Messages

361

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Need a White Mage Portrait

« on: November 13, 2012, 12:58:37 PM »

All I can think of is the Wii version of TAY and that's probably the best you can get.

362

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Arrows/Music Notes Bombardment

« on: November 13, 2012, 03:15:32 AM »

It's pretty simple. I might have already written about it somewhere, but whatever I guess.

The # of hits is directly related to the Attack Multiplier a character has.

For Rosa, using Aim will ensure that the # of hits = Attack Multiplier, regardless of the accuracy or hit rate of the Bow.

So with the # of hits, is the # of arrows, or harp "notes" that appear on the monster.

Depending on what version of the game you are referencing GBA or SNES (not WSC), this is pretty accurate.

The max Attack Multiplier you can have is 19, therefore that is how many you can see on the target.

Thrown Shurikens by default show around 12 or so, despite the fact that you cannot equip them (though, it may have been originally intended to operate like a Bow+Arrow strike).

363

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Broken Racial Resistances

« on: November 12, 2012, 07:00:18 PM »

When I looked into the numbers while playing the WSC version of the game, it dawned on me that racial resistances were not adhered to.. unlike racial weaknesses.

This also affects FF4A US and Jap 1.0 versions. This was fixed in FF4A Euro and Jap 1.1 versions.

Now, we truly know that the Loki's Lute is totally useless in the bugged version of this game.

 
How you test this:
You put a character with racial resistances with Mini or Toad status in the front row.
Compare it with a character w/o those racial resistances with Mini or Toad status in the front row.

The character with the racial resistances will by taking 1/2 as much damage... whereas the one w/o the resistances takes full raw damage from the monster.

364

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - The Wall Is A Lie

« on: November 11, 2012, 03:42:12 AM »

One of the stranger oddities is watching Reflect being applied to you via the Wicked Masks... and yet not actually be applied.
When a spell is actually being applied to you, it is easy to believe the visual is telling you exactly what it means.
There are occasional visual inconsistencies, like FF4A's Blaster being applied to characters resistant to both status afflictions...
However, having the proper Reflect visual is far more important when you actually face the Wicked Masks...

This started from the WSC port, and also occurs in FF4A's US and Jap 1.0 versions.
Since Reflect's behavior from the Wicked Mask has changed in FF4A's Euro and Jap 1.1 versions, this bug would be considered "fixed".

If I ever get around to it, I'll upload pics.

365

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The After Years Research (Spoilers!)

« on: November 11, 2012, 01:19:50 AM »

I need this tested out. I've seen at most two threads regarding absorb with regards to the Fire Scarf.

See if this can be combined with the Mystic Veil. There's a pretty good chance it will work.

I can think that one of the other heavy armors is Holy resistant, but I don't think anyone has spent enough time to find out (the test is simply to see if Holy hurts a hell of a lot less).

366

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Remember FF6's Berserk?

« on: November 10, 2012, 10:31:17 PM »

I had this scary realization that this bug looked like a "feature", except this was the wrong game.

In FF6, when a character is put under Berserk, they usually do the last thing they were told to do... whether it is cast a spell, or use a special skill.
In FF4A, you can do the same thing...
This works best with skills or magic  that require a delay, such as Power/Deadly or Jump.
The attack power bonus from Berserk is applied, so the damage is increased when the command is used.
This "bug" does not do much with Kick (and probably Dark Wave as well) as they are not extensions of the Fight/Attack command.

This bug was introduced in the WSC port, and extends through FF4A Jap 1.0 and US versions.
It was fixed in the Jap 1.1 and Euro versions.

Note: I will try to include pics of this at some point.

367

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - "Berserked Jump"

« on: November 10, 2012, 01:56:15 AM »

This is very similar to "Psycho Edward", but not really.

All you have to do is cast Berserk on Kain while he's given the command to Jump.
It may help to prolong his delay to Jump to see this in action.
Doing this will allow Jump to deal damage that the Berserk bonus would have applied to Jump (not normally possible, but just humor the idea).

This bug started in the WSC version, and is also applicable to FF4A US and Jap 1.0.
It was fixed in FF4A Euro and Jap 1.1 versions.

368

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4 Algo - Input Requested

« on: November 09, 2012, 11:06:39 PM »

More updates...

