We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
As with previous chained battles, I'm returned to the world map so I can restock supplies or level grind if I need to. Enemies in these fights are ten to twelve levels higher than the party, so I might need to do that.
Having finally hit one of the Geomancers upstairs with an arrow, Jessica mastered Archer and jobchanged back into Ninja for the final stretch.
She's still really good at it. Yes, those are enemy Arithmeticians you see. They only try to hit us with Squire skills, though, so they're uselessly slow and weak without any of the benefits of how awesome Math Skill is.
This Knight is jammin' to Disillusion, so everyone takes a hit to their MA.
Ramza could not give less of a shit about his reduced MA, though. He's two-handing Excalibur.
He'd be devastating if he could hit any damn thing. I'm getting flashbacks to Zaland!
Rofel/Loffrey/Rofelcopter wisely cowers in the corner for most of the fight.
(He also has a Save the Queen. Stop giving people auto-Protect, randomizer! I wanna see really big numbers pop up!)
Ramza just sort of stands around while the spell is completed.
There's a flash! A burst of magical energy!
Everyone is teleported away, irreversibly shunted to...
Er... the world map again.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Chapter 4 FINAL: The Necrohol of Mullonde: What's a "Necrohol", Anyway?
Normally this section opens with a scene where Rofelcopter warns Ramza that there's no going back to Ivalice proper, so no matter what happens he's stuck in the final dungeon. That part of the conversation is skipped, presumably because all of the last fights still take me out to the front step of Orbonne to regroup.
The Necrohol is programmed with a location on the map, though it's never actually shown. It's over here in the sea somewhere, tying into the lore that it was all destroyed by natural disasters way back when.
For now, though, we've got the natural disaster that is Ramza hacking his way through the rest of the Inquisitors. Check out that nice staff Kletian/Cletienne/whatever is carrying! I'd normally spend some time swiping that, but honestly I'm in the last stretch and I'd like to be done with this playthrough.
Hey, no fair! You didn't spend any time charging that spell!
...but you hit... yourself? with it?
Oh!
An enemy with Math Skill! Now it all makes sense.
You're not going to do that twice, though.
On one hand, that's probably about the best way to stop Ramza from rampaging through everything in his path, since Knightswords factor Brave into their damage calculations. On the other hand, that's also one of the few things that has a persistent effect between fights, so CUT THAT OUT.
(It's not even that good at slowing Ramza down.)
One of those Mediators, presumably the one who never moved since I never realized she was there, was the game's final Guest addition. I'm definitely not training up another soldier now.
Normally this section opens with a scene where Rofelcopter warns Ramza that there's no going back to Ivalice proper, so no matter what happens he's stuck in the final dungeon. That part of the conversation is skipped, presumably because all of the last fights still take me out to the front step of Orbonne to regroup.
The Necrohol is programmed with a location on the map, though it's never actually shown. It's over here in the sea somewhere, tying into the lore that it was all destroyed by natural disasters way back when.
For now, though, we've got the natural disaster that is Ramza hacking his way through the rest of the Inquisitors. Check out that nice staff Kletian/Cletienne/whatever is carrying! I'd normally spend some time swiping that, but honestly I'm in the last stretch and I'd like to be done with this playthrough.
Hey, no fair! You didn't spend any time charging that spell!
...but you hit... yourself? with it?
Oh!
An enemy with Math Skill! Now it all makes sense.
You're not going to do that twice, though.
On one hand, that's probably about the best way to stop Ramza from rampaging through everything in his path, since Knightswords factor Brave into their damage calculations. On the other hand, that's also one of the few things that has a persistent effect between fights, so CUT THAT OUT.
(It's not even that good at slowing Ramza down.)
One of those Mediators, presumably the one who never moved since I never realized she was there, was the game's final Guest addition. I'm definitely not training up another soldier now.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
We've gone through the two Inquisitors who are always with Vormav whenever he's onscreen kicking a puppy or whatever, so now we... go and kill the one we already killed again.
It's a nice touch that he gets a formerly-boss monster on his side for this battle. Stands to reason there would be an ancient robot in Mullonde, and it stands to reason that if anyone would have it fighting for him, it'd be the Engineer in the group.
Shame Ramza busted it up so easily, though.
That's... actually a more effective way to slow Ramza down. Actually... actually slowing him down. Auto-Haste doesn't prevent Slow like it does in some other games.
Speaking of auto-Haste, that's some nice perfume you've got there.
Does it help against Flare? (No.)
Again showing more common sense than most of the enemies throughout the game, Balk makes sure I can't Flare him twice by casting Reflect on himself. Good idea!
Not a perfect idea, since you can't reflect ninja swords. But a good idea.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Final Inquisitor battle! Fight for Alma!
