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Is it a bad thing when the early-game random encounters are handing me my internal organs in a low-quality handbasket?

Any tips?

Hehe. Actually many of the random battles can be tougher than the story ones because the levels are always equal to yours. But it's good for learning, just try different sets of jobs and save between each battle if you manage to keep everyone alive.

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The Arcana are the means by which ALL is revealed.

Yeah, I was afraid of that.

Sincere thanks anyway.

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I shall now return to my cave

Yeah, it's hard early on, but if you enter battle locations from different areas, you get different arrays of monsters (and sometimes humans), so make sure to enter from all over. For instance, entering Mandalia Plains from the south willl give you different monster setups and you'll start off on a different side of the map where you can use the rocks to keep the animals out.

Level up on the easy battles so you can beat the hard ones.

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

On very early random encounters, I would highly recommend keeping your characters closely knit, as well as backing them up against a wall or corner of the battlefield. This makes it more difficult for enemies to attack you from the side or back, and prevents them from encircling one weak party member and quickly taking them out. Also, this strategy ensures that all your units are within range of your chemist for healing purposes. (You are using a chemist, right? )

Random enemies at that stage of the game only have a standard one-panel attack, so you needn't worry about your entire party being wiped out with one big spell. Additionally, try to focus all of your attacks on a single enemy rather than spreading the damage around, as weak opponents are still able to attack you (whereas dead ones cannot), and even low level chocobos can still use their Choco Cure spell to heal wounded allies.

This post has been edited by Phoenix on 5th January 2005 13:29

Following Phoenix's advices, if you're not using a Chemist (wich you should definitely do, btw), make sure that most of your units have Item as a secondary skillset. Other than that, always target Chocobos when there are some, because they're the only ones capable of healing.

And use Throw Stone. It's the first long distance attack available, and it's also a good way to build up your units when only one enemy is still alive: just target your own units with it, cure them with Ramza's Wish and use a Potion on Ramza (that way, you earn XP and JP, and only waste a few Potions in the process).

Final note: make sure that's your units are all fully equiped in their job (check each store everytime you've finished a story battle: their salelists change almost everytime during chapter 1).

There's the star formation in Mandalia Plains, as well. Get the enemies down to one, then get your troops in a + formation on all flat ground, with the middle soldier equipped with the Chakra ability.

Throw stones at the back of each other's heads, then Chakra when the middle character gets his/her turn. Wash, rinse, repeat.

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

~Pacifist Badge, 1978

Thanks for the advice. Actualy, I've been having an easier time without a chemist, with two out of three of my characters equiped with the item command. and I'm also finding it easier to use just those three instead of 6. Go figure. I hadn't considered using wish though, and that chakra idea sounds pretty good.

And yes, I always take the chocobos out first. They may not hit as hard as the goblins, but their speed makes them oh-so-much more annoying.

Edit: One thing I've learned: it is unwise to go into battle with a party of two archers and a time mage.

This post has been edited by Lurker on 6th January 2005 06:07

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I shall now return to my cave

Quote (Lurker)

One thing I've learned: it is unwise to go into battle with a party of two archers and a time mage.

Well, at least early on. When you get your archers and mages to dabble in other classes' abilities, you can take on just about any enemy with anyone. Blade Grasp is usually a token skill for mages, but you can experiment to make your mages (or archers) more offensive (Attack UP) than defensive (Defense UP, Blade Grasp, Abandon, Sunken State).

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