thzfunnymzn

Your decision. There are cases where I'd definitely say that they should be the same name (Siren vs Siren for Celes; Golem vs Palidor for Edgar)

Iow, hybrids won't get any fancy in-game name. The community will have to come up with officially unofficial build names for them. Fair enough. Still don't see why certain builds can't share a name. (Shiva vs. Siren Celes). Shouldn't that be as simple as coding both those espers to show the same text? Not particularly keen on giving a variation like that two completely different names.

Thanks for the prayers. We're all tucked in away from the hurricane now. Until one of our coders chimes in about the feasibility of putting build names in-game, I'm going to focus mostly on the standardization of build names.

Yeah, fled with my family to elsewhere. Hmm..I have little knowlede of this game's asm, so I don't know of this idea is feasible. Coming up with a system so the game can intelligently tell the player what build they're playing? Sounds like a fun challenge, but iunno if this idea will actually make it into the game. There are definitely a LOT of cases to consider with this idea. Again, once I have my computer, I'll give more comments on the builds.

Tsk tsk. Accusing me when you and Mishrak are just as guilty. We've been slowly standardizing the names. (See: recent update, where I adopted Mishrak's names for Shadow's builds). Still, I won't turn down an attempt to standardize names beyond just "vig Edgar," "mag Strago," etc., etc. The major issue I'm seeing here is that naming the build after one esper, with the base also being a hybrid, doesn't really match up with whag the builds really are. For example, something like 10/10 Terrato/Stray on Sabin is definetly a stamina build. Or, something like 7/7/7 Unicorn/Carbunkl/Maduin on Terra is a (bulky) magic build. Also, stuff like Siren vs Shiva on Celes is definitely nitpicking at build differences. I know the above is kind of a nitpick. I also know that we're limited by whay can be put into the game. Just pointing it all out. I'm on the phone right now, so I can't comment too much more. I definitely prefer keeping stuff like "The Bank" over something like Cleric or Gambler for HP Setzer. (What does Gambler even mean, as far as combat is concerned?). Also want to note that Phoenix Te/Lo should be White Mage, and that you forgot spd Relm. I'll look at this again after hurricane evacuation. Later.

Updated Reference Sheet (pastebin) & Character Guides (forum) for 1.9. Again, requesting people to test out X-Mog with new Haste & Love Sonata. Also requesting people test out Maduin Mog for counter/cover Rod shenanigans. I'd like to hear results back on these before updating the mag Mog section under either the guide or the reference sheet.

You may want to consider using Relm as a primary attacker instead of a primary healer then. Flare spam is a mighty fine dps strategy. Not quite as good as Shadow, spd Gau, or Valiantsuken Locke, but with Relm's speed & magic, it's one of the game's best damage sources. In this case, consider her more of a secondary healer. I presume you have Bahamut equipped all the time for the auto-Safe? You could also try setting Image, but your only reliable Image setters are also frail (Strago, Gogo, Shadow). Summoning Golem is another strategy (Edgar & Sabin ain't frail), though it won't last the whole fight (could last a while though). For boss fights, you could also try and equip the right combo of Hide + shield to resist any elemental attacks, then equip Black Heart for a mighty HP+50%. (Black Heart will also null Holy & Poison attacks. Float might be helpful as well). Just be aware that equipping a Black Heart means you'll be relying on RegenX healing instead of Cure 3. Could also try Rerise spam.

So, even though I've complained a few times about the mg.eva stat in this hack, I've never actually sat down and crunched the numbers for various builds. I have corrected that. I have run true evade numbers on mg.eva (and, why not, def, mg.def, and eva) for "all" builds, assuming 120% spell accuracy as the standard. (Most spells are either 120% or never miss. I did include true evade numbers for 100% and 80%). https://pastebin.com/ZEiCGDzP Highlights: Even a 0% mg.eva character still has a 30% chance to dodge Meteo. Lol. A lot of builds don't have a lot of true mg.eva (if any!) despite what the in-game numbers might say. 22 mg.eva is required to gain even 1% true magic evade for most spells (120%). Because of the above, Edgar, Cyan, setzer, and Umaro have 0% true evade, except in certain circumstances / set-ups. Most high mg.eva set-ups include Force gear or Hides. These builds, obviously, have little need of mg.eva. Only Locke, Shadow, & Relm can actually get respectable true mg.eva without also boosting their mg.def to ridiculous levels. Dropping the "standard" spell accuracy from 120% down to 100% seems to mostly boost low/medium mg.eva set-ups.

Rage Belt having auto-counter was considered. That would mean Umaro's set-up is Rage Belt + Knight Cape, nothing else. (Except for rare Blizzard Orb strats). Sounds powerful, but I'd rather test out how Umaro utilizes the cover/counter changes.

I believe I all ready mentioned that X-Locke can blow up Fire weak foes with Fire magic. : p I've dumped Locke's MP into axe-murdering a boss with Fire magic before. I simply mentioned that, when the boss ain't weak to Fire (or doesn't have low mg.def), it's probably not worth dumping his MP for. For 10k+ damage, 96 MP is fair game. For 5k damage? ehh..... I did forget about the Lazy Shell though. I'll add that in.

There's a forest north of Jidoor with a Mover x3 encounter. This encounter gives a LOT of GP, for relatively little (maybe no?) EXP and EP. Grind that if you wish to respec many times. That said, I wouldn't try to play every build in one playthrough. It's not just the cost & time spent grinding. You'll also miss out on how different builds plays the WoB, early-WoR, or different WoR dungeons.

What are HP values like for the mid-WoR? For a team taking on, say, Narshe, how much Life revives for could affect how useful Life 2 is.

