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So I started Tactics again. Maybe it's because I've been playing Tactics Advance too much recently, but I caught myself wondering about the "rules" I follow when I fight in FFT. Do any of you have FFT rules for yourselves that you rarely break or think make you better than average? Here are a few things I involuntarily do or don't do that I noticed during nearly every battle. Call them personal quirks.

- Never change jobs before a story battle. This one is actually something I consciously don't do. Nearly every time I change character classes and have a boss fight, I get stomped. I changed my Knights to Monks before the first Wiegraf fight my last time through and got annihilated.

- Don't gang up. I avoid this usually. In TA it works great, but in Tactics, I don't really see that it gives you a particular advantage. Odds are you'll kill whomever you have surrounded, but Tactics classes have too many area attacks. Whenever I have 2 people close to each other, that's usually when an enemy mage zaps me.

- Always Stat Boost/Enhance. I can't remember the last time I fought any battle in Tactics without using "Yell", "Accumulate", "Protect", "Haste", etc. Odds are, the enemies aren't going to make it to you on their first turn, so I always like to stack the deck a little.

- Try and make the first kill. This sounds elementary, but I think you get a huge advantage when a 6 on 6 fight becomes a 6 on 5 early in the fight. What I usually do is start by focusing on the closest enemy, then letting the fight move across the field the rest of the time. Try and engage one-on-one mostly.

These are all I can think of now. I really only do extra special customizing if I lose a fight. So how do you guys win your battles?

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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

As far as Habits, I find myself doing involuntarily, and consistantly...

All the characters I bring into battle are generally the Same Job. Period. All of them. There are exceptions to this of course.

When i first start out the game i generally get Accumulate and Gained JPs up on everyone, then switch them all to monks and master that.

Monk is my buffer class, for mastering any and every other class, especially early on in the game.

So ill use a party of half monks half whatever, until they learn the skills ect.

Having all the characters be a single job at a time allows them to Master the jobs faster due to a Synergy JP bonus, And it just seems easier to me, having all my characters be the same job.

Other then that, I find that I often Times Tend to use One strategy at a time, which leads to a very Strong and aggressive offense, But if the enemy Is immune or cant be effected, its totally useless, sometimes i think having more variety would prevent this sort of thing from happening, but it would also weaken my team.

So it all comes down to chance in the end, I think someone said on another post somewhere, That you can get through the game, or any specific battle with any Job or combination,

really, It comes down to prefferance (and luck )

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<FrPhoenix[Around]> "Burgleburgleburgle"

Mostly, i don't use rules of engagement.

I just use a party of Reis, Orlandu, Mustadio, Ramza and Beowulf;

Effectively Beowulf makes for a 1 hit KO with his Break attack, followed up by Orlandu's Holy explosion which makes about 1 or 2 kills. Mustadio then disables someone's movement while Ramza and Reis hammer away the others. It's a simple, efficient strategy, more blitzkrieg-like than an actual tactic.

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--CounterStriker as much as FF (x)-er--

Reis owns all! Possibly more deadly than Orlandu at lvl 99.

Yes, I got social skills of a rock. And I'm proud of it. Damn straight, I don't really trust people, even though I'm human myself. Even I don't trust myself sometimes. Gah! this is getting nowhere.

I love this thread; I wish I'd thought of it. I basically had the same "rules" AsylumOutpatient (cool name, by the way) has with a few exceptions:

Never change jobs pior to story battles: I made this a way of life for Ramza, Mustadio, Agrias, Meliadoul, and some of the other special characters, but I grew out of that after realizing that it isn't really necessary because I would give them their special jobs for those, except Ramza'd be either a Squire, Knight, Samurai, or whatever I was going for in the end, but I don't do that anymore for no particular reason. To exhibit my weirdness, I like having characters who you meet more than once in combat like Delita, Weigraf, Gafgarion, Vormav, Elmdor, or others as one job one battle and a completely different job the next, but the last battle in which I see them lke Delita at Zeltennia, Weigraf at Riovannes, or the guys in Murond Death City as the job I prefer to end up as.

Don't gang up: I do this when I like to pick on a particular enemy that is a considerable nuisance like hitting me with statuses, destroying my equipment, or anything else just to get back at him or her. For the reasons you mentioned though, it's just not a wise move, but if you don't have to worry yourself with long-range attackers or mages from the wayside, then why not gang up and teach the bastard a lesson? I love doing this with Weigraf, but that's when I get bombarded by archers and magic, but once you beat him, the battle's over so that's a risk I can afford. In Fort Zeakdon, however, I have ONLY Ramza and Delita gang up on Algus. Delita goes after him anyway and I think it's cool for those two to double-team if you will, especially Algus.

Always stat boost/enhance: Always as often as I can, but I refuse to over-do it with the sole exception of the Weigraf-Velius battle at Riovannes.

Try and make the first kill: Always! Any army party knows that there is considerable strength in numbers (Balbanes was noted for being outnumbered and victorious everytime, so not applicable by all) but I like strength in numbers because it gives me that sense of superiority over the bad guys and makes me feel like the enemy sometimes which is actually, quite a good feeling ...

