Golden Sun Hacking Community

The Community => Introductions => Topic started by: Manu on 03, April, 2017, 02:05:14 PM

Title: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 03, April, 2017, 02:05:14 PM
Disclaimer: I apologize in advance, my English is not A1.
Hello dudes and dudettes! first of all, I'm a random new guy in the site and just found out about the awesome program that the editor can be (Yes, I'm on that eager rookie point, Thanks a lot Atrius.).
As soon as I found out that many people were working on revamping projects of the game I got inspired to make my own. Needless to say, there are some things that I need help with, I have little to no experience with hex editing, and there are some things that the editor wont let me change, so I figure out I have to do the changes manually by editing some hex values(enemy power/resist for example).

Other than that, I have already started with many changes that the editor does let me do, I still have yet to finish all the tweaks in EVERY single aspect of the game(s) to make it more challenging and in depth.

The goal of the project:
-Expand the game's options by balancing every single aspect of the game to have it's pro and cons but to still feel viable and balanced.(Talking to you, summon rushes)
-Make every single party member extremely unique.
-Make the game more challenging overall by adding more diversity to the bosses and how they work, tweaking every single class and expanding the late game setups one    
 use to make the game more expanded options(this time, talking to you, Megiddo, Legend, Pure wish and Vengeance).
-Make the experience of the game a lot more favorable towards Golden Sun veterans that want to replay the game and go deeper with the game's mechanics without
 feeling that they are playing a foreign game in order to keep the nostalgic feeling.

Since I am barely starting the project(I assure you I will be working on it quiet oftenly) I will need some guidance as stated above, But I will share with you some of the ideas that I have to make the game more fun towards player who want to go deeper into the game's mechanics.

Example:

The main goal I want to achieve is to make every party member in the game be unique, we all know every party member and know how they work, but we all remember who were the strongest(Talking to you again, Sol Blade wielder)

To address this problem, I have made a tier(Based on  NOTHING BUT MY OWN OPINION, feel free to enlighten me if you do not agree) list of the party members and some of the things I have in mind in order to make all of them feel quiet more distinguished for their unique mechanic.

The tier list:
---God tier(most useful adept(S) in the games(s).) I am definitely nerfing these.
-Mia: The reason why she is gonna be lone in this tier, is because we all have to be a little honest here... her group healing is broken.You could literally heal a group of 4   members with 25% of their remaining health back to 100% with only one spell. On top of that, being able to use this in her mono-elemental tree: this made her mercury spells A1, and no matter where you put her of how you play her, let that be duo elemental or tri elemental, she always felt usefull due to mercury power increasing itemization and PP recovering itemization available in the game, this made her an unbeatable healer.

---Top tier: Venus adept with the Sol Blade
 Let that be one of these 2 dudes, they always outclassed every damage dealer in boss fights. Spam impact, unleash megiddo , ????, Profit. Free 1k damage every    turn because of the amount crit you can achieve with itemization.

---Mid tier: Preety much everyone else but one singular adept. Further explanation why:
All these dudes plus the venus adept who was wearing either that excalibur or tisiphone's edge( preety limited choice of ultimate weaponry equipment....BOORING).
While these dudes work like a charm in most situations, they are either played as damage dealers at the end of the game with the ultimate weapons, or they are playing by being a wish psynergy user
Bottom line: You do what Mia does like a goddess and what Isaac or Felix does(Sol Blade wielder) like a god in a less consistent way. Here's why: Garet, Jenna: These are cool, they have a 170% attack multiplier choice to be one of the best attackers, but still outclassed by Venus adepts on the subject. Ivan and Sheba on the other hand, feel like the weakest pair of adepts in the series(I am cooking something really fun for these 2) Ivan being a possible damage dealer with his ability to wield the Tisi's edge but with a low 130% attack multiplier on his base class and not having a Jupiter aligned unleash, and sheba being VASTLY outclassed as a damage dealer due to her lack of heavy unleash weapon and psynergies being a base damage dealer only, you are forced to either play her a healer or play her a Necromage, which will result in having an adept being heavily shafted.

---And to finish the list: Piers...my man, I feel like you are the weakest party member in the series...
Here's why: as a warrior, one would assume you can do heavy amounts of damage. And its true, he does with the Excalibur option...But hes by far the most outclassed damage dealer in the party, having a maximum attack multiplier of 140% and on most of his other stats. He's not bad, he just does what everyone else can do in a less consistent way.(Come on dude, even Ivan has a 150% attack multiplier on his PARTIAL tri elemental ninja class).
On the other hand, one can choose to play him as a healer, but he has little access to the wish psynergy while having a high mercury power due to lack of itemization and good-warrior friendly PP recovering items-(Talking to you, crown of glory). The lack of items that made a healing warrior favorable and his utterly average stat multipliers made him feel the most under performing party member in the game(I am also cooking fun stuff for him)


So, with this analysis on board(I repeat, feel free to share your thought on it) It's needless to say I am nerfing the multiplier weapons and nerfing the strongest spells in the game. Megiddo, Pure wish, Vengeance and Legend.
Nerfing some stats on the Venus adepts, adding new mechanics to the mid tier adepts to make them more unique and REMOVING ALL THE EQUIPMENT RESTRICTION FOR PIERS, So he does feel a unique party member. Other than that, add new stuff for Ivan and Sheba for them to be a lot stronger than they feel they are.
Finally, shafting some items to make iconic appearences stay longer in the game(Talking to you, Gaia Blade) and even make them feel like ultimate weapons for set members of the party.

This is only an example of what I have in my mind, I have a lot more ideas for classes, items and enemies in the game.
I will share with you more ideas as I progress with the editing, Have a nice day :) please let me know if you want to help me with the hex editing, I would really appreciate that.


Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Caledor on 03, April, 2017, 02:31:37 PM
So basically same approach as mine but with an extra twist on characters. I like that! It'll be and interesting discussion to follow.

Also, since the concept is the same you might want to read this (http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?topic=2612.0) thread for ideas.

That said, welcome and hope you'll enjoy your stay here. :D
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 03, April, 2017, 08:20:17 PM
Apologizes for grammar better than native speakers?  Yup, must be from out of country - no English speaker would be nearly that legible! :D  Worry not, your post was a delight to read.

A few things stand out at once:

-Make every party member unique
You and I share a philosophy on this one - I dislike shared classes as well.  However, with the tools provided us, I don't know how viable this is.  The most you can hope for is the party separation patch - to my knowledge, the way things are set up will keep you from full character seapration.

