The Sketch Guide Advance
Version 1.1
Djibriel, October 2005
"We don't make mistakes here, we just have happy accidents. We want happy,
happy paintings. If you want sad things, watch the news. Everything is
possible here. This is your little universe." - Bob Ross (1942-1995)
Contents
1.0 Version History
2.0 Introduction
3.0 Slang
4.0 How Sketch works
4.1.1 Sketch Hit Rate
4.1.2 The Beret
4.1.3 Sketch Hit Rate with a Beret
4.2.1 Sketch damage formula
4.2.2 Miscellaneous notes
5.0 Sketch attacks
6.0 When to use Sketch
7.0 Conclusion
No number: Disclaimer
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1.0 Version History
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- Version 1.1 Advance (6/20/2007)
Translated the original document and added all creatures added in the
Advance version. The only other difference is the order of enemies
listed in section 5.0; while keeping the ancient order of the SNES,
with the GBA's bestiary order the old one is clearly the less practical.
- Version 1.1 (1/8/2006)
Fixed its/it's errors and some other ones. Thankx go to Galbalan for
pointing them out!
See, if Blitz is the popular jock all shallow people love, if Bushido is the
bitch without any real qualities who is adored for her looks and if Rage is the
scrawny kid with glasses few people like to talk to who'll later make more
money that the rest of class '96 combined, Sketch is the poor kid who, besides
being lactose-intolerant, suffering from asthma AND having the worst case of
acne known to Western science, lacks any kind of charm, quality or potential.
Even if you do put on a nose peg - penetrating body odour - and get to talk to
him, you'll notice that under all the ugly, you've found a prime example of
a generally boring person who sometimes likes to kill caterpillars and sniff
his sister's underwear.
That, my friends, is Sketch.
This doesn't make the character of Relm useless; she has great equipment, a
natural ability to reach 128 % Magic Evasion without all too much fuss and/or
Merit Award, the game's highest starting Magic and is, as annual polls tell us,
the game's sexiest person by far.
But still, Sketch. It's not like Shock or anything, it's got its own damage
formula and even its own two bytes on *every* monster to tell us what attacks
can be produced by Sketch. Clearly at least some amount of effort was put into
Sketch, that much is obvious. But hey, that doesn't say anything; if you're
still with me on the whole kid-metaphor thing, his parents must have hugged
eachother in that special way at least once for it to appear, and judging from
the look of it, also the scorn of society for breaking the dogma on brother/
sister fornication.
Andy Warhol (1928-1987) said everybody should have their 15 minutes of fame. And
thus Sketch too should pass the revue; I see before me the Task of Hercules to
bring some kind of justification for the ability. While it's an entirely
other debate, most people will want to agree with me when I say that Control
isn't exactly hot enough to justify the loss of a Relic slot, so you'll probably
be keeping Sketch around. Let's see what Sketch can do for us.
Technological and/or systematical bashing of Sketch:
Square employee # 1: My, what a pleasant day. Comrade, come ye over here and
listen! While drinking my scotch, enjoying the pleasures of a Cuban cigar
and having delightful social intercourse with my wife and children, I stumbled
upon an idea. I perceive it to be the idea to end all ideas.
Square employee # 2: What?
Square employee # 1: I say, we shall create a monster within this game that we
are creating, and we will make it a lightning monster! It will be a demon of
electricity, an incubus of sparks, a behemoth of thunder! Oh, the players will
appreciate the subtle irony of defeating a symbolic representation of
electricity on this 'gaming console' - in the parlance on our time - which
itself is powered by electricity.
Square employee # 2: I really think you should drink less Black Russians
before lunch.
Thus, after jokingly punching Square employee # 2 in the groin, face and stomach
until he stops moving, the protagonist of our tale goes off to create this
monster of lightning. Among other lightning-related touches to the beast,
he makes the monster *absorb* lightning, as that's what lightning monsters
tend to do. Also, from the Sketch attacks, he selects two Lightning-elemental
attacks, as that's what animated paintings from lightning monsters tend to do.
Behold, Belmodar - at the time known only as 'Rhinotaur', one of the many
factual rebutals to the statement 'Sketch was a positive factor in this game'.
