Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
CloseFriend
Aug 21, 2002

Un malheur ne vient jamais seul.
Does there exist a site anywhere that tabulates the base stats by level for each playable character (unequipped) for the main Final Fantasy games? I saw that the Wikia site had some for Theatrythm, but aside from that, :google: let me down on this one. I have the stats for VI (only HP and MP actually vary by level, making these very easy to tabulate), but I don't feel like manually tabulating the rest when I know somebody somewhere on the Internet must have more free time and obsession therewith than me. I have something I'd like to look at with those stats. Something… mathful…

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

CloseFriend posted:

Does there exist a site anywhere that tabulates the base stats by level for each playable character (unequipped) for the main Final Fantasy games? I saw that the Wikia site had some for Theatrythm, but aside from that, :google: let me down on this one. I have the stats for VI (only HP and MP actually vary by level, making these very easy to tabulate), but I don't feel like manually tabulating the rest when I know somebody somewhere on the Internet must have more free time and obsession therewith than me. I have something I'd like to look at with those stats. Something… mathful…

I don't think it's as mathy as you think, pretty much the only variable stat in Final Fantasy games is HP/MP and everything else is either static like in FF6 or has a set progression. FF1 I think had variable increases but I could be wrong and that would just be level bonuses from before and after you get your class change. I'm sure someone's leveled every character up manually or dumpster dived the code to find what each value is at every level for all characters, but you'd probably have the best luck on the wikia page for FF if that's what you're looking for.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
I think stat gains in FF4 are set until a certain level, like 60 or something, after which they're random.

I'd check GameFAQs, there might be FAQs that has that info for some of the games.

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



I just got Jungle Boy's abilities explained to me by an Imp while cooky music played.

This is one of the "darkest" Final Fantasy's?

And what about all those pour souls on the Ghost Train cars that we detached?

I wasn't really feeling FFVI for the first hour or so. Didn't like Terra much. (although Terra's Theme is worth every bit of the praise it gets. Amazing song)

Things are looking up though. Cyan seems awesome and he had by far the most powerful introduction. I hope his hatred for the Empire is fleshed out a bit more and his story continues.
Oh and his seeing his loved ones leaving on the Ghost Train ddi redeem that whole silly segment.

It is kinda interesting how they mix up the gameplay with little gimmicks like the raft-ridinga nd keeping Banon alive and the multiple scenarios.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


It takes a series of hard turns. You'll know when you get there. At the beginning it is more of a standard "plucky underdogs fight evil empire" story but stick with it. Stuff changes.

a crisp refreshing Moxie
May 2, 2007


Please tell me you suplexed the train.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

NikkolasKing posted:

I just got Jungle Boy's abilities explained to me by an Imp while cooky music played.

This is one of the "darkest" Final Fantasy's?
Does this disappoint you?

Folks talk a lot about the darkest Final Fantasy but the fantastic truth is you don't have to brood to be dark. It just seems that way because almost all dark media has also been brooding in the past thirty years.

NikkolasKing
Apr 3, 2010



But brooding is realistic. Loved ones killed, innocent droves of people slaughtered, hopelessness running rampant as the world is threatened to be overrun by a soulless empire - being less than happy in the face of all this makes perfect sense.

Going from Cyan's castle being poisoned to Gau is rather jarring is all I'm saying.

Defiance Industries posted:

It takes a series of hard turns. You'll know when you get there. At the beginning it is more of a standard "plucky underdogs fight evil empire" story but stick with it. Stuff changes.

I have a rough idea of the plot so I figured as much. FFIX is pretty light at the start too.

swamp waste
Nov 4, 2009

There is some very sensual touching going on in the cutscene there. i don't actually think it means anything sexual but it's cool how it contrasts with modern ideas of what bad ass stuff should be like. It even seems authentic to some kind of chivalric masculine touching from a tyme longe gone
6 has this animist-shinto thing where instead of magic intruding on the natural world, nature itself is feral and beautiful and magical. The seats of supernatural power (the esper cave & mountain) are natural formations and there's a ton of lovingly-illustrated landscape skyboxes. Check out that intro with the machines trundling through the snow i mean jeez.

