I have made various changes that would hopefully improve the overall gameplay experience. All items listed below can be downloaded as separate mods so you can use them for other mods (provided they are compatible).
Latest Update on mods release: 28/5/2022
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1) Difficulty (Latest version: 8.0)
- Enemies have 3x HP with 1.4x increase in attack stats, 1.3x defense stats, and 1.5x longer to stagger.
- Most enemies and bosses have additional increase in their base HP (between 10% - 100%) before multiply with 3x.
- Most bosses have additional increase in their base attack stats (about 10%) before multiply with 1.4x.
- You should be able to survive megaflare attack from Bahamut boss (top secret challenge) provided your character have high HP (recommended high 8K HP onward) + good magic defense without the need of manaward shield. This change in stats is only available in version 3.0 onward. In previous versions, megaflare would deal around 7-8K damage.
- Further increase Weiss's attack stats by additional 15% while his ultimate attack Immaculate End's damage is reduced to 50% of it's original strength. Your character should be able to survive this attack with proper gears (like crescent moon) + Barrier + high HP. Be warned though, that this is going to be a very very hard battle if play with unmodded party!. This change in stats is only available in version 3.0 onward. There are 3 videos attached that show case defeating him. Many thanks and credit to tanzendesfrettchen and UGoBoom10 for all the awesome videos.
- Increase Valkyrie boss level from 29 to 35 for normal difficulty.
- Increase Specimen H0512 boss and enemies from chapter 17 onward level to 40 (their original levels are between 31-34) for normal difficulty.
- Increase Sephiroth's level from 34 to 42 for normal difficulty.
- Increase VR summon battle for Shiva, Fat Chocobo, and Leviathan levels to 25, 30, and 40 respectively.
- If you start a fresh game, you will now have 10 potions, and 5 ethers in the inventory at the beginning of the game.
- Doubles the MP gained from Mako Shards. Only available from version 2.0 onward.
- Increased enemy EXP gained by 25%.
- Nerf Pride and Joy's catch damage. With the attack stats buffed, this attack will pretty much instantly kill off the party member even with barrier on. Now with this nerf, you should be able to survive it's attack provided the party member has barrier on. I have tested on hard mode, that it will deal around 7K+ damage with barrier. Only available in version 8.0.
Note:
- If you do not want the EXP bonus, you can get this mod from Optional files section under the file name 'Item 1 - Difficulty no EXP bonus'.
- If you want further challenge yourself with no EXP bonus and no Mana Shards double MP bonus, you can get this mod from Optional files section under the file name 'Item 1 - Difficulty no EXP bonus No Mana Shard Boost'.
The goal of this difficulty mod is to hopefully give a 'not too hard, not too easy' challenge to all players and should still be do-able without the help of other mod(s). You would most likely need the Timer mod (item 5 below) though especially when you need to complete the Chobobo and Moogle materia mission in chapter 6.
1.1) Difficulty - NO Stagger Boost (Latest version: 8.0)
- Same changes as Difficulty item 1 mod, the only difference is that enemies do not have 1.5x stagger resistance, i.e enemies are staggered at normal rate.
Not compatible if use with other mods that directly change the enemies stats. Please download version 2.0 onward. Do not download the old files.
2) Enemy respawn (Latest version: 2.0)
- Greatly increase enemy respawn frequency. You would need to leave the battle area after defeating the enemies before returning back. I have attached a video to show case this.
This should be compatible with other mods.
3) Colosseum and VR Shinra challenge (Latest version: 2.0)
- Now it costs 0 gil for all the challenges.
- Double the amount of gil rewards earned after winning a challenge.
- You can now unlock 'Cloud vs. Shinra Thugs', 'Aerith vs. Shinra Thugs', and 'Two-Person Team vs. Team Payback' colosseum matches in chapter 9. These matches are only available in chapter 14 originally and to play as Aerith, you would need to complete the game and return back to chapter 9, which is very time consuming. Be warned though that since 'Two-Person Team vs. Team Payback' is a rank 4 difficulty match, it is going to be tough considering your party will be somewhat under level at the time of chapter 9 (if you start from a fresh game). It is still very much do-able, at least I have tested out myself.
- Greatly improve the rewards in the grab bag such that:
for ANY rank 4 challenge, you will get at least 1 magic up materia
for ANY rank 5 challenge, you will get at least 1 elemental materia
If you win rank 6 (Monsters of Legend) battle, you will get at least 1 magnify materia. Best rewards from the grab bag will be 1 magnify + 1 Chakra + 1 Luck up materia
for ANY rank 7 challenge, you get at least 2 Chain Bangles. Best rewards would be 1 magnify + 1 Warding materia + 2 Chain Bangles
NOTE: Again, the rewards are from the grab bag, which means you must have previously defeated the said challenge at least once. Otherwise, you will first get the first time rewards like Gotterdamnarung in rank 7 challenge only then you can farm for the new grab bag rewards.
