Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn ReDux (v0.8.72 CH 2-2)

[Mr. Mister]

So, DLuma, how're you doing pal? I assume life's gotten in your way somehow, so take your time to deal with whatever citrics it's thrown at you, and don't feel abandoned - we all know internet time is more variable than the vecinity of a naked singularity.

Your work and what it means (making Radiant Dawn a forever better and much more fun first experience for future generations) is a very important one for many of us, and we so hope to see it done - but not at your cost, so don't feel rushed.

Oh, and to ease the fears of lurkers or new readers: his last signup is from 2 days ago, so he's still alive.

[Troykv]

I didn't appear in the forum some weeks ago... Whatever happened, I'm still interested in this Project.

I just don't answer it because I don't see new post in like... 1 month. So, I wanted to avoid that your Thread was closed.

I'm hoping to see more of your work DLuna.

[Dunal]

Sorry for the delay guys!

I've been finalising a lot of the groundwork for the full hack in the past month or so. I felt I needed to do this since if I end up releasing anything before that, it could involve making moderate changes down the line to require restarts and I really want to release a definitive version of the hack before I do so. I've essentially drafted/tested the entire game to make sure heavy changes do not end up happening down the line.

Good news is that it's getting fairly close to the point where I can push out releases very often since the entire game is planned out (such as testing all units in the game with variable levels and enemy matchups). Put it this way -- once the next release is out, expect further releases to be fairly quick. I'm also developing/testing a 'challenger' mode which is tuned to be balanced against the normal version (unit/weapon balance), so again, it's all about fine tuning things for a higher difficulty as well.

Thanks for being patient.

[DemonStryker]

Hey man, I've patched the iso but i can't play it, the game crashes before it starts. Can you help me? If you could, I would be grateful. I'm using Dolphin.

[Mr. Mister]

Any news on that freeze when playing on a real Wii?

[Ace Pelleas]

I tested on my Wii and there weren't any problems!

DLuna,is there any character that you don't feel that him/her needs to be balanced?

[Dunal]

I tested on my Wii and there weren't any problems!

DLuna,is there any character that you don't feel that him/her needs to be balanced?

Pretty much all units have been given some kind of change -- either for better balance or to emphasize strengths/weaknesses.

Units with least change? Ranulf, Nolan, Oscar, Gatrie and Tier 3s come to mind.

Or, if your question is who doesn't need to be 'balanced'... then I suppose it's Micaiah and Kurthnaga. They are legitimately 'overpowered' with the difficulty/balance being designed around that. Then you have Sothe and Ranulf who are the 'Oifeys' of their respective parts.

[Augestein]

Honestly, after going back and playing the original, I forgot how sloppy the balance was. It's really jarring when you have units like Sothe just destroying everything in the original and then in here, he's like... Good, but not godlike.

[Mr. Mister]

I tested on my Wii and there weren't any problems!

DLuna,is there any character that you don't feel that him/her needs to be balanced?

Really? I tested it on a PAL Wii, and it would always freeze when trying to load 1-2 (the one where Sothe appears).

Which loader did you use?

[Ace Pelleas]

Really? I tested it on a PAL Wii, and it would always freeze when trying to load 1-2 (the one where Sothe appears).

Which loader did you use?

I tested on NTSC-U,using usb loader gx.There weren't any problems.I played until chapter 3 and decided to stop until the next version

[Cornguy]

I didn't see it in the first post, so forgive me if I missed it. But are you doing anything with skills, masteries in particular? In the vanilla game a lot of them seemed to be glorified OHKOs. Also, I may be the only one who feels this way, but I hate Nihil, on both player and enemy side. I feel like it destroys any tension felt during Ike vs BK, unlike PoR. I mean, what's the point of a boss even having a skill if the only fight he'll be in is against Nihil.

I like the sounds of what you've done so far though, after I get my usb loader Wii back up, I'll give it a go and post opinions/comments on the changes.

[Dunal]

I didn't see it in the first post, so forgive me if I missed it. But are you doing anything with skills, masteries in particular? In the vanilla game a lot of them seemed to be glorified OHKOs. Also, I may be the only one who feels this way, but I hate Nihil, on both player and enemy side. I feel like it destroys any tension felt during Ike vs BK, unlike PoR. I mean, what's the point of a boss even having a skill if the only fight he'll be in is against Nihil.

I like the sounds of what you've done so far though, after I get my usb loader Wii back up, I'll give it a go and post opinions/comments on the changes.

Mastery skills are largely the same. However, proc rates are still being adjusted.

It does mean that the SKL stat is weighted more heavily against a unit's total worth. And masteries being as powerful as they are does help this. In the end, there are just a secondary crit.

I think the issue in the original game was that there are just plenty of units who are really powerful outside of also having at least an above average SKL stat, which means that masteries do just feel superficial and overkill (and also makes otherwise average units with monstrous SKL also kinda pointless, like Leonardo). However, the way I've balanced units does make this a lot better.

