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Well... This was rather surprising.  Turns out, I found out why they leveled down so many enemies in TLA.  As it turns out, they may have had a good reason.  Going at TBS's trendline, you hit that stat cap for attack at around level 55 - for the average generic enemy.  This doesn't count special encounters like djinn or bosses or mimics, etc.

To put things into perspective:  If we follow the trendlines to a logical conclusion...

A level 99 enemy using TBS' trendline has 2689 attack.  999 is crossed at level 56.
A level 99 enemy using TLA's trendline has 2083 attack.  999 is crossed at level 64.

This doesn't leave much breathing room for bosses, which reach up to 50 TLA (trendline: 691.  Dullahan: 676).  Keep in mind, the trendline is skewed higher than it should be due to the returning monsters from TBS, which have a clear and distinctly separate trend line despite having a level adjustment.

I kind of... stopped looking at stats and trendlines after that.  My purpose was to create a baseline to go with for creating monsters.  The expectation was that the trendline would be lower for common enemies, so that common enemies wouldn't average higher than 999.  Nope.  So much nope.  Even the changes made in TLA seem to be adjustments made just to fit things in the game.  I've not done the same analysis for DD's stats yet, but the first thing I'm gonna check is that attack power trendline.  If it's as I fear - an adjustment to match the intended pacing of the game - then the data may be completely useless for what I'm wanting to use it for.

Here, take some candy.

* Rolina deposits candy in the container of your choice.

So, doing anything fun for Halloween?  I typically head to Which Wich after work as a tradition.  What about you guys?

Yo, quick question. Sunrise has been working on refreshing its look, and part of that is that we're redoing a lot of our images and icons. As such, we're wanting to redo our affiliate banners to fit with the new look. As such, I figured we should get approval from each of the sites for their new banner.

For the GSHC, I based it on the default skin's new topic icons.  Since the site is about mods and hacking, I went for Golden Matt in representing it.  Let me know if you're okay with it:

So, there's several things that I know people want to do that haven't been figured out yet, and others that have or already have discussions for that it'd be handy to have links to.  I figured we should have a thread for all that, so here it is.  If you have certain patches, tools, or features you want to have people look into or try to figure out, post it here.

I'll start by posting a few things that I'd love to have figured out:


1:  Cover/Counter techniques - skills that allow the user to take damage for an ally and/or retaliate
2:  Full accuracy checks with offense - a way to figure out how to give accuracy checks to any ability that causes damage.  Would make delusion significantly more useful.
3:  Altered elemental power influence - a way to change how elemental power/resistance effect certain abilities
4:  Spell Type/Magnitude separation overhaul - hey, it could happen.  Maybe I want a healing spell with the diminishing area type summons used to have, or maybe I want a physical skill that strikes an area with a the diminishing area type breath attack used to use.  Would require one hell of a patch I imagine, though.
5:  Extended Ability/Class list - Maybe I want full character separation with classes.  Maybe I want space for that.  Maybe I want the editor to reflect the extended space as well.

6: Ability to modify the accuracy of ailments, as well tweak their potency (ex:  Haunt)
7: Death curse 4 turn for GS1 as well.
8: Icon compressor. Something that allows me to tweak uncompressed icons in the vba ram, dump the ram, run the dump into the compressor and put the output back into the rom as a new icon.

9: The ability to change random damage variation, as well as minimum damage, would be appreciated. There have been times where I try to make hacks using a significantly lower overall power level (think Paper Mario style), but they've been ruined by attacks randomly doing up to double their normal damage, as well as continuing to deal damage against targets whose defence is high enough to block them outright.

Well, I figure it should be near about time we got a complete rip of stuff from this game done, if nothing else so that we can use it in our own little art projects and the like.  What Spriters' Resource has is great, but it's not very complete, and the way they lay it out leaves a lot to be desired.  So I figure, why not have us give a shot at it?

I figure I'll start.  Between the organized stuff as well as the stuff I myself have ripped, here's what I've got:

[spoiler=Spells][/spoiler]
[spoiler=Items][/spoiler]

Corner icon modifiers (spell cost, equipped icon, etc)

Portrait icons

I figure what's left are the menu icons, djinn icons, and those little arrow things.  I used to have a lot of those, but I've lost quite a bit due to hard drive crashes in the past.  Any of y'all have something you can add?

So, here's where we can talk about all the fun E3 news for the year!  This year, we have the following to look forward to:

Smash Direct
Bethesda Conference
Microsoft Conference
EA Conference
Ubisoft Conference
Sony Conference
Nintendo Digital Event
Square Enix Conference
PC Gaming Conference
Nintendo World Championships


Holy crap, that's a lot this year!  Something tells me this E3 will have a lot to talk about.  With that, I've got a party to throw on my end, so I'm off to get the last bit of stuff for it.  What are you guys most looking forward to?

