Been playing this pretty much whenever I can get time and have been happy with the game so far with only one complaint - the game seems too easy.
The hardest battle I've had so far was
the battle at Fort Quadriga(?) against Nivas and his army of undead.
After that, it's just been smooth sailing.
I'm still only at the beginning of Chapter 2 and am in the middle of fighting
Vyce at Tynemouth Hill.
The only difficulty I've had has come from leveling up my rogue and my ninja at the same time - essentially reducing my attack force by two. Otherwise its two knights, an archer, two clerics, and two mages (water / black.) I don't use Chariot and none of my units have lost any of their hearts. Does the game get harder?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brag or say I don't like the game, it's been an awesome experience and the music is fantastic. Just looking back to my March of the Black Queen days I was expecting something a little more difficult like
the battle at Quadriga, but for every battle.
Seems like even FFT was more difficult. Does it get better?
FFT was only difficult in the sense that the spikes were infrequent and cheap, and some of the bosses are absurdly designed. It's also easier in the sense that breaking the game isn't too hard at all(see. infinite-Brave Ninja/Monk Ramza) and past a certain point the game breaks itself for you if you somehow haven't already.
FFT was only difficult in the sense that the spikes were infrequent and cheap, and some of the bosses are absurdly designed. It's also easier in the sense that breaking the game isn't too hard at all(see. infinite-Brave Ninja/Monk Ramza) and past a certain point the game breaks itself for you if you somehow haven't already.
It was hard when I played it, mostly because I was a lot younger at the time and had never played a game quite like it. Also because at the time, the internet wasn't quite the monster it is now and I refused to use guides even then.
FFT was a bit harder when you weren't exploiting the Brave system. Random encounters with Ninjas throwing the kitchen sink were pretty absurd.
I just remember the game being harder when I played bits of it on the Playstation. I didn't play through the whole thing because at the time my Japanese wasn't good enough to keep up with the story. Now, I don't know, just seems a bit too easy. I was hoping that it got a bit harder as the story progressed but it doesn't look like it. Trying to remember if you could change difficulty settings at the beginning of the game - might just go back and do hard or maybe start setting my own challenges.
The battle at Quadriga is the most difficult battle in the main game. Once you hit chapter 2, the main story battles remain easy for the duration. Even the sidequests are more of a grind than a real challenge. Unfortunately, difficulty is one of this game's flaws. The AI is perhaps dumber than the original, and the addition of the skill system simply adds another element that the player can min/max and the AI can't use properly at all.
From my experience archers make the game too easy, I just form a line with 5-6 archers and pick people off before they get anywhere near my group. However, I tried out the woodland dungeon for the first time and ended up on a map with like 5 dragons on it and got destroyed.
From my experience archers make the game too easy, I just form a line with 5-6 archers and pick people off before they get anywhere near my group. However, I tried out the woodland dungeon for the first time and ended up on a map with like 5 dragons on it and got destroyed.
Yeah, Archers are good in the main missions due to only needing to kill the human leader, but most of the (100+) side missions are "kill all enemies" with a full mix of races, classes, and monsters.
It's hard to qualify the game's difficulty. I don't know if it is hard, but I find the battles so much more interesting than I those of any other SRPG.
I am hoping some group does a Hacktics Ogre ala FF Hacktics. There are many mechanics to fiddle with than there were in FFT.
I'd say the game is hard for an average player or playthrough but for most folks that are accustomed to these types of games, it's not really hard in the sense that your ass is getting kicked left and right. It is hard in the sense that in most cases, trying to truck your way through the game with a single tactic is a little difficult. It's a little like Wild Arms XF in that regard.
Give the item lobber a much reduced range, no items can be used without field alchemy, without lobber all items have 1 hex range, scrolls can't be used at all in battle, all units start with one heart, augment element doesn't work with weapons, balance dagger damage, Lord can't use Phalanx, find a way to make attack magic better mid-game, higher RT penalty for using double attack, nerf poison rain, make piercing damage (mostly daggers, bows/xbows) less effective against armored enemies/beasts, double shot requires a lot more TP, Canopus has 1 less move.
Give the item lobber a much reduced range, no items can be used without field alchemy, scrolls can't be used at all in battle, all units start with one heart, augment element doesn't work with weapons, balance dagger damage, Lord can't use Phalanx, find a way to make attack magic better mid-game, higher RT penalty for using double attack, nerf poison rain, make piercing damage less effective against armored enemies/beasts, double attack requires a lot more TP.
