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I was wondering several things. Which level up bonus do you think is most effective at increasing overall damage per unit of time, +1 speed or +2 Vigor/Strength/Magic Power? I usually try to get everybody's speed up at least 10 or 20 with the Odin esper, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that really makes compared to the 20-40 points you'd get in stregth or magic power. On the hole I dislike the +HP and MP% bonuses because damage is where it's really at.

Also I have neglected Gau for too long and am really trying to make him my main character this time through the game; is it better to focus on the str+ bonus for Gau or +Magic bonus? I'm really not sure which rages are the best either, magic based or physical because I haven't used him seriously before.

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-I like you- ...probably.

For me, for the really obvious choices (Sabin = Str, Celes = Magic), I use the espers that increase their obvious strengths. When they are maxed out, I give them more speed.

As for the str or speed thing, if you double their strength, they do much more damage. If you double their speed, they can do twice as many things such as attacking twice to do much more damage as well.

I always upgrade Gau to the max with speed. He truely does become an animal, attacking every few seconds.

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"Look at me! I'm a receptionist! G'fa ha ha!" Quote Ultros

Gau is somewhat of an underestimated character, as well as the enemies attacks and auto-status effects (including poison and undead) he'll also gain their elememental strengths/weaknesses but all based on his level. It depends which Rages you plan on exploiting to what you should raise. For me his most used rages are Io that sometimes uses Flare Star (His ultimate rage) which is magic based, Outsider that uses Pearl with no MP waste which is magic and Retainer that uses Lio's Shock. Speed would be a good choice, I'll agree with that man there!^

This post has been edited by Mu the Squirrel on 3rd September 2004 20:06

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The Arcana are the means by which ALL is revealed.

You've made a good choice in giving Gau a chance. For his best rages check out this document. Since the stray cat rage is his primary attacking rage (which is physical), I think you'd be better off boosting his vigor for a while. Plus 50% of his moves from all rages are physical (the regular attack). He starts with plenty of magic power and you can always boost that later on. Give Gau the RunningShoes relic too so that he will attack nearly twice as fast as the other characters. Then watch him do his work.

As for speed +1 vs. vigor/stamina/magic power +2 it's hard to say, but one thing to keep in mind is that having multiple characters asking for commands at the same time is not efficient. You don't want everybody to have a lot of speed. Therefore it's best to first select the uncontrollable characters first for speed boosts, then maybe one or two controlables and that's it. Generally if all your controllable characters have 40 or above then you're good. You can then focus more on attack power until you start hitting the 9999 damage barrier.

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

Vigor is actually a small factor in the outcome of the physical damage, so you're better off boosting Mag. Power. You have plenty character who can pull off a 9999 against a single target (Sabin, Gogo, Shadow, to name a few), might want to take advantage of those neat elemental multi-target attacks.

Speed is probably the nicest thing on Gau, overall. You're going to hit 9999 with Catscratch regardless when you get a Merit Award.

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The Collapse of Heaven and Earth

Since we're on the topic of magic boost for Gau, how effective is it for Mog? How many of his dances are magically based?

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"Look at me! I'm a receptionist! G'fa ha ha!" Quote Ultros

I think Mog would be better off as a straight magic user than trying his dances.

I don't know when the last time this was asked but, what IS his best dance? Or is it just whatever terrain you're in that works?

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"Look at me! I'm a receptionist! G'fa ha ha!" Quote Ultros

All of Mog's dances are magic based so boosting his magic power is the best thing you can do with him. Speed boosts are also good since he's uncontrollable after setting the dance.

Here's a list of Mog's dances that show in detail what each attack does. I remember people saying that Wind Song and Water Rondo are the best two dances, but this is just opinion so some people may think otherwise. As far as the success rate of dances, if you are in the correct terrain for a dance there's no chance of stumbling. If you attempt a dance in a terrain which is different from the dance you are trying to perform, you have a 50% chance of stumbling. Here's some info borrowed from Terii Senshi's document on what the chances are for Mog selecting each move within the different dances:

Wind Song:
Wind Slash - 7 in 16
Sun Bath - 6 in 16
Plasma - 2 in 16
Cockatrice - 1 in 16

Forest Suite:
Rage - 7 in 16
Harvester - 6 in 16
Elf Fire - 2 in 16
Wombat - 1 in 16

Desert Aria:
Sand Storm - 7 in 16
Antlion - 6 in 16
Wind Slash - 2 in 16
Kitty - 1 in 16

Love Sonata:
Elf Fire - 7 in 16
Specter - 6 in 16
Snare - 2 in 16
Tapir - 1 in 16

Earth Blues:
Land Slide - 7 in 16
Sonic Boom - 6 in 16
Sun Bath - 2 in 16
Whump - 1 in 16

Water Rondo:
El Nino - 7 in 16
Plasma - 6 in 16
Specter - 2 in 16
Wild Bear - 1 in 16

Dusk Requiem:
Cave In - 7 in 16
Snare - 6 in 16
Elf Fire - 2 in 16
Pois. Frog - 1 in 16

Snowman Jazz:
Snowball - 7 in 16
Surge - 6 in 16
Snare - 2 in 16
Ice Rabbit - 1 in 16

You can use this data in figuring out which dances are the best.

This post has been edited by i90east on 4th September 2004 04:38

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FFXI (Siren server)
Tauu the Windurstian Tarutaru!
White Mage & Paladin

I would suggest, however, not putting Mog into dance-mode during vital battles, unless you're quite sure all of the magic attacks will be useful against your enemy.

I have vivid memories of using Wind Song in the Goddess battle and finding out too late that this dance pattern did only trivial amounts of damage to her. Furthermore, the party that encountered Goddess was my "weak character party," Mog whisking them through the tower via Moogle Charm, so my remaining three characters were unable to make up for Mog's lack of damage. Only because of Sun Bath was Goddess unable to kill my party, and this caused the battle to drag out far, far longer than it should have.

...

Ahem. End of Derail; perhaps the dancing discussion deserves a topic of its own.

As for Gau, I think i90's point that half of all rage attacks are physical is pretty logical, and thus boosting Gau's strength would have a great overall effect on all his rages.

This post has been edited by Phoenix on 4th September 2004 09:16