Final Fantasy VI: Rebirth

WARNING: LOTS OF TEXT

I've been working on a project for quite some time now - since 2008. Off and on, mostly. The amount of original work in this isn't enough to warrant something two years in the making. I've been making a "hack" form (simply just hacking the rom, and an RPG Maker form, as this project is too big to fit in the original rom.

Obviously this means many of the features cannot make it to the rom, and makes it little more than a graphical and text hack. Well, that's not entirely true, there are still a lot of good features in it. And I'm still working on both versions and am going to include as much as I can in the rom. Unfortunately this means that I have to be incredibly choosy as to what to put into the rom version. But as some people would rather play the rom than the RPG Maker project (as I suspect is the case here), that's why I'm doing both.

This is not a new game. I should say that right off the bat. Not many FF6 hacks are, and those that are are usually not very good. I am not delusional in thinking that I could come up with a decent enough plot and write good enough dialogue that people would be interested in.

Simply put, this is an extended Final Fantasy VI experience. For those of you who enjoy FF6 but didn't want to see it end or wished it was a longer game. That's what this is. This is accomplished in two ways:

1.Brand new areas, including towns and dungeons.
2.Expanded areas from the original game (meaning a much larger Kefka's Tower and additional areas to explore in South Figaro Cave, for instance).

To accommodate this, and ensure the player doesn't become too overpowered, Exp. received is greatly reduced and Exp. needed to level up is increased. Though, considering the basic game mechanics of FF6, every character in the game will likely still become demigods by the time they get to Kefka's Tower anyway.

I have no screenshots to show just yet, though some are coming up soon. However, I can give a massive list of features. Two, actually. One for the Rom version and the RPG Maker version.

ROM VERSION:

• New character (Umaro is no longer available). This character is recruitable in the Ancient Castle under Figaro.
  
• Gogo can now equip Espers, but learns magic the same way he/she used to.
  
• Many new Weapons and Relics, and some new Armor. This means "useless" items such as all Brushes and Cursed Ring are now gone, as well as some other less useless items.
  
• Expanded and altered areas from the original game.
  
• 2 new Spells. (Rasp and Berserk are now gone)
  
• 4 new Lores. (Condemned, Reflect???, Pep Up and Stone are now gone)
  
• New enemies.
  
• Nearly every treasure chest in the game contains something different than it originally did. In addition there are some more chests, due to the increased difficulty and price of items.
  
• Most items bet at the Colosseum nets a different reward than the original game.
  
• Items renamed to their FFVI Advance counterpart (when possible), and in some cases given entirely new names.
  
• Most enemies have had a palette swap. Most enemies have also had their name changed. Nothing major, but keeps it refreshing.
  
• New dialogue window and menu font.
  
• Updated command names (SwdTech --> Bushido, etc.) and terms (GP --> Gil, etc.).
  
• Many bugfix patches applied, pretty much the standard ones. (Evade fix, Rippler fix, etc.) Thanks go to all those who created these patches. I can't remember all that I used, unfortunately.
  
• Increased difficulty (but not an obscene amount). This entails:
  
  • Most characters now start at a lower level - usually the same level Terra is on. Before many characters would be 2 or 5 levels higher than Terra's.
    
  • Most characters start with worse or less equipment.
    
  • Stronger enemies, usually in terms of HP.
    
  • Better enemy battle scripts. Altered attacks used and less "Nothing"s to choose from.
    
  • More enemies now make use of the "Starting Status" that was commonly unused. For example: during the multi-party battle at Narshe, Kefka now has an innate "Regen" status effect, offering a slight to moderate boost in difficulty. Some enemies now start with similar statuses: Reflect, Protect, Shell, etc.
    
  • More enemies are given elemental immunities/weaknesses, especially those that should logically have had them to begin with. For example: Dirt Dragon now absorbs Earth-elemental damage, as it always should have.
    
  • Reduced starting stats of all characters, except Umaro. This includes HP and MP.
    
  • Reduced Exp. and Gil won from battles.
    
  • Increased prices on all purchasable items.
    
  • Changed starting Lores to "Revenge Blast" and "Rippler" only.
    
  • Changed levels Blitz techniques are learned, mostly raising them.
    
  • Changed levels Bushido techniques are learned, mostly raising them.
    
  • Removed all starting Rages. Gau now starts with no Rages learned.
    
  • Terra's natural magic lineup has been changed. She now learns some different spells, though by the time she gets to higher levels she probably already knows nearly all spells.
    
