In my current project, I'm at a bit of an impasse. I need poison to be something far more threatening. 1/32 damage a turn simply isn't significant enough to make an impact for me, especially because I want Rebirth to be built around a small number of important status effects. I see three possible ways of dealing with the issue - but which should I choose?
1. Turning Poison into Doom.
Advantages:
* The player can see and pre-empt the death of opponents.
* It's relatively easy to implement, and can be added to the materia itself
* Pre-existing algorithms take note of Doom for attack bonuses, which can be exploited for certain mods.
Disadvantages:
* 60 seconds in not a long time to wait for an enemy to die.
* Monsters can either be completely immune, or null it instantly with a certain spell.
* Isn't compounded by other damage. Players who have inflicted it may as well sit around and tank.
2. Turning Poison into Seizure
Advantages:
* Compounded with other damage. Still an incentive to attack once inflicted.
* Certain enemies can try and put the attack off with Cure and Regen.
* Takes about 12-16 turns (assuming Terrence's estimates in the Battle FAQ are correct), which suggests Poison's damage roughly doubled.
* Very dramatic when used on players. When you see inverse regen, you sit up and take notice!
Disadvantages:
* If Terrence's estimates aren't always in line with what happens in battle, it's possible for Seizure to become completely OP
* Can't be added as a materia status, although equipment can still guard
3. Adding Null-Restore via AI as Counter
This would probably be done by making the spells inflict an invisible status, such as Death Force. Or, if Poison is still inflicted, Darkness could be used (it has no effect on enemies, and the dark visual effect is trumped by the bright green poison effect). Unless you wanted to replace the green glow and slow damage with just an inability to heal and darkness, of course. Anyhoo, AI would then check that status flag on counter / Main, as opposed to checking for every attack index), and change Absorb flags accordingly.
Advantages:
* Makes sense as a status, useful position in many mechanics
* 'Disease' as a status is popular with players
Disadvantages.
Where to start?
* Mostly untested. Effects of combination with equipment / natural elemental affinities uncertain.
* Adds AI code. Size issues with KERNEL AI, unless we use the 'link to scripts' function to attach to Cloud. I don't know how these would work when Cloud isn't present in the party, though. I understand there are ways around the size limitation, but I haven't done much testing, nor know much about reinjecting the KERNEL into some part of the disc.
