Hell yes I am insane. Just thought I would re-iterate that for those of you who forgot. The birth of this topic can be summized as follows:
Tide: hay tal, Rof stat topicz?
Tal: YESZ
Eph: YESZ
So yeah. Blame them too if you're wondering why this exists. Right now, a lot of this is just going to be notes though. Regardless, on with the show!
HOW THE GAME WORKS:
RoF works on a pseudo CTB/phased based type of system. At the start of any battle, each PC is given a full action gauge. This gauge is basically expended when the PC moves or when the PC chooses to attack. Enemies won't move unless the PC decides to move/attack, akin to VP2. The big difference though, is that PCs can choose to cancel their turns without having to use all of the CT in an action. The cancelled CT isn't accumulated or stored, however, enemies do not carry out additional actions either regardless of the CT remaining. Hence, it's a pseudo CTB/phase based type system. PCs continue to fight the enemies along the map terrain until all enemies are defeated.
The player receives a game over in RoF if:
1) All PCs are frozen (game's version of petrify)
2) Any one PC's actual HP is reduced to 0 (more on this below)
THE HERO GAUGE AND HP
HP in RoF works a little differently than traditional RPGs. You have a gauge at the bottom of the screen, called the Hero gauge (Rob gauge). As long as one Bezel point remains within this gauge, any damage taken by the PC is converted to what the game calls "scratch" damage. Scratch damage, unlike regular damage is basically recoverable over the time. However, the more scratch damage a PC takes, the slower this regeneration effect ends up being. Scratch damage also does not kill you.
Once you receive a full bar of scratch damage however, the Hero gauge will decrease/shatter in the form of shattered shards around the PC who has taken critical damage. These shards can be collected by both enemies and the PC and will restore actual HP when collected. Enemies who collect these shards recover differing amounts, although I think it's percentage based (like 5% MHP for a shard?). Either way, Bezel points lost in this way causes the gauge to "shatter", meaning that the PC must collect at least four shards again before they can recreate a container that holds the Bezel point. If a PC manages to restore a Bezel point but doesn't have any containers to hold it in, its effectively lost.
The number of Hero gauge containers that shatter upon receiving full scratch damage is equivalent to the PC's Max HP divided by a 1000 rounded up. In other words, if Vashryon has 5196 HP and he receives full scratch damage, then 6 bezels will be lost. These 6 points on the Hero gauge will fully restore all scratch damage he has taken upon reaching full scratch before splitting into 24 shards (4 shard per point lost), which can be picked up by either himself or his opponent. Only if he runs out of bezel points to lose does he enter critical condition. Any remaining bezels at the time before critical condition will restore 1000 scratch damage. The rest will remain as scratch damage and any damage he then takes at this point is all direct damage.
At end game, PCs effectively have around 13 points on the Hero gauge. This gauge is SHARED in game, but DL wise, each PC basically has the full thing.
THE DL INTERP
While at first this sounds like RoF PCs will have a lot more HP on their own, the truth is a little different. If you run out of Bezel points on your Hero gauge, you enter what the game calls Critical Condition. Under critical condition, your PCs are basically fodder to put it lightly. Your movement speed is cut in half, making it easy for your PCs to get cornered by the enemy. Your charge speed is cut in half, and instead of firing all shots at once during an attack, you fire each bullet separately. This makes it VERY hard to kill anything, let alone cause any damage. Heck, I couldn't even kill an enemy with 10 HP left on its main body because the enemies basically react so much faster than you do. In other words, even though there is an effective buffer, this buffer in actual practice only really works if the damage the PC takes doesn't end up putting them into critical condition. For me personally, if at any time I entered critical condition, its a 99% chance of a reset because you are just so handicapped from being able to do anything. This of course changes the effective PC durabilities somewhat.
RETARDED MECHANICS UP AHEAD: -
Due to the way the Hero gauge and scratch damage works, PCs may actually BENEFIT by lowering their levels, effectively giving them more durability. Tal has crunched a formula that shows this, which I am just C+P as well as chat thoughts regarding it:
[21:41] <+LucaTrulyworth> If HP is between 6000 and 7000, effective total HP is HP+6000.
[21:41] <+LucaTrulyworth> If HP is above 7000, effective total HP is HP+5000.
[21:41] <+LucaTrulyworth> If HP is between 5000 and 6000, effective total HP is 2*HP+1000.
