User:HungryPaperweight/HP's sketchbook

Welcome to my sketchbook. Most people call this kind of thing a sandbox, but I wanted to come up with an at least slightly original name. Anyways, I probably won't use this much anymore, but you never know. Feel free to look, and if you spot any mistakes (like typos or incorrect info), feel free to fix them (just let me know what you're doing).

=Ragnarok and Odyssey (Ver. 2.1)= Ragnarok and Odyssey are related Venus Psynergies featured throughout the Golden Sun series that are functionally identical but have different levels of power. They are among the strongest offensive Psynergies in the series and, up through Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, are only available to party leaders.

Basic description
Ragnarok and Odyssey are offensive, single-target Psynergies that are Attack-dependent, meaning characters with higher Attack ratings will deal more damage with these attacks. In addition, the caster's Venus Power and the target's Defense and Venus Resistance all factor into the damage dealt.

Visually, Ragnarok resembles a large, glowing, semi-transparent orange sword that comes down on the target at an angle, crashing into the ground beneath. In Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age, the blade simply explodes into a bunch of bright-orange energy orbs that fill the screen. As of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, the blade instead creates a small fissure at the target's feet, where it remains lodged as the same orbs are released from the fissure. After a moment, the screen turns white.

Odyssey maintains Ragnarok's sword theme, but differs in the number and sizes of blades used. Odyssey begins by taking the caster and target to a dark blue realm where the target is pierced by multiple smaller swords. In The Lost Age, a pair of white blades come at diagonal angles from the right; as of Dark Dawn, four yellow blades come at diagonal angles from below. The caster then strikes the target in tandem with a colossal yellow sword - similar to the one used by Ragnarok - shattering the smaller blades and turning the screen white. In The Lost Age, the caster is enveloped in the image of the sword and strikes the target from the right; as of Dark Dawn, the caster leaps into the air as if to strike the target from above, only for the sword to descend on the target.

Damage Calculation
As previously stated, there are several factors determining the damage dealt by Psynergies like Ragnarok and Odyssey. The exact damage calculation formula for these attacks can be represented with the following two equations:


 * b = (A - D) / 2

This formula is identical to the formula used to determine the damage dealt by standard physical attacks, represented here with "b". "A" stands for the caster's Attack while "D" is the target's Defense. In other words, base damage is half of the difference between the caster's Attack and the target's Defense. If this number falls below zero, it is automatically reset to zero.

Of course, this is just base damage. Ragnarok and Odyssey then use this value for another equation:


 * x = (b + y) * (1 + (P - R) / 400)

Here, "x" represents the final damage output and "y" represents an increase to the base damage calculated earlier. This value varies from one Psynergy to the next: For Ragnarok, y = 35; for Odyssey, y = 95. "P" and "R" represent the caster's Venus Power and the target's Venus Resistance, respectively. Power and Resistance are used to determine the multiplier applied to this new base damage. The target's Resistance is subtracted from the caster's Power, the difference is divided by 100, and the result is added to 1 before being multiplied by the base damage. As a result, the final damage dealt by these attacks can, theoretically, vary from roughly 50% to 150% of a normal physical attack, ignoring the increase to base damage.

For example, if an Adept with an Attack rating of 300 and a Venus Power of 150 casts Ragnarok on a monster with a defense of 200 and a Venus Resistance of 50:
 * x = ((A - D) / 2 + y) * (1 + (P - R) / 400)
 * x = ((300 - 200) / 2 + 35) * (1 + (150 - 50) / 400)
 * x = ( / 2 + 35) * (1 + / 400)
 * x = ( + 35) * (1 + )
 * x = * )
 * x = 106

Therefore, a Ragnarok cast under these circumstances would deal approximately 106 points of damage. The word "approximately" should be noted, as attacks in the Golden Sun series add a random number between zero and three to damage output after calculations are completed. In the event that an attack would deal zero points of damage (i.e. the caster's Attack is equal to or lower than the target's Defense), this increase is changed to a number between one and three.