I also like how the character arcs deal with heavy subjects but in kind of a tender, down-to-earth way. The soldier's letters subplot and Gau's optional thing are especially nice.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

NikkolasKing posted:

But brooding is realistic. Loved ones killed, innocent droves of people slaughtered, hopelessness running rampant as the world is threatened to be overrun by a soulless empire - being less than happy in the face of all this makes perfect sense.
It's a tone shift, but it's not like it's out of left field. You had your heavy poo poo but it reached its resolution at the end of the train, and now you can cleanse your palate with something light, but it's not just a momentary gratuitous levity. The part where it's suggested that you just gung-ho a fuckin' waterfall is basically setting the tone for the rest of the act rather than just being all "SUPER HAPPY FUN TIME NOW!!!!"--the Imp doin' poo poo was just the comedic progression on top of that rather than being a left-field thing.

It's condensed so it doesn't really feel like there's that much space between the events, but what can you do? It's a cart game with severely limited space.

I understand some folks don't like that high-low-high-low structure, but it's a simple technique that keeps poo poo from dragging in either direction. I can name some middle grade fiction off the top of my head that would benefit from this to keep from getting too saccharine, and I can absolutely name some "for grown-up consumption" poo poo that could use it so it's not a chore to consume because it's trying harder than dicks to be SO BROODING AND DEEP, but I'll keep both examples to myself so as not to reveal too much of my poor taste in fiction for ten-year-olds and my unpopular, if informed, opinions of beloved media.

Fur20 fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Sep 20, 2012

Captain Baal
Oct 23, 2010

I Failed At Anime 2022

fount of knowledge posted:

Please tell me you suplexed the train.

This was what essentially made me keep playing FFVI with Sabin, I could've probably used a different character who would've been more suited for multiple situations, but when you have the ability to suplex a loving train, how can you turn that sort of character down?

Die Sexmonster!
Nov 30, 2005

The White Dragon posted:

I understand some folks don't like that high-low-high-low structure, but it's a simple technique that keeps poo poo from dragging in either direction. I can name some middle grade fiction off the top of my head that would benefit from this to keep from getting too saccharine, and I can absolutely name some "for grown-up consumption" poo poo that could use it so it's not a chore to consume because it's trying harder than dicks to be SO BROODING AND DEEP, but I'll keep both examples to myself so as not to reveal too much of my poor taste in fiction for ten-year-olds and my unpopular, if informed, opinions of beloved media.

I like this point. It's called comic RELIEF.

Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

The White Dragon posted:

I don't think it's as mathy as you think, pretty much the only variable stat in Final Fantasy games is HP/MP and everything else is either static like in FF6 or has a set progression. FF1 I think had variable increases but I could be wrong and that would just be level bonuses from before and after you get your class change. I'm sure someone's leveled every character up manually or dumpster dived the code to find what each value is at every level for all characters, but you'd probably have the best luck on the wikia page for FF if that's what you're looking for.

FFXII has semi random stat games for each party member, slightly biased for what the party member is "Good" with.

And of course FF2 has its own insane thing.


Mega64 posted:

I think stat gains in FF4 are set until a certain level, like 60 or something, after which they're random.

I'd check GameFAQs, there might be FAQs that has that info for some of the games.

It's up to 70 for fixed gains, and then random stats.

In the DS version its not random, but based on what aguments/skills are equipped.

Vil
Sep 10, 2011

FF5 has fixed stats which vary by character (slightly) and job (significantly) but not by level.

FF7 has at least some semi-random stat gains (I know HP and MP vary, anyway; not sure about the other stats).

FF8 has fixed stat gains, as does FF9, though both of those can be influenced in a predictable manner by doing certain prep work before gaining a level.

FF10 doesn't have levels in a standard sense, but the stat gains from the sphere grid are set and predictable until you start loving with the sphere grid itself.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

NikkolasKing posted:

But brooding is realistic.

Stories are not realistic and are not attempting to be realistic unless they are literally depictions of real events. The way characters act is manufactured by an author in order to present themes, ideals, symbols and concepts to the viewer. If you are a writer and you are more worried about "what is realistic" as opposed to "what is thematically relevant," you are not going to make a very good story. Very few fictional characters behave in realistic manners for this reason. That isn't to say it never happens, but good authors worry about the themes before they worry about the realism.

