Help Needed (advanced techniques)

[zeikier]

1- Is it possible for a party member to be able to be hit by a particular attack, then "learn" it like a Blue Mage?

2- Is it possible for an attack to have multiple hits?

3- Is it possible for another enemy to take the place of a fallen enemy? What I mean is: there's a boss fight in which the party fights one boss, and as soon as it is defeated, I was planning on another form of the boss to appear during the same battle sequence, thereby replacing the first boss.

4- What methods need to be done for a boss to summon a certain enemy at certain intervals (i.e, after a certain number of turns)? Is there an option for that in the lists of Direct Effects, or does it involve customizing a script (I don't have a lot of experience with scripts, so advice would be heavily appreciated with regards to this)?

5- Along with the previous question, is it possible to script - or any otherwise method - a Boss to perform an attack only when other enemies are in their party? For example, say the final boss, Chaos, has two support units, Slime Servants. Is there a way for Chaos to be able to cast a powerful spell, Judgment (or Doomsday, one of those two names), only when both Slime Servants are on the field with him? And furthermore, is it possible for Chaos to summon a replacement Slime Servant after a certain amount of turns after one of them is destroyed?

If you've played the version of FFX with the fight against Penance, he utilizes a similar method of attack in which he uses an attack when both of his arms are present for a while. It's something like that I had in mind, and I'm wondering if that is possible in this game's system.


Thanks in advance.

[Dungeon Warden]

1. Not without heavy scripting on your part. It can be done, you just need to write the formula yourself.

2. Yes, see the Angel spear which always attacks twice. There is a variable called battle turns (#22) which keeps track of how many attacks the weapon gets in a round. The is found in a Direct effect - adv/flow1/turn end; using the script ActX2 (#217).

3. Can one enemy replace another - NO. Can a boss upgrade to a different form - Yes.

Here's how. During Event battles you have the option of removing the normal start and end battle scripts. What you do is cut the end off the first battle and the beginning off the second battle and the two battles will act like a single battle.

4. If you want specific actions to take place at certain times in battle you wall need to use a Trait script. All enemies (and characters) have a slot to put a Trait Script (it's in the ADV settings). In this script you place the actions the enemy will do each turn. This involves using the Action variables (#59-65) and the trait flag (#82).

Warning: The trait flag is not documented in the game (one of three that weren't translated). What this flag does is tell the trait script what part of the battle the script is running in. This is because the script runs twice - at the beginning of the battle round (so you can have the boss say or do something each round or add/subtract agility so the act sooner/later in the round) and during the enemies turn for their actual attack.

Flag 82 [Trait] = off means it's the beginning of the round, On means it's the enemies turn. Use this in a condition script to tell the battle engine what happens at those two times.

5. This can be done but requires some heavy scripting. You'll need to check which enemies are on the field using Check Who Goes Next (see the Flee script which checks the agilities of the party members and the enemies and determines if the party can flee based on these numbers). It's complicated but can be done.

Two of your questions are easy to do (#2 and 3), but the other three will require strong scripting skills. Good luck.

[zeikier]

Thanks. Looks like I'll be spending a while getting to know all the scripts.

[The Final Rune]

zeikier said:

Thanks. Looks like I'll be spending a while getting to know all the scripts.

[white]Good luck. I hope you're mind works better with the battle systems scripts than mine does. I spent weeks trying to get just the basic default system to work with a few tweaks before I gave up in frustration. Thankfully, DW can answer most questions about the default system since he wrote the only guide (as far as I know) on it.

I don't know if it was his latest version, but you can find a copy of his demo at the rpgm pavilion boards for downloading. I have version 0.8 saved on my computer if the one there is older.



Oh and to DW, if you have a newer version, let me know, I like keeping back ups of all the RPGM2 stuff.[/white]

[Dungeon Warden]

Yeah, I think that's the most up-to-date one. I may have made some corrections since then, but I didn't add much to it.

