Sarkany's Beta-Stuff

[CyberSarkany]

Sorry that I wasn't here for such a long time, but I had basic training + special training at our federal army, and I will be there for even longer, sadly our barracks don't have any internet connection. I try to get some UMTS stuff to be more online and helpful here, but I can't promise, so until then I will only be online on weekends, meaning I can't promise to have used the newest panch, nor that the stuff I mention hans't been said already. And sorry for not using the bug submit formula but I don't have much time today, so I think its better posting it this way now than the other way later.

Lets get started, I used the 02/28 patch



Casual bugs:

- slot machine: didn't get the price money the first time I won, yet got it the second time(didn't test it twice)  JP NOTE: I can't repro this

- coliseum: bad items stay on character  JP NOTE: This has been reported by pretty much every beta tester..haha I guess i better do the work to fix it...

- mystics don't sell anything special, yet porre refuses you to shop if you choosed to help mystics, intentional?  JP NOTE: hm...i suppose we can look into this

 - Robo/Lucca Chapter in dinopolis: you are not able to jump down if you approach the last room from the north, intentional?  JP NOTE: I'm guessing this was intentional chrono'99 can probably comment

- Crono/Glenn/Magus Chapter: "key" you find in the 3 gigasaur area is not shown in the inventory, but still works,intentional? Also, I'm not sure if it's possible to get it without fighting the 3 Gigasaurs. You should definitely have to fight them.  JP NOTE: It's only after the fight

- During ayla's party, some sprites are dark, some aren't  JP NOTE : I know....



Mapping stuff:

- future: domes after station look weird, so does the central regime(you can see that there are some tiles missing, not sure if it is intentional), can't enter northern dome

- there is a cave on the OW map of 2305 AD, any purpose?  JP NOTE: For future expansion if we choose

- Kashmirs Lair: can't use the left stairs in the first hall(where ozzie throws you upwards)  JP NOTE: that was random...



Text stuff:

- new text at auction? It seems somehow boring  JP NOTE: Zeality can comment, when i made the auction i wanted it to be reminiscent of FF6's auction

- rephrase nu question in zeal?, I first answered "floor" :/  JP NOTE: atleast you eventually got it (just kidding lenophis)

- change name of singing mtn Boss(currently nizbel, or intentional?  He has a different sprite thou) Definitely wasn't intentional I tihnk it even has Lebniz in the dialogue?

- fay arrow needs item description("might cause confuse")  JP NOTE: oh wow.....i finally looked into this and it was super duper easy to do....

- cedric calls it dinopolis, people in snaking forest terra tower

- Crono/Glenn/Magus Chapter: the grey reptites at dinopolis say something like "it is you guys" even before being at the tournament, doesn't seem right, because you are not known yet  JP NOTE: I always thought this was weird too, Zeality?

- Kashmirs Lair: Treasure says Eniku Hide, but I think you get an Aidoneus



Enemy suggestion stuff:
~I tried to somehow catch the way of a casual gamer, so I just noted things I found extremely easy/hard or boring.~

- Kashmir: less counter(add wander command to counter moves?)and/or move the characters around him, so not only Glenn is attacked?, also less hp   JP NOTE: ther'es not much wiggle room here since he replaced cyrus.  I got rid of the counter and lowered HP

- def doesn't decrease/no shock status when green reptites are shocked, intentional? makers them hard and mp consuming to kill  JP NOTE: intentional since I wanted them around for the 3 reptite chapters

- new nizbel ai? how about playing with ice/water(because someone in the village said the cold may extinct the reptites, being cold blooded)? problem would be if someone didn't bring glenn and marle, might not be a problem anymore if party can be changed at chronopolis(see the other point), and/or let him change ai after like 50% of damage(the player thinks its a nizbel clone, and after his ai is changed, and he might even counter lightning, the player will be confused and needs to think about a new strategy), so it won't be the same like in CT again  JP NOTE: counter lighting by casting it right back at you.  Counters 20% of all hits, and has new AI at 50% HP.

