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2686

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Dummied Command (The Borked One)

« on: March 24, 2008, 04:38:30 PM »

Has anyone looked into what it was supposed to do...?

2687

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: "Heal/Medicine" Command

« on: March 24, 2008, 03:17:33 PM »

I think you can find creative ways of making that data happen... give me a moment to map it all out.

Edit: Here's the order in which the characters are removed, and readded (but it doesn't included initial introduction).

Stuff in paren are characters you may want back.

Code: [Select]

+1 Kain
+1 Tellah
+3 Rydia, Rosa, Yang, remove (Edward)
-1 Tellah
-1 Yang
0 remove (Palom), (Porom)
0 remove Tellah
-2 Kain, Rosa
0 remove (Cid)
0 remove (Yang)
+1 Kain
+1 "remove" FuSoYa
-1 Kain

If we're clever and figure out how to modify the shadow RAM, we could simply try to fit in 4 characters out of 5 in FF4A to swap in/out of the party. What would be required though is to not include FuSoYa and create a new copy of him for the Zemus battle.

That would be how it could be done. Edward is probably the best candidate to "kill off" since he's part of the cap casualty. If you can manipulate the latter 4, you can certainly keep them around IMO.

2688

General Discussion & Support / Re: FF5 Multi Editor

« on: March 24, 2008, 02:41:31 PM »

The spreedsheet is Entroper's, I think..

The data is for FF4A, but the behavior is more or less the same (FF5A is consistant with FF5 as far as I can tell).

2689

Gaming Discussion / Re: Edge vs Asura

« on: March 24, 2008, 02:37:54 PM »

Most of it is theory, but the reality is that you don't need Wall or Quake to beat Asura. It is more like people don't know about her being a Mage, though technically it should be obvious via testing.

In any case, she's not that hard as I originally thought, and it's worth pointing out to FF4A newbies these days. 

2690

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: "Heal/Medicine" Command

« on: March 24, 2008, 02:25:53 PM »

Even the game itself  "forces" Tellah to somehow auto-rejoin the party on Mt. Ordeals to do away with his recall command. There's actually a third instance of his character. The first two have the Recall command the third doesn't...

It seems to me that if you are able to decypher that behavior, you should be able to allow "a version" of an existing character to rejoin via some script/event data handling.

Refer to this thread - http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=444.0

I think what Pinkpuff described in that thread is a "join" command that uses the "original state" of the character. My contention is that data is stored away in SRAM, which is updated with all the characters data, even if they leave the group permanently. It simply requires that data to be accessed via some event script of some sort that the game is anticipating or expected. It would have to access the character, and create a "newer" instance of an existing character, which would explain Kain's new equipment when he comes back and/or Tellah's command removal, but keeping his existing armor.

I hope that's an explaination worth diving into by others...

Mind you, this may bleed into 

I didn't think this thread would be this long (and I hate this command).

2691

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4A question.

« on: March 24, 2008, 02:17:20 PM »

No, it is because the enemy's agility/speed relative to you is pathetic.

2692

Gaming Discussion / Re: The State of FF2/4 Walkthroughs/FAQs

« on: March 24, 2008, 02:15:40 PM »

I think 20 is pretty average.  I'm usually at 17 when I get to Mysidia, and I level the twins up to 13 or so while I grind to buy the Paladin armor so that Cecil has something to wear on the return trip.  I recall Cecil typically having 5x40 attack on the status screen when I equip Deathbringer/Black sword.

It is rather amusing fighting those large birds on the return trip (they have so many names...).  As a Dark Knight, you can dispatch them in one hit because they aren't resistant to the auto-death of your dark sword, and if that fails, you can still count on 250-300 damage.  As a Paladin even at level 9 or 10, you're doing maybe 150 damage to an enemy with somewhere around 800 hp.  Thankfully, Cecil gains levels very rapidly and becomes a powerhouse again upon receipt of the fire sword in the Tower of Zot.

I think he's a pretty good powerhouse starting at level 24... regardless of the weapon wielded. It makes that early trip to Eblan so much easier.

2693

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Dispel - Ill Conceived?

« on: March 24, 2008, 12:01:59 PM »

I wonder if this has anything to do with battle speed though...

2694

Gaming Discussion / Re: The State of FF2/4 Walkthroughs/FAQs

« on: March 24, 2008, 11:49:42 AM »

Thanks!

Both times I played FF4(Once via the PS1 release and once with the last j2e patch), he was level 20 before the conversion. I take it that's fairly high leveled?

I can't speak for other players, but I think 20 is fine, especially when Cid starts at level 20. I go slightly overboard with 24, but that's me.

2695

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 Equipment Rebalancing?

« on: March 24, 2008, 11:47:40 AM »

For armor, most armor are fine as is, but some need heavy retweaking to be semi-viable... some will be done in sets because it is moreso a minor change than anything.

