GuestLog in

Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed this hack. Being able to have General Leo in the party was a lot of fun-I never used Shadow anyway, so it was no big loss.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this hack-playing a revamped version of the story where Leo survives and joins in the fight against Kefka is extremely satisfying. His Shock ability is still as overpowered as ever, but that is fine. The story was amended well to account for the differences in plot as well. Shadow being removed made a lot of sense, and was well written into the story. The only thing that sort of bothered me is that Leo is not present during the final ending sequences on the airship, which seems a bit silly, given that he has a new ending sequence added during the tower escape.

My main complaints about this hack stem from my way of playing, so, take them with a grain of salt. First let me explain that I enjoy playing this game as a low-level game until the Floating Continent, mostly to allow me to stat build my desired party. This hack adds experience to boss battles and other required fights that did not originally bear experience points, which makes a true low-level play through impossible. That aside, the Espers have also been overhauled and the +2 bonuses are very tough to come by. While I did find several changes enjoyable, such as the addition of a few +2 speed bonuses, the fact that no Espers prior to the WoR give a +2 to magic forced me to play a low level game a lot longer than I normally prefer. That aside, I did still enjoy the changes.

Also, while not spoiling as much as possible, I found the secret boss in the training forest extremely annoying, as he ended up appearing more often than the other battles (I realize he replaced one of the encounters there, but with that particular encounter being extremely common, it may have made better sense to have the most rare encounter swapped with the secret boss so that you don't run into him 2-6 times in a row).

As far as bugs are concerned, I hit a few when playing: one after leaving Thamasa where Relm's sprite appeared at the entrance to every room on the airship, blocking travel (easily fixed by making a new party, thus being warped to the helm). I also was unable to complete the Magi Master fight, as he never appeared: after grabbing the Gem Box, the worshippers pinned me at the top, but the ghost sprite that is the boss never appeared. I was forced to load a previous save and ended up skipping the tower.

TL;DR

Overall, I really enjoyed this hack. It was a fresh take on the classic that offered a nice variation from the original and some good improvements overall. If playing normally, this is perhaps the best way to enjoy FF3. If you like to stat max and do a low-level playthrough, be aware that it will be a lot different.

This is a perfect example of adding unused content and changing the story in the game to show what the original Final Fantasy VI should have intended to be. Final Fantasy VI is still a masterpiece, but it's great to see General Leo survive Kefka's attack on Thamasa as we finally get to see what happened if General Leo didn't die in Final Fantasy VI. This is what Square should have done all those years ago. And now, people finally get to see General Leo kill Kefka making it an moment they'll never forget. General Leo is upgraded to a full fledged playable character whereas Shadow is nerfed to guest character status. Leo can now change equipment and armor, can equip relics and Espers, can learn spells, has a unique Desperation Attack, has his own "rejoining" scenario in the World of Ruin, and has his own scene during the ending. He obviously functions as the "Easy Type" version of Final Fantasy VI.

Not only that, it adds new scenes and more screen time for minor characters, many new equipment items, the restoration of the dummied rages, modified shops and treasure chest contents, and more.

I appreciate the effort fedorajoe puts into making this wonderful Final Fantasy VI hack. Well done!

This is a great hack, and it doesn't just change Leo's role in the narrative, there are lots of other updates and corrections and subtleties that make the game much better overall until you reach the point you want to see (General Leo destroying faces, of course)

I would like to say that I understand completely why Shadow was chosen. His role in the story isn't as vital as many of the other characters and his design (in the program) is much simpler than characters like Gogo and Umaro. I appreciate the difficulty in the choice that was made and the end product benefits from it.

I had a lot of trouble finding Leo in the World of Ruin and as a result, I didn't really get to enjoy him much because finding him was the last thing I couldn't do before going to Kefka.

The reward in this hack is small, and takes a lot of work to reach. If you're looking for a "quick gratification" experience, look elsewhere. But if you want to feel, just for a moment, like you did when you played FF6 for the very first time, I highly recommend this Hack.

FWIW, I played this on a Super Everdrive and in my opinion, playing on an original console is the way to go. Your mileage may vary.

(Also, don't bother asking for help on the forums or from the hack creator directly, you won't get an answer. If you really want to know how to find Leo because you couldn't, like me, PM me.)

Just finished playing this hack, and it is just great, and does exactly what you expect it to do: promote General Leo from supporting cast to main cast. It is very well introduced and will allow you to replay the game with a fresh feel.

My only complaint is that the hacker sacrificed Shadow to make room for Leo, and while I understand the technical reasons for doing so, I would have rather replaced Strago or Relm (Relm dying instead of Leo could even have served as a great new development for Shadow).

Go and play it now !

I played through the entirety of this hack, even finding most characters ultimate gear and learning every spell available for 8 or so of them.

I found myself fully immersed in FF VI again for the first time in years. The slight twists this hack provides are very tasteful and keep you interested to see what's around the next corner, even if it's just a new or modified weapon.

General Leo himself is very satisfying to take control of. Having a truly dedicated swordsman was awesome, as in past playthroughs I have generally equipped Edgar with a Holy Lance and the two female mage knights have been more dedicated to their magic arsenals, so their handheld weapons were never used as much as they should be. Having General Leo wield the Illumina and other swords before obtaining that one was awesome and incredibly powerful.

The added cut-scenes are very well done and they all stay true to the story the way Square had originally intended it. The way this alternate history plays out is almost as if it was dreamed up by one of the creators of FF VI.

The creator of this hack made the questionable decision of eliminating Shadow from your party to accommodate Leo. At first I was very skeptical of this decision, but after having read his reasoning and then playing through the hack to see his reasons firsthand, I must say it was the best logical decision. While Shadow is a fan favorite and always ended up being one of my main characters, Leo ended up being my number one go-to character, and Shadow never quite made that cut. Some would say eliminating Relm or Strago would have been better since not many have attachments to their characters or story lines... but would you really want lose abilities like 'control' or blue magic? Umaro would be another obvious choice, but once you examine his reasoning for that having too many technical issues, it becomes clear that Shadow is the best choice.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this hack to anyone interested in seeing a tasteful twist on an old classic. Don't expect a complete overhaul, but the additions that were added make it like re-experiencing one of your old favorites for the first time again.