FFXIV got me into trying out FF Tactics but I confess I'm getting pretty filtered in the first few maps. I'm playing War of the Lions.
Any tips for a new player trying it for the first time?
FFXIV got me into trying out FF Tactics but I confess I'm getting pretty filtered in the first few maps.
What is filtering you?
I did the same as a xiv player and loved FFT.
>matsuno slop
just kys.
Play FF5 and FF6
Yeah to beat this game you have to do at least some grinding.
Meaning you take off the weapon of two unites and have them punch each other while chugging potions and stall with your other units until you level up your job level and get the abilities you need.
Ninja with Monk's unarmed ability is very good.
Dragoon is also very good.
Don't under-estimate how good chemist is later on, by the way.
You don't NEED to have the very end-game unit jobs like Dark Knight or Bard, but if you know how to grind and what to do then they can come in pretty useful for the end.
Also consider Mustadio as one of your main guys.
He's very good against some shit later.
Thank you for that tip about punching each other, I never considered that. I was wondering if there was a way to achieve something to that effect or other ways to gain exp like with smaller battles along the way. It seems like being underleveled is a huge risk.
I've only just started but basically the lack of information is what was killing me. I didn't understand the job system yet or how much of the gear stuff seems to work. I bought potions and could not equip items, things like that.
>Play FF5 and FF6
I've already been through 6. I don't have 5. I'm playing FFT and played 6 on my Vita, btw.
>on handheld
sounds cozy
5 has a good job system if that's something you like about Tactics...but of course it's not a TRPG
JRPGs are best on handhelds so you can take them with you. I'm really eager for the Switch successor to come out so I can hack my Switch and move onto Switch 2 without much remorse or worry. 3DS homebrewing was an amazing decision and I just did the same for my Vita. I played FF6 on there with a legitimately purchased PSN copy of the PS1 version, btw.
I like the ability to cast my game to my TV so Switch really was the best console concept to execution short of dipping into the old cross play stuff Sony was doing.
XP isn't as important as AP, most of your stats are going to be derived from equipment instead of leveling up, but grinding either is a bit unintuitive. Since they're awarded on every successful action(as in, hits the target and does more than 0 damage or healing) trying to beat enemies as quickly as possible is actually quite slow for AP gains. One of the best ways to grind is to get an encounter down to a single low-HP enemy that will always try to run away, then have your own guys start a cycle of hurting each other with weak attacks then healing off the damage. Since you're in control of the positioning, the actions will be more successful than trying to fight actual enemies. The Chakra ability from monks is useful for this since it's one of the few infinite sources of MP recovery, and you can use that to keep the cycle going as long as you like.
This basically.
You can imagine how fricking boring grinding in FFT can get.
You're gonna hate me for saying this, but go through the tutorials. All of them. Daravon is fricking dull as shit, but all of the information you will ever need is in there.
>Mimic Daravon
>puts target to sleep
They were making fun of boring tutorials over twenty years ago
>the lack of information is what was killing me
>has an entire dedicated tutorial section that explains everything
you're one of those 14 dance club troons aren't you?
Equipping Item on everyone is incredibly useful early game since potions are just as good as Cure spell and with phoenix downs, you can outlast enemies with it especially with Auto-potion reaction. Ramza as a Monk is very powerful since he has high Brave stat and can easily increase it as high brave = higher dmg with fists and certain other weapons
>L---I---T---T---L---E M---O---N---E---Y
what did they mean by this?
>equip JP boost skill on everyone
>move+1 and move +2 are great
>grind every now and then
>tailwind is great
>you can boost bravery and faith on characters with certain skills, max faith on Ramza only
>get attack boost on waifu that joins you eventually and let her carry every map
That's all. There's more to it, you can make bunch of ninja and monks, make that waifu a dark knight and watch her deal 2k dmg per attack but just with attack boost she will one shot everyone. No need for arithmetics BS.
