Final Fantasy III: FF6: Is the Best Game Ever

Features:

The game is no longer basically over when you reach the WoR. While no story events have changed, you will need to use the varying areas of difficulty in the World of Ruin to level up and get good enough items until you can finally kill the last boss.

New XP curve, HP curve, MP curve.

Everything has been changed to fit new damage curves, but the essence of many things are the same.

Heroes have new character stats, items stats, and spell stats such that damage, armor, and HP/MP increase in new ways. It will be very hard to reach max damage or HP or MP or armor, etc.

Every monster tweaked or changed. A vast majority of the monster AI has changed. Monsters are tough now, and should demand attention for victory. No more just holding down a button or casting your best spell. If a monster is human, it might have a little gold or items, but if not, the best you'll get is dried meat.

The only items that have not changed are those that cure ailments. Even then, the prices have changed.

Everything is expensive, and money is hard to get.

Every character has been changed in terms of stats. Relm has X-magic instead of Sketch, and is very feeble. Setzer has Jump instead of Slot, has good defense, can use all armor types, and can use all weapons better than everyone (and DragoonBoots are no longer obtained early in the game, so jump is much rarer). All characters are competitive in terms of usability.

Nothing a player does will instantly kill a monster (except 1 Lore), unless it is petrify.

Hero Magic Spells Removed:
Demi, Quartr, Float, Slow, Haste, X-zone

Hero Magic Spells Added:
Exalt, Image, Flood, Plague, Sunder (Flare)

Many other spells and abilities have changed, but are not on the hero magic list and are too numerous to mention here (please see the xcel sheet)

All Tools have been tweaked, 2 were removed because they did nothing for the game and couldn't be edited (Chainsaw and AirAnchor). Tools are almost completely magic based.

Runic is no longer gone after Celes chooses to use a new turn. If Runic is used and has not absorbed a spell, it will continue to be in play and Celes may continue battle as normal.

Blitzes were changed or tweaked. BumRush (now "Chi Strike") is no longer super powerful because you learn it so early in the WoR. Sabin's last skill is the most powerful magic spell, but it kills him everytime he casts it. His other attacks are physical.

SwdTech skills were changed or tweaked. Instead of waiting for the slow bar, the selection bar moves faster and upon selecting your attack you may use other players while Cyan prepares his attack, which takes longer based on the selected SwdTech. His early Swdtech is mostly magic, and most of his later skills are physical damage, and it is all offensive.

Much of the lores have been tweaked or changed. Almost every lore is unreflectable/unrunicable. Many have new graphics. There is still one lore spot being unused for now. Roulette was removed.

All of the dance spells have been altered, many of them changed completely, and a good portion of them have new graphics. All dance moves are unreflectable/unrunicable. His most powerful three dances can be found in Darill's Tomb, the outside of the Ancient Castle, and in Kefka's Tower.

Terra's morph is now infinite but she incurs double damage and deals double damage, for physical and magic.

All of the rages have changed. You will be able to find a superior attack/spell in rages at each level of the game. However, at present there is a chunk of the rages mimic their monsters to the point of being a bit boring (no Quasar/Goner rages). For the most part, rages don't have skills that come from Dance or Lore.

Throw now only ignores row, defense, and has 100% hit. Shadow will now never leave your party randomly at the end of battle.

The colosseum has also changed. Every item wins another item (No Chupon-Elixirs anymore). By betting an item, you will usually be able to win a better item. The top tier items will only be able to be won by betting another top tier item, but almost every item should be winnable.

These relics have been removed: Exp. Egg, sprint shoes, true knight, goggles, runningshoes, fake mustache, gale hairpin, mithril glove, moogle charm, charm bangle, so don't go looking for them! Most relics have changed, of course.

Slow/Haste effects have been doubled. Reflect is now much more powerful, and does not go away with time, and hard to remove.

Jump has been nerfed, it gives 100% chance to hit and deals +50% damage.

Also, the background music does not change when entering a fight, unless it is a boss.

If you need more info than you could possibly want for this version, I have the excel sheet used to create this game, as well as a supplementary documents for easier reading attached.

ReadMe
================
FF6: Is the Best Game Ever v1.27 (April 25, 2013)
by Gogo13

Getting Started
------------------------
I began this project with the US 1.1 headered ROM with the checksum below. If you don't use the right patch for the ROM you have, the game will not work. ROMs usually do not come headered, and can be headered via utilities such as NSRT.

