FFVI: Alternate History

So a few people have been goading me to continue this project, I've had a bit more free time as of late and will try my best to continue making this.

That being said, I wouldn't mind any and all community input on this project if people are interested. How much new stuff do people want to see in this? Should there be new monsters with revised and more difficult battle scripts? Should characters be made a bit weaker so those of us who have played FF6 tonnes of times have a bit of challenge? How much new equipment would everyone like to see? I want to keep things as lore friendly to the FF universe as possible, but would like to introduce enough new things with this hack to make this game a new experience.

Do exactly what you stated in your post above.
More stuff = better

I Agree with Tenkarider; The More different things you do in this hack to differentiate it from the Original (in My Opinion), The more Enjoyable The Hack will be.

I don't know that 'more = better', necessarily, although obviously you want enough changes that it's a new experience, to whatever degree. The thing about game balance/challenge is that it's not necessarily about 'stronger monsters/weaker enemies'; depending on how you handle things, different is sometimes a better solution that stronger (or weaker), unless you're specifically looking to raise the game's difficulty. That's one of the things I'm looking at in my hack, as well as one of the things I like about Brave New World -- by having more firmly defined character skillsets (changing up the ability/magic system in FF6Tensei, for example, or the way that BNW limits access to espers), more strategy is required in putting teams together, because no one character can fill every role (which is, as far as I'm concerned, the biggest flaw in FF6). It's not that the enemies themselves are necessarily more difficult, but you need to relearn how to handle them -- the strategies you used in vanilla FF3 won't necessarily work.

That said, I'm all for new equipment -- you should see the item/equipment list I'm working on for Tensei -- and regardless how you handle game balance in general, I think there are certainly some enemies who deserve better (and yes, more difficult) battle scripts. I just don't think you should feel you need to change everything just to differentiate it from the original game; we're playing your hack because we like the original game, after all, so some elements should stay the same! ;)

Right, i already wrote what should have a new mod to be great in the project thread of Edrin... Children of Vector, if i recall... but it was a long post to write
I opted for the short answer.

TinMan I love this idea...the list of alternate history changes you suggested is really great, and this absolutely needs to happen! Feel free to shoot me an email if you want somebody to bounce ideas off of or if there's any way I can help...it sounds like a nice idea.

I think you should totally replace Umaro with Arvis or Banon!

Poor Umaro... XD

FIRST OFF: Back up your stuff! Email it to yourself! Keep daily spare copies of all your years of work! Ahem.

CHALLENGE: Challenge-wise, I would like to get a new level of challenge. Brave New World made things harder, but also rebalanced the entire game. What about using that as a difficulty base?

As for new stuff, I like Brave New World's (BNW's) 'play area song throughout the entire area, even fighting, except for boss fights or special events.'

FIGHTS: I want to see new battle formations. Maybe new creatures. Definitely new abilities and gimmicks (if possible) to use on foes. Again, I suggest BNW as a baseline.

CONTENT: There was an April Fool's joke tossed around last decade about a Japan-only sequel to FFVI called FFVI-2, Shadow of Light. (Original site without pictures due to web archive.) In it, Shadow was the main character, the party was introduced to a new playable character who was a cook (who combined items as ingredients a la FFV's Chemist to get unique effects in battle), and there was a tale being told of what happened after Kefka got slaughtered.

Yes, it was a joke, but what if some or all these events happened?

Caves of Narshe has a rumors page filled with untrue/unproven rumors. What if these were at least partially real? I'm not talking about things in the game that are dummied out, like the CzarDragon/Kaiser Dragon, nor the ability to get Leo as a more permanent party member using the Floating Continent Airship Glitch.

Additionally, I had a dream awhile ago about playing as Kefka. (Seriously, read the whole thread including replies!) What if you could play as him and his minions for a segment? (I noticed Kefka plans to be a playable party member, but what if he could, say, control minions FakeMustache-style?) What if he needs to stop Leo or somesuch?

Speaking of characters, what if Umaro were a lot more... cultured? Instead of being a brute berserker, what if he were a Monk or a Samurai or a magical mutation?

Additionally, what if there were a unique merchant character who had the steal command? He's in it for the money and the mercantile empire. (Not necessarily The Empire.) Maybe recruit Lone Wolf who serves as FFV's and FFVI's thieving semi-antagonist.

The Ancient Castle depicts shadows of the War of the Magi. Can we get more info on that war? What about the world's inhabitants around the time the destruction hit? Who's that ghost dude, and why should we care about the statue of the girl who looks like Celes?

FFV also has a Bard class for singing which has no FFVI analog, though Mog in the original FFVI as a dancer came close. Perhaps the FFVI Celes Opera Sprite will serve as Inspiration.

FFVI has no 'Ranger/Archer' analog from FFV, nor is there technically a Beastmaster/Pokemon Trainer analog. Could we get a character who captures enemies and can use 'em once per fight?

What can we do with Leo and Banon? Can there be some sort of final answer on the Banon/Duncan debate, whether they're the same person? What if they're twins?

Also, Banon and Arvis, both prominent members of the Returners, vanish come the World of Ruin and Edgar and Locke never speak of them again. Can we get some closure here?

What if we could play as a full esper? Terra is special, yes, being half-esper. Espers can physically live in the normal world.

GRAPHICS: If there are chocobos and chocobo stales, ensure that every character who joins the party (if only briefly) has proper graphics when doing the 'I just paid for a chocobo at a stable' dance, and when riding said chocobo.

MAGIC: Are we going with Brave New World's character-specific esper system? That may be kinda cool. Ask the Brave New World team how they did it and get their help in impelementing it.

DUNGEONS: I greatly want to experience more multi-party events! What if we could have a 3-party event around the Floating Continent: One team stays on the ship and keeps it secure, another explores the continent's underside, while the last one explores the continent proper?

I'm also a fan of the Battle for Narshe with its 3-party system. Can we have more events like that, like needing to defend 2 or 3 distinct locations simultaneously? For example, 3 towns need defending against from the ravaging espiers after the seal is broken - simultaneously. You have a good idea of what's coming, but you still need to position your team appropriately.

I didn't really get why the Phoenix Cave split people into 2 parties, but it was a way to get extra value out of the multi-party gimmick. Needing to be in 2+ places at once works a lot better when there's a story or/and very logical reason to.

Also, I want more Magitek Armor time! There are exactly 3 sequences in the original where Magitek Armor was mine to ride. I understand taking Magitek Armor onto the overworld may cause glitches or instability, but even being able to go through an entire dungeon in this sweet, sweet power armor is spiffy. (The entire expected Magitek time of the original game is somewhere around 30 minutes - the intro, the imperial base, and Cyan's dream. Can we get, say, 60+ minutes?) Also, regarding Magitek, why does only Terra get all the Magitek commands? She's special, sure, but why wouldn't her 'commanding officers' of Biggs and Wedge get a full command list too?

Regarding Magitek Armor and multiple parties, what about having one group fortunate enough to have secured a bunch of Magiteks while the others have to fight on foot? For example, what if one party created a diversion while another attacked the Imperial Palace with stolen/commandeered Magitek Armor?

I'd like to see more of Vector's Magitek and esper and technological situation and its experiments. Was Gesthal tracking Madonna to the Sealed Cave the reason Vector and the Gestahlian Empire became a magical superpower almost overnight?

As for Umaro, why not make him Maduin? I always found it odd that Terra's father was so strong and full of vitality to the point that he could even recount to her his own memories and...her conception...simply in magicite form, which should be all but impossible since only the power of the esper should still be there, not the memories.