News:

The forum has been updated to SMF (2.1.3)!
Please be patient as we work to polish up the place and update features as we can.

Main Menu

[RELEASE] Golden Sun: The Balance Age

Started by Caledor, 24, January, 2015, 12:29:46 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Caledor

As of January 2017 this mod is discontinued since it became part of Golden Sun Reloaded, which can be found HERE.

The thread is being kept as is only for archive purposes.

:idea: Class System & Characters: A lot of new classes, stat bonuses in 5% steps. Full separation implemented in TLA: no more partial classes. Characters' base stats rearranged. Magic Resistance stat implemented. UPDATED
[spoiler=Classes & Characters]
Detailed class chart HERE.
HERE instead, you can find a txt file that lists every perfect class setup (hence, no djinn wasted) that can be created in TLA with this mod.

Felix's and Sheba's starting classes now are different from Isaac's and Ivan's respectively. Inspiration for their classes (both in names and spells) was taken from Rolina's Class Tweaks for TLA.
Jenna and Piers have a completely new set of classes made almost entirely from scratch: Jenna's classes are mostly mage-oriented while Piers' are mostly warrior-oriented.

Implemented 5% steps in stat increases instead of 10%, added a 6th tier to every two-element class and got rid of partial classes in TLA.

Each class line has a Magic Resistance value (WRD in the class doc). It acts as a multiplier and reduces or increases damage taken from Base Damage attacks.

A fourth three-elemental class has been added to EVERYONE, to fill the djinn combination gap left by the other three. So, Venus/Mars characters gain the 5 :VenusStar: 5 :MarsStar: 4 :MercuryStar: class and Jupiter/Mercury characters gain the 5 :JupiterStar: 5 :MercuryStar: 4 :MarsStar: class.

Characters' base stats were rearranged to balance them out and at the same time make differences between them more striking, cause those changes are (for the most part) reflected by the stat multipliers of the base classes. For example:
Sheba is now everything that Ivan was: best caster and frailest character. Ivan also gained more attack. Piers improved with more PP and HP at the expense of Felix. Piers is also a better caster than Isaac now. Mia has now second best PP but also second worst ATK.

In TLA, Felix and Sheba start at level 4, Jenna at 3 and Piers at 17. Piers levels up faster (while still being the slowest).
[/spoiler]

:idea: Items & Equipment: Added entirely new items and the formerly non-acquirable items; tweaked MANY others.
[spoiler=Items]Almost every piece of equipment has been tweaked.

Former unacquirable items added: Herbed Shirt, Divine Camisole, Casual Shirt, Ninja Sandals, Knight's Greaves, Silver Greaves.

New items: Sol Ring (= Dark Dawn's Lord Sun's Ring), Luna Ring (= Dark Dawn's Lady Moon's Ring), Iridial Ring (increases max PP and restores PP each turn), Wind Ring (Boosts Agility), Caladbolg (mercury-unleashing Long Sword), Ker's Weight (cursed venus-unleashing staff), Herculean Axe (from DD), Alecto's Mace (mars-aligned Mace), Dark Robe (cursed robe), Mind Ribbon and Mountain water (info here).

The Sol, Luna, and Iridal ring replace the non-acquirable Soul Ring, Aroma Ring and Rainbow Ring.
The Wind Ring replaces the Sleep Ring.
The Herculean Axe replaces the Stellar Axe.
The Caladbolg is now the fourth strongest Long Sword after Sol Blade, Darksword and Excalibur. It was added to address the lack of strong Mercury-based unleashes left by the significant nerf the Masamune received.
Alecto's Mace was added to increase endgame weapon variety.
Ker's Weight and Dark Robe were added to complete the set of cursed items. You can now use your cleric's ring to make either a cursed warrior or a cursed mage.

Each piece of equipment found/bought in the game is stronger than anything (of the same type) you could find at an earlier point in the game and weaker than anything found later. Shops have been changed accordingly. In TLA this has been enforced even more: Isaac's team no longer wields utter crap weapon-wise when it joins.

Equipment categories: Weapons

  • Long Swords: standard weapon (Sol Blade +180 Atk, Darksword +190 Atk)
  • Light Blades: -Atk +Agility (Tisiphone Edge +167 Atk, +15 Agility)
  • Axes: + Atk -Def (Herculean Axe +187 Atk, -10 Def)
  • Maces: -Atk, -5% Unleash Rate, +MaxHP/Power/Res (Rising Mace +172 Atk, +20 MaxHP, +15 MePower/MeRes)
  • Staves: --Atk, +5% Unleash Rate, +MaxPP/Power (Ker's Weight +151 atk, +30 VPower, +18 MaxPP)
  • Ankhs: --Atk, +5% Unleash Rate, +Power/Luck (Clotho's Distaff, +139 atk, +25 MePower, +7 Luck)

Other notable changes

  • A much needed way to increase Venus power has been added in the form of Titan Gloves (+30) and Muni Robe (+20 Pow/+30 Res).
  • Aeolian Cassock is no longer completely overshadowed by Feathered Robe (+25 JPower / +50 JRes, and Feathered robe is only +15 JPower now).
  • Berserker Band now increases MaxPP, while the Attack increase went to Alastor's Hood instead. This was done to complement the PP Multiplier implemented. I want offensive casters to favor the Berserker Band in place of the Psychic Circlet.
  • Cursed items have greatly improved BUT Cleric's Ring lowers Luck by 10. Great power comes with a price after all. Plus i really like the fact that this way the Paladin and Holy Knight are discouraged from wearing those "dark" items 'cause it would make them even more susceptible to Death. Pretty iconic, isn't it? :p

And many other minor tweaks.[/spoiler]

:idea: Unleashes: Chance to trigger reduced, strongest got nerfed, added damage type got buffed. Unleashing mages are now a viable option.
[spoiler=Unleashes]The base unleash rate is now 30%.

