Blame yourself or God! Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!

Welcome back to Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics! The preceding events have caused Algus to leave our ranks (no loss
there), but, perhaps in his final respects to Ramza, he left us a tip to help us rescue Delita's sister, Teta. With the bulk
of the Death Corps forces facing Igros Castle, Ramza and crew and have chosen the enemy's backdoor to attack.

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Lenalia Plateau

(Scene: Miluda has chosen to flee the impending slaughter,
but unfortunately for the Hadouken Knights, they end up
crossing paths...)





Miluda: Besides, if we get caught, we'll be executed!
Fighting is the only way out!





Delita: Teta's my sister! She has nothing to do with them!



Miluda: And what about you?



Miluda: We're only asking you to return what you took
from us in the first place. But no - you keep taking! Forcing
us to retaliate!



Delita: I, I....!!

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Despite facing two Wizards, Lenalia Plateau isn't very difficult. The objective, like the last mission, is simply to take
Miluda down, a job made easier since she no longer has Priests backing her up. Her fellow Knights won't hit particularly
hard, so the biggest worry is handling her magical allies, the two Wizards and the Time Mage.

Your armor has likely caught up to the point where a single Bolt/Fire/Ice can be handled, as long as your party's cura-
tive abilities are there. My Ramza is still a Priest, and in addition to the various Item abilities, Sissie the Monk has been
taught Chakra, a potent (and free!) healing ability. This is probably overkill for such a map, but until enemies can
regularly deal 40 or more damage, Potions remain a valuable skill to stick in a character's Secondary Ability slot.



The toughest part of this map is the terrain, which manifests it self in two aspects. First, aside from the area that the
party starts from, the ground is very hilly. The small valley effectively divides the map into four sections, which will be
hell on both Archers (unless they can hold the high ground) and spellcasters. Wizards and the like are particularly
difficult to use here, since their low Jump scores will force you to often wade into the middle valley to get a bead on
your target, while negating potential escape routes. That says nothing about the uneven terrain messing up your ability
to target multiple units! Priests and Time Mages will want to get all their buffs applied at the starting area.

The hardest thing to watch out for with regards to the terrain is which panels the enemy Black Wizards are targeting!
When they target panels inside the valley, the terrain itself something makes it unclear which panel that firey/icy/bolty
death will be raining down from. I recommend using the camera tilt function (R2) to help see, which of course I didn't
do, because it didn't occur to me at the time. You can rotate the camera (L1 and R1) during enemy turns too.



The biggest threat on this map is (potentially) the enemy Time Mage. If she's given Slow, she'll likely try and debuff
your units one at a time. This isn't bad; Delita is likely to take the first Slow, and following ones can be countered by
Haste if you've got it. "Don't Move" can be particularly bad for any characters who don't have a good ranged attack
yet. Finally, a Hasted Miluda is your worst fear. She hits hard, and often is given Punch Art as a secondary skill.

My Miluda was given Wave Fist, which while not as strong as her regular attack, can still allow her to pop a powerful
blow on a caster you thought was safe from her blade. She'll always have Counter as well, so try and take her out with
ranged abilities. If you're having trouble with her, try nailing her with a status ailment like Don't Move.

Our battle plan is simple. Tabatha is going to use her great Jump value to try and catch the enemy Wizards casting.
Sullivan is unlikely to be able to hit more than one unit with his Black Magic, but one blow from Tabatha and one from
Bolt is likely to take Miluda's Wizards down. Delita will be taking a dirt nap. Sissie face-punchings still aren't that impres-
sive, so she'll mostly be assisting Ramza and Sullivan's MP with Chakra, while running around Curing when appropriate.

Junk is going to be spending most of the battle trying to encourage Sissie to Punch Things Harder�.

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Ramza: Is it our fault? Are we making you suffer? What's
the problem?



Miluda: What you think is right is only what you see. But,
that's not everything. It's not your fault. But I'll keep
blaming you until there's a change!



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I'm not paying well enough attention to the turn order, and accidentally let a Knight sneak in to grab a Haste buff. I
had even checked the turn order, and stupidly didn't pay enough attention to realize that I'd be potentially buffing an
enemy unit. Turnabout is fair play however! I move Sullivan, who has been targeted by a charging Fire spell, next to an
enemy Knight.

As promised, I wanted to talk a little bit about magic and status effects, and why Shell/Magic DefendUp is great
against Fire and bad against Frog. Apologies for not including it under the Priest write-up, but sometimes I can't fit
these things in!