Iron set of equipment, add Flan/Pudding resistance to all (given that this set of equipment is virtually forgotten after its debut, it has some practical uses, this set should be DK Cecil enabled)
Paladin set of equipment (whatever they are sold as in FF4 is the equivalent), change Undead to Spirit resistance (if DK Cecil can handle undead attacks, so can Paladin Cecil)
Silver/Mythril set of equipment, change Spirit to Undead resistance (Spirits are virtually gone past this point of the game, so why give useless resistance?)
Fire Shield, add Undead resistance (Undead hate fire.... shocking!)
Diamond Shield, add Mech resistance (this is the only way to keep this shield viable over its Aegis competitor, not sure if it should be applied to the whole set)

Genji/Samurai set, each component is to be tweaked as follows:
Genji Shield, add resistance to Charm and Paralysis, +3 Agi, +3 Str, add Giants resistance
Genji Armor, add resistance to Curse and Petrify, +3 Agi, +3 Vit, 10% evade, add Giants resistance
Genji Helmet, add resistance to Charm and Petrify, +3 Wis, +3 Str, 10% evade, add Giants resistance
Genji Gauntlet, add resistance to Curse and Paralysis, +3 Wis, +3 Vit, add Giants resistance

Dragoon/Dragon set, each component is to be tweaked as follows:
Dragon Shield, +3 Vit
Dragon Armor, +3 Vit
Dragon Helmet +3 Wis
Dragon Gauntlet, +3 Wis

Shadow Armor set, add resistance to Curse
Darkness Armor set, add resistance to Darkness
Black Armor set, add resistance to Death

Note: All of these are to resist the DK's tweaked weaponry.

Diamond Ring, add resistance to Mechs. This primarily would make Edge and FuSoYa take less damage while in the Giant.

Cursed Ring, retweak stat losses -10 to Str, Agi, Wis, Will, +5 to Vitality (it needs some defense, if anything)

Ninja Robe, add resistances to Fire, Ice, Lightning (why a high magic defense piece of equipment doesn't have elemental resistance is beyond me), change Agi stat boost to +5 (using FF4ET's Agi changes to this equipment)

Major retweak:
Artemis Robe, 15 defense, 10% evade, 8 magic defense, 8% magic evade, +10 to all stats, resistance vs Dragons (this is a totally reworked Power Robe, only usable by all female characters)

Genji Armor set, Ninja Robe, Dragoon Armor set tweaks inspired by JCE's hack.

2696

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 Equipment Rebalancing?

« on: March 24, 2008, 10:55:59 AM »

Ok... onto the swords... only a few number of the swords need tweaking here.

Shadow Sword, 10 attack power,  80% hit rate, Darkness elemental, inflicts Curse
Darkness Sword, 20 attack power, 85% hit rate, Darkness elemental, inflicts Darkness
Black Sword, 30 attack power, 90% hit rate, Darkness elemental, inflicts Death

Coral Sword, 55 attack power, 80% hit rate, Lightning elemental, inflicts Curse, effective vs Mechs (idea copied from FF4ET, with some tweakage, replaces Ancient Sword).
Light Sword, 99 attack power, 99% hit rate, Holy elemental, effective vs Undead, +5 Will, +5 Vit, +5 Str (this is ideal to make it reasonably equippable for Rosa, plus make it a bit more capable than the Defender)
Drain Sword, 50 attack power, 50% hit rate, Drain elemental, effective vs "Undead", Giants, and Pudding, casts Osmose/Psych as an item with a spell multiplier of 5, -5 to all stats, (this can be made Rosa equippable and be a nice source of MP recovery on the cheap)
Slumber Sword, 60 attack power, 77% hit rate, inflicts Sleep, casts Sleep as an item with a spell multiplier of 1 (this is rebalanced intentionally).
Silver Sword, 55 attack power, 80% hit rate, inflicts Darkness, effective vs Undead, back row compatible (all Silver equipment is to be effective vs Undead in my tweakage, probably a good equipment to be Rosa compatible)
Drain Spear, 88 attack power, 25% hit rate, Drain elemental, effective vs "Undead", Giants, and Pudding, casts Drain as an item with a spell multiplier of 5, -10 to all stats (needs retweaking due to low hit rate)
Excalibur, 160 attack power, 99% hit rate, Holy elemental, casts Holy as an item with a spell multiplier of 3, +10 Str, +10 Will (probably can be Rosa equippable)
Holy Spear, 109 attack power, 80% hit rate, Holy and Air elemental, casts Holy as an item with a spell multiplier of 4, effective vs Undead (changed the effectiveness from Spirits to Undead)

2697

Gaming Discussion / Re: Trading Defense For Stat Bonuses...

« on: March 24, 2008, 09:54:48 AM »

I hadn't really given it a thought (I am rethinking the swords issue at moment). I think some stat boosts would be in order, mainly STR, AGI, WIS, and WILL (VIT is not that important here, unless Samurais were meant to have a lot of life).

