Gameplay Videos
#1
18 March 2015 - 02:06 PM
#2
18 March 2015 - 08:38 PM
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=N29cQIM6r-Y
Looking forward to making one for the first stages!
#4
19 March 2015 - 09:09 AM
#5
19 March 2015 - 06:26 PM
#6
20 March 2015 - 06:13 AM
https://www.youtube....h?v=EzU3UdRuVKQ
Longer than I thought it would be. I am going to have to turn off animation, which will challenge my ability to think + talk even more
This is the most challenging stage 2 has been ... mostly because I cannot rotate some uber item like relic sword or ogre shield. The reduction of the stat gap between starting characters in tier 1 vs tier 2 likely also played a role.
High Sky seemed usable here. I was able to make use of the utility it provides by sending my opinion leader off to find things across various terrain, but I didn't go zipping around like before.
Great fun!
#7
20 March 2015 - 09:06 AM
I'm thinking about other possible solutions to this issue, as it is kind of overly hostile to new players or people who simply don't remember the location of hidden towns/temples. One solution, I suppose, would be to un-hide most of them. If I did that, then I could probably make the few that remain hidden not count toward Morale Factor. Another possible solution would be to make Crystal Balls widely available and cheap.
#9
20 March 2015 - 04:16 PM
Haha, yeah .. I guess I won't be using Ianuki against any fighter-type bosses.
#10
20 March 2015 - 04:31 PM
#11
21 March 2015 - 08:23 AM
My strategy:
Kraken party and Gryphon party to Ellery.
Opinion Leader (Gryphon) to Island Roshian Temple->Svastpol (Base).
Protect group in Valna.
Main force in central Roshian Temple after liberating Abdella.
Wait for the majority of enemy units to be killed before liberating Fallsala and Valikesh.
Usar was too easy. Only took two units to kill him. Can he be buffed at all?
The starting ninja you get with the Phantom Lord is not very useful compared to the 6 wizards and 3 wild men. I still hate that ninjas cannot be leaders when every other upgraded male or female character can be.
My opinion would be to leave the hidden cities or have another interaction (maybe they reveal after you capture a different city...)
I guess I have just played the game so much that for the first 20 locations I remember where the hidden cities are. And I don't think new players will realistically be able to play this mod. A lot of people use to complain that the original was already too hard for beginners haha.
#12
21 March 2015 - 10:56 AM
Usar isn't too tough, but the stage in general isn't too tough either, and I figured I'd give players a little time to adjust to using strategies they've never had to use in this game before, as even seasoned ones might need it. He could perhaps be made a bit stronger, though, or at least more durable.
The original game had unique mechanics that no other game could really prepare you for... but the creators also compensated for that by making it absurdly easy in all other ways... People who weren't able to handle vanilla's difficulty would be pretty hopeless here. New players who aren't incompetent when it comes to RPGs should be able to at least handle the normal version of this mod (there will be a non-hardtype version as well) despite the fact that even normal will be harder than vanilla. It may be optimistic to think anyone new to Ogre Battle would be playing a mod of it, though.
#13
22 March 2015 - 06:33 AM
#14
22 March 2015 - 06:34 AM
For the record, I don't intend to make these bonuses so good that a unit with a giant feels like it has to have a beastman or a unit with a dragon has to have a dragon tamer. Beastmen and dragon tamers, by default, sort of *lack* synergy with beasts and dragons by being mediocre backrow classes. Their tamer bonuses are meant to make up for that lack of synergy.
#15
22 March 2015 - 07:14 AM
Quote
Well, it's the same way in OB64, so it seems to be a theme. I don't really see any reason it needs to be that way, but I don't feel any strong need to change it either... I dunno. What makes the Ninja less useful than wildmen/wizards?
As an update to my thoughts on the difficulty of stage 2: my friend who is competent at RPGs in general but not very familiar with this one was able to just barely beat this stage, which is about how hard I'm looking to make it. The next few stages should ramp up the difficulty considerably as the hack will expect the player to adapt quickly.
#16
22 March 2015 - 11:27 AM
#2 They get crushed too hard in the front row with such low HP and physical defense. A single golem or giant can easily wipe the ninja from full health, almost easier than a level three fighter. The starting three wildmen are quite durable.
The only real benefit is that you can put them in the front row for one battle, let them get wrecked, and switch them to the backrow for the next battle. The valkyries do this just as well if not better imo. The beastmen are comparable but at least have the synergy bonus. Even the mermaid felt more durable in the front row.
In the vanilla version of the game you could overpower the enemies with pretty much any formation, and the ninjas were great for the extra attack. Your mod makes me play much more defensive and I feel that right now a ninja would never be a front line contender for any formation.
#3 They cannot be leaders. I don't want to change your hack because I love the direction you are going and all the work you have done. This is a pretty big negative in my mind though. Waiting until level 15 before a ninja can lead units is just cumbersome. Even thematically, why would every other male and female promotion be able to be a leader at level 4/5/6/7 but not the ninja at level 6. The mermaid can lead a group at level 3, Canopus (rightfully) can lead at level 5. And those two aren't even human characters.
#17
23 March 2015 - 06:59 AM
The main benefit of front row ninjas would be their ranged melee giving them the ability to pick off squishy back row enemies before they get a chance to do their full damage to your unit. This doesn't really work so well when you only have one of them, though. In the back, they trade damage for some tankiness and a lotta speed when compared to a wizard, but again this doesn't stand out very much in the beginning due to a lack of AoE damage and the fact that enemy AI is not yet in full gear in the early stages (they are quite merciful in who they hit with their ranged attacks right now). These factors add up to Ninjas not being very good in the early game, although certainly still better than an amazon in the rear, at least.
I actually haven't entirely finished balancing Ninjas, I planned on doing it before stage 3, and wasn't too concerned about the 1/4 chance of the player having a single ninja for stage 2. Their front row ranged attack is a difficult mechanic to balance, and might be better left abandoned (the Diana tree would still be able to use ranged in the front row). It makes them a specialty attacker and forces them into a specific role, and I think people are more used to Ninjas being adept front liners in a variety of situations instead of only specific ones. People wouldn't bat an eye at Dianas only being specialty front liners.
#18
23 March 2015 - 07:32 AM
#19
25 March 2015 - 10:55 AM
zombero, on 22 March 2015 - 06:34 AM, said:
I had a question about this. In the vanilla game Dragoners (such a bad name) could recruit Wyverns, implying they were part of the dragon lineage in some way. Conversely Beast Masters could recruit Wyrms, implying they were part of the beast class.
In a way you could say all dragons are some sort of beast, but it is pretty clear in our mythology that Wyrms and Wyverns are just different names for dragons.
How are you planning on classifying them?
#20
25 March 2015 - 11:02 AM