- in the Huacan factory: green reptite is used for countering instead of robot(r seris throws chara to reptite and back, yet he should only throw it to another r series), the green reptite also does no "throwing back" animation  JP NOTE: I think the AI is something like "if another enemy exists" do throwing animation.  Since in the game you never had R series with another enemy this was fine.  Would you rather have no throwing animation at all?

- in the Huacan factory: fight with panel, green reptite and 2 proto 2s: proto 2 heals robo sometimes, same with a different fight including panel, green reptite and a proto 2  JP NOTE: You've mentioned this before and I couldn't repro it...still can't?

- Robo/Lucca Chapter in dinopolis: some fights seem a bit too difficult, for example the one with 2 leaper(which seem to strong anyways) and a Gigasaur(this fight is rather easy when you approach the gigasaur, because there is a hole between him and the leapers, intentional?)   JP NOTE: I think chrono'99 put the hole there on purpose and other beta testers have complimented the "strategy" of fighting the enemies on the other side of the hole.  I'll lower the strength of the leapers 

-or ape+grey reptite+gigasaur, because you can hardly heal the damage they do, even with heal beam+dash ring for Robo and speed belt for Lucca 

- Robo/Lucca Chapter in dinopolis: boss: counter-heal of 10 seems some kind of...nonsense, also, it seems too fast(considering our characters), so it uses confuse, and attacks to cancel
it without the character even having a turn  JP NOTE: thanks for the feedback I'll look into it (it only heals for 10 haha.....sheesh)

- Crono/Glenn/Magus Chapter: cave apes are hard to kill, so they should give a more EXP 

- Crono/Glenn/Magus Chapter: "special boss"(Black Tyrano) is he finished or just a current replacement? any Item?(I fastforwarded to kill him, so I didn't pay attention after finishing him), if he is not a replacement...make him stronger, he was no problem for my party  JP NOTE: It'll be a tyrano but I"ll give a new AI any suggestions?

- 2nd Marle Chapter: stronger porre guards/different enemy



important bugs:
- No matter what side you choose at Mystics Den, the next scene is always the same(side with mystics), it freezes when you side with porre  JP NOTE: I can't repro this...if you can please send me an SRM if possible.  Also are you using zsnes?

- Marle Chapter: blackscreen when I tried to go eat in the last snaking forest screen(where the 2 guys are), wasn't able to reproduce it  JP NOTE: if you can repro it please let me know.



Other Suggestions/Stuff:

- free heal in prehistory?  JP NOTE: hm...we got rid of the drinking water?  JP NOTE 2: ok we did have the water but the entrance to the meeting site wasn't working fix'd now.

- be able to re-change party when you return from Chronopolis to prehistory?(like the party meets back at Chronopolis, even without
having finished the quest) or at least change their equipment? Because, for example: you might come to the conclusion that Robo and Lucca in the same team are a bit slow, yet you can't change it back. You might be stuck there because with a certain team it is too difficult/takes to much leveling to progress.  JP NOTE: This would be a bit of a pain to code, and a little bit corny.  We do force them to have a lightning member in each party and I feel like we give them pretty ample warning (so they can make a back up save)

- Marle Chapter: lost woods, first fight: let marle and the 2 kilwalas move to the centre of the screen so they aren't hidden behind the information window during the fight

- Marle Chapter: speed tap at upper left screen of lost woods?

- Marle Chapter: cinderella hat maybe to strong? switch for a different item

- Marle Chapter: when defeating the final enemies(2 green reptites + 2 apes) get some kind of reward? like you can get a chest behind the table which is something good(maybe ice/water absorbing armor? to hint how the reptites survived in this cold era?), maybe, after collecting the chest, the boss comes again and defeats marle(without a battle, maybe a scripted one?) . You can easily win this fight when using a shield+cure(or even aura/mid tonics), and have rage band + fay arrow(confuse) equipped

- Marle Chapter: the small box to the left bottom of the OW says 1, shouldn't it be 1 A.D. or even 0? Because it is in the year of guardias foundation(which was at the first day of the 0th year), wouldn't year 1 mean the second year  JP NOTE: Hm... i guess 0 would make more sense.  I'm not sure how often we mention 1 AD in dialogue?  probably neve rhuh?
 
