CRAZE'S PROFILE

Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
a wolf can eat the equivalent of 100 hamburgers in one sitting

who needs PLOT whe nyou ahve GAY PEOPLE
Wakenights
"Save" the "princess" from the "demon"

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Bowing Out

I am going to bow out of RMN's forums until a large change happens. I will not be ~gone forever~! I'll still be working with karsu and eventually updating our game profiles to fit our designs. I am also not rage-quitting, simply leaving before I ragequit.

Like I said, I'll return to the forums when the community shifts into something more pleasant and constructive. I have faith that holb can direct this change.

If you wish to contact me, I'll still be on the site, so I will receive PMs. Beyond that, I'm not closing down any other avenues of communication, so if you know my email/AIM I'll still be there.

Good luck taking things seriously!

The Great Stay: 2k3 For Life

I love RPG Maker 2003.

I'm sorry that I left it.

There is something about the way Rudras would brush against my skin in the morning that sent a shiver down my spine. I always felt that he was just mine, even though I knew that he slept around. It was a toxic connection, Rudras and I, conquering the evening but never staying for breakfast in bed. He'd always leave before I got out of bed, thinking that I was still asleep... but I never was. I'm a light sleeper. His rustling would always alert me that it was our last few seconds together, so I'd breathe deeply and brace myself. I'd feel his warm skin, but not my hot tears.

Until today, because I went back to his doorstep. I've gone back to my beloved slut, and his favorite hobby: being in every RPG Maker 2003 game.

Screw VX. Screw Karsuman. Screw Melody. I have better tricks to do.

Emo Require: Do RPGs need a story?

I recently stumbled upon this comment in a discussion about Dissidia 012:

I hope this one has a decent story at least.

My first thought was "Huh? Dissidia is an RPG mash-up fighting game. Why does it need a story in the first place?" Some random whirlpool or whatever to get the characters together is fine. In fact, in such a ridiculous grouping of characters, wouldn't a kooky, low-calorie story fit better?

I honestly don't understand the need for a game that has RPG mechanics to require emo/destiny/deep-rooted conflict/heroes made in vats. People play roguelikes, so what if similar (but much more approachable) jRPGs were made with some sort of nonsensical explaination and conflict... or almost no explanation at all? There's an objective, play the game and figure out how to deal with it! See, it's fun to think while casting Firaga!

I am not saying that most RPGs don't need stories. I do find RPG fans distressingly hilarious, though - especially when looking at FFXII and FFXIII discussions. But, seriously. Stories can be perfectly fine! Wooo! Go stories! Leo & Leah ftw!

Notice how a lot of Leo & Leah is told through environments and player interaction than cutscenes. W - What? We don't to reiterate the same idea three times in a cutscene to get a point across? Yeah, there are holes.

(Pictures courtesy of Pitchfork's Rise and Fall of Final Fantasy.)


FFXIII gets a lot of flak for its story (which I actually like and think is executed rather well except for some villains, but that's another topic), so why not make a fun romp that focuses entirely on the battle system and possibly more exploration instead of FMVs? Just say "these heroes can summon stuff and have paradigms, go get the macguffins in some order you decide and then save the world" and let you go, like FFI. You have a setting, you have some direction, but the emphasis is the gameplay. And no, just because the game is archaic doesn't mean you can't update the gameplay itself.

"Game X is fun, but the story sucks, but it's an RPG so it needs to have a story." Oh, really? I thought that games were meant to be played.

Event/Article Subscriptions

Is there a way/plans to make a way to unsubscribe from events (Super RMN Bros 2, specifically) or articles that I've commented on? Just because I leave one comment doesn't mean I want to hear every single spambot's reply or pay attention to SRMNB2 for months.

Final Fantasy VI Esper Configaroation

Help, I'm nerding out. No, seriously, I need a break from a tremendous amount of homework this weekend, and this morning I wrapped up the Magitek Research Facility in FFVIa. As such, I decided to make this run a bit more interesting - I decided to assign specific Espers to each character. I technically broke my rules already, switching Ramuh/Cait Sith/Siren/Kirin out between Celes/Locke/Cyan/Gau throughout the preliminary sequence, but I'll survive. Still, I want to try a more focused version of FFVI.

In this post, I'm going to list which Espers I assigned to whom, along with any notes or tough decisions that had to be made because of it. One thing that annoyed me was that only one of the original Espers grants a Speed boost... seriously, why can't some of the Stamina-granting Espers give Speed instead? Grrrr. Unfortunately, I wound up giving Speed to Locke and Setzer only. Maybe in another run-through I'll try out a rebalanced patch for the SNES version or letting an Esper be shared between multiple folks. We'll see. Cyan doesn't get any stat-ups, but he does get some sweet summon spells, and he's a personal favorite so I'll use him anyway.

