[RELEASE] Golden Sun: The Balance Age

[Caledor]

I'd rather say the rom. try patching a different one.

[VardenSalad]

Oh, Cal, maybe I'm versions behind, but make sure you switch up the text in the in-battle status menu to reflect the resistance changes you made.

You know what I mean? How before you set your battle actions there's a menu where you can see status? On the text when you move the cursor over the icon showing increased resistance, the text still has 20/40/60/80 instead of 15/30/45/60.

[Caledor]

Interesting, I completely skipped that one. Thanks for reporting Varden, I'll try to fix it (gotta find the string first) ;)

EDIT: Fix for TLA open the ROM with a hex editor and write 13019B1A1F at 000483D2.

EDIT2: Fix for TBS open the ROM with a hex editor and write 13019B1A1C at 00023C48.

Also, Varden, if you try the fix could you please tell me if you notice some bad side effects? Like other similar lines get screwed up.

[VardenSalad]

Yeah, I'll give this a shot when I get to a computer.

[Caledor]

Just to let you guys know... tweaking enemies in TLA is gonna take a while. I'm literally checking and buffing up every single random enemy one by one cause the gap from GS is still HUGE, and my half-assed previous attemps have miserably failed (like -5% to GS +5% to TLA etc).

Example:
Red Demon L19, strongest monster in Gabomba: 227 atk, 54 def.
Armored Rat L18, nobody from the Tolbi region: 229 atk, 90 def.

[Rolina]

Heh, that's precisely why I try a formula-based approach.  Each enemy would have its own stat growths and tiers, just as characters in my system.  The difference is that Tiers for enemies are basically "when are you in the story?"

The five tiers I use are:

Early-game
Mid-game
Late-game
End-game
Post-game

And this is what separates enemy variants - Vermin is an Early-game foe, while Mad Vermin is a Mid-game foe.

After that, it's a matter of figuring out levels.  First question is "What's the target level of the area?"  Second question is "how tough is this enemy family?"  Basically, there's five levels of toughness, +/-2 of the area level.  Small foes that come in large groups would be weaker, while larger and rarer ones would be higher level.

So let's say you want a Vermin foe in a late-game area with a ~30 area level.  I consider Vermin as -1 in terms of toughness, so...

Level 29 Tier 3 Dire Vermin (green).  Vermin don't have spells, so I treat them as Freelancers at tier up HP/PP pattern.

Simple, right?  I've planned on making an enemy creator after finishing the character creator, and it'd arguably be easier to make since there's not really crazy variables like equipment to keep in mind.

[Caledor]

Which is fine... but right now for me would be way more time consuming creating the formulas, than comparing each enemy to its GS (more or less) equivalent an deciding stats from there.

[Rolina]

True... plus, while I heavily base characters to imitate GS, I take a different approach with monsters.  I'd be retooling them to fit a wide variety of rules, so if the goal was a modified or remixed GS, my specific approach wouldn't be appropriate, as it'd count as an overhaul.

Still, given some of the changes my system recently went through, I think it'd be fun to discuss them with you some time.  Off chance you have Skype or Discord?

[Caledor]

I don't have neither (i didn't even know what discord was for until you mentioned it) but i can arrange something. Just one think: i prefer chat over voice cause as you probably know English is not my first language :P

[VardenSalad]

Sadly, Cal, I'm still 95% of the lessened difficulty in TLA is through having fewer enemies on average in the enemy party.

Just walked through Air's Rock again on a whim and the difference between it and Tret are night and day. Well, I guess I'm guessing that enemy party size is the problem. It's probably more like having Mercury Djinn opens up every class to having healing on demand. Giving Sheba the healing ability instead of Felix (while thematically pretty cool) may have destabilized some of the difficulty through raw PP numbers. The odds of Sheba AND Jenna running out of PP to heal is pretty low.

[Caledor]

Sadly, Cal, I'm still 95% of the lessened difficulty in TLA is through having fewer enemies on average in the enemy party.

That is something i've already planned to fix. Later though, stats come first.

[Rolina]

I don't have neither (i didn't even know what discord was for until you mentioned it) but i can arrange something. Just one think: i prefer chat over voice cause as you probably know English is not my first language :P

Ah.  I actually prefer the convenience of voice.  You're really great at the written word, though. :3c

[Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas]

(i didn't even know what discord was for until you mentioned it)

I've heard of it/tested it before... (Someone may have brought it up in a Skype chat back in February.) Neat little thing...

i prefer chat over voice cause as you probably know English is not my first language :P

Now I practically want a voice sample. :P ( I find myself reluctant to doing voice chats... even though I know I have made one or two short clips before... (Can help when it isn't live.)... It wouldn 't surprise me if someday in the distant future, I have a youtube video where I speak some... But umm... that's going a bit off-topic.

