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FFT: WOTL - Valeria 2.4 "Ivalice Remastered"

Started by Windows X, December 11, 2017, 04:33:54 am

JioCrestfall

I've been playing this for a week now and gotta say, pretty balanced overall; always had gripes with how the og got balanced. Anyway, I'm here to report that somehow with a sliver of luck I was able to finish the rescue luso mission and my god, I could not beat that without resorting to save states to 100 percent entice the behemoths. I could say that I probably did not think of a proper strategy for that (although i'm willing to hear any) but I couldn't and hoping this could be addressed soon :3

Nvm didn't see this was addressed mb :3
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Raijinili

Quote from: Windows X on September 16, 2020, 11:46:24 amAs for Squid demon, you can use attack that doesn't trigger reaction ability like Godspeed Strike from Archer or Agrias' skill for example. Other skills like Iaido and magic shouldn't trigger it too.
That seems like something you need to do before the battle. You can end up with a team which can't safely hit.

If you want to make them a strategic enemy which is dangerous to attack, you might want to lower their HP, and maybe their threat level otherwise. I don't think it's thematically appropriate for squids, though.

I'm not sure whether Squids with Nature's Wrath will roll their Reaction twice. It's an oddity in vanilla.

By the way, here are the damage values per level for vanilla Pisco Demons (neutral Zodiac):
lv  min  max
 1   12   15
 2   15   18
 3   18   21
 4   18   21
 5   21   24
 6   21   36
 7   24   40
 8   27   40
 9   27   44
10   30   48
11   30   48
12   33   52
13   36   56
14   36   60
15   52   60
16   52   64
17   56   68
18   60   72
19   60   72
20   64   76
21   64  100
22   68  100
23   72  105
24   72  110
25   76  115
26   76  115
27   80  120
28   84  125
29   84  125
30   88  130
31   88  135
32   92  140
33  120  140
34  120  145
35  125  150
36  125  180
37  130  186
38  135  192
39  135  198
40  140  198
41  140  204
42  145  210
43  150  216
44  150  216
45  155  222
46  155  228
47  160  228
48  165  234
49  165  240
50  204  287
51  204  287
52  210  294
53  216  301
54  216  301
55  222  308
56  222  315
57  228  322
58  234  322
59  234  329
60  240  336
61  240  336
62  246  343
63  252  350
64  252  357
65  258  408
66  258  416
67  264  424
68  315  432
69  315  432
70  322  440
71  322  448
72  329  448
73  336  456
74  336  464
75  343  472
76  343  472
77  350  480
78  357  488
79  357  488
80  364  558
81  364  567
82  371  576
83  378  576
84  378  585
85  385  594
86  440  594
87  448  603
88  456  612
89  456  621
90  464  621
91  464  630
92  472  639
93  480  648
94  480  648
95  488  730
96  488  740
97  496  740
98  504  750
99  504  760
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Raijinili

Quote from: Raijinili on October 16, 2020, 09:21:03 pmThat seems like something you need to do before the battle. You can end up with a team which can't safely hit. You didn't put any in an escort mission, right?

If you want to make them a strategic enemy which is dangerous to attack, you might want to lower their HP, and maybe their threat level otherwise. I don't think it's thematically appropriate for squids, though.

I'm not sure whether Squids with Nature's Wrath will roll their Reaction twice. It's an oddity in vanilla.

By the way, here are the damage values per level for vanilla Pisco Demons (neutral Zodiac):
lv  min  max
 1   12   15
 2   15   18
 3   18   21
 4   18   21
 5   21   24
 6   21   36
 7   24   40
 8   27   40
 9   27   44
10   30   48
11   30   48
12   33   52
13   36   56
14   36   60
15   52   60
16   52   64
17   56   68
18   60   72
19   60   72
20   64   76
21   64  100
22   68  100
23   72  105
24   72  110
25   76  115
26   76  115
27   80  120
28   84  125
29   84  125
30   88  130
31   88  135
32   92  140
33  120  140
34  120  145
35  125  150
36  125  180
37  130  186
38  135  192
39  135  198
40  140  198
41  140  204
42  145  210
43  150  216
44  150  216
45  155  222
46  155  228
47  160  228
48  165  234
49  165  240
50  204  287
51  204  287
52  210  294
53  216  301
54  216  301
55  222  308
56  222  315
57  228  322
58  234  322
59  234  329
60  240  336
61  240  336
62  246  343
63  252  350
64  252  357
65  258  408
66  258  416
67  264  424
68  315  432
69  315  432
70  322  440
71  322  448
72  329  448
73  336  456
74  336  464
75  343  472
76  343  472
77  350  480
78  357  488
79  357  488
80  364  558
81  364  567
82  371  576
83  378  576
84  378  585
85  385  594
86  440  594
87  448  603
88  456  612
89  456  621
90  464  621
91  464  630
92  472  639
93  480  648
94  480  648
95  488  730
96  488  740
97  496  740
98  504  750
99  504  760
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Windows X

Quote from: JioCrestfall on October 16, 2020, 11:42:15 amI've been playing this for a week now and gotta say, pretty balanced overall; always had gripes with how the og got balanced. Anyway, I'm here to report that somehow with a sliver of luck I was able to finish the rescue luso mission and my god, I could not beat that without resorting to save states to 100 percent entice the behemoths. I could say that I probably did not think of a proper strategy for that (although i'm willing to hear any) but I couldn't and hoping this could be addressed soon :3

Nvm didn't see this was addressed mb :3

Thank you for your feedback. Have you tried Shell/Wall/Reflect abilities that can minimize damage taken from Gigaflare? Could you elaborate why it's so hard to beat this stage with savestate and your party level to fight it? I tested in normal no grind run so level isn't that high and I can beat it with those abilities.

I'll update 2.3 soon with this issue addressed better so your input is highly appreciated to see which direction I should take to make it easier for some players.

Quote from: Raijinili on October 16, 2020, 09:21:03 pmThat seems like something you need to do before the battle. You can end up with a team which can't safely hit.

If you want to make them a strategic enemy which is dangerous to attack, you might want to lower their HP, and maybe their threat level otherwise. I don't think it's thematically appropriate for squids, though.

I'm not sure whether Squids with Nature's Wrath will roll their Reaction twice. It's an oddity in vanilla.

By the way, here are the damage values per level for vanilla Pisco Demons (neutral Zodiac):
lv  min  max
 1   12   15
 2   15   18
 3   18   21
 4   18   21
 5   21   24
 6   21   36
 7   24   40
 8   27   40
 9   27   44
10   30   48
11   30   48
12   33   52
13   36   56
14   36   60
15   52   60
16   52   64
17   56   68
18   60   72
19   60   72
20   64   76
21   64  100
22   68  100
23   72  105
24   72  110
25   76  115
26   76  115
27   80  120
28   84  125
29   84  125
30   88  130
31   88  135
32   92  140
33  120  140
34  120  145
35  125  150
36  125  180
37  130  186
38  135  192
39  135  198
40  140  198
41  140  204
42  145  210
43  150  216
44  150  216
45  155  222
46  155  228
47  160  228
48  165  234
49  165  240
50  204  287
51  204  287
52  210  294
53  216  301
54  216  301
55  222  308
56  222  315
57  228  322
58  234  322
59  234  329
60  240  336
61  240  336
62  246  343
63  252  350
64  252  357
65  258  408
66  258  416
67  264  424
68  315  432
69  315  432
70  322  440
71  322  448
72  329  448
73  336  456
74  336  464
75  343  472
76  343  472
77  350  480
78  357  488
79  357  488
80  364  558
81  364  567
82  371  576
83  378  576
84  378  585
85  385  594
86  440  594
87  448  603
88  456  612
89  456  621
90  464  621
91  464  630
92  472  639
93  480  648
94  480  648
95  488  730
96  488  740
97  496  740
98  504  750
99  504  760

Nature's wrath will counter with Geomancer attack so it won't be that high. Most enemies will come with new reaction abilities too so it's more like some can be surprisingly harder to deal with and I believe this will make players appreciating reaction abilities better.

