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

"Fight for justice...posts of fury! Redundant Post!"

Orbonne Monastery

(Scene: Outside. The game shifts back to the present.
After disposing of some men under Prince Goltana's
colours, Ramza watches helplessly as Delita rides off with
their charge, Princess Ovelia. Gafgarion, leader of the
group of mercenaries that Ramza is part of, ponders his
next move...)





Ramza: ...

(Agrais comes out of the Monastery.)





Agrais: We don't need help from one who's not even a
knight! A knight must fix his own mistakes. This is one of
our responsibilities as guards! Lavian, Alicia, let's go!









Agrais: Don't worry. I swear on my knight's honor I'll save
her!

Ramza: I'll go too! I won't be a burden!

Gafgarion: Are you crazy?! This's none of our business!







Gafgarion: Don't cry to me for help if something happens!

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

Welcome back! We're into the second part of the game. In case the recap didn't jog your memory enough, there has
been a battle for power after the King died, between Princes Larg and Goltana. Prince Larg is the man Ramza's brother
Dycedarg was seen working with in Chapter 1. He favors putting Princess Ovelia onto the throne. Prince Larg, whom we
have not met yet (aside from a picture waaaay back during the introduction to the LP), favours the King's son, Orinas,
who unfortunately was only two years old.

As you might have guessed from the events in Chapter 1, Prince Larg has the support of the nobles, while the more
common folk like the cut of Goltana's jib. I think a lot of the confusion that relates to the story starts here, in even
figuring out which Prince (Goltana or Larg) is which. As the story is mostly told from the point of view of Ramza, a fairly
neutral character in the entire Lion War, it's easy to brush away the politics that's going on behind the scenes. From
the player's point of view, Larg and Goltana are fairly interchangeable with one another (want power, doing dirty things
to get said power). Is this good writing, or bad characterization? You the viewer decide!



This story is told mostly outside the events of the game, regulated to text found under the "Brave Story" option of the
overworld menu (and occasionally bar rumours). I can't really fault the game for this, telling the entire history of FFT's
Ivalice within the main plot of the game would be cumbersome. For those who don't have the patience to read through
the "Brave Story", here's the gist of how this Lion War thing started:

The King, a weakly kind of weak weakling, died of the Black Plague, with one successor: his two year old son Orinas.
Larg was originally supposed to assigned guardianship of Orinas, but the Parliament didn't want the older brother of the
Queen (that's Larg) looking over the kid, as Parliament (and everyone else) kind of thinks Queen Ruvelia is a cold-
hearted bitch. Also: slightly tyrannical.



Ovelia: 16 years old, is a relative to the late King Omdolia (and daughter of the former King). She was taken into the
family and raised by Larg as the future successor after the King and Queen's first two kids died shortly after birth. The
King's third child (Orinas) lives however, so her route to the throne has been cut off.

The power of the throne therefore lies in who gets to be the successor. Larg is fighting for Ovelia, and Goltana for
Orinas. Hence, they both want their candidate to win, and have gone to war over it.

Goltana has been absent for all of Chapter 1; at that point the King was still alive (albeit dying), and Parliament hadn't
yet given him guardianship over Orinas.



Incidentally, the three goons whose status screens you've seen here are the units that helped fight off Goltana's men
at the start of the game. None of them are anything special; none of them have exceptional Brave/Faith scores (albeit,
none of them have a BAD score), and their job training leaves much to be desired compared to our current roster. I
invited them all in for now, just because I'm sure one of youze guys wants me using a dude named "Rad."

Alicia and Lavian are fairly generic Knights who were under Agrias's control. Sissie could take both of em in a fight.
Maybe. I'm only mentioning them because there's a reason to keep them around in the PSP remake, The War of the
Lions. Having never played anything but the original Playstation game, I can't really comment as to the exact details,
but it involves the two giving Agrias a present.

Before we get into our first battle of Chapter 11, I just wanted to give a small update on a few of the changes. Ramza
is temporarily becoming a Summoner. While he was great as a Priest, I need to get him to level 4 in Summoner to fulfill
part of the entry into the Bard class. Chapter 2 also gives him a new Squire skill, "Cheer Up." Cheer Up is like the
Mediator's "Praise" skill, except it give +5 Brave (instead of +4), and never fails. Tabatha is also making the temporary
switch into Archer. She needs, like, a single useful action to push her into a level 3 Archer. From there it will only take
getting level 2 in Geomancer to unlock the Ninja class for her (although, shops aren't selling Ninja Swords yet...).

We've also got two new Guests accompanying us. You might remember Gafgarion and Agrias from way back when,
when they were butchering enemies with their respective Dark and Holy Swords. Together, they'll ensure that the next
few story battles would be pretty simple.

So I'm turning both of them into Priests.