Harking back to the beginning of the game again, we're in a battle with a main protagonist's sister lying unresponsive while the fighting goes on around her. I'm not worried about whether Alma's okay, though, since the game saw fit to give her auto-Reraise on her equipment somewhere. She'll get back up in a second.
(She doesn't actually, since she's a prop in this fight. But it's still kind of funny.)
"Whoa, is that guy gripping Excalibur in both hands? Let's... let's not."
That said, since the girls are all immune to Petrify, Hashmalum falls back on his ultrapowerful magic like Meteor, or the enemy-exclusive Quake, or... well, no, actually he just tries to slash with his giant lion claws. Which would probably work pretty well, if I didn't have Shirahidori.
Hashmalum does literally nothing else to the party while I remove Petrify from Ramza and have him dig Excalibur into his back a couple times.
Hashmalum went down like a punk, but does still end the fight by ripping his own heart out of his chest, so metal-as-fuck points are awarded as appropriate.
Hmm...
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Yes, that will do nicely.
Ultima demons? I'm a little disappointed.
I'm now severely underleveled, but they still go down in one hack from Excalibur.
That said, they can still oneshot the girls.
Not counting Ultima's I-am-the-final-boss exclusive magic, like Ultimara or whatever the next level of Ultima is supposed to be.
You might have noticed that the girls are all Dancers. That's right, one way or another...
...I'm going to kill the final boss with Wiznaibus.
I don't think I ever noticed that Ultima sheaths her swords in her boots, on account of not wearing any pants to hold a belt to hold a scabbard.
Speaking of swords, Alma could really use one right about now.
You're right, Alma, this Wiznaibus plan was a terrible idea. This is taking forever.
Funny enough, Ramza's double hit actually brought Ultima down to such low HP that she was, in fact, finished off by one of the girls dancing at her.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Well, "finished off". This is a Final Fantasy boss, after all.
Though I particularly like that everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Ultima for her transformation sequence, then quietly went back to doing jazz-hands like it didn't bother them at all.
I'm pretty certain I'd never seen Ultima's first form use a regular physical attack. I'm absolutely certain I've never seen her second form use a regular physical attack.
I like finishing a game with unorthodox tactics for anything I'm documenting in a Let's Play, a habit that goes back to beating the Hoenn champion with a Magikarp back in the day. Trying to Wiznaibus Ultima to death is right up there with taking the five squirrel squad into the fight with Luca Blight, though.
It takes three or four double-hits from Ramza to finish Ultima off. Ramza does 920 HP damage with two swords. Wiznaibus, depending on who does it, takes anywhere from 17 to 19 HP. I just don't have that kind of time.
:shrug:
I mean, that was okay I guess. I did have to reconsider a few tactics, and I did lose several soldiers early on before I realized I was letting the game build up a pretty sizable difference in levels on me. But I wouldn't say it was really all that fresh and new an experience. It wasn't a rumble chaos crashdown, which is the name of the randomizer.
Well, it's not like I've been called back into work from quarantine or anything.
Next time: Rumbling! Chaos! Crashing down!
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
RUMBLE CHAOS CRASHDOWN: Part 1
One of the flags I turned on is to automatically scroll through cutscenes. This has the side effect of breaking text boxes, but eh.
Presumably someone told this guy that there are attackers outside before succumbing to his wounds, and as a consummate Mimic he had to run in here, relay the message, and die himself.
Three Samurai and two Mediators is a sight better than what I had to do last time, phew. Rad hops in as a Summoner.
The first indication that things are Weird Now: Gafgarion can't walk far enough to Night Sword anybody. He's stuck at move 2.
Alicia, Lavian, and Ramza all have summon magic to use. So do two or three of the enemy Samurai.
There's a lot of Ramuh-ing that happens.
Rad, the only actual Summoner on the field, can't summon anything because his MP is too low.
So we're stuck with a whole lot of Ramuh.
Delita makes his escape, this time on a reeking, slimy plant creature.
One of the flags I turned on is to automatically scroll through cutscenes. This has the side effect of breaking text boxes, but eh.
Presumably someone told this guy that there are attackers outside before succumbing to his wounds, and as a consummate Mimic he had to run in here, relay the message, and die himself.
Three Samurai and two Mediators is a sight better than what I had to do last time, phew. Rad hops in as a Summoner.
The first indication that things are Weird Now: Gafgarion can't walk far enough to Night Sword anybody. He's stuck at move 2.
Alicia, Lavian, and Ramza all have summon magic to use. So do two or three of the enemy Samurai.
There's a lot of Ramuh-ing that happens.
Rad, the only actual Summoner on the field, can't summon anything because his MP is too low.
So we're stuck with a whole lot of Ramuh.
Delita makes his escape, this time on a reeking, slimy plant creature.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Even with "hurry through cutscenes" turned on, the part of this exposition where it tells you about l i t t l e m o n e y still proceeds at a crawl.
I... really?
