Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles

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Droigan

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This is one of the games that I've, throughout time, have started, stopped ... so many times. I've never finished it. Probably only ever gotten to mid game or perhaps close to it.

Never read guides. Never min maxed.

So, my question is this. Is it possible in this game to just "play" it, without trying to min max or read guides? I am fairly certain that several of those "try/stop" attempts have been a case where I felt the game hit a wall in difficulty. Characters being oneshot and not having the right skills to counter whatever encounters I am facing.

I bought it. I want to play it. But with all the games coming out (and in backlog for that matter), if I just hit a wall again, I will probably just quit again. I know there is an easy mode setting now, so maybe that is a fix so to speak. As in I can play just as a doofus, just picking things out of "oh that looks like a good skill, lets use points on that" and play, then when I "brick" the build, I can switch to easy and still be able to perhaps level up and grind my way back to switching to normal again? Don't see myself trying hard my first time through the game since I've never been able to finish it before (again, never read up on it).
 
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Zaide

Zaide

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Droigan said:
This is one of the games that I've, throughout time, have started, stopped ... so many times. I've never finished it. Probably only ever gotten to mid game or perhaps close to it.

Never read guides. Never min maxed.

So, my question is this. Is it possible in this game to just "play" it, without trying to min max or read guides? I am fairly certain that several of those "try/stop" attempts have been a case where I felt the game hit a wall in difficulty. Characters being oneshot and not having the right skills to counter whatever encounters I am facing.

I bought it. I want to play it. But with all the games coming out (and in backlog for that matter), if I just hit a wall again, I will probably just quit again. I know there is an easy mode setting now, so maybe that is a fix so to speak. As in I can play just as a doofus, just picking things out of "oh that looks like a good skill, lets use points on that" and play, then when I "brick" the build, I can switch to easy and still be able to perhaps level up and grind my way back to switching to normal again? Don't see myself trying hard my first time through the game since I've never been able to finish it before (again, never read up on it).
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You don’t need to min/max it, especially on normal difficulty. You do need to either be smart about how you level, or you need to overlevel a bit or you can play really well during battle.

Just getting characters into good classes should be enough. Like folks have said here, a team of Monks a knight and a chemist for heals should smash most of the game.
 
Hateyou

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Droigan said:
This is one of the games that I've, throughout time, have started, stopped ... so many times. I've never finished it. Probably only ever gotten to mid game or perhaps close to it.

Never read guides. Never min maxed.

So, my question is this. Is it possible in this game to just "play" it, without trying to min max or read guides? I am fairly certain that several of those "try/stop" attempts have been a case where I felt the game hit a wall in difficulty. Characters being oneshot and not having the right skills to counter whatever encounters I am facing.

I bought it. I want to play it. But with all the games coming out (and in backlog for that matter), if I just hit a wall again, I will probably just quit again. I know there is an easy mode setting now, so maybe that is a fix so to speak. As in I can play just as a doofus, just picking things out of "oh that looks like a good skill, lets use points on that" and play, then when I "brick" the build, I can switch to easy and still be able to perhaps level up and grind my way back to switching to normal again? Don't see myself trying hard my first time through the game since I've never been able to finish it before (again, never read up on it).
Click to expand...
You don’t need to min/max, it’s just set up so that Tylenol Americans can, and do. Just play and if you lose a battle so badly that even a new strat wouldn’t help, go level a bit and try again.
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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Droigan said:
This is one of the games that I've, throughout time, have started, stopped ... so many times. I've never finished it. Probably only ever gotten to mid game or perhaps close to it.

Never read guides. Never min maxed.

So, my question is this. Is it possible in this game to just "play" it, without trying to min max or read guides? I am fairly certain that several of those "try/stop" attempts have been a case where I felt the game hit a wall in difficulty. Characters being oneshot and not having the right skills to counter whatever encounters I am facing.

I bought it. I want to play it. But with all the games coming out (and in backlog for that matter), if I just hit a wall again, I will probably just quit again. I know there is an easy mode setting now, so maybe that is a fix so to speak. As in I can play just as a doofus, just picking things out of "oh that looks like a good skill, lets use points on that" and play, then when I "brick" the build, I can switch to easy and still be able to perhaps level up and grind my way back to switching to normal again? Don't see myself trying hard my first time through the game since I've never been able to finish it before (again, never read up on it).
Click to expand...
We beat it as 14 year olds in 1997 without a guide and never playing a strategy rpg before.

