We already have that thread... but it's somewhere deep in a post in the FF4 research forum. Probably a good idea to use the search feature if necessary. One is for the level up data.. the other is for adding magic for those that don't have it.
Found it:
http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=169.0...looks like JCE had the level data and Phoenix decoded the menu part of it. Nice work!
You know, it makes me almost think they scripted that final battle intentionally, only because they royally fucked up according to your description.
I think they fucked up a lot of things with the characters. I mean it's AFU with Golbez and Anna.
In the sprite table "Piggy" is Chr#14, Golbez is Chr#15, and Anna is Chr#16. With Golbez and Anna being "half" complete sprites.
The palettes for the sprites are disordered at the end too. Golbez is palette 14, Anna's battle sprite is #15 and it's garbage colors. Another Palette is #16 which is the actual palette for Anna but it is only used in the Kaipo Waterhag battle apparition.
For some stupid reason in the magic lists Golbez comes as Character #16, and Anna is actually #15 (I've tested it to be sure). The developers pointed the Fu spells at character 15 so Golbez doesn't have any. WTF?
The Avatars at the end (after Fu) are #14 "Piggy", #15 "Midget", #15 "Toad". Which seems to make sense for Golbez since if you put him in a party his avatar is "Midget" and it references an all black palette (which is correct for golbez if he had an Avatar). In fact you could probably dummy out the Minimize spell from the game and make Golbez nearly playable, with even an avatar.
I can understand why Golbez has a character, if for no other reason than for the game engine to use him in a battle at the end (intentionally scripted or not), but Anna...why? My only guess is that Anna was originally supposed to be playable in some way? Perhaps there was a whole scenario created and then cut from the Damcyan Invasion sequence, in which Anna was playable or was at least scripted in a battle sequence.
Anyway, it looks like a bunch of development garbage that was left behind or never finished to me. That or when the decided to create the "Piggy" effect for the characters and that's when they used the actual data originally created as a character.
Anna's sprite, as it stands, has action squares and palette that can be used, I've "fixed" them. Well the hack of mine you have should be "fixed" in that manner.
It just seems like so much was hacked and rushed with this game...I have also learned something else about FF4DS that is fucked...that IMO was "hacked" in the original and should have been fixed:
[spoiler]The Tower of Zot is again NOT shown. That's bullshit. They should have taken the time to finally show us what it was. I'm told that the consensus among Japanese players is that it is a floating fortress that orbits too high in the sky to be noticed. Hell...FF5 has a floating fortress and FF6 has a floating CONTINENT. You'd think in the DS game they could have taken the time to finally show us Zot.
[/spoiler]
Most of it is my opinion, but if you go by how the FF series (at least the SNES one) calculates attacks against defense and evade, defense has less of an impact until it is closer to the max... evade has a stronger impact in general. Even though magic defense will generally look like it is in the vicinity of suckage, the spells enemies cast on you in generally aren't powerful to begin with. It is all relative to the enemies you fight against. Maybe it's just me that I prefer to trade defense for magic defense/evade (like FF6's choice between the Genji Armor vs Force Armor... I pick the Force Armor over Genji all the time).
I forgot this bit before. But, yes I agree with you on FF6. I learned a long time ago that the Force Equipment does a better job. Edgar is my #1 in that game, and even though the characters get godlike in that game at high levels anyway, I figured out how to turn Edgar (it would work for like Tina, Celes, or anyone else that can naturally use swords and heavy equipment), into a one-man slaughter factory:
Helmet: Something Decent?
Armor: Force Armor
Shield: Paladin Shield
Weapon: Atma Weapon
Relic1: Offering
Relic2: Something Good, like Economizer or Gem Box or Marvel Shoes
With the Force Armor and Paladin Shield he almost can't get hit with any kind of magic attack and physical attacks don't do much. At levels 70 or greater Atma weapon is either so powerful (or just plain ignores) the x/4 penalty of the Offering and can, at high levels, hit 4x for 9999-DMG. Even Ultima + Gem Box is no match for his destructive power. For more fun give him a Genji Glove and another uber sword like Ragnarok, Excalibur, or Scimitar and, well, you get the idea. I hate the stock Illumina though, since it rapes you of your MP to hit harder (and even worse with an Offering). I turn off the MP suckage for it in my hacks on that game.
