Final Fantasy Hacktics

Thank God, you're a lifesaver man! And thanks again for your editor!

So until recently Lennart had posted a database of hex offsets for FFTA2; basically a list of where data relating to equipment, job names, animations and more is stored in the FFTA2 rom. I used to have this saved but I lost my hard drive a few months ago and now that I need it for use in replacing animations, I discovered it's been deleted off Mediafire. Lennart himself hasn't been on the forums for 5 years now, so I can't ask him for a copy.

To any of the people working on TA2 mods, if you have the database saved, could you upload it somewhere so the data doesn't get lost forever? I'm specifically talking about the download in this thread (http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9486.msg185134#msg185134) labeled as 'general stuff'. If no one has the data saved, I don't know if people will be able to make comprehensive TA2 hacks in the future.

First off, I'd like to thank you for making this tool, this will save massive amounts of time changing text without a hex editor. I do have a few questions as to how some aspects of the editor function however:

1. When editing text, as you said in the OP, the "#xxxx#" lines indicate a line break. Do you know the exact amount of characters that will fit on one line before a line break needs to be added?

2. In the command editor, how exactly does adding abilities work? Obviously you can't add more than the maximum total abilities, but if I were to add say, Blizzaga to the Soldier's Art of War command, how would I be able to actually give the Soldier that ability? By that I mean how would the Soldier learn Blizzaga? Would they learn it by equipping the Chill Rod like a Black Mage would, or is there some other mechanism for them to get the skill?

3. For the formation editor, when I tried to cross reference the Battle IDs in the text editor with the equivalent formation IDs to determine which formation related to which mission, they seem to match perfectly. However, the formation editor only goes up to battle 18F, while the battles themselves go up to 1FF. Is there no way to edit the battles between 18F and 1FF or am I missing something?

Quote from: DeSgeretjin on July 04, 2018, 10:50:14 am
Some spell effects are actually tied to animation data.
You would find that in the 14th byte of animation data for invis skill is 0E.
https://imgur.com/a/JDYTCrS

Also I was running out of skill space so I just reused Vanish.
Sneak doesn't exist anymore.

Ah, that makes perfect sense, I wouldn't have thought it was associated with the animation data. Thanks for the help!

This hack looks great as a vanilla+ style of hack, I look forward to giving it a try in the next few weeks.

As someone who's in the early design phases of an A2 hack themselves, I have a technical question. I noticed in the Thief's skill section, you listed the skill Sneak, which gives invisibility and evasion+. Have you tested this skill to ensure it works properly, and if you have, how did you format the skill?

I ask because in my own experiments with the ability editor, I was unable to add the invisibility effect to any skill that didn't already have it in vanilla. So for example, if I were to add the invisibility effect targeting self to a random Thief skill, it would only half-work in game. The small 'invisible' text prompt would appear over the user's head as with any invisibility skill in the game, but they remained visible on the screen and were still targeted by enemies. I'm curious as to how you got that effect to stick.

Thanks in advance for any help, good luck with the hack!

I'll third the enemy editor idea. As cool as it would be to edit quests, I think being able to edit enemy equipment and abilities will have a much greater impact in most hacks. One of the most frustrating things about A2 hacking is how pathetic most of the enemies in the game are. Almost none of them have more than 2 or 3 skills and they mostly have garbage equipment making stealing and breaking enemy hear useless. In addition, some enemy jobs are so rare to fight against, they're practically player only.

This editor would solve all three problems at the same time, and would even allow hackers to make a true 'hard-type' hack for players who know the game inside and out and just want a challenge.

Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses, thanks for putting the effort in!

The Slayer is a really cool idea for a job, which one would it be replacing? I think the idea of having progressively more potent effects for monsters and undead is a good way to handle a specialist class as they'll be useful in a large amount of the battles in the game.

I strongly support the idea of the whip skill as that's a very clever way to give a character a 'built in' weapon and fits the theme perfectly. I would trade it for Vibhuti, that seems like the least interesting skill. I also think a skill using the pot roast animation would be a nice touch, don't know which skill would be worth trading for a self-heal though.

About the descriptions, I don't think you could fit the descriptions and the flavor text in game with that many effects in most cases sadly. You could just have the effects written in-game and leave the flavor text in the thread or readme or wherever. At least then you know what you're using while playing the hack and have the flavor text available if you're into that.

Thanks! This should be very helpful, especially the text to hex tool, as I'm still having trouble getting used to counting in hexidecimal.

