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Version 1.07 is released for compatibility with FFTA 1.41a.

A few quirks in the Weapons spreadsheet have arisen due to the changes patch 1.41a made to certain pieces of armor.  I would fix these quirks, but I simply lack the willpower.  That said, the spreadsheet as a whole should still work mostly as intended for those seeking to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of weapons.

For the Bard and Dancer, sure others may like the design choice, but I suppose that's why I've presented an alternative to see if other people would like it over the original. Perhaps there's a middle ground that could be met, because I wanted to look at buffing Bard / Dancer. Let me know if there would be any other way to change them to feel more.. dynamic? I guess?

The thing is, the only way you can really change them is to kick them out of their unique niche to some degree and make them more like all the other jobs. Which I don't think is really worth doing.

But if you really want to change them up, I'd suggest mixing their back-row support performances with other limited-range options. Possibly just more potent versions of what they already have. You could have the Bard in the back of the field doing light healing, or you could move them close and make them do strong healing at the risk of being attacked. Let the player decide how they want to approach the scenario. The Dancer could be chipping away at enemy HP from afar, or moving in close and draining the CT of nearby targets.

Squire is a tough one because it's generally looked at as the starting class alongside Chemist, but I get what you mean.

Yeah, that's the issue; trying to balance the job with its early accessibility. Jot5 handles that by giving it the Archer skillset, which works way better on that job than on the Archer, since a boosted Attack command that only costs CT is nearly always useful before you've settled in to the job of your choice. You could also try making them a cheap Mystic Knight, giving them minor damage boost attacks that add elemental affinity to the hit. But if you're low on ability slots, the Aim skillset will do well enough.

A Blue Mage actually sounds like a good replacement for Calculator, and definitely sounds like a fun challenge to create and make work with the rest of the jobs. Suppose the requirements for said job would revolve around either Black Mage or Summoner, and perhaps Mediator (because of Monster Talk?).

For the Bard and Dancer, sure others may like the design choice, but I suppose that's why I've presented an alternative to see if other people would like it over the original. Perhaps there's a middle ground that could be met, because I wanted to look at buffing Bard / Dancer. Let me know if there would be any other way to change them to feel more.. dynamic? I guess?

Archer I've seen been transformed into debuffers and I personally like them that way over the Charge set. FFTA and FFTA2 utilized that class much better than FFT, so I would definitely be up to making them use similar abilities.

Squire is a tough one because it's generally looked at as the starting class alongside Chemist, but I get what you mean.

Thanks for the insight.

I'd agree that the best way to deal with the Calculator issue is just to replace the job entirely. The Patcher has just about everything you'd need to make a Blue Mage with little issue, and with sixteen monster families and a max skillset size of sixteen, it's almost too perfect to ignore. That would be the approach I'd take. You'd need to sit down and rethink the monster skills while you're at it (in order to get sixteen useful and distinct skills), but considering monsters are almost completely useless in FFT as is, it'd be worth the time. I'd recommend looking at Jot5 if you want to see how small monster skillsets can be designed well.

The Bard and the Dancer... well, just because you don't like the design doesn't mean others don't. It's not like they're super OP; you can't really win a fight by having five bards/dancers in the corner performing, and having them in the corner means they're not going to be able to make good use of whatever their second skillset is. Having them with a performance range of 4 would just be awful; there would be almost no reason to use them instead of a mage or melee attacker.

I'd also take a serious look at the Squire and the Archer. Both of them have rather lackluster skillsets, and I think the default for redesigning Archers is to turn them into debuffers that can do things like poison, blind, immobilize, while condensing the entire Aim skillset into one single skill for bonus damage/accuracy. For the Squire... I dunno, I'd suggest maybe turning them into Freelancers with innate Equip Change? Kind of a weaker sort of Red Mage. But I don't really have any solid ideas there.

FFT Arena 141a Truelight (Icicle Volt) vs Barren (I Like Books)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjUM1VPuXbY

First things first, just singling out a few classes with no context of what you want to do with the rest of the classes/game in general is meaningless.  Something can be "balanced" on paper and completely useless in practice.  For example, a skillset like vanilla's Oracle becomes balanced on paper but useless in practice if regular enemies die too easily to make status effects worthwhile and bosses are given blanket immunities.  So your first step if you're going to try to balance vanilla's classes (or any mod's classes, if you want the game to be more than just "punch shit") would be to scale the game such that non-damaging moves are worth the action to use. Assuming this has been done:

This is fair. I understand that it wouldn't be the best idea to single out certain jobs with the idea of 'balancing'. This is mostly just a brainstorming topic that could potentially become more? Testing different ways to change certain classes to be more viable or more entertaining is something I think would be cool to try. And yeah, the game is mostly "whom ever can dish out the most damage in the least amount of time would win" and that's probably it's weakest point in it's genre of tactical rpg games (even though I love it to pieces and think it's the best in it's genre).

