Messages

2356

Gaming Discussion / Re: The man who invented espertime is at it again

« on: June 07, 2008, 02:12:46 PM »

Should I be happy or disappointed at that? 

2357

Dbi News / Re: Easy Type Alpha 1

« on: June 07, 2008, 02:11:38 PM »

I kinda wished you put up a readme on the number of known cosmetic issue people will be seeing...

That will save you a boatload of headache e-mails.

2358

General Discussion / Re: That was annoying (SMF 1.1.4 to 1.1.5)

« on: June 07, 2008, 01:55:55 AM »

I'm feeling like a kid again... either that or I'm angry. 

2359

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 - Magus Sisters Not So Magical

« on: June 07, 2008, 01:23:56 AM »

Hmmm, I probably have to write up another article on this new discovery. My original intention was to bitch+moan about this, but stumbling onto this was fun.

Thinking about this though, there are only a few monsters that use the Cure spell set other than the Magus Sisters and Asura.

2360

General Discussion / Re: That was annoying (SMF 1.1.4 to 1.1.5)

« on: June 07, 2008, 12:09:16 AM »

You are getting way too insane on the news "ticker"... 

2361

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 - Magus Sisters Not So Magical

« on: June 07, 2008, 12:07:55 AM »

It's not retargeted in the original.



Ok, here's some other analysis that I hadn't noticed before.

1) In the SNES version, Sandy targets everyone, and seems to heal using split damage.. for 3 people (including her 1 or 2 dead sisters). 

2) In the GBA version, Sandy targets everyone.. and if she's alone, the healing numbers are normal for a single target... but if Mindy is there, it uses the split modifier and factors against magic defense.   

Who the fuck is coding this game?

2362

Gaming Discussion / FF4A - Deadly vs Double Jump

« on: June 06, 2008, 07:32:59 PM »

So, people have argued over this on Gamefaqs before.. but I haven't gotten around to putting up the math behind the argument of which is better.

So, let's go over the basics.

Deadly is 3x attack power.
Double Jump is dealing 2 Jumps.. this isn't doing 4x damage mathematically due to defense factored into the calculation.

So, anyways, which command always does 9999 damage under optimal+worse conditions? Let's find out...

If the monster has 254 defense...

For Deadly...
224 is used for the sake of argument, given that Yang's attack power is limited to that... numbers will be rounded up
9999/(224*3 - 254) = ~24 multiplier is required for 9999 damage
9999/(255*3 - 254) = ~20 multiplier is required for 9999 damage

For Double Jump...
9999/(255*2 - 254) = ~40/2  = ~20 multiplier is required for 9999 damage

Double Jump is only slightly stronger overall if attack power was maxed (at 255)... however.. Deadly will never have such an attack power to work with (unless hacked).

However, people forget the details of Deadly and Double Jump when making these comparisons...

Deadly/Power:
All magic evasion drops while using this command. This means that Yang is a magic damage magnetic, especially when he has the worst magic defense of all existing characters.

Jump:
The character is in Jump status where it cannot be targeted. The only real negative is that spells that do split damage will hurt more.

So, Double Jump > Deadly. Period, end of story.

2363

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 - Magus Sisters Not So Magical

« on: June 06, 2008, 07:17:03 PM »

I never bother with Mindy, everyone (barring Tellah, of course) does enough damage to take Cindy down in a few rounds, then I just finish the other two off with no problem. Sandy trying to kill you by berserking Yang is pretty funny.

I'm trying to recall if Berserk targeting uses the default targeting.. I think it was berserking the enemy (which is your guys)... not a bright idea to begin with anyways..

2364

Gaming Discussion / Re: FF4 - Magus Sisters Not So Magical

« on: June 06, 2008, 07:04:07 PM »

These sisters were a pain in the ass back in the day.. and I hated them alot.

Well, that right there proves the script was good enough for most players. I used to think they were hard for some reason too, I remember it being a lot more work to kill Cindy than it actually is.

Well, it has a lot to do with not knowing/abusing the back row bug.. since that affects hit rate significantly. This forces you normally to attack Mindy first so that the middle sister is an easier target.

2365

Gaming Discussion / FF4 - Magus Sisters Not So Magical

« on: June 06, 2008, 06:49:26 PM »

These sisters were a pain in the ass back in the day.. and I hated them alot. Then years after I discovered emulation and FF4, I started to think they were retarded.

Well, let's look at their individual battle scripts, and you'll see my point:

Sandy - the amazonish sister

Battle script 0xA3

Code: [Select]

( $4 $0 $1 $AE )
    Cast Charm
    (End of Turn)
    Cast Bersk
    (End of Turn)
    Cast Slow
    (End of Turn)
    Target Self
    Cast Cure2
Always
    Battle Message $64
    Target Enemy Group 1
    Cast Wall

Basically, this script boils down to.. while the middle sister is alive, cast Wall/Refect on her.
When her middle sister is dead, cast a small list of White Magic spells. However.. WHY OH WHY does she cast Berserk? It would never work.

This isn't a great battle script, so I'll forgive this one. The Cure2 is actually cast on the entire party (so the shortest sister benefits as well, but this healing is pathetic).

