Final Fantasy II: Final Fantasy II: A Threat from Within, Part 1

40 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV (Final Fantasy IIUS), approximately 20 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Furio Geraldine, the son of King Edge of Eblan is completing his training as a ninja. He is joining The Royal Eblana Mercenary Army (REMA), an elite ninja force for hire, which Edge has established in order to raise funds to rebuild the kingdom of Eblan and to help promote peace throughout the world. The power of the Crystals housed in Mysidia, Damcyan, Fabul and Toroia has faded since the departure of the second Moon and so many of the comforts once known to the world are no more, including many means of long distance travel. Ocean travel has become the primary means of transportation between nations, and most major populated areas have seaports. Furio is about to undertake his first mission with REMA, protecting a small village from a monster attack. Little does he know that this seemingly minor hazard is just the beginning of an event that will threaten the balance of the entire world.

This is Part 1 of (I think...) 4 of an all-new sequel to Final Fantasy IV The gameplay will be familiar but the story is brand new and there are many new gameplay mechanics, including:
- Limit Breaks
- Hirable Mercenary Characters
- Chocobo "Hunting"
- Epic Choices - Decisions the player can make to alter how the events of the game play out
... And more!

Final Fantasy II: A Threat from Within
A ROM Hack by chillyfeez


I. Introduction
40 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV (Final Fantasy IIUS), approximately 20 years after the events of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Furio Geraldine, the son of King Edge of Eblan is completing his training as a ninja. He is joining The Royal Eblana Mercenary Army (REMA), an elite ninja force for hire, which Edge has established in order to raise funds to rebuild the kingdom of Eblan and to help promote peace throughout the world. The power of the Crystals housed in Mysidia, Damcyan, Fabul and Toroia has faded since the departure of the second Moon and so many of the comforts once known to the world are no more, including many means of long distance travel. Ocean travel has become the primary means of transportation between nations, and most major populated areas have seaports. Furio is about to undertake his first mission with REMA, protecting a samll village from a monster attack. Little does he know that this seemingly minor hazard is just the beginning of an event that will threaten the balance of the entire world.

The enclosed patch should be applied to a clean, unheadered copy of Final Fantasy II US (Super NES), version 1.1. Specific information about the correct ROM is available on the download page on RHDN. Please do not ask me how to acquire a copy of this ROM.


II. Gameplay
The gameplay mechanics of A Threat from Within are very similar to those of the original Final Fantasy IV, with some notable differences.

A. Mercenary Characters: Mercs are playable characters who do not participate directly in the plot. Mercs represent a variety of fighter classes, each with different abilities that can help the party in various ways. Mercs are hired by speaking with Namingway at their home barracks. The player can choose to have any available merc in the party, as long as s/he has the right Job Card. Job Cards can be purchased in shops, and occasionally won in battle or found in treasure chests. Job Cards can be expensive, but are not expended when hiring a new merc, so it is only necessary to have one of each Job Card in your inventory at any time. Mercs will also charge for their services, taking a flat rate every day (every time you sleep in an inn or a tent or cabin), which varies depending on the class. If you do not have enough GP to pay your merc, s/he will leave the party. Mercs join the party unequipped, but will leave all equipment behind if they leave or are dismissed.

B. Limit Skills: When a character is weakened during battle, s/he has a chance to perform a special technique known as a Limit Skill. You will know a Limit Skill is available because a message saying, "LIMIT BREAK!" will appear at the top of the screen, and the character's Fight command will be replaced with LIMIT. Limit does not need to be used right away and it will remain available even if the character is healed. Once the Limit skill is used, it becomes unavailable to that character for the rest of the battle, and the Fight command returns. Each different character class uses a different Limit skill.

C. Epic Choices: At certain points in the game, the player is given the ability to decide how the story will progress. Epic choices may carry consequences such as what boss monsters the player fights, what characters join the party, and more.

D. Chocobos: Chocobo forests no longer exist, but chocobos are still available as a means of transportation on the world map. In order to ride a chocobo, the player must catch it. Chocobos appear randomly among other monsters on the world map. The player must defeat all other monsters quickly without damaging the chocobo. If you take too long or hurt the chocobo, it will run away. Once you have caught a chocobo, you may dismount or re-mount it at will, as long as you do not walk too far away. When a chocobo is far enough away to be out of sight, it will run away. Chocobos are capable of reaching parts of the world map that are otherwise inaccessible, as they can cross streams and travel through shallow parts of the ocean.

E. Backpack: Though the Fat Chocobo is no longer around to store extra inventory, Furio does carry a backpack which enables him to store extra items. To access the backpack, choose "Cache" from the menu.


III. Bugs
This game has been tested many times over and the list of known bugs is rather short at this point. Occasionally random incorrect tiles will appear in location maps. These tiles are typically inaccessible and thus only present minor aesthetic issues. If you discover new bugs, please contact me and I will either correct them or if I cannot I will add them to this section.

IV. Contact
I can be reached through direct messaging either on RHDN (username: chillyfeez) or on discord (chillyfeez#1492).


Database match: Final Fantasy II (USA) (Rev 1)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20180813-062835)
File/ROM SHA-1: 41A74EB369A7A91815529EF99AB1B20E2BDF3E26
File/ROM CRC32: 23084FCD