/vr/ - Retro Games

Let's try to stay away from Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog this time

>>377703
Final Fantasy 7 Hardtype. Makes the game much more challenging.

>tfw the vast majority of hard mode rom hacks are shit

>>377726
I liked this one

Is best game ever the best hardmode hack for FF6?

>>377703
One of the upgrades to fire Red/Leaf Green.

Some of them are utterly berserk and you barely recognise the game at all.

There used to be Zombies Ate My Nation, a ZAMN hack with 255 levels and loads of new weapons, enemies, and bosses (the beehive, anyone?). But I can't find it now.

>>377726
> Artificial Difficulty Incarnate

>>377826
lol u fagget i be ur bad da viya game casual

I've heard a few good things about Super Mario Star Road. Have not yet managed to get the patch working though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JBdxcnyxeQ

Rockman 4 Minus Infinity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi7sroMkVFk

>>377826

Considering that every FF made after FF4 SNES has been "press A to win," I welcome any mod that would try to make the game harder.

What the hell makes something artificial hard anyway? As long it can be beaten without total dependence on grinding, I consider it more worthwhile than replaying an original that I easily conquered at age 10.

>>377960

The mechanics they added in look pretty well thought-out. New music sounds great too.

I really liked how the big dudes die like robot masters. Can't believe nobody at Capcom ever thought of that.

>>378059
They did. They just handled it exactly wrong--Mega Man X3.

>>377849
>> Artificial Difficulty Incarnate
Fuck fan hacks.

>>377963
Even FF4 was easy as hell. At least compared to the Japanese version.

>implying it's possible for JRPG's to be hard

"Harder" just means more grinding.

>>378276
They can be hard. There's no skill involved, but they can still be hard.

>>378276

Average JRPG:

>shit tons more HP than you will ever need
>enough resources to heal between every single easy-ass battle, healing in battle only -maybe- needed during bosses
>95% of battles are over in the first 20 seconds, when 4 party members impart 4 one-hit KOs on 4 enemies
>no need for magic, physical attacks are just as strong
>items are completely unnecessary
>lol back row what's the point
>no need to specialize characters, everyone's a tank
>ridiculously overpowered abilities
>you can afford every single piece of equipment that crosses your path with enough left over for 99,999 potions
>because wild wolves in the field happen to be carrying sacks of gold

Don't see why this unrealistic and artificial easyness is a part of every JRPG.

CALL OF CUTHULU (Super Mario World Romhack)

>>377736
just like fanfictions
but it's so much more rewarding when you find something worthwhile (◕‿◕✿)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozvgscK5y8E

Thank me later.

>>377782
Oh No! More Zombies Ate My Neighbors?
http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=10283.0

>>378198

MMX replaced shit like that with compulsory minibosses. Part of the strategy of MM classic was knowing when to fight or when to run from the big jumping motherfucker who takes several dozen hits to go down.

Super Metroid Redesign is pretty decent. I kind of miss floaty samus and there's way more walljumping than I'd like, but otherwise I'm enjoying it.

http://drewseph.zophar.net/
zip archive password is redesign_of_a_classic

Super Smash Bros did this transition right for one reason only - the sound. Samus in the original and Melee was like Super Metroid Samus, while in Brawl she plays like Prime Samus. You can feel how she's a hulking pile of armor thanks to that satisfying clunk when she hits the ground or walks around the stage. This game didn't update the sound to match how much heavier she is, so something feels off.

>>377960
This is god tier

For Megaman 4 I also like SCHWA's Gadget Master
http://www.romhacking.net/reviews/125/

same person made a great classic hack of SMB3
http://www.romhacking.net/reviews/141/

I was working on a hack of MM5 (made about 10 stages) but since I got a new job and a new musical projcet I don't have time for it anymore

>>379665
have you been to norfair yet? he dropped the ball and you have to speedrun without the right suit to continue the game

>ctrl+f
>mario adventure
>mario doesn't even show up

I'm disappointed /vr/

>>380217
It's pretty good technically speaking, but far from being my fav level design wise

>>378563
Because somehow most JRPG fans play them for the story.

