A slickproductions.org /forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&action=printpage;topic=682.0 e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/index06d3.html slickproductions.org /forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=5f0fck550j2m4m2fpbtkj2vkm1&topic=682.0 e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/index06d3.html.z x g^ P[ / OK text/html ISO-8859-1 gzip @ / Tue, 10 Mar 2020 12:18:27 GMT 0 0 P g^ r /
Print Page - DS Version Research
Board of Slick
Library of the Ancients => Final Fantasy IV Research & Development => Topic started by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 06:11:25 AM
Title: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 06:11:25 AM
I said I'd take notes when this game came out in English and I have been. I'll update this as I progress, I wanted to make sure I got this all copied down before I forgot some of it again. Assume everything already listed in this forum applies to this version except for what I've noted below.
Magic and Enemy Skills
Beak Only inflicts gradual petrification now. It may be a threat early in the game but it's just silly when a cockatrice's physical attack can turn you into stone outright but their "special" attack can't.
Bravery Available via Recall and Twincast with the right character combination, it doubles the party's attack power.
Bubble Doubles maximum HP.
Embrace No longer restores the target's HP. :sad:
Faith Magic hits for more damage.
Libra Why is this here? Basically, Libra fills in a few missing entries on the help screen at the bottom of battle. It displays the enemy's current HP, weakness, and resistance. These are recorded permanently, you only need to cast it on one of each enemy to have these stats listed forever. I'm going to take a moment to rant in the two paragraphs, feel free to skip to Whyt (Or better yet, skip that too since it's also ranty and go onto the commands, I only rant about auto potion and cry there).
First off, I really like the help window and the way Libra works, this isn't a rant about them. It's about the bestiary, and how utterly useless it is compared to all five FF Advance games. It only records the monster's level, the number you've killed, where it appears, EXP gained, and treasure it can drop. The help menu only lists weakness and resistance, there is absolutely no place in the game to learn which elements enemies attack with (And they do attack with elements now) or which statuses they're resistant to. It's pointless except for the treasure section. You can poke the enemy on the touch screen to view their attack animation, that was a nice touch (I'm not being sarcastic, I really do like it, I'd happily trade it for that information I mentioned though).
I realize that the GBA games were developed by an entirely different company but you'd think the developers of this version of the game would have a little common sense and realize that knowing these things is extremely helpful. This bestiary was clearly an afterthought, unlike the ones in the GBA versions. I wouldn't have minded it if you had to use Libra or a bestiary item on an enemy to have access to the information either, that would've been cool, but that little bit in the help menu just isn't enough.
Ultima Cast when Cecil and Rosa use Twincast together. Massive non-elemental damage as far as I can tell, hard to test because I kept getting Pyroblast instead.
Whyt (Or whatever you named it) Summons Rydia's Whytkin into battle, where it replaces her. Stats are upgraded by playing mini games at the fat chocobo, you can assign it five commands (Commands like white and black magic are not allowed, instead you must select a single spell from the list), and you can draw a new face for it as well. It's one huge gimmick really, I've yet to find a place where I'd rather replace my best magic user with a marshmallow that randomly uses five commands instead of an entire list of black magic and Eidolons... You can battle them but doing so requires two copies of the game, there's no option to send a small program to the other DS as many games have, and no way to play it over Wi-Fi (Which is the only way it would've been any fun...for a week, before all the cheaters got a copy of the game like Metroid Prime Hunters...).
One possible good situation is right after you get it, raise its intellect until it is higher than Rydia's, fill its command list with nothing but Thunder (And maybe Cure, although with 0 spirit it probably won't work at all) and summon it against the octomammoth. That's the last boss I can think of where it would work well, since most of them change weaknesses or have times you don't want to be attacking them. If the damn thing didn't cost 50 MP to summon it would have a few more uses in random encounters.
Commands and Augments
Darkness (Dark Knight Cecil/Augment) No longer a multi-target non-elemental attack; darkness makes the affected character's attacks dark-elemental, every strike they make will do double damage but cost them 10% of their HP. Lasts for a short duration, it's time-based and not turn-based as I've had it wear off while not entering commands for the affected character. Darkness cannot kill the user, it will leave them with 1 HP. The damage dealt to the character by this command is added after any healing from the blood weaponry, so you will always take damage from it.
Defend (All) Halves physical damage and probably halves magic damage, I haven't tested to be sure but it definitely reduces magic damage.
Auto Potion (Augment) Use a potion automatically any time you take damage. A good way to waste potions, if it only happened when you were critical that would be one thing, but as it is only teach this to get another character's augments and never even think about equipping it.
Recall (Tellah/Augment) Recall has far better spells at its disposal now, I've yet to have a chance to document them all but I've seen Blizzara, Thundara, Thundaga, and Bravery.
Bardsong (Edward/Augment) Read: Sing. Works like magic now, it can be accessed in the magic menu and songs are selected from a list. Edward has his normal songs and Life's Anthem, which is like Mighty March in FF5; the user sings and HP constantly regenerates at a rate of 5% per turn, the character continues singing until they are hit or a long period of time/number of turns.
Salve (Edward/Augment) Read: Heal/Medicine. Opens a menu with all your healing items, I've only tested it with potions but quite a few things are highlighted as usable. Does not do split recovery, instead it functions as if you used a potion on each character, they get the full amount of healing.
Aim (Rosa) Can be applied to any weapon Rosa has equipped, not just bows and arrows. My first time through the Japanese version I would have sworn it did reduced damage compared to a normal attack command, that does not seem to be the case though. Essentially replaces attack for Rosa, which is exactly what I do to free up another command slot. Takes slightly longer to "charge" than a normal attack.
Pray (Rosa) Restores a percentage of HP and a smaller percentage of MP, I've yet to determine the actual values but it definitely improves later in the game.
Item Lore (Augment) Doubles the power of items in battle. Can power up magic-casting weaponry if that weaponry comes up as the weapon's name instead of a spell when used.
Kick (Yang/Augment) Now factors in the properties of his equipped weapons. Attacks much faster and although it does split damage it seems stronger than in the other versions, less accurate than a normal attack though. Essentially the same as attack when there's only one enemy in the battle.
Focus (Yang/Augment) Read: Power. Doubles the character's attack power. Can be applied up to three times, which means you can hit for 8x damage. Seems to apply to every physical attack command. Lowers magic defense.
