[Old] FFT Plus 1.02 upcoming changes

[Dome]

It would be awesome if it was a one sided thing though, so your units could only reach level 50, but the enemy AI could still reach 99. The disparity would be interesting as far as developing new strategies.

That's unfair difficult!
And may work well in the Deep Dungeon xD

[theultrawolf]

That's what I was thinking > and, if you feel extremely evil, work it out so that the Deep Dungeon enemies are level 255 (I think that's the highest possible level) :p

[Dome]

Double your level is already enough xD
But still, I need more feedbacks on this proposal!

[RavenOfRazgriz]

You can't have levels higher than 99 without a Gameshark because the rest of the Level byte is used for other things in the ENTD.

If you lower the level cap though, forced-level enemies can still be set up to 99 without errors.

[Neophyte Ronin]

I've considered designing my own hack where everyone's at 99 and the gear is compensated for.  If we capped it at 50 and prevent further leveling beyond that, it means we can create villains who surpass the standard level (like how the Deep Dungeon is designed ordinarily).  There would also be a question of how fair this would look to players.

A better question to ask--provided a level cap should be possible--is to ask if gradient-based weapons that employ Character Levels (or hell, Job Levels, to be precise) in their power output calculations are possible to design.

Example: Broadswords increase in power relative to Knight Class levels and a few others (to varying degrees; Squire and Geomancer increase it by 1/2 or 1/4 the rate of Knight, etc.)  This means that, Unarmed and Weapon arts improve based on their wielder, while equipment such as Robes, etc., improve certain stats as well, usually special effects as MP gains.

Now, if that were possible, we'd be in business.  Trouble arises when we consider fairness toward the AI.  Usually, they get so much and don't bother to branch out to other Classes, thus they have far less striking potential.  Other characters such as maybe Zalbag would have their JP amounts tailored in proportion to their theoretical technical skill, and in fixed fights, that's easy to pour through.  In all, this concept would benefit players more, especially the grinding types.  It does, on the other hand, provide an alternative level-up system.

If we really wanted to be evil about things, have the capability to reduce Total JP by taking in JP from rival Classes.  Now, this won't prevent you from un-learning abilities--that's just asking for a beating by players--but if you decide to take up another Class, your memory of other Classes starts to wane, to a certain degree at least.  We should cap this, prevent it from getting underneath Level 5 or somewhere, or make certain Classes immune to this degradation.  What this does is reduce your Job Level by reducing your Total; your total has to be above a certain....

You know what?  Forget it.  Too difficult and far too reminiscent of FFII.  Some people don't want to remember that game.

Level 50 stats with Dome's current Master Guide would make sense.  However, we run into a simple problem: a Level 99 Monk is far more dangerous than any character in the game.  After a certain threshold, weapons are there just for stat boosts, may the best one win.  Level 99 Monks are murderous savages, and it's part of the reason you can grind to 99 in Vanilla during Chapter 1 and not worry about repercussions, even though the gear is bad.  Even if enemies leveled with you, the gear remains static (the point of the above debacle).  If you cap it at 50, the enemies should follow suit and never go beyond except in cases where you want to brawl hard.

Tailoring weapons to 99 standards--and I mean all weapons, from Broadswords to Chaos Blades--and putting everyone at 99 means that only abilities and tactics are the greatest deciders of a battle's outcome, which is the point of the game.  I'm all for 50 if it means that certain encounters break that mark, but what happened to the boss-stat enemy encounters?  They get harsh after a level threshold past 50, you know.  Level 99 bosses against 50 player units is a harrowing confrontation, nigh impossible without foreknowledge of what to expect.

[Dome]

Do not worry, if we implement the level 50 cap, no one except DD enemies will break the cap
I don't like unfair difficult...the main quest is supposed to be completed by everyone, after all
The Deep Dungeon, on the other hand...

[Dome]

Bump
What do you guys think about the idea of setting the level cap at 50 instead of 99?
Please vote :-)

P.s: Posts above contain some preliminary discussion on the matter

[Eternal]

Level 50 as a max level seems easier to balance around than 99, as it lets you minimize min/maxing a bit. Most people reach around level 40 endgame anyways (a lot lower if you're better at nuking enemies quickly), so 50 works nicely as a cap since people won't have to grind as much.

[Dome]

Well, reducing the amount of grinding necessary is one of the reason why I'd like to implement the level cap :-)

[Dome]

Only 6 votes so far?
I'm sure you can do better than this :-)

[Dome]

One day left to vote guys!
And please post your toughts/opinion on the matter after voting ;-)

[Dome]

Poll closed, ASM section updated :-)

[Devreckas]

As far as name changes go, I kinda oppose having Izlude changed to Tristan just because its so close to Isolde... because its also close to a lot of male names.  For instance, it could be changed to Isidor.  That's a definite male name and still retain the 'Izzy' root.

