FFTOMGTZ BACK FROM THE GRAVE!

[SilvasRuin]

I already mentioned that very thing, Samurai.  And mentioned how it still wouldn't be an appealing option.

[Kokojo]

So, as I mentioned, a couple of suggetions.

- If you don't use spells much, up the starting speed to 8/9/10 or close to that, and makes leeper ; fast zombies that are quick and die once.
- upping the speed will offer more realistic -Speed. A ''crippling shot'' could reduce zombies shots by three, but a High-level zombie could screech, making you lose 1 speed.

- Gun should come in variety, if possible.
   -Snipers, 10 range, STRAIGTH LINE ONLY, high damage, but mp draining or speed penalty or mp penalty (if we find out to get negatives bonuses)
   - Guns, the usual
   -Shotguns, with about twice the damage, but lower range (3-4?)

Il post more later.

[SilvasRuin]

Kokojo, the gun varieties will come in the form of modifications mostly through the ability sets.  There's no normal attack and MP serves as their bullet clip.  The actual weapons just dictate some of the attack power and the element.

One ability set could be dedicated to sniping and have weak power but long range.
One ability set could have a bit of AoE but have very short range and be a shotgun modification.
One ability set could be a BFG sort of modification and require a large amount of MP/bullets for each shot.



Actually... let me rethink this for a moment...

Regular attacks are disabled.  All attacks will be in the form of abilities.
This means that we don't have to worry about giving the guns ranges as they won't be able to be used as normal attacks anyways.
That in turn means that we can flag all the abilities as "Ranged Weapon" and... ooh.

Ok, so we set melee weapons to 0 Range and we don't allow any shot abilities to target the "caster."  The melee attack can be given a set range of one despite the range of the weapon.
Voila, melee weapons can't use the ranged shots.
Flag the melee attack as "Requires Sword" and voila, guns can't be used to melee attack.

This DOES wind up making the equipped weapon dictate Range, but it removes our ability to have the modifications (Re: Abilities) have any effect on Range.  This means that Range can only be increased or decreased as a tradeoff with Attack and NOT with the number of ammo (Re: MP) it costs.
If this setup is NOT followed, you then wind up making swords/chainsaws able to use shots and ammo.

If we do not make melee weapons equipable, we can avoid the shenanigans they cause and have the modifications (Re: Abilities) control Power, Ammo, AND Range, which would allow for a greater variety in the kinds of attacks/shots that can be made.



Hrm...  I'm going to review the current equipment gimmicks and see what may or may not be preferable for allowing both variety and balance.  Any equipment type with only one use is guaranteed to grow stale.

[Dome]

An idea for melee damage

spoiler

I truly think that a knife would be nice as a melee weapon (to use as last resort)
Range: 1
Low Melee damage
You have to buy it (and have it in stock) to use it (Because there is no attack command, to use the ability)
It does not use mp
25% chance to "break" (It may stuck in the Zombie body)
Even in Resident evil they have a shitty knife, as last resort weapon (Or if you dont want to use ammo - You don't have any)

Other random ideas about Zombies

spoiler

Fat zombie: 4 movement, double hp, 1 point of speed less than normal zombies
Licker: 5 movement, low hp, ability to attack from 2-3 panels away thanks to the tongue
Hunter: (Boss zombie?) 6 movement, high hp, ignore height ability, 50% dodge bullets

Other random ideas about other kind of enemies

spoiler

Necromancer: Mp switch and move mp up as innate (The dark energy bla bla bla defends him from damage bla bla bla)
Ability to awake every zombie in the map (Something like 1.3 awakening)

[SilvasRuin]

While that does remove the need to waste a turn with Equip Change, that means that there will be an ability set dedicated to melee attacks.  Attacks that can be different every single turn without any sort of penalty.  And attacks that anyone with the ability set can use even when you only have a single knife (at least until it breaks).  The possibility is intriguing, and perhaps the instant versatility is just enough to counterbalance being point-blank range, but there's some issues with it not making sense at times.  The animation would be kind of hard to do as well since the animations would wind up either having the character hold the knife in the air or firing their gun without some very creative tweaks to the animation itself or some miracle work in the animation mechanics.

I have no idea how a "Licker" might have its attack animated.  If there is to be a ranged zombie, I would prefer finding a different route for it.
Since zombies are made to rise continuously anyways, that awakening ability would be nearly useless.  Unless the formula was altered to set their CT to 100 as well, but then that might get a bit too good.

[boomkick]

A good "Licker" sort of zombie could be a "Spitter" instead. They spit acid, bile, or etc. Range of two and have very low move.

[Samuraiblackbelt]

I already mentioned that very thing, Samurai.  And mentioned how it still wouldn't be an appealing option.

heh heh, yeah

[woodenbandman]

Hey what about all melee attacks having range 2 and a slight AoE?  2 is just outside zombie range, because they have to bite you, while you can use your arms. So each attack has range 2 and hits things in, say, a line of 3 panels in the direction you attack.

[SilvasRuin]

...range of two and hits three?  Why not just say a range three linear attack?

