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Final Fantasy Tactics, some questions and thought

Shaewaroz

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I've tried this game a couple of times before, but never really got into it until just recently. It's a phenomenal game, one of the best FF games for sure. I'm currently in chapter 3 and beginning to try poaching for the first time.

I have a question regarding random enemy encounters. I was wondering if it's possible to encounter more difficult enemy types on lower levels? I think my main party members are on level 19 right now. I read a poaching guide online and found out that an enemy called Sacred can be poached for a Holy Lance. However I haven't encountered this enemy yet despite going through random encounters in the desert where this enemy can be encountered. So is the problem that I'm too low level to encounter this enemy type or is it just very rare to encounter it?

I was also wondering about magic users using Martial Arts skill. I tried to give Martial Arts to my mages to get nice HtH damage, but their damage is still absolutely pathetic. Is it not possible to get a decent damage output with Martial Arts on magic users?
 

Damned Registrations

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Encounters with the most powerful versions of enemies tend to only happen in the later chapters. There is a way to get around this- if you recruit a common version of the monster, you can breed the rare version and poach that from your own party.

HtH damage has a pretty simple formula: Phys attack power squared, times brave%. Martial arts support (or being a monk) just gives you 50% more damage on top of that. But it's the PA that really matters, hence why you can do stupid amounts of damage with punches by spamming accumulate or whatever. Also, there's a decent chance your mage has garbage brave, since the game tends to balance brave and faith against eachother. If you want your mages to have a good basic melee attack, you're better off using rods/staves/sticks, which scale off MA instead of PA. If you want them to have a subskill that doesn't take mp, go for geomancy or better yet the samurai skills, which are magic based for some reason.
 

Shaewaroz

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Encounters with the most powerful versions of enemies tend to only happen in the later chapters. There is a way to get around this- if you recruit a common version of the monster, you can breed the rare version and poach that from your own party.

HtH damage has a pretty simple formula: Phys attack power squared, times brave%. Martial arts support (or being a monk) just gives you 50% more damage on top of that. But it's the PA that really matters, hence why you can do stupid amounts of damage with punches by spamming accumulate or whatever. Also, there's a decent chance your mage has garbage brave, since the game tends to balance brave and faith against eachother. If you want your mages to have a good basic melee attack, you're better off using rods/staves/sticks, which scale off MA instead of PA. If you want them to have a subskill that doesn't take mp, go for geomancy or better yet the samurai skills, which are magic based for some reason.

Thanks for the insight. I had some chocobos breeding by accident, but otherwise I haven't tried any breeding. So you just need to use the invitation skill on a monster and it needs to be friendly when the battle ends for it to join your party?
 

TigerKnee

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Pigs give Perfumes as a poach item. They could randomly appear during the story battle at Zigolis Swamp.
 

Shaewaroz

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Pigs give Perfumes as a poach item. They could randomly appear during the story battle at Zigolis Swamp.

They seem to be the best monsters to poach/breed, although the items you get through them are perhaps a little too OP.

Damn, I'm really loving how all the monsters are also playable in combat! :) I really want to try breeding some super monsters like Greater Malboros, Plagues and Sacreds and bulldozing through the story campaign with them. :)
 

Damned Registrations

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Chantage in particular is way too OP, it's utterly insane. I think they toned it down a bit in the remakes. I never cared much for poaching though, so I'm not sure what stuff is worth the time investment. Not that I'm discouraging you- FFT is all about finding a chink to exploit and break it wide open. There's a lot of different ways to do that.

On the subject of badass monsters- monster stats scale with levels much better than humans, which rely a lot on equipment or broken skill combos. So some of the higher tier monsters might seem a bit underwhelming early on. Also, some that seem terrible have really OP bonus skills unlocked by that monster support thing. I remember back in the day there was a guy named Kantolin on gamefaqs who wrotes some crazy in depth shit on the game, he swore by the usage of monsters.
 

