Messages

2866

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm

« on: March 02, 2008, 04:00:42 AM »

Any chance of a comprehensive Algorithm FAQ like we've long had with FFVI?
Something that can factor in the chance to hit and amount of damage for physical and magical attacks, with either monster or characters attacking?
And if there are any exceptions to the rules for such (special commands, things that skip certain steps, etc.)?

Not to mention other algos, like when an attack occurs, ATB timers, etc.?

Something verbose enough to translate into an Excel spreadsheet (or the sheet itself ).

Reason I ask is that I'd like to be able to write a general enough set of functions that could handle FFIV-FFVI with some switches for different rule sets, of course.

I was thinking of that - http://slickproductions.org/forum/index.php?topic=190.0

The issue though is that noone seems to have dumped any code relating to the ATB system to verify any of the algos. I haven't even touched the ATB system because it is still relatively foreign to me (I mean, until FF4A, there was no ATB bar that I could even think of referencing against).

However, the bits and pieces of info about stuff are lingering all around this forum, so you are welcome to test/verify and contribute if you can. I'm bored to death thinking of stuff to be testing... the next commands worth a damn looking at is Throw and Steal at this point...

2867

Gaming Discussion / Re: Cid Doesn't Suck and Why Spending 4x More Money Is A Joke

« on: March 02, 2008, 03:15:23 AM »

Relevent Stats For This Test:
Defense = 2
Monsters have 0 evade.

The damage range my ideal Cid does is much nicer...
5x68 @ 80%

.80 is Cid's hit rate on average
5 * (68-2)* .80 = 264 points of damage given at minimum on average
5 * (85-2)* .80 = 332 points of damage given at average on average
5 * (102-2)* .80 = 400 points of damage given at max on average

The damage range of Silver/Mythril Cid is mediocre...
4x66 @ 80%

4 * (66-2) * .80 = 204 points of damage given at minimum on average
4 * (82-2 )* .80 = 256 points of damage given at average on average
4 * (99-2) * .80 = 310 points of damage given at max on avarage

The difference in damage here is HUGE. The gap between the minimum is 60 points, and the max is 90 points.
The ideal Cid is able to take out the occasional Hell Needle (or Swordrat in FF2US),
but the Silver/Mythril Cid is still just struggling to kill anything in the Magnetic Cave.

So, take that for what it is worth. Instead of spending 17000 on a Silver Armor and taking 48 points less damage on average,
you could spend approximately 4x less with a Kenpogi (Karate Robe in FF2US) and a Twist Headband for dealing 76 points more damage on average
and actually be able to kill some monsters in one blow.

I mean, seriously.

Btw, the only time you find a Spirit/Ghoul monster to take advantage of the property of the armor, you would have lost Cid and picked up Edge.
(The Ghost Knight aka the Blademan in FF2US from the Tower of Babil via Cave Eblan is the first Spirit monster you would meet...)

2868

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Other Holy Grail - Attack Algo - Done?

« on: March 02, 2008, 02:56:19 AM »

Fixed a huge logical and mathematical error. The evade is not supposed to be tested against the hit rate, but that out of 100%. 

Also, the hit to inflict status is most likely based on the Attacker's Hit Rate... given that enemies have none, and the only thing
making it difficult is the current character's hit rate (Charm Claw hurts Yang overall damage to an extent, but he's already freakishly powerful).

2869

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm

« on: March 02, 2008, 02:47:48 AM »

Fixed a huge logical and mathematical error. The magic evade is not supposed to be tested against the spell hit rate, but that out of 100%. 

2870

Gaming Discussion / Re: Cid Doesn't Suck and Why Spending 4x More Money Is A Joke

« on: March 02, 2008, 02:43:11 AM »

The strongest monster in the Magnetic Cave is the Ogre.
Relevent Stats:
5x 60 @ 80%

The damage range that the Ogre deals by default is 300 to 450.
With an 80% hit rate, the damage given on that average w/o considering defense becomes 240 to 360.

On testing damage range, 100% of your attack power is what you see on the stat screen,
150% of the attack power is the maximum, and 125% is the average.

Let's compare strictly Cid with my ideal equipment vs Cid with the Silver Equipment for the moment.

If the enemy attacks my ideal Cid...

1 = defense multiplier, 4 = number of attacks left by the monster that is unevadable, .70 is evade rate factor (1.00-.30), .80 is the monster's hit rate
(1 * (60-25) * .70 + 4 * (60-25)) * .80 = 131 points of damage taken at minimum on average
(1 * (75-25) * .70 + 4 * (75-25)) * .80 = 188 points of damage taken at average on average
(1 * (90-25) * .70 + 4 * (90-25)) * .80 = 244 points of damage taken at max on average

Note: Remember to truncate where applicable.

