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On a theoretical level, it depends on your definition of hard. One could abstract a game out to... hold on let me sketch up a chart: Where Max Ability is the maximum possible limits of the game and the lower bar is what the game actually requires of the player. Player skill then (ideally) resides somewhere between those two levels. A hard mode hack doesn't have to bring the required ability up to the maximum, it can just narrow the range between the two. How that's accomplished, of course, depends on the mechanics of the game and is beyond the limits of this abstraction. The difficulty comes from variable player skill and who the hack is designed for. Ideally someone goes into the task saying "current required ability is X and I want to make it Y, how can I do that" but it tends to be "I'm going to beat the player, no matter what their skill level is." That results in pushing the bar higher and higher, retroactively removing any solutions players discover until it becomes so much of a "read the dev's mind or die" game that you may as well just slap a Sierra logo on it.
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Dec 27, 2019 21:09
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JustJeff88 posted:I think that games like Paper Mario lend themselves, unwittingly mind you, to the "one solution" type of mod because it's a game with minimal randomness, turn-based action and small numbers. That's fair. Paper Mario battles do lend themselves to puzzling things out. This hack has shown as much for sure. I guess I just still like having the freedom to figure out a couple of different solutions.
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Dec 27, 2019 21:10
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Tallgeese posted:Ah, I found it, but he can't link it because the modmaker apparently includes a prepatched ISO. Yup, I found it on GameFAQs. Experience is really balanced oddly, but there's usually a trash mob or two you can kill for oodles of experience. 90 is the expected endgame level but they come real quick . I also really recommend perusing the Excel document as well, especially since the creator was unable to change Master info in camp or the equipment descriptions in the menu. Rare drops are far more common though, except for maybe the Goo King Sword. Oh and also the Ammonite fight. Backing up to the guns does nothing
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Dec 27, 2019 23:23
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Tallgeese posted:Breath of Fire 3 rebalance. It's long overdue for another BoF3 Let's Play, is what I'm hearing. It's one of the series I'm most sad about never seeing another entry of since Capcom... what is Capcom doing nowadays?
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Dec 28, 2019 01:34
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placid saviour posted:It's long overdue for another BoF3 Let's Play, is what I'm hearing. It's one of the series I'm most sad about never seeing another entry of since Capcom... what is Capcom doing nowadays? Resident Evil 3 Remake
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Dec 28, 2019 01:39
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placid saviour posted:...what is Capcom doing nowadays? Not Mega Man Battle Network and/or Star Force, though I wish they were.
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Dec 28, 2019 01:42
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placid saviour posted:It's long overdue for another BoF3 Let's Play, is what I'm hearing. It's one of the series I'm most sad about never seeing another entry of since Capcom... what is Capcom doing nowadays? I thought about doing it, and actually showing off the world and whatnot (since I woefully neglected to do so), but to showcase a lot of the differences would require videos, and I have a stutter that comes out sometimes and I hate subtitled videos I figured I'd pass on it. That said if someone DID decide to do one, I'd be more than happy to help any way I could Rabbi Raccoon fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Dec 28, 2019 |
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Dec 28, 2019 01:47
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Quackles posted:Not Mega Man Battle Network and/or Star Force, though I wish they were. Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now! It's a motherfucking gacha!
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Dec 28, 2019 01:48
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I thought about doing it, and actually showing off the world and whatnot (since I woefully neglected to do so), but to showcase a lot of the differences would require videos, and I have a stutter that comes out sometimes and I hate subtitled videos so I figured I'd pass on it. That said if someone DID decide to do one, I'd be more than happy to help any way I could EDIT: Not sure how I posted like that but...sure Rabbi Raccoon fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Dec 28, 2019 |
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Dec 28, 2019 01:56
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Blaze Dragon posted:Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now!  
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Dec 28, 2019 02:16
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I will never forgive the demon Capcom for killing breath of fire and MegaMan legends
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Dec 28, 2019 02:59
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Grapplejack posted:I will never forgive the demon Capcom for killing breath of fire and MegaMan legends I read somewhere recently that Capcom re-upped their ownership of it so that may not be entirely true anymore
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Dec 28, 2019 03:09
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I read somewhere recently that Capcom re-upped their ownership of it so that may not be entirely true anymore Blaze Dragon posted:Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now!
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Dec 28, 2019 03:17
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Blaze Dragon posted:Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now! Hmmm. I wish I had never read this post.
