Ruby hack: Suikoden: The False God

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Suikoden: The False God
PATCH OF POKEMON RUBY VERSION (U) AXVE
A Corvidae (Crazybuizel) Hack

Summary:

The purpose of this hack is to creatively use Pokémon's engine to replicate the engine of another (unfortunately less known) series, Suikoden.

At this point in the beta, you can reach partly through Terren Pass. I changed the warps so you cannot proceed past this area, since it is not finished.

Instead of catching Pokémon, you recruit characters, known formally as "Stars of Destiny". As the hack proceeds in development, there will be a total of 108 characters for you to recruit. Unlike the original Suikodens however, all of these characters can enter combat, but some will be more support oriented than others.

The game will feature characters from the first three titles in the series, and is a sequel to the events of the third title. At this point, you play as either Caesar or Apple, who live on the southwestern tip of Dunan Republic. Some strange events occurring with the weather patterns have been worrying Harmonian officials and they sent Nash and Sasarai to obtain some knowledge on the subject. Nash, of course, heads to your place to talk about it, since he knows Caesar and Apple know a lot about the location of the origin of these strange weather anomalies - Cyndar Ruins.

So, Caesar, Apple, Nash and Sasarai pack their bags and head to Cyndar. It's a good thing they live where they live because they can cut right across Terren Pass to get to Grassland, making the trip a cinch. Of course, what they witness at the ruins is nothing what they expected...

Things currently implemented:

• New Voicegroup
• New Music
• Cries removed
• Many moves changed
• Elements changed (I'll post a matchup list later)
• Healing at an inn costs you money (HAHAHAHAHA)
• The music box makes a most triumpant return

Things that hopefully will be implemented:

• Using the EV system to boost stats through a blacksmith/armour vendor
• Duels and Wars
• Cooking Challenge!
• Appraisal and decorating your castle
• Speaking of which... a castle.
  
• Lots and lots of fun stuff with ASM...

Screenshots (V. 0.3)

Artwork:

Spoiler:

Joshua - A mysterious half-raven man who steals money from people on Terren pass. Tenkou Star (Star of Cleverness)
In terms of stats he's fairly average, but he has good speed and pretty good attack. His defenses aren't as low as some would think, although his HP is lacking. He uses a blade to inflict damage, and has many moves that trick the opponent. He is aligned with Darkness.
​

Videos:

Spoiler:

Four Original Songs


The first boss!

Download(s):
V. 0.3 (Beta) Mediafire

Confirmed characters (not in order; artwork courtesy of Konami)

Spoiler:

Characters in bold are obtainable in the next release.

• Nash
• Sasarai
• Tir McDohl
• Riou
• Hugo
• Chris
• Geddoe
• Fubar
• Sgt. Joe
• Emily
• Sharon
• Yuber (We might be using his SI-SII outfit)
  
• Leknaat
• Lorelai
• Viki
• Jeane
• Windy
• Victor
• Flik
• Bright
• Futch
• Edge
• Rody
• Estelle
• Young Viki
• Fred
• Gremio
• Nanami (IT'S A MIRACLE!)
  
• Jowy
• Georg Prime... somehow
  
• Kirkis
• Maas
• Gon
• Ace
• Queen
• Joker
• Jacques
• Tomo
• Pesmerga
• Killey
• Thomas
• Joshua (original)
• Feather
• Clive
• Elza
• Milia
• Ellie
• Rina
• Bolgan
• Hix
• Tengaar
• Sheena
• Wakaba
• Sierra Mikan
• Klaus
• Jillia Blight
• Pilika
• Koyu
• Zerase
• Cecile
• Piccolo
• Juan
• Lilly Pendragon
• Samus
• Reed
• Eike
• Landis
• Chaco
• Templeton (Well I'm pretty sure they meant Templeton)
  

Some characters are subject to redesign.

Mechanics Ideas

Spoiler:

Blacksmith
For example, this will require some serious ASM in the codes, but I have an idea of how a blacksmith should work - instead of obtaining EVs from opponent Pokemon, you go to a guy who's script will do the following things:
1. Extract the first Pokemon's data through ASM and put it in the RAM
2. Check the value of their Attack and Sp. Attack EV (These will be raised at the same time). Will also check if the 510 limit has been reached
3. Check if these values do not go above a set value, this is based on the blacksmith's level
4. Asks you if you want to raise the weapon level. Value is doubled for each time raised
5. Adds 10 to EVs. Goes up to max. 150. (total 300)

In this way stat gains are controlled.