So, as we all know, Cursed Gear in the GS games are useless without the Fallen Angel's Ring/Cleric's Ring.  This is because there's a 1/4 chance of the character just doing nothing, as if they got pegged by Ground or Petra.  But what if that wasn't the case?  What if, instead of a 1/4 chance to get pegged by that effect, it was a 1/4 chance for one of four negative effects?  That'd effectively drop the stun rate to 1/16, a much more acceptable amount for the added power of cursed gear.

Here's the idea I have:

When the chance for negative effects activates, one of four things can happen with equal likelihood.

1 - The traditional Cursed Equipment stun effect
2 - User takes HP damage equal to a quarter of the highest amount of HP damage or Healing they did this turn (Ex:  Casting grand gaia will only look at the center target, rather than the total damage.  Casting pure wish will only look at a single character, rather than total healing amount).
3 - User takes PP damage equal to a fifth of the highest amount of HP damage or Healing they did this turn (Ex:  Casting grand gaia will only look at the center target, rather than the total damage.  Casting pure wish will only look at a single character, rather than total healing amount).
4 - User gets a debuff based on what action they did this turn.

In GS Vanilla:

• If damage was dealt to the foe, ATK -50% for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early.
• If healing was done, DEF -50% for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early.
• If a support ability was used, AGL -50% for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early.

In my Mk2 System:

• If physical damage was dealt to the foe, -50% ATK for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.
• If spell damage was dealt to the foe, -50% CST for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.
• If healing was applied, -50% DEF for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.
• If a buff or recovery spell was used, -50% WRD for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.
• If a debuff, ailment, or enhancement spell was used, -50% AGL for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.
• If a summon was called, -80 RES for 4 Turns.  Luck has half influence on ridding it early, Normalize effects are half as likely to rid the debuff.

This should keep cursed gear as being dangerous without necessarily crippling the user in battle.  With this, it's much more viable to use cursed gear before you get the Cleric's Ring, and cursed rings become a decent option in and of themselves.

So, you know how cursed items are supposed to be these powerful pieces of equipment that might stun you for a turn instead if you don't have the Fallen Angel's/Cleric's Ring on?  Well, I've been thinking... what would justify a Cursed Ring?  What would it have to do in order to be a viable alternative to the Cleric's Ring?  I imagine it wouldn't be a simple buff or effect like other rings - this would have to be big enough to rival the usefulness of the Cleric's Ring.

The idea came from Jamie's item in the chat that gives you another turn, but is cursed.  I had wondered what would be a great slot for that that also allows the curse removing effects of the Cleric's Ring, and Ring just popped in my head.  So apart from, say, this "Dark Seeker's Ring" for lack of a better title, what ring ideas do you guys have that could justify trading it out on a character?

[End of the First Day]

In this thread, I'm going to be going over my thoughts and experiences while playing Caledor's Balanced Seal and Balanced Age patches.  With any luck, this will give some good insight and feedback for him, as well as serve as a progress journal of sorts for me.

To start off with, I'll go over my initial thoughts and planning.  First - I very much like a lot of these changes.  The changes to the psynergy damage formula in particular has me intrigued - that should very much change how I play, and for the better.  The changes to enemies don't seem as over the top as they do in other hacks, so that intrigues me as well (as much as some people like it, I don't think just giving enemies extra turns is a good way to balance a game).  As for weapons, here's my plans:

Axes:  Two ways to go about this.  First is to go with Isaac to take advantage of the extra power.  This would make Isaac essentially a High-Risk attacker, taking advantage of his higher attack growth and typically higher attack multipliers.  The other way to do it is to go with Garet, who's got high enough defenses that he can take the hit to them.  By giving it to Garet, it gives him a little extra oomph he needs, without really compromising too much.

Swords:  Can't really say much about this until I reach the end of The Balanced Age - swords are the baseline here, so it really boils down to how balanced their unleashes are in endgame.  Will it look like a typical TLA playthrough by that point, or will I have a variety of weapons in use?  We'll find out then.

Blades:  Ivan doesn't need these.  Garet, on the other hand, will benefit a ton.  I'm currently torn between having Garet spec into Axes or into Blades...

Maces:  Oh, cursed weapons got buffed?  Wicked Mace Mia's gonna be awes--- OOH, the Cleric's ring is -10 luck...  On a healer that's... oh, you deliciously evil little - I'm gonna have to think hard about this one.

Staves:  I like that they're offensive based - Ivan's definitely going to spec into these now.  Likely Mia as well, though namely because...

