Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions Tweak PSP

Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions Tweak
Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions Tweak
General
Author	Tzepish
Type	Game Hacks
Version	2.52
License	Mixed
Last Updated	2023/01/01
Links
	Download
	Website

War of the Lions Tweak is a balance and quality-of-life improvement mod for Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, designed to make the game more fun and less annoying to play. This mod is not intended to create a wholly *new* experience - instead, its goal is an idealized version of the same game that we all know and love. Play this mod if you intend to replay FFT or experience it for the first time.

Version 2.50 was the first release to embrace game balance as a goal itself, rather than as part of QoL. It added several ASM hacks in order to even further enhance the game. V2.52 is a balance and bugfix update that adds additional optional patches as well!

The full mod source is included in the archive for those who would like to mod the mod or just snoop the ASM code.

Features

PSP spell effects slowdown fix.
Controllable “Guest” characters.
JP Boost always in effect.
Treasure Hunter always in effect and always finds the rare item.
No missable items or spells.
Multiplayer items are obtainable in the campaign.
All rare (but not unique) items can be purchased at the end of the game.
Broken and Stolen equipment can be repurchased at the Poachers’ Den.
Poachers’ Den now opens earlier.
Special characters can go on Errands.
Balance pass across the game - reduced difficulty spikes, increased chapter 4 and postgame difficulty.
Gender equality - female and male characters have the same stats and equipment access.
ASM weapon formula improvements (axes are no longer terrible).
Quicker spellcasting speeds.
Spellcasting quotes reimplemented.
Endgame job prerequisites reduced.
Optional Feature: Only fight random battles when you want to.
Optional Feature: No random battle level scaling.
…and much more. Please see the readme file for the details and reasoning for every change.

Installation

Game information
Title	Final Fantasy Tactics - War of the Lions
Region	USA

ROM information
Serial	ULUS-10297
MD5	18D1169CEFED2D5ED77A599694F2F871
SHA1	5120FF66F78CFD31F6E90D8EF4BE8200ECA563F7
CRC32	0D6A3D9F

How to patch

Before you can apply this patch, you will need the following:

An unmodified ISO of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions (USA version).
A program such as PPF-O-Matic or UMDGen that can apply PPF patches.
An emulator such as PPSSPP or a modded PSP or PSVita to play it on.

Once you have gathered those three things, here's how you apply the patch:

Open PPF-O-Matic.
Click the disk icon next to "ISO File" and point it at your FFT ISO file.
Click the disk icon next to "Patch" and point it at the wotltweakv2.52.ppf file.
Click Apply.

That's it. Your ISO file should now be patched and ready to play.

If you want to quickly verify that the patch worked, run the game and check one of the following:

Loading a save file will ask "Load this data?" instead of "Load game data?".
If you're starting a new game, you will be able to control ALL allied characters in the intro battle.
If the game crashes on startup, you probably had the Euro ISO instead of the USA version. Whoops!

You can now start playing the game - but if you are interested in applying the optional features, read on.

Optional patches

Six additional optional patches are also included in the archive, which can be fodun in the optional folder, each enables an optional feature. To apply an optional patch, repeat the steps under How to patch for each optional feature desired. Apply them over the already-patched ISO (stack them all onto the same ISO file).

Smart Encounters (opt1_smart_encounters.ppf):
- This patch enables the "Smart Encounters" ASM hack, giving you complete control over when you fight random battles. Walking past green dots on the map will never trigger a random battle, but stopping ON a green dot always will.
- So if you want to fight a battle, click ON the green dot; if you don't want to fight a battle, then click on a dot BEYOND the green dot to pass through it safely.

Encounter Unscaling (opt2_encounter_unscaling.ppf):
- This patch enables the "Encounter Unscaling" ENTD hack, which causes enemies to no longer scale to the player's level in random battles. Instead, they will have preauthored levels based on their monster type and the location of the battle. For example, Chocobos in Mandalia Plains random battles will always be level 3.
- See wotltweakv2.52_encounter_unscaling.txt (in Spoilers) for details on how levels were determined for each monster type in each location.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2 MP System (opt3_ffta2_mp_system.ppf):
- This patch enables the "Final Fantasy Tactics A2 MP System" ASM hack, which causes all characters to start with 0 MP at the beginning of battle and regenerate 1/8th MaxMP after every turn. This requires spellcasters to "build up" to their most powerful spells by conserving MP on each turn.
- Note: The Rune Armlet (the new MP regenerating accessory) will still function if you apply this optional patch. It will cause the equipped character to regenerate MP twice as fast (1/4th MaxMP per turn instead of 1/8th MaxMP per turn).

Undead Always Reanimate (opt4_undead_always_reanimate.ppf):
- This patch enables the "Undead Always Reanimate" ASM hack, which causes undead monsters to ALWAYS revive at the end of their death countdown (instead of having a 50% chance).
- This makes battles against undead foes a bit trickier, as you need to make sure they are all down at the same time in order to win the battle.

No Unit Desertion (opt5_no_unit_desertion.ppf):
- This patch enables the "No Unit Desertion" ASM hack, which prevents your units from deserting the party if their Brave gets too low or their Faith gets too high. You can go ahead and pump that Faith rating up as high as you want it on your spellcasters without worry.

