Final Fantasy Tactics A2: A Clan's Journey

[chocolatemoose]

I know nothing about hex editing this game, but I'm pretty sure when I last played Eternal's GG mod that he had characters start with full MP with no MP gain over time.

[Zeke_Aileron]

I know nothing about hex editing this game, but I'm pretty sure when I last played Eternal's GG mod that he had characters start with full MP with no MP gain over time.

No MP gain over time hmm..., it's doable, But there's enemy formations that have Illusionists, Scholars, and Black Mages with last tier spells and with that it'll make their starting turns really strong, same with the bosses i mentioned....

I'll still think about it....

[R000ster]

I'd actually agree with Moose on this one. I enjoy that almost all abilities use some MP; however, I don't particularly enjoy that aside from Shield Charge on the special Gria that there's no cheap abilities that to allow you to still have a net gain of mana after said ability is used (even if only 5~ or so mana is gained instead of having to sit on your gain per turn of 10 and not take an ability action in order to use anything the following turn).

It's a fine balancing act, that's all.

[Zeke_Aileron]

I'd actually agree with Moose on this one. I enjoy that almost all abilities use some MP; however, I don't particularly enjoy that aside from Shield Charge on the special Gria that there's no cheap abilities that to allow you to still have a net gain of mana after said ability is used (even if only 5~ or so mana is gained instead of having to sit on your gain per turn of 10 and not take an ability action in order to use anything the following turn).

It's a fine balancing act, that's all.

Yeah i know it is, but like i said in my previous two posts:

there's enemy formations that have Illusionists, Scholars, and Black Mages with last tier spells and with that it'll make their starting turns really strong, same with the bosses i mentioned....

I thought about it before, i was just not sure on how to do so cause it'll make the bosses in the mod able to use their strong "All Foes" abilities right off the start

i might make a update along with my Quests update to fix the mp issues if possible on my next day off...

[DeSgeretjin]

I thought about it before, i was just not sure on how to do so cause it'll make the bosses in the mod able to us their strong "All Foes" abilities right off the start.

Maybe the enemies could have some weak skills that could be spammed every turn while they wait for mp for their super strong skill.

[Zeke_Aileron]

Maybe the enemies could have some weak skills that could be spammed every turn while they wait for mp for their super strong skill.

Well most weak skills in my mod have Quicken added to them to subside their niche use, same with items....


Edit: I might change a lot of the MP values for abilities from jobs and MP values for the boss characters to see if the "Full MP" hex input can make the mod a bit more balanced wise in terms of starting turns(Items will still be relevant), Most quests that are 20 days will be brought up to 60, 8 to 30, and anything not those numbers to 30 as well, AP rewards from quests will be increased by 100% for all the quests even for the main story missions, so quests that give 10, 30, 50, 80 will now give 20, 60, 100, 160.

[Stormlag]

I think the Quicken status is too overpowering... maybe lower its chance by 10% or less

[Zeke_Aileron]

The next update to the mod is up, version 0.93, it includes the Full MP at start changes with 0 MP Regen, MP changes to all abilities, including Bosses MP abilities changes as well, MP Channeling Clan Privilege does nothing for the Player now, doing small changes to some formations to make a bit more sense in terms of enemies, and a few enemy types will have a new ability or 2.

Ether text description has been fixed, Soldier and Warrior job descriptions has been adjusted.

You do not need to make a new save for the MP changes to happen(is recommended if you want too), just do a fight and clear it to have all members MP back to normal and continue normally.

I decided to leave the Days and AP rewards of missions/quests alone since the player has access to AP Up, EXP Up, CP Up, Gil Up Clan Privileges which is perfectly fine for the time being, i might come back to this at a later time.

I think the Quicken status is too overpowering... maybe lower its chance by 10% or less

Unable to do so since the editors have specific accuracy chances, however for targeting stuff the accuracy can vary depending on the debuff chance and accuracy chance to them based on the target's Evasion and Resilience stats.

[R000ster]

Great job staying on top of updates for this mod. You're making a lot of us very very happy haha.

I started a new file with a clean file I patched, and for some reason my units besides Luso in the first mission have elemental weaknesses they would not normally have, even with normal equipment equipped. Unsure if this is intended.

If it matters, Viera is weak to Dark (Normal I think due to her White Staff) but also Ice, my No Mou is weak to Earth, and Cid is weak to Air. Klesta is weak to Earth, and the Clucks are weak to only Water which iirc is normal. Luso is the only one without a weakness.

[R000ster]

So for the first time in my life, I got absolutely bodied by Klesta twice in a row in the tutorial mission, haha.

I really like the change of full MP at start with no regen, but after trying to beat the intro twice, I feel like in the early game that the decision to have all classes begin with 20-24 max MP was a great idea when tailored to the previous 10-mp-gain system, but adds a bit of artificial difficulty with the new format for MP. Maybe a rebalance of starting MP pools would help?