Because two of the best Espers tie into Terra specifically (Maduin, Valigarmanda), she is very powerful. Giving her Ragnarok was probably overkill. On that note, I tried to give folks Espers that appear in their place or origin or that deal with their story arc; for example, Locke gets Phoenix. Any deviations from this rule will likely be explained below.

One interesting "issue" that I think will make the game more fun/interesting is that only Locke and Relm ever gain access to Curaga. Locke, in fact, becomes the best healer in the game and Relm follows close behind, even without Raise. Terra, due to her ridiculous Magic gains with Maduin and then Valigarmanda as well as proper equipment, might be able to use Cura effectively. If done right, Edgar's combination of Quick and Cura might be able to sustain a party. The final dungeon is going to require some item use or lots of Protect/Shell instead of just Curaga spam! As an alternative healer, Strago with his Osmose (from Zona Seeker) and the White Wind Lore could work, but this can be tricky.

I will also most likely force specific Relics to be equipped on certain characters in future playthroughs, or at most a pool of 2-4 (so that late-game Relics can be traded in eventually). If anybody has any ideas about Espers or Relics, feel free to suggest them!

I got most of my information from this page: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Esper_(Final_Fantasy_VI)

Terra
Elemental Mage/Healer
Maduin (MGC+1) for the elemental spells... and because he's her daddy
Valigarmanda (MGC+2) because Terra and good ol' Tritoch Valigmanda interact quite a bit in the beginning of the game, and also for the third-tier elemental spells
Ragnarok for the overkill. Also, Terra normally learns Ultima at level 99 - so it fits

Terra is excellent at shoving enemies full of fire, ice and lightning. In the early game she can also play healer fairly effectively, but that dies off around the time she gets to Morphin'. Once her levels cause her to naturally learn Cura, she's good again for a while, but not likely in the endgame without severe Magic boosts.


Locke
Thief/Healing Master
Phoenix due to the Rachael storyline. As a side-effect, Locke becomes a powerful healer - which makes sense in a way, because it means that he can protect those fragile women (that will be dwarfing him in damage output)
Cactuar (SPD+2) for the Speed

Locke doesn't get magic for a very long time, but when he does he'll become a very powerful part of your anti-Kefka force. Thankfully, he's still useful beforehand thanks to his ability to Steal/Mug.


Shadow
Arcanist
Diabolos (HP+100%) because I needed somewhere to put it, and Shadow seems dark enough. I will probably never get Diabolos
Catoblepas (HP+10%) for the dark, arcane magicks it knows. Bio will be a good offense for quite a bit of the game, provided Shadow's Magic can get a little help (can it...?)
Phantom (MP+10%) due to the MP+ (more castings of Death) and, well, figure it out. Vanish/the summon effect will also be good for protecting weaklings against physical bosses

Shadow is taken out of his traditional physical/ninja outfit and put into a more subversive and magical role. He can actually do very well without high Magic, even though Bio won't be at its potential peak. When the going gets rough, he can toss out a scroll or shuriken. Death has a decent hit rate in this game, but is expensive - helllllo, Phantom's MP+!


Edgar
Dragoon/Tank
Raiden (STR+2) allows Edgar to unleash some late-game pummelization, even though Auto-Crossbow is spectacular for a long time. Also, Raiden is the final Esper of the Ancient Castle, which requires Figaro Castle to get to - Edgar makes sense, then
Seraph is bought in Tzen, where you get Sabin early on in the World of Ruin. I almost gave her to Sabin, but I wanted my Sabin to be a blitzer fire and foremost, and Edgar is his brother, so it all worked out. It also helps Edgar heal during his early tenure in the WoR party, and revive later on
Carbuncle allows Edgar to protect the party very well

Edgar will spend most of his time jumping up and down, but there's nothing saying that he can't revive or touch up an ally's HP between jumps. Raiden's Quick will eventually let Edgar burst-heal when his lack of Curaga means he can't heal effectively normally.


Sabin
Pummeler
Leviathan (STA+2) was tricky; I had no idea what to do with him. Since I'll probably try to increase Sabin's MGC with equipment anyway (for some of his blitzes), I figure that giving him the new Flood spell might make Sabin a bit more versatile
Ifrit (STR+1) is Sabin's bread and butter. For the mid-game, Fira can help Sabin out against specific enemies, and keeping Ifrit constantly equipped will allow him to pump up his Strength significantly. The Drain spell is good for Sabin in low-healing parties

Sabin is really a blitzer who pummels foes into oblivion. Some fire magic will let Sabin clear out swathes of enemies for a little while, but the most important thing is that since Ifrit is a forced and early Esper, his Strength is going to steadily increase. Leviathan is really a throw-away Esper designed to add more Water spells to the game; meh. Stamina... raises OHKO resistance and poison damage taken. Yay?


