[RELEASE] Golden Sun: The Balance Age

[dive_darkness]

Without breeze, it's really hard. Fireball hits for 80 on central target, erupion 100, 80 on sub targets. That's why i overleveled (also for ice horn, which really helped.)
Just beat Tret too. A real pushover after saturos, lol. Just kept pounding with ragnarok and heat wave until he died.

Edit:

Mogall forest cleared. Skipped all fights in order not to level up too much. Reached the boss at level 15.
He went down fast. Granite + breeze + fire/water summons 2. Then earth + wind summons 3, garet use heat wave, mia heals. Then ragnarok, heat wave, storm ray, heal until the boss fall. I think level 15 is also too high for that fight.

The fire djinn north of xian hits hard. Even with breeze. Took him down by brute force. (Used the same Methode that for the ape in mogall, except Isaac was on healing duty and mia wa spamming ice horn)
Went down in turn 4.

Next I tried the first living statue in Altin. Still the same strategy, still effective. Went down without even forcing me to heal. All characters still level 15 (obviously with the best equipments possible at that time)

All fights done up 'till now we're done with the basic classes.
I'll try to switch djinns around to built a different setup for each statue, just to try the other classes.

[Caledor]

Ok now you've surpassed me (i'm at xian), but I've already looked at the Statues cause I think they needed a fix. So you might find the living statues too easy and the Hydros Statue too hard. I'm also checking the Djinn again thanks to your input.
For reference, I also go basic till i have 4-5 djinn, apart from a few specific fights (like saturos).

[dive_darkness]

I think the djinn hit a bit hard and have too little hp. The two last djinns (Venus in mogall and fire north of xian) we're basically just a "dps rush". Their psynergies hit Aoe and very hard, even when you mitigate the damages with breeze. And as I've said, 3 turns and they die the 4th, which only let them act for 3 rounds.

Will edit the post after hydros statue.

[Chronotakular]

I've actually been having trouble abusing RNG. I suppose it might have to do with all of the class changes and what not. Not sure why but I can't get stuff to drop. I'm find with grinding for the drop anyhow; my team needs experience anyways.

[Caledor]

I've actually been having trouble abusing RNG. I suppose it might have to do with all of the class changes and what not. Not sure why but I can't get stuff to drop. I'm find with grinding for the drop anyhow; my team needs experience anyways.

Not at all... There's an old guide on gamefaqs for the GS RNG that works perfectly even with my mod. It's the RNG bible for Golden Sun. Follow it to the letter and drops are guaranteed.

[dive_darkness]

I've actually been having trouble abusing RNG. I suppose it might have to do with all of the class changes and what not. Not sure why but I can't get stuff to drop. I'm find with grinding for the drop anyhow; my team needs experience anyways.

Just as caledor said.
I'd add that in GS 2, it's harder to make the RNG work.
So just create a save state at the start of battle, follow the guide. If you didn't get the drop, just try to aim to add 1 to your last number. Or reduce 1 if it gets too hard to add up. You'll understand what I'm saying while reading the guide.

[Caledor]

From past experience, if a drop doesn't happen when following a "guide" that describes which actions to take at each turn (like those on the wiki), 9 out of 10 times is cause the enemy in question acts more than once per turn with my mod. That's why i pointed to the gamefaqs guide... so you guys can learn the method behind the procedure.

[Chronotakular]

I'm pretty familiar with the method and counting. I just have no idea what I am doing wrong. I'll suppose I have to give it another look at some point soon, however.

[Caledor]

I'm pretty familiar with the method and counting. I just have no idea what I am doing wrong. I'll suppose I have to give it another look at some point soon, however.

Give me an example of a fight with the actions you take and let's see if i can help you.

