After I finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth I really wanted to replay the original again.
That’s when I saw the Survivor Mod from Kaiseran. And really enjoyed. But the difficult was still vanilla.
I already played the mods of Platinum, Rebirth and Hardtype in psx; and New Threat in pc, so I tried to give my own spin in the original psx version using Survivor as base to change Aerith’s fate.
All the changes was possible using incredible tools and research that the fantastic Qhimm community members made.
What this mod is about?
I consider my hack an alternative timeline, based in Rebirth major plot point, that trying to avoid spoilers, can turn my story a possibility, so Aerith is not the only character that survive.
The point of this hack is to give the original game new mechanics, new content, new quests, new bosses, a new experience, and new possibilities to replay this classic in a new way.
As someone that really liked the expansion of world of Gaia in Remake/Rebirth, and believe Square Enix made the fans fall in love with these characters all over again, the idea is to add more of the new lore to the game. Trying to add plot points and adapt dialogues from the new games in this mod, when possible, because the PSX version is limited and have some restrictions.
The Readme file attached have been slight updated and organized to give more general information.
Some of the features added in the mod are things normally you can use a gameshark to obtain/achieve, but here is added as a feature trying to give you the option to use it. Examples: using Aerith in Disc 2-3, Sephiroth in Disc 3, remove Cloud of the party to make the party you want and etc.
The game is fully complete, but I’m trying to polishing the hack. Keep in mind I’m still learning about this game structure and I’m not very good with computers, this project is my depiction of love for this game and Final Fantasy series in general.
General changes:
– Some bug fixes (Shop Menu Bugfix, W-Item Bugfix, Spirit bug fix), damage cap limit breaker (before 9.999, now 32.000) Limit Breaks adjustments.
– Characters have Innate Abilities, that make them more unique, Rebalance in magic, Summons and etc.
– Modern spell names.
– No debuff spells anymore, they turned in other new status materia.
– New spells, some spells changed to Water, Wind and Holy elemental magic, Drain and Osmose.
– New items: Kupo Nut that adds Peerless and Phoenix Pinion that revives with full HP.
– Enemies now have elemental weakness too, and are stronger, debuff more often
– Gil is dropped only by humanoids, machines and other few special creatures. Now monster in general drop loot or items that can be selled. Gems and materials are valuables that can be selled for money (FFIX and FFXII inspired).
– Basic recovery items heal double amount in battle (FFIX inspired), increasing items longevity in the game.
Additional details:
– balancing based in feedback (magic, limit breaks and etc)
– The enemies have a little buff between Discs, so even weak enemies have a little more relevance in later parts of game
– Cloud can be removed of party. This highly is recommended to do only in world map.
– Revisitable areas like Corel Prison, Gaea’s Cliff, Whirlwind Maze, Midgar Sector 7, Midgar Sector 8, Temple of the Ancients, Cave of the Gi and Underwater Reactor in Disc 3
– optional content in Disc 3 (spare battle with Rufus and Dyne, for example)
– New bosses (Example, more battle with Turks and Rufus)
– bosses in Materia Caves
– you keep BP leaving battle arena in Gold Saucer
– Aerith returns to party in Disc 2, please take a look in the ReadMe file where to avoid using her in story segments (in original Survivor Mod was only in Disc 3)
– Sephiroth is playable in Disc 3, only if you don’t recruit Vincent. Sephiroth cannot be used in final boss battles.
– Highly recommended to defeat Weapons first. The Last bosses are buffed to be stronger
– I consider my hack an alternative timeline, based in Rebirth, so Aerith is not the only character that survive.
The Readme file attached have more details, but basically is more polished version now.
Feedback is appreciated
V 5.0 Major changes:
Tutorials in beginning of the game
Reviewing game dialogue (Changes until Mythril Cave – Disc 1), making the name of speaker highlighted (only relevant NPCs)
Added New Bosses.
Update in Drops and Steals for foes and Bosses (Bosses have decent to great items)
Some minor side content in Midgar can give rewards, talk with NPCs
*New Area* Kalm Cave: New side content before going to Junon Area, talk with the Miner after Nibelheim Flashback, to enter in the cave. Can be visited in any moment, but only in Disc 1.
WIP
– Trying to add more additional content, Maybe something in Fort Condor, Junon, Corel, Gongaga and/or Nibelheim.
– continue to polish the game/hack
– improve side content in revisitable areas in Disc 3
– maybe nerf Sephiroth party member to him be recrutable in Disc 2 too.
Thank you for the support!
Thanks to Kaiseran for the inspiration!
Credits
Final Fantasy VII – Reborn Mod by CAulin
Final Fantasy VII – Survivor Mod by Kaiseran
Final Fantasy VII – ATB Enhancement by RoSoDude
Final Fantasy VII – Innate Abilities (Port from New Threat) by Sega Chief
Final Fantasy VII – End’s Core (Port of Special battles with Guests) by VaYneruEl
Final Fantasy VII – Aerith Guide Disc 2 and Disc 3 by Niai_Mitch
*~*Special Thanks*~*
– Squaresoft/Square Enix, for the amazing game that I love a lot and is really special to me (go play Remake and Rebirth, they’re amazing!)
– Spike, for being awesome and sharing his love for retrogames/mods/hacks
– Kaiseran, for the mod that brought back my favorite character and inspired doing my own mod
– RoSoDude, for the custom Battle.X file, adapting to be usable on Reborn Mod
– the_original, Chadx, Tifalover7, ClerithFTW, CheshireNeko, BaraWallace24, OdinRetainer for great help with feedback and testing
– Sega Chief and Qhimm community for the amazing research and sharing of info
– and to all the players, this is a mod to create a new way to experience a classic
CAulin
