Welcome =]
Not sure if i'm the only one, but i really think Albert Odyssey deserves some improvement.
Recently, i started investigating and though i'm pretty much learning SH-2 asm on the fly, i managed to spot some reference executable|non-executable data locations quite successfully.
I'll list the stuff i'm currently working on, or that i'd like to see.
Other observations|suggestions are very well welcome, especially coming from veterans who have spent a long time playing the original game.
GRYZZ
I believe a rework is needed here, for the best, i hope.
So far, i successfully implemented MP consumption during battle, the idea being to get rid of unlimited spell usage.
I have yet to decide if i give him fixed max MP, or make it level-dependent.
In the end, his spells will be processed just like other characters, though i like the idea of keeping him silence-immune.
Also, i unlocked the access to his spell menu, outside of battles.
I'm not sure yet, but i'm highly considering removing his OP party-healing spell, and give a similar one to Kia instead...
MP LEECH SYSTEM
When it comes to attack-based characters, the observation is that there's no benefit in using damaging spells at all, since attacks will always do more damage.
And just boosting spell damage would basically have the opposite consequence.
Nothing revolutionary here, but i had the idea of having attacks build up MP, creating some kind of artificial spell cooldown in the process.
In the end, those characters will still attack most of the time, but if the player really wants to maximise DPS, casting powerful spells occasionally will matter, resulting in a less dull gameplay.
Though the hack was trickier to implement than i thought, my MP leech routine is working like a charm (in RAM at least, i have yet to actually inject the code, but i already identified a couple candidate files).
For now, each successful attack automatically leeches lvl/10 (down-rounded) + 1 MP.
Of course, to go along that new feature, i will also have to tune spell cost and damage, max MP per lvl, and MP recovery items.
That's easy non-executable data editing for the most part, but keeping things balanced enough will be painful.
LOADING TIMES
I've identified a couple small routines that are called quite often, each time the game has to transfer chunks of data.
The first one seems to basically be sending data to graphic chip(s), but i can't even consider any optimisation at all, my knowledge about communication rules being non-existent.
The other one appears to be dedicated to moving stuff from low to high work RAM, and at first sight, it doesn't look optimised at all, like far from it.
I'll try to hack it and see how far it reflects on loading times, especially regarding random encounters.
MUSIC
Something definitely has to be done about that highly anti-climatic music in the Fargasta tower.
When i find the time, i'll see about using an existing darker theme instead.
Not sure if i'm the only one, but i really think Albert Odyssey deserves some improvement.
Recently, i started investigating and though i'm pretty much learning SH-2 asm on the fly, i managed to spot some reference executable|non-executable data locations quite successfully.
I'll list the stuff i'm currently working on, or that i'd like to see.
Other observations|suggestions are very well welcome, especially coming from veterans who have spent a long time playing the original game.
GRYZZ
I believe a rework is needed here, for the best, i hope.
So far, i successfully implemented MP consumption during battle, the idea being to get rid of unlimited spell usage.
I have yet to decide if i give him fixed max MP, or make it level-dependent.
In the end, his spells will be processed just like other characters, though i like the idea of keeping him silence-immune.
Also, i unlocked the access to his spell menu, outside of battles.
I'm not sure yet, but i'm highly considering removing his OP party-healing spell, and give a similar one to Kia instead...
MP LEECH SYSTEM
When it comes to attack-based characters, the observation is that there's no benefit in using damaging spells at all, since attacks will always do more damage.
And just boosting spell damage would basically have the opposite consequence.
Nothing revolutionary here, but i had the idea of having attacks build up MP, creating some kind of artificial spell cooldown in the process.
In the end, those characters will still attack most of the time, but if the player really wants to maximise DPS, casting powerful spells occasionally will matter, resulting in a less dull gameplay.
Though the hack was trickier to implement than i thought, my MP leech routine is working like a charm (in RAM at least, i have yet to actually inject the code, but i already identified a couple candidate files).
For now, each successful attack automatically leeches lvl/10 (down-rounded) + 1 MP.
Of course, to go along that new feature, i will also have to tune spell cost and damage, max MP per lvl, and MP recovery items.
That's easy non-executable data editing for the most part, but keeping things balanced enough will be painful.
LOADING TIMES
I've identified a couple small routines that are called quite often, each time the game has to transfer chunks of data.
The first one seems to basically be sending data to graphic chip(s), but i can't even consider any optimisation at all, my knowledge about communication rules being non-existent.
The other one appears to be dedicated to moving stuff from low to high work RAM, and at first sight, it doesn't look optimised at all, like far from it.
I'll try to hack it and see how far it reflects on loading times, especially regarding random encounters.
MUSIC
Something definitely has to be done about that highly anti-climatic music in the Fargasta tower.
When i find the time, i'll see about using an existing darker theme instead.
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