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Progress Report

Some New Ability Changes

It dawned on me that not enough player and enemy abilities added buff/debuff effects. So, I've gone in and changed a few abilities to add these effect in.

Reeve's Dragonkin abilities Lancet and White Draw will now apply debuff effects as well as drain MP/HP. Some other abilities from characters who are primarily centered on physical abilities (Beclem, Leon, Kelger) may also see some new changes to their abilities.

In addition, a few enemy attacks also have a chance to add some debuff effects to party members, making skills like Dragonmend and Resist more viable options during battle. There won't be a ton of buffs/debuffs being thrown around early in the game, though. This is more of a change for later when those skills to counter them become available.

Progress Report

Demo Release Information

OK, so I've finished planning out the first actual release of the game, I think. Here's some information on what you can expect out of it:

Playable Characters
Cid
Reeve
Wedge
Vicks
Ellie
Lyra
Ashe

(Originally, I had planned to include Parker in this release; that had to be changed, sorry Noel_Kreiss)

Playable Guest Characters
Cloud (w/ Cid)
Squall (w/ Cid)
Locke (w/ Cid)
Guy (w/ Lyra)
Maria (w/ Lyra)

(If anyone caught it, Lightning has been renamed to Locke)

Usable Aeons
Ultros
Ramuh
Ifrit

Locations (as Cid)
Palamecian Research Facility
Mysidia Shore
Mysidia
Mysidia Cavern
Mt. Mysidia
Chocobo Farm
Lix
Figaro Castle
South Figaro
Forest of Moore
Matoya's Hut

Locations (as Lyra)
Tycoon Castle
Tycoon
Mt. Gagazet

Some Numerical Stats
Enemies: About 50 different enemies
Boss Battles: 6
Relics: About 10
Paradigms: None, sorry!
Nethicite: 2
Draw Points: About 6

There's still a lot of work to be done, but I am putting in a few hours of work each day to get new areas completed. Even if I finish the game events ahead of schedule, I may hold off a bit on release while I try to fix some incompatability bugs with scripts (I've had to disable some aesthetic things for now such as animated states and animated cursors).

All in all, it's going well! I'll keep any demo release information updated on this blog post.

Miscellaneous

Mt. Mysidia Preview Video



Here's a little preview of the first major dungeon of the game, Mt. Mysidia. This video shows the first few floors and rooms of the mountain, but it's actually pretty large.

I am aware of the small graphical bugs present in this video (it was the first time I had encountered them) and I fixed them immediately following this recording, so please don't report them to me.

If the monsters seem a little tough, it's mostly because I hadn't trained the party in the previous small dungeon leading to Mt. Mysidia (the Mysidia Cavern). Normally, characters would be about level 10 by the time they reached Mt. Mysidia. Hope you guys like it!

Progress Report

Mission Mark: Nuclear Bomb



Just a video showing the battle against the first Mission Mark, the Nuclear Bomb. You are forced to take on this mission while in Mysidia, but it might be a good idea to leave the Nuclear Bomb alone until you're stronger. Mission Mark enemies are unique because most of them can be accessed long before the party is capable of handling them easily.

Consider them challenge battles; how early can you defeat them? In this case, the Nuclear Bomb CAN be beat at a low level, so long as Vicks has NulBlaze. In the video, luck isn't on the party's side, as NulBlaze wears off at the worst possible moment.

Mission Mark enemies, like they did in games like Final Fantasy XII, gain power when they are weakened, doubling in level. It's a good idea to mount a solid offense once you've lowered their HP to ensure a quick victory. Mission Mark enemies DO NOT enter Crisis Mode (covered in another blog) so their battle patterns do not change when they gain strength.

I will put up another video showcasing the party accepting the mission, and completing it.

Also, this is Mt. Mysidia's entrance in the video. Most of the dungeon is complete and ready to go, so I'll probably put up another video showing the party passing through.

Progress Report

Here Comes A New Challenger!

Was really hoping to show off some new stuff today while I had some free time (snow clean-up is basically done now), but a slew of new script updates brought in a ton of new bugs that I'm in the middle of reporting and playing with to try to get them fixed up.

HOWEVER, I did start something about a week ago that I wanted to bring to your attention: the playable cast of the game just increased by one. That's right, new character!

Her name is Ashe . She's a unique little girl who is in tune with magical energy and can focus that power to create stunning abilities. She has a particularly special set of skills. Ashe has no Limit Breaks, but uses her Limit Gauge to perform team-up attacks with other characters. For example, she can team up with Cid once her Limit Gauge is at 20% or above to perform Machine Break, which deals normal damage to enemies, unless they're mechanical... then they're dead. Done. Instantly. Bosses included.

