Final Fantasy Hacktics

Someone mentioned changing Magicward to adding Shell and Regen instead of Shell and Reflect. Considering that Magicward hasn't been used yet, I think this would be a good change. Reflect likely makes one's own magic ineffective, since AI will usually use Magicward when they've been hurt a bit -> Reflect makes healing with magic impossible.

Overwhelm does not make the unit take more damage.

1. Balance seems like it's headed in the right direction.
2. The number of equips is good, but some of the equips quality-wise is meh.
5. The main problem with the current set of equipment are some of the weapons, most notably, Axes, Knives, Staves. Making all knives Two Swordable would be a good start. Hmm, Eternal mentioned using Melly's skills. 25% to proc Hellcry Punch/Shellbust Stab/etc on either Knives or Axes would be good. Knives that proc Swordskill should definitely not be Two Swordable. Blargh, 25% feels too high. Could it be closer to 15%? I think it'd be reasonable at 15%. Alternatively, 25% to proc Steal Weapon/Helmet/etc. That'd be about 10-15% to remove a piece of equipment. And for the record, 100% Slow on hit would be OP.
A one-handed Axe would likely see some use. So, keep Battle Axe as is, make Giant Axe strengthen all elements, and have Slasher be a one-handed axe? WP values for Axes could go up to compensate for rando-damage, as well.
White Staff, Rainbow Staff, Gold Staff need reworking. Well, maybe not Rainbow - it's fairly interesting, but not sure how much use it is, especially since we've never seen one. But definitely White and Gold Staff - these rely on the AI whacking someone with a staff, and then hoping that it'll trigger something. Rainbow is too easily hosed by the abundant elemental absorb equips out there. Granted, that could make it an interesting healing tool, but that is likely it. Poles are better for MA-based melee damage, anyway. At the very least, make it 100% Esuna, Cancel Positive Status on hit (for White and Gold, respectively), but I'd like to see something new. Don't have ideas for them right now.
Speaking of Poles, there's those three weird low WP poles lying around. I don't think we need to change them to make them competitive with other Poles - we have enough options for Poles as is. Of course, if there's a super interesting idea, I would like to see it, but Poles are not a high priority.
Bags! H Bag (halve all elements) is the only bag worth using right now.
Monster Dict: Choco Meteor + Human MA = meh. Due to lack of ideas, Dol's suggestion seems solid.
I was thinking if we've maybe slapped on too many status immunities to the heavy armor. We're making the tanky, high HP units even harder to deal with by giving them immunities to the most commonly used negative statuses. (mainly Don't Act and Sleep)

3. Current number of skills is good.
4. Varying AoEs would be nice for Draw Out, possibly Summon and/or Black Magic as well.
Hmm, make Ruins AoE, but only remove -2 PA/MA? Speed Ruin could probably stay single target. Magic Ruin could also get AoE. Spellbreaker would be nice if it also did some damage.
Persuade - either change what it does or hit% way up. It only delays an action, whereas Don't Act/Sleep delays multiple actions, and are simply more devastating (no evasion, no reactions, etc).
Squidgy's suggestions for Pray/Doubt Faith, Blind Rage seem good. Yin-Yang in general is a bit weak due to weapons with 100% add status and the ease of gaining immunity to status through equipment.
Kagesougi, Haku Korosu are very meh. Haku Korosu is too unlikely to be used, and Kagesougi's Blind on hit doesn't feel too useful. I'd rather get Shuriken/Ele-ton or simply spend my JP elsewhere.

6. I don't see Cancel: Charging being too useful because most mages have Short Charge. Mages also remain squishy, so killing them cancels their action and forces another enemy to spend a turn reviving the freshly killed mage. (this applies to Reflect, obviously)

Instead of ((PA+4)/2)*MA, make it (PA/2)*MA instead. Max (or at least close to max) damage Geomancy would be at 120, and the Geomancy user would be fairly squishy, too (~275 HP). Squidgy's Squires as they are would do 100 instead of 140. Damage should be more manageable. Also keep in mind that these numbers are for units fully (or almost fully) optimized for Elemental.
Making Elemental Faith-based would cripple its damage output (well, I suppose a different formula would be used, but I'm still against it) considering how many 40 Faith units there are.

