Souls of Destiny: Full 4 chapter update patch

[CONMAN]

I hate to disappoint you LastingDawn, but I simply copy/pasted the original map title letters.  It certainly would be nice to have a matching font. 

[LastingDawn]

You know... that's not actually a bad idea to create a font in that manner. The Capital's could be lacking in the end though. I imagine with how big FFT is that Somewhere on the internet there should be an appropriate font to use. Did the Heroes of Ivalice forums ever have something akin to that?

[CONMAN]

Still going!  I have a few notes on patch changes.

While I have worked on the latest story line battles to smooth and fix some things, I haven't added on any more to it.  I know how I'm going to end this chapter. I also know how the final battles play out, but pretty hazy on the bulk of the fourth chapter. I really don't have an good reason to head out to the Limberry portion of the map.  I don't want to leave it out, but it needs to be a natural progression.

I've been working on three side quests for the third chapter.  All three end in character recruitment: Phantom Zero, Umaro, and Besrodeo.  Obviously, Besrodeo recruitment requires Mustuadio, but none of these need to be done in a specific order.  I never liked that in Vanilla, an exact mandatory order was needed for the side quests.The fourth side quest I'm considering reworking (reptilians), but i'm not sure what I want to do with this one.  I originally threw it in the game just to feature the sprite.  I feel something like a secret humanoid race of reptilians should be deeper than I have currently set down...

I've been adjusting game abilities and mechanics a little. 

The most necessary change (which I stubornly refused for quite a while) that I made was to finally change the bare hands attack formula.  Having the main character being a bare handed attacker just mad this more glaring all the time. At first, I decided to simply cap brave at 80, but this simply wasn't enough to keep damage at a reasonable level.  I always loved that brave factored in, but eventually changed the barehand formula to : {(pa+3)/2 *pa}.  I do like how this scales against the standard martial arts abilities. 

I made some adjustments to a few of the normal and special classes. (And changed some counters thanks to Emmy's asm hacks.) 

Thieves had an extra-damage attack (which didn't fit with the theme) and gained a blinding attack- which also replaced the their gil-game counter.

Fencer special attacks became wp*ma (like they should have been all along)

White mages lost wall and gained magic hammer (mp damage) and gained it as a counter.

Mediators are on a slow transition do ~druidy types, gaining dragon level/power up (asm'd to apply to all monsters) and having other abilities tweaked.

Chelsea gained blast- similiar to a magic wave fist as a counter.

Besrodeo has his own special ranged counter.

LaLa now has the +25% hit bonus as a support.

The abilities of the four special characters joining in this chapter are
being rebalanced.  Esperella was too powerful, while Zero was simply weak.

[CONMAN]

I thought I would throw a couple videos out to show people what I've been tinkering with lately!

I would like to think I'll have a pretty complete 3 chapter mod out in the next couple months, but I keep thinking up extremely optimistic time frames for completing events too.... (I have been working on the last like 4/5 events for this chapter for like a month and a half or more)

It's funny all the little things that are forgotten until you are play testing... like ability descriptions, or random battles only edited up to the previous chapter...etc.

At some point I'll either need to scrap the brave story (maybe character profiles too) because event compression means that they no longer match up ... and sometimes lead to battles which reset the whole game    or re-point the whole thing.  With so much else on my plate trying to put this mod together, I'm not sure it's worth it.

I still need to edit the winning conditions graphics-It really stands out...

Anyway, enough rambling on... Here is a couple videos! As I was making them I noticed a few mistakes that I had totally forgotten about.... I had decided I was making these videos today and thought-SCREW IT!

Like the rest of this thread, the videos are spoiler-ific!

[sasapinjic]

I like this project , good work ! 

[Guru]

I just realized I totally forgot to post anything on the new content  . This last month for me has been a nightmare. Trying to get a car ready for inspection in NYS is like opening Pandora's box. I do all the repairs myself, this was not a good year with all the salt damage from winter and my lack of funds/time.

