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

Welcome back to Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics! We're still chasing after Delita, who has kidnapped Princess Ovelia.
Our next stop on the way to Impregnable Fortress Bethla Garrison is Zirekile Falls!

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

Zirekile Falls

(Scene: Three Knights stand before Delita, and two behind,
trapping him on a small bridge with Ovelia. Delita has
already dispatched two of the Knights, but can he handle
the rest?)



Hokuten Knight: Turn the Princess over to us and we'll
spare your life!

Delita: That's a bald faced lie! You want to kill her!



Hokuten Knight: Why would we want to kill her? We can't
let Goltana keep her!



(Ramza's crew enter the scene with Gafgarion and Agrias.)





Hokuten Knight: Great, here comes a crowd!





Agrias: Gafgarion, are you betraying us?

Gafgarion: Betraying you? C'mon, this is business.



Gafgarion: The job is to kill you all and keep things quiet!



Gafgarion: The Princess is in the way! The Prince should
be next in line. If she's alive there'll be nothing but trouble!




Goltata? Has Goltana EVOLVED?



Delita: No, Dycedarg probably wrote it. Don't you agree,
Ramza?

Gafgarion: Right, Ramza. Let's get them all!





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

Our objective today is to rescue Princess Ovelia from this cadre of Knights and Gafgarion. Knights are nothing we have
not faced before; they hit hard and have high HP, but other than that they are certainly nothing dangerous. Spells like
Protect, and high movement to get behind them (to avoid their shields) are your best bet.

Aiding us on this fight is Delita, who has chowed down on Wheaties since nearly being killed in the Fort Zeakden explo-
sion and is now a Holy Knight like Agrias. Unlike Agrias, he's trained a bit further into the skill set and can pull off some
of the awesome attacks that Weigraf was tossing at us! Amusingly enough, he's forgotten all his previous training (he's
now back to a level 1 Archer).

Random emulation note: Delita has a few frames where he's glowing blue. I don't know what it up with that. I fixed it in
the story scenes where I could, forgive my photoshop skills otherwise.

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





Agrias: Are you sure of what you're doing? The Princess
may be adopted but she's still royalty.

Gafgarion: I'm quite sure!



Agrias: Are you mocking the Princess!?

Gafgarion: Get in the way, get killed. It's the same for
commoners!





Agrias: Then, I'll save her!!

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

The biggest threat on the map is usually Gafgarion. Players that don't know he's going to betray them will have to deal
with his high HP (via his heavy armor) backed up by Night Sword. Beating him then requires throwing everything you
have at him, hoping that you can avoid his shield enough to take him out before he starts draining HP from you. Mean-
while his two Knight friends will be taking shots at you.

You can therefore save yourself a lot of trouble by removing all his equipment. Without a sword, Night Sword is
impossible to use. Archer would be a good choice, but you'll need to get him to unlock Knight in battle 11 and then
Archer in battle 12. He has Time Mage unlocked from the beginning, and that's a decent choice if you don't mind him
potentially casting a spell like Haste (he'll usually have taught himself it). I chose to turn him into an Oracle. He'll have
no trained skills in the class (unless you choose to give him some), have a large reduction in HP, and his PA will be
pretty bad. A perfect combination (well, for you, not him obviously)!

"Princess" is an interesting class, with two abilities in the skill set. Ovelia isn't a high enough level to do more than cast
a single spell from it, but she'll usually throw her MBarrier on herself, a skill that'll give her Haste, Regen, Reraise, Shell,
and Protect. She'll then usually jump onto a waterfall tile, making her difficult to hit. MBarrier is a pretty amazing ability,
one that is of course impossible for any of YOUR characters to get. Your foes will mostly take their time to focus on
you anyway, but it's good to know that for royalty, she can handle herself pretty well.