Regarding the Viking, the new skills are nice, a good recycling of the Ravager concept of draining stats from a few pages back. Relinquish especially is sorely needed for the Vikin's magic skills, as the Seeq have very little in terms of Magick growths. I'm still not a fan of having to stand in a water tile to use Flood, again because of how few maps really have water tiles. In fact, I'm pretty sure none of the repeatable battle maps (random battles and repeatable quests) even have water tiles at all. This means that you only have a finite amount of chances to even use the skill before you do the quests that have water tiles in them. Afterward, the skill might as well not even exist. Maybe a minor nitpick on my part, but that is a pet peeve of mine with this game.

I'm glad you put as much thought as you did into the monsters, they all feel like they have their own niche, even the three melee tanks like you said in your post. Go figure that the tomatoes had that many skills. And honestly, I'd like to see resonate remain in some form as the 'target requires a bladed weapon' effect has a lot of potential, I just don't like that it hits everything in the battle. Maybe a small AoE or something would work, or maybe a different effect than disable.

The espers are definitely interesting now, I'm sure I'll give them all a shot as I unlock them. Thanks for letting me know about the AI and self quicken, that means I have a few skills to redesign.

Regarding revival skills, I saw over on the thread for the A2 tools, someone figured out that one of the 'unknown' check boxes on page two of the ability editor controls whether the AI can use a skill. Maybe if you check that off on a revival skill the AI can use it? I'll test it for myself when I get home tomorrow, but if that works it would be pretty groundbreaking.

@bearPRIME: I really like your idea of giving 2h broadswords +1 range; I haven't messed around with equipment much, but some weapon classes could definitely use some love like that. Also I never thought to try out the target effect on a melee job, that seems pretty fun!

EDIT:

Forgot to point out that I love the idea of giving the alchemist the four classical elements, thumbs up!

DOUBLE EDIT XTREME:

I think I've finally figured out almost all the skillsets for my own hack. However, I've never used a hex editor before, which I obviously need in order to change skill names/descriptions/animations. I want to look up some tutorials on the subject, but before I do, which hex editor would you recommend for editing FFTA2?

Well I promised monster feedback, so here goes:



When you say the AI is weird about self quicken effects, what do you mean? I ask because I was planning on making Rush from the fighter and gladiator do 0.25x damage and quicken on self for a decent MP cost. Will the AI always prioritize self quicken skills over everything else or something?

The black mage overhaul is looking great. I especially like the idea of setting up the target with oil from fira, then comboing it with fire or firaga. It was clever to have fire and firaga remove oil on hit, as in real life if you light a something covered in oil on fire the fire burns more intensely for a few seconds before the oil is gone. Nice attention to detail.

I also agree that Sage should be more varied; when I think sages in the FF series I always think of FF3's sage that had access to all the best black and white magick but very limited spell charges to compensate for it. If Alchemists are about statuses, what would differentiate them from say, the orator or trickster? I know it would probably be impossible to have both in the same hack, but the only way to make them really feel like alchemists would be to give them an analogue to the Gourmand's cooking skill, where you consume items to give various effects. Although if I'm right and only one can be in the hack, I would much prefer the gourmand keep cooking as it's such a fun job and concept.

EDIT:

Just saw your edit with the Judicer, I like the idea of it being almost a hybrid of templar, paladin and moogle hero. I hope execution has a sufficiently awesome animation to go along with its ridiculous overkill.

First off, I'd like to thank you for going to the trouble of reading through my wall of text and addressing my points individually. You make a good point in that you want the game to stay true to the series and feel like a FF game; I admit I was somewhat projecting my own goals and design philosophies onto my suggestions, which vary wildly from both the feel and series staples of the other FF games. I don't want to make this about my hack as this is your thread, so I'll spoiler my main design goals as not to distract from the focus of the thread, so feel free to skip over this if you're not interested.



Whew. That was a mouthful, sorry for going on for so long about all that. Getting back on topic, you make a good point about necromancer needing to fit the ability descriptions, I never thought about that aspect of things.

I also like the idea of maybe giving BM spells a slight chance of debuffs akin to what you did for the Dark trio for deathscythes.

Upgraded traps would definitely make the Ranger's skills more worthwhile, sadly I don't know what you could really do within the constraints of the ability editor.

Huh, guess I'll have to check out ravagers after all, seems like an interesting use of the 3 turn doom timer!

I love the idea behind Reckoning for the fighter, how would you go about implementing it? Random debuff 1 or 2 on self, then damage the target based off how many debuffs the user has?

