I blame myself, not God: help me learn to like the Final Fantasy Tactics series

[Kazin]

I have always bounced off this game and series, and I don't know why. I'm a huge Shining Force fan, and while that series is probably MUCH easier than the FFT series, I'd still like to learn to enjoy them. To that end, I'm open to any tips anyone thinks I should know, as well as hoping you all can give me some answers to the following questions (oh, and by the way, I'm playing the Final Fantasy Tactics Prime fan patch, which puts the PSP translation into the PSX game, mainly so I can understand the story):

1. I seem to be able to change character jobs already, to like Knight or whatever, I just don't seem to have all the equipment I'd want for them (such as any armor they can wear, at the moment). Is it advisable to leave everyone as their starting class for a while? Most of my characters, 2.5 battles in (does the first battle at the church count where I can only control Ramza?), are Squires and Chemists.

2. Do jobs unlock automatically throughout the story, or are there certain tasks I have to perform to unlock them?

3. I'm vaguely aware you can grind in this game. Are there penalties for doing that if I find certain battles difficult?

4. One of the main reasons I've bounced off this game is because the mechanic where you choose which way to face has always bothered me. Should I not worry about it too much, so long as I do my best to prevent enemies from getting behind me? If I should worry about it, any tips?

5. The date seems to advance as I move around on the world map. Does the date matter much, or can I fuck around as much as I want, going shopping and whatnot and/or grinding?

I appreciate any help. I recently bought Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, too, and if I like the original FFT, I plan on giving that one a shot, too. And if I'm really feeling the series, I'd like to try the Tactics Ogre games, since I'm a massive Ogre Battle 64 fan (though I've never been able to get into the original Ogre Battle, but that's a different thread lol).

 

[Lokii]

1. Equipment is gated by shop/chapter. It's possible to unlock jobs you don't have the gear for. But you should be able to get some heavier armor soon enough (you can get better stuff earlier through stealing if you're determined). As for your starting jobs Squire has some useful skills but are pretty basic. Chemists are great tho and you might consider returning to them later in the game.

2. New jobs have prerequisites to unlock. Once you get a a character to a certain level in the right jobs the new one will automatically be available in the job change screen. Squire is the starting job for physical classes and chemist for magical.

3. No penalties for grinding if you're being reasonable. However there is one mandatory fight late in the game against Chcocobos who match your level and it is absolutely possible to powerlevel yourself into a place where this fight becomes unwinnable. So... don't do that.

4. Facing affects how much damage a character takes, but it's not too extreme. Same for height-based attacks. Back-hits aren't really something you can prevent per say but you can reduce the opportunities the enemy has to take them. Use common sense and its not something to stress over tho.

5. I don't think the date is for anything except flavor. Fuck around as much as you like.

 

[Issun]

1) Equipment scarcity is a problem early on for some jobs, but you'll find shops 'n drops for your classes soon enough. In the meantime, Squire and Chemist can see you through the first few battles.

2) You unlock jobs by spending the JP (Job Points) you are earning in battle. IIRC new options become available when certain jobs reach certain levels. The job system in this game is more of a progression tree than "unlock x jobs at y point in the story". Like FFV, every class is viable once you figure it out, but some can be pretty OP when combined with others.

3) Yes, you can grind, though getting jobs and leveling them is often a bigger deal than EXP levels, at least early on. I think randos level with you, but at a slower rate, but story battles are always the same level.

4) Yeah, you mainly want to worry about being attacked from behind, as that can seriously ruin your day. Other than that, I think facing direction is mainly relevant to a couple of story battles?

5) The date is pretty much meaningless as far as the story goes. I think it's mainly there to let you know how much time has passed when you send grunts on quests at the bar and whatnot.

That's what I can remember, it's been over a decade since I last played it but once you open up more classes and abilities the game gets super fun. There are ways to grind out JP and XP to become well nigh unstoppable pretty early in the game, but I would not recommend them for a first time player. Part of the fun of FFT is experimenting with jobs and abilities throughout the game and finding out what works for you.

