~B
Final Fantasy Tactics
Not So Common Knowledge
written by DragonKnight Zero
e-mail: dragonknight_zero@hotmail.com
Version 1.7 complete: 2-26-01
Contents
- Introduction
- Legal jazz
- What's New
- Making the most of your abilities
- Special class notes
- Info on status effects
- Battle notes
. Fort Zekaden
. Araguay Woods
. Zirekile Falls
. Zigolas Swamp
. Golgarand Execution Site
. Gate of Lionel Castle
. Inside of Lionel Castle
. Lesalia Imperial Capital
. Yadrow Fort City
. Yuguo Woods
. Gate of Riovanes Castle
. Inside Riovanes Castle
. Roof of Riovanes Castle
. Bervania Free City
. Finath River
. Zeltenia Castle Church
. In front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice
. Posekas Lake
. At the gate of Limberry Castle
. Inside Limberry Castle
. Underground Cemetery beneath Limberry Castle
. Igros Castle
. Morund Holy Palace: 1st battle
. Morund Holy Palace: 2nd battle
. Colliery Underground Storage, Third floor
. Passage beneath Goland
. Nelveska Temple
. END
. Underground Book Storage, Fifth floor
. Lost Sacred Presincts
. Graveyard of Airships
- Tough random battles
- Extra battlefield hidden items.
- Character strategies
- Item duping for free
- Recruiting Cloud
- Playing hints
- Shopping checkpoints
- Did you know?
- Enemy spell descriptions
- High faith/low brave quotes
- Challenges
- I'm still confused.
- Questions and Answers
- Credits
- Contacting me
Introduction:
A collection of FF Tactics tips and information that I have not
seen anywhere else plus some other stuff that I felt was good to pass
on that I have only seen in one or two other places. Most information
is based on my own experience. What's here isn't my work alone anymore;
go see the Credits section to find out.
Legal jazz:
Copyright 1999 by Erwin Lin. This guide may be distributed freely
for non-profitable use as long as it is unaltered and includes this
copyright notice. You may use any part of this guide in your own works
or webpages as long as I am credited. This guide nor any part of it may
be used for financial gain without prior written consent from me. If
you want to make a profit off this work, I want a cut of it.
This is MY work. If you rip it off, there will be hell to pay.
- What's New
v1.7 2/26/02 Fixed some errors around the place. Removed a challenge
because I felt it was redundant and added a new one. Added stuff on
Slow and Fly to the abilities section.
v1.6 9/7/01 List of (almost) all high faith and low brave quotes is up.
Thanks to thunderstruck9 for posting this on the Gamefaqs message boards.
I've added some stuff on Lnacers, Move-MP Up, and Byblos' Parasite.
There's a new character setup in this update. More tweaks
v1.5 7/12/01 Fourth hidden item at Bervania Volcano has been found. Two
more tough random battles, more strategy for Araguay Woods, some new bits
in Did You Know, and more questions. I've expanded the table of contents
to list all the battles in the Battles section. I may do this for other
sections if there's sufficient demand. I've tweaked my comments on Hamedo
and Shell 2; hopefully they're less confusing and misleading. Added the
section on obtaining Cloud by popular demand. There's the usual minor
tweaking and correction of lingering typos. The questions policy has
been toughened up some too. I've figured how height affects the range of
Longbows. Look in the jobs section under Archer. (Did this without the
aid of the FFT Mechanics Guide too)
v1.4 4/21/01 Not much new here. Added a new use for the Poison spell,
there is more speculation concerning the Velius battle, two more
challenges, and lots more questions. I've also put up some contributor
responses on the Cloud with a gameshark question, something else to not
e-mail me about, and where Mog is mentioned in the game under Did You
Know.
v1.3 9/30/00 Enemy spell descriptions have their own section now. I've
added some more as well. Added Beowulf's Faith in Special Class notes,
added comments on Bervania and Zeltenia battles, added a new challenge,
two more Q&A, more tweaking
v1.2 8/27/00 Fixed the problem with the old e-mail account so I could
extract contributions and questions from there. Added some info on
Mimes; cleared up info on Hamedo and Brave Up; removed Cyclops from
the Abilities sections (see new info on the Velius battle), added some
info on Un-Truth; added some more status effects that last beyond death;
more corrections on status changes; more tips for the Velius fight,
Elmdor fight, and the second Balk battle; more playing hints; added more
enemy spell descriptions; three more Did You Knows; a new challenge;
more Q&A, some more character strategies
v1.15 6/22/00 Rather small update: a new challenge, one more question
answered, and a few miscellaneous tidbits. The main purpose of this
update is my new e-mail address.
v1.1 5/17/00 Fixed up something misleading for the Archer's skill
Concentrate, added two things to Did You Know, more Q&A
v1.01 4/12/00 Correction in Q&A section; I forgot that Orlandu can
equip katanas as a Holy Swordsman.
v1.0 4/10/00 Added a few things to Abilities section, removed some
things that are consolidated in Playing Hints, added more playing
hints, added some info on Reis in Special Class Notes, fixed some
errors in status changes, added some tricks for various battles, added
more challenges, added Q&A section, some cleaning up.
Making the most of your abilities:
This is not a complete abilities list. Instead, I list some
lesser known features, hidden properties, and ecentric uses of some of
the skills.
Squire
Dash: It's redeeming quality at the beginning of the game is that it
does not trigger the Counter reaction ability. Nice since the game
seems to give all my characters this. Also this skill has a 100% hit
rate. Good for removing confusion or charm. 1.5x damage with a Monk
or Martial Arts.
Monster Skill: Error in the game. Your ally monster must be right next
to the character with Monster Skill in order to use its secret ability.
Defend: Doubles evade percentages. Kind of pointless when your C-EV is
5% with no shield or mantle.
Chemist
Items can be used on units on an adjacent panel regardless of
height differences. It does not matter whether the target is 12h
higher or if it is under or on top of an overhang. Useful on MLAPAN.
Phoenix Down: Actual HP restoration is between 1 and 20.
Maintainence: Awesome against annoying Divine Knights.
Knight
All break skills can be used on a sleeping, charmed, or confused
enemy without removing the status ailment unlike a normal physical
attack.
Magic Break: Two hits of this will bring any enemy down to zero MP
(unless the enemy started with more than 1998 MP). Try this with a
Ninja or the Two Swords support skill.
Power Break: Useful for prolonged battles or when the enemy has
Maintainence.
All stat breaking abilites can be used on a character with Maintainence
with no penalty.
Archer
It's come to my attention via the Battle Mechanincs guide that the
accuracy penalty is caused during night battles. All physical evasion
factors (except Blade Grasp) are increased by 1/3. This does not apply
to the Deep Dungeon.
I think I've figured out the range of longbows. For every two
units of height difference, if an archer is on the higher panel the
range increases by 1. If on the lower panel, range decreases by one for
every two units of height.
Charge speeds
The game doesn't say how fast these skills are even though they
are calculated in the same way as spells. So here's my list. It's not
complete and contributions and confirmations are welcome. The Charge
set can be used to poach monsters when you have Secret Hunt set.
Skill Speed
Charge+1 34
Charge+2 25
Charge+3 20
Charge+4 15
Charge+5 12
Charge+7 8
Charge+10 I'm guessing about 5
Charge+20 3 (the slowest thing in the game)
Speed Save: This is fun on buffed up females with a Chantage. They
just get faster and faster and never stay down for long.
Concentrate: A must have for your designated stealer. Only Blade Grasp
can decrease your chances of a successful steal. Blade Grasp and Arrow
Guard are the only evasion factors that are active against Concentrate.
Monk:
Female monks can overcome the attack handicap of low brave by
equipping a bag.
Reapeting Fist: May push opponents back a panel
Earth Slash: Unblockable. Make use of it to heal allies with Earth
Clothes equipped, The 11 Monks on Grog Hill will do it all the time
(see tough random battles)
Revive: Returns dead units with 20% of their HP
Hamedo: Cancels retular attacks if the attacker is within weapon range.
However, this doesn't work against any monster abilities except regular
attacks from Archaic Demons, Ultima Demons, Apandas, and Zodiac bosses.
Use Counter instead for random battles.
Move HP-up: Restore Max HP/10 HP after a move. The FFT Mechanics
Handbook got the recorery off. No effect under Don't Act status.
Thief
Gil Taking: Steal (LV*Speed) gil. High success rate makes it good for
building JP. It can be useful in Chapter 1 when money is scarce.
Steal Exp: Can be used on allies; has it's ecentric uses.
Catch: A specialist, but a good one. Try it in HORROR for freebies.
You can obtain rare weapons with this too.
Secret Hunt: A good way to kill undead without worrying about them
reviving. Poached monsters (yours and the enemy) will not be tracked
under Brave Story.
Priest:
Has a slight speed bonus that makes them more effective if paired
with built-up Math Skill.
Raise: Restores half of max HP regardless of the caster's MA value
Regen: cancels poison
Shell 2: Would be more useful if it lasted the whole battle but it
doesn't so don't bother. Same deal with Protect 2 and Haste 2. The
main advantage are that these can be cast directly on people with
Reflect and the effect area has vertical height tolerance so it is
easier to cast on you entire team at once.
Wizard
2nd and 3rd level element spells have greater vertical range than
the 1st level spells.
Poison: The damage from the poison removes confusion or charm. Rats.
Frog: Ideal for crippling monsters so they're easier to poach. Doesn't
wear off with time or death.
Counter Magic: I've found that this works against the elemental guns.
Time Mage
Time Mages have slightly better MA strength than summoners. I
find them ideal for using summon spells without the speed handicap that
summoners have.
Haste: Everyone knows the standard use of this. Creative players know
that it can be cast on an enemy with a death sentence to make them die
faster. Haste likewise increases the effectiveness of turn based
status effects.
Slow: When cast on someone with 1 speed, it stops the target's CT. The
best part is that Slow works on bosses who tend to be immune to most
other negative statuses.
Float: Actually quite useful in places like Zigolas Swamp and Bariaus
Valley which are waterlogged.
Demi 2: Calculate this one to instantly halve an enemy's (including
the Zodiac beasts) HP with no charge time or MP cost. Otherwise, this
spell is useless; it's too slow.
MP Switch: This is the only way to survive unavoidable attacks that do
more damage than you have HP.
Oracle
One of the most underrated jobs in the game. I admit that I don't
use most of their spells but they are quite good as fighters once
Sticks become available. Try them out with a Wizard Robe and Triangle
Hat midgame and see the surprisingly high amount of damage they can do.
Spell Absorb: Drains a third of the enemy's total MP. Can be used to
scan the MP of bosses with hidden stats (does not need to be cast)
Life Drain: This is a boss killer. It drains 25% of an enemy's HP
whether it has 80 or 800. I recommend at least one character learn
this. It will help out a lot at Velius. While it doesn't do as much
damage as Lich, the spell has a quick charge time and makes the caster
able to handle himself or herself when it comes to healing.
Foxbird: Lowering brave jn general is effective against monsters. If
nothing else, their counterattacks will be weaker and less frequent.
Silence Song: See playing hints.
Absorb Used MP: This ability also works with allied spells such as
Haste and Protect as long as MP were used in the casting.
Move MP Up: May work surprisingly well on characters with MP Switch.
