Castle Paradox

[Baconlabs]

Something I'm deliberately trying to avoid in SHiIDA is having an item that becomes completely useless at some point or another. A classic, and maybe the only, example would be weapons and armor that get entirely outclassed by new ones you find on the road. So here I am, about to list some examples of ways I'm trying to avert this.

Your main defense armor in SHiIDA is Ankle armor, which boils down to Anklets and Ankle-Bands. There are exactly 7 of them total, and originally, it was going to be a straight up equip-the-strongest mechanism. Not anymore.

- The Pearl Anklet, at the time you find it, will seem useless, as its stat boosts are quite low - even lower than the Amber Anklet, your default armor. On closer inspection, it's rare because it guards against status ailments! In the enemy plans, there's a lot of foes that will use tentacles or whatever to poison or bind you, making the lack of raw defense well worth it for this trinket.
- Unfortunately it's entirely outclassed by the Opal anklet, which does the same thing but with better defense. I'm currently trying to find another way to separate these two.

- The Emerald Band sits in a similar situation, offering sub-par defenses for a secondary benefit. In this case, it's the only Ankle armor in the game that boosts your Barrier (magic defense). For some battles, you will need to invest everything you have into guarding against magic, making this item repeatedly useful.
- Around the same point in the game, you'll also have the Ruby Band, which is all about melee defense. You'll probably end up swapping between them for a while.
- However, its defense pales next to the Diamond Band. Again, I'm trying to find a way to differentiate these two. Maybe have the Diamond lower your speed or something?

- And then in a completely different category is the Spiked Anklet, which belies the nature of Ankle armor by adding to your power instead of defense. For every armor slot, there's one particular item that increases your offense like this. If you coordinate them all, you'll have such a strong melee attack, you probably won't have to use spells again! This is quite a leap since the main character is otherwise a squishy black magician girl.


I'll be revisiting this topic when I refine the Drain system for melee weapons. The plan is to have each melee attack sap some amount of HP to give back to your MP, with differing amounts and ratios for every last weapon. I'll cover the specifics later.
I've noticed, however, that this effect is impossible to achieve with just one attack. If you try to pull off an HP and MP "cost" at the same time, only the first one identified will actually happen. I'm not sure if this is a bug or a limitation, but I'll work around it.

[msw188]

How many heroes are there in a battle at once? Thinking of the Pearl and Opal, I find myself thinking that if there was only one Opal Anklet in the game, the Pearl could still be helpful and the interesting choice for the player becomes choosing who needs which one. Don't overlook this side of equipment (who should equip in addition to what to equip)! It is an important part of what makes the armor and relic choices in Final Fantasy 3 (VI) so much more fun than the weapon choices.
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My first completed OHR game, Tales of the New World:
http://castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=161

This website link is for my funk/rock band, Euphonic Brew:
www.euphonicbrew.com

[Baconlabs]

There's just one heroine in SHiIDA, which sort of nulls your argument here.
That's still a good point, though, and other games should keep that in mind when doling out precious artifacts.
You just got the Zoom Shoes! Will you put them on your medic, so that you'll always be ready to heal and revive? Or will you give them to your warrior, effectively doubling his damage output? Maybe you could even put them on your Thief, who uses Speed as an attacking stat. Decisions!