FF4 Free Enterprise is a randomizer made by b0ardface that takes one of the most linear games in the Final Fantasy series and shuffles all of its stuff around--bosses, characters, treasures, key items--effectively turning it into an open-world RPG that has you travelling all over the place, including to the moon and back again, trying to find all the characters, equipment, and items you need to take on the big boy Zeromus himself. Your first boss could be Dark Bahamut in the Antlion's Cave, who guards the key to the underground. Golbez might be waiting for you on Mt. Ordeals holding the Crystal you need to fight Zeromus. Your first trip to the Lunar Palace might have Edward there to greet you, while FuSoYa is found wandering inside of Eblan Cave. A shopkeeper in Baron might be selling the Ragnarok sword at a hefty markup, or the first treasure chest you open might contain Edge's Masamune...with a 2nd Masamune in a chest on the next map. Basically, your standard randomizer hijinks.
You can find the randomizer here, and a full breakdown of what's changed here. You'll need your own FF4 US 1.1 ROM to play the randomizer.
A tracker for the various characters, bosses, and key items is located here, made by Schala-Kitty. Note that this is just the one I've been using, there are others as well on the randomizer Discord (link on the randomizer page).
The Flags
A quick breakdown of each of the flags used by the randomizer. The randomizer page has a more detailed description of what each flag setting does.
Japanese Content - Since FF4FE is based on the US version of the game, this flag restores the items that were cut from its release (like the Soma Drops that raise your max MP or the Sirens that force you into a monster battle), and can also restore the cut character commands, such as Dark Knight Cecil's Darkness Wave. This is worth leaving at setting 1 at the very least, though you may as well enable the cut commands as well.
Key Items - Determines how the game's key items are shuffled around. Probably the single most important setting in the game in terms of difficulty, since any setting other than 1 will basically require you to fight every boss in the game, and possibly open every treasure chest. I personally wouldn't go above setting 3 since I don't want to have to fight Moon-strength enemies and bosses before traveling to the underground.
Pass - The Pass is an item that lets you into the back room of the pub in Troia; in this case, the Pass is used to directly access Zeromus. This flag determines how to find a Pass: whether you buy it from a shop, find it amongst the other key items, or find it randomly in a treasure chest. I use setting 2 because having it in a shop is boring, while having it in the key item pool bumps either the Adamant or the Legend sword, preventing you from ever getting an Excalibur (though the randomizer will rarely replace the Legend sword with an Excalibur anyways).
Characters - Setting this flag randomizes the locations of all the game's playable characters, including the two you start the game with. Also has an option to make Edge and FuSoYa harder to get since they're so strong. Note that, due to the total number of playable characters, the number of locations you can recruit characters, and sheer random luck, it's entirely possible to find duplicates of the same character at various points during a playthrough, and it's also possible that a character may not show up at all at any point during the run. I leave this on setting 1. Edge and FuSoYa are so good that you'll never get rid of them once you have them, so this setting will make you use weaker characters, at least for a little bit.
Treasures - Determines how treasure chests are randomized. You can simply shuffle the contents of every chest in the game around, or you can completely randomize the contents of the entire treasure pool. Or you can have no treasure at all. Setting 3 is my preferred setting; Setting 4 will give you tons of high-powered gear before you've even left Baron.
Shops - Like treasures, you can randomize shops to either shuffle their contents around, or you can have them stock random items, or you can just have them sell nothing but Cabins. Same deal as above: setting 3 is king.
Bosses - This flag, when set, randomizes the locations of all the game's bosses, and are scaled in difficulty based on their location (so Dark Bahamut in the Mist Dragon's spot has vaguely Mist Dragon-like stats, though Megaflare and Flare will still kill you dead). An optional setting determines whether certain bosses can block progression into the underground; the wrong boss in Rubicante's location, for instance, can effectively shut down progression for that seed unless you're willing to do a massive amount of grinding to overcome it. I wouldn't set this to setting 2 unless you enjoy pain.
FuSoYa Challenge - FuSoYa is one of the strongest characters in the game. This setting makes him slightly weaker to start off. You can either power him up by defeating bosses (it takes 14 boss kills to power him up to full strength), or you can gate his power-up behind Mt. Ordeals, similar to Tellah. Setting 2 is the more interesting option, even if it's harder to do Ordeals first.
No Free Lunch - A difficulty flag that takes away a bunch of free characters and moves a key item location to a different event. Also has the option of disabling certain boss scripts, turning bosses like Dark Knight Cecil in proper (and terrifying) bosses. I use setting 1 for the most part since it forces you to work with what you start with rather than recruiting the best 5 characters and then steamrolling the early bosses.
Encounters - Determines how the game handles random encounters. Options reduce the overall encounter rate, turn encounters into a toggleable option, or completely disable encounters. I just leave this at setting 3 so I can turn on encounters if needed.
$Money - Turns varying types of weak/useless items into gil. Can also be set to make all shop items free. I just leave this at 1.
EXperience Acceleration - Rather than dividing earned experience up amongst any surviving characters, each character receives the full amount of experience after a fight. Has the option of doubling experience gains after acquiring 10 key items, and also providing a bonus to low-level characters to bring them up to the levels of the rest of the party. Note that characters in FF4FE do not gain any experience outside battles that they've directly participated in, so recruiting Rydia for the first time and then going to fight Zeromus means you're fighting him with a level 1 Rydia, who may or may not have spells. I just leave this at 2.
Y-Turbo - Gives you the option to dash with Y like the modern FF rereleases. Has an option to make dashing the default (along with setting the battle and message speed to their fastest settings). I set it to 2 and just deal with the increased battle speed.
"Glitchless" - Disables the game's helpful glitches, like the item duplication glitch. No 255 Ragnaroks for you! I turn this on since I don't really want to learn the tricks.
Why Burn?
- Disables Dark Bahamut's opening Megaflare. You want to have this set.Zeromus - Randomizes Zeromus' final battle sprite. Yes, Poochy the Rockin' Dog is the true final boss of FF4! Always turn this on.
Some flag/seed combos I've enjoyed so far:
J2K3P2CT3S3BF2NE3X2$Y2GWZ-PONYGOON - As bad as it sounds.
J2K2P2CT4S3BF2NE3X2$Y2GWZ-DOGGO - A good seed that deserves lots of treats and bellyrubs.
3DS Friend Code: 2852-6885-2752
There was a link here, it's dead now and I'm sad.
