Strong. They are meant to be either the "last man standing", or "the person who does most of the work". That meaning they should be very strong offensively or defensively or both.
Unique Overpowered Abilities or Stats. Hero units provide a way for the player to get their hands on [s:opap4sd7]broken[/s:opap4sd7] very powerful abilities. Remember that you are always fighting against at least one enemy Hero, and that enemy teams maybe bundled with special unplayable generics (like Time Mage). Once you get pass the filler battles, you will be facing stronger heroes like Orlandu, Balbanes, Katelyn, and the much more difficult Lucavi battles.
Singular Heroes are Stronger. Some teams have more than one Hero unit. If this is true then either one Hero is a lot stronger than the other, or that they are both equally weak in contrast to a single hero team, or that one of the Hero units are just on par with a normal generic.
Never Weaker Than Generic. There should never be a scenario for the Hero to have better or equal performance when switching to a generic job. This includes Boss Fights. This is very important. The player can choose to opt for all generic jobs, but doing so should make the game significantly harder to win -- this is intentional.
Category and Roles. Hero units' skillset design should be inline with their corresponding category, for example Gaffgarion is an ENDURANCE type hero thus he should have a set of abilities that help him survive. However, they do not have to strictly follow this rule. Balk for example, is rather fragile -- but his team is classified as a Tanking team because of Iron Giant.
Unique Equipment. Hero units are usually equipped with rare / epic / legendary items (eg. Masamune). They will have maintenance to prevent the loss of such items.
Legend
For offensive abilities,
[E, C, R, NZ] -- [Evadeable, Counterable (reactions that trigger on countergrasp), Reflectable*, No-Zodiac-Compat-Influence]
Likewise, we have [UE, UC, NR] = [Unevadeable, Uncounterable, Non-Reflectable].
E and C are usually mentioned. If R is not present, assume NR (Non-reflectable).
*Note on Reflect. Reflect used as a means to block MP Damage attacks as well as abilities that may otherwise be overpowered against boss units (Bosses in IA always come with Always-Reflect). And yes, heals and buffs do pass through Reflect unlike traditional FFT; so there are no negative effects about the status.
Range related symbols
v = vertical range. For example, Range = 2v3 means range of 2, vertical range of 3. radius = AoE radius. For example, Radius-2v2 means area effect of 2, vertical effect of 2. CT x = Has charge time of x. VT = Vertical Tolerance depending on caster's height. No-Follow = No following target on the CT spell. Direct = Direct as in, can be blocked by obstacle or another target. Linear = Linear AoE, usually hitting all panels up from caster to maximum range -- unless specified with minimum range.
It should be note that Linear and Self-AoE attacks imply VT automatically (usually not mentioned).
..
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: R999 on July 17, 2010, 08:22:07 pm
✦✦✦✦ Strength, Knights ✦✦✦✦
Meliadoul Tengille, Divine Knight -- Her combat skills are unmatched when it comes to offense, her Mighty Sword can pass through defenses and even immobilize running targets.
Hellscreamer -- range-2v2 VT Direct single, 45% TargetMaxHP damage. [UE, UC] (Effect Hellcry Punch)
Hellcry Punch was called "meikai kyoukyou da" in Japanese, which translates to "Netherworld Screaming Strike". Percentile attacks capped at 999, so this would deal 450 damage on espers.
Icewolf Bite -- range-3v1 VT Direct single, Damage=PA*WP, + 100% Don't Move. [E, C] (Effect Icewolf Bite)
Note: Icewolf Bite was called "kougeki hyourou ha" in Japanese, which translates to "Ice Wolf Biting Attack".
Shatter Armor -- Self-AoE 2v2, Remove Protect, Shell, Regen 30% TargetHP Damage if successful. (Effect edited Lightning Stab without bolts)
Desburiga "Lich", Shadow Priest -- He is protected by a mysterious aura from Faith Magicks, whether it is black magick or white magick they never work on him. However the Shadow Priest has a unique ability that is both destructive and self-healing at the same time.
Unholy Darkness -- CT5, Book Range, Damage=50% TargetMaxHP, HealSelf=Damage done (Effect 0AE Dark Holy).