Whichever character she teams up with shares her costs for performing the skill, so Cid must also have his Limit Gauge at least 20% full to perform the attack. As you can imagine, most of the team-up abilities (I guess we can call them Bands, right?) are really strong. Some of them require MP to use, as well as a portion of their Limit Break meter.

Ashe is definitely a good choice in any team battle. She has the benefit of high starting stats to offset her lack of standalone skills. She can equip Daggers and Rods, and all Hats and Light Armor (except those that are exclusive to male characters).

Her Command Ability, Empower, allows her to charge her own Limit Break gauge by a small amount, allowing her to speed up the process at which she can Band together with other characters.

Miscellaneous

Here Comes The Snow

As is always the case when New York is bracing for heavy snow, I will probably be out of action for a week or two (possibly longer) while cleaning it up. I'll still pop in and stuff to leave comments or do small work on the game, though.

In any event, I've been testing the new Paradigm Manuals, and it's making battles a bit more strategic, while not making them too one-sided. I'm liking it. I just wish there were more options for visual confirmation when a Paradigm's passive effects trigger (like forcing an enemy to target you with the Sentinel Paradigm).

Oh well, it's not that big a deal. I'll probably record a few battles using Paradigms so you can see how they change the flow of things. I'll try to upload those some time tomorrow.

Progress Report

Goodbye, Materia... hello, Paradigm Manuals!

Passive Abilities Removed
Each character previously had access to a special passive ability that was always active, or triggered under certain conditions. These passive abilities have been removed from each character, and some of them show up as passive abilities of Paradigm Manuals (explained below).

Final Fantasy Discovery Paradigm Manuals
Materia are gone. In the end, I could not decide how to implement them, and the popular opinion went to adding equippable items that could offer a wider range of abilities, both passive and direct. So, I started to think of systems in Final Fantasy games that offered similar rewards, and decided upon Paradigms (FF13). These items are extremely rare, and in most cases, only one of each can be obtained.

While equipped with a Paradigm Manual, all of the abilities listed will be given to the character. Take note that some of the more powerful abilities offered to characters like Vicks, Wedge, and Lyra are still exclusive to them. For example, no Paradigm Manual will let you use spells like Flare, Holy, or Ultima, to name a few. Command Abilities are also going to remain character-specific.

Each Paradigm Manual will also increase a character parameter and decrease another by a percentage, and may include multiple parameter changes. There are higher "levels" of Paradigm Manuals that offer the skills of a previous Paradigm, plus a few new abilities.

Preliminary List of Paradigm Manuals & Effects 

##  Name			Abilities		Effect				Type

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01. Attacker			Attack Power +10%	N/A				Passive

