Topics

91

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / The Truth About Sleep

« on: November 25, 2008, 12:00:40 PM »

This took a while to come up with, but I've finally figured the friggen thing out.

I've said before that Sleep had some sort of secondary thing going on, and I've finally come to the conclusion on what the hell that is...

When you first get the Slumber Sword (in the SNES version), there are a number of factors to consider when you realize it doesn't work 100% of the time.

Normally, the first to consider is level.. and I did some specific testing on that, it does absolutely nothing for it... so scratch that.

Even before that, I tried to manipulate Wisdom, but that was a non-factor given how other weapon-item spells are unaffected by this.

So, I finally tested pretty much every important stat....

It seems that Agility is where the action's at. Even though it seems oddball.. when you think about why it is successful, it doesn't naturally come to mind.

It also seems it is tied to how effective the Slumber Sword for inflicting the Sleep status.

Sleep status doesn't affect characters that often, but on some good testing, Agility significantly reduces the probability that the status is inflicted in the first place.

One more thing.. Agility has to be factored against the target's Agility, which makes it difficult to inflict the status on yourself.

Additionally, Sleep magic still follows the standard spell algo.. it just happens that the Slumber Sword does an extra comparison...

Also, I'm going to do a more thorough test of this, but as an aside, weapons inflicted by statuses seem to be driven by Agility.

This is only applicable to the SNES version of the game.

92

Gaming Discussion / FF4... Heh

« on: November 24, 2008, 12:30:00 AM »

Reproduce that w/o hacking, and you'll get a   .
 

93

Gaming Discussion / FF4 - Ultimate Stats Thread

« on: November 21, 2008, 08:18:13 AM »

I guess this was coming anyways, because of Clet's stats guide, I decided to look into the best possible situations for equipping a character..

Guide is here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/gbadvance/file/929937/49382

As a background, here are my basic thoughts on stat gaining priorities: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=873.0

With that said... there are usually two stats that control the bulk of the good gains of a character, so I will be using them liberally as a reference.

DK Cecil
#7 - +2 Str, Agi, Vit
#4 - +1 Str, Agi, Vit, Wis

Level 70:
Str: 61
Agi: 41
Vit: 41
Wis: 24
Will: 1

So, if one were to strictly focus on Agi (assuming Deathbringer is not in the cards)

#7 * 26
#2 * 3

The stats should look like this as projected..

Str: 99
Agi: 96
Vit: 96
Wis: 27
Will: 1

Equipment options:
Deathbringer (+5 Str, Agi, Vit, Wis, -5 Will)

The Deathbringer changes the equation a little  since you get approximately +20 increases with technically a 0 (SNES) or 1 (GBA) Will Power drop.. so it really doesn't matter...

Str: 99
Agi: 96 (+5)
Vit: 96 (+5)
Wis: 27 (+5)
Will: 1 (-5 or -1 effectively in the GBA version or zero change in the SNES version)

Tweaking the numbers further would be simply cosmetic and have no impact.

Before I move onto Kain, here's a quick list of "universal" equipment that tends to impact what you may want for stat growth, but worth taking a consideration for...
Hero Shield (+15 to all) - absorb property
Ninja Hat/Black Cowl (+3 Str, Agi, Vit) - only one of a kind
Bandanna/Green Beret (+5 Str, +5 Vit) - two available
Headband (+5 Str) - Charm resistance
Adamant Armor (+15 to all)
Protect Ring (+15 Vit) - fire, ice, lit resistance
Crystal Ring (+5 Agi) - resistant vs dragons, has significantly better defense than the Protect Ring

Kain
#8 - +3 Str, Agi, Will
#6 - +2 Str, Vit, Wis, Will

Level 70:
Str: 73
Agi: 48
Vit: 63
Wis: 12
Will: 39

If one were to strictly focus on Agi...

