Track this topic | Email this topic | Print this topic

I know part of the fun of this game is the "unique" jobs and special characters you're offered at certain points of the game, but believe it or not, I always found myself preferring to use the characters I'd spent time building up myself over the pumped up scene stealers the game offered me, like Beowulf, and especially T.G. Cid! T.G. was fun to use for a little while, until I realized he was making random and even boss battles a total bore. I thought, "hey...I've got guys who have been working hard for me since the very first battle, and they're getting the short end of the stick not because of this guy", so in the end, I shelved all the characters that had been given to me, and used only the ones I'd built up myself. Does anyone else feel this way toward the "special" characters in the game? I don't dislike them, mind you, I just felt a greater attachment toward the ones who represented all my hard work in leveling up and skill building throughout the game.

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

I feel exactly as you do. Now, whenever I play, I almost always get 5 or 6 characters from the soldier office and build them up from scratch. When a special character joins, I let them come along, but then take their equipment and dump them. One of these days I'll get the nerve to play without Cid's Excalibur, but it's just so handy!

--------------------

Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
In the night there is something wild
Can you hear it breathing?
And hey, put the laptop down for a while
In the night there is something wild
I feel it, it's leaving me

I too always prefer to use the standard soldiers rather than the special characters. One of the reasons is that I can name them the way I want, but also I don't like the fact that the special characters don't change sprites when they change jobs.
And using Orlandu in every battle really takes out the fun of it, since he's such a powerhouse.

I liked using the special characters because of their abilities and great possibilities. I try to steer clear from Orlandu but he's good to have if want to end a battle quick. Especially when you're going long distances across the map. I also like using the special characters because you work on your old characters and then master them and then it gets boring so I have to master new characters and the game gives them to so why not?

I do use Beowulf in the Deep Dungeon because of his low Brave Points...so I don't have to lower anyone elses...in order to nab the good stuff with "move-find item". I admit to using Orlandu's Excalubir as well, but it's so darn tempting...I just think of it as an earned item since you have to work so hard to get to Orlandu anyway.

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

I love using Orlandu and Meleadoul and Agrias and so on. I just think that their moves are sooooo cool.

the only special characters i like to use are meloudial agrias and cloud no one else
with the rest of the special characters i just nab their equipment

This post has been edited by Cloud_Strife510 on 4th March 2004 01:23

--------------------

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

I hate using special characters that come pre-packaged for you, i love useing the same 4 characters through the entire game, I just get so attached to em... as sad and pathetic as it may seem, getting emotionally attached to a video game character

--------------------

And when the band you're in starts playing different tunes,
i'll see you on the dark side of the moon.... - Pink Floyd

Eagle may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines

Well, I feel the same way....mostly. But the ONE given character that I have always used throughout the game, was Mustadio. His abilities are just awesome, and not overpowered because of their relatively high inaccuracy rate.

Using Mustadio isn't so bad...it's not like he's a powerhouse that turns down the challenge of the game a notch (or ten notches in the case of Orlandu). It's the characters that totally turn the tables and dwarf characters you've been working on all game that I prefer not to use. I often think that Orlandu was placed where he was in the game in case you'd done a mediocre job up to that point of powering up your party, and need a lot of help. Like I said, I keep him in my party out of a strange sense of respect for who he is in the game, because it's not like I need that slot anyway. Same with Cloud, since I never take the time to get him up enough levels to be useful. Beowulf finds me the goods in the Deep Dungeon, and then that's it.

All other special characters (sometimes I DO hang on to Mustadio) get the boot as soon as possible...especially Rafa and Malak. But not before I also strip them of their goods. I've been called crazy for booting Agrias without ever once using her, but if you don't need a person, why have them sitting in your party collecting dust?

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

I find myself using Rafa in the deep dungeon and Nelveska Temple, since her brave starts in the 30's anyway. In the deep dungeon, her low brave nabs the goods while Beowulfs "chicken" buys me all the time I need to treasure hunt. As special characters go, I love them all. Mustadio I love because it seems that he takes the place of Delita as Ramzas best friend. Reis and Beowulf b/c they love each other and want to fight side by side... Cid, because he literally has no place else to go. The church and both Larg and Goltanas camp would kill him on sight. Then Agrias, because I see her as a love interest of Ramza's. Ive seen alot of forums hint at the possibility that Ramza and Delita were in love with each other (ie-homosexual), and while I have no problem with those who choose that lifestyle I find little evidence to convince me that these two were romantically involved. Anyways... Im straying. Back to the point, I love the special characters. I know what hard work Ive put in with my generics, but I put an equal amount in to the specials once I get them, so I dont feel cheated. Though I will say, I have never found any use whatsoever for Cloud in Tactics. He seems more useless to me than Malak.