Brace (Yang/Augment) Read: Gird/Endurance. Super defend, user takes 25% damage from any physical attacks from the time this is selected until the next command is input.
Counter (Augment) Counter attack with the command at the top of the command list whenever the character with it equipped is attacked. One could set up some interesting strategies with this.
Twincast (Palom and Porom/Augment) Works nearly the same as the original for Palom and Porom, except both must chose the command separately, this is because the command can be given to any other characters via augments. When used by other character combinations different spells are cast.
Bluff (Palom/Augment) Doubles the user's intellect until a black magic spell is cast, after which it must be reapplied.
Cry (Porom/Augment) Halves all enemies' defense. Oddly enough it seems to have a 100% success rate, which means it has the potential to massively unbalance the game.
Analyze (Cid/Augment) Read: Study. Essentially Libra on all enemies, does not work on bosses. See Libra in the magic section for a description of how it works.
Upgrade (Cid/Augment) This is an interesting one. You can use elemental magic-casting items to upgrade Cid's weapon with that element for a single battle. Turn those useless bomb fragments into a fire-elemental hammer in the Tower of Zot. I didn't test to see if stronger items yield stronger results, doesn't seem like it would though since the hammer's attack power was unaffected.
Tsunami (Augment) Cagnazzo's tsunami spell. A multi-target water-elemental attack.
Last Stand (Augment) Doubles a character's defense when they're critical.
Whirlwind (Augment) Barbariccia's whirlwind spell. I made the mistake of giving this to Yang and saving immediately afterward, he didn't have enough MP to actually make use of it. Does multi-target wind-elemental damage and makes the target weak against fire but does not override the absorb property for enemies that absorb fire.
Fast Talker (Augment) Halves the casting time of all spells.
Draw Attacks (Augment) Every attack and enemy spell targets the character with this equipped until they die, multi-target attacks aren't affected by it. I suppose it would be useful if you equipped it on a tank who also had counter equipped.
Adrenaline (Augment) Doubles the character's attack power when they're critical.
Inferno (Augment) Essentially Meltdown from FF6 without the wind element. MT fire-elemental damage to both the enemy and the party.
Bless (Fusoya/Augment) Read: Regen. Now regenerates MP, restores about 10 MP every other turn. Doesn't seem to be affected by the character's stats. Far more useful than the HP regeneration in the original, easily abusable in battles where the enemy doesn't attack unless you do.
Omnicasting (Augment) Allows you to split any spell. This has massive potential if given to Rosa, as you can do things like cast Blink or Haste on the entire party at once. Spells still do split damage like a normal multi-targeted spell would.
Phoenix (Augment) If the character with it equipped is killed all their MP is sacrificed to revive any other dead party members with full HP. Give it to Kain, he doesn't have enough MP to really be useful with anything else anyway. If the character does not have full MP the party is still revived but with less HP, most likely the percentage of MP the character had left is the percentage of HP the party will be revived with.
In addition to these any item or spell that character knows can be added as a command. This includes the weapon they currently have equipped, meaning it's possible to have Mage Arrows at a single click early on. These "shortcuts" are incredibly useful while playing on active, provided you don't mind constantly updating your characters' command lists to be situation-relevant.
Status Effects
Berserk Unchanged, except for the fact that it no longer randomizes the target, it hits whatever the default target for an attack command would've been. Berserk characters can attack even if they don't have an attack command. Can be cured with Esuna.
Bluff See bluff command.
Bravery See bravery spell.
Confuse Confused characters always attack and can attack even if they don't have an attack command.
Cry See cry command.
Darkness Darkness is the status applied by the darkness command, what was called darkness status in previous versions is now called blind. See the command description for more information.
Float Float status is not removed while casting Warp in a dungeon.
Focus See focus command.
Haste Haste is now a status effect, it doubles the speed of the ATB bar for the duration of the battle.
Magnetize The magnetic paralysis gets its own name now instead of sharing it with the normal paralyze status. It has its own double small lightning bolts icon in battle, out of battle it uses paralyze's large lightning bolt icon. It's convenient to have the out-of-battle display, if you accidentally equip something metallic you can find out before you get into a battle.
Protect Protect is now a status effect, it works just like in later games, it doubles the character's defense for the duration of the battle.
Shell Shell is now a status effect, it works just like in later games, it doubles the character's magic defense for the duration of the battle.
Slow Shell is now a status effect, it works just like in later games, it halves targets' speed for the duration of the battle. It works on everything and is pretty much required for some faster enemies.
Miscellaneous
Items and weapons that cast magic are now based on your intellect or spirit. This has the unfortunate side effect of making them worthless for the characters who used to benefit from them, dark knight Cecil can't kill groups of zombies with bomb fragments, Kain can no longer use his lances to take out flans, etc.
Enemies play fair sometimes, zombies are no longer immune to the dark element so dark knight Cecil has a fighting chance against them without resorting to fighting unarmed. Flans no longer completely nullify physical damage so your fighters can take them out now, it just takes a while.
Enemies have elemental attacks now, the potential was there in the SNES version but never used. List of ones I've encountered and identified so far:
Bloodybones: Drain Succubus: Drain Flamehound: Fire Flame Knight: Fire Blood Eye: Drain
Since there's no indication that an attack is elemental, with the exception of drain, until it hits someone who is weak against or resistant to that element I've probably missed some already. Zombies do not attack with dark, unlike I speculated elsewhere.
There are two new elements, water and earth. Both are used where you'd expect, water on Flood, Tsunami, Deluge, and Leviathan, earth on Quake and its variants. A few enemies resist or absorb these now. There's also wind, which just seems to be the anti-aerial element from the original, except there also seems to be an independent anti-aerial property used by arrows.
Physical attacks check for elemental resistance and absorption before weakness, so Yang with a Flame and Ice Claw will heal a Frostbeast/Flamehound instead of damaging it like the original. This has the positive benefit of unbreaking armor resistance to enemy physical attacks.
Blood weaponry seems to restore 10% of the damage it causes to the wielder.
Deathmask appears to have two different attack sequences. Normally it acts the same way as usual, Reflect on itself, Reflect on the party, Holy on itself, etc. Sometimes however it simply blasts the party with Laser Barrage every turn. The only thing I noticed is that the two times I saw this alternate sequence was when I was surprised or attacked from behind.
