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This is for posting helpful tips for people who play FF tactics to better peoples' games

*also note you can post questions here to recieve tips

*also post possible tips that you can ask people to find out if they always work

Basically its for tips

Here is my possible tip:

In my game the first male chemist I always get in the game at the Magic city gariland battle is surprisingly really powerful when I turn him into a knight with item for a second ability (just with potion, hi_potion, X-potion, and phoenix down)
He has less HP than all the other knights I get but he has higherr attack, dealing more damage. To top that off when I turn him into a lancer with item ability he becomes even more powerful. this always works in my game, but does it work in everyone's. try this out.

*this question was also posted in up top FAQ's

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"Have you ever seen a baby do that before?"

Ahhh... I'm glad that this is here.

For starters, good compatibility means that 25% is added to the damage. Bad means that 25% is subtracted. When a sign is opposite, then if the target is of the same gender then 50% is subtracted, if the target is of the opposite gender 50% is added, and if the target is a monster, 25% is subtracted. If a sign isn’t good, bad, or opposite of a sign, then the compatibility is neutral. Also note that Serpentarius is neutral to all other signs. Anyway, here’s the list of compatibilities:

Aries:
Good - Leo, Sagittarius
Bad - Cancer, Capricorn
Opposite - Libra

Taurus:
Good - Virgo, Capricorn
Bad - Leo, Aquarius
Opposite - Scorpio

Gemini:
Good - Libra, Aquarius
Bad - Virgo, Pisces
Opposite - Sagittarius

Cancer:
Good - Scorpio, Pisces
Bad - Aries, Libra
Opposite - Capricorn

Leo:
Good - Aries, Sagittarius
Bad - Taurus, Scorpio
Opposite - Aquarius

Virgo:
Good - Taurus, Capricorn
Bad - Gemini, Sagittarius
Opposite - Pisces

Libra:
Good - Gemini, Aquarius
Bad - Cancer, Capricorn
Opposite - Aries

Scorpio:
Good - Cancer, Pisces
Bad - Leo, Aquarius
Opposite - Taurus

Sagittarius:
Good - Aries, Leo
Bad - Virgo, Pisces
Opposite - Gemini

Capricorn:
Good - Taurus, Virgo
Bad - Aries, Libra
Opposite - Cancer

Aquarius:
Good - Gemini, Libra
Bad - Taurus, Scorpio
Opposite - Leo

Pisces:
Good - Cancer, Scorpio
Bad - Gemini, Sagittarius
Opposite - Virgo

The Probelms with guns.

Though they have great range, there are definitely problems with guns. The major one is that they do not factor in your physical attack power, leaving you with an attack power only as strong as the gun. Even my Ramza with 60 Attack Power can't do much damage with them. Another problem is that any worthwhile guns except for the Stone Gun is elemental. This causes problems because you can't do much damage to enemies that have a resistance to that element. The Stone Gun naturally has the disadvantage of you starting the fight petrified. Another issue is the fact that a shot might seem possible, but might not be, losing you precious time. Bows are a better long range weapon because they can be used to shoot over obstacles and factor in your physical attack power. Even Mustadio is best used as a different job so that you can avoid using Guns. My advice is that the range is by no means worth the lack of damage.

MO\onster Skill

Monster Skill, learned by the Squire class, lets all monsters within one panel next to you learn extra skill that is either gained by an 'upgraded' version of that species or a unique skill (usually learned by the third evolved species i.e. Red Chocobo). The description which says 'within a range of three panels' is an error (one of many), so make sure the animal is right next to the person with Monster Skill equipped. Just for the sake of saying this, if one of your characters has Monster Skill equipped, you can Charm an enemy and see what skill it would gain without actually inviting it on your team.

Chocobo

Chocobo ----------> Choco Esuna (Five-panel Esuna including caster's grid square)
Black Chocobo----> Choco Meteor (Drops a meteor on an enemy ; Never misses)
Red Chocobo------> Choco Cure (Five-panel cure including caster's grid square)

Goblin

Goblin-----------> Goblin Punch (Damage = Max HP - Current HP)
Black Goblin----> Goblin Punch (Damage = Max HP - Current HP)
Gobbledegook--> Mutilate (works like Blood Suck, but no Vampire status)

Skeleton

Skeleton-------> Aqua Soul (three panel range ; Water damage to a target)
Bone Snatch---> Ice Soul (three panel range ; Ice damage to a target)
Living Bone----> Wind Soul (three panel range ; Wind damage to a target)

Ghost

Ghoul----------> Grease Touch (Casts Oil status on target ; Avoid fire)
Gust-----------> Drain Touch (Absorbs HP from target and transfers it self)
Revnant ------> Zombie Touch (Inflicts target with Undead status)

Squid

Pisco Demon--> Odd Soundwave (fairly large range ; removes positive statuses)
Squidlarkin----> Mind Blast (five-panel range at times ; Adds Berserk or Sleep)
Mindflare-------> Level Blast (single panel ; reduces target's level by one)

Bomb

Bomb----------> Small Bomb (showers an enemy in miniature bombs)
Grenade-------> Flame Attack (Think 'Fire Soul' ; Three range panel)
Explosive------> Small Bomb (showers enemy in miniature bombs)