However, I must admit I didn't test this in level 99 since my mod is based on no grind run but this is manageable with party member using abilities that won't proc nature's wrath or just turn them to stone or dead. At least everyone should bring magic user to attack so that will do.
  • Modding version: WotL

JioCrestfall

Quote from: Windows X on October 21, 2020, 01:48:20 amThank you for your feedback. Have you tried Shell/Wall/Reflect abilities that can minimize damage taken from Gigaflare? Could you elaborate why it's so hard to beat this stage with savestate and your party level to fight it? I tested in normal no grind run so level isn't that high and I can beat it with those abilities.

I'll update 2.3 soon with this issue addressed better so your input is highly appreciated to see which direction I should take to make it easier for some players.

Honestly, I think that was my fault for not thinking of using shell or reflect XD

Also about why I had to result to using savestates was I just use orator skill to entice one or three of them and let them kill each other and had ramza and another one of my tank to keep them at bay while the other speedy unit i had enticed said behemoths.

On the topic of changing something: I'm still unsure if the range of gigaflare needs to be changed as it was a bit overwhelming for me for me at the time, but actually had a way for me to survive the ordeal. If there were something to suggest is have at least one (or either of the two) holy knight / divine knight skill for T.G. Cid, i know he breaks the game at that point but if i were to add something for him probably, Judgement blade and Crush armor to go well with his shadow sword but that's still all you.

Last thing, I hope you can get dawnblade animation to show damage numbers (if ever that's on top priority or not). Anyways love the hack :3
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

takemura

So I played an earlier version of this mod and just found out that this has a new update and downloaded it.

I am a bit disappointed that mana font was taken away for other magic classes to learn, I always enjoyed to use that ability on other magic classes, I understand the reasoning behind removing it but I consider that other magic classes should have native mana font too like the mystic then.
  • Modding version: PSX & WotL

Windows X

Quote from: JioCrestfall on October 22, 2020, 03:53:20 amHonestly, I think that was my fault for not thinking of using shell or reflect XD

Also about why I had to result to using savestates was I just use orator skill to entice one or three of them and let them kill each other and had ramza and another one of my tank to keep them at bay while the other speedy unit i had enticed said behemoths.

On the topic of changing something: I'm still unsure if the range of gigaflare needs to be changed as it was a bit overwhelming for me for me at the time, but actually had a way for me to survive the ordeal. If there were something to suggest is have at least one (or either of the two) holy knight / divine knight skill for T.G. Cid, i know he breaks the game at that point but if i were to add something for him probably, Judgement blade and Crush armor to go well with his shadow sword but that's still all you.

Last thing, I hope you can get dawnblade animation to show damage numbers (if ever that's on top priority or not). Anyways love the hack :3

I'm considering making Gigaflare with self range similar to 3 self big spells from lucavi boss. This should improve game balance and keep it enjoyable enough without nerfing damage/effect area. I tried to make Dawnblade showing number and stuff but I'm not very good with animation. I tried to put some numbers and make change of it but didn't work.

Quote from: takemura on October 31, 2020, 04:06:22 pmSo I played an earlier version of this mod and just found out that this has a new update and downloaded it.

I am a bit disappointed that mana font was taken away for other magic classes to learn, I always enjoyed to use that ability on other magic classes, I understand the reasoning behind removing it but I consider that other magic classes should have native mana font too like the mystic then.

MP Switch with Manafont is broken setup making mage tanking any damage for one turn at the cost of MP. It can be used on job without MP requirements for abuing free tank too so I removed MP switch until 2.0 with Manafont restrictions on Mystic.

Most people also ended up using mages will end up having MP Switch reaction, Swiftness or Arcane Strength support, and Manafont move. So, I want to make of obvious options to become job's unique skill instead. This will give spotlight to secondary options after being ignored for so long.
  • Modding version: WotL

darkskyx

I spent 1 day playing this mod, I left it because it feels unbalanced and I want to share my experience:
From this mod I like the fact that that some units get free basic skills once you get them, less grinding is good. I like the fact that I can unlock geomancer early on (but that job stills feed underpowered to me). I like the black mage changes, they feel more balanced... But the mod is not on point. The heal changes are that bad that I got somehow stuck in a mission, and leveling up didn't make it better. It felt like a hard mode... Which is, because enemies level up as you are.

The most I hate from this mod are the heal changes, the white mage feels useless AF. If I have a white mage I want him/her to heal... Sometimes pots are not enough, you heal so low and even the heal misses. It would be good to (at least) make that basic cure on 1 unit not miss and don't add that "regen" thing. Just a heal for the early game.
I also dislike the remove Brave/faith manipulation thing. That's a good way to slowly increase yourself in the later stages. I'd prefer if it was nerfed to just 1 point but it should be still there. And well, let's now recap:

Basically, in the early game, your mod feels hard and fast, so I need to find the OP strats behind your changes, and the mod isn't fun that way. I feel like I'm against the clock, and the problem is the heal after all... I can't make use of Regen if I have 50 HP and enemies 2hit KO me. I'd fix that, and some buff on Geomancer damage wouldn't be that bad too ;)

P.S: You should get some ideas from the FFT Emergence mod, where the skills and the jobs are re-balanced, so some units won or losses skills.
  • Modding version: WotL

✪ Emergence 2 for PSP (EN/ES) - Play it now! ✪
A vanilla+ experience for PSP. Actual patch: 1.0+. More fixes in v1.1!
  • Discord username: darkskyx#9825

Windows X

November 21, 2020, 07:35:59 am #108 Last Edit: November 21, 2020, 05:06:23 pm by Windows X
Quote from: darkskyx on November 21, 2020, 03:06:21 amI spent 1 day playing this mod, I left it because it feels unbalanced and I want to share my experience:
From this mod I like the fact that that some units get free basic skills once you get them, less grinding is good. I like the fact that I can unlock geomancer early on (but that job stills feed underpowered to me). I like the black mage changes, they feel more balanced... But the mod is not on point. The heal changes are that bad that I got somehow stuck in a mission, and leveling up didn't make it better. It felt like a hard mode... Which is, because enemies level up as you are.

