I went into much more comprehensive detail of the progressive evolution of this battle, the detailed blow-by-blow, than I did in previous updates, I think - tell me if this works for you? I don't want to get the Let's Play bogged down into overly detailed mechanical stuff that goes over people's heads if they don't enjoy that, but the battles are the core of Tactics and I enjoy breaking them down into little narratives, trying to see what went wrong and what I did right. Give me your thoughts.
I think I said it before, but let me say it again: in FFT, the battles are the whole game. Not describing what happens in them would be like reading a plot synopsis, not watching a Let's Play. Yes, there is a risk of going into too much details, but you haven't so far; reading how you approach battle and what tactics and strategies you adopt is a large part of the fun.
I've been trying to stick to at least two main story battles per update so far, which I feel is a good compromise of moving through the plot with actual stuff happening every update without drowning everyone in new historical facts, names to remember, and tactical details. I'm satisfied with it so far, though this guarantees pretty much every update will be a double update, but tell me if you're liking the pacing we've got.
I think the pace you're keeping is great; I'm sure there's some sections where you will want to have an update cover more fights, or occasionally less if a fight is particularly big and time consuming, but two per update does seems like a perfectly fair speed.
this is when I realize that I can actually use the Status menu to check my opponents' character sheets as early as Turn 1
Yeah, this is a wonderful feature. Don't forget that you can also use the Select button to check what any equipment or ability they have does, if you're ever unsure upon meeting a new enemy. You'll also notice that it simplifies predictions, as it lets you check the enemy's compatibility.
The game actually just gives it as an exercise to the reader to draw squares and triangles in various configurations to figure out the pattern of compatibilities between all signs.
Now, this is not very complex, and I will explain how you can keep it in mind easily in a moment... but you don't really need to. If you bring up the point finger icon when you have an unit's status up (even an enemy in battle, as per your previously mentioned discovery), move it to the symbol of their Zodiac sign, and press select, the game will tell you what the compatibility numbers of that unity are.
If you want the more detailed explanation: the signs are organized along their elemental affinities: Earth (1 - Capricorn, 2 - Taurus, 3 - Virgo), Water (1 - Cancer, 2 - Scorpio, 3 - Pisces), Air (1 - Libra, 2 - Aquarius, 3 - Gemini), Fire (1 - Aries, 2 - Leo, 3 - Sagittarius). Each sign is positively compatible (+25%) with the other two sign of the same element (except itself), and has negative compatibility (-25%) across the opposite elements: specifically, Earth is opposed to Water, and Fire is opposed to Air. Additionally, if a unit is both the opposite element and the same number as another, they have worst compatibility (-50%), unless they're one male and one female, in which case they have best compatibility (+50%). So, if Ramza was, say, Capricorn, then he'd have best compatibility with a female Cancer, like Agrias.
The +/+ 25% matters a bit for damage, but is much more important for status effects, where it influences accuracy. It's how buffs can miss.
some kind of… JP Bleedover effect
Indeed, whenever an unit acts in battle, each ally in the same battle gains 1/4th of the JP that unit action gave it; this is off the base value, not that modified by Gained JP up. So every four (or six) actions from a unit are equivalent to one action in that job for the allied unit. This is stored and remembered even if you don't have the class unlocked, so you can gain classes with higher JP counts than normal at times.
You can also check the status of your own units in battle to see how much JP they have in real time; this is useful when grinding, as you can double check if a character has gained enough JP to unlock something or not before you finish off the last enemy or decide to keep at it.
Whiffing this attack feels bad, though - I really need that Knight dead and spending turns trying random shit isn't going to cut it. We'll just focus on DPS for the rest of this fight.
Or, you could learn the "Concentrate" ability from the Archer; it's the best ability the class has, in that it removes miss chances. Of course, equipping it means not having Gained JP up active - just like any other useful support ability.
It is, funnily enough, still possible to fire in those squares we can't target; we just need to position Hadrian so that he is firing at a distant target but with another character in the way - the friendly fire can also be used to hit closer than our minimum range.
Of course, the problem with this is that you can't see the projected damage for the attack. Yes, you
can calculate it - Crossbows use the PA (Physical Attack) x WP (Weapon Power) formula, just like swords; then you check the Zodiac compatibility of both units, and that'll tell you the projected damage - but there's a great reason the game does that automatically: it's extremely annoying to do it by hand.
