Final Fantasy Tactics Community Playthrough

Roger · Mar 10, 2017

Ramza Beoulve said:
Chapter 7: It is -power- that rules Ivalice
AKA: "&#^$in' Riovanes"

Grand Duke Barrington's a slimy POS, isn't he? Any comments on the Rapha/Marach plot thread?

Can't believe I was asked if I wanted to recruit Marach. In War of the Lions, Rapha expresses twice her belief that he knew exactly what was going on between his sister and the Duke. I recruited Rapha just to know he is alone.

You've witnessed one of the darkest scenes in the whole game. Thoughts?
Yeah, this kinda game does not lend itself too dramatic cutscenes but they sure made it work here. WoL was smart not to mess with it.

Congratulations on passing the infamous Tactics road block! How did you fare?
Not great! You do recon runs and you mess up but the game is kinda forgiving, then you think you have a good strat and suddenly Weigraf is landing his Silence with Harrowed Bolt, using his shield to ward off your magic and not triggering your Auto-Potions with his attacks.

Thank God that Tailwind comes with guarantees. Ramza entered the Lucavi fight with next to no health, wasted a turn using Tailwind on my other mage who Belias killed before he could do anything but thankfully my Knight was able to land Slow on him with Slasher, giving us the time we needed to whittle down his health. The other demons couldn't do much other then trigger Auto-Potion on said Knight.

The rooftop fight was okay. Rapha got both smart with positioning and accurate with her attack on the second try.

ForceStealer · Mar 10, 2017

I understand what you mean about the dramatic cutscenes, but I have always been amazed by the sheer number of animations the sprites have.

ForceStealer · Mar 11, 2017

Chapter 9: The winds bear it onward now

Time: Saturday Mar 11 to Thursday Mar 16

Target: This cutscene after the battle at the Beddha Sandwastes/Bed Desert

Once you've cleared the sidequests from last chapter, it's on with the plot!

The second battle, against someone new you've managed to piss off, is against an enemy that is VERY good at wrecking your equipment, so be careful of that. However, if you can spare the turns, she has an incredibly good accessory to steal (and her weapon is good too).

The third battle can be torture because, as Omega has often mentioned, chocobos are the worst. The fourth battle has my single favorite use of Ignore Height in the entire game (Teleport also works). War of the Lions players also get one of my favorite cutscenes.

But this chapter is pretty straightforward, so don't worry about catching up with those sidequests from Monday if you haven't.

Discussion:

Any new thoughts on Delita? Or do you still feel the same about him?
How did the battles go?
And what's your team looking like these days? Using any of the story characters that have joined up? Changed up your job combinations?

And now I can jump over to the save file I have of a play through from last year, in which I had done a lot more grinding :monster:

Jason Tandro · Mar 11, 2017

Discussion:

How did you do on these optional fights? Lots of tricky terrain (and that all-chemist battle is annoying, imo).

The terrain was mostly tricky because of the camera which I have already complained about (I found that bevel and yeah it's about as useful as viagra for a dude packing an inch). The fights themselves weren't too tricky apart from that third one. The final fight we had... well THE DRAGON. But I liked the music! I love that wintry stuff we had going on and that final battle music was just awesome. Also the music from the second fight always reminds me of Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, as weird as that sounds.

Here's the track "Under The Stars":

And here's the MGS: VR Missions track "Weapon Mode":

I realize side by side the comparison isn't as obvious but the general tones kind of remind me of one another.

Also as a side note, my new favorite battle theme is "Antipyretic":

I just love the way the main theme motif carries through a very tense track.

Backfire would be a close second. It's really really hard to choose all the music in this game is fantastic.

[*]Anything about these quests surprise you?

Finally meeting Beowulf, and getting a Dragon and Robot buddy for one.

[*]What are your impressions of the new characters, do you think you'll use them?