Damage is capped at 300 against Espers. This attack is supposedly Earth elemental. Blood Gigas is a Headless Giant from FF12. Being a cruel headless giant, born from the spilled blood of a demon. It views the world through the eye enchained across its chest, the pupil of which is said to be a window onto the underworld.
Dark Cura -- Self-AoE radius-2v2, Dark Damage (self absorbs) and MA*Y damage to enemies. [E, C, R]
Death Negation -- Book Range, Resurrect with 100% HP instantly. 60 MP. (Effect Dark Whisper)
Equipment: Tome of Ending (Book), Robe, hat.
Passive Abilities -- Safeguard, Teleport, Always-Innocent, Absorb Dark, Immune to all Positive Status.
.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: R999 on July 18, 2010, 12:11:09 am
✦✦✦✦ Spirit, Hybrids ✦✦✦✦
Beowulf Cadmus, Templar --
Checkmate -- Weapon Strike (No Damage) Fa(MA+255)% Inflict Separately (Unholy, Don't Act, Confuse, Chicken) (Effect New Stasis Sword edit)
Similar to the Bad Breathe spell but it's single target, 25% to inflict a status separately.
Petrify -- Range-3v2 VT Direct single, Fa(MA+190)% Petrify on Unholy targets.
Update: Beowulf's Petrify is now instant cast, with a lowered success rate.
Dream Power is an item in FF7 that puts all enemies to sleep.
Stardust Fort -- CT4, fullscreen Heal 10% HP and Add Shell and Regen to all allies. (Effect: Midgar Swarm edit)
The heal is necessary to trigger AI cast and not making them spam it.
Shock! -- CT3 No-Follow, Range-3v1 VT Direct single, Damage = Self HP Loss. [E, C] (Effect ?)
No longer require critical status. The way we have designed his skillset, Beowulf's AI would never use Shock!. At vertical 0, Shock! is severely limited by terrain. Beowulf will come with low HP tier to compensate.
Equipment: Enhancer and Venetian Shield, Armor, Hat.
Kusanagi is a legendary Katana that is as famous as King Arthur's Excalibur. Additionally, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is also known by the name Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi (天叢雲剣?, "Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven") the namesake of the sword commonly known as Heaven's Cloud.
Eclipse -- CT3, Range 4v3 Direct No-Follow, Damage = Target HP Loss. [UE, C, R] (Effect Blastar Punch)
A common Samurai tech name in other FF games. This is a longer ranged, faster charging version of the generic Samurai's Crescent Cutter.
Stop Bracelet was originally called "息根止" in Japanese, meaning "Breathing Roots Stop".
Assassinate -- Same as generic Rogue's Assassinate. range-1v1, instant kill target inflicted with Darkness.
Vampiric Embrace -- When Critical, range-1v1, Absorb 30% HP + Inflict Separately (Vampire, Confusion) [UE, UC]
This will deal 300 damage to Espers; as percentile attacks are capped at 999.
Breakart Pentagram -- range-3v2, 35% Set CT00 [NZ, UE, C, NR] (Effect Space Storage)
Meant to be used on Lucavi/Espers as it is the only Set CT00 skills that isn't reflect-able. This skill was designed to help Celia and Lettie to fight bosses as their normal abilities would not work.
Shield -- range-3v3 single, Fa(MA+Y)% Heal 25% + Add Protect and Shell.
X -- [E, C, R]
Tournesol -- range-2v1 radius-1v1, Damage=Weapon, and 25% Cancel Charging [E, C] (Effect New Lightning Stab)
Equipment: Joyeuse (Rapier Sword) and La Serephica (Shield), Armor, Hat.
Passive Abilities: Safeguard.
Zorine "Marilith", Marauder --
Double Pyro -- If Haste is active, Slash Twice, Damage = Weapon, each hit 25% cast Fire. [E, C, Fire proc is UE, C] (Effect 010 Fire)
World in Flames -- If Haste is active, range-3 random panel AoE-radius-1v1, Damage = 0.5*MA*MA, hit 4 times. [E, C] (Effect New Asura Sword edit)
Shadow Cloak -- Same as Rogue's. Self-AoE radius-2v2, Damage = 0.5*PA*MA + 25% Inflict Darkness. [UE, C]
Raining Swords -- When Critical, Self-AoE radius-3v3, Damage = 0.5*(PA+10)*MA + 25% Dead, hits caster. [UE, UC] (Effect New Multi Sword Effect) --> For AI optimization purposes, Raining Swords maybe changed to use the Self-Destruct formula.