Here, piercing is just one of three physical damage types. No better or worse, fundamentally. It all depends what enemies are prone to, and it tends to completely wreck human casters.
Basileus777 said:
Things I'd change off the top of my head:
Give the item lobber a much reduced range, no items can be used without field alchemy, scrolls can't be used at all in battle, all units start with one heart, augment element doesn't work with weapons, balance dagger damage, Lord can't use Phalanx, find a way to make attack magic better mid-game, higher RT penalty for using double attack, nerf poison rain, make piercing damage less effective against armored enemies/beasts, double shot requires a lot more TP.
I agree with everything but the Hearts. That's something that would only indirectly change the balance and difficulty of the game, and likely make things a bit more tedious. I like that penalty as-is.
Other things I'd change:
Adjust the bonus exp gain so it doesn't cap out at -4 levels. As the experience math works now, it is simply way too hard to level up noob characters through regular battles. Also, shift the balance of exp slightly in favor of dragons, etc. The current system too heavily promotes grinding in the two starter areas just because they're all squishy humans.
Fix the growth rates for certain Skills. I have no fucking clue what the developers were thinking with some of the rates, except that they just put values in a chart and never playtested them at all. Rank 2 should come quickly, and later ones should take progressively more time. Recruiting skills and Steal exp need to be drastically increased; even 10x would feel impractically slow.
Generally, I'd give:
+15% humanoid enemy HP
+10% damage from enemies
-10% to damage from your party members
-10% additionally to physical ranged attacks.
but those are some specific tweaks.
I haven't found Augment Element abusive yet. For the Desert 2H Sword, the Augment Earth (Rank 2) boosted attack from 436 to 450; it's there, but not really broken.
As usual, I'm disappointed that Japan basically never patches their games. It would probably take one guy one day to fix the shitty crafting system =(
Overall, the game is actually very well balanced for a JRPG this complex.
I haven't found Augment Element abusive yet. For the Desert 2H Sword, the Augment Earth (Rank 2) boosted attack from 436 to 450; it's there, but not really broken.
Rank 2 being the key word there. It isn't too difficult to rank it up using melee weapons, and it maxes at 8. Plus there are several items that boost the skill ranking that add an effect even beyond rank 8.
Rank 2 being the key word there. It isn't too difficult to rank it up using melee weapons, and it maxes at 8. Plus there are several items that boost the skill ranking that add an effect even beyond rank 8.
does anyone have any tips for somewhat speedy leveling? i just got access to
the Ranger, White Knight, and Swordmaster (via Haborym) classes
but dread the time it's going to take to get them to level 18 with the rest of the party. is there any more productive way then grinding it out in Phorampa?
I removed Strengthen IV so I could more easily see the change (ie attack not 999), and taking augment light (rank 8) off of Denam lowers his attack power from 809 to 723. So maybe not too extreme, but that's still pretty significant. Tough taking it off seemed to me to have a larger effect on damage in battle than that...
So everytime i come to this thread and read posts, i feel guilty of all the stuff i am missing. Im tired of turning to FAQs that make my progress slow to a crawl for fear i miss anything as i feel right now when people talk about animal units.
*sigh* How do i get them and who should i focus on?
More questions:
What is the best way to get money/grind?
Do certain jobs become available at certain points? Im pretty sure i bought a mage knight card but no unit has the option to change to it.
I am at chapter 3 and for most battles i am forced to focus on the boss or fail slowly. Is this how its suppose to be? Video games have taught me to clear rooms of enemies for victory and that habit was beaten out of me after suffering defeat so many times earlier.
I listen to a few popular gaming podcasts (Weekend Confirmed, Giant Bomb, 8-4 Play) and haven't even heard the game mentioned. I guess it's expected to fly under the radar as a PSP game, but the game is so good I thought they might be at least curious.
On an unrelated note, I checked my Warren Report and saw that I'm close to 75hrs! Still not done with Ch.4 and still didn't touch any of the sidequests dungeons. Add the post-game DLC and WORLD to Law path, this game might never actually finish.. lol
The battle at Quadriga is the most difficult battle in the main game. Once you hit chapter 2, the main story battles remain easy for the duration. Even the sidequests are more of a grind than a real challenge. Unfortunately, difficulty is one of this game's flaws. The AI is perhaps dumber than the original, and the addition of the skill system simply adds another element that the player can min/max and the AI can't use properly at all.
