FFT Ramza JP Initial Investigation Day 2

April 18th Update:

Thanks to the hard work of real video game scientists like neerrm, Luke Logitech, and LCC posting cryptic emoji codes, we were able to develop a script that obtained all potential Ramza JP values over the course of like 10 billion frames. This will allow us to compare any JP we find on console to a master chart of values, therefore enabling us to find the time differential between emulator & console with a bit of math (no math).

I'm more concerned with sorting out the inevitable problems that will arise when doing all of this rather than trying to hit the god set of frames right away, so I've settled on trying to hit this range of values for now:

Frame   SQ	CH	KN	AR	MN	TH	LA
3277    142 169 151 192 147 177 155
3279    151 192 147 145 128 170 188
3279    151 192 147 145 128 170 188
3280    192 147 145 128 135 190 152
3282    145 128 135 155 177 185 156
3283    128 135 155 177 185 188 113
3284    135 155 177 185 170 152 182
3285    155 177 185 170 190 167 138
3286    177 185 170 190 155 156 193
3286    177 185 170 190 155 156 193
3288    170 190 155 185 188 182 163
3288    170 190 155 185 188 182 163
3289    190 155 185 188 152 138 128
3290    155 185 188 152 167 193 157
3292    188 152 167 156 113 163 103
3292    188 152 167 156 113 163 103
3293    152 167 156 113 182 128 144
3294    167 156 113 182 138 157 171

There's definitely some undesirable stuff in here (Frame 3282 for example is not great), but the window is seemingly enormous to the point that it should make current diagnostics easy.

It's worth noting that the way this was done, it was assumed you do a frame perfect input on the title screen, and then press the button on the appropriate frame during the "I am Alazlam" text. Realistically speaking in runs, I'll be idling on the title screen (because the timer has not yet started) until a given time frame, and then probably just trying to dik mash during Alazlam. No idea if this will work, but might as well try.

And that's all for the prelim pastebin. More will arise during the science itself, I'm sure (probably involving Pokemon TCG).

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OLD STUFF:

Awhile back, someone (I think it was a French TASer named Bif?) gave me this pastebin:

http://pastebin.com/7NkXieHV

It explains some of the basics of how Ramza's initial JP is calculated. Pretty useful stuff... that I completely forgot about for like 4 years. Until today! To be fair, investigating it seemed like a lot of work, and I didn't really have the tools or the willingness to do so at the time. But now that I have access to Bizhawk, I thought I'd give it another look and see how realistic it is to implement.

The dream would be to hit some type of large window (maybe 4 - 5 frames) that guarantees high initial starting JP on Ramza in at least Squire & Chemist, but possibly also Archer & Lancer as well. In this game, a character's JP is determined in every single class (not just those unlocked) when he or she is generated, so if some type of manip is possible, I'd be guaranteed a good Ramza every single run as long as I hit the window. High initial stats in these classes would do some pretty cool things:

Squire: Guarantees I can end Gariland as soon as possible IF I have high starting Chemist JP on another unit, ideally the Female Chemist (eliminates ~1:30 minutes of potential variance)
Chemist: Guarantees I can end Mandalia as soon as both of the hired generics have Wizard unlocked (eliminates ~2 minutes of potential variance)
Archer: Guarantees I can do the Level 7 EXP Route every single run (saves ~1 minute over the Level 8 route)
Lancer: Guarantees I don't have to do any extra actions at Outside Lionel (eliminates ~30 seconds of potential variance with my strats, most likely)

Decent initial Monk JP would also be nice just to make sure I actually reach Level 4 Monk in time in Ch. 2, but it's not super important. Same with initial Wizard JP to limit the amount of spillover I need. Knight & Thief JP is mostly irrelevant because I'll need to grind anyways to reach Level 7 for the speed point (and just to stay on EXP route in general).

---

The only reason any of this is possible is because Ramza's JP is determined so early on in the run, so it has the potential to be manipulated before the RNG gets too out of hand. Since I can essentially wait however long I want before starting a run (since the timer isn't running until I hit New Game), a decent sized window should theoretically exist without enough time. I really don't want to wait a million years every run just to reset over Rad casting Blind on Lezales, though...

I've done some preliminary testing on this already, and it seems going into the Memory Card menu to check the Memory Card (saves like ~2 seconds in the run) changes the RNG. So, I'll be foregoing that for now in these initial tests just to see if this is even possible.

The biggest hurdle with all of this will be translating the values I find on Bizhawk (using scripts) over to console. With scripts, I can see Ramza's JP immediately when it's generated (right before you name him). On console however, you can't see Ramza's JP until Gariland... which means I'll be doing Orbonne over and over and over again to see if this manipulation is possible. True hell on Earth!

For now, I won't actually be trying to hit the specific window I'll want in a run (that will require the use of an RNG Basher, similar to what was used for figuring out SMRPG RNG Manip). I'm just trying to see if I can hit any window consistently. Real runs are done on a PS2 with Fast Disc Speed set, which Bizhawk can't emulate... so just trying to translate potential findings over to console will be the first step. Any nerds / scientists out there, feel free to assist me!

That's it for now. If this seems promising, I'll spend another day on it. If not, I'll just put it off until real science can be done.

See you in the Monastery.

- Claude