This is probably common knowledge for anyone who's played the game but the command in your auto-battle slot doesn't need to be one in the command list. This means you essentially have six command slots, you just need to have good timing with the X button to take advantage of the sixth.
And since this is a research topic, Auto-Battle: Allows the user to select a single command for each character to use, when X is pressed in battle auto-battle is enabled and the commands will be used as soon as a character's ATB gauge is full. There is no AI or anything of the sort, so it's almost entirely worthless unless you're clearing out weak enemies that don't need any special attention or using it for a sixth command.
Yang's claws now raise his attack power. I've yet to test if he still has his own special damage formula.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 27, 2008, 07:49:31 AM
This is going to be quite the quote.
Also, I'm at the sealed cave, visited the faeries and am on my way through the summon cave.
Use this as often as possible, You'll thank me when you finish the Namingway stuff.
It's augments ???'s thought's. 1 STR per summon of your Whytkin (I named mine Whytie)
Quote
Commands and Augments Bardsong (Edward/Augment)
Life's Anthem is pretty much Edward's best use as it is persentage based. I think it's around 10-15% I would have to recheck though.
-EDIT-Probably right around 10% like Pray -/EDIT-
Quote
Aim (Rosa)
I hadn't thought about replacing attack with aim. Sounds like a good idea.
Quote
Pray (Rosa) Restores a percentage of HP and a smaller percentage of MP, I've yet to determine the actual values but it definitely improves later in the game.
Not sure about the HP % but the magic is around 7-8% Just checked. It's right at 10% for both hp and mp. Though I am pretty sure it rounds down. if you have 135-139mp, you'll only get 13mp.
-EDIT- Ok I was wrong again. It seems to fluctuate. Right now I have a max of 326mp. Last battle I used it and got 32mp on Rosa. This time I got 19. So as of now, it seems to fluctuate between 5-10% I'll do a few more tests and post again. Also I've seen the HP restore hit 12% -/EDIT-
Quote
Counter (Augment) Counter attack with the command at the top of the command list whenever the character with it equipped is attacked. One could set up some interesting strategies with this.
Set it up on the same character you will put Draw Attack on. You get a shit ton of attacks this way.
Quote
Tsunami (Augment) Cagnazzo's tsunami spell. Presumably a multi-target, instant death causing water-elemental attack, although I forgot to test it.
It's multi, but I never got it to cause death
Quote
Status Effects
I would like to add that I've never seen slow "miss" unless it's an enemy immune to all status effects. It def makes things much easier. Especially in faerie cave where you come across the spirits that are super fast and repeat the cast silence/sleep. They usually get 3 turns to my one and my characters are 47-49.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 09:26:57 AM
Added your information about tsunami and slow to the first post and added extra information for last stand and whirlwind. Did you give whirlwind to anyone yet? That bit about making the enemy weak to fire really has me intrigued.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 27, 2008, 09:38:03 AM
Edge has it. I'ma get some sleep and load it up and see what I get. Also, didn't slow/haste/protect/shell eventually wear off in the old games? Maybe I haven't been in long enough battles but they don't seem to be. Reflect still wears though
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 10:37:16 AM
They didn't wear off but they weren't nearly as useful either, they simply increased (Or decreased in the case of Slow) the stat by a few points. Actually, that's not entirely true, Haste was always useful.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: odditude on July 27, 2008, 10:38:53 AM
strategic possibility - give someone focus (top slot), draw, and kick? you could do an 8x power MT phys attack almost every turn...
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 11:02:10 AM
That's a good one, counter doesn't always counter but it's bound to at least once per turn if you're facing enough enemies so you'd end up with at least double attack power each turn.
Speaking of strategic possibilities, I brought this theory up in IRC the other night. Give Kain darkness and focus, have someone haste him, then quickly use darkness and focus up to maximum, then jump. If they all stack (I have no idea if they do or not, I know darkness works with jump) he should land for 32x damage, 64x if someone cries to halve the enemy's defense. He'd need to break the 9999 damage limit to really take advantage of it, so it's only possible on your second playthrough. Having draw attacks on him and focus as a counter would simply the process of getting him up to maximum, I didn't really think there would be enough time to do it before darkness wore off.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on July 27, 2008, 11:27:28 AM
Libra Why is this here? Basically, Libra fills in a few missing entries on the help screen at the bottom of battle. It displays the enemy's current HP, weakness, and resistance. These are recorded permanently, you only need to cast it on one of each enemy to have these stats listed forever. I'm going to take a moment to rant in the two paragraphs, feel free to skip to Whyt (Or better yet, skip that too since it's also ranty and go onto the commands, I only rant about auto potion and cry there).
First off, I really like the help window and the way Libra works, this isn't a rant about them. It's about the bestiary, and how utterly useless it is compared to all five FF Advance games. It only records the monster's level, the number you've killed, where it appears, EXP gained, and treasure it can drop. The help menu only lists weakness and resistance, there is absolutely no place in the game to learn which elements enemies attack with (And they do attack with elements now) or which statuses they're resistant to. It's pointless except for the treasure section. You can poke the enemy on the touch screen to view their attack animation, that was a nice touch (I'm not being sarcastic, I really do like it, I'd happily trade it for that information I mentioned though).
I realize that the GBA games were developed by an entirely different company but you'd think the developers of this version of the game would have a little common sense and realize that knowing these things is extremely helpful. This bestiary was clearly an afterthought, unlike the ones in the GBA versions. I wouldn't have minded it if you had to use Libra or a bestiary item on an enemy to have access to the information either, that would've been cool, but that little bit in the help menu just isn't enough.
How thoughtful...
Quote
Whyt (Or whatever you named it) Summons Rydia's Whytkin into battle, where it replaces her. Stats are upgraded by playing mini games at the fat chocobo, you can assign it five commands (Commands like white and black magic are not allowed, instead you must select a single spell from the list), and you can draw a new face for it as well. It's one huge gimmick really, I've yet to find a place where I'd rather replace my best magic user with a marshmallow that randomly uses five commands instead of an entire list of black magic and Eidolons... You can battle them but doing so requires two copies of the game, there's no option to send a small program to the other DS as many games have, and no way to play it over Wi-Fi (Which is the only way it would've been any fun...for a week, before all the cheaters got a copy of the game like Metroid Prime Hunters...).
