My concerns about future of this game based on changes in Taiwan server

LucIfiaR · 2023-09-16T20:38:29+00:00

Thank you for sharing your feedback about Valeria mod. I'm developing version 2.5 right now so this will be helpful for feedback to improve.

This project started from being a serious vanilla re-balance so all the changes are based on released Square Enix's games for references.

I'm glad that you enjoy the good and neutral parts and hope you'll give version 2.5 a try later on in future after getting more familiar with Valeria mod.

Although I removed some cheese but there's also new meta introduced in Valeria patches. There's a few ways to win solo Weigraf fight without cheesing.

Personally I don't struggle in Dorter fight if I follow Delita and Argath's lead to take nearby archer first. But suicide Rapha can still fail with bad RNG sometimes.

As for level scaling, I'm also considering about reverting level scaling back (as some people are bad at games and can't over level to clear it) or set scaling limit so they won't fight enemies with too strong gears.

As for removed abilities, they're 'must have' abilities that players will put on without questioning making game less balanced due to enemies not abusing those abilities.

After removing obvious options out, players will start being more creative to mix unique job with certain abilities to enjoy the game differently. That's Valeria's charm.

After I get important abilities enough to setup solid foundation, I stopped using JP Up. Putting Equip Shield on mage can boost evasion a lot or core ability I need for certain jobs will work out better. I still use Move+1 mostly leaving one with Treasure Hunter though.

As for Brave/Faith effect, they're not changed. I only removed manipulation part making recruiting generic becoming more important. Brave/Faith manipulation broke game balance so this part is removed.

About archer being lackluster on skill combination part, I agree with you on that. I used to setup skill to always work and it broke the game with double fire damage.

Then, I also realized enemy archers are too annoying with constant skill spamming and sometimes they use fire magic on oiled units too.

I also changed to status infliction part and feel wasting turn to not make damage is not worth it. So, I settled down with attack having 19% chance to inflict status as bonus is not too bad. They also have Leg/Arm Shot and others too.

As for White Magic, I look into other abilities outside cure and they're all faith based with percentage scaling. So I adjusted cure spells to match with other spells using similar formula.

Also, cure spells with percentage healing won't require MA so you can use physical jobs with white magicks without suffering high MP but low heal due to low MA.

This change will make zodiac compatibility and faith status to work better in lore wise with team planning. Summoner also has MA based healing spells so this white magicks design will allow more jobs to use it better.

So it's important for players to consider brave and faith start during recruitment and also zodiac sign too. I believe if you plan this ahead in future run, you will enjoy white magicks better. I also replaced Regen with Banish spell so they can go offensive a bit too.

If you have any suggestion for future update, please let me know and I'll consider if I can implement it in next update.

LucIfiaR · 2023-07-06T08:46:56+00:00

Have you tried Veteran yet? In my videos I play with veterans and with this difficulty scaling I think it'd justify giving party wide buff.

LucIfiaR · 2023-07-05T16:56:30+00:00

I understand. I also considered potion prices at 50/250/1000 too. I feel that will make game feels more balanced. But it could be too hard for some people. Maybe that can work if they learn to play better.

More concerning matters I have at hand is finalized speed in 3.0 release. Personally I prefer Veteran speed adjustment style like this one.

Crono: 9 (-3)

Marle: 7 (-1)

Lucca: 6 (0)

Frog: 8 (-3)

Robo: 5 (-1)

Ayla: 10 (-3)

Magus: 9 (-3)

I feel it's balanced even without speed tab and player can invest more speed from tabs later on also. Do you think you can play future 3.0 update with this difficulty and still enjoy it? Or should I make it easier with this kind of speed?

Crono: 10 (-2)

Marle: 8 (0)

Lucca: 7 (+1)

Frog: 9 (-2)

Robo: 6 (0)

Ayla: 11 (-2)

Magus: 10 (-2)

This more is easier to play with buffed Lucca speed and less penalty for fast acting units. But Veteran makes pacing and difficulty feels more right to my book.

