Heartfelt Adventure: Questions, Suggestions, and Discussions

[fractalJester]

Updated the Combat Info post again, this time to include a section on the two types of Summoning.  

[fractalJester]

Molten Tigrex
30 MAG = 123 points

113 stats:
STR - 18
DEF - 17
MAG - 10
RES - 17
SKL - 12
REF - 8
SPD - 14
CON - 17

10 for passives

Towering Momentum - Due to the dragon's great size, all physical attacks exert immense knockback unless appropriately blocked by one with strength equal to or greater than its own.

Terrible Roar - Powered not only by magic, but by the monstrous lung power and air capacity built into its form, the dragon's roars can be heard--and felt--across the battlefield. Anyone too close will be knocked over by the sheer concussive power of the air blast, though allies are (barely) protected from its might and sound.  

[fractalJester]

With the conclusion of the Louis Arc, we're moving into a period of change. To accommodate that change, the Earthlings are being benched: 3 days of rest, training, education, and no excursions.

Yeah, Riku and Sora will be tattling.

As Yen Sid and Merlin will tell them, the past week has pushed their bodies beyond their limits time and time again. How, the magi still cannot properly explain—Merlin may spout off a theory or five, but Yen Sid will remain silent in his contemplation. Why, though, they are quite certain is clear: born in a land without magic, and chosen by powers beyond understanding, we have all been forcefully acclimating to this new universe, where the laws of physics as we know them are upended and the forces of magic are nigh-omnipresent. Like Sora and Riku before us, we have quickly gained powers beyond even that of an ordinary trainee in this realm, and yet we have done so without mentors, without knowledge, without understanding. And now, seven days since our arrival, our bodies and hearts are on the cusp of becoming fully of this world.

But with the forces of darkness growing stronger by the hour, we do not have the freedom of taking things as they come. So now, just as the duo had been taken under mentors' wings during the past two years, so too shall we. With the aid of Merlin and the Three Good Fairies, the Earthlings will go through sessions of training and tutoring using time compression magic, such that time itself will lose all meaning—seconds could be minutes or hours, hours could be days or weeks, but to those inside, it will not matter, as it will fly by all the same. In seven days, we have gained amazing power and potential; during this timeless instruction, we will gain the knowledge and understanding needed to properly work within this world, to fully explore the potential we now have. And, most importantly, we will come to connect with those deepest wells of power within ourselves, the core of our strength, and we will learn what it means to be at one with our hearts, to be the best versions of ourselves.

It won't hurt to get to know each other better, either, because lord has there been some chaos in miscommunication.



What does this mean, out of character? A bit of renovation. There will be quite a few changes, each to be explained in due time. However, some of these changes might require a period of thought for you guys in particular. Here is what you all need to know first and foremost--stuff for you to contemplate between now and the end of the arc.

1) Everyone will be given an opportunity to completely rework their characters. Weapons, class concepts, summons, elements, abilities—everything about your character will be open to reworking. This is what we mean by “being at one with our hearts” and “being the best versions of ourselves”. While some people are only just joining, or have only been with us a few years, some of us have been doing this for as long as the roleplay has been open—which, by this point, is nearly a decade. For that long, we've been tied to these weapons and elements, and while there was another opportunity to rework when things were deleted, there's at least a small chance people remained the same out of respect for what was taken from us. So yes, the very first step of training will be to “reconnect” with your heart, and that will allow you to totally revamp your character.

A word on classes: while it is usually easiest to simply pick one of the base classes from the Final Fantasy universe, we're always open to more unique, custom class ideas. We will work with you to make sure it's balanced, of course, but if it's something you want to pursue, let us know.

An important word on changing summons!!!: A couple people have shown interest, and concern, in the idea of summon changing--namely that they might want to change, but are attached to their summon's character. Your summon's "identity" will remain the same! Their "soul" is not changing, their "personality" doesn't have to change--heck, their form technically doesn't even have to change! Remember, summons take whatever form you desire. The only thing you would be changing is their element and abilities tied to their old "self".

Imagine it as if they're transitioning, in a sense. They're still them, they're still the entity to whom you've grown attached; they're just picking up a different skill set to better suit your heart.