I guess the "enable special surprise" flag replaced the names database with people the randomizer dev knows, or contributors to the project, or whatever. Once I'm done here I'll head over to the soldier office for a rename card, this poor girl can't go through her life being called "fartbox".
Rather than Squires and Chemists, this team is Squires and Summoners. So is mine.
The next indication things are Weird Now: all the Squires are dragging ass through the whole fight. Turns out the job's base Speed score is 3, whereas in vanilla 6 was already pretty damn slow.
Ugh, you guys aren't even worth eating.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Once that fight is over I'm allowed to reach my party customization screen for the first time. Let's look at what's available to my merry band:
Ramza's Super-Squire, chapter 1 version
Move 4, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 5, MA 6, evade 9%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla
R-Abilities: Absorb Used MP, Reflect
S-Abilities: Equip Axe, Concentrate
M-Abilities: Move +2, Float
Nothing really unusual or surprising, just stuff shuffled around. "Reflect" was dummied out of vanilla and supposedly adds Reflect status when hit, but as I recall it's not actually functional. Maybe the randomizer has a patch that fixes it, but it's not like Reflect is great anyway.
Regular Squire
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 3, PA 2, MA 2, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Death Sentence, Insult, Accumulate, Dash, Throw Stone, Heal
R-Abilities: Regenerator
S-Abilities: Monster Skill, Non-charge (!!!!)
M-Abilities: Move-HP Up
Wow, that sucks. Speed 3, PA 2, MA 2 makes vanilla Arithmetician look good. Accumulate, my bread and butter for JP improvement, has been increased in cost to 500 JP. Non-charge, which is dummied out of vanilla for making Math Skill look balanced by comparison, is a whopping 3000 JP. It does what it advertises, though, completely removing the charge time for any abilities that normally have it, except I think Jump.
Summoner
Appears to have replaced Chemist as the starting job for the not-Squire tree
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 4, PA 2, MA 4, evade 5%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla, but in a different order for some reason
R-Abilities: Caution, HP Restore, MP Restore, Abandon, Blade Grasp, Meatbone Slash
No S- or M-abilities
That's a lot of reactions.
White Mage
Appears to have the same unlock requirements, two levels in Chemist Summoner.
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 7, PA 4, MA 5, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Braver, Cross-slash, Meteorain, Finishing Touch, Cura, Curaja, Raisega, Regen, Protect, Shell, Shell 2, Wall, Holy
R-Abilities: Speed Save
S-Abilities: Equip Sword, Train
M-Abilities: Teleport
More direct-damage options than just Holy, thanks to having a couple of Limit skills included. No indication yet of whether I need a Materia Blade to use the Limit skills included in the list. Teleport's a get too, obvs
Thief
Appears to have replaced Black Mage, requiring two levels in Chemist Summoner
Move 4, Jump 4, Speed 7, PA 3, MA 2, evade 30%
A-Abilities: Steal Gil, Steal Heart, Steal Armor, Steal Weapon, Steal Shield
R-Abilities: Catch
S-Abilities: Poach
M-Abilities: Jump +2, Float
Want to steal accessories? Tough! That ability is (presumably) somewhere else.
Mediator
Appears to have replaced Knight/Archer, requiring two levels in Squire
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 4, MA 3, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Invite, Persuade, Praise, Threaten, Preach, Solution, Negotiate, Mimic Daravon, Dragon Level Up
R-Abilities: Dragon Spirit
No S- or M-Abilities
Usual talkin' list, with some of the cruft removed. I don't think I've ever gotten any cash by simply asking for it. Also a weird refocus on dragons for that last bit.
Oracle
Appears to have replaced Knight/Archer, requiring levels in Squire
Move 2, Jump 2, Speed 4, PA 2, MA 5, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Blind, Spell Absorb, Pray Faith, Doubt Faith, Silence, Foxbird, Confusion, Dispel Magic, Paralyze
R-Abilities: Reflect
S-Abilities: Half MP
M-Abilities: Move +3, Any Weather
Oracles in vanilla are underrated. This Oracle... well, there's not a ton of maneuverability, not a lot of raw power, and some of the useful spells like Sleep and Petrify are removed. That's a stumper.
Any Weather is the ability that lets the user shed the penalty to moving through swamps during rain, and may be safely ignored.
Samurai
I have no idea. Only Delita has the option, and he's got more levels in Summoner than anyone else, so that must be it.
Move 2, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 7, MA 3, evade 14%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla except it's missing Kotetsu
R-Abilities: Meatbone Slash
S-Abilities: Two Swords, Defend
M-Abilities: Any Ground, Walk on Water
Like Oracle, the randomizer seems to have done the Samurai pretty dirty. That's where to get Two Swords, though.
Any Ground is the Geomancer move ability that lets the user act while standing in deep water, and can be safely ignored.
