Is there a way to get Zero Experience?

[Augoeides]

In the original, when you set allies outside your main battle party, they didn't get experience. Also, when someone got afflicted with a status effect or died, they stayed dead after battle. With this version, these things no longer apply, as people are resurrected and cured after battle.

As a hardcore fan, I have mixed feelings about this, as it generally makes the game significantly easier. The game has dozens of healing items, although instant heal check points and after battle auto-recovery effectively render Cooking worthless, but ultimately, I recognize that these are modern RPG mechanics that benefit the fanbase, and aren't exactly an unwelcome change.

However, I am starting a challenge I've been wanting to do for decades: Mages Only. I attempted it in the original, but got sick of seeing the spells animations making the fights 3 times longer, by the time I finished the first continent. I'm starting the challenge tonight, but realized a number of things, I hadn't thought of. Generally speaking, as apart of these types of gaming challenges, you don't level/use characters beyond specific ones.

I quickly realized that doing this playthrough while keeping Claude at level 1 is impossible, since he has to win the opening fight. I can just let him lose the tournament... but while outside my main party, he's still going to accumulate experience. I don't think I can kill him off, since I think non-active party members will still be revived after battle.

Anyone have suggestions? Or am I just being overly picky, and should just ignore this?

[Second Duke Revier]

Yeah it's funny how brutal the game can get at times, even with all of the convenience features and aids they added. I remember the Spirit of Love's decoy, Lavarre, destroying my team effortlessly, and this was on Galaxy difficulty, with a bunch of overpowered gear on.

[Augoeides]

Originally posted by Almighty Boof:

You could use Cheat Engine to manually set the EXP so they don't level up. Of course, then you are using 3rd party tools, so it's up to you if it is worth it.

I used it to de-level my characters after a second completed run so that the game could try to present a challenge.

https://fearlessrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25794&sid=06d0dc5d6915b9eb899b528e0f20e505

Noticed this post a while ago, but your link was broken. Just got to the Hoffman ruins, finally using Leon, and was getting annoyed dragging Claude's ass around. This was preventing me from accessing the Unique Points, since they give everyone experience.

Haven't used Cheat Engine in literal years, so never stopped to think about it. I updated to v7.5 and found a SO2R pack. Took me a bit to figure out, and a few save loads cause of how weirdly specific CE is, but I set Claude's "experience needed for level" to -1.3 billion XP. I don't think he's getting past lv2 anytime soon, lol.

This is pretty great. I removed him from the party and finally don't have to worry about forcing him to die EVERY fight, plus now I can use the Unique Points for goodies!

Oh, and for anyone interested in the Mage Only challenge, it's not so bad once you get access to a weapon that has Paralysis attached to it. Spells transfer status effects in SO2R. I knew this ahead of time, and did even get a Rod+ with Paralysis early on, but it was so weak, I didn't think it would matter. Turns out multi-hit spells wreck with status effects.

That, and I keep playing SO2R like it was "classic SO2". i.e. I kept trying to level in places like Linga Sanctuary, when really, if you run around on the map and Chain Battle, you get way more experience from defeating multiple lower level enemies. Even on Universe Difficulty, I'm actually starting to enjoy myself. Celine wrecks EVERYTHING, espcially with her Lunar Light, since it's an AoE that hits many times (basically instant Paralysis). Leon hasn't really helped much, but I just got him. Need to maybe try making him a Paralysis tome too :D

[Second Duke Revier]

Originally posted by Augoeides:

Oh, and for anyone interested in the Mage Only challenge, it's not so bad once you get access to a weapon that has Paralysis attached to it. Spells transfer status effects in SO2R. I knew this ahead of time, and did even get a Rod+ with Paralysis early on, but it was so weak, I didn't think it would matter. Turns out multi-hit spells wreck with status effects.

That's a very valuable bit of info right there. Should be quite useful for my challenge runs.

[D. Flame]

I just max out "Train," and you can set the other character to do nothing. Train get you more XP, but it also tanks your stats.

[Almighty Boof]

Originally posted by Augoeides:

Noticed this post a while ago, but your link was broken.

Apologies for the broken link, not sure why it is not working. If anyone else is interested, you can Google it: Cheat Engine Star Ocean Second Story R fearless revolution.

I am glad that CE worked in the way that you want it too. It took me a while to figure everything out too, but after about 20 or 30 minutes, I was able to get things rolling.
There still seem to be people posting updated Tables, so checking back every so often might be beneficial, as it doesn't seem like there are any other mods for this game, currently.

[Augoeides]

Originally posted by Almighty Boof:

Originally posted by Augoeides:

Noticed this post a while ago, but your link was broken.

I am glad that CE worked in the way that you want it too. It took me a while to figure everything out too, but after about 20 or 30 minutes, I was able to get things rolling.

That's unfortunately about how long it took me, too. I figured it out right away, more or less, the problem is that the Cheat Engine table thing was very finicky.

To clarify for anyone interested in trying to use CE for anything like this, there is a series of "expanding checkboxes" you can click to activate cheats. One of these check boxes allows you to directly manipulate a character's attributes, including Level and Experience. In order to select an individual character to alter, you have to go into the in-game Equipment screen for that specific character, then alt-tab back to CE, to alter whatever you want.

The issue I kept having though, was that Claude was at the back of my party. So, when I opened the Equipment screen, it would appear on someone else, and apparently the CE alterations still somewhat manipulate any characters you scroll through here. As a result, all my characters would earn zero experience, or require a ton to level.

So, if your going to alter someone, make sure their first in your party, so the menu immediately opens to them. Also, make sure you don't save after using CE, until your absolutely sure everything is running okay, because then your changes are permanent. I just used the default Autosave while I was figuring things out, but you could also just make a new save for this.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to using Cheat Engine more. Star Ocean 2 was always my favorite RPG, and I had beaten it literally dozens of times over the years. One of the things I always wanted to do, is have Ashton and Opera in the same party. Apparently, Cheat Engine has an option to add/remove characters at will, although I have tested it yet. You bet your butt, that I will eventually start a new save, with my "perfect" team, although, it may mess up the games dialog, and hopefully not crash.

I remember reading back in the day, that the original Japanese version of SO2, had a glitch, where if you played a song learned at the end of the game, then did something and quickly loaded a save, a character in a specific slot would glitch and transfer over to the save you loaded. So, technically it was possible to get Ashton and Opera at the same time. I never forgot about this, been dreaming of it for decades @_@

[gadesx]

I'm playing the new game+ with 255 characters because there's no more options, and with cheat engine maybe you have level 1 but the same stats, so I will wait to join characters out of my party from first play through, they will stay with low levels.