The most popular FF6 version used is 1.0 unheadered, so try using that patch first.

To patch the file to the ROM, use an IPS patching tool such as Lunar IPS or IPS Patcher (included with this release). I made the game using Znes 1.51 and Lunar IPS, and the FF3 US v1.1 ROM. The patch was made with Lunar IPS.

FF3 US ROM 1.0 Initial Stats before Patching (info found via NSRT)
Checksum 0x5F32
CRC32 A27F1C7A
MD5 E986575B98300F721CE27C180264D890
Note: Applies to both headered & unheadered ROM (the header was created with NSRT)

FF3 US ROM v1.1 Initial Stats before Patching:
Checksum 0x8A60
CRC32 C0FA0464
MD5 544311E104805E926083ACF29EC664DA
Note: Applies to both headered & unheadered ROM (the unheadered was created with NSRT from 1.1 with these stats)

Stats after Patching
Checksum Bad 0x2051 != 0x8A60
CRC32 8A6C017F
MD5 98EF870653805CCF23C271DD69A43026


Gameplay
------------------------------

It's recommended that you utilize some graphics filters with your emulator, as they make the game look MUCH better (I recommend HQ3x). I encourage the use of fast-forward, & save-states with your emulator, and don't forget that Znes can rewind as well, which can allow you to test things easily or just never die, if you want to make things really easy.

There is a specific way the World of Ruin is meant to be played: Run from every monster to get all the main heroes back, but don't get the chests until you can kill the monsters, and then fight monsters until you can beat Kefka. I have made it so that the most powerful weapons (and some armor) are found by defeating bosses or dragons in the WoR. The reason I suggest this method of playing is because I didn't want the heroes to level up before you get other characters back (ruining esper stat progression). So all of the bosses which must be defeated to get heroes are all the same difficulty, but the monsters and treasures around them are increasingly better. This allows gamers to play with whichever hero they want, and still have areas with increasing difficulty. There is one chest you must open regardless of your level---the one holding "Striker", South of the switched passage in the Cave on the Veldt.

I suggest 30-50 tonics for the fight against TunnlArmr.

MP is maxed out at 999 by around level 75, so esper bonuses with +MP% should be valued lightly. +HP% is still not very useful either, except for the last 10 levels, which would give an extra 1,000 HP.

There are some monsters you have to run from; You just aren't strong enough at that time.

Some bosses may seem impossible. They are not! Be the hero.

Relm has skills, you just have to equip her with an esper once.

Following Djibriel's walkthrough will also make you less frustrated, and laugh a lot. It will tell you how to get each item and not miss out on anything.

Save in the WoR, because if you run into Doomgaze, he casts a death spell to everyone as his first action.

Debilitators can be bought in the auction house for almost 10,000,000 GP and traded in the colloseum for top-tier weapons.

Hyperwrists, when a hero has negative vigor, gives 128 vigor. This is not intentional and I ask that you do not abuse this if you want the game to play as it should. The Psycho Cyan bug is the same problem. Also, please do not abuse the "2 Handed Weapon" bug that allows you to use both hands.

With the Ragnarok Magicite, you don't get anything you otherwise wouldn't later on. With the Sword, it is a level 30 sword with good damage and a randomly cast spell, but not an item worthy of keeping until the end. It depends if you are strong on casters or fighters at the time. The Ragnorok sword, however, can be traded for a better legendary item at the colloseum, effectively increasing the amount of ultimate items you can have.

You will probably need Bahamut before you can beat Fanatic's Tower. The MagiMaster is very difficult.

There is no +2 Vigor esper bonus, but 128 vigor should be as powerful as the most mPwr you can get, so level up your heroes with that understood!!
The max vigor you will need is 43, assuming you'll use all item slots giving +7 vigor, which would be unpractical to do. 55 or 60 vigor is usually enough.

There is a utility downloadable for finding Doom Gaze, if you're brave enough to hunt him.

Paladin Shield is great for the time you get it, and is useful throughout the game on light armor characters, but somewhat uncompetitive to heavy shields gained at level 65 areas and above. It cannot be used by Relm or Shadow, unless with a Merit Award.