One possible good situation is right after you get it, raise its intellect until it is higher than Rydia's, fill its command list with nothing but Thunder (And maybe Cure, although with 0 spirit it probably won't work at all) and summon it against the octomammoth. That's the last boss I can think of where it would work well, since most of them change weaknesses or have times you don't want to be attacking them. If the damn thing didn't cost 50 MP to summon it would have a few more uses in random encounters.
Cure with 0 Spirit = 1 Magic Multiplier (which is bare minimum of uselessness).
Quote
Commands and Augments
Pray (Rosa) Restores a percentage of HP and a smaller percentage of MP, I've yet to determine the actual values but it definitely improves later in the game.
You may want to check the numbers... you would need to determine if that is Spirit based or level based or unlikely maxHP/MP based... the randomness of the numbers should be limited to the same 100 to 150% effectiveness...
Quote
Focus (Yang/Augment) Read: Power. Doubles the character's attack power. Can be applied up to three times, which means you can hit for 8x damage. Seems to apply to every physical attack command.
Does it still have the negative magic defense droppage property? That would be the only thing that would hurt its usage.
Quote
Cry (Porom/Augment) Halves all enemies defense. Oddly enough it seems to have a 100% success rate, which means it has the potential to massively unbalance the game.
It generally doesn't. Unless the monster defense has been revamped, the majority of monsters have defense at both extremes of the scale... which makes this most effective vs Flan/Pudding monsters.
Quote
Last Stand (Augment) Doubles a character's defense when they're critical.
It would probably do better on a spellcaster (not that I give a crap about Edward), but probably benefits a White Wizard the most since you want them to be alive long enough to heal everyone.. though Cecil could benefit by surviving extra long to heal himself, revive others, and auto-Cover... but meh.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 27, 2008, 01:01:17 PM
Pray (Rosa) Restores a percentage of HP and a smaller percentage of MP, I've yet to determine the actual values but it definitely improves later in the game.
You may want to check the numbers... you would need to determine if that is Spirit based or level based or unlikely maxHP/MP based... the randomness of the numbers should be limited to the same 100 to 150% effectiveness...
It doesn't seem to be spirit based, I got Rosa's spirit as low as I could and noticed to real difference. I'm pretty sure it's percentage based, characters with higher HP and MP get more restored, but it's hard to test because it varies greatly.
Focus (Yang/Augment) Read: Power. Doubles the character's attack power. Can be applied up to three times, which means you can hit for 8x damage. Seems to apply to every physical attack command.
Does it still have the negative magic defense droppage property? That would be the only thing that would hurt its usage.
I'm not sure, I didn't even remember that to test it, and I just lost Yang. It'll be a bit but when I get his augments I'll give it a test (I'm thinking of sticking focus on Kain this playthrough).
Cry (Porom/Augment) Halves all enemies defense. Oddly enough it seems to have a 100% success rate, which means it has the potential to massively unbalance the game.
It generally doesn't. Unless the monster defense has been revamped, the majority of monsters have defense at both extremes of the scale... which makes this most effective vs Flan/Pudding monsters.
Maybe not, but it's certainly making some enemies easier. Then again, my first time through the Japanese version when I didn't use any augments was ridiculously hard at times, so things are probably balanced around you using this stuff. Speaking of flans, they've had defense reductions, I don't have the numbers (Another thing missing from the bestiary...) but you do more than 1 damage against them. They're still really strong though, so it's better to use magic on them, but if you lose all your magic users it's possible to take them out with fighters and perseverance.
Last Stand (Augment) Doubles a character's defense when they're critical.
It would probably do better on a spellcaster (not that I give a crap about Edward), but probably benefits a White Wizard the most since you want them to be alive long enough to heal everyone.. though Cecil could benefit by surviving extra long to heal himself, revive others, and auto-Cover... but meh.
I gave it to Yang as one of the two I needed to get all of his augments, his are far more useful to me. On my next playthrough I'll probably give it to Rosa for the reason you mention.
Added a miscellaneous section to the first post.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 27, 2008, 03:26:19 PM
Did you see that section of the faq on gamefaqs that tells you what augments give what stats post-70?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 27, 2008, 03:44:51 PM
Used Whirlwind on an enemy that absorbs fire; accomplished nothing. Still absorbs fire.
Fire on a Medusa from sealed cave with no weakness before whirlwind about 487 damage. After whirlwind 862.
Fire on a bat; 780. natural weakness to fire. Fire after whirlwind actually jumped up to 1050. Not bad.
This was all based on fire. I'm not sure how many would survive a firaga attack. Going to try those out next.
Btw, it doesn't show weakness when you hit it with fire after, nor does it add fire to the weaknessess at the bottom. I'm wondering if using whirlwind on that absorber actually made it absorb more hp.
Trap door normal firaga; 3258 damage. After whirlwind; 4449.
Also, the multiplier for kain's jump seems to work even without a spear. I don't know how correct it is, but I was reading in the old version, you had to have a spear for jump to do extra damage or something? I have an axe on him right now.
Praying with Whyt in your party uses Ryida's hp/mp max for the % healed. My Whyt is currently my strongest character. Managed to get 9999 on Cecil, Rydia and Edge's minigames.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 27, 2008, 06:51:51 PM
Arrows aren't consumed upon use
It wasn't like that in the original was it?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on July 27, 2008, 07:46:38 PM
Used Whirlwind on an enemy that absorbs fire; accomplished nothing. Still absorbs fire.
Fire on a Medusa from sealed cave with no weakness before whirlwind about 487 damage. After whirlwind 862.
Fire on a bat; 780. natural weakness to fire. Fire after whirlwind actually jumped up to 1050. Not bad.
This was all based on fire. I'm not sure how many would survive a firaga attack. Going to try those out next.
Btw, it doesn't show weakness when you hit it with fire after, nor does it add fire to the weaknessess at the bottom. I'm wondering if using whirlwind on that absorber actually made it absorb more hp.
Trap door normal firaga; 3258 damage. After whirlwind; 4449.
Damage increase of 25% sounds about right. Seems more like an elemental boost. Given the properties of most elemental spells, they do need a boost since they become relatively obsolete late game (well, you shouldn't expect the level 1 elemental to useful.. the level 2 one tends to be outshined by Bio due to better damage for MP consumed.. plus factoring the spell casting time).
Quote
Also, the multiplier for kain's jump seems to work even without a spear. I don't know how correct it is, but I was reading in the old version, you had to have a spear for jump to do extra damage or something? I have an axe on him right now.
