secret of mana hard mode

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:24 am

http://www.hard-som.de/

a secret of mana difficulty hack the above link is to the site. the below link is the hack patch

http://www.hard-som.de/downloads/hardsom.zip

kudos to Masterflow and co.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 4:39 am

A day late and a dollar short. I blame AOL.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 6:38 am

seems like I'm the only person who noticed this. it was on the front page of aep-emu.de

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Fri Dec 28, 2007 12:22 pm

Deathlike2 wrote:A day late and a dollar short. I blame AOL.

hey man, your fault for either not doing a search, let alone checking the first page of gaming discussion

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:30 am

So... noone's tried this? Seriously.. I'm already doing the Pureland at this point.

Post by **odditude** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 5:56 am

I'd love to play this, but I'm so far behind in games it's not even funny. My list keeps getting longer and longer... Sometimes I almost miss those times when I didn't have a stable job and girlfriend to take up my time.

As a side note, is this patch compatible with FuSoYa's patch? I've been looking forward to playing with that, also.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:00 am

I wouldn't know, but it probably does, since FuSoYa's patch AFAIK is just changing the font+text. This hack only changes the difficulty and tweaks the costs/stats and other stuff that doesn't really involve the text.

Post by **odditude** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:24 am

An easy way to make tougher enemies harder would be to make spells "unstackable," like the level 9 variants are.

Spamming Dark Force and Magic Absorb on those golden knights in the Mana Fortress made life easy even when physical attacks were worthless.

I'm sure this has been noted many times before, but did anyone else get the idea that the damage values for Dark Force and Evil Gate were accidentally swapped? (I'm referring to the US release, in case there's any differences elsewhere.)

(edited - fixed spell name)

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:34 am

odditude wrote:An easy way to make tougher enemies harder would be to make spells "unstackable," like the level 9 variants are.

Spamming Dark Force and Magic Drain on those golden knights in the Mana Fortress made life easy even when physical attacks were worthless.

Perhaps, but that would require a bigger/tougher fix.

I'm sure this has been noted many times before, but did anyone else get the idea that the damage values for Dark Force and Evil Gate were accidentally swapped? (I'm referring to the US release, in case there's any differences elsewhere.)

Yes, it's been that way in all of the SOM versions as far as I can tell. That never really dawned on me though (I stopped using it for some reason, and now I know why).

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:54 am

Dark Force is actually underpowered.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588646/21348

Linked Walkthrough wrote:A small note on Evil Gate; this spell does damage
based on the enemy's HP: Damage = (Current HP + Max HP) /
(20 - 2 * Sprite's Magic Level).

The algo is accurate. The damage is relative to the current HP. The best divisor you can get is 4 (if the Sprite has level 8 Shade). In the best case scenario, you can kill the target with this spell if it has less than 2/3 (~67%) of its HP is gone.

Post by **odditude** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:11 am

Interesting.

I don't think I'd ever read a FAQ on SoM before... I had beaten it to death (best equipment, everything to 8:99, levels maxed to 99) back in '94 or '95 just from persistence and dumb luck, and have only played it casually since then.

It never occurred to me that any of the attack spells were based off anything but magic power.

Now I'm going to have to dig around and see if anyone's documented the calculations!

(edited: from looking in a FAQ, I definitely had max level because I remember HP being 999/800/800. Damn, I had a lot of time to waste when I was younger!)

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:21 am

odditude wrote:Interesting.

I don't think I'd ever read a FAQ on SoM before... I had beaten it to death (best equipment, everything to 8:99, levels maxed to 99) back in '94 or '95 just from persistence and dumb luck, and have only played it casually since then.

It never occurred to me that any of the attack spells were based off anything but magic power.

Now I'm going to have to dig around and see if anyone's documented the calculations!

(edited: from looking in a FAQ, I definitely had max level because I remember HP being 999/800/800. Damn, I had a lot of time to waste when I was younger!)

I think some site did, but didn't document it on Gamefaqs... (fuzzy memory of SOM sites hurt my head).