Physical damage seems to overflow back to 1 if a monster does about 24000 damage before any damage enhancements (crit, etc.), so calculating how much a monster does can be tricky if this overflow applies.

Best of Luck Saving the World.

Item Terminology
=================
Big sword = 85% hit rate, -20 evade
Piercing = dmg ignores defense, which can be cancelled by some creatures with "ignore ignore defense"
Prismatic = uses every element
Unavoidable = can't be dodged
inc.MDmg = increases magic damage (stacks up to two times)
b.row = same damage from the back row
revenge = Damage increases as your HP is lower than maximum HP
Prot.Allies or prot. = Your hero takes damage for allies when they are at low HP
100%Hit Rate = 100% Hit Rate, meaning accuracy is normal
100HR = 100 Hit Rate, meaning accuracy is normal
75HR = 75 Hit Rate, meaning 25% chance to miss against 0% evade
100%Hit = Hits everytime, very different than 100%Hit Rate
KWL = Killed when low hp
RWL = Redemption when low hp (healed, life3)
QWL = Quick when low hp (2 turns given)
1/2MP = MP cost is half for spells
GhostHP = healing causes damage, death spells can restore HP

Patches Used
==============
All edits of this amazing game stand on the shoulders of countless hours of toil and expertise from the FF6 editing community. Most of the names involved are listed as the authors of patches I've included in this game, but the essential name who is not there is LordJ, who created the FF6usME editor which is 95% responsible for the making of this version (and whom is still making his editor better, as if that's possible). Also, this version was created from the base of FF6 Eviltype, by SageAcrin, and enjoys all of the benefits from that version which I haven't altered, such as parts of monster scripts and much of their elemental weaknesses.

The following great patches were implemented for the game. Their names and authors are listed, and their benefits to Final Fantasy VI will forever be a legacy.

EvadeFix - Terii Senshi
Rage missing 3 fix - Terii Senshi
Rippler status fix - Terii Senshi
1-way status immunity fix - Assassin
Magic Damage Overflow fix - Assassin
Alphabetical Rage patch - Assassin
Recapture the Glory fix - Assassin
Multi-Steal-Fix v1.01 - Imzogelmo
The Elemental Display v1.1 - Lenophis
Offering + Sniper Sight modification - Lenophis
Ignore Defense v1.10 - Drakkhen
Ignore Ignore-Defense v1.81 - Drakkhen
Ignore Ignore-Defense for Characters - Drakkhen
I condemn thee to hell! - Lenophis
For What Ails Ya - Lenophis, Imzogelmo, Kejardon
FF3us Invert Damage if Undead fix - Master ZED
SwordTech Ready Stance 1.0 - Hatzen08 (note, this was manually entered into my ROM due to a 3-byte difference)
Runic Forever 1.0 - Hatzen08
True Duel 1.0 - Hatzen08


Also credit goes to Warrax for the idea of making heals only targetable to allies. Much help was given from Lenophis, Izmogelmo, Drakkhen, Warrax, Assassin, and others for specific coding issues, such as changing items given instead of found in chests, modifying jump damage, and pointing to the necessary information to make changes to slow and haste.

AND YOU


Random Problems
=================
When Ultros meets Relm, he is already at such low HP that Relm will talk to him without you fighting him. Normally Relm would need to sketch Ultros, but killing him easily is the way to advance now. I only changed his HP, because I believe that scene should end quickly.

If a monster becomes turned into a zombie, then the monster will disappear and be untargetable, but will remain in the fight until all monsters have been turned into zombies or killed. The zombie monsters will act like zombies and usually attack their friends, but sometimes wierd things can happen, such as they heal friends instead of hurt them.

The Atma Weapon can sometimes cause the party action menu to not appear if the game is being fast-forwarded, especially if fast-forwarded for a long time.

Shadow's battle action can become stalled rarely, losing control of the hero until killed and revived.

Shadow's throw has thrown to all enemies if such targeting is possible, and Shadow moves forward by half of the field.

Emulators seem to have rare problems with the battle sequencing, making the battle menu not pop up. I believe this is due to fast-forwarding.