Restore's 1/10th of the unit's MP when moving.
Geomancer
I like this class later in the game because of their ability to
equip swords and shields and their move bonus. Plus, they can reap the
stat bonuses of the lighter armor class.
Counter Flood: Works even if you haven't learned the attack for the
terrain yet. Careful with this one; it can hit your own characters if
the enemy was next to an ally.
Lancer
Straightforward. Jump can be used to get consistant damage from
axes, hammers, and bags. It's also a way of doing full damage with
katanas and Knight Swords. Buy Horizontal Jump 2 as soon as possible.
If Jumping right next to a monster, it can counterattack when you land.
Also, you cannot use or be targeted by Jump if there is an obstacle
above you. Jump has another quirk. If the unit has Poison or Regen
status, the HP change doesn't occur if the unit Jumps. This does not
apply to Death Sentence as the counter decreases at the start of the AT
rather than the end.
Ignore Height: With Ignore Height, you won't take fall damage if
knocked off a cliff. I haven't tested this with Fly. This apples to
monsters with inherent Ignore Height. (grumble; throws rock at Red
Chocobo. Red Chocobo falls off high bridge with no fall damage.)
Well Fly also guards against fall damage. However, Fly and Teleport
are disabled on frogs and chickens whereas ignore height is not. In my
mind, Ignore Height is still obselete since it is rare for player
controlled units to be under either of these statuses.
Summoner
Golem: Like Hamedo, it doesn't block monster attacks though it's very
effective against humans.
Mediator
You can't use Talk Skill on a sleeping unit. Go figure.
Invatation: Enemy have good equipment that you want? Invite him or
her. It's much quicker than stealing it if you have space in your
formation to spare. There are some special foes that can't be
invited. Invited humans often have better stats than your characters.
Threaten: Better than Foxbird because it doesn't depend on Faith. It
also has over a 90% success rate most of the time.
Train: Only seems to work on monsters. I have a very specific use for
it under Battle Notes.
Samurai
Except for Kiyomori and Masamune, the effectiveness of Draw Out
depends on the character's MA stat. Therefore, female characters are
better suited to using the action ability. Essentially, Samurai is a
magic user class which can equip heavy armor. Unlike other magic using
classes, high Faith is not needed to be effective.
Blade Grasp: Another game error. Blade Grasp does evade arrow attacks.
It also avoids guns, Jump, and Thorw. It is ineffective against the
Counter reaction ability though so don't go whacking a Dark Behemoth
with a staff thinking Blade Grasp will keep you safe. Other things
Blade Grasp doesn't help against are Punch Art, Basic Skill (though
that isn't a threat), and monster attacks like Choco Ball, Turn Punch,
and Wave Around.
Ninja
The range of Throw depends on the character's move range. Move+2 or
3 and Germinas Boots are optimal for maximizing throw range. Also, the
damage seems to be based only on the unit's speed and given attack power
of thrown item. Elemental atributes of thrown weapons (Ice Brand, Flame
Whip, and a few others) do apply, therefore making throwing swords and
hammers useful. Axes from the fur shops also are great for throwing
before Yagyu Darkness become available in Chapter 4.
Abandon: A personal favorite of mine. Doubles evade percentages like
the Defend command but it is always active. Works equally well on
characters with low brave and high brave. Equipping a Feather Mantle
will give enemies no better than a 20% of hitting you from any side.
If you happen to have acquired the gold Escoutchen, Abandon will render
the character invulnerable to attacks from the front and side and
immune to magic that is avoidable (includes Dragon breath).
Calculator
Damage Split: No matter how the enemy damages you, this reaction skill
can always nail them. If your brave is high, this effectively halves
damage from all attacks. Have fun with this.
Bard
Angel Song: Quite effective if several party members are using MP
Switch
Life Song: This can heal Worker 8 and is quite useful for building JP
when he is in your party.
Fly: Prevents fall damage.
Dancer
Dances will never work if the enemy is sleeping.
Brave Up: Raising Brave without Mediators The enemies can even help
out. Too bad it's only available for females. You must have it
activate twice for a permanant increase. Still, I'd rather have some
reaction that strikes back at the enemies in a heated battle.
Mime
Mimes have an inherent Monster Skill, Concentrate, and Martial Arts.
When mimicing a spell, if the caster moved after choosing a spell,
the mimic will fail. Move and then cast if you want the Mime to mimic
the spell.
- Special Class Notes
Holy Knight
The game screwed up again. For all Holy Sword skills, the
elemental atribute is determined by the weapon. Otherwise, they are
non-elemental.
Engineer
Seal Evil: Petrifies any unit with the Undead status and has a high hit
rate. This also works against any unit that you cast Zombie on.
Malak
Giving Faith to the target causes the damage from Un-Truth to
skyrocket. Now if there was only a way to make sure it hit the right
panels...
Steel Giant
When Work is used, the HP lost is a fraction of the damage done.
It is different for each skill (not 1/4 for all of them). Steel Giants
are weak against Lightning so keep Worker 8 far away from any Red
Dragons or he'll go down very quickly.
Destroy: 1/8 of damage
Compress: 1/6 of damage
Dispose: 1/4 of damage
Crush: 1/4 of damage
Beowulf
Faith: I use it on my people with the spell guns so they will do more
damage.
Zombie: Hits more often than the Oracle spell. Use Zombie to keep a
Yellow Chocobo from healing. Cast it on any enemy and have Mustadio
use Seal Evil. Or cast it on one of your own characters to stop drain
type attacks.
Shock: Remember that it has a range of 8 instead of 4. This has a 100%
hit rate, unlike Beowulf's other skills.
Reis (human)
She has a very high HP base that transfers to other classes. If
she's buffed up with Equip Armor, her HP total is higher than Orlandu.
She also has the highest MA, MP, and Speed out of anyone and her PA is
the highest of any female unit. As a Dragoner, she also has inherent
Two Swords and Train but cannot equip Shoes, Armlets, or Mantles.
Apanda
Weak against fire, even though the game doesn't say so. This is
true of the Byblos as well.
Parasite: Alright, I was mistaken. This can miss. My best guess now
is that each status has a 25% chance of hitting. The chance of at least
one working is good though, about 90%. There doesn't appear to be any
restriction on the number of negative statuses that will hit; I've seen
up to five at once with one use.
- Stutus affects
Duration is how long the status effect lasts if untreated. Cancelled
by indicates the various ways of removing the status effect. All
status effects besides Petrify, Frog, Undead, Silence, Darkness, Oil,
and Reraise are cancelled if the unit dies.
Poison: Lose about 1/8 of max HP at the end of every turn
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Antidote, Remedy, Heal, Esuna, Stigma Magic, setting
Regen status, Choco Esuna, hit with Octogon Rod
Darkness: Physical evade percentages of target doubles. If you would
have a 100% hit chance normally, the success rate will stay at 100%
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Eye Drop, Heal, Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, Choco Esuna
Silence: Can't use any magic (includes Ultima and Talk Skill)
Duration: whole battle
Cancelled by: Echo Grass, Heal, Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, Choco
Esuna, hit with Octogon Rod
Frog: Can't do anything escept attack or black magic Frog, attack
lowered greatly, sustain 1.5x damage from physical attacks
Duration: whole battle, not removed if killed
Cancelled by: Maiden's Kiss, Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, Frog spell,
hit from Octogon Rod
Petrify: Unit turns into statue; cannot perform any action or take
damage
Duration: whole battle
Cancelled by: Soft, Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, Choco Esuna, hit from
Octogon Rod
Sleep: while unit is asleep CT stops, all evade percentages drop to
zero, and a physical attack does more damage. Success rate of Steal,
Battle Skill, and some other stuff increases by a few percentage points
Duration: long
Cancelled by: Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, damage
Confusion: act randomly, hit rate drops as if affected by Darkness
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Remedy, Esuna, Stigma Magic, damage
Oil: Unit becomes vulnerable to fire attacks
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Remedy, hit from Octogon Rod, any fire attack
Charm: Unit thinks you are the enemy and vice versa. You can walk past
a charmed enemy as if it were an ally. Charmed units share JP with the
side that charms it.
Duration: short
Cancelled by: damage Exception: Fairy Harp
Undead: Curative abilities hurt, unit may rise when it would normally
have crystalized or chestified, absorb any draining type attacks.
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Holy Water
Blood Suck: unit is uncontrollable and will use Blood Suck on any
nearby character, turning them into vampires as well. Monsters are
immune to this status.
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Holy Water
Don't Move: Can't move
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Stigma Magic, Esuna, Choco Esuna, hit from Octogon Rod
Don't Act: Can't Act and evade drops to zero Reaction Abilities are
disabled
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Stigma Magic, Esuna, Choco Esuna, hit from Octogon Rod
Slow: Speed drops by 50%
Duration: very short
Cancelled by: Haste
Stop: CT stops, evade drops to zero
duration: very short
Cancelled by: Choco Esuna, hit from Octogon Rod
Innocent: Faith-based magic used by or cast upon the unit will be
neffective. You are not immune to all magical attacks.
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Whack 'em with the Faith Rod and hope it adds the
Faith status. I believe this is the only way to cancel Innocent
other than letting it wear off.
Berserk: Unit madly attacks enemies without regard for its life.
Attack damage is increased
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Stigma Magic, Esuna
Invite: betray allies and join enemy party
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: nothing. If this happens to your characters, that unit is
permanantly lost.
Death Sentence: starts at 3, counts down one each AT.
Duration: until death
Cancelled by: hit from White Staff (haven't seen it work, maybe it only
resets the counter)
Critical: Unit has less than 20% of its HP capacity. Critical greatly
affects the AI of enemy and guest units and is a factor in several
reaction abilities and Train.
Duration: variable
Cancelled by: Any HP restoration or loss of armor that brings HP over
the 20% mark.
Dead: Unit has 0 HP and can't do anything
Duration: When the countdown reaches 0 and the CT reaches 100, the unit
will turn into a chest or crystal, never to return.
Cancelled by: Phoenix Down, Raise, Raise 2, Revive, Oink
Chicken: less than 10 Brave, unit will regain 1 brave point each turn,
can't perform any action, take 1.5x damage, success rate of Steal,
Battle Skill, and a few others increase by a few percentage points.
Duration: until brave reaches 10
Cancelled by: Praise, Cheer Up.
Protect: Reduces physical damage by about 1/3
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Shell: Reduces magical damage by about 1/3
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Regen: Recover 1/8 of total HP after each turn
Duration: longer than Protect, Shell, or Haste
Cancelled by: Poison status, Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Float: Does what it says, unit avoids earth elemental attacks. Useful
for traversing water without a movement penalty
Duration: battle
Cancelled by: Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Reraise: If killed, unit will rise with 10% HP on next AT
Duration: one use or battle
Canceled by: usage, Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Transperant: Enemy AI ignores unit as if it wasn't there.
Duration: until action is perfomed
Cancelled by: a new action, Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave, damage
Faith: 100 Faith (?) Makes magic much more effective
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave, Innocent status (?)
Reflect: All Reflectable spells bounce off to a location based on the
unit's relative position to the caster.
