[auraplatonic]

I have been working on Beta 5 the last couple of days, just letting you all know I am still at work

[Anima Zero]

Looks like another good update coming here (Jump is indeed a bit on the powerful side as is in Beta 4).

And luckily I hadn't deleted anything in my Recycle Bin as I was able to retrieve the .zmv I did for the Banon/Edgar/Terra Scenario. Essentially, I can do a video for the new version of this section with the map edits for lulzs ;P.

[auraplatonic]

Anima Zero, on 25 February 2012 - 03:32 PM, said:

Looks like another good update coming here (Jump is indeed a bit on the powerful side as is in Beta 4).

And luckily I hadn't deleted anything in my Recycle Bin as I was able to retrieve the .zmv I did for the Banon/Edgar/Terra Scenario. Essentially, I can do a video for the new version of this section with the map edits for lulzs ;P.

I added a couple chests in the scenario so if you go back on your current save you will be able to see the changes.

I will give a soft release of some changes because I would like you guys to test the new lance/jump changes

BETA 4.5

Changelog:


-Fire Knuckle now properly has dual-wield(Thanks Anima Zero)
-Tweaked many relics stats to balance them out a bit
-Increased Phantom Train's magic defense and physical damage
-Reduced power of most spears to balance Jump a bit, the damage is a little high atm
-TrueKnight can now only be equipped by Celes/Gogo, stats now more benefical to Celes
-Increased Rider's attack power
-Hero Ring replaced with a magical version of the Gauntlet called MageGauntlet. This will help characters with low Magic excel more
-All characters can now equip Gauntlet/MageGauntlet, Gauntlet stats changed a bit
-Cyan can now equip some regular swords
-Atlas Armlet has been nerfed, will still give you more damage but at at a penalty
-Earrings have been nerfed, will still give you more damage but at a penalty
-----These and other equipment changes are meant to balance out the increase in damage which is pretty decent still. With all other tweaks/changed items it should be possible to make mage builds with characters that are not normally good with magic, although this will make them weaker in other areas. Should be really nice from a customization perspective
-Reduced MA given by Mythril Lance
-Rods now do same damage from the back row(something I am trying out)
-You can no longer break rods
-Map edits in the Terra/Edgar/Banon scenario to give the scenario some kind of challenge
-Some base character defense and evade tweaks(should be slighly noticable)
-Leather Armor and Helmet can now be properly equipped by Cyan(Thanks Stann)
-Leader's AI has been tweaked slightly
-Lances no longer give innate jump, now given by Dragoon Boots which are an Edgar only item
-Lances now do same damage from the back row
-Increased damage of Shadow's knives
-Decreased interceptor's damage some more
-Shadow starts with both knives again, changed merchant steal
-Changed Whelk AI to remove everyone talking in the beginning of the fight
-Changed contents of the chest in the Moogle Cave, if you already got it its not the end of the world
-Fixed a couple of typos(thanks Kihaku)



Lances may seem weak, but I have to make this type of change because:

-Jump damage will be too high unless the Lance power is weaker since it does double damage
-When you get Dragon Horn much later, I can imagine the damage being pretty crazy

By making them same damage from the back row it should help you out, combine with the increase of Autocrossbow damage from last Beta.

[Archael]

http://www.insanedif...index.php/games

[auraplatonic]

BETA 4.8 RELEASED!!!





-Content playable until the Ifrit/Shiva battle in the Magitek Factory
-The enemies of the Magitek Factory have AI's that I am pretty excited about. The way enemies act here and what is effective against them may require you to use different setups then you are used to.
-The two formerly empty chests in Albrook now have items
-The secret merchant's prices have increased, and some items have changed
-Changed some chests contents pre Kefka
-There is a new hidden chest in the Magitek Factory
-Added additional merchant in the Phantom Train to help if you run out of potions(Thanks Stann for this idea)
-Fixed the Opera House bug, and made the scenario a bit tougher(Thanks Anima Zero and Caoimhin)
-Gau can now equip claws, base battle power lowered. Test in progress but this should allow his physical rages to be more effective
-Some map edits in the Magitek Factory
-Reduced the number of lights in the Narshe security room and spaced them out


