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Topics - DjinnAndTonic

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1
Unranked Games / Disgaea 5 Complete PC Stats
« on: April 22, 2023, 06:12:18 AM »
Welcome to the Disgaea 5 Complete endgame stat comparison topic. This topic includes all units, unique and generic, that are available during the main campaign, including bonus scenario cameo characters. It does not include Asagi and other postgame secret characters.

All units are taken at a rough endgame level of 125, with 7 Evility Slots, and with an endgame wallet of 45M HL for Equipment/Items and roughly 50,000 Mana to spend on Evilities or other effects.
Generic units are assumed to be Rank 5 for their assigned class, except for Dragon King and Horseman, which are obtained very late in the main campaign and unlikely to get enough experience to rank 5 by endgame. Unique units are assumed Rank 4 bonus stats from a basic Prinny class (this base subclass is always available and only gives flat bonuses to avoid skewing stat variance), but are not allowed access to any of the skills or evilities from this subclass.
Units are only allowed Weapons they have proficiency in, to ensure they can reach the assumed Weapon Mastery rank of 25. They are also forced to using one piece of Armor for the assumed endgame Armor Mastery rank of 15 and to give a baseline ranking for durability averages as well.
D5 allows all units to equip two weapons at once - one main and one off-hand weapon. The off-hand weapon only provides a small percentage of its stats, but the unique can quick-swap to this weapon mid-battle to receive all the benefits of using a different weapon-type. Additionally, the off-hand weapon's special Innocents are still active, such as adding elemental typing to non-elemental attacks.

Basic Damage Formula
ATK * Skill Power - DEF/2
ATK is whatever the main offense stat is plus any current Skill/Spell-given buffs. Buffs from Evilities usually count after Skill Power.
Offense Stats: Fist: (ATK+SPD)/2, Bow: (ATK+HIT)/2, Gun: (SPD+HIT)/2, Staff: INT, Everything Else: ATK
All Unique Skills take the Damage Type of the user's currently-equipped weapon. (E.g. Hellfire Shot does Fire-Element Phys. Sword-typed Damage w/ a Sword equipped, but Fire-Element Magical Staff-typed Damage w/ a Staff.) This also means that characters with balanced stats can easily swap weapons to hit both damage types.
Damage from the Front is +0%, Side +20%, Back +40%
Healing Skills are a flat Multiplier to user's RES: Heal is 90%, Mega 120%, Giga 160%, Omega 340%, Tera 580%, Sapphire's Legend White 400%
Critical hits deal 1.5x final damage. Crit rate is unique to each unit. There's also Critical failures called a "Nick" that deal 0.5x final damage. These have a roughly ~5% chance of happening across the board. Sword-users have a unique mechanic called "Parry" that activates roughly ~15% of the time that halves damage like Nicks do and negates incoming Crits when it procs.
Accuracy is basically HIT/SPD, with a floor of 2% hit rate from the Front, 30% from the Side, and 60% from the Back. This applies to basic physicals, Special Skills, and Spells.

ATK =   [ATKStat] * (100% + Stat% + SpellBuff%)      where [Stat] is the relevant attack stat(s), and both Stat% and SpellBuff% are capped at 100%; ATK caps at 99 999 999
BaseDamage =    SkillPower * ATK * (100% + ATKPowerBuffs% + RandATK%) - [DEFStat] * (100% + DEFPowerBuffs% + RandDEF%)/2      
TotalDamage_NoCrit =    BaseDamage * (100% + DamageDealt%) * DamageReceivedMods% * (100% - ElementRes/100) * (100% - WeaponRes/100) * MagicRangeMultiplier * ComboMultiplier      
TotalDamage_Critical =    TotalDamage_NoCrit * (150% + CritDamageBoosts%) * CritDamageBoosts

Stats are capped at 99 999 999
RandATK% is a random percentage between 0% and another value that varies with main weapon: axes go to 29%, staves go to 9%, guns go to 2%; the rest goes to 4%.
RandDEF% is a random percentage between 0% and 14%.
Since it applies before enemy DEF, +ATK% buffs are very important in order to actually deal non-zero damage in the first place,
but then +Damage% is useful once you are dealing damage, and if you can crit (since some bosses are immune) then the multiplicative crit boosts are incredibly important too.

Revenge Mode
The Revenge Gauge is a unique mechanic to Disgaea 5, similar to Limit Breaks. The Revenge Gauge carries over from battle to battle, and when the gauge is filled to 2000 points, the Unit enters Revenge Mode, which allows certain units to utilize their Overload skills in addition to other effects.
Revenge Mode: Lasts 3 turns, 25% reduction to damage taken, specials cost 1 SP, 100% crit rate.
The Revenge Gauge is filled by a unit's Vengeance Value every time they are targeted by an attack, whether the attack connects or not. The Revenge Gauge is filled by 0.54x a unit's Vengeance Value every time one of their teammates is attacked and filled by a whopping 5x the Vengeance Value whenever one of their teammates is KO'd.
Etna's Prinnies and Zeroken's clones dying don't seem to give any Revenge gauge.
Any unit can sacrifice a cheap Burning Hand item to make a Curry Field Effect that doubles the rate of Revenge gain, and this can be assumed to be in effect at all times. Or one can assume that every unit comes in with a half-filled Revenge gauge since the gauge carries over between battles.
Another option is to use the cheap 50-Mana "Critical Situation!" Assembly Bill that instantly fills the Revenge Gauge for the unit after being targeted by one attack.
This topic presumes some version of Revenge gauge boosting to allow the effect to potentially matter. Most units must be targeted between 7 to 12 times to reach Revenge Mode at half-boost, or 14 to 24 times with none of the various easy boosting options in play.

Status Ailment Resistance in Disgaea 5 is largely handled by store-bought Evilities. These all cost a trivial 200 Mana and 1 Evility slot to equip, and can be seen as equivalent to storebought status accessories.
Ailments immuned by individual Evilities: Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Weaken, Amnesia (Skill/Spell lock), Charm, and Shrink (Skill/Physical lock but can cast Spells)
There is also the Vaccine storebought Evility that grants a blanket 50% resistance to all status ailments at once.
There is no common Instant Death (Deathblow) blocker, but a handful of units learn an Evility to block it naturally.
Giant is a buff that can be applied to any unit, doubling their current and max HP and SP, and increasing stats by 30%. A Giant unit won't be able to use Unique or Weapon skills, but they'll gain the exclusive Giant Press skill.

Averages Up Top
HP: 9706 (10982 Uniques-only)
SP: 1006 (1231 Uniques-only)
ATK: 2649 (2837 Uniques-only)
DEF: 2582 (2742 Uniques-only)
INT: 1605 (1852 Uniques-only)
RES: 2482 (2715 Uniques-only)
HIT: 1789 (1908 Uniques-only)
SPD: 1433 (1724 Uniques-only)

3-turn Damage Average: 4834 (5711 Uniques-only)
Kill Point: 12085 (14277.5 Uniques-only)

2
RPG Reviews / DisgaeaRPG Translation/Summary Blog
« on: December 07, 2020, 06:22:05 AM »
Disgaea RPG - Demonic Version of Princess Raising Simulator

So a new Disgaea game came out, but it's a mobile gacha game. This inherently makes it bad, but since it's Disgaea, I am curious about what it brings to the lore of the series. Unfortunately, the game is likely never coming out in English, and the Disgaea community is largely Japanese-illiterate. So I thought I could play through the game and write down my thoughts and some summaries so that at least that much will be preserved of the game before it eventually closes forever and is lost to time.

So far, it is pretty funny and has some cute moments, as you'd expect from a crossover gacha title. This game format works particularly well for the Disgaea franchise, since it's already primarily a slapstick-humor/parody series that does regular series crossovers in every game *anyway*.

I finally took the plunge on this game after a year since it finally started actually telling its own story with new characters and some Alternate-Dimension versions of the Main Cast with fun twists coming in to interact with old favorites. Etna meeting a Priestess version of herself is pretty funny. So I wanted to know what's going on.

I started out with a line-for-line translation, but that's taking forever, so summaries from now on. If anyone wants to check my Japanese, I have Imgur galleries with the whole scenario.

Book 1, Chapter 1: I'm Gonna Be The Very Best... to ever train the Demon Overlord of Hell
https://imgur.com/a/mVpUJNK



Quote
Flonne:
Hey Mr. Player, in order to raise the strongest Overlord ever, you'll be taking on a few trials from now on!

Etna:
Right, but it'd be boring if a Strongest Overlord trial wasn't a little grueling... so don't worry, we won't skimp on the torture- I mean trials.

Flonne:
Hmm... Etna, are you perhaps... up to something bad?

Etna:
Ding ding ding, and the winner is Flonne! Bad stuff starts now! Guess what, it's the Final Boss!!

Flonne:
What, really?! The Final Boss already? Honestly, now I'm lost...

Etna:
C'mon, it'll be fun! ...Oh look, there it is.

Annoying Do-Gooder Voice:
Now I've found you, OVERLORD!!

Prism Red:
When evil darkness appears...

Prism Blue:
Even when we weren't invited...

Prism Yellow:
We seven lights will arrive...

Prism Orange:
To save the world with courage and hope!

Prism Green:
All seven of us together, we are:

Prism Purple:
The Rainbow Squadron-!!

Prism Indigo:
PRISM RAAAAAANGERS!!

Flonne:
Oh wow! The Prism Rangers just appeared out of nowhere! So cool!
...Wait? So you mean that the Player's team is supposed to be the Final Boss?

Etna:
Obviously. If you wanna be the Strongest Overlord, you have to get in touch with your Inner Evil and fight some Heroes.

Flonne:
Oh that's perfect! Fight your hardest, Prism Rangers!

Etna:
Uh, Flonne? Aren't you cheering for the wrong team?

-after the fight-

Flonne:
Awww... the Prism Rangers got mercilessly beaten...

Etna:
Heehee. Justice never prevails, as they say in the Netherworlds.
Remember, Player, never rule out any unsavory methods when it comes to becoming the Strongest Overlord.
Cowardly tactics, betrayal, dirty tricks... anything goes!
If ever you can't get your way, then obviously use bribery or brute force! That's what all good Demons do.

Flonne:
But the player's a human...

Laharl:
Heh heh heh...
Defeating those loser Heroes won't make you into a Final Boss. Don't make me laugh!!

Flonne:
Whoa, where'd you come from?!

Laharl profile:
The incredibly self-important and self-centered Overlord.
He make look like a pipsqueak, but that tiny body has a Demon Power Level over 530 thousand from all his heinous demonic acts.
- Doesn't wash his hands after using the bathroom
- Plays video games for over 100 hours a day
- Claims ownership of anything that doesn't belong to him
He reigns over the Netherworld as a true example of Badness.
*Good boys and girls of the human world, please do not imitate him!

Etna:
Oh, Prince. So what'd you come here for?

Laharl:
I heard you were trying to raise the Strongest Overlord. What makes you think you can do that without ME?
...Hmph. And you, you're the Player? I guess you look fine... for a human.
Very well. Let the great Overlord Laharl show you how how to raise a demon!

Etna:
Oh man, it's gonna be priceless if he loses while he's trying to show off like this!

Flonne:
Laharl... you're looking so uncool...

Laharl:
Sh-shut it, fools! This is just a sneak-peek of my prowess.
This next opponent is an elite unit I trained myself. Prepare yourself.

-after the fight-

Quote
Flonne:
Oh dear... Looks like he lost.

Laharl:
H-how can this be...!! The elite unit that I personally trained, taken out all at once!

Etna:
Well, Prince... your selfish style of training probably isn't the best fit for raising much of anything, let alone the Strongest Overlord.

Flonne:
Yeah, Laharl. What kind of training did you even do?

Laharl:
Well of course, the special kind of training you can only get in hell... A nonstop 1000-hour Endurance Video Game Tournament, with no sleep breaks. A prohibition on hand-washing after using the bathroom...
A strict order to show the contents of a post-sneeze tissue to everyone you can, a course in ignoring your summer homework forever, and so on and so on. It was a lot of strict training basically.

Flonne:
...Is there any amount of effort that would make someone stronger under training like that?

Laharl:
Whaaat!?
It's my training, so of course! And to prove it I'll take you on myself! Let's go!

Continuing on with Chapter 1, Laharl's pride was hurt from losing, so apparently he bought a power up transformation potion from a late night netherworld shopping channel. However the potion changed him into his girl-form, apparently because people liked him better that way and there was a lot of fan demand for this. So he tried making Etna and Flonne find a cure, but when they talked to Mr. Champloo, he ended up making them some delicious pudding instead and they completely forgot about Laharl’s problem. So Laharl tried to bribe the Dark Assembly to pass a bill to change him back but they’ve heard reports that Laharl’s more popular this way so they refuse even after taking the bribe. So Laharl asks the player to beat them up to get his way. But Laharl is too weak to beat the Senators in such a sexy body. So when it looks like he’s about to lose, Etna and Flonne show up to turn the tide of battle, because they want Laharl to stop flaunting that sexy body around them.

Laharl is returned to normal and he recognizes the Player as worthy of training the future Strongest Overlord.

3
Unranked Games / SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions PCs
« on: October 08, 2020, 04:07:45 AM »
Sources:
SaGa Scarlet Grace Ambitions Datamine Dump:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uBV46LMR5gP49fqOX5sYn69msNg8Q5pJ31Wv7vTeVZ0/

Japanese Strategy Wiki:
https://kamikouryaku.com/saga_sg/

Japanese Formula Mining:
http://tannbura.com/2018/09/27/%E3%80%90%E3%82%B5%E3%82%AC%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E3%82%B0%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B9%E3%80%80%E7%B7%8B%E8%89%B2%E3%81%AE%E9%87%8E%E6%9C%9B%E3%80%91%E4%B8%8A%E7%B4%9A/

So welcome to a new SaGa stat topic. As you might know, SaGa games are notoriously obtuse in their mechanics. Even with a full Datamine and several corroborating sources and my own testing, I can still only guarantee that what I have produced is 'close' to how the game's mechanics actually work.

SaGa Scarlet Grace, like many SaGa games, has multiple protagonists, each with their own 'route' through the game. Most characters (including the protagonists!) can be recruited in multiple routes and at multiple points in the story. The Story itself is also largely open-world and quest-based, with just the beginning and ending(s) being fixed, similar to SaGa Frontier and Romancing SaGa 3. Base character stats do not grow, but HP and Weapon Skill Proficiency Levels do, and these are based on an innate growth rate and the number of battles a unit participates in. There are some catch-up mechanics for units who join later. Each PC's stats are derived based on being recruited at the earliest possible opportunity and used semi-consistently for the rest of the route, with Protagonists getting a slight boost due to being fixed for some fights. Starting PCs having the most fights, followed by Chapter 1-joining PCs, Chapter 2-joining PCs, and finally 'just before the final boss' joiners.

SSG Characters can only use skills associated with their currently-equipped weapon in any given battle. Due to the otherwise-uniform nature of equipment and minimal effects of Roles and Formations, SSG characters are largely defined by their Weapon Type, with minor stat variations. All Characters have a preset 'preferred Weapon Type' listed when they are recruited. Characters do not have unique Spark Lists like in other games, skills are sparked based on the currently-equipped weapon's innate spark list, so all units of a given Weapon Type usually have the same basic skillset.

