On the other hand, some Ramza solo situations are quite difficult, so I wouldn't recommend keeping his level intentionally lower than the rest for someone going through the first time. Just play more or less normally (without intentionally grinding Ramza a lot higher than everyone else) and you should honestly probably be fine.
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I blame myself, not God: help me learn to like the Final Fantasy Tactics series
- Thread starter Kazin
- Start date
On the other hand, some Ramza solo situations are quite difficult, so I wouldn't recommend keeping his level intentionally lower than the rest for someone going through the first time. Just play more or less normally (without intentionally grinding Ramza a lot higher than everyone else) and you should honestly probably be fine.
You unlock skills / abilities by spending JP. You gain job levels by earning JP. Some advanced jobs require you to do that for more than 1 prerequisite job.
There are many ways to break this game. Some more tedious and convoluted than others. But many are relatively straightforward.
There are also many weird and wacky combos you can use. Some are more useful than others.
Units will leave due to too-high Faith and too-low Brave, but there's no reason for you to tank your units' Brave. This is based off their out-of-battle stats. They will start warning you when their Faith gets too high, but the warnings don't do anything and can be ignored.
They get a permanent change of 1 for every 4 points gained/lost in battle. In theory, this means you can get your units to 97 Brave. In practice, this means you shouldn't bother tweaking these stats. (Mediator success rates are basically a flat number + MA modified by Zodiac compatibility, so there's no way to bump them up much.)
Brave is a percentage chance for reaction abilities and a multiplier for unarmed attacks, katanas, and knightswords, so it's quite important for Monks and moderately important for anyone with a relevant reaction. Faith is a multiplier for magic both on the caster and the target, so you want all of your casters to have high Faith, you want your physical units that need buffs to have 60-70 Faith, and if you don't use white magic, you want everyone else to have bad Faith. None of this is worth dumping your roster or spending hours using a Mediator on your team, but if you noticed your Monk was underperforming, this might be why.
I beat the Dorter Slums after three tries, though I lost a unit (a female Squire). I decided to press on anyway (though I made a separate save after the battle in case everyone here says to redo it lol), because that battle is tough. I barely scraped by as it was, the moron guest characters had to finish the battle for me, though I at least had the remaining two enemies down to single digit HP. I'm glad I read this thread - I leveled up my Chemists in a random battle and unlocked Black and White mages, and wow, Black Mages are pretty dang handy. Getting the timing of magic right is going to take some getting used to, but I was able to hit two enemies at once twice in that battle with Fire. Cool! I think that battle would have gone better had I remembered to buy Potions beforehand, though (I set Items to my mages but only had Eye Drops lmao).
So, some questions:
1. How do you learn new spells? I don't mean like in the menu system, I mean like do I gain the ability to buy new spells with JP as I level up/accrue JP?
2. Should I raise Ramza more as a physical fighter or should I start training him to use magic? He's currently still a Squire.
3. Is there a way to rename my randos that I'm not seeing? It'd be easier for me to remember which of my male Squires is which if I could change their names lol
I will say, as frustrating as I found the slums (yeah, game, it's fair to start an archer out twenty tiles above me on the rooftops like that when I still haven't found a place to even get a bow and arrow myself even after the battle - pick up one of the corpse's weapons, guys!), I can see why this game is fun. It's a lot more punishing so far than I'm used to - I'm not wild about permadeath, though this is a better way to implement that mechanic than Fire Emblem, where your guy just dies and you're screwed. At least here you have a couple turns to try to revive them. Oh! That reminds me:
4. When using Items as a secondary ability (say, as a Black Mage), how do you use Phoenix Downs? Or is that not possible unless you're a Chemist?
So, some questions:
1. How do you learn new spells? I don't mean like in the menu system, I mean like do I gain the ability to buy new spells with JP as I level up/accrue JP?
2. Should I raise Ramza more as a physical fighter or should I start training him to use magic? He's currently still a Squire.
3. Is there a way to rename my randos that I'm not seeing? It'd be easier for me to remember which of my male Squires is which if I could change their names lol
I will say, as frustrating as I found the slums (yeah, game, it's fair to start an archer out twenty tiles above me on the rooftops like that when I still haven't found a place to even get a bow and arrow myself even after the battle - pick up one of the corpse's weapons, guys!), I can see why this game is fun. It's a lot more punishing so far than I'm used to - I'm not wild about permadeath, though this is a better way to implement that mechanic than Fire Emblem, where your guy just dies and you're screwed. At least here you have a couple turns to try to revive them. Oh! That reminds me:
4. When using Items as a secondary ability (say, as a Black Mage), how do you use Phoenix Downs? Or is that not possible unless you're a Chemist?
1. All of the skills in the action ability for a job should be available when you unlock the job. You just need the JP to purchase them. Are you not seeing them?
2. You can train him to be either and if you want to put him into any and every job possible then you will have to do both. I feel like that applies to every character. I would just recommend that you make sure you can build a well-balanced squad and you should rotate characters through different jobs as necessary and as you desire.
