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Final Fantasy VI Challenge Mode

Original game : Final Fantasy III

Platform : SNES

Author : DrakeyC

Release date : 06 November 2023

Category : Complete

Patch version : 1.05

Modifications : G, L, T, P

Downloads : 413

ROM Information

Database match: Final Fantasy III (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File/ROM SHA-1: 4F37E4274AC3B2EA1BEDB08AA149D8FC5BB676E7
File/ROM CRC32: A27F1C7A

Hack description

Final Fantasy VI Challenge Mod is a balance overhaul mod intended to give players a fresh experience with a higher difficulty level, but does not make the game punishingly hard either. This encompasses the following:

* Characters are rebalanced; overpowered stuff was nerfed and underpowered stuff was buffed. This includes changes to Strago's Lore list, Umaro can be equipped but is still a Berserker, some of Gau's Rages have two special attacks, SwdTech charges faster, Mog's Dances never fail, and more. Additionally, everyone has an "ultimate weapon" out there in the world to find.
* Espers no longer grant level-up bonuses, instead stat boosts comes from equipment. The new equipment system is inspired by Final Fantasy XII - equipment can be sorted into "light", which raises Speed and evasive stats, "heavy", which raises Vigor and HP, and "mage", which rages Magic and MP. But there's still universal equipment and characters are not forced into just one type of equipment, they have a variety. In fact, numerous characters have new equipment they can use, like Setzer and Shadow using throwing weapons, Cyan can equip swords, and Terra and Celes can equip rods.
* Espers teach spells faster, and spells can also be learned from equipment. There are new spells in Water, Wind, and Earth, tier 1.5 and 2.5 spells. You'll need them because enemies have more varied elemental properties than before, so you can't get complacent spamming the same spells every encounter and expecting them to do the job. Defensively, you have access to more elemental Relics to defend against enemies.
* Espers have had their effects buffed, some Espers are found in different locations, and some are changed into different beings. A completely new Esper has already been added.
* Enemies are tougher: they have higher stats, more active AI scripts, and make more varied use of elemental and status attacks. Some bosses were significantly altered, such as the Eight Dragons, who are buffed to the level of end-game bosses. Gold Dragon and Skull Dragon were moved out of Kefka's Tower to new locations in the world.
* While most of the actual story content is untouched saved for a handful of places that update the localization in relations to gameplay (AtmaWeapon - Ultima Weapon, dialogue is changed accordingly), Restored Ability Names and Expanded Item Names are included to allow for longer text strings all-around and the names of abilities and items were changed to typical FF standard. While most enemies kept their original names if only to avoid confusion, a couple of them have their "proper" names now (Tonberry, Ahriman, Malboro, etc).

More information on specific changes can be found in the Beginner's School in Narshe, where the NPCs there discuss this mod's content.

Screenshots

Contributions

ContributorType of contributionDescription
SilentEnigmaHackingRestored Ability Names

Reviews

Good ideas and nice QoL but misses the mark a bit.Sil512023-11-01Version 1.0

I'll preface by saying compared to vanilla it's a total improvement, plenty of QoL changes and bugfixes that make the game feel smoother barring a few bugs but there are a few issues I have with it.

Let's start with the pros, sprint is now B like in many other mods which means no running shoes, sweet! Many items also got renamed to their GBA counterparts and most of the text is generally cleaner while still having a bit of that ted woosley charm. Some characters got reworked to be less useless while others got toned down slightly, unfortunately this leads into a few issues I'll get into in a moment. Espers are much more powerful now and also teach spells faster but no longer give level up stats. A lot of gear now gives stats to make up for the lack of stat level ups and characters can generally equip more things.

Now for the cons, if you expected a challenge here like in BNW or t-edition unfortunately you won't find that here. A lot of characters that got reworked are simply just better than the characters that weren't reworked. Why use locke when cyan can use better armor and ANY sword, not to mention his unique katana is a strictly better valiant knife. Why use terra or celes when relm still has far and away the highest magic stat and now nobody can catch up with no level up bonuses, why use anybody but gogo who can now equip 99% of gear including the powerful stat boosting pieces that where added in addition to his new knife that gives the master scroll effect for free. The elemental changes while nice just aren't impactful enough to make you want to use anything but drain in the early game (which isn't capped by your health anymore).

All in all it's definitely a solid romhack, it plays and feels better than vanilla but a lot of the reworked characters really need to be relooked at.

EDIT: I was wrong about relm, she has the 3rd highest magic behind mog and terra.