• Welcome to Final Fantasy Hacktics. Please login or sign up.
 
March 18, 2024, 11:30:06 pm

News:

Use of ePSXe before 2.0 is highly discouraged. Mednafen, RetroArch, and Duckstation are recommended for playing/testing, pSX is recommended for debugging.


Final Fantasy Tactics: Kind Of PSX (Current version: 2.6, Updated: 10/23/16)

Started by Eternal248, March 29, 2012, 12:13:12 pm

Panda_Tar

I'll try playing it the next weeks.

Is it possible inserting Critical procs on spellcasting?
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Eternal

It's something that can be done, but I see no reason to do so. Magic is already really good, there's no reason to add yet another mechanic to it.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Panda_Tar

Just wondering, actually. I wasn't sure if I had seen that in game. My mind wandered there thinking on Cyclops summoning, something of a desperate-low-on-mana bet. ^_^ It would have a 0.5% proc chance to cause critical damage. =p

And let me try and find out how to patch the game. I completely forgot how to do it. T_T

****

Well, started replaying yesterday. Firstly, I thought I failed patching due the script of all conversation being still the original one, then I remembered that on WotL would have those new rewritten speeches, not in the original. Then, moved on.

The overall impression was similar to that of few years ago. The mechanics regarding the jobs are ok, at least those basic jobs. I only felt that it got really time-consuming battling monsters, like too much. It has two sides of that coin: first the good side, you do end up gaining a lot of JP and Exp having long battles, and also start getting the feeling of a cleverer positioning (something I, as a Dota 2 player, am in a constant process of evolution) to avoid certain monster-skill combos. The other side is that some combos and sometimes some skills make you waste too much support items (and adding to that the possibility of having equipment stolen from you), almost compelling you to try another battle to farm for money to be able to buy back those same items and equipment, having the risk to waste some more and losing again some equipment.

This proved to be annoying after a couple of battles, specially because - I'm not sure if it was something like those times when you start a game and it is bound to have more negative results than positive results, you know what I mean? - that only too constantly, my 90% and 80% procs were failing, in succession. Like, many, many, many times. Coupled with the fact that monsters simply could revive and heal each other, some simple battles dragged on and on. Meanwhile, monsters with 31%, 45%, 60% chance to inflict things simply were successful only too often.

Then I had an Oracle in my team to inflict some statuses on my own, because I was start feeling bad with all this unlucky and long battles. I had her cast Darkness on foes. She hit all them. Then, the panther came to attack me by the front: 98% chance to hit. Why? Anyway, all other abilities seemed not to have changed their % of hitting, or being slightly lower. Even so, they basically hit 8 out of 10 with low % procs, while I hit 4 out of 10 with high % proc.

So I don't know how to put it simply, but aside from spending too much time and sometimes wasting and losing resources in simple battles, everything looks fine so far. However, I failed to pass through Sweegi Woods three times in a row due the constant 'lack of luck', and I hate depending on luck to win a battle. Too many misses with high % procs. Also, our NPCs don't evolve, so they are lingering behind and being killed rather faster. So, it seems my experience might have been similar to that of Bonesy. Whilst Darkholypl didn't have problems, which makes it feel like too much product of chance, or skill build, which would require a greater level of knowledge of the game not expected from new players, so it might prove a bit too endeavoring to some. That's the holistic impression.

Basically, the game feels like it needs being mastered for longer, until we get the grip of some new mechanics and skills. Then it might be a bit more fast paced (we'll lose less time replaying or dragging on to battles unnecessarily; just keep in mind that as we grow older, we have less and less time to spend on gaming), for the better or for the worst.

Now, when I get back to play it, I'll only report this 'take-too-long' issue if it really starts bothering me. Aside from that, I'll try checking and focusing on other things. Yesterday I was too distracted. Perhaps today it'll feel different. :)

***

Questions

1. Regarding Faith and Bravery, can you boost/nerf it permanently? Given that our troops start with 60 of each in the first mission, it feels odd that it's a stuck number for ever. It was somehow interesting starting the game with characters that could have some wavering numbers, then we sort of decided who would be fighter, who would be caster - besides the zodiac match ups, that is. It was something I enjoyed that it is now absent.

2. Does Maintenance protect against Stealing techniques? I don't remember.

3. And Calculators cannot target multiple of lv3 enemies? How come when facing lv 99 enemies (for example)?
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Panda_Tar

Second update.