And that's the basic lay-out of 50 % of Sketch its problem. Monsters often have
a theme. The theme can be an element or a status effect. Almost always, the
monsters are immune to what they do themselves. Belmodar does and absorbs
Megavolt. Lich does and absorbs Fira. Nightwalker does and absorbs Drain.
Mandrake does and resists !Stonetouch. Etcetera.
The other 50 % of Sketch its problem is the damage formula. Here's how opponents
and character are laid out in this game:
Characters: High stats Low HP Strong attacks
Monsters: Low stats High HP Mediocre attacks
Sketch takes the stats of the monsters you're Sketching, and more often than not
the attacks of it. While not Sketching, the Sketch user will have the normal
character's amount of HP. Basically, a Sketcher combines the worst attributes of
both sides into a potpourri of failure.
MT: Multi-target. Targets all members of one side.
ST: Single-target. Targets a single target.
NMG: Natural Magic Game. Magic taught by Espers and equipment is prohibited in
this challenge.
!Special: A lot of attacks have an exclamation mark in front of them. This is
to show that the attack concerned is a Special attack, a physical
attack that's based off of the Battle attack.
II: To differate between the two sets of Dragons (the ones scattered around
the World of Ruin and the ones located in the Dragon's Den), the latter have
been given the suffix 'II'.
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4.0 How Sketch works
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4.1.1 Sketch Hit Rate
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Sketch chance:
If (Sketcher's level * 256) / Target's level > [0..255] then
you successfully sketch, otherwise you miss.
What does this mean? The [0..255] part is just factored in for the random part
of the formula. To simplify it, you can keep in the back of your head that
(Sketcher's level)/(Sketchee's level) = Probability Sketch will work
That's a tiny margin off, but accurate enough. Conclusions:
- Whenever the Sketcher's level is equal to or higher than the Sketchee, Sketch
will always work.
- If the Sketchee's level is double the Sketcher's level, the probability of
Sketch working is 50.2 %.
- If the Sketchee's level is 1.5 the Sketcher's level, the probability of Sketch
working is 66.66 %.
- If the Sketchee's level is 25 and the Sketcher's level is 5, the probability
of Sketch is 20 % (this is the scenario of Relm VS Ultros #3 in an LLG).
4.1.2 The Beret
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The Beret, a piece of Headgear, can boost the chance of Sketch working. All in
all it's a rather crummy piece of Headgear you don't want to have around, even
when you first find it as the Mystery Veil is better than it. Here are the
Beret's stats:
Defense: 21 Magic Defense: 21 Magic + 3
Can be equipped by Relm
Is compatible with the Merit Award
For trivia info, here's how Mystery Veil is better:
Defense: 24 Magic Defense: 25 Magic + 3 Magic Evasion + 10 %
Can be equipped by Terra, Celes, Relm
Is not compatible with the Merit Award
You can find the Beret for the first time on the Floating Continent, in the
blue orb to the northeast of the bizarre gateway that takes you to the Save
Point. Later, you can buy the Beret in WoR Tzen for 3500 Gil.
4.1.3 Sketch Hit Rate with a Beret
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If you are equipped with a Beret, then the chance to sketch is:
If (Sketcher's level * 256) / (Target's level * 170 / 256) > [0..255] then
you successfully sketch, otherwise you miss.
This can be simplified with a slight deviation to
(Sketcher's level)/(2/3 * Sketchee's level)
Conclusions with the Beret equipped:
- Whenever the Sketcher's level is equal to or higher than 1.5 * the level of
the Sketchee, Sketch will always work.
- If the Sketchee's level is double the Sketcher's level, the probability of
Sketch working is 75 %.
4.2.1 Sketch damage formula
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It's very simple.
Sketch uses the level of the Sketcher, and the Magic, Strength and Attack or
the Sketchee. Allow that to sink in for a moment, and try not to cry over the
horror.
Cyan is the character's with the lowest Magic: 25. The normal monster's Magic
tends to be 10. The monsters whose Magic even starts to approach that of a
characters are the following:
- The Weapon Relm is holding while executing Attack or Special attack through
Sketch is *entirely* ignored. This ranges from ignoring Back Row
compatibility, Dice effects, X-type instant-death, random spells, everything.
