LOUISCYPHRE'S PROFILE

LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
I am also called Rasalhage these days.
Essence Enforcer
An Enforcer's duty is to protect the city and the people. But what, exactly, does that mean?

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Monster Designs (Large Images)

1873 - Bug Report List

..::1873::..

December 31st, 1872 through January 22nd, 1873
Whew, it's been awhile since this bad boy's been seen on the forums. Okay, I'm basically going to post a bug/fix report here. I'll leave the rest of the topic for questions as too whether bug X or balancing issue Y has been fixed yet.

As for prospective beta-testers (I seem to have looked up recall TMT, DD, and F-G offering their quality assurance services), PM me and I will e-mail you a link to a fileshare of the most recent version.

Now for the feature presentation:


Fixed:

-Medicine abuse. Enemies under 1/2 HP will heal themselves, and that's it.

-Random removal of clothes equipment - it was caused by an error in the system to change maximum ammo capacity.

-Enemy balancing: Enemies now dish out more punishment, but require less to kill. In general, getting initiative allows you to wipe the field without taking damage, while not gaining initiative will cause you to take one or two hits in general.

-Item drop rates have been manipulated.

-Bosses are now deadlier once you've killed their homies. They're about the same difficulty as previously, overall - barring any game-breaking tactics such as over-healing or the like.

-Characters can now endure an attack with 1 HP once per mission. This does not apply should the entire posse by killed simultaneously.

-Jobs made more rewarding - both stat-wise and monetarily.

-Characters now start with skills - Mardsen with Defense Bolster (single-target defense buff) and Larsene with Bleed.



Beta:

TooManyToasters

2k3 Attribute Settings - Balancing Attack, Defense, Magic, and Speed

I have a few questions, so BULLETED LIST IS GO!

  • My buffs all raise by one. How do I set elemental resistance so that 1 ATK increase damage output just like 1 MAG, or better yet vice-versa?
  • How do I balance ATK and MGC with SPD to make sure that SPD doesn't become too broken compared to the other stats?
  • Basically, how do I make 1 ATK ~= 1 DEF ~= 1 MGC ~= 1 SPD

Also, if it helps, average HP is 60 at lv 01 and ~750 at lv 99. Damage at lv one should be about 1/5th of one's max HP, damage at lv 99 should be 1/2-1/3.

HELP.

1873 Artwork

I'm looking for someone good with digital art to make a picture based off of these drawings:



This image is rather old - I've yet to scan anything recent. Getting right on that.

EDITED: Okay, hold that thought. I'll come back here with a re-drawn image, ready-to-color and hopefully sharper than above. I'll leave this up for anyone to have at, 'til then.

THERE'S A SPY AMONG US!

There's all sort of genres out there, but every other RM game is Medieval, Sci-Fi, or Post-Apocalyptic.

I'll just suggest a simple premise:

ESPIONAGE

Let's all be spies and secret agents and shit. I wanna see gadgets and tricked-out cars and rocket packs and all that.

So? Do we have the next big genre? Discuss.

RPG Mechanics IV : Boss Balancing and Strategy

RPG Mechanics IV : Boss Balancing and Strategy

Ideal Questions
Firstly, what strategies do your boss fights employ? Do any act as tanks, high HP or DEF? Do they resist elements in order to pester the player? Can these resistances be negated? Do bosses negate your resistances? Do they cast IKO moves, or do their attacks IKO? Do they rely heavily on status effects, or buffs and debuffs?

Second, is there a way to severely disrupt a given boss? That is, do bosses have a given weakness? Does negating poison make the Snake King your bitch? Or does a lack of weakness MAKE a boss?

Thirdly, what skills to bosses have? Do they negate your buffs? Do they cast any boss-specific skills? Or do they employ they exact same skills as the player characters can?

Next, what resistances to bosses have?Do they absorb elements, and are they weak to any? Do they negate all but a certain few status effects, or do they resist only the most devastating ones? How are their resistances decided - what determines their affinity? Their body structure, or their location? Maybe their color, or an insignia on their body? Is their status resistance predicated on what the monster uses, or what the player has access to? Do they attack with multiple status conditions, or a specific one?

Finally, do your bosses have minions? Are these support units, additional firepower, or kamikazes? Do they heal the boss, or attack the player? Are they smaller versions of the boss, hired mercenaries, or subordinate soldiers? Are any of them plot-relevant, or are they nameless drones? Are they normal monsters found in random encounters, or are they specific to the fight?


This is part of a series of topics that will deal with aesthetics involving the detailed analysis of the numbers and mechanics of RPGs, what can be kept, and what should be discarded.

...Damn it's been a while.

I'm tinkering with one of my back-burner projects for the time being, at least long enough to get back into my groove. I'll have something on 1873's bosses when my groove has returned.