SSG has over 80 named characters, but only 29 are considered 'unique' and have an unrepeated character model. These tend to be the most story-related PCs and in the traditional DL format, it's likely that only these PCs would be 'ranked'. For readability, I'll be listing these characters in full, while the other PCs will get truncated entries. If you wish to get full data on them, please see the spreadsheet.

SaGa Scarlet Grace works as a traditional turn-based system, with linear speed added to a random number from 1-6 and actions chosen at the beginning of a 'turn' and then played out in speed order. Turn order manipulation is a major part of SSG's Unison Attack system, so there are many skills that can manipulate Turn Speed up or down, but note that no unit will ever get more than one action per turn.
However, there are some Conditional Skills worth talking about. Counterstance skills work like they do in many games - if a unit uses a Counterstance skill, they will stand passively unless targeted by a foe, in which case they avoid the attack and activate a powerful counter. The most likely interpretation of this is that they can spoil physical-dependent foes.
Blocks work like an active "Cover" skill for an ally and increase Weapon Block and Shield Block rate for the Blocker, but deal no damage.
Finally, Interrupts are interesting for turn manipulation. The unit passively takes up an Interrupt stance and the attack activates if the foe uses a skill of the correct 'element' (Slash/Blunt/Pierce). Against more limited physical-reliant foes, these skills can help some Characters to always attack just before a foe. Interrupts do NOT auto-evade or cancel a foe's attack (unless it procs attached status or kills the foe, of course).
Conditionals tend to be a unit's highest potential damage attack, so if a character has a chance to use them, their victory probability increases significantly.

Each character comes with a unique Role (passive effect skill) that only they can equip. Characters can learn additional Roles by learning specific combinations of Weapon Skills. It's highly impractical in a single playthrough to master many skills outside of a unit's main weapon-type, so I have only allowed units to learn Generic Roles that rely on skills from a single weapon plus any starting skills in other weapon-types they may have come with.
Formations are learned by recruiting the PCs they are innate to. Once a Formation is learned, the entire party can use them, but since they are unique to individual PCs, I have limited every PC to either the default Formation "Free For All" or their innate Formation, whichever suits them better.
Bonuses to Attack and Defense Power from Roles and Formations are calculated multiplicatively after the main damage calculation.

SSG Defense Power and Resistances are subtractive and extremely minor factors after the earlygame. Most of a SSG character's durability comes from raw HP and Weapon Block / Shield Guard / Evasion procs.
Characters have been assigned a default defensive equipment set of around Rank 12, which is easy to obtain for all units by endgame. Here is a list of potential options for very niche cases.
Primary Armors:
Grand Astral Armor (Slash/Pierce/Blunt Res+35, Heat/Cold/Lightning Res+35, QUI+1, WIL+1)
Golem Suit (S/P/B Res+42, H/C/L Res+28, QUI-2)
Twilight Robe (S/P/B Res+27, H/C/L+40, VIT-2, INT+3)

Secondary Armors:
Lordly Doublet (S/P/B Res+3, H/C/L Res+11)
Rainbow Shawl (S/P/B Res+3, H/C/L+11, INT+1, WIL-1, Sleep Res +50%)
Unicorn Helm (Pierce Res+28, S/B/H/C/L Res+3, Poison Res +50%)
Rabbit Ears (Cold Res+21, S/P/B/H/L Res+2, QUI+1)
Ogre's Gloves (Slash Res +20, P/B/H/C/L Res+2, STR+1, Paralysis Res+50%)
Insulators (Slash/Heat Res+14, P/B/C/L Res+2)
Quicksilvers (Blunt Res+26, S/P/H/C/L Res+3)
Fine Rubber Soles (Lightning Res+21, S/P/B/H/C Res+2, QUI+1)
Jester's Shoes (Blunt/Lightning Res+11, S/P/H/C Res+2, QUI+1, Confuse Res+50%)


Weapon Block: All weapons except Bows (and barehanded, of course) have a percent chance to reduce incoming physical attacks by 50%.
Shield Guard: Characters using one-handed weapons can equip shields, which make a separate check for a percent chance to reduce incoming physical attacks to 0.
Passive Defend: If a Character does not act during a given turn, they automatically "Defend", which (I think) raises their Resistances by 50% (It is notably less effective than a Weapon Block activation, so I believe this directly effects Resistances, but I honestly can't figure out the formula here.)


Average up top:
Cast Avg HP:   791.51   (143.68 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg HP:   794.36   (142.4 St.Dev)

Cast Avg Def Power:   46.86   (3.53 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg Def Power:   47.05   (3.49 St.Dev)
            
Cast Avg M.Def Power:   54.65   (4.21 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg M.Def Power:   54.87   (3.97 St.Dev)
            
Cast Avg Weapon Block rate:   34.2   (21.39 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg Wpn Block rate:   32.94   (20.65 St.Dev)
            
Cast Avg Shield Guard rate:   11.46   (12.63 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg Shield Guard rate:   11.74   (12.66 St.Dev)
            
Cast Avg Evade rate:   18.33   (5.84 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast Avg Evade rate:   18.43   (5.98 St.Dev)
            
Cast Avg Turn Speed:   11.56   (4.26 St.Dev)
Turn 1 Avg Speed:   12.01   (4.54 St.Dev)
            
Non-dupe Cast Avg Turn Speed:   11.48   (4.3 St.Dev)
Turn 1 Avg Speed:    11.88   (4.51 St.Dev)
            
Cast 3-turn Dmg Avg:   790.58   (325.9 St.Dev)
Non-dupe Cast 3-turn Dmg Avg:   780.45   (324.76 St.Dev)

4
Game Design and Modifications / Disgaea - Crossroads of Discord *Complete*
« on: December 17, 2019, 01:22:25 PM »

DISGAEA: Crossroads of Discord
Mission Statement
Answering the age-old question of "Disgaea... but what if Pokemon?", this short-play fan project is designed to mix the lore and challenge of Disgaea with the battle mechanics of Competitive Pokemon.

Laharl is stuck in Purgatory and has to battle his way out against 6 successively more challenging boss fights. There's no grinding, so he'll just have to rely on strategy and team-building to succeed.

He's doomed.


Features
  • Team-Building Emphasis. Units are recruited using limited resources, so choose carefully.
  • No Grinding. All units are at set levels for your playthrough.
  • No Healing Items. No cheesing through Trials with 99 Full Restores.
  • Short, but Challenging, Play Time of about 2-5 hours. Designed for multiple playthroughs with various teams. Speedrun, Ironmanning, Low-recuit, Low-power challenge-friendly.
  • Unique Movesets for all Playable Units. Customize their best skills to synergize with the rest of your team and take down the Trials with ease!
  • Featuring the signature humor of the Disgaea franchise to keep you laughing while you hand out the violence!
Screenshots






Credits
  • Djinn-   Basic Design, Project Manager, Lead Animator, Image Editing, Scripting, Maps, Skill Design, Scenario Writer, Dex, Data Entry, Sound Design
  • King -   Co-Lead, Lead Sprite/Menu Editing, Asset Management, Skill Design, Co-Animator. UI Sound Design
  • Grounder -   Co-Lead, Art Asset Management, Skill Design, Dex, Data Entry
  • Ironwatsas -   Primary Scenario Writer
  • Sbuscoz -   Sprite/Menu Image Editing
  • HyperStan -   Menu Editing, Asset assistance
  • BlueskyRobyn -   Skillset Design, Music selection, Data Entry
  • Z3n -   Music selection/Editing, Dex Entry assistance, Scripting assistance, Sound Editing
  • Burin -   Scenario Writer, Dex Entry assistance
  • Maide -   Sound Editing
  • IevanDumal -   Sound Editing
  • Asdone -   Sound Editing
  • MGriffin - Scripting Assistance, Playtesting
  • Grefter - Playtesting
  • Talaysen - Playtesting
  • Maruno and the PE dev team - The best people
  • Pokemon Reborn - Credit for animation assets used as a base.
  • Nippon Ichi Software - Owners of the Disgaea Franchise
  • Nintendo, Game Freak, The Pokemon Company
  • Enterbrain - RPG Maker XP
Bugs
  • Bug: A common bug many RPG Maker XP users have found is that cutscene images will not display correctly if the game is started up in Fullscreen mode or L-sized screen mode. This can be easily correctly simply by opening the Options menu and changing the screen size to M and then back to your preferred size.
  • Glitch: Due to RPG Maker XP's fairly archaic sound mixing, Disgaea Crossroads is best played with the Background Music settings at 20 lower than the main Sound Effects so that they can actually be heard. The game Options should default BGM: 80 and SFX: 100 for convenience.
  • Errors: To be noted and fixed.
Download
UPDATED Dec.17,2019:
  • Final Major Update
  • Additional Endings added
  • Collectible Sticker System added
  • More in-game tutorials added, reflecting testplayer feedback
  • Added new Random Encounter and Bonus Reward System
  • Fixed various bugs and menu text
  • Increased Battle Speed and added Animation Skip functionality
  • Added new items and balanced economy.
On Mediafire: (as of Dec.17,2019)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/04sd60rmfdiwk3o/Disgaea_Crossroads_of_Discord_12-17-2019.zip/file

5
Unranked Games / Final Fantasy Dimensions (Jobs/PCs)
« on: June 14, 2015, 01:00:44 PM »

Final Fantasy Dimensions is an old school Final Fantasy game that would be right at home on the SNES... except that it was released in chapters on mobile devices roughly 20 years after its predecessor. The game is essentially FF5, complete with Job System nearly copy-pasted from it, except with TWO sets of Crystal Warriors, Light and Dark, and a rotating cast of Temps a la FF3/4 in your fifth party slot until endgame where your parties merge.

Similar to FF5, characters can use a number of Jobs and level them up to mix and match skill sets. Unlike FF5, the PCs are a little more distinct from each other. Only mild stat differences (a total of about 15 pts shuffled around) but with different starting equipment and skills, plus over half of the Jobs themselves are exclusive to either one party or the other, and some of the basic jobs get boosts depending on the party.
These factors combined to suggest that each of the 8 main characters has their own claim to each of the 8 starting Jobs. You could make some weaker arguments for the ten advanced jobs as well and make a topic akin the FF5/BD twink setups topics. However, I think most people would prefer a Neutral Job-based topic, so I'm mostly going to approach this topic as one, with the jobs assigned to the characters to get around some issues inherent to the Neutral Jobs.
Conveniently, the 8 main PCs plus the 10 Temps all correspond to each of the 8 starting and 10 advanced Jobs, so this topic will look an awful lot like a straight Neutral Job topic. I will be making notes where the Character assigned to the Job makes a difference. I will be scaling all Temps to endgame (due to how stats are almost completely dependent on Job and static, this was trivial to calculate).
The goal is to make the topic more reflective of in-game performance overall. The major differences between this method and a Neutral Job topic are the representation of some temp-only skills, and the lack of two DL-useless Jobs, Memorist and Jobless. Memorist is FFD's Mime-type job with customizable stats and some luck elements that gets absolutely no skillset without a character to base it on. Luckily the game gives you the Temp Argy, who has both a designated stat build AND a basic skillset to pull from, making the class actually resemble how a Memorist would be used.
Jobless, as the name implies, is the base Job with no skillset whose claim to fame is having more skill slots to put skills it doesn't have any claim for. Instead of Jobless, the seven actual jobs are distributed one each to the 8 mains except for White Mage being handed out twice. This is due both to starting skills (Dusk and Diana both start with the White Magic skill) and because there is a significant difference between a White Mage (and Black) from the Light Warriors side and one from the Dark Warriors side. Dark side White Mages do NOT get access to the final level of White Magic (which notably includes their only damage spell Holy). This helps reflect this limitation that is a major component of the game AND represents likely in game performance perfectly. A player is almost certain to need a White Mage in both parties, but the Dark side White Mage is always going to be inferior to the Light side one and sit around uselessly endgame. Their lack of damage also reflects the expected damage of a Jobless character in a Neutral Job stat topic but still makes the character a viable DL duelist due to the lower levels of the White Mage skillset. But fortunately the averages should still look the same.

Status:
*Disclaimer* Status rates (and damage in some cases, even) are not 100% accurate. A lot of this information was gleaned from online sources and casual in game testing but I am still not 100% sure of the inner mechanics of everything. Take everything with a grain of salt but this should be close enough for hand grenades and horseshoes and online forum battles.
In general, status accuracy for Spells/Skills seems to hover between 2/3 and 3/4. I suspect it is in fact 100% base accuracy but modified by enemy MEvade (something else woefully underdocumented). Status accuracy attached to weapons is roughly 1/3 to 1/2.

Durability:
*Disclaimer* Durability figures are taken using the imperfect damage formulas available to me, so they may not be 100% accurate. Also notably, since defensive stats are subtractive AND used as multipliers, they can be a little unusual at high or low values. So take these numbers with a grain of salt, but again, they're close enough and seem to resemble in-game performance to my experience and corroborated with others who've played the game. Big thanks to those in chat who helped out with this.

Magic Casting Time:
Most attacks and skills resolve once they are selected, so turn speed is the indicator of how fast a character is. However, spells in this game have an additional short casting time that occurs once a spell is selected. For most spells, this is negligible. But for upper-end magic, it can add an additional .3 to a half-turn to the resolve time. This is why most of the Mages can only use 2 of their best spells in the 3-turn damage averages.

Stats:
HP: it is a mystery
MP: mystery points
STR: base stat for physical dmg, added to weapon attack in the Menu, so it essentially counts double in damage formulae that use both STR and ATK.
SPD: Linear speed, very potent.
VIT: defensive stat that subtracts from STR in the main physical damage formula
INT: base multiplier for magical damage
MND: subtractive defense from INT in magical formulae, main multiplier for Holy magic damage and Healing skills, notably less potent than VIT as a defensive stat

ATK: taken from equipment + STR + Lvl/2. Factors into physical damage.
DEF: taken solely from equipment, unlike ATK. Subtractive defense that subtracts directly from ATK in the physical damage formula.
RES: taken solely from equipment. Nearly useless due to a bug that divides it by 16 (likely the routine intended for ITD type spells like Flare). Subtracts from spell power.
ACC: physical accuracy, modified by evasion
EVA: taken solely from equipment. Subtracts from ACC to determine actual percent hit rate of physical attacks
MEV: taken solely from equipment. Magic evade that subtracts from spell accuracy to determine actual percent hit rate. Also works on magical status attacks.
JL: Job Level, functions in some damage formulae, also increases all base stats by 1% per level. 20% boosts all around for this topic which is max JL.

Damage Cap:
Several classes run into the 9999 damage cap in the game. If this happens, I'll be listing the true damage as well so it's known how much defense would be needed to actually reduce it below 9999 dmg.

Row:
Like in other Final Fantasies, if a character is placed in the Back Row, they take 1/2 damage from physical attacks, but their own physical attacks do 1/2 damage. Most melee classes are assumed Front Row while any classes that can deal normal damage without Back Row penalty are assumed to be in the Back Row and have roughly double physical durability from their listed stat against non-ranged physical attacks. The melee classes can also opt for a damage penalty and sit in the Back Row as well. The classes assumed Back Row are White Mage, Black Mage, Summoner, Bard, Dancer, Dark Knight, Seer, Magus, and Ninja.

