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Final Fantasy Tactics: man I suck :{

Levels come every 100XP. How easily you get that XP depends on what level the target is...

Remember that you earn XP and JP for every completed task, be it against your enemies or yourself.

In the beginning, be ready to bring a shitload of potions and to throw rocks at yourselves for long stretches.
 
Yeah. I remember the game being really hard the first time I tried to play it also. It will take at least 2 hours or more to get used to all the menus and custimization (maybe more, jobs add a shit-ton of options later on and takes dozens of hours to fully realize).

Just stick with it and try to plan some free time where you can play alot in one sitting. Trying to get the hang of this game in 30 minute spurts is not gonna cut it.

Stick with it. This game is amazing and anyone who calls themselves a gamer should at least give it their best try!
 
What you should be doing is going to the Mandalia Plains and Sweegy Woods(I think that's what the name was or close :lol) and building up your level and Job Points. Those Archers, Wizards, and Knights are going to wipe you out once you get to Dorter Trade City

Also, the later Job classes are much better than some of the ones you start with. You should ALWAYS have at least ONE chemist on the field or somebody that has Chemist abilities as a 2nd abillity. Ramza, at the beginning of the game, is most efficient as a Squire. Some other Jobs that you should spread out your other 4 characters as: At least one long range shooter - Archer, One Knight gives you much more HP(which you'll need at the beginning), one magical person like a Wizard(and later on a Priest), and the 5th character can be whatever you feel better like.

Trust me that strategy works :D

Attacking your own characters but finishing the enemies off before they turn to crystals(If Ramza does this, the game is over; if any of the other characters do this, after you save you cant ever bring them back) is another cool trick for gaining points. One other way is have your weaker characters attack one person and they usually score about 25 to 30 experience points(XP) per attack. Plus, they wont kill off that enemy as fast as your upper level or stronger characters would.
 
hkk said:
So attack my own team mates to earn xp?
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Absolutely.
When you have enough abilities to do so, it'll be to your benefit to isolate and surround one enemy (and chicken/frog/poison/stop/slow/etc/etc/etc it) while letting everyone else perform a perpetual circle of beating and healing each other. It's really nice to be able to select a new job for someone, go in for one random battle, and milk it long enough so that the job can be Mastered by the time you're done with the fight.
 
If you're insane like I was, that's far enough for you to basically rape the game.

I still have a FFT save with as much of the story opened as you have (Sweegy), and have Ramza & 4 doods at Lv99. Took 70 hours.
 
Now that I think of it, if you cant afford hurting any of your characters, you can use some of your Items on people or enemies(later on in the game when you get some Phoenix Downs and potions). Ive prolonged battles for a good while that way. If you only have 2 enemies left and you kill one and then revive the other or continue to heal people continuously, you can rack up 1,000s of XP before going to another battle.
 
You can use the JP bug to master a lot of jobs quickly. Of course, that's cheating... but technically, so is beating up your teammates/milking one enemy.
 
I remember the first real battle was total pain in the ass (where you have to defend the town against some robbers). The game starts out tough and becomes easy as hell when you get Orlandu! :D

Great game!
 
If you want to really enjoy this game on your first time:

1. Don't level up too much. Although the game can still be a challenge when you're at a high level, it's far more rewarding (for me atleast) to play the game without leveling up and getting all the best jobs / skills before you really start playing... You can always play a second time through using / forming an uber party.

2. Use multiple save-games. There are a few moments where you can't go back from a castle or so to level up a job if you really have to. And one battle specifically is a real pain (impossible even in some cases) if you don't have the right job / abilities.
 
Final Fantasy Tactics makes you think through your battles and fight very carefully, planning and timing every movement within the attack order. It was the first SRPG I played, so most others have left me disappointed by their simplicity and lack of challenge, meaning that they require little to no strategy.

I am loving Stella Deus, since it takes the strategic order management of Final Fantasy Tactics and gives you far more control. It is also challenging, unlike Kartia, Vandal Hearts 1+2, Front Mission 3, Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis, Shining Force, or Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, or most of the other SRPGs I've played.
 