Now, there's no real good reason to make them Priests. Much like drawing out the battle with Algus is kind of not really
necessary, making them not-awesome for the purpose of drawing out some of these battles is unnecessary as well.
There's a minor reason to have Gafgarion learn a level of Priest, but Agrias? Not really. I just like doing things the hard
way.

And just so no one gets confused during the cutscene: It really is spelled gil, not gill!

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

Dorter Trade City

(Scene: An aged Knight is negotiating with a local ruffian.
Someone wants to ensure that Ovelia remains of the
"captured" variety of Princess.)







Knight: 700. No more.



Knight: They'll be here any minute. Kill all of them.
Understand?

(Ramza and crew enter from the south.)



Knight: There they are. Get them!

(The Knight exits.)











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

Normally, this map is a speed bump. With Gafgarion and Agrais as guests, losing is pretty difficult. One of the
thieves often has Steal Heart, which can be pretty annoying depending on how often he chooses to use it, and
the two Wizards are powerful, but all of this is manageable as long as you spread out and keep the ladies away
from the front lines. The archers are also nothing special.

Of course, this is assuming you haven't turned your guests into Priests.

Of course, with two extra Priests doesn't put you in terrible shape, but your offense is going to be blunted while
you attempt to climb the hill after them. The two archers are going to have their pick of the field (due to their
height advantage), while your ranged units struggle to catch up to them. You can try hiding units behind
buildings in an attempt to block off an archer's ability to accurately aim an arrow at you, but it's not always
going to work.

Without any high hitpoint units on the field, their Wizards and Archers start picking off my guys rather quickly. It
ends up becoming an amusing game of reviving and curing my guys, while sneaking in the occasional damage,
while they spend their turns knocking my dudes down. If you counted the number of bodies littered around the
field in the screenshots, you'd probably need to double that number to reflect the actual number of times one of
my troops was kissing dirt. Luckily, Sissie's Chakra ability can keep Agrais fueled with Raises for most of the fight.
You know, when she's not KO'ed.




Don't bother trying to use the houses to the left of right; the archers and wizards are going to have little trouble
hitting you, and the thieves will likely have the Jump score needed to reach you. Staying spread out is your best
bet. Your two guests aren't going to make this easy on you, so focus those Wizards down (like you always
should). Try and keep female units out of the way of those Thieves to avoid Steal Heart. I'm embarrassed to
mention the number of times one of the thieves would charm Tabatha, only for her to use her Charm Person skill
on Sullivan. You'll see one this update, and that is plenty!

Let's get right into our next class! The Oracle!

Oracle

I think for most players, their first experience using an Oracle is likely to be negative. An Oracle's strength lies in
temporarily knocking out enemy units, either by softening them up (Blind, Foxbird), stopping them from doing
something useful (Silence Song, Paralyze) or taking them completely out of the battle (Sleep, Petrify).

Individually, some of these effects can have a quite profound effect on the battle. Imagine hitting two Knight
units with Paralyze! You've essentially, with one action, bought yourself a few turns where you can effectively
ignore them. Such power comes with a price however, and that price is dealing with the chance of failure. This is
what I think can sour people to the class; all it takes is fighting one or two low-faith enemies before they decide
that maybe just throwing Black of Summon magic at them might be more effective then trying to work with a low
success rate.

People who stick with Oracles however, can find a class that's extremely fun to use, and certainly one of the
most versatile casters in the game.



Magic Skill Guide

Some of the status effects below produce roughly similar results. For example: Doubt Faith, Silence Song, Blind
Rage, Paralyze, Sleep, and Petrify will all take out an enemy caster. So should you learn first? In order to help
make that decision a bit easier, I'm posting a rough "success rate" for each skill after my opinion.

These percentages will assume that both the caster and target have Faith values of 60, with a caster MA of 7. I
refer once again to the formula for determining status effect success (thanks, as always, the the FFT Battle
Mechanics Guide):

Success% = [CFa/100 * TFa/100 * (MA + C)]

CFa = Caster Faith
TFa = Target Faith
MA = MA of Caster
C = Constant associated with the spell. Higher numbers yield higher success rates.

Thus Silence Song, which has a constant of 180, has a 67% chance of success under the above conditions.
Paralyze has a constant of 185, thus giving it a slightly higher 69% chance of success. Thus, given the option
you should be casting Paralyze over Silence Song on enemy mages (Do note below that Silence Song is a little
better on uneven terrain however). Higher or lower Faith values on either side will of course, skew the
percentages.



Oracle Traits

Prerequisite: Lv. 2 Priest
Weapons: Stick, Rod, Staff, Dictionary
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes, Robe

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

Skills to get: Blind, Paralyze, Sleep.

Class Skill: Yin-Yang Magic
Blind: Yin Yang magic blinds enemy and lowers the rate of physical attacks (Add: Darkness. R/C).
MP: 4, Range: 4. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 100
(Cheap, quick, and effectively doubling your evade rate. Never exciting, but always solid. ~Success: 74%.)

