So I finally decided to make the ultimate weapons, the reason I held back was because I really wanted to know every weapon option I was using inside out, and get the most out of them.
I've been testing the ultimate weapons for a while, and personally, I'd like to see them get alot of tweaks.
I've found that all character balance has been lost since getting them. I was hoping that upon aqquring them, they would be a slight bump up in damage at the cost of stats, so if I really wanted to pump out extra damage, I'd stick it on pure offence character, and keep the other characters with weapons that stats complimented their builds. But I havn't found this to be the case, all of the ultimates seem to render all other weapon choices obsolete.
The problems go beyond that though, for example, I was using Cid as my main frontline damage with partisan, and due to his huge luck, he was my best damage dealer.
Now with the ultimates, he's literally hitting 2 to 3 times less than other characters. Yeah, he's self healing, that's nice and cool and all? But it's a niche that's essentially forced onto him, that removes my original intent for him. Now hes hitting 2k and 4k crits, while yuffie/tifa etc are all up in the 7/8/9k. Essentially, as long I'm using these ultimates, Cid is now worthless in the role I designed him for in comparison with the other characters.
It's also thrown away any other build variations that I had. Barret as a frontliner? Pointless now. His missing score is basically 2 times the damage of his strongest short-range weapon, with no setup and long range.
Cid with Grow Lance in back row? Again, pointless now, before his damage was on par with Barret from the back row, but now Barrets doing double Cids damage with missing score.
Same deal with Vincent.
etc etc
Characters are now pigeonholed into a role, or they suffer immensely. The balance even among the ultimate weapons themselves is quite off in itself, some are absolutely god tier, while others in terms of overall reliable damage per turn, and weapon efficiency fall very, very far short. Which means, if I want to maintain efficiency or rather not massively nerf myself, I just have to drop certain characters as they now longer are comparable to the others. Why use a tank thats doing 2k max, when I could use one whos doing 5k+? thats 8k vs 20k per turn.
I feel that the balance before aqurring ultimate weapons was excellent. Everything was finely tuned and no one massively outshone other characters (without having a balancing downside, but now I feel that's all lost.
I don't know if that was the intent? To just make the ultimates crazy powerful and imbalanced even among themselves? Just as like the last bit of variation to the game? Or is it just an oversight? I'd really like to see the Ultimates fall in line with the other weapons in the game, but maybe that's just me.
Heres just a few examples, these are all done with 255 attack vs 70 def cloud for consisteny and ease of testing.
Ragnarok:
Ultimate weapon:
Max Ray:
Pilebanger:
Missing score:
You can see the damage jumps are ludicrous. I can't be bothered to upload more, but Tifa and Yuffie do even more damage, and people like Cid/vincent with no differnt formula are just doing 2k.
I'd also like to point out that Clouds damage being contingent on his HP, invetiably means that, he is significantly less reliable than other high tier attackers.
And because hes reliant on high HP, it means hes further nerfed by using Touph/Championship/circlet, as the healing penalty now effects him twice as bad as not only is his life at stake but his damage too.
Because of this, I should just use Barret/Yuffie/Tifa, as Barret in the back row as a tank, is a much more consisntely high damage dealer than cloud as a pure attacker. And Yuffie and Tifa are just wrecking machines.
The only Ultimate that I don't find that balance breaking is Vincents, could be because I don't use him so much. But so far, it seems like what I'd envision for the other ultimates, a decent jump up in damage, but nothing that renders all other weapon choices obsolete. I also like the damage of Venus Gospel, it's a good step up, and like to see similar results for others, but the self-healing in itself is just broken.
Maybe it's just me, but I really feel like the ultimate weapons should add diversity, not take it away. Perhaps, others just prefer ultimate weapons to truly be "ultimate weapons" where no others can compare, I can accept that if that is the case.
Personally, what I would like to see to really distinguish the weapons from the others, without breaking them, say something like; Cloud +25/30 Str on Ultimate weapon, normal damage formula.
This way, if I want a pure offence weapon, i'll use this, and the strength of the weapon will give me more build variety with armour/accessories, but if I really want cloud to have more survivability, I'll still use Ragnarok. Could change Appocalypse into a + dex or luck weapon at the same time.
You could follow the same sort of theme for all characters.
Say for example, Barrets Longe range weapons never have Vit or Spr on them. But to really cement this as his "Ultimate long range weapon" this could have +20 vit/spr, with normal damage formula, and reduce it's attack. And change Pilebangers attack to that of missing scores, change it's bonus to + dex, then change Max Ray to have an extra 10+ magic. And finally, you could change the triple AP weapon into long range, +30 dex, but less attack then Pilebanger, so it would be the most offensive long range weapon.
So you'd have;
Highest attack and most damage = frontline pilebanger (49 attack, +30 dex?)
Highest damage from back line weapon, with lower attack than pilebanger, but high dex for good damage = triple ap weapon (45 attack, +30 dex?)
best tanking weapon, but low damage = missing score ( 44 attack, +30 vit/spr)
highest magic and back row but not no vit/spr bonus, so can't compare for tanking to missing score (42 attack, +30 magic?)
Those are just rough numbers I pulled out of the air, obviously not exacts, just a rough guideline for an idea and the same principle could be applied to all characters.
Sorry for the essay again, I feel quite strongly about these examples, and how I think you can create diversity and horizontal options through the end game weapons, without elevating one massively over another, and thus taking away all freedom of choice.