Level of difficulty progession throughout the World of Ruin:
===================================================================================================================
Level Area
22 South Continent Outdoors Area
24 Owzer's Mansion
26 Cave to S. Figaro
27 Castle Figaro Basement
29 Kohlingen Outdoors
31 S. Figaro Outdoors Area
33 SW, & North - Narshe, Miranda, Zozo, Jidoor Outdoors - Grass, Desert, Forest, Wasteland
35 Mt. Zozo
37 Cave to Veldt
39 Thamasa Outdoors - Forest & Grassland, Wasteland
41 Solitary Island
43 Narshe
45 North East Outdoors - Grassland, Wasteland, Forest
47 Narshe Caves
49 Phoenix Cave
51 Triangle Island Outdoors
53 Triangle Island
55 Daryl's Tomb
57 Ebot's Rock
59 Fanatic's Tower
60 Air (Doom Gaze)
64 Cyan's Soul
66 Cave to the Ancient Castle
68 Underground Palace
70-75 Kefka's Tower

(You probably can't win at level 75)

**note: Black Dragons and Hoovers are level 45, Tyranosaurs are level 61, and Bracheosaurs are level 70.

====================================
Here are the SwdTechs/Blitzes you can learn
====================================
Note: All blitzes and Swdtech skills are unreflectable and unrunicable

Blitz Level SP or BP Physical? Description
---------------------------------------------------
Pummel 1 50 Yes Condemns, seizures random target
AuraBolt 6 9 No Pearl and Fire elemental, random target
DeathDance 15 75 Yes 75 BP Drain of HP, 66% HR, ice, wind, earth elemental
Mantra 23 N/A No Heals based on HP, split among members, lifts Dark and Seizure
BumRush 30 255 Yes Max BP all elemental strike to random enemy that dispels Image, Regen, Haste, Safe, & Shell
Suplex 43 255 Yes 255 BP, unavoidable, casts imp, muddle, petrify, sleep, slow, stop, and dark
ChiStrike 60 255 Yes 4x 255 BP attack
Rapture 70 120 No Unavoidable all-elemental damage to all enemies, caster dies

SwdTech Level SP or BP Phys? Description
-------------------------------------------
Dispatch1 7 No Non-elemental magic hit on random opponent
Strike 6 95 Yes 95 BP Hit against undead, 240% HR
Slash 12 9 No 230% Hit Rate non-elemental magic hit on random enemy
Quad.Sl 15 5 No 4x Magic hit, all using the 4 elements of Fire, Earth, Wind, Water
Empower 24 255 No Absorbs both HP and MP
Stunner 39 255 Yes 255 BP strike to all, casts stop and slow
Quad.Sl 55 25 No 4x Non-elemental magic hit on random opponents, 255% Hit Rate
Afflict 70 125 Yes 4x Physical hit on random opponents, unavoidable, ignores defense, casts Dark, Zombie, Poison, Imp, Petrify, Mute, Berserk, Muddle, Seizure, Sleep, Slow, and Stop

============
Dances
============
Old Name Chance New Name Function
--------------------------------------------------------
Wind Song:
Wind Slash 7 in 16 Wind Slash 15 SP MT no split
Sun Bath 6 in 16 Lifespring 25 SP MT Heal, no split, piercing
Plasma 2 in 16 Contagion Random Ailment to all
Cockatrice 1 in 16 Renewal Life, 15 SP Heal to all dead heroes, ignores defense

Forest Suite:
Rage 7 in 16 Rage 15 SP Physical, MT no split
Harvester 6 in 16 Lifespring 25 SP MT Heal, no split, piercing
Elf Fire 2 in 16 Restore Cure 2/Remove ailments
Wombat 1 in 16 Ambush 25 SP Physical MT

Desert Aria:
Sand Storm 7 in 16 Sand Storm 15 SP MT Earth/Wind
Antlion 6 in 16 Weaken 15 SP MT Earth
Wind Slash 2 in 16 Wind Slash 15 SP MT no split
Kitty 1 in 16 Sunflare 40 SP MT Wind/Fire

Undead March:
Elf Fire 7 in 16 Level 30 SP ST Unavoidable, non-elemental
Specter 6 in 16 Dethrone 10 SP ST 8x Cast 254% Hit, non-elemental
Snare 2 in 16 Void 1000 MP damage to all, unavoidable, non-elemental
Tapir 1 in 16 Disaster 70% Hit, All Ailments to all (except death, freeze, & clear)

