raics

Feedback and Suggestions

599 posts in this topic

Is Guardian Force working as intended?  When the enemy is supposed to hit my first unit for 100 it does 50 and the knight only takes 25.  Should they both take 50?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think what it does is the original target takes the hit with its defense stat, then the knight takes the hit with his own defense, and both resulting damages are halved.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is it possible to change Art of War to use MP instead of TP? It just feels like TP is supposed to be for extra skills and finishers, not for "magic". As is, I'll never drop half the cost of a finisher just for a spell that does less than a normal attack would deal.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
28 minutes ago, DeNarr said:

Is it possible to change Art of War to use MP instead of TP? It just feels like TP is supposed to be for extra skills and finishers, not for "magic". As is, I'll never drop half the cost of a finisher just for a spell that does less than a normal attack would deal.

Damage ninjutsu is situational, nifty when you can't reach with an attack, don't want to stick your squishy nose too far in front or for targets with very low magic defense but powerful TP abilities (like beasts, you definitely don't want to feed them TP). Using normal attacks should be preferable when both are an option.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
18 minutes ago, raics said:

Damage ninjutsu is situational, nifty when you can't reach with an attack, don't want to stick your squishy nose too far in front or for targets with very low magic defense but powerful TP abilities (like beasts, you definitely don't want to feed them TP). Using normal attacks should be preferable when both are an option.

I'm not sure what you mean about feeding them TP, since the base attack with 1h katanas actually gets rid of some of their tp.

 

Mostly though, I just love the idea of being able to mod/tweak games. This is a bit more difficult to mod than most games I've messed with though, and since you obviously know what you are doing, I was wanting to know if such a thing was even possible, and if so if you could point me in the right direction. I'm not wanting to try to convince you that you need to change your mod, just asking if you can help point me in the right direction so that I can tweak the game for my optimal enjoyability. I'm hoping that if I can figure this bit out, I'll have a better chance at being able to make other tweaks that I think would be nice (like giving Priests Meditate).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, when you get hit by a normal attack you gain some TP so it generally isn't a good idea to hit beasts with them.

Sure, it's possible and not terribly hard, you just change one byte from 3 to 2 and set the amount if needed. However, you'd also need to give ninjas base MP value and growth, as well as enable them to have MP in the first place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't seem to get the mod to work on my PSP.

I'm using the 1.5 US ISO Patch and I am using UMDGen to apply the PPF, but it keeps giving me an error whenever I try to boot up the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 hours ago, bob21897 said:

I can't seem to get the mod to work on my PSP.

I'm using the 1.5 US ISO Patch and I am using UMDGen to apply the PPF, but it keeps giving me an error whenever I try to boot up the game.

Yeah, modding the iso for psp can be problematic, it probably runs fine on an emulator. Try the patching method from moddb version of the mod on a fresh iso, that should work.

7 hours ago, Valenhil said:

War dances are still really bad, though.

Dunno, the slow and charm ones are decent, heal is always good to have and the one that doubles your TP can be useful, I'll probably tweak the other ones a bit at some point.

Edited by raics

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, raics said:

Yeah, when you get hit by a normal attack you gain some TP so it generally isn't a good idea to hit beasts with them.

Sure, it's possible and not terribly hard, you just change one byte from 3 to 2 and set the amount if needed. However, you'd also need to give ninjas base MP value and growth, as well as enable them to have MP in the first place.

After working on this all day, I have to ask. How did you figure out where all the data is located? I feel like I'm blindly guessing with a hex editor, and needing to run UMDGen between each test. I have to imagine you had a better / more efficient way when making an entire mod. Even after finding Edea's post that shows the starting location of many of the categories, it still seems to be blind guessing from that point.

That said, whether you figured out a better method, or just checked one by one, it really shows how much effort you've put into your mod. Great work.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, DeNarr said:

After working on this all day, I have to ask. How did you figure out where all the data is located? I feel like I'm blindly guessing with a hex editor, and needing to run UMDGen between each test. I have to imagine you had a better / more efficient way when making an entire mod. Even after finding Edea's post that shows the starting location of many of the categories, it still seems to be blind guessing from that point.

Some things were found by deduction and tables aren't hard to spot if you know the rough location. Patching the iso to check it every time would be way too slow so I'm usually testing stuff in real time with a ram editor like artmoney or cheatengine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
42 minutes ago, raics said:

Some things were found by deduction and tables aren't hard to spot if you know the rough location. Patching the iso to check it every time would be way too slow so I'm usually testing stuff in real time with a ram editor like artmoney or cheatengine.

 

I didn't realize that cheatengine could be used that way. I'd only really used it before for changeable values (search a number, change value, search again, etc.). Would you be willing to send me (or post) some of the tables you've used?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 minutes ago, DeNarr said:

 

I didn't realize that cheatengine could be used that way. I'd only really used it before for changeable values (search a number, change value, search again, etc.). Would you be willing to send me (or post) some of the tables you've used?

