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Balance Philosophy?

Started by Salanewt, 17, December, 2015, 04:12:18 PM

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leaf

Random question to you guys: If you were going to add a separate magic stat to GS, what would you call it (keeping with GS's themes)? Intelligence? Wisdom? Acuity? Insight? Mind?
[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]

Rolina

#21
Quote from: Caledor on 18, December, 2015, 08:55:30 PM
Quote from: Rolina on 18, December, 2015, 08:23:22 PM
Also, why all the tearing apart of my philosophy?  Why not, you know, share yours?  We all have different approaches.
Why are you getting so defensive? The first poster was the one to lead the discussion, that's all. Besides, we've been discussing my balancing philosophy for the last 11 months on this very forum... i don't understand why it should be THAT bad talking about yours or anyone else's approach.
Eh, I'm just terrible getting my point across.  I was just curious as to what your approach was.  I mean, I posted mine, but it was several more posts before anyone posted theirs, so it's mostly me responding to people about mine rather than me reading about how other people approach things.  I'm genuinely curious as to what your personal approaches are.

@Leaf, Mia's spells:  That's a damn good point.  Either mix it up, or consolidate the marginal increases.  I like the idea.

@Squirtle, delusion:  Er... not so fast.  Delusion only affects the attack command, and most enemies have a nice assortment of other things to use against the players.  It's as useless against them as against the party without at least some tweaks to what it affects.
@Squirtle, break:  Oh, that reminds me.  I'm rather fond of the idea of break not being an instant-success, but rather to have it have simply a high chance of success, and to check against each individual buff.  I'd also take it from Target All to Large Area, so that while it has a high chance of wiping the central target clean, other targets have a much higher chance of having some or all of their stats intact afterwards.  This would keep buffs as being useful, but still have break be a credible threat.

@Leaf, Squirtle, and Agility:  It depends on how you approach it, I think.  High AGL foes should also have lower defenses, making them fast but fragile.  Bulky foes would have lower speed, but also some higher firepower, giving the scenario leaf presented.  It's part of how I think each enemy should have its place - some are fast skirmishers, others are bulky artillery.  I'd also make better use of priority skills on either side.  Agility should still be an important stat, but between the counters that defenders get, priority moves, and the approach enemies take, it'd not be quite as powerful as it is in vanilla.

@Condemn:  Eh... this is a tricky one to balance.  InstaKO moves have always been kinda... eh.  No point in them being that costly though, not unless they're a near guaranteed success.  As it stands, they should still be one of the less successful ailments, though some foes I could see being vulnerable.  Say, for example, they have high HP, defense, and warding, but low luck and an actual weakness to insta-ko moves.  That's mean that your heavy damage dealers may struggle with it, but a controller could more or less handle it with ease.  I think how much it's worth really depends on its implementation in the end.

@Magic stat:  I use Casting and Warding.  They fit the general naming mold that attack and defense use.  I try to avoid terms like intelligence, wisdom, etc since I think that it should be fine to have a smart warrior who just isn't that good with spells, but not your usual dumb oaf.  I avoid terms like Strength and Dexterity as well, since I think those should be defined by the character, not by the battle stats.

Caledor

#22
About golden sun... my approach in general was to give (almost) everything a chance to shine. I focus a single issue, the one that "bothers" me the most, solve it, rinse and repeat.

My first complaints to the game were: unleashes are too strong, psynergy is too weak. So: nerf unleashes, increase the power of psynergies (the pp multiplier came A LOT later).

Then came the classes, starting with Piers and Jenna and the ridiculous copy paste from GS1, which ended up becoming a full overhaul. And yes, as you know by now, i'm fine with some classes performing better or worse than others at certain point of the game. I think that adaptability is a good quality for a player and this encourages changes instead of sticking to one class setup from the beginning to the end.

After that the items, starting from simple tweaks, then weapon categories, full shop rebalance, general TLA nerf from the eastern sea onwards (so that the TBS team has weapon of comparable power to yours when they join), up to the 2 new cursed items.

I never ever summon rushed in like 5 playthroughs so it became an issue only after posting my work in progress (at the time) here and making it available for everyone.

And well i could keep going but i don't see the point of it. It can really be summed up as "i don't like that/it can be improved -> fix it/improve it -> "what's next?". That's why it's easier for me to talk about other people's ideas or answer their questions.

@Magic stat name: If we want to keep the GS theme, the only word we really can't use is Magic. The perfect fit for me are Power and Resistance, too bad that those are already used for the elements. I'm not really fine with casting and warding, but the main reason is that they don't really translate well into italian.