 

[Kazin]

Hmm, okay, it seems like I shouldn't worry too much about the directional facing and chill out, and definitely don't grind an unreasonable amount and get walled by chocobos later on haha (I appreciate the heads up, there - I wasn't really planning on grinding tons, but I did plan on it a little bit, mainly to get some more abilities and HP and whatnot). I also didn't know that Chemists were the base for all magic classes, so I'll get my other one in the next battle because I was only leveling one, sort of expecting the job line to go like Chemist -> Geomancer or something weird/useless/situational like in Final Fantasy V haha.

I remembered another question I have - should I stall battles until all but the final enemy left have expired and dropped items/crystals, or just pick up what naturally drops?

 

[Lokii]

I suppose you could do that, but I never have. Might be more useful in the early game. The ability you get from crystals are randomly pulled from what that unit is currently using, so you can check their stats screen to see what they might potentially drop. It's possible to get good skills this way for free, but it's unreliable.

 

[Issun]

Oh yeah, one other thing: Pretty much all magic is AOE and affects allies and enemies alike. So make sure your dudes are clear of any enemies you're casting that Firaga spell on. The only exception to this is summons, which only affect enemies.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Part of the fun of FFT is experimenting with jobs and abilities throughout the game and finding out what works for you.

I agree. Those of us who have played it before can certainly give our advice on what we like to use and what's worked for us but encourage you to find builds that fit your play style and that you enjoy using.

Oh yeah, one other thing: Pretty much all magic is AOE and affects allies and enemies alike. So make sure your dudes are clear of any enemies you're casting that Firaga spell on. The only exception to this is summons, which only affect enemies.

And the Draw Out skills of the Samurai job.

And now I'm trying to remember if the Geomancer skills have friendly fire or not.

 

[Lokii]

Kazin a couple other things you might not know about:

- You can check when abilities and spells will go off. I think you hit square on the ability menu to pull up the turn list showing when the spell will execute. Essential tool for planning out strategies.

- The game throws a lot of info at you when you select to attack a unit but the most important detail is the hit percentage indicator: a tiny little icon between the two units stat blocks. 0% will always miss and the game accounts for things like status protection, elemental resistances, but most importantly terrain line of sight. Always check to see if you're actually going to hit before executing because a lot of the times it's not obvious.

- Male characters are better physical units and women magical. However there is a high tier job for each path that's exclusive to the opposite sex.

- Opposite genders will tend to be more damaging/effective against each other, and of course stats and gear make a big difference, but what really impacts effectiveness is zodiac compatibility. The charts are too complicated to memorize or even reference but just know that if a unit seems to be doing way low numbers against a certain enemy it might be due to a zodiac mismatch.

- Likewise don't neglect Brave and Faith. These are all-purpose physical/magic stats that effect both damage dealt and received. A low brave character will always be a bad physical unit even if they're a manly dude. You can manipulate these stats through gear/buffs and do fun stuff like making a character totally immune to spells or casting innocent on a mage and shut them down completely.

- Characters earn splash JP. When a character earns some JP the rest of the party will get a small percentage also in that same job. This mostly isn't impactful but if you want to get a bunch of JP in a job quick make everyone that same class for a random fight or two and they'll all benefit from each other's bonuses.

 

[Issun]

Oh yeah, forgot about the Zodiac system. Your units will also be more effective if they are compatible with Ramza's sign (this is why you chose a birthday at the start). Zodiac compatibility is explained pretty well here. It's not the be-all-end-all for the game, so don't let it scare you off, but like Lokii said, it is something to keep in mind.

 

[Kazin]

This is all good stuff. I appreciate it - I'm trying to play "new" games (that are all old, but games I've never beat before lol) and sometimes I don't know what to google haha.

- The game throws a lot of info at you when you select to attack a unit but the most important detail is the hit percentage indicator: a tiny little icon between the two units stat blocks. 0% will always miss and the game accounts for things like status protection, elemental resistances, but most importantly terrain line of sight. Always check to see if you're actually going to hit before executing because a lot of the times it's not obvious.