After three new attempts, I was able, a bit irritated, to beat Sweegy Woods. It became quite clear that the dragging battles were always when monsters were involved, because either Dorter and Zeklaus areas I could beat in the first attempt. Dorter felt a bit more menacing than Zeklaus. My party was formed by Knight (+ Guts, Auto Potion, Gain JP Up, Move HP Up), Monk (+ Basic, Regenerator, Defense Up, Move HP Up), Oracle (+ White Magic, Auto Potion, Maintenance, Move JP Up) and Priest (+ Black Magic, Auto Potion, Equip Shield, Move HP Up) ... and the two cannon fodder namely Delita and Augus. The battles were again punctuated by those odd % procs hazards.

The battle I won in Sweegy Woods started the worst way possible. A back attack against the panther with 95% chance to hit missed. Then a side attack around 80% also missed. Then that same panther tried to poison/darkness my allied troop with 41% and hit. Then another attempt against the panther with 90% missed. By then, I was considering resetting the battle already. But I managed in the end due the auto potion not failing me that much and a lot of dashes, also possible to keep spamming spells with my monk chakraing casters and using buffs like protect and shell, which helped tankers withstand and soak much of the damage, specially from those bombs (the last one managed to auto-destruct, killing 3 with it.

Dorter I had to watch that archer up there break all helmets he attempted to, no matter how low the % procs were, ranging from 23-71%, he hit all 5 times he tried to perform. Just my luck. The only spared soul was my Oracle due the Maintenance ability, given she had low HP already. Oracle was a bet, either able to suck MP from the mages, or Disable the fighters, although I wasn't really hoping she would succeed that much given I was sure that I was bound to misfortune. But in the end, it was ok. Delita might have died 10 times in that battle. Augus kept trying to resurrect him just before the goddamn archer's turn (the first archer to die, from the top after falling from a stone on his head, but revived by his fellow archer - he was, in the end, the last to die. Irony).

Zeklaus desert was much easier with Monk's spinning fist. After three 70% attempts at casting Reraise on him, just threw him in there, while enemies were trying to kill Delita again. The Priest and the Oracle kept supporting while Ramza and the Monk wreaked havoc in there. Even Augus helped my mages spending my ethers on them. Delita might have been annoyed, given that the crystal I was hoping my Monk to grab from the dead Monk was used by him, even when Delita was completely fully healed. I think I almost heard Thug's Life tune on the background.

I stopped there, after winning that battle. I started feeling like some battles are not meant to be dragged on, specially after a couple of attempts at Sweegy Woods, when you spared a unit to allow another to kill or to do something else, then the monsters miraculously turn over the table.

I'm going to Zeklaus desert fighting monsters, to check how my team fare and evolve the jobs a bit. Only then I'll try Thieves' Fort to face Miluda, because this time, I'll have my Thief going along to try snatching something, instead of my Oracle, or leaving my Priest out, to use the Oracle to silence and disable enemies. If then, I'll have my Oracle learn Mag Defense Up or Defense Up for this fight. Maybe have Ramza with Maintenance, given that Miluda might try to break stuff.
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

darkholypl

^Seeing your party for Dorter 1 i can't help to think you grinded a whole buch and gained a lot of levels this way. Monsters get higher stats since they don't get to wear items, so if you're facing high level monsters at this point in the game, you might have a hard time.

I keep my levels low (old habit form 1.3) so the monster sotory fights were all super easy for me.

Anyway a small update from me: My run is put on hold for now. My copy of Tyranny just arived and my time will probably be devoted to it for how ever it takes to beat it. I might get back to the run every now and then just to break up the Tyranny sessions, but we will see.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Panda_Tar

Yes, it might have been my fault being too cautious. The problem then was that neither Augus nor Delita keeps up with the levels, so they arrived at lv3-4 the place where I had lv10. I had to compensate them by evolving some jobs, which made them even more behind. Now my characters are around 13-14 and Augus and Delita managed to scrap 8.

The thing about monsters is that they were designed to be dangerous when next to their defeat, or most of them. They'll either cure, revive, counter attack deadly, act or do any sort of hindering things. ^^
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Eternal

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback so far! I'll post a proper response this weekend. In the meantime, keep 'em coming! :)
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Panda_Tar

Another update then, before going sleeping.

Before going to Bariaus Hill, I visited Zeklaus Desert to test monsters there. I lost.

I decided going to Bariaus Hill face Miluda. I managed to win on the first attempt. It was rather ok, nothing difficult. After that, I went to face Wiegraf.

That battle dragged on a bit given Boco being there and immune to anything my Oracle had. Oracles are kinda useless against bosses... anyway, I managed to win also on the first attempt. Without further ado, I went straight to beat Algus ... and again won on the first attempt. Whenever humans are involved, things go smoothly.

Overall, haven't seen or noticed anything out of the ordinary. Battles were balanced ok. AI is a bit dense sometimes.