I am lamenting the fact that I now have a difficult choice to make. Clearly all three of these people are amazing and I'm not going to go into battle without Ramza, Agrias or my healer Harry. I can train them all to fill each others roles well enough and have a super star tag team (up to this point I have not used any monsters, but a dragon and this steel giant seem too good to pass up) but that means I either have to grind, do a "Team A" and "Team B" which I gave up like five chapters ago or only use some of them and leave others behind. I could scrap my other summoner like I did that other female mage I traded out for Agrias, but the one I'm worried about is my wunderkind Ilean who I'm training as a Calculator.

I'm not against spam-grinding, though it's gotten harder and I'm not necesarily against an A Team and B Team setup... grrr decisions make my brain hurt. Glad I wasn't trying to factor in the Magical RNG Twins or Mustadio into this decision either...

Edit: I did a test battle with them. Beowulf can obviously be trained, Worker 8 is fantastic with an across the map 200 HP damage move an the HP cost as opposed to MP is very manageable. Reis is a bit underwhelming at first, but there is very low Brave and Faith so I imagine if I bolster that it will be great.

ForceStealer · Mar 11, 2017

Mustachio Bandana said:
Here's the track "Under The Stars":

And here's the MGS: VR Missions track "Weapon Mode":

I realize side by side the comparison isn't as obvious but the general tones kind of remind me of one another.

Also as a side note, my new favorite battle theme is "Antipyretic":

I just love the way the main theme motif carries through a very tense track.

Backfire would be a close second. It's really really hard to choose all the music in this game is fantastic.

Agreed, do you think you understand what I was saying earlier that I find Sakimoto's Tactics stuff as a bit more...infectious than his other soundtracks? (FFXII, Valkyria Chronicles, etc.) Antipyretic and Under the Stars are both favorites of mine, as well Battle on the Bridge as I mentioned earlier. I also like

for "peaceful" random battles. Only Apoplexy can get on my nerves due to how short and bombastic it is. And of course

for Lucavi fights is wonderfully atmospheric.

Mustachio Bandana said:
I am lamenting the fact that I now have a difficult choice to make. Clearly all three of these people are amazing and I'm not going to go into battle without Ramza, Agrias or my healer Harry. I can train them all to fill each others roles well enough and have a super star tag team (up to this point I have not used any monsters, but a dragon and this steel giant seem too good to pass up) but that means I either have to grind, do a "Team A" and "Team B" which I gave up like five chapters ago or only use some of them and leave others behind. I could scrap my other summoner like I did that other female mage I traded out for Agrias, but the one I'm worried about is my wunderkind Ilean who I'm training as a Calculator.

I'm not against spam-grinding, though it's gotten harder and I'm not necesarily against an A Team and B Team setup... grrr decisions make my brain hurt. Glad I wasn't trying to factor in the Magical RNG Twins or Mustadio into this decision either...

Edit: I did a test battle with them. Beowulf can obviously be trained, Worker 8 is fantastic with an across the map 200 HP damage move an the HP cost as opposed to MP is very manageable. Reis is a bit underwhelming at first, but there is very low Brave and Faith so I imagine if I bolster that it will be great.

Yeah, I have actually never used Beowulf, myself, but I know a lot of people swear by him. I find Worker/Construct 8 to be situationally good, his 00 Faith is fun, although I know you've already done that to some of your characters, haha. One fun fact you may not be aware of, other characters can stand on Construct 8. And so you can use him was a step to reach high places.

Reis will actually improve when we do the next part of the sidequest, but she struggles to compete with some of the better characters. Unfortunately your decisions will not be getting any easier. I think you have 3 more characters joining in the playthrough. (Four for War of the Lions players.)

For my part, I just unlocked Bard and Dancer, classes which I have NEVER used before. Just ran a test battle, really interesting. I'm excited to use them.

Flintlock · Mar 12, 2017

How many chapters do you think there will be in total, Force? I'm starting to feel like I'm having to force myself (no pun intended) to play this instead of other games, which is why I haven't played chapter eight yet. If I know how much there is left I might be able to motivate myself to keep going.

