Sunday, March 2, 2014

ROM hack discussion!

Gentle Reader,

Happy March, everyone!  Just wanted to give a quick update on my ROM hacks and related projects.

First, I am still working on the next release of the Playable Golbez Edition hack, and I still expect it to be out some time in March.  Updates in this release will include:  new commands and abilities for Golbez, repairs to a few minor glitches, a total revamp of who can use what equipment (it never made sense that Golbez could use claws but not rods), and a new optional mini-boss who drops an incredibly cool item.

Secondly, I'm also working on a new version of the General Leo Edition hack that was prompted by the let's plays done by Magrail1982 and BohepansTheThird.  Watching these playthroughs alerted me to the existence of various minor bugs, but also gave me ideas on additional ways to improve the hack.  I'd watch for this update within the next few months.

Lastly, I'm also working on the next release of the Phantasy Star II Modernization hack, and I would expect that release some time this summer.

And, just for the sake of completion, I'll also mention my Kain Unhelmted mini-hack.  :)

I really enjoy doing hacks and so sometimes I get to thinking about what other hacks I could potentially tackle in the future.  (Any requests...?)

I've already mentioned my concept for a General Beatrix Edition, but I think it will be a few years yet before the hacking tools are available to make that kind of project realistic.

Another idea I had was for a Playable Gilgamesh Edition of Final Fantasy V, where Gilgamesh would be the final team member, rather than Krile.  The two obstacles to this are:  a relative lack of hacking documents and tools compared to games like IV and VI, but even more importantly, the herculean task of drawing all of those damn battle sprites from scratch.  I mean, that would be a real nightmare, and I just don't know if I'm up to it.

My other dream project would be to take Dragon Warrior III for the NES and convert it into an upgraded Dragon Warrior II.  I know that a lot of people hate on Dragon Warrior II, and I get that, because in many respects it is the weakest entry in the series.  But, it was the first RPG that I ever became completely obsessed with, and I would love to reimagine it.  The advantage of using III as the base is that it would allow me to have way more spells and items, way more monsters with more sophisticated AI, a day-night cycle, a larger world with more towns and dungeons, and finally, and most importantly... the ability to have more than three party members, as well as a means of easily changing the party lineup.  I really get excited when I think about this project so maybe I'll tackle it one day.  I should at least write up a post talking about what I would put into such a hack.

Anyway, thanks for listening, and I'll see y'all around!

Ever Yours,
Fauntleroy

14 comments:

  1. I may be making my own FF6 hack soon enough (certainly tinkering with the tools, anyway). Beware, Internets! Beware!! ...or I may infect you with my oddball sense of humor. XD

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    1. DO IT! You know you wanna...

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    2. I'm less afraid of picking up your sense of humor and more afraid of what you will make the dragons do to roast my ass!

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    3. They'll roast you, toast you, make a ghost of you!...totally not a reference. XD
      Besides, forget the dragons, watch out for MagiMaster...phew!

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    4. This shit's gonna get crazy, I can tell.

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    5. Oh, but let's not leave out Doom Gaze...he has a reputation to maintain, so!

      But beyond that, yeah, plenty of other changes on a more friendly end of the scale will go in as well. (Have in fact already gone in, so!) I just wonder if I can do something more appropriate with the item formerly known as Sprint Shoes, since I kinda banished that concept into The Void, as it were...I'm definitely gonna be thinking on that one for a while.

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  2. First off, thanks for the shout out! Glad we could be of (albeit minor) assistance in bug-hunting.
    Secondly, I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the Golbez hack. I think that would make a lovely followup to the GLE gameplay I just finished...with your permission of course.

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    1. Yes, I would be honored! The update is basically ready to go, but I need to do one more playthrough first to see if any new bugs popped up. You'll be the first to know when it's ready!

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  3. I've recently started on the Leo hack and what little changes I've seen thus far seem quite professional, well thought-out and restrained, which is always nice to see in gameplay mods.

    If I may make a small inquiry, is there any particular reason that Leo Edition is built on the US 1.1 ROM instead of the more commonly hacked 1.0? I only ask because I've managed to apply 98 additional patches on top of LE so far, and if I could apply LE to a 1.0 ROM then I could easily push that patch number over 100 at which point I expect the ROM to attain self-awareness and make my Windows XP box the progenitor of Skynet, or at least give me a prize.

    Before I decided to try LE I didn't even know there existed more patches for FF6 than the ones on romhacking.net... see what you've done.

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    1. Ha ha, thanks for the great comment. :) It actually wasn't intentional to use 1.1 as opposed to 1.0, it was just the first ROM copy that I grabbed. But as you've found, the difference doesn't matter much; most patches can be applied to one just as easily as the other. Anyway, thanks again for trying the hack, and keep a watch for the next version, which should be out within the next 60 days!

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  4. Indeed, most patches are compatible or have multiple patches for different versions. One exception I've come across is the Sword Tech Ready Stance patch by HatZen08; I was looking forward to putting Cyan on autopilot but that patch specifically requires a 1.0 ROM. I'm trying out HatZen's Runic Forever and Lucky Slot patches to see if they will play nice with 1.1 but of course I won't know until I recruit the appropriate characters. I did pass over some other bugfix patches on other sites which called for a 1.0 ROM (can't be arsed to try them all).

    If it were ever possible for Leo Edition to include an alternate patch compatible with 1.0 I could then test my luck applying all the patches, but I understand if it's not in the cards given the extra work it entails.

    I'll also be looking forward to trying your Phantasy Star 2 improvement soon; that's one game I never finished and I'm glad to have the excuse to go back to it. General Beatrix Edition, too, I'd be very interested in seeing happen. It's a shame that 9 wasn't ported to PC for that, given the extent to which 7 and 8 have been hacked and modded over the years. I do hope the requisite tools become available so I can play it someday. Thanks for all the work you're putting in on these classics.

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  5. I am very interested in the Playable Gilgamesh idea! Go for it man! I would love to see the result!

    PS: It's me TheBigT2000

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  6. How about a hack where you play as Banon?

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  7. A Playable Gilgamesh Edition of FFV sounds terrific. I hope you'll come around to doing it, even though I get this is a huge task.

    What about a Playable Banon Edition of FFVI ? Isn't there any way to add Banon and Leo as permanent playable characters without removing any other cast member ? If there isn't, I'd suggest removing Gogo and Umaro.

    There are probably not enough tools to make this happen, but I'd also love a hack of FFII (preferably the GBA version) which lets you keep guest members permanently and choose which ones you want in your team when you want, like in FFIV Advance.

    And I have two ultimate dreams : a 16-bit version of Seiken Densetsu faithfull to the original (unlike the horrible Sword of Mana remake), I've noticed a lot of sprites of FFIV are basically the same as the ones in Seiken (Baigan = Julius, for example), I have no hacking skills but it seems possible to me with some effort. My other ultimate hack dream is a 16-bit version of FFIII, it should probably be possible using FFV as a base since both games share a similar class system. What do you think ?

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