Topic: Barrier Status...

[Phoenix]

Finally got around to testing Barrier status. It turns out that the Tower of Bab-il documents were right (mostly): when you have Barrier status all physical attacks that target you fail (i.e. they miss). This includes Jump and Power, which also miss. Throw, Kick, and DarkWave can still do damage.

The status effect also never faded. Hitting the target with magic damage or curing the target also didn't remove the status. Does the Lunar Curtain work this way? The strength (or duration) of it is 14. I cast a spell that put Barrier status on with a strength of 0A, so the Lunar Curtain should last even longer. The thing is, if it doesn't fade for most or all of a battle, it seems like a pretty unfair advantage to give a character. How rare was the Lunar Curtain in the original game? It seems like it would have been extremely rare given its usefulness.

[Deathlike2]

Finally got around to testing Barrier status. It turns out that the Tower of Bab-il documents were right (mostly): when you have Barrier status all physical attacks that target you fail (i.e. they miss). This includes Jump and Throw, which give the message "Nothing happened," and probably all other physical-based attacks.

AFAIK, commands like Jump and Throw intentionally fail when targeting allies. This is irrelevent to the status itself. I will have to check on physical damage.. but I don't recall noticing a difference...

The status effect also never faded. Hitting the target with magic damage or curing the target also didn't remove the status. Does the Lunar Curtain work this way?

Yes. The effect can be dispelled via Dispel or Black Hole.

The strength (or duration) of it is 14. I cast a spell that put Barrier status on with a strength of 0A, so the Lunar Curtain should last even longer. The thing is, if it doesn't fade for most or all of a battle, it seems like a pretty unfair advantage to give a character. How rare was the Lunar Curtain in the original game? It seems like it would have been extremely rare given its usefulness.

IIRC, you would need to look up the drop table. A quick check at the table shows the wierd looking cell-squid monsters that poison you drop them 50% of the the time, just not as the common drop. A number of monsters on the moon drop this version. FF4A has a chest gives that out randomly (the one that used to carry the Vishnu Vest).

[Phoenix]

Whoops, I'd never tried targeting Jump or Throw on allies, so I didn't know. However, I retested on an enemy: Jump still missed, but Throw did damage. I'll edit my last post.

Also, did some more tests. Yang's Power command misses, but Kick and DarkWave can both still do damage.

[Deathlike2]

Whoops, I'd never tried targeting Jump or Throw on allies, so I didn't know. However, I retested on an enemy: Jump still missed, but Throw did damage. I'll edit my last post.

Jump missed huh? Hmm, that almost never happens unless you are using the Drain/Blood spear...

Throw never misses.

Also, did some more tests. Yang's Power command misses, but Kick and DarkWave can both still do damage.

Power is simple a 2x hit, like Jump is, but have different animation/behavior/consequences.

Kick+Dark Wave never miss either.

What you should be testing is Aim though...

I'll have to create a new post on currently documented command behaviors... and link you to that.

[Phoenix]

Jump missed huh? Hmm, that almost never happens unless you are using the Drain/Blood spear...

That's what I'm saying, all physical attacks *always* miss when you have Barrier status.

I just tested Aim, and it misses also. It missed on an Imp with Barrier, so there's no question it was the Barrier status.

[Deathlike2]

I'll take your word for it.. here's the command list for your reference: http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=424.0

I will still get around to testing this. This isn't that overpowered, considering Zeromus, and I think ZeromusEG in FF4A, and the monster that drops the Hero Shield in FF4A casts Black Hole casts it as well, making it irrelevent as a threat.

[Phoenix]

Still seems quite handy. Maybe I'll make the top-level White magic spell in my hack a Barrier spell . . . 

[Deathlike2]

I've gotten around to testing this.. and have confirmed the virtual invinciblity to physical attacks. Hmm.. I wonder why this was never made into a spell (and why I didn't bother pondering its description in the FF4 Editor...)