ForceStealer · Mar 12, 2017

Flare · Mar 12, 2017

Finally finished chapter 2! :reptar:

Discussion:

How did you feel about the rest of the "flashback" chapter?
I liked it, it was a fairly long flashback and sets the story pretty well I think. I can imagine Ramza's frustration, constantly having people want to kill you because of your family name, despite you saying you don't have to fight, etc etc etc, and then Delita ends up disliking him (not sure of the extent of this yet, if it goes away or becomes hatred or whatever) through literally no fault of Ramza himself.
Ramza is a bit ignorant on some things, he seems like a decent person who's not really seen the behind-the-scenes machinations of politics in his life so far. But otherwise, you'd think his childhood friend Delita would know the kind of person Ramza is, despite his bloodline.
I guess being best friends with someone your whole life gets wiped away by a few lines from an asshole who kills your sister :wacky:

I don't think Delita is a bad guy, but wow, it didn't seem to take much for him to turn against that best friend.
I feel sorry for him losing his sister like that, but I didn't develop much feeling for her because you hardly see her. So I understand his despair and anger, but if he stays pissed at Ramza the rest of the game I'll be disappointed :monster:

Oh, and Ramza's brother's, what's up with that? I thought they were fairly decent, but are they really going to be scumbag nobles now? His sister seemed nice at least...
Tbh I hope this game doesn't end up with the 'all nobles/upper class (except for one, Ramza) are terrible people'. I'd like to see some good variation here in personalities, decency, and motivations.

How much do you hate Argath/Algus?
Interesting question. He's an asshole, he's the type of guy who would capture people 'beneath him' and personally torture them to gain information and possibly even for the sake of it. I dunno, seems a bit eager for violence. :monster:

I'm glad he's dead now, nice for him to just remain a flashback villain. He was the tool that spurned Ramza and Delita onto their respective paths, though it was done by terrible means and with no remorse from his slimebag soul.
However, his speech(es) in that last battle with him, I found them a bit interesting. He's actually encouraging Ramza to be at the top of the food chain so to say, which isn't much new but it struck me as interesting on how Argath really wanted to elevate Ramza above even himself. This slimebag was so... what's the word.... enamored and fixated on the class distinctions, it's like he would do anything to make sure Ramza 'lives up to his name'.
Well, I thought it an interesting villain motivation. I feel like Argath would've gladly put himself in Ramza's service forever.

Did any of the fights in this chapter give you trouble?
A couple random battles and then the last battle with Argath. I Game Overed the first attempt, but the next one started out much better, got through it a second try with no trouble.

ForceStealer · Mar 12, 2017

Yay Flare! I'm so glad you're still participating

EDIT:

Flare said:
Tbh I hope this game doesn't end up with the 'all nobles/upper class (except for one, Ramza) are terrible people'. I'd like to see some good variation here in personalities, decency, and motivations.

Yes, a big reason why I love this game is there are a lot of characters that introduce nuance into the overall plot.

Joker · Mar 13, 2017

FORCE I SAW THAT SPOILER TAG

DEAD TO ME

also, after the aforementioned next bit of sidequesting, that person suddenly becomes the single best character in the game

PPS everyone, make sure to have at least three or four open slots on your roster (ditch the chocobos if need be); there's still a few more unique characters to join, one of whom is definitely someone you'll want

Russell · Mar 13, 2017

Yeah I had another seizure & hospital visit so I haven't been doing much of anything lately. I've fell behind pretty badly with this. I've only got to the animal poacher guy? (He his own cut scene with Ramza.)

Flare said:
Finally finished chapter 2!

This makes me feel ok for falling behind.

Flare · Mar 14, 2017

Yeah so,

that fight to get Mustadio was an asshole. :closedmonster:

I died 3 times and managed it on the 4th try. >__> First fight was over within 2 minutes, black mages killed the guy before I could move half my party. Second fight, my archer was killed and crystalized before I realized it, so I shut it off. Third fight, Mustadio ran down into the enemy group and was killed. You fuck.