Did you see that section of the faq on gamefaqs that tells you what augments give what stats post-70?
Nope, I literally didn't see that section. I've never really concerned myself with stat growth to be honest, always seemed like too much work when my characters were already killing machines at level 50. I completed the Japanese version in the mid 80's so it might actually be worth looking into now.
No, arrows came in groups of 10 and were consumed on use until your last one, which wouldn't be consumed until that character's next turn, meaning you could fight 20 battles with 1 arrow as long as that character only came up to fight once. Characters other than Rosa could also equip bow and arrows in the original...no more elven bow for Rydia. :sad:
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 28, 2008, 08:24:30 AM
I had a hard time in the giant at level 63. Still need to get bahamut and go through the final dungeon. everyone is 64-62 right now
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 28, 2008, 08:53:26 AM
The old "one status to resist them all" trick is gone, a rune ring won't stop malboro's bad breath from inflicting its other nasty effects on a character.
Confused characters only seem to use attack, which makes them far less threatening at times and far more at others...
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on July 28, 2008, 01:05:06 PM
If the armor properties haven't changed.. you could take advantage of the few armors with stat protection:
Headband - For Charm (which is of ultimate importance IMO) Giant's Glove - For Mini (can't hurt you there, though Toad status will still hurt you just as well) Ruby Ring - For Piggy (Piggy penalty is minimal) Rune Ring - For Silence (kinda hard to cast magic with the other statuses involved)
So, the Headband would still be the top option, regardless of the other status effects.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 28, 2008, 03:09:41 PM
All the armor properties, as far as I can tell, are unchanged. The same goes for weapons, there have been a few minor changes but for the most part everything seems normal.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on July 28, 2008, 05:19:20 PM
Post 666? :eek: :whoa:
:zemogus:
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 29, 2008, 07:03:39 AM
Actually my 666th post was the one in the gaming progress thread:
I wanted to add something to the first post today, to the point I almost dragged myself out of bed while playing last night and waited for this monitor to warm up, but I completely forgot what it was now... :isuck:
:edit:
Ah yeah, darkness costs 10% of the user's HP, not 1/8th like in the original.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: I.S.T. on July 29, 2008, 06:01:55 PM
Evil puppy=own. One of Conan's best ideas.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 30, 2008, 04:03:52 AM
hmm, I made it to the bottom of the final dungeon, but no treasure hunter augment. do you know if I need to talk to someone? I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything in the non-returnable dungeons. Man is this gonna suck figuring out what I missed
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 31, 2008, 04:39:04 AM
I'm pretty sure I just got it upon completing the last map in the Japanese version but I'm not sure, I'm pretty close to the end now so I'll let you know what happens when I get there.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on July 31, 2008, 02:34:54 PM
Clarification on whyt, to get the bonus to ???'s love, you have to do local wireless battles. Which sucks balls. I don't know anyone near me that actually has the game.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on July 31, 2008, 02:59:27 PM
Bleh, why couldn't they add Wi-Fi support to this game? They did it for FF3's stupid letter writing which wasn't pointless but wasn't any fun either, this one actually has something that might have been fun to mess around with now and then.
I summoned Mallow (What? He looks like a marshmallow...) in a few boss battles since you wrote that though and gained a tiny bit more appreciation for him, don't give him any supportive skills like darkness though, he'll just waste all his turns reapplying that and never attacking.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: xlom3000 on August 01, 2008, 04:26:12 AM
he def has the potential to be your best offensive character if you equip it with the -aga spells or meteor. by the time rydia learns meteor though, she should be stronger than him anyway if you haven't gotten 9999 in all the mini games. What level does she learn it anyway? I was 78 with her when I beat the game and she still only knew up to flare. Maxing out his str and equiping him with kick could have awesome effects. Though with regular attack, he seems to miss a lot.
There's a few AR codes floating around that is supposed to up your wi-fi battle count.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 01, 2008, 06:29:56 AM
80, I just learned it this morning.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 01, 2008, 02:46:47 PM
Evil Double Post. :cybez:
You get Treasure Hunter as soon as you complete the last map, you must've missed something somewhere. :sad:
:edit:
Added some stuff to the first post. Deathmask having an alternate attack sequence is pretty interesting.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 03, 2008, 06:56:39 AM
Focus (Yang/Augment) Read: Power. Doubles the character's attack power. Can be applied up to three times, which means you can hit for 8x damage. Seems to apply to every physical attack command.
Does it still have the negative magic defense droppage property? That would be the only thing that would hurt its usage.
I'm not sure, I didn't even remember that to test it, and I just lost Yang. It'll be a bit but when I get his augments I'll give it a test (I'm thinking of sticking focus on Kain this playthrough).
It does, Cecil almost got killed by the mist dragon's counter while using focus.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Shinrin on August 03, 2008, 11:19:04 AM
There are two more spells you missed, Dragon.
Faith - Which makes your magic spells hit for more damage.
Bubble - Doubles your current max HP. (I'm not sure if your characters can have over 9999 hp in this game or not. Though I had characters with 14 to 15k+ in FFXII.)
also, you missed the Piercing Magic Augment.
It let's you use magic on reflected monsters/characters. Works great on rosa, just reflect your characters and you're protected against spells that don't go through reflect, then have Rosa cure when needed.
There is also a +50% mp and hp augments as well
And there is one to give you more Gil as well, but you have to spend 100k to get it and do the dancer thing in Toria so you can go to the dressing room to get it.
Also, I think you Xlom3000 said Life's Atheme does 10% like pray, which is wrong, it does 5%. It last as long as Edward doesn't get hit, or after a long time.
It's really easy to abuse bless in this game, as Rydia's whips can paralyze most enemies, in behemoth's. I've left many battles in the final dungeon with full hp/mp cause of the Paralyze and Bless combo.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 03, 2008, 06:47:45 PM
Added your information to the first post. I omitted HP/MP +50% as the name alone makes it obvious what it does. I suppose you could say that about a few of the others I already have but...
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on August 03, 2008, 06:51:45 PM
The HP Boost is most beneficial on Rydia... since it allows the Mist Dragon to be cheap and overpowered.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 03, 2008, 07:34:13 PM
If you remove Edward's commands that allow him to do any damage he'll gain an auto-battle script when you're fighting the sahagin at Kaipo...except you can still control him too. It's funny watching him attack while singing life's anthem.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Shinrin on August 05, 2008, 09:45:24 AM
I was reading somewhere.. maybe gamefaq's that there is a augment that make's it possible to make spells that's not normally multi-targetable like flare and holy. But I'm not 100% sure.