There is an option to check when a spell will fire in the turn order in the menu, but the inputs to access it it was buried in a playable tutorial that I will have to replay to find again, it's very annoying.
That would be the left or right directional button, as
@RubberBandMan mentioned:
If you have the menu open for any charged abilities (Like spells or items) you can press left on the D-pad, which will bring up the turn/action list, and will show all actions, including the timing of the action you had highlighted when you pressed left. This is what you commonly use in the middle of battle to check 'will this person move before the spell fires?' and 'Will my next character get a turn before this enemy spell goes off?'.
Or if you deselect a unit that has it's turn up (X. Or O if you've rebound perhaps) you can then bring up options (Which includes things like 'turn off XP/JP notifications', which will make battles go faster, and won't turn off the level up/job level up notifications) and the turn list. This is sometimes useful when you're trying to figure out the turn order but don't have any sub-commands
Note that, with the mentioned "deselect the character and bring up the menu" option, the turn order you get is the most complete, and that can be used to your advantage. Specifically,
it shows when spells and charged attacks will go off; by checking those, you can see which area the spells are targeting, which can be useful to avoid pratfalls like "walking a unit straight into the range of a killing blow".
Argath being this aggro is funny. Like, maybe our full party could beat Wiegraf but like, he's probably some lv 30 Super Knight or something, dude, you'll just get turned into mince meat trying to chase him solo, you should thank Delita for saving your life.
Second time the team saved Algus' life; Ramza did it once, now Delita. Surely they'll never regret it! Right?
On the way we get into a brief random encounter I won't cover
I don't have a problem with you not covering random encounters where nothing notable happens, but would you be willing to keep a running counter of how many you got into? I know it's a bother, but I would just like it as an indicator of how much grinding the game required.
Steal Gil is worthless, at least at this stage of the game. Which is a shame; money is fairly tight and I could have used a way to afford more gear.
Yeah, if you want to use Thief to get better gear, the class is right, but not the ability - you're better off stealing the actual gear and then either selling that for money, or using it directly. Especially with how many Knights there are running around breaking equipment, having extras won't hurt. Steal Gil is only useful for grinding purposes, in that you can use it an unlimited number of times on sleeping enemies without waking them up or killing them, allowing for unlimited actions as long as you can keep the enemy pinned.
You basically need to save before every single move you make on the world map. It is entirely possible to permanently lose a party member to random encounters.
Indeed! That's part of why I would like you to keep track of how many random battles you fight, because they aren't just "one-and-done" like in other Final Fantasy; in Tactics, even the random encounters are very significant.
Ramza's 60 damage would actually have sufficed on its own, but it's not like I knew that before he took his turn and aimed
Well... as I said for the crossbow, you
can calculate damage for yourself before moving, if you want. You just need to know the formula of the weapon you're using - they're not all equal.
The real powerhouse in this fight, though, is Ramza. His punch damage is insane. I assume this is because barehanded damage is tied to Bravery and Ramza's Bravery, at 70, is higher than any other member of my party.
For punches, the normal formula is
PA x PA x 0.Brave, which is why normal unit punches are weak; however, Monks
have the Martial Arts ability innate (you can also learn it from the class to transfer to other classes), which changes the formula to PA x PA x 1.Brave. Naturally, once you've calculated that you also need to check the Zodiac compatibility, but if you do all that, you can thereafter know the expected damage for two units attacking each other no matter where they are on the map.
You know what's hilarious, though? I have no idea if this is scripted or if it was just pure luck of the draw
So, I was about to say that I'm not sure, because in general, characters need to meet certain conditions to speak their lines, and for Miluda, I always was under the impression that her speech started in the first turn she had after being brought to half HP, but it being when Algus was in range of her attacks might have been it; however,
@Adloquium found it out before I was able to finish writing this post, so, yeah.
the fuck do you mean 'weather affects elemental damage' fuck you this is bullshit
It's not that complicated, don't worry - there are just four types of weather in total:
Normal - no change to effectiveness
Rain - strengthen Bolt, weakens Fire.
Snowstorm - strengthen Ice, weakens Fire.
Strong Sun - strengthen Fire, weakens Ice.
Very straightforward.
