Final Fantasy Tactics Community Playthrough

[Flare]

One other tip to keep in mind is that if anyone on the party is earning JP for a given job, the rest of the participating party will also earn a fraction for that job.

^This tidbit is something I really love in the game.

Anyhow, first chapter here is finished. Having lots of fun!


Discussion:
- What are your first gameplay impressions?

I think I already listed my impressions on this, actually. Getting better at remembering to learn and assign new skills and such. Made a couple gaffs early on, lost a party member permanently, got a Game Over because Ramza was knocked out and I left him to die.... yeah.
I am glad to have skimmed over this thread beforehand though, I already knew about the potion's being thrown in straight lines, and higher ground helping out, those little tips.
Tbh, the camera might not be the best, but I'm not really bothered too much by it. I use the angles it does give you to zoom out and up a bit and that helps a lot. I'm actually kind of a fan of the fight style in this game. TA prepared me for them. I wouldn't want many games to have a battle system like this but I really enjoy it at times.

- And what about your early impressions of the characters?

It took me a few seconds to realize that right after the prologue, it goes back in the past. So I'm left wondering why Delita is kidnapping some princess and Ramza is all "COULD IT BEEEE?!" so that'll be fun, I'm sure.
Honestly, there's not much to go on with the characters yet. Ramza's kinda quiet, Delita is a bit more vocal and open, their sister's seem sweet, Ramza seems like he has good brothers, Argath is kinda jerkish but seems to want to prove himself or something... Oh and there's uh, two others in the prologue. Outspoken female knight and some other dude, Galguluff or something, they seem nice I guess.

- Did you read any Rumors at a Tavern?

Yup, read them all. Lots of into and historical names, but I did enjoy the retelling of the 50 year war. Jesus, sounds like a back-and-forth shitstorm that never went anywhere and just screwed most everyone over.

- Did you struggle with Dorter? What’s your primary party makeup looking like after this first chapter?

Thanks to what I heard, I made sure to do some battles before Dorter. And I totally didn't mind because I really enjoy the battles.

I got through Dorter on my first try, though it's easy to notice the spike in difficulty (more damage against my guys, glad I bought all that nice equipment )
I went through this fight with Ramza as an Archer, then brought in my male Chemist, female Knight, and male Black Mage, along with Argath and Delita (who are... Squires or something, I've kind of ignored them ) Other than that, I have a barely-used female Chemist and then a male Knight that's often in battles with me.


I'm looking forward to continuing <3

 

[Ite]

Jesus, sounds like a back-and-forth shitstorm that never went anywhere and just screwed most everyone over.

Welcome (back) to Ivalice

 

[ForceStealer]

As far as levels: Team PunchSpell is around Level 30-31...

And it's June of Year 2 for me if anybody is wondering, lol.

You're crazy

Spoiler: Chapter 5: A man cannot prosecute a war on his own

Discussion:

• Do you have any thoughts in Ramza's change as a person? This is always where it struck me.
  You're right that he doesn't have different values or anything, he's just less naive. But I guess I always notice how starts to become bolder, more assertive. At the Gallows when Gaffgarion tells him that if he stops now Dycedarg will forgive him and Ramza immediately answers, "Then let him forgive this as well."
  
  And of course from this chapter:
  
  Spoiler

  

  
  

  

  
  I think the cold one here is you, Ramza. Ice cold.
• Spoiler

  Thoughts on Cúchulainn? Did you struggle?
  Yeah I remember having a really hard time with this the last time I played through Tactics, but not this time. I was all over him. Lured him down the stairs, cast Gravity to 1/4 damage, two strong attacks from Ramza, a Divine Ruination from Agrias, and a couple shots from Mustadio. Undying my ass
  
  
• LOTS of plot starting in the middle of this segment, any comments or questions?
  Definitely not easy to keep track of on your first time through. Just to fill out your general idea, JT,
  Spoiler

