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[RELEASE] Golden Sun Reloaded

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

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sandokhaan

These are subtle, but very effective changes IMO, making the Acrobat a lot better in several ways, both as a caster and as a warrior. It's the best offensive Mercury caster in the game now, which is good, as the majority of dual/tri elemental mercury heavy classes are mostly healers. The caster aspect of Acrobat is pretty similar to Guru/Worldwaker/Pure Mage with better BP but no healing,no revives and no buffs, but gets the warrior part of the class in exchange. Which was previously quite unimportant, thanks to the lower attacks rarting, and all other warrior classes also had better access to secondary utility, such as healing/buffing/debuffing. Being able to deal both physical and psynergy damage is a bit redundant, because it's just plain better to have one way of attacking and secondary abilities that benefit your party (Valkyrie and Warlord can attack just as well as Acrobat but can also buff/heal when needed). The Fire Breath change gave this class a much needed benefit in this aspect, but that's probably not that important, as every warrior class can now use Fire Breath, but with at the cost of losing strong bonuses from other helmets. Acrobat is mostly on par with Jonin (the dillema here is mostly whether Frost Card or not screwed up djinni is better) as a hybrid class, but only 3 characters in the game get access to Jonin. Acrobat also gets a lot of synergy with Maces, so Piers and Mia with Alecto's mace would probably be the best users of this class.
The agility drop could be a bit too much, I also second that keeping djinni only effects djinni only opinion.
You weren't right about the Bramble and Thunder, though. Both of them are Acrobat's only venus/jupiter attacks (if we're not counting the Backstab and Sabre Rain), so they are interchangable.
Chaos Lord, Shogun and Destroyer can also now equip the Dragon Helm for dungeons and clear enemy groups and Star Magician's balls a lot more easily. Certainly an interesting change.

Caledor

QuoteYou weren't right about the Bramble and Thunder, though. Both of them are Acrobat's only venus/jupiter attacks (if we're not counting the Backstab and Sabre Rain), so they are interchangable.

I was actually counting Sabre Rain as the other endgame attack but mistakenly labeled it as Jupiter while it's Venus. I want to double check why I haven't already swapped them and if I can't find a reason it'll be in a patch in a few hours.

sandokhaan


Caledor

First thing i can think of is spreading out elements across item classes. The other 2 already main Wind for the offense (Ghost Soldier, Call Dullahan), so i'm reclutant to push Wind up for the third item class.

VardenSalad

I figured Sabre Dance was left as Venus to make the class more attractive for the two Venus adepts, since they start with solid Venus power and it was an EPA even in vanilla. The class doesn't have healing, but you generally weren't looking for them to heal anyways.
Never forget why you started playing.

Caledor

I don't really need to have (nor look for) a reason for things staying the way they already are: that's the default setting. I do need a very good reason to change stuff though, and benefits must outweight the downsides.

VardenSalad

Of course, of course. I considered those points to be arguments in favor of keeping the Sabre tree Venus, independent of their original elemental affinity.
Never forget why you started playing.

Rikku

Hi !!!

This mod is amazing, i am enjoying a LOT,  like a first Golden Sun experience again.

Is this mod compatible with a GS1 password or it isnĀ“t needed ???

Another question ... Did you think on modding Golden Sun Dark Dawn ??
I think it is an amazing game with some flaws

Thank you :)

Caledor

Hi Rikku,

thanks a lot, I'm glad you're enjoying the mod.

The mod is 99% compatible with passwords from GS1 (see Frequently Asked Questions in the first post). As for Dark Dawn, i doubt i'll ever mod is since I haven't even done a full playthrough of that game yet.

Uninterestingname

#829
I have been playing this mod for a few days now, up to just before the final boss in TBS. I have a few questions and things to report.

First and foremost, I can't find the Lucky Cap or Thunder Crown. You list them as items that can only be obtained in TLA through a transfer, but I think I've been everywhere and I can't find them. A guide for the unmodded game says that they are found in the early and upper Venus lighthouse, respectively. The chests that used to contain both items now give other things. If these items were renamed, it isn't mentioned unlike for the other items that were renamed. Most change notes are for TLA, so it's difficult to tell what was changed in TBS.

How come Ivan lost his Whirlwind in his base class? When you recruit him permanently he uses it to clear some leaves, then when he joins you he doesn't know it. I had to give him a Venus djinni to be able to use it. It's not gamebreaking, but it is pretty silly.

