FFTA2 Starting team

[witchofdread]

Is there a way to edit your starting team? Id like to be able to start with a Gria instead of the Bangaa

[Chronovore]

I edited the starting team in my hack using the Nightmare Modules. With the main character, Adelle, early human recruits, and the eventual acquisition of a freshly revived dual-wielding paladin; I always felt like I had one too many a Hume. So I swapped the initial generic Hume for a Fencer.

I haven't tried starting with a Gria. Besides looking cool, their movement type and ability to score knock-back kills from height are welcome as early as possible. The problem is that their class set is relatively small and unlocked via later-game missions. It'd be very easy to hit a wall with growth disparity if the player starts with one. So it becomes a question of what you can do to mitigate that and keep the race spicy before Fluorgis.

(My project is close to completion. I wanted to play-test all the missions before releasing it and I still have a little way to go.)

[witchofdread]

what module did you use to edit your starting team?

[Chronovore]

Use the Recruitable Characters module. Looking at the list, between 0x00 Luso and 0x06 Adelle, you'll see 0x01 Black Mage, 0x02 White Mage, 0x03 Warrior, 0x04 Archer, and 0x05 Thief. This is your starting team.

[witchofdread]

Cant seem to get it to work. I'm assuming you have to edit it then start a new game?

[Chronovore]

Editing the values there won't change current party members in a saved game. This just changes which characters are part of the recruitment event when it happens.

Also note that those characters are named on the Nightmare module list by their original class. This is just a helpful reference for the Nightmare user. You change their actual starting class via the relevant data field for it.

There may be limits as to what can be changed. I changed up the starting party for my hack to include a Fencer and a White Monk, so I know that works. This list also contains the generic recruits that you can pick up through other normal recruiting events. I went through and tried to set it up so that generic recruits will have reasonable equipment and at least most of the requisite abilities to be their starting class. I haven't tested all of those changes but as you probably know, comprehensive play-testing for a game this size can be a challenge.