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Topics - Maelstrom

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This is the thread where we compile just about every stat except for enemy stats.  Whereas the "Equipment, Shops, and Treasure Chest" thread is designed more from the standpoint of the flow of the game, this thread is designed to encompass "balance."

This first post is reserved for those stats.  It will be a little while before I start posting substantial content, because we need to have a sense of what we are balancing first (hence the other thread).

Techniques (MP): Power/Effect -- Both MP and Power/Effect are changable

Crono
  • Cyclone (2): 125% ~ 10
  • Spincut (4): 200% ~ 16
  • Confuse (12): 362% ~ 29
  • Slash (2): 10
  • Lightning (2): 12
  • Lightning2 (8): 14
  • Luminaire (20): 50
  • Life (10): Revive/10

Marle
  • Provoke (1): Confuse
  • Haste (6): Haste
  • Ice (2): 11
  • Ice 2 (8): 14
  • Aura (1): 5
  • Cure (2): 14
  • Cure 2 (5): 24
  • Life 2 (15): Revive/Max

Lucca
  • Hypno Wave (1): Sleep
  • Protect (6): Safe
  • Flame Toss (1): 6
  • Fire (2): 11
  • Napalm (3): 12
  • Fire 2 (8): 14
  • Mega Bomb (15): 32
  • Flare (20): 42

Robo
  • Rocket Punch (1): 137% ~ 11
  • Robo Tackle (4): 21
  • Uzzi Punch (12): 312% ~ 19
  • Laser Spin (3): 10
  • Area Bomb (14): 30
  • Shock (17): 40
  • Cure Beam (2): 14
  • Heal Beam (3): 10

Frog
  • Slurp Cut (2): 137% ~ 11
  • Leap Slash (4): 225% ~ 18
  • Frog Squash (15): 10
  • Water (2): 11
  • Water 2 (8): 14
  • Slurp (1): 5
  • Heal (2): 6
  • Cure 2 (5): 24

Ayla
  • Rollo Kick (2): 154% ~ 14
  • Cat Attack (3): 220% ~ 20
  • Rock Throw (4): 330% ~ 30
  • Triple Kick (20): 407% ~ 37
  • Dino Tail (15): 9
  • Charm (4): -
  • Tail Spin (10): 40
  • Kiss (1): 14/Heal

Magus
  • Magic Wall (8): Shell
  • Black Hole (15): -
  • Lightning2 (8): 18
  • Ice 2 (8): 18
  • Fire 2 (8): 18
  • Dark Bomb (8): 25
  • Dark Mist (10): 25
  • Dark Matter (20): 38

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This thread is dedicated to the idea of balancing data related to the progression of equipment and the availability of equipment and items.  The names pertaining to equipment is not so important right now (unless it's something important like the Masamune), since the names will depend on the power and behavior of the equipment.  Enemy data will be significantly impacted, so it's prudent to work out the principles now.

The list will be partial for now and will be developed as I explore more ideas and progress through CE.

Finally, the skillset I offer is listed in my intro.  So for example, if you want me to create a "Slumber" sword (one that can put the target to sleep), I can do that!

The Start
They may be great heroes, but gameplay dictates we restore them as weaklings.  CML will start with rung 1 equipment.

CML can buy equipment upgrades to take their attack and defense up a notch (to rung 2).  Of course, they won't get to use it much before Magus's scenario.

Guardia Castle (1002 AD) has lots of treasure chests with their original (powerful) prizes.  Ideally, I would think these should already be open (or simply removed).

Beast Forest
Magus can start with a rung 3 weapon (something he can use once he joins the party) and rung 2 armor, but that will still result in a massive attack power drop.

Lower left chest: Ether
"Remove" Upper left chest (we'll use it in Zeal Ruins)
Upper right chest: SilverStud.  Also, move it a little higher up and to the right, into the alcove.
Last chest: Magus-specific armor (tier 3)

Note: Beasts are somewhat annoying in that each attack power boost they get is very substantial (damage increases from 10 to 50, and presumably it would increase to 90 after two attacks against it).  This increase of 40 seems to be "fixed," which makes things a bit dangerous if we wanted to make these creatures require 2 hits to kill - if Magus ever misses, he's dead meat.  The alternative would be to compel Magus to use magic (which would one hit kill all enemies), but the guy is going to need lots of Ether to do that, and the stuff isn't cheap (even if it were for sale).  Beasts do drop a lot of GP, but that's already something that disrupts the gameplay balance. -- So, it seems that we are stuck with one hit KOs against the beasts.  [Alternatives: Tweaking Beast's Evade and/or Speed]

Hiding Place
New chest: Ether? *shrugs*

Chronopolis
Bottom floor chest: Change VedicBlade to Power Glove (we can make it worth more than +2)?

