Final Fantasy Tactics Community Playthrough

[Joker]

tbh I go for like 80-odd faith and max brave on literally all my characters

who needs to worry about healing when everyone can blast the entire enemy party into oblivion with math skill

 

[Jason Tandro]

tbh I go for like 80-odd faith and max brave on literally all my characters

who needs to worry about healing when everyone can blast the entire enemy party into oblivion with math skill

My issue was Cyclops was wrecking my shit. But since Ramza and Agrias had such low faith (and I made Agrias a Ninja) we tore him up. My healer got KO'd but we managed to pull it out with a last second Bahamut summon.

Now I'm at the roof fight and my god is this some annoying fuck... My Agrias has the highest speed and knows Items and X-Potion so I think I'll have to have her charge in and heal Rafa immediately.


Edit: Wait... I only had to kill one of them? Well shit one strike from Ramza (dealing 192 per strike) did it.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Spoiler: Chapter 7

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

• 
  For one thing I think the original translation of Rafa and Malak are better names.
  
  But yeah he was a piece of shit, but then this land seems to be inhabited solely by pieces of shit.
  
  [*]You've witnessed one of the darkest scenes in the whole game. Thoughts?
  All I can think is "well now there are less names to keep track of." It was a great scene, very tense. I think Riovannes would have been an amazing bit of drama but it gets undercut by two insanely hard fights back to back, one borderline unfair and the other one absolutely unfair and completely luck based.
  
  [*]Congratulations on passing the infamous Tactics road block! How did you fare?
  
  I had to go back out and do a bit of ability grinding and minmaxing on Ramza's Faith and Brave. I also took Agrias down the path of the Ninja so I can teach her two swords so I can eventually have a two sworded holy knight. I have given up on the Samurai's Draw Out abilities, even with bolstered magic attack they did not impress me. Meanwhile my atheist Ramza with Two Swords and Squire and a Brave in the 90s was dealing out almost 400 damage with a basic attack.
  
  [*]Still keeping up with Rumors and the plot at large? The parties at play and who belongs to which group? (The Riovanes rumor is particularly gnarly.)
  
  I really feel like I'll need a plot synopsis to fully understand what's going on but my basis understanding is this:
  
  
  Spoiler

  The polticians and the royal family are being used to start a war to discredit the church by the Shrine Knights who are under the influence of / being controlled by / are the Lucavi. The Lucavi take their power through the Holy Stones, thought we find that the stones can also be used for good at the end of this chapter so I'll have to table that shit for the time being.
  
  Furthermore Olan and Orlandu are at Zeltennia presumably working alongside the Nanten, but we see that Orlandu has a Holy Stone of his own. Perhaps Orlandu is thinking he can gain leverage over the Shrine Knights and/or expose the church's corruption.
  
  And Delita and Ovelia play into it somehow...

PS: Calculator is really worth it you say? If so what is the best way to bolster their speed, I really don't want to have to commit somebody to casting Haste every battle if I can avoid it (my strategy is bum rush offense with dedicated heals - Auto Potion out the wazoo).

 

[ForceStealer]

Spoiler: about Barrington for people playing the original

Does the old version make the whole raping Rafa thing as clear as WotL translation? Apparently the Japanese version is even more overt than WotL.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Spoiler: about Barrington for people playing the original

Does the old version make the whole raping Rafa thing as clear as WotL translation? Apparently the Japanese version is even more overt than WotL.

Spoiler

I had my suspicions but I wouldn't call it "overt". More "heavily implied".

 

[Flintlock]

Spoiler: Chapter 7

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

Barrington is Rapha and Marach's adoptive father, right? I really wish that character names were always visible on text boxes rather than just once per conversation. That thread was pretty interesting. At first I thought Marach was an idiot for not trusting his sibling but then I considered that Ramza would have been an idiot to trust his, so, pick your poison, I guess. I was surprised when Rapha brought up "the thing he did to me" and because I'm a forgetful dope I didn't make any sort of connection between that and "the flesh remembers" until just now.

I'm glad this game is mature enough to include sensitive topics like that but I wish it had been explored further. Perhaps it still might be, but if this playthrough has taught me anything, it's that Rapha is going to have no further dialogue in the story between now and the end, which is a shame. I'm keeping all the characters the game is offering me (I just hit the limit for the first time) but it would be nice if they were more involved.

You've witnessed one of the darkest scenes in the whole game. Thoughts?

Which one, specifically?

Congratulations on passing the infamous Tactics road block! How did you fare?

Outside the castle: no sweat. Being able to one-shot Marach was handy, but not as handy as having Ignore Elevation on my dragoon, who single-handedly took down three enemy archers. I knew that skill would be worth the investment.