Shaewaroz

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OK, I might have overdone poaching today. On first try I got the Defender sword from Taiju (A tier Wood Spirit) which gives +60 evade and attack value 7 tiers higher than what stores are selling. I also got the Holy Spear, which casts Holy randomly. And this is the beginning of chapter 3. But at least getting such powerful items from optional content feels rewarding.

I tried some monsters in combat - so far they've not been that impressive. Only truly powerful one I found so far was Sacred, the A tier Minotaur creature that can boots it's attack power by +2. It can easily hit over 200 dmg, so that's pretty cool. And it has over 200 hp. Movement is only 3 though. Health seems to be a problem with many monster types, since healing them is also more difficult than normal NPCs.
 

Major_Blackhart

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God, with Defender, a cape, and some other tools I created characters that couldn't be hit from the front and sides. I think it was like 1% to hit them from 3 of the 4 angles.
 

Shaewaroz

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On the subject of badass monsters- monster stats scale with levels much better than humans, which rely a lot on equipment or broken skill combos. So some of the higher tier monsters might seem a bit underwhelming early on. Also, some that seem terrible have really OP bonus skills unlocked by that monster support thing. I remember back in the day there was a guy named Kantolin on gamefaqs who wrotes some crazy in depth shit on the game, he swore by the usage of monsters.

Thanks for the info. I found his guide here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080516....edu/~nurbert/Webpagejunk/Kantolinivalice.htm

By the looks of it, it's not impossible to complete the game with a monster party.
 

Shaewaroz

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I recruited a Dragon! I didn't think I could get one so early, at the start of Chapter 3. Soon I will have an army of Red Dragons that will burn Ivalice to the ground! Mu ha hah haa!

It's particularly cool that Red Dragons absorb fire damage, so you can spam Fire 4 on it, killing all enemies around the dragon and healing it simultaneously. Soon I will have a dragoon black mage with a Red Dragon army! My childhood dream has been realized!

I honestly can't remember the last time I've had this much fun with a game.
 
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Hyperion

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Chantage in particular is way too OP, it's utterly insane. I think they toned it down a bit in the remakes. I never cared much for poaching though, so I'm not sure what stuff is worth the time investment. Not that I'm discouraging you- FFT is all about finding a chink to exploit and break it wide open. There's a lot of different ways to do that.

On the subject of badass monsters- monster stats scale with levels much better than humans, which rely a lot on equipment or broken skill combos. So some of the higher tier monsters might seem a bit underwhelming early on. Also, some that seem terrible have really OP bonus skills unlocked by that monster support thing. I remember back in the day there was a guy named Kantolin on gamefaqs who wrotes some crazy in depth shit on the game, he swore by the usage of monsters.
Chantage was left alone. But then they added The Tynar Rouge in Chapter 4, which is more ludicrous. Mustadio buys it as a birthday present for Agrias. +3 Power and Magic, Auto-Protect / Shell / Haste, and increased potency of Holy attacks for 50,000 gil I believe. Has to be gotten in Lesalia on Cancer 1st. And Mustadio gets friendzoned of course, because Ramza has the big swingin' dick.
 

TigerKnee

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Monsters are considered a 3rd gender (Yes, you may use the predictable jokes here) - they can be charmed by human characters of both sexes and default to Bad compatibility when they would otherwise get Best/Worst.

Kantolin's analysis is a bit too lenient and done under impractical circumstances - Lvl 99, where you basically wreck most storyline battles due to the sheer levels difference and the status formula rate combined with monster growth gives you a 100% chance of inflicting them (which would not be the case at lower levels).

You can certainly win with a monster party because FFT isn't a very hard game, but in my opinion, I believe the only monsters I would consider good would be Tiamats, Behemoths and Chocobos.
 