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Dec 28, 2019 03:33
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I had this simple, AI-only hold -em poker game for my iPad that stopped working, like so many games, when the big iOS update came out a few years ago. I went looking for something similar and every single poker game I could find... literally could see no exceptions, was a blinged-out, online-only monstrosity with microtransactions. I asked myself "What ever happened to just buying fun games to play" then I remembered 
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Dec 28, 2019 04:52
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Blaze Dragon posted:Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now!  Not like this...
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Dec 28, 2019 05:10
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Blaze Dragon posted:Actually, according to a leaker that tends to get things right, they're making a BN game right now! why. we already had motherfucking xover didn't capcom learn its loving lesson??
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Dec 28, 2019 05:42
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I mean, it's the logical conclusion of the multitudes of peripherals and physical BattleChips that Capcom put out during Battle Network's heyday. I had the PET toy as a kid and even bought BattleChip booster packs for it! I somehow got a GigaChip! That's to say nothing of all the stuff only Japan got...
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Dec 28, 2019 11:10
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Part 28: Bedazzled After that dramatic excursion, it’s time to jump back into the Toy Box! First, though, our inventory is clogged with stuff we picked up in the pit.    We cook the Mushroom and Super Shroom we grabbed together with Maple Syrup, and sell them.  Then it’s back into the Toy Box!   We can easily take the train to Green Station now…   …but no farther, thanks to a big hole in the track! I wonder if these boxes have something to do with it.     Remembering the order of the four Shy Guys on Floor 38 of the Pit of 100 Trials, I hit the boxes in this order: Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.  It doesn’t go as expected!   And the boxes won’t close until I beat all four Shy Guys. However, each is alone and uses the base game’s stats, in a likely oversight from the dev team. (It’s also possible to reset the boxes by leaving the room and re-entering, too.)  Green Station has a hidden Star Piece, like the other Stations.  And there’s one exit, out the right side.   This next room has a bunch of conveyor belts, with fencing ‘walls’ that block the path.  A little farther in is a wall across the whole room, blocking our progress… or does it?  Once we hide with Bow, we easily slip through the wall as we ride on the conveyor. Past it is a Shy Guy holding what appears to be a note.   This Shy Guy formation is also a four-colored formation: Yellow, Green, Red, and Blue. Maybe this is the right code?   After we KO the Shy Guy formation, we get the note - but we can’t read it! And Russ T.’s Dictionary has been stolen (he’s who we’re supposed to take the note to). Time to go further in.  After the belts is a slot machine. Let’s try it out…     Oh jeez!  We run for it, also dodging a Spy Guy lying in wait just afterwards.   The next area has a bunch of blocks that move up and down.  We get to the end and find a structure, but we can’t get on top of it….   But we can get under it, by a hidden doorway. There’s a Star Piece here!    Actually getting on top of the structure involves backtracking, and help from Parakarry.  Just ahead of us is our next chest, guarded by…   …a Super Soda! Don’t mind if I do.  Inside the chest is the missing Dictionary.   We begin backtracking. On the way back, the Spy Guy snipes us.  And it’s not just one Spy Guy - it’s three, and a Medi Guy, too! Oooof.   We run— straight into the Shy Guys from the Slot Machine.  They, by comparison, are completely ordinary Shy Guys from the base game. Phew!  Their attacks do no damage if blocked, so we can wall them and recover Star Energy and HP / FP.   After beating them, we turn transparent with Bow and ride back on the conveyors.  Wait, what the—   Uh-oh.   This is a Koopatrol. They’re elite Koopa soldiers. These are the highest-ranked guards of Bowser’s Castle. In case you hadn’t noticed, they’re kinda sleep-deprived. They probably need a nap. When their HP drops low, they’ll charge up power for one last-ditch attack. The power of this desperate attack is enormous. They’ve also been known to call in reinforcements when they’re in trouble. Don’t underestimate these nasty Koopas, Mario.All that and only 15 HP?  What’s the catch? Oh. For reference: That was a Power Smash. It should have done 7 damage. It did 2. Koopatrols have an obnoxious 5 Defense, and one’s standing between us and the exit. And we can’t even jump on it to flip it, ‘cause it’s spiky!   