Duration: short
Cancelled by: Dispel Magic, Odd Soundwave
Charging: charging ability, unit takes 1.5x damage from physical
attacks, evade is zero
Duration: until execution of ability
Cancelled by: selecting new action, moving if it is the Archer's Charge
skill (voluntarily or by force).
Defending: evade percentages double
Duration: until next AT
Cancelled by: nothing
Perfoming: Will use selected song or dance independent of user's speed.
Evade drops to zero.
Duration: N/A
Cancelled by: Choosing new action other than Sing or Dance.
* Dispel Magic refers to both the Oracle ability and Beowulf's Magic
Sword skill.
- Battle Notes
Things of unusual interest in some of the battles. Also included
are a few uncommon or helpful strategies. Fun stuff involving a
particular story battle also goes here.
Fort Zekaden
Don't break Algus' weapon. He's actually weaker because of it. If
you corner him and he doesn't have Basic Skill or Punch Art, he'll be
unable to damage you if you keep your units inside or outside his
crossbow range. The computer never uses the trick that allows you to
hit someone at close range with crossbows or guns. Also, his dialouge
will be affected by what you chose back at the Mandelia Plains.
Breaking or stealing Algus' armor and helmet will be very useful.
Araguay Woods
A way of making Boco leave the corner he'll usually hide in is to
cast a Cure spell within his movement range that won't execute until
after he moves. Another tactic is to have a character ride him. It's
an easy battle anyways. You can do some poaching here even though the
Goblins don't give very good stuff.
Zirekile Falls
Try bringing someone with Chakra to restore Ovelia's MP. If her's
is in effect, she will MBarrier your teammates as her MP permits. Of
course, you can usually complete the battle fast enough so that
wouldn't matter.
Beginners tip: Deequip Gafgarion of his equipment and skills and make
him something weak like a priest before the battle. Or try this.
Equip Gafgarion with the best equipment you have. Then steal them from
him during battle. You will have a duplicate of what you steal. To
clarify: best equipment is Cross Helmet, Gold Armor (borrow it off
Agrias), and Gold Shield. Leave him weaponless as a Dark Knight. He
can only punch for 15 damage so it won't be hard to strip him bare as
long as Delita and Agrias don't kill him. You may want to cast some
Cures on Gafgarion until you steal everything. These items are not
buyable until later in the game so it's worth your trouble. Might give
some value to my Ovelia trick. This method is a cheat though.
Zigolas Swamp
This is your first chance to recruit an Uribo. If there isn't one
present when the battle starts, just reset until one appears. The best
way to recruit it is to use a Knight or Archer with Train. The rewards
for recruiting the Uribo here will pay off when Porkys and Wildbows are
bred. Chantage will make the game a lot easier, and Ribbons and FS
Bags can only be obtained by breeding since Wildbows never appear in
random battles anywhere. Do it early before your formation screen is
clogged with special characters. Bring some people with Secret Hunt
here.
If Train is being uncooperative, then Invite the Uribo normally.
That works too.
Golgarand Execution Site
Although it isn't that unusual of a tip, this is the first place
where you can steal a non-buyable item. Make sure someone has learned
Steal Weapon by this point. Bring Agrias for some extra dialouge.
Gate of Lionel Castle
If Ramza has Teleport, you can just let Gafgarion stew on the
other side of the gate until you're ready to go after him. Riding a
Black Chocobo is another way of doing this. If Ramza is a Pisces, make
him a Lancer with Move HP Up and just keep Jumping. Weapon or Power
Break is almost essential if you want to take him out alone. I did
this before I figured out you could open the gate during the battle.
Another fun thing to try is giving your other teammates Teleport
so you can gang up on Gafgarion. Then don't open the gate and assualt
the enemy on the other side with ranged attacks (magic, Earth Slash,
geomancy, Holy Explosion, ranged Jumps). The only enemies who will be
able to hurt you will be the Summoner and anyone with geomancy. Take
them out first and enjoy a turkey shoot on the remainder.
Inside of Lionel Castle
Defense Rings, while normally not useful, are the ideal accessory
here because they stop sleep and death sentence. Use Life Drain, mid
to high level Charges, Jump, and Holy (if you have it) to put this guy
down quickly. This is one of the few times where a Priest may be
better than a Wizard due to their speed bonus.
Some of Queklain's stats: (party's levels 16-17)
Level: 20
HP: about 375 (Life Drain took off 94.)
MP: around 355
Speed: 9
Evade: 12%
Lesalia Imperial Capital
Silencing Zalmo and breaking his weapon seriously impairs his
ability to annoy you. Bring someone with Chakra to restore Alma's MP.
Yardow Fort City
Mustadio's sniping skills work well on Malak. If you have no idea
what the requirements for a Ninja are, recruit one here and go to the
Formation screen to find out. Of note is that all the enemies start on
a height of 2 so Height, Prime Number, Holy can make the battle very
quick.
Yuguo Woods
Poach the Ghouls and use Seal Evil on the undead humans. Those
freaky undead humans appear to have an inherent Monster Skill so parking
units in the wrong places can actually make the Gust a bigger threat.
Gate of Riovanes Castle
The Knights have some nice equipment if you can steal it.
Invitation is a way of making this quicker. I highly recommend
Nameless Dance in this battle. (frog archers are not known for being
able to snipe you). If Rafa takes heavy damage, Malak will teleport
away.
Inside of Riovanes Castle
The infamous Velius battle. To end it quickly, be a Lancer and
Jump twice. There are lots of strategies out there for this battle but
I claim to be the first to suggest Damage Split as a reaction ability.
As for Velius, connect 4 Life Drains to take him down. If you have
one, you could use a Revenant. Drain Touch drains 1/3 of a target's
max HP.
Has anyone noticed that Wiegraf's secondary is Punch Skill instead of
Punch Art? This battle is strange in that Chantages don't always work
properly, most likely a factor of your attack team coming out in the
second half of the battle. I'm not sure what causes Chantage to work
again either though maybe gaining a job level will trigger it.
Some Velius Stats: (party's level 26-28)
Level: 32
HP: about 956
MP: about 276
Speed: 8-9
can be Silenced
Roof of Riovanes Castle
It's not fair. Celia and Lede equip the Barette and Cachusha as
their accessories. This is not normally possible. This is another one
of those battles where a Priest's speed bonus makes a significant
difference.
Bervania Free City
Equip all your characters with Maintainence here. Meliadoul isn't
even that dangerous with this strategy. You can then focus on taking
out the other enemies while stealing her Defender and Chantage. Worker
8 is good too. He can reach the Archers and Summoners easily with
Dispose and is immune to Mighty Sword.
Finath River
Another of those battles to try to poach all the enemies.
Zeltenia Castle church
A one-hit kill battle if Delita uses Lightning Stab on Zalmo and
it's a critical hit. This happened to me before anyone else could act.
In front of Bethla Garrison's Sluice
I have seen the Knights guarding the levers move off of them. I
injured one to critical and he used a potion on himself and actually
left his post. The other known method of making them move is to
inflict Confusion status on them. Oh, and don't accidentally have
anyone move nest to them. You can actually be stuck here if you
petrify the Knights on the switches and don't have anyone that can
cure it.
Posekas Lake
Poach the monsters and use Seal Evil on the humans. Yep, undead
army again. The undead archers are really weird. They can equip robes
(not normally possible) and have Charge as both primary and secondary
ability, each with a different description.
At the gate of Limberry Castle
To learn Ultima, make Ramza a squire and equip him with a Black
Costume and a N-Kai Armlet. It's an almost sure thing that Celia will
cast it on him unless you've leveled up a lot and move Ranza out of
range. If she uses stuff like Summon or Black magic instead, reset and
try again. Learning Ultima here is almost a sure thing so don't miss
out.
Inside of Limberry Castle
This is weird. As Assassins, Celia and Lede are female. However,
if you kill them, a female character can use Steal Heart on their
Ultima Demon forms. It makes perfect sense for gameplay purposes (all
monsters are unisex) but is still weird.
coco go recommends only stealing the Genji Gauntlet: a good idea if don't
have the resources or patience to steal all the Genji equips. Better
stuff can be found in the Deep Dungeon except for the guantlet.
Underground Cemetery beneath Limberry Castle
Seal Evil again. This is another place where a Priest's speed
bonus is quite helpful. If you have a Mime by now, here's a dirty
trick. Have a character with Math Skill (any class) calculate Demi2
on Zarela. When the Mime mimics it, it's all over assuming it hit both
times.
Some Zarela stats (party's levels: 38-39)
Level: 44
HP: about 1152
MP: about 699
Speed: 10
C-EV: 24%
Igros Castle
If the majority of your characters are Hasted when Dycedarg falls,
it's quite possible to kill Adremelk before he even gets a turn. Math
skills are great to meet this end. Check out Zalbag's status in the
first part of the battle. Besides having different Reaction, Support,
and Movement abilities than other special characters; he also has the
Mime class available.
Adremelk stats (party's levels: 38-40)
Level: 46
HP: about 1500
MP: about 399
Speed: 10
C-EV: 19%
Morund Holy Palace: 1st battle
This is the only story battle where the enemy uses Geomancers.
Morund Holy Palace: 2nd battle
One of the only battles that can be won without the enemy even
getting a turn if your characters are at lv 35 or higher. Have Orlandu
and a Chemist or Mediator or two focus on Kletian. They should be able
to take him down before any opponent gets a turn. If you feel that
stealing the Dragon Rod is a lofty goal (not necessary if you stole it
in the previous battle because it can be duplicated), make sure to
equip all your characters with Maintainence unless you can use Hellcry
Punch on both Vormav and Rofel before they act. Bring Meliadoul to see
some extra dialouge between her and Vormav.
Colliery Underground Storage Third Floor
Five Chemists. Stealing or breaking their equipment will really
help out. Something fun to try is equipping 3 or 4 characters with
guns, setting their reaction ability to Counter, and watching the shots
fly. After all, this is the only place so suited to an old fashioned
shootout. For even more fun, use Hamedo. Hamedo with a gun is also
useful against Balk.
Passage Underneath Goland
Whip out those Ice Brands and Blaze Guns. All the enemies are
weak against ice (except the Archaic Demon).
Nelveska Temple
Notable for being the only battle where if you manage to stay
alive long enough, Worker 7 New will kill itself.
END
Cloud's Finishing Touch does wonders against the Apandas. It is
also useful for stopping Elidibs if you need time to regroup. As for
Zodiac, Elidibs only seems to use it on people he cannot take out with
one casting of Midgar Swarm.
Oh wait, you're wondering how to survive Zodiac. MP Switch.
That's all there is to it.
Elidibs Stats (party's levels: 48-49)
Level: 75-76
HP: about 2875
MP: 1161
Speed: 7
Vulnerable to Stop
Underground Book Storage: Fifth Floor
Maintainence, maintainence, maintainence. Can't stress it enough.
At this point, you can't go out to replace broken equipment. Worker 8
is particularly useful due to the swarm of magicians and is immune to
Rofel's Mighty Sword abilities.
Lost Sacred Prescints
Have Reis Dragon Tame the Taimat or Hydra (or both). Either of
these monsters can take down Balk very quickly, in one attack if all
three shots of Triple Flame or Thunder hit. Equip Fire Shields to
thwart the Chemist and Triple Flames, Rubber Shoes (or Rubber Costume)
to nullify Triple Thunder and the Blast Gun, and Thief Hats or Defense
Armlets to avoid Arm Aim and Leg Aim.