Spell Absorb: Yin Yang magic absorbs enemy's MP, restoring one's own MP.
MP: 2, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 200
(Takes 1/3rd of the target's MP for yourself. Unlikely to stop them from using the remaining 66% of their MP to
nuke you. ~Success: 60%)

Life Drain: Yin Yang magic absorbs enemy's HP, restoring one's own HP.
MP: 16, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 2. JP Cost: 350
(Takes 1/4 of the target's HP for yourself. Almost always a waste of an action. ~Success: 60%)

Pray Faith: Yin Yang magic fills soul with faith (Add: Faith. R/C).
MP: 6, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 4. JP Cost: 400
(The "Faith" status effect sets a unit's Faith to act as if they had a value of 100. Very situational, and note that
a low Faith target is still less likely to be hit by this. ~Success: 56%.)

Doubt Faith: Yin Yang magic makes targets lose their faith, reducing their faith level (Add: Innocent. R/C).
MP: 6, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 4. JP Cost: 400
("Innocent" makes a unit's faith act as if it was 0, essentially making them completely immune to magical
effects, as well as completely inept at casting them. Remember that healing magic won't work on you either in
that case! ~Success: 56%)

Zombie: Yin Yang magic brings bodily death (Add: Undead. R/C).
MP: 20, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 5. JP Cost: 300
(Like most Final Fantasy games, "Undead" status reverses healing effects to harm the unit, and drain effects to
instead heal, amongst other numerous effects. Its other major effect is that any "undead" unit has a 50%
chance of rising again with a random amount of HP rather than turning into a crystal/treasure chest. ~Success:
38%)

Silence Song: Yin Yang magic mutes enemy, making it impossible to cast spells (Add: Silence. R/C).
MP: 16, Range: 4. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 3. JP Cost: 170
(Useful for hitting multiple enemy magic users at once. Otherwise, stick with Paralyze. ~Success: 67%)

Blind Rage: Yin Yang magic releases desire to destroy, makes enemy turn wild (Add: Berserk. R/C).
MP: 16, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 5. JP Cost: 400
(A Berserk unit's PA is effectively increased by 50%. They cannot use reaction abilities, and will use only the
'attack' action. Good, but there are usually always better options. ~Success: 45%)

Foxbird: Yin Yang magic lowers brave level (R/C).
MP: 20, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 4. JP Cost: 200
(Reduces a target's Brave by 30 points. Good for using against units with a bothersome reaction ability.
~Success: 52%)



Confusion Song: Yin Yang magic makes enemy lose rationality and act confused (Add: Confusion. R/C).
MP: 20, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 5. JP Cost: 400
(A confused unit will randomly target other units. Sometimes great, but unlike most status ailments most
physical attacks will break it. ~Success: 49%)

Dispel Magic: Yin Yang magic cancels positive status effect by neutralizing Yin and Yang (Cancel: Float, Reraise,
Transparent, Regen, Protect, Shell, Haste, Faith, Reflect. Calcuable.)
MP: 34, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 3. JP Cost: 700
(The only really bothersome status ailment that your other abilties can't deal with is Reflect. Not worth the 700
JP. ~Success: 74%)

Paralyze: Yin Yang magic doesn't allow enemy to take action (Add: Don't Act. R/C).
MP: 10, Range: 4. Effect: 2,0. CTR: 5. JP Cost: 100
(Great spell, but note that most other Oracle abilities are faster and don't have as a restrictive height effect.
Otherwise, Don't Act is one of the best Oracle abilities! ~Success: 69%)

Sleep: Yin Yang magic immediately puts enemy to sleep (Add: Sleep. R/C).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 2,1. CTR: 6. JP Cost: 350
(A sleeping unit can't dodge as well as can't act or react, as well as increase an attacker's PA by 50%. Perfect
targets for Thieves. Like confusion, easy to break. ~Success: 63%)

Petrify: Yin Yang magic immediately turns enemy's body to stone.
MP: 16, Range: 4. Effect: 1. CTR: 9. JP Cost: 600
(The most powerful effect that an Oracle can use, but very slow. As a single target spell however, it trumps
the Wizard's Death spell in all areas. ~Success: 45%)

Reaction Ability:
Absorb Used MP: Restore your MP by the same amount your enemy used (Trigger: MP Effect).
JP Cost: 250
(Stick with something else.)

Support Ability:
Defense UP: Physical attack damage is lessened.
JP Cost: 400
(An effectively permanent "Protect"-like effect on a character, reducing damage taken by 1/3rd. Solid.)

Move Abilities:
Any Weather: Walk easily over swamps, marshes, poison marshes, regardless of climate.
JP Cost: 200
(Man, use Move-MP instead. Way too situational.)

Move-MP Up: Recover MP as you move.
JP Cost: 350
(Man, don't use this. Restores 1/10th of they unit's MP when move.)