Duel with Wiegraf: some sweat. He kept wrecking me with Hallowed Bolt until I remembered Force's advice (in the Orbonne Monastery fight) to equip a Chameleon Robe. Without auto-potion, though, it remained a difficult fight. I managed to beat him once after using Rend Speed a couple of times so that Ramza had two consecutive attacks, but I would end up having to fight him twice more, because of what came afterwards.

Belias and the gang: profuse sweat. I just couldn't figure out a way to survive. Belias could knock out a character with a single punch and the demons could wipe out a large cluster in two spells/summons/whatever. At one point I seriously considered abandoning my progress at Riovanes and going back to buy Nu Khai Armbands, which halve dark damage, since that's what the demons seemed to be using. But since that would have been a major pain in the ass, I caved, and looked at the chapter tips for the first time since chapter 1.

Force suggested using two of Ramza's unique Squire abilities but I could only see how Tailwind would be useful – I had already had the thought to reduce Wiegraf's speed, but increasing Ramza's was much more useful because it carried over to the Belias fight. I tried it once to boost Ramza to about 16 speed but still lost to Belias, so on my next attempt, I completely cheesed it, getting his speed up to the mid-40s before dispatching Wiegraf. That gave him five turns in a row at the start of the Belias fight, which brought him down to about half HP and made it relatively straightforward. I'm not proud.

What was the second skill you had in mind, Force?

Clash on the big roof: was this supposed to be hard? I took four characters into the fight and only needed two of them to take a single action: Ramza hit Barrington with a sword, my black mage cast Firaga and it was all over. Shortest fight ever. I'm willing to believe that it's luck-based but I'm not entirely sure why that would be the case.

Still keeping up with Rumors and the plot at large? The parties at play and who belongs to which group? (The Riovanes rumor is particularly gnarly.)

The one about 500 men dying, you mean? I read all the rumours but if they're too long I just skim them. I haven't kept up with the full plot of the war but I feel like the Zodiac stones and the Lucavi are going to be much more important from now on, and I think I understand that part pretty well.

Edit: Rad/Ite, it sucks about your PS3, but if you want to keep going I'd be happy to send you a save file for the PPSSPP emulator. I have saves before, during and after Riovanes. You'd have to live with all my ability choices, but I've managed to get through every fight so far, so they can't be that bad. Probably the bigger disappointment would be not having Ramza be named Pants, but there's not much you can do about that, I'm afraid.

 

[Ite]

Haha thanks Flint! But I think I'll wait and catch up later, even if it's in a few months.

 

[Joker]

@jt: calculator is a TERRIBLE class to play as, but that's the point; math skill is the single strongest ability in the game, so they made its class awful. Basically you jp grind out its excellent suite of abilities, and then spec out of it and into, say, summoner or something

also the damage of draw out is only strong if yiur character has a solid MA, so samurai will want gear that boosts it. on top of that, it's the stronger, rarer katanas that are worth using anyway, outside of healing. iirc chirijiraden is quite good, and masamune ofc

fun fact: the end of this chapter is where sidequests and recruitable characters start REALLY being a thing, including Cloud!

 

[ForceStealer]

Spoiler: chapter7 @Flint

You've witnessed one of the darkest scenes in the whole game. Thoughts?

Which one, specifically?

Well, I was referring to what happened in Barrington's living room with Folmarv going Lucavi and violently murderizing everyone, including his son. But I suppose that "flesh remembers" bit is pretty dark too. The whole scenario is, really.

Incidentally, this is mainly why I asked about Isilud in the other chapter. As Minato pointed out, he was still killing his way through a monastery, so it's hard to feel TOO bad for him. But it's still interesting that he knew nothing of the Lucavi plot, and legitimately felt the Zodiac stones were just a symbol for the church to rally the people with.

Outside the castle: no sweat. Being able to one-shot Marach was handy, but not as handy as having Ignore Elevation on my dragoon, who single-handedly took down three enemy archers. I knew that skill would be worth the investment.

Yeah, Ignore Elevation is great fun. I like how it gives a "practical" usage to the Dragoon's famous ability to Jump. I often wished in XIV I could reach places with my dragoon that I couldn't normally

He kept wrecking me with Hallowed Bolt until I remembered Force's advice (in the Orbonne Monastery fight) to equip a Chameleon Robe.

Nice!

I tried it once to boost Ramza to about 16 speed but still lost to Belias, so on my next attempt, I completely cheesed it, getting his speed up to the mid-40s before dispatching Wiegraf. That gave him five turns in a row at the start of the Belias fight, which brought him down to about half HP and made it relatively straightforward. I'm not proud.

What was the second skill you had in mind, Force?

Focus. After you get your Tailwind up to getting multiple turns for each of Wiegraf's, you switch to cheesing Focus to increase your attack. Enough cheese and you can knock out Wiegraf and Belias with single hits, haha.