Ramza's Super-Squire, chapter 1 version
Move 4, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 5, MA 6, evade 9%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla
R-Abilities: Absorb Used MP, Reflect
S-Abilities: Equip Axe, Concentrate
M-Abilities: Move +2, Float
Nothing really unusual or surprising, just stuff shuffled around. "Reflect" was dummied out of vanilla and supposedly adds Reflect status when hit, but as I recall it's not actually functional. Maybe the randomizer has a patch that fixes it, but it's not like Reflect is great anyway.
Regular Squire
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 3, PA 2, MA 2, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Death Sentence, Insult, Accumulate, Dash, Throw Stone, Heal
R-Abilities: Regenerator
S-Abilities: Monster Skill, Non-charge (!!!!)
M-Abilities: Move-HP Up
Wow, that sucks. Speed 3, PA 2, MA 2 makes vanilla Arithmetician look good. Accumulate, my bread and butter for JP improvement, has been increased in cost to 500 JP. Non-charge, which is dummied out of vanilla for making Math Skill look balanced by comparison, is a whopping 3000 JP. It does what it advertises, though, completely removing the charge time for any abilities that normally have it, except I think Jump.
Summoner
Appears to have replaced Chemist as the starting job for the not-Squire tree
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 4, PA 2, MA 4, evade 5%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla, but in a different order for some reason
R-Abilities: Caution, HP Restore, MP Restore, Abandon, Blade Grasp, Meatbone Slash
No S- or M-abilities
That's a lot of reactions.
White Mage
Appears to have the same unlock requirements, two levels in Chemist Summoner.
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 7, PA 4, MA 5, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Braver, Cross-slash, Meteorain, Finishing Touch, Cura, Curaja, Raisega, Regen, Protect, Shell, Shell 2, Wall, Holy
R-Abilities: Speed Save
S-Abilities: Equip Sword, Train
M-Abilities: Teleport
More direct-damage options than just Holy, thanks to having a couple of Limit skills included. No indication yet of whether I need a Materia Blade to use the Limit skills included in the list. Teleport's a get too, obvs
Thief
Appears to have replaced Black Mage, requiring two levels in Chemist Summoner
Move 4, Jump 4, Speed 7, PA 3, MA 2, evade 30%
A-Abilities: Steal Gil, Steal Heart, Steal Armor, Steal Weapon, Steal Shield
R-Abilities: Catch
S-Abilities: Poach
M-Abilities: Jump +2, Float
Want to steal accessories? Tough! That ability is (presumably) somewhere else.
Mediator
Appears to have replaced Knight/Archer, requiring two levels in Squire
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 4, MA 3, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Invite, Persuade, Praise, Threaten, Preach, Solution, Negotiate, Mimic Daravon, Dragon Level Up
R-Abilities: Dragon Spirit
No S- or M-Abilities
Usual talkin' list, with some of the cruft removed. I don't think I've ever gotten any cash by simply asking for it. Also a weird refocus on dragons for that last bit.
Oracle
Appears to have replaced Knight/Archer, requiring levels in Squire
Move 2, Jump 2, Speed 4, PA 2, MA 5, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Blind, Spell Absorb, Pray Faith, Doubt Faith, Silence, Foxbird, Confusion, Dispel Magic, Paralyze
R-Abilities: Reflect
S-Abilities: Half MP
M-Abilities: Move +3, Any Weather
Oracles in vanilla are underrated. This Oracle... well, there's not a ton of maneuverability, not a lot of raw power, and some of the useful spells like Sleep and Petrify are removed. That's a stumper.
Any Weather is the ability that lets the user shed the penalty to moving through swamps during rain, and may be safely ignored.
Samurai
I have no idea. Only Delita has the option, and he's got more levels in Summoner than anyone else, so that must be it.
Move 2, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 7, MA 3, evade 14%
A-Abilities: same as vanilla except it's missing Kotetsu
R-Abilities: Meatbone Slash
S-Abilities: Two Swords, Defend
M-Abilities: Any Ground, Walk on Water
Like Oracle, the randomizer seems to have done the Samurai pretty dirty. That's where to get Two Swords, though.
Any Ground is the Geomancer move ability that lets the user act while standing in deep water, and can be safely ignored.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
RUMBLE CHAOS CRASHDOWN: Part 2
I walked away to do IRL stuff while the post-Gariland cutscenes played out, and came back to what looked like the game had crashed partway through the opening at Mandalia Plains. Nope, it was just Ramza trying to make a decision with an invisible text box. Once I hit a button he went "Our duty is to destroy the Death Corps" and everything was fine.
That was the option I wanted, any "Save _____" missions are probably going to be pretty tough with this seed.
A 20% chance pays off, and I get a new Chemist. I don't even know how to get Chemists yet!
One of these days the Mandalia fight is going to have a behemoth or a hydra or something in it and I'll be permanently brickwalled at the game's second story fight. Vampire Cats are still pretty fragile and this one doesn't manage to Blaster Algus, so for now things are okay.
