the_E_y_Es_o_0

Vagrant Story Zenith

156 posts in this topic

31 minutes ago, kotpeter said:

By the way, I've just encountered a bug: when I defeat the Air dragon (the one after Earth elemental fight), I get teleported to Godhands workshop and cannot move there. Hopefully it gets fixed before release.

Found the problem, thanks for pointing it out. If you'd like a temporary solution, try skipping the cutscene which plays after defeating the Sky Dragon. That should find you right back in the boss room and you can proceed normally. I'll address your other questions as soon as I'm able.

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Thanks for the hint!

 

Also, after I defeated Lich I teleported back to wine cellar (blackmarket savepoint). The door was marked as closed on the mini-map, but I was able to open it. However, I haven't found neither monster, nor a closed chest inside. Possibly a bug as well.

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3 hours ago, kotpeter said:

Also, after I defeated Lich I teleported back to wine cellar (blackmarket savepoint). The door was marked as closed on the mini-map, but I was able to open it. However, I haven't found neither monster, nor a closed chest inside. Possibly a bug as well.

Fixed it. Thanks for reporting the bugs, it is really useful to me. Also, I'd ask you something if you don't mind: whenever there' a story cutscene let it play out in full, so I can be sure that I didn't break anything else.

After the Limestone Quarry area the rebalancing is unfinished, so you might experience some oddities/inconsistencies.

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I've added a link in the OP for the demo build. It fixes the problems found so far, and adds the following system changes:

DYING BODY cancels STR-UP; Ashley cannot cast Herakles on himself.
DYING HEAD cancels INT-UP; Ashley cannot cast Enlighten on himself.*
DYING LEGS cancels AGL-UP; Ashley cannot cast Invigorate on himself.

*'Dying head' means you're also Silenced, so you wouldn't be able to cast spells anyway. But now even an ally (like Sydney) wouldn't be able to cast Enlighten on Ashley in this situation.

I wanted to make the "dying" mechanic more relevant, and I think this adds some welcome complexity into the combat system.

Edit: Fixed the demo link on the OP.

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0
Link fixed

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6 hours ago, kotpeter said:

Any update to the mod?

Not for a while. It's kind of low priority at the moment. Although I still work on it when I have the time.

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This mod seems amazingly nifty so far, thank You man!

 

(If You feel like watching a bumbling idiot try to remember all the mechanics in play here, this is the link. Audio was fixed partway through, still unclear why it was kind of imbalanced. https://youtu.be/f99yHLdr3P8 

 

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4 hours ago, coffee potato said:

(If You feel like watching a bumbling idiot try to remember all the mechanics in play here, this is the link. Audio was fixed partway through, still unclear why it was kind of imbalanced. https://youtu.be/f99yHLdr3P8 

Haha, this is great. I see you're quite the talker, it was very entertaining. It's also the first video of someone playing the mod other than myself. Watching that segment I already see a few things that can be smoothed out. Like the room with the Mimic; I could probably remove one of the Silver Wolves. It's also fun to follow the live chat, I enjoyed that too.

The latest version of the mod should be completable, although I haven't finished my playthrough. The Great Cathedral and some of the 2nd-play areas have not been rebalanced yet. But as you've mentioned, I've already added some post-game content to play with. It was better to acommodate that stuff early on, for design reasons as well as space limitations.

Your emulator doesn't seem to like save states too much. I didn't know using them could cause slowdown.

A couple of people mentioned losing all the equipment stored in the container while playing the mod. If it does happen to you, let me know.

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

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This mod is ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!

My feedback so far: the drop rate is PERFECT. I'm having a blast puzzling over how to forge higher-level stuff without the game being an insane farm-fest. I never pursued equipment beyond hagane in the original game for two reasons: kill me now amounts of farming, and also, Ashley was overpowered with hagane so there was no incentive to keep going. Which brings me to...

The difficulty level: perfect.

In vanilla, I loathed two-handed weapons because they were so slow and shields are awesome.

I was able to play the game using my vanilla play style up until the battle with Rozencrantz - fortunately I found a video of him being defeated in the mod with a great sword which inspired me to try it, otherwise I never would have been able to kill him with a one-handed sword. I would chain 30 hits, but because the connect rate of the attack was so low, I kept pushing him to the brink of death and he'd keep recovering all of his health. Great sword solved that problem.