3. Are you using an emulator? If so then there are tools you can use to edit the names but otherwise there's no way to do that in game for human characters.
4. You can use items but the range is restricted to 1 (like melee attacks) unless you set the Throw Item Support ability.
2. You can train him to be either and if you want to put him into any and every job possible then you will have to do both. I feel like that applies to every character. I would just recommend that you make sure you can build a well-balanced squad and you should rotate characters through different jobs as necessary and as you desire.
3. Are you using an emulator? If so then there are tools you can use to edit the names but otherwise there's no way to do that in game for human characters.
4. You can use items but the range is restricted to 1 (like melee attacks) unless you set the Throw Item Support ability.
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Derp derp derp. Yes, I see the skills now, I didn't realize you could scroll down, like an idiot lol (Phoenix Down is at the bottom of the list). Also, one of the towns I'd been to DOES sell Knight and Archer gear, so clearly I made the slums more difficult than it'd have otherwise been. Oh well.
And no, I'm on actual PS1 with an ODE.
Regarding question 4 - I had two Phoenix Downs and my mages had the ability to use them while they were Chemists, but they weren't in the in battle menu as an item I could select and use while they were mages using Items as a secondary command. I'm assuming this is because I didn't gain enough JP or job levels as a Chemist?
And no, I'm on actual PS1 with an ODE.
Regarding question 4 - I had two Phoenix Downs and my mages had the ability to use them while they were Chemists, but they weren't in the in battle menu as an item I could select and use while they were mages using Items as a secondary command. I'm assuming this is because I didn't gain enough JP or job levels as a Chemist?
I didn’t see anyone comment on this yet when browsing through the thread - but I like Advance more than the original FFT. Combat is a lot more forgiving (since death is rarely permanent) and there’s a lot more interesting job/character combos since it adds a bunch of different playable species on top of the male/female where some jobs are species-gated. The story is ostensibly a little more kid friendly/simple, but I still think it’s enthralling. I think it’s a much easier game to get into if you’ve had a history of bouncing off the first one.
That's weird. If they were the same units then if they were able to use Phoenix Downs as Chemists then they should be able to do the same as another job with Item as their secondary.
Are you sure they were the same unit? And are you sure you weren't out of Phoenix Downs at that point?
Welp, I have to do several battles over again. For anyone using this patch:
"BEWARE! - An ASM hack being used in this mod causes buggy behavior if one of your units permanently dies while you have more than one Guest in your party. You’ll know immediately when it happens since one of your Guest characters will transform into another character after the battle is over, so just reset if it does. (Most players will reset after a permadeath anyways) No other issues have been found or reported."
This happened to me! When my character fell in the slum battle the game got... weird. In the next battle, someone not even in my party left after the battle, Ramza no longer appeared on the party menu while in town, and there are two Algus's or whatever his name is, one of which only has 1 HP. So I have to do that battle over again!
It's a damn good thing I'm getting the hang of the game and can see myself really enjoying it.
"BEWARE! - An ASM hack being used in this mod causes buggy behavior if one of your units permanently dies while you have more than one Guest in your party. You’ll know immediately when it happens since one of your Guest characters will transform into another character after the battle is over, so just reset if it does. (Most players will reset after a permadeath anyways) No other issues have been found or reported."
This happened to me! When my character fell in the slum battle the game got... weird. In the next battle, someone not even in my party left after the battle, Ramza no longer appeared on the party menu while in town, and there are two Algus's or whatever his name is, one of which only has 1 HP. So I have to do that battle over again!
It's a damn good thing I'm getting the hang of the game and can see myself really enjoying it.
Male units have a slight bonus to PA and female units to MA. Ramza is unique: he gets both bonuses. While the bonus is small, many of the game's formulas use the square of one stat or the other, so a small bonus can make a decent difference even at high levels.
Mostly, your stats come from a multiplier from your current job and the bonuses added by equipment, but each job has stat growths that accumulate over time, so a Wizard who leveled up 20 times as a Wizard will have better MA than a Wizard who spent the same time as a Knight. On the other hand, Wizard has a big enough MA multiplier that those 20 levels won't be enough to make the first guy a passable mage as a Monk or whatever.
The game is not difficult enough to require this level of optimization, but it's worth being aware of if you're the type of player who enjoys these things.
In retrospect, I assume its some weird behavior due to the glitch I mentioned in my last post. In the random battle I just did where that glitch isn't present, Phoenix Downs were in the menu.
I've bounced off FF Tactics 2x. I played on PS1 and on Wii VC.
I find the story battles at the end of the game (I think I was close to the end?) to be very hard. I also found those battles to be very long and a single mistake at a pivotal moment can snowball into defeat.
I would describe XCOM Enemy Unknown similarly: a mistake at a pivotal moment can snowball into defeat. But for whatever reason I was willing to replay XCOM levels I was defeated in. XCOM had me wanting to replay and get better. For FF Tactics I just bounced off the game eventually when defeated. I didn't have the same desire to improve.
I find the story battles at the end of the game (I think I was close to the end?) to be very hard. I also found those battles to be very long and a single mistake at a pivotal moment can snowball into defeat.