#8 * 16
#6 * 13

Str: 99
Agi: 96
Vit: 89
Wis: 38
Will: 99

Equipment options:
Abel's Lance (+15 Str, Agi, Spr) - FF4A only
Dragoon Plate (+10 Sta) - FF4A only

Abel's Lance+Hero Shield+Adamant Armor (FF4A scenario):
#8 * 3
#6 *26

Str: 99
Agi: 57 (+45)
Vit: 99
Wis: 64 (+30)
Will: 99

Increasing the Wisdom stat past 93 is not worth it since you can increase Kain's natural Agility instead and there's no need to use additional help.
Increasing Intelligence does not help increase the frequency of Tornado from Abel's Lance anyways.

The Crystal Ring would be a nice alternative option from the Dragoon Gloves though... it does allow statistically to remove one level of #8 and use that for a level of #6.

Abel's Lance+Hero Shield (FF4A Scenario):

#8 * 8
#6 * 21

Str: 99
Agi: 72 (+30)
Vit: 99
Wis: 54 (+15)
Will: 99

Again, like before, you can increase the Agility stat since converting a few points of that for Intelligence is not worth the point (no tangible gain).

Adamant Armor  (FF4 Scenario):
#8 * 12
#6 * 17

Str: 99
Agi: 84 (+15)
Vit: 97 (+15)
Wis: 46 (+15)
Will: 99

This setup doesn't need extra help or tweaking, even if you use the Crystal Ring or lose a #8... this maximizes Kain's natural Agility while not losing anything else in the process.

Natural Kain (FF4 Scenario):
Dragoon/Wyvern or Holy/White Spear or Defender
Dragon Shield (or Aegis Shield for extra +3 Wis)
Ribbon (the Dragon Helm is primarily redundant)
Dragon Mail
Crystal Ring (or Protect Ring or Dragon Gloves in the worst case)

#8 * 16
#6 * 13

Str: 99
Agi: 96 (+5 if Crystal Ring is used, +3 for Ninja Hat)
Vit: 89 (+15 if Protect Ring is used, +3 for Ninja Hat, +15 for Defender)
Wis: 38 (+3 if Aegis Shield is used)
Will: 99

I guess, you could try to tweak the stats a little here by equipping a Ninja Hat+Aegis Shield+Crystal Ring to convert 2 #8s into 2 #6s to eke out an extra 1% of magic evasion, but it probably isn't worth the defensive + stats protection losses (Ninja Hat being the biggest culprit).

Rydia
#7 - +3 Str, Agi, Wis, Will
#6 - +2 Str, Vit, Wis, Will

Level 70:
Str: 36
Agi: 33
Vit: 34
Wis: 63
Will: 54

#7 * 21
#6 * 8

Str: 99
Agi: 96
Vit: 50
Wis: 99
Will: 99

This is near perfect for an optimal minimalist configuration, which can allow Vitality gains for Agi loss conversions... which is pretty good for her.

Equipment Options:
Dragon Whip/Dragon's Whisker (+5 Str, Agi, Vit, -5 Wis, Will)
Mist Whip (+15 Int)
Assassin Dagger (+15 Agi)
Stardust Rod (+15 Int)
Tiara/Gold Hairband (+10 Wis, dragon resistance, lit resistance)
Rainbow Robe (+10 Int)
Heroine Robe/Minerva Bustier (+15 Str, Agi, Vit, -15 Wis, Will)
Sorcerer/Light Robe (+5 Wis, +5 Will, undead resistance)
Mist Ring (adds Image (1) to the Mist Dragon summon)

Hero Shield+Adamant Armor (FF4A only):

#7 * 12
#6 * 17

Str: 99
Agi: 69 (+30)
Vit: 68 (+30)
Wis: 99
Will: 99

That should maximize everything... in theory. The Protect Ring is not optimal because you could do better (Crystal Ring has protection vs Dragons, Mist Ring makes the Mist Dragon even more useful, etc). This also allows you to use whatever weapon option you want (trading lots of natural Agility for more Vitality points is a waste IMO).

Assassin Dagger+Hero Shield+Rainbow Robe (FF4A Scenario):
#7 * 11
#6 * 18

Str: 99
Agi: 66 (+30)
Vit: 70 (+15)
Wis: 99
Will: 99

That could probably be maxed out with a Protect Ring under that scenario, but that's really it.