I also typically used to use a crossbow for fighting the evil class, but once I fought Lich and he used Surging Balm, the only solution to that problem was to assemble a great sword named Liches Get Stitches, which disposed of him promptly. Good bolts for crossbows can only hold one gem, and without being able to quickly raise affinities with a training dummy, crossbows now feel a bit obsolete.

My initial concern with the great sword was that the whole mod would become "greatsword or die," but as I continued playing, that doesn't seem to be the case. I like to use a wide variety of weapons, and the mod is consistently challenging me to change my playing style, which is awesome! That's exactly what the original game could have done better.

I'm so happy there are now worthy adversaries to push me deeper into the equipment system.

The magic rebalance is to DIE for. I hardly ever used magic in vanilla because it wasn't practical.

Thanks again for making this mod! I remember ages ago when the stat editor came out and praying someone would eventually make one. I was bored out of nowhere the other day and was like, "Let's see if anyone made a Vagrant Story mod!" and holy crap. New lease on life. ;)

This morning, I made it to the minotaur zombie and encountered a glitch. After I "killed" him, he stopped moving, Ashley was able to continue attacking and dealing normal damage, but lost the ability to chain attacks (once minotaur was dead). I reset everything, killed him again. This time, a Hand of Light dropped (um, SWEET), but nothing else, and the minotaur became frozen, Ashley couldn't chain, and I could deal out damage infinitely. I was able to leave the room and save. This isn't gamebreaking - my only concern is, was the minotaur supposed to drop any sigils or anything else that would prevent me from progressing further in the game?

Also question: I saw there's a little bit of endgame/postgame content to be added? When the mod is updated, will I be able to continue using the save file I'm building now?

Edited by blackcat777

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Hello blackcat777. I seem to remember you from the gamefaqs board? Or it could have been somewhere else. Let's see...

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

I was able to play the game using my vanilla play style up until the battle with Rozencrantz - fortunately I found a video of him being defeated in the mod with a great sword which inspired me to try it, otherwise I never would have been able to kill him with a one-handed sword. I would chain 30 hits, but because the connect rate of the attack was so low, I kept pushing him to the brink of death and he'd keep recovering all of his health. Great sword solved that problem.

Wow, you have some respectable chaining skills. I'll have to look into the Rosencrantz battle, it's supposed to be viable with a 1-H weapon as well.

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

I also typically used to use a crossbow for fighting the evil class, but once I fought Lich and he used Surging Balm, the only solution to that problem was to assemble a great sword named Liches Get Stitches, which disposed of him promptly. Good bolts for crossbows can only hold one gem, and without being able to quickly raise affinities with a training dummy, crossbows now feel a bit obsolete.

Hmm, this is worth a thought. In the past I've considered increasing the gem capacity of some bolts to 2 or 3 gems like the other weapons' grips. At the time I thought it would break the game, but now I just might give it a try. Cool weapon name, btw.

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

I'm so happy there are now worthy adversaries to push me deeper into the equipment system.

This is really gratifying to hear. :)

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

Thanks again for making this mod! I remember ages ago when the stat editor came out and praying someone would eventually make one. I was bored out of nowhere the other day and was like, "Let's see if anyone made a Vagrant Story mod!" and holy crap. New lease on life. ;)

Ah, the stat editor. That simple tool was my entry point into modding the game. It was more user-friendly than the almighty VSTools, which was a little overwhelming for me back then. Without the stat editor to ease me into the game data files, this project would never exist. I hope JayC can check out the mod sometime and see what he set in motion with that little program.

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

This morning, I made it to the minotaur zombie and encountered a glitch. After I "killed" him, he stopped moving, Ashley was able to continue attacking and dealing normal damage, but lost the ability to chain attacks (once minotaur was dead). I reset everything, killed him again. This time, a Hand of Light dropped (um, SWEET), but nothing else, and the minotaur became frozen, Ashley couldn't chain, and I could deal out damage infinitely. I was able to leave the room and save. This isn't gamebreaking - my only concern is, was the minotaur supposed to drop any sigils or anything else that would prevent me from progressing further in the game?

Just to be sure, this is the Minotaur Zombie at the Gallows, Wine Cellar; not the Minotaur Lord at Temple of Kiltia, correct? Ok, I'll look into it. He doesn't drop any sigils or keys, so you should be able to continue the game normally. I think I know what the problem is, as I've seen this exact bug happen before.