As mentioned, Delita is now a Holy Knight, with a skill set that mirrors Agrias, aside from still being able to use "Wish."
He's a bit braver then he used to be, and his Faith has taken a small hit (his original stats were Brave 71, Faith 55).
Technically he's "lost" Brave; The last time we left him at Fort Zeakden he should have left the battle with 78 Brave.
Oh well, it's not like turning into a Holy Knight doesn't more than make up for that.

Delita loses his Armor here to the Knight. You generally don't have to worry about your equipment being broken (most
of it is easily replaceable), but that was some pretty high quality stuff Delita was wearing. I'd be pretty mad right now
probably if I were him.

I also wanted to quickly point out that Delita's Zodiac sign is a Sagittarius, like our Ramza. This is coincidence, his
Zodiac sign is always Sagittarius. Still, it makes me wonder why they never played around with Delita's sign. I think
they missed an opportunity to add a small level of companionship or rivalry, depending on how you want to portray
Delita's relationship with Ramza. Incidentally, Princess Ovelia is a Taurus, which sounds like another lost opportunity to
me. If anyone can point out some interesting Zodiac (in)compatibilities, feel free to, but in this game the birthdays and
character relationships don't seem to have too much connection.



Amusingly, Gafgarion was taken out by a counter attack by Sissie. I was a little surprised, but without any armor and a
very poor HP multiplier (because of the Oracle class) I guess this was to be expected. We see him teleport away
mysteriously, just like Wiegraf did back at the Windmill Shed battle. You'll see this escape trick used multiple times over
the course of the the game. Where they get this mystery Teleport ability is unknown! I guess it's slightly more elegant
than limping off the battlefield...

Briefly about the battlefield: The upper portion of the map is generally inaccessible to those without a high Jump value.
No enemies appear up there in this battle, but they could have been real jerks if they had thrown some Archers up
there. The easiest way up is via the right side near where Delita starts, so you're unlikely to take a trip up there this
battle. The bridge is a pretty effective choke point if you choose to use it, there's enough rocks below the bridge to
make your way across without too much trouble. The spaces on the waterfall are probably the safest squares on the
map, with one accessible via the bridge (you can see that Ovelia has used it here). This is really a map where you can
take advantage of the terrain during random battles if you choose to.

I'd like to take some time to talk about my would-be favorite class now: the Lancer!

Lancer

Can I rant for a second here?

Lancers are clearly "Dragoons." I LIKE the term "Dragoons." Numerous Final Fantasies after Final Fantasy Tactics were
just peachy keen happy with calling em "Dragoons" even over "Dragon Knights", so why did they decide that for FFT,
they were going to call them "Lancers."

I don't care that real "Dragoons" were mounted infantry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragoon) in real life. All I care
about is that my favorite Final Fantasy IV character, Kain, was a goddamn Dragoon, not a "Lancer." Who cares if his
Jump skill is kind of bad, the ability is a frickin' awesome idea. I love Dragoons no matter what game they appear in,
because jumping super high into the air and spearing an enemy is totally bad-ass.

The only thing that would make Dragoons more awesome is if they followed the lead of FFIV's Kain, and leaped at their
opponents head first.

Ultra bad-ass.

Alright. So, "Lancers" in FFT. They're very similar to Knights, wearing Heavy Armor but trading Swords for Spears. Their
class skill, "Jump" causes the unit to leap into the air for a period of time before falling back, dealing increased damage.
This damage is also increased by 50% if the jumper is using a spear, which we have already established you are, be-
cause you're a Dragoon, and Dragoons do that.

Sadly, as much as I love Dragoons, this class is even worse than the Archer for worthless abilities. "Level JumpX"
determine how far away you can jump, while "Vertical JumpX" determine the difference in height your character can
stand. For example, a character with Level Jump4 and Vertical Jump5 can Jump on any opponent who is at most four
squares away who is not on a platform that is more than five squares higher or lower than the Jump'er. The abilities
are not additive; the game simply takes the highest Jump skills you have. Thus, if you get Level Jump8, there is no
reason to get Level Jump2 through 5, and likewise for Vertical Jump8.

