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Intellect Stat Rebalance (GS2)

Started by Salanewt, 28, September, 2016, 02:08:44 PM

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Salanewt

Hey! Have you ever wondered why GS lacked a dedicated magic attack stat? Especially GS2, which built on the gameplay of GS1?

Well, so did leaf, who asked me if it would be feasible to rearrange some of the game's code to repurpose an existing stat into what is now known as the Intellect stat. You can read some bullet points on it here, which also goes into some of the more technical stuff that you may want to read over at some point. I'm going to go over the basics in this post.


What is Intellect and how does it work?

Intellect is basically the magical equivalent of Attack. It makes use of three battle formulas, two of which already exist while the third is new; Base Damage and Diminishing, which are treated like the physical Added Damage formula with diminishing multi-target damage ratios, and Magic Multiplier, which is essentially a multiplier. Each of these formulas will ignore Defence, but the base stat is divided by 4 before any calculations are made. Oh, and the Summon formula is exempt from these changes, meaning that it should function as before (and can be used like the original Base Damage formula for abilities that you do not want to use Intellect for).



I replaced the Agility stat with this, for space reasons.


But what about Agility?

Don't worry, it still exists! I replaced the Luck stat with it (also for space reasons), and it mostly functions as before with a couple key differences. Because the Luck stat is an 8-bit value while the old Agility is 16-bit, this means that it has a lower cap of 255. Because of this, leaf and I felt it would be best to remove the RNG component of player turn priority; enemies never used this mechanic anyway, so it's only fair. Plus it makes it easier to create strategies around the Agility stat if it is more predictable.


Wait, what was that about Luck?

Yeah, Luck is gone. It was only used for a couple things anyway, it won't be missed. I hope. Because of this, it no longer has anything to do with status effects and ailments. It has been replaced by the target's total Elemental Levels, which are often comparable to the target's luck stat in an unmodified game so it isn't a huge difference. In fact, total Elemental Level replaces the Luck stat in the two formulas it was used in with only one other change.



The downside (or upside) to this is that luck-based immunities have been completely eliminated. It makes sense because elemental tables are more awkward to change around for specific enemies, when so many tables are shared by multiple enemies. I recommend using the Enemy-Specific Effect Immunities patch in conjunction with this (not included with this hack), which allows you to set ailment immunities based on specific monster IDs.


What else has been added?

I added four new ability effects, which are effectively Intellect-specific versions of Impact. They are effects 39-41 and 43 in the editor; 39 and 40 are the debuffs, while 41 and 43 are the buffs. I also added new lines of text and duplicates of the Resistance status menu icons; you can read more about them in the Google Doc I linked earlier. Oh, and I included the Simple Success Rates patch just because. The only thing to keep in mind is that the normally unused "[Target] rises to the challenge!" effect may affect the buff value in some way, and I left it alone because I plan on doing something with that in the future.



I also played around with item attributes. Critical/Unleash Rate will now show in the equipment screen, but is otherwise unchanged. Counterstrike Rate now does something, even though I do not recommend making use of it yet because it isn't finished. I am planning a new counterattack patch in the future that will utilize it and be compatible with this one, so keep your eyes open for it! Finally, I added a new Ailment Resistance/Recovery attribute, which is #28 and is a flat value that is added directly to total Elemental Levels in the two formulas that previously used Luck. This is effective the replacement to the Luck equipment attribute, allowing some customization over ailment resistance with gear.


How easy is it to use these new features?

Mostly easy, but features that the editor is unable to utilize may seem challenging to newbies. You will need a hex editor to use the new item attribute, the Magic Multiplier formula, change success/recovery rates, and most importantly enemy immunities. That last one also requires some patience with light assembly code, although the way I set it up makes it easier than it would be otherwise. You also need a hex editor if you want to play around with elemental tables, which is the case without this patch anyway.


What hasn't changed?

Most things. I didn't add new abilities or animations (that is up to you), the status menu icons are duplicates rather than custom, all stats and stat growths are the same... Need I go on? The only thing to keep in mind is that the debuff text in the status menu reads something like "Intellect dropped by [value]. Increase with spells like Empower." and "Empower" was the best name I could think of that would fit that line of text without changing the actual line. The reason for this is because three of the four other debuffs also do this; "Attack dropped by [value]. Increase with spells like Impact." and such. I did that just for consistency's sake, so keep that in mind if your buff spell isn't named Empower.


