Final Fantasy Hacktics

Wizards versus Monks in round one.  That's going to be rough.

Also, isn't the point of a swiss tournament to pair winners with winners and losers with losers?  By placing contestants in pools and setting the matches ahead of time, this tournament is better described as a round robin.

Bervenia Volcano and Graveyard of Airships are the only two maps Lava Ball can be used on (I think).  I think these two maps should stay.  There is death-warding gear available for those afraid of Lava Ball's death proc.

Quote from: The Damned on December 12, 2012, 07:22:06 pmSpeaking of Heretic going to Ninja, just rename it "Mu" (Nothingness/Emptiness). There. Done.

How about Mushin (無心)?  It has strong Zen/Buddhist connotations.

I'll be cheering for the black mages, naturally.  Knock 'em dead, CT5Holy.

Quote from: FFMaster on December 02, 2012, 08:54:13 pm

spoiler: THE PERFECT TEAM

Palettes - 6/7

Mr. Mime
Male
Serpentarius
70
55
Mime

Mrs. Mime
Male
Serpentarius
70
55
Mime

Mime Jr.
Male
Serpentarius
70
55
Mime

Mime Sr.
Male
Serpentarius
70
55
Mime

You might want to keep that team a secret until after the deadline.  Other players might counterbuild you.

-ton skills have been getting blocked by P-EV since the beginning of 1.38.  I mentioned it a long time ago, but my post was either overlooked or the fix is not straightforward.

Yeah, I misinterpreted my inequality sign before posting that.  Speed +1 is better for faster slower (must be the hunger) units, indeed.  You got a point about fitting in with Move +1 and Jump +1.  I just feel that Speed +1 on a move ability is incredibly powerful.  I would assign it a JP cost of 500 at minimum.

Quote from: RavenOfRazgriz on November 11, 2012, 07:37:01 amMove-CT UP is a very convoluted method of essentially making a Speed +1 Movement skill.  If that's what you want to do, make a Speed +1 Movement skill.  It's simpler, to the point, and slightly better since it works with Jump and a couple other nice things that Move-CT UP wouldn't.

Move-CT UP's CT boost would work only if the unit moves and would not contribute to skills that use SP in their formula (like Jump as you mentioned).  Therefore, it has less potency than Speed +1.  Also, its CT boost is more effective for units with low SP, providing a mild buff to such units should they equip it.  (Actually, Move-CT UP favours the faster units.  Got my numbers mixed up!)  Finally, (and on a more personal note,) it falls in line with Move-HP UP and Move-MP UP as a movement skill that boosts one of the three GUI stats.

Then again, I'm not contributing to FFT Arena's code, so I can't expect anyone to implement Move-CT UP over Speed +1.  If it's as convoluted as you say, then forget it.

It likes to use Charm to interrupt casting, from what I can remember.

Quote from: reinoe on November 10, 2012, 09:42:33 amMove=0 helped because it saved the unit 20ct a turn. 

How about just turning Move=0 into something that saves CT per turn?  Something like -1 move, but moving uses 10~20 fewer CT.  This falls in line with the "Move-CT UP" idea I had, but probably didn't announce.  Is this possible?

Quote from: FFMaster on November 01, 2012, 05:04:09 pm
I've only found 05 crystals to be glitched. And it only sometimes happens.

Have you tried swapping palette numbers and checking whether the problem remains with 05?

Here are my thoughts with that list.

Golden Hairpin: HP 060 MP 030, Strengthen: Holy, Dark

Removing the MA and reducing the MP is fine, but keep the HP at 70.  60 HP puts it on terms with Thief Hat, which has the universally applicable SP boost.  With its MA lost, mages that don't use Holy or Dark (which I dare say is a significant fraction of the Golden Hairpin userbase) will migrate to a 50-MP Black Hood, anyway.  I think it's best to nerf Golden Hairpin bits at a time, especially if other hats will get buffed.  If Golden Hairpin still seems too attractive, then we can slash its HP as well.

Santa Outfit, Black Costume, Rubber Costume: HP 100 MP 020, Absorb: ...

No to the MP boost.  These clothes see enough use for their elemental absorption.

Brigandine: HP 120 MP 030

I personally find robes to be the equipment responsible for MP boosting.  If you put 30 MP on Brigandine, non-robe classes will go to Brigandine without ever bothering with Equip Clothes, and robe classes will choose Brigandine over Silk Robe since an equal exchange of MP for HP, when paired with an MP-boosting hat, is worthwhile (except for Paladin, perhaps).  If non-robe classes want extra MP without sacrificing their support ability for Equip Clothes, they look to hats.  Putting 50 MP on Black Hood is a significant buff in this regard.

That said, I'm comfortable with Brigandine having a few MP, like 15 or 20.

Quote from: The Damned on October 31, 2012, 03:36:30 am
(Not that it really matters, but you put MA twice instead of MP, Gaignun.)

Whoops.  Thanks for catching that.

Quote from: The Damned on October 31, 2012, 03:36:30 am
That's not just ARENA, though. For some reason, Time Mage was curiously one of the faster mages in--or, rather, since--vanilla despite the fact that development staff had to know about the priority of Haste when it comes to the AI's focus.

You mean Square's dev team?  It was Priest that was quicker than the rest in vanilla.  Unless by vanilla you mean 1.3, in which I believe Time Mages were indeed the faster ones.  I don't blame anyone here for keeping Time Mages this way.  It is just one of those things that carried over from 1.3.