Still, this is kind of a good deal; 1800JP to 'master' a class's skill set is pretty cheap!



Prerequisite: Lv. 3 Thief
Weapon: Spear, Shield
Helmet: Armored Helmet
Armor: Armor, Robe

Move: 3
Jump: 4
Physical Evasion Rate: 15%

Skills to get: Level Jump 8, Vertical Jump 8

Class Skill: Jump
Level Jump2: Allows you to jump 2 panels horizontally.
JP Cost: 150
(Okay, so we've already established that you just need Level Jump8 and Vertical Jump8 right?)

Level Jump3: Allows you to jump 3 panels horizontally.
JP Cost: 300
(So let's talk about the Jump skill a bit. It's treated like physical attack, so abilities like Defense UP and Protect help
reduce its damage, while units that are Charging or Sleeping take extra damage.)

Level Jump4: Allows you to jump 4 panels horizontally.
JP Cost: 450
(Spears are of course the best weapon to use, but any high PA unit can deal nice damage with this skill.)

Level Jump5: Allows you to jump 5 panels horizontally.
JP Cost: 600
(Weapon Power is an important stat when dealing damage, as always, but while some weapons deal damage based on
things like a user's Speed or Brave, there's none of that with Jump, barehanded jumps aside.)

Level Jump8: Allows you to jump 8 panels horizontally.
JP Cost: 900
(Therefore weapons such as Knives and Ninja Swords don't account for Speed in calculating damage, nor does Brave
matter for Jumping with Knight Swords and Katanas. Hammers are also a good choice because of their high PA.)

Vertical Jump2: Allows you to jump 2 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 100
(If you don't understand the math, let's just say that Jump damage will be higher with Knives and Ninja Swords as long
as a character's Speed is less than the Weapon Power of the weapon, and Knight Sword and Katana damage will
always be higher until a character's Brave = 100.)

Vertical Jump3: Allows you to jump 3 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 200
(Jump's damage formula, for those who want to know, is a simple PA * WP, whose damage is increased by 50% if a
unit is using a spear. Barehanded it's [(PA * Br)/100 * PA]. Math!)



Vertical Jump4: Allows you to jump 4 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 300
(Of course, the hardest part is calculating when a unit lands. You can't use the CT menu like you can with spells. The
CTR for Jump isn't set in stone; This ability is based on the unit's Speed!)

Vertical Jump5: Allows you to jump 5 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 400
(Calculating CTR of the Jump skill is simple: 50/speed. Round down, always. This is true for all calculations in FFT as
far as I know. Make sure your targeted unit won't be taking a turn before then!)

Vertical Jump6: Allows you to jump 6 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 500
(This CTR value is unaffected by Short Charge or Haste, but Haste is still useful because the unit still gains "Clockticks"
while in the air. A Hasted Jumper will land with a short duration until his next action.)

Vertical Jump7: Allows you to jump 7 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 600
(Miscellaneous Info about the Jump skill: Any elemental properties of the equipped weapon are ignored, and the attack
cannot be evaded.)

Vertical Jump8: Allows you to jump 8 panels vertically.
JP Cost: 900
(Finally, abilities such as Attack UP or Martial Arts have no effect on the damage! Equip your highest PA weapon and go
to town!)

Reaction Ability:
Dragon Spirit: Protection from death (Add: Raise. Trigger: Physical Attack).
JP Cost: 560
(This can be a very powerful ability, but keep in mind that magic effects won't trigger it. You trigger it yourself via a
clonk on the head from a magic user at the start of the battle if fighting mostly magical units. Remember that
Reraised units only get 10% of their HP back!)

Support Ability:
Equip Spear: Equip spear regardless of Job.
JP Cost: 400.
(Spears are nothing special outside of the Lancer class, aside from their two range reach. One of the most powerful
weapons in the game IS a spear however...)

Move Ability:
Ignore Height: Jump to any height regardless of jumping ability.
JP Cost; 700
(Well, Teleport is strictly better. It's therefore hard to recommend using this ability.)