@Condemn I really like your idea Role. After all, somehow i already did the same with the classes in my mod: the ones vulnerable to Death are Paladin and Holy Knight, two of the sturdiest classes, with very high HP, top tier defense, and healing abilities.

@Break. Don't forget the effect this might have on the AI. Against bosses (main break users) you always have at least 1 turn more than them. Nerfing break implies that the turn advantage become even more noticeable cause you can finally stack buffs AND the enemies have to "lose" more turns casting multiple breaks. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, but be VERY careful with it. Personally, i like the idea of break being a move that "punishes" players being "too greedy" with buffs. Against sentinel for example, i used to cast a single buff per turn in order to bait a break. And it's already a win-win situation as it is, cause if he did break, he lost 1/3 of his actions, while i lost only 1/4. If he didn't, i was stronger the next turn.

Salanewt

Delusion: You would have a good point, except that literally every enemy other than Doom Dragon has at least one Attack command, with many having 2-5 on average and a few even having nothing else (e.g. Kobold/Goblin line). And Doom Dragon's first head has a "do nothing" move. Since most/all enemies tend to pick abilities regardless of their current status ailment, this means that delusion always has the potential to help. This is particularly true near the start of the game, when Delude is always available from the moment you get Ivan/Sheba and few enemies have less than 6-7 attack commands. Its usefulness is obviously diminished later in the game and against several bosses, but the fact that it is more reliable than most other spell-based ailments means that it is better than them already. To quote what I said to some people on Skype:

QuoteAlthough as far as spell-based ailments go, Delude is still more useful than almost everything else the player can cast. Every other ailment spell is either too volatile (haunt), too unreliable (condemn, Drain spells), and/or mostly useless (bind, curse).

The only better ailment that can be inflicted through a spell is sleep. Well, if ignoring item classes at least. Poison/venom and stun would certainly be more useful if they were more accessible as spells, but they aren't. :P


Magic stat: While I still think that the eStats can be good enough for this if you make eStat boosting gear (especially for mages) more plentiful and give magic classes more distinct abilities, naming such a stat "wisdom" or something like that could be pretty fitting. It should probably be distinct from attack in order to differentiate the two, otherwise you basically have two names for the same thing. Plus it would be pretty hard to justify having a blanket resistance stat for many enemies that don't use magic, unlike for defence where you can chalk that up to the physical characteristics of the enemy almost 100% of the time.

Condemn/break: I read those as "@ Condom" and "@Break" for a moment, lol. I agree with the condemn stuff for the most part (although a higher cost for a higher success rate could be nice if the success rate isn't too high), and also agree with break to a point; a single target variant could work pretty well for common enemies and early bosses, and then later bosses and other enemies can have a full one. At the very least a single-target variant that is attached to a physical attack of sorts.


Don't like -> fix -> loop: I kind of do the same as well, but I think in different ways. Not sure, hard to explain really. One example is how we seem to have handled some ailments; it looks like you mostly looked at base rates, while I have only changed a couple rates so far and tweaked the actual formulas to make up for it. Mostly just to lessen the influence that luck has on ailments, but still.

Agility/priority: Makes sense. Which reminds me, I was planning to investigate the "has priority over everything else" thing later. It normally only applies to certain effects if they are used as djinn abilities, but I can't see that being too hard to change...

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?

leaf

Quoteand/or mostly useless (bind, curse)
I just wanna say that the *only* reason bind is so-called "useless" is because it's inconsistent. Luff and rime are both totally legit djinn that inflict that same effect, but with 100% success. I'd actually say that seal is one of the better ailments in the game, as long as the enemy you're binding doesn't have better monster skills than they do psynergy.
[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]

Salanewt

Oh definitely, yeah! It's just that those aren't spell-based like the other examples; in terms of djinn, unleashes, or item classes, then delude and sleep can definitely be outclassed by other alternatives. Plus a number of enemies don't actually use psynergy, so the player has to learn or remember which ones to use it on. Pretty good with a djinni, but also mediocre otherwise.

