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[RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloaded

Started by Caledor, 22, December, 2016, 03:56:07 PM

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Average Wind Seer

#460
By the way, would it be possible to change the forging to let us choose what item we get forged instead of RNG deciding what Sunshine forges, to remove the save scumming to get what we want? or is that simply not possible within the game's systems? If it is possible, you could scale the prices up a bit to compensate for the change. heck, I have more cash than i know what to do with in HM, so forking over a couple hundred coins more for a Luna Shield isn't a problem, in my opinion. After Aqua Rock, the money in your wallet just seems to multiply at an astounding rate and you have like nothing to spend it on.

Picked Shining Force 2 back up and remembered just how god awful RNG Forging is...

bpat

It may be easier just to change the odds of getting each item to all be the same or similar so you won't have to hope for the 1/20 chance to forge Excalibur and such.

Perhaps a fourth item class could help by making it easier to run item classes without someone getting stuck with a lower tier. I have no idea what a new item class should be though.

Average Wind Seer

the forging odds have definitely been made much more favorable than they were in the base game, but it's still a pain to get the certain item you want (like two Astral Circlets instead of another crummy Stardust Ring or worse, a Comet Mace).

I had an idea for a Support/Tank hybrid for a 4th Item Class, however, Caledor has stated he has no plans to make a 4th Item Class, which is understandable since he'd have to code it from scratch.

Caledor

Quote from: Average Wind Seer on 03, February, 2019, 08:08:44 PM
By the way, would it be possible to change the forging to let us choose what item we get forged instead of RNG deciding what Sunshine forges, to remove the save scumming to get what we want? or is that simply not possible within the game's systems? If it is possible, you could scale the prices up a bit to compensate for the change. heck, I have more cash than i know what to do with in HM, so forking over a couple hundred coins more for a Luna Shield isn't a problem, in my opinion. After Aqua Rock, the money in your wallet just seems to multiply at an astounding rate and you have like nothing to spend it on.

Not possible. I speed things up by checking the result from the memory viewer (address 020004FC). The resulting item is stored there as soon as you give sunshine the forging material, after that it's just a loop of F1 (load state) + A (confirm) until i know i'll get what i want. No moving, exit reenter whatever.

We discussed money issues a few pages ago. I tried for a bit and then decided that it's just not worth "fixing" it, as the amount work i need to put into it far outweights the benefits

Average Wind Seer

Ah, that's a shame. At least it's not *as* annoying to deal with as it was in the base game.

I noticed the discussion about the overabundance of money in the game. I think the core problem is that there really isn't anything worth buying after you get what you want from Sunshine (which isn't a whole lot of stuff, mind you). Maybe if Mountain Waters could be bought from an unlimited supply, that would help mitigate the excessive money in the Eastern Sea. I had a constant issue of running out of Psynergy as I neared the end of dungeons and had to flee battles as a result. Heck, I spent a considerable amount of time exploiting areas with no encounters to regenerate PP to make it to the end of dungeons (or to fight the Serpent).

Caledor

#465
Rough copy paste of the partial changelog for the next release

Savage bear (crossbone) replaces 1 special for standard attack
Sour bug fixed (Numb Ant)
Sentinel is a lot faster
New psynergies: Blessing and Waterspout
Lowered success rate for debuffing EPAs and 2-stage debuffs
Base power increased for psynergies learned between levels 20-35
Estre wood PP cost: +2
Bravery and Courage's icons tweaked
Tweaked the numbers of most items that buff Agility, Crits or Ailments
Changed animation and name of Caladbolg's unleash.
Full rebalance of accessories (shirts focus on def and less on boosts, rings do the opposite, boots are in the middle)
Early to mid game unleashes boosted
Minor changes to the psynergy sets of a few classes
Switched positions of Minotaur and Ghost soldier (the psynergies)

Currently working on balancing EPAs

Blessing is literally Weapon Grace, Waterspout is a mercury Quick Strike, both are for the Valkyrie line

If anyone has questions or tips, now is the time. Release is currently scheduled for the 9th

Average Wind Seer

Out of curiosity, why buff Sentinel? It was plenty strong enough, just incredibly boring to fight since it spammed Shine Plasma and Break almost non-stop.