In another scenario, the spell itself is definately better as a "first attack".. but can be used as a finisher spell... it is still mediocre.. and it's terrible as a split damage spell (ugh, I thought it would have a redeeming quality).

Post by **odditude** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:30 am

Regardless, for 8MP it's highly unlikely to do more damage than four castings of Dark Force (which I always thought looked cooler, to boot).

I never did like the "Level 9" explosion effect, though.

Back to mechanics, did Burst actually have an element attached, or was it a non-elemental attack? I don't remember it not working well on any enemies.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:05 am

odditude wrote:An easy way to make tougher enemies harder would be to make spells "unstackable," like the level 9 variants are.

Spamming Dark Force and Magic Absorb on those golden knights in the Mana Fortress made life easy even when physical attacks were worthless.
(edited - fixed spell name)

you read my mind, SoM wasn't an easy game but it was a cakewalk for me because 'd always level up my spells and decimate the bosses before they could move, it's a major instability in the game. as is the impracticality of charging your weapon to level 8 most of the time (I just mean how long it takes, I know I rarely used them)

Post by **odditude** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:25 am

Actually, charging up your weapon became viable if you were playing multiplayer. One person could draw attacks or stun enemies while the other charged up. That strategy worked great in the Tonpole fights.

I always found multiplayer to be much more fun without interruptions from the menus anyway... meaning no spells unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.

darkbenny · Post by **darkbenny** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 3:18 pm

Panzer88 wrote:
odditude wrote:An easy way to make tougher enemies harder would be to make spells "unstackable," like the level 9 variants are.

Spamming Dark Force and Magic Absorb on those golden knights in the Mana Fortress made life easy even when physical attacks were worthless.
(edited - fixed spell name)
you read my mind, SoM wasn't an easy game but it was a cakewalk for me because 'd always level up my spells and decimate the bosses before they could move, it's a major instability in the game. as is the impracticality of charging your weapon to level 8 most of the time (I just mean how long it takes, I know I rarely used them)

My level 8 Gem Missiles make quick work of everybody; I doubt if I ever actually used a charged up weapon, save for the Mana Beast.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:54 pm

odditude wrote:Regardless, for 8MP it's highly unlikely to do more damage than four castings of Dark Force (which I always thought looked cooler, to boot).

I never did like the "Level 9" explosion effect, though.

Back to mechanics, did Burst actually have an element attached, or was it a non-elemental attack? I don't remember it not working well on any enemies.

AFAIK, no. Was there a monster weak against Dryad? (The Mana Beast doesn't even count, since the Mana Sword spell just changes the sword to a different version with super increased attack power).

Some of the tweaks involving monsters with uber high defenses... on the flip side, some monsters have uber high magic defenses.

Sure stunning the monster and multi-casting spells helps, but damagewise it can be pointless in some instances.

megamanzer0 · Post by **megamanzer0** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:44 pm

did any one ever find the location of all the orbs in this game? I don't remember ever reading a walkthrough with that information in

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:48 pm

AFAIK, all of them have been documented over and over. Unless someone magically finds something new that wasn't found before, those lists are correct.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:38 am

yeah I never got all of them. It's a shame I never got a chance to play it multiplayer, I have a friend who might do it with me sometime, but seeing as he lives on the other side of the country it'd have to be online. It'd be cool to find another guy too so that you don't have to worry about the crappy AI. (it was good for the day, but human players are a great improvement [assuming they can play])

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:47 am

I'm playing through SOM right now with my younger brother for the second time, the game really is easy as cake in multiplayer at least.
I think we got all the orbs last time we played.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 3:20 am

hows he doing? haven't seen him around lately.

corronchilejano · Post by **corronchilejano** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:10 am

Panzer88 wrote:hows he doing? haven't seen him around lately.

Ah, yes, cynism.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:10 am

Johan_H · Post by **Johan_H** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 7:03 am

Panzer88 wrote:hows he doing? haven't seen him around lately.

Oskar's actually my older brother and he doesn't like playing games with me

, but he's doing fine I think. Probably not returning here though.

wtf cynism?