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Modding and game balance questions/job and ability ideas.

Started by Lionheart537, July 20, 2017, 12:56:40 am

Nyzer

QuoteThey don't.  This is why there are no means of destroying Weapons in Journey of the Five aside from an obscure monster ability with no Vertical Tolerance.


Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I don't think it would be out of place on Meliadoul alone in a vanilla mod, considering she's otherwise overshadowed by Orlandu and arrives near the ass end of the game anyway. But it's way too broken to be a generic skill.

Quotekeep in mind before you remove zodiac compatibility is that having another form of variance in battles is a mostly positive thing - it makes different fights of the same battles different.


I agree with this. Forgot to mention that before. I really wouldn't remove the compatibility setup. In random matches, it benefits the player just as much as it screws them over, and if you want to be really particular at the Soldier Office you can get a team specifically designed to have max compatibility with each other, which is absolutely beneficial to the player.

QuoteTo break or not to break weapons, hmm. Having some special enemies with safeguard isn't too big of an issue for me, but i do like the idea of some equipment only obtainable via stealing. I saw a break/steal hack in one of Emmy's xml is it safe and functional? If i could set weapon break/crush to accessory/shield i'd be happy with removing or limiting steal weapon.


You can still get armor & accessories via stealing, keeping the skill relevant. If you want to keep Steal Weapon, the best time to make use of it would probably be in the final chapter, and I'd just recommend slapping it onto a special unit or rare beastmastered bird for that purpose. Keeps it from being generic and too easily available, but doesn't entirely remove it from the player.

QuoteOne more question. If Gain jp-up is innate to all, does that give ai more jp for their random skill selection too?


Pretty sure that's not how that works. I wouldn't give that skill as an innate to every single job, though - you'd be better served by nerfing JP costs. If you come across a job you want to give multiple innates to, you'd have one less slot with which to do so.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

nitwit

I do not remember where I saw this, but someone said that you could change the faith formula such that 00 faith would still cause some damage, but 100 faith was still required for max damage.  That was to remove it as a means of weakening mages, who already have many ways to do so (silence, don't act, stop, berserk, frog, even chicken if their brave is low enough).

I think it was 50 + (current faith / 2) instead of the normal faith calculation.  Note that this could also be used with brave to prevent brave reduction from making unarmed, katanas, and knight swords useless.

You could also partially nerf defensive faith reductions by limiting it to caster faith only.  Then faith reduction is only useful offensively, but faith increases are also not damaging to your own party so there's no reason not to max it for your party.  I prefer to keep them both.

The same thread had something to rebalance brave as a trigger for reaction abilities, by making the effective reaction trigger rate as 25 + (current brave / 2).  The minimum is 25%, the maximum is 75%.  A skilled assembly programmer could fudge the math to change the minimum and maximum in tandem with the divisor - 34% to 67%, 67% to 100%, and so on.

There aren't quite enough ways to weaken physical fighters and to a lesser degree debuffers (which aren't often useful).  Blind could be more powerful.  Making weapon guard innate all helps a lot, especially if it and class evasion apply to magic as well as physical attacks.

There are a lot of little things you can do to make more classes competitive.

Equipment breaks and steals should have a very low hit rate to compensate for their usefulness.

I don't remember if the AI uses stat boosting skills like Accumulate, but someone made a topic on it recently that had a hack.  Redoing stats, ability x/y, and equipment so that there's a narrower range of stats makes it much easier to set reasonable upper and lower limits for stats.  I would be very happy with a lower limit of 5 for SP and 4 for PA/MA, and upper limits of 16 for SP and 20 for PA/MA.  With everything else adjusted your characters will never deal 999 damage unless they are berserked Monks.

Speaking of Monks, their innate is extremely overpowered, even if it is limited I think to Attack and the monk skills.

You could remove half of the reaction, support, and movement skills and no one would notice.

You should make a series of threads for rebalancing each thing (reactions, supports, movements, spells, melee classes, ranged classes, weapons, armors, monsters)  and we can hash it all out.  Run it by the mods first, they seem to dislike thread spam.  If you finish a good mod you can get your own forum where we can have these discussions, but that's a pretty hard thing to do.