Availability
Ragnarok and Odyssey are unique to the Squire class series, meaning only Isaac, Felix, and Matthew can cast them, and only if they have no Djinn except Venus Djinn set.

Both Ragnarok and Odyssey are learned at level 13. However, only Ragnarok is available at first: Many Psynergies are only available to the more advanced versions of a class, and Odyssey is no exception. What separates Ragnarok and Odyssey from most Psynergies is that Odyssey replaces Ragnarok. To access Odyssey, the appropriate Adept must have at least six Venus Djinn set, changing him to either the Lord or Slayer class.

It should be noted that Odyssey is not introduced until The Lost Age, so in the original Golden Sun, even if he reaches the Lord class, Isaac will only be able to use Ragnarok.

Analysis
General: Ragnarok's damage output is roughly the same as other elemental physical attack Psynergies like Heat Wave and Diamond Dust, but in practice Ragnarok appears to do more damage due to the Squire class series's higher Attack multipliers. Ragnarok is roughly on-par with a mid-game Unleash (with the main difference of costing Psynergy Points instead of activating at random) and is more valuable the earlier it is acquired. Even in the middle and late stages of a game, Ragnarok may be preferred over Unleashes due to its reliability. Odyssey, by comparison, may not be as practical as Ragnarok: Despite the increased damage output, Odyssey's high PP cost greatly reduces the number of times it can be cast, especially considering the Squire classes' low PP pool.

Vs. Djinn: Many, though not all, offensive Djinn use a damage multiplier instead of a fixed damage increase, in addition to the Power - Resistance multiplier. As a result, these Djinn have the potential to be much stronger than Ragnarok and Odyssey, especially in the later stages of a game. However, unleashing Djinn in battle places them in Standby, resulting in two main disadvantages. First, Djinn must be Set to affect a character's class; unleashing a Djinni may result in lower stats across the board, including Attack and Power, reducing the damage dealt by subsequent attacks. Second, a Djinni's effect cannot be used again until that Djinni is re-Set, which means either wasting a turn manually Setting the Djinni or using it to perform a Summon, after which the Djinn used must spend several turns Recovering before they automatically Set themselves. Either way, offensive Djinn cannot be repeatedly used as easily as Psynergy, making Ragnarok and Odyssey more feasible for long-term combat. Alternatively, players may choose to unleash several offensive Djinn, perform a Summon, then use Ragnarok and/or Odyssey to continue dealing damage while the Djinn are in Recovery.

By game
Golden Sun: Since Odyssey is not introduced until The Lost Age, players only have access to Ragnarok in the original Golden Sun, despite Isaac having access to the Lord class. Of course, considering Odyssey's high PP cost, this may be a blessing in disguise. Regardless, Ragnarok is especially useful during the first battle with Saturos atop Mercury Lighthouse. By the end of the game, though, it has to compete with the Gaia Blade's Unleash, Titan Blade, which is effectively identical to Ragnarok but adds 70 damage instead of 35. While stronger, the unreliability of Unleashes mean Ragnarok is still a practical alternative.

Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Felix will likely learn Ragnarok in time for the battle with Briggs, during which it should prove quite useful. Also, enough Venus Djinn can be found in the Great Eastern Sea for Felix to access the Lord class prior to entering Lemuria, making Odyssey an effective, if expensive, attack to use against the Avimander and Poseidon. It may also prove useful against Moapa and his two Knights, but its practicality begins to fade by the end of the game. Several end-game weapons have Unleashes that may outright multiply the damage dealt; special mention must go to the Sol Blade's Unleash, Megiddo, which always triples damage when it activates. If combined with various unleash rate-boosting equipment, which can all-but guarantee Megiddo's success, one of the game's two Venus Adepts will have no need to waste PP on Odyssey. The other party leader may still find Odyssey useful, although there are other weapons that may multiply damage. Since these weapons' multipliers aren't a sure-fire thing, it is up to individual players to decide if they want to gamble with Unleashes or spend some extra PP for a more reliable attack.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn: Matthew may learn Ragnarok while exploring Ei-Jei, making it a useful weapon against the various bosses encountered in the region. Also, due to a poorly balanced distribution of Djinn, Matthew can quickly reach the Lord class and utilize Odyssey in the battles with Sludge and the Mountain Roc. Although its PP cost hasn't gone down any, Odyssey is a more practical choice than it was in The Lost Age, due primarily to changes to the Unleash system that further reduce the likelihood of scoring damage-multiplying Unleashes. In addition, new methods for recovering PP help cushion the blow Odyssey deals to Matthew's PP pool.

