Xu Yuan wrote:Caves of Narshe eh? I had a friend who was there for a time, he said the place was dreadful, though that's because they opposed his FF Tactics work, or something as such, a fellow named Zodiac, a brilliant FFTactics hacker, also the leader of his own site at ffhacktics.com .
Opposed his work? Looks like they embraced it from the few posts I looked through. Something else must have happened... it wouldn't be the first time. The strict rules alone drive a lot of people away from that site, but that part is done as a quality control measure. With over 500 posts, he must've had a fallout with someone, but it's not my place to speculate I suppose. :\
Xu Yuan wrote:While I am a bit of a hacker myself all the jumps and pointer offsets really get to me, though I'm mainly a "modder" not really a hacker in the normal sense. I use tools and codes developed and the like, to try and make something my own.
Yeah, working with 65816 assembly was enough to teach me the basics of programming, so I don't have problems with mere jumps and such despite lacking knowledge of MIPS assembly. I can interpret what it does to an extent, but I still need help reading it.
Xu Yuan wrote:Personally, while I like GU, I felt the ability to add things to weapons really took a lot of... well everything away. It made the game far too simple once you found a combination. This is a bit of a stretch, but if you could make a code that could disable adding components I'd say the idea would work much better.
I don't know if this would affect trading value, and it would eliminate weapons from being sold at Shop Acorn, but the easiest way to do this would probably be to simply make every non-Lost Weapon Rarity *5, or if you don't care, it would only take one patch code to do it to every last one of them. You could do it with a few patch codes to retain Lost Weapon rarity, but that only prevents you from trading them away, trashing them, and your party members from selling them (that would take some effort to make happen though) AFAIK. I don't *think* it would affect the Sacrament (I suspect the weapons would be hardcoded into the game to act the way they do in conjunction with the events there), but I can't say that for sure.
You could also simply zero out the number of slots, though I don't know what effect that would have on the customization or even the equipment menus and subscreens. In that case, however, it would take a few more codes because the CB patch code is always 32-bit, and the slot # is a 16-bit value. If you entered a sweeping code that covered all weapons, you'd end up nulling the first slot for all weapons as well, and I don't think that's what you're looking for either... is it?
Xu Yuan wrote:This is relatively a dream come true though. You've done a great job so far with all of this. Though a code I might have missed, was changing Adept Rogues Armor type from Armor to Robes/Clothes/Armor, it feels a bit more... genuine, I suppose you could say. I hated the lack of real magic on Haseo, that's one point where Kite definitely one ups him.
I have yet to look at the armor stats (they come immediately after Blinding Wing if I read the numbers right), and I don't know how to change the armor preferences or class choices yet, so I can't say anything about that.
I don't like the magic system one bit in this game myself. It's tacked on and lacks any variety whatsoever. Honestly, there should have been more spells and a place for them on the Skill Trigger.
Xu Yuan wrote:It seems as if the game allocates 1F amount of space to each weapon/armor type which would be... 31 each? In any case it's a bit more then their actually is. With all of the 999 weapons they stacked into the code. This all lends a lot to use.
To be fair, there aren't 999 weapons. They end immediately at Blinding Wing.
Also, it doesn't really matter what they dedicated to each type, since byte 0 dictates the type of weapon.
Xu Yuan wrote:Also I saw you mention changing Haseo's model, now I can't recall... but whoever takes this spot will have Haseo's classes? Or their own? And if they have their own, can they open treasure chests, warps, etc?
They don't change the classes as the status screen says they have.
In the case of other characters like Atoli and Kuhn, they only support the weapon type they're always supposed to have, so Atoli must have a staff and Kuhn must have a bayonet, and in Kuhn's case, you have to give him compatible Arts through codes altering the skill set for Haseo or altering the Skill Trigger. Generic PC's like Hetero, Wolf Song, and (from what I saw last night, though I've yet to try her out) open-eyed Natsume use a set of generic weapon animation files, so they can use any weapon that isn't a dual gun.
Here are more of the specifics:
1. Redemption is the kindest of the three games in terms of animations and usability. Other characters can open chests, ride the Steam Bike, "kick" trees and Chim Chim, use Warp Points and such. Some of this works in Reminisce, but none of it works in Rebirth. My guess would be that those games make an active effort to look for animations that don't exist, while Redemption, not seeing the file, shrugs it off in many cases. That's also why my efforts on focusing on the third volume.
2. Generic PCs use the Rebirth Twin Blade style and have trouble using guard breaks. The Flick Reaper file is also bugged with a starting slash that connects before it strikes, but is otherwise fine. Generics cannot use Lv.3 Arts of any kind, not even the "Lv.2.5" Dust Bullet, and can only use one class in any given battle (they can change weapons in battle, but changing weapon type must be done outside combat).