Aim and Throw do not trigger the Counter vs HP damage trigger.

Once in a while, the monster would damage Cecil in a strange visual....

The Enterprise seems to move for some reason, after you get out of the underground with the Falcon's drill.

This version of the game does not implement Berserk resistance through the Ribbon.

Berserk "waits" for others (yay Flan Princess battle testing).

Jump seems to still go through after going under Berserk status through the Flan Princess's Dance. The Berserk bonus is applied to the Jump damage.

 
Hug/Embrace uses the Break/Stone sound instead of the Cure sound.

 
The Giant of Babil endgame scenario hasn't changed... so it appears that FF4A made the change.

369

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A Major Reflect Difference

« on: November 08, 2012, 11:33:21 PM »

The Wicked Mask's version of Reflect that hits on all party members was started in the Euro/Jap 1.1 version of the game.

The original version (also applies to FF4A US and Jap 1.0 versions and the WSC version) attempts to apply Reflect vs the magic defense of a character (you will notice that Reflect is less effective as Magic Evasion and its Multiplier goes up).

370

General Discussion / Re: NFL season (2012-2013) week 10

« on: November 08, 2012, 08:06:52 PM »

Week 10 schedule:

Arg, forgot about this.

Colts @ Jaguars (division, Thursday)

Colts

Giants @ Bengals

Giants

Titans @ Dolphins

Dolphins

Lions @ Vikings (division)

Vikings

Bills @ Patriots (division)

Pats

Falcons @ Saints (division)

Saints

Broncos @ Panthers

Broncos

Raiders @ Ravens

Ravens

Jets @ Seahawks

Seahawks

Cowboys @ Eagles (division)

Eagles

Rams @ 49'ers (division)

49ers

Texans @ Bears

Bears - Should be interesting.

Chiefs @ Steelers (Monday)

Steelers

 
Missing listed game: Chargers @ Bucs
Bucs

371

Gaming Discussion / FF4 - The Handicap "Challenge"

« on: November 08, 2012, 01:54:11 AM »

Although that Spoony Bard helps you out, the "challenge" that is the Magnetic Cave (or more recently renamed Lodestone Cavern) is one that's actually a lot more disappointing that difficult. Like many of the other FF series, these were somewhat designed to test your knowledge or at least improve your understanding of the game. It is what also builds many of those cliched self-imposed challenge restrictions...

With that said, a little history:
NES FF1 - None that I recall. IIRC, the PSP version added one more dungeon that drains HP per step... though I doubt that's actually going to hurt.
NES FF2/FF3 - Not too familiar with them to comment.
FF5 - Tower of Power and Magic was designed for having the rare split parties, which became more prevalent in FF6. It also caused some planning to be done when you build your characters...
FF6 - Tower of Fanatics easily is the most annoying place ever. Considering how much you can stack magic evasion together and accentuated the entire purpose of getting Espers in the first place, you could really just run the place with your magic heavy users (Terra, Celes, maybe even Relm and Gogo) or fight almost "nobody". Most disappointing aspect was that Lores were a form of magic that were forbidden, and not having all elementals represented properly in this trek like Wind (Merton/Meltdown was Fire+Wind, so it was limited) and Water (though Flood was added in FF6A to "fix" that error). Espers weren't really that useful a solution since they were single cast (of course, can be Mimiced, but that isn't entirely practical).
FF7 - The only thing that comes close IIRC was when Yuffie stole your materia and did her own trials. Outside of that, I don't recall anything offhand resembling a challenge.

Back to the original topic...

This challenge is really simple. You use shitty weapons, which generally affected Cecil and use shitty armor, which affects Cecil and Cid for the most part. Obviously, Yang and Tellah should be the star of the show... Yes and yet... no. You will soon learn to "optimize" your use of Tellah's pathetic 90MP through Osmose/Psych and find out that certain monsters are simply rich in MP than others like the Ogre and how Cure is simply the best healing spell outside of battle. Yang doesn't really change too much when you use him... unless you use bad claw combos...

Buying equipment for this trek sounds easy on paper as the classic gamer will just buy whatever junk is sold in the local shops. Unfortunately, the best thing you buy there is the GreatBow... everything else is a waste. It would've been nice to have collected RubyRings in advance, but the game spots you two of them in the castle treasure. You could have picked up three of them through Edward, Rydia's home secret passage, and Damcyan's basement. Then again, this equipment is only good for reducing damage from those annoying bats...

