[Old] Moving forward 1.02

[Dome]

(Thanks Xifanie for the formatting guide)

Welcome aboard guys! This topic has 2 purposes: organize all my memos, and tease you about the future patch!

Yes, I know...the patch has been "on hold" for a very long period of time. There are many explanations, (Last but not least, my laziness) but worry not: FFT+ is a dream for me, and I dont want to let it go (You know FFH's motto...right?  )

Index:
Jobs
Special Jobs
Difficulty
Monsters
Miscellaneous
Postgame

JOBS

When I started tinkering the jobs, my hope was to make each one useful. There must be a sense of progression (What's the point of unlocking the Ninja, if the Squire is stronger?), but each job should have a niche, and never become a complete waste of space.

spoiler: Squire

Skillset
Throw Stone: Low damage, mid range attack
First aid: Low HP heal
Revive: High%, restores 1 HP to dead units
Heal: Removes Poison, Blind, Silence, Slow, Berserk

Job highlights
- Has an all-around useful skillset (Removes most common status, free HP Heal & revive)
- Can equip all Physical weapons (And Axes, weapon unique to them)
- Has "Monster Skill" as innate ability

spoiler: Chemist

Skillset
Potion: Heal 30 HP
Hi-Potion: Heal 20% HP
X-Potion: Heal 33% HP
Ether: Restore 20 MP
Hi-Ether: Restore 50 MP
Elixir: Full HP/MP Restore
Antidote: Cancel Poison, Don't move, Don't act
Echo Grass: Cancel Silence, Sleep
Eye Drop: Cancel Blind, Confusion
Holy Water: Cancel Undead, Blood Suck, Oil
Maiden' kiss: Cancel Frog, Berserk
Soft: Cancel Stone, Stop
Phoenix Down: Cancel Dead

Job highlights
- Awesome support skillset, doesn't use Faith and has no charge time
- Can equip all Magical weapons
- Has "Throw item" as innate ability (Range of "items" becomes 3)

spoiler: Knight

Skillset
Break Shield: Weapon attack that breaks enemy' shield
Break Helmet: Weapon attack that breaks enemy' helmet
Break Armor: Weapon attack that breaks enemy' armor
Break Weapon: Weapon attack that breaks enemy' weapon
Aim: Low dmg, 100% attack. Requires sword
Guard!: Defend on self and nearby allies

Job highlights
- Tankiest job around
- Can Break stuff at a high %
- Only job that can use the "defend" status

spoiler: Archer

Skillset
Charge +1: The longer the charge, the higher the damage
Charge +2: The longer the charge, the higher the damage
Charge +3: The longer the charge, the higher the damage
Charge +5:  The longer the charge, the higher the damage
Charge +10: The longer the charge, the higher the damage

Job highlights
- Ranged Physical unit
- A great mix of speed, tankyness and range

spoiler: Monk

Skillset
Accumulate: +1 PA on self
Chakra: Heal HP/MP on self or nearby ally
Earth Slash: 5 range linear attack, Earth element
Spin Fist: AoE attack around self
Wave fist: 3 range wind attack
Stigma Magic: Cancel negative status not removed by Squire' Heal
Secret fist: Death sentence on a nearby enemy

Job highlights
- High damage output with no weapon
- Can Increase PA
- Come on, everyone loves the Hokuto reference

spoiler: Wizard

Skillset
Fire 1/2/3: Damage
Ice 1/2/3: AoE
Bolt 1/2/3: Speed
Water: Tier 2 water damage
Wind: Tier 2 wind damage
Earth: Tier 2 earth damage
Flare: Instant single target damage, Tier 1.5 spell

Job highlights
- Master of elemental spells
- Each element has it's own perks
- Highest MA

spoiler: Priest

Skillset
Cure 1/2/3: Heal HP
Protect: Protect on ally
Shell: Shell on ally
Regen: Regen on ally
Esuna: Removes all negative status
Raise 1/2: Cancel dead (50/100% HP)
Reraise: Reraise on ally
Prayer: 33% HP heal on ally, instant