Wiegraf should stay. Or Master Folles.  No Wiglaf!

Didn't really Kletian was a problem. (I pronounced it "Cle-shan" though, so I could be off)

And while on the subject of names, was Cuchulainn the author's intention for naming Queklain?  It just seems bizarre how almost all the rest of the Lucavi seemed fairly consistent in naming (most are refs to angels and demons) and design (most look like the animal of their zodiac) but Cuchulainn is a hero of Irish folklore (nicknamed the Hound of Culainn) and Scorpio either represents an eagle or a scorpion, yet he's just looks like some sorta Oogie Boogie knockoff.  Just wondering... 

[The Damned]

(Sorry for being late. I wasn't even on FFH at all yesterday and I slept away most of today after falling sleep sometime around 8:00~ A.M.)

All I wanted to lazily comment is that I'm theoretically "fine" with the level cap of 50, especially since I'm still considering myself, when it comes to the Patch. However, I can't agree that Deep Dungeon should be Level 99 or, at least, ALL of it should be. END encounters being at Level 99 I could understand, but the others seem...unnecessary.

I don't know. In the story battles, you could have Ultima maybe be a bit above 50 since she's the last boss. Otherwise, it seems like you should have the Levels in Deep Dungeon gradually increase after 50 since you could get away with increments of +5 over 10 levels. That seems a lot more "fair" than Level 99 right out of the gate, even if Deep Dungeon as a whole is completely optional.

Shrug. It's up to you.

And while on the subject of names, was Cuchulainn the author's intention for naming Queklain?  It just seems bizarre how almost all the rest of the Lucavi seemed fairly consistent in naming (most are refs to angels and demons) and design (most look like the animal of their zodiac) but Cuchulainn is a hero of Irish folklore (nicknamed the Hound of Culainn) and Scorpio either represents an eagle or a scorpion, yet he's just looks like some sorta Oogie Boogie knockoff.  Just wondering....

I also meant to answer this as a soon as I saw it.

Yeah, as can be told, Queklain is supposed to be named after that Cuchuulain, which is odd for both the reasons you mention and the fact that their personalities are not even remotely alike since Irish Cuchuulain was boisterous while Ivalician Cuchuulain just seems sadistic (in FFT at least). Shrug.
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[Dome]

Hello guys! I've been thinking a lot about knights lately:
I don't like their skillset very much, because I'd rather steal the stuff they break!
So, I was thinking; What about giving them a better skillset? What do you think?

[Eternal]

How about replacing the Equipment Breaking stuff with things that will help them tank?

For example, in PW, my tank class can use a skill that inflicts Berserk and Don't Move on surrounding enemies, so that way the tank class will be the one being hit by melee attackers.

LFT also did some interesting things with Knights, like making Breaks far more accurate and giving them Innate: Defense Up/Magic Defense Up.

Weapon Break -> Enmity (Add: Berserk and Don't Move on surrounding enemies)
Shield Break -> Guard (Add: Defending, Protect, and Shell on self)
Head Break -> Transfusion (Gives some of one's own HP to a ranged ally, think Vanilla Wish but with range)
Armor Break -> Concussion (Add: Blind or Silence in weapon range, can be used to defend oneself and allies from physical attacks or mages.)

Better names pending.

[Dome]

Just 2 votes? Come on guys!

[HebrewToYou]

Sorry for the delay, Dome.  Haven't seen a ton of action in this thread lately so I don't check as often.

I DEFINITELY support a new skillset for knights.  I never use them for anything other than learning Equip Armor/Shield/Sword.  I think they really need to be reworked into a more appropriate job.  Knights aren't necessarily known for breaking things; they're know for gallantry.

So perhaps a skillset based around superior strength in attacking and teammate buffing?

[Dome]

Sorry for the delay, Dome.  Haven't seen a ton of action in this thread lately so I don't check as often.

I DEFINITELY support a new skillset for knights.  I never use them for anything other than learning Equip Armor/Shield/Sword.  I think they really need to be reworked into a more appropriate job.  Knights aren't necessarily known for breaking things; they're know for gallantry.

So perhaps a skillset based around superior strength in attacking and teammate buffing?

Yep, that was my idea as well :-)

[Stretch]

Breaking equipment is one of my favorite tactics. It doesn't take long to get enough money or equipment that you need to steal tons of stuff. Breaking equipment is a fast, potentially ranged, permanent debuff. But giving the knight tankier skills instead would make more sense for them. Maybe move the breaks to the archer or lancer?