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Let's Play Every Final Fantasy Game In Order Of Release [Now Finished: Final Fantasy Tactics]

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And when you have people playing crowd control, or Ramza yelling really loud next to your Dragoon, they can reliably hit targets on command!

And this is only the start of some of the Mettle shenanigans! Just wait until you unlock "Spend 20 turns running away while powering up DBZ style and then doing 500 damage with melee attacks for the rest of the map." Got me out of quite a few scrapes once I figured out the power of Ramza's Super Squire Job.

THAT BEING SAID, it's less a rake, kind of an Exploit, but in the long run it can get pretty cracked.

Ramza can never leave your party under any circumstances, therefore, he's the Only character in the game who you can raise to Faith 100.

Who needs a unique class when you can become the strongest caster in the game?
 
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Yeah, this battle is pretty brutal. The previous two walls (Dorter and the Windmill) can be excused by being early enough that you don't have many options and featuring That Asshole Wiegraf, but there are no excuses here. These are all just generics using mostly basic jobs and they thoroughly spank everyone who comes through here.
 
I had a thought an update or two ago I forgot to bring up, but the issue in question got an off-hand mention here, so before I forget again. It's been quite a while since I've gone through Tactics, so if I misremember and you don't have this level of access to guest kits then nevermind, but...

If the guest AI is favoring having Agrias use White Magic too much, can you not just unequip it from her skill slot? I imagine she'll be more consistent about going on the offense if she has no healing or support in her tool kit in the first place.
 
Omicron said:
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How the fuck are there so many goddamned chocobos!?

God, I knew I had to be on the lookout for the monster spawning system, but I had no idea just how fast it would spiral out of control. It's not only possible but easy to completely fill up our party roster with goddamned chickens, of the Yellow and Black varieties (so far). There's only one way to solve this mess, and it's mass unit dismissal, kicking them out of our party until-


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"They breed quickly down there, in the roster. We must slay them even faster."
 
Omicron said:
Dycedarg: "The men I sent were found dead in the woods near the monastery. Someone has caught wind of our plan, and seems intent on disrupting it.
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This is something that is easily missed because the game addresses this only very briefly, but Dycedarg and Gaffgarion aren't only talking about the men in Dorter paid to intercept Ramza and company. Rather, the implication here was that Dycedarg sent men to impersonate knights from the Order of the Southern Sky and assassinate Ovelia in Orbonne, thereby casting blame on Goltanna. Gaffgarion clearly expected this due to his utter lack of surprise during the battle at Orbonne in the prologue (he doesn't seem to entirely clue in that something has gone terribly wrong until Zeirchele Falls, when he realizes Delita is not, in fact, Dycedarg's delegated assassin), and his insistence that all these men be killed is likely to prevent any captives from spilling any inconvenient details about where they really came from.

The problem is that unknown to Gaffgarion until just now, those men sent by Dycedarg pretending to be from the Order of the Southern Sky...weren't actually the men sent by Dycedarg. Because they were intercepted and killed by an unknown party before they got to the monastery, their bodies left in the nearby woods. Someone basically hijacked Dycedarg's plan and carried it out...but instead of an assassin getting to Ovelia, it's Delita who kidnaps her.
 
Ouch looks like the images being overloaded because to many people are looking at them strikes again, hopefully they'll be available later today.
 
Time for another set of rakes! Featuring every FFT veteran's ol' pal Mustadio.

Rake #30: Keeping Mustadio alive can be pretty hard
Status: It would be significantly easier if he didn't constantly put himself in the middle of a bunch of knights and mages.

Rake #31: Enemy Summoners are actually kinda dangerous.
Status: Thank god they're slow and squishy.

Rake #32: Revive spells/skills are not guaranteed to land.
Status: This rake in particular hurts.

Rake #33: Wiping using your B team because your A team is out on errands.
Status: Maybe try the reverse lol?

That's all for today. Oh, and @Omicron - I'm really looking forward to the next couple of updates :drevil:

 
Omicron said:
And perhaps most sinister of all - "as long as Ovelia remains with Lady Agrias, we will have chance enough to steal back our prize." Why? Why Agrias specifically? If Agrias was a secret double agent, she simply would have defected alongside Gaffgarion at Zeichdele Falls. No, whatever angle this is, Agrias herself isn't aware of it at the time.
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My understanding is that Agrias is the most straightforward Knight the Lionsguard possesses- which is probably why she is assigned to the Princess. The Queen probably dislikes her honesty and adherence to the knight code of honor, the White Lion ultimately finds her a useful tool simply due to how predictable she is.

Agrias is actually fully sidelined by the Crown here, because she was sent to guard a sheltered Princess in some random ass monastery. With Ondoria's death, Orinus is pretty much the only one the Queen will accept getting the damn throne which is probably why Larg ordered Dycedarg to send soldiers disguised as Goltanna's men to kill Ovelia. Agrias and her team were already written off entirely as collateral, and she doesn't even know it.
 
