Final Fantasy Hacktics

I'm tempted to say "none of them", but what's the highest hp humans can get with highest multipler + best armor?

http://fftdev.istaken.org/sceapdat.php

either rip it from the iso via CD mage and convert it, or take a screenshot and directly modify it as a png.

It must be 320x32 pixels.  

Once changed, convert it back and insert with fftpatcher or cd mage.

Input's a bitch more than anything else.

Best solution so far is a single memcard and the teamviewer program.  One of the two (or a 3rd person) plays host with the iso and memcard, and the other(s) give commands verbally/electronically/something.  If IRL, just pass the controller back and forth.  No need for much else. 

Couple that with the world debug menu code or make a piggyback hack of what FFT:Arena is doing and you can have cumbersome but present 2 player funsies.  Max team via world debug is 4v4 (mostly due to sprite limits), but with the proper hacking one can achieve an 8 on 8 human-controlled gang war.

So.. with passives, can you explain these functions?

ARSM = abilities/RSM, wherein simply knowing that slot is a passive bonus
Job level = stuff gained from levels
Msatered = full skillset = blammo

makes sense

But attached to?  What's the difference between job XX and job?  Everything and secondary make sense.  More to the point, what is the combination of functions necessary to invoke "when the skillset/ability is equipped by either primary class or secondary skillset".  And what purpose does the Mime/Squire/02/03 line serve?

Meanwhile, with the attributes II sheet, does this enable RSM functionality to be granted when equipped with ability X?  Like... if I toggle Brave Up, and then attach that attribute to Faith Up, then whenever I equip Faith Up, I also have Brave Up?  And, for the sake of curiousity and recursion, if I were to toggle Brave Up, assign that attribute to Faith Up -- and then on another attribute slot toggle Faith Up, and then assign that to Counter -- when I equip counter, what happens?

10 growth and 100 multiplier is 376 HP. (37 HP at level 1, 155 HP at level 35)

10 growth and 255 multiplier is 960 HP (and 96 HP at level 1, and 396 HP at level 35)

Monsters need growth that is superior to humans because monsters do not equip gear.  Human growth with large multipliers is either too good early on or too poor in late/endgame.  You'll see that many monsters have like... 7 MA growth and 100 multiplers and their damage to enemy HP ratio is great.  Unless you're planning on a blue mage, which will upset that equation drastically, you can stick to the above scheme or something similar.  If you do have a blue mage, then things get more interesting but monsters still need superior growth in all areas regardless.

Here is a spreadsheet.  You change the numbers in bold and see what happens.
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=1737.0

no tutorial that I'm aware of.  Seemed pretty intuitive to me, at least until the patching step.  But the spreadsheet itself is fine.

Create the restriction (ie, must be equipped with X weapon class, or be X status, or be X, class, or whatever).  Use that restriction (let's say 02) and then go over into the next sheet and assign 02 to whatever ability should have that restriction.  afaik the text/name sheets allow you to change the names, much like resources, so you can better keep track of stuff you've changed.

stuff is good.

Speaking of ARH, you can employ it to fix your gunner class.  Rather than cannibalize a lesser weapon class, just change that weapon class to be gunner-friendly and flag its skills as "X weapon class only" instead of "X item only".  This'll allow you to have a spread of weaponry instead of just one.

QuoteI'm fine with percentage spells on the Lucavi

You are including Raz's ASM on the matter (ie, ceiling of 999), right?

Quotewould giving Monster Talk innate immunity to Charm be a bit much?

In terms of balance, not really.  But just in general it feels more forced than the others.  Still something to consider.

QuoteI actually think that Dragon Spirit would be the one that can stand to lose Speed

I think that might be a bit much.  But perhaps initial reraise AND -1 Sp?  Might do the trick;  it'll be symetrical with all the other initials, but still have that penalty attached to it.

QuoteDamage Split seems like it would need to lose HP and maybe be immune to everything MBarrier can do outside of Haste.

Just protect and shell, maybe?  Since those directly impact damage taken.

QuoteDidn't you not add any wind beyond what's already there?