One of the most consistent themes in FFVI, and you should have noticed this already, is that bad things happening does not mean hope is lost and you have to spend forever brooding. One of the most common themes is "how do I move on with my life after (x terrible thing) happened." The comic/lighter elements in FFVI are necessary because they point out that life goes on. They come quickly because it is a game and spending 40 weeks in utmost depression isn't really good structure for a game. The pacing, especially in a SNES game, needs to be swift. This means the humor comes quickly after depressing elements, but this isn't a bad thing. It quickly reinforces one of the basic themes of the game.

ImpAtom fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Sep 20, 2012

Mister Roboto
Jun 15, 2009

I SWING BY AUNT MAY's
FOR A SHOWER AND A
BITE, MOST NATURAL
THING IN THE WORLD,
ASSUMING SHE'S
NOT HOME...

...AND I
FIND HER IN BED
WITH MY
FATHER, AND THE
TWO OF THEM
ARE...ARE...

...AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!
No, it's not.

Mister Roboto fucked around with this message at 14:54 on Oct 23, 2014

Captain Vittles
Feb 12, 2008

I'm not a nerd! I'm a video game enthusiast.

Mister Roboto posted:

Still, it's the second best jrpg of the sprite era, so keep at it.

I'm almost afraid to ask this... which one is the best?

Bear Sleuth
Jul 17, 2011

Conventional answer is Chrono Trigger, actual answer is Earthbound.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

Captain Vittles posted:

I'm almost afraid to ask this... which one is the best?

the one true king dragon QUEST (none of this gaijin rear end "warrior" poo poo) obviously you loving heathen plebeian

I dunno about those DQ games, they don't make for bad "dumb grindy games" though I can get this out of Etrian Odyssey these days and FF1 in the olden times, but I just don't get what folks see in 'em, it's the truth. Also if it's not Terranigma or Soulblazer than I dunno what to say 'cause those would be among my pick for "top SNES games." I hold no favorites, though, just great games in general.

Captain Vittles
Feb 12, 2008

I'm not a nerd! I'm a video game enthusiast.

The White Dragon posted:

the one true king dragon QUEST (none of this gaijin rear end "warrior" poo poo) obviously you loving heathen plebeian

Considering one of the SNES games I enjoyed the most was DQ6, this is obviously the correct answer. ;)

Mister Roboto
Jun 15, 2009

I SWING BY AUNT MAY's
FOR A SHOWER AND A
BITE, MOST NATURAL
THING IN THE WORLD,
ASSUMING SHE'S
NOT HOME...

...AND I
FIND HER IN BED
WITH MY
FATHER, AND THE
TWO OF THEM
ARE...ARE...

...AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!

Captain Vittles posted:

I'm almost afraid to ask this... which one is the best?

Chrono Trigger, man, Chrono Trigger. I loved FF6, but Chrono really is a step up when it comes to the sprite medium.

In a way, I think TWEWY is the real spiritual successor to FF6 and Chrono because it's got such great spritework, an artform that's been sadly neglected in the jrpg's change to 3d.

Azure_Horizon
Mar 27, 2010

by Reene
Considering Terranigma is an action jRPG, I'm gonna have to go with that as best of the era, by far. Nothing Square did topped that ending.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Dragon Quest games are wonderful adventure games. They are, almost universally, about exploring the world and seeing what lies around every corner. Grinding in them is rarely necessary and they just tend to be delightful trips through amusing worlds. They have pretty generic characters but the characters just serve as guides for the world.

The Soul Blazer "trilogy" is loving rad and easily the best underrated RPGs on the console. All three are some of my favorite games ever.

Most people will probably name Chrono Trigger though.

Zonko_T.M.
Jul 1, 2007

I'm not here to fuck spiders!

Yeah uh sorry guys, he clearly meant Mystic Quest.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


ImpAtom posted:

Dragon Quest games are wonderful adventure games. They are, almost universally, about exploring the world and seeing what lies around every corner. Grinding in them is rarely necessary and they just tend to be delightful trips through amusing worlds. They have pretty generic characters but the characters just serve as guides for the world.

