Terence on Game Mechanics Options

[Dr Strum]

Copied and pasted from various regions of GFAQs.

The base damage of any skill is already listed on the weapon screen. So Icy Impact (the normal Chaos skill used by Ice-element Axes) has a base damage of 556 per hit. This is then multiplied by the charge level of the weapon, which is from 100% (barely charged) to 100% + Weapon POW Bonus (fully charged). So a Frozen Axe would be able to fully charge to 125%, whilst a Frozen Axe +9 would be able to fully charge to 158% (but take about twice as long to do so, since the charge bar is proportional to the Weapon POW Bonus).

Other modifiers also come into play at this point, like the Damage Rate (the number that indicates whether the enemy is fully in your attack radius and how weak or resistant to the element it is). These work as you might expect.

Once a final Base Damage has been calculated, then the game calculates the Min and Max Damage. And this is where Law/Chaos Indices come in.

The Minimum Damage% is as follows:
Min Dmg% = Law/Chaos Index + RU(Weapon Quality * Weapon Quality * (4 - Weapon Grade) * Weapon POW / 500)
* Note: RU means Round Up in this case

As you might expect, your Law/Chaos Index contributes the majority of this value: if you were using Icy Impact and had 32 CI, then your Minimum Damage would be 32% of the Base Damage. Using a higher Quality weapon can improve this, but even with a +9 weapon that's Grade I and has a +100% Max Dmg would only add another RU(9 * 9 * 3 * 100 / 500) = RU(48.6) = 49. And you can expect about a quarter of that for most weapons due to having lower POW and Grade.

Once the Min Damage% has been calculated, then the Max Damage% is calculated from it. There's two formulas for this:
If Min Dmg% < 100, Max Dmg% = 2*Min Dmg% - [Min Dmg% ^ 2 / 100]
If Min Dmg% >= 100, Max Dmg% = 100 - Min Dmg% + [Min Dmg% ^ 2 / 100]
* Note: Anything in brackets should be rounded down

That means that if your Min Dmg% was 32%, then the Max Dmg% would be 54%. Alternatively, if it was 132%, it would be 142%. And if it were 100%, then the Max Dmg% would also be 100%.

Finally, a random damage value is picked between Min Dmg% * Base Damage and Max Dmg% * Base Damage. This will be your damage for the current hit. This is obviously rerolled for every hit, but as your hit count increases, so does the average damage. This is done by *rerolling* the random damage a number of times equal to the current hit of the skill, and taking only the highest damage dealt. So Icy Impact is a 5-hit skill, so the 1st Hit would roll once, the 2nd Hit would roll twice, and so on until the 5th hit, which would roll 5 times. This means that attacks that have multiple hits will tend to do more damage since their later hits will do closer to your Max Dmg%.

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Anyways, long story short, yes, your Law/Chaos Index is applied linearly, and it's one of the most important parts of the damage you do. Hope that makes sense. (And I hope I've copied that down correctly -- as stated, haven't had the opportunity to test it very much)

Affinity and Compatibility
Almost all Knights have some Affinity with other Knights. This can either be a Positive, Neutral or Negative Affinity. This Affinity is not, in itself, mutual: Granitz, for example, has a Positive Affinity to Morozof, but Morozof has no Affinity to Granitz. And Alfred has a Negative Affinity to Grunval, but Grunval has a Neutral Affinity to Alfred.

Furthermore, Affinities can be different depending on whether the Knight is the Host or the Soul. Morozof has a Neutral Affinity to Reinhart if he receives Reinhart's soul, but a Positive Affinity if he's sacrificing himself for Reinhart.

Transoul Compatibility works on the sum of Affinities. The outcomes are as follows:
Best: Both Knights have a Positive Affinity for each other
Good: Only one Knight has a Positive Affinity, whilst the other has either No Affinity or Neutral.
Neutral: Both have Neutral or No Affinity. (No Knight has a Positive Affinity for someone who has a Negative Affinity towards them)
Bad: Only one Knight has a Negative Affinity, whilst the other has either No Affinity or Neutral.
Worst: Both Knights have a Negative Affinity for each other


Max Level Bonus
Let x be the difference between the Max Level of the Soul and the current Level of either the Host or the Soul, whichever is lower. So if the Soul's Max Level was 50, the Soul's Level was 25 and the Host's Level was 15, then x would be 50 - 15 = 35.

The bonus to Max Level will be "(x / 3) + 1", rounded to the nearest integer. However, Max Level is capped for the Host: you can only go up to 1.5x the Host's current level. So the capped value for the Level 15 Host would be 22. If the Host's Max Level is already greater or equal to the cap, then only 1 is added to the Host's Max Level.


Level Bonus
Let x be the EXP required to level the Soul from 1 to its current Level. It's n * 10000 to get from Level (n-1) to n, so the total EXP will be: ((Lvl*(Lvl + 1)) - 2) * 5000.

The base EXP transferred is equal to: [x * Soul's Loyalty / 100]. Compatibility can change this:
Worst: EXP transferred is 0.
Bad: EXP transferred is halved, rounded up.
Good: EXP transferred is the average of the base EXP (modified by Loyalty) and x.
Best: EXP transferred is x. Loyalty doesn't matter in this case.

EXP is then spent on raising the Host's Level. Before being added to the Host, 1 is subtracted from the EXP, so you never get *all* the available EXP. Also, any EXP left over from going part way to a new level is wasted.

VIT Bonus
Let x be the current VIT of the Soul. This is multiplied by a Racial Compatibility modifier, much like the Law and Chaos Indices. Affinity then modifies it:
Worst: VIT transferred is 0.
Bad: VIT transferred is halved.
Good: VIT transferred is the average of the base VIT (modified by Racial Compatibility) and the Soul's current VIT.
Best: VIT transferred is the Soul's current VIT. Racial compatibility doesn't matter.

