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A Balanced Playthrough

Started by Rolina, 23, March, 2015, 08:08:12 AM

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Rolina

In this thread, I'm going to be going over my thoughts and experiences while playing Caledor's Balanced Seal and Balanced Age patches.  With any luck, this will give some good insight and feedback for him, as well as serve as a progress journal of sorts for me.

To start off with, I'll go over my initial thoughts and planning.  First - I very much like a lot of these changes.  The changes to the psynergy damage formula in particular has me intrigued - that should very much change how I play, and for the better.  The changes to enemies don't seem as over the top as they do in other hacks, so that intrigues me as well (as much as some people like it, I don't think just giving enemies extra turns is a good way to balance a game).  As for weapons, here's my plans:

Axes:  Two ways to go about this.  First is to go with Isaac to take advantage of the extra power.  This would make Isaac essentially a High-Risk attacker, taking advantage of his higher attack growth and typically higher attack multipliers.  The other way to do it is to go with Garet, who's got high enough defenses that he can take the hit to them.  By giving it to Garet, it gives him a little extra oomph he needs, without really compromising too much.

Swords:  Can't really say much about this until I reach the end of The Balanced Age - swords are the baseline here, so it really boils down to how balanced their unleashes are in endgame.  Will it look like a typical TLA playthrough by that point, or will I have a variety of weapons in use?  We'll find out then.

Blades:  Ivan doesn't need these.  Garet, on the other hand, will benefit a ton.  I'm currently torn between having Garet spec into Axes or into Blades...

Maces:  Oh, cursed weapons got buffed?  Wicked Mace Mia's gonna be awes--- OOH, the Cleric's ring is -10 luck...  On a healer that's... oh, you deliciously evil little - I'm gonna have to think hard about this one.

Staves:  I like that they're offensive based - Ivan's definitely going to spec into these now.  Likely Mia as well, though namely because...

Ankhs:  God dammit, Golden Sun, why must you only have 3 ankhs across all the games?  They're not really viable until the endgame of TLA, when the Clotho's Distaff becomes available.  Until then, they're just... well, too situational.  Mia will use them while she can, but she can't keep it up long.  Too much stuff outclasses the Angelic Ankh.


And with that being said...




End of the First Day
Started the game up.  Didn't notice anything in particular.  Well, I think the classes are now ? instead of the dummy versions of the usual names they have.  I'm okay with this - it implies that Isaac and Garet haven't chosen their paths yet by the time of the prologue.  It's... actually very fitting.  Was very pleasantly surprised when I reached the point I got to fight monsters.  They were tougher, but not frustratingly so.  I actually had to use herbs!  It was pretty nice.  Cue boulder, and it's time to move to Chapter 1.

First thing I did was go and buy armor for everyone.  Spent... like, almost all my cash and only got the one game ticket.  Huh.  That's actually clever - usually I get enough to sell to buy a longsword.  Not sure how you did it, but this will actually make me consider my options more carefully.  Started my way through the Sol Sanctum until I got the hundred cash I needed for a single longsword - retreated, bought it, gave it to Isaac.  Decided to give the short sword to Jenna.  The +1 PP isn't gonna be much help, especially not this early.  However, +1 AGL to Jenna and -1 AGL from Isaac changing weapons will help solidify turn order, which I like.  Also... Level 2 and Garet still has yet to learn any spells.  Interesting...  I expected base class changes for Team Felix, but seeing them in Team Isaac is a pleasant surprise.

Well, after that hour of play, it was bedtime (got work in the morning).  I'll make a post later about my second day's progress~

Caledor

Just registered to this. I don't wanna miss a single word.

Rolina

#2
End of the Second Day

Blah blah blah alchemy blah blah blah kidnapping come on, get on with it...