  Duke Larg and Queen Louveria both want Prince Orinus on the throne, Goltanna wants Ovelia. As Folmarv explained in the last chapter, Ovelia was the king's only heir (legitimate or otherwise), but Orinus showed up suddenly and it's suspected that Larg just had a kid with someone and he and Louveria said he was the King's. The Church seems to also want Ovelia but not necessarily in support of Goltanna. Delita would appear to be helping Goltanna by delivering Ovelia to him and executing suspected traitors (damn, Delita). But Ramza observes at the end of this chapter that Delita seems to be working for someone else entirely, he guesses perhaps the Church, but doesn't know.
• How badly do you want Orran's/Olan's Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stall? lol
  If not just for that animation, haha. Orran did pretty well with this move for me, all but two of their guys were stopped for a good portion of the battle.
  
• Any changes to your Job lineup?
  
  Nothing huge, but I really started rolling this chapter. I usually take Ramza into Geomancer to get the Attack Boost ability, but this is the first time in awhile that I've left him there, and it's been pretty awesome. The Nature's Wrath counter is a pretty good one. Geomancy spells get outpaced in damage pretty quickly, but if you can't reach them with your sword, they do decent damage with chances for all kinds of debuffs. To get hit with something and then the attacker just gets Petrified is pretty great.
  
  Ramza is also rocking the Blood Sword that we stole off of Gaffgarion at the Gallows. So their one-on-one duel went well, with Ramza doing twice the damage he was and healing himself the whole time.
  
  Once chapter 3 started I sent my whole team out on Errands across three different cities, so I was down to Ramza, Agrias, Mustadio, and a couple chocobos. None of them could really heal (though Ramza was healing himself, and yellow chocobos have choco cure, but they're so fragile. One black chocobo didn't make it, but I hatched another one. And soon it became pretty badass, Ramza and Agrias on chocoboback with Mustadio perched behind them picking monsters off.
  
  
  
  
  Once everyone was back I bumped my Thief to Dragoon, and Ramza has now mastered Geomancer. So I'll probably have to briefly take him through Archer and Thief just enough to unlock Ninja.
  
  So yeah, things going well for my party, if not for Ramza, who is now a heretic. My highest level characters, by the way, are about 23. With some of my other mainstays in the high teens

 

[Joker]

who is now a heretic

playing this game is where my xbl gamertag came from

 

[ForceStealer]

Chapter 6: I played my part, yet still Ivalice runs red with blood

Time: Friday Feb 24 to Wednesday Mar 1

Target: When you see Ramza delivering this badass line to a frog, after the fight at Yardrow Fort City

(I accidentally made the last chapter for "Friday Feb 25" which is not a thing. I'm going to go ahead and post this now so that people have the whole weekend to work on it if they like. But it is not my intention to leave anyone behind, don't worry!)

This chapter is a bit lengthy with cutscenes, and is a little longer in the War of the Lions version. If you're playing the original, there will be 5 battles. In WotL there will be a 6th in the middle where you will meet the first new cameo from another Ivalice Alliance game.

When you get to Orbonne, there will be consecutive battles again, so as usual, save on a different slot between them. The plot will grow ever more complicated with some great cutscenes, even with some heartwarming moments, if you can believe it. After you retrieve Scriptures from Orbonne, if you're interested, know that if you go into Chronicles from the main menu and Artifacts you'll be able to read them (or, more accurately, Ramza's report of them). Even these will not give you the whole story, but if you're invested, I think you'll find them interesting. Also, there's a lot of really great music in this chapter.

When you reach Yardrow, you'll no doubt be pleased to know we'll be introduced to still MORE names as we'll be beginning a bit of a side plot.

If you want something else to do, our next chapter will include the infamous battles at the dreaded Riovanes. To prepare for that, I would highly recommend that you teach Ramza the new moves that became available in his Squire job at the turn of Chapter 3.

Discussion:

• Any trouble at Orbonne? The second fight has a rough layout.
• What are your thoughts on Isilud? There's more story to him after this of course, but I've always found him kind of an interesting character. Also, there may not be much to say, but if you have any thoughts as to what's become of
  Spoiler

  Wiegraf
  , I'd like to hear them.
• Did you read the Scriptures of Germonique? What do you think?
• And what of Delita? Do we trust him? Do we have any firmer grasp on his motives?