Dragon

Dragon---------> Tail Swing (hits an enemy with a strong tail attack)
Blue Dragon---> Thunder Bracelet (Lightning damage in two vertical panel range)
Red Dragon----> Fire Bracelet (Fire damage in two vertical panel range)

Cat

Red Panther--> Cat Kick (Simply put, the user kicks an enemy)
Cuar-----------> Blaster (Given chance of petrifying or stopping an enemy)
Vampire-------> Blood Suck (Absorbs HP from an enemy, but no Vampire status)

Morbol

Morbol-------------> Lick (Casts reflect on a target)
Ochu---------------> Lick (Casts reflect on a target)
Great Morbol------>Moldball Virus (Changes target into a morbol)

Behemoth

Behemoth----------> Giga Flare (inflicts non-elemental damage on multiple panels)
King Behemoth----> Hurricane (Wind damage to multiple panels ; Ignores height limitations)
Dark Behemoth----> Ulmaguest ( Damage = Max HP - Current HP ; a.k.a 'Shock!')

Hydra

Hyudra-------> Triple Bracelet (Shoots powerful breath at up to three targets)
Hydra--------> Triple Thunder (Thunder hits a five-panel range three times)
Tiamat-------> Dark Whisper (Hits six times randomly ; Can add death or sleep)

Tree

Woodman------> Protect Spirit (Casts protect on whoever is adjacent to caster)
Trent-----------> Clam Spirit (Casts shell on whoever is adjacent to caster)
Taiju------------> Magic Spirit (Gives MP back to whoever is adjacent to caster)

Bird

Juravis-----------> Feather Bomb (Explosion does damage to enemy; Never misses)
Steel Hawk------> Beak (Chance of petrifying an enemy)
Cocatoris--------> Beaking (Drops target's physical attack power)

Eyeball

Flotiball---------> Look of Fright (Drops a target's brave count by ten)
Ahriman--------> Death Sentence (Given chance of Doom-ing an enemy)
Plague----------> Circle (Lowers magic attack power on a target)

Bull

Bull Demon-------> Gather Power (raises physical attack by two)
Minitaurus---------> Blow Fire (blows fire at a two-panel range)
Sacred------------> Blow Fire (blows fire at a two-panel range)

Pig

Uribo-------> Oink (brings a fallen ally back to life)
Porky------> Nose Bracelet (Charms an enemy)
Wildbow---> Please Eat (Turns to crystal in order to raise target's level by one)

Easily Overlooked Jobs

First off, you would think that Time Mages wouldn't be too useful. If used properly, they can cause enemies major problems. If you cast Don't Move on a few enemies, you can smash them with Meteor, which does SERIOUS damage if you can get it to hit. They can also stop and slow enemies, and give your people a few positive statuses. Demi and Demi 2 aren't too effective, but they are something.
Oracles, while not being able to do much direct damage, can make enemies pathetically hopeless with statuses like Don't Act, etc.
Knights are sometimes overlooked. They are fairly powerful early-mid game and very powerful toward the end. With their Breaks, a semi-powerful adversary can be turned into a hopeless blob. Their knight swords can also do severe damage.
Some people feel that thieves aren't very effective. Whether or not they are, their Steal skills are extremely valuable. They can make it easy for you to get hard to get items, such as the Chantage and the Defender, and sometimes are the only way to get certain items, such as the Genji equipment, the Masamune, etc.
An easily overlooked combination that is extremely effective is a Wizard with Draw Out. Draw Out's damage is magic based, and Wizards have plenty of magic. The result is a character that can heal, add positive statuses to, or decimate anything within 2 squares of itself and can use Kikachumoji like a Monk would use Earth Slash, all without any call for MP.
A Chemist with Battle Skills is a great combination. Just keep on using Weapon Break until you've blasted every enemy's weapon to bits.
Lastly, there is one "special character" that seems to get overlooked frequently. Reis. Even though there's not much that she can equip, she has enough HP that she doesn't really need armor. She automatically as a Dragoner has Train, Two Swords, and Monster Skills. Add martial Arts, slap on a Ribbon and a Chantage, give her White Magic, Draw Out, or Punch Art, and you'll have an amazingly efficient character, being able to both heal and attack with surprising power.

Monks

If used properly, Monks can be extremely useful. First off, males flat out make better monks. Secondly, people with higher Brave make the best Monks. (Brave can be permanently raised by 1 with each use of Cheer Up and Praise. The highest it can be permanently is 97.) Monks are more effective with the 2 Swords ability. (A good Lv. 50 Monk with 2 Swords can do up to 300 damage twice.) This will allow them to punch twice. Some Monk skills that are very effective are:
Chakra- This will heal you slightly, HP and MP. A Monk with high magic power makes a great magic user because of this ability.
Wave Fist- It will generally do about the same damage as a punch, but is ranged. If I'm not mistaken, it can also hit through obstacles.
Earth Slash- Earth Slash may not do too much damage usually, but its range makes up for that. As long as their isn't an elevation difference, you can hit any enemies in a row of 8. A strong person can drop an entire row of enemies with this ability. It can also hit enemies on the other side of obstacles.
Revive- If you only have one healer, and he/she dies, you're usually in big trouble, but a Monk with Revive can revive people when your main healer can't.
Stigma Magic- Stigma Magic is very useful for both taking care of a major problem, like a healer turned to stone, and can also be used to take care of minor problems when your healer has something else to deal with.
HP Restore- HP Restore can be very useful. As long as it doesn't fail, a counter doesn't make you critical, and you don't get killed by a strong hit before you turn critical, you can't die. It's one of the most effective reflex skills besides Blade Grasp, and is especially effective in the fight against Velius, which is considered by many to be the toughest fight in the game.