Okay, after finally getting control of my heroes again, they were sent out of Vale.  I immediately went back in and swiped a nut from the tree, then went and did the same at Lunpa.  I'll need the cash.  Made my way down to - wow, these monsters won't die.  Okay, so they're meatier than I expected.  Garet finally learned Blast - not a bad trade.  Made it to Vault and wasted no time looting every house in sight.  Grabbed Ivan, sold the stuff I found, as well as the extra nuts (don't get enough HP for those to be worth it until some time from now), and then started gearing everyone up.  Got some axes for the fighters, since at this early there's no point in specializing, and grabbed Ivan a new staff.  Got everyone the best armor I could with the remaining cash and took on the bandits.  They went down with little effort.  It was kinda nice, what with the lightning and the explosions.

Made my way over to Goma Cave.  Stuff here kinda hurts - one charge from a skelly puts Ivan down by half his health.  Isaac was on healing duty for most of the time.  Saw my first unle-HOLY HELL, IVAN JUST DID 64 DAMAGE.  That's... crazy at this point in the game.  Got Forge, and immediately gave him to Ivan.  He needs the defense, and he doesn't care about the speed down because HE'S IVAN.  Got to Bilibin and promptly sold all my unneeded stuff.  Also the Water of Life from the mayor of vault, because I need the cash more than a one time revive right now.  Got everyone great armor.  Ivan upgraded his staff, Isaac got a new sword, and Garet's getting the Elven Rapier I'm about to get.  Oh, and he also got Gust, so yay for more speed.

Got the Elven Rapier, gave it to Garet.  He needs the speed, what can I say?  Now he's only about a point or two below Isaac.  Promptly... got my @#$ handed to me.  Holy hell, I'm gonna have to face Tret before getting Mia?  But... but... I've never not sequence broken here before!  But wow, Game Over'd... that's some punishing foes even just a few levels above where I'm at.  Grabbed the Turtle Boots (oh hey, they're actually useful!  Gave them to Ivan.), made my way to Kolima, got a djinn, and now Isaac's a Knight.  I'd experiment more with him, but... I need the heals.  Heck, it's why I tried to get Mia first... Bah, ah well.  Let's head to the woods.

...Okay, do these bees have like, a 90% stun rate with their stings?  Because this is kinda nuts.  I think out of all the times I got hit with numbing sting, I only didn't get stunned once.  That might be a bit... much.  Especially once I reached the creepers - those things hit like a freaking truck.  Took down Ivan and Isaac in the same fight.  Had to flee with only Garet to cover me.  I have no idea how he didn't get himself killed too.  I mean, come on - he's Garet.  Two revives and a trek back later, got a healing ring, wound up using the healing ring to save Isaac's very low PP at this point - go figure, it broke first use.  On use gear is worthless... =_=  Anywho, got Garet his second Jupiter djinn (oh nice, buffs!).  Like the fact that class names are a bit more unique here.  Got to Tret.  Let's do this.  Leroy Jenkins.

HOLY HELL, HE MOVES TWICE?!  ...I'm not a fan of this.  If bosses this early move twice, then that's the start of a trend I'm pretty sure I'll hate.  I swear if the Kraken moves thrice... there's better ways to up difficulty than just "here's another turn!".  Anywho, rants about design philosophies I disagree with aside, started off with Garet buffing Isaac to attack, Isaac attacking, and Ivan burning the tree down.  Found out very quickly that Isaac will never attack again and be stuck on full time healing duty, and Garet promptly switched to blowing the three up.  Once Garet was down to his last cast, buffed his attack instead and started going to town.  A couple turns later, Tret (and the rest of the forest) lay in a pile of ash.  Teaches him to attack me for no good reason.

Calling it there for the night.  I find a lot of these changes interesting, and for the most part I like them.  However, I am a known opponent of the "just give them extra turns to make them harder" philosophy, so one thing I definitely didn't like was Tret's double actions.  Personally, I prefer emphasizing added effects, especially for bosses.  It'd be a simple thing to give him a version of growth that lowers speed, and a version of Thorn that lowers defense or resist.  That'd have made the fight tough, but without needing to resort to having the attacker go full healer.  

