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[RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloaded

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

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VardenSalad

Just finished Kibombo (Great Gabombo Statue is a giant pain in the @#$ at first) at level 18-ish.

A couple things I'm noticing:

Light Blades/Maces have almost no purpose if they aren't being wielded by Felix, maybe Piers. The unleashes are woeful as multipliers compared to the base power of staffs, but I think the problem may be elsewhere. In my opinion, it may have to do with the ATK multipliers on Jenna's classes; I don't know if she gets above 140% on anything outside Valkyrie.
I understand she ends up slotting into a healer-esque role if Sheba plays caster later in the game, but she's got access to Light Blades for a reason. She's a different kind of hybrid and distinctly not full support like Mia is. I know there's a couple instances like the Inquisitor line where Ivan, Sheba, and Jenna have a sort of "shared class" where Jenna has different psynergy. Maybe their multipliers could differ?

Strangely, I can't tell I'm just playing optimally by putting all the healing duty on Felix for the overwhelming majority of the 3-member party early-game. If you can get through fights with something like:

Sheba AoE -> Jenna AoE -> Felix attack/djinn -> take hits
Breath -> Attack -> Attack

then you can have Felix dump 3-9(rarely) PP on Cures and stay topped off while walking gains back PP. Nothing truly threatens your PP pool until the Gondowan Cliffs. Spreading the PP cost around makes each regened PP by walking go a lot farther. I don't think this is problematic exactly since it seems just like very efficient play and I'm not sure of your take on it.

Remind me in the future not to go to Air's Rock before Alhafra. That was a mistake. And to edit Leather Boots in for Piers' starting equipment just because.
Never forget why you started playing.

Caledor

#721
Quote from: VardenSalad on 16, June, 2020, 02:57:40 PM
Just finished Kibombo (Great Gabombo Statue is a giant pain in the @#$ at first) at level 18-ish.

A couple things I'm noticing:

Light Blades/Maces have almost no purpose if they aren't being wielded by Felix, maybe Piers. The unleashes are woeful as multipliers compared to the base power of staffs, but I think the problem may be elsewhere. In my opinion, it may have to do with the ATK multipliers on Jenna's classes; I don't know if she gets above 140% on anything outside Valkyrie.
I understand she ends up slotting into a healer-esque role if Sheba plays caster later in the game, but she's got access to Light Blades for a reason. She's a different kind of hybrid and distinctly not full support like Mia is. I know there's a couple instances like the Inquisitor line where Ivan, Sheba, and Jenna have a sort of "shared class" where Jenna has different psynergy. Maybe their multipliers could differ?

Level is perfect. Ending kibombo at 17/20 for me would be borderline low/high... borderline, not alarming. 18-19 is perfect.

Light Blades/Maces are obviously less straightforward than Swords Axes and Staves, because they are designed as a compromise from the start. Also i think you're being mislead by the high burst damage of staves, but you have to consider also the lower base damage. I did literally one test and the results were hilarious.

Miko Jenna w/Asteria vs Inquisitor Jenna w/Sylph Rapier. Base -> Unleash

64 -> 215 vs 95 -> 167.

If you do the math, it's exactly 116 on average for both. I did honestly not expect nor rig this, lol

But this was against an enemy with 7 level less than jenna, so results are gonna be lower (against a same level enemy avg turned out to be 100), but then you have to factor in that attack is much easier to raise in battle than epower + the bonus to agility and def the weapon brings, while PP and Power are already factored into the unleash damage. Maces are kinda similar since they boost HP. Very early in the game i tend to give one to sheba since she's so frail.

One test doesn't mean anything but those numbers are perfect all things considered. If things go wrong, my fix would be further reducing the base attack of staves, but this is not the case yet.

QuoteStrangely, I can't tell I'm just playing optimally by putting all the healing duty on Felix for the overwhelming majority of the 3-member party early-game. [...] Spreading the PP cost around makes each regened PP by walking go a lot farther. I don't think this is problematic exactly since it seems just like very efficient play and I'm not sure of your take on it.
Totally ok. The increased difficulty is supposed to be mostly negated by playing smart and optimizing actions... any "by doing X and Y it doesn't seem much harder" is a huge compliment in my book.

QuoteAnd to edit Leather Boots in for Piers' starting equipment just because.
Aaand this is not a compliment at all instead. :P
I mean, 5 years without noticing AND right now my level 27 piers still doesn't have boots?
I'm editing Piers' base equipment as I write, consider it in for next release.