Man even I forget how much there is to this story sometimes. Good luck!

 

[Joker]

ahahaha the frog part

btw if you're playing the old ps1 version, you're going to want to get a very, very good Thief ready for Riovanes...

 

[Jason Tandro]

For stealing items or...?

 

[Joker]

WotL players don't need to worry about it

ed: thieves aren't known for their generosity, jt

 

[Flare]

Was doing a fight earlier today in the desert, the story one. Why are Delita and Argath so fucking stupid sometimes?


Delita: I'm just going to move one space at a time until I finally reach the cluster of enemies

Argath: *facing a wounded knight that has like 15HP*
You know I could use my sword that deals 25 damage and kill him instantly.
Or I could use my shitty skill Rush and do 8 damage.

Guess what, the knight survived and promptly ran over to a crystalized buddy of his and refueled all his HP


Argath I'm going to fucking kill you you little twat

 

[Roger]

Chapter 6: I played my part, yet still Ivalice runs red with blood

Any trouble at Orbonne? The second fight has a rough layout.


Nearly screwed up the second fight, I send people into the maze while ought to focus on climbing the wall next to the starting position, that ended up being a bottleneck against Isilud and his knights that I had to hold with my mages. Other then that it was relatively smoothsailing.

What are your thoughts on Isilud? There's more story to him after this of course, but I've always found him kind of an interesting character.

I mean, he's calling you a heretic while being caught slaughtering his way through a defenseless monastery. No amount of bromancing Wiegraf makes me look at that kindly.

Also, there may not be much to say, but if you have any thoughts as to what's become of

Spoiler

Wiegraf

, I'd like to hear them.

He must be getting tired of getting roped into all these kidnapping jobs.

Did you read the Scriptures of Germonique? What do you think?

Given that the demons part definitely is real as Ramza says the Germonique Scriptures aren't entirely accurate either. Still I would have liked for FFXII to more heavily lift from the Ivalice described here then just name drop a then religion and leave it at that.

And what of Delita? Do we trust him? Do we have any firmer grasp on his motives?

The cutscene in War of Lions in this chapter cements him as more full blown crazy rather then a stone cold sociopath like he seemed for a while. His motives are easy; empty Ivalice of as much life as possible other then him and Ovelia.

 

[Flare]

Might finish chapter 2 today. I got in a random battle last night and wow, I kinda sucked. Just did the wrong things in the fight and one of my gals who I just turned into a Monk was dead so, I turned it off.

So I've noticed enemies level up as you do. Is this going to be trouble later on, i.e. changing job levels and fighting tougher enemies with no skills learned in that job yet? Or, possibly easily circumvented by assigning them a good batch of secondary skills? I think maybe I switch jobs too fast in this game at times.
I actually just unlocked Dragoon for Ramza and so far I'm really liking it, gave him the Equip Sword ability and he does really sweet damage.

 

[ForceStealer]

Yeah, usually your secondary abilities from past jobs (as well as things like Equip Swords) should be able to carry you until you start to make progress in the new job. Also note that story battles don't scale, just random encounters.

And, as others have mentioned, a good way to make to progress in Jobs but minimize experience gain is to reduce one enemy to critical and or immobilize it in some way, and then just have your party whale on each other and heal it. This won't give you as much XP as killing baddies does, but you'll still get your JP.

But, though that is a very viable technique, it isn't NECESSARY, and it isn't necessary to do it for hours on end. I like to just do it as I go. If I clearly have control of a battle and the enemies are rapidly diminishing, I'll take a few rounds for everyone to just hit and heal each other before finishing the battle off Maybe if there's only a round or two until most of the enemies crystallize, for example.

 

[Flare]

^Oh thanks for that! So whaling on my buddies and the last monster standing builds up JP a lot faster than EXP? If I get a chance to, I'll spend some time doing that.

