Editing the characters' growth HP and MP curves

[Armorvil]

Here are the HP and MP I'd like my characters to have when they reach level 99 :

Barret : ~9999 HP, ~100 MP
Cid : ~9200 HP, ~200 MP
Cloud : ~8500 HP, ~300 MP
Red XIII : ~7700 HP, ~400 MP
Tifa : ~7000 HP, ~500 MP
Cait Sith : ~6300 HP, ~600 MP
Vincent : ~5500 HP, ~700 MP
Yuffie : ~4800 HP, ~800 MP
Aerith : ~4000 HP, ~999 MP

With Wall Market, this is possible. There are enough growth curves so I could choose the ones I like. The only problem is that the curves most of the time aren't straight lines. Let's take Aerith's HP growth, for example :

I noticed that curve #30 is the best there is, for her. But the problem is, the curve goes up a lot at the beginning, and slows down afterwards. Consequently, her HP growth is very high from lv 1 to lv 14. So, when she reaches lv 14, she has ~1250 HP. Let's compare her with the other characters at lv 14, shall we ?

Cloud : 1014 HP
Barret : 1279 HP
Tifa : 970 HP
Red XIII : 950 HP
Yuffie : 1118 HP (!)
Cait Sith : 1850 HP (ridiculous...)
Vincent : 1950 HP (we got a winner)
Cid : 1143 HP

See the problem ?... ...If I'm balancing all characters' HP and MP growth, this is to bypass this kind of aberration. Aeris should never come close to Barret's HP, and "magicians" like Vincent and Cait Sith should never become such HP monsters. Of course after some time, this problem disappears since their growths slow down, but it's highly annoying.

I guess I could start the game with everyone at level 50+, so you'd never witness such atrocity, but I noticed that Wall Market allows one to edit the growth curves. Most excellent, since it would allow me to create perfect straight lines for each character. The problem is, it looks like this :



Does anyone know how this works ?

EDIT:

Okay guys, I figured it out. Sorry for creating once again a topic before putting my ass in gear, but like before, I really thought I could never understand it by myself. And it turned out I was wrong, once again.

You see, each of those lines is a curve. And what I had to modify were the bytes in the G columns. In G1, G2, G3, G4, G5, G6, G7 and G8, enter the same value. The higher the value, the higher the line will climb (and the more HP/MP/whatever the character will gain at level up). For example, putting 12 in all those columns, for curve #29, creates a straight line that allows Barret to reach 108 MP at level 99.
As for the B columns, my guess is they're for the min values - so they shouldn't be very important.

Sorry again for creating a new topic so fast...

EDIT :

Apparently, the B columns are more important than that. It's also important to enter the same value in them.

[Mirenheart]

Well, I wouldn't have a clue on how this works, but I will say that Cait Siths HP: is supposed to be a little hi (not quite that much, however). I think his HP is supposed to be around Barret's.

[Armorvil]

To tell you the truth, I had some trouble deciding on what to do with Cait Sith... ...Its physical attack being ridiculous, and it being a little cat made me choose the mage path. True, it could be a mage with high HP, but since I already made its defence quite high, I had to give him some drawback.

[3py0n]

Hrmm..finally someone diving into this and explaining it lol the .chm file doesn't help that much.  And though this explains a lot, it is still confusing.  Like What do the numbers on the side dictate? How do I choose the char I want the curve to affect?

Ackkk lol wracking my brain!!

Thanks though

[nfitc1]

I'm not sure it's possible to create a straight line with these. The function is quadratic. They aren't really meant to be straight anyway. You'd get too much growth and be overpowered in the lower levels and not have enough growth and be underpowered in the middle levels.

Terrance's party mechanics FAQ on GFAQs is the best tool for learning about these curves. I don't really understand it well enough to explain it.

If you make the base 0 and the gradient 100 for a row, the baseline stat for each level will be the value of the level itself. By altering the gains you should be able to make it fairly straight. There is that randomness about it. It's possible to get higher than the intended stat, but not by more than 5.

[Armorvil]

I managed to do it anyhow :



True, I haven't tested this in-game yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

EDIT:

Tested in-game, and it works perfectly 

[miseru]

 Well everyone is free to mod the game how he wants, how he enjoys more, so I don't really wanna change your mind at those, just I would quarrel with the story background of your changes. Completely wrong in my opinion.

 Main thoughts in short version: MAKO energy makes characters good at magic. Non humans have higher health. Invalid human is far from equal to most healthy character.

 In detail:

Cloud - ex-soldier - maybe he wasn't an 1 class actually, but still a soldier is made by mako energy radiation + he experienced at least 2-3 times swimming(?) in lifestream made out of mako energy, hence whole magic thing in the game, which should make him second caster after Aerith and in your sense he can't even use KOTR materia for most normal games(as reaching 99lvl in normal means and without cheating kind of kills the fun couse the game is too repeatative), having problems with many other spells.

Barret - He's big and stuff, yet he lost his hand, that's serious "health problems", giving him max hp just couse he's big is wrong. Normal human and an ex-mine-worker after accident. Hell I would never think about any ex-mine-worker as healthy even if strong, especially an invalid without a hand.

Aerith - she's an ANCIENT, hence her body is also stronger than normal human, giving her low hp just couse she's best at magic is a no no. She should be "best in everything" just like Sephiroth, good reason to kill her in mid game, an Ancient in the party doesn't mean an overpower as she normally isn't available for whole game anyway. And reaching 99lvl on 1 CD without cheating is too sick to even take her max stats in mind.

Cait Sith - the little cat doesn't fight, just is a mean to control the huge fat golem, which can also change into even huger and fatter golem in his limit break, he SHOULD have huge hp, def, attack, it's enough he's comic character and not cool enough for most to play with him to nerf his stats.

Vincent - hell no a VAMPIRE transforming into damn overpowered monsters just can't be an anorectic wizard:O I really can't see him having low hp just becouse he use ranged attack.

Yuffie - can't see a reason why she should be second magic user. Normal human - trained in martial arts/ninja skills, sure she loves materia, but surely she doesn't drop inside mako reactor in her childhood to make her nearly as good in using magic as an Ancient.

 Other stats/characters can be seen in many ways, but those above have their strengths written into plot. Mako soldier, main game character not being able to use materias in effective way:P...
That's just sad. Through it's your game:P personaly I prefer plot over battle enjoyment who knows maybe I'm just strange, anyway have fun with your changes.

[Armorvil]

I was kinda hoping that someone would react on the stats I posted
And you have good points. When I designed those stats, I chose to base myself on looks somehow - because hey, even though Cloud is very powerful in the story, giving the small guy more HP than Barret would feel weird, IMO.

Also, storyline strengths are one thing, and gameplay mechanics are another. If I were to improve Cloud's stats, it wouldn't be good for balance, I think. As for Aeris, she already is very powerful - it just doesn't show in her stats. Remember, you only saw their HP and MP - not their specific equipments and stats.

Still as I said, you have good points. About Cait Sith notably (it's true that I don't really know what to do with him). I'm curious, what HP, MP, Strength, Vitality, Magic and Spirit would you give the characters, at level 99 ?

Actually, don't reply in this topic - I'll create another one to discuss those stats.

EDIT:

Topic created here.