Unleash rate can be maxed to 98% only with the following set: Fear Helm (15) + Valkyrie Mail/Stealth Armor (15) + Terra Shield (15) + Ninja Sandals (15) + Sol Ring (8). But the Sol Ring is unique and you'll probably use the Cleric's Ring to counter the curse, so the curse-free max is a 90% unleash rate. The generic set is instead Mythril Helm (12) + Mythril Clothes (12) + Riot Gloves (15) + Ninja Sandals (15) = 84% standard unleash rate.

Armageddon's (Megiddo) multiplier is now x2.6, Ceres' Legend and Heaven Vengeance had their added damage GREATLY nerfed. Added damage type unleashes got buffed (mostly, in some cases a nerf was required instead) to make the added damage be slightly less than half the attack bonus of the weapon.

Some unleashes had their element changed. Among the most notable ones, Acheron's Grief changed to Jupiter and High Vitals to Mercury.

Every unleash of non-staff weapons that can be found only AFTER Jupiter Lighthouse uses a multiplier to increase damage.
Staves' unleashes are ALL base damage type: their power ranges from 45 (Milky Cloud) to 280 (Soul Doom).

Mythril armlet raises the unleash rate by 25%.
[/spoiler]

:idea: Psynergy: Added new psynergies. PP cost changed for almost all psynergies. Base damage spells' power is increased by a flat multiplier. Reviving tweaked, group healing heavily nerfed. Power and Resistance cap raised to 255. Resistance buffs and debuffs nerfed. UPDATED
[spoiler=Psynergy]New psynergies: Tyrfing (Venus equivalent of Quick Strike), Meltdown (Mars equivalent of Quick Strike), Veil/Screen (Mercury equivalent of Ward/Resist), Punishment series (Single target Jupiter base damage spells, base power 50, 135 and 240 for each tier), Wave series (Multi target Mercury base damage spells, base power 45, 100 and 190 for each tier. Replaces the Cool series), Boon series (from DD), Raise (Mars equivalent of Revive) and Remedy (a single target Tonic).

PP cost for base damage psynergies recalculated from scratch with a custom made formula I wrote in order to make Power weight more than range.

Buffs and Debuffs cost slightly more, as well as Multiplier-type psynergies.

Resistance buffs and debuffs increase and decrease resistance by 15/30 instead of 20/40, and it caps at +-60 instead of +-80.

Group healing and reviving psynergies cost MUCH more, as well as the strongest single target healing psynergies. Pure Wish, Pure Ply and Nature Boon also had their base power reduced. Reviving effects now have ALL a 100% success rate BUT Revive, Raise, Water of Life, Lich and Phoenix revive only to 50% HP.

The Necromancer's Call Demon/Dullahan are base damage type spells. Call Dullahan is now the strongest base damage psynergy in the game. The Pierrot's Card and Juggle series are also stronger. Frost Card, at 210 base power, is the strongest Mercury base damage psynergy in the game.

Drain and Psy Drain are stronger and never miss.

The new base damage formula is Damage = Old Damage Formula * (1+(MaxPP/1024)). There are a lot of benefits granted by this, namely:

  • Base Power spells now can keep up with attack-based damage.
  • The damage grows as characters level up.
  • Mage-like classes do more damage with those psynergies than Warrior-like classes.
  • PP increasing equipment are no longer completely overshadowed by PP regenerating equipment. Offensive casters will now favor PP increases, while healers will opt for PP regeneration.

And many other minor tweaks.[/spoiler]

:idea: Debuffs: Infliction rates changed. Haunt, Delusion and Death Curse are stronger.
[spoiler=Debuffs]Base infliction rates:
Drop attack         120%
Drop defense        120%
Drop resistance     120%
Poison              65%
Venom               65%
Delusion            60%
Stun                45%, 150%
Sleep               40%
Seal                55%, 130%
Haunt               60%
Death               20%
Death Curse         55%
HP to 1             35%*
Ignore Defense      50%*
Force target OOB    40%
Ulysses' paralyze   150%

*not affected by Luck

150% Stun is from Azul; 130% Seal is from Luff and Rime.

Haunt triggering rate is now 40%. Characters wrapped in Delusion can't unleash and regular attacks miss 70% of the time instead of 60%. Death Curse's countdown starts at 4 instead of 7.
[/spoiler]

:idea: Djinn & Summons: Summon rushing isn't possible anymore, summons have been rebalanced. Most Djinn have improved, the strongest ones were nerfed. UPDATED
[spoiler=Djinn & Summons]Summons' HP% Damage nerfed from 3% per Djinn to 2% per Djinn (Daedalus: 5% the first attack and 10% the missile instead). Moreover it has been further reduced against the strongest bosses (those with HP > 10,000).