And of course, everyone has different personal ideals of what a class should play like. I can understand that maybe the devs intentionally wanted the Bard / Dancer classes to play their roles in the corners of the maps with their moves on repeat, but in my opinion I feel like it was a poor design choice and could have been designed a bit better. (I'm no professional game designer though so my opinion is not worth much I suppose). While I get that changing them in this way would make them play similar to another mage class, I feel that with the right changes it could be still it's own unique class and play more dynamically with the team instead of sitting in said corner.

First things first, just singling out a few classes with no context of what you want to do with the rest of the classes/game in general is meaningless.  Something can be "balanced" on paper and completely useless in practice.  For example, a skillset like vanilla's Oracle becomes balanced on paper but useless in practice if regular enemies die too easily to make status effects worthwhile and bosses are given blanket immunities.  So your first step if you're going to try to balance vanilla's classes (or any mod's classes, if you want the game to be more than just "punch shit") would be to scale the game such that non-damaging moves are worth the action to use. Assuming this has been done:

Calculator - Most mods (including my own) outright replace the class.  However, if you want to attempt to balance it, your best bet will take a bit of asm work.  Make the game choose skills for Math Skill from a single skillset instead of everything flagged with "math skill."  This will improve the ai's processing speed when using math skill and make it easier to balance what can be used.  If you can also attach a CT or MP cost to calculating, this'll be even better.

Bard/Dancer - The main draw to these classes and uniqueness comes from being able to sit in the corner and target the whole map.  While you personally might not like that playstyle, be careful of making their playstyle too functionally similar to more standard classes like Priest or Knight.  Getting rid of speed and CT affecting songs is recommended if you want to balance it better. 

New adjustments to "KO Corral"

Player: Heroebal Team: Sizzling Hot Summer Love in HacktIvalice Palettes: Red/Yellow Last Revision: 2017-06-24 ================================ Irene Wilkins Female Leo 55 70 priest guts mp switch luck up Pilgrimage papyrus plate triangle hat robe of lords chantage Cure 4, Raise, Wall, Esuna, Dia Heal, Cheer Up, Yell, Wish ================================ Patti Soto Female Sagittarius 55 70 time mage summon magic counter comet equip weapon Pilgrimage flare gun aegis shield black hood white robe setiemson Haste, Slow, Don't Move, Demi 2, Return Moogle, Fairy, Carbunkle ================================ Clifford Owen Male Aries 70 40 Ninja Punch Art HP Restore Concentrate Warpath Repel Knife Spell Edge Green Beret Brigandine Cherche Shuriken, Kagesougi Stigma Magic, Chakra, Revive ================================ Frank Burns Male Aries 70 40 Ninja Snipe HP Restore Concentrate Warpath Repel Knife Spell Edge Green Beret Brigandine Cherche Shuriken, Misogi Leg Aim, Seal Evil, Shield Break ================================

Player: Heroebal Team: Shark Infested Tactics Palettes: Blue/White Last Revision: 2017-06-21 ================================ HammerHead male aries 50 70 priest snipe projectile guard two swords ignore height aspergillum morning star green beret white robe setiemson Cure 4, Raise, Esuna, Dia Leg Aim, Arm Aim, Hawk's Eye ================================ Great White male leo 50 70 priest ninjitsu abandon two swords move+1 spiked futon aspergillum green beret white robe leather mantle Cure 4, Raise, Esuna Shuriken, Kagesougi, Misogi ================================ Bull Shark male sagittarius 70 40 ninja punch art hp restore attack up warpath ninja knife ninja knife headgear brigandine cherche Shuriken, Meiton, Kagesougi Stigma Magic, Chakra, Revive ================================ Tiger Shark female sagittarius 40 70 time mage yin yang magic short charge move-mp up c bag aegis shield black hood black costume setiemson Haste, Slow, Stop, Return Douse, Beguile, Paralyze, Sleep, Petrify ================================

Player: Heroebal Team: KO Corral: A New Frontier Palettes: Yellow/Brown Last Revision: 2017-06-27 ================================ Buffalo Bill Male Gemini 70 40 Chemist Punch Art Auto Potion Attack UP Warpath Romanda Gun Twist Headband Brigandine Cherche X-Potion, Chronos Tear, Maiden's Kiss, Holy Water, Phoenix Down, Turtle Shell Spin Fist, Stigma Magic, Chakra ================================ Sundance Kid Male Libra 70 40 Archer Chivalry Projectile Guard Attack UP Warpath Peacemaker Escutcheon II Green Beret Brigandine Small Mantle Leg Aim, Arm Aim Lay on Hands, Nurse, Reraise, Divine Strike ================================ Annie Oakley Female Aquarius 70 40 Mediator Guts Awareness Equip Shield Move-HP Up Romanda Gun Aegis Shield Green Beret White Robe Feather Mantle Blackmail, Refute, Mimic Daravon Throw Stone, Heal, Cheer Up, Yell, Wish ================================ Belle Star Female Libra 40 70 Time Mage White Magic Counter Comet Equip Weapon Pilgrimage Flare Gun Aegis Shield Golden Hairpin White Robe Setiemson Haste, Slow, Stop, Sinkhole, Return Cure 4, Raise, Esuna, Dia ================================

