Topic: FF II: A Threat from Within - Expanded ROM = New Features!

[chillyfeez]

Well, even if I do get rid of it, Max, I'd still put an anti-cheating device into the ROM, so don't get your hopes up too high.
 

[Kea]

Good to have you back! Though I myself am too swamped right now to do much hacking...

I'll second the suggestion to drop monster level scaling - I've never seen any such system that wasn't broken in some way, or else made leveling up pointless. Even making Agility (or even all five main stats) independent of level would be a neater solution.

edit: I do like the idea of multiple encounter sets for the same area. Wizardry 8 did something similar, where each area had a minimum and maximum level based on the party's average level, and would scale the encounter compositions only within that range. So if an area had a level 12-15 range, the encounters wouldn't get any tougher for a party past level 15, nor any weaker for a party below 12.

[chillyfeez]

Well, I disagree with the notion that it hasn't ever been done right. For all its faults (and there were many), I thought FFVIII nailed it. The monsters scaled appropriately to the party's level, and higher level monsters yielded higher level magics, so grinding wasn't pointless at all.

But that being said, my system definitely did not nail it.

You raise an interesting idea though, Kea. I was thinking of using different encounter sets based on story progress, but based on party level is a fun idea, too. It's something to think about, for sure.

[Squall]

Anyway, long story short - I think I'm back and I'm excited to get to work!

Heeeyyyy chillyfeez, welcome back!!!

I'm glad that PinkPuff made a modification so you can expand the ROM. That will open a whole new universe of things you can do!

Edit:
Which game did you play for a year?

[chillyfeez]

Thanks, Squall!

I got into FFRK about two years ago, but I managed to successfully balance that with some hacking still. Then I got into FFBE, which really had me hooked at first because it presents itself more as a linear, plot driven game. But for the last couple of months, I found that I was much more interested in pulling new characters and wasting LOTS of time trying to (but usually failing) get the best ones. So I went on a two week vacation in October and had limited access to wifi at the time, and therefore didn't get to play. When I got back home, I realized that I really didn't miss being able to play FFBE, so that was that.

Anywho, I just finished removing the Monster level-up system from TfW. It was a pretty tedious process, but now that's all done. Of course, now I have to adjust all of the monsters in the game to an appropriate difficulty level. Many of them had their base stats turned WAY down because it was assumed that the player's level would be higher, so they would in turn be stronger. This'll probably be a considerable process, because I'll have to actually play through each section of the game several times in order to make the proper adjustments. Some of them - like Imps for example - I can probably just copy the stats from Vanilla, but there are a lot of monsters that I created from the ground up that will take more work.

Meanwhile, now that I'm back into the swing of things, my mind (as it does) keeps wandering into other innovations I'd like to try. I've long had this dream of completely hacking the Namingway routine to change it into a "PHS" (to borrow the term from FFVII) system. I imagine this would be extraordinarily complicated, but at the same time it could be a really fun exercise. No promises that I'll make any significant headway with that little diversion anytime soon, but the more I think about it the more infectious the idea becomes.
 

 

[Squall]

Hehe I 've played FFBE before, then stopped because its too demanding. Recently I started again but with slow paste :) Funny this week is FF4 but I think only monsters from it ... Currently I hit rank 60 with Lightning, Refia, Luneth, Cecil, Dark Fina and Exdeath as my top chars (I stopped when Dark Fina debuted). What about you?

[chillyfeez]

Yeah, I still get the Facebook notifications, so I know they're doing the four fiends from FFIV. I'm fighting the urge to play again.
I think I stopped at rank 112 or so.
I have Orlandeau and Dark Fina (both serendipitous pulls) as probably my top two. But I also have several other 5* bases, including Emperor (from FF1? Or 2? Or 3?) And Mercenary Ramza and Lightning. I have three or four Veritas of the Earth and a couple other 4* base Veritas (earth is the only one I use). I have two Agriases with leveled-up abilities so I can super-chain with Orlandeau...
Like I said, I was spending WAY too much time playing the dang thing.