After finishing Chapter One, I went to Dorter 2 and also was somehow easy to beat. I fought a couple of games to improve my JPs and did the first Side-stuff at the bars too. After that, I kept going first to Araguay Woods, where I decided not to save Boco, which was a good decision, because Goblins were damaging +100 Boco with their Mutilate ability, and the bird passed away before long. Aside from that, and the surprise of Goblin's Punch effect on my Ramza once, the battle was almost easy.

I went to the next battle in a row too, to save Ovelia. The battle was much easier than most of the others, mainly because Ovelia keeps boosting everyone and her MP seems not to end. Even being easy, it took a long while chasing Gafgarion around, who kept recovering mana and life. In the end, the was defeated. It would have been faster if one of those knights didn't break Delita's sword.

Did some other Job offers, mastered some jobs and started changing things here and there (Geomancer -> Archer), (Monk -> Lancer), (Oracle -> Wizard). When I master Priest, I'll probably try a Time Mage.
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

darkholypl

^One thing that can help you grind JP and not get too far with levels, that I use in KO is to utilize the delevel trap in Zaklaus Desert.
This is the first map I believe that has this trap, and with that also the best to train on... if fact I'm suprised Eternal left that in. It can be abused to no end. You can level up with a class that has good stat gains, then delevel with a class that has bad ones and boost your stats this way. It will take a long time, but hey it's there.

If you don't feel like doing that, at least you can gain JP and not levels, which is godly anyway. A party of lvl1 characters with all jobs mastered anyone? :D
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Panda_Tar

I could consider that if things start getting out of hand, although I never used this feature, even being aware of it. Something that bothers me fighting monsters is that they can pretty much snowball out of the blue. In that desert, I fought 2 birds, 1 grenade and 2 skeletons. Skeletons, due their positioning, ended up being killed first. One of the birds, the one that didn't cast haste, kept dodging all attacks, 90%, 75%, 83% chance to hit it, but no, I just could land attacks with Geomancy or so, while it kept triggering Speed Save ... Meanwhile, the other bird with haste kepts hitting my magicians from afar due its great movement and great ability range. Not a single time my magicians triggered Auto Potion. Eventually, as I dragged on in the struggle to kill only one of the birds (who killed my magician who failed auto potioning the third time in a row), the Skeletons started raising back. And then, the grenade caught up, oiling everyone just in time that my Protect and Shell spells expired, given that I couldn't resurrect my Priest yet, not to mention that my Oracle had died on a place with no leveled adjacent terrain, making it impossible for my Monk to use Revive. So, as I miraculously happened to kill the tanking bird (which by now was almost acting every 2 turns due the goddamn Speed Save plus Haste), the second Skeleton popped back, whilst the other one was killed, the grenade was hasted, and its flaming attack was dealing over 100 damage ... it soon transpired that:



It was the second time I tried battling monsters in the desert. The other attempt was against grenades, skeletons and the Bull. The Bull was the least of the problems in a sense. The main problem was those Skeletons returning (I'm not sure if they are designed to ALWAYS return, or if I was just unlucky that all Skeletons in the game so far have been returning when countdown reached 0). And again the problem was with the Skeletons returning while grenades kept miraculously dodging + 90% chance of attacks. By then, the bull had gathered some PA countering a couple of attacks, and started being a problem.

I do hope that Skeletons DON'T always revive on countdown 0. It was a nice feature having them surprise returning (or not) anytime in their countdown. It started feeling like Tactics Ogre, which the undead always returned, and we eventually had a spell that banished them from existence - without the banishing spell, if you don't count the Pouching effect.

**********

On a side note, some stuff I noticed as I was reading again the changelog:

1. Songs: I was really wondering if some were new, and I was ok with them. Although I must say that whenever I entered Sweegy Woods after beating the Story Battle, I dreaded listening to that tune again.

2. I was wondering why Ramza started being able to Yell at everyone with 100% all of a sudden, because in Chapter 1, he had 36% chance to yell at my monk. I haven't tested Healing more sinister ailments yet, but I do think that being able to resurrect with it might be stretching Ramza powers only too much, given that he has means to do many things already with his Guts skills, not to mention using all equipment.

3. I haven't noticed my characters healing when mounted on a chocobo. Haven't checked their status, but I do not recall any blue number popping on their head either.

4. Had a battle against Mindflayers and they are a tough bunch, specially that Aquasoul, which killed any of my magicians on a single hit, and having that Counter Flood to top it all.