Job highlights
- Strongest support job
- Can resurrect at 100% HP, remove all negative status in a single turn

spoiler: Time Mage

Skillset
Haste: Add Haste
Slow: Add Slow
Stop: Add Stop
Don't move: Add don't move
Float: Add float
Reflect: Add Reflect
Freeze: Instant Slow - Don't move

Job highlights
- Haste and slow are VERY strong status
- Fastest magic job
- Some little-yet-useful utility spell

spoiler: Scholar -former Summoner-

Skillset
Study: Restores MP on self
Shadow Tome: Dark Damage on all units
Holy Tome: Holy Damage on all units
Earth Dragon Tome: Earth Damage on all units
Water Tiger Tome: Water Damage on all units
Wind Lion Tome: Wind Damage on all units
Mad scientist: Random buff on an ally

Job highlights
- Can hit all units at once
- Highest MP of all jobs

spoiler: Thief

Skillset
Steal Weapon: You can guess it
Steal Armor: You can guess it
Steal Shield: You can guess it
Steal Helmet: You can guess it
Steal accessory: You can guess it
Smoke Bomb: Range 3 inflict blind
Slice Throat: Melee attack + Silence

Job highlights
- Fastest job
- Move find item innate (Only job that can find items)
- Only way to get some end-game gear is to steal it

spoiler: Mediator

Skillset
Praise: +5 Br
Threaten: -20 Br
Preach: +5 Fa
Solution: -20 Fa
Insult: Add Berserk
Mimic Daravon: Sleep AoE
Steal Heart: Add Charm

Job highlights
- Only job that can increase/reduce Brave/Faith (Even if only for a battle)
- Instant, strong Status
- Only job that can use Guns

spoiler: Oracle

Skillset
Bio: Tier 1.5 non-elemental dmg can add Poison
Mana Shypon: Drains MP
Pray Faith: Add Faith
Doubt Faith: Add Innocent
Petrify: Add Stone
Confusion: Add Confusion
Paralyze: Add Don't act
Frog: Add Frog
Dispel: Remove all positive Status
Condemn: Random Debuff, instant

Job highlights
- Beefiest mage
- Can use many crippling status spells
- Can drain MP

spoiler: Geomancer

Skillset
Same, but every skill has an element now

Job highlights
- Good Mixed damage
- Both range and melee
- AoE, no cost, instant damage

spoiler: Lancer

Skillset
Jump 1-5: Same as Vanilla

Job highlights
- Fast & Tanky
- Good, 100% hit dmg

spoiler: Mystic Knight -former Samurai-

Skillset


Job highlights
- 2 Hands Innate
- Great damage output, both Physical and Magical

spoiler: Ninja

Skillset
Throw Shuriken: Ranged attack, use item
Throw Ball: Ranged attack, use item

Job highlights
- 2 Swords innate
- The quintessence of a glass cannon
- Range of spells based on Movement (Potentially highest in the game)

spoiler: Arcanist -former Calculator-

Skillset
Restore: Restore all HP
Dark Holy: Strong single target damage dark element
Holy: Strong single target damage holy element
Dispel 2: Remove all status
Soul Drain: Drains HP
Death: Kills a unit
Wall: Protect & Shell

Job highlights
- Ultimate single target damage
- Good all-around magical skillset

spoiler: Performer -former Bard/Dancer-

Skillset
- Angel Song: AoE MP Restore
- Life Song: AoE HP Restore
- Nameless Song: Random Buff
- Last Song: AoE Quick
- Witch Hunt: AoE MP Dmg
- Wiznabus: AoE HP Dmg
- Nameless dance: Random Debuff
- Polka Polka: -1PA AoE
- Disillusion: -1MA AoE

Job highlights
- AoE, versatile skillset
- Can lower enemy' stats
- Smart target

SPECIAL JOBS

Special jobs are way stronger than normal, and come with unique abilities (And way more powerful R/S/M abilities than a Squire)

spoiler: Rad

Skillset:


