foes with normal p.def. Also, Gogo's MP was being drained from the Punisher, like auto-crit is supposed to be. I think something's b0rked.

************

Setzer & Cyan go without saying. Cyan never died and blew things up with 3k Dragons while Mog and Gogo were playing with they're toys. Setzer swept with Blackjack, murdered a demon at 5k a pop with Avenger + Demonsbane, and killed the stupid Dahling's & Nightshades. I'll be fair to Mog - X-Break worked like a charm for Chadarnook as well. Matched Setzer's output, and Chadarnook died right when Mog's MP ran out.

Blackjack is freakishly good AoE for the midgame (2k AoE). I think the old Shock was better, but that's about it. In the past, I've had to dance around with X-Fight, Doom / Shoat, Bio for humans, and Cure 2/3 for undead, to get offense out of Setzer. Now? I just spam Blackjack. Dunno if that's a good or bad thing.

Then again, just noticed that Setzer's overleveled (26), so meh.

************

Off to the Ancient Castle.