I still have no idea how I'm going to do armour though...

I'm thinking about adding Kenji (SIII) simply for a similar script that will boost speed... at a price. He works out with you, you get a speed boost. I'm not sure about HP, but it will probably be food related.

Castle Stuff
By the way, the castle will do a check as the map is loaded to check which characters are in your party. When a certain character is in your party, they will not appear in the castle, which means you can't access their special events.

Runes?
Runes are abilities that can be obtained through shops. Think TMs basically, although their set PP is MUCH lower than most moves. (7PP is high for a Rune based attack). They're organized into different levels, but unlike normal runes they only have one attack. The first 25 are basic elemental runes and work as follows:
[element]1
[element]2
[element]3
[element]4
[element]5

Another idea that I've been throwing around, but haven't confirmed, is one that resembles the actual rune system far more accurately - in a rune shop you can buy runes, and they have no effect when you buy them, unless you get them affixed. You can't dictate where they get affixed but each one gives you access to 2 attacks. Because of this, I would add an extra level for the rune before "True Rune" status. So instead of something like

Lightning
Thunder

I would add something in there as well, maybe Spark or Storm or something. The problem with this is that it would require a large amount of ASM and very advanced scripting.

True Runes, when accessed by a storyline, will be special because they will automatically be affixed to the first move. I'm looking into how moves are deleted because they will not be able to be deleted (although why would you want to? lol), while abilities (used to traverse certain obstacles, think HMs) would.

Either way, the TM pocket will become the "Runes" pocket, lol

Bio Book
People who have played the hack may have noticed that the Pokedex has been renamed the "Bio Book". This is simply a list of biographies so you know a little more about characters that join your party.

A few notes:

-ONLY Stars of Destiny appear in the Bio Book. This means no biographies on Apple, Caesar, Dominguez Jr., Hikusaak, ect.
-Until I figure out how to remove them, you can still access the things like "size" and "cry", even though there isn't really any logical data for those. Expect 2 foot tall Nash for now.
-Search Function should still work (for the most part) normally, except for sizes/weights.

Duels
Duels will sometimes occur between two characters. How these scripts will function:
1. The game checks if [character] is in the party. Ex. If Zaj wants to duel Nash, then it will check for Nash.
2. The ENTIRE party is stored in a safe location in the RAM. Depending on how much stuff I can manage to store this way, I might force the player to only bring one character
3. via ASM, the game checks what the level and stats of that particular character is. For example, let's say Nash is at level 25, then it will store this data in.
4. The party is erased.
5. Givepokemon script for a "Neo-[character]" is generated. This character has the same base stats, name and sprites as the old character, but only knows three attacks.
6. "Neo-[character]" is given the same stats as the original character.
7. Trainer battle initiated.
8. The script preforms an if-then statement based on whether or not the battle was won. If won, the script moves forward, erases the party again and returns all the characters. If lost, the party is erased and the characters are returned, however, the script forces the player to retry the Duel until you win.

Wars
This is REALLY stretching it, but it will be modeled after SIII's skirmishes. This is the idea I have at the moment:

Before any skirmish takes place, your entire party will be saved to another location in the RAM, and your party will be cleared.

1. Wars will occur on a unique map. Unbeknown to most players, Pokemon Jupiter used this technique a lot.
2. This map will be littered with scripts surrounding a possible play area. Depending on the skirmish at hand will determine how many of these are available. Each script will add a certain variable by 1. Once this variable reaches a certain value, the script will display a "Victory" message. Another variable (optional) may determine whether or not a "Loss" message is shown. The game will also check for certain variables at this point, such as whether or not a certain sprite is occupying a certain space. At this point a "Loss" message will also be shown.
3. You will have two parties generated from your current party, the game will ask before you go into war if this is how you want your parties to be set up. The first three will be the first party, and the last three will be the second party.