-Make game more challenging
This is a trap, be careful about it.  Don't make something hard for hard's sake - all that does is lead to frustration.  It's better to treat enemies like you do the player characters, and give them their own roles and "classes", and to treat stronger monsters as being of a "higher class tier" to their lower counterparts (ex:  Mad Vermin is the Gallant to Vermin's Squire, for example).  Then pair them up in clever ways.  Also, believe it or not, a lot of the supposed ease of Golden Sun comes from the enemies being slow - if the whole party can fire off a volley of powerful attacks before the enemy gets a word in edgewise, of course they're gonna fall.  Give them a much wider variety of agility levels.  I mean, if the party can range from Garet at 70% AGL to Ivan at 140%, surely monsters can have crazy variety among them as well.  The key here is less just "being harder" and more having variety and tricky combinations.  The key here isn't to make everything a knock down slogfest.  Don't believe me?  Go play Xenosaga 2.  See how much fun it is.  It's not.  The trick is to make sure they're not trivial, but also that they rarely last more than 2-3 turns.  Don't Waste the Player's Time is a valuable mantra to follow.

-God Tier Mia
You are fundamentally misunderstanding what's going on here.  Mia's heals are literally the same as everyone else's heals, but as a Mercury adept she has higher innate elemental power in Mercury.  Don't believe me?  Play around with Piers.  He can do the same thing in the Wizard and Pure Mage classes.  What's really going on here is that Mercury power is also super easy to raise, and that healing as a whole is too cheap.  It's not Mia that's overpowered - not in the slightest.  In fact, because she lacks access to any of the "big three weapons", she can't do offense worth @#$%.  But if you make healing overall more expensive (by, perhaps, 30-50%), and nerfing PP Regen (in TLA, you can regen more in one turn than you can spend if you set it up right), you can get the nerfs you want without ever touching Mia.

Also, if anything is god tier, it's Unleashes.  When literally any level of high end play revolves around forsaking everything in the name of maxing out unleashes, you know you have a broken mechanic.  The rate is able to get too high, there are no drawbacks to unleash gear since it's also the best defensive gear around, and with no proper stat support for psynergy of course the whole thing's all borked to hell and back.

-Top Tier Venus with Sol Blade
Okay... again, fundamentally misunderstanding the problem.  Here, it's about proliferation of endgame multiplier unleashes, the absurd fact that you can give 6 party members a 99% unleash rate easy, and the lack of multiplier spells to give reliable damage to offset unleashes being free damage.

-removing all the equip restrictions from Piers
Again, you are fundamentally misunderstanding problems here.  The problems lie in the fact that he doesn't have good alt-classes - but if you use the class separation patch, you can straight up fix that so he's no longer a warrior with mage equips.  What you're wanting to do would arguably make the situation worse, striping identity from him.  It's bad enough Amiti exists to show the example of this and how it's a bad idea - but being able to edit the game allows you to fix his alt-classes to be what you think are best for him.  Surely that's better than just turning him into lesser mirror from dark dawn.



All and all, I think most of the things I notice here can be solved by doing a bit of design by analysis.  More important than "I know this is wrong, I need to fix this" is "why was this done in the first place, and what could I do to improve it that fits with the spirit of what they wanted to do?"  There's also a difference between "I need to fix this character" and "I need fix the thing that causes problems with this character".  Analyze things a bit more and try to look into the underlying problems behind the stuff you have issues with.  If you treat a surface problem when there's a deeper issue, it may only make things tougher for you in the long run.  It's like putting a bandage on a cut while ignoring the infection beneath it.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 03, April, 2017, 11:25:11 PM
Hey :) Thank you both for replying!
I'm glad my English is legible.

Caledor: I'm sorry!!! I didn't see your project! now I totally feel like I am copying you! I did go through your post and see very nice stuff and my ideas had way too much resemblance to yours :( I feel a bit ashamed for this. But it's cool, this is gonna force me to focus more on how to make characters unique and not on the thousands of other resemblences my vision has with your project. Needless to say I will play your version and try to not go closer to it on mine.


Rolina: I am glad you posted such analysis. As for Piers, he will be a focus for later on because I am still mainly brainstorming on the first game. The item restriction bypass is merely an initial thought on how to make him more unique, thanks a lot for letting me have your point of view.
Following, I'm going to try to answer to every single of your points with my thoughts after reading your points of view.

I do agree with you completely that it gets kind of boring to have 2 Chaos Lords and 2 Pure mages on a party to have maximum efficiency.

While I feel like I do understand how the Wish(mainly) series work... the reason why I ranked Mia as my top useful player was because she has the access to the highest mercury power on her innate class. Piers can heal like a charm, indeed, but he is still outdone (slightly) by that possible 10-30% extra multiplier that mage-classes can get due to itemization(Not to mention the lack of PP recovery items warriors can have)...And that does not feel UNIQUE at all :( this is what I am brainstorming to fix. I am indeed making the wish series a bit more pricey in terms of PP and lowering the amount of PP some items can restore you. (Talking to you, psychic circlet!)
So with this being said, and with another of your points standing out here, I fully agree with you that Piers can heal just like anyone else...And also fully agree with you when you say that the problem is that he has no good alternate class...And that's exactly what I wanna fix! I want every player to have it's particular stand out over other adepts, not to feel like they are doing a mimic of slightly stronger versions.

As for the unleashes: Yes...they suck :( it breaks the game in my opinion along with the AOE heals. My initial idea on how to fix this is to heavily nerf multipliers and edit some of the weapons that are in the game to be viable options.
While I don't know your playstyle, I can ASSUME that you also dislike the ''1 Sol blade, 2 Tisi's edge and 3 Excaliburs'' Modus Operandi. This is also something I intend to change by editing some weapons as stated before to be ''ultimate weapons'' for each of the adepts.
Example? Nebula wand: unleash already recovers PP-is Mercury based-add in some Mercury Power(Not more than 20) and some PP recovery(Not more than 3PP per turn) and we have a perfect weapon for a healer. Then again, this is just a simple idea :)

And to finish the reply, I will have to go check out the patch you are talking about as I have no knowledge about it, and it could probably fix my biased point of view towards Piers.
Please let me know if you have any other point of view, as I will be posting on the project section or updating this thread soon :)




Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 04, April, 2017, 01:42:39 AM
Hey there, welcome! Let us know if you need any help with things.


I like some of your ideas while others are not to my taste but could potentially work pretty well; I can give you my opinion if you'd like :p

Edit: Missed the "halp please" in the title, lol. What would you like help with?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 04, April, 2017, 01:49:12 AM
First of all, I have tried to contact Caledor and Squirtle through personal messages but the captcha seems to not be working( atleast for me, I dont want to spam the forums.)
I need help with lots of stuff to be honest.
Increasing power/resistance cap, creating new item icons and asome more stuff like that.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 04, April, 2017, 02:51:02 AM
Ah, okay. Which games, GS1, GS2, or both? I'm not sure about GS1 but in GS2 you can go to #080ADA86 (#000ADA86 in a hex editor) and change the elemental power/resistance cap there (the maximum you can have is 255 though).

I don't have a lot of experience with changing item icons but Fox/Teawater made a tool for that a while back and Caledor has done that a bit.