--------------------

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

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I've only played through the game once...But the only special char I used was agrais. She looked so cool in the opening demo fight, and you get her rather early in the game, one of my other party members was terrible then anyway so I didn't feel too bad.

Later when I got Orlandu I stuck him in the party to see what he could do....he was soo much more powerful that I felt he was cheating...and that I wasn't having as much fun as with the other chars who had been in the party since fight 1. I promptly stripped him and gave all his stuff to my normal fighter.

Later I thought meliadoul was really cool, but I just didn't feel like lvling her jobs, and I wouldn't have felt good kicking anyone out of my party...so she got the shaft(and my fighter got another cool sword). I didn't really care much about any of the other specials..didn't even get cloud.

--------------------

"I will be the last, and you will go first!" -Saravok

"Silence Dog. You serve no purpose but to die by my hand." - Jon Irenicus

"Doom awaits thee!" -Mellisan

"Eh-Yo, It's me, Imoen"

Meliadoul absolutly kicks butt.... against humans. But other than that, shes pretty mediocre. Shes got nothing on Agrias and Orlandu.

--------------------

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

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

I like using every single character in my team very often, including the special characters, except for Orlandu. I only use him ONCE in a while.

--------------------

Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.

Don't live your life to please anyone, make yourself happy.

Smile a lot:  It costs nothing and it's beyond price.

I love 2002-2003 5 series BMWs. Lease yours today.

I only use Orlandu for Night Sword, easily the best swordskill in the game. If it didn't negatively affect zombies however, it would be a different story. I believe the Cursed Ring changes that though

The way I see it, special characters have skills that make them almost inherently better than generics, with above-normal stats to boot, but with the level-up-level-down trick everyone is the same stat-wise. I still like to use generic Samurai and Mediators and such, but I always have people like Beowulf on hand for some status effect smackin'.

--------------------

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

I like the idea of keeping some of the characters based on their story rather than their actual value...I think that's why I keep Orlandu also...why dump the poor guy off when he's gone through so much? Where's the respect for the elderly there? As for some of the others, I felt like Mustadio had been helpful, and there was no reason to dump him, even if I didn't use him. Malak and Rafa, on the other hand, were with me for like five seconds in the game, they sucked, and I never got attached, so it was easy to give them the boot...call me a hard @$$...

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

the only character i use thats extra is...well...Beowulf and that is because i have competetions with my friend on who can get the most buff/debuff spells on a character.

FFT SPOILER!!!

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

Any person who needs to use Agrias, Orlandu, Meliadoul, or Beowulf in regular play should know that they are not best as their original class, but more as a Knight with a Knight-type sword and their special-class ability as Sub-ability

its not much of a spoiler, but i noticed this the first time i beat the game with a team of special characters and decided to share. My team was Ramza, Agrias, Orlandu, Meliadoul, and Beowulf.

I keep the special characters for story value, but choose to treat them like other generics and not use there special class. I like to put them in classes that suit their styles, i.e. Mustadio the engineer learns math skills, Agrias ends up mainly as a samurai, Rafa sticks to mastering Magic classes, etc. Orlandu does not get used, cause there is no class to put him in to make him seem normal.

--------------------

"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

That's an interesting twist. I may have to try that sometime. Someone once suggested using Orlandu as a monk at one of the forums I visited, but it didn't make him any weaker...even used as a secondary skill, his monk abilities kicked too much butt. Orlandu is definitely out in this game for anyone who wants to feel challenged by any of what comes after you get him...though for some reason, I always get the wussier random battles when I'm prepared with Orlandu and a pumped up Ramza then when I'm just trying to "buff up" my weaker characters through random battles...what's up with THAT??

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

I've beat the game 3 times, but it was like 4 years ago, if memory serves, I never touched the special charactors, except orlandu.


I started playing again, and by the end of the first chapter I was level 30, everyone had telaport. So I get mustedio and the holy knight this time around. I played with mustedio for about 2 battles, when I realized my calculator could cast paralyze and don't act, or that my ramza can do 500 damage in a single turn.

--------------------

Final Fantasy fans that like 8-bit theater? Think its too soft? Well, theres always my little sprite comic that I'm sure final fantasy fans would love..