- in the Huacan factory: lower left fight with acid and alkaline(first area): move enemies after engaging fight to the center, otherwise they are hidden behind the info window

- Crono/Glenn/Magus Chapter:  a tab at the northern end of the area the smithy sends you

- the choice to save ayla or attack king zeal, does it have any relevance(the outcome seems the same)  JP NOTE: Immediate outcome is the same....

- 2nd Marle Chapter: Maybe "reactivate" the chests with different Items, so they won't be opened if you did it in the first marle chapter,   JP NOTE: I think that might already happen?  Not different items though

- 2nd Marle Chapter: item when going back to cedric? because you don't really have to, something like a symbol for her being worthy of the name guardia or whatever?  JP NOTE: You talking like a key item?

- Missile Base: the room 2 doors to the right of the lasers is empty, maybe a fight and a chest? Or tab?
   
- Missile Base: any differences if you answer differently?  JP NOTE: the ending sequence of that chapter is different

- The Epoch scene seems a bit short, should be a bit more like "wow, like in the old times", and shouldn't it be gotten a bit later? because you don't really seem to need it(unless I missed something)  JP NOTE: you talking about the epoch taking down the missile? or them seeing the epoch for the first time? 






gaming notes:
-leveling up to 17 at singing mountains(2 Avian Rex, so I don't waste any MP for fighting), and 20 in marles chapter at 4 volcanoes near the end(to kill the final enemies here with rage band+fay bow for confuse counter)(they should give less exp, so it won't be that fast to level up), to lvl 23 with lucca and robo at a savepoint with 2 alkalines and an acid(to get robos heal beam and a few mid ethers)(also less Exp, because one fire Punch kills them),
 
- most of the time enemies dodged, just checking here and there if I can still beat them without major problems and fighting most enemy constellations at least once, yet wanted a rather low level to check difficulty

- side with mystics(others didn't work), fast forward and no real text reading(I want to save that for the real game )

- choose to fight zeal the first time, save ayla the second

- didn't hit any switch in dinopolis(left head open/lower switch activated)



Wrote this rather fast, so if there are any questions, go ahead asking them.

Don't forget to look at the pics in the attachment.

[Agent 12]

Wow Cyber thanks for the detailed notes!  I'm going to comment in line and cross these off as I conquer them.  I'm out for the weekend which it sounds like that's the only time you have internet access So look for my notes next week and thanks for beta testing (even more) !

--JP

EDIT: THe decision comments are expecially scary....i feel like i've gone through all 3 several times lately but if someone can repro this it woul dhelp.

[CyberSarkany]

I'm really busy lately, so I don't have much time for beta testing...

Old Post:

- in the Huacan factory: green reptite is used for countering instead of robot(r seris throws chara to reptite and back, yet he should only throw it to another r series), the green reptite also does no "throwing back" animation  JP NOTE: I think the AI is something like "if another enemy exists" do throwing animation.  Since in the game you never had R series with another enemy this was fine.  Would you rather have no throwing animation at all?

---> the things is the green reptite didn't move at all, it seemed like the R seriens threw you into the green reptite, who didn't move, and you bounced  back

- No matter what side you choose at Mystics Den, the next scene is always the same(side with mystics), it freezes when you side with porre  JP NOTE: I can't repro this...if you can please send me an SRM if possible.  Also are you using zsnes?

---> I just checked my savegames, and I don' have any near that place anymore, but I used ZSNES

- 2nd Marle Chapter: item when going back to cedric? because you don't really have to, something like a symbol for her being worthy of the name guardia or whatever?  JP NOTE: You talking like a key item?

---> more like an accesouire or helmet or whatever

- The Epoch scene seems a bit short, should be a bit more like "wow, like in the old times", and shouldn't it be gotten a bit later? because you don't really seem to need it(unless I missed something)  JP NOTE: you talking about the epoch taking down the missile? or them seeing the epoch for the first time?

---> I mean when you are in front of it in Chronopolis. It feels more like, "now that the player knows the epoch II works, just let him use it". Also maybe recolor the epoch? To show it's different from the CT one? Getting Epoch doesn't feel as epic as it should.


