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Messages - Deathlike2

256
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: THE Command Thread
« on: January 11, 2013, 08:20:46 PM »
Since Bluff is supposed to be temporary.. you can figure out what the "bug" is.

Palom was always meant to be the early game boss killer... unfortunately he would have to actually have learned the 3rd level elementals to even compare to Tellah. Quake is still my favorite cheap mindless goto multitarget spell.

257
It probably just sets the attack to always hit rather than actually making use of the accuracy stat.

You'd also have to factor in special cases, like Golbez's battle... Zeromus's battle, and the various Blink statuses.

258
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 11, 2013, 04:52:16 PM »
I've noted that specifically in the PSP port that "various" things from the original has been tweaked in the FF4 portion. Sometimes they are not as meaningful (status resistance in battle), but it's kinda hard to miss the flash for critical hits (unless you black out or have a seizure).

Curse has changed... I used it explicitly on flan (Golbez's/Lunarian's Tale) and I could still not damage them with the Defender. That's the only reason why I remember it as such.

It wasn't a Damage Multiplier in FF4.. it was an Attack Power Modifier (and Defense Power Modifier). Curse is limited for the few you pay attention to (the sword bearing monsters usually found in FF4's Land of Summoned Monsters and reddish dragon skeleton monster in the Lunar Subterrane).

The formulas are not the same... because the fundamental chunks involved are moved around and redone. They have a very different play in how you take damage (you'd have to put some statistics into it). For instance, the TAY coding ensures you will take damage, unless you're in the back row with a shield or if you have magic damage, you'd have to have insane magic evasion...

Now that I think about it, I need to add some more stuff...

259
I'm only repeating what Phoenix told me about Aim. It's technically accurate given the handicaps to Aim that have occurred since the original game.

260
Dark Wave always deals 1/8 damage to the user, unless the user is considered an enemy on the field (like the DK vs Paladin event).

261
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 10, 2013, 09:58:14 PM »
So... here's the basic formula... this is not perfect or totally accurate but if you have better ideas... please share.

Basic Attack Formula:

Basic Damage = (Attacker's Attack Power * rand(1, 1.25) - Target's Defense Power)

If Attacker uses Aim, set Attacker's Accuracy = 99 (although it is probably set to 255 internally).
If Attacker is Blind, set Attacker's Accuracy = 0.

If Attacker is in back row w/o back row compatible weapon, Accuracy = Accuracy * .5 (both monsters and characters)
If Target is in back row and Attacker is not using back row compatible weapon, Accuracy = Accuracy *.5 (both monsters and characters)

Accuracy Multiplier =  (Attacker's Attack Multiplier * Accuracy - Target's Defense Multiplier * Target's Evasion)

If Accuracy Multiplier < 0, Skip All Steps and Miss!
If Accuracy Multiplier < 1, Test Chance To Hit (Attacker's Attack Multiplier * Accuracy = probability to hit)
On success: Accuracy Multiplier = Attacker's Attack Multiplier * .5, Otherwise, Miss and skip all other steps.
(for low accuracy weapons like the Lilith's Rod, this is applicable)

Note: For monsters, evasion is still zero AFAIK, with possible exceptions to the rule (Cagnazzo and Barbariccia and possibly other monsters)

Raw Damage = Basic Damage * Accuracy Multiplier

Then factor in all damage modifiers:

If Attacker is Mini or Toad, Damage = 1, Skip All Other Steps
If Target is Mini or Toad, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * 2
(actually, I think the defense holdover of dropping it to zero might still happen, but I barely got to test it)

If Attacker is Cursed, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * .5
If Target is Cursed, Raw Damage = Raw Damage  * 2
(For cursed testing, I'm not actually sure this is correct, it could be applied earlier).

If Target has matching racial weakness to equipped weapon, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * 1.5 (for characters vs monsters, only one racial match will apply)
If Target has matching racial resistance thru armor, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * .5 (for monsters vs characters, only one racial match will apply)

If Target has matching elemental weakness to equipped weapon, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * 2 (for characters vs monsters generally, only one elemental match will apply)
If Target has matching elemental resistance to equipped weapon, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * .5 (for both characters and monsters, only one elemental match will apply)
Note: Elemental weakness still takes precedence to elemental resistance when it comes to weapons.