Job highlights
- Versatility at his finest

spoiler: Alicia/Lavian

Skillset:
Same as Squire

Job highlights
- Can equip EVERYTHING
- Good all-around stats

spoiler: Mustadio

Skillset:
Leg Aim: Inflicts Don't move, weapon range
Arm Aim: Inflicts Don't act, weapon range
Magic Break: -2 MA, Weapon Range
Power Break: -2 PA, Weapon Range

Job highlights
- MA/PA reducing skills are very powerful
- Range and mobility

spoiler: Agrias

Skillset:
Stasis sword: Same except that is evadable and costs mp
Split Punch: Same except that is evadable and costs mp
Crush Punch: Same except that is evadable and costs mp
Cure 1.5 (Name?): Same as cure, but a little stronger
Raise 1.5 (Name?): Same as Raise, but a little stronger

Job highlights
- Swordskills...
- ...& white magic in a single pack!

spoiler: Rafa

Skillset:
- Moogle - Ifrit - Shiva - Ramuh - Titan - Silf - Leviathan - Bahamut
Moogle heals, all the others do elemental (Except Bahamut) damage. They ignore Faith

Job highlights
- STRONG AoE damage
- Ignores enemy' faith

spoiler: Malak

Skillset:
Zombie: Inflicts Zombie
Seal Undead: Inflicts stone (Undead only)
Requiem: MBarrier (Undead only)
Dark/ra/ga: Tier 1/2/3 spell dark elemental
Deep Night: Sleep on everyone
Corruption: Tier 2 instant spell that hits with his old "untruth" formula

Job highlights
- Only one that can use the undead status
- Undeads never cristalize/treasure, they are strong as fuck

spoiler: Orlandu

Skillset:
Lighting Stab: Same, but evadable and costs mp
Night Sword: Same, but evadable and costs mp
Dark sword: Same, but evadable

Job highlights
- A dark knight on crack
- Only one that can use "Lighting Stab", arguably the strongest SwordSkill

spoiler: Meliadoul

Skillset:
Same as before + Holy explosion (Range 3)
All skills are evadable and cost mp

Job highlights
- Damage + Break
- Holy explosion to hit pesky monsters

spoiler: Beowulf

Skillset:
Break - Confuse - Sleep - Despair - Shock: Same as before, range 3
Soul Sphere: AoE MP Damage
Disrupt: Cancel Defend/Charging/Performing

Job highlights
- Armored mage
- Instant status

spoiler: Reis

Skillset:
I'd like to edit his skills so she can use them on every monster instead of dragons only. dunno if it's possible...

Job highlights

spoiler: Cloud

Skillset:
Same, but locks on target and charge faster. no Cherry blossom

Job highlights
- Strong damage
- FF7 is awesome

Difficulty

It's hard to make everyone happy:
- Pro/veterans of the game will ask for more/stronger enemies with smart set-ups and 10 levels above you. and still roflstomp each battle like there is no tomorrow.
- Newbs will say that every battle is too hard because they can only use 5 units against 6 enemies, or because they can't control guests.
- Some people will argue that Fake Difficulty is real, while someone else will say that it isn't.
And so on...

So, what's the philosophy behind the patch?
What I aim for, is "fair" difficulty
It's hard to describe what I think it's fair difficulty, so I'll make some examples

spoiler: Example 1

- Fighting enemies that will always act before you no matter what and unleash powerful attacks before you can even move (Like Brightmoon Tor in FFTA2) it's not fair. (But don't mistake "Unfair" for "Impossible". they are different things)
- Fighting enemies that have a similar "power level" than you, that you must defeat using strategy...well, that's what I call "Fair". It's a strategy game, after all!

spoiler: Example 2

- Having to reset a battle because the 10% to miss a move-find-item decided to screw you over is a bad design choice/fake difficulty
- Having to choose between an easy Elmdor Battle without stealing, or a long-drawn out battle because you want to steal his stuff is ok. You decide, not the RNG

spoiler: Example 3

- A boss with an "Instant 999 damage on all the party" attack is not fair
- The same boss with an attack that deals 999 damage around himself, after a long charge, however, is completely fine (You need to think to win: the attack is strong, but there are ways around it)