				Defense -10%		N/A				Passive

				Curseproof		Immunity to Curse status	Passive

				True Strike		Hit rate increased		Passive



02. Blaster			Magic Power +10%	N/A				Passive

				Attack Power -10%	N/A				Passive

				Cast Fire		Able to cast Fire		Ability

				Cast Blizzard		Able to cast Blizzard		Ability

				Cast Thunder		Able to cast Thunder		Ability

				Cast Water		Able to cast Water		Ability



03. Defender			Defense +10%		N/A				Passive

				Magic Power -10%	N/A				Passive

				Cover			Auto protect low HP allies	Passive

				Provocation		Targeted 20% more by enemies	Passive

				Cast Protect		Able to cast Protect		Ability

				Cast Shell		Able to cast Shell		Ability



04. Jammer			Stamina +10%		N/A				Passive

				Magic Defense -10%	N/A				Passive

				Auto-Veil		Constant Veil status		Passive

				Cast Poison		Able to cast Poison		Ability

				Cast Blind		Able to cast Blind		Ability

				Cast Silence		Able to cast Silence		Ability

				Cast Confuse		Able to cast Confuse		Ability



05. Enhancer			Speed +10%		N/A				Passive

				Stamina -10%		N/A				Passive

				Limit Breaker		Limit charge rate increased	Passive

				Cast Haste		Able to cast Haste		Ability

				Cast Valor		Able to cast Valor		Ability

				Cast Bubble		Able to cast Bubble		Ability



07. Healer			Magic Defense +10%	N/A				Passive

				Speed -10%		N/A				Passive

				Deathproof		Immune to death attacks		Passive

				Cast Cure		Able to cast Cure		Ability

				Cast Regen		Able to cast Regen		Ability



08. Commando			Attack Power +15%	N/A				Passive

				Defense -15%		N/A				Passive

				Curseproof		Immunity to Curse status	Passive

				True Strike		Hit rate increased		Passive

				Deathblow		Critical hit rate increased	Passive

				Gladiator		Gain Battle Favor faster	Passive



09. Ravager			Magic Power +15%	N/A				Passive

				Attack Power -15%	N/A				Passive

				Cast Fira		Able to cast Fira		Ability

				Cast Blizzara		Able to cast Blizzara		Ability

				Cast Thundara		Able to cast Thundara		Ability

				Cast Watera		Able to cast Watera		Ability



10. Sentinel			Defense +15%		N/A				Passive

				Magic Power -15%	N/A				Passive

				Auto-Cover		Protect low HP allies		Passive

				Challenger		Targeted 40% more by enemies	Passive

				Counter			25% chance of counterattack	Passive

				Cast Protect		Able to cast Protect		Ability

				Cast Shell		Able to cast Shell		Ability

				Cast Resist		Able to cast Resist		Ability



11. Saboteur			Stamina +15%		N/A				Passive

				Magic Defense -15%	N/A				Passive

				Auto-Veil		Constant Veil status		Passive

				HP Siphon		Restore HP on killing blows	Passive

				Cast Poison		Able to cast Poison		Ability

				Cast Drain		Able to cast Drain		Ability

				Cast Shatter		Able to cast Shatter		Ability

				Cast Blind		Able to cast Blind		Ability

				Cast Silence		Able to cast Silence		Ability

				Cast Confuse		Able to cast Confuse		Ability



12. Synergist			Speed +15%		N/A				Passive

				Stamina -15%		N/A				Passive

				Limit Breaker		Limit charge rate increased	Passive

				MP Siphon		Restore MP on killing blows	Passive

				Cast Haste		Able to cast Haste		Ability

				Cast Hastega		Able to cast Hastega		Ability

				Cast Valor		Able to cast Valor		Ability

				Cast Bubble		Able to cast Bubble		Ability



13. Medic			Magic Defense +15%	N/A				Passive

				Speed -15%		N/A				Passive

				Deathproof		Immune to death attacks		Passive

				Vicarious		Restore HP when healing ally	Passive

				Cast Cura		Able to cast Cura		Ability

				Cast Esuna		Able to cast Esuna		Ability

				Cast Raise		Able to cast Raise		Ability



14. Knight			Attack Power +20%	N/A				Passive

				Defense +20%		N/A				Passive

				Magic Power -20%	N/A				Passive

				Magic Defense -20%	N/A				Passive

				Curseproof		Immunity to Curse status	Passive

				True Strike		Hit rate increased		Passive

				Deathblow		Critical hit rate increased	Passive

				Cover			Protect low HP allies		Passive

				Provocation		Targeted 20% more by enemies	Passive

				Gladiator		Gain Battle Favor faster	Passive

				SOS Bravery		Bravery status when HP<=25%	Passive



15. Sage			Magic Power +20%	N/A				Passive

				Magic Defense +20%	N/A				Passive

				Attack Power -20%	N/A				Passive

				Defense -20%		N/A				Passive

				Deathproof		Immune to death attacks		Passive

				SOS Protect		Protect status when HP<=25%	Passive

				Cast Curaga		Able to cast Curaga		Ability

				Cast Reraise		Able to cast Reraise		Ability

				Cast Virus		Able to cast Virus		Ability

				Cast Death		Able to cast Death		Ability

				Cast Sleepga		Able to cast Sleepga		Ability

				Cast Slowga		Able to cast Slowga		Ability


NOTE: Battle Favor only applies to Coliseum battles.

How Are Paradigm Manuals Obtained
Just like any other item in the game. They can be found in chests, given as rewards for missions, won from the Coliseum, synthesized from other items or obtained via the Auction House. Most Paradigm Manuals are exclusive treasures that cannot be obtained more than once per game.

Example of Paradigm Manual Applied to a Character
In this example, we'll equip Cid with a Paradigm Manual and then take a closer look at his abilities. 

