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

Responding to sexism with racism. Classy.

Erm... suuuure. :/

Japan is incredibly sexist though.
And Ivalice is incredibly racist. All of the generic units are Aryan except for the Monk!

And possibly the mimes.

I'm not saying all Japanese people are sexist or racist, but both isms are deeply embeded in eastern culture. (Plus it was meant to be somewhat sarcastic. Damn you, internets!)
We have some of the same problems here, we just talk about it more openly so we can feel better about ourselves.
Ssh, that's a secret to everybody.

Anyhoo, please don't let my offhand sarcasm turn this thread from a Let's Play into a sociological discussion. We have umpteen bajillion threads for that here.

The first time I fought Weigraf I had a friend warn me about him, so I went in as a Lancer with a Chameleon Robe and Float Boots. I took a Wave Fist, jumped, then when I came down he decided to come over and try to punch me in the face only to get a lance to the gut courtesy of Hamedo. One of the easiest fights in the game.

I love FFT and all but I always end up playing it the exact same way every time and that involves a ton of AP grinding. I don't know if there's another way since it just takes so long to learn everything! What are some good, off-beat parties/strategies to use to shake things up a bit?

You've just got to limit yourself. There's a ton of ways to play this game to make it more interesting. One way I suggest playing is to play the game, never being ahead in levels of the story battles, and banning calculator and Thief Steal EXP stupidity to keep your levels low.

This creates a situation where every 9-12 actions, you're going to be getting a level up, so your JP pool is always going to be artificially small, and couple with your (likely) lower than usual levels, the game is quite challenging.

- Eddie

This LP is like opening a big can of nerdsauce and digging in. I love it.

I need to learn to limit myself in FFT. I always go the grinding route, because that's The Bungle Way, but I also really enjoy games where grinding is undesirable/impossible (Vandal Hearts woo!*). It definitely makes you put a lot more thought into your battle strategies.

*Yes, I'm aware that there is one way to grind in Vandal Hearts, but it's incredibly tedious and it has the unwanted effect of making your offensive magic users quite weak, as the enemies level up along with the main character and their magic defense quickly outpaces the attacking power of your mages. And I do so love my mages!

I refuse to consider mimes as people.

At some point, you must win a battle with Ramza as a Bard and a troupe of Dancers. The dancers make it easy!

I thought that the battles leveled along with you, or am I remembering the wrong FFT?

The level-down trap in the desert would also be a no-no if I were trying to limit my levels and JP.

Random encounters do, but story battles don't.

My personal favorite is to play the game without using Cid and never grinding. I was so underleveled by the end of the game it was literally impossible for me to finish it, but I bet somebody with a different class mix could've done it.

All monsters do, even ones in story battles. That's why people tend to get gang raped by the Chocobo battle later in the game.

And as I recall, random battle humans increase their levels, butnot the quality of their equipment, so they'd still be using regular ol' dorky knives and staves after you've gotten all kinds of world-shattering weapons.

...or else I'm thinking of FFTA, where that happened.

That's the one. Enemy equipment levels up alongside them, so my primary objective when grinding wasn't mastering Jobs, but getting advanced weapons and armors early.

My Riovanes save file of WotL, at 52:13:04 and level 40, shows that I last fought Wiegraf with:

Ramza Lv 40
Samurai Lv. 2
Arts of War (Master)
Auto-Potion (but of course)
Dual Wield
Move+2
Ama-no-Murakumo x2, Crystal Helm, Diamond Armor, Germinas Boots

Agrias Lv 40
Thief Lv 4
Martial Arts (Master)
Counter
Brawler
Move+2
N/A, Gold Hairpin, Black Garb, Germinas Boots

Judye Lv 40 (F)
Samurai Lv 5
Geomancy (Master)
Shirahadori
JP Boost
Move+2
Ama-no-Murakumo, Diamond Helm, Diamond Armor, Germinas Boots

Sonata Lv 41 (F)
Ninja Lv 5
Jump (Horizontal and Vertical Jump 8 only)
Counter
JP Boost
Ignore Elevation
Flame Mace x2, Gold Hairpin, Power Garb, Germinas Boots

Welcome back! Before we continue, lets give our guys a few skills to make them a little more effective in combat.