the tankiest early game set up is monk + equip armor
monk is a great early game job, get wave fist and earth render, ramsa is a good choice as you can use guts as your secondary and boost your brave/attack/speed infinitely
guts should be mastered, as it has the most reliable stat boosters that work on everyone. units will react to gender and zodiac sign, so if you are compatible a spell will work, if not it's more likely to fail, so don't rely on just a white mage to heal cause unless you lucked out on the best zodiac match ups there will always be at least one unit gets a real shitty return
all party members should get auto-potion when available
a chemist is almost always a better choice than a white mage, but keep in mind that leveling up as one fricks the stats of the unit, so learn the necessary skills and switch to something better
dorter is gonna be your big first hurdle so focus on setting up your team for that fight
kill the mages first, if you get close, they are more likely to try and punch you instead of use magic, the archers will likely focus on delita and albus and take a long time to kill them so just go straight for the mages, then the knights and last the archers
do some grinding
despite all the praise FFT has, one issue it has is the JP/class system is a little clunky especially at the start. It only starts becoming balls-to-walls fun once you start unlocking some cooler jobs. And there's no non-tedious way of doing that.
The upside is that once you do some early game grinding that should last you through the rest of the game.
Also monks are OP early game.
And characters also learn classes by observing others, everyone gets chemist points not just the chemist in your team, same for others. If your Ramza needs few points for auto potion don't switch him to a chemist if you already have one, he will get them.
I played the game 3 times over and never noticed this what the frick
Yeah everyone deployed in the battle gets 25% of what that job earned.
It's not as effective as the other anon says.
Yeah it works, but they get very little JP per action as opposed to just doing it themselves.
It's super effective, especially if you have multiple of same job in your party. And very important for getting some annoying late game jobs like Dark Knight, takes a lot longer if you don't know this. You can easily farm random encounters with it.
I wouldn't really call it supereffective. It certainly helps to optimize your grind distribution a little, but as
says it's mostly useful for getting a couple extra points for that one ability without spending a whole battle switching a job
Character building. Just find synergies and exploit the hell out of them. FFT lets you do it more, as it's more unbalanced than Tactics Ogre Reborn, which is already not that balanced.
Most important tip: play a better fricking game instad lmao. Although as a XIVgay it's not like you have the ability to appreciate good games anyway.
There are a lot of systems in place to give specific advice really. You'll discover things as you go just know that the start is the hardest part due to little in the way of options.
A good Black mage goes a long way in the beginning.
I find this statement surprising. If anything, I would say that the black mage might be one of clunkiest jobs early on because of low MP and spell delay (and also only learning 1 element at a time, so it's powerful only very situationally)
That's why monks are great, just chakra them.
If you hire a custom one (female, high faith) and focus on learning a level 2 spell fast you can nuke the whole chapter.
iirc you can get away with just blizzard spells the vast majority of the time, with occasional thunders. Fire's mostly useless.
Thank you all for your many answers.
Reading all these replies about grinding characters and stuff in this way clearly not intended when the game was designed, I'm beginning to think Tactics really needs a balance patch to improve EXP yield and point growth. It sounds deeply flawed.
FFT is completely unbalanced but not for the reasons you listed (speed stat is the main factor). There is also 0 need to grind but a beginner can't know all the systems to take advantage of. Modding basic stuff like that is very easy in FFT since the modding scene has an editor.
Well that's pretty much a life of a mercenary(not sure what to call his lifestyle) who is swimming against the current, have to make war to get good bling bling.
FFT has flaws for sure, yeah.
The story is still the best out of any FF game though.
Yeah it ends with all the go kill god bullshit, but it's got more depth to it than fricking XIV and it's dogshit writing.
Personally I find the gameplay pretty fun after a few runs. I finally understand how shit works and if you're just starting out it can definitely seem convoluted.
I'm just not a fan of characters having specific variables that determine an increase or decrease on effectiveness vs others of a different zodiac sign. That shit is the one thing I would like to have removed but what can you do.
If you bumble through the game doing whatever you want without considering effectiveness, you'll have trouble for not taking advantage of the systems. But if you minmax any of the systems at all, the game becomes a cakewalk.