Weapon    : Thief's Knife

Shield    : Diamond Shield

Head      : Black Cowl

Armor     : Mirage Vest

Relic     : Amulet

Relic     : Peace Ring

Paradigm  : Ravager

Nethicite : Odin


From this set of equipment, Cid will have the following Passive Abilities: 

Sticky Fingers		Thief's Knife

Lightning Ward		Diamond Shield

Evade			Mirage Vest

Curseproof		Amulet

Zombieproof		Amulet

Confuseproof		Peace Ring

Berserkproof		Peace Ring

Magic Power +15%	Ravager Paradigm

Attack Power -15%	Ravager Paradigm


What does all this mean? It means Cid will have a 25% higher chance of success while using Steal, a 50% reduction in damage from lightning elemental attacks, a 10% chance to evade physical attacks, immunity to Curse, Zombie, Confuse and Berserk statuses, a 15% increase in Magic Power and a 15% reduction in Attack Power.

From equipping the Ravager's Paradigm Manual, he can also access Black Magic and cast Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, and Watera. Now, this is a pretty modest example. Let's take a look at Cid if he were given some of the more powerful stuff. 

Weapon    : Zwill Crossblade

Shield    : Venetian Shield

Head      : Blue Bandana

Armor     : Brave Suit

Relic     : Guard Bracelet

Relic     : Hermes Sandals

Paradigm  : Knight

Nethicite : Bahamut Fury


Things get interesting here. With more powerful equipment and Paradigm Manuals, comes more powerful bonuses. Here's what Cid's Passive Abilities would look like with this setup... 

Sleeptouch		Zwill Crossblade

Fire Ward		Venetian Shield

Ice Ward		Venetian Shield

Lightning Ward		Venetian Shield

Sticky Fingers		Blue Bandana

Auto-Protect		Guard Bracelet

Auto-Shell		Guard Bracelet

Auto-Haste		Hermes Sandals

Attack Power +25%	Brave Suit, Knight Paradigm (+5%, +20%)

Defense +20%		Knight Paradigm

Magic Power -20%	Knight Paradigm

Magic Defense -20%	Knight Paradigm

Curseproof		Knight Paradigm

True Strike		Knight Paradigm

Deathblow		Knight Paradigm

Cover			Knight Paradigm

Provocation		Knight Paradigm

Gladiator		Knight Paradigm

SOS Bravery		Knight Paradigm


Phew. As you can see, a powerful set of equipment and Paradigm Manual can turn a powerful fighter like Cid into a near-unstoppable killing machine... or so you would think. Trust me, even with the massive amount of enhancements from a great equipment set, the monsters you'll face when you have access to all of this stuff will still be kicking some ass, I'll make sure of it. That's not to say there's no fun in hilariously broken set-ups, but I'll do my best to limit it.

Request

Materia Changes? Need insight.

I've been thinking about changing how Materia function in the game for a little while (ever since successfully getting Nethicite to offer level up bonuses to stats). I'm undecided on how to implement a new way for them to function (while keeping some remnants of how actual FF7 Materia functioned).

First off, how Materia currently function.
Materia can be equipped and unequipped at any time and simply boost a certain stat (or multiple stats) by a static amount (i.e. 5, 10, 15, etc.).

I had three ideas...

Idea #1: Keep Materia based on FF job classes, but change what they offer.
For example, a White Mage Materia would no longer offer a stat increase to Magic Defense, but instead let whoever equipped it to use Cure and Poisona White Magic spells. Each Materia based on a FF series job class would offer some bonus relevant to that job (Knight Materia would allow the wearer to equip Knight Swords when they previously could not).

Idea #2: Scrap the Job Class dependency and make Materia offer magic spells.
Instead of using Job Classes as the basis for Materia, they would simply be like normal Materia, offering magic spells while equipped, without the added burden of leveling the Materia up.

Example: Elemental Materia would grant Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Water. Elementra Materia would grant Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, and Watera. Elementga Materia would grant Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga and Waterga.

Idea #3: Make Materia function more like Augments from FFIV DS.
What I mean is adding Materia that add character Command Abilities to other characters, as well as stat boosts and magic spells based on the Materia.

Example: Steal Materia allows characters other than Cid to use Steal and increases Speed by 3%. Flare Materia allows characters other than Wedge to use Flare, etc.

I'm more partial to nixing stat boosts and allowing Materia to add magic to other characters, but the problem lies with magic-users like Wedge, Vicks, and Lyra, who can already use magic spells without the need for special equipment. I feel as though Materia would be wasted on them somewhat (i.e. any Materia that added Black Magic would be a complete waste on Wedge if he learned the spells already).

What do you think? I could always just scrap Materia altogether, since supplementing character stats is no longer an issue like it was when Materia were added to the project, way back. Let's call that Idea #4.

