In my apparent quest to stat topic every Trails game since Zero, this placeholder/planning topic should be no surprise to anyone. Needless to say before we go any further, this topic (and the actual stat topic) will have SPOILERS galore due to listing down the PCs. If you have not passed Act 2 of CS4, it is advised that you stop reading here unless you just want to gander at the list of issues.
FINAL WARNING!
So Cold Steel 4 brings a *host* of issues that didn't exist in 2 and probably 3 (although tbf, I didn't think much about 3 in general). I'll start with the basics, then work my way down to all the various issues we should hash out before any work is started. In the meantime, if someone has the formulas for the game, we can share them and start doing some number crunching. Given the number of PCs available, this is going to be a *lot* of work.
Ranking Characters:
So the first starting issue is also the most obvious: Which characters are we ranking? I have already expressed in Discord of my disapproval on ranking bosses given the huge division split that will be likely present as there is no way to really account for Boss durability. I can list the number of ways the game can be split open, but that's for another time. Just know that bosses face similar issue as in Cold Steel 2, except earlier and with way more cans of worms to cover ground on. There are one or two bosses that do appear to be rankable, but the vast majority are just going to be so headache inducing, it seems like a better idea just to skip it for now unless someone has a good way to cover them.
However, even discounting the bosses, CS4 has 15 PCs (as of where I am) that are all available. Then there are Pseudo PCs and true guests. Pseudo PCs are those who have a locked MQ and a locked weapon, but everything else is open for adjustment. This means, aside from their main quartz, they are functionally a PC anyway. These are definitely ranks IMO - in which case, the number of PCs jumps up to 20 (add: Angelica, Duvalie, Tita, Sharon and Randy). Note that pseudo PCs leave before the final dungeon, at which point, they become regular guests and have fixed set ups. For the most part, this shouldn't matter too much since you can just take everyone's stats before the final dungeon.
Guests are similar to guests in previous games. As of right now, unlike say the final dungeon in CS2, true guests have fixed load outs. Pretty much nothing can be changed. Adding all guests results in the number of PCs to 37 (add: Estelle, Joshua, Renne, Agate, Lloyd, Elie, Tio, Celine, George, Roselia, Ennea, Ines, Xeno, Leonidas, Aurelia, Victor, Toval, Vita). Unlike Pseudo PCs, true guests often have limited stints of time where they are available. So after a brief join period, they become unavailable for some time. There are more reasons to veto the Guests other than their join period but for now, just know adding them adds a lot of work to an already growing list. This should definitely be decided before the main topic comes along.
Starting Values: CP
Another obvious question that needs to be addressed but is present in every Trails game is what the starting CP value should be. Unlike in CS2, this time, 200 CP might actually make more sense. There are still reasons to use 100 or 150 (for balance reasons), but maintaining max CP is not as difficult as it seems this time around for a few reasons:
1) Unlike in CS2, the Operation phase of the game is more muddled and sometimes, there are easy ways available to fully replenish your CP before a fight. Take Act 1.2 for example. Before heading to the main area of the basin, you can activate the checkpoint at the save point nearby, Quick Travel back to an Inn and fully rest, then go straight to the boss fight. I haven't checked if this is possible in other acts, but I suspect there are more than one exception.
2) About 60% of the way through the game, you'll pick up the Emblem MQ. And unlike in CS2, Emblem in CS4 is like Emblem in CS1. Which is to say, it restores your HP/EP/CP very quickly. The description says 4% a second, but as a practical example, running down a corridor to the next room can full restore all 3 pools to max. As if that wasn't enough, you don't even need to move. As the description suggests, waiting around still triggers this passive, so everything after this point means you can have full CP before serious boss fights.
3) Spell slinging is once again, the way to go for randoms if you want to mass clear them. Crafts have their uses of course, but groups are often better handled with large AoEs, which magic does handily.
4) CP maintenance in general is easier due to accessories and MQ passives. I find CP often sits at 100+ as in CS2 so despite the inflation in cost, certainly 150 starting or higher would also be reasonable.
Starting Value: BP
Unlike in CS2, where BP didn't do much, here, BP is used to fuel Brave Orders; powerful field wide effects that hit all allies. You can use them even if you are alone and they are unique to each PC. However, you can only Brave Orders so long as you have the BP to pay for it. Your maximum BP pool is 7, and some orders are effectively OPB. The trouble here is figuring out how many points you should start with here. Note that BP maintenance is trickier than CP Maintenance, but for the most part, being at 5 points is fairly easy (and gets easier the later in the game you are). This has the added bonus of making every PC able to access their Brave Order from the start, so no one gets hosed off the bat.
Whether or not PCs can gain more BP is another area of discussion. In-game, you build BP by either using specified craft, using an item or trigger a link attack via a crit or a stagger. The last of these is the most common but requires an additional PC to activate. On their own, a PC cannot trigger a link attack. Needless to say, in the DL, this would imply you cannot gain more BP than what you start with. Yet, this BP mechanic is pretty integral to the gameplay, so I'll be certainly up for discussion regarding whether or not we should allow phantoms PCs, for example, so PCs have a chance at least to recover BP.