Anyways, CH 3 in a couple months would be sweet! If you ever need help testing just let me know, Hopefully I will get my schedule back on track here shortly. I wouldn't mind if you scrapped the brave story, could always add it later, or just warn people not to view it and them re-point it later too.

Videos look interesting, looks like things are getting heated. Nice to see the new characters are in the mix now. I never realized you could recruit zero. Can you actually recruit any of the unique characters from the random encounters? ( I never actually tried    )  That background image looks pretty slick too. But yeah looking good man, I didn't really notice any mistakes besides a few typos, looking forward to your next release!

[CONMAN]

Anyways, CH 3 in a couple months would be sweet! If you ever need help testing just let me know

That's the plan. I just finished going through tactext the other day to fix all the ability descriptions, I have a couple glaring event edits that need to be made, but I could propably have this out in a couple weeks if I get real motivated (and I have the time).  Also, I'm finally using the Hex editor that Xifanie always suggest- so hopefully the graphical glitches that popped up before should be all cleaned us with a proper patch.

Nice to see the new characters are in the mix now. I never realized you could recruit zero. Can you actually recruit any of the unique characters from the random encounters? ( I never actually tried    )

It wasn't possible to recruit Zero the first time you run into him . Since my last patch I changed 4 rumors so that they activate side quests battles or battle series.  The extra recruit-able units pop up in these battles- so they can't be missed.  Mustadio is required for one of them-and it happens in his home town, so it will be kind of obvious.

This last month for me has been a nightmare. Trying to get a car ready for inspection in NYS is like opening Pandora's box. I do all the repairs myself, this was not a good year with all the salt damage from winter and my lack of funds/time.

Sounds rough man! I hope life eases up on you!

[Guru]

Sounds rough man! I hope life eases up on you!

Yeah it's always something lol, I hope everything goes smoothly for you too. Looking forward to playing this soon (Take your time though!)

I just realized you already mentioned recruiting zero before  Ha apparently I missed the gigantic post you had discussing changes  I think it would be cool if you eventually made some of the random encounter uniques recruitable too.

So when you mention emmy's asm hack for the counters... is it just formula changes or how they are triggered? Just wondering because iirc she has made quite a few counter hacks.

Also I think it would be cool to see the reptilians get a bit of a story, even if it's not until CH4. Maybe even have a unique reptilian that is recruitable or something. Could always have them live on the island temple, if you don't have plans to it, and make a cool map for the inside of the temple ( I always wanted to go inside it on vanilla lol ).  I'm sure whatever you decide will be cool though!

I still plan on working on a website too. I did start one a while back but as I said a bunch of shit came up, and now I have a ton of new stuff I learned that I'd like to implement. Plus I'll have a bunch of new content when you release CH3. So will probably end up starting over, but that probably won't happen till I go back to school in a few weeks. I'm stuck taking horribly boring classes this semester so I figure it'll be perfect time to start working on my websites.

[CONMAN]

I think it would be cool if you eventually made some of the random encounter uniques recruitable too.

I've considered it, but there is limited space in the formation screen to consider, and often the skill sets of the random unique(s) units are a hodgepodge of abilities meant to better represent them. It would be a bit odd to say add chrono with lightening in his basic class when it isn't unique from the wizards.  I might add a random unique later on. 

So when you mention emmy's asm hack for the counters... is it just formula changes or how they are triggered? Just wondering because iirc she has made quite a few counter hacks.

Just a couple of new counters- one using an unused slot and couple changed from their original.  Just unique counters for unique characters- triggered in the manner you would expect.

Also I think it would be cool to see the reptilians get a bit of a story, even if it's not until CH4. Maybe even have a unique reptilian that is recruitable or something.

I plan to have a whole reptilian multi- battle side quest. I could have a recruit-able one, but I would need a couple new skills to round it out.

Could always have them live on the island temple, if you don't have plans to it, and make a cool map for the inside of the temple ( I always wanted to go inside it on vanilla lol )

I always wanted to see the inside of that temple too! I have a plan for it and really I would like to put the reptilians underground as much as possible (not much vanilla cave-like maps unfortunately.)