How to use Catch

Okay, first off, Ninjas are most frequently found in Araguay Woods and the Tiger level of Deep Dungeon. First off, for this strategy, you'll want 4 people with Blade Grasp, and 1 with Catch. At the beginning of the fight, raise the people with Blade Grasp's Brave to 100 by means of Praise, Cheer Up, etc., and get the person with Catch's brave as close to 100 as possible without being at 100. Now, get the Catch person to the side of the battlefield, and surround them with 3 Blade Grasp people. Kill any Ninjas that have attacks that cannot be blocked using Blade Grasp. (such as Elemental and some Punch Art) Use the person with Blade Grasp that is not surrounding the Catch person to kill those Ninjas that you need to. Naturally, the Ninjas' Attacks cannot hit the 100 Brave Blade Grasp people, so they won't even try that. All that they're left to that has any accuracy at all is to throw things at the Catch person. Kill the Ninjas who can't throw anything that you might want. (Such as ones that throw nothing but Balls and Shurikens.) If you find a Ninja that has the ability to throw an item that you want, but is throwing a weaker weapon of that type, (for example, if you want the Chaos Blade, and one of them is throwing Defenders) it's time to level it up. This will require 4 skills: Berserk (Blind Rage and Insult also work.), Weapon Break, Power Break, and Esuna. (Stigma Magic will work in Esuna's place.) Now, break both of the Ninja's weapons, (this will go quicker if the person with Battle Skills has 2 swords) and get its physical attack power down to 1. After you’ve done this, get Berserk on the Ninja. Since Berserk forces it to attack, and Blade Grasp does not block the 2nd hit, the Ninja will keep on landing one of the blows for 1 damage per turn, getting it experience. When the Ninja levels up enough, use Esuna on it, and it will start throwing stuff at the Catch person again. If it's still throwing a weaker weapon of the same type, repeat the process. This is the easy way to get plenty of the rarest weapons in the game. (Chaos Blades, Masamunes, Chirijiridans, Zorlin Shapes, Scorpian's Tails, Koga Knives, Javelin 2s, Whale Whiskers, etc.) By the way, the Ninjas at Araguay Woods do not throw Katanas, so you'll have to go to Tiger for them.

Why monsters suck.

There are several problem with using monsters. First off, they never learn any new abilities. This is a problem because as far as random encounters go, they will never get any more advantage than what they had to begin with. Secondly, the level up, level down trick does not work with them because they cannot change jobs. Thirdly, They all have Counter permanently on. This presents the problem that if you want to steal from or invite someone, and they attack your monster ally, they can be killed. Likewise, if you are keeping someone alive while you level up or wait for fallen enemies to turn into crystals or treasure chests. Also, I'm sure that everyone has other reflex skills that they far prefer to Counter. (Such as Blade Grasp.) Also, only 3 or 4 of them have any healing abilities. (Chocobo-Choco Cure, Black Chocobo-Choco Esuna, Trent-Spirit of Life, Woodmen and Taijus might have it too, I can‘t recall.) These aren't really the best choices of monsters, though. Also, most of the abilities that monsters have, there are similar abilities that humans have.

Getting the best guns in the game.

At Germinas Peak, there is a rare fight that has several Chemists and Mediators. Some of them will have Mythril Guns, and therefore aren't of much interest. These are usually the Mediators. However, about 2/3 of the enemies in these fights will have Blast Guns, Blaze Guns, Glacier Guns, and Stone Guns. With a Thief, you can definitely get some good equipment in that fight.

Make money and level up at the same times.

A good way to level up and make money is to go to a place where there will be human enemies, (Araguay Woods is a good spot.) and put Steal on 4 of your people, and put Basic Skills or Guts on the other person. Kill every enemy except for the human enemy of your choice. Surround that enemy with your people that have Steal. Take all of that person's equipment, and start stealing Gil like mad. Have your person with Guts or Basic Skills use Accumulate and/or Cheer up. Keep on going however long you want. You will get tons of Exp. and Gil if you have patience. If you've been using Cheer Up, it could also be a good boost to your Brave.