- The different parts in the final battle cannot be Sketched.
- Silenced Sketchers cannot execute Sketch attacks that would normally cost any
MP
- Sketch will never work on party members
- Sketch will never work on monsters with the Invisible status
The order of the monsters below is roughly according to the order of the
Bestiary. Included are Doberman, Darkside, Specter, Eukaryote and Colloseum
Typhon.
Second off: What's a good moment to use Sketch? A high-leveled Relm with a
Merit Award, Master's Scroll and the Valiant Knife knows no good moments to
use Sketch.
Relm who is continuously up-to-date with all Magic available has very little
moments where Sketch is superior to her Magic command.
I've listed the better moments to use Sketch with a normal four-headed party
in the back of my head where Relm knows no Magic but is equipped with the
best weapon at the time.
Here's the recommendations by location:
You'll find yourself being able to use Sketch in-battle as soon as you get
Relm, while fighting Ultros. The game gently pushes you to use Sketch against
Ultros. While the restulting Tentacle attack is hardly worth it, Ultros AI
script makes Sketch end the battle.
In the cave itself, Sketch is next to useless. The only two enemies worth
sketching are Adamankary when it is accompanied by two Bonnacon (Blaster kills
them) or versus Mandrake. 25 % !Stonetouch works against Land Grillon and 75 %
Leech can restore Relm's health if it's low. On a normal level (20-25) Leech
should absorb about 300 HP.
Briareus Absolute Zero !Claw Battle * 1.5
Devourer Attack !Shell Slam Battle * 1.5
Chimera Aqua Breath !Romp Battle * 2
Outside of the cave, on the Overworld Map, both Briareus's 75 % Absolute Zero
and Chimera's 75 % Aqua Breath deal 700 damage (350 when MT) on a normal level.
When the Blackjack is recovered and Relm is on it, Sketch can be used to access
a lot of neat cookies that are hardly ever very useful, but always interesting.
If you want to see the Thundaga spell, head to the Veldt and Sketch a Zombie
Dragon. If you want to see the Blizzaga spell, head to the Veldt and Sketch a
Belzecue. You can teach Strago the Roulette Lore earlier by Sketching an Onion
Knight for its 75 % Roulette attack.
On the FC, Brainpan yields 75 % 1000 Needles and 25 % !Smirk, both pleasant
enough to warrant usage. Platinum Dragon has a 75 % Cyclonic attack you'll
absolutely want to take advantage of. Dragon's 75 % Revenge Blast might be
nice if Relm is Near Fatal, but you'll want to stick to healing her ASAP in
that situation rather than use Revenge Blast. While Behemoth uses Meteor and
Ninja uses Water Scroll, neither will be even remotely impressive so forget
about it. Gigantos, Ultima Weapon, Naude and Nelapa are all horrid models
for Sketch attempts.
Assuming we've gone straight to Relm in the WoR, skipping all other little
side-quests:
On the Overworld Map, a lot of critters are there for you to Sketch.
Brachiosaur's Sketch attacks aren't too bad (75 % Traveler, 25 % !Spin), but
Brachiosaur is too dangerous to toy around with, and even if you have Gogo
Control him while Sketching there's a 25 % chance Relm snaps him out of it.
Tumbleweed's 75 % Lifeshaver can be great to absorb some HP if you could use
some. Slagworm's 75 % Sandstorm comes from a respectable 22 Magic and packs
quite a punch while its 25 % !Crush hurts a lot as well. Cactuar's 75 % 1000
Needles kills it, although its 25 % !Mind Prick will miss. Lycaon's 75 %
Blaster kills Sprinters, while Sprinter's 75 % Aero kills Lycae. That's about
it.
Mugbear Fira !Neck Scratch Battle * 1.5
Devil Fist W. o' the Wisp !Switchblade Battle * 1.5
Luridan Rock Slide !Ram Battle * 2
Punisher Attack Attack
Glasya Labolas !Uppercut !Uppercut Battle * 5
In Mt. Zozo, Mugbear's 75 % Fira delivers about 500 damage on a normal level
(30) and since Mugbear itself is weak against the attack and it'll do 1000 to
him, it's worth a shot. Luridan's 75 % Rock Slide is decent enough as well.