Shell and Magical Effects

Protect and Shell (and the Priests's Magic DefendUP and Oracle's Defense UP, which act just like them) modify the PA
or MA of attacking units (not entirely true in the case of Protect, but for most purposes...). Magic damage tends to
work on this formula:

Base damage = (Caster's Faith/100) * (Target's Faith/100) * MA * (spell strength)

The spell strength is based on the spell, with stronger spells having a higher number (Fire's strength is 14; Fire 4's is 32.
Holy's strength is 50! I'll post a list in a future post). Shell in these instances, reduces the effective MA value of the
caster by 1/3rds. Thus, Ramza (Faith 70) casting Fire on himself with an MA of "9" should deal:

Damage = 0.7 * 0.7 * 9 * 14 = 61 damage (61.74 actually, but remainders are dropped).

With Shell, Ramza's MA would be treated as if it was 1/3rds lower, making MA = "6":

Damage = [u]0.7 * 0.7 * 6 * 14 = 41 damage (41.16, dropping remainder).[/I]

Status ailments tend to use the following formula however:

Success Rate = (Caster's Faith/100) * (Target's Faith/100) * (MA + spell strength)

Spell Strength in these cases tends to be very high. The Wizard "Frog" spell for example, has a strength of 120, while
Poison's strength is 160. Since MA gets ADDED to this number instead of multiplied, it's effect on the equation is very
small.

Thus 70 Faith, 9 MA, Ramza trying to turn himself into a frog without Shell:

Success = 0.7 * 0.7 * 129 = 63% (63.21 dropping remainder).

With Shell:

Success = 0.7 * 0.7 * 126 = 61% (61.74 dropping remainder).

Thus, Shell and Magic DefendUP end up having a marginal effect on preventing status ailments; Faith and Zodiac
Compatibility (which affects the ENTIRE formula) are much more important towards determining success. On the bright
side, this means that units with a LOW MA can actually still make pretty effective casters, as long as they stick to
status effects!



Junk is eventually overpowered by Miluda, and once again reminds me that Sissie hasn't have Phoenix Down. With
Chakra, keeping the Item skill set around simply for Potion is kind of a waste, so we'll replace it with something for the
next fight Sissie mixes it up in.

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Ramza: Let's put down our swords, stop fighting, and talk!
There must be a solution to all this! Let's find it! I'll talk to
my brother! No, I'll talk to Lord Larg! Trust me!!



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I don't often like to comment on the story, but I find it both strange that Miluda says she'll never run away (since uh,
she was before we confronted her) and that Ramza believes that he could convince his brother to spare the lives of a
group that tried to assassinate him.



Miluda lost her Woody

Disgusting! Let's ponder our next class: The Time Mage!

Time Mage

For spellcasting versatility, I think it's hard to beat a Time Mage. They not only have what I consider the best buff in
the game, Haste, they've got a variety of status debuffs that can cripple an enemy. True, some of their magic is
incredibly situational (Float? Reflect?), but man. Haste.

A unit with the "Haste" status condition sees their Speed value increased by 50%, giving you more attacks, spells,
potions, whatever to use! A Time Mage's Haste spell can also effect a panel, meaning potentially five of your units will
essentially be grabbing free turns compared to your enemies - and it only gets better as your Speed values rise! The
only downside to Haste is that it is incredibly touchy about the height of the terrain you're casting it on; only units on
the same level as the target panel will be affected.

Haste is so potent they nerfed it in the Game Boy sequel. Hard. Haste in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance costs 24
MP, wears off faster, and is only a single target spell. They even added an ability meant to counter the effect!

And it's still a great spell!

Your bread and butter otherwise are Stop and Don't Move. Stop will outright remove a unit from battle, at a higher
success rate (and less MP) than a spell like the Wizard's "Death." Don't Move meanwhile is awesome against many
melee classes, such as Knights, Monks, Thieves, and Samurai. Don't rule out using it on spellcasters however, as it
gives you more opportunity to catch them casting, as well as limited the area in which they can fling spells into.



Time Mage Traits

Prerequisite: Lv. 2 Wizard
Weapon: Staff
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes, Robe

Move: 3
Jump: 3
Physical Evasion Rate: 5%

Abilities to get: Haste, Don't Move, Stop, Short Charge, Teleport

Class Skill: Time Magic
Haste: Time Magic increases speed by accelerating time (Add: Haste. R/C).
MP: 8, Range: 3. Effect: 2,0. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 100.
(One of the best abilities in the game, as described above. Haste alone makes Time Magic a great support skill!)

Haste 2: Time Magic increases speed by accelerating time (Add: Haste).
MP: 30, Range: 3. Effect: 2,3. CTR: 7. JP Cost: 550.
(While Haste 2 will have a higher success rate and find the terrain less troubling, it takes longer to cast and costs a
bunch of mana. Still worth it, but often times regular ol' Haste can do the same thing.)