I don't think the samurai change would work, as I think I saw on a thread somewhere (maybe even this one, I don't remember) that the 'ignore defense' property only applies to defense and not resistance. Haven't tested it for myself, but if it DOES work on resistance the change could make for an interesting hybrid.

The ninja update looks fantastic and more varied, and better fits the reality of the assassins and hitmen that actual ninjas were.

Warrior and Dragoon are looking a lot more interesting now, can't complain. Does this mean that the new debuffs on the elemental breath skills will also be on dragon's versions of them? Would make them ever more formidable does that dragons really should be.

I like the idea of the Warden, seems much more eye catching and useful than the myrmidon, very glad to see this change.

The gladiator's new skills really feel like something a bloodthirsty arena combatant would use, much more appropriate than the elemental blades.

Templar's changes are welcome, while still remaining true to their anti mage theme, nice to see the fat get trimmed.

Regarding sage and alchemist, I agree that they would work better consolidated into one job focused around being the ubermage so to speak, but my question is twofold: what skills would you be keeping from both skillsets, and what would you replace the now empty second job with? Personally I would hope that scathe, bio, and protometeor would make the cut, as well as maybe omega and gigaflare, but at that point the job might be a bit redundant with all the non elemental damaging spells. Toad would be nice to keep as well.

Still not a fan of the green mage, but at least it should be useful in combat to complement its buffs and debuffs.

It's a shame to see that you can't give possess an HP cost due to engine limitations, but oh well. Offering seems more distinct from the other revive skills now, good stuff.

The evoker sounds awesome, but I'm not sure how it would be implemented in the engine. If you can pull it off, I'd be all for it!

Al-Cid's skillset is perfectly faithful to his vanilla concept, but seems far more useful. The only concern I have is that he will be almost useless if you only have one or two female units in a battle as only gria and viera would be affected by his skills, but then again you have adelle, penelo and frimelda to help fill up a batter's roster so I don't think he quite falls into the same trap as the necromancer thankfully.

I like how vaan is basically the ultimate self-buffing unit. Give him two or three turns to set up and he would be almost unstoppable.

Oh, and regarding my ideas for making the monsters more balanced in the early game, I'm out of town for the next couple days, but I'd be happy to start doing the math on possible stat growths when I get back home! Honestly, it was kind of a shower idea, the math might not work out, but fingers crossed! As for their new skills, I like what you've done with them and think they'll be more interesting to fight now. The boss mobs in particular look pretty terrifying and should make for some tense battles. This post is already long enough as is and it's very late here, so I'll save more point by point thoughts on monster skills for another post after I've gotten some sleep.

All that being said, rabidly looking forward to the next release whenever that may be and I'll be happy to playtest it and give more feedback! Keep up the good work.

EDIT:

I just now had a thought about buffing ranger traps. Since you wanted to let them set traps in an AoE, what if you gave the trap skills a quicken effect on self, that way you could set multiple traps in one 'turn'. You would have to give the skills a not insignificant MP cost as with any self quicken skill, but I can't think of any other way to directly buff traps.

I'm absolutely delighted to see that you're continuing work on this hack. When I first stumbled onto this site a few months back, I played the 0.7 release of this and was blown away by the creativity on display, which inspired me to start work on my own hack using FFTA2 GG as a rom base due to how much I loved the new jobs you've implemented. Three months later I have a 30 page and counting design doc written for my hack (I won't be releasing it publicly so don't worry about me stealing your work!)

Now that you're back, I'd love to give you my feedback on the hack from what I've played:

Hume:

Soldier: Still a fairly uninteresting job, but much more practical thanks to the changes to the break skills. MP Gift doesn't really fit the skillset thematically, but it is very practical so I can't complain

Black Mage: The damage buffs to their spells are very welcome, and I love that the different elements have different quirks to make the job feel more varied. That being said, BM suffers from a lack of variety overall; realistically they only have three spells, since the upgrades are exactly the same with increased damage.   I would recommend removing one tier of spells and replacing them with utility spells; for example, in my hack, I made the tier 1 spells moderate damage in a small AoE, the tier 3 spells heavy damage to a single target, and replaced the tier 2 spells with Toad, an MP drain spell and a spell that randomly teleports IN a small AoE to break up enemy formations. This makes every mastered skill feel like an actual addition, rather than a slight numbers tweak to the stuff you already have.

