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#71
Project List / Golden Sun: But setting Djinni...
Last post by JackitK - 05, January, 2022, 07:58:41 PMJust a quick little project I got the inspiration to do one day as we were talking on the Discord about the Djinni system.
Mod is self-explanatory. The stat boost Djinni give you are negated so when you set it, your stats are lower, but boosted when put in standby. Classes still boost stats so it shouldn't be too drastic of a difference but still something.
Maybe after I make more progress on my more major projects I'll get the idea of something to do with this to make it more interesting.
(Still trying to figure out the Download page so I'll just include a link to it from my Google Drive for now)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GdH8ONs8Y9inF03i_E1Vpc4VbV7ffUcb/view?usp=sharing
Mod is self-explanatory. The stat boost Djinni give you are negated so when you set it, your stats are lower, but boosted when put in standby. Classes still boost stats so it shouldn't be too drastic of a difference but still something.
Maybe after I make more progress on my more major projects I'll get the idea of something to do with this to make it more interesting.
(Still trying to figure out the Download page so I'll just include a link to it from my Google Drive for now)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GdH8ONs8Y9inF03i_E1Vpc4VbV7ffUcb/view?usp=sharing
#72
Project List / Re: Golden Sun: Alt Sunrise (W...
Last post by JackitK - 05, January, 2022, 07:31:59 PMFAQ:
Is Dawn of Djinn hard?
Dawn of Djinn by default is harder than the original Golden Sun, but is not intended to be "brutally hard".
Previous experience with the Golden Sun series is recommended before jumping in.
On average, monster's stats are multiplied similarly to how they are in Lost Age's hard mode. Though move pools
have been changed to make them more capable than normal, including with bosses.
However, if you find a normal playthrough of this mod to be too easy or hard, you can artificially adjust
the difficulty by equipping either the "Casual Key" or the "Brutal Key" to all your party members.
How do the Brutal Key and Casual Key Affect Combat?
When equipped, the Casual Key will boost your stats similarly to how the enemies are boosted in this mod,
plus gives a multiplier on your max PP to compensate for Psynergy costing more to cast in this mod.
It also has an outside of battle use that will recover all of your party's Psynergy, in case you prefer
RPGs where you only have to manage your stats during battle. It is completely optional to use.
The Brutal Key divides your stats, making you weaker than when unequipped.
Where do I find the Brutal/Casual Key?
In Vale, the shop has been readjusted to have both these key items in their armor section for free.
You'll also find the Casual Key in Vault's shop, in case you forget to backtrack.
How does equipping Djinn Charms work?
Djinn charm are elementally aligned, meaning they can only be equipped by an Adept that shares there element.
Only Isaac can equip Venus Charms, Garret to Mars, Ivan to Jupiter, and Mia to Mercury.
Furthermore, Djinn Charms count as a ring equipment, meaning you can only have one equipped at a time, and trying
equip an actually ring item unequips the Djinn Charm.
Where's the dialogue?
For the sake of easier playtesting, I used a version of Golden Sun that had dialogue turned off for all my work with Version 1.0...
Due to the nature of working off a copy of Golden Sun that already had the dialogue remove, rather than patching it out myself, I have
to basically start with a fresh new patch in order to make a version with the dialogue on. This dialogue version of the mod is planned
to be made for either a 1.5 or 2.0 release, but I figured since everything else is set to share already that I would release my dialogueless 1.0 version while I'm reworking a dialogue version, hopefully taking advantage of starting from scratch to clean up some "code" that
I probably made a mess of putting 1.0 together. No set release date for the dialogue version yet,
but it shouldn't take nearly as long as it has for me to make version 1 in the first place. I apologize in advance to everyone who was
looking forward to enjoying the full experience of Golden Sun's story while playing this mod.
Avoid toggles on and off but monster encounters are still gone, how do I fix this?
This is bug seems to be caused by saving and quitting the game while avoid is still toggled on.
So first and foremost, getting in the habit of turning off Avoid when you don't need it can be helpful.
If you do run into this bug however it is fixable with a little work.
-First toggle Avoid on and off a couple times
-Transition to a new screen, either by entering a town/dungeon or entering the overworld.
-When you toggle Avoid off now, monsters should appear like normal.
Soo..umm..sometimes the sprites of enemies and party members disappear in battle. Is this supposed to happen?
No, but I can't fix all of them. If it happens in a random encounter, it was likely an oversight
of trying to squeeze too many enemies into that fight and I can adjust it with feedback.
