øAslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=4rpmddblr0qsa28id791kk1410&action=profile;u=6;area=showposts;sa=topics;start=105e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/indexc099-2.htmlslickproductions.org/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=4rpmddblr0qsa28id791kk1410&action=profile;area=showposts;sa=topics;u=6e:/My Web Sites/Slick Productions - FFIV Message Board/slickproductions.org/forum/indexc099-2.html.zx:žh^ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÈ00W&ÀOKtext/htmlISO-8859-1gzip0|Ö&ÀÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿWed, 11 Mar 2020 08:32:18 GMT0ó°° ®0®P®€§²ð®9žh^ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ*&À Show Posts - Deathlike2

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Topics - Deathlike2

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106
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Status or Solo Multiplier?
« on: October 22, 2008, 09:16:40 AM »
This question hasn't been answered yet, so I decided to write a specific post on it.

This multiplier is mostly applied to most status attacks, but is also applied to a number of other spells.

The behavior of this bit is to induce a 1x multiplier for both the spell multiplier and magic defense multiplier (0 is used for monsters under most instances, 1 is used for characters that have at least a magic defense multiplier of 1) in the spell algo.

I wondered whether to keep calling it the status multiplier.. but it may be more appropriate to call it the solo multiplier. I do need an answer to this...

107
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Lightbringer and others
« on: October 18, 2008, 05:51:22 AM »
I can't seem to find the old thread, but if someone finds it, please merge the threads.

The FF4A specfic weaponry: Lightbringer, Fiery Hammer, and Abel's Lance all have a chance to cast a spell, particularly when the attack command is used. The frequency of the spell casting is unknown (I believe Abel's Lance depends moreso on Kain vs target's level, but I could be wrong).

The spell cast is powered by the respective stats that normally power the magic. The status of the character does not matter as the spell is cast independantly of the attacker's current status. However, Blind is the only impactful status that actually affects the magic damage dealt.

108
Gaming Discussion / FF4A - Brachioraidos: Not Innovative Enough
« on: October 17, 2008, 10:39:08 PM »
So, I did poke holes at Zeromus EG, and for good reason.. here's the other monster that I simply don't fear.

One of the major series of attacks this monster does is a tricast attack off Reflect status. Ordinarily, this attack on pretty much any character with elemental absorb (and resistance) is pretty much a killer since the monster has an insane magic stat. However, the monster itself is not a threat once you realize that 3 particular characters with elemental absorb are nearly invincible in a solo combat type of match.

1) Cecil - Caesar's Plate, a lesser known aspect of this armor is Holy protection, which seems kinda useless since a small number of enemies use it (Protophase, Wicked Mask, Zeromus and this monster uses it). So, if for any silly reason that Holy from the Lightbringer is reflected back onto Cecil.. a Hero Shield combination makes him virtually invincible.

2) Rydia - Rainbow Robe, a robe that provides all the magic resistance a mage needs is epic.. plus the Dragon's Whisker will make mince meat of of the Brachioraidos. Why use a summon that makes that beast even meaner? Quake's quite handy too.

3) Edward - Vishnu Vest... that might be the only thing that gives Edward a decided edge of many other guys since it has the same resistances the Rainbow Robe has, which is amazing considering of his lack of useful commands (even Chant sucks IMO). Pair him with a working Loki's Lute (Euro version only) or the Apollo's Harp, and you don't even have to abuse the lame "Psycho Edward" bug.

Besides, there are a few other characters that are truly handy, like Kain with his overpowered Abel's Lance which Tornado relies on level to execute frequently. Since the boss is at level 85 naturally, it's easy to harvest those overpowered Hero Shields when you really want them.

109
Gaming Discussion / FF4A - A Small Look Into Zeromus EG
« on: October 17, 2008, 10:20:52 PM »
Maybe it's just me but the guy was overrated the first time I fought the guy... I don't have the whole battle script memorized by heart, but the bulk of stuff the guy does really really sucks.

Big Bang is the fun-favorite leadoff..
Then you have Whirl aka 100% working monster Tornado.. which is only insta-death to one after being inflicted by HP Leak (Big Bang)
There's a dualcast Toad and Mini.. which is interesting because Toad allows Mini to succeed automatically (unless there is stat resistance involved)
Somewhere is a monster Earthquake, followed by monster Thunder, and monster Flame...
Then there's some dualcast Osmose and dualcast Drain.. which is a joke..

When the monster reaches some HP level.. it was like 12000-16000 HP or something, it does a few different things.. one of the attacks include Big Wave and monster Tornado...

So, it boils down to a few lethal attacks... the rest is a joke. Let's look at a few of these attacks..

It's worth pointing out that the boss has a 12x spell multiplier.

Earthquake, Thunder, and Flame nearly always induce healing for those that have a Hero Shield.. because both Thunder and Flame induce 2x 9999 healing most of the time, so Earthquake tends to be a non-factor, but even if it succeeds, it's not very lethal (especially if the characters have a baseline of 40 magic defense). Flame are resisted, you only take an additional (combined) 1/5 of the target's MaxHP damage... which is not very lethal if you have resistance to both elementals.. and it still doesn't quite hurt enough if you aren't resistant to the elementals (1/4 + 1/5 = 9/20), almost 1/2 of the target's HP.. still not truly lethal enough.