Weather! Gotta love it. Or hate it. One of the two.
I guess there's a reason to not just rush one element on BLM.
Not really,
it just makes it so that Lightning is the only element worth rushing.
Since this is early game, you see an enemy unit using Items? Their tinctures are as limited as yours.
This is not the case - all enemy units have access to unlimited items. The whole 1.3 Mod is built around this fact: it's a mod where every single unit in the game has Items so that you are faced with unlimited Phoenix Down on the enemy side in every battle. It's not just chemists, every unit which has the Item command set can use unlimited items.
I know this because I have done it lol. In this same location even. Got into the 'chasing that guy except he's on the other side of the wall' sequence, par his HP down little by little, he used Potions once, twice, and then keep on running after that without even reaching for any Potions.
That's likely the result of some weird AI interactions; it happens whenever one does things that go against the normal flow of battle, like prolonging a battle already won, because it confuses the AI response when the player acts outside the context of "trying to win".
The FFT AI is exceptionally good, but to be as effective as it is, it has a lot of conditional programming, and sometimes that gets its wires crossed. For example, all AI units are programmed to move if they can, even when it would be disadvantageous, but they also have a priority to inflict as much damage as possible, to prioritize units close to death, to prioritize hitting Ramza when possible since his death will win the battle, and more. Sometimes the priority cross, since there's also some randomization involved to keep the enemy from always spamming the same move, and that seems to have been the case in what you experienced, where the unit decided that, since it could move, it would, and then didn't use an action because there were no targets in immediate range, or something similar.
Sleep and Charm are worth using in Tactics Ogre...
They're extremely powerful in FFT too; you just need to use them with a unit that has the means to get around compatibility problems and make them land consistently. It can be done, it just requires a bit of strategy and planning your units' builds.
Yeah, I'm not sold on Archer.
Yeah, you're not alone:
Nobody is sold on vanilla Archer, I'm pretty sure it's the first class in line for rebalancing and adjustments whenever someone makes an FFT mod.
Indeed. Most of the mods around fix the Archer by giving it completely new abilities, removing Aim from the game in the process. I dislike that, as it goes against the nature of the class; so, now I'll rant a bit about why the way the LFT mod did it is much better.
This is mostly a rephrasing of the explanation I already provided when detailing the mechanical differences of LFT in the spoiler section of my post about it, so it's primarily for people like
@Omicron who didn't read that at the time, but I love the way they fixed the class in LFT so much that I can't hold back from gushing about it again! So, apologies in advance.
So, the Archer class in vanilla FFT has three fundamental problems.
First is their Aim ability (Charge in the PSX version); for those who aren't playing along, these abilities are in the form of "Aim +2", "Aim +3", all the way to "Aim +20", which upgrades the damage formula - for Crossbows, instead of WP x PA, it becomes WP x (PA +3) with Aim +3, and so on, but they also have charge times, like spells do. However, unlike spells, these only locks onto panels of the map rather than enemy units, meaning that if the target moves before the ability triggers, they miss, having wasted the Archer's turn, but they are also so slow that this happens often.
Secondly, for a physical class, they are very fragile, meaning that standing still while charging Aim is dangerous if the enemy can get close. Third, their weapons are difficult to use and too low power to make using them worthwhile; Aim should compensate for that, but due to how slow it is, usually doesn't.
In theory, the Archers should be glass cannons who strike with increased power from afar, but in practice they are sitting ducks unable to hit anything unless they use their base attack, which is too weak to be effective, instead of Aim, which is too slow to be effective.
Therefore, LFT changes the Archer, and while the individual changes are simple, they sum together to alter how the class dramatically... yet, it still retains its identity (a glass cannon that strikes from afar with increased power), in a way no other mod I've seen allows it to.
The first, obvious change is to speed up the Aim abilities; Aim +2 has its speed raised from 25 to 100, Aim +3 from 20 to 50, and so on, up to Aim +20 having it raised from 3 to 7. The higher Aim numbers are still quite difficult to land, but it's now possible instead of impossible, and the lower Aim numbers are reliable; +2 and +3 isn't that much power, but it's enough to compensate for the weaker weapons Archers use. Obviously, this change makes the Aim skillset a lot more useful on units other than an Archer, too - which is good for gameplay variety, and also makes enemies who sport it dangerous threats instead of easily ignored opponents. It makes battles more interesting in general, adding a factor of risk/reward.
