On making a good SRPG

[Dokurider]

Does anyone else feel that there should be some more reactions like regenerator that give protect or shell, or randomly gives you one of several good status effects when you're attacked?

Absolutely. Speed Save adds Haste, A Save and MA Save gain new statuses that boosts PA by 25% and MA by 25%, respectively. Then, a Protect version and a Shell version. Maybe a Faith version too?

I agree with you guys that Attack/Defense/Whatever UP and Concentrate and a lot of other R/S/M's make a lot of other R/S/M's obsolete. Teleport, anyone?

My issue with supports comes in when they are innates and thus become stackable, causing runaway damage, although there is plenty of that too.

Another major issue with supports is just the sheer lack of variety. Most supports either boost/reduce damage or are equips. In fact, out of the 28 supports in the game, only 8 supports do not directly boost or reduce damage/effectiveness or aren't equip options and I was being pretty loose with the definition of boosting/reducing and maybe equipping. If I switch onto lawyer mode, it can go down even more. I remember in Raziel's topic, there was quite a bit of support ideas being thrown around. Like a support that when attacking a unit in critical, it would instantly kill them and drop their MP to zero or one that reduces death counter to 1 on units you've killed, or one that copies statuses from enemies in adjacent panels.

Abandon -> Super cheese power

I'm not really sure how to balance out Abandon. How about this?

1. Abandon boosts your evade by 3/2 or 4/3.
2. Abandon will only increase your evade Br% of the time.
3. Abandon only effects Character and Weapon Evasion, and even then, P-Ev only.

Blade Grasp -> is so broken I think I'll make it Malak Only.

Or remove it altogether. Remember when Rafa had Blade Grasp?

Attack/Defense/Magic Attack/Magic Defense UP -> requires no stratagy, causes no penalty. What they need is a penalty: boost defense at the expense of offense, offense for defense. Even then, they're still broken.

I don't think so. I think a free damage boost/reduction isn't bad, it's just currently it's your only real option. Increasing the number of supports available will put them in perspective, particularly supports that increase your opportunities for attack, rather than just boosting what you have.

Concentrate -> Broken Maybe it should be weapon specific?

I got a better idea. Concentrate is taken out the generic pool and given to Mustadio, maybe as an innate even, rename it Pierce. In exchange, generics get a new support that merely reduces target's Physical evasion by 50% and Magical Evasion by 100%, the new Concentrate.

Martial Arts -> definately broken. Maybe make it change the formula of another weapon, or make it screw around with weapon formulas? Have it switch all instances of PA with MA, and vice versa?

I don't think it's broken, it's just becomes broken when you stack it with other supports. It's basically Attack Up, only stronger and only effects certainly skills and fists. I still don't know what to do with fists.

Maintenance -> Should be a reaction. Evade breaks & steal according to brave. Why? Because it makes equip change obsolete.

Great idea.

Teleport-> needs a penalty/more limitations.

I remember another idea from Raziel's topic where Teleport allowed you to go anywhere you wanted, at the cost of not being able to act that turn. If you already acted, you can't move. Still might be OP though.

Float -> better than any water-related ability

Not that hard, really. Yet another idea from Raziel's topic is that while in water, you gained 20 CT per turn. Float could have a drawback of being knocked back by any physical attack.

Any Ground

Another idea from Raziel's topic was that you gained or lost move depending on what tiles you are going through/standing on. However, I think they were going at this backward. Rather, you gaining or losing move depending on what tiles you are going through should depend on the tiles, and Any Ground should negate this effect. That way, you give a shit about the terrain.

Items would make more sense for being percent based. Hi Potions go out of style quickly, and Elixirs are hard to get. Same with Ethers. Magic healing needs a bigger boost to it's formula and more range than just a cross shape with barely any vertical tolerance.

