+-------------------------+
|                         |
|  Final Fantasy VI SNES  |
|                         |
| - GENERAL LEO EDITION - |
|                         |
|       Version 2.1       |
|                         |
|                         |
|  Release:  01-25-2014   |
|                         |
|                         |
|         - By -          |
|                         |
|      "Fauntleroy"       |
|                         |
|  fedorajoe@hotmail.com  |
|                         |
| http://mercyofcallouses |
|     .blogspot.com/      |
|                         |
+-------------------------+


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+-------------------+
|                   |
| Table of Contents |
|                   |
+-------------------+

I...........Introduction
II........Update History
III...Setup Instructions
IV............Known Bugs
V.........Special Thanks


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+-----------------+
|                 |
| I. Introduction |
|                 |
+-----------------+


Thank you for downloading my GENERAL LEO EDITION patch for Final
Fantasy III/VI (Super Nintendo Entertainment System version).

Final Fantasy VI is widely regarded as one of the greatest RPG's of
all time, and for good reason.  The game had excellent gameplay and
was epic in scope, but certainly a major part of its appeal was its
large cast of diverse, quirky, and memorable characters.  Even now,
some eighteen years after the game's western release, characters
such as the uncertain Terra, regretful Locke, and defiant Celes
remain widely known, well remembered, and much loved.

One particular character remembered fondly by gamers is General
Leo.  Like Aerith a few years later, Leo's primary role within the
story is to die, and in so doing give both the characters and the
player a reason to press on with renewed purpose.  Indeed, the
brilliance of the character is in how the designers manipulated
the player's response to him.  They made Leo an impossibly cool
character to play, with specialized equipment and a unique ability,
but then let the player have use of him for ONLY ONE BATTLE, after
which the player must watch him die tragically.  This maximizes
Leo's impact both within the world of the story as well as within
the mind of the player. It's great storytelling and even better
game design.

Again, as with Aerith, the whole point of Leo is that we must lose
him.  So, I would not want to go back in time and rewrite the story
of Final Fantasy VI even if I could do so.  Yet... I couldn't help
but think about how cool it would be if there was some way to make
Leo survive and join the party.  His fun factor is off the charts,
and besides that, he's just so darn likeable!  And apparently I'm
not the only one who felt this way, as vast amounts of "Leo lore,"
from bogus revival techniques to Game Genie codes to fanfiction,
propogate online to this day.

So, that's where this hack comes into play.  As with my previous
GOLBEZ EDITION hack of Final Fantasy IV, the idea here is to make
small tweaks to the story so that Leo survives and joins the
party, with the change making sense in context.  Also as with the
Golbez hack, making this change required me to demote one of the
existing fourteen party members to "guest character" status.  It
wasn't easy to decide who to cut, but I finally, if reluctantly,
decided on... Shadow.

So, I'm sure the question at this point is... WHY SHADOW?  Why not
Mog or Umaro or Gogo?  Well, there are a few reasons.

1.) I had to choose a character who was easy to edit.  Umaro and
    Gogo were out of consideration because of their unusual
    characteristics (berserker status, customizable commands via
    the status menu, etc).  I frankly didn't know how to edit these
    characters to make them into a more "normal" party member.
    Likewise, I couldn't use Mog, Relm, or any other character who
    has an unusual battle entry pose, because I was not able to
    find any documentation on how to alter that character element.

2.) I had to choose a character whose special ability wasn't too
    unique to lose.  Shadow's Throw command is a nice ability, but
    it's not as unique or essential as some of the others, at least
    in my opinion.

3.) I had to choose a character whose demotion and/or removal would
    not upset the overall progression of the story.  Shadow's niche
    in the World of Balance as the "optional and temporary" party
    member meant that it was easy to keep him in the story while
    also justifying keeping him out of the active party.

4.) I had to choose a character who could essentially switch places
    with Leo during the Thamasa battle, and who would make sense as
    the recipient of the Thamasa grave site.  Shadow, it seemed to
    me, was the only character who could reasonably fill this
    niche.

5.) This also allowed me to convert the space used for Shadow's
    dreams into new scenes, and also to convert Shadow's unique
    weapons and throwable items into new equipment for the other
    characters.

So, with that said, here are some of the hack's major features.

1.) The last character to join the team in the World of Balance is
    a fully realized General Leo.  His equipment can be changed, he
    can equip Espers and learn spells, he has a Desperation Attack,
    he has no graphical glitches when he rides a Chocobo or Magitek
    Armor, he has his own scenario for rejoining the team in the
    World of Ruin, he has his own part in the ending, and so forth.

2.) I've created a couple of new small and optional scenes
    involving Leo as well as some of the minor characters. The
    purpose here was to give those characters more screen time and
    also tie up a few loose ends.

3.) There is some mild new bonus content, including ways of getting
    the three formerly inaccessible rages.

4.) Shop inventories are completely revamped.  The shops tend to be
    better stocked with items that are more useful at the point in
    the game when they are reached.  It's also now possible to buy
    items like Mythril Shield, Dried Meat, etc. in the World of
    Ruin.  Additionally, I eliminated the phenomenon of items that
    are obsolete by the time you can get them (Silk Robe, Magus
    Hat, Bandana, Poison Claw, Light Robe, etc.).

5.) All Espers give level up bonuses, but many of these bonuses are
    toned down.  Additionally, the "x1" learning rate is now
    virtually extinct.  Most former instances of x1 have been
    converted into x2.  Additionally, Raiden now teaches both Quick
    and Meteor, so there is no reason to not immediately upgrade
    Odin into Raiden.