[21:46] <+LucaTrulyworth> So 6000 is better than 6999.
[21:46] <+LucaTrulyworth> brb punching rof designers
Example: since the Hero gauge has 13 bezel points, a PC with 5999 HP taking full scratch damage, would use up 6 bezels upon getting hit. He can take an additional 6k damage, since there are 7 bezels left, and still not be put into Critical condition. However, a PC with 6999 HP would use up 7 bezels upon getting at hit at full scratch once. This means, they cannot take another hit afterwards since it would put them into Critical condition. Just keep this in mind, as you're reading about PC levels and such.
Second, PCs in this topic are taken with their initial equipments. So Leanne is stuck with the first aid kit, Vashyron can't use a Machine gun and so on. However, PCs are allowed to de-equip whatever weapons they start with. This mostly matters with Zephyr because otherwise, he will never be able to kill anything due to the way the RoF system works. Needless to say, Direct and Scratch damage concepts are carried into the stat topic. Otherwise, there is no need for Zephyr to use his melee attack - he could just spam scratch damage from the Machine Gun. Note that direct damage MUST be dealt in order for the scratch damage to be converted to actual damage.
Third, PC levels also vary drastically. It's pretty easy to get caught up early on when EXP requirements for a level are not very high. But around level 20 or so, EXP requirements get jacked up a ton. As a result, PCs growth slows down considerably. This matters mostly because the game takes away Leanne and Zephyr for a few portions of the game. Thus, while Vashyron is consistently gaining EXP (and more at that since all the kills are now concentrated for him), there are times when neither of them are receiving EXP and the slow growth trend late makes it hard for them to catch back up. Leanne in particular is the biggest victim of this because the game removes her from your active party 3 times through the course of the game. Even Zephyr only disappears once and gets a solo segment on his own.
Level up mechanics:
Tal has helped me grind out the HP formula for level growth. So, if the levels that you see are not what you expect/you think are too low/too high, here's how you adjust.
Vashyron's HP bonus per level: 70.4
Zephyr's HP bonus per level: 66.7
Leanne's HP bonus per level: 61.6
Take these values, multiply them based on the level you think is suitable, and add these starting HP totals to them to get your new MHP pool:
Vashyron's starting HP: 460
Zephyr's starting HP: 432
Leanne's starting HP: 403
Needless to say, levels and stats are from my own game, so YMMV on what end game levels are. For your reference, average party level at end game is level 98.
Finally, gun set ups and equipment. I've listed two sets. The first set of numbers are what I've managed to come up with using easy to get/purchasable custom parts. Basically, these parts you would have the materials for pretty easily and do not handidly require you to mass grind like crazy. The second set is utilizing some more rare custom parts that would require some degree of grinding. I've also used some custom parts here that you basically get from sidequests or chests, which normally is restricted in number. However, you have enough of them to fit on 4-5 guns and some of them, not all guns will want or will be able to fit due to the size of the custom grid. Just keep this in mind as you are reading. Most of Vashyron's thrown weapons are also replenishable via scrapping junk parts and in this interp case, ammo (since Zephyr can't use the Magazine case). Although he doesn't have an unlimited number of them, he should easily have around 40-50 ie: should be enough to kill almost anything.
GUN STATS:
Brief description on these, since it is probably important to know what they are. For the most part, they are also part of the PC's stat bases.
Charge Speed: The rate at which it takes for the gun to receive at least 1 charge. Note that 1 charge is needed before an attack can be executed. Argubly the most important stat. Effectiveness caps at around 100 or so. More notes to come about this and what the numbers mean exactly when I get around to more testing. For the most part, just know that higher = better. Tal theorizes this should be proportional. ie: 100 charge speed is 2x faster than 50 charge speed. 150 charge speed is 1.5x faster than 100 charge speed. Distance of the target also effects the speed of the charge, where closer = faster charge. Assumed to be proportional for the sanity of the stat topicer >_> (so twice as far away = charge time is doubled). Although for the most part, distance SHOULD be DL irrelevant.
Acceleration: The rate at which each subsequent charge level takes to complete. Increases the original charge speed exponentially. So a 44% accelerate rate means that the second charge is 1.44x faster while a third charge is 2.07x faster. 999 is the fastest the base charge speed is and presumably what the maximum the acceleration rate can boost it to. PCs always want this to be higher if possible.
