================================================================================================= Hidden Traits of Enemies Hmm...I'm doubtful of multiple enemy forms, as the game's code includes all the different forms even down to two separate forms of Nidheg (one for Emelia, one for everyone else). It's a possibility, but I don't see how it'd be done like that. Scene absorbs though, now that's an interesting idea. More likely than not, certain monsters were just changed for event purposes, Gaeatoad obviously being in the Shingrow Ruins, and Lummox only ever being an event battle fits this. Not sure where Harpy would be at though. The abilities enemies use in battle are found 61 (0x3D) bytes from the end of the monster data files. One thing I'm noticing though, is that, on my test subject, Dullahan, DeathGaze is listed as 0A88, whereas PoisonMist is 0CDD. Granted, neither 0A nor 0C requires that bit 7 be on, so it seems to me that bit 7 is what toggles the skill set (00xx or 01xx), which tells me that, since other values are used there, too, that those bits do something or other. Odd, though...I think it's just 0088/00DD in Dullahan's in-battle stat block. Bosses are given skill 00BF in every ability slot. (MecGod, Hell'sLord, etc.) Perhaps the attacks they can use are also modified for battle rank? And I'm noticing...why do 80% of monsters have a Knife equipped? Like a GUNFISH! What, is the knife in its eye? o.0 I'd question that a lot harder but *everything* else is adding up, so, meh. Platyhooks has an Aguni-SSP on. And Suzaku has...MaxwellProgram? The first shouldn't surprise, as it has to do SharpShot somehow. And MaxwellProgram shouldn't even work on Suzaku... Wow, by all logic it shouldn't--but apparently it does! I had all my characters defend, and he used GliderSpike. His WP went from 0x84 (132) to 0x80 (128). GliderSpike, however, has a cost of 5. I'm assuming all calculations are performed once all commands are entered, and thus it takes away the 5 WP for GliderSpike, then adds 1 for MaxwellProgram. Weird. Chariot also has SelfRepair. So, enemies can actually run out of WP / JP, then? they usually have a lot of WP/JP so you kinda have to stall/defend for them to run out GenocideHeart is a special case--he has a variety of event-called sets of abilities, and his WP/JP are restored each time he shifts scenes. The above for MaxwellProgram also applies to SelfRepair. Chariot and Gelatin are among the creatures with it. Interesting. I figured Gelatin had Photosynthesis or something. Discovered that unless it's on an event list somewhere (some bosses' skill lists aren't in their data, but determined in-battle--maybe they get different attacks at different battle ranks?), the skill 'Salmonella' is not used by any monster. However, it is a functional spell in the enemies' hands. It has the Spoil animation, but has no name text (i.e. no 'EnergyChain' box at the top of the screen on execution.) It inflicts Palsy, (red) Mess, and Venom, possibly more but I'm not sure. Beat works the same way, if I remember correctly. Technically, the normal enemy attack where it comes up and punches you is Beat, right? Both versions of Beat (007B and 008F) work that way. PC monsters I believe have Punch, considering that's what's listed. ================================================================================================= The RaySword and Alkaiser (and HIS skills) When Red transforms into Alkaiser the game adds a piece of equipment that adds +25 to all stats except DEFense, and +75 to VITality (The RaySword). You may also equip this weapon on other characters with a GameShark (or other hacking device) to recieve the same stat boost. It also increases MAX HP in battle by +200. While using the RaySword you will often spark(read: learn mid-battle) BrightFist the first time you use it as any character. These superhero moves are learnable by anyone but only usable by Alkaiser. To the reverse of that, many have said that Alkaiser can't learn normal moves, but that is false. I personally learn Sliding (by using Kick) when Red is forced to transform in Baccarat. (One of Emelia's outfits MIGHT allow her to use Alkaiser moves but its doubtful, and it would most definately be a bug) Also, to learn the best Alkaiser Skill, Re-Al-Pheonix, use Al-Pheonix the same turn MBlackIII uses Dark Pheonix (May be easier to use it every turn, it can be hard to predict) ================================================================================================= Mecs: the Robots of Frontier Somebody ran a japanesse site through the Babelfish translator and came up with these skill lists for Mecs Techs that can be absorbed from specific enemies (most to least likely) "Sawed attacker" (SwordMec)- nothing, nothing, HypnoFlash, Jammer MecDobby - nothing, Evasion Rocket, Evasion