Also, does it bother anyone else that there are so many djinn with duplicate effects in the game? Luff/Rime, Tonic/Salt, Zephyr/Coal, Corona/Iron... I mean, I get why, but it just seems a tad silly that they couldn't figure out how to diversify them 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?

leaf

Not really tbh. It bothers me more when they're of the same element (e.g. forge/kindle), but even that I find excusable, since they don't do it often. Before the parties join, you need the replacements for GS1 djinn in GS2, and after the parties join, having duplicate effects on different elements lets you set up your party in a lot of different ways while still keeping the same basic functionality. And being able to double up on a djinni effect is pretty cool too; unleashing both kindle and forge T1 for an instant +50% atk boost to the entire party is fun.
[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]

Rolina

#27
@Bind:  That's an easy fix.  Bind would be useful if monster skills consumed PP.  Even if they only cost 1 PP, it'd force monsters to use the rarely used (in my experience) attack command, meaning that a combination of bind and delusion would be a devastating combo.  Seem too powerful?  Well... I'd argue that's why we need to have monsters with their own roles.  Maybe after that, there's another monster on the team that can use a Restore-like ability on it.  Or maybe that monster has some items - the fact that enemies get items I think is great, so if more of them can use a greater variety of items, that could be used to account for the bind/delude combo as well.

@Similar effect djinn:  So long as they have different "equip" stats, I'm fine with it.  Literal clones are what I'd have a problem with.  I definitely agree with Leaf in that I'd prefer identical abilities to be spread across multiple elements, though.

Salanewt

Bind: Oh yeah, that should work. I have also thought of of having numerous fighter enemies with PP pools; while some would be able to use it like you suggest, others would merely have it to make PP-related effect (like PP Drain) more useful.

Djinn: That's true. I guess I am thinking too much about it, although my preference would be for even slight variation. For example, one that does +25% to every PC and another than only does +12.5% but also heals. Might work out if it weren't for transfer data being a thing.
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

@Caledor/Break and "Greedy buffs" - I've gotta disagree with you on this one.  That's not how break works in practice.  What it does instead is pretty much force you to not waste your time with buffs.  Making it a high success rate while checking each individual buff you have on you, as well as giving it a diminishing area like most spells, keep it from negating the whole point of buffs (thus making them a viable option in strategy), while also still being rather powerful.  Something that might help is if the enemy AI targets the person with the most buffs on them as the focus of the spell - that way, while it doesn't act as global punishment, it does preform the role you wanted with it punishing the spamming of buffs.

At the same time, my whole approach to buffs/debuffs is vastly different than what GS does.

Each stat would have two buff and two debuff slots, save for HP, PP, and luck which have one.  There are 4 types of buffs/debuffs that can be put into these slots.  For simplicity's sake, I'll just post the buffs, since debuffs are basically the inverse:

Attack, Defense, Casting, Warding, Agility buffs (max buff value: 50%):

Stat +12.5% for 4 turns (targets whole party)
Stat +25% for 4 turns (targets single target)
Stat +25% for 8 turns, break effect -25% success rate for this slot (targets single target)
Stat +50% for 4 turns, break effect +25% success rate for this slot (targets single target)


Resistance Buffs (max buff value: +80):

Stat +20 for 4 turns (targets whole party)
Stat +40 for 4 turns (targets single target)
Stat +40 for 8 turns, break effect -25% success rate for this slot (targets single target)
Stat +80 for 4 turns, break effect +25% success rate for this slot (targets single target)

Power Buffs (Max buff value N/A*):

Stat +10 for 4 turns (Tier 1 summon buff)
Stat +20 for 4 turns (Tier 2 summon buff)
Stat +40 for 4 turns (Tier 3 summon buff)
Stat +80 for 4 turns (Tier 4 summon buff)

Luck buffs (max buff value: +7):

Luck +7 (djinn effect exclusive, targets whole party)


HP and PP buffs:

Regen for 4 turns (amount depends on spell) (no debuff counterpart for this effect) (whether single or full party as target depends on spell)


When you cast a buff, it'll take up one of the slots.  As each turn goes by, a counter ticks down - when it hits 0, the buff will end and that buff will disappear.  However, if you cast a second buff for that same stat, it'll reset the counter for the original buff back to its default value.  This only has an effect if there is an empty slot - if both slots are filled, then the spell will simply not work on that character.  IMO, this puts more of an emphasis on strategy.  Do you go for Weapon Grace and risk the easy dispel?  Or maybe you go for the long con, using long duration buffs, which though not immune to the dispel effects is at least resistant to it.

Power buffs are a bit different, though.  They still work as they do in GS - you get the buff after the summon.  But here's thing - these are pretty much not stackable, since their duration lasts the same duration as a summon.  Effectively, this means that by the time the next summon leaves and gives you a power buff, the old one has already worn off.