Hero Shield+Rainbow Robe (FF4A Scenario):
#7 * 16
#6 * 13

Str: 99
Agi: 81 (+15)
Vit: 60 (+15)
Wis: 99
Will: 99

That's not as optimal... probably could help to use the Protect Ring or Dragon Whip for some extra Stamina...

Another thought to this is you could try to sub the Heroine Robe, and use the Protect Ring to compensate for the elemental, but you gain over +45 Stamina with
the Hero Shield (too much really) and lose Holy absorb/resistance... and all you get is Paralysis protection but you've maxed out the Will Power, so what's the point?

Adamant Armor (FF4 Scenario): It looks like the Hero Shield+Rainbow Robe combo, so I won't repeat too much since it is the same for the most part..
The Crystal Ring would be better than the Protect Ring here though since there is more raw defense to be gained.

Sorcerer's Robe (FF4 Scenario): It looks more or less like the raw stats scenario that I've mentioned.. if you combine the Dragon Whip and this armor, the penalties of the whip are offset. This scenario works best if you use the shield equip trick with Edge because the low evasion that's factored here.

Heroine's Robe (FF4 Scenario): This looks kinda like the Hero Shield+Rainbow Robe combo, with some major differences. The -15 to Wisdom and Will Power can be offset with the Tiara/Gold Hairband to an extent. This will allow Rydia to be able to take punishing physical blows better than the previous suggestion and not lose too much in the magic defense and magic evasion department.

Str: 99
Agi: 81 (+15)
Vit: 60 (+15)
Wis: 99 (-20 from Heroine Robe+Dragon's Whip, +10 Gold Hairband)
Will: 99 (-20 from Heroine Robe+Dragon's Whip)

Black Belt (FF4 Scenario): Instead of using the Heroine's Robe, this should be less negatively impactful... this assumes you use the optimal bare stats that I have proposed. The only negative is the Whip, which could be compensated with a Gold Hairband.. the only real negative is the sub par magic defense... (and this assumes you won't use the shield trick).

Str: 99
Agi: 96 (+5 from Dragon Whip)
Vit: 50 (+25 from Dragon Whip, Black Belt, and Protect Ring bonuses)
Wis: 99 (-5 from Dragon Whip, +10 from Gold Hairband)
Will: 99 (-5 from Dragon Whip)

Tellah
#6 - +1 Agi, Vit, Wis, Will
#5 - +1 Str, Agi

Level 70:
Str: 1
Agi: 26
Vit: 1
Wis: 24
Will: 24

With the limitation on options, there isn't many ways to go...
#6 * 29

Str: 1
Agi: 55
Vit: 30
Wis: 53
Will: 53

Well, there may be some better combos that worth with it.. given the few available options possible.
 (I'm not bothering to list the Adamant Armor/Hero Shield combos for logical and lame reasons).

Equipment Options:
Change Rod (+5 Wis)
Lilith Rod (+5 Wis)
Silence Staff (+10 Will)
Gaea Hat/Triangle Hat/Wizard's Hat (+3 Wis, Will)
Karate Robe/Kenpogi (+3 Str)
Wizard Robe/Sage's Surplice (+5 Will)
Rune Ring (+3 Wis, Will, resistance vs Mages)

None of these options increase Agility, but most of them contribute to Wisdom and Will... so let's figure out the oddball option first.

Headband+Karate+Silence Staff (why not?)

Str: 1 (+8)
Agi: 55
Vit: 30
Wis: 53 (+3)
Will: 53 (+13)

This is the best possible case if you want to get any semblance of offense done. This isn't pretty, but whatever.
You lose a magic defense multiplier in the process...

Will Power Preferred (Silence Staff)

Str: 1
Agi: 55
Vit: 30
Wis: 53 (+6)
Will: 53 (+21)

That's can't really be tweaked further...

Wisdom Preferred

Str: 1
Agi: 55
Vit: 30
Wis: 53 (+11)
Will: 53 (+11)

This looks pretty picture perfect.. since you just make the magic defense multiplier. This can't be tweaked further though.