Celes
Mage/Healtank
Ramuh (STA+1), being the very first Esper you get, allows Celes to build up her usefulness immediately. Thundaga and Ramuh's summon effect are terrific in the Magitek Research Facility (in which she is forced)
Unicorn can cast Esuna on the entire party with Healing Horn, making it great as an equipped Esper for some battles. In general (heh), the protective spells and Cura allow Celes to use her Magic and MP to paladin up the party
Bahamut (HP+50%) is the best Esper for building up HP behind the why-bother Diabolos. Celes can use Bahamut offensively as well, since Mega Flare and Flare allow Celes's mage-build and magical equips to truly shine.

Celes gets Bahamut because she normally learns Flare at the very high level of 81; Celes's Esper list may seem very defense, but you have to remember that she also learns Blizzaga, Holy and Hastega. Celes is a terrific unit, even if her healing dies out in the end-game without Curaga.


Setzer
Gambling Mage
Cait Sith (MGC+1) lets Setzer power up his Magic, and thus Shiva. We'll pretend that Cait Sith's spells are useful
Shiva provides no stats, but does provide Setzer's bread-and-butter spells. Blizzara/Diamond Dust is good for elemental magic, and Osmose means Setzer can just keep on casting them
Midgardsormr (HP+30%) grants access to the powerful Quake, which Setzer can either gamble the party's life with, or synergize with a Float-caster to use. Tornado is even riskier, lowering every combatant's HP greatly. Setzer's a gambler!
Odin (SPD+1) allows Setzer to become quick, making his lack of Blizzaga more tolerable. Oh, and Meteor and Zentetsuken are probably worth mentioning; Setzer might not rock at boss battles (not at all, really), but he's terrific with Meteor and Osmose at obliteraing groups of enemies

Setzer is kind of an odd duck. He'll spend most of the game throwing around Blizzaga endlessly, then turn to Meteor to wipe out groups of foes. He is kind of low-power seemingly, but Cait Sith's Magic and Odin's Speed will turn him into a murder machine... if you let him. Or, if you're sadistic, you can use Midgardsormr to destroy foes and the party at the same time. Your choice!


Cyan
Samurai, I guess
Kirin allows Cyan some potent healing in the Magitek Research Facility and for a while beyond then. Until you get Alexander, Holy Aura's mass Regen effect allows Cyan to make the party happy at the beginning of boss battles
Alexander is found in Doma, thus it belongs to Cyan. Protect, Shell and Dispell let Cyan protect the party much like Celes and Edgar. Holy and Divine Judgment might be useful, but I'll likely just use Kirin for Holy Aura

Cyan is a tank who can heal for a while, ableit fairly weakly. I like to give him a katana, a Gauntlet and a Black Belt. Owie.


Strago
Blue Mage/Alternative Healer
Siren (HP+10%) grants Strago the mediocre Sleep, Silence, Slow and Fire. Meh. Strago has his Lore to attack with, anyway - so the draw of Siren is the HP
Zona Seeker (MGC+2) is what makes Strago incredible. The stat boost lets Strago deal more damage with his Lores, Magic Shield lets Strago protect the party, and most importantly, Osmose lets Strago constantly blow up enemies with his Lores

Strago is tough to use particularily well, but think about him as a healer: series staple White Mind combined with Siren's HP+ and Osmose means that he can be quite the effective alternative healer if used properly. Let Terra or Edgar pop some Cura onto Strago if need be, then White Wind the party to full health. (Let's not bother talking about Cyan's magic.)


Mog
Dragoon/Dancer
Bismarck's (STR+2) Fire/Blizzard/Thunder are moot by the time you get Mog, but Raise is useful. The primary use of Bismarck is to allow Mog to use Breach Blast and to rapidly raise Strength
Quetzalli lets Mog cast Sonic Dive to cause the entire party to Jump - great to dodge a particularly nasty boss attack. In addition, Mog's learning of Hastega and Slowga can turn the party's actions into a graceful and deadly dance

Mog is, should you learn his dances, a very useful support character. Only Mog and Locke learn Hastega, and Slowga is unique to Mog (although Slow can be found on Strago as well). As a Dragoon character, Bismarck's powerful Strength boosts will only help Mog decimiate his enemies from above.