EDIT

I realized that there are serious issues with our build systems, so please go to this thread and comment on what I posted there.

http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11773

Lionheart537

July 29, 2017, 07:25:24 am #22 Last Edit: July 29, 2017, 08:24:48 am by Lionheart537
I do really like crush weapon being limited to Meliadoul (not giving it Orlandu though). If i can turn knight's break weapon into break accessory that'd be swell.

Steal weapon... well i was considering removing monster skill with an asm (by Xifanie i believe) so they can use the 4th ability freely. I was also considering removing monster breeding, but steal weapon could be locked behind an elusive monster only obtainable from breeding. Not really sure which vanilla special character to possibly throw steal weapon on, so I'm liking the monster option right now. Maybe i should list the monsters i plan on changing/using.

Synopsis of Monsters in Lionheart Wars
Some general changes to note. Elemental weaknesses will be changed especially changing some absorb elements to Null element (dragons aren't made of fire it just doesn't hurt them, etc.).

I plan to give tier 1 mons 3 skills, tier 2 gain a 4th skill, and tier 3 replaces tier 1's weakest skill with a new one; a few families or individual breeds will be exception to this. Big overhaul of their innate rsms, which I'm still quite undecided on. I have a solid idea for their general movesets though.

1. Chocobo Family. Breeds: Yellow, Black, White.
Yellow: C Attack, C Cure, C Ball

Black: C A, C B, ?C Esuna (maybe), C Meteor.

White: C A, C C, C E, C B.


2. Goblin Family. Breeds: Goblin, HobGoblin, Bugbear/Gobbledegyuck (Sp?).
Goblin: Gob Punch, Throw Stone, Steal Gil OR Spin Punch.

Hobgoblin (Black Gob) G P, T S, Spin Punch, ?Armor Break OR Armor Steal (Maybe).

Bugbear/Gobguck: G P, S P, ? Armor B or S, Mutilate.
*I might very well put steal weapon on Gobs*


3. Bomb Family. Breeds: Bomb, Greande?(name?), Napalm.
Bomb: Bite(?inflict or proc oil?), Self Destruct, Flame Attack.

Grenade?: Bite, S D, Blaze ( Fire dmg Self AoE 2 V1? ?Hit self?).

Napalm: Bite, S D, F A, Blaze


4. Wolf Family (potentially replaces Panther). Breeds: Wolf, Lobo?, Hellhound/Cerberus.
Wolf: Claw, ??? (Undecided), Duran Duran (Self Haste, ?Berserk, ?Regen).

Lobo?: Claw, ???, D D, Howl (+1 Pa OR +10 Br to allies Range 0 (self target) 3-4 AoE V2-3?)

Hellhound/Cerb: Claw, D D OR ???, Howl, Hades Breath? (Fire ?and? Dark dmg linear 2-3 Aoe V1 OR R3, AoE 0 (single target) V2? Both: ?Proc  Dead? (maybe))


5. Mindflayer Family. Breeds: Squid/Kalaharmi?(name?), Mindflayer/Illithid, Cthulhu?
Kala?/Squid: Tentacles(?inflict or proc Immobilize?), Ink (Blind, ?Poison, ?Rasp, ?Oil, R2? AoE1 V1), Psionic Pulse? (Ma-based Phys dmg Linear AoE3 V0-1?).

MindF/Illithid: Ten, Ink, P P, Dominate/Invade Mind? (R2-3? AoE1 V1? ?small dmg? Inflict seperate: Confuse, Berserk, Charm, Sleep)

Cthulhu?: Ten, P P, D M, Arkham Horror? (Set CT00 OR Doom R3 AoE1 V1-2).


6. Skeleton Family. Breeds: Skeleton?, Bonefiend, Revenant.
Skelly?: Chop?(?inflict or proc poison?), Soul Eater?
(Dark dmg absorb HP R3 AoE0 V2?), Ice Soul.

Bonefiend: Chop?, S E, I Soul, Despair? (Cancel most buffs R3 AoE1 V1?)