Enemies


-Made Dadaluma harder
-Phantom Train no longer does multi attacks, counter chance lowered but attack power is the same
-Raised Siegfried's hit % chance
-Altered enemies of Zozo to make them tougher
-Fixed an attack order error in part of Kefka's AI to make his spell count now
-The Whelk battle can now have a different outcome
-Increased Ultros' HP in the Opera House battle, should make it tougher
-Changed Brawler's special
-Increased Dark Wind's attack power, now weak against fire
-Made the enemies in the Serpent Trench harder
-Made Telstar tougher, no longer drops Peace Ring


Spells/Abilities

-Added some new Magitek skills, some of the original skills are now reflectable again
-Reduced accuracy of Suplex, Chakra, Aurabolt, Fire Dance, and Air Blade
-Minus Strike can no longer be dodged
-Reduced accuracy of Bolt reaper, Wind Reaper, Climhazzard, and Dark Strike
-Climhazzard now casts Slow instead of Stop
-Reduced accuracy of Confuser
-Most special attacks that cause a status now cannot be dodged


Items/Equipment

-Many items now have new effects, I would suggest checking items stats/abilities out. Also something I am looking to test
-Peace Ring magic defense removed
-Amulet now also protects against Seizure, stat increases removed
-Added some new effects to Lances, made them innate 2 handed. This will need tested further to really anticipate the jump damage increase. If you wield lances with a shield it will reduce their damage, so its up to you. Since Edgar can now equip some swords you can do diffent setups as you see fit
-Added some more equipment flexibility, changed some effects to hopefully help defensively and in some cases offensively
-Break Blade is now Stoneblade, has new and interesting stats and effects that I am wanting to test.
-Reduced price of Peace Rings
-Increased defense/magicdefense of Gauntlet/MageGauntlet
-Removed Hero Rings boosts from MageGauntlet(oops)
-Black Belt now also protects against sleep
-Sprint Shoes are now Red Shoes, boosts Mog's stats/evasion. Won't get these until WoR probably
-Back Guard can now only be equipped by Shadow
-Beads are now Cyan only, add evade and Speed, and increase Magic damage. Should make Cyan pretty beast when you get them later
-----This should now give everyone a specific relic that only they can equip, Save Gau(I have something in mind) and Gogo(He will be able to equip all of the unique items others have)
-I am making an attempt to make it so that if you sell or throw most items you can get them back later. There will be some rare stuff you should not get rid of...you will be able to tell because it only sells for 1GP
-Magus Hat now gives magic evade

[auraplatonic]

BETA 4.9 RELEASED!!!



General

-Content finished until the save spot before the Mine Cart in the Magitek Factory
-Reduced number of rats in the Opera House and made you able to avoid one of them, this should hopefully now be able to be done with any party combination
-Added one more hidden chest in the Magitek Factory


Enemies

-Fixed where Anguiform had innate Blind by accident, that was why he keeps missing.
-Flans will give you magic points, if you can kill them
-Pipsqueaks can now be muted, changed AI to make them a little easier to kill, but not necessarily easier overall
-Proto Armor can now be muted, HP decreased, magic defense increased
-Increased Ifrit and Shiva's HP
-Fixed TunnelArmr skill bug(Thanks Salculd)





Skills/Abilities

-Rasp MP cost and strength reduced, now ignores defense
-This was in the last Beta but Summons can now miss, and if you are confused when you cast one you can cast it on your party(I had to make this change in order for enemies to be able to use summons)

[auraplatonic]

BETA 5: MAGITEK MAYHEM


Changelog:


General


-Content completed up to exiting the factory and getting Terra back(Don't go any farther because I have not edited the shops or enemies. You can get Mog and spend some time on the Veldt though if you want.)
-If you get Mog please help me in testing the damage of his skills a bit so I can start to tweak them as I work on Beta 6
-Due to the bad economy even effecting the world of Final Fantasy VI, the Figaro shops no longer give Edgar a discount. They have also changed their stock a bit in the very beginning


