Messages

1636

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: "Twin" Command

« on: November 20, 2008, 11:28:16 AM »

Ok, I've done quite a bit of analysis on the Twin command, worthy of the

FF4A's Double Meteor uses the following formula..

Base Spell Power = 1000

Damage = (Spell Power - Target's Magic Defense + rand (0, 255)) * Spell Multiplier

So, the required Intelligence to maximize damage regardless of the target's magic defense is 52... which may be a bit difficult to get Porom at that stat.


In the SNES version of the game, the Wisdom stat is not randomly selected between the twins... rather it is determined by slot position. Go figure on that.
The character in the earliest slot position (middle slot) has their Wisdom used, regardless of who executes the Twin command.

 

In the GBA version of the game,  the Intelligence stat is not randomly selected between the twins... it is determined moreso by the Agility of the character.
Unfortunately, this implies that the Porom is the prime candidate for this command to favor. It doesn't matter who executes the Twin command.

 

Fixed the correct Intelligence required.

1637

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Monster Hit Rate

« on: November 19, 2008, 09:26:10 PM »

After some better sorted out testing... the formula looks more like the character's hit rate bonus.

Hit Rate = Monster's (Assigned) Hit Rate + Monster's Level/4

1638

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Monster Hit Rate

« on: November 19, 2008, 05:58:01 PM »

Hmmm.. after some more testing, I'm not entirely confident. I believe the answer is yes, but I'm trying to decide how the level plays in since being in the back row cuts the attacker's hit rate in half...

The hit rate bonus is probably Level/2...

1639

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Monster Hit Rate

« on: November 19, 2008, 02:25:21 PM »

I hate answering my own question. 

The answer is a resounding yes.

Since the back row attributes to reducing the hit rate of a monster, a monster benefits from the hit rate bonus that a character gets due to their level... which is..

Hit Rate = Monster's Hit Rate + Level/2

Just like a character, the monster's level is definately a factor in its hit rate, and therefore won't suffer from hitting under 50% for back row targets.. at maximum, they will have 74% (for the regular game).. although my guess is that they could be programmed to have 255% which would effectively ignore the back row (assuming Blind is not inflicted).

  Fixed the formula...

1640

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Hit Rate

« on: November 19, 2008, 02:20:42 PM »

Ultra 

This thread was written before I properly understood how it worked.. so it's probably worth correcting this.

Hit Rate is effectively "damage efficency". The closer the number is to 99%, the more efficent the damage is dealt, relative to the attack multiplier.

A way of calculating it is Hit Rate * Attack Multiplier * Attack Power get a proper idea of damage being dealt. Also, a low hit rate has a higher degree of variation, which may or may not help the situation, which is why a hit rate of 99% is relatively stable and predictable in the damage that can be dealt.

1641

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Back Row

« on: November 19, 2008, 02:15:37 PM »

Ultra 

Ok, I did some proper analysis on this.

An attacker that attacks a target that is in the back row will have the following happen:

Hit Rate is reduced by 1/2.
The target's defense is doubled.

From testing, this appears to be the case.. after seeing Rosa take damage in the low 100s with how I normally set her up in FF4.

  Fixed my incorrect analysis.

1642

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Other Holy Grail - Attack Algo

« on: November 17, 2008, 07:21:53 PM »

Ok, I'm not updating this thread yet (probably needs an overhaul if anything), but the critical hit formula for bows is pretty much like this...

Bow's Attack Power/2 + Arrow's Attack Power + Str/4 + (Bow's Attack Power aka the critical hit bonus)...

This can also be rewritten as...

Bow's Attack Power * 3/2 + Arrow's Attack Power + Str/4

1643

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Random Lesser Known Facts

« on: November 17, 2008, 07:16:29 PM »

Bows+Arrows and Harps don't give the critical hit flashes in FF4A. This is probably a change to prevent seizures since the # of arrows and harp hits equal the number of flashes.

1644

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Aim Command

« on: November 17, 2008, 12:52:42 PM »

On further analysis, I think I know what's happening.

Aim does allow for critical hits... so that's not a big deal.

I found a lot more about bows and arrows though.

It seems that when a critical hit is dealt, the 50% bonus from the weapon's attack power is factored into the equation.
In the case of Edge, it's probably more like the average of his katanas * 50% as the bonus.
In the case of Yang, it's just his natural attack power that's in use * 50% as the bonus.
For a bow and arrow, it seems that this 50% bonus is derived differently.

A regular bow+arrow attack power is defined as this:

Bow's Attack Power/2 + Arrow's Attack Power + Str/4

A critical hit based on this looks more like...

(Bow's Attack Power + Arrow's Attack Power + Str/4) * 3/2 is the attack...

I'm still fuzzy on the math, but it makes a ton of sense to me, since the Angel Arrows + Perseus Bow does more damage than a Perseus Arrow + Elven/Samurai Bow.

 

It's actually starting to look like this for critical hits..

Bow's Attack Power/2 + Arrow's Attack Power + Str/4 + Bow's Attack Power

The critical hit bonus for bows is effectively tripling the impact of the Bow.

Also, critical hits aren't shown for arrows for some reason in FF4A.

1645

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.

1646

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF2/4 The Buggy Avenger Sword

« on: November 17, 2008, 10:48:32 AM »

Looking to Clet's FAQ links... I found this: http://web.archive.org/web/20061129021254/www.parabox.or.jp/~takashin/ff4ura.htm

This list of bugs isn't really surprising, though it brings up some fun filled bugs... it seems to refer to the Avenger for one.

Expanding on the Drain-Avenger bug, basically, it's the same thing as the attack power bug.

When you swap weapons with the Avenger, the current attack power/stats are not properly updated, so the attack power and elemental attributes are "saved".

Now, obviously it's not that much different than casting Berserk on a character, but in Cecil's case, you can work around the Crystal Armor's Berserk resistance.

1647

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

« on: November 17, 2008, 07:25:01 AM »

 

I was wrong about the wraparound (there isn't), but there the cap of 0 is there anyways...

This wouldn't happen in the SNES version:


That extra point matters in the GBA version:

1648

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.

1649

Pandora's Box / Re: Camon!

« on: November 16, 2008, 07:16:48 AM »

Without wasting much thought...

"It's done when they say it's done."

1650

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.