Agree with Innate Two Hands for Samurai (I think I mentioned this at some point) and Two Hands, Two Swords being overpriced (I'd say -150-200 JP). Disagree with 7 speed units. Much too slow. Especially with Haste nerf (7 Speed Hasted = effectively 9 speed).
Also not a fan of Paladins being able to equip Katanas. Not much reason to go with Samurais for melee damage IMO.
Don't see why 10 Speed Chemists would need a hit to PA/MA when Thieves have decent PA. I think 9 or 10 Speed Chemists would be fine.
+1 PA/MA to Geomancers? This would make them the ideal Geomancy user as they would equal current Squire Geomancy damage but also have a secondary. Squire still has many other uses.
Talk Skill range +1 and/or different formula? Current formula demands high MA mage for decent reliability, and locks out low MA units from using it effectively.
Hawk's Eye CT down to 4? It certainly isn't impressive, not to mention Repeating Fist does the unevadable attack thing a lot better.
And that brings me to Abandon - I think it'd be ok to have Abandon double evasion again. Shield and Mantle evasion percentages are low enough that it probably won't be a big deal (well, max P-Ev setup gives ~80% evasion from front and sides, ~50% evasion from behind (and yes, I included everyone's innate Weapon Guard)). Awareness is still great for high C-Ev classes/those who want good evasion for attacks from behind, and there's still a good amount of unevadable attacks. And RNG hate, for what it's worth. XD

Squidgy: It's the annoyance of watching triple dances. Speed Save and HP Restore still trump Wiznaibus. And yeah, the Wave Fist dealt ~200, so it definitely wasn't Wiznaibus alone that took down the Knight 1v1.
Wiznaibus also kinda needs Mimes, otherwise the damage is rather easily shrugged off, and it would only act as anti-sandbag against PD/Wish/Reraise (assuming Reraised unit can't heal self).

I forget whether MP Restore triggering even when not in critical was intentional or not, but I like it this way. Will definitely consider using.

Thanks Barren! (and Wiz, but I already told you in chat =P)

Oh hey, Mimes. That'll be something to build around.
Sing/dancebot Mimes are just really easy, so =P.

Oh, Wiz, I have a new team that has yet to be on display, if you don't mind. It's Anti-Melee? in the team submissions thread.

Neat idea on the Hunting Bow + Sing/Dance. I also liked the Two Swords Murasame Samurai.

I think the current setup is fine. 2H/2S-able weapons are right around 70% of the highest WP weapon in each category, as you would like.
Then again, if we go with your way, we would obsolete a few weapons and free up some Item Attributes (that's what I think they're called?). Specifically, Platina Dagger (although all the knives still need to be reworked IMO), Hidden Knife, Diamond Sword, and three odd-looking, low WP Poles.

Hmm. I definitely agree that Two Hands should be better. Right now, Two Hands vs. AUP nets roughly the same damage, when there should be a clear, distinct damage difference between Two Hands and AUP. I think numbers will have to be reworked whether we use our current setup or your suggestion.

I have Xifanie as a generic

Yikes, got very lucky with those ~35% shots near the end. You likely would've had it otherwise. =/
Like FFM said, excellent team design Damned. Was quite cool, haha. Good fight

Ah, sorry, was out for most of yesterday. Fixed, sent PM, etc.

Yeah, Quickening is weird. I tried it with another unit (albeit briefly), and he didn't use it at all. He might've had Steal Heart in addition to Quickening though, dunno if that would change things.

FFM, I say you should release this new version to get some activity. Next version will have weapon changes + whatever else comes up.
While interesting, I don't like Skip's proposed weapon formulas because it feels needlessly complex.
Oh, what if we had a few weapons in each category have a different formula? You know how 1.3 Octagon Rod is PA*WP instead of the normal MA*WP for sticks? Something like that.
Overall though, I don't think we need huge changes to weapon.
Knives and Staves need the most help! I'm thinking give Staves some Initial: Buffs. This will help the stave-users in small maps, where they are most susceptible, but it won't make a huge difference on large maps. Knives could... +some WP or a better bonus than +1 Move. 25 or 50% Double Blow? (like current 1.3 Katanas. Might be more manageable due to lower WP. And we could always lower WP even more if they get scary) I don't have any great suggestions for knives, unfortunately.