If the enemy attacks Mythril/Silver Cid...

(5 * (60-40)) * .8 = 80 points of damage taken at minimum on average
(5 * (75-40)) * .8 = 140 points of damage taken at average on average
(5 * (90-40)) * .8 = 200 points of damage taken at max on average

So, the difference isn't as significant as it seems.
Sure you take approximately 48 points less damage on average with the full Silver/Mythril set,
but damage is not as significant as you would think, especially when Cid gains a ton of HP per level
at about the same pace Yang is.

Now, onto the Cid attacking the Ogre on my next post.

2871

Gaming Discussion / Cid Doesn't Suck and Why Spending 4x More Money Is A Joke

« on: March 02, 2008, 02:19:00 AM »

Reference pics:

Level 23 Cid

Stats:


"Ideal" Related Equip:


Different Stats:


Full Silver Equip:


Yang at Level 31 (for a reference)

Stats:


What Yang Usually Has:


Argument to be posted, followed by some research.

2872

General Discussion & Support / Re: FF5 Multi Editor

« on: March 01, 2008, 11:21:35 PM »

The values neatly start at offset $100000+header , and each monster cramps up 32 Bytes in size. Bosses are located at offset +$2000, after the 256 "normal" monsters.

Other than location, that's exactly like the list in FF6. Come on, Squaresoft...

Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids! 

Jorgur, did you consult the FF5 Algo FAQ linked in this thread?

2873

Gaming Discussion / Re: You Know Tellah Really Sucks When...

« on: March 01, 2008, 05:59:57 PM »

You know what's sad is that so many non-attack spells that he can cast has a potential to fail on him...
only Peep and Float seem to be fortunate.

2874

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Enemy Making A Physical Elemental Attack...

« on: March 01, 2008, 05:58:04 PM »

Is there a message displayed if the attacker inflicts float status on the target?

Also, has there been any testing of what Weak+ does as an attack by the monster? I can only imagine it increases the
damage of an enemy's elemental attack on a character that is weak vs said element... (think FireDog attacking
Cecil with a Fire elemental physical attack while he is equipping the Fire Shield).

2875

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Kick Command

« on: March 01, 2008, 05:50:13 PM »

A lesser known fact: Kick in the SNES version of this game is disabled if Yang is floating.
This command is not disabled while under float in the GBA version.

2876

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Peculiar Spell Behavior...

« on: March 01, 2008, 05:49:06 PM »

I did some testing of other non-damaging spells to make sure my algo was remotely close to correct... 

I found that Peep/Libra and Float always seems to work (especially Float, despire its low hit rate).

That could explain why Peer from Cid always works.

2877

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Holy Grail - Magic Algorithm

« on: March 01, 2008, 04:13:45 PM »

Fixed the magic algo like I did with the attack algo. Attack magic is always applied against magic defense.
The Magic Defense Multiplier's significance is beneficial for Magic Evade to reduce the damage intake
similar to what the Defense Multiplier does for Evade.

2878

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Other Holy Grail - Attack Algo - Done?

« on: March 01, 2008, 04:00:00 PM »

Ok, fixed a major problem with the algo. Defense is always constant even if the defense mulitplier is 0.

The defense multiplier is actually more of an evade multiplier that is factored against the opponent's attack multiplier.
So when one gains another point for the defense multiplier, it doesn't quite "increase" your defense..
it only increases the chance of taking less damage due to evasion. Same goes for magic evade.

Defense power has a lesser impact in this game, not that it is useless, but evasion makes a greater impact on damage intake.
For Cid's sake, he will benefit much more with evasion than more defense and a 0% evade rate.

Once Edge or Rydia reaches the max defense multiplier via Agility, as a result they have uber damage intake ability against the majority,
if not all of the end game monsters. A defense rate of 12x or so makes one virtually invincible.

2879

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: The Back Row

« on: March 01, 2008, 06:27:11 AM »

I might be wrong for the one handed weapon penalty (I've yet to find a sane method of testing it)...

However, the penalty to Edge is significant...



Stats and equipment:





The penalty murders Edge significantly.

2880

Final Fantasy IV Research & Development / Re: Pray Command

« on: February 29, 2008, 11:05:49 PM »

The success of Pray is tied to the hit rate of Cure1... which is atrocious.

The internal data suggests a hit rate of 100, so that implies a hit rate of 100/256... which is slightly under 40%.

Even if it goes through the hit rate test 25 times (max possible), the probability is kinda low for success.
I don't have the numbers of the probability of success though... hopefully some math wiz has a better idea...