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Final Fantasy 1 GBA

Final Fantasy for GBA— Downloads

Download the Final Fantasy 1 GBA— Mod of Balance

What does it do?

As of version 2.0, this mod aims to improve the gameplay of both Final Fantasy 1 and Final Fantasy 2.

The Final Fantasy 1 mod was originally intended to restore the difficulty of this GBA version of the game to the difficulty of the original NES version, so it can be enjoyed with all of the modern trappings of the GBA version. This recent version is a step beyond the previous one, and is intended to provide enhancements to the gameplay and address user critcisms of version 1.2.

This patch also represents the pilot release of Final Fantasy 2 GBA: Mod of Balance. The ambition behind this mod is simple: "unbreak" the character development mechanics. The GBA version already fixed the select-action-cancel-action-and-gain-skill-ad-nauseam bug, but still required players to grind in all the wrong ways. Unlimited actions should increase slower than actions that are limited by mana or resources. I hope I have succeeded in making Final Fantasy 2 play much more smoothly. Secondarily, weapons were much too underpowered in the endgame as enemy defense rendered them mostly useless versus spells. Warrior-heavy and magic-heavy party builds should have the potential to be equally successful.

More specifically:

Version 2.000 Improvements over version 1.200

Final Fantasy 2

  • Weapons and magic levelling are hopefully balanced now. Magic is easier to level, weapons take a fair bit longer.
  • Practicing a weapon or spell always increases a character's skill, even if the monster attacked is significantly weaker than the character.
  • Fixed a display bug concerning the number of hits connected when a character is using a shield.
    • If a character used a weapon in their primary hand, and a shield in their secondary hand, they struck with the shield, and if they hit did no damage. This has been corrected.
    • This bug still is in effect if the character uses a weapon in their secondary hand, and a shield in their primary hand.
  • Monsters take double damage if vulnerable to a spell's element. This is reduced from x4 damage. Don't worry, this is still *plenty* of damage.
  • If an elemental weapon strikes a vulnerable monster, its Attack rating is increased by 25 (increased from 20).
  • If a weapon which has an affinity for damaging a specific family of monster hits that kind of monster, its Attack rating is increased by 25 (increased from 20).
  • Strength increases more often. The chance was (number of "fight" selections / 45), and it is now (number of "fight" selections / 32).
  • Agility increases are more regulated- more likely early in the game and less likely later on. Before, a random number was rolled between 0 and 255, and if that was lower than a fourth of the character's Evasion, Agility increased. Now, the random number rolled is now between 0 and 250, and the Evasion is a little less important in determining increase. Base chance to increase Agility is 2.0%, and maximum chance is 6.8%.
  • Intellect increases more often. The chance was (number of black magic castings / 25), and it is now (number of black magic castings / 16).
  • Spirit increases LESS often. The chance was (number of white magic castings / 15), and it is now (number of white magic castings / 20).
  • MP increases more often. The chance should be about 25% more likely than it was before.
  • When a character gains HP, the increase is halved. The increase is (STA / 2).
  • Magic evasion gains take a bit longer. The threshold to gain Magic evasion was 99, and it is now 159.
  • Characters start with different stats.
  • NPCs also begin with different stats, and should be more balanced with the party when you meet them. Leon and Gordon also join the party already equipped with spells.
  • Weapons, armor, and spells have been rebalanced. Enemy direct damage spells will be a bit more dangerous and require more planning to thwart.
  • Monster stats have been modified slightly to moderately. Expect that the final bosses will not go down with a couple of well-placed elemental spells.