Some random suggestions:
Mime gets innate Unyielding - survivability = more mimed actions = good
Samurai gets innate Two Hands and -1 PA - Samurais get Two Hands back so they'll be more usable. -1 PA is to compensate for innate Two Hands.
Ranged weapons +1 range support ability would be nice
Hmm, what if we raise maximum Faith to 80? Granted, magic is getting a buff due to +1 range. We'll see, I suppose.
+1 MA for Mediator. Because they still suck.

Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber - The World of Today


Katamari Tribute - Houston

Eh? How'd that happen... someone fix that to Level 5 Jump...

Level 8 Jump doesn't even exist, after all.

Oh no! My Monk has 65 Brave instead of 70.... Strange. Oh well.

Welcome back FFM!

1. I'm fine with toning down zodiac compatibility. With no 50% boost, we might start seeing higher Faith values to compensate to try and maintain high success rates for Haste, Raise, etc.

3. I don't see how the change would make the AI like casting Protect/Shell more. I'm fine with the change though.
Wait, cancel, or overwrite? ex. Haste overwrites Slow and vice versa. Applying Haste to a Slowed unit doesn't leave it in neutral condition. I'm fine with cancel (heck, I think I'd like to see Haste and Slow cancel each other instead of overwrite).

And, to repost my latest ideas for discussion (which includes an answer to 2)

Knives and Staves are the biggest problems/most useless right now. Knives simply need to be stronger; +1 move just isn't enough. Several staves (and similarly, Poison Rod) rely on a frail mage whacking something for a possibility of an effect. Mages whacking things don't really happen anymore with Move MP-UP, and people would rather have +2 MA/strengthen element/etc anyway.

No abilities use the move stat, either, which makes knives even worse. Is it possible to make Throw Item's range based on the move of the user? I remember there being some discussion about this. Well, even if we did this, people would prefer guns for anti-sandbag. Still fairly good range even with 3 Move. So... Knives need a rehaul =P. One of the new knives could keep a +1 Move bonus (to possibly go with the Throw Item range tweak).

As usual, I have no good ideas for these Item rehauls.

Oh, I was also thinking if we've maybe slapped on too many status immunities to the heavy armor. We're making the tanky, high HP units even harder to deal with by giving them immunities to the most commonly used negative statuses. (mainly Don't Act and Sleep)

What are people's thoughts on increasing the range of most magic by 1? (Katon, Suiton, Raiton are obviously getting their range reduced) Offensive magic isn't too great - 40 Fa makes damage garbage, and at current ranges, it's easy for mages to be midcharged (no midcharge damage bonus is nice, but casters still die/get hurt -> sandbag mode etc). Offensive magic is essentially support - it's anti-sandbag/soften up enemies. It isn't too great at softening up units anyway though cause of 40 Faith. Buffed range would make magic even more of a support than a main source of damage, but mages could possibly squeeze in one more spell before dying.

FFM fixed the Martial Arts boosting already. It should be avoidable and have less range in the future though (5 or 4 range?).

We need ideas, really. That's what I think anyway. The goal of the mini-tournament was to get an idea of problems in the current version. We've certainly identified a few, but no changes have been made. Thus, no requests for exhibition matches - why bother making a new team for a soon-to-be-outdated version? No one's given any thoughts for reworking items (imo we should focus on knives and staves). Well, I suppose there was some talk of new formulas for weapons, but I think we can work on that later after some new ideas for knives and staves (or any other not-so-great item). I floated a couple of ideas about a week ago in hopes of generating discussion, but none has happened >_>. Either interest has died down, or no one really has any ideas.

I suppose people are also doing other stuff - ex. pokeytax has been doing a lot of ASM work, I think?

Eternal: Go for it! We need ideas. Whether any work gets done on monsters though, eh. I'm guessing FFM wants to finish humans first. And don't worry about balance - it's beta! Silly stuff is bound to pop up at some point or another.