Let's Play Final Fantasy Tactics (Update 10)

[Serious_Business]

Doesn't look so hard this far. You're not grinding the shit out of the game, I see. Looking forward to what this mod does. A mod for a console game, really... how bout that.

 

[lightbane]

Hey, you can't call Ramza Prosper gay just because he has a male childhood friend... At least until you see his endgame "armor", that thing is really the stuff of nightmares and even gayer than DA2's elves. And if the game looks easy just wait for chapter 2's bosses.

 

[Xor]

Yeah, chapter 1 is a cakewalk in the unpatched game. The fact that I'm having trouble at all speaks volumes about how tough things are going to get.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I'm already noticing some of the changes. Giving squires a revival ability (With high odds of success at that) is pretty cool. Normally that ability only transfers some hitpoints to the target from the caster. Also, pretty sure Miluda wasn't even a holy knight in that battle, and none of the holy knights had a revive ability. Cool stuff. Making me really curious about other stuff they might have changed, like what things various classes can equip, and the power of some of the more unbalanced items, like the high end mantles and chantage, or the damned thief hat.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

With this mod does it change jobs and add in new ones?

 

[Xor]

Update 4 - Everything goes wrong

Last time, we rescued the Marquis Elmdor from the Death Corps. After that, we assisted in the offensive against the corps and met Miluda. While that was going on, Delita's sister Teta was kidnapped, and Algus turned into a dick. Now we're going to rescue her and kill a few Death Corps along the way.

The next storyline battle...didn't go well. There are two time mages who were much higher level than us initially, and two archers who start in a perfect position to destroy our casters (height factors into the range of bows).

I had to do two random encounter battles before I could win this one so I could train up a few of our characters.

Battle 8

This was just a quick random encounter for training purposes.

Our enemies this time include a mediator. They have several abilities that are underwhelming offensively but can be INCREADIBLY annoying to fight against. They can mostly use a few disables, and modify brave/faith. The latter is especially annoying because for every 4 points of brave/faith a character gains or loses in a single battle, they gain or lose one point permanently.

If a character's brave is lowered to below a certain threshold (around 6), the victim turns into a chicken.

And apparently they can give themselves reraise. I don't remember that from the original game.

Battle 9

I talked about crystals in the first update, but I didn't mention their other benefit. Occationally a crystal will allow you to gain an ability instead of restoring hp/mp. As far as I know, the abilities are taken from the dead character's jobs as long as the person who collects the crystal can use those jobs. If we take this option we'll gain all the abilities on the list, not just the one the cursor is over.

Every time a character uses an ability and it succeeds, they gain XP, which can lead to levelups, and job points (JP) in their current job, which can be used to purchase new abilities. The amount of XP is based on the level of the target vs the level of the person using the ability; using something on a lower level target gives less XP while using something on a higher level target gives more. For these training encounters, we're just using buffs and things like that over and over to gain levels and JP.

Some grinding later...

Cleve can finally learn auto-potion, a completely rigged counter ability. It gives Cleve a chance to use a potion every time he's attacked.

Battle 10

Oh hey, it's Miluda again.

I'd rather die here than get taken prisoner!! Besides, if we get caught, we'll be executed! Fighting is the only way out!

Once again we simply have to defeat Miluda to win this fight.

But things won't be that easy. The enemy has time mages, who have several kinds of annoying debuffs.

Teta? You mean that Beoulve Golagros took hostage?

Teta's my sister! She has nothing to do with them! It's pointless to hold her hostage! Please, return my sister!

And what about you? Will you Nobles give back all you took from us? We're only asking you to return what you took from us in the first place. But no-you just keep taking! Forcing us to retaliate! Just give up! There's no reason to return her!!

Did I mention annoying debuffs?

Didn't see that one coming.

This is almost not even fair. Miluda's a Holy Knight, which has monk abilities including wave fist (a punch with a range of 3), earth slash (a line attack), and chackra (which heals the person who uses it). She also has steal as a secondary and can use Steal Heart, which charms an enemy. She's a juggernaught.

In the insane difficulty patch, the knight's stat break abilities are replaced with ruin, which can be used at a range. Speed ruin causes slow, and magic ruin drains MP. This is the perfect answer to the time mages.

A few more tries and some RNG abuse with savestates and we're FINALLY down to just Miluda.

Miluda has move-hp up so she regains health whenever she moves, and she also has regenerator as a counter ability, which effectively gives her heath back every time she acts. And she has chackra.