Graveyard of Airships
Besides being the location of the final battle, this is the only
battlefield I know of with the Machine terrain. Therefore, you can use
Lava Ball here. (not that it's of any use)
Hamshulan stats: (party's levels: 42-45 except for a Lv 51 Tiamat)
Level: 59
HP: about 1464
MP: about 700
Speed: 13 or 14
For the purpose of Math Skill, here are Altima's levels.
first form: Level 56
second form: Level 66
- Tough Random Battles
These battles start showing up in Chapter 4 and are generally unfair
and much more difficult than standard random battles. I haven't listed
any Deep Dungeon battles because those are hard in general.
Araguay Woods: I've never seen the 9 ninja battle some people have
talked about but I have run into 5 once. Actually not too difficult if
you can keep them from getting too close.
Bariaus Hill: The tough battle here consists of one of each type of
dragon, one of each type of behemoth, a Hydra, a Hyudra, and sometimes
a Chocobo of random color. You may have some help from up to two of
King Behemoth, Hydra, or Chocobo of random color. Great poaching here
if you can survive. I've run into this one at least 5 times and
Beowulf was almost always in my Attack Team. Could there be a
connection?
Grog Hill: Here's the scene. You're at the bottom. 11 Monks on top.
Within two or three rounds, they will be swarming around you. Math
Skills with Height and Holy can take down more than half of them in one
shot if your magic strength is good. Taking them down without Math
Skill is tough because they constantly heal and revive each other.
Finath River: Random battles here are tough in general due to the
terrain but there are two I've seen which stand out. One was an army
of five Red Chocobos and a Black Chocobo. Because they can take out
one or two characters a round, you'll have your hands full beating
them. The other consisted of seven or eight Behemoths and a Pisco
Demon with a Goblin as a guest. This one's not nearly as hard since
Behemoths have no long range attacks and can't enter water. Just block
the crossing points they could jump and use ranged attacks.
Posekas Lake: A swarm of Behemoths of all types. Not the toughest of
the tough, but quite a good deal harder than normal random battles.
Germinas Peak: Personally, I don't think the Chemist/Mediator fight
is that unfair but several people have asked that I include it here.
Anyways, the enemy force is 5 Chemists and Mediators with random guns,
including the spell guns and/or the Stone Gun. Might be difficult if
you don't have ranged attacks but otherwise I don't think it's that
hard. Gun damage does not go up with levels and there are ways to
protect yourself from spell guns.
Yuguo Woods: Samurai swarm. When I ran into this one, there were seven
of them. My levels were around the high 20s so it wasn't so bad but at
high levels, you're going to be hating life. Kikuichimonji will chip away
your life before you can come close. Damage Split is highly recommended.
- Extra Battlefield Hidden Items
To the best of my knowledge, here are the hidden items that can
be found on the four battle maps that Prima's Strategy guide missed. I
don't know of anyone who has this data yet. I haven't worked out any
coordinates yet, but because the buried items are located under traps,
they shouldn't he that hard to find. I've indicated which trap is in
the panel where the item is. This section isn't complete yet and I
don't claim to be totally accurate. Contributions are welcome.
Zeklaus Desert
Thunder Rod or Hi-Potion (no trap)
Blind Knife or Phoenix Down (Steel Needle)
Battle Boots or Echo Grass (Degenerator)
Iron Sword or Potion (Sleep trap)
Fovaham Plains
Silver Bow or Phoenix Down (Steel Needle)
Night Killer or Echo Grass (Degenerator)
Battle Axe or ??? (Deathtrap)
Mythril Sword or Antidote (Sleep trap)
Bervania Volcano
Materia Blade (Deathtrap)
X-Potion or Fire Ball (Steel Needle)
X-Potion or Fire Ball (Deathtrap)
X-Potion or Fire Ball (Degenerator)
Comments: The Materia Blade is at the peak of the mountain. A Jump of
4 or higher is required. The Degenerator is in the lava and the item
cannot be retrieved without a gameshark. To find it, start in the
corner with the volcano and count 5 panels into the lava lining the
edge. Thanks to JoeDax27 for the location of this.
Doldobar Swamp
I believe that all the items are either Elixir or Potion and there are
traps on the panels. I can't remember which traps are where though
except for a Steel Needle in one of the corners.
- Character Strategies
Ramza (any class)
Action Ability: Guts Reaction Ability: Blade Grasp Support Ability:
Equip Armor Movement Ability: Move-HP up or Move+3 if equipping a
Chaos Blade
This is my general configuration for Ramza for most of the game. Move
HP-up allows him to use Wish more effectively. Blade Grasp lets him
avoid many attacks and Equip Armor heeps his HP high. In some cases
Auto-Potion or Damage Split make better reaction skills and if his
class already allows him to wear heavy armor, use a different support
skill such as Secret Hunt, Maintainence, Attack UP, or Two Swords.
Beowulf (Temple Knight)
Action Ability: Punch Art Reaction Ability: Abandon Support Ability:
Half of MP Movement Ability: Move-Find Item
Equipment: Excalibur, Crystal Shield or better, Genji or Grand Helmet,
Light Robe, Germinas Boots
Quite possibly the best protected item finder you can make. Excalibur
provides haste so he can turn enemies into chickens faster. Abandon
will lower the chance of being hit to 20% or less. Punch Art is there
so he can use Chakra to restore his own MP and as an ability set which
takes advantage of his high physical AT since his regular attacks will
be weak due to his low brave. Because his Magic Sword abilities use
MP, it makes sense to halve his MP costs. Move-Find Item is optional,
mainly intended for the deep dungeon because he has low brave. Feel
free to substitute something like Move-MP up if there are no items to
be found. The only weakness is that he's completely vulnerable in the
back but you can use a Feather Mantle if you want. I just feel it's
advantageous that item finders equip Germinas Boots to maximize their
move range. When you're done with item finding, pump his brave up and
his regular attacks will be potent.
Orlandu (Holy Swordsman)
Equipment: Excalibur, Thief Hat
As a Holy Swordsman, Orlandu can use any armor in the game except for
women's ribbons. These two pieces of equipment will almost give him
two turns to everyone else's one if there isn't another character
equipped with an Excalibur. I've left the abilities up to the player
to decide.
male Ninja
Action ability: Battle Skill Reaction ability: Blade Grasp Support
ability: Concentrate Movement ability: Move+3
Equipment: Germinas Boots
This combination allows your ninja to throw stuff with the range and
accuracy of a gun. If you prefer, move in close and break stats or
equipment with two shots of Battle Skill (one for each weapon). By the
way, if you break the targeted equipment with the first attack, the
second one will do damage. Blade Grasp provides protection for close
range fighting because of a ninja's low HP. You could also use a
Feather Mantle with Abandon; that works well too. Maximizing your move
range is the real key here.
Geomancer
Action ability: Item Reaction ability: Abandon Support ability: Throw
Item
Equipment: Nagrarock, gold Escutcheon, Feather or Vanish Mantle
Something that might be fun to play with. This character has fully
functional Chemist abilities but has higher HP. You can attack to try
to turn your enemies into frogs without fear of their counterattacks.
Dark Behemoth? No worry. This character is invulnerable to attack
from the front or side and attacks from behind only have a 20% to 30%
chance of hitting. This character is also immune to almost all Black,
Time, and Yin-Yang magic that could be harmful. The Kaiser Plate may
actually be better than the gold Escotcheon, because enemies don't try
attacks with no chance of success but they will try them even with less
than a 10% success rate.
Thief
Action ability: Throw Movement abaility: Move+2 or 3
Throw is pretty much the best secondary skill for a thief due to their
high speed and move ranges. Fill in the other abilities and equipment
as you see fit.
Knight
Reaction ability: Weapon Gaurd Support ability: Two Swords
Equipment: 2 Defenders, Reflect Mail
An interesting alternative to shields. Weapon Gaurd make up for the
lost protection of a shield that equipping a second weapon removes.
You stay heavily protected from physical attacks while dealing some
decent damage. I recommended Reflect Mail as armor (if available)
because you have no magic evasion. Why Defenders? They have an evade
of 60%. Actually, that's their purpose because you need really high
brave (90+) for a Defender to be stronger than a Rune Blade.
Female Monk
Action ability: Steal Reaction ability: Speed Save Support ability:
Concentrate Movement ability: Teleport
Equipment: H Bag, Ribbon or Barrette, Chantage
A great character to use when stealing stuff. With Stigma Magic,
Chakra, and Revive, she can keep other characters alive while being
immune to negative status. If she's hit, she'll become faster and
increase the chances of a successful steal. The key item is the
Chantage. If you don't have one, don't use Speed Save. Use something
like Auto Potion, Blade Grasp, A Save, or Abandon with a mantle because
a unit like this is a damage magnet. In some battles, you'll need
Maintainence to protect your equipment to prevent it from being broken.
Agrias (Holy Knight)
Support Ability: Attack UP
Equipment: Save the Queen, Excalibur, or Chaos Blade; Bracer
This will put her closer to Orlandu damage-wise.
Beowulf (Temple Knight)
Action Ability: Jump Reaction Ability: Weapon Guard
Equipment: Defender, gold Escutcheon, Light Robe
Another Beowulf combo. Weapon Guard is necessary to take advantage
of the Defender's high evade. Jump negates the low bravery penalty of
Knight Swords and is much more damaging than my Punch Art combo though
less versitile.
Priest
Action Ability: Draw Out Equipment: stuff that boosts MA
Since Draw Out relies on MA, it's much stronger when used by a mage.
This unit is the ultimate support units. He/she can heal, revive, cure
negative status, and give some positive statuses. There's also the
instant acting Murasame and Kiyomori (and Masamune if you're feeling
lucky). Unlike some other specialized support units, this unit is an
offensive threat with Draw Out. Throw on Magic Attack UP for more
mayhem.
Female Ninja
Reaction Ability: Blade Grasp Equipment: Thief Hat, Secret Clothes,
Setiemson
The fastest possible character I can come up with. One could also
throw on an H Bag for +5 speed instead of +4 at the cost of offense and
versitility. Setiemson provides auto-haste. I feel Blade Grasp is
necessary for protection because of low HP and a high speed rating also
means a fast death counter.
- Item duping for free
Most players probably know about the old item duplication trick: that
one which required Two Swords and you had to pay for the item. It
really doesn't make much sense though as it costs 40000 gil to
duplicate a Defender but only 10 to dupe an Excalibur.
Anyway, Notti discovered a great duplication trick where you don't
have to pay for the item and doesn't require Two Swords. The only
conditions are that the weapon or shield you want to duplicate is
stronger than anything the shop offers and that the character can
equip a weapon or shield sold in the shop. Also the character's armor
should be better than anything the shop offers to it isn't replaced by
Best Fit. (No robes) To do this trick, equip what you want to duplicate
and go to the shop's fitting room. Try on something in the other hand.
This should cause the item to be duplicated to disappear. Choose Best
Fit and you should have your original equips back. Select Fitting Over.
You should now have another of that weapon or shield.
The only rare weapons that cannot be duplicated this way are the
Nagrarock, Healing Staff, and Mace of Zeus (grrr). However, Notti's
Deep Dungeon FAQ has a variation that allows you to dupe these weapons.