Hopefully the screenshots are displaying what I would, were I a wrestling announcer, call a "slobberknocker." Ramza and
Sissie spend most of the fight facedown, standing up occasionally to get an action off before getting arrowed or knifed
back down.

Incidentally, the game keeps track of the number of times you have a unit become injured, and the number of times
you get a unit killed (i.e. gone forever) under the "Brave Story" menu on the overworld map. The "Injured" number I
believe increases when a unit becomes KO'ed, although I can't confirm this for sure (I'll have to do some light testing to
check).

I think everyone has a story about a game where they kind of forgot about a unit crystallizing. One time through the
game, I was in a random battle when one of my generics fell. I completely forgot to revive him, even to the point of
picking up his crystal/treasure box (whatever he dropped). I remembered vaguely missing a generic unit a few battles
(and saves) later, but assumed I had dismissed him for being generic in a party that was starting to fill up on special
characters.

I was dicking around at the end of the game, when I checked the Brave Story for something to do, when I noticed I
had lost a unit to death, when it all clicked. I still have that save file, with several ni-fully mastered units (including
Rafa and Malak... I love all my special characters equally), twenty Chaos Blades (all legit), you name it...

... but I still wish I could take that one Casualty back.

Apropos of nothing I think the screenshot of Gafgarion beating that thief up in the corner is pretty hilarious.




Regardless of how many Phoenix Downs and Raise spells it took, eventually my guys are able to whittle the enemy down
into a manageable state. The thief that took to the rooftops to let his friends "take care of them" eventually wanders
down and becomes a big hassle while I'm waiting for his friends to crystallize. Sissie ends up dealing some long-range
'come to your senses' with Wave Punch to knock Sullivan back to my side, where he can smack Tabatha with his cane
in order to repeat the process the next turn.

In case you haven't been following the thread from the start, the generic characters I'm using (and will use till the end
of the game) are all using the preset names the game gave me. While I think there's certainly some charm to doing
what Captain Capitalism did with his ongoing LP of FFT, but sometimes the names the game randomly dishes out are
just awesome. I had a Strawberry on my team the first time I played. *sniff*



It's time to end this fight!

There might be an update to follow, with a bit more class advancement and Jobs (the Bartending kind!) to follow. This
depends on how interesting the next battle is, but we'll be digging up worthless artifacts with the best of them soon!

Thanks for your patience while I moved to Toronto! See you next time!

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



Agrias: We must hurry and rescue the Princess!



Agrias: There is only one place they could've escaped to!

Bonus Money: 6,700 Gil
War Trophies: 1,000 Gil, Flame Rod, Mage Masher, Phoenix Down

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

To be continued...

I disagree, on the basis that Silence doesn't wear off. According to my math (which, I confess, is not my favorite subject), Don't Act shouldn't even last two turns until the target has at least 9 speed. Then again, even physical attacks are dangerous when they have elemental rods.

Foxbird is great against monsters, since they always have counters and their attacks are (mostly) Brave-based.

Anyway, Oracle is one of my favorites. They have some great spells, but their attack with a stick-type weapon is also pretty decent. I still would have preferred a Blue Mage, though.

Sticks are fantastic. They have reach and are based off MA, which Oracle/Mystic have a good score in and have good damage multipliers.

They're also one of the classes I really prefer the PSP translation for, as even if the spell visual makes Foxbird make sense, the name Trepidation just works so much better. An issue of Beowulf stealing all the early canonical and simple translations that were rooted in D&D...

Some storyline questions:

Who do Ramza's brothers support?

Is Delita currently with Goltana (if this would produce a spoiler, feel free to ignore it)?

During chapter 1, whose side was Ramza on?

Because I'll admit, I'm totally lost in the storyline department.

While Zalbag's alliance is perhaps a bit murky, Dycedarg is seen working with Prince Larg in Chapter 1.
Signs currently point to yes!

An excellent question. Prince Larg seems like the obvious choice, but the truth is that Ramza hasn't been forced to choose a side yet then. The King is still alive at this point, and hence the question of a heir is still up in the air, albeit Larg is certainly scheming something at this point.

I'm going to be trying to post a recap of what happened last chapter at the start of each post, when applicable. I'm hoping that will help! Otherwise, I'm totally open for suggestions!

- Eddie

And without the events unfolding as they did, I doubt he ever would have chosen one on his own, instead of having it thrust upon him, probably by his brothers. It wasn't in him to choose a path to tread just yet.

That's something that several people, including Delita, Wiegraf, and Algus, called him out for. Ramza spent Chapter 1 (and, arguably, all his life up to that point) just coasting along on others' whims. He joined the Academy and was given a squad to lead not because he particularly wanted to, but because it was expected of a noble from the House of Beoulve, and thus he did as his brothers commanded. He kept boasting high ideals because it was easy for him, sheltered by his family and innocent of the harsh world. Even if he was brought up to believe in them and uphold them, he hadn't really taken them to heart --and upcoming events are sure to change that.