Characters who have been Invited are under AI control for the rest of the fight. In this case, she knows some clever talkin' skills herself.
I dunno where she learned to Jump like that, but she started with it. (She has the ability set but no skills, so her horizontal reach is 1 and her vertical reach is 0. Keeps her safe while she hits something, though.)
Here's our new fighter. Her name is Grukk, which is better than Fartbox but not by a lot.
Having jobs with base speeds of 3 and 4 makes it pretty dangerous to do grinding in battle. Now I know I can walk from Igros through Mandalia to Gariland and back again without worrying about random encounters, I do the two jobs that are available to raise a little cash and JP.
I walked away to do IRL stuff while the post-Gariland cutscenes played out, and came back to what looked like the game had crashed partway through the opening at Mandalia Plains. Nope, it was just Ramza trying to make a decision with an invisible text box. Once I hit a button he went "Our duty is to destroy the Death Corps" and everything was fine.
That was the option I wanted, any "Save _____" missions are probably going to be pretty tough with this seed.
A 20% chance pays off, and I get a new Chemist. I don't even know how to get Chemists yet!
One of these days the Mandalia fight is going to have a behemoth or a hydra or something in it and I'll be permanently brickwalled at the game's second story fight. Vampire Cats are still pretty fragile and this one doesn't manage to Blaster Algus, so for now things are okay.
Characters who have been Invited are under AI control for the rest of the fight. In this case, she knows some clever talkin' skills herself.
I dunno where she learned to Jump like that, but she started with it. (She has the ability set but no skills, so her horizontal reach is 1 and her vertical reach is 0. Keeps her safe while she hits something, though.)
Here's our new fighter. Her name is Grukk, which is better than Fartbox but not by a lot.
Having jobs with base speeds of 3 and 4 makes it pretty dangerous to do grinding in battle. Now I know I can walk from Igros through Mandalia to Gariland and back again without worrying about random encounters, I do the two jobs that are available to raise a little cash and JP.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
There aren't many bar propositions, though, so I get into a random battle proper. This is fine, just a couple of goblins...
Oh! Haha, the randomizer gave some mook Wiegraf's sprite.
Wait a second...
Needless to say this does not go very well.
I got him down to critical HP, where only one more hit would win the fight, before anyone crystalized!
But remember, the randomizer completely annihilated the Speed scores for all the jobs I have available. Wiegraf got a double-turn at the worst possible moment and finished off Grukk.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
From the other direction into Mandalia I get to fight two Rofels instead.
This is actually less bad, because one of them forgot to bring any equipment, leaving him with his default stats.
Titan squishes the one who remembered to bring a sword to a swordfight.
Putting the naked one at critical HP means I can focus on the other monsters for a minute.
It's not just two Rofels, after all. The Ochu does me a small mercy and walks into a needle trap, taking some damage.
So, uh, mental note. There's a needle trap there now.
Equipped Rofel had some good abilities to take, but I need the HP restore more right now.
Ochu down.
My male summoner was the target of some serious focused fire from the two Rofels before I could KO one and scare the other off. And spoilers for when I detail the shuffled-up Chemist job abilities later on, I still don't have access to Phoenix Down. You will be missed... uh... whatever your name was.
Just a little more back-and-forth between the mooks and monsters while Ramza goes to hunt down naked Rofel and that's a wrap.
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
So let's go see what the soldier office has to offer, now that I'm down a guy. The first one they offer me actually has a pretty good Brave score, so I take him. Let's see, his name is...
No it goddamn well isn't.
I dunno how long you're gonna be with us, buddy, but I have a feeling you might just be... well...
Man, where's Stush when I need some unit names?
Adjusting the price for new troops down to $0 seems to be another mercy added by the randomizer.
All right. I don't like this. I don't like doing this. But I don't see a whole lot of really great options out there for me, given what I'm up against. And this fight doesn't have a human in a stage boss job, just a Gobbledeguck.
(Which incidentally is squished by Titan.)
The Wild Boar makes a nuisance of itself, but Grist only has one skill and the utterly abysmal PA of a level 1 Squire. He can take care of it.
I found a deathtrap over in the corner, so like it or not, I'm done with this grind session.
Yep. Ramza used Tailwind on her every turn, and she Accumulated on every turn of her own.
But before I wrap, I want to make sure I can use the White Mage limit breaks without a Materia Blade. Turns out they work just fine!
Grinding up 3000 JP in one fight means everyone else had at least 700 by the time I was done. Ramza is nearly done with super-Squire, and everyone else at least picked up Accumulate.
Bracamarte will never have to study Squire again. She can be a job that has slightly better survival prospects!
Meanwhile Wanda picks up Shirahidori from her Summoner job, rather than any of those really expensive summons she doesn't have the MP to cast yet.