Also, how familiar are you with hex editing? It'll help give me an idea about how much detail I should give when saying stuff like the above comment about the cap.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Caledor on 04, April, 2017, 08:13:14 AM
Quote from: Manu on 03, April, 2017, 11:25:11 PM
Caledor: I'm sorry!!! I didn't see your project! now I totally feel like I am copying you! I did go through your post and see very nice stuff and my ideas had way too much resemblance to yours :( I feel a bit ashamed for this. But it's cool, this is gonna force me to focus more on how to make characters unique and not on the thousands of other resemblences my vision has with your project. Needless to say I will play your version and try to not go closer to it on mine.

You really shouldn't. If we have the same goal, which is making golden sun less straightforward, it's only natural that we'd look at the same issues. So do what you want without worrying about anything. I really pointed you to my thread so that you might take all the inspiration you needed there ;)

After all, I even released some parts of my mod separately, so that people might use them in their own hack.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 04, April, 2017, 11:09:03 AM
I am not very familiar with Hex editing, I know it's preety straight forward though, I just don't know how to find out the function they are doing. for example, I don't know how you found out that 080ADA86 is the power/resist cap. I need help findind these conclussions
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 04, April, 2017, 03:42:05 PM
Oh yeah. Well, for the second game we have been working to document stuff for a while now, located here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nsDI-Bx6p65X25CPGdJOk8K-WVsYjYTBEN-i_bR8bdk/edit?usp=sharing) for reference. Anything that you can't find in there either hasn't been found yet or is described in different terms, so I would be mindful of that; we can help you find stuff as well, please never feel like you can't ask for help!

For the particular address I gave you, going there in a hex editor should show an "FA" value in byte format; you can only go to FF, which is also the hard limit set out in RAM.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 04, April, 2017, 04:27:32 PM
What I find important for people to know about hex editing:
GBA ROM files are little endian... which means anytime you are editing 16-bit or 32-bit numbers, you should reverse the 8-bit bytes. (e.g. 00 01 02 03 becomes 03020100)
That, and bytes are 8-bit because quite literally it is binary written in hex. The bits are at 1/2/4/8 on both sides of the byte. (e.g. bin:1111.0000 = hex:0xF0) < As you can see, bin has 8 numbers (0/1) for the 8 bits.... represented by the hex.

^^^ Main thing about general hex editing... since data can be represented by any number of bits... for flags/checkboxes and such.... But most of the time data may be in 8, 16, or 32 bit....

Oh, and there's also compression,... which is used to save space. (Makes it take an additional step for editing purposes.) Usually compression applies to image data... like the item icons/battle backgrounds/etc.... There are a couple images (not many) that are uncompressed in GS , though... Also, text data and all the map stuff (tilemap, map code, etc.) is compressed as well. Not sure if anything else)


----
My signature also has the docs, same stuff in this folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-uU7QfJXcL9RTJYMFdVd3pjWTQ


--
As for how data can be found? Not too difficult depending on what you are looking for... Search for cheats/RAM Search can help find the ram data, and then use a breakpoint debugger on that to see what code reads/writes to that.... and that basically gives you quite much room for study. But I recommend actually practicing with hex editing before going into the lengths of search & find (But that's good too.)



Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 04, April, 2017, 11:28:34 PM
Quote from: Caledor on 04, April, 2017, 08:13:14 AM
Quote from: Manu on 03, April, 2017, 11:25:11 PM
Caledor: I'm sorry!!! I didn't see your project! now I totally feel like I am copying you! I did go through your post and see very nice stuff and my ideas had way too much resemblance to yours :( I feel a bit ashamed for this. But it's cool, this is gonna force me to focus more on how to make characters unique and not on the thousands of other resemblences my vision has with your project. Needless to say I will play your version and try to not go closer to it on mine.

You really shouldn't. If we have the same goal, which is making golden sun less straightforward, it's only natural that we'd look at the same issues. So do what you want without worrying about anything. I really pointed you to my thread so that you might take all the inspiration you needed there ;)

After all, I even released some parts of my mod separately, so that people might use them in their own hack.

This.  So much this.  Even though Caledor and I have similar things we like to do, such as weapon variation, our approaches to editing golden sun are profoundly different. I believe in design by analysis and formulaic implementation, while Caledor tends to take the "do what feels right" approach.  It ends up with very different looking teams in the end.  Both are completely valid, but they're different approaches to the problems we see, and you wind up with different experiences as a result.

There's also the spell damage problem, where Caledor and I like using Max PP as a source to reflect elemental power, while Leaf and Squirtle came up with an Intelligence stat approach.  Both approaches are completely valid, but leads to very different feeling games and different possibilities - Caldor's patch makes high PP characters powerful spellcasters while leaving Luck intact, while Squirtle's approach opens up the option for high PP characters who aren't big spellcasters, though at the cost of luck (magic knights are a more viable possibility here).

The idea here is for you to look at the things you take issue with, look at how other people handled it, and then give your own spin on the issue.  Maybe your solution is something we'd never even considered.  Could lead to some interesting experiences. :3
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 05, April, 2017, 12:56:28 AM
QuoteThe idea here is for you to look at the things you take issue with, look at how other people handled it, and then give your own spin on the issue.  Maybe your solution is something we'd never even considered.  Could lead to some interesting experiences. :3

Couldn't have put it better myself! There are many ideas that have been planned, and several that have actually been tested or implemented, but everyone is capable of coming up with unique ideas or alternative approaches to things that have not been tried. It's not exactly stealing, and even if it were then you would be stealing for a good cause!

While I'm thinking about it, how familiar are you with patching ROMs?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 05, April, 2017, 01:15:43 AM
I just patched Caledor's version to check it out :) so I guess I know what you are talking about.
Curretly going through the docs you and Fox posted, trying to figure out how everything works...No luck yet though as I can't seem to understand how to edit at all.
I have been working on stuff I can control though, such as what I can already tweak with the editor itself. I am aware that the editor has a partial innate hex editor, but I don't know how to work with it.
Currently there are some things I am trying to find out:
What does the counterstrike rate do?
Which bits should I edit in 080ADA86 to change the actual cap?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 05, April, 2017, 02:01:46 AM
Awesome.

Editing: You'll probably need a hex editor to do stuff outside of the game editor (the hex editor and assembly there is mostly used for room/script editing in the map editor section). I like Hex Editor Neo myself, it's really good.

Same goes for the 080ADA86 part, which you need to enter without the beginning "08" in an actual hex editor. You should see a byte that reads "C8" (rather than "FA"). I was pretty tired when I mentioned that before and forgot that I was reading it off of a patched ROM, so I may have given you the wrong value before; my apologies! Keep in mind that the absolute maximum you can have is 255, or FF in hex format (whereas C8 is 200), and that raising the cap even higher would require some pretty substantial reforms that have not actually been done yet.

Counterstrike rate: Nothing on its own, it's mostly dummied out to the point where you have to hack in the ability for the item menu to even read what it does. The Intellect stat patch does do this, but in that hack I also did stuff with that attribute that I left unfinished because I also included another attribute that is meant as a very basic replacement for luck. I have plans for it though!


For the game's innate hex editor, I have an unfinished scripting guide floating around somewhere if you'd like me to link it to you. It might help you make some sense of how it works.


Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 05, April, 2017, 02:17:59 AM
0x08000000 is the address of the ROM section. (Where it is held in memory of the GBA.)
My hex editor of choice: In the distant past it was windhex.... but now days I go for something like hxd. (Not saying it is the greatest thing, but it gets the job done...)
Alternately, you can use VisualBoyAdvance's Tools>Memory viewer.... do some editing, see your changes. But they are only temporary.... Unless ofcourse you go to 0x08000000 and use the save button to save the contents/rename as .gba. (8 MB/0x800000 for GS1, 16 MB/0x1000000 bytes for GS2) -- http://imgur.com/2UhQOxu = A little fun concept tutorial I made a long time ago... unrelated to stat cap, but should get the point across.

Most of the documentation has a lot of code documented (But there's still a long way to go.) .... so it is no surprise someone first coming to it wouldn't understand it. - Learning Thumb (and maybe Arm... but not as much.) is pretty much mandatory for any serious hacking. But you can often do a lot with data tables as it is, though....
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 05, April, 2017, 03:11:46 AM
Er...accidentally posted on another thread :( my bad.
I have been doing some research...so you are saying that the FA value on the byte that modifies power/res is by any chance 250? that was my deduction...I know very little of hex editing, but I assume FB would mean 251...FC 252 and so on...please correct me if I am wrong :)


Edit: :O
I have almost finished the tweaks, revamps and additions on the items on the FIRST game, I have yet modify the stats on the enemies. Overall the items in the GS1 game are going to be recieving a significant buff.
The goal of this is to make the items in the GS1 game balance out with the items in the second one, some of them are very good options to have in the reunion, but they are quickly(in some cases, instantly) overtaken by the strength of some other items already achieved by the Reunion.

Given this information, I would like to share with you the ideas I have on the characters of the 1st game.
I want Isaac to be the heavy damage dealer(Preety easy since we all know him for this.)

I want Garet to be the tough dude, he already is, but I want to make him have more presence on this aspect. The original idea on him was to make him get some extra HP and defence, and also add some counterstrike rating to some items that I would have made exclusive for him; the more you attack him, the more he can counter attack, but after seeing that this function doesn't really have any effect at all, I can already see myself submerged deeper(a lot deeper) into the editing department if I want this tweak to be a thing.

I want Ivan to be a swift and Jupiter elemental damage dealer that can either ditch heavy damage to one target or support even further than he did on the original games. This is more or less what he already does, but I Still feel like he is a lot less efficient at doing this job in comparison to Isaac and perhaps but not too much, Garet. This one is gonna be the trickiest one along with Jenna and Piers, but more on that later. I intend to make one of the following: either compress some new icons and create exclusive weapons for him or switch EVERY Jupiter aligned LIGHT BLADE to be only equip-able on him. This would make a pre-point of view of Ivan wielding a K-sword in the first game and a Phateon's blade on the second game. But there's a catch, I intend to give Ivan a second turn, provided by these exclusive weapons.
This requires a lot of thought process though, because if I don't do the right balancing, he is gonna overshadow other adepts with that extra turn. This being said, I intend to make Sheba fully a mage, and the most damaging one to be precise. But this point is gonna be harder later on, because Ivan, in mh y opinion is the party member that most fits this. This being said, I need to find out how to make Piers and Jenna stand out in whatever it is I come up with :). Please, let me know your opinion on this proposal.

And finally Mia: Nothing really much to see here, she's still the best healer in the first game. She is gonna need more attention on the second game though, but for now, increasing the cost on the AOE heals stand out. probably gonna increase her damaging capabilities.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 05, April, 2017, 02:15:51 PM
That first point: Yep, you got it! Hexadecimal is just another numeral system like decimal, but with a base of 16 rather than 10. If it helps, your computer might have a calculator application that can be switched to programmer mode. If it does then you can convert decimal values to hex and vice versa whenever you need to. The same goes for binary, which is useful sometimes although not usually a big deal where the editor is concerned.


Your plans sound pretty cool, not much else to say yet but I might think of something later on.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 05, April, 2017, 11:01:55 PM
Heh, you and I have the same approach to fixing Garet.  Cover/Counter spells would take him from one of the more useless party members to one of the better ones.  Not sure if it's doable, but if it is I imagine understanding how the Reflux djinn works would be vital to implementing it.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 05, April, 2017, 11:52:47 PM
Exactly, thats why I said I see myself deep into studying how it works :( I'm scared...but totally up to the challenge :P and we don't have a reflux in GS one so it's gonna be even harder. But making Garet's durability have a use offensively is gonna make him one of a kind for sure :)
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 06, April, 2017, 04:19:38 PM
I would try giving you a fix for the heightened priority effect so you could give him a few abilities with it if it were GS2, but I don't think GS1 has anything like that to fix and adding it could take a lot of work. I'll be interested to see how you make use of his durability!
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 08, April, 2017, 12:11:17 AM
Currently looking for the section on GS 1 to get the resistance and power caps(I haven't had much time to study golden sun programming because of university, it's gone ballistic) party mechanics start in #08077000 for GS1, and 080ADA86  for GS 2. So now I have to trial and error until I find the value that reflects the cap? atleast the first clue is that it will be C8 (?) or 8C? since its reversed? it's what I understood from what Fox said D:

Well crap. I found the value. But it wasn't after I realized I had to equip and de-equip a modifier that surpassed the 200 mark to check. Kill me please. Re-starting.

00077AAC: surpassed the cap after switching it to FF, Wierd stuff happening though. Is this probably a return and not the actual amount of power or resist someone has?
The resulting damage does change...but the problem is that whenever you surpass the 200 mark, it automatically jumps to 255(my head hurts)
The whole 00077AA0 line actually has 2 more values of C8. My head hurts even further :(


Er....I woke up a little less tired today...The value seems to be #00077AC8 :D
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 08, April, 2017, 11:33:30 AM
Quoteparty mechanics start in #08077000 for GS1, and 080ADA86  for GS 2.
Probably a typo, but GS2 Party Mechaincs is 080AD000....
But yes, you do have the right idea.

Quoteis that it will be C8 (?) or 8C? since its reversed?
If the cap is 200, it will be 0xC8....

Endian isn't about reversing the characters in the bytes themselves, but reversing the bytes for 16-bits and 32-bits.
For example, swapping 4 bytes into a 32-bit:
Big endian = 01 23 45 67 = 01234567 (Probably for Macs, etc.?)
Little endian = 01 23 45 67 = 67452301 (For Windows, GBA, DS, etc?)

I reckon if all you have is 8-bits to edit, endian likely doesn't matter?
But anyway, a little secret, but where you are editing is thumb code.... in case looking in VBA's Tools>Disassemble helps. (You may not understand it, but one step at a time should get you there like it does for me.)