Revenant: Chop? OR I Soul, S E, Despair?, Dark Pulse?
(Dark dmg Self AoE2 V1-2 ?hit self?)


7. Ghost Family. Breeds: Ghost/Ghast, Phantom/Spectre, Wraith.
G/G: Ectoplasm, ?Drain Touch? (R1 AoE0 V0-1 absorb MP), ?Sleep Touch.

Phan/Spectre: Eplasm, ?D T, S Touch, Dark Hand (R1 AoE0 V0-1 Inflict Undead).

Wraith: Eplasm, ?D T, Dark Hand, Illusion? (Add Reflect R2-3 AoE1-2 V2 allies only) OR Grim/Death Touch?
(Add Doom and Curse R1 AoE0 V0-1).


8. Ahriman Family. Breeds: Ahriman/Evil Eye, Gazer/Beholder, Vampire Bat?
Ahri/EE: Wing Attack, Mean Look (?small amount mag dmg? inflict random or seperate Immobilize, Blind, or Silence. R3 AoE0 V2), Glare?/Circle? (Cut MP 33%? ?inflict Rasp? R3 AoE0 V2).

Gaz/Beholder: W A, M L, G/C, Petrifeye?(name?) (?small dmg? inflict random Petrify or Stop lower hit rate R3 AoE0 V2?)

Vampire Bat?: W A, G/C, Petrifeye?, Blood Suck (R1-3?)


9. Faerie Family (potentially replaces Aevis "bird"). Breeds: Fairy? Pixie, Angel?
Fairy?: ?Wind Soul?, Life Spirit?(Heal Hp by ???
R3-4 AoE0-1 V1-2), Mana Spirit?(Heal Mp by ??? same as Life Spirit)

Pixie: W Soul, L S, M S, Twister/Tornado (Wind dmg R4?
AoE2-3 V1-3?)

Angel: W S, L S, M S, Angel's Kiss (Revive and heal ?50-100% HP? R1-3? AoE0 V2?)


10. Lamia Family (potentially replaces Pigs). Breeds: Lamia,  Siren?, Gorgon/Medusa?
Lamia: Allure (any gender), ?Dissonance?(mag dmg self AoE2 V2), ??? (Undecided)

Siren?: Allure, ?Dissonance?, ???, Brio/Brioso (add Regen and Mist to all allies nearby Self AoE2-3 V2-3)

Gorgon/Medusa?: Allure OR ???, ?Dissonance?, Brio,  Allegro/Waltz (add Haste and Float to nearby allies,
same as "Brio)
*I know, I know, Medusa without petrify? Wth, Lion?
Well I'd love better name suggestions lol, seriously, please.


11. Tortoise Family (potentially replaces treant). Breeds: Adamantoise, Genbu?(name?), Diamondback.
Adam: Slam(?inflict or proc confuse?), Pavise?
(Add Protect, ?Shell, ?Defend to nearby allies AoE2 V1-2),
Earth Shatter? (Earth dmg self AoE2-3 V0-1).

Genbu?: Slam, Pav?, E S, ??? (Undecided)

Diamondback: Slam, Pav, ??? OR E S, Gem Rain (R4? AoE2? V2? Random hit 1...??? Earth dmg).


12. Tonberry Family (potentially replaces Minotuar). Breeds:   Tonberry, Tonscary?, Donberry?
TBer: Kinfe/Doink!(Proc Dead), Karma (CasMaxHp -
CasCurHp. R3-5? AoE0-1 V2?).

TScare?:Knife/D!, Karma, ??? OR Nothing?

DonBer: Same as Scare?


13. Marlboro Family. Breeds: Marlboro, Ochu, Great Marl?
Marl: Tentacles(share with Squid? OR
add Poison or Rasp?), Goo?(small dmg add slow R2 AoE0 V2), ?Lick.

Ochu: Tentickles, Goo, ?Lick, Bad Breath.