Marla said:
My understanding is that Agrias is the most straightforward Knight the Lionsguard possesses- which is probably why she is assigned to the Princess. The Queen probably dislikes her honesty and adherence to the knight code of honor, the White Lion ultimately finds her a useful tool simply due to how predictable she is.

Agrias is actually fully sidelined by the Crown here, because she was sent to guard a sheltered Princess in some random ass monastery. With Ondoria's death, Orinus is pretty much the only one the Queen will accept getting the damn throne which is probably why Larg ordered Dycedarg to send soldiers disguised as Goltanna's men to kill Ovelia. Agrias and her team were already written off entirely as collateral, and she doesn't even know it.
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Well, two years ago they probably did want Ovelia protected and safe. So they gave her one of the super-Knights. ... but.

Mans made a mistake.
 
There it is, there's the Final Fantasy worldbuilding. And the power of GLOCK, supported by how inherently funny it is for a guy to pull out a handgun in the middle of a War of the Roses with magic scenario and drop archers across several walls and rooftops.

The previous update brought some huge shifts and set up grave reckonings to come, so some of the revelations this chapter don't seem quite so shocking, but it's still pretty sombering to see the other face of Dycedarg speaking so plainly of the schemes and what Ramza's worth by comparison. I'm growing anxious about all the unsprung plans that lie in the way of our protagonists and especially over the unsettling implication that the group might be betrayed by Agrias as a given, but right now, really curious to learn what significance auracite has.
 
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The gun that shoots chocobos is obviously the solution to your "roster filling up with chocobos who look at you mournfully if you tell them to get lost" problem

A new "animal cruelty " problem though, granted
 
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There are two ways to improve gun damage, although they follow naturally enough from how guns work.

One is the Geomancer attack boost ability, which Omi might have seen now that those are unlocked. Another is... the archer Charge/Aim skill. The higher tiers of it are going to be too slow*, sure, but getting a free bit of weapon power is a free bit of weapon power so you can usually get away with +1-+3.

* except if you can make the enemy not move via various status effects, of course.

Guns don't outclass anything, but they're a pretty good weapon to give those support classes that want to hang back anyway.
 
Jakobstj said:
First, the only class (other than Mustadio's Machinist) that can equip them innately is the Chemist and Orator
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so a decently leveled character in a job with good speed and physical attack can hit much harder with a bow than with a gun
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...Which ties in with Omicron's speculation about how warfare is going to drastically change, I think. Chemist, after all, is one of the starting classes. A high-level warrior might be able to greatly out-damage a Chemist with a gun... but how many more Chemists are there, and how much more quickly can their losses be replaced? As soon as guns and ammunition can be sufficiently mass-produced...

McFluffles said:
After all, Europe didn't have things like "nice gun bro now watch as I jump across the entire battlefield in a single bound, impale you on a lance, then parry all the other bullets coming at me (any that do hit I just Focus Mah Chakras to regenerate)." Or maybe picture how long a squadrom of musketeers in formation lasts when a guy comes along and shouts "KING OF FLAMES BEAR DOWN UPON THE ENEMY, IFRIT!" and they all get incinerated.
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For the second part, yeah, lines of muzzle-loader-armed infantry marching at each other would be really vulnerable... but it appears that breechloaders with cartridge ammunition are already a thing. Those could enable small, nimble fireteams moving across the battlefield.
For the first, some warriors would still be too much for the mass gun-Chemist infantry to handles, sure... but if those are on both sides, they can focus entirely on each other, without needing to worry about being ganged up on by weaker class-levelled warriors. Also, each of those warriors can only be in one place at a time, however formidable they are there -- which means the gun-Chemist armies can fight and hold over large areas.
 
Omicron said:
This is so much. First off, yeah, we are indeed in a full 'civilization reborn after the collapse of the glorious ancients' scenario, they had airships and robot servants and machine guns, they were a straight up fantasy civilization. This wouldn't be surprising in any other Final Fantasy, it's only because Tactics has so far maintained this sense of 'groundedness' that the classic trope comes as a swerve. And now we've introduced guns in the setting as a technology that's not entirely unknown but definitely novel, one that's used in Goug but still unknown to Ramza.
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Well, that's one way to go from 0 to 100 on magic, lol. And I had such a thesis earlier about the game's refusal to engage with fantasy aspects on plot level, too.

Omicron said:
God, I knew I had to be on the lookout for the monster spawning system, but I had no idea just how fast it would spiral out of control. It's not only possible but easy to completely fill up our party roster with goddamned chickens, of the Yellow and Black varieties (so far). There's only one way to solve this mess, and it's mass unit dismissal, kicking them out of our party until-
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Or you could dismiss everyone else and play exclusively with chocobos, sparing them their sadness.

You monster.

Omicron said:
I don't think we've ever had a scenario in which the enemy can just pop Shiva at us like she's double-hatting on two opposite sides at the same time.
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Shiva:


Omicron said:
Chocobo cannon..?

Is that a naval gun? That shoots live chocobos?
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Bet you regret dismissing all chocobos now.