I did notice that the staff unleashes very quickly stopped seeming so crazy strong.  They were powerful, sure, but not much moreso than other weapon unleashes.  I feel it balances out in terms of overall DPS.  Though, it was great to see Ivan occasionally dish out 2.5-3x his normal damage output from time to time. :3

Aile~♥

Well, if the Kraken moved thrice, at least that would make thematic sense given the boss in question. Not a fan of 2 actions on Tret though.
[sprite=16, 6, 0]:P[/sprite]

Lloyd: Easy as pie.
Genis: Sweet!
Presea: ...Sweetie pie...
Zelos: Let's not start on this again...

[spoiler=epic mindscrew][/spoiler]

Caledor

#4
Ok, time for some clarification.
While I must admit that giving him some debuffs like Vine's effect would have been nice if that thought crossed my mind, giving him double actions and tweaking his skillset accordingly (= more growth than thorn, less sleep) was the best choice. Giving him Cure would have been annoying at best for a single turn enemy and potentially broken for a 2 turn one (or pointless if, to avoid potential brokenness, i gave it a minimal chance to trigger). Giving him an uber spell to use on a single turn was even worse, during tests i found myself having to heal ivan even when he was almost at full health due to fear of him being raped by lady (un)luck. This way instead he's never too strong nor it requires too much strategy (you just started the game after all) and your healing (buy herbs) + Breeze + Granite should shut him down without much effort.

Also, there is no trend. Saturos moves once and Kraken twice. The enemies that now strike twice are Mimics and Djinn and Mad Plants that are at least Lv 13. Djinn never strike more than twice (even in TLA) and only the strongest 4 Mimics in TLA strike thrice. Random enemies that strike twice are mostly found either very late in TLA or are confined to some special races like phoenixes, daemons and dragons to set them apart from the others.

About Stun, its base chance is 60%, so my response is that you were VERY unlucky with it.

Staff unleashes are basically spells right now so they are very susceptible to Power and Resist, so yeah, it's likely that they'll be very strong as soon as you get them (Milky Cloud is a free, random, single target equivalent of Plasma, which you used to get at level 8) and then become weak quickly due to the randomness or availability of stronger spells.

As a side note, why don't you upload your save somewhere when you want me to check something that feels off to you? I'd be quicker for me to do it and more accurate. ;)

Misery

I think adding a turn is a pretty legit way to add difficulty... I'd like to elaborate on this later, but I won't have time to write about game balance theory today. Anyway, Golden Sun is not unbalanced becase it lacks difficulty (on the other hand, when it lacks difficulty it's often because it's unbalanced). I shouldn't say too much because I haven't played this yet (I plan to do so eventually though), but it does seem like you're making the game more challenging in general, which is not the same as making it more balanced, although they're obviously not mutually exclusive. I suspect the point was Tret does not need an extra turn because he's not supposed to be a particularly noteworthy boss.

By the way, it's nice to see that you still care this much about your patch.

Rolina you started early you cheater!

Rolina

Yeah, the staff stuff caught me off guard to how drastic it'd be.  I'm actually kind of a fan of it, as you can ask the people who were watching me test the stream.

It's nice to see that the multi-moves aren't going to be much of a trend - how much I like or dislike them will need to be done on a case by case basis.  Really nervous about the multiple turns on djinn, though - stuff in your hack LOOOOOVES to run.  Like, flip a coin - if heads, the stupid jerk ran away instead of letting me kill him.  Rat Warriors were kinda annoying about it.  It's not much of a balance issue - I was a higher level than them at the time, after all.  Rather, it's annoying as hell when they bugger off after you put in the effort to take them down.

But djinn... as long as the multi-turn djinn don't have twice the chance to bugger off, I think that'll be good.

Caledor

Flee data:
Rat Soldier has a 25% chance to flee, Rat Fighter and Warrior only 12,5%, and all those didn't change from the original game.
Djinn with multiple turns actually have double the chance to run away, but we're talking about a 9% chance for single turn djinn and a 18% chance for double turns djinn. I don't remember having a single djinn flee more than once from me... but I'll be waiting for your tests nonetheless.