Fusion Abilities:
One thing I wasn't able to really represent in this topic were the F-Abilities. Basically if a character mastered two specific skills from different jobs they can learn a new skill that they can use in ANY job. (This is how you make Jobless not suck.) These are usually the most powerful and cost efficient skills in the game but there's basically no legal claim to any of them due to requiring two Jobs. There are a handful that require spells that can be gotten in a single class (like Magic Bomb requiring a low level white spell and black spell so Red Mage can get it!) and a few others that just require leveling up one Job and then class changing to another just long enough to learn the F-Ability (don't even have to gain any job levels!) and then switching back. This second class could be considered in this topic but most of them are from advanced Jobs and all the advanced Jobs in this topic are Temps who can't change class.

Equipment:
Mostly Storebought equips only all around. The only exceptions were when there were only one or two classes that could use a certain weapon type and there were enough copies of the weapon (or better options) to go around. This mainly applies to the Murasame katana, the Misty Whip, and the Blood Lance. None of these are the best weapon of their class and there are only small number of classes that can use them. Notably, Holy Swords and Dark Swords are truly unique to a single class each, so I allowed their second-strongest option to Paladin and Dark Knight.

Six Weapons of Note:
Rising Sun: Only 2 in the game, and there are 2 better Boomerangs available, plus only a small number of classes can use them. Literally only one class has any use for it since storebought bows are better.
Dark/Holy Swords: Only one class in the game each can use these kind of weapons, so their unique status makes all of them legal. However, since technically multiple PCs can be the same class, I'm only allowing the second-best of each class, the Valhalla and the Ragnarok. (Also Graham's Will because it is technically the Dark Knight's starting weapon.)
Murasame: Only 3 classes can use Katana (and one of them is Memorist who has better options). There are 2 of this weapon in the game, and only two users. Also, there are 4 better Katana in the game should your party be full of Ninja/Thieves.
Misty Whip: Only 4 classes can use Whips (one is Memorist), and none of them particularly care about this weapon, but it's a backup Paralysis option that doesn't suck for magic stats. It's also not the best Whip in the game, so I'm allowing it as a possibility but it's no one's default weapon.
Blood Lance: Only 3 classes can use it (one is Memorist), only one of them cares, and it's only the fourth-best Lance in the game. Allowing it to Dragoon to throw her an option that doesn't suck.

Storebought Equipment Options:
Axes:
Crystal Axe: 100 Atk 10 Acc 2xDmg to Plant-types
Ogrekiller: 69 Atk 10 Acc 2x Dmg to Humans & Plant-types
Sledgehammer: 88 Atk 10 Eva ~50% Confuse 2x Dmg to Machines

Katana:
Murasame: 93 Atk 20 Acc 2 Spd 2x Dmg to Humans & Constructs
Osafune: 65 Atk 20 Acc 2x Dmg to Humans & Demons
Kotetsu: 72 Atk 20 Acc 2x Dmg to Humans & Beast-types
Kiku-ichimonji: 80 Atk 20 Acc 2x Dmg to Humans & Plant-types
Sasuke Blade: 87 Atk 20 Acc 1 Spd 2x Dmg to Humans & Machines

Claws:
Crystal Claws: 90 Atk 20 Acc 2 Str
Tiger Fangs: 81 Atk 20 Acc 2 Str 2x Dmg to Beast-types

Swords:
Stoneblade: 83 Atk 20 Acc ~50% Petrify
Enhancer: 77 Atk 20 Acc 5 Int 5 Mnd

Knives:
Triton's Dagger: 68 Atk 20 Acc 5 Int Water-element Itemcast Flood

Rods:
Crystal Rod: 50 Atk 10 Int
Amphibian Rod: 31 Atk 8 Int Itemcast Toad

Staves:
Crystal Staff: 60 Atk 15 Acc 10 Mnd
Cypress Pole: 31 Atk 15 Acc 7 Mnd Itemcast Confuse
Rune Staff: 39 Atk 15 Acc 8 Mnd Itemcast Silence

Bows:
Perseus Bow: 85 Atk 15 Acc Wind-element Ignore Back Row
Sagittarius Bow: 77 Atk 15 Acc Wind-element Ignore Back Row, 2x Dmg to Demons & Plant-types
Dark Bow: 43 Atk 5 Acc Wind/Dark-element Ignore BackRow ~50% Blind

Whips:
Star Whip: 76 Atk 15 Acc Ignore Back Row ~50% Paralyze

Harps:
Crystal Harp: 65 Atk 20 Acc Ignore Back Row ~50% Silence
Dream Harp: 33 Atk 10 Acc Ignore Back Row ~50% Sleep
Marchen Harp: 40 Atk 15 Acc Ignore Back Row ~50% Mini
Orpheus' Harp: 45 Atk 20 Acc 2 Spd 2 Int 2 Mnd Ignore BackRow ~50% Curse
Muse's Harp: 55 Atk 20 Acc Ignore Back Row ~50% Frog

Shields:
Crystal Shield: 12 Def 42 Eva
Dragon Shield: 11 Def 37 Eva 50% Fire resistance 2x dmg to Dragons

Armor:
Crystal Mail: 26 Def 5 Res
Dragon Mail: 25 Def 5 Res 50% Water resistance 2x Dmg to Dragons

Vests:
Blackbelt Vest: 19 Def 9 Eva 6 Res 3 Str 3 Vit
Vishnu Vest: 23 Def 13 Eva 8 Res
Scholar's Gown: 18 Def 8 Res 5 Mev 2 Int 2 Mnd Immune Silence
Red Jacket: 21 Def 10 Eva 7 Res 50% Fire resistance
Ninja Gear: 19 Def 15 Eva 6 Res 3 Spd

Robes:
Shining Robe: 18 Def 18 Res 20 Mev 4 Int 4 Mnd
Daybreak Robe: 17 Def 16 Res 17 Mev -2 Int 5 Mnd
Twilight Robe: 17 Def 16 Res 17 Mev 5 Int -2 Mnd
Gold-spun Robe: 12 Def 11 Res 12 Mev Immune Confuse

Helmets:
Crystal Helm: 16 Def 6 Res
Dragon Helm: 15 Def 5 Res 50% Thunder resistance 2x Dmg to Dragons

Caps:
Dueling Mask: 15 Def 13 Res 2 Str 2 Vit, Immune Berserk
Scholar's Hat: 9 Def 7 Res 1 Int 1 Mnd Immune Silence
Black Cowl: 11 Def 8 Res 3 Spd Immune Blind

Hats:
Mystic Veil: 15 Def 16 Res 8 Mev 2 Int 2 Mnd Immune Curse
Cleric's Hat: 6 Def 8 Res 3 Mev 3 Mnd Immune Sleep
Gold-spun Hat: 7 Def 9 Res 4 Mev Immune Paralyze
Lamia's Tiara: 9 Def 11 Res 5 Mev 1 Int 1 Mnd Immune Confuse


Averages up top
4721   HP
439   MP
47   STR
45   SPD
47   VIT
40   INT
42   MIND
165   ATK
39   DEF
23   RES
114   ACC
17   EVA
14   MEV

7657   3-turn avg dmg
19142.5   2.5x kill point

w/o Dark Knight's Valhalla:
7147   3-turn avg dmg
17867.5   2.5x kill point


6
Game Design and Modifications / Random Game Design Ideas
« on: March 10, 2015, 10:57:52 PM »
So, I don't know about the rest of you, but I find myself constantly coming up with cool ideas for RPG mechanics, and as a result I am always wanting to make my own games. But this is completely unviable given my usual amount of free time, and even should I have time for making something, I've usually forgotten the ideas or I haven't thought them through enough to do anything with them.
And really, I mostly just want to discuss the game theory behind the ideas, so I thought I'd make a topic for sharing whatever random game mechanics thought comes to mind and maybe getting some discussion going on RPG game mechanics and balance in general.

The one particular idea that I have been mulling over most recently and the one that seems like a genuinely cool gameplay basis instead of a one-off neat idea was inspired by the copious amounts of Smash Bros I've been playing recently and thinking on how it could be adapted into an RPG format. I wonder if anyone else thinks it's a concept worth exploring for actually making a game.

Percent/Stock interaction
Two health bars. Stock is standard HP. Percent is a buffering durability bar that starts at 0%. All attacks on Stock are multiplied by the amount of Percent damage a target currently has, then the Percent bar itself is damaged without the multiplier. At 0%, a target's Stock cannot be damaged by standard means because the damage is multiplied by 0, but the attack will still hit the Percent bar, causing the next attack to cause a percentage of damage. For example at 50%, an attack will do half of its standard damage. Intuitively, at 150%, it will do 1.5x damage. Percent maxes out at 999%, at which point any attack that deals Stock damage will instant kill any opponent. There are attacks that only damage Percent, these usually deal fixed damage or very high damage. Only a very small number of attacks can hit Stock directly. Some abilities can heal either Percent or Stock damage. Final Smash type attacks are usually usable at 100% or higher. These do not consume Percent, though sometimes they may self-damage Percent or Stock.

I like the concept behind this especially since I know it's a fairly trivial battle system quirk to program, unlike a lot of the more grandiose ideas I've had that involve crazy party  swapping mechanics or transformation or a lot of enemy-dependent player skills.

3 Years Later EDIT with another Smash RPG idea:
Translating the Rock-Paper-Scissors style of combat from Fighting Games into JRPG turn-based mechanics.
1. Every ally and enemy character actually gets to choose two actions every time they take a turn: One Offense, and One Defense. This is to allow the quick-reflex-style of reactionary gameplay into a turn-based system. In typical turn-based systems, Defensive actions are a generally inferior use of turn economy. By allowing Defensive options 'for free' along with standard Actions, Defensive/Reaction-like options will see play.

2. Each turn, an ally or enemy unit will decide whether to first use their Defensive action or Offensive action. Using a Defensive action first will mean the Defensive boost occurs at the start of a round as an initiative action. However, all initiative Defensive actions have counters, so it may be best to Attack first, and finish the round with a Defensive boost in play.

3. Defensive actions are based on Smash-style gameplay. Block>Attack>Grab triangle exists, with a couple of universal Block variations, some character-specific Block and Grab variations, one universal Grab command, and then all other JRPG-style skills that target enemies would be classified as "Attacks".

a. Block: Standard "Take 50% less damage from Attacks"-style Defense. May lower negative status accuracy too. Generally a safe bet to use for the Defensive portion of your turn. However, if an opponent uses Grab, the defender takes increased 50% damage. So it's important to learn enemy tendencies/patterns to know whether to Block first or Attack first or whether to use a different Defense action entirely.

b. Dodgeroll Forward: Negates damage from Ranged attacks through 100% evasion. Does not negate Melee-range attacks. If used first in a turn, user cannot use a Long-Range/Projectile-typed Attack for their offense that turn.
c. Dodgeroll Backward: Naturally, negates damage from Melee-range attacks through 100% evasion. Does not negate Long-Range attacks. If used first in a turn, user cannot use a Melee-typed Attack for their offense that turn.

d. Sidestep: Increases user's natural evasion stat by 50% and negates being Grabbed. A generally safe use of the defensive portion of a turn, but relies on luck instead of reading the opponent's tendencies. The Evasion boost does not apply against multi-hit or multi-target Attacks.

e. Grab: Universal command that activates just after the Initiative Defensive phase of a round if used first, and activates according to user's Speed if used second. Fails against opponents queued for Attacks, both Dodgerolls, and Sidesteps. Automatically hits Blocking targets and leads into a Throw Combo attack that does massive multi-hit damage. Some characters have unique Command Grabs that function similarly with different followup Throws/Combos/Status Effects.

f. Counters: Character-specific Defense actions that negate or lower melee-range damage and then give the user a 'free' attack to cause damage. Obviously doesn't work against long-range-type attacks and may incur extra penalties. Different Counters interact differently with multi-hit or multi-target attacks. Incur extra penalties if a foe uses Grab on the character while in this state.
g. Reflectors: Character-specific Defense actions that negate or lower long-range damage/skills and then reflect the damage/effect back upon the foe. Most do not work against most melee-range-type attacks and may incur extra penalties. Different Reflectors interact differently with multi-hit or multi-target attacks. Incur extra penalties if a foe uses Grab on the character while in this state.

4. Enemy A.I. : The key point to making a system like this work is to make Enemy A.I. mostly predictable. (Especially its Defensive phase actions!) All enemies, from bosses to random mobs, would need action patterns that can be intuited or recognized over time or obviously telegraphed so that the player can learn when to use the proper Defensive actions. If some kind of percentage-based action choice was introduced, it would have to be extremely skewed so that uncommon actions in the behavior patterns are extremely rare and don't frustrate players trying to formulate strategies (so 90%/10% split at most, akin to Critical hits. This is likely how to implement risky actions like Grab). Using the Percentage/Stock system described above could alleviate some of the danger inherent to this kind randomness.

Anyway, discuss/post your own random game thoughts, I'd be interested in reading them! 

7
Unranked Games / Rondo of Swords (PCs)
« on: June 08, 2014, 03:22:10 PM »

Rondo of Swords is an SRPG with some slightly different base mechanics than is usual. Like FE, the game is Phase-based, but unlike FE, Melee units attack by running THROUGH enemy targets, thus enabling them to attack many units in one turn, allowing for movement range. There are a number of skills that effect this, increasing damage or blocking runthroughs and such. Magic units work in the opposite way, all of their attacks hit long range patterns, but a spell can't be cast on the same turn as moving, meaning they rely heavily of good positioning, though by endgame most of their spell ranges well out-distance most melee movement ranges. Archers can move and attack at range on the same turn, making them broken as hell, though there's only 3 of them in the game. The Active skills and OverBreak skills (Limit Breaks) are also limited like spells, only usable on a turn where the unit hasn't moved yet. Active skills are pretty interesting in the DL because they are entirely resource-free, only taking up the unit's turn.

Rondo has a pretty weird Errand system that makes getting characters to their fullest an exercise in FAQ-bait, but you are likely to have a full team of 6 fully kitted out by endgame, so all PCs here are listed at endgame level 50, with all of their Skills assumed level 5 (max), and both of their unique "Card" skills that require them to go on specific quests throughout the course of the game. For PCs that don't want their Card skills, I have allowed them time to upgrade their weapons (usually the inferior option). PCs can equip and reset their Skills between every map, but can only take 12 Skills into battle at time. I have provided their most widely-applicable Skill Loadouts as their default, with a listing of all of their DL-relevent Skill options below in roughly order-of-usefulness. There are definitely some skills with would see some situational use against different opponents (like switching out Melee Guard for Magic Guard or Arrow Guard, or the Mages switching around which Spells they want to bring to battle, Storm Rave probably isn't too useful against Thunder immunity!).

Units are assumed to have 2 storebought Topaz Amulets (the unquestionably most useful equip in the game that’s storebought) plus whatever their starting equips were (not many). Two units were given consumable items to these items having unique effects for only them. A unit can only hold 4 consumable items total, so these two PCs are assumed to hold 4 (easily obtainable in-game). Using an item takes a turn and the unit cannot have moved that turn. Melee units are assumed to attack from the side, unless they have skills that benefit them from attacking from the Front. In the case of one unit who gets a unique skill that activates when attacking from the Rear, I’ve assumed this (high movement) unit always attacks from the Rear. Passive stat boosts/reductions in a unit’s standard Skill Loadout are already calculated in a unit’s listed stats and reflected in averages.