Items/Equipment


-I found a way to further edit Bio Blaster and Flash!!
-Bio Blaster power increased. Power is more than Poison but less that Bio. Should deal decent damage as well as causing Poison
-Reduced the price of some Tools
-Flash no longer deals damage, now causes Seizure in addition to Dark status. Don't underestimate the blind status
-Drill can no longer miss
-Decreased the power of the Skeans(needs testing)


Skills/Abilities


-Increased accuracy, reduced power of Bolt Reaper and Wind Reaper(should still be able to get decent damage with the right setup)
-Reduced power of Fire Dance(Im not trying to nerf it as much as trying to level out the damage, Fire Dance before had more power than Bio and that's a lot considering the time of game and the element, plus it doesn't do split damage so it does the same amount of damage to groups as to one enemy.) Power was 42, now 35
-Reduced power of Aurabolt(Will still be useful but not always the best option vs Pummel) Power was 34, now 27
-Reduced power of LV4 Flare


Enemies


-Increased Shiva's defense, lowered her evade
-Fixed Number024's AI/stats
-Tweaked enemy immunities to account for the increased damage of Bio Blaster. I am trying to make this as useful as possible without being OP
-Changed TunnelArmr's steals
-Made TunnelArmr harder(I hope), if someone has a save near here feel free to help me test
-Gave Rizopas more MP(Thanks Salculd)
-Reduced magic power of Pipsqueaks
-Pipsqueaks no longer use LV5 Doom
-Slightly increased Vargas's defense(needs testing)



NOTE: Since it is late, I will wait until Archael uploads the patch to ID before I change the main link and info, and I will also update the Facebook page at that time. Its no rush anyway since you guys can still play. Enjoy!!

[Anima Zero]

Magitek Factory...holy christ D:.

2x Commando 2x Garm formation...seriously, I don't know what the sam hell to do half the time to shift the odds of even having a slight chance of getting past this formation. Doesn't help me that they dodge stuff on occasion. Also doesn't help that I can't run from it either because I would do that in a heartbeat with this group D:.

Pipsqueaks are annoying as crap. Evasive as fuck, not weak to ANYTHING, and like to steal your money AND run in the same turn. That last part actually gave me a real good chuckle, heh.

ProtoArmors are fine. Painful and very damaging, lots of HP, no screw you moments attached.

Done raging for the moment, gonna go back and try it some more, heh.

[auraplatonic]

The enemies act different ways in different situations if that helps. It depends on how you fight them how they will act. Pipsqueaks were previously more annoying probably, I made some changes so they could not OHKO your party lol




As I am learning more about the AI, I am now able to really make the enemies act in really cool ways. I may start to enhance previous enemies AI's as well. Basically I can make enemies act a certain way based on if you are or are not affected by a status, and I can do the same for the enemies. This may allow me to make the enemies not use status causing specials or spells on you if you are already statused, instead they would do something that would actually hurt you.

[auraplatonic]

BETA 5.1


General


-Some balancing and bugfixing plus a couple things new, thanks to all of you that continue to test because you are the ones who are helping making this better with each release
-From here on out the difficulty curve will be about this, and gradually higher. You have to be prepared to be able to be successful and even then its not a cakewalk. The best advice I can give is use what you have to your advantage. The abilities and equipment you acquire are placed so that they should be able to help.
-Fixed merchant on the Blackjack to sell the correct items(Thanks Salculd)
-Applied Ignore Defense no longer ignoring Safe and Shell patch by Lenophis, this will make it so that attacks that penetrate defenses will still be effected by Shell or Safe

Items/Equipment

-Reduced learning % of Rasp on Fairy Ring
-Reduced learning % of Dispel on Tintinabar
-Edited the Elemental Shields to where I want them to be stat wise, something I forgot to do before