Great Marl: Ten, Goo, B B, ??? (Undecided)


14. Behemoth Family. Breeds: Behemoth, Behemoth Queen?/Beshemoth, Dark Behemoth?
Behe: Gore, Heave?(Proc Dead), Roar? (-10-15 Br only enemies R3 AoE2 V2)

Beshe: Gore, H?, R?, Gigaflare.

D Behemo: Gore, H, R OR GigaF, Almagest?.


Dragon Family. Breeds: Drake?/StormDrake, Wyrm?/ColdWyrm, Salamander
Drake: Tail Swing, Lightning Breath(?Proc Immobilize or Disable), Dragon's Speed (Set CT100 R0-2? AoE0 V2? ?Dragons only?)

Wyrm: Tail Swing, Ice Breath(?Proc Slow or Stop), Dragon's Gift (Heal status ?and HP R0-3 AoE0-1? V1-2? ?Dragons only?).

Salamander: Tail Swing, Fire Breath(?Proc Oil or Cancel defensive buffs (i.e. protect, shell, ?regen, ?mist), Dragon's Might (+10 Br, +1-2 Pa, Ma, and Sp R0-3 AoE0 V1-2?
?Dragons only?)


Hydra Family. Breeds: Hydra, Ghidorah?, Tiamat
Hydra: Tri Attack, Tri-Flame.

Ghidorah: Tri-A, Tri-F, Tri-Lightning.

Tiamat: Tri-F, Tri-L, Tri-Full?/Ice?(Make it ice element?), Dark Whisper.



That's alot but moving on.

@nyzer
QuoteIn random matches, it benefits the player just as much as it screws them over...you can get a team specifically designed to have max compatibility with each other

Another variable is always nice, but Zodiac has some hangups. Sure you can invest in a synergy team, or healing can be balanced to not need that. But having to work around enemies because of an unchangable mechanic...especially with bosses dealing too little or much to a unit because of it...ugh. It sounds like a nice and interesting extra modifier, but I can't help but see it as extra work or a nuisance since my first playthrough. Who knows maybe when i get to crunching and testing numbers it will prove beneficial.

@nyzer
Quoteyou'd be better served by nerfing JP costs

Haha yup vanilla JP costs are ridiculous. I'm looking at half the cost for the big 1000+ abilities. Just wondered if innate jp up would help ai random units with skill variation, too bad but I'll manage

@nitwit
QuoteNote that this could also be used with brave to prevent brave reduction from making unarmed, katanas, and knight swords useless...making the effective reaction trigger rate as 25 + (current brave / 2).  The minimum is 25%, the maximum is 75%

Oh i like these ideas. I have a lot to digest but I'll keep this in mind, thanks a lot!

@nitwit
QuoteBlind could be more powerful.

You know I strongly agree. I know I saw a hack that adjusted Blind's effectiveness somewhere. On a similar note I was considering stacking a few "Oracle"/Beowulf abilities into pairs. Blind and Berserk (It's even already called Blind Rage), Silence and Sleep, Immobilize and Disable (Pseudo stop).

QuoteYou should make a series of threads for rebalancing each thing (reactions, supports, movements, spells, melee classes, ranged classes, weapons, armors, monsters)  and we can hash it all out. Run it by the mods first, they seem to dislike thread spam.

Yes this thread is getting quite expanded (if the size of this post is any indication hehe), which is great! A board to link several, less chaotic threads would be marvelous. Unfortunately I have no noteworthy, tangible progress with my hack so I'm doubtful. Maybe in a month or two I'll have enough personal sprites down and a stronger concept for my hack. Regardless i still value everyone who's taken time to give their two cents!

Sorry for the mountain of text!
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

Nyzer

QuoteAnother variable is always nice, but Zodiac has some hangups. Sure you can invest in a synergy team, or healing can be balanced to not need that. But having to work around enemies because of an unchangable mechanic...especially with bosses dealing too little or much to a unit because of it...ugh. It sounds like a nice and interesting extra modifier, but I can't help but see it as extra work or a nuisance since my first playthrough. Who knows maybe when i get to crunching and testing numbers it will prove beneficial.


Honestly, in a game that doesn't have Defense stats, I do think it keeps things interesting in that you don't just innately know how much damage/healing you'll do at all times (Fa formulas aside). 