Onto the shortest sister, Mindy:

Battle script 0xA4

Code: [Select]

( $4 $0 $1 $AE )
    Cast Fire1
    (End of Turn)
    Cast Lit-1
    (End of Turn)
    Cast Ice-1
    (End of Turn)
    Cast Venom
Always
    Battle Message $65
    Battle Message $66
    Target Enemy Group 1
    Cast Fire2
    (End of Turn)
    Battle Message $65
    Battle Message $66
    Target Enemy Group 1
    Cast Lit-2
    (End of Turn)
    Battle Message $65
    Battle Message $66
    Target Enemy Group 1
    Cast Ice-2
    (End of Turn)
    Battle Message $65
    Battle Message $66
    Target Enemy Group 1
    Cast Virus
Until her chubby sister dies, she casts a host of level 2 elementals, followed by Virus/Bio. That's not bad since damage dealt can be considerable given the current party. However, if the middle sister dies, she decides for forget how to cast strong black magic? That's madness.

Onto the middle sister, Cindy:

Battle script 0xA5:

Code: [Select]

If only one Enemy alive
    Fight
    (End of Turn)
    Target 戦闘不能のモンスター全員
    Cast Remedy ($AC)
( $4 $0 $1 $AD )
    Fight
    (End of Turn)
    Target 戦闘不能のモンスター全員
    Cast Remedy ($AC)
( $4 $0 $1 $AF )
    Fight
    (End of Turn)
    Target 戦闘不能のモンスター全員
    Cast Remedy ($AC)
Always
    Battle Message $2D
    Fight

Well, she's the "most evil" of the girls, but she's not even that special. All she does is attack and revive if either or both sisters die, which in theory would be great.

What kinda bothers me is this... why is the tallest sister not able to cast Life2 (or the monster version for that matter since that's reliable in all versions)? The other problem is that Reflect doesn't always match up with the other character's timing, leaving ol' Cindy to occasionally take Bio/Virus and Ice2 damage. It's funny, and yet it is sad. I'm not sure if this is in the battle engine, but if a check to see another target is Reflected would be nice. I know the CPU does absolutely nothing while under Reflect status... hmmm..

Heck, shouldn't Sandy just randomly cast Holy for kicks? It's not as her magic power was exceptional. (Her spell multiplier is 3, so she has a good chance of killing the old man and/or a character with less than 1000 HP, which would be a fun challenge.. at least maybe dumbing down a multiplier would help balance this out).

2366

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Steal/Sneak Command

« on: June 06, 2008, 06:30:18 PM »

If someone looked into this command's exact behavior, it would be appreciated.

2367

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Writing A Magic Guide

« on: June 06, 2008, 05:29:01 PM »

Finally, it's uploaded. Strangely.. why is it renamed on Gamefaqs?.. Hmm...

Here's the link anyways (it will work if you visited Gamefaqs recently): http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588330/53021

2368

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm

« on: June 06, 2008, 03:11:50 PM »

I'm currently convinced that all spells that target the allies will always have the targets having 0 magic defense and 0 magic evade.

2369

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Boss "Bit"

« on: June 06, 2008, 02:29:43 PM »

Ok, I think  I've found the culprit.

The conditions for a spell with the boss-bit enabled will succeed.

1) The spell must be a monster spell.

2) The monster spell inflicts a status effect (anything that deals damage will auto-fail).

3) The monster must be not be naturally immune/resistant to the status effect (obviously).

These rules will always hold true.

The reflectability of the monster spell makes it easier to find this info out.

I attached the Bluster attack to the Stardust Rod and the Glare spell to the Life Staff. Apparently the Bluster attack always works (except vs targets resistant to death or paralysis), and the Glare spell always fails. That would account for Dr. Lugae's Laser for failing and the other three spells for succeeding.

2370

Game Modification Station / Re: FF4 - Random Ideas on Improving 2-Handed Weapons

« on: June 06, 2008, 01:00:49 PM »

Sure, but I don't think it solves the weapon usefulness dilemma. Let's say it was the strongest two-handed weapon possible, if you feel that the damage output doesn't quite balance out the damage intake, then it's not as useful at first place.

So, wait... you're saying that the strongest two-handed weapon possible still can't do enough damage to balance out the lack of defense from not having a shield? Any shield? Sorry, but I find that hard to believe. Maybe in the very late game when the numbers start capping or something, but if that's the case it's a simple matter of just not making any two-handed weapons that are competing with one-handed weapons at that point. Give the two-handers out earlier in the game.

I've done this testing already with JCE's hack. Some of the monsters have a greater attack multiplier than 12x (which is the highest possible defense multiplier w/o a shield). The difference is very noticable as the extra 6x defense multiplier via level bonuses when a shield is a equipped does actually make a difference (it's more effective late game of course, but important to taking damage in any part of the game).

If that's the case, then the monsters' attack power needs to be toned down and/or the shields need to be weaker. But I don't see how any reasonable person can argue that a two-handed weapon should give any more bonus to defense than a one-handed weapon. To me it's like saying that helmets should add to your attack power.

It's rather detrimental, but it's not obvious when you haven't tested this. It's my opinion. It is simply that's not really enough impact on damage (even increasing Agility+Strength) to increase this doesn't really help.

Here's an exaggerated example. Think of the Blood Spear. If we up this to 255 attack power, but have 0% hit rate, it becomes like the "Lucky Blade" in Lufia 2 where you have no realiable damage.

Also, here's another example.. Edge. Since he equips two blades, it's almost the same as having a two-handed weapon (but there's the attack power bonus that is doubled for having two weapons equipped). However, his defense does blow chunks for a good portion of the game even though he gains high agility and has high evade. Even though I've found ways to do the same for Cecil or Kain, the damage intake is pretty much Edge-level, and that's not a good thing (yes, they compensate for that with higher HP, but that's not a good counter either under all circumstances). Just imagine Cecil going through the Giant of Bab-il with a two handed weapon.. it would painfully resemble Edge.

I'm not saying to make two-handed weapons better than a weapon+shield combo.. I'm saying that the defense difference is far greater than you understand it to be.