On the Koopatrol’s turn, it calls for help, summoning… another Koopatrol. This is going to be a blast - I can already tell.   We try for Shrinks with Bombette’s Power Bomb (nope), and on Goombario’s advice, go for a Lullaby (which also doesn’t work).   Koopatrols attack fast, and their attack does 9 damage and paralyzes for 1 turn.  The paralysis wears off, but we can’t take 12 more damage. We have to hide!    Uh-oh.  We heal up to full, ‘cause this is gonna sting. I wonder how much damage a Koopatrol’s charged attack does?   Well, that happened! Before we continue our adventure, let’s list out what we know about Koopatrols. In the original game, the Koopatrol fought here had 8 HP, 3 Defense (none when flipped), and attacked for 4 damage - or 10 when charged. It was 50-80% weak to a number of status effects. The Koopatrol we just fought had 15 HP and 5 Defense (2 Defense when flipped), and attacked for 9 damage with paralysis, or for 25 damage when charged. It was only weak to a few statuses, the largest weakness being a 55% weakness to Sleep. Full details: Base game Koopatrol weaknesses = 50% weak to Sleep, 75% weak to Dizzy, 75% weak to Paralyze, 70% weak to Shrink, 80% weak to Stop. Master Quest Koopatrol weaknesses, Toy Box variant = 55% weak to Sleep, 15% weak to Dizzy, 25% weak to Paralyze, 33% weak to Shrink, 50% weak to Stop. In both cases, Koopatrols are spiky, get up and attack immediately when flipped, and have a 40% chance of summoning help if alone, 20% if with one ally, or 10% with two.  We reconstitute ourselves at the Save block, ready for our journey into the wing again. But first, let’s try out the order the Shy Guys were in on these boxes…     Yellow, Green, Red and Blue.  It’s the right order! And there’s our track. (The boxes disappear.) We’re still going to fight the Koopatrol, though.  We head back into the wing, getting the note again.  For fun, we fight the Spy Guy, tricking it into walking into Bombette.    After the first strike, we use a Power Bomb to knock the Spy Guys into slingshot mode. Then Mario KOs the front one.  The Power Bomb also shrank the rearmost Spy Guy, making its slingshot stones hilariously tiny - but they do no damage when we block them.   Over the next two turns, we KO the next two Spy Guys with a combination of Bomb and Power Smash for each.  We finish off the Medi Guy with a charged Headbonk.  We grab the Dictionary and Super Soda once again…   …and use the weak Shy Guys from the Slot Machine to heal up all the way.   Before we ride the conveyors again, we change up our badge layout, removing Zap Tap (Koopatrols are immune). Instead, we add Spike Shield (letting us jump on and flip Koopatrols), Multibounce (in case of summons), and Sleep Stomp (which is more effective than Lullaby).  Now it’s Koopatrol time!   After getting the Tattle, we try for a Sleep Stomp. It fails; even with the increased effectiveness of Sleep Stomp, it is only a 55% chance to work. Koopatrols can’t summon or charge after unflipping, so he attacks instead.    The next turn, we try again; once again, it fails. However, the Koopatrol is flipped, and Bombette does big damage to his vulnerable underside. He attacks us again. With the timing nailed down, it’s not as terrifying as it was at first.  For Sleep Stomps, it appears that the third time is the charm. It takes, leaving the Koopatrol asleep for two whole turns!  Bombette does the usual.    After more hammering and explosions, the Koopatrol wakes up! It’s at 1 HP.  We are not going to KO it immediately! We heal instead. This is because…   If we wait long enough, he’ll summon another one! (We have to take a few attacks first, though.) This way, we can farm Koopatrols for the Star Points.   We Sleep Stomp the new one (it fails), and Power Bomb. This KOs the original Koopatrol.    There are a few awkward moments, but we’re able to heal up and wait for another summon.   We get it! However, the new Koopatrol, being a 3rd-generation Koopatrol, will not summon any allies. And he’s not in front, so we can’t use Bomb solely on him. We’re going to try for one more summon from the 2nd-gen Koopatrol, then bail out.   Fortunately, Sleep Stomp takes. Goombario then Charges!    Next turn, we Focus and Charge. We don’t get a summon, though, and we’re just short of being full on Star Energy (I have a plan for how to end the fight.)   Still, Goombario does decent damage to the Koopatrol in back, and Mario brings us up to full, Star Energy-wise.   