The most I hate from this mod are the heal changes, the white mage feels useless AF. If I have a white mage I want him/her to heal... Sometimes pots are not enough, you heal so low and even the heal misses. It would be good to (at least) make that basic cure on 1 unit not miss and don't add that "regen" thing. Just a heal for the early game.
I also dislike the remove Brave/faith manipulation thing. That's a good way to slowly increase yourself in the later stages. I'd prefer if it was nerfed to just 1 point but it should be still there. And well, let's now recap:

Basically, in the early game, your mod feels hard and fast, so I need to find the OP strats behind your changes, and the mod isn't fun that way. I feel like I'm against the clock, and the problem is the heal after all... I can't make use of Regen if I have 50 HP and enemies 2hit KO me. I'd fix that, and some buff on Geomancer damage wouldn't be that bad too ;)

P.S: You should get some ideas from the FFT Emergence mod, where the skills and the jobs are re-balanced, so some units won or losses skills.

Thank you for your feedback. It seems this mod isn't suitable for you because you seem to enjoy instant pacing type for fun factor rather than slow pacing with strategic planning. Revamping cure spells has been done for years and it works as intended.

Even First Aid which is actually self regen without HP can also work for Novice. Maybe you can observe how enemies play like casting First Aid/Cure and run away. Game is hard because enemies utilize changes I made better than you.

Also, you shouldn't rely on Cure that much in chapter 1. Potion should be more effective at first and it'll lose its usefulness over time while Cure spells will become more effective later with multi-target and higher percentage on higher HP.

Geomancer is actually very good for DPS after Ninja and Samurai. He can use magic efficiently and can equip sword to hit hard too. On top of that, he can equip stats boosting items in later chapters and his Geomancy deals more damage. I also use Geomancer as reliable tank with innate Lifefont + Regen casting Protection and become berserker instead.

I already offer so many options to choose and it seems you didn't even progress to unlock Summoner that can heal with fixed HP like original cure such as Moogle and Faerie. Monk can heal quite well with Chakra too.

What I'm trying to work on Valeria project is to make proper difficulty and progression without punishing and torture players like 1.3. It's still more challenging than vanilla and requires more than simple strategies and powercreep to work

If you find this Valeria being too hard and not fun enough to uncover strategies you can use to beat this game without grinding, maybe you'd better play with mods that allow power spike and simpler strategy to work with.

If you still have passion to git gud on my mod, you can check my YouTube videos from here so you can learn for references.

https://www.youtube.com/user/lucifiarx
  • Modding version: WotL

darkskyx

Quote from: Windows X on November 21, 2020, 07:35:59 amThank you for your feedback. It seems this mod isn't suitable for you because you seem to enjoy instant pacing type for fun factor rather than slow pacing with strategic planning. Revamping cure spells has been done for years and it works as intended.

Even First Aid which is actually self regen without HP can also work for Novice. Maybe you can observe how enemies play like casting First Aid/Cure and run away. Game is hard because enemies utilize changes I made better than you.

Also, you shouldn't rely on Cure that much in chapter 1. Potion should be more effective at first and it'll lose its usefulness over time while Cure spells will become more effective later with multi-target and higher percentage on higher HP.

Geomancer is actually very good for DPS after Ninja and Samurai. He can use magic efficiently and can equip sword to hit hard too. On top of that, he can equip stats boosting items in later chapters and his Geomancy deals more damage. I also use Geomancer as reliable tank with innate Lifefont + Regen casting Protection and become berserker instead.

I already offer so many options to choose and it seems you didn't even progress to unlock Summoner that can heal with fixed HP like original cure such as Moogle and Faerie. Monk can heal quite well with Chakra too.

What I'm trying to work on Valeria project is to make proper difficulty and progression without punishing and torture players like 1.3. It's still more challenging than vanilla and requires more than simple strategies and powercreep to work

If you find this Valeria being too hard and not fun enough to uncover strategies you can use to beat this game without grinding, maybe you'd better play with mods that allow power spike and simpler strategy to work with.

If you still have passion to git gud on my mod, you can check my YouTube videos from here so you can learn for references.

https://www.youtube.com/user/lucifiarx

Thanks for your response. I can understand your changes, you did a good job in general, but I don't find interesing or fun the overall ideas of your project. I find other mods better at improving difficulty while maintaining a nice variety of strategies. I just had to say what I don't like at all about your project. I feel like I'm playing the way the hackmodder wants me to play, and I don't like that. Don't think that I don't like hard challenges or strategical planning, it's just a fact that you nerfed powercreeping on purpose because you don't like it. And it's fine, all kinds of mods should be out there. But I prefer the idea of nerfing and not just disable strategies. Have a nice day.
  • Modding version: WotL

✪ Emergence 2 for PSP (EN/ES) - Play it now! ✪
A vanilla+ experience for PSP. Actual patch: 1.0+. More fixes in v1.1!
  • Discord username: darkskyx#9825

Windows X

Quote from: darkskyx on November 21, 2020, 08:47:10 pmThanks for your response. I can understand your changes, you did a good job in general, but I don't find interesing or fun the overall ideas of your project. I find other mods better at improving difficulty while maintaining a nice variety of strategies. I just had to say what I don't like at all about your project. I feel like I'm playing the way the hackmodder wants me to play, and I don't like that. Don't think that I don't like hard challenges or strategical planning, it's just a fact that you nerfed powercreeping on purpose because you don't like it. And it's fine, all kinds of mods should be out there. But I prefer the idea of nerfing and not just disable strategies. Have a nice day.

It's more like you have X play style and this mod doesn't allow you to play it the way you want to. That's fine. Just fine something else to enjoy. This mod doesn't have specific strategies to beat the game and many cleared it before. I only nerf power creep strategy for veterans who can appreciate the game as it should be. Powercreep is not strategy in my book sorry.
  • Modding version: WotL

Suco Quente

I started playing this mod on new years eve, and have had a great time exploring this revisited classic. I thought it would be nice to share my experience so far.

INB4, I've never been a fan of hardmodes, those kind of mods looks time-consuming, stress-fueled and always failed me. Challenge must be on a strategic level, and the overall mechanics must not be exploitable to favor any sides, or give at least a slight advantage to the player, instead of some absurd difficulty spikes. Up to mid-chapter 3, Valeria 2.2 delivers an amazing experience, until I decided to grind for some abilities, oh boy, I fucked up trying to have Ramza master Samurai hahah

By grinding some, Ramza, Agrias and Mustadio and two generics got to level 30ish, below 35 for sure, but enough to bring me ruin from there on. The spike difficulty came to Luso's Zeklaus Desert battle. Dude, those Behemoths hit HARD. From there on I've had to save-scum every battle in order to achieve success and not frustrate myself by playing it. Riovanes Castle give some trouble also, Wiegraf wasn't as fear-inducing as he once was in vanilla all those years ago, but Belias and his gargoyles were a bigger threat, they nuked my more fragile members, while giving me less time to react.

So, after some insuccesses, I gave the documentation another good read, and by "exploiting" mediators Weaken, brought my whole team (even those who were far underleved) to level 20ish, Belias suddenly wasn't a threat anymore. But oh man how naive I was to forget about Marquis battle on the roof. Oof, he beat me hard, his Iaidos wipe Rapha in sometimes one to three hits, not considering the Ultima-nukers, insta-killing assassins, charming maids Elmdores assistants in the equation.

