SHOOBINATOR'S PROFILE

author=LockeZ
Man, this boss's AI is total shit. Among other things, it keeps a count of how many rounds you spend with your party's average HP above and below certain thresholds. If your average HP is above 75% it adds one point, and if your average HP is below 50% it subtracts one point. If it gets to +10 points it uses an attack that instantly kills most entire groups. And if it gets to -10 points it... wastes a round using its weakest attack and then resets to 0?

The player has pretty much no way to even realize there's a pattern to look for, and even if they knew to look for it they'd never figure it out because it's needlesly complex and based on multiple hidden variables and arbitrary HP points. And even if they knew exactly how it worked, it's almost impossible to actually do anything about unless you have a party of only two characters who are 30 levels too high. Because with a large party at the right level, you have to use AOE heals almost every round to survive. Which means that after 10 rounds you die.

Fuck this boss, I'm redesigning it from scratch. It's going to use a skill that just prevents you from healing, instead of killing you as punishment for healing. No more mind-reading bullshit. And then it can use its big attack at the end of the no-healing phase, after you've had a couple rounds to hopefully use some kind of defensive skills other than healing. Which was presumably the intent in the first place? Maybe? The person who originally made it is AWOL.

Maybe keep the original idea, but add a visual indicator to the boss sprite, like it gains a floating gem circling it for every point gained and it loses a gem when a point is lost. And then also add a hint that the player can't miss that is given some time before the fight like "The boss feeds off excess life force." or something along those lines.

However, the original idea might still be hard to follow because the points are gained/lost based on % of total party HP and not gained/lost based on each fighter's individual HP. Maybe you could do it like: gain 1 point for each party member above 75% and lose 1 point for each party member with under 50% HP. Then, (assuming a traditional party size of 4) the player could risk having 2 fighters at low health during the whole fight to keep the boss from powering up.

My question really is: In what context are you solving puzzles most of the time?

Also, it would be interesting to see the main character as an actual cat (not a furry) and everyone else sees her as such, but the cat, wanting to be a pirate, sees herself as more human/a furry. I'm not sure how much that would alter your current interactions, but I thought that could work as an interesting foundation. Maybe later on, she gets her wish and becomes more human to become a pirate after all!

author=dethmetal

author=GreatRedSpirit
2k3 'turns' is 'when anybody takes an action' which is useful for jack shit. Use a switch that's turn on when the boss uses the prep move and have the attack have a prerequisite that the switch is on and make sure the move turns the switch off.

Thanks, that's a good idea. I'm going to try that.

Also, inside the monsters group tab, you can set a trigger for an event page to "Monster has taken X*Y+Z turns". Inside this page, you could activate a switch that would be a requirement for the monster's super attack.

author=Shoobinator

author=bugmenot
Oh, I remembered why people mainly deleted the row command. Because it wastes time.

download QuickRow

This allows for a row command and any other command to be executed in the same turn. (Can also be combined with the RowSwap[+] patch)

...though, the [Hero] uses [BattleCommand] battle event trigger won't go off on a row command anymore.

Oh, this would be interesting for adding versatility to row formations. However, adding this straight to the default system has issues: there would be no reason NOT to always defend and use magic in the back row. Currently, I give a small HP/MP restoration if the player ever defends which doubles as a sort of charge. Now considering this patch, I could add the patch and then make it so you only get the heal if you defend in the front row, while defending in the back row gives no extra heal but you are a little more protected. Likewise, using magic in the front row could heal some MP back after using the spell, making staying in the front row actually more offensive, while the back row retains its defensive properties.

Now, to actually implement this, I would need to be able to track the current row position of each party member in battle. Is there a quick way to determine this maybe with comment commands, having DynRPG? Or would I need a separate plug-in?

Reposting this because I think my actual question was missed. I would actually be interested in using QuickRow, but by itself, I think it would be overpowered in my game.

Is there a known plug-in for determining which row a player party member is in? It would need to determine the row by actor ID (1...whatever hero ID), not just the current party member ID (1-4).