Rocket, MaxwellProgram "sky arm" (FlyMec) - Nothing, HypnoFlash, Jammer, Evasion Bullet CancerMec - nothing, Jammer, Evasion Bullet, MecSonata "Albatross" (BirdMec) - nothing, HypnoFlash, Evasion Bullet, LogicBomb "Hell female" (Hermes?) - nothing, Evasion Bullet, Evasion Rocket, MaxwellProgram Skylab - nothing, Evasion Laser, MecSonata, SelfRepair R&R - Nothing, Evasion Rocket, LogicBomb, SelfRepair IronHopper - Nothing, Nothing, Jammer, MaxwellProgram K9Mec - Nothing, Evasion Bullet, Evasion Laser, MaxwellProgram ElectroSheep - Nothing, Evasion Rocket, Evasion Bullet, MaxwellProgram TWalker - Nothing, Evasion Bullet, Evasion Rocket, Magnify ????????? number (?) - Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing "Bus tar machine" (D-Tractor?) - Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Evasion Bullet "Gunfighter" (Guncart?) - Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Evasion Bullet "?????" (Vulcan?) - Nothing, Nothing, Evasion Bullet, Evasion Rocket "????? reforming" (Vulcan2?) - Nothing, Nothing, Evasion Bullet, Evasion Rocket "? soldier group of steel" (?) - Nothing, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing Virus - Virus x4 MecGod - TigerProgram x4 MBlack - TigerProgram x4 MBlack reforming - DragonProgram x4 BigDigger - DragonProgram x4 **only the variant which uses Maelstrom** BigDigger - MaxwellProgram, MaxwellProgram, MaxwellProgram, HypnoFlash (These are the enemies that show up in RB3 model, with a Hermes sprite outside of the battle screen.) "The Skylab" (SkylabB) - Jammer, Evasion Laser, SelfRepair, SatelliteLinker "Hell female" (HermesB) - Evasion Bullet, Evasion Rocket, SelfRepair, ShootingMastery ElectroSheep (ElectroSheepB) - SelfRecovery, MecSonata, Evasion Laser, ShootingMastery "??????...??" (?) - DragonProgram, TigerProgram, TigerProgram, TigerProgram K9Mec (K9MecB) - MaxwellProgram, MecSonata, LogicBomb, TigerProgram K9Mec (K9MecC) - CombatMastery, ShootingMastery, SelfRepair, DragonProgram MecDobby 100 - MaxwellProgram, SelfRepair, LogicBomb, DragonProgram These are the skills that a Mec type can learn from "Self-Development" (Read: Skills they learn on thier own from absorbing any enemy rather than a specific one) Listed in no particular order. TYPE1 - ShootingMastery, CombatMastery, MaxwellProgram, SelfRepair, ShockSoldier, PluralSlash TYPE2 - ShootingMastery, MaxwellProgram, SelfRepair, SatelliteLinker, CounterECM, "??????" TYPE3 - ShootingMastery, CombatMastery, MecSonata, Kamikaze-CRUSH, InterceptSystem, PluralSlash, Shoot-All TYPE4 - ShootingMastery, MaxwellProgram, SelfRepair, MecSonata, Magnify TYPE5 - ShootingMastery, InterceptSystem, Magnify, Shoot-All TYPE6 - ShootingMastery, CombatMastery, InterceptSystem, ShockSoldier, Pop-Knight, PluralSlash, EnergySupply, Shoot-All TYPE7 - ShootingMastery, CombatMastery, SelfRepair, MecSonata, InterceptSystem, ShockSoldier, PluralSlash, Magnify, HammerCrush, Shoot-All TYPE8 - ShootingMastery, CombatMastery, SelfRepair, PluralSlash, Magnify Many of these enemy mecs may only be found on T260G's quest, particularly in his final dungeon. The next best way to learn Mec skills is probley the Laser Room in Despair, use the InfraScope to see the lasers. Also, the Board equipments do more than increase Stats (and Skill Slots). Equiping certain boards and certain skills lets Mecs uses other skills. Skill+board=New Skill DragonProgram+OctopusBoard=Maelstorm TigerProgram+(I forget)=TigerRampage Virus+SecretBoard=Jammer SatiliteLinker+BitSystem(Only on type 2 T260G or Rabbit)= I forget MEC SKILLS AFFECTED BY COMBAT MASTERY Beam Sword Cosmic Rave Electromagnetic Hammer Hammer Crush Kamui Crash Plural Slash Pop Knight Shock Soldier Starlight Shower Tiger Program MEC SKILLS AFFECTED BY SHOOTING MASTERY Crosshairs Iron Shot Laser Railgun Sattelite Linker Shoot All T-Walkers have a rare chance of teaching Magnify to any mec any Mec can learn SatelliteLinker from a RB3 Skylab ================================================================================================= Skill Quirks and Related Statistics Most of the physical attacks with fire, cold, electrical, or energy damage are powered by WILL. This includes most if not all of the katana attacks, Rising Nova, and Crosscut. *Breath Attacks- Effectiveness determined by HP and VIT. *CrossSlash- Effectiveness determined by WIL and PSY *Cross Shot- This move is dependant partially on strength. *Dark Sphere- Has the 'vanish' effect on the opponent it is used on. *Dirty Fang & PhantasmShot (Jackal) - Nullifies regeneration. Good for Kylin battle. *Logic Bomb- Effectiveness is probably determined by INT. *Magical Heal- The Mystic version cures petrification. The Monster version removes status ailments. *Pain Doubler- Target's Max HP is reduced by amount of damage inflicted. *Phantasm Shot- The higher the caster's INT, the