Without Gafgarion, this battle more or less turns into a slaughter, even if Delita loses his sword (and thus, his ability to
use his Holy Sword attacks). Knights are kind of the "go to" class when you want some generic thugs in this game, and
as much as I like them, their lack of a good ranged attack really shines through in battles like this.

More importantly, I want to talk a little bit about what's just gone on story-wise here. I've been saying thus far that
Ovelia is Prince Larg's best route to power, but this latest chapter shines a bigger spot-light on how exactly Larg was
planning on using her. I mentioned last time that Ovelia's route to the throne was cut off due to Orinas, and now we
kind of get an idea as to how Larg is planning on using Ovelia.

Throwing Ovelia on the throne is no longer his intention. It might have been before Prince Orinas was born, but now he
has to ramp up the stakes. Remember that Parliament feared his close relationship to the Queen Ruvelia (who, as you
may remember, no one likes), so they gave guardianship of Orinas to his rival Goltana. It's never outright explained, but
I believe Larg's plan (or if Delita is right, Dycedarg's) was to make it look like Goltana was trying to bump off Ovelia.
Larg's close involvement with her was certainly on purpose, to connect himself to Ovelia, so if she was kidnapped and
killed, Goltana's reputation would surely sour, and guardianship of Orinas would likely be passed... to Larg.

This of course raises the question of what the heck Delita is doing here. We can assume the thugs from the beginning
of the game were not Goltana's men, but how does this explain Delita's actions? It's very unlikely that he was part of
the plan with Gafgarion. His involvement still raises more questions and answers.




With the Princess tucked safely away, we can start waiting the battle out for crystals. Delita is still hitting like a truck
due to his high PA stat. It was actually an emergency Teleport by Ramza to block the remaining enemy Knight from
swiping my crystals; I got cheeky with Sullivan and had him smack Ramza with his rod. Well, like the fight with Algus at
Zeakden Fort, of course the lightning attack trigger and KO'ed Ramza. I was lucky enough to get Sissie to Phoenix
Down him (and even get a potion tossed his way) so he could Teleport to the bridge before the enemy Knight got a
turn.

I probably should have focused on taking Delita out too. Oh well, as long as I remember to keep that last Knight healed
it shouldn't b--



er...

MY CRYSTALS!

(Bonus Money: 5,700 Gil)

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







Delita: Think about it. Where would you take her after
making an enemy of the Hokuten? Crack Hokuten troops will
come here looking for you any time now.

Delita: Just where the hell do you plan on escaping to?

Ramza: W, well, I...

Delita: Think carefully.



Delita: So what about Goltana? No, he'd execute you just
to clear himself.





Delita (turning around): I'll leave the Princess with you a
little longer.









Ramza: ...





(Delita exits.)



Agrias: But are you sure you want to make Hokuten
an enemy?



Ramza: The queston is, now what should we do? Like
Delita said, nobody will help us...

Agrias: We can ask Cardinal Draclau for help.....



Ramza: Let's go. It's the only place for us.

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

to be continued...

(My crystals! *sob* You'll pay for this Delita!)

With Summoner at level 4, the next step to open the Bard class is to get Mediator to level 4. Mediator is kind of a
worthless class for Ramza what with his "Cheer Up" Squire skill, but we've already gotten a decent amount of JP what
with Junk being in the class. We'll probably have enough JP to hit level 4 in a couple of battles.

Ovelia meanwhile is technically in our party, but she won't be participating.. Feel free to take her equipment however;
she's wearing a Wizard Robe, which is a nice robe that adds a sweet +2 to a character's MA score, which is huge. I
gave it to Jessica, because she's not already amazing (that would be lying).



Ovelia comes with JP to spare, and for kicks you can learn the rest of the abilities in her class. There's no real point to
it (again, she won't be participating in any battles) except to see what it looks like when you master a class. She's the
best Princess ever!