The Fenrir enemy in the Venus lighthouse doesn't seem to have a drop. I know the thread says that you moved the Kikuichimonji to a shop in TLA, but other enemies seem to have their drops changed. At least, I could never make it drop through RNG methods, and I had no problems with other drops. One exception to what I just said though - in the Suhalla desert, I had to use one or two (can't remember which) points less during RNG methods to make any enemy drop their item. After failing to get the Aura Gloves I tested it on a few other enemies just after entering the desert. Maybe it was like in this in the original game; it has been years since I played it last.

At various points your class changes list 12 or 13 points in the different elemental types. Did you change how many djinn each character can have? I thought it was only nine in the original TLA.

Thanks for these mods.

Edit: After looking around some, I think the Lucky Cap and Thunder Crown may have been renamed to Ninja Headband and Devil's Crown, respectively. I'm not certain though.
While going through the list of what to bring over to TLA, I noticed that you list a ton of items as removed from shops in TLA, yet not as drops or treasures. For example, the Jeweled Crown and the Magical Cassock. Is the list just outdated or is this a sinister plot against completionists?

Caledor

Apparently i forgot to push the post button yesterday after writing the reply. Well, let's do it again.

Renamed items+Edit: Yes. There's no full list of renamed items though, but the icon is a dead giveaway. As for password items, there's just a mistake in the list.

Ivan's Whirlwind: It was due to changing the focus of all mono-elemental classes for flavor reasons. Sheba got wind and Ivan thunder in their case. This pops up from time to time because it's that early into the game and people are so used to it that they just don't expect it, but it's a non-issue. It took a while for me to realize that he doesn't really need it, in fact for some time ivan had whirlwind alone in his base class, without tornado nor tempest.

Fenrir: still drops kikuichimonji as the editor can easily confirm. It has nothing to do with the weapon being in a shop in TLA, nor the Fenrir in TLA. Fenrir in TLA doesn't drop kiku because it's in a shop now, but the Fenrir in TBS is unaffected by that change. Don't assume enemies with the same name in tla and tbs drop the same stuff.

Elemental levels =/= djinn equipped. Every character has 5 elemental levels in their main element despite not having any djinn equipped.

Hope you're enjoying the mod and keep reporting any doubt or issue.

lmpunk13

Hello.
First of all thanks for this forum and this patch very nice :D

Second i detected a bug related to this IPS patch it's issue with djinn and summons. Look at screenshoots.
https://ibb.co/VN4GW4J
https://ibb.co/yfPwWPd

Hope your fix on next release.
Cheers.

Caledor

Hi.

I'm assuming you're talking about the higher tier summons not being displayed. For that you might want to read the first post, section Djinn & Summons. Quoting the relevant part from it:

QuoteSummons that require more than 2 djinn won't appear right at the start of a battle. After the first turn, 3-djinn summons become available; after the second, 4-djinn summons become available and so on, with Iris available after the 6th turn has passed (6 and 7 djinn summons are unlocked in the same turn).

lmpunk13

Quote from: Caledor on 17, March, 2021, 12:39:07 PM
Hi.

I'm assuming you're talking about the higher tier summons not being displayed. For that you might want to read the first post, section Djinn & Summons. Quoting the relevant part from it:

QuoteSummons that require more than 2 djinn won't appear right at the start of a battle. After the first turn, 3-djinn summons become available; after the second, 4-djinn summons become available and so on, with Iris available after the 6th turn has passed (6 and 7 djinn summons are unlocked in the same turn).

Hey. Thanks for fast reply.

But why this limitation? Did you put for some reason?

Caledor

Read the first post, it has all the explanations you need

Mr. Mister

My first ever playthrough of TBS was in Fallen Star, which I absolutely loved and 100% without it ever losing its fun. Then I tried Risen Star and I quickly realised that, not having ever played TLA either, I had absolutely no idea how to distribute the stat boosters, so I stopped playing it. I'm sure more experienced players appreiciate the completely reworked (non-) leveling system, but for a new player it's much more inaccessible than Fallen Star was.

So I decided to re-play TBS but with Reloaded this time, and then jump to TLA Reloaded as well. Here goes.