Her Brave isn't great, but I'll take a 45% reduction in getting punched by goblins or clawed by cats. And I'll throw in that Mantle I got after Gariland to help as much I can.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
I got a character with a new job! I didn't earn it, but by gum I got it.
Chemist
Appears to unlock with training in Mediator
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 2, MA 4, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Potion, Hi-Potion, X-Potion, Ether, Elixir, Antidote, Eyedrops, Echo Grass, Maiden's Kiss, Soft
R-Abilities: Auto-Potion, Damage Split
S-Abilities: Throw Item
M-Abilities: Move-MP Up
No Hi-Ether, which is fine, and no Remedy, which is... less fine but probably acceptable. But a Chemist without Phoenix Down? That hurts.
The job tree so far appears to be:
Squire -> Mediator -> Chemist
Squire -> Oracle
Summoner -> White Mage
Summoner -> Thief
Some combination of Squire and Summoner -> Samurai
Chemist
Appears to unlock with training in Mediator
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 2, MA 4, evade 4%
A-Abilities: Potion, Hi-Potion, X-Potion, Ether, Elixir, Antidote, Eyedrops, Echo Grass, Maiden's Kiss, Soft
R-Abilities: Auto-Potion, Damage Split
S-Abilities: Throw Item
M-Abilities: Move-MP Up
No Hi-Ether, which is fine, and no Remedy, which is... less fine but probably acceptable. But a Chemist without Phoenix Down? That hurts.
The job tree so far appears to be:
Squire -> Mediator -> Chemist
Squire -> Oracle
Summoner -> White Mage
Summoner -> Thief
Some combination of Squire and Summoner -> Samurai
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
RUMBLE CHAOS CRASHDOWN: part 3
I do a pretty significant amount of grinding, which isn't interesting enough to post about. Except this dumb idiot who was knocked down to critical HP and ran away from the group, directly into the steel needle trap that hit him on his way in.
I knew there were skeletons in Sweegy Woods, dammit
This is complicated somewhat by Ramza being fragile enough that a skellington can oneshot him, and my only revival option being Raise 2 -- with a 20-25% chance of success and only enough MP to cast it once.
Sigh, back to grinding. Hey, Wiegraf. Nice of you to show up every damn time now. Wait, I know! I can shut him down so he can't kill everyone with Holy Sword!
Oh, right. Boss immunities.
Flash forward like three or four resets and OH COME ON WIEGRAF DOES NOT NEED AN AUTOMATIC HP RESTORE WHEN HE KILLS SOMEBODY
and Haste, why wouldn't he also have Haste
Sweegy Woods story battle again, then. This time I'm bringing a bunch of summoners with Shiva and maybe Algus and Delita will leave the skellingtons for last.
That actually works out okaOH COME ON
I do a pretty significant amount of grinding, which isn't interesting enough to post about. Except this dumb idiot who was knocked down to critical HP and ran away from the group, directly into the steel needle trap that hit him on his way in.
I knew there were skeletons in Sweegy Woods, dammit
This is complicated somewhat by Ramza being fragile enough that a skellington can oneshot him, and my only revival option being Raise 2 -- with a 20-25% chance of success and only enough MP to cast it once.
Sigh, back to grinding. Hey, Wiegraf. Nice of you to show up every damn time now. Wait, I know! I can shut him down so he can't kill everyone with Holy Sword!
Oh, right. Boss immunities.
Flash forward like three or four resets and OH COME ON WIEGRAF DOES NOT NEED AN AUTOMATIC HP RESTORE WHEN HE KILLS SOMEBODY
and Haste, why wouldn't he also have Haste
Sweegy Woods story battle again, then. This time I'm bringing a bunch of summoners with Shiva and maybe Algus and Delita will leave the skellingtons for last.
That actually works out okaOH COME ON
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Whatever unstoppable boss monster lives in Sweegy Woods random encounters deigns not to appear this time, just two black goblins and one of those undead Oracles from Yuguo Woods.
The Oracle blows all his MP on a weak summon against one character, the goblins fall to a single Shiva, and I'm free to Yellcumulate all I want.
Checking the status screen, there's a big empty spot in the middle, so presumably Zodiark is still available if I want to bother.
Hey, it's that guy who keeps patrolling Mandalia Plains and kills me whenever I go there. What's he doing in Dorter, like he has plot relevance or something
Dorter is significantly less dangerous than usual, partly because everyone in my party is at least level 11 and all the enemies are levels 3-4, and partly because it's a crowd of two White Mages and four Mediators.
Delita goes for the swag KO from knocking a White Mage off the roof. It doesn't work, but A for effort.
These guys are barely worth the time it took to kill and eat them. All I got was Negotiate, Dash, and two Leather Hats.
Anyway, that's that for Dorter.