The Big Wave and Tornado attack isn't very threatening either, unless you manage to be a douchebag and heal Zeromus EG up by letting Absorb do more healing than damage.. additionally, Tornado will become a factor in annihilating you then. However, it's not even threatening when the actions are triggered under 20000 HP or so, so the worst case is always 1000 damage plus 1/4 of your max HP. Seriously, did they not really try being creative here?

In sum, Zeromus EG is a joke if you bring the right equipment with the right people to just bitchslap Zeromus. Whoever thought FF4A was designed well needs to be shot.

110
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Spells Needing More Analysis
« on: October 14, 2008, 04:53:35 PM »
There are a number of spells that need to be looked into further, which seem to behave differently from the norm (making my algo look shaky at times, but they look like the exception, rather than the rule).

The standard behavior for most status inducing spells involve the following:

1) If the spell fails at the hit rate level, it fails altogether... regardless of targeting.

2) There is a status priority to follow..  like you can't inflict Charm status to a target that's already in Toad status.

However, as I did a little digging, there are spells that are the exception.

Toad/Piggy/Mini - FF4A Specific

In FF4, status priorities took precedent.. you couldn't inflict Mini or Piggy status on targets that had Toad status.

In FF4A, this behavior is ignored as you can inflict all 3 statuses in any order you wish.


Toad/Piggy/Mini - any version

I was doing some Toad testing with the ToadLady/Bog Witch. It's peculiar in FF4 that she has a very high magic stat.. good enough to hit 100% of the time.. but it doesn't quite do that. Toad status removes any semblence of magic evasion.. but Toad relies on its hit rate to succeed! So, I figure there's a behavioral difference...

Status spells seem to behave differently by who the caster is... monster or character.

For a character, success primarily runs through the spell hit rate plus associated bonuses via Wisdom or Will Power. It doesn't matter if it is single or multi-targeted.

For a monster, single targeted status spells are generally a non-issue.. it follows the standard magic algo. For multi-targeted status spells.. the formula seems to operate more like this...

Spell Hit Rate = Base Spell Hit Rate + (Spell stat/2)/# of targets  (* Slot 1 bonus, if applicable)

This would explain the ToadLady/Bog Witch better.. including Zemus's Mind.

The ToadLady's success is tested against each target... probably against a magic defense multiplier of 1... (since it has the status multiplier bit set)..

Her success looks like this..

Spell Hit Rate = 50 + (223/2)/5 * 5/4 = 90% hit rate -  the number should be lower... hmmm

For Zemus's Mind (for multitargeted Charm)..

Spell Hit Rate = 65 + (99/2))/5 * 5/4 = 92% hit rate

Of course, this needs to be looked into further... hence the thread title.

Sleep - All Versions

Other than the major difference between the SNES and GBA versions is the level factor for the Slumber Sword... occasionally this spell doesn't hit all the targets... I wonder how that level check is applied... You can occasionally see this spell hit all targets but 1 late game.. whereas early game, the spell doesn't quite hit every target.

Stone/Break - FF4A only

This seems to exhibit the same issue Sleep does in that aspect that it doesn't always hit all the targets, even when the spell succeeds. I doubt there's a level check for this spell in the first place.

I should get around into taking pictures of Sleep and Stone/Break.. but it's rather curious it hasn't been looked into further.

 :edit:

Fixed a few descriptions.

111
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Pig Status: "Semi-Free Ribbon"
« on: October 14, 2008, 12:23:48 AM »
I didn't think of it too much previously, but I guess it's worth considering. If you fear certain monsters afflicting a status effect on you, and you don't have a Ribbon handy, this is a good substitute. Given how status priorities work, you have the opportunity of getting the closest thing to a Ribbon in having Piggy status. You lose a number of commands, particularly the spell commands, but you get free protection against the following:

Mute
Darkness/Blind
Curse
Paralysis
Sleep
Charm
Berserk (yes, that means control over the Pinkpuffs/Flan Princesses battle)

Unfortunately Poison/Venom and Gradual Petrification is not part of it... but otherwise that's pretty damn good. However, this won't protect you against Bad Breath.

Your offense/defense is not affected, so you can still become relatively useful... if you are a fighter.

 :edit:
This method is ideal for a fighter.. even better with the guy wielding the Avenger. Piggy status is also handy on the enemy via a Change Rod, but I forgot the "benefits" of the Piggy spell as it is underrated... it's really useless for any other purpose than what I've suggested.

112
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Thinking About Golbez
« on: October 14, 2008, 12:12:31 AM »
Ok, this idea came to me in some screwed up way...

When you fight Golbez, you "start" losing control of your own characters because of Hold Gas. I hadn't really thought it through before, but if you want the Hold Gas to not be effective.. you want to cast Mute/Silence on yourself. Since Mute status has a priority over Hold, it has no power over you. How's this useful? Well, it allows Cecil get ready his ATB bar while he does his scripted speech stuff... allowing you to revive other party members or get an early shot at Golbez.