Special Thanks

Thanks to leaf for the idea and balance advice, and to Fox/Teawater for coding help.

Please enjoy, and feel free to ask questions if you have any!
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?

charon the ferryman

Great work, Sala. This has always been something that bothered me about the GS games. Are you offering the update as a patch too?

Salanewt

Thanks! It's funny, but it never really bothered me until I started making the patch. Now I'm 50/50 on it; 50% in favour of the current system if psynergy is not treated like a conventional magic system, and 50% in favour of a dedicated stat if it is.

Which update?
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?

charon the ferryman

I meant the Intellect update that you were referring to in the OP, but obviously you have a patch since you mentioned it lol

Salanewt

Aah, okay. The patch is in both the OP and in the downloads section (I copy+pasted the post); I'll probably update the patch if any bugs surface, but on the whole I think the stat is finished and I don't plan to change anything else unless something ends up being really broken. :P

On another note, it's actually pretty nice how well stats line up with their old counterparts. Mages and spell casters typically have higher Intellect than warriors when they had higher Agility before, and eLevel totals are mostly comparable with Luck values aside from bosses and player characters when trying to go for higher Luck. This is one of the main reasons I decided against making a standalone balance hack to showcase the new stat, since there wouldn't be a lot of changes aside from manually setting boss immunities and tweaking gear/certain enemies and abilities.
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

Hmm... Seems interesting.  How is spell defense handled?  Is it like other 4-stat games, where Intellect doubles both as Offense and Defense?

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#6
QuoteEach of these formulas will ignore Defence,
I figure this answers it? (I didn't check the code to make sure, though.)

I don't think Magic ever did anything with a Defense value to start with.... (Outside of Elemental Resistance.... which even Physical attacks can use.)

So had a Defense value been used, there could be a number of options.
-Use Intellect
-Use Defense (Assuming it means global defense.)
-Make a new stat.
-A combination of above. (Etc.)
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! :)

leaf

#7
Quote from: Rolina on 29, September, 2016, 06:15:53 PM
Hmm... Seems interesting.  How is spell defense handled?  Is it like other 4-stat games, where Intellect doubles both as Offense and Defense?

There's no spell defense. You can think of it as just using Int/4 instead of (Atk - Def)/2 for an EPA. I figured this would be the most controversial decision of the patch; there were any number of approaches that could have been deemed "right," so we opted for the simplest possible.
[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

#8
Plus there is the issue of limited space within character RAM for another stat; I managed to squeeze in a new item attribute and buff, but a duplicate DEF stat with its own buff would need another four bytes, along with somewhere to squeeze it in the status menus and at least two more item attributes, which would be the easiest part of adding one aside from editor compatibility. As it stands things are pretty crammed, and on top of that I wanted to avoid repurposing unused stuff (e.g. Reflect/Confuse/Charm) at all costs because I like utilizing unused stuff in the other hacks I make. An easy but inefficient solution would have been to code in a new area for select values, which would be silly for just a single stat.

The spoiler provides a pretty good indication of how much space is taken up, even though not everything has actually been recorded yet. This patch makes use of three previously unused bytes, with one possible exception for something that doesn't actually use the byte for what it does.

[spoiler=PC RAM, with Felix as an example; courtesy of GS2 documentation]
02000520 = PC Data *8 ; Felix (04) below:
02000A50 = Name
02000A5F = Level
02000A64 = HP %
02000A66 = PP %
02000A84 = Max HP and PP
02000A88 = Current HP and PP
02000A8C = Attack and Defense
02000A90 = Agility
02000A92 = Luck
02000A93 = Turns
02000A94 = HP Recovery
02000A95 = PP Recovery
02000A96 = [used for ailment attribute]
02000A97 =
02000A98 = Elemental Power/Resist
02000AA8 = Psynergies (32 max) (8000=Class Psynergy)
02000B28 = Items (F800=Quantity; 0400=Broke; 0200=Equipped; 01FF=Item)
02000B48 = Djinn (Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter; Ready/Not Ready (Set/Standby); Total *2)
02000B70 =
02000B74 = Exp
02000B79 = Class
02000B7A = ??? (Seems to indicate alive/downed condition for enemies, but PCs use it differently?)
02000B7B =
02000B7C = Summon boosts (per byte)
02000B80 = Curse
02000B81 = 01 for poison; 02 for venom.
02000B82 = Attack Turns & Up/Down
02000B84 = Defense Turns & Up/Down
02000B86 = Resistances Turns & Up/Down
02000B88 = Delusion Turns
02000B89 = Confusion Turns
02000B8A = Charm Turns (If 0, allows you to x0 an attack? Includes delusion and 1/32 random.)
02000B8B = Stun Turns
02000B8C = Sleep Turns
02000B8D = Psy-seal Turns
02000B8E = HP Regenerate Turns
02000B8F = Reflect Turns
02000B90 = Haunt
02000B91 = Turns until downed
02000B92 = Unleash/critical rate
02000B93 = Reflux
02000B94 =
02000B95 = 1-turn Stun (turns)
02000B96 = Agility Turns & Up/Down
02000B98 = [used for Intellect buff]
02000B9A = ID[/spoiler]
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