Won it on the 4th try. *wheezes*

Flare · Mar 16, 2017

^Oh gosh what, that was the end of the chapter 3 on here, I didn't even notice. Uhhhhh

Chapter 3 stuffs :reptar:

The third battle in this chapter has one of my favorite tracks (entitled Battle on the Bridge). What are your thoughts on the OST so far?

I don't remember the full song right now for this battle, but I do remember enjoying it!

I happen to love Sakimoto's music, I loved it in FFXII, I loved it in the Romeo x Juliet anime, and I love it here. Did he do the music for Tactics Advance as well? I also liked that :awesome:

I agree with Flint in that his music always seems to mesh very well with the location/story (or I think he said something like that?) It's got a lovely distinct style that I enjoy. <3

This chapter really starts to get into the shifting or unclear loyalties/goals. What are your thoughts on the different parties' motives?

Well, Delita doesn't seem to hate Ramza, I think, so that's good. Curious as to what he's up to, and trying to save the princess and all. Mustadio, hm I feel like he's got good intentions, trying to keep this auracite out of evil hands and such, looks like. We'll see what happens.
Gaffgarion, not really surprised he's a turd. Still wondering about Ramza's brother's, they don't seem to hate him (or at least the one you saw, whatever his name was), but certainly don't seem to care if he dies, so.... dicks, yeah.
Agrias seems like a traditional well-to-do knight. Maybe like Brienne from Game of Thrones. The princess is a surprisingly nice battle addition with her lovely spells, but doesn't seem to stray much atm from a desire to do good, she'd probably sacrifice herself to save others, that sort of thing.

If this is your first time, are you starting to gain some comfort with the game's systems? If you're a vet, are you trying some different character/job combinations?

TA, as I mentioned before, already gave me some experience with this kind of gameplay and battle system, so I got a boost from that, however this feels more time-consuming and in-depth in some ways. But I'm finally feeling really comfortable with it, as in I have a good grasp on how it works and such. I really do enjoy it, but I wouldn't want a lot of games I play to have this kind of system, if that makes sense.

I think my party was styled thusly:
Ramza is a Dragoon, then I have the rest of my main 4 as an Archer, Time Mage, Monk, and Chemist/White Mage (he often swaps). Loving Ramza as Dragoon, Dragonheart is a cool skill. Also my Monk lady has Regenerate as a skill whenever she's hit, and also regains health whenever she moves. I hardly ever have to heal her, she's awesome. :monster:

ForceStealer · Mar 16, 2017

Flare said:
Agrias seems like a traditional well-to-do knight. Maybe like Brienne from Game of Thrones.

lol, that's a comparison I never really thought of, but I see it. Brienne could probably have really benefited from some Holy Sword techniques, I think :monster:

Also, you've gotten to some pretty good job classes for where you are, nice work

Everyone else, do we need more time for Chapter 9?

AvecAloes · Mar 16, 2017

Chapter 8

Discussion:

How did you do on these optional fights? Lots of tricky terrain (and that all-chemist battle is annoying, imo).
I had more trouble against the fight with the dragons + chemists than any of the others, but I think I fared pretty well against all of them. I just couldn't believe how much damage those chemists were doing with their ice attacks...I think my lady Dragoon took 299 damage in one hit at one point!
Anything about these quests surprise you?
Nope, considering I knew what was coming from my first playthrough But again, things seemed more fleshed out for me this time, meaning that I just picked up on more things in the dialogue and whatnot this time 'round.
What are your impressions of the new characters, do you think you'll use them?
Well, I'm not sure.

Reis has such shitty shitty stats right now, but she is also a dagron, so...I might take her into a random battle just to see how it goes at some point. I don't think I ever used Beowulf during my last game, so again, I'd be interested in taking him for a spin in a random encounter as well. I did use Construct 8 a little last time, but not as a static party member. Not being able to heal him with magic makes him a little bit tricky to use, but his attacks are pretty rad.

I keep saying that I want to be a little more adventurous with this playthrough, but so far, I've basically been sticking to what was tried and true for me last time :/ I did raise Orator and, uh...Mystic a little, which I didn't really bother with last time, so there's something at least...haha.