Should be in this function: 08077428 = calcStats(pc) //Updates all stats?
Anytime the stats need updating (e.g. Equipping stuff/swapping djinn/etc.) This function may be called.... (Sometimes it may be called in other cases like to get the Increase by amounts/etc.... but that's another story.)
My GS1 Documentation isn't specific about what's in the function, but I imagine the cap is near the end.. . *scrolls down*...
There are a few "0xC8"... probably caps for different things.... things may look like:

@ 08077A9A:

if value < 0
{
    value = 0
}
if value > 200
{
    value = 200
}


...and again with a different value after....

@ 08077AAC = r12 = 0xC8... and this number is set to some things when value > 0xC8 ...

Conclusion: You may have to edit a few of these C8's to match. You are definitely in the right place, though.



--
Oh, and ...

I not sure if something about pastebin is messing with my browser or what... but can take some time to load.
https://pastebin.com/RmB0HRXp = My attempt at recoding Party Mechanics (GS2) in C++ that one time to be used with gbadevkit... However, at some point I found out about armips, so not so sure I'll continue this project or not. (Probably not if armips proves to be more than successful/etc.)
https://pastebin.com/WKDwPKtm - The extraction I was working on for armips. (Can't remember if this was the latest extraction or not. But is a WIP either way.)

Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Caledor on 08, April, 2017, 02:58:00 PM
Quote from: Manu on 08, April, 2017, 12:11:17 AM
The resulting damage does change...but the problem is that whenever you surpass the 200 mark, it automatically jumps to 255(my head hurts)

I might know why this happens. intuitively, the cap is implemented like this:

- check if elemental value is higher than 200
- if yes, set it to 200.

If the only "200" you change is the second one, the result is what happened to you.

edit: fox said the same thing but was faster lol
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 08, April, 2017, 03:42:24 PM
I did the change HxD, worked fine for power, i haven't had a chance to keep tinkering but I'll get there. Now I gotta think of how to assembe a countering mechanic for Garet or come up with a new idea, which scares me and excites me equally.


On a side note, I'd like to either implement Caledors' patch or intellect patch. Which one do you think will fit better? Taking in consideration that many items will have elemental power additions. Suggestions?
By the way thanks for the replies. Apreciate

it.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Caledor on 08, April, 2017, 04:09:07 PM
Quote from: Manu on 08, April, 2017, 03:42:24 PM
On a side note, I'd like to either implement Caledors' patch or intellect patch. Which one do you think will fit better? Taking in consideration that many items will have elemental power additions. Suggestions?
By the way thanks for the replies. Apreciate it.

Rolina explained the ups and downs of both perfectly some posts ago. For reference:

Quote from: RolinaThere's also the spell damage problem, where Caledor and I like using Max PP as a source to reflect elemental power, while Leaf and Squirtle came up with an Intelligence stat approach.  Both approaches are completely valid, but leads to very different feeling games and different possibilities - Caldor's patch makes high PP characters powerful spellcasters while leaving Luck intact, while Squirtle's approach opens up the option for high PP characters who aren't big spellcasters, though at the cost of luck (magic knights are a more viable possibility here).

With Squirtle's you have a separate stat, which is the best for freedom but it costs you the Luck stat.
Mine doesn't have side effects but the "intellect" stat is tied to Max PP, making PP serve both as fuel and power.

Also don't know if you've noticed yet but i also implemented some sort of a "Magic Resistance" stat, which is tied to the character's Class.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 08, April, 2017, 10:08:26 PM
It really depends, as Rolina and Caledor have said.


The Intellect stat does come with ways to manipulate your "luck" despite not having an actual stat for it anymore. An item attribute allows you to give items an ailment resistance value (which is basically an item-dependent luck stat), and elemental levels also get added together into a pseudo luck stat as far as certain formulas are concerned so you could use that to your advantage when designing enemies. You also get a new damage formula to work with, allowing for Intellect-based multiplier spells. However, that means you need to use a hex editor and maybe another patch or two if you want to maximize its usefulness. I also only made one for GS2, and have no plans to make a patch for GS1 at this time.

Apparently I need to fix a couple minor bugs though, and when I get around to that then I also want to update enemy AI so enemies know how to use buffs and debuffs properly. It is still worth trying this one out if you decide to focus on GS2 and are fine with doing more hex editing, and when I finish my planned AI overhaul then I will likely make a version for this stat as well.


The Max PP one is more user friendly I would say, but your options for class/build differentiation are also limited somewhat (you can't really have a strong fighter with a good PP pool because then they can become a spellsword or even a mage instead). The same goes for enemies, meaning that it gets harder to design something like an endurance battle focused around spells if the caster's PP pool is supposed to be higher. Unless you just give them really weak spells that is. This does come with the added benefit of making classes like the Apprentice series more useful with minimal adjustment needed. Unlike the Intellect patch, there is a patch for GS2 and GS1 so you can actually use this if you want to hack both games.

I haven't actually tried this one so I can't give you any tips if you decide to use it, but it seems to get the job done if you want something easy that functions well and can be used in both games.


Maybe both? No lie, I would love to see how the two patches work with each other.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 09, April, 2017, 12:33:20 AM
Thanks for the explanation, it was preety straight forward.
The proposal for Ivan still remains having an extra turn. I am thinking either give it to him via Jupiter based weapons or via a ring.
To keep the matter iconic, I was thinking it to be a ring found on the Kalay secret passage or dropped by the Toadonpa, since Ivan starts falling behind about in that point in terms of damage. But it's gonna be really hard in terms of balancing, because if Ivan gets an extra turn, he might be able to crush enemies with his psynergy. I might reduce his PP pool and make his class more bent towards dealing damage with his basic attack, but still have a fairly good alternative when it comes to casting spells, but I want that full magic-style to be set on Sheba. Think of it as the hard hitting mage that bursts through his mana but is not instantly useless when he runs out of it(?)

Many ideas on this future patch have the goal of separating Isaac from Felix and Sheba from Ivan, because they were way too much alike.
Originally the idea was to give Sheba another class tree, then I saw the class separation patch.
But I dont wanna get ahead of myself, I am on the mere beggining on TBS, I dont wanna think TLA just yet; However I must delve into TLA and try to figure our how Reflux works.
Items are gonna play a key part in this patch, such as the ''Hammet's Heirloom'' which is the extra turn ring idea I have for Ivan right now. In the meantime...Does anyone know how reflux work? lol, or where is it?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: leaf on 09, April, 2017, 12:35:04 AM
QuoteMaybe both? No lie, I would love to see how the two patches work with each other.
If they're even compatible together, you'd have to gut spell power across the board to keep it balanced. Having two sources of damage for spells but only one for physical attacks means that spells are going to scale quadratically while physical attacks only scale linearly.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 09, April, 2017, 01:35:11 AM
Honestly, the way I personally want to do it just isn't possible in a GS hack - it's why I don't work on hacks of my own, but want to make a game separately.