5. Speed Break: isn't there a way to make it work only when the opposing enemy has speed greater than yours? Or greater than 4-5? Set a minimum number, I mean. Having these Speed Save reactions for those birds make them snowball ridiculously, imho, specially when giving one of them Haste, and slow doesn't work on bosses, I think, and it has a bad chance to inflict a status which you can cast with a magician with AoE and also temporarily. Save for decreasing its cost for Archer, Speed Save. This feature became a bit too strong, now that you (or the AI) cannot directly counter attack high speed units, even with haste or slow.

6. Vertical jump. Sounds odd that there's actually limitations to that.

7. Is it not possible having chicken ailment in the game?

8. There's a graphical glitch at Zirekile Falls, on the edge of the map. Below the surface of the water, it showed the water in pink color (the vision cut on the edge, where you see the layers of the map).

I don't know if it's possible updating the main Changelog to provide the current stats, as you have in the first post. Many things seem different already, and it keeps difficult tracking what to look for. For example, the Geomancer in now is way different, and I don't know where in those lists he is updated.
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Panda_Tar

keeping the report, story line battles are going rather smooth. After Zirekile falls, Saving Mustadio was pretty much easy, given the mages kept focusing him, while my lancer/monk killed them through the walls. Agrias landed a killing Crush Punch on one archer, and the other archer survive just another round after being hit during a charge. The monks were the last to die. I took Boco in that battle, so the simply kept healing Mustadio.

After that, there was Bariaus Hill. Summoning magic dealt 100 damage around on my army, but that was the worst of it. Archers and Geomancer go in line, just ok to be killed on the first round. The remaining archer and summoner last no much longer. The archer attacked my Geomancer, and got petrified with Counter Flood. Summoner got killed instantly by Agrias Crush Punch. The other summoner got killed by spells.

Something I noticed so far, is that there's not much compelling having Stealing arts at this point. I usually had one thief handy to steal items from Story Line battles, but most of the times, items were basically already present in shops, or they'll be available on the next battle, so that's a downside I'm feeling so far. It's like I wasted my time leveling a Thief. I'm now going to enter battles first to check if there are items to steal, before setting my support ability for that character.

After that, I went to the swamps fighting undead and the malboro. I was dreading a bit this battle, because undead always return... however, they proved too vulnerable to my Wizard, my Lancer jumped off a Death cast on him, the malboro got poisoned on the swamp, and the ghosts were not much of a threat. Before the first undead could revive, they were all dead.

Goug had an easy battle. Not caring much about Mustadio being killed, it was mostly a matter of keeping the supports at distance while the fighters dished out damage buffed by protective spells. Summoners died last again, whilst the rest died slowly by Counter Floods and other attacks.

The battle I lost was Bariaus Valley. Although it didn't felt difficult, Agrias was first targeted. So we had an archer hit her with charge, which would damage her around 60. Agrias attempted a Stasis Sword on the nearest knight, instead of trying to hit the nearest foe, which seemed much safer. Damn AI. Missing the attack, she retread not too much. The Archer charged her before some of my units could move, and, guess what, he had 32% of success and hit her, WITH A CRITICAL, 90 damage, and it also triggered a Bolt spell. To top it off, before I could do anything else, that knight she tried to attack attacked her with 65% chance of success and killed. And I lost. That's all about it. I didn't try again because I was sleepy. I'll try today again.

Aside from that, normal battles against monsters are really becoming bothersome, lenghty and irritating. I'm not really having fun on those battles. They are becoming chores, and whenever it feels like I need evolving a job, I don't feel compelled to try my luck against monsters which have such combination of skills that make it somehow boring and irritating to fight against. One battle was in Sweegy Woods, too much unlucky % procs in a single battle making me reset. The other battle I had was in Zirekile Falls. It was tough, but I managed to win. Again, too lenghty to be called fun, and I had Boco keeping resurrecting Ramza and the Priest in succession, until opposing troop missed the almost unmissable Aqua spell. Just this flick of luck turned the tide. It felt really strange, not really rewarding because I felt I depended on luck again. I would have won without that, but would have been long after that. Tried another battle on the place we kill Miluda, against 3 chocobos and 1 goblin and couldn't manage to win. My Oracle was completely useless, unless she hit all chocobos at once, and whenever I could burst down a foe with damage, another chocobo would resurrect the fallen one, the other would cure, and their high speed would allow them to get away. And that kept happening the whole 1h of battle, until one of my characters was going to become a crystal, because my priest kept missing his 85% chance of raise back, and my monk missed his 82% chance of revive.

So, in a general view, random battles are a pain, more like annoyance and fun. That's how I'm feeling about it so far. It's not that they are too tough, but they are simply beyond the boundary of being that kind of hard and fun, and they feel like a burden. All of them, it seems like the worst moment is when you are about to win, because it'll prompt or trigger a tide-turning combination of abilities that makes it look like your efforts were all in vain.