Rolina

In that case, The RNG Goddess hates my guts, because everything loves to run away from me.

leaf

If it's a 9% chance to run, it comes to 17.19% chance to run over the course of two actions. Which is actually pretty significant.

QuoteAbout Stun, its base chance is 60%, so my response is that you were VERY unlucky with it.
Is that unchanged from the original? And what's more, did you change their elemental levels at all? If you increased the elemental levels, that would increase the status rate, although a base of 60% is still hella high. It might just not have been a problem before because you could kill the bees before they ever stunned you.
[spoiler=quotes]
[9:00:50 PM] Randel Peltier: Ok...what did I do last night?
[9:01:19 PM] Kain: Something boring, repetitive, and lasted for about sixty seconds.
---
[10:45:08 AM] Salanewt: But yeah, the elemental phalluses are being... Stroked up by Saturos and co., and the energy will go towards... Mt. Muffin, where the Golden Climax will arise.
[7:28:42 PM] Salanewt: An added bonus is that Isaac and co. were trying to stop Saturos and co. because their beliefs state that Mt. Muffin should remain a virgin.
---
[9:54:21 PM] Randel Peltier: Guess the number in my head an you get to pick what I say. Number between 1-10
[9:54:28 PM] leaf: 11
[9:54:36 PM] Randel Peltier: @#$%!
---
[8:38:13 PM] Randel Peltier: Shes like this queen up on a pedastal that I have yet to court.
[8:38:29 PM] Kain: You've tried courting her.
[8:38:43 PM] leaf: and failed spectacularly
[8:38:44 PM] Randel Peltier: Ive tried...shes the best dating game ever.
---
[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
---
[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
---
[1:09:57 PM] Zeadra: well if you want to know if its a new effect or something weird, just check GS1, if side step is there maby it is the nimble dodge thing
[1:10:35 PM] Kioll: For once, you've contributed something useful.  o.O[/spoiler]

Aile~♥

In GS2 at least, Stun's base chance is 40%. I presume the same is true of GS1?

And yes, a 60% base chance is very high indeed early-game.
[sprite=16, 6, 0]:P[/sprite]

Lloyd: Easy as pie.
Genis: Sweet!
Presea: ...Sweetie pie...
Zelos: Let's not start on this again...

[spoiler=epic mindscrew][/spoiler]

Salanewt

Pretty much what Jamie said, but I also don't know whether Caledor tweaked the formula or not. The boost is definitely something that would have a bigger impact early on when you have few djinn, but that doesn't last forever of course.


Also, kudos on the popularity Caledor; it looks like you've done a great job with the hack! Can't wait to try it out when my schedule clears up a bit.
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?

Rolina

#12
End of the Third Day

Okay, got the new patch up and running and - oh, nuts still sell for decent cash.  Nice.  Sold the crappy healing ring - I'm not paying 200 cash to repair a useless item.  Proceeded to head to Imil.  Luckily I didn't run into anything too bad - though apparently Ghouls love them some corn.  Nice to see that's not a pointlessly rare item anymore.  Got out of the cave and OH DEAR GOD THREE GNOME CASTER GUYS!  Let me explain something - you know back in GS Vanilla, spells were the only real threat you in the game?  You know spells have been fixed in this game to scale as you level, so that they can at least be useful later on?  Yeah... Spellcaster enemies are FREAKING NIGHTMARES now.  The Creepers took down ivan like it was nothing with their mercury spells back at tret, and these gnome guys OTK'd me back when I got the elven rapier.  So surely you can understand why I started the panicked screaming of "KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!" and quickly flipped into overkill casting mode.  I managed to take one down before the others... attacked me physically.  Needless to say, the fight ended soon after.

