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

No. No no no. That's too stupid to be true... just like half of the other changes. Dammit!

1) goblin
2) goblin
3) goblin

At least it's not malrbolo.

1) Trent

2) Mindflare

3) Cocatoris

As an aside, I think some monsters get a lot better once they've had a chance to level up some. Gobbledygaks can be pretty good! But overall I think the ability to use monsters was added at the last minute. At some point having 3 Move is just unbearable.

Gobbledegucks have a middling HP, above average speed (but not incredibly higher than most monsters), average PA, middling MA, and their evasion (20%) is trumped by several creatures.

The only reason you'd realistically use a Gobbledeguck is for its skills.

They have the following:

• Tackle - basic monster attack hampered by their average PA
• Goblin Punch - an attack that deals damage equal to the Guck's (Max HP - Current HP). Has ~45% chance of landing.
• Eye Gouge - Darkness attack with ~55% chance of working.
• Mutilate (Monster Skill) - Drain target of 75% of their max HP, with a success rate of about ~40%.

On their own, Gobbledegucks are pretty terrible. If you're lucky, they have a chance of dealing some big damage, but again remembering that Monster Skill is a bit wonky to use.

I just don't think the entire package really adds up when you compare them to other monsters.

- Eddie

I remember those having better success rates. Might have been zodiac I guess.

Monster type (name)

1 Zoidberg (Zoidberg!)
2 Hydra (Octopus Prime)
3 Marlboro (Flavor Country)

Also strongly encouraging that the monster's Zodiac sign be Cancer.

I second that.

Thirded

That's too awesome not to fourth, but I also recognize that it might be annoying to pull off...

Just watch me.

- Eddie

Welcome back! Our destination today is Goug Machine City. By now, Count Draclau should have mopped up those mean
ol' Bart Company folks, and Mustadio can reunite with his father!

... surely?

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

Goug Machine City

(Scene: The sun is setting in Goug, as citizens move
around as normal. But where is the commotion? Surely
Bart Company didn't go willingly? Ramza and Mustadio
enter the scene.)





Mustadio: It doesn't even look like there was a fight...
Something's strange...





Ramza: All right. Be careful.

Mustadio: Right. Leave it to me.

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

No fight? We're pushed back into the overworld map, with the only direction being back to the swamp we just came
from. Well, it's no surprise that we won't be leaving the area quietly. I'm not 100% sure why they give you this break
between the last cutscene and the battle, but you can at least use it to stock up on some items. You can also take on
a pub proposition if you want, but I wouldn't recommend using anyone you want to use in the upcoming battle.



Goug's weapon supply is pretty meager, but they do sell Romanda Gun's (like the one Mustadio uses) here if you think
you'll want more than one. There's a number of new accessories that I forgot to mention in stores now too, and Goug
(like every city) will carry the latest. Amongst them you can now purchase Rubber Shoes (makes a character immune
to "Don't Move" and Lightning abilities), Defense Armlet (immunity to "Don't Move" and "Don't Act") and best of all,
Wizard Mantles!

Wizard Mantles are great for your casters, giving them an extra 18% evade (both physical AND magical) along with a
nice +1 MA bonus! This is an absolute steal for 2000 gil. Giving up +1 Move hurts, but MA is king for casters. Wizard
Mantles aren't the best accessories for casters (Women in particular can get an extremely nice perfume later) but
they're excellent for this point in the game.

Let's get this rescue party started! (i.e. try and move outside the city)

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

Slums in Goug

(Scene: night has fallen. Ramza arrives to meet Musatadio,
but the Engineer is nowhere to be seen.)









Ramza: Who are you?

Rudvich: Give me the "Holy Stone". Then you can have him
back.



Rudvich: Won't talk huh? Even after seeing this?





Rudvich: Put him in there!



(The thug pushes Besrodio into the building underneath
Mustadio.)







(Rudvich turns to Ramza.)

Rudvich: Well then, you pick it up! If you want to save his
life!

(Ramza drops down to the chimney.)





(The stone glints. Ramza climbs back on top of the fallen
windmill he was on.)

Ramza: Let them go!!



Rudvich: Throw the stone! Then, we'll let them go!

(Ramza tosses the stone to Rudvich.)



(Mustadio rushes forward and meets Ramza.)

Rudvich: The Zodiac Stone!'



(Rudvich turns.)

Rudvich: Good job. I'm done now.



(Rudvich exits.)



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

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Summoners are dangerous. This is the second time you'll fight them in the game
(barring a extremely rare random battle), and while they're not as powerful as the ones you've faced on Barius Hill, the
terrain is much more in these Summoner's favour. The most obvious way for your characters to go is through the
middle, but sending too many too quickly is going to get you nailed by successive summon spells (you can see Sissie
eat it here).

