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[Man God]

Huh? Is the damage formula different? Cause broadsword has more attack right?

The damage formula...is in fact different!

Swords:

Attack = Weapon Attack + (0..(Weapon Attack)/8))
M = (Level*Strength)/128 + 2
Defense = Defense

Knives:

Attack = Weapon Attack + (0..3)
M = (Level*Strength)/128 + (Level*Agility)/128 + 2
Defense = Defense

Note, due to a bug, only the first byte of (Level*Agility) is used (see Section 
12)

This bug is fixed in the GBA and smartphone version (fun fact, the only knife in the game that worked properly before this was Chicken Knife!) and this makes daggers competitive early on.

 

[Boney]

Huh, the more you know! I guess optimize doesn't account for it though?

So is that why you mentioned equip harps was a useful ability for Berserkers?

 

[Man God]

Huh, the more you know! I guess optimize doesn't account for it though?

So is that why you mentioned equip harps was a useful ability for Berserkers?

Axes don't have an agility component in their attack multiplier (though there are times when daggers are better weapons for them) but they are a heavy armor class and are dreadfully slow while Equip Harps is the second best speed boost behind Artful dodger. Berserkers need speed.

Equip Katanas and giving them the Masamune is another wasteful way to help them out a bit, though if you have another source of haste its not that bad of an idea.

 

[Heropon]

Maybe Gilgabot will stop sending me Red Mages and Berserkers if I show him that they don't bother me anymore. My team has enough HP to survive Almagest, so ExDeath should be my next victim.

Lenna was dead because I berserked Faris and I didn't have any way to revive her but thanks to her this victory was possible.

Another thing, having to fight all the battles was tense and at the same time exciting, but I hope I don't have to do this anytime soon.

 

[Man God]

Berserkers are my favorite class...so long as I don't get a Beastmaster with them.

(I always get a Beastmaster with them, sigh.)

 

[Triangulate]

Does the AGI component of Equip Bows get transferred to a Berserker or is it cancelled out since the STR modifier is lower than Berserker's native?

 

[Heropon]

Berserkers are my favorite class...so long as I don't get a Beastmaster with them.

(I always get a Beastmaster with them, sigh.)

Maybe I'd like Berserker more if Gilgabot weren't so inclined to give me so many of them.

 

[Man God]

Maybe I'd like Berserker more if Gilgabot weren't so inclined to give me so many of them.

I still have yet to get more than one Berserker and I do Berserker Risk twice a year.

I still have my earth crystal jobs to reveal on both games though.

I've had a wild fantasy about getting my streaming equipment set up again and seeing if I could work out a pre fiesta event with RK next year where I run all the wind crystal job+three berserker teams to see who really is the best and worst. The more donations come in, the more jobs I run/goals I need to accomplish.

 

[UberTag]

I still have yet to get more than one Berserker and I do Berserker Risk twice a year.

Aren't multiple Berserkers impossible except for Random w/ Berserker Risk?
You can't get duplicates any other way unless you pledge them in manually or you're playing Classic mode where you may get dupe Knights, Thieves, Monks or Black/White/Red Mages.

I'm fairly certain every Random/Zerk-risk has a Zerk in their Earth crystal spot this year unless they pay to not have one.

 

[Man God]

Aren't multiple Berserkers impossible except for Random w/ Berserker Risk?
You can't get duplicates any other way unless you pledge them in manually or you're playing Classic mode where you may get dupe Knights, Thieves, Monks or Black/White/Red Mages.

I'm fairly certain every Random/Zerk-risk has a Zerk in their Earth crystal spot this year unless they pay to not have one.

Hmm, I got my berserkers in the water crystal job on my Berserker risk runs this year, same as last. I still don't have Earth Crystal jobs yet so I might have two berserkers on two teams.

 

[Heropon]

And this is the victory of the day. As I don't have anything important to do this week I'm going to beat this game once a day until the Sunday.