Guide to the Deep Dungeon

First off, to get to Deep Dungeon, you must go to Warjilis Trade City when you are able to go to the last string of fights. After that, hear the rumor about Deep Dungeon. Now you can go there. There are 10 floors to Deep Dungeon. The fights on the first nine are basically random encounters. What you do in these is have your people search around the level until someone finds an exit. Once you've found the exit, kill all of the rest of the enemies. The final floor, End, was intended to be the hardest fight in the game. Whatever you do, bring a Summoner, because this is the only fight that you can learn Zodiac during. You must get hit with Zodiac to learn it. The enemies in this fight are 6 Apandas, (They have Bio2 and 3.) and Elidibs, a Zodiac monster with three attacks. Poison Frog will turn someone into a poisoned frog with 100% accuracy. Midgar Swarm does about 150 damage and will hit you with a crazy number of negative statuses. His physical attack does about 12 damage. Finally, Zodiac does about 700-800 damage. The only way to learn Zodiac is to be hit with it. There are ways to make it easier to survive Zodiac. First off, lowering your person's Faith helps. It also helps to give them HP-MP switch, and Magic Def. Up. Move-HP or -MP up both can help a little. Shell and Wall can also help. Breaking his Magic Power and lowering his Faith also provide a little help.

On each floor of Deep Dungeon, there are 4 traps, each with a rare item that can be found using Move-Find Item. Try to use a person with low Brave to find these. If that person picks up a Phoenix Down, reset it. That means that you missed out on a rare item. Also reset it if an enemy picks up a treasure or Phoenix Down. A good choice for a person to find the stuff is Rafa with the Setiemson and the Ribbon. This will neutralize the effects of traps that you've already got the items from, as well as quicken her and stop her from getting killed in the middle of it. (Rafa isn't really the strongest of people.) Some examples of items there are the Chaos Blade, the Koga Knife, the Chirijiraden, and the Robe of Lords.

Here’s a bit of information on the floors of Deep Dungeon. I know that plenty of people have had to deal with the frustration of looking for Deep Dungeon treasure locations on the Internet and they give x and y coordinates that you can’t make heads or tails of because you don’t know what corner they’re going from, and when you try to figure it out you get a Haste 2-ish spinning effect and eventually find yourself having motion sickness. I know how that goes, as I’ve tried that approach too, only to find myself looking for treasures the old fashioned way. Keep in mind that wherever there’s a treasure, there’s also a trap, so anyone without Move-Find Item should avoid the treasure locations. I’ve mapped the treasures using the way that makes the most sense to me: using the distance from the closest corner as well as the height. In any location (with the exception of NOGIAS and END because they’re perfectly square) I’ve provided width and length from a corner. Length, in my mind, is the distance toward the farther corner and width is distance to the nearer corner. So, for example, TERMINATE is 12 squares by 8 squares. 12 would be the length and 8 would be the width. For the length distance given, you go along the length of the level for the specified number of squares and for width you go along the width of the couse for the specified number of squares. Let’s take the Perseus Bow in VOYAGE for example. The location description will say “7L+8W from 3H corner at 3H”. This means that you start at the corner with a height of 3, go 7 in the direction of the length, go 8 in the direction of the width, and as a last check the square you land on should have a height of 3. I didn’t put the height of some of the squares with items that have the same width and length measurements, as those items are easy enough to locate without it. Items you can’t get anywhere else before the last string of battles have stars beside them. Well, enough with the babble that you probably could have skipped over anyway, here’s the information for the floors:

1. NOGIAS: This floor is 10 squares by 10 squares. You can’t specify what’s the length and width, but using the resulting height, there’s actually no margin of error regardless.

Glacier Gun: 22H corner

Blaze Gun: 2+2 from 0H corner at 7H

Elixir: 3 form 22H corner at 20H

Kiyomori: 5 from 23H corner at 17H

2. TERMINATE: This floor is 12 squares by 18 squares.

Save the Queen: 1L from 1H corner at 1H

Blood Sword: 4L+2W from 12H corner at 6H

Elixir:4W from 1H corner at 0H

Elixir: 1L+2W from 9H corner at 9H

3. DELTA: This floor is 16 squares by 10 squares. For the Elixir, when I say “1H corner on Inaccessible corner side”, I mean the corner with a height of 1 that’s nearer to the corner that you can’t walk on.

*Mace of Zeus: 6L+1W from Inaccessible corner at 0.5H

*Yoichi Bow: 9L+2W from 0H corner at 4.5H

Elixir: 2L from 1H corner on Inaccessible corner side at 1.5H

Elixir: 3L+5W from Inaccessible corner at 1.5H

4. VALKYRIES: this floor is 16 squares by 11 squares. It’s a lot like a path. Since there are 3 Inaccessible corners in this level, I’ll refer to the corner that’s along the width from the 9H corner as corner 1, the one that’s along the length from it will be called corner 2, and corner 3 will be the one diagonal from the 9H corner.

*Kaiser Plate: 5L from corner 2 at 4H

*Faith Rod: 4L+2W from corner 2 at 4H

Fairy Harp: 5L+1W from corner 2 at 4H

Elixir: 3L+2W from corner 1 at 7H

5. MLAPAN: This floor is 12 squares by 7 squares. It’s shaped like a spiral, the place that you start being the middle.

Iga Knife: 7H corner

Excalibur: 3L+2W from 7H corner at 18H

Elixir: 11H corner

Elixir: 1H corner on 7H corner side.