Ankhs:  God dammit, Golden Sun, why must you only have 3 ankhs across all the games?  They're not really viable until the endgame of TLA, when the Clotho's Distaff becomes available.  Until then, they're just... well, too situational.  Mia will use them while she can, but she can't keep it up long.  Too much stuff outclasses the Angelic Ankh.


And with that being said...

End of the First Day

Started the game up.  Didn't notice anything in particular.  Well, I think the classes are now ? instead of the dummy versions of the usual names they have.  I'm okay with this - it implies that Isaac and Garet haven't chosen their paths yet by the time of the prologue.  It's... actually very fitting.  Was very pleasantly surprised when I reached the point I got to fight monsters.  They were tougher, but not frustratingly so.  I actually had to use herbs!  It was pretty nice.  Cue boulder, and it's time to move to Chapter 1.

First thing I did was go and buy armor for everyone.  Spent... like, almost all my cash and only got the one game ticket.  Huh.  That's actually clever - usually I get enough to sell to buy a longsword.  Not sure how you did it, but this will actually make me consider my options more carefully.  Started my way through the Sol Sanctum until I got the hundred cash I needed for a single longsword - retreated, bought it, gave it to Isaac.  Decided to give the short sword to Jenna.  The +1 PP isn't gonna be much help, especially not this early.  However, +1 AGL to Jenna and -1 AGL from Isaac changing weapons will help solidify turn order, which I like.  Also... Level 2 and Garet still has yet to learn any spells.  Interesting...  I expected base class changes for Team Felix, but seeing them in Team Isaac is a pleasant surprise.

Well, after that hour of play, it was bedtime (got work in the morning).  I'll make a post later about my second day's progress~

Okay, so I just got my vita!  The only slim available came with borderlands though... And to me, that's a PC game.  So... who wants a Vita copy of borderlands 2?  Giving it out for free.  It's first come first served across all my usual sites, so keep that in mind on the off chance there's two people with Vitas out there.

So... this is a place for us to get our spooky on!  Post your outfits, either interweb or real life, here~

Anywho, with that said and done...



RAWR!  ...BOO?  Uhh, um... I dunno, Mrrgrgr?  Dammit, stop going "dawww" and be scared already!

So, I just picked this up.  It's a pretty cute game from Level 5.  From what I've played so far, I'm liking it, though I'm still in the very early parts of the game.  Anyone else playing this?

I'm a Level 2 Magician so far.

[Blink Assault]

So, I've been doing a bit of creative thinking (shocking, I know), and the way I see it, there's a few things you can do to expand GS's battle system a bit.  The first is the overhaul I've been doing, of course.  But the other thing is something that can't be done globally - something that needs a personal touch, and is unique to each person - Fighting Style Skillsets.

I've got a few that I've come up with on my own listed below, as well as what they do.  What about you guys?  What can you come up with?



Blink Assault (By Rolina)

Rolina is mainly about a full force offense, completely embracing the philosophy of a blitzkreig.  Her circuit spell allows her to close in on an enemy quickly and start up an unrelenting assault.  This is very powerful, but also incredibly costly - she burns out quite quickly in battle, and is at a severe disadvantage in prolonged fights.  In game, this is reflected by the Blink set of skills.  It's a passive effect, allowing her a decent chance to counter priority moves, a near-zero chance to counter physical attacks, a low chance to counter spells, and a high chance to counter summons.  This style has two main weaknesses - durable foes, and fast foes.  Durable foes are able to simply outlast the assault.  She burns through PP reserves like it was nothing, after all.  Anything faster than her will actually cause her abilities to trigger less, to the point that a for who's Ivan-fast may very well drop her summon-counter chance to as low as 40%, putting her at a disadvantage.

[spoiler]Blink Assault revolves around the Circuit field spell.  Ordinarily, this spell works similar to the Grip spell in Dark Dawn in terms of functionality - teleporting the caster from point a to magnetic point b.  In combat, though, a lesser form of this known as "blink" can be used.  That technique is how this style works.  Here's the associated abilities:

• Blink Cancel - Medium Chance - When an enemy uses a priority move, there a chance for the adept to take their turn instead, cancelling the priority status of the enemy's turn.  In this manner, things such as quick attacks, healing, or barriers can be delayed, and not only can the caster get in their turn first, but all allies faster than the target can strike before it as well.  This can only work on one foe at a time, so if two foes have a priority move, this can only steal the priority of one.
  
• Blink Counter/Attack - 0 Chance - When an enemy uses a physical attack or a power spell (ex: Ragnarok) on the adept, there is a base zero chance that the adept will blink, causing the attack to miss.  They then retaliate with a standard physical attack.  This attack can critical, but it cannot trigger an unleash.  This can only occur once per turn.
  