Flare · Mar 17, 2017

Ramza Beoulve said:
Chocobos (and any monsters recruited), will periodically lay eggs as you move around the map that will spawn new chocobos.

So that's how I got another yellow boko :monster:

Didn't see an egg though on the map.

So, how do you get other monster types in your party?

Discussion:

Have you been participating in any Errands?
I've participated in only one so far. Haven't got back yet because of the story. XD Not sure if it's something I'll really delve into.
Now that Mustadio is no longer a Guest, did you continue using him? (Even if you don't use him, you will need him on your party for sidequests, so sign him up and hold onto him.)

I haven't yet, I did use Agrias in the last fight of this chapter, she's pretty awesome. <3 I do like Mustadio too though, he was always pretty handy in the fights where he was a guest. But I'm so used to my team I've built from scratch, it's hard to make variations!
Any thoughts on the story developments in this chapter?
The stuff with Princess Ovelia is pretty cool. Body double! Didn't expect that.
I was initially thinking that royalty and the Beoulves (not the rest of the nobles) were the ones mostly in charge, but it seems that every noble is 'in charge' in a way. All depends on who you align with, your goals, etc etc. I am enjoying seeing allll the peoples have motivations, trying to pedestal royalty and shit to gain more power or just accomplish their goal. Just because you're royalty doesn't mean you're ruling everything, seems like they are/can be pawns as well, yet it's a two-way street. They can also strike deals and use nobles to get where they want.
Tl;dr it's fun.
Gaffgarion is still alive, tenacious old man! Seems like a man just after money/protection/whatever, but I do wonder. Is he trying to convince Ramza to not fight because he kinda likes Ramza? And does Dycedarg (that's one of his bros, right? And the other is Zalbaag?) have any care for Ramza at all?
Delita is being a mysterious man right now. Not sure wtf he's trying to do, except likely topple nobility, but we'll see. Curious to see who kicks the bucket next chapter.
Did you struggle with any of these fights? About now you can start delving into some of the more unique jobs, what kind of party are you rockin'?
Actually, I did better than I thought I would. Was concerned about the last fight, 8 against 5 was totally unfair, yet I beat it my first try. XD Woot! I ended up saving Gaff for last, and picked off everyone else first. Hilarious moment, Agrias only had Potion for her item usage (I had no idea!) but she ran over a crystallized enemy which happened to teach Hi-Potion.

My current party set-up:
Ramza is still a Dragoon, it's pretty sweet. Turned my Archer into a Knight for now. Monk is still a Monk, getting better. Chemist/White Mage still going strong. Made my Time Mage (and also mid-grade Black Mage) into a Summoner. Summoner's seem like they can be preeeetty powerful, so I decided to throw him on that. I want them to all have a few jobs they excel in.

Oh, I haven't done much grinding in this chapter and the last, and I'm still doing pretty great, everyone has JP boost and sometimes I prolong fights to get more.

ForceStealer · Mar 17, 2017

Go go go, Flare!

Flare said:
Ramza Beoulve said:

Chocobos (and any monsters recruited), will periodically lay eggs as you move around the map that will spawn new chocobos.

Click to expand...

So that's how I got another yellow boko Didn't see an egg though on the map.

So, how do you get other monster types in your party?

The eggs will show up in your party roster. And there's a job called Orator that learns a move called "Entice." It can convince humans and animals to join your side in a fight, and at the end of the battle you'll be offered to sign them up.

Flare said:
Gaffgarion is still alive, tenacious old man! Seems like a man just after money/protection/whatever, but I do wonder. Is he trying to convince Ramza to not fight because he kinda likes Ramza? And does Dycedarg (that's one of his bros, right? And the other is Zalbaag?) have any care for Ramza at all?

Yeah I think that's interesting about Gaffgarion, he's definitely just a sellsword, but he does seem to believe in the "order" of things, and yeah, I think he respects Ramza from serving with him. I like in that fight when Agrias realizes Ramza is a noble.
And you are correct on his brothers (technically half-brothers, Ramza and Alma are full siblings). And it's hard to say at this point how Dycedarg feels, but I'm inclined to say he doesn't really care. You haven't seen too much of Zalbaag yet, but you will later.