6. TIGER: This floor is 11 squares by 10 squares. It’s shaped a lot like the letter M.

*Secret Clothes: 1L from corner near start

*Cursed Ring: 1L+1W from corner near start

Blast Gun: 1W from corner near start

Elixir: Corner near start

7. BRIDGE: This floor is 15 squares by 9 squares. It basically has a hill with two peaks. You need to have a Jump of at least 4 to collect all of the treasures here.

*Sage Staff: 4L+4W from 0H on 3H side

Koga Knife: 2L+4W from 3H corner at 12H

Elixir: 4L+4W from 2H corner

Elixir: 4W from 3H corner at 10H

8. VOYAGE: This floor is 14 squares by 13 squares. The floor is composed basically of a higher path that goes down to connect with a lower path.

*Robe of Lords: 6L+6W from 3H corner at 3H

*Perseus Bow: 7L+8W from 3H corner at 3H

Ragnarok: 5L+3W from 3H corner at 3H

Elixir: 3L+2W from 3H corner at 3H

9. HORROR: This floor is 12 squares by 10 squares. Your starting area is a small hill, then there is an even smaller hill that you use to get to the pathway that leads down to the bottom of the level, which is fairly flat. Since every corner in this floor is inaccessible, I’m going off of the number of squares that are inaccessible in that corner. The corner with only 1 inaccessible panel will be corner 1. Corner 2 is the one with 2 panels. The one with 4 will be corner 3. Finally, corner 4 has 12.

*Maximillion: 2L from corner 4 at 4H

*Grand Helmet: 3L+4W from corner 1 at 8H

*Venetian Shield: 3L+4W from corner 3 at 2H

Elixir: 1L+3W from corner 4 at 2H

10. END: This floor is 13 squares by 13 squares. It’s shaped like a C and spirals upward. The treasures in this floor cannot be obtained during the fight with Eledibs. You must visit the floor afterwards and get the treasure then. All of the treasure is at the very top 9 squares, which have a height of 15. All of them are on the corners of that topmost area.

Elixir: Corner nearest the corner of the level

Elixir: Corner that hooks the topmost area onto the rest of the level

Chirijiraden: Corner near where the topmost area hooks onto the rest of the level, but is farthest from where you start

Chaos Blade: Corner opposite the Chirijiraden.

Tips for the Ramza only challenge

The Ramza Only Challenge is when you use no character except for Ramza and Guests for the entire game. The first real fight is one of the biggest challenges you’ll face. Just remember that persistence is necessary, as there’s a lot of luck involved. Try to stick close to Delita as much as possible. If you can, try to have Delita taking most of the blows. One of the major factors in winning this fight is Zodiac Compatibility with the enemy Chemist. That Chemist is your main target, but remember not to get into a situation where you’re going to get attacked by several enemies to go after the Chemist. In general, just try to keep out of harm’s way. There are plenty of factors that can make or break the battle. Just keep trying until things go in your favor. Make sure that after that fight you learn Yell. Yell and Accumulate are two of the main things that will keep you alive for a good portion of the game. You want to make sure that you learn them and Move+1 as soon as possible. Try to get to Lv. 99 with every job mastered in Ch. 1 using random encounters at Mandalia Plains. Remember, however, to only master Monk, Knight, and Squire before Sweegy Woods, as enemies follow you in levels and beating a good number of high level monsters with equipment from the very beginning of the game is difficult. Back onto the subject of leveling up at Mandalia Plains, try to get into a fight with only 3 or 4 enemies, none of hem being Chocobos. Have your best Move+ skill on and make sure that Guts and Martial Arts are both equipped too. Now, the best thing to do to level up is to avoid all enemies while using Yell until your Speed is to 50, then avoid them while Accumulating until your PA is around 30-35, kill all enemies except for one, and avoid the final enemy while Accumulating until your PA is at 99. Now kill the last enemy. You’ll be able to master each job in 1 or 2 fights, and you’ll gain about 14 levels each fight. Once everything is mastered and you’re Lv. 99, you’re ready to proceed with storyline battles. I recommend using skills such as Punch Art, Math Skill, Blade Grasp, Two Swords, Magic Attack UP, Attack UP, Defense UP, Magic Defense UP, Concentrate, and Move+3. Keep in mind when using Math Skill that if you get the first attack, everyone’s CT is always a multiple of the same number. Therefore, by using CT3 or CT4 Holy, you can win pretty much every fight that you don’t have to save anyone until late Ch. 3 in one turn each. The only real bump along the way is that you’re probably not going to get your hands on any of Elmdor’s equipment. Other than that, once you get everything started, it should go quite smoothly. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to get the Escutcheon 2, as that requires a large monster. Well, hope this helps.

