Final Fantasy IV: Unprecedented Crisis Part #1

Part 1: Here We Go Again

This hack does change a lot of stuff, but it also takes awhile before we actually get to those changes. Thus this update will be flying through a large chunk of the early game, only slowing down to show off the few mechanical changes, mostly in terms of new character abilities.

First off, the Sort and Trash options are a lot more convenient, and Cecil starts with more items. There are two blank spaces where Cecil thoughtlessly wasted spell items when he could've just used physical attacks. Fool.

Cecil's gear is also slightly less or more-generic, depending on whether you think his all dark gear was boring or stood out more compared to the generic iron gear Cecil currently has.

The mage quarters are gone. That's a shame.

Otherwise all of Baron is the same, down to the intro and your dialogues with Rosa, Kain, and Cid.

This hack houses a bunch of info in the training room. There's a few pieces of info concerning classic FF4, and a bunch explaining new commands, which I'll show off as I encounter them.

A lot of the new commands relate to current HP.

The Wooden Staff now heals petrification when used as an item. This is more relevant once we hit Mt. Hobs, where there's no more gradual petrification.

Rings are now shields for mages. Mages get gloves for the arm slot instead.

This hack has damage floors that you may not have the Float spell to access, so now there's an item to give you Float status.

Also these two people helped worked on this hack.

There's some new white magic spells that may or may not become relevant to us.

Shops now sell Bestiaries for dirt cheap, like 10 Gil a pop. I have a feeling Libra doesn't exist as an actual spell anymore, so I may want to grab a few once things change up.

This hack also tries to make equipment distinct enough that everything isn't just a flat upgrade from the last tier. It worked in the Brave New World hack for FF6 because you had unlimited inventory space and because that game actually gave you the stats and special powers that equipment offered. I'm a bit worried it won't work as well here because FF4 doesn't tell you crap about equipment other than how much attack/defense it'll boost. It doesn't even outright tell you if equipment boosts primary stats, something FF3 did! Then again, maybe the hack will find other ways to be descriptive about equipment. We'll see.

...Don't think I'll try the infamous dupe glitch.

Cecil still has Dark Wave, and though I haven't tested it yet I assume it still damages all enemies at the cost of HP. Except now Cecil can equip non-Dark Swords, and using those disables Dark Wave. Not a big loss.

Cecil also gets Black Magic now, though it's all debuff magic.

Kain gets Lancet now, which can drain HP. It's half the strength of a regular attack and can only be used if Kain is wielding a spear.

Mist Dragon and everything else proceeds as normal.

Biggest highlight is Cecil learning Mute. Meh.

Rydia doesn't learn Black or White magic anymore. She's a pure Summoner now.

Here's the gear shops. I buy a Wooden Rod for Rydia since it'll still cast a weak attack magic spell.

Each town seems to have its own Serpent Road now. Of course, they don't go anywhere since Mysidia sealed them all.

I do some light grinding and Rydia picks up Chocobo at L5, so she's a bit more useful now.

Rydia has a new special ability, "Help!", which summons a random summon in the game, though it'll still cost however much MP it usually costs.

Next up, Tellah.

He has a lot more magic than the original, but also half the MP. I don't really touch his magic since the enemies here don't really do much damage and go down relatively easily to Cecil's physical attacks and Rod magic.

Honestly the only interesting change is Cecil getting a shield upgrade here. All his gear is Mythril. Everything else is pretty much the same, including the Ice Rod that I give to Rydia. Same dialogue, too.

Octomammoth doesn't lose tentacles here. Instead, it just attacks very often.

Cecil's physicals tear into it.

Rydia's summons...not so much.

On the bright side, Rydia learns Shiva from level up, so her usefulness suddenly shot up a large amount.

Damcyan still bombed, except now this guy won't die and get out of the way of the goodies beyond.

Still some nice stuff up here, though, including Bard clothing, a new bow, and these armlets.

Tellah leaves, Edward joins.

Edward can still Hide and split Potions on the party.

His singing is buffed, though. Speed casts party-wide Haste while Defense casts party-wide Protect. Dirge wreaks undead. He later learns Allure to confuse enemies, though the Lamia harp he finds in this dungeon works just as well for that.

Shiva bypasses Antlion's counter and is strong enough to kill it quickly.

So who's ready for a bit of new dialogue? Since Rydia can't cast Black Magic, this needs slight tweaking.

Instead of melting the ice, Rydia needs to blow it up now. Alright, then.

Also, Rosa's no longer a White Mage.

Also also we completely skip Edward's night fight because no one cares about Edward.

Rosa does still have White Magic, and thankfully it's the two important spells. Later on she picks up Warp as well. If she learns Blink later we'll be set.

She gets "Charge" over Aim, it basically takes more time to do more damage. No idea if she gets an accuracy bonus from it. Bows are still finite and expendable, so it's not a terrible command to use.