Apparently the interesting thing about the ai this time around unlike the original. They only go for max damage. Its been tested by the vets and other players. Like they'll even ignore a near dead unit and attack something else if it does more damage. Unlike in the past, where they teamed up on a single unit regardless.
Apparently the interesting thing about the ai this time around unlike the original. They only go for max damage. Its been tested by the vets and other players. Like they'll even ignore a near dead unit and attack something else if it does more damage. Unlike in the past, where they teamed up on a single unit regardless.
That makes sense based on my observations. The AI in the original wasn't great or anything, but they were much more effective at ganging up and killing off weaker units than the AI in the remake.
Apparently the interesting thing about the ai this time around unlike the original. They only go for max damage. Its been tested by the vets and other players. Like they'll even ignore a near dead unit and attack something else if it does more damage. Unlike in the past, where they teamed up on a single unit regardless.
It gets slightly complicated with how they value status ailments and buffs, but, yeah, there is no long-term planning.
I'm pretty sure the AI is very similar to how it was in the original and FFT, as naked decoys worked in old escort missions. The basic process is probably the same, but with extra complications due to the increased number of skills
i don't think the game is too easy the way i play it. the hardest battle so far in my playthrough was against the old witch, followed by the first battle vs
dark lanselot, because it took me a while to breach through their knights.
if you read guides on how to break the game or exploit chariot it might end up being too easy. it's too bad they didn't take the time to eradicate class exploits, but that was to be expected. people start weeping on boards when they face nice gaming challenges.
anyway, i'm in chapter 4 now and no matter if the difficulty level stays on this level or rises, i'll walk out pleased.
I wanted to recruit Ravness! What the fuck. Why do I have to perform an atrocity in order to get the chance to recruit her? Isn't she supposed to be a new character made for this PSP release?
I know that you get to explore all time lines post-completion and all, but I just really want to get as many badass female guest/recruits as I can, while following a morally sound path at the same time Is that simply impossible?
Actually I was thinking the game was easy, but I've finally run into some battles that are giving me trouble in Chapter 3. Right now I'm on that one in the far northern city...forget the name but I've gotten game over twice on it. Now keep in mind that I'd done only story battles and had not recruited anyone up to that point. I was just doing the story battles and knocking out the bosses but now I'm going back to recruit some monsters, raise some levels, and rethink the classes I have my guys. For me, this is enough when it comes to difficulty since the norm these days for a lot of jRPG's is that you can breeze along with absolutely no extra effort.
i don't think the game is too easy the way i play it. the hardest battle so far in my playthrough was against the old witch, followed by the first battle vs
dark lanselot, because it took me a while to breach through their knights.
if you read guides on how to break the game or exploit chariot it might end up being too easy. it's too bad they didn't take the time to eradicate class exploits, but that was to be expected. people start weeping on boards when they face nice gaming challenges.
anyway, i'm in chapter 4 now and no matter if the difficulty level stays on this level or rises, i'll walk out pleased.
Various Chapter 4 castle sections are hard, and side quests are a nice step up from the base game. Despite what I said earlier, I am pretty pleased with the difficulty. I'm doing a good mix of classes, leveling up many, keeping my highest level low (24 aside from my Octopi, despite having beaten the game and done most of the C4 non-Palace of the Dead sidequests). It's fun, interesting, and I'm not face-rolling many battles.
Ellis Kim said:
Sooo... I just finished Chapter 1...
What the fuck.
I wanted to recruit Ravness! What the fuck. Why do I have to perform an atrocity in order to get the chance to recruit her? Isn't she supposed to be a new character made for this PSP release?
I know that you get to explore all time lines post-completion and all, but I just really want to get as many badass female guest/recruits as I can, while following a morally sound path at the same time Is that simply impossible?
Many of the new women are very difficult to get (Ravness, various people related to Nybeth, and one old character only available on Law). You can't win everything, and you'll probably end up missing the ones that are possible on your paths, anyway.
The most egregious thing about the paths is that the final two DLC chapters require being on Law.
Yeah, I was contemplating changing that, but it is the best way to refer to them without spoiling what they are about, unless they have specific Episodes numbers in Coda chapter.
Yeah, I was contemplating changing that, but it is the best way to refer to them without spoiling what they are about, unless they have specific Episodes numbers in Coda chapter.
San Brosa is not a story episode. It's just a side dungeon. Episode 1 is Songstress, with Iuria, and Episode 2-4 are the ones which were DLC on the JP version.
San Brosa is not a story episode. It's just a side dungeon. Episode 1 is Songstress, with Iuria, and Episode 2-4 are the ones which were DLC on the JP version.