We're off to see the Cardinal!

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

Zaland Fort City

(Scene: Ramza and Agrias head south to meet with Count
Draclau, the only individual they believe will be willing to
shelter Princess Ovelia from Prince Larg and Goltana's
schemes. While passing through Zaland, they encounter a
man on the run...)











Fencer: Don't care about your father? Just give us the
'holy stone' and we'll return him... OK guys, get him!





Mustadio: If he lays a hand on father he'll never see the
stone!

(Ramza's crew enters the scene.)







Ramza: Let's help!

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

LP OVER! Thanks for your support! It's been great! I'm already working on my next LP, and let's just say that it's one
that I don't think you'll have any objection to it!

...

...

... so this decision you make at the start. The first choice sets the victory conditions to eliminating all enemies, while
the second makes it so Mustadio has to stay alive. The problem with the second option is that there are two Wizards
who start pretty close to Mustadio. If they each decide to nail him with Black Magic, the chances of him surviving are
slim. Complicating the whole matter is that your team starts at the other end of the map, and you're very unlikely to be
able to toss a Cure spell or Item in the middle of successive magic attacks.

I think the natural instinct is to choose the second option, but if you're having trouble keeping Mustadio alive, don't feel
bad choosing option 1. Choosing the first option gives everyone in your group +5 Brave for the battle, while option 2
gives your party (and Agrais and Mustadio) +10 Brave. The extra Brave is nice, but you run the risk of watching
Mustadio fall while you watch helplessly.




Maybe you don't like Mustadio, but I'm quite fond of him, so option 2 it is! As long as at least one of the Wizards
decides you'll make a better target than him, you should have time to throw him a Cure. Agrais will sometimes draw
Fire, which is the ideal situation. Unfortunately, due to the way that "CT tie breaks" are worked out, the enemy units
will likely move before any of yours, so you won't likely have the chance to move one of your own units in range.

Regardless, remember that option 1 makes the battle significantly easier, and you still get a minor reward!

The map itself is divided by a wall that can be crossed on either side of the map. The enemy Archers and Wizards are
going to be pretty content to stand behind it, so you'll have to cross it with at least a few characters. Attacking the
wall from the corner that Mustadio sits at is the easiest; the enemy Knights will often make it difficult for the Wizards
to target your units (without hitting their own), and it also puts you in a good position to heal Mustadio. In addition,
the terrain near the wall corner is somewhat uneven, making it difficult for the Wizards to hit multiple units.




The nature of the map makes using units like Knights and Lancers unattractive, but Jean's lone Monk skill Earth Slash
ensures he's kicking ass even before he enters melee. This fight is also made for Summoners, as it often positions two
or more enemy units next to each other. You'll find your own Archers difficult to use without a movement ability like
Teleport or a high Jump value; the wall makes using crossbows pretty much impossible while your own bows will be out-
ranged by the enemies.

Mustadio is going to be spending the battle picking off weak enemies with his incredible range. He is unlikely to venture
too far away from the corner of that wall. While they're trying to kill him, his AI is not set to 'hide in a corner' like the
Chocobo in Battle 12 was like. It goes without saying that having a means to cure his HP is quite important if you're
going the "Save Mustadio" route.

Once you get past surviving the opening salvo, this fight isn't that hard. The Wizards are a threat as always, but the
enemy Knights will find it as difficult to fight on this map as your own (amusingly, one of the enemy Knights spawned
with some Geomancer skills, which while a range attack, has problems deal with this map's rough terrain). The Archers
themselves, while pests, are the least threatening units on the map.



I commented in some of the replies about using Jump effectively. We can see in the first image that the Knight is going
to get smacked by it here for certain, as his CT is only 4. Since Jump takes 50/Speed CTR to resolve, an enemy unit
with less than 50 CT is likely not to get its turn before the Jump resolves. The exceptions are classes with a bonus to
speed (Ninjas, Thieves, Priests, and Monks), who might be faster than your Lancer. Seventy-two damage is pretty
huge, especially considering the enemy has no chance to evade it.

