M
MoCheese
Guest
So I updated and went through the Dark Cave again. Found a couple more issues but by and large, it seems to be good to go. Again, I'll put it under the shroud of spoilers for those that haven't played through it yet. Here's the report and an opinion piece:
I think that's about it in regards to bugs and/or problems that are going to be found in there. Never say never off course, but both times I went through this thing, I went in there with the sole intention of breaking it as much as I could. Seems to be very stable now other then the couple of issues I raised.
EDIT: Forgot one thing, is Cloud's innate information in the readme's that come with the install package? I couldn't find the info on it.
EDIT #2: Forgot another thing, when I went through the Dark Cave the first time, I got the Black Materia as a prize. This time I did not, was it removed or is this a bug? (Not in the spoiler section because that has been in the documentation since 1.4 launched)
- The timer during the reactor escape doesn't work anymore. It stays at 00:00 even after the bomb is planted. Also, because of this, battles that are entered end immediately with nothing happening. No EXP or Gil rewarded. No commands can be entered. The "boss" is the same thing, instant win. Also, I am not sure what happens if you just sit and wait ten minutes to see if it explodes(I wasn't brave enough to test). I think this happened because of the report I mentioned earlier about the first save point not being fully visible with all those windows being up? There's a bug further down that has a similar issue.
- To be clear, there is NOT supposed to be a boss guarding Aeris correct? Other then Yuffie, who for obvious reasons doesn't, Aeris is the only other team member that doesn't. Is the Mystery Man it?
- The Armour Keeper fight needs to be looked at for one specific reason, and maybe one subjective reason:
[Specific] - For some reason, Red XIII is a 4th party member in this fight? Not sure why? Shouldn't it be Cid?
[Subjective] - He seems to be pretty, uhhh... weak. All of his hits were doing 1 damage. I think I understand what the theme of the fight is, with "Guard Break" lowering defenses and all that, but someone with Cover, like Barret for example, can completely negate this fight.
(Onto the opinion piece from me here, but I think Barret or anyone with high Vitality in the back row using Cover may need to be looked at in regards to balance issues. This really struck home with me during the Armour Keeper fight. It seems to be TOO effective at negating physical attacks. Magic damage doesn't have a way to just be cut in half like physical attacks do by doing something as simple as moving someone to the back row. I know elements can be negated and even absorbed, but what about non-elemental? Besides which, there are so many more forms of magic attacks that guarding against them all is impossible, while every enemy in the game can just attack. Seems to be a little one sided to me.
While I would never suggest removing the back row damage reduction mechanic, what I think could use a discussion on is the Cover materia itself. Maybe make it so Cover has a VERY heavy vitality reduction attached to it, a percentage perhaps? That way it can it stay evened out throughout the game. Maybe have it only absorb half the blow while the other half still goes through to the intended target, if things like that are even possible?
I'm sure you could think of something, if you even think this is a balance issue at all that is. There is certainly something to be said about leaving it up to the player to decide if they want to use this tactic or not. I know as it stands right now though, on my next playthrough, I won't use it. I think it's too strong personally.
Anyways, that's my two cents, back to bugs...)
- Typhon has misleading text in his description. It says that it deals Wind Damage but the Gold text under his name is Gravity. Junctioning Elemental with Typhon and going to the Status menu also gives you Gravity elemental.
- After defeating Mirage and with the 20 minute escape timer going, using the save point closest to Justice(Near the church) makes the timer and save window go all screwy again.
- Justice doesn't have boss music, intentional or no?
-- And to end on some rather small nitpicky stuff --
- Camera angles on a few fights are a little wonky (Kotch, the three soilders before Amalgam).
- The "Golden Shiny Rope of Hope" or whatever the hell Barret calls it is invisible on the climb down during the escape after Mirage. Sure makes for an interesting visual though!
- The Turtle's Paradise Poster in the kid's room by Aeris' house has some custom text, the one in Shinra HQ does not.