With only one short battle in our favour, we haven't accumulated much JP to buy, well, much of anything! Ramza has
enough to learn Gained Jp UP (which increases JP gained by 25%) so we'll give that to him.



The plan is to learn Gained JP UP and Move +1 for all our Squires and Chemists before transfering them into the next
tier of classes (Knights, Archers, Priests, and Wizards). None of my squires were lucky enough to start with Throw
Stone, and since I'm not sticking around for Accumulate I'm only going to learn Throw Stone for those who just happen
to have the JP, and will throw the Chemist's "Item" skill into the second slot. Everyone has enough JP to learn Potion
and Phoenix Down, and that's good enough secondary skill set for now.

The Chemists (Sullivan and Jessica) become Squires too to learn Gained Jp UP and Move +1 too; They're both Level 2
Chemists, so Priest and Wizard are open to them. We teach them Bolt and put Black Magic as their secondary skill.
They currently only have enough MP to cast a single spell, but it's likely to be more useful right now than item, given
that the rest of our team can handle the healing.



Some of our squires do qualify to become Knights or Archers, but it requires more JP than they have to learn a useful
skill from either class.

Our trip to Igros Castle is delayed when we run into some trouble on the Mandalia Plains! For this battle we can only
take three other cadets aside from Ramza. We'll take in Junk and Tabatha since we made them warm the bench last
fight, and take Jean along since he is the furthest from level 2.

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

Mandalia Plains

(Scene: a lone cadet kneels at the mercy of a band of
thieves.)



Thief 2: Don't be stupid. We just need to get the Marquis.

Thief 1: Right (he glances at Algus). Hey, don't blame us.
Blame fate.

(The Hadouken Knights enters the field.)

Thief 2: Wha? Damn! The Hokuten knights!

Delita: Death corps? They attacking someone?



Ramza: Get them!

Delita: Are you mad Ramza? Leaving him stranded!?

Ramza: Is this how you fight?

Delita: ...I'll save him.



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

This battle gives you two options at the start of the fight. The first choice gives everyone on your side a temporary
+10 Brave for the fight (including Algus and Delita, even he does complain about it), and sets the victory condition to
killing all your enemies.

Choosing the second option changes the victory condition to "Save Algus" (don't let him drop to zero hit points) and...
no stat boost. This ain't Ogre Battle, there is no consequence to this action except perhaps making the fight a little
harder.



The enemy force consists of four squires, a thief, and a Red Panther. None of them are likely to have any means of
healing, so between Ramza and Delita (who have a special "Wish" skill in their Squire class, which sacrifices a small
amount of HP to heal a target) and a few squires with item use, you can do this fight two ways.

The first is to simply let the enemy come to you and try and hurt or kill one or two enemies at a time, or to do what I
usually do here and pile in!

The map itself is fairly wide open; some of the rocks create some walls that hinder movement, but smart movement can
use them to limit the number of enemies you deal with at one time. But lets go over our next class before we get into
some more game mechanics: The Chemist!

Chemists

Unlike the Squire, the Chemist skill set remains a great class the entire game. It is the entry point to get into the magic
using classes like Wizard and Time Mage. Potions are cheap, and there's usually always someone you can toss one at
for a few extra JP. The ability to revive the dead, from a distance, without waiting for a spell to go off is very handy
too. The ability to (eventually) cure nearly every status ailment doesn't hurt one bit either.

The Chemists biggest liability is their miserable stat growths. Despite being the entry into the magical classes, their stat
growths are worse than the Squire's when it comes to magical ability!

However, they always make an excellent medic, consuming no MP or charge time to use their abilities, and items ignore
Faith and Magic Attack values entirely, thus allowing the toughest of brutes the ability to effectively heal. Finally, they
get to use guns once they become available in the game, making Chemists great support units that can occasionally
sneak in some damage while safely standing far away from danger.

'Auto Potion' is a great reaction ability, and like most Final Fantasy games, can be "abused" by keeping only higher level
potions (i.e. hi-potions or X-potions) on hand to make a unit extremely difficult to take down in combat. New players
are highly advised to teach Ramza this skill; it makes a certain battle (and if you've played the game, you know what
one I'm referring to) you'll encounter later a lot easier.