 :edit:

Note: The reviving aspect should be done after the character dies at the hands of the Shadow Dragon.

Also, the attack should only be made after "Mist Dragon" is summoned.

113
General Discussion / Suggestion for Replacement Hardware
« on: October 10, 2008, 08:37:56 PM »
I was starting to freak out since another PSU died... another Enermax. I'm not sure why they don't last long enough...

I was looking for a suggestion for replacing it, I don't need that much... running 2 PATA HDs, 2 PATA CDROMS (DVD-ROM and DVDWriter)... ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (AGP), ATI TV Wonder Pro, SB Live Value (Gateway OEM)...

Also, if my video card hasn't gotten fucked by the slow death of the PSU, I need a recommendation there.. it doesn't matter what exactly, as long as it is on par with what I have, if not better (it doesn't matter if it's ATI or NVidia, as long as it is equal or better than what I have). NVidia 6600GT/my current ATI video card are the baseline.

114
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Counter and Needle
« on: September 29, 2008, 02:29:40 PM »
I've finally bothered to do the math for this.. and this is what I came up with...

Damage = (Caster's Attack Power * 2 - Target's Magic Defense) * Spell Multiplier

Damage = Damage + (Damage * rand(100,150)/100)

This monster spell is pretty powerful, but is totally underused. JCE's hack takes full advantage of this (although I doubt he knew where the #s came from, but it works perfectly for his modified Behemoth).

 :edit:

Note that this spell is affected by Magic Evade, which will affect the Spell Multiplier.

115
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - Monsters Casting Protect/Shell
« on: September 28, 2008, 02:27:38 AM »
If you cast Reflect on monsters that cast Protect or Shell on themselves, the spell will not reflect back onto you.

Notably, this includes Gird and Reflect as well (you can't boost a monster's defense this way.

On the other hand, it doesn't change the fact that Protect, Shell, and Chant (Edward's lame command) will boost the enemy's stats when they are repelled by Reflect.

116
Gaming Discussion / FF4 - Kain is Stronger Than Cecil... Most of the Time
« on: September 26, 2008, 07:25:44 PM »
The whole premise is really simple. Jump makes Kain that much more powerful than Cecil.

It has been been argued before that Jump takes a lot of time. It's true, to an extent.

There are many factors that assist Jump to the point where Kain isn't being missed too much.. at worst, he's "realigning" himself with the rest of group a tad late.

1) Kain's Agility (which Jump also relies on) is naturally higher than Cecil.

2) Kain's other offensive stats are also ahead of Cecil (and advances quicker than Cecil's Agility late game, post level 70)

3) Even at optimized Agility (99, via a Crystal Ring, having 96 Agility naturally), he's still fast enough to catch up back to his own turn (although, that's not a given, but it can happen at faster battle speeds)...

Hopefully the movies don't desync - http://rapidshare.com/files/148687170/ff4movies.zip.html

 :edit:
You will need J2e's translation, though, in theory it shouldn't affect stuff w/o the patch, but it might happen.

117
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4A - 254 Defense Monsters
« on: September 25, 2008, 03:14:04 PM »
I didn't explore this enough, but it's worth pointing out.

If the monster has 254 defense, the attacker automatically loses 1 or 2 hits off the attack multiplier (50/50 chance of it being 1 or 2 methinks).

118
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / FF4 Algo - Input Requested
« on: September 24, 2008, 03:33:28 PM »
I have all the data all written out on the boards, but I doubt it is ideally presented as it is currently written.

So, in a call to "pleading ignorance" on how I should go about writing the physical and magical algos, how should they be presented?

I've seen the FF3/6, and FF5 ones.. and they look ok.. but have differences.

FF3/6's Algo has it laid out easily, but it doesn't fit well into how the algo is processed in FF4... although the individual command aspects are laid out well.

FF5 Algo is pretty good, but wordy.. and not that it's difficult, but it has too many exceptions to the rule and whatnot.

I'm just looking at a sane way of going about this... suggestions, anyone?

 :edit:
Link to Gamefaqs copy - http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/file/588330/54945

119
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Counter vs Magic Attacks
« on: September 20, 2008, 02:23:07 AM »
It seems any/every command that issues some sort of pseudo-magic command is not considered a magic attack in the SNES versions of the game.

A small number of obvious commands include:
Sing
Remember

This is fixed in FF4A.

On the other hand, it seems that FF4A goes one step further..

In the SNES versions, monsters don't use their counter vs magic when a immobilzing status  spell is used, such as Sleep or Hold (not sure if Charm falls in the same boat).

In the GBA version, monsters will immediately retailate with that counter once that status has lifted.

I suspect something along the lines occurs with physical attacks that have a status effect attached to it.. I'll have to go test that out.

 :edit: Nope, that's not the case.

120
Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Counter vs Physical Attacks
« on: September 20, 2008, 01:11:32 AM »
Just in case if it wasn't obvious (or you're digging out the info)..

The following commands are not considered physical attacks, even though they are technically physical attacks:
Jump/Double Jump
Aim (only in the SNES versions)
Kick
Build Up (only in the SNES versions)

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