Personally, the hardest battle for me was the battle with like 8 or 10 Chocobos later in the game on a river. I tell you, they can peck the crap out of you if you dont have high HP. Plus, they have excellent movement across the field board, so they can go and heal each other and stuff. I dont think youve gotten that far, but some of the Chocobos can shoot rockets at you(the yellow ones just mostly heal all the time, take those out first)
 
Lionheart said:
If you want to really enjoy this game on your first time:

1. Don't level up too much. Although the game can still be a challenge when you're at a high level, it's far more rewarding (for me atleast) to play the game without leveling up and getting all the best jobs / skills before you really start playing... You can always play a second time through using / forming an uber party.
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Once you get past the first boss and
that battle with the Time Mages
, the difficulty starts to skyrocket from one battle to another. The enemies get much higher HP and mastered Job Classes and those random battles in the landscape areas start getting some very hard and higher level enemies(like Knights with 600+ HP or Archers with those special bows that wipe out 150-300 HP per attack). I dont even want to start mentioning Summoners and those Dragon creatures :lol. It can get INSANE!

hkk said:
Chocobos with rockets? o_O
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Yep, the red ones shoot rockets/missiles out at you. I forgot what the blue(or was it purple) ones do. But this is MUCH farther into the game before you start getting different colored ones. The red Chocobos do compromise on HP, bc of the rockets hitting so hard(cant make it too difficult on a person lol).
 
The Chocobos have magic attacks that look (not really) like a bunch of little rockets shooting out of them and then toward you. edit: Was it actually named chocobo rocket? I can't remember them very well.

Don't beat up your own teammates. It's lame. If you need cheap level-ups and job points get the squire's ability that raises job points and an ability that raises stats temporarily in battle like yell (I can't remember the names of any others). You're actually better off if you don't level up a lot since random battles (where the enemies are the same level as you) will be hard because you don't have the weapons to compete. I think in every new story battle the enemies are a level higher. If you can compete being a level or two below the story enemies you should be able to get that level every battle and new have to level up through random battles (I never did, at least after my first time through). Of course you have to be pretty good at forming characters (creating a team, choosing their abilities) and general strategy.

I'd move through jobs rather quickly, don't bother trying to get all the abilities since you'll only use a handful. Some of the later jobs will allow you to rape the game (calculators, the ninja dual-wield ability mixed with a tank class like the Knight, etc.). Make sure you have a team for any situation (well rounded) and you're set.


I'm going to finish FFTA in the next couple of days. I actually did power-level but only because a situation came up where I couldn't stop myself from doing it. It was against 5 flans about 22 hours into the game. I killed 4, leaving one, physical attacks did 1 damage, I had an ability that reduces magic points, and the flan was level 24 whereas my guys were 14-16 so I was getting 25 exp a hit. I jumped to level 21-23 in about 40 minutes.
 
I'm in a random battle now where enemies are doing 18-25 hp damage and I'm getting raped. The thing is, I don't think it's my level, but then it can't be my equpment either because the stores don't have anything new equipment (-__-), particularly for the classes I have out right now.
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It can be rough at first. The squire (unless you're Ramza) and chemist classes suck. Make sure you keep your troops together and concentrate on killing enemies (by that I mean make sure you're not just wounding them, surround and destroy).
 
hkk, do you mind telling us the stats of your party members ? I would like to know what the level, equipment, jobs... etc they have in order to determine what the problem might be. Also tell me which level you are in too, thanks ;)
 
Well, when I first played FFT, it took me four tries to get past the very first battle. Sounds to me like you're more seasoned than I am to begin with. What I found is crucial is to divide and conquer, but sometimes keep your distance. My biggest problem at first was I tried to rush in and attack, and that just doesn't work in FFT. Once you find the balance between defensive and offensive moves, you'll be golden.

Just make sure you're up to snuff, level-wise, before you get to
Weigraf and Valius in Chapter 2 or 3 (I forget).
.
 