Clash on the big roof: was this supposed to be hard? I took four characters into the fight and only needed two of them to take a single action: Ramza hit Barrington with a sword, my black mage cast Firaga and it was all over. Shortest fight ever. I'm willing to believe that it's luck-based but I'm not entirely sure why that would be the case.

The luck comes from what Rapha does. If she runs right into the fray, Celia or Lettie will likely use their 100% accuracy instant death attack and you lose. But you only have to reduce any of the 3 opponents to critical to end the battle, so that's why I say the battle is likely to be very short, and either you'll win or lose in that short time.

Still keeping up with Rumors and the plot at large? The parties at play and who belongs to which group? (The Riovanes rumor is particularly gnarly.)

The one about 500 men dying, you mean?

Yeah, mostly because of the 'heads crushed like melons' bit

fun fact: the end of this chapter is where sidequests and recruitable characters start REALLY being a thing, including Cloud!

Speaking of:

 

[ForceStealer]

Chapter 8: A beast of legend - the Holy Dragon
AKA: "SIDEQUESTS!"

Time: Monday Mar 6 to Friday Mar 10

Target: When you see this cutscene, following the Gollund Colliery Quest

So we have arrived in Chapter IV, which as just mentioned, is where most of the games sidequests become available. As these result in new characters for your roster, I would like to spend this chapter (and another in the chapter after next) completing them. The first several flesh out the world some more, and the final one we just have to do as an FF7 fansite This week, you'll be adding three characters to your roster. One good, one situationally good, and one that's novel but not that great, gameplay-wise.

Firstly, for those of you playing the War of the Lions. If you still have Alicia, Lavian, Mustadio, and Agrias on your team, and have 500,000 gil in the bank, if you arrive at any town (besides Eagrose, Zeltennia, or Dorter) on the 1st of Cancer, you will see a cute scene and get a great accessory (inherent Protect, Shell, Haste). Though you have to have 500k, it will only cost you 50. 1 Cancer follows 32 Gemini (which follows Taurus). So if you find yourself in that vicinity, you can move back and forth between somewhere like Gollund and Lesalia. If you're not close right now, don't worry about it, this quest won't expire.

Everything else applies to all versions of the game (but you need Mustadio in your roster). First, you need to have seen a cutscene in Goug with Besrudio and an iron sphere. It's possible to have seen this cutscene back in Chapter III, but if you didn't, first head down to Goug and view it. After that (or if you had already seen it), go to Gollund Mining Town and read the Rumor "The Haunted Mine." Now, go north to Lesalia and Ramza will go to the bar to learn about the job. A character will ask to accompany you, agree. (BE CAREFUL BUTTON-MASHERS, the option to agree is the SECOND option. And if you choose the first you will be locked out of these side-quests.)

Now the Mining Town of Gollund will be red, and you will have a string of battles there. They can be kinda tough, although nothing Riovanesian. (Tip: Ice Brands/Shields can be helpful here, but be sure to unequip the Brands for the third fight)

Lastly, go back to Goug and view the scene pictured above. Enjoy perhaps the only laugh Tactics will give you, haha.

The rest of the sidequest cannot be completed until we advance the story some more, so that will be it for now, hold on to all these new characters, though. (starts to get tricky in the old version of Tactics, I know)

There are also a ton of new Errands/Propositions that you can also do if you find yourself with extra time. Also, as this is a new Chapter and Ramza has changed appearances, that means his Squire job has changed again. He can now equip Knight Swords and learn Shout, which you should.

Discussion:

• How did you do on these optional fights? Lots of tricky terrain (and that all-chemist battle is annoying, imo).
• Anything about these quests surprise you?
• What are your impressions of the new characters, do you think you'll use them?

Good luck!

 

[Joker]

BEAT UP MUSTADIO

 

[Fangu]

I've fallen off the wagon, guys. I'm sorry. If the stars and planets align I might pick this up again, but right now I'm being strangled by the horrible web called life and I just don't have the stomach for games that demand that much energy. I hope to pick it up before I forget what I was doing, because I was enjoying it. Kind of like one enjoys a chili that is exactly that one notch too hot. It's making it hard to chew but you love it and you know you want more.

 

[ForceStealer]

I hope you can too

 

[Ite]

This has been a very successful LP so far. I'm definitely gonna keep following, and catch up when I get my rig fixed (Flare should catch up to me by then I think )

 

[Jason Tandro]

Still going strong over here. I managed to get through Riovannes and I'm not letting THAT go to waste!