Now, in Chapter 2, instead of actually choosing a path, he has forgone the matter altogether. By becoming a sellsword, he deliberately avoids giving anyone his allegiance, but some would say that this is him just coasting along again. Instead of being ignorant of responsibility, he's willfully shirking it. The "I don't know" has become "I don't care," and, like mentioned above, the world is about to test just how much he doesn't care.

Welcome back! Chapter 2 introduces a few new odds and ends to the game. The first is the ability to buy spears; Jean
has been itching to jump into the Lancer class for a while, and now we can get him working on that. A bit of time in his
Lancer job is also going to unlock Samurai for him as well, which we'll be jumping into eventually. Lancers have high
attack power, and spears can strike from two panels away, negating most counter attacks.

A lot earlier in the thread, someone asked why I didn't turn him into a Lancer when I could, and simply have used the
Knight's "Equip Sword" ability to give him a weapon. I didn't because I needed to level the Samurai prerequisites any-
way, and since we're still early in the game, "Gained JP Up" is still very useful for our purposes. We're keeping a bit of
his Monk training for now; Counter is still a good choice, and we use his leftover Monk JP to purchase Earth Slash. It
won't be as strong as it would have been had Jean stayed a Monk, but it still gives him a reliable long-distance attack
that will be the envy of most anyone.

There are a few new bar rumours as well (and the occasional editing error).








Chapter 2 also introduces "Propositions" that you can undertake at bars. Let's try the first one out!







Taking a job requires you pay some cash upfront (in this case, 3100gil. This isn't a small amount given that our total
War Funds are barely over 11k!), and give up three members of your party for a number of days. This job requires
between 15 to 16 days of not having particular units; I sent Jean and two of the newbies I picked up at the start of
the chapter to do this mission.

You can only send "generic" non-monster characters on these things; Ramza, Guests, and other special characters
can't take part. Since there's no time limit in the game, you can spend your time waiting for the job to complete
however you wish, whether it be fighting random battles, continuing with the story, or even traveling between two
locations that are blue (only green locations on your map will trigger random battles, so traveling back and forth
between two blue is the "quickest" way to finish a job). Igros Castle to Fort Zeakden or Dorter Trade City to Orbonne
Monastery are two immediately available spots..

You can check to see how much longer a job will take on the Brave Story menu (Thanks Stiv!). Bars are independent
of one another; you have to visit each city to see if a new job has been posted.

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





Rad: Departed for the site at the inactive Gulg Volcano.



Rad: This area is famous for monsters. But we tried our
best... As a result, we were able to excavate it! Different
ores were found from the dike, but... There was one big
one that stood out. Alicia opened it with faith, inside was...



Rad: I guess this one was a success!







Bar Owner: That's a treasure, and it's extremely valuable.
You're now a "Treasure Hunter'!



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

Thanks Bar dude!

Treasure is the most common thing you'll find, but you can also get a nice sum of gil occasionally as well. As you may
have noticed, the JP my characters gained isn't spectacular, and the treasures you find are completely worthless as far
as battles go. You can view your new treasures and get a description of them from the 'Brave Story' menu:



It IS possible to fail jobs (or in some cases, pass but not get a reward), but what causes you to fail them is unknown
to me. It might be based off of your level; one guide I read suggested that waiting too long to report a job after it has
been "completed" increases the chance of failure, which would be both stupid and, in my experience, not the case
anyway.

AstroBlue's walkthrough of the game suggests that success is sometimes tied to the Brave/Faith and class of a unit,
and the JP gain related to the class the generic is. I can't confirm this, but if I notice anything unusual while grabbing
all of these jobs. Guessing which class to send on a job is either really easy or really obscure (the "Girl at Gulg Volcano"
quest apparently has a higher success rate with a Chemist?).

The people at the GameFAQs message board have done some testing, and those interested can read their findings
here. Regardless, if you fail a job (or don't get a reward, which is also possible) the proposition will reappear about two
weeks (15-16 days) later to try again. Buck up soldier!



Our next fight is similar to the Sweegy Woods fight, except now our units have good jobs and Algus is dead. Our guests
are still slumming as Priests for my amusement. Let's go!

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

Araguay Woods

Gobbleidook, I choose you!



(Ramza and company enter from the east.)







Ramza: I wonder if he's strong in a fight?

Gafgarion: You want to help him, Ramza? No money in
that!

Agrais: He may help us save the Princess...

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

Secretly edited out of the dialogue: Ramza gets the choice between 'wondering how the Chocobo does in a fight' and
'turning his tail and running from the big scary goblins.' The former makes it so if the Chocobo falls, you lose, while the
latter turns it into a "defeat all enemies" mission, with a -10 Brave penalty slapped onto your group.

Speaking about the mission, this is an easy one.