Someone like Makalov is fantastic all around aside from his abysmal SKL (shame that he's an alcoholic...) or Meg is another good example. Therefore their proc rates with skills are almost non-existent. However, someone like Ike or Leonardo, who are looking at ~20% proc rates on their masteries (which is the highest you can get at 50 SKL) have rather bad speed or other weaknesses. Typically, if you have good skill, you'll suffer in other important areas.

It does depend on the class though. Flare/Corona are not super powerful relative to other skills, therefore SKL is weighted a bit differently for mages. Although HIT rates in general are still an important factor. Calill has amazing MAG and SPD but poor SKL/LCK for example. She's like a version of Nyx that isn't underleveled.

Generally speaking, there isn't a unit that exists with good/great STR(or MAG)/SKL and SPD. Exceptions being Sothe, Lucia and Tormod? A unit will otherwise lack in at least one.

Nihil I think is a necessary inclusion. Player side, it lets you deal with certain enemies that have the potential to proc a skill that could otherwise 1HKO you. This gives you an option against them.

For enemy side, it lets me design certain enemies around being less RNG based to deal with. And also adds decision making when it comes to choosing your own units to deal with them. Enemies with Nihil may also have poor LCK in order to crit them more often, or are weaker in other factors.

For the Black Knight fight -- I think Nihil is also necessary as a means to maintain the design of the map overall. The idea of the fight is that it should be prolonged in order to make the bottom half of the map forced to survive for a certain period of time. Not only that, but the map can easily be restarted if you get bad RNG. And you can just skip it altogether if you get early lucky procs.

[Cornguy]

Dang. I just really don't enjoy it, from a personal fun-factor point of view. But that's just my opinion, I don't debate Nihil's importance to balance, just fun. For me personally, of course. Still looking forward to playing it later though. I've been waiting for a fresh twist on RD for a long time.

But on the previous subject, that sounds like a decent way to do it. Nerfing activation and not the skills themselves. Skill was always kind of a weak stat for a character to thrive in, since by the time units had masteries, they all had very high skill, and for the most part, hit% was on the high side if you watched your biorhythm. I look forward to trying it all firsthand.

[Troykv]

Dang. I just really don't enjoy it, from a personal fun-factor point of view. But that's just my opinion, I don't debate Nihil's importance to balance, just fun. For me personally, of course. Still looking forward to playing it later though. I've been waiting for a fresh twist on RD for a long time.

But on the previous subject, that sounds like a decent way to do it. Nerfing activation and not the skills themselves. Skill was always kind of a weak stat for a character to thrive in, since by the time units had masteries, they all had very high skill, and for the most part, hit% was on the high side if you watched your biorhythm. I look forward to trying it all firsthand.

Is it possible to nerf the skills?

[Dunal]

Is it possible to nerf the skills?

It's possible, very likely. Not necessary, however. Most critical hits would 1HKO if the unit's associated mastery skill would OHKO regardless.

For what it's worth, 'Challenger/Classic mode' will not have mastery skills except Ike/Volke.

As for an update, next release will be quite a bit different again from the previous demo.

I've learned how to expand map data (not something anyone has done prior from what I've seen, so I may write up a guide on how to do this later on) so have made a serious effort in making each map as interesting as possible -- and generally more convenient from the player's end.

For example, 1-P is no longer just a bandit-fest and mixes up the enemies you are fighting and where they are placed. There's even an enemy dark mage with a drop-able Worm tome. So Micaiah has more options from the very start.

I've also implemented various QoL changes. For example, immobile enemies have duplicate weapons to show they do not move, and Sothe gets more opportunities to steal as a result. With the way the map design is now, it's really important to know whether an enemy moves or not (it's always good to have really challenging difficulty in the most fair way possible). So expect earlier maps in particular to be more challenging but have more clarity.

Edited May 17, 2016 by DLuna

[Fathomite]

Its great to see you active in this thread again, DLuna, I've been so hyped for the next release, I've been checking the thread daily for the past several months. :P

[Troykv]

It's possible, very likely. Not necessary, however. Most critical hits would 1HKO if the unit's associated mastery skill would OHKO regardless.

For what it's worth, 'Challenger/Classic mode' will not have mastery skills except Ike/Volke.

As for an update, next release will be quite a bit different again from the previous demo.

I've learned how to expand map data (not something anyone has done prior from what I've seen, so I may write up a guide on how to do this later on) so have made a serious effort in making each map as interesting as possible -- and generally more convenient from the player's end.

For example, 1-P is no longer just a bandit-fest and mixes up the enemies you are fighting and where they are placed. There's even an enemy dark mage with a drop-able Worm tome. So Micaiah has more options from the very start.

I've also implemented various QoL changes. For example, immobile enemies have duplicate weapons to show they do not move, and Sothe gets more opportunities to steal as a result. With the way the map design is now, it's really important to know whether an enemy moves or not (it's always good to have really challenging difficulty in the most fair way possible). So expect earlier maps in particular to be more challenging but have more clarity.

Oh, I see, I understand, sounds like a interesting idea. Please left the Master Skill to Micaiah too, it isn't a OKHO skill anyway.

