ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
Mm!
It gave me some ideas for that Life Magi final boss from way back
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
:eyes:
Oh please do that, actually.
I've been looking forrward to that one.
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
I really do need to get it together and wrap up Marin's 'game' I think, since I've just stuffed it with so many random characters and not given proper thought to the setting at all.
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
Also I'm still amused that I took a mechanic from one of my sets that was once considered broken, cranked it up several notches, and everyone's accepted it at face value.
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
My basic idea was based partly on Scarmiglione's gimmicks- heheh, nice- of having a fog he can release that damages foes/heals himself and his minions and tweaks it, with some obvious inspiration from PD. 1. he doesn't actually heal, rather he gains a buffer where damage is split between himself and said buffer, same for his minions. If it doesn't eliminate the buffer, he armors through the attack. 2. Minions 'evolve', growing faster, bigger, and stronger as their buffer grows. 3. While the buffer is up, he gets a knockback and damage boost. There's a floor for how little a boost the knockback can get. 4. These effects all apply to the opponent, too.
The key thing is he HEAVILY benefits from the buff himself, but also from it being applied to his opponent.
Since the knockback boost minimum means it fucks up combos (he doesn't care since he doesn't combo outside of hitting people into or out from his minions), the armor lets him attack through stuff (he can smash through a capped buffer with almost any attack), and the damage buffer makes his ridiculous bulk go even further (he hits hard enough he doesn't care too much about opponents getting tougher)
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
iiiinteresting
I could definently see that work pretty well, actually.
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
It fits the repeated issue that getting pumped full of life energy is actually not a good thing, with it basically making opponents hit too hard for their own good
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
And given what this character seems to be doing it'd be thematically quite appropriate, yeah
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
and of course he's a treat in team battles or free for alls
Minions are slow, frail, and have a single telegraphed attack, all three issues being lessened with more buffer. Key thing is said attack is a grab hitbox that briefly immobilizes opponents, which is really bad for them when he's free to go stomping over and hammer them for it
Another attack is his Up Special is a slow moving projectile that can deal a lot of stun on hit. The key is that once it's out, he can repeat the input to teleport it (making it a situational but strong recovery with the big caveat he wants to use it in advance) with heavy start-up lag... or if it hits an opponent, he teleports over instantly, without interrupting whatever he's doing (such as attacking).
And Down Special was me wanting to do Elephant's barrier, but balanced. It rapidly drains his buffer while active and fades when he runs out, so he has to work for it somewhat, it can't stay up forever, and it also serves as a mean to remove his buff in the corner cases it's bad for him
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
Well those all sound really good as a set of specials, actually.
Up Special in particular sounds cool for a set like this.
though I also like the attempt to balance Elephant's wall
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
Elephant had a lot of really cool concepts to me, they just didn't really work in context/with that specific execution
BackwardsBullet
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11/17/2020
I mean PD would not exist without Elephant trying and failing to do what its doing.
ProfessorHawke
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11/17/2020
Mm.
It's another case of 'old concept inspires new execution', just, ah, a lot more recent.




Villain from Marin's game.

-Super heavyweight, slow moving, but decent air control and has a choice of a gentle normal fall or meteor-like fast fall. Large hurtbox.


-Can passively create a field of Life Energy. This creates a stamina buffer that accumulates at the rate of 2.5% per second on those who linger in it, up to 10%. Damage is divided between this buffer and the combatants' normal percentages, and only drains at the rate of 1% per second as the beneficiary remains removed from the field.

While benefitting from this buffer, friend and foe alike gain the benefit of a weak damage/knockback/shield damage/shield push multiplier on their attacks, and a sort of mini-super armor effect during the start up of attacks, blocking blows that fail to eliminate the buffer. This greatly benefits the magi, as his super heavyweight status offsets the knockback multiplier when nearing Kill percents. Opponents on the other hand may learn of a nasty little quirk to how the multiplier works- namely that the bonus has a 'floor', a minimum adjustment to how much farther it can hit the foe away. (name) has hefty reach and a few ways to make opponents sit still, but opponents may find that their usual combo starters/extenders suddenly knock opponents too far away!

The super armor is trivial for him to overcome with his high-damage attacks and nasty grab game by contrast, and even benefits his long-lasting hitboxes- instead of protecting the foe, it ensures he hits them twice with the same move! And to add insult to injury, the added shield push will put him safely out of range of his opponent's shield punish options, while his reach allows him to continue hammering away at the foe's despite how far they'll be slid away.


-Kinda want to draw on Elephant's barrier effect. Thinking that its duration is limited by draining the Life Energy buffer from (name), serving as a duration limiter, a limit on the 'shatters to make a hitbox' effect (by only letting it work above the 5% buffer threshold so he has to work for it and then immediately get in the opponent's face to get it off), and a means to remove the buffer from himself quickly in edge cases where it might work against him.


-Minions draw inspiration from Scarmiglione's, but with the twist that they grow in speed, strength, and size as their buffer from the Life Energy field increases. They mostly serve as damage sponges to take the heat off of (name), with the added benefit that foes can't leave them to their own devices without the minions becoming a legitimate threat. Grab hitbox attack that does little for damage, and is in fact unsafe on hit for the minion in question even at its highest tier, but ensures the foe is left in place for a long while.