:edit:
Omnicasting - Let's spells that aren't normally multitarget.. well multitarget!
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 05, 2008, 11:00:42 AM
Omnicasting is already on the list. Also, don't list anything from GameFAQs until you've verified it yourself, I just read a terrible description of the cursed ring that was clearly pulled from someone's rectal orifice, I'd rather not list something until I've confirmed how it works.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 06, 2008, 06:04:18 PM
since when does kain miss coming down from a jump? i'm getting the sword in eblan, and kain came down on the steel golem and actually missed. i don't think that's ever happened before.
:edit:
and that was a waste. i thought it would be stronger than the flame sword. ah well.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 06, 2008, 06:08:15 PM
Ah yeah, forgot to mention that, it seems like enemies actually have an evasion stat now. Check the help window, it lists the accuracy of your attack, and it's not always the same as the accuracy of your weapon. Useful for status effecting magic and steal, so you can see if it's even worth bothering with.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on August 06, 2008, 06:09:08 PM
It's all about hit rate. If you equipped the Blood/Drain Spear, Jump is not immune to hit rate awfulness. Only Aim is the only command that guarentees a hit (although I've seen it miss early game, but for what reason, I have no idea).
Edit: If evasion has been worked back in, it is factored after hit rate tests.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 06, 2008, 06:43:52 PM
yeah, i just checked the guide. mad ogres have an evasion rate of 5. kain has the wind spear, and his accuracy is 80% with it. ah well. just thought it was interesting due to its rarity. not(rare) in this version, though, i guess.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 06, 2008, 07:15:56 PM
I might have to pick up a copy of that guide, sounds like it's actually pretty useful. Does it list which elements monsters attack with?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 06, 2008, 07:40:02 PM
umm.... nope, just checked.
i bought this thing mainly for the art, but here's a pic or 3 of what it looks like so you can see:
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 06, 2008, 07:43:40 PM
Ah, damn, well at least it appears to have a complete stat listing, something that was definitely missing from the in-game bestiary. I bet they short changed the one in-game to sell more guides in an age where they've been rendered a waste of money by the internet. </wacky conspiracy theory>
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 06, 2008, 08:12:10 PM
i never, ever, ever buy guides, but this one is pretty nice and i really liked all the art, so i couldn't help it(plus, it was $13 on amazon :) )
as for the conspiracy theory, i wouldn't doubt it. :)
for guide, yes, it lists complete stats, 1.5/1/.5 responses to all elements, doom weakness, gil, exp, hp, etc, etc. also, drops, steal, and vulnerable status ailments.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 07, 2008, 03:19:25 PM
btw, i was just looking something up and stopped to read some of the character bios. i'll quote the guide here:
"with the right buffs and augments, kain can eventually use jump to deal 99,999 damage!"
i know that you were discussing using focus and darkness, et al, to seriously raise cain's jump damage.
one last question,
if i'm the last poster in a topic and i edit my post, does it come up as "new" again so it will be noticed? cause that would seriously cut down on my double posting.
it's a full list of which augment raises which stat(s) post-70.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 07, 2008, 03:41:51 PM
Edited posts are, unfortunately, not marked as new from the main index. If I clicked into this forum and you made an edit I'd see it, but I'd have little reason to do that unless it was marked as having new posts from the main index.
As for Kain's damage, I forgot to mention I tried to test it, but just focusing him up three times results in 9999 damage, it gets really hard to test whether or not darkness and jump doubled it. I did find you can use darkness after focus and without losing focus status, something I wasn't aware of when I came up with that strategy. I'll probably give him limit break this playthrough and give it another try, I have a feeling my strategy is exactly what they're talking about though.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 08, 2008, 06:49:51 PM
is it just me, or does kain seem to take an inordinately long amount of time to come down from a jump in this version?
:edit:
axes have gotten a SERIOUS upgrade in this game. i've been using the dwarf axe, and i just upgraded to the orgekiller. i've NEVER used them in any other version of the game, so it's nice to see more of the weapons being given decent uses.
also, the increased drop rate is really starting to shine. i got 3 sets of giant gloves in 3 straight fights with steel golems.
also, i've been ripping apart ff4ds with ds buff .5.(ds lazy's replacement) i see some unfamiliar filetypes.
maybe someone can identify them? i'll post filenames with the unfamiliar extensions.
ability.bbd BABIL_LARGE.NFTR ff4.bnr STAGEMNG_D.dat -> this file is 20mb, what is it? theater_data.bbd player.chaindata.lz battle_ai.bbd monster.chaindata.lz OPN_upper_stereo.vx sound_data.sdat sound_data.sadl
i've gone through a few different sites, but i don't see any utils that exist to view or edit much of any of this stuff. i looked on rhdn, and there are 0 results for anything ds-document-related.
while looking stuff up, i randomly wandered onto some ds-related sites with some in-depth info. now, i can't seem to find them again. it was dev info, hacking, stuff like that. anyone know of any good forums related to hacking ds games/ds hardware?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on August 08, 2008, 07:03:32 PM
Jump is based on the ATB, which generally involves Agility.. it's all relative AFAIK.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 08, 2008, 07:07:42 PM
Jump is based on the ATB, which generally involves Agility.. it's all relative AFAIK.
oh, i know that. i measured it out. i had kain jump, and once his bar filled, cecil's turn came up(as did everyone else's, etc). after that cecil was able to attack AGAIN and then kain came down. that's why i asked.
big edit up above. :)
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 08, 2008, 07:22:18 PM
The "babil" files contain most of the game's data, most dialogue text is stored in a separate file for each map, I forget the extension. There are two FF3 utilities on RHDN that also work (Somewhat incorrectly) with FF4, I haven't tried them with the US version yet but it's worth a shot. One's a font editor, one's a text editor.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 08, 2008, 07:25:24 PM
yeah, i just downloaded those utils yesterday, actually. i found them in their original thread. the last 3 or 4 weeks, i've been going through all 51 pages of the general forum over at rhdn, thread by thread, either downloading interesting utils or archiving interesting threads on my comp. it was definitely a good experience. i learned a lot.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 08, 2008, 07:45:58 PM
You might want to look into FF3 too, I don't know if you played that yet but there is a ton of unused, untranslated dialogue still in the game. Practically every map had dialogue at some point, never tried running them through a translator to see what they actually say though.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 08, 2008, 07:51:35 PM
interesting. in fact, ff3ds is one of the reasons i decided that i ought to get a ds flash cart instead of a gba one. i'd like to play it, but i definitely can't afford it for awhile. i'd rather pay $45 for the cart, at least i can use it for loads of games, while ff3ds is like, what, $40?