Only issue was getting save locked in the castle. Thankfully they fixed that I think
 
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Arbitrary

Arbitrary

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Noodleface said:
We beat it as 14 year olds in 1997 without a guide and never playing a strategy rpg before.

Only issue was getting save locked in the castle. Thankfully they fixed that I think
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There are a couple other traps you can fall in to (no character fast enough to act on the roof of Riovanes, Elimdor and the two assasins kill what's her face, game over) or getting the bright idea to +speed Yell Ramza twenty or thirty levels and get murdered by the first random encounter you hit after. Those are each easier to get out of than that fucking castle.
 
Zaide

Zaide

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So in chapter 1 the only challenging encounter was the Wiegraf fight. I always try to let all the enemy corpses time out so that I can get free abilities off the crystals, but it was tough here because Wiegraf legit one shots all my characters. I had to make sure he could never hit multiple characters with a single sword art and ensure I had multiple people who could revive.

My party is level 10 going into Fort Zeakden.
 
Rajaah

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Zaide said:
So in chapter 1 the only challenging encounter was the Wiegraf fight. I always try to let all the enemy corpses time out so that I can get free abilities off the crystals, but it was tough here because Wiegraf legit one shots all my characters. I had to make sure he could never hit multiple characters with a single sword art and ensure I had multiple people who could revive.

My party is level 10 going into Fort Zeakden.
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Welp, I got the game. Plowing through Chapter 1. In the interest of doing something new, I was either going to do Hard Mode or just focus on getting the Platinum (or both lol). Ended up deciding to just go for the plat, especially considering it isn't tied to the difficulty. Definitely intrigued by there being a harder difficulty though.

D Droigan The game is pretty easy, I'd just give it a go on Normal mode and see how it goes. You don't need to micromanage if you don't want to.

Seconded that Knight+3 Monks+Chemist can handle most of the game without issue. Dragoons and Ninjas are even more ridiculous, and once they're available you could probably go 2x Drg, 2x Nin, 1x Summoner and just rip through everything.

That is, if you want to use the class system to its full potential and play with characters you've created yourself. The alternative is to focus on the "named" characters who tend to be OP. In the endgame you can demolish things with Orlandu and Meliadoul. Meliadoul should be way better now that "break" sword skills work on anything (not just human targets) and probably a close second to Orlandu. Throw in Agrias and...who was the other named character people were saying was secretly super OP? Mustadio?

Auto-Potion is also the most broken skill in the game. Make all of the above a Chemist for a couple of battles (not all at once) and only stock the strongest available potion (X-Potions once they're available)
 
Siliconemelons

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I am going to hate the voice acting, because they will say name correctly and not my head canon quasi dyslexic version.

Like I just called Orlandu - Orlando, Mustadio is Mustachio lol stuff like that
 
Rajaah

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Skills worth getting and equipping:

Secondary Skills

Item (Chemist) - Being able to heal or Phoenix Down can be extremely beneficial, and Item goes well with virtually any class.

Mettle (Squire) - Early on, everyone popping Accumulate a few times at the start of a fight gives you a significant advantage by the time the enemies close in.

Counter Skills

Auto Potion (Chemist) - As mentioned above, the best defensive skill in the game, will keep your characters up a lot longer in battle without needing to worry about healing nearly as much. It'll slow battles way down, however, and can chew through funds.

Counter (Monk) - If you're not relying on AP and want to just get battles done a lot quicker, this will do the trick. Hugely beneficial, especially early-on.

Riposte/Hamedo/Whatever they're calling it now (Monk) - Basically just a better version of Counter that also blocks the incoming enemy attack. Very expensive though.

Blade Grasp (Samurai) - A 100% damage block that works very often (definitely more often than Riposte). A character with a high Bravery stat will almost never get hit with this equipped.

Support Skills

Gained JP Up (Squire) - The first skill that any character should ever learn, TBH. Makes everything after it twice as fast to learn.

Dual Wield (Ninja) - Super overpowered skill, lets you equip and attack with two weapons at once. Destroys things.