What is the best Pokemon Hack? And I don't mean that shit that makes every Pokemon catchable and makes the game harder

Dragoon X Omega 1 or 2 are good for just being 100% different in every way to their source. It's sort of a pinnacle of romhacking in that regard.

Also there's an FFV hack where all of the text was changed that was actually clever, compared to 99.9% of all other text hacks that try to do that. I can't remember the name though.

SM64 Star Road

and Zeldas Birthday for OoT

you also have F-zero X custom maps

>>380245

http://artemis251.fobby.net/downloads/emerald/

LOL check out my new hardtype hack goblins do 300 dmg and drop 1g nd everyone swares xDD

-CloudxSephiroth420

>>380389
>-CloudxSephiroth420

lost it

The only good ROM hacks are translations.

>>378563
>no need to specialize characters, everyone's a tank

bamp

>>380747

Funny you'd put Vaan there, FFXII actually managed to avoid many things on that list. Namely:

>shit tons more HP than you will ever need
>healing in battle only -maybe- needed during bosses
>95% of battles are over in the first 20 seconds, when 4 party members impart 4 one-hit KOs on 4 enemies
>no need for magic, physical attacks are just as strong
>you can afford every single piece of equipment that crosses your path with enough left over for 99,999 potions
>because wild wolves in the field happen to be carrying sacks of gold

And with IZJS,
>no need to specialize characters, everyone's a tank

Any good Sonic rom hacks aside from Sonic Megamix?

Fuck yeah Sabin!

>>385164
Super Demo World the Legend Continues is pretty good for a Super Mario World hack that will soon be 10 years old this year.

>FF1
>Hard

W-what?

Secret of Mana hard mode, of course!
I'm still working on it.

Try beating spikey tiger at lvl 3. I dare ya.

>>385430
>filter

But that's pretty cool anyway... Not a big fan of hard mode hacks, but it's neat that you're doing it anyway.

http://youtu.be/hf7JNzo6DZY

Not a ROM hack per se, but close enough.

http://www.worldofamadman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2282

decent list here

>>385430
>hard mode
It's always hard mode hacks. that's all people make. Fucking boring...

>>386920
What else could they make without setting out to make a whole new game? Nonlinearity jacks?

One game that legitimately needs a hard mode hack is Legend of Mana, since even the hard modes in that are too easy.

I'd do it myself if I knew the slightest thing about PS hacking.

>>386920
Would you rather have an easy mode hack?

>>387021
I'd rather have a hack that was creative.

>>380389
>>380391

>1 minute apart in a slow topic on a slow board

nice samefagging, fag

>>387021
I fucking hate you. Nothing more boring than an endless goddamn stream of uncreative hard mode hacks instead of something original and neat.
It's the worst thing about the hacking community "Hurr durr I gib u 1hp and the enemies have 10 billion hp, enjoy my super original do not steal complex hack xD".

>>388707
>/vr/
>slow

>1 minute
>fast

>>388741
I don't like hard mode hacks either but this is a borderline shitpost. Cut that out.

>>380245
I saw a Fire Red hack that had modified the sprites, story, and even some buildings to look more like the anime. It had at least over 100 events related to episodes. I was playing the shit out of it but then saw that it hadn't been worked on in 3 years so I gave up rather than hitting a wall.

>>388783
>getting panties in a twist over hurr durr and one xD

Give it a fucking rest. Jesus Christ.

>>388793
know the name of it?

>>378602

But you've got to search for ages and ages until your soul shrivels up in horror like a snail plucked from its shell and doused in salt.

>>388741
This 1000 times this. This is what they did with tactics. just make it ball busting harder. That's the best idea they cam come up with?. Yea real original...

>>388817
Pokemon Ash Gray. Apparently the guy making it just disappeared off the site a couple years ago. He was right before the Orange Islands before that happened though I think.

A creative hack is extremely hard and time-consuming to pull off, and even when accomplished, will be lost in a sea of 10-year-old skiddies' fanfictions for a long time. And chances are that a single coder's lovechild bastardization of an existing game just isn't gonna live up to something that was carefully balanced out by a massive team of developers and testers.

The next Pixel isn't dwelling within every teenager sitting in a basement hacking ROMs. And if he was, I'd rather he applied his creative ability to the next Cave Story as opposed to ripping off a copyrighted work.