TheDiave said:
Just make sure you're up to snuff, level-wise, before you get to
Weigraf and Valius in Chapter 2 or 3 (I forget).
.
Click to expand...

thats
the end of chapter 3

The "rockets" the chocobos shoot are "Chocoball," named after a Japanese candy that might have been the origin of the name chocobo. They shoot little magic balls at you. It is not limited to the red chocobos, I think black and possibly some yellow have them. Yellow can heal, black can fly, and red have the deadly Choco-Meteor.
 
Okay, I see a problem here now. You definitely need more variety of jobs in your party. You also definitely need a knight at the beginning of the game for tanking. The advance classes later on in the game always require that your character to have something like 2 Level in Knight and 3 Level in Wizard as prerequesit. Therefore, you will need to diversify your party members quickly.

A tip on battling is to never ever rush ! You want your strong-melee characters in front doing most of the tanking, and have lots of ranged-attack character backup. I say you need a knight (with chemist as second ability) or two for offensive push,a wizard for magic, and an archer for ranged attack. You want to go around random battles for leveling up and opening up as many new job types for your party members early in the game.

And lastly, quickly level up your characters !!! They are severely under-leveled.
 
I don't comprehend how anyone could have trouble with FFT until quite far into the game. Some of you people must suck bad at SRPGs. :P
 
hkk said:
Should I finish getting all my Squire abilities before heading onto Knight?
Click to expand...

In the beginning of the game it's a good idea to upgrade to a 'better' class as soon as it's available. Ramza should definitely be a Knight ASAP, since I *think* he has better base stats than the generic soldiers.

There's no penalty for changing back to another class, like Squire, later in order to master it. As long as you learn the important action abilities early on, you should be fine.
 
hkk said:
Should I finish getting all my Squire abilities before heading onto Knight?
Click to expand...

Definitely not. Do get JP UP and Move +1, though - they're some of the better Move and Support abilities at the start of the game. And like a previous poster said, leave Ramza as a Squire for a while; he's much more effective once you get his specials (which are all technically Squire abilities), like Yell, Cheer Up, and eventually Scream.

I'd also keep one guy as a Chemist until he gets Throw Potion. Then you can equip that and Item to have all the usefulness of a Chemist as another, more powerful class.

And if you just want to cheese XP and JP, get a Knight with Speed Break and equip everyone with Squire active abilities on their second slot. Speed Break the last mob down to 1 speed and have everyone Accumulate ad nauseum, since you can do it all the way to IIRC 255 ATK power, it doesn't do any damage, and gives full XP and JP since it targets yourself (always 10XP for hitting an even-lvl target).

Good luck with FFT. Great game; I've beaten it something like 6 times.

And if you *really* want challenge, check out the first Tactics Ogre game (JP on Super Famicom, English on PSone). It's awesome, but very very hard. Personally, I like it head and shoulders above FFT for the challenge, story, and characters. Course, it was made by largely the same team.
 
I don't comprehend how anyone could have trouble with FFT until quite far into the game. Some of you people must suck bad at SRPGs. :P
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Hey, don't be a douche. We need as many strategy gamers as possible to drive up game sales and let the world know that every other form of game sucks in comparison.

It took me a little while to figure out what I was doing in Tactics too (I tried the first battle with only Ramza and Delita for an hour and I had a lot of trouble with some of the early battles because of making bad job decisions).
 
Remember also that, unlike most games with class changes, all units gain a small amount of the JP (I can't remember if its 10% or 25%) that any unit gains, but for the class of that unit, not their own. That'll help you pick up many of the cheaper skills from other classes.

Chemists do actually became very useful later when a new type of weapon is introoduced...
 
callous said:
I don't comprehend how anyone could have trouble with FFT until quite far into the game. Some of you people must suck bad at SRPGs. :P
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They probably never played that type of game before. When you have played a ton of games you have pretty much seen everything and just know what to do next without being told.

For me, the game wasn't that hard either except for 3 battles that almost made me tear out.

It was a good game, but no Fire Emblem. ;)
 
cubicle47b said:
Hey, don't be a douche. We need as many strategy gamers as possible to drive up game sales and let the world know that every other form of game sucks in comparison.
Click to expand...