Averages up top:   
HP:   418
MP:   268
bATK:   45
wATK:   25
ATK:   70
bDEF:   44
eDEF:   37
DEF:   81
MAG:   69
MDEF:   107
MOVE:   6.38
Damage:   379.79


Stats:
HP: I don't know if the game calls these Hit Points or Health Points, what a dilemma.
MP: Used for casting spells, non-mages have no use for them.
ATK: Base Attack, all buffs and passive boosts apply directly to this stat before Weapon attack is added to it. Mages can't attack physically, so useless for them!
wATK: Weapon Attack, gets added to Attack after buffs.
DEF: Base Defense, subtractive, this is where the buffs and passives do their multiplying before Equipment Defense gets added on.
eDEF: Equipment Defense is also used for blocking Magical damage as well as getting added onto physical Defense. Subtractive.
MAG: Magic is used to powerup spells AND works as subtracive Magic defense, so Melee units have a use for this!
MC: Momentum Counter, used to determine enemy aggro as well as a few other effects. Always starts at the base number listed.
MOVE: How many tiles a unit can move per turn. Could be useful for speed tie-breaks?
AGI%: Flat percentage chance to dodge physical attacks. Magic has perfect accuracy and cannot miss.
CTR%: Percentage chance to Counterattack melee attacks. Ranged attacks cannot be Countered. Counters always inflict "Crazed" status.
ACC%: Percentage chance of hitting a target. Accuracy - Agility = percent of a physical attack actually landing. Base accuracy is 100%, modified by Weapon and Skills.
CRT%: Critical hit rate on physical attacks. Criticals are roughly 1.5x dmg and ignore Defense. Crit Rate is a property solely of a unit's Weapon and Skills.

Status Effects:
Crazed - unit's base stats reduced to 70%, caused by Counters, ZOC, and Soul Rend
Timid - unit cannot counterattack
Clumsy - unit cannot use items
Dazed - unit faces random direction after attack (useless)
Leak - 10% max HP dmg per turn
Sap - 10% max MP dmg per turn

ZOC (Zone of Control: Stops melee attackers from passing through, takes damage normally but inflicts Crazed status effect on the attacker, reducing all stats to 70% for 3 to 5 turns, turn counter can be refreshed)

Status Resistance is usually gained through increasing Momentum Counter to 81. Status-resisting accessories exist, but the storebought ones have such low resistance rates they might as well not.


Momentum Counter (MC):
Increases EXP and OB gained by +MC%
Increases as unit acts, 3 for active ability, 3 for every target hit, OB does not add to MC
At 81 MC, gain "Boost" status, which doubles MC gain rate and grants status immunity
At 99 MC, gain "Hero" status, which makes support effects become 1.5 x more potent and grants status immunity (also OB gain rate is necessarily doubled because MC=99)
At 0-1 MC, gain "Green" status, which  locks MC at 1, makes unit untargetable by melee attacks, but is impossible to get solo because using Hide to decrease MC still nets +3 MC for using an action, requires another PC to use an MC-reducing fruit item

OverBreak: This game's name for Limit Breaks. The gauge can be charged up 3 times, with the effect of the OverBreak increasing at each level. Roughly half of the OB in the game are DL-useless.
OverBreak gain rate:
Increases as unit attacks or receives dmg, large boost for killing another unit
At 0 MC, roughly 1% of an OB meter is gained per 10 dmg dealt or received
e.g. at 60 MC, dealing 300 dmg will give 30% * 1.6 = 48%



Magic Damage Forumla:
(Pow*SpellB*3/2-EqDef) * (1 + 3/2*(C_Mag*SkillB - T_Mag) / 100)

Physical Damage Formula: (succinct)
(2*ATK-DEF) * Terrain Modifier * (Direction Modifier+Class Modifier) * Active Skill Modifier * Passive Skill Modifier, rounded down after each modifier

Damage Formula Expanded: (Direction and Passive Skill Mods only)
((2+Innate Modifier)*(bAtk*SkillBuffs+wAtk) - Def + rd(Direction Modifier*((2+IM)*(bAtk*SB+wAtk)-Def)) + rd(PassiveBuffMod*((2+IM)*(bAtk*SB+wAtk)-Def + rd(DM*((2+IM)*(bAtk*SB+wAtk)-Def)))*MultiplierIfOB
IM: Innate Modifier, such as Ansom's Double Dmg innate, OB base dmg, Critical hits (+0.5), or Counters (-0.75)
SB: Skill Buffs, stack additively, apply to Base Attack multiplicatively
DM: Direction Modifier, increase dmg when attacking from certain directions (0 from Front, 0.1 from Side, 0.25 from Back), appropriate Skills REPLACE these modifiers with larger ones
Passive Buff Mod: The only one that matters is Duelist, which is 0.5 more. This is also where the Melee/etc Guard skills would apply defensively.
OB Multiplier: Only applies to OverBreak skills, usually 1, 1.5, or 2, depending upon the level of OB used, OB skills ignore other Mods (Direction, Melee Guard, Duelist, etc. - Skill Buffs still apply)

Enemy Endgame stats: 40 base Def +15 Def equips; 50 Mag total

Skills at MAX Level effect
Invoke Might (+25% Atk)
Stand Fast (+25% Def)
Invoke Mind (+25% Mag)
Sprint* (+3 Mov)
Invoke Life (+40% max HP)
Invoke Mana (+75% max MP)
Sharpshot (+15% Acc)
Foresight (+15% Agility)
Vital Strike (+15% crit rate)
Retaliation (+15% counter rate)
Lion Strike (increase OB gain rate 150%)

White Light (50% chance to heal status per turn)
Angelic Word (50% status res)
True Arrows (+3 range for archers)
Karma Strike (+ 25% counter dmg)

ZOC (Zone of Control: Stops melee attackers from passing through, takes damage normally but inflicts Crazed status effect on the attacker, reducing all stats to 70% for 3 to 5 turns, turn counter can be refreshed)

Blind Rage (+25% Atk, -25% Acc)
Daredevil (+25% Atk, -20% def)
Rook (+25% def, -20% counter rate)
Garrison (+25% def, -25% Atk)
Cyclone (+25% crit rate, -25% def)
Berserk (+25% crit rate, -25% Acc)
Wisdom Lock (+25% mag, -20% def & agi)
Stance Shift (+25% counter rate, -25% def)

Will of War* (heal 25% hp to ally run through)
Will of Magi* (heal 25% mp to ally run through)

Frontal Blow (+30% dmg when Atk from Front)
Frontal Fury (-30% enemy Ctr rate from Front)
Lateral Blow (+35% dmg from Side)!
Lateral Stab (+35% crit rate from Side)
Back Stab (+40% crit rate from Back)
Rear Blow (+40% dmg from Back)!

Melee Guard/Mount Guard/Arrow Guard/Magic Guard
(-20% dmg from Melee physicals, cavalier physicals, ranged physicals, or magic)

Mana Break (-50% mMP in addition to regular attack)
First Strike (75% chance to add effect Timid-no counterattack)
Mind Chains (75% chance to  add Clumsy-can't use items)
Befuddle (75% chance to add Dazed-face random direction after attack)
Stigma (75% chance to add Leak-10% mHP poison)
Sin Brand (75% chance to add Sap-10% mMP poison)

Vital Power (20% regen)
Torus Spell (20% MP regen)
Duelist (+50% dmg to ST)
Fearlessness (+50% dmg to 2nd+ targets)

Flame/Ice/Storm/Earth Shard (+20% dmg to elemental/talisman spells)
Abyss Shard (+25% dmg dark spells)

Abyss Ward (25% dark res)

Flame/Ice/Storm Rune (added 25% of dmg MP recovery from elemental spell, no dmg reduction)

Arcane Fire/Ice/Storm/Light (-30% MP costs for elemental spells)
Arcane Evil (-40% MP for dark)

Ars Magna (-30% MP and +30% dmg for all elemental spells)

Blessing (200% effect of items)
Persistence (25% Endure)

Actives:
Revitalize (heal flat 300 HP)
Knight Codex (+25 to MC)
Knight Maxim (+40 to MC)
Arc Charge (+35% of an OB gauge)
Cleanse (75% chance to cure status)
Holy Prayer (3 turns of status immunity, can be refreshed)

Lion Rage (+50% Atk -40% def, 3turns, stacks)
Last Stand (+50% Atk -3 mov, 3 turns, stacks)
Fortify (+50% def -3 mov, 3 turns, stacks)
Desperation (MAX: 3 turns ZOC -50% def OR LV3: 2 turns ZOC -30% def, can be refreshed)
Honor Code (+40% Atk&Acc -40% def/range for archers, 3 turns)
Meditation (+50% mag -40% def, 3 turns)
Empower (+50% def -40% Atk, 3 turns)


Spells: (MP cost; Base Power; targetting: LT Line Target, ff Friendly Fire)
Fire Raid (60 MP 135 ST)
Ignite Lore (60 MP 150 MT ff)
Meteor Gate (125 MP 180 ST)
Megido Nova (125 MP 220 MT ff)

Ice Spear (35 MP 95 LT) ITD
White Dust (40 MP 85 ST)
Sedna Prison (125 MP 110 MT) ITD
Yumil Magna (125 MP 180 LT)

Spark Edge (50 MP 115 ST)
Storm Rave (75 MP 120 MT ff)
Talan Raioh (100 MP 90 MT ff)
Magna Volt (100 MP 120 ST 10 rng)

Cure Drop (50 MP 80% mHP heal)
Oratoriorae (150 MP 150 LT ff)

Abyss Gate (115 MP 100 ST 10 rng)
Seven Menace (150 MP 150 ST)

Fire Dragon (125 MP 165 ST)
Thunder (150 MP 120 MT ff)
Faerie Fire (200 MP 130 MT)

Rekka Slip (25 MP 145 MT ff)
Jinrai Slip (25 MP 125 MT ff)

Actives:
Fierce Cry (-50% target's OB gauge (Limit meter))
Manafont* (gives ally roughly full MP)
Martyr* (gives ally roughly full HP/MP)
Soul Cleanse (MT status heal)
High Barrier (MT def+50% 3 turns)
Divine Seal (MT -50% magic dmg, 3 turns)

8
General Chat / Describing Video Game Plots
« on: October 22, 2013, 07:43:13 PM »
So one of my students is a young girl from Thailand learning how to speak English. She is very bright and we have a lot of fun with her assignments. Recently she told me she is a big anime fan but doesn't know many video games. So I wrote her a quick description of the plt of one of my favorite video game plots (Disgaea), and had her break down each sentence into its components and make sure she understood the text. She found it funny and it livened up the exercise from the more standard English practice.

It got me thinking about how to encapsulate other rpg plots into quick, 5-sentence summaries, but it was a lot harder for other games. I mentally tried to break down the plot of some recent popular ones, like kingdom hearts and xenoblade, and I just couldn't summarize it easily enough o the point it would have any value for the lesson. But I thought the DL might have some ideas on it.

For reference, this is the Disgaea description:

Laharl is a young demon boy. His father is the overlord of hell. When his father dies, Laharl decides to become the next Overlord. An angel comes to assassinate him, but they become friends. Laharl fights many demons and becomes the new overlord!

9
Discussion / Dragon Con 2013
« on: May 04, 2013, 10:08:07 AM »
So I broke down this year and decided "screw my budget, this looks fun!" And now I have a ticket and a hotel room to a Con that regularly houses over 50,000 attendees.

It's from Aug 30-Sept 2 in Atlanta GA. I was curious if any other DLers are coming to the biggest nerd-booze-celebrity party on the East Coast this year?

10
General Chat / Your First RPGs
« on: September 23, 2012, 06:07:31 AM »
Came up in chat, and now I'm just curious what the DL's formative experiences were like.

What's your:

First RPG played:
First RPG completed:
First SRPG played:
First SRPG completed:
First ARPG played/completed:
First handheld RPG played/completed:
First console owned:
First video game played:
First RPG replayed:
How well do they hold up now (scale of 1-10):

Feel free to elaborate with anecdotes and blaming other DLers/family members for making you play these games.

11
RPGDL Discussion / IAQ Experiment: Theoretical and Practical
« on: May 18, 2012, 03:33:16 PM »
So the last time the DL did any kind of work on an IAQ, it was to basically see if it was possible for experienced RPG players like this group to really sit down and just -design-, free of restraints, an enjoyable and balanced RPG system/world. It was a fun activity that game me a lot of respect for game designers.

However, the project was purely theoretical.

So now that I've gotten more into hacking and game design in general, I wanted to see if it there could be another IAQ project that basically scales back the freedom and actually takes practical design limitations into effect. Since the DL is not a company, I'm not talking about budget/time constraints as much. More like "What kind of roadblocks do other fan game makers come across in the creation process?" Things like: "Do you already have sprites?" "How feasible is it to make more?" "What about music? Map design?"

The basic theory here is: "Limitation Breeds Creativity".

If we're working from a very basic engine, what modifications are -the most- important/unique that need to be prioritized to make a Fun Game? Instead of "without restraints", this time it's "How little can you modify to make something inherently interesting/enjoyable?".

My personal thoughts on the question is that we could start from the assumption of using one of the RPGmaker engines - they are fairly well-known, there are a lot of resources available for them, and they ARE fairly easy to modify the base code. It also means that even our members without extensive programming knowledge can join the discussion/brainstorming process. The only thing I worry about is that it might alienate the members who -are- knowledgeable about programming? Someone chime in here.

For those not intimately familiar with it, the RPGmaker engines run on the most simple of Dragon Quest-like RPG battle systems. The question is: Can you think of some modifications to this formula that can change it from a boring DQ game to something more like Phantasy Star IV or Wizard of Oz?

The engine is basically:
4 active Party members, 1-3 or 4 enemies (depending on the version of RPGmaker)
The four basic commands are: Fight, Skill, Run, Item
Skills are basically only learned at level-up or through story events (this leaves some room for interesting builds, but makes things like a Limit Break somewhat difficult to implement)
Skills can be made to perform only a very small numbers of tasks within the architecture of the battle system: Damage (tagged Magical/Phys and with various elements), Healing, and Status
Skills can also activate Common Events (meaning made to perform interesting tasks, but requires programming new functions)
Basic Stats are ATK, DEF, MATK, MDEF, HIT, EVA (and depending on version, LUCK and a few others IIRC)
Equipment offer only the most standard of Stat increases/decreases, and Element/Status resistances
Equipment, too, can be used to activate Common Events
Status Effects are Poison-like, Silence-like, and StatBuff/Debuff-like (sometimes others are available, depending on version, but not many)
Status Effects can be programmed to perform many tasks, and activate Common Events

So... yes. There are a -lot- of Limitations just in the battle system. But it -can- be modified somewhat (or completely revamped if you're an expert programmer, but let's assume not for the sake of the exercise). What are the biggest things to add/modify to make a fun battle system?

I have a  ton of ideas, but I'm wondering what the DL thinks of the exercise?

12


Hey Look, it's a bare-bones MegaTen game with a standard fantasy JRPG setting! Let's stat topic it!

Last Bible has 3 Human characters and a myriad of generic recruitable Monsters. There are also 4 non-generic Monsters (and 4 more aftergame non-generic Monsters, but I'm not including them for the main topic). Monster stats are entirely static and never change from the moment you recruit them. This includes the non-generics.

Humans all have initial stats and then gain 1 stat point per level thereafter, and must be used in one of the 5 stat categories after that. This gives them all a multitude of possible builds, but since this is a quick duel-centric stat topic, I just chose the ones that best suited their innate skills and equipment options. Only Humans can use equipment, and each Human PC gets a unique ultimate set in the final dungeon, save Kishe's shield, but since El already has a much better unique Shield, I let Kishe have the second-best PhotonShield even though both he and El can use it. If Equipment has any kind of special properties apart from Offense and Defense, it's not really noticeable and the game certainly doesn't make note of it.