If it happens during a boss fight, I likely already noticed it but decided not to fix it due to it having too
big of impact on the fight if I flat out removed an enemy.
How do I progress through ____?
Lack of dialogue in version 1 may make certain plot areas a little obtuse.
Feel free to reference the "Event Trigger Notes" text file if you get stuck on your adventure.
In addition there are other text files included in the care package that act as Cheat Sheets for Djinn,
Djinn Charms, and Monster drops if you don't mind the spoilers, and I may add more in the future.
Is Dawn of Djinn hard?
Dawn of Djinn by default is harder than the original Golden Sun, but is not intended to be "brutally hard".
Previous experience with the Golden Sun series is recommended before jumping in.
On average, monster's stats are multiplied similarly to how they are in Lost Age's hard mode. Though move pools
have been changed to make them more capable than normal, including with bosses.
However, if you find a normal playthrough of this mod to be too easy or hard, you can artificially adjust
the difficulty by equipping either the "Casual Key" or the "Brutal Key" to all your party members.
How do the Brutal Key and Casual Key Affect Combat?
When equipped, the Casual Key will boost your stats similarly to how the enemies are boosted in this mod,
plus gives a multiplier on your max PP to compensate for Psynergy costing more to cast in this mod.
It also has an outside of battle use that will recover all of your party's Psynergy, in case you prefer
RPGs where you only have to manage your stats during battle. It is completely optional to use.
The Brutal Key divides your stats, making you weaker than when unequipped.
Where do I find the Brutal/Casual Key?
In Vale, the shop has been readjusted to have both these key items in their armor section for free.
You'll also find the Casual Key in Vault's shop, in case you forget to backtrack.
How does equipping Djinn Charms work?
Djinn charm are elementally aligned, meaning they can only be equipped by an Adept that shares there element.
Only Isaac can equip Venus Charms, Garret to Mars, Ivan to Jupiter, and Mia to Mercury.
Furthermore, Djinn Charms count as a ring equipment, meaning you can only have one equipped at a time, and trying
equip an actually ring item unequips the Djinn Charm.
Where's the dialogue?
For the sake of easier playtesting, I used a version of Golden Sun that had dialogue turned off for all my work with Version 1.0...
Due to the nature of working off a copy of Golden Sun that already had the dialogue remove, rather than patching it out myself, I have
to basically start with a fresh new patch in order to make a version with the dialogue on. This dialogue version of the mod is planned
to be made for either a 1.5 or 2.0 release, but I figured since everything else is set to share already that I would release my dialogueless 1.0 version while I'm reworking a dialogue version, hopefully taking advantage of starting from scratch to clean up some "code" that
I probably made a mess of putting 1.0 together. No set release date for the dialogue version yet,
but it shouldn't take nearly as long as it has for me to make version 1 in the first place. I apologize in advance to everyone who was
looking forward to enjoying the full experience of Golden Sun's story while playing this mod.
Avoid toggles on and off but monster encounters are still gone, how do I fix this?
This is bug seems to be caused by saving and quitting the game while avoid is still toggled on.
So first and foremost, getting in the habit of turning off Avoid when you don't need it can be helpful.
If you do run into this bug however it is fixable with a little work.
-First toggle Avoid on and off a couple times
-Transition to a new screen, either by entering a town/dungeon or entering the overworld.
-When you toggle Avoid off now, monsters should appear like normal.
Soo..umm..sometimes the sprites of enemies and party members disappear in battle. Is this supposed to happen?
No, but I can't fix all of them. If it happens in a random encounter, it was likely an oversight
of trying to squeeze too many enemies into that fight and I can adjust it with feedback.
If it happens during a boss fight, I likely already noticed it but decided not to fix it due to it having too
big of impact on the fight if I flat out removed an enemy.
How do I progress through ____?
Lack of dialogue in version 1 may make certain plot areas a little obtuse.
Feel free to reference the "Event Trigger Notes" text file if you get stuck on your adventure.
In addition there are other text files included in the care package that act as Cheat Sheets for Djinn,
Djinn Charms, and Monster drops if you don't mind the spoilers, and I may add more in the future.
#73
Project List / Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn [Ver...
Last post by JackitK - 05, January, 2022, 07:31:10 PMDownload to the patch:
https://github.com/JackitK/goldensun-dawn-of-djinn
Summary:
"Golden Sun: Dawn of Djinn" is a ROM hack of GS1 that aims to create an experience where combat feels like a new Golden Sun game, while otherwise maintaining the core elements from GS1. This new "Second Mix" update aims to take this even further by expanding on new elements for players to play with from classes, to abilities, to enemies you face off against.