Cave to the Ancient Castle being a "water" area is honestly not a bad idea. IIRC, it even plays the Serpent Trench music. Sides, there's more than enough "Cave" dungeons in the WoR. Might as well let one of them be a "Water" dungeon. Also a lot simpler of a solution than adding in new cutscenes and such.

Brainstorming ways for various characters to use new Cover & Counter mechanics:

The Shiv, this early in the game, is basically a full heal to one character, but it sacrifices Locke's physical attack. (You can still Mug, but Healing Shiv doesn't have bonus multipliers like Butterfly's "2x damage to humans" or Full Moon's "Randomly Throws for 2x damage"). I think it's actually almost always a full heal on a single target, even later in the game. IMO, it's stupidly powerful for the IMF & remains useful throughout the WoB; part of my opinion being because I'm not a huge fan of Fighter Locke in the WoB, unless I'm going all-in with Kirin levels. That said, you seem to prefer having Locke hit stuff rather than playing field medic, so it might not suit your playstyle. It's not totally necessary for the Southern Continent - plenty of the other veterans here don't bother with it. You could maybe give a few more attempts to snag it, and if that fails, just continue the game.

You are absolutely right, we've been over this a thousand times, and I'm ashamed that I forgot about that when talking about Cyan's strengths & weaknesses. Edited the guide above. "Great Out-of-Battle Healer (thanks to Empowerer)" has been added to the list of Cyan's strengths.

That's actually a pretty unique way to maximize Umaro's damage output. I really like it. 1.9's changes to Cover & Counter also means Umaro will have an actual alternative set-up to Rage Belt. He'll be able to choose Black Belt + Knight Cape for a nearly 50% Cover chance and a nearly 100% counterattack chance. As someone in Discord described it, he'll be the parties Big, Dumb Bodyguard. With your fancy set-up & an actual second "build" to Umaro, the dumb Yeti is showing some surprising nuance to his strategy. I....don't know what to make of this development.

Congrats on killing him. Dadaluma's a bugger. *** For some post-battle notes, a strategy I like to employ is to actually use the NoiseBlaster to confuse the Brawlers, rather than kill them with BioBlaster. Every attack against Dadaluma will count up his "counterattack meter," but NoiseBlaster isn't an attack, so it bypasses this. Also, his goons will then occasionally hit him, which also bypasses his "counterattack meter." Also also, it gives you a buffer against whenever he calls for more goons. Downside is that NoiseBlaster lends itself more to a slow, tanking set-up. Drill Dadaluma to set Sap, confuse his goons, and let Sap do a lot of the work while you only use a few big attacks to minimize how many counterattacks you eat. (Having Locke use Healing Shivs is nice for this, though you had Celes at healing). Also, the next release will be giving Celes a new tool to help her out in Zozo & the Magitek Factory. I wouldn't wait on the next release before I continued playing, nor do I know if or when you'll replay this, but I thought I'd give you the FYI.

The forest to the west of the Veldt has Phantom Train encounters. There's some random peninsula to the north, I think middle of the map, connected to the Lete River somewhere nearby; this peninsula has randoms from the Imperial Magitek Factory. Mt. Kolts & Mt. Thamasa can be re-visited. As can the Serpent Trench. The Lete River & the Cave to the Sealed Gate, unfortunately, I think are permanently lost once you've passed that point in the game. In the WoR, there will be some scattered islands south of Albrook where you can re-fight the randoms from the Floating Continent. Io, a WoR rage, is hiding in some dungeon besides just Cyan's Soul, so he's NOT unmissable.

Mog's getting Haste in 1.9. This is awesome. It looks like a great new tool for X-Mog. (SlowX & Haste for setting up for a battle, X-Haste acting almost like HasteX, and then commence the X-Break beatdown with Love Sonata for restoring MP. Use Quake for the few times it's useful). Also, the Counter/Cover changes look like they could be quite nifty for a Rod Maduin Mog. (Perhaps even paired with a Dance like Earth Blues or Forest Suite, possibly without even bothering with the Moogle Charm). Unfortunately, I've committed to playing Mogoon next game. I've done mag Mog the past two games now, and desire to play vig Mog again. Also, I'm only one guy with one opinion. Requesting someone please play X-Mog in 1.9 and give some feedback onto how well he performs, now that he has some utility to call his own. Also looking for a second opinion on the new Love Sonata of 1.8.6 (Specter is 1st instead of 2nd, so better odds of MP restoration). Also requesting someone try out Maduin Rod Mog with counter/cover. With or without Dancing thrown in being up to the player to decide. Much appreciated.

Hyped up for Haste on Mog. Shame I've all ready decided on Mogoon instead of X-Mog for my next run, but oh well.

6k GP Toss ahoy!

Just plain Rod + Berserk will add 25% damage to the rod attack. Rod + Berserk + Rage? I think GreenSun's tests predict that the answer to that is a "no," but we can check anyways.

Thank you. Sketch isn't important, but opening up ??? & Bushido (cleave) lets the build be good for all-around offense, while Runic rounds out the support skill set. Double thanks, because now I know what to do with Gogo whenever I play him again. Which might happen sooner than later, now that I know what I'm doing.

I agree on support Gogo, and I'm pretty sure the guide reflects that. He's just so diverse. Damage Gogo, yeah, sounds like it's mostly Rod Rage for raw dps, and Cleave / debuffs / ??? for random clean-ups. Shame Rod Rage & Cleave are incompatible with each other. Combine with Tools for an all-around skill set for handling randoms. EDIT: The Gogo guide is properly complete now. Added Rod Rage, added Strengths / Weaknesses.