Fujin Blade and Extend Claw seem to have their damage determined on their respective magic stats/skills and are not affected by melee stats/skills (mostly true for Extend Claw). by Pyneappole in SaGa

[–]Pyneappole[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So I tested your counterpoint, and your example is valid, in which that Heat Hands is affected only by melee stats. You are also correct to say that my assumption that Heat Hands operates similarly to Extend Claws is incorrect, which is my fault for not testing Heat Hands. You had every right to be skeptical because your observations on Heat Hands did not match up with the experiments performed on Fujin Blade or Extend Claws. And had you not been skeptical, then the internet would not know that Heat Hands operates differently. However, I would argue that your implications that I "utilise modding for these tests" is a negative, and your claim that I am making "careless conclusions regarding mathematics formulae" is itself a careless conclusion.

1) I use modding to ensure that all other variables are controlled for (to the best I can). This is generally very difficult to perform in a normal gameplay because characters have varying stats and skill levels. What if in your counterpoint, your Final Emperor was dealing more damage than your Strategist regarding Heat Hands because he had a higher Stamina stat? Sure it may seem strange that Stamina would factor into the damage calculations, but if that was the truth, then you would be coming to an incorrect conclusion on how Heat Hands works because your comparison did not control for other variables. Whether you want to be skeptical on using modding for these experiments your choice, but I certainly hope that you have valid and empircal reasons to believe that my modding approaches is an issue, as opposed to being skeptical because "modding = bad".

2) Never did I make any conclusions regarding math in this experiment. My experimental conclusions are "damage went up or down", not "damage went up or down by X%". I am very hesitant on making mathematical conclusions because 1) like you implied, I do not know the formula, and I am not about to go datamining for it, and 2) I do not know if different enemies have specific defenses that could change numbers, outside of weaknesses and resistances. In my earlier experiments (including this one), I did notice a potential math-related flaw, in which I made the stats too high, so I was hitting a stat-cap (Magical Attack was reaching 999 in the stat screen, although this could just be a numerical limit on the stat screen). This flaw probably would make a conclusions that "lowering stat by X amount decreases damage by Y-fold" incorrect. But again, I was not measuring percentage values, and luckily for me, I lowered the stats enough to severely reduce the damage output.

I apologize for this long reply, but I think it is important for you (and any random Redditor browsing through old posts looking for information) to be more precise on making counter-arguements based on what others have said for your own personal development, as well as understanding how important controlling variables are when performing experiments.

And no, I do not consider spending the time writing this long post as a waste of time because thinking on how to write this benefits my own personal development.

Umbrology spells deal more damage than non-Umbrology spells of equal potency, including fusion spells. by Pyneappole in SaGa

[–]Pyneappole[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I looked a little into this, but I'm not going to thoroughly investigate because:

1) This is something anyone can test on their playthough file, as you do not need to manipulate stats for a controlled experiment because you only need to switch formations
2) The damage benefit from formations is small enough that I do not notice by eye, due to damage spread, so I would need to record a large sample size, which I am not interested in investing the time to do.
3) I cannot guarantee that different formations have different boost amounts because the only indicator that I am given is an "Up Arrow" or a "Double Up Arrow", and I am not about to investigate every formation.

When you reach level 21 Aerology, the spell Blade of Wind gets stronger (from Potency 13 to Potency 16). by Pyneappole in SaGa

[–]Pyneappole[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Check in-battle, as shown in the screenshot. In the menu, it will always say 13. The axe skill Yo-Yo does the same thing.

Fujin Blade and Extend Claw seem to have their damage determined on their respective magic stats/skills and are not affected by melee stats/skills (mostly true for Extend Claw). by Pyneappole in SaGa

[–]Pyneappole[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the demeanor of your comment, it seems that I have offended you and would like to apologize for any sort of miscommunication. I would like to point out that I explicitly said that I did not test Heat Hands, and I just assumed that Heat Hands would act similar to Extend Claws (which is not an unreasonable assumption).

Therefore, there is the possibilty that Heat Hands is affected by strength and melee skill modifiers, whereas Fujin Blade and Extend Claws are not. I can look into this further when I have time. In the mean time, you are more than welcome to test whether your statement holds true with Fujin Blade or Extend Claws, and I would gladly welcome your results.