Final Fantasy 1

  • Samurai is recast as a Rogue. Their arsenal has changed slightly, but still cast the same spells (except Slow has been swapped in for Blizzard). Of course Ninjas are still the same old Ninjas
  • There have been several slight tweaks to the starting stats and early level ups for each class. In particular, I felt that Red Mages received no love in early level ups, and so I fixed this.
  • Accuracy equation has been changed slightly. It is now:
    • Attackers Accuracy - Defender's Evasion + 120 = chance to hit out of 161.
    • The chance to hit is 10% minimum, and 90% maximum.
    • The base chance to hit is 75%, ie when Attacker's Accuracy and Defender's Evasion are equal. This is increased from 67%.
  • Spells that grant bonuses to Attack and Defense are now limited in their stackability. The cap on the bonuses was 255 before, now the cap is 50. No more one-shotting Soul of Chaos bosses.
  • Damage spells inflict much more randomized damage. Damage is between 1/2 to 3/2 of spell's base power, before applying resistances. Luck and Intellect play an even larger part in the equation. Of course, this goes for enemies and allies.
  • The status screen now shows a character's number of strikes per round and their magic defense.
  • The chance to be attacked in several dungeons has been tweaked slightly.
  • Chaos Temple level 5 now has very interesting, dangerous, and rewarding encounters.
  • Astos' Northwest Castle now has numerous Undead-themed random encounters. No walking around this haunted castle with impunity!
  • The Sages' Staff has been realigned, and is now a White Wizard only staff named the "Holy Staff". It is pretty awesome, and it *is* rare.
  • The more powerful restorative items have had their prices increased dramatically.
  • Staves in general are more useful. Defensive type weapons give bonuses to Evasion.
  • Elixirs and Megalixirs drop less often.
  • The Paladin can now cast Curaga.
  • The Hermes' Shoes now cast Haste as advertised. This was an issue in v1.2, as they used to cast Temper.

Known Issues in Version 2.0

  • The Equip screen in battle does not display the item quantities clearly.
  • After casting the Comet spell, the castor returns the party lineup, and steps back yet again.

Version 2.0 Screenshots

Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2 Screenshot 3

Screenshot 4 Screenshot 5 Screenshot 6

Version 1.200 Improvements over version 1.000

  • Made some adjustments (mostly minor) to where monsters appear during the game.
  • Made minor adjustments to the AI of various monsters. For instance, Goblin Guards now cast some magic and Yellow Ogres don't run as often.
  • Shops completely realigned. Many shops sell more than five items!
  • Revamped the game's basic To Hit algorithm. It is generally more difficult for characters to hit monsters and for monsters to hit characters now. There is a minimum hit rate of 5% and a maximum hit rate of 95%. The ACC statistic is very important now for fighters, making Samurai very effective combatants!
    • The old algorithm: Attacker's ACC - Defender's EVA + 205 = chance out of 201 to hit
    • The new algorithm: Attacker's ACC - Defender's EVA + 108 = chance out of 161 to hit
  • Comprehensively reworked all monsters ACC and EVA ratings, and realigned the EVA statistic for all Character Classes. Obviously, Samurai and Monks are the best at evasion!
  • Revamped the game's Monk's defense algorithm. Monks now receive a defense bonus if no armor is equipped, based on several statistics. Masters receive a constant defense bonus, based on those same statistics. Specifically:
    • Monk/Master old algorithm: Armor (STA/2) + Helm (STA/8) + Gloves (STA/8)
    • Monk new armor rating: (STA/2) + (STA/8), or Armor equipped
    • Monk new helm rating: INT/4, or Helm equipped
    • Monk new gloves rating: AGI/4, or Gloves equipped
    • Master new armor rating: (STA/2) + Armor equipped
    • Master new helm rating: (INT/8) + Helm equipped
    • Master new gloves rating: (AGI/4) + Gloves equipped
  • Minor changes to the Character Classes starting stats and developmental curves.
  • Removed the 255 damage per hit cap in the code.
  • Soul of Chaos bosses now correctly award experience; they didn't in version 1.0 due to a hard-coded conditional check.
  • Golden and Silver Apples, and Soma Drops now correctly increase max HP or max MP as expected when the user's maximum is over 999.
  • Characters kneel in battle when they have less than 1/5 HP. Previous condition was less than 1/10 HP.
  • White Mages and Monks gain a 5 ATK bonus when using weapons.
  • The White Magic "Rally" spell heals the Mute condition.
  • Direct damage magic has been realigned slightly: Firaga, Thundaga, Blizzaga, Diaga, Holy, and Flare grow in power faster. Fire, Thunder, Blizzard, Pain, and Dia have a lower base damage, making them initially less powerful.
  • Ninjas can now cast the Level 6 spell Death.
  • Temper increases ATK by 25. Zeal increases all character's ATK by 16. Saber increases ATK by 25 and ACC by 30.
  • Dia-family spells now affect the FF4 elemental fiends.
  • Minor tweaks to monsters and a number of weapons and armor. You can now configure the weapons/armor pages to show v1.2 or v1.0 items.
  • Spells cast by monsters now have the correct graphic display.
  • A couple of other miscellaneous display issues have been corrected.