Back to the Present
Nothing worthwhile comes to mind.

Back to the Future
Too short to matter.

Back to the Present II
Finally, we've got some action.  No need for new equipment yet, though.

Back to the Future II
Enter Robo, with tier 2 armor and weapon.

Melchior can sell Tier 3 *weapons* to CMR, I suppose.

Prehistoric
If we make the Tusk Helms male-specific, they'll function decently (see Tata's Shop)

Zeal Ruins?
The first chest seems to be leftover and hence should be empty, removed, or replaced with something like a Magic Scarf (we can make it worth more +2 if desired).

The next two chests can be level 3 armor (female and male).

The next item can be, I dunno, Ether.

602 AD
Enter Frog with level 3 equipment.

More coming...

11998 BC Shop
(add Ether)

Tata's Shop (602 AD)
In addition to standard items, he can/should sell level 3 armor (male and female) and level 3 female helms.

Other Notes
It appears that although characters can be made to equip each other's weapons, certain parts of attack animations and sound effects will still correspond to the those designed for the old character.  As such, Magus is pretty much stuck with the four weapons he has, so they must be awarded sparingly.  Fortunately it seems that Magus is unavailable for much of the game, so this may not bother gameplay too much.

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Crimson Echoes Plot Construction / A Thing About Frog
« on: August 29, 2006, 07:00:22 pm »
"I hate that formal crap"
"a bunch of raging hicks"

I'm all for dropping Frog's overly archaic speech, but I wonder if the changes are going too far.  This is only my opinion, but I think a point we should not compromise is the fact that Frog of old was without an ego.  For example, we can change the first sentence to something more like this:

"Formalities are not necessary"

It's just an idea...

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Crimson Echoes / The "I'm Lost" Thread
« on: August 18, 2006, 09:30:28 pm »
I've already had a question like this before, so I may as well just face up to the fact I'll need some help.  And often.

So I picked up Frog, and I am supposed to be looking for this tunnel to the north of Medina (602 AD).  Of course, I can't find it.  There's this "mountain" of sorts to the West, but it has no opening.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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I can't testify to how substantial these additions are, but I'm made use of them all, so I figure they are worth at least considering.

C0230-C0236 - Tech learning progress (00 - 08 )

C0237-C023D - Techs learned (00, 80, C0, E0, F0, F8, FC, FE, FF)

C214B-C23EA - ST Tech power: 12 bytes per tech, 8 techs per character.  If healing, 2nd byte affects power.  If attack, 10th byte affects power.

C23EB-C247A - Some extra data for 12 combo techs.  (4th = Crono's Confuse power, 5th = Triple Kick power, 9th = Double Cure?, 10th = Grand Dream, 11th = Twin Charm?, 12th = Slurp Kiss)

C253C-C2573 = Tech MP Cost (7 characters, 8 techs apiece)

C2577-C257F = Redundant MP Costs (Confuse, Triple Kick, Life2, Charm, Slurp Cut, Cure2, Frog Squash, Charm, Kiss)

C29D7-C2AD6 = "Stat increase" values (The "Item Secondary" byte "04" points to this array): 128 elements, 2 bytes per element
Byte 1 = Stats to change:
Power ~ 80
Speed ~ 40
Stamina ~ 20
Hit ~ 10
Evade ~ 8
Magic ~ 4
Magic Defense ~ 2

You can combine stats to change, but they will all be changed by the same amount.

Byte 2 = Change:
00 - 7F: Increase by 0 to 127
80 - FF: Decrease by 128 to 1

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It's a concept hack that was initially designed to circumvent the quirky nature of magic defense and other stats by removing the level-up entirely.  After changing character and enemy stats, I mainly tried to learn to do more things with the ROM and improve the game's balance by tweaking more and more components of the game, even tweaking/adding a few minor events.  While all these changes meant making certain battles more difficult, it also meant making the game more forgiving in other regards.

Level Zero v0.7c (formerly Frozen in Time)
Edit: Main Readme

For those who may have seen Frozen in Time v0.6, this patch is a major update.

While this is not explicitly a hardtype hack, it is probably is a bit on the difficult side, so if you'd like to play Chrono Trigger with a bit of an edge, Level Zero is worth a go.

I've tested it over and over again, and I'm at the point I could really use some feedback.

So, give me your best shot.

Thanks very much,

-Maelstrom

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