Incidentally, and more as curiosity from someone ignorant of the GS romhacking scene than an actual feature request: Do you think it'd be possible to move all of each village's hidden items to a single location, like say, each village's inn? It gets a bit tiring to check every single nook and cranny without it adding enjoyment to the exploration (the joy being in the vilalgers' dialogue), and the kleptomaniac nature of the activity is ludonarratively dissonant enough already.

Caledor

Honestly dunno, but even if it's doable it would require an immense effort (checking every single treasure, create new treasure places, delete old ones, relocate) for such a small benefit, so hardly worth it

Dark Mits

Quote from: Mr. Mister on 22, March, 2021, 09:23:53 AMIncidentally, and more as curiosity from someone ignorant of the GS romhacking scene than an actual feature request: Do you think it'd be possible to move all of each village's hidden items to a single location, like say, each village's inn? It gets a bit tiring to check every single nook and cranny without it adding enjoyment to the exploration (the joy being in the vilalgers' dialogue), and the kleptomaniac nature of the activity is ludonarratively dissonant enough already.
There are guides that list every hidden item, GameFAQs has some of them.
But you can also try to avoid these treasures, which will add an extra layer of difficulty, even if minor. Besides, the game does not have a "treasure finder" counter.


On topic, and after having completed a 2nd run of TLA on hard (except for Dullahan and Star Magician again, heavy grinding is needed for these 2), I honestly don't have any valuable feedback to give besides that it is an exciting adventure. With the exception of unavoidable "cheap" 1-shot mechanics (like Poseidon's Ocean Fist followed by any attack, Truncheon Fist followed by attack, Condemn etc), the mod is a delight to play. Most of my comments will (again) be armchair developer ones:

- Would it be possible to move instant-death abilities and Ocean's Fist as last actions on a given turn? I do understand that such a change would make fights like Poseidon a whole lot easier.

- Similarly, would it be possible for Condemn to be reworked into a Doom-like spell that Stuns/Sleeps the character and gives only 1 turn to the player to act? This way it would still be a dangerous ability and require another character to restore them immediately on the next turn, but without losing all on-going buffs.

- Restorative items are in a weird spot. Early on, when PP is massively limiting and best reserved for offensive Psynergy, they are a huge boon and party saviours. Especially for hard mode (disclaimer: I know you have said that you have balanced the game for Normal mode), it is better to spam Herbs in and out of combat instead of Cure/Boon. Similarly Corn is a good replacement of Ply. In fact, stocking up on 60+ herbs/corns at towns to get through Yampi Desert, Air's Rock and Gondowan Cliffs up to getting Piers felt almost like cheating. By mid-game however (around 4-Djinn classes, when you start exploring the Eastern Sea), PP is so abundant that they are no longer needed and can be freely vendored. In order to make these items helpful in end-game without overshadowing Psynergy, would it be possible to change their effect from a static one-time immediate heal effect to a recurring healing effect like that of Coatlicue? For example: Herb 50hp/turn for 1 turn, Corn 100hp/turn for 1 turn, Nut 125hp/turn for 2 turns, Vial 150hp/turn for 3 turns, Potion 200hp/turn for 4 turns, Mist Potion 250hp/turn for 3 turns to the whole group.

- The reduced duration of buffs and debuffs helps a lot with giving them a more prominent role instead of being fire-and-forget abilities, but failing to refresh a buff because of reasons (the caster was silenced/dead, or they had to use an emergency heal) leaves a bad taste. At the same time, random encounters are generally so short that it is more beneficial to use Attack/Offensive Psynergy straight away instead of get buffs going.
Is it feasible for buffs (and debuffs) to reduce their effect by 1 rank at the end of every turn instead of reverting completely to 0 after 3 turns? So instead of going +2 -> +2 -> +2 -> 0, it could go +3 -> +2 -> +1 -> 0. This way, their total effect per cast would remain the same, but due to being frontloaded they would become more beneficial in short random encounters. I do understand that this would be a heavy nerf for boss fights where you get 2x High Impacts going though before hitting them with your strongest attacks.

- Random masochist idea tied to the above: What if Break did not revert all buff effect to 0, but instead acted like a -4 modifier on all of them? Or in other words if it acted like a combined Blunt+Debilitate+Enfeeble on steroids?

- Another mechanic that the player can ignore from mid-game onward are Coins. Equipment sold by vendors simply does not hold a candle compared to artifacts found in the wild. The vendor value of the artifacts also helps with the "inflation" of our pockets. Would it be possible for some of the equipment to be moved from treasure chests to vendors, and replace the treasure chests with some coins or restorative items (like you did with the shallow waters near Tundaria Tower in the West Sea)?