White Mage: Not much to say here, the new spells are greatly appreciated and practical. Again, I would replace one tier of Cure with something else, we really don't need 3 separate healing spells.

Thief: Steal HP and MP are great, and make the class much better, but I don't see much use in stealing in this game. I mean, stealing accessories is useful for things like ninja tabi and orbs of minwu, but does anyone honestly care about stealing level 1 or 2 loot that you'll be drowning in by 10 hours in? Likewise, mug gil becomes 100% irrelevant a few hours in, so why not have something like steal evasion (reduce enemy evasion to 0, increase user's evasion on hit) or steal resilience (same concept as the last)? Those would actually remain useful throughout the game.

Archer: Not the flashiest job, but effective at what it's meant for. I especially love cover fire, as it allows them to actually have a solid damage output in addition to their debuffs.

Paladin: Not substantially different from vanilla, but remains an effective tank, and some of the slightly revised skills are better than vanilla like taunt and holy strike

Fighter: Grapple is a brilliant skill, and makes the job feel more worthwhile. I'd recommend changing Air Blast to something different as well, to really capitalize on the two unique skills they have.

Samurai: I don't have much to add here aside from what others have said, that the skills need to be made physical instead of magickal, and maybe have some more varied AoEs than just surrounding tiles.

Ninja: I like the FFT Geomancer feel the skills have, combined with the raw damage output of dual wield they make an effective hybrid of damaging and debuffing units. As unique as the skill is though, why is Throw still in the skill set? I mean, does anyone ever actually use it? You either waste a valuable item for one powerful attack or use a crappy item for an underwhelming attack. In sure you could think up a better replacement.

Necromancer: Fantastic job against undead but as others have mentioned, there's not much reason to use them for 85+% of the game. I got around this in my hack by giving their skills two separate effects; one powerful effect that only hits undead, and another weaker but still useful effect that only hits non undead. That way the necro keeps their role as anti-undead specialist while still being fairly useful in other battles.

Blue Mage: Not much to say, still as awesome a support job as ever.

Hunter: Reminds me a lot of the necromancer in that they're a specialist job against monsters. Thankfully they don't suffer the same lack of usefulness against human opponents, so a great ranged job overall.

Seer: About the same as vanilla, glad to see magick frenzy only works on their spells for balance's sake.

Warrior: Almost the same as Soldiers, although Greased Lightning and Body Slam could use more interesting replacements.

Monk: Definitely a no frills job, but easily one of the most reliable backup skillsets in the game so no complaints here.

Dragoon: I would recommend giving the breath abilities different AoEs to make them feel different, and giving Jump a different effect. It's just not worth taking a 40-50% chance at double damage when you could just hit them twice normally. If anything I would give it normal damage and accuracy, but gives the user attack+ and critical+ on hit. Also, I feel that Dragoons should be given a higher inherent jump stay to reflect their gimmick, maybe 6 or even 8.

Myrmidon: Well...I hate to be negative, but this is easily the worst new job in the hack. Even if you did edit enemy formations to give them better gear, equipment breaking just wouldn't make that much of a difference in the battle aside from maybe weapon breaking. And why do there need to be four separate skills for breaking instead of consolidating them into one or two and having more varied skills in their place? Not only are breaking skills not practical, they're so, so BORING. I'd honestly scrap the whole job and replace it with a new concept that maybe keeps 1 or 2 skills related to gear breaking.

Gladiator: Not much you can do here sadly due to their shared skills, but I would recommend changing Ultima Blade to something else. I went with 1x physical damage to all enemies in my hack, as the other few 'all enemies' attacks were magick based, so that gave Gladiator something unique.

Oracle: Like others have said, at least a couple of the debuff skills should do damage, but a solid job all things considered. I like the idea of a debuff class that can still hit things hard and has a high evasion.

Bishop: I like the changes to pilfer and Aero, I don't know what else could really be done with the job.

Templar: Works very well as an anti mage hybrid unit, much more effective here than in vanilla now that MP damage actually matters.

Cannoneer: Desperately needs an overhaul and new job concept, one of the most boring and forgettable jobs in the game. Maybe make its skills do different types of magickal damage, as all other ranged units in the game do physical damage. That would at least make it feel unique and special.

Trickster: One of my favorite jobs in vanilla, not much changed here and not much needed to. Extremely versatile, capable of long range damage and close range debuffs, can't complain.

Nu Mou:

Time Mage: About the same as they always were, very useful. Demi and Comet are very welcome additions to make them more versatile, and their inherent teleport movement is a very nice touch.