Slow: Time Magic decreases speed by slowing the passage of time (Add: Slow. R/C).
MP: 8, Range: 3. Effect: 2,0. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 80.
(The opposite of Haste, Slow is a good debuff that's hampered due to it being trickier to catch multiple enemy units
with. It's almost always a better decision to Haste two of your units than one of theirs.)

Slow 2: Time Magic decreases speed by slowing the passage of time (Add: Slow).
MP: 30, Range: 3. Effect: 2,3. CTR: 7. JP Cost: 520.
(I like Slow 2 more than Haste 2; it's easier to catch multiple enemy units with it.)

Stop: Time Magic puts target in stasis, preventing its AT from occurring (Add: Stop. R/C).
MP: 14, Range: 3. Effect: 2,0. CTR: 7. JP Cost: 330.
(A unit that is affected by Stop can't move or act, effectively removing a unit from the battle for a short period of
time. Worth casting, even when the success rate is only about 50%.)

Don't Move: Time Magic breaks space apart, making it impossible to move (Add: Don't Move. R/C).
MP: 10, Range: 3. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 3. JP Cost: 100.
(Excellent debuff! Easier to catch multiple enemy units with than Slow, and makes them sitting ducks for your spells
and abilities.)

Float: Time Magic distorts space, let's one float 1h above the ground (Add: Float. R/C).
MP: 8, Range: 4. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 200.
(Situational, Float shines in maps with lots of water. Can also move over lava, but you cannot stop on it.)

Reflect: Time Magic creates are that reflects magic by inverting magic space (Add: Reflect. R/C).
MP: 12, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 300.
(I'm more a fan of sucking up dangerous spells than attempting to Reflect them back, since it will also prevent Cure
and buff spells from landing on said unit.)

Quick: Time Magic vastly increases the speed of time passage, hastening AT (R).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 4. JP Cost: 800.
(Quick allows the target unit to move immediately after the caster is done their turn, providing there isn't already an
effect like Sleep or Stop preventing the character from acting. Theoretically makes your best unit take twice as many
actions, but the Time Mage usually has better things to be doing.)



Demi: Time Magic damages with the powerful pull of gravity by creating ultra high-density space (R/C).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 6. JP Cost: 250.
(Demi reduces an enemies hit points by 25% of their max value. You can usually do better than 25%, and with a
higher chance of success.)

Demi 2: Time Magic damages with the powerful pull of gravity by creating ultra high-density space (R/C).
MP: 50, Range: 4. Effect: 2,3. CTR: 9. JP Cost: 550.
(Demi ups the damage to 50%, but with a lower success rate and requiring a great deal of MP to potentially whiff. Skip
this.)

Meteor: Time Magic unleashes a huge meteor from the heavens, devastating its target.
MP: 70, Range: 4. Effect: 4,3. CTR: 13. JP Cost: 1500.
(This spell is all about big numbers. Huge effect. Huge damage. Huge MP cost. Huge casting time. Highest JP Cost in
the game. You can make Meteor worthwhile with the Time Mage's Short Charge, but is it worth the MP Cost? Well,
probably?)

Reaction Abilities:
Critical Quick: When HP level is lessened, your AT is executed next.
JP: 700.
(I would suggest that you prevent ever letting your units reaching Critical status than investing in this expensive skill.)

MP Switch: Physical damage is converted into magic damage. MP is lost instead of HP.
JP: 400.
(This ability will allow you to survive darn near anything, as long as you have MP. Damage that is above and beyond
the MP that you have is simply reduced to 0. Amusing fun to have an entire party with MP Switch and a Bard using
Angel Song, which periodically restores MP.)

Support Ability:
Short Charge: CT is shortened.
JP: 800.
(One of the best support abilities in the game, it effectively cuts CTR for spells and abilities in half. The only
exceptions are the Archer's Charge skill, the Lancer's Jump skill, and the Bard and Dancers Sing/Dance abilities.)

Move Abilities:
Teleport: Distort time, moving immediately to your destination. Moving too far will end in failure.
JP: 600.
(Teleport lets you potentially move to almost any square on the playing field. Any square with in your character's
"Move" value, ignoring height, allows a 100% change to successfully teleport. Each additional square past that
reduces the chance of success by 10%. Failure prevents you from moving that round, but as long as you don't get
greedy you'll rarely fail. One of the best, if not the best, movement abilities in the game!)

Float: Float 1h over land.
JP Cost: 540.
(Permanent Float status, with the benefit of being able to stop on lava... what little there is of it. Rather unexciting.)