Sorry, sorry, I know I should have at least offered some advice, but really, I don't remember exactly what my tactics where. The thing is, FFT was the first SRPG I ever played, and I didn't find anything tough before that battle with the time mages (I think) on top of the gate. That one was a bitch to solve. So much fun though!
 
He's just saying abilities count for a hell of a lot more. A level 25 character with the right abilities can absolutely destroy a level 40 character.

You're too early in the game to make really powerful characters. You should be building toward them, though (of course, it really helps if you know the job system well).
 
Levels DO matter but it has to be a fairly large gap for it to be so.

I'd recommend getting everyone JP up as soon as possible and then switching Ramza to Knight. Ramza really needs to be tweaked as a Melee class for most of the game since he'll be your main character and he'll be taking hits every which way. Switching him early will allow you to max out classes and get essential skills quicker for certain jobs to make certain battles much easier. He'll also be doing the bulk of your fighting so getting him into a more powerful job is quite essential.

Knight is a very good class for most of the game if you ask me and you should start working on it as soon as possible.
 
monks%20resting%20070603.jpg

USE MONKS FOR FUCK'S SAKE
 
In fact, I'm thinking of just sitting here and mastering every job before I continue the story (hehehe). I mean, if there are people who get to like lv 500 in Disgaea using Item World before they start doing story missions, why shouldn't I do something like that? D:
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...Because those people are losers and don't understand (or appreciate) what a strategy game is all about? That's my opinion, anyway.
 
Because random battle enemies level up along with you? Which means you'll be pwned by Red Chocobos after a while.
 
Advice from someone who recently completed the game as well (do a search on this forum, I had my own thread):

Do not bother with the archer. As you can see from your list, you aren't using him/her much, and it always tends to stay that way.

By the end of the game, I had:

Sapphire-White Mage/Summoner (I had Orlandu so I didn't need to heal too much and had the Half MP ability, so MP was never a problem with this combo. I went with Summoner BECAUSE I didn't need the heals.)

Tina - Chemist/Time Mage (If you are ever going to have Chemisty as a sub, always always always keep the 'Throw Item' ability in. There is otherwise little point because there is no range to use an item if you aren't a Chemist. This is a good combo because Chemists don't need MP and Time Mage spells can cost a lot. I didn't make Tina a summoner because Time Mage spells go off faster than Summon spells.

Fisher - Black Mage/Calculator (Calcs make the game a bit easy, but if you want one always make it a sub as Calcs are deathly slow.)

Orlandu - If you don't want to use Orlandu, might I recommend

Agrias - Agrias as a Ninja with the Use All Sword Ability holding an Excalibur is very powerful, fun, but still not ridiculous like Orlandu.
 
By the end of my game, Ramza and four of the starting generic units had mastered every job. Heh, the part that took the most effort was learning zodiac to master the summoner job. Now that was annoying, but at least I figured out a way to get my other members to learn it.
 
hkk, as you may have noticed, this game has one of the best gaming soundtracks ever. I own the game (and the soundtrack) and while I have never actually gotten around to finishing the game (got near the end and got sidetracked) I honestly cannot tell you how many times I have listened to the soundtrack. I only own a few game soundtracks, but I have listened to FFT WAY more than the others, and it's still a joy to listen to. Snag yourself a copy if you can find one, but beware, lots of them now are illegal bootlegs, so I'm not sure of the quality. It's on two discs, the first CD has 42 tracks and the second has 29. Just be sure to not give a listen before you finish the game, if you don't want any songs spoiled for you.
 
Archers are nigh useless, really. You will rarely have the high ground from the get-go in this game, neutralizing them, (not to mention they do less damage per hit than a comparable melee or Wizard). The only reason you'd be as one would be to unlock...

...Theives, who steal one-of-a-kind swag from a few enemies. Low offense, though; I'd avoid until you get a crew up and running. But still, they unlock...