Hyperion

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That's nice, but it doesn't sound as OP as infinite reraise.
Chantage doesn't do anything but reraise. Unless you actually die it's a wasted effect. Strictly a crutch for making a mistake, or getting your ass beat. Tynar Rouge gives 3 defensive buffs (moving more often with Haste ups off and def), and obscene power in +3PA and +50% attack to Holy, which includes Holy Explosions. It essentially turns Agrias from a powerful character into Orlandu 2.0. So yeah, I'll take a second Orlandu over a Reraise effect I'm never going to need, because my characters don't die.
 

DragoFireheart

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Grind until you have 5 Calculators with Holy and all skils max for that class.

Then switch them all to Wizard with math as the secondary skill.

Wear Chameleon Robes.

Blast everything with Holy.
 

Shaewaroz

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Monsters are considered a 3rd gender (Yes, you may use the predictable jokes here) - they can be charmed by human characters of both sexes and default to Bad compatibility when they would otherwise get Best/Worst.

Kantolin's analysis is a bit too lenient and done under impractical circumstances - Lvl 99, where you basically wreck most storyline battles due to the sheer levels difference and the status formula rate combined with monster growth gives you a 100% chance of inflicting them (which would not be the case at lower levels).

You can certainly win with a monster party because FFT isn't a very hard game, but in my opinion, I believe the only monsters I would consider good would be Tiamats, Behemoths and Chocobos.

I agree, monsters are not really better than regular NPCs is any way. Dragon's are actually not very good at all, since their breath attacks only hit horizontally and have basically zero vertical flexibility. This makes it very impractical to fight enemies on anything other than flat surface. Damage from their regular attacks is just so-so.

Red Chocobos are actually pretty decent. Choco Meteor is pretty darn good, at least in the beginning of Chapter 3, but will probably become useless later on. You need to breed a Red Chocobo with high Faith since it determines the damage done by Choco Meteor. Chocobos have movement of 6 and move with regular speed in water which makes them excellent for hit-and-run type strategies.

I would add Sacred to the list of useful monsters, at least in the early game. After charging their attack power for a few rounds, they really hit like wrecking balls, one-hitting almost any enemy. All you need to do is to park one next to a group of enemies and he will kill all of them by countering their attacks. They have high hp to boot. They are slow as slugs, but if you're not in a hurry they can be rather fun to play around with.
 

Damned Registrations

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That's nice, but it doesn't sound as OP as infinite reraise.
Chantage doesn't do anything but reraise. Unless you actually die it's a wasted effect. Strictly a crutch for making a mistake, or getting your ass beat. Tynar Rouge gives 3 defensive buffs (moving more often with Haste ups off and def), and obscene power in +3PA and +50% attack to Holy, which includes Holy Explosions. It essentially turns Agrias from a powerful character into Orlandu 2.0. So yeah, I'll take a second Orlandu over a Reraise effect I'm never going to need, because my characters don't die.

Grind until you have 5 Calculators with Holy and all skils max for that class.

Then switch them all to Wizard with math as the secondary skill.

Wear Chameleon Robes.

Blast everything with Holy.

Much easier ways to be completely broken than that. Hamedo alone kills like 95% of story battles because they're all full of dumb humans. Also, Abandon + feather mantle for basically 100% evasion, with 80% even from the rear. Hell, even just auto-potion and 70+ brave makes you nigh invincible, never mind throw item. Chemists were notorious for actually being a trivially easy single class challenge and they're one of the base classes.

But Chantage will let a party of level 1 calculators without spells beat almost any battle in the game. It's definitely the most broken item there is. Who needs Orlandu when you can use a an invincible 90 hp glass cannon with nothing but speed and pa/ma gear to walk around and one shot everything. Better yet being dead is like being invisible, enemies won't even avoid you. And since the AI focus fires your lowest hp character, it'll eat attacks for the whole party and make the AI even more predictable.
 

Shaewaroz

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I've decided to try to finish FFT with a Monster party.

Just tried my first story battle, Goland Coal City, with an All Monster Party (with Ramza).

