Final Fantasy Hacktics

Hello, after getting tired of FFT WotL, i took a shot at FFT A2, which i actually like more, so, I thought of editing it to change some things and make it overall better.

Before that, however, i'd like to see whether or not it would garner some attention to it.

I already started editing the game with the editor tools, some highlights include MP starting at max and unique classes getting much better.

A question though, so far, i've only seen 3 tools for this game, Ability editor, Job editor and Equipment editor, are there more? These are already quite limited, but i can work with that.

Any info and ideas accepted

The good news is there's a spreadsheet floating around somewhere that has a LOT of FFTA2's data on it. If you know anything about hex editing, it would be extremely helpful.

The bad news, as you've noticed, is that there aren't many easy-mode tools for A2. The tool developers for the FFTA series are mostly interested in the GBA game. That probably seems odd since FFTA2 is in many ways "more advanced" but...I personally hate that the battles are so much more predictable. And they nerfed my lovely Assassin. And my Death-spamming Alchemist. It hurts, man. It hurts.

That's not to say tool development for FFTA2 will never happen. There has been on and off interest. It's just not something to hold your breath for.

Well, I gotta say I'm not very skilled in Hex editing... But I could certainly learn quickly, as a matter of fact, I did the MP thingie using HxD, based on something i saw laying around on this forum.

What would really be awesome is a formation editor like the one on the AiO, i could give the enemies the same game-breaking combos the players have, like a Paladin with Flair and Geomancy.

But for now i'll have to stick to A-Abilities, Equipment and Jobs. I made a small discovery though:

On the ability editor on Page 2, the one with the bunch of Unknows and stuff, on the Mid-Left group of boxes, the first box, that is labeled Unknown, actually indicates if said ability can be Magick Frenzied, for reference, it's the box below 'Reflectable/Magick Counter'

And, on the Lower-Left group, the 4th Unknown actually indicates if the ability can target empty tiles.

The main thing keeping me from bothering with modding A2 is the lack of AI. The only thing they do is move as close as possible and pick a random ability to use. There are no priorities to kill your low HP units or heal themselves. There's also no level scaling.

Quote from: ArcticPrism on October 26, 2014, 12:17:35 pm
There's also no level scaling.

Knew I forgot something in my list of complaints.

Yep, and considering this is a game where the main focus are quests, it kinda loses the meaning when after just a few you're already overleveled enough to just muscle your way through without much problem.

There IS level scale, only in certain fights (besides the random ones, there is the battle vs. Ewen, and few more iirc)

The terrible AI is something everyone agrees on (using magic hammer on my fighter instead of any mage unit ...tisk tisk).

I too have been using the tools to edit my game a lot. Since I can't do anything about their AI, I uped their stats especially HP.

ex.
final boss has roughly 1000 hp per section in vanilla, now has 4000+
flans have their insane defense again
starting from full mp causes monsters to use their spells a lot more especially sprites

I know it just end up being a numbers game but still it's definitely an improvement over the original.

Indeed, or hitting their own allies with arrows due to not checking height parameters, Veis made me lose the final fight against Klesta because of that ._. and getting 2 critical hits in a row with double shot, she never gets those when she's attacking enemies though.

Does checking 'Already Mastered' on abilities also affect the enemies? if so, perhaps it would help give the CPU more tools to use

Yes, making Already Mastered on monster skills will give enemies the ability to use all their Monster Skills from the start. I do this in FFTA2 GG to great effect.

Quote from: FrozenDragon150 on October 30, 2014, 11:10:25 pm
Indeed, or hitting their own allies with arrows due to not checking height parameters

I'm just as derpy as the AI in this regard. I've hit the ground at a target's feet more times than I can count. I've even shot my own people with a gunner before. It's only amusing the first few times.

Then again I'll kill allies on purpose if I can kill 2+ enemies for the price of 1 ally, so I suppose they're ill-fated either way.

I see, well, maybe i should do that for all A-Abilities (save for those who are meant to be in a progressive style, as well as Heritor Abilities).

Btw, is it possible to modify unique characters' starting equipment? I can modify Luso's starting class, but i dunno where to look his equipment and base stats, as well as for Cid, Adelle and other uniques

Luso doesn't have a class all to his own, he starts out as a normal little soldier so he has the basic stats as any hume

As for the other "special" classes, if you're using the Job Editor you can find their classes a good bit down the list

Actually his stats arent normal, he has lower speed and higher attack.

I don't mean unique classes, but unique characters, as in, Adelle (as a character) starts out as a Thief, what I can't seem to find is how do I edit this, to make her start out as another class.