I would describe XCOM Enemy Unknown similarly: a mistake at a pivotal moment can snowball into defeat. But for whatever reason I was willing to replay XCOM levels I was defeated in. XCOM had me wanting to replay and get better. For FF Tactics I just bounced off the game eventually when defeated. I didn't have the same desire to improve.
It's experiences like this which leads me to believe FFTA might be a better entry point for a lot of people. It's a lot more forgiving of a game, and the challenge balance stays at a good pace through the main story, and only gets really really hard in the optional postgame stuff.
FelixSH
(He/Him)
I always felt like people disliked FFTA so much is for a good part, due to being quite different from FFT. It's way easier, I played that one 20 years ago and had a good time. For FFT, it's my fourth or fifth time, and it's still overwhelming. No absurd difficulty jumps like Dorter, no Faith or Bravery, no Zodiac compatibility, all that confusing, intimidating looking stuff doesn't exist. The judge system might be annoying, but it's at least straightforward.
Simply that you can cancel your movement goes a long way. It's way, way more approachable than FFT.
Simply that you can cancel your movement goes a long way. It's way, way more approachable than FFT.
Yeah, FFTA is one of my favorites. I have made several attempts at FFT, and on one I got pretty far, but I don’t have super fond memories of it. Part of that is just that I prefer GBA style visuals to PS1, and I like the FFXII tie in.
I have the PSP version loaded up on my Vita though, and I intend to give it a shot at some point.
I have the PSP version loaded up on my Vita though, and I intend to give it a shot at some point.
I would say mechanically, it's superior to FFT in almost every way. Every thing that's simplified makes the game more approachable and decreases the learning curve. And for every simplified thing, there's something else about it that's both expanded/more nuanced, but happens in a way that's still easier to keep track of and doesn't abuse the player. The judge system for example, starts out being pretty benign - only one or so simple rules that are easy to circumvent - but once the rules start coming in more often later in the game, the player is also given the ability to circumvent the rules and even break them.
The biggest reason why people didn't like it wasn't just because it was different, or that it wasn't a direct sequel. They wanted a Mature game like FFT and were pissed off at the story following a bunch of kids in a fairytale setting. To which I say
grow up.
For the record, I maxed out my PS1 FFT save clock several times over back in the day and did everything there was to do, and I never learned what Faith and Brave were until I joined Talking Time a decade or two later, and didn't know about half the shit detailed in the last two pages of thread. If my dumb teenage ass can do that, you can too. I know that TT likes to talk, but a lot of this stuff honestly isn't worth worrying about.
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I mean, I did add that disclaimer in each of my posts
1. Strong disagree
2. This isn't the thread for this discussion
Regulus
Sir Knightbot
I don't dislike FFTA, but I can't really agree that it's superior in almost every way mechanically. It depends on what you're looking for. The original FFT is a collection of relatively simple mechanics and calculations that combine into a more complex whole. With those layers you can do some pretty cool shit like aiming Blizzaja at an ally equipped with an Ice Shield and having them walk into a group of enemies right before it goes off, effectively extending the range of the spell and healing the ally at the same time. I can't think of any interactions in FFTA that are quite as beautiful.
Well, besides arguing which one is better, I guess I did sort of intend to get advice how to enjoy the entire series, GBA game included (hell, even the DS game too, which I know has a bad reputation iirc). I'm honestly not interested in which one is "better," but am interested in learning ways to enjoy each game in the series (EDIT: changed the thread title to reflect this).
FelixSH
(He/Him)
To be clear, I don't think they are important. But all that stuff is there, and if you are like me and do the tutorial (or read info for first-time players online, which all disagree on it being important or not), it is really overwhelming.
With ffta, I wasn't overwhelmed at all, due to absence of such elements, and the start is just way easier. Plus, I think having races instead of every character being able to do all regular jobs, makes it easier to not get too overwhelmed with stuff.
Hence my tipp to not think too hard about it. I made it through chapter one, mainly ignoring it, and was fine (granted, I grinded quite a bit).
Some abilities / attacks have a vertical tolerance which means that if the difference between the elevation of the user and a target is greater than the tolerance then the target is not affected. I can't quite remember where that is listed in game or if it's even listed at all for weapons.
I can't remember the exact command but I think if you hit Select (or maybe some other button) during your unit's turn then you can switch to a free roaming cursor that you can move to see details (including the elevation) for any tile and any unit on the battlefield.
I can't remember the exact command but I think if you hit Select (or maybe some other button) during your unit's turn then you can switch to a free roaming cursor that you can move to see details (including the elevation) for any tile and any unit on the battlefield.
That's funny; I think Tactics Ogre actually gets closer to that aesthetic. I love Tactics Ogre's portraits: Presance is a 10/10, and the various Lans and Vice portraits are fascinating. Take a look at Vice's hair. (He's the guy above the logo, if you haven't played the game.)
Warning: contains minor spoilers, although because Tactics Ogre has branching story paths, those spoilers may or may not come to pass in any given game.
protip: if you like FFT, try Triangle Strategy