Tips for the Single Class CHallenge

If you’ve never heard of this challenge, it’s basically not using any jobs besides one or abilities from other jobs, starting at the first fight at Sweegy Woods. (You need time before that to get the job, master it, and possibly raise Brave and/or Faith levels.) I recommend using Monks, as they are a nice balanced job. A few things to consider about the SCC are that when lacking abilities from other jobs, you’ll most likely not have Move-Find Item, Steal, Catch, and Secret Hunt. This can seriously affect your equipment’s quality, and therefore you want a job that doesn’t require too terribly much non-store bought equipment. (Such as Monks or any magical class.) Also keep in mind that you’re likely to be without Blade Grasp, good movement skills, Two Swords, Defense UP, and Two Hands. This can seriously hurt your attacking and defending skills. Samurai can be a somewhat good choice for later because of the well balanced Draw Out skills, as well as Two Hands and Blade Grasp, but keep in mind that all of Ch. 1 and most of Ch. 2, you’ll be incapable of any sort of attack except for punching without Martial Arts. You have to depend on Blade Grasp a bit more than is comfortable, so it is possible, but not recommended. Another choice, however unusual it is, is to use Mediators. You need to get used to Inviting and avoiding enemies, and you have to take great care when fighting bosses (Velius in particular.), but it generally is possible due to Invite and guns which allow you to keep out of harm’s way. If it comes down to it, Blind Rage, Death Sentence, and Mimic Daravon can help in several battles. I say that Monk is the best for this because they have the highest attacking capability, can use Wave Fist and Earth Slash for long range, have Chakra and Stimga Magic for healing, and have HP Restore, which can help greatly. They also have the least need for equipment, so the lack of item obtaining abilities isn’t so disabling.

Winning the 2nd fight against Balk.

The team that I used for this fight was Ramza, Reis, Agrias, Orlandu, and Beowulf. I put Ramza, Beowulf, and Agrias on the first team, while Orlandu and Reis made up the second team. Ramza, Agrias, and Beowulf smashed their way through the Chemist and swarm Balk, while on the other team Orlandu defended Reis while she used Dragon Tame on the Hyundra, Hydra, and Tiamat. Reis's secondary skill was White Magic and she had the Ribbon on, so that she could use Esuna without being Leg Aimed or Arm Aimed. A Thief Hat on your healer will help you the same. When everyone met Balk in the middle of everything, I just started hammering on him. My people started smashing him with Attack, Crush Punch, and anything else for smashing that they might have had on. The Tiamat, Hydra, and Hyundra did their best to get at Balk, but weren't much help. Inviting them is more to have them out of the way. Once surrounded, Balk can't last too long.

Regarding Reis

Reis is actually one of the best characters on Tactics. She has automatic Two Swords, Train, and Monster Skill. If you raise her magical attack power, her bracelets can be devastating. She has the best HP and Magical Attack Power of any of the "special" people. If you put Martial Arts on her, she's highly effective when used like a Monk. Her high Magical Attack Power makes her useful for Draw Out and magic. Also, her high HP and lack of equipment makes it so that even with the Ribbon equipped, she'll still have high HP. Since she's a female character, she can equip the Chantage and the Ribbon. Monster skills, Dragon Power Up, and Dragon Level Up make her a great ally for Dragon and Hyundra type monsters. It's also very easy to get your hands on them, since Dragon Tame invites those enemies with 100% accuracy. Also, any monster can benefit from her automatic Monster skill, and her automatic Tame will aid in getting them. It makes it easier to get some rare items you have to poach monsters for as well.

Duplication of weapons.

To duplicate weapons, you must be able to equip 2 swords and also have the ability to use a shield. The weapon must be stronger than any of the weapons of that type in that store, and the store must stock that type of weapon. Now, put a shield in the character's right hand, and the weapon to be duplicated in their left. Go to the store, and go to best fit. The weapon to be duplicated will be bought for one hand, and the strongest sword in the shop for the other. This will result in you being able to buy the weapon, even if it's one of a kind, like the Chaos Blade. Knights, a few "special" jobs, and Ramza as a squire can be used to duplicate Knight Swords those people and Geomancers can be used for normal swords. Ramza, Agrias, and Ninjas can be used for knives. Ninjas and Orlandu can be used for Ninja Swords. Orlandu can be used for katanas. Ninjas and Ramza can be used for Flails. For all of these except for the ones using Ninjas, the Two Swords ability will naturally need to be on. If you're using Ninjas, you'll need Equip Shield on.

The level down, level up trick.

The first step of this trick is to preferably get to Lv. 99. After that, if the person that you want to make stronger is a male, make him a Bard, and if they're a female, make her a Chemist. Next go to anywhere that there's a Degenerater Trap, (Fovoham Plains, Zeklaus Desert, Bervenia Volcano if you have Move on Lava, or Deep Dungeon. Fovoham Plains is my favorite.) and keep on stepping on and off it with the person that you wish to make more powerful until they hit Lv. 1. (Some people like to do this by using Teleport, moving the cursor far away, and landing back on the trap when Teleport fails, but I prefer to just do it the normal way. It also helps to have a Mindflare next to a person with Monster Skill using Level Blast to speed up the leveling down.) After that, change their job to one that will gain the type of stats that you want. (Monks, Knights, and Lancers gain a great deal of HP and Phys. Attack. Summoners gain tons of MP. Mimes will gain everything except for Speed and MP, but are most useful for Magic Attack. Ninjas and Thieves will gain Speed, Ninjas being the more effective of the two. Nothing will raise Move or Jump.) Then go to your favorite spot to level up. I recommend having Punch Art on and Earth Slashing a team mate. Gained Exp. Up greatly speeds this process. If you level up, you won't gain stats besides HP and MP until after the battle, so don't worry about gaining attack power and killing the person. After a while, use Chakra to get rid of the minor damage being caused. Once your person hits Lv. 99, (Trust me, if you've been hitting a Lv. 99 person the whole time, it won't take anywhere near as long as it sounds. About 2 hours under pathetically bad conditions and far less under good ones.) and kill the last of the enemy. Through this process, when your person gets back to Lv. 99, they will have gained quite a bit of power compared to before you started. I think that if you do this as a Monk, you'll gain about 300-400 HP and 20 PA. (Depending on what job you are, naturally.) Hope this helps.