One funny thing about enemy AI is there self-preservation. Enemies will all attempt to run away from you if they reach
"critical" status (i.e. less than 20% maximum hit points). If they can heal, they will, but otherwise they'll bury them-
selves in a corner and hope their allies can handle the fight. There are only two ways they'll return to a somewhat
regular AI:

1) Their hit points are recovered above critical status, or
2) All their allies are killed or reduced to critical status.

I got this fight to the point where the only units left were Miluda (in critical status) and one of her Knight companions.
This meant that Miluda ended up jumping in the small pool of water in the corner of the map, while I surrounded the
Knight and gained JP off of her. I didn't want to unnecessarily level my characters tho, but I took the time to get Junk
up to a similar level of us, while raising Sissie's Brave.

The picture below perhaps describes the frustration adequately.



Well it took forever, but we finally managed to top off Sissie's Brave at 98. We could raise it to the max 100, but giving
her only two Brave points won't result in any extra Brave gain after battle (remember, you keep 1/4 of all gains/losses).
I spent the rest of the time Preach-ing to Ramza in an attempt to raise his Faith a little more, but soon Junk has
caught up in experience to the rest of the party, so I decide to take Miluda out. There was nothing really stopping me
from spending several hours there gaining JP and experience; with Sissie's Chakra ability I can regain significant
amounts of HP and MP to effectively draw out the battle forever. But what fun is there in rolling over the game with
massive levels?



This is a post battle shot, but as you can see, Sissie's Brave has raised from 66 to 74, a not-too-shabby gain of eight
points. This won't have a dramatic effect on Sissie's unarmed damage right now, but it will once her PA starts rising.
Time to finish the battle! There's no giant cut scene after, so we'll be ending this time with victory rather than
another embarrassing attempt to craft a cliffhanger!

Next time on Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics: Wiegraf, Round 1!

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Bonus Money: 3,500 Gil.
War Trophies: 1,000 Gil, Silk Robe, Battle Boots.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

To be continued...

I'm not usually one to nitpick about that stuff, but when they're used in examples it just bugs me tremendously, so fixed for my own peace of mind.

Also, this LP rocks and after many labored attempts to get my battered disc to work and finally succeeding, I've started playing along with it. It's been said by others, but you've taught me a lot even after having owned the game for years and years.

Thanks, I remember it originally being 1/3rd, but for some reason I told myself to change it to 2/3rds (along with making the sentence then make sense), and then I got (rightfully) yelled at.

I should start giving no-prizes for the mistakes I make. It'd be like the ol' Marvel Comics letter pages!

Excelsior!

- Eddie

Nice update, you put lots of attention into details in your posts, which is really cool, makes it good for lots of re-reads.

I never used Quick until after I played FFTA, where the Juggler's Smile ability does the same thing for no MP cost or time investment. Once I learned the practical uses of Smile, back in the original FFT I found that it was occasionally worth paying the extra MP and trading off long-term CT counts to give one character multiple turns in a short span of time. And not just when Orlandu is in your party.

I've never used Quick in FFT, but yeah, Smile is super broken in FFTA.

This LP continues to be great, and you've done a fine job illustrating the amazing utility of Time Mages. I use Haste, Stop and Don't Move constantly, I generally set Teleport as my standard movement ability, and MP Switch is especially wonderful for melee units who take a lot of damage and have no use for MP. Time Mages are just loaded essential skills.

i've never figured out how to make teleport effective.

That map Eddie was just on? It'd be super effective there. It's most useful for avoiding terrain issues, but you can use it for stuff like infiltrating the enemy ranks (assuming it wouldn't be suicidal to do so) to tear things up and moving behind an obstacle so melee peeps can't reach you after choosing a target for a spell too. I kinda wish we could have Elmdor's Teleport 2 ability, though. Even if it's just for one stupidly broken character.

The trick is not to be greedy with it. Keep accessories like Battle Boots on that increase your movement, and weigh your odds when you go to Teleport past your "Move" value.

Alone, it's a movement ability that lets you ignore terrain, and lets you move through both walls and enemies. Playing the odds, you have a 90% chance to have a "Move +1" effect, 80% chance to have a "Move +2", and 70% chance to have an effective "Move +3" (And more, if you're willing to keep increasing the chance of it failing).

And that sir, is the definition of an awesome ability! The only movement skill I think that is very comparable to it is the Bard's Move +3.

- Eddie

Does Teleport also act as Ignore Height? I've never used Teleport before, but I love me some Ignore Height.