Things I do involuntarily and consistantly:

I always have an even number of physical fighters, magical fighters, and physical-and-magical fighters, and for pure support characters I have one or none; the odd-person-out.

I always give Ramza Black Magic as a secondary as a Squire or Knight (when I choose not to use Guts) or as a primary with either Guts or White Magic, but this time I'm going for Math Skill (for the first time) with more Black Magic than any other.

I always have Agrias as a Holy Knight with White Magic. Other abilities and equipment differs, however.

I always keep the Excalibur on Orlandu and intend to steal the Genji Equipment for him, but always fail.

I always keep Reis and Beowulf in the same battles unless one ofthem dies first and if Beowulf dies, Ries quits; until I recenetly discovered how great she is as a Dragoner, now I have more confidence in her and I don't have the heart to get rid of Beowulf. I always have Rad with me in my battles against Gafgarion. If Worker 8 is in a battle (if he's even in my party), so is Mustadio. Agrias and Ramza are in 90% of random battles and Mustadio in 60-70%. I used to have Agrias and Ramza in ALL random battles, but that went away quickly. I seem to always take a Wizard or Priest or both if Ramza isn't a mage in the final battle against Altima.

This post has been edited by FabulousFreebird on 25th March 2006 14:30

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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

Quote (CT5Holy)

When i first start out the game i generally get Accumulate and Gained JPs up on everyone, then switch them all to monks and master that.

Yeah, me too. Gained JP Up is an awesome ability. Come to think of it, I actually have that set as all my character's Support Ability for at least 60% of the game.

Quote (FabulousFreebird)

Don't gang up: I do this when I like to pick on a particular enemy that is a considerable nuisance like hitting me with statuses, destroying my equipment, or anything else just to get back at him or her.

Aye, there are always exceptions. I would name Balk as my particular favorite to gang up on. People are always saying "don't gang up, it's not fair!" I say "Fair? This is war!"

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Always stat boost/enhance: Always as often as I can, but I refuse to over-do it with the sole exception of the Weigraf-Velius battle at Riovannes.

Oof. I can't make the time to stat-boost in this one; Wiegraf kills me too fast. This is one battle where I don't use "tactics", just pure force.

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I always have an even number of physical fighters, magical fighters, and physical-and-magical fighters, and for pure support characters I have one or none; the odd-person-out.

This is an awesome rule, and one I need to work on. I usually devote one person in the party to being a 100% Black/White or Time magic caster. My problem is my love of Lancers, Samurais, and Geomancers overrides my love of party balance.

Edit: I thought of another rule I try and follow. Always kill mages first when possible. I think Black Mages especially cause the most long-term problems if you leave them alone.

This post has been edited by Asylum Outpatient on 25th March 2006 18:54

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You don't scare me, you talking blobs of oozing slop! I am impervious to pain!

Quote (Asylum Outpatient @ 25th March 2006 11:52)

Edit: I thought of another rule I try and follow. Always kill mages first when possible. I think Black Mages especially cause the most long-term problems if you leave them alone.

This is a good rule, too that I usually do as well, but you don't necessarily have to kill them as soon as possible unless if it's a one-hit kill from where you're standing, but I try to Silence, Frogify, MP-deplete, or allow them to run out of MP while dodging attacks with Magic defense, constant healing (I do this much more often than not ) or take advantage if at all possible with Don't Act, Stop, or to a lesser extent, Sleep.

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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

Gained JP Up will always and forever be the first ability that I will learn with any character.

I always go on battle with only one unit (if I'm to go on a story battle, I equip Ramza a stone gun so that he doesn't annoys me ). If I bring more characters, I always make them kill each other before finishing the last target. I do love FFA with my characters, too bad they're too strong though.

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Sayonara

Quote (Zodiac @ 26th March 2006 19:59)

Gained JP Up will always and forever be the first ability that I will learn with any character.

That's about my only rule.

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Console RPG Cliches

Quote (Zodiac @ 26th March 2006 16:59)

Gained JP Up will always and forever be the first ability that I will learn with any character.

Me too.

As far as other rules go, I think the only other one I have is that if one of my characters gets killed, I allow them a chance to take on their assailant

Long Range enemies are always the first to go, in any battle of mine.
I prefer keeping my battles up close and personal, where I have the advantage.

Honestly, all my tactics remain based on one simple rule: Obtain and Maintain the upper hand. This means that I always ensure at least one unit with extensive healing abilities and a decent range, and a dominant force in either close or long range, depending on what my mood I'm in.

For instance, let's say I'm using a more Long-Range dominant party, I'll take out any Long Range fights the enemy might have and then pick off the useless close range units from a distance. Actually, I use the same Tactic for close range battles, taking out the long range fighters first, then forcing the enemy in spots I've crowded so I can gang-slaughter.

In terms of skills, Gained JP Up, Pheonix Down and Time Magic are the things I try to get to quickest. From there, I just for for the best of each class.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Chickenising works too

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--CounterStriker as much as FF (x)-er--

Reis owns all! Possibly more deadly than Orlandu at lvl 99.

Yes, I got social skills of a rock. And I'm proud of it. Damn straight, I don't really trust people, even though I'm human myself. Even I don't trust myself sometimes. Gah! this is getting nowhere.