Gau
Berserker
Golem (STA+2) allows Gau to quickly throw up Earth Wall at the start of battle. The Stamina works well for me because I almost always put Regen on Gau - set and forget! (Regen is based on the target's Stamina, by the way.) Cura is great for out-of-battle healing, since Gau will tend to have a lot of extra MP. Protect is okay, but maybe not really worth using
Gilgamesh (STR+2) is handy for Valor to start a battle off (3x damage next attack) and for the Strength. See notes at the bottom for non-Advance players

Gau is built to be set and ignored. Thus, so are his Espers! The spell Valor and Golen's Earth Wall let Gau do something generous on his first turn before hacking apart the enemy with your favorite Rage.


Relm
Elemental Mage/End-game Healer
Maduin (MGC+1) - yeah, you read correctly. Relm is allowed to share Maduin with Terra, until a certain condition: Relm must use Maduin if she is in the party, until she masters Fira/Blizzara/Thundara, at which point she can ever use him again. Terra "loans" her father to Relm, seeing her potential but not wanting to be separated for long
Valigarmanda (MGC+2) is a very similar situation: Terra will allow Relm to access the top-tier elemental magicks, but only if Terra has already mastered them. Relm then MUST have Valigarmanda equipped in battle until the -aga spells are learned, at which point Relm may never equip Valigarmanda again
Fenrir (MP+30%) is an extension of Terra's appreciation of Relm. Although you would think that Fenrir would be given to Terra, Terra knows strong magic innately - she gifts it to the prodigal Relm. (Also, Fenrir is a little bit like Interceptor....) Fenrir is primarily useful for the large MP boost and Howling Moon, which causes allies to be temporarily immune to physical attacks
Lakshmi (STA+2) is granted to Relm after she is released from Owzer's mansion. Alluring Embrace, as well as Cure/Cura/Curaga/Regen/Esuna, turn Relm into the second-best healer in this version of the game
Crusader (MP+50%), should you obtain it, lets Relm cast Meteor all day long, but is hard to earn for new players especially

Relm is a terrific healer in the World of Ruin; in fact, she is very simple until you access the second half of the game. Relm needs time to come into her own, it seems; train her with Maduin when you can, to prepare for some truly powerful healing and damage in the end-game.

***

Variations:
-Don't let Relm "borrow" Maduin/Valigarmanda. Relm will be quite weak in the World of Balance, and naught but a support caster in the World of Ruin until you get Crusader
-If you aren't playing the Advance version, let Sabin and Gau share Ifrit. They became kind of close during Sabin's Wacky Adventure, so why not? This doesn't really require the same strict rules as Relm's borrowing
-Allow Celes to also equip Phoenix. Locke and Celes become good friends, and it fits Celes's born-again personality as well
-Swap Mog and Gau's Espers. They're both fairly similar set-ups, even if Gau isn't a Dragoon

Pretentious Writing by Craze

This stuff doesn't have names. I just write it for class as twenty-minute quickwrites. I'm an elementary education major concentrating in Language Arts; I really should be a secondary ed major but apparently I'm an idiot. Some of it is too pretentious for its own good. There might be some minor grammar issues since this is more like sketching than real work, but I figure it'll interest somebody.

I'm not going to post everything I write because a lot of it is even worse than the paddymelon story.

***

I drove to Waterville today, looking for books. This is after having driven to Skowhegan to try to find The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I went to a used bookstore and a children's bookstore in Waterville before going to Mr. Paperback, where I discovered that it was on the New York Times' bestseller list for children's literature. I also discovered something else: that even the most populated areas in Maine are depressing, like an icy and poorly-plowed Hell.

Having no idea where I was going, I just parked my car near a gas station. I saw a worker there give me the stink-eye; I feared that I was going to be towed, but the city is such a maze of impossible one-way streets that I didn't want to find somewhere else. I have never and will never use that gas station, and I will likely never meet that attendant. Such is life, and due to my disassociation I felt both alone and empowered. His feelings wouldn't be hurt; I wasn't an ex-boyfriend taking out personal vengeance on the tarmac, nor was I trying to waste the station's resources. I was disconnected, but I couldn't care less â€" only about my car.

The ice on the sidewalk was uneven. The ice was hills and valleys. It was treacherous. I found myself walking more on the road than the sidewalk, for it was more like a sideworld given how random and natural it was. The only manufactured part of the unwelcoming terrain was the two-foot-high walls on either end of a strip; people had just shoved the snow from their driveways onto the sidewalk. People, I tell you: they are lazy shits. They couldn't care less about me, unlike the station attendant. The association was reversed, as now I was upset at them instead of they at me. Apathy and concern were shifted and yet it never meant much of anything in the end.