 

[Flare]

I've been busy sculpting this past week and when I do game it's DA Inquisition for two reasons, 1) I've got to finish this game now or I likely won't return to it for years once I stop, and 2) I can turn the game on my computer at night and still sculpt while it loads and has conversations play with the characters, can't do it with a handheld system

Anyhow I'm still just on chapter 2 for Tactics but last I played I was getting a better grasp of the finer battle system mechanics. Just going to finish chapter 2 as soon as I can because I know it's a flashback chapter and I don't want to spend too much time dallying around, leveling up character jobs, if things change in some way (not too sure but I'm positive I'll get more party members so...)

 

[AvecAloes]

Chapter 7

Discussion:

• Grand Duke Barrington's a slimy POS, isn't he? Any comments on the Rapha/Marach plot thread?
  Marach pissed me off soooo much, I wanted to just let him die. I get a little...emotional though when people choose abusers over the victims in cases such as this, though.
  
  
• You've witnessed one of the darkest scenes in the whole game. Thoughts?
  Sooo much death. I think on my first playthrough I had actually forgotten that Isilud was the guy you met in the monastery, and so was a little confused by Force's question for the last chapter, but this time I remembered (and also was reminded by some of Force's commentary in another post). So to fully "get" that scene and its implications was nice this time. But yeah, he might not have been aware of the background plot or why these people actually wanted the Stones, so for him to be brutally murdered by his own father...although, I think it's safe to say that once someone gives in to the power of the stone, they are no longer really themselves. See:
  Spoiler

  Wiegraf. I don't think he was acting on Wiegraf's intentions, as his dialogue before/during his final fights with Ramza seemed to allude to. Before he gave in to the stone, he was totally in it for avenging his sister's death, and then after, that was no longer his motivation. So I think that was more Belias, and not Wiegraf. So then Isilud's father (his name is escaping me) was probably not the driving force behind murdering his own son, if that makes sense.
  Anyway, yeah, dark game is dark.
  
  
• Congratulations on passing the infamous Tactics road block! How did you fare?
  
  Spoiler

  Well, the first time I fought Wiegraf, I got him down to critical in one hit by just running up and attacking as a Ninja and getting a critical hit on one of the swings, thereby advancing to the next fight, which started out really well, and then took a decisive turn for the worst. Ramza ended up crystallizing, so reset. Second time, lost immediately to Wiegraf in the first fight, so reset. Third time, cheesed a little by upping my speed with Tailwind and running around the room trying not to get hit, until I was able to get two turns in a row against Wiegraf. I was already at pretty low health, and I knew that if his counter hit me, I'd be dead, but I risked it anyway, and luckily his counter was blocked, so I was able to get him to critical with one more round of hits, and advanced to the next fight. I won by the skin of my teeth - two of my characters were turned to stone, one was dead I think, and Agrias and Ramza were both in critical HP. Agrias was able to hit him one more time with one of her Holy Knight skills, and that thankfully did the trick.
  The fight against that....not Sephiroth dude and the assassins on the roof was over within one round, and thankfully in my favor. I was lucky that Rapha did not run out into the fray immediately, and then I was able to get one of the assassins to critical using Agrias and my Dragoon lady.
  
  
• Still keeping up with Rumors and the plot at large? The parties at play and who belongs to which group? (The Riovanes rumor is particularly gnarly.)
  Truthfully, I haven't been...I should probably do that a little more, I do like the story.
  

 

[ForceStealer]

So then Isilud's father (his name is escaping me)
...

The fight against that....not Sephiroth

Folmarv and Marquis Elmdore de Limberry

(Though I always called him not-Sephiroth too He's even a samurai!)

 

[Joker]

man this is such bullshit

I remember playing this game (admittedly the ps1 version) and replaying that godforsaken roof battle at least a dozen times because rapha's dumb ass would LITERALLY charge directly into the enemy and get killed before my first turn

CURSE YOU ALL FOR HAVING BETTER LUCK WITH AI ALGORITHMS

#foreversalty

 

[Ite]

I can't wait to refuse to let those two idiots join my army.

 

[AvecAloes]

I let them join, both in this playthrough and my first one, but if I need to let people go so I have enough room for the important characters, be sure that I will. Marach first, Rapha if needed (although I would feel bad for letting her go....but honestly fuck Marach).

 

[Jason Tandro]

Are the amazing RNG twins needed for any good sidequests or can I dump them?

 

[ForceStealer]

Dump away

 

[Joker]

DUMP THEM INTO A FIERY PIT OF DESPAIR

and then into the ocean

to the crushing depths of hell where they belong

fun fact: their strongest abilities (Sky Demon/Sky Demon Back) are actually the most powerful attacks in the game, IF they hit 6 times and IF all 6 are on the same panel

another fun fact: rafa's attacks ignore faith, and malak's have inverse scaling (the lower the faith of user/target, the stronger)

too bad they both suck

 

[ForceStealer]

It's my understanding they were ever so slightly improved in WotL in which their attack is at least guaranteed to strike the center tile at least once.

Still sucks tho.