FE8 Hard Type

[Defeatist Elitist]

This hack is pretty much here for increasing the difficulty of FE8 without dramatically altering things. That is, the only character who has actually been altered in any way is Seth, who is a level 15 Cavalier with a Knight Crest and sufficiently reduced stats.

Essentially, it's just a much harder version of Sacred Stones.

Download link is here.

Please give me any suggestions you have. Things I'd like to know especially:

1) Should I take away Seth's Knight Crest?

2) Are there any characters you think are even beyond useless now that I should somehow buff to make them better?

3) Are the enemy units overall too strong or too weak?

EDIT: Oh yeah, it's a UPS patch.

Edited October 9, 2009 by Fia 

[ShinKuma]

Heh I'll try this out this weekend after I get off work. Raven I trust you won't fail me with this.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Heh I'll try this out this weekend after I get off work. Raven I trust you won't fail me with this.

Heh. We shall see. Tell me all about how it was after you've tried it.

[Mekkah]

I'll try this out for a bit, but if it's just increasing class stat growths then I'm afraid I can't really go friendly on it.

[Ether]

What are Seth's new bases?

[Crimson Red]

Changing enemy classes/increasing levels/altering stats > making current units weaker.

I mean, people can always arena abuse or ruins/tower abuse... that's one of the biggest problems with the game... :\

[Defeatist Elitist]

I'll try this out for a bit, but if it's just increasing class stat growths then I'm afraid I can't really go friendly on it.

That's not all, it also has an increase in bases, etc. But yeah, any suggestions, give them to me.

Changing enemy classes/increasing levels/altering stats > making current units weaker.

I mean, people can always arena abuse or ruins/tower abuse... that's one of the biggest problems with the game... :\

I know. I made a lot of enemy units stronger. I simply made Seth weaker because there is no way in hell I can make units that any other units stand a chance in hell against while still challenging the existing Seth. Now Seth is still pretty damn strong, but nowhere near the obscene level of strength he was before.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Updated the patch. The link is the same though.

[Raven]

I've been giving this a spin, and I am pleased with the raised level of difficulty. So far I'd say it's harder than FE7's Hector Hard Mode. Currently on Ch7.

[Colonel M]

I'm going to download this today later on but I'm afraid I won't get far on it until I get back from drum corps (BAAWWW 2 weeks). Take that suggestion I threw at you though back in the other topic.

[-Cynthia-]

I've only gone through the first 5 chapters, but I have to say I'm overall pleased with the level of difficulty, it's challenging but not insane.

Ross and Gilliam have serious issues, even more than usual. namely, they both get doubled by bandits/warriors, so Gilliam isn't even durable any more and raising Ross is even more painful than usual (not to mention Ross's hit rates are just awful).

I'm unsure about keeping the Knight Crest on Seth. So far I've played with Seth unpromoted and he does pretty well, about how Franz does in normal SS. So I imagine promoting Seth would make the earlygame very easy, but if you remove that Knight Crest, it really ends up hurting Franz/Forde/Kyle and lolGilliam. All of the cavs are much weaker now because they all have doubling issues, so Seth will almost always be getting the Knight Crest that shows up in Ch7.

I can see the prepromotes getting more use, because a lot of the earlygame "staples" are much tougher to raise, namely Franz and Vanessa.

[Defeatist Elitist]

I've only gone through the first 5 chapters, but I have to say I'm overall pleased with the level of difficulty, it's challenging but not insane.

Ross and Gilliam have serious issues, even more than usual. namely, they both get doubled by bandits/warriors, so Gilliam isn't even durable any more and raising Ross is even more painful than usual (not to mention Ross's hit rates are just awful).

I'm unsure about keeping the Knight Crest on Seth. So far I've played with Seth unpromoted and he does pretty well, about how Franz does in normal SS. So I imagine promoting Seth would make the earlygame very easy, but if you remove that Knight Crest, it really ends up hurting Franz/Forde/Kyle and lolGilliam. All of the cavs are much weaker now because they all have doubling issues, so Seth will almost always be getting the Knight Crest that shows up in Ch7.

I can see the prepromotes getting more use, because a lot of the earlygame "staples" are much tougher to raise, namely Franz and Vanessa.

I might remove Seth's Knight Crest and add it in later, since with it he starts doubling and things get loleasy again. I'm also thinking of giving later game enemies much better weapons now.

[grandjackal]

It just had to be a patch my computer can't utilize...Dammit, I wish I could just make my own computer. Being dumb in the ways of computer science doesn't help though...

So, since I'm not gonna be using the patch any time soon, can I at least know the details of it to know what I'm missing? I would love a more challenging Sacred Stones. As easy as it is normally, I have a soft spot for it.

I could imagine quite a few problems though if it were harder. Several units would just go straight down the drain (Trainees, Marissa). Oh well, I bet some would gain more importance (If it's hard enough, archers might now be important. Knoll going Summoner for the summons would be a great boon). Making hte game harder would certainly be far easier than balancing it. Couple characters just flat out get the short end of the stick (Marissa ;;>>, Ewen and Amelia ).

All I seem to notice is that Seth is apparently unpromoted now. Aside from stronger enemies, what else is new?

(one thing I liked about Sacred Stones was that the enemies could actually hit you).

If I may give some suggestions for buffing/weakening...

-Weakening

Seem to have already done with Seth

EPHRAIM! Seriously, he's basically able to do anything. Make his shitstorm speed cap mean something at the very least.