It turned out that the various stores I tried first were several blocks away, but extremely close. I mean, they were right on top of each other. The lady at the children's bookstore told me to go downstairs to see the man in the used bookstore. Greeted by an unattractive young woman who smelled of greasy Town Name House of Pizza cuisine instead of the expected male (as in, she was not male, not that I was expecting her to smell like a man), I was pointed toward Native American studies and found nothing even vaguely like Absolutely True. I did, however, find a novel/sociological study on growing up in the Bronx. I opened it up, saw “motherfucker” three times on one page and knew that it was for me. I also bought a creepy-looking humor book from the late fifties. It is one of the most sexist and racist things I have ever browsed through, which made it intriguing and uncomfortable... kind of like Waterville's wild sidewalks.

When I went to Mr. Paperback, it was much larger than I had expected. It was clean, it was even; no hills to trudge up or valleys to slide down. I found my book after asking a pleasant associate and then went on my way. The Cadbury egg was delicious, even though Cadbury eggs aren't that important in the scheme of things. They just don't matter, you know? Books matter. Individual books might not matter, ratio of “motherfucker” to any other word aside, but books matter. Cadbury eggs are devoured and then excreted. Good books are devoured and shared with friends or people who are actually interested.

I would never share Absolutely True with that gas station attendant, and likely not with any of the lazy shits that I only called lazy due to not knowing them. Those people are nothing, the Cadbury egg was tasty, and I am alone.

***

This morning I was noisy as hell.

I really, really tried to be quiet, but that only makes it worse. Every piece of paper scrapes on at least three different surfaces, every drawer creaks no matter how slowly you open it. My shoes are very loud, so stepping was a new percussion instrument adding to the cacophony. Even the whiteboard fell off of the damn door with a bang! Attempt to remain silent sends a message to all surrounding inanimate objects: “please echo as loud as possible.”

Poor Brody, trying to sleep after his post-Superbowl/Glee homework binge. He didn't have class until ten o'clock, and yet there I was at seven-forty, sounding like drunk French revolutionists with bashes and clangs instead of heroic song and prose. At least I didn't have a gun; it probably would have gone off (better that Eponine dies than my roommate in this rebellion).

Someday I will learn how to be a ninja. Until then, I must live with being unfortunately loud. It's not really on my list of “things to ask a genie if I had X wishes,” however. Well, maybe at #16 or somewhere like that. I could see it being useful.

***

Few know about the war that's been raging in Australia for decades. It's not quite a civil war, and it's not quite bloody â€" at least, it wasn't until the recent murder of Dr. Howard IV.

Dr. Howard was a zoologist who specialized in marsupials â€" making Australia the ideal place to be born and raised. And while kangaroos might be the poster boy for marsupials, he had a large passion for a smaller creature: the pademelon. Pademelons are small wallabies with thin tails that populate the rainforests of Australia. Dr. Howard's great-grandfather, Dr. Howard, named the pademelons. Thus, his death at the hand of Mr. Jacobson III, the grandson of Dr. Jacobson, was no great surprise.

Studying to be a biologist at the university the eldest Dr. Howard taught at, pre-doctorate Dr. Jacobson was the secret lover of Dr. Howard. Their tryst soon ended when Dr. Jacobson graduated and published an extensive report on the common Austalian weed he officially dubbed “paddy melon.” Ever since, the descendants of these men have been fighting a blood feud.

That's not to say that this is a contained battle, however. Zoologists and botanists duke it out in underground fighting rings, with scientists from around the world betting on which side of biology will eventually earn a completely unique title for their curious species.

Dr. Howard IV will be mourned by many, especially the barely legal botanist Dr. Jacobson IV, who subtly came out in last month's Aussie Biology Monitor with the line “I can attest that Dr. Howard IV's research samples of paddy melon gourds are quite {content removed}.”

***

It was a normal night at the laundromat before they heard the scream. Elle and Ludmilla, teenage daughters of an up-and-coming Ukranian businessman, were doing their whites and playing cards. Several seconds passed before Ludmilla realized that the scream came from her. She had been moderately concerned about her family's undergarments and blouses being pink; she had been horrifically shocked by the dead man underneath her favorite pair of panties.

Elle called out for 911, then realized that would be fruitless in the vacant building. She pulled out her cellphone and dialed while Ludmilla stood still, hand over her mouth. A slight bit of drool started to dribble out of her underbite. When a cold breeze blew in through the propped-open door and chilled the wet spot, Ludmilla finally wiped it away. As if the drool sobered her she staggered backward, hand moving from her mouth to out in front of her. She fell onto a bench. Her mouth seemed liked it had a stick in it, keeping it as agape as the door.