We don’t get another summon - the newer Koopatrol attacks us, and the older Koopatrol Charges instead. The fact that they don’t both Charge is actually caused by a bug in the original game. In Paper Mario, enemies that Charge will either all Charge on the same turn, or not Charge. Due to a bug, Koopatrols can break this ordering if the first Koopatrol in line gets up from being flipped or summons an ally; then, the next Koopatrol may still Charge. (If there are three Koopatrols and the first two summon or get up, the third may Charge instead.) In Master Quest, Thamz had planned to remove the limitations, and allow enemies to stagger their Charge effects on alternating turns - but, he never got around to it. When I reported this bug, he suggested to the current dev team that this bug not be fixed for this reason. But enough talk. Let’s end this fight in style!    For beating a total of three Koopatrols, we earn 18 Star Points, and immediately level up. We pick BP - now we can wear Flower Saver all the time, and have some breathing room!  We can get to the final station, Red Station, now - but we’re gonna take a quick break and get that note translated first. Back to Blue Station!   We’re still taking the train rightwards, so we run into the final issue with the tracks: a wedged area on the left side of Blue Station, with a big, obvious lever to pull.  Pulling it fixes the tracks! We now have free access to every part of the Toy Box!   Returning to Russ T., he’s so happy at the return of his Dictionary that he gives us a Star Piece! Now, what’s that note say?   Let’s see… Ah ha! It seems to be written in the language of the Shy Guys. Let's see here... yes... accents... mmm... silent "d", hmmm... Thanks, Russ! You’re always so helpful.    That last battle used up a good chunk of our healing items, so we make some more Sweet Shrooms before diving back in. We also sell that blasted Super Soda.  Now it’s back to the Toy Box! We take the train to the only station we haven’t explored from: Red Station.    Red Station has two exits. Oddly, though, it also has a Heart Block.  It has a hidden Star Piece too, of course.  In the next room, a Shy Guy flees behind a heavy barricade.    We blow it up - and there were more Shy Guys behind it! They bail.    A little farther on, we retrieve a Shooting Star with the help of Kooper and a hidden block.  …and a little past that, we get sniped by yet another Spy Guy.  This one has a full crew with him!   We take out the Groove Guy right away.   Now that we are Level 15, no regular Toy Box enemy gives Star Points except the Anti Guy. It’s less trouble to Air Lift the Spy Guy and Medi Guy away.  From there, the Pyro Guy is easy.  There’s a Sleepy Sheep in a block before the entrance to the next room.  That room is dark, with only the sound of screaming Shy Guys. They kind of mob us. Looks like we’ll have to turn back.   After a quick trip to the Heart Block, we try the left exit.  This room has many elevators and moving platforms.   There’s also a Pyro Guy waiting for us if we fall! We quickly change our badge layout to take advantage of all that new BP.     This is just as well, because once we’re over the wall, there’s also a Pyro Guy on the other side. And he’s also packing a full crew, as well!    We Power Smash the Pyro Guy, and remove the Medi Guy. The Cherry Bob-omb explodes in our face. That just leaves the Spy Guy, who isn’t any trouble.  The two blocks here have Coins in them.    We surmount a second wall, double back a little, and find… a Super Block? We don’t have any partners we can upgrade, so we leave it alone.  To the left of the second wall is another room…  …and it’s pitch black! Who’s talking?!  Someone is here in the dark… Music: Ghost in the Toy Box Oh. It’s a g-g-ghost!  Wee hee hee… Oh… could it be? Wee hee hee hee… It’s Mario!! Looks like you’re mine, Mario! Wee hee… I won’t let you go… anywhere…  We get sucked into a battle, but now there’s a new challenge. We can’t see a darn thing! It’s too dark to attack anything but the Lantern.  So, we jump on it! It brightens things enough for us to get a clear look at the…  …Big Lantern Ghost.  Your friends, like (ahem) me, will also be damaged when he does the flash attack. Hit the Lantern many times to make it brighter, then you’ll be able to attack him. As soon as you can see, hit him right in the head!The Ghost has 10 more HP than in the base game.    The Big Lantern Ghost’s response is to blow the lantern out. We’ll have to maintain its light levels throughout the fight! Mario jumps on it again to get everything visible. (The Lantern needs two hits from minimum brightness before we can attack the Ghost.)   A new problem presents itself: I was going to try to blow the BLG up with Bomb, but because it holds the Lantern in front of it, any attack that can only target the frontmost enemy will hit the Lantern. In particular, this applies to Bomb and Power Shell. We Shell Shot the Ghost instead.  The Ghost releases the light of its Lantern, attacking for 5 damage. It also hits Parakarry, and I flub the block for both attacks; we are both stunned for two turns. In the base game, not only did the Lantern do 2 damage, it didn’t stun Mario. This is going to be a long fight!   