6.) Enemy Rage, Sketch, and Control ability sets are expanded and
    improved.  All Control sets now include the maximum of four
    abilities to choose from.

7.) No more NAMES IN ALL CAPS. (I always hated that! (Didn't
    everyone?))

8.) This hack also includes the following supplemental hacks
    created by others:

    HatZen08's True Duel patch
    http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1099/
    (Colosseum battles are no longer automatic.)

    Terii senshi's Evade Bug Fix patch
    http://www.rpglegion.com/ff6/hack/evade.htm
    (No more bugs with the evade stats.)

    Assassin's Alphabetical Rage patch
    http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm#anchor3
    (Rages are listed in alphabetical order.)

    Assassin's Auto Swordless Runic Fix patch
    http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm#anchor14
    (Fixes some buggy Runic behavior.)

    Assassin's Brushless Sketch patch
    http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm#anchor17
    (Must be equipped with a paintbrush to use Sketch.)

    Assassin's That Damn Yellow Streak Fix patch
    http://www14.brinkster.com/assassin17/patches.htm#anchor21
    (No more yellow streak on Gogo's command menu.)

And there's more, but I don't want to spoil EVERYTHING, ha ha!  :)


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+--------------------+
|                    |
| II. Update History |
|                    |
+--------------------+

01-25-14 - Version 2.1 Update Release included these changes:

     - Esper bonuses, spell names, spell lists, and spell learning
       rates have been mildly adjusted.
     - Slight adjustments to item stats, treasure chest contents,
       shop lists, and Metamorph item packs.
     - Corrections and minor adjustments to dialogue text.
     - Some tweaking to townsperson sprites and palettes.


11-01-13 - Version 2.0 Update Release included these changes:

     - The Eight Dragons have all been beefed up.  They are not
       "super bosses" by any means, but they will pose a greater
       level of challenge than in the original game.
     - Rages are now listed alphabetically.  Additionally, Gau now
       begins the game with the Rages for all enemies up through
       the point where Gau joins the party.
     - All chests in towns that were empty in the original game now
       contain items.
     - Various minor adjustments to shops, treasure chests, Rages,
       Control's ability lists, etc.
     - There are also several new rare/key items, just because,
       including the Slave Crown and Diving Helmet.  Also, the game
       now gives a "Received the ___" prompt when getting any key
       item, so you won't miss them.
     - Numerous large and small bug fixes, plus various minor
       adjustments.

  This version of the hack can still be downloaded at:
  www.mediafire.com/download/2izp6k96br26le3/leoHack11-01-13.zip


10-02-13 - Version 1.1 Update Release included these changes:

     - This patch introduces fixes to LOTS of bugs both large and
       small discovered in the 1.0 release.  There are no
       substantive changes to the actual content of the hack.

  This version of the hack can still be downloaded at:
  www.mediafire.com/download/mtz3n6q1y5s7myh/leoHack10-02-13.zip


09-22-13 - Version 1.0 Initial Release

  This version of the hack can still be downloaded at:
  www.mediafire.com/download/9x9oeb8mwi335na/leoHack09-22-13.zip


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+-------------------------+
|                         |
| III. Setup Instructions |
|                         |
+-------------------------+

You will need the leoHack01-25-14.ips file as well as an unaltered
copy of the Final Fantasy III SNES American release headered ROM,
version 1.1.  Please do not ask me for a copy of the ROM; I will
not provide one.  Also, do note that this patch may not work
properly with an unheadered ROM.

For reference, the CRC32 checksum of the unaltered 1.1 ROM is
326CF6A2.  The checksum once the patch is applied is 4FB194E7.

I recommend using the Lunar IPS utility to apply the patch to the
ROM.  As of this writing, you can download Lunar IPS here:

http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lips/

To apply the patch:

1.) Open Lunar IPS and click the Apply IPS Patch button.

2.) Select the leoHack01-25-14.ips file.

3.) Select the ROM.

4.) You're all set!  It's that easy!

The ROM, once the patch is applied, should be 3,149,824 bytes.

As far as which emulator to use, I personally like ZSNES.

ZSNES has its own website:

http://www.zsnes.com/


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+----------------+
|                |
| IV. Known Bugs |
|                |
+----------------+

The original release of this game had about a zillion bugs, as most
fans know.  I did not make a point of it to correct all of these
bugs, most of which are minor and seldom encountered.  The only
major bug that I did correct was the evade bug, as described above.

I'm only aware of two minor bugs in this hack.  First, both times
that Leo joins the team, he will appear on the party select screen
right away, but will not be seen walking around the airship until
after you add him and then remove him from the party for the first
time. I'm not sure why this is.  Additionally, on the Floating
Continent, the airship does not appear properly when the prompt to
return to the airship comes up.  I'm not sure why this is, either!
I racked my brain over it for hours and finally gave up.

Please contact me if you find any additional bugs.


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+-------------------+
|                   |
| V. Special Thanks |
|                   |
+-------------------+

I made this hack on my own, but I had a great deal of support and
encouragement from a few really cool people.  These folks also
reported some serious bugs to me which I deeply appreciate!

Arcs
Brian
BohepansTheThird (http://www.youtube.com/user/BohepansTheThird)

Please feel free to contact me with any feedback!

E-mail:  fedorajoe@hotmail.com
Blog:    http://mercyofcallouses.blogspot.com/
Tumblr:  http://mercyofcallouses.tumblr.com/

Thanks again!  :)