[Squall]

Rank 112 ... woah you really did spent sometime with the game :D
I just hope you didn't spend money on it too :P

Ahh Orlandeau ... like 2-3 months before I stopped, there was constantly: Orlandeau is coming ... SOON. He is the OP on JP. ou should consider yourself lucky ... Before Orlandeau, Noctis was the last OP, I tried so hard to get it without luck :(
Anyway is it ok to add me as friend? My ID is 130.643.482, nick Squall. I could use a well developed char 
BTW I play on PC trough Nox, not on phone or real Android device, but that should not be a problem.

[chillyfeez]

Yeah, I'll add you. I don't play anymore, so I won't be changing my party leader in order to best fit the events. Who do you want me to have up, Orlandeau?
My username is "c.feez."

[Squall]

Whoever is the most developed :D

[chillyfeez]

OK, done. I'll keep Orlandeau up. He's overall probably more useful than Dark Fina. My Dark Fina is probably stronger relative to the field of Dark Finas out there than My Orlandeau is, but his 943 attack power is still awesome enough in most situations.

Oh, and I'm rank 120, BTW. Better than I thought.

[Squall]

All done, TYVM chillyfeez!
952 Attack - very impressive! Personally I don't see why it was consider OP - no AoE, no upgradable skills.

P.S. Do you keep your account in Telegram? I tryed to reach you there (so we don't flood this thread) but it says: Deleted Account

[chillyfeez]

All done, TYVM chillyfeez!
952 Attack - very impressive! Personally I don't see why it was consider OP - no AoE, no upgradable skills.

He has a very high base power, can use both Katanas and Large Swords (which generally have the highest attack power, as well as +50% attack power abilities that are pretty easy to acquire), and his most powerful move reduces the opponent's light resistance, which couples well with the easily-obtained Excalibur.
He doesn't have an AoE move, but for the toughest bosses AoE tends to be overrated, and if you need AoE his limit skill is, and he has an innate high tide. He's also a capable stat debuffer, especially if you got his Crush Helm during his debut event.

P.S. Do you keep your account in Telegram? I tryed to reach you there (so we don't flood this thread) but it says: Deleted Account

I didn't delete it, but I only ever used it to communicate with you, so if they delete unused accounts, that might have happened. I'll look into it at some point soon.

[chillyfeez]

The more I play through TfW, the more I get bothered by the ally hiring system.

The original idea was that by the time the player is able to visit all hiring locations freely, there would be incentive to change allies every once in a while - even if just to keep things fresh. The problem with that, though, is that the starting level of these allies would be prohibitive of this practice. Why would I want to hire a lv 15 ninja when I've spent all this time getting my black mage up to lv 60?

So I thought of a relatively easy solution to this issue - make the hired ally start at a level that is appropriate based on the player's progress. With my expanded ROM, I have plenty of space to construct a starting stat table for every hireable character.

The only part of this I'm hung up on is how to determine the starting level of the hired ally. I'd welcome input from anyone reading this...
1) match (or base upon) Furio's level
2) match (or base upon) average party level
3) base entirely upon game/story progress
4) some other way I haven't considered
5) match the level of the hired ally currently in the party, unless there is no current hired ally, in which case fall back on another of option 1-4.

Neither 1, 2 or 3 is perfect. 1) stands to be abused - player could kill off all other characters, grind Furio way up, then hire a super ally. 2) gets dicey specifically when Rydia is in the party, as she joins at level 50. 3) stands to punish the player needlessly for grinding. 5) is probably the best, but it's also the biggest pain to program, and then I'd still have to figure out which method to fall back on if there is no current hired ally.

Any thoughts?

[Squall]

As a regular player - I would prefer 2. It will be natural thing from my current experience.

Just in general thoughts:
- abusing things is OK. To abuse - you must understand well how things works and order them for your benefits. The fact that you understand and are clever enough to use in your advantage is enough for me to be rewarded with some easy tricks.
- 5 is easily abused as 1
- 3 and 5 seems too complicate to make any justice to program.
- a possible 4: variations of 2 - get the highest or the lowest level of the party

My personal advice - pick one that is easy to make (luckily 2 seems simple enough). When all things are done and you still think: "this is a wrong" - implement another option, just don't stop and waste time for it (now) :D