I like the addition of two stats:  Casting and Warding.  These are used as Attack and Defense, but for pure spell attacks.
I want to have psynergy be affected by what weapons you have equipped.  
I want to change summons to be actual summons.  There would be a 'character slot' behind each character, and when they summon that slot is occupied by that summon for four turns.  Only one instance of a summon can be on the battle field at one time (multiple people cannot cast summons like Megaera at the same time).  Attempting to summon something already on the battlefield would result in the call not being answered, and the character be left with their turn wasted (not even defending).  If they drop to 0 HP when their summon is still on the field, the summon vanishes.  Humantype foes can summon as well, and some monster types.
I want to change how djinn work - to make a step in between the djinn and how many you can use.  This opens up the ability to swap out djinn as you need, while also helping to pace the game well.  Ideally, there'd be 4x the number of djinn, but you can only equip the same amount.
I'd like to have several more types of spells - Cover/Counter spells, Enchant spells, Shield spells, and reflect spells.
I've a variety of ailments I'd like to add, and several I'd like to make more powerful and useful.  Ideally, using ailments and debuffs should be just as viable as doing damage, and in some cases far more so.
I've got a lot of changes I'd like to do to enemies and their behaviors.  A lot of inspiration I have comes from D&D 4e, so I'd likely base enemy behaviors on the enemy types there.


@Quadratic Spells:  Leaf makes a good point here.  That's not likely going to be a good idea, unless you want to invert the relationship of physical and spell damage that exists now.  Ideally, they should be equal to one another overall, with some cases preferring physical damage and some preferring spell damage.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 09, April, 2017, 01:57:00 AM
I mean I know it would be a bad idea but I still want to see it. :D


Reflux: I know a bit of how that works, although I can't remember the details 100%. It's treated as a status effect in character RAM in the same way that stun or delusion are, and has its own action type in the same way that defend, attack, and djinn use do. It also defines an ability to counter attacks with depending on whether a player character or monster has the effect, animation included.

#0812501E = Approximate location for setting Counter-Attack (Reflux) to 0 at the end of the round (I made a patch that removes this mechanic in favour of a turn countdown like other effects).
#08123C68 = Counterattack/Djinn Counter (x09), which is where things like ability ID are defined. It looks like I never added what little I found to the document either. Oops!

It has been a while since I looked into it, and I mostly did that because I was curious about a couple things that I haven't bothered to try coding yet. I'll be returning here pretty soon actually; I want to finish coding the counterattack rate item attribute and I want to make a working Reflect buff that will work the same way as Reflux.


Turn count: Sounds cool. I'm not sure how extra turns granted through gear use and Kite work together, so you may want to test that.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: leaf on 09, April, 2017, 04:09:39 AM
QuoteThe proposal for Ivan still remains having an extra turn. I am thinking either give it to him via Jupiter based weapons or via a ring.
Ring is less intrusive, and lets him share weapons with other characters. On the other hand, this also means he doesn't have a ring slot, so if you were planning on doing more with that slot, it would still be pretty invasive.

Personally, I dislike the idea of extra turns as an inherent character mechanic, simply because of how abusive it tends to be. It basically makes *anything* the class does razor sharp, and you end up needing to water it down just to keep it remotely balanced.

Imagine an item like this, that could be equipped by anyone:

Thieves' Ring
(Ring)
- Turns +1
- 0.5x Atk
- 0.8x Max HP
- 0.8x Max PP

Now, what kind of character would you place this on? You don't get much by spamming the attack command due to the halved atk. You could become a strategic nuker with double AOE psys, but you can't spam cast since you'll run out of PP too quickly, and the second turn would probably come late in the turn order anyway (so it wouldn't be that good for random encounters). So what do you do? Aha, you spam djinn and buffs! It carves out a niche for a character that can only do one thing, but they do it extremely well.

Note, however, since this ring can be equipped by anyone and it has some pretty severe drawbacks, it remains opt-in for the player. There's no clear "oh I definitely need to put this item on *this* character." They might still choose to just not use the item - that's important. GS's classes and itemization is built on the player being able to make characters do *almost* anything, but they tend to excel at certain roles more than others. If you give Ivan an exclusive ring that gives him an extra turn, you *cannot* balance it without pigeonholing him into one build path.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 09, April, 2017, 02:01:42 PM
Geez, that seems made for summon spammers.  I think extra turns and turn restriction should be restricted to djinn-only effects, IMO.  Action economy is rather important, and these effects (kite, ground, etc) are powerful as hell.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 09, April, 2017, 02:09:10 PM
I forgot to mention, Ivan is the only person who will be able to equip it. And summons WILL be nerfed. If not, removed.


Thanks mr Squirtle, I'll be texting you soon. :D
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: leaf on 10, April, 2017, 12:06:47 PM
QuoteI forgot to mention, Ivan is the only person who will be able to equip it.

You didn't forget to mention it. I'm trying to tell you that it's not balanceable. The ring item I posted there pigeonholes a character into spamming djinn. They will do it *extremely* well, at the detriment of everything else - perhaps even to the point of being overpowered. But if you *don't* make them laser-focused on one task, the character becomes blatantly overpowered in *every* respect, rather than just the one.  The fact that even with the *massive* drawbacks it might still be too strong should tell you something here.

Limiting an item with that much power to a single character just serves to make that character mandatory in all parties, which defeats the original purpose of making all characters viable. Even if you *do* somehow manage to balance it, that character will be completely incapable of deviating from their expected build path, which limits options. Either way, player agency is taking a hit.

QuoteAnd summons WILL be nerfed. If not, removed.
Why bother hacking GS at all if you're just going to remove summons? Sure, they could use a nerf, but djinn and summons are core gameplay mechanics that define GS as a series. If you remove them, there's nothing left to make GS stand out from any other generic RPG.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 10, April, 2017, 02:56:31 PM
It is basically "Easy mode"?

I wouldn't mind seeing breakable rings (or whatever) that upon use, give a one-time effect until repaired. That way, you only use them for bosses and such? But whether this is a good idea or not is up to who's making the system.
Ring ideas: (Applied on the following Round. , and then breaks 100% of the time.)
-Give two turns next round.
-Double a stat for one turn only...  per ring (Attack/Defense/Speed/Agility) (e.g. If ever say... Garet were to use the Attack Ring on himself, don't forget about Def Down spells on enemies.... and other buffs.)
:Isaac: Silly Garet, get Ivan to use it on you? Provided he survives this next attack. Then again, I guess that's where my Def Ring comes into play. But if I'm going to use the Def Ring, then maybe I should just use the Attack Ring on you instead. :P *Isaac uses Attack Ring on himself* Nevermind! This battle's all mine!

-Do what Summons does with HP % damage.... - Maybe 10% max HP damage.
-Fully heal and/or revive a character (Would be an idea, if there were no other ways to heal, ... )
-Ring of Wealth? (Only because RuneScape... :P) ... (Better drops/coins?/Double drop chance?/Receive double items...  I dunno... Could be too useful, or useless... Either way, who says we can't have a few easter eggs in my examples? By the way, Happy Easter! (Week early.)) ...

And make sure none of the rings are renewables so you can only use them max once a battle.... (And the breaking effect makes it so you can use it again after repairing, unlike consumable items where you can buy/get more... which would mean the ability to use more than one in a battle.)