The other enemy units on the map won't be a huge problem. The two Archers should be jokes at this point; their
damage won't have scaled to the amount of HP a lot of your units will now have thanks to newer equipment. Whereas
before their attacks might be 1/3 to 1/4 of your unit's HP, now the damage they deal will be closer to 1/5 or 1/6th,
which means that you can more or less save them for last. The Thieves' most dangerous move will be to potentially
Steal Heart one of your units. They're both male, so try to keep the ladies away from them.

Mustadio is in this battle with you as a guest, but he'll stripped of all his equipment (whether you take it from him
beforehand or not). At best, he'll randomly Arm Aim or Leg Aim one of the Thieves. At worst, he'll be killed by one hit
from each of them. It may sound cruel to let him lie in the mud, bleeding, while it rains, but without a Gun he's not
worth reviving.



Like Barius Hill, there is not much else to the map past beating the Summoners, and like Barius Hill, they won't have
enough MP to get off more than two Summon spells. Because of this, your best bet is to move one of your units on top
of the fallen building (the one with the weather vane) to draw out a summon spell from each. It's likely this will kill your
unit, but one with a low enough Faith (and a bit of luck) can potentially survive it, as Junk did.

Since I had Sissie in the party (albeit, KO'd so early) I figured I'd go a bit wild with my magic. Shiva brought a single
Archer to critical status (somewhat of a waste of 24mp), while Sullivan blew almost all of his MP to Bolt 4 both Thieves
that were crowding around Mustadio. I got a lot of these "spoken word" spells this battle. They're essentially randomly
displayed, with a 15% of them appearing. Some of them are pretty cool (I like the Dispel Magic one) but the Bolt 4 one
is... well, no one ever accused this game of having a great translation.

Incidentally, aside from magic, Samurai "Draw Out" attacks can sometimes "quote," as do half the Monk abilities. Most
enemy spells (ones that are unavailable to your units) have quotes as well. I'm going to do my best to get a screenshot
of the enemy "Toad 2" spell, it'd certainly be worth it.



Sullivan deals 242 damage to one of the Thieves, which I'm marking in the "pretty awesome" category. I also want to
clear up a mistake I believe I made; simple "rain" isn't enough to produce a damage boost on Lightning spells, a claim I
believe I made before. It's only if there is thunder and lightning (the weather, not the magic) that will produce the
damage boost. Incidentally, fire damage is weakened under the same conditions. The wide discrepancy in damage being
dealt to these two thieves can be chalked up to Zodiac meddling (compatibility wise).

Because it's night however, there IS a penalty for people who try and use bows or crossbows. Attempting to hit a unit
with either in such conditions increases the target's evasion chance by roughly 33%. Yet another reason why the
Archers on this map are kind of terrible.

SPOILER: 242 damage is only the second highest amount of HP a unit loses in one go on this map.




I don't really like Ramza's "Wish" skill, but it saved Sullivan's ass here. Sullivan was the only one alive who could actually
revive Sissie (who took two too many Summon spells earlier) and was being targeted by another Summon that would
likely kill him. With both dead, reviving them would be impossible. Luckily Ramza came in for the save, ensuring Sullivan
could revive Sissie next turn.

Still, I think I'm going to thank Teleport instead for getting me there. Wish: no respect.

After Sullivan survived Shiva, the enemy Summoners found themselves with too little MP to nuke me with any more
Espers (or whatever they call summoned beasts in this game), so the battle form here was pretty much a done deal.
With Sissie Charka'ing, Jessica Mooglin', and Sullivan tossing the occasional potion, the enemy Archers and Thieves had
little chance of actually dealing enough damage to threaten me.

Why, they'd have to do something crazy like Charm Sissie.



Well played game.



NOT.

(Borat is still cool, right?)

And now, our next performer: The Bard!

Bard

Bards (and their female counterparts, Dancers) have it rough in FFT. Each is locked by spending some time deep in their
respective trees (the Chemist/magic classes side for males, the Squire/physical classes for females). The classes both
mirror each other, with the Dancer using her skills offensively, while the Bard uses his in a more defense/supportive
manner. The Bard's strength is in slowly buffing your entire party over the course of a battle. While many classes have
big moves that can neutralize (or outright KO) an enemy, a Bard has to rely on his party to do the 'heavy' work: Their
only offensive ability a Bard has naturally is the regular ol' "Attack" command. Worst (or perhaps, best?) of all, from a
power gaming perspective, Bards have terrible growth nearly across the board.