- Improve rewards for Squats and Push-ups:
Squat
trainee = 1 elemental materia
amateur = 1 luck up materia (no change)
pro = 4 champion belts
Pull Ups
trainee = fist of skill manuscript (no change)
amateur = 1 magic up materia (no change)
pro = 1 Magnify materia
NOTE: You only get these rewards when you complete them for the very first time. If you have an existing game and have previously completed them, then you will not get these rewards.
Note: To unlock the matches, you need to first complete the 'Cloud vs. Wild Animals' match, which is the very first match in the list.
This is not compatible with other mods that will affect the Colosseum and rewards.
4) Enemy AP (Latest version: 1.0)
- Doubles the amount of AP earned after defeating an enemy.
This should be compatible with other mods.
5) Timer (Latest version: 2.0)
- Increase timer duration from 2 minutes to 4 minutes at the beginning of chapter 5 where Cloud needs to defeat several slug rays (before he and Tifa jump off the train).
- Increase timer duration from 1 minute to 10 minutes to complete the Chocobo and Moogle materia mission. Since the enemies are buffed, it is unlikely to complete within 1 minute duration.
- Increase duration to defeat Airbuster to 25 minutes.
- Greatly increase the timer duration to save Red XIII in chapter 17. Only available from version 2.0.
This should be compatible with other mods.
6) Item (Latest version: 2.0)
- Potion, High Potion, Mega Potion, and Ether now restores 2000 HP, 3500 HP, 6000 HP, and 100 MP respectively. Item master materia will greatly benefit these changes. :)
- Increase SP points for The Art of Swordplay Vol. 8, and Vol. 9 manuscript to 15 points. Vol. 10 increased to 30 points.
As you guys know, to get all the manuscripts for Cloud in chapter 9 hard mode, you need to complete both Madam M and Chocobo Sam's side quests but at any one time you can only complete either one of them. You will need to restart back chapter 9 to complete the other side quest. By increasing this manuscript points, you will get 30 points regardless of which side quests path you have chosen, thus eliminate the need to restart chapter 9.
Not compatible if use with other mods that directly change the items' stats
Important: Since item 1 contains changes that will nerf Bahamut and Weiss' ultimate attack and the changes reside in the same file that has the changes for these new potion effect values, both of these items 1 and 6 can't be together as separate mods.
7) Equipment (Latest version: 3.0)
- Players can now acquire the weapon ability permanently after using the ability just once. Only available from Version 2.0 onward.
- All armors will have between 6-8 slots. Exception is iron maiden and astral cuff where they have 4 slots.
- Weapons have additional 1 slot.
- Slightly increase attack stats for Bladed Staff, Arcane Scepter, and Twin Stinger.
- Most accessories have additional stats on top of their existing abilities. You can check them out in their item description
- Iron blade, Sonic Strikers, Steel Pincers, Light Machine Gun, Wrecking Ball, and Reinforced Staff will have defenses by default.
- Add 50 base Magic attack to Steel Pincers.
- Add 50 base Attack (Physical) to Wrecking Balls.
- Further increase materia linked-slots for most of the armors
- Circlet now gives 20% max MP in addition to 5% magic attack
- Champion Belt now gives 20% max HP in addition to 5% strength
- Increase Supernatural Wristguards, Survival Vest, Platinum Earrings, and Timeworn Talisman to 20% of their respective stats. Now you should have more reasons to purchase them.
Not compatible if use with other mods that directly change the equipments' stats
Important: Since both items and equipment share the same file that is used to display their text description when you access them in the game menu, you can't have both item 6 and item 7 changes as separate mods (otherwise they will overwrite each other).
Instead, I have provided several mods that:
1) combines Item 6 + Item 7 , under file name "Item 6 and 7 - Item and Equipment" in main file section.
2) combines Item 1 + Item 6 + Item 7, under file name "Item 1 6 and 7 - DIfficulty Item and Equipment" in main file section.
3) combines Item 1 (With no stagger boost) + Item 6 + Item 7, under file name "Item 1 No Stagger 6 and 7 - DIfficulty Item and Equipment" in main file section.
