CTB - A Final Fantasy X-like Battle System, Version 3.2

[andicesharks]

I don't like the default rmxp system at all of taking away a percentage. If you happen to be fighting enemies that are your level, that is probably fine. If you're in a boss fight with something that has many more hp, the effect would be much more powerful and that just is not very intuitive.

Why not just make the bosses immune to poison then, or give them a way to recover from poison? =O

The only real issue I can see with this would be with Demi, really.

Well, in the default game, damage over time is set up as a "poison" effect but that is a very narrow use for it. The best way to use damage over time is as a full or an addition to a spell. Not just a state that depicts being poisoned. The state as it is in default lets you use it maybe one or 2 times since it does a fixed amount. Anything other than that would just be sticking a new name on the same spell.

Having a way to let the game maker determine how much damage a dot does opens up many new possible additions to a game and ways to play. The addition of a full set of damage over time and healing over time as well as spells that do both dot/hot and regular damage/heals, in effect, triples the amount of spells in the game (1 turn 'full' spells, full spells + an over time state and spells that are only over time [instead of 99% of the spells being full and then a couple using the default 'poison']). This leads to a lot more variety and a lot more strategic play.

Just think about any modern day rpg or game (ff, d&d, magic, dragon age). They are going to have these elements. The more decisions or the more thought that goes into a battle for the player of the game will make it much more enjoyable. RPGs pretty much revolve around battles so having a lot of options will make it fun. Otherwise you're just spamming the same couple of spells and it becomes a grind.

What dot/hot effects do are make a spell not give away its true nature in one look. You need to evaluate it and think about it to determine if its good. You also need to think more about what spell is best when. You may have a spell that does one shot healing for 100 that costs 50sp. You may have a regen spell healing for 100 over 4 turns that costs 35m. The regen spell is clearly "better" in the strictest sense because it is less sp for the same healing. You may be in a situation though when one of your characters is really being beat down and may not make it. Do you try to save mana for a long fight and hope he doesnt die before hes healed with the hot or do you just go for the safe heal with risk of needing that mana later?

Thats just one example but there are many that just adding this one simple feature to a game can open up. I say "spell" in this but it can also be used for skills. Skills with bleed effects, skills that physically heal instead of magically etc...

The reason you could not just turn off "poison" in a boss fight is because it is not considered poison(the way I am speaking about it), it is just considered a spell that happens over time instead of instantly. Just like you can hit him with "Fire" which is a one shot spell, another character may be able to hit him with "Burn" which is a spell just like Fire but is a dot. Just because it happens over time doesn't mean the boss should be immune. It is a spell just like Fire, it isn't really a "state". It is just using a state to illustrate and carry through the process of the spell.

Now, no doubt what you said can be done but that would be going in the opposite direction by dumbing the game down instead of making it more interesting or strategic. A dragon being immune to poison - or maybe even all nature spells makes sense but making it immune to every possible damage over time effect just because the default is using damage based on a % while most of the instant hit spells work fine is silly in my opinion.