[CONMAN]

So here it is! 

A Full 3 chapter beta for Souls of Destiny!  The previous release ran about half way into the third chapter and didn't have all the side quest battles.  This one has about 10 more story battles (I forget exactly the number).  Some equipment changes have happened- most the armor items have seen reasonable hp boosts... I've probably mention various other changes in this thread...uhh...


Here you go!

[Eternal]

I'm going to give this a shot and report my feedback!

[CONMAN]

Thanks Eternal!  I could use as much feedback as possible.  Only so much adjustment can be made when doing most the play testing by yourself!  You obviously have a lot of experience creating your own mods!

I actually keep feeling that the heavy vanilla mirroring of the first chapter might turn people off.  I feel like each chapter grows and changes directly in proportion to my own understanding of modding tools.  While I am obviously biased, I feel like the chapter 1 finale is worth the build up (and hopefully excites enough to play through it all.)

[Guru]

Sweet CH3 is out 

I'll be starting fresh from CH1 again, so it'll take me a while with the little free time I got, but I'll keep ya posted on my thoughts.

Thanks for the hard work!

I actually keep feeling that the heavy vanilla mirroring of the first chapter might turn people off.  I feel like each chapter grows and changes directly in proportion to my own understanding of modding tools.  While I am obviously biased, I feel like the chapter 1 finale is worth the build up (and hopefully excites enough to play through it all.)

I was a little reluctant to play the game at first, being an alternate version of vanilla, as they just tend to turn me off. Once I started actually playing, it didn't take long before I was a fan.

[Jumza]

Playing this again, having a blast! I'm in chapter 3 and the story is getting better and better as I go from battle to battle!

Anyway, just letting you know that this is a really fun hack you've made! It's a little rough around the edges at certain points but I'm having a great time playing it.

I wish I had been writing things down to give you a real bug report but there's a lot that I could comment on that I would save for a more thorough going through of the game. Right now I'm kinda just running through story missions.

spoiler: OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS

In the Umaro sidequest, all the Yeti's are dragons with black palette swaps! I'm in the middle of the battle so I don't know if Umaro himself (if he appears) also suffers from this.

EDIT: The chemist in the second fight isn't actually there.

Not a bug but I totally one hit KO'd Orlandu with a Holy from Jenna  :twisted:

Alma seems to flagged as male in the windmill shed battle, because when you kill her she yells like a man.

There are a whole load of other things that you'd see right away if you replay the first or second chapter too, but I'm sure you're well aware and are just more concerned with making progress. Really good job man, it's a lot of fun!

The

spoiler

Frost Titans

have been the hardest encounter yet, especially the first time because I totally wasn't expecting to run into a battle there. I probably had to reset like 4-5 times to complete it. After almost getting to the end (thanks to buying some ice shields) I was screwed over on my second to last attempt by

spoiler

Loki

but I worked around that in my last run and made it through. The challenging battles are really fun to play because the characters are all very powerful and you really have to make the most of them in these fights.

[CONMAN]

Thanks for the reply Jumza! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

dragons with black palette swaps

Crap, I moved some stuff around so that the jobs/sprites/uwe entries would match up- and then changed them back after a mistake. I thought I fixed that!

Alma seems to flagged as male

Never noticed that... wierd...

one hit KO'd Orlandu

Yup, I've done it too.  I assume that happens the first time you battle him, but probably possible on the next, too... As you know, there is some difficulty trying to even out enemy strengths- compared to ???? Monsters Orlandu is a glass cannon.  There should be a couple enemies out there where you could unleash 5 holy spells- they would tank it and kill half your party on their next turn!

I've play tested a few battle where they went from too easy to holy crap, but I kept them because the right strategy make pretty beatable. Some battles maneuverability or mp damage are almost necessary for victory.   

the hardest encounter yet, especially the first time because I totally wasn't expecting to run into a battle there.

