Final Fantasy Hacktics

Aye.  Think of the extreme case, in which the constant is much larger than the difference between maximum and minimum faith.  If the constant is C and the difference is dx, the difference in scaling between the 70-70 and 70-40 cases is

C^2 - C*(C-dx)^2 = 0

since C >> dx.

That could work.  Personally, I'd still like to see MP be used for something.  Perhaps it could be used for a unique set of "special" moves like full-party haste, an instant-cast summon, or stat-increasing abilities (like Quickening -- or any other ability that is too useful and used too often.)  Give every skill set at least one special move.  Summon magic could have instant-cast Bahamut, Steal Quickening, Time Magic full-party haste/slow, Draw Out Season 5 Kiku, Black Magic 100% Death, White Magic MBarrier, and so on. (Brainstorming ideas could be fun.)  Assign every skill an MP cost in accordance with its utility.  Set every job's max MP to a flat 100 or some such.  Have every unit start the battle with 0 MP (if that's possible) and let MP increase on its own at a slow rate.  These special skills would then be as the revenge meter is in Street Fighter 4, or as TP in Tactics Ogre: they would give parties the chance to turn battles around.  MP-healing and MP-damaging abilities would need to be severely limited in this scenario.  This is just a wild suggestion, of course.  

Quote from: The DamnedFirst, you're act like every low MP spell is utterly weak or that every spell team that uses mages that actually rely on abilities that use MP--since, you know, mages using Draw Out or Geomancy is still effective--uses MP heavy stuff like Flare and Bahamut for the entirety of its damage.

So you say that mages shouldn't rely on MP-intensive skill sets because they're MP-intensive skill sets?  I propose innate MP regen to shift team design away from this paradigm.  I would like players to depend on mages for their magic.  The AI is notoriously unreliable at restoring its MP.  From my testing for season 5, the AI seems to restore MP only when there is nothing left to do.  No strategy is as predisposed to the whimsy of the AI as spellcasting, and no strategy as unattractive.

A mage bereft of MP is no longer a mage.  They're the only class players expect during design to inflict its own paralysis.  Players must account for this, and it is here that discrepancies with non-mages arise.  Bards don't need support to sing, ninja to attack, or samurai to draw out.  These units are dependable.  Consequently, players don't need to design bards, ninja, or samurai with alternatives.  In this light, suggesting that mages must rely on an alternative course of action when they're out of MP is not convincing.  It is precisely what I wish to change.  If magic had more destructive power than any other form of offense, then this "self-paralysis" would be appropriate, but with the Faith system making magic damage as unpredictable as it is, it simply isn't so.

Pointing out that mages have Move-MP UP to cope with MP woes is symptomatic of the underlying problem: design is less about choice and more about necessity.  Combined with the reliance on Item (already a skill set with enough going for it) or Angel Song, the whole design process turns stale.  On the other hand, if mages did not need to rely on Move-MP Up, they could, for example, put the 500 JP into diversifying their skill sets to avoid bad status/elemental matchups.  

The proposed MP regen would be small.  Raven's suggestion of 1/16 sounds fair.  This rate would keep low-tier spells accessible to units with high MP pools.  If some low-tier spells are too strong, then, of course, they would need to be modified --  the current spells are not designed with passive MP regen in mind, after all.  MP damage would still have a role in denying units mid-to-high-tier spells like Flare, Bahamut, and Raise.  Under no condition would crippling spells be "free."  Sustained use of high-tier spells or sustained MP damage would definitely continue to require MP maintenance.

That's nifty.  It could even be set as an innate for only mages if they need the perk.

Quote from: FFMaster on August 09, 2011, 08:35:39 am
Black Magic
- All Fire spells gain 1 AoE and Fire 1/2/3/4 lose 2/4/6/12 Y respectively
- All Bolt spells except Bolt 4 gain 3 Y and cost 5 MP more
- Bolt 4 loses 5 Y
- All Ice spells cost half MP and cost 100 JP more
- Ice 4 loses 8 Y
- Frog hit rate increased to F(MA*2+145)%
- Death hit rate increased to F(MA*2+100)%
- Flare MP cost increased to 50 and Y reduced to 40
- Counter Magic JP reduced to 300

So bolt is stronger, fire hits a wider area, and ice costs more JP?  I feel that these changes give black magic more personality, but not any more attraction.  Has the thought of adding status effects to black magic been entertained?  For example, fire could inflict poison, bolt don't move, and ice slow.  Black magic would be as yin yang magic, but with damage as insurance.  This would also ease bad matchups, as units who halve the elemental damage may yet be vulnerable to the status effect, although whether the AI will bother to cast the spell on the units at all is a different story.   Yin yang magic might need a buff in compensation, such as lower CT times or higher Y values.

Second, I support Squidgy's suggestion that one of black magic's spell tiers be removed for other spells.  Dark elemental magic is under-represented.  With dark elemental spells, black magic could be used as a counter to teams that use light robes for passive regen and to heal undead units.

On the subject of undead units, is it possible to let them die and be revived as normal units?  Susceptibility to healing damage notwithstanding, their gimmicky auto-revival feature is what keeps me away from incorporating them in teams.