#9
QuotePlus there is the issue of limited space within character RAM for another stat
I don't recall ever seeing 02000F80-02000FFF being used for anything, though...
So you can probably give each PC another 0x10 bytes.
(I assume you can do it in the function that gets the PC address? And maybe(?) not need to worry with much else?)

@4 bytes: Another six bytes?
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! :)

Rolina

Quote from: Fox on 29, September, 2016, 06:40:39 PM
QuoteEach of these formulas will ignore Defence,
I figure this answers it? (I didn't check the code to make sure, though.)

I don't think Magic ever did anything with a Defense value to start with.... (Outside of Elemental Resistance.... which even Physical attacks can use.)

So had a Defense value been used, there could be a number of options.
-Use Intellect
-Use Defense (Assuming it means global defense.)
-Make a new stat.
-A combination of above. (Etc.)
Defense is an actual stat, so it was a bit misleading.  That's why I asked - thanks for clearing it up.

I'm not really gonna push much of an issue because figuring out how to get spell defense to work in four-stat systems is weird, and nobody's done it "correct", since there's always something to be argued.  Y'all did a good job, considering the limitations you've got to work with.  Not ideal, but not like it can be without being able to add new stats, amirite?

Salanewt

#11
Rolina: Thanks! And that's certainly true. If it helps, I did a fair amount of testing during the stat's development and damage outputs are pretty comparable to fighters' standard attack damage. I just did another quick test against one of Moapa's Knights to be sure, all with vanilla stats and classes, Felix as a Gallant, and Sheba in her lowest base class...

- Sheba did 164 damage with Storm Ray (380 Intellect; 104 Jupiter ePower, to the Knight's 100 eResistance);
- She did 130 to Moapa himself, with diminishing damage and such;
- Felix did 140 damage with a normal attack (387 Attack to the Knight's 151 Defence);
- Felix did 180 with Crucible Fire.

Pretty balanced in this case, maybe a little in favour towards Sheba but this is also with only very basic starting gear aside from Felix' Hestia Blade (and a lot of mints for Sheba because I am not testing with custom gear). Things could probably go in Felix' favour if he had some Mars power boosts and gear that made attacking and unleashing more effective, although the same could be said for Sheba and Jupiter boosts. Elemental stats obviously play a large role too, and now that spells are basically added damage it may be a good idea to reduce their base power a little bit. Things mostly work with vanilla stats and abilities at least, so that's a good sign in terms of planning around balance issues.

Edit: It's worth repeating, but Storm Ray has a higher base damage than Ragnarok; Ragnarok, with 129 Venus ePower, did about 189 damage to the Knight. This is also a 30 point difference in base/added damage. In my opinion, lowering the base/added damage values of most spells (and maybe getting more use of other two formulas) should make things far more balanced.


Fox: Definitely four bytes, two for a stat and two for a buff unless I am forgetting something crucial.