[Caledor]

@Role: Thanks, I'm glad. But that's cause i learned english mainly through reading game walkthroughs, manga online and stuff. I'm really not that good at speaking/listening and i think it would be pretty frustrating for you if i missed 1/3 of what you say.

[Rolina]

Hmm... how about replying to voice with text?  I know a few people who do that over in skype. 

[dive_darkness]

Alright, I've gone further into Gaia rock. The enemies there are boring, with a lot of hp. Just deal with them or avoid them... The mad plant was taken care of with normal attacks, the mimic too.
Gaia rock isn't particularly hard, but one thing makes it really annoying: there's no psynergy stone. Nowhere. Which means that you might get screwed up when reaching the Serpent (I actually had to go back to Izumo to replenish pp before fighting him.)

Alright, now for orochi:

He's damn annoying. Either because mighty press can OS you, or because he heals around 360hp pretty often. Otherwise, he's not that hard. Two turns to max Felix's and piers' attack, and just spam astral blast with piers and planet diver with Felix. At lv 25, you should deal ~ 560 damage each turn. Heal with Jenna (wish) and with Sheba when needed (cure). When Jenna get around 70pp, start using djinns with piers an Felix. Don't forget to keep their attacks maxed. Summon Thor and meteor when you can and prochain should fall.

Normally, with Sheba and Jenna on healing duty, you can just fully ignore poison. Try to not use the djinn reflux if you're poisoned, because the poison will hit at each counter (for a max of ~ 100 extra damage taken on this round. Quite bad, huh ?)
Use the djinn Sour one turn before summoning to max damages (alongside shade to limit the damages).

Did it on the first try, lv 25 with everyone, no farm needed.

Edit: went a bit further before going to ankohl ruins. The earth djinn in time islet is easy. Just use normal attacks, heal if needed, and destroy him. Using astral blast or wind djinns kills him even faster. 3 turns to kill.

[Caledor]

@Role: What i'm concerned with is not grasping everything you say (like when i was watching your streams) but i guess it's worth a try

[dive_darkness]

Two bosses beaten today !

Ankohl ruins: I farmed two Tartarus axes there. They hit harder that what I had.

Avimander:

Okay, bosses begins to hit pretty hard. But I still hit harder.
Same strategy as always, Felix + piers boost themselves then spam a 1 target psy. Jenna use Wish, Sheba heals when needed. Otherwise she uses mass ward to lessen the damage taken. Pretty straightforward. No difficulty here.

Poseidon:
Here comes the beast. 1st turn: Felix + piers boost themselves, Jenna uses trident, Sheba uses mass ward.
Straightforward 'till Felix is low on pp (piers should use ether to ensure that Jenna can always cast wish well).
Then go for the djinns and summon to end the fight.
This boss has a ton of hp, hits 3 times/round.
Watery grave actually killed TWICE sheba. I didn't resurrect her the second time.
Make sure to have more than 250 hp each round, or he might kill you before Jenna can cast wish well.

Attempted at lv 26, won 1st try.

[dive_darkness]

Went further again, yay !

Lemuria: get the crown of glory for Jenna, Felix and Sheba (and piers if you can too) 8pp regen each turn is extremely good. Get for everyone the clothing (don't remember the name), because it boosts agi by 30. Really nice to have. Crafted gloves for Felix boosts planet diver/dragon diver.

Hurray, left ocean !

Petra: easy. Spam planet diver and astral blast. Same strat as always.
Core: same. Just be aware that he hits like a truck.
Shaman village & Moapa:
Moapa and his two knight aren't that hard. Focus your strongest attacks like diamond berg and dragon diver on one knight, Jenna and Sheba on healing duty. Once the first fall down (you shouldn't have much mp left on piers and Felix if you didn't get the crown of glory)
Kill the second with whatever you want. (Keep Jenna's PP up with Ether, otherwise it might get hard)
Once moapa is alone, he's easy.

Now on another note:
The weapons in Lemuria's fountain sucks. Get the axe for piers if you can, that's all. You can buy a kikuichimonji and the Gaia blade in Loho. The rusted weapons on the left ocean are crappy too btw. Weaker than those in Lemuria's fountain.

[Caledor]

Dive, can you please explain why the weapons in lemuria's fountain and left ocean "suck" (bar the fountain axe)?
Also, about Kiku and Gaia are you sure it's not Contigo instead of Loho?