You know, that Chocobo looks famili-- hey! That was the Chocobo from the Windmill Shed battle, the one that couldn't
crystallize! What's he doing all the way out here? Well, in case you are unfamiliar with the name, Boco (or sometimes,
Boko) was the name of a chocobo in Final Fantasy V. His owner was the either unfortunately named/translated "Butz"
(unofficially) or the stupider, yet less comedic, Bartz (officially).

Adding a FF5 reference to the game is warranted; while FF3 might have done it first, FFT's job system shares a lot
more with the groundwork FF5's laid. Part of that credit probably should go to Hiroyuki Itō, who helped design both
games. Thanks Itō!

I got really lucky with my Mediating skills this battle, knocking Jessica's Faith up to a permanent 72 by the end. There
are a few battles in Chapter 2 where having a character devoted to slightly buffing the rest of my characters will be a
liability, so it's best to use Junk in these simple ones. Alternatively, use him exclusively in random battles (but he needs
his face time with me!).



Boco is going to be spending his time hiding in a corner this fight. To be fair, it's a good corner, only allowing one enemy
to Tackle him at once. Combined with his natural counter-attack ability and Choco Cure, he's unlikely to ever be in
danger. The terrain on this map is very awkward, so certain spells are going to have a hard time hitting multiple tar-
gets, but other than that this map is cake.

On the bright side, the terrain doesn't really make the Goblins and better; they're all simple monsters whose main attack
is to use an attack similar to the Squire's "Tackle," which, like its generic counterpart, is weak. Nearly all the goblins
the game gives me have atrocious Brave values as well... not that they live long enough for it to matter. Black Goblins
have a move similar to the Monk's "Spin Punch," which deals decent damage to all units surrounding the goblin, so
either target him first or simply spread out so he doesn't hit two people with it.

I'm using most of my actions with Ramza to raise my party's Brave values slightly. Junk is the best choice here, since
he has both the lowest Brave out of anyone in my party, and since he'll need the extra Brave for when I turn him into a
Geomancer. By the way, I'm still undecided whether to have him as a Geomancer who uses a gun or not, so chime in if
you haven't already given an opinion on that.



Most monsters are weak to a particular element. For goblins, this element is ice.

Granted, this battle would be a lot more challenging if I hadn't brought a Summoner who knew Shiva in, but I think that
says a lot more about Summoners than it does the stage. Props to Tabitha's Steal Heart for bunching the goblins up
close together, but sheesh.

Incidentally, this is one of the marks against using Monsters yourself (as if there weren't enough reasons...). Aside from
limited move-sets, versatility, inability to use equipment, and cramming your roster with eggs (more on that in a later
update), at least human characters will never have to worry about taking twice the damage from a random spell be-
cause of an elemental weakness. Not ALL monsters are terrible, but such a statement requires "ALL" to be capitalized
to indicate that well, the vast majority suck.

Incidentally, I think FFT really did summon spells right. They're pretty much a 2-D image with a bunch of flashy 3-D
effects, but they're all quick enough that they never outstay their welcome, a lesson that Final Fantasy VIII would two
years later ignore (Fan fallout comment: Final Fantasy VIII was still great tho).



Bamph! Three goblins with one shot.

Meanwhile, Gafgarion the White Mage gets punched (lightly) in the face. Even as a student of holy magic, he's still
getting all right in there. Agrais meanwhile more less makes a bee-line to protect the Chocobo, which I found pretty
neat. Granted, uh, all the goblins that could possible threaten the Chocobo are ice cubes now...

Appropriately, we're going to take a small break to talk about our next class: The Summoner!

Summoner

Were you using Black Magic and thought, "hey, this is great! But I'd like it more if my magic hit a bigger area, and didn't
have a chance of hitting my own guys!" then this is the class for you.

Summon Magic is among the strongest in the game. The basic elemental summons (Ramuh, Shiva, and Ifrit) offer the
same power as their level 3 Black Magic counterparts (Bolt 3, Ice 3, and Fire 3) with a bigger radius and faster casting
time. The class also offers a bit of versatility; Moogle is like a slightly weaker Cure spell, while Fairy is like Cure 2.5 in
terms of raw power. Summoners also get a few abilities like Titan and Leviathan that squeak in damage against ele-
ments that Black Mages don't have access to.

The best part about Summon magic, aside from it's raw power, is that it discriminates between friend and foe. Moogle
for example, will never end up curing an enemy, while Bahamut will only blast foes, even if the unit targeted was your
own. This makes casting a slow (but powerful) summon on a friendly unit and sending them into the middle of the
enemy a powerful tactic (even if the unit doesn't survive the enemy's onslaught).

There are three problems with the class, two small, and one potentially big. Summoners are one of the few classes
which take a small penalty to speed while they're in the class. This is not a permanent penalty by any means, and
going last can have its advantages. The other minor problem is that this class has a lot of expensive skills that are
more or less redundant. Do you really need Cyclops, Bahamut, and Odin?

The bigger potential problem is MP management; early in the game you won't have the ability to waste Summon spells
unless you can catch at least two units in its effect. A Monk with Chakra can therefore be a Summoners best friend!