Oh i didn't realize, i just thought everyone's stats were based oh the class they are

And changing a starting class would more than likely be a Hex thing. Sounds as simple as changing point but what do i know lol i'm just saying what it sounds like

Yep, I actually found where Luso's starting class is stored, but I dunno about Cid and Adelle's, as well as starting equipment.

I'd definitely be willing to help out with a patch like this.

I think it's relevant to point out that Lennart left his FFTA2 notes here, for anyone who might have wanted to work on the game.
http://ffhacktics.com/smf/index.php?topic=9398.20

Welp, last time i looked, it was for the 'MP regeneration' and 'starting MP' adresses, i was going to download the files later, and now my data plan ran out ._. Bad move on my part. I guess i'll just have to wait it out oh well, just 15 days to go.

I suppose more research needs to be done on my part, i was experimenting with a datasheet i found in another website and managed to give Defenders the 'Cover' skill, which is a start, btw is it possible to give a skillset more skills while leaving the others instead of having to remove one to put the other in it's place? If so, then how many can i set?

Also, i found out how to edit all six starting characters' class and secundary skillset yay! Still no clue on Cid and Adelle, however, they really need to change their starting classes, not so much on adelle, but big time on Cid, he really get's weakened by having 20 levels as a Warrior.

Also - Part 2: Is there any way to 'flag' quests and make them unlock certain skills? If i ever find how to edit Adelle's starting class, i would like to get her to start out as a Heritor, but with no skills of course, she would still have not unlocked her Instinct skills, so giving her 'Steal (Sky pirate version)' would be nifty, and Lennart would be unlocked after completing the first 'Gifted one' event (when he fights adelle)

Also - Part 3: Is there a way to change Job requirements? (If such function is already on the Job Editor and i haven't seen it, then my astigm-whateverthingieonmyeyes must be getting worse :/) if so, i had and idea, about having more jobs unlocked at the beggining, each one being 'starter' jobs that serve to develop the character at first, that are used to unlock 'Advanced' jobs, the absolute best ones of a single race.

Here's an idea with hume jobs:

Starter
Fighter Jobs
-Soldier (Tank)
-Fighter (Attacker)

Stealth Jobs
-Thief (Close range, evasion-based)
-Archer (Long range, distance-based)

Mage Jobs
-White Mage (Support)
-Black Mage (Magic attacker)


Advanced Jobs

Fighter Jobs
-Paladin (Tank)
-Parivir (Attacker)

Stealth Jobs
-Ninja (Mixed attacker, evasion-based)
-Hunter (Long Range, Distance-based)

Mage Jobs
-Seer (Magickal Jack-of-all-trades with many options plus Recharge and Magick Frenzy)
-Illusionist (Fully offensive mage)

Quirk Job
-Blue Mage (monster abilities, debuffs, buffs, physical attacks)

Opinions?

1. Yes it is possible to give a skillset more skills while leaving the others through a process called "repointing" which moves the structures to a bigger area in the ROM to be edited. You'll have to read quite a few tutorials and experiment a bit to get from square one to repointing and editing tables comfortably. (Well semi-comfortably. There'll always be the chance that something glitches for seemingly no reason.)

2. It seems more likely that there's a small table with only the heritor skillset on it. I doubt they'd waste space creating a system for all 300+ missions when only ~10 actually use it. This edit would most likely require ASM knowledge.

3. Changing the way job unlocking works would probably require a huge ASM overhaul, unless you were just changing what missions unlock what jobs. The game isn't currently programmed to do what you want it to, which means you would essentially have to rebuild a small portion of it from scratch. Also you basically just described the job system for FFTA1, in which all jobs are unlockable from the start by using the job(s) that lead into them.

That's another thing about FFTA1 that's better~

Quote from: FrozenDragon150 on November 07, 2014, 07:20:12 pm
Also, i found out how to edit all six starting characters' class and secundary skillset yay! Still no clue on Cid and Adelle, however, they really need to change their starting classes, not so much on adelle, but big time on Cid, he really get's weakened by having 20 levels as a Warrior.

Every character's starting class can be changed pretty easily - I discovered an unknown field in one of Lennart's spreadsheets yesterday that controls this. In Cid's case, change the byte at 53D5C36 from 0E (Warrior) to a new Job ID, and do the same for Adelle - change 02 (Thief) to a new ID at 53D5C52.

You can actually do this for every special unit in the game, along with units recruited through the World Map and the Clan Mates mission I believe.