Endurance: Affects how much physical damage you take and HP you gain at a level up.
Intelligence: Affects how much magical damage you deal and MP you gain at a level up.
Strength: Affects how much physical damage you deal.
Speed: Evasion rate and turn order. Every entity gets one turn per round and there's very little, if any, randomness.
Luck: Honestly, I'm not entirely sure in this case. I'd assume it affects the chance of ambushing enemies and critical hit rates.


Characters:

El
Silent Protagonist and "GAIA Master". Yes, his name is Hebrew for "God"
Level:   60
HP:   568
MP:    138
Endur:   15
Intel:   25
Stren:   36
Speed:   15
Luck:   8

Force Sword 128 Off
Force Mail 127 Def
Force Shld 82 Def
   
Attack - 164 ST Phys Dmg
Blaze 1 (5 MP) - 40 GT Fire Magic Dmg
Heal 2 (8 MP) - ST 230 Healing
Escape (10 MP) - Escape to the entrance of a Dungeon. Outside of battle only.
Blaze 2 (18 MP) - 180 GT Fire Magic Dmg
Flare 2 (25 MP) - 210 MT Fire Magic Dmg
Spark 2 (25 MP) - 270 MT Thunder Magic Dmg
Impact 2 (7 MP) - 65 MT nontyped Magic Dmg
Force (30 MP) - 350 GT Magic Dmg

Comments: El is primarily a Fighter for most of the game because he starts with too low an MP score to be a good Fire Mage. Later on, his spell list catches up and he can deal out awesome Force (I suspect this is Megidolan in Japanese) damage with ease. He has Heal 2 to help out in a pinch, too! Gamebest equipment means that he's hard to damage and he can deal out the most physical damage in the game. Due to the equipment, I primarily ignored his Endur score since his Armors made up for it. He could sacrifice his Physical or Magical damage to get more Speed, though.


Kishe
Sick-Kid-turned-Lifelong-Travelling-Buddy
Level:   60
HP:   510
MP:    182
Endur:   13
Intel:   40
Stren:   25
Speed:   13
Luck:   8

Alpha Sword 120 Off
Alpha Mail 108 Def
Photon Shld 68 Def
   
Attack - 145 ST Phys Dmg
Combine (5 MP) - Fuse 2 Monsters together outside of battle!
Curse 1 (12 MP) - 60% GT Instant Death
Offense Up  (15 MP) - MT Offense +80 Buff (Approximately +80 dmg to physicals)
Recover All (5 MP) - MT Status Recovery
Heal All 2 (28 MP) - MT 320 Healing.
Holy 3 (3 MP x4) - 980 MT Holy Magic Dmg, must charge for 3 turns, during which time can choose to cast a different spell if necessary, but then has to start the charge over again. Activates on the fourth turn.

Comments: Kishe joins the party with elevated scores in Int, Endur, and Str - in that order, at level 9. I continued to follow that pattern to keep him close to his 'intended' role. Early on, he get a decent Instant Death spell and pretty much remains your ID Whore for most of the game. Against bosses, he gets Offense Up and Heal All 2 to play support, and in the endgame, he gets the gamebest damage spell - Holy 3. Holy 3 is a chanting spell, and it takes 4 turns to activate, but it's pretty ridiculous damage when it does. Great for bosses, but he has a decent, buffable physical to fall back on if he doesn't have time for the back-ended damage. He could drop his Strength score if he needs more Speed.


Uranus
Priestess Chick who talks to Monsters
Level:   60
HP:   470
MP:    154
Endur:   10
Intel:   40
Stren:   22
Speed:   19
Luck:   8

Omega Sword 100 Off
Omega Armor 98 Def
Cannot Equip a Shield
   
Attack - 122 ST Phys Dmg
Cure Poison (5 MP) - MT Recovery to Poison Status
Heal All 2 (28 MP) - MT 320 Healing
Revive 1 (20 MP) - ST 25% Revival. Only Usable outside of battle. Only works on non-human allies.
Impact 3 (14 MP) - 150 MT nontyped Magic Dmg
Cure Paralysis (7 MP) - MT Recovery to Paralysis Status
Heal 3 (15 MP) - ST 460 Healing
Heal All 3 (50 MP) - MT Full-Healing
Revive 2 (30 MP) - ST 50% Revival. Only Usable outside of battle.

Comments: She's a healer! Uranus comes with elevated scores in Speed, Int, Str, and Endur, and I tried to raise her up proportionally with that, but focused on improving her Int because otherwise, she's really hurting for damage. She has good resources and can full-heal most of the time and hope her Speed means something. She has a comparably-damaging Physical to fall back on if she runs out of resources, too. She wishes she could equip a Shield.


Monsters:


Solion
Cerberos and Orthrus's progenitor
Level:   60
HP:   700
MP:    196
Endur:   21
Intel:   21
Stren:   21
Speed:   17
Luck:   15
   
Attack - 63 ST Phys Dmg
Spark 2 (25 MP) - 250 MT Thunder Magic Dmg
Holy 2 (2 MP x3) - 400 MT Holy Magic Dmg, must charge for 2 turns, during which time can choose to cast a different spell if necessary, but then has to start the charge over again. Activates on the third turn.
Heal 3 (15 MP) - ST 460 Healing.
Heal All 3 (50 MP) - MT Full-Healing.

Comments: Probably the best of the generic Monsters (excluding the aftergame guys). Thunder damage is decent, and Holy 2 is a good backup plan for Healers and the Thunder-immune. The full-healing options just round things out. He's also pretty fast.



Kirin
Japanese Unicorn-Goat Deity-Thing
Level:   60
HP:   505
MP:    153
Endur:   19
Intel:   19
Stren:   25
Speed:   15
Luck:   13
   
Attack - 75 ST Phys Dmg
Icy 2 (25 MP) - 280 MT Ice Magic Dmg
Revive 1 (20 MP) - ST 25% Revival. Only Usable outside of battle. Only works on non-human allies.

Comments: Really one-dimensional Ice Mage, though does the most damage of the non-generic Monsters!



Dragon
Yes, He's a Dragon. The one on the cover art, in fact. Maybe.
Level:   60
HP:   900
MP:    143
Endur:   25
Intel:   19
Stren:   25
Speed:   15
Luck:   13
   
Attack - 75 ST Phys Dmg
Flare 2 (25 MP) - 170 MT Fire Magic Dmg
Heal All 2 (28 MP)
Curse 2 (26 MP) - 80% GT Instant Death

Comments: Best Endur stat of the non-generic Monsters, so at least he's tanky. Yeah, he's a poor fire mage. Luckily, he's an ID Whore, and an even better one than Kishe! I suspect that "Curse 2" was originally "Mamudoon" in Japanese.



Amon
Less Cool than the one from Shadow Hearts
Level:   60
HP:   600
MP:    137
Endur:   17
Intel:   19
Stren:   25
Speed:   15
Luck:   15
   
Attack - 75 ST Phys Dmg
Heal 3 (15 MP) - ST 460 Healing.
Heal All 3 (50 MP) - MT Full-Healing.
Impact 2 (7 MP) - 55 MT nontyped Magic Dmg

Comments: Wow, Amon sucks. Terrible magical AND physical damage. But at least he heals...



Averages

Damage:   202.8
HP:   607.5
MP:    157.5
Endur:   17.1
Intel:   26.1
Stren:   25.5
Speed:   15.5
Luck:   11.4

Damage:   202.8
350 El (Force)
280 Kirin (Icy 2)
250 Solion (Spark 2)
170 Dragon (Flare 2)
150 Uranus (Impact 3)
145 Kishe (Attack)
75 Amon (Attack)   


HP: 607.5
900   Dragon
700   Solion
600   Amon
568   El
510   Kishe
505   Kirin
470   Uranus

MP: 157.5   
196   Solion
182   Kishe
154   Uranus
153   Kirin
143   Dragon
138   El
137   Amon

Endur: 17.1   
25   Dragon
21   Solion
19   Kirin
17   Amon
15   El
13   Kishe
10   Uranus

Intel: 26.1   
40   Kishe
40   Uranus
25   El
21   Solion
19   Kirin
19   Dragon
19   Amon

Stren: 25.5   
36   El
25   Kishe
25   Kirin
25   Dragon
25   Amon
22   Uranus
21   Solion

Speed: 15.5   
19   Uranus
17   Solion
15   El
15   Kirin
15   Dragon
15   Amon
13   Kishe

Luck: 11.4   
15   Solion
15   Amon
13   Kirin
13   Dragon
8   El
8   Kishe
8   Uranus


13
Unranked Games / Super Mario Brothers (Enemy topic)
« on: March 12, 2012, 01:48:12 AM »
Here it is, the most useful stat topic ever.


Goomba
1 HP
Susceptible to Physical, Magical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Koopa Troopa
1 HP
Cannot be killed by Physical damage, Paralyzed by Physical damage, recovers after 1 turn.
Susceptible to Magical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Paratroopa Koopa
2 HP
Flying, loses Flying attribute at 1 HP (attacked with Physical damage)
Cannot be kill by Physical damage, Paralyzed by Physical damage, recovers after 1 turn.
Susceptible to Magical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Piranha Plant
1 HP
Stationary
Immune to Physical damage.
Susceptible to Magical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox
Hide: Ducks into its Pipe, unable to be targeted, but cannot attack while hidden.

Bullet Bill
1 HP
Flying
Immune to Magical damage.
Susceptible to Physical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Buzzy Beetle
1 HP
Immune to Magical damage.
Cannot be killed by Physical damage, Paralyzed by Physical damage, recovers after 1 turn.
Susceptible to Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Cheep-Cheep
1 HP
Flying, Aquatic
Aquatic version immune to Physical damage.
Susceptible to Physical (Flying only), Magical, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Blooper
1 HP
Aquatic
Immune to Physical damage.
Susceptible to Magical damage, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Spiny
1 HP
Immune to Physical Damage
Susceptible to Magical Damage, and Starman ID.
Attack 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox

Lakitu
1 HP
Flying
Susceptible to Physical, Magical, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox
Spiny Throw: 50% PCHP damage, ranged attack. Summons a Spiny minion.

Hammer Bros
1 HP
Susceptible to Physical, Magical, and Starman ID.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox
Hammer Throw: 1-3 shots of 50% PCHP damage, ranged attack

Bowser
5 HP
Immune to Physical Damage, cannot face ID in-game.
Attack: 50% PCHP damage, Small Hitbox
Firebreath: 50% PCHP damage, ranged attack (avoids counters since he can attack from off-screen!)
Hammer Throw: 5 shots of 50% PCHP damage, ranged attack


Woohoo. Cast full of Physical/Magical spoilers, with Hammer Bros and Bowser able to do something like 150% PCHP damage.

for lulz:
Mario
2 HP
Jump-stomp: 1 dmg, physical. Paralyzes Shelled enemies (Koopa Troopas, Paratroopas, and Buzzy Beetles.)
Fireball: 1 dmg, magical, fire-elemental. 2 dmg to Winged enemies (Paratroopas)
Starman: Instant Death attack, gives Mario complete damage immunity for duration.


This topic is serious business.

14
General Chat / What Games ya Playin' 2012 - Suplex a Train Edition
« on: January 01, 2012, 01:12:20 PM »


Back to yer roots.

Playing my annual run of FF6. Breaking it in style. Picture courtesy of Elephantgun's LP.

15

Cameo Fantasy III is a tribute to JRPG series, taking the main characters of some of the genre's most famous series like Valkyrie Profile and Fire Emblem, and throwing them together in a mishmash world that's literally mashing together as time progresses. The newly-composite world is the main focus of the story and the characters who become aware of what's happening are our central players in the plot and gameplay.

The hack is designed to faithfully represent the characters' abilities and performances from their home games, while balancing everything to work within Final Fantasy III's battle system.

This hack was based on Meeple Fantasy 6, with the expressed permission of Meeple, and many of the core concepts are similar. However, all of the coding, sprites, and script are original. The main difference between the two is that MF6 was designed as a personal project with many in-jokes while Cameo Fantasy is made to be accessible to the average JRPG fan.

**
TO DO LIST:

Animations: I really need help with spell animations. Particularly for the physical-type skills in Lenneth's and Vyse's skillset, and Ryu3's dragon spells.
Monsters: Boss selection is done, but I have a lot of monsters to change, and while I have a good idea for most of them, I could use some suggestions on what JRPG characters would make good random encounters!
Locations: Many of the towns need a facelift. I want them to represent towns and castles and dungeons from other JRPGs, but I've played so many RPGs that I really don't know which locations are very memorable for a wider audience.

***

General Gameplay Changes:
All characters, except for Terra and Kefka, have been replaced with cameo characters from other JRPGs. The main 14 are all main characters from their respective games.

All spells and skills are revalued. Characters only learn magic naturally or through unique equipment. The idea is to make all character's unique and represent the skills of their home games. All espers and monsters have been replaced with cameo characters from other JRPGs, most of which are from mainstream releases and very little obscura.

Evade is now a working stat. Poison element has been replaced by Dark element. Desperation Attacks have a 25% chance of activating any time Fight is used after the second round of combat.

Some event hacking has been done, such as making Cyan's Dream only activate when Virginia is in the party (after all, who else would the Dream Demon Beatrice be after?). Ike cannot die on the floating continent and is the one required to unlock the doors in Narshe. Claude is recruited where Sabin is in the WoR, and vice-versa for Luke with Edgar. Tir and Virginia's recruitment and dungeons are also switched from Cyan to Relm and vice-versa to better suit the characters. A few other minor event hacks are present, such as where some Espers/Weapons are obtained, but you probably won't notice them.

****
CHARACTERS:


Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI, black clothes version)
Ability: Magic (Natural), Morph (Plot-gained), X-Magic (lategame option on Terra's unique equipments)
Weapons: One-handed Swords, Shields, Flails
The Half-Esper girl is again our main heroine, but this time she's representing the entirety of the Final Fantasy franchise! And instead of fighting an evil empire, she's dealing with mad gods of Norse Mythology who just might trigger Ragnarok. As one of the original inhabitants of the composite world, Terra's very existence gives her a unique control over the  mystical forces causing the disaster. Obviously, there are a lot of people interested in controlling such a person.

In battle, Terra has unique access to a number of FF series trademarks, such as the Ribbon, Ultima, and X-Magic... eventually. At first, she is primarily a Fire-reliant mage and healer. She also gets fairly accurate fatal status with Break. Her physical options are not very strong compared to a lot of the physical powerhouses coming in from other worlds. She's also one of the slowest PCs, to make up for the sheer power of Morphed X-Magic Ultima.


Lenneth Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profile, replacing Celes)
Ability: Magic (Natural), Bows (reworked Tools skillset)
Weapons: One-hand Swords, 2-hand Swords, Shields, Bows
The Chooser of the Slain from Square's renowned Valkyrie Profile series. A large portion of the main plot deals with Gods of this series playing with the mere mortals of the composite world. The Aesir, in fact, set the events in motion which started merging the worlds into a single dimension in the first place, and now they seek to continue their war with the Vanir - an act destined to end in Ragnarok. Lenneth sees their disdain for mortals and turns against them, bringing the power of a minor deity to your side.

