Final Fantasy Tactics

[Anya 0]

I got this game years ago when it first came out. It was my second RPG and I found it to be way too hard and got frustrated so I gave up and got rid of it. Now I've given it a second chance and I am really engrossed in it. I really like the story, music, the whole atmosphere of it. I am addicting to messing around with jobs and secondary abilities. I find myself switching them back and forth and experimenting after every battle.

 

Who else likes it? And what is FFT Advance like?

[Renegade 0]

FFT is a great game if you have the time and dedication to customise and play through some long battles. Come to think of it FFT is the only game with the FF name which I like (even though its not really FF)

 

FFTA however is pretty dire game, you be better off with Tactics ogre. Lame story, far less customisation and judges in battle.

[AndrewTS 0]

Who else likes it? And what is FFT Advance like?

 

Me, and FFTA really really sucks.

[Anya 0]

I just got Agrias to join my party full time. Should I use her? I don't want to invest time into leveling her up and giving her abilities if she isn't going to stick around.

[Youth N Asia 0]

My brother tried like hell to sell me on FFT. I finally played it through and wasn't that impressed. Too much pointless battles to level up. And too many story swerves.

 

It's ok, but I didn't think it was great.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Agrias is pretty solid. She's with you the whole game from there on out. I never actually used her, but that was because I'd spent a lot of time getting lancers and black mages set, and I was having fun playing with Mustadio. A couple friends of mine swear by her, and at this stage of the game she's a strong addition to the regular party. You get another character later on that's basically a much better version of her.

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

It's Orlandu, and he's the most hilariously overpowered character in the game.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

And, to add a post, I love FFT. One of my favorite Square games for the PS (with Vagrant Story and Xenogears being its other chief competitors), and it's incredibly addictive. I liked it so much that I almost bought a GBA just for Tactics Advance, but then I heard about how blah it was and decided to pass.

[Highland 0]

I have both, though I only got FFTA a few days ago so I'm still playing it.

FFT is my favourite game in my library, next to Xenogears and oh yes, Sakura:

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

Get used to being played like a puppet by Delita. At the end of it, you'll scream because you don't get to kill him.

[Highland 0]

FFT also has one of the best VG soundtracks, IMO.

[AndrewTS 0]

And, to add a post, I love FFT. One of my favorite Square games for the PS

Except that it is, you know, not really a Square-developed game.

[EricMM 0]

FFT is greatness.

 

FFTA is like greatnesses sucky twin. It kind of LOOKS like greatness, and you look forward to it, expecting greatness, but NOOOO. It's not greatness, it sucks.

 

Agrias is ok, but to be honest most of the special characters in the game don't have good enough "Squire" jobs to be worth using (except of course Ramza and one or maybe two others) If you like the character, I recommend turning her into a knight or something like that. She can still use her swordskill, and she will be better than a quasi-squire, stats-wise. Or you could just turn her into a Monk or something. She's just as good or better than the other faceless peons. IIRC she has decent Brave and Faith.

[Anya 0]

Well, what sucks is she is at level 12 and has almost no abilities. I don't want to take AGES to level her up to match the others in my party if she's not any better.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Her sword magic is really the only thing that separates her - she's not flat-out amazing. You can stick with your regular guys and be fine.

[Anya 0]

Also, is it just me or does White Magic pretty much suck? I never have much MP and it's just so much easier to use Items, especially with the Throw Item ability. It's not like potions are expensive, and I always have tons of money. Maybe WM gets better later on?

[Highland 0]

It doesn't, I only had a WM to master it for the Calculator class, and after mastering that changing to a quicker class. Learn auto-potion, it's your best friend.

[EricMM 0]

Seriously, let ramza spend some time as either a chemist or a dragoon. There are going to be times when you'll have to fight as him alone and either Auto Potion or Jump are completely necessary. I recommend Auto-Potion. It's the cheapest thing in the game, selling off your potions and Hi-Potions and recovering 300 dmg whenever you get hit, but there's at least one battle where it's basically one of two ways to survive.

 

White mages are not really all that, because spells like life, protect, and shell can miss. However, there isn't THAT much healing otherwise. It really is worth having some sort of character with white magic secondary.

 

without throw item, items are a lot less useful. And chemists don't last the entire game, guns or no.

[Anya 0]

I am halfway through Chapter 3 now and everyone has Auto-Potion and Throw Item.

 

I've kept Ramza a Squire the entire game and he is really powerful. He has a ton of HP and his normal attacks do more damage than my Knight.

 

Also, I decided to go ahead and use Agrias. It didn't take all that long to get her at a decent level and have her learn the good Chemist stuff so she could heal herself. I'm glad I did, her abilities own.

[Highland 0]

Use Scream or Cheer Up every chance you get, having a permanent 97 brave rating is always a good thing.

/ends gamefaqish behaviour.

[Anya 0]

Doesn't something bad happen if you get too high of a Brave?

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

That's Faith I think.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

If a character gets really high faith, he or she may walk away from your party to find religion. It can't happen with Ramza, though, so don't boost over 90 and you should be fine.

 

No offense, but your party sounds mad boring. Squires! Chemists! It might not have been the most efficient way to play the game but I had Time Mages with black magic, singing Lancers, two-fisted Monks, and all sorts of nutty stuff like that. For me, half the fun of the game was just creating outrageous parties and seeing what I could pull off.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I beat the game with all chemists once. Never used another class through the whole game, excpet the beginning battle.

[EricMM 0]

Here's a good combo: Monks with battle skill.

 

I swear to god tehy get insanely high percentage chances to hit with the break attacks. Give them dual wield, and they have twice the chance to hit.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

When my cousin went back to Japan, he left behind his PS and all of the games he had for it, since he had a PS2 over there. He's was real into the fighting games and RPGs, so of course, he had all of the FF games, including Tactics. Not having any interest in them, myself, I sold them on eBay.

[Anya 0]

I beat the game today. Awesome game. Really glad I gave it another chance. Hard, but I never wanted to give up because it was so good. Got easier and easier the more I played and when I got Orlandu the difficulty took a nosedive and became one of the easier RPGs I've played. He's so good I was never again in any danger of dying.

 

I have never played a game with a story like that. The way it's told, all the treachery and betrayal, all the swerves and a very unique ending...all so cool.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Amen. Pretty much all games I've played have been a dissapointment since I played this.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Did you end up using any of the other unique characters, Sakura? I always found myself strangely drawn to using Beowulf even if he was just eh. By the last third of the game, they're throwing so many unique characters into your party that I pretty much just let them all sit in the corner and collect dust.

[EricMM 0]

The game definitely gets easier as you get more and more diverse and deep characters.

 

By far the hardest fight IMO is the Dorter Trade City fight. It's very rare to have leveled enough to be ready for that one the first time around.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Did you end up using any of the other unique characters, Sakura?  I always found myself strangely drawn to using Beowulf even if he was just eh.  By the last third of the game, they're throwing so many unique characters into your party that I pretty much just let them all sit in the corner and collect dust.

Yeah, I had just finished reading a translation of Beowulf before I played the game and he never left my party after he joined. He's a good powerful but not ungodly chatacter. Reis also has awesome stats if you build her up just a little bit. Now I'm getting nostalgic.

*fires up Tactics*

[Cartman 0]

This thread has made me go back to playing Tactics AGAIN. I love this game!