better the chance of summoning a more advanced beast. At 80+ INT, the caster will summon cockatrice or death 9 out of 10 times. *Self Control- Powered by INT and WIL. *Self Repair- The healing formula is 7+VIT. Engineer Car's formula is 16+ VIT, and Leonard's is 8+VIT. *Shield Card- Effectiveness is determined by WIL and INT. *Shooting Mastery&Combat Mastery- Increases attack power by 1.5 times. *Sphinx Riddle- Effectiveness determined by INT *Starlight Heal- The effectiveness is dependant largely on INT and CHA. At 90 INT and CHA, Starlight Heal recovers over 600 damage. *Vitality Rune- The formula for regeneration is Max HP/16 + VIT+1. Thunder Thrust Fist Godhand Triangle Kick Sky Twister Rising Nova All four Katana moves Blizzard can cause Palsy Victory Rune & Braveheart - Increase the effectiveness of weapons and healing items/equipment. Possibly other Mec bodyparts/equipments. SacredSong(Magatama) is better with high WILL For Mystic (and possibly Monster) moves: Maelstrom Flame Breath Arctic Breath Crystalizer Tremor Quicksand Heat Smash Ice Smash Thunderbolt probably Psy Net Oscillation probably Flash Deadly Powder Spreadblaster Magical Heal Tiger Rampage Thunderball Lightball Assist Spoil Bladenet MysteryTap probably uses CHA The rest all have only physical components. Liferain is based on max HP. Tiger Rampage possibly use STR, QUI and VIT Programs AKA MecSkills Virus- probably CHA. Self Repair- 7+VIT. For Engineer Car, 16+VIT. For Leonard, 8+VIT. Unaccompanied Sonata- magic stats. (Rough Japanesse translation) Kamui Crush- Magic stats. Power increased by Conbat Mastery. Shock Soldier- Phys. stats. Power increased by Combat Mastery. Sattelite Linker- WIL and MAYBE other magic-related stats. Increased by Shooting Mastery. Logic Bomb- In all likelihood, this is powered by INT. Jammer- magic based stats obviously, probably CHA. Hypnosis Flash- most likely CHA. Plural Slash- Phys stats. Combat Mastery increases power. Crosshairs- WIL most likely. RangeFire: WIL most likely. Hammer Crush- Phys most likely. Combat Mastery increases power. Laser- WIL Bit- probably WIL. Logic Bomb and Sphinx Riddle possibly use INT Healing Spells use CHArm PSYchic/CHArm/INT are probley the stats used to inflict status afflictions (Poison, Mess, ETC) For Mystics, GriffithScratch is slightly stronger than TigerRampage. It is also cheaper WP and causes Stun. TigerRampage self-comboes so choose carefully. For monsters, MightCyclone is cheaper than GriffithScratch, does more damage, and self-comboes. The "ElementDissolve" ability on a SplashSword works like the spell Vanish; it removes the enemy from the battle, negating it's drop. STR Every sword tech not listed elsewhere, Cross Shot, every fighting tech WIL Rising Nova, all katana techs, all gun techs INT All spells PSY Chance for processing extra effects VIT Defense against all damage CHA Defense against Charm, chance to charm QUI Speed in battle Forgot the rest! I could have sworn Will affected magic too. Correct me if I'm wrong. - Strength does raise the damage of every sword and fighting tech. - Quickness also raises the damage of all fighting techs. - Intelligence doesn't seem to have a noticeable effect on damage values (maybe a slight increase in magic, though I haven't tested magic extensively enough to come to a conclusion either way). It does however seem to increase the rate of status effects occurring. - Will had the most insight to offer, as I saw it as one of the more important stats before any of this testing. It has the most effect on status infliction (of the three mental stats). It also is the predominant stat figured into gun damage (I believe the only one, actually. With 99 Will and starting levels in the other stats, I was able to do 1664 damage with a single-gunned BoundShot). BoundShot's bounces rely entirely on the Will of the character using the gun (not Quickness, or any other stat). On a slightly random note, the boulders that fall during TrickShot increase in size with a character's Will stat (I never noticed that before, don't know if anyone else has). It does not increase the damage of Katana techs, as previously thought, nor do any stats other than Strength. It also does not affect RisingNova damage. Will seems to be about equal with Psychic in importance to magic attacks, though I'll have to find some more damage and healing averages to figure out which carries more weight. - Psychic seems to be important solely in magic damage and healing. It may help increase status infliction rate, but not by much. - CrossSlash is an interesting little bugger. When I used it with either starting stats, 99 Quickness, or 99 Intelligence, it damaged an average of 300-400. I didn't get a number for it with 99 Strength, so I'll have to go back and try that, but here's the interesting part: With 99 Will, the damage shot up into the 650-750 area. Then with 99 Psychic, the damage jumped up again into the 950 area! I'm rather interested to see just how much damage I can do with CrossSlash with 99 Strength, Will, and Psychic and a top-level sword. Probably something outrageous, like up in the 5k+ range, all for 2 WP (1 with mastery) Thunderbolt can also cause Stun to enemy Mecs. GremlinEffect has "critical hit on Mecs" ala MagneticStorm WIL is said to increase accuracy. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, it makes it SaGa Frontier's equivalent of the DEXterity stat in Romancing SaGas. QUI would be the AGI stat, since it apparently bumps up kung fu damage too. I'd be interested to know if the Japanese CD of SF labels WIL/QUI/INT as DEX/AGI/MAG. I'll second the Will = accuracy statement. After doing 99 Will and then switching to 99 Intelligence, I noticed a significant number of fighting techs missing. Admittedly, I've noticed that some fighting techs miss when you're low in Strength, but I think having almost no Will probably hurts it much more. Also, if you have ever Gamesharked 99 of every stat (999 HP, 250 WP/JP as well) and then been hit by an Enemy Fire, it will do somewhere around 2112..... just going off of my memory of about 5 years ago, but it seems it takes multiple stats into account. When Diva did her Retribution move with a maxed character, it did 12000...... do you know how these values come up? INT seems to affect the probability of getting a "good" Phantasm Shot. PSY affects Gun damage Seems Regeneration adds a slight bonus (10%?) to effects that already provide regeneration. (SelfRepair, 'Synthesis) [DS: The realm magic GS Spell?] ================================================================================================= Mystic Absorb Stat increases Snowfolk: +30 Int, Vit, Psy Zeroworm: +25 Str, Quick, Vit Chimera: +40 Str Chariot is a great monster. The mystic absorb is +25 STR, +25 QUI, +25 VIT and TigerRampage in the glove. It teaches the extremely rare Headbutt monster skill. It it is a rank 8 giant and can be found in certain quests. Mariche! It gives 25 to all stats except DEF (Even CHA!) and it gives Magic Heal! for Mystic Swords and Tiger Rampage! for Gloves. Im not sure what boots do yet, and Im not sure where to find them in random battles. The only one I know of is in the Master Ring battle but thats only useful in 2nd Div >_> (and only if you dont mind fighting Master Ring Over and Over and Over and...) I hate to disappoint everyone but the allmighty Mariche is not quite allmighty...Putting a Mariche in the Mystic Boots gives you...Thunderbolt, which in my experience is never what its cracked up to be when the badguys use it...maybe they get a stonger version or something but yeah... Over all Mariche is pretty damn good though, best stats and 2/3 great abilities. Recently we found out Kylin was better than Suzaku to absorb Mystic's base stats ----------------- LP STR QUI INT WIL PSY VIT Silence------- 8 - 21 - 19 - 16 - 11 - 24 - 16 Dr. Nusakan 7 - 22 - 13 - 24 - 16 - 26 - 15 White Rose- 8 - 16 - 18 - 25 - 19 - 25 - 15 Mesarthim--- 8 - 17 - 23 - 16 - 12 - 24 - 11 Ildon---------- 8 - 28 - 16 - 22 - 26 - 33 - 13 Zozma-------- 9 - 19 - 24 - 26 - 11 - 32 - 13 Rei------------ 6 - 09 - 18 - 32 - 19 - 28 - 08 TimeLord: 10 LP, STR: 15, QUI: 28(!), INT: 21, WIL: 24, PSY: 31; VIT: 17 ================================================================================================= Useful Monster Drops You can get 500 credits for killing a Kraken in Yorkland Swamp. It often dies instantly when attacked by Implosion, DeathGaze (DullahanShield), TimeEclipse, and ElementDissolve. Probably DeathTouch, Ectoplasnet, Petrify, StoneGaze, and Assasinate work. But the attack that will most likely to work is SphinxRiddle. If you kill off everyone except for one monster who has SphinxRiddle, and then give the monster a PearlHeart or SeaStone to survive the Maelstrom, then you can easily make 10,000 credits killing these Krakens and your WP will never run out. It also makes things faster if you wear WingAmulets or WindShells (both +5 speed). DarkFairies drop SilverMoons DemonGoat always drops one of these (usually it drops choices 2 through 4): 1. 666 credits 2. 333 credits and a GhostCannon 3. 333 credits and a FiendRod 4. 