The BLG jumps on Mario’s head for 8 damage while we’re distracted, and uses the next turn after that to blow out the Lantern.   There’s nothing to do but jump on the Lantern and Shell Shot again…   …but Mario and Parakarry get stunned again, and the Big Lantern Ghost jumps in for the KO.  The Big Lantern Ghost’s jump attack did 5 damage in the base game, originally.  We reincarnate at the Save Block. Time to change up our strategy!   One of the main threats of the fight is the BLG’s paralysis. We don’t have Feeling Fine (it’s on Floor 70 of the Pit), but there is another way to block status effects: Berserker! The small price to pay is that we can’t control Mario at all. Because of this, we take off Quick Change (we’ll only use Goombario in this strategy), any attacking badges that use FP (Mario will use only basic attacks), Zap Tap and Ice Power, and put on as many HP Pluses as we have. An FP Plus extends our FP reservoir, as we will have no healing, and we ensure we have all the defensive and last-ditch badges we can.  Now, let’s go beat up a ghost.   After the BLG’s intro speech, Berserker Mario jumps on the lantern - but only once! Yeah. Fun fact about Berserker: Mario doesn’t always, or even often, make action commands with it on.  We Charge, because Mario will be doing most of the damage to the lantern while we burst down the Ghost.  The Ghost jumps on Mario; he blocks it, thankfully. (You don’t get control over blocks while Berserker is on, either.)   Next turn, Mario hammers the Lantern. We can see the Ghost now, so we charged-bonk him for 10 damage.    The Ghost blows the Lantern out, but Mario jumps on it - twice, too! Since we can see, we bonk the Ghost.  Now, we get our first flash attack of the fight. Mario blocks it - but more importantly, he isn’t paralyzed. Berserker is coded as a status that the badge applies to Mario, and Mario can only have one status at a time. Sadly, we don’t block with Goombario. I still don’t get the timing for this attack and I probably never will.     Over the next few turns, while we’re paralyzed, there’s a back-and-forth with Mario and the Ghost tussling over control of the Lantern.    We Headbonk when we’re once again able to act, as I suspect we may not be able to move again for a while. The ghost reacts by once again blowing the Lantern out. Mario can’t fully relight it, so we Charge.  The BLG does the flash attack again! Note how the paralysis effect is applied to Mario, but Berserker overrides it.    By the time Goombario’s ready to go again, the Lantern has been lit and blown out several more times. We charge again, even so. Ignore the +5 arrow. That’s a graphical glitch.   Goombario is now fully charged, but the Lantern Ghost blows the Lantern out. While we’re waiting for Mario to relight it fully, we’re on the receiving end of another flash attack - and we manage to block with Goombario for the first time ever. Let’s give this ghost the what-for!  We do 16 damage in one glorious turn.   The BLG blows the lantern out again. Mario works on relighting it and we charge, but…   ..the Big Lantern Ghost acts twice in a turn, hitting with a jump attack and the dreaded flash! It turns out that once the BLG is below 30 HP, he acts twice whenever he attacks— and the second attack is always the flash attack. Yes, this does mean he can use the flash twice in a turn!!   Indeed, once we regain control of Goombario, the Ghost jump-and-flash attacks Mario again, restunning us. If Mario didn’t have Berserker, he would be at risk of being stunlocked for the rest of the fight - once the lantern is out, the BLG will attack every turn, and if Mario is stunned by the block, the flash will always hit and reset the duration to 2 turns.   The rest of the battle plays out without our involvement.   Upon reinitializing at the save block, we try for a different strategy. The Big Lantern Ghost has few status weaknesses, but if we can stun him at the 30 HP mark, we might be able to KO him before he recovers.   The easiest of BLG’s status weaknesses to hit is Dizzy, at 20% weak. To that end, we spend our BP on a build set up around using charged attacks and Dizzy Shell.  Let’s go!   We start off with Mario hitting the lantern and Goombario bonking - but I flub the second action command, so Goombario only does 2 damage.  The Lantern Ghost blows out the lantern; we repeat the last turn - except this time, I skip Goombario’s action command on purpose. I want to set the Ghost to exactly 32 HP (at 30 or below he double-attacks), so by getting him to 46, one 10-damage charged Headbonk and one more regular hit will get him there.  We get our first flash attack - but I manage to block it for Goombario! I’m getting a little better at this.  Next turn, Goombario charges. The Big Lantern Ghost always uses the jump attack after the flash, so we have a free turn.   