I play simple romhacks like hardmode because I want a only slight twist on my classic vidya, so it isn't a repetitive experience playing games I've already played, while retaining that same professional-quality game. I've also amassed 20 years of vidya experience at this point, so I'm easily bored by games that 5-year-old me could fucking dominate.

>>387021
For, say, one of the early dragon warrior games, sure. it would save you a lot of time, without really taking much of anything away.

>>388875
>I play simple romhacks like hardmode because I want a only slight twist on my classic vidya, so it isn't a repetitive experience playing games I've already played, while retaining that same professional-quality game. I've also amassed 20 years of vidya experience at this point, so I'm easily bored by games that 5-year-old me could fucking dominate.

Congrats for making me cringe.

>>388909

THE GRIND IS PART OF THE BELOVED EXPERIENCE YOU FUCKING CASUAL

That said I completely understand and completely agree

>>388748

This thread has been up for 2 days. Just try getting this shit to last 2 hours on /v/ or 2 minutes on /b/.

and yeah 1 minute is a pretty short fucking delay, consider waiting a few minutes before replying "lol" to your own post and saging if you don't want to look pathetic.

>>388919

And why is that? Dislike the word vidya?

Or is it wrong to play classic games not adulterated with shitty piecemeal design, shitty fanfic story, shitty new chiptunes, and shitty graphics all made by one guy as a opposed to a team of experts?

>>389010
Dear lord... just stop.

>>388875
>>389010

The legendary neckbearded Joypad Warrior, Champion of Video Games!

>>389021
>>389045

Right. Because a board dedicated to unmodded games is fine until someone suggests that the point of a mod is to, you know, modify a game without overhauling it.

Do you actually have a point to make, something to disagree with, or are you just going to continue shitposting?

>>389076
Are you going to continue embarrassing yourself, mighty Joypad Warrior? Or is it even possible for you to feel embarrassed because of your condition?

>>389089

>>>/b/

>>389094
Sick burn.

>>377703

I liked FF6Best a lot. You feel like you're playing the same FF6 you've always known; FF6 doesn't need perfecting. It just fixes the unfilfilling difficulty with some well thought-out stat tweaks. It's totally doable without making you dependent on grinding, which is the pitfall of most hardmode hacks.

>monsters don't go down easy, thus forcing you to pick your battles, heal often, and not go for every treasure chest
>a single dungeon will drain your resources through attrition, not just cheap-ass overpowered enemies
>only human enemies drop money, income is mostly supplemented by selling every single item you don't need
>potions are critical for survival
>you actually need the Row and Def commands
>pre-emptive strikes are a godsend, pincers and back-attacks are hell
>weapons and relics are expensive and hard to come by
>heavier armor costs you speed and evade, which are crucial stats for lighter classes
>mages like terra are weak fighters, thieves like locke & shadow have high attack/speed but low defense, cyan and umaro aggro with the true knight, etc
>Doomgaze fucks your shit like Ruby Weapon

It makes you feel a lot more like you're running a scrappy rebel group when you have to work with what little you've got.

>>388919
Protip: Modifying assembly is fucking hard. Go try it.

Hardmode hacks are simple because they only involve changing some database info. Anyone ROMhacking for the first time can do it. But changing the entire game through assembly requires MORE skill than coding your own game in the first place. If someone else didn't already make an editor, then you're fucked.

>>378563
Cool generalizations, bro.

>>391814

you know everything he stated is 100% true.

JRPGs are 10-year-old tier

>>377703
Anyone know if FFVI Advance can be hacked?

>>378563
Hey man, I like grinding. There's nothing artificial about powerleveling for 6 hours to crush some insane optional boss that still pushes you to your limit. If anything that takes actual dedication.

>>391814
But >>378563 is completely right.
Try playing some of the old RPGs again. They're so easy that >>>/v/ can play them.

A large number of games were made easier in the US release. They figured Americans couldn't handle any game that takes more skill than mashing A. That's why there are tons of difficulty hacks.

>>378269
Wait, I thought the American version was harder than the Jap one?

>>391895
So you like to spend hours to increase an INT variable / number inside a savefile on a game to make your character more powerful - while, at the time, you actually (in real life) don't gain any skill whatsoever?