Flare said:
Actually, I did better than I thought I would. Was concerned about the last fight, 8 against 5 was totally unfair, yet I beat it my first try. XD Woot! I ended up saving Gaff for last, and picked off everyone else first. Hilarious moment, Agrias only had Potion for her item usage (I had no idea!) but she ran over a crystallized enemy which happened to teach Hi-Potion.

Nice! haha

Glad you're enjoying it :monster:

Flare · Mar 17, 2017

^I've been playing the game when I get home from work this week, it's so fun :awesome:

I don't think I'm going through it too fast but at the same time I'm still four chapters behind, so it's fun catching up.

Jason Tandro · Mar 17, 2017

Discussion:

Any new thoughts on Delita? Or do you still feel the same about him?[/b]

I don't see that this really changed anything apart from giving us some insight into what the hell is going on.

He is pulling a Revolver Ocelot, triple-crossing everybody it seems. He's been put in charge of the Nanten so he is working for Goltana, but he's also working for the High Priest and Shrine Knights to kill both princes, but he's REALLY working to bring equality his own way while protecting Ovelia. I suspect his personal motivation is true mainly because there's no reason to assume he is loyal to either the Shrine Knights or Goltana.

[*]How did the battles go?
Nothing I couldn't handle. Honestly the chocobo fight was the trickiest one with half of my team getting felled to those damned Choco Meteors.

On all three of the "kill one person" fights, It was over within two rounds, the second fight of the chapter ending in less than one. Same strategy finished them off: Use Dispose from Worker 8 and charge in headlong with Agrias and Ramza who each have Two Swords (Agrias is almost a master ninja). Considering my In-Game Chapter 2 strategy was to rely solely upon magic, it's interesting that I am finding physical fighters far more useful at this point in the game. The last fight however finally had my protege Ilean (who is working through Calculator) live up to her hype, as, while the primary target was still killed within two rounds, her one turn was astounding.

Height * Prime Number * Flare = I hit 7 targets, only two of them friendly and killed two of them. Can't wait til she learns the last few calculations so I can make her a summoner again, give her Math and have my healer buff her faith to turn her into a machine.

It was also really cool to fight alongside Delita again with his newfound Holy Knight skills.

[*]And what's your team looking like these days? Using any of the story characters that have joined up? Changed up your job combinations?

Well I kind of aluded to thie before but my main team still has Ramza, Agrias, Harry (the healer) and Ilean, but I've given up Madeline and replaced her with the insanely OP Worker 8.

Ramza is a Knight now with Guts, but two swords. He's almost a Master Knight and then as odd as this sounds I think I'll run him through Chemist because I expect a new character will be joining the party which will need a new spot and if I have to scrap somebody it'll be Harry. The reason? My team is getting really good at killing the enemy before they need healing and almost everybody rolls into battle with Item as their sub ability.

Agrias is almost a Master Ninja. I'm gonna make her a Holy Knight again and give her two swords and basically have a second Ramza. I might give her a pass through Knight.

Harry is a Master Priest and Master Chemist so I'm working him through Mediator now to buff my teams Faith and Brave to prepare for the endgame.

Ilean is almost done with the ability skills of Calculator and I'm not going to suffer longer than I have to to master her. I'll put her back on Summoner and give her Math as a sub ability.

I have not unlocked Bard / Dancer but from what I've been reading about the skills, I'm not arsed to. I have never used any debuff abilities. Ever. With the very occasional exception of stuff like "Don't Act" or the various knight "Break" abilities. What can I say? I'm a Faceroller.

I hearby rechristen my army Team KillBot. I wish I was still using Monks, because I would name it Team Number Punchers.