3. Things you cannot do in any game:
- Collect Key Items with a non-Haseo actor. Temple fields and Data Anomalies unrelated to warping should be avoided at all costs.
- Kick a Trap Box. The games will definitely try to access the kicking animation, and it will fail in all cases but Taihaku, who will go into his AIDA shield pose and still not connect, forcing a reset in all cases. Using the Steam Bike is the only method of accessing a Trap Box without Haseo's models.
- Change Haseo's model to someone else and then enter a normal Arena battle. Another instant freeze.
4. Only in Rebirth is it possible to use any Art related to your class. It's not because the animations are there, the game will just use a broken version of an existing Art instead, so you can use things like Coiling Blades and Destructor, but only technically.
5. Adept Rogues (Haseo, Matsu, and Sophora) will retain their natural skill sets in Reminisce and Redemption, but anyone else who changes weapon types will lose all of their natural skills as if they were Haseo in his second form (where he switches sets depending on the weapon he's holding). Until I can make real class change codes, you'll have to use skill set codes and/or Skill Trigger codes.
6. Only those with a magical class (mages and Sophora) can use magic on the Skill Trigger post-Rebirth. The game freezes when loading areas if you try this with anyone else, though I'm unsure of why it does this.
7. Other party members that are made the team leader will have Haseo's expanded menu when he's in third and Xth forms, but trying to change the leader's equipment will freeze the game. A form change code back to 2nd or 1st form must be used to handle equipment.
8. Don't try to change Haseo's weapon when he's an ally on the Equipment screen, at least when he's in 3rd and Xth forms. While the game handles his expanded list nicely enough, it also tries to list the normally equipped weapon as a fourth/fifth slot. Changing the first three/four, at least in regards to making one a main weapon, simply doesn't work, while changing the fifth slot freezes the game.
9. Should you use Magic or Bayonet skills on the Skill Trigger and try to use Rengeki or Hangeki, here are the specifics:
- Only the double damage aspect works for Rengeki. You won't increase the Ryu Book count or trigger Favorite quotes.
- Hangekis won't count toward the number of Counterattacks after battle.
- Should you attempt to use Rengeki on a medium to large size monster and it gets killed by a teammate, fourth PC or charmed enemy before you can attack, the enemy corpse will never fade away and you'll have to reset.
I'm pretty sure there are more, but that's all I remember off the top of my head. Generics also have a couple of other flaws I need to run tests on before declaring any facts about them (such as whether the instant teleportation mechanism was really responsible for a strange freeze I encountered and whether they can change weapon types during combat through the Equipment menu, since they definitely can't with Haseo's Multi-Trigger).
Xu Yuan wrote:I've also noticed you've done a ton with the unknowns in the game, do you have an amalgated amount of notes anywhere? I would really love to read those!
Not really, no. Almost every shred of dummied information I know is either something I can access quickly, like dummy weapon stats, or something I keep in my head. That's why I took up the Master's Text projects (look at the title of the equipment file), so when I complete these, I can start the Master's Book project, which will contain every shred of information on the .hack//G.U. games I know of. I can't say I'll be able to finish it, but it's a goal I'm working toward.
Xu Yuan wrote:Especially now that we see how much wasted opportunity they put into their project (if we can uncage combat, I think we would have achieved quite a new feel).
Well, yes and no. With Doppelganger, the only real difference has been the ability to run away, so it would be more of an aesthetic touch. This is something I'd like to do though.
Xu Yuan wrote:*1 Unsure of what the meaning is between the difference in "equipment" for Saku and Bo, so I'll leave those be for now, this includes Grimiores and their Lost Weapons.
From what I've seen, there are two of each Infinite Spiral and Eternal Light because half are Saku's and half are Bo's. The game always uses the first Lost Weapon's value in memory, while the Growth Level ("Alchemy" level) determines which weapon the model and stats are pulled from. I'm not sure if D5 (the first Infinite Spiral for Bo) is used when he's active or if he sticks to D4 and the game just pulls the stats for his weapons in the same manner, but all of them are used one way or the other.
EDIT: Added on to the rules listed in this post, specifically that generics can't change weapon type during battle, but can do so at other times. I think this is because the game only loads one weapon animation file for normal PC's depending on what they have on going into combat.
Also, open eyed Natsume is usable, as my avatar now reflects (a photo taken at Ran Hati). She does use the generic files, so while her Twin Blade self is pretty dull, I did enjoy using my Hidaru with miss crazy eyes.