- The hole in Don Corneo's mansion that leads to the sewers can be glitched by not jumping on the prompt then simply walking over it. Looks funny to see Cloud standing over a gaping hole! Also when you jump down, you can move around for 1 or two seconds before the game simulates you jumping down the hole like you normally do at the start of the game. Also looks funny.
-- Yeah, like I said, small nitpicky stuff --
- To be clear, there is NOT supposed to be a boss guarding Aeris correct? Other then Yuffie, who for obvious reasons doesn't, Aeris is the only other team member that doesn't. Is the Mystery Man it?
- The Armour Keeper fight needs to be looked at for one specific reason, and maybe one subjective reason:
[Specific] - For some reason, Red XIII is a 4th party member in this fight? Not sure why? Shouldn't it be Cid?
[Subjective] - He seems to be pretty, uhhh... weak. All of his hits were doing 1 damage. I think I understand what the theme of the fight is, with "Guard Break" lowering defenses and all that, but someone with Cover, like Barret for example, can completely negate this fight.
(Onto the opinion piece from me here, but I think Barret or anyone with high Vitality in the back row using Cover may need to be looked at in regards to balance issues. This really struck home with me during the Armour Keeper fight. It seems to be TOO effective at negating physical attacks. Magic damage doesn't have a way to just be cut in half like physical attacks do by doing something as simple as moving someone to the back row. I know elements can be negated and even absorbed, but what about non-elemental? Besides which, there are so many more forms of magic attacks that guarding against them all is impossible, while every enemy in the game can just attack. Seems to be a little one sided to me.
While I would never suggest removing the back row damage reduction mechanic, what I think could use a discussion on is the Cover materia itself. Maybe make it so Cover has a VERY heavy vitality reduction attached to it, a percentage perhaps? That way it can it stay evened out throughout the game. Maybe have it only absorb half the blow while the other half still goes through to the intended target, if things like that are even possible?
I'm sure you could think of something, if you even think this is a balance issue at all that is. There is certainly something to be said about leaving it up to the player to decide if they want to use this tactic or not. I know as it stands right now though, on my next playthrough, I won't use it. I think it's too strong personally.
Anyways, that's my two cents, back to bugs...)
- Typhon has misleading text in his description. It says that it deals Wind Damage but the Gold text under his name is Gravity. Junctioning Elemental with Typhon and going to the Status menu also gives you Gravity elemental.
- After defeating Mirage and with the 20 minute escape timer going, using the save point closest to Justice(Near the church) makes the timer and save window go all screwy again.
- Justice doesn't have boss music, intentional or no?
-- And to end on some rather small nitpicky stuff --
- Camera angles on a few fights are a little wonky (Kotch, the three soilders before Amalgam).
- The "Golden Shiny Rope of Hope" or whatever the hell Barret calls it is invisible on the climb down during the escape after Mirage. Sure makes for an interesting visual though!
- The Turtle's Paradise Poster in the kid's room by Aeris' house has some custom text, the one in Shinra HQ does not.
- The hole in Don Corneo's mansion that leads to the sewers can be glitched by not jumping on the prompt then simply walking over it. Looks funny to see Cloud standing over a gaping hole! Also when you jump down, you can move around for 1 or two seconds before the game simulates you jumping down the hole like you normally do at the start of the game. Also looks funny.
-- Yeah, like I said, small nitpicky stuff --
I think that's about it in regards to bugs and/or problems that are going to be found in there. Never say never off course, but both times I went through this thing, I went in there with the sole intention of breaking it as much as I could. Seems to be very stable now other then the couple of issues I raised.
EDIT: Forgot one thing, is Cloud's innate information in the readme's that come with the install package? I couldn't find the info on it.
EDIT #2: Forgot another thing, when I went through the Dark Cave the first time, I got the Black Materia as a prize. This time I did not, was it removed or is this a bug? (Not in the spoiler section because that has been in the documentation since 1.4 launched)
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