[dive_darkness]

Ok, reached hystos statue.
The aqua statues are too weak. Definitely. I killed them all just by summoning all on the first round. They don't have the time to counter at all.
Next is the water djinn. Same thing: he died on the second round. Same strategy.
Aaaaaand... Hydros statue heals too often. Or too much. For facts, he used 3 times ply well on 3 turns, getting back ~ 750hp. Tiamat (which is his weakness) only hit for 350. So he definitely heals too much. Same with rupture. He kills your buffs every 2 turns, which doesn't even let you get something from them. Also froth spiral and water breath... Those are his main source of damages, and they hit too hard. For comparison: without granite, water breath inflicts ~ 130 on the central target, 60-70 on the two others. Froth spiral hit for ~90 on the central target, 60 on the sides and 40 on the extremities.
Issac lv 16, 3 Venus djinn sets has... 220 hp.

Even at lv 20, that makes huge damages. And 20 seems a bit overleveled for Altin. (4 levels = ~ 10 in each stats and 30hp)
So you might want to check those.

Edit:

Okay, I've beaten him at lv 16.
Strategy used:
Isaac, ruffian -> meteor jump every turn. Use granite if needed to heal (only once)
Garet, ruffian -> meteor jump. Use forge first turn.
Ivan, base class -> literally spam breeze. Use it, then set, then use, then set, and so on.
Mia, base class -> spam wish.

When Isaac and garet have low pp, they use their djinn then summon. (Using a psy crystal will make the fight easier, as they can keep spamming meteor jump)
The boss died after Tiamat.

BUT: I was lucky. He never focused water breath on ivan, letting him alive. Hardly ever used froth spiral, and only 5 ply well (which still hurts a lot when he use 2 in the same round...)
That's a very hard fight. If the boss used 2-3 more ply well, It'd have been impossible, as at lv 16 you don't have enough pp to keep up with healing. Then you use spritz, the water djinn, and then you're dead.


RE-edit:

Lahmakan cleared. You don't have to fight the djinn, so that is easy.
For the manticore, got there at lv 18. Pretty easy: he doesn't hit hard compared to the statue, he uses debuff soften though. Just build up the defenses on the first turn with the djinns, second turn spam invocations, then mia spam ice horns, Ivan spam storm ray, garet does whatever you make him do (he doesn't do much damage against him.), Isaac on healing duty. The boss fall pretty fast.
I did it in 4 turns. 1 to summon boreas/Thor/tiamat/cybele. Then spam the psynergies.

[Caledor]

What i expected, which means i've already fixed everything. Just checked Manticore... it's just stupid as it's now so it'll be buffed.

Also, since I want to make my 400th post somewhat relevant, I'm using it to announce that for v1.32 maces have been completely revamped. While I was making all the fixes to weapons today, I noticed that they've always been kinda underwhelming and didn't have a peculiar attribute like other weapon types. Well, no more. They're both good and unique now. More info will come with the actual patch.

[dive_darkness]

Alright, did karagol.

I had: best equipment possible, 5 Venus djinn, 4 Mars, 5 Jupiter, 4 mercury (went and did Vale and Vault).

So, Thor cleared up all the little fights in one shot so I could keep my pp for Kraken. Your djinns can set up by walking around when choosing an oarsmen.

Kraken: switched all fire and earth djinns. Reached him at level 20.
Pretty simple strategy: 1st turn use breeze, mia does whatever, Isaac & garet use planet diver.
Then it's basically just wish, impact, planet diver, planet diver. Kraken is damn weak an doesn't hit hard at all. Didn't even bother to cure the poison, as I could afford to take those 30 damages each turn. Refresh impact/breeze if needed.

Next will be looking for the 6th Venus djinn, the roaming mercury, and the 6th Jupiter djinn in altmiller. Will write after the colosseum.

And I failed to go to Crossbone >< it seems that making the old man and 3 ladies as oarsmen don't bring you there.

[Aile~♥]

I've heard that the way you get to Crossbone Isle is by making the rowers unbalanced; that is, have strong rowers on one side and weaklings and/or layabouts on the other.

