SQ3/EO3 Formulas/Mechanics

[Self]

[eharper256]

[Kaname]

[Self]

[Kaname]

[spoiler]
...wow. What use do those status screen values have, then o.o
Strength Treasure would seem pretty useless on non-monks, too[/spoiler]

[scy]

I'm not sure why we're in spoiler tags.

Anyway, EO1, EO2, and EO3 all use some "weird" formula (admittedly, the EO1 and EO2 formulas were simple) for the display screen. They all do absolutely nothing and don't do a very good job of actually reflecting what they're supposed to.

When I get the chance, I'll clean these up a bit and have a list similar to the EO1 and EO2 formulas I've put up here.

[eharper256]

Its rather interesting, noting that ATK means nothing. I guess its just a cool big number to make you feel better about yourself. As an aside, I suppose this explains why your low STR characters can seemingly do as well as high STR ones despite the desparity.

I also guess this means...
[spoiler]Androids make for good unarmed combatants if M/C'ed with Monk? Seeing as how they have the best STR and all...[/spoiler]

[Kaname]

[scy]

For example, EO2's formula was just wATK + STR for the display yet the damage function never used that value. Likewise, aDEF + VIT for the DEF display and it was never used. The actual functions were:

Attack = (aSTR + [aWP / 2]) * (20 + aSTR) * (20 + aWP)
Defense = (20 + dVIT) * (20 + dAC)
Base Damage = [[Attack / Defense] * 1.7]

aSTR = Attacker STR
aWP = Attacker [wATK / 3]
dVIT = Defender VIT
dAC = Defender [Combined Armor DEF / 3]

Note: If using Spells, aWP is equal to the basePWR of the spell.

For EO3, the base damage is a simple awATK - dDEF function (that is, if attacker wATK isn't greater than the defender's DEF, you do next-to-no damage); the biggest multiplier following it, though, is a sqrt(STR) function that ceilings at 10 times the base damage. However, it's a sqrt function so you'll see half that multiplier as early as 25 STR.

Note: For spells, awATK is 4*TEC.

Edit: As for explaining why a Farmer deals roughly the same damage as a Warrior, keep in mind that normal attacks (which is what I assume we're comparing) have no real multipliers besides the stat based one. Warriors, however, have two +Damage skills (their Unique and their Weapon one) and a slight edge in STR.

However, the STR multiplier is a sqrt function so if we assume a Farmer with 100 wATK and 30 STR vs a Warrior with 100 wATK, 40 STR, and level 5 on both +Damage skills (+10%, +6%) attacking a 30 VIT target:

Farmer:
baseDamage = 100 wATK - 30 VIT = 70
ModifiedDamage = 70 * sqrt(30) = ~383

Warrior:
baseDamage = 100 wATK - 30 VIT = 70
ModifiedDamage = 70 * sqrt(40) * (1.1) * (1.06) = ~516

Warrior deals about ~135% Damage of the Farmer. If we remove the two +Damage Skills, this drops dramatically to ~116% damage (~442 after STR multiplier).

Keep in mind these are pre-mitigation. Assuming 50% damage resistance, this drops them to ~181 and ~258 (~221 without the +Damage Skills) which is a smaller gap between the two.

I'll try to do some in-game number crunching (oh god /wrists) relatively soon.

[eharper256]

Hmm, well that helps explain that even further then, as my Warrior only had about +5% from Hammer Mastery, and no points in Veteran. So, we're talking perhaps a 20% difference if they had equivalent ATK weapons, which they did not (farmer had like +15 more ATK due to new weapon).

So yeah, STR isn't useless, I'll retract that thought, but that Square Root makes it still fairly paltry when its things like 5.477 vs. 6.32 being compared.

[scy]

While boosts to STR are relatively small, the STR multiplier itself is the largest Damage multiplier in the game and outmatches most skill multipliers as early as 9 or 16 STR.

[Self]

I edited into the first post a translation of information about how the limit gauge increases, but it was from the SQ3 wiki on atwiki instead of Kumicyou (which doesn't seem to have anything about the limit gauge).

[Self]

Added stuff about slots/blacksmith from the on atwiki

[Julian]

Alright, I need aid here. Some of those formulae are... Confusing me. Because there are those - signs all over the place but it makes no sense for there to be! Like here: "Ａ=TEC－(LV×0.63+5.28)" So you subtract that level portion from your TEC? So the higher your level the the less A is?
Or here: "B＝A×abilitymultiplier" B wasn't even defined yet in the damage calculations.
Can anyone help me decypher that?

[scy]