4 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

Also question: I saw there's a little bit of endgame/postgame content to be added? When the mod is updated, will I be able to continue using the save file I'm building now?

Yes, any save files you might have will be fully compatible with later versions of the mod. So you can invest in your file without worries.

 

I'm glad to know I could spark some enthusiasm with the mod, that was my goal after all. And from what you've mentioned, I think my intentions were translated sucessfully into it. Instead of going all out in the difficulty level, I wanted something enjoyable and interesting. Thanks for the feedback!

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

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I'll have to look into the Rosencrantz battle, it's supposed to be viable with a 1-H weapon as well.

Can I ask how much HP he has (or is that cheating)? I could take him down about ~830 HP before he would heal. The Manabreaker gem (+20% chance of hitting) helped slightly and I might have been able to wreck him eventually that way with a one-handed sword. There was just no way to raise my attack sufficiently with a one-handed sword to deal enough damage before risk became too high. I had a pretty good blade with decent human affinity, too.

I don't think the fight with him needs to be modified, however - I was the one who had to evolve or die. I beat him in a snap with the great sword, and it was a cool moment that made me realize I had to think outside of the box.

Quote

In the past I've considered increasing the gem capacity of some bolts to 2 or 3 gems like the other weapons' grips. At the time I thought it would break the game, but now I just might give it a try.

I'm only at 55% map completion and I don't have the best bows yet, so I will weigh in again once I'm done. I never noticed in vanilla that bows had only one slot with them, but I always used the training dummies for affinity boosts and that must have been enough to compensate.

Also, I like that the two-handed weapons have become more viable, they never inspired me to use them much in the first!

 

Quote

Minotaur Zombie at the Gallows, Wine Cellar

Yes. I kept my Hand of Light and the save file appears unscathed. ;)

Quote

Instead of going all out in the difficulty level, I wanted something enjoyable and interesting.

You nailed it. VS is one of my favorite games of all times, and my biggest gripe has always been that the system is SOOOOO complex, but if you take the time to get all the equipment, there's essentially nothing to do with it because everything can be one-shotted before then. Sometimes I would spend three hours trying to get a single Holy Win to drop, and it's like, "This sword is the best thing ever... but I've already killed everyone."

To elaborate on the drop rate, I think it's really perfect where it is because it's not excessive (considering the inventory cap, too). The roulette aspect of the drop is still there so you have to try a bit to get things you want. But I've also gotten drops that I have NEVER seen before, and it's giving me the freedom to play around with some of the more obscure nuances. This is the first time ever, in the bazillion times I've beaten the game, that I've taken crafting silver armor seriously. I'm also saving all my wood shields and wondering if a damascus dread shield would be humanly possible. Items still have to be stored intelligently with the container elements, so it's making me think more tactically about crafting, and I can try to plan for things that before only maybe a turbo controller could have done while actually having fun.

Also, THANK YOU FOR REMOVING THE ESCAPEWAY!! Yes, that was me at Gamefaqs.

Edited by blackcat777

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1 hour ago, blackcat777 said:

Can I ask how much HP he has (or is that cheating)? I could take him down about ~830 HP before he would heal. The Manabreaker gem (+20% chance of hitting) helped slightly and I might have been able to wreck him eventually that way with a one-handed sword. There was just no way to raise my attack sufficiently with a one-handed sword to deal enough damage before risk became too high. I had a pretty good blade with decent human affinity, too.

He has 950 HP. Another tricky thing about Rosencrantz is that he's immune to all magic, so you can't Analyze him to check his stats. So in terms of possible weaknesses, you're in the dark. If you ever face him again, I'd suggest using the Invigorate spell to increase your AGL and thus your % chance to hit (if you haven't done so). And like you mentioned, the Braveheart gem is useful here. 

Keep in mind that your weapon's affinity affects damage a lot more than its Class (Human, in this case). So maybe pick an affinity, use gems and enchanter spells to increase it as high as possible, then look for a bodypart that's vulnerable to it.

Of course, it's very easy for me to say all this, since I know everything about the mod...

2 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

I don't think the fight with him needs to be modified, however - I was the one who had to evolve or die. I beat him in a snap with the great sword, and it was a cool moment that made me realize I had to think outside of the box.

I hear ya. I did want to have a few bumps in the road, and Rosencrantz is definitely one of them.

2 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

Also, I like that the two-handed weapons have become more viable, they never inspired me to use them much in the first!