Marilis' ultimate attack in FF9, used before she is defeated.
Equipment: Rising Sun x 2 (Ninja Swords), Clothes, Hat.
"天舞寶輪" meaning "Treasures of Heaven", a Buddhist illusional technique that traps the opponents into a matrix of Illusions, destroying the opponents through five stages. Each stage obliterates one of the opponent's five human senses cumulatively.
6th Sense -- Self, Add Haste and Regen.
7th Sense Beast Within -- When Critical, Self Heal 30% HP and Add Haste, Regen, Protect, Shell.
Equipment: Double Fists, Clothes, Hat, 108 Gems.
Passive Abilities: Safeguard, Hamedo, Double Fists,Walk On Water, Absorb Water
.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: R999 on July 18, 2010, 12:11:35 am
✦✦✦✦ Endurance, Defenders ✦✦✦✦
Agrias Oaks, Holy Knight -- A knight balanced in both offense and defense, her Holy Sword can strike multiple targets.
Note: Lightning Stab was called "musou inazuma zuki" in Japanese, which translates to "Twin Lightning Thrust". It was renamed to "Hallowed Bolt" in WoTL.
Divine Illumination -- When Critical, 3 Directions Linear range 4v2, Damage = Weapon, and 25% Confusion. 12 MP [E, C] (New Holy Explosion effect)
Cleanse -- instant, Range-4 single, Heal = 15% HP when successfully canceling any/all negative status including Unholy and Vampire, useable when Silenced.
Designed to help unsilence Ovelia mostly.
Equipment: Save the Queen (Knight Sword), Armor, Helmet.
Passive Abilities: Safeguard.
Ovelia Atkascha, Cleric -- Though fragile, her Aegis Barrier is exceptional when it comes to support.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: R999 on July 18, 2010, 02:07:05 am
(reserved)
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: R999 on July 18, 2010, 06:44:17 am
(reserved)
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: winshmo2 on July 18, 2010, 02:11:33 pm
recoloring the effects might be a solution to give them new flair
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: Archael on July 18, 2010, 05:07:39 pm
or give them new, un-common effects
-_-
why does everything have to be lolswordskillart
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) -Now 16 Teams
Post by: RavenOfRazgriz on July 18, 2010, 11:11:06 pm
Old Comments.
STRENGTH / KNIGHTS:
Agrias - cannot consent to skillset at all. It's the same skill twice for all intents and purposes, except one inflicts Slow and the other breaks barriers. For all purposes its the epitome of "derp" in a game that was originally all about the generics and all about removing that very same "derp." Granted, we all remember Agrias for "derp Stasis Sword lolderp", but surely she could have more substance to her character? Then again, she is on a two-Hero team, but it still feels like a waste of a character to me.
Ovelia - Holy Jesus. I assume Aegis Barrier replaces Runic Barrier on her skillset. Since she's meant to be an epic-tier support unit, the only thing I can comment on is free Initial: Reraise. If her skill seriously has no MP cost (please tell me you just forgot it for the love of holy Ajora), she can already pass out Reraise like candy and even with an MP cost likely can via Move-MP UP. She doesn't need it initially as well, that's just stupid.
Meliadoul - I don't like the idea of 45% unevadable, uncounterable damage. Just 45%, uncosted, instant damage on its own is more than amazing even if both evadable and counterable. Not allowing it to be those things either is nuts. Fix that and I can let it slide for being a lone hero, either that or have her specialize in wholly unblockable, unevadable damage and crank that down to about 34-35%, where it still 3-hit kills but isn't so severe. Icewolf Bite is fine, being a more epic version of the Gladiator's Don't Move skill, especially considering Don't Move is far more easily worked around / healed here.
Zalbag - 25% -3 PA seems like it could get silly vs bosses. That's my only beef with his two skills really, though he can also wreck Monks really freakin' hard.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: Agrias is the main one that's disappointing here. Beyond that, they do have an air of "derp swordskill", but the question is how much of that can be fixed without removing the essence of the characters themselves. Obviously it can't be entirely removed because people remember them exactly for their Swordskills, but it should be reducible some.