...Lancers; King Badass warriors with spears and who jump for stank damage. I love these guys, especially in town situations where dudes are on the roofs up above annoying you. Get Height +2, Range+2, then save up for the +8 versions of those for maximum deadliness.

Wizards are excellent for much of the game due to their concentrated and mildly quick damage. It makes it easier to wield these guys in some ways than Summoners, whose damage is watered down compared to Wizards, but have bigger effect ranges and whose effects only target one side or the other making them safe to cast in mixed company. You'll have to take this into account each and every cast and troop movement, but once you can set up the safe casts, you'll drop or weaken terribly whole sides of the enemy in a few turns.

EDIT: Biggest tip ever: Auto Potion. For Everyone. Especially Ramza. That is all. :)
 
Biggest tip ever: Auto Potion. For Everyone.
Click to expand...

That makes the game waaaaay too ridiculously easy.

I do not consider myself excellent at these games, but there are so many other ways to be able to do well in FFT that the only person I got Auto Potion for was...my Chemist. Plus, it's honestly just *more fun* to use other abilities, because a lot of them are really nifty and fun.
 
You don't need to master subjobs, but it's to your benefit; you'll only be able to use the techniques you purchased (most of the time) within the job.

I mean, if there are people who get to like lv 500 in Disgaea using Item World before they start doing story missions, why shouldn't I do something like that? D:
Click to expand...
cubicle47b said:
...Because those people are losers and don't understand (or appreciate) what a strategy game is all about? That's my opinion, anyway.
Click to expand...
What the fuck.
The point of a strategy game is to obliterate the enemies you encounter with as much force as possible.

You may think it's "more fun" to scrape through a battle in victory, squeezing by on a thread of life and "being challenged". Sorry, but that's not my idea of "fun" at all, nor time well spent; if I'm playing a battle in any game, I'd much prefer to be 100% sure I'm going to win and not waste my time.

"Fun" is ending story battles in a single turn.
"Fun" is finishing random battles before a single enemy gets to move.
"Fun" is knowing there is nothing you can encounter which will kill you, and flying through the game without close-calls and restarted battles.

ps: Gattsu25 is half right; you want Calculator Monks. Good speed. Good fists. Death from up close. Death from across the map. Multiple ways to heal.
 
You may think it's "more fun" to scrape through a battle in victory, squeezing by on a thread of life and "being challenged". Sorry, but that's not my idea of "fun" at all, nor time well spent; if I'm playing a battle in any game, I'd much prefer to be 100% sure I'm going to win and not waste my time.
Click to expand...

No, but no one likes buying a GAME for fifty bucks to watch the ending. Auto Potion on everyone defeats the very fact that it is a GAME; aka, a CHALLENGE.

It's not like FFT is that hard, anyway. The hardest battle for me was #19 at the Execution Site.
 
MoccaJava said:
It's not like FFT is that hard, anyway. The hardest battle for me was #19 at the Execution Site.
Click to expand...

That's the one I was talking about. Only thing that gave me problems, and I'm guessing because I'm the kind who likes to "scrape through".
 
hkk said:
But how exactly do I use sub jobs? Is this like FFXI where I pick main job and then sub job on the menu? Is that option underneath the main job space for sub jobs?
Click to expand...
Hmmm... I am not exactly understanding what you mean by main jobs and subjobs. In my opinion, there are only advanced jobs in the game in which you will need a combination of certain jobs (ie: 3lvl Knight + 2lvl Thief) in order to unlock. There are also special jobs which only certain characters will have due to the story of the game. Anyways, the best thing for you right now is to get all your characters to be at about Level 4 for all their avaliable jobs. That way, you open up a lot of more interesting and more advance jobs which you will have to level up more later in the game in order to unlock more and more advance jobs.
 
What the fuck.
The point of a strategy game is to obliterate the enemies you encounter with as much force as possible.

You may think it's "more fun" to scrape through a battle in victory, squeezing by on a thread of life and "being challenged". Sorry, but that's not my idea of "fun" at all, nor time well spent; if I'm playing a battle in any game, I'd much prefer to be 100% sure I'm going to win and not waste my time.

