• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

FINAL FANTASY Community Thread: XV Mainline Entries and Counting

Tizoc

Member
Ugh I broke down and now I want to go on a level grind spree if only to max out my Jobs =_=. Gonna focus on Squire and Chemist for now, if any of the other classes offer better passive abilities I think I'll learn those too.
I just find the battles...fun heh.
 
Ugh I broke down and now I want to go on a level grind spree if only to max out my Jobs =_=. Gonna focus on Squire and Chemist for now, if any of the other classes offer better passive abilities I think I'll learn those too.
I just find the battles...fun heh.

Yep, sounds like FFTactics!

You never want to max out Squire since it's a waste of time. Just learn JP Boost from them and go with something else. The only time Squire is worth leveling is with Ramza and Luso in the PSP version.
 

Tizoc

Member
Yep, sounds like FFTactics!

You never want to max out Squire since it's a waste of time. Just learn JP Boost from them and go with something else. The only time Squire is worth leveling is with Ramza and Luso in the PSP version.

Gotcha, I take it other classes have better alternates to thier abilities like Salve which removes status effects? Will read up on how to get those skills then start playing for them.
 
Gotcha, I take it other classes have better alternates to thier abilities like Salve which removes status effects? Will read up on how to get those skills then start playing for them.

Monk has Chakra, which is a self-heal that also heals people around him/her for HP and MP, and also has the same thing for statuses. Chemist is obvious lol. You don't really have to worry about statuses too much if you have a good Chemist around, so concentrate on some of the more powerful classes.

Here's a Job Tree picture that I always keep handy when playing Tactics. It lists the PSP-exclusive stuff too, in case you're playing that version.

EDIT: If you're raising a Dragoon, then I should stress the fact that you don't have to learn his Jump skills one-by-one. You can learn HoriJump4, and he'll still be able to hit all the spaces before that. Same with Vertical. It's a nice way to save time and JP instead of learning them one at a time. Knight makes a good sub-class for a Dragoon, too.
 

Tizoc

Member
OK! Here's my current goal atm:
Get 3 Knights to high enough Job levels to unlock more classes.
Have Ramza learn at least Remedy as a Chemist, then make him a Knight.
I have a Chemist whom I'm focusing on but can he still gain JP for his other classes? I want to make him a Black Mage or at least learn some B. Magic.

EDIT: Any tips to properly utilize magic so it hurts my enemies and not my allies?
 
OK! Here's my current goal atm:
Get 3 Knights to high enough Job levels to unlock more classes.
Have Ramza learn at least Remedy as a Chemist, then make him a Knight.
I have a Chemist whom I'm focusing on but can he still gain JP for his other classes? I want to make him a Black Mage or at least learn some B. Magic.

Yeah, it's called JP Spillover.

"When a class is unlocked, it receives 100-199 JP. When a character performs an action in a certain class, that class (no matter what type of action you performed) gains JP. For example, if a Squire uses Item, you gain Squire JP, not Chemist.

When any ally does an action you gain one-quarter of the JP they earn (this is commonly referred to as JP Spillover). So when a Black Mage does an action, and gains 12 JP, every other active party member gains 3 JP for Black Mage, regardless of what class they are. This is a very useful tactic to increase your JP gains."


It should be noted that the JP is gained even if the class isn't unlocked. I've once unlocked Dragoon for someone and it was already around Level 4 because I brought my Dragoon into just about every fight.

Aim to make Ramza a Ninja, too. You will not be disappointed.
 

Tizoc

Member
^Well damn i never knew that! Thanks for the info.
Will make Ramza a Ninja then, but I am confused about Black Magic, I keep ending up accidently hurting my allies @3@.
 

Xux

Member
I get so annoyed playing FFXIII. I feel like I enjoy hating it so much.

The tone at the beginning is just so terrible; the music just ruins any feeling that should be emphasized by the story...for the in game stuff, at least, the FMVs fit the story better than the rest of the game somehow.
 

Xux

Member
Go back one entry and you'll enjoy yourself much more.

Pretty much. XII is a masterpiece.
Yeah, I know. It does the whole "automated battle" thing and shoehorned it's market designed protagonist in way better along with having the better Uematsu replacement and just generally better everything. Even in it's "unfinished" and patched up state it avoided feeling like a rushed tech demo like FFXIII did. Ito's unannounced project's definitely my most anticipated game right now alongside A Realm Reborn.
 