=================================
INTELLECT / MAGICIANS:
Cletian - I would say "No MP Costs?" but he is a lone unit. I like how these skills are designed, rewarding the player for focusing on MA... however, their lack of MP cost also makes them easily usable on other Jobs unless you put some kind of restriction on them via ARH. Then again, he does have Magic AttackUP and Teleport if you choose to stick with his unique class, so that may not be an issue.
Olan - Celestial Stasis, sure, but why did you change it to inflict Stop / Don't Move / Slow over Vanilla's Stop / Don't Move / Don't Act? One of Haste II or Lockdown seems like it should come with an MP cost, the ability to spam both Stop and Haste for free is an easy formula for victory due to the huge shift in turn count.
Valmafra - Mind Blast seems silly spammable autowin and Psychic Scream II, given how you designed abilities in order to manipulate the AI, actually seems pretty mediocre for a "FUCK I MIGHT DIE" skill. I think you need to take a little away from Mind Blast and give to Psychic Scream II to balance things off a bit, as Confusion isn't anywhere near as good as it once was here.
Lich - Holy shit. I know CT5 puts Unholy Darkness among the slowest skills in IA but holy shit. Please tell me that's at least evadable / counterable. I'd tone this skill down some or make Lich one of the few heroes actually fully vulnerable to manaburn, because the current version seems incredibly ridiculous in any situation where the player's competent enough to check CT and not get midcharged like a chump.
CLOSING THOUGHTS: More unique per unit than the Knights, for sure. I think the only irksome thing is that every mage randomly knows how to Teleport, which likely isn't a big deal, but we know at least Olan can't once we hit actual FFT... does he forget how? Lol. That's the only thing I'd consider changing, outside of what I noted.
=================================
SPIRIT / HYBRIDS:
Beowulf - Shock = Derp. That better be there. I'd make his other skill inflict Chicken, because he's infamous for that as well. Possibly give him a Paladin Base Skillset?
CLOSING THOUGHTS: N/A, this section is currently incomplete.
=================================
AGILITY / ASSASSINS:
Wiegraf - Not the most original thing ever, but sure. It feels like derpswordskill though, but since we're dealing with a Swordskiller our best bet is to try and break that feel via his other skill(s).
[I'll comment on the others once they're completed.]
=================================
ENDURANCE / DEFENDERS:
Gafgarion - A solid example of keeping his spirit without succumbing entirely to derpSwordskill. If Abyssal Blade is using a Draw Out AoE, use the Kotetsu animation. When you say PA damage on Abyssal Blade, does that literally mean damage = current PA? That seems worthless, so I'm assuming its PA*Y or something similar... but without the Y, it's hard to give an exact score. If the Knights at the beginning were more like Gafgarion (one signature Swordskill, other useful abilities that aren't derpSwordskills) they would be much better, imo. (I don't really consider Abyssal Blade a Swordskill, btw, as it doesn't follow the basic Swordskill formula but rather the Draw Out formula of designing skills.)
[Again, section currently incomplete, so no closing thoughts yet.]
=================================
FINAL OVERVIEW: The Strength / Knights need work, but the rest are solid so far. Really, you need to make those guys a bit less "derp", since with only very slight touches none of the other characters seem to suffer from that symptom the way those three do. No suggestions quite yet on actually fixing them but when I get a workable idea I'll pass it on to you.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Most up to date) - (Beowulf & Elmdore)
Post by: R999 on July 19, 2010, 01:46:23 am
Old comments.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
@Raven: I didn't know it wasn't obvious but I haven't added the MP costs to the spells yet. I likely need your advice on that. That seemed to be the number one complaint among everything else.
Ovelia is suppose to be a slower and more fragile than a White Mage with basically the same properties otherwise, but with a much better buff of course. Or at least that's the plan.. she's suppose to be only on par with the generics (marginally better) leaving us more room to expand on Agrias' usefulness (though, we should leave all the buffing and healing to Ovelia). Ovelia should be still desirable to have in her party for story related reasons.