I just beat Fort Besselat, opening the hatches in game shows no respect to the astounding picture showed just after the battle. From Riovanes til now, save-scumming slowly became a win condition, and frustation started to hit me. Weaken abuse in order to keep every party member at level 25~ could not bring back fair fight (Meliadoul nukes hard) by itself, so spamming stop/stall became a rule to get me some good prizes (Worker 7 and his fear-inducing Hydras). Well, unfortunately I've lost some interest, even though I really would like to push it a bit further, up to Igros castle showdown, even finish the game without looting Midlight's Deep.

So, wrapping it up, my major complaints are:
- Difficulty progression. Getting some levels over the threshold punishes the player. As you've stated in documentation, balance here is a hard thing to achieve, but I hope that it may be achieved by tweaking other aspects of the game.

- Character progression. 700 to 1000 JP prices are far too expensive and will require grind, or else the player sacrifice some good spells along the way in order to get those higher JP costs abilities.

- Encourage player to get to the latter chapters more quickly without making the game easier. I really don't know how to approach this, but the more appealing characters with exclusive jobs (Bewoulf and Reis are AMAZING, Cloud really functions with CT reduced limits, even without Swiftness) are locked by the own game story. And by then, try to get some abilities for them forces the player to Weaken abuse once again.

Well, not all my thoughts about this amazing hack are cries over my inaptitude to plan accordingly, with mechanics in mind and everything else that is required to press onward. I really feel that a true fan of FFT did some great changes: Knights new kit, Archers as great debuffers, major balance over every class, removing the most broken dual-wielding combos, calculators being the most broken class final fantasy franchise has ever witnessed. Needed buffs were applied and giving purpose to needless and/or overshadowed items, well, about every touched mechanic is a good revamp to the vanilla formula, breathing more life to this game. You deserve every praise for your hard work. Really, you slapped some happy smiles on me, a rather vanilla player who was thisty for a good FFT mod.


--
Disclaimer: Sorry for the long post, and so sorry if something is ambiguous or hard to read, I'm not an english native-speaker and have been in touch with the language mainly through games.
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Windows X

Quote from: Suco Quente on January 05, 2021, 07:30:33 pmI started playing this mod on new years eve, and have had a great time exploring this revisited classic. I thought it would be nice to share my experience so far.

INB4, I've never been a fan of hardmodes, those kind of mods looks time-consuming, stress-fueled and always failed me. Challenge must be on a strategic level, and the overall mechanics must not be exploitable to favor any sides, or give at least a slight advantage to the player, instead of some absurd difficulty spikes. Up to mid-chapter 3, Valeria 2.2 delivers an amazing experience, until I decided to grind for some abilities, oh boy, I fucked up trying to have Ramza master Samurai hahah

By grinding some, Ramza, Agrias and Mustadio and two generics got to level 30ish, below 35 for sure, but enough to bring me ruin from there on. The spike difficulty came to Luso's Zeklaus Desert battle. Dude, those Behemoths hit HARD. From there on I've had to save-scum every battle in order to achieve success and not frustrate myself by playing it. Riovanes Castle give some trouble also, Wiegraf wasn't as fear-inducing as he once was in vanilla all those years ago, but Belias and his gargoyles were a bigger threat, they nuked my more fragile members, while giving me less time to react.

So, after some insuccesses, I gave the documentation another good read, and by "exploiting" mediators Weaken, brought my whole team (even those who were far underleved) to level 20ish, Belias suddenly wasn't a threat anymore. But oh man how naive I was to forget about Marquis battle on the roof. Oof, he beat me hard, his Iaidos wipe Rapha in sometimes one to three hits, not considering the Ultima-nukers, insta-killing assassins, charming maids Elmdores assistants in the equation.

I just beat Fort Besselat, opening the hatches in game shows no respect to the astounding picture showed just after the battle. From Riovanes til now, save-scumming slowly became a win condition, and frustation started to hit me. Weaken abuse in order to keep every party member at level 25~ could not bring back fair fight (Meliadoul nukes hard) by itself, so spamming stop/stall became a rule to get me some good prizes (Worker 7 and his fear-inducing Hydras). Well, unfortunately I've lost some interest, even though I really would like to push it a bit further, up to Igros castle showdown, even finish the game without looting Midlight's Deep.

So, wrapping it up, my major complaints are:
- Difficulty progression. Getting some levels over the threshold punishes the player. As you've stated in documentation, balance here is a hard thing to achieve, but I hope that it may be achieved by tweaking other aspects of the game.

- Character progression. 700 to 1000 JP prices are far too expensive and will require grind, or else the player sacrifice some good spells along the way in order to get those higher JP costs abilities.

- Encourage player to get to the latter chapters more quickly without making the game easier. I really don't know how to approach this, but the more appealing characters with exclusive jobs (Bewoulf and Reis are AMAZING, Cloud really functions with CT reduced limits, even without Swiftness) are locked by the own game story. And by then, try to get some abilities for them forces the player to Weaken abuse once again.

Well, not all my thoughts about this amazing hack are cries over my inaptitude to plan accordingly, with mechanics in mind and everything else that is required to press onward. I really feel that a true fan of FFT did some great changes: Knights new kit, Archers as great debuffers, major balance over every class, removing the most broken dual-wielding combos, calculators being the most broken class final fantasy franchise has ever witnessed. Needed buffs were applied and giving purpose to needless and/or overshadowed items, well, about every touched mechanic is a good revamp to the vanilla formula, breathing more life to this game. You deserve every praise for your hard work. Really, you slapped some happy smiles on me, a rather vanilla player who was thisty for a good FFT mod.


--
Disclaimer: Sorry for the long post, and so sorry if something is ambiguous or hard to read, I'm not an english native-speaker and have been in touch with the language mainly through games.

Thank you for sharing your feedback. I understand that Luso's fight is one of highest difficulty jump and I used to have similar cases with some battles in vanilla like saving Agrias and Rapha. Dealing with NPC is always tricky.

At first release I thought using high speed Ninja job to cast Shell/Wall/Reflect on Luso will do but people still struggle a lot about it so I changed Luso's weapon to Defender with innate Shell to help with Gigaflare nerf.

Still, it's not proper way to make everyone enjoy this so I changed Gigaflare to have self range in developing 2.3 and believe this should address difficulty spike so far. It was close to completion but I have to visit my parents before releasing so I'll release it when I get back.


Wiegraf fight wasn't that hard to me during testing run but it's probably because I play with no grind run so it's around the same level as I play before so no difficulty spike on my part. Maybe it'll be harder on higher levels with limited gear which is one thing I feared about level scaling.

About Gargoyles part, I usually use one faster attacker to bait Gargoyles with Ramza spamming attack. Ninja with Equip Heavy Armor and Geomancer/Samurai with Blood Sword can work to sustain longer. Then spam Holy damage on Belias. You don't need to kill Gargoyles.

However, I also added Weaken so you can exploit weakening Ramza to nerf enemies level. This can reduce difficulty to make tough fights easier and you can grind him back later. I'm never a fan of over grind so players who prefer high level can adapt play style as you see fit.

