~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =========================================================== Secret of Mana Level 9 Weapons Progression Balance Hack 1.1 by Kethinov Jan 2019 =========================================================== ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This patch adds 10 new weapon orb acquisition events to the game such that you will be able to upgrade all weapons to level 9 after completing the Pure Land before visiting the Mana Fortress. This resolves a number of frustrating quirks in the original game. For instance, in the original game by the time you reach the Mana Fortress, despite the fact that there are 9 versions of each weapon, there are only enough weapon orbs available to upgrade your weapons to level 8, except for the glove and axe which are even more frustratingly stuck at 7. In the original game you can farm the missing orbs in the Mana Fortress by defeating various monsters, but because they are rare drops, it takes an eternity to do so. And even if you do so, that still excludes upgrading the sword to level 9 (without exploiting some well-known glitches) because the game was hardcoded to only let you have the fully powered Mana Sword for the final boss fight once it is "activated" by the Mana Magic spell, allowing you to use it at full power for only a frustratingly short amount of time. To resolve those issues, this hack makes the following changes: - New glove orb chest in Pandora Castle treasury room. (50gp chest converted.) - New glove orb chest in the Underground City. (There was always supposed to be two additional orb chests that spawned there, but in the original game they were broken.) - New axe orb chest in Pandora Castle treasury room. (50gp chest converted.) - New axe orb chest in the Underground City. (There was always supposed to be two additional orb chests that spawned there, but in the original game they were broken.) - New sword orb chest in the Palace of Darkness. (1000gp chest converted.) - New spear orb chest in Fire Palace. (50gp chest converted.) - New bow orb chest in Fire Palace. (50gp chest converted.) - New boomerang orb chest in Pandora Castle treasury room. (50gp chest converted.) - New javelin orb chest in Pandora Castle treasury room. (50gp chest converted.) - The spear orb chest in the Gold Tower is now a whip orb. - The Thunder Gigas will drop a spear orb instead of a sword orb. - When the Mana Tree dies, it will give you the 9th sword orb. - The 50gp chest in Potos village is now 1000gp to help take the edge off the faster weapon upgrades. - The cost of upgrading weapons is now half of what it is in the original game. Some important things to note: - This patch is compatible with the Variable Width Font hack, but only if VWF is applied before this hack. - If you want to combine this hack with zhaDe's Gameplay Improvement Hack, you must uncheck the "No Missing Orb" option (if it is available in your build), as this hack supersedes that option in that hack. (Thanks goes to zhaDe for helping me incorporate and extend his weapon orb hack!) - This patch must be applied to an unheadered ROM. If you have a headered ROM, remove the header first using SNES ROM Utility: http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/593/ ============================== New weapon progression charts: ============================== Glove upgrades: 1. Tonpole in Undine's lair. 2. Pandora Castle treasury chest. (New! 50gp chest converted.) 3. Moogle Village chest. 4. Ice Palace chest. 5. Metal Mantis in Northtown. 6. Dark Palace chest. 7. Underground City chest. (New! Was dummied out of the game.) 8. Red Dragon in Pure Land. Sword upgrades: 1. Mantis Ant in Potos. 2. Pandora Castle treasury chest. 3. Great Viper in Matango. 4. Northtown Ruins chest. 5. Dark Palace chest. (New! 1000gp chest converted.) 6. Given by Tasnica's King. 7. Grand Palace chest. 8. Given by Mana Tree. (New!) Axe upgrades: 1. Fire Gigas in Underground Palace. 2. Pandora Castle treasury chest. (New! 50gp chest converted.) 3. Moogle Village chest. 4. Fire Palace chest. 5. Empire Castle chest. 6. Gold Tower chest. 7. Underground city chest. (New! Was dummied out of the game.) 8. Dragon Worm in Pure Land. Spear upgrades: 1. Tropicallo in Dwarf Village. 2. Pandora Castle treasury chest. 3. Santa's House chest in Ice Country. 4. Fire Palace chest. (New! 1000gp chest converted.) 5. Northtown Ruins chest. 6. Aegagropilon in Grand Palace. 7. Mech Rider III in Grand Palace. 8. Thunder Gigas in Pure Land. (Changed from sword to spear.) Whip upgrades: 1. Scorpion Army ship chest in Dwarf Village. 2. Given by Jema in the Water Palace. 3. Mech Rider I at the Sandship. 4. Doom's Wall in Northtown. 5. Empire Castle chest. 6. Gold Tower chest. (Changed from spear to whip.) 7. Hydra in Underground City. 8. Hexas in Grand Palace. Bow upgrades: 1. Wall Face in Pandora. 2. Jabberwocky in Water Palace. 3. Boreal Face in Ice Country. 4. Fire Palace chest. (New! 1000gp chest converted.) 5. Northtown Ruins chest. 6. Gorgon Bull in Gold Tower. 7. Kettle Kin in Grand Palace. 8. Snow Dragon in Pure Land. Boomerang upgrades: 1. Spikey Tiger in Elinee's Castle. 2. Pandora Castle treasury chest. (New! 50gp chest converted.) 3. Spring Beak in Upperland. 4. Frost Gigas in Ice Palace. 5. Vampire in Northtown. 6. Blue Spike in Gold Tower. 7. Underground City chest. 8. Blue Dragon in Pure Land. Javelin upgrades: 1. Pandora Castle treasury chest. (New! 50gp chest converted.) 2. Kilroy in Dwarf Village. 3. Truffle's bedroom chest in Matango. 4. Minotaur in Fire Palace. 5. Mech Rider II in Northtown. 6. Lime Slime in Dark Palace. 7. Snap Dragon in Grand Palace. 8. Axe Beak in Pure Land. New weapon upgrade pricing: - Level 2: 100gp (was 200gp) - Level 3: 200gp (was 400gp) - Level 4: 400gp (was 800gp) - Level 5: 800gp (was 1,600gp) - Level 6: 1,600gp (was 3,000gp) - Level 7: 3,000gp (was 6,500gp) - Level 8: 6,500gp (was 12,500gp) - Level 9: 12,500gp (was 25,000gp) Changelog: - 1.1: Swapped 1.0's Dark Palace whip orb for Gold Tower sword orb to space out the upgrades better. Thanks to Timbo for the idea. - 1.0: Initial version.