And regarding the small changes in their bravery when you make choices, how is that working? I remember seeing Ramza with 75 bravery when I chose not to help Mustadio.

Ah, yes, I also noticed that we can buy an 'absorb holy' item on the shop. If you are undead, you can absorb healing magic then? Because I see no other use for this particular effect on that item so soon, aside from the event that your character is transformed into undead, which is so rare up till now, and given they'll raise back by themselves ...
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Eternal

Panda, thanks for your thorough reports! I'll try to answer each point as detailed as possible, but if I miss something or my answers are unclear, let me know and I'll do my best to clarify. I'll start from the top.

-In regards to monsters taking a long time to fight, I'd be curious to hear what your team buildout is like. It sounds like you're either playing too defensively, or you aren't taking advantage of Black Magic/Summons/Oil, etc. Some random fights can be just as challenging if not moreso than story fights if you're not prepared. If you're looking to grind, I would suggest Sweegy or Mandalia. Sweegy is probably the better bet since the enemies are a little less annoying, but Mandalia is (as always) a viable place to grind. Taking advantage of elemental weaknesses is of huge importance as well!

-With regards to monster revival, you touch on this a few times. A few thoughts: Choco Esuna and Revive don't revive units with very much HP, and the user is forced to be next to the target to use it. A good Elemental or Black Magic/Summon can easily take out the revived unit -and- take a chunk out of the reviver as well, killing two birds (sometimes literally!) with one stone. AoE is a little more important now in monster fights, simply because they have increased capabilities.

-I'll be honest. I really don't like using Oracles early on. The debuffs cost too much in Chapter I, and the battles in Chapter I really don't require Oracles. I much prefer investing in them in Chapter II when I can access Propositions. Currently, Blind works as it does in Vanilla. It doesn't halve the attacker's accuracy, rather, it doubles the defender's evasion. I'm not a fan of it, but I have yet to find a Blind hack that is 100% bug free, since apparently the ones in orgASM are buggy, at least according to Emmy. And although Oracles are more or less useless against bosses (unless you're using Faith as a buff or are using Spell Absorb to keep your caster's MP up), they're ridiculously useful everywhere else. A good Silence Song or Sleep can really change a battle.

-In regards to hit rates and such, nothing about the RNG has been changed. It honestly just sounds like you're having ill luck this run. If it makes you feel better, my test run was very similar. I literally missed 98% Raises at least twice during my playthrough.

-I stand by Sweegy being a good fight, for a few reasons. The first being it introduces you to monsters being tougher. It's a wake up call, much like Dorter 1 was in Vanilla. That said, it's an easily managed wake up call. Ice takes out the Goblins (and the Panthers, so you don't have to deal with their Evasion), you can give your Guests Item and they can act as additional healers (or meatshields!), and statuses start becoming potent, so the Squire's Heal ability is useful. The other reason is that it forces you to start playing with your jobs. You can't just rush in with Squires and Chemists and expect to win. Having a Knight or a mage or two really helps.

-In regards to Brave/Faith, outside of events, no, they're not boosted/reduced permanently. On the flip side, Mediators can alter those stats by 10 points in a single pop, meaning that it's well worth it to bring a Mediator around to either boost a mage's Faith or boost a Monk/etc's Brave.

-Maintenance guards against equipment being broken and stolen.

-Certain parameters were removed from Math Skill ages ago because it made Math Skill simply too good with them around, 3 being included. That said, Math Skill is pretty damn amazing still (perhaps too much so), so I would suggest looking into it. I would wait until you unlock Propositions though. It's far easier to get the JP needed for all their skills that way.

-...how the heck did I miss that Degenerator trap? I thought I removed them all. Oh well. Thank you, guys, for pointing it out. It's been removed for the next update.

-Undead units will always revive a random amount of turns after their timer hits 0. The only way to really -remove- them is through Petrification, but even that can be removed. So although they're "immortal", there's tons of ways to deal with them as an exchange. Damage, healing spells, items, Fire, Holy, etc.

-Having Heal revive units is pretty darn good, but it's not as amazing as you'd think. Afterall, you have to wait until Chapter IV for that perk and if Ramza gets debuffed or killed, you still have to bring him back. Also, it's only 20% HP with 1 Range, so for a fallen unit, a Throw Item'd Phoenix Down or Raise/Raise 2 is your better option since Heal has limited Vertical. Guts is supposed to be a very varied, supportive skillset, especially late-game.