I feel like I've improved since the Knight/Red Mage/Time Mage/Berserker run last year or having a Monk was better than Time Mage thanks to the Hermes Sandals.

 

[gaiages]

The Four Job Fiesta is always so much fun! I'm doing my second run this year; I skipped last year, and the year before that I had Knight/Berserker/Geomancer/Dancer. That was certainly... interesting for a first run, but it was a blast (after I got past that crystal battle in World 2).

This year, I have Thief and Time Mage thus far, but I had to quit for a bit because my console was freaking out.

So, I'm wondering, is there more to breaking rods than just using the rods as an item and them casting a spell and breaking? Can only certain classes do it? I never bothering during normal playthroughs and my first FJF run, so I'm wondering if there's something special I should keep in mind.

 

[Link Man]

The Four Job Fiesta is always so much fun! I'm doing my second run this year; I skipped last year, and the year before that I had Knight/Berserker/Geomancer/Dancer. That was certainly... interesting for a first run, but it was a blast (after I got past that crystal battle in World 2).

This year, I have Thief and Time Mage thus far, but I had to quit for a bit because my console was freaking out.

So, I'm wondering, is there more to breaking rods than just using the rods as an item and them casting a spell and breaking? Can only certain classes do it? I never bothering during normal playthroughs and my first FJF run, so I'm wondering if there's something special I should keep in mind.

You have to equip the rod before you break it, so it's limited to certain classes.

 

[Man God]

That's an awesome idea Man God, except that it would take a ridiculously long time.

So what's your preliminary list? Seems like Knight has to be top (Two-Hand) and Monk has to be bottom (since Barehanded stops being useful late game... though Counter or an HP boost would be somewhat decent). Other than that, White Mage above Blue or Black Mage, since it's much more useful as a support class for Zerkers than the other two. Thief probably somewhere in the middle for the Agility boost, plus never getting back attacked, plus stealing decent equipment for the Zerkers.

They all offer so many different things and without playing them all its hard to determine whether personal survivability is above other factors.

Thieves might offer the second best ability here in Artful Dodger (and they also prevent back attacks, something Berserkers have no answer for!) but they also have low Vitality. Then again you can pick and choose your battles and can respond to a lot of different situations easily.

I would personally put the three classes that can heal easily (White/Blue/Black) ahead of the others and I think it's not going to be close. Blue has the answer for Sandworm, a potentially difficult fight though three Berserkers getting lucky enough to do it isn't as rare as you'd think.

Without going deep into it I think I might put Blue Mage as number one as it's also the best class when the Berserkers totally screw up and you have to do the fight on your own. You basically have to solo to get certain spells though. White Mage and 3 berserkers would have a hard time getting going but an easy path to the end, with a decent amount of luck involved. Black Mage has lots of options actually and should have a fairly easy time throughout. Knight adds a few roadblocks here and there (especially if you also expect this party to go through the trench without running, that would be bad!) and Monk would be...pretty interesting! I'd put Monk at the bottom.

Maybe:

Blue, White, Black, Knight, Thief, Monk.

 

[Professor Beef]

Aw fuck, I forgot about the Trench.

 

[Link Man]

Completely forgot about the Flame Rings. Death Sickle made quick work of the crystals, though.

Using a Chemist agaisnt Exdeath probably wasn't the brightest idea, since you need to do a set amount of damage anyway.

Made my way to the top of Exdeath's castle, so should be finishing World 2 next time I play.

 

[Man God]

Black+Three Berserkers might be the best overall though. Reliable healing as soon as you get the boat+The ability to take out back row targets that the Berserkers would wiff on. Neo Exdeath would still be a gamble though.

 

[BassForever]

Knew in my gut my final job would be dancer again. White/red/beastmaster/dancer what a wonky team. Not bad but doesn't really have much synergy outside of white magic always being really good

 

[Man God]

Knew in my gut my final job would be dancer again. White/red/beastmaster/dancer what a wonky team. Not bad but doesn't really have much synergy outside of white magic always being really good

All four classes can confuse/charm in some manner. It's a theme baby.