Summons Base power is 35-70-130-220 for the standard 4, Zagan 60, Megaera 65, Flora 120, Moloch 125, Ulysses 200, Eclipse 300, Haures 310, Coatlicue 400, Dedalus 120+320, Azul 460, Catastrophe 480, Charon 540, Iris 600.

Summons that require more than 2 djinn won't appear right at the start of a battle. After the first turn, 3-djinn summons become available; after the second, 4-djinn summons become available and so on, with Iris available after the 7th turn has passed.

Catastrophe requires 7 djinn to be summoned (5 Ju, 2 Me), Charon 8 (6 Ve, 2 Ju) and Iris 10 (6 Ma, 4 Me).

Djinn chart. Short summary: Stat increases have been balanced between djinn, overall slightly less HP and slightly more PP and Luck. Djinn that increase more PP increase less HP and vice-versa. ALL damaging Djinn are now multiplier based and are stronger than before (they ALL range from x1.6 to x2.3).

Reflux is now multi-target. Shade and Flash reduce damage respectively by 50% and 66% instead of 60% and 90%. Vine, Mud, Gasp and Fury deal base damage. Ember restores 10% of PP, Ether 35% and Aroma 12,5%. Balm and Spark revive to 50% HP instead of 60%. Crystal heals 60% of HP.
[/spoiler]

:idea: Enemies: Stronger in general. New enemies added.
[spoiler=Enemies]
In TBS each enemy has around x1,45 HP, x1,20 Atk, x1,15 Def, x1,20 Agi.
In TLA each enemy has around x1,55 HP, x1,30 Atk, x1,25 Def, x1,30 Agi.
Those values might vary for some enemies, especially in TLA.

Each enemy that uses psynergy has maxPP equal to its levelx5 (if it isn't already higher) so it can benefit from the PP Multiplier. Others, mainly bosses, were tweaked accordingly. Enemies that could potentially run out of PP during a battle were granted PP regeneration to effectively grant them infinite PP (every Djinn in both games, to say the first that come to mind).

For some enemies (especially in TLA), the element they're weak to got changed.

TLA's superbosses are especially more menacing than before.

The monsters have now a higher chance to use their special abilities and some bosses use new skills or stronger version of the skills they already had. Some monsters and bosses and most Djinn have multiple turns.

New enemies:
Brutal Wolf replaces Creeper in the Air's Rock interior.
Nue can be found at Yampi Desert Cave.
Bane Wight can be found at Islet Cave.
Aeshma can be found at Anemos Inner Sanctum.
[/spoiler]

:idea: Drops: Notable drops that changed from the original version.
[spoiler=Drops]
Mad Plant (Lv 28)        -> Herbed Shirt       1/1
Chimera Worm (Lv 38)     -> Rising Mace        1/128
Grave Wight (Lv 40)      -> Ninja Sandals      1/128
Sea Hedgehog (Lv 36)     -> Tear Stone         1/64
Gillman Lord (Lv 36)     -> Caladbolg          1/256
Raptor (Lv 35)           -> Casual Shirt       1/64
Blue Dragon (Lv 32)      -> Mist Potion        1/64
Puppet Warrior (Lv 36)   -> Knight's Greaves   1/128
Magicore (Lv 28)         -> Spirit Gloves      1/128*
Grand Chimera (Lv 34)    -> Silver Greaves     1/128
Devil Frog (Lv 35)       -> Divine Camisole    1/128
Nue (Lv 37)              -> Alecto's Mace      1/128
Bane Wight (Lv 38)       -> Dark Robe          1/256
Aeshma (Lv 40)           -> Ker's Weight       1/256

Balrog                   -> Sol Ring           1/1
Sentinel                 -> Luna Ring          1/1
Star Magician            -> Iridial Ring       1/1
Dullahan                 -> Mind Ribbon        1/1

*TLA Only. In GS it still drops the Aura Gloves.
[/spoiler]

:idea:  Terms: Fixed some translation mistakes or deliberate (but unjustified) changes from the japanese version.
[spoiler=Terminology]
The document that helped me fix the translation mistakes: http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/468548-golden-sun/faqs/53706

Classes
See the document liked in the Class System & Characters section

Items

  • Psynergy Rod -> Psychic Rod
  • China Dress -> Cheongsam
  • Ninja Garb -> Black Garb
  • Oracle's Robe -> Princess Robe
  • Mirrored Shield -> Mirror Shield
  • Adept's Helm -> Ceres' Helm
  • Ninja Hood -> Black Hood
  • Lucky Cap -> Ninja Headband
  • Thunder Crown -> Devil's Crown
  • Silk Shirt -> Silk Bustier
  • Cleric's Ring -> Angel Ring
  • Levatine -> Laevateinn
  • Cloud Brand -> Murakumo
  • Fireman's Pole -> Matoi
  • Festival Coat -> Festival Happi
  • Phantasmal Mail -> Arcadia Mail
  • Terra Shield -> Terror Shield
  • Berserker Band -> Berserk Circlet
  • Knight's/Silver Greave -> Knight's/Silver Greaves
  • Orihalcon -> Orichalcum
  • Tomegathericon -> Necronomicon