QuoteJust wondered if innate jp up would help ai random units with skill variation, too bad but I'll manage


Quoteyou can easily rectify that just by increasing learn percentages for skills and enemy job levels in the ENTD.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Lionheart537

After much thought and debate I'm thinking on compromising on Zodiac compatibility. 25-50% is HUGE for a variable left to random chance or meticulous strategizing for a perfect team. I remember seeing hacks that cut Zod Comp multipliers to 12.5 and 25%. This is a good middle ground I feel.

A question on the skill learn percent rate; I get it tells AI which skills to learn first (along with the actual order of the skillset) , but does that value also adjust chance to learn on hit? For Blue Mage skills and a few special abilities. Thanks Nyzer, you've been a lot of help.
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

Nyzer

  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Lionheart537

Ok good to know. I think the majority of my questions have been answered; all the broader subjects and some more specific questions at least. If there's an important game mechanic or design question i didn't ask about please bring it up and share some thoughts. Most of it now will be testing and deciding on rsms, formulas, various values, etc. Which I'm not settled to do quite yet (still making slow progress on spriting).

But i will post any other appropriate ideas that do cross my mind. Opinions on those monster jobs (and brief human jobs) i presented would be grand, sorry if they're difficult to read. I do have tenative skillsets for all the human jobs and most special jobs (and which abilities they'll replace) but maybe that's better posted elsewhere. I'll start a different thread (or a few if needed/allowed) for progress on my mod sometime later. Lots learned so far and much more to do!
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

Lionheart537

July 31, 2017, 03:49:27 am #27 Last Edit: July 31, 2017, 10:10:32 pm by Lionheart537
Well i do have another beginner's question. When it comes to patching is there an optimal/preferred order of operations? I.e. change sprites and images, then assembly changes, next event changes, then fftpatcher refinement, finally text fixes. Or some other order to best prevent any losses or corruption of your changes.

EDIT: Two more quick questions.

Should Move +3 be included? It seems a little overkill, +2 should be good enough. Thoughts?

Are the Sing and Dance ability slots hardcoded or is fftpatcher enough to change them completely? Not the skillsets but the individual abilities modified themselves to be used in other skillsets without repeating every turn and using different formulas.
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

nitwit

Quote from: Lionheart537 on July 31, 2017, 03:49:27 am
Well i do have another beginner's question. When it comes to patching is there an optimal/preferred order of operations? I.e. change sprites and images, then assembly changes, next event changes, then fftpatcher refinement, finally text fixes. Or some other order to best prevent any losses or corruption of your changes.

It doesn't matter IIRC, none of them overwrite each other.  Check if ASM hacks conflict first though.

Quote from: Lionheart537 on July 31, 2017, 03:49:27 am
Should Move +3 be included? It seems a little overkill, +2 should be good enough. Thoughts?

Are the Sing and Dance ability slots hardcoded or is fftpatcher enough to change them completely? Not the skillsets but the individual abilities modified themselves to be used in other skillsets without repeating every turn and using different formulas.

Move + 3 obsoletes the other two.

Sing and Dance effects are hardcoded to those slots, not sure what happens if you change the formula used.  There are I think flags in FFTPatcher for repeat ability each turn.

Nyzer

Overly high Move is another factor keeping spells obsolete in favor of mashing X to win everything just using Attack forever. 2 is definitely enough, and if you're replacing some Movement abilities through ASM I'd even knock it down to just the one.

For Performing, IIRC, the hardcoding associated with those slots just tells it which stat to affect, and how, if using the Performing formula. I've changed the formula in a PSP patch and noticed no issues.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Lionheart537

Thanks you guys! That gives me tons more formulas and ability slots to switch around for other jobs. Yeah I'll stick with +2 Move, seems on par with things like fly and teleport.
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

Lionheart537

Said i was done and keeps having questions, smh. Anyway I was wondering peoples' views on stat growths for generic jobs. Should they be the same with only multipliers giving variation, or slight differences for each job/job tree (warrior, thief, and mage paths)? Either letting them change jobs hassle free or allowing optimal stat building for dedicated players. On that note I was going to remove xp draining skills, but if growths vary among jobs should it be kept anyway?

