Category Archives: Final Fantasy

RPG Hack Showcase: Final Fantasy C2 (SNES)

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Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Final Fantasy C2 was originally released in 2016 by Naka no Hito. This hack is special as it takes the Super Famicom Final Fantasy 4 and transforms it beautifully into an updated version of Final Fantasy 2, the black sheep of the FF games originally released on the NES, and later ported to PSX, GBA, and PSP. The Professional Japanese-to-English localizer Clyde “Tomato” Mandelin, who is known for making the fan English patch for the GBA Mother 3 who runs the Legends of Localization website, dropped an English patch for Final Fantasy C2 recently in 2 different flavors!

There is a version A and version B of this patch. Version A uses the original hack’s FF4’s graphics. Version B changes the enemies FF4 enemies into that of enemies in FF2 with upgraded graphics. Tomato even recommends most people to play version B (version B is the one I played for this review.) A readme file included shows how to patch the hack if you’re not familiar with using ips files, along with a number of other changes including: quality of life improvements, a 5 member party with party swapping late in the game, new spells and gear, a treasure tracker just for fun, and more! Links to a news article about this hack and the website to download this included at the end of this page. So I was excited to play this spur of the moment! I love FF4 after playing Free Enterprise and the Ultima hack for the past month and wanted to see what this brought to the table. Plus I have little experience with FF2 so this would give me a chance to play without dealing with the wacky leveling system.

With most romhacks, strongly suggested to check out the readme files for advice on the changes to hacks and any gameplay tips, especially with rpgs. Readme files for rpg hacks can contain additional gameplay advice, etc, and it’s worth subscribing to hacks you like on RHDN to keep up with updates for bug fixes, additional content, etc.

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Final Fantasy 6: World’s Collide Randomizer (ver 0.9.3 as of 11/14/2021)

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Worlds Collide is an open-world randomizer for Final Fantasy 3/6. It follows the same features and format as other open-world randomizers FF4 Free Enterprise and FF5 Career Day. Set up your seed (seed being the type of randomizer you wanna play) by difficulty, randomizing heroes, Espers, monsters, gear and more! Your final goal in the game is to acquire the prerequisite heroes and Espers (which you can change the amount from 3 heroes or Esper, up to all 14 heroes and/or 26 Espers including the 8 Dragons) so you can enter Kefka’s Tower in the World of Ruin and win the game. You can play a normal open world game, or one set up with character gating. Character gating is when your starting hero(es) are limited to key events tied to them, to see if you get a new hero, Esper, or gear. For example Strago is tied to the Burning House, Ebot’s Rock and Fanatic’s Tower, and Edger is tied to the Ancient Castle and Figaro Castle in the WOB and WOR. A spoiler log can be generated with your seed (in a handy zip file with the smc rom and txt log) if you so wish if you get stuck. Only issues I’ve found with both style games, especially character gating, is that the key events tends to be geared more towards gear and Espers, so it may take a while going through everyone’s gating to pick up a new hero or two and make progress.

From the start you begin at Narshe with the airship Blackjack in the World of Balance and have access to all locations there, towns, dungeons, etc. Getting on the airship you have the option to fly around, do stuff in the airship, or go to the World of Ruin. Going to the Floating Continent when you have Shadow in character gating starts the trigger of forming a party of 3 and fighting your way through the Imperial Airforce and Ultros before plopping onto the Floating Continent.  The World of Ruin flips you to the World of Ruin with the Falcon at Narshe, and again, access to all locations. But Doom Gaze is still around somewhere and could strike at any time. You can also set to start with Moogle Charms, which eliminate random enemy fights.

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RPG Hack Showcase: Final Fantasy 4 Ultima v2022+ (SNES)

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Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

(Note: review and hack showcase video on yt based on version 2022+ as of June 2022.)

Long time Final Fantasy fans know the US release of FF2 on the SNES was a dumbed down version from the original project of FF4.FF4 Ultima fixes all the issues in the easytype FF2, along with later ports prior to the 3D versions of FF4. You can call it the FF4 Deluxe Collector’s Edition package. FF4 Ultima by 8-bit fan, Chillyfeez, and their team team keeps the plot going and makes TONS of changes to everything. The plot script is cleaner and makes more sense, the maps of the overworld, underworld, and moon are even changed! You’ll be surprised when you see the world map coming out of the Cave of Mist! Expect to get lost if you try to take the normal way to the Towel of Bab-il in the underground from the Dwarf Castle! Look out for new areas in familiar dungeons and caves too! Lots of new equipment to mess around with too!