Progress Report

Weapon Effects, Armor Effects

As part of the overhaul on the game's equipment, I've decided to adopt the system seen in Final Fantasy X where weapons and armor have effects attached to them. However, unlike Final Fantasy X, the player will not be able to create new effects and add them to weapons (although that would certainly be possible with some clever usage of Victor Sant's Materia System script).

Most of the weapon effects that were previously present will remain right where they are, I've just given them names and set limitations on them to make it easier on myself while re-coding the gear.

You can expect to see effect listings on the equipment screen, allowing you to choose which weapons and armor will best suit the situation at hand. Most of the effect names are directly lifted from their source game, so it should all feel pretty familiar.

Just to give an example, for the Punisher (Rod), instead of giving it a long description explaining it's special effects, you'll simply see the effect name, such as:

Effect
Attack Power +5%, Critical Plus

In-game help files explain what each effect does in further detail.



Effects List
Attack Power +3%
Attack Power +5%
Attack Power +10%
Auto-Protect
Auto-Shell
Auto-Haste
Auto-Regen
Auto-Float
Auto-Berserk
Auto-Reflect
Auto-Zombie
Berserktouch
Blindtouch
Charge Plus
Counterattack
Critical Plus
Darkstrike
Deathtouch
Dragonslayer
Earthstrike
Evade
Evade & Counter
Firestrike
Healstrike
Holystrike
HP Absorb
Icestrike
Lightningstrike
Defense +3%
Defense +5%
Defense +10%
Magic Defense +3%
Magic Defense +5%
Magic Defense +10%
Magic Power +3%
Magic Power +5%
Magic Power +10%
MP Absorb
MP Critical
MP Siphon
Piercing
Poisonstrike
Poisontouch
Silencetouch
Siphon
Sleeptouch
Slowtouch
SOS-Protect
SOS-Shell
SOS-Reflect
SOS-Regen
Speed +3%
Speed +5%
Speed +10%
Sticky Fingers
Waterstrike
Windstrike

So far, I've reprogrammed Daggers, Swords, Knight Swords, Katanas, Lances, and Rods. I still have Staves, Bows, Claws, Hammers, Darts, and Guns remaining. All armor has already been reprogrammed.

Progress Report

The Offensive Gear Overhaul (and some other notes)

Just like I did before with all of the game's defensive gear, I am now overhauling all of the game's offensive gear!

There are a LOT more weapons in the game now, and there are many more special effects on them. Their stats have all been lowered as a general rule, and no weapon in the game will be incredibly overpowered as far as their attack power stat increase or their overall effects (for example, Lightbringer in FFVI came with a +7 increase to every stat, MP Critical, randomly cast Holy, and a 255 attack power stat, O_O).

The names of a lot of weapons in this game were originally lifted from FFVI, since I was using their statistics as a base, but I've since gone in and made sure I've included weapon names from many different Final Fantasy games. I also felt I should increase the number of weapons in each category to accommodate the large number of sidequest/reward areas the game will have. Nobody wants to keep getting Potions in chests over and over, amirite? For example, there were 15 weapons in the sword category before, and now there are 30. Some weapon types will not see many changes, as some characters are specialized in a certain weapon type (claws, bows) so there's no need to keep adding more to them.

On the subject of characters, the types of weapons each character can equip may be changing. I had come to the realization that swords had the most weapon slots in the game at 15, and only two characters could use swords, heh. For instance, Cid can now use Swords as well as Daggers, and Wedge can now use Daggers instead of Rods, if the player wishes.

Dajh and Lyra, being a Blue Mage and Red Mage, respectively, have had their weapon options greatly expanded. Reeve can now use Knight Swords, but will be unable to use Jump unless equipped with a Spear (Limit Breaks involving Jump remain unaffected by this).

I also took another look at some of the skills, and decided to cut a few Aeon summons, and add in some new replacements.

REMOVED AEONS
Catoblepas (Demon Eye): Inflicting Petrify on all enemies at once was a little cheap (instant victory).
Tonberry King (Chef's Knife): The damage formula required too much effort to make it a viable choice.

NEW AEONS
Madeen (Terra Homing): Deals magical damage on all enemies.
Valefor (Energy Blast): Deals magical damage on all enemies. If playing the ATB version of the game, Energy Blast can reduce the ATB charge of enemy targets. If playing the non-ATB version of the game, Enery Blast has a chance to inflict Slow on enemy targets.

Both Madeen and Valefor are Nethicite Aeons, making them available to any character.
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