Author Topic: Decisions Decisions  (Read 806 times)

Agent 12

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Decisions Decisions
« on: April 20, 2006, 03:02:45 pm »
If you feel this belongs in the plot board go ahead but

What levels are we going to start the characters at?

--Let's not kid ourselves the closet we have come to custom techs is CL saying "custom techs I'll have you yet".  So though there is hope in the far horizon were gunna be stuck with what we have right now.

What enemies are going to be found in our dungeons (I guess beast forest is pretty obvious, but we need singing mountain, the hallway before the epoch, and chronopolis attack)

-remember if need be we can pump up enemy stats to make them put up a fight

and Finally what will stores sell and how many stores are we going to have?

-thank god for the shop editor eh?


Discuss.
--jp

ZeaLitY

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2006, 03:46:09 pm »
I wouldn't edit anything with that new shop editor just yet. It supposedly uses empty space or something, but we should probably go with a traditional shop instead of using that new one until we discern what it does to the ROM. Also, I'd start the characters out at pretty basic levels. If people get on to us about plot inconsistency and how the characters were level 99 after CT, they should reexamine game mechanics. We can't have a game if we start at level 99.

Chrono'99

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2006, 04:10:13 pm »
The bytes for Crono's stats are listed in the Memory Location Guide, I suppose the bytes for the other characters can also be found. Can we use some Value-to-Mem commands to change the stats in-game? We could make the party starts at high stats and then reduce the numbers like in the description in the plot outline. Though if the question is "why do they lose their powers" then I suppose it's harder to answer.

Janus Zeal

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2006, 01:28:57 pm »
Can Magus be set at a lower level than what he originally joined the party at? It would make the game unbalanced if he joined at 32 with the other characters at level 10.

Personally, I wouldn't start the characters out any lower than 30. At that level the characters all have magic and a series of techs.

Of course, we'd have to make all the enemies much stronger as well, so you can't just breeze through the first half of the game.

Agent 12

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2006, 02:01:02 pm »
I was thinking along the lines of Janus Zeal there, cept level 20.  I believe (we need to confirm with the gurus") that techs are as easy as doing a value to mem operation.  Atleast "meeting speekio" is.  I'm fairly sure that CHrono Trigger Editing Companion  can set starting levels and maybe even stats.  HOpefully at some point this weekend I'll be able test out that program and the shop editor on some back up roms.

--jp

Janus Zeal

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2006, 04:30:18 pm »
Alright then. I just wasn't sure if we could make techs available at earlier levels, and whether or not Magus was accessible before level 32.

Agent 12

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2006, 04:34:01 pm »
OK, so if we can fix the magus glitch we can start everyone out at level 1.  I'll find a way to make sure they atleast have their first 3 techs (up to magic).  We'll have to mess with some enemy stats to make everyone fightable.  I dont think people will be to angry about this.  kingdom Hearts II started you over with the silly excuse that he had been asleep for a year (or was it two?).    So Chrono and gang haven't fought in two years so they forgot??

For shops, I'm thinking melchior will always have the latest weapons and we can  use shops in towns for armor helmets, items.

sound good?

--jp

Hadriel

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #7 on: April 22, 2006, 08:48:43 pm »
Is a scheme in which the characters have power and then lose it feasible?  The idea I had initially was that most of their powers were consumed in a temporal irregularity.  In order to have a game featuring the same people without powerup-whoring everyone to unbelievable levels, we have to obey the Yuna Rule somehow.

Chickenlump

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #8 on: April 22, 2006, 10:19:50 pm »
Is a scheme in which the characters have power and then lose it feasible?  The idea I had initially was that most of their powers were consumed in a temporal irregularity.  In order to have a game featuring the same people without powerup-whoring everyone to unbelievable levels, we have to obey the Yuna Rule somehow.

I would like other people's opinion's about this idea. It occoured to me too, but at the same time, I dismissed it as entirely too cheesey, as it seems too convenient, if you think about it. But that's just me, but it caught my eye, because I thought the same thing (though, like I said, I hated it as soon as I thought it). I like the idea of learning everything over again (like at the 3 techs each stage).

Lord J Esq

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2006, 11:29:30 pm »
Is a scheme in which the characters have power and then lose it feasible?  The idea I had initially was that most of their powers were consumed in a temporal irregularity.  In order to have a game featuring the same people without powerup-whoring everyone to unbelievable levels, we have to obey the Yuna Rule somehow.

I would like other people's opinion's about this idea. It occoured to me too, but at the same time, I dismissed it as entirely too cheesey, as it seems too convenient, if you think about it. But that's just me, but it caught my eye, because I thought the same thing (though, like I said, I hated it as soon as I thought it). I like the idea of learning everything over again (like at the 3 techs each stage).

If you're intent on doing it, there is a precedent: Magus lost most of his power at some point between his defeat at his lair and his decision to join your party late in the game.

But I agree; too cheesy. Instead, perhaps take a little artistic license. I know something about trained skill versus innate talent: You have to work hard to maintain the former, and the sharper you want to keep your edge, the harder you have to train just to hold the line. In Chrono Trigger, Crono & Co. were fighting very hard for months, if not years. Moving on with their lives in peacetime, they would have had other priorities and it would have become impossible for them to keep that sharp a combat edge. So, to me, that would suggest that we start Crono, Lucca, and Marle out at a lower level, and with fewer spells, than they enjoyed at the end of CT.

But at the same time, let's remember that these are not innocent people anymore. Crono can only have that boy-becomes-a-hero adventure once. In Crimson Echoes, he is already a hero. He's got blood on his hands and experience under his belt. Surely he and his friends have not lost everything they learned. It would be much more realistic to start them out at a moderate level, rather than Lv. 1, and to allow them to retain an assortment of their lower magic spells and tech skills for immediate use at the start of the game. Super-proficient skills like Luminaire and Flare can be lost, just like Magus lost Dark Matter, but everything up through Ice/Fire Sword seems justifiable given the amount of training that we can assume Crono and his friends did maintain.

This points to starting out the main trio somewhere in the Lv. 20 range, with selected choices from the lower half of their magic talents still available. This can be balanced out by harder enemies from the onset, and the creation of a few new spells to flesh out the new growth curve.

As for characters who join later in the game, their skills would have to be sufficient so as not to imbalance the combat. That's just how it has to be, whatever rationalization it takes.

Agent 12

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Re: Decisions Decisions
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2006, 08:00:47 pm »
As for Stores:  I have Melchior selling only weapons and the TaTa store in 600 AD selling armor. 

For levels I'm still having that Magus Glitch.......sigh

Enemies----personally I think they are to easy in the latest patch any thoughts?

--jp