Still, it's damn weird to have say, a Hi-Potion in your inventory but a Chemist who can't use it. Just pour it down the
damn dude's throat, Jesus.



Chemist Traits
Weapons: Knife, Gun
Helmet: Hat
Armor: Clothes

Move: 3
Jump: 3
Physical Evasion Rate: 5%
Innate Skill: Throw Item

Abilities to get: Potion, Hi-Potion, Phoenix Down, Remedy, Auto-Potion

Class skill: Item

Potion: Potion recovers HP. It damages when used on undead [HP restore 30].
JP Cost: 30
(It's only 30 JP! Get it. This and a pile of potions on hand means a unit almost always has something to do.)

Hi-Potion: Hi-Potion's stronger than Potion [HP restore 70].
JP Cost: 200
(Not strictly necessary, but you might find your Priest's MP to be quite pinched; someone who can use this early in
the game can be handy.)

X-Potion: X-Potion can be used to recover HP. It's the strongest existing potion [HP restore 150].
JP Cost: 300
(By the time you can start buying X-Potions, you might find the White Magic skill set more convenient than the Item
skill one; Still, if you're using it late game this is a must.)

Ether: Ether restores MP [MP restore 20].
JP Cost: 300
(Ideally, battles won't last so long or be so difficult that you'll need an Ether. Collecting Crystals also refills MP so...
skip this.)

Hi-Ether: High Ether is stronger than Ether [MP restore 50].
JP Cost: 400
(also not worth it.)

Elixir: Elixir restores all HP and MP.
JP Cost: 900
(Elixirs are cool! But for 900 JP? Not worth it.)

Antidote: Antidote neutralizes all poisons [Cancel: Poison].
JP Cost: 70
(Poison is not a particularly deadly ailment. Just skip it; you'll end up learning it from a crystal eventually.)

Eye Drop: Eye drops restore sight [Cancel: Darkness].
JP Cost: 80
(Darkness is a pain, but like most status ailments, you don't encounter them frequently enough to warrant
staying in this class.)

Echo Grass: Echo Grass lets you cast magic again [Cancel: Silence].
JP Cost: 120
(Considering that you can pick up the Esuna skill in the White Mage skill set for only 280JP. Of course, Echo Grass can
be used while silenced...)

Maiden's Kiss: Maiden's Kiss restores you to your original shape from Frog [Cancel: Frog].
JP Cost: 200
(But still, Esuna can cure most of these cheaply and easily. I can't even remember the last time I has a character
turn into a frog!)

Soft: Tool to cure petrified state. It breaks after one use [Cancel: Petrify].
JP Cost: 250
(Okay, now Stone is a huge pain. But even if Esuna didn't exist, there's an item that's more useful than Soft:
Remedies!)

Holy Water: This water restores life to undead. [Cancel: Undead, Blood Suck]
JP Cost: 400
(You can skip this one, but note that Remedy can't cure this one, and there IS one fight this is kind of useful on...)

Remedy: Cures many types of abnormal status [Cancel: Petrify, Darkness, Confusion,Silence, Oil, Frog, Poison, Sleep].
JP Cost: 700
(Sure it costs a lot, but Remedies also cure a bunch of unique status ailments, particularly Oil which can sometimes
be quite dangerous, even if it is rare.)

Phoenix Down: This feather revives dead units. Cancel: Dead
JP Cost: 90
(Essential! Take it!)

Reaction Ability:

Auto Potion: Use lowest available potion when attacked. Trigger: HP Damage.
JP Cost: 400
(Great for magic users. Melee types will probably be better served by other reaction abilities, although this one is still
great for them.)

Support Abilities:

Throw Item: Be able to throw items and expand range, even if not a Chemist.
JP Cost: 350
(A nice skill, but only situational as long as you have good movement.)

Maintenance: Equipped items are immune to break techniques.
JP Cost: 250
(Useful on a single fight, but still not worth it. There's simply not enough enemies that can break equipment that
would make this skill useful.)

Equip Change: Change equipment even in battle.
JP Cost: 0
(I guess if you have nothing better to use for a Support ability?)