Unleashes
  • Aqua Sock -> Aqua Strike
  • Barrage -> Explosion
  • Broil -> Fire Attack
  • Poison Death -> Deadly Poison
  • Murk -> Milky Cloud
  • Psy Leech -> Psynergy Leech
  • Frost Bite -> Frostbite
  • Megiddo -> Armageddon
  • Legend -> Ceres' Legend
  • Vengeance -> Heaven Vengeance
  • Hearthbreak -> Death Call
  • Sarcophagus -> Pharaoh's Curse
  • Apocalypse -> Final Judgement

Psynergy and Enemy Abilities
  • Blast (Nova) -> Starburst
  • Fire Puppet -> Fear Puppet
  • Death Size -> Death Scythe
  • Soothing Star -> Healing Spores
  • Thrash -> Ribbit Stomp
  • X Blessing -> X Breath (as in Fire Blessing to Fire Breath)
  • Storm Breath -> Thunder Breath
  • Mad Spatter -> Mud Spatter
  • Mortal Blow -> Suicide Sting
  • Black Ice -> Black Blizzard
  • Formina Sage -> Fulminous Edge
  • True Collide -> Dark Contact
  • Earnest Ply -> Pure Ply

Enemies
  • Mauler, Ravager, Grisly -> Grizzly, Brown Bear, Savage Bear
  • Dread hound, Cerebus, Fenrir -> Cerberus, Hell Hound, Fenrir
  • Serpent -> Orochi
  • Valukar -> Balrog

Locations
  • Gondowan Cave -> SE Karagol Cave
  • Tunnel Ruins -> Venus Ruins
  • Altin Peak -> Altin Mines

Moreover, a few lines of dialogue that were clearly wrong have been fixed.
[/spoiler]


:!:  Download Links:
Patch for Golden Sun: The Broken Seal. http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=70
Patch for Golden Sun: The Lost Age. http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=71

:!:  Patches Used:

  • Psy Drain Icon by me
  • Bronze icons for bronze equipment by me
  • Steam Graphic Fix by me
  • Base Damage Multiplier by me
  • Advanced Reviving by Lord Squirtle
  • Animation 48 - Jupiter Healing 1 by Lord Squirtle
  • Curse Duration Modifier: 4 Turns by Lord Squirtle
  • Simple Summons by Lord Squirtle
  • Simple Success Rates by Lord Squirtle
  • Wave Animation by Lord Squirtle
  • Parts of The Lost Age Rebalance 2013 by Erik the Appreciator
  • Parts of Golden Sun Rebalance 2012 by Erik the Appreciator
  • Blacksmith Price Fix by Atrius
  • A tweaked Class Separation Patch

Salanewt

Howdy! Looks like you've done quite a bit here, and I could probably point you in the right direction for finishing your project. The main thing I need to go before I go into detail is how knowledgeable you are with hacking stuff. It's obvious you know how to do some hex editing at the very least, so I bet you'll be able to figure it out after being pointed in the right direction; especially if you have any knowledge of assembly.

But anyway, to get to the core of your question. A lot of the battle/formula stuff, including ability formulas, generally use registers to store unit (PC or enemy) RAM addresses and access them directly. From that point, you would only need to know where the necessary variables are in relation to those addresses to be able to read and use those values. The base addresses for PC RAM starts at #02000520 (and starts with the character's name), and max PP is x36 from that address. Basically in the quote below.

Quote from: Hacking Doc02000520 = PC Data *8 ; Felix (04) below:
02000A50 = Name
02000A5F = Level
02000A64 = HP %th
02000A66 = PP %
02000A84 = Max HP and PP
02000A88 = Current HP and PP
02000A8C = Attack and Defense
02000A90 = Agility
02000A92 = Luck
02000A98 = Elemental Power/Resist


Next, you would need to know how to divide that by 1000. The nice thing is that the games have their own division function, which basically works by grabbing value A and dividing it by value B; PP could be value A in this case, and an instruction could be used to multiply a certain value to 1000. The base damage formula (which I'm pretty sure is located at #08120F70) should link to it, but I can't seem to find the specific address at the moment for some reason. Well anyway, I think the added code would basically look like this:


Quote from: Code
rA = Damage
rB = Character RAM + x36           [If a register still holds Character RAM; otherwise, you will probably have to shift its contents to another register earlier in the code]
rC = xFA (250)
rC(LSL x2) = x3E8 (1000)
Divide(rB, rC)                           [Separate function that you link to, I'll check my notes later if you need help finding it]
rB = (maxPP/1000), Add 1
Multiply (rA, rB)
rA = New Damage

And that's about it. I think the only other thing worth mentioning would be to move some of the existing code and add a couple branches so you can actually have the base function use this code (space issue in the base function), but I'll wait to see how you respond to the first little paragraph before going into any detail. Hope this helps though!
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Caledor

Thank you Squirtle, I'll give it a shot!
PS: have you read my comment to your Simple Succes Rates patch?