Dark Mits

#722
Quote from: Caledor on 16, June, 2020, 01:28:48 PMWhat's the general opinion with level progression?
I am still in TBS, parked outside Sulhalla with a lvl23 party (Ivan is 22). Level progression so far has been (I mention the levels I remember I was when fighting the bosses):
- Kalay = 4
- Kolima Forest = 8 (with Mia at 10 [yes, I cheated and went to get her first])
- Mercury Lighthouse = 11-12
- Mogal Forest = 15
- Altin Caves = 18
- Lamakan Desert = 19
- Karagol Sea = 20
- Colosso = 22
(at this point I equipped Lure Cap, which I intend to keep equipped for the rest of the game, and for all of TLA from Jupiter onwards)
- Lunpa Fortress = 23
- Suhalla Desert = 25
- Venus Lighthous (clearing path and collecting all treasures up to the point of no return) = 28
- Deadbeard = 30 [I wanted to post an image here. Deadbeard sweeps Ivan for 2 damage only. This is the result of 4 levels of Protect + 1 level of Dull]
- Fusion Dragon = 31 (Isaac was 32)

Dual-element classes are offering a significantly easier experience compared to mono-element for my usual no-death runs. In fact after acquiring 3rd Djinni for each class, nearly all random encounters have become a 1-turn deal. So far there has been only 1 encounter that I was not able to clear at all, and that was the 2 gryphons at Level 4 of Crossbone Isle with lvl20-21 group.

Offtopic: Since I also aim to do a "near-perfect" run, what items are exclusive to TBS that I will need to transfer to TLA? I'm asking cause I know that there have been changes to both games.

Caledor

GS1 levels are mostly ok since i haven't changed enemy group or experience at all. I'm mainly concerned with TLA since i changed BOTH enemy groups and experience granted. But now that i've beaten poseidon and i'm at 29-28 i think it's ok. Maybe the issue was that i went to Tundaria and Islet Cave earlier than intended, which made me think i was borderline overleveled for the other areas i should've visited at that time instead.

GS1-only items: https://goldensunwiki.net/wiki/Category:Unique_items_in_Golden_Sun MINUS the items i added back in TLA as described in the Drops and Shops sections of the first post.

Caledor

#724
v1.77 is up!

Just finished Jupiter Lighthouse and decided to release. Discussing the most important points of the changelog:


  • Added to the main post Ailments and Debuff's base rates
  • Power of Elemental Bracelets Gloves and endgame Robes: see doc, changes in yellow.
    - This is a much needed boost to non-symbiotic dual classes (and some tri-elemental classes). While the symbiotic could rely on the endgame Big Bang Gloves and Selene's armlet, the other 4 combinations had to fall back on other subpar bracelets for power boosts. So I added a second power boost to the endgame robes that complement perfectly the ones found on those bracelets.
  • Flora was the only low-tier summon that didn't de/buff PLUS I lacked a Res Debuff on summons PLUS -Res is mainly a Jupiter effect. Easy change. Now Flora is actually good.
  • Mainly nerfs to enemies in the infamous Yampi-Kibombo range (Lv 10-18 of TLA). As a reminder, the issue here is that i can't use the perfectly balanced values of GS1 as a guideline cause those values in GS1 assume a party of 4 (Mia joins at 10) while in TLA you have a party of 3 until Kibombo (Piers joins at 18) so i had (and still have) to improvise.
  • Few enemies replace 1 special attack with regular attack
    - Emu, Dino, Wyvern Chick, Wolfkin Cub, Wild Gorilla, Wood Walker, Cerberus.
    -- Yes, it's mainly a continuation of the point right above this one
  • Avimander is overall stronger
    - Star mine HP% damage down to 0 -> uses PP multiplier, -10 BP (careful: PP Mul >>> 6% HP damage, this is a big boost overall)
    - 1 Star mine replaces 1 Fiery Blast
    - Cool Aura replaces Impair
  • Minor Poseidon tweaks
    - Now uses a third separate moveset for his third turn instead of reusing his first one
    -- Won't waste his third turn using Counter-Rush
  • Moapa & Knight: Mainly a buff to Moapa.
    - Bosca Hit eliminates status boosts (AKA Single target damage + break effect)
    - Moapa gets Pike Assault, Sack, Total Defense
    - Items tweaked
  • Slightly reduced enemies in some zones
    - About -0.10 per fight in Yampi Desert, Air's Rock Interior, Gondowan Cliffs, Western Sea Land.

Dark Mits

We need an improvement on password transfering from TBS to TLA  :sad:

Caledor

Quote from: Dark Mits on 21, June, 2020, 06:00:32 AM
We need an improvement on password transfering from TBS to TLA  :sad:
FAQ section added to the first post.

Dark Mits

This is awesome! Thank you once more.

On topic, I started TLA today, on Hard mode based on v1.77. Still in Daila. I will be informing about progress and notes, even though you do mention that the mod is supposed to be enjoyed on Normal and not Hard.

Caledor

#728
It's ok, that disclaimer is just cause i won't be testing nor making changes with Hard mode in mind.