If Relm is in the Front Row, Glasya Labolas' 100 % !Uppercut will do over 1000
damage, but given his high Evasion it's not very likely to land.
Storm Dragon Aero White Wind
Storm Dragon is a poor choice for Sketching under normal circumstances, as its
75 % Aero will heal it. If you used the Debilitator though, Aero packs quite
a punch against Storm Dragon, and that 25 % White Wind can't hurt.
Gorgimera Avalanche El Niño
Twinscythe Metal Cutter !Drainsickle Drains HP
Death Warden !Dead End !Dead End Inflicts Death
Behemoth King Attack !Devil Claw
Behemoth King Firaga !Sleeping Gas Inflicts Sleep
In the Cave in the Veldt, Twinscythe's 75 % Metal Cutter is decent enough (1100
on a single target around level 33), although 25 % !Drainsickle will dissapoint.
Gorgimera, while sporting two nice spells (Avalanche and El Niño), is a
horrible Sketch target.
Death Warden yields a 100 % !Dead End, which will kill it instantly. A very good
idea, and one of the few moments Sketch really shines.
You'll want to refrain from Sketching versus the first Behemoth King. The second
one has a 75 % Firaga spell. Its performance is bad, especially considering
Relm can smack him with a Gravity and/or Holy Rod, but about 2000 damage around
level 35 isn't that bad, especially for Sketch.
In Cyan's Soul, the psychedelic background puts a stop to any kind of
realistic art; no monster is worth sketching other than Weredragon, whose 75 %
Death spell should take either the Weredragon or a Parasite out. In the train,
Al Jabr's 75 % Thundaga and Samurai's 25 % Flare are not strong enough to
make use of them, and Samurai's 75 % Death never works as everything Samurai
travels with, including Samurai itself, is protected from ID attacks.
While you can't Sketch Schmidt, Pluto Armor and Io as you're piloting MagiTek
armor, you can meet them on the Veldt. Regardless, Sketching them isn't a very
brilliant idea. Io's 75 % Plasma is the best of the bunch, and not very good.
In WoR Narshe are no competent Sketchee's available. Nor inside the caves of the
snowy town.
Ice Dragon has a 75 % Blizzaga and a 25 % Firaga. If you manage to change Ice
Dragon's absorption into a weakness with the Debilitator you've got a constant
2000 damage around level 38. It beats whacking it with the Flame Rod, but is
less effective than a Fira spell.
In Umaro's Cave the two monsters who make good Sketchee's are Tzakmaquil (75 %
Cyclonic) and Onion Dasher (Traveler).
Samurai Death Flare
Suriander Aqua Breath !Yawn Inflicts Sleep
Coco Overture !Slap Inflicts Silence
Armored Weapon Mega Berserk !Metal Arm Battle * 2
Lunatys Meteor !Electrode Battle * 3
Figaro Lizard Dischord !Venom Inflicts Poison
Devil Thundaga Firaga
Enuo Tsunami !Slime Inflicts Slow
Master Tonberry Attack !Knife
Samurai Soul Attack !Assassin Blade Inflicts Death
Blue Dragon Blizzaga Blaster
In and around the Ancient Castle, the high Magic Defense of everything there
makes sure Sketch attacks are received with a laugh. Only Figaro Lizard has a
75 % Dischord, which can't hurt and doesn't bounce off the Reflect barrier.
Samurai Soul has a 25 % !Assassin Blade, which kills Samurai Soul. Even with
Confuse set, it's a decent shot at killing one of the most dangerous enemies in
the game.
In the Zone Eater cave, Amduscias has a 75 % Slowga that's a free way of
slowing the opponent's down. Other enemies wield either Tornado (Baalzephon) or
offensive spells (Covert's 75 % Wind Slash and Shambling Corpse's 75 % Thundaga)
which at this stage of the game isn't acceptable any more.