This guy
is basically right. We're telling you "just grind" because it's the simplest way to get stronger and open up the class tree. We're not going to tell a beginner specific OP strats (other than monk I guess)
To provide another perspective, I think the developers did not intend for you to grind and did intend for the game to be difficult/filter you, and only slowly unlock the classes over the course of the game. But they almost by accident made a second, more fun game within FFT if you just unlock all the broken shit and eviscerate your enemies. FFT should be praised, not criticized, for given the player full freedom to frick around in the game.
(And Tactics Ogre Reborn is what happens when the developer tries to say "no fun allowed")
I suppose my biggest hurdle is how to deal with units dying. How do I use Phoenix Down I purchase? I plan to do things mostly blind but I am really struggling with the basics and want to have solid footing.
I was actually considering Tactics Ogre Reborn as well, should I not play the new game and just get the old one on PSP?
Have the item skill set equipped.
The unit using it must know Phoenix down from the set
Have Phoenix downs in your inventory
Tip: avoid early chocobo maps until you get some skills
you need a chemist or chemist subjob equipped
The notion that you need to know HOW to use a Phoenix Down or a potion actually does make some logical sense, it just is really strange coming into this game with such deviation from conventions. It seems like it has absurd depth. Maybe too much. I'm curious to play more but it's just too much.
Current roster has:
>Squire Ramza
>Knight
>Chemist
>White Mage
>Another squire (until I get a bow)
They just made the command "item" from previous FFs into its own job.
apparently archers are shit in FFT, spend only the time you need in that class to unlock the next ones
I viciously hate TO:R. It has stupid shit like extremely tight level caps (often set below the enemies you face) and does not allow you to grind even for fun. The final boss is so moronicly overtuned it's practically begging for you to look up a cheesing strat.
But you should get other opinions too.
I hate reborn too but it's not easy recommending the unmodded PSP version either due to the extreme skill grind and busted crafted system (both fixed by mods).
That's fair. I don't remember much about the PSP version. But I do know that at least I didn't come away hating it like I did TO:R.
(In fairness to TO:R it is not a bad game for people who like this specific type of game. It is just not what I like, and not what most of the the SRPG genre is like)
I will never get over how buff those priest's legs are. Fricking grand.
She’s a samurai priest, those legs are what move+2 looks like.
equip squire subjob and JP UP > spam yell or accumulate for points > beat game
>I'm getting pretty filtered in the first few maps.
that's only natural, the first maps of the game are kinda rough if you don't know what you are doing, I'm guessing you soft locked yourself on the mission where you get surrounded by black mages and high ground archers
?si=YN7ImQZQubbYiw2j
this vid gives a decent rundown of the stuff you should take into consideration, you can also check gamefaqs or whatever or read up on the in game tutorial system
>I'm guessing you soft locked yourself on the mission where you get surrounded by black mages and high ground archers
Excuse me WHAT!?
Damn that's too bad I like rangers and stuff in fantasy.
Then you should probably play TO:LUCT, I think that was the version where archers were gods.
what do you mean WHAT!?
>I'm guessing you soft locked yourself on the mission where you get surrounded by black mages and high ground archers
kek this is the first thing that happened to me as a kid right after getting the game. luckily its so early in the game it wasnt a big deal to start over and actually grind a bit the second time around lol
Dorter Trade City. Not a fun place.
By the way, was it mentioned that the highest level person on the team, in the fight or not, decides the approximate level of the random encounter opponents?
>Dorter Trade City
Almost forgot. Make multiple saves. Seriously. There are what, six hard stops or so in this game, without spoiling things? Multiple saves. Cannot stress this enough.
no i dont think it was mentioned but thatd be a good warning as it caught me off guard a few times
Also, OP here maybe for my last post tonight, but to this day my favorite tactics game remains Valkyria Chronicles. It is the right amount of action and momentum, strategy, and presentation all in one bunch. I really enjoy the gameplay of that more than any other tactics game. I finished the first one on Switch after three separate attempts to play it- just needed it to be handheld. Might get 2 running on my Vita. I don't like the anime shit that came later in the IP, the first game was the right balance on the lines of Full Metal Alchemist.