Let's talk about the Bard's strengths: despite the semi-random nature of their ability (you can sometimes hit everyone,
no one, and some number in between), there's not really a class that can as easily raise stats such as PA, MA, and
Speed as quickly. Distance is no obstacle for a Bard either, so parking him in a corner and letting him sing away is the
preferred tactic in most situations. Move +3 is also one of the best Move abilities in the game, one that females are
completely denied access to.

Bringing a Bard into a battle is kind of like bringing a Mediator. They're unlikely to play a major role, but they can make
your other four units powerhouses (the Mediator permanently, but slowly, the Bard temporarily, but immediately). How
good a Bard performs is really going to depend on your other units; the worse they are, the better that Bard can shine.



Prerequisite: Male units only, Lv. 4 Mediator, Lv. 4 Summoner
Weapon: Harp
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes

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

Skills to get: Cheer Song, Move +3

Class Skill: Sing
Angel Song: Song for divine protection of an angel. Restores MP.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 6. JP Cost: 100
(Restores the Bard's MA +20 MP to everyone, with a 100% success rate. Rarely worth it. I want to talk about
"Performing" a bit here. Performing is kind of like "Charging" an attack, with a few key differences.)

Life Song: Song about the greatness of life. Restore HP.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 6. JP Cost: 100
(Restores MA +10 HP to everyone, 100% success rate. Even worse! While performing, a character cannot evade
attacks, but will periodically use the ability you've selected.)

Cheer Song: Song about encouraging and cheering up someone. Raises Speed level.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 8. JP Cost: 100
(Gives everyone +1 Speed, 50% of the time. Best song there is, since everybody can use more Speed! When
performing, the Bard or Dancer will use the selected song/dance every X clock ticks, as indicated by the skill's "CTR",
or 'clockticks until resolution'.)



Battle Song: Song about battle. Raises physical attack power.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 8. JP Cost: 100
(Gives everyone +1 PA, 50% of the time. Potentially worth it if your group uses PA heavily. When the ability goes off,
the unit goes back to performing, meaning they'll activate the same song/dance X clockticks later.)

Magic Song: Song about laws of sorcery and origins of magic. Raises magic attack power.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 10. JP Cost: 100
(Gives allies +1 MA, 50% of the time. Like Battle song, except slightly slower to perform. Remember that clockticks
are how the game decides whose turn it is. Each clocktick the game goes through adds a character's Speed value to
their CT bar. When CT =100, that unit gets their turn.)

Nameless Song: Unknown song which has been handed down for generations. Various divine protection (Add one of the
following: Reraise, Regen, Protect, Shell, Haste).
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 10. JP Cost: 100
(Gives one of the above buffs, 50% of the time. Potentially amazing, but remember that unlike a Speed or PA +1
increase, most of these buffs will wear off. The only way to cancel a song or dance is to give the unit a new action
when their CT reaches 100, or for them to become incapacitated.)

Last Song: Ultimate song. Raises ally's CT count to 100.
Range: Auto. Effect: All Allies. CTR: 20. JP Cost: 100
(Raises everyone's CT to 100, 50% of the time. Potentially amazing, but the skill takes forever to complete! Songs and
Dances are not affected by the Time Mage's Short Charge nor the Silence debuff, but will not work on any unit that is
asleep, amusingly enough.)



Reaction Abilities
MA Save: Raise Magic attack power (MA +1; Trigger: HP damage).
JP Cost: 450
(From an offensive perspective, there are few abilities this good for casters who are looking to deal huge damage.
That said, most would likely be better served by with a more defensive Reaction Ability.)

Face Up: Raise Faith (Faith +3; Trigger: Magic Effect).
JP Cost: 500
(Only triggers on effects that use Faith themselves. Hard to recommend; use a Mediator instead to raise Faith.)

Move Abilities:
Move+3: Increase movement range by 3.
JP Cost: 1000.
(The debate for males, or at least my debate, is whether this is better than Teleport. On maps with relatively flat
terrain, Move +3 I think comes out on top pretty clearly, but certain maps really show how powerful Teleport is. It's
not hard to get both, so...)

Fly: Leap over enemies and obstacles.
JP Cost: 1200.
(Teleport is better than this in every single way, except one: you are immune to fall damage with this equipped. Fall
damage happens about once a game, so I think you can safely file this one under 'ignore.')



Not shown: many many turns of waiting around for the enemy to drop their crystals/chests. With Ramza and Junk
around, most of the party had their Brave or Faith raised to some degree. I'm proud to say that Sissie ended up at 91
Brave after the battle, a mere 6 points from 'capping' it. Sullivan also ended with a very respectable 80 Faith, and Junk
himself isn't looking to shabby with his new 69 Brave.