In addition, this mod takes QOL features from the GS Randomizer, such as fast travel, while introducing new elements of its own. New NPCs and books are scattered throughout the land to ease you into changes this mod offers, provide hints, and more. The main story remains the same as the original Golden Sun, but fans may notice slight alterations in dialogue to abridge certain conversations or introduce a side plot or two.
Combat:
New enemies make their debut and returning ones have increased stats from the original adventure. The mod comes with two different patches for different difficulty settings.
In casual mode, you get enemies with a similar power level to the base game while still keeping the Dawn of Djinn changes to everything else.
Veteran mode takes inspiration from Lost Age's "Hard Mode" to boost enemies stats to a similar level, though even familiar enemies have more of a buff beyond increased attack and HP. Psynergy also costs more, and summons have been nerfed in power a bit, but that change is balanced out by the wider variety of Psynergy recovery options Dawn of Djinn introduces.
Combat overall feels closer to the challenge of a playthrough of Lost Age's "Hard Mode" than it does the original adventure. Though the readjusted move pools and occasional liberates with the Hard Mode rules, certain battles may be harder than your average Lost Age Hard Mode playthrough. Especially late game and in the optional areas.
The video below goes into more details on the differences between casual and veteran mode.
For those who don't find veteran hard enough there is even an add-on patch in the Advance Set up ZIP folder that grants you with optional equipment that divides party character stats to allow enemies to hurt for even more damage.
Updates to Psynergy:
A variety of new Psynergy is scattered throughout the various new classes and equipment throughout the mod.
Updates to Classes:
Basically every class has been updated for Dawn of Djinn to have a different assortment of new Psynergy.
In addition each party character has a new default class with various with a different spread of stats compared to the original, and at least one signature Psynergy that leans into the personality of these new default classes.
There is even two brand new classes that did not exist in version 1 that pull from previously unused Djinn combinations.
Last but not least is the brand new "quad elemental class" family. The Jack/Toolsmith classes are fairly unique as they there stats aren't great (nowhere as bad as version 1, but still uncertain if the buff was enough to make them viable.) However, they do have a unique spread of Psynergy via level up. A Jack Adept can wield all four elements of Psynergy at once and usually have a couple spells reserved for equipment. Plus each party member has a slightly different version of the Jack Adept/Toolsmith class. Having more powerful spells of a particular pair of elements, and learn a powerful Psynergy once max out in level.
Updated Weapon System
Weapons are now more distinct from each other as there is now a system of pros & cons between each type of weapon. For example, Axes are the strongest weapons in the game but have a drawback of dropping speed. Maces still tend to be weak weapons but they now have a high crit/unleash rate.
New Weapon Types
In addition Dawn of Djinn offers two new types of weapons, Gloves and Mitts. They are no longer pieces of armor but weapons with more defensive properties and extra abilities. Gloves boost defense as well as giving you distinct unleashes and item effects. Mitts are the more magical version of the Gloves. Boosting elemental resistance, bestowing unique Psynergy for combat, and granting rare unleashes that act like Psynergy in of themselves.
With a couple exceptions, Gloves and Mitts are weapons exclusive to Isaac and Ivan.
In addition, Staff and Ankh weapons have been divided into subcategories in a way similar to Long Sword and Short Sword weapons in the original game.
They both are exclusive to Ivan and Mia. However, Staffs boost max PP when equipped, while Ankhs recover PP every turn while equipped.
Update to Battle Items:
Recovery items & consumable items have been adjusted and added as well. There are more types of Psynergy recovery items, in case the increase cost is too overwhelming. Recovery items as a whole also have a wider variety of effects. Each one is varied enough that even the weakest HP recovery item could have uses late game, depending on the secondary traits you desire. This makes item shops much more useful, as the items don't become completely useless by end game. Enemies also drop new items including equipment and new battle items. Every battle item that previously existed has been changed and new battle items have been added as well. While they'll may still get out-powered by late game Psynergy, they are much more interesting than in the vanilla game thanks to their secondary effects. You'll likely find these very valuable for early/mid-game bosses and may even find scenarios that they're an ideal option even later than that.
Djinn Updates:
Last but not least, are the namesakes of this adventure, the Djinn. Every Djinn in Dawn of Djinn is brand new to this adventure. Featuring a combination of abilities reworked to be more viable and brand new Djinn abilities for you to use. Their overall increase in power should help encourage their use, despite all the mechanics in the series that encourage you to keep them set. Players who find a good balance between using Psynergy, using Djinn, and summoning to get them back on "set", will be rewarded the most by the mechanics of Dawn of Djinn.