Of course, I suppose that pales in comparison to the over 250 damage Jessica did with Ifrit earlier but whatever! It's
not a competition!

Play of the map came when one of the enemy Wizards targeted Ramza (who was down below the cliff) with a Fire 2
spell. Meanwhile, one of the enemy Archers decided to take some shots at our Summoner, Jessica. It put them in a
position that allowed Ramza to teleport in between them. You can't see the Wizard here, but he's directly behind Ramza
getting hit by his own spell.

Let's get to discussing our next class!

Mediator

Mediators fill a very niche role in Final Fantasy Tactics. On their own, they're not particularly good. Their offensive abil-
ities like Threaten and Mimic Daravon are trumped by the Oracle class's Yin Yang magic, their multipliers and growths are
average at best, and their best abilities hover around a 50% success rate.

However, there's simply no other class that can pull off some of the stuff that a Mediator can. It's the only class that
can Invite units (with one narrow exception), and it's also the only class that can raise a unit's Faith value. Thus, you
almost always want at least one hanging around to make your guys more awesome.

One of the best things about Mediators is that they can equip guns, a weapon that only Chemists otherwise can use.
Guns aren't very powerful (and don't get stronger as you gain PA or MA), but their range is incredible. If you ever
enjoyed using the Knight's Battle Skill with an Archer, you'll love using it with a firearm! While not an amazing combo, it
lets you play a pretty sweet 'keep away' game with enemies while you whittle their strength down.

As mentioned, Mediators have poor stat growth, particularly their magical ability. Their Talk skills all use MA for a minor
boost to success rates, so if you aren't interested in using this class, keep in it long enough to grab the four Brave/
Faith modifying skills and turn your unit into a high MA unit like a Wizard or Time Mage. It may only result in increas-
ing your success rate by a few more percentage points, but that's still potentially a lot of saved time.

Just remember that Brave and Faith have boundaries!



Prerequisite: Lv. 2 Oracle
Weapons: Knife, Gun
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes, Robe

Move: 3
Jump: 4
Physical Evasion Rate: 5%
Inherent Support: Monster Talk

Skills to get: Invitation, Praise, Threaten, Preach, Solution

Class Skill: Talk Skill
Invitation: Word skill tricks enemy into becoming an ally (Add: Invitation).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 100
(The only way to get a non-dragon character to switch sides. While the characters you gain won't tend to be anything
special, you can at the very least strip the equipment off a human unit either for gil or personal use.)

Persuade: Word skill used to ask enemy to wait its turn to act. Resets the CT count.
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 100
(Kind of like a reverse Quick. The success rate is pretty low however, so best to avoid it.)

Praise: Word skill raises Brave level by complimenting the target and raising their confidence (Brave +4).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(Ramza's 'Cheer Up' skill is much better at raising Brave values than this, but it's still a solid ability.)

Threaten: Word skill lowers Brave level by frightening target (Brave -20).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(Not as powerful as an Oracle's Foxbird, but your success rate will always be really high. Potentially useful to draw out
a battle or to knock down the success rate of an enemy reaction ability. You'll also want this for late in the game...)

Preach: Word skill used to raise Faith by preaching the miracles of God (Faith +4).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(This is the ONLY skill in the game that raises Faith, so get it!)

Solution: Word skill used to lower Faith by preaching about other secular theories (Faith -20).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(While perhaps not as effective as simply outright killing an enemy unit, hitting an enemy with this skill effectively
reduces the amount of magic damage they'll deal substantially. Making at least one unit with an incredibly low Faith
can be awesome against certain units as well. Has a high success rate like Threaten.)

Death Sentence: Word skill foretells the enemy's death (Add: Death Sentence).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 500
(I'm not a fan of Death, so it should come as no surprise that I'm even less of a fan of a skill that has a lower success
rate.)