Druid: Hands down my favorite new job you've created. Geomancers in vanilla were useless since they only had access to 2 or 3 skills in any given battle, while beastmasters in vanilla were the definition of wasted potential because of their 21 redundant skills. You took the worst aspects of two of the worst jobs and made something great out of them, A+ stuff all around.

Alchemist: Very similar to vanilla, but its always been a solid jack of all trades mage skillset so don't fix what ain't broken. Love the large AoE on Protometeor and Poison as well. Transmute should be changed to something new though, it's an entirely useless gimmick no one would ever use.

Daemon: Another brilliant re-use of a terrible mechanic from vanilla (flintlock prime). I also love that you've taken the skill set from Altima, as it's always fun to be able to use overpowered boss skills as the player in any RPG.

Sage: One of my favorite jobs in vanilla, no real reason to change things here. I do like the change to Gigaflare as one of the few target all enemies spells left in the hack.

Scholar: Very underappreciated job based on what others are saying. Having a dedicated buffing unit can have a major impact on the battle, and it does its job very well. Honestly, I hate that you got rid of teleport and vigilance for faith and brave, the originals were much more creative and practical. Maybe if faith and brave had a secondary effect they would be worth it but as it is now they remain completely unused by me and feel like a waste of a turn.

Moogle:

Animist: No comment as they don't seem to have been changed much if at all from vanilla.

Moogle Hero: I love how they're almost reverse paladins that focus on magick over blade. Their skillset is fun to use and had a surprising amount of utility.

Fusiler: Basically a worse version of vanilla fusilers without their overpowered vanilla skills, not worth using imo. I'd suggest them being replaced with a new job concept.

Corsair: Very fun gimmick, I love the dualcasting ability, even ignoring using it for black or time magick. Being able to give a unit two random buffs or debuffs in one turn is a fun way to do a luck based job, and coin toss is much less frustrating than the tinker ever was.

Orator: As your primary job, very bland, but makes for an excellent backup skillset to support a more interesting job. Still leagues better than tinker, so I'm happy with it, not all jobs need to be the...

Engineer: Such an awesome concept, and a fantastic execution besides. Every skill feels useful, and you picked the right animations to make them a delight to use.

Chocobo Knight: Still as useless as ever, but it's not like you had much to work with here. At least you were able to make them the designated stay optimization job, so they at least have SOME purpose now.

Viera:

Fencer: THE definition of a meh job. Better than vanilla sure, but...that's about it. I can't say it's a BAD job, but by god is its skillset dryer and blander than last year's fruitcake. I like the focus on nullifying reaction abilities, but there just aren't any skills that stand out and make me go 'damn, I really want this class on my team!' like most of the others. The only skill that is the least bit interesting, Retreat, doesn't even work properly. No matter how many times I use it, my fencer refuses to teleport away, so you might want to look into why that is. I looked it up in the ability editor and it seems like it should work, so I don't know what's wrong with it.

Green Mage: Awkward and borderline useless in vanilla (sleep and tranq aside), and even worse here due to the lack of sleep. One of the jobs that needs an overhaul, if you're going to have a job focused around buffs and debuffs, it should have a better choice of both. I mean, oil? Really? And why bother with protect and shell when white mages, bishops AND scholars can give those out with one skill? I know GM give them in a large AoE, but still nothing worthwhile. Why not a skill that gives evasion+ in a small AoE or a skill that reduces resilience in an AoE? Way more practical if you ask me.

Occultist: One of the best new jobs imo. I never would have thought that blood magick would work in FFTA2's engine. Possess is incredible, although I feel it shouldn't be free, it should cost either 10 or 20% max HP for how potent it is. The other skills are fun as well, but I feel there are already too many 'sacrifice user to revive teammate' skills in the hack, so Offering should be something else.

Red Mage: Still very useful, but not overpowered anymore; not much else you could have done due to spell dependencies.

Summoner: The damaging spells are fine, but the other spells are boring and could use some new effects. Maybe make one random debuff 1 in a large AoE, or certain stats down in the AoE.

Kunoichi: Fantastic idea for a job, I love high risk, high reward classes in games. The skillset is exactly what it needs to be, and in practical terms is very similar to its vanilla counterpart just more fun to use.

Sniper: Solid job, nothing too exciting but I love Eagle Shot. I'm not a fan of the spike trap skill for reasons I'll explain in the Ranger section, however.

Spellblade: Great revision of the original, only suggestion I would give is to make more of the skills cost MP, as she is a SPELLblade after all.