Player: Heroebal Team: Crazy Random Team Palettes: Yellow/Red Last Revision: 2017-06-18 ================================ I am Just male aquarius 40 40 monk ninjitsu abandon equip shield move-hp up fs bag genji shield choice band black costume wizard mantle Chi Blast, Stigma Magic, Chakra, Revive Shuriken, Meiton, Suiton ================================ Making Things Up female aquarius 40 40 archer item auto potion throw item ignore height atheist bow escutcheon ii green beret brigandine leather mantle Leg Aim, Arm Aim, Execute X-Potion, Hi-Ether, Antidote, Chronos Tear, Echo Grass, Maiden's Kiss, Soft, Holy Water, Bandage, Phoenix Down, Turtle Shell ================================ As I Go Along female libra 40 70 priest chivalry damage split equip shield warpath monster dict aegis shield black hood white robe setiemson Cure 4, Raise, Esuna Nurse, Reraise, Southern Cross ================================ To Crazyville female gemini 50 70 time mage chivalry awareness attack up move-hp up battle staff aegis shield black hood white robe setiemson Haste, Slow, Sinkhole, Return Lay on Hands, Nurse, Southern Cross ================================

Hi people!

Personally, i have fftpatcher open together with fftactext and i am always looking up the entry numbers of the skillsets. (or whatever I am editing) and i thought:

It would be helpful (in my opinion at least) to have another column in fftactext which shows the hexadecimalnumbers next to the decimal numbers. That makes things easier for the user to identify the entries he is looking for. From my experience with Java, that is something not too difficult and helps a lot because we dont have to have a calculator open all the time.

What do you say?

I think we can all agree that some jobs in FFT are really overpowered and some go mostly underused because they might just not be fun to play or don't play well at all. I'm mostly going to talk about Generics and avoid Unique classes. I'm also not going to talk about the added jobs in the PSP version. They are their own pool of broken. (Yet somewhat fun)

I understand that ideally, it'd be impossible to balance every class to make them all equally favorable. A lot of classes are one-trick ponies or just gimmicky.

Some suggestions / ideas I've tested that could work to make them more enjoyable / balanced

Overpowered / Widely Used
Calculator

This one I think would be the hardest to "balance" without just outright replacing the class altogether. Todo.

Underpowered / Rarely Used
Bard (done)

I feel like the Bard class is the outright weakest class in the game. The buffs are hit and miss, sitting in a corner is no fun really, and pretty weak stats. Here are some changes I think could make the class more enjoyable. Reduce song range from 255 to 4 and height to 6 Reduce casting time for every song by 2 Songs cost MP. 10 MP for most songs, 15 MP for Nameless Song, and 20 MP for Last Song Songs need to be recast after execution Angel Song can no longer target self Raise MP multiplier by 20 Change formula for Angel Song to HealMP_(MA*Y) Change formula for Life Song to Heal_(MA*Y) Needs testing : Change formulas for hit chance for song buffs. Todo : Stat balance. I feel like this would make Bard a more dynamic and fun class. You can't just stick him in a corner anymore. He needs to travel with his party.

Dancer (done)

Dancer is a bit more powerful than Bard, as debuffs do a lot more to the enemy than buffs would to your party, as well as having a larger set of equipment to utilize (knives and cloth, whereas Bards only get Harps), but still mostly underutilized. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH6NU7ntOkY&feature=youtu.be Reduce dance range from 255 to 4 and height to 6 Reduce casting time for every dance by 2 Dances cost MP. 10 MP for most songs, 15 MP for Nameless Dance, and 20 MP for Last Dance Dances need to be recast after execution Raise MP multiplier by 20 Change formula for Witch Hunt to DmgMP_(MA+Y)% Hit_F(X)% (or DmgMP_(MA*Y) if disabled "May display 'Broken'") Change formula for Wiznaibu to Dmg_F(MA*Y)/b] Needs testing : Change formulas for hit chance for dance debuffs. Todo : Stat balance. Same with Bard, I feel like this would make Dancer a more dynamic class and fun class. Can't just sit in a corner anymore.

I want to know your thoughts and possible ideas that could go with this. What jobs do you think are overpowered / underpowered and what do you think could be done to balance them. I'll be adding more myself when I get around to testing out different ways to balance some classes.