Movement Skills

Ignore Height (Dragoon) - I used to swear by Teleport being the be-all-end-all in this game. However it was always unreliable at range, and it's far more expensive in this version, so I'd say Dragoon's movement skill is the way to go now. Ignore Height gives you Teleport-like mobility without the drawbacks.

---

Worth Noting: Equipping a Monk with Dual Wield so they can punch twice = massive DPS. Also, equipping a Ninja with Brawler is equally destructive (Monk skill, imparts barehanded mastery for other classes). Not sure if one is better than the other on raw attack DPS. If they're about the same, go with a Monk with Dual-Wield because the Monk special attack list is a lot more useful than throwing Shurikens. Want a character that runs things over like a truck in the early to mid game? Monk with Item+Counter+Dual Wield+Ignore Height.

Feel free to add any other key abilities I missed. I've forgotten more about this game than I remember. Also never really did that much on the caster side of the class aisle so I'm generally unfamiliar with caster abilities, and I'm sure they get some really good ones.

Side Note: It just me or is Red Mage really conspicuous by its absence? You've got White Mage, Black Mage, Green Mage (Oracle), Time Mage...but no Red Mage. Would have liked to see that get added to this version but AFAIK there are no new classes.
 
Rajaah

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199a2d9b62d55-screenshotUrl.jpg

I'm really not into the menu changes for equipment, abilities, etc. Looks like a phone game UI. The old skill learning window was fantastic and was like scrolling through an old parchment or something. Don't know why any of the menus had to be altered.

199a2e2795291-screenshotUrl.jpg

And the circular wheel of classes is gone? But why? That was iconic!

Graphics are nice, most of the game is a nice update, but these UI and menu changes were super unnecessary.
 
Needless

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The job wheel is tedious, this is much cleaner overall despite the nostalgia of the old look it feels much better in the long run

playing on normal the only two times I’ve died or even came close was the ends of chapter 2 and now 3

auto potion is completely busted still which is nice though
 
Siliconemelons

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Its 2025 and they still have BLACK and wHITE mage?!?!?!

1759416665095.png


They got red of gender, why wont they learn fully!!!! noooo
 
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Phazael

Phazael

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Zaide said:
So in chapter 1 the only challenging encounter was the Wiegraf fight. I always try to let all the enemy corpses time out so that I can get free abilities off the crystals, but it was tough here because Wiegraf legit one shots all my characters. I had to make sure he could never hit multiple characters with a single sword art and ensure I had multiple people who could revive.

My party is level 10 going into Fort Zeakden.
Click to expand...
Steal Weapon trivializes Wiegraf and a lot of enemies like him. If you are getting one shotted and don't want to cheese him with steal, you need to bring classes that can gear up more HP like Knights. There is a general tendency for players to be deep into the Monk phase of leveling up and Monks have too low of hp for this fight. Also, don't be afraid to stick with Chemists and Squires a bit longer, as these classes actually have some of the best overall stat growth in the game. There was a dude who did a challenge run a while back where his rule was no one could ever change their class (he could only unlock other classes skills by getting JP from observation of other characters) and it wound up being actually laughably easy once he did a couple of grinds for specific skills (iirc, it was getting chakra on some characters and steal weapon). In fact there are some generic encounters in Ch4 where the enemy is all squire or all monk which are incredibly rough, which is where he got the idea. This was the OG PS1 version iirc.

As for difficulty spikes, some of the harder fights from the original clearly have been tuned back a bit (The city fight right before the Rat Celler, the uphill fight and Princess waterfall rescue in early Ch2, and the first battle with Wiegraf's sister were all a bit harder in the OG) which I was suprised by. The Wiegraf fight at the tower and the Argas fight actually got bumped a bit. Weigraf one shots anything that is not a knight and procs STOP a lot more. The wizards with Agras now one shot anything that does not have Shell up. Wiegraf's syster's Monk arts hit super hard now, the two white mages pack stronger black magic, and the rogues have a much higher success rate with Charm (seems to be the case in general). On the other hand, some skills clearly got improved (Parry for Knights is a big one, Hamedo/First Strike on Monks, and the Frog spell succeed more often) which is fun. Archers are still complete garbage, though, so I guess Squeenix never got over how OP they were in Tactics Ogre. And they definitely cranked costs on go to abilities like Teleport (3k LOL).