I'd be worried that once again, a range of three wouldn't make sense for animations.  It would make sense for spears, but not typical things like swords, or at least not all that well.  And that's a range of two.  A range of three... how could you possibly justify that and make it look good?

Even if it did have a range of three, zombies are currently designed to revive every turn and have movement ranges well over three.  A slight range boost just wouldn't be enough by itself to make them appealing.


@VampragonLord, sorry about the delay in the script.  I've had some issues to take care of involving class registration.  I'll try and get the section done some time tonight.

[woodenbandman]

I didn't mean linear like in the sense of Earth Slash, I mean sort of like a T. You target a panel 2 away from you and it hits that panel, plus the panels to the left and right of it.

[Zaen]

That would work in FFTA, but not here.

[woodenbandman]

weak.

[VampragonLord]

INFROMATIVE POST IS INFORMATIVE!

I am still working on this, so if any of you have seen the lack of activity, don't worry about it. I'm just working on some sparatic things at the moment (bouncing between different parts of the story, lining it up, learning what certain things do in events, etc).  So when i post a new content update, expect it to be big.  I go back to school on feb 8th, so, i promise, SOMETHING new will be posted the weekend before.

[Zaen]

Cool beans. Speaking of content, how exactly do you get the save file to work when it's in BIN format? I encountered the thing with Ramza not able to use his shoot ability, so that was kind of a problem... and unless something was changed, the zombies were female priests, not St. Ajoras, not that sprites matter at the moment.

[VampragonLord]

the sprite issue would mean youre using a non-expanded iso (only issue that causes is it uses default sprites, doesnt matter much since we have no custom sprites yet anyways)
The BIN format works with PSX, if youre using a different format use memorycardrx(or similar device) or whatever its called to change the format to what you need.
In all future updates there will be no worries about needing saves, I've modified it so its no longer an issue.
I have actually managed to solve some of the issues that prevented me from releasing a new update as well, so expect a new toy shortly. It is past the demo-stage, so anything you see, is pretty close to how it will be in the final (though i will most likely tweak some text, change some minor events, etc.). Consider this a very rough draft.

[VampragonLord]

UPDATE/REQUEST:
@SILVAS
I have gotten a fairly decent system going now for making events/battles/etc. So Silvas, if you could send me what youve got, I could mesh it with my ideas and that would only make things go faster. I don't need exact script, just your general ideas on where the plot should go and how it gets there, mainly so I can A, lengthen the game and B, so if i can't think of what to write, I have a seperate reference sheet. (I have a general plot outline, but I've got some gaps, and your overall ideas tend to change mine)
@SPRITERS (any/all willing to assist)
If you are currently working on something for this patch LET ME KNOW! that information is VERY useful to me.
If you are NOT currently working on something and would like to assist me, I have a list of sprites that i need sooner rather then later. Anyone who helps me out will be given credit of some sort (naming a boss/weapon/random enemy/plot character, or some such. depends on my mood and how much you help.)
LIST:
Lead(THE main character of this game, you control this guy) General appearance: Young(15-23), Male, a bit more of an "eager" style of clothing for the setting (colors just bright enough to stand out from the grime). Overall:Open to interpretation.
D (Other main character) Older: (around Vormav's age, maybe a bit younger), fairly dark clothing (not black, just darker tones of colors) Overall: Open to interpretation.
Generic Zombie: As long as you can tell its a zombie, but doesn't look stereotypical (lame arm thing, or some such) its perfectly fine with me.
Greater Zombie: A larger more powerful zombie. Queklain-ish but without the stomach opening and whatnot might work, other ideas/concepts are welcome as well.
Lesser Vampire: Do NOT have it resemble Elmdor or Vincent Craven (already using those 2 for a different purpose)  Other then that, as long as its noticable that its a vampire, its fine. (gray skin, semi-gothic apperance, etc)

Those 5 are the most important at the moment, others are great too, those 5 are just the first 5 to appear story-wise, so having them means what YOU the consumer have a better looking parch to play. (what good is the final bosses sprite wen the story isnt that far yet?) Any other submissions would be amazing, im simply pointing out the "most needed" at this particular stage of the patch.

AAAAAAAAND
/end long post

Expect a new patch to play with some time these next couple days.

[woodenbandman]

I'll make a D and Lead concept.

EDIT: How's this for D?[attachment=0:34gxxin0]D concept.PNG[/attachment:34gxxin0]

EDIT: If you can't tell it's dycedarg's head on a Knight's shoulders, with a black ninja's body, and vormav's hair color. Undoubtedly more than 16 colors, but I'll work on reduction later.

[VampragonLord]

Edit: all further information/comments/etc about spriting, please place in the FFTOMGTZ sprite thread in the spriting section.

This thread will be used for discussing story points, the game mechanics, and all other concrete information of the game.

[SilvasRuin]

I don't know if I want to stab some comcast exec or stab my router.  It's hard to tell which one was at fault.  My internet was virtually unusable for... I don't know, half a week or more.  Sorry about that.  I'll get on chat tomorrow and see about talking to you there.

...on second thought, the proper phrasing would be today at this point.

[Asmo X]

Shame I didn't see this sooner. I hope it's still going.