Yeah, this, I figured out when I had a character try to throw a rock over one of my own characters, thinking the animation plays out like they throw it at an arc, but instead my guy beaned Ramza in the back of the fucking head lmao

 

[Issun]

Oh yeah, one other thing: Pretty much all magic is AOE and affects allies and enemies alike. So make sure your dudes are clear of any enemies you're casting that Firaga spell on. The only exception to this is summons, which only affect enemies.

I just remembered that magic is generally cast on specific tiles, not units, so if enemies get a turn before you get the spell off they will probably move out of range. Also that means allies you're healing need to stay put until the cure spell goes off (this is why Chemists can be more useful than Priests oftentimes).

Edit: Don't ask me why I quoted myself here. Force of habit I guess.

 

[Regulus]

My main tip is to use the in-game "on-line help" (accessed pressing select) and read the tooltips for an explanation of stats and stuff. This will give you a lot of the basics.

4. Facing affects how much damage a character takes, but it's not too extreme. Same for height-based attacks. Back-hits aren't really something you can prevent per say but you can reduce the opportunities the enemy has to take them. Use common sense and its not something to stress over tho.

I don't believe this is the case, at least not directly. The direction a unit is attacked from determines how much of their evasion affects the attacker's accuracy. From the back, units can only benefit from evasion bonuses contributed by accessories (cloaks and mantles, mostly), from the sides they also receive benefits from shields and weapons (if they have the appropriate support skill), and from the front they also receive a bonus based on class.

So yeah, facing isn't really a huge deal, because you should probably not be relying too much on the RNG of evasion for damage mitigation anyway. But if you're conscious of it, it will leave you in a better situation tactically. A good rule of thumb is to just face your back away from enemies whenever possible.


Damage variance is mostly caused by differences in zodiac compatibility, though most weapon and attack types have different damage formulas and some are more swingy than others. For example, both the target and the caster's Faith factors into magic damage, Knight Sword damage scales with the wielder's Brave, and weapons like Axes and Flails use a random number between 1 and their listed attack value when determining damage. Unit gender only affects damage if the two units involved have opposing zodiac signs - this can be checked by hitting select and reading the tooltip for a character's sign. An interesting thing about zodiac compatibility is that it always works the same both ways; a character that does poor damage due to bad compatibility will also receive less damage from that target. You can use this to your advantage.

On the subject of Brave... it's not actually strictly necessary to have high Brave on a physical unit; only a couple of weapon types use it in the damage calculation at all. Its real value is that most reaction abilities trigger based on a simple Brave% calculation. For example, if a unit has 80 Brave and the Counter ability equipped, they'll counterattack when struck with an appropriate attack 80% of the time. In almost all situation's it's ideal to have the highest Brave possible, but even low Brave can be built around because there are some reaction slot skills that don't use it at all.


To distil these, I guess:

1. Use the select button to look up info in-game.
2. Try keep your characters' backs protected, but don't sweat it too much if you can't.
3. It's not vital, but being aware of zodiac compatibility will work in your favor.
4. High Brave is good. You pretty much always want more Bravery.

 

[Issun]

One other tip I just remembered: Abilities like Accumulate stack, which can help a lot, especially in a certain boss battle about halfway through (which also reminds me: Have multiple saves because said boss battle is the one unwinnable state you can lock yourself into).

 

[Kazin]

I'm vaguely aware of some castle you can save inside that is several battles in a row or something, and you can't leave once you're in there, so yeah, I'll be juggling multiple saves (though I haven't yet lol. Again, 2.5 battles in at this point).

 

[Vaeran]

- Likewise don't neglect Brave and Faith. These are all-purpose physical/magic stats that effect both damage dealt and received. A low brave character will always be a bad physical unit even if they're a manly dude. You can manipulate these stats through gear/buffs and do fun stuff like making a character totally immune to spells or casting innocent on a mage and shut them down completely.