Skills/Abilities

-Reduced accuracy of Demi and Quartr
-X-Zone changed to Gravja, does 25% HP damage even if enemy is immune to death, but accuracy is 50%
-Armor Break now removes Safe when striking an enemy
-Reduced power of Suplex, slight raise in accuracy
-Raised attack power of Pummel
-Reduced damage but raised accuracy of Maduin

Enemies

-Raised magic attack of the skean users in Zozo to account for the lowering of their power(Thanks Salculd), this needs tested though to make the damage the same as before
-Changed some formations around in the factory to give some variety and added challenge
-Reduced Chaser's HP, increased defenses and power
-Made the penalty for Rasping Number 024 much greater(I wouldn't try it )
-Number 024 now gives no exp
-Changed the Number 128 battle to hopefully cater to my original design and added some interesting features
-Changed rat formations back in the Opera House, lesser one gives 1 Magic Point while the other gives 2
-Pipsqueak no longer uses Pep Up, trying out a new skill instead
-Reduced HP of Pipsqueaks
-Fixed AI with the Cranes, very dangerous when they are alone(Thanks Anima Zero). I also added a few bits to this battle. Make sure you are targetting the cranes correctly or you will attack the other on accident
-Flans are harder, probably not worth trying to kill in the factory for magic point grinding. You can just run from them and fight them later on the Veldt if you have too much trouble
-Adjusted Trappers to hopefully not make you feel too trapped(no pun intended). Feel free to help me test this one
-Reduced Commandos magic defense, changed AI
-Reduced MP of some of the enemies in the factory and tweaked immunities
-Garms are now weak against Pearl, changed AI a bit
-Gobblers and Rhinox can no longer be ran from or be confused. The battle isn't as daunting as it first may seem
-Increased attack power of Generals

[auraplatonic]

BETA 5.2


General

-Some more tweaks. I have some really good stuff planned for Beta 6. As a teaser I will say I am looking in to some new monster sprites. I am thinking of at least 3 new optional encounters
-Fixed the Narshe lights so that they will be able to be passed(thanks Caoimhin)
-Some new purchasable relics on the Imperial Continent(thanks Salculd)

Items/Equipment

-Raised the price of Tinctures
-Ethers now only heal 100 MP



Skills/Abilities

-Chakra now heals Darkness, Poison, and Sleep in addition to its normal effects, accuracy and power reduced

Enemies

-You can now escape from Vector Pups(thanks Stann)
-Changed Number128's AI to add a spell specific counter and subbed in some new attacks.
-Added a spell specific counter for Number024
-Mag Roaders no longer give magic points
-Edited some more encounter tables




Beta 6 is in the works! Enjoy

[Anima Zero]

Looks good aura ;D.

Sucks that Mag Roaders won't be giving magic points anymore. Then again, you probably would encounter them a bit too much on the Veldt, no ;P?

Gotta do a few things this morning, but once that's settled, I'm going to try and get myself to the point where Terra rejoins the party.

Just on the off chance you missed my question before, did the ZoneSeek, Golem, and Sraphim Espers get modified in terms of spells learned/power/accuracy/cost yet? Just want to be sure because I'll probably be testing out Mog's damage output when I get him.

[auraplatonic]

Anima Zero, on 09 March 2012 - 04:07 AM, said:

Looks good aura ;D.

Sucks that Mag Roaders won't be giving magic points anymore. Then again, you probably would encounter them a bit too much on the Veldt, no ;P?

Gotta do a few things this morning, but once that's settled, I'm going to try and get myself to the point where Terra rejoins the party.

Just on the off chance you missed my question before, did the ZoneSeek, Golem, and Sraphim Espers get modified in terms of spells learned/power/accuracy/cost yet? Just want to be sure because I'll probably be testing out Mog's damage output when I get him.

They don't have any spells, and cost will probably be higher. I have not tested them though but I can make it part of Beta 6

[Anima Zero]

auraplatonic, on 09 March 2012 - 08:14 AM, said:

They don't have any spells, and cost will probably be higher. I have not tested them though but I can make it part of Beta 6

Would be nice ;P. I shall hold off on getting them then until Beta 6.