I'm partial towards Great Axes and Polearms, myself. B|

2 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

You nailed it. VS is one of my favorite games of all times, and my biggest gripe has always been that the system is SOOOOO complex, but if you take the time to get all the equipment, there's essentially nothing to do with it because everything can be one-shotted before then. Sometimes I would spend three hours trying to get a single Holy Win to drop, and it's like, "This sword is the best thing ever... but I've already killed everyone."

Ha. I never liked that once you finish IMB3, you're done with the game. It's a culmination, but also kind of a bummer. In terms of power level, nothing can resist you at this point. The coolest weapons (the Rhomphaias, the Holy Win) are here, not to mention a full set of Hoplite armor. As for boss fights, everything is dead. So from now on it's entirely up you to come up with new challenges and stuff to do. I've already taken a few measures to extend the life of the game beyond IMB3. There are more to come with the next iteration of the mod.

2 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

To elaborate on the drop rate, I think it's really perfect where it is because it's not excessive (considering the inventory cap, too). The roulette aspect of the drop is still there so you have to try a bit to get things you want. But I've also gotten drops that I have NEVER seen before, and it's giving me the freedom to play around with some of the more obscure nuances. This is the first time ever, in the bazillion times I've beaten the game, that I've taken crafting silver armor seriously. I'm also saving all my wood shields and wondering if a damascus dread shield would be humanly possible. Items still have to be stored intelligently with the container elements, so it's making me think more tactically about crafting, and I can try to plan for things that before only maybe a turbo controller could have done while actually having fun.

This is really cool, and very motivating for me to hear. Awesome.

2 hours ago, blackcat777 said:

Also, THANK YOU FOR REMOVING THE ESCAPEWAY!! Yes, that was me at Gamefaqs.

Haha, no problem.

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I cleared the game! (The Cathedral was lulz. ;) )

All my loot remained intact with no issues upon starting a second playthrough.

I am dying to get to Godhands, but should I wait for the next version of the mod to keep playing? I forget how far in I have to play before it becomes accessible, and if lots of other cool rood-inverse-only areas are accessible before that, I'd rather wait and suffer appropriately for the treasures they contain.

I also kept a save just outside the Cathedral on the first playthrough.

FWIW, the phantoms in the Temple of Kiltia were LOTS of fun to fight. I love how magic and affinities are rebalanced. I never had to bother with elemental stuff before.

I am scared but excited to see what happens to the last boss's final form. :o

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Congrats! That was pretty fast, too. Did anything give you trouble, besides Rosencrantz and the Lich?

The next version of the mod will take a while. A few months, at least. So I'd say go ahead and play.

Since you're focused on Godhands, you could simply ignore the other NG+ areas. It would go something like this: once you defeat the Ogre at Abandoned Mines B1, return to Town Center West, cross the river, go to Glacialdra Kirk Ruins and open the Rood Inverse door. Enter it and navigate the segment of Undercity West that leads you to The Crumbling Market (check my yt channel for "path to gold key - no escapeway"). Collect the Gold key, then go back to TCW and proceed normally to Snowfly Forest, then Rosencrantz. From there it's a sprint to Abandoned Mines B2. Once you defeat the Sky Dragon, the exit will take you to The Crumbling Market again, by the save point with the Dullahan. Now go ahead to Tears from Empty Sockets, there's a door locked with the Gold key. Enter it and one of the paths will take you to Godhands.

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If by fast, you mean I clocked an embarrassing amount of playtime hours over the weekend...

There were other enemies that I had to try different things to beat them, like the various flying gremlins where it makes sense only to hit them with magic. I never ever used magic in vanilla. But none of that was troubling. With Rosencrantz, I was just insanely fixated on defeating him with a single handed sword... because I always did it that way, I guess??

Kali (or is it Asura? whoever is at the bottom of Kiltia on the way to the cathedral) went down easily. Maybe in part because there are so many organic opportunities to raise human affinity? I had really high stats.

When does Ashley pick up AGL up? I somehow missed that on this playthrough.

Thanks for the directions!

Have you given any thought to when the game drops grimoires to learn higher level magic? Or was this worked into the mod somewhat already? My last playthrough was maybe 4 years ago, so when items drop are fuzzy. I enjoyed the somewhat limited magic offerings in the mod - in vanilla, did grimoire avalanche, foudre, etc., not drop until the Cathedral? In the Cathedral, the game also gave another grimoire flamme drop, which took me up to flame sphere level 3. Not sure what your thoughts on level 3 magic on the first playthrough were? In the modded portion of the game, having easily affordable magic - but a limited variety of low level spells - was balanced really well.