I was using tables when testing damage scaling but not for much else, there's way too much data for cheat tables. I've got some starting addresses marked down instead and then just access the ram section I need directly

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I managed to get to it work on my PSP after following your suggestion.

I have only played a tiny bit.

My only criticism right now is that the sprite changes are a bit distracting and even more so that they don't carry over to the story cutscenes.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, jullian29 said:

are the equipment sets still the same with the vanilla?

Yup, changing them is too much work and there's no reason to.

1 hour ago, bob21897 said:

Well, I managed to get to it work on my PSP after following your suggestion.

I have only played a tiny bit.

My only criticism right now is that the sprite changes are a bit distracting and even more so that they don't carry over to the story cutscenes.

Sure, I'll get to changing them in the cutscenes eventually.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't really add anything to the game and it shouldn't be a priority, but hey, you do you.

So far the mod has been great. I have never had Canopus die at the Tynemouth Hill story battle and to my surprise he permanently dies if you let him.

I love it.

Is it possible to make Cudgel mastery increases your magic stats?

Edited by bob21897

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Noticed that War Hammer seems to be dealing piercing damage. I made some edits to my ISO though, so I'm not sure if it comes from a mistake of mine xD

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, bob21897 said:

Is it possible to make Cudgel mastery increases your magic stats?

Not really, but it's pretty much the same as giving cudgels a higher int bonus, it gives spells damage and accuracy, same as weapon mastery adds damage and accuracy worth a few points in str/dex and agi.

1 hour ago, Lyrinix said:

Noticed that War Hammer seems to be dealing piercing damage. I made some edits to my ISO though, so I'm not sure if it comes from a mistake of mine xD

It does piercing damage in vanilla and I haven't changed it, in my current working version it's crushing but it doesn't make a huge difference, crushing is slightly better versus heavy armor and piercing versus cloth.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Raics,


Again, not sure if intended (or I fucked things up), but my battle with Lanselot in Law route Chapter 4 (the one where you fight him for the first time) has him equipped with a War Hammer - despite having 2H Swords as a skill (and no Hammer, which makes him hilariously inept at wielding it), and all his finishing moves linked to Swords. Makes for a pretty underwhelming experience, to say the least xD

Edited by Lyrinix

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

He can equip anything, so it works like this, if the weapon for that battle isn't specified he will be autoequipped under 'maximize attack/defense/spells' or whatever template he's set to, and that's kinda wonky because he will pick the weapon that gives him the highest ATK stat, which are usually those he has the skills for but not necessarily so. He should be having 1h sword skill in that battle, which is a vanilla game error I'll eventually get around to fixing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey there!

I've really been enjoying your mod, especially your changes to crafting.  I've fumbled around with ws codes to mess with palettes and portraits and stuff, but what you've managed to do, however you've managed to do it, is incredible.  I can't stress how great it is not to have to farm crazy specific things anymore, and making some of the more uncommon class cards available through crafting is wonderful.  Also, geez, this wound up being way more wordy than I'd intended.  Sorry about that!

While I'm not all the way through it yet, I'm near the end of Chapter IV.  But in terms of gameplay, here are my observations so far:

1) More Movement is Good

I'm glad that most every class has been afforded more mobility.  It leads to faster skirmishes, and requires more careful planning so that your formation isn't blitzed through and your casters murdered horribly.  It makes things like Rampart Aura more valuable.  But it does bring me to my next observation:

2) Ninja's Are Still Crazy Powerful

It just seems that Ninjas have better movement than the other classes because that's how it was originally, rather than out of any sense of balance.  I know Ninjas are all light and nimble and stuff, but Rogues should kind of be that way also, but they have a Move of 5.  I would probably advocate setting their movement to 5 with most of the classes, because my thoughts on the Ninja's strengths aren't done yet!

A Ninja can put anything not outright immune to sleep, right to bed with unfailing accuracy with just a little bit of ranking up Torinoko.  Even after a scant two rank ups, it's like 50/50, which is still pretty good odds, and it only gets better from there.  In my playing so far, I've been able to hit a thing, put it to sleep, then another round goes through, hit the thing and wake it up, and then put it to sleep again right afterwards.  It's really quite funny.  My advice here is that if the status ailment applied must remain Sleep, then I'd suggest making it maybe not 100% at max rank.  Maybe 70-75% tops.  If the +10% per rank effect must remain, then I suggest an ailment that isn't quite so singularly decisive, like Blind (and if possible maybe pair it with Hobble or something, because I think that even just Blind might be a little weak.  Or if it were only Blind, then maybe lower the TP some also.)

3) Art of War

So far, Benumb (stunning) has been far and away the spell I've used most with Ninja.  There's no point in using silence because all casters crumple under a hit from double attack anyhow.  Poison is a no-no because it messes up the 100% sleep/resleep strategy.  The damage spells are okay, but really they're only ever options when you can't double attack something.  Which is rare, because your movement is so great.