Not with Autopotion in the game. Getting percentage healing every time you get hit would be insane. I know it's kind of lame that Hi Potions are obsoleted by X-Potions, but that's a casualty of game progress that has to be excepted. Item could stand a buff, but it's should not be a good healing source because it has no real cost in battle. You can spam Potion and Ethers and Remedies and Phoenix Downs all you want without any really risk at all, and it will always work exactly the same for everybody 100% of the time. It's only cost is that you have to buy them out of battle. That's why it shouldn't be as good as the rest of the curative skillsets. Besides, White Magic should rightfully be the best healing moveset and percentage healing is the way to go for them. They have to be able to beat out elemental absorb strategies in particular.

Ramza does decently for a Haste replacement,

Also Faith-based, and it's only a single target, which believe or not, it what really makes it inferior to Haste. The power of Haste comes from not just being really fast, but having multiple people being fast. Haste will haste a lot people at the same time, allowing for a single unified powerful movement, as opposed to Yell, which will lead to multiple weaker movements with Haste constantly wearing off, force a Yell user to either just Haste 1 or 2 people, or spend all of their time hasting everyone. A Haste user can easily just Haste everyone in one go, opening up a free hand for the battle.

and Draw Out skill with Haste works too.

Masamune is rare and it only gives you Haste half the time.

Raise and Raise 2 are a waste of time to me. Bringing someone back with Phoenix Down puts AI in retard mode, where they'll only use an attack to try and finish you off, making them Hamedo bait.

That's kinda situational. What if he uses an AoE to attack you and the Item user? Then you'll be dead again. Or what if you are an Archer or using a gun? What if he attacks you from above where you can't reach him? What if he's a monster? What if he uses Repeating Fist or Dash because you have too much evasion for him to bother with? Besides, Hamedo's pretty cheap anyhow.

Really it's for the sake of variety. Take away some class' innates, and they just become a class who's sole purpose is to pick up the skills, and put them on a better class. FFT's combat system doesn't quite have enough variables to make every class unique without them having an innate. I mean, why would anyone use a Chemist if they didn't have Throw Item innate? It would be better if every class used their own default moveset better than someone who's setting it as a secondary, or had some kind of perk for being in the class the skillset belongs to.

I'm not against innates period, just ones that boost damage. Then again, I've having a change of heart on that. Bows offer a major range advantage, Spears do great damage and have extra range, allowing them to circumvent stuff like Hamedo and Counter, Shields are a major defensive advantage. I guess stacking isn't the end of the world. You have to understand though, I'm pretty bitter against innate Duel Wield and Martial Arts because they overcentralize the game so much. Because of their stacked cheese, many of the physical classes had to be really buffed up just to compete with Monks and Ninjas, and that in turn suffocated the magic classes and the physical classes that couldn't realistically keep up and fell behind as a result.

I'm thinking Martial Arts and Dual Wield in a new light. Rather than think they are a Attack Up clone, I should be thinking of them as an Equip Item option, like Equip Spear and Equip Katana. It's just that Dual Wield and Martial Arts do too much damage. I'm thinking MA goes down to 4/3 with a new fist formula, while Duel Wield total Damage Output should be either 5/4 or just 1(except on knives, current damage). Having the ability to increase your proc rate, and having multiple weapon bonuses, not to mention it's synergy with Break Item and Aim is already pretty good.

The idea I would prefer would be having every class in the physical and magical be on a different level of damage to life ratio. Something like Knight should be on the far end of the life spectrum, and on the low end of damage, where something like Ninja should be the opposite. A good in between would be like Samurai. For magic, maybe change a Priest to be high life, low damage (and take Holy away from them) while a far advanced magic class like Calculator should be at the opposite end of the spectrum. A good in between would be an Oracle. Skillsets would need to be modified to accommodate this, however.

And I know that in the real game, Priests aren't high life or anything, but I was referring my preferred style, not how they actually have it set up.

Wouldn't that make Priests...Paladins? Actually, if anything, the Oracle should the high life low damage magic class.

1. Currently, Ying Yang Magic is far more reliant on Faith than MA, so high MA isn't necessary for Ying Yang to work.

2. Currently, Oracles have the highest HP for a Mage. They are already a high life class (for a Mage anyways), so turning them into a real high life class won't be a stretch for them.

In fact, I think they would greatly benefit from being a high life class. Give them a shield, higher HP, take away their MA, leave them with sticks, rods, books and staves, maybe give them armor, they'd become a status tank class. Very excellent.