Valeria 2 is the most ambitious update taking many aspects to realize my vision so it took so god damn long time to release 2.0 despite not having everything implemented. 2.3 Will cover remaining parts of Samurai job that you love so much with elemental attribute and some adjustments.

Getting level scaling done right for both no grind and over grind is impossible due to gear limitations. I put my best effort to change all equipment attributes for this feature that I one day hope to realzie and trust me this is a lot realistic and reasonable compared to others.

As for high JP cost spells, that's what you should plan on making party from beginning and special characters that join will have jobs unlocked to reduce grinding a bit. In my run I always plan about what these units plan to do in the end and make use of JP Boost during early stage for JP farming.

Once I can get good core abilities, I stopped using JP grind and enjoy the game with support skill that can help. I also have a run with Ramza as Samurai and duel fight can manage with Blood Sword with some support like White Magicks/Items/Auto Potion/Counter.

You can't expect 1500JP to be easily obtained like 500JP as that will break game balance. That's not possible unless I can somehow add job level requirements on skill. I also tried reducing JP cost but then player will abuse it and cheese content. Maybe I can rework strong summon with lower damage and add debuff with lower JP if you agree.

Anyway, there's a lot of exploits to learn high cost spells without JP farming. I sometimes learned higher tier spells from enemies and also cast on allies to teach each other too. You can grind generic through errands and crystalize them to learn or use confuse on them to cast spell on you to learn also.

Despite the options you can choose, please keep in mind that high level scaling isn't what the game was designed for and every high level scaling challenges will need strategies and plans for adjustments to play properly. With right abilities and team setup, you can make it and my is the most compromise one among them.

As for unique characters in chapter 4, It's not like I never considered it but they're really good with great items that come with too. Trying to make them join earlier with some hacks will result losing some items and make content with them too easy.

Maybe your first run isn't smooth enough but you can plan and try to learn new mechanics better and enjoy the second, third, or forth in future like when 2.3 comes out with changes that should work with you better.

To be honest, I'm still waiting for more feedback about the game so that I can see where other players see in different aspects. Level scaling is one thing I always feel it's not 100% done despite all the effort I prepared for years before implementing. But workaround I prepared should give some rooms and glad to see you used that. :)

P.S. I'm also vanilla fan trying a few mods and felt like they are not FFT I remembered and decided to make no grind run mod since I love FFT but hate grinding. I didn't expect simple no grind mod to progress this far lol.
  • Modding version: WotL

runa08

Hi im new here, how can i apply the downloaded fft valeria mod into my original fft wotl iso? Thankyou in advance.
  • Modding version: WotL

Suco Quente

Hello Windows X! I'm really sorry for the long time I took to read your answer. I've spent the last 10 days playing Cerabow PSX Mod, his mod addresses some of my observations of yours, but there some aspects that Valeria shines brighter. I've just completed Dycedarg showdown in Igros Castle and will put my thoughts for you and for Cerabow likely, because I think that both mods could learn from each other while being distinct, unique.

Grind aspects, different approaches and different outcomes:
Firstly, I'd like to highlight that while Valeria required me some random battle grinds, during my Cerabows mod playthrough, I had one random battle during each chapter to poach some items. I really can't decide if its healthy to skip random battles, because in Valeria it was almost needed if I wanted some good abilities, while in Cerabow I got to chapter 4 with at one mastered job per character (my most used characters were the same on both: Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, one female magic-oriented unit, one female melee-oriented unit), during my Valeria playthrough I had to grind in moderately, consequently raising enemies levels and items.

During my Cerabow playthrough I took Windows X recommendation in mind and fairly abused crystal abilities inheritance, this let me had better skills earlier than intended.

Now, what really gives Cerabow an edge is Propositions/Errands. Letting the player send unique units to Propositions/Errands surely sped up grind (addressing my complaint about characters that come way too late to prove useful), mitigating the need to engage in random battles. By introducing this matter, it is wise to discuss:

JP Cost issue:
I think that Cerabow approach to JP cost is healthier than Valeria, tuning down JP gain per action by removing JP Boost let the player focus on other Support abilities equally useful (Throw Item, Equipe Armor, Stat Boosts comes to mind). Lowering JP costs also gave slow yet steady sensation of progression within the current job, and let me choose which way to specialize my characters.

Though healthier, Cerabow approach ease the overall difficulty, by chapter 4, Ramza, Mustadio and my female-melee oriented unit had 3 mastered jobs and some neat support abilities, virtually giving them a defined identity to the rest of the game. While not cheesing the game, surely it let me deviate a lot more from the given identity I choose for them and try wilder set-ups without losing their previous identities.

Specific jobs suggetions and observations:
[Ramza] exclusive jobs:
Excluding Valerias Chicken-inducing OP ability, both approaches are well placed: Valeria gives Ramza a Holy Knight vibe with Dawnblade and diverse buffs to the party. Cerabow give Ramza great Dark Knight abilities with Void Strike and Night Sword, but takes nothing from him, he feels almost overpowered when equiped with a Sword/Knightsword. I say: either approach is valid and give Ramza interesting roles to play. Cerabow should nerf him a bit by removing some of his party buffs and make them self buffs.

[Mustadio] Vanilla-archer skin versus Engineer:
Even though Valeria approach lacks variety, Mustadios Aim trully does what it proposes to do: raw, pure damage. It feels nice, it's rewarding and let him be whatever he want to be (archer locker, gunslinger/debuffer Orator, healing Chemist), without losing his character and damage.
On the other side, Cerabow's Mustadio is a respectable support unit, but overlaps with Chemist fantasy, it fails to give him freedom of choice and locks him to a status-inducing, support-oriented unit.

[Agrias] Paladin versus Inquisitor:
Generally in Vanilla Agrias is a weaker Cid, and is easily shadowed by her peer. Cerabow tries to mitigate that by giving her nice healing tools with Oblation Blade and Wish, fulfilling a Paladin fantasy that fits well with her character. MP Costs are lower than they should be, allowing player to abuse her area damage.
Valeria opt to keep her offensive tools and weigh the damage down. By taking off Cid access to Holy Knight's abilities, it garantees that Agrias remains useful through the campaign as a consistent damage dealer.
Just like Ramza, both approaches to Agrias are promising and are equally interesting, I tend to like the Paladin approach more, but it doesn't outshine off Valeria's Agrias usefulness.

[Bewoulf] Drain Bot:
I've always liked Bewoulf, I really don't know why, his brief story arc with Reis, his abilities, his galant-looking garb. I've used him since my first time playing vanilla FFT all those years ago, and he never failed me to deliver his fantasy.
How can I say it? In either mod, his status inducing moves and consistent damage really delivers. Nerfing him would put him in bad position if compared to Orator and other status inducing classes, and buffing him would surely make him far too OP. In many, many cases, a team without Bewoulf is inferior to a team with Beowulf.

[Rapha] prodige child:
Oh boy, Rapha is a weird girl to use, but feels rewarding to. I tried my best to fit her in my comp, I benched my mage-oriented unit in order to make the best of her, and had quite success in both mods! Valeria keeps her identity intact, and strongly suggests the player to turn her into an outstanding magic-based Dark Knight, while Cerabow takes her casting time and equalize it by giving her Mantras MP costs, in either way, she's an amazing unit and her backstory is awesome too.