Negotiate: Word skill used to negotiate with enemy and receive gil.
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 100
(You can be doing so much more than stealing gil with a Mediator.)

Insult: Word skill used to upset enemy with curses and abuse (Add: Berserk).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 500
(Berserk is kind of a risky status ailment, but good against enemy casters. A 50% success rate isn't great, but neither
is getting nuked in the face. Still, Solution is probably the more reliable choice.)

Mimic Daravon: Word skill used to put enemy asleep with boring stories (Add: Sleep).
Range: 3,3. Effect: 2,3. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 500
(Not great; the success rate is a little lower than the Oracle version, but potentially a little easier to hit multiple
enemies with. Sleep is a great status effect, so you'll probably want this eventually.)

Reaction Ability:
Finger Guard: Evade word attacks (Trigger: word skills).
JP Cost: 300
(You can count the number of Mediators you fight in the entire game on one hand, and still have enough digits to flip
this skill off.)

Support Abilities:
Equip Gun: Equip gun regardless of Job.
JP Cost: 750
(Expensive, but guns are extremely long range weapons that cannot be evaded, and deal damage regardless of PA or
MA. Magic users will likely want a Support Ability like the Time Mage's Short Charge, but they can be pretty effective
long distance attacks with this skill.)

Train: When enemy becomes terminal, force them into becoming allies.
JP Cost: 450
(This skill only works on monsters! Therefore, not worth it in the least.)

Monster Talk: Speak with monsters and use 'Word Skill' even if not a Mediator.
JP Cost: 100
(Characters with the Talk skill are out of luck without this ability when trying to Preach to monsters. Darn! Grab a
Dragon or Tiamat and forget about this skill.)



With our lovely Summoner showing off her Weapon Guard skills above, cleverly using her rod to deflect an arrow, I
thought I could take a bit of time to better explore evasion in FFT.

Evasion

Physical Evasion in FFT comes in 4 flavors:

• Class
• Shield
• Accessories
• Weapon Guard

Most of these we've already covered, but to be brief, Class Evasion changes depending on what class a unit is. Dexter-
ous units like Thieves and Monks get a bonus to evade, while more bookish classes like Wizards and Mediators get a
paltry 5%. While Squires have a base 5% as well, many special units (like Ramza, or the newly joined Mustadio) have a
high class evasion (10 and 18% respectfully). Shield evasion differs depending on the shield, with better shields tending
to have better evasion values. Accessories known as "Mantles" can give evasion as well. Finally, units using the
Knight's Weapon Guard have evasion based on their weapon.

When being attacked in battle, which evasion can trigger depend on what direction a character is facing:

Front: All evasion sources apply.
Side: Only Shield, Accessories, and Weapon Guard count!
Back: Only Accessory evade counts here!

Thus, while attacking from behind is always preferred, you will find that attacking from the side is just as effectively
against most non-shield using enemies.

While determining position with a melee attack is easy, ranged attacks from Bows and the like can be much trickier to
figure out, but can be simplified by referring to the below image; Height has no factor in determining evasion!

While most attacks assume a 100% success rate, some like the Knight's Battle Skill have a success rate that is much
lower. You can tell the difference between an attack that misses and one that is evades based on the small message
that pops up on a character.

Adding your sources together will give you pretty inconsistent numbers, because evasion is multiplicative, not additive.
For the math related, here are the equations, as found in the almighty Battle Mechanics FAQ:

from front:
hit% = [(base hit%) * (100 - Class Evade)*(100 - Shield Evade) * (100 - Accessory Evade) * (100 - Weapon Guard
Evade) / (100,000,000)]

from side:
hit% = [(base hit%) * (100 - Shield Evade) * (100 - Accessory Evade) * (100 - Weapon Guard Evade) / (1,000,000)]

from rear:
hit% = [(base hit%) * (100- Accessory Evade) / 100]

