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chuckroThis is a hack with a new story set 40 years after the original (but seemingly ignoring the events of The After Years). Following the moon’s depature, the crystals lost their power, making magic unreliable and airships fail. In Eblan, Edge’s son, Furio has completed his ninja training and is sent off to Agart on a mission. When he gets there, monsters appear and chaos reigns.
It’s a very ambitious hack, not least of which being that it’s “Part 1 of 4”. They also added limit breaks, the ability (and necessity) to hire a mercenary, the need to “hunt” chocobos rather than finding chocobo forests, and “epic choices” that apparently affect the storyline. They also (and this was very nice) overhauled the item descriptions to make them much more useful, and the equipment screen to make it clearer what swapping gear got you.
I had a hell of a time finding the right rom to patch—one seemed to work for the opening sequence, but then spawned a chocobo instead of Edge in the first battle and hanged. When I finally got it up and running, I got to Agart, met a cockatrice, and was killed by petrification two tries in a row. (The stores aren’t available, so if you didn’t stock up and one character gets petrified, you need to hope for lucky random drops from enemies. Lovely.) So, I took my usual route and plugged in some Game Genie codes. I’m giving the hacker points for adventurousness, but taking some away for balance and playability.
In Agart, you need to fight four summoned monsters to retrieve four keys, and then put them into locks in order of the game the character’s name on them came from. The boss is Jinn, who has gone crazy on orders of “him” and is trying to wipe out humanity.
Furio returns home with the reward, and is sent to Mysidia to investigate the strange weather that’s been coming from Mt. Ordeals. Elders Palom and Porom send him on his way. The mountain is full is low-level undead and several map-screen events. At the top, Furio overhears Shiva talking to Indra about their plan to wipe out Mysidia at the orders of The Master, and that Rydia’s life is in danger. Furio seems to have the option to confront them or run away. I opted to fight Indra, which gave a scene where a shadowly figure decided to send “his” bodyguard after my party. When Furio returns to Mysidia, Palom and Porom chew him out, refuse to pay, but agree to accompany him to explain their decisions. (They are inexplicably fucking level 20.) The ship is attacked by a Tentacle on the way back, which is the only battle you have the twins for.
They explain everything to Edge, then Furio is sent off to Baron, Mist and Damcyan to check in with kings and recruit Rydia. In Baron, Prince Ceo prevents you from seeing Cecil and is generally a dick. Furio has the option of trying to convince Ceo to let him see Cecil, or trying Rydia instead.
I opted to travel through the Misty Cave and talk to Rydia. She’s grown old due to time in the Feymarch. They ask her about negotiating with the rampaging eidolens. Her adopted daughter Cuore (apparently rescued during a crisis twenty years prior) joins the conversation. Rydia agrees to go with us, which Cuore thinks is dumb. She joins at level 50 with a good suite of black magic (and a Plead ability I don’t know how to use), which is much more appropriate. On the way back, we’re attacked by a very strong Mist Dragon; I was able to steal a Dragon Claw from it.
Back in Baron, you get an immediate audience with Cecil, who reveals Kain is gone and Rosa is dead. Between this and the origin of Cuore, it seems to indicate that The After Years did happen, just that Ceo didn’t mature at all in twenty years, among other things. Cecil sends Ceo to help investigate what’s going on in Damcyan, which you need to cross the “Highwind Pass” to reach. Ceo has Dark and also White magic and uses knight equipment. You can also swap your recruited ninja or mage for a dragoon in Baron but I opted not to. The pass is a new dungeon based around “jump points” that locks your magic for the duration. Partway through, you can fight Shiva to lift the magic block. Shortly after, you meet a mysterious Dragoon (emphatically not Kain) who kills everyone but Ceo and forces you into a dual battle. He warns Ceo not to continue, but Rydia insists they should anyway.
In Kaipo, there’s a bard school, a man suffering from “Nectar Blues”, and a sidequest where you can grind Cactuar nectar and sell it for prizes. Then head through the Watery Pass, complete with a stop to rest and a cutscene of Titan talking to a mysterious figure. Octomamm is redone with physical and magical tentacles you need to kill individually or the main body will counter everything with White Wind. I also stole a Jack Knife from it.
In Damcyan, Titan attacks and Edward is injured and put to bed. You can walk to the Antlion Cave, which includes a monster chest with the Antlion (you can steal a Sandruby, and it guards the Slumber sword). When you beat Titan, he reveals that the eidolens are answering to an ancient spirit from beneath the earth that recently awoke from a long slumber; but Ceo throws a temper tantrum and kills Titan before getting any other useful information. Ceo then leaves in a huff when the party calls him on this.
There’s a cutscene of “the boss” giving Leviatan one last chance to stop the party, then you’re prompted to save, then the game cuts to credits. I’m guessing the hacker is setting up some way to import your save from Part 1 to his next part.