I haven't tested this so just read it there. It is found at GameFAQs.
Oh yeah, both dupe tricks are cheats; don't pretend they're not.
- Recruiting Cloud
I've recieved quite a few e-mails asking about the hidden characters.
So I've decided to show the process I use to get Cloud in my party. If
you follow these guidelines, you are guaranteed to be able to complete
the sidequest and obtain Cloud unless your game is horribly messed up.
Let's begin. Mustadio is required for this sidequest; if you lose or
dismiss him anytime before Cloud is summoned, Cloud is lost.
These first steps can be done anytime the world map is accessible in
Chapter 4. I usually do them at the beginning.
1. Go to Goug. Watch cutscene
2. Go to Goland. Listen to the rumor about the mines or something
(forgot the actual subject; it's at the bottom of the list)
3. Go to Lesalia. When the hunter asks to join you, choose "Let's go
together."
4. Goland should now be a red dot. Fight the series of battles there
to save Reis. You must add Beowulf and Reis to the party; they will
be necessary later.
5. Return to Goug and activate the Steel Giant. It joins your party.
It's not necessary to do this now. I usually wait until I have to
come back here.
Advance in the story and clear Zeltenia Castle.
6. Listen to the rumor about the Cursed Island, Nelveska. Nelveska
Temple appear on the map. As with Worker 8, it's not necessary to
do this right away in sequence.
Advance in the story and clear Bethla Garrison.
7. Go to Zahrghidas. Buy a flower from the flower girl. Gee, doesn't
she look familiar.
8. Go to Goug. If you haven't gotten Worker 8 yet (like me) he'll join
now. Try to leave. Another cutscene.
9. Go to Nelveska Temple. Fight time. After the fight, when you try to
leave, Reis will transform into a human. You don't have to have her in
the party anymore but her stats are really good.
10. Go to Goug (again). The machine will summon Cloud and he'll run
off. There's no way to find him yet.
Advance in the stroy and clear Igros Castle.
11. Go to Zahrghidas. Win the battle and you'll have the chance to add
Cloud to the party.
- Playing Hints
Your Attack Team, if not every character, should have both close and
long range capabilities. I laugh when I see Knights with Item as thier
secondary. It's not difficult for me to play keep away with them and
keeping my characters one space out of their reach. Along the same
vein, have a diverse attack team.
Always bring at least one character who can heal or revive. This seems
obvious but I've forgotten several times to do this.
To quickly kill off undead, use a Phoenix Down. Any type of potions or
Cure and Raise spells will cause damage too. Chakra and Wish will not
damage undead but they might be useful if the undead unit is on your
team. Don't forget that you can make undead with Zombie and the Seal
Evil or Phoenix Down the unfortunate sap.
Don't use auto-battle. Exceptions are if you're not familiar with Math
Skill yet, if you'd rather let the AI place your Archers, and various
JP building strategies.
Aaah! It's too close. I can't get a good shot, hey wait...
You can hit enemies inside the range of a Crossbow or Gun. Just aim
at a panel beyond the enemy so it's in the firing path. There doesn't
need to be anything in the panel you aim at.
Don't complete story battles if you have anyone out on propositions.
If you don't think I'm serious, imagine not having access to 3 of your
best characters for the Velius battle. I have not tried to find out
what happens in Chapter 2 if you take a proposition at Lionel Castle
and complete the Goug Machine City battle after which Lionel Castle
becomes a red dot. In the other possible instances (Goland and Igros in
Chapter 4, you will not permanantly lose your characters.
Use propositions to gain job points, especially for jobs a unit doesn't
use often or very well such as a male Summoner with a faith of 47.
To poach a moster easily, kill it normally, revive it with a Phoenix
Down, then have a person with Secret Hunt slaughter it. This can be
useful to avoid some long monster chases as long as it isn't the last
enemy alive.
When an enemy is in Critical status, it will run and hide and only
attack if you're within range. This is true even if the enemy could
kill one of your nearby units or has enough HP to withstand another
attack (like Dark Behemoths or Tiamats with their 600+ HP). You can
safely ignore them unless they have healing abilities or are healed by
allies. Watch out though. If all enemies are Critical or Dead, any
living enemies will bum rush you.
If a unit is pushed off a panel and falls a distance greater than its
jump range, it will sustain damage from the fall. Use this to your
advantage when you can; it's lots of fun.
You can discover the elemental weakness and strengths of a monster by
opening its status screen and highlighting the unit type. For a few
enemies, a weakness or strength might not be listed.
At times, you'll want to use a weak attack rather than a strong one.
Usually, this applies to your own units when you want to remove
certain negative status like Charm or deliberately triggering
reactions (Sunken State, A Save, Brave Up, Dragon Spirit, and more).
Weak attacks are also useful if you're trying to Train a monster.
Examples of weak attacks are Dash, Throw Stone, attack from a Ramouda
Gun or a rod, and Throwing Shuriken or Daggers. Punch Art from a
magic user is also weak. Weak attacks are also useful if you're JP
hungry.
Stalling
Stalling is keeping the last enemy alive until you have claimed
chests or crystrals from the others. Enemy crystals are great for
powering up a character's abilities. I've gotten over 3000 JPs worth
of abilities from a crystal before, no joke. You can save several
hours of JP building by inherting abilities. To make stalling less
painful, cripple the last enemy with Speed Break, Power Break, Weapon
Break, Mind Break on occasion and/or turn them into frogs or chickens.
Sleep works well too; it lasts a long time. Keeping the enemy Charmed
or Don't Act (Arm Aim!) works too. Don't Move is good if Sleep is not
available as it keeps the enemy from stealing crystals and chests.
Expanding spell ranges
The idea here is that you cast a spell on one of your own units that
will not be harmed by it (such as Fire 2 on someone with a Flame Shield
or Silence Song on a character who doesn't use magic) and have that
character move next to an enemy before the spell is cast. This is a
sneaky way to silence enemy Summoners if for some reason you cannot
bring them down while they are charging.
Dirty application: Cast a spell on a character on your team who will
go before it hits. Have that character (Lancer usually) move next to
an unlucky enemy and Jump. Word of caution: Be sure the enemy won't
move out the way before the spell hits. Also be sure that the spell
will execute before the jumper lands or you'll be hurting yourself.
Hitting someone twice with the same spell
One complaint I've seen quite often about this game is how useless
and weak magic is. What if you could blast someone twice with the same
spell in a turn? Wouldn't Stop be more useful if you had two chances
to hit with it? How about doubling the effects of a Cure spell? No,
I'm not talking about using a Mime. Interested? Continue.
This trick is meant for reflectable spells with an effect area of 2.
The idea is to have a character with Reflect status and the target in
the effect area so that the spell hits the target once but is also
reflected off the other character so it hits again. Positioning is
important. Here's some diagrams.
C.RPT CRT .PT
.RP
C..
C represents the caster. R represents a character with Reflect status.
T represents the desired target. P represents the panel to target.
A dot stands for a panel, empty or not. In the second diagram,
targeting the target keeps the caster out of the effect area while
targeting the character with Reflect makes the spell affect the caster.
I don't know how to help if you don't understand this. It really helps
to see it in action. Anyways, play around with it and you may find
variants that I haven't discovered.
Using transperency effectively
When a unit is Transperent, it can still be damaged. Enemy attacks
with an area effect will still hurt you if you're in the line of fire.
Your teammates can still hit a Transperent character as well. Curative
and status effect abilities can also be used on an invisible unit
without removing the invisibility.
Transperent units have an automatic Concentrate. They will ignore
the target's defense percentages except for Blade Grasp and Arrow Guard.
Equip Change is useful when entering a battle with equipment that
gives Transperent. After it wears off, use Equip Change to replace the
item with something more effective.
Using Sunken State on Ramza at Bethla Garrison (the dam) allows him to
march right up to the switches and pull them once the Knights on them are
out of the way (Confusion works well). Sunken State is almost required
because Secret Clothes and Vanish Mantle are not available yet and Ramza
cannot equip perfumes.
If a unit is using the Charge command, any movement (voluntary or forced)
will break the charge. Throw a rock at a charging enemy Archer to have a
good chance of cancelling its attack. Double the laughs if you manage to
force it off a high place in the process.
- Shopping Checklist
As story battles are completed, new items become available. I've
listed the events that trigger the new items and the new stuff that
will be for sale. The items and equipment at shops depend on which
town you're in. There appear to be only five different types of shops.
All shops sell all accessories and healing items as they become
available. Any corrections would be greatly appreciated as I'm trying
to make this an accurate reference list.
Gariland Magic City: sells knives, rods, staffs, sticks, bags, clothes,
robes, hats, shuriken, balls and Broad Swords
Castles: (Igros, Lionel, etc...) sell swords, knives, bows, spears,
axes, shields, armor, and helmets. Depending on the castle, it may
also sell crossbows and hammers.
Trade cities (Dorter, Warijias, Zarghidas): sell katanas, ninja swords,
dictionaries, harps, cloths, hammers, rods, sticks, staffs, bags,
shields, clothes, robes, hats, shuriken, and balls. Also contain the
fur shops
Goug Machine City: sells guns, crossbows, and balls
Other towns: usually sell rods, sticks, staffs, bags, clothes, robes,
hats, shuriken, and balls
Checkpoint 1: Gariland Magic City
Broad Sword, Dagger, Oak Staff, Rod, Clothes, Leather Hat, Potion,
Antidote, Eye Drop, Phoenix Down
Checkpoint 2: first meeting at Igros Castle (no battle)
Long Sword, Mythril Knife, Bow Gun, Escoutchen, Leather Armor, Linen
Cuirass, Leather Outfit, Leather Helmet, Bronze Helmet, Feather Hat,
Battle Boots, Soft, Maiden's Kiss, Echo Grass
Checkpoint 3: Sand Rat Cellar
Iron Sword, Long Bow, Blind Knife, Buckler, White Staff, Thunder Rod,
Ice Rod, Flame Rod, Bronze Armor, Leather Vest, Linen Robe, Iron
Helmet, Red Hood, Small Mantle, Hi-Potion
Checkpoint 14: Bethla Garrison
Rune Blade, Air Knife, Oberisk, Gastrafitis, Kikuichimonji, Octogan
Rod, H Bag, Crystal Shield, Crystal Mail, Reflect Mail, Black Costume,
Light Robe, Crystal Helmet, Flash Hat, Red Shoes, Feather Mantle
Checkpoint 15: Limberry Castle
Thief Hat
- Did you know?
Random stuff that I didn't feel belonged in the Playing Hints
section. Some of it might be useful; others are just trivia.
Casualties under Brave Story is mostly self-explanatory. Injured
refers to the number of enemy units which have turned into chests or
crystals. In other words, it refers to injuries YOUR party causes, not
what the enemies do to you. Poached monsters, whether they be yours or
the enemy, do not count as injuries or casualties. Therefore, feel
free to poach as many of your own monsters as you want without gaining
casualties (if having 0 casualties is important to you).
Also in Brave Story, anyone with an age given is still alive. Even if
events or rumors in the game suggest that the character was killed, if
their age is given that means you'll see the character again. If a
special character dies, Brave Story will record the person as having
been "killed in battle."