List of features, additions and changes:

  • Party Swapping among 11 different members at Endgame!!
  • Dark Knight Cecil now available at endgame!!
  • A Full-Featured Bestiary!! A Brand New Title Screen!
  • A VERY Challenging BOSS RUSH Mode unlocked at endgame!!
  • New Game+ mode with higher MAX level/stats!!
  • 58 New Weapons! Including Magically Imbued Weapons!
  • 62 New Spells/Summons! Also revamped existing spells!
  • 38 New Bosses! Brand New Boss at Endgame with Randomized AI!
  • New Achievements Feature at: https://retroachievements.org/game/1072
  • New Status ‘Aura/Color’ for buffs/ailments during battle!!
  • Damage Limit increased to 14999! Can turn Encounters On/Off!
  • New Areas! New Side Quests! New and Upgradable Commands!!
  • New Enemy Graphics! New Events! New Endgame Scenarios!
  • New Equipment/Spell Menus with DETAILED info!!
  • New attack/swing/spell animations!
  • New weapon graphics!! New sound effects! New items!!
  • New maps, new areas and new edits to overworld maps!
  • New events! New enemies!! Sprint with the Y button!!
  • New commands for characters. New Armors and Gears!
  • Revamped shops/equipment and balanced their progression.
  • Dark Knight Cecil now dual-wields and is 2-handed!!
  • Edge is now buffed offensively! Can steal Rare items!
  • Rydia has new summons!
  • Cecil has been buffed as a tank.
  • Rosa can use more combative gears and new spells.
  • Kain has new offensive buffing spells.
  • Yang, Edward, Palom, Porom and others have also been buffed!
  • Lots of secrets that can lead to early acquirement of better equipment!
  • Few minor tweaks to the base game such as save points, etc.

With most romhacks, strongly suggested to check out the readme files for advice on the changes to hacks and any gameplay tips, especially with rpgs. Readme files for rpg hacks can contain additional gameplay advice, etc, and it’s worth subscribing to hacks you like on RHDN to keep up with updates for bug fixes, additional content, etc.

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My Final Fantasy 6 Collection (Updated 6/24/2020)

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So I’ve mentioned before i love the Final Fantasy titles, 6 is actually my favorite. My top 4 being 6, 9, 4, and 7. I really got into 6 at a teen with friends. The storylines, the heroes, the villain Kefka being one of the few to actually succeed in destroying the world and so on. Offhand only faults I have are that the game can be linear at a couple points and very open ended at another, and how every party member can learn all of the same magic from Espers. You can logically keep spamming the powerful Ulitma spells to bulldoze through the later half of the quest. And Gau still sucks like Edward in FF4.

I still ship Locke x and Celes forever. ❤

So over the years I’ve been trying to build a FF6 collection. I’m still working on the games themselves, mainly the snes FF3, and the US and Japanese gba FF6 Advance ports. Aside from those 3, I’ve built a nice little set of any supplemental guides and such. Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge the FF6 goodness.

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Final Fantasy 4 Free Enterprise Randomizer (ver 4.5.0 as of 2/21/2023)

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Final Fantasy 4 Free Enterprise is a different kind of randomizer. This turns the world of FF2/4 into an open-world rpg/scavenger hunt type game. Right at the start you have the airship and can go anywhere you want and do whatever you want. The catch is you start with 2 random heroes from the game, and the boss fights and acquisition of key items are randomized. Where in the normal game you would fight the Mist Dragon in the Cave of Mist you may run into one of the 4 elemental fiends instead or even Bahamut! Where you would normally obtain the package at the start when Cecil and Kain leave Baron Castle you might end up with the Magma Key to open up the Underworld! Going to the website (linked below) you can see the latest version, and joining the Discord to see what all the latest updates are. Included are a couple other fun links to help your Free Enterprise experience like trackers.

Your goal is to obtain the crystal which can be found through the game, or obtained after accomplishing various objectives which range from finding various heroes, killing certain bosses, or doing key tasks. The crystal is what flips Zemus into Zeromus in vanilla so you can fight him. During your seed you can find or buy an item called the Pass, which when given to a woman in Toroia, takes you to the Moon right to fight Zeromus instead of going through the lunar dungeon, or just take the long path down to Zeromus, you can even set it up to finish the seed with the Giant of Bab-Il.

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My Sad Time With FF8

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I’ve always loved the FF games starting with the first. My fav titles are 4, 6, 7, and 9. FF1 and Dragon Warrior 1 were my first rpgs! I even found some enjoyment in the 2 unreleased in the US titles 2 and 3. I’m planning to return to 2 via Dawn of Souls sometime, and 3…who knows. Have I finished a lot of them? Well no, I think last one was 6. I do have 10, 10-2, and 12 on PS2. Aside from the online 11 the only PS era FF I’m missing is 8, and i do have tactics through its a Greatest Hits re-release (all others black label). Now with the PS3 I can see what the love-hate relationship with the 13 trilogy is all about.

8 is the only one I’m missing from the PS era, along with a guide, and the guide for FF Anthology…which I’m not sure how I missed that one. 8…I never really got along with. I’m planning a post on my history with the FF titles, but with last week’s 8 Remastered and 7 Remake in a few months, I figure Id share why i never got into 8, and if i should revisit it once I own a new copy and/or PS3 PSN download.

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Of Maps and Monsters 8 and 16 bit

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One my favorite things of rpgs and adventure games bit era were the extra material. Maps, spell and item lists, monster and skill charts and more. Always fun to open up the box ready to dive into the adventure and skimming over the information. and this was before gamefaqs remember! sometimes we have to buy grid paper and draw our own maps and scribble notes on them! The artwork and information was always a treasure to look at and admiring the artwork.

So I went through a few things I had to take photos of, inspired by HungryGoriya.

So here’s some Ultima 4 for the nes, dragon warrior 1 and 4, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and Ogre Battle. I dont have Final Fantasy 2 or 3, or Dragon Warrior 3 so they’re not included.

Ultima 4 was interesting as it came with tons of information, though the NES edition wasn’t as in-depth as the Sega Master System or early pc versions.

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