ForceStealer · Mar 17, 2017

You've got a good read on Delita

Since I know you're playing the PS1 version, I think you should watch the WotL version of their conversation at Zeltennia. Just because I think it's one of the best scenes in terms of composition:

The lighting of course, but also the positioning, with Delita being beside Ramza, and then above him looking down as Ramza kneels. (In all previous cutscenes they were either equal or Ramza was higher.)

ForceStealer · Mar 18, 2017

Chapter 10: Do I look like someone familiar?

Time: Friday Mar 17 to Wednesday Mar 22

Target: When you beat the battle associated with this cutscene:

Okay, so first you'll have two story battles. The first battle you'll be able to choose to take the North or South Gate. It doesn't affect anything, but the battles are different, I find the South Gate to be easier. Then you will have a second battle where you'll have a height disadvantage, but otherwise it's not a big deal. After this, a new character will join who, and his name is Easy Mode. He basically renders all challenge moot from here on out.

That's all the story we'll do this chapter as we're going to wrap up that questline we started before. It does involve a lot of travel, though. Hopefully you still have Mustadio, Beowulf, and Reis in your party:

First, go to Sal Ghidos/Zarghidas, the first of the new dots that appeared. There you will meet someone who will make you an offer, again, choose the SECOND dialogue option to accept. Now, you have to go all the way back to Goug for another cutscene with Mustadio and Besrudio. Looks like dad's dug up another contraption, and this time it needs the Cancer Zodiac Stone. (If you have seen this cutscene already you won't have to come back here.)

Now you have to go back to Zeltennia, and read the rumor entitled "The Cursed Isle of Nelveska." This will add a dot to your map (you could have done this before, but moving to the dot didn't do anything). Now you'll have a fight there, and it's pretty tough, so take care.

Upon beating that, you'll have the Cancer Stone, well, Beowulf needs it for something first. But after that, head back to Goug. After the cutscene there, you'll want to head to Mt Bervenia. It's north of Dorter Trade City and the Zeklaus Desert, south of Riovanes. You'll want to equip a character with the Treasure Hunter/Move-Find ability. Be aware they need to have a Jump stat of 4! Spiked Boots or Germinas Boots are good accessories for this, remember you can't use Ignore Height or Teleport because you need that slot for Treasure Hunter/Move-Find. Anyway, it's just a random encounter, and you have to get your treasure hunter to the very top of the volcano. You should get the sword no matter what, no RNG involved.

NOW, make your way back over to Sal Ghidos/Zarghidas, for the above cutscene and ensuing battle, and that's it! Be sure to equip him with the weapon you got at Bervenia or you can't use his abilities. Unfortunately they start him at level 1 and he's not especially good. But if you'd like to raise him for posterity, some of his moves CAN be powerful, and dual-classing him as a Time Mage can help with the charge times.

Discussion:

Did any of these battles give you trouble?
Things in the story mostly went down as Delita outlined, what do you think about the ways it deviated?
Were you surprised by the conclusion of the Beowulf quest? Does this change your mind about who you might use?
Thoughts about that last quest and/or the way it was done? Did you already know about this, or was it a surprise? Do you think you'll bother to use the new character?

There's just one more optional character for War of the Lions players, and one more character to join as part of the story, we're getting close!

Joker · Mar 18, 2017

at Nelveska Temple (assuming they haven't changed it?), be sure to have a low Brave unit with Move/Find and Worker 8 both in your party (make sure your Move/Find has a solid Jump stat, can't remember the requirement)

have Worker 8 stand next to a pillar, then have your item finder jump on top of him and onto the pillar. repeat for other pillar. post results. hopefully you get the good items and not the crappy ones. good luck.

Joker · Mar 19, 2017

to clarify: you will either find the game's strongest spear and (arguably) best shield, or the worst of both. happy hunting!

also, after these sidequest battles,

Reis becomes the strongest character in the game in terms of stats and junk; her abilities suck but her stats are god-tier, plus she's female

Flare · Mar 19, 2017

I feel like this must be the longest chapter yet in the playthrough so far. And you weren't kidding, there were some tough fights. 3 of them gave me trouble, though surprisingly I only had to re-do one fight!