Is it our fault? Are we making you suffer? What's the problem?

Ignorance itself is a crime! What you think is right is only what you can see. But, that's not everything. It's not your fault. But I'll keep blaming you until there's a change! As long as you're a Beoulve, you're my enemy!

Put the sword away, Miluda! No use fighting any longer! Let's put down our swords, stop fighting, and talk! There must be a solution to all this! Let's find it! I'll talk to my brother! No, I'll talk to Lord Larg! Trust me!!

No more tricky smooth talk! I'm sick of your lies!!

I'm not lying!!

And we FINALLY bring down Miluda.

What when wrong? What?

Damn it, who the hell am I? Who...?

New equipment is available now, so after buying what we need, we're ready for the next battle.

If that was the case, you could've let her go later. What...now you, Golgaros?

OK, this is just inexcusable.

You putting me with Gustav? Think.The Death Corps lost most of their men and now are surrounded by the Hokuten. She was our only ace in the hold to get us out of this. Because she's a Beoulve.

Was the editor just asleep when this was being translated or something?

What good is escaping? Or were you even thinking that? Even if we do escape, we'll get caught sooner or later and be in their power! We must make it so our children don't have to go through what we did. A small stone may only make a small ripple at first, but someday it will be a wave. Even if we have to rust away here!

Ludicrous! We'll die like dogs!!

No, there may be still be survivors at Fort Zeakden. If you join them, you may get something!

I don't think this game even had an editor.

They're probably dead already...

Soldier: It's just a matter of time before the squad gets here. What should we do?

Time for Wiegraf to take decisive action. He'll probably come up with a battle strategy to defeat our group.

Oh.

You heard, Golagros. Go to Fort Zeakden. Leave the girl here!

Well, maybe we can get past this part without a fight.

I'm not going...no way I'm going to die!

Battle 10:

Oh, yeah we totally killed her.

It was you cadets who killed my sister!

Oh. Fuck.

She was Wiegraf's sister?

Well then, I have no choice. I'll avenge my sister!!

Teta? Oh, that girl? So you're a Beoulve?

He's not a Beoulve! I am!

Then Golagros was wrong. But he is with you, correct?

It doesn't matter who he is. You have his sister.

Probably not the best point you could have made, Prosper.

Correct me if I'm wrong...Either way, the girl was to be released anyway. We had no intention of keeping her. But first things first! If you want the girl back, you'll have to beat me!!

Now that Andhaira's a thief, it's time for him to show off his new ability.

Super seduction!
Steal Heart only works on characters of the opposite sex, but this is a good opportunity to use it, because three of our enemies are female.

I seriously doubt this is going to work.

Then, why did you kill her? Why Miluda?

I had no intention of killing her! There are other ways than fighting. Can we talk?

You still don't understand why we won't surrender! What good is talking anyway? Could you make something happen even if you wanted to? You couldn't, could you? And even if you did, your brothers wouldn't allow it!!

My brothers don't want to fight!! Wiegraf, if you put your sword down, they'll listen!

HA! This's absurd!

Actually, I just realized Wiegraf's dialog is much funnier if you read it in a stereotypical bad Japanese actor speaking English voice.

Your brothers don't want to fight? You're so deluded!

God, you're green! All leaders' hands are dirty! Dycedarg-a sense of justice? Justice must mean different things to different people!

How dare you insult him!?

Wiegraf's so hardcore he can kill planets.

Miluda, I'm sorry! But I can't die here!

Wait, Wiegraf! Running away?

Who do you think had Gustav kidnap the Marquis?

The plot?

Your brother, Dycedarg! And I'm sure Zalbag knows, too!

That was my next guess.

Don't be ridiculous! Why would he do such a thing?

Two lions are fighting for power after the king died!

I'm fairly sure this is another mistranslation, because the king isn't dead yet.

One is a white lion, Larg. The other is black, Goltana. Both want to know who their allies are. But, it's hard to read strangers' minds. So, why not kill 'em all and bring in your own people? Gustav was deceived by Dycedarg's silk tongue and kidnapped the Marquis!

Lies!! A Beoulve would never do such a thing!

My brother told me so! Oh wait...

You should see for yourself! Goodbye Beoulve!

I can't find her anywhere! Teta! Where are you!?

Did Wiegraf lie to us!?

Delita, let's go to Zeakden! Teta must be there.