Known Issues in Version 1.200

  • The Hermes' Shoes cast Temper when used, and not Haste. This is fixed in version 2.0.
  • The Equip screen in battle does not display the item quantities clearly.
  • After casting the Comet spell, the castor returns the party lineup, and steps back yet again.

Version 1.000 Improvements over version 0.998

  • Weapons tweaked a bit; rare weapons are generally better, rewarding your forays into the bonus dungeons.
  • Removed the 2000000 experience point cap, allowing for the full development of your characters.
  • Removed the 999 cap for HP and MP! The cap is now 9999, if you can ever get that many Silver and Golden Apples...
  • Reset the cap for Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, and Luck to 255. Previous maximum was 99.
  • Removed the 255 cap for a character's base Hit Rate. Extraordinarily high level Ninjas will appreciate this.
  • Direct Damage spells increase in power much more smoothly now. The nitty gritty: The damage used to increase in a stair-step approach, adding 1 to a multiplier to damage every 10 Intellect points. Now, every 2 Intellect points increases the Intellect multiplier by 1, but damage-wise, each "stair" is less steep to make up for the added "interim stairs".
  • Many White Magic spells have been reordered, which may lead to a couple new surprises.
  • Many high level Black Magic spells are more powerful, especially when the castor's Intellect rises.
  • Elven Balm now behaves as expected in battle.
  • The targeting screens for the Poisona and Warp spells, as well as the items Antidote, Mind Balm and Elven Balm now report their description properly.
  • Blood Tigers reward party with more experience.

Known Issues in Version 1.000

I have found a bug with the Blind spell... it seems to act as a Confuse spell, and when Lich cast it on my group of four White Wizards, the game locked up. I should have an update to fix this in a couple of days. Please be patient. — fixed

The rest of the issues known are simple display issues that have no real bearing on gameplay.

  • When loading a save game from the game menu, that screen only shows three of the digits in their HP/MP (thousands digit is not shown).
  • The quantity of items shown in battle equip screen is not displayed cleanly.
  • After casting the Comet spell, the castor returns the party lineup, and steps back yet again.
  • The graphic for the Haste spell displays when a Clay Golem is casting Temper (as well as a few other slight related anomalies regarding monster's spell graphics).

Screenshots

Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2 Screenshot 3

Version 0.998 Changelog

Changes to the Character Classes

  • Fighter/Knight has been renamed to Knight/Paladin, and Thief/Ninja has been renamed to Samurai/Ninja.
  • Knight/Paladin is more defensive than offensive. Samurai/Ninja is a lightning fast assault trooper. Monk/Master is ever the unconventional, survivalist type. The White Mage/Wizard is the healer and defensive spellcaster. The Black Mage/Wizard is master of the magical nuke, and the Red Mage/Wizard shows flashes of the defensive spellcasting of the White Mage, the offensive spellcasting of the Black Mage, all while retaining moderate physical prowess.
  • Item proficiencies have subtly changed:
    • Knights and Paladins cannot use most dark weapons, or weapons of cruelty.
    • Samurais use heavier swords than did the Thief. Ninjas cannot use axes. Samurais and Ninjas can use only light armor and cannot use conventional shields.
    • Masters can use some katanas, if that is to your liking. Nunchukas are useful for a bit longer in the game.
    • Black Mages cannot use the best daggers.
    • White Mages and Wizards are proficient with almost all armor, and their hammers have been upgraded a bit.
    • Red Mages now are more limited in their weapon choices, but can use a few more of the armors.
  • All of the classes have at least some magical ability:
    • Knights gain certain level 1-4 White Magic spells, and Paladins can learn up to level 5 White Magic spells.
    • Samurais can learn certain level 1-4 Black Magic spells, and Ninjas extend that up to level 5.
    • Monks learn special level 1-3 spells (might be classified either Black and White), and Masters can learn up to level 4.
    • The Red, White and Black magicians' spell ability is not significantly changed.
  • The experience curve has been modified, making levels harder to attain.
  • Characters gain less HP/MP per level, and have a slightly better chance of increasing stats at level up.
  • Hit rate increases at a different rate, and the rate can increase after class change:
    • Knight: +2/lvl, Paladin: +3/lvl
    • Samurai: +3/lvl, Ninja: +4/lvl
    • Monk: +2/lvl, Master: +2/lvl
    • Red Mage: +2/lvl, Red Wizard: +3/lvl
    • White Mage: +1/lvl, White Wizard: +2/lvl
    • Black Mage: +1/lvl, Black Wizard: +1/lvl
  • Likewise, Magic Defense increases at these rates:
    • Knight: +2/lvl, Paladin: +4/lvl
    • Samurai: +1/lvl, Ninja: +2/lvl
    • Monk: +2/lvl, Master: +3/lvl
    • Red Mage: +3/lvl, Red Wizard: +4/lvl
    • White Mage: +4/lvl, White Wizard: +5/lvl
    • Black Mage: +4/lvl, Black Wizard: +5/lvl