Draw out with a cast time is interesting.  I believe this harms the skillset's reliability.  Is this warranted?  Draw Out's attraction is its flat, instant damage at zero cost.  If a damage nerf alone isn't enough, why not give it an MP cost?  That way, it would still be attractive with its instant damage, but it would require maintenance.  An MP cost would only further increase dependence on item and move-MP up for MP healing, though.  Perhaps it's time to do as Tactics Ogre does and implement passive MP regen across the board?  That's probably impossible.

If there wasn't Kiku, people would find another skill to complain about.  It is because players exploit the most effective skills that they win.  In this case, the most effective skill was a no-brainer.  I voted against Kiku, knowing full well of its destructive potential, then designed a team to prove it (along with two others: ninja and haste).  I'm surprised more players didn't do the same.

Quote from: Piercewise on July 03, 2011, 01:04:17 pm
I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but it's my last match until the LB semi-final and it's too good not to put up immediately.

Thanks for posting the match, Piercewise.  You did well to post it before match 55, as match 55 is currently without a commentator.  CamStudio cannot seem to record ePSXe footage at any greater than 5 frames per second on this laptop I'm using, so re-recording it on my end is out of the question.  I asked Wiz to cover for me, but as he has yet to respond, the match is in limbo.

Sorry for the delay, everyone. 

Quote from: Mando on July 02, 2011, 03:01:05 am
If it is too much hassle, why not just have someone do it anyways? I think we are what 6 matches from ending this season? Not sure if that is the correct number, but my point is we had a rough start in losers bracket with delays ect... ect... may as well finish strong and get it over with ya know?

I agree.

Quote from: formerdeathcorpsGaignun, thank you for putting up the video links, but they're in the wrong order.  The one titled "LB 43" is really LB 44 and vice-versa.

Thanks for catching that.  I made the correction.

Match 43 Loser's Bracket Archives
Match 44 Loser's Bracket Archives

As for match 55, I recorded, edited, and rendered it, but was unable to upload it before my flight.  The winner is confirmed, but as I am now away from the computer on which the match is stored, I'll need to re-record the match.  Please give me a day.  If I cannot manage to record the match, somebody else will need to cover for me.

Match 50 Loser's Bracket

I'll have matches 43 and 44 uploaded by tonight or tomorrow afternoon.  In truth, match 45 was not recorded.

Ah, I had those recorded already, Wiz.  I reread my request and realized that I wasn't very clear.

Edit: It might be too late to replace your matches with mine.  I won't be specific, but revealing winners in yours as losers in mine would cause controversy.  Let's hold yours as official.

Match 36 Loser's Bracket
Match 37 Loser's Bracket
Match 38 Loser's Bracket

Match 22 Loser's Bracket
Match 23 Loser's Bracket
Match 24 Loser's Bracket
Match 25 Loser's Bracket
Match 26 Loser's Bracket

I keep losing track of who's who when commentating.

Quote from: Wiz on June 16, 2011, 05:48:55 pm
Jesus, I need to get going on commenting on all these matches (don't have to do so atm, tomorrow for sure).

Anyways, I figured out the bracket assignments for the later rounds of the Loser's Bracket (where it's not clear who commentates what), and I'll get that up tomorrow for y'all to see.

Will you be depending on us loser commentators for those matches?  I can take over the matches shared by me and Piercewise to help him out.

Quote from: Wiz on June 13, 2011, 02:07:57 pm

spoiler: Match 53 Gaignun vs Wiz

Round 1: UTTER BS! I did 100 simulations of this round and only lost like twice. WTF!?

Round 1 Clinchers for Gaignun
1. Celdia getting mid-charged from Reddas
2. Xifanie using chakra to heal up 45 HP instead of Murasame for 130 @ 6:18 (There's NO good reason for that to occur!) She did it because she would've healed up Reddas. Still, there's no way she didn't know she was going to die from Rikken by using Chakra.
3. DS on the Ninja w/ Angel Ring
4. The 16% @ 4:42 going off coupled with protect INSTEAD of shell @ 5:13 allowed the Wizard to KO my Ninja

Round 2: As expected except for the last 5 min lol

Round 2 Clinchers for me
1. Double Weapon Break at the beginning
2. DS hitting on that Wizard

Round 3: As expected, and I got close with that confuse proc going off.

Round 3 Clinchers for Gaignun

1. The map and placement of the units itself (Celdia's out front because of the terrain from the height precedent rule when normally she's in back + Perfect opportunity for DO to occur from that Wizard).
2. Reddas taking out Dissy two separate times with one being a 16% Book Shot and another coming from a melee


Overall, I'm disappointed my team chose to act stupid especially now. Regardless, I'll see whoever the winner is of the winner's bracket in the championship match :lol:

GG Gaignun

I'm through three of my five matches.  I hope to have them all ready to be uploaded by the time formerdeathcorps uploads his.

Battle 10 Loser's Bracket
Battle 11 Loser's Bracket

I fixed the RGB and increased the gamma so that the colour isn't washed out.

Battle 7 Loser's Bracket

Battle 8 Loser's Bracket

Battle 9 Loser's Bracket

I daresay my delivery is stiff, crispy, and stale.  Like a cracker in the back of your pantry.

Battles 10 and 11 will come tomorrow.

Fair enough, but Hospital in the Slums is still rife with choke points.  I was calling it out simply over its quality.