Pretty much. Teleport is the best because it has all the upsides of Ignore Height and Fly while letting you take chances on extending your range, and it's cheaper and in a more accessible job, too. Ignore Height and Fly are more fun to watch in action, though. Fly is particularly amusing because you can fly over trees that are like height-20.

Not really super-broken, just kinda broken. Infinite movement Moogles are pretty cool but it's less useful than it sounds. In practice, a character with Smile is kind of like a Mime, except they reset the CT of the person they're duplicating.

Yeah I pretty much use the hell out of that ability whenever I play FFT. It can help you through poisonous marshes or when enemies are just above you or around you and you normally wouldn't be within reach to them for a few turns.

Yeah, but you can use Smile on your Red Mages, and that is the greatest gift of all.

Except for the minor perk of preventing falling damage. But I like falling damage, because it is funny, so that makes Teleport even better.

You generally want to put it on a class that can take a beating and/or heal without magic. It's basically an extension of the low faith, near magic immune fighter tactic. Reflect armor is great later in the game, I often keep it even after higher HP pieces for at least one party member (someone with a strong support skill like a Lancer/Dragoon with Dragon Soul).

Reflect really has nothing to do with reflecting enemy spells back at the target, though I've made great use of it to double the range of my own offensive spells. The distance and direction between the caster and the target is the distance and direction that the spell goes after the bounce.In fact the most memorable use I ever got from the spell was in the next battle, using a reflected Ramza to double the range of a Fire II hit with full zodiac compatibility the entire way across the map and taking Wiregraf down while safely out of range.

Good point. I know my falldamagelust is intense. I'm always praying for a good fall in the level with Orlan, which has a twenty-something height building. I've only seen it happen once but it was the best thing ever.

Gates of Riovanes Castle! The second Zalmo fight!

Da-da-DASH!

I always have at least one Squire with Ignore Height for the second Zalmo[ur] battle, if only for the satisfaction of shoving him off the belltower.

It's a shame Mt. Bervenia doesn't allow the same cruelty.

It's kind of a real shame; pushing people off cliffs is amazingly fun, yet the game only put in a pair of abilities (in a overall weak skill set) to somewhat reliably do it. And there are so many great maps where "pushing" would be awesome!

Then they make a game like Final Fantasy Tactics A2, with LOTS of push-back skills in a variety of classes... and stick you in maps where there are very few opportunities to take advantage of them.

- Eddie

How Square has managed to get this far without making a level where the goal is "Push All The Enemies Off The Cliff," I just don't know.

Talking about all this stuff, I really wish there was a way to reliably play this with others that doesn't require me to be in the same room with the person or involve arcane workarounds. Even moreso, I want to be able to duke it out with three other people, either as teams or in a big free for all. There comes a point where the random battles just don't cut it any more.

FFT has some of the greatest multiplayer potential of any game ever, but for a decade it's been completely wasted. Thinking about it always bums me out a little.

Buut, Square's certainly not afraid to double, triple, and quadruple dip their games (and beyond!), so I still hold out hope that it will happen someday. I would very gladly buy the game again for it.

I would never play this multiplayer. What the point if you can't predict the enemy's moves?

Nobody has ever knocked Zalmo off of the tower; he is immune to knockback.

We must play for completely different reasons, because that's exactly the point. I thrill at the idea of facing another human opponent. I have no idea what he's going to use or what he might try. I can still predict what he's going to do, the only difference is that it won't be so predictable. The ai is incredibly easy to break, take advantage of, and steamroll. I realize that this can be fun in and of itself, but as much as I dearly love FFT, once the credits roll it loses a lot of its meaning for me.

Never stopped me from trying, but that explains so much My Ignore Heighters always end up killing him outright instead.

Well, that saves me from playing through the game again just to try knocking a pope off a pedestal. Although I've been playing it lately anyway.

FFT multiplayer would be fun. There's gameshark-enabled hand-the-controller-back-and-forth, which is pretty cool, and FFTA had a thing where it's like you're kind of involved in the same battle, but not in any meaningful way, so what the hell's the point.

Man, if they could just make a game reusing the job system from FFT but with the completeness and maximized potential of something like Advance Wars 2... *sigh*

I fully agree, multiplayer FFT would be awesome, albeit there would likely need to be some class balancing (the details and discussion of which would likely fill up it's own forum thread).

But let's get a little sappy! I want to thank everyone who's been reading this thread. I just noticed today that we passed 10,000 views about... oh... several hundred views ago or so... and that's really encouraging given that I'm only around 1/4 done with this game.

Thanks a lot! Here's to (with your support) 10,000 more!

- Eddie

Eh, I guess. Playing anything against a human feels like playing against a random number generator to me.