Cloud only shows up in Brave Story if you dismiss him. (and maybe if
he is killed)
During battle, when you bring up the status screen for a character,
press the confirm button to see any status effects the character has.
With an ally, pressing confirm again will bring up their job screen
which you can use to see all the abilities the unit has learned. This
is useful for seeing the abilities of guests who never join you such as
Olan and Zalbag. This is also useful if you're trying to acquire
enough job points during the battle for a certain ability and want to
know how many more you'll need.
During battle, if you check an ally's status you'll notice a dashed
line below Cyclops in the Summoner ability list (unless you already
have Zodiac). This is the proof that the secret ability exists, that
Alma can learn Ultima, and that Ramza cannot learn Ultima until Chapter
4 even though I've seen it cast on the Riovanes Castle Roof.
If you sell something in a fur shop, it will appear in its stock. It's
useful if you need some quick cash but will want the item you're
selling later. You can then buy the item back at the half the regular
shop price whenever you wish. To my knowledge, this is the only
exception to the Pawn Shop rule of RPGs where if you sell an item at a
shop, you cannot buy it back unless the shop normally stocks it.
Regardless of how you adjusted Ramza's Brave and Faith in Chapter 1, it
will always default to 70-70 at the start of Chapter 2.
HP and MP totals of Zodiac bosses do vary each time you fight them.
The birthdate you enter for Ramza at the beginning of the game does
affect the game. It is most significant when Ramza faces another
character solo but also affects the strategies you use against certain
storyline characters (whose Zodiac signs are fixed).
This is pure speculation but I think at one time Ultimus Bows were
going to be buyable after completing Bethla Garrison. They have a
higher price than the Windslash Bow, one can be stolen during the
battle where you must open the floodgates, and Archers everywhere seem
to have them after they are at a certain level. Random battle enemies
generally don't carry unbuyable items so giving every Archer an
Ultimus Bow is suspicious.
Traps are only found on battle maps where no story battle takes place.
There are actually 74 different battlefields normally.
Your starting location in random battles is fixed based on which side
you approached the battlefield from. This does have some effect on
which random battles you might face.
Speed growth notes
In general, most jobs will gain a speed point at levels 18, 35, 52,
69, and 86. Jobs with slower speeds are Calculator and Summoner.
Priest, Monk, Thief, Ninja, Mime, and most special classes have higher
than base speed. Jobs do matter. If a character gains several levels
as a Ninja, it is likely that he or she will get the next speed
increase a level or two earlier in a job with normal growth such as
Knight or Chemist.
If a unit attacks someone and is killed by the counterattack, it gains
zero EXP or JP for the attack.
The AT list can track up to 39 turns or actions. Anything that takes
longer than that to execute will have an infinity symbol under the
wait column.
In Chapter 1, Wiegraf has Beowulf's outfit, only difference being that
it's red instead of blue. This actually makes some sense as Weigraf is
a bad translation of Wiglaf. Beowulf and Wiglaf were buddies of some
sort in the epic Beowulf but I don't remember much else. If someone
could clarify their relationship in the story (not the game's), it
would be really appreciated.
I saw this in another FAQ but if you didn't know already Worker 8 and
Reis as a dragon can be used as stepping stones to reach high places.
Vital for obtaining the ultimate Javelin and shield. Other dragons,
behemoths, hydras, and morbols can be used the same way including
enemy ones. For climbing purposes, all these monsters are 3h tall.
Therefore, if your Jump value is 4, you could climb up to a point 7h
higher than the panel the monster is on.
"Slash away with the wind's fury, Odin"
(Odin summon quote for anyone who wants to add it to their spell quote
lists without spending several hours trying to get your character to
utter it.)
Mog
No, Mog is not a hidden character but he is mentioned by name in the
game. In one of propositions at Lionel Castle that shows up later in
Chapter 3 (I believe it's "Deep in Zigolas Swamp" or something like
that) the bartender mentions him. Normally, when you view a proposition
description, the bartender will tell you "This is what I know about (name
of proposition)" However, sometimes he'll say something else. For this
propsition, he'll say "Mog's real talkative. You'll have to get by him
somehow." There you have it. Mog does show up in FFT. I won't waste
time with amy messages telling about him being a real hidden character
though.
There's a fourth way to gain JP. Charm a human unit and any JP it gains
while charmed will be shared with your team as if it were a regular ally.
This presumably works against you as well, haven't tested though. Ex.
Charm an enemy Knight and when it hits something, all your party members
will gain JP in the Knight class even if no one is a Knight.
Useless tidbit but if you invite a monster and it's standing next to
someone with Monster Skill, its secret ability will show up on the stat
screen where you decide whether to add it to your party.
- Enemy spell descriptions
To discover these without a Gameshark, press Select when highlighting
the spell in the AT list. The ones I have here are ones I've seen
before. If you want to contribute to this section, go right ahead but
this section is only for enemy spells.
Bio 3: Magic damages with filthy, poisonous spirit
Range: 4 Effect: 3 Vertical 3 MP: 24 Speed: 17 Add: Undead
(There are other varieties of this spell with the same stats and
different status effects.)
Dark Holy: Magic damages by enveloping the enemy with the darkness of
space
Range: 4 Effect: 1 MP: 40 Speed: 15 Darkness elemental
Lifebreak: Attack enemy with the aftershock of death. The lower your
HP, the more damage you can inflict.
Range: 4 Effect: 1 Speed: 25
Bio 2: Magic damages with filthy, poisonous spirit
Range: 4 Effect: 2 Vertical 3 MP: 16 Speed: 20 Add: Pertify
(There are several varieties of this spell that will add different
status ailments.)
Flare 2
Sleep 2
Midgar Sworm: Attacks enemies by summoning a huge snake
Range: 4 Effect: 3 Vertical 3 Speed: 10
Grand Cross
Mute
Bio: Magic damages with filthy poisonous spirit
Range: 4 Effect: 2 Vertical 2 MP: 8 Speed: 34 Add: Poison
(several varieties of spell with different status effects, I found
this one by giving an Apanda Confusion)
- High faith/low brave quotes (compiled by thunderstruck9)
There may be a few generic and monster quotes missing but this is
otherwise complete. Worker 8 and Byblos share monster quotes.
Although thunderstruck9 didn't test Boco, Rad, Alicia, or Lavian,
I believe Boco just shares monster quotes while Rad, Alicia, and
Lavian share generic quotes.
LOW BRAVE QUOTES
Rafa- What’s gotten into me…? I feel uncertain about fighting…..
Agrias- Recently, I get depressed when I hold a sword….Why….?
Malak- Is fighting useless? I don’t feel like doing anything….
Mustadio- I just don’t think I can win… It’s so sad….
Meliadoul- I’m scared to fall asleep felling that I’ll never wake up
again….
Cloud- It’s not that my head hurts… I just lost interest in fighting….
Beowulf- Fighting makes me feel empty…. It wasn’t like this before…
Reis- I’m scared…. to fight. Help me, Beowulf.
Orlandu- Maybe I’m getting old… Fighting is becoming a pain.
GENERIC LOW BRAVE QUOTES
Why don’t people stop fighting? I’m tired of it….
I’m… I’m afraid. I’m afraid of dying!
Can I sit the next one out, please?
MONSTER LOW BRAVE QUOTES
(Human eyes…the pupils scare me. They look like devils. Am I right or
what?)
(Wars among humans…Me help?! No way!)
(I don’t like… battle, no, no! I like…quiet life, yes, yes!)
(I survived…but…I don’t want to fight anymore…)
HIGH FAITH QUOTES
Rafa- Is the Lord the only one that we can depend on?
Agrias- One must kneel down and pray?
Malak- There is a limit to what humans can do. I’m beginning to feel
miserable….
Mustadio- Can this world be saved…? Isn’t it impossible for humans to
do it…?
Meliadoul- We shouldn’t lose our faith in the lord after all…..
Cloud- I feel the flow of the lifestream…Humans can only do so much.
Beowulf- People confuse everything. Is God the only one who can stop it?
Reis- What’s waiting after the battle? Who can save my soul….?
Orlandu- Took a wrong turn? Not you, it’s me.
GENERIC HIGH FAITH QUOTES
Changing the world alone seems arrogant to me…
As long as I live in this world, I have no choice but to see people
suffer…
Lord, please forgive us, just like we forgive others…
Is God the only one that can save Ivalice from Chaos?
(credit to Lionthalanas)
MONSTER HIGH FAITH QUOTES
(My…creator? The Lord? Humans…small…weak!)
(I’m a monster. I can do anything! But, are there things even I can’t
do?)
(The god humans talk about? Yeah, yeah. I think he’s real.)
LOW BRAVE PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
Mustadio- How can I say it…Anything I do seems to fail.
Agrias- I devoted my life to a sword, but was it the right thing to do?
Malak- No matter how hard I try, Battles will never cease to exist. It’s
no use trying.
Rafa- I’m so scared…I don’t want to die.
Reis- I can’t fight anymore…I’m sorry.
Beowulf- I felt doubtful about the things I’ve done. Sorry…
Cloud- What do you want me to do? I can’t even rescue one woman.
Meliadoul- Please, forgive me. I can’t fight anymore…
Orlandu- I can’t go on any longer…Let me retire…
GENERIC LOW BRAVE PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
I don’t want to murder, no matter what it’s for…
I’m sorry…I…I don’t want to see blood anymore…
I’ve had it. I never want to see a sword again!
Whatever the reason, I’d rather die than kill.
It’s time I pull out…I’m tired. Let me out of here.
Please! Don’t come near me! I don’t want to!
I…can’t hold a weapon, anymore…I’m afraid…afraid to die…
I can’t…legs won’t move…can’t fight anymore…Forgive me…
MONSTER LOW BRAVE PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
(I beg you, please, don’t come near me. I don’t want to fight
anymore…)
(I don’t want to deal with you. Not even a tiny bit. Nope.)
(Call me chicken, it’s OK. Battlefield, no, I don’t like it!)
(Yeah, I’m a monster…but I get scared too…)
HIGH FAITH PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
Meliadoul- May the Almighty Lord have mercy on them and give faith.
Mustadio- I’m an atheist. But, I believe in the Lord more than you
do.
Agrias- May be too late, but I’m going to believe in fate. And I
won’t go against it.
Malak- Lord, I will enter priesthood to be closer to you…..
Rafa- I feel I can forgive everything now. The love to the Lord is
forever…
Cloud- I’ve decided to leave you to be closer to the lord.
Beowulf- What an ugly fight…I can’t believe human beings.
Reis- I’ll never feel at ease with being with you. It’s too bad…
Orlandu- I knew I made a mistake. I’ll only believe in the Almighty
Lord.
GENERIC HIGH FAITH PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
I’d rather go with the God, than go with you…
Believers will be saved. I realized that my fate is to wonder and
look for help.
Fate is telling me to leave the battlefield. See ya!
I want to pray at a place where one can communicate with the Lord.
If one finds the Lord, people won’t fight each other…
MONSTER HIGH FAITH PARTING SHOTS QUOTES
(Naturally, we get along and live together…unlike humans.)
(Humans think they dominate the world…Humans, how arrogant…)
(Must obey, humans, yes, yes. Fate, the Lord…Do you know?)