Debuffs work similarly, though the break-resistant and break-weak debuffs do double duty - since they're negative effects, luck is working to counteract them.  Break-resistant debuffs are less likely to be shaken off each turn due to luck checks, and break-weak ones are more likely.  In addition, a spell that works like break, but vs debuffs on the team would exist as well.  It'd not have as high of a success rate (considering that you can also shake off debuffs/ailments), but it'd effectively be a way for allies and foes to counteract debuff strats.

Caledor

#30
Hmm, I don't really think buffs are a waste of time just due to Break. I kinda understand what you're saying but i fear that switching to that system (area of effect break with lower chance on non main targets) might have very bad side effects, like:
- enemies become too easy cause they lose more turns trying to Break you, while you enjoy the increased stats more (double bonus for the player)
- the former might force us to strengthen the enemies. This then might lead to a scenario where buffs are absolutely needed to fight certain enemies (overleveling is not an answer since we want to add strategy), which is the opposite of the current situation but bad all the same.

I used Sentinel as an example cause he's strong enough to completely rape your team in the 3 turns he has with damage and debuffs. Plus your casters are completely useless against him so having them using buffs to bait a Break IS a strategy and also a very good one IMO cause you can only gain from doing this. And there are still enemies with sequential attack patterns, where you simply know when he/she will use Break and buff accordingly.

However, to sum up the whole thing, I'm against changing break only cause i fear the consequences of that. I just can't see it being a good and flawless change like you guys do. But still, i acknowledge that all of this is only inside my head for now and I might be proven to be completely wrong when someone actually does it and brings solid results from tests. Hence the "I'm not saying don't do it, i'm saying be VERY CAREFUL with it".

About the other things you wrote, I like many of them. A revamped AI IMO is a MUST if the new break is used, or we might end up with turns where the enemy breaks a high impact on 3 of your characters, then the RNG immediately tries to break again on Mia, cause it's simply too dangerous leaving the poor girl's attack stat unchecked. Or the opposite, when he breaks 3, and he doesn't try to break again on the Sol Blade weilder.

The slot thing also is nice, as is the different resistance to break/turn duration within buffs of the same type.

Salanewt

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with both sides of the argument. My solution so far is to just make it not guaranteed; Disco Sun currently has it at a 100% formula rate, meaning that it will still land most of the time unless the target has a good Mercury eLevel. It's mostly due to concerns regarding buff preparation, djinn, and enemy buffs being useless by the time you learn Break in the early 30s. Key part of that being early 30s. It makes it easier to give later enemies and bosses the ability to use buffs as something more than Break bait, although then the other two

That being said, there's a very fine balance for Break/buff stuff. The balance is fairly lopsided towards Break being overpowered right now, but the other side of that is basically what Caledor said. What is in place now is arguably better than that, and some care should be taken to make sure it can't be broken easily by the player.

A single target version that can precedes the normal variant in some way could work if done properly. Maybe like how Ragnarok becomes Odyssey: Break -> Shatter? Not sure. Something similar could theoretically work for Cure Poison and Restore as well, now that I think about it. This idea would probably work best in a hack where djinn manipulation is much more commonplace, which I am actually a huge fan of.

On that note, I have a few "new" strategies or roles in mind for enemies that will accompany more traditional roles of mage/fighter/tank/whatever. They mostly build on existing enemy mechanics though:

- Class/djinni manipulator: Starting with single target abilities that maybe target 1-2 djinn and progressing to multiple enemies having moves like Djinn Blast and Djinn Storm. Only five (5) bosses actually have the ability to do this in Golden Sun, and two of them are bonus bosses. It would also be neat to have a select few enemies with djinni scrambling moves, but that may be too much effort to be worthwhile.
- Summoner: Can use Summon-type abilities and even deal percentage-based damage. A select few enemies may even mimic adepts in terms of djinni use and/or ePow boosts, particularly certain bosses.
- Caller: Basically Star Magician, which is an expansion of the "duplicate self" and "revive ally" stuff with entirely new enemies. Whereas the previous two strategies/roles will be fairly common, this one will be less so. Enemies that can do this will generally do so to either to add enemies you can't normally encounter separately or for thematic purposes. E.g. a Doomsayer may be able to summon Zombies or Skeletons into battle, or a Gnome Wizard may be able to call Estre Woods. This may even branch into transformation stuff, but I don't know yet.
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

Ah, but you forget about added effects!  What if they enemy doesn't waste their time actively casting break - what if many of their skills actually have break as an additional effect?  For example, an attack called Searing Flame that strikes a medium area at high magnitude with an added break effect to it.  Because it's damage + effect, the chance itself is halved, but because it's also an attack, you get that anti-buff effect, and it can be cast multiple times in a turn.  Nothing wasted, but your controller may want to change tactics from buffs to debuffs against a foe like that.