Meliadoul. We need to balance out Lich's Unholy Darkness and Meliadoul's Hellscreamer. When you factor in the Warlock's Life Drain ability stealing 25% HP, Gladiator's Overpower doing 30% HP damage at range-2, 45% isn't much for a Hero skill overall. It will hurt tanks the most, but otherwise it is unlikely to even touch the usual 450 aggro damage barrier. What kind of unit would have 999 HP? Meliadoul is suppose to be the strongest among the 3 Strength type heroes, this skill puts her closer to that. Also, while the other percentile attacks are also evadeable/counter-able, however, they are magic based (which means M-Ev). I suppose we can tone down the damage a little bit... Hellscreamer only has as much range as a spear (range-2) and has less vertical range than that (vert 1). It's not exactly overpowering especially for the strongest in power Hero type unit. I'll anxious to see what you can come up with.
-------------- Updated Beowulf and Elmdore skills. We need to diversify further, more skills to come (the hero sets are not completed, we are just adding more as we go).
Edit: We have major progress with making new Special Effects all thanks to no other than Zodiac. Check out the Special Effects thread in the IA Artwork subforum for details. Expect to see new special effects for our new Heroes.
------ Huge update on Hero abilities! Much thanks to Lasting_Dawn, Eternal, and Raven for contributions and comments.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Zorine, Rakunar, Grims, etc update)
Post by: R999 on July 24, 2010, 05:25:43 am
Major update on Hero skills once again. Please review one more time. This update includes skills for Agrias, Meliadoul, Zalbag, and much more.
Baron Grims team and Agrias team may swap categoric positions in the next revision.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Zalbag, Meliadoul, Agrias, and more)
Post by: The Damned on July 24, 2010, 02:42:02 pm
(Whoops. Hit enter and submitted this way before I was anywhere near finished. Now I feel extra stupid no top of taking so long to recognize the four fiends. Please forgive any typos. EDIT: Now that I've woken up 16 hours later, all typos should have been slain here.)
Okay, I finally read through all the threads on the forum except for the story one and the artwork one. So please forgive me if I ask to confirm something obvious:
Strength characters are obviously supposed to be PA based.
Intellect characters are similarly supposed to be MA based.
Spirit characters are more like Geomancers in that they have relatively even PA and MA distribution.
Agility characters are focused on (physical) evasion and (relative) speed, if only in terms of attacks per turn due to Duo Wield or Hamedo.
Endurance characters are simply difficult to take down.
I'm guessing this is at least somewhat correct?
With that seemingly figured out, I must say that it's difficult to judge these classes in a vacuum since I couldn't find anything about what abilities the generics have at the moment, but I suppose I shall try. (Also doesn't help that I'm not familiar with some of notation you're using, mostly the stuff in brackets. I'm pretty sure "E" is "enemy" and "R" is "reflectable", beyond that....)
Here is my uninformed opinion:
Strength
Agrias - Yeah, Agrias is kind of bland, but I actually don't mind that unlike how Raven seemed to. She was always pretty bland to me and considering Stasis Sword & Lightning Stab are basically the signature Sword Skill abilities, I feel it's appropriate. Her Critical seems a tad weak, but that's also fine considering she's part of a two-person team. Really nothing say about her.
Ovelia - Is extremely buff. Aegis/MBarrier is OP, but let's be real: it's always been OP. I think that it could stand to lose Reraise, especially since it doesn't seem to use MP, but would otherwise be fine even though Haste and Regen are both rare statuses in IA. Does she really need Initial Reraise? I can't imagine she'd be that frail (or that it would do her in any good if she is that frail) or even be that near the front-line to begin with. She needs a nerf, though it's difficult to tell how much of one without knowing what White Magic made it in.
Meliadoul - She similarly seems rather buff since I just realized that Mighty Guard hits more than herself. Even if it didn't, it still doesn't cost MP and Unfortity heals her for more than half life, also without using MP. I would think those two abilities and Hellscreamer need to be nerfed, though again it's difficult to tell how much in a void without knowing what Gladiator can do in terms of active abilities.
Zalbag - He seems fine outside of the things that Raven said about destroying Monks and potentially Lucavi. Could possibly stand to drop to -2 PA, especially if you ended up getting rid of PA+ moves (on generics at least).