- Challenges
Think you're good at Tactics? Think you're REALLY good? Then try
these challenges. I thought I was pretty good until I thought some of
these up. Oh, and no cheating. I don't put solutions as coming up
with the strategy is part of the challenge. For more challenges, see
the FFT Challenges FAQ at gamefaqs.
On the roof of Riovanes Castle, steal the Barette and Cachusha from the
assassins and successfully complete the battle. If that was too easy,
then do it without using Chantages.
Alternate challenge: Pick up all four buried items on the roof. Go
right ahead and use another strategy guide to find out where they are;
it still won't be easy to live long enough to do it.
Try to steal all of the Genji equipment without anyone using a
Chantage. Angel Rings are allowed.
In the Zalera fight, poach all three skeletons and win the battle.
Complete the Deep Dungeon in one game day with Zodiac and all 40 good
treasures (no Phoenix Downs). People who have become dependent on Item
may have some trouble with this one.
What is the lowest Injured count you can win the game with? Count kills
in the final series of battles at Orbonne. My personal record is 110.
Ry came up with a tactic that got a total of 32.
Win the final battle against Altima using only charged abilities and no
casualties. To clarify charged abilities: Black Magic, White Magic,
Time Magic, Yin-Yang Magic, Summon Magic, Charge, Truth, Un-Truth, and
Limit, Jump, Sing, Dance, and Ultima. Nothing that executes
instanteously is used, not even for healing.
Complete Chapter 1 without using a potion.
Obtain a Mime in as little game time as possible. Zalbag doesn't count.
Level up Ramza to lv 15 and then dismiss all other characters and see how
far you can progress. Submitted by raphael bloodstone
At the Windmill Shed, steal Wiegraf's helmet and shield WITHOUT using
Weapon Break, Power Break, or inflicting him with Don't Act. Do this
with none of your team above level 12.
Enter the battle with Elidibs with 5 summoners and have them all learn
Zodiac. Do this only using regular units and Ramza or it doesn't count.
If that's too easy, do it without Chantage. Submitted by Jesster
Warrior Wizard Challenge
At Finath River story battle
Party must consist of 5 wizards
All enemies must be poached by the end of the battle
No Math Skill or turning enemies into chickens (lowering brave is
allowed)
Frog is limited to all yellow Chocobos or any two enemies. If you
reset until you get 6 yellows, you're a wuss. If it's still too easy,
don't use Frog at all.
Chantage is forbidden but there are no other restrictions on equipment.
No restriction on secondary, reaction, support, or movement abilities.
(Obviously, at least one character must have Secret Hunt or it's not
possible)
Special characters are allowed ("cough, Mustadio, cough")
No level restriction, higher levels don't necessarily make this easier.
Characters to be used are limited to ten uses of Degenerator traps for
the purpose of level up/down. Additional uses of Degenerator can only
be used for lowering units to a desired level for the challenge.
I'll briefly mention the Straight Character Challenge here. The idea
is to complete the game using only one class and only abilities from
that class. MunkiBleedsGreen has the credit for popularizing it though
the originator is not really known. This challenge has its own FAQ,
read up for all the rules and info.
- I'm still confused.
If you have questions relating to FFT that this guide nor any other
seem to answer, E-mail me. I'll do my best to answer them and put them
in the section below. If you would rather not have your question show
up here, mention that in your message.
For my own sanity, I've toughened up my policy. If it's already in
this FAQ, I'm not going to respond. Anything in all caps, without any
punctuation, or AOL speak (r and u instead of are and you) is not likely
to be answered. I'll still be rather leniant about this but if the
question is too vague, I'll probably ignore it. I do like helping
people out but the purpose of this FAQ and others is so that us FAQ
writers don't have to deal with 20 people stuck with the same problem.
- Questions
Look here first before e-mailing me because your question might be
answered here. It's faster for you and I don't have duplicate
questions in my inbox. These are questions that people have sent me
though I have edited some slightly to make them more readable.
How the @^$# do you get to be a Mime?
~ Lv. 8 Squire, Lv. 8 Chemist, Lv. 4 Geomancer, Lv. 4 Lancer, Lv. 4
Mediator, and Lv. 4 Summoner
I have heard that you can get Ultima in fft is this true and if it is
how do you get it?
~ You must be in Chapter 4, Ramza must be a Squire, and he must be hit
by Ultima and survive. You can learn it from Celia or Lede or an
Ultima Demon. My recommended method is in the Battle Notes section at
the Gate to Limberry Castle.
I was raising Beowulf's faith really high by repeatedly Preaching to
him and after the battle it a window came up saying Warning and had a
dialog box with Beowulf saying "humans always confuse things, let God
handle this" or something. Is that bad?
~ No, unless you count your increased vulnerability to magic.
Characters only leave the party if their permanant faith reaches 95 or
their permanant brave falls to 5 or lower. Otherwise, they will not
leave (thanks to Notti's DD Guide for this one.)
do you know how to dupe samurai swords with the old dupe trick with
the 2 swords?
~ Orlandu can if he's learned Two Swords. His regular job allows him
to equip katanas. Know that the old dupe trick is still cheating.
I've heard that Ramza (as a Squire)in different chapters and even with
different zodiacs signs gets different level bonuses depending on
these things(so it can matter what chapter you are in, or what your
birthday is, when you level up/down. Any truth to that?
~ Possibly. Ramza's Squire class does have different equipment
restraints depending on what chapter it is. I don't believe there's
any change in the growth of his stats though. According to FFT
Mechanics, there isn't any difference.
I'm having a hell of a time trying to get a Rubber Costume from a
Hydra. I have over 20 of the common item (cant remember it's name)
but I haven't gotten a Rubber Costume yet. Any suggestions?
- If the monster is on your team, go to a battle near a fur shop such
as Sweegy or Zeklaus and poach it there. Don't save yet. Go the the
fur shop and see if the Rubber Costume is there. If not, reset and try
again. This tip also works with other monsters. (Thanks to Greg Cyr
for confirming that yes, this does indeed work though it may take many,
many tries.)
I have a question about Final Fantasy Tactics. I need to know were can
I find these items:
Sorlin Shape - Poach a Plague
Chaos Blade - Find in Deep Dungeon END, highest area
Defender - Steal from Meliadoul and Dycedarg; Poach a Taiju
Persus Bow - Find in Deep Dungeon VOYAGE, lower level
Blast Gun - Find in Deep Dungeon TIGER, starting corner
Dragon Whiskers - Poach a Red Dragon
Javelin (II) - Find at Nelveska Temple; Bring Worker 8 or Reis and
use that unit to climb on top of the pillars. Item finder must have a
Jump of at least 4.
Chirijiraden - Find in Deep Dungeon END, same area as Chaos Blade
koga knife - Find in Deep Dungeon Bridge, search high plateau.
Jump of 4 required or use Chocobo or stepping stone trick.
Scorpin tail - Poach a Hyudra
Kaiser Plate - Find in Deep Dungeon VALKYRIES, at second twist in
map
Venetian Shield - Find in Deep Dungeon HORROR, lower level adjacent
to Grand Helmet.
Escutcheon (II) - Find in Nelveska Temple on one of the pillars.
Grand Helmet - Find in Deep Dungeon HORROR on the single panel that
bridges the starting point and the rest of the map.
Maximillian - Find in Deep Dungeon HORROR at the bottom of plateau
that runs down the edge of the map.
Vanish Mantle - Find on the peak of Germinas Peak
For all items that are found, you need low brave on the person with
Move-Find to have a good chance at obtaining the item. If you find
crap like Phoenix Down, reset and try again. All the poached items
are the rare ones so the poaching trick above may help.
I was reviewing your unique faqs on FFT the other day, and I wondered
if you could answer a question for me. I know you said in your faqs
that you don't except GameShark codes, but I came accross something
unique in the Brave Story section of the game. After I put in some
codes for the game, and went to the records of the brave story, I came
accross a cut scene called things obtained. It showed Ovilia in a
church scene like the one in Zeltennia castle. Delita comes into the
scene with flowers to give to her. Then, all of the sudden Princess
Ovilia stabs Delita, then in turn Delita stabs her. Is this scene a
normal part of the game? I couldn't tell, so I was hoping that I could
ask you for the answer. Seems pretty weird though, judging how the
game's story runs.
- Yes. This scene is part of the ending after the credits.
I HAD HEARD YOU COULD GET A CHOCOBO AND OTHER MONSTERS IN THE GAME BUT
I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO. SO IF THIS IS TRUE PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW TO
GET THE MONSTER.
- Have a Mediator use Invitation (usually takes several tries) or
anyone make use of Train. There's also a story battle where you can
gain Boco the Chocobo.
Quick question... how exactly do you benefit from the secret clothes?
The only way they work is if you don't act or move, so the wearer of
the secret clothes is useless to your party, that is, unless you know
something I don't.
- Secret Clothes raise Speed by 2, something no other armor can do. I
don't use them but if you've used the level up/down trick a lot and
have 999 HP without any equipment, you might want to use them. Secret
Clothes and Germinas Boots is helpful for finding hidden items quicker
because you can go straight to them though having to fight shorthanded
may drive you nuts.
Is it possible to poach the Holy Dragon? If so, what are the common
and rare items that you can poach?
- Reis cannot be poached.
I was wondering if you do master all the jobs if anything happens or if
that character just masters them all and recieves nothing for it.
- The game gives no bonus for mastering all jobs that I know of.
is there a way that you can get gafgarnion's dark knight class by
equiping all his armor and changing his class to a priest or chemist
then battling at the falls?
- No, there is no way to get the Dark Knight skills except through a
Gameshark (and of course, Orlandu). The whole mess about taking his
equipment and later picking up his crystal is false.
In chapter 4 why can't i master the squire ability with Ramza. I go
into the learn ability screen and there are no abilities to learn but
I am still not a master. Could you please tell me why this happens
and what i have to do.
- Learn Ultima. The answer is elsewhere within this FAQ
i saw a reference you had to the level down trick... i would probably
never use it, but i was wondering how it was done
- Step on a Degenerator trap as a class with bad stat growth and level
back up as a class with better stat growth. Notti's Deep Dungeon guide
covers this in greater detail.
Just before the battle at Grog Hill, a wizard asks if you have read the
Germonik Scriptures (In Chapter 3, after thebattle in the library). My
question is if answering yes or no the wizard in Dorter Trade City has
any impact on the story or have any consequences?
- Your response only affects what the wizard (Malak) will say. It has
no further impact on the story or game.
You refer to a FF Tactics battle mechanics guide. What is this and
where can I get it? (on the web?)
- I first saw it at RPGamer but now that it's also at Gamefaqs (among
other places), that's the place to go.
Can you dupe a bow? (can't see how, where it uses 2 hands already)
Yes.
I am just so curious on where you could find the materia(s) in the game
(not the materia blade!). the black, green blue and all the other
rainbow colored materias.
- The materia are proposition treasures. If you complete a proposition
and recieve a treasure, it may be one of the four materia in the game.
Materia have no use gameplay-wise except for treasure hunter status.
I have a few questions about FFT,its about... getting cloud...what if i
did the pattern in the wrong sequence...like i get Beowolfe first then
Reis then worker 8...but still i haven't bought the flower in the girl
to be rescued later... would it still be possible to get Cloud this way?