Prerequisite: Lv. 2 Time Mage
Weapons: Rod, Staff
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes, Robe

Abilities to get: Shiva, Ramuh, Ifrit, Golem, Fairy.

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

Class Skill: Summon Magic
Moogle: Summon monster cures target's wounds with pure wind and restores HP.
MP: 8, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (ally only). CTR: 2. JP Cost: 110
(Not a great skill, but very cheap. If you're not planning on mastering this class, Moogle offers a cheap healing spell.)

Shiva: Summon monster breathes on the enemy with extremely cold breath (Ice elemental).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 4. JP Cost: 200
(It's a coinflip whether to get this or Ramuh first. So flip one! Shiva ends up being better in random battles since you
fight more monsters.)

Ramuh: Summon monster mercilessly pours lightning shower on enemy (Lightning elemental).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 4. JP Cost: 200
(Ramuh on the other hand is better when it's raining, which gives it the edge when you're fighting humans, which is
most of the time in story battles.)

Ifrit: Summon monster rains a blazing inferno down upon the enemy (Fire elemental).
MP: 24, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 4. JP Cost: 200
(Ifrit on the other hand can be saved till last. It still has its uses against a few of the monsters.)

Titan: Summon monster overturns the earth by striking it with a powerful blow (Earth elemental).
MP: 30, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 5. JP Cost: 220
(Titan is only marginally stronger than the slightly cheaper elemental trio. Certainly skippable.)

Golem: Summon monster shares part of ally's damage. Evades physical weapon damage.
MP: 40, CTR: 3. Range: Auto. Effect: all allies. JP Cost: 500
(An interesting skill, Golem affects all allies no matter where they are, guarding for damage = to the caster's max HP.
Terrific opener if you're not fighting characters with mostly magical attacks.)

Carbunkle: Summon monster protects allies by reflecting magic attacks with ruby light (Add: Reflect).
MP: 30, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (ally only). CTR: 4. JP Cost: 350
(Well, on the bright side Summon magic ignores Reflect status. Situtationally useful.)

Bahamut: Summon monster unleashes a devastating breath attack.
MP: 60, Range: 4. Effect: 4,3 (enemy only). CTR: 10. JP Cost: 1200
(Save yourself 300 JP and grab Odin instead.)

Odin: Summon monster charges through enemies on the back of a dragon-horse.
MP: 50, Range: 4. Effect: 4,3 (enemy only). CTR: 9. JP Cost: 900
(Odin, like Bahamut and Leviathan, affect a larger area than most summons, so you'll want at least one. For 50 JP
more you get a slightly more powerful affect.)



Leviathan: Summon monster engulfs the battlefield with a huge water swell (Water elemental).
MP: 48, Range: 4. Effect: 4,3 (enemy only). CTR: 9. JP Cost: 850
(Odin is slightly better, so grab it instead.)

Salamander: Summon monster burns battlefield with scorching red flame (Fire elemental).
MP: 48, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 9. JP Cost: 820
(It's hard to justify a stronger Ifrit when you could get a much stronger summon in Odin.)

Silf: Summon monster mutes enemy with the spirit of leaves in the wind (Add: Silence).
MP: 26, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 5. JP Cost: 400
(A discriminate silence? I guess so, but the a Oracle's Silence Song has a much better success rate.)

Fairy: Summon monster restores ally's HP.
MP: 28, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (ally only). CTR: 4. JP Cost: 460
(A great healing ability. This will be on par with a Cure 3 cast by a Priest due to a Summoners higher MA.)

Lich: Summon monster born from darkness, dwells in the bowels of hell (Darkness elemental).
MP: 40, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 9. JP Cost: 600
(Lich is like a discriminate Demi spell, with a slightly worse success rate. Not worth the 600 JP in my opinion.)

Cyclops: Summon monster sunders the battlefield in the wake of its catastrophic onslaught.
MP: 62, Range: 4. Effect: 3,2 (enemy only). CTR: 9. JP Cost: 1000
(For pure damage, Cyclops bests the rest of the trainable summon skills. A steep cost at 1000 JP, You might find
you're as well off with just Odin, but pick it up after Odin if you're looking to master the class.)

???: Summon monster focuses star light energy, and unleashes it in a blazing beam of destruction.
MP: 99, Range: 4. Effect: 4,3 (enemy only). CTR: 10. JP Cost:?
(This skill, whose name I'm sure everyone knows but I'm hiding anyway, is a 'secret' ability that can't be obtained into
the end-game. Sadly, without this ability the class won't appear as "Mastered" in your menu. Don't worry, we'll deal
with it.)

Reaction Ability:
MP Restore: Restore MP when terminal (Trigger: critical status).
JP Cost: 400
(Restores your MP to its maximum when you fall below 20% HP. Like most critical status reaction abilities, not
particularly stellar.)