Huh.  So Pray is still Ply.  Ah well, I'm in the minority on that one anyways.  Whoa, Mia starts with the Heavy Mace instead of a Witch's Wand?  That was... unexpected.  Understandable, though - that was the only non-drop or forged artifact you could have multiples of, and it always felt kinda strange because of it.  Kinda wish I had a better item to give her, though - mundane maces don't have much point, since their whole schtick seems to be elemental power boosts.  Got to the point with the Mimic, and SCREW THIS MIMIC!  He heavily favored Psy Drain and now my party is freaking tapped!  RNG Goddess really hates me this week for some reason.  Got the Psynergy Armor and... gave it to Garet, actually.  I've been using quite a bit of psynergy with him.  It's... actually kinda weird.  But in a good way.

Found a djinni~.  Officiant?  Huh.  That wasn't expected.  I'll have to check these class names out more once I get new djinn.  Until then... Isaac, Mia - swap djinn.  With Herbalist and Defender, I keep both my ST healers, trade one Ply for a Cure Well (I'm okay with this), I'd prefer Mia to be faster while she has the regen going on (you know, so she can actually heal them!), and I'd prefer my main attacker to be slower than the guy with the buffs (Garet.  Yeah, I know...).  Plus, this gives both of them some better defenses, and Mia desperately needs those right now.  So, with that, I'm running an Acolyte, Naturalist, Fated, and Defender... Wait.

Isaac, Garet, swap djinn.  Fair and Practiciant, huh?  I keep Impact with Isaac, and Garet gets... Ply?  Huh.  Okay then.  Swapped them back.  I'm definitely gonna have to experiment more later on.  Right now my team seems good for what I want to do.  Now... to ground for two levels.  Not trusting my chances against Saturos without an EPA at my disposal.  Hmm.... I'm noticing that added effects are hitting a lot more than they used to - I'm guessing luck is gonna have a greater importance than before?  Also... I suppose one shouldn't read too much into this, but... Ivan seems largely immune to and good at fighting Sirens.  Mia seems particularly susceptible to them.  Makes you ask questions...

I mean, seriously...

QuoteSiren:  Shouldn't you sleep now?

Isaac:  Uh, dunno...
Garet:  Aren't we fighting?
Mia:  That sounds like a great idea!~
Ivan:  Stun voltage.  

No seriously.  I swear Ivan's got like a doubled unleash rate against these things.  He must really hate them.  Anywho, got to level 12, got my Cutting Edge.  Let us do this.  Jenkins of the Leroy.