For Swordmasters it's a little bit different of a story.  I think a good portion of a Swordmaster's abilities are dependent on their TP using skills, which puts these effects in competition with their War Dances.  A cost of 20 basically means you can't even do a buff until the second round, and by that time it probably won't even hit half the party.  The healing one just simply seems much too expensive; I've only ever used it as a comedy option when Hobryim was hiding in the corner with some other low-level classes I was getting experience for.  The debuff ones also don't seem worth it, with low chances of success for application to maybe two targets top.  In most cases it's always more prudent to save the TP for Preempt and Blade Focus.

4) Swordmasters

This is to say nothing of Steelstance, which for 100TP is something I haven't even tried to use.  Even if it provided one turn of perfect immunity, I'm not sure that would justify a 100TP cost.  I'm thrilled to see they can Double Attack, which I haven't used (Preempting is better with the two-handers, I think), but kind of makes sense they should have.

5) Rogues & Stealing

I am some kind of sucker for punishment, because somehow I always gravitate towards classes where stealing things from other people is an option.  Unfortunately, even at rank 8, I haven't seen any really worthwhile items come out of it from anything, and at max rank the percentages are still abysmal.  I think one rank adds about 2% more to your chance to succeed.  A 43% chance to steal a log unfortunately isn't the best use of a Rogue's single Skill use during an action, not compared to the more reliable results of Sneak Attack or Speedstar.

However, going full circle for a moment we come back to mobility: Sneak Attack is a skill that relies on mobility and positioning, but the Rogue is no better at movement than most of the classes and has no means of capitalizing on any advantages other than how the enemies position themselves.  If they could get a skill to move through Rampart Auras without it costing more movement or something, that might be worthwhile. (The fact that the skill that does this takes away one move already is kind of evil.  I'd consider just having it take up a skill slot as being cost enough.)

6) Valkyries & Dragoons

This is the last thing, I promise!  (For now, at least!)  I was kind of surprised to learn that Dragoons couldn't use the two handed crossbows anymore.  I'd always had better success with Dragoons as ranged attackers than melee ones, but seeing as this was now a thing I figured I'd give it a go.  But I've discovered that my Dragoon now is just basically a Valkyrie.  Same attacking spells, augments and instills.  I'm not really clear on how these two differentiate from one another unless it's kind of like the Knight/White Knight situation, where they are basically the same only one is just better. 

7) Oh! Weapon Skills

Okay, I lied there.  This is the last thing, I promise!  I noticed with the two-handed Crossbows, the underlying mechanic of their weapon skills were all the same: More TP = More Accuracy.  Then with just a status effect tacked on.  This is just straight up personal opinion, but I've found that my ranged attackers aren't really hurting for accuracy as-is, so that all weapon skills that use TP for that instead of for damage is kind of disappointing.  Many of the other weapon types feature skills with more varied effects (sometimes aoe, sometimes accuracy, sometimes physical, sometimes a double attack, etc.), but the 2h Crossbow ones are all the same.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the detailed feedback, those are always worth reading and discussing at length

You're right about those ranked skills generally getting a bit too powerful at high levels, it was meant to be a reward for grinding it out but it might be better off replaced with a fixed percentage or based on stats. I can't change it to 5% per rank, though, and if it started with 10% and went up to 80 it would be too much of a crapshot at low levels. I'll tinker with it a bit on next active skill pass.

Yeah, ninjas are very good and very squishy, if I do anything to them it will more likely be making them even squishier rather than reducing their power or versatility, they kinda need their movement to get through and harass the back lines properly, which is their primary role. A rogue is a somewhat beefier unit with a ton of utility, I don't think it needs more movement to be good and giving it to a class that can be a decent ranged fighter generally isn't a good idea. Sneak attacks and traps are also extremely powerful so using them shouldn't be too easy.

The difference between a valkyrie and a dragoon is in their roles, the former is a tanky hybrid with access to some support abilities, all consumables and higher level spells while being able to do good damage with them or even go full tanky caster with a staff and the right item setup. A dragoon is a much stronger attacker and your resident monster hunter, his spells are there mostly as a homage to his previous incarnations and are probably worth bothering only if you're running him 2H and want to plink something close to kicking the bucket, a 1H dragoon will get better damage out of a light crossbow, thrown weapon or a pistol and charge his TP at the same time.

Ranged weapon finishers are exclusively accuracy-based because a caster would likely get instakilled by a fully charged finisher even by something like a blowgun and they would go through armor like nothing, which is something most ranged weapons shouldn't be able to do. I'll probably tamper a bit with their range and damage bonus a bit to make them somewhat more varied, though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

are we supposed to be able to load our game with the 89 patch?, or do we need to make a new game file? my game just crashes whenever any baldur items shows on my screen. lm playing on psp btw

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now