[Orlandeau] aka Thunder FUCKING God Cid:
He's a beast. Period. I guess there's no way to tune him down, and I really don't want that to happen. Valeria gives Orlandeau some neat equally protecting and destructive spells, while Cerabow keeps his multi-knight aspect, while he doesn't have the best of each XXXX-Knight abilities, he's still useful and hits like a truck.

I didn't use Malak, Meliadoul, Reis, Cloud, Balthier(PSP) and Luso(PSP) (Balmafula(Valeria) and Zenthar(Cerabow)) enough to share my impressions of them, but I'll try my best through this month and will surely use them wisely. Well, let's talk about generic units.

[Squire]
A basic melee unit has basic needs. Valeria chooses to let player skip it fairly faster, while Cerabow gives Squires some Beastmaster vibes. Since I tend to not use monster units, I'll praise the new weapon choices given to Squires in Cerabows mod, crossbows, spears and shields give squires some variety in early game.

[Chemist]

Auto-Potion still is one of the best (if not the best) Reaction ability in the whole game, and Cerabows make it far too OP by buffing X-Potion healing and giving them an awesome healing option in Mega Potion. Having a gun-wielding chemist always prove to be a choice, even though I didn't like Cerabow's Chemical Cocktail and Lion's Mane because of the clear counterplay with Panacea/Remedy or any other easily obtainable healing tool, I really apreciate Valerias Protective Charm and Maiden's Blessing, this approach furthers amplifies the healing capabilities of the Chemist.

[Knight]
Equipment break still are powerful abilities to use in order to criple enemies, and either approach is equally useful. Valeria focus on inflicting darkness/silence and Cerabow focus on lowering Atk/Mag power. Both are interesting on its own and are welcome changes to the job.

[Archer]
I'm not gonna lie, Valerias Archer is superior to Cerabows. Leg/Arm Aim are present in both interpretations, but in Valeria, Archer has better tools in Head Strike and Charged Strike than Poison Strike and Oily Strike.

[Thief]
I really like that in Cerabows mod, every job have ways to deal damage and inflict statuses. And Cerabows thief annoy even harder, while Valeria sticks to the vanilla formula.

[Monk]
Monk is... weak. Early game show its usefulness with ranged physical-based damage, but falls short in damage as soon as better equipment is made available, and never really catches back in damage department, at least his healing capabilities are good enough to keep them relevant up to midgame. Cerabows tries to fix Pole-wielding monks more movement and respectable evade rate, when equiped with shields they can bark loud, but bite softly.

[Lancer]
Well, Lancers and Ninjas are both speed-based classes in some way or another, so I'll try to review then I'll try to Lancers would benefit (A LOT, in fact) if Doublehand/Attack UP proc'ed with jump, well, it is what it is I guess. Jumping is a neat mechanic that requires well thought planning, and Cerabow alleviates by using the great Flux Armlet.

[Ninja]
Ninjas in Valeria are good reinterpretations of vanilla Ninjas, they hit hard with Ninja Blades (and hit twice, mind you), without losing options to throw some ninja stars here and there. While Cerabow ninjas, when equiped with Flux Armlet, transforms themselves in shuriken-throwing machines. Kinda dumb, but effective damage-wise. I tend to prefer Valerias approch, but well, it all comes to personal taste after all.

[Samurai]
Valerias Samurai wins this. By far the most interesting generic unit with good protection tools, fair magical damage and the best of all: costless casts. Not requiring me to bet a katana in order to use my abilities gives the player freedom to choose what will their Samurai do. He Protec but He Also Attac (and Attac HARD).

[White Mage]
Healing is a huge issue, and White mages as primary healers in the game have great impact in your composition. Valeria tries to mix healing potency and regen in one single spell, it has its uses, but fails to flat-heal when compared to Summoner healing tools. While that, Cerabow white magicks can easily be used by other classes with high MA, kinda rending White Mages useless. In both mods, I rely on potions to heal myself instead of using white magicks, I really don't know how to solve this issue, tho ): its either too powerful or too useless.

[Black Mage]
Cerabow gives Wizards nice elemental coverage with Aero and Water, Quake. they feel powerful, they feel fast enough to cast and don't fall short in damage when compared to Summoner. Valeria keeps their debuffing tools and gives them good range coverage while maintaining the high damage output. Well, just like Ninjas, it all comes to personal taste.

[Summoner]
Easily the best healers in Valeria, while kinda useless in Cerabow. Summons damage isn't a big showoff as their animations are. I guess that increasing cast time and increasing overall number outputs may be a good payoff to boost their potential.

Just like special characters, I didn't use all generic jobs, and will surely try to experiment with them in the near future. As soon as I play with them, I'll post here my impressions.

Well, I wrote quite a wall of words here hahahahahah but really, you modders work doesn't go unnoticed by me. I really appreciate every tweak and personal touch you guys give to this amazing game, and can't express enough gratitude to the AMAZING changes both mods do. It all comes to preference, really, but I thought that giving some feedback to both of you should really help improve next iterations of each mod.

Once again, thank you very very much, I tried to not take sides of neither mod, as both are outstading experiences to have. I'm just an average fan of Final Fantasy Tactics who don't have enough knowledge to put my thoughts in a mod by myself, but I am surely passionate about the story of this game-gem, the deep mechanics, the aesthetics, well, I really love FFT (:
  • Modding version: Other/Unknown

Windows X

Quote from: runa08 on January 18, 2021, 02:16:16 amHi im new here, how can i apply the downloaded fft valeria mod into my original fft wotl iso? Thankyou in advance.

Hi. You can read patching instructions from here

https://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9379.0
  • Modding version: WotL

Windows X

Quote from: Suco Quente on January 19, 2021, 08:04:06 pmHello Windows X! I'm really sorry for the long time I took to read your answer. I've spent the last 10 days playing Cerabow PSX Mod, his mod addresses some of my observations of yours, but there some aspects that Valeria shines brighter. I've just completed Dycedarg showdown in Igros Castle and will put my thoughts for you and for Cerabow likely, because I think that both mods could learn from each other while being distinct, unique.

Grind aspects, different approaches and different outcomes:
Firstly, I'd like to highlight that while Valeria required me some random battle grinds, during my Cerabows mod playthrough, I had one random battle during each chapter to poach some items. I really can't decide if its healthy to skip random battles, because in Valeria it was almost needed if I wanted some good abilities, while in Cerabow I got to chapter 4 with at one mastered job per character (my most used characters were the same on both: Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, one female magic-oriented unit, one female melee-oriented unit), during my Valeria playthrough I had to grind in moderately, consequently raising enemies levels and items.

During my Cerabow playthrough I took Windows X recommendation in mind and fairly abused crystal abilities inheritance, this let me had better skills earlier than intended.

Now, what really gives Cerabow an edge is Propositions/Errands. Letting the player send unique units to Propositions/Errands surely sped up grind (addressing my complaint about characters that come way too late to prove useful), mitigating the need to engage in random battles. By introducing this matter, it is wise to discuss:

JP Cost issue:
I think that Cerabow approach to JP cost is healthier than Valeria, tuning down JP gain per action by removing JP Boost let the player focus on other Support abilities equally useful (Throw Item, Equipe Armor, Stat Boosts comes to mind). Lowering JP costs also gave slow yet steady sensation of progression within the current job, and let me choose which way to specialize my characters.