 

[BassForever]

All four classes can confuse/charm in some manner. It's a theme baby.

Looks like my team will end up being

White with double cast
Red with white
Beastmaster with white
Dancer with white

Subbing in capture or control depending on where I am in the game

 

[Ludovico]

Black+Three Berserkers might be the best overall though. Reliable healing as soon as you get the boat+The ability to take out back row targets that the Berserkers would wiff on. Neo Exdeath would still be a gamble though.

I've got BM and Berserker so far. Any meta-hints for someone that's only made it as far as the pyramids before?

 

[Man God]

there is nothing more satisfying than releasing four yellow dragons and clowning Exdeath. I always have to make due with three because of my Berserker buddy.

I've got BM and Berserker so far. Any meta-hints for someone that's only made it as far as the pyramids before?

Save up and buy Flame Rings especially if you have no possible healers left to draw. Always have the appropriate rod equipped and try to learn what elements enemies are weak to. Bio+Poison Rod is the strongest spell for most of world 2.

A team of only Black Mage and Berserkers can also steal a whole bunch of Flame Shields and use those+hermes sandals in the very end of world 3. Very handy though you'd want to switch back to aegis shields for certain fights.

 

[Zerokku]

Just got my water job.

Summoner.

So far Blue Mage/Summoner. Should be fun, though I'm curious what my next two jobs will be. Also wondering if I should make 2 of my dudes Summoners or just one. Need to look through the abilities they learn.

Edit: Oh yeah it's just the different levels of summons. Hrm. It really depends on what my last two jobs would be then.

 

[Mazre]

Oh man, double Death Sickle drop. Probably portents an earth crystal berserker.

Edit: Hrmmm...time for operation dog genocide.

 

[Ourobolus]

Death Sickle on the first drop. That's never happened before.

 

[Link Man]

Ka-ching!

Gave up on the reflect rings, I have a Chemist.

Science! Dragon Power + Thief + Equip Axe + Twin Lance = Pain. So much pain.

World 2 down, probably gonna quit there for the evening.

 

[BassForever]

Got to world 2, the theme of this party besides for confuse/charm is "take forever to kill anything but never worry about dying" thanks to mad heals. Until world 3 with holy and chicken knife my best damage output is my beast master release which will make bosses easy but not much use in random battles.

 

[Ourobolus]

The Sandworm sucks with my party. I kill the Zerker off, but since the only heal I have is Vampire on ONE character, keeping up with quicksand with potions is annoying as hell. Might just be easiest to just let the Blue Mage solo it.

 

[BassForever]

The Sandworm sucks with my party. I kill the Zerker off, but since the only heal I have is Vampire on ONE character, keeping up with quicksand with potions is annoying as hell. Might just be easiest to just let the Blue Mage solo it.

Blue mage can one shot the sandworm with aquabreath which you can get from the dhoma chimera, shouldn't even need to kill the Zerker

 

[gaiages]

You have to equip the rod before you break it, so it's limited to certain classes.

Ah, that makes sense, thanks.

 

[Luigi87]

Knight/Berserker/Summoner/Berserker

Hm, had a double-zerker during my second year, but also a Thief and a White Mage.
... The Crystals aren't gonna be fun.

 

[Ourobolus]

Blue mage can one shot the sandworm with aquabreath which you can get from the dhoma chimera, shouldn't even need to kill the Zerker

Damn, it's been so damn long I can't believe I forgot this. :/

Knight/Berserker/Summoner/Berserker

Hm, had a double-zerker during my second year, but also a Thief and a White Mage.
... The Crystals aren't gonna be fun.

Bring Death Sickles. Win.

 

[agradine]

Beastmaster again

Is there are good guide out there for Catch/Release? Didn't really bother with it too much last year.