The main issue is that it would feel silly to dedicate a new area for character RAM just for a new stat, and a stat that isn't all that necessary either thanks to the existing elemental stats in place. Then there is the issue that I would also need to dedicate space for enemy RAM there too, so another x10 bytes per character wouldn't work very well. How many enemies can be in a battle at once again, six? So at most that would be about nine bytes per character (down to five after using them for a broad resistance stat), but personally I would rather dedicate something entirely new to that space. The only thing that stands out to me that would be feasible for a broad resistance stat are the four bytes after djinn data if they are unused (#02000B70 in the Felix example), but I also have plans for djinn system reforms down the road and may need that space for them.
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

#12
QuoteFox: Definitely four bytes, two for a stat and two for a buff unless I am forgetting something crucial.
Definitely? Let's see if you're still sure:

Base Magic Defense = 2 bytes (Now I'm wondering what kind of items would perma-boost this and Intellect? Think Apple, Hard Nut, etc.)
Current Magic Defense = 2 bytes
Magic Defense Multiplier = 1 byte
Magic Defense Turn Duration = 1 byte

Unless of course you were thinking about doing something differently?

You could technically have both Base and Current be 1 byte each, but I was thinking it might make more sense for it to be as many as the Intellect stat.

QuoteThe main issue is that it would feel silly to dedicate a new area for character RAM just for a new stat, and a stat that isn't all that necessary either thanks to the existing elemental stats in place. Then there is the issue that I would also need to dedicate space for enemy RAM there too, so another x10 bytes per character wouldn't work very well.
Isn't Enemy Ram data in the 0x02030000-0x02040000 section? If so, then I would expect it to also be expandable, given how that area of memory works. Basically, it is like free memory for whatever you want. (Can't remember for sure if free memory goes all the way to the end of WRAM, but I think it does?) (There is a similar, much smaller "free memory" section for IRAM as well... done similarly.

(@Enemy RAM expandable: It is having its own table.. The pointer is at 030000D8, so it should be incredibly simple to expand.)

I mean, the pointers at 03000000 and 03000004 will tell you where the free memory is available in those two sections (WRAM and IRAM), if you need an idea of how much memory you could have available. Which I expect to be way more than enough room, for your average patch. (Assuming not much RAM is needed.) - (BUT NOTE, that nothing in those areas get saved to the .sav file.)

In conclusion, I hope that this has proven that an extra 0x10 bytes per PC/enemy in RAM would actually work quite well... (Untested, but I really don't see why it wouldn't.) And even more than 0x10 if we get rid of the NPC data that gets saved (.sav).... (e.g. Which is easy enough if you limit where you can save. And/or figure out some other alternative solution to why they even save that in the first place.)
The question is whether we actually do want another stat. (While being in the right section, not necessarily in the right order.) - And then how to figure out the /rest/ of the complications... like ROM data, etc. Which I also expect to be easy enough to do, for the most part, since there is repointering.

QuoteHow many enemies can be in a battle at once again, six?
Sometimes I feel like it's five (weird, I know), but it could be six, yeah.
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! :)

Salanewt

Wait, base and current? I thought that was just for HP and PP though. Or is there a value for when items add to a stat? Because a part of me wonders if that could be trashed.

RAM: Well yeah, but I would rather not dedicate extra RAM to things just to add a new stat, regardless of how easy or hard it would be; it would be different if I were doing a massive overhaul or something. That was just one of my reasons for not wanting to do it, with the main one being that it could very easily get in the way of my future plans. Like utilizing that bit of space after player RAM would. :p
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

#14
QuoteBecause a part of me wonders if that could be trashed.
Same. But all six stats should be having a base stat in canon.
Base:
-I think there was a little bit of randomness with how much stats are increased during level ups, right? (Not sure how much you(or another) would change the system, but assuming this is a mod for others to use, than I expect a number of things to remain the same.)
And there are item boosts. (If you use them.)
Current: (Probably for ease-of-use.)
-Buffs/Ailments. (Could be recalculated.)
-Item Equipment (Could also be recalculated.)

Not sure if I missed anything?

HP/PP need more. Current/Max of both, and Base  + Percentage number....

And as a trivial random thought:
You can always utilize space like what Trial Roads/Colossus used, right? But I forget what other data is necessary there.... I have a hunch that there is so much you can do....
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

Well, this is very interesting. Looks like you and leaf decided to take a more direct approach than my PP multiplier, which basically accomplishes the same thing. It would be perfect if you weren't forced to sacrifice another stat for it... so is that the only way? Cause i'm trying to weight the pros and cons of both.

