PHANTASY STAR IV: ARRANGED VERSION by Sixfortyfive version 1.0 Dec 3, 2008 This patch is free to distribute without prior expressed consent. ============================================= I. GETTING STARTED ============================================= This is a romhack I created for the Sega Genesis game Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Milenium. To use it, you must have a copy of the original ROM (US version, either BIN or SMD format should work), the Lunar IPS program (or someother comparable patching program), the patch itself, and an emulator to play it. There are two separate patch files: one for use on BIN roms, and another for SMD roms. Use the Lunar IPS program to apply the appropriate patch, then start it up. ============================================= II. OVERVIEW ============================================= PSIV Arranged Version is a slightly more difficult version of PSIV. The main differences include a significantly slower EXP/MST gain in addition to new item and weapon uses. The goal of this romhack is not to force the player to grind for more levels and cash, but simply to force him or her to examine dozens of options that the game makes available to the player that may have otherwise been overlooked in a normal playthrough. I've played through the finished romhack myself to make sure that the difficulty is reasonable. I had to grind for a few levels in exactly two instances: before the Zio fight, and before the final boss. While much of the game is difficult when you aren't slowing down to grind, you'll rarely need more than proper equipment and tactics to pull yourself through. I used savestates throughout the game for convenience, but never in the middle of a battle. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to play through the entire game without them at all. ============================================= III. CHARACTER STAT CHANGES ============================================= In this hack, characters who join your party mid-game start at lower levels than they normally would. Their stats are lower, and some of them have to level up a little bit to learn attacks that they would have started with in a normal game. Seth's resistances have been changed around a little bit as well. There is a display glitch that affects the "EXP need for next level" counter for most of these characters. When Gryz joins your party, for example, his status screen says that he needs 9.2 million EXP to advance to the next level. This isn't the case, however. He reaches level 6 (his normal starting level) at just a little over 1000 total EXP, and the counter fixes itself upon reaching this level. Other characters who join you later suffer from the same display glitch, but it always corrects itself once they reach the level that they would normally start at. ============================================= IV. COMBINATION ATTACK CHANGES ============================================= You no longer have to perform attacks in a specific order to use combo attacks (except for SHOOTINSTR, which still has an order requirement in order to prevent a graphical glitch). TRIBLASTER now works with any combination of FOI/GIFOI/NAFOI/FLAELI + WAT/GIWAT/NAWAT + TSU/GITHU/NATHU. The base power and TP cost of ZAN and GIZAN have been reduced in order to encourage greater FIRESTORM and BLIZZARD usage. ============================================= V. BOSS CHANGES ============================================= Most bosses have received various tweaks. Several of these are minor and probably easy to miss, such as slightly higher chances of using their strongest attacks in certain conditions. A few, however, have been given rather significant changes: SAND WORM (Mile Ranch), LASHIEC, ALYS (Anger Tower), and RE-FAZE. ============================================= VI. NEW ITEMS ============================================= BLOODAX: A new weapon for Gryz. It can be found in AIEDO. SP-SLSH (Spiral Slasher): A new weapon for Kyra. When equipped and used in normal attacks, it has a chance of inflicting a status effect on certain enemies. It can be found in JUT. ALGOMAP: A map that can be used on both MOTAVIA and DEZOLIS. It can be found in AIEDO. ============================================= VII. CHANGES TO EXISTING ITEMS AND WEAPONRY ============================================= The following items have been assigned new MST values: SHADWBLADE, ELSYDEON, PSYCO-WAND, DEFEAT-AXE, PALMA-RING, MOTA-RING, DEZO-RING, RYKR-RING, ALGO-RING, AERO-PRISM, LAND-ROVER, ICE-DIGGER, HYDROFOIL. Almost all items can now be sold to shops. (Some of these still cannot be discarded via other means, however.) You should be very careful when disposing some of these items, as it is possible to box yourself into a corner if you toss out a key item too early. The following weapons have new supplementary effects when equipped and used in normal attacks: ALIS-SWORD, FORCE-CANE, PSYCO-WAND, SILV-ROD. The following equipment have new defensive properties: ELECBARRIR (formerly LASRBARRIR), MAHLAYRING, and CYBER-SUIT. Each of these now provides a huge amount of resistance to various specific elemental attacks. The LACO-ROD and ECLIPSTORCH have greater power when used in battle as items. Demi can equip all of Wren's guns. There are some graphical glitches when she uses guns that target more than one enemy at once, but they still function correctly. The PULSE-STUN (formerly STUN-SHOT) is now a multi-target weapon. The RYKR-RING can now be equipped to most characters in the endgame. It has comparable stats to the other characters' final headgear. The AERO-PRISM has a new effect when used in battle as an item. ============================================= VIII. SOME GAMEPLAY TIPS ============================================= Probably the most important piece of advice I could give when playing this game is to NOT trust the numbers! By that I mean that the visible stat bonuses that you receive from various equipment is not the end-all, be-all indicator of your party's actual fighting power. Sometimes "weaker" equipment is actually much more preferable to use than certain high-priced, high-stat alternatives. This is just as true in vanilla PSIV as it is in this romhack. For example, Rika's SILVR-TUSK is by far her best weapon. Even though it has lower stats than most of the claws you find later, its elemental affinity is particularly effective against dark enemies, and the majority of enemies and bosses in the later part of the game fit this category. In the Arranged Version, this advice carries extra weight. Some weaker weapons and shields have been given new elemental associations, new supplementary effects when used in normal attacks, and increased power when used as items in-battle. One particular item change makes a shield/weapon combo particularly more appealing in certain conditions. In PSIV, there is a handful of defensive equipment that offers high resistance to certain elemental attacks. All CRMC headgear and bodygear, for example, greatly reduces damage from fire based attacks (FOI, FLAELI, FIREBREATH, etc). Similarly, any item that can be equipped to a character's left or right hand offers an extra attack boost if it also has elemental properties; the THUNDRCLAW, for example, has electric properties and is therefore more effective against machines. What you may or may not be aware of, however, is that shields satisfy BOTH of these conditions: they are defensive equipment, AND they are equipped to a character's hands. This means that any elemental shields serve a dual purpose in cutting down the damage received from corresponding elemental attacks in addition to providing an attack boost of that same element. Three such shields exist in PSIV normally: the CRMC-SHIELD (fire), the PSY-SHIELD (psychic), and the PLSM-FIELD (a specific kind of energy). The Arranged Version has one more: the ELECBARRIR (formerly known as the LASRBARRIR). You would do well to put it to good use.