Legend of Dragoon type Attack system? Help.

[KuroShinnen]

Have you ever played LOD? If not, the battle system is a square comes out from the screen and you must hit X in the time limit... I want something like that but just have it where you must hit X, O, triangle, or square in about a second... Then it attacks and then the combo will continue... I figure I need to add something to my current original battle system... so please help and I will add you to my game credits.

[Rodak]

A good starting point might be the "User Input: Buttons" command with a time limit.

I would need to experiment to find out how to properly implement it into the Default Battle System, but it should not be that hard.

I imagine it would go in the direct effect for the attacks in question.

Good luck with it.

Peace.

[Deleted]

The script in the 'Result' slot of the Direct Effect is what goes when an attack/etc. successfully hits the target, so that's where your script-work will go.

After that you need to think about your damage formulas. For instance, Legend of Dragoon's damage formula was
(Instigator STR * Addition %) - Target DEF

From there you'll need to detailedly plan every ability/attack in your game that uses these. You'll have to figure out a good way to figure out the damage when the player fails (and by how much he fails). For example
[Instigator STR * (Addition % / Number of Misses)] - Target DEF

From there you'll want to do this in your 'Result' slot script:
Script: Condition: Flag 'Side' OFF (party member taking action)
Call Script [Member Damage Formula]
Condition End
Script: Condition: Flag 'Side' ON (enemy taking action)
Call Script [Enemy Damage Formula]
Condition End
Since you'll need a different formula for enemies of course.

Then, in the [Member Damage Formula] script you do this:
Data: Load Direct Effect Info (find which direct effect is being used)
Script: Sort: Variable 'Direct Effect'
Apply If 34
(do button timing for this ability)
To End
Apply If 35
(do button timing for this ability)
To End
Apply If 36
(do button timing for this ability)
To End
etc...
Branch End

Followed by the damage calculating, then lastly by the subtracting HP from target part.
_____________________________

Work on that for a bit and see how far you get.

[KuroShinnen]

Ok, thanks guys, i'll try.

[Deleted]

For every Direct Effect, use its 'Rate' as the percent. RPGM2 will remember it for you that way.

Oh yeah, for the button pressing part...

Put this before the Script: Sort: Variable [Direct Effect]

Data: Variable [Number Misses] = 0

Then, the Input: Buttons: Wait XF (30F = second) will record which button the player hits within that time limit. Variable 'User Button' will hold this value for you. Note that the X and O values are opposite of what the help message says.

For example...

Input: Buttons: Wait30F
Script: Condition: Variable [User Button] /= (number for X)
Data: Variable [Number Misses] = [Number Misses] + 1
Condition End

will Add 1 to [Number Misses] if the player fails to hit X in the given amount of time.

You can then add Sound Effects to let the player know where he succeeds and/or fails, and of course a Text Box so he knows which button to hit. So, total it looks like this:

*Data: Variable: [Number Misses] = 0
Data: Load Direct Effect Info (find which direct effect is being used)
Script: Sort: Variable 'Direct Effect'
Apply If 34
*Text Box 'X'
*Input: Buttons: Wait30F
*Script: Condition: Variable [User Button] /= (number for X)
*SFX: 'Deny' sound
*Data: Variable [Number Misses] = [Number Misses] + 1
*Condition End
*Close Text Box
To End
Apply If 35
(do button timing for this ability)
To End
Apply If 36
(do button timing for this ability)
To End
etc...
Branch End

edit: Also, I'd say take into account that it takes about 3F for a Text Box to appear, so an extra 3 F of button pressing time might be good.

[KuroShinnen]

thanks... but how would you go about doing the battle formula? It's a little confusing since I don't experiment much on making battle systems.

[Deleted]

Oh, yes, basically:

Data: Flag: [Stat Type] On
Battle: Substitute Target Attributes for Variable
(default variables 'Strength', 'Intelligence', etc. will now contain caster's stats - use them however you wish)
Battle: Make Active Character
Battle: Substitute Target Attributes for Variable
(default variables 'Strength', 'Intelligence', etc. will now contain target's stats - use them however you wish)
(now use both the caster's and target's stats to figure out a [Damage Total])

For example, the basic formula of...
Caster ATK - Target GRD = [Damage Total]
would be...

Data: Flag: [Stat Type] On
Battle: Substitute Target Attributes for Variable
*Data: Variable: TempVariable6 = 'Attack'
Battle: Make Active Character
Battle: Substitute Target Attributes for Variable
*Data: Variable: TempVariable7 = 'Guard'
*Data: Variable: [Damage Total] = TempVariable6 - TempVariable7

And then you can make it however complex you want it to be. For example, adding this after that would result in Critical hits occuring 10% of the time and doing 1.4 times normal damage...

Data: Variable: TempVariable0 = 1 ? 100
Script: Condition: TempVariable0 >= 10
Message: 'Critical Hit!'
Data: Variable: [Damage Total] = [Damage Total] * 140
Data: Variable: [Damage Total] = [Damage Total] / 100

The possibilities really are endless. ;D

[KuroShinnen]

I'm sorry for all the questions WilliamKirk, but do you need a direct effect for all single attacks...? like would you need one for the first attack timing and the next few? or just one for the whole battle for the person? I'm just confused on what to do with the direct effects.

And what would the enemy damage formula be?

[Deleted]

Well, Direct Effects are the technical side of Abilities, normal attacks, and defends, so every Ability, item, normal attack, and defend move would each need one Direct Effect. Sometimes you can reuse Direct Effects for very similar Abilities, but usually not. The big 'Result' slot script can be the same in every Direct Effect because it does different button combinations depending on what Direct Effect is being used. The other information the Direct Effects hold that's important is the (normally) Visual/Sound Effects, % chance of success, appearance in menu (Offense, Defense, Other), Rate (power of the Ability/normal attack/defend), and anything else (such as whether to consume an item, or to consume MP).

The enemy damage formula can be anything you want, it just can't include the button timing (or would need a separate, fake button timing where the enemy succeeds or fails).

And, don't worry about it. I got myself into this myself.