Natetan

Member
OK! Here's my current goal atm:
Get 3 Knights to high enough Job levels to unlock more classes.
Have Ramza learn at least Remedy as a Chemist, then make him a Knight.
I have a Chemist whom I'm focusing on but can he still gain JP for his other classes? I want to make him a Black Mage or at least learn some B. Magic.

EDIT: Any tips to properly utilize magic so it hurts my enemies and not my allies?

I play the game so I only have one mage who becomes a calculator. I never use jp to buy anything other than flare and holy (and teleport). The other spells and summons can be taken from enemy crystals when they die on the battle field after three rounds. Keep resetting until you get decent magic. This goes for other jp intensive abilities in say the monk class. Very helpful and adds one more layer of strategy to the stages.


Your first goals for your units is jp boost, move +1, auto potion, concentration.
 

Tizoc

Member
I'm thinking of replaying XIII again in 2013, just to see how many hours it'd take me to beat it if I don't do any grinding in Chapter 11.

I play the game so I only have one mage who becomes a calculator. I never use jp to buy anything other than flare and holy (and teleport). The other spells and summons can be taken from enemy crystals when they die on the battle field after three rounds. Keep resetting until you get decent magic. This goes for other jp intensive abilities in say the monk class. Very helpful and adds one more layer of strategy to the stages.


Your first goals for your units is jp boost, move +1, auto potion, concentration.

Thanks mate, so I'll focus on those 3 spells and those abilities.
Mind you I'm only at the very beggining of the game and I'm just grinding for JP lol. On the plus side it may help in me progressing through the story faster to experience that as well.
A shame the PSN ver. never got an updated for that speed up patch =/
 

RPGCrazied

Member
Going to start a XII playthrough this weekend, I eBayed the CE for $10. I would wait on an HD version, but seeing how long its taking X HD to come out, XII will probably never be. Oh well, I'm going to emulate it anyway. So it will be in HD, just no trophies. :p
 
Maybe if they ever HD the game, they can bring that version, like they are doing with Kingdom Hearts and Final Mix.

Is the XII DS game any good?
I really, really liked Revenant Wings but the story is complete crap. If you go into it expecting a good sequel to XII, you will be sorely disappointed. If you go into it expecting a solid little RTS/SRPG-like game, it's a lot better.
 

Tizoc

Member
Holy shit, Monks are TOO GOOD!
OK current plan:
Learn 2 more abilities for my 2 Chemists
Get Monks to Lvl. 5 and learn as many abilities as possible
Get one Squire to learn Focus

Focus is a Squire's best ability, don't tell me you guys never thought to use it? It's effective if the unit isn't going to do anything after moving them.
 
Holy shit, Monks are TOO GOOD!
OK current plan:
Learn 2 more abilities for my 2 Chemists
Get Monks to Lvl. 5 and learn as many abilities as possible
Get one Squire to learn Focus

Focus is a Squire's best ability, don't tell me you guys never thought to use it? It's effective if the unit isn't going to do anything after moving them.

Yeah, Focus and/or Throw Stone is the best for leveling units when they've got nothing.
 

Tizoc

Member
I need to get around to finishing RW someday, I rather liked the battle system =P.

...and man why couldn't there have been an FF sale on US PSN? I was wanting to replay FF9 on the Vita on dat OLED screen =/
 

Celegus

Member
I need to get around to finishing RW someday, I rather liked the battle system =P.

...and man why couldn't there have been an FF sale on US PSN? I was wanting to replay FF9 on the Vita on dat OLED screen =/

Hoping for one soon... I'd like to check out FF III finally.
 

Bladenic

Member
What did you think?

I hope it wasn't too painful for you, I know it hasn't aged as gracefully as the other FFs.

Nah I liked it. Not in my top 3 FF games or anything, but still pretty great IMO. I actually started this playthrough like 2 years ago but kept randomly stopping for whatever reasons. The hardest thing to get accustomed to were the controls, I always fudged them up when picking it up again.

But I had a good time. Didn't bother with Golden Saucer or chocobo breeding due to not having the patience for it, but I got all the ultimate weapons and final limits except Cloud's. Not gonna bother with Ruby or Emerald. Used Tifa and CID in my final party, but I heavily used Red 13 and Aerith before.
 