-IIRC, the healing is done passively, but it doesn't display the number. I might have to double check to ensure that Mounting and Move-HP Up works as I remembered it doing.

-Mindflayers are evil, evil creatures and they're a pain to fight. They're basically the mages of monsterkin. They're much easier if you're packing Berserk, Thunder magic, or another debilitating ability.

-I'm sure through ASM hacking it's possible to set a minimum Speed, but it's not something I really have any interest in doing at the moment. Speed alteration is a very touchy thing, which is why Slow Dance/Cheer Song had their accuracy tweaked. Birds, being monsters, have very limited means to them, which is why I'm okay with them having Speed Save. Afterall, the Bird family is all about being fast and outrunning the enemy.

-I'm not sure of what you mean when you talk about Vertical Jump.

-Chicken is still around. It's automatically inflicted upon any unit with less than 10 Brave, so using a Mediator is the best way to inflict it.

-The graphical glitch at Zirekile is likely emulator related. What emulator are you using?

-Steal is definitely a late-game thing to have. I want to add better Steals throughout, but it's not a priority at the moment. Steal Heart is well worth it though, as is being able to steal things like Swords from Swordskill enemies.

-In regards to battles being long, I -really- encourage you to invest in more damaging units. It sounds like you're playing defensively against monsters and are getting overwhelmed. Using things like Slow/Stop/Sleep/Paralyze helps, as does elemental weaknesses, especially when boosted. Which monsters are you having the most trouble against?

-Absorb: Holy is good late-game when there are enemies that throw Holy around. It also makes the AI act weird if you're wearing Holy resistant gear against Holy Sword units, since the AI thinks Holy Sword skills are Holy Elemental (even though they're weapon elemental). Absorb: Holy won't make Undead units heal from healing magic, since Cure/Raise/etc. aren't Holy Elemental.

I hope that clears things up a bit! Keep up the great work, Panda! ^_^
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

darkholypl

One little thing that I remembered just now, that is a tad annoying:

the monster skill on the bull demon 'earthquake' is shown as an instant effect (NOW!) but it's not. It's a charged skill, and not a fast one either.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Eternal

Unfortunately, any skill inside of a monster skillset will display as Instant since monster skillsets never had skills with CT in them in Vanilla and were never intended to. Quake has a CT of 6, the same as a level 3 elemental spell. Do you not find Quake currently usable with the CT as it is now? It deals more damage than a level 4 spell for less CT, can inflict Don't Move, and has a larger AoE than even Summons.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

darkholypl

It's nice as a spell/skill don't get me wrong. Herp derp, don't mind me, I forgot you can just right d-pad to check the turn order. I was about to say it's hard to guesstimate, but you don't. I guess you just need to remember it's not instant, not much of a problem.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Eternal

I don't have access to KO at the moment, but I -think- even though it says instant, if you push Right or Left on the menu to see the CT it should have the actual turn it'll go off. Again, not 100% sure, but it may be something to try.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Timbo

Since monsters have such limited versatility, would it be overpowered to give them all non-charge?
  • Modding version: PSX
  • Discord username: Timbo

Eternal

Most monsters with spells do have Non-Charge, the exception being Minotaurs (because instant Quake is absurd, especially with how buff it is now) and Trents/Taiju (Woodmen get instant Silence/Raise2 with Raise2 being the Tree family's Monster Skill, but are otherwise fairly useless, whereas Trents/Taiju are quite useful but don't get instant Raise2 as a tradeoff).

EDIT: And Skeletons. Because Skeletons are already pretty damn good as they are, and instant Death/Zombie would be pretty broken.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL
"You, no less human than we? Ha! Now there's a beastly thought. You've been less than we from the moment your baseborn father fell upon your mother in whatever gutter saw you sired! You've been chattel since you came into the world drenched in common blood!"
  • Discord username: eternal248#1817

Panda_Tar

Today, I played a bit more. Beat down that battle with Agrias, which turned out to be easy, because the archer didn't had all that luck again. At that time, my Ramza was back in his Squire job to allow some better equipment combination, Elemental, Auto Potion, Attack Up and Move HP Up. I had the Geomancer with me with White Magic, Distribute, Defense Up and Walk on Water. Had a Lancer with Punch Arts, Counter, Brawler and Move on Water. And a Wizard with Yin Yang Magic, Auto Potion, Defense Up and Move on Water.

After that, went to fight Gafgarion in the Execution Site. That battle took 3 attempts. The first one I ran out of means to revive my fallen allies, which would mean they would get crystalized before long. The second attempt also went that way. The third attempt, I had Ramza the same way as before, brought Boco into battle, had my Wizard with White Magic, Auto Potion, Defense Up, Move HP Up; Priest with Elemental, Auto Potion, Defense Up, Move HP Up; and the Lancer with Punch Arts, Counter, Brawler and Move Hp Up.

