Final Fantasy VI Challenge Mod is a balance overhaul mod intended to give players a fresh experience with a higher difficulty level, but does not make the game punishingly hard either. This encompasses the following:
* Characters are rebalanced; overpowered stuff was nerfed and underpowered stuff was buffed. This includes changes to Strago's Lore list, Umaro can be equipped but is still a Berserker, some of Gau's Rages have two special attacks, SwdTech charges faster, Mog's Dances never fail, and more. Additionally, everyone has an "ultimate weapon" out there in the world to find.
* Espers no longer grant level-up bonuses, instead stat boosts comes from equipment. The new equipment system is inspired by Final Fantasy XII - equipment can be sorted into "light", which raises Speed and evasive stats, "heavy", which raises Vigor and HP, and "mage", which rages Magic and MP. But there's still universal equipment and characters are not forced into just one type of equipment, they have a variety. In fact, numerous characters have new equipment they can use, like Setzer and Shadow using throwing weapons, Cyan can equip swords, and Terra and Celes can equip rods.
* Espers teach spells faster, and spells can also be learned from equipment. There are new spells in Water, Wind, and Earth, tier 1.5 and 2.5 spells. You'll need them because enemies have more varied elemental properties than before, so you can't get complacent spamming the same spells every encounter and expecting them to do the job. Defensively, you have access to more elemental Relics to defend against enemies.
* Espers have had their effects buffed, some Espers are found in different locations, and some are changed into different beings. A completely new Esper has already been added.
* Enemies are tougher: they have higher stats, more active AI scripts, and make more varied use of elemental and status attacks. Some bosses were significantly altered, such as the Eight Dragons, who are buffed to the level of end-game bosses. Gold Dragon and Skull Dragon were moved out of Kefka's Tower to new locations in the world.
* While most of the actual story content is untouched saved for a handful of places that update the localization in relations to gameplay (AtmaWeapon - Ultima Weapon, dialogue is changed accordingly), Restored Ability Names and Expanded Item Names are included to allow for longer text strings all-around and the names of abilities and items were changed to typical FF standard. While most enemies kept their original names if only to avoid confusion, a couple of them have their "proper" names now (Tonberry, Ahriman, Malboro, etc).
More information on specific changes can be found in the Beginner's School in Narshe, where the NPCs there discuss this mod's content.
Database match: Final Fantasy III (USA)
Database: No-Intro: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (v. 20210222-050638)
File/ROM SHA-1: 4F37E4274AC3B2EA1BEDB08AA149D8FC5BB676E7
File/ROM CRC32: A27F1C7A