[dive_darkness]

Well, then it was pretty balanced, for I choose only the ones who looked too weak to row ><

On a side note: RNG'd the aura gloves. Those are pretty sick ! I got 4 of them for the lolz trying to figure out why a RNG of 31 didn't seem to work. I had to go to waaaaay higher numbers to get it.
To RNG the aura gloves: Hard reset in the desert. Exit and enter 7 times. You encounter two manticores.
1st turn: 2nd Venus skill with the falling spikes (don't remember the name, sorry.), Nova, Storm Ray, Ice horns.
2nd turn: quake, garet defend, ray, wish
3rd turn: quake, guard (support skill that affects all party members), bolt on the second manticore, water djinn on the first one. Manticore 1 dies and drop aura gloves.
Mia must hit last, all the skills targeted at the manticore 1. Done at level 21 with 5 djinns of each except mercury (only 4).
If done right, on the second turn, both manticores will use nova. On 3rd turn they use their poison attack and a normal attack if I remember right.

I then proceeded to the Hail djinn. Thor + judgement = KO. Those djinns are definitely too weak. Next will be altmiller and I'll RNG the Prophet's hat.
*didn't use the shirts/boots up 'till now. Will get them later.

[Chronotakular]

I was doing a very similar routine to how'd you make Kikuichimonji drop in the first game. I'd save and hard reset until I got an encounter with Gillman Lord, and one other enemy. Focus the psyenergy on the Gillman Lord, and kill him with a Djinn. Though since Jenna goes second, it can be hard to manipulate. I was using other psyenergies and such to add numbers.

Though, as I was thinking about what's the best way to go about how I could fix it, while mindlessly grinding while doing other things...



Of course then, I actually got the 1/256 drop legitimately.

Notice the Gloria Helm and the Knights Greaves. I live for the grind haha.

Though, I didn't plan to get 5 Knights Greaves, so that doesn't really count. (I didn't even plan to get 1) That weapon took a while to drop. I will say it's much more satisfying to get this way.

[Caledor]

v1.32 is UP.

That said, a few clarifications: the "MANY minor fixes to weapons" is all about minor changes in attack and/or price for a large number of weapons. Maces aside, i don't remember touching passive bonuses at all. Among those fixes there is the strengthening of a few midgame staves' unleashes though... IIRC each unleash from angelic ankh's to goblin rod's (sans crystal rod's) got a +5 in base power.

In TLA... the change in element and animation for 2 maces is because Bad Omen's animation is bugged if used by Death Call and because in the Eastern Sea there are 3 maces all of which are Venus-aligned.

Lategame Long Swords' unleashes were strengthened cause that's the main focus of those weapons and the gap between them and a few select ones (Sol, Excalibur) was too big. Lategame offensive djinn had to follow suit to keep them useful.

Turtle Dragon was removed from Treasure Isle cause i wanted it to drop the Blessed Mace once again. I felt that we had enough maces in the Eastern Sea and too few in the Western Sea (where the turtle dragon is also found). Moreover, since both Hydra and Turtle Dragon roam the Western Sea but Hydra is the weaker one, it's only fitting that it's the one that is also found earlier.

Finally, MACES: the main focus of this release. Just granting power boost and an increased unleash chance clearly wasn't enough. Their unleashes weren't good enough compared to those of the long swords for warriors and mages had MUCH better options in the staves. Not to mention that common maces had zero bonuses, which made them nothing more than weaker longswords.
Maces now are weapons fully devoted to support. They always increase HP (which makes them the opposite of axes: lower offense but higher defense), and the artifact ones also increase Power and Resist of a single element. I can definitively see them being an option for hybrid classes now. Warrior-mages will enjoy the increased elemental power and Mage-warriors will like the increased HP and higher attack power compared to staves. The Rising Mace (which is now Mercury-aligned) is probably best suited for defensive classes like Paladin and Holy Knight since it improves their survival thanks to the Res and HP bonuses, and that of their companions thanks to the increase in MePower, which strengthens Pure Wish.
The downsides? Maces are simply the worst at unleashing: lower chance and weaker power compared to longswords.