There aren't any other map locations we haven't checked, so she's probably there.

What happened? What went wrong? Tell me, Prosper. Why did this have to happen to Teta?

That last fight wasn't very difficult and didn't really tax our resources, so move on to the last fight of chapter 1.

Battle 12

Looks like Algus and Zalbag beat us here.

And don't do anything funny! There's tons of powder inside the fort! More than enough to blow all of you to hell and back! Got it? Then, get out!

Teta!!

Delita!!

Get out! Now!!

This is a tense situation. I wonder how Zalbag is going to defuse it.

Oh. Huh.

What's this?

Delita............

Teta!!

Well, I guess that's one way to deal with the situation.

Knight: There are about 50 of them. I've been informed one of them resembles Wiegraf!

Teta!

Where are you going?

Algus! You bastard!!

You want to fight? Fine then, let's go!

Brother...why...Teta?

C'mon! Animals are animals! I'll prove it to you!!

Oh, it's on now.

Before we can really do very much, everyone has things to say.

It's your brother's orders. Please don't ask why. Besides, would you sacrafice the Hokuten pride, all for a common girl!?

Teta is Delita's sister!!

It's about time you learned about 'difference'! Different birth, totally different life! It's fate! Neither should've been here! Should've been flower sellers somewhere!

Final Fantasy 7 reference? It won't be the last.

Why are you arguing with me? You're a traitor to the Hokuten!

B...but, but, this is inexcusable!

You're such a spoiled child!

And you're about to die. Life sucks.

How could someone like you be a Beoulve?

You're such a baby! Don't pamper yourself!! Beoulves are leaders of warriors. You have certain responsibilities as a leader! There are many things that only you can do! You must do them for those who can't!

I don't want to live life just being used by others!!

Just being used? Don't talk rubbish!! Beoulves are used because of who they are! We ourselves have survived under their wing, used their protection! That's right. It's a give and take relationship! That's how you survived! Just being used? You've even been using your "best friend", Delita!

Me? Using Delita?

Leave me, Prosper! After Algus, you're next!

Delita...

Know your limits! Commoners don't have power to change things! That's right, get angry! It's all you can do! Ha, ha, you deserve it!!

Is that it? Is that all, Algus?!

Don't be mad, Delita. You'll join her soon!

You won't confuse me! Nobody uses me!!

Much like the 2nd fight with Miluda, this map was made for archers. Unlike that fight, however, our enemies only have one archer, and we start off on the more advantageous side of the field. With Andhaira at this height, he can hit nearly every square on the map.

For the record, it's impossible to revive Teta; no matter what we use the chance of bringing her back is always 0%.

With Prosper and Andhaira as archers, this fight isn't that hard. Our enemies are spending all their time trying to revive fallen allies, and over time we've managed to kill more of them then they can heal.

And Algus takes a while to bring down because he has move-hp up and auto-potion.

Several turns later...

It's called height advantage.

Delita, it's dangerous! Come over here, quick!!

Delita!!

And that's how Prosper ended up as a mercenary. Next time we'll start chapter 2 (which, if memory serves, is about twice as long as chapter 1). We'll learn what happened to Delita, who princess Ovelia is and why she was kidnapped, get a glipse of the actual plot of this game, and people will continue to insult and betray Prosper. It should be a blast.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Fun game. Very fun game.

 

[Damned Registrations]

You're really making me want to play this. If mediators get reraise and can manage to turn a character into a chicken in normal battle (I'm assuming you didn't wait 50 turns for him to pull that off) they're actually useful. Other changes look good too. Knight break skills were always shite unless you were wielding a gun. Cool to see they added a lot of the cool npc stuff to pc classes.

As an asidel one of the little known things in FFT is that you can actually learn a few abilities by being hit by them in combat if you're the appropriate class. It's the only way to learn a particular spell, and most people know about that, but they usually don't realize nit applies to some other stuff. I can't remember what can be learned exactly, but I think some of the higher tier summons and the level 4 elemental spells qualify. I mention this because they might have expanded on this feature a bit in their tinkering, and even if they haven't, they might be busting out the epic shit real soon if you're getting hit by fire 3 in chapter 1.

Also, WTF @ them leaving autopotion in. Unless they made potions really fucking pricey, that skill is probably the most broken one in the game. Bladegrasp is cheesy sure, but at least it won't save you from some things, even if you have 3 faith. And Hamedo isn't nearly as powerful, even for story battles where most enemies are human. About the only other skill on par with autopotion and bade grasp for cheese level is MP Switch. Wonder if they left that in.

