Final Fantasy Tactics

[Winslow]

I bought a PS1 Final Fantasy Tactics game on sale several months ago, and finally got around to playing it.

It’s my first Final Fantasy Game. Anyway, I think I've totally screwed up my game,

I "ramped up" my character, not realizing the program ramps up the opposition. The problem is, the other members of my team are around levels 15-20, but have to fight level 40 "bad guys" or monsters (my main character is level 41).

The fights have become so difficult my other players die too easily.

Any advice? How can I ramp up the other players on my team?


Advice from RITA’s in Comm:

I've seen this happen when recruiting high-level monsters, suddenly the random encounters get a lot nastier. Storyline battles shouldn't change, though, and your other characters will level up faster when fighting enemies that are higher levels.

[GozertheGozarian]

If you've reached Zeklaus Desert, theres a level down trap in the gap on the edge of the map. You can use it to get your main char back to managable levels.

[MaxofSteel]

What's the battle system like? I've never played this game before.

[SAMAS]

1: Isolate an enemy and have your guys attack it, then have Ramza finish it off. You get more experience when you attack a higher-level enemy.

2: Have your guys do non-combat skills. They still gain Exp and JP.

3: Have them attack Ramza. Same thing, only he doesn't hit back as much.

4: Train Ramza up as a Black Mage and have him learn Frog. Apply liberally to enemies. Have other guys beat the Frogs up.

5: Go through the sidequest to get Cloud Strife. Beowulf, Worker 8, and Reis, who you get in the process, are pretty damn cool. Apply the above to Cloud, because the poor boy starts at Lvl. 1

Try to concentrate on building one or two guys up at a time. The higher-level guys can then babysit a lower fighter in the above methods.

[RickDangerous]

Samas pretty much said it all.

Aside from the Frog method, you can use Sleep (Mediator: Mimic Daravon) or lowering their Brave so they turn into a chicken.

This is the only RPG I played, and I had a lot of fun with it.

[Masamune]

What's the battle system like? I've never played this game before.

It's not like the other Final Fantasy games. Unlike those, location of your characters plays a much bigger role. You play on 3D battlefields, move to good positions, and physical/magical attacks have certain ranges. Consequently, the game focuses much more on the battle system and less on exploring towns or the countryside. It still has an epic storyline like other FF games, though.

It's been a while since I've played it, but I think that's basically it. It's a lot of fun, so you should try it out if you can.

[Shades0077]

It's not like the other Final Fantasy games. Unlike those, location of your characters plays a much bigger role. You play on 3D battlefields, move to good positions, and physical/magical attacks have certain ranges. Consequently, the game focuses much more on the battle system and less on exploring towns or the countryside. It still has an epic storyline like other FF games, though.

It's been a while since I've played it, but I think that's basically it. It's a lot of fun, so you should try it out if you can.

Building on what Masamune said, it's a similar set up to the Arc the Lad series of games, or the Shining Force ones, if you've played them. Tactics is a bit more advanced than them, with features like terrain height being a factor in both movement and attack.

The game was loads of fun, but thinking back now, I think I got caught up in school and never finished playing it. I think I'll have to go back and remedy that some time soon.

[Winslow]

1: Isolate an enemy and have your guys attack it, then have Ramza finish it off. You get more experience when you attack a higher-level enemy.

2: Have your guys do non-combat skills. They still gain Exp and JP.

3: Have them attack Ramza. Same thing, only he doesn't hit back as much.

4: Train Ramza up as a Black Mage and have him learn Frog. Apply liberally to enemies. Have other guys beat the Frogs up.

5: Go through the sidequest to get Cloud Strife. Beowulf, Worker 8, and Reis, who you get in the process, are pretty damn cool. Apply the above to Cloud, because the poor boy starts at Lvl. 1

Try to concentrate on building one or two guys up at a time. The higher-level guys can then babysit a lower fighter in the above methods.

Excellent advice. Thanks!

I was doing no. 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 were new ideas.

I got greedy for the Ninja skills set, and ramped up my Ramza charcter to get them.

[Winslow]

If you've reached Zeklaus Desert, theres a level down trap in the gap on the edge of the map. You can use it to get your main char back to managable levels.

I've been there and defeated the storyline fight, but don't remember the trap.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

[Winslow]

It's not like the other Final Fantasy games. Unlike those, location of your characters plays a much bigger role. You play on 3D battlefields, move to good positions, and physical/magical attacks have certain ranges. Consequently, the game focuses much more on the battle system and less on exploring towns or the countryside. It still has an epic storyline like other FF games, though.

It's been a while since I've played it, but I think that's basically it. It's a lot of fun, so you should try it out if you can.

While it's my first Final Fanatasy game, I did play Middle Earth: Third Age, and from what I've been told / read, Third Age is a similar fight sequence and game setup to other Final Fantasy games.

I like Final Fanasty Tactics more. The strategy of the battlefield organization / sequence of attack / player manuevering / and determining what jobs to give your travel team stroked my inner nerd more.

[Sanagi]

Final Fantasy Tactics is probably the game I've spent the most hours of my life playing. I have a save file somewhere that I don't think I quite finished, but it's close to being an "ultimate" file with all the items in the game. I think I was stuck working on getting the FS Bag, for which you have to breed a monster that doesn't normally exist in the game, and then poach it, which gives you only a %10 chance of getting it.

[Serik]

Does anyone know where to buy this game? Now that it's so old, everyone on ebay wants like 30-45 bucks for it :/

[Donald M.]

Does anyone know where to buy this game? Now that it's so old, everyone on ebay wants like 30-45 bucks for it :/

I've seen it going for a lot more than that on eBay.

If you're looking to get it cheaper than $30 you're out of luck. The game may be old but it's very much in demand. It's one of those games that everyone ignored when it first came out and they only realized how awesome it was later, when it had become relatively hard to find.

[GozertheGozarian]

Does anyone know where to buy this game? Now that it's so old, everyone on ebay wants like 30-45 bucks for it :/

Resale shops have it at times, and evey so often places like K-mart and Target get new copies in. I got my copy new for 19.99.

[Sanagi]

Oh, and Winslow, in case you haven't read or found out this for yourself already, there's a couple of tips you should know about the game:

There's a few points in the game where you'll have several battles in a row in the same location. In between battles, you'll have the chance to change your characters and save, but you can't leave the area. Always keep a backup save at this point so that you can leave and exp-build if the battle is too hard. A few of these battles really are difficult, especially Ramza's one-on-one battle against Wiegraf which can be unwinnable if you aren't prepared for it.

Once dispatch missions become available(which is where you send your characters away for a while in order to get rather useless collector's item type things), always get your dispatched characters back before advancing the storyline. It's unlikely but possible for your characters to become lost forever if the map changes before you can get them back. I've never had it happen, but it is possible, so be aware of that.

Does anyone know where to buy this game? Now that it's so old, everyone on ebay wants like 30-45 bucks for it :/

Dunno. You could try googling for price comparisons, but that sounds like a pretty standard price to expect.