Salanewt

Happy to help, and I just read it now; yikes! I'll double check and upload a fix shortly. Thanks for pointing that out, I must have overlooked it during the editing phase.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Caledor

About the things you pointed out, just a question:
PC is the character that's acting?

I usually go with sheer intuition by looking at similar cases to cover for my lack of knowledge.
I still haven't tried anything so i thought i could give a very good look to the base damage formula and then move from there. I would have looked for some reference to maxHP to handle damage and act in a similar way to store PP.
Store, multiply and add are pretty easy, but i'm having issues remembering how to divide (the right way) in assembly when a shift isn't possible.
Regarding space... I think it should be enough the one i'll get from removing the hp% table used by the summons. And since i don't want the mp multiplier to apply to them, i thought i'd just invert the branch that links to the section of the code.

Salanewt

PC generally refers to the player character, but the information still applies when that character is acting (enemy RAM basically has the same format as well).

Good, good! You seem to have a decent handle on this stuff.

Division function, yeah. I normally find addresses for things here, but I can't seem to find the division function right now for some reason. I'll see if I can find it in any of my notes and then post the address directly.
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

QuoteDivision function, yeah. I normally find addresses for things here, but I can't seem to find the division function right now for some reason. I'll see if I can find it in any of my notes and then post the address directly.
Well, there's good news. It's on my gsdata.wikia.com ROM Map page. That time when I copied the doc to the wiki, I pretty much stayed with putting new data on the wiki that never got to the doc. (With maybe a few small exceptions.) ; The plan is to -eventually- get the new content on the doc as well, but chances are, I'm not going to be in any rush.

08002054 = Division(numerator,denominator) (Signed?)
0800205C = Division(numerator,denominator) (Unsigned?)
08002064 = Division(numerator,denominator) (Signed. return remainder?)
0800206C = Division(numerator,denominator) (Unsigned, return remainder?)
Golden Sun Docs: Broken Seal - The Lost Age - Dark Dawn | Mario Sports Docs: Mario Golf & Mario Tennis | Misc. Docs
Refer to Yoshi's Lighthouse for any M&L hacking needs...

Sometimes I like to compare apples to oranges. (Figuratively) ... They are both fruits, but which one would you eat more? (If taken literally, I'd probably choose apples.)
Maybe it is over-analyzing, but it doesn't mean the information is useless.


The only GS Discord servers with significance are:
Golden Sun Hacking Community
GS Speedrunning
/r/Golden Sun
GS United Nations
Temple of Kraden

Can you believe how small the Golden Sun Community is?

2+2=5 Don't believe me? Those are rounded decimal numbers. Take that, flat earth theorists! :)

Caledor

Thank you very much guys, i'll try dealing with this in the next few days and let you know how it goes.

Misery

QuoteUnleashes: Chance to trigger reduced by weakening the bonus given from equipment.
Unleash rate can be maxed to 100% only with the following set: Fear Helm (15) + Valkyrie Mail (15) + Terra Shield (15) + Ninja Sandals (12) + Lord Sun's Ring (8). But the Ring is unique and there is only one Cleric's Ring to counter the curse, so the generic set is Mythril Helm (12) + Mythril Clothes (12) + Riot Gloves (12) + Ninja Sandals (12) = 48% bonus, for a total 83% (or 88%) unleash rate. Not bad at all, but now actually there is a chance to screw up. Before, the very same generic set above (just replace the Sandals with the Hyper Boots) allowed a 94%/99% unleash rate.
Knocking the previously 100% unleash setups (though you could still get miss or crit) down to "only" ~85% is little more than an inconvenience, it doesn't actually do much to bridge the gap between unleashes and all other forms of attack. The actual reason unleash spam is so effective is a select few unleashes: Megiddo, Legend and Vengeance. Megiddo could stand to be nerfed to 200% damage, it's still the best unleash on the strongest weapon (bar Darksword), and it should be since it's supposed to be all exclusive and ultimate. The other two don't matter that much since they come from super rare swords that you're not really supposed to find, but if you want to balance them a bit I would suggest removing added damage from Vengeance, and make Legend do 1x/2x damage instead of 1x/3x (but maybe increase added damage a bit).

QuotePsynergy & Summons: Stronger in general, but sometimes it also costs more PP. Debuffs are now actually usable. Summons HP% damage removed, base power increased.
Do you have any details about how much you increased the base power of summons?

QuoteThanks to Lord Squirtle's Simple Success Rates patch now Drain and Psy Drain have a 100% flat success rate (and are MUCH stronger in power) and the 3 main debuffs' (-atk/-def/-res) base success rate has been increased to 90%.
What you probably want to do with debuffs is to make new effects for them with a 100% flat success rate, while abilities that have debuffs as a secondary effect keep their normal, imperfect success rates.

QuoteMonsters: Tweaked drops, higher agility...
I think agility is pretty well balanced as it is, many monsters will outspeed an average party already unless you grind a lot.

One more thing for now, about raising elemental power/resistance caps: it's pretty misleading in regard to their function. They're not magic attack/magic defense, they're effectivity modifiers. The only thing affected by the value range is how small fractions of it you can add while still using integers.