However, I don't think it's a good idea to shoehorn classes into roles they weren't supposed to fill. The Priest? The Time Mage? The Summoner? They really benefit being from being what they are. Time Mages have the lowest health in the game because their support skills are so influential, not to mention being fast. I know you don't think much of them currently, and their other skills could use some reshuffling, but I can testify to Haste and it's effectiveness. Summoners also really benefit from being who they are. Having high MP and pretty good MA. I could also testify to the effectiveness of Summon Magic. The Priest, can be made better without fundamentally changing their stats.

The thing is, the idea that a challenge that would require low magical damage, but high survivalibity or vice versa (in theory), will never happen in FFT because it simply won't be allowed. In theory,the game was built around this limitation. You'll just never see The Armor of Infinite Physical Resist or anything like that.

Am I saying that FFT doesn't need anymore variety? No. Not by a long shot. I think your goal of having a more ratios represented on both sides would be accomplished much more naturally by introducing classes to fill out that ratio quota, rather than shoehorning existing classes. Although some current classes could stand some retooling. For example, the Samurai is kinda wishy-washy right now. You could change the Samurai into purely a Magical class. Or change them into a purely a Physical class. Or change them into a Physical/Magic class, like the Geomancer. Or divide the class and do all three!

Bad idea. There's a reason you only get one reaction skill. Even giving Weapon Guard as an innate to everyone is too much. If you guys figure out how to unflag two working at the same time, then Abandon with everyone having Weapon Guard innate would create ridiculous evade for everyone. Counter and Counter Magic at the same time would make you stupid hard to strike with anything without feeling reparations. Hamedo + Arrow Guard means it's suicide to try and attack you, especially if you change Arrow Guard to work on guns too. With MP Switch and MP Restore, if you're in critical HP, you're nearly impossible to bring down.

Which is why it's reserved strictly for bosses. ASM'D did make make Weapon Guard innate to everyone, but we compensated for it. The evade itself is low, and Abandon was removed from the game. So was MP Switch, although I think some bosses have it. Probably.

I think you should seriously try out or look at ASM'D. I think it's your kind of patch. Only a demo is currently available, though, but I think you'll enjoy playing it.

Unless they're giving multiple good/bad stats at once, those skills are largely useless. The point of a reaction ability is to keep you alive longer more than anything. That's why Blade Grasp, Hamedo, Abandon, Critical Quick, and HP Restore are usually the skill of choice. One good stat/one ailment isn't going to help much unless you get a lucky Haste/Stone, or Quick/Dead.

Well, most of those Reactions are arguably pretty OP to begin with. Of course they are going to pale in comparison.

Removing Gained Anything Up is stupid in my opinion. No one wants to sit there using Accumulate or Berserk Frogs for hours on end. FFT's JP system needs cost cuts all around. We went through the trouble of getting a billion JP for ever class when we were 12 and this game just came out. Considering that anyone playing FFT 1.3 or other variations has probably gathered enough JP in their lifetime to master every class five times over, we don't need to incorporate stupid high JP restrictions anymore. Make the enemies have more skills earlier, and slash JP costs across the board. Gets the same job done without the need for stupid Berserked frogs.If you want to limit class availability, put a level limit on them instead of crazy JP requirements. Levels come easy, and it's not unthinkable to gain like 2-3 levels for a few fights vs. running the game 10 hours with stupid frogs.

Gain JP Up is the devil.

Truth is, I don't remember why it is anymore, BUT IT IS

EDIT: *Groan* I've been typing this post all day long.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Razele's topic is full of win.  Too bad he got hit by a truck.

I'm searching a save state for Cheer Up/Brave Up's Brave offset.  It will take me about 2 weeks.

I looked at the wiki, and there are a lot of reactions we could search for, even without any asm knowledge.  And since my life sucks monkey nuts right now, and I have unlimited free time...

Look at tigerspike's topic in help if you're interested.  All the asm guys will be horrified when they see my method, but I can't for the life of me comprehend asm, or keep any knowledge of it.  It just slips my mind.