(Not determining whether any of these are balanced or not atm.)

Whether certain rings are only usable by certain characters, or whether the effects are decided based on the character, who knows.... and that'd be going a few (unnecessary?) steps further than what silly idea I thought of...

And tell people to use these for "Easy mode" and not use these for Hard mode.. :P
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 10, April, 2017, 04:53:05 PM
I feel like the easiest way to attempt to balance an item granting extra turns would be to make it so the item also curses you and maybe makes you a little slower or weaker.

For reference:
- Curse blocks your ability to act 1/4 of the time.
- A second turn will only use half of your agility (plus RNG to randomize it slightly).

So I have three ring ideas that could theoretically work.

Ring Concept (A):
- Cursed; can be removed

- Turns +1
- 0.6x Agility
- 0.2x Luck

Ring Concept (B):
- Cursed; can be removed

- Turns +1
- 0.6x Max HP
- 0.6x Defence
- 0.6x Agility

Ring Concept (C):
- Cursed; can be removed

- Turns +1
- 0.6x Attack
- 0.6x Agility
- -75 Jupiter ePower


For each ring, while you will have more turns than you would without the ring on average, they become less reliable. The player will have to be careful when using them because certain strategies may fail, and sometimes it may fail Ivan entirely. Each ring also makes Ivan slower, so that it becomes harder to abuse the ring by acting before enemies do.

For Ring A, Ivan also becomes more susceptible to status ailments so he is easier to incapacitate, assuming enough enemies have status ailments to the point where this would be a real detriment. I would throw something else onto the ring but I can't think of anything in particular; maybe boosted encounter rate so wearing the ring is also more annoying?

For Ring B, Ivan also becomes physically weaker, which is helpful assuming that most enemies either remain physical fighters or at least retain a steady arsenal of physical attacks. He will be more susceptible to damage and be at greater risk of death.

For Ring C, Ivan also becomes less powerful. This will not only make it harder for him to abuse the unleash system by attacking constantly, but his dominant element will likely become his weakest one meaning that the player will want to experiment with djinn and the class system in order to keep him useful. This comes with the added benefit of discouraging djinn and summon abuse on him, or at the very least summon rushing.


I would personally vote for Ring C if based on vanilla GS, but the others could work as well depending on how you balance gameplay.


Edit: Something that might work for Ring A is to decrease critical/unleash rate, assuming you can enter negative numbers and have it work properly. That way it also becomes harder to abuse unleashes, although I still feel that Ring C would be the best of the three under normal circumstances.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 10, April, 2017, 05:17:54 PM
I get the feeling most of those turn the ring into Hard Mode... so basically the opposite extreme? (Esp. if the enemy does counter-strike.)

Or, put simply... Why not just a simple ~25% (?) chance to have a second turn? (But the second turn being weakened/etc.)
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 10, April, 2017, 11:17:09 PM
I don't know, the extra turn bonus and the fact that curse isn't 50/50 or greater makes it feel like none of those would be hard mode.

The chance idea sounds okay enough, but I don't see how it's that different from the others aside from the second turn being even less reliable. Would you mind explaining it a bit more?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 11, April, 2017, 12:26:13 AM
I am not sure either... just I had this feeling... might have been because of how some things read out....
"The player will have to be careful when using them because certain strategies may fail"...
"maybe boosted encounter rate so wearing the ring is also more annoying?"

But a 20% extra damage at the cost of those? (Or maybe not 20% extra if Jupiter ePower kills it. .. Which in the case of Ivan, Jupiter would likely give him the best Attack rating originally? So what would it be in a different element with the proper djinn in comparison to best damage without the ring? ...  - And don't forget this is also replacing any other ring that could give a bonus.)  Hmmm.... I am not sure if it is worth it or not if you can't guarantee something you know you want to make sure happens... (You could lose both your turns, even.... if you're unlucky. - But mine makes sure you have at least one turn.) - The need to spend adequate (or more) time on experimenting and setting-up stuff to be able to make any decent use of an item (at all), contributes to a "Hard Mode" philosophy, in my opinion. (Not that it is actually Hard Mode, though.) ... - But again, as this is my thoughts on the surface, I would still need to do some real research/studying of that to know what my final/true opinion would be...

---

It's basically "The power of the ring has slowed down time enough to give you a chance to make a swift move." = Not enough time for a focused attacked, so therefore we can weaken it. Was possibly thinking 50% damage as an example, but I dunno. (So I estimate +1/8th average usefulness if assuming 25% chance? Considering possibly 10% chance, though.... After taking a look at current rings.)

In one way, I feel like if there was a reduction in Elemental powers... it should maybe be in the other three elements / With a possible increase for Jupiter. (Albeit, not much... +2? ... As a way of referencing "2 turns" in a silly way. But I'm not recommending this/depends.) Assuming that the ring is a Jupiter item. (Speed and extra turns I assume is Jupiter-like.)
In another way, drawing the power of Jupiter is more like using up ammunition. ... However, if such an item were usable by everyone, wouldn't this encourage giving it to the PC with the lowest Jupiter stat already? (Mercury PCs?)
It's possible the game itself may have a number of contradictions as well... so in actuality, you could do anything.


--
So are these the only Rings that don't break?
GS1: Cleric's Ring (Out of 7 rings)
GS2: Cleric's Ring, Guardian Ring (Out of 14 rings)

Only the Guardian Ring raises Defense (4), and none of them raise Attack.
All rings are equipable by everyone, and the "Break" rings seem to rely on a Use effect. The non-breakables have an equipped effect:
Cleric's Ring = Curse is removable
Guardian Ring = + Max HP 20

So is the Guardian Ring the best ring to wear?? ... Hm.

Just something to think about when making rings.

(Maybe the Double Turn ring is supposed to be an end-game item? No idea.)
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 11, April, 2017, 12:22:54 PM
Well, it depends on how one feels about rings; should they be reusable items and little more or should they provide equipment bonuses? Or both? Rings aren't the only items to be used as reusable ones (e.g. Fireman's Pole, China Dress, the masks), and armlets are basically rings but better. Is there a point in keeping them around aside from emergencies when they lack of stat bonus? I know I almost never use them in my playthroughs because they are almost utterly worthless, aside from the Spirit Ring because it can be used outside of battle and never break.


Plus, the reason I'm suggesting handicaps on the ring is because extra turns can be broken very easily, especially when the player is not forced to sacrifice something in exchange for them. Even Kite, the djinni that grants an extra turn, still has to have a turn sacrificed to use the effect, lowers a couple stats by a tiny bit, and has the potential to mess with the user's class setup. Plus it has a cooldown of at least two more turns before you can give yourself an extra turn again (having to reset the djinni and then use it, unless used in a summon). Having an extra turn for every round in every battle without having drawbacks could easily make the game far easier than it would otherwise be due to the "action economy" mentioned by leaf and Rolina earlier, even if you only have it some of the time. The other alternatives to making the ring have drawbacks would be to either make all enemies far stronger than they currently are or to make Ivan a fair bit weaker weaker than he and the other characters currently are (maybe with more rings being made available throughout the game so Ivan could have some variety), yet both of these alternatives would have significant effects on gameplay.


