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 previous versions of this document i assumed these two levels were the same, but that didn't work very well - there are too many exceptions.)

in this document 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.

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.
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.

table 1: group lookup

		eater
meat		ins crb inm	fsh	eye slm	snk wrm snw	gst skl zom	bdm dvl	tgr wfm oni	liz rhi	plt oct	gol	chi dgn brd
insect	ins	---	---	brd	snk	skl	wrm	inm	liz	slm	eye	rhi
fish	fsh	inm	---	tgr	liz	wrm	bdm	oni	rhi	oct	skl	---
eye	eye	dvl	oct	---	---	bdm	wfm	fsh	snk	ins	slm	crb
slime	slm	brd	ins	---	fsh	gst	snk	---	zom	wrm	plt	ins
snake	snk	rhi	liz	---	---	slm	zom	wrm	fsh	wfm	gol	gst
worm	wrm	snk	fsh	inm	---	fsh	oni	ins	slm	zom	oct	tgr
ghost	gst	skl	wfm	oni	ins	---	brd	slm	inm	rhi	liz	zom
snakewoman	snw	oct	dvl	crb	---	plt	gol	chi	eye	skl	---	gol
birdman	bdm	slm	brd	wrm	zom	snk	---	tgr	dvl	---	inm	fsh
tiger	tgr	fsh	---	slm	gst	zom	liz	---	wfm	brd	oni	snk
lizard	liz	wfm	rhi	ins	tgr	brd	---	skl	---	crb	chi	oni
plant	plt	eye	gst	bdm	crb	dvl	fsh	oct	crb	---	ins	chi
skeleton	skl	---	inm	zom	wfm	---	ins	brd	oni	snk	crb	liz
wolfman	wfm	zom	skl	gst	oni	rhi	tgr	---	---	liz	wrm	inm
crab	crb	---	bdm	oct	dvl	tgr	skl	rhi	wrm	inm	---	eye
insectman	inm	---	oni	---	slm	wfm	rhi	zom	ins	bdm	dvl	brd
octopus	oct	wrm	slm	fsh	eye	crb	inm	dvl	tgr	---	zom	bdm
zombie	zom	oni	wrm	liz	inm	---	slm	gst	skl	fsh	tgr	wfm
golem	gol	chi	plt	eye	bdm	---	snw	crb	snw	gst	---	oct
devil	dvl	tgr	zom	snk	skl	ins	---	bdm	gst	---	brd	wrm
rhino	rhi	liz	tgr	skl	brd	inm	---	wfm	---	oni	snk	slm
chimera	chi	plt	crb	oct	oct	eye	plt	snk	bdm	tgr	---	---
dragon	dgn	bdm	eye	snw	gol	chi	crb	plt	oct	snw	rhi	---
bird	brd	ins	snk	rhi	wrm	oni	gst	liz	---	dvl	bdm	---
oni	oni	gst	---	wfm	rhi	liz	dvl	---	brd	eye	snw	skl
fiends 1		crb	chi	gol	snw	dgn	dgn	eye	dgn	chi	wfm	oct
fiends 2		dgn	snw	chi	dgn	oct	eye	gol	plt	gol	gst	dvl
fiends 3		gol	dgn	plt	chi	snw	eye	snw	gol	plt	dgn	dgn
fiends 4		snw	gol	dgn	plt	gol	oct	dgn	chi	dgn	fsh	snw

table 1 footnote:
• you'd expect fiends 1~4 to be respectively gen-bu, sei-ryu, byak-ko and su-zaku. but in ffl at least (and i think in 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.

table 2: meat levels

family		members						meat levels	target levels
insectman	inm	fly	drgonfly	hornet	mosquito	cicada	mantis	0245CE	0135BE
fish	fsh	barracud	piranha	shark	gunfish	elec eel	leviathn	1258CE	0147BE
plant	plt	cactus	p-flower	garlic	thorn	f-flower	darkrose	3468CE	0357BE
insect	ins	clipper	beetle	ant lion	atom ant	scorpion	scarab	0678CE	0578BE
crab	crb	shrimp	atomcrab	crab	ice crab	kingcrab	dagon	3478CE	0368BE
tiger	tgr	wolf	jaguar	sabercat	snowcat	blackcat	fenswolf	1369CE	0258BE
rhino	rhi	redbull	rhino	triceras	behemoth	baku	ganesha	0379CE	0268BE
birdman	bdm	condor	raven	harpy	ten-gu	garuda	nike	2469CE	0358BE
snake	snk	snake	serpent	anaconda	hydra	ko-run	jorgandr	1469CE	0358BE
octopus	oct	octopus	clam	amoeba	ammonite	squid	kraken	3579CE	0468BE
worm	wrm	worm	p-worm	crawler	lavaworm	sandworm	gigaworm	1679CE	0578BE
lizard	liz	lizard	p-frog	gecko	dinosaur	salamand	basilisk	012ACE	0129BE
wolfman	wfm	wererat	werewolf	catwoman	minotaur	rakshasa	anubis	035ACE	0249BE
oni	oni	goblin	oni	ogre	giant	titan	susano-o	017ADE	0169CE
chimera	chi	griffin	mantcore	chimera	nue	sphinx	ki-rin	358ADE	0479CE
eye	eye	big eye	gazer	seeker	watcher	evil eye	beholder	368BDE	057ACE
skeleton	skl	skeleton	red bone	dokuro	warrior	boneking	lich	039BDE	028ACE
slime	slm	slime	jelly	tororo	gummy	pudding	hi-slime	179BDE	068ACE
devil	dvl	gargoyle	imp	demon	demolord	demoking	athtalot	26ABDE	059BCE
snakewoman	snw	medusa	siren	lamia	naga	scylla	lilith	45ABDE	049BCE
zombie	zom	zombie	ghoul	mou-jya	wight	ghast	revnant	028BDE	017ACE
ghost	gst	o-bake	phantom	buruburu	wraith	spector	ghost	128BDE	017ACE
golem	gol	woodman	clayman	stoneman	ironman	fireman	mazin	478BDE	068ACE
bird	brd	albatros	eagle	thunder	cocatris	rock	phoenix	059BDE	048ACE
dragon	dgn	dragon 1	dragon 2	dragon 3	dragon 4	dragon 5	tiamat	679BDE	068ACE
fiends		gen-bu	sei-ryu	byak-ko	su-zaku			258C--
fiends2		gen-bu2	sei-ryu2	byak-ko2	su-zaku2			EEEE--

table 2 footnotes:
• gen-bu and byak-ko don't yield meat, but their levels are included for completeness.
• see below for level differences in wsc saga.

notes

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

  brackets:
  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 (also fiends)

• things to do in w/continent:

  goblin...
  1. + 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, 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. (hammerhead, dive eagle, or manticore + sei-ryu.)

Tower Reversed