Thread under heavy

94

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Yang's HP Level Fix

« on: November 20, 2008, 10:16:10 PM »

Code: [Select]

FF4/FF4A - Yang's HP Growth Fix
Version 1.0 - 11/21/08
11/23/08 (with updated readme)
Created by Deathlike2
deathlike_2@hotmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Why does this patch exist?
--------------------------

It should be self explanatory. For those of you that aren't aware,
Yang's HP does not increase past level 60. It seems that someone goofed
when putting in the information, so go figure. This patch is here to fix
that behavior. The stats mirror that of FF4A (GBA) Euro version (or Jap 1.1
revision) of this game which has this fixed.


What This Patch Will Not Do
---------------------------

This patch will not "readjust" Yang's HP as soon as you load up the game. It
will also not change Yang's HP gains while this patch wasn't previously
applied. For example, Yang at level 70 will not magically gain 10 missing
levels of HP when he rejoins the party or while he's in the current party
prior to using this patch. Those levels have been gained (whether behind the
scenes or not) are permanent as part of the ongoing stored save data.


Patching
--------

There are patches provided for the following...

SNES (unheadered)
SNES (headered)

Note: Both SNES versions should work on all versions of the game.
This includes FF4, FF2US (SNES) 1.0, FF2US (SNES) 1.1, and FF4 Easytype.

GBA (Jap 1.0)
GBA (US)

I suggest you use NSRT to verify if your SNES ROM is a valid dump and
to determine if the ROM has a header.

Windows: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/400/
Linux: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/401/
Mac: http://www.romhacking.net/utils/484/

You should be able to use an emulator's software patching or LunarIPS
if hardpatching is needed.

This can be patched against J2e's translation or any translation that
does not move the character level up data around.



Romhacking Info
---------------

Yang's character stats start at:
SNES - 0x7BC74 (without header)
SNES - 0x7BE74 (with header of 0x200)
Jap 1.0 GBA - 0xE9DF4
US GBA - 0xE9A38

Modifications start at:
SNES - 0x7BD6F (without header)
SNES - 0x7BF6F (with header of 0x200)
Jap 1.0 GBA - 0xEA120
US GBA - 0xE9D64


Credits
-------

Phoenix gets credit for writing up a decent level up doc based on JCE3000GT's
docs and http://s-endo.skr.jp/ff4chrlvup.txt

JCE3000GT made an awesome complete hack (based on what was known at the
time) that got me interested in finding out more.

Dragonsbreathren for helping out when I didn't know any better way back when.

Thanks to Lenophis for putting up with me on the forums.

Entroper wrote a pretty good FF4A doc sheet with addresses that I could find
what I needed to modify on my own.

 
Anyone willing to host this? I was thinking of submitting this to RHDN, then I remembered I had no website... and it's not as if I was going to put effort into that.

95

Gaming Discussion / FF4 - Stats Can't Get Away From Facts

« on: November 17, 2008, 12:26:11 PM »

I remember there was some post on Gamefaqs regarding stats and how they felt about each stat.

I saw so many idiotic posts, it made me want to bang my head against a wall.

Anyways, here's how I feel about stats and how I'd rank them (I'm only talking of the 5 basic stats, and nohting else).

1) Agility - This is the difference between getting a turn against the EvilMask/Wicked Mask so the monster can take its own medicine.
This stat contributes 1/3 of the attack multipler and 1/3 of the magic defense multiplier, but all of the defense multiplier.
Most importantly, being able to input commands is more important in this game than in say FF6.
Since Agility doesn't grow on trees, I often hate the slow characters, particularly Cid, Tellah, and FuSoYa.. they are such pains in the asses to get anything done (though Cid IMO is the most useful of the bunch).

2) Strength - Even though I like magic, I'm ultimately partial to being able to use the Attack command at will at any time, if just for MP conservation purposes alone.
The extra attack power you get is more or less academic as the multiplier and the weapon you wield has the most impact and influence in terms of dealing damage.
Ultimately, this has more value on spellcasting characters than on fighters.. since you can make a seemingly weak Rydia be a pretty damn good fighter... (and Edward if you factor in FF4A)... probably arguably better than Rosa...