This battle started with my Ramza luckily hitting 2 opponents with Geomancy causing them both to fall asleep. My Wizard turned one of the fake Ovelia into a toad and rode Boco to get away from that place. So, it was gradually easy to beat them when 3 of them were disabled so soon. I gave up on the possibility of stealing Blood Sword, because my Thief character wasn't very effective in that battle.

I went straight to battle at Lionel Castle. I thought it would be a tough battle facing Gafgarion again ... but it turned out ok. Ramza could boost haste on himself and two allies next to the gates before going down to open it, whils Gafgarion couldn't dish much damage due Auto Potion. Outside I had the same Lancer, the same Wizard, Boco and Geomancer with Steal, I think. The fact is that I could steal one of the lancer's heart, which helped killing one of the Oracles. The other lancers tried to hit my lancer and failed. All in all, wizard managed to buff with White Magic my team, Boco kept Esunaing anyone who got any ailment, my Lancer kept jumping and killing, and some lucky Elemental ailments. No units died in that battle.

Against Queklain, I had the same Ramza, the same Lancer, the same Wizard, Boco and the ex-Geomancer now Monk with Elemental. The difference is that I equipped them with a ring to avoid sleeping, death sentence. So the only stuff that hit was Undead. In fact, the first boss' move was using it. My wizard reacted with Autopotion and died. There wasn't anything I could do being and undead body, so I simply kept attacking Queklain and using Boco to do the support. Before long, the Wizard Revived and the battle went like that for a little while.

After that we have ... Coal City? I played some random battles before going there, having now a Ninja with Stealing abilities, the one I use to Poach too (which seemed one of the best ways to avoid the resurrecting-annoyance of some monsters plus the fact that some poached items are good and advanced compared to shops). Ramza is now a Samurai with Guts. The Lancer is the same as usual. Wizard too. My Priest is a Summoner now.  I was going to make him the Time Mage, but his odds at hitting buffs are way lower than the Wizard, so the Wizard will be a Time Mage later. The Wizard which was the Oracle. Mustadio is a Mediator and Agrias is a Knight. I'm not sure what I'll make of Agrias.

Anyway, Coal City battle was the easiest thing in spite of the beginning. The first thing that happened was my Ninja being killed to 2 ninjas hitting those bizarre odds of 40% in a row. Just when I was still fuming, Olan hit all but 2 enemies with Galaxy Stop, fully with the three stats. I don't need to say how easy that got all of a sudden. The farthest ninja, which couldn't so anything and the closes Chemist, who died with 1 jump. I could only steal 1 sprint shoes.

The next battle was in Lesalia, the dreaded Zalmo's battle. The funny thing is that I wasn't remembering that battle was at Lesalia.

Which turned out to be another easy stuff, and the source, finally, of many stolen goods. Ramza's Bizen Boat quickly turned any magicians useless. Alma kept being Alma. My Wizard started turning others in toads. My Mustadio started sniping those who weren't toads (so it basically was a disabling battle, which kept getting easier and easier). Zalmo's Odin kept missing Ramza, while he still had MP to cast it. One of the enemy samurais went on a spot I mined with my Lancer to keep them away from my units, and she was killed by that preemptive jump. And my ninja only had to get next to the toads and disable enemies to start stealing stuff. It was a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long battle until I managed to steal most of things possible so then I defeated Zalmo. The only thing I had to keep check was having my Lancer chakras Alma and Ramza bizen boats Zalmo. Mustadio and the Wizard simply did the rest.

I have been doing those propositions meanwhile, and then some other random battles. I'm still to enter the Monastery, which I recall has 3 tough battles, so I'll get a bit prepared.

The random battles are now easier with a broader range of abilities available. Also having Mustadio or the Wizard in the team pays loads due their disabling power. One of the battles was an accident in which I still hade people doing propositions, so I ended up fighting with 2 chocobos in the team, my wizard, my summoner and Ramza. It got very easy too in the end, because 2 chocobos in the team is simply OP.

All in all, getting used to having chocobos in battle, also getting used to use more buffs and debuffs, acting and not acting and the battles are getting a bit less annoying. Procs sometimes are bizarre, but that works around sometimes, when I have very low odds and still get successful. Just one battle that I missed 5 times a 80% Aqua Ball in a row which made me angry. It was at Bariaus Hill against 2 chocobos (the first to die), 4 bombs and a dragon. Poaching the dragon created an Angel's Ring.