Though healthier, Cerabow approach ease the overall difficulty, by chapter 4, Ramza, Mustadio and my female-melee oriented unit had 3 mastered jobs and some neat support abilities, virtually giving them a defined identity to the rest of the game. While not cheesing the game, surely it let me deviate a lot more from the given identity I choose for them and try wilder set-ups without losing their previous identities.

Specific jobs suggetions and observations:
[Ramza] exclusive jobs:
Excluding Valerias Chicken-inducing OP ability, both approaches are well placed: Valeria gives Ramza a Holy Knight vibe with Dawnblade and diverse buffs to the party. Cerabow give Ramza great Dark Knight abilities with Void Strike and Night Sword, but takes nothing from him, he feels almost overpowered when equiped with a Sword/Knightsword. I say: either approach is valid and give Ramza interesting roles to play. Cerabow should nerf him a bit by removing some of his party buffs and make them self buffs.

[Mustadio] Vanilla-archer skin versus Engineer:
Even though Valeria approach lacks variety, Mustadios Aim trully does what it proposes to do: raw, pure damage. It feels nice, it's rewarding and let him be whatever he want to be (archer locker, gunslinger/debuffer Orator, healing Chemist), without losing his character and damage.
On the other side, Cerabow's Mustadio is a respectable support unit, but overlaps with Chemist fantasy, it fails to give him freedom of choice and locks him to a status-inducing, support-oriented unit.

[Agrias] Paladin versus Inquisitor:
Generally in Vanilla Agrias is a weaker Cid, and is easily shadowed by her peer. Cerabow tries to mitigate that by giving her nice healing tools with Oblation Blade and Wish, fulfilling a Paladin fantasy that fits well with her character. MP Costs are lower than they should be, allowing player to abuse her area damage.
Valeria opt to keep her offensive tools and weigh the damage down. By taking off Cid access to Holy Knight's abilities, it garantees that Agrias remains useful through the campaign as a consistent damage dealer.
Just like Ramza, both approaches to Agrias are promising and are equally interesting, I tend to like the Paladin approach more, but it doesn't outshine off Valeria's Agrias usefulness.

[Bewoulf] Drain Bot:
I've always liked Bewoulf, I really don't know why, his brief story arc with Reis, his abilities, his galant-looking garb. I've used him since my first time playing vanilla FFT all those years ago, and he never failed me to deliver his fantasy.
How can I say it? In either mod, his status inducing moves and consistent damage really delivers. Nerfing him would put him in bad position if compared to Orator and other status inducing classes, and buffing him would surely make him far too OP. In many, many cases, a team without Bewoulf is inferior to a team with Beowulf.

[Rapha] prodige child:
Oh boy, Rapha is a weird girl to use, but feels rewarding to. I tried my best to fit her in my comp, I benched my mage-oriented unit in order to make the best of her, and had quite success in both mods! Valeria keeps her identity intact, and strongly suggests the player to turn her into an outstanding magic-based Dark Knight, while Cerabow takes her casting time and equalize it by giving her Mantras MP costs, in either way, she's an amazing unit and her backstory is awesome too.

[Orlandeau] aka Thunder FUCKING God Cid:
He's a beast. Period. I guess there's no way to tune him down, and I really don't want that to happen. Valeria gives Orlandeau some neat equally protecting and destructive spells, while Cerabow keeps his multi-knight aspect, while he doesn't have the best of each XXXX-Knight abilities, he's still useful and hits like a truck.

I didn't use Malak, Meliadoul, Reis, Cloud, Balthier(PSP) and Luso(PSP) (Balmafula(Valeria) and Zenthar(Cerabow)) enough to share my impressions of them, but I'll try my best through this month and will surely use them wisely. Well, let's talk about generic units.

[Squire]
A basic melee unit has basic needs. Valeria chooses to let player skip it fairly faster, while Cerabow gives Squires some Beastmaster vibes. Since I tend to not use monster units, I'll praise the new weapon choices given to Squires in Cerabows mod, crossbows, spears and shields give squires some variety in early game.

[Chemist]

Auto-Potion still is one of the best (if not the best) Reaction ability in the whole game, and Cerabows make it far too OP by buffing X-Potion healing and giving them an awesome healing option in Mega Potion. Having a gun-wielding chemist always prove to be a choice, even though I didn't like Cerabow's Chemical Cocktail and Lion's Mane because of the clear counterplay with Panacea/Remedy or any other easily obtainable healing tool, I really apreciate Valerias Protective Charm and Maiden's Blessing, this approach furthers amplifies the healing capabilities of the Chemist.

[Knight]
Equipment break still are powerful abilities to use in order to criple enemies, and either approach is equally useful. Valeria focus on inflicting darkness/silence and Cerabow focus on lowering Atk/Mag power. Both are interesting on its own and are welcome changes to the job.

[Archer]
I'm not gonna lie, Valerias Archer is superior to Cerabows. Leg/Arm Aim are present in both interpretations, but in Valeria, Archer has better tools in Head Strike and Charged Strike than Poison Strike and Oily Strike.

[Thief]
I really like that in Cerabows mod, every job have ways to deal damage and inflict statuses. And Cerabows thief annoy even harder, while Valeria sticks to the vanilla formula.

[Monk]
Monk is... weak. Early game show its usefulness with ranged physical-based damage, but falls short in damage as soon as better equipment is made available, and never really catches back in damage department, at least his healing capabilities are good enough to keep them relevant up to midgame. Cerabows tries to fix Pole-wielding monks more movement and respectable evade rate, when equiped with shields they can bark loud, but bite softly.

[Lancer]
Well, Lancers and Ninjas are both speed-based classes in some way or another, so I'll try to review then I'll try to Lancers would benefit (A LOT, in fact) if Doublehand/Attack UP proc'ed with jump, well, it is what it is I guess. Jumping is a neat mechanic that requires well thought planning, and Cerabow alleviates by using the great Flux Armlet.

[Ninja]
Ninjas in Valeria are good reinterpretations of vanilla Ninjas, they hit hard with Ninja Blades (and hit twice, mind you), without losing options to throw some ninja stars here and there. While Cerabow ninjas, when equiped with Flux Armlet, transforms themselves in shuriken-throwing machines. Kinda dumb, but effective damage-wise. I tend to prefer Valerias approch, but well, it all comes to personal taste after all.

[Samurai]
Valerias Samurai wins this. By far the most interesting generic unit with good protection tools, fair magical damage and the best of all: costless casts. Not requiring me to bet a katana in order to use my abilities gives the player freedom to choose what will their Samurai do. He Protec but He Also Attac (and Attac HARD).

[White Mage]
Healing is a huge issue, and White mages as primary healers in the game have great impact in your composition. Valeria tries to mix healing potency and regen in one single spell, it has its uses, but fails to flat-heal when compared to Summoner healing tools. While that, Cerabow white magicks can easily be used by other classes with high MA, kinda rending White Mages useless. In both mods, I rely on potions to heal myself instead of using white magicks, I really don't know how to solve this issue, tho ): its either too powerful or too useless.