Daddy Poi's Oily Gorillas

#16
QuoteIt would be perfect if you weren't forced to sacrifice another stat for it... so is that the only way? Cause i'm trying to weight the pros and cons of both.
To those not doing any hex hacking, pretty much yeah, but for those more involved... Shouldn't be the only way. It's just the "quick and easy" way... If one was motivated enough, s/he could take some effort to move things around. (Documenting all the functions can help with getting an idea where the references may be so that one can edit them? - Since I can't overstate it enough that games seem to like to organize their code/data in some way... Although, there could be many groups of code that could need editing if stuff was moved around, so... For example, if moving items RAM data, you would need to check all the menu-related code (Shops, etc.) and the Items section in Party Mechanics, etc. - I can't remember if treasure chests/monster drops/events/etc. would have anything... it's possible they reference the same functions in Party Mechanics?) - It's possible I might put in information in the Doc for where relative pointers are done later on, maybe. (Possibly RAM section?)

Quick and dirty color coding of PC data (GS2 Isaac as example.)

[spoiler]The Misc section may have some unknowns/unused? (~6-7 bytes?) But most of the stuff there is just EXP/Class/ID/Summon boosts/Status Effects/Ailments/Unleash rate related data.

First four bytes = Unknown. (Not sure if unused.)
8th byte = ID in GS1, but probably unused here. (Moved to end and turned into a 16-bit in GS2.)
And the byte before the last two is probably unused... etc.

- There were two unused(?) bytes in both the Base Stats/Current Stats sections each, but I think Salanewt used two of those bytes for something (ailment resistance/recovery attribute) in the patch, so..../spoiler]
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! :)

Salanewt

Caledor: If it helps, the Luck stat was mostly useless before and viable - if not better - alternatives have been provided or are available elsewhere. Total eLevel is calculated and in many cases is roughly equal to Luck, while you also have access to an item attribute to supplement that for player characters or the separate "Enemy-Specific Effect Immunities" patch to fill in for the high Luck values that many bosses had. Thinking about that now though, whoever uses both patches may have to implement that one first...

With enough work, one could even utilize the item supplement for enemy use as well. I considered adding it myself but figured that I could work on something like that whenever I try implementing some AI reforms down the road.


Fox: While that's true, you also hit the nail on the head with that first sentence and touched on some of my other issues with making a new stat in the rest of them. Editor compatibility is a priority for me, as is making sure that I have enough space for my other projects (plus the Status menus would have to be reworked, etc.). And then there's also the even smaller fact that I don't really think major stat reforms are necessary for something like this, when we already have the eStats that do a decent job with psynergy that is made better with even a single stat.

Also, three unused bytes (one partially used for no reason at all) were utilized in this hack but I have plans to make use of some of that other data for other things.
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

Quote from: Caledor on 01, October, 2016, 08:06:20 AM
Well, this is very interesting. Looks like you and leaf decided to take a more direct approach than my PP multiplier, which basically accomplishes the same thing. It would be perfect if you weren't forced to sacrifice another stat for it... so is that the only way? Cause i'm trying to weight the pros and cons of both.
Functionality-wise, it should be very similar to the previous systems. Characters tend to have a base luck of around 2-5, while most djinn grant luck as a bonus stat. Having a "luck" that varies from 5-14 based on how many djinn you have equipped should generally be only a couple points different from vanilla luck stats. Additionally, looking at enemies, enemies with high elvls also tend to have high luck, while enemies with low elvls tend to have very low luck, such that total elvl is often very close to luck. In all cases, it's no more than a few percentage points difference. While you do lose the class modifier, it didn't have a very large effect on base values in the first place, and tends to be redundant when you can have custom equipment that grants ailment resistance.
[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: @#$%!
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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]

Rolina

I do agree luck's implementation could (and should) have been done better, but it is a shame that we don't have a real stat for control defense now.  Still, what can you do with the limitations of the system?  I'd require an overhaul like the one I'm working on in order really get things to work out.  I mean heck - my system takes into account equipment granting resistances to specific effects, as well as what spells you have available in the class.  Got Impact and Ward?  You have additional resistance to Attack down and Res down.

I think the biggest problem with luck is the point you made, Leaf - characters tend to be stuck with low luck unless you build towards it, while enemies have luck that scales with their level.  Basically, the further into the game you get, the more effective control is on you, while the less effective it is on the foes.  Kinda compounds the whole "control spells are useless" problem most jrpgs tend to have.  Luck would have to not only be more accessible, but also have a much stronger impact in the long run.