Omicron said:
I want guns. I need guns. I crave guns - no, I must be strong. I must keep to the way of the Sword. Guns are lame. This is a universal truth.
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Consider: first strike gun.

Omicron said:
It's fine. The enemy raises that same Summoner twice, and it gives me a fright both times, but between the low HP granted by a Phoenix Down, the fact that everyone got drawn into the same messy melee on the central ridge, and the casting time of a summon, this ends up being more of a repeat jump scare than an actual threat. We just take her out again each time she rises.
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And so it is written in history records that the enemy summoner has risen two times after being felled and both times was immediately shanked in the face.
 
Omicron said:
Anyway, I promptly strip Ovelia of her best equipment and give her current-level stuff, meaning Osric now gets to have a Wizard's Hat and Wizard's Robes.
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The in-universe implications of this move are interesting. Is there something you want to tell us, Osric? Oh, sure, you're just wearing the princess's cute outfits for the tactical benefits.

Omicron said:
Here's how Preach and Praise work: Each time you use Preach, the targeted unit's Faith rises by 4 for the rest of the fight… And by 1 permanently. The same is true of how Praise affects Bravery.

So I can just put Gillian through a course of self-brainwashing, frantically muttering prayers to herself until she finally starts to believe. It fails about half the time, but any success permanently modifies her attributes.

We'll make a Beverly Keane out of you yet, Gillian.
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I'm in love with the mental image of Gillian doing her self-affirmations in the middle of a battle. Hester is fighting a dramatic duel with the enemy Knight, Ramza just punched a guy so hard he exploded, and Gillian's in the corner with a mirror going "I am strong. I am loved. I am a good warrior".
 
Omicron said:
The simplified narrative of 'at some point in the 17th century guns just Magically Appeared in Europe and knights and men at arms became irrelevant," which I'm going to assume on a forum like this we all already know is far from the truth, is pretty much what's going to happen here. And this is reflected in the comparative effectiveness of Mustadio vs Archers on both my side and the enemy's!
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Wanted an excuse to post this
 
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Omicron said:
What the fuck is a 'secta.'
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McFluffles said:
Just some fictional form of distance measurement or something, I'm sure. Kind of like a Kilometer.
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I personally suspect it's a mis-translation. The original Japanese term used here is セクタ, which is the translation for "sector". Which means the correct phrase might be "Sector 16 of Obell/Ovell Bay".

I've never heard of a body of water being divided into sectors, but hey, I'm not a mapmaker or naval officer, so it might even be true...
 
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Omicron said:
They had - fucking - they had airships and machine-guns!?

Oh yeah remember how the backstory of Saint Ajora and the Church of Glabados involves the ruling power of the time being sunken under the waves? Yeah I guess it wasn't just a medieval city being swallowed by the sea, it was Atlantis and we are in yet another post-apocalypse treading among the ruins of more Ancients.

I've been bamboozled yet again. This Final Fantasy game is in fact a Final Fantasy game.
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"Wait, Final Fantasy is post-apocalyptic science fantasy?"

"Always has been."
 
RubberBandMan said:
By the way, I want you to consider some logistics of the Dryceberg/Gaffy talk, assuming you don't spend months in-game doing chocobo incest (again). He somehow got from the waterfall to irgos castle in two days, the same path that would take you at least a full week? For an old guy, he moves pretty fast!
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Omi has spent at least 16 days doing errands, the timeline is fine, actually.
 
illhousen said:
Or you could dismiss everyone else and play exclusively with chocobos, sparing them their sadness.
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One of my FFT challenge runs was "Orator Ramza and his Chocobo herd", with Ramza only being able to use whatever the best weapon an Orator could equip at that part of the story was, the Persuade ability, and continually keeping the Squire Monster Skill ablity equipped. Because I'm not masochistic, I did allow Ramza to keep Item equipped but only learn Phoenix Down, and Auto-Potion as the reaction ability.

Some fights are tricky but it's surprisingly doable; Chocobos of various colors have decent healing and good attack 'spells', and you can save a low-health unit by jumping on and riding it so Ramza 'tanks' for it. It's just kind of boring, so I converted it to a Pokemon run of "any monster" halfway through.
 
AliasiSudonomo said:
One of my FFT challenge runs was "Orator Ramza and his Chocobo herd", with Ramza only being able to use whatever the best weapon an Orator could equip at that part of the story was, the Persuade ability, and continually keeping the Squire Monster Skill ablity equipped. Because I'm not masochistic, I did allow Ramza to keep Item equipped but only learn Phoenix Down, and Auto-Potion as the reaction ability.

Some fights are tricky but it's surprisingly doable; Chocobos of various colors have decent healing and good attack 'spells', and you can save a low-health unit by jumping on and riding it so Ramza 'tanks' for it. It's just kind of boring, so I converted it to a Pokemon run of "any monster" halfway through.
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Wow, a 'I have been betrayed too many times and will never again rely on humans'-build. Genuinely fits the narrative.
 
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