Aren't they still doing that invisible enemy poo poo? Cause that's inexcusable these days.

Mister Roboto
Jun 15, 2009

I SWING BY AUNT MAY's
FOR A SHOWER AND A
BITE, MOST NATURAL
THING IN THE WORLD,
ASSUMING SHE'S
NOT HOME...

...AND I
FIND HER IN BED
WITH MY
FATHER, AND THE
TWO OF THEM
ARE...ARE...

...AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!

Defiance Industries posted:

Aren't they still doing that invisible enemy poo poo? Cause that's inexcusable these days.

DQ9 used visible enemies that wandered around the map goofily.

Die Sexmonster!
Nov 30, 2005
Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, and Earthbound are my holy grail of SNES RPGs.

What are some of the best Reaction abilities in FF Tactics? Looking to get off the Auto Potion train. I like First Strike/Hamedo, but it doesn't seem to work on a lot of attacks. I had a friend mention he's gotten mileage out of Blade Grasp... any recommendations?

Mister Roboto
Jun 15, 2009

I SWING BY AUNT MAY's
FOR A SHOWER AND A
BITE, MOST NATURAL
THING IN THE WORLD,
ASSUMING SHE'S
NOT HOME...

...AND I
FIND HER IN BED
WITH MY
FATHER, AND THE
TWO OF THEM
ARE...ARE...

...AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, and Earthbound are my holy grail of SNES RPGs.

What are some of the best Reaction abilities in FF Tactics? Looking to get off the Auto Potion train. I like First Strike/Hamedo, but it doesn't seem to work on a lot of attacks. I had a friend mention he's gotten mileage out of Blade Grasp... any recommendations?

Blade grasp is basically a cheat code for no more physical attacks, so yeah...

Kyrosiris
May 24, 2006

You try to be happy when everyone is summoning you everywhere to "be their friend".



If you mean random encounters, DQ9 did not, no.

I don't understand people's issues with them, though.

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Blade grasp is literally broken. It's only supposed to stop melee attacks but instead it effectively subtracts your brave score from the hit from almost all incoming physicals. Even stuff like arrows and jump attacks suddenly have a 3% maximum chance to hit. It makes it almost impossible to lose a large chunk of battles in the game.


Kyrosiris posted:

I don't understand people's issues with them, though.

They're an obnoxious time sink governed by RNG? If the enemies are visible, trying to avoid enemies is something you try to accomplish through running and whatnot. Invisible encounters were a consequence of hardware that hung around way too long.

Defiance Industries fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Sep 20, 2012

Die Sexmonster!
Nov 30, 2005

Kyrosiris posted:

If you mean random encounters, DQ9 did not, no.

I don't understand people's issues with them, though.

It's a sudden mental intrusion. "Alright, got that passage, maybe there's treasure this wa- DAMMIT" I don't mind them if the game lets you opt out (Enc-None in FF8, Repels in Pokemon), but I understand the negative reaction they get.

Thanks for the responses. Blade Grasp it is for awhile. How high can I raise an NPC'S Brave before they decide they're too badass to follow a pony-tailed snot-nosed little noble?

Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

Defiance Industries posted:

Aren't they still doing that invisible enemy poo poo? Cause that's inexcusable these days.

Why is it "inexcusable"?

Dungeons in which fights are unavoidable without difficulty (The run command can fail) constantly draining your resources is a perfectly legitimate way to do a game

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

Terranigma, Chrono Trigger, Mario RPG, and Earthbound are my holy grail of SNES RPGs.

What are some of the best Reaction abilities in FF Tactics? Looking to get off the Auto Potion train. I like First Strike/Hamedo, but it doesn't seem to work on a lot of attacks. I had a friend mention he's gotten mileage out of Blade Grasp... any recommendations?

Auto Potion and Blade Grasp are probably the best all-around Reaction skills. Hamedo will basically only work on attacks from weapons within your own weapon range- so if you have a sword, you'll Hamedo a guy swinging a knife at you, but it won't stop a panther clawing your face or a Lancer stabbing you from two spaces away. But it is very satisfying when it works.