• Blink Counter/Spell - Low Chance - When an enemy uses a base attack spell (ex: Gaia) on the adept, there is a low chance that the adept will blink and the spell will miss.  They will then appear behind the enemy and will cast their strongest base attack spell, but will only hit the target they're retaliating against with it.  This can only occur once per turn.
  
• Blink Counter/Summon - High Chance - When an enemy moves to use a summon (both in the Mk1 and Mk2 systems), the opening they present allows the adept to punish their action.  The adept has a high chance of blinking, causing any actions the summon does to miss them, and will then retaliate with the strongest power spell in their arsenal.  This has no limit to how many times it can happen in a turn.

.
The success rate of blink skills is based on two things - the base chance, and differences in agility.  The faster the adept is compared to the target, the more that gets added to the base chance.  The lower it is, the more that gets removed from the base chance.  This is done on a percentile basis, and the widest range one can expect is an additional +/- 25% chance to trigger the blink.  Furthermore, blinking cannot occur if the caster does not have the PP to preform the action.  Blinking in and of itself also casts PP, equal to that of the cost of the Circuit spell (2PP).[/spoiler]



Artificer's Arsenal (By Rolina)

Robert Joe is a crafter, and one of the people leading the big push to integrate psynergy into technology.  This premier forger of magitech gear not only has the ability to make artifacts, but to also modify them to magitech versions of themselves, and even modify them to change and enhance their properties.  These skills aren't all that much for combat, but that's why he builds drones to assist him in battle, and is able to make a decent variety of them for whatever situation comes up.

[spoiler]While there are many artifacts in the world of Weyard, there are also too many people who make these artifacts.  These are known as Artificers, those whom have the ability to craft wonderful pieces of equipment.  Their skills revolve around item creation and modification, and have interesting effects in battle as well.

• Forge - the art of creating an Artifact.  This is typically done by taking a mundane item, adding a base material, and adding an enhancing material.  Through this, a wide variety of artifacts can be made, from arms and armor, to even special items unique to the artificer.
  
• Convert - converts a piece of equipment into a moddable form (think magitech).  This gives arms and armor slots that allow an artificer to add interchangeable tweaks and enhancements - two for weapons, and one for each piece of armor.  This usually has a material cost associated with it based on what is being Converted into moddable form.  Converted weapons retain their unleashes, though mods can override their element and effect.  Converted armor tends to simply get additional effects via mods.
  
• Modify - installs a forged mod into a slot on any given weapon or armor.  The psynergy cost depends on the mod being installed and the artifact it's being installed into (ex:  Modding a Sol Blade would be quite pricy indeed).
  
• Mods - a type of artifact unique to artificer use.  By using the Modify ability on a converted artifact, mods can enhance or changer the attributes of the artifact.  For example, installing a Celestial mod into the Sol Blade would cause Megiddo to drop a miniature star onto the enemies instead, dealing jupiter damage instead of venus.  Added a Stone mod onto Excalibur could cause it to do venus damage with the Legend unleash, essentially sending 1-3 ragnaroks into the enemy.
  
• Adds - a type of artifact unique to artificer use.  Adds are miniature drones that an artificer can send into battle by using them as an item.  Up to three drones can be active at once (using another will deactivate the first one), and each will give a slight passive buff to the party (ex:  Buff a stat by 10%).  Ordinarily, that's all they do.  But when an unleash is triggered by the adept, the adds will open fire as well, causing a small multiplier in damage to the attack (10% per add).

.
Artificers are all about item creation, and are basically the way to go if you want to have a more magitech-themed golden sun character. [/spoiler]



Blaze Burner (By Rolina)

Kale is a fire mage, and a pretty good one.  Having been to an area like Magma Rock and learning Blaze, he felt it initially useless... but inspiration struck as he tried it out in battle.  He's now able to direct the blaze spell to increase the radius of his spells, cause them to focus down on a single target, or even linger around a bit longer than normal.  It's all about killing things with fire for him, so by utilizing this spell into his fighting style, he's able to expand on anything and everything flame based to take down his target.  Of course, the obvious downside to using blaze as often is that it'll drain him faster, so he practices a healthy doze of strategy in his application of it.

[spoiler]So, Blaze.  That useless spell that Jenna got at Magma Rock, right?  Well, this style puts that spell to good use.  A blaze burner learns to cast blaze to enhance their own flame-based spells, giving them more power.

• Blaze Extend - Extends the radius of any flame aspect spell by one size.  This can apply to bestowed unleashes, power spells, base attack spells, anything that uses the flame aspect.  As such, spells that once strike 3 enemies now strike 5, spells that once struck 5 now strike 7, etc.  The magnitude of these spells is unchanged, though.
  
• Blaze Focus - by lowering the magnitude of a spell, the actual power of the spell is enhanced by 20%.  If the spell's magnitude is already Low (ex:  power spells, bestowed unleashes), then the range is reduced by one (minimum of 1).
  
