If you're reading this, you're probably a fan of Final Fantasy 7. You've played it 50 times, 100% completed the game, mastered every material and defeated the weapons Ruby and Emerald more than once. You've seen everything this game has to offer.
But you may not have heard of FF7 modding, and specifically the overhaul mod New Threat created by SegaChief. He dedicated hours of his hard work to creating a truly fun and engaging way to play FF7 again.
New Threat modifies almost all elements of the game excluding the story and the core plot flow. There are some new scenarios interspersed in the adventure and they are certainly a treat.
The first change you'll find starting up your mods is you'll be asked to play Original or Arrange mode. (Arrange being a more difficult version) the second change is SegaChief has given Cloud and Barret (and everyone else) innate abilities. Second wind and stacks for Cloud and Barret respectively.
Cloud can fully recover HP and MP at random in any battle. It's not game breaking or particularly tactical. But then Barret has a dynamic innate in which depending on if he is in the front or back row he gains attack or defense stat boosts with each sustained blow. This opens up quite a few options for battle tactics, especially as character stats are now far more focused. And Barret is built primarily as a tank with high HP, VIT and SPR stats.
Talking of stats, not long after leaving Midgar you can find a corrupted save point that introduces you to a chap called Mr Smiley. He bestows upon you bonus stat points as characters rank up by gaining the new implemented Stat Points. With the aid of Mr Smiley you can fine tune character stats to create your ideal team.
Weapons, armour and accessories have also been revised as these equips have had a stat overhaul. Various equipment boosts stats and accessories have extra properties such as Silver ring protecting from poison and silence with the added bonus of MAG+10.
Armour and weapons are not handed out progressively, instead all weapons are tuned with a focus and you don't always want to equip the latest weapon as you have other elements to focus your attention on.
Materia and the magic you cast has been altered. MP costs have been raised but as a compromise magic is far more effective at damaging enemies that regular attacks. And for the first time in my experience of FF7 combining and elemental materia with a magic element materia (say bolt + elemental) is actually incredible useful when it comes to improving DPS. Allowing high STR low MAG characters to dish out some effective damage.
Materia placement is also changed, you obtain spells such as Barrier when you recruit Aeris in the Chapel in Midgar and Haste at Kalm. Most shops sell the same selection of spells but as you make your way through the game you obtain materia that allows for interesting setups not normally possible until late game in the unmodded FF7.
Enemies and bosses are a treat, whilst SegaChief has stated this is not a "hard" type mod the difficulty is definitely increased. It's pretty gradual through Midgar which is something of a training ground show case for the new additions.
All foes have had their stats and resistances changed so using the correct attack be it physical or elemental magic is important to end battles quick and not drain your resources. For instance all human enemies are weak to poison be it a regular foe or a boss. Reptilian enemies are weak to ice, heavy foes to earth and flying foes to wind. Being tactical has it's payoffs as foes have much larger HP pools and deal significant greater damage.
And I've yet to mention the bosses, most bosses have had their models altered, complete AI overhaul, new skills and resistances. And then... new bosses. Completely bang out the blue new bosses. Such as a rematch against the Guard Scorpion in the Shinra building 59th floor.
Twin Gunners in the lifts in the Shinra building and hey, you want that Titan summon materia at the Gongaga reactor, you have to beat a new boss! (one of the more difficult additions that was a real reward when I defeated it.)
So far I'm only past Cosmo canyon, but I've learned that in order to acquire each person's Ultimate weapon and final limit break there are extra bosses included as well. Aeris can be revived and join you for the rest of the game and Cait Sith has a Level 4 limit break!
If I've sold you on this mod (and I certainly hope I have as it's an absolute joy to play!) then head straight to the Qhimm forums: http://forums.qhimm.com/
There are some gates to installing this mod, indeed FF7 modding is quite a difficult process. First you must have the PC version of FF7. You can use the old windows 95 version published by Eidos or the Steam version but installation varies between the two.
You also have a lengthy install process that requires some sensitive installation instructions or you can be met with a game that just won't boot.
But give it a go, if you love FF7 you simply must play this mod.
And a big thumbs up to SegaChief!
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