Intellect
Cletian - Having Dark Flare and then having Dark Flare II be his Critical is a bit boring, but I suppose I understand it, even if I'd rather see Evocation be the Critical move. That said, he seems fine otherwise, even without knowing what Black Mage can do. Although I do find it strange how he doesn't need MP for anything but Evocation, but that's hardly a huge concern....
Olan - Ah, Olan...still seems immensely OP, except this time you get to use him for the entire game. While you can't whore Galaxy Stop out as easily any more (which perhaps didn't need to be weakened if it was moved to Critical, though I see no point in changing it back to inflicting Don't Act), Haste II is begging to be abused without an MP cost, especially since it's so accurate too and hits the entire map. Speaking of too accurate things without an MP cost, Lockdown seems like it needs either an MP cost or a slight range decrease to 3 (or perhaps both) with that immense accuracy on something as powerful as Stop.
Valmafra - Seems quite underpowered, especially since I'm betting that quite a bit of the Lucavi are resistant to or even immune to Darkness. As Raven said, her Critical seems weak, especially since Confusion has been nerfed. I think that single-target, longer-distance 100% Confusion would be fine because of that, though.
Lich - For every underpowered aspect of Valmafra, she's at least decidedly underpowered. I can't decide whether Lich is horribly OP between this draining attack (and Summon Gigas not being decided yet doesn't help) and all his innates or horribly underpowered considering he seemingly (yet again depending on what Summon Gigas ends up doing) has no way of damaging people without using Dark elements AND he's (as far as I can tell) completely lousy with other magical skill sets (besides Warlock) due to auto-Innocent, which is completely counterproductive for someone who specializes in "Intellect". He's easily the "Hero" I have the most problems with.
Spirit
Beowulf - I've always hated Shock, but it makes sense as a Critical (even if I still dislike it). Not much else to say about him other than that Stardust Fort should probably cost a minimal amount of MP if it hits everyone, especially with Regen being rare.
Elmdore - I think is probably the most balanced "Hero" of them all. I like that.
Anastasia - I'm guessing her first two skills are Direct abilities since they're both Linear with that amount of range, correct? I can't imagine that she'd be able to poison 6 separate units.... Regardless, she seems balanced, if dependent on Czar to the point that she almost sees Endurance-like (and probably would be Endurance like if she didn't hurt herself doing it).
Czar - It's a Tiamat. Not much to say here besides good to see other people are referring back to other non-Ivalice FFs.
Agility
Celia - Nice to see that Celia and Lettie get some way to affect those that would be immune or couldn't care less about their status. Stop Breath almost obviates Assassinate since it's not the Critical and Trance makes it easy for her to get Hasted, but I'm actually fine with that since Stop Breath was at least weakened some and Assassinate can be used without needing to be Hasted.
Lettie - Seems to get the less powerful "You must be Hasted" ability in Allure. Not much to say beyond that.
Wiegraf - Not sure why he's part of Agility. I'm guessing it's because of shield evasion or something. Obviously still a work in progress. It's weird that he doesn't have a Critical and that two of his abilities basically do the same thing, with Hysteria arguably obviating Charge. What, exactly, is Tournesol supposed to do anyway?
Marilith - Quite like her. I'm guessing World in Flames is Fire-based as well.
Kraken - Similarly, I'm guessing Rising Hydragon is Water-based. I find it rather odd how, despite being a Pugilist, most of his attacks are purely mental-based. I guess that he'll have enough fist-based attacks from Monks....
Endurance
Gaffgarion - I'm quite alright with him, though I would rather that Fell Armor heal less and inflict Innocent on himself instead of Shell. It just seems a better fit with the whole Dark Knight thing, though it's hardly a huge deal. Besides that, what Raven said already.
Balk - As much as I ragged on Valmafra, Balk is easily the weakest Hero of all of them. I'm guessing he does have some Innates and they're just missing, correct? Even then, I'd think he need some Critical move just in case Armstrong goes down.
Armstrong - "This style of Hyper Mode has been passed down the Armstrong family line for generations!" ...Ahem, excuse me. I'm more than fine with him. In fact, my favorite "Hero" after Elmdore and Marilith, though I'm sure the name has something to do with it....