[philsov]

I'm searching a save state for Cheer Up/Brave Up's Brave offset. It will take me about 2 weeks.

Hex Edits

Change brave gain by chickened units.
BATTLE.BIN
0x11C290 change 0x81 to 0xYY
The brave gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 brave.

Change brave gain by Brave Up.
BATTLE.BIN
0x124090 change 0x83 to 0xYY
The brave gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 brave.

Change faith gain of Face Up.
BATTLE.BIN
0x1240A4 change 0x83 to 0xYY
The faith gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 faith.

But cheer up is a function of fftpatcher, silly.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5132

So... since that's cracked, may I suggest locating the status-inflicting reaction slots?  With any luck they're a cluster, and you should be able to discern the byte value for the various statii given their order in fftpatcher.  Would love to change up caution/dragon spirit/regen/sunken state into new status (or multiples) -- as also stated in the topic above.

[Eat_an_Octorok]

I think your goal of having a more ratios represented on both sides would be accomplished much more naturally by introducing classes to fill out that ratio quota, rather than shoehorning existing classes.

Adding classes would be nice, but I don't remember ever hearing mention of you guys pulling that off yet, just modifying existing ones. Working with the existing ones seemed to be the easiest idea to implement.

That's kinda situational. What if he uses an AoE to attack you and the Item user?

From what I've seen, the AI will always try a regular physical attack to kill a weakened unit even if they have an AoE that could very will kill two people at once, or kill one and hit another. Sounds dumb, but I've been people beat Deep Dungeon 1.3 fights using this exact tactic to stop the super powerful mages and other units you encounter in there from using powerful AoE attacks, and Hamedo/Golem protecting themselves.

Or what if you are an Archer or using a gun?

If your unit has a bow/gun as well, you can Hamedo another long range attack, as long as you're still in attacking range. I've had a Chemist Hamedo a spell casted on him with their gun. Plus, this tactic is always paired up with Golem.

Truth is, I don't remember why it is anymore, BUT IT IS

If you don't like it, then blame yourself, or blame God.

[Dokurider]

Adding classes would be nice, but I don't remember ever hearing mention of you guys pulling that off yet, just modifying existing ones. Working with the existing ones seemed to be the easiest idea to implement.

True, but a lot of things we've been talking about aren't possible currently.

From what I've seen, the AI will always try a regular physical attack to kill a weakened unit even if they have an AoE that could very will kill two people at once, or kill one and hit another. Sounds dumb, but I've been people beat Deep Dungeon 1.3 fights using this exact tactic to stop the super powerful mages and other units you encounter in there from using powerful AoE attacks, and Hamedo/Golem protecting themselves.

See, that's less about being revived in critical is better than being revived fully, then about the foolhardiness of the AI. If you were up against a human opponent or an AI without that exploit, you'd be spiraling down to a sandbaggy death. If it weren't for that exploit, Raise would obviously be superior to Phoenix Down, charging be damned. Should the game be balanced around your faulty AI, or should you just admit the AI isn't perfect and just balance the game?

If your unit has a bow/gun as well, you can Hamedo another long range attack, as long as you're still in attacking range. I've had a Chemist Hamedo a spell casted on him with their gun. Plus, this tactic is always paired up with Golem.

Of course you can, but it won't Hamedo an attack one or two panels away. Hamedo is only as effective as your weapon.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

I'm searching a save state for Cheer Up/Brave Up's Brave offset. It will take me about 2 weeks.

Hex Edits

Change brave gain by chickened units.
BATTLE.BIN
0x11C290 change 0x81 to 0xYY
The brave gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 brave.

Change brave gain by Brave Up.
BATTLE.BIN
0x124090 change 0x83 to 0xYY
The brave gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 brave.

Change faith gain of Face Up.
BATTLE.BIN
0x1240A4 change 0x83 to 0xYY
The faith gained + 0x80 = 0xYY. Obviously, you cannot gain more than 127 faith.

