Secret Of Mana: Balance Spell MP Cost

This hack increases or decreases the MP cost of a wide range of spells improve the utility of useless spells and reduce the appeal of commonly overused spells in order to incentivize using a wider range of spells more often rather than the original game's propensity to result in players leaning hard on a few spells at the expense of all the others.

Notably, this hack explicitly declines to alter spell power or the behavior of spells in order to maximize compatibility with other hacks that address those issues directly. So to achieve perfect spell balance, you will probably want to combine this hack with other hacks that modify spells as well. See compatibility notes below for more information about that.

Likewise, this hack considers making Evil Gate more useful out of scope. There are other hacks which address this issue.

This hack's specific changes:

Primm spells price increases:

- Cure Water: 2mp → 4mp
- Remedy: 1mp → 3mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Energy Absorb for the Girl" hack)
- Fire Saber: 2mp → 4mp
- Moon Saber: 2mp → 4mp

Primm spells price reductions:

- Ice Saber: 2mp → 1mp
- Stone Saber: 4mp → 2mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Mud Saber" hack)
- Defender: 2mp → 1mp
- Speed Up: 3mp → 1mp
- Thunder Saber: 3mp → 2mp
- Light Saber: 5mp → 2mp
- Lucent Beam: 8mp → 2mp
- Lunar Boost: 2mp → 1mp
- Moon Energy: No price reduction, but can now be multi-targeted.
- Wall: 6mp → 4mp
- Revivifer: 10mp → 4mp

Popoi spells price increases:

- Energy Absorb: 2mp → 3mp
- Energy Absorb: 2mp → 1mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Freezing Rain" hack)
- Freeze: 2mp → 3mp
- Acid Rain: 3mp → 4mp
- Gem Missile: 2mp → 3mp
- Earth Slide: 3mp → 4mp

Popoi spells price reductions:

- Silence: 2mp → 1mp
- Sleep Flower: 2mp → 1mp
- Burst: 4mp → 2mp
- Burst: 4mp → 0mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with "Suicide Burst" or "Burst - Health Cost" hacks)

Compatibility notes:

- Some companion hacks to alter the costs of spells further are supplied that are meant for use if you are also using the "Energy Absorb for the Girl," "Freezing Rain," Mud Saber," "Suicide Burst," or "Burst - Health Cost" hacks.
- This hack is compatible with "Herbal Boost," "Lunar Magic Boss Gravity Attack," "Hellfire," and other hacks that modify spells, but generally you will want to apply those hacks after applying this hack, not before.
- If you applied "Herbal Boost" first, you can apply the companion hack "Apply Herbal Boost MP changes" to restore compatibility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
========================================
Secret of Mana Balance Spell MP Cost 1.4
by Kethinov Jun 2019
========================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This hack increases or decreases the MP cost of a wide range of spells improve the utility of useless spells and reduce the appeal of commonly overused spells in order to incentivize using a wider range of spells more often rather than the original game's propensity to result in players leaning hard on a few spells at the expense of all the others.

Notably, this hack explicitly declines to alter spell power or the behavior of spells in order to maximize compatibility with other hacks that address those issues directly. So to achieve perfect spell balance, you will probably want to combine this hack with other hacks that modify spells as well. See compatibility notes below for more information about that.

Likewise, this hack considers making Evil Gate more useful out of scope. There are other hacks which address this issue.

This hack's specific changes:

Primm spells price increases:

- Cure Water: 2mp → 4mp
- Remedy: 1mp → 3mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Energy Absorb for the Girl" hack)
- Fire Saber: 2mp → 4mp
- Moon Saber: 2mp → 4mp

Primm spells price reductions:

- Ice Saber: 2mp → 1mp
- Stone Saber: 4mp → 2mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Mud Saber" hack)
- Defender: 2mp → 1mp
- Speed Up: 3mp → 1mp
- Thunder Saber: 3mp → 2mp
- Light Saber: 5mp → 2mp
- Lucent Beam: 8mp → 2mp
- Lunar Boost: 2mp → 1mp
- Moon Energy: No price reduction, but can now be multi-targeted.
- Wall: 6mp → 4mp
- Revivifer: 10mp → 4mp

Popoi spells price increases:

- Energy Absorb: 2mp → 3mp
- Energy Absorb: 2mp → 1mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with the "Freezing Rain" hack)
- Freeze: 2mp → 3mp
- Acid Rain: 3mp → 4mp
- Gem Missile: 2mp → 3mp
- Earth Slide: 3mp → 4mp

Popoi spells price reductions:

- Silence: 2mp → 1mp
- Sleep Flower: 2mp → 1mp
- Burst: 4mp → 2mp
- Burst: 4mp → 0mp (Change not applied by default; meant for use with "Suicide Burst" or "Burst - Health Cost" hacks)

Compatibility notes:

- Some companion hacks to alter the costs of spells further are supplied that are meant for use if you are also using the "Energy Absorb for the Girl," "Freezing Rain," Mud Saber," "Suicide Burst," or "Burst - Health Cost" hacks.
- This hack is compatible with "Herbal Boost," "Lunar Magic Boss Gravity Attack," "Hellfire," and other hacks that modify spells, but generally you will want to apply those hacks after applying this hack, not before.
- If you applied "Herbal Boost" first, you can apply the companion hack "Apply Herbal Boost MP changes" to restore compatibility.

Changelog:

- 1.4: Reverted Moon Energy cost reduction but made it multi-targetable.
- 1.3: Added more companion hacks to let people customize things a bit and revised README.
- 1.2: Added more companion hacks to let people customize things a bit and revised README.
- 1.1: Added companion hacks to let people customize things a bit and revised README.
- 1.0: Initial version.

Database match: Secret of Mana (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20180813-062835)
File/ROM SHA-1: 8133041A363E3CC68CEDEF40B49B6D20D03C505D
File/ROM CRC32: D0176B24