Part 67: Monster Time Part 1 - Streets of Onett
EDIT: I swear to god that last post wasn't there when I hit "Submit."quote:
LP-making talk
A little more on combat mechanics
As I've mentioned before, the damage formula in Earthbound is really simple.
- (N × Offense) - Defense [±25%]
Speaking of dodging: there are two ways for an attack to fail in Earthbound. First, every weapon has a built-in miss rate. For example, baseball bats have a 1/16 miss rate. When this happens, you'll be told "Just missed!". Even SMAAAAASH! attacks can miss. Second, enemies can dodge your attacks - this gives you the message "X dodged swiftly!". The odds of dodging are
- (2 × DefenderSpeed - AttackerSpeed) / 500
Of course, all of this applies to enemies attacking you, as well. Which brings us to...
Monsters of Onett: Part 2
The Pogo Punk is the strongest of the the three Sharks on paper, though he's kind of clumsy: his miss rate is one in four. He has both regular and strong attacks, and favors the latter (when he's not busy falling down). The Punk's item drop is a really nice incentive to grind; too bad the Sharks vanish after you deal with their boss.
HP 35, Offense 8, Defense 10, Speed 3.
Worth 15 XP and $18. Always drops a Hamburger.
Yes Man Junior is a bit easier to kill than the Pogo Punk, but has a slightly improved hit rate. Otherwise there's not much of a difference - their AI is identical. I like to think Sharks are the game's way of teaching you to keep your gear up to date. A Cheap bracelet and Mr. Baseball cap will more than double Nass's lifespan against them.
HP 33, Offense 8, Defense 9, Speed 4.
Worth 13 XP and $18. 3/128 chance to drop a Bag of fries.
Skate Punk is inferior to the other Sharks as far as stats are concerned, but he makes up for it with his ability to call for reinforcements. Shark battles are limited to one of each type at a time, but if you keep killing his friends there's no limit on the total number he can summon. Fortunately he can't summon other Skate Punks. We will not be so lucky in the future. Oh, and summoned creatures never drop items, so you can't abuse this for free Hamburgers.
HP 31, Offense 7, Defense 8, Speed 5.
Worth 12 XP and $17. 1/128 chance to drop a Pizza.
Frank is the first real boss of the game, and as Leave said: he does not fuck around. Like his minions, Frank has both strong and regular attacks, and the former hit like a truck (up to 30+ after armor). Nass can win a damage race, but it's not guaranteed even if you're at level 7 like Leave. Especially since Frank never misses. Once you start using Hamburgers, it's easy to get locked into a cycle where Frank takes HP off as fast as you put it on. You can Hypnotize Frank but it's not really a good use of time or PP. Your only reprieve is when he stops to curse you out, which reduces your Guts (whatever) and does nothing else.
Or, you know, you could just grind to Level 8 and one-shot him. But we'll get to that.
HP 63, Offense 12, Defense 17, Speed 7.
Worth 50 XP and $48.
What? We're fighting a robot now? Frankystein Mark II is buffer than his creator, but since he wastes every other turn he's a lot easier to deal with. (Assuming you didn't burn through all your Hamburgers and PP on Frank, that is.) Don't underestimate him, though: he never misses, and even armored Nass can take as much as 45 damage from his strong attack. Err on the side of caution, eat as much as you need to, and hack away at him until he falls apart.
I'm kind of astonished that Hypnosis worked - Frankystein is resistance to that power and it only works 30% of the time. Of course, Nass could've just attacked and finished the Mark II off, so...
HP 91, Offense 15, Defense 18, Speed 4.
Worth 76 XP and $31.
(Insert suuu-per One Piece joke here!)