Got my Number 024 and Number 128 fights re-recorded. Like what you did to both of them.

Also, 024's counter to my Rasp'ing...hahaha, awesome. That is all.

Had to fight a Chaser too before I could reach the save point. Not gonna lie, I used two Elixirs & a Hero Drink there. Did NOT want to goddamn lose that battle after the boss fight lemme tell you xD.

Should have the video up on my thread by this afternoon after I get past the cranes.

[auraplatonic]

Anima Zero, on 09 March 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Would be nice ;P. I shall hold off on getting them then until Beta 6.

Got my Number 024 and Number 128 fights re-recorded. Like what you did to both of them.

Also, 024's counter to my Rasp'ing...hahaha, awesome. That is all.

Had to fight a Chaser too before I could reach the save point. Not gonna lie, I used two Elixirs & a Hero Drink there. Did NOT want to goddamn lose that battle after the boss fight lemme tell you xD.

Should have the video up on my thread by this afternoon after I get past the cranes.

Cool, I didn't test Chaser very much, he hit less but had like 5k HP before so I thought that was a little high. He only has like 2k now I think. I should test it though

[auraplatonic]

OK!


Want to update you guys on how progress is going to go with regards to Beta 6, as well as some ideas I want to shoot off of you guys. I want to playthrough myself from the beginning to really get down to earth and get a feel for how everything is looking from the damage perspective. This will help me further balance and combined with all of your experiences I will be able to give a suggested level for each area. I am going to try to go through with little to no extra battles, and based on my success and what extra levels I have to gain I will get an even better grasp on the progress. I will also spend time on the Veldt not to get every monster but most of them. I want to try to put myself in the potential players shoes as much as I can. I am also doing this because moving forward I want to make little to no changes to the content that I have already completed so that I can focus on the new stuff.


With regards to sprite replacement this is what I can do. Basically I can add new enemy sprites, but only as a replacement to an existing one. There are about 10 or so slots for a new enemy but I can only choose from existing sprites to base it off of. So the enemy would have to have an existing sprite with a different color, or if I replace the Guard sprite to make a new enemy, the Guard and Marshal would have that sprite also. The limitation kind of sucks but I think I can work around it.


How would you guys feel about new sprites? I want to make this feel like its still the same game but I think a couple interesting enemies here or there would be nice. The Sealed Cave doesn't have a boss so I am considering some optional enemies there and map edits if I can. Its a tricky thing with the maps though since there are so many switches there that it could easily mess something up

[Stann]

On monster sprites, if you can replace existing sprites, there are quite a few underwhelming sprites that could be replaced. For instance, the Trivium monster on Mt Koltz? The thing that looks like a kindergartener found MS Paint for the first time. It's just a plant thing that looks like a scribble. Since you can change around enemy formations, I assume you can just remove these enemies from those fights? It would be kind of neat to fight things like the elemental fiends from FF4 or the Eidolons from FF5. Er, summon monsters, sorry. XD Another possibility would be using some monster sprites from Romancing Saga 3, it has some excellent ones.

Romancing Saga 3 enemy sprites

Spoiler

I think I'll play through the game again too, off camera to see how all the changes add up. I'll throw the ROM on my PSP so I can play it on the go. I now know the problem areas you need to prepare for. I'll still continue my LP on my normal schedule of 1-2 videos every couple days or so though.

Edit: Letting my SNES emulator patch the IPS takes a good 30 seconds. Maybe I should've patched the ROM manually.

Edit 2: Looks like I won't be playing it on my PSP, as there are some really weird bugs I've encountered so far. Unless you gave Schiller and Grav Bomb to Biggs and Wedge when I wasn't looking.

Edit 3: I guess you did.... I guess you did. You win this time, auraplatonic.