As for the stat/ePower thing, it depends? Manu said that the ring would be exclusive to Ivan, meaning that reducing the other ePowers would make it so Ivan's dominant element is still stronger; this would make him well suited for either spellcasting or summon abuse with minimal drawback, while that would idea would actually provide an incentive to experiment with the class system or at least use summons differently, and depending on how spells and other equipment is balanced it might not be that bad of a deal.




Well anyway. Regardless of what you decide to do Manu, I look forward to reading about it from you and maybe even playing it someday!
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 11, April, 2017, 03:41:18 PM
Well yes... what breaks will only break in battle.

To me, I'm thinking it really just depends on how the other rings would be balanced... the others seemed fairly weak and worthless....

My saying 50%, might have been a tad bit too high, but I used a middling number for an example. I'm thinking: Any status effects applied would last for one turn (or 1/2 the turns) and giving half the boost? - Such properties as these is the type of thinking I was having for the Ring. So might be worse than 50% damage. - But do note, I have not thought much about the actual balancing. (Double turns can get pretty complex...?) Just I'm going to guess that most people trying to add a Double turn ring would likely want it to be more straight-forward than complex. - I get the feeling we both would make it complex when balance testing happens, though. :P

(And while it could effectively cut elevel indirectly... it would likely be invisible and applied to the second turn.)
Also the reasoning for my thinking it is an end-game ring == You already have four PCs. So the additional effects/damage should be somewhat less useful than otherwise.
In one sense, the /time/ it takes to use up the second turn and finish the battle also counts, nevermind round efficiency. (Which counts too.) (E.G. One spell that takes 2 hours to cast that give the boss a K.O. versus an actual five minute challenge that also gives a boss a K.O. - But this is a poor example, sorry.)



New theory: What if all rings gave you a second turn, but had a special unique power? - Might be daring, but it would balance out the double turn part, probably.... but then you got the special power to deal with. My guess is that it might slow down battles and continue to make them complex and more difficult to balance.



Better yet... If Ivan is going to get two turns, why do it though a ring? How about he learns how to have two moves (esp. if weaker than everyone else)... so it doesn't have to be part of specific set-ups?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Rolina on 14, April, 2017, 06:29:36 AM
About the ring idea - it also breaks healers.  Even if you boost their PP costs, being able to double-cast low tier spells in a PP-regen build mitigates most of the healing balances.  I mean, sure you could cast Pure Wish... or you could just have Angel Mia double cast Wish, recover most of that, and only use higher levels of wish when necessary.  Give her the PP restoration djinn and it could further break the build...

If y'all want to see the effects of action economy more, try playing some D&D 5e.  Whether you face more or less foes makes a huge difference, even if it's a ton of weak foes.  You'll need to be super careful with implementing them.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Salanewt on 14, April, 2017, 11:15:41 AM
To be fair to Manu, I think the ring idea would only work on Ivan so he would only be able to get the Wish line when he has four or more Mercury djinn in certain classes (assuming classes stay the same, which they might not). Still a good point but not quite as hard to balance as if Mia could use it. 
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas on 14, April, 2017, 03:51:34 PM
That, and if it lowers elemental power for Venus/Mars/Mercury, in one of my ideas. (Visible or invisible... Jupiter was undecided, but it too could be affected by the general decrease of everything. :P).... Mercury/Wish would do even less healing? - By the time we're done, the second turn is basically a time-waster to get a tiny hit bonus. (Hopefully the goal, right?)


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Edit: @action economy: Yep....... Double turns with no other modification... could mean +25% to like +100% useful depending on set-up....
@+25% = Even if stat deductions are included, if an enemy can be killed in 1 hit still.. then that is what I refer to... (Provided you actually need the extra turn, since your other PCs could probably have them all killed before getting to the second round of turns.)
@+100% = Assumes a point in time where your other PCs are too weak / have been Stunned/fallen asleep/etc.
and other rings are generally LESS than 10% useful. HUGE difference... Perhaps if we already had 20+ turns / round, then double turns with no other modification could make more sense? (But even then, it may still need balancing? - But if the percent difference/tolerance is close to (or under) like 1%, then it is likely micro-optimizations.)


If we are thinking about the unmodified Double Turn ring that just doubles a turn for one PC = What if the ring also doubled the turns of every enemy on the enemy side? :P Ouch!?
Reminds me of Ghostbusters, somewhat... "I wish to be the best on my team" = You stay the same, everyone else dumbs down.... Etc.
Because what this Ring would then mean is that the other three PCs would lose a turn every other round. (Hard mode on purpose. - Unless you gave the ring other bonuses like x2 to stats as a random example.)
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 16, April, 2017, 02:00:35 PM
Heya boys. Thanks for the replies. I never thought my ideas would get such analysing responses. Thanks!!
To answer your question I'll give you my point of view:
Ivan has been a cool PC, the thing is we all remember him because of how fast he was and how he was always dying(Lol).
I have had a thought process through this: I will try to implement both patches; intellect and PP multipling formula. Where I nerf the stat growth of intellect by a 20% and I tweak the multiplier by 1*(max PP/1536) so that the multiplier also gets a nerf and it does not progress quadratically as Rolina and Leaf stated.
As for the ring: the ring will grant a turn and some Jupiter power(to remain his element aligned weapon unleash viable), and Ivan will either get a nerf on max PP and attack or the ring will provide this 0.6(suggested) multiplier on these 2. Testing needed first. It can only be equipped to Ivan and it will be called ''Hammet's Gift'' or ''Hammet's Heirloom''

Given this information, I will do my best to balance this out by taking serious consideration on when to heal with him if he is desired to play as a healing caster, forcing him to actually be an economy action based character when it comes to healing and support. Think of this as an ''oh sh!t moment button''. Please take in consideration that PP Recovery granting items are going to be tweaked as well. He will also have an innately nerfed PP pool so he will have a hard time spamming heals and recovering that PP, as I plan to make these a lot more expensive.

Again, thanks everyone for reading and I'll be open to more  suggestions.


P.D. : I will try to think of rings for every character to make the slot a bit more impactful on the game.
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: leaf on 16, April, 2017, 02:09:53 PM
QuoteI have had a thought process through this: I will try to implement both patches; intellect and PP multipling formula. Where I nerf the stat growth of intellect by a 20% and I tweak the multiplier by 1*(max PP/1536) so that the multiplier also gets a nerf and it does not progress quadratically as Rolina and Leaf stated.

???

You don't hit anywhere close to 1500 PP by endgame. That formula is going to result in substantially lower damage dealt throughout the game. Did you perhaps mean to type 1 + (maxPP/1536)?
Title: Re: Self introduction, new project in mind(Halp please)
Post by: Manu on 16, April, 2017, 02:37:37 PM
Yup. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Tyvm.