2) Part of this rework is for the system itself. We're still trying to balance, simplify, and define things such that the “game” aspect of roleplaying works smoothly. As a result, some of the stats are getting redefined again—specifically, as has been the case lately, Skill and Speed. So here's what you need to know when it comes to reworking your profile:

In the past, I've changed Skill from Action Speed, and Attack Speed, and I've attempted to keep it in that same vein. But now, with the whole rework being allowed, I can do what should have been done to begin with by taking it apart and consolidating.

Skill will become Dexterity, and it will have no more connection to how many actions you get a turn. Instead, it will help determine the accuracy of melee and projectile attacks—in this way, it remains a direct opposite of Reflexes. As well, it will still be the domain of more “skillful” abilities, such as disarming an opponent, stealing, or striking critical points. Even more, however, is that basic damage for Ranged weapons will be based off of the user's Dexterity (versus DEF or RES is a character-defined choice at creation, but as it is, bows oppose DEF and guns oppose RES; more on that on a front page post).

Speed, in turn, is going to be exactly what it should have been from the beginning: all things speed related, including actions per post. Boom. Simplified.

Inevitably, any time stats get brought up, I hear grumbling—I don't blame you, it's a text-based roleplay! Not everyone wants to write this out as a game, and as always, we insist that no one has to if they don't want. The numbers game is mostly for people who do enjoy treating combat like a tabletop game, such as Pathfinder or Dungeons & Dragons.



On the topic of stats, there will be other changes tied to Magic. However, these changes will not be to the stat itself, but rather to the abilities tied to it. Here's why this is important when changing your profile around:


3) We're simplifying magic restrictions (or trying to, at least!). As it was, you needed certain levels of Magic stat to properly cast higher level spells. We're doing away with that entirely, because in every game, regardless of your stats, you could still cast any spell you wanted. If Sora gave up the Dream Rod, he could still cast Firaga, could he not? It just wasn't necessarily as strong. Now, instead, your stat will simply determine the actual potency, duration, or additional effects of the ability. A 10 Fire will beat a 5 Fire. A 10 Haste will last longer, or affect more people, than a 5 Haste.

Further, all abilities will have “MP costs” based on the skill itself—not based off the Magic stat used. A weak magic Fire will cost the same as a high magic Fire. And MP costs was in quotations because we're not going to make you count that stuff (if you don't want to; besides, I'm still working on it...). I may have put a little experiment-system in place, but as I said then, I'll say now—nobody's gotta use it or even acknowledge that it's there. But just acknowledge, in character, that certain things have a greater toll, as always.

So then, if you can cast a Magic 10 Fire and a Magic 10 Firaga, how do you determine what makes them different enough that the Firaga should cost more?

How you want to handle the different levels of magic is, for the most part, going to be up to you—they're your spells after all. We're taking a page out of Mizu's KA book for this one. In the original games, learning an upgraded version of a spell simply replaced that spell. You can go that route if you like, but if you wanna have a little more variety, you have various options.

Some examples: If you want your Firaga to simply be a more powerful Fire spell (more than simply being a little bigger or having more 'oomph'), then you can add that effect—say, a small Magic boost at the cost of more mana. If, instead, you want your Firaga to be the same strength, but have a grander effect (maybe instead of just being a little bigger, it's actually multiple bolts at once) for some more mana, then sure, go for that, too. Does your second-level buff last longer, or affect more people? Basically, just let us know the kind of direction you want to go with abilities.

Admittedly, this may take some approval/debate time, and there's already some ability bloat as is. Still, it was either this or have those weird stat restrictions which forced people to max out a stat they may not genuinely care about. We definitely wanted to get rid of those, because take a look at the party: a large percent of people maxed out magic. People who don't even really wanna be mages chose to max out magic—and while it may be just for damage, we were worried it might also be that otherwise they couldn't use all the abilities they wanted. We tried to balance it one way, and it didn't work. So new way, go.