Static Brave & Faith (opt6_static_brave_faith.ppf):
- This patch enables the "Static Brave & Faith" ASM hack, which prevents Brave and Faith from changing permanently. Brave and Faith increases and decreases will apply only to the current battle - after the battle, they will always revert to their original values (for example, Ramza will always have 70 Brave and 70 Faith). This makes Brave and Faith intrinsic, unchanging properties of each character that must be planned around.
- In addition, it buffs the amount of Brave/Faith temporarily boosted by Steel, Praise, and Preach, so that these skills are still worth using.
- Note: The "No Unit Desertion" optional patch is compatible with this one, but I'm not sure it's actually possible to trigger a desertion if your Brave and Faith can't change. Still, there's no harm in applying it also if you want to be sure.

User guide

In addition to the main and optional patches, you will find the following optional material in the archive:

Spoilers folder - This folder contains five additional text files that go into more detail about certain changes made in this mod (for example, the locations of all 40 multiplayer items). Feel free to consult these if you want to be spoiled.

Screenshots folder (inside Spoilers) - This folder contains screenshots that show a bunch of mod changes to items and abilities. Again, skip these if you want to avoid spoilers.

Source folder - This folder contains the source files for the mod. This is only relevant to you if you intend to reverse-engineer, modify, or build on top of my work. A readme file inside this folder will tell you how. If you aren't interested in modding the mod, then you can ignore or delete this folder.

Screenshots

Changelog

v2.52 Balance and Bugfix update

Bugfix: Agrias/Mustadio/Rapha can no longer join the team with the wrong version of their skillset equipped in the secondary slot. If your save file already has the wrong version, you can fix it by simply unequipping and reequipping it.
Bugfix: Fixed Yardrow's treasure hunter items.
Balance: Minor nerfs to Cloud's Limit Break range and damage, but increased vertical tolerance.
Balance: The "Static Brave & Faith" optional patch now also buffs Steel, Praise, and Preach.

v2.51 Balance and Bugfix update

Equipment: Attack power buff to Axes and Flails; Katana prices slightly increased; Rune Armlet regenerates more MP.
Abilities: Buffs to Doom Fist, Earplug, Wall, and Poison (the status effect itself).
Abilities: Buffed high level offensive magic damage even more.
Jobs: Bard, Dancer, and Arithmetician job prerequisites slightly reduced.
Jobs: Minor speed nerf to Arithmetician (previous speed buff went too far).
Scenario: Agrias now stays on your formation screen when she leaves the team briefly (note that Rapha already does this). This is to prevent getting stuck in a bad state when she returns for her "Protect Agrias" battle.
Scenario: Belius slightly buffed (previous nerfs went too far).
Scenario: The final boss slightly buffed to mitigate a lockdown strategy.
Characters: Starting job levels for Reis and Meliadoul slightly reduced.
Feature: Units are allowed more Faith (or less Brave) before deserting the team.
Feature: Added a bunch of optional feature patches. Enjoy.
Bugfix: The improvements to Protectja and Slowja now properly apply in all patches.

v2.50 Major release

This was the first release to really embrace game balance as a goal in itself, rather than just as part of QoL.
Restored the US PS1 balance updates that were lost when the game was ported to PSP.
Gender equality: female and male characters now have the same base stats and equipment access.
Endgame physical attack damage nerfed so that not everything goes down in one hit.
Various changes to make physical/magic "hybrid" character builds more viable.
Tweaks to characters who are just better or worse copies of other characters. Now no character is obsolete - each character has something that makes them unique.
Standardized "Growths" so you can't be hosed by leveling in the "wrong" jobs.
Various equipment-related ASMs for better damage formulas. For example, Axes are good now.
Nerfed Arithmeticks (but buffed Arithmetician). Believe it or not, the class should be fun AND balanced while still maintaining the "feel" of the vanilla class.
Updated the multiplayer item distribution for a more satisfying progression.
Sidequests are easier to activate / harder to miss.
Broken/Stolen equipment can be bought back at the Poachers' Den.
Increased Midlight's Deep difficulty.
Tons of additional tweaks, which is why the version number went up by so much.

v2.01 Minor Bugfix update

Made Smart Encounters an optional feature.
Poach-only items can now be purchased at the very end of the game.
Onion Knight, Mime, and Dark Knight job prerequisites reduced.
Status effect spells have more vertical tolerance.
Bugfix: Fixed the sidequests dialogue choice bug introduced in v2.00.

v2.00 Major release

Introduction of ASM hacks to the project, thanks to Valhalla.
All 40 multiplayer items are obtainable in the campaign.
No missable items.
Treasure Hunter always applies and always finds the rare item.
Optional Feature: "Smart Encounters" - Fight random battles only when you want to.
Quicker spellcasting speeds.
Buffed endgame magic; nerfed special sword skills.
Buffed hit rates for revive and status magic.
Lategame characters join with more JP.
Reis can use all of her skills on any ally (instead of only Dragons). Note this was overpowered, so as of v2.50 this has been scaled back (they now have half power when used on non-dragons).
Reduced difficulty spikes; increased chapter 4 difficulty.
Too many additional changes to list - almost everything else in the mod was added in this update.
Note this version introduced a nasty bug that could sometimes lock you out of the certain sidequests by automatically picking the incorrect dialogue choices. This bug is fixed as of v2.01 and above, so please upgrade.

v1.07

Optional Feature: "Encounter Unscaling". This feature locks random encounter monster levels in place instead of scaling them up along with the player.

v1.06

Spellcasting slowdown fix included.

v1.05

Certain important rare items will now always be found via Treasure Hunter. Note that as of v2.00 this has been expanded include *all* Treasure Hunter rare items.

v1.00 Initial release

Controllable Guest characters.
JP Boost always in effect.
No missable spells (can purchase Ultima and Zodiark).

External links

Final Fantasy Hacktics - https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=12993.0
Romhacking.net - https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/916/