Oh? Do you will put early Dark Mages? I guess is a Druid (the model) but with a 1st Tier units's caps.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Troykv

[Dunal]

Magi classes are as followed:

Seer (Fire/Light) > Sage (+Wind or Thunder) > Archsage (+Staves/Wind or Thunder) (SS Fire) (C Staves)

Mage Fighter (Thunder) > Mage Knight > Thorbringer (+10% Crit) (SS Thunder)

Ebon Mage (Wind/Dark) > Strategist (+Fire or Thunder) > Grandmaster (+Staves) (SS Wind (Soren) or Dark (Pelleas) or Thunder (Bastion)) (A Staves)

Therefore, tier 1 magi cover all types of magic.

Please left the Master Skill to Micaiah too, it isn't a OKHO skill anyway.

Micaiah doesn't get Corona anymore (instead she gets a certain passive ability..). This is the case on all modes.

Edited May 18, 2016 by DLuna

[Troykv]

Magi classes are as followed:

Seer (Fire/Light) > Sage (+Wind or Thunder) > Archsage (+Staves/Wind or Thunder) (SS Fire) (C Staves)

Mage Fighter (Thunder) > Mage Knight > Thorbringer (+10% Crit) (SS Thunder)

Ebon Mage (Wind/Dark) > Strategist (+Fire or Thunder) > Grandmaster (+Staves) (SS Wind (Soren) or Dark (Pelleas) or Thunder (Bastion)) (A Staves)

Therefore, tier 1 magi cover all types of magic.

Micaiah doesn't get Corona anymore (instead she gets a certain passive ability..). This is the case on all modes.

Some questions.

Mage Fighter is "Ilyana's Class"?

Wind or Thunder; Between Tormod and Callill who get Wind and who get Thunder?

Fire or Thunder; I guess is obvious that Bastian get Thunder as the secondary weapon (actually Primary in his case). What about Soren and Pelleas?

What is a "Magi"?

____

Instead of a Offensive Master Skill she get a Passive Master Skill? That sounds interesting.

(Whatever it's, I think Micaiah (and maybe Lehran too even if he doesn't use it anyway) in the original game deserved a unique Master Skill, she is a Main Character anyway... And the Black Knight also has a unique skill

[Dunal]

Some questions.

Mage Fighter is "Ilyana's Class"?

Wind or Thunder; Between Tormod and Callill who get Wind and who get Thunder?

Fire or Thunder; I guess is obvious that Bastian get Thunder as the secondary weapon (actually Primary in his case). What about Soren and Pelleas?

What is a "Magi"?

That is Ilyana's class yes. It has +1 movement and DEF as a core stat (Fun fact: Ilyana has the third highest DEF growth in the entire game). Barring in mind, thunder magic is mostly melee.

Tormod has thunder and Calill has wind. Soren has fire and Pelleas has thunder.

Magi is plural for mage or magus.

Edited May 19, 2016 by DLuna

[Augestein]

So now there's a reason to use all of the mages it sounds like. Your making them different classes rather than different flavors of mage.

[Mr. Mister]

Oh, you think it is possible to change the damage multipliers of mastery skill? If so, that'd be awesome way down the line. In your classic version, for instance, instead of removing them you could set their damage multipliers to 1. That would also allow for Ike vs BK without Nihil, maybe.

I take it though that all priests/bishops/archbishops are the same class, and simply have very, very different growths, right?

A druid in 1-P? I'm not complaining, but I do wonder what's doing in there. Is he feeding those adorable doves at the southeast?

[turtle225]

Hello DLuna, been lurking the thread since its inception. Haven't played the mod yet, but I plan to eventually. I really love what you are doing here.

I decided to chime in here because a thought occurred to me the other day. I don't mean to distract you, but have you ever thought about making PoR/RD 0% growths mods? As far as I know there isn't one that exists. I'm no modder so I don't know how much work it would take to do those, but I think they would be a lot of fun to play. The RD one might actually be impossible though inb4Dondon.

Just a thought and up to you of course. Either way, keep doing what you are doing. This mod is looking awesome and I will definitely be giving it a run. Thanks for breathing more life into this game.

[Dunal]

Making a 0% mod should be really straight forward if that's something yet to be done. Although speaking of RD, would actually be quite easy due to the abundance of high base stat units -- definitely not impossible.

In fact, after checking, Dondon has actually done it on HM.

A 0% version of my own hack? Would be much much harder since enemies scale more and base stat units are typically less strong -- a huge amount in some cases (Sothe, Volug, Haar etc...). I could easily provide that if people are interested.

[Augestein]

Making a 0% mod should be really straight forward if that's something yet to be done. Although speaking of RD, would actually be quite easy due to the abundance of high base stat units -- definitely not impossible.

In fact, after checking, Dondon has actually done it on HM.

A 0% version of my own hack? Would be much much harder since enemies scale more and base stat units are typically less strong -- a huge amount in some cases (Sothe, Volug, Haar etc...). I could easily provide that if people are interested.

I might give it a try, but I really don't see that going very well for anyone. Original one really isn't that hard to do. There's too many strong base stat units for it to a real problem.