So, what did I do to make the patch' difficulty level "Fair"?
- Enemies are always at the same level you are (Few exceptions here and there, mostly bosses)
- Enemies unlock stronger abilities depending on the chapter you are playing (Don't hope to fight monks with weapon guard in Ch 4)
- Enemies use the same equipment you can get in stores (Some enemies have better gear, so you can make your thieves happy <3)

Looking at the list, you might think "Man, you are making this mod WAY TOO HARD!"
But...think about it.
You have 2 "secret weapons" on your side:
1) You have a brain, the game doesnt. You can learn from your mistakes and adapt your strategy
2) You can grind to unlock new jobs/abilities, the enemies can't

In this way, you are free to play the game in any way you see fit:
- Want a challenge? Never grind & don't fight random battles. You'll have to carefully manage your resources to win...Fire Emblem style!
- You dont like difficulty? Play a lot of random battles, unlock new jobs (Ninjas in Dorter? Why not! no one is going to punish you) and roflstomp the game

Still think the game is too easy? Well, don't worry. Trust me, there are enemies way stronger than Altima in Ivalice...

Monsters

- Each spot on the map will feature 3 monster families
- Monsters are now faster, stronger, and put up quite a fight before going down
- Monsters of the same family have the same stats, but have different abilities (No monster is outclassed, they are just different)
- Think of them as a strong, highly specialized unit. Use them wisely, and they will serve you well. Underestimate them, and you will bite the dust.
- Since "Invite" is gone, you need to "train" them (Archer support ability)

miscellaneous

- Move find item will always give you the same item (Low Br to get better items? retarded)
- Most endgame stuff must be stolen from ch4 enemies (Thieves!)
- To trigger a random battle, you must click on the spot (People avoided them anyway with quicksave)

spoiler: ASM

- Best compat does 25% instead of 50% extra dmg, good/bad 12.5%
- Specials can do propositions
- You can change name of human units
- Cursor starts on "Continue" instead of new game
- Equip Crossbow lets you equip Bow+Crossbow
- Equip Sword lets you equip Swords+K.Swords
- Equip Axe lets you equip Axes & flails
- Undeads always come back 100% of the times
- Support above Short charge gives you 25% more precision
- Short charge works on charge
- Arrow Guard blocks Bows, Guns & Thrown Items
- Axes do PA*WP damage
- Party Roster hack
- You can enter the Fur Shop without "Poach"
- Stolen & Broken Equipment can be bought back at the fur Shop V2.
- Player gains less money from winning fights
- Hi Potion heals 20% of HP and X-Potion 33%
- Attack Up/Defense Up/M.Attack Up/M.Defense Up 20% instead of 33%
- Removed randomization from level ups
- Jp Glitch Fix
- Oil Glitch Fix
- P.Down does 25% dmg to undeads
- Charging/performin units do not take extra damage
- Gear scales based on story progression instead of level
- Fist damage becomes PA/2*PA
- MP Switch damage overflows to Hp
- Removed Permanent Br & Faith alterations
- Untruth bug correction
- Martial arts boost is 25% instead of 50%
- Inherent RSM limitation hack
- Elemental weakness reduced to 3/2
- Death Sentence ignores Cancel: Dead
- Job 46: Undead Oracle is mountable
- Remove item duplication (Removes the "Best Fit" feature)
- Blind overrides concentrate
- Haste is 25% speed boost
- Slow is 25% speed loss

Postgame

So, you have defeated Altima, and you think "It was fun while it lasted"
Too bad for you it isn't over...far from it!
- First of all, after defeating Altima you return to the world map with Virgo/Leo in your possession. Cool stuff, right? You are free to keep playing without having to start over! (And even watch the ending if you wish)
- Each spot on the map has a special battle, unlocked in late Ch4...if you still haven't, it's the right time to try them! They are very hard compared to normal random battles, and you gain an Elixir if you survive (That's the only way to farm Elixirs)
- There is a place on the map where you can challenge the winners of the first FFH tournament...guess where?
- Last, but not least, after defeating Altima you unlock the Deep Dungeon. Fear it.
Remember all the words spent about "fair" difficulty? In the deep dungeon, they are bullcrap. Ready to step into hell?