Now here's the tricky part.
-Coming up with a way to control both parties. With scripting and simple ASM it's possible to emulate a war, but only with control of one party. Control of a second party will be difficult to implement.
-Fight, Rune, Wait. Fight is the biggest difficulty because the skirmishes are very different from regular battles. If I take the simplest route, they won't have any sort of animation acknowledging they happened at all. Rune will be just as annoying because it will need to do a check on the player's party's moves, then determine if any of these moves can be used at this time. Wait is nothing that difficult though, thank goodness.
-Death. I think I have an idea on how this will work but it will too be a pain to implement. Since only 6 characters can be used in a war at a time, it'd be fairly easy to determine which characters have a possibility of dying, but I'd need to program a routine that first checks which characters lost all their HP, then a routine that checks the species number of said characters, then deletes the data of those characters, then rearranges the party to not have any blank spaces, then does a recount of the number of characters in the party. Not fun, as you can see.

​

Faq - please read this before posting!!

QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO POKEMON JUPITER

Q: Whatever happened to Pokémon Jupiter?!
A: It has officially been canceled by me. This means that, with my express permission, you are allowed to use any characters featured in that game, as well as any original music. However, many concepts I'm using in this hack and thus I will not release their secrets (because I'm a meanie poopoo head!)

If you would like to continue it, please let me know and I will provide a patch. The hack is VERY buggy which is a big reason why I discontinued it, but if you really want to, give me a PM.

Q: IT'S NOT POKEMON JUPITER SO IT SUCKS
A: >_>

QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO SUIKODEN: THE FALSE GOD
Q: What the kablooey?! I thought you said this was a Pokémon hack!
A: Well, yes it is one, a hack of Pokémon Ruby. But the idea with this hack isn't to make a new cool Pokémon game. It's to use Pokémon's versatle engine to emulate a different RPG game, Suikoden.

Q: [insert thing here] looks funny, why?
A: This is a very early beta. Things will obviously be changed (the title screen for one!). Nash's battle sprite hasn't been put in yet, not have most of the overworld sprites. The portraits are obviously betas, and I'll be redrawing them.

If you want to help with spriting, please let me know, but do know that I need very very particular sprites in this title.

I will NOT be accepting help for mapping, even though I know my mapping skills are not great. The reason is is because oftentimes I use maps in conjunction with complicated scripts, and I worry that if someone who doesn't understand how these scripts work, they might make a great map that completely negates the purpose of that script. So please, NO REQUESTS FOR MAPPING. However, pointing out errors (with screenshots) and suggestions are fine.

Q: Which ROM is needed to patch this hack properly?
A: Pokemon Ruby (U) - AXVE. I can't remember ROM codes for the life of me.

Q: How often are betas released?
A: New playable "beta" patches should be available every 1 or 2 weeks.

QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO MECHANICS OF SUIKODEN: THE FALSE GOD

Q: Mind posting the type matchups?
A: There are two main "circles" of types.

Earth is good against Lightning, it nullifies its effect.
Lightning is good against Water, since water conducts electricity.
Water is good against Fire, since water douses fire.
Fire is good against Wind, since wind fuels fire.
Wind is good against Earth, since wind blows earth away.

Light is good against Darkness, since light breaks darkness.
Darkness is good against Soul, since darkness can consume the soul. Also because of soul eater.
Soul is good against Light, since soul can pierce through the light.

Neutral has no alignment and has neutrality against all elements. No monster, nor star, is neutral. If you have a type that's normally weak against the opponent, use Neutral attacks to take them down quickly.

If an attack is good against a type, it does 2x damage, and if its bad against a type, it does .5x damage, just like in the regular Pokemon games. However, if an attack is the same type as the defending monster, it does only .7x damage.

Some additional special types exist among bosses that change these types, but these bosses are few and far in between.

There are more Neutral type attacks than "magic" attacks, and they tend to do more damage. Magic attacks tend to have more effects associated with them, however. In addition, some of the rarest but strongest attacks are magic-based. Magic attacks rely on Sp. Attack and Defense, while Neutral attacks are based in Attack and Defense.

Q: Are there fakemons in this title?
A: No. The Pokemon are replaced with monsters and "Stars of Destiny", which are obtainable characters.

QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO SUPPORT OF SUIKODEN: THE FALSE GOD

Q: What if I want to support this hack?
A: Here is a set of userbars:

If you would like to make one, please post one and you will be credited in the "Special Thanks" section.