New stuff:

Kashmir's Fort:
- imp minigame:
* if you don't hit one right at the beginning, it might take ages to get one, because they move rather strange...
* the guillotine on the right doesn't work/has no blade, intentional?...
* maybe a way to reset the game without having to wait for the imps to reach a certain point? because this could take ages

- text error when opening the chest to the left of ozzie(with the aidoneus thingy helmet inside), couldn't reproduce, but a small textwindow opend on the bottom and several words were covering each other.(kinda like the thing after the acid/alkaline fight with robo and lLucca, Zephira took a pic of it if I recall right)

- pic 01: I just got the masamune and ran from the battle with the 2 grimalkin further north.

- pic 02: while the screen fades, you can see how frog is covered by a tile

- pic 03: enemy covered

...double tab does like 2 times ~9000 damage...

11.04 patch

- can't talk to crono's mom after the attack on guardia(right after Marle and Crono wake up in Crono's Mom's House)

Leene'S Square:
-  you can walk though the bit-error guy who is moving around
- shouldn't the figur of the heroes be destroyed after porre took over? to destroy the moral of the people or something?

- pic 04: character should be covered + pic 05: marked spike should be down, too(in one pic)

Porre Lab:

- TerraMutant's fireball attack a bit to strong(did like 1700 dmg to crono), also it seems a bit to repetitive considering dalton who was the previous boss used it   

- the electricity that should stop you from progressing should be a bit wider, it looks like you can walk around it, and maybe when you touch it, maybe take little damage and be pushed back?    Also there is a chest behind lots of wires...with a mutant...how can I get it? I don't know...
 
- porre lab boss changes colours, intentional?




This was rather quick, I hope I will be able to do more soon, but can't promise(work keeps me busy).

[Chrono'99]

Also maybe recolor the epoch? To show it's different from the CT one? Getting Epoch doesn't feel as epic as it should.

Yeah, I think I'll try to make a new sprite for it. It always bugged me how this supposed "Neo Epoch, or Epoch II" looks exactly like the Epoch from CT and not like the actual Neo Epoch from CC. (Might have to add two seats and pretend Belthasar removes them between CE and CC though.)

[CyberSarkany]

- Porre lap's boss' death shouldn't be that of a normal enemy

- nothing happens when the time runs out in the 3 beds area(where you could rest before), instead it is reset to 255 minutes, also "sorry, out of time" seems a bit...unexciting; the savepoint in the same room should be deactivated during the fleeing scene, same with the blue dot near the beds which was used for resting

- change Cakulha's text after obtaining the datacube?  When you talk to him, he just says stuff about it, and repeats it if you talk to him again

Ocean's Palace:

- Red-/Blue-/ Scouts should take more damage by magic, "normal" techs nearly do as much damage as magic...which shouldn't be because of their "wrong magic counter"

- At the savepoint area, maybe force the player to use the upper and lower way? or at least put chests there, so it doesn't seem useless to go there

         -> northern fight: Jinn should be a bit lower so it won't be covered by the attack window  JP NOTE: I LOVE your attention to detail about this stuff.  Most of the people who play the game will not appreciate how many of these battles were tweaked every  so slightly because of your feedback

- Mammon Machine room: Glenn(if not in your party) has a blue sword, also the thingy the party uses on the mammon machine seems to have a screwed sprites

Crono Dream:

- Maybe don't be able to go back(like, when you are in the cathedral, don't be able to go back to Crono's house), it has more of the "won't be able to turn back" feeling that way

- lower HP of Enemies? Compared to the enemies in Robo's Dream, who he can kill rather fast, the battles in Crono's Dream take very long

- maybe raise Lavos Cores stats to maximum, so it won't be beatable until very late(if at all)? And also just for the kicks?  JP NOTE: I actually had this at first But zeality talked me out of it.  THe item you get for defeating him is important later in the game, important enough where we felt like we shouldn't punish the player for having crono in the team during the frozen flame trials.

Item description: Medea Crown says "def + 9", but it should be magic defense(M.Def)  JP NOTE:  Goofy! I never changed this from CT: orig....