But cheer up is a function of fftpatcher, silly.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5132

So... since that's cracked, may I suggest locating the status-inflicting reaction slots?  With any luck they're a cluster, and you should be able to discern the byte value for the various statii given their order in fftpatcher.  Would love to change up caution/dragon spirit/regen/sunken state into new status (or multiples) -- as also stated in the topic above.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4948&start=0
^I got Cheer Up to boost MA in a save state, but I can't find the string around it in BATTLE.BIN.  I need someone who undestands ASM to look at it.

From http://www.ffhacktics.com/wiki/Formula_Hacking:

Statuses

    * 0x0058
          o 0x80
          o 0x40 Crystal
          o 0x20 Dead
          o 0x10 Undead
          o 0x08 Charging
          o 0x04 Jump
          o 0x02 Defending
          o 0x01 Performing
    * 0x0059
          o 0x80 Petrify
          o 0x40 Invite
          o 0x20 Darkness
          o 0x10 Confusion
          o 0x08 Silence
          o 0x04 Blood Suck
          o 0x02 Cursed
          o 0x01 Treasure
    * 0x005A
          o 0x80 Oil
          o 0x40 Float
          o 0x20 Reraise
          o 0x10 Transparent
          o 0x08 Berserk
          o 0x04 Chicken
          o 0x02 Frog
          o 0x01 Critical
    * 0x005B
          o 0x80 Poison
          o 0x40 Regen
          o 0x20 Protect
          o 0x10 Shell
          o 0x08 Haste
          o 0x04 Slow
          o 0x02 Stop
          o 0x01 Wall
    * 0x005C
          o 0x80 Faith
          o 0x40 Innocent
          o 0x20 Charm
          o 0x10 Sleep
          o 0x08 Don't Move
          o 0x04 Don't Act
          o 0x02 Reflect
          o 0x01 Death Setence

What should I search for?  If I want to locate Sunken State, should I search for 0x005810?  I'm kinda bummed out you asked that, because that's the one thing I don't know how to look for.


Is there something like notepad that lets me hotkey blocks of text for multiple, separate copy and pastes?  And I need a hex editor that lets me search for something OR something else.
Like:
2400 OR 0024

[philsov]

What should I search for? If I want to locate Sunken State, should I search for 0x005810? I'm kinda bummed out you asked that, because that's the one thing I don't know how to look for.

It's probably not as simple as 0x5810... it's probably more like "10" with a 58 located within 3 lines of it.  Which... doesn't make things any easier.

Is there something like notepad that lets me hotkey blocks of text for multiple, separate copy and pastes?

Texter should do the trick for you.  Turn your "@" key into "ctrl F 10" and your "!" into "ctrl F 58" or somesuch.

http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker ... er-windows

No clue about the hex utility though =\

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

I just realized, I only have to search for 0x005A.  0x005A gives transparent; if I replace it with 0x005B and Sunken State gives me Shell, then I found it.  I don't even have to worry about 0x10.

But be aware that my methods are incomplete.  I can find data in save states (which are just snapshots of ram), but I usually can't translate what I find into a specific offset in a file in the ISO.  If you want, I could generate a gameshark code when I find something, for easier reproduction.  Or I could just inport/modify/export battle.bin via CDMage, though that will take longer.

Texter looks sweet, btw.

[philsov]

well... the findings need to be reproducable.  If the savestate hacking can't be translated into a permanent and programmable change then there's no point.

Again, this is just a suggestion.  If you're scheming up something else then go for it.

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

They're reproducable, but it requires that I you also have a copy of the save state, the modified ISO (or a patch), and the search log.  Modding battle.bin won't be faster, and it might not even work at all if Square didn't put all the R/S/M and Formula data in one place, but at least once you find it, you're done.

I really hope someone can translate my find into a hex address in battle.bin.  I want an MA+ formula so freaking bad, and, the more we learn about formulas, the easier it gets to find them.

[Eat_an_Octorok]

This thread really got off topic from the original discussion idea. Guess I'll try to steer it back with an idea I had. This is by no means an FFT related mechanic. In fact, it's conception wasn't meant for FFT, but rather for an idea on how to create a gridless SRPG. Think along the longs of games that have free movement like Valkyria Chronicles, Makai Kingdom, and Phantom Brave.

