Uploaded March 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Hey there, and welcome to the Lv.1 Hardcore Mod Challenge! Basically, we're going to try and get through Gjoerulv's excellent Hardcore mod with a Lv.1 party; it'll be a tad risque but I'm thinking we can do it. Maybe.
For the challenge, every enemy has had it's EXP yield reduced to 0 and our team starts at Lv.1 with Hardcore Mod stats (which are slightly different here and there from regular Lv.1 stats). What is really different, though, is the equipment. In this mod, equipment gives more stat boosts; for instance, a Bronze Bangle gives +20 Dexterity. These stat boosts will help us out with certain fights, I'm sure.
One special thing to note is that Cloud's Buster Sword was modified to a standard damage calculation for this playthrough. In the unaltered Hardcore mod it has the same damage formula as Vincent's Death Penalty with Cloud starting the game with a healthy number of kills to emulate the regular damage of the Buster Sword when starting the game. Because this could potentially break some balance if Cloud amasses too many kills when we're farming for items and AP, I decided to change it back to the plain ol' Buster Sword instead.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
The key to this challenge is the wealth of different items that are available from enemies, which we'll use to bring down the bosses. It's highly likely that this challenge will come to a grinding halt at any moment so let's see how far we can get before that happens.
-Reactor No.1-
Our first item on the agenda is to grab four or more Bolt Plumes. This'll let us take out Guard Scorpion's 3000HP quickly. The Reactor is a 'trap' so we can't use Inns to restore our HP which means living off item drops from enemies. A good safe place for this is the catwalk where Wedge is, as only MPs and Mono-Drives spawn here.
The best place to get Bolt Plumes is from the lone Sweeper formation, but with 1001HP per Sweeper you need an Ether (or grenades) for each fight. In the video, I go after the 'full' Sweeper formation instead just for a more interesting bit of footage as I've already gotten what I needed. I reload the save file after this fight is done.
Guard Scorpion doesn't require any special tactics, but I decided to save a Plume and use Cloud's MP with limit breaks instead to do the last chunk of damage.
The next part of this challenge is tricky. On a limited pool of MP and healing items, we have to grab Spider Webs (Grashtrike) and rare drops of Shrapnel (Special Combatant). If we spend too long getting Spider Webs, we might not have enough steam to grab enough Shrapnels (assuming they're obtainable at all; the drop rate seems very very low).
Hey there, and welcome to the Lv.1 Hardcore Mod Challenge! Basically, we're going to try and get through Gjoerulv's excellent Hardcore mod with a Lv.1 party; it'll be a tad risque but I'm thinking we can do it. Maybe.
For the challenge, every enemy has had it's EXP yield reduced to 0 and our team starts at Lv.1 with Hardcore Mod stats (which are slightly different here and there from regular Lv.1 stats). What is really different, though, is the equipment. In this mod, equipment gives more stat boosts; for instance, a Bronze Bangle gives +20 Dexterity. These stat boosts will help us out with certain fights, I'm sure.
One special thing to note is that Cloud's Buster Sword was modified to a standard damage calculation for this playthrough. In the unaltered Hardcore mod it has the same damage formula as Vincent's Death Penalty with Cloud starting the game with a healthy number of kills to emulate the regular damage of the Buster Sword when starting the game. Because this could potentially break some balance if Cloud amasses too many kills when we're farming for items and AP, I decided to change it back to the plain ol' Buster Sword instead.
Challenge Conditions
-) Gjoerulv's Hardcore Mod Installed
-) Lv.1 Party Only
-) No Overflow
-) No 'Game Over' Slots
-) No Sources
The key to this challenge is the wealth of different items that are available from enemies, which we'll use to bring down the bosses. It's highly likely that this challenge will come to a grinding halt at any moment so let's see how far we can get before that happens.
-Reactor No.1-
Our first item on the agenda is to grab four or more Bolt Plumes. This'll let us take out Guard Scorpion's 3000HP quickly. The Reactor is a 'trap' so we can't use Inns to restore our HP which means living off item drops from enemies. A good safe place for this is the catwalk where Wedge is, as only MPs and Mono-Drives spawn here.
The best place to get Bolt Plumes is from the lone Sweeper formation, but with 1001HP per Sweeper you need an Ether (or grenades) for each fight. In the video, I go after the 'full' Sweeper formation instead just for a more interesting bit of footage as I've already gotten what I needed. I reload the save file after this fight is done.
Guard Scorpion doesn't require any special tactics, but I decided to save a Plume and use Cloud's MP with limit breaks instead to do the last chunk of damage.
The next part of this challenge is tricky. On a limited pool of MP and healing items, we have to grab Spider Webs (Grashtrike) and rare drops of Shrapnel (Special Combatant). If we spend too long getting Spider Webs, we might not have enough steam to grab enough Shrapnels (assuming they're obtainable at all; the drop rate seems very very low).