 

[Xor]

Yeah, I was surprised autopotion was still in. I'm not sure about several jobs yet because I've only unlocked the first few tiers, but it seems like some of the better abilities are still in.

The only case I know for sure where you can learn something from an enemy casting on you is letting Ramza learn Ultima in a certain fight in chapter 4.

Also, the mediator's brave reduction ability was draining 25 brave per use. 2 hits and Volourn was a chicken.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Nice. The threshold for checkening is 10 by the way. Also, if someone's brave would be permanently lowered below a certain threshold (Might be 10, could be even lower though, never seen it happen myself) or faith too high(Forget this number too, it's at least 90 though) they'll permanently leave your party. Ramza is the exception however, which means you can ramp his faith all the way to 97 for minmaxing caster awesomeness. Plus he gains MA like a girl.

 

[Xor]

I've decided to use gameshark codes to bring in a few more party members. I'll be dropping the last remaining generic starting character, and I'm going to pick up three more reserve characters for a reason I'll explain in the next update. I'll level them up to the average group level with average jobs.

I need four names for new characters. Since there's already been some interest in this (and I already have two requests), the next two posters will get to name a character.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

We need more EXTREME in this LP. "Cmdr. Shepard" all the way. That should fit, right?

 

[Coyote]

Nice. The threshold for checkening is 10 by the way. Also, if someone's brave would be permanently lowered below a certain threshold (Might be 10, could be even lower though, never seen it happen myself) or faith too high(Forget this number too, it's at least 90 though) they'll permanently leave your party. Ramza is the exception however, which means you can ramp his faith all the way to 97 for minmaxing caster awesomeness. Plus he gains MA like a girl.

The thresholds are 6 and 94, respectively. And every plot character has unique quotes when leaving due to low brave/high faith - though they're not exactly astounding, just one-liners. I like one of Mustadio's, though; he says something like, "I'm an atheist, and I still believe in God more than you."

No preference for a name, I'll let the next poster decide.

 

[spekkio]

Name HER Ripley.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

What custom characters are you bringing in?

 

[Silellak]

I'll spare you the rest of the cutscene, it's really just credits.

The music's awesome, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4CWnmPL6aM

Probably my favorite track in the game, which is saying a lot, because I really enjoyed the music overall.

Man, this is making me want to try the PSP port (which I never got around to playing).

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Music was good, but at the same time, I was hoping for a more bagpipes style of music throughout the entire game rather than simply the intro music. You know, something that has a significantly English/Scotch/Irish feel to it.
Despite that, the music was fucking great.

 

[Xor]

It took me almost all day to get the new characters added. I should have the next update done tomorrow, but no guarantees; I'm stuck on the 2nd battle in chapter 2 because the goblins are 10 levels above the party and it's another rescue battle...I need a break.

For the record, people added are:
Garfunkel - lancer
Blackheart - monk with teleport
Cmdr Shepard - going for samurai
Ripley - going for calculator

Also, I did some reading on all the changes the insane difficulty mod brings, and I found out that several abilities that I thought were removed were just moved. Hamedo is a samurai ability now, for example. Blade grasp is gone, though.

 

[lightbane]

Silly Prosper, believing in inane things such as diplomacy. Keep it up, please

 

[Major_Blackhart]

A monk eh? Teleport is a good idea, because I can sneak up on a fella and fist him but good.

 

[Xor]

Update 5 - Princess hunting

Last time, we finished up chapter 1. After leaving Igros in search of Delita's sister, Teta, we fought a few battles with the Death Corps before coming across Zalbag and Algus confronting the last remaining Death Corps soldier holding Teta hostage. Things...didn't go well. Now Delita apparently hates us and probably nobles in general, and we're working as a mercenary.

We pick up right where the tutorial battle left off, just outside Orbonne Monestary.

..........

Of course! I couldn't face the royal family unless I do!

We won't help you. It's not in the contract!

We don't need help from one who's not even a knight! A knight must fix his own mistakes. This is one of our responsibilities as guards! Lavian, Alicia, let's go!

Kidnapped.

I'm very sorry. I swear I'll get her back!

....No. You'd be in danger...

That's kind of a stupid reason to not do something.

Don't worry. I swear on my knight's honor I'll save her!

Or she'll make us do it.

