ffl monster transformations

basics

each regular monster in ffl has a "meat level", representing the potency of that monster's meat, and a "target level", representing the level required to become that monster.

in this page the levels are listed as single hex characters: low 0123456789ABCDEF high.

monsters are grouped into "families" - each family shares a picture. check table 2 if in doubt.

(technically, the target data is stored not as "target levels", but as a series of character lookups for each family, corresponding to the possible "result levels". i just find it easier to think of it in terms of these target levels.)

transformations work the same way in gb ffl and gb saga, though this page only gives the ffl names. there are some minor differences in the wsc version of saga.

see also the meat calculator speisemaus.

method

1. take the families of the monster eating the meat ("eater") and the monster whose meat it is ("meat"). use these to look up the "result family" in the first table. (--- signifies that no transformation will occur.)
2. consult the second table, and take whichever of the two monsters' meat levels is higher. this is the "result level".
3. find, in the second table, the row for the result family.
4. check the target levels for this family. the eater will become the monster whose target level is equal to the result level, or failing that, the nearest level below the result level.

footnotes to table 1

• you might expect fiends 1~4 to be respectively gen-bu, sei-ryu, byak-ko and su-zaku. in fact, in both ffl and wsc saga, gen-bu2 gives "fiends 2" meat; sei-ryu, sei-ryu2 and byak-ko2 give "fiends 3" meat; and su-zaku and su-zaku2 give "fiends 4" meat. nothing gives "fiends 1" meat.
• the TR Tweaks patch changes ffl so that the fiends give the "expected" meat: gen-bu2 = fiends 1; sei-ryu/sei-ryu2 = fiends 2; byak-ko2 = fiends 3; su-zaku/su-zaku2 = fiends 4.

footnotes to table 2

• gen-bu and byak-ko don't yield meat, but their levels are included for completeness.
• see below for level differences in wsc saga (and TR Tweaks).

notes

the families can be ranked for accessibility as follows. to become a high rank family, you need meat (or eater) of at least that rank.

1. lizard, oni, skeleton, bird
2. insectman, insect, rhino, wolfman, slime, zombie, ghost
3. fish, tiger, snake, worm
4. birdman, devil
5. crab, octopus, eye
6. plant, chimera
7. snakewoman, golem
8. dragon (and fiends' meat)

things to do in w/continent:

1. goblin + zombie = o-bake
2. + albatros = oni
3. + zombie = phantom
4. + goblin = gecko
5. + zombie = red bone
6. + redbull = hornet
7. + lizard = catwoman
8. + skeleton = eagle
9. + wererat = mosquito
10. + albatros = beetle
11. + zombie = ogre
12. + zombie = buruburu
13. + wererat = behemoth
14. + skeleton = giant
15. + lizard = warrior
16. + goblin = salamand

in ffl, it's impossible for monsters in your party to ever become dragon 2. if sei-ryu's meat behaved the way table 1 suggests it should ("fiends 2"), it would be possible.

in ffl, it's impossible to turn into barracud, cactus, shrimp, or medusa. any combination of meat that leads to the right family is also sufficiently high-level to skip these and turn into the second family member.

in wsc saga:

• fish target levels are 0247BE
• plant target levels are 0457BE
• crab target levels are 0468BE
• snakewoman target levels are 059BCE
• dragon target levels are 058ACE
• sei-ryu's meat level is 4

which means that the four monsters mentioned in the previous note become possible. also, thanks to the change to dragon levels, it's possible to become a dragon kid (dragon 2) in wsc saga, even with sei-ryu's meat family being awry. (shark, eagle, or manticore + sei-ryu.) the monster gallery can therefore be completed (with patience.)

the TR Tweaks patch makes the same changes to ffl that were made in wsc saga to fish, plant, crab and snakewoman levels. dragon and sei-ryu levels are unchanged from ffl, but you can still become dragon 2 because sei-ryu now gives "fiends 2" meat.

more thoughts are in ffl-meat-theory.txt.