I went back and forth with myself on whether or not I should red dot the map for that battle, but I decided against it because it is a sneak attack- and I figure red dots on a map are new places where conflict is expected.

There are a whole load of other things that you'd see right away if you replay the first or second chapter too, but I'm sure you're well aware and are just more concerned with making progress.

Pretty much. I think I have made 2/3 passes through the first 2 and sometimes more mistakes existed than I could keep track of!  I typically have replayed each new event/battle a few times until I think it's pretty good and then move on.  Sometimes I have gone ahead and made like 5 new events and then tried to fix several mistakes all at once and some still slip through.  At the moment I have a vague plan of putting out a clean near perfect 3.5 as my next release. 

[Guru]

Hey conman, I finally made it to the end of ch1!!! lol I've been really busy but I'm chugging along, my schedule this week is even worse so I figured I'd post a bug report on ch1 at least cuz it will probably be a while till I get all the way through.

spoiler: Bugs and etc

Animation glitches and blue smurf portraits are GONE!!! nice!

Still not saving exp/stat and ect. after first battle ( DID save after second battle this time )

Igros castle first visit inventory resets, and during the scene inside the castle alma says a bunch of jibberish
Second visit to igros after alma is taken, inventory resets (this one REALLY SUCKED)

Rubber shoes explains everything it does in the description ( "bouncy", negate lightning and don't move ) but the only effects it says in red are jump + 2

magnet glove does not say it increases lightning damage as an effect in the description.

flame burst description just says hadoken! and in battle the ability name is listen as hadoken! instead of flame burst
Outlaw skill luck no description
Ace skill blaze no description
One of the thief reaction skills is named pocket sand(it's not the actual ability one), but says receive gil for damage received

In a random encounter in mandalia plains....There was a monk and I wanted to crystalize him... so I was save stating until he appeared as a crystal. Whether it was a crystal or chest...the image was all distorted ( crystal was just black and chest was black with a red background) and if I tried to learn the abilities the game just froze( it didn't really freeze... it just wouldn't let me do anything). I will let you know if I encounter this again. I do have screenshots if you want me to send them to you.

Elidibis encounter( the one with the dragons ), his sprite is just a black conner sprite ( portrait too ), and not a dragon. The battle itself is MUCH better this time. Actually had a little trouble with this one, he was 1 hitting everyone and I was starting to run out of phoenix downs =P. No need to change anything though, it was just the right amount of challenge for this stage of the game IMO.

[CONMAN]

Thanks for the run down Guru.  I'm planning on starting a beginning to end run thru to fix as many glitches as possible.  Hopefully I will have some sort of 3.5 in several months.  I definitely hate missing stuff.

Still not saving exp/stat and ect. after first battle ( DID save after second battle this time )

   This is how vanilla starts the game (demo battle of sorts) and have largely assumed that it's just how it is- I'll have to poke around.

Igros castle first visit inventory resets, and during the scene inside the castle alma says a bunch of jibberish
Second visit to igros after alma is taken, inventory resets (this one REALLY SUCKED)

I forgot about this and should have fixed this sucker a while ago- I know that I used the incorrect "callfunction #" in that event to add new units.

... damn equipment/ability descriptions!  easily fixed....

In a random encounter in mandalia plains....There was a monk and I wanted to crystalize him... so I was save stating until he appeared as a crystal. Whether it was a crystal or chest...the image was all distorted ( crystal was just black and chest was black with a red background) and if I tried to learn the abilities the game just froze( it didn't really freeze... it just wouldn't let me do anything). I will let you know if I encounter this again. I do have screenshots if you want me to send them to you.

Apparently that was the palette #5 glitch- I liked the idea of random "tough guys" with different colors and should have caught this.

Elidibis encounter( the one with the dragons ), his sprite is just a black conner sprite ( portrait too ), and not a dragon. The battle itself is MUCH better this time. Actually had a little trouble with this one, he was 1 hitting everyone and I was starting to run out of phoenix downs =P. No need to change anything though, it was just the right amount of challenge for this stage of the game IMO.