After the BLG attacks, we unleash the charged 10-damage bonk…   And after that, Mario is back and ready! We relight the lamp and headbonk the ghost into having exactly 32 HP, as planned. Phase 2 starts now.  The Ghost uses the flash attack again, but this time I block with Mario.    We use our time to charge Mario’s hammer, block a ghost jump attack, and charge again.  The Ghost blows the Lantern out - the flash attack is next. Time to try and stun the ghost so we can KO him with burst damage.   We try Dizzy Shell - but it doesn’t work!  Somehow, in the ensuing flash attack, we successfully block for both Mario and Kooper! (I think my finger slipped, actually.) The timing is about like the timing of a fairly fast double-click, but with presses of the A button.   Next turn, we try Dizzy Shell again, but it still fails. Mario maxes out his Charge.    After blocking the Ghost’s jump attack, we’re in Danger, but— Dizzy Shell takes hold! This is our chance!     We batter the ghost with a charged Hammer Throw for 12, an uncharged Hammer Throw for 6, and a Shell Shot for 6 more.    The Ghost recovers from Dizzy, but we only need to do 8 more damage! Mario uses the Snowman Doll we picked up in the Pit of 100 Trials to chip away 4 HP in style, and Goombario comes in with a Headbonk for the grand finale.   We’re victorious!   The Big Lantern Ghost flees, dropping the lantern… and darkness soon closes in.  Fortunately, the solution is at hand. We just have to get Mario’s very next partner - Watt - out of that lamp.  We could hammer the lamp, but let’s switch to Bombette. She can—  And the game crashes. Fortunately, I made a save state after defeating the Lantern Ghost, but can you imagine the face of anyone who wasn’t so lucky? Anyway, what’s causing this is a fault that has earned the nickname of the ‘partner swap crash’. It occurs when swapping partner from/to Goombario or Kooper, in certain rooms that place heavy use on the game’s memory (usually rooms with 3D props or objects, such as the badge shop’s carpet). Sometimes, having ended a battle in that same room is also necessary. And yes, the Big Lantern Ghost’s room is one such room. When the partner swap glitch occurs, the game tries to allocate memory to store the incoming partner’s information. It fails to do so, and the game falls over with an out-of-memory error. The actual root cause of the fault is simple: the Master Quest devs packed the rom too full! There’s not enough space to hold everything… though a patch is reportedly in development that fixes most of the crashes by culling out unused content that was previously left in the rom.   We leave the room, switch to Bombette, then head back in.     Hey! Aren’t you, um, Mario?! You just saved me like a hero! You’re a hero, aren’t ya? You’re the coolest!!! You saved me from the mean guy who laughed like, “Wee hee hee!”   And so we get our next partner! ‘Watt’ sorts of things will we be able to find and do with her abilities? Badges: 51/90 Recipes: 37/50 Star Pieces: 98/202 (we have 28) Chuck Quizmo’s Quiz Questions: 26/64 Game Overs (this time): Three; one to the surprise Koopatrol, and two to the Big Lantern Ghost. (There were also, technically speaking, maybe 3-4 more Game Overs to the Big Lantern Ghost during strategy testing, but we won’t count those.) Game Overs (total): 18. SUMMARY OF CHANGES FROM MAIN GAME (in this installment) • Koopatrol sets up ambush in Toy Box near Super Soda. • Koopatrol now 150% of the Koopa he used to be. (+7 HP, +5 Attack (+15 Attack when charged), +2 Defense. Regular attack paralyzes Mario for one turn.) • Big Lantern Ghost gets mean. (+10 HP, +3 Attack. Lantern attack now paralyzes Mario for two turns. Once he’s at 30 HP or below, he acts twice a turn when attacking; the second action is always the flash attack. Yes, this will stunlock you without hope of recovery.) Next Time On Master Quest: What if there was an easier and/or funnier way to beat the Big Lantern Ghost? P.S.: Here is a piece of commentary from Thamz, the lead Master Quest dev: 
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Dec 28, 2019 13:50
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Yes, everyone, why didn't you just learn to block the... flash of light... with no real tell of when the attack is...
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Dec 28, 2019 14:13
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I'm looking forward to the harder version of master quest, which they're renaming to Master Quest CBT
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Dec 28, 2019 15:18
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Supremezero posted:Yes, everyone, why didn't you just learn to block the... flash of light... with no real tell of when the attack is... Technically this thing is targetted towards the sort of people who would learn to block the flash of light. But also oof, that was 2 very nasty fights in quick succession wasn't it.