Personally I like the idea of my job paths having three different stat growths and each job having specific multipliers. And I don't really have an opinion on level reduction abilities, i guess they're kinda fun if I have the room for them.
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

Magic Gladii

Quote from: Lionheart537 on August 01, 2017, 08:19:43 pm
I was wondering peoples' views on stat growths for generic jobs. Should they be the same with only multipliers giving variation, or slight differences for each job/job tree (warrior, thief, and mage paths)? Either letting them change jobs hassle free or allowing optimal stat building for dedicated players.


There are many arguments for and against setting equal stat growth. I personally prefer setting them all to be equal between jobs. However, the pros and cons on either side balance out. Ultimately it comes down to personal preference.

Using equal growth values across all jobs promotes using avoided and/or all jobs as you unlock them and creating different teams for different battles rather than leveling each character for a specific build and limiting them to that single build the entire playthrough. Jobs like Bard, Dancer or Oracle (Worst growth in the game) are no longer avoided entirely by players that want to actually increase their stats as they level.

It also makes Degenerators and Level Blast an extremely relevant and permanent debuff since the formula that calculates the Raw Stat value you lose involves Growth (If you dislike this, it can be prevented by an ASM hack that makes the stat decrease at level down equal to the previous stat increase at level up; its one of the default hacks you get with OrgASM). As an added bonus, this prevents Level Down abuse.

However, if you decide to take this approach, make sure that the growth values are not too high or too low. You don't really want every single job to be at 999 HP and be able to one-shot kill everything, all before level 50, do you?

It is highly recommended that you also make changes to balance the multipliers for each class. If you don't, stats between different jobs tend to similar (if not equal) in some cases (not including bonuses from armour). Just so you know...

People probably disagree with the above, but honestly (being the completely OCD "Gotta be maxed w/ every single ability unlocked" player that I am) I think that removing this extra annoying detail from the game can be really great and can add an extra layer of difficulty to many battles by balancing the playing field between the player and the AI (if done correctly... gotta do it right :P ...).
  • Modding version: PSX

nitwit

Big variations in speed growths are a bad idea, multipliers less so.  Doesn't necessarily apply to other stats.

You have 5 stats to work with, each of which has growth and multipliers.

If you have 2 mages and 2 warriors at each tier (other than the oddball classes), then you can have a fast but less powerful mage/warrior and an average speed but more powerful mage/warrior.

If you have a mage, a warrior, and a utility class, you could do a 3 way split with the mage/warrior getting high powered on one stat, weak on the other, and average speed, while the utility class is weaker on both stats but faster.

I would do this because I enjoy having the same builds available as I move through each tier.

As for specific stats at each level, I think it's best to start out about even but only have significant growth for your power stat and maybe speed.  So a warrior would start out with 5 pa, 4 ma, and 6 sp.  At level 99 he'd have 11 pa, 5 ma, and 8 sp.  I like this because it locks you into your stats as you level up, which gives the player the ability to customize his characters.  A warrior who wants to be slightly faster but still primarily strong would do 10 levels as a fast/weak warrior.  Someone that wants to be an even mage/warrior hybrid would do half levels in a mage, half in a warrior.

Issue with this is often characters gain experience and jp too fast.  You could reduce the base xp/jp gain to half their current values with a few asm hacks.

If you have even more classes per tier you could make hp tanks and mp sponges.

7 classes per tier
1 is lowest, 5 is highest (these are relative measurements)
14 total

Growths
Tank       - HP:5, MP:1, PA:4, MA:1, SP:3
Warrior    - HP:4, MP:1, PA:5, MA:1, SP:3
Rogue      - HP:3, MP:1, PA:3, MA:1, SP:4

Freelancer - HP:3, MP:3, PA:3, MA:3, SP:2

MP sponge  - HP:1, MP:5, PA:1, MA:4, SP:3
Mage       - HP:1, MP:4, PA:1, MA:5, SP:3
Warlock    - HP:1, MP:3, PA:1, MA:3, SP:4

Obviously this creates serious survivability issues with mages, sp and probably move should be much lower than vanilla to make them competitive.  If death isn't often a serious issue, revives are easy, and there are many ways to reduce damage and debuff then it could work.  It's also kind of pointless because the player could customize by changing classes; the only purpose it serves is to create new archetypes of enemies you'd fight.