The received VIT is truncated to *3* decimal places, and then rounded up to 2 decimal places.


Law/Chaos Indices
afflicked already covered it fairly well. Note that the final index is rounded to the nearest integer. Also, if the Host's Index is *LOWER* than the Soul's, then the square root of the penalty is used instead. That means that, as an example:

Johann (51 LI, 32 CI) -> Bonn (42 LI, 55 CI) would be 47 LI, 52 CI.
Bonn (42 LI, 55 CI) -> Johann (51 LI, 32 CI) would be 49 LI, 44 CI.



Once again, Affinity can change this:
Worst: The Host cannot have its Index raised by the Transoul. Penalties work as normal.
Bad: The Host will have any positive bonus halved, rounding down. Penalties work as normal.
Good: A bonus of 10 - [Host's Current Index / 10] is added to the Index. So if the recipient had 79 LI before Transoul, a bonus of 3 would be added.
Best: The bonus from Good Compatibility is doubled.

I'll note that Transoul is not the only way to raise Law and Chaos Indices. Using a high Quality weapon will sometimes increase the Index as well.


The only things that seemed to change the outcome are Loyalty (for Level only), Race (for VIT, LI and CI) and Personal Affinities (for all except Max Level). I was unable to find anything in the parts of the Transoul code I found that relied on Element or Order.

Just to finish up my own notes on Transoul, here's the list of Knight pairs that have specific states of Affinity. If I use arrows, then that means it's only when the first Knight is sacrificing themselves for the second. Other than that exception, each pair should be mutual. If they're not listed here, then they have a Neutral compatibility.

Worst
Oswald, Ganosh
Heinel, Yuga
Husrev, Sarland

Bad
Amalgun, Enite
Alfred, Grunval
Vishna -> Morozof
Freiber -> Cornela

Good
Granitz, Morozof
Bonn, Moira
Mardin, Wunsche
Mardin, Fritz
Bailey, Gert
Lillian, Freiber
Lyzz, Grimwad
Nina, Caline
Walder, Josef
Cornela, Fritz
Meryl, Johanna
Oryze, Seriee
Mauser, Granitz
Melange, Basturk
Heckler, Wunsche
Heckler, Lakshmi
Silvano, Algiery
Belta, Carena
Enite, Hydrick
Lucia, Legro
Legro, Algiery
Morozof -> Reinhart
Schmitz -> Rolenta
Cress -> Simone

Best
Granitz, Oryze
Rondine, Morozof
Frabela, Algiery
Frabela, Oswald
Algiery, Enite
Johann, Michel
Johann, Lisbet
Bonn, Firenz
Moira, Wunsche
Erica, Seriee
Frances, Roslip
Legaard, Gert
Janus, Hilgard
Rolenta, Flora
Simone, Lisbet
Cress, Isolde
Lillian, Annalot
Lyzz, Woosh
Lyzz, Ernest
Freiber, Annalot
Ernest, Belta
Annalot, Nina
Nina, Hampton
Diora, Johanna
Bergman, Mauser
Gieche, Colt
Josef, Jungwil
Josef, Minotta
Jungwil, Minotta
Isolde, Grunval
Juno, Audric
Gert, Theonil
Beatrix, Oryze
Beatrix, Husrev
Baltar, Gudrun
Caline, Theonil
Sofine, Gudrun
Neredo, Atkasia
Lakshmi, Natalie
Rudolf, Magda
Rosa, Misleen
Otto, Hagen
Werner, Silvano
Dosika, Yuga


And finally, VIT compatibility tables.

Elvale Sacrificed
50%: Elvale
40%: Ingeid, Rondalia, Amartia, Nestico, Tiamat
25%: Larocca
10%: Balmore, Yumil

Ingeid Sacrificed
50%: Ingeid, Amartia
25%: Larocca
10%: Elvale, Rondalia, Nestico, Balmore, Tiamat, Yumil

Rondalia Sacrificed
50%: Rondalia
40%: Nestico
25%: Elvale, Amartia, Balmore, Tiamat, Larocca
10%: Yumil

Amartia Sacrificed
50%: Amartia
40%: Elvale
25%: Rondalia, Nestico, Balmore, Larocca
10%: Ingeid, Tiamat, Yumil

Nestico Sacrificed
50%: Nestico
40%: Elvale, Ingeid, Rondalia, Balmore
25%: Amartia, Tiamat, Larocca
10%: Yumil

Balmore Sacrificed
50%: Elvale, Ingeid, Rondalia, Amartia, Nestico, Balmore, Tiamat
25%: Larocca
10%: Yumil

Tiamat Sacrificed
50%: Ingeid, Tiamat
40%: Balmore
25%: Rondalia, Amartia, Nestico, Larocca
10%: Elvale, Yumil

Larocca Sacrificed
50%: Larocca
40%: Elvale
10%: Ingeid, Rondalia, Amartia, Nestico, Balmore, Tiamat, Yumil

Yumil Sacrificed
50%: All Races

For the record, Algiery, Dosika and Yuga are the only Tiamat Knights; Roslip is the only Larocca, and Pamela is the only Yumil. It's worth noting that Yumil always has the best compatibility when sacrificed, and the worst compatibility when receiving.

[Yuka]

Is this the same Terence who delved into other games such as Etrian Odyssey and figured out how the mechanics worked in them as well? Because I remember this guy churning out some really nice finds, so nice post.

[Dr Strum]

I don't know. But I know just about everything we (Rai/Tonfa) know about Riviera comes from his postings.

[Raijinili]

It's the same Terence.