Final Fantasy Tactics Walkthrough

You might think to yourself, "Oh no, there are eight enemies here," but you needn't worry as much as you might think. Notice that two of the enemy Knights are standing on what look to be wooden planks at the top of the dam. They won't move throughout the whole battle, because they're guarding the planks, which are the switches that you need to pull to flood the river below and keep the two armies of the Lions apart. They also do not have secondary skills that add ranged attacks, so keep your distance and they are of no concern. However, if you do force the Knights off of their perches, you can send your units to step on those tiles yourself and end the battle early by forcing open the gate!

So, save those two Knights for last and focus first on the Black Mages, then the Archers, and then the Knights, changing tactics only if the two Knights that willingly move happen to get in your way. Summons work nicely here and you'll definitely want someone who can heal on both sides of the riverbed. The group that has Ramza is likely to face more physical attacks, and the other party will see more magic.

Because of this, and if you have more units ready to deal with one type of attack versus another, it might be beneficial to move your entire party to one side when the battle begins because otherwise you might be too spread out to actually thin the enemy numbers quickly. The battle is fairly straightforward, with the opposition composed of job classes that you've seen the entire game; only the narrow approach paths up to the top of the dam makes the task more complex. Because of the two soldiers who won't choose to leave their posts, you can turn this into a farming opportunity pretty easily.

After the battle, the lands surrounding Fort Besselat will flood (It's so fun to stick someone in front of the sluice gate right before you pull both of the switches because they just disappear in the water, with no consequences), giving you a chance to rush in and rescue Orlandeau. He'll join your party and is the most powerful special character in the game, even when he first joins up; his stats are fantastic, he can learn virtually every sword skill that any other character in the game can pick up, ally or enemy, and comes equipped with Excalibur, which automatically applies a permanent Haste status in every battle.

It seems that Delita's once-cryptic plan was more expansive than anyone could have guessed.