3) Will Power/Spirit - Even though this stat has technically the same impact that Wisdom does for spellcasting, the secondary purpose is to reduce the effectiveness of paralysis and sleep.. which are pretty annoying in their own right. Additionally, healing outside of battle is much more potent than healing within a battle... so it's hard to argue against those facts.

4) Wisdom/Intelligence - It's obvious this is the other side of the equation, making Edge look like a god at times with his Ninjutsu and Rydia... so it's not really that shocking. Besides, Palom's special ability makes this kinda cool too.

5) Vitality/Stamina - Ok, so this stat drives the Life spell and Poison/Gradual Petrification resistance. I understand that. The sad thing though is that gaining 1 point of defense for every 2 points of this stat is worthless. Here's a simple reason why.. it doesn't provide any extra protection for magic (neither does Wisdom and Will, so go figure), but ultimately, you are better off exposing elemental resistances and racial resistances, since they provide far more impact than this value. Rather than being able to top at 49 defense power, you are better of halving a monster's attack power due to racial resistance. Also, you can't forget the impact of evasion.. which reduces the need for this stat to be boosted. I've never been fond on Cid taking damage like a tank.. not that he couldn't, but other characters manage better than he can at doing the same thing...

Ok, that's enough of the rant. I had to get this off my mind.

96

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Slowing Petrify

« on: November 16, 2008, 08:59:39 AM »

The rumors about it not working on characters is crap.. however it doesn't seem to kill monsters at all. It seems to affect all GBA versions of this game...

 
Further testing shows that it does work on monsters, except monsters under the Charm status.

The timer doesn't seem to do anything while under Charm status, and even after Charm status is removed, the timer continues to be stuck.

 
Ok, I think I understand this better after testing.

Monsters normally throw out "Slowing Petrify" attacks tend to not do anything in its initial stage (1/3 Stone). It always takes 3 Slowing Petrify attacks total to move to the next stage (2/3 Stone). Subsequent Slowing Petrify attacks don't seem to accelerate/move the timer for 2/3 Stone.. as that timer seems to work independently.

97

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Monster Spell Status Table?

« on: November 15, 2008, 02:44:56 PM »

I was wondering if there was some sort of spell table or spell check that causes monster spells to fail...

The reason for this is that I found Mini status to prevent a monster, the Waterbug, to successfully use Remedy.
Strangely enough, the Retreat spell works.

In FF4A, this both Remedy and Retreat don't work for the Waterbug.

 

There seems to be some consistancy in the GBA port than in the SNES port.

In the GBA port, Mini status seems to disable all monster spells.

In the SNES port, Mini status seems to disable one monster spell (AFAIK at the moment)... the other spells work normally (Slap, Retreat).

I'm currently doing some testing here to understand this further, unless there's some information that can be provided about it.

98

Gaming Discussion / FF4 - The Forgotton Ancient Sword

« on: November 14, 2008, 05:03:02 AM »

This weapon is the most forgotten of all weaponry in FF4, due to its natural inferior stats to the Legend Sword. Additionally, there are only 2 Spirit monsters after this point in the game to take advantage of this... which doesn't make this weapon seem worthy of a look.

It still has an intricate use for those that want to find something useful for it...

1) Allowing Tellah and other frail units like Yang (and Cid's uber tanking) to take less damage. Curse status isn't a great stat, but reducing the monster's attack power by half is always a good start.

2) Flan/Pudding killing is thought of to be a Drain weaponry special, which is generally the case. However, the Ancient Sword allows you do this one step earlier... as in conjunction with Yang (equipped with an elemental claw), you can make Yang much more effective w/o having him use Build Up/Power and kill Flans easier by leading off with the Ancient Sword and reducing the Flan/Pudding's monsters armor stat to something more reasonable... and allowing the elemental multiplier for Yang's claw to do the other half of the dirty work.

Anyways, there aren't any other monsters that fall into the overpowering attack catagory to make Curse status even more useful, but that's where you can find for this weapon's limited usefulness.