333 credits and an SH-Armlet One of the best weapon's in the game is the Glirandly sword which is a cursed weapon. It raises all stats by 10 I believe and has an attack power of 42. If you get four on any of your human characters, that's +40 to all of their stats! However, if you have a sword user whom you want to learn the katana skills (Blizzard, Tres Flores, Shadowcounter, Moonlight cut) then I would recommend just getting 3 Glirandly swords. You can get them from the Living sword enemies. Also, don't let any of your Mystics get possessed by the Living Sword enemies. It replaces their Mystic Sword with Living Sword which will not allow you to absorb enemies with your sword. However, just wait until the Living Sword enemy drops the Glirandly and then equip one on a mystic. This way, they will still have Mystic Sword but will gain all of the stat boosts from the Glirandly. Some Note-worthy places to encounter the Living Sword enemies are: The Natural Caves in Koorong. The slime that drops from the ceiling in Mt. Mospierburg before the room with Suzakujr. You have about a 40% chance of encountering one there. Inside those same 2 treasure boxes inside Mu's Tomb. All of the living artifacts appear there. In Sei's Tomb for a limited amount of time you can find them there early game. In Wakatu just North of the first area where Gen tells you to turn right, the Living Sword enemies can be found randomly in one of the Ninja sprites (as many other monsters appear out of the ninja sprites). I believe 3-5 hours through the game you can find Living Swords in Owmi's basement on one of the bottom levels in one of the demon/mystic sprites. In the Shingrow Ruins (both of them, although they appear more frequently in Berva's Ruins rather then the Crashed airship) you can find some and I believe there is also one, if I can remember correctly inside of Furdo's workspace...but don't hold me to that one Drops are entirely random, with some occuring more frequently than others. Justice can prolly back my up on this, but I believe there are 3[DS CoRRECTION: 4] drops slots per enemy, with the first slot being always, the second being less often, and the third less than that. If there are more than one enemy in a battle, it's random between them, and nothing seems to influence which item drops, other than the RNG. If you're geting multiple Glirandly drops, then you're just having a VERY lucky streak...or abusing save states. http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/saga_frontier_monster_drop.txt ================================================================================================= Characters unique to any given quest. As far as I know, these are: Asellus - Ildon, Rei, and RedTurnip Lute - Captain Hamilton Red - BJ&K, Doll, and Rabbit T260G - Leonard, PzkmW, and ZEKE ================================================================================================= Combos I just did like 10,800 damage with a two! hit combo on Master Ring!, Triple Thrust + Tiger Rampage I found out that DivingPress that enemies have self combos, there where 2 Thundragons that DivingPress'd my Blue yesterday and I thought I'd share! ================================================================================================= Equipment Quirks LightSword gives Auto-Deflect even for Mystics what determines whether or not Gen gets comet blade He needs 70 WP to get it. Do shield stack? I believe that equipping a shield with a special effect and a normal shield will still cause the special shield's effect (i.e. A wonder bangle) to work. What I want to know is if the evasion rates for the shield stack, such as two bucklers, or four... I really haven't found any difference in stacking. I once had three shields equipped on a mystic, but it didn't seem to have more success in blocking attacks. Btw, the Wonderbangle is extremely useless. In fact, it's better not to waste your time buying shields from the stores. The Mizukagami (Sei's Tomb), the Genbu Shield (from Genbus), Dragon Shield (From various Dragon enemies) and the Durahan Shield (From Dullahan...also the best shield in the game) are all better than the over-priced Wonderbangle. The Wonderbangle only deflects bullets--nothing more. Bullets are the last thing that you should have to worry about in Saga. With better armor, deflect, 2 skills that dodge bullets (one for humans, one for mecs) and the fact that bullet attacks are only a concern in the early stages of the game, make the Wonderbanlge an absolute waste of an investment. The only wonder in it is why they decided to make it so ridiculously expensive. Even end bosses that have bullet attacks will only be causing damage in the single or double digit areas. It's never any more of a concern than that. ================================================================================================= Battle System Quirks Stat buffs do NOT break the 99 cap, neither LightSword nor Assist. On a side note, with LightSword, the status effect is applied at the end of that round/beginning of next (as the party status pre-round screen comes up), whereas Assist goes into effect even before it is cast (this presumes that the system has already checked and if there will be an interruption, the effect is not applied, but this may not be the case). Fade-over-time effect--in the tests I'm doing