The police asked Elle, the elder sister, if she had seen anybody else come in or out of the laundromat. She said no, but that they went down the block at one point. They forgot to bring fabric softener, which their mother required them to use. The whites were left in the washing machine during their trip.

Suspicious, the more inquisitive of the two cops present pressed Elle for more information about this and that. The other pulled out the body with an EMS worker's help. It was a young middle-eastern man, only five foot six on a good day. Today was not a good day for him. Meanwhile, Ludmilla came back to her senses. She looked around and found a hat behind her, a fedora slightly darker than army khakis. It had a frayed auburn band around it. Ludmilla picked it up idly, turning it in her hands while her eyes darted from the corpse to her sister, her sister to the corpse. Images of Elle's corpse came to mind, but she tried her best to ignore them.

Ludmilla accidentally dropped the fedora. As she bent over to pick it up, she noticed a bump in the band. Upon further investigation, she found a small black card that said nothing but “Violet 2Nite” in, oddly enough, bold pink lettering. The back was simply black with a thin green line.

Favorite Final Fantasy Tracks (and their Remixes)

What are your favorite Final Fantasy music tracks, and what is your favorite remix of them (if you have one)? Let's share! All spin-offs and Mystic Legend games count.

Here's a great list of favorite tracks by a man whose blog you should really read: http://scibbe.com/index.php/2010/04/11/13-weeks-of-final-fantasy-best-song-ever/

***


#4: Final Fantasy X-2 - Eternity ~ Memory of Lightwaves



FFX-2 is my favorite videogame and my first RPG. It was also my first PS2 game and my first Final Fantasy and, to be honest, one of my first videogames period. I had played Jill of the Jungle 3: Jill Saves the Prince, Theme Park and the DOS Duke Nukem games... that was it. FFX-2 is what got me into videogames, and the title screen music still gives me chills. I played the first two hours of this game with my grandfather watching - he bought the game for me, and wanted to see what it was all about. He was, uh, surprised.




Favorite Remix : Under a New Moon by Fatty Acid & sephfire



#3: Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning's Theme



Call me a bad person, but I really like FFXIII. Unfortunately, my save file was wiped when my friend's PS3 had to be repaired, but I'll never forget how much I enjoyed Lightning and watching her evolve. The way the game presents the story - the "Thirteen Days" snippets, sometimes playable - works incredibly well in my opinion. Make fun of the "worst birthday ever" scene all you want, Lightning is a terrific and interesting heroine.




Favorite Remix : Light by Azell
(If you can't figure out how to download it but want it, I'll upload it myself.)




#2: Final Fantasy IV - Into the Darkness



I always associate this track with Kain, who just so happens to be my favorite character in the game. It's probably because you first hear it in the Mist Cave on your way to blow up the summoners. You have Dark Knight Cecil and Kain, but Cecil has his class change - so Kain is the first long-term character to experience Into the Darkness. I guess it helps that the shift from Kain to Golbez as the title image of FFIV is recent; Kain embodies a lot of FFIV for me.




Favorite Remix (on an amazing CD collection you should download): Step Into the Light by Nutritious




#1: Final Fantasy VI - Cyan



Cyan is a warrior of Doma, the Eastern-style country of FFVI - the one that had the most impact on me, despite only being part of the game for a very short period of time. My first time playing FFVI I freaked out when Kefka poisoned Doma. It was the first time in an RPG that I actually saw the villain doing something downright evil! This theme playing while Cyan murdered the hell out of the Empire's soldiers really got to me. Fun fact: I couldn't beat Cyan's World of Ruin boss. I had to savestate and send it to WIP!




Favorite Remix: The Hot Pink of Blues by Prince of Darkness & Shnabubula

Devil's Smile: Why V&V's Battle System is Interesting

Quick disclaimer: I am not talking about the original V&V that's currently on RMN. Karsuman and I are remaking it. We want to have a battle demo out about three weeks ago.

***

HP, En, BP, Chains and Threat - it's really that simple. That's all we need to come with an idea that is easy to understand and allows for a huge variety of character types. As such, I'm going to start off with my main point loud and clear: adding understandable variables to your battles means that they are that much more dynamic and engaging. Of course, adding too many makes battles confusing and making them too esoteric or vague frustrates the player. What we wanted to do, then, is make an simple cause/effect relationship.

Energy -> Chains -> Burst Points -> Big Booms

Energy

HP and MP/SP/TP/etc. are the two stand-by variables for RPGs, sometimes with the addition of a "limit break" or "overdrive" (which I'll get to). Energy/En/E is, for V&V's purpose, MP. It is capped at 50 without rare outside influences, meaning that the true cost of an E-skill (skill that costs Energy) is never altered. The difference between 5 and 15 for a cost is huge, and will always be huge.