If Attacker is in back row w/o back row compatible weapon, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * .5 (both monsters and characters)
If Target is in back row and Attacker is not using back row compatible weapon, Raw Damage = Raw Damage *.5 (both monsters and characters)
(yes, lacking back row compatible weaponry hurts you double).

If Target has Protect applied, Raw Damage = Raw Damage * (1 - .125 * X)
X is the # of times Protect is applied, and is capped @ 4.

If Attacker dishes a critical hit (< 5% probability I think), Raw Damage = Raw Damage * 1.5
Note: It is possible to dish a critical hit, and totally miss. Critical hits will stack with Tenketsu, Focus, Jump, Human Kite, Big Throw, Aim (don't bother expecting it)
Special command multipliers:
Focus = Raw Damage * 2
Tenketsu = Raw Damage * 1.25
Jump = Raw Damage * 2
Human Kite = Raw Damage * 2

For magic, it's pretty much the same.

I believe the only rule that's different is the following:
Meteor cast by the enemy must apply the split damage penalty of 5 regardless of the # of targets on the field (both alive or dead).

Apply 1.25 to the Modified Calculated Damage (add or subtract from the Raw Damage, depending on the phase of the moon)

There are also special band rules:

1) In attempting to calculate the damage, you must break the attack into its bare components, ignoring ANY racial or elemental bonuses that the weapons provide. Do not factor in critical hits.

2) Most attack/physical bands will automatically apply a 50% damage bonus... so apply 1.5 to damage to the sum of the individual attacks.

3) Many bands will apply an elemental aspect to the attack, so they are generally factored in only there. Apply double damage (*2) to the damage for elemental weakness and/or half damage (*.5) to the damage to elemental weakness. Attacks with multiple elementals will stack the elemental modifiers (so, don't use your elemental bands on the Blue Dragon!). The special case of Cecil+Cid's Machine Break will try to deal bonus damage (like, maybe 2 times), then adding probably a 1.5 machine bonus. I'll have to make sure this is happening.

4) For those bands that don't quite seem to fit anywhere, you try to base it on the commands they occur with... White Magic will imply Spirit whereas Black Magic will imply Intelligence. If the spell effect you see is Holy-like, it probably is.. just like Flare. Healing will generally be SPR based. You should be able to tell who does what in any band.

5) The moon phase can affect spells more dramatically... like Infinity. Just cancel each offending bonus counters out (White Magic+, Black Magic-)

6) As mentioned before, Jump/Human Kite is INSANE with the damage bonus from the moon... but it's equally crippling.

7) Row does affect most physical based bands. Equipping back row compatible weapons or simply not targeting from/to the back row helps.

Damage will still round to 9999 unless provided with the Limit Ring or the natural limit break it provides.

If the attack is weapon based, apply all status effects from the weapon onto the enemy assuming no status resistance (if it has a compatible resistance, it will fail outright).
Hint: Status effects generally don't work on bosses...

 :edit:
I have a headache just typing this up. I need the sleep badly. Comment as you wish.

 :edit:
Added back row stuff, added Protect, etc etc

There probably should be an accompanying spell damage algo, but the simplicity of it is that the damage range is significantly lower (25% variance) but added variance to spells that are normally fixed.

 :edit:
Added more back row stuff, and one more golden rule about bands.

262
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 10, 2013, 06:47:50 PM »
Blah blah blah...

Yea, I beat the game. Woohoo! Who hasn't?  :tongue:

Some notes:
Multiply (I think) seems to attack all characters with a physical based attack, but it can be easily blocked through Blink status.
Explode (I think) is magic based... since my party is constructed with the classic 5, the girls didn't suffer as much as the guys.

I used Mirage Dive (Kain with the Limit Ring) a bit more than I imagined as it was the goto combo I liked best.

Here's an awesome exploit of the "Transform" system.

The Creator will not use it on his own... you have to use a Band or Summon or probably neutral elemental spell (Flare) to change elemental weaknesses.

I had Cecil equipped with the Ragnarok and he's kinda useless until you realize the damage he is dealing is double than he normally does. Once that is known... one huge smack with Trinity Crusade... was awesome (32k damage).