Also I'll probably make some art of my FFXIV character as a Tactics portrait or something, so that's fun.
i had a lot of fun with 2, i enjoyed the gameplay improvements and rare drops. Multiplayer was fun thru adhoc party app on the ps3. The anime school shit and voice overs were super cringe tho
Wait for me anon. I couldn’t get much into tactics ogre, but when there is a sale of this game on ios I will buy it in an instant.
Treat it like an alternate dimension to XIV's portrayl and vice versa. Key elements are present in both, but it feels laughable to me what changed between them.
I don't want to spoil it for OP, but XIV's version of Tactics' story is like a version of the first Star Wars movie that Lucas went back and edited to have Alderaan shoot at the Death Star first.
Forgot to ask, is OP playing the PSP version? If so, are you on hardware or emulator? Either way, did you grab the slowdown patch? It makes things MUCH better.
>It makes things MUCH better.
people way overstate how bad the magic slowdowns are
It's pretty bad though. For no reason.
it is strictly worse, but it's really not that big a deal
I would bet that if someone didn't play the original, they wouldn't even mention the magic slowdown as being bad
>I would bet that if someone didn't play the original, they wouldn't even mention the magic slowdown as being bad
That's fair. That's the reason I noticed it. Maybe they tried a 'cinematic experience' on skills or something. Having Duskblade take four seconds instead of a snappy two was jarring as frick when I first saw it.
I think they just fricked up porting it or something. But yeah, to the ignorant player, they'd just assume the magic is extra cinematic or something.
The slowdown is only really bad if you're using calculators or dancers or something with many spell animations, but you deserve to have some slowdown if you're cheesing that hard
>I think they just fricked up porting it or something
I've heard two unconfirmed explanations for the WOTL slowdown bug:
1. The slowdown was intentionally hard-coded into the game. The company doing the port found that the special skill animations (specifically ones that relied on lighting effects) would play faster than the PSP's UMD drive could load them. This caused massive problems/crashes. The slow-down during skill animations was actually their way of fixing the problem.
2. One of the Squeenix programmers meant to speed the animations up by 1/3, but instead slowed it down by 1/3 because of an error in his math/coding.
Either explanation has its problems, but to the best of my knowledge, SE has never addressed this and simply pretends it never happened. The bug seems to have been done away with in the iOS/Android port, but there is no way to resolve it on the PSP/Vita without hacking the game, because that was the state of things at Squeenix in the mid-aughts. It's only gotten worse.
it desyncs the sound! five seconds of paying attention to the entire animation compared to the sounds played and you'd realize you were hearing what you were seeing but 2x as fast
I played and beat it for the first time last year or so and the beginning is hard. You're going to have to do some grinding and grab the bonus that gives more job points from Squire to make it go faster. At a certain point the game does get progressively easier though.
I found it too ridiculously easy to roll the entire game
I'm not sure how you're having problems
There's so many overpowered things you have to avoid a lot of mechanics to even not trivialize the game
Job points are more important than leveling up. Increase your characters' bravery. Unless you've got a mage, don't worry too much about faith. Male units make better fighters whereas female units make better mages. If you want the special characters, don't get rid of Mustadio. Don't dismiss Agrias, Lavian and Alicia because if they're still in your party in chapter 4, you can get a powerful accessory for your female units.
Make sure to get auto-potion for Ramza (very important).
>Increase your characters' bravery.
that's too minmaxy for someone just starting out
Yeah, but increasing it, albeit slowly, shouldn't be too hard once Ramza gets Steel.
once you go down that route, it's too tempting to go "well then what does faith do?" and then you fall down the 97 br 03 fa route and then "so what skills are affected by brave. wait, blade grasp does what?" and then you've ruined another innocent soul
hahaha yeah, well it's up to OP to make the decision then
how do i stop my autism from forcing positionals even when i eat dirt? how much dps is lost by not giving a frick anyway?
what do you mean? like facing directions?
why do you not want to care about that? (I think it matters more for hit% than damage)
morons at square enix really remastered tactics ogre, live a live and star ocean second story before chrono trigger, ff tactics and xenogears
Frick those buttholes
you forgot saga frontier, and multiple mana remakes, and a second remake of ff7