Overall, the loss of the WOTL content kind of sucks, but this is faithful in the most important way. The battle AI for this game and Tactics Ogre has still not been bested in the thirty years or so this genre has been around. The enemies play with the same classes mostly as the player and use them intelligently and the environmental interaction is still the best of any game in the Tactical RPG arena. I don't recommend hard unless you want to grind more, because all the difficulty does is scale damage dealt. The CPU AI plays the same way (which is usually very smart) and the enemies do not change beyond having bigger numbers for stats. That said, I plan on doing a run on hard after this one so that I can min/max things like I used to. For right now, I am playing it on regular and avoiding grinding and exploitative strategies (hi 2u Dancer Spam and Math Mages) and its still as fun as it was all those years ago.
 
Hateyou

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Phazael said:
Steal Weapon trivializes Wiegraf and a lot of enemies like him. If you are getting one shotted and don't want to cheese him with steal, you need to bring classes that can gear up more HP like Knights. There is a general tendency for players to be deep into the Monk phase of leveling up and Monks have too low of hp for this fight. Also, don't be afraid to stick with Chemists and Squires a bit longer, as these classes actually have some of the best overall stat growth in the game. There was a dude who did a challenge run a while back where his rule was no one could ever change their class (he could only unlock other classes skills by getting JP from observation of other characters) and it wound up being actually laughably easy once he did a couple of grinds for specific skills (iirc, it was getting chakra on some characters and steal weapon). In fact there are some generic encounters in Ch4 where the enemy is all squire or all monk which are incredibly rough, which is where he got the idea. This was the OG PS1 version iirc.

As for difficulty spikes, some of the harder fights from the original clearly have been tuned back a bit (The city fight right before the Rat Celler, the uphill fight and Princess waterfall rescue in early Ch2, and the first battle with Wiegraf's sister were all a bit harder in the OG) which I was suprised by. The Wiegraf fight at the tower and the Argas fight actually got bumped a bit. Weigraf one shots anything that is not a knight and procs STOP a lot more. The wizards with Agras now one shot anything that does not have Shell up. Wiegraf's syster's Monk arts hit super hard now, the two white mages pack stronger black magic, and the rogues have a much higher success rate with Charm (seems to be the case in general). On the other hand, some skills clearly got improved (Parry for Knights is a big one, Hamedo/First Strike on Monks, and the Frog spell succeed more often) which is fun. Archers are still complete garbage, though, so I guess Squeenix never got over how OP they were in Tactics Ogre. And they definitely cranked costs on go to abilities like Teleport (3k LOL).

Overall, the loss of the WOTL content kind of sucks, but this is faithful in the most important way. The battle AI for this game and Tactics Ogre has still not been bested in the thirty years or so this genre has been around. The enemies play with the same classes mostly as the player and use them intelligently and the environmental interaction is still the best of any game in the Tactical RPG arena. I don't recommend hard unless you want to grind more, because all the difficulty does is scale damage dealt. The CPU AI plays the same way (which is usually very smart) and the enemies do not change beyond having bigger numbers for stats. That said, I plan on doing a run on hard after this one so that I can min/max things like I used to. For right now, I am playing it on regular and avoiding grinding and exploitative strategies (hi 2u Dancer Spam and Math Mages) and its still as fun as it was all those years ago.
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Fell Seal should get an honorable mention for their AI. It’s on the same level with FFT and TO. Disgaea’s may have been too but it’s too hard to tell with all the ridiculous shit you can do in those games.
 
Phazael

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PS- They left the perma boost Bravery thing in the game for some reason (Steel on Razma in Ch2 is the earliest way to abuse it) which can let you get everyone to Bravery 100 permanently if you want (not even that grindy) which probably breaks the game more than anything else. A lot of skills trigger based on Bravery, like Autopotion becomes virtually automatic at around 80 and Hamedo gets there near max. Not to mention it ramps up mele damage more than paying attention to zodiac opposition. The only downside to having Max Bravery is that the item finder skills are less effective (big fucking deal) which you can keep around a low brave goober (and even chicken him a few times for lower) caster for that purpose.

Faith is a mixed bag and mostly depends if you want to have fun with magic or not. If you are content to beat the game just beating the shit out of everything, yeah skunk the faith all you want (this makes getting Zodiac way easier) and rely on Dancer cheese for ranged pressure. If you want to throw spells around, leave it alone and keep some distance from enemy casters.
 
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