Caledor

QuoteKnocking the previously 100% unleash setups (though you could still get miss or crit) down to "only" ~85% is little more than an inconvenience, it doesn't actually do much to bridge the gap between unleashes and all other forms of attack. The actual reason unleash spam is so effective is a select few unleashes: Megiddo, Legend and Vengeance. Megiddo could stand to be nerfed to 200% damage, it's still the best unleash on the strongest weapon (bar Darksword), and it should be since it's supposed to be all exclusive and ultimate. The other two don't matter that much since they come from super rare swords that you're not really supposed to find, but if you want to balance them a bit I would suggest removing added damage from Vengeance, and make Legend do 1x/2x damage instead of 1x/3x (but maybe increase added damage a bit).
I already have a x2 damage unleash: Herculean Axe's one. The point of nerfing a bit the unleash rate is to give attack based psynergy a chance to shine for warriors since they're a surefire thing. And to further support this I created a the venus and mars equivalents of quick strike. But those are indeed good ideas. I think i'd just remove the added damage from Tisiphone's and Excalibur's and nerf Megiddo to x2.5. Honestly i don't think i should drop the generic setup unleash rate below 80%. Maybe lowering the unleash rate of all the weapons from 35/40 to 30/35 will suffice... it's becoming a pain to keep things balanced between old and new unleash-increasing equipment.

QuotePsynergy & Summons: Do you have any details about how much you increased the base power of summons?
I still have to do that part. I tought about it just yesterday when for the first time and out of curiosity, I managed to summon rush dullahan in 3 turns. I was like :sleepoff:

QuoteWhat you probably want to do with debuffs is to make new effects for them with a 100% flat success rate, while abilities that have debuffs as a secondary effect keep their normal, imperfect success rates.
Debuffs IMHO should never have a flat success rate or luck will become the dumbest stat ever. And bosses would be a total joke. Dullahan with 20 JRes against my 190 JPow Sheba would take an average of 600 damage from her strongest jupiter spell (a jupiter equivalent of jenna's fume) and it's still on of the weakest options with excalibur's legend or a darksword's quickstrike or Call Dullahan with his Def halved as well.

QuoteI think agility is pretty well balanced as it is, many monsters will outspeed an average party already unless you grind a lot.
The agility thing was just a minor quirk. Since hard mode raises atk and def by 25% i tought i'd do the same for agility too. I think Hard Mode is enough to raise the difficulty while being able to still enjoy the game (= not be struck in tedious random battles against monsters)

QuoteOne more thing for now, about raising elemental power/resistance caps: it's pretty misleading in regard to their function. They're not magic attack/magic defense, they're effectivity modifiers. The only thing affected by the value range is how small fractions of it you can add while still using integers.
I was pretty much forced to do it when the main caster's Power started to hit 190 easily due to the boost given by the 3 final staves. It would have nullified the summons' power boost. And after all it's just 50 more... with base damage spell and summons it means the maximum gain is 25% increase in damage and with attack based psy and unleashes it's just 12.5%...

Rolina

...This may seem to be an odd question, but:  Why are you increasing the power of summons?  Most people have a mind to nerf them.

Also:  Have you considered having weapons bestow their unleashes?  Give them a PP cost, lower the unleash rate so that it can't be maxed out, and you get the choice of spending PP for the unleash, or having a chance of it for free as you attack.  It'd help encourage Psynergy use.

Caledor

Quote
...This may seem to be an odd question, but:  Why are you increasing the power of summons?  Most people have a mind to nerf them.
Because i'm outright removing the HP% damage. So it's something like a small compensation.

Quote
Also:  Have you considered having weapons bestow their unleashes?  Give them a PP cost, lower the unleash rate so that it can't be maxed out, and you get the choice of spending PP for the unleash, or having a chance of it for free as you attack.  It'd help encourage Psynergy use.
I sort of already done what you're saying. Unleash are strong, but unpredictable. And i've created new classes that have psynergies similar to quick strike. Weaker, but reliable. And allows creation of versatile character that can use 3 elements effectively, always hitting the opponent's weakness.

Misery

@Unleashes: I'm speaking from the perspective of an unmodified game, if you increase the strength of everything else they probably don't have to be nerfed as much. Just keep in mind, if you don't want to go below an 80% rate with unleash setups, you'll still get more damage over time with unleashes unless you're either extremely unlucky, or boost EPA damage considerably as well. Unleashes kinda need to have only a small chance at best to do more damage than EPAs, they don't cost any PP after all.

@Debuffs: Luck doesn't only affect ailment resistance, but ailment recovery as well. On high luck enemies like bosses, they wear off very fast, meaning you have to constantly reapply them. At that point, you have to ask yourself: if you have someone casting Impair or Weaken nearly every turn, will the added damage you get from the rest of the party be higher than if you had another character doing the same attacks? It sounds like the answer would be yes, and if they can have a decent but not perfect success rate against bosses they would probably be worth using, but not overpowered. I can't really say anything else without actual numbers, all I know is there's simply no reason to use debuffs as they are.

@Agility: There's a reason hard mode doesn't increase agility - it doesn't scale well. If you increase it for enemies, anything less than top tier agility on your classes becomes a wasted stat. Again, unless you grind for extra levels.