Not sure if this is even possible or desirable, but have you given any thought to changing the stats of the various metals for equipment? Another reason I never pursued damascus was that the stat difference did not make it remotely worth the effort. The difference with silver being weaker but having higher affinities, or leather being skewed to magic, is interesting in theory, but useless in practice.

 

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On 17/07/2018 at 10:17 PM, blackcat777 said:

When does Ashley pick up AGL up? I somehow missed that on this playthrough.

It's inside the chest at Forest River, Snowfly Forest. Thankfully you can just teleport there and collect it, it's easier than navigating that place...

As for the Warlock spells, I followed the pattern laid out by the original game, with Elemental bosses giving out the AoE spells (like Flame Sphere, Thunderburst, etc.). The only difference is now they also drop their respective single-target spells. For example, the Water Elemental drops both the Avalanche and Aqua Blast grimoires. In the original you had to farm those single-target spells from enemies like the Phantom or the Dark Eye.

I haven't touched the Great Cathedral yet, but on principle I'm ok with the extra grimoires you find there. I'll have to playtest it to know for sure, but I'll probably keep them where they are.

On 17/07/2018 at 10:17 PM, blackcat777 said:

Not sure if this is even possible or desirable, but have you given any thought to changing the stats of the various metals for equipment? Another reason I never pursued damascus was that the stat difference did not make it remotely worth the effort. The difference with silver being weaker but having higher affinities, or leather being skewed to magic, is interesting in theory, but useless in practice.

I thought of tweaking the STR/INT/AGL difference between materials, but I don't really know where that is located within the rom. I think there is some potential in that, although I'm not sure what I'd actually do with it. Maybe try and make the materials more distinct in their properties.

It's cool that you were able to finish the 1st playthrough of the mod, you're the first person to report doing so. Thanks for playing. =)

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I'm on my third playthrough... It has been about 5 years since my last playthrough BUT:

Did you change some of the enemy spawns for the postgame, and for Iron Maiden B2 after clearing it the second time??? I'm pretty sure there were never three enemies in any given room, but I love it. Liches everywhere. Liches in the beginning of the game when I went to farm leather. Changed placement of the Last Crusader spawns?

Asura's final form, did you tweak that? I remember PLOWING through her in the past, and I had to try multiple setups to find which element would reach which body part... extremely fun fight.

I also liked the little rumble that spawns outside the door of Godhands. Did you change the drops? The liches in white used to drop Radial Surge... if I remember correctly. Maybe they still do and I just didn't get one. Also on the subject of these guys -

With the increased armor drop rate, the only drop that seems SLIGHTLY broken is one of the white robed liches dropping damascus plate armor. I say this because, being outside Godhands, this is easily farmable, and there is a rare drop of it already down somewhere in the Iron Maiden.

At the end of my second playthrough, Ashley had full hagane dread everything, plus a damascus hoplite glove... and damascus dread armor. Damascus dread armor was only possible because of the lich outside Godhands - otherwise the powering up of all other armors was equally available and I had to make my choices carefully.

I currently have a damascus jamadhar, wakizashi, and sage's cane. The drop rate for the Last Crusader weapons seems fun and fair - on three runs of Iron Maiden, I won one each time. It's not too easy (the loot down there can quickly break the game), but it's not stupid like how I used to have to spend three hours for a single drop. It gives me more time to play with crafting things I never thought imaginable.

Crossbows are definitely sadly grossly underpowered and I don't use them. :( A third gem slot wouldn't hurt, especially when you consider other weapons can be built with spiral hilt and spiral pole.

I don't know if vanilla Iron Maiden had high level leather drops, but I LOVE getting those occasionally. I'm working toward a set of hoplite leather armor -

Have you given thought to the balance of wood and leather drops? Enemy drops early game seem a little less frequent than midgame/late game. Leather bone helms are the only things I have to actively farm (and probably long boots, I'm just not that far in my farming quest yet). Wood shields are pretty scant, too. I have a wooden kite shield, and that's it. I'm trying to level up my wood shields before combining them with the few damascus shields the game drops.