now, Dr. Nusakan is casting Assist for an initial bonus of 18; next round, the bonus has dropped to 14. AlkaiserChange is preemptive, and the stat boosts from RaySword come into play immediately (after animation, before next character/enemy action), whereas the stat boosts from having LightSword equipped don't come into play until the end of the round. I was fighting Diva in 2nd Div, and I decided to do Overdrive/Stasis Rune. When she shifted forms, even though she *appeared* to be in Stasis, she most certainly was not. When Hell'sLord transformed, it broke stasis altogether; with Diva it doesn't seem to clear the graphic. When she attacks it miscolors, so it looks like she's petrified. Here's Diva, in Stasis: http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x302/EroneousWaylay/?action=view¤t=K-20070627-71458-6.jpg And here's Diva in Stasis, performing GaleAttack: http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x302/EroneousWaylay/?action=view¤t=K-20070627-71543-7.jpg Also noticed Spriggan do the same thing (shifting from 1st to 2nd form), except after he attacked (HeavyRailCannon, to be specific) the 'stasis' graphic wore off. Diva's lasted at least a few turns after which I went and did something else. Any time Diva changes her forms, the Stasis effect breaks and she is free to attack. She will still appear as if she is effected by Stasis though. Same thing with the Spriggan and Hell's Lord. Also, if you use Stasis on Master Ring or the monsters that accompany the Master Ring, the will still be in Stasis if they leave the screen and come back. I believe that if you use Stasis on Boss X and he does that thing where he changes dimensions, he will break Stasis...can't remember for sure if that's correct though...if it is correct, then the same may be true for Super Master Ring. Using Stasis on Charm Lord is the worst thing you can possibly do. His mistresses will still be able to attack you, however, Charm Lord will stay in Stasis mode therefore taking no damage what so ever while his Mistresses pummel you. Same thing with Genocide Heart. It will still be able to use Carnage while in Stasis, but will not break once it is used and will not break after it shifts programs. However, once it switches programs, it will remain in that program until the affect of Stasis wear off, therefore eliminating the threat of Carnage. The affects of Stasis last almost 3x-4x longer for MM(Master Magician) Blue than any other character in the game. Try doing StasisDrive with Timelord, and then with MM Blue. The enemy that Timelord performed it on will recover in about 4-7 turns, but with MM Blue, you're looking at around 21-28 turns waiting for the affects to wear off! This is very deadly in 2nd Division when you are using MM Blue to fight Charm Lord. ================================================================================================= Effects of Fortunes recieved in Devin Palmist-- Hamster Type Star, 8% chance SMALL CHEST Construct Type Monster 73% Reward: PowerCure Construct Type Monster 20% Reward: Gold Ingot Snow Elemental x 3 6% Harmonium Armor (Rough Japanesse translation, possibly Ice Crystals?) DuckKing + Duck Hook x 2 1% Dance Shoes (Rough Japanesse translation) Fortune Needed: Flower Seer-- Yellow Lemon Scent, 12% chance LARGE CHEST Mimic 71% Snake Oil Ettin 23% Gold Ingot Ettin 4% Magi Hat Machine God Balor 2% Heavy Particle Cannon (MecGod? GrainCannon?) I tested some fortunes last night. Apparently, there's some way to get the Gaeatoad and the Valkyries in the Shingrow Ruins to disappear without ever having fought them. I don't know what it is but I went there and was able to loot everything without having to fight them. Later on, I kind of wanted to fight them, and they still weren't back. I believe I got a duck type palm reading and they reappeared. Also, if you don't want to fight the muggers in Koorong and you don't want to pay, I believe a Lion type palm reading dispells them. Both of these readings had these effects for me, but I dunno if the effects will be recreated for anyone else. If somebody wants to try it out, go for it. ================================================================================================= Stat Growth Quirks Supposedly, guns increase WIL better than magic. Perhaps Gen is a LOT better on T260G's quest than any others. Also, for the record, Ive heard a long time ago that characters learn faster when teamed with thier race, especially if they use the same weapon type If this game is like other Romancing Sagas, then there is a hidden "battle rank" which decides how tough the battles you fight are, and is determined by how many fights you've already faught, and how hard they were (Which monsters were in them). The battle difficulty ranks also effects probablility to raise stats, as well as how high