Support Ability:
Half of MP: MP used when casting magic is half.
JP Cost: 900
(Good, but expensive ability. Lines up well with the monster amount of MP a Summoner uses, although they might find
the Time Mage's Short Charge more useful.)



Oh dear. This goblin would have been one-shoted even if it weren't doubled due to his weakness to Ice attacks. Again,
Summon spells discriminate, so targeting this lone Goblin with it is perfectly fine, since the spell won't end up damaging
our own units should he choose to get a closer look.

Sadly for the enemy, his friend is in a rather sorry state himself. This battle is almost over! Ramza and Junk take the
time to raise a grab a few more JP before Gafgarion clubs the remaining goblin into unconsciousness.

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

Bonus Money: 5,700 Gil
War Trophies: Hi-Potion

Boco is identical to any Chocobo you can find in the wild, so he's really nothing special. Most players are unlikely to
have a Mediator unlocked, so he's usually the first monster most players 'recruit.' I'll keep him around for now, but aside
from his connection to FFV there's not really a great reason to keep him around!

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

Next time on Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics: Delita, or,
why is Gafgarion naked?

See you next update!

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

to be continued...

"Yugudoracil"? Seriously?

My favorite part of Propositions is reading about them in the Brave Story section. They add a lot of depth to Ramza's Ivalice.

Both of the elemental shields confer a weakness upon the bearer. They both suck anyway, but first-time players might not realise just how much they suck.

It's certainly too situational to be a recommended buy, but there's a certain high-HP enemy that, IIRC, is also weak to Dark attacks (Demi is non-elemental). Summoning Lich on said enemy is very satisfying.

I like them as well, especially the ones that are nods to previous Final Fantasy games.

I'll be compiling batches of 15 into their own posts eventually. I'm still a little uncertain as to how to approach Propositions in the LP; my gut is to show them off in 'supplemental' posts. We'll see.

- Eddie

Actually, there is a way! You can check your Job->Work History in the Brave Story, and if a job is complete, it will say it has 0 days left. This isn't really all that useful though, because why not just spend a few days going in a loop around the map and catching up on some sweet random battle experience?

I tend to go for Leviathan more often than Odin because I love the animation. Also you can use a 108 Gems to boost it a bit past Odin's damage if you don't mind using the accessory slot that way.

i dont think i've ever used a summoner seriously. they're just too time and mana intensive for my style of play.

All the magic-users are too slow and mana-intensive, when you get right down to it. The Summoner just packs the power(and carefree targeting) to make it fun.

Among the many things that I think FFTA does better than either game before or after it is mana supply - automatic mana regeneration without having to start at zero as in FFTA2.

The only thing I hold against Summoners is that their ultimate skill is locked away as the (roundabout) reward of the toughest bonus dungeon in the game, when the Job as a whole really isn't versatile or important enough to merit the distinction. And even then, it's a hassle to obtain (even more, to get on more than one character.) Sure, the best weapons in the game are in there too, but imagine having to learn Blade Grasp or Steal Weapon from the hardest battle in the hardest map, one character at a time.

But other than that Summoners are fine! Summoned Monsters may not have elaborate animations, but I like how their area effects roughly match their appearance, Golem's usefulness cannot be stressed enough, and a TM's Short Charge makes their offensive spells a viable tactic. Don't rely on Moogle, Fairy, or Sylph to save you in a pinch, tho'.

i dunno, there's nothing a summoner can do that a well equipped calc can't.

C'mon, nothing compares to calculators. They're easy mode.

The whole point of having MP is to limit the usefulness of spells, which would be overpowered otherwise. Having MP recharge makes the game too easy. Then again, FFT's Chakra does a much better job of it than FFTA's auto-MP-regen.

Golem.

You should try the Ogre Tactics series some time... (though even with regenerating MP I usually just abuse HP->MP transfer)

I wouldn't really call the biggest summon their best, ability. By the time you get it it's overkill. The mid-ranged spells are usually where it's at.

I don't think there's a clear winner between 'starting with full MP' and 'regenerating MP.' Games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and A2 were still highly easily to abuse despite not starting with a bunch of MP. Spells like Haste and Smile Toss in Advance and the MP Channeling in A2 meant that Illusionists could wreck much more havoc than a Summoner ever could. Of course they're different systems, but I'm just saying that regenerating MP has it's own issues.

Also, I loved the GBA's Tactics Ogre: The Knights of Lodis. It makes me wish that every game would let me turn one of my characters into a sweet weapon.

- Eddie

Heal a targeted area without healing the enemies within it?

And without restricting yourself to healing via specialized element-absorbing gear on every friendly unit?

It was a fantastic game hobbled by one poor design decision. Why no attack->move when you still have move->attack? Really, guys?

I found the fact that bonus Agility from weapons and armor doesn't work to be more hobbling then the move-attack thing.

My dreams of a high agility character with a high-agility sword, dashed...

- Eddie