Djinni Charms:
In addition to the upgraded Djinn, Dawn of Djinn introduces a brand-new mechanic call the "Djinni Charms". They are essentially Djinn in a crystallized form, either because they've been weakened or have yet to fully awaken. Though not wielding their full powers, they can grant an ability to an Adept of their element if they equip them and lend their Psynergy to them. Only Adepts of the same element can equip them, so Isaac can only equip Venus Djinni Charms, Garret can only equip Mars Djinni Charms, Ivan can equip Jupiter Djinni Charms, and Mia can equip Mercury Djinni Charms. Furthermore, only one Djinni charm can be equipped to an Adept at a time, so you'll have to consider which charms will best assist you for each situation to get the most out of them.
Djinni Charms can be found throughout your adventure, though you are not the only one seeking them. You may find a new NPC along your journey, seeking help with collecting them. New NPCs in general may give you hints on various things throughout your adventure. So it's worth your time to seek out this Charm Warden whenever you see her. These charms won't always come easy though, as some are already in possession of monsters known as Djinni Mimics. Like normal Mimics, they first appear to be ordinary treasure chests. If you engage one, they will immediately attack you and wield the elemental powers of the Djinn they've captured. If you defeat one, you'll be granted with the Djinni they possessed in the form of a Djinni Charm.
Grand Djinni
In this world there are exceptionally strong Djinni known as the "Grand Djinni", like similar Djinni you may encounter if you approach them they will engage you in battle. However, unlike a normal Djinni, these "Grand Djinni" have strength and abilities that rival even many of the bosses throughout the game.
However, if you can beat them, they are the best Djinni in the game, having powerful abilities that will give you a strong edge in battle. There is one for each element, so keep that in mind throughout your adventure.
In addition, the Djinn of Dawn of Djinn in general prefer to fight with all their might, instead of running. So it is worth you time to prepare before facing them off in combat in general.
Adjustments to Overworld Abilities/Quality of Life Updates:
While majority of updates to Dawn of Djinn tie to combat, there are a few field exclusive updates. First off, Retreat not only warps you to the start of a dungeon or town but now functions similarly to teleport when used on the world map. Using Retreat pulls up the map and you can select any town that you've previously visited to instantly return there. The linearity of Golden Sun doesn't make this as needed as other RPGs, but it does open up some options that would be unreasonable in the original game, such as Retreating back to Imil to restock on Hermes Water.
Secondly, Avoid now behaves as a random encounter toggle rather than a wear off effect. Using it once turns off 100% of random encounters, using it again turns them back on. The adventure was built, and play tested around fighting all of your encounters, and there are some bugs making it hard to toggle encounters back on that can result from saving and quitting the game while you still have Avoid on. So I'd personally recommend only turning Avoid on for backtracking for a smooth, grind-less experience. Though the option is there for people who want to use it.
Building off the built in Psynergy the Randomizer provided, many utility Psynergy like Growth, Whirlwind, and even Avoid are built right into party members so they have them, regardless of your class. In addition, Psynergy not tied to battle no longer cost Psynergy to use. Though they have different names to distinguish from their battle equivalents. For example in battle Growth still cost Psynergy to use, but outside of battle it is refer to as "Sprout" but otherwise functions the same.
#74
Introductions / Finally here
Last post by JackitK - 05, January, 2022, 05:58:47 PMHello,
I've been a lurker on the forums for awhile now (been using a lot of the forms resources like the TLA Editor and the Golden Sun Randomizer generator on a couple projects I've been working on) and been hanging out in the Discord for a few months, thanks to Salanewt, I finally got a working account on here.
The Golden Sun series has had been a part of my life for a vast majority of it, it was a childhood Christmas present back around it's release, and it has drastically shaped my creativity and life ever since. Back around October last year I got the inspiration to look into Golden Sun modding. I've had inspirations to make an RPG like Golden Sun for basically all my life but struggled actually getting anywhere with it. Minus the times I've explored said ideas and characters in my drawing. I got to the point where learning how to mod Golden Sun felt like it could at least be a step towards that direction I'd be willing to take.