• Blaze Burn - by lowering the power of a spell by 20%, the caster causes the area to catch aflame, causing damage equal to 25% of the spell's strength over four turns.  This does not stack - additional spells will overwrite the effect.

.
Blaze only works on flame aspect spells - acidic and explosive spells are unaffected.  As blaze is an active-use skill, it also will not work on howling unleashes.  When selecting a flame aspect spell, the option will be given to cast it normally, Extend it, Focus it, or Burn it.  The additional cost is equal to the cost of blaze times the number of default targets that a spell has (ex:  Blaze costs 2 PP.  using Blaze Extend on Inferno will cost an extra 10 PP to cast).[/spoiler]



So what do you think?  Got any styles you want to suggest or post?  They don't necessarily have to use spells that exist in GS proper, just describe what the new spells do so we get the gist of it (ex:What I did with Circuit).

I was wondering if with the current editor we could somehow have a palette swap of a character for combat?  For example, let's say I wanted to use Isaac's Palette 4 for some reason.  The editor as it comes doesn't seem to want to let me change that, but would it be possible to change it anyways?

So I've decided to create sprite rips for as much as I can in the game.  This means all those separated sprites, like summons?  I'll be stitching them together and providing them in preset sizes.  I'll try to keep to the sizes of the GS sprites - 16/32/64/128/256 pixel sizes.


Here's the Master List.  More will be added as time goes on, in later posts.

[IMGleft]http://i.imgur.com/IjahZGE.png[/IMGleft]


- Zagan 2




[IMGLEFT]http://i.imgur.com/pnp8pmw.png[/IMGLEFT]


- Unused Zagan Sprite

Long time no see.  I've been working on a D&D 4e setting loosely based on the GS world.  I've got some setting rules in place that change the game up a bit - namely that in creating your character, you choose one element as an affinity, and one as a weakness.  That affinity gets a 25% damage reduction, and weakness causes you to take 25% more from it.  Here's the thing, though - all creatures follow this rule.  Even the monsters.  I'm using a six-element system, using Radiant, Necrotic, Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Acid damage as the damage types that follow the rule.

So here's the thing - I'm using golden sun as a slight basis for the world, so I'm gonna use sprites to represent the monsters.  I was wondering which monsters and poses (animation frames) you think would be cool to use.  For example, I'm thinking for a Gryphon I could you the first frame of animation for Idle and the first frame for attacking as a couple of pics to represent them on the board.  

Heya everyone.  Remember way back when, when Atrius made this little gem?



Well, I was wondering... what if one of us made one for the Dark Dawn cast?  It could be Atrius or anyone else with a similar program, really.  It'd be kinda cool to have the DD cast in GS style sprites - much better than the sprite they have in-game (try to change your team in mid-battle and you can see them - they're much more "flat" compared to the TLA sprites).  Plus, these could be used like we use the emotes now.

Anyone interested in whipping up some art then?  Of course, it'd need to follow TLA palette rules, so throw an ask by Atrius as to how to get that done (unless of course, you're him and thus already know).

[Part 1: An Adept's Race]

I'm aware that this stuff is a bit more technical and in-depth than my other supplemental materials, and has much less weight on the signatures themselves, but they can come in handy when creating your character.  These will come in parts as I work on them, and unlike the others aren't in specifically sorted sets.


Part 1:  An Adept's Race
There are three known races for adepts - Human, Beastling, and Drake.  Each of these races, while very similar to one another, have a few differences apart from the obvious outwards appearance that help them to stand apart from one another.


Humans
Humans are the most populous of the three races, although their lead in terms of population is starting to even out with the other two as time goes on.  Humans are usually about 5-6 ft. tall, and weigh about 100-200 lb., with a slight bias towards lesser weights. They have varying skin colors, from pale and tan to ebony in color, which is largely influenced by regional descent.  Hair color mostly depends on their element, though it is known to fade to a grey or white with age.  Their skin tends to be softer than other races, and as a result the elements have a greater influence on humans than other races.

Humans have the ability to channel energy from objects much more efficiently than Drakes or Beastlings thanks to the relative softness of their skin.  Because of this, they are able to achieve powerful states of being by channeling power from various tools.  This is a technique called "Overburst", and is exclusive to the human race.  However, prolonged exposure to these energies can be lethal, and as a result djinn are used to channel away excess power so as to prevent death upon using overburst.

The environment has a very strong affect on humans as well - human beings are more susceptible to location-influence at birth, and as a result far more humans are born with an elemental affinity influenced by location rather than bloodline.

A notable sub-race of Human is the Dwarf race.  While smaller and stockier in stature, they share all of the same traits as humans in regards to their ability to channel alchemy and their dominant/recessive relationship to other races.