PC Skillsets: Summon Bigger Laggys
One of the things that most people allowed in CS2 returns in CS4. Except this time, because it was so cool the first time, multiple different party members decided to join in on the fun. Outside of Rean, the following PCs can all summon their gundams into normal battles: Crow (duh), Juna, Kurt, Altina, Musse, and Ash. I haven't actually used this command yet, so I don't know if it functions exactly the same as it did in CS2 (3 turns worth of actions). Just know that there are more PCs now who can summon a big giant robot to crush enemies. It does share similar drawbacks as in CS2 - most notably that it cannot be called during an Operation phase (namely against any human boss) and tends to consume a bunch of EP on use. However, since it is similar in nature, you'll have about one third of the cast, whose best opening move will usually be to use this thing from the onset and most likely wreck an already pretty wonky damage curve.
As an aside, Alisa can also summon a Mini-Gundam thing, which is similar to how Tita fights, except hers might be on a timer. Again, I'll have to play around with this. Depending on how they work, I'll have a lot more to add regarding their similarities and differences when used, which might make all the difference on a uniqueness perspective.
PC Skillsets: Sub-quartz
In CS3 and CS4, all PCs can equip a secondary master quartz. A secondary Master Quartz (sub-quartz) shares its primary passive with the user, its spell list and half of its stats. In CS3, this was restricted in that each quartz can only serve as the Sub-quartz to one PC. So if Laura was using Brigid as a sub-quartz, then Fie cannot do the same. CS4 removed this restriction altogether, so now a single MQ can serve as the sub-quartz to multiple PCs. Needless to say, this creates big uniqueness issues because there is no way to divide the quartz up in a logical manner. Almost all PCs will want to share in Sophia's primary passive - 2BP Auto-Life; which is just gets really silly. Even if you apply elemental rules, it still doesn't work. All Space element secondary node users will take the Sophia, all Wind element secondary node users will take Oberon for status immunity, etc. I've done a ton of thinking trying to see if there is a reasonable way to apply this and I just can't think of one. Therefore, my primary opinion is that NO ONE gets a sub-quartz. An alternative is to remove the passive provided from the sub-quartz and just use the spell-list and stat boosts but I think you'll probably end up running into similar issues.
PC Skillsets: Quartz schools
CS4 utilizes the same ARCUS system for every PC, which means every PC has the 3 elemental nodes things going. That's good and it means we can use a similar method as the CS2 topic to designate skillsets and such. Unfortunately, complicating this are a) True Guests and b) U-Materials are not as restrictive this time around to be a limiting factor. That's bad.
First the problem with True Guests: As noted, you cannot change their set ups at all. Everything about them is fixed, which means that all the quartz cannot be adjusted in anyway. You can see how this creates issues right away if you use the CS2 topic style to assign quartz. Why should guests with fixed set ups, a clear disadvantage in-game, have a leg up by being able to utilize all their quartz slots and fill them in with a wide variety of quartz when the regular PCs cannot? One option here is to just ignore what's equipped in all the different nodes other than that Guest's elemental nodes. A second option is to just not rank any true guest characters altogether since their is more limited availability here anyway.
On the second problem, the increase in U-Materials means that accessing Rare and SR and even powerful trade quartz are not so difficult or OPB anymore. This problem is then further expanded thanks to Emblem doubling drops, making rare drop farming off bosses way more likely. For example, in my current game, I have 5 Rage Quartz. The fact that not everyone is going want the same quartz + applying the elemental restrictions means its way more likely that these SR quartz become available. As a silver lining, allowing them DOES add a level of uniqueness normally not available (since every element this time has some good stuff in general) but it complicates set ups. A few options here of course. You could still apply the CS2 method and just don't allow any Rare/SR type quartz period. A second option might be to set U-Materials as restricting factor, giving every PC say 99 U-materials to work with. While this might be more complex, it will also wind up with more variety, which could be a good thing. 99 pieces sound a lot, but keep in mind that forging a Rage gem for example, costs like 64 U-Mats or something, which severely hinders how much more a PC can customize their set up. This might be a bit of "wait and see" to see how it works in practice.
Character Equips: Rean, the ladykiller
Having looked ahead of where I am, apparently, Rean gets access to a bunch of powerful accessories unique to him at end game. Problem is, these are all pretty much OPG. More specifically, Rean can only walk away with 1 (I think), which is determined based on who his final partner is. You can have a game set up where Rean can be with multiple partners, but at the end, he can still only get one of these super accessories. At the moment, I'm not sure the best way to approach this problem. There are a few schools of thought though. One method is to just give Rean available access to all/none of them. Simple enough. A second more reasonable method IMO, might be to assume the most powerful ones available at Rean's choosing, and then lock him in with that one for the season. There are a few staple choices here such as Duvalie's, which gives a whopping +30 Speed, or Towa's which adds Accuracy/Evade and gives Rean status immunity. In the end, I believe this advantage should be reflected somehow since it is something unique to Rean, although doing it in a fair way is a bit of quandary at the moment.