Ouroboros Quake Bio
Face 1000 Needles !Smirk Inflicts Stop
Zeveak Flash Rain !Whirling Umbrella Inflicts Confuse
Seaflower Attack !Tentacle Inflicts Poison
Galypdes Cyclonic !Flap Battle * 5
Necromancer Death Banish
Clymenus Fira Fire
Chaos Dragon Disaster !Incinerate Inflicts Death
Red Dragon Firaga Lv. ? Holy
In Phoenix Cave, several monsters get nice results. Chaos Dragon's 75 % Disaster
is nice, as is its 25 % !Incinerate. Ouroboros' Quake at least kills Ouroboros
itself and deals decent damage to the other opponents, but is only acceptable
when your party is Floating or covered in Gaia Gear. Finally, Necromancer's
25 % Banish is nice but is too rare to shoot for.
In Hidon's Cave, all monsters yield damaging attacks which simply aren't
effective enough to defend Sketch for.
Holy Dragon Holy Flare
Magic Urn Curaga Esuna
You can't Sketch these critters on the Fanatic's Tower, but you can meet them
on the Veldt. If you Debilitate Holy Dragon into a weakness for Holy, Sketching
still isn't a good idea. Sketching Magic Urn is a grand idea though, as a 75 %
Curaga coming from a 'stellar' 35 Magic Power should do you a lot of good.
Earth Dragon Thundaga Magnitude 8
Earth Dragon's 75 % Thundaga is surprisingly effective for a Sketch attack, but
its 25 % Magnitude8 will always miss due to its inherent Float status.
Yojimbo Wind Slash !Eye for an Eye Inflicts Death
Dark Force Tsunami Lv. 5 Death
Muud Suud Landslide !Bodyslam Battle * 3
Fiend Dragon Northern Cross Heartless Angel
Mover Disaster Attack
Cherry Holy Flare
Vector Lythos White Wind !Bite Battle * 1.5
Primeval Dragon Firaga !Heave Battle * 5
Landworm Magnitude 8 !Constrict Battle * 2
Gamma Self-Destruct !Gamma Rays Inflicts Countdown
Great Malboro Bad Breath Poison
Outsider Attack !Dispatch Inflicts Death
Demon Knight Shockwave !Cursed Gaze Inflicts Sap
Duel Armor Gigavolt !Megashock Battle * 3
Great Behemoth Meteor !Haymaker Battle * 4
Vector Chimera Aqua Breath Gigavolt
Fortis Metal Cutter !Double Arm Battle * 1.5
Junk Thundaga !Parallout Inflicts Invisible
InnoSent Attack Lv. ? Holy
Deadalus Quake !Venom Tusk Inflicts Poison
Ahriman Doom Roulette
Death Machine Gigavolt Death
Metal Hitman Dischord !Destroy Battle * 2
Prometheus Southern Cross !Drill Battle * 1.5
Inferno Attack !Sobat Battle * 3
Rahu Attack !Rapier Battle * 1.5
Ketu Attack !Slash Battle * 2
Ultima Buster Attack !Hit Battle * 1.5
Guardian Mighty Guard !Ink Battle * 1.5, inflicts Darkness
Fiend Attack !Fiendish Rage Battle * 4, unblockable
Goddess Attack !Hit Battle * 1.5
Demon Attack !Tyrfing Battle * 2
Kefka Ultima !Havoc Wing Battle * 4
In Kefka's Tower, there are a few monsters that nice results: Great Malboro has
a 75 % Bad Breath, Fiend Dragon has a 75 % Northern Cross and a 25 % Heartless
Angel, Yojimbo has a 25 % !Eye for an Eye, although its 75 % Wind Slash is
useless, Vector Lythos has a great 75 % White Wind, Dark Force has a 25 %
Lv. 5 Death which kills all Dark Force enemies, but its 75 % Tsunami is horrid
and Outsider has a 25 % !Dispatch while its 75 % Battle is a wasted turn.
Guardian's 75 % Mighty Guard might prove a nice feature in a party that lacks
Lore casters who know Mighty Guard themselves. Finally, Kefka makes a decent
Sketch; Ultima is fairly poor, but !Havoc Wing is quite strong.