Examples of Humans in canon include:  Isaac, Mia, Eoleo

Overdrive Class:  Overburst (Item Dependent)
Weak Influence:  35% chance of location override
Moderate Influence:  65% chance of location override
Strong Influence:  85% chance of location override
Global Population: 45% of Weyard


Beastling
Beastlings are the second-most populous of races.  They typically range from 4-7 ft. tall, and weigh between 100-300 lb., though trend towards the middle.  Their skin color largely matches their hair color, and as a result is more elementally influenced than racial influenced.  However, while skin and hair color are more vivid in their youth, with age the color will begin to become pale or fade until it is nearly grey-white in color.  Their skin is a bit more rugged than other races, and as such they are able to endure much more rugged terrain than other races.

Beastlings are born with the ability to transform from their hominid appearance to a more feral, anthropomorphic beast-like form.  The specific form is different for various families, but there are three main types - lupine, vulpine, and feline.  While there are other varieties, these three are the most common.  All varieties are mammalian in nature.  With this "Beastform" ability, beastlings can become much more powerful.  However, when unleashing this feral form, the longer they are in it, the easier it is for them to become feral themselves, and thus be incapable of transforming back on their own.  To ease in this process, djinn are typically used to help maintain the transformation safely, and beastlings will quickly revert back once the energy of said djinn is spent.

The beastling's rugged skin allows them to thrive in terrain unsuited to other races, and as a result they are far more common in mountainous terrain, as well as lands with harsher climates.  While they are by no means exclusive to these regions, they are able to adapt to them far better than other races.

Examples of Beastlings in canon include:  Maha, Sveta, Vande

Overdrive Class:  Beastform (Innate, bloodline dependent)
Weak Influence:  25% chance of location override
Moderate Influence:  50% chance of location override
Strong Influence:  70% chance of location override
Global Population: 30% of Weyard


Drakes
Drakes are the least populous race, though their numbers are on the rise.  They typically range from 4-6 ft. tall, and weigh between 150-250 lb.  Notably, males tend to be towards the mid-to-heavy end of the scale, while females range from light-to-mid.  Their skin color tends to range from greens, blues, and reds, though is usually a pale shade of it.  Their skin also has scales, usually in a deeper shade of their skin color.  These scales do not cover most of their body, but still remain their most defining trait.  Their hair colors tend to be less vivid than other races, but holds color far better with age, not fading much at all when elderly.

Drakes have the ability to transform into a dragon.  As a dragon, they are able to take advantage of all of the abilities of their form, including the elemental breath and sometimes flight associated with it.  The specific type of dragon they transform into primarily depends on the elemental affinity of the Drake themselves, as well as the aspect they're more familiar with - Mercury drakes will transform into an aquatic dragon or one suited for frozen tundras, while a Venusian drakes may transform into a forest or mountain dragon.  In terms of size, the dragons that drakes can transform into are about as tall as they are in their usual hominid form.  The act of transforming used to spend all of a drake's life energy, essentially being lethal to them.  However, they've learned to use djinn to channel energy into them, allowing for safe transformations.

The scaled skin of a drake allows them to live in more extreme climates than other races.  While other races are most comfortable in more temperate climates, Drakes have no problems with extreme heat and cold, and can live somewhat comfortably in both frozen tundras and deserts, provided that they can find plenty of food and resources.  Furthermore, the scaled skin makes them more resilient to the effects of locations strong in an elemental energy, causing them to retain element through bloodline at a much higher rate when exposed to such locations.

Examples of Drakes in canon include:  Karst, Puelle, Saturos

Overdrive Class:  Dragonform (Innate, element dependent)
Weak Influence:  20% chance of location override
Moderate Influence:  30% chance of location override
Strong Influence:  50% chance of location override
Global Population: 25% of Weyard


Genetics and Mixed-race children
When two members of different races get together, they can actually have children.  However, the children are not of mixed race, but rather are of one race or another.  Specifically, inter-racial unions have a particular cycle of dominant and recessive natures.

The Human Race is recessive to The Beastling Race
The Beastling Race is recessive to The Drake Race
The Drake Race is recessive to The Human Race

As such, when a human and beastling get together, on average a child has a 75% chance that they will be a beastling, while they have about a 25% chance of being a human.  Similar rates apply to other races.

When the Dwarf Subrace is involved, it is treated like human for the most part.  Human and Dwarf have a 50/50 split in terms of children with one another, and when involved with other races, any children that would be human will be a dwarf in the event of a dwarven parent.

In order to better set up your character and class for the signature thread, I've created a helpful guide that should assist you in coming up with the necessary information.  Furthermore, as an added bonus, these also work to allow you to create adepts both for the purposes of RPs, GS-inspired RPGs, and Editor-based Hacks.