Advice for strings of fights.

I would advise that on strings of fights to never save over your main file to save. The main problem with this is at Riovanes Castle. If you turn out to be too weak to fight Velius and you've saved before the fight, you'll be unable to go back to level up. A fairly basic tip, but it can nonetheless save you from starting over.

JOb Change prerequisites

Squire: None

Knight: Level 2 Squire

Monk: Level 2 Knight

Geomancer: Level 3 Monk

Archer: Level 2 Squire

Thief: Level 2 Archer

Lancer: Level 3 Thief

Ninja: Level 3 Archer, Level 4 Thief, Level 2 Geomancer

Samurai: Level 3 Knight, Level 4 Monk, Level 2 Lancer

Chemist: None

Priest: Level 2 Chemist

Wizard: Level 2 Chemist

Oracle: Level 2 Priest

Time Mage: Level 2 Wizard

Summoner: Level 2 Time Mage

Calculator: Level 4 Priest, Level 4 Wizard, Level 3 Oracle, Level 3 Time Mage

Mediator: Level 2 Oracle

Bard: Level 4 Mediator, Level 4 Summoner

Dancer: Prerequisites: Level 4 Geomancer, Level 4 Lancer

Mime: Level 8 Squire, Level 8 Chemist, Level 4 Summoner, Level 4 Mediator, Level 4 Geomancer, Level 4 Lancer

Getting Zodiac from one person to the next.

There are a few ways to teach people on your team Zodiac even if only one person learned it from Eledibs. The first is to lower the Faith of an enemy Summoner to the point where it can survive it, then cast Zodiac on it, and wait for it to use it on one of your Summoners.

The second way involves an enemy Thief. Break the Magic Power of the person who knows Zodiac and make sure someone has a weak, accurate skill. (Dash works great.) Wait for the enemy Thief to use Steal Heart on the person to learn Zodiac. After they're charmed, use Zodiac on them. As soon as you can, hit them to un-charm them. They'll now know Zodiac. The Fairy Harp may also work to charm the person, but I'm not entirely certain.

Fullcure!

If the going seems bad indeed, there is a glitch that you can use to your advantage. If you can the CT to active, cast Regen on a person with low health, open the Playstation CD lid thing and wait for a little bit, the CT will keep moving and therefore keep on healing the people with Regen on. This same trick can be used to kill a poisoned person, turn someone into a crystal or treasure chest, or to get someone to Re-raise themself. Works excellent with the Chantage. The Chaos Blade will also make this trick more easily done.

Genji Equipment and the Masamune

First of all, before you start the stealing, make sure that Celia and Lede are out of the way. This fight is easier if you get Ultima in the fight before it. Orlandu and Agrias can easily take care of Celia and Lede. I recommend having Move+3 on Oralndu and Move+2 or Teleport on Agrias. Anyone that you can get by with putting Steal and Concentrate on, do it. Make sure to put 108 Gems (Stops Blood Suck from making your people vampires.) on everyone but Agrias. Put the Barette on Agrias and give her the Germinas Boots. Kill Celia and Lede as soon as possible. At this point, it’s best to get Slow on Elmdor so that he won‘t attack so much, start lowering his Brave as you start to steal, and just try to steal like mad. The best order to steal the stuff in is 1. Genji Shield, (Lowers his evasion a bit.) 2. Genji Gauntlet, (Lowers Draw Out's power a little.) 3. Masamune, (Once you have it, he's not much on attacking.), 4. Genji Helmet, (Doesn't lower his HP as much as the Armor, making it harder to accidentally hurt him too much.) 5. Genji Armor. If you didn't disable him with a negative status, get ready to chase him all around the battlefield, because he can end up anywhere with his Teleport 2. Try to avoid clustering your people too much to avoid several people getting hit by Muramasa at one time. Try to have Raise to bring people back if they get Death Sentenced. (Phoenix Down doesn't work to well, because Elmdor can drop that person before you can heal them because he can move anywhere and Muramasa has 100% accuracy.) Once you have all of his stuff, you can just surround him and crush him like a bug.

Overrated Jobs

There are several jobs that are just flat out severely overrated...
The most overrated job is Calculators. Even though Math Skills are okay, but Calculators definately are extremely weak. They have extremely low speed, low attack, and even low magic attack. This makes it so that they're even worthless with their own skills.
Another job that gets too much attention is Ninja. It's a lot better just to put Two Swords on something like a Monk. Ninjas aren't too powerful when it comes down to it, and their Throw skills are kind of pitiful and too expensive.
Next are Geomancers. The strongest weapons that they can equip are store-bought, they don't really have too high a chance of causing the negative status with Elemental, and Elemental doesn't do much damage at all.
Following that are Wizards. They use a ton of MP, get wiped out within the first two hits, have long charge times, and in the end don't do nearly as much damage as a good warrior will.

Leveling up quickly.

In order to do this, you must have at least one Knight or someone with Battle Skills on your team. Put Blade Grasp on everyone. Have everyone that they can use for a long time. (Basic Skills/Guts, Draw out, etc. A good thing to try is to have one person with White Magic and another with Punch Art and have them alternate using Protect and Chakra alternatively.) To start the battle, find the enemy that has only attacks that can be blocked with Blade Grasp that has the highest compatibility with your Battle Skills person. Kill all of the other enemies. After that, use Cheer Up to raise everyone's Brave to 100, use Yell to raise everyone's speed until they're even, and use Speed Break and Power Break to make the enemy as weak as possible. After that, just keep on having all of your people do whatever you have for them to do as long as you want. This can get you a crazy amount of JP and experience if done long enough. A thing to keep in mind is that you'll get more Exp. for taking an action that affects a higher level person. This can be used to your advantage because if you have Draw Out on, for example, you can position your team so that Kiyomori, for example, will hit your team's highest level person. It's best to find a good position and stay there when leveling up. Steal Gil, Accumulate, Kiyomori, Protect or Shell paired with Chakra, Battle Song, Regen paired with Chakra, and Don't Move paired with Chakra are all effective things to use for a good level boost in one fight. For greatest ease in random encounters, try to make sure that everyone leaves level up sessions at equal levels. This strategy works best if you show a degree of patience.

Good Team combinations for differen times in the game.

After the 1st fight: Squire, Squire, Squire, Squire, and Squire. (In the beginning, Squires with Item are very effective. They are versatile and powerful for the time being.)
Next step: Knight, Knight, Knight, Chemist, and Chemist. (This team is basically a healer and attacker type team. Try to keep the Chemists out of harm's way, and things should go well for you.
And then: Monk, Archer, Thief, Wizard, and Priest. (This team may not have much HP, but you can, to the most part, smash things before they know what's going on. You may have to make the person that will be a Thief an Archer for one fight.)
Following that: Thief, Monk, Lancer, Priest, and Wizard. (This is more shuffling jobs to add versatility.)
Another step: Lancer, Thief, Monk, Summoner, and a job of your choice. (More shuffling for physical, and the magicians start new jobs. You may wish to start the second magician on physical jobs.)
Next: Samurai, Ninja, Samurai, a job of your choice, and Summoner. (This is probably the last step that you would want to remain the same file to file. At this point, you may want to master a few more oddball jobs, and to go back and have the physical characters master magical jobs, and have the magicians master physical jobs.)
When things are just going in the direction of constantly bettering yourself: Ramza as a Squire, Agrias as a Holy Knight, Reis as a Dragoner, Orlandu as a Holy Swordsman, and Beowulf as a Temple Knight. (This is an excellent team to end up with. At this point, you should be able to beat anything that comes your way.)
This is the way I like to do things. Input on what pattern of Jobs that other people use would be appreciated as well. (A good tip is always open to discussion.) (Not to say that my tip is nothing but good. )

Powerful Jobs

Okay, first off, Monks are extremely powerful and useful. They make halfway decent healers, and they do great damage, especially if you put 2 swords on them. They also have a few attacks with some range, which is helpful. Knights are fairly decent due to the fact that they can equip Knight Swords, which are extremely powerful and useful. Samurais have decent attack, and practically all of their skills are extremely beneficial. (Especially Blade Grasp.) Lancers are also useful. Attacking with a spear can save you from getting smashed with a counter attack, and Jump is very effective and has a great range, the only things that can save you from it are getting out of the way and Blade Grasp. Ninjas are not particularly useful, but 2 swords is a great help. Calculators are incredibly weak and useless, but Math Skills are fairly effective. I prefer not to use magicians, but the best of them are probably Summoners. Their spells won't hit people that you don't want them to, and Summon Magic can do a lot of damage.

Useful reflex skills

Here's which reflex skills are most useful and why:
Blade Grasp: Blade Grasp is pretty much the most useful reflex skill. It can block most physical attacks and has no drawbacks to it.
HP Restore: If you're Brave is high enough, you'll be somewhat safeguarded by this. As long as it works, and you become Critical rather than getting killed by a good blow before you're very low on health.
Meatbone Slash: Put simply, this does a lot of damage. If put on someone with a lot of HP, you'll almost always kill the person that makes you critical.
Dragon Spirit: This is a good safeguard from death. It revives you, so only low Brave can cause you to lose.

Well, thst's about it.



This post has been edited by Wiegraf Folles on 30th November 2003 16:13