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Time Mage
Everyone's job levels are so mixed up I basically can't tell what unlocks what anymore
Move 5, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 3, MA 9, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Haste, Slow, Slowga, Stop, Don't Move, Float, Reflect, Demi 2
R-Abilities: Critical Quick, Counter Tackle
No S- or M-Abilities
Wow, that's a lot of Move.
Ninja
Move 7, Jump 3, Speed 9, PA 6, MA 5, evade 30%
A-Abilities: Shuriken, Ball, Knife... look maybe one thrown weapon is missing who cares
No R-Abilities
S-Abilities: Equip Gun, Gained EXP Up, Concentrate, Short Charge
No M-Abilities
Wow, that's a lot of Move.
Bard
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 5, PA 2, MA 5, evade 6%
A-Abilities: Dash, Cheer Song, Battle Song, Magic Song, Last Song
R-Abilities: Regenerator
No S-Abilities
M-Abilities: Move+2, Move on Lava, Move underwater, Fly
Move Underwater is the move abilities of Piscodemons and Squidrakens and Mind Flayers, It lets the user move into extremely deep water, which to my knowledge only exists at the top of the Bethla Garrison Sluice Gate before it's opened. So who cares?
Everyone's job levels are so mixed up I basically can't tell what unlocks what anymore
Move 5, Jump 3, Speed 6, PA 3, MA 9, evade 5%
A-Abilities: Haste, Slow, Slowga, Stop, Don't Move, Float, Reflect, Demi 2
R-Abilities: Critical Quick, Counter Tackle
No S- or M-Abilities
Wow, that's a lot of Move.
Ninja
Move 7, Jump 3, Speed 9, PA 6, MA 5, evade 30%
A-Abilities: Shuriken, Ball, Knife... look maybe one thrown weapon is missing who cares
No R-Abilities
S-Abilities: Equip Gun, Gained EXP Up, Concentrate, Short Charge
No M-Abilities
Wow, that's a lot of Move.
Bard
Move 3, Jump 3, Speed 5, PA 2, MA 5, evade 6%
A-Abilities: Dash, Cheer Song, Battle Song, Magic Song, Last Song
R-Abilities: Regenerator
No S-Abilities
M-Abilities: Move+2, Move on Lava, Move underwater, Fly
Move Underwater is the move abilities of Piscodemons and Squidrakens and Mind Flayers, It lets the user move into extremely deep water, which to my knowledge only exists at the top of the Bethla Garrison Sluice Gate before it's opened. So who cares?
- nosimpleway
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Where we're at after the earlygame grind:
Ramza is level 12, Brave 74, Faith 70. He's mastered super-Squire, for now. He's also spent some time as a Thief and has all of those A-Abilities. He's got Auto-Potion and Blade Grasp to keep him alive, and a couple of Mediator abilities because that's the only access I have to a Sleep move.
Grist is level 12, Brave 72, Faith 59. He too has nearly mastered Squire and Thief. He's currently an Oracle, saving up for Move+3 and in hopes of opening up some better fighting jobs because who knows what does what. He's the only person who's unlocked Bard so far.
Grukk is level 12, Brave 66, Faith 56. She came in as a Chemist with Mediator skills, and those are the jobs she's worked on since. She's nearly mastered Squire, of course, and probably has more extensive Summoner training than anyone else.
Bracamarte is level 13, Brave 73, Faith 46. She was the first to grind up to get No-Charge as a Squire, and then was able to master that job with the leaked JP from everyone else but Ramza doing the same. Other than that she's been a Priest, and has all the useful spells and the three Limits available... and, uh, Equip Sword, since Squire is the only job that does that intrinsically that I've seen. She'll make a cool Knight or Geomancer someday, though.
Wanda is level 13, Brave 45, Faith 65. She's mastered Squire because she was behind in levels, so the JP grind to get No-Charge was also an EXP grind for her... and the EXP grind took longer than the JP grind. She's a Summoner to match Grukk and spent her points in Priest learning Teleport instead of castable spells.
My general goal is to build up as many job levels as I can, even in the weak crappy jobs like Squire, because I have no indication how high each level has to be to unlock more jobs later on. Nearly everyone has better Brave than Faith, but there's no separating out fightin' jobs from castin' jobs to take advantage of that specialization.
Squire has No-Charge, Summoner has Shirahidori, White Mage has Teleport... there's something to get out of each grind so far except perhaps Ninja.
Ramza is level 12, Brave 74, Faith 70. He's mastered super-Squire, for now. He's also spent some time as a Thief and has all of those A-Abilities. He's got Auto-Potion and Blade Grasp to keep him alive, and a couple of Mediator abilities because that's the only access I have to a Sleep move.
Grist is level 12, Brave 72, Faith 59. He too has nearly mastered Squire and Thief. He's currently an Oracle, saving up for Move+3 and in hopes of opening up some better fighting jobs because who knows what does what. He's the only person who's unlocked Bard so far.