[Black Mage]
Cerabow gives Wizards nice elemental coverage with Aero and Water, Quake. they feel powerful, they feel fast enough to cast and don't fall short in damage when compared to Summoner. Valeria keeps their debuffing tools and gives them good range coverage while maintaining the high damage output. Well, just like Ninjas, it all comes to personal taste.

[Summoner]
Easily the best healers in Valeria, while kinda useless in Cerabow. Summons damage isn't a big showoff as their animations are. I guess that increasing cast time and increasing overall number outputs may be a good payoff to boost their potential.

Just like special characters, I didn't use all generic jobs, and will surely try to experiment with them in the near future. As soon as I play with them, I'll post here my impressions.

Well, I wrote quite a wall of words here hahahahahah but really, you modders work doesn't go unnoticed by me. I really appreciate every tweak and personal touch you guys give to this amazing game, and can't express enough gratitude to the AMAZING changes both mods do. It all comes to preference, really, but I thought that giving some feedback to both of you should really help improve next iterations of each mod.

Once again, thank you very very much, I tried to not take sides of neither mod, as both are outstading experiences to have. I'm just an average fan of Final Fantasy Tactics who don't have enough knowledge to put my thoughts in a mod by myself, but I am surely passionate about the story of this game-gem, the deep mechanics, the aesthetics, well, I really love FFT (:

Thank you for your detailed feedback. Valeria 2 is by far the most ambitous and heaviest update that I couldn't finish everything I want upon release and trying to catch up over time.

As I'm modding on PSP mod, there'll be a lot of limitations that I can't do like PSX but I still use PSP as I enjoy improved graphics, cinematic cutscene and wide screen in real PSP device.

Right now I'm working on 2.3 with major fixes and re-balance again. I must admit I took some wrong turns during 2.0 finalization and forget some aspects of job unique abilities.

This time 2.3 should resolve some issues you mentioned better. For example, magic will scale better from 25/35/50/100 to 35/50/65/100. I forgot that tier 1 was single target so this should be fine now.

Luso fight is also resolved with Behemoth using Gigaflare as self target spell so they can't spam wide range to nuke us easily anymore. This also resolved exploiting instant powerful wide range spells on our side too.

For JP grinding, I intend to stick with vanilla approach as I want to keep natural progression. I never grind and still have high tier jobs unlocked before weapon is available.

However, I'll reduce JP costs on some abilities. If I reduce JP too low, players can abuse higher tier spells early and cheese things away. If there's job level requirements, that'd fix it but we don't have that.

I'm glad to hear you like my changes on Ramza and Mustadio. 2.3 update will change his Dawnblade to inflict Slow instead so it'll be more useful and Mustadio will have Tame replaced with Defense Boost because I ship him with Agrias.

I also considered Agrias with Paladin role before but as she joined in chapter 2, her paladin like abilities will make game too easy so I chose to keep that on Cid with light/darkness abilities instead.

Beowulf is as you said that he's already great unit so I barely touch him except move reduced to 3 because he can wear heavy armor. 5% reduction barely affect him though I want to keep him in line with other jobs.

Rapha can help Marach becoming Dark Knight easier by casting black magicks on him. Their unique skills are a bit RNG but fun to try also.

Orlandeau will always be OP because he joins with Excalibur and has high offensive stats. His replaced abilities can make him solo even easier with Aegis and spam drain attack.

As for jobs, I honestly believe no one would want to keep Squire job as endgame except Ramza/Luso. So, providing useful abilities should be helpful enough and Squire has innate Beastmaster in Valeria too.

Chemist with 100% instant Protect/Shell is already powerful for abilities and job itself can equip Gun so you can put good gun for offense with Knight/Archer sub as well.

As for stats reduction, you can pair with dual wield and nerf stats on every boss and that's broken mechanics beyond saving. I really wish for stats reduction to be temporary status or non-stackable so they're better gone.

Archer in Valeria is revised from Mustadio abilities with changes in Tactics Advance and A2. Thanks 1.3 making broken Stunning Strike, I learned a lot to make viable archer here.

Thief has Concentration so all hits will not miss and that's a good way to make use of Thief. Valeria already have 2 physical jobs doing status infliction. And Charm is annoying as is already.

Monk in Valeria is actually better in early game with Clothing and higher HP. It's harder to take them down but they'll slower. However, Monk's abilities will hit harder too.

Dragoon has ability to walk on any height so you can plan jump better. Actually, this job is very powerful so I had to nerf this job hard to keep it balanced. But I buffed speed growth so Dragoon job can work better over time.

Ninja in Valeria is nerfed hard but still powerful enough and I buffed throw so they can make better projectile damage without relying on Equip Crossbow/Gun too.

Samurai has completely reworked abilities and 2.3 will have Murasame to heal 25% with regen instead so that'll help Samurai's survivability a lot.

White mage has a lot of abilities adjustment with Cure spells buff for more healing, faster, and higher success rate. -ja buffs will have CT1 for almost instant cast time too.

Black mage in 2.3 will have abilities re-balance to pure offensive spells without status infliction and reduced CT making -ja spells worth investing even more.

Summoner in 2.3 will have high tier summon re-balance for no Swiftness in consideration so CT will be greatly reduced with lower damage but have chance to inflict status. You'll love it.

I intend to keep Valeria being faithful to vanilla gameplay and mechanics as much as I can. Despite all rework and changes, you can still feel the original charm that doesn't deviate from old Final Fantasy theme.

If you replay Valeria again and again, you'll understand game mechanics better and can enjoy Valeria in different lights also. Feel free to try again when 2.3 is out from start and chapter 1 won't be the same. :)
  • Modding version: WotL

boubonic

Thanks so much for this mod! You fixed so many things I wouldn't have thought of. You're doing an amazing job! The one thing I really miss is the Squire's Throw Stone ability. It was nice having a ranged attack, even if it was weaker. I tried using FFTPatcher to revert the ability myself by restoring the default settings on Stone, but I can't figure out how to change it's name. I tried to use FFTactext, but it won't import my rom after it's patched. Would you be willing to help me get it back into the game?
  • Modding version: WotL

Windows X

Quote from: boubonic on February 10, 2021, 08:54:45 pmThanks so much for this mod! You fixed so many things I wouldn't have thought of. You're doing an amazing job! The one thing I really miss is the Squire's Throw Stone ability. It was nice having a ranged attack, even if it was weaker. I tried using FFTPatcher to revert the ability myself by restoring the default settings on Stone, but I can't figure out how to change it's name. I tried to use FFTactext, but it won't import my rom after it's patched. Would you be willing to help me get it back into the game?

You need to import from vanilla ISO and recreate changes. I think it's not worth the effort. 2.3 will be out soon with lots of changes. Stay tuned. :)
  • Modding version: WotL

boubonic

Quote from: Windows X on February 11, 2021, 04:25:20 amYou need to import from vanilla ISO and recreate changes. I think it's not worth the effort. 2.3 will be out soon with lots of changes. Stay tuned. :)

I understand. Thanks anyway! Even without Throw Stone, I'd much rather play your version. Thanks again for all the work. Looking forward to 2.3!
  • Modding version: WotL