Final Fantasy VI: Brave New World is a ROM Hack of Final Fantasy VI designed around restricting the Esper system, thus making every character unique. Both the name and cover art are a reference to Iron Maiden.
Released in 2013, the game has been in continuous development and seen many updates since then. The IPS patch can be found here
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All story spoilers from the vanilla game are unmarked.
This hack contains examples of:
- Absurdly High Level Cap: Downplayed, as the maximum level is now 50 rather than 99. Most playthroughs defeat Kefka at around level 35.
- Adaptation Deviation: Starting in 2.0, there are 2 teams instead of 3 during the Battle of Narshe, and Shadow can be hired for the fight.
- Adaptation Name Change: Elaine and Owain are named Scarlet and Hunter in 2.0.
- Adapted Out:
- The Auction House no longer exists starting in 2.0, with the Magicite it had available in earlier versions being bought from the crazy man north of Kohlingen.
- The Economizer was seen as way too broken to keep in the game, so it was removed entirely.
- Raiden no longer exists, as you instead get a cracked Magicite where you got Odin in vanilla, and restoring the Magicite only gets you Odin.
- Alien Geometries: Kefka's Tower has such as a result of the developer trying to give each party exactly 3 boss fights, with one team fighting a Guardian deep inside the tower before heading to the outdoor area before heading to the door in the weight puzzle room.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Cyan's Bushido now takes far quicker to charge up and now takes Cyan's equipped weapon into account, making it more useful than it ever was in vanilla.
- Red save points fully heal the party's health and magic.
- Antiquated Linguistics: As a result of equipment uses synonyms for "sword" or "shield" to fit the names in without Camelcasing or removing letters, an armor is named the Mithril Kite, with kite being an archaic word for shield.
- Ascended Extra: The formerly dummied Kaiser Dragon is fightable in Kefka's Tower after killing all 8 dragons.
- Terra's Pendant is needed to open Kefka's Tower, and is guarded by the MagiMaster in the Fanatic's Tower.
- Ascended Glitch: A bug in the original game caused weapons which consumed MP for critical hits to transfer that property to spells randomly cast from those weapons. In Brave New World, this is a standard feature on all "Staff" weapons.
- At the Opera Tonight:
- While the opera is mostly unchanged from Vanilla FF6, Ralse and Draco's conflict aria switches from SNES lyrics to GBA lyrics as Ralse starts singing.
- Starting in 2.2, Aria di Mezzo Caraterre uses the Slattery translation's lyrics.
- Author Avatar: Given his status as a blatant corporate mascot insert in the original game, Mog takes on this role in Brave New World.
- Background Music Override: Most dungeon encounters don't use the regular battle theme, instead using their respective dungeon's music.
- Badass Boast: Atma gets a new one different from the releases of the vanilla game
- Sabin's classic one from when you recruit him in the World of Ruin in vanilla is still present.
Heh, you think a minor thing like the end of the world was gonna do me in? - Big "NO!": Locke screams "NOOOO!" during the flashback sequence when Rachel falls and loses her memories.
- Boss Rush: The Guardian fight in Kefka's Tower is now a rematch against Ultros; Soul Train; Dadaluma; Cranes; Doom Gaze & Hidon, whose battle programs are loaded by the Guardian.
- Bowdlerise: An alternate patch named Clean New World without the uncensored enemy graphics and dialogue was released alongside 1.3.
- While the main patch uncensors most of the enemy graphics and the Esper Siren, Tier 2 of the final boss is still censored.
- CamelCase: Defied, as all items and enemies have names that avoid it.
- Cast Speciation: The entire point of the this ROM hack is to restrict what characters can equip which Espers.
- Continuity Nod:
- Duncan's wife is named Sara.
- The Warmech appears as a rare encounter in Kefka's Tower.
- The Pipsqueaks are renamed to Onion Kid.
- The theme that plays when fighting the 8 dragons is the Four Fiends fight theme starting in 1.7.
- The Spoony Bard line is referenced right after "son of a submariner!".