,--------------------------------------.  ,--------------------------------------.
| Ivan       | Lv12 Acolyte            |  | Mia        | Lv12 Naturalist         |
|--------------------------------------|  |--------------------------------------|
|   HP:   142             Attack:   88 |  |   HP:   142             Attack:   80 |
|   PP:   102            Defense:   64 |  |   PP:    95            Defense:   58 |
| Luck:     4            Agility:   72 |  | Luck:     8            Agility:   66 |
|--------------------------------------|  |--------------------------------------|
| Witch's Wand                   Staff |  | Heavy Mace                      Mace |
| Wooden Cap                      Head |  | Wooden Cap                      Head |
| Leather Armlet                  Arms |  | Leather Armlet                  Arms |
| Fur Coat                        Body |  | Travel Robes                    Body |
| Turtle Boots                    Legs |  | Herb                             x 1 |
| Shaman's Rod                         |  | Antidote                         x 1 |
| Mountain Water                   x 2 |  | Elixir                           x 1 |
| Elixir                           x 2 |  | Weasel's Claw                    x 1 |
| Corn                             x 1 |  | Nut                              x 2 |
| Vial                             x 2 |  |--------------------------------------|
| Lucky Medal                      x 1 |  | Flint    | ---      | ---      |
| Sleep Bomb                       x 2 |  | Granite  | ---      | ---      |
| Lucky Pepper                     x 1 |  | ---      | ---      | ---      |
| Empty Bottle                         |  `--------------------------------------'
| Psy Crystal                      x 1 |
|--------------------------------------|
| Forge    | ---      | ---      |
| Corona   | ---      | ---      |
| ---      | ---      | ---      |
`--------------------------------------'
,--------------------------------------.  ,--------------------------------------.
| Garet      | Lv12 Fated              |  | Isaac      | Lv12 Defender           |
|--------------------------------------|  |--------------------------------------|
|   HP:   178             Attack:  121 |  |   HP:   182             Attack:  112 |
|   PP:    78            Defense:   85 |  |   PP:    63            Defense:   83 |
| Luck:     4            Agility:   62 |  | Luck:     7            Agility:   57 |
|--------------------------------------|  |--------------------------------------|
| Elven Rapier                   Blade |  | Broad Sword                    Sword |
| Open Helm                       Head |  | Open Helm                       Head |
| Bronze Shield                   Arms |  | Bronze Shield                   Arms |
| Psynergy Armor                  Body |  | Leather Armor                   Body |
| Leather Armor                        |  | Catch Beads                     Tool |
|--------------------------------------|  | Mars Star                            |
| Gust     | ---      | ---      |  | Mountain Water                   x 1 |
| Breeze   | ---      | ---      |  | Herb                             x 1 |  
| ---      | ---      | ---      |  | Water of Life                    x 1 |
`--------------------------------------'  | Nut                              x 1 |  
                                         |--------------------------------------|
                                         | Fizz     | ---      | ---      |
                                         | Sleet    | ---      | ---      |
                                         | ---      | ---      | ---      |
                                         `--------------------------------------'

Saturos appeared!

Ivan's Witch's Wand
lets out a howl!  Stun Voltage!
Saturos takes 55 damage!
Mia casts Ice!
Saturos takes 43 damage!!!
Garet casts Impact!
Isaac's Attack rises by 28!
Saturos attacks!
Isaac takes 32 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 84 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan attacks!
Saturos takes 20 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Isaac's HP is fully restored!
Saturos casts Fireball!
Ivan takes 78 damage!
Mia takes 65 damage!
Garet takes 44 damage.
Garet casts Impact!
Isaac's Attack rises by 28!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 97 damage!!!
Mia's PP is fully restored!

Ivan uses some Corn!
Ivan's HP is fully restored!
Mia casts Cure!
Mia recovers 64 HP!
Saturos uses Heat Flash!
Mia takes 66 damage!
Mia is wrapped in delusion!
Garet's Elven Rapier
lets out a howl!  Vorpal Slash!
Saturos takes 52 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 96 damage!!!
Mia's PP is fully restored!

Ivan's Witch's Wand
lets out a howl!  Stun Voltage!
Saturos takes 54 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Mia recovers 63 HP!
Garet's Elven Rapier
lets out a howl!  Vorpal Slash!
Saturos takes 51 damage!
Saturos attacks!
Garet takes 30 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 95 damage!!!
Mia's PP is fully restored!

Ivan attacks!
Saturos takes 21 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Garet recovers 61 HP!
Garet casts Impact!
Isaac's Attack rises by 0!
Saturos casts Eruption!
Ivan takes 108 damage!
Mia takes 92 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 98 damage!!!
Mia's PP is fully restored!

Ivan uses a Vial!
Ivan's HP is fully restored!
Mia casts Cure Well!
Mia's HP is fully restored!
Garet attacks!
Saturos nimbly dodges the blow!
Saturos attacks!
Ivan takes 39 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 97 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan's Witch's Wand
lets out a howl!  Stun Voltage!
Saturos takes 52 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Ivan's HP is fully restored!
Saturos uses Heat Flash!
Isaac takes 51 damage!!!
Isaac is wrapped in delusion!
Garet's Elven Rapier
lets out a howl!  Vorpal Slash!
Saturos takes 52 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 98 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!
Mia sees clearly once again!