I'll go, too! I won't be a burden!

Or Prosper will volunteer.

Are you crazy?! This is none of our business!

I have to know! I must see it with my own eyes!

You mean, that boy you saw?

You're stubborn as a mule. Don't cry to me for help if something happens!

For the first few battles in chapter 2, we get both Agrias and Gafgarion on our team, who are pretty decent in the regular game but are actually fairly mediocre compared to normal enemies with the insane difficulty mod.

We also get the extra characters from the tutorial battle; Rad and two other knights. We're going to dismiss them immediately after taking their shit, though.
After checking the new character's jobs, though, it turns out Mediators can't raise brave/faith values anymore. Which is bullshit.

It's not immediately obvious, but the next battle is in Dorter.

Battle 13:

There's some heavy shit going down here.

Mercenary: Way too low. 2000. It's 2000 gill a head.

It would be easy to make all of you heretics, you know.
Mercenary: Is that a threat? ...How about 1000 gill?

700. No more.
Mercenary: OK. Done deal.

They'll be here any minute. Kill all of them. Understand?

Wonder who they're talking about. Some motherfucker is about to get ganked.

Ha, speak of the devil.....There they are. Get them!

Something isn't right. Prepare yourself, we are in an ambush.

I usually don't do freebies, but I'll make an exception!

You patronizing...

It's gonna be one of those days.

This would've been a tough fight if Prosper hadn't turned into a fucking wrecking ball of fury with all the JP he earned in the fight with Algus.

R00fles!

Why, yes I do. Thanks, enemy white mage.

At this point I lost a few images and the post-battle conversation, which was nothing more than Agrias pointing out our next destination. Suffice to say we wrapped up the battle quickly and learned we need to go to Bethla Garrison.

Before that, however, it's time to recruit some new characters! Introducing our new squadmates:

We'll be using them interchangeably on missions from here on out.

Battle 14

Chocobo: W-wark!

Delita said wild chocobos are stronger than tame ones. I wonder if he's strong in a fight?

You want to help him, Prosper? No money in that!

Gafgarion has a one track mind.

He may help us save the princess...

I have a feeling this is going to be painful. While they're just goblins, they're level 25 while we're 14-15.

Or it could be really easy. I know I mentioned in an earlier post I was having trouble with this fight, but I had only tried it once at that point and on this attempt I didn't have any problems at all. Go figure.

Our goal in this battle is to save this chocobo, but he's pretty tough and can take care of himself.

You seem alright.

You're lucky. You ought to thank Prosper.

We get to recruit this chocobo. We won't really use him, though, except maybe for a gimmick later in chapter 2.

Battle 15

There's a lot of dialog in this battle.

Knight: Turn the Princess over to us and we'll spare your life!

That's a bald faced lie! You want to kill her!

Wait, what?

Then after that you'll kill me for knowing the truth!

Really, Delita, even if that's true, is it really smart to taunt this guy with that information?

Knight: Ridiculous! We came to help the Princess! Why would we want to kill her? We can't let Goldana keep her!

Suddenly...

Agrias!!
Knight: Great, here comes a crowd! Gafgarion! Kill them!! And do it now!!

Again. Wait, what?

Don't know what's going on, but it's in the contract!

Gafgarion, are you betraying us?

Betraying you? C'mon, this is business. Our job is to kidnap the Princess 'unharmed'. The job is to kill you and keep things quiet!

So yeah, as if you didn't see this coming from a mile away, turns out Gafgarion is a jerk and will turn on you at the drop of a hat.

What are you getting at? This kidnapping's a sham?

The Princess is in the way! The Prince should be next in line. If she's alive there'll be nothing but trouble!

This alludes to one of the main plot threads of FFTactics, which basically involves Prince Larg (who we met in chapter 1) and Prince Goltana fighting over the throne. It's been danced around so far but I don't think it gets spelled out for some time.

If the Princess's kidnapped and killed by Goltata, they'll be rid of her and his rivals. I'm sure that's how Prince Larg wrote the scenario. No, Dycedarg probably wrote it. Don't you agree, Prosper?

Delita was always well-informed, but it looks like he's become even more politically aware in the time since chapter 1.

Another helpless sacrifice...No more! There must not be any more victims like Teta!!

Prosper wasn't cut out for the mercenary life, anyway.

Imagine meeting you here! Are your brothers still running your life?

Who knows? They never tell me anything! But uh, Delita, are you party to their plot?