BTW, i've just defeated the Flame Dragons, which implies that i'm basically done with changes for this playthrough, since i doubt i'll be making any change to the superbosses after all this time. I must also say it's almost scary how easy it was for me to beat the dragons: i know they're probably the most oppressive boss in the game so far with their 4 turns but i think i've got to know them so well, that having the right mindset for the battle and planning every turn ahead just carried me. Heck, i even forgot to grab the Sol Blade before fighting them... my main offense was Leader Isaac with the Apollo Axe.

I think the revamped Moapa - underestimated despite knowing perfectly what he was capable of - gave me a much harder time. I've had a stupid amount of deaths when he was alone just cause i dropped my guard at that point, almost as much as those i suffered from the Flame Dragons during the entire fight.

And i honestly love it. The increase in difficulty is here ONLY to encourage smarter plays and punish you if you get careless, thus encouraging the player to try many different strategies.

Also, I re-uploaded TLA v1.77 to fix an extremely minor bug i discovered by chance after the latest upload. The Muramasa was being displayed in battle with the Mace sprite instead of the Long Sword one. Another bug that managed to hide itself pretty well over many releases.

PS: Updated main post with artifacts removed from shops in TLA.

Dark Mits

Reverting a bit to TBS. I forgot to mention that Deadbeard seemed to have run out of PP approximately 8-10 rounds into combat. I don't know if it was an extreme example of RNG, but there was a point after which he only used normal Attack and Sweep till the end of the fight, which was for over 20 additional rounds from the time he last used Psynergy. It's what allowed me to cheese the fight by maxxing Defense and using Dull on him. That was with v1.76 of the mod.

Caledor

I don't think it's possible for him to run out of PP that way. He regenerates 50 PP each turn, he wouldn't run out in 10 turns even if he used is 2 most consuming psynergies each round. And even if he does run out eventually, the regen is still there so it's extremely unrealistic that he doesn't cast at all for 20 more turns. It's more likely that PP regen glitched somehow.

Dark Mits

I just loaded the save file that I have right before fighting Deadbeard. Combat log does not mention him recovering PP. I am attaching my save file.


Caledor

#732
Odd, but true. Looks like PP regen is completely broken in GS1.

Well, for the time being, i "fixed" Deadbeard by creating clones of his offensive psynergies + Break that cost 0 PP. He can technically still run out through Impact and Ward but, well, even assuming he uses one of those 2 each turn, it takes 40 turns for him to run out.

Reuploaded v1.77 for TBS as well.

EDIT: 1 PP cause the status Seal blocks everything that costs PP, if they cost 0 they'd still be used even if DB is sealed.

EDIT2: Valukar, Star Magician and Sentinel down, usual setup (it's about time I try something new btw)

Dacheat

Thank you so much for this mod Caledor. Golden Sun was one of the first RPGs I played as a kid, and this mod has been a great way to relive that while still keeping it fresh. Seeing you still updating the mod after all these years is really cool as well.

Anyways, I'm nearing the end of TBS, and I have a question. In the vanilla game there were certain items you could transfer from TBS that were somewhat relevant even in the endgame of TLA (Elven Shirt, Cleric's Ring). Are there any items like that for your mod? I'm planning to transfer over all of the stat boosting item, but other than those I'm not sure what items are relevant.

Dark Mits

Quote from: Dacheat on 24, June, 2020, 01:39:53 AMAnyways, I'm nearing the end of TBS, and I have a question. In the vanilla game there were certain items you could transfer from TBS that were somewhat relevant even in the endgame of TLA (Elven Shirt, Cleric's Ring). Are there any items like that for your mod? I'm planning to transfer over all of the stat boosting item, but other than those I'm not sure what items are relevant.
I made this list with items that I have found to be unique in TBS under the Reloaded mod:
[spoiler]Arctic Blade
Asura's Armor
Bandit's Sword
Cell Key
Cleric's Ring (Angel's Ring in Reloaded mod)
Demon Axe
Demon Mail
Douse Drop
Dragon Shield
Elven Rapier
Elven Shirt
Fairy Ring
Frost Jewel
Fur Coat
Gaia Blade
Halt Gem
Hermes Water
Lift Gem
Lucky Cap
Lure Hat
Muramasa
Mystery Blade
Mythril Circlet
Ninja Garb (Black Garb in Reloaded mod)
Oracle's Robe (Princess Robe in Reloaded mod)
Orb of Force
China/Sanan Dress (Cheongsam in Reloaded mod)
Shaman's Rod
Spirit Gloves
Thunder Crown
Turtle Boots
Vambrace
Vulcan Axe
Warrior's Helm
Water Jacket
Wicked Mace
Dragon Scales (Rare drop in TLA)
Storm Gear (Rare drop in TLA)
Virtuous Armlet (Rare drop in TLA)[/spoiler]