It's taken me a while to figure out what I want Ramza to specialize in so I keep changing it. I enjoy the archer and dragoon so far though.

 

[AvecAloes]

Chapter 4, 5, and 6 >.>

Discussion for Chapter 4:

• Have you been participating in any Errands?
  I have been. Not all of them, but when I go to a town, if I have some dudes to let loose, I do. I'd mostly been sending out Ladd, Alicia, and Lavian during this chapter.
  
• Spoiler

  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.)
  Spoiler

  I haven't been. I thought about it, but his stats weren't that great, I don't think, so...
• Any thoughts on the story developments in this chapter?
  Again, I'm glad to be playing through this again so (relatively) soon after my initial playthrough. I'm picking up on the story moreso than I had originally, and it's been easier to keep track of what is going on. As far as the story development, it's nice to see things ramping up, especially knowing where things are going.
  
• 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'?
  I'm pretty sure I did, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. I really should start keeping notes if I'm going to continue to leave such gaps in between finishing the chapters and doing my write-ups >.>
  Looking at the picture of the chapter end, though, I'm pretty sure THAT'S the battle that gave me trouble. Pretty sure that my WHM died immediately, and things just went downhill from there. Still, only took one more try to get it!

Discussion for Chapter 5:

• Do you have any thoughts in Ramza's change as a person? This is always where it struck me.
  I'm glad that he's no longer quite as naive. It's good to see him growing and becoming more self-aware and self-assured. He's still struggling with all of the intrigue that is going on around him, but he's starting to realize that he has a choice between blindly letting it happen around him, being a part of it, or fighting against it.
  
• Spoiler

  Thoughts on Cúchulainn? Did you struggle?
  Spoiler

  First time I went into the battle, yeah. It was rough. He put 3 of my characters to sleep right away, and then death quickly followed. 2nd time went much, much better. Agrias was even able to get the insta-kill with that one Holy Knight technique she has, so the fight was over much sooner than it should have been, HP-wise.
• LOTS of plot starting in the middle of this segment, any comments or questions?
  Nope, just really liking picking up on everything more fully this time
  
• How badly do you want Orran's/Olan's Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stall? lol
  SO BADLY. It worked SO WELL during that fight. I think all but 2 or 3 of the baddies were stopped/disabled after his first cast of it.
  
• Any changes to your Job lineup?
  Pretty sure I still had Ramza as a Monk, an Orator/WHM lady, a BLM/Time Mage dude, a lady Dragoon, and Agrias.

Discussion for 6:

• Any trouble at Orbonne? The second fight has a rough layout.
  Yes. The first fight gave me a lot of trouble on the first go, but I got it on the second. Other than that, things went pretty well.
  
• What are your thoughts on Isilud? There's more story to him after this of course, but I've always found him kind of an interesting character. Also, there may not be much to say, but if you have any thoughts as to what's become of
  Spoiler

  Wiegraf
  , I'd like to hear them.
  
  Spoiler

  freaking Wiegraf. I was always angered by his character. He was so blinded by rage, so weak-willed. Yes, I think he was weak-willed. The only thing he cared about was vengeance, he couldn't see anything beyond that.
• Did you read the Scriptures of Germonique? What do you think?
  I did read it, and found it really interesting. I don't think that I read them during my first playthrough, so it added an interesting bit of information, and I particularly liked hearing Ramza's thoughts on them.
  
• And what of Delita? Do we trust him? Do we have any firmer grasp on his motives?
  *sigh* Delita. I'm never happy with him.

 

[Flintlock]

Spoiler: Chapter 5

Do you have any thoughts in Ramza's change as a person? This is always where it struck me.

I didn't notice it very much. I guess he's standing up for himself a bit more now but he's always been a neutral good character (on the D&D alignment grid) in my eyes.

Spoiler: Question

Thoughts on Cúchulainn? Did you struggle?

Spoiler: Answer

Not really. As usual, it was a two-attempt affair: I reset the first one pretty quickly once I thought up a good strategy, which I posted in a previous screenshot: four knights to shepherd him into a corner and a black mage to take him down from a safe distance. It took maybe four rounds.