This isn't helpful, but I love that one's susceptibility to magic in FFT is based on how hard one believes in it. In a world that is plainly and obviously magical like Ivalice, are people with zero Faith the equivalent of climate/science deniers?

White Mage: Okay, that's everyone all healed, except for Robert.
Ramza: Why didn't you heal Robert?
White Mage: Zero Faith. He doesn't believe Curaga works, so it doesn't.
Ramza: He got a spear through the chest! He needs healing!
White Mage: Says he's doing his own research into alternative medicine. Something about chocobo droppings?
Ramza: ...These fucking people.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

I just remembered that magic is generally cast on specific tiles, not units, so if enemies get a turn before you get the spell off they will probably move out of range. Also that means allies you're healing need to stay put until the cure spell goes off (this is why Chemists can be more useful than Priests oftentimes).

Edit: Don't ask me why I quoted myself here. Force of habit I guess.

It's either/or. You can select a space to cast magic on, which means a unit might move away before it's cast. But you can also select a unit to cast magic on, which means if they act before the spell is cast then they may move near your units so you get hit by your own spell too. You can sometimes use this trick on enemies but their casters will usually target units that won't activate until after the spell goes off.

DO NOT go to Riovanes castle without making a backup save file outside of it. The good news is, to my recollection, that's the last place you can get really stuck. Any time you get a chain of missions in the same area, save to a backup file instead of your main file. I don't recall a big sticking point after Riovanes but that one can be super brutal.

 

[Torzelbaum]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that it is possible to permanently change the Brave and Faith of your units. But if those values get too high then those units will leave you and be gone for good. But that won't happen unless you repeatedly use the methods to raise those values.

Male characters are better physical units and women magical.

True but while the difference is relatively large at the start of the game it becomes less and less so with higher overall stats, better gear and the impact of other abilities (and other things mentioned like Brave & Faith).

You can check when abilities and spells will go off. I think you hit square on the ability menu to pull up the turn list showing when the spell will execute. Essential tool for planning out strategies.

This works for every delayed/charge ability except for the Dragoon / Lancer's Jump.

So yeah, facing isn't really a huge deal, because you should probably not be relying too much on the RNG of evasion for damage mitigation anyway. But if you're conscious of it, it will leave you in a better situation tactically. A good rule of thumb is to just face your back away from enemies whenever possible.

The different evasions do stack and while the amounts you can get at first are small that does increase with better equipment so it can be quite effective for damage mitigation/ reduction as you progress through the game. And there are abilities which can effect evasion. And some abilities can't be evaded.

Also, some jobs have higher evasion (usually the physical classes that have lower HP) so you might want to focus on doing this for them over other units.

And another relevant thing to know is that units can step over dead units on the ground but can't stand on them. So you can use an enemy's corpse to protect your back from their allies.

Also, don't forget that units charging a spell or ability will always have zero evasion.

It's either/or. You can select a space to cast magic on, which means a unit might move away before it's cast. But you can also select a unit to cast magic on, which means if they act before the spell is cast then they may move near your units so you get hit by your own spell too.

You can also target spells on your own characters if you want to engage in some shenanigans.

Edit:
I try not to grind during the first two chapters since they include guest characters who don't participate in random battles and will get left behind.

 

[FelixSH]

I'm just playing through this myself. Have always given up in chapter 1, now just started chapter 2.

Chapter 2 starts with you having only one way to move on the map, which is a battle. So, no grinding possible there. Haven't done the battle yet, and considering no one talks about it, it's probably not hard. Still, might be relevant.

My (probably dumb) way is to do story missions, defeat the leader (which often ends the battle), and just grind if it's too hard.

Also, on the map in a menu, there are some notes of a future historian, which you might enjoy reading. The pub has a few rumors. Nice flavour.

I think no one mentioned, that random encounters level up with you, but story battles don't (most of the time at least, I guess). So you can grind to overcome story battles in general.

Also, Monks seem to be pretty good, and Knights have a lot of HP. Black Mages can tear through groups - my BM has probably the most kills.