Or, perhaps a smaller regen amount of MP per turn (5 in lieu of 10?) and keep the starting MP amounts and full MP starting in battle would be a good balance.

[Zeke_Aileron]

So for the first time in my life, I got absolutely bodied by Klesta twice in a row in the tutorial mission, haha.

I really like the change of full MP at start with no regen, but after trying to beat the intro twice, I feel like in the early game that the decision to have all classes begin with 20-24 max MP was a great idea when tailored to the previous 10-mp-gain system, but adds a bit of artificial difficulty with the new format for MP. Maybe a rebalance of starting MP pools would help?

Or, perhaps a smaller regen amount of MP per turn (5 in lieu of 10?) and keep the starting MP amounts and full MP starting in battle would be a good balance.

Haha, yeah the tutorial with the new MP changes is brutal, i wish i could change the MP regen but all i know is changing it from 10 for vanilla and 0, nothing else sadly and you're welcome, i wanted to keep the MP pool for all jobs starting cap at 20, Physical jobs have a MP growth of 2, Caster jobs have a MP growth of 3, so most jobs would have around 180-196 at level 75(the cap in this mod).

[R000ster]

Haha, yeah the tutorial with the new MP changes is brutal, i wish i could change the MP regen but all i know is changing it from 10 for vanilla and 0, nothing else sadly and you're welcome, i wanted to keep the MP pool for all jobs starting cap at 20, Physical jobs have a MP growth of 2, Caster jobs have a MP growth of 3, so most jobs would have around 180-196 at level 75(the cap in this mod).

Did you happen to see my previous post about the elemental weaknesses on units in the tutorial? Not sure if it was intended. If it was maybe undocumented, I actually personally like the idea of passive racial weaks and resists, clever idea.

Like I've said though, I haven't gotten past the tutorial just yet lol, so unsure if it's just the first mission being weird with my units for some reason.

[R000ster]

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it was definitely intentional! Weaknesses and resistances based on job and race! This is going to be a great layer to the game, assuming npcs suffer them too.

For anyone who hasn't checked it out or curious:

Humes: N/A
No Mou: Earth weakness
Viera: Ice weakness
Bangaa: Air weakness
Moogle: Water weakness
Gria: Earth weakness, Air resistance
Seeq: Electric weakness, water resist

Additionally, there are some Dark weaknesses and resists (half damage) added to a few classes:

Dark Weakness: White Mage, Bishop, Magician
Dark Resist: Paladin, Brave Knight, Ninja, Templar

I think this a is a great start to a unique gameplay experience honestly. Any thoughts perhaps on adding in more resists on a racial or class level? For example, looking at Seeq the racial weakness to Electric onn the Viking class stands out to me, maybe it could be cancelled out or flipped with the water resist. Lanista not getting a Dark Resist also is a bit odd when other classes got it. Also, maybe there's an argument to be made for Bangaa getting an Earth resist so they're the polar opposite of Gria, useful or not.

All in all, I can't wait to start this playthrough.

[Zeke_Aileron]

Okay, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it was definitely intentional! Weaknesses and resistances based on job and race! This is going to be a great layer to the game, assuming npcs suffer them too.

For anyone who hasn't checked it out or curious:

Humes: N/A
No Mou: Earth weakness
Viera: Ice weakness
Bangaa: Air weakness
Moogle: Water weakness
Gria: Earth weakness, Air resistance
Seeq: Electric weakness, water resist

Additionally, there are some Dark weaknesses and resists (half damage) added to a few classes:

Dark Weakness: White Mage, Bishop, Magician
Dark Resist: Paladin, Brave Knight, Ninja, Templar

I think this a is a great start to a unique gameplay experience honestly. Any thoughts perhaps on adding in more resists on a racial or class level? For example, looking at Seeq the racial weakness to Electric onn the Viking class stands out to me, maybe it could be cancelled out or flipped with the water resist. Lanista not getting a Dark Resist also is a bit odd when other classes got it. Also, maybe there's an argument to be made for Bangaa getting an Earth resist so they're the polar opposite of Gria, useful or not.

All in all, I can't wait to start this playthrough.

Mhm, i'm still looking at what to change up since i finally decided on changing the days/ap rewards, so equipment with elemental resistances can be used a bit more often on said races, i forgot to add Earth resist to Bangaas'(haha dumb me), Lanista getting dark resist kind of went by me since i know they have dark abilities i just didn't think about it that time, i'll change that as well when i can, Humes are naturally resist to everything except said classes, i wanted to make all hume jobs weak to Fire since irl fire burns humans very nicely(nothing sick, just thinking on a rpg standpoint, hehe) except Luso's custom job, but yeah hopefully those inclusions are nice.

[R000ster]

So some feedback, after playing through grabbing Adelle and plenty of levelups with Bonus Exp I reeeeeeeally feel the lowered starting MP pool for all classes and gain on level up just don't sit right with no MP regen, even though the lowered ability costs from where they were are generally good improvements.