Other modifications to game balance:

  • Many weapons and armor are changed. The game's graphics are exactly the same but the strength and properties of each item has been meticulously re-tooled, and the in-game descriptions have also been changed to match.
  • Some of the spells have changed. For now, you'll just need to play the mod to find out what exactly has changed! The attack spells gain in power significantly as the caster's intellect increases.
  • The hit rate of characters used to have an absolute cap of 255. That cap has been lifted, so characters can normally attack more than eight times.
  • When striking a monster prone to the elemental or racial properties of a weapon, the bonus to attack power has increased from 4 to 25. Use weapons that exploit the weaknesses of your enemy!
  • When striking a monster prone to the elemental or racial properties of a weapon, the bonus to attack power has increased from 4 to 25. Use weapons that exploit the weaknesses of your enemy, especially in the early to mid game!
  • All critical hits gain an additional 50% bonus to attack power (previous bonus was 25%).
  • The Dia spell family is effective against evil and demonic creatures, not just against the undead. Yes, it will even work against Garland and Astos!
  • Monsters are significantly tougher. The farther you go in the game, the more you will realize that they will not go down with a couple of well-placed sword blows.
  • The gold earned from defeating most foes is significantly lowered. You will earn a much greater percentage of your gold by finding treasure chests in the main storyline, so gold management, especially in the early game, is a must.
  • Some of the Soul of Chaos bosses are actually demoted in power a bit to make them possible to defeat, given that you will reach them at a lower level than you would have in vanilla Dawn of Souls.
  • Every monster that you beat may drop an item. As you beat new monsters, make sure you visit the beastiary to see what you might earn with repeated victories!
  • Almost every shop in the game has been tweaked, if even just slightly.

Known Issues in Version 0.998

  • When targeting certain items and spells in the status screen, the description fails to appear in the upper-right box, as is expected.
  • There is an experience cap of 2000000, which is only good for level 82 in my mod. Look for this to be fixed in a later version.
  • The Elven Balm does not act as expected in battle (it acts as the Invis spell). This may prove to be a difficult isuue to fix, please bear with me.

Screenshots

Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2 Screenshot 3

How do I install it?

The following applies to all releases of the Mod of Balance.

  • First of all, you will need to obtain a clean GBA ROM of Final Fantasy 1: Dawn of Souls. You are on your own for this step, as it is illegal to provide ROMs of copyrighted material. There are sites that do provide this ROM though, and you should be able to obtain it.
  • When you get it, make a backup of it if you would want to play the vanilla version (or, in case I post an updated version of the mod here... I am not going to make version 0.998 to 1.xx patches for my mods, for instance).
  • Download Final Fantasy 1— Mod of Balance.
  • You will find two files in the .zip file. One is an .ips file that you can apply with IPS XP or some similar IPS patching program, and the other is the same patch in .exe format. You only need to use one of these files.
  • Play and enjoy!

Copyright notice

The content in this portion of the website pertains to "software" known as "Final Fantasy" and "Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls", which is the property of Square Enix. The mod is completely unofficial, and was an amateur fan-made undertaking. I respect the intellectual property of Square Enix, and under no circumstances will I distribute the ROMs for either the NES or the GBA versions of Final Fantasy. The patch available for download is a derivative work and is completely my own. It is offered totally free of charge.