Ivan attacks!
Saturos takes 21 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Isaac's HP is fully restored!
Garet casts Impact!
Isaac's Attack rises by 0!
Saturos casts Fireball!
Ivan takes 63 damage!
Mia takes 84 damage!
Garet takes 57 damage.
Isaac takes 50 damage!!!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 97 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan is defending!
Mia casts Cure Well!
Mia's HP is fully restored!
Garet casts Astral Blast!
Saturos takes 64 damage!
Saturos attacks!
Ivan takes 19 damage!
Isaac casts Cure!
Ivan recovers 74 HP!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan attacks!
Saturos takes 21 damage!
Mia casts Cure!
Garet recovers 63 HP!
Garet casts Astral Blast!
Saturos takes 64 damage!
Saturos casts Fireball!
Ivan takes 77 damage!
Mia takes 65 damage!
Garet takes 44 damage.
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 97 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan is defending!
Mia casts Cure!
Mia recovers 61 HP!
Saturos uses Heat Flash!
Isaac takes 51 damage!!!
Isaac is wrapped in delusion!
Garet casts Astral Blast!
Saturos takes 63 damage!
Isaac casts Cutting Edge!
Saturos takes 96 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan is defending!
Mia casts Cure!
Ivan recovers 61 HP!
Saturos attacks!
Isaac takes 29 damage!
Garet casts Astral Blast!
Saturos takes 62 damage!
Isaac unleashes Sleet!
Saturos takes 100 damage!!!
Mia recovers 4 PP!

Ivan casts Plasma!
Saturos takes 43 damage!
Mia casts Cure Well!
Isaac's HP is fully restored!
Saturos casts Eruption!
Ivan takes 85 damage!
Mia takes 113 damage!
Garet takes 81 damage.
Garet casts Astral Blast!
Saturos takes 62 damage!
You felled Saturos!

You got 331 experience points.
You got 800 coins.
You got a Psy Crystal.


Wow.  Ivan doesn't take @#$% from nobody - the first thing he did was unleash upside Saturos' face.  This battle... actually went on a couple rounds shorter than I thought it would.  Isaac ran out of PP as expected from all the Cutting Edges, and was setting up the summon that I had thought would be what took Satty out.  Given that last Eruption... kinda glad it ended when it did - granted, I had another Vial, Mia could have healed herself, and Garet was about to be healed by Isaac... But you never know when the RNG Goddess will turn around and say "Yeah, no.  You're dead now."


Anywho, things I've noticed:

Open Helm is better than Wooden Hat.  Yet it's 100 g cheaper.  Some price adjustment needs to happen there.
Some of the class names, at least at least at this point, seem kind of odd.  Perhaps I'm just not seeing the bigger picture yet, but there seems to be changes where none are needed right now (ex:  Mia's base class line).

Caledor

#13
Hmm... Maybe i'll check the success rates again.
Also, keep in mind that Ivan being more resistant to sleep is due to him having 5 more levels in Jupiter than the others.
About the prices, it is intended. I didn't say this before but there are categories even for defensive equipment and hats are worse than helms defense-wise. which means that when you have similar improvements in defense the hat is always more expensive. Plus the open helm can be bought earlier than the wooden cap and that's another factor that lowers its price.
About class names, I'm VERY open to change cause I just translated the the Italian ones I've chosen for my ROM, but I'll at least wait until you've seen the bigger picture. And thanks cause you've just made me remember where I needed that "paragon" but this will remain a mistery until v1.20 :P