outside of that, i think i'll go see if i can track ff3 down somewhere online now. :)
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on August 09, 2008, 01:27:47 AM
i read over on gfaqs that ffivds follows a "drop priority". in other words, since you can only win 1 dropped item per battle, the rarest one dropped is the one that you'll win. i'll be damned if i can't find the thread again, but i know it was there.
is that correct, or is there another way it's done?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 09, 2008, 01:30:42 AM
That sounds right, don't know for sure but I have no reason to doubt it.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: odditude on August 09, 2008, 09:44:04 AM
Just for argument's sake, another logical possibility is that it will give you the drop from the last monster you kill. That should be fairly easy to rule out if it's not the case, though.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on August 09, 2008, 01:11:38 PM
An improved drop systen makes sense if you are doing monster harvesting... the original system is "first drop, first received"...
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 09, 2008, 05:19:17 PM
Oh wow, the FF3 dialogue editor works almost flawlessly with this, except you can't actually edit. Some minor findings found via the item text file so far:
40 dummied items. A "Takkei Tail." A dummied lance. Two dummied katanas. A dummied staff. A dummied whip. An "Augment Test" augment. :tongue: An "MP Efficiency" augment. A "DoesNotExist" augment. An "Omega Tail." A "Zemus Tail."
:edit:
Translated strings for the cut message speed and window design options in the settings menu.
A "Debugger" shop, with what appears to be its own shopkeeper lines: "How...how did you get here?"
:edit:
Grr, a "weakness" section was planned for the bestiary... :angry:
:edit:
The font editor works perfectly with the small font, large font displays incorrectly.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: odditude on August 31, 2008, 09:29:42 PM
if i'm not mistaken, in ff2us you can't go down to the lowest basement in Baron without Rydia (a force field blocks the path before the stairs). in the DS version, you can go down and talk to King Baron immediately, and he tells you to come back after visiting the Feymarch.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on August 31, 2008, 09:47:37 PM
You could always do that, you just have to kill Cagnazzo first.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: vivify93 on September 01, 2008, 12:18:17 AM
No, I remember this correctly--There's a forcefield if you don't have Rydia. If you go there before getting Leviathan/Ashura, you can go talk to the king and he'll tell you to :stfu: and go visit the Land of the Summons. Not sure on the DS version. :isuck: and we have no money.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Phoenix on September 01, 2008, 12:49:20 AM
Dragonsbrethren is right -- the forcefield that turns you away is removed when you defeat Cagnazzo (using event flag 06). You can get by it after that, but Odin will tell you to return after visiting the Land of Summoned Monsters. He'll say this until you visit; here's something I didn't know, however, that I found out in confirming this: the event flag for Odin's battle is set at the entrance of the Cave of Summoned Monsters, where Rydia says, "I came here on my way from the land of Summoned Monsters! Let's ask for help!" You don't actually have to visit Asura and Leviathan, you should be able to battle Odin after that. Anyway, there's today's tidbit. :offtopic:
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: odditude on September 01, 2008, 11:14:52 AM
thanks for the clarification. i only saw this because this was the first playthrough of ff2/4 ever where I forgot to clear out the east tower before mauling cagnazzo.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 01, 2008, 11:20:36 AM
Dragonsbrethren is right -- the forcefield that turns you away is removed when you defeat Cagnazzo (using event flag 06). You can get by it after that, but Odin will tell you to return after visiting the Land of Summoned Monsters. He'll say this until you visit; here's something I didn't know, however, that I found out in confirming this: the event flag for Odin's battle is set at the entrance of the Cave of Summoned Monsters, where Rydia says, "I came here on my way from the land of Summoned Monsters! Let's ask for help!" You don't actually have to visit Asura and Leviathan, you should be able to battle Odin after that. Anyway, there's today's tidbit. :offtopic:
I guess Odin's message was literal, and yet lame. :tongue:
Is the Bahamut check beating Leviathan (just in case it's different than I expected)?
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 08:18:55 PM
so, anyway, i bought a ds action replay today. what's with this "takkei tail" ? should i try winning one and going to cash it in? may as well...
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 06, 2008, 08:31:49 PM
I don't know if it actually exists or not, it's just a text string, I'm guessing the item is there but it's probably not set to do anything. By all means try it though, it'll be cool if you do get something for it. I'm really more curious about those dummied weapons, whether they still have stats and models.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 10:02:32 PM
That should get you all of them, if they're actually in the game.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 10:25:13 PM
ok. gonna enter these right now...
ok, so the game screwed up and wouldn't load...
gonna add in another code to bypass the save game "protection".
:edit: 2 well, the dummied lance freezes the game when you try to enter the inventory. i'll try them all once and see what happens...
:edit: 3 yeah, they all freeze the game. ah well, at least now i have the one rainbow pudding that i've been trying to get for 2 weeks!
:edit: 4 i try to keep up with the ff4ds board when i remember. considering that all the codes i got for my ar(tons, has to be near 1k if you count all the different item codes) came from gfaqs, you'd think that if there was a dummied weapon, someone would've found it by now.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 06, 2008, 10:46:56 PM
Bah, they must've cut them entirely or never got around to adding them at all. I should have known, since all the other dummies have their names still. Do you have codes for key items? I'd like to see if the MP Efficiency augment actually works, it's supposed to cut your MP use in half if I remember the description correctly.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 10:47:47 PM
i wonder what was there. they must've cut a few augments out of the game.
:edit: 2
WAIT! i just f0und a code for mp efficiency in the coees i uploaded to my ar from gfaqs. it's already there. the augment does exist.
i also see an omega tail code and a zemus tail code. - cf and d0, respectively, now that i think about it.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 11:04:28 PM
ok, adding that augment into my inventory now...
gonna try giving it to rydia...
