Okay, I'm a huge Suikoden fan. Suikoden II is still one of my favorite games to this day. But are you should you should be hacking a Pokemon game for it? I mean, the battle scene looks really weird this way.
<3
It does, but the challenge here is to see how close we can get it. I'm really not too worried about visuals though, right now I'm working with a couple of other guys to get some ideas for the mechanics and a basic playthrough guideline. This way people can test the gameplay while we add more and more on. It's very difficult but we're working creatively to see what we can do. Think of it as a challenge of my abilities.
One thing that will definitely stay the same in the finalized version is the flip of the sprite perspective - my ASM is nowhere near as good as it would need to be in order for me to rearrange the battle, and unfortunately I haven't found a way to animate the sprites beyond the 1-2 second blip they get when released into the battle.
Anyways, a sample of the ideas I'm throwing around for mechanics...
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
EDIT: I'm posting these ideas from now on in the first post as reference.