Rate of Fire: How quickly the weapon fires under critical condition. This stat does not matter from the way I see it, because if you are in critical condition, the PC is basically dead. Lower numbers = worse.
Spread: Accuracy rate. This is the percentage chance that the bullets fired will remain at the center of the hit circle. Higher = obviously better. Maximum this can reach is 99%. Matters less if the enemy is at close range or if the target is particularly large
Magazine Size: Number of bullets fired in one attack normally. Higher = More bullets fired
Combined Weight: The total weight of the weapon after all the custom parts are booted onto the weapon. If the weapon's weight > PC's weight limit, the weapon cannot be held. DLwise, non-important because all PCs will be able to handle their set ups without problem.
Damage per hit (DPH): The damage dealt by each bullet fired from the weapon or each grenade thrown. Self explanatory. This * the magazine size = amount of damage dealt in a basic attack
Gauge Break rate: For pistols and thrown weapons only. This seems to represent the chance of causing HP gauge break (see status for details). Higher is obviously better. I am not exactly certain on how this works yet. I do however know, most enemies have a certain tolerance to gauge break. So higher this number is, the more likely a gauge break will occur.
Charge Level Bonus: What charging the weapon will effectively do to the weapon. Pistols get a multiplier to the gauge break rate, Machine guns get a multiplier to raw damage, and Thrown weapons get a higher chance of creating knockback.
Passives: The additional bonus a PC might receive for a specific charge level during an attack. So for example, Vashyron's charge level 4 lets him 2x more damage at a 33% chance. However, this 33% chance only kicks in if he attacks with a level 4 charge.
CUSTOM PARTS DETAILS:
For those of your who are curious about what I labelled as common/purchasable/easy to make and what I labelled as rare/requires tedious grinding and what might be on the fence. Note that for the "on the fence category", I will explain why and why I allow them personally. Please note that this part is subjective. ie: Your opinion likely differs than mine.
Common parts:
- Rookie Sight
- Dot Sight
- Combat Sight
- Compact Scope Alpha/Beta
- High Mount Pro
- Telephoto Lens
- Mini Lens
- Long Lens
- HG Magazine +3
- MG Magazine +5
- Flash Sub barrel
- Short Sub barrel
- Barrel Adapter
- L Barrel Adapter
- Terminal Sub Barrel
- Multi Sub barrel
- Expander T Sub barrel
- Expander Sub barrel
Rare parts:
- Any version of the Long Scope
- Long Expander Barrel
- Expander Super Barrel
- Adapter Foregrip
- Expander Twin S Barrel
- Expander Grip
- MG Magazine +8
Grey Area parts:
- HG/MG Short Rail/Long Rail Barrel: The ingredients for these parts do not appear until the last dungeon and are a pretty rare drop at that. However, the missions from before the last dungeon as well as various chests in the game give you several versions of these, which you can scrap down and craft to whatever you need on to the gun. You get a total of 4 in the game without grinding for it. As a result, each PC in there default set ups can use one AND still have one left to spare if someone needs to dual wield. That's plenty for me personally. You certainly won't be equipping every single gun since the amount of cash even with common parts is pretty forbidding.
- Rail Sub barrel: There is only one free one. Yet flip side...if they could, nobody would want to use it because it only supports a scope and and not an additional barrel for acceleration. And indeed, only one gun wants it from the default (Leanne's starting gun). So judgment call for you.
STATUS EFFECTS
The following are a variety of statii that can be afflicted onto enemies/PCs:
Immolation: RoF's equivalent of POIZN. Take scratch damage equivalent to 2% of MHP every second for around 10-15 seconds. Note that thanks to the way RoF works, the net damage dealt is usually not 20-30% as PCs recover scratch damage, so its probably slightly lower in actual practice.
Frozen: Gone over this. Equivalent to petrify in other games. It DOES wear off after some time, but is a Game Over status for PCs. Not for enemies though, although they do become unable to act for 3 full action turns or so.
Shock: RoF's equivalent of Slow. Halves charge speed.
POIZN: RoF's version of DEADLY POIZN in other games. Deals DIRECT damage equivalent to 2% of MHP every second for around 10 seconds
Oil: Become more susceptible to Fire attacks (take 2x damage). Also, movement speed is halved.