Zurvan Attack Gravity
Vilia Attack Entice
Great Dragon Atomic Rays Southern Cross
Abaddon Attack !Sharpened Claw Battle * 2
Dragon Aevis Attack Aero
Dinozombie Attack !Bone Battle * 5
Death Rider Metal Cutter Hyperdrive
Shield Dragon Attack !Jarring Blow Inflicts Confuse
Maximera Attack !Stone Gaze Inflicts Petrify
Hexadragon Firaga Meltdown
Magic Dragon Attack Lv. ? Holy
Armodullahan Doom !Spear Battle * 2
Crystal Dragon Gale Cut !Needle Breath Battle * 2
Plague Attack Doom
Flan Princess Attack Lullaby
Neslug Attack Slow
N (shell) Attack Slow
Earth Eater Attack !Megaton Punch Inflicts Death
Gargantua Attack Quake
Malboro Menace Attack !Tentacle Inflicts Poison
Abyss Worm Attack Magnitude 8
Dark Behemoth Attack Meteor
Red Dragon II Attack Firaga
Blue Dragon II Attack Aqua Breath
Gold Dragon II Attack Thundaga
Ice Dragon II Attack Blizzaga
Storm Dragon II Attack Aero
Earth Dragon II Attack Quake
Skull Dragon II Attack Bio
Holy Dragon II Attack Holy
Kaiser Dragon Attack Hyperdrive
Omega Weapon Attack Grand Delta
Sadly, it seems the Advance team has learned little from past mistakes. They've
installed a simple physical Attack in almost every 75 % slot. It's their thing.
However, some nice Sketch results can still be found, despite their best
efforts. Zurvan's 25 % Gravity will probably deal 9999 damage, but given the
demonic thing is vulnerable to ID a Death spell will help you better. Death
Rider's Hyperdrive is massively powerful, though its Undead nature will open
it up for a Raise spell, making Sketching futile. Flan Princess is vulnerable
to Sleep, and the 25 % Lullaby is your only means of MT Sleep. Earth Eater's
25 % !Megaton Punch can kill it instantly. All other attacks are simply
damaging attacks not quite up to the task with the possible exception of Kaiser
Dragon's 25 % massive Hyperdrive; though when facing Kaiser Dragon you'll
probably want to rely on mass damage without a random factor involved.
It's a bad idea to Sketch Glutturn regardless of their color and refreshment
demand; the resulting attacks are too weak to provoke the Glutturn for, and the
yellow, X-Ether guzzling Glutturn even absorbs the 25 % Thundaga attack.
No, Sketch isn't a good command. Relm would have been better off with Control,
Blitz, Tools, Throw or even Bushido. But Sketch was never meant to be Relm's
primary source of damage; it's a side-command, like Terra's Trance and Celes'
Runic skill. With this in mind, Sketch seems different. It shouldn't be compared
to Sabin's Blitz techniques or Edgar's Tools. Nobody ever uses Morph or Runic
in a normal battle either; Sketch is a great command to use in a few select
battles in a normal game. In my opinion, even with Relm having access to good
spells, the following battles are in my opinion the battles to use Sketch in:
- On the Veldt, to learn Roulette earlier
- Ultros # 3, for guaranteed end of the battle
- Death Warden, for guaranteed one-hit KO
- Fiend Dragon, for 75 % Northern Cross and 25 % Heartless Angel
- Platinum Dragon, for 75 % Cyclonic
- Samurai Soul, for 25 % chance at !Assassin blade
- Chaos Dragon, for 75 % Disaster and 25 % !Incinerate
- Vector Lythos, for 75 % White Wind
- Guardian, for a one-time 75 % Mighty Guard
- Earth Eater, for a 25 % shot at killing it instantly
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Disclaimer and legal necessities
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This was written in 2004/2007, by Djibriel, and is copyrighted by me.
You are unauthorised to present this document, partly or whole, as written
by somebody else as the authors of the respective bodies of text. You are
unauthorised to change anything in this document for any other purpose
then personal use without my explicit permission.
You are unauthorised to drive a fishhook under my nail without my explicit
permission.