My party right now consists of Ramza (Monk + White Magic), Red Dragon, Sacred (Minotaur), Red Chocobo and Vampire (Panther). Cleared this battle with very little problems. I had to reload 1 time due to the Sacred getting charmed and killing Ramza. On the second try the monsters performed admirably. Now I'm feeling better about Red Dragon's performance - it can hit enemies that are half tile above or below. Vampire is in danger of running out of HP (150) and doesn't really do that much damage, so maybe it could be replaced. I managed to use Blaster successfully on one enemy, causing it to STOP. Vampire's Jump skill of 4 also helps a lot in vertically challenging maps. Red Chocobo is a God - it just runs all over the place and spams Chocobo Meteor dealing 60-90 dmg. From turn 1 it could hit almost any enemy on the map. Sacred only killed one thief that was foolish enough to come within striking distance. It's very slow, but develops exp every turn by using it's own Accumulate ability. If the battle takes long, it will definitely one-hit just about any enemy, no doubt.

Some of my monsters don't have compatible Zodiac signs with Ramza, so I have to breed more suitable versions. It's imperative to have good Zodiac compatibility with Ramza and the monsters to have any chance of success in the long run. I think Esuna is going to be the most useful spell during a Monster party playthrough.

I read online that you will gain access to a Dragoneer NPC in Chapter 4, who can buff dragons in your party. I might try her in the party once I get there.

By the way, if I kick a party member out from my roster, can I recruit him/her again from somewhere? Agrias and Mustadio are both severely under levelled and they are causing some of the bred monsters to be under leveled as well. Breeding would be easier if I could kick Agrias and Mustadio out temporarily and recruit them again after I've bred the right kind of monsters. Is this possible?
 
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TigerKnee

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Once they're gone, they're gone. That's why I usually kick out uniques I don't plan on using in the current playthrough for more space (though Agrias and Mustadio unlock sidequests so you can't kick them out until then) - either that or do your breeding early in the game before too many people join.
 

Shaewaroz

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I was able to clear the monastery battles with the same team. The game is certainly more challenging this way. The fact that monsters don't have the benefits of equipments or job skills is really starting to show. However I'm actually pretty happy with what all different monsters bring to the team. Especially the Vampire (Panther) has been surprisingly useful. In one map it delayed two enemy units for 3-4 rounds by repeatedly paralyzing them, giving my other units time to finish off the other enemies. In the monastery it turned one Dragoon to stone, making the otherwise difficult battle relatively easy.

The most disappointing monster so far has been the Red Dragon. It's damage output is very unreliable and never is it great. It also doesn't accumulate as much exp as the other monsters due to it's poor mobility.

The Sacred is sometimes very useful, other times it doesn't get a chance to hit anyone during a map. But it's constantly developing exp by boosting attack power every turn it's not hitting something. It's not rare to see it hit for over 300 dmg with one hit when most enemies have only 200 hp.

The Red Chocobo is a beast. A team consisting only of Red Chocobos would completely annihilate anything at this stage of the game. Chocobo Meteor is used every turn and it takes out the majority of the opposition.
 
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Shaewaroz

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Yardov Fort City battle with ninjas and summoners is proving very difficult. In the beginning of the battle enemies block the only way to reach inside the fort where the two summoners are, so it's very difficult to get rid of them. Both the summoners and ninjas do a ton of damage, so it's extremely hard to keep everyone alive while trying to take out enemies before they overwhelm the party. To changed Ramza to Knight class to boost his hp and to increase his evade with Defender, but the ninjas still occasionally hit him. This is a very tricky battle for a monster party. More than anything we need AOE damage and spells like Holy, but monsters don't have any AOE spells. I'll try to silence the summoners next, but it's going to be touch since they are behind city walls and therefore spells don't reach them easily. Maybe try the summon that silences the enemies? It at least has a larger area of effect, so it might hit both summoners simultaneously.
 

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