Gerik needs a tidbit of a tone down. Change his affinity or something, change it to like Wind or Darkness.

Something's gotta be done about Deussal. Worst part is, I don't know WHAT you could do to weaken him that would make sense. Unpromote him and make him an armor knight?

-Strengthen

Give Nieme a unique bow she starts with. Her growths are fine, her affinity is perfect for her class, and that Colm support is epic. Just need to make up for the shitty strength until she starts doubling, or else she suffers from typical shitty base class syndrome.

Joshua srsly needs a crit boosting support. Wind is fine, but he's got nothing but ice. Sword classes are balls without crit, but seriously overpowered with too much avoid. He could be the most balanced swordsman in the series.

All trainees need a boost, and I know just what. In their trainee levels, keep their leveling the same. BUT, also make it so they level like they got an Angel Ring equipped (yet another reference to FE2). This means every level up they gain 2 of the stats they proc rather than one. This would help Ewen and Ross greatly, btu due to not having any accurate range, Amelia would still suffer. On top of that, she doesn't really come out good at normal base classes anyways. Only thing I can suggest with her is like giving her uber-growths or something.

Make Marissa her level 10 average, give her Anima affinity.

Just buff Syrene a bit

Class Works

-Give Paladin or Falcoknight Solar Shot if it's by any means possible. They need a skill, otherwise they seem pointless to their Wyvern Knight/Great Knight competition.

-If you won't give Josh non ice supports, at least make Swordmaster class have 30 crit and ASsassins 15 crit.

-Snipers should get innate crit too

-Do Valkyries keep their Elite-like EXP gain?

Edited September 3, 2009 by Robo Ky

[Defeatist Elitist]

Literally the only changes I have made to YOUR units are to Seth. I don't want to tamper with units that much unless absolutely necessary. I'm doing testing to try to make sure that Duessel is not too powerful, and I may have another patch soon enough.

As for strengthening units/classes... I'm really not sure of that yet. Once I've finalized the difficulty, I may go back, but I'm not sure if I will.

[grandjackal]

Right then, right then. But if you ever need suggestions, feel free to bounce ideas off me.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Alright.

Also, so far Neimi and Ross didn't really get any worse, pretty much because A)everyone else is much weaker, and B)2 range actually means something now.

[grandjackal]

Alright.

Also, so far Neimi and Ross didn't really get any worse, pretty much because A)everyone else is much weaker, and B)2 range actually means something now.

Good point, good point...

...How WOULD one properly boost Amelia and Ewan though?

[Defeatist Elitist]

Alright.

Also, so far Neimi and Ross didn't really get any worse, pretty much because A)everyone else is much weaker, and B)2 range actually means something now.

Good point, good point...

...How WOULD one properly boost Amelia and Ewan though?

Thinking on that. I might just not. I mean, technically, Ewan could end up okay due to 1~2 range (he probably won't survive much, since his damage won't be great and his durability will be fail to start with, but 1~2 is still a great advantage here).

[grandjackal]

Alright.

Also, so far Neimi and Ross didn't really get any worse, pretty much because A)everyone else is much weaker, and B)2 range actually means something now.

Good point, good point...

...How WOULD one properly boost Amelia and Ewan though?

Thinking on that. I might just not. I mean, technically, Ewan could end up okay due to 1~2 range (he probably won't survive much, since his damage won't be great and his durability will be fail to start with, but 1~2 is still a great advantage here).

Ewan is just easier to train really. I think the only way to boost them is for example...

Amelia-When she's out of trainee class, give her tier 2 trainee class a 15 crit bonus. Then tier 3, give her a 30 crit bonus. Make her like an FE6 swordmaster with spears.

Ewan-I honestly wouldn't have a clue. It all really depends on what class he's gonna go. He could go dark mage-druid/summoner, or we could boost his trainee class. His tier 2 trainee class could have access to all forms of magic. Tier 3, he could then choose between Sage, Druid, or Super Trainee of which would have a crit boost, since he loses staffs.

I dunno, just gotta find ways to make the effort worth the investment.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Alright, I fixed the Save bug and also started to change weapons, as well as taking away Seth's Crest and making a stealable Crest on a random mook in Chapter 6 because I am an asshole like that.

[tehnikhil]

Hey, just wondering, can I use IPSwin to patch this game? I don;t know what a UPS patch, but I really want to try this out.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Hey, just wondering, can I use IPSwin to patch this game? I don;t know what a UPS patch, but I really want to try this out.

If you download NUPS from here, you should be able to patch it. :)

[Candlejack]

This is going to nerf Amelia to oblivion.

[tehnikhil]

That's odd, I tried NUPS and IPSwin, and both of them say that the patching doesn't work. It says that the patch I downloaded isn't compatible with the SS file that I have. I downloaded the rom from dgemu. Is, by any chance, your patch for the eurpoean version? I downloaded the western one.

[Defeatist Elitist]

That's odd, I tried NUPS and IPSwin, and both of them say that the patching doesn't work. It says that the patch I downloaded isn't compatible with the SS file that I have. I downloaded the rom from dgemu. Is, by any chance, your patch for the eurpoean version? I downloaded the western one.

hmmmm... My patch should be for the American version. Lemme test again.

EDIT: Yeah, I tried again and it works fine for me... Hmmm... Anyone else tried?

Edited October 13, 2009 by Fia