Grims - Ugh, this name sounds so familiar yet I can't remember where in the game he's mentioned.... Wait, is this the guy that Delita claimed to be under? I guess I'll find that out elsewhere. Anyway, his abilities all seem fine. Does the "Axe Strike" of Mortal Strike just means that's what the effect looks like or that it actually needs an Axe to be used? I'd be fine with either way, especially since none of the other Heroes have weapon-based attacks.
I think that covers everyone. I would concur that Agrias & Ovelia need to be switched to Endurance and Grims needs to be switched to Strength. Agrias is basically Ovelia's Armstrong, except that Ovelia can buff and heal other people outside of Agrias, so Agrias is arguably weaker than Armstrong.
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Zalbag, Meliadoul, Agrias, and more)
Post by: RavenOfRazgriz on July 24, 2010, 06:32:00 pm
@The Damned: E/UE = Evadable/Unevadable, C/UC = Counterable/Uncounterable, R = Reflectable. Reflect's purpose in IA is also slightly different than normal, so what is and is not reflectable will seem odd at first. Also, many skills don't list MP since the base MP on some heroes isn't even decided yet.
Make Baron Grimms your third strength unit and make Agrias + Ovelia an Endurance team. They fit that role far better... and lets be real, Baron Grims uses an Axe, RIP AND TEAR essentially is part of his job description the second you decided that.
With that in mind -
Agrias. She should have Tier 2 base MP. I also don't like her sharing Cleanse with Meliadoul, but meh, its not that bad and at least pretty sensible. Her remaining two skills should come from the Paladin class, specifically two of its more defensive non-weapon specific skills.
Ovelia. She should have Tier 3 base MP, which combines well with innate Half of MP to make her a highly advanced Priest. Her remaining four skills should be the non-weapon, non-gender specific skills of the Priest class, and include the Raise spell. (Possibly flag Runic Barrier as the White Mage's weapon-specific skill, since Ovelia doesn't need it and its a rather powerful spell.) Aegis Barrier should have a base MP cost of 40 or more, which gets halved to 20 by Half of MP and costly enough but not too much as Ovelia's most likely to also be sporting Move-MP UP and has access to the mage's nice MP+ gear. Otherwise, yes, I think removing Reraise from Ovelia and Aegis Barrier might be for the best, its a really powerful status to just lump in to a spell.
---
Meliadoul. Give her tier 1 MP, and low-cost skills. This makes her better skills slightly costed, but unlike Agrias and Ovelia less reliant on MP to actually function. Hellscreamer should have a cost of 8, Icewolf Bite 10, Shellbust Stab 0 (I refuse to accept "Shatter Armor" as a name, that's just as terrible as "Crush Armor"), Mighty Guard 12, Cleanse 0, though she's a bit less "RIP AND TEAR" than I was expecting. The only one I dislike is Unfortify, it seems really gimmicky and takes two actions to do what a supporting Priest or Summoner can likely do in one. I recommend replacing it with an offensive skill that can 100% shatter Defending / Floating / Reflect for (PA*WP+2) damage, 3 range / 0 vert / 0 CT / UE / C for 12-16 MP. It could be called... Blastar Crush! Otherwise, yeah, Hellscreamer may need toning back but otherwise she's looking a bit more whole now.
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Zalbag. Looks awesome, not much to say. I'd give him Tier 3 base MP with decent costs to skill, along with enough MA that he could theoretically be an offensive magic carrier as a secondary, which would make him rather distinct from Meliadoul and Agrias/Grims.
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Cletian. Arcane Shards should inflict Slow just like other Ice Magicks. Dark Flare II should be Dark Flarestar, because FFIX is amazing. Normally I would say he needs a sixth move, but he looks suitably fit out and he can take all the Black Magicks that his unique skills don't supercede, including the male-only skill. It'll technically give him the largest skillset, but its fittingly so. I want to say he should actually have Tier 2 base MP. Cletian already comes with tons of magic power before equipment, loading up even more should cost something since he really doesn't suffer from taking MP gear.