However, even this isn't really enough, since waiting would make the archer a sitting duck, and archers only have average mobility (3 squares of movement, same as most mages, while most melee classes have 4 squares of movement) and are fragile. So, the LFT gave the Archer the ability to ignore heights - this basically makes them have infinite jump, but only vertically. Which means they can climb to any raised platform, but they can't ignore obstacles like chasms and water that one would need to jump horizontally.
This ability allows the Archer to climb to a high perch and snipe the enemy from afar, exactly as the class is iconically supposed to do, and it also fixes the two big problems, as the Archer can now "wait" without moving, manipulating the CT to land its Aim attacks much more easily, and needs to be taken down with either ranged attacks, magic, or another unit that has equipped Jump related abilities - something that is nearly useless in vanilla FFT - instead of being simply easily run down. It does a lot to emphasize strategy, and takes great advantage of the verticality that a lot of maps have to allow a lot of very interesting tactical positioning.
So, this is another demonstration of how far reaching the balance changes can get in LFT, like with the Squire: a formerly very bad class suddenly has a niche in the game, one that is fitting to it (the sniper), a number of combat classes have new options to use with Aim, and the tactical options are greatly expanded by encouraging units to move in ways that they would not have been able to before. It does modifies the way the game plays, by a lot, but honestly, a lot less than what some mods do, such as completely changing the class skillset. Though that's not the worse thing I've see mods do - some mods add completely new classes full of cheesy abilities to the game, which disrupt the experience of playing FFT as it was
vastly more than what the changes to the Squire and Archer (and other classes which I'll mention when they come up) do to disrupt vanilla gameplay.
Argath's line "The gods have no eyes for chattel" is, in Japanese, "Chattel have no gods"
Yeah, the PSX translation is "Animals have no God!", and while it's not as iconic as "Blame yourself or God", it is the most iconic line Algus has. Which I guess is as good a point as any to move into translations comparisons!
I won't be able to add much - the PSX translation is more faithful to the original japanese, so
@Adloquium mentioning the changes already pointed out most of the points of divergence - so instead I'll just focus on criticizing the WotL for changing characterization and losing nuance in the flowery prose, as is my wont. After all, I need to defend my previously made point that the WotL is not truly better than the PSX one, just differently bad... right?
Anyway:
- For the Dorter fight, the WotL mostly wins in terms of having the better translation. This is one of the battles that features a famous silly line from Ramza, where instead of saying "To arms" as in the WotL version, the PSX version has him shouting "Eaaagggghh!!" before the battle. I wonder how that one came about.
After the fight, the only big differences are that Algus doesn't tell the man "maybe a beating will loosen your tongue", just an angry "Say something, you bastard!" before he starts kicking. It makes it quite sudden and justifies Ramza saying him to stop only after the kick rather than when he threatens. That's relatively minor, although it does makes Algus' escalation into being
just the worst a tiny bit more gradual.
We also lose the Dune reference, as the hiding spot of the Corpse Brigade is called "a Sand Rat Cellar", and Algus confusion is on what that is, which Delita then clarifies the same way he does in the WotL version.
- Once again, the beats of the discussion at Sand Rat Nest, before and after the fight, are pretty much the same, only with the difference in prose; I do think that the way the soldiers and Gustav speak of just wanting to feed themselves is clearer and more concise in the PSX version, more fitting to the emotions on display (as
@Adloquium noted, this makes the contrast between Gustav and Wiegraf's attitudes clearer), but that's not too big a difference. Overall, I'd call the translations about equal for this section of the story.
- The discussion with Dycedarg at Igros castle I would mostly give to the WotL version - the more formal speech just suits Larg and Dycedarg better, I feel - with the exception that, when Dycedargs says not to spoil them, in the PSX version his final line of dialogue is "there is a line between right and wrong". Considering the rest of conversation once Ramza leaves the room, that particular bit of self-serving moralism adds a bit of characterization to Dycedarg, making it clear how he will cloak what he wants with a righteousness he doesn't truly believes in whenever it suits his hidden goals; I think the "they need to learn integrity" is much less punchier, in that it's about Ramza's attitude rather than Dycedarg's beliefs. The WotL line still makes his follow up plotting show how he's a bit of an hypocrite, no matter how well-intentioned or not his planning might be, but the contrast is much softer and, to me at least, feels less personal.
