Download Phantasy Star IV: Arranged Version ROM Hack

PHANTASY STAR IV: ARRANGED VERSION
by Sixfortyfive
version 1.0
Dec 3, 2008

This patch is free to distribute without prior expressed consent.

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 I. GETTING STARTED
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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.

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 II. OVERVIEW
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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.

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 III. CHARACTER STAT CHANGES
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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.

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 IV. COMBINATION ATTACK CHANGES
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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.

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 V. BOSS CHANGES
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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.

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 VI. NEW ITEMS
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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.

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 VII. CHANGES TO EXISTING ITEMS AND WEAPONRY
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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.

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 VIII. SOME GAMEPLAY TIPS
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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.