Note: This would work with Palom in the Sky with Luca with the Thor's Hammer. Since I've done 18k before with the band... doubling that would be gold.

Fought him @ White Magic+, Black Magic- (Rydia would be limited to summons).

Auto-Reflect could be considered overpowered... then there's Edge who's much better than that.

Rosa healing is probably the most important aspect.... in fact you better gamble correctly to use Trinity Crusade (since it is elemental to begin with), so Haste on Rosa is most beneficial early on (I actually complain about slow healers... with good reason). The White Magic moon phase helped.

Megaflare-only mode was annoying. I hadn't tried Reflect, but the problem is that it would be difficult to heal under Reflect (if there were bands that did it better, this team isn't it). I'm sure Shell is nice... except that would actually require Rosa to spare a turn.

I remember reading how Edge was frail (this makes no sense to me). There's a reason why the game provides a crapload of Boomerangs for the sole purpose of PUTTING HIM IN THE BACK ROW.

I forget what this "balls attack" was named, but it seemed to always target Edge (topmost slot). The paralysis+damage attack (must have been lifted from the Squids or FF5's version of the same type of attack) seems to target the bottommost character in the group. This was in a 3-2 configuration.

I do not remember any specific elemental used, so elemental protection is overrated... magic defense is kinda poop (it has been since the original) but magic evasion is still king!

Alright... I'll have a better summation of the entire system for later... should be pretty easy to make out.

263
Short answer: Items outside of battle always use a multiplier of 12... or was it 8. I can't recall. I'm pretty sure it's 12.

264
I thought of that, yeah. Would Tellah have enough speed though to cast it though? Though I guess by now there's a Mirror Curtain available (at least one, maybe?)

Sure, but then again I get Tellah at level 30+ and Reflect isn't a very long spell to cast...(I run Active ATB+Battle Speed 1 to compensate for difficulty). I eventually got around to optimizing spell locations... so...  :tongue:

265
Oh I'm well aware of (most) of the unused dialogue, things like Dark Knight Cecil reference while fighting Yang to get him to say a couple more lines, something that is only said if Tellah can survive the onslaught from the Dark Elf (fat chance of that), things like that. I recall you had a couple videos of it up a while back. They were pretty informative. I should re-read the article again, as I recall it was really good.

All you need is a little Reflect... but he's the first one to go when you fail anyways.

266
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 07, 2013, 07:26:57 PM »
Two things I'd like to mention:

I keep forgetting that Ursula can equip the Queen's Whip. Despite this not having any statistical benefits (Monk power overrides weapon attack power anyways), it allows Ursula to hit from the back row w/o requiring the Reach Ring... which is a very good compromise for the Sword and Fist band party setup.

Combining Jump (or Human Kite) in certain bands allows you to do incredible damage during the special attack moon. Jump = double damage (x2) and the special attack moon bonus is 25% (x1.25). With basic math....

100 * 2 * 1.25 = 250

This means that potentially you would do an extra 50% damage just on the Jump boost alone! Pretty much any band with Jump is simply more deadly from this bonus alone... which means Kain is always a good candidate with the Limit Ring in bands involving Jump (like Spiral Blow with Golbez). Factoring that that the damage is then boosted by 50% just using the band (250 * 1.5 = 375), you are doing almost quadruple damage than you would using the Fight command...

Note: Mirage Dive has a 50% damage bonus...

It makes more sense to go with Ceodore's Double Jump (35MP) than Sky Grinder (45MP)... Ceodore might be weaker than Cecil, but he has a greater MP pool to work with and Kain is still doing the heavy work on the monster... all doing this using 10MP less.

BTW, with regards to the dolls... I'm trying to figure out how they can self-replicate in the Calcabrena battle.. that's was the point of the rant.

267
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 07, 2013, 10:43:04 AM »
Dualcast is just not that useful on Palom unless it's double Flare... you would do 66 to 75% of the damage @ 50% of the MP and @ 75+% less time spent.. The math never agrees with Meteor IMO.

There's so much better stuff you can do with the Limit Ring... (I have Rydia having a field day with Bahamut as it is).