Grukk is level 12, Brave 66, Faith 56. She came in as a Chemist with Mediator skills, and those are the jobs she's worked on since. She's nearly mastered Squire, of course, and probably has more extensive Summoner training than anyone else.
Bracamarte is level 13, Brave 73, Faith 46. She was the first to grind up to get No-Charge as a Squire, and then was able to master that job with the leaked JP from everyone else but Ramza doing the same. Other than that she's been a Priest, and has all the useful spells and the three Limits available... and, uh, Equip Sword, since Squire is the only job that does that intrinsically that I've seen. She'll make a cool Knight or Geomancer someday, though.
Wanda is level 13, Brave 45, Faith 65. She's mastered Squire because she was behind in levels, so the JP grind to get No-Charge was also an EXP grind for her... and the EXP grind took longer than the JP grind. She's a Summoner to match Grukk and spent her points in Priest learning Teleport instead of castable spells.
My general goal is to build up as many job levels as I can, even in the weak crappy jobs like Squire, because I have no indication how high each level has to be to unlock more jobs later on. Nearly everyone has better Brave than Faith, but there's no separating out fightin' jobs from castin' jobs to take advantage of that specialization.
Squire has No-Charge, Summoner has Shirahidori, White Mage has Teleport... there's something to get out of each grind so far except perhaps Ninja.
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
RUMBLE CHAOS CRASHDOWN: part 4
Look at that archer, trying to be all cool in the face of imminent peril. (I'm pretty sure he turned into a Summoner when the fight began.)
In addition to the usual enemy troops in green uniforms, there's this Mediator up here in a snazzy blue coat. He's still listed as an Enemy, presumably like that one Black Mage that Ifrited Miluda last time around.
He gets Delited before we find out what his deal is, though.
Algus falls, and nothing of value was lost.
By contrast, Delita proves himself a stalwart and valued ally at every turn.
"What's with this guy? He's got twice as many HP as everyone else here!"
"...oh, he's wearing nicer equipment than everyone else here. Maybe he'll drop the Wizard Robe when he dies, that'd be nice."
(He dropped the Headgear, which I won't complain about.)
Usually an army full of Chemists is bad news, but these guys forgot to learn how to brew and apply potions. They just talk a lot, trying to hype themselves up for what's to come:
a nap
There's no nicer way to stop Delita from KOing the last enemy before I can harvest equipment and crystals, so down he goes.
...well, I did get that Headgear early.
That's that for Sand Rat.
Look at that archer, trying to be all cool in the face of imminent peril. (I'm pretty sure he turned into a Summoner when the fight began.)
In addition to the usual enemy troops in green uniforms, there's this Mediator up here in a snazzy blue coat. He's still listed as an Enemy, presumably like that one Black Mage that Ifrited Miluda last time around.
He gets Delited before we find out what his deal is, though.
Algus falls, and nothing of value was lost.
By contrast, Delita proves himself a stalwart and valued ally at every turn.
"What's with this guy? He's got twice as many HP as everyone else here!"
"...oh, he's wearing nicer equipment than everyone else here. Maybe he'll drop the Wizard Robe when he dies, that'd be nice."
(He dropped the Headgear, which I won't complain about.)
Usually an army full of Chemists is bad news, but these guys forgot to learn how to brew and apply potions. They just talk a lot, trying to hype themselves up for what's to come:
a nap
There's no nicer way to stop Delita from KOing the last enemy before I can harvest equipment and crystals, so down he goes.
...well, I did get that Headgear early.
That's that for Sand Rat.
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Re: We've Heard This Story Before - Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics!
Thieves, Summoners, and an spooky ghost Archer.
Giving Delita access to a Ramuh summon was overall an A+ idea. I got a Thunder Rod for winning in the desert, and I'd totally give it to him if I could.
An enemy Summoner tries to counter with her own eidolon, but Grist is there with a No-Charge Paralyze to shut that right down.
A nap.
...bit of a non-sequitur this time, though.
Since I have so many leftover Mithril Knives, I went ahead and taught Ramza to Ninja-throw them. Here he is concussing a Summoner with the knife pommel for the KO.
Miluda charged forward to take out Algus, leaving her flank open for Delita to oneshot her. Guess we're done here, then.
Huh? The spooky ghost wants to come with?
He can't learn new abilities, though...
...or change jobs...
...or swap equipment. Zombie versions of the usual human jobs are treated as monsters by the game, so having one offer to join my party made the game very confused. So I kick him out. Nuts to you, Djeez! Djeez nuts!
(Speaking of spooky ghosts, lol)
I might have missed the "somewhere Tietra is watching the same sunset" line, but I assure you being stuck in a rainstorm and commenting about the peaceful weather is something that happened. Is it easier to blow a grass whistle when it's wet?
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