LOTS of plot starting in the middle of this segment, any comments or questions?

I shouldn't have taken a long break in the middle of the chapter because I've quite literally lost the plot. Doing the approximately one billion errands also distracted me somewhat.

While we're on the subject, is it possible to fail errands in this game? I'm yet to do so even when I send out my crappy level 1/2 characters.

P.S. Ladd, if I pay 11,000 gil to send you on an errand and you come back with 2,600 gil and no other reward, I don't appreciate you telling me that our fortune could not have been greater.

How badly do you want Orran's/Olan's Celestial Stasis/Galaxy Stall? lol

It looked pretty nifty... it was also the first animation to cause slowdown on my patched ISO, which wasn't so nifty. I was expecting him to join the party after the battle as a guest but I guess that's coming later.

Any changes to your Job lineup?

A few. Ramza is a level 8 monk now and I was just about to move him to geomancer when I realised the last fight of the chapter was coming up, so I kept him as a monk. Agrias is still on holy knight, having dipped into knight so I could give her a useful second ability; her holy knight skills take so long to learn and I'm not even sure how useful the new ones will be. I'd really like to take her to a faster job because she's my slowest character at the moment. The other three (generic) characters I've been working with are currently a white mage, a time mage and a dragoon. The latter two jobs were new for me in this chapter and I'm liking dragoon so far.

Mustadio also made a rare appearance in battle this chapter when all my characters bar him, Agrias and Ramza were on errands. I had to take two Chocobos with me just to make up the numbers. Black Chocobos seem to be the most useful so far; I was expecting a lot more damage from my red Chocobo's Choco Meteor.

I'm still waiting for that roadblock of a fight that I just can't get past...

The next chapter MIGHT be the one

It wasn't. The one where Ramza had to duel Gaffgarion was a little tricky but Ramza's counter whittled Gaff's health down and allowed him to use chakra to keep his own health up. I maneuvred him to the gate switch but by the time I opened it Gaff was already on his last legs so I didn't need help from my other characters. The last fight was probably the easiest fight I've had in the whole game, story or random. I was a bit disappointed.

 

[Joker]

Incidentally, the black chocobo IS stronger than the red, and Holy Sword Skill attacks are always worth learning.

But it's okay, Riovanes is in the next chapter or two; we'll see how you fare there

 

[Flintlock]

Then come! Wield your hatred and crush me. I welcome it!

I could stream chapter 6 this evening &#8211; anyone up for doing commentary or just random voice chat on Discord?

 

[Fangu]

Then come! Wield your hatred and crush me. I welcome it!

<333

 

[Flare]

Okay I have to ask, at the very beginning, doesn't the game say that Delita is the name of the hero or something? And then it moves to introducing Ramza and says that after researching the records, they learned that Ramza was more the hero?

I kind of forget, really want to confirm that.

 

[ForceStealer]

^Yes, perfect

 

[Flare]

OOoh awesome thanks, very curious to see where this goes. That stuck out at me.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Flare, the story is a rich tapestry. Soak it in!

Almost done Ch 6. I ditched one of my backup wizards because her faith is in the 50s and her brave isnt enough to start retraining her in physicality. I know I could raise it through abilities but I'd rather just for now use Agrias since I've started needing a solid Tank. I've taken the other into Summoner and her faith is actually higher than Ilean (Leviathan dealt 599 damage in the last fight I did).
And I'm training Ramza to go Ninja. I think I'll use Agrias to tank as Samurai and make Ramza my main physical damage dealer again.

 

[ForceStealer]

I was going to ask, do we need more time for Chapter 6? Looks like only 2 people have got it so far?

 

[Joker]

I think I'll use Agrias to tank as Samurai

keep in mind that she can't use Holy Sword Skill with a katana

 

[ForceStealer]

BUT that you can use Samurai skills with the appropriate katana merely in your inventory instead of equipped. Which is something I had no idea about until embarrassingly recently