I still have a copy of IZJS to crack open.

Do it!

I'm thinking of starting a new IZJS playthrough this weekend.

Team setup;
Team 1
Vaan - Shikari/Hunter - Evasion tank, steals and later good damage dealing too. This job was just made for Vaan.
Penelo - Red Mage - black magic nukes, main healing/buffing/debuffing, pretty awesome mace damage when low on MP.
Fran - Monk - amazing damage, hits fliers, steals, backup tanking.

Team 2
Ashe - Uhlan - tank, great damage, Shades of Black spam is amazingly effective.
Balthier - White Mage - main healing/debuffing etc. Inate Steal means he can actually do something useful when not healing.
Basch - Archer - Best archer and arguably best damage dealer in the game with the highest base STR (essential due to Archer's lack of Power Lores), fastest animation speed (a full 2 seconds faster than Fran/Balthier, 1 second faster than everyone else) and amazing survivability. Hits fliers. Back-up heals and back-up tanks as well.

Both teams have tanks, damage dealing, healers and a method of stealing. Also both are worked to ensure no jobs stand on each other's toes for license grid unlocks (via summons).
 

Tizoc

Member
Archer is only good for Concentration and for unlocking other classes. There's not even a lot of good Bows around the endgame to justify using one. Charges are bad bad bad.

Heh alright then, I'll just learn those, get the Archer to Lvl. 4 or 5 then go to unlock other classes.
FYI I only finished like 3-4 main story battles, I'm justing JP and EXP grinding XD.
 

Tizoc

Member
Sorry for the double post but I just wanted to ask: How many units should I have in total excluding main story and bonus characters?
 
Holy shit, I didn't know Nomura designed these.

Tower_of_gods_ffvi_concept_art.jpg




Granted looking at these now it's kind of obvious he did, you can see similarities in other designs he did.
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
People rag on Nomura but he's seriously a good character designer. Subjective quality of some of the character's outfits notwithstanding, they're very unique and memorable most of the time, and his drawings rarely fail to provide decent guidelines to the pixel artists and modelers. He's efficient and always seems to be thinking about how those designs will be realized. Even the silliness in FFX's clothes like Lulu's 1 billion belts were born from him getting excited about being able to put so much detail in the models, and that it worked as a challenge to the team. I guess this also means he could learn a bit of restraint, but it's not surprising to see how he climbed the ladder so quickly after his monster design work in V and VI.
 
His monsters designs are excellent, I don't think anyone can dispute that.

His human character designs are hit and miss, but like you say at least they are always memorable(for better or worse)
 
I'll rag on his characters from time to time, but Nomura is an amazing monster designer, it's a pity he doesn't design them for more Final Fantasies.
 

Tizoc

Member
Current Progress report:
Turned Ramza into an Archer to get ready into making him into a Ninja
I have 2 Monks and will stick with them until Ramza can change into the job I want
Assigned a Thief and can learn Move and Jump+2 from him =O
Keeping 1 chemist still

Will get them to the classes I want, learn the abilities I want then swap out JP Boost with something else.
 

kswiston

Member
Holy shit, Monks are TOO GOOD!
OK current plan:
Learn 2 more abilities for my 2 Chemists
Get Monks to Lvl. 5 and learn as many abilities as possible
Get one Squire to learn Focus

Focus is a Squire's best ability, don't tell me you guys never thought to use it? It's effective if the unit isn't going to do anything after moving them.

Squires are one of the best early class in the game because so many of their skills are useful when training in other jobs. Focus, Move+1, and JP boost are all must haves. Throw stone and counter-tackle are somewhat useful early on.

My path with Ramza (in WOTL version) is as follows:

1) Train squire to Level to level 5-6 (learning the skills I mentioned). Make sure you equip JP Boost and Move + 1.

2) Switch the squire abilities to a secondary skill and train Knight to Level 3. Make sure to learn equip sword.

3) Train Chemist until he knows auto-potion and perhaps a few basic items (potions, pheonix down). If you actively have a chemist in your party during steps 1-2, you should get most of the way there due to party JP making this step quick. Make sure you always have a bunch of potions in stock. I think in the original FFT, you could only auto-potion if you knew the appropriate potion skill (potion, hi potion or X-potion), but that is not required in WotL.