Energy is the domain of the blitzers - characters who excel at using E-skills to build up BP. How, exactly, do E-skills build this BP?

Chains

E-skills, at least for blitzers, tend to have a high Chain. Chains are the maximum amount of hits an action can produce - and they're not just for weapon attacks. Spells that hit the entire party can chain, heals can chain bursts of recovery, and even buff skills can stack an effect multiple times. Blitzers rely on their stats and weapons to produce long chains; again, "Chain 6" is a maximum and not an guarantee.

Every single hit in a chain (or even a single hit in a "Chain 1" action) generates 1 Burst Point, whether it's a hit of healing or raising maximum HP or a single absorption of the target's damage potential.

Burst Points

While blitzers use their Energy to generate all of these Burst Points for the Burst Gauge, nukers consume them to cause large effects. The Burst Gauge is a universal pool; while individual characters build up BP, anybody can use them. It's kind of like a universal limit break bar. This is an important part of the battle system - some characters build BP in order to aid the rest of the party use more powerful actions. Without the blitzers, nukers would be useless; without the nukers, blitzers would have a hard time staying alive or quickly eliminating major threats. (It helps that Wanderer can take four allies along with him for a party of five.)

Big Booms

By generating large quantities of BP, Marlowe can deal absolutely catastrophic damage and Lyla can recover the party's Energy. Ox can paralyze foes and enchant an ally to recover HP as Ox deals damage; Nadine can use various skills that halve the damage the party takes from specific elements while also providing a bonus effect.

Blitzers can also utilize BP, although it's at the cost of not letting the nukers have it. (They also aren't allowed to equip as many B-skills to take into battle.) Sibyl can enchant an ally to increase their critical rate and chaining success. Dison can use an ally's HP to unleash a devastating Chain 6 field of fire. Alphonse can set up a ward that absorbs the first five BP enemies generate each turn, and Telia can seduce enemies with pleasurable pain.

***

It's not just about the Burst Gauge, however. Skills are varied and exciting - no Firaga or Life2 here. Here're a few of Karsu and I's favorites:

Mysticism Very slow. Revives all allies with 40+% HP. All allies have +20% MDEF (8 En)
Discount Restore 10+% HP/Chain 3. Ally's BP costs are 10% lower for one turn (Basic action)
Tasty Tidbit Restores 15 Energy. 40% Toxins rate (10 BP)
Blood Moon Weapons drain 1/2 of damage to HP and increases PATK/MATK by 25% for five turns (15 En)
Pale Mist Foe is much more susceptible to ailments. Foe takes +50% Ether damage for three turns (20 BP)
Beam Fencer Weapon attack. Chain +3. Each hit absorbs 2 Energy (15 BP)
Oracle Weapon attack. 140% Accuracy. Foe attracts random attacks. Each use raises Nadine's threat (Basic action)
Devil's Smile Void spell. No HP damage. 3 Burst damage/Chain 8. Lowers own Threat greatly (7 En)

Threat

I mentioned Threat at the very beginning. It's a very simple mechanic in this game, simpler than the visible gauge found in the Arian Wild battle demo. The higher your Threat, the more often enemies will target you.

-Wanderer can heal an ally and raise their Threat in his Positive stance, and in his Negative stance he can lower an ally's Threat while raising critical rate and evasion
-Telia can use Zephyr to lower a target's Threat while putting a regenerative effect on them
-Ox uses Taunt to raise his Threat and physical damage
-Elena uses Valiant to defend while raising Threat, and Dolorous Stroke to pin an enemy down to raise Threat
-Nadine uses the above skill, Oracle, to pick a target for other skills to focus on while raising her Threat
-Sibyl uses the above skill, Devil's Smile, to damage the enemy party's Burst Gauge and hide herself with very low Threat

It's a very basic idea, but it's another layer that makes battles a little more interesting while not confusing the player.

***

The purpose of this topic is to show you a thought-out battle system in a turn-based setting that promotes careful strategy combined with intriguing skills that do more than "high fire damage." Discuss, critique and tear it apart as you will.

WIP as a Little Girl



It's a nerdy webcomic with My Little Pony characters.

http://www.kimonostownhouse.com/comic/index.php?date=2006-02-08

Healing for Health and Mana and Burst and Rage and Break and TP and SP and -

Fun fact: healers do more than restore health. What they do is transfer or convert resources - I prefer to generally call them "support" characters because of this, especially since they tend to add support (buffs/debuffs) to their duties.