You could do Ice Crush + Palom in the Sky and that would produce more damage (with the Limit Ring) in the same amount of time (I haven't tried to compare the timing, but I love the combo itself) and it would costs less MP (well, in terms of Palom's MP pool).

Well, the opportunity is there... and I've already put Harley is #3 in the worst character list in my mind (Dolls being in the top 2).

Also, I think the amulet and bracelet could be a consolation prize for not salvaging the dolls. Personally I have no idea how one got from Golbez using them for evil to, just a pair of scary evil (and generally not useful) dolls. Of course, the Golbez event never explains how the Calcabrena was created if one doll is alive... it's like some hackish creation... because then it can change back into the complete set...

268
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 06, 2013, 07:47:30 PM »
Which is surprising considering it was the same fellow who worked on both, last I checked. Well, I guess it's pretty clear where his priorities lay. Yeah, it's clearly the Grand Helm now that I think on it. But even FFT didn't screw up Grand and Ground in such a manner, oy... I wonder if that's the odd way how Insect/Lizard became Demon as well.

I have no idea... they kept changing what they called it during the GBA ports (Ghoul/Spirit) so go figure. One of the more notable name changes was Flame Dragon or Inferno that Rubicante uses in the GBA port... so I cannot imagine all the changes made (if there are in the EU version of the PSP, go figure, I'll probably find out sooner or later).


Quote
In any case I have to wonder if it's any different for the PSP version of FFIV and FFIV TAY? In terms of items I mean, has any hacking begun on  those at all?

No idea on the hacking... there are simply issues just emulating it...

For the items, there is a whole lot of nerfing (have you even been reading the "blog"? :P ) There's a crapload of overpowered stuff in the GBA trial portions that had to be nerfed outright to make them reasonably usable in this port. For instance, the Hero Shield has the same property... it has the Absorb property. GBA has it +15 to all stats, where TAY has +5 to all stats (obvious nerf). Ragnarok is +15 to STR, STA, SPR @ 200 Attack Power in FF4... it's only 160 Attack Power and +10 STR, STA, SPR in TAY.

There are a handful of GBA (Advance specific stuff)-equipment carryovers to TAY that are notable:
Hero Shield - as mentioned earlier
Hypnocrown - Palom's specific equipment, now made as general black mage booster (+5 INT) with exceptional magic evasion boost (same stats I think actually)
Note: It was known as Coronet in the GBA port (in reference to FF6), but renamed relative to the FF5 equipment version.
Cat Ear Hood - Porom's specific equipment, now made as general white mage AGI booster (+7 AGI) vs (+5 AGI in GBA's port)
Red Cap - Edward's specific equipment, now made as general med class type equipment (Monk, Ninja) +10 STA in original vs +5 in TAY
Red Jacket - again, Edward specific, for med class, +15 STR, AGI in original, +10 STR, AGI in TAY
Brave Suit - Yang specific aka Courageous Suit, TAY uses same stats as original
Robe of Lords - Porom's specific equipment, made for White Mages, same stats (aka Lord's Robe)
Sage's Robe - Palom's specific equipment, made for Black Mages, same stats
Mystic Whip - Rydia's specific equipment, made for whip carriers, +15 INT original vs +10 INT for TAY (aka Mist Whip)
White Tiger Mask - Yang's specific equipment, made for med class, same stats (aka Funny Mask)
Mutsunokami - Edge's specific equipment, made for ninjas, same stats
Perseus's Bow - Rosa specific equipment, made for bow+arrow users, +15 SPR original +10 SPR
Tiger Fangs - Yang specific equipment, same stats
Dragon Claws - Yang specific equipment, same stats
Loki's Lute - Edward's specific equipment, +15 STR, AGI, STA orig, 150 attack power vs +10 STR, AGI, STA, 98 attack power (remember that racial bonuses are crippled)
Apollo's Harp - Edward's specific equipment, same bonus, 98 attack power original vs 60 attack power
Rising Sun - Edge's specific equipment, 80 attack power original vs 50 attack power, same bonus
Godhand - Yang specific equipment, +15 STR, AGI, STA orig vs +10 STR AGI, STA
Triton's Dagger - Palom specific equipment, made for all knife users, +15 INT vs +10 INT, other bonuses the same
Seraphim Mace - Porom specific equipment, made for all staff users, same stats
Thor's Hammer - Cid specific equipment, +15 STR, 190 attack power originally vs +10 STR, 140 attack power
Assassin Dagger - equippable on Porom in FF4A, but fixed in TAY, 135 attack power originally vs 85 attack power
Gigant Axe - +15 STR, 200 attack power originally vs +10 STR, 150 attack power


