Final Fantasy Discovery

So, I think I've stated here before that almost all of the damage formulas are borrowed from Final Fantasy VI. This isn't true for every single action in the game, but a fair amount of them, to say the least.

The reason for this is because Final Fantasy VI had a limited number of parameters (like RPG Maker VX Ace) with a lot of variety in damage formulas.

It doesn't take a genius to assume that the system for how character statistics are raised is also (somewhat) borrowed from Final Fantasy VI.

Basically, characters in Final Fantasy VI only gained HP and MP on a level up, unless they were equipped with an Esper with a Level Up Bonus at the time that they gained the level.

Since the Pulse Project doesn't use Espers in that way, I needed to come up with a different way of raising character stats. The first, of course, are the various "Source" items borrowed from Final Fantasy VII. These will permanently raise the corresponding parameter. However, these come in a finite amount in-game and cannot be won repeatedly or bought. You'll get a decent enough supply to spread around between your 14 characters in a playthrough, though.

Next up is Materia, also borrowed from Final Fantasy VII. It works very differently this time.

Much like Relics, two Materia per character can be freely equipped and unequipped at any time. Each Materia is named after a Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions job class. Each Materia raises a certain stat, or stats. These are temporary and their bonuses will disappear when removed. However, they are stackable!

Equipping someone with two Dragoner Materia will result in a 20% base HP increase, plus an additional 20% HP increase based on the final result of equipping the first Dragoner Materia.

Keeping character and enemy stats in balance is probably the hardest part of making a game. This should help players to avoid being massively underpowered by a lack of stat-raising items.

In other news, weapons and armor are having their stats reviewed in light of this.