that stat already is, what actions you take in battle (Magic (int/wil mainly), healing(psy/cha), swords(Str/vit), guns(Wil/Qui), fighting(qui/str), and a bunch of obscure categories that can only be used through items and stuff like gazes) and that character's proficiency with that statistic (For example, Gen has godly Str, and Emilia has godly Vit and Cha) and stats cap out around 90, being near impossible to raise after that. ================================================================================================= Skill Learning Quirks You can learn KO Throw and Dragon Turn from moves several Monster skills (and probably a few Mystic ones) INTelligence increases the rate of learning Magic and Gun Skills. It may also increase the rate of Sword and Fist attacks, many disagree with this but many others have reported Blue and Rouge (Characters with high INT) learning Physical skills very rapidly. INT also raises the number of skill slots for Mecs, a mec will have 2 additional slots for every 16 pts of INT. (Mecs get more INT from boards, and sometimes helmets) If this game is like other Romancing Sagas, then there is a hidden "battle rank" which decides how tough the battles you fight are, and is determined by how many fights you've already faught, and how hard they were (Which monsters were in them). In addition, there are several factors for learning abilities. Each monster should have a value for difficulty rank, which influences how often you learn a skill when attacking that particular type of enemy. There is also a sort of "Danger" factor, where things like characters being dead, in critical condition, effected by status ailments, etc. and being outnumbered or fighting an enemy that has a difficulty rating higher than what you should be fighting at your battle rank, also makes it more likely to glimmer techs. ================================================================================================= "Self Development" Skills when you absorb an enemy mec, it works kinda like absorbing an enemy monster. But in addition to absorbed skills from enemies, there is another type of skill that may be learned regardless of absorption skills: the Self-Development skill. For example, no one enemy has the skill PluralSlash to absorb. Yet I'm sure most of us have had T260 or EngineerCar learn it after absorbing an enemy mec. Apparently, when certain conditions are met, of which I am largely unsure, they will learn these skills. I know for certain that the RNG that governs item drops, stat gains, and skill absorptions is not used for Self-Development data. If anyone's poking around at the possibility of self-development monster skills, a few things came up in Oulak's FAQ that I thought might be relevant...GaeaToad and Harpy aren't the only creatures he had some skills listed for that aren't in JusticeZero's FAQ. I took note of those skills he had listed on creatures which "shouldn't" have them: Claw, ElfShot, Feint, and Chop we already know to break the pattern. Then there are: Headbutt Ink Wing Rock Fang Doubleaxe Spoil FangCrush Seems like a bunch of 'basic' skills so self-development seems a likely theory...still have to test to see if, say, Riki absorbs those skills from the pink Lummox. ================================================================================================= Battle Rank If this game is like other Romancing Sagas, then there is a hidden "battle rank" which decides how tough the battles you fight are, and is determined by how many fights you've already faught, and how hard they were (Which monsters were in them). In addition, there are several factors for learning abilities. Each monster should have a value for difficulty rank, which influences how often you learn a skill when attacking that particular type of enemy. There is also a sort of "Danger" factor, where things like characters being dead, in critical condition, effected by status ailments, etc. and being outnumbered or fighting an enemy that has a difficulty rating higher than what you should be fighting at your battle rank, also makes it more likely to glimmer techs. The battle difficulty ranks also effects probablility to raise stats, as well as how high that stat already is, what actions you take in battle (Magic (int/wil mainly), healing(psy/cha), swords(Str/vit), guns(Wil/Qui), fighting(qui/str), and a bunch of obscure categories that can only be used through items and stuff like gazes) and that character's proficiency with that statistic (For example, Gen has godly Str, and Emilia has godly Vit and Cha) and stats cap out around 90, being near impossible to raise after that. Some battles don't cause enemies to increase in rank. This includes: the monsters in TimeLord's Region; the dragons at Mosperiburg mountain; the Ettin, Snowfolk, Platyhooks and MecGod in Mu's treasure chests, the guardians of Sei's three items, Kylin, and Rouge. Losing to Suzaku is also safe. The Mimic in Mu's chest WILL increase monster rank. Also, the Skulldrake doesn't count for battle rank. I'm going to test the other bosses out as well. ================================================================================================= Miscelanious Hexmadecimal Information Status bit information: 1: Stasis? 