There's also the issue of the extremely stupid equipment choices the AI makes, but there are hacks and workarounds for that, like making certain groups of items have certain properties and making them only usable for certain groups of classes.  You could make one group of items equipable only for mages and give them features useful only and especially for mages, and you can limit equipment choices to those only useful for that group of classes.

If too many classes are duplicates or you can't figure out how to differentiate classes, readjust classes per tier.

Make sure that each class has abilities that aren't all always useful.  If every ability a class has is a must-have, that class is overpowered.  If every ability a class has is situational, that class is underpowered.

Emmy

Personally, I removed growth differences across the jobs and all level up/down abilities.  Main reason I did this is because growths in FFT are done in a way that's unintuitive and not explained to the player either.  MT is reasonably difficult, and I didn't want players to think that they bricked their saves because they spent all of ch 2 as a chemist or whatever else, especially if they want to attempt the Deep Dungeon/chapter 5/difficult extra battles.  Abilities that increase/decrease level quite frankly have no place in the game, even when the growth differences are removed.
  • Modding version: PSX

nitwit

Understandable, but easy to prevent by ensuring a chemist doesn't have pathetic growths.  Pathetic multipliers, maybe.

Nyzer

QuoteUnderstandable, but easy to prevent by ensuring a chemist doesn't have pathetic growths.  Pathetic multipliers, maybe.


I agree with this. The stat growths shouldn't cripple a character, but at the same time I don't think it really makes sense for a character that spent 80 levels as a Knight switching to a mage job suddenly and being just as efficient at it as the character that spent 80 levels as that mage job.

If you think base FFT's growths are overdone, tone them down a little, but don't axe them entirely. The argument here is essentially the same as for the Zodiac compatibility. It adds a bit of complexity to the game that it benefits from.

It's not as if FFT doesn't have an issue of jobs with too little Growth compared to others, but you can easily fix that and, for example, still keep Chemist more of an early-game support unit, by using pathetic multipliers.

As for leveling down... I don't think that's an interesting or necessary mechanic. Its only purpose really is just for relentless grinding and making specific units stupidly OP by abusing best growth jobs. Not my cup of tea.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Lionheart537

August 02, 2017, 04:12:14 pm #37 Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 07:13:47 pm by Lionheart537
QuoteUsing equal growth values across all jobs promotes using avoided and/or all jobs as you unlock them and creating different teams for different battles rather than leveling each character for a specific build and limiting them to that single build the entire playthrough

This is the best strength of equal growths imo. It does encourage more diverse builds.

QuoteThe stat growths shouldn't cripple a character, but at the same time I don't think it really makes sense for a character that spent 80 levels as a Knight switching to a mage job suddenly and being just as efficient at it as the character that spent 80 levels as thlat mage job...The argument here is essentially the same as for the Zodiac compatibility. It adds a bit of complexity to the game that it benefits from.

And that my good sir is the best of the other side. Zodiac comp is a great comparison. With that in mind I'll treat it the same and keep growth variation but balance it's influence.

QuoteI like this because it locks you into your stats as you level up, which gives the player the ability to customize his characters.  A warrior who wants to be slightly faster but still primarily strong would do 10 levels as a fast/weak warrior.  Someone that wants to be an even mage/warrior hybrid would do half levels in a mage, half in a warrior.

Yes this is similar to my thoughts. I fancy having general stat growths/multipliers  for each job path (i.e. highet hp and pa for knights and kin, sp for thieves path, and mp and ma for mages) but adding a second subcategory  (you're proposed tank, warrior, etc.) would add extra structure. I'll keep it in mind, thanks! Of course I don't want growths to vary too much though. Multipliers being used for subcategories might do the trick.