(Kat suggested that minions could come in three different variants, possibly via Side Special angling. While I'd like minions not to be the focus of the set, having three simple mooks to use and play off of in different ways would be interesting. A tourtoise-like monster that attacks above it was one suggestion, and I quite like it if going with this angle.)

(Thought: minions are immobile in their weakest state, effectively being stationary traps? Would give another reason to not just keep leaking life energy all the time.)


-Single, highly oppressive projectile. Big, slow moving, and painful damage and hitlag on contact. It functions as a pseudo-grab hitbox, hitting normally and then 'spawning' a grab hitbox on top of the foe hit, partly bypassing shields and fully working around the benefits of the Life buffer. (name) can aim the input on use with the control stick. This is also (name)'s recovery; on repeating the input, or on hit, (name) teleports to its current location (which means he can also set it up in advance to recover from across the map!). The former is very laggy on start-up, but the latter can deposit (name) right in front of the foe without that animation, possibly even mid-attack! This does NOT trigger the re-grab timer, due in part to the lag it has. That said, this also gives (name) the classic heavyweight weakness of a poor recovery- if not used with foresight. The large size lets it double as a combo extender- hit foes into the projectile, immediately teleport over and hit them again.

(Teleporting to a hit foe does not leave (name) in freefall, but teleporting to somewhere in the air otherwise does, and he must land to use the input again regardless.)


-Jab is legitimately quick, hits passably hard, and the reach is still good (if not as much as most of his attacks). 1-2 hit, with the second having a surprisingly mean sweetspot that only hits if the first jab missed OR if the foe super armored through it.


-Dash attack has him increase in speed and continue charging for a set distance/until the input is released. Heavy commitment, but the end lag is low and the knockback is a (stage) spike that's good for combos or finishing off opponents. Does repeated weak hits that push foes along as he runs before then, letting him scoop up multiple foes and rack extra damage the farther he goes. Opponents with super armor take rapid repeated hits that chew through a buffer fast for hefty damage.


-Attacks are fluffed with various monstrous appendages forming from the villain's body? May apply to their minions as well, adding a layer of customization in some form?





old, outdated notes:

[Final boss/main antagonist in Marin's hypothetical game, indirectly responsible for the chaos overtaking the academy in his search for immortality. His original title was Earth Magi, using soil and water as his mediums- all life grows forth from them, and all return to them.]


[Has mud golems as his minions, lumbering, powerful, malleable brutes. He can manipulate them to take on several different forms and qualities temporarily, and harden them with fire magic to give them more durability/power at the expense (slash benefit) of locking them into whatever form they were in at the time they were hardened.]


[Much of his body (all of it?) is artificial, formed from alchemically treated dirt and plants, held together and empowered by crystals of concentrated life energy. He can essentially manipulate his own form for attacks, just as he can his golems, though hardening himself is a temporary buff rather than a lasting effect.]


[Growing spiked vines from his minions as short-reaching passive hitboxes would be an option; the minion will normally fire them out as projectiles as they start to degrade or upon being destroyed; hardening the minion lets it keep the passive hitbox, in exchange for only firing off when the minion is destroyed.]


[Grows a larger, bulbous fist from his golem, which it can use to perform a slow but powerful attack. Hardening the golem lets it keep this limb instead of losing it after a single strike, replacing its weak but comparatively quicker attack in the process.]


[Grows long tendrils from his golems, giving them a tether grab with amazing reach but long start up. The affected golem normally loses them after one grab escape from the foe, but hardening will let them repeat their grab.]


[Grows horns on the golem, which will gain essentially a short-range command dash attack. Telegraphed but powerful, in line with most of its moves.]


[Grows wings on the golem, which will fly up and rocket back down to earth- essentially a second, better jump and a stall-then fall attack. Normally only good for one use each, it will keep the benefits when hardened, though its hurtbox is larger as a result.]


[Grows a rune-covered shield on its body, reflecting projectiles and giving it super armor on its front.]


[Creates a mud puddle that passively heals his minions and acts as a trap for foes moving over it (slowing their movement and shifting as his golems do, potentially immobilizing them as a pitfall if hardened while they stand within it.]


[Can summon plant life from non-hardened minions and mud puddles, happening when the villain uses the coresponding attacks.]


[Golem visual design based on Virages from Legend of Dragoon; exaggerated, clawed extremities, stretched-thin torso and limbs, large heads, massive empty eye cavities. Its formation starts it off human-shaped, but deforms rapidly into this monstrous appearance. Unlike the other minor horror touches in the game that are purely stylistic or even played for laughs, (name)'s Golems are deliberately played straight as disgusting and unsettling. Its joints seem made of plant fibers with tiny light (nearly microscopic crystals), which also stick out as 'claws' and envelop the head. Only hits against the head (placed fairly high) register; hitting its body stuns it for longer, but does no damage, mud forming and filling the gash or hole made by the blow. Slow, but very durable.]


[Can set spells within the golem's torso as traps, triggered when the torso is hit by friend or foe, on the foe touching it, or when the golem is destroyed?]


[Vincent for a name? Seems to go with the 'V' theme I have going, though his status as the capital-V Villain of the game technically covers that. Vance is also an option, namesake for Vancian casting as per the novels that inspired the rules for spells used in most Dungeons and Dragons editions.]