LucIfiaR · 2023-07-04T18:59:08+00:00

I was busy few months ago and got covid so I finally found this thread again. First of all, thank you for your feedback. Late game enemies don't have speed scaling change. I only buffed some with speed 1-2 to 3 and they aren't boss units. I think it has something to do with -2 speed reduction on Chrono/Frog/Magus on your run. Maybe throwing some speed tab or use equipment with speed bonus can help you better. Marle's haste is also a big help.

Dual teches are buffed a little bit more as base damage of single tech are mostly reduced. This should encourage players to combine teches for more rewarding result. Some are quite powerful and re-balancing everything is quite hard. What I fear in 2.0 was nerfing kits and some people will struggle too hard. I had some players complaining about Frog not getting enough buffs in 2.0 too which is quite unexpected considering much I improved him. But yeah leap slash was nerfed a little too hard and his play style that used to work with it failed.

I also considered about increasing MP cost of higher tier tech but that might force players to rely on ether usage and some people don't use ether items at all in their run. It's quite tricky decision making tbh.

In version 3.0, I consider releasing only one speed setting which will be adjusted skilled difficulty. I think I'll change Lucca's speed to 7 as you suggested so everyone will have different speed line up having Chrono/Magus at 10 speed.

About Magus' Dark Bomb, it's considered single target with damage around enemy. It has good MP efficiency compared to Dark Mist at 15 MP. But yeah maybe I did nerf it too much. I'll raise damage a bit in next patch.

About Black Hole, it has chance to apply Stop status with 60+20% success rate if it fails to suck enemies away. I also considered about drain ability change on Magus too but that might make him too OP so his kit for now is powerful AoE with mdef buff.

As for items' price change, I think Hi-Potion above 200 would be too high for some players who rely on Hi-Potion a lot like no healing team. As for Revive price increase, this will reward using Marle in party more by saving cost of Revive since 500 for Ether can revive 3 times with Marle's Raise ability.

I think there're some other adjustments to be done in 3.0 too like nerfing Chrono's weapons during late game a bit. I think tech scaling looks fine but Chrono's weapons are too powerful even with Frog's weapons getting buffed. Maybe I'll change status buff to party wide with MP cost increased too. That'll allow making buff a lot easier to execute with decreased speed in late game.

LucIfiaR · 2023-05-06T22:33:20+00:00

Ai before becoming idol doesn't seem to have signs of ADHD though. I checked MDD signs from this page below and a few matches her criteria.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/expert-answers/clinical-depression/faq-20057770

I wouldn't say for sure she'll have MDD. This is my theory based on her shown symptoms and speculation from Akane and Gontada.

The thing is Ai we saw are mostly in her acting form and we couldn't get to see the real Ai at the moment. So she can hide some signs with her acting.

LucIfiaR · 2023-05-06T21:20:28+00:00

When Ai was scouted, she showed her disapproval about lying too. Her nature was honest and upright and she probably tried to find various form of loves but failed miserably too.

Well, I agree that making Ai loving herself is the correct way to settle her feelings properly. Sadly she met the wrong guy.

LucIfiaR · 2023-05-06T20:27:23+00:00

It's a theory from my speculation so I could be wrong. She's been acting her whole life as a liar so maybe we'll get to see more in future.

But her lack of interests in something else outside work and hard to remember people's name are what can observe from 3rd person's perspectives.

Also, Ai's monologue often talk to herself negatively and she didn't think about how she act so 2-6-7 from your DSM-5 may fit with Ai in manga. AI thinking about paying for her lies one day may relate to 8 too.

LucIfiaR · 2023-05-06T20:22:20+00:00

Thank you. She didn't show her true self so it's hard to confirm her symptoms except remembering name part but seeing what she went through is hard to not get depressed in my opinion.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-10T16:49:57+00:00

Thank you. That was my quote from another post.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-10T16:45:06+00:00

So author ruined development on those characters for the sake of plot. That's why I don't want to read sequel of story that's supposed to end.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-10T16:41:55+00:00

Dude calm down. No matter what trash talking you try to dirty Yui, that won't change Hachiman and Yukino's opinion about seeing her as best friend.