As a PC, Lenneth's role changes over time. At first, her multi-target Bow physicals make her good for clearing groups, but eventually her biggest contribution is going to be the gamebest-powered single-target skill, Nibelung Valesti level 3 along with the highest-powered weapon in the game, the Glance Reviver. She also brings her spell skillset with her from Valkyrie Profile 2, allowing her to play a support role in a pinch.


Yuri Volte Hyuga (Shadow Hearts, replacing Locke)
Ability: Fusion (Dance-based original skill)
Weapons: Gloves
The main character of the Horror-themed humorous PS2 RPG series, Shadow Hearts. Yuri is a Harmonixer, a person with the genetic ability to dominate a demon's power and in turn, transform himself into a demonic form by Fusing himself with its soul. In Yuri's home game, the love of his life, Alice, sacrificed her soul to save Yuri from being consumed by the demons inside him. Stricken with grief, he tries to resurrect her with the power of the forbidden Emigre manuscript. In Cameo Fantasy, he's dealing with much the same issue. And those annoying voices in his head keep telling him to overthrow the Aesir army!

His unique ability, Fusion, is based on the Dance skill. He can learn 8 different Fusions based on where he fights, and activating a Fusion causes him to automatically cast cost-free abilities of that specific Fusion. Unlike Dance, the best Fusions can only be gotten later in the game, and their related skills are much more powerful to make it worth using these skills at endgame. The best part is that Fusion never stumbles.
Additionally, his unique weapons teach him some of the Fusion spells so that he can always use them reliably, but at a very high cost.
Yuri is something of a jack-of-all-trades, but his greatest strength lies in his unique relics, the various elemental demon Souls that he uses in his Fusions, which allow him to customize various stats and elemental resistances.


Tir McDohl (Suikoden, replacing Cyan)
Ability: Silent Lake (Runic)
Weapons: Bo Staff
The first leader of the 108 stars of Suikoden fame is burdened with the curse of the Soul Eater Rune. The 27 True Runes of the Suikoden universe are semi-sentient avatars of various aspects of the natural world, such as Creation, Chaos, Fire, Water, Sun, Moon, and even the power of Life and Death itself. The True Runes feature heavily in the main plot of Cameo Fantasy, being the strongest forces in existance. Tir is the bearer of this uncaring sentient power of Death, and it feeds on the lives of those close to him if he can't control the power. When Kefka enacts a ritual that causes him to release the True Rune's power on the inhabitants of his castle, Tir joins the fight to return the composite world back to normal.

In battle, Tir is all about speedy Instant Death. His unique Rune equipment allows him to learn the best Instant Death abilities in the game that never miss outside of direct immunity. Coupled with powerful Ice- and Dark-elemental spells, and the Magic-stopping field effect Silent Lake (Runic), Tir makes a deadly random-slayer and a good support-player for boss fights.

Claude C. Kenni (Star Ocean 2, replacing Edgar)
Ability: Jump
Weapons: One-handed Swords, 2-handed Swords, Shields, Guns
An Ensign in the Earth Federation Space Fleet, serving in the shadow of his famous father, he gets transported to a faraway underdeveloped planet of swords and sorcery when he starts his journey. In Cameo Fantasy, he was brought to the composite world's area that all technologically-advanced dimensions merged into, where he quickly stumbled onto a device that transported him to a faraway castle of swords and sorcery where he begins his journey. The magical mishap caused his memories of his original world to return to him, and he immediately began working with those who sought to fix the composite world. During his stay in Castle Baticul, he has begun convincing Princess Natalia of Kimlasca, and her fiancee, Luke fon Fabre, to join their cause.

Claude comes from an Action-RPG, and so his unique ability reflects some of motion/position-based skills of the genre, with Jump. In particular, his Head Splitter ability from SO2 is almost a perfect replica of the skill. Additionally, many of his weapons will randomly chain extra spells/skills after a successful hit, similar to how SO2's combo system worked.
In addition to the best consistent physical damage in the game (though it requires giving up a turn to Jump), he also sports the awesome equipment options of Star Ocean 2, having access to blocking or resisting every element in the game, and being one of the few PCs with access to Shields.


Luke fon Fabre (Tales of the Abyss, replacing Sabin)
Ability: Artes (reworked Blitz skillset), Steal (on some weapons)
Weapons: 2-handed Swords
The heir to a Ducal title in the Kingdom of Kimlasca, he is (somewhat unwillingly) engaged to the Princess Natalia. Due to be kidnapped at an early age, his parents kept him in the capital, constantly under strict guard, with only his sparring friend Guy and swordteacher Master Van as company. Somewhat spoiled, his life is turned upside-down when a chance encounter with the assassin Tear Grants sends them both transported across the world, where he has to learn how to survive in the real world, and deal with the real consequences of being a Replica - a magical clone - of the real Luke fon Fabre who was switched with him during his kidnapping. Just as in his home game, Luke spent his time training with his close friend Claude before Tear's attack on Master Van that sent him across the world. Claude and the others seek him out in return for Princess Natalia's military support, and they find Luke confronting his cloned self. Luke decides to work towards restoring the original worlds in hopes of understanding his nature as a magical Replica.

The Tales series set the standard for Action RPGs, and Luke's use of the fighting-game-like Blitz controls suit him perfectly. The reworked Artes skills use more simple inputs to simulate Tales' style, and the skills themselves are almost all physical damage, with the occasional elemental skill based on Luke's FOF effects. Luke is one of the faster characters in the game, and many of his skills are multi-hitting and multi-target, including a self-target Quick effect from his final Arte: Overlimit, allowing him to rack up damage quickly. His weapons also hit weakness against Human-species enemies, effectively making him very powerful in certain situations, despite the lackluster stats. However, His unique relic the Jewel of Lorelei, allows him the only access to the Regen status in the game, making him slightly more durable than he seems.



Ryu (Breath of Fire III, replacing Gau)
Abilities: Dragon (reworked Lore skillet), Dragon status (reworked Imp status, only available to Ryu)
Weapons: One-handed Swords, 2-handed Swords, Shields
The silent protagonist of the famous Breath of Fire III game, Ryu is a young transforming Dragon who was rudely cast out of his Chrysm egg and left to fend for himself in the wilderness until the softhearted beastman thief, Rei, took him in and raised him. As one of the few remaining Dragons, Ryu found himself at odds with the controlling 'goddess' of his world, who sought to wipe out the destructive power of the Dragons. In Cameo Fantasy, Ryu finds himself on his own, estranged from his friend Rei. After learning of the merging worlds from the others, he decides to help them in the hopes of getting his memories back and understanding the meaning of the strange dreams he keeps having.

Ryu the third has a lot of options, though doesn't quite excel in any one field, so his use fluctuates throughout the game. In his Dragon skillset, he has access to the unique skill Ascension, which gives him the Dragon (modified Imp) status. As a Dragon, all of his equipment becomes low-powered unless they are Ryu-unique equipment pieces, which become absurdly powerful, making him into a physical tank and damage machine. However, very few of his skills take advantage of his physical stats, so his wide array of Dragon spells aren't quite as powerful as they seem, though he can act as a great healer.
Just like in BoF3, Ryu can learn enemy skills if they are used on him, making him the most appropriate choice for a Blue Mage in the game. While most of his spells aren't particularly damaging, he does host a number of unique effects that make him a great pick in various specific situations.


Vyse Inglebard (Skies of Arcardia, replacing Setzer)
Ability: S.Moves (reworked SwdTech skillset)
Weapons: One-handed Swords (dual-wielded)
Airships: Albatross, Delphinus
From the famous Sega game on the Dreamcast/GameCube, and having another cameo in Valkyria Chronicles, Vyse is a Blue Rogue - an airship-riding Sky Pirate seeking adventure and hoping to discover new lands and new treasure. He gets caught up in a fight with the evil Valuan Empire to collect the Moon Crystals that can control the great beasts of their world. Much the same in Cameo Fantasy, when Vyse hears that the actress Rosa Farrell (of Final Fantasy IV fame) holds one of the Moon Crystals, he reluctantly sends word that he will be taking it, with or without her consent.

Battle-wise, Vyse is all about dual-wielding. Nearly all of his weapons allowing for holding a second sword, and a good combination of swords can make Vyse into a physical powerhouse with excellent speed. Balancing out his speed, his Special Moves use the same charging mechanism as SwdTech, making the player choose between a quick lower-power attack or buffing skill, or charging up to the best 4x-attack skills or self-target double-turning Quick effect.

Ike Gawain (Fire Emblem 9, Fire Emblem 10, replacing Shadow)
Ability: Axes (rebalanced Throw), Repede (reworked Interceptor)
Weapons: One-handed Swords, 2-handed Swords, Shield, Axes
The leader of the Greil Mercenaries seeks the peace and prosperity of his homeland Crimea and hopes to end the prejudice between Humans and Laguz beastmen. In Cameo Fantasy, he has become a wandering mercenary, seeking his missing friends and crewmates, honing his skills. Owing to his affection for animals, he travels with the mercenary dog Repede (from Tales of Vesperia), and eventually recovers his memories of his original world. He decides to fight for his friends and help the others return the composite world to normal.

Fire Emblem characters are known to very one dimensional, but if you can only do one thing, you can certainly do it well! All of Ike's unique equipment allows him to counterattack melee physicals. And with Ike's high physical power, 2-handed weapons, and the ability to ignore defense when throwing hand Axes, Ike's counters might take out more enemies than even the most concentrated smash from the other physical fighters.
Along with Repede, who can also counter attack, and occasionally steal items, Ike's strengths are clear and unmatched, just don't bring him to a magic battle.


Chaz Ashley (Phantasy Star IV, replacing Strago)
Abilities: Magic (equip-learned), Techs (reworked Magitek skillset, uses the 'unique' set of skills)
Weapons: One-handed Swords (some dual-wielded), 2-Handed Swords, Shields, Guns
Chaz hails from the classic Phantasy Star series, and is one of the first Hunters that are now so prominent in the series. He was an orphan who was raised by a 'big sister' hunter named Alys, and has worked hard to carry on her legacy after her brutal murder by the Dark Cultist Zio. Chaz hails from a space-travelling civilization of advanced technology and psychic ESP powers, but is destined to be one of the warriors who must seal away the embodiment of negative energy, the Profound Darkness.
As the main cast member from the oldest game featured, Chaz takes on Strago's role in the plot. He was merged into the composite world in the technologically advanced city of Filgaia, but the collective inhabitants of that city saw that technology was not advanced in other places and have taken to hiding their scientific prowess. He and Virginia were on the expedition where Claude stumbled into a mysterious device and was transported away.

Chaz shares the 'Techs' ability with the Gear (Magitek) units in the game, but he has his own unique list of skills within that ability. Like in Phantasy Star 4, Chaz has access to both MP-based Magic spells, and Techs that don't effect his MP resources, making him a versatile mage even under the Silence status effect or when his MP has been drained. Chaz joins the party very powerful - his Techs start with high base stats, but the downside is that most of his skills will grow gradually less powerful as stronger abilities appear. In addition to some healing and status, his most notable skill is Megid, a Holy-typed spell that deals 80% maxHP damage (doubled to 160% if hitting weakness). The only downside is that this 'Power of Rage' hits everyone on the field, and Holy immunity is rare for everyone except Chaz himself, so it's a difficult balance between damaging all opponents and making sure not to kill your own allies.


Virginia Maxwell (Wild Arms 3, replacing Relm)
Abilities: Medium (original ability), Replay (Mimic, used through equips), Capture (used through equips), Magic (equip-learned)
Weapons: Guns
The long-running Wild Arms series is an interesting hybrid of sci-fi/fantasy set in an old western. Virginia, abandoned by her father, sets out to become a Drifter and gets entangled with a crew of other Drifters that end up trying to save the world from inevitable decay. With her strong will, she was able to become a Medium who could summon the Guardians' power of the planet and help to restore life to the wasteland her father unwittingly helped to create. In Cameo Fantasy, she came to the composite world as a part of the hidden technologically-advanced city of Filgaia, easing into her life there with the other residents such as Claude and Chaz. When Claude and the others tell her of the dangers facing the composite world, Ginny just can't sit by and let another world face a future as a post-apocalyptic wasteland!

Virginia's unique ability, Medium (replaced Sketch), is a cost-free random-Summon skill, similar to the Magicite item. As one of the only characters to come from a game with Summons, it made sense to let her showcase her talent as a Medium. Additionally, her greatest strength lies in her versatile unique relics, the summoning items that grant her the Guardians' power in the first place, allowing her to customize her stats to different builds, as well as block elements or status effects in a variety of ways. The Guardian items also teach her a unique set of spells designed to show off her impressive magic stats. And her gamebest speed makes her one of the best healers in the game. Her long-range weapon also means that she never has a reason to leave the back row, so her durability is a bit better in practice than it appears.


Pikachu (Pokemon series, replaces Mog)
Ability: Endure (original ability)
Weapons: Pokemon Items
Everyone knows Pikachu. He's one member of a species of electric mice of the same name from the world-famous franchise Pokemon. While a few magically powerful Legendary Pokemon feature in the game as Espers, Pikachu represents the rest of his cast, replacing the Moogles. Brave and kindhearted, the small Pokemon isn't particularly strong, but helps the team when he can.

In battle, the name of his game is Speed. Pikachu is the 2nd-fastest PC in the game, and has a host of various status attacks to take advantage of it.  His unique ability, Endure, comes from TM58, and allows him to freely cast Life3 on himself with practically no waiting time. This is the only way to access the Life3 status in the game, giving Pikachu an interesting survivability niche that no other PC has.



Aigis (Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES, replaces Gogo)
Abilities: Orgia (simplified Rage skillset), Tarot (reworked Slots skillset), Medium, Bows, Axes, Steal, WildCard Ability (Gogo's ability to change skillsets in the menu)
Weapons: Guns
Main characters in the Persona series have the unique ability to change the very face of their soul - to become an almost completely different character in terms of stats, elemental affinities, and skillsets, just by changing their Persona. Aigis, the combat robot with an artificial soul, is no exception, where she activates the Wild Card ability to access any Persona in the game.

In Cameo Fantasy, Aigis continues her fight against dark forces with the same skillset-swapping abilities as Gogo, only slightly less diverse since Aigis can't actually replicate all of the other PCs' abilities. In the original Persona 3, Aigis was unable to be controlled directly, so many of her abilities replicate that. The Orgia ability is a reworked (and greatly downsized) Rage skillset that lets Aigis show off her original P3 skillset, but causes her to become uncontrollable. The Tarot ability is another luck of the draw skillset based on the Slot command. And Medium (just like Virginia's) summons a random Esper, making Aigis a very unpredictable fighter for those who enjoy the thrill of abusing Luck-based skills.


Laharl (Disgaea series, replacing Umaro)
Abilties: None, it's Umaro
Weapons: EVERYTHING
Laharl is the Overlord of the Netherworld from the crazy series, Disgaea. As a wild royal demon with no common sense, it's only natural that his attacks would be out of control. While he's used to dimensional-wall-breaking cameos from his own games, he is understandable perturbed that he's no longer the main character in this composite world and will do everything he can to restore things to their original order!

In battle, Laharl's big trick is that he can equip Everything. Just like in Disgaea, while there are certainly some items more suited for him, he can use nearly any weapon or armor in the game. With all the new passive effects on the various equips, the sheer number of broken setups are uncountable. Of course, they are all limited by the fact that Laharl can't be controlled directly.