Time Magic spells are fine.  They're just so damn expensive.  The big contenders are Haste 2, Slow 2, Stop, and Demi 2.  All cost 300 JP.  If you want your Time Mage to serve an additional role with a second skill set (most do), you get to choose one, maybe two, of these.  There's little room for play.

The Time Mage itself suffers from rotten base stats.  Among the spellcasters, it has the second fewest HP (above Summoner, which is another seldomly used class), fewest MP (tied with Oracle), and fewest MA - all this to match Mediator's 9 SP, which has nearly 50% more HP at the same MA.  Small wonder people put Time Magic on a stronger class when they use it.

Making Time Mage the 9 SP spellcaster is a silly design decision in Arena, to be honest.  You often want your Time Mage to be slowest and in fourth position so that its team members don't run out of Haste's AoE.  If anything, Priest should be the one who has 9 SP, since you want your healers to be as fast as possible.  How does the following sound?


Female
            HP  MP  SP  PA  MA
Priest     106  82   9   6  10
Time Mage  125  87   8   3  10

Change      HP  MP  SP  PA  MA
Priest     -19  --  +1  --  --
Time Mage  +19 +10  -1  --  +1


Pretty much, unless the formula is immutable or neutral.  The only immutable/neutral formulae that take MA are Talk skills and Murasame, I believe.  These skills are not affected by Magic Attack UP.

Version 1.03 is released.

Quote from: Barren on September 19, 2012, 05:48:17 am
FFT Arena 1.38c - Naeco Rats vs Patch Me

Thanks for taking time out of your busy week for that, Barren.

I think Cover Fire's strength is its formula's constant (70), which can be multiplied by 3 for 210 irreducible damage (before compat).  The only defense is P-EV, which can be got around with Concentrate (at the expense of total defense) or Don't Act/Berserk.  I like how it goes through Protect because it gives P-EV an advantage over Cherche, but 210 damage is a little overwhelming.

The easiest solution that keeps this Protect-piercing quality would be to make Cover Fire Fury-dependent,.  This would require the user to put him/herself at greater risk to physical attacks to use the skill effectively while, at the same time, exposing high-Brave targets that run auto-protect to cover their physical weakness to big damage.  If the constant is reduced to 65 to compensate for the slight boost possible with Fury (ie. x1.05), then 70-on-70 Fury would deal up to 213 irreducible damage, while 70-on-40 Fury would deal up to 153 irreducible damage.

Anyway, we can fuss over a solution later.

Quote from: RavenOfRazgriz on September 14, 2012, 05:09:21 pmSeems like you want to throw out a skill with a unique role just to make a Dia clone in a skillset that's already been heavily buffed and has very few remaining drawbacks.

I want to throw out a skill that sees zero use and needs to be made nigh-unusable to be balanced.  You can't make instant-death spells viable in this kind of competitive play, nor can you for an AI with a dysfunctional risk-reward system.  See: 1.37 Odin.

Death isn't unique for tank-busting.  The resident tank-buster is Oracle, unless you're talking about tanks which stack M-EV, in which case neither Black Magic nor Yin Yang Magic are effective.

Quote from: RavenOfRazgrizExpecting people to use skillsets like Draw Out or White Magic when they want an instant-gratification MA based skill?  Pfft, let me just tie their all-in-one mage up with a fancy little bow while I'm at it, too.

Even you know you're exaggerating here.

Quote from: The_DamnedEven though I don't have a problem with Battle Boots and Red Shoes, I kinda like that suggestion.

...Too bad "we" can't get away with it because of those meddling Knives and their limited Item Attributes.

Ah, too bad.  It's something to keep in mind if knives ever get shuffled around, at least.

Back with another (fabulous) idea: reinvent Black Magic's Death to deal light damage with a chance of death.  Something like:

Death: 5 Rng, 0 AoE, 0 CT, 24 MP, Dark element, Dmg_F(MA*8), 20% Add: Dead, 200 JP

This would make it like Dia, but with more damage and a better status proc.  Keeping these advantages in check is its higher MP cost (4x more costly), higher JP cost (50 more), arguably less useful element for offense (Dark), and being on a skill set without a resurrection ability (Black Magic).

What is key to making this ability attractive is not its Dead proc, which, at 20%, is going to be unreliable, but its 0 CT.  This would make it Black Magic's only 0 CT ability, inviting people toward it for its instantaneous damage, Black Costumes be damned.  Its high MP cost is going to keep SP-stacked units from spamming the skill to proc Dead all over the opposing team, too.

Also, is anyone comfortable with lowering the JP cost of Lore's all-map spells from 200 to 150?  This would make it easier for Lore users to bring more than one spell into battle lest they encounter teams that absorb their chosen element.

How does merging Battle Boots and Red Shoes into one accessory that gives 1 Move, 1 PA, and 1 MA sound?  Unless the unit is a Geomancer or is sporting some novelty build, this new accessory is still only going to be used for one stat.  This will free up item space for something else, like Genji Armor, which currently does not have space of its own.

Also, Power Wrist and Genji Gauntlet need EV buffs.  They were left behind (as if they weren't behind already!) with the mantle buffs. How does the following sound until these things are overhauled entirely?

Power Wrist: 1 PA, 20 P-EV, 10 M-EV
Genji Gauntlet: 1 MA, 10 P-EV, 20 M-EV

This puts them in line with Vanish Mantle and Small Mantle, giving the player a choice between bonus damage and elemental immunity.

Thanks, FFMaster.

50% is what it felt like.  You might want to add that on your list of changes for the next master's guide update.  50% makes for a pretty useful weapon!