Also: the escapeway. LMAO. I thought the timed portion of Mines B2 was the Escapeway for some reason, and I missed it on my first playthrough (umm, wow, I was rusty). The actual Escapeway I had no issues with. With the Escapeway taken out, is it possible to get 100% map completion? I was stuck at 97% for my second playthrough - but again - I suck at maps and missed an entire dungeon my first time around, so. ;)

I have mixed feelings about the map of Iron Maiden B2 becoming visible!

There was only one other bug I noticed: when Ashley is chaining, casting, or using an item, and if he's fighting Dullahan/Last Crusader type of enemy, you'll hear the "chunk chunk chunk" sound effect of the enemy running during those animations. I think it only happens for the enemies that can warp off the screen, I noticed it first in Temple of Kiltia and later in Iron Maiden.

I know it's not finished yet, but the patch is already 11/10, would play again, in fact, I'm still replaying. ;) I also have some ultimate pieces of silver armor accumulated just because, and I imagine they would look quite stylish.

Another random though: the first time I played, I wasn't sure if I had the mod until I went into the room in the beginning expecting a chest, and found the mimic. When the box moved, I screamed. Excellent touch.

Edited by blackcat777

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I downloaded the mod, just a lil' nitpick, there's no version number on the file; so I can't be visually sure on what version this is.

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On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Did you change some of the enemy spawns for the postgame, and for Iron Maiden B2 after clearing it the second time??? I'm pretty sure there were never three enemies in any given room, but I love it. Liches everywhere. Liches in the beginning of the game when I went to farm leather. Changed placement of the Last Crusader spawns?

Some post-game spawns replace old ones, yes. The IMB2 post game encounters (the locked room battles) should spawn after defeating Asura, but I don't remember having three enemies in a single room, unless you mean three Shriekers. If you mean anything other than those, I have to fix it.

BTW, did you ever happen to find regular enemies appearing alongside any of the bosses in IMB2? The bosses should be by themselves (ofc), but I've had this bug in the past and I'm wondering if it's still there.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Asura's final form, did you tweak that? I remember PLOWING through her in the past, and I had to try multiple setups to find which element would reach which body part... extremely fun fight.

Rebalancing Asura was pretty simple, actually. Once I gave her Marlene's Ring (in the original only her Time Trial version had it equipped), her stats were at the level I wanted. After that I just tweaked her spells, special attacks, turn speed, etc. Good to know she's still beatable. I was afraid her healing move would complicate things too much.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

I also liked the little rumble that spawns outside the door of Godhands. Did you change the drops? The liches in white used to drop Radial Surge... if I remember correctly. Maybe they still do and I just didn't get one.

Hmm, I think you're misremembering, the Death enemies outside of Godhands used to drop Elixir of Queens/Mages in vanilla. I just kept the same drops.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Also on the subject of these guys -

With the increased armor drop rate, the only drop that seems SLIGHTLY broken is one of the white robed liches dropping damascus plate armor. I say this because, being outside Godhands, this is easily farmable, and there is a rare drop of it already down somewhere in the Iron Maiden.

If you can check it for me -- is it a (D)Plate Mail or (D)Brigandine outside of Godhands? If it's a Brigandine and you were still able to forge a (D)Dread Armor with relative ease, then I'll need to reduce this drop or change it to something else.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

I currently have a damascus jamadhar, wakizashi, and sage's cane. The drop rate for the Last Crusader weapons seems fun and fair - on three runs of Iron Maiden, I won one each time. It's not too easy (the loot down there can quickly break the game), but it's not stupid like how I used to have to spend three hours for a single drop. It gives me more time to play with crafting things I never thought imaginable.

This is something I'm definitely interest in -- I wouldn't want the loot in IMB2/B3 to be too much, too easy. Have you encountered the Blood Lizards in IMB3? I might have to nerf their equipment.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Crossbows are definitely sadly grossly underpowered and I don't use them. :( A third gem slot wouldn't hurt, especially when you consider other weapons can be built with spiral hilt and spiral pole.

Noted. I'll add it on the next update.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

I don't know if vanilla Iron Maiden had high level leather drops, but I LOVE getting those occasionally. I'm working toward a set of hoplite leather armor -

Those are mine. :) I added them to make leather equipment more viable. IMO the Liches were the ideal choice for them. I'm also partial to hoplite leather, like you. If you're going that route, IIRC you can simply farm (L)Armets and (L)Brigandines and combine those to get the rest.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Have you given thought to the balance of wood and leather drops? Enemy drops early game seem a little less frequent than midgame/late game. Leather bone helms are the only things I have to actively farm (and probably long boots, I'm just not that far in my farming quest yet).