Blessing and Waterspout are GREATLY appreciated buffs for Valkyrie. I assume she's losing Cure Poison and Restore for those?

Would it be possible to make an upgrade to Necromancer's Fear Puppet Psynergy? It could replace Fear Puppet at the highest Class Rank of the Necromancer line, like the EPA Psynergies. It could use the same icon, graphics and secondary effect as Fear Puppet, and have roughly the same base power as Poison Flow.

I can't think of anything else to ask or suggest at the moment, but I look forward to the next update!

Caledor

#467
QuoteOut of curiosity, why buff Sentinel? It was plenty strong enough, just incredibly boring to fight since it spammed Shine Plasma and Break almost non-stop.
Exactly because its boring. Raising speed alone increases unpredictability while leaving its strength untouched.

QuoteBlessing and Waterspout are GREATLY appreciated buffs for Valkyrie. I assume she's losing Cure Poison and Restore for those?
Bravery and Courage

Quote
Would it be possible to make an upgrade to Necromancer's Fear Puppet Psynergy? It could replace Fear Puppet at the highest Class Rank of the Necromancer line, like the EPA Psynergies. It could use the same icon, graphics and secondary effect as Fear Puppet, and have roughly the same base power as Poison Flow.
I don't like the redundancy and also I don't think Necromancer needs another Venus spell when it already has Demon. Actually, i don't think the best offensive caster hands down needs further boosts to its offenses.

Average Wind Seer

Hmm.. Okay, though it might need some tweaking on how often it uses certain commands. If it's still spamming Shine Plasma and Break despite being faster, then it's still a boring fight.

Ah, I see. I feel that Item Classes can afford to be a bit on the "probably too strong" side, considering that using them either forces you to basically forfeit a party member, or locks the other 5 party members to a small handful of Classes.

While on the subject of Necromancer, do you think the Weaken Psynergy Line could be replaced with an AoE Psynergy Bind spell, and a Super Weaken spell?

And will Status Ailments get buffed to stay useful throughout the course of the game? or will they stay marginally useful for certain segments of the game and quickly becoming irrelevant once said segments are done?

Caledor

#469
QuoteAh, I see. I feel that Item Classes can afford to be a bit on the "probably too strong" side, considering that using them either forces you to basically forfeit a party member, or locks the other 5 party members to a small handful of Classes.
This is something i want to look into. And i say look into cause i have no clue on what to actually do with it

QuoteWhile on the subject of Necromancer, do you think the Weaken Psynergy Line could be replaced with an AoE Psynergy Bind spell, and a Super Weaken spell?
ATM i don't think tweaks are needed nor planned for the necromancer. Since my goal is balance and i consider the necromancer already quite strong changes for it are very low on priority. The same reasoning made me address valkyrie immediately.

Quote
And will Status Ailments get buffed to stay useful throughout the course of the game? or will they stay marginally useful for certain segments of the game and quickly becoming irrelevant once said segments are done?
If for status ailment you mean poison and such, i'm afraid there's not much that can be done. A ton of RPGs have bosses immune to most status conditions cause otherwise they would trivialize those fights. I think Golden Sun is no exception to that.

EDIT: About item classes: I can see some decent setups though. This for example looks promising (found in the class txt)

Isaac: Dragontamer
Garet: Paladin
Ivan: Pure Mage
Mia: Arcanist
Felix: Chaos Lord
Jenna: Incantatrix
Sheba: Necromancer
Piers: Destroyer


Average Wind Seer

I think some bosses, namely Poseidon, absolutely do not deserve absolute status immunity. being able to hit him with Status Ailments (aside from Poison/Venom) would make the battle FAR more manageable. I stated earlier that Poseidon is where Reloaded HM ends because of how blatantly overpowered Poseidon is, and being able to hit him with Ailments might make him beatable.