[auraplatonic]

Sorry about the delay, been a busy weekend. If there are any other weird bugs I am sorry, I feel kinda bad as I keep having to fix little things. I change some things without testing(they look good on paper lol) but the results don't always match what I thought. Enjoy! Stann, I added those a few releases ago. Also you should be able to beat TunnelArmr at your current level from my testing

BETA 5.3


General

-Thanks to everyone who gave me ideas and let me know about any bugs
-A couple bugfixes, and the start of some sprite edits. Let me know what you think of my coloring on Terra. It is meant to make her more canon with regards to how she is portrayed everywhere else except for the game
-I am starting my new playthrough now so I will start to help test these changes and past other ones as well. I will start to improve upon past AI's and further balance the game.
-I am working on importing new sprites but its something that is very tricky, and I don't know if its worth it yet. The palletes are numerous but little to none of them really match up with many sprites I try to import. Let me know how you guys feel about the sprites. Is it worth it if there could be a quality decline in some other sprites?


Skills/Abilities

-Schiller now also causes Seizure, accuracy reduced
-Reduced damage and accuracy of Acid Rain, now also causes Poison in addition to Seizure
-Blizzard can no longer be dodged, now additionally causes Darkness
-Increased power of Mega Volt, accuracy reduced
-Reduced accuracy of Giga Volt
-Increased damage of Fire Ball, accuracy reduced
-Megazerk can now be dodged
-Virite accuracy increased
-Dischord accuracy reduced
-Increased MP cost of Bio, Fire 2, Ice 2, and Bolt 2 and reduced their accuracy
-Break MP cost increased, accuracy reduced
-Doom MP cost increased, accuracy reduced
-Increased MP cost of Fire 3, Ice 3, and Bolt 3 and reduced their accuracy


Enemies

-Tweaked Whelk's AI and stats a bit to create new strategies and outcomes. I am going to further test this
-Fixed the targetting error in Kefka's AI
-TunnelArmr is about where I want him to be. Targetting errors should be fixed; be careful of his second stage as it can be pretty tricky. I tested this battle so I hope its ok
-Revamped Cirpius, needs tested
-Revamped Tusker, needs tested
-Reduced power of Gabbldegak's special
-Reduced power of 1st class, increased power of his Special
-Revamped Trappers, needs tested though
-Skean power in Zozo is probably too low, the damage in Zozo in general may need tweaked a bit. I will tweak this more when I get there
-Fixed a graphical error with an edited battle in the factory, I finally found out why it was happening

[Midnight980]

As i have just finished Zozo i can attest that skean power is quite low as in not even doing 100 damage. Normal damage might need a slight push but nothing major. Dadaluma needs something done and i was thinking all you would need to do is remove his regen, he is virtually unkillable with it. It took me 4 hours to take him down yesterday with my party levels of 19 19 19 17, and I had to land the 2nd slow after the hero drink to have a shot. Just my .02, keep up the good work!

[Anima Zero]

Also agreeing about the low skean power. As of the latest beta, I think Harvesters were doing somewhere just under 100 damage with Fire Skean while having no buffs active on my characters and suited up with equips that would only be available to me when I first get there. Probably should be around double that, maybe a pinch less for that particular enemy.

Also, got Mog and been test driving some of his dances. It would be so nice if you didn't have to worry about failing to merely activate a dance the first try. Just wastes time and doesn't make sense to me TBH.

But with that aside, damage wise...Earth Blues needs to get nerfed HARD. I was testing it on a SlamDancer in Zozo with Mog at lv20 and 53 Magic Power (Air Lancer, MageGauntlet, Magus Hat, Mithril Vest, Tintinabar, Zephyr Cape).

Land Slide did like 2400 damage to the SlamDancer, think the other attack I saw from it did similar damage, and Sun Bath healed everyone for 900+. Not sure if SlamDancer is weak to any elements or whatnot.

I'll test out the dances some more later today after I get Water Rondo.

Also would help if I knew of an enemy that had average defenses and was neutral to all elements (That means no absorption, nullification, or immunity to anything ;D), heh.