I'll have to check those. I think you're probably right, their % is lower.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Wood shields are pretty scant, too. I have a wooden kite shield, and that's it. I'm trying to level up my wood shields before combining them with the few damascus shields the game drops.

Yep, that's something I'm currently addressing for the next version. High level wood shields are kind of rare/exotic IMO, so I'm trying to place them in a tasteful way.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Also: the escapeway. LMAO. I thought the timed portion of Mines B2 was the Escapeway for some reason, and I missed it on my first playthrough (umm, wow, I was rusty). The actual Escapeway I had no issues with. With the Escapeway taken out, is it possible to get 100% map completion? I was stuck at 97% for my second playthrough - but again - I suck at maps and missed an entire dungeon my first time around, so. ;)

The % completion remains a mystery to even myself... I'm surprised you were able to reach 97%. That's probably because I repurposed so much of the Escapeway data for other areas. By that logic, if I can repurpose all of it then 100% map completion should be attainable.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

I have mixed feelings about the map of Iron Maiden B2 becoming visible!

As do I. I included it to encourage exploration in that area. But I suppose it does subtract a bit from the lore. Depending on the feedback I get, I might revert it to normal.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

There was only one other bug I noticed: when Ashley is chaining, casting, or using an item, and if he's fighting Dullahan/Last Crusader type of enemy, you'll hear the "chunk chunk chunk" sound effect of the enemy running during those animations. I think it only happens for the enemies that can warp off the screen, I noticed it first in Temple of Kiltia and later in Iron Maiden.

Ah, you noticed. It's a side-effect of giving teleportation to enemies who aren't supposed to have it. In this case, the Last Crusader. Admittely, I did it for the cool factor; but once the novelty wears off, you're still left with this annoying "chunk chunk chunk" (nice onomatopeia, btw). So, if by the time the next update is ready I don't have a solution to this, I'll restore their movement parameters to normal, as in no more teleporting.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

I know it's not finished yet, but the patch is already 11/10, would play again, in fact, I'm still replaying. ;) I also have some ultimate pieces of silver armor accumulated just because, and I imagine they would look quite stylish.

Glad to hear. I had my doubts if anyone would actually uncover the post-game content and all the little touches I've added; it's no fun for me if it goes by unnoticed. But you've put those thoughts to rest, so thanks again for playing.

On 24/07/2018 at 10:18 PM, blackcat777 said:

Another random though: the first time I played, I wasn't sure if I had the mod until I went into the room in the beginning expecting a chest, and found the mimic. When the box moved, I screamed. Excellent touch.

Hah, gotcha. :)

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1 hour ago, Cross said:

I downloaded the mod, just a lil' nitpick, there's no version number on the file; so I can't be visually sure on what version this is.

The one in the OP is the latest version; I'll add a version number to it to avoid confusion.

Edit: done. The current version is VS_0.9.ppf. Link updated in the OP.

Edited by the_E_y_Es_o_0

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Some post-game spawns replace old ones, yes. The IMB2 post game encounters (the locked room battles) should spawn after defeating Asura, but I don't remember having three enemies in a single room, unless you mean three Shriekers. If you mean anything other than those, I have to fix it.

BTW, did you ever happen to find regular enemies appearing alongside any of the bosses in IMB2? The bosses should be by themselves (ofc), but I've had this bug in the past and I'm wondering if it's still there.

When you first enter IMB2 and go straight for about ten screens, in each big locked room in which there was previously a boss, now spawns a big enemy plus two liches, after clearing Iron Maiden for the first time. One of the locked boss rooms now spawns a single last crusader (NICE touch) and no liches. If you want me to take notes on which rooms specifically, I'll be heading through the dungeon again today/tomorrow/Monday sometime, so I can do that. All the rooms with three enemies spawn two extra liches. Did you intend for the two liches to replace the single enemy?

In the room outside Godhands, two liches in white and a Last Crusader spawn together.

But seeing three high-level enemies together in a room gave me the same thrills of unlocking legendary dark knight mode in DMC4, so it's not a complaint. ;)
 

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Rebalancing Asura was pretty simple, actually. Once I gave her Marlene's Ring (in the original only her Time Trial version had it equipped), her stats were at the level I wanted. After that I just tweaked her spells, special attacks, turn speed, etc. Good to know she's still beatable. I was afraid her healing move would complicate things too much.