Well, I'm glad the battle got tougher! I was confused by the sprite being wrong as you stated- when I checked patcher I saw that I had changed the original dragon sprite from "Holy Dragon" to a series of unused dragon sprites at the bottom of shishi... didn't know that would happen.

Thanks for all the notes in this thread guys! Time for me to restart play-testing this sucka!

[Darkholme]

This project looks pretty damn neat. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see how it unfolds.

[Guru]

BAM had a day off the other day and killed CH3 lol. Overall it was awesome I agree it gets better the further you get, I can't wait to see ch4! Anyways here my notes so far, sorry they got a bit out of order.  I'll mess around a bit with random battles and comment more on balance stuff later on.

spoiler

First battle of the new content ...man that priest can jump!, in same fight if Jenna dies or goes critical, she starts talking like rafa then runs away :lol: This was actually pretty challenging, most my characters had low jump so it was like a death trap with those archers. Then they jenna got critical and left lol. Plus the priests are all badasses. The main enemy though, forgot his name, but he was pretty much useless.

I like conners new sprite, he starting to look like a noble  :cool:

Nice queen portrait!

In umaro side quest, the yeti are black dragon sprites. Also in the second battle conner asks the same question (if anyone has seen a yeti with white fur), and there is nobody there, then another yeti appears, and a chemist answers from inside the mine. The last battle the sprites are correct.

Goug sidequest is just conner and mustadio at first, then conner, mustadio and besrodio. Not sure if this was intended or not. Definitely made things challenging (which is always good IMO)

zero recruitment sidequest, he dives into a deep spot so it looks kinda odd when he talks. Also shadow attacks the other ninjas too

draclau no portrait

Queklain -bio spell animation is glitchy

First esperella battle, weigreif has conners portrait during conversations

Equip katana is named equip knife(it works and desc is good though)

doguola pass stays red after battle, as does bervenia, but there is no battle at bervenia?

hawkeye is supposed to be a more powerful charge attack, but does not inherit weapon element, so if I have say a holy lance, with 108 gems(boost holy) it actually does less damage.

Barrage doesn't display damage, I also didn't check to see if it inherits weapon element

Zero's move ability (silent) does not make player invisible on move

Zero comes with secondary ability steal, but has not unlocked thief yet and has no steal abilities

Snow blade, fire blade, and wind blade all have the same range and effect area in description, but they are not the same.

Also snow blade does more damage than fire blade, even though it's an area attack

Fencer MUCH more balanced with new dmg formula, but I still feel like it needs a little bit of a boost. Not too much, I mean they are instant attacks, relatively low MP cost and they did decent damage with equipment that boosts the element but still feels like they are slightly lacking

No green cherry for umaro? He only has north wind and head cracker. I still think you should give him the moogle summon too, so he can summon his pal mog  ;) Also umaru can unlock other classes, was this intentional?

I think it'd be nice if holy sword could be used with samurai swords, and have a equip great swords skill for paladin since there is already a equip sword skill for knights. That way I can use great swords in other classes, and if I have her as a samurai she can still use holy sword ( plus it makes sense since they are still swords )

Also in holy sword description, it still lists the element(like lightning stab is lightning element and etc.) even though I think they are all inherit the element of the weapon. Not sure what your intentions are with them, I know there is a quick asm fix for it somewhere around here, but honestly I prefer them to inherit the element of the weapon

I also would like to see a couple of the draw out (samurai) skills get an upgrade. Especially the first bunch of skills, they just do a little more damage than the last one. So once you get the next one it becomes useless. The only one even remotely useful out of the first 3 is the MP damage one.

can't view descriptions in loki battle, and beginning of ch4 really glitches out if you try to view descriptions
on any equipment gained in the loki battle (see attached screenshot)

Also sage is unlocked in ch4. I know your not there yet, but figured I'd mention it

[azavier]

are you still working on this game ? and how far is it playable to ?