If you cast magic on a character, you can choose to cast on the character or field. If you cast on the character, and he moves before the spell goes of, the spell follows him.

If I got anything wrong, I hope people will correct it. But that's stuff I find useful to know.

Oh, and don't overthink stuff too much. The game always tries to inflict me with decision paralysis, but in the end, a bit of grinding has helped me out always.

 

[Kazin]

I thought you were playing Lightning Returns @FelixSH because of the other thread haha. Which I haven't played! I will get back to Phantasy Star eventually. I got kinda bored with III, though I do plan on playing through it still.

 

[Issun]

Oh, and don't overthink stuff too much. The game always tries to inflict me with decision paralysis, but in the end, a bit of grinding has helped me out always.

This is the most important advice. Aside from keeping a save outside of Riovanes, of course. Just have fun and go nuts with your party. You'll figure out a way to win eventually, usually without much grinding.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Eventually you will probably tear through everything pretty easily, actually. You just need to get the hang of things and create some good builds for your guys.

 

[Kirin]

Yeah the thing about the later game is if you look at a couple classes you've unlocked and think "hey... I bet if I combined this thing from class one with this other thing from class two, it'd be pretty awesome/broken", you're probably right.

 

[FelixSH]

I thought you were playing Lightning Returns @FelixSH because of the other thread haha. Which I haven't played! I will get back to Phantasy Star eventually. I got kinda bored with III, though I do plan on playing through it still.

No, I've beaten Lightning Returns some time ago. I guess I should change it ot "project over", or something. And FFT was never part of the project, but I might as well post my thoughts there, maybe?

I find it kinda funny, that you made it through the antagonistic PS II, and than stop somewhere in III. The second game has something really special.

 

[Issun]

No, I've beaten Lightning Returns some time ago. I guess I should change it ot "project over", or something. And FFT was never part of the project, but I might as well post my thoughts there, maybe?

I find it kinda funny, that you made it through the antagonistic PS II, and than stop somewhere in III. The second game has something really special.

Oh so you're not playing 15 and 16?

 

[FelixSH]

I don't think my pc is up for the task. It struggled with the XIII games already. Whenever I get a new pc, though, will be the time.

But to be honest, after leanrning that XVI has a battle system inspired by Devil May Cry, I lost a lot of interest. But I'll certainly try it, at some point.

 

[Kazin]

No, I've beaten Lightning Returns some time ago. I guess I should change it ot "project over", or something. And FFT was never part of the project, but I might as well post my thoughts there, maybe?

I mean if you're playing through it right now, post about it somewhere, be it here or there. I'm going to try to keep this thread bumped if I stick with FFT, at least.

I find it kinda funny, that you made it through the antagonistic PS II, and than stop somewhere in III. The second game has something really special.

It's true. I could always tell I liked II, but could never push through it until this go around. Incredible vibes, that game has.

 

[Rosewood]

My main tip is to use the in-game "on-line help" (accessed pressing select) and read the tooltips for an explanation of stats and stuff. This will give you a lot of the basics.

To know is to foresee.
Learn and prepare for battles.

(It looks like Kazin won't be experiencing that version of the translation, though.)

 

[Kazin]

What's up @Rosewood? Been a while since I've seen you here! Anyway, yeah, I decided with both Final Fantasy Tactics and Phantasy Star III to play updated/better translations, because I do want to understand what's going on better. I enjoy the meme lines ("blame yourself or God" has been in my head for decades and I've literally never gotten that far in the game lol) but I hear the story is actually good so I wanna enjoy it.

 

[FelixSH]

"Blame yourself or god" is just such a great line, but I also think that actually understanding the plot is way more important.

 

[Classic]

But for people with zero faith, these magics... NEVER EFFECT them.
It's easy to see that magic might work for _other_ people. But you can't put your faith in something that's never worked on you before.

Also, all of these level concerns, if I recall correctly, scale off of Ramza's level. So if you manage to keep Ramza's level behind his squad, you can elide some difficulty?