To me, this the easiest of arguments - if you change something, you compensate in turn.  You have to adapt the enemy strategies to your techniques.  What's more, the fact that you think break in and of itself is a wasted turn is a very, very incorrect view.  Break → Armor Crush is not only a great tactic, but devastating one.  Enemy AI would need to be tweaked to exploit stuff like this as well.  Plus, in my system this might force the players to clear that debuff slot via normalize effects.

As for the slot thing, it was mainly implemented to counter buff spamming.  I mean, when all I have to do is cast high impact every few turns to keep everyone at full attack power, it doesn't feel very... tactical, you know?  But if I have to keep track of buffs and juggle both them and enhancements and what not effectively, it's more engaging.  

@Squirtle:  Not that kind of break.  Break refers to the breaking of waves, it'd be Break → Crash.


@Djinn Storm:  I'm kind of the mind that this shouldn't be guaranteed.  Djinn Storm and Blast, IMO, should be a moderate chance of success and check vs every djinn.  Crippling still, yes, but not overwhelmingly so as it is now.  Those moves are far too overpowered as they are now, and come across more cheap than anything.

Caledor

Well, i agree with pretty much your whole post. Under those conditions, a Break nerf might be viable. Also

Quote from: Rolina on 27, December, 2015, 06:19:55 PMBreak refers to the breaking of waves, it'd be Break → Crash.
While this makes more sense, remember that Break should actually be named Splash.

Salanewt

Added effects: Pretty much, yeah. My previous post was referencing the effect as a standalone thing more than as an added effect. One should still be careful about not going too far in the other direction at any rate.

Break: Huh, never thought of the wave thing before. I always associated it with the erosion/weathering/cracking of solids (e.g. rock, cement) from the cold/freezing, which honestly makes more sense to me given that you are literally breaking buffs. The name though...

Djinn Storm: I agree. Preferably non-elemental in most situations though, unless there are also versions that only target specific elements. Something like 60-70% could work pretty well if going by the formula, maybe even with item classes being extra vulnerable to them should they still be multi-elemental in nature.
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

@Break/Splash:  Yup, I agree with you there.  But if you're gonna use the localized name, you gotta keep to naming trends. :3c

@Squirtle/Break:  Doesn't make sense for that animation.

Salanewt

Maybe not for that animation, but that's not necessarily something that is always consistent. I mean, a number of animations basically have random and/or cool-sounding names for them.


Also, I recently thought of an idea about turning eLevels into element-specific proficiency stats that can be trained and raised over time. Basically into actual levels. Still working out the kinks of it though, so I will update later. All I know is that it could potentially change the class system around a bit. Not sure. Later.
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

Unless you specifically disassociate the class system from E-Levels, then I'd avoid it.  I'm all in favor of that, though.  In fact, I'd change the name even to reflect that - I'd use Elemental Proficiency.  I'd not give it use mastery the way your idea is, but instead add equipment support for it.  I think it'd make its place as Control Offense a bit clearer.

While we're at the subject of renaming stats, I've flirted with the idea of changing Luck into Resilience before.  FFTA2 uses that name for the same thing that stat does, and I kinda like that approach.  Gives it a more defense oriented name, while who knows what the hell luck means - every game uses that differently.

Rolina

Posting again to get more thoughts.  Long with ELevel → EProficiency and Luck → Resiliance, I'm also a fan of changing PP (Psynergy Points) back to EP (Energy Points).  Having the idea that this comes from your energy or stamina reserves means that as a developer we can actually take better advantage of it, such as creating a non-adept ("Freelancer" in my system) that can consume EP as a second-chance critical, or even stacked critical.  It'd let you have a non-caster in the system without having an entirely useless stat, since it's now fuel for their higher crit rate.  It'd also be better justification for giving monster skills a cost.  They're not casting psynergy when they breathe fire, but they are expending energy.

leaf

...what's stopping you from doing that now? Your distinction between "EP" and "PP" is entirely superficial. They're literally the same stat, called by different things, but have the same meaning; "psynergy" is short for "psychic energy" after all.

You have a resource bar. May as well use it.
[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.
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[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.
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[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: @#$%!
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[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.
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[12:24:35 AM] Salanewt: I need to find a picture of a naked person to put on the Christmas tree next year.
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[2:19:06 PM] Zeadra: wait... Rief's a guy???
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[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]