@Elemental power: Hope I'm not sounding overly critical about this, I can definitely see it as being a mean to an end. It does seem like a bit of a slippery slope though; you have to increase the cap because you're adding power bonuses that weren't there from the beginning. By the way, I realize I was wrong when I said the value range doesn't matter - it does matter for healing, since it's unaffected by resistance. 250 elemental power = 250% base power for healing.

Luna_blade

This sounds very interesting!!!
Looks like a hack I want to try.
"Hear the sounds and melodies
Of rilets flowing down
They're the verlasting songs
Whispering all the time
As a warning that behind some rocks
There's a rigid grap even
Oreads fear the tread"

Caledor

Quote@Unleashes: I'm speaking from the perspective of an unmodified game, if you increase the strength of everything else they probably don't have to be nerfed as much. Just keep in mind, if you don't want to go below an 80% rate with unleash setups, you'll still get more damage over time with unleashes unless you're either extremely unlucky, or boost EPA damage considerably as well. Unleashes kinda need to have only a small chance at best to do more damage than EPAs, they don't cost any PP after all.
Well obviously the whole thing is perfectible. I do really appreciate your inputs though, cause we share the same goal. For example you just gave me the idea to change Odissey's and the others from added damage to multipliers. I'll try starting with x1.4 and then move from there if i'm not satisfied.

Quote@Debuffs: Luck doesn't only affect ailment resistance, but ailment recovery as well. On high luck enemies like bosses, they wear off very fast, meaning you have to constantly reapply them. At that point, you have to ask yourself: if you have someone casting Impair or Weaken nearly every turn, will the added damage you get from the rest of the party be higher than if you had another character doing the same attacks? It sounds like the answer would be yes, and if they can have a decent but not perfect success rate against bosses they would probably be worth using, but not overpowered. I can't really say anything else without actual numbers, all I know is there's simply no reason to use debuffs as they are.
Nice catch! Don't know why i forgot about that. Will test against Dullahan for duration cause i don't really get how Fox's formula at http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?topic=2067.0 works. But a 20-30% chance to hit him with a debuff seems fair given the duration thing.

Quote@Agility: There's a reason hard mode doesn't increase agility - it doesn't scale well. If you increase it for enemies, anything less than top tier agility on your classes becomes a wasted stat. Again, unless you grind for extra levels.
I've done two full playthrough with the added agility thing and i never found issues with it. Trust me on this one ;)

Quote@Elemental power: Hope I'm not sounding overly critical about this, I can definitely see it as being a mean to an end. It does seem like a bit of a slippery slope though; you have to increase the cap because you're adding power bonuses that weren't there from the beginning. By the way, I realize I was wrong when I said the value range doesn't matter - it does matter for healing, since it's unaffected by resistance. 250 elemental power = 250% base power for healing.
Already thought about the issue with healing (which was overpowered even before imho). I'm thinking on a flat -25% on base power on each healing spell. That way my pure mage Mia's pure wish would heal around 570 (190 Power with clotho + triton + clear bracelet) or 480 (iris robe replaces triton ward).

Rolina

Quote from: Caledor on 25, January, 2015, 12:31:41 PM
Quote
...This may seem to be an odd question, but:  Why are you increasing the power of summons?  Most people have a mind to nerf them.
Because i'm outright removing the HP% damage. So it's something like a small compensation.
Aaah.  Okay that explains it.  Also... HOW?!  I'd love to find a way to reduce the percentile damage - changing it to 2% efficiency instead of 3%.  Also... what else are you going to be doing to help balance summons?  If it's just base damage, it won't be really worth using without some other benefit going on.

Quote
QuoteAlso:  Have you considered having weapons bestow their unleashes?  Give them a PP cost, lower the unleash rate so that it can't be maxed out, and you get the choice of spending PP for the unleash, or having a chance of it for free as you attack.  It'd help encourage Psynergy use.
I sort of already done what you're saying. Unleash are strong, but unpredictable. And i've created new classes that have psynergies similar to quick strike. Weaker, but reliable. And allows creation of versatile character that can use 3 elements effectively, always hitting the opponent's weakness.
Not quite what I meant.  What I mean is that weapons can work as equippable spells as well.  Let's say you have a Gaia Blade.  Sure, you can try to unleash it, but you'd also be able to cast Titan Blade manually.  Swap out for the Swift Sword, however, and you lose Titan Blade and gain Rapid Smash instead.  The way you're describing though seems like a much different approach... It sounds interesting.  I suppose I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for the info~

Caledor

QuoteBecause i'm outright removing the HP% damage. So it's something like a small compensation.
Aaah.  Okay that explains it.  Also... HOW?!  I'd love to find a way to reduce the percentile damage - changing it to 2% efficiency instead of 3%.  Also... what else are you going to be doing to help balance summons?  If it's just base damage, it won't be really worth using without some other benefit going on.
http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?topic=2215.15. About balance, isn't the summon only problem the fact that they're overpowered against high HP bosses?