  • Celes's natural magic lineup has been changed. She now learns less spells naturally. She cannot learn "Cure" naturally.
    
  • Espers teach most spells at a reduced rate.
    
  • Most Espers teach less spells, making equipping some Espers thought to be "useless" before now essential to learning all magic spells.
    
  • MP Cost of most spells has been increased - decreased in rare cases.
    
  • Most characters' equippable items list has been changed. Characters now have a more "Class" based item selection. For example: Before Terra could equip most (all?) swords and heavy armor. Now she can equip only some swords and moderate-weight armor, as well as all rods and staves, giving her more of a Red Mage class. Locke has the number of weapons he can used reduced, limiting him mostly to knives, with a small number of swords available. Terra's equipment is by far the most modified.

RPG MAKER VERSION:

• All FFVI Advance bonus material, including Dragon's Den which is accessible immediately in the WoR.
  
• 2 new permanent characters to recruit in WoR, totaling 16 playable characters.
  
• Gogo can now equip Espers, but learns magic the same way he/she used to.
  
• Nearly 100 new Items, Weapons, Armor and Relics in addition to the already existing original and Advance items.
  
• All new areas, including 2 large dungeons.
  
• Expanded and altered areas from the original game.
  
• 11 new Black Magic spells.
  
• 3 new Effect Magic spells.
  
• 9 new White Magic spells.
  
• 15 new Lores.
  
• 12 new Espers, possibly more.
  
• 2 new Blitzes.
  
• New status effect: Curse.
  
• New enemies and bosses, many of which can be learned as Rages.
  
• Nearly every treasure chest in the game contains something different than it originally did. In addition there are more chests, due to the vastly increased number of available treasures and increased difficulty.
  
• Every song in the game has been Rearranged by me.
  
• Improved Auction House.
  
• Most items bet at the Colosseum nets a different reward than the original game.
  
• Items renamed to their FFVI Advance counterpart, and in some cases given entirely new names.
  
• Most enemies have had a palette swap. Nothing major, but keeps it refreshing.
  
• Increased difficulty (but not an obscene amount). This entails:
  
  • Most characters now start at a lower level - usually the same level Terra is on. Before many characters would be 2 or 5 levels higher than Terra's.
    
  • Most characters start with worse or less equipment.
    
  • Stronger enemies, usually in terms of HP.
    
  • Better enemy battle scripts. Altered attacks used and less "Nothing"s to choose from.
    
  • More enemies now make use of the "Starting Status" that was commonly unused. For example: during the multi-party battle at Narshe, Kefka now has an innate "Regen" status effect, offering a slight to moderate boost in difficulty. Some enemies now start with similar statuses: Reflect, Protect, Shell, etc.
    
  • More enemies are given elemental immunities/weaknesses, especially those that should logically have had them to begin with. For example: Dirt Dragon now absorbs Earth-elemental damage, as it always should have.
    
  • Reduced starting stats of all characters, except Umaro. This includes HP and MP.
    
  • Reduced Exp. and Gil won from battles.
    
  • Increased prices on all purchasable items.
    
  • Changed starting Lores to "Revenge Blast" and "Rippler" only.
    
  • Changed levels Blitz techniques are learned, mostly raising them.
    
  • Changed levels Bushido techniques are learned, mostly raising them.
    
  • Removed all starting Rages. Gau now starts with no Rages learned.
    
  • Terra's natural magic lineup has been changed. She now learns some different spells, though by the time she gets to higher levels she probably already knows nearly all spells.
    
  • Celes's natural magic lineup has been changed. She now learns less spells naturally. She cannot learn "Cure" naturally.
    
  • Espers teach most spells at a reduced rate.
    
  • Most Espers teach less spells, making equipping some Espers thought to be "useless" before now essential to learning all magic spells.
    
  • MP Cost of most spells has been increased - decreased in rare cases.
    
  • Most characters' equippable items list has been changed. Characters now have a more "Class" based item selection. For example: Before Terra could equip most (all?) swords and heavy armor. Now she can equip only some swords and moderate-weight armor, as well as all rods and staves, giving her more of a Red Mage class. Locke has the number of weapons he can used reduced, limiting him mostly to knives, with a small number of swords available. Terra's equipment is by far the most modified.
• Plus a few more surprises.

I have already implemented nearly all of these features. I have one new dungeon to complete, some odds and ends to take care of, and of course a buttload of testing on top of the already buttload of testing I've done.

The biggest part will be the music, since I'm redoing all of it myself. I've gotten a start on it, but it will still take a while.

I expect to have this project done by the end of the year.