3) Equip auto-potion and Train Monk until Level 4. Buy some chakra skills to make him effective in this time, but skills aren't important.

4) Train Geomancer to Level 2 (one of my least favourite steps)

5) Train Archer to Level 3 (skills not important)

6) Train Thief to Level 5 (my other least favourite step). Purchase Move + 2 to replace the old Move + 1.

7) Train ninja until you can learn dual wield. During this time, you have 2 options. A) keep JP boost equipped to speed up the time required to learn dual wield. B) swap JP boost for equip sword. I usually choose B, as Ninjas hit ridiculously hard with two full swords. You will be able to kill all lightly armored enemies in 1 turn and most others in 2 with this build.

8) Train Dragoon until you can learn ignore elevation. As a dragoon you can either re-equip JP boost to learn your target skill quicker, or equip dual wield to be more effective in battle.

9) Set up you final Ramza build. Ramza's late game Squire abilities are extremely useful, so these are (IMO) the most ideal final builds for him if you go the physical route:


A) Ramza as a Squire
Pros: Higher HP and Defense, making him more effective at tanking if needed. Has more equipment options (besides swords) and can act as an off-healer when needed.
Cons: Attack stats are sort of low by end game. Loses the benefit of early (and frequent) turns.

Set Up
Secondary Skill: Use Item or White Magic (if you have a cleric in your party, you can probably learn the white magic basics without training in the class)
Reaction Skill - Auto-Potion
Passive Skill - Dual Wield
Movement Skill - Ignore Elevation


B) Ramza as a Ninja
Pros: Greater speed (and therefore more frequent turns), higher attack stats, and better evasion. Throw skills are useful in a pinch.
Cons: Glass Cannon. Limited ability to act as off-healer (you have a squire skill that will sacrifice your own HP to heal a comrade)

Set Up
Secondary Skill: Ramza's Squire Skills
Reaction Skill - Auto-Potion
Passive Skill - Equip Sword
Movement Skill - Ignore Elevation


- Both of these builds can scale walls and buildings in a single leap and self heal after being attacked (doesn't proc 100% of the time, but will usually keep you alive until you can actively heal Ramza).
- Dual wielding swords remains incredibly powerful throughout the game and will give Ramza the upper hand in the couple of maps where he is forced to fight away from the rest of the party. If you find that you aren't hitting as hard as you would like (even with dual wield), cast Focus once or twice to beef up your attack.
- A movement range of 4 isn't really great, so I would pair either build with a shoe accessory that increases his movement range to at least 5. In flat maps, you can consider swapping out ignore height for move+2, but I am usually too lazy to do that.
- Keep in mind that ninja Ramza is a bit of a glass cannon, and should not be your tanking unit. By mid game, you will start getting holy knights and other unique units that are better suited for that job.
 
Eh, I like Blade Grasp more than Auto Potion on Ramza since he'll never get hit, but that's mainly because I raise everyone equally so someone can keep Ramza healthy on the rare occasion he gets hit by magic.

To answer your question Tizoc, you probably only need around 4-5 regular units. Any more than that and you run the risk of spreading yourself thin.
 

Tizoc

Member
Thanks for the info guys, this'll help in my upcoming plans for my party.
Based on the above My final main attack party would look like this:
Ramza as a Ninja+above abilities
2-3 Monks
1 Chemist
If 2 Monks, then 1 Ninja or Samurai

Seriously Monk's Shockwave ability is friggin' broken and cheap XD
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
I've forgotten a lot of the better reasons why I don't like FFVI's dungeons as much as FFIV's or FFV's.

...perhaps an FF6 playthrough is in order later on. Because I seriously don't remember a lot about the dungeon design that made me feel bored with it (outside of the tilesets and colours, of course). There are a few dungeons in FF6 that I like (ex: the forest, the Phantom Train, etc.) but that's due to aesthetics sometimes (especially the Phantom Train considering it's a straight line).

Hm.
 
Magitek Facility was pretty cool.

Which means Kefka's Tower was also pretty cool because all it was, was the Magitek Facility with a touch of forbidden continent every now and then.

Other than that can't remember much else standing out...Mt.Koltz has awesome music but that's just one of the many caves/rocky regions in this game.


The town design was pretty sparse to, Zozo is the only one that stands out.
 
Top Bottom