2: Infinity--Magician Arcane effect? Does nothing(?) if given to a character. 4: Sparkle--VMAX effect If applied via GameShark, etc., locks actual VMAX skill, but does not increase stats/provide skills 8: Sparkle--SoulRune effect 10: Sparkle--Awakening effect 20: Blind 40: Stone 80: Venom 0100: Angry 0200: Charm 0400: Mess (Red) 0800: Mess (Yellow) 1000: Mess (Blue) 2000: Sleep 4000: Palsy 8000: Flat--Faint? Still alive, if HP>0 Addresses marked with an asterisk(*) may or may not be 2-byte values; place a 300 at the beginning to modify one byte, or 800 to modify 2. Addresses listed as gameshark codes were searched out of CEP as continually increasing 2-byte values. There are probably more RNGs than this, this is just what I gathered out of CEP in about 10 minutes. *8F28C *950EC *A8CAC *A8D8C *A8DB4 *A8DCA *A8E22 *A90CC *A913A *A9148 *A90DE *A90E2 *A90A4 80012CE0 8008D468 8008F274 8008F290 800950F0 800A8C58 800A8D60 800A9078 801138CC *1138CE - These may actually be part of the same dword, rather than 2 separate words. Some of them appear to increase a random(?) amount every tick, whereas others change in a more random fashion, or far more slowly. I remember seeing some values change only once in a 10-15 second interval, and there were more than a few instances where it seemed 2 values 30 or more bytes apart were influencing each other...will do more research There are some very large gaps in the random variance, actually. And the gap only gets bigger with more powerful techniques. For example using a Knife with Lute's starting stats, he can do anywhere from 80 to ~190 with a simple slash. With LifeSpinkler and the above setup, I've seen variance from 700 to 1100 damage. I also found something mildly interesting. While it doesn't change the actual attack, one can alter the name of attacks being executed with these codes: 800C4064 xxxx 800C406C xxxx 800C4070 xxxx 800C4074 xxxx 800C4078 xxxx Kinda weird, at first they looked like they were enemy attacks, but further experimentation placed my characters' abilities in those places. Also, 1EDA0 (and its corresponding bytes in other enemy battle data, each slot being 0x204 bytes) basically controls what an enemy is, for purposes of absorption, etc. However, even with a Gameshark code in place to lock that value, it still changes briefly as the enemies are loaded. Still trying to find where it pulls that number from... 1ED0A 12C154 145BD4 all somehow or another end up with the lead monster's "number" in them. Gamesharking them does nothing, though. And 145BD4 sometimes does weird things. ================================================================================================= Useful Links Equipment has weight. this "weight" effect decreases speed and accuracy supposedly. If you can read Japanese, you can find a chart on this page: http://www.uri.sakura.ne.jp/~saga/sf1/neta/weight2.html If you can read Japanese, you can find more info (Feel free to translate for the rest of us) http://www.uri.sakura.ne.jp/~saga/sf1/index.html translator: http://tool.nifty.com/globalgate/ (Try google's and babelfish's too) Squidhead's Fansite, lots of helpful info like the Difficulty of learning each weapon skill http://globe90.tripod.com/ Translations of armors from Squidheads page http://geocities.com/nonsanitied/defstats.html http://iolanach.tripod.com ================================================================================================= I actually started a Riki quest just the other day. It was cool because I got Fang early on from a Xenostar, and then went to the magic kingdom to fight Furdo until I got StoneGas. It was nice already having a Black Dragon only an hour or so into the game. I do not know if this has been posted, but...it's just a few minor things. If you want to give up Realm Magic for Mystic Magic with Blue, then you cannot lose to Rouge otherwise you will lose those spells for good. I say for good because although you can still warp back to Facinacturu with Rouge on your region map, you will have to give up Realm magic all over again which just isn't worth it. Also, if you are planning on getting the Asura and losing to Rouge then don't bother getting Mystic Magic. You can get Asura, get Mystic Magic, Absorb Rouge and keep Blue but if you lose and get Rouge, then you lose the Mystic Magic that Blue possessed in exchange for getting back your life points that you traded away.