[mocliamgtaa]

I never finished the original and I think I'll try this one at some point instead. I don't know everything about the game, but I'll still offer some thoughts.

I assume there are no degenerator traps?

I never enjoyed the idea of having items hidden on certain tiles. What would you think about randomized move-find tiles (or trap tiles)?

About stealing and breaking equipment, what would you think about doing that deterministically? That is, to steal from an opponent (or vice versa), the command should be issued a total of N times, and it would be successful only at N:th time.

About "random" encounters, one way to balance grinding would be to add a bit of determinism there as well. For example, encounters triggering only N times before next story progression.

[Dome]

Welcome to FFH, where all your dreams come true!
Now, to answer your questions:

I assume there are no degenerator traps?

Degenerator traps are still there, but you can't increase your stats with them anymore (Stat growths are standard)

I never enjoyed the idea of having items hidden on certain tiles. What would you think about randomized move-find tiles (or trap tiles)?

That would be cool, but I don't think it's possible

About stealing and breaking equipment, what would you think about doing that deterministically? That is, to steal from an opponent (or vice versa), the command should be issued a total of N times, and it would be successful only at N:th time.

Nice idea, but again I don't know if it's possible.
And, since I'm a fan of the RNG goddes, I don't think I'd implement it :p

About "random" encounters, one way to balance grinding would be to add a bit of determinism there as well. For example, encounters triggering only N times before next story progression.

I think that would make the patch too hard for many newcomers, since grinding is their way out of difficult encounters...

[mocliamgtaa]

I think that relying on luck isn't that fun, for example stealing. With determinism you could roughly know whether you can pull something off or not, instead of trying a battle 10 times waiting for a lucky moment. With break attacks, if breaking took 2 hits, you could then end up in situations where you want to retreat some specific unit away from the opponent knight.

ASM hackers exist, and there are specialists of hacking this game on these forums (if anywhere), so most things are possible (though for some you might have to sacrifice bytes of other functionality). That is also to say that if there are "impossible" things that would align well with your vision of FFT+, it might be a good idea to list those impossible things for potential hackers to see. It is good to separate what your vision is from what is technically possible (because you might evaluate possibility wrong from the asm point of view).

Propositions are one things that might have potential for alteration. For example to bind find-item functionality to them somehow (instead of field).

I think there might not be other projects that aim to somehow keep the game close to the original (how much does this try to do that at this point though?) and have chances of being completed. So good luck with 1.02 in any case.

[Dome]

1) FFT+ is complete. I'm remaking it from scratch because I want to make it even better...not because it's necessary
2) The patch feels a lot (But not completely) like the original. Balacing without changing anything is close to impossible, I think
If you want something that stays as true as possible to Vanilla, I think this is your best bet

[LordMagus]

I think that relying on luck isn't that fun, for example stealing. With determinism you could roughly know whether you can pull something off or not, instead of trying a battle 10 times waiting for a lucky moment. With break attacks, if breaking took 2 hits, you could then end up in situations where you want to retreat some specific unit away from the opponent knight.

ASM hackers exist, and there are specialists of hacking this game on these forums (if anywhere), so most things are possible (though for some you might have to sacrifice bytes of other functionality). That is also to say that if there are "impossible" things that would align well with your vision of FFT+, it might be a good idea to list those impossible things for potential hackers to see. It is good to separate what your vision is from what is technically possible (because you might evaluate possibility wrong from the asm point of view).

Propositions are one things that might have potential for alteration. For example to bind find-item functionality to them somehow (instead of field).

I think there might not be other projects that aim to somehow keep the game close to the original (how much does this try to do that at this point though?) and have chances of being completed. So good luck with 1.02 in any case.

So wait, you think relying on "luck" isn't fun, but you want the move-find item locations to be randomized?  Most people skip move-find items as they are already for being a pain in the ass, and now you really want to have to search every panel of a field every time you play to make them work, because the guides no longer apply?  Aw hell no, that sounds like the most boring, frustrating thing ever.