- Psynergy crystals (like the one right at the first screen when you enter Air's Rock and the one outside Gabomba statue where you meet Piers) are infinite in the sense that moving out of the screen and back again replenishes them. So the player can use them as free inns mid-dungeon. Could they be removed or turned into a 1-time event? The giant crystals inside the Rocks would of course keep their infinite PP recovery effect, though I could live with them being a 1-time effect only ^^

- Other random masochist ideas: What if PP regeneration when walking was nerfed/removed? This is to counter the use of Avoid/Sacred Feather as another indirect "free" PP restoring ability. I exploited this before fighting that aquatic enemy in Piers's Ship so that I have full PP when starting combat. I do undestand that this could block progress in dungeons that require Psynergy for puzzles if the player runs out of PP.
Random encounters would become more dangerous if enemies had higher Agility than the party when fought at their intended level, since they would always get 1 more attack in.


Looking forward to another Reloaded run!

Caledor

#838
Quote- Would it be possible to move instant-death abilities and Ocean's Fist as last actions on a given turn? I do understand that such a change would make fights like Poseidon a whole lot easier.

- Similarly, would it be possible for Condemn to be reworked into a Doom-like spell that Stuns/Sleeps the character and gives only 1 turn to the player to act? This way it would still be a dangerous ability and require another character to restore them immediately on the next turn, but without losing all on-going buffs.

I think the issue is that you're thinking of a reactive approach without considering a proactive one: boost luck.

QuoteIn order to make these items helpful in end-game without overshadowing Psynergy, would it be possible to change their effect from a static one-time immediate heal effect to a recurring healing effect like that of Coatlicue? For example: Herb 50hp/turn for 1 turn, Corn 100hp/turn for 1 turn, Nut 125hp/turn for 2 turns, Vial 150hp/turn for 3 turns, Potion 200hp/turn for 4 turns, Mist Potion 250hp/turn for 3 turns to the whole group.
It'd be either busted or negligible. So high that you won't need an healer on your team or so low that it wouldn't change your healer's actions. Items are a tight rope to walk because if they're too good they devalue the psynergy kits of classes.

QuoteIs it feasible for buffs (and debuffs) to reduce their effect by 1 rank at the end of every turn instead of reverting completely to 0 after 3 turns? So instead of going +2 -> +2 -> +2 -> 0, it could go +3 -> +2 -> +1 -> 0. This way, their total effect per cast would remain the same, but due to being frontloaded they would become more beneficial in short random encounters. I do understand that this would be a heavy nerf for boss fights where you get 2x High Impacts going though before hitting them with your strongest attacks.
This might actually lead to something interesting.

QuoteWhat if Break did not revert all buff effect to 0, but instead acted like a -4 modifier on all of them? Or in other words if it acted like a combined Blunt+Debilitate+Enfeeble on steroids?
It would make both a massive buff suite and a spell complementary to break (restores all maluses to 0) mandatory. Too powerful.

QuoteThe vendor value of the artifacts also helps with the "inflation" of our pockets. Would it be possible for some of the equipment to be moved from treasure chests to vendors, and replace the treasure chests with some coins or restorative items (like you did with the shallow waters near Tundaria Tower in the West Sea)?
Treasure hunting is actually more fun than getting stuff from vendors, as for the replacement you mentioned, it was part or a bigger change that involved other weapons being moved, and it left me with a spot for a treasure and nothing to put in there. So i put coins.

As for balancing coins i mostly gave up to it, the best i can probably do is to set the price of every non-rusty, non-bought artifact to 1 coin, so it doesn't translate into free money once it gets replaced.

QuotePsynergy crystals (like the one right at the first screen when you enter Air's Rock and the one outside Gabomba statue where you meet Piers) are infinite in the sense that moving out of the screen and back again replenishes them. So the player can use them as free inns mid-dungeon. Could they be removed or turned into a 1-time event? The giant crystals inside the Rocks would of course keep their infinite PP recovery effect, though I could live with them being a 1-time effect only ^^
If it doesn't require too much work i could honestly consider it. won't change much though, you can still retreat to a town, or heal in battle with PP restoring djinn.