- The Thief's Fort battle, on the other hand, is immediately different. First of all, when the white mages are arguing that they shouldn't give up, instead of saying "the nobles should answer for their actions", which quite strongly implies they seek revenge, the PSX version has the white mage saying "we need to make them apologize", which suggest looking for reparations;
@Adloquium already made this point, and how it's possible that the apologies could be as harsh as executions, but I don't think the line would suggest that without the WotL version as a direct comparison. As a first impression, "apologies" suggest to me that forgiveness after the apology is given might be in the cards, which "answer for their actions" really, really doesn't.
This is a big deal since we've seen that the Corpse Brigade is split between those who just want to get some form of repayment out of this and those who want to depose the nobility, so correctly identifying which priority this particular group has, which is done by this sentence, has a certain importance - with the two translations clashing on which of the two readings we should take.
Then, even worse, where WotL Miluda says "he was too soft and indecisive", which shows some contempt and clear disagreement with Wiegraf's vision, the PSX version says "he was too optimistic", which is a much more fatalistic position and suggests that Miluda didn't really buy into the cause from the start but followed her brother out of a sense of obligation, but also that she doesn't really think he's at fault, since her words make it sound like she doesn't think they could have won regardless. It is, as I've said in the past, a complete change in characterization for an actual named character, even if a relatively minor one. Completely warping Miluda's personality seems like a net negative of the WotL translation to me. Well, unless it turns out that the PSX was less loyal to the original, I suppose, but that hasn't been the case so far.
The discussion in the battle is mostly similar, with the exception that the PSX translation greatly streamlines Algus' insults, and thus managed to include his claim that "you were born to obey us", which the WotL translation excluded to go into graphic detail on his "from when you were born" line. They both do include his remark that commoners are chattel, at least. However, the ending of the speech is quite different. As another poster reproduced it in full, let me quote:
The speech from the original FFT, for comparison:
Algus: Human? Hmph, ridiculous! From the minute you were born you had to obey us! From the second you were born you were our animals!!
Miluda: Says who!? That's nonsense! Who decided all this?!
Algus: It's the Will of Heaven!
Miluda: Heaven? God would never say such things! In his eyes, all are equal! He'd never let this happen! Never!
Algus: Animals have no God!!
Miluda: !!!!
So, as a first point, in the PSX translation, it is "God", not "the gods" as in the WotL translation - which seems to me a better fit with what we learned about Ajora. Then PSX Algus has the brutal line "Animals have no God!", which isn't as well known as "Blame yourself or God", but nearly so, being one of the most iconic lines in the game; I feel that the WotL new line is much weaker here, but that might just be because of the follow up.
As
@Omicron quoted, the WotL translation, in addition to watering the line down with flowery language, has Miluda answer with "you speak of devils, not gods!", which wouldn't work with the singular God the PSX version is using, but also makes no sense in context: they're talking of the same religion they both share, and Algus is excluding her from it, not claiming that the religion's teachings are different from those Miluda believes in. More importantly, in the PSX version Miluda is so shocked by Algus being willing to go to such an extent that she has no answer - that gives Algus' vitriol far more impact then her weak comeback blunting it by showing she is quickly able to pivot when her argument is rejected so soundly. It overall reduces how much punch the scene packs.
The after the fight comments are mostly the same, although the PSX has, once again, far more direct language - Miluda calls them despicable for showing her pity, rather than merely rejecting the pity itself - which feels a lot more personal, and thus more fitting for the situation at hand. The following scene at the Beoulve residence also follow the same beats with simpler dialogue, which I also thinks is more effective here - instead of talking of "dens and dovecotes" like in the WotL version, which is so obscure a reference it sort of brings me out of the immersion, PSX Dycedarg's line is the far more direct and natural-sounding "leave no stone unturned until you find them!", which I think adds the necessary gravitas to the situation by being a break of character from Dycedarg's usual composure. The WotL translation obsession with flowery language really goes against the scene's emotional core here, which is why I think the PSX dialogue wins the comparison for this particular scene. Sometimes, straight and to the point is just better.