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Olan. Meteor can be Fa(MA*Y). The Blade/Arrow/Axe should be consolidated down to just Magician's Blade if the intent was to actually have all 3. That would be like wasting space to give Agrias both vanilla Stasis Sword and vanilla Lightning Stab. We're not doing that kind of garbage. Tier 3-4 MP and higher end MP costs seems like a good way to go with Olan in terms of MP balance. A powerful supporting caster who can make up for a lack of raw power for the ability to carry almost any other magic skillset as a secondary without much trouble (again, outside of raw damage output) and the ability to more freely compensate with +MA gear would make him distinctive from the others and suit his skillset well.
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Valmafra. Antithesis II needs a new name. A Hero should not have an advanced version of another Hero's skill. Also, she needs some way to deal with opposing bosses. Her Psychic Scream II should be 100% straight up. My main problem with her is that, for a two-Hero team with one member who can easily steal the Phantom's entire set, she uses too many unique skills. Give her Dark Cura, combine her other skills into one each of a buffed at-will status and critical status spells, and fill her up with any non-unique Phantom skills she doesn't overlap on. This would be far better than her current setup, IMO, because as it stands she uses a whole bunch of skill slots and really isn't that amazing for it. Tier 2 MP could do for her, with her spells having MP costs that reflect that.
Lich. Unholy Darkness... I suppose if it's a giant mana-dump I can let it slide, looking at it again. Though I'm tempted to say to reduce it to 49% so he can't twoshot any unit in the game, similar to Meliadoul's Hellscreamer. I can assume his Summon will do some kind of raw MA*Y damage or will otherwise be useful against bosses? With Warlock filling out his skillset, I do question what the hell he could sub, though. Unlike The Damned, I easily find him the most unique Hero, which will be a good thing if you can make at least one of him and Valmafra not shit against boss units. He obviously, OBVIOUSLY needs Tier 4 MP, but yeah.
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Beowulf. He's also looking rather well off now. He needs a 6th skill, but beyond that he seems rather nicely set. Lower end on both PA and MA, with Tier 4 MP and suitable costs to skills would fill him out nicely, allowing him to focus on a variety of things despite not being a huge source of damage, kind of like Olan but supporting his team in an entirely different way. Also, Shock! should obviously use Shock!'s animation, that shouldn't even be a question.
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Elmdor. He should be built kind of like an FFT samurai. Lower Speed, higher end PA/MA, versatile abilities that let him multitask well even if not the best at any one role... which your abilities do rather well already. None of his skills should be MP costed, but their actual output should be below that of other heroes to compensate - allowing him to focus all his MP and high stats into a secondary set while maintaining a ton of versatility from his primary one. It would be quite an interesting Hero, to be sure, especially with a solid Tier 2 MP.
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Anastasia. She's solid, and needs more skills due to having a monster ally so 5 skills + secondary hero is acceptable. White Wind seems like something you could just give to generic Dragoons... honestly, she has a rather nice set, but some of it seems redundant when you consider she can draw so much from the very solid Dragoon class that does similar things, as far as I remember. Otherwise, she's really nice.
Czar. Also solid. This team gives me a very big "RIP AND TEAR" feel, which is nice since Beowulf is so defensive.
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[I'll review the last couple sets later]
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Zalbag, Meliadoul, Agrias, and more)
Post by: R999 on July 24, 2010, 07:41:04 pm
Title: Re: ★ IA Heroes & Teams (Grims update)
Post by: R999 on July 26, 2010, 05:03:27 am
Baron Grims (complete revamp) -- Now officially the strongest Strength Hero, along with a new skillset. He's almost like a Black Mage now in the sense that he's all about firepower. His strongest attack is melee range, but he also have ranged options of which would require MA, as they are elemental attacks rather than Physical. He still have room for 1 more skill possibly.
Also updated the Hero Equipment and misc things for all of the Hero jobs. Much thanks to Lasting_Dawn and Eternal for suggestions and feedback.
Wiegraf and Balk are still a work-in-progress at this point. Ovelia and Rakunar may need additional work, and certain Heroes may need another skill or two. Shortly after this and after our meeting I should be back to spriting again. I'll leave it up to Raven to decide on the Hero jobs' stat scaling.
Update: Second round of updates for Hero equipment, much much thanks to LD and Eternal.
Update: Changes to Wiegraf, Balk, Olan, Desburiga. Yes you read that right, Book Range skills.