Biggest project I'm currently working on is a mod of the original (Broken Seal) Golden Sun. Some people may know it as "Another Sunrise", though I've been bouncing between names for it, currently leaning towards "Alt Sunrise". It started as a customized "hard mode", where I was going to buff stats the way Lost Age did and remixing the bosses move pool to make it more interesting. Though the more I worked on it, the more I ended up adding and modifying with it and now it's an entirely remixed version of Golden Sun. Featuring new Djinni, Psynergy, items and more. I'll be making a topic in the proper forum shortly to properly showcase what I have so far with the mod. Also using that as a place to share it once I'm ready to. I did make a trailer showcasing a bit of it but I've already gotten and implemented several additional features since releasing that trailer. So I'm hoping to make an updated video showcasing more about it eventually. For now, while I get that ready though, I guess there's no harm sharing said trailer here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksfMLlVdIcc
(It's been awhile since I've last been on a forum, so if there's a way to turn a link into a video player, I'll have to figure that out later.)
I've been a lurker on the forums for awhile now (been using a lot of the forms resources like the TLA Editor and the Golden Sun Randomizer generator on a couple projects I've been working on) and been hanging out in the Discord for a few months, thanks to Salanewt, I finally got a working account on here.
The Golden Sun series has had been a part of my life for a vast majority of it, it was a childhood Christmas present back around it's release, and it has drastically shaped my creativity and life ever since. Back around October last year I got the inspiration to look into Golden Sun modding. I've had inspirations to make an RPG like Golden Sun for basically all my life but struggled actually getting anywhere with it. Minus the times I've explored said ideas and characters in my drawing. I got to the point where learning how to mod Golden Sun felt like it could at least be a step towards that direction I'd be willing to take.
Biggest project I'm currently working on is a mod of the original (Broken Seal) Golden Sun. Some people may know it as "Another Sunrise", though I've been bouncing between names for it, currently leaning towards "Alt Sunrise". It started as a customized "hard mode", where I was going to buff stats the way Lost Age did and remixing the bosses move pool to make it more interesting. Though the more I worked on it, the more I ended up adding and modifying with it and now it's an entirely remixed version of Golden Sun. Featuring new Djinni, Psynergy, items and more. I'll be making a topic in the proper forum shortly to properly showcase what I have so far with the mod. Also using that as a place to share it once I'm ready to. I did make a trailer showcasing a bit of it but I've already gotten and implemented several additional features since releasing that trailer. So I'm hoping to make an updated video showcasing more about it eventually. For now, while I get that ready though, I guess there's no harm sharing said trailer here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksfMLlVdIcc
(It's been awhile since I've last been on a forum, so if there's a way to turn a link into a video player, I'll have to figure that out later.)
#75
Project List / Re: [RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloa...
Last post by Dark Mits - 30, December, 2021, 06:48:11 AMThank you, Caledor!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone!
#76
Project List / Re: [RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloa...
Last post by Caledor - 24, December, 2021, 07:42:18 PMAdded replacement links for the mod in the opening post, right after the FAQs.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
#77
Project List / Re: [RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloa...
Last post by Dark Mits - 23, December, 2021, 01:47:38 PM"Always keep frequent backups" is something we learn... and I didn't do. Due to my own stupidity, I managed to lose my savefiles. So I go back from square 1... but the downloads do not seem to work. Both:
http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=86
http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=87
give me an "404 - Attachment not found" error.
-=EDIT=-
It seems like no download is working at all, not just for Reloaded mod. Looks like moderators needs to fix it.
http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=86
http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=downfile&id=87
give me an "404 - Attachment not found" error.
-=EDIT=-
It seems like no download is working at all, not just for Reloaded mod. Looks like moderators needs to fix it.
#78
Tech, Gaming and Entertainment / Re: A story that goes Beyond (...
Last post by DevAnj - 01, November, 2021, 12:49:01 AMIt's time to finally cross the border! To do this, we enter the large church we visited earlier and show our royal pendant to this priest.
Border Church
Doing this prompts him to ask if we are Artur, which we of course are. I mean, I don't know many other people with a pet dragon, or his foster sister and brother trailing him with a rod and sword in their hands respectively.
We move on and find Samson and Edward up ahead, as well as a weird puzzle. Samson and Edward spend time talking about how a book told them about it but not how to solve it, and that said puzzle vexes them.
It's honestly an alright sliding puzzle. It can be a bit difficult to get pieces to the right row, especially since the top has pieces from both itself and the bottom at the start, but a bit of fiddling around should solve it. Worst comes to worst, you can view how the pieces get scrambled at the start of the cutscene and then unscramble them using this info.
Trying to leave without solving this puzzle leads to an unwinnable fight with Ramue, so uh, don't do that! Inexplicably, when you do solve the puzzle, the priest comes upto you fine, despite being brutally killed in the scene before this fight.