I'm not sure if that covers them all.. (was checking FAQs)

Revamped equipment based off original FF4:
Excalibur - 160 Attack Power -> 120 Attack Power (same STR bonus)
Ragnarok - 200 Attack Power -> 160 Attack Power (+15 STR, STA, SPR to +10 STR, STA, SPR)
Holy Lance - 110 Attack Power -> 140 Attack Power (yes, a buff)
All bows - all revamped in TAY to 75% acc instead of the weak acc it naturally has in the original (didn't scale well correctly as originally envisioned)
Stardust Rod - +15 INT -> +10 INT
Sage Staff - +15 SPR -> +10 SPR
White Robe - +15 SPR - > +10 SPR
Minerva Bustier - +15 STR, AGI, STA, -15 INT, SPR -> +10 STR, AGI, STA, -10 INT, SPR

I may have missed a few...

Also.. I'm surprised they didn't add a +15 INT piece of equipment like Asura's Rod (which is technically a contradiction since she casts only magic so you'd actually expect a Staff). Leviathan would make more sense despite not being a mage exactly...

So... meh.

269
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 06, 2013, 04:20:03 PM »
Bad translation (in GBA, or PSP)?

It's like a glorified Diamond Helm+Armor really (one of which was used in the Interlude, the Grand Helm).

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Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: FF4PSP - Journey Log
« on: January 06, 2013, 11:38:31 AM »
I'm still tweaking and gaining more levels to keep tweaking further...

Every multiplier increase when you consider each character does improve Infinity a bit, as it gives averaging 500 points of more damage to spread around.

25% is also applied to the spell's accuracy, in addition to the spell's damage in the appropriate moon phases...

If you are able to Flare or Holy will deal 9999 when cast, the moon affects damage by 25% going either way... so think of it that 2500 pts of damage is added or lost during the moon phases... so it doesn't go unnoticed when Infinity is used.

Lenora best benefits from the Sage's Robe, Mystic Veil, and Seraphim's Mace (SPR goes to the upper 80s-low 90s with INT at the best you can realistically get it at). I'm sure an Adamant Shield helps too...

I've mentioned this before about Reflect, but there is a certain bias for Reflect to bounce towards the primary monster on the field. Testing Slow vs the Deathmask+Body, the Body is the primary target and gets most of the accumulated Slow hits. It is something to think about when you are trying to bounce spells to more than one monster on the field. Normally it should be a 50-50 proposition (with 2 monsters), but it really isn't.

Also, I've described how the Behemoth in Edge's Tale seems to hit hard or miss... well, it happens with magic as well. As soon as more characters in Team Magi are getting a 5x multiplier, they start to be able to evade both Deathmasks initial Holy hit (same with Flare), but it has the probability of their magic evasion to some degree... otherwise they take full damage. I don't know how exactly this works, but having a matching magic evasion multiplier to the monster's magic multiplier is key and having high magic evasion helps a lot more. You could say the same for physical hits where the defense multiplier must match the monster's "unknown" attack multiplier and having high evasion helps. Being in the back row probably reduces the defense multiplier requirement by 1/2.

Increasing the defense or magic evasion multiplier increases the chance to miss...

 :edit:
I forgot to mention, I picked up only half of the dolls final equipment set... now I have a pair of Phase Cutters, and already have a pair of Phase Helms, and only one Phase Knuckle...

 :edit:
There are some interesting dummied items listed in the Item List guide (in the TAY section of Gamefaqs)... some drop or event item drops, perhaps to allow changing the outcome of their fate or at least signify in some later event that you killed them...

The "Ring/Amulet of Memories" listings must be for the death of Golbez... or something. It couldn't be anything else... could it?