Move Ability:

Move-Find Item: Find any hidden items at your destination.
JP Cost: 100
(not necessary, but cheap. Give it to a low brave character to do your item finding.)

The Red Panther is the first monster enemy unit you fight, and while this one I fought wasn't particularly dangerous
(it was generated with only a Brave score of 40), monsters are some of the toughest enemies you face early on due to
their inherent counterattack ability. With early armor giving only a minor boost to hit points, a counter attack followed
by a regular hit can often leave a unit in critical status, and if a second monster finds a gap to move in and attack...

The game ALWAYS gives you a success chance whenever you attack. Thieves have a naturally high evasion, so
attacking this thief from the front would only be successful 75% of the time. An attack from behind however, would
only fail 5% of the time.



The game will display potential reaction abilities on the same little window that will give you your odds of success.
Counter attacks are never 100%; the actual chance of 'retaliating' is usually based on a character's Brave value (some
reaction abilities work differently). Oibaros, our Red Panther, as mentioned only has a Brave of 40, so he'll counter
attack 40% of the time, which doesn't make him particularly dangerous.

Algus, buffed with +10 Brave, went around murdering everything this fight, and I stupidly forgot to buy more potions
than the two I had to drag the fight out a little longer. If the fight had continued, I could have waited for the enemy to
turn into crystals, potentially snagging a Throw Stone for one of my characters, but with no healing, Algus and Delita
were sure to make short work of it.

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

Ramza: Are you OK?



Ramza: Marquis? You mean Marquis Elmdor?

Algus: Yeah. Who're you?

Ramza: We're military cadets. I think we can help. Tell us more.

Bonus money: 700 gil.
War Trophies: Potion x 2.

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



Delita: A knight...?

Algus: ...I mean, a cadet... like you all.

Ramza: I'm Ramza Beoulve. This is Delita, a good friend.



Algus: Excellent! How lucky I am!

Ramza: ???

(Algus pathetically grabs Ramza's hand.)



Delita: What are you talking about?

Algus: The Marquis is still alive! They've kidnapped him!
(Algus straightens up, lost in thought.) He will be killed, if
we don't act fast! I don't know what I would do if... (Algus
grabs Ramza's hand again.) So, please! Help me! Please!!

Delita: Relax. We don't know for sure if he'll be killed.



Ramza: The Marquis was kidnapped, and I'm sure by now
everyone at Igros Castle is up in arms.

Delita: First, we should go to Igros and report.

Algus: All right. Let's do that.

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



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

IGROS CASTLE

(Scene: Ramza, Delita, and Algus sit at a table, with
Ramza's older brother Dycedarg sitting at it's head.)

Dycedarg: ...I hear you beat the first troops. I'm proud to
be your brother.



Dycedarg: Aren't you happy?

Ramza: Oh, yes, I am. Thank you for the kind words.

...You might have heard about the enemy attacking
Elmdor's carriage and kidnapping him. What would you have
us do?

Dycedarg: I've already had Zalbag send out a search
party. They'll probably demand ransom... if he's still alive.

(Algus jumps out of his chair.)



Dycedarg: ...

Algus: I beg you. Let me avenge my comrades murder!

Dycedarg: I said it's taken care of. Didn't you hear me?



Dycedarg: Think of your rank, Algus! Have you forgotten
you're just a soldier without rank of Knighthood?

Algus: Urrrgh...

(Algus slumps back into his seat.)

Dycedarg: I want you to guard Igros Castle.




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

(Scene: outside Igros Castle. The trio of Ramza, Delita,
and Algus enter. As they enter, Algus stops and
reminisces.)



Algus: My grandfather was captured during the Fifty Year
War... He sold his friends out to the enemy to save himself.
But, as he left the castle, he got stabbed in the back by a
cadet just like myself. One of my grandfather's friends
managed to escape and spread the story around. Of course
my father didn't believe it, but everyone else did, they
deserted him...

(Algus tosses a rock into the river.)

Delita: Teta!

Ramza: Alma, Zalbag!



(Alma waves to them. Behind her are Delita's sister, Teta,
and Zalbag. They skip over the river to meet them.)



Ramza: Long time no see, brother.

Zalbag: I heard how you beat the thieves in Gariland.