 

[BassForever]

Beastmaster again

Is there are good guide out there for Catch/Release? Didn't really bother with it too much last year.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/930369-final-fantasy-v-advance/faqs/61876

Skip to section 7.10, anything that says strong attack, or has lighting/blaze/breathing wing are worth looking at. Load up 4 of the latter or 4 of the former and you can usually wreck bosses in one round

 

[agradine]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/930369-final-fantasy-v-advance/faqs/61876

Skip to section 7.10, anything that says strong attack, or has lighting/blaze/breathing wing are worth looking at. Load up 4 of the latter or 4 of the former and you can usually wreck bosses in one round

Thanks! On the plus side I had forgotten about !Calm, so now I should be able to take down both bonus bosses this run.

 

[Dark Schala]

Gosh, that sounds boring as hell. :/ What do you do, spam hi-potions as the Berserkers kill everything?

Yup.

Booooooooooorrrrrrrrrring.

 

[Luigi87]

Bring Death Sickles. Win.

This idea I like.

 

[zyxwvu4321]

Need to try and figure out how I'm going to set up my party. Got Knight/Red Mage/Ranger/Chemist. Seems like Dualcast will be kinda useless, so I figure RM will basically function as Chemist #2. Never used Ranger, so I'm not sure how to maximize their damage. And I'll probably just let the Knight go smashy smashy with Two-Handed.

 

[graywords]

Archaeoaevis has fallen to Slow + Haste + Bard regen + repeated whacking over the head for 100-300 damage. And the final job is...

Knight, Time Mage, Bard, Dancer. Is this good? The melee seems nice, but I guess I'll have to stock up on hi-potions.

(Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing.)

 

[Link Man]

Need to try and figure out how I'm going to set up my party. Got Knight/Red Mage/Ranger/Chemist. Seems like Dualcast will be kinda useless, so I figure RM will basically function as Chemist #2. Never used Ranger, so I'm not sure how to maximize their damage. And I'll probably just let the Knight go smashy smashy with Two-Handed.

Give your Knight !RapidFire. Same damage, ignores defense, always hits and you get to use shields, which are awesome in this game. Although it does hit random targets, so it's less effective against single targets in a mob.

 

[Luigi87]

Dancer is awesome with Sword Dance. Haven't had one since my first year I did the Fiesta, but I loved having it. Equipped with Chicken Knife charged to max, 9999 dmg.

 

[BassForever]

Archaeoaevis has fallen to Slow + Haste + Bard regen + repeated whacking over the head for 100-300 damage. And the final job is...

Knight, Time Mage, Bard, Dancer. Is this good? The melee seems nice, but I guess I'll have to stock up on hi-potions.

(Disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm doing.)

Dancers main strengths are they have access to ribbon which makes them immune to all status effects, their main ability dance will do 1 of 4 effects

-drain health
-drain mp
-attempt to confuse the enemy
-do 4x physical damage

This can make the dancer frustrating at times and incredibly clutch at others, you'll be surprised at how much they can confuse and the health drain will keep them from dying as much due to their low hp.

If you've been running you should give your dancer the chicken knife in the 3rd world and max it out (gets stronger every time you run), if you haven't run from any battles you may want to continue to not run and get the brave blade instead (very powerful knight weapon that gets weaker as you run). Knights have plenty of good weapon options so your still better of with the chicken knife on the dancer.

Your other 3 classes are really powerful and can more or less solo the game on their own, if you get all the bards songs and learn when to use them they can be particularly devastating in particular romeo's ballad (stops enemies a lot of things can be hit by it including the secret bosses), alluring air (confuses all enemies and hits lots of things), and hero's ryme (raises everyone's levels). A bard will make the final boss a joke

Honestly you have a very powerful team and shouldn't have that many problems, your dancer is the "weakest link" and even then don't doubt the power of a 4x sword dance chicken knife. At worst you can just give them sing or time magic and just have them be back up.

 

[LuffyZoro]

Byblos was a lot easier once I remembered what Gravity does.