The combined mod is not compatible to the following mods:
-Weapon Skills in Description (https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy7remake/mods/477)
-Remove Lock On Display (https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy7remake/mods/608)
-Dualsub ENG and JPN - IT/US Module (https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy7remake/mods/57) and with the italian language.
8) Materia (Latest version: 1.0)
- Elemental materia damage effect increased to 15%, 23%, and 30%.
- MP Absorbtion materia effect increased to 0.3%.
- Pedometer materia only require to walk 1 step.
- Magic Up = 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%
- HP Absorb = 30%, 40%, 50%
- Warding = 50%, 70%, 100%
Not compatible if use with other mods that directly change the materia' stats
9) Weapon Upgrade (Latest version: 2.0)
- All weapons' are at level 6 and their sub-cores are unlocked the moment you acquire them. You can now upgrade the highest level sub-core's nodes of the weapon anytime, provided you have the required SP points.
- In an effort to hopefully encourage more utilization of some of the weapons, improve some of the common upgrades, i.e:
a) Increase critical hit rate change to 30%. So any weapons (Nail bat, purple pain, Bladed staff) that have this critical hit rate node will benefit from this change. I have tested using Bladed staff and sometimes the spell damage output is higher than mithril rod when it crits.
b) Increase elemental materia damage to 20%. Weapons that have this node are Sonic Strikers, Mythril Saber, Twin Stinger, Steel Pincers, Mythril Claw, and Arcane Scepter.
c) Increase each of the elemental damage boost to 10% (example increase fire elemental damage). Arcane Scepter, Sonic Strikers, Twin Stinger are some examples that have this node.
d) Increase all elemental damage boost to 20%. Iron Blade and Light Machine Gun have this node.
e) Increase damage reduction on physical / magic when guarding to 20%.
f) Increase HP nodes for Gattling Gun.
g) Generally increase max MP for each weapon that has this node. A fully upgraded Arcane Scepter will gives +100 max MP!
h) Increase unique ability damage node of each character to 20%
i) Increase elemental defense node to 10%.
j) Increase basic attack damage node to 10%.
k) Limit Break damage boost node increased to 20%
l) Limit break damage boost when low HP increased to 40%.
m) Weapons that have MP Regeneration 10% Boost node will now have 20% boost instead.
n) Increase Increase buff duration / debuff duration inflict on enemies / debuff resistance nodes to 20% (Only from version 2.0)
This should be compatible with other mods.
10) Mini Games (Latest version: 2.0)
- Your bike will have very high HP.
- All enemies have 1 HP in bike mini games. You just need to hit them once and they are dead.
- Darts scoreboard are now above 100 darts for each of existing names in the list. This means that as long as you score less than 100 darts, you will be number 1.
- Now you should be able to easily win Squats and Push-ups. As of my testing, Jules had about average of low 20s Squats / Push ups, and he along with other gymnasts will be more prone to errors. Only available from version 2.0.
11) Enemy Gil and Chadley Materia (Latest version: 3.0)
- Doubles the amount of gil earned after defeating an enemy.
- Materias sold by Chadley will always cost 100 gil.
- You can now purchase multiple amount of certain materias. Only available in version 2.0 onward.
- Increase the number of discounted potions sold in vending machine / vendors to 20. Only available in version 2.0 onward.
12) Learn Enemy Skill (NEW)
- You have 100% chance to learn an enemy skill when equip the enemy skill materia
This should be compatible with other mods.
I have provide 2 full package mod that includes all the 11 items listed above. The first one is with difficulty item 1. The second one is with difficulty item 1.1 (No stagger boost). The name of the files are 'Full Package (All items)' and 'Full Package (All items) - No Stagger Boost'. (Latest version: 10.0)
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CREDITS
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Many thanks and credit goes to the following for giving suggestions, testing to further improve the mod gameplays, and checking out mod compatibility:
1) TheJillSandwich - for suggestions on doubling MP gained from mako shards, increase number of discounted potions sold in vending machine, increase number of materias sold by Chadley, doubling the amount of gils earned after defeating an enemy.
2) tanzendesfrettchen - for suggestions on certain bosses' HP nerf, tweaking Weiss's stats to further improve the difficulty as well as helping out on testing.
3) Desnoinside - for checking out mod compatibility on combined item and equipment module with other mods as listed in item 7's description.
4) Saferr - for suggestions on increasing enemy EXP and to have a new difficulty mod with no stagger resistance.
5) UGoBoom10 - for the video vs Weiss as Cloud, Barret, and Aerith.
Installation:
Drag the .pak file into your <Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade>\End\Content\Paks\~mods folder. If ~mods folder doesn't exist, you can just go ahead and create one.