I tempted not to raise his Brave anymore, but I suspect I like Bill and Ted more than anyone should.




Sometimes you just have one of those moments, when the only correct action is unnecessarily to nuke someone into
oblivion for over twice their maximum HP.

With Bart's men dead, Mustadio's father should be rescue-able, and the battle will be over! I remind everyone who
hasn't yet to vote for ther three monsters they want to see used before the end of Chapter 2. It's still a number of
updates away (at the speed I update, I predict 2011), but it's still anyone's game right now. Here are the point totals
thus far:

Hydra: 17 points
Malaboro: 15 points
Zoidberg: 11 points
Behemoth: 10 points
Uribo: 6 points
Chocobo: 5 points
Dryad: 5 points
Cocatrice: 4 points
Goblins: 3 points
Minotaur: 3 points
Bomb: 3 points
Ahriman: 2 points
Skeleton: 2 points
Dragon: 1 point

These totals are UNOFFICIAL (i.e. my counting/math might be wrong). I took only the last 'vote' by someone, and
whenever a specific order was not mentioned it was assumed that the first monster named was your first choice,
second named was second choice, etc. I've recorded the following people as voting:

Shivam, Zef, Zeonus, ZRofel, Coinspinner, dtsund, Destil, Kirin, Nimling, Stiv, ThricebornPhoenix, PapillionReel, Lucas,
Ruik, Bongo Bill, Elfir

If you haven't yet, vote!

See you next time!

Bonus Money: 10,800 Gil
War Trophies: 100 Gil, Thunder Rod

(Scene: Inside the building, Mustadio lays at his father's
feet. Besrodio is injured, but will live.)



Besrodio: Don't worry about me.... They got the stone.
Rudvich'll try and revive the machines beneath Goug with
its power. He may even try to use the divine power in the
stones.



(Mustadio gets up.)

Besrodio: What do you mean?







(Mustadio puts the stone back.)



Mustadio: That's right. They must be going crazy now.





Ramza: He may take the Princess hostage.



Ramza: People are sick of long wars and political infighting.
Draclau wants to use the 'Zodiac Brave Story'. Creating
'Zodiac Braves by collecting holy stones, he can control the
world.



Ramza: Let's save the Princess and Agrais!

Mustadio: Right. But the way to Lionel is probably sealed.

Mustadio (Engineer)

Special characters, like Mustadio, are more or less judged solely on their unique class ability. Like Ramza's "Guts,"
Mustadio and other specials replace their Squire "Basic Skill" set with their own, but keep the Squire's Reaction,
Support, and Move abilities. Outside of their unique skill set (In Mustadio's case, "Snipe") special characters are no
different in battle than generic units. If you turn Mustadio into a Wizard, he'll be roughly as effective as other generic
male Wizards. Thus, while you can divorce Mustadio from his Snipe skill, you'd be treating him as little more than a
unique set of sprites. This isn't to say that "Snipe" is so amazing you'd want him to be using it as a Wizard, but simply
to highlight that if you want to use a Special Character effectively in battle, then play to their strengths, because their
ability isn't available elsewhere.

Mustadio's strength is that his small amount of Engineer skills are powerful, particularly when they can be used with a
long range weapon like a gun. A gun wielding, Snipe-ing Mustadio can reliably take out a unit every turn or two no
matter where they're hiding on the map, all while safely out of range of most other abilities. You can use "Snipe" with a
different ranged weapon like a Bow, but the skill set loses a lot of it's power the closer Mustadio has to move to use it.

Everyone and their mother will tell you that Mustadio shines as a Chemist, and they're right. Aside from naturally being
able to equip a gun, a Chemist perfectly compliments the long-range "keep away" game that Mustadio likes to play.
While most of the time Mustadio will be tossing "Arm Aim" around, the ability to move in an toss a life saving X-Potion or
Phoenix Down frees up the rest of the party to stock up on more offensive skills, knowing that Mustadio will be kicking
ass even if he never needs to dip into his Chemist skill set. Mediator is of course, another option (although not nearly
as good a one). If you want to keep Mustadio as an Engineer (which isn't a bad idea, since Mustadio has an excellent
Speed multiplier), try using the Knight's "Battle Skill" for some more fun with a gun.

I won't be using Mustadio in battles (this is a 'no-special character run' after all) but he'll be sticking around, since he's
necessary to recruit several other special characters later in the game.