I think JCE's hack had the right idea.. +3 to random pieces, and maybe add some status blocking properties (think FF5's Genji armor set).

For making it viable for Edge, add some evasion to normally heavy pieces of equipment... like 5% evade to both Helmet and Gauntlet plus 10 to 15% evade to the Armor.

2698

Gaming Discussion / Re: Monster Race/Enemy Type Distribution... Sucks

« on: March 24, 2008, 09:50:51 AM »

Yes.. it is kinda sad. An interesting retweak would be increasing the defense of the monsters to much higher levels.. making the Insect destroying weapons much more useful and everything else would be less effective.

2699

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 Equipment Rebalancing?

« on: March 24, 2008, 09:45:09 AM »

There are too many swords and/or too few characters that can equip them. I actually toyed around with the idea of giving Rosa the ability to equip some of the weaker swords before deciding to just cut a few of them in favor of other weapons.

I thought about the exact same thing...Sort of make her like a Beatrix character from FF9... My idea was for her to be able to equip just a few, swords like Silver, Light, and and Defender. I've also thought about making that "Spare" weapon (which appears to be a two-handed duplicate of Ragnarok) into a special sword just for her (with a much lower attack power than Ragnarok, but maybe a nice stat bonus to perhaps Will and Vitality), and make it a rare drop on something difficult to defeat like the Zemus mind or one of the dragons in the Lunar Subterrane...

Hmm.. actually some of those swords I tend to ignore probably would be decent on Rosa.. but the hit rate has to be remotely decent since there is a back row penalty in play (or you could just make the sword back row compatible for the sake of it).

You're right though, that there are too many, at least for the default character makeup... IMO Cain could use an "ultimate" spear, and Edge an "ultimate" katana (something along the lines of FF4A's Abel's Lance and the Mutsunokami). A couple more rods and staves might not be a bad thing either...but maybe a dagger or knife available for the twins or Edward...

FF4A had the right idea, but a number of that stuff is too overpowered.

As Deathlike said it's a hard balance anyway...

Most of the ideas are based against the original game (FF4), but a lot of monsters should be boosted as fair compensation though... I already know it is tough to "rebrand" and "remake" unused weapons.

Ok.. some Rod+Staff rebalancing...
...
Staff, 8 Attack Power, 50% hit rate, casts whatever it casts as an item with a spell multiplier of 1, +3 Will, Holy elemental, inflicts Darkness status
...
Silver Staff, 22 Attack Power, 50% hit rate, casts Slow with a spell multiplier of 1, +5 Will, effective vs Undead, inflicts partial petrify (v1) Status (remaking this staff to be more useful)
...

Again I like a number of your ideas there, especially the change rod casting piggy but hitting with mini and being effective vs. giants.

However the only thing I'd sugges to the bit I quoted above is that if you're going to make the Silver staff cast slow, then  instead of the "Staff" staff casting it's normal spell which is "Poisuna" (effectively the spell is "Antidote"). Have it cast "Basuna" which removes a couple more statuses besides poison, but isn't a shortcut to Esuna (so you still have to learn the spell or buy the expensive cure all medicine).  Silver staff normally casts Basuna.

The Staff is useful for like one battle (Scamaglione). It probably should just use Esuna outright IMO.. or at least the statuses inflicted on the journey.. including Darkness (moth), Toad (Toad monster), Slap (Paralysis, Curse, Mute from Lilith), Piggy (Baron Guard), Size (Baron Guard).. oh wait, just make it Esuna! 

The Staff's usefulness limits the attack options, so keeping it the way it is won't be that much different... it isn't like it gives a great bonus to anything.

~~~

Another thing I noticed, in general, is that the "Insects" enemy subtype is really underused but seems to have been something for the ice elementals. For example the Ice Rod is effective vs. insects and the Ice Shield is defensive vs. insects.

In my preliminary weapons tweaks I've made both the Blizzard Spear and Ice Brand Sword effective vs. insects.

For Insects, it is a better idea to give it to weaker Ice weaponry. Giving it the Blizzard/Ice Brand is overpowered. Leaving it on the Ice Shield is good enough as that's when you encounter them for a fair bit.

2700

Gaming Discussion / Re: Monster Race/Enemy Type Distribution... Sucks

« on: March 24, 2008, 09:33:04 AM »

Heh...as I mentioned in the weapons thread...the "insects/reptiles" status IS underused as you mentioned here.

Looks like it was loosely associated with the Ice elemental stuff in the original game.

I've tweaked at least the Blizzard Spear and Ice Brand to be effective vs. this type.

I'll have to play through and see if this isn't overpowered for the underground (where this type is in abundance).

It's overpowered. Most of those monster types are weak against Ice to begin with. Giving those weapons an attack multiplier of 4x is too much unless they are resistant to Ice and/or increase their HP dramatically.