Birds get an Aero spell!  So... no, not really.  It's a very minor buff, but Fly losing 1 movement might be going to far.  Most classes have 2 base move, and so 1 range fly.... not very useful.

QuoteWet poaching? I'm not sure what you mean.

If a monster is in depth 2 water, and get poached, their corpse does not disappear.  So you're free to revive and poach until the cows come home.  This is has some nasty potential aside from why most of them were given innate cannot enter water in the first place, which is kind of silly.  

"Stalk" works, though, in both name and mechanic.

QuoteHow about a support/reaction that leaves you at 0 Faith?

Br/Fa modding isn't possible at this time.  Auto-Innocent does have the same effect, though.  Perhaps we can extend the "robotics" bit?  0 faith, immune to most status, but weak to all elements?  And then just make it Mustadio-exclusive?  In fact, if it's musty-only there may not be need to weaken to all elements.  

Quotenever did hear whether that was even possible, but if it is I stand by it being a great idea.

Good idea, but, yes, not possible atm.  

QuoteDoes Quell actually cancel only Charging and not Performing as well? Is this intentional?

Yes.  Was.  I'll bump it up to this, since it helps separate it from Silence Song.

the amount of cross-system games makes me /twitch a bit, and the fact that the PC isn't even considering until 95 onward makes me a bit sad.

And then I go from "a bit sad" to "crying a river of tears" when I see matchups like Diablo II to TIE Fighter, largely because I'm a snob and TIE fighter is worlds ahead of diablo II, artistically, but there's no hope against that much of a fanbase.  Same can be said for several games, really.  Chrono Trigger vs. Earthbound would be an interesting debate on matters of artistic merit, though.  Not that earthbound sadly stands a chance against the mob.

And, holy crap, WoW vs. Fallout 3 vs. Kotor?  WoW by sheer volume, but Fallout actually has immersion.  Ugh.

depends.

browsing is here:

http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?action=profile;u=888;sa=showPosts

click on your profile, then recent posts.  You've got 20 pages to wade through, personally.

Or, use the search function on the top toolbar, where you can look for a word and then limit results to your username, and then even on specific boards if desired.

My #3 response asked what your plans were for the ability slots, if anything, but that was later answered in your OP post and then further with the latest one.

If markmen are retaining throw that should suffice.  So... if biggest difference between marksman and ninja is (lack of) innate two swords and general facelift?  Should suffice, until you fiddle with throw anyways.

QuoteAs for problem classes, it's probably best if I use spoilers here:

nono.  Monk, Ninja, Samurai, and somehow Oracle .  I mean, I'm half-aware of your viewpoint but it isn't something I'd call problematic about them.

byah!

1) Cool, I'll wait until it's a bit more indepth before messing with it
2) Fun twist, but JP should be taken into account with them system, imo, or flag a majority of the skills as ally/enemy only.  Otherwise as soon as I learn the spell with one person, he'll teach it to the rest.  Extrapoloate over a large army and I'll have a lot unlocked very quickly.  Unless that's your goal, of course.
3) Cool
4/5) *hi-five*
6) Good spread.  I'm a bit concerned about marksman redundancy with archer, but we'll see what you can pull off first.
7) that sounds familiar!  minus the pally thing, of course.
8) Spreading around revival can prove to be interesting.  I can assume you'll still mix things up with range/vert tol/% HP/etc?  Any plans for an AoE rez or two?
9-end) Can't wait to see.

job tree:

Is Elemental adopting a pure MA (ie, [(MA + Y) / 2] * MA damage formula (akin to its FF5 self)?

QuoteIt's like...balance itself is an eldritch abomination.

Oh, indeed

One solution to the midchargey death is simply to remove either or both the 150% damage debuff and the evasion loss debuff currently associated with charging.  iirc FFM has cracked both of those.  In my patch (man, role reversal!) chargers lost the damage debuff but retain the lack of evasion.  Lower speed I can regale you with, and reduced damage isn't too hard to muster -- in general just reduce growths for PA/MA and increase HP growth.  Most of the multipliers and pre-raw stats are fine as-is, imo. 

What makes the so-called "problematic" classes thusly?