I'm setting my bosses up beforehand, based on the story's requirements. In here, my mini-boss fights are often a monster from later in the game, or a specific combination of random monsters that results in pain. Often mini-bosses introduce a mechanic that major bosses capitalize on. Most of the time, a given dungeon will have a theme such as poison or fire damage. Later dungeons have more such themes as play, since the player will have access to equipment that can nullify a given element, status condition, or environmental hazards.

Going with these themes, one monster group might cast poison on you, one might cast sleep, and another healing magic; the mini-boss might cast poison on you and Regen on himself; and the big jefe might put you to sleep, poison you, put Regen on himself, and halve your attack. The idea is to have a progression from a basic idea to a devastating combination.

PARTY TIL THE END OF TIME

I feel I should explain my recent absence. This should sum it up:


Persona 4.


I've just recieved the bad ending. i'm assuming I should throw Namatame into the TV then? Oh well, I'll see for myself. Then Izamami will face Yoshitune's wrath.


Power Charge + Heat Riser + rakunda + Eight Ship Hop = RAPE.
Seriously, should I REALLY be doing 3,000 a hit?


See ya.

RPG Mechanics III : Random Encounter Design Theory

RPG Mechanics III : Random Encounter Design Theory

Ideal Questions
This will be sort of a multi-sided topic, as it will deal with how random encounters are placed on the map, how they are rationalized, how they are balanced, and most importantly their role in relation to boss encounters (which will be the topic of RPGA4, so try not to get too in-depth in anything about boss fights that doesn't relate to random/wandering encounters.

Firstly, how to you place encounters on your map? Do you merely use the map properties to set monster groups and encounter rate? Or do you make eevnts that wander the map or pursue the player? Do you set up a parallel process to count the player's steps, or do you have an alternative system? Do you even have random encounters at all?

Secondly, how to you explain random encounters? Are they animals that inhabit your wildernesses, preying on anything they deems edible? do they prey on other monsters, or do they eat only people? Are they soldiers of an opposing nation or faction that patrol various areas, and are ordered to kill on sight? Why are they your enemy? A demonic plague of nether-beings born to feast on human flesh? Who brought them into being? Machines gone haywire, that attack anything picked up by their sensors? If so, what is their power source?

Next, how do you balance your fights? Do you use a set of rules, such as "all dinosaurs are stunned by lightning" or "elementals are auto-killed by their opposing element" to add depth to your system? Or is each fight a struggle with resources and status effects in order to wear down an opponent? Do you transition from one style of combat to another over the course of the game? FFX did this well in my opinion, starting with "match the character to the enemy" and moving to "here's a big homie, use your whole team or perish".

Lastly, how to you distinguish them from boss encounters? Do you keep random encounters short and sweet? Or are they held to a set of rules that bosses don't necessarily follow? Do you rely on music to set them apart? Or are they characterized by a different style of battle? An example of this would be Persona, where random fights are most often won by striking targets' weaknesses, earning extra turns; while bosses are beaten by applying the right buffs and attack at the right time.


This is part of a series of topics that will deal with aesthetics involving the detailed analysis of the numbers and mechanics of RPGs, what can be kept, and what should be discarded.

I'm taking a break from 1873 until all of the bug reports are in, and tinkering with one of my back-burner projects for the rest of the break.

In this project my magic system is ripped from FF8, except I'm avoiding their mistake of making monsters the only source of good spells. My magic serves as items, thus stores such as general stores and the like sell spells instead of potions.

This ties into my random encounters thus: The main character (and him alone) can absorb spells from opponents and add them to the party's (almost put posse) inventory. However, this character dishes out the most damage as well (for the most part). The player must decide whether they want to end the fight quickly, maybe without taking damage, or if they want free spells at the cost of taking damage from attacks.

Also, the solution to a fight tends to be in absorption. I pair poison-inflicting monsters with enemies you can absorb Munid (status-cure) from, and fire elementals with water elementals. Most often, one monster in a monster group has the other monster's weakness.

My monsters are a fact of nature. They stand in for animals, meaning not all of them have malicious intent. The dire rat may certainly find the giant dragonfly a more inviting target than the party. The dragonfly, being carnivorous, might not might a meal of human flesh, however. So do you attack the rat, earning its ire and making it hostile, or do you attack the dragonfly, even though the rat will dispose of it swiftly anyway?

2k3 - Enable Combo with Items

New issue: What is the maximum limit on events per map in 2k3. I'm already pushing 1200, so I though I'd ask.
Also, the VAST majority of them are two- or three-page events if that counts for anything.

Huh.

I was viewing the "Who's Online" during a moment of inactivity on the site, and I saw this:

Guest 10:00:37 PM Unknown Action

...I figure "Nothing, or nothing you can see..." has to do with the mod-only forum, but what is this?