 

I thought it was brilliant. It wasn't a bloody fight to the death where one false timing would kill me - I had to look at ALL my equipment, check everything, and see what buffs I needed and what strategy I could cobble together. It was a thinking battle, which essentially tested my knowledge of how to use the gear I had. 10/10

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If you can check it for me -- is it a (D)Plate Mail or (D)Brigandine outside of Godhands? If it's a Brigandine and you were still able to forge a (D)Dread Armor with relative ease, then I'll need to reduce this drop or change it to something else.

 

Ok... This is weird. I just went to see what they drop. I am pre-iron maiden, and one drops a (D) Brigadine and the other drops (L) Wizard Robe.

However, I know 100% post-iron maiden one of them dropped a (S) Plate Mail and I swear to god the other dropped a (D) Plate Mail. Farming in that spot was how I made (S) Jazeraint Armor, because lower level silver armor is a little easier to come by... and that spot was yielding SOMETHING gratuituously damascus because I had to specifically farm two pieces in that spot to put the rest of my inventory to use to make (D) Dread armor.

I was shocked to see the leather drop just now because I know I was farming twin pieces of silver and damascus body armor on my last file. The only difference is that the Last Crusader isn't here yet, so I'll check this out as soon as I clear Iron Maiden again. I don't know if the Last Crusader appearing bugged them out?

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This is something I'm definitely interest in -- I wouldn't want the loot in IMB2/B3 to be too much, too easy. Have you encountered the Blood Lizards in IMB3? I might have to nerf their equipment.

 

They only spawn at < 150 HP (I double checked this), but their own HP levels are laughably low. Another thing to possibly consider would be raising their stats/HP and making it extremely dangerous to win some loot? After clearing IMB2, right before the exit... it would raise the stakes a lot. I would probably be greedy and die a few times.

I won three (D) Pole Axes from them and want a (D) Brandestoc. BUT. Here's the snag, it's not as broken as it seems - by that point in the game, I had almost 90 dragon affinity on a (H) Brandestoc. I had gotten two (D) Voulges from boxes - not even from an organic drop - until that point. If there are no training dummies, and I want a (D) Brandestoc with my affinities, the only choice is to downgrade my (H) Brandestoc, and take the insanely long route of converting that into a (D) Pole Axe. (D) Brandestoc is another one of the game's worst challenges. Other (D) Polearms, and other necessary components, like (D) Katana and (D) Langdebeve are so incredibly complicated to craft, that I'm still on my third playthrough and nowhere near actualizing a (D) Brandestoc WITH the affinities I've built up through my playthroughs.

I mean, the alternative is to just scrap my old polearm and make a new one with drops from the blood lizards, losing all my affinities, BUT, who plays a Vagrant Story mod and makes Hoplite Leather just to cheap out on the Brandestoc? :P The lack of training dummy forces me to cheap out or go hard, so there's lots of existing built-in challenge, even with some help from the Blood Lizards. The increased drop rate is also an incentive to try and figure out how to take the long way, like the game rewards you for experimenting instead of punishing you. But it's still pretty punishing!

I may have to do a 4th playthrough focused on just the (D) dread shield and (D) brandestoc.

 

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Those are mine. :) I added them to make leather equipment more viable. IMO the Liches were the ideal choice for them. I'm also partial to hoplite leather, like you. If you're going that route, IIRC you can simply farm (L)Armets and (L)Brigandines and combine those to get the rest.

What I also like about these leather drops is the frequency of them - I end up with *just* enough in my inventory where I am like, "Do I take this next big step toward hoplite leather, or do I combine this with silver for some damascus armor?" The balance is awesome and they remain in high value.

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Ah, you noticed. It's a side-effect of giving teleportation to enemies who aren't supposed to have it. In this case, the Last Crusader. Admittely, I did it for the cool factor; but once the novelty wears off, you're still left with this annoying "chunk chunk chunk" (nice onomatopeia, btw). So, if by the time the next update is ready I don't have a solution to this, I'll restore their movement parameters to normal, as in no more teleporting.

 

There were a few battles where I was pleasantly challenged because of the teleportation (especially in Temple of Kiltia), so I'd personally choose having the challenge with a bug than no challenge.

I'll get back to you with instances of triple-enemy weirdness and see if those drops are different.

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