Don't be foolish! I'm here to save the Princess! To free her from those who are exploiting her!

Of course, Prosper. You can trust Delita. He'd never betray you.

Don't lie to me! You were hired too, weren't you? You were hired to kidnap her for money! Don't play dumb!!

No, I'm not like you. It's not for the money!

Then, who's getting in my way? A kid who heard the plan, and decided to save her for justice!? Who hired you? Who told you about the plan? Talk!

That's actually a legitimate point. How did Delita know about the plan? Let's see how he responds to these allegations.

I don't think so!

Are you sure of what you're doing? The Princess may be adopted but she's still royalty.

I'm quite sure! Even Princess can die for getting in the way! That's what 'royal blood' is about!

Are you mocking the Princess!?

Get in the way, get killed. It's the same for commoners! The only difference is people like you pledging blind loyalty! Unless you make it to the top you're only gonna be used so you're better off dead!

Then, I'll save her!!

All our enemies in this battle (excluding Gafgarion) are lancers. If you've ever played FF4 you can probably guess what they do.

Fortunately these lancers aren't too powerful, they're mostly just tough.

Human, just like you!

And fortunately for us Ovelia is far from useless.

Dirty!? There is no 'dirty' when it comes to money! I'm a mercenary. I have to finish the jobs I take. That's called being a pro!

Why didn't you tell me? Why?

If I'd told you, would you have stopped me? If I don't do this, someone else will! Get it? People die all the time without you knowing about it! That's reality! You think you can stop something you know nothing about?

But...but...Does that make it right?

No 'buts'! You're just a child who doesn't want to face reality! If you don't like it, try living without depending on someone else for a change! But don't come complaining to me if you can't!

Volurn's new summon ability is visually impressive.

Normally this fight is trivial because you can remove Gafgarion's equipment before the fight starts, but the insane difficulty mod gives him new equipment for this fight and levels him up a few times.

Everything was going well until Gafgarion was alone; he managed to take out Prosper and Ripley, and no one else in the group could revive. Attempt 2 will go better.

This time we've made Prosper a thief and given him battle skill as a secondary ability.

Mainly so he can weapon break the lancers. They're useless without spears.
We'd do the same to Gafgarion but he has maintainence and is therefore immune to steal and break abilities. At this point I assume all bosses will.

Delita and Agrias tag team the last lancer.

That's one hell of an impressive ability list.

And that's that.

Delita, what're you scheming?

Scheming? Don't be foolish. I'm telling the truth. Think about it. Where would you take her after making an enemy of the Hokuten? Crack Hokuten troops will come here looking for you any time now. Just where the hell do you plan on escaping to?

W, well, I...

Think carefully. The Princess knows this was Prince Larg's plan. The royal family is not on your side. So what about Goltana? No, he'd execute you just to clear himself.

Again, these are legit points, but where is Delita planning on taking the Princess?

What would you do?

I'd do what you can't do.

What do you mean?

I can't tell you...

I'll leave the Princess with you a little longer.

Teta saved me...

What?

Teta saved me back then...

......

Thank you, Delita.

See you again, Prosper.

But are you sure you want to make Hokuten an enemy?

Don't worry. I've already decided. The question is, now what should we do? Like Delita said, nobody will help us...

We can ask Cardinal Draclau for help.....Glabados church has jurisdiction over Lionel. They might be able to help.

Good plan, Agrias. If politics can't help you, turn to religion. What could possibly go wrong?

Hokuten has to be careful what they do in Lionel....Let's go. It's the only place for us.

Our next destination is Lionel Castle, where I'm sure the Princess will be completely safe and nothing bad will ever happen to her again.

But first, we need to buy some new equipment. And that means random encounters.

Battle 16

That was easy.

Battle 17

Oh god, it's this fight.

Fencer: Don't play dumb Mustadio! Don't care about your father? Just give us the 'holy stone' and we'll return him...OK guys, get him!

And you can tell Rudvich...If he lays a hand on father he'll never see the stone!

This is another mission where you have a choice. We can choose to save Mustadio or ignore him. We have to kill all the enemies either way, but if we choose to save Mustadio we have to keep him alive until the end of the fight. If we choose the other option we lose 10 brave.

My memories of this fight from when I played this game years ago are a little vague but I remember Mustadio dying after a turn or two every single time I tried it that way. But we don't want to lose 10 brave, so we're fucking doing this the hard way.