Basically, all abilities are fair game now, stats or not. It's only the strength/duration that changes. Which brings us to another big point:




4) After the time-compressed training, all of us will be “level 6”. Further, you might remember that we allowed people 2 additional stat points if they gave up a Passive or Limit Break? Well, being that everyone is getting “properly trained,” everyone will get those 2 extra points, and people who used the Passive/Limit as an advantageous boost will now be able to choose another Passive/Limit to replace them. So, when you're doing your stats, everyone should have 92, with no stat being higher than 14.

As you can imagine, we're not actually done growing yet. No, there isn't going to be a “level 100” or anything like that; rather, at this point, your growth will simply come in smaller increments. One point here, two points there. Basically, the “levels” are kind of getting scrapped—and further, so is the stat max. We'll keep the limit to how many points you can put into something at once, but as far as a truly hard limit goes, meh! That was an attempt at showing us still adapting to this new world; now, we're fully adapted. Huzzah!

Side note: if you still really wanna spend your passive on additional stat points... hold off. Something new might be coming your way.




5) As explained, we're going through super training to be the best we can. As a result, all abilities (currently applied for) are unlocked, or if you're revamping, you can be assumed to have most of those skills and abilities unlocked. You've had 3 days (much longer due to time compression, really) to figure out the many potential things you could do. So bam, you can do them. Pretty simple.


This is all you need to know for now to begin setting up for the major time-skip coming up after this arc. There will be more announcements coming, all of which I hope you'll enjoy!

For information regarding claimed summons and weapons, check the first post of this thread!  

[fractalJester]

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WEAPONS

Here is the excerpt on weapons from the front page of HA.

On Weapons:

Quote:

::What can I wield?::

When it comes to Heartbound weapons, nearly anything at all can be a weapon! However, each weapon type comes with its own perks and disadvantages, so take them into account when choosing what will represent you, your class, and your fighting style. To make things as simple as possible, we've broken the weapons down into 3 main types, based on their potential for "basic" (non-elemental, 0-effect) attacks.

Melee: These need little introduction–most every typical "weapon" will be melee. Swords, poles, axes, daggers; basically, if it's primary purpose is physically damaging your opponent, it's a melee weapon. Their basic attacks would be simple swings, stabs, etc–again, no serious explanation is necessary–and their damage is based on Strength against Defense. If an obviously melee-oriented weapon has some sort of range functionality, such as Leon's gunblade, it can fire "basic" projectiles for free, but they would have extremely limited range (close-to-medium, likely no more than 30-40 feet) without some form of mana.

Ranged: From bows to guns to slingshots, these are also pretty self-explanatory. These weapons generally have enough range to cover an entire battlefield (within reason), and their primary purpose is to keep the wielder out of the fray. Being Heartbound, ammo is never limited–bullets, arrows, and other projectiles are generated with an negligible amount of mana (read: 0). The projectiles, typically made of magic, are always completely basic and ordinary until mana is added, but damage itself is case-by-case. While all ranged attacks will use Dexterity, which defensive stat it opposes can change between weapons: some may oppose Defense (such as Bobbi's bow) while others may oppose Resistance (such as Amy's guns); further, you can change which type your attacks oppose at a small cost of additional mana. Ranged weapons can potentially have some back-up melee component, but it must clearly by last-resort; if the weapon can be wielded in Melee just as easily as Ranged, then you've approached a blurry line and will have to make a decision one way or another on how to change it slightly enough in one direction.

Focus: Focus weapons, also known as magic weapons, are basically your unconventional tools probably more suited for your class' talents than basic combat. Some examples so far have been a feather pen, a flute, fans, a tome, and floating mirrors. Clearly, these weapons would be unwieldy (though not impossible) to use in melee, and neither do they have basic projectiles. To make up for this, however, their "basic" attacks can be slightly unique. As always, they must be non-elemental and have no special effects, and to keep from stepping on Ranged weapons' toes, they have a limited range. All the same, these attacks would use the Magic stat to determine damage, and give the magic weapon a flavor of its own. The flute player might hit a single note and set off an individual blast under her target, the fan holder may send an unseen razor gale with a swing, or the mirror-wielder might try to damage her foes through their reflections. All damage is determined by Magic against Resistance.

Though magical in intent, certain typical "magic" weapons would be considered "melee" instead–namely, the staff and scepter, both of which are easily capable of being bludgeoning weapons.