QuoteAs for leveling down... I don't think that's an interesting or necessary mechanic. Its only purpose really is just for relentless grinding and making specific units stupidly OP by abusing best growth jobs. Not my cup of tea.

QuoteIt also makes Degenerators and Level Blast an extremely relevant and permanent debuff since the formula that calculates the Raw Stat value you lose involves Growth...As an added bonus, this prevents Level Down abuse.

Both good arguments. But since I'm going for some growth variation I'll cut level down abilities. Hopefully their slots can be used for something entirely different.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

EDIT: Bonus question. What are the actual differences between Rafa and Malek's skillsets/abilities? I'm considering editing their sprites to make them more akin to ninja or samurai (or hell one ninja and one sam) since I'm replacing those jobs in my hack. Whether I change their appearance or not I'd still like to know if they can just share abilities to open more slots if I need them. If they aren't all too different to begin with then the loss of seperate ability visuals wouldn't upset me much. Thanks again!
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0

nitwit

RE: growths.  It depends on what you want to do.  There are viable reasons for doing any of them, but they all have consequences and will affect other things.

Quote from: Lionheart537 on August 02, 2017, 04:12:14 pm
EDIT: Bonus question. What are the actual differences between Rafa and Malek's skillsets/abilities? I'm considering editing their sprites to make them more akin to ninja or samurai (or hell one ninja and one sam) since I'm replacing those jobs in my hack. Whether I change their appearance or not I'd still like to know if they can just share abilities to open more slots if I need them. If they aren't all too different to begin with then the loss of seperate ability visuals wouldn't upset me much. Thanks again!


http://www.m-l.org/~greerga/fftnet/fftmech/fftmech61.txt

QuoteThe Heaven Knight's TRUTH spells are dependent on only the MA of the caster. 
All TRUTH spells have a range/effect of {4/2v3} and will fire a random number
of times (between 1 and 6, inclusive) at random squares in the affected region.

...

The Hell Knight's UN-TRUTH attacks show a reverse Faith dependence: they do
more damage when the target and caster have low Faith. We can think of the
formula in terms of a new intermediate stat, the 'faith multiplier' (FM).
Normally, FM = Fa. But for UN-TRUTH, FM = (100 - Fa).
                               
UN-TRUTH is then a MOD 5 magical attack with damage determined by this
formula:

     damage = [(CasterFM * TargetFM * [(MA + Q) / 2] * MA!) / 10000]

where CasterFM is the caster's UN-TRUTH faith multiplier (100 - Fa)
      TargetFM is the target's UN-TRUTH faith multiplier (100 - Fa)
      MA is the caster's MA
      K is a constant multiplier dependent on the spell being cast
         (see the table below for values of Q).
      ! indicates the instance of MA that is modified

The UN-TRUTH formula reveals that the real effect of Faith status is to
set FM = 100, and the real effect of Innocent status is to set FM = 0.
UN-TRUTH will do zero damage if either caster or target has Innocent
status, and any unit with Faith status acts as if they have 0 Faith as
far as UN-TRUTH is concerned (because the true effect of Faith status
is to set FM = 100).

The range and effect of all UN-TRUTH spells is the same as that of
their TRUTH counterparts:  {4/2v3}, hitting a random number of times
on random squares of the affected area.

Lionheart537

Oh that makes Un-Truth formula actually kinda cool. Hmm yeah I'll keep their abilities then. Sorry I know I could've just searched for that myself. Almost all of their ability names can be shortened and changed to sound better though.

I'm going to rework Mustadio and Beowulf though. Musty's vanilla skills are being moved to generic skillsets, so he's getting a few unique Projectile specific skills inspired by Jot5's Dante. Vanilla Beowulf is a straight up better Oracle...which is kinda dumb. I'm thinking of giving him undead Zalbag/Algus' skin tone and making him a Death Knight with Byblos' and a couple extra abilities. Yeah i was gonna replace Byblos with a personal character too.
  • Modding version: PSX
It's not much yet but check out my spriting thread!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11772.0
Here's a look at my vanilla mod thread, progressing one step at a time!
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=11785.0