QuoteOther random masochist ideas: What if PP regeneration when walking was nerfed/removed? This is to counter the use of Avoid/Sacred Feather as another indirect "free" PP restoring ability. I exploited this before fighting that aquatic enemy in Piers's Ship so that I have full PP when starting combat. I do undestand that this could block progress in dungeons that require Psynergy for puzzles if the player runs out of PP.
Random encounters would become more dangerous if enemies had higher Agility than the party when fought at their intended level, since they would always get 1 more attack in.
It's probably the same answer as before. It wouldn't change much the options available to the player, only the means to reach it, to more time-consuming ones. As for Agility there are already some enemies that are naturally faster than the player at intended level, as there are others that only the fastest characters can outspeed and others that are very slow.

Dark Mits

Quote from: Caledor on 01, April, 2021, 05:32:38 PMI think the issue is that you're thinking of a reactive approach without considering a proactive one: boost luck.
That is quite true. In fact I remember that when i defeated Doom Dragon, I was surprised that it failed to score any kill with instant-death attacks.
But at Poseidon, in the late 20s levels, Luck boosts are not that abundant, unless I have missed some specific equipment or class combinations... I'll definitely check this out next time.

QuoteIt'd be either busted or negligible. So high that you won't need an healer on your team or so low that it wouldn't change your healer's actions. Items are a tight rope to walk because if they're too good they devalue the psynergy kits of classes.
While the "inspiration" came during my failed attempts against Star Magician, it is not a rare occurence for incoming damage to be larger than 1 MT heal + 1 ST heal, but less than 2 MT heals. This is especially true when using a party line-up of lowHP-highHP-highHP-lowHP (for example Ivan-Isaac-Garet-Mia). If not overleveled, the player has to repeat the 1MT + 1ST heal routine almost every turn because without the MT heal one of the lower-hp members will die next round, and without the ST heal the party member that gets pummeled the most will not survive. (At this point I have to point out that I assume that the member that gets hit the most is one of the two in the middle, which is also why the above party lineup is used)

The idea of the heal-over-time effect is to lessen the burden of the off-healer without replacing the role or reducing the work that the main healer has to do. The similarity to Coatlicue is that: whereas Coatlicue allows the main healer to keep the party up with a "cheaper" MT heal for its duration or even not use a heal for a round and perform some other action, a single-target heal-over-time would allow the off-healer to perform other actions in-between.

The values I proposed in my previous message were chosen to match the current Herb and Corn heal values (since these items are already in a great spot), to give a small boost to Nut and Vial (since by the time they are useful for the amount they recover [ie. stop overhealing], healer PP is no longer a limitation), and to give a good boost to Potion and Mist Potion (which are in limited quantities and overshadowed). I think I went overboard with Potion and Mist Potion though.

QuoteThis might actually lead to something interesting.
My armchair-developer intuition leads me to think that such a change would be most beneficial only and only for Impact/High Impact for battles that currently last 2 rounds where enemies get to strike before they die in the 2nd round. In all other cases of random encounters it is a net loss for the player (wasted PP and action). I cannot make an educated guess on how it would impact (heh, made a pun :happy: ) boss fights, but generally I believe it would make them harder because we have learned to maintain maxxed buffs, and such a change would require us to refresh them every round if we want to maintain their max effect, which is not feasible and PP-hungry.

QuoteIt would make both a massive buff suite and a spell complementary to break (restores all maluses to 0) mandatory. Too powerful.
Fair enough.

QuoteTreasure hunting is actually more fun than getting stuff from vendors, as for the replacement you mentioned, it was part or a bigger change that involved other weapons being moved, and it left me with a spot for a treasure and nothing to put in there. So i put coins.

As for balancing coins i mostly gave up to it, the best i can probably do is to set the price of every non-rusty, non-bought artifact to 1 coin, so it doesn't translate into free money once it gets replaced.
Another idea would be to progressievly nerf the coin drops from enemies in mid- and end-game, though for some reason I feel that most of the coins are from directly selling the artifacts found in treasure chests.
Wasn't there an enemy near Magma Rock that dropped only 1 coin (I think "Slayer")? Was that a bug in the unmodded game or my imagination?

On the subject of treasure hunting, the chests at the entrance of Treasure Isle are empty. Are they hard-coded to be empty, or can items be placed there? I understand that lorewise they are supposed to have been looted by Briggs and Co.