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Dec 28, 2019 16:17
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Stunlocking the player to death is a really cheap and boring tactic, intentions or not.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:15
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Yeah. It makes all of the previous prompts not matter comparatively for no reason. Play with the same amount of skill, only missing a single prompt and one time you will win and one time you won't.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:17
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I don't think I agree with the stunlocking either. Even if it's for the sake of difficulty, you get one chance at it, and if you fail, you're dead. That's not good design. Also the surprise Koopatrol was no surprise at all, I can already somewhat predict how this hack will work. I was more surprised that they give good exp honestly.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:37
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Aw, now I'm curious as to how Watt was changed. Being able to ignore defense in the base game was really handy so I wonder if they made her any stronger or weaker with how many enemies in this version of the game have ludicrous amounts of defense.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:54
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Big Lantern Ghost is the fight I hated most in this entire game (and seeing Thamz say "haha learn to block noob" is just icing on the cake, I will choose not to say aloud what I'm thinking right now). The thing about this kind of difficulty is that sure, it's difficult, but it's not fun to work at figuring out how to beat. The only potential fun in something like this is looking for unintended workarounds out of spite. I have absolutely no shame about cheesing this fight in the prior version, though the way I did it doesn't work in this version (you can probably already guess, it involved Goombario's charge being uncapped). I think the fight would've probably been fine if not for the second phase where it starts attacking twice every turn; at least then, it wouldn't get into the lockdown state, and there's still plenty of room for blocking skill to matter if that's the priority (if you don't block you're still taking several turns of damage). One of the biggest issues with how this works is that Mario and partners can't block while incapacitated, so any fight balanced around blocking that has those mechanics in it is basically going to be an auto-lose if you get hit with a status (but also, crucially, a loss state that forces you to watch the game taunt you about it for a while since it doesn't immediately go to game-over; this is, unequivocally, bad design). I do actually quite like the Koopatrol ambush, though (I didn't see it because I'd picked Koopatrol as the option). That's cute, even if it is probably quite annoying when you don't know it's coming. I'm also quite surprised at the vanilla Shy Guys still being in the game; I'd have thought they just overwrote the monster stats for everything? Which implies those are a different enemy in the base game for some reason, despite being identical? It's just weird. I'm sure they'll be addressed in an update now though.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:54
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Explopyro posted:I'm also quite surprised at the vanilla Shy Guys still being in the game; I'd have thought they just overwrote the monster stats for everything? Which implies those are a different enemy in the base game for some reason, despite being identical? It's just weird. I'm sure they'll be addressed in an update now though. Especially since they're a source of healing up before the Koopatrol. And oh, we need to free up some memory to prevent the partner swap crash.... But yeah stunning the player and answering the possibility of stunlocking with "git gud" they should have just made the flash do max damage if not guarded or something or followed up with an attack that did max damage or something, not just rubbing it in or making the player watch it "just in case" they get out of it.
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Dec 28, 2019 19:02
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Sweet update
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Dec 28, 2019 19:32
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That was a very exciting update with a really satisfying ending... I am *so* glad that you made a save state, though.Explopyro posted:seeing Thamz say "haha learn to block noob" is just icing on the cake, I will choose not to say aloud what I'm thinking right now I was going to make an acerbic comment, but I think that I will take a cue from you. I will say that that comment really hammered home my general opinion of "hard type" devs. There is still an incomplete LP of FFT 1.3 kicking around somewhere... someone bought the dev an account to participate in the thread, and he was so insufferably smug it made jaw hurt from clenching.
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Dec 28, 2019 22:17
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This is confirming my suspicion that the dev started with a baseline of perfect QTE performance in design. Yeesh.
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Dec 28, 2019 22:42
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Explopyro posted:I'm also quite surprised at the vanilla Shy Guys still being in the game; I'd have thought they just overwrote the monster stats for everything? Which implies those are a different enemy in the base game for some reason, despite being identical? It's just weird. I'm sure they'll be addressed in an update now though. They did overwrite the stats. I think the NPC data for the slot machine and Green Station track boxes is hard-coded in the map file... or something. I don't know enough about how NPC Groups are handled to understand it. Alxprit posted:Aw, now I'm curious as to how Watt was changed. Being able to ignore defense in the base game was really handy so I wonder if they made her any stronger or weaker with how many enemies in this version of the game have ludicrous amounts of defense. I believe her damage has been decreased, but we'll know for sure when we try her out in a battle.
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Dec 28, 2019 23:01
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Regarding attacks like that which attack both you and your partner at once (Like the Lantern Ghost's shine and Final Bowser's Star wave attack), they're 2 attacks in quick succession. So double tapping A quickly enough for both will block for both of them. (Or you just might have to hold A. Not sure how fast the N64 can register button presses to discern between taps and holding.) However there's also a very small window of time where the guard timing for both Mario and his partner overlap, and pressing A once during that small window will block for both of them at once.
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Dec 28, 2019 23:13
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Discendo Vox posted:This is confirming my suspicion that the dev started with a baseline of perfect QTE performance in design. Yeesh. After the poison hell of chapter 2 I had no doubt this was the design assumption.