Zalbag: Heh...haven't changed a bit. You don't like that
much, eh? Delita, you look good. I heard about your role
also. Just look how happy Teta is.



Delita: And you also. How is your schooling?

Teta: Fine. Everyone is so nice to me...



Zalbag: Pardon me.

Ramza: I pray for your victory.

(Zalbag turns and waves goodbye, but stops as crosses
back over the river.)



(Zalbag turns towards them once again.)

Zalbag: ...I can't understand it. The Death Corps claim to
be anarchists, but they only rob and hurt the nobility.



Zalbag: The messenger we sent still hasn't returned.



Zalbag: A trade city called Dorter, east of Gallione...
Guarding a castle is boring work. Don't you think?

(Zalbag exits.)



(Teta shakes her head and claspes her hands).

Teta: Don't worry about me. Just take care of yourself.

(Teta and Delita hug.)



(He breaks the embrace, and starts to walk off, with Teta
trailing behind him).

Delita: Well then, let's go, Algus.

(Delita, Algus, and Teta exit, as Ramza follows).

Alma: What Teta said is not true. Actually...

Ramza: Something wrong with Teta?



Ramza: ...

Alma: Sorry...I shouldn't have worried you like that. Teta
will be OK. I'll be there for her. Trust me.



Alma: Just be yourself and don't be restricted by your
name.

Ramza: You sound like our mother. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

(Ramza turns and exits. There is an ominous breeze.)





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

To be continued...

Wait, so you get a stat-boost and an easier fight if you choose to not help Algus? As well as the satisfaction of knowing you did nothing to help him(which admittedly isn't an especially large boon the first time you play)?

Kind of a one-sided choice there, isn't it?

If I remember correctly, Delita calls you out on it during the last chapter 1 battle, so it's actually the sort of moral choice that I like. There's no reward for being a good guy, in fact, it's detrimental, and I wish more moral choices were like that.

There is obviously going to be some off-screen leveling going on, and instead of posting a
boring recap of how that went, I thought I'd just post a small supplemental post that shows
the direction our team is going to be heading in, and after that we'll see what rumours are
being tossed around in the local pub!

This post will be less polished that most, but I figured everyone could use a break from
gargantuanally large posts.



I've plugged all the class/combinations that have been throws about thus far in the thread, and
one of the gaps I noticed was that no one suggested either a White Mage or Time Mage! To
rectify this, our Ramza is going to fill this role. I skipped him through Chemist and Black Mage to
gain entry into Time Mage; I'll stick here until I have a compelling reason to jump to another
class.

Someone also suggested he be a bard for a particular fight, and I see little reason not to
honour such a request.

He currently only knows Haste, but that little beauty will do us well until Ramza can learn its
big brother (Haste 2) and a few debuffs like Don't Act. I learned his special "Squire" ability Yell,
in order to toss some valuable +1 to speed buffs around during battle.



Junk will make a pretty miserable Oracle (his faith means any debuffs are only likely to hit high
faith characters), but he's only in here to open up Mediator. From there, he can start playing
with our team's Brave and Faith values.

Once he's done with Mediator, he'll be running through the "Knight" path to open Geomancer.



Jean skipped through Archer and jumped into Thief. The plan is to open Lancer for him (Thief lvl
3), then double back through the Knight path and open Samurai up, which should turn Jean into
a fairly high PA unit.

It should be noted that even if we unlock Lancer and Samurai, each classes weapons won't
appear in shops until later in the game, so we might leave Jean in another high PA class like
Knight until he can make the switch.



Sullivan is going to be a Black Mage/Oracle, capable of both nuking, turning enemies into frogs,
and sometimes just stopping them in their tracks entirely with Don't Move/Sleep/Death.



Tabatha is going to (eventually) be the Ninja/Chemist that was tossed around. Ninja has a
number of entry requirements (Archer 3, Thief 4, Geomancer 2), so we'll knock the Archer off
and spend some time as a Thief, which will work out well as females make better thieves due to
"Steal Heart's" gender restrictions (you fight more males than females in the game!).



Meanwhile Sissie is going to punch some people. In the face. Her other skill set will end up
being Thief, but for now she's going to run around wrecking your shit.