Solving it also opens a door set into a mountain, which leads into a very large and empty room, which then leads into a cave. Inexplicable architecture aside, we soon run into more DRAMA.
Cave of Spirits
We hear some pursuers calling us out from afar. Percy then acts like a bold hero and closes the gate to slow down, breaking its lever on the other side. Annie protests, but is too startled to do anything. Annie exclaims in disbelief, Samson and Edward commend him on his bravery, the team makes facial gestures to Annie, and move on.
We quickly rearrange our formation to put Annie up front, being in the back row reduces physical damage output and for quite a bit of the game, having high physical damage is rather important. Annie, despite her appearances, actually has the same strength as Artur right now, and indeed she can whack things quite well with her rod.
Edward gains AttackLevel 1 from a level up deeper into the cave. This is a fairly potent attack buff, though unfortunately heavily limited by its steep MP cost. We shall make good use of it later. We also find a chest with a Source of Agility in its upper elevation. Unlike the Source of Wisdom, this is actually important, as it lets characters go first before the enemy on a turn. Annie is currently our fastest attacker, but Artur isn't far behind, so we give it to him.
Going further, we find this priest stranded in the cave. If we agree to guide him out, he will trail us at a fair distance. He doesn't fight in battles nor heals the party, but if you take him all the way out, he will leave, and then stay in an inn up ahead where he provides his usual services. Besides that, this cave is entirely unremarkable and the encounters uninteresting, so we move on.
Some grunts report our escape to Ramue. She then proceeds to threaten them all in typical villain fashion, but then claims that we won't receive any assistance in Zalagoon even if we do make it there, ending with a villainous cry of laughter.
Mountain Cottage
While the inn is another poorly constructed, inexplicable monstrosity, and we do nothing of significance there, I might as well link its theme. It's incredibly relaxing and a pleasant change from the monotonous cave theme we just had to endure a while ago. It is also used later on for various towns, which is very much welcome.
Despite this really impressive dragon, the northern cave is mostly a dead end, with enemies just as unimpressive as the cave before it. Annie levels up and learns Awaken, which is a worthless spell. It removes Sleep, as you might expect. Sleep(and most status effects) are simply not common enough to warrant casting it. The only thing we can really pick up here is a Healing Herb, a mildly strong consumable. So we'll head out and right to our next dungeon.
The Tree
The next dungeon occurs within a network of trees, similar visually to a stripped down version of the interiors of Tret Tree. Most of the dungeon consists of puzzles involving shoving cocoons into holes, like this. Or falling through said holes yourself. Going through a detour on the left gets us Steel Mail, a mild defensive upgrade to Samson. Most characters in this game have their own type of armor, with a few exceptions far later into the game.
You may recall that Samson was cursed by Ramue in the prison. This wasn't just a plot point, the curse will randomly make him take roughly a quarter of his damage dealt back to him, or stop him from taking an action. Since Samson can only ever attack, and since he tends to be on the frontline due to his strength, this leads to him killing himself quite a lot later, which is rather frustrating. Right now it's not too bad, just mildly inconvenient.
The enemies here are mildly stronger than in the caves before, but not by much. Certainly not enough to demand any strategy more complex than mashing "Attack" over and over.
Artur learns IllusionLevel 1 from a level up. It's a fairly worthless spell that attempts to inflict Illusion on a group of enemies. Illusion was supposed to work a bit like "Blind" and other similar spells in RPGs, blocking their sight and lowering their attack accuracy. However, because of a bug or poor values, it basically does next to nothing. Even if it did work it would be rather insignificant, since many enemies who are strong enough to warrant status effects instead of raw damage often use spells and spell like effects, not regular attacks.
In other news, Edward also learns IceLevel 1. This is stronger than FireLevel 1, at the cost of being hideously expensive and rather inefficient. As such, throughout this dungeon Edward has been swinging his staff rather than casting spells; he simply doesn't have the MP to sustain any actual spellcasting throughout the dungeon. As you will see, this will actually become a common trend for attack wizards in dungeons in this game.
While this dungeon plays around with the idea of puzzles as obstacles, it doesn't do much with it. The cocoon puzzles never get much harder, only more roundabout. We finally reach the tree branches after much fighting, climbing, and pushing of cocoons down holes.
This however is merely an interlude between this and the next tree. Which is all about bouncing off webs. Yes, seriously. The puzzle here is to drop down onto ground that's not covered by webs, so that we can successfully descend. There's one detour we can take for a Source of Life, a consumable that boosts LP. Huh, LP? But VP is what went down when we took hits right?