Cultural references
Ragnarok is the name given in Norse myth to the battle that will ultimately cause the end of the current world and the creation of the new. The Psynergy was likely given this name simply to exemplify its violent nature.

Odyssey is the name of an epic poem by Homer, deriving its name from its hero, Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman sources).

=Bestiaries= This is just a place for me to work on bestiaries. For those two or three of you out there who actually care: I look for the monsters myself the old-fashioned way (one random encounter at a time), then I check GameFAQs to see if I missed any. Some people might check GameFAQs first, but several times I've found monsters in areas GameFAQs say they don't appear, and if I check an FAQ first I might stop looking early once I've found all those monsters, meaning I might miss some.

Colosso

 * Main article: Colosso

(East?) Alhafra

 * Main article: Alhafra

=Shop= And this is an area for me to experiment with shop templates.

=Templates= I'm not too good at creating templates from scratch, but I can usually copy-and-paste (and modify) what I need. Here's a few ideas I have for new templates, and I'm mostly putting them here to make sure they work.

Color references

 * Note: Red, Green, Blue

<!--I might return to this some day, but for now, it's just distracting... =A little help, please!= I had this idea a while back for a new article. It started as just some random idea, but before long I realized that it could actually turn out to be one of my best ideas yet.

Here's the plan: Animals. An article that goes into detail about real-life animals as they appear in the Golden Sun series. I've already made some progress on it, but events in the real world have ground my progress down to a halt. Plus, my inability to access the internet whenever I want doesn't help any.

This is where I need help. I'm going to post all the progress I've made so far below, and then you guys can pick up where I left off. I wouldn't be suprised if Erik takes it upon himself to finish the job, but everyone is free to add ideas. In fact, I encourage people (even you, Erik) to edit what I've done, that way we can compare ideas (you can use the talk page too, of course, especially since some of my notes may only make sense to me). Oh yeah, the "animals vs. monsters" section could do with a makeover, and I have been considering removing the "mythical animals" section.

Well, here we go:

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Animals in the Golden Sun games aren't much different from animals in real life. A wide variety of animal species familiar in the real world can be found throughout Weyard. These animals range from domestic pets such as cats and dogs to more wild and free animals such as dolphins and turtles. It is reasonable to assume that there are many more species in Weyard that have been taken directly from real life but simply haven’t been mentioned in-game yet.

Although there are many different types of animals, a far less substantial number of animals are encountered throughout the games when compared to the number of humans. It even appears that the number of animals in Weyard is decreasing. Evidence of this is given throughout Golden Sun: The Lost Age: ocean fish are becoming more and more scarce, forcing seafaring people like the Champans to look for other ways to survive; wildlife, particularly those hunted for their meat, appear to be vanishing from the area around Kibombo, and no doubt in other areas as well. These mysterious disappearances may be due largely (though not entirely) to the release of Psynergy Stones after the eruption of Mt. Aleph; it is confirmed by Laurel early in Golden Sun that the Psynergy Stones have turned many animals into monsters.