I thought that this was called wasting time.

If that is fun for you, answer yourself this question: what merits or skills do I have in real life?

>>391895
>Like grinding
>Likes to beat the same boring enemy over and over again like a soul crushing routine just to beat some boss
>In the end no skills went into doing this, only a tremendous waste of time
I mean I've spent quite a few hours grindan4ever myself but I always end up regretting wasting my time like that. There are more entertaining vidya to be played. In JRPGs I tend to just ignore optional bosses because they require a million hours of grinding to be beaten, and all you get for doing so is more experience or some loot that makes the final boss even easier and more shitty.

>>391958
Actually, yes. Yes I do. I even enjoy games with random variable stat increases, rather than carefully plotted ones fuck you fire emblem. I've spent hundreds of hours grinding and grinding and grinding just because I can. Videogames are explicitly time wasting if you look at them so pessimistically, I just enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from utterly breaking a game through repetitive action and maximizing my party's efficiency. Even most western RPGs aren't that difficult with some dedication, it's just something I enjoy.

In terms of real life applicability, I consistently go to the gym, I'm working on my masters at the moment and I regularly publish poetry. Grinding teaches you to stick with something, which is the only way to be successful in real life.

>>391971
I totally agree. Grinding is pretty boring and I don't like it much. Fortunately, SoM has a lot more room for player skill to turn the tide, instead of raw numbers winning the day. So I crank the numbers against the players, and let them use all the little game breaking tricks to survive.

You CAN grind your spell and weapon skills, and you CAN grind for better gear, but it's not strictly necessary. It's kind of fun so far.

>>377726
This. Doesn't even make it overly difficult, makes it exactly as it should be.

The FF9 difficulty hack on the other hand (the one on insane difficulty), I just started playing that one. I'm in the beginning of the game in that town with the mages (cant remember the name atm) and I can only level up by going underground.
Only problem, most of the mobs there oneshot me, so I'm effectively stuck unless I grind a lot and have enough luck to only encounter one particular set of mobs. Also vivi is practically useless since MP costs are ridiculous.

>>392017
Sometimes I just wish all JRPGs had Dark Souls combat. I like the blend of skills and stats. It's not like I can't appreciate turn based combat, but random encounter number one fucking billion filled with slow intros and magic animations and victory fanfares kinda makes me crazy, you know.

>>391971
In a quality videogame, grinding is an organic process that comes through natural exploration. I just fight every single enemy encounter throughout the entire game, for the most part, and I can usually breeze through just about any boss. For all intensive purposes the optional bosses are the last boss baring awesome game design and I find it satisfying when a game throws me a curveball, so I need to retool my whole playing style. Really, the only type of grinding I don't like is pokemon-esque hidden variable grinding because you don't see tangible rewards for your efforts.

>>392014
>only way to be successful is to devote yourself to a mindless task.
Although I agree with you that the other Anon shouldn't be ripping on you, your ending statement is wrong. The only way to be "successful" in life is to be happy. Has nothing to do with your financial situation or your education, though good on you with the gym.

>>392042
>Sometimes I just wish all JRPGs had Dark Souls combat.
Oh, you mean equip havel's full armor, upgrade attack stam and hp evenly, equip the butcher knife, havel's ring, GCS, and wolf's ring then speed dodge and one shot anyone?

>>392014
>>392056
It's not like I don't understand what you mean, and I've been there myself, but I just don't think it's worth it. Sitting hours just doing the exact same thing. I'd rather spend my time perfecting my combat skills in DMC personally.

>>392076
I basically said I wish all JRPGs actually relied on skill instead of patience, but hey, you can keep on being /v/ incarnate.

>>388909
"Earlier"? I would agree from II and onwards, but not 1. One was designed as a grind, and it was satisfying because of it. II really loses that charm due the mechanic update.

>>392073
Sorry, I should have said proficient. You're absolutely right.

>>392083
To be honest with you, I lack super human reflexes to play games like DMC and street fighter, though I crush dynasty warriors gundam. I usually multitask while I play vidya anyways, so I suppose I lack the attention span. That being said, I regularly tool people in dark souls, I find it to be a reasonable compromise between the two.