A simple fix to prevent Ailments from being broken is to make bosses (excluding Chestbeaters) immune to Poison/Venom, since that would be the game breaking Status Ailment. Stun, Sleep, Psynergy Seal, and Delude would simply serve to make difficult bosses far more manageable and encourages fighting smart over fighting hard.

bpat

Another issue with item classes is Acrobat is kinda bad. It's just an offense caster but that's not good enough when it has a horrible elemental power distribution from Djinn. To be worthwhile, Acrobat needs to have incredibly strong offense Psynergy in multiple elements (Frost card is good but not enough) since otherwise Necromancer is always going to be the better class. Also item classes' stat mods are bad, they should be probably better than the three-element classes since these classes spread your elemental powers even thinner but they have lower stat totals. It's not as bad for Necromancer since its statline is so minmaxed with a ton of PP and Agility but Acrobat and Dragontamer's stat mods hold them back.

Average Wind Seer

Acrobat's kind of a Mage-Warrior hybrid, as it has Backstab and Sword Dance for EPAs (unless those were changed to/always were Base Damage Psynergy), and Base Damage Psynergy of every element. The only flaw I can really say about its kit is its lack of elemental variety until Thunder Card is learned.

Dragontamer's gotten a nice modifier buff (at least from what I can tell), as its PP Pool is no longer godawful, and it has an actual speed score now. with two incredibly powerful EPAs, a PP Recovery Ability, and solid healing & buffing capabilities, it's a Hard Hitting Utility Class (at least that's what I would classify it as).

Also, a couple quick questions about endgame weapons:

•Is there an endgame Mercury Light Blade? I'm planning on starting a new game and using the newly buffed Valkyrie in this run, and she'd love a Mercury Light Blade for Endgame.

•Why is Ker's Weight the Cursed Staff instead of, say, Atroposis' Rod? As far as I've seen of the classes, Heretic Jenna is really the only Mage who would benefit from using it in a Full Cursed Mage build. Heck, in my first Reloaded Run, I used it to buff her Venus Power to squeeze out as much Recovery from Potent Heal as possible to help make up for its hefty PP Cost on one Frontline MT Healer.

VardenSalad

I see an incredible amount of suggestions for tweaks, but I'll add a question: did Demon Night and Thorny Grave disappear completely and have their spots used for newer psynergy or are they just sitting around waiting to be used?
Never forget why you started playing.

Average Wind Seer

I have another question to add, too:
I noticed that the Tamer's Whiplash is no longer available right away as it was in the base game, and it has a noticeably higher PP Cost than it used to have. What level is it learned at now, and how much was it buffed?

bpat

Acrobat doesn't work as a hybrid because 150% attack mod sucks. Fury has 160% and even that's not enough for it to be a good class on Ivan.

Average Wind Seer

Quote from: bpat on 07, February, 2019, 11:57:11 PMFury has 160% and even that's not enough for it to be a good class on Ivan.
Lolwut. I'm about 95% certain that Caledor made Fury specifically *for* Ivan, and a 160% Attack modifier was plenty good enough for Ivan to make fighting Star Magician FAR easier by oneshotting Recovery Orbs with Rolling Fire. Attack modifier and EPAs aside, it's easily the 3rd Best Offensive Mage, boating Volcano, Plasma, and Ice for incredible Elemental Coverage and damage. Literally the only thing I would change on it would be to replace the Weaken Psynergy with Bind & Break, or something. Drain+Psy Drain would be neat, but then this Class would be even more absurdly overpowered.

Fury aside, Acrobat is clearly intended for Jenna and Ivan, since Sheba and Mia don't have the Attack Scores or weapons to support the EPAs, and the Warriors would rather have Dragontamer or a purely Warrior-type class. Sure, it could stand to have a higher Attack Modifier given the Djinn Distribution restrictions, but it's understandable if Cal doesn't buff it, since its intended users already have fairly high attack scores and have weapons that can support a hybrid type class.

Caledor

#477
Done with exams, it's time for answers

QuoteI stated earlier that Poseidon is where Reloaded HM ends...
Sounds more like an issue with HM to me. Overall i think i lack the tools to make ailments vs bosses sustainable without breaking the game.