So basically, this game uses a reserve health system. VP is our active health, and goes down when we take damage. When it reaches 0, the character is knocked out and becomes "groggy". On their next turn, their LP kicks in, restoring roughly 2 VP per LP used upto the max VP. Sometimes it takes more LP, sometimes it takes less. What this means is that, in most circumstances, you will be able to survive high damage hits, especially random high damage hits, and come back just fine. While for the most part this is a well thought out mechanic, it's let down by poor telegraphing and certain rough encounters. But that's a subject for later.
The last room is an annoying circle of webs where all but one hole leads to Artur's party being bounced back. My patience is greatly exhausted "solving" this trial and error maze.
So I'll leave the next dungeon for later, as it's going to be Yet.Another.Cave. Join me next time when we get to Zalagoon and the game will become interesting again!..Maybe.
Border Church
Doing this prompts him to ask if we are Artur, which we of course are. I mean, I don't know many other people with a pet dragon, or his foster sister and brother trailing him with a rod and sword in their hands respectively.
We move on and find Samson and Edward up ahead, as well as a weird puzzle. Samson and Edward spend time talking about how a book told them about it but not how to solve it, and that said puzzle vexes them.
It's honestly an alright sliding puzzle. It can be a bit difficult to get pieces to the right row, especially since the top has pieces from both itself and the bottom at the start, but a bit of fiddling around should solve it. Worst comes to worst, you can view how the pieces get scrambled at the start of the cutscene and then unscramble them using this info.
Trying to leave without solving this puzzle leads to an unwinnable fight with Ramue, so uh, don't do that! Inexplicably, when you do solve the puzzle, the priest comes upto you fine, despite being brutally killed in the scene before this fight.
Solving it also opens a door set into a mountain, which leads into a very large and empty room, which then leads into a cave. Inexplicable architecture aside, we soon run into more DRAMA.
Cave of Spirits
We hear some pursuers calling us out from afar. Percy then acts like a bold hero and closes the gate to slow down, breaking its lever on the other side. Annie protests, but is too startled to do anything. Annie exclaims in disbelief, Samson and Edward commend him on his bravery, the team makes facial gestures to Annie, and move on.
We quickly rearrange our formation to put Annie up front, being in the back row reduces physical damage output and for quite a bit of the game, having high physical damage is rather important. Annie, despite her appearances, actually has the same strength as Artur right now, and indeed she can whack things quite well with her rod.
Edward gains AttackLevel 1 from a level up deeper into the cave. This is a fairly potent attack buff, though unfortunately heavily limited by its steep MP cost. We shall make good use of it later. We also find a chest with a Source of Agility in its upper elevation. Unlike the Source of Wisdom, this is actually important, as it lets characters go first before the enemy on a turn. Annie is currently our fastest attacker, but Artur isn't far behind, so we give it to him.
Going further, we find this priest stranded in the cave. If we agree to guide him out, he will trail us at a fair distance. He doesn't fight in battles nor heals the party, but if you take him all the way out, he will leave, and then stay in an inn up ahead where he provides his usual services. Besides that, this cave is entirely unremarkable and the encounters uninteresting, so we move on.
Some grunts report our escape to Ramue. She then proceeds to threaten them all in typical villain fashion, but then claims that we won't receive any assistance in Zalagoon even if we do make it there, ending with a villainous cry of laughter.
Mountain Cottage
While the inn is another poorly constructed, inexplicable monstrosity, and we do nothing of significance there, I might as well link its theme. It's incredibly relaxing and a pleasant change from the monotonous cave theme we just had to endure a while ago. It is also used later on for various towns, which is very much welcome.
Despite this really impressive dragon, the northern cave is mostly a dead end, with enemies just as unimpressive as the cave before it. Annie levels up and learns Awaken, which is a worthless spell. It removes Sleep, as you might expect. Sleep(and most status effects) are simply not common enough to warrant casting it. The only thing we can really pick up here is a Healing Herb, a mildly strong consumable. So we'll head out and right to our next dungeon.
The Tree
The next dungeon occurs within a network of trees, similar visually to a stripped down version of the interiors of Tret Tree. Most of the dungeon consists of puzzles involving shoving cocoons into holes, like this. Or falling through said holes yourself. Going through a detour on the left gets us Steel Mail, a mild defensive upgrade to Samson. Most characters in this game have their own type of armor, with a few exceptions far later into the game.
