"switch parties" option in Phoenix Cave

[treasonwall]

It disappeared from the menu for no apparent reason after I did the timed torches thing. If I exit the cave and then come back, it doesn't reappear.

[DJC]

Jul 20, 2010 4:12:08 GMT -5 treasonwall said:

It disappeared from the menu for no apparent reason after I did the timed torches thing. If I exit the cave and then come back, it doesn't reappear.

In some situations the Switch Parties option turns off purposely, but it's always supposed to become enabled again. I'm assuming you're talking about the first timed torches toward the beginning, not the timed torches that made the transparent lava bridge appear further on?

If you completely exit the cave, as in return to the Airship, then teleport back to the Phoenix Cave, that should reset everything. Is this what you did but it still did not work?

Upon inspection of the code, the timed torches puzzle should not affect your ability to switch parties at all. Only standing on bridges that can disappear or spike traps can prevent you from switching parties. As soon as you step off of these objects the option to switch should be restored. The only thing the timed light puzzle disables is your ability to save.

If you want you can send your save file to [e-mail] and I can take a look at the variables to be absolutely sure of what is going on. There is one other variable, besides those designed to stop party switching, that can prevent the menu from displaying the Switch Parties option. It's triggered to prevent you from using the menu at all during code execution. Did you try to do anything else between the light puzzle and when you noticed the error? Like leave the room, or attempt to Exchange party members?

And just to be sure, you're using the newest version of the game, correct?

[treasonwall]

I am using verison 3.23. I do remember being thrown away by the timed spike things and it happened after that so there might be a correlation. I'm also pretty sure I did go into another room.

Unfortunately, I think I saved over both Phoenix Cave save files so i'm going to have to do it all over again first.


One other thing, unrelated but I might as well just ask here (kind of a spoiler so beware):






Is it normal that I beat Marowit 's second form once by doing nothing(I was having diner in another room), after that it cut to the Atlantis sequence without Veneficus showing up, and a second time pretty easily, hardly hitting anything but the blue mask ?

[DJC]

Jul 20, 2010 13:25:24 GMT -5 treasonwall said:

I am using verison 3.23. I do remember being thrown away by the timed spike things and it happened after that so there might be a correlation. I'm also pretty sure I did go into another room.

Unfortunately, I think I saved over both Phoenix Cave save files so i'm going to have to do it all over again first.

The only place where an active party can get caught on spikes is in the lava bridge room, but just before you reach the lava pit. The other team steps on a switch that activates the spikes, causing them to turn off and on in alternating patterns. The main party must then attempt to cross the spikes. Is this the area you're talking about?

No matter where you stepped on spikes, all you have to do to restore party switching if it gets broken is step on a tile directly adjacent to a spike in the same room. This is because each room has its own switch preventing party switching.

One other thing, unrelated but I might as well just ask here (kind of a spoiler so beware):

Is it normal that I beat Marowit 's second form once by doing nothing(I was having diner in another room), after that it cut to the Atlantis sequence without Veneficus showing up, and a second time pretty easily, hardly hitting anything but the blue mask ?

It looks there's actually a bug here. One of the death check events is correct, but another check incorrectly uses the right form's (blue) HP to see if Marowit is defeated. Thanks for finding this, it could cause the battle to end very early by simply dealing 105K damage to the right form and ignoring the other two.

I can't explain the first case where the battle ended with you doing nothing. The timer in the background (which determines whether Veneficus appears) should not affect the fight since it does not trigger a new event page. It only determines the Veneficus conditional fork after the battle is over. The timer is invisible, but it gives you 15 minutes to defeat Marowit, or else Veneficus will not come. But even if it reaches zero during the battle, the fight should have to be fought and ended no matter what.

[treasonwall]

Well that's strange because all I had done was open the white magic menu, causing the ATB to pause, and when I came back and switched the screen back on he was there saying "...impossible!"

And you're welcome I guess.

As for Phoenix Cave, it was the room near the start with the two sets of four torches on each side of a line of three spike tiles.

[DJC]

Jul 21, 2010 14:30:19 GMT -5 treasonwall said:

Well that's strange because all I had done was open the white magic menu, causing the ATB to pause, and when I came back and switched the screen back on he was there saying "...impossible!"

I'll see if I can duplicate it by letting the game sit there for ~15 minutes to determine if the timer is causing the engine to misbehave.

As for Phoenix Cave, it was the room near the start with the two sets of four torches on each side of a line of three spike tiles.

I guess it's possible that when the spikes reset and threw your hero backward, you stepped on the tile that restores party switching but it did not execute. It looks like there are some regular errors in the placing of the tiles that restore party switching as well. I'll have to do some work on this in the next update, but players should still be able to easily restore party switching by simply stepping adjacent to any spike.