Which hack is best to play for a first timer?

Hello everyone, complete newb here

I've played FF3us over and over again. I'm nearing completion of my first natural magic run, and I had a ton of fun; it required more strategy than just the vanilla game, decent challenge (in comparison) and I felt it brought out the characters strengths more.

I want something like that experience, but more. I've discovered so many different hacks of FFVI that I'm interested in trying them out, though there are so many I have no idea where to begin. I don't want to "try them all out" because I don't have much time on my hands these days and I dread having to play through the beginning of the game multiple times just to find a hack that suits my style, or to get hopelessly stuck halfway through the game.

I've done a little bit of research, and have even started playing some of them: one of them was taking multiple turns just to kill the Narshe guards (that's not added challenge, that's called wasting my time), and another had the leafers outside of Narshe casting Holy. Both these hacks claimed to increase the difficulty while remaining balanced. How is that balanced? I want a decent, believable challenge. I do NOT want to abuse savestates.

So in summary I guess: is there a hack that brings up the challenge of the game slightly (while still being balanced... ), changes around the items/espers if possible (a fresh experience would be nice), and perhaps brings out each character's unique flavour more? It really doesn't seem like much to ask (from a design standpoint), but from what I can tell, most of the hacks are BALLS TO THE WALL DIFFICULT YOU FIGURE OUT 9 MILLION HP TOLD YA THE GAME WAS TOUGH. In essence I want to play a game that doesn't waste my time and flaunts it as a "feature"...

And if such a thing does not exist I will quietly see myself out and deal with FFVI advance I guess... interested in new enemies/dungeons but the graphics are really turning me off... I hope that isn't the option, though.

Thanks and I hope to participate more in the community soon!

Personally I would recommend 4 hacks (in no particular order):

• FFVI: Is the Best Game Ever. Link well balanced hack with a better gameplay. Overall more difficult than the original. Check the readme for details.
  
  
• Final Fantasy 6: The Eternal Crystals. Link A nice hack with new (old) music, new characters, dialogues, items, etc... Some bugs make the game easy (like unbreakable rods) but overall it's a good hack. Not really harder than the original.
  
  
• Final Fantasy III US HardType+. Link A harder game with bugfixes. A new way to learn magic, new dialogues and monsters.
  
  
• Final Fantasy VI Return of the Dark Sorcerer. Link This hack is not yet released but by the time you finish all other three you will probably be able to play it. :P
  

As for FFVI Advance, it's a nice version. There is the color restoration patch available here if you want the same colors as the SNES version. Why don't you try a LLNMG on it (Low-Level Natural Magic Game) ? It will be fun and challenging trust me!

I'll go ahead and plug the one I've been working on with a co-worker for the past year and a half. It's still technically in beta, but the only real issue that needs dealing with is me figuring out how to make Sketch not suck.

Aside from that, the major changes are a complete re-balancing of the PCs and enemies, restricting espers so as to essentially create character classes, a new physical damage formula so vigor isn't worthless, and a heavily modified script.

http://synchysi.firefish.org/ff6p/
http://btb2.free.fr/temp/Readme.txt

I'll go ahead and plug the one I've been working on with a co-worker for the past year and a half. It's still technically in beta, but the only real issue that needs dealing with is me figuring out how to make Sketch not suck.

I have read the changes you have made and I'm quite impressed. Good work!

When will Final Fantasy VI Released hack Return of the Dark Sorcerer. I Can not wait to play.

me and Mike are still working on that, sprite work is 99.9% done (which is something we always say but I end up doing something new lol)

as of now, Mike is currently working on some new songs

we just have to do 1 major event, 3 decent events, and 1 small event (thats what I recall anyway)

so just be patient, this piece of work is a MONSTER!

There are a bunch of hacks I made if you're interested in the more competitive aspect of FFVI. The part that pushes your team to the limit and requires a lot of skill to beat. I've been hacking FFVI since 2008 and have made quite a few boss hacks. All of which come with a save for you the player to use; if you're interested, check out my channel that showcases each of my hacks.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5876DF77B3378EAB

If you can beat these bosses legitimately, and record your win as a video response, I'll be happy and surprised.
If you or anyone -somehow- manages to legitimately beat Omega Mk.IV with the save provided, I'll reward you/them with a free poll of your choice. This means that you'll get the right to create the front page poll that'll last up until 100 votes. Beware however, Omega Mk.IV is my ultimate creation, I've put the most effort into him over any other hack. I've recently gone back to tweak him so he's more balanced; that said though, he'll still murder you.
My Omega hack comes with the following patches applied:
-24 bit Damage Patch (Over 9999 damage)
-New Summons Menu
-New Interior Map
-New Weapon Animations
-New Spell Animations
-New Characters (Featuring Lilly and Draco)
-New Font
-New FFIV boss music, thanks to Gi Nattak
-New Menu Theme
------------------------------------------
I'll list all the hardest bosses I've created, starting with easiest to hardest.

7. Crystals of Darkness and Light
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM-bqDyG_...B&index=10

6. Maenad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05auIFpBx...B&index=38

5. Elemental Crystals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dewCtdcs...B&index=17

4. Ozma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRd0SFO7D...B&index=22

3. Emerald Weapon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ9_jNwOw...B&index=25

2. Proto-Babil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf6aIVqFg...B&index=36

1. Omega Mk.IV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbxSGcJP...B&index=39

Thanks guys. I installed what you've suggested and am trying some out. I am currently playing Eviltype 1.1, just beat Whelk and loving it so far. Whoever designed it managed to make the Narshe magitek battles actually... fun! I beat whelk with one person alive, though I was playing sloppy. If this type of challenge is any indication for the rest of the game, then it's definitely what I'm looking for.

hey Willior, I got something in the works that you should be looking forward to

take a look at my project thats in the works

https://www.ff6hacking.com/forums/showth...p?tid=1163

I'd love some of your input, the opinion of a fresh member just might be the push I need to work on the hack much more thoroughly lol :p

Looks pretty good PocoLoco. I'm still getting surprised at how dedicated everyone here is to this game. There are so many different versions/hacks/patches, it's staggering. I'm kind of lost in a sea of roms, patches and zip files on my desktop at the moment. I guess the toughest choice is narrowing down which one I'm really going to enjoy the most. So far I've spent more time reading readmes/forum posts than actually playing the games..

The 2 I think are more 'my style' seem to be FF6: is the best game ever and Eviltype1.1. Although I've also downloaded hardtype+ and am looking forward to the new dialogue/magic system... some day...

To anyone who's played both Eviltype and FF6:best, which one do you like better? Which one is more different from the original game? Which one is more difficult?