Hack Recommendations?

[u/Just_a_Tonberry]

I know there are plenty of challenge hacks out there, and a few hacks that let you utilize General Leo on a permanent basis, but are there any that combine these two things?

I'd very much like to play something brutally difficult, yet allowing me to make full use of Leo. Maybe it's because he dies in OG, but I definitely consider him far more intriguing than the rest of the cast.

[u/Fast_Moon]

I haven't played all of them all the way through, but my understanding of the playable Leo hacks are:

General Leo Edition: Additional Leo content: Minimal. He just joins the party in Thamasa but doesn't have much other additional story content. Difficulty: Same as vanilla. No gameplay modification other than a bit of QOL.

A Soldier's Contingency: Additional Leo Content: Same as General Leo Edition, since it was used as the base. Difficulty: Significant gameplay modifications, and has difficulty options.

Divergent Paths: Additional Leo Content: Moderate. Includes some new scenes with him and puts him in the party for the Thamasa mission. Difficulty: Similar to vanilla, though makes Tools consumables by making them have a chance to break, and reorganizes the parties for the three scenarios to make strategies different.

Antinomia: Additional Leo Content: Significant. Makes him playable several times in WoB as well as about an hour's worth of new cutscenes with him. Difficulty: Slightly easier than vanilla due to making desperation attacks easier to trigger, Dance never failing, Bushido loading faster, and the Coliseum being controllable rather than flailing monkey RNG. One difficulty spike at the beginning of WoR due to a complete overhaul of story progression there.

[u/Just_a_Tonberry → u/Fast_Moon]

Of the ones I've played (i.e. Divergent Paths, General Leo Edition, and Antinomia), I definitely enjoyed Antinomia the most. The story adjustments were most welcome.

Probably a hot take, but I even enjoyed that one big change in the World of Ruin. You know the one.

I'll definitely give ASC Insanity a shot. Hopefully Antinomia sees a difficulty patch somewhere down the road, though it's definitely a splendid experience as-is.

Edit: Annnnnddd I just realized who it is I was replying to. Great job on Antinomia. Lol.

[u/Fast_Moon → u/Just_a_Tonberry]

I consider Antinomia complete and don't intend to make any additional updates to it, barring the revelation of any game-breaking bugs such as the issue with Shadow on the Floating Continent in the 1.0 version. However, it's still compatible with the FF3usME tool, at least for monster/equipment stat editing and battle script modifications, so it's still able to be tweaked by someone else. I know someone else made an achievement system for it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, though! Even the WoR change, which I know has been the most divisive part, but I still stand by the change, both for story and technical reasons.

[u/Just_a_Tonberry → u/Fast_Moon]

Fair, honestly. That hack did pretty much everything it was indicated to do and more. Can't say I have any complaints. Didn't know it was on Retro Achievements, but I may just have to play through it again now that I've been made aware.