I honestly wouldn't have a clue. I never touched the JP version at all, and I was on semi-media blackout anyway. I saved myself for the English version because it is the one true vision of Tactics Ogre we all deserve.
I wanted to recruit Ravness! What the fuck. Why do I have to perform an atrocity in order to get the chance to recruit her? Isn't she supposed to be a new character made for this PSP release?
I'm a little confused on how to access Wildwood. I thought I just had to read a talk entry in the warren report to access it, but I've been reading new entries in the WR after every battle in every chapter since the second and still don't see any access point on the map for it. I'm at the end of chapter 3 (Chaos) and still don't see it. I feel like I'm missing out. Any ideas?
In my relatively brief time with the game so far (about 15 hours) I've found the difficultly level to be quite nicely balanced. I haven't really struggled in any of the battles I've played but I feel like a large part of that is due to the fact that I put a ton of time into "preparing" my party for a battle. Buying new skills, crafting, buying and equipping new weapons/armor, and learning new magic all seem as vital to success in the game as making quality tactical decisions during the battles. This isn't new for an SRPG of course, but TO seems to handle it better than other games in the genre.
Of course if the game isn't balanced well then all of that out of battle business will allow you to completely destroy anything you face with little to no thought given to tactical decision making. That's where I feel like Tactics Ogre shines, especially compared to FFT. Sure, there are ways to make the game a lot easier that you all have mentioned (octopi, elemental weapons with augment elemental skills, etc.) but it doesn't seem like any of those things "break the game." Maybe my mind will change when I gain access to more of those things but right now I'm pretty satisfied with the difficulty of TO.
All of that said, I wouldn't complain about a Fire Emblemish "hard" setting.
A big part of Tactics Ogre is about the nature of war, and how sudden lives can end. Adding new characters into the remake does not mean that they play important roles in the story, but merely that they introduce a little extra flavor and maybe another viewpoint into the setting.
Ravness' point in the story is that she is a Walister knight who is Galgatani by blood. It adds a very minor new touch to the story, making the player think for a moment about how things are not completely black and white, and that the Walisters only seem like the "good guys" in a fight because they're on his side at the moment. It also introduces a racism angle which wasn't very obvious in the original game.
Both these points are communicated completely, regardless if the player picks Law or Chaos. if you pick Chaos, she dies a tragic death arguing against the slaying of innocents to carry out a greater purpose, and you are unable to save her because Vyce doesn't give you that option. She gets a death scene as an optional cutscene as well, further fleshing out her character before she departs the story.
If you pick Law, sure you CAN recruit her if you decide not to attack her. But for many people, she will probably meet the same fate, because the player would be in the same mindset as Vyce was in the Chaos route. She's in the way and she disagreed, so she dies. Being able to let her live if you pick Law is an extreme bonus, and it is designed to show that even as the "villain" the player can make choices which determine the lives and deaths of various characters. Is he a merciless villain in the Law battle? Or is he a merciful villain who is truly trying to do what he sees as necessary for the greater good, and does not want to be forced to kill those who disagree with him?
Personally, I played Law and I killed her in that battle. I never felt bad about it, and I don't feel she's a wasted addition to the remake. I did not feel confident in my ability to hand her off as well as the enemies in the battle, so I took her out as a tactical option. Later on in the game, when I got much stronger and was more confident of my ability to go beyond just the objectives of battle, I saved many more characters who joined my ranks. In that sense, the game reflects my play style, and the character path I chose for Pavel.
I think it's pretty interesting to be designed this way!
The best way is to have 1-2 dragoons for fights with dragons if you want to take them on and finish them off fast. The dragonslayer skill gives a huge racial bonus that will result in about 100+ damage to a dragon unit even early in the game. The other way to kill dragons is to just have high level characters and updated equipment, and slowly grind them down with 10-20 damage attacks.
If you need to recruit dragoons and don't know where to look, you can get one (or more) in one of the later maps in the Wildwoods, on the right hand path. Just bring a few archers, and have a front line unit like a knight with Anatomy and Recruit on him. You can get a bunch of classes way earlier than normal if you do the Wildwoods. Great fun,
My dragoon class is still level 4, leveled up swordsman class first (becaues blind swordsman is awesome ).
Hmm, maybe I should level up dragoons next before I finish chapter 3...
Still not done with Ch.4 and still didn't touch any of the sidequests dungeons. Add the post-game DLC and WORLD to Law path, this game might never actually finish.. lol