I was trying to think of a way to create a free movement SRPG that wouldn't have move be so broken like Phantom Brave and still retain the tactical aspect of positioning yourself correctly on the map for a strategic advantage. After all, with free movement, you can't hide your back in a corner to cover it, or block off paths from enemies by taking up the only tile that leads through it. The idea I came up with was implementing space control. Here's basically how it would work:

Every unit in the game has a circle around them that designates that area around them as their space, with I will call Zone of Control. The size of the circle varies depending on class. Some control large area, while others control small areas, and there's all kinds of in between. The game has five different types of space.

Neutral
Allied
Enemy
Disputed
Challenged

Neutral is the default type of space on any map you start on. It has no ownership, and it up to claim to whoever enters it first. Allied space belongs to you, however it is divided into two types, Actively controlled space, and Passively controlled space. Actively controlled space is the Zone of Control around an allied unit that they are currently owning. Passively controlled space is space that at one point your own unit owned, but have now left that area. It still belongs to you, but none of your units have their ZoC on it. Enemy space is just like this, except the opposite, it belongs to the enemy, yatta, yatta.

Now the differences of actively controlled and passively controlled allied/enemy space come into play when units start invading space they don't own. When two opposing unit's ZoC overlaps, the space that has them overlapping is considered Disputed space. That space counts towards both the enemy and allies possession, and can be utilized by both. (How space is used will be gotten into later.) This is what normally goes down when it's 1v1 on the units' ZoC. When the sides are unbalanced, however, things change. Let's say that one enemy and one allied ZoC are overlapping. If you were to bring up another allied unit, then their ZoC would be counted towards the ownership of the space in you favor. So what would happen is that any of the enemy unit's space in their ZoC that is overlapped by your two allied units' ZoCs will automatically become yours, while the rest that still has only 1v1 overlapping stays disputed. This compounds with more allied/enemy ZoCs brought in to factor too. For example three allied ZoCs overlapping two enemy ZoCs that are overlapping will beat out the enemy controlled ZoC and become yours.

For Passively controlled space, things work different. If an allied unit's ZoC enters Passive space of the enemy, that space's ownership is challenged. If another enemy unit does not move in to reclaim the challenged space before the invader's turn comes up again, then the passively controlled enemy space that fell into the allied unit's ZoC becomes allied space. Challenged space still retains ownership of whoever was controlling it before. Now you can get around the whole Challenge space waiting issue by moving another unit's ZoC within the Challenged space. Their two overlapping ZoCs will instantly change ownership of it without a challenge being allowed.

So after explaining all that technically jumbo, I'll explain why space is important. If you happen to find yourself in opposing space, or Disputed space, then you are vulnerable to being intercepted. Basically when you chose your action for the turn, you run the risk of it being canceled and receiving a counter attack from an opposing unit who's within interception range. In order to be intercepted, two requirements must be met. First, your unit must be in Enemy or Disputed space. You will not be intercepted in space you control. Second, when you are in enemy/disputed space, there must be an enemy unit who's equipped weapon is within attacking distance of your unit when they preform an action. If both conditions are met, you are vulnerable to being intercepted. The same applies to enemy units as well. Now the chance for interception to happen when the conditions are met varies. Every move has a preset difficulty of interception. Generally close range moves have the lowest chance to be intercepted, and long range moves have the highest chance to be intercepted. But this isn't set in stone and can still vary with the move. The distance a unit is from the unit they're trying to intercept also comes into play. For example, a character with a bow can intercept from a far distance, but the farther away they are, the lower the chance is that they actually will.

The idea I have for the classes is in general close range classes control the least amount of space, yet also are the hardest to intercept, while long range classes control the most space, but are the easiest to intercept, and of course there will be plenty of in between ones.

I know it kinda sounds really confusing, but I'll try to clear up any questions. So, some opinions on this idea?

[Skip Sandwich]

what your proposing is basically Attacks of Opportunity from Dungeons and Dragons, only more complicated. In D&D, characters have a Zone of Control equal to their melee reach (units with long weapons have an extended maximum reach, but have to suffer from a minimum reach as well), if a creature attempts to move OUT of a space in your ZoC, then you get a free attack attempt against them, with units being able to make a limited number of such attacks per round, usually just 1, typically no more then 4.