- The Pug enemy (which is the weakest Tonberry and fightable in the World of Balance) has its AI reworked to resemble the Tricker.
- Just like how Rydia summons Titan out of grief despite not having the MP to do so, Cyan uses the Cleave Bushido technique on a group of Imperials after Doma is poisoned.
- Searchers appear in Kefka's Tower, functioning much like they did in FFIV.
- If you skip Shadow in Sabin's scenario, a second ghost named Aeris can join you on the Soul Train.
- Cyan's Mindblow technique is Barret's second limit break.
- The enemy Lethal Wpn has been renamed WEAPON and uses an attack named Ruby Blast.
- Duncan's wife is named Sara.
- Dual Wielding: Like in Final Fantasy II, any character can dual wield.
- Dragon Variety Pack: The Eight Dragons have differing appearances and colors, with Kaiser being the largest of them.
- Driven to Suicide: If you fail to save Cid, Celes attempts suicide, after some added dialogue.
"I guess war is really all I'm good for."
- Easily-Overheard Conversation: One of the NPCs in the pub Setzer is recruited at in the World of Ruin overhears Celes' conversation with Setzer, telling the party "We're all counting on you" if you speak to him afterwards.
- Foil: Celes and Terra act like this towards each other, which is even represented by their spell lists and equipment contrasting each other. For example, While Terra learns Shell, Celes learns Safe.
- Fragile Speedster: Shadow is fast, can do lots of damage, and has the best evasion stats in the game. He's also made of tissue paper and dies whenever he gets hit. Gau and Relm also qualify to a lesser extent.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Relm is only 10, and yet is the character that swears the most.
- Gender Flip: Starting in 2.1, Cyan's child Owain / Hunter is now a girl named Violet.
- Gratuitous Italian: Kefka says "lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate"note as the party enters Kefka's Tower for the first time.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Averted, as the evade bug from vanilla was fixed.
- Happy Fun Ball: The Superball item from vanilla is renamed after this trope.
- Healing Shiv: Paintbrushes now act as Heal Rods from the original game. There are also ACTUAL Healing Shivs hidden in the game.
- Jack of All Stats: Celes is an all-rounder who is above average in all metrics and can fit well into any team, but she's not the best at anything.
- Just Before the End: Lampshaded on the floating continent when given an option to jump down to the Blackjack before Atma.
"It's not like the fate of the world is hanging in the balance - oh wait it is."
- Konami Code: Bum Rush now uses the Konami Code as its input to select.
- Last Disc Magic: The Ultima spell can only be obtained after defeating all eight Dragons, and is now exclusive to Terra.
- Level Limiter: The No Exp. Eggs prevent a character from gaining EXP in battle.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: Kefka sings in glee over poisoning Doma.
- Made of Magic: The only enemies that die at 0 MP in this hack are undead enemies and bosses.
- Madness Mantra: Kefka's hate hate hate scene completely fills a text box with just the word "HATE".
- Marathon Boss: Earlier builds turned a lot of World of Ruin bosses into this. Even in newer versions, Atma still is an example.
- Nerf: The Offering and Fixed Dice are among the overpowered items from vanilla that are reduced in power in this hack.
- Magimaster no longer has an Ultima counter upon death.
- Optional Boss:
- Ultima averts this, as trying to skip this boss has a message that says "sealed by a mysterious force" if trying to leave without fighting it.
- Still played straight by Hidon, which you don't need to fight in any revision.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The correct password in South Figaro is now Swordfish.
- Permanently Missable Content: Considering that this is one of the author's Pet Peeve Tropes, this began to be downplayed further and further with each revision.
- Water Rondo averts this starting in 2.1, as the last section of the path leading to the Ancient Castle is now flooded.
- Starting in prototype builds for 2.2, World of Balance rages for Gau are no longer missable.
- Still played straight by the treasure chests in the Cave to the Sealed Gate.
- The Player Is the Most Important Resource: Setzer thanks the player and BNW community after Terra thanks Setzer right before the credits roll.
- Precision F-Strike: Starting in 1.3, Kefka only swears after being stabbed by Celes on the Floating Continent.