Quoteother than "lower tier speed"  time mage needs to be the weakest of the mages to balance its skill set.

So just be a wizard/priest/oracle/summoner/sage with time magic secondary.  There's no reason to be a time mage with XXX secondary.  Ever. 

that's... pretty much how it already is.  Tier-wise, I mean.  In general I think you're forcing specialization too much.  Too few people have decent MA or MP on the fighter side and vice versa.  Bard MA is way too low, and from the looks of it Wizard and Summoner have god-tier MA, then there's a huuuuge gap (oracle, lul) before any other class that actually uses MA comes into the picture.

Also, wtf @ time mage class... crap HP, moderate MP, lower tier speed, crap PA, and lower tier MA?  Every class should be viable.  And, while ideally every class should be also unique, its better to have two duplicates than something that is just outright horrible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6txOvK-mAk

Obviously my liar would consist of myself in a robe, a warm fireside with another chair for a guest, some brandy, and thick velvet curtains that are only partly closed in order to view the stars.  With any luck I'd kill the adventurer in a style fitting of Patrick Bateman.  

When something is "blanked" there's no effect to it.  With move +3, for example, I can just set it to be -3 Move and tack on any additional effect as desired.  There's a display bug with this exact ability (it'll always preview +3).
The initials do seem a bit strong, but remember these are being used over the other reaction abilities.  Waiting until after you're at below half health to have protect activate makes the whole bit less than ideal, imo.

There is no saving gilgame heart, I agree.  I can pump any manner of Alma goodness, but it would need to somehow jive with still getting cash on hit.  

Absorbed Used MP is a bit tricky.  I buffed MP Restore to trigger on any hit so it would be worth a damn, and of course in the process mades it superior to this in every way imaginable.  Giving passive MP really doesn't help in those regards.  Perhaps this one gains the silence immunity?  Which leaves Monster Talk still lacking....

Good call on Catch.

Distribute always struck me as a Zen-y type deal, where one lets stuff pass through them.  Absorb: Holy/Dark seemed to flow with this them.  Still doesn't work on self heals regretably, not can it have a 100% activate rate, and if either/both were possible there'd be no need to ALMA it, imo.

Finger Guard blocking the positive statii (that'd be... reraise and defend) is more fitting, though less powerful.  I'll probably change it to this.

HP Restore doesn't need nerfing, imo.  It has a rather small window to work, and then you've got to hope it triggers.  

Dragon Spirit on the other hand... could use a small punt.  Maybe -1 PA/MA?  Doesn't sound very fitting, but it might work.  

Damage Split can't gain Null: Evasion, regrettably.  Maybe a Speed decrease?  2 should suffice (with no HP loss)

Monster Skill/Warding - should work for a support, when compared to Def Up / MDU.  Mind, those two only drop damage by 33%, but the number of elemental versus not elemental sources is enough to jack up the protection some.  

Concentrate I'll cover in a moment.

Maintenance will be blocking stat debuffs.  (<3 Xif)  and it won't be innate on any generic class.

With any ground+lava -- they will not be innate to geomancers.  The lava innate was added when someone got the idea to put a move find item in the middle of the lava, so a character somehow had to have 2 movement abilities at the same time.  Because chemists are keeping move find item, and that's not getting anything done to it.  

Ignore Height/Fly - perhaps ignore height cancels:Wind?

Move Get JP is in the same boat as gained JP up, imo.  Only difference between the two (in vanilla) was access as it was squire vs. calc.  This patch will have it's fair share of player-leveled enemies, and while stuff like level 1 gang banging and JP sharing exploit are still possible I'd rather still prevent this aspect from occuring.  

Cannot enter water can be buffed, but I'm already at a loss for movement abilities so unless myself or someone else gets a blow of inspiration there's little point in mentioning it.  Atm monsters won't have it, namely because wet poaching is no longer a problem.

Regarding monster balancing... not really .  I already have them set on stats, so if they're plugged with various stat modifiers I can just adjust them (meatboners lose 10/15 HPM, for example) to be where I'd still like em.