If you had a calculator already by the time you got to Mustadio, you're a better man than I...if I make on at all, it's not till sometime between chapter 3 and 4 when things start to wind down a bit. As I mentioned elsewhere, though, I always wind up putting together a Summoner with Math Skill and all of the (useable) spells learned for the mage classes...I guess before I complain about Orlandu taking the challenge out of the game, I ought to throw some of the blame on this character, who I like to call the "mage master". Especially when I let the game control him for me on "Auto Battle"...nice...

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

Calculators ain't nothing special, its how you use them. Did you guys know, that when it asks 'use this move?' you can look around the map and under the charactors is a yellow panel? You don't got to know shit about the math, its that easy! I only have two real 'mages' though, one who's a beast of a wizard with a MA of 19, thats without pumping it up in battle. And the other has a more diverse bunch of skills, mostly from white magic and the oracles skills. Did you know that the oracle skills can be dasterdly when used right?

Now I've found the bard to have one of the best abilities, and I dident find it until last night. Since the bard sucks so bad, they have one saving grace, a skill that puts everyone with a +1 speed, which you can do as many times as needed. I"m sure theres ways to up the percent on how effective it is, I'm still experimenting, but its there, and it works 80% of the time, which is good enough for me.



--------------------

Final Fantasy fans that like 8-bit theater? Think its too soft? Well, theres always my little sprite comic that I'm sure final fantasy fans would love..

I played with Bards, but only briefly...the difficulty involved in aiming their regular attacks is annoying. I know most of the time you don't resort to having Bards (or Dancers) actually attack, but when it comes down to it, it's a lot of trouble. I'd use them more if their HP recovery song was a bit more effective...but some of those status boosts definitely aren't bad.

Calculators may not be special, but it's time consuming to build up a good one. Once you have all the available spells from all the mage classes, though, and all the math skills, you own the game (as if a two sworded Ramza didn't do that already). I'm constantly amazed at what my master Summoner/mage comes up with when I let auto battle control them...I wish they'd petrify enemies less often, but it's still amazing.

By the way, it was nice of them to let me know that you can't use Meteor as a Math Skill spell...I spent all that time and 1500 JP learning it...grrrrr

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

Quote (MrBojangles @ 11th March 2004 00:39)

Now I've found the bard to have one of the best abilities, and I dident find it until last night. Since the bard sucks so bad, they have one saving grace, a skill that puts everyone with a +1 speed, which you can do as many times as needed. I"m sure theres ways to up the percent on how effective it is, I'm still experimenting, but its there, and it works 80% of the time, which is good enough for me.

Actually, you've been lucky : except for Angel Song and Life Song, every song the Bard is performing has a 50% rate of success.

You can 'cripple' Orlandu. Give him the Nagrarok. He still has his skills but it doesn't make all of the battles a two-turn match.

--------------------

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

or.. OR....stick with me here....you can "throw him out"



--------------------

Trying is the first step to failure.

I save him but don't throw him out. He's just tooo sexy!

--------------------

"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

Er...tell me you're joking...as a guy, I know it's not my place to say what other guys are and aren't sexy, but of all the cast in FFT, Orlandu has to be one of the least attractive, and his lack of nose certainly doesn't help. Not that that's any reason to keep or disgard characters. I thought Rafa wasn't all that bad looking, but I gave her the boot instantly because she was worthless. Sorry, but it takes more than a pretty face to be worth your salt in an RPG...

--------------------

You know me, you just wish you didn't...

"Uwee hee hee! Don't tease the octopus, kids!" -Ultros-

"Don't let the smooth taste fool you..."

Power is sexy baby and T.G. Cid's got a boatload of it. Aaaaaaaand, I was joking.

--------------------

"That Light has bestowed upon me the greatest black magic!"

I liked to use the special characters for entertainment and help train most of my weaker characters, and I've been using this kind of training to beef up Cloud so he can enter the remaning plots ahead.
I'll also let him grab any crystal that the human enemies droped.
I always keep the special characters for memories of the past battles I had with them while they were guest units. and two of my normal characters that I've trained (and plus one that I've invited over to my group) are used at the pubs more now. for the gil and JPs.

I think the invite status is very useful if I needed to get new units for my party.
I just kicked out the ones I don't need and keep the ones I wanted to travel with one my quest to stop anyone who would use the holy stones for evil.
and it has been a challange for me to use Rafa's ability. now she's a wizard since her normal skills rarly hits the targets.
and since the remaining plots are getting harder for my normal units, I use the special characters to make things far a bit. (special allies vs Special enemies)
I like to use the special allies to put up a fair fight with the special enemies and holy stone monsters.

This post has been edited by Mewmon on 11th July 2004 14:29