 

[fractalJester]

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SUMMONS

Here is the excerpt on summons from the front page of HA.

On Summons:

Quote:

::Who can I choose for a summon?::

Summons are restricted to entities officially listed as Final Fantasy Summons, or entities who are otherwise officially considered "eidolons", "espers", or summons within the Final Fantasy canon. Even then, some restrictions apply--please run all ideas past us before you get too far in the development process.

There may be no two of the same summon. There may also be no two summons who are basically identical save for game quirks (there may only be one Bahamut, for instance, even though there are many different types of Bahamut). Immediate restrictions also include Giant of Babil and Hades.

In addition, for the purpose of reworks, you cannot choose one of the thirteen Ivalician Espers.  

[Psalm Grasshopper]

I'm waiting for a Mathy post so I can cast Life on him.  

[fractalJester]

Psalm Grasshopper

I'm waiting for a Mathy post so I can cast Life on him.

I thought I mentioned in the chat that you didn't have to wait? I mean, he's KO'd, it's a guarantee, you can assume once the spell's over that he's down (same as anyone else that hasn't been posted as but rolled low). It's not like he can act this round, anyway, so Raise or not it's basically just going to be a blue line saying "And then Mathy fell."

But if you gotta wait for whatever reason, it might be a bit, I'm trying to dual post with Zeiq.  

[Psalm Grasshopper]

fractalJester

Psalm Grasshopper

I'm waiting for a Mathy post so I can cast Life on him.

I thought I mentioned in the chat that you didn't have to wait? I mean, he's KO'd, it's a guarantee, you can assume once the spell's over that he's down (same as anyone else that hasn't been posted as but rolled low). It's not like he can act this round, anyway, so Raise or not it's basically just going to be a blue line saying "And then Mathy fell."

But if you gotta wait for whatever reason, it might be a bit, I'm trying to dual post with Zeiq.

Mathy hasn't fallen until you post that in the RP. O_o Are you giving me permission to GM Mathy being KO'd?  

[fractalJester]

Psalm Grasshopper

fractalJester

Psalm Grasshopper

I'm waiting for a Mathy post so I can cast Life on him.

I thought I mentioned in the chat that you didn't have to wait? I mean, he's KO'd, it's a guarantee, you can assume once the spell's over that he's down (same as anyone else that hasn't been posted as but rolled low). It's not like he can act this round, anyway, so Raise or not it's basically just going to be a blue line saying "And then Mathy fell."

But if you gotta wait for whatever reason, it might be a bit, I'm trying to dual post with Zeiq.

Mathy hasn't fallen until you post that in the RP. O_o Are you giving me permission to GM Mathy being KO'd?

I'm saying it's already been confirmed in the RP chance thread, so by the time the spell is over and you can act, all of the people who failed the roll would have been successfully KO'd, post or not. It's not GMing because you're not saying he's KO'd, the rolls are saying it and, if nothing else, I'm saying it in this situation. You don't really need to know what he did beforehand to work with the fact that he's out cold, and if you did, I can tell you they'd be nothing of significance except cringing as Joe got flung backwards, tossing his hands up as the blasts come, and then falling flat on his back.  

[Psalm Grasshopper]

fractalJester

Psalm Grasshopper

fractalJester

Psalm Grasshopper

I'm waiting for a Mathy post so I can cast Life on him.

I thought I mentioned in the chat that you didn't have to wait? I mean, he's KO'd, it's a guarantee, you can assume once the spell's over that he's down (same as anyone else that hasn't been posted as but rolled low). It's not like he can act this round, anyway, so Raise or not it's basically just going to be a blue line saying "And then Mathy fell."

But if you gotta wait for whatever reason, it might be a bit, I'm trying to dual post with Zeiq.

Mathy hasn't fallen until you post that in the RP. O_o Are you giving me permission to GM Mathy being KO'd?

Otherwise, you'll have Luke–and whoever reads it as a novel–coming to this point and going, "wait a minute... I don't remember reading that Jenny and Mathy died O_o. Weird and inconsistent way to do it, but I guess I'll take it from context that they did..."