Temporary Characters:
Fei and Abel (Xenogears and Xenosaga 3, replacing Biggs and Wedge)
Ability: Techs (Magitek)
Powerful Gear Pilots who look suspiciously similar. They recover their memories of their original worlds and decide to bring Terra to the True Rune in the caverns to try to restore their home dimensions.


Meena Mahabala (Dragon Quest 4, replacing Banon)
Ability: Tarot (reworked Slot skillset)
Weapon: Tarot cards
A psychic fortune-teller who remembers the original world immediately and begins gathering allies who wish to 'Return' to their original dimensions. She's been particularly persistent in getting the Harmonixer Yuri to join her cause, pestering him with constant psychic voices in his head.


Prinny Squad (Disgaea series, replacing Ghosts)
Ability: DOOD! (Possess)
Prinnies are the souls of dead sinners who are working off their bad deeds in the Netherworld. At the Red Moon, the Phantom Train comes to take them to their ultimate resting place. Prinnies are extremely volatile, and if thrown too hard, they explode!


Millenia (Grandia 2, replacing General Leo)
Ability: Spell-Binding Eye (Control)
Weapon: Bows
Millenia is a piece of the Dark God Valmar, and finds herself working alongside the other Gods, the Aesir, in the composite world. As a capricious, newly-formed soul, she just wants to enjoy what the new world has to offer. Like exotic jewels, ancient treasures, and legendary magical artifacts to let her make ever larger explosions. She does have something of a soft spot for humans though, putting her at odds with the Aesir at times, particularly that primadonna Freya. She seems to know more about what's going on than her flippant air would imply...

NPCs:

Schala Zeal (Chrono Trigger, replacing Old Man Argus)
The Princess of Zeal has been residing in the composite town of Alghetty, trying to help its downtrodden and confused people. Her particular area of interest is the True Rune that seems to drawing powerful magical creatures such as dragons to the already-impoverished mountain town.


Alice Elliot (Shadow Hearts, replacing Rachel)
Yuri Hyuga's former lover, she sacrificed herself for him and now he's doing everything in his power to get her back.

*****
Antagonists

Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI)
The mad clown is as demented as ever, but this time he's in a similar position to Terra. As one of the original inhabitants of the composite world, Kefka has an unusual amount of control over the magics at large. Working alongside the Aesir as it suits him, he seeks to take over all of creation and make it his plaything.


Odin the Allfather (Valkyrie Profile, replacing Gestahl)
The King of the Norse Gods, the Aesir. Odin's foreknowledge of the destruction of his world caused him to seek out a solution to stop the inevitable Ragnarok. Upon finding the means, he began to merge the various dimensions together to alter the outcome of the destined war between the Aesir and the Vanir that would cause the End of the World.

The Rune of One (Suikoden Tierkreis-based entity)
One of the 27 True Runes of Power that created the universe. The Rune of One is an existence that seeks to collapse all of Infinity into a Single point. Once unleashed, it begins to merge the various dimensions together, meshing the inhabitants' minds and pasts together into a tangled new timeline that became the composite world. "One World, one Future."

Ultros (Final Fantasy VI)
The crazy octopus who just couldn't be left out!


The Goddess Trio Myria, Leknaat, & Ashera (Breath of Fire 3, Suikoden, Fire Emblem 10)
Well-meaning, but somewhat misguided, tyrannical Goddesses of power.


Ghaleon and the Vile Tribe (Lunar Silver Star Story, replacing the bosses of Narshe)
The former warrior of the Goddess Althena has arrived in the composite world as the leader of the Vile Tribe, who have taken up residence in the composite town of Alghetty in the mountains. Shunning the foolish actions of the Gods, they do not take lightly to the Aesir's mech-riding soldiers showing up at their gates.


Full Skill Sets (some notes on animations, too) :
Code: [Select]
Terra:
Magic list:
Cure - What is says on the box~
Fire
Drain
Life
Fira - I'm so clever, I used Japanese naming style.
Break
Warp
Heal - A better Cure2
Holy
Arise - Life2
Firaga - More of that Japanese naming convention
Dispel
Quarter
D.Holy - Dark Holy, the only unique thing here, and pretty much what it says on the box. Black-colored Flare animation, though.
Ultima
DA: Riot Blade

The long one:
Yuri (Shadow Hearts):
Fusion forms:
Czernobog (Dark Fusion):
ThirdKey (Hits 4 times) - could probably just use Pummel's animation
DrainWave-MPDrain - needs an animation idea here.
Revelation - MT Dark Attack (Dmg+25% ID) - needs an animation idea
Decel (Slow, same as Ginny's spell)
Seravi (Wind Fusion):
Accelerate (MT Haste) - Yellow Fenix Down animation
Purify - MT Status Heal - possibly use Remedy's ani
Fusion - Self-Target positive statuses - needs an ani
Wind Shear - MT Wind magic (Weak) - needs an ani
Lobo (Earth Fusion):
Strike - ST Physical - use Wombat ani
Fusion - same as Seravi's
Charge (MT Safe) - probably just use Safe's ani
Howling (MT MP Healing) - needs an ani
Sandalphon (Light Fusion):
Revive (MT Revival) - has an ani!
Sanctuary - MT Shell - probably just use Shell's ani
Pulse (MT ITD Multi-hit weak Light dmg) - needs a cool ani
Fusion - same as Seravi's
Forron (Fire Fusion):
Hellfire (MT Fire dmg) - could probably just use palette-swapped Fire's ani
Purify-MT Status Heal - same as Seravi
Ignition - ST Berserk - could probably just use palette-swapped Fire's ani
Inferno (ST multi-hit PhFire dmg) - possibly same as Luke's Devil Inferno ani
Egil (Water Fusion):
Flash Flood (ST Water dmg) - needs ani
Dragon Cry (MT Water dmg) - needs ani
Iris (MT Clear) - could probably use Vanish's ani
Holy Tears (ST 100% Heal) - could probably use Holy Water's ani
Amon (Non-Elemental Devil Fusion):
Demon Rays (ST NE magic dmg) - needs ani, possibly involving Aura Bolt or Fire Beam's ani
Mind/Body Revival (ST Full Revive) - Life2 ani?
Fusion - same as Seravi's
The End - uses Amon summon ani
DarkSeraphim (Non-Elemental Angel Fusion):
ThirdKey (4x physical) - same as Czerno's
ForTomorrow (High ST HPDrain) - needs ani
ForTheChildren (ridiculous MT NE damage) - uses Seraph summon ani
For Everyone (MT Haste/Safe/Shell/Image) - needs ani

Yuri's menu spells: (All need animations)
Czerno's DrnWv (MPDrain) - same as Czerno's fusion ani
ForTheChild (HighMP cost) - theoretically the same as the summon, except that the Esper sprite refuses to work for normal menu spells.
ForTomorrow (HighMP cost version)
Resure-MT Fullheal (HighMP cost version of Sandalphon's Revive)
Yuri Desperation Attack: Neo Amon - needs ani, anything cool-looking works, basically.

Tir (basically done)
S.Lake (Runic)

Menu spells:
D.Fing (100% Dark ID) - done
BlkShw(MT D.dmg) - done
Hell (MT Dark ID) - done, but could use revising?
Jdgmnt(MT D.dmg) - done
Breath (Ice2) - probably just use Ice2's ani
Heal (Cure2) - same as Terra's

DA: Dbl Leader - needs ani, hoping to use some combination of Will-O-Wisp's shadow image + Bum Rush's ani

Ike (aka, ZEEMIS HELP ME!)
Throwing Axes:
Hand Axe (need to modify the throwing animation of a weapon to look like an axe... Zeemis I will love you forever if you help me with this)
Short Axe - same
Tomahawk - same
Urvan - same
Durandal -same

DA: Aether - needs ani, anything big and cool-looking will do

Claude
Headsplitter (Jump) - done, but could probably stand to edit the Jump weapon's sprites (ZEEMIS HALP!)

Menu Spells:
Ripper Blast (ST ITD EarthPhys) - done!
Mirror Slice (MT ITD Phys nosplit) - needs ani, probably the hardest move in the game to replicate
Airslash (ST AirPhys) - done!

PhaseGun (weapon, needs to edit something's weapon animation to look like a laser gun, ZEEMIS HELP!)

Desperation attack
7StarDrgn (4x hit PhFire dmg) - could probably just use a palette-swapped version of Cyan's dragon sword move with the 4x tag

Luke
Artes (Blitzes): All need ani
Fang Blade (Phys, DU)
Coil (SelfT Bsrk, DD)
Guardian Field (Light Ph Atk, Minor Healing, RR)
Rending Thrust (Air Phys, LL)
Devil's Inferno (Fire Phys, DDLL)
Rending Fang Blade (AirPhys, DULL)
Shadow Fury (DarkPhys, LLDDU)
Overlimit (SelfT Quick, RRDDRR)

Menu Spells: done!
Airslash (DemonFang w/others)
Lightning Tiger Blade

Desperation attack
Radiant Howl (4x hit PhWind) - needs ani


Lenneth:
Bows: mostly done

Menu spells: Just need Nibelung Valesti ideas
NibVal1 - needs ani, just use some sort of sword attack w/ a flash?
Shield (Safe) - done
Protect (Shell) - done
Life - done
NibVal2 - needs ani, just use some sort of sword attack w/ a bigger flash?
Heal - done
Remedy -done
Mute -done
Reflect -done
NibVal3 - needs ani, go all out, this is the strongest attack in the game.

DA: Code Break (PhysDmg+ID Chance) - probably just use Cyan's DA ani

Chaz:
Techs (Terra's M-Tek list): all need ani, probably can use the MTek beams with palette swaps for most?)
Tsu (ST Light dmg)
Zan (MT wind dmg)
Flaeli (ST Fire dmg)
Res - (ST 66% healing)
Rever - (ST 50% revival)
Rimpa - (full status healing)
Megid (All-target 80% Light dmg)
Earth (45% Stop, consider rename)

Menu Spells:
Airslash (shared w/ClaudeLukeRyu) - done
Crosscut - done
Explosion(ID) - needs ani
Rayblade - needs ani

DA: GiMegid (ST 100% Dark dmg) - big dark flashy ani needed

M-Tek (everyone else using the M-Tek skillset):
Fix Frame - Heal force ani palette swap?
Booster (Haste) - maybe use Haste ani?
Anemo Bolt - Bolt1 ani
Thermo Geist - Fire2 ani
Aqua Aroum - Ice1 ani


Ginny (Virginia):
Menu Spells:
Petrfy (Earth dmg) - done
Quickn(Haste) - done
Decel(Slow) - done
Xplode (ID) - same as Chaz's Explosion, needs ani
Distor(GolemWall) - needs ani, something with wavy effects, also, ZEEMIS HELP (I want to change Golem Wall's hand sprite to something more air-like)
Reflect - done
Mystic (MT FullHeal/Status) - best healing in the game
Impulse (NE magic) - mostly done
Force Charge (MPHeal) - done
Safe -done
Shell - done
Sleep - could probably stand to get a new ani

DA: Gatling -done

Weapons: she uses guns, I could really use a gun weapon sprite (ZEEMIS?!)

Vyse:
S Moves (SwdTech): ani is mostly done (because I didn't change anything)
Incremes (Safe)
CounterStance (Retort)
Pyres (MT nosplit weak Fire)
Cutlass Fury (4xAtk ITE)
SkullShield (MT Image!)
Rain of Swords (MT ITE/D damage)
Pirate's Wrath (4xITE damage)
~Prophecy (Self-T Quick)

DA: Blue Rogues (Multiple Status effects, H-Bomb Airship animation)

Pika
Menu Spells:
T.Bolt (Bolt2) - Bolt2 ani probably works
T.Wave (Slo2) - needs ani
Reflect - same as Virginia's
Quickn - ditto
X-Cut - same as Chaz's Crosscut
LTBld - same as Luke's Lightning Tiger Blade

Endure (Fast,no-cost, Self-target Life3) - ani done
DA: Thunder (ST dmg +Stop) - needs awesome ani

Aigis
Orgia (Rages): all can use very generic ani
Pierce Attack - none needed
Dekunda -MT Dispel
Masukukaja - Hit/Eva up
Marakukaja - M/Def up
Matarukaja - Atk/Mag up
Diarahan - ST Fullheal
Samarecarm - ST Full Revive
Akasha Arts - 2xHit Phys
God's Hand - Phys dmg - this one needs to be a little cooler than the others

DA: Armageddon - needs fuckoff awesome ani


Ryu3 (the OTHER big one)
Dragon (Lore):
Bonebreak - Step Mine mechanics - needs a cool sword animation
Fusion - self-target Safe/Shell + Chant - use Berserk's ani?
Ascension - UserTarget Imp Status (modified, make sure only Ryu3 can use) - use some kind of Fiery powerup animation?
Howling - 90% MT Confusion - use Noiseblaster ani
Vigor - VT (practically) full-healing - generic ani needed
Shield - VT Safe - Safe's ani is fine
Kaiser Breath - Pearl Wind Damage spell ITD, ITE (make lategame unmissable) - his best spell, would like to see if I can use the Kaiser Dragon summon ani I made here.
Sacrifice - Exploder + chance of Death - could probably just use the Exploder ani
Frost Strike - Phys Ice dmg + 90% Sleep - Sword or Punching ani + blue flash ani?
Flame Strike - Phys Fire dmg - Sword or Punching ani + Red flash
ThunderStrike - Phys Bolt dmg + 90% Stop - Sword/Punching ani + white/gold flash?
Super Combo - 65% accuracy 4x hit phys - needs help here
Tsunami - AT ITR Demi - don't actually know what to do for this
Kyrie - 100% ID to undead (Bababreath?) - flashy ani needed
Sudden Death - same as Roulette mechanics - just copying Roulette here
(DragonBreath)Shadowwalk - ITE High Phys dmg (Critical if possible) - not even sure on the mechanics for this one, could use help
Snooze - MT HP/MP fullheal, inflict Sleep - actually, just use bubbles for this.
Sirocco - MT Fire/Wind magic dmg - Fire2/3+Tempest background works
Inferno - MT Fire mag dmg - Will-O-Wisp fire ani + red background?
Blizzard - MT Ice mag dmg - Ice3 works
Mjollnir - MT Bolt mag dmg - Bolt 3 woks
Intimidate - Dischord (halves level, which lowers Fight dmg significantly) - make enemy shake

Menu Spells: done
~Barrier - ST Shell
~Remedy - Cure all status
~Ressurrect - MT FullHeal (same as Yuri's Resure)
~Wind Strike (Airslash)

Desperation Attacks:
Terra: Riot Blade - ITD, ITE Phys Damage (Pretty much the best use of Terra's decent physical stats)
Yuri: Neo Amon - ITD Reflectable Non-elemental Magical damage (Based on his Shadow Hearts 2 Unique Fusion)
Ike: Aether - ITD Phys, Hits 4 times, Draining (Awesome desperation move, but the damage is capped by Ike's maxHP)
Tir: Dbl Leader - ITD, ITE Phys damage (Based on his unique Unite attack from Suikoden 2 with Riou.)
Claude: 7StarDrgn - Phys, Fire damage, Hits 4 times (Based on his ultimate attack from Star Ocean Blue Sphere, hits multiple times to emulate SO2's combo system)
Luke: Fon Drive - Phys, Wind damage, 4xHit (Based on his ultimate Mystic Arte)
Lenneth: Code Break - ITD Phys damage, 1/4 chance of ID (Based on one of her hidden techs in Valkyrie Profile 2 that occasionally causes Instant Death. Lenneth is already overpowered, so she really doesn't need an awesome DA.)
Chaz: GiMegid - Holy/Pearl magic damage, Reflectable, Inv.dmg to Undead (Based off of spells from Phantasy Star Online, since all of his actual skills were already used in his normal skillset)
Virginia: Gatling - ITD, ITE Phys damage, 8xHit (Virginia's physical is terrible, but 8x anyone's physical is pretty good, and it actually worked like a Limit break in WA3)
Vyse: Blue Rogues - ITD, ITE Draining magical damage, Reflectable, inflicts Sleep, Muddle, Seizure, Mute, Cancel DA (Based off of his ultimate team attack that summoned every member of his crew to either do some damage or inflict a status effect.)
Pikachu: Thunder - ITD Lightning damage, Reflectable, Inflicts Stop (Pretty self-explanitory)
Aigis: Armageddon - ITD, ITE ridiculous magical damage (Persona 3 has this skill, y'see... it's ridiculous. It does 9999 damage, when damage normally doesn't even break 3 digits.)