Regarding balance so far, Olan's battle was the most representative of all. It was simply too easy that his Galaxy Stop had such high accuracy. The second time he cast it, he stopped the other ninja which wasn't affected the first time. So it all resumed to me moving to their position and killing them. I suppose it makes that battle less dangerous, due Olan being at that position and the AI sometimes suck so hard, that he could be easily taken down if he spell misses.

I'm starting to think that Auto Potion will be useless in late game.

Now, to your responses.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm
-In regards to monsters taking a long time to fight, I'd be curious to ...


Most of the problem was gravitating around battles against chocobos and the cuar which could revive. Given than most these unsuccessful battles happened on places I was visiting the first time, I wasn't prepared because I didn't know the monsters of that place. Other battles were ok. Started using petrify, poach, Raise 2 etc. to get rid of the undead too.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-In regards to Brave/Faith, outside of events, no, they're not boosted/reduced permanently. On the flip side, Mediators can alter those stats by 10 points in a single pop, meaning that it's well worth it to bring a Mediator around to either boost a mage's Faith or boost a Monk/etc's Brave.

Yeah, I just thought it was sad that they all started with 60, 60. It feels unnatural and the surprising factor of having a varied number is now gone, because I usually used these numbers to set my fighters and mages. And it could be even more surprising if the mages had bad zodiac signs to your teams, making your ponder whether they would be then fighters, or then that you would require using more of those brave and faith boosts as an aid.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-IIRC, the healing is done passively, but it doesn't display the number...

It's been appearing normally in all the last games I have been playing.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-Mindflayers are evil, evil creatures and they're ...

The only thing that's being bothersome in the last battles is the Counter Flood. It usually makes a character goes critical in 1 hit.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-I'm not sure of what you mean when you talk about Vertical Jump.

That's an overall feeling about it. When I first played this job years and years ago, it always sounded strange that we had to master jumping on high places if we actually goes outside the screen to do it.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-The graphical glitch at Zirekile is likely emulator related. What emulator are you using?

PCSX. The other emulators didn't work, no matter what.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-Steal is definitely a late-game thing to have. I want to add better Steals throughout, but it's not a priority at ...

It looks like it's worth at random battles with humans. The last battle I had was before going to Lionel, and there appeared 2 Geomancers with items in which it would take a while to appear, such as White Robe, Black Robe, Black Hood. Sadly, I wasn't expecting that and I had no stealers in my team and I also lost that battle given that I ran out of means to revive one of my characters at the same time the cuar was reviving another fallen enemy.

Quote from: Eternal on November 12, 2016, 08:51:29 pm-Absorb: Holy is good late-game when there are enemies that throw Holy around...

So it's an anti-Wiegraf item at the Monastery?

  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.

Panda_Tar

Orbonne Monastery battles

Both first 2 were very easy, probably due the combination of my troops most likely. My Wizard is becoming the nemesis of opposing forces, due her Flare spells being able to take down even Lancers on a single cast. And her high accuracy at landing Frog is crippling a lot. Mustadio too, while my Lancer keeps tanking, chakraing or Jumping when possible. My ninja charmed another lancer which took care alone one of their own time mages. I focused on opponents with ITEM sets first.

Second battle against Izlude was basically similar. Mustadio stopped one of the knights from approaching with a 92% Don't Move snipe, later only attacking Izlude, which kept jumping on him (200 damage when it hit) and on my ninja, which was too fast. Ninja and Wizard and Ramza and the Lancer took care of the Oracle and the other two Mediator. One of the knights died first for a Flare and a shuriken.

Against Wiegraf, I had to try twice. The first time, the battle started dragging on, until I got 3 units killed in which would not be able to resurrect before being able to take Wiegraf down. The second attempt I wasn't using my ninja/steal anymore, because I realized there was nothing worthy there (dancer had maintenance), so I use my Priest instead. Wiegraf went forth and didn't last the round of attacks: Ramza's Draw Out + Flare + Holy + Mustadio regular attack.

On random battles, things are getting balanced now, however, I must be preemptively aware of protecting at least one unit from a recurring status common on the set of monsters at some places. Bariaus Hill required protection against Berserk, which made me had to reset once. Luckily, the second attempt conjured again an Oracle, from which I could steal a Black Robe and a Golden Hairpin, items which are not at shop yet. Again, the combined forces of Mustadio and the Wizard helped dealing with and control the enemies, whilst Ninja and the Lancer kept damaging, pouching, charming, stealing and healing, and Boco was there just in case. ^^

Is there a currently updated list of pouching items?
  • Modding version: PSX
Always interpreting the foul side of things makes you fouler still.