I'm saying it's already been confirmed in the RP chance thread, so by the time the spell is over and you can act, all of the people who failed the roll would have been successfully KO'd, post or not. It's not GMing because you're not saying he's KO'd, the rolls are saying it and, if nothing else, I'm saying it in this situation. You don't really need to know what he did beforehand to work with the fact that he's out cold, and if you did, I can tell you they'd be nothing of significance except cringing as Joe got flung backwards, tossing his hands up as the blasts come, and then falling flat on his back.

I've always thought that the RP is supposed to be read like a novel. So it wouldn't make any sense for me to say, "Amy casts Life on Mathy," without a Mathy post first to show that Mathy was KO'd.

Rae: *does KO spell*
Joe: *dies*
Dani: *dies*
Dawn: *raises Jenny* ???
Kyla: *casts Warding Lotus on Dawn*
Axel: ???
James: *shoots dread cannon at Rae*
Leon: *dies*
Auron: *defends Joe*

Now you want me to add:

Amy: *casts Life on Mathy*

Far as I can see, here's who is KO'd per the "I'm reading this as a novel" approach that HA is supposed to exemplify.

Joe, Dani, Leon

And possibly Axel. I don't know what's going on with Axel. Kyla rolled him a 6, but his post didn't say he KO'd.

Point is, of those 3-4 people, those are the ones that have died at this point, and are my only options. Unless you're telling me to take control of Mathy in my post and GM him as dieing. GM = game master in this case, not god mode.  

[fractalJester]

If that's how you want to play, that's your choice, but it's not how we're running the scene. ¯|_(ツ)_/¯ The way it's being run is we're all people writing and talking in tandem, so it's fine to go ahead with certain assumptions and/or facts given to you by the actual GM(s).

If you're looking for explicit permission to write the words "As the waves passed, Amy saw that Matthew was one of the ones knocked out." then you've got permission because, as was rolled and as I've said, that's what happened. Or you can wait for me to post, which should probably be in the next couple days, maybe even this evening if I finish up certain things in time.  

[phoenixianCrystallist]

I don't remember anyone ever saying anywhere that HA is "supposed" to be read in any manner or another? I mean sure you could read it like a novel, but that's up to you.

Fact is, Aims, because this is a role play and not a novel, anything that is decided in the Random Chance Thread is and should be taken as either currently happening or having already happened. That thread isn't just there for the mods to check and make sure rolls are being made fairly, it's also there for cases exactly like this, where we have an action that has happened and needs to be reacted to, but the person in control of the characters being affected might not be able to post immediately. Kyle already made his rolls, so as of right now, regardless as to whether or not he posts, what those rolls determined is happening/has already happened.  

[Psalm Grasshopper]

Mizu_Kage_Hikari

I don't remember anyone ever saying anywhere that HA is "supposed" to be read in any manner or another? I mean sure you could read it like a novel, but that's up to you.

Fact is, Aims, because this is a role play and not a novel, anything that is decided in the Random Chance Thread is and should be taken as either currently happening or having already happened. That thread isn't just there for the mods to check and make sure rolls are being made fairly, it's also there for cases exactly like this, where we have an action that has happened and needs to be reacted to, but the person in control of the characters being affected might not be able to post immediately. Kyle already made his rolls, so as of right now, regardless as to whether or not he posts, what those rolls determined is happening/has already happened.

It was on the home page. Doesn't appear to be there anymore; maybe it was edited out when the home page was last updated. It used to say, instead of having many different threads with each world being its own thread, the entire RP is kept to one thread, so that way it can be picked up and read by anyone, like a novel. We used that as a benefit of joining our guild.

Just having an ATE changes that, though, so I guess it doesn't matter to try keeping the story to one thread.

I'm still not posting until I see a Mathy post saying he's dead. 'Cause it's important to me that the role play can be picked up and read by anyone like a novel.  

[fractalJester]

Then, once again, you can include the line "As the waves passed, Amy saw that Matthew was one of the ones knocked out." Once again, I am saying it is allowed.

At this point, the only reason for you to wait is to make me write out the words "Matthew fell" which, I mean, if that's your point, okay? rofl  

[Psalm Grasshopper]