Kefka: You... you bitch! You vicious, arrogant, back-stabbing, worthless, conniving little bitch!
- Pungeon Master: The talking chest at Ebot's Rock, in addition to talking like a pirate, loves to make "chest" jokes.
- The Quiet One: Shadow was one of the earliest victims of the space crunch in the game's dialogue bank, resulting in most of his lines simply being "..."
- Resurrection Sickness: Like using the LIFE spell in Final Fantasy, Phoenix Downs revive you at 1 HP.
- Schmuck Bait: In earlier versions, Whelk's Shell casts Discharge if you attack it, dealing a guaranteed 9999 damage to the full party. This was dialed down back to reasonable levels with subsequent patches.
- Secret Identity: Unlike in canon, Gogo's identity is revealed here.
- Shout-Out: The game adds several that weren't there in the original game, to the point that it has its own page.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: In 1.2, Relm and Kefka. Starting with 1.3, Kefka doesn't swear anywhere near as much.
- Soul-Cutting Blade: In 1.3, Kefka's sword is said to destroy the soul of anything it pierces.
- Speaks in Shout-Outs: Ultros in the Opera House uses movie quotes whenever he attacks.
- Spoiled by the Manual: The SNES repro box art spoils Leo's death in it's screenshots.
- Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Nimufu goads Celes into doing this, and ends up taking a Shock to the face.
- Superboss: Kaiser Dragon fills this role, only being unlocked after all eight dragons are slain.
- Suplex Finisher: Sabin can now Suplex literally any enemy in the game now that Suplex immunity was removed. More recent updates even add a joke "Achievement Unlocked, Suplexed a Train" dialogue box when you use it on the Soul Train.
- Take That!: The answer to the Daryl's Tomb puzzle is now a massive one to Square Enix.What cannot survive in a square world? ENIX.
- Vicks is an NPC Imperial soldier who does dogfighting in Maranda, named as a deliberate potshot at Michael Vick.
- The Internet Is for Porn: The instruction manual describes the internet as a "worldwide receptacle of pornography".
- Took a Level in Badass: If you leave Shadow to die on the Floating Continent, Interceptor will guard Relm, and gain an ability that lets him attack airborne enemies.
- Turns Red: The second half of the Yeti fight references the original name of this trope.
- Unintentionally Unwinnable: Skipping Celes in earlier versions rendered you unable to escape the Floating Continent, as only Shock (which Kutan is unable to perform) could kill Bat Lady and Nimufu. As of 2.0, it is no longer possible to skip Celes. Further, Celes now comes equipped with a sword after the developer watched a player leave South Figaro without having acquired one, rendering the Tunnel Armor nigh-impossible to win.
- Video Game Stealing: Downplayed, as only human-type enemies can be stolen from.
- Waiting Puzzle: Simplified in that the second option is now "Not without Shadow" instead of "Wait", thus giving you a clear hint as to what to do.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Dadaluma
- Waxing Lyrical: Wrexsoul's intro speech consists of lots of Iron Maiden lyrics.
- "World of Cardboard" Speech: When confronting Kefka at the end of the game, the party has new dialogue for the speech.Kefka: And have you found your "purpose", in this world of ours hanging on the brink of extinction?Party member: Yes!Locke: Discovering that love can begin anew… and protecting all the world’s people from the likes of you!Shadow: Friends… and family.Sabin: A brother who sacrificed everything for his country so that I would never have to.Celes: Knowing that I am more than an instrument of war…and that someone who accepts me will catch me should I fall.Strago: A future that lives on in my darling grandchild.Relm: A doddering old coot who puts up with me… so you’d better not lay a hand on him!Gau: Before end of world, Gau had nothing. Now Gau has friends…family! Gau fight for family!Setzer: I got my friend’s wings!Mog: Kupo!
- Zero-Effort Boss: Ziegfried now does 27 attacks that do 1 damage each and dies of overexhaustion, making him even more pathetic than the vanilla game.
- Whelk is this starting in 2.0, with it being extremely easily to kill the first boss before it retreats into its shell.