Gauge Break: An enemy only status. This causes their HP gauge or parts gauge to be split into separate segements. A gauge can be broken many times, into as many as twelve segments on some enemies. Once a gauge is broken, HP reduced past the gauge breaking point is unrecoverable. In addition, even if a gauge is split into its maximum segments, gauge break can still be inflicted as it also effectively stuns the enemy. The Stun time ranges anywhere from around half a turn to a full turn. Subsequent gauge breaking on an enemy who has already received a gauge break is also easier, although every enemy does have a hidden resistance. Average gauge break resistance not known for now. If a PC reduces HP past a gauge broken point, they recover a bezel point onto the Hero gauge.
Knockback: Causes the enemy to be launched into the air, effectively disrupting their current action. It takes around 2-3 seconds for them to recover back onto their feet. Not a form of stun.
CHARACTERS & SET UP:
Vashyron - Once I decide to kill someone, they get KILLED!
Level 106 (45 Pistol, 36 M.Gun, 25 Thrown). Optimal Level at 81 (45 Pistol, 9 M.Gun, 25 Thrown)
Raw HP: 7712. (5951 at optimal level)
Effective Buffered HP: 15424 (17853)
Weight Limit: 941 (No idea. Should not matter though as will not break limit with default set up)
Note that due to Vashyron's screen time, his level tends to end up being a little higher than the other two. This is reflected in this topic.
Weapons:
1191.45-Auto:
Charge Speed: 88/110
Charge Acceleration: 34%/60%
Rate of Fire: 54/62
Spread: 91%/95%
Magazine size: 9/9
Combined weight: 361/386
Damage per hit: 5 Direct damage x 9 bullets = 45 direct damage in one attack
Break rate: 20
Charge Level Bonus (Lv.45 Max): Gauge Break x67.0 (Full rate of Gauge Break = 20 *67 or 1340 per bullet. Each level of charge increases gauge break rate by 1.5x. Minimum 1.0x rate)
Passives:
Charge Level 4: Damage Upx2 - 33% chance
Charge Level 8: Penetration Rate - 5% (chance of bullets fired pierce through armor and hit the main body)
Charge Level 12: Knockdown Rate x2 - 33% chance (chance of causing knockdown and disrupt enemies attack)
Charge Level 16: Damage Upx3 - 33% chance
Charge Level 20: Penetration Rate - 10% chance
Charge Level 24: Knockdown Rate x3 - 33% chance
Charge Level 28: Damage Upx4 - 33% chance
Charge Level 32: Penetration Rate - 15% chance
Charge Level 36: Knockdown Rate x4 - 33% chance
Charge Level 40: Damage Upx5 - 33% chance
Charge Level 44: Penetration Rate - 20% chance
Grenade Box:
Weight: 100
Charge Level Bonus (Lv. 25 Max): Knockback x13.0 (Greater chance of knocking back target, to a maximum of 13x original weapon. Each charge level increases knockback rate by 0.5x. Minimum 1.0x)
Hand Grenade EX, Freezer Grenade EX, Electro Grenade EX, Toxic Grenade EX:
Charge Time: 100
Acceleration: 20%
Spread: Always hits side facing Vashyron
Magazine size: 1 per attack
Damage per hit: 1000 Direct (physical/Ice/Lightning/POIZN) damage in one attack
Break rate: 2000
Each grenade except the Hand Grenade EX has a chance to cause Frozen, Shock or POIZN (unknown rate, to be tested) respectively.
Motolov Cocktail EX:
Charge Time: 100
Acceleration: 20%
Spread: Always hits side facing Vashyron
Magazine size: 1 per attack
Damage per hit: 800 Direct (Fire) damage in one attack
Break rate: 2000
Has a chance to cause Immolation (unknown rate. To be tested)
Smash Grenade:
Charge Time: 30
Acceleration: 10%
Spread: Always hits side facing Vashyron
Magazine size: 1 per attack
Damage per hit: 10 Direct (Electric) damage in one attack
Break rate: 4000
Due to its break rate, this Grenade has a very high chance of causing gauge breaking
Passives:
Charge Level 4: Charge Cancel - 5% (chance of cancelling target's current action)
Charge Level 8: Hyper Damage - 5% (chance of causing damage to all parts)
Charge Level 12: Ailment Rate x2 - 33% (chance of causing status element with thrown attack)
Charge Level 16: Charge Cancel - 10%
Charge Level 20: Hyper Damage - 10%
Charge Level 24: Ailment Rate x3 - 33%
Zephyr - My bullets are a one way ticket down!