A table of contents is provided for each step of the process:

• Builds and You
  
• Roles and Psynergy
  
• Class Basics
  
• Heavy Hitters - EPAs and FPAs
  
• Basics for Beginners
  
• Intermediate and Advanced
  
• Supporting the Team
  
• An In Depth Guide to Healing
  

So the question has popped up quite often when I talk to people...

"I don't know what I'd be like as an adept..."
or
"I can't decide what I want to be"
or
"I dunno lol"

Well guess what?  I've developed a questionnaire that can help you decide!  All you have to do is fill it out, and I will give you my honest opinion as to what, from the answers you gave, you should be as an adept.  This includes your Build, your Element, your Fundament, and your Class' Role in the Party.  When taking the survey, please provide answers for as much as you can - the answers in every part of the survey will affect the result, so try not to leave any blanks!

Also, for questions that give you a choice of answers, you MUST pick one of the answers - for example, on the first question, you cannot answer "I would be a hybrid fighter", simply because there's no such thing in Golden Sun.  Even physical fighters cast spells, so by definition that would qualify them for hybrid.  If no options are given, please answer to the best of your ability, and most importantly honestly.

This questionnaire has no right or wrong answers, and by posting answers that you think I want to hear, it undermines the whole process, and you'll get a result that doesn't fit you at all!  Also, remember - this is just a recommendation.  It's up to you whether or not you follow it.

• What do you want to be as an adept?  A physical fighter, or a spellcaster?
  
• Pick one of the following:  Axe, Spear, Scythe
  
• Pick one of the following:  Bow, Scythe, Ankh
  
• What do you value in armor?  Protection, Mobility, or Power Boosts?
  
• What are your favorite Unleashes from the games?  List up to three.
  
• What are your favorite class EPAs from the games (spells like Ragnarok and Shuriken that get more powerful as your attack stat goes up)?  List up to three.
  
• What are your favorite base damage spells from the games (all damaging spells that aren't EPAs)?  List up to 3.
  
• What are your favorite summons?  List up to 3.
  
• In terms of appearance, not ability, what are your favorite Djinni designs from Dark Dawn?  List up to 3.  References can be found here: Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury.
  
• Which adepts from the games were your favorites?  List up to 3.
  
• A good friend of yours is in the middle of an argument with someone you don't know.  You don't know the circumstances, nor the context of the argument.  What do you do?
  
• Someone posted something on the web you think is wrong, and are adamant in their stance.  What do you do?
  
• Someone approaches you, intending to start a fight of some sort (does not have to be physical).  What do you do?
  
• You have an important errand to run, and need to use the car.  Your roommate also has an important errand that they need to do, but needs to go in the opposite direction. Both of these errands aren't wants, but needs, and are equally important to both parties.  What do you do?  (assume for the sake of the question that you can drive, and that there's only one car between the two of you)
  
• A close friend of yours is upset.  Many hurtful things were said about them earlier in the day by someone you both know.  What do you do?
  
• Someone you really, really do not like from high school turns out to be going to the same college as you.  What do you do?
  
• A bully has been picking on you for some time now.  You've reached a breaking point, and have to do something, anything about it.  What do you do?  You cannot choose "ignore him" or some variant of that response for the sake of this question.
  
• You overhear a group of coworkers gossiping about a new employee.  However, you know this new employee, and know that what they're saying about them to be false.  What do you do?
  
• Two of your closest friends are in a bitter argument against one another, but neither one of them is really in the wrong or in the right.  What do you do?
  
• You meet someone on the road, genuinely in bad financial shape (read:  not faking it).  You have some spare change, but you're not rich either - you're actually running low on funds until your paycheck comes next week.  You can make it to the next week if you give them some spare change, but it'll be much tougher than if you hadn't... What do you do?

That's right, everyone, I'm finally moving out of beta for my signature project!  I've got pretty much everything I need now, and thus can begin officially opening up shop!  Now, there's several things you'll need to know before you get started.  I've sorted it all out in a table of contents for easier understanding.

• An Introduction to Yourself - Portrait and Bio
  
• Basis of Being - Element, Fundament, Build, and Innate Psynergy
  
• Growth of an Adept - Stat Ranks
  
• Equipped for Adventure - Inventory
  
• Class Basics - Djinn Requirements and Classes
  
• Spells of the Trade - Psynergy and Classes
  
• Waiting List and Finished Products
  
• Additional Notes
  

.



When you want to request a signature, please fill out and post one of the following two applications.  You can only have one request open at a time, so don't spam a bunch of requests and expect to get more than one done.