The more resources your game has, the more dynamic and diverse your healers and healing becomes. The typical RPG has three resources: health, mana and items. These usually work like so:
-Mana becomes health
-Items become health or mana

Some games add "health becomes mana" or a lay on hands/gift ability that transfers health to health or mana to mana. Even fewer games allow you to summon items; mana becomes items become health/damage/effects. (For a great example of item summoning, check out Hero's Realm.)



What happens when you add a new, limited resource that you want to keep in check? Let's look at Xenosaga III's Break - when a character reaches their Break Limit, they're stunned for two turns, take more damage and build up your boost guage.

Okay, a quick clarification - a resource is something that you want to obtain but can also lose (or vice-versa), usually consumed to perform actions or with a special effect at full/empty. In this case, you want to obtain Break on your enemies while keeping your own Break low. Full Break has the special effect of stunning and generally being bad news if it happens to your characters. Health can be used as a cost for actions (see: Shin Megami Tensei games), but usually just has the special effect of killing a character at empty. Mana/TP/SP/PP/etc. is usually used as a cost and nothing more, although exceptions exist. Other common resources are a sort of limit/overdrive system, where you want to obtain points to get the special effect of utilizing an awesome ability at full, or stamina, which steadily replenishes itself by itself or by attacking normally and is spent to perform strong physical moves as a sort of upside-down mana.

Back to Break: Xenosaga III's addition of Break essentially adds two new roles to combat: Breaking and Break healing. Shion and Ziggy are terrific at Breaking humanoids, chaos is good at Breaking groups of enemies and MOMO excels at single-target Breaking. Most characters eventually gain access to various levels of Break healing. So, do you heal Jin or do you try to polish off that enemy's Break gauge so that they don't have a chance to unleash that scary attack? Maybe you want to help Shion so that she doesn't become stunned next turn and you lose your healer?



Etrian Odyssey 3 is better than you at TP (mana) restoration. You need TP to use skills that mean you don't die in the labyrinth and against massive monsters on the high seas. Let's look at how it does it! Note that unless otherwise specified, these are passive abilities. Also, almost all EO3 skills have ranks - so putting more points into Royal Lineage will raise its ability to heal TP when buffed. You'll have to unlock/purchase these abilities, but most are very easy to pick up because TP is so important. These aren't all of the classes; only some have TP manipulation abilities.

Prince/ss:
-When buffed, restore own TP
-When buffs on self wear off, restore own TP
-(Active) Eliminate a row of allies' debuffs; each debuff restores target's TP

Buccaneer:
-After using a damaging skill, restore own TP

Ninja:
-Reduce skill costs (not healing really, but I thought I'd throw it in)
-When evading an attack, restore own TP

Monk:
-When an ally dies, restore own TP

Zodiac:
-Eliminate TP costs for target row this turn (not really healing, but a nifty and useful skill)
-When killing an enemy, restore own TP

Wilding:
-(Active) Dismiss a summoned beast and restore own TP based on summoning cost

Farmer:
-If own HP is full, restore own TP
-When using a Tent, increase healing of both HP and TP

Yggdroid:
-Each bind restores own TP each turn

***

By adding new resources or playing with old ones, it's possible to create interesting healers- they don't even have to be trying to heal; for instance, Prince/esses in EO3 can heal the party by simply having full HP. They can also cause their buffs (which affect entire rows) to heal. Monks can restore the party's HP when they die!

You might want to adjust speed. Make a healer like Apnis from Demon Tower that has a quick heal that goes early in the turn (or uses less charge time, or whatever) and a cheaper and/or more powerful heal that acts later in the turn. Maybe fiddle with the "defend restores HP/MP" rm2k3 tradition by having Defend be a unique command for each character - one character's defend removes Blind and Silence from the party (which is a form of healing I didn't even touch upon) and another character begins to regenerate HP for three turns after defending. Maybe you want to cut out active healing altogether by adding a regen stat that acts every turn and calling it good, or having each character equip a passive healing mechanic stolen from EO3 (when the rogue evades she restores 20% HP, when the warlock doesn't hit a resistance he restores 5% HP). Maybe you want to pull a Rogue Galaxy, where the only heals come from consumable items - all player skills are offensive or defense, never restorative.

Steal, adjust and implement healing ideas to make your healers and restoration less stagnant. Remember one major trick: more resources means both more damage types and more healing. I'm just going to drop these links:
http://rpgmaker.net/games/1426/
http://rpgmaker.net/games/2732/
And maybe Karsu wants to talk a little bit about Philadelphia or even the basic yet effective and varied healing in V&V...?

Discuss healing.