Ancient Opus:
Land Slide 7 in 16 Victimize 255 BP Dispel
Sonic Boom 6 in 16 Indemnity 255 BP Drain
Sun Bath 2 in 16 Avail 120 SP MP Damage
Whump 1 in 16 Safeguard EarthWall

Water Rondo:
El Nino 7 in 16 Tsunami 15 SP MT no split
Plasma 6 in 16 Exhaust Rasp to all
Specter 2 in 16 Contagion Random Ailment to all
Wild Bear 1 in 16 Atlantean 25 SP Heal MP, Regen, Haste, Safe, Shell to all, unavoidable

Chaos Hymn:
Cave In 7 in 16 Judgment 60 SP Pearl to every one, unsplit
Snare 6 in 16 Conviction 60 SP Poison to every one, unsplit
Elf Fire 2 in 16 Maelstrom 60 SP Thunder-Pearl-Ice to every one, unsplit, unavoidable
Pois. Frog 1 in 16 Abyss 37.5% dmg to every one, unavoidable

Snowman Jazz:
Snowball 7 in 16 IceStorm 15 SP MT Ice elem
Surge 6 in 16 Surge 15 SP MT Ice elem, unreflectable, 255 HR, no split
Snare 2 in 16 Avalanche 30 SP MT Ice, unavoidable, no split
Ice Rabbit 1 in 16 Absolute 0 40 SP MT freeze, randomly canceled (N. Cross special)


Random Problems
=================
When Ultros meets Relm, he is already at such low HP that Relm will talk to him without you fighting him. Normally Relm would need to sketch Ultros, but killing him easily is the way to advance now. I only changed his HP, because I believe that scene should end quickly.

If a monster becomes turned into a zombie, then the monster will disappear and be untargetable, but will remain in the fight until all monsters have been turned into zombies or killed. The zombie monsters will act like zombies and usually attack their friends, but sometimes wierd things can happen, such as they heal friends instead of hurt them.

The Atma Weapon can sometimes cause the party action menu to not appear if the game is being fast-forwarded, especially if fast-forwarded for a long time.

Shadow's battle action can become stalled rarely, losing control of the hero until killed and revived.

Shadow's throw has thrown to all enemies if such targeting is possible, and Shadow moves forward by half of the field.

Emulators seem to have rare problems with the battle sequencing, making the battle menu not pop up.


Level of difficulty progession throughout the World of Ruin:
===================================================================================================================
Level Area
22 South Continent Outdoors Area
24 Owzer's Mansion
26 Cave to S. Figaro
27 Castle Figaro Basement
29 Kohlingen Outdoors
31 S. Figaro Outdoors Area
33 SW, & North - Narshe, Miranda, Zozo, Jidoor Outdoors - Grass, Desert, Forest, Wasteland
35 Mt. Zozo
37 Cave to Veldt
39 Thamasa Outdoors - Forest & Grassland, Wasteland
41 Solitary Island
43 Narshe
45 North East Outdoors - Grassland, Wasteland, Forest
47 Narshe Caves
49 Phoenix Cave
51 Triangle Island Outdoors
53 Triangle Island
55 Daryl's Tomb
57 Ebot's Rock
59 Fanatic's Tower
60 Air (Doom Gaze)
64 Cyan's Soul
66 Cave to the Ancient Castle
68 Underground Palace
70-75 Kefka's Tower

(You probably can't win at level 75)

**note: Black Dragons and Hoovers are level 45, Tyranosaurs are level 61, and Bracheosaurs are level 70.

====================================
Here are the SwdTechs/Blitzes you can learn
====================================
Note: All blitzes and Swdtech skills are unreflectable and unrunicable

Blitz Level SP or BP Physical? Description
---------------------------------------------------
Pummel 1 50 Yes Condemns, seizures random target
AuraBolt 6 9 No Pearl and Fire elemental, random target
DeathDance 15 75 Yes 75 BP Drain of HP, 75% HR, ice, wind, earth elemental
Mantra 23 N/A No Heals based on HP, split among members, lifts Dark and Seizure
BumRush 30 255 Yes Max BP all elemental strike to random enemy that dispels Image, Regen, Haste, Safe, & Shell
Suplex 43 255 Yes 255 BP, unavoidable, casts imp, muddle, petrify, sleep, slow, stop, and dark
ChiStrike 60 255 Yes 4x 255 BP attack
Rapture 70 120 No Unavoidable all-elemental damage to all enemies, caster dies