Thank you, Squirtle. Honestly I didn't expect all this myself but I'm certainly glad to see that its liked this much. :)

leaf

#14
I think the problem here being the wooden hat is made redundant by the existence of the open helm. You're touting this as "the balanced age," but when you have a piece of equipment that is outclassed by another in literally every respect (including accessibility and price), that piece of equipment is broken - in the useless sense. It needs something to make it a desirable purchase.
[spoiler=quotes]
[9:00:50 PM] Randel Peltier: Ok...what did I do last night?
[9:01:19 PM] Kain: Something boring, repetitive, and lasted for about sixty seconds.
---
[10:45:08 AM] Salanewt: But yeah, the elemental phalluses are being... Stroked up by Saturos and co., and the energy will go towards... Mt. Muffin, where the Golden Climax will arise.
[7:28:42 PM] Salanewt: An added bonus is that Isaac and co. were trying to stop Saturos and co. because their beliefs state that Mt. Muffin should remain a virgin.
---
[9:54:21 PM] Randel Peltier: Guess the number in my head an you get to pick what I say. Number between 1-10
[9:54:28 PM] leaf: 11
[9:54:36 PM] Randel Peltier: @#$%!
---
[8:38:13 PM] Randel Peltier: Shes like this queen up on a pedastal that I have yet to court.
[8:38:29 PM] Kain: You've tried courting her.
[8:38:43 PM] leaf: and failed spectacularly
[8:38:44 PM] Randel Peltier: Ive tried...shes the best dating game ever.
---
[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
---
[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
---
[1:09:57 PM] Zeadra: well if you want to know if its a new effect or something weird, just check GS1, if side step is there maby it is the nimble dodge thing
[1:10:35 PM] Kioll: For once, you've contributed something useful.  o.O[/spoiler]

Caledor

Mages cannot equip the open helm

leaf

What's the comparison between a circlet and the wooden cap then? Does it even trump starting equipment?
[spoiler=quotes]
[9:00:50 PM] Randel Peltier: Ok...what did I do last night?
[9:01:19 PM] Kain: Something boring, repetitive, and lasted for about sixty seconds.
---
[10:45:08 AM] Salanewt: But yeah, the elemental phalluses are being... Stroked up by Saturos and co., and the energy will go towards... Mt. Muffin, where the Golden Climax will arise.
[7:28:42 PM] Salanewt: An added bonus is that Isaac and co. were trying to stop Saturos and co. because their beliefs state that Mt. Muffin should remain a virgin.
---
[9:54:21 PM] Randel Peltier: Guess the number in my head an you get to pick what I say. Number between 1-10
[9:54:28 PM] leaf: 11
[9:54:36 PM] Randel Peltier: @#$%!
---
[8:38:13 PM] Randel Peltier: Shes like this queen up on a pedastal that I have yet to court.
[8:38:29 PM] Kain: You've tried courting her.
[8:38:43 PM] leaf: and failed spectacularly
[8:38:44 PM] Randel Peltier: Ive tried...shes the best dating game ever.
---
[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
---
[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
---
[1:09:57 PM] Zeadra: well if you want to know if its a new effect or something weird, just check GS1, if side step is there maby it is the nimble dodge thing
[1:10:35 PM] Kioll: For once, you've contributed something useful.  o.O[/spoiler]

Caledor

#17
Yup, the wooden hat is basically an improvement over the circlet. It was the open helm that was completly useless before, so i switched their stats and made the open helm available earlier.

Rolina

What else does the Wooden Cap offer to make up for its higher price?  Accessibility alone doesn't cut it.  Availability is not an excuse, either - if we were to talk when things should be available, I'd say the Open Helm is gotten too early - swap it with the Wooden Hat if you must.  Or, you could make it so it's like in vanilla, where the more valuable piece of equipment is actually better than the less valuable one - the helm is worse than the hat there.

But yeah, if defense is the only measure, then there is no reason why the helm should cost less than the hat.

Caledor

I can't swap the open helm with the wooden cap because the circlet would become completely useless, and I don't want mages to have stronger gear defense-wise than warriors at any point in the game (at least from shops), so the only option was to move the helm earlier. I can partially agree with what you said in the sense that a 100 coin difference is too much, but keep the categories thing in mind as well, not just accessibility. Between a circlet and a helm with the same defense the circlet is always going to cost more than the helmet only because one is a circlet and the other is an helmet. I think that lowering the hat's price to 240 is a fair compromise (and, on a second check, raise the leather armlet's price to 200, but we're really splitting hairs here).