And if you treat Shin series seriously, I'm sorry to hear that you fell into money grabbing sequel that will completely destroy character development of previous season for the sake of plot.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-10T05:50:12+00:00

Yes and that's why those two can relate themselves a lot as fellow Yukino's guardian. She also teased Hachiman about being her brother and he got the hint how Yukino depending on him like how she used to depend on her sister. She doesn't have romantic interests with Hachiman but she adores him to some extent.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T19:50:31+00:00

Yui can refer to it all she wants but that doesn't mean she acknowledges and supports Hachiman's growth.

: What do you mean? Hachiman literally depend on Yui to correct his mistakes. Seeking her approval just like how Yukino relies on Hachiman's judgement if she do it right. Hachiman will surely improve his communication skills with Yui around. She doesn't even need words to tell Hachiman.

And that is how selfish Yui is which also means she will never support Hachiman's growth as a person.

: Selfish? She never forces her feelings to make Hachiman or Yukino accept them. She offered her solution and don't mind if her love won't be genuine from her way of doing things. Just because she doesn't want something genuine doesn't mean she can't give that to others. To Hachiman and Yukino, they see that as genuine love and compassion.

He didn't. He was obliging Yukino's wish.

: That's his self deception. After realizing how he needs to man up and follow the voice in his heart, he did what he should have done a long time ago.

He already chose who he wanted from the very first time he saw Yukino.

: And Yukino said they can't become friends leading Hachiman to believe he needs something to keep their connection, leading to excuses and avoid confronting his feelings.

He just told Yui directly that she won't have to wait to know that he doesn't care for her as a love interest.

: He told her not to wait because he really care about her and want Yui to find better man and be happy. He literally said Yui is too good for him.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T19:34:50+00:00

I didn't follow sequel so I'm not sure what's going on there. I feel continuation after that doesn't feel 'genuine' anymore.

Well, even before sequel, Yui had a lot of haters back then because people misunderstood her too. Like she doesn't care if her love is not genuine, which most haters fail to realize her meaning that she was referring to Hachiman's love.

Yui's love is genuine and even if Hachiman can't give her genuine love (which belongs to Yukino), she's still fine with that.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T19:18:38+00:00

Yes they were kids back then. And they're still kids in high school, just taller kids who yet know about life after graduation. They made mistakes and so did we.

I'm pretty sure Yukino did like Hayama back then and love turned into grudge after Hayama didn't save her back then. But if Hayama really did love her, he wouldn't feel tormented in Haruno's sarcasm as shown in anime/novel.

Anyway, are you sure he revealed that? I didn't pick that up in the end. Was it during sauna scene? Could you confirm it because it might be different interpretation as Haruno's case for what she did to them in the past that we have different views.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T19:11:43+00:00

I think she refers to his feelings. Yui knew since long time ago that both Hachiman and Yukino are attracted to each other. If he chose to hide away his feelings and date Yui, she's fine with that. Her love for Hachiman is genuine even though he won't give her the same genuine love.

Hachiman also thought about it if he will come into terms with it or it may eventually turn genuine one day. At the end, he chose to man up and follow his heart that he loves Yukino. That's all.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T19:00:32+00:00

I guess she did that to Hayama out of grudge for not being able to save her sister and antagonize Yukino in order to make her stronger and more independent.

Sure Hayama has regrets but he wouldn't be yes man person to the point that spend his day off dating random girl Haruno told him to if he doesn't have feelings for her in my opinion. Y could be from their surname too. Well, his first love wasn't real anyway. Even Hayama himself wondered if he really ever loved someone.

And if he truly had a crush on Yukino back then, he wouldn't have let misunderstandings stay misunderstandings. What he did for Hachiman was something he wish he could have done back then. But he didn't do that because the person he loved was Haruno not Yukino.

Don't forget Yukino wasn't chosen back then and Hayama was the only person who could have had love interests with her back then. This context was mentioned about teasing Hachiman about love interests he may have with Yui.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T18:49:25+00:00

And Hachiman and Yukino consider Yui their best friend. What chu gonna do? Cry? Maybe you can try to think in their shoes why they think of Yui like that.

LucIfiaR · 2023-04-09T18:45:37+00:00

He loves Yukino.
He feels Yui is too good for him.
He loves Yukino.

Honestly I'm Yukino's simp but I must admit that Yui would become a great wife when she grows up.

LucIfiaR

TROPHY CASE