User blog:Liam48D/Grandia III damage formulas

I've been poking around with Grandia III's debug mode a bit, looking for damage formulas. (Formulae?) So far I've only focused on spells, and through testing, I've found this to be the general magic formula (tested on Burn!, Crackle, and Hellburner):

Damage = (Spell-specific base quantity) + 4.5 * (Caster's MAG) - 3.0 * (Target's RES)

You also have to apply the damage ratio multiplier and the general randomness modifier. The damage ratio is that "X%" you see beside the orb. It's significant in spells like Crackle and Galactic Bang, where damage is dealt to the target multiple times, increasing their chain multiplier each time. The game also has some RNG; I'm not totally sure what the rules are on this (probably something like +/- 5%), but it's worth noting, because it means the formula won't yield the exact amount of damage dealt.

The spell-specific base quantity is a value unique to each spell. Generally, if the spell's description says it has a higher power (more stars), you can expect the base quantity to be higher. It also varies depending on what level mana egg you've equipped; Hellburner does much more damage if you've got a Volcano Egg equipped.

Some enemies will also have a resistance/weakness to spells of particular elements. Demon Lords are totally invulnerable to fire-based moves, but take 1.5x damage from water-based ones, for example. If an enemy is resistant to a move, the damage number will sort of spin off of the enemy, like a coin being flipped; if an enemy is weak to a move, the damage number will have a little yellow check mark next to it.

Here are the base values for three spells:


 * Burn!: Lv. 0: 48, Lv. 1: 72, Lv. 2: 120, Lv. 3: 192
 * Crackle: Lv. 0: 100, Lv. 1: 200, Lv. 2: 350, Lv. 3: 560
 * Hellburner: Lv. 0: 383, Lv. 1: 576, Lv. 2: 959, Lv. 3: 1535

"Lv. 0" refers to no mana egg being equipped, or no boost being given to that move's element. For example, equipping a Lake Egg means Crackle (and other water-based spells) will be considered Lv. 3, but Burn! will be Lv. 0.

I also have a complete list of (approximate) base values for spells here.

See this post for info on enabling and using debug mode. Now, for specifics regarding finding damage formulas..

Disabling DMG_RND makes your life a hundred million times easier by getting rid of the RNG factor, so definitely turn that off. (It's at the top level of Debug/Battle.)

You can manipulate stats by going to Debug/Battle/Char/Param and selecting the Char No. you want. (You have to set stats up at the start of each battle - they reset to the character's saved stats whenever you enter a battle.) MGR is "Magic Resistance" and called RES in the game; MGP is "Magic Power" and is called MAG in the game.

It's usually helpful to go to Debug/Battle/Char/IP Stop and stop monsters from moving, if you're testing the power of your own stats. (Or you can do it the other way around and stop your party members from moving if testing enemies.)

When a character is defending, the damage ratio on them doesn't go up at all. You can force an enemy to guard by first setting INPUT_ALL (at Debug/ in the battle debug menu) and then going to Debug/Battle/Char/Work and setting GUARD to On. (You can't change most of the things in .../Work if you don't have INPUT_ALL set.)

In the Field menu of the debug menu outside of battle, you can set your party to contain just Yuki (set Party Group to 0). This is just handy because it means you have to skip less character's turns / use IP stop less.

I haven't found a way to change the power of the mana egg you have equipped inside of battle, so unfortunately you need to leave battle and set up all the stats and IP stops and such again whenever you want to change what mana egg you're using.