Thus, a Knight (Class Evade: 10%) with a Mythril Shield (Shield Evade: 22%), a Leather Mantle (Accessory Evade:
15%) and using Weapon Guard with a Mythril Sword (Weapon Guard Evade: 8%) being attacked would have the
following Evade percentages when being attacked by your average blow (remember, drop decimals!):

Front:
[ 100 * (100 - 10) * (100 - 22) * (100 - 8) * (100 - 15) ] / 100,000,000
= 54% success rate (46% evade rate)

Side:
[ 100 * (100 - 22) * (100 - 8) * (100 - 15) ] / 1,000,000
= 60% success rate (40% evade rate)

Rear:
[ 100 * (100 - 15) ] / 100
= 85% success rate (15% evade rate)



Magical Evasion is a bit easier to calculate, because only two sources count, Shields and Accessories, and positioning
doesn't matter. Shields protect you from a Wizard that's behind you as much as they do when the same Wizard is in
front of you (or, no where to hide):

hit% = [(base hit%) * (100 - Shield Evade) * (100 - Accessory Evade) / 10000]

These percentages count against both magic that damages AND magic that causes status effects.

The same Knight trying to evade a spell would have a 5% Evade from his Mythril Shield, and 15% from his Leather
Mantle. Thus if he was attacked with a spell like Fire 3, he would evade the damage 20% of the time (the Wizard would
have an 80% success rate). Dodging A Frog spell from the same Wizard (for the sake of simplifying, assuming the Wiz-
ard has a 63% chance of success under non-evasion conditions) would have its success rate dropped to 50%.

You can do the math yourself!

There are many different things that affect evasion:

• Defending doubles all evasion values (The Ninja's "Abandon" does the same thing, on a more permanent basis.)
• Guns ignore evasion, but skills used from guns do not! Reaction abilities like the Samurai's Blade Grasp however still work,
• Bows and Crossbows have a harder time hitting in nighttime conditions. All evasion percentages are increased by roughly 33%!
• Zodiac compatibility has no effect on evasion, but for many spells does effect the chance of hitting!

That was lengthier than I intended! The battle is now over! Mustadio is going to be our new guest character. I can't
wait until these guest characters leave so I can once again use characters I actually want to use

I think we're going to do one more battle before I make another supplementary post. I hope all this talk about evasion
was a hit! If you've got any other particular game mechanic questions you'd like answered, please let me know!

Next time on Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics: Summon spells work just as well on us apparently! See you next update!

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

Bonus Money: 7,000 Gil
War Trophies: 2,000 Gil, Mythril Sword, Hi-Potion

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

(Scene: Mustadio has taken Ramza and his group to a
secluded building to talk. It seems he's involved in
something rather large...)





Mustadio: They're a criminal syndicate into everything
from smuggling and slavery.

Ramza: Why were they after you?

Mustadio: You know why they call us mechanics?

Agrias: I hear a 'lost civilization' is hidden under Goug....



Agrias: But time passed, technology was lost, and no one
knows if it ever really existed.

Mustadio: But the civilization must have existed. Parts
from many airships and machines are buried under Goug.
Mechanics are the ones who restore the 'past legacies'.



Mustadio: Oh, this?



Mustadio: This is the most simple one. They say you used
to be able put magic in it and shoot it.

Ramza: Hmm.

Agrias: Why's Bart Company after you?

Mustadio: You said you were going to see the Cardinal. He
was a hero of the Fifty Year War. People in Lionel still think
of him as a hero. My father, too. The Cardinal is the only
one who can unit this country.





Agrias: Why?

Mustadio: To save my father! The Cardinal's the only one
who can rescue him from Bart!



Agrias: You still haven't told us why they're after you!

Mustadio: ... I can't tell you now.

Agrias: Then we can't take you.

Mustadio: I beg you! Trust me! I must see the Cardinal!



(Ovelia walks up to the trio. Ramza and Agrias kneel as she
approaches.)







(Mustadio cowers backwards and awkwardly kneels.)



(Agrias and Ramza turn towards Mustadio as they stand.)





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

to be continued...