So the Lionel Gate battle, I had no idea if I would win or lose for the first half the battle. I basically had Ramza run around from Gaff while the other four went after the enemies outside the gate, and eventually I finally defeated them, though the little shits kept using phoenix downs. :monster:

I defeated Gaff by getting him to ground level, then I would have Ramza alternate between Hi-Potion on himself and Jump on Gaff, my Summoner outside the gate would heal Ramza with Moogle (added up to always keep Ramza out of danger), and then used my Monk's shockwave ability to hit Gaff. It worked, I did it on my first try :reptar:

I just got through the battle with Alma this morning. Holy fuck that pissed me off so much.

I said 'fuck' and 'shit' repeatedly. Enemies kept blocking when they only had a 20% chance to block, almost everything I did missed half the time (healing and damaging techniques), etc etc. I almost turned it off twice. But then I slowly gained a slight upperhand and took out 4 of the enemy group. Only a knight, monk, and the priest dude left. Which I then killed him and remembered that I only had to kill him anyway. :monster:

Bah, I'm so annoyed that white magic spells and the monk's Revive tech can actually miss. Bunch of crap. :lol:

Do you have any thoughts in Ramza's change as a person? This is always where it struck me.
Hm, he does seem more assertive now, I like that he's taking a stand (?) of his own. Like he's now making his own decisions instead of just reacting to events and following the current.
Thoughts on Cúchulainn? Did you struggle?
I did actually, this is the fight I had to attempt 3 times before I won. He was tougher than I thought, and I had some bad decisions made initially with what to do/who to bring. First fight I focused on trying to heal, but it was too much, I realized I just had to go after him and kill him. Second try, I brought in the wrong job classes (archer couldn't reach him, etc). Third try, I think I barely beat him before Agrias went poof into a crystal Sucks that you can't see his actual health.
LOTS of plot starting in the middle of this segment, any comments or questions?
Not surprised that the Cardinal was evil; I like seeing Cúchulainn though! Wondering if we'll get to see all the other Zodiac summons.
I just looked it up and am surprised to see that Tactics, then Tactics Advance, and then finally FFXII, is the order of these games. I honestly forgot that! I like how it keeps going back in time (or at least where the other races are still alive) with each game.
Speaking of zodiac, is there a point to the zodiac sign Ramza and the others have? I suspicion it might be a gaming mechanic involved with the zodiac auracite/magicite in the future. If it does have a mechanic attached, then don't tell me.
Also, nice to see Zalbaag again but I'm trying to puzzle him out. Is he in cahoots with Dycedarg? Or is he just ignorant (and an ass)? And Alma is cute, I hope she doesn't die. XD
Curious still about Delita's motives. I can't imagine him really wanting to work for others, tbh. He probably has his own goal that's separate from those he works with right now.
How badly do you want Orran's/Olan's Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stall? lol
That's a badass skill, I do want it It made the fight fairly easy, though a bit time consuming as I waited for everyone to crystallize.
Any changes to your Job lineup?
Ramza is still a Dragoon, it's pretty damn awesome. My Monk has almost fully mastered the class, only a few more side skills in it to learn, then I'll turn her into a Geomancer. My White Mage/Chemist I've finally moved into a Mystic class. I put him as a Orator for a battle, and that seems like a pretty handy job, but I want him to learn more Mystic skills first and subtly build up JP for Orator. My Archer/Knight is still a Knight, will eventually change him into something else. Black/Time Mage is a Summoner, building up some spells.
I played some random battles with side characters to help build them up a bit; I want to build Agrais up more because she's very handy.

Also, when Alma joins up as a guest, she won't be fighting, so feel free to take all her equipment, it's pretty good!

Thanks for saying this, I nabbed her stuff, her barrette can be worn by my female Monk. <3

ForceStealer · Mar 19, 2017

Certain zodiacs are good against/resistant to other zodiacs. So if attack with a zodiac that has an advantage over the other, you will do more damage. But it's not really necessary to worry about/keep track of

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