She'll also be the first target for Mediation, to raise her Brave up to face-punching levels.



Jessica is going to become a Summoner/Calculator, which is going to take a lot of time in
various magical classes. We'll learn some key spells for Calculators to learn before turning her
into one, and finish with her as a Summoner to really crank her Magic Attack into ridiculous
levels. She'll be able to toss around powerful summon spells whenever she gets bored of
winning fights single-handily.

There's still time to switch directions with these characters, so feel free to post! We need
three troopers to help us in our next fight, so please post who you want to see in our next
fight: Sweegy Woods! Finally, the bar rumours. See if you can count all the grammatical errors!

See you next time!

- Eddie

The PS1 translation is killing me. It's like reading a summary of the game written by a sixth grader whose grasp of the English language could best be described as "clumsy but enthusiastic."

Couldn't you upgrade your knights into samurais and lancers with the Equip Sword ability? It seems like a waste of JP to keep them locked into such a boring fighting class.

Sissie for life!

Monks rule, everyone else drools!

(give her ninja double fist action!)

While in class, Samurai aren't particularly good, especially if you don't have any katanas since they can't even use their (really great) job ability. You're basically wasting a skill slot. Of course, a Samurai that's spent most of his or her time as Knight is also not gonna be so great because of low MA growth, and Draw Out is based on MA.

Geomancer, though, Geomancer is the best carrier class.

Lancers, on the other hand, would be great for Jean, since they're a pretty high PA class with tons of HP and armor.

Then again, FFT is all about having fun, so none of that really matters unless its your idea of fun!

Eddie, are you using the Game Script on Gamefaqs? If not, I want to recommend you use it to save yourself some time typing. I don't want you to get burned out.

The person who 'wrote' the game script has specifically asked that he be contacted before using it. I have, and while I suspect that a seven year old e-mail address is unlikely to still be in use, my fingers are crossed that he'll send me a reply.

... because otherwise, I'd be totally on top of using it to at the very least, post the bar rumours. I find the images kind of clunky to use for them, but it's either that or swipe without his permission or type them out manually, a proposition I don't think I could complete.

The script you see in my 400x300 image / story parts is more or less a direct translation from the game, although I've noticed a few times that in writing it down I've accidentally corrected errors in the translation.

One of the more amusing inconsistencies is the games use of the ellipse. As everyone knows, the correct usage is to place three periods (...) after another. This game however, has zero problem using five (or more!) periods in a row.

Tying this back to the GameFAQs Game Script, he actually uses the wrong amount of 'periods' quite often; I'm curious to know if that is intentional, or a way he can 'see' if someone is actually plagiarizing his FAQ. In order to not completely tear my hair out, I transcribe all ellipses, no matter how many damn periods the translator wanted to use, correctly. A lot of these posts are at the post character limit as it is, I gotsta conserve space where I can!

- Eddie

Oh, I'm not on your case about the localization. The source material is wretched -- the dialogue makes most scenes adhere to some sort of internal sense, but in aggregate it's nearly impossible to follow the main plot, let alone the tangents and background info. The PSP redo was a bit florid at times, but at least it told a story and made you understand why they kept mentioning all those off-stage characters.

Also, three periods should be used for ellipses internal to a sentence, four for trailing ellipses at the end of a sentence (basically an ellipsis capped with a period). Japanese takes a more flexible approach to ellipses, but generally they use five or six periods.

Sorry if I implied that you implied that some fault in the localization to me. And thanks for the correction on using ellipses correctly (plus the culture lesson). I'll be more careful in the future.

And for all reading, I hope the shoddy translation this game received isn't too distracting; I thought about making fun of it during this LP when I could, but why kick something that is already so maligned? Better I felt, to just present it "as is" and let people (hopefully) enjoy the game for what it is: a terrific game that suffered from miserable localization that was characteristic of many video games back in, around, and before 1997.

I'm going to do my best to fill in any weird narrative gaps that might spring up, but I think that buried (deeply, perhaps) underneath the translation you can find a story to love. I'll be getting into Delita's character in particular a bit later in the LP, but as much as I hate Algus (and who doesn't?) he ends up being a huge influence on Delita's character (I mean in the less than obvious way).

- Eddie