 

[zyxwvu4321]

Give your Knight !RapidFire. Same damage, ignores defense, always hits and you get to use shields, which are awesome in this game. Although it does hit random targets, so it's less effective against single targets in a mob.

Ah, did not know that !RapidFire ignored defense. The monster I tested on must have not had much then.

 

[graywords]

If you've been running you should give your dancer the chicken knife in the 3rd world and max it out (gets stronger every time you run), if you haven't run from any battles you may want to continue to not run and get the brave blade instead (very powerful knight weapon that gets weaker as you run). Knights have plenty of good weapon options so your still better of with the chicken knife on the dancer.

Your other 3 classes are really powerful and can more or less solo the game on their own, if you get all the bards songs and learn when to use them they can be particularly devastating in particular romeo's ballad (stops enemies a lot of things can be hit by it including the secret bosses), alluring air (confuses all enemies and hits lots of things), and hero's ryme (raises everyone's levels). A bard will make the final boss a joke

Honestly you have a very powerful team and shouldn't have that many problems, your dancer is the "weakest link" and even then don't doubt the power of a 4x sword dance chicken knife. At worst you can just give them sing or time magic and just have them be back up.

Haven't run yet, so guess I may as well continue towards Brave Blade, then give the Dancer whatever the next-best knife is. (Maybe I'll consider it a handicap?)

Dancer sounds pretty random. I don't think I used it much when I played the game way back when. I think I may already have a Ribbon to toss on one, too.

I only have three Bard abilities so far. Confuse has made random encounters much less painful, regen has helped some, but the Love Song one didn't seem to have any visible effect, so I had no idea what it did. Thanks for the tip.

Looking forward to grinding up at some point so I can mess around and find some decent job/ability combos.

 

[Man God]

Dancers main strengths are they have access to ribbon which makes them immune to all status effects, their main ability dance will do 1 of 4 effects

-drain health
-drain mp
-attempt to confuse the enemy
-do 4x physical damage

This can make the dancer frustrating at times and incredibly clutch at others, you'll be surprised at how much they can confuse and the health drain will keep them from dying as much due to their low hp.

If you've been running you should give your dancer the chicken knife in the 3rd world and max it out (gets stronger every time you run), if you haven't run from any battles you may want to continue to not run and get the brave blade instead (very powerful knight weapon that gets weaker as you run). Knights have plenty of good weapon options so your still better of with the chicken knife on the dancer.

Your other 3 classes are really powerful and can more or less solo the game on their own, if you get all the bards songs and learn when to use them they can be particularly devastating in particular romeo's ballad (stops enemies a lot of things can be hit by it including the secret bosses), alluring air (confuses all enemies and hits lots of things), and hero's ryme (raises everyone's levels). A bard will make the final boss a joke

Honestly you have a very powerful team and shouldn't have that many problems, your dancer is the "weakest link" and even then don't doubt the power of a 4x sword dance chicken knife. At worst you can just give them sing or time magic and just have them be back up.

even if you haven't been running a quick trip to the magic pots in phoenix tower or somewhere nice and safe like the wind shrine can power up run super quick. Hell even the desert outside of the pyramid isn't that dangerous if you want it immediately.

 

[Tomat]

Just got Time Mage. Never used them before.

Knight and Time Mage so far. Not having a healer kind of sucks.

*edit* Time mages get Regen. Sweet.

 

[graywords]

Just got Time Mage. Never used them before.

Knight and Time Mage so far. Not having a healer kind of sucks.

*edit* Time mages get Regen. Sweet.

Been there... yesterday. Get ready for tons of Slow and Haste!

Seriously looking forward to Comet and Meteor.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Bought a GBA SP and FFVa today.

Never played FFV before.

First job: Knight.

 

[Man God]

Just got Time Mage. Never used them before.

Knight and Time Mage so far. Not having a healer kind of sucks.

*edit* Time mages get Regen. Sweet.

Take a trip to the first castle from the intro and you'll get an item that when you attack your teammates it acts as a Cura spell. Time Mages can use it. This healing is amazing early on.