None of you know about what might be the single greatest hack (read: full conversion) of the LoZ:LttP? For Shame!

Look up LoZ: Parallel Worlds. Do yourself a favor and grab the first version; the updated one removed all the hard parts.

>>378563
You forgot a few points:
>Mages have the same defence and HP pool as armoured warriors
>Obnoxious random encounter rates to extend game length and disguise the total lack of exploration and questing
>MP system and no casting times means there is no reason to do anything but spam your strongest attack every round
>Spells that might have added some tactical depth (ie ailments, debuffs, special effect spells) are always uselessly weak and you are better off just using your highest damage move every time
>Any jrpg hailed as 'difficult' usually just means there's a wall of artificial grind before every boss, or enemies are loaded with instant-death/party-disabling attacks

I grew out of jrpgs in the SNES era, they haven't progressed even a little bit since then. Even sSRGs have gotten shittier, FFT and Disgaea 1 were great, but both series only got dumber from there.

>>392172
You should play SMT: Strange Journey. I think it will change your mind that all jrpg's are shallow tripe.

I've been considering a few ROM hacks for the original Metroid. Saw one that makes it so you have full health and missiles when loading a save game, which is nice, but it also adds a map, which kind of detracts from the original experience.

>>392317
I've never fully understood this "war" between rpg styles.
I think the first thing that's made sense as a valid point against jrpgs was
>>391958
Though toned down in the sense that I follow on the point that level grinding does not actually increase the player's own personal skill.

I think part of the problem there is that the numbers in these kinds of games tend to scale too high. in most situations your party can get to level 99 or 100.

By the time you hit 50 you're usually capable of beating the final boss...with some variance on how easy that is.

and a good chunk of the variables there depend on things such as:
did the player get all the treasures, set up his party with the right equipment/abilities?

Or, in a more generalized sense: how many "Guide dang it" moments did the player miss?

I think this is what got Chrono Tirgger so much praise, as the level grinding itself didn't amount to much of anything.
The numbers were kept at a low scale (hp was only 3 digits compared to nearly every final Fantasy's 4 digits), and there were more battles that couldn't be won by pure brute force.
Even the Final Boss made you think about why you didn't seem to be winning after piling on the damage.

>>394192 cont'd

I personally enjoy Jrpgs...(well some of them anyway, not sure where the Mario rpgs lie, but I love final fantasy...up to 12 anyway...) but I'm not playing them for the grind, or the spell effects, or the overly long summon animations (honestly my favorite Final Fantasy is 6, since it had really nice effects without dragging them out, among many other factors)
I'm usually in it for the variety of abilities and strategies that can be created through the use of the multitude of characters and equipment at your disposal.
yeah, my parties usually end up powerful enough that even the mages are killing enemies (random encounters at least) with thier dinky melee attacks, but I rarely resort to that when I've found something better that's more unique to the characters.
I don't even like resorting to common "gamebreaker" tactics, though if I find them on my own, it feels better, it feels more like I've given the associated character his or her own unique way of fighting.
Yeah sure, I'm not genious and probably not very original either, (Giving Shadow the genji glove/offering combo, Edgar the dragoon boots, dragon horn...etc), but it's more fun using the overpowered and awesome moves than just "swing with weapon".

By the end of the game I have more connection to the characters and the setting than I ever did for the battles, and it usually takes me a couple of runs through the game before I start to discover the real potential of some of the less appealing items and spells/abilities, but it always feels good to learn the game's mechanics so well that I can even remove the grind from the equation.

So for me, I love gaining skills and getting better at a game, and I can see how level grinding doesn't do that for a player, but in another sense, learning the game's mechanics to overcome "grind walls" is part of the fun for me.

>>394192
>>394342
>says nothing about Metroid rom hacks
This isn't a blog.

>>394381
...actually that was a mistake. I don't remember trying to replay to that post specifically.
I was more or less repliying to the broad back and forths over jrpgs and stuff.

also: >>392027
Out of sheer morbid curiosity, how, exactly, should it be?