Weapon: Gun
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes

Move: 3
Jump: 4
Physical Evasion Rate: 18%

Skills to get: Arm Aim, Gained JP Up, Move +1

Unique Skill: Snipe
Leg Aim: Damages enemy's legs making it impossible to move (Add: Don't Move).
Range: Weapon. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(Mustadio's skill set it short but powerful. Leg Aim and Arm Aim both have about a 55-60% chance to pin the enemy
with Don't Act or Don't Move.)

Arm Aim: Damages enemy's arms making it impossible to use weapons or cast spells (Add: Don't Act).
Range: Weapon. Effect: 1. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(Don't Act is certainly the more powerful choice, but Don't Move can have it's uses for making sure an enemy 'sticks'
around to get hit by a spell.)

Seal Evil: Petrifies the cursed Undead, turning it into stone (Add: Petrify).
Range: Weapon. Effect: 1; Undead only. CTR: Now. JP Cost: 200
(Seal Evil only works on the undead, but with over a 75% chance of working, Mustadio is basically the Undead's worst
nightmare. Petrify even prevents them from coming back to life!)

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

to be continued...

Ok, I know this is a no-special-characters run, and I don't know if they are as potentially broken as they are in the FFHacktics patches, but please show us some awesomeness with Rafa/Malak?

Look out! He looks... ill!

Great update! It is very fun to build a powerful all-Dancer group (Slow Dance!), but until you can get good evasion boosting gear and abilities there's a slight problem with anything that can move faster than a minotaur.

Bards have it quite a bit harder. In my last playthrough I made Ramza a mage and gave him Sing as a secondary mostly to make me laugh, but Speed Song builds the party's speed a little faster than Guts. (Unless it misses.)

I vote for the use of Chocobos just so you can show off their riding mechanics. Are there any Hydras at this point in the game anyway?

I lol'd. Rafa and Malak as the stock "useless characters" has been so ingrained in my mind over the years...

Though they aren't really bad outside of Truth and Un-truth - Rafa and Malak have +1 base MA and PA respectively, I think, and Rafa starts with low Brave so you don't have to Chicken someone repeatedly to get a Deep Dungeon item finder.

The Great Moogle is upon us! Hail Moogle! Hail Moogle!

Poor Mustadio. He shone in FFT thanks to his awesome Snipe abilities, which could seriously cripple foes and put a final note on the self-resurrecting Undeads. But the WotL release, with Balthier and his Sky Pirate abilities (which include Snipe, Steal, and the four-hit Barrage) made him completely pointless. I always pictured him just... tagging along on this grand quest, like an eager puppy, trying to prove he could still hang around with the Thunder Gods and Holy Knights.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Rafa is a good character, verging on great in WotL.

Oh man, I can not play those. I look at the list of changes and get so angry, argh.

Rafa is fun to use. WotL powered her up some, but not the way I would have done it -- a lot like the Hacktics patches. (I would have just decreased the vertical tolerance of her abilities, allowing you to target fewer squares more easily.)

I don't think Rafa and Malak (or Rapha and Marach if you prefer) are so bad that they're unusable. Their problem in FFT is that they are outclassed by pretty much every other special character. I can't comment on the WotL changes.

If they do have a plus, it's that unlike nearly every other special character, they don't require a sword to use their unique abilities. It's small comfort I guess.

PROTIP: You can lower Rafa's Faith if you want; her "Truth" attacks rely purely on her MA stat. Neither her nor her target's Faith enter the equation at any point.

- Eddie

The thing about them (though I can't speak for the original - only know of the patches, sadly) is that they're abilities stop with very small elevation changes and don't hit allies. In the right spot, an enemy can be hit multiple times easily, which is why I want to see them.

One of my most memorable specially-designed parties was Bard/Dancer/Samurai/Mime/Mime. If it survived for a round or two, things got disgusting pretty quickly.

I end up using Rafa quite a bit in any file that goes for the long haul. I'm sure I've spent vastly more time with Rafa than with Cloud or Meliadoul, who are technically better but end up being less notable.

Better use: prevent enemies from stealing your skill crystals. I'd actually argue that Don't Move is better against most monsters - Don't Act will make them run away, whereas Don't Move will prevent them from moving at all, which includes getting close enough to attack. This may not be as useful if you rely on short-range attacks, but who does that?

This has been my practical experience.

That's because Cloud is a hassle to bring up to speed, for very little return, and Mel... well, the LP will surely mention it when the time comes, but Mel could have been useful if she had joined up before another, more versatile character.

I agree.

- Eddie

Actually, I just think their skills are mostly useless. Not to mention that Cloud is stuck with a weak weapon if you want to use his mostly-useless skills; both need Equip Sword to use their skills in any but three classes. I almost prefer the pseudo-monsters over those two.