Q: What about helping you out with this hack?
A: You can help out if you want, but you must post a sample of your work. I'm looking for very particular work and so thus there is a high chance you will not get accepted. I AM NOT ACCEPTING ANY MAPPERS, DO NOT ASK. I HAVE MY REASONS AND ITS NOT BECAUSE I THINK I'M THE BEST MAPPER IN THE WORLD.

Q: I've got this great idea pertaining to the story!
A: If you want to help out on the idea development of Suikoden: The False God, then you can visit here to discuss ideas in the hack. Please, do NOT join the discussion if you don't know anything about Suikoden, haven't played the games, or at least at passing knowledge of the games. This is NOT a hacking team, do not join to try to help with sprites, maps ect. because you WILL be ignored.

QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO SUIKODEN IN GENERAL

Q: What the derp is Suikoden?!
A: Suikoden is a video game RPG series made by Konami. There's a lot of distinguishing characteristics of this game series that separates it from mainstream RPGs, such as the somewhat heavy strategical element, large number of recruits, and many game functions. You might want to read more at Wikipedia or something, or do yourself a favour and play one of the games, because you'll probably enjoy it more that way.

Q: Runes? True Runes?! What's that?!
A: Well, it will be explained in the hack later on, but True Runes are strange sentient objects that have a large amount of power. There's 27 of them. Don't think of them as elemental gods though, think more like the source of magic. In addition, these can be attached to humans to grant them the power of the runes, but being sentient beings and all, they can sometimes effect the human's mind. You can theoretically only have one True Rune attached to one person, but... that might not be so true after all... ;)

A regular rune has its origins from the True Runes and are attached to the body on the right or left hand, or on the forehead. I think the most Pokemon way to explain it is like a TM that forces you to use a specific moveslot... sometimes.

Some True Runes are so mysterious nobody really knows what they do. Examples include Circle, Rune of Change, Eightfold, ect.

SPECIAL THANKS

All those people who make the tools! I love you all so much, but there's too many to list!

My buddies Drake and Zhigwhich for so many great ideas!
- Anyone else who supports this hack!
​

 

[Tcoppy]

LOL I was just looking at your old hack pokemon jupiter yesterday. I'll give this hack a shot, even though I don't know what Suikoden is. Do you want help with some maps I can help?

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Probably not, because I'm not aiming for Pokemon-esque maps. The maps don't connect like normal maps, there's actually an overworld of sorts. I didn't take a film of this particular release but v.0.2 (not available for download) shows this concept well. In addition, some places will be vague remaps of certain places from the Suikoden games, such as Duck Village.



What would actually be more useful at this point would be battle sprites, but I'm looking for a very particular style.

 

[Lord Varion]

Is that a world map type thing?

The house looks blank ... u could put some decorations in like a closet or tv or some stuff

Once again the area is a bit blank ... and the chicken saying cluck ... doesnt tell us much

Overall it seems a good hack
:)
Normally i'd compare it to a past time hack put i just never got round to playing jupiter
and when i did i had the wrong roms -.-
I like it even though ... yeah i shouldnt write jupiter comments here ;)

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Is that a world map type thing?

Exactly that, but more will be added to it. Yeah, trees and mountains sure are boring ;-;

The house looks blank ... u could put some decorations in like a closet or tv or some stuff

Once again the area is a bit blank ... and the chicken saying cluck ... doesnt tell us much

Yeah, still working on stuff >_> But... no TVs for that house! This is a fantasy! Hehehe, with dragons and griffons and things like that! It's just that it doesn't look like that yet because I'm a lazy bum and didn't change most sprites.

Overall it seems a good hack
:)
Normally i'd compare it to a past time hack put i just never got round to playing jupiter
and when i did i had the wrong roms -.-
I like it even though ... yeah i shouldnt write jupiter comments here ;)

And thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked Jupiter, most of the concepts of that hack are going into this one, plus more, so you'll like this one too once it gets some more friction.

 

[Lord Varion]

Exactly that, but more will be added to it. Yeah, trees and mountains sure are boring ;-;


Yeah, still working on stuff >_> But... no TVs for that house! This is a fantasy! Hehehe, with dragons and griffons and things like that! It's just that it doesn't look like that yet because I'm a lazy bum and didn't change most sprites.


And thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you liked Jupiter, most of the concepts of that hack are going into this one, plus more, so you'll like this one too once it gets some more friction.

Maybe for the world map you could try a golden sun style (...bit hard to do) or final fantasy.

Instead of Tvs have ... scrolls(?) or portraits just sometime to spice it up

Overall i just played the Beta
was short but u did say it would be. but i got to see the fabulos music at work and the greatness of your hacks

as i said i never could play jupiter D:
I liked it coz it was based partially on golden sun <3 (GS addict right here ^_^)

 

[marcc5m]

Well this is certainly different from most hacks xD
I haven't played it yet, and I'm not going to until there is a longer beta or a complete version, but this definitely seems interesting. The titlescreen looks good, so not much to say there. Scripting seems pretty good, the use of mugshots is a nice touch. The only things I'm really not too fond of...are the tiles and maps. The tiles, I know you said you aren't going for a Pokemon style, but they really do need work. They just look...flat, and un-realistic. The mapping definitely needs a lot of work. There are many tile errors, such as bellow the portraits, the bottom half is missing. Also, there are a few palette errors, such as the bottom of the pond not being palette edited, so it still shows the original grass from Ruby. So yeah, those are the only two things I can really see that needs work on right now. Good luck, and hope you finish this :)

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

There are many tile errors, such as bellow the portraits, the bottom half is missing.

What do you mean by this? Mind pointing this out because I'm kind of confused :/

 

[Chaos Rush]

This hack inspires me to make a Pokemon hack with Link to the Past graphics. Will definitely be trying this either today or tomorrow, and I will give my feedback. (and that's saying something, because I've only tried very, very few of the other hacks in the showcase)

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Today's Log:

-Right now I'm working on editing Terren Pass to make it a bit lengthier, also adding a boss and a boss battle theme. In addition I'm adding the script for Joshua to join.

 

[Flandre Scarlet]

Glad to see you're back in the hacking business. I loved Jupiter and the things you did to it, and I'm really excited to see what you have in plan for this hack.

Good luck.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Thanks :D



Recruiting Joshua - this script was repetitive but fairly easy to be honest... but it's still quite funny xD

Next - adding his full spritesheet and the boss Raven.

 

[Ultima1]

So there will be fakemon in this game?

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Calling the Stars of Destiny "Fakemons" is really pushing it, but technically, yes. They're obtainable characters, but you don't catch them. Remember, the purpose of this hack is to emulate the RPG series Suikoden, not to make a new Pokemon game.

 

[Tcoppy]

How long is the beta,or should I wait for the next patch to become availible?

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

It's very, very short. The next beta will probably get past Terren pass, but not much else.

I'm posting frequent betas just in case some awful bug, like the Leppa bug back in Jupiter, can be fixed with losing little progress. Expect approx. 1-2 weeks between betas. Knowing this can help you decide whether or not to play a beta.

 

[miksy91]

Q: IT'S NOT POKEMON JUPITER SO IT SUCKS
A: >_>

It's more like that Jupiter sucked and this rocks !!
I remember seeing a hack called jupiter version sometime before and don't think it was that amazing or anything - it's clear you've improved from the time when you was making it.
Anyways, good luck with the project and don't dare to quit ;)

Also, here's my own opinion about the game this far:
As a hack it's amazing, indeed. Then again, I'm not sure how much I'll like playing it but I'll check this out when you put up the first release even to just see the changes you implemented :)

 

[marcc5m]

What do you mean by this? Mind pointing this out because I'm kind of confused :/

Yeah, I meant to say paintings :P

This image here for example. The bottom of the paintings is missing.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

Oh, okay, thanks for that. I rushed that map to just get it out there ASAP so that's why. I'm actually making custom tiles for the game, like with Jupiter, so they're just a sort of buffer at the moment. There's not going to be TVs or computers because this is based off of a fantasy title after all... xD

Also... You see this big big map? Yeah. We're having plans to implement the whole thing into the hack.

Because of that we're probably going to be using a different patch method because there's going to be a ton of maps, but I guarantee the extra 16 MB will be worth it.

 

[Lord Varion]

Oh my days!
That is a Huuugggeee-assss map!
I look foward to seeing it in a emualtor ;)