QuoteNot quite what I meant.  What I mean is that weapons can work as equippable spells as well.  Let's say you have a Gaia Blade.  Sure, you can try to unleash it, but you'd also be able to cast Titan Blade manually.  Swap out for the Swift Sword, however, and you lose Titan Blade and gain Rapid Smash instead.  The way you're describing though seems like a much different approach... It sounds interesting.  I suppose I'll have to check it out.
Thanks for the info~
Oh, now i get what you meant. However, I'm trying to balance out the game so i want to reach a compromise between existing contents not add entirely new features. Your approach seems fun as well but it's not what what i aim to do. After all the party itself describes unleashes and criticals to be unpredictable in game ;)

Caledor

Class data HERE. Also added in the opening post.

Just a quick note: the actual names of the new classes (named by the highest tier) and psynergies have been merely translated from the italian ones i have chosen for this mod. As you can see there are still ongoing conflicts (Guardian and Hero to name two) so don't pay too much credit to them as they can be easily changed.


Class data has been added back to the first post. For further explanation see this post.

That said, share your thoughts guys. :VenusSet:

Salanewt

#18
And also to add onto that link; it's basically hex editing, but the addresses are all outlined in that topic and it isn't terribly different from changing values in the editor either. If you want more summon abilities (such as for enemies), then there is also a patch for something like that.

QuoteI was pretty much forced to do it when the main caster's Power started to hit 190 easily due to the boost given by the 3 final staves. It would have nullified the summons' power boost. And after all it's just 50 more... with base damage spell and summons it means the maximum gain is 25% increase in damage and with attack based psy and unleashes it's just 12.5%...

Just curious, but have you thought about lowering the base elemental stats a bit? They basically work by grabbing values from a table depending on your current elemental level, and they do start rather high given the usual cap. Also, what of the boosts you get for using summons; keeping those the same?

QuoteNice catch! Don't know why i forgot about that. Will test against Dullahan for duration cause i don't really get how Fox's formula at http://forum.goldensunhacking.net/index.php?topic=2067.0 works. But a 20-30% chance to hit him with a debuff seems fair given the duration thing.

Oh, um, I can help with a couple things for that. The infliction formula uses the elemental levels that match the ability with the effect; for example, Sleep is wind, so it uses the wind levels of the person attacking and the targets. "Floor" rounds down to the nearest whole number, and "vulnerability" is for when a class or enemy is extra vulnerable to a certain effect, which adds another 25% to the final infliction rate. Can't remember what "unk_arg" is at the moment though. Something to keep in mind is that Dullahan actually has insane resistances to most bad status effects, but it's also possible we were overlooking something (page 3 was a fun discussion about that).

QuoteBecause i'm outright removing the HP% damage. So it's something like a small compensation.

I guess one tiny thing, but I take it you've done this in a way that leaves the enemy-specific summons alone?


Edit: Not much to say about your class stuff, but I like it! Are you still keeping the item classes in?
Oh yeah baby, £ me harder.

Fusion is just a cheap tactic to make weak Adepts stronger.

Yoshi's Lighthouse is a hacking website in progress. Why not check it out if you like Yoshi or the Mario & Luigi games?

Caledor

QuoteJust curious, but have you thought about lowering the base elemental stats a bit? They basically work by grabbing values from a table depending on your current elemental level, and they do start rather high given the usual cap. Also, what of the boosts you get for using summons; keeping those the same?
I don't think I'll lower them for two reasons: i'd have to recheck the balance of everything (psynergy will become weak again) and the basic strength for a Lv5 element would go below 100. About the summon boosts... i'll think about it later. At the moment they are the same, but lowering it a bit wouldn't hurt I guess.

QuoteOh, um, I can help with a couple things for that. The infliction formula uses the elemental levels that match the ability with the effect; for example, Sleep is wind, so it uses the wind levels of the person attacking and the targets. "Floor" rounds down to the nearest whole number, and "vulnerability" is for when a class or enemy is extra vulnerable to a certain effect, which adds another 25% to the final infliction rate. Can't remember what "unk_arg" is at the moment though. Something to keep in mind is that Dullahan actually has insane resistances to most bad status effects, but it's also possible we were overlooking something (page 3 was a fun discussion about that).
Sorry I must have worded myself poorly. I understood the formula you're talking about (by the way unk_arg should be a multiplier that is used to decrease the chances of success as the distance from the main target increases), what i don't get is the ailment recovery formula.
Just for a quick reference against Dullahan: having now raised the base chance for Dull Impair and Weaken to 130 (maybe 125-120 is better... will test later), for elemental level 5 (most 3 element classes), the chance to hit him with those debuffs are respectively 53% (due to vulnerability), 22% and 28%. Given that they seem to last only a single turn due to his insane 59 luck, that those are the lowest chances (2 element classes with a level of 7 have higher chances) and the fact that he IS Dullahan after all, the whole thing seems pretty fair to me.

QuoteI guess one tiny thing, but I take it you've done this in a way that leaves the enemy-specific summons alone?
As i still have to physically do that part, I don't really know. Guess i'll think about it when the time comes. Nice catch anyway.

QuoteEdit: Not much to say about your class stuff, but I like it! Are you still keeping the item classes in?
They're here, and stronger than before, especially the minor ones: they are marked as 3 / 3 / 3 in the elemental level section.