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Dec 29, 2019 01:12
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Part 28 1/2: The Downfall of the Big Lantern Ghost (as Told by Someone with Four Thumbs) So, last installment, we beat the Big Lantern Ghost with a lot of luck and good timing on our side. But what about if someone isn’t as dextrous and/or prepared?   Well, then we bust out the cheese, of course! This method will work no matter how many attacks of the BLG you fail to block. Of course, the catch is that it’s by the power of cheat codes! The code I just entered sets Mario’s HP to 50. It then keeps setting Mario’s HP to 50, even if some event or another (such as, getting hit by an enemy) would change it. Put quite simply, Mario now can never die! Want to follow along on your own emulator? The code is 8010F292 0032. 8010F292 is the memory location of the ROM that stores Mario’s HP, and 32 is 50 in hexadecimal (base 16). It’s literally just ‘set this memory address to this value’.  The other important factor in this strategy is the Zap Tap badge. We’ll need it on for what we’re planning to do.  To start with, we need to get the Big Lantern Ghost down to 30 HP, as quickly as possible.    So, while Mario jumps on the Lantern, we Charge with Goombario twice. We’ll get stunned after the second charge, but once we recover, Mario can light up the Lantern and Goombario can headbonk for 16 damage.   The Lantern Ghost will use its flash attack; by the time we recover, its HP is at a level where Goombario’s headbonk puts it below 30.    Because of this, the BLG uses its flash attack twice in a turn, stunlocking us…  …and takes its next turn immediately. It then jumps on Mario, taking 1 chip damage from Zap Tap.  From there, it does its flash attack again. The way the BLG’s AI is coded, whenever it does the flash attack, it queues up the jump. Whenever it does the jump, it would normally get ready to blow out the lantern - except, the Master Quest devs make it do the flash attack again, which overrides this, and so the jump attack is selected for the next move. There’s normally also a counter variable that prevents the flash attack from being used too often, but the MQ devs bypassed this.    And so, the Big Lantern Ghost alternates between jump attacks and flash attacks, slowly chipping away at its own health. We don’t have to do (or get to do) a thing.     And so we are victorious. Next Time On Master Quest: OwO, Watt’s this?
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Dec 29, 2019 01:13
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Quackles posted:The way the BLG’s AI is coded, whenever it does the flash attack, it queues up the jump. Whenever it does the jump, it would normally get ready to blow out the lantern - except, the Master Quest devs make it do the flash attack again, which overrides this, and so the jump attack is selected for the next move.  Well now. Hearing that I now fully endorse this strategy.
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Dec 29, 2019 05:06
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Is there any method for this guy that doesn't involve either a lot of luck or blatant cheating? I know that power-leveling isn't an option, which I assume was also the case in the base game. Not judging on the cheating, by the way, but this is the first major encounter where I felt that you won via a coin flip rather than cleverness and an understanding of game mechanics.
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Dec 29, 2019 05:18
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To anyone interested in the Breath of Fire III mod, it is NOT the one released on romhacking.net today
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Dec 29, 2019 05:22
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Omnicrom posted:Well now. To be clear, the regular AI script looks like this: • Flash => Jump => Blow out lantern => repeat • If you try to blow out the lantern while it is out, skip to 'jump' and proceed from there. • If you try to flash while it is within two turns of the last flash, skip to 'jump' and proceed from there. To which the MQ devs added, • If you are at/below 30 HP, have just finished the flash attack or jump attack, and have not acted twice this turn, then do the flash attack regardless of how long it has been since you last did it. JustJeff88 posted:Is there any method for this guy that doesn't involve either a lot of luck or blatant cheating? I know that power-leveling isn't an option, which I assume was also the case in the base game. If you don't want to use cheat codes, Dizzy Shell at 31-32 HP followed by Charged Hammer Throw and beating the Ghost up is probably the best way. Here's why: 1. The way the bar-mashing meter for Dizzy Shell works means your chances of getting the Dizzy proc are actually higher than 20%. I don't know what, but it is higher. 2. You actually have a good number of chances to try to get Dizzy to work as long as you pack enough healing items to stall things out. I originally brought three Sweet Shrooms into the fight to stall out the ghost until I could get Dizzy to land. I just never had to use any of them, 'cause I got Dizzy Shell to stick on the third try. If I hadn't made some of those blocks I did, I probably would have needed to use one or two - but I still would have been able to beat the Ghost in the end. 3. I didn't go into the battle with a full Star Energy bar, but if you ended up in a situation where you couldn't deal quite enough damage to the Ghost, Star Storm and a partner attack should be able to end it after you beat the Ghost up, on the turn he recovers from Dizzy.
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Dec 29, 2019 05:39
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| # ? Jun 3, 2024 16:25 |
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I'm getting more and more worried that there'll be a rhythm-game boss that has a 64-hit attack, each randomly-timed strike of which does 65 damage if unblocked and 1 if blocked. Don't have all the HP Up badges? Enjoy losing!
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Dec 29, 2019 07:11
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