Full Esper List:
Code: [Select]
Summons FF6
Athos Ramuh
Slime Ifrit
JackFrost Shiva
Charizard Siren
KaiserDrgn Terrato
Dart Shoat
Maduin Maduin
Deis Bismark
Venusaur Stray
Reyson Palidor
Lugia Tritoch
Amon Odin
DarkSeraph Raiden
ZenithDrgn Bahamut
Raftina Alexander
Genesis Crusader
Ragnell Ragnarok
Blastoise Kirin
Chocobo Zoneseek
Asellus Carbuncle
Pamela Phantom
Lucied Seraphim
Foomy Golem
Keyblader Unicorn
Millenia Fenrir
BeastRune Starlet
Nall Phoenix


Full Boss List:
Code: [Select]
FF6 Boss    CF6 Boss    Series
Whelk    Ryu3Whelp    Breath of Fire3
Marshal/NarsheGuards/Dogs    Ghaleon/VileTribeGirls/WolfLaguz    Lunar / FireEmblem
MTekArmor    Gear Pilots    Xenogears
Vargas/Ipoohs    Asch/Replicas    Tales of Abyss
Ultros1    Ultros    FF6
ImpCampEnemies    Melfice/Geohounds    Grandia 2
Specter    Neclord/MoonRune    Suikoden
Siegfried    MonsterZed    Wild Arms
GhostTrain    PhantomTrain/SoulEater    Suikoden
TunnelArmr    Hrist    Valkyrie Profile
Rider/Guards    Dalton (Sends out Golems~)    Chrono Trigger
Kefka    Kefka    FF6
Dadaluma    Ness    Earthbound
Ultros2    Piastol    Skies of Arcadia
Ifrit/Shiva    JackFrost/Slime    DQ/Persona
Experiment    Tio    Grandia 2
Experiment    Indalecio    Star Ocean 2
Cranes    Sinistrals (Erim & GuardDhaos?)    Lufia (Tales of Phantasia?)
FlameEater    Lynx/TrueFireRune    Chrono Cross / Suikoden
Ultros3    Lucied    Wild Arms
Kefka/MTekArmors    Kefka w/ValmarHorn guards    FF6 / Grandia 2
ImpArmada1    Silmeria/Brahms    Valkyrie Profile
ImpArmada2    Althena/DrgnMstrAlex    Lunar (RPGMaker)
ImpArmada3    Sun Rune    Suikoden
Gigantos    Sword/Shield Runes    Suikoden
AtmaWeapon    Surt    Valkyrie Profile
Nerapa    Lezard    Valkyrie Profile
Phumbaba    CorruptMillenia    Grandia 2
Tentacles    Sovereign Rune Incarnation    Suikoden
Presenter    Yuber    Suikoden
Dullahan    Fina    Skies of Arcadia
DoomGaze    Freya (DoomGaze)    Valkyrie Profile
IceDragon    Fou-Lu    Breath of Fire4
Tritoch    Lugia/TrueDragonRune    Pokemon / Suikoden
MasterPugs    Etna    Disgaea
Umaro    Laharl    Disgaea
StormDragon    Magus    Chrono Trigger
Allo    Punishment Rune    Suikoden
SrBehemoth    Ashnard    Fire Emblem
Shadow(Colloseum)    Ike (Colloseum)    Fire Emblem
Chadarnook    BeastRune Incarnation (2 parts)    Suikoden
DirtDragon    Loki (OperaHouse)    Valkyrie Profile
Hidon    Teepo    Breath of Fire3
DreamStooges    Ozzie/Flea/Slash    Chrono Trigger
Wrexsoul    DreamDemonBeatrice    Wild Arms
MasterKatana    BenHyuga    Shadow Hearts
BlueDragon    SeraphicRadiance    Shadow Hearts
ZoneEater    TARTARUS(ZoneEater)    Persona
RedDragon    LAVOS CORE    Chrono Trigger
WhiteDragon    Zio    Phantasy Star
MonsterinaBox    DarkForce    Phantasy Star
MagiMaster    ProfoundDarkness    Phantasy Star
Goddess    Leknaat: T.Wtr, T.Wind, T.Charm, T.Ltg, T.Gate    Suikoden
Poltergeist    Ashera    Fire Emblem
Doom    Myria    Breath of Fire
Kefka    Kefka    FF6

True Rune Locations:

True Dragon (Fused w/ Lugia)
Soul Eater (Plot, on Tir, Form of PhantomTrain)
Blue Moon (w/ Neclord)
True Fire (Thamasa Burning House w/Lynx)
Sun Rune (Before FC)
Sword/Shield (Floating Continent boss set on Jowy/Riou)
Sovereign (Figaro Tentacles)
Yuber (Daryl's Tomb - Presenter)
Beast Rune (Owzer's Mansion 2-part Boss and Esper)
Punishment Rune (Veldt/Calm Lands Cave w/ Ike)
True Water (Plot, then Leknaat battle)
True Gate (Leknaat)
True Wind (Leknaat)
True Lightning (Leknaat)
True Charm (Leknaat, original, based on Jeane)
NightRune/StarDragonSword (Equipment)
Circle Rune (Zero Encounters Relic)
Rune of One (Original)

I'm coming up on a beta release soon, but I'm still working on spell animations, the script, and monster AI.

16
Tournaments / Bonus Match: Rainy Day
« on: May 31, 2011, 11:25:14 PM »

At today's special event match, Mog and Kyogre have teamed up their Water Rondo and Rainy Day weather effects to flood the arena for the spectators' (dis)pleasure! For today, we see the BATTLE OF FISHMEN! Yes, those usually-useless aquatic units are finally getting their chance to beat the hell out of eachother for our amusement at their full power! For each match, assume a duelist's home-game rules for their own version of a Water Field Effect. Since a starting Water Field Effect isn't a common occurence, assume normal averages that you would use for each game.

Without further ado, here's our contestants!

Hailing from Breath of Fire, the original fish-guy himself: Gobi! He's been hoping for a flooded arena since time immemorial and now's his chance to really use his skillset! His opponent is the lovely sole mermaid of the Chrono Cross universe, Irenes, taking advantage of the boosts from a full Blue Field Effect right from the start of battle!

Our next match is a battle of two half-merpeople! Well, okay, Yumei's a half-mermaid and Kyril's a half-something, but his father's a fishman now, so it totally counts! Suikoden Tactics' Kyril probably doesn't appreciate the starting water panels, but at least Valkyrie Profile's Yumei doesn't have any particular bonuses from the flooding!

And then comes the match that nobody will vote on! Hailing from the nigh-unrankable (but I stat-topic'd it, so I'm using it dammit) Yggdra Union is the oddly-psychologically-named mermaid Nietzsche. She has low resources and stats, but gets an awesome 50% boost to damage while in water. Her opponent hails from the well-known Kingdom Hearts universe, the princess Ariel, with all the added manueverability that fighting in water might afford her?! Who will win? Who will even vote on this match?!

Our final grudgematch is against some more powerful mermaids: Soul Nomad's Juno and SaGa Frontier's Mesarthim. Mesarthim may have an awesome advantage against the other duelists here with her invulnerability to water, but Juno's more solid as a physical brawler, making the match a bit more even.

It's all for the prize of the hallowed spot of being the new owner of the Suiko4 Mermaids' Item Shop and all the proceeds that entails! ...Exciting!

Short form:
Gobi (BoF) vs. Irenes (CC)
Yumei (VP1) vs. Kyril (STactics)
Nietzsche (Yggdra Union) vs. Ariel (Kingdom Hearts)
Juno (SN) vs. Mesarthim (SaGaF)

17
General Chat / Do you have a Pet Project?
« on: April 03, 2011, 05:48:17 AM »
So with LFT and Sage's hack and the various IAQs running around, it got me thinking about Pet Projects, and a big discussion spiraled out of this with Tide.

But it made me wonder, just how many people in the DL have their own little Pet Project? Be it a website or graphic art or a work of fiction that you mentally keep adding to. How does the DL get its creative release? ;)

I know that the likes of Laggy/mc, Tonfa, Meeple, Sage, and a few others like to make games and gamehacks, but what is everyone working on now?

I spend pretty much my entire day everyday in a state of a creative fervor. I want to make new things and tell new stories and draw new pictures. Time constraints often mean that very few of my ideas ever see fruition (probably a good thing in most cases), but I'm always interested in making my Next Big Project. This lack of focus is generally what hurts my projects the most, so I love the idea of working in a group setting, to help narrow the enormity of a task and make it easier to keep working on it. My biggest project at the moment is hacking FF6, as everyone should know by now. I've gotten a lot of work done on it and I continue to come back to it every few days, so it's looking like the project most likely to get completed (apart from random pieces of art or shortstory drabbles that no one should ever read).

But I wonder about how others go about working on their Pet Projects. And what kind of Pet Projects does the DL prefer?

18
RPGDL Discussion / DL Main site Banner
« on: March 12, 2011, 06:59:44 AM »
Okay, so we need a banner. We can probably have multiple banners for different pages (such as "About" or "Guides" or "LFT"), but the main page needs a main banner.

So... submit some!

I know Idun's working on some, and Tide might have a few ideas. If anyone else is handy with Photoshop, please submit!

Here's my banner idea for review. Suggestions/constructive criticism welcome.

Colorized close-ups concept:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/DjinntoTonic/RPGDL_Banner_FirstDraft1.png
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/DjinntoTonic/RPGDL_Banner_SecondDraft1.png

Blue-toned with cut-ins:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/DjinntoTonic/RPGDL_Banner_FirstDraft2.png
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/DjinntoTonic/RPGDL_Banner_SecondDraft2.png


FSTEAK!!!!!:
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u137/DjinntoTonic/FSTEAKBanner.png

19
RPGDL Discussion / RPGDL Wiki
« on: February 09, 2011, 01:09:55 AM »
General topic about the Wiki.

But first - I noticed that there's a bunch of Car Insurance-related pages randomly added to our wiki and they don't link to anything.

Is that Hal using the wikispace for random stuff or are we being spammed?
http://www.rpgdl.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wow_never_experienced_25F_before_Now_I_really_appreciate_my_HVAC_16863

Also, a bunch of ads for various pills and medications... pretty sure that there's no way that's any of us. What should we do about that?


More related to actual DLWiki-business: I notice that someone posted a big list of the "Rank characters by in-game use" statistics. I'm wondering how whoever did that made their tables, because I'd like to do some similar stuff with large spreadsheet lists. I was thinking the RPG Ratings and Villain Ratings lists would make good additions to the wiki.

Does anyone have any other ideas for some wiki articles?

Also... IGN's boards did a list topic-like thread last year ( http://boards.ign.com/final_fantasy/b5026/80730081 ) and I'm wondering if anyone around here frequents IGN and can tell me about the community there? It might be interesting to occassionally do some of our Rankings/Ratings topics at IGN and posts results on the wiki (and it might draw some traffic back to here without being blatant advertising).

20
Light / Mint Adenade (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:44:03 AM »
She heals! And... she heals! And she heals some more! Mint can heal for nigh forever, and it's good healing. She can also buff herself up to avoid being heal-locked. Yes, this sweet-natured demure healer is the ur-example of a support character trying to make her way through the bloody craziness of the League. She has just enough durability that many of the lesser fighters and mages have trouble finishing her off in one stroke, and if you can't finish Mint in one hit, then she'll just happily heal away all that nasty damage. Backed up by the fearsome stun status of Pow Hammer, Mint's stalling strategy can spoil quite a few low-resource fighters in the tournament. If only her epic 40HKO damage didn't hold her back...

21
Middle / Chester Barklight (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:43:08 AM »
The archetypal pretty boy archer has a few things going for him - an eternally youthful half-elf girlfriend with the prowess of a tiger, and Range. Chester's game is all about Range. His arrow strikes are quick, and his arrow techs are quicker and can show off respectable damage. His lower-level techs can hit a variety of elements should they be necessary, and his armor allows his to halve most elemental damage (and some non-elemental magic damage). Range isn't always the most helpful advantage in the DL, but when it matters, Chester has it in spades. If only he had something to handle status or stallers.

22
Heavy / Arche Klein (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:42:10 AM »
The broom-riding half-elf witch with the spirit of a tiger stands ready to spoil the elementally-reliant duelists of the League! She absorbs all of the non-Dark/Light elements of her game, while dishing out any flavor of elemental (and non-elemental) magical damage to her unsuspecting opponents.  Her most notable trick is her respectable Turn-2 Instant Death spell, which spoils quite a few of the slower status-vulnerable fighters. Her unique typing as an aerial unit puts her in a fairly unique position against some of the duelists from more strategy-based systems. Whether it's traveling through time or beating up ancient wizards in a tournament, Arche is out to prove that girls can be just as dedicated perverts as guys!

23
Heavy / Claus F. Lester (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:41:30 AM »
Unable to cast any magic due to his lack of Elvish blood, Claus has instead taken up the art of summoning. The keys to his battle are his summoning pact ring, each adorned with its own unique gemstone. Not only do they enable him to call upon the power of the ancient spirits to combat his foes, but they also grant him a wide variety of statistical enhancements and elemental protections. By mixing and matching these rings, he can better prepare himself for whatever opponents he may face. He can play a respectable Turn-2 Instant Death game, and has powerful non-elemental summons to fall back on.

24
Heavy / Cress Albane (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:40:59 AM »
Cress Albane

The son of the legendary heroes that sealed away the powerful sorcerer Dhaos is certainly up to the task of spoiling mages from any time or place! His Golden Armor absorbs most elements as well as any non-elemental magic thrown his way. Add in some auxiliary equips to halve the elements his armor misses and you've got a veritable magic wall. His physical defense and game-best speed and damage are a nice addition to the package, too. Though his damage is elementally-reliant on two different elements, making him somewhat easy to wall himself. And he's not a fan of status effects.

25
Godlike / Dhaos (ToP) (General)
« on: February 09, 2011, 12:40:09 AM »
What would you do to save your planet? Would you travel through time and ruin another planet all for the chance of saving your own? Dhaos would, and he's ready to ruin the annals of the DL's long and sordid history with his multi-target non-elemental OHKO Meteor Storm. In addition to his ridiculous damage, he has blinding speed, multi-hitting, and a physical that petrifies 50% of the time. His innate status immunity and high-HP durability was already impressive, but he also halves physical damage with his defense, making sure that none can easily avoid his powerful set of skills.

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