Overall: This is crazy-ambitious and I’m not sure the hacker can actually pay it off, but I’m very impressed with what they managed to put together. Whenever Part 2 appears, I suspect I’ll find out!
It’s a very ambitious hack, not least of which being that it’s “Part 1 of 4”. They also added limit breaks, the ability (and necessity) to hire a mercenary, the need to “hunt” chocobos rather than finding chocobo forests, and “epic choices” that apparently affect the storyline. They also (and this was very nice) overhauled the item descriptions to make them much more useful, and the equipment screen to make it clearer what swapping gear got you.
I had a hell of a time finding the right rom to patch—one seemed to work for the opening sequence, but then spawned a chocobo instead of Edge in the first battle and hanged. When I finally got it up and running, I got to Agart, met a cockatrice, and was killed by petrification two tries in a row. (The stores aren’t available, so if you didn’t stock up and one character gets petrified, you need to hope for lucky random drops from enemies. Lovely.) So, I took my usual route and plugged in some Game Genie codes. I’m giving the hacker points for adventurousness, but taking some away for balance and playability.
In Agart, you need to fight four summoned monsters to retrieve four keys, and then put them into locks in order of the game the character’s name on them came from. The boss is Jinn, who has gone crazy on orders of “him” and is trying to wipe out humanity.
Furio returns home with the reward, and is sent to Mysidia to investigate the strange weather that’s been coming from Mt. Ordeals. Elders Palom and Porom send him on his way. The mountain is full is low-level undead and several map-screen events. At the top, Furio overhears Shiva talking to Indra about their plan to wipe out Mysidia at the orders of The Master, and that Rydia’s life is in danger. Furio seems to have the option to confront them or run away. I opted to fight Indra, which gave a scene where a shadowly figure decided to send “his” bodyguard after my party. When Furio returns to Mysidia, Palom and Porom chew him out, refuse to pay, but agree to accompany him to explain their decisions. (They are inexplicably fucking level 20.) The ship is attacked by a Tentacle on the way back, which is the only battle you have the twins for.
They explain everything to Edge, then Furio is sent off to Baron, Mist and Damcyan to check in with kings and recruit Rydia. In Baron, Prince Ceo prevents you from seeing Cecil and is generally a dick. Furio has the option of trying to convince Ceo to let him see Cecil, or trying Rydia instead.
I opted to travel through the Misty Cave and talk to Rydia. She’s grown old due to time in the Feymarch. They ask her about negotiating with the rampaging eidolens. Her adopted daughter Cuore (apparently rescued during a crisis twenty years prior) joins the conversation. Rydia agrees to go with us, which Cuore thinks is dumb. She joins at level 50 with a good suite of black magic (and a Plead ability I don’t know how to use), which is much more appropriate. On the way back, we’re attacked by a very strong Mist Dragon; I was able to steal a Dragon Claw from it.
Back in Baron, you get an immediate audience with Cecil, who reveals Kain is gone and Rosa is dead. Between this and the origin of Cuore, it seems to indicate that The After Years did happen, just that Ceo didn’t mature at all in twenty years, among other things. Cecil sends Ceo to help investigate what’s going on in Damcyan, which you need to cross the “Highwind Pass” to reach. Ceo has Dark and also White magic and uses knight equipment. You can also swap your recruited ninja or mage for a dragoon in Baron but I opted not to. The pass is a new dungeon based around “jump points” that locks your magic for the duration. Partway through, you can fight Shiva to lift the magic block. Shortly after, you meet a mysterious Dragoon (emphatically not Kain) who kills everyone but Ceo and forces you into a dual battle. He warns Ceo not to continue, but Rydia insists they should anyway.
In Kaipo, there’s a bard school, a man suffering from “Nectar Blues”, and a sidequest where you can grind Cactuar nectar and sell it for prizes. Then head through the Watery Pass, complete with a stop to rest and a cutscene of Titan talking to a mysterious figure. Octomamm is redone with physical and magical tentacles you need to kill individually or the main body will counter everything with White Wind. I also stole a Jack Knife from it.
In Damcyan, Titan attacks and Edward is injured and put to bed. You can walk to the Antlion Cave, which includes a monster chest with the Antlion (you can steal a Sandruby, and it guards the Slumber sword). When you beat Titan, he reveals that the eidolens are answering to an ancient spirit from beneath the earth that recently awoke from a long slumber; but Ceo throws a temper tantrum and kills Titan before getting any other useful information. Ceo then leaves in a huff when the party calls him on this.
There’s a cutscene of “the boss” giving Leviatan one last chance to stop the party, then you’re prompted to save, then the game cuts to credits. I’m guessing the hacker is setting up some way to import your save from Part 1 to his next part.
Overall: This is crazy-ambitious and I’m not sure the hacker can actually pay it off, but I’m very impressed with what they managed to put together. Whenever Part 2 appears, I suspect I’ll find out!