Of these, the ones I'd recommend holding on to are:
[spoiler]Douse Drop (Psynergy)
Frost Jewel (Psynergy)
Halt Gem (Psynergy)
Lift Gem (Psynergy)
Orb of Force (Psynergy)

Asura's Armor (Great HP regen and attack boost)
Cleric's Ring (Angel's Ring in Reloaded mod)
Demon Mail (second only to Valkyrie Mail in my opinion)
Fairy Ring (Can be used as an extra Antidote)
Lure Hat (helps when grinding)
Mythril Circlet (Great PP recovery)
Oracle's Robe (Princess Robe in Reloaded mod) (Awesome for Mia especially if you keep her pure Mercury based. Might be replaced by Triton's Ward from Treasure Isle)
Thunder Crown (Devil's Crown in Reloaded mod) (Good PP if you decide to put cursed item on a "caster")
Dragon Scales (Rare drop in TLA) (Good resistances)
Storm Gear (Rare drop in TLA) (Good resistances)
Virtuous Armlet (Rare drop in TLA) (Good Fire elemental boost)[/spoiler]

Dacheat

Thanks! That is super helpful!

Also, I'm not sure if this is a Reloaded bug or just a bug with TBS in general, but I can't use Remedy in the field. Only in battle.

Caledor

#736
Because Tonic's effect (that Remedy uses) doesn't work outside of battle.

Thanks for asking btw, cause it made me notice that i can add cure poison back to most classes that have Remedy atm, so you're not actually forced to reset your djinn only for that. It will be in the next release.

EDIT: v1.78 up!

Mostly balance changes. An extra oomph to multi target offenses and the classes that wield them.
I've spent a lot of time balancing heal and offense on classes that could do both for older releases, especially symbiotic duals and tri elementals. With v1.77 i gave a much needed boost to their non symbiotic counterparts by improving the robes and now i'm boosting casters that focus only on offense, namely Inquisitor, Heretic and Necromancer.

All of them will also enjoy the newfound ailment boost from the berserk circlet which they already wear for the PP boost alone. The nerf to critical rate for mages is cause i noticed it was too high after doing some tests. Remember that unlike warriors, for mages unleashing is a secondary choice, their main offense is casting.

Cosmos shield switching to PP regen is for Holy Knight and Paladin instead. Warriors lacked PP regen equipment to reliably use mass healing.

Last, Cure poison is back as promised for every class that has or gains Remedy, except the Holy Knight. I've run out of slots for him and it's not worth losing Break for CP imho.

PS: @Dark Mits nice list, i'll be adding it to the FAQs section on the first post.

VardenSalad

Quote from: Caledor on 25, June, 2020, 10:11:54 AM
Because Tonic's effect (that Remedy uses) doesn't work outside of battle.

Thanks for asking btw, cause it made me notice that i can add cure poison back to most classes that have Remedy atm, so you're not actually forced to reset your djinn only for that. It will be in the next release.

Funny enough, this had been my solution for years. There was only a few classes that it couldn't fit back on.

quote author=Caledor link=topic=2779.msg48704#msg48704 date=1593094314]
The nerf to critical rate for mages is cause i noticed it was too high after doing some tests. Remember that unlike warriors, for mages unleashing is a secondary choice, their main offense is casting.
[/quote]

Good call.

quote author=Caledor link=topic=2779.msg48704#msg48704 date=1593094314]
Cosmos shield switching to PP regen is for Holy Knight and Paladin instead. Warriors lacked PP regen equipment to reliably use mass healing.
[/quote]

Another good call.
Never forget why you started playing.

Dark Mits

I noticed that Djinn in TLA get 2 actions per round as early as Yampi Desert, and they use recovery Psynergy too. If I remember correctly, Djinn in TBS didn't get multiple actions except from Flash in Suhalla Desert onwards, and none used any recovery Psynergy. This makes Djinn easier in TBS / harder in TLA for their respective levels.

Caledor

#739
Quote from: Dark Mits on 28, June, 2020, 06:16:23 AM
I noticed that Djinn in TLA get 2 actions per round as early as Yampi Desert, and they use recovery Psynergy too. If I remember correctly, Djinn in TBS didn't get multiple actions except from Flash in Suhalla Desert onwards, and none used any recovery Psynergy. This makes Djinn easier in TBS / harder in TLA for their respective levels.

Djinn gain 2 turns from level 11 onwards (first in TBS is quartz in mogall iirc) and use healing from 2 turn onwards. The issue in GS is that i lack Mars and Jupiter healing, but they're identical by design. Actually, given the same level in the 11-18 range, TLA ones have weaker psynergies to compensate for not having a 4th party member.