Level 97 (32 Pistol, 42 M.Gun, 23 Thrown). Optimal Level at 86 (32 Pistol, 42 M.Gun, 12 Thrown)
Raw HP: 6636. (5968 at optimal level)
Effective Buffered HP: 13272 (17904)
Weight Limit: 898 (No idea. Should not matter though as will not break limit with default set up)
SMG-05:
Charge Speed: 86/109
Charge Acceleration: 40%/59%
Rate of Fire: 83/93
Spread: 79%/87%
Magazine size: 17/20
Combined weight: 370/389
Damage per hit: 6 Direct damage x 20 bullets = 120 scratch damage in one attack
Break rate: 0
Charge Level Bonus (Lv.42 Max): Damage x46.1 (Full damage mult = 6 *17 * 46.1 or 4702 scratch damage for a fully charged damage attack. Each level of charge increases damage mult by 1.12x. Minimum 1.0x rate)
Passives:
Charge Level 4: Knockdown Rate x2 - 33% chance
Charge Level 8: Full Scratch - 5% (chance of dealing scratch damage = enemy's Max HP)
Charge Level 12: Stun - 5% (Stuns target if skill triggered)
Charge Level 16: Knockdown Rate x3 - 33% chance
Charge Level 20: Full Scratch - 10%
Charge Level 24: Stun - 10%
Charge Level 28: Knockdown Rate x4 - 33% chance
Charge Level 32: Full Scratch - 15%
Charge Level 36: Stun - 15%
Charge Level 40: Knockdown Rate x5 - 33% chance
Barehanded
Charge Time: Unknown. Fast though.
Acceleration: 0%. Cannot store multiple charges
Spread: In front of Zephyr
Magazine size: 1 per attack
Damage per hit: 6 Direct (physical) damage in one attack
Break rate: 0
NOTE: Must be extremely close in order for Zephyr to hit his target. He CAN cause time to flow by trying to attack a distant enemy with this and whiffing on purpose.
Leanne - Did you think a girl would be an easy target?
Level 93 (37 Pistol, 34 M.Gun, 22 Thrown). Optimal Level at 93 (No change)
Raw HP: 5947.
Effective Buffered HP: 17841
Weight Limit: 858
B-N84:
Charge Speed: 88/99
Charge Acceleration: 40%/65%
Rate of Fire: 67/75
Spread: 96%/99%
Magazine size: 11/11
Combined weight: 355/373
Damage per hit: 4 Direct damage x 11 bullets = 44 direct damage in one attack
Break rate: 10
Charge Level Bonus (Lv.37 Max): Gauge Break x55.0 (Full rate of Gauge Break = 10 *55 or 550 per bullet. Each level of charge increases gauge break rate by 1.5x. Minimum 1.0x rate)
Passives:
Charge Level 4: Penetration Rate - 5%
Charge Level 8: Knockdown Rate x2 - 33% chance
Charge Level 12: Damage Upx2 - 33%
Charge Level 16: Penetration Rate - 10% chance
Charge Level 20: Knockdown Rate x3 - 33% chance
Charge Level 24: Damage Upx3 - 33% chance
Charge Level 28: Penetration Rate - 15% chance
Charge Level 32: Knockdown Rate x4 - 33% chance
Charge Level 36: Damage Upx4 - 33% chance
First Aid Kit
Weight: 80
Charge Level Bonus: None. Only 1 level.
- All items have the same charge speed. Charges quick. Will get numbers eventually
- Common items are either storebought are easily accessable via the arena without too much grinding. Rare items are typically through missions are Danger zone battles and limited in number
Common items
First Aid: Heals 1000 Scratch damage
First Aid S: Heals 4000 Scratch damage
Multi Aid: Heals 500 scratch damage to an area
Cure All: Recover from all status abnormalities
Anti Damage/Heat/Ice/Bolt/Toxin: Cuts the damage of physicals/fire/ice/lightning/POIZN respectively in half
Anti All: Cuts all damage in half
Sonic Chug: Doubles movement speed for a short period of time
Rare items:
First Aid EX: Restores all scratch damage - 20 total
Multi Aid R-EX: Restores all scratch damage in an area - 12 total
Perfect Aid: Fully restores HP (not scratch!) - 39 total