I can already say that there's a very high chance that I'll make a new lategame Mars-aligned Mace with the Fury in mind for next release.

About the Remedy issue, I decided to leave it like this cause I didn't like plan A very much and i realized that Plan B implied that the Guardan would've lost Break. Besides, you can always regain CP with a single action by putting all your djinn in stanby with R+Select, which is as quick as putting just one in standby (Plan B's goal)

@Chrono & Dive: I've fixed the link to the RNG guide (it was pointing to the wrong one)

[dive_darkness]

Alright. Haven't downloaded the update, but here you go:

Jupiter Djinn in altmiller: as weak as hail. Just spammed the summons and he died.
Farmed 4 prophet's hat. They are good, but not that good either. Then for the fountain: I couldn't get all the items, but from what I got, the best one is ninja hood. I got: cocktail dress, earth shield, the armor, assassin blade, the axe, war gloves, the elemental ones, and the glittering tiara. All weaker than my current equipments.

For the colosseum itself: fights were quite easy. It's mainly a dps race. Summon, the flint, sap, ragnarok, granite, ground, apocalypse. They can heal, which is pretty annoying, but they still fall easily. All of them.
Ps: got the best equipments during collosso.

Alright !

Now I have no idea: did you make Lunpa an end game area like crossbone island ? Or is it doable at that stage ?

Will download the update and install quickly.

[Caledor]

@Djinn: they're all going to be "weak" if you rush them with the likes of judgment and meteor. They lack the HP to withstand that.

@Lunpa: Considering that enemies were strengthened by a flat multiplier, the order by which you should attempt dungeons is the same of the original game.

Also... did you really get the aura gloves before the Tolbi fountain items? Aren't those dropped only in Suhalla from the Magicore?

[dive_darkness]

Yup. But you can go through Suhalla and totally skip Tolbi technically. You can encounter the manticore sat the entrance of te desert. And I had only 5 lucky medals when arriving in Tolbi. So I decided to just do it later with the shirts and rings. It was loooooooong to get 4 adept rings + 4 running shirts + 4 sprint shoes considering that you cannot get the same item twice in a row in the same category.

Djinns: meh. Summoning is efficient to save up pp in long dungeons. Enemies hit hard, so I have to heal often. And wish/cure well can quickly deplete your pm enough that you might run out during boss fights.

And went through suhalla. The normal lizards are nice. Like in normal game, they're not too hard, nor too weak, and the give nice exp/gold.
Just skipped the tempest lizard for now, I'll get back to him after Lalivero.
And storm lizard yay !!!
Actually beat him by luck. My strategy wasn't optimal at all, as my pp were running low. Attempted at level 22, base classes. (Will probably go for ninja/samurai classes for crossbones and lunpa.)
Turn 1: ground, 3 summons to boost the elemental damages.
Turn 2: Flash, apocalypse, djinn djinn
Turn 3: granite, djinn, kite, spritz
Turn 4: sap, djinn, djinn, heal 2x (first lucky turn, a the boss could have killed both Mia and Ivan)
Turn 5: decided to give it all YOLO style. 4 summons. (Second lucky turn. The boss didn't kill anyone, although all characters were in the yellow numbers.)
Turn 6: boss dead.
If I died, I'd have tried again with a psynergy strat I think.

[Caledor]

Oh, well... it's your choice. I just don't like summon rushing at all... it kinda ruins the fun of the game for me.

Heck, if I could I'd remove the option entirely. I've already thought of a nice method: On turn 0 of a battle you can't summon more than Ramses/Megaera. Each subsequent turn, the number of djinn you can use in a single summon increases by 1. That simple. The problem is i have no idea how hard it would be to code that.

Well... at least the TLA superbosses can't be rushed as things are now.