Brigandine Grand Edition...

[HwitVlf]

I had fun thinking them up.    Each section of the multiplayer uses it's own creature name list so there were a whole bunch!

[dpbj602]

I saw a sentiment earlier about being sad that there's not really any exploration of the betrayal potential sideplot. Like gimme extra battle dialogue...something...make the reason more than just the white feather in the sky.

Eh, it's relatively minor, for a game that's been out at least ten years...still...

[Catfish0093]

I'd registered just to say thank you and a fantastic job done on the Translation patch,   HwitVlf!  I'd played this game originally in Japanese countless times since the release date, and my brother and I recently started again because of your work.

May I ask how does the Grand Battle Mod patch work?  Is this the EXP modifiers for AI that you've been talking about in this thread?

[HwitVlf]

I saw a sentiment earlier about being sad that there's not really any exploration of the betrayal potential sideplot. Like gimme extra battle dialogue...something...make the reason more than just the white feather in the sky.
Eh, it's relatively minor, for a game that's been out at least ten years...still...

There were several areas that I longed to see fleshed out more in the game- like why Leonia didn't ally with Almekia and Caerleon, but at least GE does cover some unanswered questions like the fate of Padstow.

Catfish0093 and everyone else, thank you for the "thank you" s 

To answer the question about the "Grand Battle" patch, it does not give extra XP. It gives enemy nations extra mana, higher class creatures, a minor boost to the stats of their knights each turn, and removes the timer. The end result is the enemy has more creatures, higher class creatures, and gradually strengthening knights. If you don't defeat the enemy in a timely fashion, they could get over-powered. Two-thirds through a test play, Paternus started beating my Fighters to death in melee combat... and he seemed like such a peaceful old man.   

[dpbj602]

I'm just curious, for fans of the game, are there any real differences between difficulty settings?

[HwitVlf]

I haven't dug into the AI settings at all so I don't have an informed opinion. It always seemed to me that the AI was more cautious and defensive on the difficult setting, but I think the time limit is the main thing that influences the difficulty.

Doesn't the AI just charge ahead instead of guarding the castle on easy? It's been so long since I played on easy that I don't really remember.

[Rovole]

The AI on easy is reckless and moves as much as possible whenever possible. On hard or normal, the AI doesn't move at all when defending until they have an opportunity to attack, and when attacking the AI moves monsters and knights in groups to reduce vulnerabilities.

As the AI scales up, it becomes less prone to making "mistakes," or pre-programmed decisions that are less-than-optimal, such as neglecting to finish off a creature they have successfully weakened. On harder difficulties, the AI is more likely to use stronger knights against the player when it has the luxury of choice. In addition, while this may just be the result of confirmation bias, the RNG seems more inclined against the player at higher difficulties. Overall, though, the AI is quite weak, and because of the way Brigandine addresses loss-recuperation, once an AI player starts losing their leveled monsters and territories, its hard for them to recover.

[HwitVlf]

Tony, do you mean change it back to the way it was in LoF?  I wasn't planning on doing that, but I could probably figure out how to easy enough. What would be the benefit?

Rovole, do you know if they boosted the AI in GE compared to LoF? I agree that GE's AI isn't as good as a human, but given the processing power available on the PS1 it seems impressive to me. There's so much more going on in Brigandine battles than other strategy RPGs of the day like Front Mission 3.

[dpbj602]

Makes final battles a bit more interesting for sure.

[Rovole]

Rovole, do you know if they boosted the AI in GE compared to LoF? I agree that GE's AI isn't as good as a human, but given the processing power available on the PS1 it seems impressive to me. There's so much more going on in Brigandine battles than other strategy RPGs of the day like Front Mission 3.

I'll be honest, I haven't tried your patch yet. I downloaded your initial release and then a later revision, but I haven't applied it yet. I'm a slow adopter in many things, even stuff I've been eagerly awaiting. I'm a bit of a purist, so I was alarmed by what other users were reporting about the things you changed, not that I'm trying to disparage your efforts in any way, I've played two games you've patched already, Brigandine will be the third and I am still starstruck by your magnanimity.

That said, turn-based strategy games are pretty easy to code AI for, all things considered, because of how such games naturally limit the number of factors. The AI in Brigandine seems to make decisions on a turn-by-turn basis, with a limited ability to "think" ahead, so to speak. The developers clearly made the most of limited computing, however, and the end-result is a fairly competent strategist. But as I mentioned before, TBS is easy on AI. I doubt GE will have changed the AI formula much. Maybe modifying the way the AI prioritizes certain actions or abilities. In LoF, the AI will use AOE attacks whenever possible, and I used to try and bait a geno-attack by putting two units right on the edge, such that they would use up all their MP before I rushed in.