99

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / New Weapon vs Immune Elemental Info

« on: November 10, 2008, 11:17:45 AM »

I wrote before that a critical hit dealt to an elemental immune target would use a fixed attack power value (25 for the SNES version, 21 in the GBA version)...

Well, this didn't get tested in FF4A, but I suspect this will still be true.

For Edge, he's a special case.
If both hands are equipped and one of them exposes the elemental immunity, it should use the standard fixed attack power value that I've mentioned before.
If one hand is equipped, and it exposes the elemental immunity, the formula works more like this...

Attack Power = 25 + weapon power/2

Regular formulas still apply...

This is readily testable in JCE's hack.

100

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Count/Doom Fun Bug

« on: November 10, 2008, 10:12:42 AM »

When the Fataleye monster manages to get its own Count reflected against itself, if for any reason you use a Life potion on a dead party member, you will hear the monster revival sound that follows right after the monster death sound.

101

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Gorgon Blade Info

« on: November 10, 2008, 03:56:33 AM »

Unlike its predecessor, the Gorgon Blade (also known as the Medusa Sword) seems to inflict gradual petrification status less than any other status infliction that is possible. It is curious because the chance to inflict a status is based on the level of the attacker and target... it's rather strange that this is the exception.

A possible cause is that it may inflict the "earlier" version of the status... which starts the target at 1/3 Petrify.. but it might not display the message at all (or is missing one altogether). There's something strange about this behavior anyways, as it takes multiple hits to bring the status message up...

Anyways, go figure, someone probably goofed here while redoing the whole system anyways. The target will die on its own because of gradual petrification anyways (it's fixed unlike the SNES counterparts, I was trying to test the Stop bug)... too bad it is at the cost of being ineffective.

Probably should catagorize this as "worst status revision ever".

102

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Jump Induced Bugs

« on: November 09, 2008, 05:31:26 AM »

This probably applies to Hide as well, but it will have to be tested further.

When spells are cast on a target with the Jump status, it usually missed automatically. However, there are some faulty checks at work.

When fighting an EvilMask (solo only), the game freezes up when it attempts to cast Haste on your party, Kain is under Jump status, and everyone else is dead.
Note: When the EvilMask is fought in a pair, apparently the Haste is retargeted to themselves... so it's probably a targeting issue.

This bug is fixed in FF4ET and FF4A.


There are also a few cosmetic bugs that exist here (when the party is dead and Kain's under Jump status)...
Spells are not being reflected off the EvilMask's reflect while in the air. (This always happens).
Some monsters don't bother to even cast the spell they normally cast in their battle script (see Warlock's Tornado, Zeromus's Flare, Kary's Embrace).
Some sounds are missing altogether (see Zeromus's Big Bang).
Some messages don't get posted (Pinkpuff's dance message).

The bulk of these are corrected in FF4A...
The spells are always reflected even though it auto-misses.
The spells are always displayed even though it auto-misses.
Zeromus's Big Bang graphics doesn't display (unlike the SNES version)...
Messages do get posted (like the Pinkpuff's Dance).

103

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Fataleye Battle Script?

« on: November 09, 2008, 05:10:24 AM »

Can someone provide me this info? I wanted to test something out, but apparently I'm not entirely familiar with it.

104

Gaming Discussion / Ogre Battle FAQ

« on: November 02, 2008, 05:27:37 AM »

If any of you that have played Ogre Battle, I'd like some feedback on what I wrote a long while ago: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588541/48963

I wrote this on the Gamefaqs board to announce my intentions: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=588541&topic=46330599

Anyways, if someone is willing to provide feedback and whatnot so I can improve upon it, please do so.

I'll have to get off my lazy ass and finish the FF4 Algo doc (perhaps w/o having the item data, because that will take up time and it's unbelievably tedious).

105

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Monster Hit Rate

« on: October 22, 2008, 09:19:57 AM »

This probably draws a curious question... but is worth asking.

1) Do monsters increase their hit rate because of their level (like it does for characters)?

2) Is it possible to increase the hit rate over 100% (preferable to 200% or more) if only to negate the back row behavior? This is worth asking since Aim is set to 255%, so the back row and blind hit rate reduction is ignored...

  Fixed major error.