My Review of:
Shining Force Alternate 3.2B MOD
Just wanted to check if i can find some Ideas for inspiration from Mods and found THIS mod.
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Assembly:
I did cut the header & de-interleaved a "old" ROM (SMD format) i found in my Data archive and patched the newformed ROM (now in a Binary format) with a custom IPS_Patcher C program.
I started (RetroArch Emulator; i use arch, btw.) to play the SFA Mod for a quick check, but... - I could not stop... xD ...its so well made!
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My fazit after a full playthrough (in a weekend):
A amazing & very polished Mod - Thank u very much for creating it!
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Story:
Implemented twists & drama in the story - love it.
Top Tier dialogs (compared to original, which seem more shallow)
with funny quirks (i wont spoiler, but i mean it).
And, Yeah... I do read Tombstones... -.
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Balance stuff:
Bosses feel "right" now (they arent "pushovers" anymore)
Redone fights are well tuned (Lazer Eye battle, etc.)
The new, more "Attrition-Style" focused battles (with buffs n stuff) are great!
Battle seem a bit harder than vanilla - in a good way (more options & more challenging).
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Amazing new pixel art with massive details (Portraits with different "Animations"; Items shown at the Sprite unit...)
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The added "features":
"Improved" Vulnerabilites ("Super effective" attacks, etc.) are a huge improvement over the basegame.
New & re-designed Battle maps & dozen of new Units/Enemies, impressive work!
Smart, new battle tactics (with e.g. [re-]spawning enemies).
In comparison to Vanilla (or many other games too) GOLD in SFA is actually "valuable" - it not only is used for better Gear, but also Leveling - feelsgood.
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No Major Bugs (no crashes, SegmentationFaults, or Softlocks encountered), Kudos.
A few Minor Bugs:
Some Warping "Bugs" e.g. when entering the Overworld Map around Guardiana and wandering to the left "boundry", and then upwards (near the Town & Castle).
Gong was "randomly floating" or swimming in the Water outside the Castle of Alterone (left side) xD
Baby Bugs:
Elliot repeated dialog:
This line repeated mid dialog once; "A robot has a mind of its own. Interesting"
Ramladu & Earnest battle -> Earnest has suddently the Barkley Portrait?
RAISE (in the Church) is a "dead button" atm.
As the Game features " Auto-Revive and Cure Poison" (which is rly nice to have) the RAISE button has no usage right now... but...whateva...
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Only one major complain:
The Accessability of the MOD!
This awesome Mod seems basically "unknown" to mankind; i basically stumbled on it by a (lucky) accident!
I guess a lot of ppl which did enjoy the original Shining Force (or even Fireemblem?) would love this Mod;
In addition it seems not trivial to "assemble" the MOD (to create a playable Version) - which further restricts the access for less technical versatile ppl.
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Shining Force in "SFA":
There was not a single fighter which seem "redundant" or unwanted (which makes it rly hard to choose the Shining Force later on); they are all pretty well made (in comparison to original SF; where i could name many "redundant" Fighter...)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Personal Tier List (SPOILER WARNING; dont read if u didnt play the Mod yet!)
[spoiler]
My TOP 7:
Amon
idk what to say - i just love her - my favourite.
Diane
Ngl, without her i would have lost many battles - she is a guardian angel (althoug a bit slow; well small girl big weapons; i guess she tries her best...)
Varios - A powerhouse; Tanky, high damage & versatile (pretty much like a Paladin in e.g. Pathfinder or D&D3.5)
Astral
Buffs & Debuffs, like a REAL Wizard (not those "fancy" Fireball-throwing "show-offs"; well he CAN give quite a Blast, when he wants to...) - my favourite Caster in SFA.
Maxine - OK, a hybrid Fighter (feels like TAO, but with more HP & Attackpower); she did drink all of my Powerwine and ended up with a minor alcoholic addiction...
Xeno
A bit slow (but this can be countered with items); although ge got a huge Range with Lazerbeams; a cornerstone of my Team - like a rock in the ocean.
Sadly i forgot to clear my invetory before i tried to collect his final Powercore - a fatal misplay of mine; which i will fix in the next playthrough...
Erikin; a classic "Cleric"; i tried to swap him once with another member; and found out how vital he was (and swapped back xD); very versatile and he can use my favourite Buff (Magic Curtain)
[/spoiler]
I rated it TOP (5 Stars), because i expected some nice ideas in a Shining Force Mod, but got a "Gem of a Game" instead.
Best regards,
ArC