The game devolves into literally "move, basic attack or pass" very quickly once all units have used the one or two abilities they have the mana pool for. Additionally, No Mou/colored magic in general simply can't keep up and are essentially useless after their two spells. Colored magic is good but casters are dead units, there's no reason to justify using them over a physical class because of the lack of use after they've used their low NO.

[Zeke_Aileron]

So some feedback, after playing through grabbing Adelle and plenty of levelups with Bonus Exp I reeeeeeeally feel the lowered starting MP pool for all classes and gain on level up just don't sit right with no MP regen, even though the lowered ability costs from where they were are generally good improvements.

The game devolves into literally "move, basic attack or pass" very quickly once all units have used the one or two abilities they have the mana pool for. Additionally, No Mou/colored magic in general simply can't keep up and are essentially useless after their two spells. Colored magic is good but casters are dead units, there's no reason to justify using them over a physical class because of the lack of use after they've used their low NO.

That's what makes ethers and MP heal abilities to keep Caster units relevant, since MP regeneration is global, if it was possible to keep it on Caster units and disabled on Melee/Ranged units, it could subside the issue, which isn't possible to do cause limitations, I can however re-enable MP Regeneration to 2-4 per turn cause 10 per turn in Vanilla is still really strong, i'll also be disabling MP Channeling permanently if MP regen is coming back for a bit, this way the caster units can still be useful, like they've burnt everything out and have to wait a few turns to make a comeback, also thanks for the feedback on this, i'll see what i can do on my next day off. 

[R000ster]

10 MP recovery per turn is absurdly strong with starting max MP, totally agree. I think you've found the perfect balance with actual MP costs for abilities; the last thing that remains is finding the sweet spot for MP regen per turn; 4 or 5 actually sounds perfect with the abilities that require 12-16 MP. You can build up towards a "free" one after a few turns but if you're not careful on "banking" your MP and selective use of it, you will still run out and have to wait 3-4 turns before using that ability again.

Looking forward to the next iteration of the mod

[Zeke_Aileron]

10 MP recovery per turn is absurdly strong with starting max MP, totally agree. I think you've found the perfect balance with actual MP costs for abilities; the last thing that remains is finding the sweet spot for MP regen per turn; 4 or 5 actually sounds perfect with the abilities that require 12-16 MP. You can build up towards a "free" one after a few turns but if you're not careful on "banking" your MP and selective use of it, you will still run out and have to wait 3-4 turns before using that ability again.

Looking forward to the next iteration of the mod

So my next set of stuff for the next update is:

• Re adding a 4 MP regeneration per turn.


• Bangaa's resistance to Earth


• Seeq's Lanista job getting Dark resistance


• Disable MP Channeling Clan Privilege

Oh before i forget, you can still obtain MP Channeling through the Clan Trials, but using it as a Law Bonus does nothing, so you pretty much have a empty Law Bonus for the whole battle, lol.

[R000ster]

So my next set of stuff for the next update is:

• Re adding a 4 MP regeneration per turn.


• Bangaa's resistance to Earth


• Seeq's Lanista job getting Dark resistance


• Disable MP Channeling Clan Privilege

Oh before i forget, you can still obtain MP Channeling through the Clan Trials, but using it as a Law Bonus does nothing, so you pretty much have a empty Law Bonus for the whole battle, lol.

Sounds solid.
Revisiting the thoughts of Hume weakness, I personally think Humes might be best left neutral to all elements on a racial level while the other races have a weakness as well as a resist for balance across all races, or maybe a weakness to Holy rather than Fire being as Fire is fairly common.

A Holy weakness would allow them to be healed by a White Mage better than other units, but when targeted with Holy offensive actions work against them as a trade-off.

On that note: Holy immunity might be something to play around with on certain jobs. Immunity to Holy weapons but also inability to receive White magic healing. Just throwing ideas around haha.

Great work as usual, will continue playing in the meantime. No issues to speak of so far besides one thing that stood out against Klesta. In my time in the tutorial, I noticed that Klesta was unable to be approached on her left side (so only adjacent tiles were directly in front of her), but that may just be some weird mapping issue on the tutorial mission I've never noticed. Otherwise, enjoying this mod like it's a brand new game.

[Zeke_Aileron]

Sounds solid.
or maybe a weakness to Holy rather than Fire being as Fire is fairly common.

A Holy weakness would allow them to be healed by a White Mage better than other units, but when targeted with Holy offensive actions work against them as a trade-off.

I completely forgot about that being a thing, Humes being weak to Holy to just get increased healing from white magic like that's actually interesting, although there isn't that many offensive holy abilities besides physical ones and Hama(Holy from Bishop), but it sounds good.

Also yeah the big bosses are going to be annoying to deal with lol, good luck with them.