"Fun" is ending story battles in a single turn.
"Fun" is finishing random battles before a single enemy gets to move.
"Fun" is knowing there is nothing you can encounter which will kill you, and flying through the game without close-calls and restarted battles.

ps: Gattsu25 is half right; you want Calculator Monks. Good speed. Good fists. Death from up close. Death from across the map. Multiple ways to heal.
Click to expand...

The point of a strategy game is to use strategy to obliterate your enemies. With enough brute force, strategy is no longer necessary.

Fun is not power-leveling for hours on end. Skill is playing through the game without doing *any* power-leveling and still managing to trash every battle (I had to play 2 battles multiple times in FFT - the castle roof battle and one of the last battles with the three headed dragons).

I wish a thousand Thracia 776's upon you. May you cry for days as a strategy game that doesn't allow you to pussy your way out of it breaks you.



edit:

Oh, I beat Tactics Advance last night. My end save was at 28 hours and 50 minutes (although I don't think it figured in the time for the last battle *shrugs*). Decent game. I prefer the original by far, though.

I have Rome: Total War to play through and should be getting FE6 in a few days.
 
Right now I'm power leveling just to be safe and experimenting with the system. I'm lv 5 now, haven't gone to the battle after Smeegy yet.

I'm more or less getting the job system down before I continue. I want to understand this whole game before I continue. I'm almost there. I would say the hardest thing about this game is deciding what classes I want to use.

Quick question: In FFT do you guys just keep the original party and outfit them and so on so have about 5 guys total who have a diverse set of jobs as opposed to making a character for every job?
Click to expand...

I go with 5 guys with a diverse set of jobs and then use the special characters (like Orlandu) when I get them.

Leveling up, especially when you're learning the game is fine. And actually, if you have some weird need to master all the classes that fine too (though you have to admit to yourself you're a dork everytime you try anything like that). It's the losers that can't accept it when they're challenged and who don't like it when their pefect dainty little characters get touched by their yucky enemies that I hate. These are the same people who play Sim-Warcraft and molest small children.
 
MoccaJava said:
That makes the game waaaaay too managable in places unless you're PLing or using inane tweaks.
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Seriously, unless you use that Yell trick on Wiegraf/Velius, or have ground your way to 40+, that's a beast. There was one other pre-Orlandu battle the first time that was insane for me where chugging a bottle on hit saved my bacon, too.
 
dog$ said:
Yps: Gattsu25 is half right; you want Calculator Monks. Good speed. Good fists. Death from up close. Death from across the map. Multiple ways to heal.
Click to expand...

I use a Ninja Calculator. Close enough. :)

What's everyone's final setup? I think this was in the other topic too, but I don't remember.
Played through this game again last week, and I still like my current final setup:

Ramza

Dragon Knight
Monk
Near Death -> HP Restore (or Auto Potion/Hamedoru)
Attack Power Up/Monster Skins/Maintanence
Move +2 / Ignore Height

---

Character 2

Dragon Knight
Steal
Auto Potion
Attack Power Up/Monster Skins/Maintanence
Move +2 / Ignore Height

---

Character 3

Chemist
Talking
Auto Potion
Attack Power Up/Monster Skins/Maintanence
Move +2 / Ignore Height

---

Character 4 (go Chantage)

Ninja
Calculation
Near Death -> HP Restore
Attack Power Up/Monster Skins/Maintanence
Move +2 / Ignore Height

---

Agrias

Holy Knight
Knight Skills
Auto Potion
2 Swords
Move +2 / Ignore Height

---

Yeah, I use Auto-Potion. I suck. I just prefer not having to have so many healers constantly throughout the game (I don't revert to Chemist until chapter 3), as Ramza the Monk is my primary healer otherwise until later in the game when I have my Ninja Calculator and gunned Chemist.

I don't do the perma-Brave stuff though, so it's at least still random if I get Auto-Potion out or not (my 2nd Dragon Knight had 49 Brave last time).
 
Umm, no, Martial Arts is only good for giving an unarmed character with another job Monk-like physical power.
 
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