SwdTech Level SP or BP Phys? Description
-------------------------------------------
Dispatch1 7 No Non-elemental magic hit on random opponent
Strike 6 95 Yes 95 BP Hit against undead, 240% HR
Slash 12 9 No 230% Hit Rate non-elemental magic hit on random enemy
Quad.Sl 15 5 No 4x Magic hit, all using the 4 elements of Fire, Earth, Wind, Water
Empower 24 255 No Absorbs both HP and MP
Stunner 39 255 Yes 255 BP strike to all, casts stop and slow
Quad.Sl 55 25 No 4x Non-elemental magic hit on random opponents, 255% Hit Rate
Afflict 70 125 Yes 4x Physical hit on random opponents, unavoidable, ignores defense, casts Dark, Zombie, Poison, Imp, Petrify, Mute, Berserk, Muddle, Seizure, Sleep, Slow, and Stop

============
Dances
============
Old Name Chance New Name Function
--------------------------------------------------------
Wind Song:
Wind Slash 7 in 16 Wind Slash 15 SP MT no split
Sun Bath 6 in 16 Lifespring 25 SP MT Heal, no split, piercing
Plasma 2 in 16 Contagion Random Ailment to all
Cockatrice 1 in 16 Renewal Life, 15 SP Heal to all dead heroes, ignores defense

Forest Suite:
Rage 7 in 16 Rage 15 SP Physical, MT no split
Harvester 6 in 16 Lifespring 25 SP MT Heal, no split, piercing
Elf Fire 2 in 16 Restore Cure 2/Remove ailments
Wombat 1 in 16 Ambush 25 SP Physical MT

Desert Aria:
Sand Storm 7 in 16 Sand Storm 15 SP MT Earth/Wind
Antlion 6 in 16 Weaken 15 SP MT Earth
Wind Slash 2 in 16 Wind Slash 15 SP MT no split
Kitty 1 in 16 Sunflare 40 SP MT Wind/Fire

Undead March:
Elf Fire 7 in 16 Level 30 SP ST Unavoidable, non-elemental
Specter 6 in 16 Dethrone 10 SP ST 8x Cast 254% Hit, non-elemental
Snare 2 in 16 Void 1000 MP damage to all, unavoidable, non-elemental
Tapir 1 in 16 Disaster 70% Hit, All Ailments to all (except death, freeze, & clear)

Ancient Opus:
Land Slide 7 in 16 Victimize 255 BP Dispel
Sonic Boom 6 in 16 Indemnity 255 BP Drain
Sun Bath 2 in 16 Avail 120 SP MP Damage
Whump 1 in 16 Safeguard EarthWall

Water Rondo:
El Nino 7 in 16 Tsunami 15 SP MT no split
Plasma 6 in 16 Exhaust Rasp to all
Specter 2 in 16 Contagion Random Ailment to all
Wild Bear 1 in 16 Atlantean 25 SP Heal MP, Regen, Haste, Safe, Shell to all, unavoidable

Chaos Hymn:
Cave In 7 in 16 Judgment 60 SP Pearl to every one, unsplit
Snare 6 in 16 Conviction 60 SP Poison to every one, unsplit
Elf Fire 2 in 16 Maelstrom 60 SP Thunder-Pearl-Ice to every one, unsplit, unavoidable
Pois. Frog 1 in 16 Abyss 37.5% dmg to every one, unavoidable

Snowman Jazz:
Snowball 7 in 16 IceStorm 15 SP MT Ice elem
Surge 6 in 16 Surge 15 SP MT Ice elem, unreflectable, 255 HR, no split
Snare 2 in 16 Avalanche 30 SP MT Ice, unavoidable, no split
Ice Rabbit 1 in 16 Absolute 0 40 SP MT freeze, randomly canceled (N. Cross special)

Final Fantasy III (USA).sfc - NOINTRO
CRC32: A27F1C7A
MD5: E986575B98300F721CE27C180264D890
SHA-1: 4F37E4274AC3B2EA1BEDB08AA149D8FC5BB676E7
SHA-256: 0F51B4FCA41B7FD509E4B8F9D543151F68EFA5E97B08493E4B2A0C06F5D8D5E2