Over these past few months, I've returned to RPG Maker 2003 and discovered a heartbreaking aspect of its programming - one that had crippled the battle system I'd brainstormed and polished to a degree of complexity I've yet to see in any other games designed using the program: the elemental tables simply did not work the way I intended them to, resulting in many "synergistic" spells behaving the same in terms of damage calculations. Not only did this make spells boring copies of each other outside of the status ailments tied to each elemental family, but the weaknesses and resistances lovingly applied to each foe was all but erased.
I was crushed, to put it bluntly. How could RPG Maker 2003 be such trash? Would I have to port twenty years of passion into a more advanced program that my computer, frankly, does not meet the requirements to run properly? Would I be gatekept out of my own game for the sake of it prospering?
Well, the answer would eventually (and thankfully) be found: NO!
Pouring over a paragraph of the Help document, an excerpt jumped out at me:
"Damage multipliers are calculated per class, and the results are multiplied together to find the final effect fluctuation percentage that is used in damage calculation. For example, if the damage multiplier for weapon class is 200% and 50% for magic, the final effect fluctuation will be 200% x 50% = 100%, cancelling out each other's effects."
Surely something could be done with this... surely something that not even the Help document was eager to reveal. I ran some tests and discovered a very, very interesting feature of how skills might work: usually the program doesn't like you using skills that are tied to a physical element unless you have a weapon of that same element equipped, but this can be circumvented by ticking the "elemental defense" box in said skill. Nowhere in the Help document does it say this, though it was the key to fixing my vexing dilemma, this crippling specter that hung over my heart. "What if I were to use a secondary physical element beneath the usual magical elements for these spells, and allowed its multiplier value to effectively decrease a monster's resistances to the primary elements?"
Now, if I were a Simpsons fiend, I'd say "ho ho ho, delightfully devilish, Seymour." Devilish indeed, as it was the key to bring back the intended diversity - and brutality - of the original combat system. All of the complexity now shines in its full glory, and I'm glad to be able to pass it on to you!
Included with the recent changes are two new status ailments specific to the Divine and Abyss-type spells: Zealotry and Karma. Zealotry gradually decreases the afflicted's mana reserves while Karma does the same to their health pools. Along with this, a brand new function has been applied to the Earth-type spells: now they remove all Strength, Defense, Wisdom, Agility and Regeneration buffs from the target.