God fucking dammit.

FUCK

A few attempts and some more later...

Are you all right?

Prosper says after being a few ticks from dying.

Yeah.....I think so. Thanks for helping me.

You know them? They're not just traders. They're a criminal syndicate into everything from smuggling and slavery.

Why were they after you?

You know why they call us mechanics?

There's a pun here somewhere.

I hear a 'lost civilization' is hidden under Goug....When St. Ajora was alive, airships were in the sky, and human robots in town. But time passed, technology was lost, and no one knows if it ever really existed.

In the world of FFTactics, humanity advances backwards.

But the civilization must have existed. Parts from many airships and machines are buried under Goug. Mechanics are the ones who restore the 'past legacies'.

That weird thing you used in the battle, was that one of the machines?

I didn't get any good screenshots of it, but Mustadio uses a gun.

Oh, this? This is called a 'gun'. A metal 'bullet' is propelled by gunpowder. This is the most simple one. They say you used to be able to put magic in it and shoot it.

Why's Bart Company after you?

You said you were going to see the Cardinal. He was a hero of the Fifty Year War. People in Lionel still think of him as a hero. My father, too. The Cardinal is the only one who can unite this country. I know he'd grant your wish. Then the princess would be safe.

Yeah, and...?

Can you take me with you? I want to meet the Cardinal.

Why?

To save my father! The Cardinal's the only one who can rescue him from Bart!

Or he'll make us do it.

Agrias is pushy.

...I can't tell you now.

Then, we can't take you.

I beg you! Trust me! I must see the Cardinal!

Suddenly...

Ovelia's been with us for 5 minutes and all the sudden she's making all the party decisions.

Really? Thank you, Highness!

Remember! You're in the presence of a princess!

It's all right. Please stand up.

All right, then. I trust you.

If the naive and kind of stupid princess trusts you, that's good enough for me.

That's it for now. This update is getting pretty long, and this is a good place to stop for the moment. Next time we'll arrive in Lionel Castle, talk to the Cardinal, and deal with Mustadio's subplot.
Chapter 2 is much shorter than I remember, I'll probably finish it up in the next two updates.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Chapter 2 was characterized by a few tough battles, but besides that, it wasn't any longer than 1. Chapter 3, if I remember correctly, was pretty long, as was 4.

Edit: Also, good updates. Love it so far. Makes me want to replay it hardcore.
It is possible to make the character unfairly difficult to hit from 3 sides in close combat with the following equipment and abilities: Defender, any shield platinum or above, Featherweave Cloak, and weapon guard. The Defender has a defense value of I think 60% when used in conjunction wiht weapon guard. Enemies shitloads tougher than you won't be able to scratch you in close combat.

 

[spekkio]

 

[Xor]

Chapter 2 was characterized by a few tough battles, but besides that, it wasn't any longer than 1. Chapter 3, if I remember correctly, was pretty long, as was 4.

Oh, I'm really not looking forward to

Spoiler

Golgotha Execution Site and the two fights after that.

I had enough trouble with those the first time I played, and that was without the insane difficulty mod.

It is possible to make the character unfairly difficult to hit from 3 sides in close combat with the following equipment and abilities: Defender, any shield platinum or above, Featherweave Cloak, and weapon guard. The Defender has a defense value of I think 60% when used in conjunction wiht weapon guard. Enemies shitloads tougher than you won't be able to scratch you in close combat.

I'm 90% sure the insane difficulty mod changes defend to reduce damage instead of increase evade. I can't check for sure until I get home, though; I don't have FFTactics on my laptop.


I did some reading on the combat mechanics over the weekend. I had forgotten how much influence gender had over stat growth.
I'm planning on making Prosper a knight with two swords by the end of the game. I'll probably stop using Cleve altogether for missions eventually because his MA will be gimped, while Volourn will be a black mage with short charge and summon as a secondary; that combo should still work. I haven't decided what to do with Andhaira yet, aside from advancing him to a samurai. For the new recruits, I was mainly planning on using them for prospect missions (which I'll cover in the next update).

 

[Major_Blackhart]

The Defender is a Knight Sword used by Dycedarg and Meliadoul when you meet her the first time.

Also, make Ramza a Knight, yea, but take care to remember that in later chapters he can equip knight swords, and all sorts of armor, with his base squire class, which in fact has a much higher HP and damage base than knight if I remember correctly (as well as better movements).