QuoteIs there an endgame Mercury Light Blade? I'm planning on starting a new game and using the newly buffed Valkyrie in this run
The one thing valkyrie won't need is a mercury unleashing weapon. It can't get any better than Phateon blade

QuoteWhy is Ker's Weight the Cursed Staff instead of, say, Atroposis' Rod?
2+2. Wanted to buff the cursed mage, lacked venus among the strongest staves, so i made a cursed venus staff. I didn't really think about it that much. BTW i always test healers without cursed weapons.

Quotedid Demon Night and Thorny Grave disappear completely
It looks like the icons are gone so they can't be used by the player. But i have 2 free slots since i started overriding the Cool line

QuoteLolwut. I'm about 95% certain that Caledor made Fury specifically *for* Ivan
Oh, I'm SO glad you said that. :D

Here's the true story behind the Fury line: it dates back to Balance Age, when the tri elementals for mages were still a disaster as both Ranger and Dark shaman existed. When i noticed that i had 3 hybrids (general, valkyrie, ninja) i thought "eh, let's make the fourth", soon followed by "oh my god, a mace wielding Mia casting planetary has to be rad as f*ck!!". A few hours later Fury was fully built, while Alecto's mace followed 2 releases later.

Also I'm having an issue right now, cause while reworking EPAs i just noticed that Planetary is basically a discount Rolling Fire. A sane person would probably switch it with Liquifier and call it a day but I obviously can't do it with that backstory, lol.

Average Wind Seer

PFFT! That's the best backstory for any class ever lmao

Why not change Planetary to debuff Attack? of the EPAs, I'm pretty sure Plume Edge is the only one that debuffs Attack.

Hmm... That's a shame about the ailments. The way I see it, getting Stun or Sleep on a particularly difficult boss would be a way to catch a breather for reapplying buffs and healing. Poison/Venom is really the only Status Ailment that's gamebreaking, in my opinion, since it says "screw you" to basically everything and all forms of strategy, since few things can beat a highly defensive team using Poison as their means of attack. Heck, Poison carried me through the early stages of Octopath Traveler when I solo'd it with Primrose, so I can say firsthand that Poison against bosses is simply broken.

That's a strange thing to say about the Light Blades, considering you went out of your way to make an endgame Mercury Longsword.

Makes sense you'd test Healers without cursed weapons, considering they'd prefer PP Regen Equipment. The Dark Robe's and Ker's Weight's hefty bonuses to Venus Power were just far too appealing to pass up for Guardian Jenna, since she was my only healer on the frontlines lol. Though I should probably mention that while Heretic Jenna is probably the only offense-oriented Mage who would even want the Ker's Weight, she'd much rather have Lachesis' Rule for maximum Punishment/Scourge Damage.

Caledor

#479
QuoteWhy not change Planetary to debuff Attack? of the EPAs, I'm pretty sure Plume Edge is the only one that debuffs Attack.
another perfectly sound argument blocked by silly reasons: It doesn't go well with the animation. So i'll probably make Liquifier the attack debuffing one and make planetary debuff defense.

QuoteHmm... That's a shame about the ailments. The way I see it, getting Stun or Sleep on a particularly difficult boss would be a way to catch a breather for reapplying buffs and healing.
They'd be broken, it's not a breather if you can spam it. People can't recover from statuses on the turn they are applied so a measly 33% chance of inflicting stun/sleep would make any boss a walk in the park. It should be less then 10% to be almost fair, but at that point it'd just be boring for the player.

QuoteThat's a strange thing to say about the Light Blades, considering you went out of your way to make an endgame Mercury Longsword.
I wouldn't really call it "went out of my way". I already had the icon (copy pasted from TBS, dummied out), it looked like mercury, noticed that i REALLY lacked endgame mercury weapons, and Caladbolg was born.

QuoteMakes sense you'd test Healers without cursed weapons, considering they'd prefer PP Regen Equipment.
More like because i wouldn't want my healer to suffer from the luck decrease inflicted by the ring.