For Character Cards (Please do not request a character and class card at the same time)

Code Select Expand

[size=11pt][b]Character Request[/b][/size]

[b][tt]Adept's Name:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Profile Picture:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Adept's Bio:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Element:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Fundament:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Build:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Innate Psynergy:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]HP Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]HP Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]PP Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]PP Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]ATK Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]ATK Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]DEF Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]DEF Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]SPL Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]SPL Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]WRD Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]WRD Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]AGL Rank:[/tt][/b]  [tt]AGL Value:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]LUK Rank:[/tt][/b]
[b][tt]Inventory:[/tt][/b]
(list of your inventory items, how many you have, and if they're equipped or not, as well as any pictures for original items you have)

For Class Cards (Please, only one class at a time, not a full class line at once.)

Code Select Expand

[b][size=11pt]Class Request[/size][/b]

[tt][b]Class Name:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Flavor Text:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Venus Djinn Needed:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Mercury Djinn Needed:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Mars Djinn Needed:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Jupiter Djinn Needed:[/b][/tt]
[tt][b]Psynergy:[/b][/tt]
(please list the psynergy name, element, type, and any pictures from original spells you have)

Well, assuming you could change things in Golden Sun and make a whole new game - not based off of code, but I mean new from the ground up, doing it your way - what would your approach be?  The rules are rather simple:

• All three GS games must remain canon - only exception is updated remake ideas.
• Do not post to simply shoot down someone else's idea.  If you would do something different, don't tear down the other person, but simply suggest your own approach.
• You don't have to post all of your ideas at once, but can if you so desire.

The first thing I'd do?  I'd find a way to adapt the fundaments without having outright Sol/Luna Adepts - the fundaments are still very much in play, but how they are better integrated into the elements as opposed to just being treated like they're two new elements that aren't quite elements.


(For reference, the types of affinities, from top to bottom, are "Greater Sol", "Lesser Sol", "No Affinity", "Lesser Luna", "Greater Luna", and "Neutral")

Rank 1 Recovery includes spells like Cure Poison and Restore.  This also includes Drain and Psy Drain type spells.
Rank 2 Recovery includes spells like Break and Normalize, likely Revive as well
Rank 1 Buffs are the type you see in Canon (Single 25% (4 turns) → Full Party 12.5% (4 turns))
Rank 2 Buffs are the new types of buffs - extended duration and enhanced magnitude.
Rank 1 Ailment Groups include spells with standard infliction rate and duration, and first tier ailments for those with multiple tiers of strength (ex: Poison, but not Venom)
Rank 2 Ailment Groups include spells with higher infliction rate, duration, as well as second tier ailments for those with multiple tiers of strength.  This also includes the Haunt, Curse, Condemn group.
Rank 1 Debuffs are the type you see in canon (Single 25% (4 turns) → Small Area 12.5% (4 turns))
Rank 2 Debuffs include the new types of debuff - extended duration and enhanced magnitude.

Healing spells are different from Recovery spells, and are independent of fundamental affinity - it matters not if you're a Crystal Specialist or a person who mixes Astral and Wind Spells, you always have healing as an option if you so desire.  Supports are not strictly tied to one element or another - there is a type of buff and debuff for every stat for every element.  Recovery spells are likely the same or similar in nature - an option for every element.  Ailment spells, though, do have some exclusivity.  Each ailment will be available for 2-3 elements, but not available to the others.  This is done based on precedent and logic, though specifics are not available at this time.

Item Classes are completely immune to the effects of Fundamental Affinity.  They do not follow the same rules as other classes, and are completely independent of the charts listed above - it is perfectly reasonable to find an Item Class that specializes in Greater Sol attack types, but Greater Luna support types.

This is but one of many future posts.  Feel free to comment on it if you wish, but don't just slam it.  If you have a different idea on how it's done, suggest it instead of just saying "that sucks".

Well, as we can see, this site's purpose is... well, pretty much over.  But nobody said that this has to be the end of the site - the purpose ends?  Well, make a new one!

Now, here's the question - how should we change this?  I know one site that was starting to die began to reimagine itself as an RP community... we could go that route.  The ToK's general fansite option is an option, but I don't think we have the membership for that to succeed...  Do you guys have any suggestions?  Ideas?  I've got a lot of memories of this place, and it'd be really sad to see it go... I'd rather us change focus rather than die off.

I'm just wandering when we'll get this, or failing that the progress towards the next full update.

There's two big things I'm looking for:  Keyboard Support and the ability to remove all of that 10x multiplier of stuff.  The ability to have classes with multipliers that can be multiples of five is something my hacks all tend to require, so until then I can't even do my simple remix hack...

If anyone happens to know where they can be found, or is willing to twiddle through the code to find out, I would like to know what the Level 99 stat targets for the Dark Dawn characters are.

Thanks in advance.