Brave New World 1.9.0 is out! Final Fantasy VI romhack that fixes and/or improves nearly everything

Patching instructions:LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY (WITH YOUR PARENTS PERMISSION) obtain a copy of the rom of the US SNES version of Final Fantasy III. (1.1 or 1.0, doesn't matter.) Also obtain an SNES emulator, such as snes9xDownload Lunar IPS patcher hereDownload and unzip Brave New World. This folder contains the BNW patch and the patching tool, along with a readme, a printme, and an unlockme, all of which I will discuss later.In the Brave New World folder, double click [n]Brave New World 1.9.0 if you are using a non-headered rom, or [h]Brave New World 1.9.0 if you are using a headered rom, then double click your FFIII rom (unless you are extremely hyper-offended by profanity, in which case pick Clean New World 1.9.0 you coward). It should pop up a message saying "The file was successfully patched!"OPTIONAL: install this additional patch, which approximately halves random encounters and doubles their XP, so you don't constantly get into battles while keeping the XP curve roughly the same. I highly recommend this.Description So you've probably played FFVI. Maybe you loved it, maybe you loved it but thought it was dumb that all you do is spam Ultima. Well, this romhack modifies almost every single thing about the game, and every single change makes the game better. It is not exaggeration to say that this is easily the most balanced game I have ever played. When it's time to take 12 of my 14 characters to Kefka's Tower, I have real difficulty picking 2 characters that I don't think will contribute. I have only been a part of the Discord for a year or so, and during that time I have witnessed (and participated in) dozens of balance discussions over the absolute most minute details that would stretch for hours, with hundreds or even thousands of posts. At one point we spent a week discussing an item that no one uses that doesn't even show up until Kefka's Tower. Numerous spreadsheets were involved.Okay, so what's different? A full list of all the things that are changed would take ages, because nearly everything has been changed, but I am going to pick out my general highlights.Espers are now character-specific, so not every character is able to learn every spell. Most characters can only equip 2-4 espers, with a maximum of Terra and Celes at 7. Now the game is balanced around having a balanced party, rather than just spamming Ultima on every fight!Stat growth is tied to espers now. Instead of getting stats just from leveling, you "buy" them from espers with esper levels, and what you can buy depends on what espers you are allowed to equip. For example, only Mog and Sabin can equip Terrato, the esper that gives +60 HP.Stats have been fixed. Every point of stats is now noticeable, so picking gear is much more interesting than "wear latest thing I acquired." You will have to frequently swap out gear depending on the situation.The damage formula has been rebalanced so that physical attacks are not utter shit compared to magic attacks.Remember how vanilla had 256 rages for Gau, and ~253 of them were useless? Now there are 64, and ~62 are useful. You can also leap anywhere, rather than only on the Veldt, so you no longer have to grind rages. Similarly, Strago's Lore list has been trimmed down to just 13, focusing on unique abilities that didn't just duplicate already-existing abilities.Cover is based on stamina; high stamina allows you to cover attacks targeting even full-health characters, so you can have proper tanks now.Every, every ability is useful now. Remember how in vanilla you learned so much shit and never used 90% of it? In my most recent playthrough there were maybe 8 spells/abilities, between 14 characters that I didn't use. And that was just because they didn't fit properly into my builds.The storyline has been improved. No longer do you wonder "why the hell is this character doing this?" The script has been rewritten to clarify important storyline moments and directions, and also to make each character have more of a personality. This is the aspect that tends to be people's biggest complaint (there are a few memes/jokes/fourth wall breaks, but they have been significantly toned down in recent patches. I enjoyed them, myself) and not all the changes are perfect, but I believe the vast majority are for the better. The script still maintains the feel and spirit of the original, while feeling less like "oh, this is obviously just a translation from Japanese."Difficulty and AI have been heavily rebalanced, so that random battles take actual strategy and bosses can actually be difficult. This mod will make you think, plan, strategize, and revise.Gauntlet and Genji Glove have been removed. Locke/Sabin/Shadow can now naturally equip two weapons, and katanas and spears can naturally be dual-wielded.Pretty much every bug has been fixed, including dozens that you probably never even noticed but should have made the original developers very embarrassed!Leo can now be resurrectedThink of something that annoyed you about FFVI -- like having to hunt down Doomgaze or that the option to go to the Floating Continent was really easy to accidentally select or that Odin was only in the game for approximately 10 seconds -- it's probably been fixed!(Now you may be thinking, hold up, this SOUNDS cool, but I know this game, I watched/read the Let's Play, it looks like it sucks! Well, that LP was from version 1.3.2. It's currently on version 1.9.0, and everything that looked like it sucked from 1.3 has been fixed. The current game has gone through so many major overhauls it is nearly unrecognizable compared to its early versions.)-Tips:Do not ignore status effects. The biggest mistake new players make to this game is thinking it's just like vanilla and status effects are useless. Every boss is vulnerable to sap and slow, and most are vulnerable to at least one more (consult the printme for what.) If you approach random battles like you are playing vanilla, some of them can shred you. Approach them like a puzzle instead; can I blind/stone/doom any of these enemies? Do they have weaknesses I can exploit?Enemy counterattacks can be even stronger than their regular attacks. If every time you use Auto-crossbow against a particular enemy they pound Edgar into the dirt, it's likely that that enemy counters the Tools command, use something else dummy!Focus on a particular goal in mind when you are spending your esper levels. Locke has a ton of options for building him, but if you just randomly throw points in stats, he will be bad at everything. You can focus Edgar on being good at DPS with jumping or good at supporting with tools, or he can be extremely mediocre at both, depending on how you build him.The espers you used to buy at the auction house has been moved to the dude starting the colosseum, in the most northwest part of the map.Additional crapFor a full list of changes, consult the readme in the download folder. It lists pretty much all the changes, including the rationale for the changes. If you are too cool and badass to do that, at least go to the in-game beginner's school and talk to everyone. If you don't even do that, well, good luck.Also in the download folder is the printme. This printme contains a full description of every attack, every ability, every rage, every esper, every item, and every enemy in the game. I highly suggest you do what it tells you to do and actually print it, because you will be consulting it more than you'd think.If you like the mod and want to talk about it, or want to ask a dumb question that's definitely already answered in the readme that you didn't read, or both, join us in the Discord! All the developers are super active and (generally) friendly, and there's a sizeable community of weirdos that excessively enjoy talking about FFVI. If you want a Discord invite, send me a PM. via /r/Games https://ift.tt/2ssWwKT