So how do we adapt it here? Well, each unit has an Interception Zone determined by their reach, how this affects movement is simple, moving into an enemy unit's IZ ends your movement immediately (some unit supports/innates would be able to bypass this), and moving OUT of an enemy unit's IZ, or using an action capable of being intercepted while within it, triggers an Interception Attack from the enemy unit, provided they have such an attack available (# of interceptions per round is based on equipped weapon and modified by current class, unarmed attacks would have the most interceptions, while ranged weapons would have the least, and potentially zero interceptions per round).

[Eat_an_Octorok]

I never intended movement to be canceled by interception, only actions. It's something that could be tried out, however. I've never played D&D so I'm not too familiar with the way they had it. Ideas like a maximum # of intercepts depending on weapon and a minimum range on long range weapons was also something I didn't consider.

My thought on the idea was to not have a limited # of intercepts, however, it only triggers when you try to use actions, not with movements, and it has a certain % chance of it happening. Plus, ZoC would be determined mostly by class, not equipped weapon. Of course this can be played with more, since I just thought this up not too long ago, and it's probably by no means perfect just yet.

[IdesofMarch]

I realize now that a lot of this stuff is off topic, but I spent a while typing it so I'm going to post it anyway:

- The AT system is really good but as has been said before speed needs a nerf in terms of its importance in combat. Within the system this could be accomplished by lowering speed growths and massively limiting speed boosting equipment. In a new system it would probably be better to start with a number higher than 100 for max CT and then fiddle with the speed increments until it's relatively balanced. This would also open up new options for spell charge times and potential speed lowering equipment with large benefits elsewhere.

- Short Charge needs to go. Every enemy that wants to cast a spell in 1.3 has short charge. EVERY SINGLE ONE. This support ability adds another disadvantage to the already fairly-weak-at-high-party-level magic commands and makes magic in general MUCH harder to balance. Either do away with it entirely and make magic some combination of faster/more powerful in general or have it innate on all spell casting classes to prevent whatever perceived abuse there might be from a samurai launching a short charge meteor. More interesting, perhaps, would be to give it to a single class with a poor magic modifier - able to cast spells really fast but without the power to back it up. Or, conversely, give it innate to all caster classes but one, and have that one have a much higher magic modifier. In a new system maybe having individual cast speeds per job or even a cast speed/damage/hit rate modifier based on the combination of job and skillset (wizards getting extra damage on wizard spells, etc.) would provide more incentive to use certain classes.

- Magic, as has been mentioned, needs to be more powerful at high levels in general. Probably the best way to do this within the system is to lessen the impact of faith on spell effects in general (I haven't done a lot of fiddling with the system, but if you can mess around with the general equations used for faith-based spells, you could probably mitigate its importance until it worked. This would require a lot of playtesting, I imagine.) Also, maybe have a number of high level caster only equips that give a solid boost to MA without making your hp suck. It seems weird to have wizard robe be at its prime early in the game when a +2 MA has such a giant effect in battle and then be relatively limited in MA boosting armor later on.

- Innates are good. Powerful innates on otherwise weaker classes give the user tactical variety and incentive to use those classes with poorer modifiers outside of just the skillset. One of my favorite things about 1.3 is that Thieves got concentrate. It makes them way more usable.

- Invis should probably work like it does in other final fantasy games. Phys attacks always miss, magic attacks always hit. Disabled upon being hit or using a physical attack. Obviously this would require some balancing, but it's a way more interesting play mechanic than 'gets to have concentrate for one attack'.

As for your concept of ZoC, I think it's important to have something that can get around it. Rogues in D&D, for example, would generally have high tumble to be able to easily obtain a flanking position (where they're much, MUCH stronger). This would create an interesting strategic dynamic in how you advance your front line as not to allow your wizards and archers to be picked off by an assassin.

[Dome]

About magic, just make it instant and balance the damage/effect/accuracy/mp cost