Seeq:

Berserker: nothing to say, however I definitely like the idea of the War Medic. I especially like the idea of Rescue, as I've been toying with the idea of a teamwork oriented use for the draw in effect myself.

Ranger: Half the ranger's skills I think are great. The trap skills I hate though, although it's the same issue in vanilla. The problem with traps in this game is that the AI will almost never step on them unless you deliberately put one behind you and turn your back to the enemy. Some might call this strategy, I call it an exploit; it doesn't feel organic at all as a human opponent would never fall for this, and feels like you're cheating the system instead of using strategy. It doesn't help that only the needle trap and charm trap are worth using. I'd much prefer four skills that emphasize thr survival aspect of the ranger.

Reaver: Easily the best seeq job, they really nail the dark knight feel. The only suggestion I'd make is to make dawn and duskblade holy and dark elemental, it seems strange that they're non elemental given their names.

Viking: You already know how I feel about stealing skills, so I'll cut to the chase and say that the standing in water restriction needs to be removed from Tsunami as only a tiny number of maps even have water, making it useless otherwise.

Gria:

Vartan: Arguably the best of the hybrid jobs in the hack, has a great balance of magick and melee. If you'd told me that a job with both magick frenzy AND dualcast could be fun without being OP I wouldn't believe it, but I think you've pulled it off.

Ravager: Didn't seem any different from vanilla so I didn't try it out, I do like the idea for the Ravager you posted several pages back about attacks that drain the enemy's stats.

Gourmand: A completely ridiculous concept for a class, but I feel like it fits the game's silly time perfectly. Cooking is one of the most interesting skills in the hack, and its other skills are fun to use as well. No complaints, great job on this one.

Special Jobs:

Dancer and Bard: I love how you made them similar to their FFT counterparts, however I think they might be a bit overpowered. Just a bit mind, and mostly the dancer, as any job that can give all enemies a debuff is a force to be reckoned with. I hesistate to suggest that you nerf them however, since I feel that unique jobs SHOULD be slightly overpowered to make up for the fact that you can't boot their users from their clan so...I guess keep them as is.

Monsters:

I've seen several people in the thread complain that the monsters are too hard in the early game due both to their high stats and the fact that monsters have access to all of their skills even in the beginning when your units have almost none. After a lot of deliberation, I believe I've come to a two pronged solution.

First, I would make the monsters have very very low BASE stats, but have high stat GROWTHS to compensate. This will ensure they will be manageable in the early game while remaining a challenge in the late game once their stats have skyrocketed.

Second, I would make almost all monster skills cost MP to use. This would mean they either wouldn't be able to use their more powerful skills on early game players at all or only once or twice per battle, as opposed to say, the lamia in the mystery of the well quest that will without fail spam Night every single turn making the mission nigh unwinnable. At higher levels they would have plenty of MP to use their powerful skills on your powerful units, so I feel the balance would be retained. Besides, why should monsters have access to insanely powerful skills for free, when the player has to constantly worry about MP management?

Sorry for the giant wall of text, I just wanted to make sure I covered everything. Looking forward to the next release of GG, and I hope you don't get burnt out by the long process its been so far!

Thanks a lot, that really helps!

I do have another question though; I only have limited experience using hex editors, has someone made a list of the data offset locations for the animations, or will I have to go through them manually to figure out where they are which animation is which?

So I've been lurking the forums here for a few months now, enjoying the hacks of FFTA2, one of my favorite games. I want to create my own hack purely for personal use, nothing too fancy. However, I've run into a bit of an obstacle, so I joined to ask for some help. I want to reimagine the green mage job as a unit that has an assortment of skills only monsters get, like a blue mage but more offensively focused. I noticed in the Ability Editor on the bottom of the screen you have the Race/Index list where it lists what species can learn the skill along with the data offset associated with it.

With this in mind, I figured that if I replaced the data offset of a skill with another, it would take its place in that job's/monster's skillset. I tested this by removing Protect from viera and adding viera to the Miasma monster skill, giving it the same data offset that Protect has for viera (6F). However, when I tested the game, not only was Miasma not in the green mage skillset, there was nothing replacing Protect, it was just gone.

My question then becomes, are skills hardcoded to be locked to their respective skillsets and can't be given to other jobs/creatures? If they are, is there any way to replace an attack's animations so that I can recreate the effects of the desired skill(s) and have the desired animation play? Thanks for any advice you guys have.