The real secret is to have acquired the good stuff from Baron and Mysidia. Baron's greatest contribution is providing the Karate Robe aka Kenpogi. As somewhat pricey as it is, it provides the greatest bit of protection through its naturally high evasion.
Remember the hat you bought for Tellah? It's nice to know that mage equipment is generally not heavy... so you have a nice choice between the Headband and whatever the hat is named at Mysidia. This is how you really do bargain basement shopping in FF4. 

I hadn't mentioned yet what arrows you should be using. If you analyze what the elemental weaknesses the monsters in the cave have, you will come to the conclusion that those White/Holy arrows from Mysidia are the best out there, as only 2 of the monsters are not weak to Holy in that cavern. At least now Cecil can actually do something in the cave... (although, I liked FF4ET's Piggy Stick better...)

When equipped properly, the cave really isn't that hard...
However, I think the Tower of Zot is a harder test in the game than this... at higher levels, it is actually more difficult to heal from your wounds (having to consume more MP to heal proportionally higher HP growth for Yang and Cid). Tellah then becomes a great godsend.... kinda.

372

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Reflected Magic is Biased

« on: November 08, 2012, 12:48:40 AM »

Whenever you face two Evil/Wicked Masks, it is usually a fair assumption to make... you have a 50-50 chance of hitting either target when you bounce a single targeted spell off Reflect.
However, the reality is that this is not the case... which is a strange curiosity that started from the WSC port.

There is a very significant tendency for all reflected spells to hit the first monster in the first group.

A simple test consists of facing two Wicked Masks... allowing them to put Reflect status on the entire party and then casting a multi-targeted spell on all of the characters.
The normal distribution of damage should usually be pretty even, where both Wicked Masks should be taking 2/5 or 3/5 damage from split and recombined magics... occasionally having 1/5 and 4/5 damage and a semi-rare full damage to one Wicked Mask.
The problem is that there is some odd biases that cause the damage to shift primarily to the first monster on the field.
Single targeted magic has 2/3 or 3/4 chance to hit the first monster on the field... which has certain side effects and consequences.

Another way of testing this theory is through the CPU battle. Getting rid of the Defender helps... see what a spell like Holy or Flare is reflected onto the enemy... the chances that it hits the CPU is certainly more than 50%.

373

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 (all SNES+GBA) - How To Beat The CPU v3

« on: November 07, 2012, 11:38:09 PM »

I'm curious if Quake still works on it in the DS version. I always won the fight in that version by having Rydia summon Leviathan every turn, but Quake would work even better. There's no need for Float there; the Defense Node absorbs every element, and Quake is earth-elemental in that version, so there's no chance of accidentally killing off both Nodes.

There's a reference to Titan in the FF Wiki that suggests it wouldn't be that useful... hmm..

Anyways, this suggested plan doesn't really work in GBA port.

However, I will write a followup post as to why that is...

374

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4 Algo - Input Requested

« on: November 07, 2012, 03:31:16 PM »

The Warlock's battle script is reproduced incorrectly in the WSC port.

The battle script normally looks like this:

When alone,
Attack (end turn),
Cast Weak/Tornado (end turn),
Repeat cycle.

Default behavior...
Cast Fire2/Fira (end turn),
Cast Psych/Osmose (end turn),
Cast Drain (end turn),
Cast Lit-2/Thundara (end turn),
Cast Ice-2/Blizzara (end turn),
Repeat cycle.

The WSC version looks like this...

Default behavior (always)...
Cast Fire2/Fira (end turn),
Cast Psych/Osmose (end turn),
Cast Drain (end turn),
Cast Lit-2/Thundara (end turn),
Cast Lit-2/Thundara (end turn),
Repeat cycle.

375

General Discussion / Re: Google Chrome

« on: November 06, 2012, 04:26:44 PM »

I know it's the day to vote in the US, but it's also the day for more updates.

Chrome 23 (today)
Firefox 16.0.2 (security updates, a week+ ago)
Opera 12.10 (today)
Flash 11.5 (today)

I'm not even gonna try explaining it, but the Chrome update coincides with the new Flash update. I'm not a fan of their mini-Flash though... it runs really odd at times.