Other good ones: Damage Split from Calculator; Abandon from Ninja can make you really drat hard to hit with both physicals AND magic, since it just inherently doubles all your evasions rates- no Brave check. Speed save is pretty good if you can take a lot of hits or heal, since you can quickly become stupid-fast.

Mister Roboto
Jun 15, 2009

I SWING BY AUNT MAY's
FOR A SHOWER AND A
BITE, MOST NATURAL
THING IN THE WORLD,
ASSUMING SHE'S
NOT HOME...

...AND I
FIND HER IN BED
WITH MY
FATHER, AND THE
TWO OF THEM
ARE...ARE...

...AAAAAAAAUUUUGH!

Pyroxene Stigma posted:

It's a sudden mental intrusion. "Alright, got that passage, maybe there's treasure this wa- DAMMIT" I don't mind them if the game lets you opt out (Enc-None in FF8, Repels in Pokemon), but I understand the negative reaction they get.

Thanks for the responses. Blade Grasp it is for awhile. How high can I raise an NPC'S Brave before they decide they're too badass to follow a pony-tailed snot-nosed little noble?

There's never a problem with too much bravery; only too little, then they literally become chickens and then leave the team in the next battle.

The no-danger-from-too-high-brave slipped by the FFT design team because it's easily exploitable.

Same with Faith, they become too religious and they go off to join the church, but there's no danger in being an atheist (:smug: ).

Mister Roboto fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Sep 20, 2012

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Dr Pepper posted:

Why is it "inexcusable"?

Dungeons in which fights are unavoidable without difficulty (The run command can fail) constantly draining your resources is a perfectly legitimate way to do a game

I understand why they worked then, because of hardware limitations. With modern systems you can give the player another actual interaction with the game, rather than the RNG deciding it with random distracting interruptions. There are better ways to make the player enter combat than to make it totally independent of them. Would treasure be as good if it was just something that randomly appeared every X steps?

Die Sexmonster!
Nov 30, 2005

Schwartzcough posted:

Speed save is pretty good if you can take a lot of hits or heal, since you can quickly become stupid-fast.

I was thinking about using this for the Wiegraf fight, mixed with using Tailwind repeatedly. (Don't remember the move's old name, Ramza's Squire ability that gives +1 speed.)

EDIT: No penalty for too much Brave, excellent. I thought I remembered the strategy guide saying differently, but it's been years.

Die Sexmonster! fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Sep 20, 2012

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


It was called yell. ...My brother and I ran around the yard yelling for longer than I am proud of.

Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

Defiance Industries posted:

I understand why they worked then, because of hardware limitations. With modern systems you can give the player another actual interaction with the game, rather than the RNG deciding it with random distracting interruptions. There are better ways to make the player enter combat than to make it totally independent of them. Would treasure be as good if it was just something that randomly appeared every X steps?

The entire point is that the player can't control when combat happens. They have to just press on, using more resources, or retreat.

Fur20
Nov 14, 2007

すご▞い!
君は働か░い
フ▙▓ズなんだね!

Dr Pepper posted:

The entire point is that the player can't control when combat happens. They have to just press on, using more resources, or retreat.
It was always tense, too, in a backwards sense. It was always very "oh man am I gonna touch that treasure chest or not?" It's when the rate is set too high that it becomes problematic. The golden rule for designing a random encounter RPG without a way to disable them completely is the likelihood of one encounter per (somewhat arbitrary) map size, and no encounters in puzzles or snakey mazes.

FF9 was good about it and generally had two encounters per screen even in the endgame dungeons (one or fewer on short screens). Tales of Phantasia was the worst game about this I ever played and you encountered an enemy almost every four steps in the final dungeon.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Defiance Industries
Jul 22, 2010

A five-star manufacturer


Dr Pepper posted:

The entire point is that the player can't control when combat happens. They have to just press on, using more resources, or retreat.

You can do that without making it totally arbitrary, which is where the utter laziness of it comes from. Chrono Trigger did it by having enemies do things like ambush you or come out of hiding places, and in EarthBound enemies are faster than you in almost all cases. The player can't CONTROL when you fight, but they can INFLUENCE it.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply