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I prefer teh Special Characters especialy Beowulf because the special abilities they get are just plain good, plus tehy have extra dialoge in some missions so it is like adding to the story by using them. However I often used the origelal characters just because they are familiar...up untill i did a mass purging of the "normies" to make room for the good folk.

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There is a time and a place for everything, and I am niether

I always take out the special characters...I guess I just have a better connection with them then I do specila characters...I jmean,you worked so hard to build your home grwons up and then these specials just walk up and kick ebveryones a$$!!!
so yeah...home grown always!

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Climhazzard is the timeless evil robot who runs some of the cool stuff at CoN (mostly logging chat, since there are no quizzes at the moment), all the while watching and waiting for his moment to take over the world. -Tiddles

I hope by that you mean you strip the special characters of their good equipment, and then give them the boot.

It'd be a shame to waste that Excalibur and Save the Queen ;__;

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Hey guys, besides getting to name a character (important to me) my idea was to make more than a few "normal" characters with 2 abilities. Cause um, well, no one can use more than 2, right? So why not have one set of each? Like my fav combo, a Time Mage (cause of their magic power) with summon magic. I can smoke anyone with meteor, (600+ damage and oh so much fun ) or just summon them to death XD Or a ninja with knight skills (two attempts to break stuff) I mean hey, there's lots of good combos, so why not have one of everything? I'm guessing there just isn't enough room to have em all. Special characters are good in that they have their own cool combos.
Having all kinds to choose from is more fun than powerhousing everyone to death. I mean *snoorrre* ... except when it comes to finishing the battle. Then things like meteor and ice 4 are fun. Bang, everyone goes down at once, even my guys, *insane laugh
Umm, you didn't see that

The only special character I use by the end of the game on regular missions (not counting the Deep Dungeon) is Worker 8.

His physical attacks are devastating, especially when you raise his Brave to 97. Yes, his Work commands cost HP, but when you've got a Chemist backing him up, whats to worry?

The greatest part, though, is the Immunity to magic he has. Big smashy spells of doom do nothing to iron-forged body!

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Think about this concept for a second, and you tell me that you would not think twice before purchasing it: ghetto breast milk

For me, I always enjoyed getting all the special characters, even if I don't use 'em (gotta catch 'em all!). Being a writer, I like to get in as much story as possible, and because of that, if I like their story, I keep the characters in my roster. I pretty much use certain special characters for boss battles if I'm having a tough time, otherwise, I generally use normal characters.

To be honest, I only got through the whole game once, though I am now replaying.

My problem is, by the time I get the first couple of special charaters, I've already dedicated my time to building up a good group. Now, as much as I like Agrias and Mustadio by the time i can use them in random battles to build them up, I already have a pretty solid team of fighters I can just start leveling up. At this point, the only way to get, my special characters properly caught up is to kill off some of my normal characters, then have the specials inheret the powers by picking up the crystal. The problem is, you don't inherit all the powers, so if you have a Geomancer with Punch-Arts and Two-Swords, and you took the time to build up all their skills in both categories... well, its somewhat of a waste when you can only inherit one set of skills or one special ability.

So, ultimately, while the special characters can be a huge asset in boss battles, if I want to really build up a well-rounded team and not have to "backtrack" in an attempt to get my specials caught up to my current skills, I find it best to use my own "customized" team.

On the other hand, I had a helluva fun time beating up on Ajora with a team consisting of Ramza, T.G. Cid, Worker8, Byblos, and Beowulf.

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And behold, I saw a Pale Gaming System, and the name of he who rode it was Squaresoft, and Enix followed him.

Going off of Majik Monkey's first post in this thread, I enjoy using characters that I've built up as opposed to beefed up characters that are handed to you. *cough cid cough*

That being said, though, my favorite character in the game is Mustadio. You get him early enough in the game that he grows right along with your party. Every single time I play FFT, Mustadio is always in my final party. While he isnt the God that Cid with a Chaos Blade and Excalibur are, he makes a mean Chemist that I find very useful on the battlefield.

Because you get him so early on, I feel like he almost is a homegrown character rather than a storyline character.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Mustadio and Agrias because of the time the game lets them into your party. It's still possible to assimilate them into your group by Chapter 2 as opposed to getting a special character in Chapter 4 and having to boot someone that you've used for hours out. Mustadio and Agrias are the only reason I play the game with three characters.

And, Sharkerbob, I think the same way you do. I don't really care if they're uber-god characters; if they have an enrapturing backstory, then they get to stay. Even if I have to take out a few generics, I never eject them from my group. Through some odd reasoning, I feel that they've "earned their place" and are just as deserving as the ones with interesting pasts.

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

I also prefer home-grown characters for the simple fact that they're with you since "Day 1" and you have Ramza and the generics to level-up with (perhaps replace if they die) throughout the entire game and I will feel bad to jus' drop 'em for a special character. I do make sure I have space for SOME specials like Orlandu and Meliadoul for their backstories as I, too am compelled by characters' stories, though I like to "personalize" them and use them less-than-frequently than my home-growns.

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"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

Heh, I beat the game again a few weeks after my last post in this thread, and I'd like to revise it abit: The special characters are fantastic for one more thing:

The Deep Dungeon! More than any other section in the game, this is where I really log some time with the special characters. With Beowulf, Reiz, Cid, and a random fourth special, (chosen depending on the set up of the level), storming the ranks of the monsters, I could send one of my two flying custom soldiers looking for the door. It was great fun!

Otherwise, I'd use some specials if I wanted to goof around with some random battles. I found it to be really fun to send Agrias and Mustadio by themselves against a swarm of enemies. I just love to concept of a knight/gunslinger duo wandering the country, kicking ass and taking names. Another fun one is to use only Reiz, and collect a bunch of monsters as a sort of beastmaster theme.

But again, those things are mainly just little diversions as opposed to going through the game itself. In that case, I still usually used three custom soldiers, and a Red Chocobo.

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And behold, I saw a Pale Gaming System, and the name of he who rode it was Squaresoft, and Enix followed him.

I affectionately call the Deep Dungeon the Black Ops of the game. You can NOT rack up without at least one special character. (well, mathematically, it is possible... but really now?)

I use Rafa with beefed up levels and abilities, but only 10 brave. She's my treasure hunter.

Orlandu is the enforcer, ensuring there are enough dead enemy units turning to crystal to gimme some light.

Beowulf is the stat effect guru (no offense to shotgunnova) that keeps the sole survivor on the enemies side neutralized. My other two are Ninja Ramza and a female Ninja who hunt for the door while Rafa does her thing.

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Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people - and kill them.

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I generally only use Agrias and Meliadoul as Orlandu is freakishly cheap and I happen to despise Mustadio and Beowulf. I usually take the team I'm given at the beginning of the game and use them till chapter four when I start dumping them and poaching. Then I use some special characters while I build up a team of characters named after my friends

Well, I recently restarted FFTactics (I picked up a PlayStation 2) and I am at the beginning of Chapter 3. I LOVE "home-growns", but I have only 1 generic guy left including Lavian and Alicia with Boco and a lower-level Black Chocobo! My special characters are Mustadio and Agrias (my favorite female character in the game). I originally was lookin' forward ta' havin' great generics, but now I can't wait to get the special characters (so much for original planning)

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"Thought I was dead, eh? Not until I fulfill my dream!"
Seifer Almasy


"The most important part of the story is the ending."
Secret Window


"Peace is but a shadow of death."
Kuja

I must go with home growth caracters because right now I'm going on a new challenge.

Solo Ramza Story Rush:
Like the solo Ramza challenge but there is no turning back like to go shop at Igros or take a battle to train before the next story battle.

I'm just doing this because I tought the Solo Ramza challenge was too easy while I wasn't Power-Leveling

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Sayonara

Yea, there are some advantage with using some of special characters then the normal characters.

some can help you in many tough battles. (such as the one with Worker 7 new which can easly kill of the normal characters and no magic can hurt him)

and when you get very far in the game, you get enemies that have powerful jobs like the assassins or special knights.
Agrias has been helpful in many of my battles.
and I normaly use 2 normal girls for some good damaging jobs. (the only job I haven't gotten to is the mimic job)
Agrias has been in almost every battle ever since I've got her.
talk about having a powerful character at the very early in a game.
the others are just to hang around in my party.
I feel like "since these guys have been so good for me, I'll keep'em if that's what these good people want".
and plus some of the special characters (friend of foe) role has ended and they ether die or join my party.
Mustadio is the only character that has a sidquest plot then the others.
you might think Mustadio's role has come to an end. but he has another role for a sidquest for getting some cool characters.
when I got and trained Cloud, It
s like I'm controling 2 main characters in Final fantasy historys.
Ramza (FFT) and Cloud (FF7)
and worker 8 is like a distorying machine.
it was worth casting his HP for his powerful attacks.
he (and/or any other monster type) is really helpful against Meliadoul, since her attacks only works for human enemies with equipment on.
and later on she wanted me to take her to her Father and see how she reacts when her own father is attacking his own daughter! (jurk)
same for Agrias when she finds out Ramza is a Beouve in the 2ed battle against Gafgarion. (wonder why she didn't know and why she didn't noticed his last name when he first met him in the first place)

This post has been edited by Mewmon on 18th October 2004 18:32

I actually like to use everyone. I have two teams, and they're both made up of a mix of special characters and my own characters. That way, I can build them all up and not get bored in the process.

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"The Master of Past, Present, and Future has returned."

im with rastlin on this one.

My present combat party consists of Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, a generic ninja and a generic summoner. I like to mix generics in with specials

Edit

Oops sorry... misspelled his name

This post has been edited by MarquisElmdor on 29th July 2004 11:47

Quote (Raistlin Mage @ 29th July 2004 02:10)

I actually like to use everyone.

How dare you! You're jsut like Delita! using everyone, I hate manipulators like you!

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

It was a joke ;p

Moderator Edit

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

It was also nice and spammy. -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 29th July 2004 14:46

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Sayonara

i enjoy mixing my party up a bit. i use Orlandu in battles that you really cant mess around with like in the deep dungeon (one battle contained 2 red dragons, 2 green dragons, 1 blue dragon, 2 ochos, 1 morbol, and 1 tiamet. !). but yes, it is more fun to use built up characters than the handed out ones.

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A hero is somone who steps up when everyone else backs down.

Your greatest adversary hides inside your mirror.

Well, special characters are cool, and generic characters you can be proud of because you built them up with yourb own hands, but I like generic characters because often, when I find myself tired and slightly insane, I make up stories about what the character did before goining my party.

Typo: joining

This post has been edited by Kilakandra_DiMenia on 8th September 2004 05:12

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"No matter what happens, I will always be with you... forever." ---- Pocahontas, Pocahontas

"Only those who are already at the top are rewarded without trying."----- Delita Hyral, Final Fantasy Tactics

http://www.ffshrine.org/fft/fft-midi/1-42-back_fire01.mid ---- My favorite FFT battle song