I'm not too concerned with Two Hands being outclassed.  Right now the biggest boon with two swords is the increased W.Ev and proc rate on the proccables, but I can possibly make two hands 20% reduction or something, even though it'll work out to identical or within 1 PA difference the majority of the time.

Blade Grasp and Hamedo -- I don't think 2 speed is enough.  With hamedo one negates an enemy attack AND counters (and it works against monsters, now) -- which is basically two actions in a reaction.  One action to heal oneself and then another to attack.  BG is one action of full evasion/self curing, but it's still a major AT imbalance. However, I can't very well set their SPM to -100% because then they'll never get a turn and sit on the back of the field wishing they were a statue in the middle of the field.  Initial: bad status won't mean much if you have a higher speed cleanser.  Always: blind and silence won't be enough either because then they can still be itembots.  Damage splitters at least need to wait until after they're hit to activate, but the pre-emptive nature of these two makes me a sad panda.

Secret Hunt boosting Dark is an idea.  I was thinking of something that'd boost Thieves, somehow.  Not that Str:Dark does that, but it'll have a certain niche that wasn't present before.  At the very least, there will be more monsters in storyline battles so it will still be useful sometimes for a real battle.

+1 Speed / -1 Move is a great idea for a movement ability.  But what in the world can it be named?

~

Concentrate is fine, imo.  Yes, even in this patch where everyone has innate weapon guard and 4-way class evasion.  The average unit will have between 10 and 30 evasion unless they're rocking a mantle and/or shield.  Unless all the units on the field have 50% or greater evasion, two swords/hands will still be better average damage output -- dealing 150% damage 75% of the time is better than doing 100% damage 100% of the time... usually.  IE, concentrate is a ~25% damage boost, while attack up is 33% and 2S/2H is 50%, but concentrate still has a place for it's execution abilities while attack up has synergy with many PA-based abilities.  Martial Arts isn't much different, either, with a 50% boost but only when barehanded (ie, no weapon evasion). The biggest problem with martial arts is that it is/was innate to Monks and thus can stack with attack up or other supports for fun twinkage.   And there's no code to reduce concentrate's effectiveness atm.

~

Poles are the only weapon class I'm concerned about with two hands synergy, and I don't want it to also do -25% MA just because of that.  Nor do I want them to no longer be 2h-able.  Hm.  Anyways, you've still got plenty of time, as I'm still banging my head on animations and effects so this is something we can stew on.  

the function is there but I'm concerned about it being abused (having 10... spartacii... sucks).  The admins are free to change names, however.  If this is more a personal request than general one, feel free to PM either myself or Eternal or post here and we'll see if we can accommodate.

150 multiplier is just too high in general for PA, MA, or speed and makes for some major imbalances, especially early on.  See below.  135 SPM, similarly, is just flat out too good. 

Knight speed:  1-99 = 5 to 8
Ninja speed: 1-99 = 9 to 14

A level 1 ninja will have more speed than a level 99 knight. 

Here's a spreadsheet:
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=1737.20

OK, so... Alma hack.  For those of you not "in the know", this will allow myself and others to assign item-like attributes to any ability, including RSM.  Additionally I can create passive, permanent perks on having certain abilities just flat out learned or getting up to job level X.  I don't have much interest in the current form of passive permanent perks but being able to do this to RSM makes me very pleased.  In short, I can have either a positive or negative to HP/MP/Sp/PA/MA in either absolutes or percentages (+100 HP, or -10% MA, for example), or assign status initial/cancel/always and/or elemental half/absorb/etc.  

Thus, the goal is two-pronged for RSM -- boost the low-hangers, while nerfing the really awesome ones.

So...

first off, the list.  



And then sorted into the "perk me" "as is" and "omg nerf me" groups, with some potential changes.  Note -- these are additional attributes along with whatever these normally do.  On review I can setup a few to better provide random status immunity, but taking suggestions and critiques on the current mesh.

Reactions


Support:



Movements:

QuoteBut I haven't a clue how to find 33E90's location.

All the numbers but the last one are on rows on the left.  They are perfectly sequential, and remember, THIS IS HEX.  Base 16.  After 19 is 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, and 1F before 20.  

The last number in the location is in the column.  

Change the value at the specified locations.  See pic