You may recall that Samson was cursed by Ramue in the prison. This wasn't just a plot point, the curse will randomly make him take roughly a quarter of his damage dealt back to him, or stop him from taking an action. Since Samson can only ever attack, and since he tends to be on the frontline due to his strength, this leads to him killing himself quite a lot later, which is rather frustrating. Right now it's not too bad, just mildly inconvenient.
The enemies here are mildly stronger than in the caves before, but not by much. Certainly not enough to demand any strategy more complex than mashing "Attack" over and over.
Artur learns IllusionLevel 1 from a level up. It's a fairly worthless spell that attempts to inflict Illusion on a group of enemies. Illusion was supposed to work a bit like "Blind" and other similar spells in RPGs, blocking their sight and lowering their attack accuracy. However, because of a bug or poor values, it basically does next to nothing. Even if it did work it would be rather insignificant, since many enemies who are strong enough to warrant status effects instead of raw damage often use spells and spell like effects, not regular attacks.
In other news, Edward also learns IceLevel 1. This is stronger than FireLevel 1, at the cost of being hideously expensive and rather inefficient. As such, throughout this dungeon Edward has been swinging his staff rather than casting spells; he simply doesn't have the MP to sustain any actual spellcasting throughout the dungeon. As you will see, this will actually become a common trend for attack wizards in dungeons in this game.
While this dungeon plays around with the idea of puzzles as obstacles, it doesn't do much with it. The cocoon puzzles never get much harder, only more roundabout. We finally reach the tree branches after much fighting, climbing, and pushing of cocoons down holes.
This however is merely an interlude between this and the next tree. Which is all about bouncing off webs. Yes, seriously. The puzzle here is to drop down onto ground that's not covered by webs, so that we can successfully descend. There's one detour we can take for a Source of Life, a consumable that boosts LP. Huh, LP? But VP is what went down when we took hits right?
So basically, this game uses a reserve health system. VP is our active health, and goes down when we take damage. When it reaches 0, the character is knocked out and becomes "groggy". On their next turn, their LP kicks in, restoring roughly 2 VP per LP used upto the max VP. Sometimes it takes more LP, sometimes it takes less. What this means is that, in most circumstances, you will be able to survive high damage hits, especially random high damage hits, and come back just fine. While for the most part this is a well thought out mechanic, it's let down by poor telegraphing and certain rough encounters. But that's a subject for later.
The last room is an annoying circle of webs where all but one hole leads to Artur's party being bounced back. My patience is greatly exhausted "solving" this trial and error maze.
So I'll leave the next dungeon for later, as it's going to be Yet.Another.Cave. Join me next time when we get to Zalagoon and the game will become interesting again!..Maybe.
#79
Project List / Re: [RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloa...
Last post by Caledor - 26, October, 2021, 06:34:19 PMQuote from: DevAnj on 25, October, 2021, 11:39:35 PM
What triple element classes can I unlock specifically in the first Golden Sun game? From what little I experimented with, I could get Shinobi/Samurai/White Knight(I think, was definitely a Defender esque class though) on Isaac and Garet, and Wild Mage/Divine Mage/White Mage on Ivan and Mia. I'm also not sure if any of them are good compared to dual element classes or even some mono element ones. For instance, I don't see how Wild Mage is useful when Isaac and Garet get generally better weapons and better attack stats to go with said weapons. Shinobi is alright, mostly because of Shuriken and powerful aoes, but Samurai was surprisingly underwhelming and White Knight wasn't really much better than Defender. I suppose you can't really make two effective Defenders in this game though given the small pool of Djinn compared to the Lost Age.
Basically the same as TLA for the original party but you're locked to earlier tiers, just like every other class line. Wild mage is for mages though, not Isaac and Garet.
#80
Project List / Re: [RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloa...
Last post by DevAnj - 25, October, 2021, 11:39:35 PMWhat triple element classes can I unlock specifically in the first Golden Sun game? From what little I experimented with, I could get Shinobi/Samurai/White Knight(I think, was definitely a Defender esque class though) on Isaac and Garet, and Wild Mage/Divine Mage/White Mage on Ivan and Mia. I'm also not sure if any of them are good compared to dual element classes or even some mono element ones. For instance, I don't see how Wild Mage is useful when Isaac and Garet get generally better weapons and better attack stats to go with said weapons. Shinobi is alright, mostly because of Shuriken and powerful aoes, but Samurai was surprisingly underwhelming and White Knight wasn't really much better than Defender. I suppose you can't really make two effective Defenders in this game though given the small pool of Djinn compared to the Lost Age.