I've mostly just played Final Fantasy games, (with a few others here and there). Final Fantasy 6 always seemed to be challenging enough for me.
I also learned at some point never to bother running away from battles, because like
>>392056
says, exploring everything and fighting everything as you do tends to give you just what you need to not hit a brick wall or steamroll the game.
Like they're designed with the difficulty curve assuming that you're gonna spend the time covering every inch of thier little dungeons and caves and maps.

I'm making progress on hard SoM. The wall+vampire boss combination was rough, but I got through with 3 walnuts and running out for the Xcal upgrade.

There are some spots where you can just leave the dungeon, max out your gear, and go back in with max everything. But that's for pussies ;_;. Real men 1-shot their dungeons.

>>394485

FF6 was way too easy. Even playing it as a four-year-old who could barely read I only died like a half-dozen times.

It pisses me off that you have entire chunks of the game that are just completely useless. Yeah item, run, def, row, are there if you want them, but you can feel free to ignore them to because having every character use fight every single round is still a nearly guaranteed victory.

Yeah overpowered abilities seem cool, until you realize that every fucking character has one and no monster stands a chance. I would much rather you have to work your ass off to get one such ability, and then that ability is either limited in use, or is balanced out by the lack of such abilities with your other party members.

>>394625
Man, it feels a bit like the game was meant to be played this way. It's tough but doable, and the 4 item limit seems to hit just the right spot. Unfortunately there's a bit of a murder curve early on, which I need to go back and smooth out. I'll get the patch out soon as I'm done.

>>377703
Rockman 4 mi
rockman no constancy
rockman deus ex
rockman zero 2 no cutscene.

>>392317
Anyone? No one else has tried any Metroid rom hacks? That's hard to believe.

>>395856
>Rockman Deus Ex

I gotta be honest with you, I just looked it up, and I'm incredibly disappointed.

>>396914
> Mods that make game easier

>>397501
Not easier, just a bit more convenient.

>>392027
More shitty fan hacks. lol. all i know is how to make things HARDER no originally at all.

I really hate fan-hacks that go about making games more difficult in retarded ways. There was one for FE8 ( The easiest Fire Emblem.) but instead of just modding a few stat growths on your team, increasing the abysmal enemy stats and adding a few more enemies to a couple maps, it just went way overboard and overbuffed stupid shit and ruined the game's balance (hurr super accurate high damage boltings hurrrr)

>>397973
So what would be a non retarded hack?

>>377703
Pussy City Pimps
Amy Rose in Sonic the Hedgehog (for you other Amy fans out there).
Star Wars Mario Bros.

I mainly like graphical/comedy hacks.

Honestly I want to play the romhack of Romancing SaGa 3. It adds tons of content and is just like a culmination of the entire series. Adds characters from Romancing SaGa 1, 2, SaGa Frontier 1, 2, and Unlimited Saga. Also many bosses like Creator from the first game, Arsenal from the second, Saruin, and so on.

>>389560
You just gave me a chubby. FF6 is my all time favorite game, you're saying this rom hack makes it from the "Learn ultima - win" game it was with it just being enemies with 10 billion HP?

>>391943
There were two versions of IV released in Japan, Hard Type and Easy Type. America got Easy Type.

>>399964
FF IV easy type was based on the American version, not the other way around.

>>399979
Easytype was also superior to both the USA and original JP releases in a few ways

>>399928

Enemy HP and attack power is fairly reasonable. Nobody on either side can be one-shotted in most circumstances. Smaller enemies go down in maybe 3 basic hits, while the monsters that look larger and more intimidating are comparable to minibosses in an easy FF.

You have to know when to run. Like if you run into a couple larger enemies or a big swarm of motherfuckers while you're low on resources. When I first went to Mt Koltz, the tuskers immediately kicked the shit out of me and sent me running back to Sabin's cabin alive but with my head between my legs. Lesson learned - only take on tuskers when you have enough MP available to hit them hard with Terra's fire. They give a fat EXP bonus but if you're not careful they'll take you down before you can do them.

Awful Fantasy 3 is among the more sophisticated and funny romhacks. Sure it's based on very dated 2004ish SA forum personalities and memes, but its still gloriously absurd.

>>400275
Funny you should mention this, I just got to Al's Xbox

>>400275
ive had awful fantasy for almost a decade and have never played it