Final Fantasy VIII
Learning how to add mods (especially those depending on Tonberry mod,) wasn't easy at first. There were two ways to install the mods:
- Get Lunatic Pandora (paid) installation package.
- Or install the mods from their announcement pages one-by-one. (Here's a guide with links to most of them)
Since I couldn't donate to Lunatic Pandora Project, I decided to install everything separately.
First I downloaded Tonberry mod, it seems it does nothing by itself but most of the mods need it installed before working. But I didn't know that at first and was disappointed that the mod didn't work.
Left: Original | Right: SeeD Reborn Mod
I like the original portraits better, the modded ones have less color in them.
I thought you need to install additional programs for the mods to work. Luckily it wasn't the case after I got Tonberry mod all I needed was to put its files in the root folder of Final Fantasy VIII, after that I followed the guide on how to put other mods.
SeeD Reborn & Project Hellfire
Seed reborn is described as "Text, Menu, and GUI Overhaul by MCINDUS" I thought it was the most interesting mod because the text is the thing that we see the most in the game, and I loved the font used.
Project Hellfire was the second mod to download and install, it overhauls the textures of GFs (Guardian Forces/Summons)
Left: Original | Right: Project Hellfire
Ifrit is here to show you who's the boss!
Installing them is intuitive: After you download them, you just have to put the texture files in the textures folder of Tonberry, and put the hashmap *.csv file in Tonberry's hashmap folder.
Most of the other mods like Rebirth Flame (Player Characters) Apocalypse (Bosses) and Lunar Cry (Enemies) are installed the same way.
These mods work perfectly with the Steam version, though you can't open Steam overlay and the graphic mods game at the same time.
Other Mods
Some mods I haven't installed are the Music mods. The most popular of which is called "Roses and Wine." It's the essential mod for many players since the PC version have lower quality music than the PS1 version. (By having only *.midi music.)
I also haven't installed the large mods like the Background overhaul or Triple Traid ones, I might install them eventually but I'm not in a hurry to do that right now.
FFVIII: Fully Voiced?!
Since I'm talking about mods anyway, there's a mod in-making and I hope we see the success of it. The fully voiced mod... The team that's making it is trying hard to make the project a success.
They've released a two voiced clips: One about Squall's Garden speech, I wrote a post about it a few weeks ago. The others has more characters, you can watch it above or on youtube.
Final Thoughts
While I like playing a modded version of games, I'd love my first playthrough to be as pure as possible, that's why I waited until recently to install FFVIII mods.
Sadly, RPG games like these require a lot of time making me not sure if I'll do a modded playthrough of the game.
What do you think?
If you're interested, you can read my Final Fantasy VIII review or Check out my games shop: @ahmadgameslist where I offer something for everyone.