As far as the games are concerned in a technical area, animals are NPCs (non-player characters) about as much as the many humans populating Weyard. Players, however, will notice two general differences animals have from other NPCs: that their field sprites are much different and that they typically spout an onomotopoeiac word or phrase when you "talk" to them, such as "woof" for dogs or "meow" for cats. This is not surprising since animals cannot speak (or at least not in any language we humans can understand). Their very humanlike thoughts, however, can be clearly understood by an Adept casting the Mind Read Psynergy on them just as if Mind Read is used on normal humans. Animals often possess valuable information and/or insight that only creatures not bound to human society and ethics can properly observe; they can either give players advice or assistance with the games' quest or side quests, point out areas that may be of interest to the player, or supply information about the Golden Sun world in general (which is of little help in gameplay terms, but may be quite valuable to players who want to learn more about Weyard).

List of animal species
The following is a list of all animal species that either appear in or are mentioned throughout the Golden Sun series. This list does not include monsters that closely resemble animals.

Animals in italic text do not appear as NPCs.


 * Birds
 * Cat
 * Chicken
 * Cow
 * Crab
 * Dog
 * Dolphin
 * Fish
 * Penguin
 * Sheep
 * Silkworm
 * Turtle 	(remember Nereid)
 * Whale	(Neptune)

In Golden Sun

 * Vale
 * Vault
 * Xian
 * Tolbi (Spring)

In The Lost Age

 * Mikasalla
 * Gondowan Cliffs
 * Kibombo Mountains
 * E Tundaria Islet
 * SE Angara Islet (bird)
 * N Osenia Islet (cow)
 * West Indra Islet
 * Sea of Time Islet
 * Lemuria
 * Lemuria (Spring)

Animals with names

 * Pengus and Pengulina
 * Lonely George

Trading sequence animals

 * E Tundaria Islet
 * SE Angara Islet (bird)
 * N Osenia Islet (cow)
 * West Indra Islet
 * Sea of Time Islet

Animals and monsters
Despite Laurel's previously mentioned discovery, animals and monsters should not be grouped together, although there are some instances when the two overlap. In a general sense, monsters always appear in battle, and only a few have overworld sprites (most notably bosses). Animals, in contrast, only appear in overworld areas such as towns and dungeons (aside from a few that are only mentioned and never actually appear) and players can interact with them just like they would any other NPC.

There are some situations where the distinction between animals and monsters is blurred. A unique example are the green Apes of Mogall Forest, who have sprites but are never actually battled.

---

Many monsters closely resemble animals in appearance and often in name as well. Although it may be pure coincidence, these monsters are most likely either slightly mutated animals or simply animals who have been either very scared or driven mad by the raining Psynergy Stones. It is difficult to say whether these monsters can still be considered animals or if they are only monsters now. Some of these monsters, however, clearly cannot be considered animals any longer, such as the Punch Ant, Rat Soldier, and Lizard Fighter. The following is a list of monsters that might still be considered animals:


 * Ape
 * Calamar
 * Conch Shell	?
 * Devil Frog	?
 * Devil Scorpion	?
 * Dino
 * Dirge
 * Doodle Bug	?
 * Emu
 * Fighter Bee	?
 * Giant Bat
 * Kraken
 * Mole		?
 * Momonga	??
 * Rat
 * Ravager
 * Roc	??
 * Salamander	??
 * Seabird
 * Spider
 * Urchin Beast	?
 * Wild Gorilla
 * Wild Wolf
 * Winged Lizard	?

Animals from mythology
Although they do not exist in the real world, a number of mythological animals also appear in the Golden Sun games, usually as monsters:


 * Chimera---The Chimera monsters are another interesting example: although they do not directly resemble real animals, they are made up of body parts of various animals,. Their most notable features are their heads: goat, lion, and eagle. They also have the tail of a scorpion, their front legs are the talons of a bird, and their rear legs (return...and wings)
 * Dragons
 * Gargoyle	?
 * (Gryphon)
 * Harpy 	?
 * (Hydra)	?
 * (Kobold)	?
 * (Macetail)	?
 * Manticore
 * (Minotaurus)
 * Phoenix
 * (Siren)	?
 * (Troll)	?
 * (Wolfkin)	?
 * (Wyvern)	?

See also: Werewolf

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