- Yes. Some events in the sequence are flexible although most require
one to be completed before the next one is available. See the section
of this FAQ on obtaining Cloud.
I have a gameshark code that gives me cloud in the beggining of the
game. I was like "cool" but I tried him out and he has no will to fight.
My question is.. Do I have to use the Chapter Four guide in order to
"wake him up" or is there a way to get him to fight?
- I'm guessing you have to go through the subquest. If you used the
Gameshark to get a Materia Blade and Cloud still doesn't do anything, I
don't know how to help. Hey Gameshark owners, can you solve this one?
From Kelly Miller
"From what I discovered, the best way to get a workable Cloud near the
beginning of the game is to NOT use the code for the first battle, go to
the world map, hire men until the slot Cloud appears in is filled (I think
it's 10 or 11), and then save, turn on the Cloud code, save and turn the
code off. This should create a Cloud with normal stats.
The problem is that you can't use Gameshark codes to START with special
characters (Cloud, Orlandu, Agrias, Beowulf, etc.); if you start the game
with the codes active, you will get defective characters (0 stats, no
names, etc.). The only way to fix this is to put a character into the
corresponding slot BEFORE you use the codes. Then save and turn the codes
off. The characters who were there before will keep their stats and gain
the new classes."
From john gogo
The reason cloud doesn't wanna fight is because his speed is 1!! and i
can't raise it, so i just don't use him, as a matter of fact, i actually
killed him for a crystal, that's all he's good for unless you wanna waste
time do just to a lotta damage every 50 turns.
Is the only battle that you get ultima the one with Celia Lede or whatever
their names are the battle right before you fight elmador's zodiac form??
If so then what should i do because i kind of beat the battle fast
before they could use it.
- That lone Ultima Demon at the third Morund fight is your sole hope of
learning Ultima once past Limberry Castle. It won't be easy though as
you need to survive the blast and Ultima Demons don't tend to use Ultima
unless they can take someone down with it. You could learn Ultima is the
final battle too but what good will that do?
is there any way to duplicate armors, helms, and accesories?
- Only one so far. See Zirekile Falls notes.
Okay, i have a question that i was wondering if you could answer. okay,
you know how you can take jobs in the bars. well, two times i came back,
and instead of finding bags of gil, the people would bring back
something really strange. one time it was some sort of gun, and the
other time it was a black cat statue. i'm not really sure what happens
to them though, because they aren't in the item list... so if you could
maybe give me an idea of what those are, i would be really happy. =) oh,
and both those times, one of the people would say, "this job was easy
having me around!" well, please try to tell me what those are. thank you!!
- Those are proposition Treasures and are kept in Brave Story under
Treasures. What units say reporting a job signals how well suited a unit
or group was to the job. (Strangely enough, "This sure was the right job"
means the job went badly: an automatic redo for us perfectionists.)
Can you get a porky or Uribo in the random battles? If so, please tell
where? I appreciate that. I need it to get all the items. Thanks.
- Uribos and Porkys can be found in a random battle at the bottom level
of the Deep Dungeon (END).
I just read you FFT walkthrough. I completed the game 4 times and I still
have no idea the importance of all the zodiac stones. Is there a reason
that you should get all of them, I mean you have to go to the deep dungeon
to get one of them, I was just wondering if they did anything except make
a story for the game?
- Not sure how to answer. Optional Zodiac Stones that pop up in the Cloud
quest are needed for Worker 8, human Reis, and Cloud but the reasons are
story-driven and don't affect gameplay.
I only get a nagrarock, the so called gold escutcheon, and the ultimate
javelin during the fight in Nelveska Temple. However I did not obtain the
secret ninja sword --- Sasuke Knife. I know it isn't a good ninja sword, but
it is the only secret stuff I haven't get. My question is how do I get the
blade other than the fight in Nelveska and HORROR?
- Set the reaction ability Catch and find a high level Ninja. If you're
lucky, it will throw one at you. If you catch it successfully, you'll keep
it.
Is there a way to get Zalbag in your party?
- He is a guest in that one battle. Does that count? If you want him as a
permanant member, too bad. It's not possible through normal gameplay. It
wouldn't make much sense to the story either; fight the third battle at
Morund and you'll see why.
I made Ramza a Samurai but it seems that I cannot use any of his samurai's
spells. I equip Ramza with a Katana yet but that does not seem to work. Can
you help me?
- To use Draw Out, you must have at least one katana of the same name not
equipped on anyone.
i was doing the cloud side-quest,but i can't find the Nelvesta temple. Can
you please tell me where it is?
- Listen to the rumor about the cursed island in Zeltenia Castle's bar.
Nelveska Temple will appear on the world map.
It is said that each character gains 16% JP for each class that their
teammates are. Meaning if you have a monk all the other charcters get monk
JP too.My question is, if I need to level up a...Time Mage for example, if I
change all my characters into Time Mages will I gain Time Mage JP 5 times as
fast for all the characters???
- You'll only gain JP for that job twice as fast. The explanation is
long and mathematical so I'll leave it out unless enough people want
to see it.
I can't seem to make the battle point Bervenia Volcano appear in order
to get Cloud's Materia Blade. Is there some sort of requirements
involved to make it appear?
- Bervenia Volcano appears on the map at the start of Chapter 4. It's
right below Riovanes Castle.
What magic spell does the most damage on all of the diffrent types of
chocobos?
- Chocobos have no elemental weakness so I'd go with Holy. Meteor does
do more damage. Slow as heck to cast without Short Charge though.
Are there anymore secret characters besides Beowulf, Reis, Worker 8, and
Cloud.
- I guess the Byblos counts as a secret character. You can recruit him
after defeating Elidibs at the bottom of the Deep Dungeon.
i poached a red dragon and went to the fur shop. i get there and the guy says,
"what do you want?" "i have nothing to sell". my question is wtf?!?! so i went
out and poached some more monsters, still the same message and i cant even open
the buy sell meneu. HELP! pleaze!
- One of your units (other than the Byblos) needs to set the Secret Hunt
support ability.
is it possible to invite an ultima or archaic demon into your party? i tried it
on the archaic demon in the battle where you save reis (holy dragon) and it has a
percentage but when i tried a lot of times they all missed.
- It shouldn't be possible at all but there's a possiblity that some copies of
the game were shipped where this is possible. There's also a possiblity that
Gameshark hacking altering the disc.
I was wondering if you knew anyting about the little airship mini-game that comes
with finding the Germonik Scriptures. I thought I read somewhere that if you
read it, sometimes there's a little game with an airship.
- I've read about this too. In the Japaneese version of FFT it's a book
recieved as a proposition treasure that allows you to play this mini-game.
It's not the Germonik Scriptures. This feature is nowhere to be found in the
American release.
Hi! I been playing FFT for a long time and found out about the Escutcheon II
and the Javelin II. The sad part is, I was already past the battle at Nelveska
Temple and restarted the game. Anyway, I got to that part in the game and
climbed on the pillars and what did I get? A crummy Escutcheon and a crummy
Javelin! I was just wondering if those items REALLY existed and if I was doing
anything wrong.
- Two possibilities: First, the game uses the same name for these as their weaker
counterparts. They have very different stats though; if unsure, bring a Lancer
with Equip Change so you can check the stats during the battle. If you actually
got the crap versions, employ the oft-repeated rule about item-finding. Lower
brave means a better chance of finding the good item.
When you talk to Boco in the screen where you can change equipment, jobs, et
cetera, he just sleeps, but "it seems like I've met him before" Is that just
saying that he's a Zodiac Brave or what?
- Boco stays a Chocobo the whole game. There are two things the quote could
refer to. Boco fights with Wiegraf at the Windmill Shed in Chapter 1. He's
also in Final Fantasy 5 as the main character's Chocobo.
I want to know two things. One, is the vanish mantle. Where exactly is it?
I go with move-find to the top of Germina's Peak but I only got an Ether. Can
I only get it on my first try or something? Second, can i "breed" those other
2 beasts from a Uribo? Or can I only breed one and get the other from it?
- Top of Germinas Peak it is. If you get an Ether, you can't get the Vanish
Mantle unless you reset and try again. I'm quite sure you need the second level
monster to breed the third level one.
- Credits
FFT Battle Mechanics Guide: It helped my game a lot and provided a lot
of information that helped me write this.
Notti: Item duplication cheat, trick with Angel Song, some tips for
Lionel Castle Gate and Colliery Underground Third Floor, some info on
Reis, some other useful information that resulted in changes
ErgGibbon's FFT FAQ: Format for character strategies, info on Reis,
some info on the Cloud sidequest.
Dragon Fogel: Trick where you steal Gafgarion's equipment at Zirekile
Falls to duplicate it
coco go: Some info on dealing with undead, reminding me to put in the
beginner's trick for Gafgarion at Zirekile Falls (though I like the
other one better), two character setups, some battle tips
Dragoon Kain: Miscellaneous tidbit about Wiegraf with Beowulf's outfit
Richard Rouse: Lots of (if not all) information on Transperency and
ways to use it.
John Miaso's FFT Help Files: Info on when Ultima Demons will cast Ultima
Xero: the first to tell me of the tough battle at Germinas Peak
? RPGuy ?: The samurai swarm in Yuguo Woods.
JoeDax27: Location of the fourth treasure at Bervania Volcano.
Jay: Tip on riding guest Chocobos
thunderstruck9: List of High Faith/Low Brave warnings and parting shots
Lionthalanas: a high faith warning quote
Kevin Nance: a character setup
Ry: confirming for me that Fly negates falls damage. Also came up with
a solution for the low injured challenge.
All the people who send me questions.
Several people for politely pointing out that Orlandu can dupe katanas
with the old duping method.
Anyone else who deserves credit not listed above
(It's too easy to forget someone.)
- Contacting me
E-mail address is at the top. Feedback, suggestions, corresctions,
contributions, etc... go there. Before sending me anything that you
think should be here, know what I will not add.
Walkthroughs: Plenty of those out there. There isn't a need for
another. I'll take battle strategies as long as their not well-known,
are unusual, or are fun.
Equipment lists: Been done numerous times. Common knowledge by now.
Deep Dungeon stuff: Same reason as walkthroughs. Again, only unusual
stuff will be considered.
Mechanics information: Send it to FFT Mechanics Guide I only put in
mechanics things I find on my own.
The Auto-Potion trick or the old item duplication thing: Both are quite
well-known and the old duplication thing is obselete.
Hidden item information for any map other than the four I've listed:
Prima's guide does a better job than I ever could, a few FAQs already
have it, and everyone and her cousin has covered the Deep Dungeon.
Gameshark codes: Not every player has one; I don't have one; and I do
not believe in cheating to play FF Tactics. Information discovered
with the help of Gameshark is welcomed I won't print codes.
Poaching lists: Many good poaching lists exist at Gamefaqs and many
more are floating around the Net. However if people want to see what
I consider worthwhile to poach, I might put my recommendations in.
Don't e-mail me about turning Ramza into a Dark Knight or any other
classes that don't exist. Dark Knights, Heavenly Knights, Sorcerers,
Mog as a hidden character, and such are all false rumors.
Other suggestions and contributions are fair game for now. That about
covers it.