In order to get to version 1, I need to explain what the scripts do and where they are used. This would be useful information for anyone using the preset data but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. If anyone's interested in this, I'll try to make an effort to get it done; otherwise, there's enough information to get you started in the FAQ already.

[CajunGaijiin]

Thanks from me too. I have a weapon in mind with multiple attacks-I just haven't gotten around to making it yet. This just saved me some time digging it up myself. Yeehaw!

[zeikier]

There was another thing I was wondering: Is there way for an enemy to be invulnerable until you give it a certain item? You know, similar to the Magic Pots in FF7?

[The Final Rune]

[white]Pretty much everything scripting wise is doable. Since battles are run entirely by scripts and events its all just a matter of using variables and flags together within the system's checks and balances. Not that I could tell you how to do this, but I can assure you it can be done. The only real limit in the game is the memory limits. Everything can be worked around one way or another with some clever scripting and some design compromises.[/white]

[zeikier]

Ah, yes, memory space is something I often worry about....

[Dungeon Warden]

the easiest way to do this is to give the enemy high resistance to every thing (or most things if you want it to have a weakness) and then have an item or ability that causes resistances to drop. The direct effect script can be written so that it only effects one type of enemy as well.

[raithwall]

1- Is it possible for a party member to be able to be hit by a particular attack, then "learn" it like a Blue Mage?

YES. FIRST, SORT THE ABILITY NUMBER. THEN HAVE TARGET MEMBER LEARN IT IF THEIR CLASS = BLUE MAGE.

2- Is it possible for an attack to have multiple hits?

VARIABLE CALLED BATTLE TURNS. USE IT ON DIRECT EFFECTS / TURN END.

3- Is it possible for another enemy to take the place of a fallen enemy? What I mean is: there's a boss fight in which the party fights one boss, and as soon as it is defeated, I was planning on another form of the boss to appear during the same battle sequence, thereby replacing the first boss.

ON ENEMY DEATH, MAKE YOUR APPLICABLE FLAGS, THEN SET CALL SAME ENEMY OR CALL DIFFERENT ENEMY. IT WILL APPEAR RIGHT AFTER THE FIRST ONE DIES.

4- What methods need to be done for a boss to summon a certain enemy at certain intervals (i.e, after a certain number of turns)? Is there an option for that in the lists of Direct Effects, or does it involve customizing a script (I don't have a lot of experience with scripts, so advice would be heavily appreciated with regards to this)?

TRAITS. OR YOU COULD USE A VARIABLE TO DETERMINE HOW MANY TURNS HAVE PASSED. FINALLY, TO SUMMON THERE MUST BE APPLICABLE ROOM. SUMMON DOESNT HAVE TO BE AN ABILITY, IT CAN BE APPLIED AT THE END OF AN ENEMIES TURN.

5- Along with the previous question, is it possible to script - or any otherwise method - a Boss to perform an attack only when other enemies are in their party? For example, say the final boss, Chaos, has two support units, Slime Servants. Is there a way for Chaos to be able to cast a powerful spell, Judgment (or Doomsday, one of those two names), only when both Slime Servants are on the field with him? And furthermore, is it possible for Chaos to summon a replacement Slime Servant after a certain amount of turns after one of them is destroyed?

YES. A FLAG MUST BE TURNED ON WHEN HIS SERVANTS ARE ACTIVE. IF THAT FLAG IS ON THE ABILITY CAN BE CAST. THIS IS EASIER TO DO WITH A TRAIT AS RANDOM BEHAVIOR WILL CAUSE HIM TO WASTE A TURN IF THE SLIMES ARENT ACTIVE.

ANOTHER THING YOU COULD DO IS USE A SINGLE ABILITY AND TURN IT INTO ANOTHER ABILITY BY MANIPULATING THE DAMAGE, LIMITING THE RANGE, ETC. SETS YOUR FLAGS TO GO ON WHEN HIS SERVANTS ARE SUMMONED AND TURN THEM OFF WHEN HIS SERVANTS DIE.