:edit: hmm, that didn't work. the game froze at the inventory screen...
i wonder if it's the code or what? let's try experimenting...
ah well. i think it's the same situation as the dummied weapons, cause now it's working beautifully sans-ar codes.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 06, 2008, 11:15:11 PM
Just out of curiosity, try using a code for a non-dummied item, see if that works correctly.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on September 06, 2008, 11:28:18 PM
yeah, that was the first thing i tried. all the other items work beautifully.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 12, 2008, 08:45:39 AM
Is there some sort of stat cap change in FF4DS? In my recent posted link to a dumbass that doesn't get it, he's suggesting that this has changed somehow (I doubt it, since it makes no sense to me).
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 12, 2008, 04:12:32 PM
Base stats still cap at 99, the only difference is any stats you gain past level 70 are determined by which augments you gave that character.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Deathlike2 on September 12, 2008, 04:17:43 PM
Some guy was suggesting that the equipment in some strange secretive order would produce some difference...
Quote from: Gamefaqs user
In the DS version, stats bonuses/penalties take effect in a certain order of equips with armor or headgear (forgot which) coming first, and weapons or shields (forgot which again) coming last. So you can negate post-99 stats penalties from Cursed Rings with weapons or shields, but not with helmets or armor. Does this work the same way, or is it different somehow (simple arithmetic, perhaps, or maybe subtraction always after addition?)?
I went like WTF are you talking about.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on September 12, 2008, 04:19:40 PM
I can check that out later, I've got Rosa's spirit maxed out, I really doubt it works like that but I'll test anyway.
:edit:
My base spirit without any equipment is only 96, doesn't really change anything for the test though:
Spirit with Cursed Ring: 81. Spirit with Cursed Ring and Sage's Staff: 88 Spirit with Cursed Ring and White Robe: 84
...it looks like he's right. :eek:
This is a complete guess but I'd say the game checks helmets, then armor, then armgear, then weapons, then shields. That's the order the equipment is stored internally in the original game and it would be consistent with what I'm observing. Since Rosa has 96 spirit the game only gives her +3 for her white robe, then subtracts 15 for the cursed ring. The sage's staff's +7 is applied after the -15.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: HHIPDragonFox on October 26, 2008, 01:51:47 PM
:cycle: I do alot of memory and address mapping by hand: Here's my contribution to FF4-DS: (listed is the Datel Action Replay and a base address of the iDeaS emulator using GameWiz32 by Nico Ebert)
Add 1C0 to each base address to get code for next character/player. Cecil DK, Cecil PK, Kain, Rosa, Rydia YC, Rydia ES, Tellah, Palom, Porom, Edward, Yang, Cid, Edge, FuSoYa, Golbez(Theodor).
If I recall correctly, one of the developers you fight in a random battle sequence (in which I lost to a few times before winning) told of the Limit Break augment which was to extend the max limits of HP, MP, and Damage; using a different byte located elsewhere in the character stat sections(or another location entirely); Each Character Stat field is 01C0-hex(448-dec) bytes long in memory. Example is that of FF7-Crisis Core's support Item(s) which gave the Character 99,999HP; 9,999MP; and 99,999 Damage Dealt. Haven't tried it yet. I'm still poking around with FF2us address mapping (yes mapping out every byte or group of bytes).
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on November 03, 2008, 06:00:02 PM
so i was fooling around with the unpacked files today, and after i decompressed cast_event_msd, i opened it up in textpad and found the string "giant of zot". maybe it's just a conincidence. it's sitting right at the bottom of the list of area names, if anyone wants to have a look.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on November 03, 2008, 06:15:59 PM
What are you using to decompress them? I'm not really up-to-date on DS hacking and this was something I meant to look into the last time I was digging through text files.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on November 03, 2008, 06:26:39 PM
gbalzss by Andre Perrot
get it here: http://gbadev.org/tools.php?showinfo=56
quite a nice little command line program.
the first time, i decompressed the spanish one instead of the english one. it definitely left me pretty confused until i realized that there was more than one directory containing the same files, but in different languages.
:edit: 6C306C30 comes at the end of each text box worth of text, it looks like.
quite a few files are uncompressed, which is nice.
also, based on what i've read, all of that cast_event_msd isn't compressed, either. i guess someone was taking the actual compressed files out of it with a hex editor, and decompressing them with gbalzss. the procedure seems fairly un-complicated.
at any point, can you select kana as a menu option anywhere? cause it's mentioned a few times in the "babil_menu.msd" file.
this is pretty cool to look through.
when you use focus a few times, is there ever a way to tell how many times you have, outside of just paying attanetion and counting? cause i don't remember seeing this(from babil_battle):
R.o.u.n.d.s. .o.f. .f.o.c.u.s.:. .%.c.h.r.8.4.%
also, at the end: D.u.m.m.y.5.....D.u.m.m.y.6
in babil_item, i found O.m.e.g.a. .T.a.i.l.....Z.e.m.u.s. .T.a.i.l, which is neat to see for myself, even though everyone knows about it already. there's also "dummy 1" through "dummy 40" in there. those tails are actually mentioned more than once. there's the item name then the "the tail of ****" description.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on November 03, 2008, 08:59:54 PM
that augment is actually called T.h.i.s.D.o.e.s.N.o.t.E.x.i.s.t, btw.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on November 03, 2008, 09:08:32 PM
at any point, can you select kana as a menu option anywhere? cause it's mentioned a few times in the "babil_menu.msd" file.
I don't think so, I don't remember having that option in the Japanese version.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: darkmage on February 21, 2009, 12:24:12 PM
Just because I haven't seen this anywhere else and I'm curious...
Do you have to have the non-command augments loaded in the Battle Menu for the character? I've got Counter on Cecil, and he doesn't seem to use it unless I've got it in the Battle commands, but it shows up as a greyed-out command during a battle. It's been messing with my head. :shadow:
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: bond697 on February 21, 2009, 01:53:37 PM
i haven't played ff4ds since like spetember( never finished my first run. i ought to do that...), but from what i recall, yes, you do.
also, to use counter, you put it in your menu right above the move you want to use as a counter.
Title: Re: DS Version Research
Post by: Dragonsbrethren on February 21, 2009, 02:49:35 PM
Yeah, you need to equip any augments to use them, even if they're not actual commands. If they took effect automatically they would make you way too powerful. Counter should use the command in the first slot as your counter attack, but there are some commands that don't work with it (check the thread, there's a list here somewhere).