[3lric]

So wait, you think relying on "luck" isn't fun, but you want the move-find item locations to be randomized?  Most people skip move-find items as they are already for being a pain in the ass, and now you really want to have to search every panel of a field every time you play to make them work, because the guides no longer apply?  Aw hell no, that sounds like the most boring, frustrating thing ever.

Agreed

[Feelie]

I actually do go for the Move-Find Items, so having them random would actually steer someone like me away from a mod.

[mocliamgtaa]

So wait, you think relying on "luck" isn't fun, but you want the move-find item locations to be randomized?  Most people skip move-find items as they are already for being a pain in the ass, and now you really want to have to search every panel of a field every time you play to make them work, because the guides no longer apply?  Aw hell no, that sounds like the most boring, frustrating thing ever.

The point is that any replacement system would be better than the current move-find item.

[3lric]

There is Random and there is Not Random, which would you prefer?

[Selius]

if every job has innate move find item and the items are always the same, i dont see the issue.

it's just a nice thing to have sprung up on you. "you have found a chain mail" when you are still using bronze armor etc

[Dome]

Only thieves have move find item now (1.02)

[Vynllivash]

Ehh, do I play 1.01, I've seen some videos and it looks amazing, but you're working on 1.02, so I guess the question is, just how lazy are you being so far? lol

[Dome]

Ehh, do I play 1.01, I've seen some videos and it looks amazing, but you're working on 1.02, so I guess the question is, just how lazy are you being so far? lol

You can't even begin to understand how lazy I actually am
After all, you cannot spell "Procrastinator" without spelling "pro" :p

To be honest/serius, 1.02 is fully playable except some text error (FFTactext won't work for some reason) and the Beowulf bug (He doesn't show in the party as guest, but the sidequest won't trigger...it needs to be fixed with an hack)

[Vynllivash]

I was a PROcrastinator in school, but I guess what I should be asking is whether or not you think it'd be completed sometime soon, you say its playable, but dangit I want Cloud. ALL HAIL FF7

[3lric]

the Beowulf bug (He doesn't show in the party as guest, but the sidequest won't trigger...it needs to be fixed with an hack)

What are you talking about? You said he doesn't show up in party, but the sidequests don't trigger? Do you mean he does show up and they don't trigger? or vice versa? I've never heard of this bug but it sounds like a simple ENTD or Event or Attack.out issue and I'm sure you didn't edit either one of those last two.

[Dome]

FFT+ removes guests from the party. You never see them in the roster.
The Beowulf sidequest triggers when you answer "yes" and hire him in the bar. He joins as a guest, the dot turns red and you can go there and start the fights.
If you remove the "join after event" flag from that event, the dot turns red but when you go there the fight doesn't start. It's like if the game checks if Beowulf actually is in the party, even if you already said "yes" and thus triggered the sidequest.
I hope I made myself clear

[3lric]

FFT+ removes guests from the party. You never see them in the roster.
The Beowulf sidequest triggers when you answer "yes" and hire him in the bar. He joins as a guest, the dot turns red and you can go there and start the fights.
If you remove the "join after event" flag from that event, the dot turns red but when you go there the fight doesn't start. It's like if the game checks if Beowulf actually is in the party, even if you already said "yes" and thus triggered the sidequest.
I hope I made myself clear

TLW doesn't have this issue. And we don't have guests joins the party either. PM Raven about it, it's likely a small worldmap error

[RavenOfRazgriz]

You have to remove the check for Beowulf being in your party from the World Map Instructions.

[skiploom188]

I've been thinking about Agrias' Cure 1.5 skill, why not a swordskill that heals HP? Is that possible? Call it Paladin's Strike or something, just my idea.

I'm the one guy who won't agree with Range 3 Throw Item. It's hardwired in my brain that it's 4 range and I can now imagine myself committing LOTS of misplays with that change. I guess I'm the only one making a big deal about this lol. Because muscle memory is hard to change . Whatever the case, I'm sure there's a fair reason for this that I am not seeing yet because I'm no hacker/modder.